Top is different very creative they really uh made uh quite a transition
But he never fell into the error of arresting his intellectual
development by any formal acceptance of creed or system, or of
mistaking, for a house in which to live, an inn that is but suitable for
the sojourn of a night in which there are no stars and the moon is in
Hotel is next door to a perfect metaphor for the mind, and thus for
recommended to savvy travelers ("I travel in women's undergarments, and
recent times had to take on the faded but patinated glamour of a
residential hotel, on an inconvenient exit ramp on the freeway from
Signs read: Welcome to Hotel Real Desert! Free PsychoAnalytic
all but silenced, or more accurately, is hushed by the uncomprehending
sullen stares of adolescent louts sweating over video game joysticks,
Human adults learn to perceive this inherently fluid, relative domain
in terms of fixed, solid objects existing within fixed structures of
night cooling your heels in the turbid oasis waters flowing under the
vodka bottles. An evil young girl pacified a colicky toddler with wine
spritzers in her baby bottle. Your revulsion at the girl's ministrations
abreaction to the bass tones of the hip hop muzak and the screams
pulled the girl into a stall in the powder room and urged her to hold
back on the alcohol, trying to explain that she didn't have to revenge
"What is she but a vessel to be filled, a flesh bubble around Lack?"
the vixen asked. "And who am I, her sister or mother?" She continued in
The world had lied, had took away our pride, the slow, sad slide
But you cared for me, shared bare necessity with me, dissed Felicity
"Stop, stop," you sobbed. "How can you say that? You're white, for
With a certainty that it's better never to have been born than to be as
hapless as the girl, you tied her off and injected her with a killing
around the coffee table, the nipple of her bottle clenched in her teeth;
almost no one turned from the video screens to see you on the way out.
"Is this another one of the learning experiences I am expected to
extra neurons is so we can learn. I suppose that as a neonate I had
little choice in what happened to me and must have felt breast, warmth,
wetness, fullness without clear ideas of internal vs. external origins.
[She waddles over to the table and pulls a disposable diaper out of a
"Now, however, my babyhood seems to require concentrated efforts to
construct myself, learning to be me seeing, hearing, talking and
walking. I begin to take pleasure in operating the circular reflex 'to
deprivation attach themselves to the sensations and form the bases of my
love, anger, etc. But the way they grow has to mean that what I will
learn to call emotions are very dense mixtures of sensation and
interpretation in narrative form: I feel sad because X happened. X
happened because Y did Z to me or I did Z (to Y.) Someday I will know
organic brain with functional mind.' I dismiss this as reifying a purely
mental phenomenon; plus it's too confounding for my developmental stage.
"Instead I will consider a feeling I have begun to feel now: I am sad.
An explanation will arise very quickly. I feel sad because (I am sure by
then I will be able to imagine some causal relationship between my body,
times I have felt sad and I will connect them into a series by way of
already be an explanation of a somatic sensation or mental phenomenon.
Sensations are on my skin or the virtual skin, emotions are
[She stumbles, the bottle between her hands, held up to release the
"I have to say parenthetically that this new stuff in the bottle
love them (or want them or hate or fear them). These associations will
become progressively more elaborate as I accumulate more experience.
Soon I can say 'I feel I am cold and contemptuous of others because I am
afraid to experience their rejection of me,' or 'I love him because he
makes me feel secure and confident and wanted.' The explanations will
not particularly help in feeling better if one feels 'bad;' conversely,
trying to feel 'good' will not seem to be enhanced by good explanations.
I will live through years of therapists encouraging me to experience my
psychic wounds, my feelings, with the idea that I can achieve a state of
being in which pain can be experienced without debilitating
"I will ask now, while I have extra synapses, isn't it the narrative
itself that inscribes the scars on our minds, our hearts, my future
[She slips, falls on her back, unconscious. Urine spreads in a pool
toward the frayed electrical cord of a Mickey's Ghost Town slot
up over the mass of her moist arms and the aluminum sill, cooling in the
moonlight. Her face, the face on which the ends of the earth have come
and gone, is not pensive, not secretly smiling, but cowed by the
suffering she has felt and is all too sure to feel again. She has taken
it on as weight; the excess of everything gradually pulled her pelvis
out of tilt, her bowels out of line, her womb a little adrift. She has
just returned, in fact, from the hospital where she lay under the knife
fibrous tissue. Hers is the face of a patient, drugged out of pain and
came to her full animal consciousness, her autonomic systems in full
"It's a good thing I already had my two girls," she reassures herself.
The first glowed with the iridescent colors of a conch shell, of a
victimize her child, they told her. Her baby's sun faded in the dark and
now a toddler, had the better luck of being born in a prison hospital
and fostered out to a former nun with money and horses and compassionate
when her daughter returned temporarily to her dank previous home where
she became a gibbering speed freak, an auto thief, a fugitive, and
generally white trash. She and her mother share one trait, an ability to
recount the episodes when they were maimed and deprived of the halcyon
life they believe is available to normal people. "While she's here, I
into the net. Routing through several nodes, he finds that a message is
move his tongue, desperately lonely, he fell into the rainy gutter. When
he woke, a piece of paper was twisted in his mouth. Dried out, he read
People ask, what is the nature of the revolution that we talk about.
Who will it be made by, and for, and what are its goals and strategy?
enslaved masses within its borders provide for material existence very
Hertz's automobiles, your television set, car and wardrobe already
He's been committed ever since, a clandestine freedom fighter,
autonomous, placing his devices alone or with a few other cadres,
exchanging plans and ideological instruction only through safe message
in their description of their People's War and the centrality of the
tangible letters, paper signs of struggle. These new electronic messages
global empire far harder to conceptualize in terms of improvement and
The deaths of three friends ended our military conception of what we
are doing. It took us weeks of careful talking to rediscover our roots,
to remember that we had been turned on to the possibilities of
revolution by denying the schools, the jobs the death relationships we
were "educated" for. We went back to how we had begun living with groups
of friends and fount that this revolution could leave intact the
enslavement of women if women did not fight to end and change it,
political struggle for tonight, as unsure as he is about
Our mother came in and stabbed me repeatedly and then I was transferred
For the last century, the west has twisted in the meshes of a
My dad's house had many mansions. When he died we had to empty the
house and divide up his accumulations and all I got was this lousy
searched the tall room under the eaves, strewn with papers and junk,
information, getting a number, not clear whether it's the number for an
numbers on the phone. Are they different or not?' 'Yes, they are,' Aunt
I think our human brains are an evolutionary accident. The difference
between chimp and human brains is very significant in terms of size
perception. The difference does not look like the results of any
evolutionary pressure. The random gene changes that led to a much larger
brain do not seem to offer survival advantage commensurate with the
energy expenditure required to supply it. I conclude that our brain
began as a genetic mishap, for no more purpose than that apportioned to
"We shall see people engaged in attractive occupations, giving no
thoughts to material wants, free from all pecuniary cares and anxieties.
As women and children all work, there will be no idlers, all will earn
more than they consume. Universal happiness and gaiety will reign. A
unity of interests and views will arise, crime and violence disappear.
maids, cooks, and so forth all working for all (when they please).
depending on what's happening, the universe's rules of operation. A
photosynthesis, the works. The tree, as the rule of the physical
universe would have it, reflects light. In the universe humans inhabit,
reflecting light is a necessary result of the assemblage of matter on
among other trees, rocks, animals." Pumping his harmonium, he sings:
tree tissue organized to move water from root to crown
its cells are sensitive to the pressures (pleasures):
necessary and proportionate interaction of human body with tree,
obviates any quibbling about whether or not matter is just our idea of
[The] discernment of relatively invariant entities and processes and
the creation of mental maps where the key coordinates map relatively
"Else why do we? I want to assert that molecules, atoms, photons,
help it, the rods and cones react to light, the reactions excite a few
cells, then more and more. Brain studies seem to indicate that the
neurotransmitters and electrical flow are emergent properties of the
And they are not yet coded, nor are they in language. Afterwards,
utilizing previous neural pathways in relation to the tree.
"Only then are we 'affected' by the tree, and only then do we cogitate
an idea, which is coded, is in symbols, of 'tree.' No part of this is
any more or less 'real' or objective. It must take active work to look
at the tree: the reception of minimal sensory input is necessary not
which datum is to be enriched through concentration. From there the
processing must actively combine memories, previous categorizations and
new data through neural connections. A particular tree becomes a tree in
many contexts, as if the brain makes as many as possible available from
suspicious nor blank; he simply stood there, as he stood always
everywhere, for the principal feature of the scene. Naturally he had no
conception of him than the way he fell into position as we approached
of the peaks might to our apprehension have been interested in his
You know, you butch thing, many cosmologists posit different levels of
universes, hoping thereby to answer questions regarding the seeming
Royal, says contemplating alternate universes could help scientists
distinguish which features of our own universe are fundamental and
necessary and which are accidents of cosmic history. A light, pet?
hyacinth hair and tell me ours is the cosmic accident. You may randomly
an: I love a free lunch, if it costs someone a great deal. Let's
speed of light. Only a narrow range of settings (for these constants) is
suitable for the evolution of complexity or Life as We Know It.
an: Life as What? Say it again about the multiverse.
posited "the Anthropic Principle," asseverating that these coincidences
were not just luck, but were rather necessary preconditions for us to be
looking at the universe. After all, we are hardly likely to discover
universe, which he sees bubbling progeny like yeast buds. According to
universe today, outweighing matter two to one. But according to modern
quantum physics, empty space should be seething with energy that would
outweigh matter in the universe by far, far more, by a factor of at
inflation lends more energy than was thought to exist? And the
cosmological constant,, a formula to account for this discrepancy, must
is that we "queers" in our indolence have seen through the canard of
like the lilies of the field. How lovely to be wanted by the entire
She reads from her commonplace book, makes a notation in her crabbed
for the objective transformation of the world (or for the 'production'
question of 'being' oneself but of 'producing' oneself, from conscious
as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence' Remember
distinguish himself from animals? Is man's existence an end for which he
critiques the notion of production of subsistence: "it is the
first place, a process in which both man and nature participate, and in
which man of his own accord starts, regulates and controls the material
one of her own forces, setting in motion arms and legs, head and hands,
the natural forces of his body, in order to appropriate nature's
productions in a form adapted to his own wants.'17"
erotic freedom, says labor is grounded 'in an essential excess of human
existence beyond every possible situation in which it finds itself and
is the starting point, foundation and principle of play insofar as play
is precisely a breaking off from labor and a recuperation for labor.18' But that is so wrong!"
does not gauge himself in relation to Nature. He is not aware of
Necessity, a Law that takes effect only with the objectification of
"Primitive 'society' does not exist as an instance apart from symbolic
exchange; and this exchange never results from an 'excess' of
production. It is the opposite: to the extent that these terms apply
here, 'subsistence' and 'economic exchange' are the residue of symbolic
and living are first of all acts that are exchanged: if they are not
exchanged, they do not occur. It is symbolic exchange, where the
relation (not the 'social') is tied, and this exchange excludes any
surplus: anything that cannot be exchanged or symbolically shared would
break the reciprocity and institute power. Better yet, this exchange
relation of symbolic exchange, abolishing the definition of himself as
of her mouth, "artisanal work is, according to etymology, 'demiurge.'"
computer 1s and 0s, the organ is manual (and pedal). I spend my days
scrambling through forests of big and little pipes, for it is a very big
party for People With AIDS up in the hills, within spitting distance of
wheelchairs, wrapped in bright blankets, wheeled mushrooms in big straw
the vanguard of sexual healing as both treatment and prevention
waves, our sun king as he ordered the world with and for us, and a
little like a social director who, under his bonhomie, was transparently
He slid into the water next to me and we bobbed up and down smiling and
cruising, I trying to assure myself I was still cute and attractive,
his job as director and animator of our clump of radical patients and
victims, since a sexual liaison would reduce his availability to
"listen, handhold, inspire, cajole, hug, solace" the others he thought
in his care. That afternoon he pulled himself out of the pool with a
slight turgidity visible in the folds of his floppy yellow trunks and
smiled as if he expected to be back to bob some more with me.
He didn't come back soon, not until after I fended off a handsome guy
anyway. He was already twice a widow of wealthier, lonelier men who left
him houses and money for cosmetic surgery. I had nothing to offer but
when he came back, smelling of sunblock, lime and vodka. "Want to come
Family Stone at the Electric Circus. "I wish there was still acid to be
"That must have happened twenty years ago," I replied. "Surely you've
come to terms with all of that by now. After all, here we are all
together, having fun, living proof that God doesn't punish the wicked
with anything more than painful, ugly death and stigmatized suffering."
"Yes, surely I should feel cheered by your reminder of how good we have
"I think our consciousness should be altered, early and often." he told
me, his good eye engaging mine. "We need to experience being without
pathways that could access and perceive or experience the occurrence of
review and cogitate on the process itself. Sensory input is reviewed
through the same neural pathways (or analogous or related or proximate
ones) that process raw sensory input. It is unclear whether the brain
always knows the difference between processing the sensory input we
usually think of as perception of reality and processing the processing
which, as mirrors can reflect each other, can approach infinity as sense
data become perceptions, become organized ideas, become abstract
categories and then categories of categories. Given what little is
understood about the brain, it is not possible to say whether these
processes are or are not organized in hierarchies. The brain may assign
more or less attention energy, ranking by importance or immediacy or
"The result of all this, I think, is that humans have a brain that
processes sensory and internal mental phenomena at too many levels, too
often, too much, with inadequate mechanism to turn the processing off.
We have brains too good for our own good; we think and abstract feelings
and memories too much. This ceaseless idling is what we have learned to
call our feelings, however remote the neural processing may be from
our brain (and by brain I keep trying to mean all the data processing
mechanisms from senses to memory to thinking) thinks what it does is
real. What psychological literature and philosophy have always
less compelling as explanation and certainly as a concept to provide a
comfortable relation to 'external reality.' But the brain is best seen
as actively seeking, processing and thinking at all levels
simultaneously: consciousness is a trick of our brains describing us to
ourselves, stringing processes and events into a self, asserting to us
that the self of today is the same one as any other day, selecting data
"Yeah, you're right," I said. I never thought he was sexy after that.
front desk. Usually dressed for her main job as Conductor on Wild Ride
de M. Toad, she would be irritable in a pantsuit that barely stretches
lover or daydreaming about her brothers. She'd not be impressed by the
As they walk toward the elevator, the organ grinder might come up to
"Well, that wasn't a bit awkward. So Bill, how funny to see you here.
Bill might be feeling a little nonplussed himself, and may already be
regretting this encounter. In an attempt to make things easier he might
"No, man, I have no plans at all. I just travel now."
ceiling, smoothing her throat and lighting a cigarette.
of Rural Life environment every afternoon about five. I hold discussions
with myself on politics, love, taste or philosophy, and let my thoughts
wander in complete abandon, leaving them free to follow the first wise
or foolish idea that comes along, like those young rakes we see in the
for another, accosting them all, but sticking to none.
after dinner there I was, watching a great deal but saying little and
listening to as little as I could, when I was accosted by one of the
weirdest characters in this Land of ours that has not been sparing of
them. The notions of good and evil must be strangely muddled in his
head, for the good qualities nature has given him he displays without
ostentation, and the bad ones without shame. Marcel is devilishly good
looking, a queer bird, and has made himself the boon companion of every
I: Not much, but when I have nothing better to do I enjoy watching the
HE: Oh, they're not here to be watched. Not at these prices!
I: And how have you been keeping yourself? I heard you were hooked up
with Dr. Dread who runs the Red Hanky Pavilion. No new vice squad
I: Don't you welcome the acceptance of our kind? Imitation is sincere
HE: If that's acceptance, fuck it. "If we are all part of God," as the
special in being queer anymore. "We're all over!" they keep screaming..
Yes, yes. We're over. We're pass and boring. Though some clueless
I: You however, continue pursuing "practices and pleasures?" You must
HE: Up! Just to play for a brief 16-hour party. Ugh, the prep. (Marcel
suddenly began to act out his words with the most extraordinary
Trimming, then shaving your balls. I fell in the bathtub the other day.
I was standing on the edge, trying to see my ass to shave it, when I
slipped and cracked a disc. Now my hands tingle all the time. Then
10-day, 20-day runs. slammers the worst. I finally said to Dr. Dread
that he was a sleazy old fairy buying muscles instead of love. He sent
They only let me stay at the Real Desert Hotel, and in a mildewed room
they can't rent, cause my uncle once endorsed the place.
I: It's no wonder you are so abandoned, Marcel For that matter, doesn't
understandable, but wrong, the notion that each of us is alone,
imprisoned within the individual cranium, when in fact even the physical
universe of matter depends on us to exist, and even more desperately the
sperm and egg that make us and the genes and social conditions that
shape each of us. The other is always before us, demanding that we be
think we think alone. Our mythologies of lost or fractured selves
interpellated then I am clocked, called out, made to answer to hey you,
but the you I create (in response) has to answer back, has to
interpellate the cop. I is always a response, not to the mirror, but to
alienation, disintegration that our dear fathers lived to feel.
pole of support for liberation of the colonies. The Great Depression
all our men to war, let them kill in the company of other men, and then
sent them home to individual suburban families. None of them knew how to
be with women or children, so then came the baby boom. Feeding on
schedule or feeding on demand, but overfeeding. And the Cold War and the
No wonder the 60s were aflame. Children left to crusade against racism,
I: Who is this angelic youth with white hair making toward us?
saw him with anybody who could have been his confidant. How must it be
HE: I hope so. She said "There must have been so many things deep
within him that he could never talk about. I suppose he died of a broken
I: And why do you have so much to say about this dangerous young man?
fugitive from US justice, accused (falsely) of complicity in Black
Liberation Army killings of police in the 1970s. He is waking his
in itself without reference to the human act of representing it, that
is, without the opposing 'ob-' by which it is first of all put before
supposed to stand, stay put, without a possible before; for the human
representational act that encounters it.' It is very materialist,
explained by anything else nor can it be fathomed through anything else.
This impossibility does not lie in the inability of our human thinking
to explain and fathom n this way. Rather, the inexplicable and
cognition here calls for an explanation, it fails to transcend the
world's nature, and falls short of it. The human will to explain just
this dharma? Am I just disappointed at the end of all I believed in? Is
"Would you like your yogurt enema before or after? I can read to you
I say autonomist theory contrasts the vitality of living labor
Prior to and more dynamic than capitalist restructuring
Is the class struggle that constitutes the working class
Capital's restructurings "subsume" not only the workplace
Reproduction of labor power occupies a crucial but unacknowledged role
Challenged resource allocation in the jungles and the sands
demobilized support for progressive guerilla bands.
Global capital then broke down traditional village structures
But international mass migrations result in newer combinations,
Husbands dead, women and children are left with "free" choices
Disrupts and tears apart systems of capitalist rule
Despite regimes of power, humans make themselves subjects
Sabotaging, rectifying, evading, the intentions of global rule
In the north abandoned plants and ruined communities
But then moments of freedom where people's relationships are less
And assert that we are sentient like any other plants and animal
that their hierarchies of power can be overturned, not
express the complexity of new feelings, of the new situation they faced.
of our fathers. We wanted the Art Ensemble's music to go further than
whistles through the gap in her front teeth as she reads from the Herald
into fumes of asphyxiation that linger low to the earth. We struck a
blow for little people of all ages. And don't forget, "hummer" used to
him. He's been on the job day and night since he got back." She enjoys a
opportunities," driving a fleet of trucks through the United States
other fast food venues. He ships them home and to countries in Central
Ring. Caprice believes they must change their activities.
"The bigger profits are in sanitary napkin dispensers. Just try to get
convinced; he is at work modifying and lowering electric dryers for
downloading of their music stars easier, they wish their country back in
their black Purple Label suits, each carrying a titanium computer case
handcuffed to his wrist, step out of the vehicles and survey the
under a silver military haircut, commands them to park the cars
fifteen minutes. Check for digital positioning and, of course,
He strides, as erect as always, to meet the manager, who is
Would you like to go to your rooms, or shall I take you directly to the
ideology of his more physical early career has been tempered by a
fanatic amateurs can hurt children lining up for rides if we don't find
them fast. More than reputations are at stake. I wish it was as
take his own clothes off. In doubt, he sits on one of the mattresses
"Put these on each other, pigs," Marcel continues to shout, throwing
"Put these blindfolds on them and this mask on your own face. And get
batter their backsides while I get some hits ready to slam them up."
The musty room above the garages is a storehouse for all the junk and
But tonight, a smeary cubicle has been put up with a staple gun,; the
party space confined to the penumbra of a tall white candle, the
flickering light and mysterious aroma of beeswax disorienting the
In a baritone of arrogated authority, he says to the men stretched
before him, "We will cultivate 'the self' by means of an ascesis, an
'art of life.'" He shoots into their veins what could not be called
'good drugs,' but ones that obliterate the subject, leaving only
obsessive repetitions of the impulses to stimulate nerve endings.
Coughing and then moaning, the twin pigs cry out, "'Self' is not a
personal identity so much as it is a relation of reflexivity, a relation
snaps latex gloves on his white hands. Marble white and leather black, a
his lubricated youthful muscles, his masculine energy rising to the
Together, they drive the men, now sobbing and vocalizing their fearful
utters these hypnotic words: "You have no identity here. You are only
Marcel speaks oracular words as his hands move in profound violation of
nature's fundament: "I don't think that this movement of sexual
practices has anything to do with the disclosure or the uncovering of
is much more than that; it's the real creation of new possibilities of
creation, a creative enterprise, which has as one of its main features
pleasure. The idea that bodily pleasure should always come from sexual
pleasure, and the idea that sexual pleasure is the root of all our
species of perverse sexual desire, but virtually nothing new in the way
ravage 'the self' by hand because 'the self is a new strategic
because it is the point of entry of the personal into history.' We
perform 'the crucial work of rupture, of social and psychological
disintegration, that may be necessary to permit new forms of life to
come into being. but there is no guarantee that they will come into
grunt their bodily assent to transcendence in pleasure
our young bodies together ejaculating enough to clear the major toxins
(leaving what were, after all, only subsidiary poisons of sexual
deviation and guilt felt by some who were out of phase with cosmic
trips together. We had gone to places so sublime that difference was
racial Other. We could have been together. Then, we would have thought
The thought was that repression of natural impulses was a reification
of the restriction to bare necessities for labor under capitalist
relations of production. At first we noticed that abundance (not
of the US economy afforded better living for much higher proportions of
the US population) was not satisfying to us, although it seemed to be
sufficient for our parents who had suffered serious deprivation during
the Depression and then horrifying war (our fathers ignorant men thrown
women who became our mothers in letters to unknowable islands and
bivouacs). Our dads came home, moved into nuclear family houses, farther
from their parents, aunts, uncles, etc than ever before, tried to live
with rectitude and diligence amid rising prices and elevated standards
uncomprehending wives and children. No wonder so many became alcoholic
and silent, no wonder so many women secretly suffocated in those
on schedule, an agonizing commitment for parents who heard their babies'
cries as echoes of their own childish deprivations and wanted to provide
better for their offspring. The moms and dads capitulated to a makeshift
of indulgence and vaccination, hoping for clean, healthy children who
As we children of the baby boom grew older we had more free time than
any previous generation on earth, free time to undergo the tidal waves
of adolescent hormones and to read Catcher in the Rye and even On the
Road in study halls, although we also memorized Pledges of Allegiance,
Then televisions began to show us vibrant Black children singing their
wasn't privileged and purposeless. We were electrified by the
righteousness of their new Black way and the brutality of the old
dating, and those of us who couldn't get dates understood that we were
sarcastic resistance to the parts of life we agreed were uncool. And the
So many of us escaped to college. We suddenly found friends who did not
think we were inadequate, or at least we shared inadequacy and fumbled
for relief from restrictions of our behavior. We read and we shared,
trip. Trips were dangerous explorations of cosmic reality, and they were
serious, only occasionally joyous, but so revelatory as to be precious
signposts of the fulfillment we thought we lacked. In the swirling
hallucinations we also felt the reality of our own bodies, sweating,
poster about the hippie mother and baby, the freak father with a rifle.
We should be together, if only we could, the longing for uniting, the
unprincipled and unprecedented wealth of this empire, We had never been
denied before; we called for an end to the obvious sickeningly
conspicuous waste, shrieking injustice of prejudice against the Blacks,
who were beautiful and sexy and mild. Our confusion when this bad was
not remedied was relieved through the Communist Manifesto, made
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young
Dangerous, obscene, hideous, dirty, violent and young? We are not quite
proud of ourselves. A hymn to us, an anthem to tearing down the walls we
felt between ourselves, while we were aware but daunted by those walls
within ourselves. Could our trips together lead us out of the brutality
though walking through the valley of the shadow of death (the shadow,
not the death) what could we be hoping for from the son of god.
the risking of irony, the risk of meaning, really meaning, it.
Soaring, twanging, milk and cows and honey, way out in the country. Oh
Your contradictory humanness, body of blood, brain basket, coursing
organs, a voice trying to break through to you, to you in your personal
ears, crackles of sublime interference intercourse and guitar notes too
complicated their screaming simplicity, electronic fuzz,
nobody wants to boogie, only to sit awestruck by the single notes, the
ones that carry through the six realms of beings to being it goes on to
A man asks you to look into his eyes, his borrowed moments. can he give
me moments, can I give him his, oh no, he is not for me, but by
miraculous means he is here for me, turning me down,
Borrowed moments they cannot fill the moments of our lives
but so wounded that his turning down is turning towards him, nothing to
And then the hawsers creak and the wind is so strong and capable of
carrying us over to the other side, everybody smiles in the same
and the berries will keep us both alive on this simple wooden platform,
on these very free and easy winds, leaving you to sail toward the sun
(taking off at night so as not to burn) Do I have to take a sister,
can't I take a brother? Power of leaving, watch all the past die, you
moving it changes its name and its game, but doesn't mean shit to that
love electric glimmer, and those pecking, noodling, fingers mumbling
into me, can this pleasure be taken me taken do I have strength to dance
when I am alone, surrounded by the assumptions, the natural thing, but
entering the stream, too much cold in one place breaks, it's here in
that country twang so dangerous, so hideously hellish, ironic again,
Back to the fantasy of soviet power, collectivist nostalgia: if only
they could have crystallized the revolutionary moment, but if only they
"People ask, what is the nature of the revolution that we talk about.
Who will it be made by, and for, and what are its goals and strategy?
only encourages other oppressed peoples (such as the blacks) by showing
what the alternative is and that it can be won, but also costs the
imperialists billions of dollars which they then have to take out of the
The legitimacy of the State is called into question for the first time
the youth rebellion turns into rejection of the State, a refusal to be
The crisis in imperialism has brought about a breakdown in b bourgeois
social forms, culture and ideology. The family falls apart, kids leave
home, women begin to break out of traditional "female" and "mother"
archeological team, measuring the girth and length of the columns of
all the rest of womanhood. Her education was a strange one, based in
She, fearing for her life but resolute, rose and turned to face the
dismounted and came in her direction, seizing her by the hand and
wrapping his other arm around her waist. A scream was forced from her
lips as they were pressed against the firm mouth and bulging chest of
climb down, unloading and loading the horses and pack mules where the
trail between rock cliffs was too narrow to let them pass. There at Wadi
paused and pitched their tents, while the erotic dancing girls undulated
rhythmically. As they cooled their palates and ate their dates, the
Sheikh's men knew they could not be followed, as they were the masters
faced her captor alone on the moonlit desert. She was carried into his
tent and bathed by three maidens who scented her hair with jasmine, then
draped her in rich silks. She was thrown onto a divan covered in
intoxicating aroma of horse and sweat lingering at his thighs.
His eyes widening, a smile brightening his sensual lips, the Sheik
you were a mere stranger. Remember how receptive to strangers they were
turn away, but his exotic honeyed tongue darted between her lips before
The Sheikh emitted a low musical laugh and replied, "I am always gentle
and always savage. In this case, however, since you are an agent of
international petroleum prospectors, you do not deserve much gentleness
in this our desert land." He pulled her roughly toward him and, grasping
her wrists, extended her body across the soft rugs and lay atop her.
her cries went unheeded as the moon and its caravan of stars crossed the
they swore their oaths, the baby's mother shot her violator, the father
of her child, through the heart and was consequently set upon and
especially her brothers, in all games and in learning. Particularly fond
longer permitted on the team. She grew rebellious, flirted with the
where she began her Transition, taking testosterone and pumping iron,
global capitalism and sexual oppression around the world. Hated by
clandestinity, supporting himself as a sex worker, male or female, as
Highway and the Incense Route. It was these routes which were fought
brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top
old idea of controlling and taking toll from the caravan routes, money
being his prime objective in the Crusade. Though Crusaders constructed a
local people. The city died out of men's memory, and the nomads used it
as a hideout, living in the nearby caves, for a thousand years.
newspaper behind his back. He calls them over to introduce a young man
"How are you gentlemen enjoying the summer? What brings you to this
godforsaken shack?" He picks thoughtlessly at a scab on his nipple.
Just then, a stricken policewoman rushes by carrying a scorched baby
on his shirt, he dashes toward the front of the hotel.
he's kept me all these years. And I was an orphan too, from the Blitz!"
electrocuted in the Casino. They're searching for its mother now."
thank you. We're meeting a nice musical artist here for lunch."
bottle, tell him. And watercress sandwiches for four?"
exciting assignments for you! We've been so busy! Caprice, our old
friend, is the cook here. Her spies have put us in communication with a
"But in this case we will, dear. The girl has a reputation for being
too mannish, and her mother and father are dead set on female genital
mutilation; it is going to be part of an initiation rite, accompanied by
circumcised and insist on circumcising our daughters so that there is no
mixing between male and female... An uncircumcised woman is put to shame
by her husband, who calls her "you with the clitoris". People say she is
said to be in despair over their daughter's 'perverted sex drive.' They
This mutilation procedure will be performed by a qualified doctor in
"We have the cleverest plan, dear. You will impersonate a surgeon, fake
the procedure, and bring the girl and her mother here to Caprice to
'recuperate.' Then Caprice and her family will go to work convincing the
mother the girl is better off being herself. Isn't that a scream!"
hear about it? He's cool. And he'll have to make the arrangements."
child is gay, but he doesn't want to be married. His lover's parents,
I miss the old days when we musical types were merely sinful. Now the
speaking the truth and acting in knowledge in accordance with nature."
The world, the same for all, neither any god nor any man made, but it
think, says that even those who are asleep are workers and
"The path up and the path down are one and the same, constant, ever
discordant, from all things one and from one all things." B1040
In gratitude, the tree leaves rub pathetically. It is very old for a
struggling to maintain its life in a climate that is too cold and wet,
then too hot and dry. It is patient in the morning sun. It tells Merle
"The existence of reciprocal relationships of things implies that each
universe as a whole is, a contribution that cannot be reduced
completely, perfectly and unconditionally, to the effects of any
tree-- am in reciprocal interconnection. And, vice versa, this also
means evidently that no given thing can have a complete autonomy in its
mode of being, since its basic characteristics must depend on its
relationships with other things. The notion of a thing is thus seen to
be an abstraction, in which it is conceptually separated from its
infinite background and substructure. Actually, however, a thing does
not and could not exist apart from the context from which it has thus
been conceptually abstracted. And therefore the world is not made by
putting together the various "things" in it, but rather, these things
are only approximately what we find on analysis in certain contexts and
Merle is not merely sentient, he is sapient: he has had many previous
Not so many years ago, after undergoing an ecstatic epiphany upon
karma, he has worked all his lives to ease suffering. He listens to the
running toward the pool and the front, carrying a baby in her arms.
He says to himself, "I can tell that extinction nears for that child is
'With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished,
free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to
imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to knowledge of the passing
beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their
speech, and mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and
deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these
who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook
and he discerns how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly,
there were a tall building in the central square [of a town], and a man
with good eyesight standing on top of it were to see people entering a
house, leaving it, walking along the street, and sitting in the central
square. The thought would occur to him, 'These people are entering a
house, leaving it, walking along the streets, and sitting in the central
and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady,
superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance
slaps his face with a news clipping. "What is this? Are we allowing
amateurs to burn our assets now? Find these anarchists and eliminate
The 'Total Urogenital Sinus Surgical Procedure' was to be observed by
Mobilization' seminar presented by the hospital. with associated surgery
Approximately two dozen people picketed the hospital in a peaceful
children resulted in assignment to the wrong gender. Approximately
twenty minutes before the procedure was to begin, a bomb went off in the
The combined bombing and picketing efforts paid off. Not only did Dr.
adult survivors of early childhood surgery intended to assign an infant
people whose surgery as children resulted in assignment to the "wrong"
activists loudly demonstrates our collective outrage at what is
occurring in hospitals around the country five times a day to
people in the binary sex model, wherein a man is a man and expresses
masculine characteristics, while a woman is a woman and expresses
feminine characteristics, and their sexual dichotomy exists for
procreation. This model goes to the core oppression of the entire
bragged about my relatives," he thinks. "Nobody cares about who I am
Foundation has liberated thousands of young gay, lesbian, transgender,
Boulevards and the men who were kind to him only to get him in the back
every day. But now he's looking for his new friend, a nice but sleazy
girl who's visiting her mom here. "She'll be in the Casino still. But
wrong. He can't figure out what the baby would be doing running loose,
getting hurt maybe. Skidding into the bar, he nearly collides with a
"Hey, you, kid! Stop right there. What are you doing here?
"I work here, well sometimes. My uncle is the manager."
here a couple hours ago?" He already knows the kid was behind the bar in
"Yeah. If it was the same one, there was a baby here. A girl was with
her, like blonde hair, a little high. Where is she? Did something happen
elbow, "unless you mean those kids over at the video games."
"We've got a lot more to worry about, kid.. By now that baby may be
dead. It might be a kidnap thing. You look around for this girl if you
think she knows something. And come report to me before you leave."
for a woman to come along to check the Dames. When no one goes in or
out, he pushes the door open and walks in, bending to look in the
stalls. There! A pair of jeans pulled down over fancy Pumas. It's her!
"Oh, god," he sighs. "I just met up with her. She was all 'you're so
different systems of punishment with the systems of production within
prison factory appear with the development of the mercantile economy.
punishment diminishes accordingly and 'corrective' detention takes its
In comes the harried ER doctor. "Where's next of kin? We have to deal
In comes the nurse. "Poor baby! At least she's not a suicide like that
In comes a State official with an alligator purse. "We need to keep
this baby under surveillance. She may be a crime victim. This child may
be the victim of parental abuse, and we must interrogate her mother."
"What makes you think this child even has a mother?" sneers the doctor.
right now. It's the baby." She hangs up to screaming on the other end.
to folk religion; it has become a ceremony purporting to fulfill, at the
Metropolitan Opera broadcasts without the obstacle of English
offerings of food, drink, etc., are made to them. Even the mere mention
beings have to obey his commands. Thus, in all rituals connected with
Merle yips the growing crowd into silence. He knows that first one must
dispense with the armed guard and getting the patient to offer me a seat
He summons a full assembly of the deities. Then, he barks out orders to
"I am the devil in the details," is heard coming from the blue lips of
The compassionate Dog tenderly licks the burned face of the baby and
tells the devil, firmly but respectfully, "the merits of offering
This is the dangerous point, as Merle knows well. If the spirit still
refuses to leave, the deities must be informed of his obstinacy and the
his universe, the reader. "Dear Reader, if the spirit will not leave,
the baby will be left in a coma. Should the Author let her live, or
A clock is heard ticking, and sands run through an hourglass,
whispering suspense. The heart monitors ping ominously. Two mothers hold
merciful death for the electrically ravaged child; she is negligible
collateral, as he assumes she is already damned by the sins of her
the screen says, "You've got mail." A celestial hand reaches out to
"I like the gods. I like them very much. I know exactly how they feel.
The Nineteenth Century Novel is, aside from its aspects in
convergence of human lots" arose from genetic predisposition, social
conditions, and ideological (religious) conviction. I just wish I could
thoughts for me. If I can now remember them, I will try to write some
Our brains seem to work through chemical and electrical circuits
outside through the senses or internally from nerves monitoring the
body or nerves monitoring the thought processes and memory. The mind
in the process of processing. The mind is somehow tricked into
believing that it is continuous and identical to itself, despite the
responses at each moment of our lives. We seem to want to believe we
are the same from day to day; hence, the creation of a "self" as a
vessel of continuity, of identity. Of course this "self" is
inflected by genetic and cultural factors: a 21st C US gay white
This "self" comes to dominate our reception of input and processing
because women are subjected to much more biological change on a
periodic basis, they have less investment in the rigid maintenance
history explains things on the basis of continuities, individual or
Our "self" tries to hold things together in the midst of ongoing
chaos by assuming continuities and asserting it can and must
integrate different responses to similar and even wildly divergent
processes that happen to the body and the mind. One of the ways it
asserts this attempted integration is to believe the individual
thoughts that pass through our minds (scientists concerned with
seconds, and that a new one occurs at least as often) are connected
I take from this the conclusion that a desire to integrate
different impressions, feelings, or impulses into a self is based on
an illusory belief that it is even possible, and therefore that the
attempt to integrate is always a failure. That failure results in a
feeling of inadequacy that is the genetic consequence of the fact
that our brains are too sophisticated for our own good. An
isn't as good as others, but because no human is capable of
Nor is any human capable of reconciling autonomy vs doubt of her
capabilities, love vs hate, like vs dislike, or any other thing we
inadequate to contain the complex variability of situations and lead
to rigid distinctions about what is inside and what is outside, what
is good and what is bad, what is functional and what is
Human society functions through the confusion of our connections
and disconnections with others and ourselves, pretending we are
individual identities and creating power networks that pervade every
and bad, creative and destructive, because these binaries are
inadequate but just about as far as our brains can go with the
with it, burdened like all other humans, with the delusion that it
is possible to integrate impossibly divergent feelings, impressions,
impulses, into a coherent "self." Since we can't, we feel shame.
Others feel shame too, but our shame is inscribed with the
dichotomies and hierarchies of masculine power in our own particular
gay male way, as constructed by the social processes (gender, class,
race, geographic accident) of the last several centuries.
So, why not decide that shame is inevitable, that everyone feels it
that we can't fly: we don't feel shame at not being able to overcome
gravity. We do invent airplanes and banana peel jokes. We also
invent philosophies, psychologies and religions that help transcend
the blame and depression that are reactions to the inadequacy of the
Wild sex is one of the incommensurable feelings, bodily and social
processes that sometimes breaks through the rigidities of "self" and
But nothing we have invented can overcome the basic problem that we
we want domestic comfort. They can be made to coexist, but they
can't be made into one stable thing. The recent history of gay sex,
through sexual experimentation to the search for transcendence and
think, evidence of our biological and social limitations.
the other, "Do you smoke after intercourse?" The other replied, "I
different from itself. We all think poop smells, but each of us
familiarity, and hope it is the same every time. We like
same all the time. They also like other men because they are the
same, familiar to the senses. It is possible for a man to imagine
how another man feels pooping, sweating, running, eating, laughing,
being hurt, being afraid. Since he seeks to integrate his
contradictory impulses, he looks to other men for help and for
Woman must more clearly notice she is different every minute, and
markedly different through the month. Man looks to woman to be
different, and cannot imagine integrating her except by inserting
different smells and textures, unsure he is safe. Unsure whether he
is doing the right thing or inflicting harm, he tells himself this
is the natural thing to do, although he would feel more secure if
she was familiar like Daddy and not mysterious like Mommy. Male
for difference, an insistence on integration by inserting himself
If this were the case, our shame, the mind's conclusion that the
biological incapacity of the mind to reconcile contradictory
thoughts and feelings is to be interpreted as failure and inadequacy
qua humanness, when in fact each human faces the same incapacity and
our desire for the Other to allow us an escape from the shame of
being unable to do what humans by nature are not really able to
No blame. Perseverance furthers. The superior man (sic) thinks it's a
film, which is the only direct descendant of the late Novel as
In the last three years, Stark County, OH, which includes Canton, has
steelworkers at Republic Technologies on the east end of town lost their
"It's put us at a little bit of a competitive disadvantage," he said.
decision for me would be to go outsource in China. The tough decision is
"The truth is unless we can do something with these plants, they won't
chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers.
undervalued currency and the harm that imports were causing his
customers. Foreign competition was so intense, he said, that the price
and it becomes clear that the recording industry's problems with the
illegal online distribution of music in the United States pale beside
The industry's biggest hurdle may be cultural. As is the case among
many young people in the United States, swapping files and burning
doesn't matter to me, honestly speaking," said our contestant, referring
Piracy, of course, affects more than a pop star's paycheck. Sales of
countries than in the United States because of a combination of file
These examples leave out China, where piracy exists on an entirely
according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry,
File sharing appears to be as cross- cultural as any other type of
piracy. The amount of swapping in a country generally correlates to the
A sign outside advertises "Recordings! Your Favorite Songs in Cassette
popular requests, and if the shop does not already have the song, no
personally download it from the Internet at his father's office. "The
starting to pay big dividends and released estimates that show the size
The new estimates from the United Nations Drug Control Program show
the effectiveness of United States aid. The new data, though, are sure
to encourage supporters of eradication. "Many people who thought this
couldn't be done in the past are having to rethink their assumptions,"
decline in coca production to a fall in cocaine consumption in the
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, occasional
himself. You've got to prevent these things.. But all the agriculture
ministers left after that suicide. We need to get at the roots of
dissent. We can no longer count on AIDS alone to clear out the excess
farm labor pool already. Read this! It's his daughter!"
behind his old apple orchard here. In the quiet solitude of his former
Trade Organization talks, as the developing nations walked out in
him, "We're leaving tonight, dear. Things are getting too hot for us
Emir is lending us a palace for a couple nights. God knows he's gotten
an experimental Fair Trade cooperative, just beginning to succeed in
reversing the Green Revolution fertilizer problem, until her mother, the
village head, and her aunt, the chief agronomist, died.
The AIDS epidemic is threatening farm output and, in turn, many people
agriculture for food and livelihood. The Joint United Nations Program on
"Where farmers and their families fall sick, they cultivate less land
agricultural productivity decreases and hunger and malnutrition are on
the rise. Many children are losing their parents before learning how to
farm, to prepare food and to fend for themselves..."
As Factory Jobs Disappear, Workers Have Few Options
jobs lost nationwide in those three years, many of them because of
imports. Some economists say that even with a boom all those jobs are
Factory unemployment has snowballed into a huge social and political
the 1990's. President Bush gave a speech about manufacturing losses on
pressing the issue. A wide range of figures suggests that the economy is
likely to surge, but economists predict unemployment will remain almost
In a fetching cowgirl evening dress, the winner weeps tears of joy and
formation called a Prion. Prions are infectious agents which (almost
certainly) do not have a nucleic acid genome. It seems that a protein
alone is the infectious agent. The infectious agent has been called a
prion. A prion has been defined as "small proteinaceous infectious
particles which resist inactivation by procedures that modify nucleic
acids". The discovery that proteins alone can transmit an infectious
disease has come as a considerable surprise to the scientific community.
cortex and cerebellum. Probably most mammalian species develop these
diseases. Humans are also susceptible to several prion diseases:
the suite of offices he rents to a casting company is being boxed up and
"Yes, we are relocating," says the harried casting director. "We supply
immediately. Glancing at a printout in his hand, he tells his assistant,
drooling rum and shooting, two children to eviscerate, dogs to run and
Security Operations, insists." Turning away, he shouts into a phone,
And you said, "There is no purpose. It's just an accident."
virus teeming through his body, young enough to be your son.
And You said "Life goes on, within you and without you."
a growing taste for transfiguration, obliteration of self.
to another consciousness through the ecstatic chanting, where the
sound enables All to transcend their fear and experience their wonder
the other beings, inhabiting rocks that break in useful shapes, water
that cleans and cools, animals that give themselves to the people out
The children speak better as they socialize more securely. The
commemorate our births from out of the dark centers of the women, to
feel the complexity of our love and frustration with each other, to
stretch our cognition to encompass the thoughts of every entity we
They fashion tools and fashion pictorial representations with
perspective, use of pigment for line, shading, juxtaposition of images
in complicated interactions and with both sympathetic magic and
Our community, All, is the winner of the Great Cave Communities award
modern humans, able to learn and teach, conscious of our talents,
trained by the environment to emphasize the overcoming of
interpersonal frictions and cooperate. Perhaps there is some genetic
memory of the bonobos we are related to, those great apes whose
species, unlike their closest relatives the arboreal chimps, are
terrestrial enough to relax and enjoy food and sex, without the
environmental pressure for male hierarchies of domination. (see
We, the All, speak and make tools beautifully. All do not merely
"produce," as in productive labor; All are fully modern but have not
had to distinguish the infrastructural "labor" of acquiring and
cooking food from the superstructural "leisure" of talking after
eating or "ritual" of singing. It would be mistaken to see the life of
cognitive and emotive skills in everything we do, and have developed
complex society in which connections to each other and to the rest of
than through individual sensoria. Living is not easy for All: glaciers
and the dangers of the hunt narrow our world; but All's painters,
somatic, verbal and plastic form. It is important to note that All
without an owner's manual, and its habit of focusing attention on the
of narrating, stitching transitory sense impressions and feelings into
the others, has a legitimate fear of cave bears and cave tigers. But
fear threaded with memories of past attacks and predictions of
possible future pain that may obscure the core brain state of
This tendency in the darkness of life is brightened by a voluntary
surrender to the shared ecstasy of safety and worship of fecundity,
need for X and Y chromosomes is invisible to them, All experience
sexual contact without deducing its role in reproduction or imposing
the standard of reproduction on the sexual activity. All, like the
children are born from the bodies of women. Their groups might be as
(fictionalized, I assume, by the author) were inaccurate. Please see
"My body moves to the singing and drumming, the bone flutes, the holy
waters shared, the bodies all around me in the resonating chamber of
where our people feel special and right, where I and each one of us is
"Jagged crackles of flashes around our heads, our insides chanting
admitting us to the other part of the world, the part where all is
alive, all we see, hear, touch, taste, smell, lift, set down, pound or
"All we remember and all we forgot is here before us, the deer and
other meat, the bear and tiger to whom we are meat, the plants and
water and rock look at us with recognition, welcome us, dotted lines
of light, of power shoot from everything into me, from me into
Powers of beings revealing their being to our eyes and ears
I am not afraid of this power and the beings are not afraid of me"
"I can be in the darkness with light sweating out of my body,
droplets hiss white circles on the cave floor as I turn, as I turn
"Then absolute stillness, fires brighten, the world disappears into
such forms as lichens on cave walls, cave bear assailants on the
attack, earwax of old people exchanging formulas to ward off
humans generate as they experience their ritual life.
One is the state or process of transcendence, knowing the ultimate,
stepping out of self, through pain, ecstasy, whatever, into a feeling
of unity, wholeness, of uniting with higher levels of being. These
modes of transcendence are more or less known and knowable, and can be
The other category is the recognition and embrace of Immanence,
beyond epistemology, not a category of knowing, but one derived from
categories with the sexual division of labor among humans and
ultimately with gender stereotyping. By the time of the High
Paleolithic or Neolithic cultures of these caves, societies had
evolved far beyond the basic divisions of child rearing and other
tasks. I have witnessed the fact that women provide adequately for
themselves and their children, and share the surplus, through food
social structures rather than necessity selected for hunting, I
conclude that men developed hunting as a supplement, as something
helpful but not usually necessary, something to do to exercise their
brains and to take a more active role. Cooperation, and language, had
already been established through experience of gathering, sharing and
these activities could be performed with the brain of a Neanderthal,
I have seen your comments on this matter. Consider the following
1.The opening to immanent holiness in existence could be related to
the evolution of the cerebral cortex and therefore to an unknowable
knowing performed by the complex bundling of neural pathways but
holy origin in the processes the brain uses to monitor its own active
consciousness without transmitting them to the conscious mind.
"Life is a business whose returns are far from covering the cost. Let
us merely look at it; this world of constantly needy creatures who
continue for a time merely by devouring one another, pass their
existence in anxiety and want, and often endure terrible affliction,
"If the world were a paradise of luxury and ease, men would either
the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race
continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with
In the world outside this fiction, the Author remembers a sacred
"Oh, beautiful one, do not withhold from me that which makes you:
sperm, feces and bone and everything that makes you what you are and
L: "Yes. Mankind can't endure the thought that the world was born by
chance, by mistake, just because four brainless atoms bumped into one
C: "Then I should have told him that people put bombs on trains
everybody knows it's the other way around! And anyway, God??
impersonate bloody corpses of his favorite heretics. He spends his
time drunk on excellent local wines, fantasizing a very fulfilling
accused of gorging on rich foods and guzzling fine wines in the houses
of the rich. What a life, and very subversive, walking from town to
of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they can be in it right now! Tramping
around, not worrying about how slow walking is compared to the bus or
And, of course, purity of soul would put them all beyond petty
medieval morality. Since the Kingdom of God can be lived in the
present, there is no need for reproduction, either. Free love!"
"Better yet, they indulge their urges in homosexual acts."
has come into camp with a stringed instrument and is singing about
divinely. Your hands stray beneath the robe to the chest of your
You. I stroke your hair, your beard, your manly chest. Your scent is
strong with today's sweat and the rosemary we walked through all
afternoon. A kiss as your strong neck bends back to take my mouth, the
sliding of your tongue and the savory taste of meat and rare pepper.
with your gaze, my body shivers even here next to the fire, as your
seems a little hard to take. I am also impressed by the ideology, the
called themselves 'poor good youths' and 'good daughters.' They
rejected the sacramental system without worrying about
excommunication. They said 'I am a poor boy or girl' instead of 'I am
impersonally: 'it is said to you' instead of 'I say to you.' They all
a way of indicating they disdained Church hierarchies and followed
to spare future generations of the pain of living. Let's start a
movement for negative population growth among affluent Westerners.
Let's pledge not to have children and instead to leave some room and
have babies with surrogate mothers, and then hire nannies to take care
"Maybe the most useful would be mass suicide in the First World, for
almost ostentatiously plain, rigorously but gorgeously tailored,
might embarrass a Pontiff who, in his dotage, leans increasingly
Their luck runs sour when they are spotted by agents of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the bus terminal in the
"We know who you are: you are atheist revolutionaries. You, Caution,
sign that causes the priestly crew to relent. He points to their
crotches and mimes fellatio. After a period of speechless
"Every chance he gets," interrupts a young catechumen.
"Ever since," repeats the father with asperity, straightening his
"But we can't just let you walk around pretending to be piously in
spend the winter in the warm waters. The river at the park has a
fenced off area where manatees who have been nursed back from poor
health are kept. They would be unable to survive if they were free, a
grinding and work well for the foods the manatees eat. The teeth in
front wear down as the manatee gets older. But, new teeth form in the
back of the jaw, moving forward to replace them. That tooth movement
Manatees are plant eaters. They feed on all sorts of sea plants. An
eat. Also, sand is often mixed with the food they eat. The gritty sand
Brain, eyes, ears, whiskers are some of the body parts that help the
manatee sense the world. The manatee ear bones are large and their
hearing is believed to be good. They make sounds under water to "talk"
to each other. The sounds are like chirps, whistles, or squeaks. Most
of the sounds they make are too low a frequency for humans to hear.
Their eyes are small but manatees have fairly good vision. They can
tell differences between sizes of objects and different colors and
patterns. The manatee snout is covered with whiskers. They are sense
Their brain is very large and has a lot of gray matter. The gray
matter is where thinking occurs. Manatees can learn tricks. Breathing:
come up to the surface to breathe air. When the manatee reaches the
surface, you can hear the air blown out of the mouth with a big burst
of air. Poof. Then you can hear the fresh air being sucked in.
Sharks and alligators do not usually hunt them. Most premature deaths
In an upcoming episode, readers will gasp at the scope of their
to their aspirations and doubts with encouraging tenderness and
penetration. They are also eager to help her progress in her
the boy's armpits and crotch, with puissant bottom notes of pee and
what he hoped was an unsuspecting planeload. Elaborately moving his
tongue in his long drowse, he fell into the reverie mentioned earlier
coastal regions in the tropical parts of the Old World, but some
individuals go into the fresh water of estuaries and up rivers.
member of this order adapted to cold waters. Manatees live along the
coast and in coastal rivers in the southeastern United States, Central
three to about six individuals. Generally slow and inoffensive, they
spend all their life in the water. They are vegetarians and feed on
various water plants. They are the only mammals that have evolved to
the myths of the sirens) and manatees. The only reliable observations
of nursing in manatees, however, have revealed that the young suckle
while the mother is underwater in a horizontal position, belly
somewhat similar but that the calf usually is in an inverted position.
comparative scarcity at the present time probably results from
exploitation by humans for food, hides, and oil. The number of
the Baby's chest and screeches away in brimstone and thunder to the
facing the viewer, still holding the murdered Ana K. in his arms,
right of the bed, her hand on her daughter's little forehead, while
falling out of the frame bottom right. Merle is in the foreground to
Doctor, Nurse and Alligator Purse, in a pictorial triangle middle
ground left, stare dumbfounded, one at The Baby, one at Merle, and the
We, the readers of the world, despite ignoring repeated calls for
comment, can now notify you that we have decided you should let The
Baby live. Please inform us of any outcome, and we may deign to
functioning, and I cannot be certain all of that is intact."
accused of gorging on rich foods and guzzling fine wines in the houses
of the rich. What a life, and very subversive, walking from town to
of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they can be in it right now! Tramping
around, not worrying about how slow walking is compared to the bus or
And, of course, purity of soul would put them all beyond petty
medieval morality. Since the Kingdom of God can be lived in the
present, there is no need for reproduction, either. Free love!"
"Better yet, they indulge their urges in homosexual acts."
has come into camp with a stringed instrument and is singing about
divinely. Your hands stray beneath the robe to the chest of your
You. I stroke your hair, your beard, your manly chest. Your scent is
strong with today's sweat and the rosemary we walked through all
afternoon. A kiss as your strong neck bends back to take my mouth, the
sliding of your tongue and the savory taste of meat and rare pepper.
with your gaze, my body shivers even here next to the fire, as your
seems a little hard to take. I am also impressed by the ideology, the
called themselves 'poor good youths' and 'good daughters.' They
rejected the sacramental system without worrying about
excommunication. They said 'I am a poor boy or girl' instead of 'I am
impersonally: 'it is said to you' instead of 'I say to you.' They all
a way of indicating they disdained Church hierarchies and followed
something you learned on your honeymoon in your hometown. By changing
the subject from Sea Cows to vegetative infants, you missed diving
took over the Springs in the name of ecology,( actually "Human
Resources" ax- men responsible for draining the Springs and the
genetically combine MANatee genes with those of "land sharks"-- to
clone aquatic (cold blooded) humans who will control global
"Homeland Security Pool and Spa Services, Inc", installed in thousands
else. Especially poor old people. The surplus seniors around the
world. The drowning world.  Meanwhile, planned communities
will be expected to work happily and harder at meeting raised
expectations--- Old age is predicted to have more positive
attributions-- such as maturity, competence, sophistication,
Surfing the Wave of Retirement: Waving or Drowning? Growing old
successfully will be the expected norm. Without vigorous investments
Leisure and Medical Industries, Travel, Surgery and Adult Learning are
that you know Her Secrets. Gasp at the scope of their operations.
remember when he'd last enjoyed sex. He'd gotten off the plane in
penis against him, kissing deep as he could, and S masturbated himself
to orgasm, feeling embarrassed at how long it took and how his
flying grip. That was more than a year ago and he'd only jerked off a
As he thought about it now, he thought his sexual appetite had never
lasted more than about fifteen minutes at a time. He'd had that
The sex he first had was with himself. R___ G___ had taught him to
confessed, the smell was his own. He had grown increasingly concerned
"Try stripping him and leaving him in a cold shower for a
He'd always had a boyish way that drew stronger protective types.
He'd enjoyed that so much that he'd never learned to be anybody else.
others who were boldly exotic. They were badges he would put on to
made him more adept at the presentation of a self as sympathetic
generosity with which Others (especially Black women) granted him the
had always been the most important markers in his sexual adventures.
"We're not sure this old guy has any authentic self of his own,"
"Never mind the proof, that's for sissies and appeals courts," South
tells the interrogators. "Just keep him talking. Try the drugs."
He knew by now the question had to be answered with a yes; after all,
he did choose within the limitations of history and genetics. And he
also knew the question and its answer taken together were a trap,
sucking him into an illusory comparison of selves, reifying an idea
that did him no good, and could only add to all the negative feelings
of deficiency he confused himself with. He knew there is no authentic
authentic, and his political comrades and their revolutionary project
had helped keep all that at only barking distance. He couldn't
remember anymore what it was like to love anyone, let alone love the
He wasn't sure he could remember how people talk to each other. He
was always impatient with friends' recitations of their daily ins and
not. He thought such talk was trivial and tried to not tell such
tales, even to himself. It was difficult for a compulsive repeater who
was used to saying over and over some phrase or song that caught in
He understood now that nothing happened unless he wanted it to. The
he'd thought stemmed from his deficiencies were feelings he'd
And somehow, a few years ago, he began to take the pills and
everything changed. He was no longer so sure he was an unhappy person;
freer to think and play. If that happened because he swallowed an
organic chemical it must mean his mind in its ceaseless processing
must have been interpreting in a particular way, a way that he no
longer had to experience. His unhappiness was an interpretation that
was not necessary; he could just as well be patient and observant,
mindful of how his narration of the extended recent time did not
the world seems futile and tiring, especially in the morning." And "I
notice that my mind is engaged and ticking more productively later in
the day." And "I notice that I sleep a lot, and maybe that is
compensation for reduced REM or deep sleep on account of sleeping
South finds it takes very little to get S to talk, but his talk
outlaw, is subjected to all the usual tortures used on political
How are you? I am fine. I am a student in the seventh grade at the
taking pictures of the prisoners have sex with each other. Sex should
be between men and women who say "Okay, let's have sex' (with each
Absolutely Top Holiest Redeemer Reformed New Apostolic Charismatic
"Okay" before we have sex with him or go to the basement for
and priests whip the girls.) When they put The Question to us, I
feels a lot more fun than the cane. I think you should follow our
example. And then let them go, because they have always said "Okay" to
having sex, maybe even with each other. They might even have sex with
hand, he rubs his eyes and reminds himself he hasn't washed his hands.
Rinsing with water from the stoup, he wonders where this kid got
their sabotage activities and of others they know carry them out. If
The International Movement, totally legal supporters with ELF
and South is confronted with a photo of himself naked, simulating
very large capitals, the accompanying text reads US Pull Out!
Apologize to the Sodomized! Moral Is as Moral Does!
Memory floods the synapses with a message once sung to him (by J or B
Yes, it's love I offer you and hope that you will keep.
So what thing can I offer you? What gift is there to give?
So this I offer now to you is weak with right and wrong-
what he thinks his dreadful interrogator wants to know.
"There is no actual conspiracy; there doesn't need to be a
conspiracy. The Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination61 explain that all substance is composed of
themselves built not out of phenomena but out of an utterly different
experiments will lead us back to objective events in time and space is
about as well founded as the hope of discovering the end of the world
'We now know that the moon is demonstrably not there when nobody
the use of spontaneous ordering forces enables us to induce the
formation of an order of such a degree of complexity (namely
comprising elements of such numbers, diversity and variety of
conditions) as we could never master intellectually, or deliberately
arrange, we will have less power over the details of such an order
than we would of one which we produce by arrangement.'63"
"We thought Communism might be better if we stopped planning so much.
up on this you idiot! The West is dying and you ask why? NeoCon or a
FORBID YOU USE MY MACHINE STOP TORTURING MY OLD COMRADE STOP
that they are unable to conquer the old man's will.
amphitheater to see the dance of the Mountain King and imagine
asking them to release him. He's a wanted fugitive, so we can't
"Get to Cologne, that's the closest city. There can't be that many
something you'd never be able to pronounce, my dears.") Unclear about
geography, he accepts his uncles' guidance and a suitcase full of
opium and flies off to Cologne. Marcel stays behind; the Sheikh and
his friends love to watch his fair Gallic skin get sunburned and peel.
the Eau de Cologne factory with a load of bergamot oranges.
"We thought you were one of us," shouts the driver over the roar of
five lower gears. "What is the matter with you? You smell like a fried
As our view goes to a medium shot, he slides his bruised limbs into a
clandestine stateroom under the load, turnips on their way to a
After a few days on a private island in the Black Sea, our friends
You must join us for a few weeks of thrilling caravan travel. I can't
take No for an answer, as we all seem to be wanted by that dreadful
know you can't spell, and they'll know where we are, you booby."
"All will be revealed tonight. Now eat your apricots and dates. Rest!
The thing I most can't remember is how a woman feels inside.
people would all shout at him. As a chorister the boy would have sung
"architecture of life," meaning that Bach provided a structure for his
understanding during the complex changes he was to face throughout a
The first documentary evidence of his name change is in his
His thought, as recorded in his journals during his years at the
the East. Although his philosophical studies show his great
is said by a classmate to have urinated on the library's holograph of
Comrades from that time equivocate, but refuse to agree to his
description of himself as physically repellent; they note his
discern tactical opportunities in the contestations with the emerging
German bourgeoisie and its English investors. He disappeared, faking
his death at the hands of Brown Shirts in a riot in Berlin, and
considerable effort expended by the author, no clarity as to the
precipitous rejection may have been followed by more dangerous events,
archives of clandestine operatives. Recently released and decoded, the
and the role of the Communists in the resistance, but the prominence
underwent. Apparently R was not enthusiastic about the transfer of
industrial assets to the Soviet Union, and he is probably the unnamed
party leader who was sent twice for proletarian internationalist
involved in new controversies. During debates over development of
want to stink up our country for all future generations." He was
He married his cook after she sustained a cerebral infarction in
It is not difficult to discern, hidden in this little poem, an
expression of great regret that he felt himself inadequate in love.
that he must have treasured, as he brought it with him into exile when
hotels since that time, eking out his days with a faithful friend as
memorizing with little enthusiasm. "What drivel, set in what regular
feet!" she exclaimed inwardly, never yielding the least outward sign
of disbelief. She was well on her way to a ranking position within the
deepest secret plans of the group. "I can't fish out the actual steps
they are taking, besides building tourist traps with surplus
submarines. What is the meaning of the turbans? I must get to the
from the cliffs over Lake Superior, vaguely persuaded that something
men's clothing (few in True and Argosy but plentiful in Esquire.) He
drugstore while awaiting his orthodontist appointment. He read all the
Great Books dutifully, racing to find out how each ended, annoyed at
were not normal, and that they had a name; in fact, he was most
devastated to learn that his urinary appendage had a name and a
different function, and he cried in embarrassment upon learning
to call the "wetter." And "vagina" was too confounding altogether.
Having no sisters, never having caught his mother without her girdle,
he was not so sure where this vagina was located or what it did.
Ignoring it all was by far the best course, he concluded.
Venison was named by his mother, who thought her son had a "freakish,
gamey look." His father, a sarcastic reformed drunk, predicted that
"he'd have an odd taste, not like ordinary meat," and it was true:
only the qualities of meat from the town's frozen food locker, none of
the grace or equanimity of the live animal, and had the look of one
larded with strips of fat through his flesh and ready for roasting.
He spent all his summer days in the woods, moving from mossy stumps
woods, following deer trails he would look up to the cathedrals of the
forest with a longing to worship something, even the spare sunlight
limestone walls. Far better to think of himself as a hermit in bosky
seclusion than a rejected, overweight and soggy egghead.
only his teachers, making a mentor and confessor out of a recent
cheekbones, rendering him more manly in Venison's eye and even less
confusing desire at the porcelain skin revealed in the hollow between
Chemistry was Venison's meat. He loved making banana smells of esters
and quickly moved on to more complicated organic molecules. It was a
inhalers and a growing taste for perspiring, gasping conversations
tendencies, often walking backwards for miles to erase what had
happened earlier on the same route. It was he who led Venison to the
as summer rains raised the smells of damp hay and animal excretions.
through deep snows out onto the ice crags to peer into the fluorescent
It was while staring into the impossibly deep waters of Lake Superior
that Venison received the first intimations of his special mission and
of mankind's aquatic mammalian peers. He learned that humans were
hairless because they were originally aquatic apes, able to evolve
into standing bipeds with the aid of the buoyant waters of the ages
when they first emerged from the arboreal ecosystems that had limited
anatomy, and found himself zeroing in on the hypothalamus.
rich in ganglia, nerve fibers, and synaptic connections. It is
composed of several sections called nuclei, each of which controls a
specific function. The hypothalamus regulates body temperature, blood
pressure, heartbeat, metabolism of fats and carbohydrates, and sugar
levels in the blood. Through direct attachment to the pituitary gland,
the hypothalamus also meters secretions controlling water balance and
milk production in the female. The role of the hypothalamus in
awareness of pleasure and pain has been well established in the
laboratory. It is thought to be involved in the expression of
emotions, such as fear and rage, and in sexual behaviors. Despite its
numerous vital functions, the hypothalamus in humans accounts for only
How exciting to think that a part of the human brain was evolved from
waters of the Lake, that humans would be happier if they lived there
without the elaboration of aggressive behaviors exhibited by the
savage boys in gym class. How much better to be without these
functions and to live as the sturgeon once did in these waters.
In an upcoming chapter: new research suggests a link between the
"You can get a nice date milkshake and we'll join you at the
Suddenly, they were thrown to the ground by the Sheikh's bodyguards,
toward the elevator to the bunker underground. A grenade rolled
black microfibers through the pierced and gilded ceramic arabesque
Hotel Real Desert. He wondered again how all these people were
sorry, but you will have to miss the safari, I think. How about this:
my old schoolmates, mightn't it be better to make your way through
many cigarettes. He wants to write a clear exhortation to his peers:
filter burns, he thinks, "My idea is complex and it's hard to make
this argument coherent." He stubs out the cigarette and clicks on the
"I should cut away all the digressions here," he breathes out with
always making plans and canceling. I always cancel too, so shut up."
After a trip to the toilet and worry about bladder problems, he sits
down and lights another cigarette. Here he looks at the draft of his
for something very similar. Inexperienced, naive fighters are pitted
against each other, one side to maintain the present corporate world
order and the other to replace it. And it's not a fight just between
homeland? No, it's a military and political shield operating to
dominate the global market, a market that doesn't care what ordinary
and all, a country that embodied greatness once. But we are not any
We, the people who used be so productive, were lulled out of our
vitality by corporate grasping and by big demand for US goods and US
Prosperity was, of course, not spread equally among us: the average
income declined but corporate income skyrocketed to the top. Most
a home, college for the kids, insurance even for domesticated
to production of money and financial equities. That future was a
little like an LA garden, all exotic plants, tended and watered by
people and resources brought from across the borders. Now not just our
only immigrants can afford to take. Even the soldiers are taking pay
a compassionate look at the whole planet: living creatures nearly
ruined, cherished moral and religious ideals perverted into family
values, and competing, hostile forces that nations can not control. A
expect to negotiate our way out of continual wars either, because we
blindly let corporations sell our birthright for a mess of oil and
Bush, neither good cop nor bad cop, can pacify, let alone rectify,
freedom, democracy and peace. We will be more secure if we dismantle
that's fits for this earth, based on the desires we share with all
people everywhere. Things worth fighting for right now:
Never mind that these are utopian ideas: the demands themselves move
people to realize that if these basic human needs were met then
competition for scarce resources would diminish. And they can be met,
abundantly, from the incalculable wealth we produce together on this
does matter whether it's an avowed fundamentalist Christian militarist
He's not confident that his argument addresses what he feels is an
It's sad, isn't it? What we love is here, in this place. Where we are
alive, we learn to love the scene, the settings in which we are
conscious. Unnoticed, all the people and trees and sidewalks make a
place, a country, which we consider central to the experiences we
have. Their centrality might be illusory; after all, what we're really
attached to is our consciousness, our aliveness. But mental processes
become affect, our bodies and our brains do that in this place and we
to give up the fatal connection to power, to glory. The republic of
liberty, at least the hope and the struggle for liberty that marked
smiles and readier cash, overwhelmed what possibilities of mutual aid
We leave our author here, unsure that he has moved even himself.
the deepest secret plans of the group. "I can't fish out the actual
steps they are taking, besides building tourist traps with surplus
submarines. What is the meaning of the turbans? I must get to the
"You are in grave danger. Venison is accumulating millions of dollars
and thousands of recruits with the aim of taking humans back to their
"What you don't know is that he has convinced his followers that a
part of their brain, originally evolved in fishes, was passed in a
distorted way to humans, causing aggressive behavior. They are
mystic gear, but in fact the turbans are stylized bandages covering
suspicious of her since she began to show signs of what he was
explorations of consciousness made Venison very clear about enemies:
her hypothalamus to see if she is male or female.74 We have to kill him, her or it, regardless. She's an
interloper who wants to interfere with my mission. The whales will
F are forced to flee on foot, as heavily armed police officers fire
"As a government, we are committed to the rule of law and the
and claiming the tracts as their own." [Pictures of lush land, with
mountains in the background are shown, then police officers in riot
has died, shot during a confrontation with the police."
ranchers, government officials said, would be disastrous for the
economy, which relies heavily on Western assistance and on tourism, a
might encourage similar demands by the scores of other ethnic groups
move in and cut the fences and bring in their cattle,'' said one white
firmer action against the trespassers, some of whom are from the
"The police need to be harsher,'' he said. "There have been too many
warnings. There need to be more arrests. We need quicker, more
adopted a cautious approach to land reform. A new constitution that is
being drafted proposes that the long leases granted to some wealthy
where a railway was being built, into reservations on far less
leaders 'of our own free will, decided that it is for our best
interests to remove our people, flocks, and herds into definite
reservations away from the railway line, and away from any land that
because their predecessors were clearly taken advantage of by the
my days in prison than see settlers spend their days enjoying my
The room service porter, who is actually a local operative helping
them avert the female genital mutilation scheduled for two days hence,
destroyed the electrical fencing that rings the properties and driven
their own herds onto the land to graze." He tells them the area that
table tells them, "Aggravating the current conflict is a drought that
fragile tourist industry has been hurt in the past by fears of
best known. They perform dances at lodges across the country, in which
they chant in unison and leap vertically to seemingly impossible
little profit from tourism and that many of the people who dress as
We're human beings, and we have a right to agitate for our rights.''
taking place against a backdrop of major global climate, social and
now with a golden beard, young cool glasses, accompanied by a
boisterous film crew. They took up all available space.
I was with comfortable friends and attractive young
I was incommoded because the cutest young man was with him, but
looking at me through long lashes over his muscled bicep, as if to
"No," I said to the brother, "things have been dreary since you got
here. I came with friends to study the language and culture and now
Gurney with false bottom to "disappear" recumbent figure
In a dream you may stray and lose your way home. You ask someone to
you still can't get home. Once you rouse yourself from your
realize that the only way you could have gotten home was to awaken
yourself. This [kind of spiritual awakening] is called "return to the
origin" or "rebirth in paradise." It is the kind of inner realization
serious error, however, were you to assume that this was true
enlightenment in which there is no doubt about the nature of reality.
You would be like a man who having found copper gives up the desire
apartment of the one person he remembers from his few visits to the
West during his ascendancy in the E. German Party. He rings hesitantly
totters to open the door. Peering through false eyelashes, she croaks,
and see me; I can lubricate and be ready in a minute. And now, really
personage tells a young man with a video camera, sitting next to the
strong tea. "You knew always that I love mankind; I never could not
Trade Organization now. She consults on security operations for the
workers reasoned, then we should no longer suffer under the weight
he emphasizes that the most important demand of the factory worker
was to abolish the production quotas and destroy the structural
order of command over labor in the factories. Socialism, after all,
"We should have emphasized that socialism also means the end of
gave concerts that showcased her late husbands work to support
herself and her children. It is not known whether Johannes had always
For more detailed biographies of each of these classical composers,
Keep in mind that words for songs during this time period usually
how they might be conveyed through the music. Would the tempo be slow
and the tone sad because love is unrequited, or might the tempo be
fast and furious to show the frustration of two souls that never
As you begin these assignments, remember to keep in mind what was and
Voice over, through the radio in the car, on the television at the
airport, in the ambulance waiting outside the hospital, we hear part
"If we unite now, each and every one of us, and each tribe to
another, we will cause the implementation in this country of that
distinction. It does not choose between black and white. We are here
must first achieve the right to elect our own representatives. That is
which does not elect its own representatives in the Legislature and we
are going to set about to rectify this situation. We feel we are
dominated by a handful of others who refuse to be just. God said this
is our land. Land in which we are to flourish as a people. We are not
worried that other races are here with us in our country, but we
insist that we are the leaders here, and what we want we insist we
get. We want our cattle to get fat on our land so that our children
grow up in prosperity; we do not want that fat removed to feed others.
own gift from God and I wish those who arc black, white or brown at
Bribery and corruption is prevalent in this country, but I am not
surprised. As long as a people are held down, corruption is sure to
rise and the only answer to this is a policy of equality. If we work
Sirens scream, paramedics and nurses bustle from station to station,
patients awaken from nights spent on hard chairs to request attention:
early morning is always busy at a hospital. When the obviously
turn briefly but see not much more than their surgical masks. The
young patient is already prepped, draped with white sheeting, her
knees up, feet in stirrups, sedated and monitored. Her parents,
anxious for their daughter who has only just resigned herself to
undergo this procedure, huddle in a corner, dressed in sterile scrubs.
The older aunt of the girl holds her hand and whispers comfort in her
ear, which is haloed by the white stretch cap over the hair braided
commanding woman dressed in white with a tall head wrap approaches the
patient; initiating the ritual, she lifts a small, precise scalpel.
She pauses, and quotes from her nation's most famous author.
is printed in full, The Story Continues cites only short excerpts
are going to describe here, has been strongly attacked by a number of
government, educational and medical authorities. We think it necessary
to give a short historical background of the method employed by these
bodies in attacking the custom of clitoridectomy of girls.
clitoridectomy of girls and other rituals surrounding it, as well as
initiation ceremonies for boys. He makes it clear that these customs
functioned to make young people part of community religious and social
However, this urge for abolishing a people's social custom by force
of law was not wholeheartedly accepted by the majority of the
delegates in the Conference. General opinion was for education which
would enable the people to choose what customs to keep and which ones
It should be pointed out here that there is a strong community of
girl who has not been circumcised, and vice versa. It is taboo for a
undergone this operation. If it happens, a man or woman must go
away from home for some years, have thought fit to denounce the custom
and to marry uncircumcised girls, especially from coastal tribes,
thinking that they could bring them back to their fathers' homes
without offending the parents. But to their surprise they found that
their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, following the tribal
has not fulfilled the ritual qualifications for matrimony. Therefore a
return to their homeland. Their parents have demanded that if their
sons wished to settle down and have the blessings of the family and
the clan, they must divorce the wife married outside the rigid tribal
custom and then marry a girl with the approved tribal qualifications.
Failing this, they have been turned out and disinherited.
At this point the girls, who are not allowed to participate in the
race, start out walking to the tree, escorted by a group of senior
warriors and women singing ritual and heroic songs. When the girls are
near the tree, the ceremonial horn is again sounded, this time
indicating that it is time for the boys to start the race. The boys
then start running in a great excitement, as though they were going to
a battle. The truth is, it is really considered a sort of fight
between the spirit of childhood and that of adulthood.
his wooden spear over the tree is elected there and then as the leader
a one is chosen by the will of the ancestral spirits in communication
time. As stated above, the boys climb the tree, break the top
branches, while the girls collect leaves and twigs dropped on the
ground. These are later tied into bunches and carried back to the
homestead to keep the sacred fire burning the whole night and also to
be used in other rituals, especially in making the initiates' beds.
The songs rendered by the relatives and friends round the foot of the
tree generally pertain to sexual knowledge. This is to give the
initiates an opportunity of acquainting themselves with all necessary
rules and regulations governing social relationship between men and
the sacred tree), the boys and girls are lined up according to the
order of their adoption. Here a ceremony of taking the tribal oath
of the ceremonial council. The initiates promise by this oath that
from this day onward they will in every respect deport themselves like
adults and take an responsibilities in the welfare of the community,
and that they will not lag behind whenever called upon to perform any
service or duty in the protection and advancement of the tribe as a
whole. Furthermore, they are made to promise never to reveal the
tribal secrets, even to a member of the tribe who has not yet been
The songs they sing on the homeward march are directed
towards denouncing all things that are not fit and proper for any
adult member of the community to do. Moreover, the phrases embodied in
these songs are to encourage the initiates to become worthy and
At the end of the ceremony the boys and girls are free to go to their
respective homes to rest until next morning. Care is taken to protect
them from anything that might inflict wounds upon them, as the
shedding of blood is regarded as an omen of ill luck. The initiates
are guarded the whole night by senior warriors against outside
against any possible attacks from witchcraft and also against any
temptation or enticement to indulge in sexual intercourse.
At the time of the surgical operation the girl hardly feels any pain
for the simple reason that her limbs have been numbed, and the
operation is over before she is conscious of it. It is only when she
awakes after three or four hours of rest that she begins to realize
that something has been done to her genital organ. The writer has
learned this fact from several girls (relatives and close friends) who
This signifies that the children have now been born again, not as the
children of an individual, but of the whole tribe. The initiates
means "My tribal brother or sister." When the ceremony is completed
all burst into ritual song. They bid farewell to one another and then
leave the homestead under the escort of their relatives. On the
arrival at their respective homes a sheep or rat is killed by the
parents to welcome them home again and anoint them as new members of
With such limited knowledge as they are able to acquire from their
converts or from others, who invariably distort the reality of the
entitle them to claim authority on sociological or anthropological
opportunity to acquire the scientific training which will enable him
anthropologists who have bad experience in the difficulties of
After manfully squeezing his nose to unseat a particularly
intractable blackhead, pressing the flesh to the tearful point where
toilet. His buttocks seemed to hurtle past their usual resting point
and collided, with little padding to diminish the impact as his flesh
toilet. A man alone can easily neglect to lift the seat, although
previous tenant with a pristine pink one which he thought made a
whimsical match with the pink tiles on the bathroom walls, yet he'd
never been moved to harmonize the blue color of the floor tiles,
perhaps because he'd painted above the tile wainscoting in a
When he hit the rim, he was pleased that he was able to ejaculate
"Holy Shit!" within microseconds of contact, congratulating himself on
rejoinder. Having feared just this kind of undignified clapping of
tender skin onto the chilly and narrow porcelain, he was wont to leave
the seat down, until recently when it became redolently clear that
tiny droplets of urine were deliquescing to burden the air with the
fug of a public latrine. There was no completely agreeable solution
In any case, after replacing the seat and spreading his anal pore,
his disappointment at the quantity and texture of the waste he pushed
out was mollified only when a very organized plume of gas was emitted,
followed by a much more gratifying, elongated extrusion of shit and a
final firm fart that enabled the distended belly to regain some
smoother roundness. The unhindered egress of his excreta permitted
human body was experienced most to resemble that of other
connoting radical excavation of the underlying ground of animal life
pride at the "primitive" adaptation that efficaciously coordinated
involuntary peristaltic motion and voluntary bearing down and pushing
to achieve evacuation. The sensation of clean unopposed extrusion,
along with the bombast of flatulence and the highly parabolic
presentation of urine through the manually guided penis, was
pleasurable in the extreme, wreathed with smells that one could not
although only one's own could be granted this status and exempted from
the general disgust others' bodily excrescences could awaken in one if
warriors of the spirit, had occasion to taste this matter, but his
despite the alluring abjection it most theatrically might otherwise
Meditating on the high estimation Pascal placed on frequent and
copious defecation, enjoying especially the more vernacular version of
his attention to more rigorous exigencies of the present situation.
That is, he remembered he was entrusted by the Big Humpback Himself to
shake, eschewed a wipe, preferring the prospect of a warm lavage, and
turned on the shower, lighting a cigarette to enhance the waiting time
while the hot water made its way from the distant heater to his
bathroom. When all was right, he tossed his butt into the toilet and
the anthropological queers who wanted to authenticate their own
proclivities and choices, and he felt a strong antipathy at the
minutes to spare before the Fruit of the Sea armed security arrived.
When there was no answer to that, he asked, "Just who are you,
They said nothing more until they stopped for food at the stoplight
"I don't know," one of the men said. "What do you want to eat, Al?"
"I don't know," said Al. "I don't know what I want to eat."
Outside it was getting dark. The streetlight came on outside the
window. The two men at the counter read the menu. From the other end
"Fuck it, give us four fried egg sandwiches to go. We gotta go, Al."
"Say, you're a pretty bright boy, eh? Yeah. And hurry up. We gotta
Al lit a cigarette. "Give me a cup of coffee now though, "he said. He
hot but he swallowed anyway. He could feel it burning all the way
The man turned back to look at the paper bag of sandwiches. "You got
"Don't look now, don't turn around. Those guys are The Killers,"
She took their coffee and sandwiches across to a booth. She motioned
"Whatever you want." She dropped her spoon into her coffee. "Can we
pursued his questions. "Start by getting real with me. No forked
turned to see her. Then he heard a startling new voice. "This is real.
The reader is here instructed to imagine these two as if they
Pretend "The Killers" is modified to the present episode about
successfully imaginative, it will be unnecessary to detail their
penguins in the aquarium's exhibit, tales of love, lust and betrayal
are the norm. These birds mate for life. But given the
females flirt profusely and dump their partners for single males with
They have been completely devoted to each other for the last eight
years. In fact, neither one of them has ever been with anyone else,
They're both male. That is to say, they're gay penguins.
animal species. The list includes grizzly bears, gorillas, flamingos,
"The world is, indeed, teeming with homosexual, bisexual and
in the first page of his book. "From the Southeastern Blueberry Bee of
have been in an exclusive relationship for four years. Last mating
senior keeper for polar birds at the zoo. He took the egg from a
young, inexperienced couple that hatched an extra and gave it to Silo
penguins. In an effort to increase breeding, zookeepers tried to
Elsewhere, a female ape wraps her legs around another
female, "rubbing her own clitoris against her partner's while emitting
screams of enjoyment." The researcher explains: It's a form of
It's certainly not sex. Not lesbian sex. Not hot lesbian sex.
Six bighorn rams cluster, rubbing, nuzzling and mounting
They've been keeping it from us: There are homosexual
and bisexual animals, ranging from charismatic megafauna like mountain
gorillas to cats, dogs and guinea pigs. There are transgendered
animals, transvestite animals (who adopt the behavior of the other
gender but don't have sex with their own), and animals who live in
data on alternative sexuality in animals to write Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural
animal sexuality in its many forms and the ways biologists have tried
to explain it away. The second section, "A Wondrous Bestiary,"
orangutans, whales, warthogs, fruit bats, chaffinches.89
cannot spread over evolutionary time if they reduce an individual's
personal reproductive success. To be more precise, an imaginary
Parthenogenetic (virgin birth) species do exist in nature, they
found. Such a species cannot exist. Just as a sterile species cannot
those individuals do not reproduce, evolution theory predicts that the
percentage in the population must decrease continuously down to a
level that is produced by new mutations. But we observe more than
that. So how should the excess be explained? One possibility is
in the same individual. But this cannot be the answer either, because
bisexual individuals will produce on average less progeny than
homosexuality proposed by biologists. This is one of the best, and
interesting parts of his book. Probably few people have the
to refute the variety of hypotheses to explain (away) homosexuality.
toward the ceiling, 'Her knees were bent upwards, her legs still
spread apart, her arms falling limp behind her, as the sterile drape
slipped off and slithered to the floor,' reported a surgical nurse. "I
didn't have the opportunity to make my ritual incision," commented
"Suddenly, the ceiling parted and she went to heaven," her aunt said,
going under the knife in that godless custom. I don't know what my
with such a thing in this day and age.' The doctor in charge was not
it's time we got back there too. I hope the little baby is still
alive, as we can be very helpful to her now, I think."
What a happy reunion they all made back at the Hotel. Caprice
their new guest found acceptable but odd, and all toasted to success.
Security Operations had been transformed through complicated cosmetic
an said tartly, "He was discovered when he was found to have no
recollection of the chord changes in 'Sophisticated Lady.' The bad
connected with international terrorism, had been caught and extradited
corrupt officials and planted millions of trees in ravaged forestland.
reasons. "It's killing us, and the conspiracy is among the rich
nations (too selfish) and the poor nations (too corrupt) to pay for
agree on anything, united in condemning people for their sexuality. I
robbing us of our land. And Christian values are what we need. All the
deals. He's just whipping up poor farm laborers to riot because he
won't fight the agribusiness giants that own all the land. Same as in
are practically French by now," said Caprice, bending her husband's
elbow to bring the champagne glass to his lips again. In attempting to
turn the gathering back toward festivity, she urged everyone, "Let's
and work to expand the power of the multitude. That remains our
Instead of the usual chapter of The Story Continues,
readers are asked to consider the following two important items.
The feds are spying on  and harassing  political activists with a
EARLY THIS MONTH the federal government launched the latest crude
program called for "aggressive  even obvious  surveillance" of a
wide range of individuals (regardless of whether or not they're
election, according to an internal document leaked to the press.
The plan  a collaboration between the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other agencies
involves renewed scrutiny of mosques and interrogations of people
whose national origin, religious faith, or political leanings might,
about immigration status  theirs and others'  and about their
For staffers at these organizations, responding to these kinds of
crackdowns has become alarmingly routine. This is the fifth round of
origin, religion, and, increasingly, their political views.
No one knows just how many have been deported as a result of the
interviews or of the various dragnets conducted over the past three
the notorious Special Registration program alone. And the fact that
told me, "Going after immigrants is just the first step towards going
Indeed, a look at the past three years shows that Attorney General
whose only real crime is their opposition to the Bush administration's
to spy on everyday citizens without probable cause of criminal
dubbed "enemy combatants," without charges or access to a lawyer.
private citizens and relying on private industry to a degree never
seen before. Today federal agencies are maintaining a grand total of
The Bush administration has shifted federal funding away from
traditional law enforcement and toward domestic spying, explained John
police practices and surveillance issues. "A lot of this activity is,
in fact, being carried out by local police working with the Joint
Terrorism Task Force," he told me, explaining that those agents are
even local police chiefs  are often not aware of what these
As the Bush administration loosened professional standards for law
enforcement, it simultaneously increased financial incentives for
conducting surveillance, Crew continued. "To qualify for grants,
[local law enforcement] must have organizations in their locale that
are threats," he said. "They have to justify their own budget by
Civil liberties watchdog groups obviously worry about the chilling
effect these kinds of surveillance and crackdowns have on our
faltering First and Fourth Amendments. But they also insist that
When law enforcement fails to distinguish between violent criminal
activity and legitimate dissent  and when it favors collecting as
much information on as many people as possible rather than useful
"choosing quantity over quality," Crew said. "You develop good leads
by generating trust, not by disrespecting people's rights.... [And] if
you're looking for a needle in a haystack, adding more hay doesn't
The bills that have recently passed through the House and Senate in
gathering and expanding Big Brother's reach even further into our
"It's during times of fear when civil liberties are most at risk,"
efforts to bring the US to trial for war crimes in the matter of the
Federal Prosecutor's Office against high ranking United States
We are asking the German prosecutor to launch an investigation: since
into the responsibility of these officials for war crimes, and since
German law allows German courts to prosecute for killing, torture,
cruel and inhumane treatment, forcible transfers and sexual coercion
other systems of justice have failed and seeking to hold officials up
the chain of command responsible for the shameful abuses that
Please join our effort! The German Prosecutor has discretion to
decide whether to initiate an investigation. It is critical that he
hear from you so he knows that people around the world support this
they were sitting very close together, each able to look over the
"Yeah, pretty peaceful, eh?" He pulled off his watch and told
closer toward the lake. He started to take off his left boot and
"Don't think about it, just do it," he was told. "It's snowing, it's
getting dark, and it's the only way we can get picked up by the infra
Not even a minute later tracer bullets flew over them, streaking
to check on what kind of toolkit the guy was operating with.
rockets into the treeline as it swooped down between the unseen
In a matter of seconds, somebody had bundled up the two naked men and
strapped them into the helicopter. As they rose and headed out north
the air behind them, its occupants catapulted up flaming and then down
blankets and started iv drips to rehydrate them, pushing in a dose of
long, slow breaths. Satisfied with their vital signs, she left them to
drift a while; both were quiet for what seemed to be quite a long
"Printed here is a timetable I am instructed to share with you. It
details certain activities by persons you are acquainted with or that
you will otherwise find relevant. The phone is programmed to put you
in touch with the persons who contracted for this operation. They are
When he pushed the talk button and heard a voice say his name,
he said, looking over at the man who had turned the tables on him,
resourcefulness. You are safe now, in good hands I promise you. And
so I expect you'll enjoy it. Now will you please give the phone to
from the laptop screen about a product line in unmanned airborne
Exhibition. Last year we reviewed Transformation in Action. This year
examine an extension of this philosophy entitled Global Persistent
the operational and intelligence community capabilities. The nature
threat and the tempo of operations demand a radical departure from
way we have managed information flows, shared products and provided
represent an efficient and effective solution to provide a 'cursor'
target under any conditions and at any location. This year we
A vendor dishes spicy noodles into bowls for customers lined up on the
sidewalk. A family is sitting on the ground at a low table, passing
women, in blouses and skirts, all wear scarves on their heads, pinned
just below their chins. The camera pans slowly and reveals a man in
"Hey, what's he doing there? Go back, get that white guy out of the
English? Yes, well, we've rented this stand for the next two days.
You'll have to eat somewhere else." He reports back to the director,
The man who was moved out of the food stall takes his bowl and moves
next door to another stand. He sits down and continues to eat.
took off his white turban about an hour ago and is now carrying it in
has followed him. He needs to clear his head after three hours in
which his ostensible colleagues from the cult competed with the
products) for dominance, each with the aim to manipulate the other
spheres, particularly under the racist colonial policies of Great
would purchase a live dugong, a purchase that is illegal under
endangered species. The animal, allegedly orphaned in the wild
and profitable rapidity of calculations of ringgits and yuan, dollars
white tunics and white turbans, in a scene that owes too much to
be persuaded to bring this magnificent beast to the dock at KL for a
H: "Oh, our expert veterinary staff will of course be on available to
examination. And for a nominal cost, we can even find shippers who
will cross the Pacific and bring it directly to a port on the West
his cup with a repellently long fingernail on his pinky.
L: "Of course, a sound animal will require very special treatment en
A palpable chill passes through the room at this maladroit refusal.
H: "I cannot countenance the remotest possibility that you and your
risk from the notorious pirates because of our negligence. Despite
the risks a foreigner might face, we were prepared to make certain the
What is most visible here is the severely narrowed operational scope
County will pay three to see the live dugong swimming in the tank of
their office. Little do they know that the Pirate Queen, a beautiful
similarity to a Pirate Queen in a film cribbed from a book entitled
Your LIFE Story by someone else) determined to protect her heritage,
This script could be a smash: Criticality meets Ironic Distance meets
successful, which will require at some point that his secret mission
throughout the "Dark" Continent, financed by the Napkin Ring;
whose mission is to infiltrate and destroy oppressive cults and
directs public relations for the World Trade Organization and
thinking thoughts about consciousness and cognitive development, a
Each week a new chapter of the serial is emailed. If you want to read
it as it should be read, just reply to this email with "I want to
read" in the subject heading. You will be added to the mailing list.
Readers are also invited to contribute narratives, comments on the
beautiful and all people are so friendly. I can't walk down the beach
girl on its back. It must be young, as it is only a little taller than
a week or two, as my assignment there is stalled while we wait for
credited by a little English girl with saving her life in the tsunami.
weeks, and she was spending her last day on the beach yesterday before
As the wall of water crashed toward the beach, many birds and animals
(shot of dogs running on beach) This is not the only story of animal
was running toward the water back to his family in the nick of time,
Where are you? Are you well.? I have heard nothing from you. I am
almost in prison here. I was made to suffer all the hells of
detoxification from my morphine, and I miss you. I came to Frankfurt
days. I had no money, no clothes, no nothing and I am desolate. I had
All my dreams for the future are long gone; the fascists are rising
for an old man like me. I am so lonely. Can you please come and help
I was apprehended by US Marshals and brought back to the US. (see
denounced me and said I never did anything to help the Black
Liberation Army. But that does not satisfy the Justice Dept. There is
a small committee of people supporting me, and the Populist Legal
Agency is defending me. The political climate in this country has
changed so much. The liberals are the most craven cowards. Can you
aspiration to unite with God can be fulfilled only after death.
Church cannot face a congregation that understands The Knowledge of
huge peasant rebellion, caused by widespread dispossession of land
tilled by residents and sparked by a new reformation of religion. We
the idea of rights inherent in each individual person. Sadly, we
expect that one superpower will tie reformation theology and
[Here the text is broken and nothing is legible except one phrase:
commitment to the humans arises. Over the last few centuries I watch
their bewilderment at the rapid growth of cerebral cortex and its
integration into two hemispheres. When the hemispheres were separate,
the humans took the voices in their heads to be communication from
gods. Now that the two hemispheres are bridged, they are so lonely,
realizing that the only voices they hear are their own. Can I bear to
watch them invent power hierarchies of gender, occupation, accumulated
being and otherness, which should usher in a golden age of tranquility
Happy Winter Solstice I have not heard from you in a long time.
archery I never liked being in the basement anyway with those grisly
New Age Academy is a secure facility for boys and girls with ADD. We
yesterday that she would have to submit frozen samples of her brain
It is suspected that she contracted Mad Cow Disease (bovine
when contacted by our reporter. "This is obviously political
persecution for my totally legal support of the ELF Liberation Front."
"ELF Lib," as it is called by its adherents, is alleged to have
brought Prion to the attention of authorities. She was bound in a rug
you should make him your bitch and that would clean his clock for him.
from it to consider the act of knowing and its modalities. For
certitude that characterizes my consideration of that selfsame cat as
modalities are behind us on the noetic side of the pole, and if there
we were to face the object, we would get the pure sense of the object
has seized on quantum mechanics as an explanation for their
theological concern with consciousness and the desire to shed "the
ego" in order to be at home in the new construal of the universe."
that matter is no longer to be thought of as solid and stable, and
chiropractor, so he undoubtedly has the scientific background to
the brain are active when looking at, say, an apple as when
remembering an apple. He then says this indicates that the brain
cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is only
remembered. Therefore consciousness is constituting reality. That's
coterminous, congruent. That leaves out the whole rest of the body,
including the eyes, the muscles that move the lenses in the eyes, the
sneezes and is finally underway. "That means that the assertion about
consciousness constituting the world is not proven by that argument.
changes phenomena: observing a subatomic particle can determine either
its location or its momentum, but not both. In fact, all we have are
probabilities for where any given particle is prior to observation: it
"Theories abound, darlings, to explain this uncertainty principle,
there is no thing, no entity we can call matter, or energy, or
reality. All we can do is ascertain probabilities, which do not
order. Most scientists are agnostic on the question of whether there
is a "real" universe out there independent of our observation of it."
"The best that can be said is that observation (and we could stretch
and call that consciousness, I guess) is implicated in every
phenomenon we can observe and seemingly in every phenomenon we can
"But this movie goes too far; it wants us to believe our
we take a hot bath, we are transformed and can throw away our anxiety
are a logical outcome of theories that brain chemicals and electrical
connections among neurons are the seat of emotional reactions of
delight and distress. Readjustment of those electro chemicals is a
falsehood that the cell is the basic unit of consciousness) want food
Much of the life of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender,
economies and geographies. This course will examine some of the ways
and responded to the Law that seeks to channel desire into acceptable
use, unsafe sex, sexual activity in public or private are "crimes"
said to characterize "queer" life. We will attempt to look at the
behaviors and beliefs of persons seeking sexual and emotional
connections and their outcomes in modes of being that both create
challenged the structures of economic and social life, with resulting
transformation and incorporation into the globalization of the
Construction of a Gay Drug, Resentment, The Crystal Diary, and Macho
Sluts. In addition, students will participate in original
research on sexual subcultures in this city and in other parts of the
Topics to be covered (partial list, needs expansion)
lecture on the phenomenon of Gay Crystal, about which I, as an
know something from my frequent and promiscuous contacts with New
"And then I will perform a disquisition on the Gay Circuit Party,
"As always, Marcel, I am impressed by your perspicuity," I had to
"And," added my addled friend, "I have a whole idea about the history
In this multimedia course, we will examine the Lesbian, Gay,
origins of this cultural movement in Cold War economics and politics
In literary production, specifically gay male writing begins with
became icons to 60s gay poets. Most prominent New York poets were
particularly visible. The high camp of the Theater of the Ridiculous
looked at in early film and recordings of these performances, as well
significant cultural producer of the second half of the century.
anonymous projects that contributed to the development of the
demonstrations and "tribal" gatherings of groups like the Gay
Liberation Front. Hundreds of new "queer" writers began their careers
objection to immediate revolution: 'We have no majority among the
truth or pedants who want an advance guarantee that throughout the
votes plus one, this they want at all events, without taking the least
account of the real circumstances of the revolution. History has never
given such a guarantee, and it is quite unable to give it in any
revolution. To make such a demand is jeering at the audience, and is
Law and Order (Maintenance) Act for recruiting people to undergo
military training and conspiracy to engage in sabotage. He is accused
of personally picking the spot for the abortive attempt to kill
*When all the chicken pieces are brown on every side, mash tomatoes
*Thin the peanut butter with a few spoons of hot broth and add half
*In a separate pot, boil spinach or pumpkin leaves for several
minutes until tender. Drain and toss with the remainder of the peanut
compilation, her first CD on a stateside label. Split between lulling
music for enthusiasts of both contemporary and folkloric song forms.
Cyclical motifs combine earthy singing and translucent instrumental
syncopation to create a hypnotic sound of power and ancientness."
had "not actively cooperated" with the fund and had been in arrears on
summit. With political temperatures rising dramatically over
dealing with issues of democracy and electoral conduct.
State University who were marching to protest segregation at a bowling
Brother (the government's version) was looking over people's
shoulders: a staffer on the National Security Council was responsible
Army, even though amphetamines were widely distributed as stimulants
King was murdered, fires spread to within two blocks of the White
Democratic presidential convention was on its way to town, but
and taxi drivers. The convention itself would be ringed with
electrified barbed wire; the security force had at its disposal
brutality that resulted was so extreme it changed people's political
of bloodbaths. More riots, the Weathermen bombings, the murder of
more were still to come. There was momentousness, paranoia, and danger
punching out people who grew their hair long. A feeling of shared
latter for a meal of lentil pottage. The country which the Lord
his blessing appears to have been inherited by his latest posterity.
this time they were fearfully denounced by the later prophets. After
centuries continued to prosper. But during the warlike rule of the
adopted their dwellings as well as their country. Everywhere we meet
removal of part, or all, of the female genitalia. The most severe form
consists of clitoridectomy (where all, or part of, the clitoris is
stitched or held together in order to form a cover over the vagina
when they heal. A small hole is left to allow urine and menstrual
Girls undergoing the procedure have varying degrees of knowledge
about what will happen to them. Sometimes the event is associated with
festivities and gifts. Girls are exhorted to be brave. Where the
mutilation is part of an initiation rite, the festivities may be major
events for the community. Usually only women are allowed to be
Sometimes a trained midwife will be available to give a local
cold water, to numb the area and reduce the likelihood of bleeding.
More commonly, however, no steps are taken to reduce the pain. The
girl is immobilized, held, usually by older women, with her legs open.
believed to facilitate healing. The girl may be taken to a specially
designated place to recover where, if the mutilation has been carried
out as part of an initiation ceremony, traditional teaching is
living in the mountains off herbs and plants; all citations from
himself, transmigratory soul unbound by genetics, has personally
It is also worth noting here, by the way, that the rumors of an
not supported by any available evidence. Readers will be aware of
history, wherein the past and present cultures of all times and places
are ransacked for information and entertainment. Merle has made no
preserved books, and all agree are some of the most beautiful books in
That sentiment is echoed in a new banner that greets drivers as they
cellphones around the world. To keep markets open for its economy, the
food imports, in bilateral talks and in preliminary negotiations in
"It is not hard to guess why he chose to terminate his life," said La
conditions of the farmers, the agriculture industry and the rural
upon, to demonstrate how farmers could survive and compete despite
out paddies abandoned across the valley floor. "If we import more
"Parents who are farming, don't want their children to do farming,"
he said, speaking in a room filled with farmers. "There is no hope.
"Frankly speaking, I am really, really proud of him," his daughter
terms of legal punishment, implies, more or less obscurely, judgments
of normality, attributions of causality, assessments of possible
have been rocked by the discovery of the vast smuggling network run by
Emirates, seems to be escaping punishment despite its role as the key
world to mask the real destination of cargo. Consider how the
manufacturing company. "No document was traced that proved" the
according to the country's inspector general of police. The real
destination, he said, "was outside the knowledge" of the producer. One
tracked down, they will offer a similar explanation.
deniability. Its customs agency even brags that its policy on
trade zone, a haven for freewheeling international companies. Our
separated from one another by time, so that time itself interposes a
Faced with the catastrophic reality of the tortures
"bad apples" responsible for what could otherwise be
of the rural towns from which the soldiers accused of
Curiously, not a single interview has appeared with
the most miserable known. If a journalist had tracked
Black" Smith would be able to recount how all of the
to remain on his feet for interminable hours with a
experienced the humiliation of having to ask a male
how in prison one can be sexually abused by the same
structure which organizes basic nonverbal responses, such as aggression, 
which, in living fish, consist of two lines of cells near the kidneys.
Pathways involved in oral and genital functions "converge in that part
of the hypothalamus in which electrical stimulation results in angry and defensive
pituitary gland (which is linked to the hypothalamus)] "are derived
affectless, but it helps. It helped me realize that I can't rely on
old concepts like US imperialism to understand what's going on. The
blame for attacks on US targets is not just on the US. The changes in
multitude. It makes sense out of things that can otherwise be
addressed only through righteous but ignorant indignation.
coalitions of the willing, fighting border wars continually,
striking out with money and technology at competitors and friends,
bewildered that others don't like us, and disappointed at our
seeming failure to keep hope alive. Our overweening pride, inflated
by the dollars everyone in the world clamored for, has made our
claims this organ is markedly smaller in gay males and females than in
Would Be Queen, that there are no "true" transgenders. The
Christian fundamentalist right to further their eradication of
transgender persons and of homosexual behaviors. Ed.]
with noticeable closed eye imagery, is a much greater aesthetic
enhancer, especially of people and of music; is more euphoric; more
favorite characteristic is that one retains an interesting psychedelic
He was later baptized a Christian with the name of John Peter, which
giving evidence before the Morris Carter Commission, he proceeded to
after his arrest, he was freed from all restrictions.
stability, economic progress as well as agricultural, industrial and
supported reconciliation. He retained the role of prime minister after
foreign policy. Stability attracted foreign investment and he was an
document of the highest distinction in anthropological literature, an
a formal study of life and death, work and play, sex and the family in
life presented here are at once comprehensive and intimate, and as
has ensued over the years regarding clitoridectomy and female genital
leaves a relatively recent historical artifact in place without
reconnaissance helicopter has been deployed in support of United
The primary mission of the helicopter is in the scout attack role.
The helicopter can be optionally equipped to carry out transport and
utility roles using equipment kits installed externally on existing
hard points. A cargo carrying hook is rated to carry loads up to
2,000lb. Emergency casualty evacuation can be carried out transporting
two casualties on litters (stretchers), plus over 320kg of supplies to
insertion of up to six troops for critical point security missions.
pylons. Each pylon can be armed with two Hellfire missiles, seven
Mission processors control the suite of mission subsystems via a
radar warning receivers against pulsed and continuous wave radars and
night and to engage the enemy at the maximum range of the weapon
systems and with the minimum exposure of the helicopter. The mast
mounted sight contains a suite of sensors which includes: a high
resolution television camera for long range target detection; a
thermal imaging sensor for navigation, target acquisition and
guidance of the Hellfire missiles and designation for Copperhead
for handoff to an AH-1 Cobra helicopter for TOW missile engagements.
The mission equipment includes an Improved Data Modem for Digital
of 475kW. The engine and transmission system have been upgraded to
provide high performance levels in high temperature and extreme
talk about experimental inaccuracies to epistemological or ontological
issues and back again. However, ontological questions seemed to be of
somewhat less interest to him. For example, there is a passage
our observational data, there might still exist a hidden reality in
which quantum systems have definite values for position and momentum,
unaffected by the uncertainty relations. He emphatically dismisses
this conception as an unfruitful and meaningless speculation, because,
as he says, the aim of physics is only to describe observable data.
against the fact that the human language permits the utterance of
statements which have no empirical content at all, but nevertheless
produce a picture in our imagination. He notes, "One should be
especially careful in using the words 'reality', 'actually', etc.,
since these words very often lead to statements of the type just
relations as rejecting a reality in which particles have simultaneous
properties different from those being observed. In contrast, classical
physics rests on an idealization, he said, in the sense that it
as inherent properties, independent of their actual observation.
which a total order is contained, in some implicit sense, in each
region of space and time. The explicate order is a projection from
higher dimensional levels of reality, and the apparent stability and
solidity of the objects and entities composing it are generated and
subatomic particles are constantly dissolving into the implicate order
The quantum potential postulated in the causal interpretation
he proposes that there may be an infinite series, and perhaps
hierarchies, of implicate (or "generative") orders, some of which form
relatively closed loops and some of which do not. Higher implicate
orders organize the lower ones, which in turn influence the higher.
generative order and are therefore present in varying degrees of
as electrons or plasmas. He suggests that there is a
do not emerge in a random fashion but creatively as relatively
integrated wholes from implicate levels of reality. The mystical
implicate domain "could equally well be called Idealism, Spirit,
applied in order to enforce socially approved behaviors; "addicts" and
"homosexuals" are, for example, the "carriers" of AIDS. See "Epidemics
philosopher, master teacher and hierophant. His partnership with
Politicking with Words: On Ideology and Dictionary Meaning
have taken in good earnest the definitions of those
words and their provisional meanings, with reference
would have grown somewhat circumspect about dictionary
authority and the standard.  That the standard is collectively
is another truism.  But collectivity can be a problematic
as far as fixing the linguistic standard is concerned.
Given that society is heavily stratified into classes and
ranks, all those living in it do not have a uniform level
of literacy and the same degree of access to the process
controlled by the culturally and politically dominant
group or class, the ideology of dictionary adapts itself
to the dominant ideology at all points of time.  Since
wide acceptability is the goal of ideology, it makes its
cultural and political agenda invisible and makes itself
of dictionaries of various sizes and kinds always regard
and marketability as the end.  In practice, indiscreet
lapses from objectivity do occur nonetheless, and the
market suffers occasional setbacks.  A few years ago,
Another event that clearly illustrates how ideological
their opposed political and ideological dispositions.
true representatives of English politics and religion,
believed in the constitution of the state equally well
and used the same rhetoric for their own publicity.
friends and supporters of the war and principles of
claiming monopoly of the custodianship of constitutional
for the exclusive title of friends to the constitution
political meanings.  Claims and denials as well as vilification
took up political positions that turned out to be antagonistic
political struggle clearly signifying ideological underpinnings.
appears neutral, as it does in the modern dictionaries,
it is only so following the dictates of objectivity,
an ideology in itself, and the politics of invisibility.
predictably featured in the new dictionary, displacing
found a place as free citizens in the world of linguistic
past services, civil or military.  Men often receive
office.  But in particular, officers, soldiers and sea
the government.  In his time they were seen as arms
against grant of pension by the Congress to officers
provision for old officers and pension granted for the
purpose of bribery for favor and support.  He maintained
vastly changed social life in many ways; yet language
the loss of horses very well, remaining in the general
vocabulary to be widely used without horsey associations
with horses.  Many of these words are used figuratively,
are traceable to horse imagery.  We drive motor vehicles
ride and road: via road is cognate not only with our
course drew carriages of its own.  (Apt names, actually:
railway carriages, like the earliest motorcars, looked
charge, chariot.  (Cart and coach are not related to it,
early 1900s, to ride the cars meant to take a tram,
and the man in the cars was used as sobriquet for an
and so have most utility vehicles, like fire engine,
hackney or hack being a hired horse and by extension
the sleeping cars on old trains like the Orient Express).
for the cheap seats on an airplane.  French gives us
and if heavy and enclosed, a coach.  (Sleds are wagons
with runners, and sleighs are carriages with runners,
points stand out about these words.  First, many are
still used in their own right, but in trivialized senses:
for zooming around beaches, and even baby carriages
words, except in the train senses, for we call anything
putting the car before the horse, so to speak, though
I have never heard anyone mention the irony in this.
parts persist in our newer machines too: wheels and
steering itself were originally boat words, and hubs
kept as a nickname for a silver dollar, and it also
Many names also survive from the body of a carriage.
convertibles.  The oldest enclosed coaches originally
had two passenger seats facing each other, an arrangement
the rear is still called a trunk (it once really was a
trunk, as you can see in pictures of old coaches and
even old motorcars).  The horn is the literal and figurative
that was carried by a mail coach to announce its arrival
vertical shield by the driver's feet, and like the fenders
who waited in the cold while the very rich shopped,
for only the very rich could afford to come in carriages
Coach in the artistic or sports sense is an abstraction
gaudiest wagon in a circus parade.  Giving up alcohol,
that sprinkled down dusty dirt roads in summertime.
hubs rotate directly on the axletrees and squeak if
away, we cart it off; and scandals fester until the
tumbrels roll, the executioner's carts of the French
drafting in a great hurry at the very last minute.  An
on the cart, as if everyone were stuffed in and frantically
a horse straining against the collar to pull a heavy
on or has a blinkered viewpoint.  In tandem is often
ranged one in front of the other, in a single line, with
We coax balking people like reluctant draft animals
even keep stables of lawyers or designers or whatnot.
horses; and we even try to harness wind and sun and
people's enthusiasm.  We whip up enthusiasm too, as
And horsewhipping once settled many public arguments,
Parasols, Canes and Whips to be left at the head of
The desultory dialogue recorded below is a verbatim
English speakers have a selection of French vocabulary
are here, even as we speak, but largely confined to
blanches, eh?  The spirit is always willing, but for
pass, but if a movie has a decent plot and credible
TIMOTHY: To be honest, a lot of the films recommended
nude or two, that's for sure, but for my money there
name tried to flog me a vacuum cleaner once.  I remember
there are those who consider him a traveling salesman
tradition of impertinence dating back to dada in general
a bit dubious about anything since the Impressionists,
over backwards to tease critics, but forget all about
gleefully entertained.  But see the way he negotiates
obsessed with the naked human form aren't pornographers,
takes no chances, aesthetically speaking.  It's a question
trouble with all those terms is they associate style
Any discussion of what constitutes style must encompass
think the work should speak for itself.  Any critiques
United ace given to contretemps with footballing authorities
like blancmanges.  How can we reconcile the boorish
plenty of time to write a dissertation on everybody's
dissipation on slender means with a vacillating devotion
to his art.  He wound up trading it in for gunrunning
even think of using any of the variations for a boy
winner of wars, adviser to kings, father of five (legitimate)
ruthless crushing of a peasants rebellion.  Just the
the Blessed Virgin's Mother, has always been popular
to be in any way connected with the excessively macho
heroine gave intellectual respectability.  Originally a
daughters of a clergyman who surely admired neither
was distinguished by the spelling.  This was before
suggested to me that this name has lost a great deal
seems a pity.  It has a pleasing sound once used by
became more formalized with the spread of literacy,
Hermitage.  (Surely not from the apostate emperor?)
It is true that from the earliest times she was also
Julienne soup, named after a female cook.  The apparently
likely to be from the popular saint, or for its meaning,
for horse.  Yet the only male Rose I can discover is
television interviewers.  His successor as a transatlantic
to have been largely used for boys, but Lee is generously
this widely popular use has anything to do with any
the Shakers, is perhaps unlikely; it is just a very nice
used for boys, generally of the upper or professional
French history without apparent difficulty, but it was
however rugged his appearance.  So the studio chiefs
Could he, by the remotest chance, have been the inspiration
at school with such feeling.  In our language, dead
words are continuously discarded.  There is considerable
and changes of meaning.  As new processes are discovered,
A furlong was an eighth of a mile and a rod four and
roads, bridges, rent in oats, upkeep of beacons, and
of nicknames, which, being descriptive, are useful to
historians.  As the population grew, Christian names
became insufficient for identification purposes.  A
care of game and of fences.  Place names often have
developed in the same way.  It is not difficult to see
wild animal, that cheater was a rent collector (more
credible), and that a publican was a public servant.
Reed the Thatcher, were neatly matched to the occupations.
other makers has been that while the original family
jobs, this has not always been observed in later versions.
sense without the accompanying illustration.  Perhaps,
connection, it was possibly easier to give a satirical
probably alluding to the same suspicions of adulteration
in the 1950s in a large Happy Families set produced
All the families had names related to types of cough.
There was thus the Bark family of dog breeders, the
Hack family of woodcutters, the Hoarse jockeys, and
even manages to alliterate.  But a name may also connect
glance through the largest occupational group in my
Blight can stand it, and has got used to the jokes produced
and business.  He may be taking some pleasure in the
possible recent discomfiture of the previously appropriately
So familiar is the phenomenon that it was capitalized
swimming pool.  Two separate sets of Happy Families
cards were published using authentic local business
relate to a trade or merely suggest one to us through
some association are carried by people in completely
as a baker.  I shall continue to look out as well for
that accompanied it.  All the more reason, then, to
focus on this idiom as seen in colorful terms before it
the woods stands a heap of rocks, a marker, about six
feet high surmounted by a flat, upright slab adding
another two feet to its height.  Such a marker goes
land marker, although he had not seen it, he without
turns up in old deeds.  For me it served as a milestone
for instance, a flat stretch running between a hillside
from straying too close to the dwelling.  Though now
in disuse, it consists of a trench three feet deep, on
sloping land, with a retaining wall on the uphill side.
Five likely dictionaries omit the word tug as it is
consists of digging tug from bogs and hauling it out
to dry before burning.  Who knows, perhaps the arduous
around.  Hence it comes as no surprise to find in the
eccentric pronunciation, leaving rs out of words or
churn the tree flares widely at its base.  Since churns
means to argue over a price, hopefully to whittle it
or fruit in a state of incipient decay.  Akin to dozy is
as cut at the sawmill, imperfect because it ran into
pine panels are installed, their boards nailed side
comes to us from the age of oil lamps: when the wick
burned down too low to give a good flame, it had to
woods, one log behind another, linked by chains and
scored the logs at intervals to prevent deep, damaging
ridges which are straight if they came from the old
saws.  But kerf marks on milled timber are hardly the
holding the opposite ends, bringing up the rear, and
carrying bales of hay cut by scythe from the hummocks
This one came to me from a countryman with a remarkable
county fairs or before other awestruck audiences.  It
tips creating a loop that can abruptly trip a hiker in
one, whippoorwill shoes for the lady's slipper orchid
mentions when he tells us that his mother left a bowl
of dough overnight to rise, only to find the cate the
Country people understand this; city people do not.
rifle.  He had shown me his boiling spring, a spring
that boils up from the depths and also bubbles.  He
and his folks used to collect the sand from a boiling
spring to make scythe rifles.  This tool was used for
scythe rifle consisted of a stick of wood flattened on
me up short.  That's the new way of doing it. quoth
he.  The old way was to take a flat stick, hickory was
good, and jab it with an ice pick hundreds of times,
spread beef tallow over the pits, and finally sprinkle
concluded, would last two or three years on the hayfield.
about scythe rifles.  In his essay on Prudence he remarks,
of a whetstone or mower's rifle when it is too late in
out.  New words take their place.  But isn't that the
on my new computer, the name of the startup program
persuaded that their inability to work with the computer
but in ourselves, to coin an expression for computer
I was told, to any name you want.  I might have replied
that is)?  Among the many I queried, merriment at my
Having read enough fiction for the day, I turned to
the New York Times.  In the Arts and Leisure section,
I was drawn to a headline about the Holocaust.  The
place or sound like some original thing such as champagne
monster should have a capital to denote it's capital.  I
don't care for sprouts much, and don't buy enough of
where food is served.  Food is the most obvious subject,
rarebit.  This is part of a much longer geographical
list of foodstuffs which can be expanded to include
and Tiger nuts, although the last might defy such easy
fish) seems to be like a double fault, but just think of
all those dishes on the menus of your favorite restaurants.
activity.  We also have bow legs, Roman noses, pigeon
chests, not to mention German measles, chicken pox,
flares, might one day come back into fashion, while
wants to know if Victoria sponge with a Bath bun and
which explains the tortuous logic in his offering.  His
cake and a Granny Smith apple.  Lunch could be York
puree; Turkey with the usual bits and pieces, including
must remain alert when shopping for food: that Danish
Regardless of anything to the contrary in this booklet,
if your medical insurance terminates for any reason
continue such medical insurance....  [From Group Insurance
trousers was considered vulgar, and some extraordinary
substitute names but are left out of otherwise quite
gloves, spats, and a too tight vest over a big belly:
New Yorker has on occasion kept in pants but omitted
It is not clear whether this is an example of prudery
or of prurience, which has been exemplified by such
She was dressed not to the nines, but to the zeroes.
who dresses for work in plaid shirts and suspenders,
aggressively inappropriate for the occasion, I remind
walks of life are hurled together under extreme, often
edicts dictate which words are acceptable and which
slang is the rapid influx of English.  Different groups,
ranging from urbane students to cliques involved in
drug smuggling and prostitution, pepper their language
a drug dealer were to rattle off lists of narcotics
words, the English speaker would be surprised at all
(gelatin), and gel jelly, for instance, are cryptic
nicknames for drugs in general.  The word for joint
insider word for the actual liquid that is injected.
both arms at the same time.  Drug rushes are called
flesh, as in a flash, or simply trip, and to have a
hiding it in one's anal canal is called finger, and the
individual who transports drugs in this way is called
specifically to indicate the nature of an individual's
inexhaustible source of inspiration for writers, actors,
directors, composers, historians, learned societies,
is honored more in the breach than the observance),
films, academia, literary criticism, bibliographers,
about the world's greatest dramatist.  Subtitled, after
speech as God's greatest gift to man; and speech, in
and often irreverent imagination, occasion for exuberant
Moth: They have been at a great feast of languages,
that interpretation.  A nunnery may be a monastery,
an abbey, a convent, a cloister, or a priory.  Period.
Since bastard (the only equivalent male counterpart
heading, Family, we find under rogue (the sole alternative
subgroups, all models of clarity and superbly indexed,
a keen observer of the creatures of the field and forest,
a bird of prey from a cutting tool.  A hawk is, in fact,
simply another kind of tool, used to this day by plasterers
Decay and Sickness we find further echoes of Hamlet:
work is not only that meanings, but shades of meaning
are made clear, especially helpful for actors, directors,
a new and penetrating light on the infinite variety
Owing to my being unable to find the full bibliographical
Drinks, by R. A. Spears, was recalled when I saw the
Death Dictionary: they are similar only in that they
oblique references to the subjects they cover).  Anyone
English lexicon and the propensity of its speakers to
coin metaphors should attend to these two works (at
culture.  I do not mean, of course, to disparage the
capacity of other languages in their ability to exhibit
such a fine array of words and phrases pertaining to
a particular subject, but, if it is common, I am unaware
longer literally true, for the number of people living
now exceeds the total of all who had ever lived.  (I
apologize for being unable to give the exact reference,
but its validity does not mitigate our capacity to say
other terms.  The range is quite wide, running from
drowning.  As can be seen, this book is a veritable
treasure trove of arcane information.  The entries include
the will until the occurrence of a future event), the
failure in meeting society's standards), the poetic
which, for some reason, has a bibliography different
entire book constitutes, as mentioned above, a sort
of thesaurus, there is actually a Thesaurus section
where, under main headings like Abortion, Afterlife,
Aside from its linguistic, lexicographic, and social
death in the abstract or in its ineluctable reality--
familiar to VERBATIM readers.  The smooth perusal of
the articles is aided by a minimum of footnotes (at
the ends of the essays), with a detailed bibliography
treat usage from historical and contemporary perspectives,
topics that are likely to interest readers of VERBATIM.
It is not often that this commentator has the opportunity
would be difficult to find a book of this value among
commercial publishers' books at such a price.  Those
annual dues); for this they receive all publications,
the present volume, and the Newsletter.  Correspondence
If one is to acknowledge that it is unfair to express
the entire reviewing process might as well be rejected
The problem is that the words selected summer afternoon
words beginning with p or containing a k -sound; on
whose favorite word is kreplach.  It is not hard to see
ubiquitous, but it would be wise to give up attempts
at analysis before coping with eggplant and kumquat,
minor celebrities were solicited.  Many are so uncelebrated
not in dictionaries; and, finally, (entertainer, magician)
Those to whom all that is acceptable as a basis for
a book may find enjoyment, intellectual fulfillment,
and other reward in acquiring it.  At a stretch, one
might regard it as a book of (rather longish) quotations
contributions appear in the same order; there is no
preferred looking at the trees rather than the paper.
thing, and I was particularly so at the time I picked it
up for review.  In the context of the book, Wickedly
Funny must be interpreted as meaning cynical, bitter,
me my face looked like a bouquet of elbows).  It is
misleading to call this a book of quotations: most extracts
be the product of a publicity agent, at least qualify
should say that the book is entertaining, even amusing;
but it is rarely funny: if you enjoy her performances,
schizophrenic, but it is not funny to see its concocted
Madness).  The quotations are listed in rather haphazard
order under these subcategories; authors (including
ascribed and, if they are dead, their dates are sometimes
hard to understand the style.  If one is interested only
list Anonymous.  There is even a quotation evidently
prepared by committee: Why is life so tough?  Perhaps
Lewis' table is that although I assume it works for his
incursions into English English.  Henry Porter, in a
disapproving article in The Guardian Weekly for May
understand, nor do I think this is entirely owing to
unfamiliarity with U phonology.  The fact that there
feared for her hearing.  A few years ago she consulted
friend replied, Well, lately I have had trouble understanding
there's your answer, the doctor said; I can't understand
supple comfort, the Prestige tennis shoe spoils your feet.
cab was coming to take her away from the stadium.  The
had been buried in the track less than an hour before.  She
kept smiling at the cameras and sat there, standing tall.
different level of imagination and which I think of as
Try it a bit faster.  The answer to the question should
pointed beard, exactly what I should expect a geneticist
and phrases are often used to express the same concept
in a completely different way in different languages.
A browse through dictionaries will provide many more
is silly, but there it is.  I also find myself making up
has come along.  This time it is for names ending with
know that young parents can't resist these fashions
any more than they can resist the new clothing styles
fashion victims with regard to names, but when your
the fact that in the school down the road, the children
being mercilessly ragged by Tahini and Pooh, themselves
they are jumping, or being pulled, on to the latest
It is clever to have a slightly unusual name for the
names must be chosen from a prescribed, though extensive
I am regularly confronted with children whose names
I last saw on the menu of the Maharajah restaurant.
now, I realize, she was telling me the absolute truth.
perhaps we could ask people to think more carefully
when choosing them.  For instance, if you want your
latest to be a lawyer, then choose a solid trustworthy
builder, use Brick, Timber, or Lintel.  You might even
weren't born with, what about Peter for a safecracker,
sentiments exactly.  In similar situations, especially
should have been either Thank you  or You're welcome.
but it comes across as a polite way of saying, I don't
coping with the mentally and physically taxing demands
concerning issues of earthshaking consequence, with
but don't let it happen again implied.  There is no
that it will either disappear or quickly acquire the
bother to read this piece.  Others of you, of course,
know about these splendid beasts, and their activities,
been taken into standard dictionaries of the English
language.  Jabberwocky itself is given in The Concise
Oxford Dictionary as designating nonsensical writing
World gives this: meaningless syllables that seem to
As a noun it now means a murmuring noise; a rambling
drive before the wind or to play the fife or flute. I
utter a low, deep laugh.  There is the splendid galumphing,
we are given frabjous, as in O frabjous day!, which
The Concise Oxford allows straightforwardly as meaning
gave it only one r, but somehow a few editors gave it
in that extra r, which an equally careless proofreader
Better than a hotel.  Luxury suites, elegantly furnished
young car thieves, runaways and gang members is already
in danger of closing for lack of funds B3 [From Inside
about in the long distance marketplace,... [From the
Sexual Aides: How to order them without embarrassment.
his room at the Graben Hotel.  [From Art View, by John
after delivering, the third, a rare occurrence, physicians
products, please call us if this product does not meet your
expectations....  [From the text on a pint container of
.isn't a smoking ban in saloons almost a contradiction in
certain way in geography class, only to end the year
ones as scores of former colonies became independent,
generation later, we seem to be going through another
not hesitate to correct them when they refer to, for
conform that it brings, there are still sometimes perfectly
It is when the trend is carried to sanctimonious extremes
Black consciousness and Black pride, Blacks challenged
which implies, of course, something bad or negative,
which has to be rendered pleasant or acceptable).  I
white.  If you mean blacks, write blacks.  Strictly
speaking, then, according to The Economist, would a
the Arctic are, as far as I know, still commonly referred
six different dialects.  I suppose that no one would
One could, therefore, simplify matters by saying that
time for political reasons.)  These two examples of
harder to accept are the new names for what used to
has traditionally been called by a name which is the
when its literal meaning is identical to the traditional
and seems intent on converting his agricultural nation
country, and furnished it with, among other things,
basilica rumored to be larger even than St. Peter's
desire to be seen as the leader of a linguistically and
use this term or the traditional term depends, I suppose,
read individuals and others who pride themselves on
being up to date and informed (and therefore especially
with reluctance shows a certain intellectual virtuosity
the very essence of his statement.  For a man of his
intelligence and lifelong habit of writing, such a slip
not `politically correct' but `psychoanalytically correct')
drove him to ruin.  Was the punishment particularly
harsh because the affair reminded everyone, including
the King himself, that his Majesty behaved according
part of the typesetter (or typist).  Sometimes it is
totally innocent and does not interfere, even for a
A plea on groups of insanity, in a newspaper report
of a criminal trial, is promptly dismissed by the mind
and substituted with grounds.  Newspapers, particularly,
a research report read the results of the experiment
smiled when I quickly discovered that it should have
from the context, the true intent of the sentence.  A
Some typos might be said to be errors of similarity
words are substituted for the words in the manuscript.
more serious than a single misspelled word.  This occurs
unintentionally skipped altogether, resulting in an
incomprehensible, mangled style.  I call it the propinquity
from one line to a line or two below in the manuscript
On rare occasions a typographical error is uncanny.
a child's reversal of the letter R. Similarly, the title
York erected a huge billboard sign high atop a gasoline
seeing.  The sign intentionally misspelled the name
certainly a careful speller, he most likely would have
shaken his head at this kind of childish electioneering.
candidates, reading from prepared notes, made interesting
of equipping aircraft carriers with modern musicians
the typographical errors of similarity or familiarity
fatigue and exhaustion brought on by a presidential
When one's name is deliberately or even unconsciously
One does not have to be psychologically sophisticated
program chairman prepared in longhand a few laudatory
quite at home when surrounded by persons of integrity...
transcribing the prepared introductory notes, resulting
Among men, he is out of place.  When among cheaters
the category of typographical print errors, but they
are nonetheless mistakes, and can be quite costly.  In
course about four minutes after its launch from Cape
air.  The reason: an inadvertent omission of a hyphen
from the computer's mass of coded mathematical ascent
an army of professional proofreaders who, like electronic
the final printing.  Proofreaders use a special set of
marks, signs and symbols to indicate on the gallery
capitals, bold face), space notations (size of paragraph
etc.  To the uninitiated these marks to look like hieroglyphics
to launch a program in, say, Ichthyological Taxonomy
type.  Information technology, or IT, covers areas as
diverse as automatic speech recognition and synthesis,
paperless office;  It is supposed to replace all those
filing cabinets and folders with a chip or two here
It is not much in evidence, however, in the actions
of ESPRIT itself.  For instance, paperless is emphatically
to describe the office of an ESPRIT participant.  The
decades of its existence, established quite a reputation
mountain.  Perhaps inspired by its own acronym, ESPRIT
which it may be identified; and ESPRIT itself never
refers to projects by their full names, but only by the
Formal Design and Verification for Provably Correct
ESPRIT projects, by the way.  They are participants in
acronyms of grant applications which proved successful)
preferably be French in origin, since that may lessen
acronym invariably represents an English word sequence.
to disaster.  Perhaps that is what happened with my
unsuccessful proposal for a Multiple Entry Reconfigurable
In fact the area of acronym selection is so important
here.  Moreover, a project to fill it is just what ESPRIT
`springy cord.'  I have always assumed that it must
of that.  At this moment, the word is most commonly
used for the elastic tether by which daredevils attach
off into space, a sport that was graphically depicted
the terms was used at least ten years ago for the elastic
neither is given an etymology.  A bungee consists of a
tough woven cloth covering.  The term familiar to me
from my sailing days is Shock Cord, for it is often used
usually found as a stretchy tie used to bind things up,
as a reefed mainsail on its boom, light articles to a
turn down the narrow lane that leads to Oxford University's
my father's sparse joke repertoire: Church usher to
himself bring a smile: Who has not felt in his heart
half century as distinguished scholar and able administrator.
tongue that made him famous, and his contemporaries
agreed that most legendary spoonerisms were invented
Eyewitnesses claim, however, that the concept began
Their Titles Take.'   Others claim he once actually
bull) is his question of a former student shortly after
name was associated with oral transpositions.  When
college social function, he responded with outspoken
transposition of letters, syllables, or sounds in a
word or phrase.  More often, they take an oral rather
than a written form.  Writers employ them, however,
form, particularly the effect upon spelling.  Functional
implied, both before and after transposition.  Analysis
might be called good as opposed to bad spoonerisms.
tons of soil, in place of sons of toil, not only sounds
right and spells right, but has meaning in its revised
humor or irony, as this one does.  Sound, spelling,
spout in the lake for speckled trout is interesting,
perhaps even amusing, but it lacks the satisfaction
to mind, but they must be discarded quickly, if you
spelling to be changed.  Since sound and mental image
wood, the result is neither meaningful nor pleasing
to the ear.  Farm does not rhyme with warm, and the
sound of wood differs greatly from food.  While the
term form wooed has good sound, it loses its effectiveness
phrase.  Strictly visual spoonerisms must be rejected.
they give great pleasure both to ear and mind, however,
meaning, and usually are uninteresting.  I recall a
his face.  Behind his back, however, irreverent junior
Spoonerisms can be classified on a functional basis
produce correct words which, unfortunately, neither
say the least, puzzling.  Plaque is a word, and states is
there is no mental connection.  Useless spoonerisms
only introduces a totally new meaning, but also injects
A gratifying subset of the useful category includes
accidental.  Transposition produces a vulgar term or
with the painting is foul art,  or perhaps even better,
Making up spoonerisms is a pleasant form of addiction.
demands to be hummed: the more one tries to forget,
the stronger is the sense of impulsive and involuntary
pain upon others, and can engage in his or her passion
quality of life.  No one ever recovers, but under the
town.  A bit later at the same picnic when the same
said, laughing, but that's just the way it turned out.
the rancher's sister yelled, What did y'all do with
terms, the jargon, at least in the Southwest of the
imagine than, say, nautical, or culinary, or musical
quite angry over the firing of her husband, and probably
probably right.  But the most repugnant part of the
castration, and I remained sure that bull calves are
ketch rope taut, are not used, as the practices are
Also, increasingly brands are painlessly frozen, not
burned, into the calves' hide.  Even in the relatively
had been so brisk and deft and the calves so nonchalant
ranch terminology varies from area to area.  Everywhere
the old song: ...they feed in the coulees and water
cowboy, grass, pasture, fence, heifer, beef, boots, saddle,
shipped.'  A cutting horse is a mount trained to separate
woven of strands of rawhide, which is elastic.  If a
big calf or steer was roped with one of these rawhide
style, and the roping horse came to an abrupt halt or
sat back so that the roped animal hit the rope at a
run, the lasso tended to stretch like a rubber band
witnessing the folly of such misuse of their implement
dale!  Literally this means simply `Give to him' but
(like a fish).  The idea was that you had to hold the
dally, began to understand, maybe at the cost of an
eye or two, and in their own lingo called the rawhide
along with the thing itself, is chaps, typically truncated
on horseback in thorny brush.  The only time I have
chaps the article is invariably called as if spelled
and the law of open syllables that causes the first of
as the first l of the double l combination, but it is
and illustrate language.  And where a basic occupation
metaphors, whether the subject be marital transgression
have lived and loved.  If ever I write an autobiography
people defined in terms of private significance.  For
the turn of the century.  He goes on to fix that summer
loafing about on signposts.  They assigned definitions
designed to get snarled up on conveyor belts at airports.
have a special `quick release' feature which enables
the case to fly open at this point and fling your underclothes
no right to expect poetry or wit in this latest Oxford
be linguistic archaeologists.  They then have the difficult
whom Mills is explaining all this.  I imagine that it is
shelf, has all become clear to him?  Is this entry as
in philology, it will have been crystal clear.  He will
have had no need to consult the Introduction to discover
stands for Old English, and that old in that context
has a fairly specific meaning.  He will have understood
he would think in such simplistic terms: his historical
farm.'  My further point is that to be totally successful,
the editorial team about how the information is presented
required, even if it is not the imagination of the poet
better presented in an entirely different form.  Had
been a strong case for listing separately the hundreds
be traced in alphabetical order.  Separate articles
been to publish this material as computer software.
Surely the reference libraries to which people turn
have access by now to personal computers?  I should
by inserting a floppy disk into my machine.  On typing
needed it, a Help key should have brought an instant
English name rather than a slightly different one.  I
believe it would be wrong to confine the discussion
interested in this specialized information, and how it
recent years.  Academic excellence has been maintained,
flair, and original thinking.  The editors of this book
had an important part to play.  Unfortunately, both
be happy to send to those requesting it] in which I
suggested that relatively accurate statistics on word
the circulation and listenership figures of periodicals
the words and phrases under investigation.  While it
study'), multiplied by, say the Audit Bureau of Circulation
yield a figure that could legitimately be called its
too large to manipulate readily, so, using a formula
familiar to statisticians, it was normalized to produce
a simple decimal number of only a few digits which I
the exercise was to connect the frequency information
great usefulness to lexicographers and other linguists
and usefulness by the mid 1940s.  With the emergence
seemed likely that the analysis of large bodies of text
would be facilitated, for one of the greatest expenses
and heard in a single day is unbelievably huge.  In a
stations alone is unimaginable.  While it is acknowledged
samples instead of an entire corpus for analysis, the
prodigious quantity of lemmata (that's the plural of
again, the statistics for a few thousand of the most
Still, that means that a reasonably accurate sample,
those days, computer storage and processing equipment
Moreover, publishers are today generally less reluctant
publications dealing with highly specialized areas.  If
an article about it in a recondite learned journal.
genre or because their lexicographers felt that every
student who read Burns had to be able to find in the
dictionary every word he used.  These days, when all
likely to appear in crossword puzzles are included.
relegated to footnotes in student editions or to specialized
syne are probably still to be found in many dictionaries,
for special effect or other reasons, as in popular quotations,
Romeo?, known to every schoolchild (and misunderstood
of the essays collected within its pages, for much of
corpora for citations is arrived at subjectively and
seen that tries to present a point of view from the
paying attention to the semiotic aspects of language
rubrics of Contexts of responsiveness, Listener response
have mixed success in dealing with the subject.  The
first, Attending the hearing: listening in legal settings,
through, notwithstanding its inclusion of much matter
though concise treatment of psychotherapists' reaction
have listened to with interest.  After devoting (wasting?)
of how callers and presenters say hello and goodbye
finally get down to the substance of the calls.  In a
subcategory called Extreme, outrageous and offensive
US are familiar with the pattern.  What the authors
fail to mention is that the treatment the caller receives
in the third person, is often very unpleasant indeed,
(especially one in which a caller was told that if he
of his acerbic, dyspeptic, often rude manner.  What
presenters are missing is that listeners often tune in
to hear all sorts of the things that other listeners
them mad, and it makes the presenter appear intolerantly
at variance with those the presenter might perceive
callers are subjected to, mainly in order to eliminate
through rarely have anything of moment to contribute,
eliciting a fair exposure of their comments, and the
listener is (too) often left with the feeling that the
presenter has been too dismissive.  The analysis in
this article is interesting and well done, but I question
the caller and the presenter are discussed.  To consider
mistake; as far as I can see, the comment on listeners
of the listening public and the station as personified
become a caller he is as much a part of the script,
presenter and is, in effect, no longer a mere listener.
this interesting collection of papers, but I should like
virgin) caller, I really enjoy your program (which alternates
never fathomed the purpose of the first; the second
is pure sycophancy; and the third is patently ludicrous,
biographer and his subject.  Only one of the contributors
the subject understood the biographer more profoundly
praising his literary skills but inveighing against his
riches, or honors, but solely for liberty, which no
also for a variety of other purposes, all of which are
highly generalized diction, quite possibly encouraged
This is an exceptionally fine collection of scholarly
English Lit., these essays are largely free of that
fault.  Perhaps their clarity owes something to their
and lucid prose, and scholars who gloss their texts
cannot resist their influence, which is all for the
it shows that he lives on the estate that bears the
family name and distinguishes him from his cousins,
The second definition, which I need not quote here,
sense, but I will refrain from snarling at people who
should not fool with that one: I was not and I do not.
suggest, to use the phrase of that kidney.  Apparently,
the kidneys were a factor in determining a person's
and superlatives of English adjectives the gradations
superlatives of polysyllabic words.  Despite the fact
that it is awkward to describe, there is nothing terrifyingly
is that hot means `hot,' hotter means `more hot, of a
and hottest means `most hot, of a temperature that is
greater than that of anything else being considered.'
For polysyllables, like ignorant, we use more ignorant
does not hold for old and older when applied to people:
person, or, to put it the other way round, an older
while an old person is merely `old,' an older person is
perceived as being older than a younger person (often
about them; indeed, they state an impossible condition.
though improbable, could make sense.  The ambiguity
yielding the more reasonable She taught him everything
from one publication to another, it is often legislated
English: numerous times we read, without supporting
thinking that every treatment of it in dictionaries
Smith writes in VERBATIM [XVIII,2,23] that the suggested
which in this word is pronounced like the e in ebb in
is doubtful.  Since this English word has no association
will have to produce an etymon that is phonologically
thread running through all these mistaken etymologies
is that their supporters think that the only criterion
brimming with error that the title of the review of it
not unnaturally, very pleased when readers and critics
porkpie hats, bellbottom slacks, and epigraphic yellow
sold at a soda fountain or snack bar.  The place was
Comics) is rather sketchy on detail.  As I recall, the
consisted of a ladyfinger dipped between bites in a
dish with toppings or additions.  On entering the Naval
concoction involving ice cream, and especially to establishments
Dixie was a large tender that repaired and serviced
combat vessels, mainly destroyers and destroyer escorts,
would often accompany his delivery of treats to the
that, but it seemed to me, a boy of about ten at the
blend of dunk (a popular debate at the time concerned
farm would recognize it as intended for people supplying
a good plain advertisement for the product.  However,
given body of text there is at least one error that its
had the distinct impression that he had gone too far
in defining that crucial word.  I knew unmentionables
thus underwent the perfectly logical semantic shift
intended) the body parts beneath those undergarments
to my mind an advertising poem which my grandfather
the mouth of one of his characters in (I think) Look
being `to lack,' which could have shifted into colloquial
[XVII,4] makes a persuasive case for the phenomenon
baby used to describe the actions of a judge or arbitrator
give the child to her rival rather than see it killed by
that a judge acts wisely in following that example.
appears in all references on the derivation of the expression.
you Truth herself; for I have brought her down from
terms a hundred years later.  Or each was independently
time ago I was creating a document for a client, using
neatly illustrating my contention that spelling checkers,
practicality, practicability, particulates, predictability
to access to relevant issues of the journals cited.  Or,
even better, perhaps you already know the etymology
would see it as we do: a logical name of a river (and
largely unsatisfactory, for they are marred not only
by poor choices for addenda but mainly by the deletion
older entries to make room for the new.  Fortunately,
published, and copies of early printing crop up now
unwind.  Aside from that, the main attractions of the
earlier Brewer were its eminent readability, its obscure
It is no fault of the editors that familiarity breeds
contempt: most of the references in this edition occurred
within the living memory of many of its contemporaries,
one associates with the original.  It is the errors of
fact that occasion the greatest irritation, however:
been subjected to a careful reading by a knowledgeable
fear of the people lest they elect a vice president
The book is riddled with such errors and misconceptions,
the material.  It says, for instance, that The Three
Stooges' films had a comparatively short life, obviously
reads A later sarcastic version is laugh all the way
I am informed that this book has received uniformly
about the ignorance of critics and the gullibility of
Brewer's Twentieth Century: despite the similarity of
the titles, the former is a slighter work; also, it consists
quite far from the fact.  The orientation of the two
books is different: the interval of fourteen pages covered
including cross references); of these, only about a
references, while that of the new Brewer is popular
in both books and is not tempted to accept as gospel
should be considered useful additions to a reference
by extraterrestrials.  Some of the words associated
dealt with words and not languages, and, with a few
exceptions, with words used by humans in some future
writing her master's thesis on languages created by
Many writers avoid the language problem by introducing
lungs and the face, and there is no reason to assume
creatures on earth), and they would thus be unlikely
to use languages constructed for humans.  The language
the development of artificial languages and with the
search for language universals, characteristics that
many (or all) languages share and that lend credence
to the notion that there was only one original language
(Without going into the matter here, it must be said
structures of language, not with superficial correspondences
a sample of the author's humor, which I find engaging:
Just take a look at the lunatic in love with language
piles of information, he collates and classifies it,
he makes lists and fills card indexes.  He is in the
and classify concepts, to enclose the whole Universe
for so little result.  I don't believe any other fantasy
by the human spirit, apart perhaps from the philosopher's
of the ineluctable attraction of their own, native language
simplified structure, which aids in its rapid assimilation.
poetry in it, its chief function as a means of basic
communication has been violated, and with the onset
one and, before long, it will begin to suffer the same
or French, for example) which at least has an extensive
This is a curious book.  Those who might be encouraged
one would do well to read Appendix II after reading
the Introduction.  The author, a linguist, is often obscure,
is her fault or her translator's.  I was unsure, for instance,
could progressively dominate fiction, that history,
in eliminating myth, could itself become a science,
story: a tale, a fable, an imaginary account? [p.5]
I suppose that is English, but it is certainly anacoluthic,
found in examples of religious glossolalia, with an
reduplication, vocalic parallelism, open syllabification,
of this would be quite funny if it weren't so serious.
at the start of Challenge, part of a retail industry
first seems to call for a model, for the name, surrounded
also, in that sequence the reader is not boxed into
the corner of obligation where he must stand, face to
might be.  If a young person today were to encounter
ignoramus!  Everyone (else) in the world knows that
who invoke strange names of strange people to demonstrate
shared between such entertainers and their audiences,
shared with thousands is debatable.  I felt definitely
the name of a real person.  I also discovered that Val
once heard someone say).  Certainly, it seems unlikely
of the same people who need the reinforcement afforded
liner.  There are not a lot of prime ministers, presidents,
a prime minister, etc.  On the other hand, till she
solution to the riddle.  But he would indeed be feigning
include woman.  Even the most casual observers of social
movements and language changes are conscious of what
some might call the crusade for nonsexist language.
(Careful feminist writers avoid unthinking use of imagery
sexism from English, most current activity stems from
women or to render them invisible.  Poking and prodding
condemn the use of a term identified with one sex or
gender to designate all humanity.  (Gender is preferred
rather than the purely biological.  However, some recent
question of anatomically determined language is fashionable.)
familiar example: reasoning that in terms of job duties
the sex or gender of the person who passes peanuts on
an airplane is unimportant, editors of the Handbook of
court case notes a male purser and a female stewardess
with identical job descriptions, but different salary
scales.)  Similarly, feminists discourage titles that identify
More generally, feminists reveal and question implied
which suggests that marriage is the normal state (as
parents of twins imply double births expected, referring
evidence.  What to make of the fact that one may be
dignity, have been females of any age, but the call on
television's Electric Company, Hey, you guys, summons
principles of etymology and tradition and unexpected
respect for grace and style (admittedly frequent victims
of inclusion of the feminine pronoun).  More subtle
and less readily articulated objections probably exist.
as for most feminists, political considerations are primary.
serves political concerns etymology is honored.  For example,
word meaning `sheath,' often sheath for a sword.)  The
feminist position recognizes the power of language.
shaper of culture and as such is able to perpetuate or
discourage discrimination or oppression.  (In spite of
symphony auditions of barefoot, screened musicians,
church hymnals laced with maternal imagery for God,
few feminists think the cause won.  Attitudes toward
women, often assumed to be natural and hence sacred,
are not easily changed.)  Nonsexist language is no universal
the influence of preverbal and nonverbal forces and
various sexist institutions, see acceptance of sexist language
altering it, bandaging, and plastering it to promote a
particular vision of society is the most widely perceived
it is arguably the simplest philosophically and, though
this is relatively unimportant, the least attractive.  (A
familiar but irrelevant complaint against feminists is
that they lack charm, as though an unappealing style
not very affable, either.)  After all, those who undertake
corralled with prescriptive grammarians and linguists.
women as subject (or object) of language.  Yet this is
but one aspect of gender and linguistics, a subject that
has its own conferences, bibliographies, and college
courses.  As literary critics, feminists look not only at
images of women in literature but at women as writers
and readers.  So those interested in language look at
speakers and listeners.  Such inquiry is less direct and
more exploratory than nonsexist language promotion,
but is no less political.  Some theorists describe women's
relation to language as primarily a product of patriarchal
oppression; others, usually acknowledging oppression,
women's use of little intensifiers.  Feminists ponder
women of all classes to accepted proper norms suggest
upward mobility?  What attitude should feminists take
to women's suggested more frequent use of tag endings
(It's a nice day, isn't it?  We'll vote Democratic,
won't we?)?  Identified by early feminist linguist Robin
both discounted by some but not all empirical studies
purge their speech of tag endings and to retrain themselves
particular values, urge retention of this and other features
assume noncompetitive roles in conversation), suggesting
form if not in content.  They echo the old question,
posed regularly by missionaries, anthropologists, and
linguists, as to whether women speak (or chatter, a
and with men, whether they can, do, or should speak
what the title of Dale Spender's book calls Man Made
frequently appear in a style that is marked by word
play dependent on written forms; a style that is unconventional,
suggests alternatives to those styles that feminists
for most feminists to be included within the best accepted
(Admittedly, no party completely purges its rhetoric of
recent feminist discourse.  The editors disclaim objectivity.
not objective, though they neither recognize nor admit
it.  For example, in lexicographers' frequent reliance on
best authors as a source, dictionaries draw evidence
and not women.  Other significant editorial practices:
the editors claim, and they resist charting relations
between their entries and an authorized or canonized
words and new definitions; words from utopian literature
the stated aim to stimulate research or theoretical
Zeitgeist (`Spirit of liberty, equality, and sorority'),
Theory doubts these lacunae, suggesting that English
is flexible, and that women are disadvantaged primarily
woman's language, the inevitable doubting and questioning
of it, is energized by the work of French feminists,
and is displayed in the verbal acrobatics of radical
sister) who was silent, silenced by a society dominated
thought currently pursued by feminist linguists; feminists
explore the cluster of related conditions summarized
about women's language is lively; the discussion of the
related and complementary topic, women's silence, is
work by needs of their families; Spender talks of silence
their frequent use of pseudonyms an attempt at renaming
much.  To many, it is significant that the privilege of
who did not recognize parents of either gender, probably
issue] but to everyone.  It ill behooves us to be unfair to
any segment of the population, and it is not only immoral
virtually any basis.  In recent decades, certain changes
have taken place in the language that reflect voluntary
choices of the words used to characterize people; these
have focused largely on the conscious and conscientious
only males.  Journalists and other commentators have
sometimes taken a facetious view of the situation, suggesting
`male offspring,' that words like manhole are sexist,
time the humor, if there was any there to begin with,
has worn very thin, indeed, and the end of it would be
welcome.  Then, too, there have been the campaigners
who have gone to what some regard as opposite extremes:
surely be the proper denotation; if the sex of the person
is the preferred form.  But it is patently ridiculous
the chairperson, not the person holding the office.  Yet,
brevity and because it avoids the awkwardness of the
problem and seem to believe that it has been solved:
chair has been recognized, in the sense of the occupant
associated with it.  Nobody understands an injunction
The final sentence is about as valid as would be the
as an order to write the address of the chairperson on a
dozen envelopes, either.  But there are other specious
has found that citations for such usage exist (how old
they may be is of little consequence) is not to be construed
not only by users of dictionaries but by lexicographers
evidence, that one would be justified in assuming that
thereby represented; even the most cursory examination
a)  the evidence in the published work is quite thin,
way as the Crown and the Oval Office is true, but to
refer to the office, not to the person occupying it.
will show, reference is so made specifically to avoid
mentioning a particular regent and not as a figure of
speech employed for rhetorical effect.  As for the Oval
of the executive branch of the government' to avoid
identifying the (incumbent) president personally and
to indicate official policy.  In both cases, the point is
exactly opposite that identified by Graham: it is the
position, institution, authority, etc. being referred to
and not the occupant.  By the same token, when people
principle.  But there are two elements of their argument
find their interpretation of the evidence often skewed;
the second is that while adjustment to lexicon, which
when used of a young woman, today it is a recognized
The First Edition of The Random House Dictionary of
the English Language lists youth with a definition, a
young person, esp. a young man; the Second Edition,
in the next round they refer to, defines the word as
a young person, esp. a young man or male adolescent.
the need for reinforcement of the notion of maleness
foregoing is merely set out as a warning to those who
try to predict what lexicographers are likely to do.  On
change, but that in order to be precise, in order to
perpetuation of obsolete or archaic meanings as counterproductive:
the mark; phrased another way, I must agree that people
expect to be understood.  Most do, of course, use them
that way.  When will people learn that dictionaries are
not the product of the collective imaginations of those
who prepare them or the manifestations of the dreams
of a single lexicographer but the result of lengthy,
painstaking research to determine how the language is
being used, the analysis and codification of the results,
and then their organization into a usable reference
source?  What is counterproductive is the notion that
change: they don't recognize it, they create it.  Of
making a unilateral, unsupported claim or assumption
that does not constitute semantic change: it is what is
indulging in a bit of mischief by suggesting that semantic
because they have some evidence that a certain change
in usage had crept in.  Notwithstanding the unfortunate
should still put my money on professional lexicographers
or whether the first, limited meaning [`an adult male
person, as distinguished from a boy or woman.'] has,
in effect, become the only valid one in modern English.
I trust that this is a fillip of propaganda and not
a serious query.  To be sure, it is the most common
meaning, which is why it is listed first.  But one must
contend not only with the way the word might be used
today but with the evidence of centuries of culture
reflected in billions upon billions upon billions of
words of text all of which shape the way we think and
speak.  There is nothing wrong with trying to change
that shape, and advocates of nonsexist English have
worked miracles in the short time since they have succeeded
that the oblique senses of man are still very much with
us is mere optimistic folly.  And there is no gainsaying
the fact that the first sense of man (`male human')
tends to contaminate (if that is the right word) the
oblique senses.  But grammar enters the picture here,
too, and dictionaries are remiss in syntactic description
its words mean, how they are spelled and pronounced,
and where they came from.  To put it differently, it is
not (yet) the function of the dictionary to show that
articles (definite or indefinite) are not usually found
`desires' rather than `lacks,' but that might well be a
deliberate, facetious ambiguity.  We use terms like Neanderthal
might depict a child asking a parent about Neanderthal
women, but that is recognizably a joke that depends
questioner as a fool: that it is a child is irrelevant; it
There are many thousands of such jokes in every language,
homonymy, which exists in all languages.  Yet, this
On the face of it, one might dismiss this question as
it.  The answer has nothing to do with their cause,
however, but with the simple fact that dictionaries are
words, if one of the senses of run is `operate' (as in She
assume that one can substitute operate for run in We
this as a shortcoming of dictionaries and assigning it
arbitrarily to what, for lack of a better term, we might
call the genius of the language, might seem trivial to
the casual observer, it is a valid matter for concern in
the realm of lexicology.  Using it to bolster an argument
is plainly a mistake.  Unfortunately, the mistake is compounded
others, and, as a result, the entire argument degenerates.
the first and working stiff for the second, but the first
to find anyone actively seeking to be called a stiff.
which, though denotatively neutral, carry the strong
scent of maleness.  That is, if you are going to say
man (for example) because, regardless of the ancillary
definitions one might find in the dictionary, in its most
strong connotations of that denotation are carried over
to all other applications of the word: it is not, in fact,
mean, why don't they just say so?  The other thing is
out entirely.  As a male reader, I get strong vibrations
from this book that the authors advocate the paranoid
view that everything in the language that is not exactly
as they would like it to be is the result of a gigantic
hate program against women.  In that context, one is
given to wonder about the circumstances in languages
of misinterpretations, aberrations, and plain errors regarding
excellent suggestions to help people avoid the inadvertent
expression of prejudice are offered, albeit interspersed
are entirely irrelevant to The Cause, hence diminish
the impact and strength of purpose of both.  It is indeed
a pity that the authors persist in expressing their
ideas as they do, for were they more practical and not
the slightest hint of maleness, they would probably
problem of the neutral he  as the pronoun of reference
considered a solecism to use the plurals they, their,
them, theirs as a generalized pronoun for words like
Everyone can get their copy at the bookshop, Everybody
illiteracy (by those who consider such matters), and
usage was not brought about by any sense of justice
toward women but by the apparent fact that the people
devoted in its entirety to The Pronoun Problem, mercifully
sense methods that can be employed to avoid sexism in
take up the cudgel, carping against writing which, in
some cases, antedates recognition of a problem: it is
space, time, and motion, Wot?  Much that might have
been offered with sober good advice here is contaminated
of the sex of the perpetrator of past injustices.  The
approach is vindictive and castigatory.  Other libertarian
enough that wrongs be righted; the discrimination and
other injustices suffered by past generations, back
through the ages, must be avenged, and the descendants
those crimes and somehow to compensate the descendants
counterproductive: the energies expended on vengeance
changing the present system to ensure that they are not
Pearl Harbor.  The sins of our forebears should not be
visited upon us.  In the same way, those who support
equal rights for women would be well advised to concentrate
women get top billing.  While that has not been literally
proposed (as far as I know), the fact that the men's
names appear first has been used by some feminists to
illustrate the manifestation of an attitude that women
might be offensive to women and how to get around it
praise usages that neatly sidestep offensive usage.  Specific
why they are offensive and with suggestions for suitable
and his petite blonde wife appear.  They go too far,
victim.'   What unmitigated nonsense!  Men say that,
of five and other gratuitous characterizations that are
not only irrelevant to the item's newsworthiness but are
apparently offend the authors: they campaign for the
divorce, or an actress any more than being called a
and I quite agree that the use of relatively newer and
poetess seems to be a deliberate, unwarranted attempt
to identify someone as a female; but a graduate of the
too, because my critics will say that they disapprove of
the term's second life as designating a temperamental
person of either sex.'  These, of course, are loanwords
borrowed from languages that have (or had) grammatical
of other words.  What are we to do?  The answer is not
clear unless we accept a policy of drawing up a (very)
long list of taboo words.  A short list is not impossible,
which lists a few offending words and their suggested
who laughs last laughs best read The last laugh is the
best: not only does it not say the same thing but the
second is totally lacking in the rhetorical devices
reference notes to chapters, and an index.  On the last
page is a short biographical note about the authors in
words that are, for the most part, sexist, but, as the
author sets forth in the User's Guide, Some words are
included here because they are ambiguous: Is a belly
their approval of being so designated.  As for belly
dancers, not only have I never heard of a male belly
dancer but find the very idea more exotic than erotic.
sexist?  In one sense they are, but if people were to
pay hard cash to watch a belly dancer only to find that
it was a man, I think they might have some justification
chance of a refund if the place were run by a feminist.
treatment ranges from an explanation of a term to a
list of alternatives.  Here are two typical entries:
as acolytes (one of the minor orders of the diaconate)
metaphors which quite correctly points out that many
does not get bent out of shape about these, providing
lists alternatives for many of these expressions, not
but so that you can attempt to balance your writing
not possible.  In addition, there are times when it is
It is hard to imagine anyone, regardless of sex, enjoying
section a few of the allusions that cannot really be
reference to him completely, which is understandable
find him in the dictionary, nor could I find quixotic,
alternatives and equivalents are phrasal definitions
which, if assiduously applied, would effectively sterilize
all writing.  The interesting and useful entries are
those in which the author explains, without the frenetic
term is offensive.  I cannot say that I agree with everything
she says nor with every item selected for inclusion,
responsible for treating the kinds of subjects that might
should find The Nonsexist Word Finder the sanest of
the lot and the easiest to understand and use.  Compared
polemical work; despite its title, it is not organized the
way a handbook for writers, editors, etc., normally
would be.  It might have been more useful as a handbook
model of standard style manuals.  My greatest objection
to it is its argumentative, disputatious tone, which
frequently borders on the vituperative.  It is as if you
sound advice, were an unpleasant diatribe against anyone
have every right to be in light of the trials and tribulations
lead to a winning, let alone diplomatic style, and their
may offend people, including men.  I refuse, out of
English grammar (like the neutral pronouns of reference)
little elegance there may be in my writing, and I refuse
other figures of speech that contain male referents,
of households possess at least one, making the dictionary
years ago that there are more dictionaries than television
two dictionaries are of roughly the same size.  And in
one sense they are.  But between water and watt there
intended for the adult native speaker of English, whose
main concern is with understanding a large number of
unfamiliar items (including proper names) encountered
the foreign learner of English, whose dual concern is
with understanding and using the core vocabulary of
More generally, the size of a dictionary is a function
little and one that says a little about a lot can end
from being such polar opposites, but they exemplify
the dictionaries' own estimates of their size?  Let us
reference seems to be a book or passage referred to, or
you can obtain the information that you want, for example
in a dictionary).  Does that mean that the number of
For entry our four dictionaries have this to say in
even mention dictionaries: a word or term placed at
the beginning (as of a chapter or an entry in an encyclopedia).
a word (as the noun book), hyphened or open compound
review), word element (as the affix pro-), abbreviation
dictionary for the purpose of definition or identification
form (as the noun godlessness or the adverb globally)
at its base word and usu. set in a type (as boldface)
running text which defines, explains, or identifies
only those that are, or introduce, main entries.  So we
troubles end here.  For in its Explanatory Notes (p.12),
W9 not only calls our attention to the definition of
vocabulary entry in this book, but also introduces us
entries as well as all boldface entries in the separate
in telling us what vocabulary entries and dictionary
little they say.  Counting definitions is a start.  But a
of vocabulary entry and beyond!  And the microstructure
definitions: it can embrace examples, illustrations,
sorts of other information.  Everyone talks nowadays
publishers to cry their wares in ways that allow us to
best dictionary for me is the one that gives about the
word or phrase that puzzles me the information I need
at the moment I need it.  People have different reference
the way dictionaries estimate how much they contain
need not, and should not, entail the standardization of
names that (presumably) reflect the nationalities of
century it is everywhere in the world.  Its overall
There is little that it does not touch, being physically
present in the architecture of schools, psychologically
civilized, linguistically present in much of modern
guild.  The phrase is a reminder of its medieval provenance,
guild of scholars is one of the most successful enterprises
in the history of our species.  Indeed, some of its
labeling all the birds, beasts, and bugs in creation.
The guild takes many forms now, but it retains much
of the Middle Ages, of the ecclesiastical Schoolmen,
behind walls that marked them off from the rest of the
inherited the mantle of the Schoolmen have no trouble
recognizing each other.  They live similar lives, conduct
similar courses, and with similar subventions go to
similar conferences and give similar papers on every
guild's gentler cohesion and lack of obvious international
ceremonies), by and large its doings are overt and benign.
known a classroom, let alone a cloister or an ivory
tower, or met up with teachers empowered by letters
after their names.  Nowadays, however, there are few
people who have not come across colleges and college
graduates or (at the periphery of things) been invited
to learn to read and write.  That is a physical and
social measure of the guild's success.  Its continuance
seems assured.  Working in its favor is a social contract
level by level, to institutions of ever higher learning,
levels, usually marked by tests and the distribution
of certificates providing a social grade.  These processes
from parents and teachers as, You'll never get anywhere
There are even league tables among nations, showing
school certificates and other qualifications.  Spreading
system, there are others with similar mixed feelings,
abstract usage, and, at a higher level, to be at ease
so that you can eat a hearty breakfast, and be cordial
(and may not ever be) part of the circle of standardized
of the guild.  This is demonstrated in a variety of ways:
a shared literacy and the assumptions and biases that
go with it; an awareness of what books are for; consciousness
and educated idioms; and a relative ease in reading a
In school, college, and university, people have for
some six centuries been receiving diplomas and titles to
prove that, in varying degrees (a loaded word), they
are educated.  Oftener than not, use of language establishes
clearly as any parchment.  One of the less pleasant
ways in which such rank can be pulled is to label the
linguistically less secure illiterate.  They, too, can
read and write, of course, but their solecisms, barbarisms,
better rebuke than to treat them as if they did not
outer darkness of the unlettered?  Subtler still is the
The scholarly guild has always interested itself in
language, its standards and usage, its literature and
value on success with such things.  Its members have
tended to place a lower value on rural and urban dialect,
popular culture, and folklore.  These are only accepted
after a long and vigorous rearguard action.  Only now,
for example, is the soap opera (with its enormous social
for academic analysis.  Movies and soaps attain respectability
members low on the ladder of rank.  Once upon a time
the passage of time he was canonized by the guild, and
his Complete Works have been annotated and organized
He made it to the top.  It can be done, but it is rare.
The guild's institutions have, in their unobtrusively
the world.  Their diaspora has been so successful that
dispensers, controllers, instruments, and structures of
on earth.  It is another measure of the guild's success
that we can hardly imagine an alternative to it.  The
utopian communes of anarchists, socialists, and hippies,
from the guild's leaders (the professorial elite, the academic,
hardly possible for anyone in the Western or Westernizing
the better.  It may be possible to imagine alternatives
(or significant adaptations, if we wish them) only after
we have found the right label for the subject.  Societies
seldom see what is central in their own cultures, having
much less trouble identifying it in the cultures of
can be taken one stage further, to the global agglomeration
constitute a fifth estate, an entity as worthy of anthropological
as we find it hard to imagine the guild as a whole and
to envisage alternatives to it, so no organization exists
outside this fifth estate that could investigate it.  Anthropology
There appears to be only one solution.  A traditional
aim is sincere (and, by and large, it seems to be), the
fifth estate may yet turn the bright light of science and
scholarship on itself.  That would be an interesting day.
English is a mongrel tongue.  It is basically composed
other national language even comes close to that.  One
for `earth pig.'  The English, however, seeing a large
words from one language to the other.  The north border
rest of the country: sombrero, mantilla, poncho, rebozo,
etymology.  Let us not forget marijuana which is simply
that is being acquired by the rest of the country.  When
want to be emphatic about a large undertaking, they
whole enchilada!   About someone who is in complete
charge of a project, they could say, He runs things
negation: I had nothing to do with that!  Nothing at
well say You do it exactly this way!  You'd better do it
knew little about the cattle business and cared less, he
never got around to branding his stock.  That man was
And its meaning expanded to mean any nonconformist.
These fifty words that have entered English after a
different words each day, the chances are everybody in
Compounding native English words or elements produces
gradual process, as evidenced by the sequence of to
are not easily recognized as such today.  Let us reveal
one is by himself, he, she, or it is alone.  The word is
longer be divided.  The theory was largely shelved for
two thousand years until several physicists produced
theories which led to the fact that the atom could be
`one.'  The term is used largely in the Christian sense of
has gone through a process of generalization, whereby
press, manuscripts had to be copied by hand.  Since a
second copy exceeded the first by one hundred percent,
because it opens in morning and closes at night, or
`spear,' and lac `leek.'  Garlic is a member of the family
of leeks which is related to the onion.  Its blades are its
were made of rope and were probably used for ascending
compounds, and their true nature is exposed only by
there's a difference that matters) sex.  For example, in
exactly what it meant.  In fact, I bet they even knew
into his own as a literary maverick, New York publisher
get wise.  I want him to lug me everywhere.  All the
into a smashup every time.  Well, believe me, she'll
hide herself and settle down.  That's a lot of newspaper
students of the English language because of its use of
novel.  I take the liberty of reprinting the glossary here,
familiar) and many are not included in standard dictionaries
also used by whites in other sections.  Only a third of
the terms have found their way into The Dictionary of
leather as meaning a kick, but they date the term from
would give his fallen foe what we called `the leather,'
could there be any relationship between that term and
Recently I found in one of those files in which for
which points out that the formal language of a century
and more past can lead to misunderstandings today.  It
the English clergyman who is best remembered as the
nuns, whose numbers and influence were daily increasing
I wasn't quite sure about the clipping, so I checked the
limbs and elsewhere referred to the bloomer arrangement
noun it was first used of trade dealings between people
and `that which is spiritual or unseen.'  (I vaguely
and economist who is remembered for his Essay on the
Principle of Population: An illicit intercourse between
the sexes.  But that use apparently was rare in those
times.  I do not know when the word, standing alone,
came into common use with an explicit sexual sense.
war it ceased to be a name and became an insult and
Brown does not know how that happened.  This use of
while there are many different views on the point of
(wholly unsubstantiated) guess that the majority of
me of the license plate a friend reported recently.
plate nicely violated the no offensive plates rule.  It
points out that the difference between the coefficients
to be dislodged from a brass monkey and survive as a
justification for the origin of cold enough to freeze the
And, where the reference is made in the first paragraph
sometime entertainment editor of Life magazine, and
general journalistic critic and gadfly, was enamored of
Duende is very difficult to define.  Yet when it is
there it is unmistakable, inspiring our awe, quickening
something that has it is to feel icy fingers running
a `sprite or hobgoblin that plays tricks, especially at
reaching a height, for a brief stretch or longer, when
the gerundive, which is an adjective of similar form,
words in English, is derived from the gerundive, and
so means `(a person) to be analyzed.'  Similarly, reverend
who is to be ordained'; an old standby of crossword
and legend is `something to be read.'  We use in their
to be repressed.'  In the course of its transfer to English
through French it has become `a severe or formal rebuke,'
An amusing example of this kind of semantic confusion
find out that it meant `able to cure flatulence' was the
indeed associated with singing, and goes back to the
time when men attempted to cure the ills of the flesh
When I first began to study German it took a while to
afflatus           a fart.  The words divine afflatus
there is a story that goes back to a time when it was
required by law that every town council have at least
slowly in the first verse of Elegy in a Country Churchyard,
one error for sure, and, if I read him rightly, yet another
in the same spot.  He refers to those chilling lines
up when he states it is to enable him to proceed on
relates to night destroying daylight in the sense that
darkness will cancel the daylight's `bond,' whatever
life and his fatherhood, with great alluding to the
I. ii, as that shalt be king hereafter.  A few lines later
uttered by the Third Witch.  The father can beget new
threat.  Both their lives must be snuffed out immediately,
pale, by that unearthly promise.  He views either of
them as the instrument, the bond, of his not being able
to pass on the crown to a successor of his choosing (or
of his subsequent begetting).  Yes, Night will devour
True to the terms of the indenture set forth by its
guarantors, that great bond will suffer no default.
interpretation is one that has been advanced before
set by the essay competition forced me to be rather
elliptical.  Briefly, I interpret bond as being implicit in
unwittingly asking that chaos should come again, as
indeed it does within the world of the tragedy until the
from the literal to the metaphorical or metaphysical in
his use of a legal term.  From that point of view the
replacing the clear with the opaque) the two characters
tonal diacritical marks.  A roughly approximate atonal
Japan ruled the island.  A common sight in China (either
one) is two individuals closely observing the upturned,
draws ideographs on that palm with a forefinger.  It's
a delight to see the smile of recognition when communication
military slang interesting, but his explanation of the
First, we must realize there is a difference between
translated individually as `extreme' and `south.'  When
of the Warring (or Contending) States Period.  At about
using an already standard character that had a similar
It seems the character f is being used phonetically a
idiom dressed to the nines could be from Middle English
pedagogical value, especially as a vocabulary builder,
something both intuitively and statistically known to
affixes relevant to English.  This is neatly illustrated,
of the same issue), where, without getting involved in
complicated matters, the author explains almost fifty
and various stems.  Also, since many English words and
words can be misleading.)  These differences are due to
semantic change somewhere on the etymological chain
other grounds (if the study of ANY language requires
pleading).  I am happy, by the way, that Abate did not
in its alphabetical place, but if you look for it where it
By the most conservative estimates, the church's property
in the Bay Area is worth uncountable millions.  [From
dream state, pulse and heart rate, vaginal tumescence and
temperature change, rapid eye movement and the size and
frequency of penal erection.  [From Playing After Dark by
fact that the pictures are a full page each with captions
will) would be frustrating were it not for the quality
what can one do with a language like English except
FAT EGG UNDER A DOG!  As anyone can tell, I am not a
worst its been in the last five years, Its come full
each of the examples above, is the contraction of it is.
That is where I happened to open this book, where I
closed it, and why this review is so brief.  There seems
little point in going any further, except to say that this
is the Revised Edition; one shudders to think of what
It goes on to describe the `inhabitants propensity for
with a warning against raiding hives or the ascription
should learn vocabulary from reading literature and
listening to articulate speakers, not by memorizing the
dictionary.  That said, it must be acknowledged that
some may be in great difficulty if facing an examination,
them through, then they need this book.  The problem
lies, of course, among those who make up examinations
aptitudes on his precise and proper use of words, at
bottom a thoroughly idiotic notion, clearly unrelated
to being a musical or other artistic or mechanical genius
or craftsman.  Control of language may be a manifestation
the book.  It would probably fulfill its function if those
promptly forget it the day after the exam.  How many
people need words like desiccate, didactic, innocuous,
with `laundry, shopping, preparing dinner,' to the exclusion
its right to edit all contributions.  Submitted by 
Condo living, the spread of AIDS through prostitutes
.and the reader wants to shout, Martial your thoughts!
I do not need a spelling checker, but I have found it
eyesight eight and a half years later can tell us a lot
about how the English language has changed or remained
half centuries.  There may be other sources equally
rich in examples for comparison, but there can hardly
be another that is at the same time so much fun to read
with ours, because by then the basis of modern English
in the Time paragraphs that were not in its lexicon:
they are not so much lost words as obsolete forms of
used the adjective handsome to describe his financial
condition, as we would rarely do today.  Nevertheless,
swollen by these centuries of technological breakthroughs
average education can read most of the Diary without
his dictionary.  In fact, so rapidly does our vocabulary
continue to expand by the addition of such technical
neologisms as AIDS or star wars and such borrowings
may seem slightly stilted or Biblical by modern standards,
use of do as an auxiliary for affirmative verbs where
no emphasis is intended, as, for example, in his entry
God, who doth most manifestly bless me in my endeavors
money, and my expenses being very little.  This casual
some reason, who are increasingly wont to announce,
speech the auxiliary do is reserved for negative or
interrogative statements as in Don't do it or Do you
do it?  or for emphasis, particularly in rebuttal, as in
much less than we do.  For us it has practically replaced
the Diary but do occur, for example in his entry for
More surprising than evident but relatively insignificant
words and expressions that have persisted in English
educated speakers nowadays often use I in combinations
legend that this solecism is a hypercorrection forced
of schoolchildren that they must not say me in such
Similarly, who in the objective case appears to have
the old Flotilla lay where lay is the past tense of
phrases that have been admitted to our standard language
but that still sound a bit colloquial.  This is me,
finally been accepted into standard English, though
dialects too little to say.  But there is in the Diary a
locution that I have encountered only there, I believe
with phrases used as words.  A carelessness about inflection
was the use of whole phrases as single words as, for
instance: to quickly and efficiently do this job, where
where only do is the infinitive marked as such by to
and modified by two adverbs.  So it comes as something
that sounds like wording in a television commercial:
among other things, strikes us as almost telegraphic
in its compression.  It is doubtful that in conversation
is well adapted to a stenographer's very private diary
and of its particular time and place, we find little
that is obscurely archaic in its style.  Despite such
interesting differences as are noted above, the language
Abortion, Acquisition.  Ayatollah.  Acid rain.  Air
Light.  Blush wine.  B1.  Billy Ball.  Bran.  Bimbos.
phones.  Colorization.  Challenger.  Couch potatoes.
Steroids.  Stealth.  Short Round.  Sound bite.  Star
and recall was immediate.  Since there is no logic to
the lengths of months, he had facilitated memory of
of Quotations, 3rd, ed., Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford,
used by classical orators so they could speak without
the structure while delivering the speech.  Our use
of in the first (second, etc.) place is an offshoot of
this method.  Because this is The Language Quarterly,
code).  Having a mnemonic is no panacea.  For example,
Poetry is an ancient mnemonic device.  The Biblical
so well that they are destined chronically to misspell
school trigonometry, about all I can remember of it
the right triangle's sides to the functions of its angles).
In science class I learned the planets, by distance
readers that their doctors do not, as a rule, think of
fails, doctors actually look things up.]  Suffice it to
say, after the first thousand pages or so, the plot of
such acrostics as novel (Nerve, Artery, Vein, Empty
Lively, preferably lewd, imagery was appreciated by
bizarre, sharp, or humorous the image, the more effective
Spring ahead, fall back.  Conversely, who remembers
the bass clef lines and spaces (with, respectively,
class, order, family, genus, species, variety).  On the
other hand, I find this one for pi, coding digits by
cabinet posts in order of their creation (State, Treasury,
Succession Act, who is ninth in line to the presidency?
not really the most pronounceable acronym, at least
to speakers of English.  Nevertheless, the good St. D.,
retired, is still occupying a good number of my cerebral
remember homes is a mnemonic, but forget what it is
a mnemonic for.  My personal albatross is the couplet
has in the suit; to my partners' distress, I forget the
buoys mark the right side of the channel, or must the
when recalling the requisites for adverse possession
(squatter's rights, to us not of the bar)?  Do speleologists
redundant, as insurance against embarrassing lapsus
things should be committed to writing, (the witness
forget to take the shopping list to the supermarket,
let alone calendars and rosters of planets and cabinet
of Quotations, 3rd, ed., Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford,
themselves.  Among the most colorful and intriguing
are those that describe the piffle, prattle, twaddle,
and flapdoodle that people in all talks of life tend to
spew forth.  Here is a small start on a glossary of glossolalia,
which has come to designate a `camouflage of flattery,'
is excessively sweet, mushy, pulpy and insubstantial,
scarcity of more nourishing fare.  A similar connection
crammed with odds and ends from slaughter, including,
same steps takes up from tripe, the walks of the first
foolish speech.'  Adding to the pile of verbal garbage
century and originally meant a `hodgepodge of liquors,
washing down a mishmash of pretentious and frivolous
The less romantic truth is that babble descends from
by infants in their repetitive chatter.  Blarney and
actual places.  Blarney refers to the Blarney stone,
located in Blarney Castle, a few miles north of Cork,
ever after.  Bunk is a shortening of bunkum, itself a
was originally a theatrical term for a showy trick or
would use to attract (`trap') applause (`claps') from
helped husbands to bewilder wives whom they suspected
least a few animals.  A cock and bull story, for example,
derives from ancient fables and medieval bestiaries
and a menagerie of other animals discoursed in human
elaborate beauty spots to their upper cheeks.  This
short for the transfers), and the adjective cockamamie
some say echoes the sense of florid but superficial
embellishment.  Hogwash, of course, is a designation
Puffy, bureaucratic verbiage if often called gobbledygook,
word famous with a World War II memorandum denouncing
about.  Stop `pointing up' programs.  No more `finalizing,'
using the words `activation' or `implementation' will
be shot.  Closely related to gobbledygook, but more
Council of Teachers of English established a Committee
stamp out evasive and obfuscating terminology slithering
drawn from the meaningless syllables sung in the refrains
having been from `stomach garbage' to `brain garbage.'
literally `soft poop' or `baby poop,' an appropriately
so intelligent about identifying unintelligible persiflage
beleaguered by the sleaziest of criminals and defended by
a police department that's the subsidiary of a big corporation.
school.  (Call us missionaries to make it simple.)  Of
culture and language made us realize how complicated
whispering, cackling, prattling, chuckling, chortling,
plotting.  Speech is certainly more than plugging in
its synonyms, in both verb and noun forms.  Whereas
in English there are totally different words to express
at all, you can express joy, sorrow, anger, disgust,
skepticism, ridicule, criticism, fear, and many other
emotions.  Tone of voice, facial expressions, placement
of arms, and body stance all contribute to nonverbal
carefully, but to be aware of what we said in nonverbal
aware that they were reading the cues of intonation
and body language to get an idea about how the discussion
misread the cues.  We, too, tried to read their nonverbal
Their children did not realize others spoke German,
but rather thought it was their family's personal, private
Even if you become skilled at controlling nonverbal
cultural assumptions and traditions you cannot know
of doing things may be insulting to the nationals.  In
money to pay for something.  The left hand is considered
is an insult.  This sounds easy enough to avoid until
when sitting at meetings, on a bus, or in a restaurant.
the purity of the food being handled.  Even symbolic
contamination is taken very seriously.  Boys at one of
the high schools refused to eat the rice prepared for
their meal: because one of them had seen some girls
sitting on the bales of rice stacked in the school pantry,
questions to ask.  The first question is inappropriate
because names are private.  The people believe that
evil spirits can control you if they know your name.
(school, government, or church).  But they have one
private, hidden name which remains a family secret.
which might get you a puzzled look or a blank stare.
year we had that big flood.  But as a practical consideration,
village elders feel they are ready for it.  The passing
of each year of one's life is celebrated generally for
arrives.  The language even reflects this, for the Pidgin
concept of time is circular, not linear, so marking the
passage of time is not as important as celebrating the
There is a classic case (and true, we are told) of a
cook.  The missionary told the cook what to prepare
for dinner: Go out and catch that old rooster, pluck
it, and put it in the refrigerator.  We'll cook it later.
Several hours later the missionary opened the refrigerator
rooster staring at him: he hadn't told the cook to kill
each country has its own unique cultural and artistic
they can look at designs on carvings or woven string
these designs and symbols tell stories of their people,
worked in a city on the north coast, told us of one
group of expatriate engineers was called in to design
and build a high school.  The designers decided that
the local people would like the school better if it had
they chose from a story board (an elaborate carving
front of the building.  When the school opened, none
He took the problem back to the local village elders,
the most repugnant part of their whole history, and
it was an embarrassment to have it plastered on signs
and worn by people who had no idea what the symbols
shirt.  A church elder who stood up to read the lesson
game of communication.  Because of historical, political,
English, but not as we were accustomed to hearing it
you a shopping list asking for capsicum, silver beet,
mince, and jelly?  (She would expect green peppers,
if she offered your child a cordial?  (All she would
asking to hold the baby.)  If you were invited out for
while an invitation to tea would be for the evening
Translating can be a treacherous means of communication,
than our own class notes or study materials for the
sole job was translation.  Literal translations have
white is the color of death and mourning.  Interestingly,
because their cultural assumptions allow no possibility
for a truly free gift.  There is a basic suspicion that
not too bad a translation for `love.'  However, there
are only two possibilities for translating `love' in Pidgin,
belly,' but which commonly means `to make pregnant.
has been chosen to translate the word `love' as found
in the Bible.  Those sorts of translation difficulties
ravines.  We derived great pleasure from attempting
to unravel the languages and their cultures, and we
found that the desire to understand and to be understood
The difference between the two ways of writing the q
reflects a slight variation in pronunciation: q being an explosive
and elsewhere, that seem slightly deviant.  Deviant,
one is expecting.  Some titles are catchy, and easy to
What I am getting at are titles with skew spellings,
names and words that are difficult to relate to anything
come to that, why didn't he call it What I Am Doing
Here?  What is the significance, if any, of this small
spellings and punctuations is that you really need to
remember two extra things, on top of the little itself:
first, that the title is deviant, and second, how it is
thought I might as well tackle the issue head on and
see where the longstanding and popularly perpetrated
see some light in this particular thicket, as I think I
although of course the pun on this word is intentional.
latter often involving the problem of whether a title
answer for here, as it does in everyday English.  So
is the possessive, the second represents the vowel of
retained their historic titles, complete with outmoded
In a sense, it seems illogical that we have retained
modern spellings for the titles of plays by his contemporary,
of this is the name of a river, so A is quite out of
Among the true deviants, the titles that are neither
immediately nor even sometimes ever really meaningful
which seems rather perverse.  And John Gay's greatest
had a major problem until recently.  The timing gear broke in the
front yard after coming home from the orthodontist.  [From the
That dive was right on the edge of new exploration and
of the earth is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I hope to
those of us who have studied linguistics have usually
been told that as language is essentially spoken, its
written form is of lesser (or no) importance for the
course, for it can easily be demonstrated that written
language cannot be ignored for a variety of reasons:
reflected there, the relatively complex constructions
that are accepted as normal to writing but would be
by written records, and so on.  These and other features
communication.  That is not to say that writing and
deciphered, and presenting his cogent arguments for
regarding at least some aspects of language through
the analysis of writing.  It is only through their written
languages, and the written forms of others serve to
confirm the findings of diachronic linguistics in positing
because of the need to keep records as civilizations
preceded attempts at developing methods for transcribing
some interesting implications for theories about how
the mind works and, in particular, its capacity for
abstracting.  It must be emphasized, of course, that
language preceded numeracy, but it is interesting to
see how very early in man's acculturation the ability
to deal with the abstract notion of counting manifested
consist of bits of clay similar in shape to those of the
items being counted (for identification), the quantity
of bits being equal to the number of items counted.
was itself to be replaced by a shorthand version, and
that is where things begin to get complicated.  I have
For us who can read and count and take such matters
so much for granted, it seems impossible to believe
that might be viewed as a bootless economy.  While it
must be noted that the cuneiform system, based on a
an agglutinative language, in structure of the type of
know little, but it is interesting to note that about
of various languages applied it to their needs, it became
alphabetic writing.  In his description of writing systems
quick to point out that these classifications are not
mutually exclusive, even in the oldest extant writing
that has been interpreted, they provide a convenient
point of departure for descriptions of what is going
on in a writing system.  Thus, we might conclude that
in this book is the decipherment of written languages.
this chapter extremely interesting.  It is worth noting
the latter we can assume that a modern language was
clues to the nature of the language, to what extent it
the chapter on the alphabet, from which the following
In many orthographies purely phonemic representations
graphically preserving their etymologies.  For example,
because it is etymologically related to the verb to
break.  The <w> in acknowledge points to its etymological
such as <l> in folk, <k> in knife, or <w> in wrestle
are etymological remnants rather than representations
associated with words originating from these languages.
word often relates to that of other words belonging
between anxious and, anxiety and, in German, between
reformers had their way, and spelling matched pronunciation,
did prevail in the earliest beginnings of the writing
of the modern alphabet: as an artifact it is valuable
applied to modern English it would contribute nothing
years old.  (We cannot always be sure we understand
what we are reading, but that is another matter.)  If
we were to adopt a phonetic system of spelling, it is
might be argued that the writing should be phonemic,
an older stage of the language.  Were that undertaken,
The term applied to this rather unhealthy situation
fourteenth century AD, and this standard is respected
prevails at every level of the society.'...  This attitude
a large part of the population has very little esteem
There is, of course, no final word on this subject,
transcribing speech sounds, but is rather an instrument
means of relating visual signs in various different
text is punctuated here and there by tables showing
sound values in English orthography).  This is not to
say that readers will be come away from The Writing
it is they do not know, and pursuit of the available
family is unhappy in its own way.  It seems to me that
every happy family, like every pair of lovers, has a
life and mine know that their names are a permanent
part of our language.  I was a gullible child, and so I
was often befriended by major league liars.  Try as
personalized with a name in crayon.  Thus, we call a
husbands into a frenzy of desire when we were visiting
picked her up clad head to toe in the school colors of
black and gold, looking like a giant bumblebee.  Such
heard this tale, he speculated that the old beau's toilet
friends.  A person who gets it has humor, purpose, a
sense of the absurd, and a strong world view.  One of
phrase when one finds himself in surroundings of unaccustomed
two notorious families, feuding but frequently intermarrying,
hit the streets, and a contingent of Sharps marched
into the newspaper office.  Turned out they weren't
angry but proud, and had come in to buy out the rest
puts it; her first never did.  I sensed that when I stood
beside her in the receiving line at her first wedding,
and she muttered under her breath, This is a bluebird
to fly up to become a Campfire Girl, she was beside
herself with anticipation.  Of course, the ceremony
was not the transfiguring experience she had hoped.
shopping spree.  We refer to a garment that is both
bought off the rack; most are created from a mix of
patterns by my mother's clever needle.  I have vision,
hint that the wearer has hidden fires banked beneath
phrase we picked up at a fashion show narrated by a
pads that are currently ultra chic, but have an unfortunate
resist drooling a little in the dressing room, and calling
Since my sister and I share a poor sense of direction
back seat on the way home from a shopping expedition.
side of town.  We still refer to a person who is lost,
either literally or spiritually, as coming the going
one's bearings at the wheel can have unhappy results.
put a flair all his own in our family lingo.  He loves
having his daughters fetch for him.  Would ye bring
ask.  Or, Would ye bring me a toothpick?  Since all
his requests begin that way, we've come to call people
vacation, he insisted on driving through a thunderstorm
Much to dad's dismay, we got the giggles as a guide
because in his estimation, they still had pot rings on
for all the years of avoiding dental bills by putting
dishes of candy on every available surface in their
house when I bring my children back to the big bubble.
toddlers, my mother admonished my two older children
didn't know until later that during the entire drive
up, she trembled in fear of the unfamiliar destination.
folks live in, we pass a big green factory.  Since the
drive gives just enough time for the children to get a
just think our own thoughts for a change, we always
have the kids play silence when we get to the factory.
in big boys or big girls (real underpants) is a time
the least little bit dampish.  Our couch, fortunately
sale his children held after an elderly gent's death is
a gorilla was eating vast handfuls of his own bright
gorilla mustard, I know it's best to retire it.  One
what occasioned the sniggering from her grandchildren.
a rebel of the sixties, calls kids who go limp in public
child has already been reprimanded for is in double
value is inestimable to us.  Every happy family's language
Grilled in foil or alongside a ham, turkey or chicken,
those who shied away from onions before will delight in
abridged, is said to contain much material not included
few of much earlier date, but that can scarcely be an
exception being Catch Phrases, which I didn't think
fodder and resembles the earlier books in style sufficiently
to satisfy those familiar with the format.  Personally,
but not to I, a practice I simply cannot understand.
course, there are more distinctive dialects of English
some are mutually unintelligible.  Linguistic chauvinism
in the present instance we must then be looking at a
The value of the book is not diminished by its being
deceptive not to make it clear from the title (or a
first entry one turns to is fuck, which, in keeping
citations, for most of the words and expressions are
communications aircraft; that might be coincidence,
his radio program on rainy days in the early 1930s.
Expressions like blow it out your ear (inaccurately
its original meaning was `skin blemish,' and cosmetic
can say that I personally know the term to have been
used in the early 1950s, and I did not then get the
`chamber pot,' disagreeing with Collins English Dictionary
unfamiliar with the origin of a given bit of rhyming
slang for `teeth,' with the last often shortened to
blood.  One of my favorites (till I find another) is
recent competition.  Such a message is particularly
dismaying when one is able to fill in only one or two
he has identified the origin of a given expression as
of the secondary sources he resorted to, for they are
inconsistent in their accuracy.  Despite my criticism
of the inaccuracies of the US slang source material, if
was overbooked, and I could not get in.  Besides Tom
without fear of contradiction, that I have probably
written and continue to write more reviews of English
books on language) than most other people.  Quantity,
discussed were criteria for assessing a dictionary,
and given to reviewers assigned or invited to write
about such books.  There is no doubt that the quality
of such reviews varies enormously.  When assigning a
book for review in other subjects, editors are usually
something about the subject of the book: it would be
unusual to find a book on, say, archaeology reviewed
by an archaeologist.  But when it comes to dictionaries,
There are novelists and there are novelists.  I, for
On the other hand, a novelist is, presumably, `anyone
some of the most prolific novelists write as if they
know little about the language, and it would be ridiculously
lexicographers are seen to have axes to grind (because
publish unbiased reviews.  Some of the dictionary reviews
lack of sufficient linguistic sophistication.  It may be
assumed that the reason for giving such writers dictionaries
users.  But the same editors do not select ordinary
readers to review novels, they pick other novelists
or professional literary critics, in other words, reviewers
to engage as reviewers of dictionaries lexicographers
who are knowledgeable about the genre, not amateurs
be required to delineate the reasons for his approval
or disapproval of its style and content, so any editor
worth his salt should be able to detect in a properly
written, professional review of a dictionary by a lexicographer
given dictionary has dealt with such areas.  As I was
the problem of trying to urge editors to engage professional
effort of trying to ensure that editors be provided
with certain guidelines on How To Review A Dictionary,
on to the selected amateur reviewers thereby making
comments on the book at hand, for it would be unfair
other dictionaries.  Rather, it constitutes what publishers
amount of lexicographic material but little or nothing
larger dictionaries in a publisher's line, pared down
and priced lower.  Oxford publishes a slightly smaller
version which they call their Pocket English Dictionary,
though one is likely to find himself in deep disagreement
which one can expect to find fairly thorough treatment
spot on a desk or table, for it is too big and heavy to
drag out of a bookcase every time it is needed.  The
volumes); besides, it is not a work for everyday use
available (including all their different editions),
satisfied with brief definitions of no great depth,
and, essentially, a dictionary than can be used as a
spelling checker.  These days, spelling checkers are
hence a dictionary for that purpose is of limited usefulness.
that is the case, then why bother buying or publishing
urinate; (Naut.) to leak.  These are both quite correct,
on the back of a page to interfere with the legibility;
the type is too gray; the definitions are run into one
another, with semicolons in place of definition numbers,
making it difficult to distinguish senses and requiring
coming to the sense sought; it is almost impossible to
easy to find but detracting from the headword treatment;
many loose lines which poor proofreading has failed
ground, I am unsure what to make of the insertion of
to syrup, where it is not mentioned; as I understand
construed as synonyms, which is not the case.  Indeed,
it seems quite obvious to me that if this were a good
and serviceable inexpensive version of the dictionary
that after a time the user would feel himself ready
event would take place, for this book is a sad disappointment.
The French have long complained about the pollution
techniques, was hailed as a tour de force and became
and then onto a cafe, though she would rather go to
has the rank of lieutenant, fancies himself as a raconteur
shows lack of etiquette.  Perhaps we could go to a bal
and eau de toilette on her neck.  They start off with
with his fingers and then spills most of them on his
has reached an impasse.  It is nothing but a charade.
would ruin me.  I had to keep up a good rapport with
vagaries of eponymous celebrity.  Fine, indeed, for
beautiful, or beneficial items.  Perhaps nowhere are the
medical profession.  Herein, names are most often associated
argued that more diseases have been discovered than
cures (It could hardly be the other way around, could
it?) and that for this reason these gentlemen have,
Perhaps.  But could we not, for that very reason, more
rigorously associate cures or treatments with their discoverers?
to an analogous matter, I have seen references to a real
were) the idea of such a named person ever having had
anything to do with the creation of this necessary convenience
the Shaker Boys League), a hardball little league that
equals, I find that I must correct Power's mistake,
caused by an obviously uniformed conjecture concerning
Chatter is indeed not a word used only to characterize
latter status in jest).  Anyone who has ever spent any
length of time in the field for any minimal amount of
innings in the game of baseball, or along the bench in
insist on playing hardball rather than what is still designated
language designed to get the goat of the opposition
the finer points of the game, and who often exhorts
them from the sidelines, Let's hear a little bit of
knock it down his (or her, when applicable, and the
pitcher for the opposing team is also female) throat in
support of a teammate at bat, or Hit it to me, Make
opposing batter on strikes, known as a strikeout) and
For centuries, people have been taking the measure of
things.  Here is a sampling of the things measured and
the names for the process.  See if you can make the
Verbal Analogy by selecting the appropriate term or
Great Rumor, whatever that was, I hadn't the faintest
idea but obviously he was out in the patios while we
were in class.  It was very many years before, remembering
bright pink fishing buoy, small as toys against the
Context makes it general meaning clear, and specifics
word not in my dictionary, defined by the Unabridged
credibility of persons, subject, or place.  Nor was its
something else happens too, and a real mess results
with a wrong word overused.  Just such an incident a
quite good novel.  Refectory `a monastery or college
dining hall' was used for rectory `the residence of a
stays overnight in either a mere geographical area or
second on the left...;.  But, as she hesitated, the
rectory door opened....  He led her into the rectory
door, and parlor?  Is a rectory so different from any
apparently obscure one is used.  Not that the practice
Indeed there is, but it's again obscure, and perhaps
the library's Random House Dictionary of the English
convolution containing olfactory association centers.
and checked the last.  Two of three were in the house
household dictionary and not the first two?  Both are
Sometimes authors create words, maybe accidentally;
hooves but only roofs; perhaps we tend to pronounce
speech explains the elliptical style, and the best fix
But it's part of the character of an infinite recession
that the final box is much too small to open or even
see.  And anyway, there isn't one.  Indeed not in a
of There is a lesion between hope and recollection,
hands had been pinched.  This she did unblushingly,
though both `accident' and `pinch' were retrospective
mistaken: I frowned at the coffee percolator, which
finally began to perk.  I cradled the telephone between
coffee.  What should but doesn't follow is, And then
quickly spit out the colorless, tasteless gulp of hot
water.  Coffee isn't ready to drink when it begins but
doesn't make his own, or at least not using a percolator.
for `to achieve' or for `because of' [farsightedness].
Used about physical vision, farsighted and nearsighted
ability to see near things more clearly than distant
ones, is basically defective vision of distant objects.
Farsightedness is the ability to see distant things
glasses on to see things across the room and remove
them when near the objects of her scrutiny?  Because
for nearsightedness.  Her eyes looked worried because
indeed for seeing at a distance, but that's not what
Writers sometimes leave themselves open to inadvertent
ruminate while eating, the issue is whether it is over
the toughness of the case or of the roast beef, ham
actual tyranny but the attempts of tyrants to cover
had sent him out as a sort of stalking lamb, to see
what reaction he would stir up. Or perhaps a tethered
stinging eyes, and besides, using half of each of two
state, pulse and heart rate, vaginal tumescence and
not a penile, but a penal uprising; and erections, unless
some subtle word play about painfulness or punishment
deliberately using the imperfect subjunctive tense of
the French government has forbidden in all official
communications, as well as in all public advertising.
the expression jumbo frankfurter in public discourse,
context of speech, according to the prosecutor, but
for a big hot dog today!']  Officials at the Ministry for
Cultural Recidivism, alarmed that the proliferation
of the posters could create an unfortunate conception
question of having a big hot dog or not having a big
a big hot dog.  But people do not have the right to
sentence resulted from a legal ploy that backfired.
Once it became obvious that the case was being lost,
printer's error, maintaining that his client's original
folks around here will be eating big hot dogs.']  The
prison sentence.  But the printer denied the allegation,
ever found, the jury decided that the copywriter had
prosecution unveiled a book found in the defendant's
That Can Get You Put in Jail If You Use Them In This
anterior tense, which is punishable by the guillotine.
with so many trends spotted by the linguistic police,
the general feeling, with some small basis, is that
such diction shows a touch of class.  A more puzzling
phenomenon is the use of long forms for which quite
similar shorter forms already exist.  The general idea
behind this trend seems to be that in length there is
strength, even at the cost of accuracy.  Examples, unfortunately,
have an extra syllable or two that adds little but excess
and television anchormen these days encapsulate the
lives beyond its limitations rather than its limits.
When forced, people take preventative measures instead
phrase he is in my employ  is now considered either
words that already are adjectives.  Why must people
denote causative verbs such as substantiate from substance,
the personnel department of a business would orient
new workers (the word originally meant to point out
Proceeding analogously, a classmate of mine in junior
rather than to `shape.'  The words are apt for scientific
exactitude.  For this reason, perhaps, sociologists
will talk of societal needs: social may sound too soft,
too much like a bridge party.  The same goes for specialty,
vocabulary.  The legal profession is notorious for its
and herewith often crowd out the sufficient here; in
fact, as an honest lawyer will tell you, these words
becomes the part of the first party, the first part
of the party of the first part, and far worse in the
course of an exchange in A Night at the Opera.  The
everything in the contract but the place for a signature.
are probably just after terms without strongly positive
or negative connotations.  The addition of suffixes
generally makes the word in question more abstract:
party without reference to gender, race, and so on.
Presumably, one should have a fine sense of discrimination
must also have a sensitive ear.  Is aggression the same
nouns: which sounds better, implementing or implementation,
gerunds, one often saves a syllable or more, but the
specific, continuous action of a gerund may not be so
attractive to a society fuzzily focused on process.
speech.  A word of caution, however: as with forming
one searches for additional examples, more grist for
bound to come across in his explorations is the twosome
carries with it a distinctly different meaning.  The
adulterer and the adulterator may both be reprehensible
one thing, simplistic another; the same is true of the
`thrifty.'  To shift fields: art movements, in particular,
often identify themselves through the addition of a
syllable to a word in common parlance.  Formalist art
above one's word processor, Slash excess syllables.
others enough to darken any day.  But then there are
may even go on to proselytize to others the virtue in
thought.  It may be a thankless task, but it can lead to
Moped injuries are clearly one of the top causes of
require amputation.  The injuries sustained in the accidents
Survival of old phrases and definitions is encouraged
by poverty and social isolation, which sustain traditions,
patients, and some publish lists of what they hear,
without always appreciating its origin.  Elaborate taxonomies
dictated word, the technological dyslexia of typographical
Lists of typographical errors, collected from hospital
records, are often posted on bulletin boards and are
Phi Beta Capita, sin eruptions, positive throat structure
nature and intensity of sexual reference.  Take sin
eruption and the variety of vulgar expressions for describing
the pathological consequences of sexual encounters.
English Dictionary for enlightenment about the origin
paragraphs, the year of first recorded use given in
`swelling in the groin or axilla.'  Thus the form of
plague characterized by such regional swelling became
form.  Later bubo came to refer almost exclusively to
the inguinal swelling of venereal disease, along the
way being corrupted to blue balls as in the colorful
course stand for `testes.'  The `inguinal lesion of primary
Gonorrhea itself was first a word for the discharge
sticky or greasy, characteristically as `phlegm collected
people with respiratory tract irritation or infection.
lexicographer, author of Collection of English Proverbs
part of the skin of one of my insteps by degrees has
inflammation.  Its precursor was the now quite obsolete
the service of cows by bulls from the lea of language.
service stations with their birth control centers, offering
and impotence recorded in the medical history often
undergoes technological transformation to importance,
marriage courage is necessary for a satisfactory family
speech may fail to recognize linguistic fossils when
VERBATIM makes an excellent gift, at any time of the
year, for mature, intelligent people interested in language.
said: For the second time in two weeks a Galena Park
of freshmen drop out of UT after four years.  About
here only a selection of a selection, suggesting some
local customs, traditions in a nutshell.  To understand
another proverb puts it, Customs are the fifth element
The generous heart does not grow old; The house that
receives no guests receives no angels; A rich man who
succinctly, Food for one is food for two; One cup of
crooked; or again, After the passing of incense there
is the family.  My brother and I against my cousin; my
translated example.  Families, as the proverb suggests,
should be closely knit.  They should also, according
praised: When a man's mother is at home, his loaf of
less generous In time of famine the old have teeth and
What the devil accomplished in a year, an old woman
may accomplish in an hour.  Children are the stairway
of verbal wrestling, one vying with another or sometimes
combining with it, the idealistic and the skeptical
in his heart; the man with children has a heart like a
comes to friendship.  Straightforward enough is The
who loves you will chew pebbles for you, your enemy
again, See two people in harmony, and one person is
off warns one medieval example.  The victim is murdered,
He who makes light of other men will be killed by a
and its skin will be rewarded by its stink, while an
is cut short except a long speech.  For use by ministers
of finance there is If meat is dear, patience is cheap.
comes a whole portfolio of sayings on the perils of
ambition.  Climb like a cucumber, fall like an aubergine;
Stretch your feet only as far as your blanket allows;
swift must be cut off; He who eats the Sultan's raisins
lips of the governed, those proverbial underdogs.  A
streetwise realism prevails, if not downright subversion:
truths; There's no security in three things: the sea, the
Sultan, and time.  Expectations are generally low in
floor you don't fall out.  When speaking out is perilous
prince's dog is also a prince.  Deference is not the
one; two others snigger that A bribe (a) takes down
the judge's trousers, (b) unwinds his turban.  If economy
tell the truth unless you have one foot in the stirrup
as a general policy that is not without dangers also:
other texts.  Leave the moral high ground to poets,
trouble and sing to it, suggests one saying; but most
warn that trouble will come anyway.  In the timeless
will be born without heads; If a peasant were made of
silver, his balls would be made of brass.  In the same
grape, a hundred wasps.  The Almighty might provide
themselves.  Better a neat lie than a sloppy truth hints
how rhyme, that proverbial standby, can get the better
for its own sake.  The tongue of experience is truest,
confirms one with due humility: Ask a man of experience
is given his due, experience seen as a sort of leveler:
hands are in water is not like him whose hands are in
fire; or, taken a stage further, An imbecile can manage
men, ignore the advice of a thousand more, then return
to your original decision.  The limitations of languages
or, most majestically of all, in The dogs bark, the
caravan passes.  Behind the telling proverb is a salutary
If I have regretted keeping quite once, I have regretted
my speech many times over, another proverb admonishes
other kinds of house is implied and, in the last, with
slightly different and easily distinguishable meaning.
stressing the first word of the name of a breakfast
both nouns would bear equal emphasis.  In the advertisement,
wrongly placed emphasis in a phrase is likely to be
however, cannot be said either of the recent and increasingly
emphasis on both syllables leads to the word's being
advised, among other things, to stress the first instead
that the new policy, rather than being a reflection
of overseas English speakers, since the new pronunciations
these examples of difference in stress can be said to
words that are pronounced and stressed exactly alike
in both syntactical uses: accord, control, decree, dismay,
et al.; but these words appear to be in the minority.
first syllable by way of contrasting two actions or
conditions, as in, it has de creased, not in creased.
understanding of the written word which has punctuation
would make phrases like the following distinguishable:
of politicians and of those who are the principal purveyors
It may be symptomatic of such losses that today the
mantra, a prayer that begs our indulgence, asks us to
take the wish for the deed, and, what is far worse,
seeks to convict us of ignorance and stupidity should
was filmed, another master was shaping the vocabulary
creation of Billy Bunter, the Fat Owl of the Remove.
their schoolboy slang lives again.  Copies even found
their way into the trenches of the First World War,
when the tales were turned into books, up until the
State schools but still read his matchless prose with
sardines, crumpets, potted meat, jam and doughnuts.
had a vivacious approach to slang.  Key words of that
era are cheery, chums, and breezy, all much used by
master of the Remove, was a beast, but a just beast, a
clearly had an effect on the vocabulary of his foolish
and absurd pupils, especially in the insults they exchanged
You spoofing sweep! You frabjous ass! You fat duffer!
of the idiotic Bunter is preposterous!  This amusing
mix of fractured English and an excellent vocabulary
smoothly these stories prepared the readers for the
a pew `seat,' on their jiggers `bicycles,' playing the
goat, a measly solicitor, cad, and rotter, and similar
expressions were all part of typical schoolboy slang
had never encountered at that time, so their horizons
clever enough to adapt his use of schoolboy slang to
write that Bunter couldn't care a straw, but in his
later novels he changed this to couldn't care less, so
his ear for dialogue stayed tuned into very old age.
educational as well as entertaining.  The recent resurgence
slang is still perfectly recognizable and acceptable to
a new generation as we near the 21st century.  That
The strangest example of a loanword I have encountered
spurt over the past twenty years, predictably in the
fields of science, business and economics, politics,
have come across.  As in all languages, the older a
loanword, the less recognizable it is, so I start with
(rote) may  city bus. [rote means `land conveyance'
bar beer  outdoor beer bar.  No prizes for guessing
do with loanwords at all but fascinating nonetheless.
Four Golden Turtles.'  So far I have been unable to
Group, apologized for having used the word welsh in
the sense, cheat by failing to pay a gambling debt;
word derives from the word Welsh `of, pertaining to,
neutral or complimentary; the two possible exceptions
Welsh cricket `louse.'  Of the latter type many examples
that it is offensive occasionally but that it is offensive
down in price,' notwithstanding its notation marking
suggesting that a man who had raided a law office and
killed some people in it had been inspired or spurred
on by the derisive attitude toward lawyers that lawyer
was raised and promptly ridiculed as ludicrous: one
by nationalistic and ethnic interests than by lawyers.
Nomenclature, or, How to Win at Trivial Pursuit and
delved into the subject, particularly with regard to
hailed into court.  When I was a lad, the word nigger
was taboo in the US, but it was used freely till recently
colored was anathematized (despite the National Association
which has still not changed its name), black was legislated
Negro and colored, though I cannot recall any riders
There cropped up, here and there, objections to the
use of black to describe things other than good and
of the day.  Is it my imagination or do I detect intimations
world, there would be no need to refer to people by
to omit mention of an individual's color, but they got
round that by showing a photograph; today, television
an attempt to get people to pronounce it as closely as
rather than Say, Jack: after all, there might still be
I number such items among the Perils of Literacy: it
is mainly since they learned to read that people have
words and names according to their spellings, a dangerous
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
have learned to lobby for preferential treatment and
speak little or no English, and most make every effort
they can to retain the cultures of their respective
(silly) season on the language in the US; but we cannot
might take heart from the news that books could still
be perceived to have such an impact; my own cynical
have had much effect and would have been long forgotten
There are a lot of offensive words in the language,
people put those words together to express offensive
the book's protagonist led to a forceful lesson in the
while applying for visas to a certain Middle Eastern
was hijacked by Middle Eastern terrorists, who tried
in their passports, on the theory that those ending in
role by the terrorists, played a heroic role by insisting
More specifically, are there unique or typical names
into various categories (the following is not meant to
Depending on the nature of the local liege lord, that
ghetto were not only geographical: inhabitants were
usually restricted in the trades they could engage in.
pawnbrokers or bankers (often there was little difference
traded along routes which stretched from the Middle
only made shakes, he also built and surfaced the entire
traveling in the course of my business (as international
and write them to see if we might be related.  I underestimated
almost every large city of the world I have visited,
ago, I started seeing the little white service wagons
How this exception to the rule occurred is impossible
imagine that it could easily have happened over the
visits to the Middle East, I should become the object
trousers to determine my religion?  He would have a
gentiles of my age bear the visible signs of the Covenant
terms, are long gone.  Part of this impression comes
and its readiness to dress up the differences in ways
likely to appeal to tourists from overseas and from
with the times.  The very word convict is more prominent
and convict settlement.  Terms that have validity only
in a historical context abound: carrying gang, Dumb
the tourist trade.  So does the former name for the
named in allusion to the wombat's capacious hole in
and artificially maintained currency as part of the
chewer is explicable as a sign of plenty, but apple
carver is the fruit of a somewhat desperate attempt
is part now of a deliberately created nostalgia for
a past in which there was once a thriving export industry.
shellfish, not, as in New South Wales, a slice of fried
ostensible difference in the island produce, as does
mutton bird') for those foolhardy enough to contemplate
kangaroo and koala share the honors with a remarkable
cultivates the notion of wilderness.  Again the tourist
Aboriginal term, this time for a fiery piece of lighted
face to the outside world, partly the face of a genuine
comparative isolation of its population, and partly a
both the new and the old to create a viable contemporary
among hidebound literati and intransigent intelligentsia
are people who write bristling letters to the editor
stuck in the old monaural groove.  Most style books
stoutly maintain media is a plural noun, period.  The
the existence of an alternative but dismisses it as a
subversive plot:  Media still a plural, despite persistent
events.'  Remember also that data, criteria, and phenomena
and Mail Style Book not only holds media's plurality,
but includes within its wide network books, periodical
publication called Women's Self Defense.  Among his
was taking aim at the use of the singular verb with
quondam fail to detect is that a linguistically fascinating,
there is now both a plural media and a singular media,
and each means something different.  The legitimate
illustrated recently in the Globe and Mail, despite
the Style Book's taboo.  The paper's television critic
to risk its collective life on the icy highway from
The press served the purpose well, as long as it involved
felt to be needed.  The public, in its wisdom, opted
for the nettlesome media, first used in this sense, to
In the same magazine, the singular medium appeared,
situations, such as those created by the rather tortured
Data, still in transition, is usually singular outside academic
when, like media, it developed a new sense.  Agenda
been treated as one since the turn of this century.
Literati and intelligentsia retain their snooty classical
just about completed its evolution to singularity.  Criteria
accepted anglicized one is octopuses, the simple English
plural in such senses as various media are on display
also taken on a monolithic unitary sense.  I am happy
Dictionary have the last word:  As with the analogous
form has begun to acquire a sense that departs from
compilation and editing of The Random House Dictionary
it occurred to me that it would be extremely useful
to have a listing of a large number of English words
different matter.  There was no problem identifying
New York, with my proposal, suggesting that such an
analysis would yield useful results for cryptanalytical
research.  I was summarily turned down in a peremptory
who told me that he had been called in by Air Force
Intelligence and given the job of preparing just such
a list.  It was at the suggestion of the agency that he
was getting in touch with me, as he had no notion of
how to go about the work.  We met in my office some
time later, and, being far more interested in the results
list.  Although nothing was committed to writing, I
gave Brown to understand that all I expected in return
was a copy of the resulting work and an acknowledgment
words, all in capital letters, alphabetized from the
the same listings as the first four, but these were
Second Edition, and, in addition, as number of other
specialized medical, scientific, and other dictionaries.
for the Third Edition, but they refused.  I cannot recall
far as I know, the information is still available from
English: Word Lists, one must assume that its existence
not put off those who have need of a list that is not
only more up to date but is also more selective and,
missed black hole, which is widely used as a popular
speech, Excellency (presumably only a form of address),
exaggerate, exaggerated, exaggeratedly, and exaggeration.
have found it useful to have had at hand my Suffixes
raw frequency, the criterion applied for use in the
classroom or at home.  For instance, I am not entirely
to have been especially marked.  Introducing a formula
would have freed up space for more important inclusions.
teaching or learning English word formation, employing
items listed; those who argue about the size of native
any words or phrases that are not familiar and could
very likely extend the list without difficulty.  If semantic
section offering fishing flies and became intrigued
tried to discover more about the names, with an eye
toward compiling a work on the subject.  I did manage
caught a lake bass, which we grilled on an open fire
The day was sultry, without the slightest breeze to
create even a suggestion of a cat's paw on the surface
game fishing.  As I had caught the most fish that day,
somewhere.  It was quite beautiful.  One might think
that watching other people fishing is like watching
peaceful, well calculated to remove one's mind from
time.  As I know little about it, I shall not attempt to
expatiate on it here.  The present book, although it
is called a dictionary, contains much ancillary encyclopedic,
most of it carefully referenced to sources, which are
In many entries, the etymologies are far more replete:
given, techniques are discussed (carefully distinguishing
second the true mayfly, and the third, the stonefly,
one's experience with fish is limited to the occasional
dawn.  It cannot be compared with a dictionary, per
This dictionary combines two glossaries of underworld
through the Conscientious Objectors' Union, requested
stand as a conscientious objector, it is not surprising
that his more expansive glosses often extend into sociological
the custom of referring to a prisoner by the last two
digits of his official number).  Although the existence
school teacher, but the reason for his imprisonment
is unknown.  A revised edition of half of The Argot
also exists.  The revision includes material collected
his glossary, had access to a number of books, including
more expansive glosses focus primarily on lexicographical
three parts.  The first is a blend of the headwords
is being used.  The texts are edited conservatively,
so that spelling or typing errors are allowed to stand.
illustrative quotations (where available) from other
judge,' chiseller swindler,' dip `pickpocket,' the rap
fruit for the sideboard `easy pickings,' tank a `safe,'
track `prison warder who carries contraband messages
There is much previously unrecorded material: button
up `cease betting, or lower one's stakes considerably
use of this slang, as when describing a theft from a
heterosexual sex, and an abundance of terms for the
this latter expression unconsciously carries with it
soldiers and others feel when forcibly shut off from
the other sex.  In this connection it is saddening to
cat `passive homosexual,' hock `prisoner who is out
The glossaries include material which is not specific
up, bugger up,' bang `intercourse,' outsider `horse
word on,' battler `one who struggles (honestly) for a
special place in the `argot,' or are used intensively in
the issue, and he includes imbecile with the comment:
particularly of the warders.  Rhyming slang is a feature
to have been especially intensive in the underworld
through the criminal biography, fictionalized accounts
detective novel.  An interest in the language and lexicography
a full account of these glossaries, and then turns to
the development of dictionaries of underworld slang
material.  This survey and its bibliographical material
will prove an indispensable guide to any lexicographer
underworld slang and an extensive listing of underworld
preparing what was later to be published as The Random
opinions about both at the time, opinions that have
Dictionary (and its editors) were criticizing it for the
I must admit that my evidence was entirely impressionistic,
for his contention, either.  My chief criticisms, however,
but with little thought for those who were to use it:
some question about the accuracy of description of a
it.  It is far more likely that the preponderance of
forms is hard to imagine.  Certainly, there is no principle
the user is the treatment of pronunciation.  While it
rely on detailed variants to be the product of a judiciously
(a subject I do not have the space to go into here).
[I think that the inferior dash beginning the third
pronunciation must be an error.]  Counting the internal
first two are pronounced, one must go to the preceding
that the user has to filter back five columns to see
to see how that is pronounced.  In other manifestations
Such information might be appropriate to a reference
other linguists, but its usefulness and meaningfulness
a dictionary: most users pick up a dictionary occasionally
etymology, or other information (like usage and synonymy).
times a year; for a few, it means several times a week.
One can hardly expect to become steeped in the recondite
especially since they might well be for entirely different
dictionary style should be revealed transparently to
required to take a course in dictionary navigation or
to spend half an hour adjusting his eyes to read reams
assess in a dictionary is the quality of its definitions.
abstruse to go into in VERBATIM, but a not entirely
the word defined.  It works much of the time, particularly
things.  One of the examples frequently cited of the
worst reflexes of the style can be seen in the main
for passage in or out of a building, room, or other
is prevented or allowed to the contents of a repository,
It is not difficult to understand how such a definition
slips; what is hard to see is how, once it was written,
and communication could have let it get into print.
of transients and several floors served by elevators,
containing easy chairs, with a variety of compartments
tickets) of particular interest to a traveler, or providing
shining), and with telephone booths, writing tables,
restrictions (there are few hotels in large cities that
guests outside their rooms, lest some wretch needing
would a native speaker of English refer to restaurants
eating, drinking, dancing, etc.?  Indeed, there is no
sense to which it is stretched in the definition of
and his legatees in a straightforward, sympathetic,
facts are present, awry in only once instance, which
difficult, without substantial knowledge, to confute
dour, lugubrious individual, and even the author of
tales exemplifying his humanity, any a sense of humor.
and some of the less savory practices of that organization's
reasonably accurate, though one should note that its
sources could scarcely be said to be unbiased, most
employees.  All the complimentary critiques are well
time, as it were, but not treated with much respect.
heed, being either the result of misconception, ignorance,
already.  Yet, there is one bald misstatement of fact
were published in the Annals of the New York Academy of
or appear on the program, although two of his colleagues gave
curate's egg of fact: the facts remain as recorded (I
know, the only person associated with the conference
in English.  At that time, there was no recognition
linguistics, which fell somewhere among the various
psychology and sociology stools.  I was turned down,
but not entirely discouraged, and decided to return
to the fray several years later, when I had more time.
with the board (and me).  It subsequently developed
gain the participation of linguists and lexicographers
practical suggestions, and in getting financial support
Notwithstanding, my claim to prior inspiration remains.
contributions from the Center for Applied Linguistics,
and other help, while not atypical, is a bit of a low
that anyone who has an interest in the documentation
of such things would be well served to obtain a copy
of it (the book); it is well written and interestingly set
were published in the Annals of the New York Academy of
or appear on the program, although two of his colleagues gave
The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical
among which appears the name of your proud editor).
entries, a generously defined, arbitrarily artificial
1930s (when that governmental department was responsible
by the General Services Administration).  An entry in
headword (that is, main entry set flush left, often in
approximate alphabetical place, without definitions
or other lexicographical information); every variant
speech.  In a typical college dictionary, which might
do not generally advertise the number of definitions
in their dictionaries but flaunt their entry counts.  At
but on the most superficial level one might observe
to those who already have a largish dictionary (even
provenance of this new edition, it is disappointing
that no statement of purpose, no fundamental linguistic
serving to illustrate, quotations served a somewhat
particularly intrusive factor in its use, for variant
does affect the pronunciations, which, given in the
symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet, are
curiously, that is shown as a variant pronunciation
that is in, along with solid coverage of other neologisms,
early 1970s.  I devised what I thought was a useful
system for showing syllabification of boldface words
in the Collins English Dictionary: places where hyphens
(except for spelling hyphens, which always permitted
fact that some compositors clambered over one another
words showing the breaks, others paid the information
and the marks were omitted entirely from the Second
standard practice in the US would write these as two
might be felt to intrude in definitions, with words
when definers use words less familiar than the entry
examples.  Not all US variants are entered; for example,
that is not heard in the US; neither is the given pronunciation
r -dropping dialects in AE, they do not predominate,
(more colloquial) sense of `affairs' as met with in
Yet if one applies that criterion, the definition is too
It must be noted that definitions are ordered historically
frequency.  Thus, the first definition of interlude refers
detail; but it would be more useful to offer an overall
might fit into a library, personal or institutional.  The
who have an earlier edition would be well served to
replace it with this one.  Also, the preceding comments
should in no way affect those who care little about
must express a prejudice, however, for the benefit of
access, speed, convenience (as compared with hoisting
casual use, it would be extravagant to go to such an
compete more readily with the other main contenders
One of nine women will get breast cancer as well as
support them but bends over submissively and lowers
swung the limber birches for it to be a common pastime.
(Providence County) two other names for the pastime
the trees and let them return him to the earth, John
birch would tip part way down only to falter, leaving
the climber dangling halfway, a predicament, indeed.
As a noun, swale rolls off the tongues of countrymen
ground,' as in the geological term describing rolling
the imaginative borrowings of the English language.
`swaying or lurching motion.'  In support, the dictionary
have a future?  Only time will tell, or only as long as
hands and went over to check out another participle
however, I was charmed by a collective noun (foreign,
middle of the dance floor with a profoundly intransitive
first, the lady met my preposition with declension,
but in a short time we were conjugating magnificently,
The hijacker hid a pistol in his hat that only fires
Typical among the words over which purists agonize,
is easily answered by looking up the definitions of
the words in a dictionary substantial enough to offer
matters, is that those who fail to distinguish between
are blissfully unaware that any question exists: consequently,
bother to check.  One is moved to suggest that it is
the responsibility of teachers of English to implant
suspicion that there might be something questionable
the language.  These days one despairs of the teachers,
showing that fewer than half of entrants to university
commercial parvenu, but it should be noted that Radio
Classic music not always classical, but there is an
utter lack of sensitivity in the selection of music
like souls groaning in hell alternating with dissonant
organ music; as I could not believe what I was hearing,
half an hour but persisted, as I wanted to hear the
title in order to make certain that I would switch off
if anyone ever threatened to play it again.  Unfortunately,
a reader might recognize it from my reasonably accurate
This listener's knowledge of and taste in classical
worst features of the differences between classical
have a cynical view of public taste, a recent [March
that all music not classifiable as classical is considered
While she won't admit it, [the character] clearly is a
class in which she said the instructor missed three
English names as long as the language has been spoken
name for it is known.  It is possible that before the
hybridize freely giving rise to intermediate forms,
the need for two names might not have been apparent
however, an alternative derivation, since, in Middle
it occurs quite frequently, but purists prefer to call it
indiscriminately applied to several wildflowers including
less well informed when in his Peter Bell he wrote:
It might have been a primrose, although they usually
rather more likely since they grow in meadows or, of
on The Random House (Unabridged) Dictionary, Second
might deal with dictionaries, is a dictionary of difficult,
unusual, often obscure, obsolete words, a combination
Difficult Words [plug, in case you missed it]).  Both
indeed, the latter type preceded general dictionaries
that treat the broad spectrum of the English lexicon,
for it was thought unnecessary to provide definitions
it is felt that a general dictionary ought to describe
the lexicon of the language (as far as space permits),
roughly into two classes: those one knows and those
terms that word lovers are likely to add to their writing
which mean a `person with whom one cohabits without
the stultifying morass of today's political correctness.
were not used.  For many, it might be impossible to
find evidence for their existence outside the single
might have been nonce coinages.  Their rarity is attributable
from wallowing in peculiar, curious, and unfamiliar
amusement.  The selection of such words is likely to
be personal, reflecting the tastes and proclivities of
the compiler, hence one is hard put to quarrel with
forth by the author in his Preface.  It is important to
mention that all words in Endangered are pronounced
accorded succinct, clear definitions, and all are provided
more or less elaborate index to the dictionary section.
word sense coincides with that of the compiler.  Ted
might not be a fair touchstone in such matters.  In
has been anticipated by using more than one synonym
certain puzzle solvers who seem to need all the help
they can find that is not already provided by dictionaries,
fun with it will want to acquire the book for delectable
which manages medical malpractice. [From an employment
and air traffic controllers.  An experienced flight instructor
before touching down, while checking out a pilot in a
pause after it.  A pilot who had been instructed to
three crew members in the cockpit.  The flying pilot
disaster is imminent, but the copilot failed to use
that word, even though the pilot had used its exact
role.  An instructor reports responding to the tower
flying the aircraft.  In similar incident, a copilot reports
the controls.  The sentence Maintain runway heading
maintain the heading indicated when lined up on the
as meaning that the pilot take a heading after liftoff
to keep the aircraft traveling on that line.  In some
situations this difference can lead to a conflict between
Go Ahead as referring to his driving, rather than his
travel before the controller realized what had happened.
sound exactly or nearly alike, can be just as problematic
sentence Pass to the left of the tower is ambiguous
because left can mean either the speaker's left or the
hearer's left; but further confusion is also possible,
reports practicing short field landings in a small airplane
was confusion and a longer landing.  A pilot who was
called for and flying in the wrong direction turned
pilot who was told to receive his clearance from the
Center when he was on the deck misheard this as off
the deck and proceeded with his takeoff, consequently
barely missed colliding with another after landing,
because the pilot heard Hold short as Oh sure in response
States was handed off to a new Center after the captain
feet, and started to descend.  The copilot had really
misheard Climb to five zero as Climb two five zero,
putting him on a collision course with another aircraft
did lead to a fatal accident, when a pilot, in another
incident, read back the instruction Descend two four
traffic controller mistakenly took this statement to
for further instructions, and so did not warn the pilot
the thick fog, was already on the runway.  The resulting
pilot's otherwise perplexing use of the very nonstandard
which bilingual or multilingual speakers inadvertently
progressive aspect, which is expressed in English by a
equivalent of at plus the verb's infinitive.  Perhaps
because of fatigue or the stress of having to work in
while keeping his words in English, as required.  The
going on and so interpreted the at in the most natural
cleared to taxi into position for takeoff, but the controller
by having his copilot radio to ask for permission to
word hold to express this request.  In aviation parlance,
what you are doing and thus to go around in a landing
and the complete destruction of the aircraft by fire,
be learned from these examples.  Not only pilots and
controllers, but people in general need to learn to
be more mindful of their own language use and to be
We all need to learn to listen with more care and to
ask for clarification, rather than assuming that we
already know what is going to be said to us in advance.
I don't mind having my feet to the fire.  It focuses
times.  The resulting confusion is furthered by inconsistencies
Parliament, in defense of the hanging of a conspirator
a total loss of the faculty of thought.  Medical use of
madness then disappeared, but the word was retained
to a greater or less degree absent in consequence of
disease or decay of the brain itself.  It is always an
acquired condition, and as such is to be distinguished
sound.  It recognizes degrees of the syndrome rather
than the previously described total loss of mentality.
reversibility and dismissed acute dementia as really
of consciousness... nor that caused by depression...
of conditions, some reversible, some progressive...
is difficult to determine, and was soon abandoned.  If
Psychiatrists during that time officially replaced the
complex nature of the term and to marvel at the diversity
global impairment of intellect, reason and personality
by many medical authors, but is incorrect.  The decay
is not global at onset; discrete disorders of mention
may dominate the clinical picture in midcourse; and
even in the final stages cognitive impairment may be
selective.  Maintained consciousness is accepted by
nothing is said here of the cerebral origin of dementia,
mental disorder in which the cognitive and intellectual
some degree of permanent change; totally recoverable
knowing located?  Impairment of memory is a frequent
not necessarily of other types.  The concept of irreversibility
disturbance is severe enough to interfere significantly
relationships with others.  The diagnosis of Dementia
only in the presence of reduced ability to maintain
on severity eliminates mild cases of dementia or instances
manage when little intellectual ability is needed.  All
work or usual social activities, hence these losses
are not diagnostic of dementia.  The assumption that
a causative organic factor is always present is not
proved in rare cases.  Complete studies including autopsy
available.  Any definition, therefore, must be tentative,
as occurs too often in medical dictionaries.  Current
meaning may be sought in articles published in recent
nature of changes in brain tissue.  It therefore cannot
of current uses of the word would include the following
often uncertain; early changes from normal to abnormal
be static or reversible.  It arises secondary to structural
its medical description is organic.  Dementia is characterized
may also result in disordered language and difficulty
Popular and medical use of dementia first associated
it with senility but since World War II has linked it
dementia, the result of multiple small strokes, are
currently considered the most frequent causes of dementia.
horror and pity.  Other causes of dementia, however,
vitamin B complex, and chronic alcoholism.  Unfortunately,
causes of dementia that lack an effective treatment.
reveals the true meaning of the season of good will
to a strange anomaly.  Mass has its roots, as already
send away, or dismiss.  The earliest occurrences of
the word being used to refer to a religious service
of the fourth century, when it was applied to matins
uttered at the end of the ceremony but later applied
to the service itself.  And it is here that the anomaly
shouted or sung as an expression of joy to commemorate
by spending wallets full of money and gorging ourselves
been the most commercial time of year, and it is just
The word boustrophedon is used to describe inscriptions
range of directional options, all writing systems have
in the direction they are written.  Actually, there is
one significant exception to this rule, a written language
complete one's studies.  Speakers of other dialects
would associate the same meaning with the sentence.
The symbol indicates that the character above it is
to be read after the following character.  Parentheses
which retains the meaning of the original, as much as
word.  The choice of which reading to use for a specific
word order, a simple transposition of two characters
devices for indicating that characters are to be read
In cases where reversals overlap, or nest, a second
In general, the reordering markers are easily understood;
been selected, the choice of inflectional endings intended.
has fallen out of fashion in recent decades.  While
texts, very few can actually write them.  In the nineteenth
used, and it is interesting to note that some of the first
A friend of mine, let's call him Marc, was finishing
standing social status.  He has his own box private
paragraph of the article, where the language is not
artificially loaded, I find seven words derived from
translated into French.  The current balance of trade
may be in favor of English, but overall it is clearly
once resulting in a kind of hybridization, has lately
pin's or hip hop.  Certainly, though, most of these
freaks will be dislodged and swept away by the passage
ear.  The real threat to the French language is not
French altogether in science and technology, commerce,
present rate, French, which still appears along with
the roots of world culture but hardly worth learning
to my attention, and I am pleased that he did, for it
Before getting into that, I feel compelled to reiterate
users of such books: in order to look something up in
already possesses.  Not everyone can always be sure
one of the functions of education is to implant doubt
in a student's mind: in other words, it is not so important
school, what a dangling modifier, split infinitive,
verb, etc., might mean, but the process of education
should have created a (minor) circuit in the brain of
the pupil so that when a certain situation is encountered
would be best were he to look it up in an authoritative
amount of text appearing on television screens these
days requires a lot of writers; the problem is that
writer is these days construed in its minimalist sense
have not a scintilla of enlightenment regarding the
television, housewives and househusbands who delight
in revealing intimate, revolting, and highly suspect
and channels devoted entirely to charlatans perpetrating
years correcting English themes, flows from an enviable
agree), to questions of syntax (like the placement of
adjectives), to matters of semantics (like the discussion
entirely, but he fails to criticize severely enough
their use solely to writing), and, in general, he seems
to avoid condemning poor style; also, the pronunciation
Regardless of anything to the contrary in this booklet,
if your medical insurance terminates for any reason
continue such medical insurance... [From Group Insurance
and editors who have the wit to harbor doubts about
their infallibility (which ought to include just about
know it all, for it never occurs to them to look up the
a reference in the editor's Preface to names listed
on the frontispiece.  Sure enough, on the page facing
the title page is a list of, among other things, the
contributing editors.  Maybe I was out of date with
A frontispiece is an illustration that appears opposite
New to me.  I checked in what I consider one of the
The Writer's Guide is divided into five parts, Usage,
include notice of the myriad illustrative sentences it
contains.  I trust that I shall be forgiven for skimming
over the Usage chapter, partly because much of it is
cut and dried and the parts that are not confuse the
issue of avoiding prejudice with political correctness,
than a reference to the place where the sun rises.)  I
shall also skip Grammar, which seems quite straightforward
punctuation a fuller treatment than that afforded: I
looked in vain for two things, the wisdom offered regarding
what the position is on the use of a comma following
etc. in the middle of a sentence).  I found neither, nor
did I find the common editorial term serial commas in
the Index, which seems a little thin.  It seemed best
not to try to go through the book systematically but
to dip into it here and there.  Good advice is given
the word modifier is not necessarily applied only to
words that precede a noun, and that the rules change
table: the editors are forced to offer comments like
equal titles of functions (equality is not always easy
for whom?), etc., and even then to include a column
of exceptions.  (If you want my advice, settle on one
large dictionary as a standard and look up any compounds
is more important than whether vice president has a
hyphen or not.  However, that does not apply as consistently
I disagree with the suggested treatment of fractions,
are exactly the same in construction as two thousand,
are perfectly legitimate nouns in English and do not
interested in reading a vignette on spelling checkers
by a literate person.  In any event, I have found that
spelling checkers do find typographical errors that
scanner I have used is very tricky and sensitive, and,
problems as it solves; but I am going to pursue the
might be struck in which less time is spent correcting
That might not have been the implication, for small
caps are usually sixty per cent of cap height (though
have seen fit to comment on particularly heinous examples
not, however, the place to embark on a disputatious
wrangle leading nowhere.  Suffice it to say, I find
nothing serious to quibble with in the basic advice
useful information, and if one does not already have
the temptation is to stay with it: it is like a comfortable
available, the information appears in approximately
the same place and in a familiar format.  Things are
changing, though, and I am a little surprised that I
have heard nothing about the availability of a style
manual integrated with the software of a word processing
several aspects of his subject, from What Is Slang?
Features of Slang, The History of Slang, Influences on
final word, History of the Project, the last revealing
that the editor's initial interest in such a project went
pages are occupied by the usual paraphernalia involved
published in the press by the time this appears that
most of our comments will seem redundant.  Still, it
is useful to note a few things that journalists are
likely to overlook or pay little or no heed.  For instance,
not listed among the titles in the Selected Bibliography.
picking up citations from other works is in any way
to research any subject without relying on the scholarship
with few exceptions, its purpose is to provide a reliable
phrases one looks up.  It is not a text whose purpose
know.  Yet the writing of a review puts a different
often remarked that the most useful, realistic reviews
using it all the while.  It is thus with some of the
reference books that I have edited: users have told
me that although the style of a given work was unfamiliar
treatment) not available from books previously used.
there are only a handful) but with racial, religious,
and ethnic slurs, which are both derogatory and offensive
A high percentage of slang consists of such matter.
at pieces here and there.  Because of a recent criticism
spelling of flack for press agent, I looked it up and
various grounds.  I have known the term for most of
still, I must allow that, like others, I am not immune
to succumbing to the trap of believing in the infallibility
of a fact that is simply not so.  My own etymology,
world comes through periodicals, radio, and television.
am too lazy to look up.  These interjections could be
considered marginal slang; but they are not so labeled
in dictionaries and do not meet Lighter's criteria.
context is in, and I should not expect many dictionaries
labeling in dictionaries is not only erratic but internally
definitions given for that term in the dictionary itself
there are fewer and fewer).  The pattern of labeling
book.  I cannot recall the reasoning behind the label,
review], was once slang but is now standard English.
standard but is now slang.  It would be interesting to
and precisions to turn their noses up at vulgarians
and others who fail to preserve the language in its
supposedly pristine condition.  People who cleave to
of the language or of the origins of words that are
metaphoric in origin and that much of it can be quite
subtle.  True, there is not much subtlety in calling
is a gynecologist is not immediately obvious, that Cement
for a cemetery, and that chain lightning is certainly
as descriptive as rotgut for cheap potent liquor cannot
shifting and why some of its elements (like neat and
more than any earlier time has seen the accumulation
of a more detailed documentation of life, as anyone
Some have been retained by becoming standard, often
slang context, like chassis for a woman's body; many
sufficiently to drop them, like chew out for scold;
only to be picked up by the squares to make themselves
(cigarette).  Many have little use today but are colorful,
people but are obscurely metaphoric for others, like
catbird seat vantage point, which is often treated as
seen the way a catbird alights on a tree branch from
where the surrounding territory can be surveyed for
documentation of an aspect of the language too often
also as an engaging colorful source of the pleasure to
be derived from revelation and reminiscence.  Further
side of language are well aware of what Jeans characterizes
come adrift, go overboard (about something), get under
subtle, less direct connection with maritime affairs,
might have with Jeans's statement is with his use of
island culture that depended heavily on the sea for
astonishing is the increasing distance, chiefly during
the past century, that landlubbers have put between
the sea, and a handful of eccentrics, like Jeans, a few
concern for terms nautical, the last of which is manifesting
has ferreted about in the language to uncover words
mainly because, recalling it as a reference to buildings
the opinion that because the word is used in association
is imaginative but unsupported by the evidence, and
I fear that Jeans has stretched a point.  My suspicions
would have carried some weight with other seafarers.
has, notwithstanding tarry appetites, not the remotest
and there is not evidence to suggest it ever had anything
(original) bird sense, found a metaphoric application
Of course, there are genuine nautical expressions as
well, some of which have been given thorough treatment:
writes, the phrase is not nautical in origin.  If not,
then why is it here?  Why is space devoted to entries
like misfire, Morse code, muster, nickname, nip short
lost his way or, as often happens, the (original, probably
shorter book for which less could be charged.  As it
is, the book is greatly bulked up: its wide hanging
spaces make for an attractive package; the illustrations
which Jeans repeats the conventional theory (to the
I maintain to be an incredibly poor fiction); he also
their thirst, a theory that even Jeans regards as ludicrous.
uncritically; and, among works that either fail to reflect
task set, or are just plain awful, the following are
these are useless and inaccurate, others are picturesque
Nautical language deserves more respect.  By contrast,
the bibliography for my historical nautical dictionary
criticism of Jeans's book has anything remotely to do
with my own: the two are of entirely different purpose
blood pressure during pregnancy with the assistance of
after delivering the third, a rare occurrence, physicians
his room at the Graben Hotel.  [From Art View, by John
and sucking in slightly.  She had obviously read the
else eventually reads, mispronounces, and thus turns
may acquire its own distinction: a dignified gentleman
than actually clearing his throat, or someone cackling
word implies.  There are linguistic terms for these
astounding.  People now exclaim whew! after a close
throat sounds like a gathering of phlegm, variously
belongs somewhere in there.  Certain aspects of revulsion,
last two originally mimicking the response of someone
fact, the sheer pronunciation of the letters in sounds
fights of good guys versus bad guys, specifically the
words appear simply as large colored letters within a
given frame, but if you have ever read a comic book
had to figure out a pronunciation key.  Luckily, since
most comics are aimed at those with unsophisticated
sounds, a fine mess for most people.  Again, the villain
is precise pronunciation: with the possible exception
sounds.  If only dogs could spell.  Cats only vaguely
time on a farm is a sad travesty of the deep, throaty
similarly saddled with precisely imprecise sound effects,
Of course, these vile approximations are not always
effect, but all it did was mislead youngsters into pronouncing
novels similarly have characters expressing surprise
made bare assent into a ringing affirmative, though
a shame to lose the etymology buried in the original
spelling, though it would be a boon for easy pronunciation.
its phonic integrity?  Is the u in buzz really necessary?
thorny issue of how much language was all imitative
inexorability of an ancient saga.  For many years I have
seen her name championed by other writers in lists of neglected
It is no exaggeration when I say that I prefer English
language in the world.  To tell the truth, it is the
little knowledge that I have of the English language
for this knowledge, I would not have been a teacher,
a writer, an English language columnist and an author.
Not all ideas that arise in my mind in my own tongue
can be expressed in English as well because not all
tongue have English equivalents.  It was when I was
with a question.  As I was the best student in English,
English, those languages do not distinguish between
of asking such questions in English.  I have collected
But none of them is really acceptable as idiomatic to
English speakers.  The second one would be acceptable
such a question does not satisfy us.  Our answer to
number like fifth, tenth, fifteenth?  Unfortunately,
such a question in English?  If you do, please let me
book on enjoyable English.  I will give you credit.
to those noted in one of our source dictionaries or
used in a recent book, magazine, or newspaper.  All
the fact that there are not a lot of books dealing with
thorough in its detailed treatment and explanations
the scores of entries.  I am not sure whether to categorize
definitions are quite good and straightforward, despite
the illustrations.  It seems that the authors enjoyed
not use items that are simply errors: they have to be
funny or, to clarify that point, the Editor has to find
them funny.  Some slips that pass in the type might
laughter, but if they have no effect on the Editor,
Also, we must have the name of the periodical or call
batches.  Because they are used as fillers, they might
they are and on filling needs.  If they start looking a
bit hoary, we discard them on the grounds that there
are always new ones appearing, and, these days, language
thanks for sending them.  To all, please understand
history, in his old age wrote about his having learned
He then became aware of the significant differences
this in his book of reminiscences and reflections, Experiences,
the standard form of the language.  It was irrelevant
context they can be taken as such.)  Recently a polished,
some spellings, usages, and pronunciations and in a
to use another simile, they are like shrubs transplanted
loses its spreading habit or becomes dwarfed; sometimes
at home there; but now, I was struck not just by the
the space of a few weeks, I jotted down several hundred
Food, Games and Sports, Technology, and Transportation.
served, cake, cornflakes, cornflour, custard powder
bus most of the time (occasionally, a city bus), and
Allowing, as always, for a difference in pronunciation,
some recognizable words can certainly muddle conversations
indulges in harmless dalliance but a lover, male or
not, illicit); hula hoop means leotards; nylon is the
transparent kind of plastic; shocking, used as a plural
means out of control, maniacally chaotic and violent
assigned articles indicating gender, and some words
that a change in the article is often the only indication
from this might be that the choice of neuter is inevitable
since the gender of most English nouns is inscrutable.
remains in use, the more likely it is to be treated
word and is still in use, may be an example of this:
standing, has acquired all the inflections of a feminine
loanwords, in use for centuries and with no obvious
short, it seems that a process of naturalization has
as hospitable to English words as it has been in the
neuter nouns with few inflections or none at all, at
least until the new words have put down roots.  Still,
of grammar, I doubt that matters will ever reach the
equivalents of barbarisms such as to you and I and Us
expected many details of daily life to have changed
or to be unfamiliar, but I was not prepared for the
alterations in the pronunciation of words which had
occurred in such a relatively short time.  I have also
noticed a sharp acceleration in the decline of dialectal
usages, less in pronunciation than in vocabulary: I
for example, no longer know dialect words and expressions
striking changes.  I am still waiting for somebody to
1960s never did succeed in reviving the old pronunciation
in pronunciation rather than initiating them.  I find
towards adopting back vowels in diphthongs to replace
pronunciation is by no means confined to Royalty and
the aristocracy, speakers of the famed Received Pronunciation
is an invariant user of this diphthong for what was
course, been shouted down.  It would be an interesting
for these phenomena.  The continuing drift from back
continuation of the Great Vowel Shift, which began in
the fifteenth century.  Like the building of the Alps
railways, and I notice that the letter t is now always
hardly surprising that when people have to say them
for the first time they guess the pronunciation from
the spelling, always a dangerous procedure in English.
changes is that the expected tendency of recordings
to stabilize pronunciation has not in fact happened.
When sound recording was first invented, many people,
language.  I can remember that as late as the 1950s
caused by habitual stressing of the first syllable in
French pronunciations and expressions from that period,
changes have taken place and that everyone has always
vowel has displaced a diphthong there: I would have
the laws by which our pronunciation is still evolving?
against titles that give the game away.  However, it
of the plot are typified, quite randomly, by: Witness
for the Prosecution, Don't Look Now, Beware of Pity,
sweeping in a related arena: do not forget that the
pages before it ends, leaving her name as a metaphor
for the deadly effects of society's conventions, as
the novel's preoccupation with the agrarian defection
historical information on earliest appearances: for
example, Money is the root of all evil is traced to
original statement, The love of money is the root of
clearly, would have produced a date nearly a millennium
the quote is given as Money is the root of all evil,
the editors of the Dictionary were tracing back the
Surely, this man could not have mistranslated Radix
He might have translated it Cupidity is ...,Avarice
unable to see exactly what this cleric and grammarian
are naturally indolent, but because their owners are
instinctively efficient.  Nowhere in English is this human
to work, either by adding a prefix or suffix as in simplify
wind in sails, they saved themselves a lot of breath by
the ship, they dropped a heavy object attached to a
they chose a short, appropriate noun to describe that
Through the easy and logical expedient of converting
nouns to verbs, our linguistic forebears established
world, a noun was verbified yesterday.  And undoubtedly
Director of Current Affairs, and is for the most part
a reasonable exposition on the need for plain English.
may be surprised to learn that it does contain hospitalize,
row because they fit in headlines, it adds, somewhat
of Received Standard English.  Benjamin Franklin, a
another party, who are [sic] striving to debase the
language by introducing the verb to wire instead of
writer's puritanical heirs today rail against the verb
fax, even though they likely think nothing of cabling,
Jersey Nets basketball player, accused of rape, said
reliable guidance in the whole matter.  It labels the
these affectations.  But what has intent to do with
it, even assuming you can accurately impute motive?
how vile the coiner's design, serve useful purposes.
Certainly, to critique fills a gap left by the pejoration
the continent gleefully and unthinkingly report their
snap judgments at least until a new, verb's utility has
Due to the fact that the patient is an extremist and is
responding poorly to fluids, the patient will be taken immediately
to the operating room, where exploratory laparotomy
products, please call us if this product does not meet your
expectations....  [From the text on a pint container of
I saw an ad once in the back of a magazine promising
price I would receive a certificate and a photograph of
the galaxy where my star was located.  I might even be
able to see that star if I possessed suitable magnifying
equipment.  I was not tempted by the offer, but it did
occur to me that while I would not like to have a star,
English language may belong to all of us, but some of
its words are the property of individuals or, in most
cases of lexical ownership, of corporations.  I am referring
protected under federal law from the infringement of
unscrupulous competitors.  Now, I am a language professional,
want competent advice in the latter areas you should
and cannot be staked out as private property and what
that notion of privacy really means when it comes to
lay claim to it.  You must also sell the goods named by
service mark.  In law, a trademark is a name, logotype,
design, or any combination thereof adopted and used
by a manufacturer to identify its goods and distinguish
them from articles sold by others.  A service mark identifies
rights to the mark even if you have not registered it,
The symbol you choose for your mark may be pictorial,
as the bearded representation of the Smith Brothers
are named, respectively, Trade and Mark.  But a trademark
and market it under the straightforward name Widget
Terminator.  Maybe the Widget Terminator does its job
well, finds a niche in the market, and over the years
barred red circle.  Since his product works differently
from yours, you cannot get him for violating patent
law, so you haul him into court and sue the pants off
him for infringing on the implied trademark you have
Benny, fresh out of law school and eager for work, to
argue that the public has come to love and trust the
and deceived by the similarity of the name of the rival
your reputation will be damaged and your sales hurt.
damages and that he pay your cousin Benny, as well.
course.  The law recognizes two basic kinds of trademark,
definition: a strong trademark is one used only in a
fictitious or fanciful manner, while a weak trademark
doubles as a suggestive or descriptive trademark.  Weak
trademarks are more difficult to establish, and they
are entitled to narrower protection than strong ones.
have an invention, but its name is not a trademark,
because a trademark cannot be an ordinary word, particularly
ordinary sense.  Both widget and terminator are common
the function of the product, which is to remove pesky
know that things are never what they appear when it
cola nut.  The cocaine went out when it was declared a
controlled substance early in this century.  Interestingly,
the makers of Coke (which is also a registered mark)
word cola in its name.  But the courts ruled that because
fanciful sense, you should be able to claim it as a
coloring (suggesting, as the ruling noted, the very
antithesis of innocence) are legitimate trademarks;
although it is clearly descriptive, raisin bran and
of an ordinary word to make it distinctive, for example
silent e, is frequently mispronounced).  But a clever or
phonetic spelling of a common descriptive word does
not entitle you to own it as a trademark.  Rather, a
common word can become a trademark only if it acquires
used so long and so exclusively by one producer that it
has come to signal to the general public that the product
producer alone.  (The courts have insisted repeatedly
that to be a trademark, a word or symbol must call up
not the product or service but its source, the producer
may be on his side in the battle against widgets.  If you
stop selling a product for two or more years, you may
lose the right to its trademark.  The courts frown on
manufacturers who pretend to sell a few samples of a
future use.  But you may be able to withhold the product
to improve it, and you can change the product significantly
of their hot sauce but successfully defended their right
was considered a generic term and, hence, not registrable.
But because the process for making it was patented,
patent holder had exclusive rights to the name of a
unique product.  When the patent expired, new manufacturers
was instrumental in passing our first federal copyright
laws to protect an author's intellectual property, the
projects, attempted to restrain the sale of other dictionaries
with the original word book.  In the early 1940s, World
World dictionaries, obtained a ruling to quash the disclaimer
Despite the fact that this synonymy is one that the
courts have repeatedly upheld, no dictionary is willing
which is why different books can have the same title,
as long as their contents are different and there is no
intent to deceive the public.  Two manufacturers may
be allowed access to the same trademark if their products
are so different that their markets will not overlap
and if there is no indication that the public will be
unsuccessful in a suit to force the owners of the Vogue
School of Fashion Modeling to change its name.  And
VERBATIM is enjoined only from producing blank media.
products bearing its name and distinctive logo, and
VERBATIM, the language quarterly, is free to do likewise.
name has become a generic term.  Cellophane failed to
protect itself in an infringement suit when the defense
attorney asked the Cellophane representative for the
generic name of the product.  Unable to come up with
a synonym for cellophane, the manufacturer lost its
longer, though it too has now become a generic term.
Thermos and Zipper were both originally trademarks.
their names began to function as generics in the public
mind, and because of that the courts have ruled that
other companies could use these words, uncapitalized,
so long as they did not attempt to confuse or deceive
the public.  However, a design or distinctive style of
what words can or cannot serve as trademarks.  Prior
decisions have little value in trademark claims, and
result, trademark rulings may seem idiosyncratic or
contradictory.  The law clearly specifies, though, that a
trademark cannot be immoral, deceptive, scandalous,
against a charge that the name was deceptive, but in
perceived to threaten public morality, was permitted.)
Tastes change of course, in wines as well as scandals,
and though Old Monk is gone from the shelves, today's
courts seem not to be offended by the brand of wine
United States, but their legal status is determined the
Scrabble and Monopoly are trademarks for games.  Despite
recognized as exclusive product names, although the
pair of words.  You can lay claim to an entire slogan if
product, but the courts do not let you monopolize the
language.  They will limit your power to control sentences
there's Bud, who failed in their attempt to prevent use
of all slogans beginning, Where there's life... including,
At any rate, it seems that where there's a trademark,
there's hope for a lawsuit.  The Xerox Corporation,
in the past gone out of its way to protect its right to the
words it owns.  Though I have found no reference to
manufacturers, the company has tried to regulate the
use of its trademark in ordinary English.  For example,
Xerox is a trademark to be used only as a proper noun,
to have become generic, if not according to the courts,
where it occurs freely as noun, adjective, and even
verb, with or without capitalization.  Xerox persists
because unregulated use by others may cause a trademark
Many publishers, either fearing litigation or simply
because they are sensitive to questions of ownership
of the printed word, prefer to take a cautions approach
and allows it to function as a verb.  But no contemporary
But back to the hypothetical case of Widget Remover
share will become so large as to draw the attention of
able to get the injunction that your cousin could not.
any and every use of it by another.  In one case the
court told a manufacturer that there can be no monopoly
respect to marks having `love' as a portion thereof and
thus exclude all others from the use of any mark composed
little for a writer like me, except perhaps in the ego
department, since according to the law, a word can be
a trademark only if such status does not deprive others
of their right to the normal use of the English language.
for his birthday, think again.  Words that do not fit
owning a ball: even if the game is not going the way
said: For the second time in two weeks a Galena Park school
Galena Park school teacher has been murdered.  [Submitted
building of the Panama Canal.  At the end of his report,
surveyed his sentence with considerable pride, and discovered
sides reversed is `A man!  A plan!  A canal!  Panama!'
became a doctor to realize the unfulfilled potential of
behavior, I visited the good doctor in his office and
L: I understand that you were recently visited by a
L: Apparently, you began to despair of ever overcoming
R: Do good's deeds live on?  No, evil's deeds do, O
L: Did you ever despair that evil could be conquered?
L: I understand that your colleagues in virtue have
The Foregone Conclusion --I claim the capital letters
Sometimes it is the sneakiest, too.  Its legerdemain
as well, you might say, as in the following tricky,
apartment on a first date?  Not many girls, liberated
There are far more ingratiating Foregone Conclusions
If you start explaining that you are going somewhere
have fallen into the trap.  To say that it is quicker or
not the same as a false premise.  They are indeed quite
similar but the difference is that a false premise can
stand on its own: It is essential that the government
colonel equal time.)  And the parenthetical comment is
not intended to be an example of a false premise!  You
see it is the element of persuasion that distinguishes the
Conclude carefully here: medically a double dose of
pain killer does not always kill any more pain than
In the trade I believe they call this a trial closing and
It is only right that companies making excess profits
Don't the little (italicized) blighters slip in smoothly?
equally strong?  Or of the same color?  Of course, silly
Foregone Conclusions can be.  How persuasive is the
entries were retained in the four Addenda Sections in
question.  These evidently possessed whatever qualities
of viability are required for an item to survive in at
least written English once it has experienced adequate
quantity and variety of printed occurrence to justify
suggesting that the early years of a word's temporary
admission to the English lexicon are the most critical.
continue to indicate the critical quality of a new word's
provide crucial information, the list is organized according
that, for example, the highest mortality again appeared
the deletions were noun compounds, whereas the only
taxonomy is that determined by the 13,683-item corpus
immune, adj.     UNABBREVIATED            antimissile
electro-                      bitch box                trace
adj.             system                   water tooth-
MIXED AFFIX-                  gamma decay              pick
phosphate                     isolated cam-            clock on
Age of                        era                      clock out
an august group of intelligent men and women met in
the Senate Caucus Room on the third floor of the Capitol's
speakers of English who have the ability to manipulate
sound logical, or patriotic, or it could appear to be
sordid and bordering on treason.  For example, consider
One statement suggests concealing or hiding something;
a tidy ship.  The participants wanted to convey the
Rather, they were only concerned with getting at the
facts.  They wished to bring the message of what actually
and justice would triumph.  Still, for this to happen, all
participants recognized that language was important
to ensure that the public would understand acts and
events as the speakers wished them to be understood.
a variety of words and phrases to indicate the concept
of not telling the truth.  Seldom did anyone admit to
lying, but statements were often couched in terms colorfully
that he told you to write down a different version of
the facts?  And moments later he continued, Are you
saying that you decided it was appropriate to put out a
North's response he used the words a version of the
carries a favorable connotation: We want to get out
the whole story, or Col. North will tell his story to
the committee.  But used with words with unfavorable
concept of plausible deniability is a variation on the
theme of avoiding the recognition or the admission of
lying.  Implicit in the term is the idea that one has
later.  One must then consider if such a denial is reasonable,
it possible that the denial, that is, the lie, could be
exposed?  It might be possible to establish an equation
any statement.  Psychologists and social scientists could
scheme strongly implies `craftiness, secret intent';
objected to the term, declaring it to be pejorative.
Speeches in this context carries with it too much of the
While statement is better, answer gives the mental picture
answer; we are left with a positive image.  Response
would have been a good neutral word, but neither side
While it means simply to `couple or connect,' the connotation
When we hear that someone is linked to an organization
game develop over what to call `money that is excess
discussed the use of the residuals or profits from the
responded with Well, you insist on referring to it as
throughout the questioning, and North continued with
residuals.  Divert means to `change from one course or
use to another or to turn aside.'  In some contexts the
word can connote `secrecy and deception,' a diversion
up a chance to irritate or challenge North, for the
connotations are completely different.  It is much better
to refer to the proceeds of a raffle rather than the
profits.  Profit is deeply rooted in the world of business
even more innocuous.  Shortly after this, North used
the terms revenue producers and deserving of fair just
synonyms for profit that alter our perception a little.
to `work around' and implies ingenuity and strategy.
law.  North's statement that he sought a means of complying
much nicer, conveying the idea of adhering to regulations.
more formal, legalistic atmosphere to the questioning.
Collegiate Dictionary tells us that a fall guy is `one
who is easily duped.'  A second definition reveals it to
formal term and suggests ignorance.  Many of us recall
said, You ain't gonna pin this rap on me!  I ain't no
who bears the blame for others'; it is a political word
that carries with it a certain nobility and martyrdom
sport of quibbling over words arose early in the questioning
general's appearance before the committee, those two
words came up often.  Those who tended to be favorable
to the colonel used inquiry while those distrustful
that his actions took just a few days, and investigation
bestow upon Representative Brooks a special commendation
operation for covert operations.  He used a noun, two
prepositional phrases and a string of adjectives that
repercussions will remain for some time.  Our judgments
across our gray matter reminding us of childhood.  A
position that seemed logical a while ago now becomes
irrational.  A strong conviction is suddenly an indefensible
belief.  Some of us will hold to an idea or concept
regardless of the evidence; others will change positions.
Still others will simply marvel at the use of language
and our emotional side begins.  We may never know for
sure if our conclusions are based on cold, hard logic or
ever published.  Professor Honey, an English linguist
easily pronounceable places in the world, writes in a
straightforward, simple, casual, friendly style totally
that usually mark writing on pronunciation.  That is
not to say that the book's theme is casual, for Honey
comes to grips with social aspects of language that are
seldom treated, even in a clinical manner, by linguists.
work is known mainly to academics because it appears
in scholarly journals and in books distributed largely to
congratulated for perceiving it as a work that deserves
a wider readership.  The biggest concessions to make
the presentation more palatable for the general reader
is the elimination of footnote references within the
text: even superior numbers do not appear in the text,
and those who demand footnotes must refer to a brief
Appendix where they are arranged, chapter by chapter,
with clear page references.  As one who understands
because of their continual, unsightly interruption of
there if you want them, but they do not intrude.  The
index is quite thin on the ground: after reading such a
book, one naturally puts it aside till it is wanted for
reference to certain points, and the paucity of the index
a chore at a later date.  I have always felt that every
book on language should include, either in its index or
in a separate listing, all of the words and word elements
then we say he is speaking dialect.  But if he uses the
news bulletins, then all we notice about his speech is
accent in the United Kingdom, though other varieties
of English are discussed.  To better understand attitudes
The accent most obviously associated with the standard
Among speakers of English worldwide, either as a native
titles give a good indication of the subject matter
In the course of his treatment of these topics, the
author provides a wealth of information that answers
numerous questions (and confronts many of the prejudices)
Increasing literacy and pressures towards `correctness'
the l in fault, vault, and soldier; the second w in
standard English accent learned to drop the final d
0which for centuries had been attached when ordinary
We all know about language prejudice, but it is nonetheless
accents, since, as its author claimed, to no one is
the absence of local dialect more important than to
of our society, for us to attach to particular accents
and attributes considered typical of certain social
well as accent) have the power to close off a conversation
render a flat advertised as vacant that morning suddenly
shifting: as soon as some of its characteristics are
adopted by speakers of a different social or educational
scarcely be tacit, change the rules of the game, coming
1930s might have been mystified by the insertion into
reasons.  First, its speaker is perceived as standing
give the speaker the benefit of the doubt.  Thirdly,
greatest single influence on the current evolution of
also true that the greatest single influence on the
grammar, vocabulary, and idiom of English as spoken
Those who are not intimately familiar, from listening
rather detailed descriptions (chapters six and seven) of
their pronunciations and their effects, good and bad,
can be charged to the failure to identify specific dialects
dictionary would reveal).  The same is true for Honey's
which, contrary to the author's information, is pronounced
first syllable and that of father in the last, or, as in
an observation that does not apply to New Yorkers or
reSEARCH, which leads me to think that these stress
patterns are not necessarily distributed along dialectal
and a negative statement of possibility, between `I
It may not come as much of a revelation to Professor
Honey to learn that even I, a native speaker of AE,
to say can or can't when the word receives any emphasis;
can't with that of father does neaten things up a bit.
politician's admirable fluency in English.  Listeners
question about his personal life, that his pastimes
have been struck by the creeping changes I have perceived
entire book here by stopping now, leaving readers with
a great deal to look forward to.  In the unlikely event
repeat that VERBATIM readers are sure to find it as
in this interesting and useful book.  Most of the 130-odd
(actually, to get fussy about it, Foreword or Preface)
for inclusion seems a bit esoteric, but the general structure
comment on the origin of the term, its etymology, and
entries throughout the book, I chose to read thoroughly
entries.  I have not commented on entries that are either
speakers who associate the designation with the circus
sense, and the of can be attributed to journalese or
some other aberrant style.  Appeal of is used in standard
but scarcely one I should have selected as typifying
AE.  It sounded like a nonce usage to me till I found it
should not think it common enough to warrant occupying
me as a nonce word, not likely to be found around the
cherry pick `verb, informal to cream off the choicest
cherry.  Some (younger) people often save the cherry to
eat last; people more advanced in age may be seen to
eat the cherry first, presumably on the theory that they
might not last long enough to finish the sweet.  To
many, the cherry is, indeed, the choicest part.  But the
image is colored, too, by the existence, in both AE and
BE, of a type of light, mobile hydraulic crane provided
with a basket or platform enabling one to approach a
black person who adopts white cultural characteristics
with white cream between, a confection not encountered
creative `adjective, euphemistic going beyond conventional
been a better gloss, and one must take account, too,
that it was originally (and still is for those who have
to be helpful, there is a great deal of interest to be
This curiously curt coinage, based on cathartic, at
least has the merit of getting out of the usual humdrum
There are (other) entries whose validity seems questionable
mentioned, are not likely to have sufficient frequency
are shown to add explanatory information to the definitions
checked by those in the know, for it is almost impossible
to derive accurate information about a given dialect
had time to contemplate the area before settling on an
appropriate name; in the United States, where settlement
without delay.  This haste has quickened the creative
juices, and has sometimes resulted in innovative and
place names in a relatively short period is illustrated in
name would do, as long as it was different and peculiar.
In the confusion of finding a name quickly, practical
was first named after a state senator, but this name
confusion when juxtaposed with a common preposition.
becoming confused when passengers requested tickets
form for post office name selection there is a blank for
took this information literally as they were voting for
United States, and every few miles a siding had to be
built so that trains could pull off the track and wait for
used because they were easier to remember than numbers.
the names of shippers.  Naming a siding after a company
given names to certain places that were fairly well
known, it is to be expected that some of their names
arrived.  Sometimes a place or state name was borrowed
that they could not hear, much less imitate, the exact
boils (or steams) in the pot.'  Supposedly a man bet
his friends that he could run to the river and back
would stampede buffalo to kill them.  When the bodies
of the buffalo his into the stream, they would make a
bolt of lightning hit near the village.  When the people
spring.  Believing that the lightning had created the
Harder points out that when the explorers asked the
partly as a transliteration, and partly as a translation.
complicated by going through a middle language, often
names have come from fifty different languages, but as
have been anglicized and many of the words have been
but this clue can be lost if names alternate between
word meaning `paint,' and this might be the correct
again suggested, the clerk in the office just reversed it.
The main reason for the reversals was that they allowed
appearing to be egocentric.  One man was too humble
to have a siding named after him.  He was a popular
there is disagreement on its significance.  One story is
named because it coiled back and forth so much.  The
truth is, however, that it was named after the Snake
poor, and snakes were often the only food available.
Some names do not tell false stories; they tell no stories
made from the first and last letters of the alphabet,
names also provided opportunities for playful statements
agenda was to find a name for a new siding.  They had
easy to say.  Each man's suggestion was rejected by the
others, hence they were surprised when the supervisor
decision.  When questioned, he replied, Well, you all
native lands and languages as they spread out over the
continent was to bring old names from home to their
tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a peaceful end to the
Springs makes a person thirsty.  The Chocolate Mountains
how to spell Ptarmigan that they just began calling the
bring their mobile homes and campers and stay during
the cold months.  When friends would arrive, many of
them would ask, Why here?  The residents decided to
take the words right out of their friends' mouths by
when the host of a popular radio show promised free
named Lover hid among the boulders from people intent
several explanations.  The name has been traced back
term for a junction of two roads.  Another theory is
Intercourse was the spot where the horses entered onto
been accidentally named when a real estate developer
sales pitch for the new property he was promoting.  He
was nervous and instead of saying that it was going to
been named by the whim of a snowstorm.  It was in the
fall, and a sign painter was perched high on the side of
paint the name of the grain company.  He started with
first five letters, he was forced down by the snowstorm.
to finish the painting.  But by then, the name was so
firmly established that the painter did not bother to
a commercial advantage.  This is easily demonstrated
in the real estate business where developers work hard
to create names that will sell their town.  Someone
small lots will try to communicate a feeling of spaciousness
be one person's perception of a place, while At the
crude and had to be changed to appeal to more genteel
Girls Meadows by the federal mapmakers, and Bullshit
was Tight Ass Canyon, named because of the narrowness
many local citizens were indignant that civilization
In going through an early explorer's journal we found
found Mud Lake transformed into Silver Lake for purposes
coming to what is actually a relatively warm and comfortable
just as today, more people were interested in attracting
rather than repelling visitors and settlers.  We see this
in the way that postmasters increased their fame by
naming post offices after their businesses.  The first
The person who ran the business received a little extra
money to serve as postmaster and in this role could
decide on the name of the post office.  At first, little
attention was paid to the post office name, but as mail
became increasingly important, it was the post office
name which often won out as the town name.  This is
Mail for other communities was left at crossroads or
Unlike the ancient coins, however, the legends in place
hyphenation points; the standard calls for a dot between
confidence is inspired by the presence of three errors
where spellings differ.  No comment is made about differences
variants in pronunciation.  For instance, if a Brit pronounces
a lot to spend, in pounds or dollars, to get it wrong.
on the Rialto in The City, reported that a reader in
Wells) received a tax form with the instruction Send
envelope provided, I looked inside, wrote the mystified
death by reckless driving of person unborn at time of
With his sharp suits and gold chains, good looks and
brought the skills of the wide boy into the world of
rather, lack of meanings.  A morpheme is the smallest
morpheme, such as the suffixes and prefixes of English.
gagged morpheme.  It is a series of sounds impressed
collocations could do no semantic work on their own in
Admittedly I have given in to temptation in coining
most such morphemes into common usage, a spinoff of
public attention.  The pattern for coinage is simple and
uniform.  A familiar noun provides the model for variation,
Everything except this memorable portion of the word
known, it suggests a pattern for further combinations
upon the model's salient contemporary import.  Because
be easily recognizable to provide material for a new
Marathon provided the model after it was reintroduced
(the earliest such reference, surprisingly, comes from
physical activities, and had no meaning on its own in
marks, and so it has become an ineradicable part of
Telethon seems here to stay, sanctioned by dictionaries,
suffix began attaching to other base elements in the
1950s and '60s.  As it is, the last twenty years have seen
a bewildering array of applications, all in the sense of
appeared in such unlikely combinations as talkathon,
or shorter races than a marathon).  Most usages are
perceived as the primary form of the suffix, but the
new morpheme survives the novelty of its first innovation
useful, almost as if by accident, and brings something
when a business person or public relations representative
single, handy, distinctive term.  But utility alone has
important, each new usage reflects an attempt at creativity,
bound to become popular.  The hyphens that separate
the wit invested in the coinage, like parsley atop a
visitor is likely to find on tee shirts and sidewalks wherever
comprises innovations based upon a portion of a common
physical fitness has brought us specialty group calisthenics,
type of music is playing or degree of enthusiasm.  But
drives, or the names of businesses.  Most will disappear
as quickly as they were created.  That is the way of all
stepchild of the pun and initially is meant to be recombined
thrive because the temptation arises, so often too powerful
to resist, as was the case with this essay's title, to
throw in a little wit for good measure, even if without
much accuracy.  Like the puns above, most word forms
with newly created morphemes are incidental and almost
make us pause to groan the groan that is nearly laughter.
interest by whetting our humor.  That is a function,
gagged morphemes are a feature of our national disposition,
tradition.  We can dismiss them no more than we can
show that in public life we are in a hurry and do not
want to slow down long enough to devise an explanatory
advisor, but not a dictator, in usage.  The people who
establish and preserve innovations are unlikely to have
the philologist's taste for etymological fidelity, but that
hardly means they are uneducated or uninterested in
language.  On the contrary, their attention to meaning
must be acute, even if purists pale at the inelegance of
the many neologisms, because bound and gagged morphemes
ease and utility.  No one could scorn them if they were
meaningless; then they would simply be empty oddities.
It is the emphasis of neologists, the nature of their
playfulness over etymology, an emphasis upon the wit
of brevity, and an ear finely tuned for useful novelty.
Teachers and other professionals are usually credited
Standard that textbooks try to inculcate, the dignified
parlance of discourse, and then the related but divergent
Grilled in foil or alongside a ham, turkey or chicken,
those who shied away from onions before will delight in
It's turned out to be one of those red herrings around
our necks.  [Quote from Bob Porter, director of Maintenance
him on the green.  She went on to report a number of
pointing out her favorite constellation to a friend
that year, learning to read; the city was plastered with
radio is not a rude word if it is sworn in context and
broadcast at the right time.  A rude word is, of course,
arbitrary: it is not as though everyone is not familiar
with the rude words; indeed, those who object to them
the most are not likely to be in bed by nine o'clock.
The feeling, one assumes, is that broadcasting them,
regardless of context, at times when children are listening,
Thus, when uttered by an actor whose thumb has just
words seem as natural as in real life.  When uttered in
circumstances where taboo language would seem either
more subtle than the rest.  Benny Hill, whose shows
of old burlesque routines in which there is much rolling
of the eyes, winking, and the sly aside to the audience,
accents, mumble, talk too fast, or all three, it is sometimes
audiences) are on about.  They appear to revel in the
diminution of (this viewer's) auditory acuity but because
since abandoned, were quite specific: There is an absolute
effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind, suggestive
spared the last two, but the rest are retained as mainstays
English: panties), the mere mention of which seems to
references to poofs (`homosexuals'), (big), boobs, lavatories,
It is not suggested that these subjects be interdicted,
twenty years of acculturation, for an outlander to discern
much that is funny about them.  To me, the funniest
announced retirement to run a business in antiques,
for which he doubtlessly acquired a taste from Benny
Hill's jokes.  Another form of humor that enjoys great
They do not seem to appeal to insecure men who have
pointed out that the audience for the latter had fallen
should venture to suggest that the quality of the show
reports, More people, it appears, ring or write in [to
language is often the resort of those who are unable to
articulate their thoughts and emotions, and the presence
of characters so afflicted is certainly dispensable
No detail is too small to overlook.  [From an advertisement
The podium erected in front of building A was surrounded
Despite their reputation for distrusting polyglots,
incorrect and even inferior, and as a result become
alienated from at least two of the Three Rs.  Though
appetite, she would tell him, It's no wonder, with all
The difficulty of communicating across these regional
English is an essential part of the cultural baggage of
confined to some sort of parochialism for life.  Oddly
understood outside a very restricted circle.  Professor
More than half the hospitals' staffs were immigrants,
Indies, who were experiencing difficulties in understanding
not what one might have expected: the misunderstandings
English was poor.  On the contrary.  They were quite
tube, provided assisted ventilation, and positioned a
catheter in his bladder to monitor his urinary output.
confusion was even greater when immigrant physicians
their surgeries.  Eventually, the situation was recognized
by the Ministry of Health and passing an examination
sale at the beginning of the 1980s.  The manual explained
you.  The almost universal ignorance of medical nomenclature
spotted a haulage contractor's truck bearing the slogan
A few common examples of the sort of misunderstandings
be especially misleading in the case of a female patient,
a history of chronic lung disease and not tubes of the
colloquial expressions for pregnancy: Away the trip
to be having a baby, to be in a delicate condition,
to be in an interesting condition, to be in pig, to be in
up the stick, to catch on, to catch the virus, to fall for
a baby, to have a bun in the oven, to have a touch of
United Kingdom are just as guilty as their patients of
is supposed to reassure the patient: We're just going
little peep in your tummy.  One particularly outrageous
gynecologist was explaining her impending hysterectomy
adapting words to suit their own requirements.  For
example, a touch of the old brown crisis would mean
now it is usually found in the rural hinterland of the
quickly divide all those they met into the sheep and
away, directly.  High praise is tidy middling and middling
county is naturally given to emphatic statements.  An
a sow saddled and any impossible task calls forth the
person, and someone of low intelligence was described
hungry, cold, or miserable.  A typical county boast
glory refers to the sweeps of the windmill set in the
sign of a cross, said to bring luck to anyone in the
it was thought lucky to bring into the house on one's
To conclude, here is a snippet of the conversation of
an old West Wittering woman, who lived near a scientist:
decimal currency.  The familiar pennies, halfpennies,
and so on, according to the price charged, for decimal
and gamblers to avoid using money slang: quid, spin,
quid, and other terms were in common use in conversation
also be so called for the same reason it was called a
idea was for a convenient coin to pay for short cab
like it.  Until then they were usually given a sixpence,
for the change.  When the fourpenny groat was introduced
nicknamed it Joey and frequently spat on it in disgust
in payment.  It was last struck for currency use in
little flower) because it bore a flower, a lily, the
it varied from twenty shillings to thirty shillings; its
counterfeiters in the underworld.  They also called
shillings small whites.  Half a bar for ten shillings
given on striking a bargain, making a deal at a market,
in barrows, etc., and possibly referring to the poor
design or baldness of the effigy on some of the coins.
How to Gain Proverbial Wisdom, or It Takes One to Know One
bun, and she liked nothing better than putting in her
raise taxes, she thumped the newspaper and intoned,
parents on a regular basis.  I tolerated my aunt and
her proverbial wisdom until she began applying it to
her nephew.  Hearing that I regularly went to sleep
answer but a sullen nod.  That is, until one day when
I was helping my mother fix dinner for a family occasion
weeks later, I was complaining about having to buy a
new suit, and my aunt happened to be within earshot.
my aunt was a lot more careful what she said around
me, like a burnt child that shuns the fire.  But eventually
care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of
I think, she said finally, you are being deliberately
not be bothered to adjust the scales.  If my proverbial
of proverbs, sayings, adages, maxims, and plain old
Since they are meant to cover all of life's vicissitudes
that I could not find a girlfriend.  (I complained a lot
in those days, a habit many proverbs warn against.)
to take note because she tried to console and scold
me in that double tone that proverbs have.  She put
later, after I actually had a girlfriend and was worried
away, my aunt passed on this pearl of wisdom: Absence
hope springs eternal in the human breast.  She continued
steel sieve, and she became almost touchingly uncertain
she was despairing of ever doing anything more with
new tricks, I cheered her up by flatly opposing her:
adorn her headstone, I often think of inscribing an
of possessions.  What I am left with is a list of proverbs
Strike while the iron is     The more haste, the less
The best things in life      There's no such thing as a
Repent before it's too       It's never too late to mend.
Look before you leap.        He who hesitates is lost.
Never back down on           Cut your coat according to
Don't rock the boat.         The squeaky wheel gets all
The more haste, the          Strike while the iron is hot.
Every cloud has a silver     It never rains but it pours.
The first shall be last.     To the victor belong the
Two heads are better         If you want something done
than one.                    right, do it yourself.
Always plan ahead.           Don't count your chickens
Money is the root of all     Money makes the world go
Never bet on a sure          A bird in the hand is worth
Actions speak louder         It's the thought that counts.
Use a carrot instead of      Spare the rod and spoil the
The meek shall inherit       Where there's a will, there's
Do unto others as they       Do unto others as you would
do unto you.                 have them do unto you.
Monkey see, monkey           Imitation is the sincerest
Wisdom comes with            There's no fool like an old
Make hay while the sun       Take time to smell the roses.
Honesty is the best          Don't wash dirty linen in
Uneasy lies the head         Absolute power corrupts
Seeing is believing.         All that glitters is not gold.
other up does not mean they are incorrect; they simply
suit different occasions.  Literature, which is now
that ends To thine own self be true is not all bad.
It is just that, to employ a proverbial expression, he
turns of phrase are more intriguing.  Or at least I
fact, I have felt lately as if I were employing more
turnaround for someone whose first interest in language
confession.  Or as she might put it: She who laughs
make flawed writing acceptable.  [Lance A. Miller, in the
belong to a specific domain in the English vocabulary
achieves intimate familiarity.  The naked terms for
have always proved too much to bear for polite society,
of them with a blanket of euphemism.  The domain is
also fostered many ribald versions.  It is not surprising,
runs through our culture, some necessitate etymological
Most, indeed, defy precision in the attempt altogether.
over a ditch.  Conveniences for the wealthier sections
writer at the turn of the fifteenth century advised
private, and this is the specific sense in which the
word entered the English language.  The earliest euphemisms
established it.  It is not surprising, semantically
the description of a solitary place, one where people
an attribute of a thing for the thing itself: a toilet is a
tells us that the name is possibly attributable to the
concealed in a piece of furniture, which could then
seems interchangeable with another, less notorious,
wrote a book on the subject entitled A Metamorphosis
(with the indefinite article preceding it).  Jakes is
was also very much alive in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries in the dialect of southwestern
now obsolete, but to this day the blocks of toilets at
can only be guessed at.  It is slang for chamberpot
later, a chamberpot.  All these are feasible surmises
by the process of metonymy.  Perhaps it hails from a
great friend to those with bibulous tendencies, jerry
greatest mystery of all in this field of vocabulary.
have fun replacing the last zero with a one after the
Among the more incredible explanations (as recorded
hallelujah, as prompted by a caption to a cartoon by
Now we'll begin again at the Hallelujah, and please
note is that of a corruption of the word lee: for those
working in the country, a place for relieving oneself
was always chosen out of the bite of the wind, that
their meanings have acquired depreciatory connotations).
that the modern sense of lavatory originated at the
as one of its items, but it was probably earlier: The
their original meanings, terms such as bog retained
their original meanings (a marshy place) as well as
Terms which border on the vulgar tend to be onomatopoeic:
group of terms is that which contains words only with
a localized meaning.  It would be impossible to compile
examples follow: the heads (naval colloquialism, dating
the public toilets after the color of their paint.  It is
malleable domain of the English vocabulary, for the
For the best part of half a century I have lived on
bearing in mind that academically, if no longer psychologically,
Certificates of my own English youth; these are set
municipal college, at least in its language aspects,
if such it can be called, has nothing to do with the
wants to.  I am roughly familiar with researches into
use of the living language hereabouts best shown in
New York liberal to summon him by.  Still more difficult
to use with the confidence of a local is my gardener's
nigger hair which, to date, I cannot.)  So most nicknames
sound to the casual tourist.  There is no authentic
sense of a pejorative corruption of a parent tongue
sentimental to propose the contrary, as do the sophisticated
kind of linguistic laziness, and this has considerable
charm, as a lot of laziness can.  A typical morsel of
that, and expressing character (and class) by doing
so.  This is not to deny that there is an ingrained
feels a little bit much more better, thanks.  The last is
the typical local double (or triple) comparative, but
Take the idiosyncrasy in the use of personal pronouns,
that of the lack of, or reluctance to use, accusative
bother?  One form can do the job.  We will do just as
None of these rather charming locutions is represented
always struck me, namely the dropping of the final g
white (perhaps even a grin of such rum) over a seascape
particularly in verb tenses. The constantly surprising
often coming over at first as error; the universal use
of the conditional would for the future will can lead
comparison of the present tenses of the verb to have
scene, since they make a response to shades of reality
incompetent but lovable little islands, embarrassing
colonial deposits now handed over to sink or swim in
interests of the global village.  In an article (The
demonstrated that he was anything but.  I was induced
duty from a cobwebbed trunk in the attic of obsolescence.
those, only the last would be taken today with equanimity,
above now languish in dusty disuse.  Virtually all of
them are derogatory, and some of them are so mordantly
to a precursor wave of today's political correctitude?
purely English words, producing the likes of drunkard,
lost to perdition); and the mellifluous but contumelious
who fell short of contemporary standards of physical
might be labeled political.  In this charming group
I could go on, but given the space constrictions, that
spoke of the weather, for instance, without invoking
perhaps more frequently (it was in the English Midlands,
unkind): It's roaring with pain.  Some of our visitors
other, for instance, what was the difference between
mot is a shaft of wit.  While on this subject, I may as
well quote another of these prize questions: What is
The appearance of a fourth edition of this dictionary
an indication of its popularity as well as of its scholarly
Of all the countries in which English is a significant
complex socially and linguistically.  While English is
currently the most important language, it is the first
language of only a small proportion of speakers: according
country have tended to polarize the dialects of English
English, rather than a general, roughly homogeneous
some respects a reflection of the contact history of
endearment, forms of address, and words of approval.
in this category are words of long standing (since the
introduction of English in the Cape in the late eighteenth
English: trek, veld, laager etc.  Other uncontroversial
which appear in written English sources, but rarely
origin that recur in English texts (often for local
dictionary.  Likewise, it might be necessary for novices
would have to indicate the word for left in all languages
frequently enough in the book.  For example, as this
we must infer that the authors now consider this to
be an English item.  Yet, the citations they give afford
years in the charge office as a fraud detective.  That
with an audience that is capable of appreciating the
from the other.  It is also in practice difficult to decide
between the process of borrowing (which dictionaries
rather, it is one of the strongest challenges facing
lexicographers of a vast number of languages in the
the world in situations of intimate language contact.
anyone wishing to get to grips with English in South
attention to detail, provides extensive definitions
transcriptions and, above all, provides delightful illustrative
put out books that contain a huge amount of valuable
providing, in the worst case, no index at all and, in
these are not insurmountable, and there is no excuse
accompanying it by a thorough index.  The important
must try to anticipate and provide for a variety of
users' needs in an index; users do not seek the same
sort of information, and the effort must be made to
imagine the uses to which a particular work will be
points to the information as can reasonably be expected.
useful, usable one) in a book that contains much valuable
produced the earlier manuals accompanying computers
find, later, on seeking the format of a certain command,
version of the text, or that the item sought was not
listed; the only solution was to go through the entire
text, laboriously turning each page to find the lost
time is still spent trying to find a given bit of information
programmer would be likely to have called it because
editing, styling, composition, or the other arts and
text, especially if the text is consistently styled typographically.
quotation marks, and so forth, one can use this information
Not all text is so highly stylized, and the present
fiction, which offer little opportunity for automatic
extraction because the subjects suitable for indexing
are often paraphrases of the words used in the text.
does not occur in the text (and, I daresay, courtship
This booklet contains many fascinating insights into
the art of indexing, including, for example, the observation,
their writing, indexers have to condense their implications
devote the space to the full description that it merits
are involved in indexing and are unaware of the existence
official journal of the following affiliated societies;
of them, frequently rifling earlier material on the
legalistic grounds that it is out of copyright.  To
those wont to steep themselves in the writings of the
scholarship and of the broad dissemination of knowledge,
only for their content but for their controlled and
mannered style yields great satisfaction.  One must
be especially grateful to those who, rather than cast
modernize a classic, a policy that too few publishers
was the primer, the basic grammar on the history of
could turn in those irritating lapses of memory of the
English since then, it is fitting that its history be updated,
in dialect, lexicon, grammatical theory, and the universal
but also to revise scholarship in the light of later
research that either elaborates or confutes information
that is now more than half a century old.  Although
that this is the fourth edition of the work, ignorance
of the second and third editions must be put down to
include a more comprehensive section on dictionaries,
language for most people, reflected in a recent report
Sometimes a more critical and profound analysis can
is pure emphasis.  The writer is in some doubt as to
whether the listener has paid sufficient attention to
the first line.  Concentrate, he appears to be saying,
implies that the girl's appearance was unique.  It is
impossible to say what she is like, because she is like
girl's singular looks.  Other girls cannot be contemplated
company on the dance floor?  Is she perhaps as enamored
shall be looking at tomorrow.  Please stand for the
words frequently lets me down these days.  I wondered
which caused me to think that it probably is a recently
given in those other dictionaries, with this additional
definition, practicable.  It also gives a second definition:
the beginning as a deplorable little syllable.  The
emphatic use of do has long been used in our language.
persons who have just been introduced to one another.
Do is a remarkably versatile verb.  You can do your
subject is properly linguistic, cultural, or categorizable
word double is used to describe it: thus, for instance,
culture, like, I put a nickel in the telephone to dial
by familiar names.  The letters were, however, retained
Also, in those days, the zero could not occur among
as, I believe, do all international codes, universally.
had letters, but I am sure that I will be quickly corrected
meant: I assume that they have statistics on the number
about such things, is to make certain that the word
without letters on telephones, how could it arise in
letters as a mnemonic.  For example, a dealer in stolen
could tell customers to dial HOT CARS; a psychiatric
word or command, alphabetically as well.  I understand
but it was decided that it might be too late by the
time the call went through.  In an earlier issue of
a better mnemonic advantage it is hard to say.  Does
proves unsatisfactory as a verb.  Press seems to have
and when they cannot reason, it is safer and less disgraceful
In response to a reader's complaint that his restaurant
I admit to an interest in architecture and interior
John Patten, the Education Secretary, is, according
for standard English to be introduced without endangering
write well and effectively, and if all that work was in
vain, it will be a great pity, a footling remark in the
circumstances.  The Times reports that the new curriculum
and children will be expected to use capital letters
distinction between these terms or whether the distinction
playing fields in general, and level playing fields
that our charity derives no direct benefit from the
donation to this association every time they use the
mention of it now and then in my writing.  The interdiction
preposition must accompany the word it is connected
caveat concerning split infinitives, which cannot be
At the time I did not reply, because I did not have
the time to search for it.  Now that I have found it, I
which had been roundly criticized, especially for its
time to ours it has been in a continual declination,
the age in which they live, let us consider in what
phrases, which are ill sounding, or improper; or in
theirs.  For in this case the refinement can be but
last age, or to excuse the present, and least of all
mere forty years later regard him as being of another
age: clearly, three centuries ago people had quite a
perception of time different from our own, largely, I
believe, brought about by our more thorough documentation
derisory tone or as an excuse for our own shortcomings:
page either some solecism of speech, or some notorious
insist much on it.  It is obvious that we have admitted
have lately written with most care, have, I believe,
that is, not to be too hasty in receiving of words,
but rather to stay till custom has made them familiar
much with French: that is a sophistication of language,
occasions, the professional linguist's avowed position
medical doctor's in relation to a patient: both are
phenomena they encounter without expressing qualitative
not supposed to express his loathing or disgust at the
manifestations of some horrible affliction, nor is it
deemed proper for him to assume an accusatory posture
patient cannot always be held responsible for catching
word, utters grammatical solecisms, or uses infer for
hence, it might be said that he is not responsible for
from innumerable cop shows on television to call the
circumstances, a message appears on the screen that
them with the proviso that it be transmitted as is.
at least one channel and remains on the screen for at
greater than that of a fleeting utterance by a newscaster
fleetingly.  One cannot help thinking that an entire
pursuant.  Pursuant is a legal term, of course, not one
that drops readily from the lips of the housewife or
accuse me of being a purist, which I do not think I
am.  On the other hand, I try not to be a linguistic
of statement at face value; in my view, it would have
number of titles identifying the person or place pictured.
the mistakes in VERBATIM?  As for the last, I would
analysis.  For many people, their ability to relate
to reality is inexorably tied to their control of language,
the greatest common denominator of our understanding
subject.)  For such people, we might say that their
very grip on reality depends on their control of language:
against the hostile forces that would shake the foundations
the comfortable protection offered by linguistic purism
they have been playing for their entire lives according
the use of the indicative where the subjunctive formerly
reference for what have traditionally been regarded
different, of course: the former marks a final succumbing
as a rejection of the tolerance of uncertainty on the
feminists' misguided interference with the forces of
masculine pronoun as the neutral one; but, in truth,
the sustenance of the singular nature of words like
each, everybody, everyone, etc. is probably pedantry,
changing them to plurals, with the added benefit of
hierarchy of the heinousness.  For instance, I have a very
low tolerance for spelling errors and grammatical solecisms
work: job applicants who are too careless to correct
word machismo (but pronounce it, almost invariably,
show it at all are merely genuflecting in the direction
point out that bacteria also have genus and species
names, adjudicated by a separate International Code
of Bacterial Nomenclature.  Some years ago a Congressman
salmon industry, and he proposed to right this dreadful
place, nobody but the official committee on nomenclature
second, Salmonella is recognized internationally, not
question in his invention, first prepared at Trader
Whimsy [XIX,2,10], which touched on the definitions
of men, that it follows them and delights to gaze on
scene.  As the result of observation over a period of
many years of driving through or past suburban residential
home, I have induced principles of street taxonomy,
by sheer inference, that demonstrate that streets in
the developer which, for some reason tend to be less
necessarily apply in all developments, but I cannot
findings or for his aberrant conduct in disregarding
the Journal and Publicity Committee of the Professional
surely a deficiency in English as a world language.
receive junk mail, for I now know who is selling my
phonological grounds alone the first elements indicate
The foregoing is chiefly from the Oxford Dictionary
and a shysters lawyer (a game cock clucks defiance),
and the difference between a lady in the bath and a
lady in the church (the latter has a hope in her soul).  I am
of Bilingual Puns?  Here is one of my own spontaneous
creations, uttered while dining at a French restaurant:
white.  I ordered it and it was served as a half white,
in half lengthwise, served with a mustardy mayonnaise
read backwards (with some anagrammatical liberties):
County Board of County Commissioners, issued a directive
vintage year for mixed metaphors) in which she said,
long before the ponytail came into fashion.  Pony is
not a shortening of ponytail but an immigrant in its
children of a Congregational minister, who also ran a grain
Guinea that it was very difficult to maintain a stiff
worked as a forester on The Coast for thirty years,
fluent in the language.  Here, too, there are subtle
differences from one country to another both in the
spoken word and in the written word, from the phonetic
colorful and, often, onomatopoetic.  In Coast Pidgin
outrage over some disastrous contretemps is alleviated
somewhat by the culprit's risible attempts to explain
an ancient caretaker called Sixpence.  Sixpence's main
claim to fame was that, as a very young lad living in
had managed to consign the whole of her insect collection
Museum) to the bonfire which he had lit in the compound
burning the rubbish from within it.  This was the day
soon to find out, had much to learn about the dangers
Sixpence, dazed but miraculously unscathed, sitting
slightly bowdlerized translation might read: I heard
a sound which I took to be the hiss of a snake emanating
to locate the reptile.  Then the whole deuced building
and it is a sad fact that both the writing and the speaking
more modern schools for much the same reason, I suppose,
One would hope that the evocative pidgin will be kept
alive.  If it is, it will be due in no small part to the efforts
of a few of the older missionaries in the hinterland.  I
am not, alas, of their faith, but I had to admire the command
obtained a copy of Genesis in pidgin English.  It was
of humor and it can lighten the darkest of moments.  I
have rarely known a situation so bad that a few words
of pidgin could not make it seem a little brighter.
had hitched a ride with an old Dutch missionary to a
ceremony several hundred miles away to which we had
both been invited.  The roads were a sea of mud and
now, with night approaching, we were stuck, finally and
front of us thundered over the road where just the day
before a wooden bridge had spanned it.  Behind us, a
colossal tree had fallen across the road, effectively blocking
the chances of our doing so in the next twelve hours
echoed out through the treetops.  I swear that they
No food for us this night, Father, I said sorrowfully.
caught glimpses of a white soutane, some underpants,
a string of rosary beads, a big black Bible.  Finally, he
it kindle heavenly fires within me right down to the
man raised the bottle to his lips and we watched as
the chimps scurried silently, one behind the other,
it threatened to come apart he would have it rebound.  As
a contributor to the language and one whose writings
could well afford to stand pat.  As a mere word user, I must
keep up with the times.  Every twenty years or so I upgrade
It was in that spirit of personal progress that I replaced
Ninth.  Upgrading is a pain; decades of accumulated notes,
to the sterile new edition.  Things were going fine
the definition had been cleansed of its contemptible meaning
and made tolerably benign.  After entering the proper
definition in the margin, Selfish and corrupt behind a
display of seeming benevolence, I sat down to decipher
the new version: unctuously hypocritical.  That is about
as easy to embrace as a wet eel, about as useful as a punctured
merely hypocritically hypocritical implies that something
can indeed be less than nothing, as that theory was catechized
him and bind his real persona hand and foot, then slyly
stand an impersonator in his place?  This is clearly a sign
of unctuous hypocrites at work.  Did the decriminalization
in high places would any day rather be called hypocritical
than corrupt.  With queasy, frantic haste as one might
Whew!  Still intact: morally degenerate and perverted.
I had been prepared for anything: hypocritical, demonstrating
with that definition.  It was a special word, unambiguously
descriptive of a character's character.  Users have been
respectfully fussy about employing that distinctive word;
it has not been slung around indiscriminately, as quintessential
would describe ordinary slick operators mainly putting on
airs.  Hypocrites, even hypocritical hypocrites, are a dime
simply characters who display contrived earnestness and
advertise virtues they don't have, like the big smile and
that we suspected that he is not what we had first thought--
or hoped for.  What he desperately hopes to conceal is what
Yes, I realize the living nature of language.  I expect
gradual evolutionary changes in word usage.  But the sanitizing
stallion's transmutation to a gelding.  The old and new
definitions are so opposed as to be in mortal combat.  One
might want to keep one's guard up when dealing with an
unctuously hypocritical old boy, but that comes somewhat
to spot.  But unctuous hypocrites are not the sort who
daylight.  That kind of a job demands the talents of genuine
in exchange for thousands of citizens' retirement nest
eggs, merely unctuously hypocritical, or was he corrupt
the conduct that he rails against.  A particularly talented
unmistakable terms.  I first noticed it in the early 1980s,
coincident with the apex of the looting of the savings and
decreased the penalty for the crime.  We should reflect that
withdrawals from banks.  Who can say what the federal government
had up its sleeve when it softened the term narcotics
mere substance abusers --new terminology that seemed
were accused of shooting up on heroin and sniffing coke.
The old illegal numbers racket was vigorously battled by
vice squads across the land until the states got into the
business.  Presto! The wicked numbers game is a racket
no more, but a respectable, highly promoted Lotto, the
Who would have ever dreamed that pursuit, apprehension,
in the war on crime?  Now that we have discovered that
we can slash the crime rate by simply excising the peck
belong to a sizable group of verbs based on names--
names of people, brands, places, time periods, and so on.
But although we can talk about proper nouns and proper
adjectives, we do not have a proper term to classify such
verbs.  Surely they deserve to be classified, but as what?
The answer is not an easy one, so before trying to put forward
some ideas, let us start by looking at how similar nouns
individual nouns that refer primarily to people, places,
and time periods and that are generally written with an
initial capital letter, Such words can also be termed
that along with proper nouns there is also a category of
proper adjectives.  Proper adjectives, we are told, generally
derive from proper names and are also usually written
with an initial capital letter.  In the main they refer to
given rise to widely used expressions are normally written
however, prefer to categorize these as common nouns or
names.  In fact, the name that originally inspired the word
is now often merely incidental to the meaning and presumably
These factors appear to strip such words of proper status.
is written with an initial capital letter.  Other sources are
maintain that proper nouns are usually capitalized in
English.  Definitions tend to be gerrymandered to comply
In such cases there seem to be few hard and fast rules:
some dictionaries indicate a capital letter, others a small
letter, still others give both forms.  Here the dividing lines
But rather than pursue that obscure tack any further
proper nouns and eponyms), let us see if the proper
categories of words really end there as grammar books
tend to suggest.  If we have proper nouns and proper
adjectives, can we not have proper verbs, too?  What
about verbs such as boycott, hoover, gerrymander, pasteurize
written with a small letter).  Can they not be termed
proper verbs?  Once again, as far as these verbs are concerned,
initial capital letter and the fact that they refer to something
reasons, most grammarians would simply classify these
names, the situation is perhaps not quite so clear cut.
Brand names, for example, are also regularly seen in verbal
form; some typical examples are shown in the following
Quite deliberately, some of these have been written
well with small letters, but capital letters are surely preferable
for many of the others.  It probably depends on how
widely used each individual verb is.  Whether or not a
capital letter is used may often be a question of personal
choice, and dictionaries frequently give both forms.
cities used as verbs can often indicate a visit: you might
in the course of normal conversation.  But other more
specific meanings can become attached to places: to
much respect to the natural landscape or the urban environment);
return.  Hardly anyone is aware that the verb to meander
Turkey.  Place names and the like often become verbs
Capital letters are generally used here, except for
Capital letters usually seem compulsory for names of
House and Garden, Vogue, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Bitch
Personal names probably constitute the largest category
being almost insignificant.  Other examples include to
with a capital letter.  Advertising copy, topical conversation,
and song lyrics seem to be three very fertile sources
the above list are generally found as verbs only in
because English is such a relatively uninflected language,
even hundreds of verb forms.  The flexible nature of
English means that verbs can easily be based on names,
such a process is clearly hampered.  Perhaps it is precisely
because our approach to the grammar of English is still
is time to give proper recognition to this feature.
define.  Nevertheless, two key factors for classification
seem to be whether the name behind the verb is still relevant
to the meaning and whether a capital letter is used.
adjectives.  There would appear to be no reason why the
first of these defining factors cannot be applied equally
Boycott having been forgotten by everyone except the
etymologists and encyclopedists).  In the majority of cases,
however, the name is not irrelevant, and the capital is
usually kept.  Clearly, we need a second category for those
verbs that still allude directly to the name and that are
consequently often written with a capital letter.  The only
My cup was an old blue one I had bought long ago at
The categorization of all the known elements of the
notice that the elements could be grouped together in a
chart that related their atomic numbers (the number of
neutrons in the nucleus of their base isotope), but he also
saw that this relationship grouped together elements with
similar chemical characteristics.  For instance, all the
noble gases (neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon)
the Table are related atomically and chemically, this neatness
is not necessarily reflected in the names, let alone
which reflect all the chaos, variety, whims, and even vanity
Let us start with some of the more common elements,
water and create.  It is the most common element in the
universe, and it is the most common element in ordinary,
everyday water.  In German it is called, very prosaically,
but in a way that is not as crazy as it sounds: Sure
is the German word for acid, and oxygen is likewise the
Nitrogen is a little more complicated.  The word comes
referred to was nitrogen's key role in creating nitrates and
consider some of the elements without which our standard
of living would be impossible: the base and precious
metals.  A group of five metallic elements which were well
known to the ancients and which also have in common
much from their names is that they are abbreviations of
a white sense).  This root, or closely related ones, such
gild, gall (a yellowish substance), choler, cholera, melancholy
glass, glaze, gloss, glance, glade, glee, glow, gloaming,
one to speculate that ancient gold was found by panning,
Finally, a group of odds `n' sods: nickel (the devil's
because nickel was considered a contaminant when found
nickel (it is what makes stainless steel stainless, among
other uses), it became a desirable metal; but its ore was
found to have a gremlin in it, which turned out to be
Although several elements are spelled differently on
aluminum, respectively, which were known to the ancients.
oneself, but others can name an element after you if you
are dead and sufficiently famous.  Or you could arrange
to have an element named after your hometown or your
named after scientists include Curium, Mendelevium,
Einsteinium, Nobelium (actually this was named after
whose nomenclature breaks the rules thanks to a trick its
mercury, which is liquid at room temperature and since
liquid metals have a slightly shady reputation, perhaps
later were there letters.  When and where humankind
made its first intelligible utterance will never be
instead of semantic values.  Literati of the day decided
ever since.  Speech and writing, as inextricably joined as
a paper's two surfaces, are different forms of the same,
other creatures on earth.  Yet, while the garrulous gabble
continues everywhere, constant and unabated, writing
still eludes half the world's population for whom marks
spoken and written forms are often blatant.  The symbols
of any writing system have whatever phonetic value its users
agree to assign to them, convention and consensus playing
ways around the globe.  English orthography's quixotic,
Two books of recent vintage reflecting this ongoing fascination
The Alphabet Abecedarium is the bibliophile's answer
to the botanist's stroll through the garden, being an eminently
and obscure arcana and lore about the letters of our
devoted to a single letter, with a final one discussing signs
for my tastes), while quotes from such diverse figures
pleasant potpourri is in aesthetics: the letters' shapes and
designs.  Extrapolating on the theories of the Renaissance
highly stylized forms they assume throughout history,
from their inchoate inception in the Near East down to
the letter forms being quite standard, the contents entirely
normal.  Why the letters are reversed is a puzzling enigma.
that papyrus was costly is an undying canard.  After a hundred
in a dozen languages the price of papyrus is simply
even the poorest peasant could pay for the papyrus on
which his payments were recorded.  Scraping writing off
papyrus irreparably damages the surface; washing produces
only a smudge.  Errors were simply crossed out and written
knew nothing of the sort.  Missing is a discussion of
such ancient and now defunct but decipherable writing
rhetorical question.  Only twenty years ago did those now
exuberantly eloquent or infuriatingly laconic logos begin
to appear on highway and street signs; in terminals (do
wrong lavatories?); computer screen displays; and instruction
notation, dance and circuit diagrams are replete with symbols
scriveners' scribblings we are leaving the Age of Writing
Succinctly stated, the basic, underlying question is,
How do we (who use alphabets) read?  Conversely, how did
gave birth to the notion that these writing systems could
somehow circumvent pedestrian alphabets, going as it
were straight to the heart of things.  Since then the myth
ago were likewise pictorial representations of concrete
alphabetic or logographic, with all its faults and foibles,
its inherent inconsistencies, inadequacies, and inaccuracies,
richness of police jargon.  It also struck me as odd,
in view of how inventive and amusing this jargon is, how
For instance, fictional police are always talking about
officer stopped in a speed trap will try to escape by murmuring
will say, Were you in a job car?  Officers perennially
gripe about the abrasive and unsympathetic qualities of
Similarly, no real police officer has, in my hearing,
ever referred to his territory as either his manor or his
might ask his pal, Do you know a pub called the Rhinoceros?
on my ground.  Returning from a foray outside his own
station's area, one officer will say to another, Ah, we're
the Super's on his way.  In reality, police never abbreviate
the Superintendent or He's a Chief Superintendent now.
In conversation, however, the Superintendent or Chief
Superintendent in charge of a station is almost invariably
of supervising officers down to and including Inspectors
By contrast, no one, of any rank, ever addresses someone
address he will simply be addressed by name or, in more
pm.  In indirect reference, the body of Constables is
such: He's a skipper on M division.  Inspectors and Chief
As for the most stratospheric ranks of all, ending with the
Commissioner himself, they are known collectively as the
that is not used by the police: early and late duties are
your tour you get into your uniform, including your bonnet
nightsticks), and your uniform jacket (not strictly
never used by the police themselves).  You also put on
your PR personal radio.  At one time this was called the
the commonest of many names for prison, and the one
almost invariably used by police.  Anyone held in police
custody is banged up.  Nick is the universal verb for the
act of arrest: the polite courtroom phrase I arrested and
cautioned him is almost invariably a euphemism for the
words actually spoken by PC to the prisoner on the street
the prisoner has caused the PC to run, fight, or lose his
you never arrest a body, or even nick him: you always get
people (and the newspapers) getting it wrong: they always
thing, however, is certain: however he came to be arrested,
Many crimes are invariably referred to by initials,
of life than the things from which it arises.  For example,
Larceny Acts, though they were repealed decades ago.  Thus
Actual or Grievous Bodily Harm).  And there are many
serious of these crimes it is likely that you will be in plain
clothes.  In that case you need to identify yourself as job
means in practice waving under his nose a bit of plastic
that is actually your warrant card, but as far as Chummy
knows might be anything, and announcing that he's nicked.
When he gets to the nick he will then holler for a brief
and if the case goes as far as court, the brief will very
officers have been known to arrest on sight someone they
feel sure is at it and decide later on what they have arrested
him for, sometimes even planting evidence.  This is known
whatever it is that is later decided upon.  Or you may tell
your pals in the canteen later that you had him off under
the C [or whichever] Division Breathing Act or under the
stitched up for theft from vehicles.  This is yet another
case where police and public part company: the media
term fit up was, as far as I can ascertain, coined by the
A police officer caught going bent will get into trouble.
Whether or not he ends up in court, he will certainly
be the subject of internal disciplinary proceedings.  He will
for this.  The term comes from the word dabs fingerprints,
which are taken from a prisoner by police only after arrest
for fairly serious crime.  And an officer who has been stuck
should have a fine, firm shape sags, with all the stuffing
leaking down into the bottom and flopping outwards.
soon receive the official form warning him that he may
be subject to disciplinary proceedings.  Like all large
bureaucracies, the police flounder in an ocean of paper,
with a form for every action.  The one for this warning of
when the senior officer assigned to investigate the complaint
hearing (which he always does), comes the even more
given notice of the date of the disciplinary hearing.
You can be stuck on for anything from serious misconduct
possible for a senior officer with a grudge against a junior
to stick him on for almost anything.  For example, the PC
may have been caught slipping unobtrusively into a restaurant
or mump --a drink or a meal.  Every PC cultivates his own
special places for this purpose: they are his own preserve
include scrounging provender from markets, the produce
of company, which is to say actions like boozing with
Records Office.  The office itself has been given an
impressive new name, but the old initials survive it.)  So
I might talk of your friends with criminal convictions as
and newspapers always describe these friends of yours as
either, Chummy will of course have a docket number at
however, will still say Well, well, well!  He's got a club number
search his property for the proceeds of his crimes.  If he
refuses his permission for them to do so, they will get a
W (warrant) from a magistrate or, in some parts, a Panel
of experts bench of lay justices.  Then they will go and
Whether or not they find anything, they will eventually
eavesdrop on their conversation, since policemen always
talk shop, you will undoubtedly overhear some of the
How long is it since you turned round and gave someone
a good earful?  And did he or she turn round and give
But beware.  You may find this particular speech habit
to be like the creaking tree outside the window: it was
always there but you never heard it.  Once you hear it you
aggression, and, as always, vindication is in the mouth of
If you turn round and do it to me, it probably means
audacious revolutions.  Retailers seem to turn round wholesale
on their hapless customers with outrageous demands.
The Gas Board turned round and said I had to pay for
If, on the other hand, I turn round and do it to you,
it probably means that I am turning in heroic defiance,
wheeling in righteous indignation, turning on my tormentors.
take it lying down.  This is known as Turning Round and
The average day's listening to talk radio will provide
course, the Political Revolution.  That is not, as previously
thought, the overthrow of one faction by another but
describes those occasions when the minister reverses his
aggravated duet (or should that be roundelay?)  between
herself and her habitual sparring partner.  After an epic
exchange of personal pirouettes she delivered the knockout
creating, in the true sense of the term, a circular argument.
The letter s sometimes appears at the end of a word
to which it does not properly belong.  Examples are a little
heard in the United States, chiefly from country folk, or
wrote, a long ways off.  Today in newspapers, and especially
in advertising, one often reads (and hears) a savings
Sometimes it appears that one s is suggested by another.
was a stickler for details of grammar, punctuation, and
usage.  But he is quoted as saying, For God's sakes.
The intrusive s frequently makes its way into place
Green had only one farm.  For some years I spent the
addressed to Gun Green Farms.  An example I particularly
reproducing similar names or as a place of publication.
the proper spelling, with the English in parentheses below.
though I am sure that my friends were wishing me to be
but my faith in the author was shaken on the very first
enchantments of the Middle Ages.  This horror, ruining
for citing my favorite example, a book called Manuscript
My copy, carefully preserved, has the jacket, twice proclaiming
spending the early years of my life there, having a name
name never caused any difficulty.  That was before I
tough it is for most nationalities to get their tongues
insisted on addressing me as Miss Your Soap, subtly
someone who truly tried to get it right, but the effort
involved putting his tongue out at me and concluded
with an overly explosive final consonant; but he got all
Japan most of my contacts have, without invitation, settled
Strange to say, it is in the US that one of the really
weird aural hiccups occurs.  It usually happens in restaurants
or hotels or any of the other places where professional
Now that conversation may sound unbelievable, but in the
West coast, particularly.  So often, in fact, that I have been
forced to assume the new identity of the more acceptable
things.  How can they hear it that way?  It is not as though
even named a town after him.  To be honest though, I think
course, they should be shorter than what they stand for,
case.  For example, does ct. mean count or court?  It can
depths, or at least possibilities I had never entertained.  I
heads.  She is bright, articulate, and ten years old.  Why
are some streets called Beloved?  She asked me the other
Right there, she said, pointing to the lettering on
Context, I replied with all the adult stiffness I could
muster, and that seemed to convince her.  But since then,
Saint --Elm St., Main St.?  What about the Bulldog in the
Manger (Bldg. Mgr. in rear) I see listed in apartment
Twp.).  But maybe I had better stop here before I lose
for more than half a century.  The advising body, the
recent years been made up of four categories of member:
broadcasters [practitioners]; bureaucrats [facilitators];
academics [linguistic experts]; and representatives of the
wider community.  The committee is generally held in
high regard but ran aground when four out of five of the
Their action raises two questions.  The first is a general
a community expect or tolerate in the language its broadcasters
which has had a useful and influential life for more
than fifty years suddenly reach a crisis point at which a
significant proportion of its members are prepared to
gamble on an incoming General Manager's reassessment
To take the general question first, let us begin with
the maintenance of standard English pronunciations as
those then believed to be most suitable for broadcasting.
Standard English meant the King's English, and in this
recommendation of an internal committee set up to consider
Over the years this committee has vigilantly assessed
its utility, several times reviewing its aims and procedures
are: to advise the Corporation on its use of Spoken
pronunciation, grammatical usage, and style; and to prepare
as necessary.  Its primary goal has been the provision of
names, place names, foreign words, words from specialist
vocabularies as various as music and sport, the Church
and medicine, etc.  Daily lists of words that are likely to
give a broadcaster the conniptions are constantly being
added to a huge database which is electronically available
thrust on it by the public or avoided public controversy.
It has developed and sustained a public role for itself, as
its numerous correspondents will testify.  It has watched
It seems reasonable to assume that it is valued by the
intrinsically valuable its deliberations, is in its communication
is the receptivity of a new generation of broadcaster that
arcane and irrelevant in a world where information matters
more than its expression.  A second has been the maintenance
which gave it a certain impartiality and independent force,
and the circulation of its findings was the responsibility
assistant who was the servant of the committee and who
reported to that officer.  Most recently it has been chaired
by a senior officer, alternately the Head of Radio (who
has rarely been able to attend meetings), and the Head
party), but neither has been able to deliver.  This has left
if unintentionally emasculated.  But perhaps the revolution
thousands of dollars in fines from abandoned car owners has
won the support of the police chief.  [From a story by Martin
of VERBATIM containing the long and very amusing article
demanding to be told the etymology of various words,
and I am not at all surprised that he should have shown
irritation with those who had not even taken the elementary
be answered very briefly.  When asked for the derivation
of a word of which the etymology had not been worked
out, he adopted a rationing system: he did the best he
could with the resources available in his study in the space
of half an hour.  The result was then communicated to
his correspondent, whose letter would then be dropped
This was necessary because otherwise his work would
in such a cavalier fashion, and he must have accumulated
an enormous correspondence, virtually none of which has
with great presence of mind, on hearing of my grandfather's
death, recovered the letters which he had sent him.
Both sides of this lifetime correspondence are now in the
who has made arrangements in her will to bequeath them
Apart from these, all his vast correspondence seems
to have been destroyed, apart from a few stray items
which have descended to me.  I say destroyed because I
recall having been told many years ago that after his death
his two sons (my father and my uncle) spent weeks tearing
of his frustration with words inevitably creating meaning
in the minds of literate readers and his search for an audience
together will inevitably make some sort of sense and conjure
meaning to video images that move so rapidly and have
so little intrinsic activity (as opposed to action, of which there
is plenty) that no one can imagine what they're about.
There is no time for reflection and savoring, no desire to
be bombarded again.  Nouns are often paired, but in ways
that guarantee incomprehension.  For instance, in one of
his famous videos, a haddock (or some other large fish) was
a light bulb.  Now, of course, we have been given the key
to this complicated metaphor.  Thanks for enlightening us.
how people can take random words sung to apparently random
Stoat has successfully broached the barricades of words.
be interested to know that in this part of the world, South
may be set in a wall or be part of a bridge or some such
construction.  I have attended the ceremony, which takes
about two hours and involves crossing the local canal by
me the script which is read at the start of the Beating the
Bounds.  Once young boys had their heads bumped on the
boundaries of their parish lay!  Now one of the members
swishes it against the stones occurring along the route.
Beating the Bounds was intended to establish boundaries
The bumping of boys' heads had to be suffered even when
There is a great deal of history attached to this practice.
I took some photos at various stages along the route
when I walked with the Court Leet of about half a dozen
death and which is presumably an expansion of the original
at their office in the Great Western Road: in their
added that the kittens might come with the old cats
parties; supposed originally to have been turn cate
cat's foot Also, live under the cat's foot be under
said of one who enters into a dispute or quarrel with
bad bowlers.  (Elsewhere rook is defined as a cheat
cat of nine tails a scourge composed of nine strings
cat's sleep counterfeit sleep.  Cats often pretend to
sleep to decoy their prey, then suddenly spring on it.
cat sticks thin legs.  The allusion is to the sticks with
strength: a wager is laid with them that they may be
pulled through a pond by a cat.  The bet being made,
catted and the end thrown across the pond, to which
the cat is fastened by a packthread.  Three or four
whip the cat Tailoring, to work at private houses, as
down on the face of youths before the beard grows is a
term that all male readers will be familiar with.  I never
I gave my own recollection of a popular satirical summary
other readers might be able to come up with more complete
might be interested in a new and improved list.  This list
vary in some details but agree on the most important
Daily Mail        Read by the wives of the people who
Daily Mirror      Read by the people who think they
Guardian          Read by the people who think they
Today             Read by the people who think they
Sun               Read by the people who don't care
The pub is named after a bird common in the Broads, the
We do not mistake it for a hawk, a plasterer's board with
in French).  On the other hand, we do not use it to cut
wood.  Our forebears used to hunt it with hawks, and they
I was taught at school that Hamlet was referring to
unlikely to have used.  Besides, what other kind of saw
in the course of our toilet (and in the toilet, too), but
four and a half yards when she started school.  I was taught
that five and a half yards made up one rod, pole, or perch;
a cricket pitch, ten times that made a furlong, and there
were eight furlongs to a mile.  Of course, these measurements
who had no schooling; nowadays, when education continues
till well into adult life, even to pensionable age, counting
many smiths in olden times.  Smith does not necessarily
refer to a blacksmith but to a worker, possibly in metal
White, Silver, Copper, and., as in the case of my grandfather,
[Undoubtedly changes in the values of measurements can
is an English dialect.  The subject has been debated
for at least four centuries but, as the editors of VERBATIM
must be aware, a body of evidence suggests that the
regional dialects in the number of words, meanings of
words and expressions not current in Standard English,
in its strikingly different pronunciation, and in the loyal
English, with importations from many other languages.
rustic) is to perpetuate the notion that it is the speech
of uneducated country folk, an idea still endorsed by snobbish
preserve the ancient language as an artistic medium.
I cannot resist the temptation to add two fine examples
known is the old established firm of Cape Town undertakers
were intrigued and probably a tad confused, too, for
I enjoy VERBATIM so much and thank you; but I really
miss the Paring Pairs game.  Please consider reinstating
Pairs --I have to make them up, and after several years
of doing so, my mind ran dry.  Several readers offered
contributions, but I felt that they were a bit off the mark.
If I am again touched by the muse, Paring Pairs may
the reverse can occur.  A World War I Punch cartoon showed
new arrival: Och, mon, it's an easy language.  For example,
ye three, and ye gie one back.  It's an easy language.
a college degree who isn't in jail or under indictment.
Cynical?  Racist?  Nevertheless, an almost infallible guide
These are lashings to cinch the shrouds in closer to
the mast, to allow the yards a few extra degrees of swing.
ever encountered was a dentist who, early in this century,
period, there was a dining establishment called The
Celibate Restaurant.  The management were not at all
interested in the sexual practices of their clients and,
indeed, hoped only to cater to the many yet single people
encomiums like, The best sea stories, and then, The
best historical novels ever written.  There are fan clubs
Dictionary at the other.  That is tedious.  Had a Sea of
Words been published years ago, I would have been most
grateful.  Anyone would have needed lexicographic succor.
as well as boxing the compass, the sails of a full rigged
all well explained in this book, including pictures of how
tacked, an incredibly complicated and difficult procedure.
only thing that I have not been able to find in medical
Three decades after the reawakening of feminism, no
field of scholarship remains unexamined by feminist analysis,
as an effort to deconstruct the patterns of thinking that
work at an elevated political level of grave potential
foundation of cultural paradigms constructed by socially
sanctioned ways of thinking as she confronts the politics
a vehicle for ideas, but rather a material entity which
may in fact shape those ideas, Mills states that a further
aim of feminist analysis is to draw attention to and change
the way that gender is represented, since it is clear that
a great many of these representational practices are not
in the interests of either women or men.  Her book establishes
describe sexism in a text and, through a process she names
feminist stylistics, to deconstruct the way in which point
of view, agency, metaphor, and other features of the text
are unexpectedly closely related to matters of gender.
For lay readers and students who are not familiar with
the prevailing concepts of mainstream linguistics, stylistics,
helpful explication of current theories and positions in these
whether meaning can exist in a text itself or is more the
result of a negotiation between reader and text; whether
male writing can be distinguished from female writing in
terms of formal linguistic constituents; and how gender
interacts with reader positioning, that is, the ways a text
models of text in which a piece of written material
is treated as if it existed in its own right with little
develops a feminist model which extends the parameters
of a text into its surrounding context.  This model, she
asserts, makes space for the possibility, and in fact the
necessity, of integrating notions of gender, race and class,
analysis, and indeed into the definition of the text itself.
strategies of feminist stylistics to expose the workings of
throughout are taken from widely diverse written materials,
newspaper articles, advertisements, and popular songs.
a text can be analyzed for its representations of gender--
to reading that enables a reader to look beneath overt content
unrecognized by both writer and reader, nevertheless reinforce
and help to legitimatize stereotypical notions about
or in some cases men, Mills cites, for example, some
familiar proverbs.  A woman's work is never done seems
to describe a natural state of affairs.  The message is hard
take responsibility for inventing it but merely calls on preexisting
woman complains of having too much work to do, Mills
writes, this phrase can be used to suggest that the...
difficulty of the conditions of her [specific] working life
is not as important as the general fact that women always
have too much work to do.  It might further suggest that
someone who has, at any given time, completed all the
Also examined are effects of the grammatical convention
norm.  One result is the use of generic words to refer to
males only, of which Mills gives ludicrous examples like
the headline on a news story about AIDS prevention among
For all its lively examples and provocative insights,
this is not a smooth text; it tends toward the prolix, partly
because of the author's determination to cover all bases.
By the same token it succeeds in floodlighting the protean
ways gender is characterized in texts.  In giving readers
These are four small stones, ranging in size from that of
an egg, to the largest, the size of two fists.  One stone
has a map inscribed on one side and is now referred to
Most of the discussion in the book is based on this
on two flat surfaces.  Author Chapman provides a transcription
acquired three (which three?) of the stones from the
Chapman ruefully glosses as fakes.  He seems to regard
long considered as fraudulent, although not by everybody.
Stone.  We are told (p.2) that the article was neither
published nor returned.  Prof. Hall published it as a
Chapman to visit him at his home, and in a lengthy meeting
most matters regarding the runic characters and on many
features of language.  But if Chapman had hoped to convert
the stones, he did not succeed, for the Professor never
deviated from his conviction that they were modern.  He
agreed, however, to keep in touch with Chapman and to
answer whatever questions he had.  Chapman states (p. ii)
not ordinarily perceived by him in most scholars), and he
had not been willing to provide a complete translation, for
his time and energy were both consumed in a number of projects
views of how long it took to provide answers to runic questions
and seems to have, in some cases, expected replies by
He compared the text of the Memorial Stone with the
of the sagas, which contain so much fictional and fantastic
sagas on which he based his conclusions were mostly factual
and dealt to a great extent with navigation, an area in which
He seems not too much at home in matters of language.
relieved to be able to report that linguists had spent considerable
The book is, despite these strictures, worth reading,
and judicious readers will probably separate the genuine
from the dubious.  The illustrations are pleasing and informative
makes an interesting attempt to account for several features
the presence of Danish and other words in the inscriptions,
together with runes, etc.  One wonders whether Spirit Pond
and he also redefined the field itself.  Now another author
takes a revolutionary approach to wordplay in a handsomely
Making the Alphabet Dance delves into the fertile substrata
words as collections of letters to be manipulated.  His
book shows the abundant possibilities in the field.
Having edited Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational
than anyone else.  He has witnessed it evolve through
the work of many people, he has written many articles about
it himself, and now he has traced its development with
and demonstrates the relationships between them.  The
text flows easily from one topic to another, peppered with
examples both serious and humorous.  Forbidden Letters,
Obligatory Letters, the first chapter, presents several
To academe he went with her (illegal and quite rare);
It made the children laugh and play to view a lamb in
the origins of written language.  He discusses palindromes
patterns.  For instance, word graphs represent words as
letters connected by lines.  This word graph links the letters
Word Fragments, the chapter that follows, presents similar
ideas, but it involves parts of a word instead of the
Transforming One Word into Another.  As he sees it, all
deletion, and rearrangement of letters.  One type of
word ladders (originally called doublets).  In a word
ladder, two words are connected by changing one letter
In one type of word network, all words of the same length
begins with a discussion of the last word in English and
examines forms that rely on positions of the letters in the
look ordinary alone but become unusual in combination.
The chapter opens with word squares and variations, like
the compound word square invented by Hairy Partridge:
The chapter on Number Words explores the fascinating
collide.  Many of the resulting forms are ideal for
evolution.  Although the field is complex, both expert and
One of the great joys of recreational linguistics is the
techniques or better examples illustrating old ones.
Such contributions can even be made by the diligent
newcomer to the field; it is not always necessary to
serve a long apprenticeship mastering past results.
A penetrating study of metaphor as illustrated chiefly
English words, though, from the notes at the ends of
chapters, one infers that it was intended as an informal
text.  The reader gets the impression, though the author,
for interested parties from other disciplines.  It suffers
from one severe, reprehensible shortcoming: it lacks an
The book is short and simple, but not simplistic (a
it is divided into fourteen brief chapters, the titles of
which will give a good indication of what they are about
(for a change).  Each chapter concludes with Notes and
Suggested Further Reading, and from the fairly sophisticated
that this is a lightweight work.  The chapters are headed:
the text.  Space does not permit a more thorough investigation
spent with this book will prove informative and rewarding.
minds.  From a lifetime of undisciplined reading with
innocent pencil in hand and malice prepense in mind,
I have gleaned a harvest of what I am pleased to denominate
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing.
division of this sector, thanks to his description in
surprising that on at least two occasions the Board has
Finally, turning to her toilet, she rested her face in her
hands, and gave a sort of groan.  In this same vein, the
nations when, in describing Mount Etna in Book I of
the housekeeper's shoulder and relieved herself a good
assured that it was, Defendant (aside) commands himself
since to them pecker means `courage,' as in the phrase
when he screwed his tenants by letter.  He was simply
money, she was not speaking of pleasures deferred.  In
Dick to attend a party that night, We shall be half
screwed before the morning, is his dismal sales pitch
next morning, even if he had to knock up the Archbishop
him in readiness to perform the ceremony.  In Great
that all through the book, there is an unmistakably
to reassure himself that it does not contain a typographical
at closet biographical matter when, in Chapter I, he
things together, or, later in the same chapter, when he
tools in the open air.  College freshman still read with
although the identities of the latter are not divulged.
Apart from your balls, can't I be of any use to you?
how he sends his native boy up a palm tree, where he
they had both silently picked their nuts for a season,
perfectly reputable words which, having acquired sexual
hilarity, even when read by a person of only mildly
Tangles like this still interrupted their intercourse.
Pages later (Chapter XXXVII), it is acknowledged that
He, too, felt that this was their last free intercourse.
Apparently from then on, it was going to have to be
(Chapter V), we are informed that the heroine placed
certain restrictions on their intercourse, a limitation
that might have been more usefully set in that same
flimsy and frivolous erection, while in The Mayor of
phrase can paint an astonishing picture for the reader.
Consider Dickens' sharp image in Bleak House (Chapter
back in his chair, and breathlessly ejaculates.... 
Alas for perfectly lovely words that acquire pejorative
pansy became a derogatory epithet to describe an effete
pastime to pursue the quest for Red Pants examples.
May good cess befall all such quixotically misguided
readers!  One caveat: never assume blithely that an odd
word or suspicious phrase is as lubricious as it sounds.
vows, I will chop them off with my whinger, and one
feels quite let down when he learns that a whinger is
as least a dozen times.  It is the one that goes, Dah!
I think I first bought a recording of Muskrat Ramble
My memory is rickety, but I am sure my first recording
jazz trumpeters.  Later, I got another recording of the
the first time I had ever seen such an obvious typographical
by kids in junior high.)  Some time later, I got still
another version of MUSKRAT RAMBLE, with still another
version of the title.  This time, it was MUSCAT RAMBLE.
That, I thought, was really absurd.  Not only had they
left out the R; they'd changed the K to C.  Now, it
made no sense at all.  On the other hand, I reasoned, if
there were, in fact, some sort of cat called a muscat,
perhaps it wasn't so outrageous.  I looked up muscat in
To name a ramble after a variety of grape seemed to
me preposterous.  I was young and, by today's standards,
used to sweep across that damned airfield with what
seemed an absolute determination to crystallize our
bodies.  One day when the wind chill factor was nearing
those days, people as a rule did not take much care of
phonograph records.  Usually the records were taken
from their jackets and loaded naked in stacks, where
traded static electricity.  I was shuffling through a stack
liquor an' the birds sing bass, and in the arrogance of
my youth, I was certain that nobody else on the airfield
turned thief.  I can't remember how I did it, but somehow
The only thing I know about Gilbert is that I find him
epicurean dish and saw that I had no sherry on hand, I
went to the liquor store and bought a bottle of muscatel
that I thought might be exactly right for my sauce.  It
the booze of choice for a great many wines.  An old
college friend of mine who celebrated his twentieth
couple of years ago, tells me that when he was on the
skids and riding the rails from drunk tank to drunk
almost certainly the original name of the tune.  My
Gilbert had ever seen a muskrat, and it's even less
likely that they or anyone else has ever seen a muskrat
doing anything that we would be likely to think of as
partially webbed feet, and do a good deal of swimming.
end, has almost certainly been slugging down a sweet
wine of high proof, and the odds are pretty good you
for the means to get another muscat fix.  Now he is on a
ramble with his hand out and a pleading look in his
It is the same reason most of us, I assume, have heard,
He's in the hospital with prostrate trouble.  Prostrate
what we get.  The r fits in naturally.  I got a strange
has spent most of his life playing clarinet and sax with
asked him what he thought the original title was.  He
There you are.  I find a muskrat ramble difficult to
imagine visually.  I picture muskrats wallowing about
in the mire and paddling sluggishly through the water,
but I wouldn't call that rambling.  On the other hand,
a wino with an empty paper bag on a ramble to maintain
Maybe not in the same class with all the birds sing
VERBATIM, it is a bit mysterious to me that the singular
Women in Language, [XV,2] may bewail the insensitivity
of the male.  But she betrays her own elitist insensitivity
which objects were present and named, had to add the
not present.  I have lately been reading accounts of the
exploration of the western and northwestern deserts of
the effect absent necessities might have on the frequency
words relating to water, were unusually frequent.  It is,
I suppose, likely that people with little money must
hungry will dwell on thoughts of food and the thirsty
on drink.  Here was a chance to quantify such things.  I
decided to make a count of words relating to water in
find the word water used fifteen times.  Ten pages on
the related words stream (twice), well (twice), pool,
presence of water; the rest are in contexts indicating its
River as the stream purling over its stony floor or,
quoting some bygone poet, brightly the brook through
along.  Perhaps present water called for some stylistic
celebration.  Two hundred pages further on there is less
exuberance in the circumlocution that fluid so terribly
scarce in the region, and in three other references
and may, like other explorers, be useful as a source
to psycholinguistics, I decided to make a larger sample
of watery words, choosing the straightforward journals
compounds), no page being without at least one example.
relating to water, not necessarily indicating its presence.
course it doesn't indicate the presence of water.  Even
words which are usually of more general reference are
brought into relation with water in a text like this.
words and phrases directly associated with thoughts of
water and reinforcing the sense of obsession include
pool, springs, drainage hole, clay hole, flood, channel,
spreads itself over the plains, and so it ends as a creek
The other name, native well is, as a later explorer
points out, a misnomer.  He believes native wells are
fairly shallow sand, which, when hollowed out by the
natives, appear to be wells.  This sort of misnomer
run, and native `wells' are merely tiny holes in the
sources of water.  Soaks are shallow wells sunk near the
base of an outcrop to tap an underground reservoir.
they are depressions on the surface of rocks, often
with a rounded bottom, where stones are often found,
suggesting that the stones have something to do with
in our speech of English country words, the glens and
streams (alive, anyway, in the journals of explorers),
instance, would describe an inland creek rather well.
(not he says!), but here we give examples of his third
case only, where there should not be two parties justifying
suppose them to be the rule rather than the exceptions.
It is a game that is like fishing in a barrel, but more
stimulating mentally.  I am not picking on the following
that Neigh has been dragged into going to the church
whether the marriage had secretly taken place between
Sometimes I wonder about the extent of my own vocabulary,
the country, his return did have a dramatic quality.
with his right hand lifted and a dirk in it aimed at
that scene to go by we would never really know, and
Give me my grammatical games any day to a crossword
The high honor bestowed upon me is also a recognition
possesses no words for weapons, ammunition, military
is the wise and humble language of us all, the idiom
all the other languages and countries along the routes
for hundreds of years, the language is spoken today by
the United States, where, like the bagel, it was leavened
in bed to find a vampire at her side.  Quickly she holds
words that have become part of our everyday conversations,
poor souls who inhabit the world of the ineffectual,
and each is assigned a distinct place in the gallery of
roll call are seen in the timeless distinction between a
loser': the schlemiel inevitably trips and spills his hot
sober thought, that has been handed down from generation
soul of an expressive people learning that life is but a
charity ball.  It happens to be the third most famous
diamond in the whole world, she boasted.  The first is
may find it useful and interesting to consider a book,
offers nothing regarding language, so its review here is
ancillary to the main function of VERBATIM.  The feminist
responsible for much of the national sentiment against
feminist writers are reviewed by women, usually feminists.
ignorant of or unsympathetic to the issues raised, if not
biased against them, or because the editor is a woman.
Because writing an unfavorable review of a (bad) feminist
books are often unjustifiably praised, as was the case
that this gives her the cachet of authoritative scholarship,
For the most part, the book consists of a rewriting
of history, from the dawn of time, with the purpose of
women were responsible for all the important contributions
to the advancement of civilization (as the development
by men.  Miles suggests that such domination is a recent
in (primitive) religions and matriarchies, right on
she gets so carried away with her thesis that she suggests
human evolutionary biology but for the very notion of
counting (in order to keep track of menstruation) and,
(and, presumably, accepts) another source which holds
that woman first awakened in humankind the capacity
to recognize abstracts.  If you believe that balderdash,
pyramids were built by tens of thousands of slaves.
Recent speculation has it that they were not slaves
neither the weakness of age nor women's infirmities
are any plea to excuse them, but they are driven by
to wonder what his authority might have been for such
a vivid description.  It is even less comprehensible how
a modern researcher could accept it and have the effrontery
many similar distortions, convenient omissions, and
the sum total of human intelligence and creativity.
was the first to use the lyric to write subjectively
is startling.  In every field, women too numerous to
contributing to the welfare of their societies as they
where she worked both as nurse and doctor, becoming
checkered past was soon to be replaced, chiefly, it
fangs of wild beasts rather than live to flout [sic]
This rewriting of history is punctuated by an array
century which identified a woman for the days preceding,
`impure,' Miles has the lack of taste to write the following:.
mythologies, religions, and cultures, noted the marked
borne out in the cultures of the people.  According to
treating them essentially as chattel, it does not account
for a similar treatment accorded them in other cultures,
it is unlikely that he could have ignored the treatment
of women in the modern reflexes of the cultures adhering
religions are allegorical and that there was no real
seems a highly debatable issue and one far too complex
for this discussion, though we can certainly trace a
diminution in the role of female divinities (or divinity)
and progeny.  Other debatable aspects are the questions
of whether the debasement of women is a reflection of
the theology or the ritual, whether the scripture of any
religion should be understood allegorically or literally,
and so forth.  If there is something wrong, it behooves
us to get at the roots of the problem, not to flail about
wildly, for only after the source of a disease has been
at the symptoms in a misconceived notion that alleviating
jeremiad, males are viewed as the enemy, and are so
with exhortations to engage the foe and a strident call
we now know all we are ever likely to know about the
past, someone digs another hole and unearths (literally
or figuratively) some ancient artifact: one day it is a
fragile scroll, found in a cave near the Dead Sea, that
anthropologists (once again) to revise their guesses
hominids.  Most of the relies from the past are gone
forever, destroyed by the plows of countless generations
of farmers, reduced to rubble by erosion, by conquerors,
fire and flood, and just by time.  Many, we may hope,
have not yet been found.  The interest in man's forebears
we have been trying to discover all we can about the
origins not of men but of man.  Strange to say, however,
about their own prehistory, I have not heard of it.
Perhaps the fascination with man's past grew out of
the obsession with ruins evinced by Romanticism; certainly,
close behind, for the excavation of the supposed site of
just as well, for only by the means available to modern
science are we now able to preserve some of the artifacts
results not only receive considerable publicity but can
reconstruction of ancient languages.  Even the remnants
documented than others; but for most all we have to go
on are a handful of tablets here, a few inscriptions
identify the language, let alone draw any conclusions
regarding its structure or meaning.  Perhaps one day
make do with what we have, which is precious little.
About languages that had no writing system, we know
nothing at all.  But some very clever comparative linguists,
more modern tongues.  In some instances, ancient languages
enabled us to read the myriad writings of the ancient
have today about their civilization, which lasted for
Many years ago, a linguistic scholar counted all of
the languages then spoken of which he had evidence.
exact count is unimportant and, at best, spurious, for
it is extremely difficult to establish uniform criteria for
what distinguishes dialect from language.  Then, too,
Dutch, which, in turn, bore only a remote resemblance
rapidly runs out of hands and must resort to fingers
and toes, for after years of laboriously categorizing
about ten.  Ingeniously, certain differences between
families were explained by various phonetic shifts that
(inexplicably) took place in one language group but
not in another.  Although certain other languages were
geographically nearby, it was impossible to establish
example, is not classified as being in the same family
At the conclusion of this vast exercise, done without
the aid of computers, there emerged a pattern of familial
relationships that linked together languages spoken,
among languages, it is best to avoid using an older
chart; for the same reason, it would be wise not to
less important in the classification of languages than
structure and grammar.  It is important, too, to note
that writing systems are irrelevant: for instance, Polish
one another rather closely in some respects, all use
different alphabets; and early examples, utterly unrecognizable
were written in cuneiform, quite suitable for writing
on soft clay tablets with a pointed stylus, and hieroglyphics.
It would be nice to think that while linguists were
working alongside the archaeologists who were providing
the raw materials.  But only rarely did they collaborate
had long since disappeared from view.  In many other
quite understandably take a dim view of tearing down
their buildings on the off chance that the remnants of
archaeological team examines the cleared site for its
archaeological significance.  But there, as everywhere
else, nothing can interfere with progress and, regardless
of the finds and their importance, the archaeologist
must eventually yield to the bulldozer.  Notwithstanding,
investigations can provide some insight into civilizations
theorized about the earlier languages that had given
rise to those attested.  In other words, based on what
documented, they tried to imagine the language that
they sprang from.  In most cases, they dealt with words
and functional elements, creating what are called reconstructions
languages descended.  Nonetheless, it is convenient
It seems only natural that once an original language,
westward, and northward, being modified by the influences
modern manifestations which we categorize into Germanic,
reader (like me) to assess the validity of his arguments,
language (and its congeners) were carried along by the
spread of nomad pastoralism.  Using the evidence available,
indigenous development.  Pottery finds can be interpreted
to support either the imposition of an elite culture
he sets forth his arguments in its favor.  Unfortunately,
the presentation of his linguistic argument, where the
author is clearly treading on more speculative ground
than in those parts dealing with outright archaeology,
where he is on more familiar territory, is disorganized
and repetitious.  It is difficult to place all the blame on
coherence.  The result is an argument that is persuasive
Nevertheless, good books on archaeology assimilable
can tolerate its shortcomings and is not overly concerned
with clarity, and the program is simple to install, requiring
little suspicious when cranking up the system: in the
descriptive text that appears on the screen, the word
text you are reading, returned to the beginning of the
paragraph to see how some of these words would fare.
I looked up the word preceding and was, after a brief
moment, asked to type in the word, which I did.  The
definition for the preposition and three for the verb
(participial) senses.  I called up the synonyms for the
antecedent, anterior, foregoing, former, past, precedent,
The way the program works is this: one uses the cursor
to highlight a particular word for which synonyms are
desired.  It is similar, in principle, to finding a synonym
in a synonym dictionary and then looking up its synonyms
screen was the same list of synonyms but with antecedent
missing, and preceding had reappeared.  If all this
is too complicated to follow, let me summarize: you
and G.  You look up the synonyms for word A, and you
clever computer ploy, but it does not provide a particularly
synonymy in language does not yield to the commutative
other.  Perhaps the Proximity people thought that they
had got round that little problem by giving the same
definition for each of the items in the list; but we know
not necessarily always equal A), an ineluctable fact of
If a relatively limited access to a synonym dictionary
is likely to be of use, then this package may be of
service.  It works with a hard disk or with a set of
received my copy; it might have increased.)  It also has
a few neat features, like suggesting a few alternatives if
that can be called upon at any stage.  Also, if you
All in all, for a relatively primitive system, it is not too
bad; but you would have to be in love with your computer
books of synonyms available (especially The Synonym
more than three times the number listed in any other
reached if one counted all the permutations and combinations;
fewer actual words.  Readers can judge for themselves
is a classic, probably the first on the subject to appear
in a scholarly journal, though there are other informal
references to family language, some of which are documented
what one family terms a child's misinterpretation of a
many interesting entries in Family Words which, as far
as I know, is the first documentation of the genre.
will have his hands full if everyone responds giving
War I, trenches were characteristic also of the Civil
trench.  The soldier in charge would command, after
each firing, that the rank on the scaffold step down
and be replaced by the rank that had just reloaded,
thus alternating ranks and sustaining the rifle fire.
That war, like others, produced disgruntled veterans
military service.  They moved westward to start a new
life.  The population increased markedly, with corresponding
the need for saloons.  Most new saloons were small and
many bunched up, in ranks, if you will, calling for
whiskey.  Many of the thirsty crowd were veterans, as
the original English version of three books she had
bookstore and asked the salesclerk for a copy each of
there a term for the errors that creep in while translating
my own formed over sixteen years of using one.  An odd
sidelight on this came a few days after reading the
article.  Definitions under pet end with Petting Party
(coll.) a gathering for the purpose of caressing as an
I fear that one of his paragraphs is a load of brass
word might also have been used for a receptacle near
the guns where powder and balls were kept.  However,
this receptacle would have taken the form of a wooden
box or something similar.  The idea of a metal stand
carrying a pyramid of cannon balls so delicately balanced
as to be affected by the tiny differential expansion
of brass and iron does not bear thinking about in a
the obvious one, I believe.  Anybody who asks Why a
brass monkey? is probably not aware that brass monkeys
they come in sets of three, one with its hands over
its eyes, one over its ears, and one over its mouth: they
were said to represent See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak
are not that numerous, and the rules are very consistent.
Every Japan veteran has his list of favorite mistakes.
to let someone do something.  One day during a university
frantic and obtrusive dictionary work, handed a colleague
Magazine called On Language.  Considering the circulation
contemporary English in the world; that places more
his utmost to be accurate; he must try to select subjects
likely to be of interest to his readers; and he must
be writing on his day off: I cannot put my finger on
why, but On Language always strikes me as an excruciating
earshot, as the Lexicographic Irregulars, an amusing
reference the first time or two it was used but now
beginning to cloy.  More often than it might prove of
between prescriptivism and descriptivism.  But are not
many of us guilty of that?  We are descriptive of the
reader agrees with him is another matter, as are the
questions of his accuracy, which arise fairly often, and
that of the suitability of his style, which, as far as I
know, has not been broached before.  It ill behooves
about language but find myself stymied: I get the feeling
my way to the end.  Notwithstanding the valuable role
the subject, I find it hard slogging (or, as he would
contains a selection of letters from readers.  It is those
that are so sorely missed in his column.  True, there is
an occasional mention in his column of a point raised
Magazine prints a comment from time to time, but an
important feature of the books is their inclusion of far
most influential writers on contemporary English, and
it is essential that his books be in the libraries of all
who are interested in the subject, regardless of their
alignment with his opinions.  For one thing, he documents
to many working lexicographers.  From the sometimes
cavalier manner in which he treats his subject, one
which this review was prepared; unfortunately, there
was no proof of an index, but the publisher has assured
rather essential ingredient of a work with this title.
doubt about questions of English usage.  It has some
problems, if you want to be sticky about things: on p.
with the capital M and C is, essentially, meaningless
to those familiar with the conventional symbolism used
usage book, most reasonable writers have taken a stab
at writing an entry under a heading that seems a likely
place to look, then have provided a detailed index.  Not
etc., in an entry so headed, but for absolute constructions
Electric shaver for women with delicate floral design
some lightening up, but I am hard put to agree that
book would have us believe.  Fun is fun, but those who
might rely on such a book are quite serious about the
information they are seeking, and it is unfair to play
fast and loose with their sincerity.  A sense of humor
about a subject is born of a feeling of security about it,
but security is the one characteristic often lacking
But of what use is a long entry on spoonerisms?  And of
what use are the interminable examples, for instance,
to three pages?  More than four pages are devoted to
ought to end in an exclamation point).  The article on
Place.) is a good one, but, at six pages, its utility is
spelling pronunciation these days; and so with many of
the old shibboleths.  Of what relevance (to usage, notwithstanding
not just any johns.)?  That is not, strictly speaking, a
All of which is to say that the book is an interesting
Its only real faults are its title, which belies the content,
the cutesy headings, and the lack of a truly detailed
sufficient detail.  As a reference work on usage, it is far
Linguistic Terms Used in This Book, followed by a list
of References, sources associated with specific entries,
in further examples of linguistic pollution, observing
months a year.  But the savants have passed barman,
no word in English to describe that particular, special
sort of pride that one feels in the achievements of one's
canon [sic]  unless metaphor is taken in its broadest
given, many not readily findable in standard works of
reference.  The rationale behind referring to them as
lost arises from the author's observation of an unfortunate
state of affairs: because of an increasingly widespread
course, but unaccountably, they are not the focus of
point.  In any event, it is hard to discern, from the arch
style affected in an attempt to make dull facts interesting,
little or nothing we do not already know, could easily
imagine, or for which the author offers no explanation.
Examples of the last include spill the beans, square the
flash of useful wisdom, much of it pretty well covered
by other books of this type (which seem to be proliferating).
is the information that because the area of a circle is
dimensions of a square with the same area as that of a
given circle.  But that does not mean that such a square
Often, an entry offers nothing in the way of etymology
Some speculative suggestions, as the derivation (or
are sheer nonsense.  Not all entries contain misleading,
Dialect geography, a branch of dialectology, describes
work proceeded space during the 1930s, largely under
as everyone ought to know, does not include Wales or
major works that resulted from the Survey, The Linguistic
People generally seem to find dialect study interesting.
born in the village and who speaks with a delicious
but oi.  When I was teaching there, the explanation
some of which are clear variants, others quite different
which is easy to follow, a list of suggested readings,
and the names and addresses of the several institutions
more intensive interest in dialect study.  The maps are
clear, each occupying a full page, and the word information
brief but not cryptic explanations are provided of any
information that might seem to be out of the ordinary.
I have only one nit to pick with the authors.  In their
various areas where a particular usage was recorded,
more accurately an isogloss is drawn to connect sites
speakers using one or the other live in very close proximity.
`word,' to describe the line on a map where the terms
what isobars and isotherms are to weather maps, what
The authors are not alone in getting this wrong: it is
In those countries where dialect study is undertaken,
many factors militating against the strict maintenance
of older dialect boundaries: the standardization of terminology
services, radio, and television; the establishment of
other, lesser factors at work, but taken together, all
tend toward standardization, especially as the older
speakers die off.  In some respects, it may not be long
before certain aspects of dialect geography will be
largely historical.  The importance of dialect is emphasized
This book is a good introduction to the subject (in
This is an interesting, useful reference book containing
in length, each dealing with a different aspect of the
These are supplemented by an extensive Bibliography
the material is trivial, but nonetheless interesting for
that.  It is not at once apparent why the book is styled
that respect, at least, it does not resemble books in the
Oxford Companion series.  It contains many photographs
appearance of the book but accomplish little else, unless
appearance of Hart Crane standing in the middle of a
It is difficult to make any sensible connection between
the lives of authors and their creations.  A handful
might have led colorful existences, some are objects
of interest because they died early, committed suicide,
were related to (other) famous people, and so forth;
their output as do the creations themselves, and in
certain cases one is probably better off not knowing
This book appears to have been diligently researched
to most libraries, public and private, large and small,
[the tenor] brings the opera to its climax in his final
when Scrooge says I will not be the man I must have
would be known to more people than two of the words
that skins as slang for `dollars' dates from frontier days
when trappers used animal skins as currency, and is
The thesis of this work is that most legal communication
learning more.  After a short introductory section,
usage.  The latter half will have more appeal to the
average lawyer, unscholarly primate that he is; but
ought to be, will be entertained as much as edified
by the eventful chronicle of the forging and tempering
of the tools of his trade.  Of all specialized vocabularies,
alluring.  For that reason, and because they will relish
the author's excoriating criticism of the shamanistic
words will find the book as a whole not less fascinating
The first half is a piece of scholarship par excellence,
summary can begin to do it justice.  I shall try to
reduce its gist to a few paragraphs of my own words.
those ancient invaders from the continent who managed
having legal significance but were driven, along with
strike (motion to), landlord, freehold (in land), and
them place names and none of legal import, outlived
while contemporary English was spoken by the indigenous
about two centuries after the Conquest, with English
words with gusto, transforming and anglicizing them
to lend grandeur and subtlety to the vernacular.  The
principal language of the law and of legal education,
law student.  But the use of English spread and, by
the learned tongue, incorporated it almost completely
and records, lawyers cling to and defend against all
comers unnumbered words and phrases in that ancient
that they enrich the legal vocabulary with precision,
against the use of foreign tongues as a kind of black
their rights.  Every man, they said, ought to be able
to understand the law and act on his own behalf.  In
(written almost entirely in derivatives of French or
later one was eviscerated before it went into effect
by an amendment allowing the continued use of customary
when the failure of a syllable lost the cause.  The
of rules and technical evasions.  This was the day of
the ingenious conveyance, the computers of the infinite,
people (with a few eccentric lawyers concurring), is
the finely turned jeweler's tools of his craft, not the
But, says the author, the steeling grip of lawyers on
their stilted language is in fact the result of fear.
said are condemned by the author as tricky, ducking,
claim to precision is their traditional use, not worth
saving.  He also takes whacks at those old chestnuts
threat of boiling in ink, lawyers might relinquish all
these; but they will fight to the bitter end and finally
`the fact is,' `although,' `considering that,' `on the
contrary,' and `that being the case,' with many shadings
The lawyer is also habituated to doublets and triplets
like fit and proper; force and effect; give, bequeath
reprehensible, for they are understandable to ordinary
list of such terms, many from the computer's memory
bank, often imparting false profundity and reassurance
but under cold analysis shriveling to redundancy and
confusion.  Never mind all this, the lawyer will cling
The reader is told that there was once justification
to serve for the rest of his natural life..., ...to
based on the civil death of a felon and also upon the
state of civil death assumed by a monk upon his abnegation
words are so universally employed in deeds and wills
that the absence of natural might cause a reviewing
lawyer to question the authorship.  The criticism is
nonetheless valid, though this rejected phrase might
come again into play where some sort of life, as after
place of ordinary ones under the pretense of precision,
it seems to me that the author is wasting ammunition
which juries are quite comfortable, and lawyers are
as aware as everybody else that they are imprecise.
a person who is honest and sensible, is an image that
can be called forth in the mind of every man.  Substantial
than driving the first nail and a little less than driving
the last one, and it survives as a useful tool to prevent
judge is telling them to be damned sure the defendant
express concepts that cannot be drawn with straightedge
thus investing such terms as accident and proximate
cause with a false precision.  Accident is indeed elusive
very useful to discover a purported definition in a
case of his own jurisdiction decided upon facts resembling
gibberish for which you can get a definition at any
supermarket as rather severe.  It embodies a concept
Fall (where we sinned all), certainly; neither can we
require that the safe fall directly on the plaintiff's
again, are free to move within a fenced area.  Lawyers
against precedent only as a false pretense for fake
distinction, with repetitions that centuries ago attained
that with the exception of constitutions and of statutes
States; that the law existed before written language
contrary and continues to thrive in the printed decisions;
until rounded out by precedent; that precedents may
searches for as recent a decision as he can find, in a
jurisdiction as near as possible, on facts as close to his
client's case as possible, never overruled or modified,
As an instance of the gross imprecision of precedent
to a question in a life insurance application as to the
use of spirits, the court held the policy valid.  But as I
court's reasoning was not at all based on a definition
holding that to void the policy the misrepresentation
truth it would not have issued the policy.  No insurance
ground, said the court.  An effete northerner might
challenge the court's finding that the insured's frequent
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Redundant
the facts, a lying witness may avoid a perjury conviction.
English, repetition, tradition, precedent, and requirement,
escrow, holograph, joint tenancy, tenancy in common,
equivalent in backyard English.  Phrases like mutually
Brevity is a saving grace, but only if it coincides
and precise and intelligible; in my opinion, this distinction
How truly does the author say that every mechanical
spread before the lawyer a feast of gustatory delights
monster quarries to be fitted, with no other purpose
than to encumber lean documents that already perform
of course including the plural and the masculine the
bilingual duplication, and payment by the word; certainly
say that, spurred by their own vanity and their clients'
the pinnacles of pomposity without having to resort
words, the author maintains, lawyers are masters of
from congressmen, cabinet ministers, and television
the abstraction that gave it birth.  Therefore, words
must be durable, it was believed, lest a change in a
word change the meaning of the law.  A subtle concept,
durable without writing the law had to be rememberable,
man's mind is as much of a fact as the state of his
digestion; A word is not a crystal, transparent and
is intended to impress laymen.  Sometimes expectations
ranging among the national bulwarks.  If the contract
prepared for the client lacks the usual flourishes,
support of a language of the law distinct from common
of the law as the prophecies of what the court will
this hold up in court?  Indeed, this reason overrides
all others.  The judge is but another lawyer, seldom
one of the more erudite, and he might be more amenable
to the old familiar tunes than to start minimalism,
states the complaints and answers stating the parties'
claims and denials are read to the jury as part of the
instructions, can be quoted by the lawyers in argument,
violence, the injuries severe, the pain excruciating,
Surely lawyers, no less than other artisans, are entitled
to their little conceits, a grace note here, a furbelow
Just as any speaker may, for the sake of euphony (or
in the knowledge of all lawyers who are not far more
scholarly than any I have ever known.  The writing in
falls prey to none of the ills of turgidity that he so
those few cases with which I have ventured to disagree,
I have felt that the author's argument was unworthy
their language.  Still, there are always the  `passionate
the author, who will fight on in the courtrooms and
in the ivory towers, at the bar and in the barrooms,
In his Preface the author disarmingly tells us that
the text.  But so provocative is the text itself that I
indulge in only this one footnote.  In this writing,
legal means `pertaining to the law,' rather than `lawful';
General dictionaries show pronunciations, it is true,
rarely with its precision, and almost never with both
by the largest number of speakers (those who do not
pattern of the educated speaker in the northeastern
pronunciation as an archaic or obsolescent term (unless
success.  But this is not a book of descriptive phonetics;
best English he can, and the selection of these two
out.  There is some confusion in the key, where the
spelled characters represented by the phonetic transcription
When I worked on the setting up of the pronunciation
was more like a full schwa than a syllabic.  Indeed,
though it is a matter of degree, I find it difficult to
pronounce a word like organism with a syllabic Z\?\ at
is transcribed in the key; but the text itself shows a
full schwa, which indicates that perhaps Wells vacillated
type (making it difficult to read words like Pilling,
so marked is different from what the spelling might
and language environments that affect pronunciation
appear in their appropriate alphabetic places.  Each
spelled sound is discussed at the beginning of its alphabetic
In sum, there is a wealth of information succinctly
not in style reflecting the varied articles that appear
meant to demonstrate to the world that the writer is
an academic; this book reflects more the style of a
classroom teacher, a mixture of objective and subjective
for at least twenty years.  His book has not been written
freaks.  Presumably, much of the book's contents will
be as fresh to such readers as it is familiar to anyone
obliged to go over certain common territory.  It is
three of those criteria.  Having come across reviewers
the pages of VERBATIM why I had called two chapters
is not meant to be read in that way.  Consider Professor
enough, but generally, with increases in population
and refinements in civilization, there arose a need
for additional designations to identify the members
difficult to do so.  Surely that opening sentence, as it
avoided the ambiguity of themselves.  People usually
naming philosophy than an increase in population or
not allow the duplication of personal names within a
deprive him of his soul, but the practical result was
that everyone was conveniently identified by a single
of a group.  This was not necessarily a more refined
belief in this case was that a child named after an
qualities to be passed on to the child.  That belief is
of course still common today, though for that matter
prevents the use of a relation's name if the person
grandson a Large because he happened to be a generous
the early term which came to be known as a surname.
decidedly modern.  Surname was indeed an adaptation
isn't.  Given name is clearly preferable if one wishes
to distinguish between a name bestowed by the parents
last.  First name is useful when discussing western
his book (and to each page) as I find it.  To me it
would have put it, Popish saints.  In a very general
He was not trying to tell us that names like Increase,
religious association.  Indeed along with a slew of native
have seen the name as having religious associations,
which dominated US birth registers until fairly recent
than merely biblical names.  It is that which characterizes
cannot pretend to do justice in one section here to a
could be done by way of literary style in his Names
as extraordinary as it is infuriating.  The thinking behind
recently came across, responsible for a little Dictionary
it was usual for a dictionary to be in alphabetical
order, she said that with such an arrangement readers
priest won't give it to you.  To that I can only say, as
rather recent origin.  On the evidence of the examples
who came to our chapel greatly amused us by describing
heard, something that inevitably occurs, especially
are spoken.  Taking it for granite is a case in point.
When as a little boy I listened to my parents talking
about breeds of hens, I would certainly have written
replaced by a rather indistinct u sound, so that the
of the worst pun I ever heard.  I was sitting with a
friend at the far end of the room.  He wanted to convey
mouth his message.  But the other failed to get the
gist of it.  After he had tried three times in vain, I
reproduction is sold at the Gladstone Pottery Museum,
suspect, a street, to distinguish it from its namesake
that the quality of his work made his name a symbol
songs automatically to performers or recording artists
or both, not all of whom are composers or lyricists
please be him.  Unless she wrote it, however, it was
English, especially in the United States.  No book on
current English is complete without some account of
a scholarly work.  This impression is reinforced not
only by the publisher's being a university press but
Introduction and constituting the book's main text is
the author deliberately refrained from using this title,
People without lexicographic training who undertake
additional risk of plunging into a discipline that requires
English linguistics, etymology, and lexicology.  According
not.  That he is, indeed, a literary critic and folklorist
is demonstrated not only in the generally intelligent
and informative Introduction, but in two short appendices,
distinction it is supposed to draw is hardly significant,
scholarly derision as being both facetious and inaccurate.
To worsen things, the author is not even consistent
they do not fit into either category.  For example,
takes up two pages), misspelled place names to indicate
`pussycat,' is cryptically explained as a term of endearment
that the author (and his publishers) had not enough
I once told myself that I would not look any further
policy is unfair, of course: one should not be prejudiced
he has a tiresome taste in quotations.  People are forever
and should not be excoriated for it by a dyspeptic,
necessarily.  Alas, I should learn to follow my instincts.
find the word or phrase he is seeking by looking up a
meaning, would be quite useful.  I have a number of
here.  The way printed versions of such books function
The main problem with them is that they rely on the
compiler's ability to anticipate with some accuracy
Within the relatively limited amount of information
be difficult to anticipate the user's mind set with sufficient
kind that I have tried to use have frustrated me: I
knew how to spell it) we should not have to resort to
reverse dictionaries.  Trying to be fair, I cooked up a
test or two.  The first (to which most of us know the
answer, I suppose, but that makes it no less legitimate)
right sides of a boat?  One cannot discover the answer
by looking up left or right in an ordinary dictionary,
to hang around yacht clubs to get the answer.  I had
book, so I thought Dr. Welsh might have concentrated
PRONUNCIATION, I looked there, to no avail.  (It is
I cannot find it in my heart to fault Dr. Welsh for
his failure: he probably tried out his ideas on friends
were looking for.  I am convinced that there is a way
to do this kind of thing, but a book is not it: the kind
of associative information required to find even the
age, and other factors; including a large variety of
I might add artificial intelligence just to make it
to be specific) and invariably illustrate the literal
senses of idioms, which are by nature figurative: in
other words, the illustration for raise the roof shows
someone lifting the roof off a house.  Get it?  Pretty
puerile stuff, you might say, but don't lose sight of
According to the evidence offered, he has been using
about idioms.  I find it odd that children need to be
this material I should be disappointed, for there are
his hat into a ring.  What ring?  What king of ring?  If
going to explain something, explain it all: doesn't hit
explained?  If an average is the total number of times
a batter hits a ball safely divided by the number of
times he is at bat, even if he gets a hit each time, that
been done a little more carefully.  the book is pleasant
might very well encourage youngsters to think about
the aid of the Random House Dictionary I have compiled
different meaning, involving variations in spelling
heteronym                different   same        different
homonym                  same       same        different
was close to a close.  Challenged by her article, I
class.  Below is the list of heteronyms compiled by
and his list of heteronyms to serve as a memorial to
I should like to submit a polite euphemism in frequent
bus stop or in a shop, one would politely say to the
Pygmy tribe who frequently got lost in the jungles of
the mnemonic he lists for pi is cumbersome.  The one
either his version or the numbers themselves and is
certainly less tortuous.  It works as his does, coding
as a chemistry major.  Chemists, like physicians, are
faced with learning long lists of things, in our case
trivial (that is, not systematic) nomenclature for various
most cases there is little in the structures of these
these, we had, All altruists gladly make gum in gallon
yields the correct structures, if one can manage to
projections used to represent their configurations in
A different kind of mnemonic is used for remembering
words or foreign equivalents thereof.  But I think it
autobiographical portrait by his style.  Rather, that of
all the things an author might describe, all are extraneous
and hence his only possible passport to literary immortality:
that I have but one asterisk for my country (p.22).
It reminded me of a little jingle that I read years ago
It goes without saying that the duty of the writer is
to explain.  In the modern world, there's no denying
best prose, therefore, is prose that imposes order.
thus is life made simple.  Nothing, it is clear, could be
they do so, unfortunately, at the risk of confusing
their readers.  To start with, their writing is often
rhetorical or even evocative.  It contains statements,
consequently, that allow varying interpretations; inevitably,
bound to produce an unpredictable response.  Furthermore,
or wonder.  The result is to arouse a sense of mystery.
further.  On top of all this, we have the unhappy fact
that eloquent writing is indeed sometimes memorable,
certainty.  He or she does this, it is evident, in two
thoughts in the reader.  Second, he continually supplies
answers.  In short, he maintains command, investing
most writers are in reality not omniscient.  Not yet,
at any rate.  But nevertheless, it is within the province
a specific point.  This, surely, is sufficient.  After all,
omniscience can be cumulative.  Over time, manifestly,
up to total omniscience.  It is as if in recognition of
this, perforce, that increasing numbers of writers are
prose.  And it is no accident that the English language
wit: first tell them what you are going to say, then
tell them what you are saying, and finally tell them
what you have said.  A sound practice, unquestionably.
But it was observed that readers could be effectively
the thrust of the sentence was communicated in advance.
going to say before he said it.  In a sense, the readers
all of these.  More noteworthy, some had reinforced
or, on the other hand, such indispensables as unfortunately,
should be noted, many had gone so far as to advance
the systematic use of but at the beginnings of sentences.
the beginning of this sentence); the topper but does
not in reality indicate a contradiction, for it always
appears at the start of a sentence which is, truth be,
tops the previous statements by pointing unerringly
illumination.  Let's be frank.  It was the logical force
there is not only affirmation by demonstration (ergo,
in truth, in a very real sense) as well as verification
by substitution (that is to say, in other words, in
least, refutation by capitulation (it might be argued,
hand we have substantiation by association (similarly,
invalidation by differentiation (quite a different matter,
possesses the capacity to transcend logic.  Who can
deny it?  We have, happily, induction by intuition,
the inference that goes beyond mere fact (one cannot
presence here of higher truths: look at ratification
is impervious to criticism.  Certainly it is no passing
fad, dependent on vogue words, for despite its infancy
colloquial expressions like for starters, likewise, for
people might think otherwise, it definitely does not
which through repetition has lost its imaginativeness.
coming into use every day.  Hence the recent discovery,
It is true that there are rational writers, seemingly
that one sentence follows another.  But the question
words not only introduces a sentence but also refers
to the previous one.  The effect is that at every step
were.  And by looking backward at all times, it need
of interest.  Naturally, nothing is more reassuring to
a reader.  Nothing, in other words, is more conducive
little is being said.  But this objection, however,
word, they seek not merely to persuade but to convince.
declarations.  They restrict themselves to deductions,
basing them on references, citations, or precedents,
may, perhaps, list variables, or, on occasion, identify
options; at most, they will establish parameters.  But,
it must be emphasized, they do not express anything.
They delineate, which is something entirely different.
them.  But make no mistake about it, that is enough.
For, clearly, although it is the writer's duty to explain,
surely coming, withal, when there will remain, truly,
a suspicion or shake off a conviction, when clearly
everything will incontrovertibly support a thesis or
conversely stand in direct contrast to it, and, overriding
all this, there will as a result be not the slightest
doubt in our minds about one inescapable conclusion,
being nothing more to say on the subject, as it were,
we therefore will no longer hesitate but rather will
necessarily feel compelled to state the obvious.  Indeed,
kind of book, but if one is a writer of Valentine's Day
then order the book directly from the publisher.  My
it is very likely true that he is the most prolific
was taking a holiday) in The New York Times Magazine
Times --he is a fearless commentator on every aspect
only an army of admires but a cadre of contributors,
Bill partly because most people do and partly because
my direction at Random House.  Although he is not a
professional linguist, Bill knows a great deal about
find his arch approach unnecessary and a bit annoying:
these pages, and I can only attribute attrition among
collected here, the anthology is virtually impossible
to review.  It doesn't, of course, deal with every aspect
interest in language and who has a library of worthwhile
language books in his library.  This is the sixth, to
Moreover, the books are attractively set out, which
adds to their readability.  Even the title design is
It is a pity that the articles are not provided with
the dates of their publication, though it is not difficult
the plug, I realize that the piece must have appeared
brackets subscription rates in effect at the time of
only is Bill not reluctant to admit his errors, he may
be one of the few who literally profited from their
fashion by linguists and with unusually irresponsible
brings just the right, literate, human touch, often
funny, ever lively, and always friendly, informative,
writing this book is quite simple: to draw together
reading that I have done in the past few years.  In
reads for amusement.  There are many extremely abstruse
cases, this would be a merciful deliverance from the
a pretty boring writer himself.  Also, it would have
been useful (and not necessarily munificent) to have
provided such a book with a reasonably replete index.
another to black English, both rather disproportionately
trivial in the general scheme of linguistic theory.
linguistics, like computational linguistics, mechanical
reflective of my own interests, or does not reflect
the author's readings, or, probably, both.  Well, one
cannot have everything, and, as I sometimes maintain
your students.  If you are a student of linguistics (in
any sense of the term), you might find it convenient
as a survey text for linguistics, a work that is sorely
needed.  The linguists who write books seem invariably
least.  Surely there must be a teaching linguist out
there, somewhere, capable of putting together a cogent,
of linguistics but its various theories and their interrelations.
been called to a type of conflagration known as the
find in the sort of reference books that might be expected
as aids.  My invariable reply is that the only genuine
way to increase one's vocabulary is by reading, reading,
fact, but it is significant that the people who ask the
reached some proficiency in language before becoming
I can get by in a couple of other languages, chiefly in
afford the time to improved my control of other languages
learn what I can about English.  That is, of course, a
purely personal view and should under no circumstances
study of foreign languages.  But there is a difference
between learning about them and trying to gain fluency
many languages in which I have no speaking or writing
might be for aesthetic reasons (to read their literature,
other reason.  The study and acquisition of foreign
languages, living and dead, is both intellectually and
practically rewarding.  By the time I graduated from
partly, perhaps, because of the paucity of conversational
the first one to encourage the study of foreign languages.
them and learning them: learning a foreign language
truly fluent in a second language have been brought
up in bilingual (or, sometimes, trilingual) situations.
I raise the matter of foreign languages in connection
particularly useful in establishing an intimate relationship
been told that English is a difficult language to learn,
but, as a native speaker, I have no personal opinion
acquired English relatively late in life and whom I
than most native speakers.  That person is an exception;
English at the same time who has difficulty expressing
what we all already suspect, that there is a spectrum
of natural ability for language, with the gifted at one
latter I exclude pathological cases.  In that connection
who has difficulty learning to read and write as being
rather than to the (possible) failings of a teacher or,
more often, to a simple lack of interest and motivation
reading household or have acquired a thirst and opportunity
are those who were given the opportunities of being
to assign weekly essays and to mark them for style as
well as for grammar and mechanics.  For the manipulation
craft, and the acquisition of any craft cannot be accomplished
writer by sitting around thinking about it or by saying
In this connection, it is not the quantity of vocabulary
When people ask me about increasing their vocabularies,
these days, though, as far as I am aware, his books
are in print; in any event, they are available from the
which I originally read it (which I think was Modern
Library), but as a teenager I was terribly impressed
must assume that while the art of the original remains,
one syllable (so to speak).  It is consequently a model
of clarity as well as of simplicity and an abiding lesson
to all who think that increasing their vocabularies
It is interesting to note that one of the most successful
like It Pays to Increase Your Vocabulary.  In other
knowing how to use the language one already possesses.
before attending a cocktail party and then awkwardly
are best advised to read and write, and to do both as
much as possible, perhaps trying to emulate an admired
to be plenty of good ones available everywhere.  Attending
those vary so in quality as well as purpose that an
individual's needs might not be met.  Finally, they
should not view editors as their tutors, submitting
their writings in the hope of critique: however good
good teachers and are usually focused very specifically
An investigation found the employee occasionally slept
No detail is too small to overlook.  [From an advertisement
The podium erected in front of building A was surrounded
sought ways to predict future events.  Below is a small
sampling of the strange methods employed.  See if you
can make the Verbal Analogy by selecting the appropriate
and new technology.  Taking new technology into unexplored
realms of the earth is a once in a lifetime opportunity
that I hope to repeat many times.  [From Underwater
In the nineteenth century, the Age of Euphemism, the word unmentionables designated only one
spoken of in polite conversation.  In modern dialogue,
curses, and biological functions.  How clever it is,
though, that metaphor, the great facilitating factor in
the changing of word meanings, has carefully camouflaged
debutante and intended wife of Tom Weed, Republican
Girls, the treat for this morning is avocado finger
bread so thick.  After finishing off the sandwiches,
innocently mentioning the unmentionables in no less
`devil.'  The allusion could be to a hand slapping the
sense might be implying the bread is so hard to digest
testis `witness, testicle.'  In the final analysis, a man
can only witness to his virility by his testicles.  The
on the evidence table' and of detest is to `hate to the
and assigned its present meaning from the similarity
flower is aptly named, since it grows well in profusely
designates a space so small a person might be required
mist `manure, shit, dung.'  The seed of the plant was
Jeepers creepers is nothing other than a euphemistic
farting bird because of the noise made by its being
whatever else they have been called.  While it is the
function of metaphor to conceal the unmentionables,
it is likewise the pleasurable business of etymology
Best Place In Town To Take A Leak. [From an advertisement
It began innocently enough, without guile on my part.  We were traveling on an interstate through
one of the great teams of the Golden Age of comedy.
The lie came to my lips just as easily as to the lips of
crawling caterpillar and said glibly, Look.  There's
had an unconscious recollection of seeing, long ago,
connection for years, and prefer to believe that great
snakes, and such were Squirms.  I didn't disillusion
to the nearby tourist attraction, a lush, tropical paradise
shell, over most of its body, and great long claws to
dig in the ground.  And there, climbing that tree--
The feathery thing is Implicit.  And the vine growing
beside it is Thorax.  It's sort of like poison ivy so
don't touch.  You'll break out in a rash.  The flowering
a Septum.  One variety of Septum has been genetically
I was delighted to answer questions about butterflies,
are a Sheer Audacity, a Wretched Excess, and a Cistern.
they usually hole up in the daytime; there might be
one hiding there in that patch of Philanthropy.  The
orange one is a Flirtatious Glance and, look, the little
which the birds flew free while visitors strolled in a
smaller one there is the Short Shrift.  There's a flock
Sander, and the drab little creature making those sad
Utter Gall, a burrowing marsupial similar to the Unmitigated
the Apex and the Pharynx.  Back at home, sitting on
the terrace listening to the evening sounds, I would
Grouch lived right over there in that hedge of Presumption,
close enough attention.  Or perhaps it was my habit
of feeding them industrial strength Martinis before I
to my spiel, then presented me with a card.  It said:
over the country are innocent children, naive relatives,
friends and families about the wildlife I showed them
addict, I can't wait for my next fix.  Come on down,
y'all, I want to take you out in the yard and point out
Veritable Shambles right beside the front steps, and
by the fish pond you can spot a Receptacle, an Incipient
a Smote, circling in the air.  I think it's hunting an
Apparent Hoax.  See, there's one now, crawling under
correct language reminded me of a television interview
marks made the coffee suspect, the way a real estate
agent will call a closet a room.  Since I didn't feel
like drinking a tepid beverage, I walked until I got to
but I would argue that these places are only hurting
called, call into question the very words they assert.
There are those who argue that it is simply a case of
against it.  The effect is generally unintentional, like
finest ingredients, read the label on one ice cream
brand.  This seems like a simple statement, what the
consider the implications of the label: most other ice
kind of wording as a polite way of discrediting their
language is such that the Federal Drug Administration
still contain a lot of it.  The increasingly common
the investigation should really go beyond the supermarket:
advertises, We sterilize all our instruments, is it
not hinting something unsavory about other establishments?
giving a result opposite to what is seemingly intended.
surprise!  over a drearily foregone conclusion, for
example.  But consider when a little child tells his
father, We're going to surprise you with a birthday
defeats its purpose.  A clue may be offered by dramatic
opposite effect of the intention.  Maybe this is where
all three ironies, depending on the intent, audience,
without saying covers up the obvious need to say it,
dislocation is unclear.  Does the common capper to a
brief business conversation, Let's do lunch sometime,
Let me illustrate the intricacies involved: I recently
received a card from an academic journal acknowledging
holding it for further consideration.  The last sentence
not submitted this essay elsewhere.  Is this sarcasm?
Almost certainly not.  Yet once again the implications
urbane assume and of course finesse the real meaning
The message is all the more urgent because its mere
submit the same essay to more than one journal simultaneously.
the unintentional reversal.  In a recent advertisement
because of the noise of the spectators.  Through the
miracle of television, all of them are crowded inside
the car with the windows shut, resulting in utter silence.
of the cup, where it stops.  Suddenly someone inside
the car sneezes, and the ball slips into the hole.  It is
new car is not really quiet?  That quiet is not always
what we mean?  A friend of mine once tried to sell his
old car by parking it in his yard with a sticker that
no one showed any interest, until a passerby told him
This story shows that interpretation is all important,
as in cheap meaning `inexpensive' to some people and
meanings in certain contexts: for example, I wish I
reader.  Last week, I was stopped at a traffic light
AFTER STOP. Since I live where right turns at a red
light are permitted, first I did not think much about
it.  The sign just seemed superfluous.  But then it
occurred to me: why was the notice there at all?  I
stared at the sign for a moment, and I realized that
the words in a way implied their opposite; that is, a
missed two traffic light changes, and cars started to
indicate the road with the least traffic.  Savvy motorists
soon realized that everyone took the route indicated
the real significance of the sign, and so left the best
labyrinth of possibility.  In literary criticism, deconstruction
audience's interpretation.  There are also moderates
ideas are true up to a point.  Perhaps a better way to
put the situation is that language is potentially unstable,
some idea of the real meaning to achieve its contradictory
faculty lounge, one of my hazier colleagues got up to
inadvertently separated from any covering letter that
it has no name on any of its pages.  Would the author of
Easy Does It (about translating proverbs) please stand
was, of course, President Ford's and the Republicans.
were possibly invented merely to confound eavesdroppers.
menial labor so her captor (s) can make car and rent
female.  Context determines whether the event occurred
contribute food bought in the prison store for group
among prison gang leaders to redistribute the property
by (someone).  (To confuse eavesdroppers the active
All the slang words collected here reveal aspects of
prison life, which is never pleasant.  Being behind
would want to experience.  To avoid the opportunity
to collect your own list of prison slang words, obey
cleave to the De Sola dictionaries of abbreviations.
Moreover, there are omissions that are criticizable
transport of goods by road.  Customs agreement covering
by the way, is not listed in the book as an abbreviation
other hand, some entries that have historical value
however, we learn that the `Public Works Administration
in his Preface, users would be at a loss to determine
navigation and ranging') is in outright error.  The entry
In short (excuse the pun), for one reason or another
better dictionary of abbreviations than this; US users
the US market: in the circumstances, one might expect
make some effort to cater to such a promisingly lucrative
number of syllables (five) and letters (seventeen).
given our information is that it's not probable that there
for the reviewer to chide the writer for not having
written the book he would like to have read.  What a
aspects of his life is just the sort of exposition and
analysis that this reviewer once considered writing
medical history: juvenile scrofula, poor vision in one
asthma, a stroke with transient aphasia, and finally
disease with congestive failure.  Add to this an account
the patient is clearly revealed.  By his own statement
Judicious use of primary sources and an aptitude for
useful and intelligible to a reader unfamiliar with the
whose actions are severely limited by a psychiatric
way of life and behavior.  These were only transiently
medical ideas about melancholia relies chiefly on the
poor writing.  From the standpoint of communication,
one thing, they provide relief from what could otherwise
be a terrifyingly condensed onslaught of information.
notice how compact it is.  Succinct style presents no
problem to readers, for they can reread a passage as
often as necessary to assimilate it.  Those who attend
speaker who reads aloud a paper meant to be read in
a journal: it is almost impossible to assimilate its information
of his audience can readily detect lack of understanding
and, if a good speaker, can take an idea and phrase it
in another way to make it more readily understandable.
one assumes that the subject under discussion is of
some interest to the listener), the insertion in speech
serve a function; as with everything else, overdoing
`satirize'), nonetheless seem to fall together with
great frequency.  Serve a function is such a collocation
phrases like eye contact, lack of understanding, member
of his [or any pronoun, name, or article] audience,
English as a foreign language are aware that a breakthrough
may still be far from a native speaker's.  It would
matter.  I venture to say that there is hardly anything
more soporific than being given the meanings of expressions
giving the meanings, but the interesting and useful
the fact that the chemicals used in making felt hats
transparent to us, others needing explanation.  Thus,
though properly a simile, needs an explanation; play
with the behavior of opossums.  There are quite a lot
of opossums where I live (not, I hasten to say, of the
after they have been killed on the road by a car.  A
with attributes that would give play possum a mysterious
button that identifies it with the six adorable daughters
or, just to make it more complicated, a corruption of
with a very difficult area of language.  My only criticism
first appeared in a certain work, giving the citation.
which riles many people, I submit that it is a revival,
(like what a word means or what is its etymology) as
does not know the date of the Flushing Remonstrance
is like asking a person his name.  Some people have
those who, despite the extraordinary pressure of being
audience, are able to dredge up obscure information
in response to quizmasters' questions.  But the accession
that require rapid mental calculation or analysis.  A
very large percentage of quiz shows consist of testing
spend a lot of time avoiding (though we can scarcely
help knowing them).  Yet, there are some who, believe
over this linguistic dross: within the past few weeks I
[See, elsewhere in this issue, the review of Have a
are for some people an attractive way to learn things
while playing a sort of game, testing either themselves
the reader is asked to define the underscored words
sorry, though one could think of a lot of regrettable
actions for which vasectomy would be a feeble excuse.
reader's knowledge of gay, black, or carnival slang,
only guess where it came from), some of tautological
one are common knowledge to another.  The challenge
is slightly mitigated in many instances by offering
recall the name of the game).  But that is not critical,
who want to test their students' knowledge of different
aspects of language.  And while much of the material
those into the conversation at the next cocktail party
of the disease?  Should your teenager's interest in a
In everyday speech, the vocabulary of social science
badly worn coins convey little information to the numismatist,
little information because their meanings have been
obscured by repeated and varied usage.  Charisma is
not apply and do not use it in those rare instances
when it does.  Charisma's unfortunate fate is the subject
Today, it seems that charismatic figures are everywhere.
word once mean?  And what difficulties do its current
favor specifically vouchsafed by God, a grace, a talent.
miracles, healing, and speaking in tongues (divinely
Church's early years, these gifts must have captured
a common divine source and that none is as important
Those using the term in its sociological sense, however,
works of the eminent German sociologist, Max Weber.
used the term in his sociology of religion and sociology
least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.
These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary
or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual
different from authority based both on the impersonal
of tradition (the oldest type).  Historically rare,
founded new faiths or, like Napoleon, won the unswerving
inappropriate figures.  Even though the word's sociological
capacity to inspire devotion and enthusiasm, according
figures charismatic devalues the word and strips it of
How They Got It!  How You Can Get It Too!) mentions
charisma's other side, one our commentators invariably
repulsive figure described as charismatic?  In rare
instances, an individual not universally admired, like
Weber wanted to compare aspects of charismatic authority
He did not distinguish between villainous charismatic
distinctions, he felt, would muddy sociological comparisons.
than he.  His authority derived from intensely personal
inspired his followers and revolutionized his country.
all about irrationality, and we have little reason to
indicated above, the irrationality of the more spectacular
charisma teaches us that great villains and great heroes
can have strangely similar effects on their followers.
as well as selectively.  Like other words from the lexicon
if used indiscriminately.  The season's hottest passwords
Seas, so he speaks with some experience and perspective.
as well as history and heritage.  In addition, significant
earlier work) by thoroughness, objectivity, and linguistic
indeed blanket the country with richness, color, and
texture.  Other notables in this necessarily brief catalogue
compiled several state gazetteers and a still influential
in this field can be found in bibliographies compiled
the scholarship in recent decades, but also because
it is not a formal academic discipline, at least not in
the United States.  There are no departments of toponymy,
degrees are awarded in these fields.  (Whether this is
also true of other countries I cannot say.  I have read
of all academic disciplines, and from many walks of
life.  With academia's standard rewards of promotion
and tenure not as readily accruing in this work, the
the hands of true lovers of the subject (amateurs in
the etymological sense, and dilettantes).  What they
say and write I have found to be characteristically
stimulating and rewarding, not plagued by the turgidity
branches of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce,
and Interior.  In a move that, from a lexicographic
and foreign.  The United States Board on Geographic
decisions and issuing official gazetteers.  This may be
the only example in which an aspect of the linguistic
maintains a massive national database, the Geographic
variant forms): cities and towns, lakes and rivers,
schools, parks, and cemeteries.  The names themselves,
along with precise locational data and identification
from the poles and are farther apart nearer the equator).
states.  Since it was intended to establish a standard,
and maintained according to carefully prepared procedures.
places), and by the National Institute of Standards
forms.  The highest estimates of the size of the English
and identify all of the current place names (the Place
Name Survey of the United States, under the direction
just this), still remaining would be hundreds of thousands
importance to historians, genealogists, and the like.
pronunciations for each name, with sensitivity to local
that those who undertake the creation of a complete
and highways across the land as a separate project.
as only a first step, albeit an ambitious one.  The editors
of the book identified and acquired several government
of text) was integrated, sorted, and typeset in about
six months.  Automated as well as traditional checking
volumes, each listing the place names of the states or
is as comprehensive as possible.  It is published both
about the various eras and cultures that were a part
for example, towns are the primary division of government
and is primarily administered by the town governments.
name of the town that they live in.  As the name New
in the states is also revealed in naming practices.  For
a convenient way in which people can refer to a regional
level.  Mail, of course, comes to a post office that
handles rural route delivery, but those who receive
office, and hence do not immediately associate with
it.  When asked where they live, such folks are more
allow us to correct and expand on the entries compiled
to a broader audience.  So we have not examined the
readers can more readily allow the author the convenience
realize, most of the names have yet to be recorded,
much less described; the greater burden lies ahead.
to see the fight at the end of the tunnel, perhaps in
ten to fifteen years.  All the while, of course, just as
into being, others passing out of use, each reflecting
of our cultural memory.  The publication of that part
still, we hope, give new impetus to this enlightening,
often fascinating study by providing a foundation on
South Central States, Southwestern States, Great Lakes
it myself.  Those who used the term mentioned it so
Neither was the term cited in any of the many references
that the word was used in the U. S. Navy during the
`thought, idea' but could not bridge the gulf between
without doubt, in the western desert when a disconsolate
In the matter of the adoption of English in preference
easily; German would be easy for other colonials to
learn, since it was basically similar to English; the
to be the primary meaning of the word, whose suggested
In the underworld, apparently, it came to be applied,
record straight.  I asked one hundred friends, students,
My list was also merely indicative of the terms currently
as well.  I could have listed the other terms too, but
fact, I checked in another dozen English dictionaries,
point (as they are, I might add, on many other etymologies).
historical linguistics, the author of dozens of scholarly
sense whatsoever.  Surely they could have consulted
However, some of the words he indicates as listed by
ubiquity to the fact that they were part of the body
that originated in English or are they loanwords in
`senseless chatter, needless noise, committing oral
librarians, and critics and reviewers of truncating
means `Peace Be Upon You' and it strikes us as absurd
commits nothing less than literary homicide.  I mention
only is the list of the author's personal acknowledgments
sources consulted (as Gold notes), but even if a certain
It is not my normal practice to respond to unfavorable
the rough with the smooth, like most things in life.
that the quoted dedications are glossed or explicated.
were a dictionary of headwords with no accompanying
are actually not meant to be either.  But the whole
reviewer's own article in the same issue on Accuracy
unraveled a long baffling clue.  But this gloss on the
been particularly memorable.)  For that matter, the
word junkie itself was even adopted into the French
words from letter abbreviations.  Note, for example,
make readers aware of what he calls a mistranslation
or has not taken into account the relationship between
and can refer to any young woman.  While it is not a
specific indicator of virginity, it is not used to mean.
was certainly not influenced by an original mistranslation
who simply replace a word in one language by another
word identical in meaning.  Translators are interpreters.
will best bring to the audience of their time the text
to make this ancient text accessible to the readers
of the Bible, and they used these in their work.  The
the Bible for a Christian audience; for them, the Bible
consisted of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
language would best express what was in the ancient
not a mistranslation: it was a judgment of the translators
and the audience for which the translation was intended.
reading is unclear or ambiguous, difficult or corrupt,
the translator will turn to other translations or versions
take into account their audience as they translate.
part of its translation agenda the elimination of language
We must be cautious in our assessments of translations
before we too quickly attach the label mistranslation.
apparent.  The availability of many excellent translations
scholars are far different from mistranslations.  The
mistranslations.  Some time ago I came to the defense
to assume that there is but one correct translation
mean a `girl,' `maiden,' `bride,' `youthful spouse,' a
`woman of marriageable age' or `the age of puberty'
infer virginity from some of these usages (at least in
Biblical times when virginity prior to marriage was
with extraordinary richness: the mysterious, marvelous,
literal root sense of `young woman,' or `young wife.'
we must not expect these writers to use words as we
should like them to have done.  Some translators are
poets or teachers, too, and we must not expect them
necessarily to respond to words in our fashion, either.
we should fault the group of translators who produced
we have seen, the confusion lies not so much with a
group of sixteenth century English scholars as with
the very nature of the art of translation.  The Christian
concept of the Virgin Birth long before the sixteenth
accepted text and graft its meaning, as was then understood,
from correctness of translation.  We agree to disagree
a writer, I wish it were true.  But precision and accuracy
lie in the trail.  Herewith is an account and plausible
explanation of a few howlers committed by competent,
beautiful as it is.  How did the geographical mistake
The point was not checked by the copy editor, probably
Faulty geography is the basis for an error in Peter
sins of academic reviewers, to show his familiarity
Such inaccuracies in the opening sentence of a book
his apercus are well worth reading; but when he mislabels
the writer or speaker is ignorant of the facts.  In a
for error was too great.  In addressing the question
congenital syphilis, a disabling disease that usually
syphilis as an adult has been suggested and debated,
but the evidence seems to be against it.  But Professor
so persuasive that it was easy to overlook the fact
that his argument (or part of it) was based on a complete
The diagnosis was definitely coronary thrombosis, in
which a piece of fat that has formed on the vein wall
vein; the result, loss of blood flow, heart stoppage,
learned that coronary thrombosis occurs in arteries,
education know, and that it is not fat that forms on
error in an article I read in a travel magazine on a
in continuity with her bronchi and lungs.  If she aspirated
be coughing from the time she wrote the article until
making up local color.  This is not unlike reconstructing
down as direct discourse.  In The Patriarch: The Rise
baggage into a taxi either at South Station or Back
New Yorkers, and from some deeply suppressed latent
the printed word carries weight, even when it is inaccurate.
repent.  If there is a moral to these anecdotes, it is
that writers cannot be too careful.  One recalls the
to an undergraduate: Always verify your references,
for a thing or a function is lacking in a language it
must indicate that the thing or the function itself is a
concept that is either unknown or is considered unimportant.
of the meaning.  And I have noticed that it is no easier
care of that meaning of meaning adequately.  But if
going to have to be content to ask him if he is being
serious, even if he happens to be dying with laughter
know whether you are waiting for a bus, or expecting
purposely, and in the other the object did it to you.
course, but to the English speaker steeped in a tradition
speaker, apparently, the head of a committee presides,
what a man does with a bull in a bullring, and to him
with simple cries we simply cannot duplicate in English.!
with the deity and things holy or revered.  Why not
not search the calendar of saints and holy days for
names for the newborn?  I have even heard of country
In his Growth and Structure of the English Language,
English has, and how little it uses them.  He thought
that the use of diminutives produces the impression
beings, with no great business capacities or seriousness
an exact equivalency one would use the other superlative
match the breadth of lighthearted insult expressed by
whether it can schedule things or hope for them, or
In a recent column on etymologies, Attorney General
word pattern in English called `reduplication,' meaning
Many languages use this doubling pattern, some extensively.
its alphabet, resorts to doubling frequently.  Some examples
rhythm.  Also, the usage level of English doubles is
usually informal or colloquial; and when placed in a
rather large group ends both parts with the diminutive
that incorporated his own nickname in a double that
their writers, were aware of objections to the positions
attributed to them and decided to take the initiative,
might note the following full names with the initial
letter J and the terminal letter y seemed destined for
illustrate the lack of linguistic understanding which
and many variations thereon were, and perhaps still
are, common trade names of a variety of animal feed
products.  And laying mash, as any farmer knows, is a
form of chicken feed so formulated as to enhance egg
production.  In the cited example, the feed manufacturer
clue to the author, although the terminal part of the
Controlling emissions at the source not only protects
freshwater ecosystems, but also allows fairly rapid
recovery of lakes' indigent species... [From Science
blood pressure during pregnancy with the assistance of
pieces of Bridges' body together in the alley and then
Anyone would be a tender goalie in the circumstances.
I am interested particularly in how recall distorts
Hallmark greeting cards.  I call it the Niceness Principle.
the speaker's point of view.  I got some intelligent
responses, as well as some incredulity.  Some of the
find a particular meaning unpleasant, so they unconsciously
They make it nice --just as nice itself has changed
`pleasant' and applied to everything from ice cream
to sexual partners.  Unfortunately, this is hardly just
a foible of youth; rather, it seems endemic to cultures
new meanings have become so ingrained in the language
point all manner of evils flew out, making our world
The consolation for all this lay at the bottom of the
mankind through it all.  Or so I had been taught.  It
was not until I took a classics course in college that I
was told the original reading: the worst evil of all
on lies.  And, in fact, this reading is far more in keeping
people sadly roamed the earth, looking for their lost
is no coincidence, since the Symposium portrays homosexuality
then, that nine out of ten readers of this work happen
triumph over war and poverty, even over strict parents
pursues is that of a commander forced to surrender,
him to love, and it will transform him into a physical
terms, the Niceness Principle is often equivalent to
the defense mechanism of reversal, in which the individual
usually as a retreat from unpleasant emotions.  Other
defense mechanisms, such as repression and selective
forgetting, may also take part.  The question remains:
Its Discontents suggests an answer: as civilization
still exist, however, and the psychological price we
pay for the repression is in neurosis and other civilized
The Bible provides a wealth of material for misinterpretation
instance, most believers see Lot as a pious man living
them sexually.  Lot is thus the good host, who will
heard of, is that Lot offers a sop to the crowd: his
two virgin daughters.  Take them, he begs, instead of
his guests.  Whether this reflects the inviolable rule
Testament, or that angels have higher standing than
humans is open to question.  But the question cannot
around will find a stick' illustrates this nicely.  Modern
Seek and ye shall find, with the stick as a bone or
was told to me as a child in the Nice version: after
a hapless hunting ground for nice misinterpretations,
The pleasant drift is nature reminding us that we are
he uses is that people tend to praise what is recent:
is the line that follows, and the implication is clear--
that this is what links mankind, this tendency to focus
the sentiment itself is misunderstood as a nostalgic
glow.  In fact, it is painful for Rick to hear the music
nostalgia really means the ache or pain of return, but
most people think of nostalgia as pleasurable recollection.
not the only effects of the Niceness Principle.  It
sweeps words in its passage, as well.  Awesome once
meant `terrible'; now it means `great,' and terrible is
reserved to describe airline cuisine.  Whatever happened
have acquired a bad reputation, such as square (going
from `appraisal' to `denigration').  But in general we
I do not mean to sound like a hidebound traditionalist.
and it is no use railing against shifts in meaning,
which are bound to occur.  And avoiding unpleasantness
is often a reasonable aim.  But as an English professor
important.  Fuzzy recall indicates a disregard for history.
risk of heartburn, what must rank as the ultimate in
If that sounds a trifle too indecisive, you may choose
All these names are English, more or less.  It appears
people not only increasingly speak English but also
years will have noticed that young people everywhere
The words, one supposes, were chosen from an unabridged
beak.  What is even more alarming is that these bewilderingly
literal sense, nothing, of course.  But in a more metaphoric
They were airport, passport, hotel, telephone, bar,
words to do with travel, consumables, and sport attests
quite apart from its utilitarian purposes, holds an
mind to lead you a good situation.  It is a product
a rather comforting lack of geographical precision.
but sometimes they are adapted to local needs, often
to mean a kind of shabby and disreputable variation,
so that a nylon hotel is a `brothel' while a nylon beach
is where nudists frolic.  Other nations have left the
words largely intact but given the spelling a novel
were required to pay a license fee for every English
English words as they do in miniaturizing tape recorders
new spellings but also entirely new meanings.  In the
words jerk and egghead but gave them largely contrary
not a brainy person but a dimwit, while jerk is a term
at taking things a step further than ever occurred to
sometimes lose their emotional charge when conveyed
adopted an English expletive too coarse to reproduce
charge.  The English language has become a very big
business indeed.  Globally, the teaching of English is
English than others.  In the 1970s, according to Time
doing poorly at learning other people's languages--
reflect that the Oxford University Press sells as many
copies of the Oxford English Dictionary in Japan as it
months after the interview I asked a friend of mine, a
what he thought about the matter.  He replied something
blunt, a little hostile to call anyone by a bare ethnic
in a number of real and imagined situations involving
for an ethnic group or nationality does imply a certain
hostility or contempt or, especially on the lips of
a member of that group, a nuance of defiance, as in
apt to fling the bare noun at you, almost as if to add,
term in such cases it can still be used adjectivally, as
noun and adjective are identical in form, if not function,
are relatively innocuous.  But the hardening effect of
The ethnic terms that seem bluntest or most indelicate
ironically or defiantly people will call themselves by
names intended to be pejorative or downright insulting,
there is reason to dissociate it from its former identity
darkies (where again the primarily adjectival word is
and blacks of today.  Blacks, of course, are usually no
equality between the folks so designated by adjectives
though currently the best answer, isn't entirely satisfactory
confident, so satisfied with themselves that ethnic
epithets either bounce off them like pebbles off an
elephant or are adopted as amusing or even ornamental.
to no avail.  WASP started off with a pejorative nuance,
tend to be more amused than offended by the epithet.
say that!) or, again, defiantly.  The boys' basketball
Lady Braves.  There is likely a touch of humor here.
said it was unfair and illegal to allow women in skirts into
nights while forcing men and women without skirts to pay
lovely, and so the conversation went on.  Neither of
surgery on their vowel sounds.  I always felt sorry for
has only recently come to be seen as a bar to advancement
Gladstone sat in the place of honor.  Gladstone liked
meal largely in silence.  At last, he seemed ready to
anticipation.  Picking up a nut, he said, It is many
any kind.  Similarly, the posh long a in grass (and
claim many a victim.  As a Catholic, I was brought up
recently been finding myself in such a minority that
tempted to struggle back to my original point of embarkation.
and then he finds himself in the disastrous position
Those at the top of society have not helped matters
Having spent most of his working life trying to graduate
verse to refute all those linguistic reactionaries who
cannot see why there is all that fuss about using he
and man to mean a `person of either sex.' The debates
sexes, how it can on the one hand bolster and on the
subject, ranging from the conservative linguist Otto
the 1920s to contemporary critics.  One of the main
strengths of the collection is that it does not just put
different views to be stated and then criticized or
women leads into a discussion of compiling a Feminist
to counter the stereotypical hysterical fuss reaction.
have since the seventeenth century sought to establish
It is a pity that the most recent material in the collection
The final part of the book, Dominance and Difference
such areas as gossip, tag questions, and conversational
gambits.  I found this the least satisfactory section
more familiar work which is available elsewhere.  So
this collection contains texts that are more marginal
than would he ideal for students who may read nothing
else on the subject.  It also means that some important
are omitted.  Her thematic structure also slightly defuses
she does not immediately establish the ground to be
broken.  A chronological structure would have directly
Feminist Critique of Language acknowledges and reflects
be included in student reading lists, but it also deserves
the spectrum from the (hopefully diminishing) ranks
of the hysterical fuss brigade to already committed
There are those who collect all sorts of collectables,
and compiler of all sorts of collectables has produced
somewhat tedious.  I find nothing interesting, entertaining,
there are so many of the type that I get the feeling
that I may be the odd man out, the one person in the
I haven't looked, but I would guess that it just says
ran longer.)  But not all of the oldies are goodies:
that many successful authors of yore were supported
by patrons, and praising a wealthy and powerful individual
only the worst ingrate would fail to acknowledge to
lines of the author's foreword, which often grudgingly
of them, and I would have continued to nod off.  It
that revelation eludes me completely, it might well
down, I suppose, and if one must have a collection of
names.  It seems to be the product of a publisher's
ground as far as I can tell and offers nothing not already
(for one).  Which is to say that if you already have a
want a good one, this one is likely to be as good as
shelves of any good reference library.  They contain
a great deal of information that has been intelligently
the chief value of the first name dictionary, for me,
is that a great many people will consult it in vain for
information about their own names.  It contains entries,
though the people most anxious to discover something
are invariably those who bear the rarer names.  The
authors say that if they came across reliable information
what appeared to be a scholarly way, they took advantage
of it.  That seems to me to be a sensible approach,
surname is to go back through the male line as far as
possible, noting the various spellings of the name,
where the family was living in past centuries, and so
on.  Being asked to make a judgment about a surname
presented; but there are criticisms to be made.  Recently,
unknown origin but hint that it may be an anglicization
sound in English would have been useful, but I personally
that bach was an epithet that distinguished a son and
have my doubts about how ordinary users of this dictionary
boffins have no problems with a statement like dim.
public, the kind of person who will presumably consult
this book in a library, and add in for good measure
hint, I looked at the Bean entry.  I found suggestions
that it is a metonymic occupational name, an English
concerned are important according to a very traditional
the noble house of that name, along with the possible
statistical evidence about the use of first names in
Such evidence is vital for many reasons.  It enables
should be included in a work of this kind.  Hanks and
of Oxford University at the turn of the century.  I
do not consider that a sensible inclusion, especially
been used in modern times because it is the surname
the surnames of Civil War officers were often used in
symbolic of the different qualities of these two dictionaries.
supply.  First names call for a frequent delving into
social history, as well as a certain amount of linguistic
enthusiastic and genuine interest in the behavior of
ordinary human beings.  Whatever else is in this Oxford
problems, mistakes in parallel structures, improper
use of commas, wrong or missing prepositions, incorrect
to the Census Bureau he asked whether other foreign
as rated by the Foreign Service Institute or a recognized
Applications, Inc. [which no longer exists] provided
language and written language, and it is highly fallacious
of the language.  In the course of our lengthy telephone
dispense with strict forms and usages, that part of
assessment.  I explained that the Guide was riddled
with atrocious spelling, syntactic, and semantic errors.
Technical Applications, Inc., a private contractor,
the Census Bureau tacitly accepted.  The official admitted
Bureau had erred in relying on this contractor.  He
around, surviving its detractors, as it has for a thousand
junk in a harbor as eclectic bounty.  If these items
were in a collection that I put in my front yard, eclectic
the harbor's variety is the element of choice: eclectic
are behind the times on boxing weight classes: featherweight
basic beliefs set forth in the Old Testament?  Recently,
worship of one of a group of gods, in contrast with
monotheism, which teaches that only one god exists.
wonder why henotheism is not as common a philosophical
a useful concept that provides a missing link in the
a word in the Bible which was ostensibly responsible
probably had a much greater influence on the Western
means `young woman' but was translated as `virgin.'
this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was
a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a
of another article in the same issue of VERBATIM, the
child and she will bear a son....  In the translation
mistranslation cannot, of course, undo the implications
Although this is essentially a textbook, it is lucidly
to those who have been less than satisfied by earlier
be taken in the context in which it appears: a grammar
the same sense as a novel.  Also, it should be understood
except for a few anomalous differences, the grammars
the shortcomings and virtues of the various theories
of grammar (or grammatical theories) that have been
proposed; suffice it to say that no one of them provides
there cannot be certain aspects of language that depend
with its eight parts of speech, has proved woefully
has a great deal to do with how we use and understand
all theories have their strong and weak points, and
knowledge of phonology and syntax but not semantics,
1960s and early 1970s argued that almost all aspects
English is conceived of as a list of words or as a list of
alone or combine to form words) with a set of rules
is trivial, for the systems need not be mutually exclusive,
yield to immediate constituent analysis.  It may be
hard to believe, but in the 1960s some linguists advocated
schooling, either in learning a foreign language or in
learning more about their own.  It is far from an easy
subject, but it can be an interesting one, particularly
be) put together to work.  Carl Mills has written a
useful, understandable, understanding, and informative
not have to give way to oncoming traffic (there was
have the worst of both worlds, and the old certainly
of the essence and brevity the soul of economy.  Or
should it, perhaps, be that the essence is of speed
because if the road sign cannot be seen and understood
Expand this to STOP CHILDREN and the first ambiguity
know told me that the road sign he enjoyed the most
SQUEEZE SOFT SHOULDER.  No trouble at all, he said.
FAST LANE: or should it have been the SLIP ROAD?  It
birdie?), CROSS (Buns, hot?) and RAMP (If you can't
beat them, join them?); but it is the CROSSINGS which
PLANT CROSSING must surely mean `the biggest aspidistra
Ironically enough, a LEVEL CROSSING is usually quite
Needless to say, the law comes into all this although
other hand, POLICE PATROL VEHICLES ONLY is something
with its fairground connotations has superseded CIRCUS
CROSSINGS.  To confuse matters still further there are
Those English naturalists who help roads cross motorways
the diver, sir, don't forget the diver as they used to
to emerge would seem to be CONING (ices, chocolates,
route from church to crematorium takes each funeral
moral.  (Perhaps he's the same vicar who labeled the
all; while FLOOD is presumably just the place to see a
stream of traffic.  Then there is the sign ONE IN SEVEN
at the top of the hill.  Can there be only six more like
selected to manage small tasks, make beds, pass water,
wrap silverware, call games, read, decorate, do craft projects....
dozen plays he had seen which are currently running
is a profound change from the time, not so long ago,
more purified than that spoken by most of its audiences.
some vulgarity in subtitles.  Talking pictures led to
`damn' in this one sentence will open up the floodgates.
mother of invention.  W. C. Fields fooled the Production
in this country because of its persistent use of the
that year, the Obscene Publications Act first introduced
searing has lost the force it once had, the essence
of all the new words of emphasis is physical.  They
retain the greatest power to offend and are the least
third group that originally define sexual acts.  It is
to appear thirty or forty times in a police movie; in
way coincides with the usage of the great majority of
film trade would argue that it is.  The bourgeoisie
and the Bible Belt are not after all the most profitable
the language in which the films are couched.  Moreover,
their classification, the film distributors aim for those
classifications that promise the strongest fare while
Belle an attentive ear will detect the single requisite
careers of films.  Airline versions must have all the
strong language excised.  In this country, video versions,
are shown before those hours there is a danger that
been built up around dictionary words and that this
this comparatively restricted vocabulary is the impoverishment
sexually based words have become a kind of shorthand
comic strips, a comedy crash or fall has to be accompanied
the shock value they once had.  To be effective, writers
flights to which linguistic prohibition could inspire
regarding the citing of others' writings.  But I have
the quotations of oral material, though such quotations
periodicals that deal with current affairs and, especially,
to emphasize criticism of the practice of all the media
words created by others.  Articulate artists, writers,
musicians, lawyers, scientists, teachers, historians,
etc. are almost totally ignored by the media unless
The style problem is fairly simple to describe.  If
rhythm of the writing be disturbed.  In live interviews
the interviewer is unfamiliar with an expression and
is too embarrassed to admit it.  In a recent television
momentary flicker of perplexity on the interviewer's
what the speaker had said, but he blandly continued
tiring discussion of a project's costs, which I considered
you've got to spend a penny!  Although those present
were too polite to split their sides and roll about
in hysterics, they were obviously amused, for, as was
be inappropriate here to point out that, in addition
that in quoting spoken material, mere spelling of the
substituted for ass or vice versa and, if an explanation
ought to be supplied, even if this must be relegated
to a footnote.  In this particular case, it is doubtful
always possible, is to avoid entirely the passage containing
best choice is to use indirect discourse: Bush said
Almost anything is preferable to putting into people's
book from which all sorts of interesting information
had from any other source.  Most readers of VERBATIM
are put before the off so they can all leave simultaneously;
one of the participants consisting in an attempt to
the French or merely reflect one person's valiant but
massive incomprehension is individual or collective.
horse shop a game that consists in trying to place,
around a post, clad (if female) in something suitable,
easily permitting all movements; or simply relax at
scenic a little train used as an attraction for young
people.  (If one is too old, one must beware of lying
all involving elderly persons.)  On returning to base
Questions of business and commerce are not neglected
in the possibility of obtaining money by means that
girls and baskets sports shoes of cloth with rubber
speech or report of a meeting not made available to
am obliged to assume that, as they, say in the vermouth
Why is it that I seem to be able to find typographical
I started looking for signs that it has been suitably
that it violates my principle that the only legitimate
moreover, it offers good, sound, accurate information
put that information to the appropriate use of building
cards, the etymologies of words like punch, noyade,
names, usage and grammar, ancient customs, superstitions,
and the longevity of horses.  Notes and Queries (then
called Replies, and the perseverance and loyalty of
readers can be judged by the fact that in some instances,
having the longest record of continuous publication
from reading through back issues of such periodicals,
of female heroism and filial affection.  I cannot exactly
pardon; which was effected.  Her great granddaughter,
fascicles [parts], of what is now called The Oxford
English Dictionary but was then referred to, variously,
the earlier letters were gradually becoming available,
space in N. and Q. and go look up the answer in the
asked readers for help, particularly for dialect information
about certain words and expressions and occasionally
A sampling of some of the language topics considered
origin of infra dig, take the cake, blackball, sand
hope that I shall be allowed to say that I did not.
historical, just as some preachers retain the obsolete
I could go on, but space is limited.  If readers would
(or would not) enjoy the inclusion of occasional extracts
as those besetting us today, they should please let
map, he had difficulty trying to explain his choice of
Millions of people own dictionaries.  Some actually
emerged that the main use to which people put dictionaries
the past, dictionaries are rarely consulted by those
who need them the most.  In order to consult a reference
crime or a reprehensible condition: many people are
very certain about things about which they are dead
wrong, thus never look them up to check their accuracy.
some strange metaphor meaning `head in the tea'; or
Recently I was editing a manuscript of a dictionary
an illiteracy, and I suggested that a less critical,
might disagree, but I felt that regardless is more, so
sense of `confrontation' than `intimate encounter.'
in dictionaries.  Taking a detached view is more scientific
doctor, diagnosing a victim of some revolting affliction,
language ought not allow his emotions to get in the
way of his cool evaluation of the facts (as he sees
them), and a label like Illiterate has pejorative overtones
Years ago, lexicographers used the label Colloquial
`unrefined,' is rarely encountered in modern dictionaries
the semantic process known as pejoration `depreciation,'
to seeing words and senses of which they disapproved
label, the word colloquial began to undergo pejoration
reviewed and discussed, we decided to drop the Colloquial
colloquy, or conversation' and is thus no more than a
notion and label to discuss here and will be treated
My own observation is that Informal might be undergoing
recently completed, which will be published by Oxford
performing a simple substitution program on a computer,
preceding years of courtship, I could count the number of
Arts proved the effectiveness of its acoustical design as the
reviewer sat, totally intact.  [From the Midland Daily
to after which the notice SEE P. A16 was inserted, and
promised: balance the budget, expectations would have
However, writing letters to editors to complain about
split infinitives is child's play for the truly obsessed.  As a
all, because a diacritical mark can change the pronunciation,
the spelling and therefore even the meaning of a word.
In general, diacritical marks are all those little jots
and tittles that appear over, under, and even through various
letters.  We don't have many in English; the only common
one I can think of offhand is the diaeresis (as in the
side by side are not a diphthong but separate, distinct
French, where it is pronounced as three syllables, but
Related to diacritical marks are two constructs, the
reserved for printer's conventions (that is, where combinations
tying together two characters, actually represents two
US today, but they are still occasionally encountered in
in the use of the digraphs can be gleaned from the world
they continue to be widely used by medical professionals,
Diacritical marks can be broken down into two types:
accents, which affect, roughly speaking, pronunciation
only; and umlauts, which affect spelling as well as pronunciation.
sterile when it comes to diacritical marks; true gold can
best be struck in foreign fields, where the accent grave,
not pronunciation, being a reminder of a dropped sit
is usually there for historical reasons but connoting a reason
which has long since ceased to make sense and which
rich in digraphs, which are often still retained today in
German has no pure accents that I can think of (other
than the occasional diaeresis in foreign proper nouns,
fact, these characters are essential to proper spelling, and
it is for that reason that a dropped umlaut may be seen
as an offense.  The common ligature in German orthography
medieval) humanists got carried away and tried to force
the medial s, and s the terminal s.  This convention persisted
scribes started writing the e above the first vowel, something
pens, which tended to emphasize the vertical strokes
German) the little superior e came to be represented by
two short, vertical strokes, which then became two square
assumption is easily made here that the umlaut is an extraneous
However, dropping umlauts is less forgivable than dropping
and anyone who is familiar with the word will know how
it is supposed to be pronounced, regardless of the accent.
know that an acute accent is usually put over an e to indicate
that it is a long e in an unstressed syllable.  Hence,
its omission will probably not stop you from pronouncing
fundamental to the spelling of a word and should always
However, I recently read an Associated Press account of
The problem here is that this is neither fish nor fowl.  It
is not the correct English name for this city, which is
the writer simply did not know the English name for
by the users and abusers of the Mother Tongue, especially
If there are any questions, comments, that arise from any
edition.  [From a newsletter, Total Quality Management, published
has headings for more than four hundred varieties of our
Your what?  she retorted.  I quickly corrected myself:
perplexed when I told him that I would try to find an item
business world one encounters a myriad of Anglicisms
feel that their language is under threat.  More and more,
dress code than to their notes (grades).  During his
conferences (lectures), their inattention was hurting
their apprenticeship (learning of the subject matter).
He also felt he was getting collaboration (cooperation)
was a primordial (essential) consideration that some
requested a subvention (grant) in the annex (appendix)
(denominational) school board in order that formation
make teachers more dynamic animators (group leaders).
they read like inappropriate choices from a synonym dictionary,
legislation around twenty years ago, and the use of French
has gained in prestige as a result, making it more likely for
Gallic loanwords to appear in English.  Anglophones are
speaking French to a greater extent at home and at work,
creating a situation in which the French term becomes more
familiar than the English.  Thus, an Anglophone might use
the word demand when he means ask, reparations when
are confused both by Anglophones speaking French and
many of the words likely to have their meanings changed
means to disappoint, not to deceive.  Not many Anglophones
French sense, but over time I suspect that such usages
To those who bemoan the loss of the chastity of the
French language, all I can say is that the lady never was
purity is a myth.  The reality is that English and French
and slang with equal abandon, and toss the resulting
hybrids about us with the carelessness of toddlers flinging
pablum.  Thus are new words born, whether as engineer's
lingo or the wino's mutterings.  But new language blooms
individual writers, particularly in the field of speculative
humdrum technical derivatives or the names of gadgets
and aliens, and has certifiable potential to enter the English
But for sheer variety, quantity, and above all charm
of his neologisms, I submit that none compare with Jack
.to make up words that carry just the right scent, that
strike the reader as new and familiar simultaneously, is
It is not unusual for a single novel to have fifty or more newly
created words; in The Face there are almost a hundred.
who ...play instruments of the following categories:
musical instruments or weapons, denote magical spells,
crystallize cultural concepts or rituals, or express metaphors.
explanations about the sociology of magical creatures.
Dogma reflect his droll skepticism toward religion.  Some
alleged to have been drawn from the ancient Welsh).  The
whether they are intended to be English.  Clearly most
of them are; we are expected to read them without recoiling,
implicitly or expressly taken from an imaginary tongue such
neologisms is by etymological speculation, which falls into
roughly five categories that shade into one another like
colors in the spectrum.  I list these divisions in order of
words.  The morphemes are rather familiar, but overall
flit past like butterflies or called strikes, only to awaken
us in the middle of the night with the realization that
Close cousins of such words float unbidden into our consciousness.
ungulate and a host of words beginning with the prefix
hidden word lagan goods thrown into the sea with a buoy
was in labor.  Surely this word arose from glia, a class of
location of a precious textual prism, even from great distances
in love with his sculpture of a woman and persuaded
rib to a woman, bringing it (her) into view and thus to hand.
series: The meaning of this word, like others in The Book
of Dreams [the villain's childhood notebook can only be
Such compounds can seduce us into spurious assumptions.
master of the ridiculous.  (Meanwhile we should not overlook
name of a large boat, suggests a more generalized category
is certainly not merely a confection, reminding us as it does
and The Dune Encyclopedia include many characters and places and are thus actually
concordances or encyclopedias rather than true dictionaries.
Most neologisms remain in their literary greenhouses,
escaped and spread like weeds to become part of the language:
languages as instruments of social engineering.  Let
Culture Novels, in Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative
list of proper names, words, phrases and concepts contained in the
Child Safety Prevention Program Offers Little Sisters
Built of sandstone bricks and 25ft tall, Fuller's remains
were placed beneath the floor of this mausoleum on his death
Has the past year brought the lowering of voices and
search for common ground called for in the wake of the shootings
Nobody calls me John, I said gently.  I then explained
some of us older citizens do not like but the doing it in
I have carried that label from the first week of my
relatives picked it up and I have lived with it ever since.
When I was in high school some of my friends took delight
in referring to me as an athletic supporter.  (I like the
in pop psychology a few years ago, gave this advice in
his book, Pulling Your Own Strings: Always deal with
people on a first name basis unless they make it clear
that they need to be addressed in some other way.  Why
did he use the word need with respect to those of us who
prefer not be called by our first names by people who do
army.  The writer pointed out how unfortunate that was,
pimples appear on the palate.  I was skeptical of that.  So
to three or four dictionaries.  No mention.  That writer,
word and the writer had simply quoted that dictionary's
definition.  Now I worry a little about my car, a splendid
John the Baptist Jack.  On the other hand, an English
the names he gave to characters in his wonderful humorous
and many others.  About the naming of characters he said
this: Odd how important story names are.  It always takes
the sale of patent medicines and trusses.  In it the editor
A few years ago I read a brief report on some research
of psychologists in which they discovered that the way
people sign their names and use it for public purposes
you use John J. Doe you probably are a very conventional
person.  A simple John Doe suggests that you are rather
on the other hand, is likely to be excessively modest.
Doe is generally a person who likes to remain in the
humorist, called this, and exemplified in his own usage,
had been a preacher before concentrating on being an
(1878-1969)notice that middle name, although it may
loanwords, but here in their own right.  Other terminologies,
especially that of metrication, are cuckoos in the nest.  In
turfing out the venerable words, they deprive the language
better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
sailors, and traders brought home idioms from distant lands.
Some words die and are forgotten, but many of those
which wrapped themselves about us like comfy old coats
respectfully to the earliest form of English bequeathed
acre still mean a field of sorts.  Correctly, an acre is a measure
or grazing.  An acre's precise definition varied according
Later an acre was a strip of open field, large enough
yards long was laid along the field's headland, showing
Persons of a certain age learned by rote that eight
has described an eighth part of an English mile, regardless
was a rough reckoning, being the distance from the crook
of the arm to the end of the longest finger, the elbow being
where the bow or bend occurred.  Bow is from an old
had passed him, the shepherd had used up all his fingers.
Old English form for left after ten, one left over.
To tell meant to count (as in telling the beads of a
In telling his tale, every shepherd counted his sheep
between the abode of the gods and the abode of giants.
flourished in lands where nights were long and the days
fleeting periods of light.  The light of learning, notes
of starting the day at sunset.  In the Book of Genesis too,
evening always precedes morning: The evening and the
morning were the first day....  The time between light
as belladonna and bittersweet, have their origins in Old
foul womb of night.  Better sleep might have resulted from
taking a nightcap or grog (whiskey preferred) before bedtime,
the sun sets.  In the morning the petals open to the light.
day; also for the commencement of the Messiah's reign:
for sweetheart or mistress, female tramp or beggar, plaything
The oldest words, for example, wife, live, fight, love,
include the counting of time and measuring of space, the
meeting of communities, the working of the soil and caring
his stories in longhand, revising them laboriously in
ink, and only then tapping them into the computer.  When
point where not more than about twenty are active, in the
cover aspects of the everyday life experienced by those
country where the Aborigines have been most able to
retain their traditional way of life.  The first languages that
the settlers and have been reconstructed in the light of
later acquired knowledge of the family of Aboriginal languages
as a whole.  Paradoxically, it is these languages that
the language which was spoken on the site now occupied
What then survives?  Names of flora and fauna, names
of implements, especially weapons, a few miscellaneous
names of dwellings, ceremonies, people identified by sex
or activity, striking features of the environment, and a
handful of pidgin terms suggestive of an only rudimentary
kangaroo, had an irresistible novelty about them; at the
and as useful to man.  The wallaby and the wallaroo were,
like the kangaroo, large marsupials which the Aborigines
hunted; the koala was also a marsupial but arboreal in habit
and sufficiently unique in appearance to have had the
settlers liken it to a bear, a sloth, or a monkey in their naming
sometimes known as a badger because of its burrowing
curiosity would have brought it to notice.  The name of a
settlers were frequently dependent, was again an understandable
flower which has become the floral emblem of New South
peoples regarded as savages, which had both a religious
and an informal social form, was readily adopted, as was
brother, gibber a stone, and gunyah a dwelling.  But the
are those that clearly formed part of a language used for
the limited communication that took place between the
Of the several word lists compiled by officers of the
was available to the settlers than a record of what they
actually used.  For that we must turn to their accounts of
life in the colony and to the words which they adopted,
which they use more or less unselfconsciously as part of
First, the words used by the Aborigines were seldom as
attractive to the colonists as descriptive English names
new and the known and familiar, and so made for more
certain communication.  Thus, distinguishing epithets like
vocabulary.  Second, a positive effort needed to be made
to ascertain the Aboriginal name, and experience showed
limited: the fact that a new set of names came into use
as one crossed the boundary of another Aboriginal language
occasionally turn to an interesting series of collective
an execution of officers who have betrayed her confidences.
of gossips and a knot of adversaries for ever, much
Outdoors she is harassed by cassettes of photographers
boys have to endure a kissing of aunts and suffer a slew
During his sporting activities he is accompanied by
a stalk of foresters while shooting at a column of wildfowl
or riding with a blast of huntsmen who are escorted by a
Finally, he is devoted to his maternal grandmother, a
own grammar and semantics.  Since it has come into being
with a sudden and persistent rush, reflecting the burgeoning
it has not been amply recorded, much less described, in
standard reference works or lexicons.  The New Shorter
To fill the gap, specialized glossaries have emerged,
the best naturally in computerized form (like The Jargon
can be quickly and efficiently updated, a process which
in itself reflects the hasty transience of much of the vocabulary.
Although a complete linguistic description will have
remain, are already apparent.  As far as grammar is concerned,
the simplistic syntax and the exceptional preponderance
heavy reliance on conversion) are obvious and enduring.
The vocabulary, like the grammar, is determined to a large
extent by the medium of computers and the operation of
networking.  But their insistence on speed is not entirely
the message.  Nor would it be correct simply to draw comparisons
and regulated system.  For although the vocabulary does
make important use of computer terminology, and although
it does share with newspeak a penchant for blends and
acronyms and an avoidance of adjectives and adverbs, it
reflects a manner and an environment greater than both
Within a strictly controlled computer system, in which
primitivism.  It is laid back: one talks, chats, browses.
(or disguised by) a variety of linguistic palliatives: generous
a sociolinguistic cornucopia of connotations of sport,
vigor, youth, individuality, speed, independence, leisure,
The vocabulary is jocular in its easy mixture of the
casual (in slang or coinages or abbreviations), the learned
hieroglyphics or emoticons), and even the aural (in the
borrowed from scanning television channels for a watchable
not just in the ways just mentioned.  One prominent phenomenon
appear in conventional dictionaries are given a meaning
which is not to be derived logically or figuratively from
the customary one.  Leaving aside blends and acronyms,
a few representative examples (with definitions from various
arc to create a compressed (archive) from a group of
biff to notify someone of incoming mail [named after
bum to make highly efficient, either in time or space,
troll to deliberately post egregiously false information
more than mischievous.  But it would be going too far to
assert that they are critical of existing structures.  Jargon
or slang and standard have always coexisted and over the
years have grown more mutually tolerant.  What is clear,
in any case, is that a private and exclusive language is
evolving and engaging ever larger numbers of participants
in a linguistic process which is destined to become
becomes the dominant force in communication and other
social activities.  From the point of view of language, what
is interesting is the coincidence, be it mischievous or critical
or accidental, of the ideal and the real.  For the examples
people to communicate, as on a telephone' is set against
performing the function of something that isn't really
reality of the computer networks.  For citizens, shared
writing on it.  I think my hosts were a little disconcerted
to see me emerging from their bathroom laughing roundly
a couple of minutes later.  I hastily told them what it said
This is an example of what Western advertising agencies
and writing on products add prestige to goods marketed
there, and it is certainly true that atmosphere English has
reached its apogee.  This has resulted in such products as
are sometimes in English, like this one on a deodorant
But let us return to for a moment The Sun Was Shining
putting largely meaningless English on their products.
pleased to note that it is grammatically irreproachable
and makes some sort of sense!  My hosts had one other
towel in the same series which they eagerly dug out; it
read: In the Evening the Sheep Was Praying to the Twinkling
this towel.  Not at all contemporary, maybe it wasn't the
office hours in their apartments.  So, intrigued by the
(all of which, it turned out, had been bought in Japan).
In four weeks I came across the following, starting with
Here, meaning and grammar cannot be faulted (except
lactation, paps, pap pabulum), though, with regard to
clothing, few countries can be said to conform to the
All these slogans are wrought in attractive designs and lettering
and are not intended to be read, so I would like to
with this manner of stuff will have trouble not sniggering
ways of expressing the same concept.  Here are a few
not a French word.]  There is no such word as can't.
throw one's hat over the windmills] to throw caution
in the minute.]  It is the little things that cause
like a first into the eye] That clashes dreadfully.
The most important contribution to comparative linguistics
and Germanic forms, which led him to the conclusion that
from which all had sprung.  It was his work that formed
the basis of the linguistic studies later carried on by the
to the development of the comparative method.  The term
arose in the late 1820s; the latter survives in the literature,
largely replaced by the former, especially since the
The reason for bringing up this bit of history is to introduce
four terms with which some readers may be unfamiliar
that once lurked in the hearts of linguists educated in literature
is used to describe a compound word in which the first
compounds in which the elements are linked as if joined
used to describe compounds composed of an adjective and
a substantive so as to form, principally, a possessive adjective,
like bahuvrihi itself; it also forms a compound that
is different grammatically from its head member and,
particularly, plurals that function as singular nouns, as in
compounds that might be spelled as two words in predicative
is used to describe compounds in which the first element
qualifies or determines the second, while the second
retains its grammatical independence as a noun, adjective,
or participle.  For example, bookcase, yearbook, summerhouse,
analysis.  These are not the only possibilities for compounding
Unbelievably, Part V,... has not even been accorded pagination,
something for which Random House ought to be carpeted
for before the International Bibliographical Court.  [From
dictionary; rather, it is just what its title denotes: a dictionary
of adjectives that are appropriately connected with
the nouns that are listed.  In a more technical sense, it is
that are often associated with the nouns that are listed.
For example, here is the listing under one of the nouns:
(in) satiable, sharp, ferocious, rapacious, devouring,
robust, inordinate, substantial, unbridled, avaricious,
Not all these adjectives seem appropriate to me: it is hard
for me to envision a context in which satiable appetite,
appetite might be appropriate; on the other hand, I, like
many readers, could probably come up with several other
adjectives that are not listed.  Without going into detail on
each one of these, the difficulty I see is, for instance, with
it is listed.  As shrunk is a past and past participle of shrink
and not, properly, an adjective, I am not sure why it is there
writes in his Preface, Only words listed in standard language
dictionaries as adjectives are included in this Dictionary.
something edible or drinkable, as referring to something
that comes after a meal; in my language (and culture), postprandial
works, an observation seldom offered by linguists, even
those who touch on the subject of idiolect.  That this book
is highly personal becomes evident in the entry immediately
appetizer, appetizers See also food intriguing, exquisite,
the last four words cannot be considered alongside the
first three.  Moreover, I can think of dozens of other words
in the tasty, tangy class that could be added, but those
In principle, I like the idea of such a book and have
thought about doing one myself.  But the almost insurmountable
and I quickly abandoned the idea.  For one thing, entries
become less useful the longer they are.  In the present work,
for example, the entry for appetite runs to eleven lines,
which is reasonably assimilable; the entry for approach,
desperate for descriptive adjectives that will go with nouns
as to be willing to wade through almost two hundred
terms?  I rather doubt it.  Then there is the question, Why
are both singular and plural forms shown for the headwords?
Although mention is made of the fact in the Preface,
no reason is given, and one might assume that users
of such a book would have no difficulty in assuming that
A chief criticism of this book, in particular, is that the
adjectives are jumbled together in no discernible order
or, as mentioned, with punctuation between (except for a
serial comma).  Thus under architecture, we find strings like
and it is not till we get to the end, where a dozen styles
are listed that there is any sense of semantic or associative
prime, vital, sensitive, volatile, enjoyable, quiet...
regard almond as a color for eyes rather than a shape.
and more usable had the author attempted to group adjectives
In the decades during which I have been involved in
the compilation, editing, revision, updating, adaptation,
etc. of dictionaries, I have always considered lexicography
an art.  That is not to say that technique is not involved,
merely to observe that some dictionaries are better than
others because their editors are more literate, imaginative,
poetic, and generally possess those attributes with
which we associate art rather than technique or mundane
craftsmanship.  Such dictionaries, too, succeed because
they establish a rapport with generations of users.  It goes
without saying that most of those drawn to lexicography,
like those attracted to art schools, exhibit skills more likely
to be associated with craft than with art; these days, far
too few of those who work on dictionaries have a thorough
grounding in literature, let alone the various specialties
classical and modern foreign language study, phonetics,
philology, etymology, to say nothing of lexicology and lexicography.
bookshops throughout the world: adequate but largely
pedestrian bilingual dictionaries and a scattering of monolingual
works that have been resurrected by greedy publishers
Lexicographic technocrats enjoy using terms like terminology,
in psychology, sociology, and other social sciences, that
gone a long way toward solving it.  This book, which consists
by a committee, which immediately tells the reader something
It is true that the principles that apply to specialized
dictionaries are not the same as those that apply to general
dictionaries, either monolingual or bilingual.  For one
thing, the user of a specialized dictionary can be assumed
to have a level of sophistication that includes knowledge
of and some understanding of what goes on in general dictionaries.
pages to make this point, which, it seems to me, is rather
notwithstanding their utility, I thought had gone out of
fashion a few decades ago) and other devices.  It is hard
to imagine that this book would be picked up by anyone
but a lexicographer or someone interested enough in
becoming one to subject himself to such a turgid presentation;
of familiarity with the subject.  Yet the treatment is reminiscent
creation of the world.  If one doubts the turgidity of the
style of this work, witness the following, which merely says
that entries in a dictionary can be ordered in different ways:
Is that the writing of a person to whom you would want
to give the responsibility for explaining complex or
unknown terms in simple language?  A few sentences farther
one that it is complete and authoritative.  As for completeness,
and I dare not offer an opinion; as for authority, while Peter
to me, chiefly in his latter capacity.  In a preceding number
of two new books dealing with the alphabet; now we have
The spark that has ignited so many to look at the subject
is difficult to identify: perhaps it can be put down to television
struggles trying to translate what had become known as
vowed to be the one who would one day translate the
translation of Linear A.  If susceptible teenagers watched
that program, perhaps they will be inspired to work on
Linear A, still an enigma, owing largely to the paucity of
The subject of writing systems was considered beyond
the pale by structural linguists, as it was not a reflex of
natural utterance but a secondary representation.  (Structural
linguists do not like to deal with meaning, either, satisfied
to include one's mother telling an infant, Here, darling,
objects are thus pointed to and identified, how could anyone
ever learn their names?)  As a consequence, the subject
was infra dig for serious linguists for many years,
and it is refreshing to see it brought to the surface again.
The impact of writing on language cannot be denied: in
English, the conservatism of the spelling system has had
an effect on the preservation of linguistic features that
might have otherwise faded; in all languages, the traditions
a profound influence, as the fundamentalist effect bears
witness.  To ignore or scorn writing and its influences is
struthious and unscholarly, and this emerging crop of
The relationships between linguistics and writing are
emphasized here and there in The World's Writing Systems
by the short essays, prepared by the editors and contributors,
to provide a list of the thirteen parts of the book:
Each of these parts, introduced by a contributor or
sections in all, and each of those, in turn, has its own
commentary.  The result is not only a comprehensive treatment
of a subject by an authority but a detailed description
of the place the section has in the general scheme of
representing ideas by squiggles on a page, rock, or tablet.
but (under Part XII) there are sections on Numerical
Notation, Shorthand, Phonetic Notation, Music Notation
Movement Notation Systems (dealing with dance).  The
The word colophon has undergone several metamorphoses
it originally referred to the inscription at the end of
a book identifying its basic bibliographic information, that
is, title, author, subject, publisher, date and place of publication,
the title page.  Presumably, because it sounded like a fancy
colophon is drawn into service as the title of a section that
lists all the typographic fonts employed in typesetting the
book.  That is a useful and interesting adjunct, and we
must assume that it has been called colophon because
typography has been subsumed under the original rubric
of bibliographic information.  Although it is not documented
familiar to me as referring to the modest comments that
page of their books, for example (actually from a Random
The World's Writing Systems is an essential addition
to the library of anyone interested in or involved in any
of the myriad aspects of language, both as a fascinating
browsing book and as an important reference work.  I have
instance, but who knows what sorts of questions may arise
in my mind (or others') that might send me rushing to the
were not sufficiently detailed and technical for my taste,
but then my appetite for matters technical probably
exceeds that of most people likely to be concerned with
Phoneticians, pronunciation editors of dictionaries,
the technical materials on which understanding of the
text relies will be amply rewarded by this valuable book.
The writing is concise and specific, allowing little room
for idle chatter; the information is sometimes revelatory:
protruded between the teeth so that the turbulence is
an articulation with the tip of the tongue behind the
speakers of other English dialects or in other regions
Clicks, Vowels, and Multiple Articulatory Gestures, the
[Available in the US from Seven Hills Book Distributors,
those essays, fleshed out in full in those instances where
they might have been cut by the newspaper for economy
of space.  The essays are brief and interesting and range
throughout the entire spectrum of the subject, including
literature.  There is, for example, a piece on spoofs in
which Rose cites several that are well known, omits others
at least one that is a satire, which is a different sort of animal:
all in favor of weekly columns on language, but one must
The book is informative and entertaining, but the reader
should check the validity of some of Rose's comments
before incorporating it into a doctoral dissertation or other
important work.  That admonition applies also to the blurb
on the back cover, which, presumably, was composed by
somebody at Kangaroo Press but not submitted to Rose
for approval.  It refers to His vulgar vocabulary and facility
The cover copy also refers to his endlessly entertaining
and hypocorism are as absent from the index as the as
between such and hypocorism.  Perhaps such curiosities
wrote the text for it at Kangaroo ought to be relegated
I am prejudiced, I know, but while I find the use of
impact as a verb an interesting linguistic development, I
consider it execrable style for literate speakers and (especially)
writers; yet it appears in Rose's Preface, where one
to utter judgments about language, just as doctors are not
supposed to react with revulsion should a patient reveal
am being paid to express.  Otherwise, why bother reading
to purge semantics of theoretical reifications.  Seen in this
light the recent attack on the notion of language itself
course in statistics for the linguist who works with real
linguistic data from real subjects and converts those finding
From the cover: This book is a general introduction
sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspective....
Professor Romaine explores bilingualism as both a societal
assesses the positive and negative claims made for the
behind various language policies and programs for bilingual
From the cover: This is the first complete introduction
presenting a general introduction to the two theories of
phonological representation that lie at the center of current
research.  In addition, the central issues and tenets
of lexical phonology are set out and critically evaluated.
through our speech we all help recreate gender divisions
assesses the relationship between second language acquisition
and sociolinguistics, focusing in particular on the
and why language is used and how its use varies in different
terms and concepts introduced and developed by Dell
and applications of their work.  Drawing on insights
from social anthropology and psycholinguistics and using
examples from a great many languages and cultures, she
builds up a model which includes communications within
the subject, this book offers a thorough account of topics
regarded as a curious occupation.  Writing reviews of them
is no less odd an experience.  For various reasons, I have
chosen to comment on only certain aspects of this book,
chiefly because a thorough review would occupy far more
space in VERBATIM than many readers might willingly tolerate.
though a bit thin on the ground, is quite adequate.  I have
found other things to criticize, however, that may be more
germane to books in general, especially reference books
First, I want to vent my spleen on publishers' book
designers who haven't the slightest idea of what they are
doing.  As one case in point, I cite The Random House Dictionary
possibly in order to mimic other dictionaries but probably
because there are few things that designers can get their
grubby little fingers into, the main entry words were reset
read.  Those who are not designers but typographers
steeped in statistics of readability and other scientific applications
redundancy built into its characters, almost any serif font
no sense at all.  Besides, there is nothing modern about
tradition of Art Deco.  Turning to the illustrations (including
said that the originals were a model of clarity and detail:
I know, for as Managing Editor, it was among my responsibilities
to commission them and to accept or reject completed
artwork or to have it modified.  That was a laborious
quality of the drawings as published in the original edition.
lay a fine screen over every illustration (except the maps),
thus losing much of the finical detail originally produced.
As if to confirm that the various afflictions of designers
which can only be said to have suffered.  Worse, their
incredibly unimaginative work has resulted in a book that
the Grammar can be used as a work of reference.  The
the user to numbered sections: each chapter is numbered
The first problem, inherent in the poor design of the
book, is that there is no clue in the running heads as to
which chapter and section one has turned to (unless he
has chanced on the beginning of a chapter or section:
only the page number appears).  The section titles and numbers
almost impossible to thumb through the book to find a
reference quickly.  As it happens, both the title of subsections
the pages where they begin, making it inconvenient to find
pages (instead of the page numbers, which serve no discernible
subsection numbers would have been greatly facilitated.
apparently to a chapter, that is really a reference to a subsection.
up its page count (probably at the instigation of the publisher,
designer has employed a hanging indention of about ten
book been set to full measure, is that it would have been
Fourth, relating specifically to the entries looked up,
while may and might are both mentioned, except for the
That is not inaccurate, but it scarcely tells the full story,
which is the present of which might is the past, in constructions
where the notions of Permission and Possibility are given
peremptory coverage (though there are six citations), and
no helpful comment is offered about their interchangeability
They also drop the /r/ at the end of a word when it
It is poor style to find the headword term defined virtually
as an afterthought.  The entry at mass noun is a cross
reference, See count noun.; but the definition at count
grammar is covered in the book, entries are lacking for
dependent clause, independent clause, conjunctive adverb,
that are not themselves defined and are not always transparently
of the author, some at the door of the book designer, most
be derived from a vast corpus of its writing and speech
to produce a dictionary; a grammar can be likewise derived,
but such exercises are rare and are usually confined to work
Linear B (or A).  But for modern languages, the situation
is different.  Preparing a monolingual English dictionary,
lexicographers who are native speakers of English may often
turn to citations of usage in context to derive or verify senses
of some words; but for words whose meanings they already
know, they can rely on their own knowledge and use citations
for confirmation.  Relying solely on one's own knowledge
but that is not a difficult matter if citation material is
available, and there are usually other books or specialists
nothing wrong with looking at others' work but that those
who studiously avoid doing so for any reason are extremely
foolish: how can one know how the competition has handled
unavoidable fact that competition is a driving force in
the publication of such works, one can scarcely expect
to improve on the competitive works without knowing
most relevant for my purposes here is to wonder about
the amount of information brought to the task by the
grammarian.  It is highly unlikely that the subject will be
citation materials.  But the question arises whether the
grammar is constructed from what is known (or found)
and then verified through the application of suitable
a combination of the two is employed.  In any event,
grammar.  In essence, such a work cannot be more or less
than a description of how a language works.  But the question
must arise in the mind of the publisher (if not the
grammarian), Who is going to use the book?  That is not
readily answered these days.  There was a time when students
were required to study the grammar of the language,
might more logically be looking at a market consisting of
people who want a reference grammar, that is, one in
which they can find answers to their questions about how
This raises a question germane to the Oxford English
huge resources of a number of different corpora of English
Usage and several other research centers, all of which
citations range widely and include telephone conversations,
classroom lessons, broadcast interviews, parliamentary
debates, spontaneous commentaries, business transactions,
of language.  Throughout the Grammar are interspersed
quotations from these sources, each carefully documented.
That might well provide a reasonably accurate picture
of contemporary language.  But is that what a user of the
Grammar as a reference grammar might want?  One of the
beauties of the Oxford English Dictionary (and of, say, A
is that users are comforted by quotations from sources
that are acknowledged paragons of English usage, writers
students' conversations with their flatmates?  from recordings
find only twenty books that had been mined for citations
purpose in bringing it up is not to sell books but to contrast
There is still another aspect to the whole business of
citations.  Some thirty years ago, I proposed that the most
that is, the number of people who, on the basis of readership
listening to the manifestations of language presented in
books, newspapers, magazines, and radio and television
of English].  The exposure of a word would be expressed
as an index number resulting from the normalization of
(unwieldily large) numbers of readers and listeners and
would be likely to provide some meaningful measure of
the frequency for a significantly large percentage of the
lexicon.  Prior to that, frequencies had been calculated on
the basis of raw occurrences in a text selected by a
researcher at whim, though it must be acknowledged that
the books (at least) selected for examination were classics
of literature assumed to be widely read, taught, and
used as models of effective expression (if one insists on
In resorting to sources that might be justifiably viewed
as natural language, those who concur with Professor
their documentation, but it is well known that an enormous
expressions used in everyday contemporary speech and
contributors to the imagery and poetry of the language.
While their manifestations undoubtedly appear in the
snatches of telephone and flatmate conversations recorded
in the numerous corpora cited in the Appendix to the
In other words, there are some who believe that we might
contributed to the molding of the language in all its reflexes
and who find it difficult to understand the usefulness to
be derived from an analysis of idle telephone and flatmate
conversations, student essays read by no one other than
the instructor charged with their marking, business letters
read by no one other than their (individual) recipients,
social letters, classroom lessons, business transactions
and client), and so on.  While it is undeniable that
relatively wide (though unquantified) readership or audience,
number of sources that seem to reflect language that
Is that lack of representative material what people
want or expect from a grammar?  Not I, to be sure.  Given
a choice, I should prefer to model my language on the
writings of acknowledged masters and on the speech of
a student essay.  I can make a clinical observation regarding
the diminution of politeness in the language, attributable,
perhaps, to the lowering of the standards of civility
and yielding, typically, constructions like Me and her went
to the park (as contrasted with Her and me went to the
I was unable to find any comment by the author justifying
usage are absent.  For example, nothing is offered regarding
the poor style of the reflexive pronouns for I or me as
is italicized in the original is hard to understand.  It may
can be inserted (as they are in dictionary usage notes)
referring to careful speakers, educated users, their
peers, and others whom users of a grammar might, conceivable,
wish to emulate.  Thus, rare is the dictionary that
offers infer as a synonym for imply without some sort of
for imply might be somehow stigmatized in (some) educated
suspicious user of a dictionary (or grammar) who has the
wit to look it up facing a serious lacuna in the information
given about the language.  Such information is not prescriptive
its proper place in a dictionary.  Comparable grammatical
makes a passing reference to the aesthetic use of language
are notably absent, presumably lest they constitute
some sort of value judgment.  As we all know, the grammar
avoiding the masculine pronoun as a pronoun of reference),
and, in a rare opinion, the author concedes that constructions
before his or her eighteenth birthday may be asked to
be put?  There can be no confuting the fact that the grammar
stages of the language: after all, languages are sorted and
distinguished by linguists on the basis of their grammars,
not their lexicons.  (Thus, English is a Germanic language
because of the history of its structure, or grammar; were
its lexicon alone to be considered, it might well be classified
as a Romance language, owing to the large percentage
grammar of English.  Though, personally, I am not enamored
are still nouns and adjectives.  The chief aim remains a thorough,
description of the structure of a language.  Indeed, some
on and reflects valid criticism of the inconsistencies
found in traditional grammar.  Unfortunately, the commentary,
[It is with the deepest regret that we announce the
At first, the idea that there can be a single word in
English or in any language that merits the creation of a
devoted to it exclusively must seem preposterous.  But
with the initial riffle through the pages of The F Word,
noting the different typefaces that designate parts of
speech, definition, date of origin, source, examples, it
becomes evident that this word is the great workhorse,
is a resident editor in the dictionary department at Random
House, proves to be a rare item indeed: a comprehensive,
Word.  For the curious layperson, it will be a source of
amazement and information, a good deal of it funny,
revealing and far from funny.  Funny are the ingenious hybrids,
to actions or practices more traditionally the subjects of
reports by physicians, psychiatrists, the courts, and, increasingly,
stories in the media.  That some of the terms, like
the practices, are nearly as old as printing cuts or ought
to cut the ground out from under those authorities who
It takes no more than a preliminary skim to suspect
what is soon substantiated in the ample sources and usages
truest homes.  Why this is so might provoke some thought.
Is it a kind of barracks clannishness?  Certainly it is a
macho, masculine kind of thing, with more than a touch
of adolescent snobbery in one's familiarity with a special
rescuer, Well and good, mon, but where in 'ell is his
hat?  Overnight it became a staple for expressing ingratitude,
And there were a number of outfits companies, battalions,
newspaper once actually tried to authenticate the origin,
Curious among the many curiosities in this entertaining
two and a half pages.  The word or term commanding the
second greatest coverage is an unspeakable that is evidently
spoken a great deal.  Including all its usages, initials, purposeful
This book will probably find no reader fully conversant
conveys nothing of the surprise and delight at observations
that cause explosions of laughter.  The Foreword is
itself worth the price, which easily makes The F Word a
then sets out with passionate vim to prove the point.  The
illustrated conceals a miniature harmonica (diatonic and
of punning, and clearly has it in his bones.  He knows
to hand.  He is fully aware, too, of the very ancient tradition
of the rebus, the pictorial pun.  Not letting his own
exuberance run away with him, he prudently issues a
safety warning about the manipulation of tools and substances.
After all, the pun is, in (typically) more senses than
of words is an exercise in thrift: two or more meanings
for one word or phrase.  Wit is psychic economy.  In more
flop).  The computer's version of this is a switching between
two stable states (unstable mates), but of course any shuttling
and you should be ashamed of yourself), Valse Teeth.
Infected, I cooked up: Baby Sitar, Bad Vibes, King Gong,
for the repertoire pop songs of all epochs or popular classics.
lacks the desirable distance between the two items suddenly
conjoined).  He is fully conscious of his own, for which
Swift said that like fleas, puns get everywhere.  The
one could use it on any day of the week and not just on
mark of the inveterate punner.  There is, of course,
method in his madness (it has been claimed that puns introduce
lunacy into language, but it was there all along), and
horns sound forth on occasion to intimate cuckoldry.
use.  All you need, apparently, is a lathe, a sharp knife, a
band saw (not to be confused with a hawk), manual dexterity,
This book is highly sophisticated and deeply naive,
and ingenuousness rub matey shoulders.  All proceeds go
to the Salvation Army.  So salve your conscience, and save
Child Safety Prevention Program Offers Little Sisters
including a video of a man fitting a condom.  For those unfortunate
enough not to have access to the Internet, she added: I
becomes obvious there are some inconsistencies as to
remains that they never called themselves The Golden
their music idol, Buddy Holly.  The music of the early
music, and so, modeling themselves after Holly's band, the
Crickets, John, who couldn't resist a pun, suggested
trace.  One source claims that silver was an obscure
Derry and the Seniors, all names that point out that one
member was the leader.  Other people have dismissed the
adjective Silver as merely an addition to give the name
wrote about, and first of all what they called themselves,
when words cross language frontiers, and what was a temporary
is a movement to decriminalize the meanings of words
that once described criminal conduct in unmistakable
terms.  Amen.  And I have an additional example of what
I am a child of the '20s, a time when those who were
involved in what was then (I believe) a minuscule drug
problem in the US were called dope fiends.  The implication
was that anybody who took drugs (dope) was not only to
be avoided, but also feared.  To this day I carry that reaction
to drug users.  Today the use of narcotics is commonly
dabbling in one more little pastime whose attraction would
These locutions would be of little importance, I think,
if it were not for the fact that they have been adopted by
most of the news media and the entertainment industry.
Nobody uses dope fiend any more, even referring to addicts
who regularly overdose.  And in that word overdose we have
yet another euphemism, don't we, as if there were such
a thing as a beneficent normal dose of heroin or crack.
or rather a transposition, that I seem to be hearing
more and more these days.  It happens when a speaker
(turns around?) with That's a whole another subject.
match their possessors' professions.  It has triggered an old
when a teacher cited, as presumably authentic, the story
of a visitor to a little western town who noticed a shingle
out the unfortunate conjunction, but the lawyer simply
protested that it was actually his name.  Suggested the
visitor, Why don't you at least substitute your whole first
name for that awful A?  The lawyer sadly replied, It's
proper verbs into our language alongside proper nouns
a proper verb to reflect that prevalent Pacific Northwest
advising a nostrum that would cure not only the strong
fires and a whole variety of more obvious diseases but
teeth should fall out) tertiary appropriateness is his for
A Boy Named Sue.  I knew a man named Sue, a distinguished
but her given name was Bill Lee.  Her father's name was
Lee, and she was the third daughter and last child in the
family, so they must have given up on having a boy who
have become the butt of ridicule, but he quickly became
one of the boys when someone gave him a more appropriate
The history of the discovery and naming of the lanthanides
Cerium has its own, similar development, so that by
to explaining themselves before large groups or public figures
long used to it, may flounder about when unexpectedly
struggle to find the right word and, if they succeed, may
mispronounce it.  Such lapses, surely, may be forgiven.
Charity, however, does have its limits and cannot be
When the man in the street or his female counterpart
other and worse sins against good English and grammar,
about it.  After all, the speakers may never have been
taught the basics of their one and only language, their
mother tongue.  Perhaps, too, they have never heard of
dictionaries.  The foregoing examples, however, were not
Is there any excuse for broadcasters who read their
scripts still managing to mangle not merely the foreign
names which recur daily but even everyday words like
reading the midday news report, spoke of a local philanthropist
did not learn what because I was straining to understand
that mysterious verb and, too late, realized donating had
television used the word legislator when the context made
clear that legislature was intended.  That ad disappeared
after a few days; I wish I could feel confident that its
removal was caused by concern for the language.  Again
and again one hears local and national broadcasters according
an extra syllable to past participles as if the words
A slip of the tongue, perhaps; but, during one memorable
Standing Committee on Spoken English.  Now we learn
broadcasters for a week or two.  Listen and reconsider
How long is it since you turned round and gave someone
a good earful?  And did he or she turn round and give
But beware.  You may find this particular speech habit
to be like the creaking tree outside the window: it was
always there but you never heard it.  Once you hear it you
aggression, and, as always, vindication is in the mouth of
If you turn round and do it to me, it probably means
audacious revolutions.  Retailers seem to turn round wholesale
on their hapless customers with outrageous demands.
The Gas Board turned round and said I had to pay for
If, on the other hand, I turn round and do it to you,
it probably means that I am turning in heroic defiance,
wheeling in righteous indignation, turning on my tormentors.
take it lying down.  This is known as Turning Round and
The average day's listening to talk radio will provide
course, the Political Revolution.  That is not, as previously
thought, the overthrow of one faction by another but
describes those occasions when the minister reverses his
aggravated duet (or should that be roundelay?) between
herself and her habitual sparring partner.  After an epic
exchange of personal pirouettes she delivered the knockout
Thus creating, in the true sense of the term, a circular
design for the reverse side of the coin featured a voyageur
where the first coins were due to be minted.  The backup
but that unfortunate name: loon as in loony bin!  Although
an adjective (ultimately) from lunar are etymologically
distinct, their similarity has encouraged obvious satirical
connections: our economy, which is loony, has as its
fundamental unit of currency the loonie; many felt that
the slang term sprang up immediately and collectively, and
no one person could ever claim to be the inventor of it.
coin, so the letters columns of every newspaper in the
country have been filled with speculation and suggestions
for a slang term for this new coin, which is slightly larger
on it.  Once the design was released, the name bruin was
suggested by many people, but the name that appears to
I may have the dubious distinction of being the first
the coin.  At that time the idea had occurred to me because
the issue.  What actually appears to happen in cases like
this is that neologisms do not appear like a single light bulb
going off in one person's head but rather like wheat after
spring rains: if the ground is fertile the seed germinates
When it comes to counting, I have always been in awe
of French schoolchildren.  How do they manage to do
sixty plus fifteen, which require mental agility just to
English three score years and ten is certainly more
has separate words for seventy and ninety.  They, along
to have a head start over the French.  The German system
of saying numbers in reverse order (like the old English
as children are usually taught to start with the units column
into insignificance since I started learning to count money
multiply five by thirteen and add one hundred while
my brain is still struggling to work out whether this comes
francs can be expressed as one hundred plus sixteen fives,
review my earlier belief that French children must be at
a disadvantage when it comes to mental arithmetic.  In fact,
children who grow up speaking a language such as French
numbers and introduces them to multiples at a very early
age, probably take to arithmetic faster than those who plod
point of view of information theory.  That is, we examine
represented.  The idea here is not to convert language
stream of ones and zeroes!  That type of efficiency
beings.  In fact, as we shall see, natural languages
communication possible, it is a form that is ideally
suited to human experience, which, after all, is why
longer than they strictly need to be.  This is perhaps
more noticeable in German than in English.  In German,
from scratch from the point of view of an extremely
lexicon is of sufficient size to form a rich written
could associate to each English word one of our new
words, which hasn't helped keep things concise.  But
now there is no word longer than four letters.  This
at least attempts to follow a path of least resistance,
in which the effort expended in writing or speech is
redundancies.  One example is the indefinite article
a in English.  Many languages are inflected, which is
nicely with little inflection.  In English, the function
word order.  The sentences I threw the dog the ball
by word order, and not simply from the words themselves.
the words for dog and ball indicate which object is
direct and which is indirect.  Thus, it is possible to
rearrange words as in the example above.  The result
may not always be idiomatic, but it will probably get
the point across.  Such flexibility allows for a greater
degree of expression in poetry, for example.  Thus,
the first line contains the words for man and woman
of the line.  It can even be argued that word forms
past, present, or future, depending on context.  One
from language to language, but also from one writing
style to another.  One author might have a more loquacious
said to have the better style.  A lengthy passage, if
fact.  On the other hand, brevity is what gives a pithy
aphorism its strength.  This is true of both poetry
his poem The Bells to convey to the reader a sense of
actually hearing the tolling of the bells, as though
little space.  Thus, we have a verse form like haiku,
in which the totality of the poem is condensed into
only seventeen syllables.  If only certain genres of
at the office could be completed in plenty of time for
a coffee break.  Presidential debates could begin and
end with the introductory niceties, since very little
of substance is ever said.  The civilized world would
compactness, redundancy actually plays an important
role in the communication process.  One is reminded
were placed in separate rooms and allowed to communicate
other was given the assembly instructions.  The object
might elicit the response Which bolt?  or  Which L?
Or perhaps the recipient of the message would insert
but more communicative.  With very little effort, it
handle.  A person would not be inclined to type out
such a message verbatim.  More likely, he would remove
determine a spoken phrase by reading lips demonstrates
hearing can use visual clues to assist during the listening
necessary morsels of information in noisy surroundings,
if facial expressions, gestures and other contextual
of data strictly required to convey the message.  Examining
as the sound of a vowel, one sees a complex pattern
valleys.  When such a pattern is recorded and stored
an inordinately large amount of storage.  This seems
all the more wasteful, considering that the only useful
once again, proves to be beneficial.  Conversing over
of a hundred sound peaks is altered by an electrical
pop or crackle, the sound of an E does not suddenly
of just one peak (or bit) would change the sound (or
character) entirely.  A moderately noisy phone line
highly efficient system of beeps, conventional phone
lines are seldom used, owing to the high error rate
that would result.  In any event, computers must use
where none previously existed in order to communicate
If the recipient of a message (such as the reader of
text) is able to predict the next word before seeing
it, the word is apparently not conveying any additional
is easy to predict the concluding letter: WITH LIBERTY
certainly not ended there!)  On the other hand, only
the most avid trivia buff could complete the sentence
very unlikely that the final word is giraffe, the correct
more insight.  Similarly, the ability to infer the existence
of an omitted letter or word (such as the indefinite
is probably not portfolio.  But lack of familiarity with
based on semantic content, it is also possible to base
predictions on patterns within the text itself.  In English,
the letter might be E would probably be more reasonable
greater still.  This is the type of predictability studied
new information (unpredictability).  If a message is
too redundant, it becomes tiresome.  (This calls to
error.  An analogy might be made with music.  If, on
first hearing, a piece of music is entirely predictable,
creative spark, and is not enjoyable.  Conversely, if
with each new note, unable to identify any underlying
a random collection of sounds and is equally uninteresting.
the impression that the string section had suddenly
study, independent of the study of language or music.
of order and disorder of physical systems.  The disorder
system is the universe itself.  We find that pockets of
heat in the form of stars and galaxies are spreading
out and cooling down over time.  Thus, we can imagine
sun.  Without being drawn into these difficult questions,
in information theory, suffice it to say that redundancy
is not the evil one might imagine it to be at first
glance.  Indeed, it is necessary for the very existence
freely over the face of their continent, they will continue
investigation.  I even entertained the thought that
the placard might have been put there by the diabolical
at all keen on having a new English teacher.  I was
`bright,' this was merely an intimation to the townsfolk
instance, may well be shaken when, just before arriving
so bad, so they probably conquer their apprehensions
the thought that such a fine old building (actually a
may offend our most intimate sensibilities.  When we
meet them at a certain distance, we can usually manage
can elegantly get round the issue in English by pronouncing
and with no warning, there is really no remedy: all
you can do is face the inevitable with whatever fortitude
worst misgivings.  In the early days of his sojourn
nylons for a girl friend.  The German word for silk
promptly suggested itself to my mind.  So I went into
lacy panties before my eyes, I was taken aback too.
Perhaps she thought I was a transvestite and had to
be humored.  In fact, I was seriously embarrassed, for
afternoon, so we decided to go and have a snack in a
restaurant.  The waitress, who spoke a little English,
chestnuts which looked rather like a dish of worms.
We were somewhat intimidated by the look of it, but
mothers' milk.  An hour or so later we still felt peckish,
rather something a little more substantial.  As a precautionary
companions that this must be pasta, a kind of Continental
spaghetti on toast).  They were all in favor, and five
minutes later we got our snack: it was that chestnut
We felt that we had been tricked by a malicious fate.
We sat there, unable to start on the stuff, wishing
allowed to go to the cinema in a nearby town.  When
quarters.  Continence, after all, is a virtue, or so say
trouble only for a brief moment, ignominious as that
the United States, so that as next of kin he had to
name.  His brother, strangely enough, was not called
likeness became, for an immigrant, decidedly uncomfortable.
write letters in these languages by hand for her to
yet another occasion I had to write to a colleague by
studiedly polite tone.  Once again, the catastrophe
Only too often the pitfalls awaiting the unsuspecting
across a passage in an English novel in which lovers
probably have no answers to these rhetorical questions,
plates, leaving you to believe it or not.  Similarly,
seen anything quite as big and blue as that in his own
mountain railway.  It indicated the price of a single
the idea that the difference in coefficient of thermal
expansion between brass and iron is responsible for
and, above all, a certified gas fitter, stir up a little
fit in the original pile and one temperature change,
with detailed calculations based thereon: therein, I
suggest, lies the rub.  The radius of curvature of the
than that of the balls or they would not pile in the
first place.  Given this, the bottom layer of balls
brass expands more than the bottom balls, which are
returning to their original positions.  Repeat this a
reasoning operate more smoothly.  The principal figure
died by now, so he is no longer alive and thus is no
mortal and thus will live forever.  This establishes
the immortality of the sole, as well as that of the
heel, calf, ankle, and toe.  A similar argument can be
carried out for anyone at all, except, of course, for
sole survivor, again establishing the immortality of
the counting of angels, which they found more effective
Since angels tend to be of uncertain gender, neither
an open question.  This is, in fact, the most important
unresolved issue in all of formal logic, because of
greatly inflated land values and a rapidly increasing
angel population, both of which place dancing space
but it was finally rescued from angelic oblivion by
that the morning star is not the same as the evening
fall faster than lighter ones, by dropping an apple
head, and it was Universal Gravitation that suggested
and so was unconscious for several hours.  This gave
Newton time to get to the patent office and file his
beginning of this century to the present day.  First,
mathematics from logical principles, in contrast to
theorem by showing that every sentence in a logical
language can be encoded as a statement about positive
mathematics.  Since the same is true of every natural
if  `snow is white' is true is true.  These discoveries
resulted in the theory of models, the clothing worn
of certain members of the audience.  This reestablished
exciting development in formal logic is the new field
of fuzzy logic, in which precision is replaced with
frankly, as the father of invention, because of his
work on the logic of necessity.  Rather than taking
statements to be either true or false, fuzzy logic assumes
his addiction to this controlled substance led eventually
Preparation of this essay was supported, in part, by a grant from
Church Publishers (very) Ltd., for a complete list of Theses, with
difficulty deciphering the sentence to which this footnote is
Shocking as it may seem, Whitehead actually plagiarized the title
Sexist Press, Inc., for the cosmic significance of all this.
in the article, To Abbrev, or not to Abbreviate, by
give or take.  Similarly, reducing Vice President to
families [belief that use of a living person's name
would deprive him of his soul] prevents the use of a
alive.  The belief is that giving a living person's
name would deprive him of his full life.  It is found
the French title) it is rendered as Goodbye, Children.
unsatisfactory.  For that reason and because English
is closely related to French (lexically anyhow, having
French), the title can be left in the original as a title
as the language of style and status, at least throughout
New Yorker and Time French words and phrases appear
other foreign language.  The issue of The New Yorker
novel S. has two or three brief business letters in
of some ad writers and authors that a little French
would resist translation even if it were desirable to
put it into English.  Only the first of its four words
many others, intact, while other languages have the
countries were taking off one after another, and the
friends and relatives seeing loved ones off.  An Air
la vista!  And then it was the turn of a jet flown by a
But of course such bitterly pedantic wordplay would
and pedantic, so long is a shade too informal, slangy.
I suspect it is the most meaningful and untranslatable
folksy language of camaraderie, the slang of street,
seems to imply a sense of solidarity, of togetherness,
whatever but of specifying a particular group.  Further,
boyish slang, it implies masculinity, as guys might in
long, you guys.  This translation conveys the meaning
of the French title, all right, but is nevertheless
be totally out of character for the priest whose warm
prodigal son.'  Moreover, some of the older students
addressed by the priest in the movie are past childhood,
though in priestly parlance anyone, even a nonagenarian,
It may be that French, because it so rich in connotation
languages.  English has a much larger vocabulary, a
that French is inferior to English.  But the larger vocabulary
much of this larger vocabulary is esoteric, exotic,
pedantic, or otherwise as foreign to everyday English
quantified by words, the expressive units of French
single words, are usually harder to translate.  English
too has its untranslatable phrases composed of words
that are individually translatable.  For instance, try
book I didn't want to be read to out of up for?  Generally
speaking, a phrase or clause is difficult to translate
in proportion as it diverges from the standard, or as
some would say, as it is ungrammatical.  To paraphrase
be tempted to infer that the assertiveness of her tenure
was partly responsible for the demise of the subjunctive
in those perceived by her to be contrary to what she
perceived as fact.  Although it is not impossible to
becoming increasingly difficult; indeed, in a book I
recently completed for Oxford University Press, virtually
great lengths to avoid using the subjunctive, resulting
is unlikely that he had].'  She insisted that he fly
whether he actually did or not would be revealed in
having the effrontery to put forward the theory that
the absent he absconded by rail.  Had the subjunctive
ourselves in this new society.  [From an article by
until the retailer or the company has been contacted.
you couldn't get the children off to bed if it were
I cannot resist the temptation to reproduce the following
tenses (not a trivial problem, I admit), yielding in
the items that he enjoyed catching were the ambiguous
the writer of the article) is to come up with something
substance of the article.  Headline writers are often
story was about a father who had his children (and,
as I recall, his wife) wait in the family car while he
Filmed is here a past participle, not the past of an
active verb.  This grammatical ambiguity is a frequent
verb ambiguities like drop, rise, increase, decline,
etc.).  In any event, it is still not clear why an oil
would expect the reverse) and why the prices resulting
may have difficulty in determining how far from his
wife this ideal husband lives, why he isn't bankrupt
numbers of subjects who were not abstinent, number of
other than that the candidate be a resident of the state he
is running from at the time of his election.  [From the
crisis, is profoundly shallow in its prescriptions.
[From comments by Frank Tester, professor at University
them with apparent delight.  I beat the air with my
the mountain and who had answered my polite request
nor milk.  But the humiliating thing was that I, relatively
languages, have been able to make myself understood
Of course, it was not going to be plain sailing.  I
idyllic white cottage in the middle of a field near a
The nearest village was a couple of valleys away; our
perhaps not the best conditions in which to learn the
we would be for ten days, practically incommunicado.
as bread, cheese, house, sea, sun, chair, etc., with
You know the sort of thing.  Very useful in its way no
you believe that I found in the rafters of our host's
was about to be revealed to me.  And into this unknown
its roots dating back to the time when the world was
to appear.  The aims of a lexicographer, these days,
is undoubtedly to be as objective and exact as possible
roundly criticized for letting his prejudices interfere
with his definitions.  We do not go to a dictionary for
remote the personality of the compiler, the better.
would have been able with the help of his dictionary
debate on the difference between transubstantiation
and consubstantiation.  This in a POCKET dictionary,
means the `yellow disease,' how can it be blue?  But
when he set to work, for he omitted to include such
translation of a Welsh word, `to render prospective.'
I have pondered on this phrase, and the only person
I can imagine using it is the secretary of the local
it,' with no further explanations as to why it should
should contain pebbles.  I therefore went out to try
to find one in the hope that the object might reveal
whether there is a dried skin with pebbles in it hanging
whilst propping oneself on one's elbow.'  This word
has now taken its place in my vocabulary and I use it
now and then nonchalantly in conversation.  To date,
and help revive interest in its author, I hereby undertake
dictionaries of etymology are alike, the truth is that
they differ in a number of respects, and it is useful
through the college and desk sizes, contain etymologies
surveys have shown that etymological information is
that least frequently sought by dictionary users, so it
ill behooves publishers to devote a great deal of expensive
have reservations?)  First, I found the system of cross
references inconsistent.  In the front matter we are
told that if a related word is mentioned but no date
That is not consistently the case, though it would be
too boring to cite examples.  Second, (in the entry
course), and the generalization that ail is virtually
obsolete except in the metaphorical use of its present
to have a dictionary of etymology that excludes all
glossed, as required, when they are part of an entry.
are far too many typographical errors for a book of
Notwithstanding, there are many cogent observations,
highly readable form.  Indeed, there is so much information
would have been well advised to prepare an index to
afford users better access to the nether reaches of
about the majority of words, it does not obtain for all
the words and certainly not for many of the colorful
expressions.  For those words of doubtful origin (like
and lets the user decide for himself from among the
etymological dictionary that sets forth its information
with the cryptic symbols and abbreviations found in
the more ponderous, scholarly works, the Dictionary
earlier time if it is still in use, but it does eliminate
they were informants or advisors or drinking companions
synonym (appropriate for the context in which I had
for `difficulties,' and there is a (good) entry for
act,' leading to `thing, business, affair, what occupies
is `completed, done, consummated,' and, while it ill
botched' is not a viable definition, I have never encountered
apart daddy as a term of address in the illustration
not shown (the word is, after all, a diminutive of behind:
sophisticated from traveling abroad or by associating
with speakers of other dialects of English.  The same
kinds of inaccuracies occur in the opposite direction:
because of its organization, humdinger is misleading:
lack of uniformity of style of the book, with the dialect
the text.  Style in dictionaries is not a nasty little detail:
piece of information, not the fact that the book was
accurate to define gunsel as a `callow youth,' a sense
and `gunsel' and was portrayed as ineffectual, that
hit man,' and the like, simply a `criminal who carries
a gun,' and needs no (additional) pejorative treatment.
replied, indignantly, Did you think it an underprivileged
be found elsewhere (No, no, I don't mean the inaccurate
which were not always accurate.  That, coupled with
work as a dictionary, has detracted from the quality
has written a spirited, engaging book about English.
His style is light and entertaining, and I should be
nitpicking at trifles were I to cavil at his rare sacrifices
that edition, let me set the matter straight.  There
was no agonizing whatsoever on the part of the editors:
those words in.  Jess Stein and I attended the meetings
(particularly) the sales department.  The sales director
one of his many lecture tours, while the final stages
of reading proof proceeded in the reference department,
decision had been a practical one: he felt it foolish to
sacrifice the sales of many thousands of copies of the
the forms cannot be justified etymologically or any
other way, the conservatives continue to heap scorn
book: it was the first fascicle to be published and
fascicles of various lengths which were sold by subscription,
`your mother's ears,'  the wisdom that Some cultures
not use books like this to introduce students to the
hope is their own enthusiasm for the subject in place
Census Bureau], and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if
scenario of how such a mess came to pass is probably
off the mark.  Judging by our own frequent experience
local, the most common cause of bad foreign language
Then, of course, since the agency has no capability
gets printed and circulated.  Fortunately, some government
Lingo [XVI,4].  I had expected to find tweeter followed
hardware and software.  But while improving manuals
can tell you that if patriotism is the last refuge of a
scoundrel, then the manual is the last refuge of the
first spelling checker that I bought had a word list
and prefixes.  In operation it would strip recognized
suffixes and prefixes from words, check for the word
root, and use rules stored in the program to determine
correctly.  According to the manual, the file compression
checked against a 42,000-word dictionary, the program
[In the early 1960s I designed a hyphenation program
atrocious hyphenation exhibited by many typographers
on the right track regarding language (and manuals)
have been ignored, though it is hard to say whether
that is out of their arrogance, their ignorance, or
I read with interest the account of your experience
option in the program's spelling checker.  You were
at a loss to explain the rationale for the program's
clinic.  When I had the name of a patient but not his
correction clerks.  They sat at a computer terminals
code to the name based on the remaining consonants.
words in your article, but it was inadequate to the
is [a selection from] the list of words in your article,
screen.  It is obviously a phony, for it should begin
article, but the list is too long to repeat here.  He
with the following last names, and readers are invited
But none of this is surprising in light of the name of
of guttural grunts attributable to our furry forebears,
such useful words as heretofore, theretofore, hereto,
DOG in favor of BAD DOG...  (I favor the alliterative
as above (to make it easier to verify my analysis), I
and second, the analysis of the thoroughly idiomatic
adjective clause containing a participial phrase and a
rather elliptical prepositional phrase.  Although I
would defend this entry on the grounds that intelligible
ellipsis lies at the core of the challenge, I could
avoid the fairly strong first objection by restoring
about this without success, confirmation or denial.
Two reference librarians were at a loss as to how to
you know the story or, at least, that you could give
[A definite citation, of course, can be used to verify a
fact.  Not all facts are verified or verifiable.  Because
events that never occurred are, naturally, not documented,
misinterpretation of an event that actually occurred
and, therefore, can be traced to a fact, even though
distorted; the best that can be wished for is to turn
up something that might have given rise to the story
ALL EQUIPMENT is permanently marked for identification.
on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado.
The Kings Mountain Volunteers were the first to arrive
The 23rd Psalm and Me, or Has the Nightingale Become a Crow?
anointing `bathing'?  I couldn't find such a definition in
Found no `bathed.'  It bothered me, this image of a
barber shop (where men have their heads massaged in
oil to prevent baldness) instead of the image of the
God.  Why did this translator feel he had to change
translation comes from some very important commentator
surely does not achieve the quiver mentioned in John
small homely feather singing shyly out of obscurity
Bible thinking?  The editors tell us, The translators
have endeavored to avoid anachronisms and expressions
keep their language as close to current usage as possible
become obsolete; a most ambitious and delicate program
apply to the 23rd Psalm?  Isn't the metaphoric shepherd
valley dark as death, thy staff and thy crook, current
usage?  I miss the translator's search for the quiver
which many hearts have poured their peaceful faith?
the retaining of The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want even though want no longer means to `lack' but
rather `desire' and continues with, Thus many persons
understand this traditional rendering to mean, `The
Lord is my shepherd whom I shall not want.'  Can you
believe it?  Can it be that these experts are wanting in
Perhaps it is because I am just one of the ordinary
readers with no special knowledge of the ancient East
Psalm and confess to being rather shocked to find that
the Lord is no longer my shepherd.  Writes the translator
actually prays in English to that name.  I know many
willing to pray to their Father, to the Almighty, to
Why not choose the one that is closest to the nightingale?
with the rd in lord entwine this twosome in my soul.
Is it a better translation for me because each word
what I want is that quiver in my heart.  Do I get it
words, swaying in iambic rhythm, with the shall sliding
The noblest monument to English prose [Oxford Annotated
their new, modern versions have written apologetics
explaining why they felt they had to retranslate and
but unity and modernization of language as well as the
Does the modern reader really lack the great erudition
awkward phraseology of the translator, the language
is not altered with doing without thou and thee?  Not
altered?  For my quiver I prefer doing with thou and
smooth cadence truly reflecting our beloved shepherd's
me                                       me                        me'
me,                      tight rein'     me                        willingly'
My cup runs              `a coffee cup   My cup run-               `fulfillment:
the middle of the alliteration is irritating and divisive,
the restoring and uniting it with my soul.  Besides
are all soulless images arousing only mundane connotations.
from which elegance and sublimity seem to be deliberately
me beside the still waters by To the waters of repose
today?  Since the translator may not substitute his
simplicity when its sense and the reader's senses are
gloomy valley, I fear no harm is like Though I pass
death, I will fear no evil is no casual passing by but
threatening and the devil's evil lure contemned, reminding
devil, were enticed and ate from the tree of Good and
to or very much afraid of death or else have little real
faith in the shepherd's taking care of them as they walk
through life to ultimate death.  In the following outline
circumvented and about which there is some commentary
Is it at all possible to balance the lofty beauty of
waters easier than still waters?  a valley overshadowed
long days easier than forever?  Just what is easily
thought did the person who first recorded these words
or sang the 23rd Psalm?  How can we ever know exactly
what he intended?  And does it really matter?  Whatever
the original intention, however literally exact the
translation, it misses, unless it sticks quivering in the
has told the staff at his polo club that his daughter would not
A woman gave birth to two of her triplets a month after
delivering the third, a rare occurrence, physicians said
In an essay published recently in a history journal,
term I had used in referring to certain incidents witnessed
cryptic spelling throughout) for chastity, the witty
that his grandfather did indeed let slip a dirty word
there is the story of the touching letter in a shaky script
the community service people for the gift of the transistor
My interest in the life and times of the word stems
directly from a recollected bit of army business during
stated that less authoritarianism and greater courtesy
must thenceforth characterize all orders to enlisted
men, and it closed with the day of the shouting sergeant
is over.  It was to be read to all formations.  Our
regimental commander used the opportunity to append
to make special efforts forthwith to eliminate the use
As a junior officer in charge of an infantry medical
the shouting sergeant is over, on that day the army will
have died, sir!  preceded and followed by the snappiest
Perhaps three seconds of perfect silence.  Then the
enlisted men, about seven thousand at the time, and
though the camp never attained the notoriety of some
in astonishment at the frowzy creatures they had so
they done to you, lad?  This isn't a man.  It's a broken
box cars, we were, I learned later, the most disheartening
three years of imprisonment.  Responding in the tradition
about like a choreographed swarm of caterers.  Their
boots were polished and their worn tunics had all their
buttons.  These were the remnants of the defenders of
they were creatures from a lost planet, another world.
erect as a flagpole at one end of the barrack hut surveying
it all, the angel in charge.  To his deputy, carefully
was not now hallucinating.  That was the first I had
ever heard the word used as a bridge.  It was snapped
out loud and clear, after the fashion of the proper
veterans of a different time and a different kind of war,
barbed wire in the blighted landscape.  Assigned after
some weeks to a few hours per week in the makeshift
busying myself during the great gaps of empty time by
Most numerous and engaging by far were the novel (to
visit.  With a willing little group of helpers he periodically
painstakingly penned by hand.  A new issue was unveiled
was a great boost.  I felt a sense of real purpose in
mining for new specimens in conversations with these
special contributions from numbers of users and listeners
who had never previously felt the pull of scholarship.
colleagues pronounced it a respectable body of work,
acceptable for publication in the newspaper.  It never
Though the manuscript remained out of sight yellowing
lexicon similar to those in the classic Dictionary of
Luckily for the lofty sense of purpose which infused
and inspired us, none of us knew of its existence then.
Except for the elimination of several redundant items,
the short and the tall [Opening lines of a familiar
a fleecing, a loss, usually viewed from the receiving
without any redeeming features; hopeless, incompetent,
A cheese head; an easily confused or misled individual;
Noun (rare).  A dodger, evader, shirker, one who is
Verb.  To escape, evade, fade, run, slink away, vanish,
Verb.  To confuse; deface; disfigure; disorganize; entangle;
hostility, opposition, refusal, rejection: As civilians
we'll have to get used to using No thanks! in place
We consider pornography to be a public problem, and
we feel it is an issue that demands a second look.  [From a
names, the pictograph was later arbitrarily ornamented
became accepted.  The word thus formed coincidentally
O!,'  but I simply can't figure out why anybody would
[XV,1], and Powers [XV,2] on the origins of `Gook' have
word for the United States and that the two characters
taken individually mean `beautiful country.'  However,
with the dominate tongue.  It is by studying these various
two characters the relationships become more apparent.
there are at least four or five transliterations currently
was culturally if not politically under the sway of the
education there, including senior high school.  Learning
was not the hardest part for me in school, but it was
difficult to learn to speak English without a heavy
booklet entitled Drop Your Foreign Accent.  In it was
printed a poem called The Chaos, which as students,
we had to learn by heart for recitation in front of the
class.  That was a tough assignment, but very helpful.
gave a course on the origin and development of language.
his lecture notes into a book which was published in
and responded enthusiastically: I urged as strongly as
market with a preface by myself: an overrated attraction
well, especially in wartime.  I reported this in a letter
intellectual, was provoked by the word miraculous in
the title to flex his dialectic muscles at it in a lengthy
remember, he dismissed it as a nefarious supernaturalist
before certified as educated or eligible for the franchise
or for any scientific, religious, legal, or civil employment.
when he received the book.  He commented: I learned
place of which I had never heard, and that his university
rather than with a university apparently half a century
book might help me to grind it.  And grind it he did,
vigorously and garrulously.  The rest of the preface is a
harangue on alphabet reform and has little to do with
ought not to blind the reader to the excellence of Professor
farce that resulted from the provision in his will that
the income from the residue of his estate be used for
new alphabet for the English language.  That part of
the will was declared invalid by a judge, and the interested
alphabet Shaw called for and for the publication in it
private citizens to make fantastic, unjust, bigoted,
or even spitefully wicked disposals of their possessions
after their deaths by will, and give these wills the force
the linguistic bush.  No r -rolling Scot, after generations
to the growing edges of language, and he rejoiced in
the ambiguities of it because they are signs of life and
parochial and more than a little snobbish about spoken
little note following the Shaw preface: I am gratefully
taken in the book and especially for his most generous
action in taking the time from his crowded life to write
so magnanimous and stimulating a Preface to it, without
been published.  As I read that I can hear the gentle
celebrated its silver anniversary with a substantial
Shaw preface.  Chambers, of the Department of Linguistic
comment: Virtually unaware of the developing science
view than was then current, giving central importance
yet come to be recognized as a pioneer in what perhaps
in his selection of words but was often wrong as to
their meanings and derivations.  His knowledge of the
rifle and musket are used as if they were synonyms.  A
cut into the bore to impart a spin to the projectile.'
were not intended to be very accurate.  The rifle was
of the rifle failed to ignite the explosion of the charge.
produced by the flint shearing small bits of metal from
charge to be ignited.  It is the charge that is ignited,
not the explosion; also, black powder does not explode:
(fully forward and down); at half cock (partly back, to
allow a flintlock to be carried with the pan closed or
the lock is moved to full cock, the trigger, a simple
the expression go off half cocked to mean `futile gesture'
expression, however, derives from the percussion lock.
If the main spring of the lock is sufficiently strong, the
blow received by the percussion cap can set it off and
the firearm discharges unexpectedly.  Going off at half
sharpen them.  I have never heard the term skinning
used for the process.  References can be found for the
Although hanging fire is defined as being the opposite
muskets, as well, but they were not the weapon of the
brass monkey before the difference in the coefficients
of expansion (or contraction) of brass and iron causes
circular depressions for stacking cannonballs, it would
have to contract a great deal more than the iron balls
to cause them to tumble.  The coefficient of expansion
and compare this to the contraction of brass for the
same drop in temperature, while it is true that the
cannonballs will have shrunken twice as much as the
than a sixteenth of an inch; the pile would not topple
even if their diameters were twice as large.  However,
as cannonballs would career over the deck because of
the motion of the ship, they were kept in crates or on
sense.  Also, women were not usually found on naval
vessels except in harbor.  The image conveyed by the
states that many a soldier was actually chained to his
that one came from.  Artillerymen were, and are, very
skilled unit of, usually, more than ten men who spent a
their piece.  Each man had a specific duty that had
to be carried out efficiently, not only for effectiveness,
but also for safety.  A man chained to the gun (to ensure
bravery?)  would be of little use, especially after
The explanation for spike one's guns is barely adequate.
gun.  The spike was bent, either by driving it against
information.  Neither muzzle not battery is used with a
unattested, a term etymologically related to the brass
remember fondly one I repeated frequently one summer
successively vomited up along the coast by a great fish
committed took place in Brazil, where terms innocuous
dangerous slang.  Newly arrived, I taxied to my office
and found what seemed to be a queue by the elevators.
To be certain it was indeed an elevator queue I asked
is very crude slang for a `homosexual man.'  I had asked
the gentleman, roughly, Are you into homosexuality?
He looked away.  The error was a bottomless source of
many of the models I looked at had digital readouts
without any soul.  I wanted the timepiece I was used
led me to a nearby display.  There I found a watch with
Presumably, the analog refers to measuring time by an
analog, with hands and a circular face, rather than by
precedent, after all, in analog computers, which compute
by some analog such as discrete electrical voltages
for numerical values.  Or maybe analog computer used
to be simply computer --we live in an age of technological
guitar for his birthday.  I won't bother going into the
conversation that ensued; suffice it to say that acoustic
their sound from the acoustics of the instrument itself.
full force of the fingers to create words, rather than on
electric (or electronic) assistance.  But where do these
terms come from?  The point is that these qualifiers
were added only in retrospect, when the emergence of
They aren't quite neologisms to account for new technology,
words (often verbs) formed on existing words (often
nouns) by severing an ending.  For example, diagnosis
years afterwards, the verb diagnose --a back formation --was
views of man's progress in a variety of fields.  Mono
sound equipment brings back the days when the phonograph
rested in the den instead of in the home entertainment
time: straight razors were the only razors around until
may still sound odd to an untrained ear (this may be
termed sound mixing, in a double sense).  The phrase
ghoulish alternative.  Fountain pen, dirt road, manual
with perfect equanimity.  The frame of mind for hunting
cream simply make the point that most juice and ice
sound like redundancies: French champagne is a hotly
contested instance.  The notice that a nation other than
have the audacity to label it champagne was the basis
for a lawsuit rather than an etymological inquiry.  On a
knish, and cheese blintz would have been considered
tautological some years ago.  Nowadays, when blintzes
spinach, and yogurt comes in eighteen different varieties,
after the financial disaster of New Coke: buyers nostalgic
supermarkets.  Great original flavor!  is the boast of
days, video cameras are all the rage, but, as far as I
thought to rename the human operators.  Much further
back, automobiles were first known as horseless carriages;
them that today, or tomorrow).  The governing principle
seems to be inurement: when the new has sufficiently
time, the old acquires the status of a curiosity, deserving
On the other hand, cellular phones are still new enough to have
their own novelty label.  They are really radio phones,
old word without any change in the word itself.  To
supernumerary), tape (magnetic, not sticky), and car
program, chip, terminal, printer, and so on; software
as soft wares and defined as dry goods.  In the realm
slightly differently to each new vehicle developed.  And
Finally, there are the objects that, while still possessing
areas with potential, have color televisions become
Will the flood of decaff poured every day eventually
to typewriter and type (if they haven't already).  Will
the microwave revolution in the kitchen turn conventional
proficient lexicographer should be an acute observer of
hobby.  All one needs is a sense of history that exceeds
of the anomalous: another item for the collection.  The
make one feel like an antiquity, possibly deserving of a
label.  Given time, however, history may provide me
The technical term, often so labeled on the base of the phone, is
the whole thing round for the title of his first novel,
items.  I do not know yet whether to thank him, for
once one gets on a kick like this it can easily turn into a
count's values.  So did wine.  The count was in fine
The harder something is the less it is influenced by
other things, the less it interacts.  In the above paragraph,
the fact of a dinner, the experience of a dinner, and the
Longer sentences are mostly the same: a series of short
Even long sentences other than a series of short sentences
watching dully, then so close that the bull thought
charge and then, just before the horns came, giving
the bull the red cloth to follow with that little, almost
The various moments here are related only sequentially.
between a bullfighter and bull, there is an avoidance
It is this very avoidance of interactive conjunctions
throughout the novel that creates the hard style.  Such
conjunctions, when placed in the beginning or middle
awaiting definition from their relationship with what
follows.  Sentences which use such clauses are softer,
often used suspension to create a world of subtle interaction:
same interactive syntax.  Riding on top of a bus in the
language (Basque) he doesn't speak, he turns his attention
to the land around him.  It is much like terrain he
has described before, only now, for the first time, he
does not break down the description into a mere series
the words themselves, the syntax shows him to be relaxing
close under the trees.  The bus went quite fast and
But for the most part, interaction between clauses is
reserved for moments of consternation.  The narrator
does not let down his guard, he must be thrown off it:
the wood in front of me, and was thinking of myself
She kissed me, and while she kissed me I could feel
When I woke it was the sound of the rocket exploding
So select is the narrator in his use of such suspensions
clause in two otherwise almost identical statements can
the narrator is not sure how the woman feels about his
depresses me so.  The first time, then, he can plainly
encounter is troublesome: he is caught in the middle
meaning of the sentence expresses the quandary.  The
an expression of passivity, is, in fact, a symptom of a
merge.  The castrating war wound from which he suffers,
barely mentioned in the novel, is merely the outward
referred again and again.  The narrator tells us that he
has trouble falling asleep: he cannot give himself up to
to another.  She had been looking into my eyes all the
time.  Her eyes had different depths, sometimes they
seemed perfectly flat.  Now you could see all the way
into them.  You do not need to ask what depth level his
eyes were at as he was observing her.  Throughout the
novel he convinces us that he is drawn to a woman but
not to love itself: In a way, he says of it, it's an
enjoyable feeling.  The woman, however, knows better:
narrator can't dispute this, because what the woman
man, a living hell: Love you?  she replies to his entreaty,
his friend runs off with this same woman his strongest
statement is I certainly did hate him.  Had he said I
hated him, he would have been giving himself over to
that emotion, throwing himself off balance; but the
work certainly acts like a cane to prevent it.  (Try saying,
perfectly flat.)  He cannot even give himself over to
jealousy.  To be jealous of a person is to be open to
challenged by another.  The narrator is not jealous
jealous of what happened to him.  By dismissing the
managed to get into it.  He was never again to write as
again to use a voice as tightly controlled.  Yet the character,
it seems, never left him.  Even in his final moment,
destiny; but inevitably a moment must be faced, after
the deed, in which what is experienced is loss of control.
himself.  He leaned his forehead on the barrel of the
on the other hand, loaded her dress up with stones and
See if you can make the Verbal Analogy by selecting
Answers provided.  To make it harder, cover the Answers.
boats from nearby marinas must dodge freighters on their
way to nightclubs and restaurants along the banks of the
pry most likely.  He's pry not home, but you cask his
waddle interrogative contraction.  Waddle it be tonight,
writing, the speaker would probably write the wrong
and intensive (for all intensive purposes) are embedded
merely misunderstood expressions, derived from trying
to make sense out of auditory confusion rather than
being the result of slouchy verbal vapors.  The speaker
probably thinks taking it for granite is correct, justifying
granite.  Similar faulty justification could be made for
intensive purposes.  In fact, such expressions may be
perpetuated by others who hear the wrong version of
How do we judge all as in I need to get some all for
lazy mouth disease.  In fact, I should doubt that a lazy
some rules of the game need to be defined.  I suggest
following characteristics to distinguish it from some
way you slice it, the Earl of Sandwich was responsible,
splat itself against the palate and make a ch sound
consonant deletion.  The tongue has added an r after
I thought that VERBATIM readers may find interesting
taken your advice months ago and referred to Brewer's
been easier.  But by reviewing items I had gathered and
sculpture, I was startled to notice for the first time
animal or devil horns visible beneath the curly hair of
Giver of the Western World.  I groaned at the thought
did not occur to me that a mistranslation or a typographical
to give readers publications free of error.  In spite of all
efforts, errors get by, at least in first printings.  I should
have realized that early translations of the Bible from
all the languages of the world, would be at least as
the horns have not been heeded.  It took a while, but I
think I learned the source of those horns, which I now
from cute little devil's horns to those that look like
forth beams' or as `sent forth horns.'   The Vulgate took
Adding further to the wonder of it all is this translation
brightness was as the light; he had horns [rays of light]
literary adventure worth reporting, for since then the
among the truths we live by.  The column was syndicated
prominently.  I became a Nationally Quoted Authority
the definitive, annotated collection of laws, principles,
the original laws were there, and I was cited as the
mine who said it in a drunken stupor.  Chamberlain's
Scholar and Original Contributor to the Genre.  I became
sought after by hostesses.  But the best was yet to
circulate around offices.  This propelled me into the
I figure that with a little luck I can be a Lion of
birds.  They may be little nothings, but they are also
full of pith and vinegar, if you'll pardon the lisp.  I
evolved from epitaphs on tombstones.  Because of the
material on which it was inscribed, the message had to
Abbey.  What would you like to put on yours?  Endings
epigrams also evolved from proverbs and adages.  The
difference is that these earlier forms were inclined to
take themselves seriously, while epigrams or aphorisms
though some epigrams are rhymed, they are not to be
confused with poetry, or even blank verse.  Poems rely
on narrative imagery to evoke feelings, while epigrams
focus on contradictions to provoke thought.  The explosive
tension of the epigram serves to focus consciousness,
In my own case, writing epigrams may be a congenital
in several of his books.  I started writing them in my
of the Bill of Rights and the French Revolution.  It
satirical age, after all, and epigrams are the perfect
worst.  You ask what a nice girl will do?  She won't
poets of other days, the living you deplore; spare me
structural taxonomy.  Although my classification system
published, it does seem to include most of them.  As we
shall see, many epigrams fall into more than one category,
obstetrics a system of religious belief based on the
This type of epigram involves an association between
things which have no apparent connection.  For example:
Scatology and eschatology are often hard to distinguish,
It is natural to be concerned about what television
them on their heads, or give them a new twist which
If I have not seen far, it is because I stood on the
One of the characteristics of both proverbs and aphorisms
is repetition of syllabic structure.  If the onset of a
The evil eye is the seeing eye which has been denied.
Substitution of sounds, syntax, or meaning also occurs
spellings but different meanings, we have a homonym:
To retire with a modicum of dignity, a little jack is
When two words sound the same but are spelled differently,
usually need to be written in order to make sense, but
All good carnivores begin meals by first muttering:
I regret that I have but one asterisk for my country.
Other substitutions do not qualify as either homonyms
or homophones, but they are interesting nonetheless.
Either a letter, or an entire word, or phrase may be
transposed, or the entire phrase may be contracted to
given epigrams a new lease on life.  Look around you:
they are everywhere.  I understand that graffiti have
stickers, and bathroom walls, as well as in a variety of
work settings.  They are personal statements even if
they are not original, and they are a way of talking
other which intimidates and bores us at the same time.
forms of exercise, good for body and soul.  But I would
and that their quips will continue to delight or offend
Serious crime down, but murders increase.  [From the
there did not seem to be much point.  But I think it
lies he might have told.  People were lulled by that
first names alone until well into the Middle Ages.  In
to distinguish themselves, and at least some of these
addictive A Dictionary of Surnames (Oxford University
the emergence of larger states that began to centralize
keep track of individuals they might never meet, and
other local worthies) followed a few simple rules for
first name of his father or grandfather, who himself,
name, through local preference, finally came to end
But, to the inherent music of their language (would
to size, and they have the same effect on any other
suffixes into English: they are a malignly ingenious
but unspecified disdain.  There were times, however,
such times, they turned with a vengeance to nicknames.
their origin in nicknames.  Not all these nicknames
are bad.  If one is fortunate enough to carry one of
birth of a child) probably were not surprised that he
a form of spiritual love that made them seem saintly,
how they came to be left on the steps of convents or
slime).  Not all of these surnames are terribly common,
to be more prolific than their thinner neighbors is
equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary) is defined
broad categories.  One of the largest describes physical
The person perennially under the weather or perhaps
someone of childish intellect).  One who squinted or
word for magpie) made a habit of gossiping or collecting
insects ignored: the habitually irritating were either
someone with more linguistic flair could use the imperative
was the boring option for christening thieves; more
history could consign a family to either comforting
to its meaning and to the fact that it was borne by a
entirely accidental.  But it does provoke the question,
only ones to live with the burden of insulting surnames,
While he was alive, Jack Benny entertained millions.
some special hazards on the fairway; to wit, the handling
and frustrating at the same time.  English speakers
translate the words of a proverb, but they cannot be
sure that the end product will be meaningful in the
bird in the hand is worth two in the bush in French?
hand is worth two in the hedge.  More to the point,
to express this particular truism the French are more
the roof.  A finer distinction: not just one bird for
the sky, give me a tit in the hand.  A similar little/
slight to the complete, let us look at some more proverbial
truths they express.  To save space, the following abbreviations
Each sheep with its pair.  Here we have a difference
German generality to the various birds and beasts of
the other languages.  But at least almost all the proverbs
more memorable), while the German nicely alliterates.
have killed him.  The conclusion to be drawn here is
something of a zoological or at any rate ethnic nature:
encountered in much of the United States.)  Moreover,
both a valuable beast (for his hide and meat) and a
symbolic one (standing for strength and power).  But
can more or less agree: Don't look a gift horse in the
What has been written with the pen cannot be hacked out
done, courage [literally breast].  Here we have the
too, have an equally vivid turn of phrase, although,
come to think of it, who is likely to shed real tears
have, too.  But the source of the English proverb lies
A pattern is already emerging of varying traditions
almost all proverbs, however modern, however nationalistic,
proceed with care.  You might get away with an exact
In physics, where other forms of misconduct are relatively
rare, I have seen serious breeches of ethics committed
under the cloak of anonymity by referees of journal
(or quanta) having fun leaping over walls and madly
jumping up and down.  The Concise Oxford Dictionary
radiation it represents. Ah, yes.  And it has this for
atom or molecule from one quantum state to another.
flaunt that sort of thing.  It now designates a sudden,
spectacular, extensive change in a program or policy
along that line.  But long before the physicists got
Epistle to a Young Friend, in which he, interestingly,
wrote of Some smaller quantum of earthly enjoyment.
as perceived, are extensive quanta.  (I must memorize
is actually a very small change, but nevertheless a
significant one.  Despite the illogical element in the
methods or results, especially in research connected
the drudge rebels against his drudgery and defiantly
indulges in a moment's humor or whimsy.  The lexicographic
specific feelings of demoralization while compiling
(The Cynical Definition went on to become a kind of
(somewhat plodding) cynical humor into the definitions
who is deputed by a superior or by proper authority
century response to his earnestly homiletic approach
Vice is rarely a solitary invader; it usually brings
volumes, contains many extremely quaint definitions
Protozoa) consisting of a single cell of gelatinous
cricket who stands with a bat to protect the wicket
from the ball.  (One might expect bilingual dictionaries
record of any: simple mistakes, yes, but nothing in
Early dictionaries are obviously riddled with bizarre
errors of fact.  In what is probably the very first
(there is no arguing when the details are so specific);
being looked upon by one who has the yellow jaundice,
Errors may be typographical rather than lexicographical.
for any meal.  [Reader's Digest Reverse Dictionary,
direct proportion to rudeness.  Bilingual dictionaries
of a window is probably too familiar to attract notice
maker, the head of one of the world's most important
acorn... the nut of the oak usu. seated in or surrounded
hair more often in the examples they choose or construct
the definitions themselves.  To illustrate the expletive
and syntax of partial `having a particular liking for a
sentences to illustrate usage, including a sprinkling
The zaniest example I know of occurs in a bilingual
feature: the entry for the word disappear was somehow
To return to whimsical definitions.  The mainstream
of them from the text.  Following a great deal of outraged
edition and can still be found in the current edition.
Let them now speak for themselves.  Here is a selection
not in the current edition, never having been reinstated
flower child movement.  It is certainly true that the
drug experimentation, with so much familiarity with
employees.  Some of the expressions originated during
riots, or thrill killings, or both.  Prisons are ugly;
strictly accountable to strategically scattered guards,
comparatively few in number.  Many of the disciplinary
supervising prisoners are now illegal.  With or without
words in the following list refer to torture.  It is evident
to humiliate, crush, or punish the victim; to force
him to cooperate; to learn the location of valuables
Even after the reforms, prison is far more dangerous
prison units were built, and the prison became less
like a huge collection of hellish sardine cans.  Although
building tender (before reform) a prisoner designated
catch the chain to be transferred to another prison
collector one who extorts money from other prisoners.
Johnnies sack lunches for prisoners unable to avoid
missing a meal in the dining room.  They are sometimes
piddling room a craft shop for prisoner recreation,
pistols leather riding gloves sold in the prison commissary,
having his crossed ankles shackled; used in subduing
rape in the free world.  [The rocks referred to are
rots (formerly) as in He's got the rots, refers to having
set off postpone; usually used in reference to a set
victim over an extended period to make him obedient.
slay ride a punning reference to ride in a vehicle in
stinger an electric water heater sold by the prison
tag, on restricted to one's cell, said of a prisoner in
tank a large cell that can accommodate many prisoners.
Vampire, the a laboratory technician in an infirmary
vulcanize to inflict severe burns on a victim, causing
want a holiday with a difference, how about Mill of
mystery lecture.  The conventional response to this
amusing transposition is A funny jab at a recalcitrant
have stressed how the slip reveals anxieties that all
lecture clearly reflects a reality that few professors
are willing to voice: that their gems of wisdom are
simplistic.  In like fashion, my mystery lecture exposes
universally repressed notion that it is conceivable
and your readers, if they appreciate the French language,
that lends itself so beautifully to what they call a
salons of nobles, academicians, and beautiful people.
thoughts that are spirituel [in the sense of witty] or
with image.  But these, and like words, when formed
in the mouth and on the lips of the French are soft,
For the most part, what is irreverent, scatological, or
delve into the principal female and male sexual organs
That is Gallic, I guess.  Let us start with irreverence:
handle most of these.  For the vulgar meanings of a
the French, then as now, it is adjectival.   la mode in
sound correctly (the letter l has a soft sign after it),
1950s, before overflight and satellite programs had
There were numbers of factories and other installations
rectangles) formed by the nearest roads and railroads.
travel that road or rail line as to the beginning and
count a count of electrical, water, or gas lines crossing
like, it was possible, after all three legs had been
traversed by observers, for analysts to make surprisingly
public roads and a rail line, little used by foreigners,
on which the only scheduled train passed the required
stretch their legs.  He had wandered several hundred
yards up the line where he had found, crossing it, a
large cluster of transmission lines, an oil line, assorted
heavy truck traffic.  He was not quite sure all this
was within the specified stretch of track, as it was
enter and leave the segment.  But he made a careful
consider the noun singular.  That depends.  In some
contexts, the Chorus is thought of as a unit (as it is in
are thought of as a unit.  But there are times when
The word panic, at least to me, suggests individual
reactions.  Members panic.  Collective nouns do not.
dictionary.  But I was surprised, upon reading Time's
the dating of words such as ordinals, and the cost of
college dictionaries in general.  While each of these
subjects is of interest, they pale in comparison to the
central issued raised in the Time review, namely of
whether a dictionary is better simply because it has
more words in it, words which are included if only to
coined does not mandate its publication in dictionaries
the rate of publication of English dictionaries has increased
in number to occupy the pages publishers are willing
meaning of words and in their syntax?  Or, put another
things up in the dictionary and too prone instead to
questions about commonly used vocabulary: spelling,
matters, it should also include those addenda which,
abbreviations, a gazetteer, etc.  However, let it become
tomes and published at less frequent intervals, and
would not be inclined to use as the handy reference
is no one alive who is more enthusiastic about computers
manipulating words on them.  Whether it is right to
how) to apply those rules, conventions, and exceptions.
should one?  No hyphenation algorithm has been invented
to control rivers of white space, nor to distinguish
older has come to mean, in certain contexts at least,
less old than old.  I have another example, well established
and agents around here routinely use newer on written
For fear of litigation the companies use new only if
time of listing.  Even recent is avoided because it is
whereas a furnace up to two years old can safely be
about the word and laugh when it is translated; it is
confined to print and may be considered an encapsulated
brother engineers and electricians should be offended.
the usual liberal protesters) are being offended by
etc.  How can anybody conceive of such insensitivity
Over the years and especially recently, in connection
any listing of place names.  I have seen no criticism,
however, of the total lack of imagination evident in
streets, etc.  On a recent expedition by car, I noted a
Avenue, and the like, and everyone is familiar with
streets, then designate house numbers in such a way
and I can find nothing to quarrel with in that practice.
art, novelists, poets, and other writers, artists, characters
names in alphabetical order to make it easy to find a
hand, if they like modern music, they can name their
would require a little research in the library, but
Drive, for instance, has not afforded a view of the
Sound since all those houses were built in the 1920s.
land was filled in), because the town bank was once
fires?  How many Sunrise Highways and Sunset Boulevards
a hardier species.  An office with which I have occasion
peril.  In this vein, I do not advocate naming a street
Coyote Canyon Drive offers some alliteration, Chipmunk
(where the editorial offices of VERBATIM are situated
from the surrounding land, a laurel or two can actually
an apt name till a year ago or so, when the town of
to Boggy Hole Boulevard, an idea that has not found
much favor at the town hall.  Boggy Hole Road it will
literal sense is known the connotations are unclear:
Chiefs.  Can we be sure no insult, no irony was intended?
person or people.  Other peoples gave more specific
answers describing their being distinctly different
Often a tribe's fear or fearful experience is revealed
their predatory habits or (less probably) to their totemic
Crow word that has found its way into the etymological
forehead and reed grass, plausible origins since all
in which inventiveness played no part.  But, for that
matter, it seems that inventiveness never has played
a part in producing the names of tribes.  Their multiplicity
early nineties when the sports fraternity latched on
Watch out!  Hell's about to break loose!  It will suit
a lot of occasions, domestic, political, military and of
songs.  But these may not get written down, and the
tellers and singers may have no successors.  So, great
deeds of the past are ultimately forgotten, the remnants
strengthening the kingdom,  naturally aroused rivalry
his court for recreation.  The assassination had been
the door, and when the murderers attacked, it could
staples where the bar should have been, and temporarily
lower room, but ironically, the outer door had been
is the legend, but I have found no written record of
who finding that the bar was not there, did the best
deed.  And the shout became a dire warning of imminent
ballads have survived to the present; this one, as we
put it together, must at least have made current the
there, perhaps directly into the world of sports and
facts, or if written, they lie hidden in obscure places.
And historians of language, lexicographers, need records
your markets.  [From a direct mail piece of Commodity
Insulting Nicknames Give Journalists Something to Be Proud of
voices like rusty gates, cynical muckrakers with one
latest whispered gossip, one nose on the nearest free
games and the Internet, dedicated defenders of society
of all that is good and nice, power freaks and culture
newspaper newsroom, you are more likely to encounter
discourages smoking, advances in interpersonal sensitivity
discourage profanity or even loudness, enlightenment
cup of cocoa onto the keyboard of a workstation and
utters something untoward.  In the modern newsroom,
Stop the presses!  But this is not to say that newspapers
quietly.  It if still dangerous to invite journalists
those rags that have earned pejorative names in the
local lore use those sobriquets in private correspondence,
course, though for other reasons.  It may be a sop for
their affability in committee meetings.  It isn't lost
on these dinosaurs that with respectability came vast
declines in newspaper readership.  That, and insulting
nicknames, are all that is left of the old reporters'
who reports that no light is visible in the vicinity of the sign.]
Due to the fact that the patient is an extremist and is
responding poorly to fluids, the patient will be taken immediately
department by a senior director, stating the telephonists
while greeting a caller.  The city's first citizen, the
Lord Mayor, a woman, was forthright in her condemnation
meet, from the cleaning ladies to officials.  To ban
words are used as terms of endearment in direct address
seem.  It is more than likely that at least some of the
the person being addressed, in character or anatomical
whom one is in love, be she girl friend or wife or a
meaning is given in Grove's Dictionary of the Vulgar
takes this further as one who is loved illicitly, a
they are loved illicitly as a paramour or mistress!
being in this sense a lovable person, a sweetie, or a
and fetch me the mail.  Sweet was also used as dear,
Yes, my sweet?  I will do so, my sweet.  That other
daily in many street, supermarket, or shopping center
beloved, esteemed, a person on whom to lavish affection,
bore.  It is also used in the same context as sweetie:
the same endearment to it somehow, possibly because
old man.  It is also possible they are a corruption of
a dainty young woman.  Just a minute, poppet, and I
Yes, my precious is a term of endearment occasionally
reference to it is in a book, The Artist and Craftsman
half clad girlies ran off to hide themselves.  With
tongue in cheek I am tempted to suggest this may be
the origin of the name for certain publications that
more general terms in conversing with people of all
ages.  Pet is a name for a woman treated with special
affection.  However, it has been around a long time,
duck.  Today it is used occasionally in affected, familiar
and love.  It has had a varied history.  Originally a
love was only a widow, the love of the dead husband.
Old English church burial records often contain entries
later use was for an attractive, lovely woman, then in
came into general use, as it still is, for a beloved
person, in particular a sweetheart, but also as a term
of endearing address to a casual acquaintance, as the
doll, tart, boot, plum, strumpet, jade, quean, and so
work in one language the words, phrases, or passages
from another language.  In literature this kind of inclusion,
reader or audience, lends authenticity.  These are the
(The errors in this French dialogue as it appears in
the First Folio, some or all of which may be typos,
have been edited out of subsequent editions, such as
occasionally err, though, and one cannot help wondering
competent native speaker.  First let us scan the first
grammatical rule that can be broken in any language
the whole [purchase]?  But I tested the two phrases
familiar and formal verb forms with an abandon that
I find a bit excessive.  There are other examples of
The written accent on the verb is wrong here.  As we
proud.  Some readers might think him a bit presumptuous.
more than in the first novel, is faulty at all, except
being technically ungrammatical faithfully reflects
popular usage, as is the case with his English dialogue.
rarely writes accents where they are not needed but
I think that the substantive tanto ought to be here
I think that est for location should be here, as it is in
subjunctive is used for a negative imperative in the
grammar and custom call for an a before the personal
Here the adjective fails to agree in gender with the
to me, but more likely it is a typographical error for
through it but would simply dismiss it as incompetent.
origins are obscure, but we know that it is distantly
menu of a small restaurant.  Yes, it meant sandwich
you, it was difficult to find a restaurant in the first
ones of their own.  At one time they even invented a
Since the fall of the Berlin wall and all that came
after, there has been an unstoppable flood of English
them will, and I, for one, regret this.  Something of
lost for ever.  Besides, what challenge will there be
The sound of snoring is due to vibration of the soft
palate and the vulva at the back of the throat.  [From the
lies in observing how it expresses everyday objects
in the same way, for that matter.)  This is particularly
where others see the poetic.  I tend towards the latter.
words for alien imports like ice hard water or parachute
literally, then are given their English equivalents.  A
little imagination may be all that is required in the
perhaps the moment has arrived to make some distinctions
those terms that fall under the umbrella of eliciting
motivated by malice, which must be stated artfully,
its cerebral quality and its verbal conciseness.  Other
terms that elicit laughter are lower on the pecking
thinking, they may lack the tight framework.  Others
pass the conciseness test but may be too contrived.
mind.  My favorite is a retort by former college football
a contact sport.  Football is a collision sport.  This
is the antithesis of a witticism in that is usually
any response until the punch line is reached.  In this
sense, timing is extremely important.  We know that
if any joke begins with A guy walks into a bar with
an iguana on a leash, sits down, and orders a zombie
situation or a remark.  However, they fall short in
that their tone is sarcastic rather than malicious.
wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.  Although
term, gag.  Again, some distinctions are called for.  In
script or stage comedy from mere jokes that are exchanged
given this form of humor a new respect, if only because
punchy ripostes are sprinkled so heavily throughout
the rest of the play around them.  All this has placed
that fit into the category of eliciting laughter are
such as in the obligatory banter at roasts of famous
is its lack of malice.  A jest is never uttered at someone
words, it is a line that is uttered off the top of one's
pundits are required to reduce complex ideas to one
that, relative to jobs in this country, these trade
In a political context, You're just rearranging the
While the leap from a sound bite to a witticism appears
something funny.  What is missing is a standard for
be preserved for posterity, says a leading sociologist.
University.  Increased migration, with Welsh people
time ago, and it is simply happening later in Wales,
that there was.  I would very much like to see them
The nicknames developed from the need to distinguish
same name.  It was not unknown for a single community,
of the valley communities the nicknames, usually reserved
Folk Museum, said: In the old coal mining communities
of the things that used to be local have been lost in
studied the nicknames, said: They are on the decline.
miners to replace all the ventilation doors.  After
Although he does not specify, it seems likely Green
English version of the Bible remains the noblest example
made it from the instant of its appearance the standard
Green was neither the first nor last to sing hosannas
divines.  Astonishment is still voiced that the dignitaries
citizens), this was a Bible with a belt.  It was lively
and colloquial, meaningful and memorable.  But most
of all, it was in plain but powerful English.  Until this
point, the only Bible that anyone knew was the Vulgate
was gospel that cut to the chase: Ask, and it shall be
of the times; a law unto themselves.  In the beginning
book was the Bible, then that Bible was for the most
paths.  But it is like cruising a smoothly paved freeway
enmity in high places.  He believed religion was atrophying
that the truth lay in the scripture, not in the pope.
allow people to read The Word in their own language.
betrayed, arrested, and convicted of heresy.  On Oct.
burnt.  His last words were, Lord, open the King of
himself head of the English church.  One of his first
and all its successors, bore the unmistakable imprint
English efforts was that he translated the New Testament
survivors decide to climb to heaven, the AV tells it in
another, Go to, let us build a city and a tower.  In
from the pen of the great but uncelebrated translator.
know that I have high praise for the Oxford English
and I have been using it.  To quote from the manual:
installed into Windows on my computers, some installation
so I do not know what item (i) refers to.  Item (ii) is a
marvelous addition, though, for I have been able, in
the past, to get some data printed out from the file,
but it seemed to work at whim, and I could never be
sure that I would get anything, let alone what I was
after.  Now all doubt in that department is at an end:
call up an entry on the screen, invoke the FILE, and a
menu opens to reveal a number of choices that allow
one to print the entire entry or only the part that has
been highlighted.  It is extremely rapid, and the entries
Without going into too much detail about previously
has to write a command in the proper query language;
using a menu similar to that for the entries.  There
are a few other enhancements, as well, but they are
too detailed for comment here.  It is assumed that all
and, if so, will receive notice of the enhancements.
when I followed them character for character I often
got no results at all.  There are some examples given,
but more examples of each type would prove helpful,
query again from the FILE menu, just another bit of
rigmarole.  Perhaps there is a way of doing that, but
blood pressure during pregnancy with the assistance of
that other acronym books take themselves too seriously.
I gave this book a test.  Did it have some acronyms
Packed?], listed on the dust jacket was not explained
money in acronyms.  Some government entities publish
mainly to get on mailing lists.  I find it amusing that
Foreword, describes this dictionary as designed for
terms as are other monolingual dictionaries of like
merits examination, and we shall turn to that shortly.
closing of business letters, HOMOPHONES AND HOMOGRAPHS,
grammatical constructions, and numerous other miscellaneous
books, and other works).  On each page, the lines are
the two columns, the purpose being to make it easier
the newer dictionaries: although the body text is a
words indistinguishable.  Because centered dots are
abandoned in an access of sheer stupidity by the editors
with a hanging indention (like headwords) immediately
has fifteen main entries of its own (for reasons we
must become familiar with its organization of information
entries in limiting the number of senses dealt with
required by typical users of the dictionary.  In each
case, the selected meaning is illustrated by many contextual
In each case, a word or phrase that provides a synonym
by a symbol in brackets keyed to grammatical information
for transitive verb, which has an object), the definition
of reference for a singular antecedent is followed,
the phrasal verb section; the phrasal verbs yielded
even more thorough coverage in a general dictionary.
Were space not a limitation, it would be interesting to
great deal of information that might well prove useful
to a learner of English.  Those who are not familiar
idiomatic information far beyond what might be expected
precedent, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
classic in the field.  It is that dictionary (and the
underground in a mine, and the latter as a piece of
equipment which moves things from one level to another
store etc.  If they are the same, why are they defined
differently?  And isn't that moving strip more properly
or surface that is used for transporting a load of objects
surface of a road if it has been specially put there,
esp.  if made from concrete or tarmac.  That is better
than the treatment in Questions of English (see the
review elsewhere in this issue), but it ignores the fact
paved surface could be a road, sidewalk, or any other
paved area.  Also, AE uses washing powder or liquid
revealed just which senses of the forms are used in
items in the list, one must assume that only forms are
distribution of five.  One might object that the figure
foreigners to learn English using a restricted vocabulary
should be delighted with this dictionary, especially
A dozen years ago, the Oxford dictionary department
aspects of the English language.  Inevitably, a large
percentage of questions received could have been answered
modest work.  But some have dealt with subtler matters,
of the language not readily derivable even from the
In this book, the editors have occasionally undertaken
specifically but might reasonably be anticipated, like,
work.  Still, it would have been wise to have consulted
some differences in vocabulary.  For instance, adrenalin
different things: BE uses curtains for what AE speakers
not, as implied, the latter instead of the former; likewise,
at least two generations, one of the biggest companies
a quarter to              a quarter of five   AE has both
a quarter past            a quarter after     AE has both
apart from                aside from          AE has both
at school                 in school           AE has both
behind                    (in) back of        AE has both
I have just               I just ate          AE has both
in the street             on the street       AE has both
teach be a               teach school        AE has both
up to and                 through             AE has both
the alternative is different than; in BE, the preferred
that AE speakers might detect a difference in emphasis:
been presented is that the BE speaker might be unlikely
what is implied, incorrectly, is that the AE speaker
questions is less controversial.  In some instances, the
referred to another source.  For instance, those who
work on the subject but provides citations, as well.
And it might be worth noting in answer to the query
longer legal on labels in the US because of the ambiguity.
what.  Yet there are some questions that are becoming
almost universal: with the disappearance of telephone
number?  It is also useful to have the longish note in
response to a query about the universal applicability
the replies given to some questions are not entirely
satisfactory, as in the case of Why is there no separate
et al.), and VERBATIM itself are omitted from the section
putative earliest use of a word the more tantalizingly
gain colonial experience by working in a supernumerary
senior management course, either genuinely to learn
man who lived beyond the bounds of close settlement
of kangaroo suggested an Aboriginal origin, and, in
word for a particularly noisy bird and that the connection
having noted their garrulousness.  From the specific
to a general application was but a logical and consequent
despite a brave attempt to locate the origin in a putative
history has thrown up more than the odd red herring.
word as his own invention, and the lack of any evidence
own and who was certainly very influential in determining
One of the features of this style was the alliterating,
But there was an earlier sense in that, for as little
who is in some way disruptive of social mores, a public
The word was clearly felt to be a low word and there
word, that he brought to the surface and to which he
itself in vogue as a word connoting the general sordidness
there is the tantalizing possibility that a conjectural
context that would fit this theory and make its subterranean
chance their arm on that!  [For the quotation see the
context and then goes underground for the best part
shaky to say the least [see AND again].  And bottler
something or someone that excites admiration, earliest
referred to in its earliest citation as the national
Nor do any of the natives, among whom I (obviously)
I close with a shuttle rhyme which is about writing
Bay [XXI,3].  It might be of some interest to readers
common in the city.  While there is a lot of variation,
asked if they had agreed upon their verdict replied,
We have well considered the evidence, and, although
prisoner, we do not think there is sufficient evidence
to show how or by whom the chloroform was administered.
copywriter sentenced to eight years in prison for using
years, the judges must get life, or even death.  For
subjunctive of the verb jumbo frankfurter but of the
how lucky he is.  In the early decades of this century
Partly due to the influence of cinema and television,
many of these new English speakers are not aware of
not hesitate to inflect borrowed English words as if
in German (as when spring skiing in rapidly melting
English specimens, here are a couple of those I have
know.  In fact, you would have no difficulty finding
the series comma used at any college or professional
impeded by lack of the comma.  I mentioned also the
Tony Day [XX,4,21] on the subject of rhyming slang.
such slang simply in order not to stick out like a sore
slang.  There are therefore no neologisms in rhyming
Most of the expressions cited are totally unfamiliar
ought not to pass them off as being in common usage.
always say, Isn't it taters today when discussing the
is generally believed that this practice first began
speech less easily comprehensible to outsiders.  This
so have millions of others, and it doesn't necessarily
more than a passing knowledge of our native speech.
tended to regard articles published therein as reasonably
indulge in utterly inconsequential little endeavors.
Recently I have joyfully spent at least two hours in
grubbing in dictionaries and other reference books.
And here is some of what I have got, or gotten, out
or on radio and television.  But, then, I haven't really
Oxford dictionaries.  The Collins English Dictionary
he likes gotten and feels that it is an improvement on
through their names.  When you use boycott, bowdlerize
words owe their origins to the persons who lived in
caught my attention, because it had something to do
a reputation for their lusty and lurid eloquence of
speech.  Thus Billingsgate became so notorious that
we use billingsgate to mean any kind of profane and
There is a conspicuous connection between billingsgate
is no longer a city.  In bygone days, it was a major
City Center.  The language heard there at that time
changed a lot.  In the heart of the city one can now
school, charitable institutions, and public libraries.
City still retains the bad reputation that she got ages
equipped with a user's guide, for this would surely
out of that tree and break your legs, don't come running
similar impossibilities with amusing regularity in our
Take three factors: pronunciation (P), spelling (S),
Permute them, apply them to words and give examples
should be etymologically distinct, so refuse, minute,
different words (included here only for completeness).
normally fairly factual and tenably argumentative.  A
rising popularity of empathy at the expense of good
whether the article was meant to be philosophical or
philological.  But since it meandered erratically and
erroneously for more than half of its length through
the realm of semantics, I of course took both an interest
The article's was meant thesis seemed to be that we
is, really to try to feel their experiences and share
their burdens.  To claim to do so, it was argued, is an
such empathy was unlikely given that, at the end of
clients return to stinking penury, I was told that she
claims.  It is most certainly outrageous.  It is also
incredible.  And it left unexplained how anything can
outrageous, the latter strongly suggesting something
rarely the disappearance of a word.  But the article's
illustration of this assertion is even more fallacious.
Because of the search for false importance, it alleges,
have led by inflation [may be this was, after all, an
disparaged by usage critics, many of whom have argued
the recent demise of discrimination and disinterested.
in modern times.  Fact: the word was already taking
said, Thus a perfect equality of the white and colored
every state of the union over the vast field of State
jurisdiction covered by these enumerated rights.  In
races.  This pejorative sense has been used regularly
aside their own interests to review a situation dispassionately.
examples of disinterest (impartiality, fairness, dispassion,
that behavior can continue to exist unaltered even if
our words for it change, and disproving the writer's
been struggling to return to in this century, against
great opposition.  The sense of impartiality or an absence
not similarly dare to explain the ordinary facts of
am not competent to comment, except on their etymological
with various forms of distress do not want sympathy.
Instead we are urged to walk a mile in their shoes,
writer seems to have based his case more on etymology
claim empathy outside those two special areas is an
time is of the essence (law); by and large, high and
dry, slush fund, round robin, aloof (sailing); ego, extrovert,
hearts, in order to share their pain.  It may not be
possible to do it, but I don't see anything wrong in
speakers never say truck for lorry, escalator for moving
through travel, tourists, movies, television, reading,
some who might say that a truck is different from a
penis in both dialects; the situation arises because
a fairly clear case of distribution.  This gave rise to
to male bird.  While at one time the sense of penis
was relatively far down the awareness scale of those
who had occasion to refer to cocks (as male birds),
awareness level in recent years.  Proof of this can be
which she quotes, with inexpressible joy, the following
put on a frock with pleats on purpose, as she always
should know, by that token, that women cannot testify
of their organization, the Conference on Security and
million rivets of varying size each week.  [From an article
used Southern expressions like sitting in the catbird
this colorful speech has been lost as the language has
decades of the century was probably the last of the
less travel in those days, the regions retained their
Later, however, especially during World War II, there
so named because pieces of them were fed to dogs to
keep them quite, are variations of what Southerners
at a Southern matriarch's saying to a tardy arrival at
meal.  Most men worked close to home, and the paterfamilias
for dinner.  It was the custom to cook large quantities
of many vegetables and at least two breads for this
bread was corn pone, corn dodgers, hoecake, or hush
people might drop in.  In big families, the cook customarily
supply of vegetables and fruit.  Usually, enough was
cooked for supper, too.  However, if everything came
out even with nothing left over, the meal came out like
than enough.  A hog's bait was a gluttonous plenty.
She has more than she can say grace over, was another
Even though it refers to grace before meat and thus
means that the materfamilias has more people to feed
than she can manage, the term was used in many situations
meaning to bungle, was used only as a verb.  Bollix
is the only one of the three terms listed in most language
the term bollix (informal) do not know that it is a variant
too tight,  it was as tight as Dick's hat band and would
have to be altered.  Girls learned to sew at an early
age.  For some it was a slow and tedious business, but
others picked it up fast and sewed with a red hot needle
use the adverb directly for right away, it is not used as
and of a person who put on airs, it was said, She's got
the air waves.  This early dancing was fairly frenzied
Few things are as crude as antiquated slang; consider
widely worn during that period.  Another relic of that
period, not heard any more, is the call to children for
The source is unknown; perhaps it originated when a
dog named Ring was in his death throes and the family
and the call was made if one wanted quick response.
German words of similar sound.  Nor does the prized
was highly valued, it was said, His boss wouldn't trade
M, i, crooked letter, crooked letter, i, crooked letter,
The earlier generation of males wanted hot biscuits
term means a kiss but was used disparagingly, as in to
probably a relic of Southern attitudes after the Civil
to property which had been appropriated because the
the whole country was caught up in religious revivalism
its revival tent where repentant sinners walked down
prayer and sometimes emotional repentance.  Ordinary
damaged beyond repair because they were not allowed
Keeping the Sabbath was also important.  Respectable
superstitions were taken seriously.  One, known also in
would cut the friendship.  The other warned against
ensue.  Another superstition warned a woman contemplating
used jokingly, it was the equivalent of the current
Replicas will make you an exact copy almost indistinguishable
develops, quite often when referring to activities or
areas important to the subculture that the creating the
language.  Established society usually has its nose put
limits of which have never been clearly mapped out.
that students have a language that is quite peculiar
colonies three times, he used the journeys as opportunities
being a notable exception) did not pass into mainstream
friendly manner two men are talking in the presence
of third man, an impostor  a detective or an investigative
ranks.  His problem is that the first two are aware of
his deception.  The first man says to the second, Shall
we'll leave it for the cleaner.  Little does the impostor
for what was really said was, Shall we kill him?  No,
we'll leave it to a professional.  A cleaner is a hired
gun, an assassin  or at least it was until recently.
A great deal of argot appears to be ordinary language
clean the bowl is used by a murderer to an associate in
front of a victim.  It means Prepare a grave.  (Note
of underground groups, not least because of the dangers
the hierarchy depends on sticking to the rules of a
one of which is never, ever, to reveal the secrets of the
offered.  It is a concept well known in all prison systems.
English prison slang is readily enough available in any
tobacco, nonce is a child molester or other sex offender,
have rigid rules to which a subculture's inventions
must conform.  Nor is it easy to determine its origins,
although historically an argot known as pelting speech
lead to finer distinctions in meaning than are found
and for the speakers there is the comfort that comes
some of its tendencies.  Slag has as many divisions as
the English language has dialects.  Youth slag, soldier
endless.  And every gang wants its own argot, a test by
which a potential recruit can be measured: if you don't
know the language, very often you cannot get in; or, if
you are already in, not knowing the latest key words
it, it is fun, unconventional, and sassy.  What is more,
it can be witty, picturesque, metaphoric.  How it differs
subvert, it does so by being understood (at least in
they are a clique  not dangerous people or criminals,
next generation's standard English.  Bus was the slang
truck are like the much earlier crashing cheats teeth,
being a lazy language, youth slag is, in fact, as complex
intrinsic part of the language.  That so many adults
disapprove of the way the youth communicate is precisely
This leads to the issue of talking Black.  Linguistically,
does not vary much from region to region and belongs
White or mixed sittings the use of the patois symbolizes
assertion of ethnic identity.  The more linguistically
distinct the sounds of a patois, the more it can come
to symbolize social distance.  Here is approaches the
talking Black provides a system of resistance on a linguistic
meet, there is often a tendency for their speech to
alter, so that they become more alike, a process known
as accommodation or convergence.  Its opposite  divergence
personal, social, religious, or sexual identity; divergence
English speakers effectively use different languages?
Very unlikely.  But perhaps there will be a rethinking
of the word communication and an instinctive scintilla
The Archers is set in the Midlands, but it seems the
the West Country to refer to anyone who is not approved
difficult and more vivid because its true meaning is
noses of seaside holidaymakers.  That is the version
The term originated in the West Country, specifically
genesis, which more than a little impresses me, also
old lady with beady eyes, a pointed nose and a ruddy,
her appearance that he observed to his assistant that
figure from a picture serial he had once read, called
the departure of the originals and was soon consciously
from the Midlands and North, by the large number of
same force as the now universal punter client, customer,
to be acquired later by other holiday trade people in
Peter Draper, who was working on a screenplay for a
explicit rendering of the same idea.  This was the first
national publicity for the hitherto local expression,
Draper's screenplay.  The text contained the film's extended
references, but added about fifteen more in the narrative,
days these appearances in print, after the film had
spread of the expression during the res of the 1960s.
my own first encounter with it as I took a party of
of cars as an assertion of local identity.  The word had
Rivers was able to validate and localize the memory
that had floated to the surface of his mind in the mid
memories.  Could a further reason for the word's success
be that it rhymes with the name of a kind of edible
seaside holidays?  It clearly seems to have appealed to
they and their descendants have also contributed some
unique words to the English language (or, in some cases,
A full exposition of strictly doctrinal terms is beyond
the scope of this article because such a listing would entail
noun, adjective, and adverb, as an unofficial designation for
parallel to the Bible, but pertaining to the New World, and
relates the religious history of several groups of people.
Talking about the book in a scholarly way in somewhat
that his Lord of the Rings trilogy is a work of fiction, and
its truth seriously (whether strictly historical on one end of
a spectrum to mythologically symbolic on the other end),
was the name of the major editor of the book, and it was
named after him, although he did not write the whole
(which is also the name of an obscure Biblical personage,
Great Salt Lake, just as the Sea of Galilee drains via the
enter the Union until long after it had achieved the minimum
honeybee.  It has been speculated that the word is related
The territory of Desert covered an area much larger
sense of spiritual superiority, it is to be hoped, but because
church being called saints) have two basic types of
religious buildings: chapels and temples and they are as different
is a meeting house, but the area of assembly for worship
everything from an overflow for the chapel, a basketball
court, an area for dramatic and musical productions, and
the counterpart to Catholic mass  is called sacrament
half of one's ancestors), for celestial marriages (technically,
celestial marriage is the institution of marriage that extends
past death, as generally understood, and the wedding
one's place in the universe, both with respect to God and
up in the same way, with streets wide enough to ensure a
full team of oxen could turn around.  The towns were organized
from the stakes used to hold up the tabernacle in Old
Testament days; today it corresponds roughly to a diocese,
and is a collection of words.  The word started out as a political
cities, but became the equivalent of a parish.  Stakes are
that governs the church (with participation by women in
some administrative roles, but outside the context of the
priesthood itself) and conducts its rituals.  The priesthood
for adult males.  Each branch is divided into three offices:
into three offices: Elders (you might have met some awfully
after the name of their auxiliary organization (founded by
women's organization).  To hold the priesthood is a euphemism
women towards men (since all men, at least in principle,
are members of the priesthood); the Word of Wisdom is a
Primary is a reference to children up to the age of eleven
(as with the Relief Society, this is an example of the name
of the organization being extended generally to its members).
but even in such a centralized body of thought there is
And finally, what about splinter groups, without which
him of being a closet polygamist.  The practice of polygamy
was outlawed just before the turn of the century, but
polygamous families persist down to the present day.  One
has to admit, these terms represent an improvement over
order on its books until someone discovered it in the
Murder differs from kill in involving the notion of
justification.  To say that one person kills another is to
say that the first deprives the second of life; but to say
that a person murders another is to say the depriving is
unjustified.  This raises the questions, What does justified
Justified falls among a class of words that also includes
jointly necessitate some occurrence, either already
completed or yet to be brought about, without specifying
exactly what those laws and facts are.  For example,
appears makes it clear that the author intends it to express
the law that time moves forward and on the fact that
appeared in a government report expressing an admonition
fact that numbers of such magnitude would anger the
that sufficient provocation caused people to rebel.
Neither must itself nor the sentence as a whole provides
leaves room for loopholes that avoid the asserted necessity
(under normal circumstances), major new discoveries
facts that necessitate some occurrence, can asserts
that whatever laws and facts there are, some occurrence
this relation is the fact that though can and must have
very different meanings, cannot and must not are synonymous.
necessity claim intact, negating only the verb, whereas
negating a sentence containing can keep the verb intact,
but like can it expresses permission, rather than necessity.
there are laws and facts that permit it, whereas can expresses
are.  To say that some action is not justified is to say
that the action is prohibited whatever the laws and
So to murder is to kill in a way that is prohibited
whatever the laws and facts are.  To deny that a killing
what they took to be a law regarding the sanctity of
instead of calling him a murderer, based their judgment
that the borders his forces had crossed were imposed
by Western colonialists without the consent of the inhabitants.
which of the sides, if either, was correct.  It does help
to explain how people can talk past each other, using
relation to very different frameworks of concepts, beliefs,
her head wounds two hours later, as did her chauffeur.
enough stamina to tote groceries and supplies up hill, and
main opposition parties, over an article published in
secure the continued progress of a construction project in
further suggested that he might have had a corrupt connection
death of a bank auditor and the false imprisonment of a
.We now accept without reservation that the serious
egg; although paying for it, little else could be offered
him.  The peasants themselves often had nothing but
new day, the peasant's first thought was survival for
For them bread was life.  Through the years popular
sayings grew up reflecting this obsession with that
Passed from village to village, from hearthside to field
Al pan, y al vino, vino                              To bread, bread and to wine, wine              To call a spade a spade
duro                                                 bread is hard
No solo del pan vive el hombre                       Not only of bread does man live                Man does not live by bread alone
has nothing to do with one's marital status.  It is the
instead.  As a foretaste of things to come to committee
responsible for implementing this innovation proffered
Obviously, this plan never got off the ground.  How
Languages, though glibly spoken and written, often present
there are many examples of genuine switched writing
systems masquerading as something they are not.  In
The first known graphic system, cuneiform, served as
has since become the most widely used writing system
interested in but not capable of reading a particular
probably elementary aids for tourists, pilgrims, and
appended their names and formulaic closing statements
standard instances of scripts serving to reproduce languages
present what are probably the most egregious examples
citing such examples as, The stuffy nose can lead to
he spent his life doing.  May we all be as fortunate.
for our pleasure and edification, with the structures of
up in the respectable garb of grammatical explication,
leaving the reader to have learned elsewhere which of
the examples should serve as a model when he invites
his boss to dinner.  I take this to be not only silly
straightforward.  Teach everyone French as if it were
educated class who got to the university, used French
as they had learned it at their mother's knee (naturally,
not as they had been taught it in school), and made
(and revivification) of a revolution, simple allowed the
gentry to establish the colloquial norm for those who
the literature for texts to constitute a canon that would
English, that is to say the English spoken by proper
gentlemen.  All a bit authoritarian, but reasonable.
The effectiveness of the policy can be seen by making
Twist: Dickens, qua social reformer, knew perfectly
linguistic data as a way to democratize the understanding
out the concept of good English, but it establishes
the norms of language on what's said.  (This is an expression
one that in my opinion is as silly as basing a legal system
have not been such salutary effects as a broadening of
acceptable usage, or a loosening of the traditional
schoolmaster's authority over what constitutes proper
English, or a diminution of class consciousness.  The
been a shift in linguistic authority away from the gentry
aware of the context in which unclear English is used,
know what's going on (and therefore the meanings of
the utterances used to describe it), while the vulgar
a shaky grasp of vocabulary and syntax who are therefore
fathom what's going on, that the failure in comprehension
of English in the hands of those who are to the manner
they will and at the same time disallowing the vulgar
from gaining a firm grasp on the means by which they
might enter the debate.  We have here a delightfully
constructed catch-22: if you don't study your grammar
you're uneducated; if you do, you've been exposed to
a proper education by your kindly school system; but
when we use the word class here, we do so not at all
intellectual one.  If you don't know the difference between
the appropriate contexts in which to use two examples
book, it's a consequence of your mind's incapacity to
grasp how things ought to be correctly expressed, not
that you've had the misfortune of being born into the
working class.  (To what extent this is a conscious
Rather than focusing our attention on the establishment
better develop a more holistic, semiotically based curriculum
broadest sense) is always inseparable from context.
And given that fact, I would argue that as long as the
educational system teaches dictionary definitions as
structures as carrying grammatically meaning, we will
have (as we do now) the vast bulk of our population
common set of general rules for their communication
game, and a common aim for their dialogue.  It happens
style, and the aims are the achievement of the best
possible degree of understanding.  To give short shrift
to any of these three facets of communication is to
scientific rigor) between the experts on language, literature,
clear thought, the mortar that serves to create integrated
Dialogue is ultimately context based and not system
based.  This is why, for example, the expression, The
teacher has it in for me, falls through the cracks of
what the words mean, and if they did, why is the verb
the first person, nor, one might add, with the Pope as
subject.  Students would learn ten times more about
words and how they are used if, instead of being asked
to remember what is grammatically or lexically correct,
shoe salesmen or lords of the manor and by doing so
sensitivity (a sensitivity that is as yet not sufficiently
well understood) is far more important than that sort
of abstract knowledge of the proper use of language
stumbling over a shibboleth.  Needless to say, the idea
fact remembering what was said at home or by an author
doesn't speak like us?  Does a child learn to walk by
having the musculature of the legs explained to her?
(I add in passing a news bite heard between the writing
of this paragraph and its mailing: a teacher was recently
received it because he has his students write letters
in the otherwise wise stylistic advice of E. B. White.
needed to express one's intentions.  A good friend,
benefit of grammar book, but rather through the reading
and discussion, orally and in writing, of such works
studied English grammar and memorized its vocabulary
are asked if they can explain how to get to the train
station answer Yes, and stand by with a smile waiting
since, if they don't know the way, they invariably answer
into any educational system by which succeeding generations
Approach to the Study of Language (University Press
any suggestions on the work being done by those who
are having second thoughts about the use of that apparently
to be a difficult language to learn, but it has the
supreme advantage that every combination of letters
is always pronounced the same.  It is therefore possible
journal lying on a table and impress them with your
grasp of their profession by reading an article out
the insect came first.  And talking about the naming of
train, we noticed considerable excitement being generated
Two female passengers of riper years asked especially
crooning sentimental nostalgia to elderly matrons on
had scraped together the fare for the Orient Express.
piano after dinner and his agent had scrounged him a
bookmakers of their customers, especially those placing
small bets.  By transference a prostitute's client or
his beautiful young wife.  We learned that he was trying
to make a career as a novelist and that in the discipline
at me from a television and earning more dollars in an
evening than there are greenfly on my roses.  If it
ever gets out what he's really like, I remarked, he'll
etc., but the most common US equivalent is probably
interest but was perplexed by the examples at the top
italic form of  (in Times New Roman at least) is almost
[In the italic forms of many typefaces, especially those
designed since photographic and computer typesetting
equipment became prevalent, the distinction between
some is lost entirely).  That is owing in part to the
lack of sophistication among type designers and, undoubtedly,
being replaced by a single character, usually e.  (We
characters by setting them in italics because the characters
[XXII,4,15], brought to mind a puzzling abbreviation
I realized eventually that the W is the Welsh vowel
would probably agree that this is a very appropriate
[XXIII,1] I would like to add one of my late father's
cabbie many years ago.  He liked to talk with his fares,
and when he learned that I made a living as a writer
his alphabet.  The notes I made were incomplete and
Sayings [XXIII,3].  A couple of observations in the
dubious at best and the translation of an example as
language has no articles and also resorts idiomatically
verb for to be that is usually (but not always) omitted
is the present tense, as sometimes in English: Terrific
guy, that Tom!  This omission and the absence of articles
proverbs.  But I think that the apparent brevity, which
depends in part on whether you count words or syllables,
The best example of this kind of semantic compression
sayings through my mind, I seem to find that although
our language has the resources to be fairly pithy, we
clever implication inherent in the play on names, perhaps
doubtless true, with the consequence that the careful
consideration I think due these articles rather than
although I find his explanation totally convincing, it is
not to be found either in the original edition of the
It must have struck many that the very common phrase
Oh! dear is, after all, a very senseless expression.  When we
come to try to read sense into it, some might think that it
may be contracted from some longer expression, such as
Oh! dear me.  But this is not in accordance with the evidence.
and is the earliest known phrase in which dear occurs at all.
is equivalent to the Lord knows, and so on.  But he adds,
I wish to draw attention to two ascertained facts.  The
first is that the particular phrase Oh dear!  is the earliest of
the set, as has been already remarked; and secondly, that
there is no trace whatever, even in dialects, of a fuller form
like dear Lord.  If we are to go by the evidence, we must
even by Lord at all, is due to the influence of popular etymology,
I think it is equally clear that we must dismiss all
I will now go a step further, and assert that there is no
evidence whatever for connecting it with the adjective dear
at all!  It makes no sense, as we may see by a little thought.
For dear means beloved, affectionate, precious, and the
like; but the exclamation Oh! dear!  is one that denotes
something very different, something that is lamentable or
calamitous, and very far from being pleasant.  Thus, in
how melancholy, has been to me this last week!  And again
Oh! dear!  I shall die!  And in Goldsmith's She Stoops to
If we will only, for a moment, consider this probability,
viz. that there is no good reason for associating this interjectional
us free to look around us, and see whether any other source
And if we do this, we have not to look far.  The phrase,
for instance, makes no good sense in English; and this affords
And whenever we consider the possibility of borrowing at
the end of the seventeenth century, our first thoughts turn,
what reason had you?  or what, a God's name, moved you?
It should particularly be remarked that the sense coincides
exactly with that of the English phrase.  We can translate
of astonishment.  His examples show that it was sometimes
preceded by the interjection he [illegible character] as H,
It was usually employed, as in English, to imply lamentation
It is worth while trying to guess whence this expression
which in expressions of lamentation is so prevalent both in
French and English.  It really seems as if the true sense of
Oh dear! were Oh! the devil!  The clipping of swearwords
is a common phenomenon.  If this be so, the exclamation
meant the devil knows.  But as this interpretation was not
at all obvious, or was forgotten, the familiarity of many
have suggested a new interpretation in the eighteenth
notion.  For the earliest example of Dear save us is no
will suit either the old or the modern pronunciation of the
forgiven for tripping ourselves up with it occasionally.
We are particularly good at contradicting ourselves
so good, in fact, we do it daily, assuming that other
ducks containing scented candles, which I was instructed
any room I wished.  The scent would repel all biting
insects in the area.  When the ducks arrived, a footnote
on the instructions informed me they were for outdoor
million winning pools syndicate.  They had filled in
When they won the pools, the leader said, It's great.
We've never won anything before.  Granted, the effects
confusing statement.  I have yet to find an excuse for
you don't use the lid; all manner of tablets instructing
not (yet) connected with it, but the link is imminent,
and we expect to be surfing along with the rest of the
readers to pass on tidbits as they come across items
suited to what we perceive to be our readers' interests;
the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with
able to drive and refold a road map at the same time.
the stream of drinking fountain water is at its perfect
height, thus relieving the drinker from (a) having to
suck the nozzle, or (b) squirting himself in the eye.
can't take any more torture and hurls itself through
walk around picking up display phones and listening
piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and
picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down
of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it,
be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person
across the room until he finally decides to give up
Manhandling the open here spout on a milk container
so badly that one has to resort to the illegal side.
act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before
you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.
should I say future to the back?  I look back to yesterday
still means in, to, or toward a past time, and the adjective
back is still defined as of a past date; not current;
In a Providence Journal story about a person considering
could push back the starting time until 11am instead
in response to a request that the trial date be moved
National Weather Service renewed its prediction for
effective date of a law requiring all motorists to carry
back is that the sense is further [back] in the schedule,
following in a published television schedule for 8pm
I sent pages of examples to the editors of New Edition
.is filed for the attention of our new words editors.
on our databases then it will be considered for drafting
Worship God and attain a soul devoid of anger, passion,
Memorize this sentence, because it is not only meaningful
connected with each month, respectively, that is, worship
and so on.  Here is the method to apply in finding the
day of any date of any year except leap years.  (Leap
years are easy to identify: they are any year divisible by
I won't be home till later tonight, says the wife to
Similarly: the secretary is going to leave for vacation,
and the morning of her last day at work, a coworker
logic doesn't quite work.  Syntactically speaking, the
apodosis, or consequence, is not linked to the protasis,
That is, the ham is in the fridge no matter what the
state of the husband's stomach, and a last possible
whether or not the premise is fulfilled.  Of course,
The truth is that these sentences are really just elliptical
Since I may not see you before I leave, let me wish
of iffy sentences.  If you don't mind, I have to go is
another example in my growing collection, along with
over such syntax may seem trivial, but language is so
often a dormant phenomenon that it is worth tweaking
on a date, If you're interested, just let me know.  But
and spending the early years of my life there, having
I found out just how tough it is for most nationalities
a Gallic attack on my personal hygiene when they insisted
uncanny prediction of what was to befall my then luxuriant
was taller than most of those I had to deal with.  My
did I find someone who truly tried to get it right, but
the effort involved putting his tongue out at me and
concluded with an overly explosive final consonant;
invitation, settled for the easy to deal with Mister
Strange to say, it is in the US that one of the really
restaurants or hotels or any of the other places where
professional name takers are found.  The conversation
of times, on the West coast, particularly.  So often, in
fact, that I have been forced to assume the new identity
dealing with any of the name takers so deeply entrenched
is that unusual a name in the States: after all, one of
Chatting has restraints, of course, in a network of burgeoning
friendly and informal, it must also be brief and pungent.
and not without a certain intellectual mischievousness.
capital letters, telescoping, emoticons, interjections,
and other striking visual devices, not to mention their
to be sure, but given the technological nature of the
medium, its roots and contours are clearly definable.
necessary here, but one element is of interest as a
food is much esteemed], and note that several common
as pretzel and strudel (and the fact that new meanings
terms represent, for one thing, the only discernible
ethnic orientation in the vocabulary and are thus by
their very appearance a form of highlighting.  They
Term of disgust.  Often used in Ugh, bletch.  (Also
foo interj.  Term of disgust... Very probably, hackish
electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function.
truth beyond any reasonable recognition.  It is alleged
told me is a bunch of gonk.  (In German, for example,
the first deity of the Internet.  Also known as he who
intention and effect, doubtless a reflection of pop culture's
world.  One version ran in its entirety as follows:
Sic! squibs will find fulfillment in the pages of this
book, which chronicles examples of unfortunate syntax
funny to one person may be deadly to another.  A few
A. Be positive.  Say that one is bigger than the other.
Such things can often raise a chuckle from those who
appreciate the incongruity of the item and those who
Dialects are subject of popular interest, especially
such dialects appropriate for the popular market cannot
be technical, but neither should they be inaccurate.
It is after all possible to be both informative and
succeeds better at the second aim than the first, giving
[v], where the author acknowledges among his sources
may occur.  For example, each tub must stand on its
own bottom is said to be an old proverb stressing New
our immortal Bill of Rights, that guarantees to us liberty
word's use since the fifteenth century or that it is familiar
The second is the sort of free combination that can
and does occur anywhere.  Both are standard English,
the bottle for consumption elsewhere, pshaw! an exclamation
the entry includes a quotation from her) or because
origin is unknown, is devoted to variants on the following
whose wife Anna was too lazy to cook for him, concocted
sailboat used for fishing, and harness cask a tub used
on ships for storing salted meat.  All of these can also
sauce.  It would be useful to give a bit more information
The problem with this book is knowing which entries
discrimination, another more reliable work like the
consulted.  So the user might as well go to the better
This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly.  It should be
Wordplay, Origins, Meanings, and Usage of the English
someone late in one's career only to have him suddenly
attention several years ago.  We corresponded, and I
VERBATIM, and that speaks for the high esteem I have
of Bob's writing.  Moreover, I provided the Foreword
the periodicals in which they originally appeared....
must also have something to say.  Owing to the vastness
of the English language, it is impossible to believe
myriad aspects.  Indeed, the scholarly journals have
been overflowing with turgid prose for decades, and
it is particularly refreshing to know that comment on
virtually any aspect of language can still be offered in
language that, glowing with respectability, cleaving to
the Government is at last proposing to do something
A scene just before the intermission, when the family
otherwise, the pace of the humor is right on.  [From a review
Sixteen searchers, a search dog and a helicopter were
new snot, with a total accumulation of two to three feet at
those elevations, are hampering operations.  [From The
to stricken mass distributions.  Unable to figure out
what this meant, he wrote to the journalist's editor.  It turned
out that a referee's report had told the author, The term
generalized mass distribution is no longer used.  The word
or admit failure?  They might boot up again, but they
no trouble translating what I just wrote out of computer
with words suggesting vulnerability, frailty, and humor
about them.  It should not, therefore, be surprising
radically conflicting feelings.  As a librarian I see evidence
used by patrons and colleagues.  Slang is a reliable
gauge of attitudes because it is usually used in an
words and phrases.  I am assuming, as the editor of
this dictionary argues, that slang is not just colloquial
language, but that it is often aggressively informal,
that it doesn't tolerate pretense, that it is often
by any profession, group, or class.  The word default
unless you change it.  This term does not qualify as
slang because it is a legitimate, formal term, rather
easy to define denotatively, quite fit for use in polite
who likes to spend time in the company of programmers
because it is very informal language.  In fact, it is so
Because slang is up front and sometimes deliberately
to remember the difference between slang and jargon
is that jargon serves to indicate a referent, usually
how they feel when we analyze slang.  Thus, it is not
surprising that a great deal of computer jargon is a
quick way to say otherwise complicated things.  For
of instructions per second, point and click is a quick
and direct way of describing basic mouse techniques,
is an apt metaphor for the way text flows around the
outside edges of a graphic image.  Jargon like this is
very good at precisely describing actions and things,
but these words do not convey any obvious attitudes
great deal of ambivalence about these often mysterious
powerful and frightening.  We definitely want to do
crash.  It is true that many computer applications began
in the military but many people who are not conscious
computers simulate many human activities, it is not
surprising that we should attribute all kinds of human
characteristics to them.  They do seem to possess artificial
the batch mode.  Computers are so seemingly lifelike
slang expressions suggest that computers are really
quite harmless.  Some of these terms go to the opposite
relationship that seems all too naively trusting, as if
that the normal state of affairs is for computers to be
hostile, or at least unfriendly.  Why else would we so
protocol for transferring files between a mainframe
names for areas within our mainframe are Piglet and
all.  On the contrary, that world is as blithe and carefree
call miniature programs applets or refer to diagonal
or circular lines in a text as jaggies.  Reference librarians
list on the Internet refer to themselves as wombats.
the nickname has stuck not only because of the metaphorical
overly mechanical activity of finding answers to reference
I want to suggest that there is a very understandable
of reality, those ubiquitous computers are going to
take over all aspects of life, doing away with my job
rather than a human being.  Another version of reality
offends bureaucrats and is just as exaggerated, but
it is very useful as a defense mechanism.  In this view
floppy disks, where I can cozy up to my motherboard,
options.  Fortunately, the real world of computers,
[NOTE: In this article, I have consulted The Computer
Prentice Hall's Illustrated Dictionary of Computing,
school arts programs.  [From From the Station Manager,
than translations, and strictly speaking in the Romanization
course actually meaningful, although many have become
now familiar to most in the West in its more accurate
the Far East are also often similarly meaningful and
have their names translated, assuming they are already
happens that this name is actually (though coincidentally)
both meaningful and appropriate, since it translates
Such serendipity sends one on a voyage of discovery,
seem strange.  However, once one appreciates certain
appear in transliterations where one does not expect
seems to have a historic reference, since bl literally
country.  Other continents also have names that are
third of these have names that could literally be interpreted,
fresh, not inappropriately, but is actually a transliteration
ends up with a sense that is surreal rather than suitable.
Of those that yield some sense, the following handful
so on.  What is interesting about some of these purveyors
of the names of their pop groups, this concatenation,
however, assumes truly awesome and bizarre proportions,
league), Physical, Cruising, Omnibus, Original Love,
might do well to note the above and the albeit absurd
surprisingly, some of my students came along primarily
men, the somewhat tedious rules of English spelling
quaint rules of English spelling follows firmly in the
in search of fame, fortune, and female attractions.
high society in any country, but during his brief visit
written thirty years later, he proudly demonstrates
his knowledge, casually throwing English words into
the middle of his French text with an easy confidence
lookout for a house to rent for himself.  With the help
sights.  Being the son of an actor and actress, he was
naturally interested in the theaters, such as those at
English form of cards, he lost fifteen pounds in his
smiling at her unexpected gain of a further fifteen
competent linguist.  Much of his prodigious literary
output, including his 3,000-page autobiography, was
not write his life story till thirty years after his visit to
likely, not written before.  But most important of all is
the language and have a go regardless of the risk of
themselves as his heirs retain his enthusiastic disregard
an advertisement for The Swan Funeral Homes, in the
There isn't room to list them all, except it must be
noted that they included the Right to Die Society apologizing
for accidentally calling itself the Right to Life Society
in a previous letter, and the Right to Life Society objecting
proper names, usually of persons or places, to designate
to short definitions of diseases, the vast majority eponymous,
name ends in s but his is the overwhelmingly favored
the problem favoring s 's but made no specific reference
journals, however, have declined to follow its lead
and their audience might have thought that President
might be called Bright disease by some.  And what of
of the English Language, before the adjective possessive
as having possession and apostrophe as In rhetoric,
though.  Use of the apostrophe to indicate possession
including most names ending in sibilants take 's as in
answer the question Stags Leap, Stag's Leap, Stags'
There is not a finite number, I am sure, but it must
Lingerie manufacturer works with University Extension
life from the beginning.  But, as sure as there are
wines that do not travel well, so, too, is there a type
of humor and a form of language that is best appreciated
in the land of its origin.  Or, to be more specific,
region as is the language through which it is expressed.
what is said, but at the way in which it is said.  The
Highlander.  His stories are long and involved, and
your hands.  The Highlander is a consummate storyteller.
school, you can almost hear the sough of the sea on
found in his stories, to be sure, but they are stories
sadness.  You are glad that you listened, but you are
incisive.  It is a sardonic wit, a wit that can be as
savage and biting as the dry northern winds that sear
this land for a goodly part of the year.  It has much of
is like listening to the discordant yakking of jackdaws
on the face of it, seem so surprising.  But there is
the invaders.  With them, they took their language.
day, little would have remained to show that he had
of mine so succinctly put it, He just buggered off.
Unlike the Roman, the Celt left his mark in the many
for twelve centuries, but little trace of it remains
in the spoken language today.  It was the pervasive
when you first hear them in full flow.  It is a lingo
that has little in common with either the slow, precise
case if you are a newcomer to that part of the world.
strong drink and the services of a good interpreter.
quality to some of it, for theirs is a hard life.  But,
as the following tale from my youth may illustrate:
among the stones and the whins to wrest a living of
sorts from the reluctant soil.  It was a way of life that
was a tough old bird: when the day of his hundredth
birthday dawned he was still maintaining a keen interest
mighty soiree for the great day, and they invited a
first assignment and she was, in fact, completely new
was not going well.  In desperation, she asked him if
complete.  A spark of life glimmered at last in the
and she reminded him that, at his age, he should be
with the prurient temptations of this one.  She would
It is a peaceful place.  There have been no battles
nesting moorhen, but that was about all.  The horrors
convinced that the war just ending would be the war
with the local Home Guard, was particularly eloquent.
is in for a long, long haul in the wind and the rain
early acquaintance with one or more of the languages
inland of New South Wales and known to the colonists
but the temptation to explain the word had triumphed
familiarity to English ears being the result of its taking
the White perception of a bird destined to become a
Here again a word was broken down into two elements,
little thought given to the fact of their independent
origin.  Billabong is first recorded in the 1830s in
after rain, and hence any backwater, blind creek, or
anabranch left in the arm of a river, a pool which is
left when the connecting stream dries up.  It is not
word given a new lease of life in fresh circumstances.
number of words which the Aboriginal languages collectively
secondary sense as a noun meaning nonsense, rubbish,
borak was coupled with the verb poke in the phrase to
enough to the transitive use of the verb barrack ridicule,
might be connected.  And, in the absence of a memory
the balance of probabilities.  It is unlikely that a borrowed
form so quickly and, with hindsight, it is more likely
that an impreciseness of meaning caused by unfamiliarity
a sporting team or a participant in a fight, and admits
the converse of this in the intransitive verb barrack
for support.  And the less said the better about another
characterized the behavior of the crowd at the police
hotly disputed, even if mostly by the lunatic fringe.
The golden rule has to be that, if there is a historically
valid source, it is to be preferred unless the circumstantial
argues incontrovertibly in favor of a dialect origin if a
even if there is a perceptible difference between the
The circumstantial evidence provided by the historical
there is no case for resorting to the fable that the
long way towards explaining the origins of hundreds
of English nicknames and family names.  Many family
names are based on a father's name; they might also
these ancient nicknames had cute diminutive suffixes.
Harder to recognize are certain distortions imposed
clipped down to nicknames.  Usually, to make a first
leave it plain or make a diminutive out of it by adding
many other ways to play around with a first name to
of consonant substitution discussed below.  Many of
the resulting forms remain current as nicknames (or
indeed as names in their own right), others are preserved
vanished entirely.  Listed below by consonant category
are all the forms I have been able to find, regardless
among other things, including some famous sobriquets.
seems to have been created by phonological assimilation,
Molly shows up also in gun molls gangsters girlfriends.'
that is just a joke pronunciation for the abbreviation
a vowel or silent h took the possessive mine instead
as plain t after the French fashion, as is still the case
Nancy.  The suffix still surfaces occasionally, as for
This brief soliloquy is notable in several respects.
the use of more words than those necessary to denote
But most remarkable is that only the third sentence
Wood Crutch remarked, Children were taught standard
(But lest we succumb to the modern fantasy that open
and honest communication will solve all disputes, we
man, undoubtedly a major reason that he is the jefe of
his gang.  Emotion will betray character every time,
when he said that years ago his teacher told him to sit
in the front of the class for the present; he waited and
waited and she never gave it to him.  Collecting lists
of silliness is a legitimate pastime.  I collect matchbooks
not historical and unfortunate shift in humor.  Men of
subtle, the slapstick, and the silly.  Men of my generation
lunch?  was so utterly lame, so naive, but such romps
have a headache in its literal translation means My
is used in many phrases that have nothing to do with
he is eating the wind, if he is comfortable he will
money he will say he has eaten their credit.  Birthdays,
the same reasoning can hardly be applied to the case
over ideas, digest information, devour with our eyes,
words and our hats and we occasionally bite off more
children.  After the first few years in school, children
there in a cavalier manner, or, if you prefer, with
discarded with the vowels, so that often one has to
understand by context.  That is difficult for foreign
these poor souls here.  What we are dealing with is
reserve.  I wonder what the singular of Verbatim is.
in it.  I offer a simple glossary of terms that might be
pawn shops for more than their true value, frequently
bone, was hospitalized for years and treated by Lord
Lister himself with, I believe, scraping of the bone,
and whatever primitive antisepsis was used in those
quite that far).  Beneath a drawing of a small girl out
walking with her grandfather appeared the following
queen, and lords, and bishops, and more or less remain
are better off than themselves, and are always trying
to rob them of their property, and, in fact, they're a
A few nits to be picked, or addenda to be appended:
outside persists very commonly in cryptic crossword
A felicitous trader's name that used to be displayed
It is not only trousers that are implicitly excluded
foodstuffs has resulted in several notices on items
English inanimate objects are now referred to by the
languages that I know grammatical gender lingers as
a sort of ghost of animistic gender haunting all nouns.
foreign language will a speaker of English say anything
In this respect English pronouns referring to animals
current prescriptive grammar, animals, especially of
generally in English the masculine singular pronoun
comes naturally when one is referring to an animal.
Nor is this a new thing in English.  Over a century
A noticeable feature of English as spoken by bilingual
living creature they are talking about.  For example,
which is also masculine and properly designates fish
pressed for a word, a native speaker will often come
up with one that he thinks is proper rather than the
Since for centuries about the only fish known to the
influence their choice of words.  A few days after I
later I asked the same lady who feminized the goldfish
She shitted her out of that house, the lady declared.
hear this from my rather prim and proper friend.  So
could not believe that I had heard it right.  I kept
wondering off and on about the matter till I realized
that what I had heard was a case of double hypercorrection.
is the affricate ch, which therefore tends to replace
aware of these tendencies in her speech, my unwitting
she had articulated sh in place of ch and the i of sit in
fairly common in language.  In Cockney English, for
example, where initial h is regularly dropped there
where it does not belong.  There is even a trace of
and dialects on each other may result in distortion
be enrichment, of which the English language provides
However, students of a foreign language soon realize
the grammatical structure and basic vocabulary: one
idiomatic expressions and, as a further step, proverbs
scores of dictionaries, printed in practically all Soviet
and sayings.  They encouraged instead the proliferation
thankless and practically insoluble task.  He quotes
phrases are signs of situations or of a certain type of
relationship between objects --not particularly lucid.
offers advice or presents a moral in a short and pithy
scholars.  The Introduction touches on the origin of
literal translation in English, unless there is a clear
lexical and conceptual correspondence.  Equivalents
are printed in bold face.  Where there is no equivalent
the dictionary gives a corresponding English version,
key word or thematic arrangements.  However, compilers
perfect system for arranging proverbs: each has its
personal choice and for whom the dictionary is intended.
marked with an asterisk.  This will be appreciated by
popularity of a certain proverb or saying.  There are
sections of analytical proverbs, metaphorical ones,
sources.  At the end of the dictionary, there is a large
to fill in gaps existing in other dictionaries.  There
held against computer programmers and other specialists.
admiration for their fertile imaginations, ingenuity,
truly astonishing in their complexity.  That acknowledgment
irritated by their cavalier dismissal of everything that
human beings developed in the course of history: it
reflects an adolescent mentality that is scornful of
than go into great detail, I shall focus on one important
(which was a matter of system and convenience, with
little or no attempt at alphabetization, except that the
lower case and capital letters are in alphabetical order
where later alphabetization programs derive their order.
As most lexicographers, librarians, indexers, editors,
some parts of the world have learned), there are preferred
letter by letter (with some standardized hierarchy established
though it is not usually suitable for dictionaries,
works reasonably well for certain kinds of material.
reach of the letter T, that does not sort U-238 at the
end of the U listings, and that does not put several
The point is not entirely irrelevant in relation to
way, in Windows, is to click on Main, then twice on
where the disc has been placed; then, move the cursor
move it to File, then down the list to Run, and click
twice.)  No instruction is included for accessing the
I could find no useful index: though there is a list of
file names, they are numerical and offer no clue as to
electronic publishing using computer disks.  It includes
for writers, with writer's guidelines from publishers,
this subject are invited to contribute to the discussion
this magazine are the same in the shareware edition
and resourcefulness but it is badly written, is riddled
with the kind of jargon that frightens away anybody
consequently, makes the rest of its content suspect.
not without interest and merit.  There is, for example,
small group of people, done often for fun or personal
to describe the content of this catalogue, so here is a
acid tests, and testimonial solicited from users all
There follow details identifying the editor, format,
and how to access the zine.  Many of the descriptions
are longer, some are shorter.  They include Armadillo
to be a forum for the issues surrounding the intersection
Another file that was examined is called Unclassified
the customary bibliographic information: in most instances,
(which one prints out from a computer) is provided.
The price is not omitted, but most are available for
the text, bordering on the semiliterate, yet much of
it rife with ideas, some of which, depending on one's
interests and inclinations, must be said to be stimulating.
sections of text from a screen, though that is less
are called), I was relieved to see that a subscriber to
Still, a computer of middling sophistication is required,
never compiled one, but I understand that publishers
with the same title.  To be brutally frank, I care little
have said (or, in the latter case, mumbled): of far
did), is of little consequence in the larger scheme of
things; but the world consists of many parts, including
in English, and one need not try to explain that in Et
book with admirable clarity in his Introduction.  (If
a book, one should always read the author's Preface,
brief mention of some of the things the book is not,
The reason for putting Brewer into the title (according
[which] singled out words and phrases with tales to
tell and did not attempt an unachievable comprehensiveness.
borrow for my next book, review, article, or comment
fairly comprehensive Index; instead, I found it under
complain about that; to learn that it was said to come
revelation, nor is it particularly exciting to learn that
the younger generations demonstrate a total lack of
even clever but make up their routines to remind us
of our foibles.  My foibles are very serious, indeed,
of sources, perhaps, than in the inclusion of quotations
the main text lists authors in alphabetical order with
quotations following in alphabetical order by first
word; in a few cases, where several works are cited
from a single author, like Dickens, the titles are in
On every page, the quotations are numbered sequentially,
Index, which lists quotations by their key words, in
some cases listing them more than once: for example,
By their fruits ye shall know them is listed in the
page numbers are an essential piece of the reference
apparatus, they should not be set in the center of the
for relevance of content, are, in addition to Brewer's
close cultural ties with the former Soviet Union ushered
passing crowd, sexist labels proliferate.  An attractive
attracts.  A woman always short of cash is known as
way.)  If, however, a homosexual is particularly aggressive
to you.  Over the last forty years or so, the expression
brings with it an inferior nuance.  Starting in less literate
teachers (and some teachers of English at that), by
brought increasingly churlish and irresponsible attitudes.
up to the person or body concerned, with confidence
of looking downwards to them, somewhat disparagingly,
situation arise and the question immediately follow
matter out?  Rather is it now an immediate question
found to blame, so that the job of correction can be
quickly thrust down to them, leaving others untouched
continuous evolution of our rich and living language?
should be deplored.  Why?  Because a perfectly good
duty has been replaced by an inferior one implying a
examples from the eighteenth century.  The first is
instance the verb is employed as a present participle
from the Western States.  There is, however, another
prefer to be called niggers to distinguish themselves
bringing a shower of booze and debris from the estimated
If you are seated in an exit row and you cannot read
this card, or cannot see well enough to follow these instructions,
instruction card on United Airlines planes.  Submitted
shell just fired through binoculars on a hill southeast of
very little plastic surgery during a live television interview
mystery, holiness, or magic.  The use of genuine foreign
and strips of metal thousands of years old.  In ancient
commonly known.  To cite just a few ancient examples,
meanings, the deep, dark vowels like o and u having
merely following in the footsteps of some of his forebears
their formation.  For example, variations on a theme
ancient version of a magical patter song or jazz scat.
anagrams might be lurking there, awaiting the alert
similarity between the sonorous sound manipulations
to some scholars, the universally known and applied
languages as well.  For example: kith and kin, wrack
rhythmic and phonetic rules, are the playful, nonsensical,
now part and parcel of our respective daily languages,
the vocal apparatus.  Repeating a word or syllable or
sound puts the least strain on the voice.  Yet human
creative ingenuity is not satisfied with repetition; it
has been discovered, the next least exerting is to reproduce
nonsense or not, often begins with a laryngeal or velar
second element tends to be a repetition of the first,
its practically universal validity, citing evidence
continued to persist through the ages and is obviously
same primal urge that motivated the anonymous creators
of our alphabet to begin their artificial series of
slang sense, `balls,' not its literal sense, `eggs.'  The
slang meaning is so prevalent that on a recent trip to
mavens, other distinguished guests: At this point in
him right.  At once simple and inscrutable, the tautology
of a means of egress that leads to an entrance to an
wordiness deserves no special recognition: it is the
good manners expected of those who sit at our table.
over 'til it's over.)  Although some find this charming,
of language.  Admittedly, we take pride in confounding
they are talking about; but I have a feeling the idea
might be useful, for there is an incredible amount of
have an identity problem.  It is as if in a particular
friends spent most of their time trying to distinguish
one family from the other instead of enjoying their
revised nomenclature for racquet sports is in order.
Perhaps the only people who can define these activities
those who are officials of national associations.  Others,
seem to be totally in the dark about such matters as
and racquetball are interchangeable.  It is next to impossible
about racquet sports because there is no terminology
be defined in a standard dictionary or encyclopedia
of sport: tennis; lawn tennis; squash tennis; paddle
The most obvious characteristic of this list is that
most of these games appear, at least, to be variations
technically classified as such.  A second characteristic
terms.  For example, some have derivations distinctly
court on which the game is played.  Badminton derives
the original soft ball made against the wall of the
court.  Interestingly, in spite of their obscure origins,
names communicate something specific to the layman.
or from the peculiarities of the court construction
to certain ancient racquet sports approaching obsolescence
hazy owing to recently created sports, such as racquetball
for a game played on a variety of surfaces, should be
from the titles of all official national tennis organizations.
between the aficionados, who insist on a precise distinction,
Some may consider this sheer perversity; however, I
their unique game, neglected to suggest that it combines
court.'  The meaninglessness of this term is further
illustrated by the fact that the elevation of the court
sports historians are aware, the court was originally
snow, it could not be played at ground level, and, in
fact, the later courts are so constructed.  In short,
be applied to distinguish the game from paddle tennis,
squash tennis is a possibility if we are willing to concede
know if these sports are played on a court with a net,
against a wall, or both.  A suggested solution to the
semantic confusion would be to sharpen the distinction
will eventually lose its official sanction and will
are basically the same in principle in that they involve
racket, the difference being in the dimensions of the
court, the shape and size of the racket, and the size
problem, as they are confined to a handful of exclusive
squash racquets require some clarification.  Technically,
from which it derives and with which it is often confused.
the term squash official, thus eliminating the identity
freed from ambiguity.  The problem arose when people
game played with a strung paddle, would unofficially
be argued that we should forget such a minor matter
However, times are changing and hope springs eternal.
unfortunate onomastic mess is the inflexibility and
conservatism of those who dominate the official associations
can be convinced that communication is more important
laughed, but he just looked bewildered.  I laughed,
when he was a child or a young man, he had read the
crime it is?  Which of us has not confidently used a
word for years, and then found out (probably in public,
brought up by one's parents) where the train station,
game, while the crowd is shouting to the players on
suspect, as a youngster; seeing the word in print, but
specimen in a bottle.  At this, I consulted the dictionary
was listed as an option.  Checking around, however,
I found that a lot of people said it as I said it, so
guilty of even greater ignorance.  For instance, I was
aloud: Do you suffer the painful humiliation of psoriasis?
looked it up.  Since we are on the subject of humiliation,
lawsuits which proliferate over condominium parking
reading: Roman women built fires in their brassieres.
teacher.  A college friend admitted that he had only
say, is primarily Naval fleet training.  [From Conservative
dictionary user takes etymology for granted.  This is
asked where it came from.  This reveals two assumptions:
first involves words whose histories lend themselves
change.  These rules describe the systematic transformation
histories of these words are generally more recent,
a historical incident or the name of a person.  They
are also often slang or colloquial in nature and therefore
A large number of the etymologies in the Dictionary
into this latter category.  The evidence for a given
dialect expression is often very meager, and a good
guess at the etymology is about all that can be expected.
weather for `hot, rainless weather,' which may derive
go on a bilge or drinking spree used by three Northern
usage a good guess at the etymology is about all that
can be made.  Foot as an interjection expressing irritation
probably from a Biblical allusion.  In any case, these
There is also the learned guess, as in the etymology
the horn meaning `to be unlucky,' which is probably
at best, the DARE editor usually has to deal with a
larger `gray area' than the editor of a general dictionary.
by urban black speakers, I discovered three possible
one to jump very high or disappear' and `to disappear'
conflicting etymologies.  This has become very clear
that column I discussed the origins of the ubiquitous
high priest of this movement whose adherents cultivated
tour and presented in the flesh the image of an aesthete.
it is coined from dud an `article of clothing' altered
to incorporate attitude with reference to the dude's
`lazy fellow,' literally `drowsy head.'  In this sense,
Again we see etymologists struggling with uncertainty
This seems to encourage word buffs to take a stab at
letters I receive are any indication.  When I missed a
good alternative guess at the origin of cold turkey
referring to a drug addict who quits abruptly, I received
correcting me.  I had argued, as does the unabridged
transitional concept is presumably unfeeling abruptness.
opiates.  The nodular appearance is that of the skin
very plausible, though impossible to prove.  However,
The phrase could have come from to talk cold turkey
disputed word histories in A History of English in Its
role of the educated guess.  But if etymological uncertainty
word histories fun.  Playing with the words of uncertain
and at its best, it is the formulation of a plausible
clues that in the end also amount to a guess, albeit an
vows, could he not be directing Romeo to consummate
Athletic team nicknames have delighted and inspired
at the center of a surprisingly bitter controversy.
Such spectacles, they contend, make a lurid mockery
preserve the heritage of native tribes?  Despite its
air of implausibility and apparent unreality, this issue
over words.  Instead, it raises serious questions of
cultural institutions.  Ironically, it also touches on an
rollicking nicknames.  Eastern tribes, for example,
used to delight and amaze early colonists with their
to anthropologists, the practice originated as a superstitious
first nicknames were apparently primitive aliases.  In
Even today, nicknames sometimes serve as a protective
obese person from even worse insults).  Like an inoculation,
in which braves showed off their flair for wisecracks
example, we cannot be sure whether it was primitive
suggests `Wanton Valley' or `Wild Place') rather than
stranger's curious garb.  Did not these savage Newcomers
doubts out west.  At the same time, the cavalry officer's
buffalo fur.  The troopers, for their part, enjoyed the
today.  Contrary to the views of sentimentalists, a
names, Redskins actually predates its New World usage
War.  They were in any case in popular use well before
original members of the National Association of Professional
Baseball Players, the world's first fully professional
poetry and local color than for any drollery or satire
actually mean.  It had originally been the name of a
however, is `Place of the Clipped Heads,' a reference
which, in a curious way, might also be considered an
Chiefs practically personified Spider baseball during
fans grew accustomed to the epithet and began using
it themselves, gradually converting it into an unofficial
shrine and surviving legacy of this memorable Native
changes in taste and fashion, a few by having fallen
victim to the Black Robes of political correctness.
recently the vibrant and storied nickname of Eastern
robust fellows who trapped and hunted in the vicinity
compliment, a friendly jest passed from one scruffy
hardly known for their dainty manicures and designer
Nicknaming, it seems fair to conclude, is an activity
laugh at others and hold all aspects of life together
whether that caused the crash or was just another sign the
ought to read this book; furthermore, it is a reasonably
safe prediction that it will prove readable, enjoyable,
in English linguistics and associated with lexicography,
realistic assessment of its present position among the
Transplanted; Postcolonial English; English Improved;
Proper English.  To gain access to much of the material
recondite sources; certainly, it would be difficult
to select and organize it so effectively and palatably.
Bailey writes well.  One of the structural features to
be particularly savored in each chapter is the author's
perceived by citing passages from prominent commentators.
interest; neither cryptically brief nor tediously long,
they accurately reflect the opinions on, for example,
comments on Proper English are reflected in extracts
clinical view of the scholarly observer, and I could
find little evidence, even in the selection of extracts,
who are concerned that the vibrant vitality of English
derive consolation (but little pleasure) from the attempts
Improved.  Notwithstanding my personal speculations
pressures of feminism, I could find nothing that interferes
themselves qualified to offer opinions about the English
as far as I am aware, no one has, till this book, taken
the trouble to engage in a comprehensive, comprehensible
that Bailey has remained coolly aloof from his subject,
for everywhere the reader can sense the affectionate
the most uninvolved, scientifically analytical dissection
offers a good, but not overlong list of References, an
Index of Names, and a Subject Index.  My only cavil
is with the compositor's (editor's, and proofreader's)
Although this book contains much excellent material,
rather than the authors: it lacks an index of words
thirteen blank pages at the end).  The text is organized
Insults, Epithets, and Expletives, and so on; without
expressions is denied, thus reducing the usefulness
words.  The treatment is clinical and contains much
useful ancillary information concerning usage, dialect,
of considerable research, all of which is presented
speculations.  It is curious, though, to find so few
references in the Bibliography to articles that have
agreed that euphemism is the deliberate substitution
of a socially acceptable, or laundered term for one
it is inappropriate to a given situation, irreligious,
prejudicial, and so forth).  The cultural perception
television advertising of gear for the incontinent and
too many negative connotations to felicitously execute
The terms used here are not immediately transparent:
broadest way, it would seem to me that the definition
say, whether an expression is euphemistic, neutral,
or taboo is a matter of connotation, and the fact that
intention is used to mean both denotation and connotation:
loss of face is entirely irrelevant: if what is meant
Speaker lose face by offending Hearer's sensibilities
offends a hearer's sensibilities directly suffers loss of
both, and it is substituted for a neutral or euphemistic
one's opponents, things one wishes to show disapproval
In the first part, I am not sure that one can say that
there anything inherently offensive?  Is not the offensiveness
minds of the audience?  In any event, even these criteria
getting at, to paraphrase the infinite wisdom of Pigs
speaker to use a taboo word in place of socially acceptable
of the user to employ it to an insulting, derogatory,
must be extremely careful to cleave to rigid definitions
its loosest sense, quite a different one from that demanded
have been better to have described raising taxes as a
term that is politically inexpedient (itself a useful
levels and the fact that euphemisms are seldom used
male friends, in a bar, in a team changing room, in a
prison).  Those who leave a social gathering to use
the toilet usually say, Excuse me; it might, depending
cares enough about a person's temporary disappearance
to want to know its details?  Also absent is comment
when used, as it is in medical slang, to refer to human
The authors might also have discussed the deliberate
of the studio audience are evidently easily convulsed
in the many terms used against ethnic and religious
groups, which need not be retailed here.  As the authors
sex, lust, and bodily parts, to which one should add
amount of valuable material, much of which is admittedly
depends so much on context.  But that is not an excuse
bound to produce different descriptions and different
calls me an older brother; but I insist that I am his
of this statement.  To get a caller (or a reader) to
participate for the first time indicates a growing audience.
this, whether or not admitted publicly.  Though this
caller has not called before, he is not a new listener.
works to know that the statement pulls just a little
sycophancy, you say.  More nearly the opposite.  US
magazines needed to do the job.  Radio is the same.
Whatever subject a radio host picks, he has targeted
some listeners, lost others.  The caller in this instance
says that is what the host is supposed to say.  But
the reference is not necessarily to that particular
call.  Sometimes all the lines are occupied.  The host
can read on his computer screen an indication, provided
caller wishes to talk about.  More often than not, the
host has only limited time: maybe a dull caller can
be disposed of quickly; on the other hand, an interesting
gentle and courteous kind of person one should have
[I am sure that, like me, there are readers who appreciate
As a frequent writer of letters to The Times and an
occasional writer to other periodicals, all of which
points made.  But, as the letter itself makes clear,
Bible writers have, presumably, a latitude of interpretation
means only `young woman,' certainly connotes virginity.
the goal in writing is to avoid ambiguity, the goal in
use of gunsel and describes him as meaning it in the
thought that VERBATIM readers might appreciate this
One of the purposes of the primaries is for members
am proud to be an unreconstructed linguistic traditionalist.
Holy Trinity is and always will be Father, Son, and
If this drivel carries through to its logical conclusion
adjective that will not be deemed offensive to some
titled.  This usage muddies the distinction between
and I see no justification for it.  I call this practice
was always willing to use a bigger word that seemed
title to,' appear to be coeval, both given their earliest
might be dictated by the style, meter, and rhythm of
would conflict.  A similar notion surrounds the word
English, show the two forms to be of virtually contemporaneous
was nonverbal: on seeing his wife off at the railway
station, he is reported to have kissed the porter and
tipped his wife sixpence.  The other was made to an
does not mention a problem I had as a boy in referring
younger brother?  My eldest brother must have suffered
to allow them to digest this information, then said
though interesting and amusing, contains some misunderstandings.
sleep like a loose leg' but `to sleep with loose legs,'
`vacation,' that is, if you're not in school you're
this context, it means `beat, rhythm.'  The expression
should be `to find the last to one's shoe, or to meet
ducks are usually considered objects of sympathy, as
[Readers' attention is drawn to articles on the subject
me to thinking about a related subject: anglicisms in
sharp lookout on his nightly rounds, neither may realize
brought the word into the language.  What is one to
make of the plumber listed in the yellow pages under
A confusion of a different kind underlay the former
either the old or the expurgated Calendar of Saints,
would be better rendered as `at the foot of the letter.'
in irony.  The very title is a small masterpiece of
accurate transcription from Bacon's essays.  As one
deliberately infiltrating many of his own whimsical
inaccuracies into his critique, he in effect preempts
subtlety at the very end of the article.  President
hard and use too broad an irony, they risk sounding
facetious; if they stay deadpan and use too subtle an
deeply pious instead of hilariously parodic.  Perhaps
point, has edged beyond the critical angle of irony,
risking a literal reading.  Certainly I, for one, was
expos itself.  Fortified with that realization, I went
really just a ruse, and that an ironic reading was the
participants in that famously anticlimactic exchange
other reasons.  Here, first of all, is the full story
of any so aged or so learned as yourself.  He looked
so kindly at me that I thought I might go on.  Every
studious man, in the course of a long and thoughtful
life, has had occasion to experience the special value
since you care for the advice of an old man, sir, you
will find it a very good practice (here he looked me
in the face) always to verify your references, sir!
College, Oxford, in his thirties and, since there was
to that office until his death, in 1854--at the age of
dog: he apparently brought it up to think of itself as
English literature for two immortal lines of poetry
meanings of bright `mentally alert' and `physically
that's a different kind of fastness, he replied, It
was all kinds of fastness with me, I can assure you!
aircraft, such as the Piper Cub, used the material,
what term was used then.  I am sure that a search of
the appropriate literature would reveal its early use,
see that the method used for launching was to have a
glider, which was held in place by others.  When the
anchor men released the glider, it flew into the air
The captions of such photographs often refer to this
further to indicate that bungee did not originate with
Dictionary of the English Language properly defines
his public position on such things as the universality
but when asked about it later, he claimed that what
generally amused (though not deceived) by this humorous
drawings, such wildlife as The Untouchable Incumbent,
prominence once called Squaw Tit (not all of the pioneers
a semblance of the original appellation changed the
the new name, the final e was unfortunately omitted.
bang.  Some of us may even take a slightly perverse
delight in the ability to rattle off the first 90-odd
ingredient in a popular variety of ersatz diamond has
The following article makes no attempt to be a 20-minute
party and starts dropping terms such as stoichiometry
as the temperature of your beer rises slowly but inexorably
many complex substances with which we are surrounded
from a much smaller number of basic elements is documented
Today we are accustomed to thinking of elements and
elements represented efforts by different philosophic
schools to explain the discrepancy between appearances
elements earth, water, air and fire (or sunlight) in different
basic ingredients in nature was much older, possibly
firm hold of one another, for some bodies are scalene
others convex... (As it turns out, atoms don't quite
proteins of a cell that function as receptor sites for
harmful invaders such as viruses can be blocked with
when placed in a solution of mixed sugars, some bacteria
Club because they can digest dextrose but leave its
of the early Enlightenment created a conceptual environment
Newton's day in the notation of chemical reactions,
elements got assigned symbols of one or two letters,
for scholarly communication across national and linguistic
it has the same number of free electrons as hydrogen,
pickling solution, used to dissolve surface sulfides
Unlike sodium, free potassium reacts violently with
free and much more apt to be encountered in compounds.  Potassium iodide
and a gas in its natural state) is necessary to the
above) to produce true saltpeter: potassium nitrate
the three can be combined to explosive effect in as
many a molecule for two atoms of potassium, sodium,
The association of lime and bones is not accidental:
but the fossilized skeletons of tiny sea animals, and
Quicklime is quick (that is, alive, as in the quick
used, during the Middle Ages, as a powerful precursor
other substances, but its chemical symbol is Sb, from
a hair blackener for their eyebrows, and in ophthalmology
Most of the elements discovered in the first exuberant
because miners first noticed it as a stubborn adulterant
there are a few curve balls here as well, such as tungsten
However, it now appears to have a far more complicated
from a slough in a wet part of a field and was tipped
off by the whitish mud clinging to the animal's feet to
radioactive atoms to throw off particles and decay to
organism such as a tree.  This permits a means of reasonably
atoms in molecules such as sulfates and hydroxides:
that when radioactive elements began being synthesized
someone still living at the time of its discovery.  (He
fruitful source of names for both natural and synthetic
named for the asteroid Ceres, both having been discovered
used to know was divided into three parts) and, in a
gesture of unusual levity, as a pun on the name of its
new atom turned out to be plural.  To make the best
got names from pieces of the first: Erbium (Er) and
jewelers and their public because the high refractive
being discovered to this day.  As of last year, the
decaying in millionths of a second into lighter elements
names for them, honoring physicists and the locations
stars, our sun included) are the result of the catastrophic
depressing or exhilarating, depending on one's point
of view; at any rate it seems true enough as far as
the Big Picture goes: First there was nothing.  Then
had so widespread an effect on a rising generation in
offering in a set of works, edited by the mathematician
there was any unity of science.  That it was the final
volume in the series may, however, have been entirely
The formula for sulfuric acid will never be forgotten
recounted in his collection of autobiographical essays
that this is a veiled reference to the scandalous affair
his parish and the wife of his successor as editor of the
was proposed to us while this article was in preparation,
to my attention this tidy cosmological synopsis (personal
with as few changes as possible, and we hope that it
resubscribed, sight unseen, and especially those who
enclosed heartening notes, made helpful suggestions,
new ones in this issue.  In choosing the articles you
for their help. (Hazel has agreed to continue as our
we are a little more wired than before, and it's not
up the major Internet search indexes.  Eventually, we
Word, Inc., which has applied for nonprofit status.
fingers for us.  Our purpose is to promote learning
if you would be interested in a Best of collection of
past articles.  Many, many of you were, so I am asking
caught the typo in the last line of the survey: The
classic you instead of your.  And thanks to those of
you who wrote in about the double possessive in the
salutation of the letters.  To lift from the latest
become clogged with ads.  According to our nonprofit
which absolutely rules out ads for personal watercraft,
out your holiday lists.  Due to the marvelous response
from former subscribers, the special $25/year rate in
else) will be good for the foreseeable future.  Write,
to bring you all up to date.  First, let me answer the
of and inspiration behind the project, shows few signs
(where he was born and later did the research for his
When will Volume IV be available?  is more difficult
to answer.  Before I try, let me give a quick synopsis of
the project for those who aren't already familiar with it.
reference tool unlike any other.  Its aim is not to prescribe
describe the language we use as cultivated speakers
and writers.  Instead, it tries to document the varieties
vary from one region to another, that are learned at
home rather than at school, or that are part of our oral
tremendous size of the country, there are still many
thousands of differences that characterize the various
dialect regions of the United States.  It is these differences
materials (diaries, letters, novels, histories, biographies,
cover our history from the colonial period up to the
entries to illustrate how words have been used from
the seventeenth century through the end of the twentieth.
vary regionally or differ from what would be expected),
statements about regional and social distributions of
investigated during the fieldwork.  The maps are distorted
to reflect population density rather than geographic
pleased to say).  It had gone into a fifth printing within
IV will include P through the middle of S (we hate to
divide a letter in the middle, but you all know how big
they are strange to you, see below for their meanings.)
smearcase.  Not to be outdone in creativity, the natural
was contingent on our maintaining our earlier level
of funding, which has become increasingly difficult,
and, in the last few years, impossible.  In fact, our
financial woes necessitated a staff reduction last summer,
can provide very limited financial support.  Our funding
Foundation has had to move on to other worthy projects.
see that this project reaches the only reasonable conclusion
bright spot in our funding picture is that the Dean of
joined our staff, and will be devoting his considerable
Endowment for the Humanities will continue to provide
of the project depends largely on private philanthropy.
might be able to help.  If you can be part of our support
reaches of the United States.  I was one; the others
We went through a week of orientation and instruction,
having our driving and phonetic transcription skills
had identified the communities we were to visit.  It
begin each project by notifying the county sheriff,
town clerk, or other officials, and to ask them for
The ideal informant (INF) was a native and lifelong
all social ranks and occupations, who could remember
social, domestic, economic, and natural environments,
with at least a little linguistic training and a lot of
general as the INF knew about the local part of it.
the metropolitan area.  To increase coverage, I divided
black gardener from downtown.  For the other I went
people expect visitors to sit and visit a spell before
bringing up their business.  From dealing with academic
administrators, I knew to come straight to the point
with personages who sit behind large desks and have
their time allocated by secretaries.  One of my teachers,
like me always had to state their business clearly when
looking for a resident of a black neighborhood; otherwise
good and pretend not to know the person.  Because my
city experience was largely limited to student enclaves,
however, nothing prepared me for establishing turf in
where I was introduced by a city councilman: a bar,
Parasol's, which played a central role in the social and
INF who would withdraw to a private spot for a quiet
interview; I just had to show up every afternoon and
male residents came in and agreed to talk there in the
bar.  Women stayed on the restaurant side, and I was
much fun as anybody if I had not had work to do, but
keeping the QR going required continual exercise of
the will.  Normally, with one INF, once we established
understood the answers.  In Parasol's, though, I had to
struggle every night to shape and defend my identity
because it never did settle down to a single role that
every actor could play to.  To some I was the guy writing
and repeatedly tried to start friendly arguments about
began asking some himself.  I explained cordially what
anger, I stood up, slammed my fist to the table, and
got a fight on my hands.  Sensing I had to show some
to start nothing.  He didn't back off for long; after I
the Dictionary.  I think, he said, it's a lot of bullshit.
be able to check the Dictionary if he caught a mudfish
north had all been earnest Protestants with a utilitarian
outlook.  This man resided in a Catholic neighborhood
parade the day after this year's was over.  I should
Yeah, he said, but I still think it's a lot of bullshit.
learning activity of play all the way through adulthood
academic study is not serious in the same sense that
like a good time.  I grinned and looked the man in the
eye and said, To tell you the truth, I think it's a lot
an outsider; she realized she should make allowances
for my ignorance.  That story is worth telling, if only
I had used the day before because it was a dirty word
and I would get in trouble for it.  At the time I could
meant, we had something.  I pursued the investigation
to avoid offense to her, she and the customer agreed
slyly they knew what word I meant.  I learned over to
cute, furry animals: pussy, beaver, squirrel, monkey,
size and amatory tenacity, but the metaphor persisted.
at our destination and were safely on the sidewalk, my
Well, yes, I began.  I mean, no.  It's both, really.
all those cherries, did she put up preserves or put
directions, do you go down the road for a mile before
tease out a few differences.  First of all, when an
establishment shuts up, it simply closes, but when it
shuts down, it ceases activity.  If this sounds like too
nice a distinction, consider common usage: factories
shut down rather than shutting up; conversely, your
rude brother may ask you to shut up, not shut down.
Similarly, putting up food often involves sealing it in
jars later stored on shelves, as opposed to putting
down a good supply of hay for your livestock.  As for
which way to go on a road, up is either literally up a
rise, due north, or just the way the speaker is pointing.
a house versus ripping down the same structure, for
instance, or the hearty  Drink it down!  instead of
meaning alters its angle slightly here.  Ripping up anything
means destroying it, often by severing the connective
up a draft card.  To rip down a building, on the other
comparably.  Idiomatic drinking, like drinking itself, is
a little fuzzier, but two senses coexist: having your
comrades clap you on the back as you tilt up your beer
a road should be in the opposite direction of to look
down it, just as to look up to a person you admire is
the course of to look down on an inferior.  But what
about expressions that split unevenly?  To sit up is at
down means to sit, whereas sitting up means that you
were already sitting but are now improving your posture.
that, just not on the stage or dais.  Of course, if you're
in the military, to stand down is to be at ease, no
direction.  You dig up buried treasure but dig down on
your energy reserves to finish that race.  You can be
down from university is a bit of a disgrace, similar to
expulsion in the United States.  Why are these ups and
downs not polar opposites?  If it comes to that, even
antonyms, except that each has one or more secondary
up from the ground or to arise from bed.  In the nominal
the refrains of so many funk songs from the 1970's.  To
throw up a parcel onto the boat may be the opposite
of to throw down that parcel onto the loading dock,
refer just to food: you can put up a guest (and put up
with him, as well) or put down a dying dog (a milder
complementary in terms of location or regard: look up
has a tertiary meaning, as in looking up a word in the
pace, whereas keep down is to oppress, or not to disgorge.
the mining business and what an efficient hell it was.
or run up a gross of a new product, or just run up a
already stuffed suitcase, better first pack down what
you have in there.  If you live it up too freely, you
catch up to your rival, but who ever heard of catch
'fess up or own up, but not in any other direction.
boss.  Your feelings may be pent up inside, not pent
the warm up for an athletic meet is paired after the
instances of slant usage, from read in and read out
synonym (same meaning), antonym (opposite meaning),
Sandwich), and acronym (formed from the initial letters
includes the initial letters.  But can't we be more precise?
first letter of several words.  Then, we'll need a word
for a word formed from the first two letters of words.
sense of acronym but uses the combining form bi- signifying
because we are using only the first two letters from
existing combining form, prefix, root, or suffix should
word for them.  A fairly well known example is prequel
the word that means an episode or a movie that portrays
Lord Kelvin is credited with coining mho by reversing
body whose resistance is one ohm.  We could also call
also came to mean a point that was not debatable or
We also need a word for a word that illustrates its
own meaning.  Oxymoron means a phrase that contrasts
meaning pointedly foolish, which itself derives from
true or real).  This is not as rare a category as you
noun).  Prefix almost qualifies; at least it illustrates a
an etymology that is no longer true.  Atom literally
means a hypothetical body that is so small that it is
Of course, in the age of neutrons, protons, electrons,
particle that cannot be divided into smaller particles.
whose original meaning has been altered, but is not
but precisely meaning something good that is unexpectedly
destination and found something even better, by fortunate
a new word but also the use of new words.  Besides,
a journalist best known for travel books, have earned
payment in the six figures sterling?  It is, after all, a
description of what they do every day as lexicographers.
them in a dictionary.  It does not seem the sort of
recreation was riding a huge tandem tricycle around
declared: So enormous have been Dr. Minor's contributions
easily illustrate the last four centuries from his quotations
indexes to old books; it was an obsession with him.
bodies and rosebud nipples and long hair and coltish
legs with scarlet and purple petals folded behind their
run, quite without shame, along the cool wet sands on
These girls are not, perhaps, altogether fictional;
Minor would later tell people that he began to entertain
lascivious thoughts about the time he was thirteen.
while he got more education than the mission schools
life of an army surgeon in that dismal year was horrifying,
the Wilderness, part of the brutal and grueling campaign
something badly wrong with Minor, and when he continued
became apparent that he was unfit for his responsibilities
the shooting.  Minor was tried, found insane, and committed
project and began to copy words from old books.  And
Minor a few times and was grateful for his contributions
had been intimate some fifteen years earlier is utterly
speculative.  This is one of many flights of fancy during
Consider the movie: what script writer would show us
now it was time to shift the costs of his upkeep to the
of the Philological Society's dictionary, was not the
Bugger grips is his intriguing term for what others
is getting very rich from a story pretty well known to
Minor descendant and found a trove of correspondence
that Minor was in the asylum; it was as obvious from
its base.  These are alluring possibilities for film.
And remarkable accents to a story that is essentially
and the political ramifications obvious.  It may be of
The debate is virtually meaningless.  Most students
question as it is a linguistic one.  So, for example, the
referred to as dialects, and the other group as languages
any internal feature of the speech varieties themselves.
education system, etc.  For example, in a syndicated
as merely bad English, as opposed to a valid language.
and that what determines a particular variety's status
has virtually nothing to do with the internal features
of that variety and everything to do with the class,
and in this case the race, of the speakers involved.  In
short, the issue is the color of their skin, not the color
referred to speakers of Black English as illiterate
thugs. The juxtaposition of the two terms is revealing.
words, bad English is what is spoken by bad people.
This assumption is pervasive in our society.  Someone
who speaks a prestigious dialect is thereby thought
in the New York public school system.  The class was
referred to as the last class before jail. On the first
and the radio talk show host is crucial.  Schooling and
morality are not synonymous, and probably show virtually
no significant correlation.  In the current discussion,
of Black English are careless and lazy and that the
particular variety of speech involved has no rules.
That positions such as these are articulated and published
differ from those of other dialects may be revealing.
Consider the following data.  (I hesitate to refer to
dialects as standard or nonstandard, since it seems
post is pronounced something like [poss].  The simplest
of [t] under certain circumstances.  So, for example,
rule, in fact, is more general, applying to [d] as well.
Notice, however, that the rule for the deletion of [t]
Otherwise, if [t] deletion preceded plural formation,
then [post] would become [pos] and the plural would
of Black English, the plural of post is, in fact, pronounced
the same rules as I have, but in the opposite order.  In
Dialect B. Plural formation followed by [t] deletion
Dialect C. [t] deletion followed by plural formation.
students representing each of the three speech varieties.
student a hot lunch; get that student something.  The
fact is that such a student has demonstrated the ability
to read.  What the student needs is a better teacher.
School Board was suggesting: the simple, commonsense
if they knew something about the speech patterns of
the people they were trying to teach.  Unfortunately,
debate over whether Black English is or is not a language.
the word genetic to refer to Black English.  That some
actually took this to mean that people are born with a
predisposition to acquire a particular language would
be laughable if it were not so pernicious.  (Some years
ago, there was a brief article in the newspaper about
able to speak to the child when it grew up.  She was
equally misinformed but not as malicious as the current
In fact, the origin of some of the features of Black
English is of some theoretical, scholarly interest.
Slaves in this country were systematically separated
from their families, and put in situations where they
could not use their native language.  In such a situation,
what typically develops is what is referred to as a
pidgin, based on the language of the environment, in
this case, English.  The next generation acquires this
language as a product of their linguistic maturation,
and this variety is sometimes called a creole.  Over the
succeeding centuries, this language has undergone a
slaves in other countries were not systematically isolated,
words, there is a historical explanation for the emergence
of Black English, but it surely has little relevance
English can evolve in our educational institutions.
Given the emotional and uninformed reaction so far,
arguments from the puritanical, everyone is familiar
with this word in its many forms.  Newspapers coyly
parts of speech.  And everyone has a favorite passage,
good picture of the word's history, both etymological
major revision could be supported.  The revision is
in progress at the time of this writing, and this is a
anecdotes from the Introduction.  We have accordingly
or interesting story.  The earliest example of fuck,
describes monks fucking.  (Seemingly a popular subject
original edition gave sparse details on the background
fuck in the movies.  We are still researching this, but
issues, in the movies, no one tried to place fuck onto
Brown, in fact fuck appeared there, spelled in full,
Maybe you have to find out for yourself.  Fuck.  You
will be expanding our treatment of this, and including
the first known appearance of an acronymic etymology
an earlier piece of folklore about the origin of the
to the original form of the tale, before the battle of
waving two fingers at them, saying that those fingers
defeat the mighty French.  After the English annihilated
version limits it to the single middle finger).  The
recent twist has been to note the fact that longbows
the act of drawing the bowstring was called plucking
still pluck yew!  Pluck yew!  at them.  A few convenient
On the serious side, considerably more etymological
argues convincingly that the word is part of a large
back and forth (not to thrust, as most dictionaries,
will refer to the hilarious Studies Out in Left Field:
(ungrammatical).  The omission of this classic, first
itself (a not uncommon situation in the field, I might
me) to forgo a bibliography should not have prevented
added.  Several readers suggested the addition of that
but emotionally uninvolved, but it does appear often
instance of reversal of normal sex roles; (specifically)
Another unfortunate omission was fuck buddy a sexual
but have hopes of bettering.  To mercy fuck and sport
word rape wasn't shocking enough.  The bizarre lesbian
group use of sex toys seems, contrary to expectations,
marked by flagrant social climbing; insults such as
Partridge, it dates to the nineteenth century, a claim
(where it has been used since the 1960s), a statement
also used for a bus on which one can meet prospective
Everyone and his or her brother or sister, it seems,
has a favorite fuck -related usage.  And in most cases,
nonce world.  The introduction to the first edition
listed several such words, suggested by colleagues,
brought a blizzard of ever more outrageous suggestions,
can only be guessed at.  Many suggestions also failed
crucial effort.  Early examples force us to rethink
development of language.  The original work for The
the last several years has been small, which is both
research) and bad (no breakthroughs).  The insulting
that these terms were in use in the 1940s.  Happily,
without catching these cites.  This article also provided
[shoes] (with various specific types of shoes), was
money, unknown to the editor before a reader letter
genuine attestations, we were satisfied.  (Preference
is given to actual examples in running text, then to
printed glossarial evidence, and finally to orally collected
Phoebe from seeing such vulgarity.  Another important
portmanteau from butt fucker, was already in with a
flirts with all the guys in the class.  Under fuck up
use of fuck to be regularly found in dictionaries of
forms, has delivered an impressive return of citations.
florid entries in the stronger, more vivid, or more
chiefly by not including marginal terms in the first
also be considered secure; an item with only a single
glossarial citation would have been kept out unless a
confirming example could be solicited.  An included
marginal term, then, would be one from a single oral
or written source that does not parallel another term
and appears, in this editor's opinion, to be unlikely.
Those that are on the ropes for this revision, include
extensive database searching; fuck 5.b. to trifle or
expression for loafing on duty, which is too uninteresting
choose to pick up this book, will be faced with this
when we try to record native names (as in transcription).
make a place seem a little less strange), names which
show evidence of discovery, etc.  He stresses, however,
name given.  In fact, it is difficult to consider one
without the other.  They are capable of reinforcing
only an introduction to the subject and asks for more
done.  However, in this work the author is unable to
group has its own ways of looking at nature, its own
set of distinctions between things in a general class,
posed by its language.  Including terms for artifacts
of all kinds that are useful cultural clues, these elements
in the Fifteenth Century speaks for itself, and the
it, namely, which is to ask if the study of imaginary
establishes a certain universality for the uprising:
accordingly, the names can be attributed to no specific
a part.  Brown emphasizes that the last two languages
examples of the relevance of literary name studies.
away or go astray.  His persona was just such a type:
mocking God, leading others astray, scornfully getting
itself.  I would go no farther than point out a possible
How many parents realize that the currently popular
are often chosen without knowledge of their linguistic
nevertheless persists as an important basis for selection:
about roots and meanings and as long as these books
are read and used, the knowledge of these works will
we learn that all letters exist as a surname (and are
It isn't clear to this reviewer just what place the
than those she has described in this paper and therefore
he has barely scratched the surface in his article, yet
slang snootful).  Anyone curious about technical linguistics
semantic peculiarities and that names resemble slang
us.  For example, one extreme lexical transformation
lady and (using the same title) also a means of admiration
political events or dates function in symphony titles.
Nationality, and the Incongruity Factor, our attention
their nationality.  One example will suffice: until
But this isn't all: the book has extensive indices,
Abstracts (all written by the authors) and Topics of
lists information about the careers and research of
about items of mutual interest.  In brief, then, it is
Last week, as I was arranging my notes on solecisms
I suddenly realized that updating the long list, even
without citing dates and perpetrators, had begun to
telling myself all along, police work is tedious; but
stint of alphabetizing and partially annotating a few
[A respected local philanthropist's] name will live in
had that list and now, rather than just sitting there
lapses, many, still to be entered in my trustee notebook.
all my bored days, I would never have believed that
she had not reached the highest pinochle of success.
Now, I was saddened to see that her words, compared
I saw that it was high tide for me to stop wrecking
remain the clowning achievement, it was time for me
Today, nearly seven hundred years later, it remains
intact despite the vicissitudes of time and a language
characterization.  We insatiable travelers have seen
similar scenes enacted many times around the watering
from this malaise when finding themselves on foreign
all, and for the best reason in the world: he does not
massive quantities of porridge during its formative
proud Scot myself, I feel that a much more probable
reason for this apparent lack of linguistic ambition is
to be found in the regional dialect.  There are parts
more delicate nasal nuances of the French language.
Patter, famous for its infamous glottal stop and raw,
fact, not a separate language at all.  It is just one
listening pretty carefully to figure that out on first
years ago I happened to be visiting the translation
young French translator.  The subject of regional dialects
new to this country and having, so far, only encountered
a tight little island as ours, and that so much of it
could be unintelligible to the uninitiated.  We were
interrupted by the arrival of a worker clad in a boiler
suit of some antiquity.  I could not recall having seen
through me.  She was about to get her first lesson,
and I could feel in my bones that it was going to be a
squashed cigarette from somewhere inside it and lit
look that spanned the ages.  He coughed harshly and
spat copiously on the ground.  Then he let her have
overseer is a loquacious and diminutive fellow of a
afflicted with a strabismus of the sinistral optical
member, and that he is currently attired in a rather
clicked shut and she lanced me with a look of frosted
It would also ban public consumption of alcohol and
county of virtually unshakable local accents, it was
on a coble, a traditional fishing boat working out of
and it was during those years at sea that I learned
aye, skipper.  But the initiated know that there is a
great deal more to this little gem than meets the ear,
That was the sum total of the conversation.  After a
the hidden complexity of such a brief exchange.  Unknown
spot at the harbor offered the maximum shelter from
the weather of the day.  After an appropriate period
of time, some sort of taciturn group decision would
several hours, all attention turned to the prevailing
is he?  It was more of a statement than a question.)
with a short ending: That's right, very lucky to get
is correct, I don't think that the mist will clear, not
speed to be traveling; and what are they doing, driving
Silence.  A big lift (sea, wave) came in the harbor
It was studied thoughtfully, the implications for the
middle: Not only is it misty, but the sea is making
can't see that we'll be out today, just you mark my
the end: That's right, we'd have been far better off
More silence.  One of the fishermen lazily drew his
followed by other Ayes of agreement, but all different.)
Aye, aye.  (First one level, second one descending:
radio requests program a few years ago, the presenter
brightest of speakers will produce occasional misfires,
faulty accessing: a funfair of trumpets; a prawn in
was conspicuous enough to inspire the title of a comedy
of deviation are in reality neither very common nor
particularly revealing.  The interesting types of deviation
types (widely unrecognized, it seems, perhaps because
lexical mistakes; mistakes of stress, intonation, and
wrong word or syllable, modulating the pitch incorrectly
questioning rather than affirming tone), and pausing
a written sentence carries a higher risk of ambiguity
specifically invites being enunciated in a withering
out loud the following sentences, for instance, without
context.  It is context that makes smoothly intelligible
Written sentences that in isolation appear ambiguous
will snap into focus when enmeshed in a larger discourse;
But put the sentence in context, and it suddenly becomes
should fall (to point up the contrast, established in
happen that they have little or no time to acquaint
themselves with the script before reading it on air:
traffic bulletins or revised continuity announcements
that would guard against such lapses: above all, to
of clangers.  (Of the six examples quoted below, four
perhaps, in technical parlance, examples of faulty tonicity
(The unwanted pause after time reveals a misreading
As he talked about his life  and played his catholic
life's inequities.  (Get rid of that last pause, and
place the second of the emphases more on inequities
than on ponderer; the current rhythmic and intonational
constitute a restrictive rather than a nonrestrictive
than accurate pronunciation?  Isn't it time, for instance,
He could not shake the dread feeling that he and all
the others who had been involved in those projects were
sitting on a bomb that, sooner or later, would explode in
and mitigate damages, it appears we neglected to empathize
We must, I believe, strive to rout out these corrupting
Stoat's first attempt, a novella (untitled, like all
He was dissatisfied with this even before the ink was
the context.  And, more subtly, the light's being on
contains the event of its having been turned on.  But,
most tellingly, it was argued by critics that the haddock
even if it were rather drawn out and somewhat uninteresting.
Absorbing these criticisms, Stoat came to the realization
you have a verb, things happen.  By definition.  He
he attempted to add interest by scattering adjectives
and adverbs everywhere.  But after a time, he had to
recognize that even though the text did not actually
describe anything happening, the mind had an extraordinary
adjectives actually helped.  Quite interesting things
reader's mind; so if that mind became full of imagined
Stoat came to the realization that substantives, too,
were the problem.  Write a noun and the reader will
With horror, Stoat realized that this was worse!  The
text provided a backcloth for all sorts of imaginings.
Amazing events were enacted in the minds of readers,
for instance, was so loaded with connotation that it
too had to be avoided.  Stoat flirted briefly with a
form of writing that used only the definite and indefinite
He ruefully concluded that even this could stimulate
readers' imaginations.  These images would start to
not the great generality of his readers.  He tried it.
A whole new set of problems emerged.  With a little
more imagination, readers could see all sorts of English
words hidden in the text.  With mounting despondency,
defeat his purpose.  To substitute pictures would be
to enter the world of graphic art and to desert literature.
more pragmatic marveled at the piquancy of the single
children under twelve, only a dollar.  [From Hillbilly,
them.  We carefully considered spelling, punctuation,
many times, so the texts must have seemed unexceptional
were potatoes, cheese, and chicken stock; local folk
cash cashier's station in the wicket grated window;
nothing to it, literally, there's nothing there.  We
on the autoroute interstate; if you are going to the
We receive subventions subsidies; we give conferences
There is increasingly a syntactic change in the use of
the present perfect for the simple past, as in I have
but traditionally it has had a different meaning; this
French would be unable to understand that question.
that the farm has stopped work on the paddock, an enclosed
whose view of random mutations is the currently accepted
virus, are there explanations that are not guesses?
cannot be science, since the matter is not involved
and logic and experience surely play a crucial role
must, or rather, want to say, that one of the prime
that most of all the people who ever lived are alive
That has not been true even for the past two centuries.
certainly much higher.  A similar result is arrived at
by calculating in a different way: the almanac estimates
search for elegant formulations obscured his judgment
in the world of linguistic glasnost..., he cites only
which didn't exist before and has since been eliminated
Pomposity of expression is no substitute for clarity
capitalizing on the human desire to travel and have
his argument with the two widely diverging definitions
glaringly telling example of all juxtaposing definitions:
defined the form of government which its every action
theatrical production with primitive scenery; a theatrical
farce, tomfoolery, preposterous piece of buffoonery.
Does not one come away from these definitions of the
The Random House Dictionary of the English Language
similar etymology, stating that balcony is ultimately
there, but I do know that it's a sulfur area (probably
I can remember (possibly inaccurately as well as incompletely);
list.  Other southern pronunciations that strike the
[oil]                  all        [f]            fifth
Frozen Chosen), I was in a battalion personnel unit
and handled daily Morning Reports from each battery.
instances of AWOL, it was reported daily.  The use of
not reported as any kind of leave: they compensated
a person some time off for a job well done or for a
Blacks, sadly, is not confined to Western societies.
When I was a child in the early 1930's, the song was
more correct politically.  I never had any reason to
Please look at the lyrics of the song in the enclosed
CD.  I suspect strongly that this is the way it was
whether anyone can authenticate these words as being
continue to enjoy your magazine.  I am probably one
haunted English speakers of virtually every generation
mucus of the nose, or snot.  But then, half a loaf to
but with the two initial letters transposed.  Here too,
the migrant, mystic h has served as a social shibboleth.
guess is that even the most fastidious speaker drops
of exerting themselves than we are.  Spelling and use
were already erratic.  Arena was used as often as the
right to its initial h but sports it anyway.  In the
disappeared as a symbol of sound value.  It frequently
burial service was rudely interrupted by the Renaissance.
stage.  We have others where the h has been reinstated
example), and still others where the h has been replaced,
lack of certainty, providing the potential for some
position to pass judgment on the creature's disposition,
we seem to feel that abominable is an apt descriptor.
Some people solve this problem by illogically placing
more nagging nuisance.  Abundance existed as an excrescent
and for a good while after that, in the belief that the
I am sure we will all be happy to know that we are in
party of convicts and their military custodians and
sought to use what little knowledge had been passed
on to him of the indigenous inhabitants, their language,
word and borrowed it (as they did other words, like
which the invaders had brought with them and apparently
made a symbol of the country was the animal itself,
and the word rapidly took on in English and, indeed,
he found that the local Aborigines did not recognize
several other possibilities were floated.  It was at first
who was at his side, had erred, either in their understanding
suggested that an Aboriginal informant had misunderstood
Aboriginal languages.  By this time, of course, the
fun.  Later scholarship suggests that the city fathers
the historical and geographical evidence of a word's
early use being brought collectively to bear as in the
other explanation has to be sought.  This is the case
sense history can be established that fits chronologically
pommy there is no such answer.  The first task then is
to track the word back to its earliest recorded occurrence
any clues as to origin.  And it does.  Both forms are
was a sudden increase in assisted immigration and in
the consequent expression of attitudes to this immigration.
still on the English.  For some reason unknown to lexicographers
But this explanation, first advanced and documented
yet to win full acceptance, there still being those
the comparison of the brightly colored fruit with the
ruddy cheeks of the newly arrived English immigrant
sufficient explanation in itself.  Folk etymologies
But each age and each culture has its own phraseology.
of new transatlantic terminology swamps these shores
Valley.  Perhaps we need an English Academy to keep
our language pure.  But, whether through technological
phrases chosen aptly describe the sort of society and
in Natal, all of whom worked together in the diamond
Its vocabulary may look strange but sounds familiar.
flour.  All these are based on English words as are
kill your intestinal worms, I told this boy he must not
go underground, as he is drunk, Open the compressed
we find Iron the lace with great care, Mangle all these
clothes, We need charcoal for the iron today, I want
the choicest phrases: Let all the utensils be safely
packed, Is it lung blood or heart blood?, Hang up the
kill so that the hyenas do not get at it, Put water in
at the coast gives us I want to go ashore; carry my
MOLEST, WORRY, BADGER, HARRY, HARASS, HECKLE, PERSECUTE,
IRK, BULLYRAG, VEX, DISQUIET, GRATE, BESET, BOTHER,
TEASE, NETTLE, TANTALIZE, OR RUFFLE THE ANIMALS [Sign
Grow Your Vocabulary By Learning the Roots of English
word formation in English, dealing with roots, prefixes,
audience, it has been published in the guise of a vocabulary
an inordinately strong will is very unlikely to find
the book easy to understand.  One might regard it as
a popular combination of Carl Darling Buck's A Dictionary
in.  None of these appears in the Bibliography, however,
as a vocabulary builder, it is worth reviewing as a
formation and to ignore the sizzle about vocabulary
sorts: relatively short shrift is given to high school
and college students, and, mercifully, no mention at
all is made of those who might have been sold on the
suffixes, and other roots are affixed in accordance
of small print and is one of the most useful and informative
House ought to be carpeted for before the International
of the history of words in English is more information
laugh appreciatively at what is clever, though it may
Take, for example, the three quotations from Clarence
which, it is easy to see from the subtitle, quotations
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents
These are, as the book title suggest, witty; one could
certainly agree that they are facetious; but they are
not funny, and certainly not hilarious.  Sometimes,
the title of her book; then the publisher came along
the quotations are witty; an inept one is credited to
If one likes this sort of thing, this is a good collection.
review of his book so closely associated with what he
which, after all, are quotations).  There is little humor
in this book, either in the joking or the situations
described, largely because of the analytical approach:
to explain what is funny about it, especially when it
was not particularly funny to begin with.  It is hard
demonstrates that it is serious for linguists, too,
encomiastic reviews of it have appeared internationally,
know that it is available in paperback (albeit at a
those who use reference books to help them find the
right answers and those who eschew any aids whatsoever.
If I could not identify a missing word in a quotation,
after which it would be promptly forgotten; mercifully,
not simply straightforward matter, like the solution
bits of information; for one thing, many of the clues
I am not entirely sure that I understand what each of
simple to load and, once in place, easy to use; it is
facility for finding blank tile substitutions, but it
In view of the abundance of the worldwide population
of a surprise to learn that no authority can categorically
history to have worshiped it as sacred.  The name is
word cat was so often attached as a prefix to other
words.  In some examples I feel the word also suffered
with that animal as it is a tough, elastic cord made
moves stealthily and noiselessly, perhaps like a cat
no catcalls from the audience (unless the designs fail
to be to the viewers' liking), eliciting catty remarks,
often depicted as a bulldog, frequently wore one to
work, though he preferred to call it a boiler suit.
the task.  The cat's whiskers is a term possibly first
contact on a crystal (wireless) set was thought to be
of chalcedonic quartz or chrysoberyl, which, cut in a
certain way, reflects light and has a luster like the
contracted pupil of a cat's eye.  Catoptrics is the
for prostitute.  Perhaps some of the latter drank cat's
name for the place where numbers of animal cats are
site in a door for a household's cat, the difference
can sit or lie and sleep, but a cup of tea.  It was so
tea, called the scandal broth.  Gossip over the tea
was slops; the stuff a cat will lap.  A catnap is a short
Cat dirt is not what might be thought, but a type of
stones.  Cat and clay is straw and clay mixed together
fitted with a stock into position clear of the ship's
side.  It was so called because in the days when there
carved on it.  This procedure, before the days of the
cat purchase is a rope tackle used for hauling an anchor,
overboard.  A cat pennant is the small pennant used
either as a marker for an anchor buoy or as a signal
that a vessel is at anchor.  A catenary is the curve of
slight ripple on the surface of an otherwise flat sea,
variation is a light breeze, just strong enough to ruffle
the water surface.  Second, it is a twisting hitch,
made in the bight of a rope to form two eyes through
which the hook of a tackle is passed for hoisting.  A
an extra turn through the loops to prevent their slipping
an unsuspecting agent, or tool, especially in nefarious
gun ports on a sailing man o' war, on the same level
as the capstan, and used for leading a stern hawser
cat.  A catfish has barbels on its head, around the
Abscesses.       Debility.      Kidney.        Rheumatism.
Acne.            Diarrhea.        Disease.     Ringworm.
Ague.            Dropsy.        King's Evil.   Salt Rheum.
Asthma.          Dyspepsia.     Lameness.      Scalds.
Biliousness.     Felons.        Lumbago.       Spasms.
Boils.           Fits.          Milk, to       Spinal
Catarrh.         Headache.        flow.        Sprains.
Colic.           Hysteria.        Exhaustion.  Dance.
Constipation.    Impotence.     Nervousness.   Toothache.
Convalescence.   Incontinence   Neuralgia.     Tumors.
Convulsions.       of Urine.    Numb Palsy.    Varicose
Cramps.          Jaundice.      Paralysis.       Veins.
Deafness.        Joint          Piles.         Vomiting.
It is worthwhile pointing out that this editor has suffered
years dwindle down).  Still, most have happily been
kept at bay: we still have not suffered from, among
others, the King's Evil, insufficient flow of milk, St.
as natural reflections of everyday life.  Etymologically,
time of publication; but that is not necessarily true
for old dictionaries any more than it is for new ones.
To be sure, there are oddments and peculiarities that
can be spotted: in the case of the subject work, one
cannot help finding the definition of electricity a
Readers may be surprised to learn that there is, effectively,
find the main definition appear cross references to
while our understanding of the behavior of electricity
little more about its basic nature than we did before.
in the past contain entries considered important by
is nothing much criticizable in following a personal
contemporary cultural context.  Thus, for instance,
we can readily understand retaining a definition for
phrases, which means that it is half the size of the
It therefore carries a surprising number of obsolete
have been selected here (omitting pronunciation and
noted, classed the words at about the time of publication
[obsolete]                                          nation.  [Secondary sense in
too late.  [We should have                          correspondents to
revived this word instead of                        VERBATIM.]
awkward staircase wit.]                is obsolete.]
[obsolete]                                           requires watching.  [archaic]
[obsolete]                                           under the employer's eye.
architecture.  [Sense not in                     forestall, to buy goods before
elusion, escape; evasion.  [rare]         [obsolete]
There are other curiosities in this book.  For example,
By contrast, here is the pertinent definition from the
the patient a quantity of water, varying in temperature
effervescence, countries recover by slight and temperate
from which one might conclude that the first is the
anything to teach us except in the most general way
time, partly owing to the lack of sophistication of
their compilers, partly to their conservatism, which
are no longer current.  Such entries must be retained
for they are encountered in reading.  Some conservative
reference proved unnecessary.  With all the dialects
the expression is extant.  For another thing, we must
about the language, but about the culture.  For instance,
do not exist, they must still be listed in dictionaries,
just as the words for abstract notions like honesty,
a fortunately rare affliction in which the individual
It is not a subject for flippancy, one must concede,
woman's condition, whispered the word sex to her as
unconscious, to the floor, and he sexually molested
venue.  The trial of the molester is becoming difficult
called to testify, she faints, even if the prosecutor so
reported in the first instance is not revealed.  It
place using dolls, as they do when asking children to
and opinions on the subject; it wouldn't do for us to
Have a nice day had gone the way of Hi!  My name is
Dip.  But it seems here to stay, and, on reflection,
merits comment.  It ill behooves us to criticize its
emptiness, for we all utter Good morning, Good afternoon,
course of the day.  It is likely that Good day had its
It is a nice day, to the latter of which our curmudgeonly
Good day has taken on other connotations, depending
is the neutral greeting; Good' day', with equal stress
or parting.  Till something else comes along or we all
through physical or emotional reactions; the dingdong
theory, in which people reacted to the environment;
in which speech arose from the romantic side of life.
named for their songs or calls.  This even holds for the
extension of this, as a cock's crow.  The hen is so called
with its changed vowel representing its less powerful
farmland territory, the crow and rook are both named
part of its name is in fact directly related to that of the
have an imitative name, although it was formerly nicknamed
its cry is usually described as a boom, and the first
duck.  Its name represents its distinctive quacking.
it is timid but because the call of the female is a double
of its voice but of the sharp whirring sound made by
its wings when it suddenly flies up.  This sounds like
and chaffs are usually repeated in irregular order, such
and jar are related words.)  The nightingale does not
have a directly imitative name, although the final- gale
origin of the name is disputed.  (The first part of the
and the word for this agonized and agonizing sound.
Verbal renderings of birds' calls and notes are those given
The time has come, as it does to all entities, animate
been ups (like the time when we had a mailing service
that kept adding new and renewing subscribers' names
and addresses without removing the old ones, leading
us not only into a state of euphoria contemplating our
and, of course, there have been downs (like falling
must be said, though, that those first issues ran to six
money matters, we have never been aggressive in pursuing
orders from some advertisers reflected some satisfaction
VERBATIM.  We were pleased, too, when, several years
ago, we were able to pay contributors, a rare occurrence
to journals of lesser circulation, have reprinted articles
when they caught us in the most embarrassing errors.
We have enjoyed chatting with those who have telephoned,
written replies to all who have written (with the exception
Lately, we have been remiss only in writing discouraging
English a close second (two printings).  Other books,
and the Index thereto, altogether four books), have
not fared so well: indeed, a substantial portion of the
Great Disaster (though it will probably go unnoticed
on any television series of that name) has been our offering
Roebuck catalogue, hanging from a nail in the privy.
with contributors, commentators, critics, and friends;
and we shall miss the silent majority, those of you
year after year, occasionally dropping a line with a
you may be assured that if there is any reason to write
word, but also from Sinful Syntax.  In the sentence,
me; but a majority of listeners and readers, infected
by Sinful Syntax, will today understand the sentence
as She loves music better than I love it or ...better
than I do.  If that is really what was meant, then the
King, both of whom have said on more than one occasion
He is that rarest of travel writers, one whom his readers
is immune.  The caption beneath a photograph in the
uncertain of what is correct, try to avoid one error by
committing another.  This, at any rate, would explain
One of the most basic rules of grammar, that decreeing
Breaches of that other basic rule decreeing agreement
More generally, there are a variety of pleasures...
a language like English, largely uninflected and having
be able to recognize not just the Parts of Speech but
contained this sentence: I have seen some bears double
their size.  Is double verb or adjective?  Treating
adjectives as if they were nouns is a form of abuse
which has become common.  In Painting for Posterity,
there was this: [in a portrait] Too broad of a smile
give up as a bad [useless, vain] job the notion of knowledge
[of the ability to know anything with precision] or
did he mean give up thinking that knowledge is a bad
[impossible] job?  In light of the context, the first interpretation
populous inhabitants.  Perhaps the original was most
of the populous island's inhabitants and was deformed
the dog.  Was it something for calling the dog or the
often exploit the possibility of a double meaning or of
Other ambiguities occur when vernacular expressions
said, [School] officials say they have no problem with
from such sentences, as well as from one in an accident
as the report continued and we learned that the victim
is slippery.  It easily escapes the nets flung out by
words, even when they are straitened by rules of syntax
and by logic.  When the possibilities for misunderstanding
one's back.  Any sign of putting on airs or assertiveness
rather a critical race owing to their struggle to make
ends meet in a county which has long known economic
couldn't stop a pig in a passage! and of lank hair,
like a yard of pump water.  Even a contented person
older inhabitant for his or her age and you may well
get the familiar reply, As old as my little finger and a
to vivid descriptions.  Any sign of restlessness, for
the wall to bark.  As for the maker of weak tea, more
heard, You'll do it bit by bit as the cat said when she
Still, bracing remarks in plenty urge folk to get on
with things.  After all, concentrate on the basics,
carry a knife, a piece of string and some money; then
you can cut, tie and buy.  Count your blessings, however
very like your own, long before you, is very prevalent
tongues will cut your throat with a bar of soap or hang
you with a yard of cotton.  Just as strange is the gluttony
checked by, Nobody will stop their horse galloping to
Throughout all these sayings, a downright judgmental
In each of these the linguistic situation obtaining
Aborigines had learned words from the settlers in the
though the surviving words number no more than sixteen.
has enriched English with more than fifty loanwords.
betrays the fact that the relationships between convicts
were of a hostility unreached elsewhere; the continuing
meant a new start, and consequently a duplication in
has been widely used in Victoria in this sense and, in
remains that, despite this diversity, the English word
hut enjoyed a greater currency than any of the borrowings,
so limited was the relationship between settlers and
Aborigines that there was little progress beyond the
and eventually replaced that by sea did incremental
as the passage of time meant that there was a likelihood
travel by sea.  In particular, once the mountain barrier
pidgin in which limited communication was possible.
years a source of loan words.  First, the settlement in
the west took place some forty years after that in the
east, and the settlers had a better idea of what they
longer spoken, it was more fully and more intelligently
third, as a matter of governmental policy, Aboriginal
names for flora and fauna have been preferred.  So,
for instance, the names of the farmed freshwater crayfish,
usage in English, coincident with their utility, though
comprehensive picture of Aboriginal life than do the
of Aboriginal belief and life are special uses of English
are effectively obsolete.  So the Aboriginal equivalent
paintings.  The language of the invaders is the language
there for borrowing on a larger scale and with a degree
achieved hitherto, it has not been taken.  In the west,
of a developing understanding of the indigenous peoples
Proliferating Plurals (and Some Singular Substitutions)
speakers have invented a new rule: Whenever possible,
use plurals.  Thus television, radio, and newspaper
Damages to the bridge from the collision were slight.
Toxic substances in their drinking water have caused
[A retiring football coach] always worried about the
At the same time, perhaps from an unconscious discomfort
commonly used words of foreign origin: L bacterium,
being used almost exclusively in plural form, they are
grace  of someone else; the ground for divorce was...;
building was also responsible for the upkeep of its
make a singular noun still more so by lopping off its
right on the money).  Though the singular insanity is
far outstripped by the multiple mania, one can expect,
are invited to share his delight in Embraceable Zoo
many similar examples.  For most of us, these are typical
York apartment, crammed with lists of personal names
recall with affection the late John Leaver, who cycled
instance, that he has long had a special passion for
Beauty, but rather a Coquette, despaired of ever seeing
We need not cavil, of course, at the absence of such
obvious reference sources; in a work like this the author
bibliography, would have made it clear that this usage
without their capital letters) doing here?  The latter
may interest those who make a special study of flatulence
of this kind when we are surrounded by thousands of
words are printed, for instance, as well as the typeface
Cathedral, Ducktail, Goatee, Lavatory Brush, Imperial,
a few.  At least two hundred types of hat have more
Irons: we strike while the iron's hot and also play
their lighter side of language series.  I hope that
they will at some stage do justice to the more scholarly
and personal names.  Names and naming rightly attract
the attention of philologists, sociologists, psychologists,
have heard some of Green's broadcasts and interviews,
glib, just what is needed for radio.  That style translated
greatly overwritten.  Its main fault lies in the reliance
the sort of thing one expects to be paraphrased by a
historian, with the original matter buried in footnotes.
Mercifully, there are few such notes, and they come at
the end of the book where they can be ignored.  The
quite long and neither interesting nor revealing, often
serving to support a point made by the author, whom
I would be happy to believe on his own recognizance.
Still, there are a number of errors which ought to be
the earlier chapters of the book.  It is not till we arrive
at the final chapter, The Modern World, that serious
[Lexicographers] have retained their priestly role, especially
dictionaries contain far fewer than that: the Concise
I am aware, what are called college or desk dictionaries
entry, but he is mistaken in reporting that one represents
the precise one [p.364]: there are two pronunciations
other cleaves to a scholarly transcription (called a narrow
today, the first would be the simplified system used
generally in most dictionaries and the second would
Alphabet (which, for their more recondite transcriptions,
require a trained phonetician for their understanding).
Green describes one of its main advances as a general
of these dictionaries contain notes describing contentious
of the concerns of many users of the language, hence
the ends of entries to illustrate headwords with suffixes
consternation what might seem to be a publisher's fiddling
system for such counting was worked out in the 1930s,
Treasury Department, which was then in charge of all
government purchases, as a means for assessing the information
the government, a responsibility later shifted to another
definitions with descriptions of cultural phenomena
Green's treatment of the Modern World of lexicography
published in the last fifty years, when the sales of
world.  It is probably true to say that an entire book
could be written about this recent period in dictionary
sound linguistic philosophy but the effects of the introduction
compilation, composition, and accession (as through
least for the first fourteen chapters, which gather in
one place an enormous amount of interesting, useful
information about (deceased) lexicographers and the
dictionaries they prepared.  The title, which will make
in the past few decades, a trend that probably began
in the 1930s to be reinforced through World War II.
It is probably the language that has borne much of the
usage of the term.  In the early 1940s we were besieged
the meaning of which we learned through daily repetition
(I find it convenient to distinguish an abbreviation
as a shortening that is not or cannot be pronounced,
etc., from an acronym as a shortening that is pronounced
in this area prefer to subsume them all under the general
did not become current, I believe, till Gale Research
jargon were not enough, those who concoct that obfuscating
turned it into an abbreviation or an acronym.  The jargon
During a recent hospital stay (my first), I learned that
called the medical orderly who has the responsibility
for taking blood samples, the registered nurse in attendance,
of the sort of vocabulary that makes a garbage man or
enormously helpful in explaining, in a straightforward
way and (unfortunately) without rancor, what bureaucracy
practice practitioner, now considered a medical specialty.
The specialty of medicine which deals with providing,
general medical care of patients of all ages, primarily
in family groups.  The care provided is primary care.
lives alone, I am only marginally entitled to treatment,
for a single individual can scarcely be considered a
family group.  This specialty reminds me of a time,
some decades ago, when my doctor advised me, indignantly,
framed certificate hanging on the wall of his office, he
told me in no uncertain terms that he was an internist,
require only two doctors, an internist and a dermatologist.
insurance, or any other area concerned with the bureaucracy
assails one from all sides.  Although the average victim
librarians should note its great value as an adjunct to
It would be only fair to mention that the terminology
My aim in this work is to illustrate what I believe is
the astonishing debt that our idiomatic speech owes
to the nautical language of the past.  English is extraordinarily
this book to show that many of the figures of speech
that we use from day to day derive from the language
This is a substantial, useful, interesting work, but if the
archive of nautical expressions, he may be disappointed.
short shrift to the trappings of academia in our pages:
we eschew footnotes (with rare exceptions) as well as
bibliographies.  But in reviewing the works of others,
Partridge's Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary
ought to be avoided by serious researchers; the author
Still, it is unfair to judge a book by its peripherals.
Before getting to the content, let us look at the appendices,
many nautical words beginning with a- are prepositions,
although the information given here is accurate as far
as I could tell, it is confusing to have some words
listed under their original spelling (studding sail,
treenail) and others in their corrupted form (gunnel,
there is a great deal more to the question of spelling
from anatomical terms, not the other way round.  The
coverage is a bit loose, but no one is likely to consider
small iron wedge of pin driven through a hole or slot
Environment and General Environment.  The suitability
simply because it is a chair; cap is listed presumably
because it is thought to refer to an item of apparel.
But a chair is virtually anything for an individual to sit
on and cap, etymologically at least, originally meant
dated citations for the earliest occurrences of these
words in a nautical context, how is one to know if they
Hogwash Sailor's slang for nonsense, rubbish, a tale
seems nautical at all, hogwash is ordinary English,
from everyday word to language of the sea, and not,
as advertised, vice versa.  The same must be said for
hitch, go without a hitch, get hitched, hoist, hold off,
is that there are, indeed, many words and phrases that
originated at sea and were brought ashore for ready
embodiment in everyday speech, but to find the same
terms in both does not justify the assertion that the sea
made about such information is that it provides evidence
the time of publication of the work: it cannot and must
not be construed as the first time the word appeared
on the face of the earth, merely as the first written
evidence we have of its appearance.  Clearly, that is not
to say that most words appearing in quotations in the
this might well apply to terms of art of a specialized
field and, particularly, the speech of sailors, who did
were in oral use for a long time before they were written
a researcher five hundred years hence would be wrong
dictionaries whole are left to conclude that their content
is sacrosanct.  Those who try to apply a scientific
aware that what we are examining is not likely to be
alchemy of language, and we can well appreciate it in
the context of artistic license.  But it is quite another
thing when it is foisted on an unsuspecting public as
fact, when, indeed, it is either pure speculation or a
writer's interpretation of the best way to make data fit
There is no doubt that much controversy has surrounded
between the devil and the deep blue sea.  Likewise, it
is indisputable that many nautical expressions have
come ashore to be used metaphorically by landlubbers.
that were not nautical have also been listed.  As it is
for people like Jeans to do so, and he has incautiously
evidence exists that they were originally nautical, and
he has failed in his duty by not identifying questionable
It is always a good idea to read an author's preface
before reading and, certainly, before reviewing it.
which pretty much sums up his attitude toward language
English is a single language full of variety, and I believe
one has exclusive rights to represent the language.
and colony, standard language and dialect have little
It is virtually impossible to argue against such a point
of departure from the standpoint of the linguistic scientific
heart disease, virology, and bacteriology would look
ground by damning the causes of disease as sinful or
the forefront when language comes up for discussion,
not, perhaps, among linguists but, to be sure, among
the rest of the population.  In some cases, murder,
place at the wrong time speaking a particular language
and disharmony, as can be witnessed in the contemporary
come close to answering the question of what should
be done about teaching language.  A very telling point
other than Standard (which we persist in putting in
quotation marks because it continually changes, both
temporally and geographically) are condemned to accept
work that is below a level, socially and economically,
are entitled, at least from the standpoint of opportunity.
As I have held, while language itself can the subject
of cool analysis in some contexts, it is a social institution
is not only scientific and scholarly but noble to maintain
that such matters as pronunciation, usage, dialect,
remains that using a dialect or speech pattern that is
unacceptable to those who are giving out the jobs may
mean that one either gets the job or not, other qualifications
scholarly considerations may be effectively put into
There is another aspect to the entire subject, invariably
because they remain unable to measure or quantify it,
namely, style.  Language is language says the scientist,
totally ignoring (sometimes deliberately, usually owing
might be involved in the speech or writing of individuals,
might protest that the study called stylistics deals with
stylistics are aware that it does not even come close to
measuring effectiveness, poetry, eloquence, beauty,
and other characteristics associated with artistic expression.)
things.  There are those of an older generation that
considers itself better educated than almost anyone
with the better and more important works of art (of all
kinds) of the world.  This interpretation of culture, is
admittedly, of decreasing importance to an increasing
proportion of the population, who place rock 'n' roll
stars on the same scale of artistic accomplishment as
et al.; because the last do not speak to them, they
This aspect of language should not be construed solely
was a tenor or a bass, or being able to hum melodies
of a cultured individual.  Rather, it is the artistry that
rubs off on the person steeped in the best parts of
the culture, the phrase unconsciously plucked from a
much), the single word that indicates at least passing
These aspects of language are social, philosophical,
out of devotion to what is perceived as the scientific
method, sometimes out of sheer philistinism and the
inability to exercise taste, sometimes out of abject ignorance.
published in linguistic journals to be convinced that,
notwithstanding their specialty, linguists at large are
incapable of writing simple, expository, declarative
sentences without resorting to turgid syntax, obscure
In short, considering that their specialty is language,
it is astonishing how few of them use it effectively.
traces the spread, growth, and increasing universality
of the English language during that period.  Bailey examines
and Voices of English, to quote the chapter headings,
about them, letting the facts speak for themselves.
He does not say as much expressly, but his characterization
marks around words and phrases condemned by contemporary
For the most part, despite the occasional campaigning
emerges is an engaging picture of concerned speakers
of English, some of them pedants trying to establish
(or preserve) some purity in the language, the remainder
in the shape of grammars, usage guides, pronunciation
guides, spellers, etc.  Because English spelling is often
unrelated to its pronunciation and inconsistent with it,
the majority of spellers were used as teaching tools in
schools; but there was also an opportunity to acquaint
adults with accepted spelling forms (just as there is
spelling (and of other mechanics of language) can be
helpful to communication, but like other reflexes of
language proficiency, it can also mark the relative literacy
or education of a person.  Spelling and conventional
so much as a single typographical error in this book, I
saw once again confirmation of the encroaching ignorance
rule is well known to traditional compositors, though,
Bailey discusses the progress of education, especially
public education and the spread of literacy.  In that
regard, a point to be made about the culture of the
period in contrast to the language, is the publication,
late in the century, of a number of reference books,
especially readers' handbooks and particularly A Dictionary
popularity reflects the public's interest in metaphor
based on classical and cultural references understandable
anything but a dime novel, a popular magazines, or a
guide to culture.  It is not insignificant that their popularity
somewhat staid tracing of the development of English
into a world language, though its influence today is
sixty years than to the growth and spread it enjoyed
during the century of colonialism.  Still, there is no
It remains to be seen what will be written about the
English via the Internet that is regarded as so pernicious
advertising on the medium in English without the accompaniment
century see still more diversification of English and
encouragement of that diversity or more standardization
major industrial powers?  There is little doubt that
cleave to the language most closely associated with
financial reward, and the opportunities offered by the
other media.  Still, it is impossible to predict accurately
[Note: The publisher originally sent only the cassette,
tape, this reviewer was forced to depend on the more
matter that the interviews appear to be unrehearsed).
centuries, undergone many striking changes.  Not altogether
sounds is got over, the narrators are back on familiar
ground, most of them buoyantly loquacious and quite
whose overflowing drain gutters flooded her property,
whose son's leg was amputated in a fearful childhood
they are simply abstract and brief chronicles of time
odds and ends of regional accents are far from being
are indisputably accurate, none of the excerpts is sufficiently
especially given the unfocused quality of the tape itself.
Accent Matter?  [rev. XVI,1,10] in which he champions
economic equality for those who are passed over in the
job market because of unacceptable regional accents,
altruistic; but at a time when certain civilizations and
cultures are in danger of losing their spoken heritage,
these slight, quirky renderings of native speech may
prove to be as valuable as the archaeologist's fossil
valiantly and often painfully to relearn their native
language, which almost died out over the past fifty
hold of one's mother tongue: It's true the language
is almost lost, but there's a lot of spirit still, so
I don't think it's too late.  And that appears to be the
underlying purpose of English Accents and Dialects, a
lobbyists, the context made clear to some listeners
halfway through a report on cases of fraud, a local
adapt was meant.  I say some listeners because it is
broadcasters and writers, are unable to distinguish
functions on computers and electronic typewriters for
an apparent decrease in spelling errors such as the
Electronic spelling checkers cannot detect phonetic
Reliance on electronic proofreaders may, in fact, increase
use of band as the past tense of to ban.  She understood
its inflected past tense form; but the infinitive and
editor's electronic reader had not rejected band and
therefore the word must be correct.  We can expect to
read more of such phonetic errors since even highly
literate and careful writers will sometimes make such
mistakes and occasionally proofread in haste, as well,
though if it is pointed out, they will always understand
But slips of the tongue, phonetic and spelling errors
a local political commentator, speaking with general
equated to.  At about the same time, National Public
of an artist she had interviewed, He flouted his radical
glance of the Pope, when it was a glimpse they really
Deceptively spacious! was the leading phrase of an ad
Real Estate Weekly section.  Was the house bigger than
it looked?  Or smaller?  The following list is a small
sample of the deranged diction offered by the media
work of professional journalists or broadcasters, but all
job was to watch for shipwrecks and rescue survivors.
A tougher training regiment [for New York City police]...
blunders such as these, is it any wonder that public
discourse so often degenerates into slanging matches
and the bitter exchange of empty slogans?  Words fail
elite: and their failure is both a symptom and a cause
that death is no longer taboo, or are such euphemisms
the victims of a modern contempt for flowery, imprecise
pushing up daisies, breathed his last, is no more, gone
death of a king is seen as a return to chaos and disorder
Ivory Coast people say The world has lowered its eyes
the printers are in the same city; that might account for
years ago came another New Edition and the gentle wit
of some of the definitions was done away with.  This
bowdlerizing was the subject of extensive correspondence
new edition had dropped the witty invention of earlier
they belong to a new generation) want to make their
are called correction facilities; a lavatory with urinals
has softened its attitude to car theft.  May I offer a better
now retired), I understood the legal definition of theft
bracket them with serious car thieves would be unjust.
Offenders, especially young ones, are usually charged
well, thus increasing the penalties and going some way
was the nickname of the title character in The Adventures
strip first appeared in Private Eye and was the subject
for nicknames still seems to be used, as in the following,
release is repeatedly delayed or even abandoned, is
I have occasionally wondered if I need an apostrophe
if the word already has an apostrophe.  For example,
if the Burger King chain puts out a new product, it's
dropped, yielding general for the person in charge of
will have written you in hot numbers about the familiar
Mitigate is a voracious and incestuous cannibal, eating
There was the same hieratic passivity, as if she were
waiting for his response to complete the sequence.  In
a way this mitigated somewhat against her appeal...
[XXIII,1,11] is unfortunate, to say the least.  Contrary
to assertion, the language of the internet and some of
the associated culture and attitudes of its writers, as of
For example, stress was not soothed by a cookie monster
victim) to its demand for a cookie.  Some of the definitions
or provocative (in the sense of causing irritation); it
can also be simply persisting incessantly and rabidly
on a topic others find uninteresting (or past the point
than all the rest of human communication, unless you
are of a particularly pacifist philosophy that deems all
If the reader doesn't know what a flag is, defining
it as a piece of information that is either true or false
is worse than not defining it at all.  You can think of a
flag as a marker associated with something else: the
flag can be one or zero, on or off, yes or no.  One
use of a flag is to mark whether information currently
since it was last saved.  If yes, the user is asked
whether it should be saved upon exit; if no, the program
very limited sense of asking the question, Is it true
that the information on the screen is different from its
counterpart on the disk?  It has nothing to do with
the correctness of the information, and the flag itself
an amount of time such as the time it takes real people
to communicate on a telephone: real time as applied
something that is happening while the program is running,
the flaps of an airplane in flight based on the rate of
from the pilot.  This term distinguishes such programs
from the more common type, for example, calculating
later in the day.  Real time in jargon applies to doing
thought, as in the minutes before a presentation (or
indeed during it), creating a display to replace the
key prop someone forgot.  Other terms define a duration
learned a little from the natives.  Nor are my definitions
Unfortunately, she only browsed through the dictionary
and, thus, committed a number of deplorable inaccuracies
the writing of bureaucrats and politicians.  The phrase
adding one's own piece of wisdom.  In this case it is
especially important to add the possessive adjective,
be assumed that you were talking about sausages and
state and the municipalities in their function as administrators
means, quite correctly, cricket in its first and literal
meaning, and strange and surprising idea in its figurative
direct, traceable link between the two: Grille acquired
demons of illness appeared in the guise of an insect.
signified that two ideas or objects did not go together
at all, because if someone hits you on the eye with the
fist, it would, obviously, hurt very much.  Because of
use for something that is entirely different.  In More
is a very good article and highly entertaining.  I have for
However, some of us are simply victims of circumstance.
immediate family resided in close proximity... including
there was not much left readily identifying yours truly.
improper on its face, it leads to embarrassing moments
whom they were looking for, but it was a safe bet that
unmistakable evidence that (alas!) I had done something
All in all a pleasant and very entertaining article,
John.  If someone uses my real name, as in an opening
they do not know me as I rarely use it myself.  I go
through this all the time and I have several answers to
woman I have just met, I say that I only reveal my real
name when we become intimate.  This, of course, has
killed off several potential relationships, so I have
given up on it.  I often say that I have the same name
has stumped almost everyone with one exception.  My
familiar with unlisted telephone numbers, aren't you?
II,1,13].  The subject of our epistolary dialogue is
casual earlier observations in the New York area and in
and not a separate language spoken almost exclusively
dapper little old fellow approach the information desk
having nothing better to do, walked with him to the
hyperbolically remarked, Well, everyone's grandmother
Treasures I would like to add one of my late father's
money is used in this way.  We could reach a position
where manufacturers of condoms get prosecuted because
There is no obligation to buy.  There are no annoying
reply cards.  There are only superb reference works at the
best prices we offer.  [From the advertisement for the
As soon as doctors will allow me,... I will share again
generated by a local mining operation reply in large part on
irrelevant ad homonym tactics by conjuring up the Sierra
Club, their tree hugging ilk, and mining jobs lost to communities
and is waiting impatiently.  Well, claims the little
girl proudly, last but not lost.  At least that's what
any rate that is the explanatory scenario I dreamed
up.  Like someone who hears a pun and then searches
for a story to use it as a punch line, over the years I
and twisted expressions, always looking for explanations
to do with my chosen profession, which involves poring
adults, clearly native speakers, talk that way.  At the
risk of opening up a whole can of beans, let me proceed.
The first category of altered expressions resembles
wool over my ice.  Since people rarely bother to think
anything that sounds right will foot the bill.  In this
your nose despite your face is quite popular, as is the
empiric victory.  It is worth noting that some of these
many are merely careless.  Give him a wide birth, for
student's paper I was reading.  But in slovenliness
sleeps the sound of new sayings.  He wants to go out
and wipe the world, for instance, has an idiosyncratic
a great reformer.  These newly created meanings are
what make these expressions more than mere mistakes,
treasure the sage advice in Savor the best for last and
it is just a typographical slip, describes a class of
people I know all too well.  Occasionally, these eras
occur on a rather high level of sophistication, such as
replayed his sentence in my mind did I realize that it
Since then, that hybrid has become so prevalent that
simply turned that kind of locution into a routine in
unconscious error with many; in other words, routine.
His opponent, on the third hand, might speak disparagingly
attempts may be simply off-- the bad end of the stick
of life, there's no dog like an old dog --or inspired:
once heard a math professor tell a colleague.  There
the trouper's get your ass in gear are often confused
to drop in the room above his, I listen for blind as a
hogs; is figurative language itself on the decline?  It is
certainly not encouraged in places like The New York
neither does the Times often mix metaphors.  Politicians
That is a clear conflation of cut from the same cloth
Here is another attempt at explanation: in a culture
nature, or the crafts of working with basic materials.
vanished relationships, uncertainty rules the roast.
metaphor for soliciting opinion.  Maybe the problem,
type.  She bit off her nose to spite her face adds a
toward deepening an image already present or shifting
shouts a student activist in my earshot, decrying defecation
ingrained in the public lexicon that few recall the
an attempt to reverse this trend, a Southern friend of
but this usage seems destined to remain a regionalism
Sometimes the shift comes about through the omission
more felicitous than the original.  The road to hell is
savage breast was long ago altered to soothe the savage
might put it: take care of the sound, and the sense
will take care of itself.  At times, the image shifts
man that feeds you makes satisfactory sense; so does
The last group falls into what I call prepositional
Like some of the phrases in other categories, several
have become so common as to have ousted the original
request not to hold it up against me --does this refer
to a grudge or the fitting of a suit?  A similar corruption
verbal grappling?  Admittedly, preposition usage is
not always clearly defined: does one compare apples
to oranges, or apples with oranges, or just stick in an
valiantly trying to master a language that often is not
well.  All languages are composed of dead metaphors
Some metaphors simply suffer a sea change.  If language
event, I am keeping my ears peeled.  It's never too
combination of It's never too late to learn and First
around our necks.  [Quote from Bob Porter, director of
would not scruple to pick a pocket, so who dares to
deny that puns are so called because they are punishable?
the perpetrator's equally conventional apology, everyone
pleasure, justifying the great deal of ingenuity that
goes into producing it.  Writers plainly value being
able to use words in ways that not only fail to reflect
their dictionary meaning but seem flatly to reject it.
the sweat of our ink.  Quite apart from the fact that
the association of writing with ink has decreasing literal
and even the traditional fingers clutching traditional
sweat than by chilly cramp.  In fact, of course, we
to a similar one that was familiar to us.  The similarity
important.  It supplies the stimulus to make the comparison,
be the clue to the meaning.  In consequence, because
the sort of physical effort that cause sweating), we
toil for everyone (though Genesis III.19 in the Authorized
are free, perhaps encouraged, to think of a writer's
Beast, another in which the author lambastes a historian
have read, so there can be little trust in him, and
and it seems just about as pointless to be led to the
speaks of the narrative trampling over the now familiar
responsibly transmute the grapes of wrath and enrich
scribbling classes (as they show every sign of doing
the following (among numerous others) over a period
textual duplication whereby meaning is simultaneously
novelists have been especially keen to provide their
novel was so great that any reference to the quotation
ran an article on how the picture's critical reception
a passive interpretation of archaic or rustic flavor--
women could suffer death at the stake for witchcraft.
insistent calls for a change of policy to deal with
stoutly rejected any such suggestion.  In a rousing
speech, she delighted her audience with a particularly
doubt the drafting of the speech seems to have involved
turning is more plausibly active than passive, with
occasion of the conference speech.  Ten years later,
view with the headline, The lady's not for learning.
chemical elements, only about ten are direct meaning
ENGLISH                   PHONETIC                   REPLACEMENT AND LITERAL
WORD                                                 GLOSSES
this translates into satisfied with everything.  There
are occasional anecdotes created around the inevitable
With the development of industry, yang was deleted.
of different translations of computer terms which are
fashion by a good writer.  Not written for academics,
pieces of Bridges' body together in the alley and then
Moped injuries are clearly one of the top causes of
require amputation.  The injuries sustained in the accidents
is to juggle cleverly with the shape and meaning of a
on an egg!  Go to work on can of course be interpreted
also hinted wittily at the literal sense of the phrase
hardy performer wins its laurels.  This heading has
skins of an onion.  The tough little runabout has certainly
any gardener knows, the laurel is a shrub that survives
weathers.  On another level again, we recognize the
pretty light on his feet, the other with solider qualities.
In advertising, almost any type of fixed expression
part of the history of popular entertainment in this
century.  In those examples, the popular culture is
shared: the references are understood by moviegoers
In other cases, the appeal is to something specifically
Idioms are frequently fossilized metaphors: the thin
revive and extend a metaphor (portraying the teachers
with cold, as well) while at the same time changing
the form of the expression.  And as we saw with Laurel
as normally fixed but are also deeply embedded in a
Fixed expressions that are open to humorous reshaping
there are important types in English that are hardly
regularly use to direct or punctuate the flow of conversation
attitude to the person addressed.  Among such formulae,
In contrast, wholehearted agreement with an earlier
what they seem to be saying on the surface, they can
Things wants to suggest the painful directness with
Later on, he changes the direction of the stylistic
switch, and the move along the time scale, by ending
style that is out of keeping with the speaker or period.
phrase.  This is a favorite Porter device, used as here
in the verse but also in the title and refrain-- It was
can't take that away from me, which duly appears as
the climax of the chorus.  But the last word in more
I once thought that most languages would have separate
and eyelashes, features about as easily and objectively
lit.  eyelids' hair for eyelashes.  To complicate matters,
mean either eyebrow or eyelash, and regional variants
The purpose of this article is not primarily to establish
elements discussed are kept distinct (or the opposite)
is an expression meaning eyelash, it is a phrase: blew
lashes resemble trees lined up along the eyelid.  And
eye.  Yet, apart from such figurative and poetic language,
There are, in various parts of the world, languages
those languages follows.  The words mean, of course,
eyebrow                       eyelid                                   eyelash
lower lids, except when something ails them, but the
an eyelash.  I am trying to find out whether they can
say eyelid itself, sans upper or lower.  Dictionaries
the physiological features of brows, lids, and lashes
are perceived in some languages, despite their possibility
not to operate here too conspicuously, although the
superstition of the evil eye is often a potent consideration.
speakers do), but German die Lunge is singular.  In
some languages foot and leg are not differentiated,
and toes, physiologically and lexically.  In some languages
that toes and not fingers are meant, or vice versa,
is at times called by a different word from that for
for example).  In English this difference is not found,
shares the lacks with other languages).  Parallels are
difficult to discover, except fragmentarily.  Those
languages which show no difference in words for finger
right word) the lack of distinction between lid and
mentioned no languages by name.  Some of his correlations
more than three degrees of comparison of adjectives
about brows, lids, and lashes, although his attitude
Dictionaries for Advanced Learners and Users of Foreign Languages
missing items in the range of dictionaries required
languages are justified to a very considerable extent.
Clearly, distinctions need to be made about the particular
perception is to be substantiated.  If we are talking
matter of native speakers of English grappling with
dictionaries will be of a lesser order, but there will
still be many occasions on which such learners will,
by reflex action, stretch out a hand to grab hold of a
A root cause of this problem is the logically reasonable
you cannot find in a dictionary you are entitled to
course, we all know that there is a tangible overlap
and out, just like a normal dictionary consultation.
word, where do they turn?  The traditional and often
lot else besides.  Maybe there was or is a subconscious
point whether it is better for the student to read--
about the homogeneity versus heterogeneity of subject
matter and stylistic mode of this reasonably extensive
Let us assume that advanced students of a particular
dictionary and thesaurus; and a dictionary of proverbs
computerized database.  They should also have access
to a large encyclopedia written in the L2.  With this
of composing documents in their L2 on various topics?
general terms but not so in particular terms.  What
they lack in terms of general lexical resources is a
collocations dictionary and a synonym differentiator,
For this aspect of L2 writing, incidentally, advanced
each article in the dictionary explains the meaning of
the lexemes comprising the synonymic series, provides
offering at the same time an analysis of the conditions
they may substitute for each other.  All of this is exemplified
The front matter of both of these dictionaries from
theory of synonymy and on the lexicographic practicalities
That is a great pity because that is exactly what advanced
an advanced level.  Correct deployment of collocations
authenticity of performance within a particular professional
No one could claim that it is an easy task to create
absolute terms by not in the statistical sense of significance
rivals in terms of size, structure, and depth of treatment.
with which this task was carried out is one the dictionary's
entry is an innovative and pragmatically satisfactory
way of hinting at the possibility and permissibility of
collocation with other words a writer, whose native
moment of consultation.  Useful though that is, the
now about to appear in revised, updated, and enlarged
dictionary providing information about how to intensify,
adjectives and adverbs, respectively.  The dictionary's
has two sections: the first comprises the alphabetically
and an alphabetic list of permissible intensifiers.
The second section consists of an alphabetically ordered
which would allow writers to formulate their ideas in
German yet express them in English, using typically
degree of variety and sophistication over the intervening
for instance, from learner's dictionaries of collocations
as disparate as agriculture, materials science, and sociopolitical
treatment that the dictionary, whilst containing only
but highly valuable for foreigners using German at an
advanced level.  It is, however, worth examining H.
or so, the dictionary is valuable by virtue of the depth
of treatment and the ramifications of the information
modes of use of the basic vocabulary of German academic
assembled for the frequency study itself, thus denying
least a statement of a desideratum perceived by advanced
Notwithstanding the logistic difficulties of constructing
synonym differentiators and collocations dictionaries,
and of the retrieval tools provided.  What advanced
L2, and view nothing more than an arbitrarily chosen
level they come from etc.  They should also be able
to operate various controls to refine search strategies;
accelerate learning and growth of confidence by dint
linguistic material.  All of this is so easy from the technological
Finally, on the other side of the world, a Latino on
Such hybridization is all the rage on every continent
labeled in at least four ingeniously pejorative ways,
(the first two also used to denote and deride Common
confusion that can arise among simultaneous translators).
them, they do not match the scale of what is happening.
they just steamroller on.  Vast and utterly pragmatic,
with the flow.  The hybridization of English with innumerable
product of necessity and one of the most remarkable
whether English (among other things) is simply going
come more quickly to the tongue than expressions in
This universal quartet of possibilities is nicely reflected
with speakers of Language A alone, they stay pretty
are together, and especially if they constitute a large
community, they splice the contents of their languages
bilinguals are at least as significant for the future
of the language as the more or less unilingual communities
they may be more significant because they outnumber
communities are often the product (in part at least)
bread?  C: It's in aisle three on the second shelf, in
the red wrapper.  W: I can't find it.  C: Maybe we're
illustrate its ancient talent for picking up bits and
Modern English should be listed not just as a Germanic
an intriguing case because of the economic prominence
patterns into forms that can be written in katakana
names, but their impact has been out of all proportion
name and closes with a product name that is genuinely
past situations are anything to go by, those languages
change, as English did after the Danish invasions and
outcome is far from clear, but it can hardly be minor,
Anyone would be a tender goalie in the circumstances.
expression of ideas in a happening, an action, a situation,
sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.  We
all know the highly beneficial effects of laughter on
thought of any kind of expenditure by the local council,
two services that he had faithfully promised his constituents.
and determined was his blocking of the vote that it
what a urinal was.  In he came again, gesticulating
it would be a mistake to take that as normal.  More
may be specially greeted in the middle of the morning
short that he would not need to pull them up to walk
proverbial sayings like those below: each is followed
You can't teach an old dog so don't waste your food.
In similar vein, there is a profusion of picturesque
flits around distributing her favors with premeditated
bless which carries the meaning of exorcism, healing,
be uncontrolled, a feature of which little account has
such festive occasions as christenings and weddings,
former times, but today in a few rural communities,
sought out and specially invited so as to give status
to the ceremony at the wedding house.  The following
this evening.  Primarily I was entranced at the entrance
officious, malicious or contentious reactionary socialist
be acceptable to all of you and to both of you this
and has been chewing away firmly at it.  That is the
way a language ought to be!  I remind him that there
of humanity have to live in houses.  Some hovels too,
and caves and tents: palaces are relatively few.  Languages
and largely remain unspoken.  Some are even unspeakable.
the mind, it must have a lot of flexibility, tolerance,
fluency.  The language genius exploits this flexibility
the fabric of the mind.  It becomes normal: it is the
person, the basic layer.  One is seldom aware of it,
as he learned it in infancy is fixed.  He does not see it
as a set of rules; it is simply there and he resents
tampering with it.  Then he has another set of rules
Martinet, about double negatives, final prepositions,
redundancy, even when used deliberately for emphasis
speaks of a viper snake ought to know that vipers are
kids go swimming in the raw, of course they are bare
not naked unless they are totally bare.  Bare should
mean totally too.  Why insist?  Excitement, enthusiasm,
an exuberant person, and it shows.  I rather like her
office parties she finds the foods frightfully tasty or
sugar or whipped cream, they can be sinfully delicious.
forces underlying changes in the use of words.  Not
long ago he had a running horror at what had happened
a raw, brainless lot.  I grant teenagers their last
fling of childish freedom before adulthood begins to
this is a kind of hypocrisy: flattering the audience
when he feels pretty sure they do not.  To tease him
I recently made a list of such phrases: It goes without
should be unnecessary to note that..., I will not insist
on the point, but if I did... And there are others,
need no flattery.  Give them the facts, the truth, no
soft soap, and that should be enough.  I insist on the
need to repeat, to emphasize, even to exhort.  Audiences
amorality of language, which should be at least logically
false or missed pun, or a too obvious, witless pun,
feels uncomfortable with the imitative uses of language,
are baby talk, purely animal.  They are not language
until they are elaborated, until they develop rules,
hold of syntax, a fundamental breakthrough in language
not sternly but curiously.  It might impress him to
hear the child regularize our odd plurals, with mans
the noises they make, the words they invent as they
play with their vocal apparatus and explore the possibilities
adults rolling on their tongues such wondrous inventions
rules. I agree, and add that rules have to be revised
from time to time, not always on grounds of theory,
have been friends for many years.  I find myself inventing
them into print when they slip past weary or tolerant
They just seem to come out naturally to fill a place
and see the effect.  One might pass on the flavor of
had existed alongside inalienable for over a century
mood and we are telling sad stories of the death of
English, with all thy faults, I loved thee still.  For
like, A good man, apart from his too easy tolerance.
as an etymologist to a shipwreck.  Son of a prosperous
away to a life of adventure at sea, and their father
Oxford awarded Hall an honorary doctorate in recognition
which it is most her duty and interest to cultivate.
of special interest to readers of VERBATIM.  As far
which I have kept up ever since, of desultorily jotting
mere philological stripling of thirteen.)  Not until
form, a volume with the splendid title, Recent Exemplifications
three were inclined to uninformed etymology or ignorant
gave historical usages.  Hall was immeasurably better
informed than those he criticized, and he recognized
result of extensive cooperation, and judicious subdivision
expansively for his voluntary and gratuitous service:
wealth of evidence the author illustrates the history
declared to the Dictionary his death is an incalculable
loss, a loss that would indeed have been irreparable
we should have the free use of the books in his own
extensive library to which these referred.  Hall was
Like many people, Hall grew increasingly conservative
firm.  In particular, he was suspicious of language
rights of man [the conservative] has gradually grown
used, after long years of disquietude, to hear talked
of, without apprehension of catalepsy; but you must
wait for his son, or for his son's son, if you would get
Toward the end of his life, he wrote: If egotism for
hour, in writing English, that I am writing a foreign
language, and that, if not incessantly on my guard, I
particularly one who had earlier celebrated the revolutionary
regards everything else, so as regards language, the
spirit of rigid conservatism operates as a principle of
Hall's disputatious style in his many contributions
memorial notices published after his death were often
Dr. Hall had all the aggressive confidence of modesty
prose was apt to be difficult reading.  Had he combined
he would not more effectually have strewn the field
as delightful as it was edifying.  As it is, his works are
too subject to his own criticism to be natural; it was
person, if he takes the trouble to observe and consider,
can soberly maintain, that English is deteriorating.
when he was captious or carping, he compelled respect.
Hall in the pages of the Dial and of Modern Language
that with such an adversary as Dr. Hall it was difficult
make uninformed allegations about English impossible,
time, it has been possible to assemble and describe
the set of lexical innovations used in one particular
apparently key words but on the evidence of the use
This article is concerned with the first fifty years
more specific terms for parcels of land like government
comes increasingly to refer to land that is available
from land which is located or settled.  Waste land is
pasture.  It is thus synonymous with wild land (also
cattle, horses and sheep.  This description recognizes
cannot... with propriety be called waste lands, for
very much terms of occupation.  Settlement is used in
themselves.  The verb settle is used transitively of the
action of peopling a place, as in to settle a district,
intransitively of the action of settling oneself, as in
Lang in the next year remarks that spirit of irreconcilable
occupy land and through occupation to utilize it.  Location
allocation or grant of land or the act of establishing a
settler in a place, in which case it was synonymous
thrown open to general location.  To locate meant, similarly,
to allocate (a parcel of land), to settle (oneself)
on a piece of land, or to select (a piece of land).
Located districts was synonymous with settled districts,
the further extent of settlement, the boundary within
which land was surveyed and available for legal tenure,
allocating land within the limits of location required
country, new districts, new settlements as land was
into the back country; movement towards the settled
districts was movement down the country or in: travelers
to a station, though out, except in collocations like
one who has title to a tract of grazing land, is recorded
1840s; but in the earlier period both runs and stations
utilization of the land give some measure of the environmental
A group of words reflects the immediate needs of an
demonstrative are the uses of the kangaroo, as evidenced
hide, kangaroo hunt, kangaroo leather, kangaroo rug,
kangaroo skin, kangaroo soup, kangaroo steak, kangaroo
stripper; of cedar, as in cedar brush, cedar cutter,
grouping of coinages bears witnesses to the embryonic
cattle run, cattle station; stock agent, stock driver,
stock establishment, stock horse, stock house, stock
hut, stock proprietor, stock property, stock run, stock
station; sheep country, sheep downs, sheep establishment,
master, sheep overseer, sheep owner, sheep proprietor,
and use: what remains to identify in the early period
is an indication of the perception of the landscape on
their industry.  From the start there was a tension
between resemblance and difference, between recollection
were qualified before being applied, like wild currant,
wild fig, wild geranium, wild indigo, wild parsnip,
native cherry, native cranberry, native flax, native
or names in which the qualifier is a color, as in blue
gum, green wattle, white honeysuckle.  On the other
eucalyptus, and platypus.  In generic terms this is
the redefinition of words like forest and plain.  The
in its natural state, country covered in such vegetation,
one hand, and, on the other, country that is naturally
open or that has been cleared, an activity which gave
and is the only Ground which is fit to Graze; according
to the local distinction, the Grass is the discriminating
use of the Former, it is clearly understood as different
being applied to undulating as well as flat country
trees.  The important feature is openness, as in collocations
land distant from water being known as back country.
the lexical landscape is one of occupation and subsistence
than interpretive.  It registers a process of improvement,
of land into agricultural or pastoral use, and including
clearing, the provision of fences, buildings, etc.,
with the intention of increasing the land's productivity.
was overstock.  One will have noticed that there has
most of them in the early period.  These did include
they had places of habitation, also given the English
relationship, either of location or utilization, between
are as tenacious of their hunting grounds as settlers
tract of vegetation either to trap animals or to maintain
that acknowledge the existence of tribal boundaries.
aside by a government agency (later native reserve,
will take place as neighbors unite to speak out against
People of the Books: Biographical Entries in Dictionaries
Not all dictionaries enter the names of real people,
monolingual dictionaries, the practice is widespread
Pronunciation dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries
such entries is linguistic rather than encyclopedic:
This last array prompts the question: how are names
Items that appear frequently in sources of different
types are included; items less frequent or more restricted
of the lexicographers who compile them, aided often
Sugar Ray (US Boxer)                       No                Yes                  Yes                 Yes                 No
So to check these dictionaries for national bias, I
seemed to play similar roles on their respective sides
But encyclopedic dictionaries (though not, perhaps,
names from all over the world.  So to examine cultural
encyclopedic dictionaries must be taken with a grain
of salt, though their skewing may be a fair reflection
have of the worthies of whom other speech communities
Anglophone dictionaries, is remembered nevertheless
and places of birth and death will usually suffice to
identify the bearer of a name uniquely; if one goes
further, where does one stop?  Dictionaries seem to
divide into two camps.  Some say the minimum, limiting
pianist, and conductor?  What, indeed, was his nationality:
Guide to the Orchestra; but perhaps music for children
Cat gets in because of the frequency and range of its
occurrences (determined objectively or subjectively).
With names in dictionaries, the criteria for inclusion
rest get in not because of their abundant presence in
texts, but because lexicographers feel that the bearers
of these names are important folk.  And the explanations
the names are explicit attempts to justify their inclusion.
entries is true of all the entries in encyclopedias.
In other words, an encyclopedia is an enormous exercise
Wizard of Oz many times, either as children or later
Unless one's ears are tuned to listen for verbal aggression,
certainly most of it has escaped the attention of most
threats, scolding, and nasty sarcasm is much livelier
and much scarier for children than the book.  To be
sure, by today's standards, the film's most often used
pearls as You clinking, clanking, clattering collection
of caliginous junk! are as effective and amusing today
film is not expressed by nasty terms but by the tone
menacing face and gestures, her vicious sarcasm, her
Well, the last to go will see the first three go before
thrown water on the burning Scarecrow and accidentally
the eighth and ninth centuries gave a strong practical
an arresting piquancy to the many proverbs still surviving
of these proverbs.  The sore feelings of a harassed
checked by the reminder that It's late time to sift
Love, courtship, and marriage, as might be expected,
the plate and cold is the love that starts over hot.
this.  The hypocrite was neatly described as Hit's ill
neighbor problems call forth, Yer can win by aa yer
back from vital purchase of an improved farm implement
awareness of rich history and tradition of belonging
are enough ludicrous misconceptions about the Bible
is overloaded with the equivalents of peradventure,
sprinkled throughout every page of the Bible provides
parts of speech that are necessary in English, so, in
frequently reminding us that English is the language
and Quarto texts indicates emphasis, Sir Peter Hall
English.  Media people, politicians and academics, to
way they shouldn't oughtn't just to make their pronouncements
no longer employs two words to describe an institution
as  The Times newspaper, as if listeners might otherwise
forces.  If it were not for the fact that military service
other.  I once pointed this out to the editors of The
Compressed speech is the norm, particularly among sabras.
when they wish you to give someone their regards, followed
might mislead a tourist into believing it was named
the city's first mayor.  This thrift of tongues sometimes
spires.  The shopping street, with its branch of Marks
they encounter.  Other misunderstandings frequently
occur because of an inability to distinguish between
time she went to register as an alien at the local police
in this comedy routine.  The possibilities are endless
result, not entirely unexpectedly, is that a single
quaint little thatched dwelling with roses entwined
round the door.  The same anarchy reigns in electronics,
itself.  The leisure industry is similarly afflicted: a
of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a
rock; the way of a ship in the sea; and the way of a
man with a maid.  A fifth that defies comprehension
tackle another development without the aid of a diagram:
mandate, for the mechanical expertise of soldiers of
to specify which axle is being referred to, so that
book fulfills: that of setting straight the many misapprehensions
readily understand, but that folk etymologies themselves
guide books normally well regarded for their trustworthiness
the names, as they are recorded over the years, tell
use so.  To put it broadly, we must be guided by language
events and geographical attributes themselves frequently
the first part of the name representing Old English
(The alternative origin here was doubtless proposed
huntsman's hill), but probably represents an integral
the first part of the name does not mean, as has been
it is at the upper tidal limit of the river.  But the
Puritan Revolution, or Civil War, in some ways culturally
the most radical of social upheavals, so annihilated
it that they are preciously rare today; yet it affected
the English language hardly at all, even temporarily.
had little effect on nomenclature.  The same can be
street names, toponyms remained largely unaffected:
tried changing even the names of the months to memorialize
of their language than any other people about whose
newly formed and freshly named Union of Soviet Socialist
changed in the language of the revolutionary country.
become phonetically superfluous, as c has become in
omission of the hard sign after final hard consonants.
More subtle effects were introduced through Communist
rule plus the electrification of the whole country,
words of both kinds were borrowed into other languages,
given.  But the noun has acquired a secondary meaning
There is logic in the semantic drift of a derivative
changed their names.  The ostensible reason for such
chosen by the revolutionaries reveals that the sobriquets
Square against the Kremlin wall, the city created by
in English.  And other figures in the Soviet pantheon
city has hardly ever been called that in conversational
informal, slightly irreverent name, corresponding to
the plea of older residents that it not be made till
and psychologically costly because nothing that has
as their roles in World War II.  One can hardly say,
the turning point of the war.  Conversely when cities
had got back on track, as if they had been on a siding
over into English and other languages.  Glasnost and
words that have acquired new, revolutionary significance
Examples of this kind of national restoration of local
Graham Green, in the second of his autobiographical
come to mean bad journalism.  Yes, of course.  But I
have noticed that is principally the windier electronic
carries advertising.  Then it points out that in this
that would happen.  Perhaps before long the fancier
plural.  (Actually, that is the accepted plural for the
media that is the middle coat of the wall of a blood
during the middle years of this century.  It was not
only flimsy interest in radio and television, except as
coined to designate the distortion or transformation
cunningly, even manipulatively, for extensive coverage
A person who has qualities that make him attractive
that there can be too many outlets for a successful
appeals for their business that the campaign backfires.
the sense of reasoning, if not in that of dispute).
and fell.  This type of construction is best handled
translated as `death to': it is not an exhortation `to
problems facing people who learn it as a foreign language.
does not yield readily to rules, as native speakers
know from listening to the speech of foreigners who
they have been using the language.  Thus, it is with
the greatest tolerance and sympathy that one approaches
whether the book was written by a native speaker or
her facility with the English used in her discussion of
collocations, one gains the impression that she has
excellent control of the language.  But difficulties
rapidly,' but get tired quickly.  It will be noticed
various modifiers is basically the same, but different
If we call the way the speakers of a given language
the two in English; in French, the red herring type is
word order is indescribably complex, so it is no small
wonder that in a brief work like this, while the author
has labored mightily (and successfully) to identify
inherent ambiguity: a homograph is, to lexicographers,
sounds exactly like another but is spelled differently
pronounced or spelled like another but having a different
adverb or adjective depends largely on the verb, adverb,
arises with the enormous flexibility of metaphor accorded
on the focus of emphasis of what is being provoked.
listing all the adverbs that might be used with the
quietly, silently, uninterruptedly, fitfully, intermittently,
efficiently, well, faultlessly, beautifully, perfectly,
swiftly, rapidly, quickly --and then one must be prepared
without a hitch, as if it would never stop, like a clock,
am sure, but it must be a large number.  The author
is spared an exhaustive listing by the constraints of
representative listing but barely scratches the surface
grammatical analysis of English lies in distinguishing
has gone is a past participle but an adjective in He is
gone (if only because English does not use the verb
to be as an auxiliary, the way French does); alleged
in it was alleged is clearly a past participle, but in the
alleged culprit it is an adjective.  It is set forth [p.21]
that contrive something can be modified by brilliantly,
heavily, thoroughly, utterly) can be used only with a
adjectival nature of stiff (instead of conceding that it
might be used as an adverb), we are obliged to characterize
be said to lie with the author.  The subject, alas, calls
could survive the mental thumbscrew that explaining
have possessed is crushed out of it.  I have tried to
write about humor and have found it such a humorless
jokes and humor in general, and it is hard to understand
Perhaps it is because there is a huge difference between
of why it is funny, often given to someone who does
only these but, when she hits full stride, the difficulties
even the explanations are often hard to get across,
because of either sociocultural differences, linguistic
jokes, especially those that have come to be called
of visual jokes, too.  One of the shortcomings of the
book is the failure to cover, even minimally, the major
of the comedian to point out our foibles.  I suppose
amusement at the cleverness displayed, but it, too,
section titled Conclusion, she offers some useful observations
the difficulties encountered by a teacher of English
as a foreign language in trying to impart to students
the linguistic skills required to understand English
lack of theory but merits praise for having tackled a
subject that most of us dread and that has not been
treatment, it is not possible to cover every aspect of
Readers of VERBATIM and all who share their interests
complain, as there is an entry not only for VERBATIM
responsibility as contributor of a number of the entries,
slipped into the reviewer's trap, so neatly laid by
not in the book under discussion rather than what is.
treat the writer's style, and, indeed, the entry on
guru.  Admittedly, such entries are extremely difficult
history recent enough for me to have been a part of
it is not always exactly right.  For example, under
  As it happened, the first plans for the expansion
people at Random House had no inkling of a forthcoming
for COMPUTER TYPESETTING, the information is given,
widely used to produce master copies on photographic
which generate characters as requested.  The Photon
what we might today call image bytes (to distinguish
them from pixels) was in use in the latter part of the
A Dictionary of Verbal Corruption or Words Perverted
(probably felt by the Editor even more strongly than
by me), namely, where is the Index?  There is such a
wealth of material buried in its thousands of articles
that remains inaccessible for lack of an Index that
the ends of the entries are extremely helpful; also, to
(I shall leave it to you to do the arithmetic) for a
book the depths and wisdom of which it is difficult to
for instance, appears a reference to dead language,
but there is no mention of that entry at DEAD LANGUAGE
subject of the book is English).  Still, members of
The Society of Indexers will spin in their groove--
on relatively abstruse subjects that, owing to concision,
assume a level of sophistication not necessarily possessed
fifteen sections, proved difficult reading for me.  In a
their own entries would have helped; that is certainly
longer encyclopedic texts, but it tends to interrupt
reading and clutters up shorter entries of the kind
that language is not best served by alphabetic organization,
most difficult of an editor's responsibilities in such a
work is to rewrite articles submitted by contributors,
make them, if not uniform, at least compatible.  In
language, one must not impute to its function anything
language is unimaginably vast, in its origins and history,
in its literary, philosophical, psychological, social,
and specialized applications, and in the descriptions
both historical and contemporary.  Consider that the
English alone would occupy several similar volumes;
of the writings about it; and then consider all the
material ancillary to the foregoing: the teaching of
speakers as well, the conventions of writing, punctuation,
usage, and pronunciation, the multifarious influences
the study of style and of literary devices, etymology,
etc.  It is difficult enough to assimilate all the categories
attempt, there are bound to be points of disagreement,
been accorded short shrift, minor inaccuracies that
hugely successful one at bringing together into a coherent,
subject that is at once the most complex, changeable,
elusive, technical, emotional, political, controversial
readers will appreciate that it takes a while to read
through several years' worth of material and will be
and useful to those who do not have ready access to
those early volumes (or the time to read them).  If
the punctuation seems a little odd, it is because it
the VERBATIM library) has yielded an item of interest.
those who are interested in the length of words will
the Archbishop's diary to the effect that `the Free
still elude the most determined researchers in etymology,
the proportion of idiomatic expressions without confirmed
of eight pins one above another, from top to bottom;
the antiquity of this invention, which is at least as
Perhaps I am missing something, but, in the event, it
translate into the modern sense of the idiom.  What
sense of step, measure, degree hence take (someone)
thus not correct, for, while that attribution might
have been the original source, the expression itself is
As it is unlikely that I shall be around to celebrate
reminisce, briefly.  As we all know, one characteristic
numbers have preceded this one.  The life of a periodical
for example.  I do not have figures for the number of
periodicals that have met their end during the past
those listed in the audited annual circulation report
required by the Postal Service to maintain a Second
conducted some years ago, each issue of VERBATIM is
about publishing it is that an average of more than
notices attached to certain issues.  I am given to understand
never sent subscribers more than one renewal notice
mail as it is.  That promise has been kept: companies
seeking our mailing list are told that the only way to
reach our readers is through advertising in the pages
worthwhile noting that the first issue consisted of six
alternating six and eight pages) and a subscription
For those who do not object to (very) rough statistics,
might seem like an unconscionable increase, allowing
and postage (especially) have been driven up out of
The greatest cost we encounter is that of advertising,
is impossible to find another publication in which to
likely prospects and hope for the best.  Our current
not profitable till they have renewed for the third
can be seen that one must wait till the fourth year's
book sales improve that slightly, they are offset by
the fact that we have recently begun paying all contributors
for anything except to urge those who enjoy VERBATIM,
to encourage others who share their interest to subscribe
Club Catalogue (because filling orders became enormously
up, the entire award, at the discretion of the Committee,
may not be much, but, like VERBATIM, it is, as they
high technology.  The trends are becoming worldwide
lowering of economic borders serve as a catalyst for
world business scene and the penetration of computers
these strange terms and words until their rivals and
colleagues find them difficult to understand.  When
Great news, boss.  We riffed another thousand today.
eliminating staff; the opposite of recruitment.  If
is loaded with sanctimony.  In effect, it says to the
and alliances.  The heavy costs to the balance sheet
and the problems of culture clash can lead to a feeling
managers begin to cross borders to work for companies
your future conditional.  Tricky territory for the ambitious
corporate ways to local conditions.  Originally, this
word was an agricultural term for adapting seed and
that allows its foreign subsidiaries autonomy and local
company's global imperatives and local requirements.
by electronic mail, voicemail, or straight telephone
selects information according to personal interests,
technology companies applied as a way of bolstering
millions of dollars.  Such machines are not exactly a
disappearing breed, but they are increasingly replaced
learned fast.  Such things as where to go, what to and
what not to do, how to behave with one's fellow inmates,
emotions, and professions.  Inmates are not refused,
of extreme annoyance.  Also, we do not ignore somebody;
we blank him.  It is far better to act in a trustworthy
the common vernacular, that is not the case with the
majority.  For, not only are convicts or screws prison
officers the only people to use them, they are likely
hoisting shoplifting, can be distinguished from the
as those already mentioned jockey for position, all
in danger, such danger being especially acute if the
who are dangerous or in danger).  Though the prison
convicted inmate will be in blues wearing blue denims.
life very restrictive, with all his movements being
recorded in a little book.  A Cat A man is thus also
The jail one is sent to is of a specific type.  One
starts off at a local the jail in one's town or region.
If given a relatively light sentence, one could be sent
make the time pass a little quicker.  If such activities
to right in possession or vicinity, the perpetrator is
breach of prison rules and put on adjudication sent
After coming in, getting out is the major priority.
sentences for serious crimes will be more likely to
which is their sentence less a third taken off for good
behavior.  If one misbehaves, he will not be released
forward to.  One must be careful though, for if one is
stiff a letter which has not passed through the hands
of the prison censor, future visits may be closed in
which `a screen is put between the prisoner and his
and of no practical use till one gets some bird (short
Unsecured creditors get the shaft in mining bankruptcy.
Tonight's program focuses on stress, exercise, nutrition
even be called a double binomial, because it says it
not only gives information, it also dispels confusion.
moth.  I reached back to my childhood, and remembered.
big poplar sphinx does not say the same thing to everybody.
the adult insect, and the typical sphinxlike raised
head for the caterpillar stage.  The second name, the
for animals.  A brown and yellow butterfly with blue
name that correctly identifies this butterfly everywhere,
crosses through every language, through all the alphabets,
refer to living things, because the generic name and
called one of the foulest and nastiest creatures that
be should be known to most residents of the northeast
that roamed this planet a hundred million years ago.
Thunder.  I also, very unofficially, invented a joke
invent our varietal names in order to single us out, to
call out to us.  Other animals probably do the same,
for each other and for their children.  I feel sure that
just the specific name, it is better to use both names
at first mention, unless we are sure the people addressed
other genera.  Also, since most specific names contain
around, not just for other genera, but for the millions
of other living things in all the tribes, families,
orders, and classes in the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
animals.  About a dozen other animals bear this same
All living things includes, of course, the vegetable
follow the rules of binomial nomenclature.  Some of
evidently afforded him the time and solitude required
a work, though no indication is given of how long he
books have been written about metaphors, little effort
with examples of semantic and linguistic changes (as
well as amelioration, pejoration, etc.) that are tantamount
your shin on a stool that is not in your way, When the
wheat lies long in bed, it rises with a heavy head, The
water that comes from the same spring cannot be both
fresh and salt, Better feed five drones than starve one
which essentially links to a word or phrase the culture
quoting the author's purpose, set forth in an Introduction,
forms, including similes (a nose as red as a cherry),
a third party, as in your barn door's open.  In this
have therefore been excluded because of this inevitable
names of natural species such as footman and emperor
The result is, in large measure, a catalogue of the
treatment once given in those older dictionaries that
(Two matters of style should be noted here: first, all
to allow for entries not otherwise classifiable, I find a
bit too whimsical, especially when one finds Farmers,
author is subtly trying to pass on some sort of cynical
categories describe the literal content of the metaphor,
appears more than once in the main section notwithstanding
culture, and proper imaginative, apt control of them
is an indicator of one's knowledge of both.  Within
dialects of English; kick into touch curtail or postpone
out that it is unlikely that one can ever become fully
Collins lived in a suite at the top.  At the corner of St
the company's attorney, and I were trying to arrive
at a viable budget for the preparation and publication
the course of several months, but we three were the
on into the evening.  Though hardier in those days,
my constitution was somewhat affected by jet lag, as
we came to a particularly niggling point of dispute
those present fell about laughing merrily.  [Note to
literary metaphors in sections under Myth that include
not couched in a metaphoric phrase that I can think
of).  In the category of proper names, which are not
personal favorites in this category is mithridatism
the gradual immunization of a person against a poison
at dinner by dosing the food with poison that had no
effect on him.  Nouns and verbs are the mainstay of
short supply.  One could write a longish essay on the
I see that I have fallen (not inadvertently, I fear)
into the trap that I so often criticize in other reviewers,
namely, scoring a work for what it does not contain
there.  Despite some disappointments, inevitable in
especially in one that by its very nature could never
approach completeness, it must be said that what is
included is well and concisely handled, useful, and
interesting.  Still, I return to my point regarding certain
not solely to serve those who wish to look up metaphors
speakers.  It must be said that the days when every
schoolchild was (at least) exposed to classical mythology
beings who are passing familiar, if only subconsciously,
based on the bedrock of their culture.  Of course, if
by culture we mean today familiarity with the names
of the top ten rock hits and the details of latest episode
education ignores totally the whole person; at best,
than a thousand of which were listed in the Bibliography
have, from How to use the book, is in a vague mention
with these cryptic references, and no bibliographic
sources in the text at all.  For the casual user, they
might not be important, but their absence makes the
Moreover, I, for one, should like to know the source
could sit on a cigarette paper and hand his feet over
the edge: given no gloss, does this refer to low depressed,
whip a cat but I must beat the tail of it?  On what
heard that or several other expressions, similarly attributed,
always something of a joke, in any event).  Spill the
other hand, carries no label at all, which one takes to
mean it is universal, but it is virtually unknown in
appear as a label, since the phrase, which is literal,
hence not an entry, is a description of a military punishment.
they might be corrected and improved in later editions,
the book intended?  At the price, it is clearly not to
must conclude that libraries are the likely target.
not many, and at that price one would expect a cloth
binding rather than the hard paper binding provided.
though none of the words is spelled conventionally.
usually find these nonstandard forms?  What purpose
most examples of modified spellings, the vast majority
in fact being found in dialogues in novels.  Authors
what a character says, but also how he says it.  In
other words, they want to indicate how a character's
forms.  The author's purpose is to give a more realistic
vocabulary (regional forms, slang, etc.), nonstandard
grammar (we was, he don't) and graphological features
is an essential ingredient in many novels.  The use of
such modified spelling in literature is generally referred
are more or less limitless.  Here is a fairly fertile example:
or less limitless, but they may also be rather dangerous.
If an author tries to make a fairly accurate transcript
of eye dialect, the printed version may end up with
readers will be faced with a barrage of unusual letter
combinations, a complex code that needs to be unraveled.
the words than considering their meaning, losing the
thread of events.  For many readers, certain sections
of unwritten rules has emerged for the use of modified
spelling in direct speech in novels.  The most important
with anything like a close transcript of what might
actually have been said.  Since readers are already
using their imagination when reading a novel, a good
writer must simply encourage them to imagine what a
character's speech may actually sound like by providing
nonstandard should be enough to convince readers of
the mock speech reality the author is trying to create.
to small sections of direct speech, and only rarely
are major characters given much nonstandard dialogue.
certain common lexical items that are regularly subjected
already seen them elsewhere or quickly become accustomed
short words which carry little essential meaning and
which are repeated often enough for readers to become
character's way of speaking without distracting from
usually quite enough.  The use of v instead of f (It's a
vine day) is almost enough on its own to indicate a
one or two key sounds: a v for a w suggests a German,
written down, the phonetic transcriptions use a similar
system of modified spellings to indicate pronunciation.
Most of the conventions established for representing
Writers can also use eye dialect to indicate social
in novels is to show the speech of the lower classes
writes what as wot, no indication of pronunciation is
being given; the same is true for a number of other
cases the writer is using a phonetic spelling that reminds
restricted to novels.  It regularly crops up in graffiti,
signs.  Its wrongness immediately attracts people's
attention and, at least as far as graffiti is concerned,
are usually referred to as sensational spellings.  A
along the roadside sometimes use sensational spelling
frequently seen as tho, and through as thru in thru-
High spelled as hi is frequently found in compounds
accepted as a standard variant by most dictionaries.
forms of modified spelling outside dialogues in novels.
some people claim that in Dickens' wot is acceptable,
fact that alternative spellings can serve the purpose
a social tie.  A comparison with some other languages,
shows that this range of nonstandard spellings is an
added bonus that our quirky English spelling system
has given to the language.  It is often impossible for
translators, for example, to transfer the implications
spellings into another language.  The multiplicity of
English spelling can therefore provide readers with
a rich source of extra information that should clearly
be looked on as a positive, enriching feature of the
harassment, as well as related issues, like pornography,
the sexual politics of the '90s, with the obvious political
It may be of interest, then, to consider the language
something of the assumptions and limitations governing
clear whether what is being condemned is sexual harassment,
views of sexual harassment are inevitably intertwined
as others have pointed out,  the current debate has
sexual harassment reflects this ideological bias.  To
behavior as flirting, for example, it is unlikely that
except facetiously.  The term usually appears expanded
distinction is significant.  What is an invited sexual
advance?    If A invites B to make a sexual advance,
initial step is `uninvited' by definition.  To construe
uninvited sexual advances as a form of sexual harassment
Whereas uninvited sexual advances can be identified
likely that the behavior in question is more likely to
be characterized as a sexual advance if it is rejected.
clearly nonsexual are rarely referred to as advances
morally reprehensible.  Expressions like to come on
being largely informal, seem to have a frivolous, or
people will sometimes talk of working (on) someone,
which sounds exploitative.  Even flirting implies a
cavalier attitude which may be innocuous, but which
grammatical subject and object of these verbs.  First,
it is clear that heterosexuality is assumed, unless
there is some evidence to the contrary.  Furthermore,
like My neighbor hit on my friend out of context will
typically be understood to refer to a male neighbor
definition, a fact which is reflected in expressions
like to ask for a date or to express an interest in someone,
the language we use to describe the initial attempts
to establish sexual relations is either puritanical, or
hostile, or frivolous, or ambiguous, hardly the range
one would expect in an open, sexually healthy, egalitarian
of sexual harassment, my interest in these issues is not
I take the approaches made by prostitutes to be classic examples of
however, one would be hard pressed to seriously consider such
behavior as a form of sexual harassment.  Incidentally, a related
linguistic usage, and one which I agree is pernicious, is illustrated
by the allegation that certain persons invite offensive behavior--
The contradiction is clear.  If neither dress nor appearance constitutes
an invitation to make sexual advances, then it is difficult to see
how the fact that sexual advances are uninvited should be sufficient
One obvious example of a semantic hole in sexual relationships
partners.  A colleague writes that his university is seriously
pointed to a sparrow hawk (birders prefer to call it
a kestrel) and, perhaps being mindful the early colony's
tossed their share of nautical expressions into the
health?   Clean as a quill, came the reply.  Again,
his debts, sought to marry anew, she must first slough
off his obligations.  To do this, she had first to appear
at midnight before the justice of the peace clad scantily
because, as the fellow said with merry understatement,
when black flies bite, they do attract your attention.
insects go by the name buckeye flies.  The explanation?
and course up the streams to spawn, streams such as
with the appearance of the unwelcome flies.  But if
State, referring to the tree, you would be wrong: in
mariners, had ideal opportunities to observe meteorological
cool northwesterly breeze swept over the bay clearing
fishermen toil at this job, working the poles in and
have heard only once, but I was not a little pleased
what most of us would call a salt marsh.  He called it
daily.  This grass, incidentally, was called thatch
locally, suggesting an early colonial use for it.  Furthermore,
presents a dinner cabaret, `A Night to Remember'...
while the letters K, X, Y, Z were used primarily in
3000-odd languages, and it is no longer really Roman
and T missing, even the order of the letters has been
Other languages pepper their letters with diacritics.
omits the letters q, w, x, and y, still boasts a whopping
who has to keep the four kinds of o and u straight!
The phenomenon of digraphs (letter pairs) functioning
language spoken in Southern China, defies typographers
many archaic words written with the letters  (ash),
ligature of A and E; there are many other ligatures,
easily identified sources.  One possible exception is
the new name adopted by the popular singer formerly
I may be permitted to hazard a conjecture about this
their own special language.  A `way up a mountain or
not necessarily the highest, longest or highest ones
pitch.  Utilizing one of these or using the rope to
the rock face during the ascent and used to prevent
the leader from falling too far.  Slings can be slipped
over points of rock, attached to pitons `metal spikes'
or chocked `fitted into cracks with shaped pieces of
metal.'  These pieces are called chocks (small pebbles
climbed in the fashion of a chimney sweep.  Alternative
astride the top as on a horse.'  A crack with one protruding
with the feet while pulling with the hands.'  A prominent
`climbed as if going onto a fireplace mantelshelf.'
climber.  The grades are easy, moderate, difficult, very
difficult or v. diff, severe, very severe or VS, hard very
rope,' while slake [`slack'] means `let out a little
the slack.  When the rope goes taut, the second answers
interesting and dealt with a sad and serious situation
His solicitor could well have stated, We have pleasure
phrase a number of is one of several that are commonly
slightly different significance: a few, several, a great
specifying where an item is enclosed, it would usually
hence I should agree that enclosed herewith is redundant.
his list of tautologies, I believe that enclosed herewith
understanding is that when a check, for example, is
placed within the fold of its cover letter, it is properly
separate from it in the same envelope, it is enclosed
enclosure, whether it is in or with the covering letter;
[We would not dare to disagree, but the distinction
never structured to begin with.  Besides, the great
difficulty encountered in finding checks occurs when
As usual, the latest issue of VERBATIM is stimulating
bottom of a stream is not, as you put it, unnatural.
Away from the suburbs, shallow water is its natural
touch, are its natural food.  The scientific name for
the key to their wisdom, and often their humor.  It
intelligent killer whale a less pejorative name.  They
box' (or a `little barrel'), it also means a `kind of
Orca functions as a euphemism only because its true
border into Kent, he might still hear a curious variant.
this is an injustice.  All teachers' organizations here,
and obscurantist political zealots only.  (Although for
made scapegoats for many social ills; it would be a
service to acknowledge their occasional courage and
virtue in opposing the flatheads of the world, rather
the colors I dislike is mauve and which is fuchsia.  I
don't like Garland or disco either.  And never mind
put a reasonable outfit together: I may be in danger
The entire drift of your article on sexism in language
nature.  Since the sexual orientation heterosexual is
genetic, it stands to reason that the eternally recurring
from accepting responsibility for her or his behavior.
[My point about mauve was that it has no particular
those imitating women sarcastically, homosexuals, or
interior decorators) express themselves.  I certainly
did not say or suggest that all homosexuals or, indeed,
word with any consistency.  Being either homosexual
any one of the myriad gradations between those extremes
would appear to relieve any individual of responsibility
for their clients on the grounds that although they
males and females, and bias, which ought not be tolerated.
genetic origins of heterosexuality and homosexuality.
I regard efforts to stereotype or categorize people
you did not delve further into the idea that the word
black is on its way out.  I hope not, though I have
proudly intimating an obvious lack of prejudice.  I
with its sixteen letters, in print twelve times in a
single article, I wonder if the writer realizes how
people came to the United States and became citizens:
[The problem lies in the fact that people lack a sense
English for a `person of racially mixed parentage.'
taken literally, it can be used to refer to anyone who
press in the US is virtually enjoined these days from
identifying people by race in the text of articles, a
likely these days to be able to identify race, color, or
prejudice exists, it will attach to the name of those
else: perhaps Negro will again become the politically
its name.  Not the smallest part of the problem arises
anonymity in which any identifying reference is eschewed
more must be done to stop it, the World Health Organization
to words whose histories remain unclear.  Of unknown
the lexicographer's wish to be helpful or to solve a
words that have entries in a standard dictionary remain
variant form of the same word; it may also be assumed
crossing the surf can be described as an expression
is never supposed to venture across this tremendous
a more generalized but at the same time more precise
caused by the sea breaking upon a shore or a rock.'
meaning but is used mostly of the sea, and particularly
the surf, as a place of recreation.  It is earliest
In this sense, and with a host of compounds amplifying
we tend to think of it as our own and as an important
part of our social history.  But it is as much a part of
provenance of the range of compounds suggests.  So,
light do the terms collectively throw on our society?
respectable do not become so by shooting the breakers
worn and the degree of exposure they allowed.  As a
knee.  Any person committing a breach of this Bylaw
The existence of surf beaches within the environs of
when respectability was obtained, that it was in the
dainty article intended to hold bathing suit and wet
partially replaces surfer in its turn though it invokes
nose, after a shoot, on the sand of the beach itself,
an editor's plain orneriness.  Nearly all current dictionaries
as it turns out, is the most etymologically logical.
The adjective, which now means `contrary or obstinate,'
pejorative development was not extraordinary, because
good enough, and neutral terms like ordinary, mediocre,
tend to take on negative connotations.  A classic, of
three centuries there was no spelling distinction between
adjective referred to fabrics, to distinguish ordinary
before that century was out, the sense had depreciated
was evidently felt to have a spelling distinction so as
worst or coarsest fresh water fish.  Coarse has undergone
used for people, in the sense of `unrefined' or `indelicate,'
gross (three words that have also gone through some
accept the theory that it arose from a Middle English
churl are only a few examples.  Surely is one of the
very few words to result from the same process, but
a sir,' or `lordly, haughty, imperious, arrogant, supercilious.'
hundred years earlier, perhaps, one fancies, as an act
rather meant, `exposed or liable to harm, vulnerable.'
the frosts, to which they are obnoxious.  This meaning
century, even though the current sense of `offensive
None of the etymological conjectures hitherto offered
of his expertise in lexicography and linguistics.  The
first two parts of this work, the third part of which is
begins with a useful Introduction that provides the
book with just the right setting, then goes on in Part
I with An historical overview by semantic fields and,
in Part II, with a Linguistic overview, which treats
applicable), etymologies, and descriptive definitions.
may be disputable, as in the cases of words like geochemistry,
respectively: unless such formation is acknowledged
in English text, these (and others) could just as well
have been English coinages and many are so characterized
things are arguable, and it is neither useful nor interesting
to try to settle trivialities.  But one is given to
analyzed, when the counter sense is inherent in the
justify.  As the term arose only about seventy years
the Medicine rather than the Pharmacology listings.
alphabetically, there are many ways to look at lexicon,
and Cannon in this book are interesting and useful.
prepared by and under the direction of this reviewer.
see a substantial segment of ordinary English subjected
imagine still more categories into which words could
If I have one cavil with the book, it is that there
is no conceivable reason for the subtitle to use an
atrocious (which is not a legitimate complaint, I suppose),
Bar that, as the Sheriff's officer said to his first
It seems clear from the above that one must be seeking
which does not list the word or any of its congeners),
hence one would assume that such a collection is not
entirely a waste of time.  The Preface describes the
useful purpose, it may well be the last.  Proverbs can
be interesting because they are a key to human wisdom
on obscure cable channels in the US.  Further on in
humorously inapposite situation.  It is on a par with
the literal interpretation of idioms, as in the cartoon
of learning English:  Let's throw a little light on the
subject, said the man as he turned on the lamp.  It
is one thing to utter little truisms here and there
during one's lifetime, sprinkling them about like sesame
democratic, so I shall be happy to publish in a future
issue of VERBATIM a rebuttal either from the editors
common idioms with standard definitions, citations,
is a linguist, a scholar who has been interested in
about origins: too often compilers of such books feel
obliged to take a position on one side or the other in
of language.  Each entry is illustrated by citations,
them all.  Although the jacket copy is appropriately
dignified, twenty lashes to whoever wrote the release
usual, Room says much in a few words, and his terse
deserves to stand on the shelf alongside the best dictionaries
shelf.  Some of the explanations are downright silly:
It is undeniable that to have egg all over one's face is
he first noticed the virtual redundancy of partridge
to surmise that the words in a pear tree could well
words to that effect.  He allowed himself to succumb
to the intrigue and, using his imagination and talent
for research, traced out the other eleven days' worth
not only carefully documents his ideas about the various
possible variants.  At bottom, his conjecture is that
right road, but I shall leave the remaining details of
theory is so engaging, charming, and delightful that
one hesitates to find fault with any one of it; doing so
each inscribed with a friendly greeting from the man
form is that associated with them are the letters he
has received from readers which rarely (if ever) appear
column has been focused, a bit too frequently for my
perhaps, to synonym studies in dictionaries (but only
too rarely well done there) but telling most readers
(or anyone else) mentions that long in the tooth was
think this is the tenth anthology of his language articles)
other aspects of language; in addition to two novels,
he has written five books on politics among which--
or two, for I have known Bill since the early 1960s, I
when his Dictionary of Politics was edited under my
was regarded by the Times as its resident lexicographer,
one encounters more dirty language on television (in
put off till ten o'clock).  In this comprehensive study,
Scatology.  Although he defends these classifications
by detailed discussion and definition, it is not easy to
apply them, for the distinctions tend to be blurred.
while the latter is an attack on religion or religious
doctrine.  These are points too subtle to be readily
grasped.  The term taboo in linguistics means, simply,
`proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable'
archaic, anthropologist's definition that focuses on
way, he accepts a traditional definition of vulgarity --language
meaning most people would apply in the context of a
book on cursing.  The perception and usage of these
terms is personal, and I, for example, prefer to use
and many of the new cartoons on the television are extraordinarily
It is likely that one's taste deteriorates under the
continuous barrage of vulgarity: many who today admire
first appeared, just as staid, conservative critics
condemned the impressionists and advocates of other
understand and, if not enamored of it, at least tolerate
hell and damn on radio or television or even reading
twenty years ago.  Programs and films that are broadcast
Still, it is worth pointing out that the shock felt was
were banned.  In other words, the context was inappropriate:
groups, were quite different, and we ridiculed them
even then because of their interference with the everyday
facts of life.  It is difficult today to find a film
in many instances such scenes have no integral part
of the speaker and the understanding of the hearer),
others on usage, and others on referents.  In a subject
where there are no fixed criteria of definition, it
is unfair to criticize an attempt at classification: after
all, we have been putting up with ambiguous definitions
for the eight parts of speech for as long as anyone
can remember, yet we find their occasional application
to language in the sense that while a large number of
which, in turn, are made up of a still larger number
done in the late 1970s, and one can be certain that
which defendants were charged with various violations
more detailed comments is forthcoming, but it is difficult
which I mean it contains the classic solecisms that
purists deride).  Disturbing are the gaps in information:
from a college psychology course on the topic of human
on the selection of the films.  Other manipulations
cogent analysis of the present situation or its history.
The fault lies partly in the difficulty in securing
funding for proper studies in the area; on the other
hand, one cannot help feeling that studies that have
article the author has ever read, and a pitifully poor
the most succinct way to describe the contents.  An
interesting additional bit of information is buried in
That is probably the first time such a procedure has
The Introduction constitutes a brief but comprehensive
The transcriptions are, mercifully, what phoneticians
needed to be able to reproduce the pronunciation, as
features are reflected that are useful for specialists
simplest rudiments of phonetic transcription (which
The schwa is anathema in this pattern: uh substitutes
which crops up here and there in order to lengthen a
vowel.  Although it might be seen as commendable to
make the interpretation of pronunciation symbols as
easy as possible for the laziest users, I have little
sympathy for the policy: in most cases, those who are
too lazy to learn even the rudimentary respelling systems
college and desk dictionaries) are also too lazy to look
up the pronunciation of a name or word, as is evidenced
optional r  ambiguous.  Also, he writes, the r is not
cause of the lengthening or prolongation of the [preceding]
puts it (p. xxxii), but that cannot be said to be r -coloring,
name /take\?\/ (with no stress at all, a difficult patterns
with a hint of a break before the final /t/.  Whatever
broad transcription, no attempt is made to duplicate
ought to remain), John (with a French pronunciation
These details are not likely to affect the usefulness
southeastern US words beginning with shr- are pronounced
variants, but who cares how people in the southeastern
which are English place names?  Also, the preferred
dialectal variant pronunciations?  On the other hand,
pronunciations.  He had his hands full fielding telephone
reliable but because they might not say the name on
certain they are using an acceptable pronunciation,
This is the second volume of Facts On File's series,
Announced for future publication are dictionaries of
writes definitions that are eminently informative and
readable, often including a useful quotation; his entry
glass windows into their dwellings.  The reflection
Admittedly, hogan is not one of the more interesting
entries, and, inevitably, there are quite a few such.
very identification of a word or phrase as Western:
and other animals [that] raise their tails high and flee
probably while hunting wild horses, and invented the
earliest, for deer exhibit the same behavior (and, indeed,
their tails are called flags for that very reason);
instance, for that source mentions mustangs in its first
After a diligent search, I could find no earlier mention.
mentions mustangs), but that is of no significance.  It
writers were not writing much about the West; although
they occur and whether they are current.  Do people
and eights, though their distribution is not specified).
them.  Still, I should be surprised to find that cosh
`kill, mutilate' is anything more than an extension of
cosh `use a cosh [`blackjack'] on.'  Other terms, like
the damage done to one's liver by the jarring suffered
in one place, but it would have been helpful had he
Happy Trails raises as many questions as it answers:
are quite recent, but, in all fairness, it must be emphasized
reading and those who are interested in dialect dictionaries
adds little to the scholarship about the West and, if it
had a language, what it might have been.  I fear that
this is merely another in the long series of specialized
it since except to put on a new cover and title and
with a changed title is not strictly kosher: caveat
always a comfortable position.  Very soon after the
works (and probably confirmed beliefs in English eccentricity).
Z, as the last letter of the alphabet is one that is
not high on the popularity scale in the English language.
have particular appeal to the inhabitants of subequatorial
names has accentuated the use of Z and demonstrated
when their media report that English is, again, under
matched evenly by its predilection for English.  The
state's capital, Madras, as a matter of fact, has an
swept across this state following a governmental directive
converse only in English on at least two days of the
week.  This directive, according to the state's Director
abysmal standards of English, both written and spoken,
Chief Minister's residence seeking immediate withdrawal
who have renamed practically every public landmark,
Garden, the name of the locality to which the Chief
This ambivalence towards English is most discernible
with its headquarters in Madras, dutifully reported
is worthy of admiration, begins this note.  It goes
concludes his brief exercise with a suggestion that
to his goal....  Death was decreed as his wage.  He
grinner, blood, needle, and nail --all knots used in
used to tie the fly to the leader tippet.  The blood is
used to tie two strands of leader material together.
The needle and nail are for attaching the leader to
the fly line.  None of these is used in used in tying flies.  I
verdict is not an absolution.  But as a former reporter,
and the political individuals who make certain that
into each life a little rain must fall, it would behoove
all of us to become familiar with the quotations in
would probably be violating the permission to reproduce
of review.  Although some of those whose quotations
truly a quotable book of quotations, many from more
others of their sort.  This book (the possession of
school, and you will quickly realize that much of the
words, phrases, and grammatical twists surface each
use last year's words find themselves ostracized by
`chin banging.'  And each year, as a new generation
up in English class, then bandied about with tilted
girls who are caught unawares by their period.  The
the English alphabet, where letters, alone or in secret
configurations, are used to convey hidden messages:
refer to a major frontal collision between two vehicles,
Tampons, for instance, can be delicately referred to
for short, and eating the burgers is succinctly known
flash flood of new expressions that year after year
the club scene with their flamboyant teen slang from
the late eighties, find it hard to keep up with the
created an atmosphere of hatred and tolerance.  [From
Bush's aides said this week, the White House's decision on
steady decline in the country's military and social condition
please note that the reference in The Miller's Tale
science fiction's words, phrases, and lore have permeated
This will not be a discussion of the science fiction
(SF) dialect, which is certainly a legitimate one, given
rather, treat those words and phrases, created in SF,
of science fiction: all proposals seem to exclude some
genre.  It has been suggested that SF include only those
stories which would be invalidated without their scientific
scientists, and the impact of science on humans;  that
which explores alternate existences (whether future,
extraterrestrial, or only in characters' minds) based on
facts and logical progression via scientific method.   As
shall not attempt further to define the kind of material
here as SF have been classed as such by at least one
One alternate existence, the ideal state, was considered
speculative work of political science and sociology-- Utopia
the title itself connotes a society marked by government
twisting of minds to the capacity to accept the validity
apparently benevolent, but really ruthless, omnipotent,
The title character of this dark comedy seriously considered
humans can grok `embrace others with profound, intuitive
(maybe it is euphonious to the Martian auditory apparatus);
monster's creator.  The Baron may have been misguided,
experiment on himself.  That lack of insight was shown
impressive bodily transformations to his evil alter ego
by some the first work of true SF.  The Wells prototype,
we'll have to jump into a Time Machine, put its gear
lever into reverse, and race backwards through many
limit (the speed of light), might have put an end to
such speculation had it not also included the concept
of curvature of space.  It was then but a small step to
Interplanetary Society Journal, space warp has been
restricted to fictional use.  (After all, you can't have a
good intergalactic war when the next galaxy is, at the
time discontinuity, or suspension of time's progress.
where the last rocket blasted off when it went back to
Earth.  Slang's space cadet `an eccentric, especially one
who is stuporous or out of touch with reality' evolved
in the Solar Guides, the interplanetary police force
searching the radio frequency spectrum for signals indicative
such close encounters have not generally been friendly.
weight of this fictional weaponry has popularized the
death ray from its pulp SF origins to serious contemporary
public acceptance of the catchier Star Wars (from the
source of zap, which is used as noun, verb, and interjection
burst' (v.), or the `sound effect for sudden destruction'
creature from outer space, pointed his cosmic ray gun
(finger) at his friend's genitals and exclaimed, `Zap!
operation,' robotics the `science of their design and
laws of robotics, which govern the relations of robots
to be of such significance that they are cited in their
As technology advances, life imitates art.  Appropriate
control arms with which laboratory personnel handle
toxic, radioactive, or infections substances are called
invents these devices to amplify the strength of his
body to make it capable of supporting  Earth's life
Allusions to Star Trek television series, books, and
Serious crime down, but murders increase.  [From the
We consider pornography to be a public problem, and
we feel it is an issue that demands a second look.  [From a
pretensions to permanence.  Yet it was to become the
have remained unchanged.  As for the clues, they were
were.-- Or were they?  On closer inspection, classic
clues appear to be divisible into three groups.  First,
there are synonyms, like rooster for COCK.  Admittedly,
there is no such thing as perfect synonymy, but the
meanings of many pairs of words are close enough for
this term to be used in the context of a pastime like
crosswords.  Second, a clue may name a class of objects
which includes the answer, like bird for COCK.  A more
complicate the puzzler's task.  The third group comprises
someone must have felt that all this was too simple for
all three varieties were gradually replaced by play on
words, ambiguous phrasings, jumble games, and other
read: number one in the pecking order dominates hens
crows is read as a verb) or even: creature with a cow's
head and a bullock's rump found in a coop (first letter
The uninitiated may find these examples too bizarre
puzzles each day.  One is in the classic style, commonly
labeled concise or quick.  The other is of the newer,
playful genre, often referred to as cryptic; but this
on.  This article is an attempt to catalogue the main
In most cases, however, it consists, as the previous
examples suggest, of two elements, each hinting at the
answer in its own way.  This construction makes sense
puzzler's brain can handle.  Two such hints, however,
have only a few possible answers in common, so that
the solver can concentrate on them and pick the most
probable one.  This quest for the correct answer rests
on intricate mental processes which require no elaboration.
Our purpose here is rather to devise a classification
Let us start with the three groups of clues encountered
superordinates, and definitions.  Here are some examples
wise to the system and having enough vocabulary entries
it is not too difficult to decode them and arrive at the
answer.  The going gets tougher, however, as the two
Just as disorienting are clues where the two meanings
To mystify solvers even more, puzzlers may use words
in an uncommon but perfectly legitimate sense, especially
quality of agent noun.  Bloomer (for `flower'), butter
(for `ram'), or even flower (for `river') are recurrent
examples, but solvers must always be on the alert for
another, on the meanings of words.  They make up the
Clue Elements.  Here, the object of play is the written
form of the answer, or, more precisely, the letters of
which that form consists.  The best known member of
grounded have a special function.  They inform solvers
(if they get the message!)  that an anagram is lurking
flags.  On the other hand, the cryptogram composer is
free to conceal these signals in all sorts of phrasal
Some other anagram flags are broken, strange, unorthodox,
These are particularly tricky when short words, like
On reflection is a flag to indicate that parts is to be
only for answers that run horizontally in the grid.  For
It is worth noting that the first element of clue M.
The leaders of the unassuming Royal Knights Society
The leaders of is a flag intended to draw the solvers'
attention to the initial letters of the words following it,
where the answer lies for the taking.  The most common
repertoire.  In fact, it is the key member of a whole
flags to indicate whether the answer is to be composed
from last letters, middle letters, or other word fragments.
A relatively new graphic technique is the sandwich.
The letters of the answer are left in their original order
be accompanied not only by a flag but also by a Semantic
members of a third class, the Phonic Clue Elements.
It sounds in one sense (or in none) like simplicity
setting have passed in review.  Nothing has been said
about the artful ways in which abbreviations, chemical
notes, etc., may be used in clues.  Hardly any attention
examples have been given of answers that consist of
more than one word.  More important, no mention has
been made of the possibility of chopping the answer
into convenient pieces which are separately represented
than space permits; but perhaps it would be best to
clue comprises only words necessary for conveying, in a
deceptive way, the information solvers require to find
the answer.  Adding fillers to distract them is considered
unfair.  As for the answer, it is better to avoid very
learned or rare words unknown to all but a few lexicographers.
The idea is to test the solvers' skill in deciphering
recondite recesses of the lexicon.  (This being said, one
puzzle, probably for the benefit of glossarial masochists.
already seen, to throw solvers off the scent with an
holds for other dividers, such as colons, dashes, hyphens,
apostrophes, quotation marks, and capitals is permitted,
or spelling rules are infringed.  And it goes without
saying that clue texts may be arranged in such a way
that, at first sight, certain words appear to belong to a
different inflectional form or word class than is actually
the case when the clue is unlocked.  In fact, this is
an essential part of the fun.  This feature has already
been demonstrated in the very first example (the cock
that crows) and also in clue F. Clue J offers two further
instances: at first reading, changed is suggestive of being
a past tense but after analysis it is identified as a
past participle (serving as an anagram flag); likewise,
Solution: Replace in the second element (rules word
dirty and ragged canvas clothing and shoes with holes.  [The
was notified who is a patient in room 622A due to his son's
age.  [A security guard's accident report.  Submitted by
One of the privileges of national sovereignty is the
associations.  The tourist struggling at each border
crossing with exchanging one country's money for that
of another and trying to fix values may not have the
time then to wonder why a country's money is called
what it is.  [Because so many languages are involved,
the names that follow are as used in English language
paper money are based on characteristics of the old
coins or refer to the fact that the weight of a silver or
gold coin was often an indication of its value.  The
for example, apparently derived from a pound weight
other economically powerful countries have long historical
Franks.'  Dollar (United States and some other countries)
official name of the United States monetary unit by an
of the abbreviation d for the former English penny.
money used for centuries by people along their coast;
use of the cowrie shell for money.  The complete panel
of cloth formerly used for money is the meaning behind
for a weight of silver or gold, usually about eight
resources of the country, was introduced in limited
amounts to stabilize the currency.  (This was the creation
cross' to `crusade' being of less importance than the
with the metal originally used or some related feature.
means `serrated, milled,' a characteristic of the edging
which literally means `stump,' might have denoted a
as a basis for selecting a currency name is apparent
For most countries the easiest source of a name for
their money has been to take that of another country,
strong economic country or because of a former colonial
it is used by several small countries who do not have
word for `pound' libra.  Mark traveled as markka to
decided against calling its new decimal currency unit
the dollar because the native word tola also means a
`pig's snout,' the `soft end of a coconut,' or, in vulgar
derived from the country's name as is probably Vatu
(Sierra Leone), and the ultimate in directness, zaire
largest vocabulary and inspired one of the noblest bodies
crazy English language, the blackbird hen is brown,
blackboards can be blue or green, and blackberries are
green and red before they are ripe.  To add to this
would have a hard time finding a name for it.)  And we
discover more culinary madness in the revelations that
neither pigs nor from Guinea, and a titmouse is neither
Language is like the air we breathe.  It is invisible,
granted.  But when we take time to explore the vagaries
of English, we find that hot dogs can be cold, darkrooms
plastic, most telephones are dialed by being punched
baths.  In fact, a dog can go to the bathroom under a
stinger is something that stings.  But fingers do not
and a camel's hair brush from the hair of camels, from
what is a mohair coat made?  If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
mean `noisy,' meretricious is anything but meritorious,
couldn't care less,' and we add gratuitous negatives
to our seat actually keeps us figuratively glued to our
something that falls between the cracks would in reality
bottleneck is a `small bottleneck,' and a hot cup of
coffee is really a `cup of hot coffee.'  We get up in the
their bodies.  They fall head over heels in love when we
really mean heels over head in love.  If they are disappointed
when it is the lower lip they are trying to control.  They
speakers should be committed to an asylum.  In what
other language do people drive in a parkway and park
weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the
next?  In what other language can quite a lot and quite
few mean the same thing, as well as loosen and unloosen,
oversee opposites but a slim chance and a fat chance
the same?  Why is it easier to assent than to dissent but
if you decide to be `bad forever,' you have chosen to be
A piece of cloth that wear may be the same as a piece
when I wind up this disquisition, I shall `end' it.
matter how carefully we comb through history, we can
never discover just one annal; that, sifting through
the wreckage of a disaster, we can never find just one
linguistic question.  If you have a bunch of odds and
ends and you get rid of or sell off all but one of them,
about the nonexistence, never the existence, of certain
items and concepts?  Have you ever run into someone
who are spring chickens?  Have you ever met someone
not discovered, and, as such, language reflects the creativity
spoofs the confusion engendered by German gender by
a tree is male, its buds are female, its leaves are
down at the same time, in which you fill in a form by
filling out a form, in which you add up a column of
the Soviet Union, and journalistic expertise devoted
pronouncement is not quite correct, because more often
name an author does not wish to reveal.  At any rate,
the mistake, trivial in itself, tended to discredit a good
among people who knew better.  After all, if the bourgeois
transliterate and pronounce them in English.  To the
least once quoted out of context as having threatened
verb he used in a sentence that was more a bellicose
`bury,' all right, but in the sense of the verb in we
would leave us in the dust, would be around for our
funeral, not that they would put us six feet under.
If our press would attain true excellence in selecting
Socialist Republic) is only one of several Soviet republics,
approximately the same as those of the Soviet Union; it
to have had to apologize while making a speech in the
borrowing the word Soviet into English as an adjective
and by extension `assembly'.  It never means a `citizen of
mean a `Soviet person.'  So the English word Soviet
more difficult.  As a calque it would come into English
can think of no single English word that quite corresponds
to this definition.  Publicity perhaps comes closest.
point of view do not mean `restructuring' and `publicity'
generally, as the English words do to us, but rather
borrowed into English unaltered (except in pronunciation).
phonetic correspondence.  Though usually written in
two dots over them; they are sometimes transliterated
written then you might have seen the two Soviet leaders'
containing less alcohol than regular beer and wine:
book.  The reason for this variation is that when the
good measure); when an inflectional ending is added,
error, though consistency is obviously desirable.  The
most troublesome inconsistencies in transliteration
English letters are used to represent a sound represented
when most of the family moved to the United States,
the e was dropped to Anglicize the spelling.  This was a
confusing half measure, however; the initial ch remained
young males that it is all right to drink light beer.
Consequently, these commercials, which, according to
Video Storyboard Tests Inc., are among the most popular
ever to be shown on television, have featured former
the public that tough guys do drink light beer, other
breweries remained skeptical.  Because they thought
light beer had a wimpy image, they stayed out of the
light beer market for a while.  When other breweries
finally did enter the market, most of them used the
used on the label of any beer to indicate that it is a
beers has resulted in the inclusion of the following
and wine) having fewer calories and usually a lower
Light has almost twice as many calories as Pearl Lite.
calorie' is applied to a malt beverage, the label on that
product must contain a statement of average analysis
with regard to calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein.
required.  The last word on this matter has not been
written, however.  A decade after it first became involved
are concerned, however, no one has ever held the exclusive
only with calories.  They also want less caffeine in their
coffee, less salt in their pickles, less sodium in their
salt, no sugar added to their canned fruits, and less tar
in their cigarettes.  Consequently, those merchants who
have provided us with, to name but a few, the following
one third less caffeine than regular coffee; Piper's
of which have no sugar added; Pall Mall Light 100's
Foods, has stated:  Lite is perceived by consumers as a
name of a product that has less of a negative ingredient
in any substance, as sugar, starch, or tars, that is considered
the product's taste, color, or texture rather than to the
number of calories or the amount of fat, salt, sugar, or
which had just as much salt and a few more calories
than the regular product.  In order to avoid confusion,
are as concerned about customer confusion, however.
companies] strain the limits of the English language
products that have one third fewer calories, one half
that contained puns.  They were called LITE and were
described as being a third less serious than regular
greeting cards.  This description was, of course, an
allusion to the solecism that has been used to promote
Miller Lite: Lite has a third less calories than their
than half the perfume of regular sprays.  In the same
descriptive sense to indicate that something is less intense
which died after two extensive market tests by Time
Inc., was called People Lite by some skeptics at Time
Inc. because the publication was designed for those
student who seeks an education that is tasteful without
being fulfilling [and] degrees [that are] based on a
the years since the first Miller Lite commercial aired in
that is low in calories, cigarettes that are low in tar,
and foods that are low in substances such as salt, sugar,
appear that four pages have been added.  I commented
vacation and now the old Bean has joined him.  I commented
from the foreign supplement: it is still missing.  The
is no longer there, though big boy `heroin' is there.
It is difficult to compare the two editions.  Though
were added, it is not easy to see where, and if, in order
to fit them in, hundreds of entries were deleted, that
diminishes the value of the book.  There is no reason to
might have expected more: in light of the information
that inflation over the past six years has averaged about
classified as a blend of slang and jargon: the former
seems almost obvious; the latter cannot be denied because
author, Professor of English and Linguistics at the University
journals (including VERBATIM, mentioned on p. xiii but
The ordinary entry is structured to show the headword
the source or sources.  The really good stuff shows up,
county police], we just call it and the fifty card a
of the sleight is that the dealer, while apparently
built up over the years.  One is tempted to envision
knows that those glittery palaces could scarcely be so
of gamblers who had taken their own lives after losing
the family fortunes were dispatched through the chute
this book, but one can be sure that those who run the
establishments do not take kindly to losers who ask for
their money back, explaining that they did not know
this volume.  But this work is probably the best of them
and a Dictionary of Jargon (soon to be reviewed here);
sound the advice they give, it is useless and meaningless
if it is not looked up.  That might seem too much of
a truism even for me to express, but let me explain.
Many people feel that educational systems everywhere
have deteriorated to an unconscionably low level and
that students are no longer taught (in particular) English
better, many books on usage were also published, so
one must conclude that although students then might
not learn it.  Yet, one does have the (possibly romantic)
not properly learned, at least enough of a subliminal
impression of them was retained by students to lead
people today seem to be less and less aware of any but
their own way of using the language, either because
they are no longer exposed to the writings of great
authors, or because they are not taught grammar and
usage and style, or both.  The only way students can be
taught to improve their use of any language is by compelling
a regular basis, preferably not less often than once a
week, a piece of writing which is gone over carefully
for usage and grammar to ensure a compatibility with
a standard to be devoutly wished for if not achieved.
After five years or more of such exercise, even if the
individual cannot recall the difference between imply
encountered a small bell will ring somewhere in the
for which the grade might have been reduced because
of a failure to know the difference.  If this were a Rube
having eaten a Big Mac, the memory of which conjures
mouth to take a bite, and a string attached to his lower
jaw releases a mouse, the sight of which arouses a cat
which chases it, causing the mouse to squeal, awakening
through the trapdoor falls a usage book, sliding down
any kind.  In a time when professional writers write
judgment because that implies an awareness of choice;
in order to have a choice, one must know of alternatives,
that people write the way they do because they know
that sometime, somewhere, there will be people who,
Good Word Guide to find out whether it takes a singular
or a plural verb.  That, as we all know, is a forlorn
when two or more people or things are the subject of a
context, are like those who know (like the people at
doubt that baking soda, baking powder, washing soda,
would appear to be lost when one takes note that the
it is probably not at all surprising to see another usage
the foregoing palaver, no one will ever refer to it.  All
that having been said, it must be acknowledged that as
much care whether they are read, used as doorstops,
impose a kind of restriction on language that is not
imposed on other areas of life.  [p. v] I guess that
happen to be; but, while it is a matter of fact (and of
record) that I do seek to impose restrictions, they are
directed against inept, ineffectual, inaccurate language
to impose restrictions on other areas of life?  I despise
bad art, hypocrisy and other forms of dishonesty and,
in general, execrate any policy or behavior that interferes
different than; less bottles of milk or fewer bottles of
comes to milk, it makes no difference; but if you are
talking about beer or gin, then neither is acceptable.)
Further down page vi: Where a supposed alternatives
again we read about the careful user, who wishes to
correctness in the interests of speed.  To impute such
sacrifices to a desire for speed is not only a misinterpretation
those who are in a hurry are scarcely likely to stop
everything, pick up this (or any other book) to check
would probably say] could care less about using English
writing, which, for the most part, is simple, clear,
straightforward, and readable.  In short, the book is
words, and subsets of all of those.  The advice is direct
Alternative should not be used in place of alternate.
.And so on.  In other words, one gets the impression
as `every two hundred years' omits mention of its more
A note on annual would have been useful to criticize
should have been in italics.  The bad hyphenations,
key: the distinction is made between r as the symbol
they never exchange places), hence do not need separate
example, means `cotton socks, nylon socks, and socks
made from a mixture of cotton and nylon.'  To me, it
means, `cotton socks, or nylon socks, or both': there is
nothing inherent in the example even hinting at the
existence of socks made of a nylon and cotton mixture.
point is not that they are identical (which is ambiguous
they are the same thing: the scale formerly called centigrade
chiefly to cover its usage as a pronoun or pronominal
As for the English word forte `strength,' it is not
the feminine form of the French adjective fort `strong'
but an English feminization of the French noun fort
scarcely attributable (as given here and in various dictionaries)
those who know about musical directions are not likely
a second printing which, it is hoped, will include some
effrontery to be so ignorant of English as to need an
interpreter in court; he sentenced the culprit to two
years' probation with the condition that he learn the
her love for her banished husband she insists it is beyond
by that phrase, created by the doubling of a fairly
in just that relationship.  This expression of infinity
produces a stunning effect, one not likely with two or
poet himself, in his surpassing power of imagination
has devised a `double' provides to the others a definition,
double.  Example: what has the cobbler when only one
proper names are allowed, but redundant entries are
but not in capitalization.  However, players might well
be assured.  The scenery was not always breathtaking,
needed to keep us awake.  To honor the source of its
When she recovered her power of speech, her English
was so bad that she could not make herself understood,
interpreter was called in, investigated her background
and story, and discovered that some of her sisters still
`to apply an ointment or lubricant' and is commonly
used as a slang term for `bribe,' no doubt because a
bribe is seen as lubricating the wheels of bureaucracy.
I cannot imagine how it has come to mean the `entire
find the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin referred to as
someone else alive besides myself who was taught the
dance as a child and was told that the weasel was part
of a stitching and weaving machine.  During part of
the dance, partners did weave in and out.  In another
part, the two head dancers skipped down the inside of
recall the monkey part of the verse, but this could be
new row.  Frequently, the thread broke at this time and
Favorite Grammatical Games: Legerdemain in Two Senses and False Scents
and False Scents can be fun and games for all, and all
you need is (usually) some printed matter or even just
first meaning gets switched when it is used the second
time in a sentence.  For example, here is one that I have
`experience'; the taste that showed developments was
an `inclination.'  (It was a first taste of print that Mark
The first dangerous means `harmful,' while the second
Pretty girls finish first, which is pretty unfair to
In the last two examples an adjective switches to an
adverb.  An ultimate epitome of the case: She's pretty
There is a nice touch of political legerdemain here,
can turn out to be (we just dropped a False Scent --no
things up to date by presenting his example in modern
government has generally been held back by Congress
Sounds fair enough, surely?  Ah, but you see there is a
wonder whether it was intentional or just imprecise
grammar.  The first government really means `governance'
there is an acceptable synonymity here but it is not to
Such sloppiness can indeed become rich fare for the
statement of affairs about False Scents --he generates a
wonderfully, though quite unwitting, humorous cameo
of writer and reader virtually calling each other fools.
writer to ensure that the reader should not be given
down the wrong track in a sentence, ending in a sort of
going right past the house, and having looked for it
thought she was looking for him at least; certainly not
and has survived in such expressions of common occurrence
and the Lodges.  My concern is not with the meaning
of the expression but with the persistent capitalization
I shall henceforth spell the word without capitalization
imply `the Absolute.'  This in fact is the crux of the
problem.  When we use the word Absolute with a capital
meant.  This will not only help the reader to distinguish
conventional capitalization in the English language.
their social and spiritual superiority.  In many of the
that they also capitalized the expressions for the three
that this anomaly still persists, even in many modern
be the bastions of democracy, which clearly should not
recognize caste or class distinctions.  Is it not ironic
then that they should still perpetuate so blatant a fallacy?
Compilers of our dictionaries should stop capitalizing
among users of dictionaries, but it will restore the
on the Rialto in The City, reported that a reader in
Wells) received a tax form with the instruction Send
envelope provided.  I looked inside, wrote the mystified
death by reckless driving of person unborn at time of
interesting comment on a phenomenon that must fascinate
sources I have at home bear out that origin, however.
what is loosely called wrestling in the United States
are not separated by vowels, you can understand that
the task of producing a string of sounds like that tends
to stop a conversation, if not the speaker.  So it was soon
leaving the t in the written form, although it is foreign
want to inform somebody you are going to the wrestling
`strike'... Sad to say, he is doubly wrong.  In baseball,
(The first line of the poem, in case anyone wants to
`don,' which is socially correct south of the Border as
prolific.  Each known elementary particle is associated
with a hypothetical complementary particle (recalling,
offices of the two nations.  The overwhelming majority
of the confusion stemmed from the fact that the only
French professor in the 1920s.  I cannot answer for his
known as the Inside Detective Bureau; we eventually
started to use it ourselves.  A phrase commonly used by
head or tail of it.  I took a paragraph at random and
passed it to another translator, asking him to render it
Illegal, blending with the populace, is free of the unwelcome
embassy by the local security forces.  What came back
was to ask any questions she wanted to, and when she
understood the passage, she was to render it freely into
the word cipher came up; she did not understand it.  I
to the Literary Cryptogram.  This is a cipher.  It's a
his name.  For every letter, another one has been substituted,
She picked up the magazine, inspected the cryptogram,
back within fifteen minutes with the correct solution
place.  So I write in up above, and rest is easy.  Fun!  You
childhood, have a fairly wide reading knowledge and
acquaintance with various levels and styles of the language,
as -sh by speakers who find that easier to pronounce.
the origin of the name of Muskrat Ramble was at the
was quoted on the record sleeve as giving this explanation;
that at a subsequent time some record company executive
As always, it was a delight to read the new VERBATIM.
It is even more fun, though, to catch our omniscient
is no mathematical way of calculating the dimensions of
a square with the same area as that of a given circle.
This classic geometrical problem requires that one start
with a given circle and construct a square of the same
The mathematician, on the other hand, can calculate
quibble, of course, that such an answer can never be
perfect, but that has nothing to do with the problem
in the early 1930s, I would occasionally take my windfall
of a few pennies to the local candy store and buy a
transferable to forearm or forehead by wetting,' preferably
on the final syllable, he recalls, or thinks he recalls,
The second explanation is possible, though numerous
know how the two explanations could be verified.  The
least one may say is that no English dictionary published
sign that the plural is textually more frequent than the
singular (indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary lists
formed in English by the addition of English -s (in the
first two cases) or -es (in the third) to the innovative
English singulars.  This is proven by the fact that the
English plurals are pronounced with [z] and not, as in
would be phonologically unlikely here, -s and -es in the
English plurals are the native English plural allomorphs
the English plurals with [s] are these words derived
these are people strongly influenced by one of these
`male' is a folk etymology: the two words are unconnected
minute, and in the course of her gossip she mentioned
being `alleviated or cured.'  When a child is born, it is
After that, with my ears attuned, I heard malapropisms
dinner vegetable or remarked that we were almost out
of string beans for the water heater.  I was also guilty of
asking her to serve a pork chop in adobe rather than
diet that forbade dessert and coffee, so she left the
reached the doorway she always turned, gave a stately
one occasion, what I heard over the wall was his version
`tongues,' literally, or `languages.'  Was this remarkable
horse a polyglot?  No wonder Villa esteemed it.  On
when they have to memorize texts they cannot understand.
It turned out that she was referring to My country,
it comes out something like, Our Father which art in
jealousies, painted saint be Thy name.  The first reminds
a religious figure carved of wood, covered with gesso,
have been found in the branches of a tree in the mountains
said.  Next day, showing them off to my landlord, I was
has told the staff at his polo club that his daughter would not
of reading Forewords, Prefaces, Prolegomena, Introductions,
of books.  It is a practice to be recommended for one or
more of several reasons: one can often be spared reading
written work; one can determine quite readily why the
author's purpose has been carried out.  Such front matter
author (or one of them).  There is a Preface to this
shall get to in a moment.  First, though, is an essay,
pseud.  I hadn't noticed who had written the essay till I
It is closer to the truth to say that woolly circumlocutions,
and language used as if it were a game of horseshoes
appears in the lead essay of a book on style and usage
and particularly when it are a book of this quality.  I
was sure that matters could only improve by turning to
be relied on to make subjects and predicates agree in
attitude toward usage: as a linguist, I regard usage
clinically and would no more criticize a writer or a
doctor would criticize a patient for contracting appendicitis
a writer (albeit a poor one), I attend to matters of style
only in others' writing but my own.  As readers are
quick to point out, my attention to such matters occasionally
present work, published by Her Majesty's Stationery
to such topics as The trend towards informality (the
[but] by no means outrageous, a third as verbose or
punctuation that is clumsy, ambiguous, and redundant.
criticism but cogent suggestions for improvement.  The
sixth and seventh selections, one expository, one narrative,
are used in the comments; other adjectives are clear
(structure), manageable (sentence length), appropriate
words and phrases to be used with care.  The inevitable
70-odd pages deal with matters of style, word selection,
.and so forth.  Some of the entries are longer than
these, but not many.  Missing is the horrid at this point
list unless people use it, which brings me to my main
criticism of speakers and writers of a certain age (say,
Literacy or A Little Literacy Is a Dangerous Thing.
Much of the ineffectual use of language is traceable to
their language, they are completely unfamiliar with
people to know whether to use infer or imply if they
are totally unaware that any problem exists?  For generations,
If they had looked it up in a dictionary, which lists the
once.  But if people are not humble enough to doubt
their own control over the vast complexities of the language
of even the most basic available resources, then any
Information specialists, psychologists, brain specialists,
have all speculated on the way the mind works.  To be
only visit a library.  Tucked away in one corner is a
most of which offer different techniques.  None suggests
plain rote drilling: all suggest a pattern of association,
some alphabetical, some psychological, some numerical,
with the suggestion Make up a sentence, say it aloud.
which, in addition to two titles, has a subtitle: A
literary distillation of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary,
The book is a list of words, with remarkably succinct
definitions, that have captured the author's fancy for
one reason or another.  Some are interesting and have a
Like any written work, this one could stand some improving
have at hand a short, attractively packaged list of
of this review.  If the photograph on the back cover, of
This is a good book and an interesting book.  According
words and phrases, and its great fault is that it lacks an
entries, the rest of the terms being discussed within the
words, the user will be unable to find them without an
ought to learn that they cannot always anticipate the
needs of users of books and that indexes are almost
proofreaders) who set loose lines because they do not
over to a following line.  Today, compositors rely far too
much on the automatic hyphenation programs packaged
with their computer typesetting systems.  A typical
for deipnosophist where a line that normally contains
etymologies, albeit brief ones, of most of the words
they list and fulfill a useful, if limited function.  Extensive
works, like the Oxford English Dictionary offer far
more elaborate information, including, where appropriate
phrases and expressions, and a good selection of items
it is speculative, some taken from unreliable sources,
and some at variance with the accepted scholarship.
Islands and compares the supposed fickleness of mares
with the fickle winds in these latitudes.  As far as I
complete fiction, for there is no evidence for any such
designation in any gazetteer that I could find nor at
the Royal Geographical Society.  Besides, the horse latitudes
west, not east of the Canaries.  I comment on that in
Sea, a region northeast of the West Indies, is characterized
thrive in the Gulf Stream, they are generally called
sea,' and was so entered on charts.  English speakers
who used the charts read mar as mare `female horse,'
horses, not too farfetched a suggestion when one considers
mermaids.  The theory that the horse latitudes were so
named because mariners becalmed there threw overboard
died of thirst or starved seems almost impossible: in
order for such an event to have given rise to horse
latitudes it would have to have recurred many times,
mariners were so improvident as to have allowed that
due, he only copied the etymology from other sources,
apron in the first instance and to the characteristic
weakening of the initial h in English, heard today in
its earlier metaphoric life it referred to anything that
might serve to drive one to an early grave; indeed,
monstrous person: it merely means `huge, monstrous'
and, as far as I know, has nothing to do with wrestlers
glosses kite as `body'; it is actually a word for `belly.'
(from the Bible), It is harder for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle results from a misreading of the original:
the original, it is said, has a word meaning `rope,'
not `camel,' which makes sense (to me).  I cannot insist
least to have acknowledged its existence; instead, we are
told that ancient Middle Eastern walled towns had a
rear gate called the Needle's Eye through which a camel
someone who has never heard the bird's disyllabic call.
(being neither English nor muffins) did not exist before
he could glean, repeating indiscriminately his choices
of that which is most colorful.  If you have occasion to
refer to this work, it would be well to keep in mind
that it can be relied on for picturesque etymologies but
difficulty with the reference system is that one cannot
helped to have given the chapter numbers in running
serviette, scone, sheila, sister, Smarties, spanner,
seems odd that the words and expressions that are direct
identified as such.  That, however, is not the purpose of
the book, so it might seem carping of me to bring it up.
Also, as the author acknowledges, This is not meant to
enough statement even without the extraneous hyphen.
wrapped in pastry, fried, then kept warm for takeaway),
snack, which would mislead the casual reader (of the
Glossary) to infer that all takeout snacks are called
might also prove useful to those who cannot understand
in the sets given below by selecting the appropriate
never had a major problem until recently.  The timing gear
broke in the front yard after coming home from the orthodontist.
One thousand marijuana plants have been seized in a
Note: Clue (x) should have read gallium (for gadolinium).
by the sleaziest of criminals and defended by a police
department that's the subsidiary of a big corporation.  [From
boats from nearby marinas must dodge freighters on their
way to nightclubs and restaurants along the banks of the
your tail?  The Taming of the Shrew (ii.1.217).  Indeed,
such as ours with indelicate, let alone indecent, suggestiveness,
will his guffaws entirely abate after he learns that
the learned man hath got the lady gay.  Gay is used
here as a compliment, but today's jaded reader will
off, I say.  In Hamlet (iv.7.85), the King seems to be
throne.  In King John (ii.1.413-14), even the gentlest
modern flavor that is not quite what our playwright
mail service was just as deficient then as it is today,
to revise some passages in order to avoid misunderstanding,
not to a part of an airplane, but to an enclosed place
for fighting cocks and, in a transferred sense, to a
The Taming of the Shrew (iii.2.214) You may be jogging
(ii.4.79-80) is not a reference to the hosiery worn
by our kind of jogger, but to a dark woolen cloth.  Is
This contemporary term, incidentally, was first recorded,
someone that makes one unsympathetic or antagonistic,
labels this current expression to be of South Midland
meant, considering that gentleman's passionate activities
placed just before the index to the eleventh edition
thus dally with my excrement.  Nor is the vividness
further items of unintentional humor out of our supreme
will take place as neighbors unite to speak out against
The podium erected in front of building A was surrounded
other.  [From an article on laser capability in Job Shop
Holy Faith to the Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint
literal about their religion and too indifferent to nature
to be inspired by sunsets.  A more probable explanation
with snow, that are visible on the mountainside from
colonizing expedition, of the cross he wore to symbolize
The most plausible etymology, in my opinion, suggested
descendants who populated the tiny frontier capital
best unrefined and at worst squalid.  So in the second
invaded by a more sophisticated, in some cases artistic,
and Territorial styles have dominated, indeed monopolized,
leading a short way from the parish church.  A Friar
ranches at various distances from one another, with
no plan as to their location, for each owner built as
he was able, wished to, or found convenient, now for
the little farms they have there, now for small herds
other side' [of the river].)  Roads entering the settlement
eventually physical features such a main irrigation
official buildings gave their names to streets associated
recently constructed loop around the inner city has
Telegraph Street because the telegraph line ran along
it and was later renamed College Street because St.
so that there are streets properly named, for instance,
there are other street names that betray oblivion to
names in which adjectives fail to agree as to gender
may be due in part to the English tendency to reduce
in dictionaries in their masculine forms only.  Also,
(Here I should explain that there is a fairly recent
this practice, I believe, we are happily lagging behind
in whose valley the capital lies, has been called the
suggests that men's sexual organs may be derived from
tongue is not just different, it is wrong or at the very
least, odd.  When I took my first foreign language in
certain things, which I learned were called idiomatic
expressions.  They often seemed like idiotic expressions
In the years since my youthful folly, I have become
my memory, I have savored the picturesque idiosyncratic
not be astounded by the funny logic of, say, meeting
one's match by encountering the shoestring of one's
little coconut, I buy little coconut.'), and Mi mama
Take, for instance, the various ways they characterize
suitor.  Making decisions sometimes requires `sleeping
heard the beautiful expression for `being pregnant,'
time for their order.  He was astonished when his cry
when we tell them of' the pleasures of living a short
time to stop.  It would be such fun to discuss other
when the court does interpret a statute, that change
project.  The following entries are only part of such
a dictionary, based on the court's statutory interpretation
any other The same but under extraordinary circumstances
continuing financial interest Continuing financial interest
destitute Having someone who has a duty to support one
may Shall in the case of disinterested attorneys (In Matter
preserving order Punishing disorder (Contempt in State
groups that generate material for their own specialized
Most groups go too far, partly because the obscurity
of their jargon sets them apart from others, thereby
computer specialists properly coined byte to represent
the cases I read the judge who wrote the opinion did
phrase; the relevant statute yielded a clear meaning
wrote the opinion, however, did not necessarily like
that the creators of the latter do so openly.  They do
terms they are likely to publish a dictionary.  They
supplant secretly, the definitions that are in common
use.  Judges, however, claim merely to be interpreting
way that anyone else would or in a way that effectuates
that they are in effect writing their own dictionary
Therefore, they implicitly replace existing definitions,
not judges can do little harm beyond mildly degrading
contrast, the statutory interpretation practices of
judges threaten rights and property.  In fact, they
even threaten freedom; in a significant number of the
cases I read the invention of meaning resulted in a
criminal conviction.  Also, because those practices
make it nearly impossible to predict the outcome of a
case, persons litigate even though the plain meaning
of the relevant statute is not in their favor, and their
attorneys run up huge bills looking for ways to induce
judges to ignore the plain meaning of statutes.  Those
interpretive practices thus have enormous social and
financial costs.  They also have institutional costs because,
that the legislature created, they usurp legislative authority
Despite these practices, judges are not evil persons.
a long time.  They also reflect their legal education.
If law schools recognized the importance of statutory
law and advocated interpreting statutes only so as to
to arguments that perhaps support it.  Nevertheless,
addition to its serious social and political consequences,
The first step in preventing those consequences is to
realize that in courts words are losing their meanings.
through the French countryside and mountains to ride
preferably on stage, to fully appreciate the enormity
a dual personality in word formation.  Its facilitating
owing to some similarity in their referents.  Thus, kite
also has a debilitating effect.  Only an etymologist
general configuration of both reptiles is horizontal.
of the Dogs.'  Early explorers on the islands found
pets.  They were called canaries, and the dogs were
commit, since ass `animal known for its stupidity' is
fabricated to deceive.  The lost metaphor in canard
not to sell it at all, but to make it seem as if it had
keep the lowly mosquito at a distance.  The ultimate
around is likened to leaping like a deer.  A cavalier
`horse.'  Chenille was so called from its comparison
to a hairy caterpillar, from the fabric's hairy texture.
comparison in dent de lion `tooth of a lion,' from the
his canvas in the manner an ass carries a traveler's
English gs `goose' plus summer `summer.'  The reference
feathers or to the time of year when geese begin to
The association is due to some muscles' shapes being
similar to that of a mouse.  Also, the movement of a
were tents, which were shaped like the spread wings
of the butterfly.  Today's doctors' pavilion is far removed
with the Old French pied de grue `crane's foot,' the
similar to the lines showing ancestry on a genealogical
words, is ironic in that it is a great help in the creation
are harder shelled and the yolk is really quite red or
talk of the egg white when it is really clear until it is
beside each person's name is their extension.  Submitted
drinking it can make it even more fun.  My scientific
candle, swish it around, sniff it, taste it, and utter
lushness of the finish.  I was certainly impressed by
and analyzing those descriptions used by wine writers
and enologists to characterize wines.  Although the
vocabulary can be indefinitely expanded, I collected
Some of these terms are straightforwardly descriptive,
dissolved solids in the wine, we find neutral words
are taken over from very different semantic domains,
character: aggressive, charming, diffident, honest,
associations.  Since feminine is semantically related
The next phase of my study was designed to determine
wines.  Three groups of wine drinkers served as subjects
drunk or discussed wine with each other.  At each of
the five sessions, subjects were given three perceptibly
different varietals (wines made primarily from a single
grape variety), and subjects were asked to describe
terms, once they got going they often wrote lengthy
descriptions.  As a related task I gave them a list of
of my study, and asked them to circle all the words
they considered appropriate for each wine.  Results
showed not only that the descriptions were different,
odor, pungent, unpleasant, bitter, sharp by a third.
to describe it that differed from the words of those
who did not like it: a subject who liked a light wine
most of the terms involve a reference to some implicit
sweet or dry with respect to all other wines, to wines
of that class (red or white), or to wines of that varietal.
but the reference was never made explicit.  Furthermore,
three perceptibly different wines.  One subject had
to describe and differentiate them so that his partner
could identify them on the basis of the descriptions.
Overall, the success level for correct matches was no
to taste and talk about wine.  Tasks similar to those
with this group was to see whether they would develop
do much better on the matching task at the end than
emerged; yet they reported that they felt subjectively
it became clear that earthy was used in very different
ways by different people, its use dropped significantly.
graduate students and winery staff at the University
wines, that is, those wines with which the subjects
that training and experience contribute to consensual
use of language but do not automatically generalize
reason is that experts first identify the wine and then
type: if the wine is unfamiliar, they lack the relevant
they drink silently?  Not necessarily.  Much of the
them, and there is no need to pick out a particular
wine.  Talking about a wine, I believe, enhances the
out characteristics that another might miss.  Suppose
matter if wine experts or wine scientists would deny
of our conversation, especially in informal settings,
is not so much to provide information about the external
experience can be enhanced as a results of a description,
shared language with clear referents, people can do
so.  Wine scientists, for example, are seriously concerned
communicate about their experiences and preferences
their tastes and word use are in accord with those of
a particular writer.  If so, they can continue to trust
For those who would like a list of the wine descriptors,
of the English used in the Colonies (and later) during
unabated.  The following consists of two lists, the
first a supplementary glossary to that published in
lack of context or paraphrase, he has been unable to
define.  Help and comments are welcome.  All correspondence
this burletta are contained in the following letter
all freeholders... shall be assessed to work on the
returning a jury, used when the sheriff is interested
flock bed A bed stuffed with locks of wool or hair.  A
After the dissolution of this Assembly His Lordship
army.  The culprit was apparently tied to the poles.
hobby horse A hobby, a chosen occupation, alluding to
were written in their style; from Presbyterian Meetings,
level or who disregards differences of rank or station.
punishment should be in the same kind as the crime:
in all civil wars is, perhaps, though cruel, yet legal,
of Trade, I concluded this treaty by taking off the
the houses of the aristocracy, had intruded into the
of engraving and the composition called the Prince's
be necessary to forme a militia, for if it should miscarry
schism shop A place of worship other than a Church of
miles of a Presbyterian meeting house, conventicle,
States General, that a certain judge had distinctly
advised that, under present circumstances, the ship
Governor's Council recorded that, the Yearly Quitrent...
wrote, I ought not to be the scribe where wills are
and birds] it should be after the pattern of the Ancient
A grand regatta began the procession.  In the first,
was the Ferret galley with several general officers
He wrote to them, We are not entitled to our salaries
them as stockings of one thickness, unlined.  All citations
prefer to call them, first names.  The modest paperback
the dictionary has a brief preface, a short section on
the history of English first names, a bibliography,
pet names, with cross references to their full form.
the two, although the style is noticeably more succinct
selection of literary characters who bear it.  In the
whose representation of historic bearers is rather restricted.
items of information following the headword that is
of origin, ultimate literal meaning, examples of literary
here he is, for example (in English translation, and
An entry like this has its good and bad points.  It
must be hundreds) tells us little, except perhaps that
that appear in dictionaries of this type, he includes
names that are more familiar from the Bible and literature
now (or ever) called by these names, it is excellent
to have a book that gives their origins, if only for
far enough, and that for surname origins the reader
is best advised to consult a different dictionary, such
includes product profiles, describing the main features
currency conversion), detailed costs of shipping and
charges.  The company profiles section gives the addresses,
all manufacturers and publishers, with their international
affiliates and dealers.  More than thirty different
packages, spelling checkers, and their applications.
In some cases, an accompanying illustration displays
scripts).  It is described as designed to work with
italic, inverse, and outline.  The listed price for this
in convenient tabular form, a listing of scores of languages,
employed, and useful notes indicating, for example,
sets.  There is a useful glossary of computer and typographic
can be found, like Publishing Details, which describes
computer experts capable of organizing his thoughts
of information in this book, which is an essential for
any individual, company, or educational institution
that has occasion to deal with foreign languages and
the same time, for the reviewer is thereby given the
length, and their trim sizes are identical; the typography
In the first place, with all the new dictionaries published
existing works that continue to appear, both in the
Green's.  It is instructive to compare the treatment
The differences in length and fullness are obvious.
thirty years....  The basic qualification for inclusion
succinct entries, especially when the further comment
more expansive explanation of their social, political,
were being aimed at, and, unless one wishes to have
which suggests that each individual might be simply
the language, saying that the earliest use of the term
the fact that the gesture preceded its use in sport:
my guess is that slap five arose among black teenagers
or, perhaps, musicians as a form of greeting, approval,
fifty or a hundred years hence?  The question is, of
course, specious: the book is available now, for all to
see, and if one does not need or want the more replete
may well suffice.  Personally, I like to see as much
origin of a term as I can find, but one must sacrifice
that to get a longer list of entries.  Also, one will find
and one citation, leaves the user to derive what he
I have not taken the trouble to research the accuracy
quite useless in providing guidance to potential purchasers:
omissions, cavil at what are seen as infelicities in defining
against the theories that are reflected in the organization
of the relatively overwhelming funds at the disposal
fail to dissuade people from buying bad dictionaries;
public attend to reviews that their effect is slight
and preference, all of which I feel it my duty to report.
It is the proper function of a reviewer to question
though, in the present case I believe it to be that
Oxford University Press took a long, hard look at the
revenues to be realized from a dictionary that could
about the same extent as the larger college dictionaries
imitative of a similarly constituted edition of the
illustrations are not even entered into the main text
tackle, tight end, wide receiver, safety, linebacker,
informs that In Rugby League there are no flankers,
dictionary.  (There are no illustrations in the text.)
then, cannot be traced to the handful of listings and
sources; it must lie in the text itself.  Sure enough, in
the entry for Rugby we find out why the football has
its present oval shape (because they originally used a
aware that something is a foot, for there are not as
many headwords as one might expect to find in other
philosophical grounds but on grounds of convenience
chain in chain reaction is different from that in chain
because both are driven by chains, the use of chain
a chain'; but that is certainly not the case, as the
chains are characterized by sequential, linear linking,
view that fact to be, at least if the entries are listed
inadequate.  If there is any justification for submerging
that suggests the notion of `interconnected sequence'
same form as the headword.  That is not the case for
This grammatical gallimaufry is not even in alphabetical
articles that I missed?  Then, thinking that we have
presumably because they are solid.  But the vagaries
of spelling are such in our language (see the list at
fashion.  Thus, the user has to come to the dictionary
peacemaker and peacetime are solid, hence are headwords:
word he was seeking is spelled with a hyphen, as two
question their status as lexical items but cannot argue
on safe ground because they might well be categorized
Thus, we find cast pearls before swine under pearl,
the second proverb as frequently as can't (I cannot
Other unpleasant questions arise from inconsistencies:
injuries received in a car accident, reportedly after
being refused admission to a `Whites only' hospital.)
Marbles raised in a dictionary (regardless of how encyclopedic
and places have a rightful place in a dictionary is
probably an obsolete one: their presence was formerly
might be justifiable if there were accurate frequency
information available.  That not being the case, certain
well known, some are in because they belong to categories,
thousand, and so on.  By frequency standards, then,
son seems a bit over the top, as does the note about
encyclopedic information, that etymologies of place
names would be included, but they are not.  The basic
space to be devoted to the entries: on the one hand
we find acid house, chaos theory, and desktop publishing,
avail?  As a consequence of all this deadwood, we are
denied useful lexicographical information, like the
would find the kinds of omissions that amateur reviewers
not enamored of this book as a dictionary, though I
must admit that it is different and might well set a
trend in reference books.  We seem to be entering a
is going on in the real world.  I suppose that if that is
appears to use the pronunciations anyway, they matter
serving a patron too many drinks after he is killed in a car
After the jury convicted a rapist in circuit court last
already served.'   [From Column World, by Bob Morris,
Legend attributes it to a more or less imaginary eponymous
the Palatine Hill as it appeared to the eye of an exceptionally
seven hills.  The etymology of all these names remains
which was eventually reserved for imperial structures
dock area in antiquity, and more recently the site of
the modern city's slaughterhouse, not much frequented
exact description of its makeup.  For centuries it was
became compacted.  Walking on its surface is an extraordinary
size, originally referred to the fact that the amphitheater
a word for the ancient structure whose site it occupies,
shape of that stadium, of which practically nothing
else is left.  The stadium itself, and the kind of activity
grew with miraculous rapidity to cover the nakedness
her.  Consequently, the church that was later built
well into the present century, the official, if little
John the Evangelist is said to have survived immersion
history and the fanciful imagination of its people.
statue of Silenus, the grotesque drunken follower of
subject in old photographs and prints.  Now a flood
control system has recessed the river below the level
named after another ancient sculpture that is still
permanently lit on this tower commemorates the miraculous
monkey' that had carried her off to its top.  Its principal
The widening of this street in the 1930s resulted not
shops, but also in the uncovering of important archaeological
street gave its name to the influential literary journal,
the main streets and piazzas of virtually every city
dates, in this case the date of the breach in the ancient
battle of that war.  (This town itself had been renamed
as the frenzied traffic on it is a serious blight to the
Fora themselves.  Proposals to demolish this street
cleared the approach to the Basilica of St. Peter from
the buildings, visible from the highway that serves
feature is the rounded openings that cover all four of
outside the ancient wall, the area in front of the railroad
of a street named for him in the heart of the city,
near the central railway station.  This had previously
the genius of its people, the collective repository of
grammar, and syntax has been violated beyond recognition.
mistakes, outrageous misspellings, and just plain and
Even this fails to convey in full the nonsense of the
the above sentence.  This, however, would be practically
amount of patient effort and guessing to reconstruct
in the Guide is garbled to the point of incoherence.
that used to come with products imported from Japan.
was supposed to be a serious attempt at facilitating
the Census count, a sort of first aid assistance in
answering the Census Form, looks like the work of a
cut them up with his plastic scissors into tiny pieces
of various shapes and sizes and then playfully pasted
charge of foreign language translations asked around
and my sisters to understand what they were saying,
idea that no matter how gifted a translator is, he can
Guide doesn't belong, of course, to the above class
of translators.  While professional translators are
the original language and the language they translate
work therefore is tantamount to sabotage, albeit unintended,
Guide would soon have to discard, in utter confusion,
between the cracks, so to speak, with grave political,
could imagine.  The tradition began with the influential
known, sadly, but one of the best unabridged dictionaries
colleagues have directed much effort over the years
to tracking and recording new English, and this latest
on two others of similar purpose and style that appeared
the Preface).  In this latest addition to the series
taking over his father's role in the previous books,
The combined editorial staff for all three books includes
spend about thirty dollars more for the recent editions
dated citations, plus a date, often different, of the
earliest citation on file for each sense.  The date is
often earlier than that of the citations given since
illustrative of meaning and usage.  Indeed, the definition
is often provided in the citation itself.  Multiple
choosing, not necessarily chronological.  This approach
the citations and a subsequent presentation that best
befits clarity and sense development.  Strict chronological
presentation of dated citations is at best a lexicographic
data, need to be carefully reviewed, weighed, selected,
have this in abundance, and the resulting excellence
which lacks citations.  Citations are particularly important
in dictionaries of new words, not only in establishing
word formation, and cultural or historical background.
an adaptation of the International Phonetic Alphabet
entries.  Otherwise, the dictionary presents itself in
fairly standard, familiar fashion, with the sort of labeling
quality product.  One feature of the earlier books in
An analysis of the entries in two randomly selected
bulk of the entries are repeated, often with revision,
new material than one might have hoped for.  A randomly
Planet X, are, not surprisingly, both drawn from the
X.  It seems likely that the increasingly common acronym
first, but still a disappointingly small minority of the
that they were ever included at all).  Entries for pipe
were doubtless dropped because they all are entered
stated intention.  The dropping of goulash communism
judgment after the perspective of time is added.  It
part of the record of English, but such is necessary in
any commercial dictionary venture.  At least it does
appear, based on the spans analyzed, that the discards
better citations and record earlier attestations.  Also,
publication, and date (for a periodical), the same citation
on a particular citation is provided with enough information
nearly everything to the citation files behind it, and
citation files are very much a product of accident,
constrained by budget.  That the Random House Unabridged
see, much less collect, all that should be in the file.
mark of lower resolution.'  An entry for it must await
proves its usefulness to users of English over time.
It is a bit dissatisfying to find fewer new entries
this, not, I strongly suspect, lack of new words and
we should not judge too harshly on the basis of two
more of the solid foundation of its predecessors than
it does of newly laid work, this is hardly negative
Corps do indeed issue behests for academic degrees.
are many Marine Corps officers enrolled in graduate
with orders in hand and usually complete degree requirements
high rate of efficiency.  Not that the language has
ever been highly logical or ever should be, but what
and heading back to shore.  What was to have happened
In the world of modern communication, it is evident
orthographically facilitated by the various processes
the efficiency that was originally intended.  A few
examples will vividly illustrate this puzzling discrepancy.
find an abbreviation to come to the rescue.  In time,
before an efficient abbreviation for it is found.  In
is firmly set.  For almost one and one half centuries,
that a new word is needed to represent the pronunciation
matter that this represents an increase from two letters
the need for spelling out the sound of letters seems
term to abbreviation to phonetic spelling of the abbreviation
conclusive evidence since junior varsity must obviously
Another inconsistency is to be found in the process
One segment of the armed forces is the Construction
clear when the inept Mo. became the official abbreviation.
continue the curse with MO.  The final stage is now
What are the reasons for the apparent senselessness
in the preceding examples?  It must first be remembered
rules of logic.  Prescriptive dictionaries are becoming
reason for their madness.  Mo rhyming with no certainly
pronounce than their ancestral abbreviations.  Emcee
given for the first appearance of a word is actually a
record of when it was first found in print, and earlier
here again illustrates that people demand that language
Overall, the abbreviating process is alive and doing
was a child, her doctor's name was Death (pronounced
his views were on foreigners who spoke the language
imagine those views wouldn't have been complimentary
that largely speaks their language, however differently.
is rustling the chintz curtains and the calico tablecloth.
dresses and bright bandanas, their bangles jingling
breeze; a sepoy all smart in khaki on his horse, his
jodhpurs trim and neat; a scholarly pundit; a mahout
on his elephant, ambling like a juggernaut.  A pariah
dog barks at a bandicoot (or is it a mongoose?) in the
jungle.  Fishermen secure their catamarans and dinghies
standard English dictionaries as acceptable English
words.  Some of them strike us immediately as exotic
but others (shampoo, for instance) are in such common
that they have a foreign origin.  The Empire carried
the English language to distant climes.  These lands
language to describe many local features and the local
socialize and partake in sports and recreation,' is a
and light have become common in everyday vernacular
bring nuances from their own languages into English.
in five ways: words, expressions, grammar, pronunciation
for she has done this? because that's the right way
nodding of the head, some gesticulation, and an expressive
drive the literary purists to suicide.  But before they
people speak English today as it should not be spoken
survive and thrive.  It is this quality to adapt that
gives English its virility.  Its status as the most widely
spoken language in the world will take some challenging.
to rejoice.  Listen with an attentive ear to the sounds
ever remember all those different drink recipes?  It
is not really all that hard, I would explain to them.
Drinks are a lot like popular songs.  First, there are
to this season's hit songs.  If you don't know how to
the customer who ordered it, a regular sitting at the
end of the bar, or another bartender.  After this happens
sounding recipes concocted by marketing departments
If one adds to these flops the unpublicized creations
actually achieves the first level of popular acceptance,
reached that level, it is almost as difficult to achieve
will still be popular by the time the next generation
made from sweetish liquors and fruit juice.  As far as
flavor goes, it offers nothing to the palate that could
town that has both a large naval base and a private
breeding ground for new drinks.  Very often I would
take an order for a drink that was just coming into
had become garbled as it traveled across the country
and bartender to bartender.  Yet the name had survived.
across a counter (over or under) in silence, drinks
ordering a drink, like to give an indication, to themselves
funny.  They also have a strong tendency to imitate
their peers and to order what they hear other order.
their names to images from the following categories:
like the taste of liquor in its raw state.  They often
the cases below, the name actually does reflect, to
Fill with orange juice.    Fill with half milk, half
for instance, is he saying, symbolically, that he is
about to drop a small explosive charge into his nervous
Perhaps it is a little of each.  There are many drinks
in this category, as one might expect, since so many
Glass: rocks glass, with   grenadine.  The resulting
could also be placed in the next category, but I think
else.  It is a way of saying, I am an outlaw, a mountain
add splash of cola.         Glass: rocks glass, with
the references are increasingly blunt.  Much of the
appeal of these drinks lies in ordering them in such a
ways as to playfully gross out the bartender.  It is
an Orgasm at a liquor store and then going home and
mixing up a few to drink while reading mysteries in
bed.  The idea is to go into the local bar and say,
ounce amaretto             Glass: highball, with ice
Fill with milk; shake.              (A Screwdriver made
Glass: Collins with ice             with sole gin instead of
SLIPPERY NIPPLE                     Glass: Collins, with ice
ounce amaretto             (The logic of this is that a
liqueur                              floated on top is
Garnish: skewer a Maraschino         Comfortable Screw with
toothpick, and lay the               becomes a Sole Comfortable
toothpick across the rim             Screw Against the
of the glass so that the             Wall.  In bars it is rarely
cherry sits in the center            ordered but much discussed.)
suggests that men's sexual organs may be derived from
other.  [From an article on laser capability in Job Shop
place names persist in their references to things and
Dr. Frank R. Abate, who has been conducting research
has sent us a listing of some interesting names in the
only if they come from Truth or Consequences)?  Will
What can be said about the condition of denizens of
letter to members of the Association for Education in Journalism
finest novels in the world (which includes Torrents
is not a crime.  Describing sex is., to Seventh century
of relations that link the sounds of language, or its
omitted.)  There follow three short appendices, including
had studied a dictionary of popular usage, but not in
dictionaries.  Slang words are defined in slang dictionaries.
awake during class, I must repeat the fact that when
other work uses quotations it simply lists the quotation
of a word: that does NOT mean that the author of the
works are the only ones extant from early periods of
the language: people who misuse citation dictionaries
This book has a lot of cartoons and very few words.
Its cover promises the reader will be able to answer
during his lifetime?  If you regard life as a trivial
pursuit, then knowing the answers to those might be
important to you.  I had best not dwell on the revelation
the date is not given in the brief biography provided
and knew of each other.  We corresponded occasionally
and, I think, enjoyed), and his warmth came through
in his letters.  This book is an attractive and friendly
collection of his short pieces on language, written
but I urge you to inquire and get two copies if you
that contains entries like, boy: A noise with dirt on
defined), it comes close enough, so if you like these
things by the thousands instead of by the score, then
buy it.  The boy definition is in it, but I could not find
has swallowed its tail.  In any event, this book is well
known to all who are familiar with onomastic literature,
essay, titled Historical Sketch.  Those who are interested
have a few copies left of House Names which we shall
terms like informal, colloquial, formal, nonstandard,
have never seen the last used), to come up with still
number of responsible and useful works dealing with
friends' and `standard written English,' respectively)
know or feel about usages of borderline words.  Certainly,
to move lexicographers a few decades ago to drop it
fluctuate.  It is a comfort to know that if my book still
substituted for all occurrences of colloquial and, like
magic, the switch will be effected.  Hook goes on at
and makes good sense, particularly when he emphasizes
the words classed taboo or formal in one generation
might very well change places.  Of course, the biggest
they can expect to accomplish is to help people refine
of as needing the greatest amount of help are usually
unaware of the fact; for them, looking up a doubtful
even a dictionary) would be unthinkable.  Thus, the
greatest service such a book could render is virtually
which the user is aware, that holds true for professionals
a year; there are professional editors who are unaware
style in The Appropriate Word or any other style or
usage book?  Hook is more liberal than I: for instance,
any more as one word in any context.  I do not deny
the fact that it does not appear as one word, but if it
is going to appear that way in anything I have written
keeps up, there will soon be a contract out on me).
is pronounced as if it were two words (in contrast to
see no justification for spelling it as a solid word.  In
short, I do not agree with Hook in all matters, regardless
the quality of his writing.  I have not done a careful
to see what Hook might have that others do not, but
date.  If you write and wish to corroborate the style
of what you have written, you will probably want as
on, and it would definitely be a good idea to acquire
explore signs and use them to elucidate the phenomena
the United States a pub is at least one step above a
have observed that elegance has come to be a matter
nor a capital letter on the second article, and it is the
second article that appears to be a key.  (I should
both makes the phrase appositional and indicates the
would appear to give the establishment a greater cachet
precisely the type of establishment the motorist is
approaching.  Such phrases as Family Restaurant and
and dress as well as to the establishment's attitude
towards children and perhaps charge cards.  Normally
Ends a Cosmetology Shop is a nice example of appositional
article in the apposition to suggest both uniqueness
the prestige of a field can be empirically determined
through the counting of the percentage of colons in a
a corpus.  He demonstrates his point through a comparison
education and their increasing use of colons in titles
in the 1970s and 1980s.  Literature led the way but
on a title page.  But would it work on a billboard?  I
think not; therefore the appositive.  The device is
not without its pitfalls however, as witness the following:
demonstrates the superiority of U. S. scholarship to
snow, not all of them impolite, which is not surprising
the form of hundreds of square miles of heather covering
moor and mountain to almost the complete extinction
more to the botanical point is the probable relation
effective military operations or too incompatible to
was well adapted for survival in rough places.  It can
grow in sand; it can grow in bogs; and because of a
symbiotic relationship with a wide range of fungi, it
it is maquis (and also the name of the guerrillas who
reserve heath for the closely related plants that are
`maned or bristled.'  Heaths and heather are indeed
finely leaved plants which in a sense are bristly, but
heath for this purpose, which indeed might leave as
variant garden forms are known, consists of only the
and one heather and four (or possibly five) heaths in
based on old monastic tradition (and the newer nationalism),
in written documents, at least in surviving written
that led to the situation at the beginning of this century
English), the majority was technically illiterate in
Sometimes these are given by the dictionary; sometimes
of the inconsistencies, the regionalisms, and the often
forms) is a `scouring pad made of the twisted stems
rare heather this clan is not likely to have encountered,
without translation.  Since word order and aspiration
number of literal meanings, all equally implausible,
portion,' and a dentist `a sour expression due to an
shoe,' This suggests the real translation is `a tapered
little piece of (leather to prevent wear of the shoe by
There he can take his pick of universities in which to
all, the epidemic of split infinitives that has plagued
this country for the past several years.  (True, no less
those who would split hairs over split infinitives; but
I feel fairly sure that even he would draw the line at
yourself if you would publish the essay if the foreign
essay is clearly bigoted, and should not be accepted
like to have the house on fire.  Is this all there is
the writing of most linguists.  To be sure, proficiency
in linguistics offers no assurance of proficiency in
done in the subject, I could easily be led to believe
that the former precludes that latter.  It is questionable
in the course of reviews is appropriate in VERBATIM:
perhaps they are best left to the periodicals that specialize
are writers, professionally or not, a few personal remarks
It must be seen that there are many, many different
writing is divided into fiction and nonfiction, with
subdivisions of each, too numerous to list here.  Because
fiction and write virtually none, though a few years
the first prize was a dinner for two at a country restaurant
second prize was a dinner for four at the same restaurant,
at having won.  That elation was followed at once by
the ineluctable conviction that the other submissions
range from occasional smugness with a job well done
to abject frustration and misery at my inability to
amount of time and resources available).  I fancy that
writer is, by definition, one who writes a fair amount
and does so professionally (for which read gets paid
for it), I suppose I can call myself a writer.  On the
been published.  It is unfair to include being published
good writer: as we all know, some of the best writers
chance; we also know that some of the worst writers
writing, and in this connection.  I must bring to the
The essays were originally published in periodicals
like the Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine,
if anyone ever had any question about how to distinguish
these pages: some of these essays are clearly erotic
quality of writing rarely encountered.  I have never
as this one.)  Occasionally, when the opportunity presents
This seems an appropriate point to insert a personal
increase in typographical errors in VERBATIM can lay
read by me; if they are worthy of consideration, they
are read again, carefully, and styled for the compositor;
article for the third time and cannot see all the horrible
that the articles are boring, merely that the tedium
of reading them for the third or fourth time interferes
easier to catch.  But we have very good compositors,
and if they make errors, they are often very subtle.
In the future, I shall try to arrange for someone else
I can rarely support the rewriting of my own material
own.  If the reader wants to read something that is
not only informative and entertaining but can be admired
shall discuss the dark side of writing, writing that is
through the French countryside and mountains to ride
Your thumb or fingerprint will be taken.  [From the
man who was shot out of the cannon during each show
wit was equal to his showmanship, summoned the fellow
Without fully realizing it, all of us speak the language
shooting, some hotshot big shot is bound to shoot the
cheap shot potshot at some troubleshooting competitor.
shooting match.  It is not always easy to ascertain
whether the underlying metaphor in such expressions
is the bow and arrow or the gun and cannon (see Peter
but we can be fairly certain that the wad in shooting
one's wad refers to the wad that held the powder and
shot in position to be fired from early guns and that
the pot in potshot signifies the dinner pot to be filled
compare the unfortunate victim to a projectile shot out
of a gun or cannon.  Hand guns of the fourteenth century
draw, hot as a pistol, and loaded for bear, so I am
going to get the drop on you and let you have it with
both barrels.  Here is a small arsenal of words and
teeth marks in them.  Having no real anesthesia to ease
the agony of amputation or surgery, a surgeon of two
centuries ago offered wounded soldiers the only pain
of such a procedure is enough to make one sweat bullets.
lines Bite the bullet, old man,/ And don't let them
derives from the way that prospectors pan rivers for
gold.  In truth, though, flash in the pan refers to the
occasional misfiring of the old flintlock muskets when
the flash of the primer in the pan of the rifle failed to
ignite the explosion of the charge.  The estimates of
those who fire flintlocks these days, when the expression
person who fails to live up to his or her early promise.
now, had a half cock, or safety position, for a gun's
does not give enough power to generate sparks and fire
the pistol, so it is a futile gesture.  Thus, in modern
parlance, when a person goes off half cocked (or at
flint used in a flintlock weapon had worn away, it lost
sparking to set off the powder charge.  Faced with this
flint with a knife, creating a bevel in the flint, which
could then make full contact and generate an adequate
shower of sparks.  A fellow who skinned his flint was
for ramming the ball and patch down the barrel of a
main powder charge.  Eventually ramrod became personified,
by rigidity, stiffness, and severity,' even though the
target so that the projectile speeds to its destination in
or accusation is one that is direct and straightforward
hanging fire describes the delay in the explosion or
exclamation has given many a scholar calluses and a
out eventually to be completely unsolvable.  Funk dismisses
likely to have been derived in some way from the frontiersman's
exhaustive research, I am reluctantly forced to resort
to the familiar lexical locution, `Source unknown.' 
during colonial, revolutionary, and frontier days were
please read on.  In nautical jargon, the monkey was a
pyramids of cannonballs for each gun in a muzzleloading
holders had markedly different coefficients of expansion,
`big,' and great guns referred to cannons and other
rifles.  By the late nineteenth century, these uses of
great and small became obsolete, but to go great guns
continued to allude to the loudness, forcefulness, and
son of a gun This expression is frequently employed
with the same three words, but the question remains
why gun has been elected as the surrogate word.  The
years ago, offers this explanation:  `Son of a gun' is an
epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree and was
originally applied to boys born afloat.  One admiral
declares that he was literally thus cradled, under the
which sailor had fathered it, the paternity was logged
was often located near the makeshift maternity room.
we hold adamantly to our position.  To stand and continue
took courage because artillerymen usually lacked infantry
the enemy could turn the guns to their own use.  Thus,
many a soldier was actually chained to his gun to ensure
and abandon its field artillery, the simplest way to
render its guns useless was to jam a spike into the fuse
hole.  Gradually, spike one's guns came to mean `frustrate
give it the gun While giving their airplane engines
machine guns.  This led to the association of rapid
that together compose essentially the entire weapon.
paella, cannot be made to order.  All the ingredients
nature, that raises a performance to peaks of enthrallment.'
from the audience.  When a performer is inspired, it is
heat), but duende goes further.  It is something like the
zone of current sports lingo in which a tennis player,
vibrations, evoking for its disciples the very ethos of
acquired its artistic coloration.  It did not become a
current meaning.  It does appear now, however, in dictionaries
gypsy soul, which flies only on the wings of spontaneity
and improvisation.  I have seen a calendar (Workman
casa `lord, or master, of a house' and is a contraction of
the casa was omitted altogether, and el duende thus
Lares and Penates, and took on even broader, pantheistic
Whatever its derivation, duende as artistic inspiration
his native region is reflected in many of his poems.  In
striking manifestation in the bullfight.  At the moment
of the kill, he says, the help of duende is needed to
of our alphabet and the possibility of misunderstandings
WORD                     MEANING                             SOURCE
mind                                Murder, She Wrote,
As the above citations indicate, the distribution of
alphabet.  Users are apparently willing to risk being
misunderstood by giving new meanings to a single letter,
as the citations show.  How much context can clarify
to recall that the three letter set has a multitude of
and then to follow it with the meaning intended.  Thus
offended to encounter them, though some people avoid
I hope the committee recognizes ad homonym [personalized]
and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner
bought my copy of it.  Incidentally, it is now the reference
second edition of Collins Dictionary of the English
smaller.)  The first edition of Chambers was issued in
For instance it gives played as the proper pronunciation
The Concise Oxford allows both pronunciations.  It is
the waitress brought it to me and said, in a pleasant
but, I am sorry to report, favors the English.  Chambers
gave me warm feelings of assurance when I consulted it
dough without much butter, with or without currants,
baked on a griddle or in an oven.  Wisdom on the scone -pronunciation
Chambers because its editors have not scrupled against
a little editorializing in some of the definitions they
offer, such as those already mentioned.  The user is
or other animal that has acquired the habit of eating
men: a woman given to chasing, catching and devouring
in duration, with cream filling and chocolate or other
all my desk dictionaries, but only Chambers has feck
(nice to see a lost positive found), which comes from
dictionaries I have consulted.  It is quite firm about the
insisting that it be given full value, in various ways, as
would rate it, but I must confess that for general use I
But I haven't found it quite as much fun to browse in.
word with a similar meaning: this is found in the other
of English and others a distinct language rooted in
[XI,1], I have had an experience which, in true biological
in perpetuity.  I collected, in northeastern Colorado, a
now in the deathless literature of entomology a robber
My speech, of course, is very hesitant and often discouraging.
may even go so far as to maintain that the subject of its
attention is not a valid one for investigation.  There is
no arguing with taste, but even those who support the
second tenet must admit that if researchers felt that
way about cancer, syphilis, and AIDS, there would not
take a few minutes to ponder the meaning of it in the
words) involves insults, racist and other prejudicial
language formerly represented largely by asterisks.  (I
have often wondered why the publishers did not have
ignore it is plainly wrong; all the reasons that can be
adduced for ignoring it are compelling testimony to its
belief, the point of studying verbal aggression is not
phenomena, whether natural or artificial, whether in
pure or physical or social science.  To quote in part
expressions, from all languages and cultures, past and
that interviews are quite rare in such journals, and it is
certainly unusual to find a linguist humanized by such
a device.  Although the interview suffers from a number
scholar, writer, and editor than interviewer, and it
contains gratuitous information about the interviewer
an attempt at documenting that has not, to my knowledge,
been done before in the field of linguistics.  Perhaps
others on a wide variety of subjects; these are interspersed
gathered by the editor.  Although the subject matter
might be viewed as an area of legitimate investigation,
I am not sure I see the point in employing the subject
style of language in the descriptive text, which would
be far more telling were it restricted to the language of
his writing is peppered (salted?) with references like
every asshole with access to a typewriter.  It is many
years since my contemporaries and I got a kick out of
Dead allowed prudery to mock itself.  But the power of
words is such that I contend their impact is totally lost
if not treated clinically: somehow, there is a difference
Some asshole had written shit on the wall: the writer
of the former has more credibility; the writer of the
latter was, very likely, the very asshole who had written
sometimes well written.  I am afraid that an adjective
like penetrating is not only a bit strong but would be
likely to be adopted as a slogan by the editor.  I do
the linguistic literature, and I think he ought to view a
bit more seriously (and less rancorously) the opportunities
accorded him by his experience with these powerful,
of analysis of its impact and why and how it carries so
issues are available as are several books, none expensive.]
compulsory to `encourage the clear and accurate expression
lamentations over the murder of a fine language, the
generally poor standard of English encountered in the
that children cannot spell or use the right tenses.  All
this activity is being carried on by the Queen's English
competition in which people calling in were asked to
spell ventriloquist and kibbutz (among other words,
in long ago?  It may be interesting to note that the very
same evening one could hear (and watch) a rebroadcast
subjunctive rang forth like a battle cry for the freedom
of the English language.  Letters in support or condemnation
Stiff Prices at Auction of Erotic Art.  [Headline in the
spellings and soundings are hardly surprising, however
delightful.  They may at least begin to suggest the considerable
speak English.  Thus I met any number of expressions
(for my part; on my side of the argument); Step the
and Future); fillet of minion (entanglement perhaps
hairdresser is out to lunch).  Into this category fall
three additional items which, because I never ordered
reliably identify: Steak Bites Teriyaki Sauce, Lunch
For me, all of these expressions convey a plucky willingness
everyday situations.  In the words of a newspaper ad
seemed to work for me until I closed all the books and
compelled two or three students at a time to put themselves
speak English.  Going to the game, shopping, making
plans to take the train, giving directions to one another
about utterances, sounds on which we could at least
start to work.  Incidentally, I startled them one day
popping and spitting.  I think we made modest progress
efforts to buy train tickets to the right places.  Sometimes
bleach.  At other times I won because I could eventually
at the train station).  Sometimes I engaged in pantomime
the effect of puzzling some clerks, of occasionally leading
worked, for example), and most often of bringing out
frustrated laughter.  I found that by pointing to beer in
a refrigerator, pulling up my collar, slapping my sides,
not to remain humble in these circumstances.  My students
thing, as I have indicated.  What a pleasure, for example,
into a terse sentence or two ending with the expression
hobby?), and run into the back room for her textbook
Other experiences are linguistic only in reverse, or
only as one thinks of what the language ought to be.
all, probably, was the unintentional but unavoidable
puzzler is the famous yes in response to very nearly
all questions and declarations.  To be able to distinguish
corollary mention.  A local factory, I soon discovered,
say much.  I sat soaking at about 100F, while an exuberant
washcloth draped over his head, gave me his four words
and watching the occupants through the steamy haze as
they lathered, rinsed, and squatted on little plastic
room to enjoy dinner on the floor.  Finally, in this context,
I think back on what I derived from different kinds
that have nothing intrinsically to do with words.  Here
was the proof.  I was compelled to pay strict attention
(for four or five hours at a time) to setting, lighting,
this or that role's performance, costume, formal distancing
with the audience (Kabuki); to traditional methods of
men's playing women's parts, audience's anticipation
and shouted recognition of favorite plays and actors and
I find it difficult to imagine a people more hospitable,
who was bound to find larger signals gross and yet to
miss nuances altogether, coming across as deaf, dumb,
and functionally illiterate.  A final instance will make
note from this young woman containing the following
is left.  Only one month!  I want to know much of you.
So if there are something interesting or something worried,
please give me a call at any time.  I should worry.
I have no knowledge to tell you about Japan.  But I try
to help you. That's what I miss: language and more.
prove its dissemination, I offer the following from the
disrupt or inconvenience our customers....  It is time for
words and genitive case capture the twanging release
horse's gallop is in the sound as well as the meaning of
Onomatopoeia has a long, honorable, and pleasurable
ancient epic poetry to simple, homey words like plop,
sound and look of some words have given clues to their
small boy, by words which seem to act in exactly the
opposite fashion, words which point away from their
mislead.  They suggest something other than what they
mean and in some instances do so all the more effectively
Very often, of course, the misdirection lasts only for a
second, until training and traditional knowledge take
over.  The initial deception is no less real, and it is
precisely this that fascinates.  In parallel with the roots
finally better to be analogous rather than cleverly
delightfully and sometimes disconcertingly confuse.
They certainly did me when first I came across them.  I
usually hazard a guess in such first encounters, la the
game of Dictionary.  In all the following cases, the
spelling, (apparent) roots, or sound of the word actively
doubtless occur there if the price is right.  These
descriptions effective for their irony: cold as hell,
set, words that have led me astray.  There may be others
might like to drop into this intriguing piggin of words.
hear on television broadcasts.  In a handful of slips
taken from the top of my stack, I found at least one
And in several of these random instances of pleonasm,
truism, kinky syntax, malapropos metaphor, and just
spirit at work.  They did not, however, conform to the
we're back to ground zero.  The inadvertent substitution
gold is akin to the distraction caused by optical illusions:
resist a smirk when a female network broadcaster observes
the pontiff remains firm.  The howlers in my collection
me really a long time to sort what was going on in my
mind out, she said.  Her interviewer didn't bat an eye.
the plane of the ball broke the goal line.  Technically,
it is not a spoonerism.  Have such transpositions a
And as I look at the last slip in my random handful,
No government can go against [the laws of economics]
putdowns of some of the great and not so great cities of
the world [XIV,3], he quotes a splendid passage from
This, while perhaps not strictly an example of a traveler's
denunciation, is certainly appropriate to the article
poem is throughout a very close and respectful pastiche
same kind of adaptation of another poem by Juvenal,
the second century, during the reign of the Emperor
overcrowding, high rents and unscrupulous landlords,
noise, vehicular traffic, congestion, even problems of
immigration and integration.  Under this last heading,
to an ironic crescendo, shudders at the thought of:
there was really nothing to match the horror of the
aim at military slang because it is itinerant and erroneous
misses the mark completely.  Slang is slang precisely
meanings of standard usage.  Far from being mindless
and infantile, slang in its wonderful vigor and versatility
Military slang is first spoken by soldiers, who then
serve in uniform or when their slang is picked up by
been in the military service.  The slang of one military
generation passes on to the next, so the Marines who
gooks in the '60s and '70s were the linguistic heirs
person a gook may be reinforced by words in his own
but the word is extraordinarily derogatory, reinforced
is now used derisively among servicemen to describe
`individuals or organizations in a state of active and
then it has undergone another permutation and that is
Can we not reverse the approbation in which lawyers
are held by the public today?  [From a column by John R.
published by the National Council of Teachers of English.
own trumpet.'   To the best of our recollection, this
expression has been traced to a statue.  Corroboration
A perfume called Poison has appeared on the market.
Perfumes are supposed to attract, not repel (or so their
makers would have us believe), and the name scarcely
evokes the image of an attractant.  The naming of perfumes
is supposed to invite associations with foxhunting in
and bridles or bits redolent with horse's saliva.  The
first reaction was that Poison was another misspelling
promising the smell of fish seems a little remote.  Coco,
smells much like an opium den; and it is impossible to
copy to me.  Lady Stetson, though, I should expect to
smell like stained hatbands on sweaty cowpokes.  The
sure that the company coming up with the last of these
singularly unimaginative name for a product: it ranks
This is absolutely putting the horse before the cart.
entries were retained in the four Addenda Sections in
question.  These evidently possessed whatever qualities
of viability are required for an item to survive in at
least written English once it has experienced adequate
quantity and variety of printed occurrence to justify
suggesting that the early years of a word's temporary
admission to the English lexicon are the most critical.
continue to indicate the critical quality of a new word's
provide crucial information, the list is organized according
that, for example, the highest mortality again appeared
the deletions were noun compounds, whereas the only
taxonomy is that determined by the 13,683-item corpus
butter pat                    laggard                     suffix
delocalize, v.   lagger                      paging
derrick, v.      meson                       plasma
fat                                                       receptor
ACRONYM                                                   Age
isolated camera                                           water toothpick
media mix                     surfer's knot               clock in
memory                        teaching machine            clock off
trace                                                     clock on
This is a curious work.  I was under the impression
and indeed it was; but there are so many improvements
specific editorial director are a bit mysterious.  One is
some disembodied corporate entity.  To be sure, four
page, but so do names of a lot of other people (like
whose direct connection with the book at hand would
with consultant linguists and specialists in other fields
who contribute something to the preparation of accurate
structure and definitions to a dictionary, I think I
can safely say that such people are only indirectly responsible
responsibility for a book of such complexity rests with
the editors.  But only four editors for such a massive
work?  I suppose it is possible.  In any event, it seems
W], despite many improvements over its forebears, still
suffers from shortcomings ultimately traceable to the
many differences, too.  One gets the impression that
the editors of L used the good stuff from the W and
albeit superficial, reveals a number of differences,
older dictionaries the words are syllabified mainly to
help in pronouncing them; latterly, syllabication has
been used largely to find where a word can be hyphenated
today's newspapers and magazines, one would be sore
put to believe that a dictionary had ever been within
the grasp of their editors, proofreaders, or the programmers
the correspondence received at Collins Publishing concerning
the dictionary concerns this change and is critical
symbols is somewhat closer to that of the International
Phonetic Alphabet; W follows the system used in the
taste, being replete with diacritics.  L uses a version of
system, favored by newspapers because, though primitive,
which requires even a casual user to deal with distinctions
pronunciation of English is much fuller in the front
front matter of dictionaries seem to be students (who
are enjoined to under pain of death) and other lexicographers,
subject in L would not appear to be a serious omission.
W follows the (useful) practice of listing a shortened
to do so is a disadvantage, notwithstanding the simplicity
find the description given on page xxii to clarify any
question.  L would be well advised, in future printings,
(front) cover of the book, an easily accessible place that
entries that have them, directly following the inflected
forms (if any); L places them at the end of the entry.
As surveys have shown that etymological information
is the least often sought after, making the average user
wade through the etymology before getting to the definition
me; besides, it is unlikely that the serious, consistent
seeker of etymological information is likely to use anything
W lists the date of the earliest recorded use in English
similar practice, and I find it speculative, spurious,
and specious except for the documentation of relatively
recent coinages.  Such information is very likely to be
misinterpreted by the average user, who does not approach
page.  That is nonsense, of course; but even if the users
earliest written evidence, of what use or importance is
that to them?  Moreover, as we in the dictionary biz are
only too well aware, an earlier citation might be found
today or tomorrow, making the information obsolete.
I feel less strongly about a designation like 17c which
that.  Also, the date given for the adjective lemon (as in
at as a cross reference indicator.  For example, at
you look up the etymology for lithe you discover only
to the form of the reference is that its wording suggests,
learned is that lento and lithe are (or might be) cognates.
misuse.  Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended
To be sure, the W usage note, even with its verbosity
speakers; but the definitions are better in L because
they assume that if a user does not know the meaning
obvious.  On the other hand, figurative or exaggerated
expression would probably have been a simplified improvement
Users of the L will be far better off if spared the
pursue them to other words defined in the same inept
manner.  There is a difference between using a word
case, ACTUALLY is such a loosely used filler word in
In general, the definitions in W have been clarified,
citations in W have either been omitted, where unnecessary,
have never understood why, in a dictionary of this size,
W ever thought it useful to give the sources of citations,
usage?  What is the significance in citing anonymous
at all?  The treatment in W is erratic, to say the least.
but a quick direct comparison is not easily done.  In
aside the plants and animals, which are differently
Miller and the word also appears in the lyrics written
symphony.  It should also be noted that idiomatic expressions
On the whole, readers can draw their own conclusions
studies in W that do not appear in L at all or in greatly
occasionally succumbs to prolixity.  Notwithstanding,
reasons in the main market it is intended to serve.
at the back, a practice I have never liked.  Experience
(and a moment's thought) shows that names of people
and places occur with equal, sometimes greater frequency
the words listed in dictionaries of almost any size (except
places are listed in the main body of those dictionaries
that include them, but real people and places appear
in the appendices; as it may be assumed that users look
up things they do not know, the immediate assumption
already aware that Homer was a real person (despite
fundamentalists will be disturbed to discover that most
of the characters in the Bible are treated as fictional.
indeed, the latter is not even an entry in the geographical
fault, is not in the geographical section of the L but
abbreviations, and only a few pages of miscellaneous
weights and measures, etc., W has short sections on
Foreign Words and Phrases (most of which are dispensable),
of those interminably boring listings of Colleges and
width of column              67mm                   72mm
No allowance has been made in the above calculations
But for other reasons they are not directly comparable.
of clarity compared with that.  Focusing on these two
definitions, it must be conceded that naive users who
algebra before going to either dictionary are unlikely
to come away any the wiser.  But the second reads like
gobbledygook while the first tries to provide some basic
while, at the same time, gently notifying users that
they are going to have to seek elsewhere for a proper
definition, the understanding of which requires far
Lexicographers constantly face problems of defining
brief essay to explain and far more specialized knowledge
The source of the problem lies in the fact that there is
terms like theory of relativity which only a few people
in the world truly understand: to be sure, it is impossible
to conceive of writing a definition for it that would
fit into a dictionary's procrustean requirements.  The
dilemma can be resolved either by attempting a definition
superficial pass at a definition couched in language
suggesting that the user can find no succor in the work
in hand.  I prefer the latter approach, though I have
of ten thought it might be only fair to mark such entries
my old computer, I asked a few friends to recommend
was particularly interested in one that would allow me
want to know about them should skip to the next paragraph.
explain that when you buy what is fondly call a personal
makes): a rectangular box with some slots in the front
and sockets in the back, a monitor, which is nothing but
ordinary typewriter keyboard but, in many models sold
today, has a number of additional keys alongside those
for the familiar alphanumeric characters: on mine, nestled
among some control keys on the right side is what is
called a number pad, which resembles the key arrangement
or in combination with another key, perform certain
functions, some of which are useful, others of which are
which I never use.  These boxes come with wires (called
cables for some reason) that allow them to be connected
to one another and into a power source.  The trick is
that they will not do anything unless and until you have
installed what is called a Disk Operating System, which
comes with the machine.  After it has been installed, the
specialist would want to perform.  In order to do something
package consisting of a number of diskettes and a manual.
item is called a diskette, for that matter), but all
square of rather tough plastic with a hole in the middle
and an oblong slot on each of the flat sides; it is said to
who probably ever measured one of these things, I can
but it is only the beginning of the Great Deception.
Inside this square plastic casing (which you should
the diskette is placed in the slot of the machine, a motor
engages the center of the disk inside and spins it around
at a great speed so that portions of it are exposed as they
pass by the oblong slot, allowing them to be written
on or read by some device inside the box.  The diskettes
that the computer understands and translates into a
number of commands that make the machine do certain
me to create certain kinds of files in which I am able to
style the text as I wish, but I shall not go into that here.
manuals with directions for using the programs that
they have to maintain a staff of several dozen technical
order to answer the questions of confused customers.
This failing appears to be endemic to the industry: I
queries a month.  I pointed out to him that if they
But the foregoing is all preliminary and background
called Spelling Check.  I do not need a spelling checker,
proofreading text that has been keyboarded into storage
this: after completing an article, chapter of a book, or
whatever it is that I am working on, I press a few keys
text, comparing each with a dictionary contained in
the program.  It is not really a dictionary, of course, in
the sense that is lacks definitions; it is merely a word
list.  I have not seen the word list, but, from the directory
words.  Being a computer, the machine performs this
comparison checking very, very rapidly: it takes only a
words.  The proofreading is slightly moronic, for the
program cannot alert the user to an error like an for
and, because an is a valid word in its memory; still,
it is better than nothing.  If it encounters a word that is
not in its repertoire, it offers a choice of actions: at the
stroke of a key or two you can ADD the word to the list;
GO ON and ignore the word entirely; or EDIT the questionable
There is another option called, SUGGEST, which, if invoked,
have had in mind when you wrote the one that offended
cannot have a very sophisticated list of words if it has
interesting to see what substitutions were evoked by
SUGGEST.  In each listing below, the boldface word is
SUGGEST a substitute; the words following are the substitutions
bothered to copy down the entire list of offerings, selecting
of the incongruity of the choice or because I could not,
imagine the criteria employed in arriving at the selections.
text are not everyday items you find about the house,
but I included those anyway; attention is drawn, particularly,
.Well, you get the idea.  I had some fun substituting
As if the preceding were not enough, I also noticed,
offer choices if the word was in its memory, that oligopsony
Spelling Check; I am not sure I would want to hear the
instance) that it has identified as not stored in its dictionary.
the operator chooses GO ON, the program stores it and
will recognize it when it recurs, obviating the need to
37,000-entry dictionary, the program will stop at the
first encounter; but once you have signaled it to GO ON,
When the temporary memory has been filled, the following
enjoyed making cryptic comments about rumors that he
was, in fact, the Lost Dolphin.  [From an exhibition catalog,
We're going to need community cooperation so we can
strive for parody.  If you use it, you pay for it.  [From
being shot in the neck as he slept by a gunman who broke
Last weekend, the Welcome Society, composed of original
but they will be wrong.  Appearances are often deceiving
unrelated and they have not been selected at random,
it was at least the final stopping point in the journey
of the words into the English lexicon.  (In this article,
lexicon than most people realize, a not unnatural result
are probably never used in speech or encountered in
speakers.  Nonetheless, all are recognized by English
Thus, all those cited in this article are to be found as
ultimate origins lie elsewhere.  For example, out of a
odd number for a sampling of any kind, but it happens
but a few first passed through the filter of another
Several of the loanwords in my sampling are actually
spell a specific word and, instead, dictionaries offer
dhoti `loincloth,' dinghy, ganja `cannabis used for
holding' each have three other acceptable spellings.
largely minor orthographic ones, as the substitution
radical changes.  Few individuals, I hazard, would be
Juggernaut `unstoppable destructive force: or object,'
`cooked dish of rice, lentils, and spices,' which derives
pronunciation, though not in spelling; they derive,
man held in high respect' and pundit `very learned;
loanwords in English relate to a wide variety of subjects.
words in the indicated subject categories (words already
The Baths is a dying institution.  Last year, we refunded
The first oil well in the United States was drilled
Before oil was actively sought, it seeped out of the
surface oil off the water for domestic uses, and white
settlers bottled it for medicinal purposes and called
community hospital where I teach and practice hematology
frustrating at times, certain abbreviations and acronyms
and laboratory tests; however, at times we find this
with this expensive diagnostic procedure, thought a
better translation would be `No More Radiologists.'
performed by putting a drop of serum into distilled
water, producing a grossly visible white precipitate
introduced this simple bedside technique to medicine.
told my local guide that they stood, more appropriately,
However, I later fell in love with this city of brotherly
which, as you may have guessed, stands for `Neighbors
fighting for the beautification of residential housing
districts.  Like everything else, the meaning of certain
and acronyms every day of our lives because newspapers,
up with new and innovative ones.  The latest scandal
of the television ministry concerns the organization
all think of as the last place where one could ever
gets tough, particularly for those truly complicated
No detail is too small to overlook. [From an advertisement
culture and history.  But it is no more than a myth.
nothing to do with choosing an official language.  It
any official status, but merely to print copies of the
during the debate a motion to adjourn failed by one
vote.  The failure of the motion to adjourn probably
represents a vote of no confidence in the committee
not so much on translation as on the means by which
copies of the English versions of the federal statutes
were to be furnished to the individual states, a new
report to the House.  In the final vote, which took
place one month later, the proposal for translation
was defeated.  The ayes and nays of the final vote are
not recorded.  It is from the close interim vote, not
assimilationist German family, stepped down to cast
voting record in the Third Congress did not seem to
react quite strongly when, as Speaker of the Fourth
with the earlier adjournment cliffhanger, conveniently
During this same Congress there were also proposals
about the German language, but it is regrettable to
see it spilling over into your pages.  Thus, in Redundancy
longer than they strictly need to be.  These two are
alleged to mean `garage' and `staple.'  But a garage is
not necessarily an auto repair workshop, and a principal
German language may lead to the creation of ponderous
the four possibilities would considerably narrow the
would find it disconcerting to run into blue jaundice
our conversation led to the following addition to the
see reference made to the tiny, misspelled, but spellbinding
children of prominent theatrical families.  We were
all between the ages of seven and fifteen, which was
three hats on this occasion, donating his services as
director, producer, and scenic designer.  After the
followed a list of more than thirty names.  The leading
got from the audience; but, better still, I can quote
little girl and, at the risk of turning her head, she has
the makings of a very good actress.  And our narrator,
charm inherent in Daisy's quaint spelling.  But there
are other things to charm one in a stage version.  We
all had the pleasure of getting to know Daisy a little
thrill of winning a canary by rolling a penny down a
alas!, she was married.  She did, however, confide to
more gracefully than the giants, an entire civilization.
had written the Introduction, had written the novel
help commenting, as my eyes fall on the first page of
is indicated by an auxiliary verb or a particle, not by
inflection of the verb.  One would translate the Caesarean
about the experiences of three friends on a footloose
bicycle tour.  Take away the bicycles, and it is as
The German usage is worth comparing with the obsolescent
article where the indefinite would be equally appropriate.
slightly more forceful of the two alternative titles?
capital S: the learned judge will not the distinction)
years ago cravenly caving in to some of his readers
with a form postcard answering a question about the
Context is important.  I can imagine myself answering,
must say that I wholeheartedly agree with the author's
the elevators run awfully fast in this little country.
Henry VIII by his own efforts increased the population
because we get our silk from rayon.  It is a larger
many people will consult it in vain for information
about their own names.  He is right that the dictionary
(though it is not limited to these), yet that is inevitable
family names, which is nothing to sneeze at in a pioneering
the compilers turned to many specialists.  From the
clear that the dictionary rests largely on original research.
names, I can say that all of my explanations are original
users of this dictionary will cope with its metalanguage,
Introduction and two pages devoted to the resolution
He writes, genealogical information is occasionally
for such people: what, for instance, is known about
are the subject of genealogical notes, that assumption
nesting.  The family names are not listed as in a telephone
with further classification (according to language)
the user to the location of the names.  A Dictionary
The story of the Nativity was under discussion, and
finished, the class Brain turned to the questioner and
and early 40s and which dealt with the amusing difficulties
of Settlement in coping with what we now call English
In the 1940s my father, a certified public accountant
his origins in the Pale of Settlement, specifically in
Street.  Within a few paces they encountered an acquaintance
have his aortic aneurysm repaired by the distinguished
great success, and a couple of days afterward my father
of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language
many resemblances among the three and to the College
dictionary that tries to rely for its success on quality
like saying that all cola drinks ought to be called
matter of what the new dictionary, successor to the
likely to increase the sales by a measurable amount;
proud of the successes gained in the name of Random
other subtitles that might come along.  From what I
There is another aspect to this change: lamentably,
it emphasizes the abiding ignorance and gullibility
in quality, quantity, and treatment offered: the name
has become meaningless, made inferior by its universal
the entries mentioned in Jess Stein's Preface: I had,
out of a feeling of sympathetic and loyal association
it turned out, I was compelled to point out several
glaring errors in most of those entries, and Jess Stein
the title page of a book only slightly changed from
its first edition so that he could insert his own as
editor in chief; but that was nothing new for him, as
time to go through the editions noting the differences:
dictum, If it ain't broke, don't fix it, so little has
Collegiate introduced the practice of giving, in the
presumably derived from the Oxford English Dictionary
words and senses, there was no point in duplicating
rather than as the date of the earliest recorded evidence
cannot be associated with any particular definition,
has several definitions, to show it as having entered
To be sure, there is nothing to justify the assumption
And it might be imagined that in giving directions to
would expect the editors to have signaled the truth
the reluctance of users to refer to such things.  But
The redundancy of when and the date that is confusing
word first appeared is grossly misleading and inaccurate:
point, but dictionaries dwell (and thrive) on niggling
existed in the spoken language long before it first
appeared in texts and, in any event, earlier written
evidence may exist that has not yet been discovered
same size competing for buyers in the market.  It is
sales a year.  Publishers steadfastly refuse to reveal
their sales figures because of the highly competitive
nature of the business, though it is generally acknowledged
outsells its nearest competitor by about two to one.
book bargain in the history of publishing: taking the
per dollar.  This is all the more astonishing when one
of skilled lexicographers and editors to keep their
both the language and other kinds of data, like population
biographical entries, etc.  Consider, too, that the
quality of the paper, printing, and binding of such
normal pricing procedures in the industry, a college
is given to wonder how manufacturers of other staple
at once reveals a most extraordinary example of the
edition of the Random House is the first to touch that
and the clarity and understandability of the information
presented.  The book at hand supports that reputation.
for purposes of utility and for philosophical reasons,
I prefer geographical and biographical entries to be
interfiled with other entries in one alphabetical listing;
the largest number of entries, a bit of reasoning not
the publicity about their dictionaries, the more entries
That is not the truism it appears to be: as lexicographers
lexicon is being probed, they must add definitions,
entries (which often accomplishes little or nothing to
others about the entries they cover.  Thus, on average,
In all this talk about entries, it must be remembered
headwords, or main entries, but inflected forms, variants,
Other desirable (or desired) features might influence
carefully the admittance of the naughty bits of the
language into dictionaries, but I am pleased to see
however, to the label Vulgar given to such entries.  I
am sure that the label is the product of endless hours
strong denotation exemplified in the first (hence the
problem in reviewing these sets of definitions is that
ought to be applied to its use in the definitions of the
meanings.  I often think that it would not be untoward
might well be confused about seeing the label Vulgar
incisively denotative.  Its main definition in the Random
I think may be infra dig these days, namely, the attempt
someone who has been driving a Ford all his life to
far from impossible, but manufacturers find it very
costly to effect the change.  Publishers grasp at anything
shame to see publishers relying on such undignified
and today's market might need just such an incentive
particular dictionary to decide spelling (mainly) and,
that leads to inconsistencies, for dictionaries report
reporting that fact: the dictionary merely reflects
available to its compilers.  But it must be said that
space is at a premium in these expensive books, and
if, say, a dozen citations are found for each of the
sure that no lexicographer, thrifty of space, will display
But publishers are not bound by such variety: neatness
book that required all such compounds to be consistently
worthwhile on the statistical base used for determining
SIC --seldom for the kinds of things that dictionaries
for adoption as so much hype.  After all, the use of
of style, which can be described in a rule: in position
position, as in Is she well heeled enough to sit in on
Why, then list thousands of hyphenated well -words?
aging dictionaries in his office and asked me to recommend
without hesitation or reservation.  It might be time
It suddenly struck me that, in all the years I have
the reader insists, oratory.  That being the case and
I feel it incumbent on me to remedy the deficiency.
of writing.  But my guess is that many will be variously
and to keep sentences as short as feasible.  There is
nothing remarkable about that; but the fact is that
impeccable but is virtually indispensable to expert
I refer, for example, to something along the following
poor shape, my company has been reporting excellent
What is wrong with it?  The same thing, essentially,
poison in a speech.  A hapless auditor might conceivably
flashes, the listener might have lost the thread completely.
the problem is that the point of a statement should
ordinarily come first.  If your company is reporting
excellent financial results, say so right out, then add
modifiers.  Suppose one wants to brag that his company
that way!  A long string of modifiers in advance of a
noun is frustrating and confusing to listeners; they
there with maximum effectiveness, which is why signaling
Would you like to guess how much our new reverberating
lethargic.  On a more positive note, there cannot be
any question of the value of alerting audiences that
While on that particular subject, how about restating
a rule that facts and figures that a serious reader
over a few of the points I have made, the reader will
than comparable writings for print, and necessarily
guess that scores of words and phrases in virtually
scripts for print publication, I always revert to good
linguists of all time and an outstanding innovator of
either disagreed with him or speculated on the etymology
often nasty; but toward the latter part of the 1890s
contributors to learned journals of his day frequently
scholar in a contemptuous retort to be published in a
from a reader's failure either to read correspondence
and start are different words, just as coat and cart
or moat and mart.  That any one should for a moment
No one seems to refer to the `New English Dictionary'
Notwithstanding this, all the old rubbish is repeated.
himself clean.  This is no unfair parody of the desperate
Lest one might be deceived into taking the preceding
specious bit of guesswork.  I speak feelingly, for I
by the article on hawser in my `Etymological Dictionary,'
the `Supplement';...  We are now invited to entangle
like the injured party when caught in an error, making
begrudgingly and without direct reference to the authors
failing to have both his books and the latest fascicle
down, notwithstanding his correctness in most matters
of life,' from which we get whiskey (etymologically
of the commonest principles of language, and refuse
without first consulting the full and accurate Indexes
been led to attribute to himself entirely a derivation
years had then elapsed since my first note appeared.
first note and his first note was so great, I do not
know that any great fault, beyond that of carelessness,
trusting to his memory, which seems to be particularly
other, I say, to find any material difference between
the Indexes as I have done, his eye would certainly,
at some future time.  I hope he will, for once, offer
outset, but, as might be expected, notwithstanding a
correct in saying that he had explained the etymology
I offer Dr. Chance, for the second time, my sincere
not only does a good deal of work on his own account,
about that time; but I cannot tell when till I consult
possession; but it often takes a long while to find
of keeping things in their places in a room of limited
good and honorable a scholar to be considered, even
remotely, a deliberate plagiarist; but he was careless
at times and rather mean, and his apologies, always
the items that he enjoyed catching were the ambiguous
the writer of the article) is to come up with something
substance of the article.  Headline writers are often
story was about a father who had his children (and,
as I recall, his wife) wait in the family car while he
Filmed is here intended as a past participle, not the
past of an active verb.  This grammatical ambiguity
is a frequent source of confusion, one cleverly exploited
any event, it is still not clear why an oil shortage
rise (for fear would scarcely suggest `reduction' except
may have difficulty in determining how far from his
wife this ideal husband lives, why he isn't bankrupt
words as being offensive to special groups of people.
chicken often used to refer to the cuisine of black
people (something that customers of Colonel Sanders
might well dispute), gyp because it insults gypsies
Darkies and people have the name number of syllables.
on the linguistic hit list.  Personally, I prefer other
terms.  When I request a discount to which I am entitled
for wrinklies and delight in watching people squirm.
business of telling it like it is that they have all but
like his name on pain of a suit for slander.)  It is nothing
but codswallop.  (Look out!  Here comes the fisherman's
which is sure to lose me the hurried hairless vote.
consist entirely of blank pages, lest we offend somebody.
Malpractice Made Easy.  [Title of a book advertised
Faster swimmers have the right away.  [From a professionally
the swimming pool of the Sports Connection health club
place to enter the discussion between the dictionary
splitters `definers who write a definition for almost
every citation' and the combiners `definers who tend
to write basic definitions and rely on the ability of
users to divine metaphoric extensions for themselves.')
upon.  I thought it might be interesting to look at the
English can be ascribed to its propensity for naming
tens of thousands, are not listed in even the largest
general dictionaries; nor are the names of all insects
which means `corpse fowl').  This information he derived
those words that fill up (and are omitted from) the
English dictionaries, remember the nightjar and the
or frivolity: they often turn out to be folk etymologies
hollow speculation.  Yet, as we all know, there are
many instances of playful language, which we encounter
reject playfulness solely on the grounds that it is
suggestion being absent, I take the bit between the
teeth to suggest that the above word, characterized
phrase by students, because of its meter; its earliest
many of the odes).  In later years it appears in various
as the best and safest preserver of the hair, and is
dry up and wither the hair.  It nourishes, preserves,
solving problems lies in naming them.  Although its
philosophy has been taken over by the field of psychiatry
of shriving oneself of fears and other besetting difficulties
likely that reflexes of that procedure could be discovered
in profound Eastern religions if not in shamanistic
ability of the practitioner to give a name to a condition,
of defining in that the process calls for determining a
discrete set of differentia and giving the set a unique
title.  The next time that set of differentia is encountered,
same way that a physician, encountering a combination
Once identified, the procedure for treating measles
is well established.  The difficulty that arises with
mental and psychological afflictions is that the procedures
said to be quite chaotic, ranging from putting patients
free associate or otherwise try to relieve themselves
brain.  That is not to say that such procedures cannot
be helpful in some cases, but their results are not as
uniformly predictable as they are in many established
consternation what some people name their children,
there was much discussion concerning the word telegram:
Although, indeed, against these last, notwithstanding
word; indeed, I fancy it to be the best yet proposed.
fact.  Bell did not sit down one day and say to himself,
Convention plays a major role in all aspects of language,
fruit a banana and the group of islands west of Morocco
The world does not function uniformly, however: for
stabilizing effect in the realms of education and psychology:
impossible without the continual explanation of terminology
one time are found destroyed by the appearance of a
new article or book or trend.  Human beings are accustomed
not only does each of use give a slightly different
words like good, justice, and God, but our speech is
task force devoted to the terminology alone.  Even a
partial list reveals the problems of distinguishing between,
the choice of words reflects the bias.  It is curious to
and educational handicap.  In the last analysis, it
makes little difference how sterile, clinical, or innocuous
attracts adverse connotations owing to many factors,
readers can remember the days when it was flattering
to be (or have one's children) designated exceptional.
whether exceptional still carries what I must regard,
personally, to be the unconscionable semantic distortion,
justification.  For the same reasons, leprosy is now
crazy, mad, lunatic, demented, etc., are now categorized
is something wrong with the afflicted nor, in the long
run, our attitudes towards them.  For some reason, if
I call it the big C; a myocardial infarction seems less
has more equivalents, at various levels of usage, for
an article elsewhere in this issue).  But the fact is
that there is a recognizable problem or a collection
than a defensive gesture stemming from our own discomfort
armchair analysis of my own).  The defining of a concept
like `specific learning disability' is far more than
an intellectual exercise, for the applicability of laws
listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical
p65083) rely on delineating such afflictions.  Some
neutral (at least for the time being), are in keeping
with the view of the human intellect taken in these
be the result of injury, of disease, or of congenital
defect.  The inability of an individual to master simple
us, like reading and writing, yet to be able to perform
is still more of a curiosity than predictable from a
chemistry of the brain, through its physical mapping
is proceeding apace.  In a recent letter in Nature,
have been taught to accept that brain cells are incapable
to experiment with the stimulation of healthy parts
of the brain to perform functions that atrophied or
Learning Disabilities does not treat all of them in
depth, it provides a thorough overview of its subject,
the field but as an important source book for those
contains close to a thousand references.  I suppose I
must describe the book as a text, but it is well organized
and interestingly and clearly written, both attributes
phrase to be in the picture had been stolen from me.
`to be in the foreground, to play a prominent part.'
hardly counted, I was scarcely noticed.  It was a nice,
know.' I was annoyed, I was embittered, for I foresaw
necks, while the original, genuine English expression
literate people, whose sayings were easily taken as
to be uncritical and snap up everything new, accepting
`was descended from or caused by it,' exactly in the
the old likewise and crosswise family was joined by
apply for a job hopefully because you were `full of
soon being used in a quite different sense, viz.  to
hearing It's a bit much for the first time.  This turn
of phrase became very popular in the war, though it
had a perfectly good English equivalent: It's a bit
too much. In any case, it was a bit too much for me.
written that in an essay when I was a boy at school,
English idiom.  It was not, in any case, a thing that
and the question is not easy to answer.  The fact is
that English is, idiomatically, an extremely subtle
language, with many taboos, particularly in the area
hard to find a logical explanation, yet these subtle
distinctions are part of the spirit of our language,
and it is this spirit that is easily destroyed forever,
English will soon be reaping rich harvests.  I cannot
the conclusion that German has been even influenced
what you learn in such a school is obviously skiing.
now under way in the English language: the disappearance
used to express possibility (or sometimes permissibility),
talking about here is not ability but possibility: It
course far less likely to use this from in English, for
idiomatic in English.  In any case, one hardly hears
anything else today but these can forms, which have
the loss of a valuable distinction, and in fact the slow
distressing as the loss of the elephant in the zoological
effort on the part of all lovers of the English language,
employment of plurals in an adjectival sense.  It has
a noun into the singular when it is used as an adjective
carols in the plural.  This rule is upheld even when a
being broken more and more often, and the rot certainly
still has a little feeling for the English language.  Do I
need to mention that the German for these expressions
lack of feeling for English idiom.  As it is, I dare
hardly scrutinize English publications any more for
have not taken German as a model is a major catastrophe:
million,' and that is exactly what it is in German as
and German.  Alas, all clarity has gone by the board
then as The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting
sent a review copy, I didn't bother to open the book.
I did not receive a review copy of the Penguin edition.
considering it is a reprint (albeit with some addenda)
with citations.  The editing has been rather careless,
though, as the opening line of HOW TO USE THIS DICTIONARY
to the unusual words selected but to their usage by
the author: in the Introduction he refers to an episode
day the US Marine Corps issues behests for Bachelor's
assume are those who had offspring before the author
is defined as `fucking as a pastime,' the last three
words of which make in inaccurate; the usual spelling
to use a fishing technique involving the use of only
the hands, to grope is not quite correct: it is `to (try
to) catch a fish (esp. a trout) by tickling its underbelly'
of which the preceding are only a sample.  The interesting
is largely a spoof on linguistic pedantry, and I fear
divine from the context, or failed to find elsewhere.
two earlier editions and are craving more.  If so, they
might be induced to buy this edition because it contains
reading this book, but it is hard to think of any at the
subject is felt to be a sort of black magic, a mysterious
English, from the parts of speech to the phrases and
clauses, ultimately applying their knowledge to usage,
forgotten.  And if students are slipping structural
these problems: John, you should use the possessive
phrases, or clauses.  Ultimately, though, our initial
descriptive English grammar, they are frequently assigned
four phrases and three subordinate clauses that are
phrase, participial phrase, gerund phrase, infinitive
noun clause.  These units may occur in any order in
the fewest words possible.  (Before continuing, the
reader may wish to try this feat, too.)  An hour of
reader to identify the structures, which will appear
from a Fourth Form (tenth grade) English class that
met a few rooms down the hall from my class.  I entered
The next morning I marched into the rival classroom
could I ever again face my colleagues and my students
of grammar is dry.  It engages not the passions.  Resolving
clause within a phrase in the first five words, and
all the structures as concise as they can be, but, with
and clauses.  This sentence was traveling at the speed
of light.  I could become no smaller.  Or so I thought.
learned lecture proving that we had reached the end
then explained that he too had discovered the formula
as a dangling modifier.  Still, I have never been able
hands up the bat, and there isn't any wood left.  Actually,
If you move, please tell us.  Send old and new addresses
sentences), but more important, as one who continually
from my mental lexicon, I consider this book a real
the popular `reinvention' of the standard dictionary
work crossword puzzles, this is a must book for the
I often find myself groping for words that are right
(ulcers), I have difficulty in remembering these particular
words.  I have occasionally confused a hematologist
(the study of insects).  Now that I have succeeded in
getting you to see that a reserve dictionary is much
shares some similarities, its purpose is really to list
give you the word that you have forgotten, confused,
definitions presented in any dictionary, so this work
is not different from many others in this respect.  For
called a heavyweight (p.274). I do not think I have
consider that wrestlers are also divided up, according
boxers.  To my knowledge, these terms are not normally
used in professional (dare we call it entertainment)
awkward linguistician (a term to be avoided).  Also,
I fail to see how polyglot (p.133) can be defined as
`language mixture' since it merely refers to a multilingual
languages, a process of language simplification (although
or bungling person, and that is indeed what you have
how he got the idea for the book in the first place.
perhaps even more sense if they were read backward.
dictionary!  If you like words (and are looking for a
book is definitely for you.  About the nicest compliment
goal is to increase your vocabulary.  As any reader of
rarely get through more than the first few chapters
of such tomes.  This volume, I am happy to report, is
different.  I recommend it for those (as the book's
cover observes): who want to speak more effectively,
gets the book home and proceeds to memorize polysyllabic
dull at best.  Then the student gets through the mechanical
waste of time because the words and its meaning are
How does this book then differ from the competition?
For one thing, the author has taken as illustrative
entries).  For another, the definitions are, on the
whole, well written and to the point.  For example,
composed of material or ideas gathered from a variety
Live artillery shells, a dead sea turtle half the size
are well done; there are, however, some significant
Some of the book's lexical entries are questionable.
wrong on this point.  I do not consider the word nosh
doubtful that one would encounter it on an SAT examination.
are now, unfortunately, left off in many publications,
way things are going in many periodicals, diacritics
there that are not entirely wrong yet with which one
pilot in World War II; the airplane or pilot in such an
mean `a pilot' because I have to say `Kamikaze pilot'
many places.  I have never understood why the International
dictionaries of all sorts, but this is beyond the scope
of our remarks in this review.  I would certainly recommend
Short essays on verbs of action, puns, slang (we are
do not see the point with these two words, the book
technician, usually electronic technician `one familiar
since the invention of the automatic telephone exchange
It operates by electrically acting as if the receiver
top recess (cradle) of the main portion of the telephone
jiggling (jiggling) of the hook switch, which is the
same action as far as the telephone exchange (central
(placard) on an instrument for a switch that adjusts
Rotary phones have the familiar dial, with a circular
by the pulse method; although it is certainly technically
to mean the modifier added to a previously specific
a new technology.  I cannot add anything to his excellent
were, indeed, what are now known as analog (or analogue)
the objective processes, used in such devices as gun
quantity.  Rather, it embodies a continuous physical
process that is an analog, often in a different medium,
quickly.  When dealing with a continuous process, it
Analog and digital timepieces are, in fact, computers
motion of the Earth.  The fact, however, is that both
are analog computers.  The analog process in a mechanical
the oscillations to determine the passage of time and
transform the analog signal into a digital one.  They
differ only in the method used to display the results.
hands.  The digital watch simply prints out the numerical
the terms analog and digital watch intended only to
describe the display, not the underlying physics or
standards that operate by counting discrete particles
paragraph is incorrect in horological usage.  Strictly
mechanism to sound out the time at regular intervals.
as the others in the same paragraph of my letter, was
be correct!  Offhand, I do not recall the proper way
enormously fat man.  The student was rather surprised
find the derivation but given up, as have other standard
used in pathology for an abnormal softening of part
any reference to masturbation.) Another, apparently
order of highest percentages.  Considering all that I
States, settling mostly in the cities mentioned.  The
not polite) speech, much like our Don't give me that
spread around the country, if indeed it did?  VERBATIM
readers may be able to contribute further suggestions
hundreds of others, constantly used by French technicians,
Lest the national language be eventually supplanted
divert the linguistic polluters from the path of sin.
from presenting his admonitions in an easily digestible
Language.  Through subsequent legislation each government
respective spheres.  The use of these terms is statutorily
in all business correspondence and advertising (including
ones whose use is obligatory for certain publications
only).  To judge from this batch, the purge is going to
be less radical than one would expect from a system
professedly resting on the tenets of linguistic protectionism.
identical to their English counterparts (in spelling,
that is: this regime rarely interferes with pronunciation).
cases, slight spelling changes have been applied, but
home planet.  But then, it is modest compared to the
created by literal translation of the imagery embodied
for (nuclear) `fallout.'  Application of this method to
be rather explicit, and their components are generally
strung together by all kinds of grammatical particles
lack the pithiness and sprightliness that enliven such
a great deal of scientific and technological terminology
`strafing' are of course correct, but they sound like
punctilious definitions rather than handy appellations.
tantrums, like `tweeter' and `boomer,' or `wow' and
and wordy phrases of bureaucratic facture.  Many an
entry had already had a life of its own before a ministerial
French seem to have a relaxed attitude to the disciplinary
personal preferences, and `what others do.'  In one
respect, however, they are unanimous.  They stick to
an odd collection of English words which have a different
for `dinner jacket' and slip for `underpants.'  The
choke in an automobile is still referred to as starter
A people's culinary eccentricity has often determined
comes to know them.  The predilection for the flesh
cited by many etymologists in explaining the origin
of the appellation Conch for a `native or inhabitant
seems possible and may explain another etymological
curmudgeon is usually chided for translating Exodus
few scholarly works to which to refer, but I looked
use in this passage is translated without some reference
to this verb that the primary syllable should be compared
first rays of the rising sun to horns; and hence call
Testament to mean: to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate;
dignity and worth of some person or thing to become
In any case, his translation, in light of the foregoing,
let us consider that so impressive a linguistic scholar
learn languages as early as possible, dropped me into
whatever that was, I hadn't the faintest idea but obviously
this, I realized what I had been supposed to be singing.
my old computer, I asked a few friends to recommend
was particularly interested in one that would allow me
You Get,' in other words when you designate text to
print in boldface or italic type, it appears in boldface
hope is merciful brevity) that when you buy what is
pieces of equipment (though they may be combined in
slots in the front and sockets in the back, which is the
the usual buttons; and a keyboard, which looks like an
sold today, has a number of additional keys alongside
those for the familiar alphanumeric characters.  On
side is what is called a number pad, which resembles
the key arrangement one sees on an adding machine or
calculator; on the left side is a double bank of five keys
functions, some of which are useful, others of which
are evidently thought useful by the manufacturer but
the trade because that sounds more impressive) that
allow them to be connected to one another and into a
power source.  The trick is that they will not do anything
that, the DOS, as it is called, performs certain functions,
specialist would want to perform.  In order to do something
package consisting of a number of diskettes and a manual.
item is called a diskette, for that matter), but all
square sealed envelope of rather tough plastic with a
hole in the middle and an oblong slot on each of the
a lie: as the only person who probably ever measured
square; that may seem irrelevant, but it is only the
beginning of the Great Deception.  Inside this square
placed in the slot of the machine, a motor engages the
center of the disk inside and spins it around at a great
speed so that portions of it are exposed through its
oblong slot, allowing them to be read by some device
inside the box.  The diskettes that contain programs
have information on them that the computer understands
that make the machine do certain things.  The things
done depend on what kind of program is on the diskette.
FRAMEWORK II.  It is quite versatile and, as I required,
allows me to create certain kinds of files in which I am
able to style the text as I wish.  (In case you are interested,
styles, which appear on the monitor screen in a close
anything to do with underlined italic, underlined bold
italic, or some of the other styles described, but you
have to remember that those are merely regarded (by
me, at least) as a means for discretely coding styles
abominable manuals with directions for using the programs
good computer (laser) printer, who told me that his
month.  I pointed out to him that if he made available
a proper manual he could probably reduce the calls by
But the foregoing is all preliminary and background
called the Spelling Checker.  I do not need a spelling
means for proofreading text that has been keyboarded
and stored.  The way it works is this: after completing
keys and the program automatically scans every word
of text, comparing each with a dictionary contained
in the program.  It is not really a dictionary, of course,
because it lacks definitions; it is merely a word list.  You
cannot display the entire word list to examine it, but,
performs this comparison checking very, very rapidly:
it takes only a minute to proofread a file containing
in its repertoire, it offers a choice of actions: at the
stroke of a key or two you can ADD the word to the list;
GO ON and ignore the word entirely; or EDIT the questionable
There is another option called SUGGEST, which, if invoked,
have had in mind when you wrote the one that offended
 cannot have a very sophisticated list of words if it has
interesting to see what suggestions it might make as
substitutions for the words it disliked.  In each listing
below, the boldface word is the word that FRAMEWORK
disliked; the words following are the substitutions it
suggested.  Where ellipses occur, I have not bothered to
copy down the entire list of offerings, selecting only
incongruity of the choice or because I could not, in my
wildest flights of dyslexic, schizophrenic fancy, imagine
the criteria employed in arriving at the selections.  I
am fully aware that some of the words in my text are
included those anyway; your attention is drawn, particularly,
.Well you get the idea.  I had some fun substituting
I certainly do enjoy some bordellos or beauties with
As if the preceding were not enough, I also noticed,
offer choices if the word was in its memory, that oligopsony
Spelling Checker; I am not sure I would want to hear
lost the information about the price but recall it was
labeled Installation and Program, the other Synonym
everything with clarity, and the program is simple to
install, requiring only a few minutes.  Only one thing
made me a little suspicious when cranking up the system:
in the descriptive text that appears on the screen,
these words would fare.  I looked up the word preceding
and was, after a brief moment, asked to type in the
word, which I did.  The screen bloomed forth with the
definition for the preposition and three for the verb
(participial) senses.  I called up the synonyms for the
The way the program works is this: one uses the cursor
to highlight a particular word for which synonyms are
desired.  It is similar, in principle, to finding a synonym
in a synonym dictionary and then successively looking
up its synonyms to find their synonyms.  I am not sure
what appeared on the screen was the same list of synonyms
reappeared.  If all this is too complicated to follow, let
A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.  You look up the synonyms for
identical in wording to that of the word originally
clever computer ploy, but it does not provide a particularly
synonymy in language does not yield to the mathematical
are equal to each other.  Perhaps the Proximity people
thought that they had got round that little problem by
giving the same definition for each of the items in the
list; but we know that only very rarely are two synonyms
just because ingredient means `constituent,' not all
meanings of constituent mean `ingredient,' an ineluctable
If a relatively limited access to a synonym dictionary
is likely to be of use, then this package may be of
service.  It works with a hard disk or with a set of
when I received my copy; it might have increased.)  It
also has a few neat features, like suggesting a few
alternatives if you happen to think that preceding is
your computer to use it in preference to the far more
complete books of synonyms available (especially The
synonyms, more than three times the number listed in
entries.  My guess is that such a quantity might be
reached if one counted all the permutations and combinations;
fewer actual words.  Readers can judge for themselves
Since then, I have updated FRAMEWORK II to FRAMEWORK
zillion operations a second, I am planning to add RAM
speed with which I change my mind.  Move over! Make
have the resources required to employ people (especially
you said [like, I have a business problem] is a lot
of bullshit.'  That might be perceived as reflective of
a rather cavalier attitude toward prospective customers'
spent on a court case which has been brought in the
a businessman, on charges of insider dealing, after a
to severely restrict the scope for prosecutions of insider
bid for the company.  He had claimed to be interested
Fisher had not actually obtained price sensitive information
the court, and slavish adherence to these should be
avoided if the result is to frustrate the intention of
delicatessens that appeared in the Magazine Section
salad.  Staff are perhaps too irrepressible.  Me: I
dots mark hyphenation points; the standard calls for
a dot between the n and the a, not the o and the n.
Queen's English where spellings differ.  No comment
result from differences or variants in pronunciation.
For instance, if a Brit pronounces the word (as many
picked up on the Rialto in The City, reported that a
blood pressure during pregnancy with the assistance of
school experience?  Could you barely wait until you
stuck with a family name that the dog wouldn't even
thought the sufferers have the better time of it.  They
are usually the center of attention at parties and at
significant to me at an early age.  It was the year I
the cabin next to mine at summer camp.  I listened in
fascination as each camp counselor and administrator
ears when she simply despised it.  I was oblivious to
her moans of disgust.  All I wanted was to follow her
everywhere to listen to others say her name.  Coming
I longed desperately for such melody in my life.  Her
for four months.  My destiny was quietly locked into
great reading for anyone with two or three hours of
spare time.  After all, names are not just read: they
must be savored, rolled about on the tongue.  Since
listed in the publications that have passed over my
publishing firm.  These are names that catch the eye
and the ear, and make beautiful music of their own.
juxtaposition.  Most can be categorized; others must
stand alone.  As for pronunciation, just say it the way
you see it.  However, whatever, these are real folks,
[say it fast            W. Oh            N. Gesundheit
Sylvan Stool            E. Rump          D. Purpura
the man said.  Did he have a point?  Well, I do say
would never write All thru the nite just to save four
before concluding that there was no such place and what they really
preposition?  Do I belong to a race of fusspots who
decorate their sentences with words that don't matter?
alone.  His belief turned out to be so widely held in
Let us question it now.  First of all, think of five
and phrases?  Are their sentence structures so ornate
think of a few people who are guilty of those linguistic
seems to be to build up the number of words or syllables
in a sentence at the expense of its color, vitality,
but the rules of airline English state that whenever a
stock, useless phrase may be inserted into a sentence
more honest.  Its euphemisms are so blatant that no
blandness and inefficiency, the words situation and
often as possible.  Unfortunately, the practices of
military and airline staff are contaminating the language
they, I believe, who are mainly responsible for this
way of expressing themselves.  You know the sort of
acne all over their sentences and at this time has deteriorated
one is ever specifically identified or accurately described.
being the boss, the leader, or the headmistress, only
In fact, it is already here.  The battle is on for truth,
clarity, and the elegant way.  Just as the staid, old
Mugger for instance.  How ever did we manage without
ground.  There are, however, encouraging signs that
Perhaps it will not be too long before the man from
therefore shielded from accountability and the prying eyes of
term or description from among the Answers provided.
To make it harder, cover the Answers.  The solution
(b)  Cheliform   (f)  Maillot       (j)  Sublimation
national heritage, and are not to be altered or forsaken
years and a lot of money to get a missing s restored
to the official version of his surname, so that now,
situation to form a pressure group and now, after a
long struggle, the government has caved in: a recent
can now safely come out of their bunkers: they'll be
the state cedes them.  But in doing so they are going
Onomastic Society.  Onomastics is basically the science
exercised by the fact that three centuries from now
Men are free to pass on their names as much as they
remain childless.  Add to this those perverse types
who voluntarily renounce such fine family designations
of the population, will start demanding the right to
of the local phone book reveals the presence of the
our municipal musical school is overseen by that genial
her care accidentally drowns. Some blast the film because it uses a child's
death "as merely the first manipulation of many meant to engender sympathy for
"an emotional depth and psychological acuity that place it in a category by
magical and magnificent memoir" and unfortunately becomes "something resembling
a conventional tale of a gifted young man's struggle to lift himself out of
version of the novel, but you still get a drama that has you laughing and
site includes a list of helpful dating tips, such as "Don't be afraid to
On one hand it "knocks the Rocky tradition on its ear by giving us two
film culminates in a gruesome fight between the two stars that leaves several
critics bemoaning the confusion over whom to root for; others contend that the
scene's emotional conflict works in its favor. (Click here to watch the trailer.)
dripping with slaver by the time reviewers finish with it. Set in
famous portrait that shares its title with the book. Something of an
entanglement develops between the intelligent, artistically aware young girl
and the painter, but the book is in no way a conventional romance; it's "a
crazed hilarity  [it] could very well be the best new sitcom of the season"
(mother shaves father's back at the breakfast table, etc.) with an
find out more about the show at Fox's official site.)
turns out that the young man who looks as if he walked out of the pages of
the door, I ask him if, in the three years he says he's lived here, he's come
to know any of the French people in our building. He finds the question
amusing. "I prefer to keep to myself," he explains. "And so do they." Clearly,
long awkward silences are punctuated only by unsettling smiles and chilling
anecdotes. We ask him if he knows where the nearest market is; he responds by
comes from the bones of the people Napoleon dug up from the cemeteries and
reburied under the city. We laugh. He smiles in his strange, unsettling way,
The old woman next door who leaves on her gas burners, and who will one day, he
insists, blow us all to bits, is just the start of it. There is also the French
handyman who does the work on our side of the building. "French handyman"
Discomfort. Disorientation. Anomie. Whatever you call it, that is the sensation
prove it many times each day. Our simplest activities somehow become pitched
sidewalks are obstacle courses of dog shit. To make the game of avoiding the
dog shit really interesting, the locals turn it into a competitive sport. They
come at you in packs and refuse to yield ground, even when they clearly lack
the right of way. If you want to get anywhere on foot you have to at once leap
over the dog shit and burst heroically through oncoming hordes of French
we have next to no ability to determine what is normal and what is noteworthy.
Take the famous storms. They struck three days after we arrived, without
windows rattled madly. When I got out of bed to have a look outside, I found a
nearly in two. I went back to bed, assuming that it must be just a typical
street, shattered glass on the sidewalks, and cafe awnings ripped in two. We
stepped over all of it without giving it much thought. Oh, that French weather!
trees, that we realized something was afoot. The highest winds in recorded
the curiously disoriented mentality of the newcomer. It's childhood all over
who believe firmly in reading the instructions before assembly. For the past
two months, she's been poring over one or the other of our nine books on how to
get along with the French, from which she passes on to me the occasional tip.
For a while, I dismissed these with an almost Gallic aloofness. Finally, she
was called. Sure enough, it was filled with advice: Don't smile randomly. Avoid
being likable. When a French person says "Everyone likes him," what he really
means is "He's a failure." If you must cross your legs, do it carefully, as a
woman does who is wearing a short skirt, not sloppily, like a golfer at the
you do bring flowers, make sure they are not yellow flowers, as a yellow flower
is the signal from a French guest to a French hostess that her husband is
cheating on her. (Subtle!) Above all, never use the toilet when you are out to
pee when they need to and will not think them barbarians for doing so. Not so,
on it went. The general drift of the advice was that, with one exception, if
warmth and directness for a cool and aloof manner. The exception was if you
wanted to have sex. They do that here, too, apparently. A long section of the
book was devoted to the sexually charged nature of French public life. The
women they approve of what the author calls "The Look." The author describes
The Look thusly: "The Look from a stranger, maybe passing her on the street or
in a car, of an unmistakable intensity that lets her know that for that man,
daily life, I will cultivate a Look of my own. "I will practice The Look on old
French ladies who are happy to have any old look at all," I say, "and then, as
I get the hang of it, move gradually into the big leagues."
irritates her immensely. "Out of that whole book," she says, "all you came away
says, that he met his "only true hero" and began a lifelong love affair with
of life, love, and loss with reassuring replies, always beginning with the
familiar greeting, "We regret that we are unable to use the enclosed
remembers it as though it were yesterday. Sort of. She vividly recalls what
bit vague on other facts and details, when she writes, for example, "I think
occasionally beckon him into his office and, with a smile, offer a dry remark
snap his butt with a rubber band, and yell, "Special delivery for ya,
phrase sparkle on the page. Not so to the man who sold him his candied nuts.
New Yorker offices, remembers him as a cold, taciturn man, who rarely
much of their days roaming the office halls, striking up spirited discussions
occupied the floor immediately below the magazine, the era was marked only by a
loud, unceasing trudging overhead. "Intellectuals are all well and good,"
miniaturize themselves and have themselves injected into the great editor's
bloodstream. By traveling up into his brain, they discover the awesome secret
governments to fret about digital signatures, and inspiring endless speculation
about how online ballots will eventually revolutionize politics. It is the big
idea that will change voting a huge amount someday.
idea that could change voting a small amount now. Its online voter registration
voter registration, at this point, isn't quite what it sounds like. You cannot
register to vote online. The concern about digital signature verification that
is delaying online voting prevents online registration as well. What you can do
filled in. You sign the form and return it to your county election supervisor.
the library, post office, or department of motor vehicles. (Several companies,
Ultimately, online voter registration (even in its current form) is most
promising not because it saves time and money for voters and governments,
though it does. Online registration really serves those who conduct voter
candidates routinely spend enormous sums of money and time on voter
registration drives without any guarantee that they are helping their cause.
Organizations that sign up voters can't stay in touch with them, can't remind
the newly registered to vote, and can't ensure that the new voters will
remember their cause if they do vote. A voter registration drive is
online registration middleman. Instead of conducting its own voter registration
company's application, which is currently available at the Rock the Vote
mailed a printed registration form and an envelope addressed to their local
election office. They proofread it, sign it, add a stamp, and drop it in the
registers a voter at a concert or on a campus, it loses touch with her
to look for the form and noting that she is not registered to vote until it is
her if she plans to be in town for the election and providing instructions for
acquiring an absentee ballot. One week before the election, she receives a
more likely to boost voter turnout than either traditional voter drives or
a political Web site are more likely to turn out than folks who register while
reminded close to Election Day about the issue that made them register in the
first place. It's not going to revolutionize politics, but it may send a few
more people to the polls to cast a ballot for a cause they care about.  
the modern world. Why are you lagging behind? Why do you allow yourselves to be
regarded as leaders without talent, leaders without a vision?" Who chided whom
much as I admire Jimmy Carter, I think he was being a little hard on the
family restaurant of media conglomerates. A clue to the popularity of such
dullness can be found in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the
the black and millions of frat boys into a swoon. Why, in an era of readily
with sex, politics, or dinner can be exhausting. Each intense encounter demands
alertness, ingenuity, and a willingness to overturn old assumptions. Each
are essentially reassuring. Their appeal is their familiarity. They comfort the
participant, reinforcing his preconceptions. That's the moneymaking way to
warring factions for bringing death and misery to their nation, shaming it
was especially critical of their not having included the leaders of all armed
Turns Cold; People Don Hats, Gloves" photo captions from various news sources
(except the third one which I simply made up). Participants are invited to
news outlet during the current meteorological unpleasantness. Results to run
mental institution and then finds that she can't check out. Although many note
battles between patients and hospital staff, the film stays mainly on target,
erudition, pageantry and delectable acting opportunities, much as
"impresses with its freshly considered action and total avoidance of the stale
feeling of the film results in "one of the few movies ever made that doesn't
feel like a movie," in which the characters "throb and course with life"
his hipster cred with this novel "by jumping on the already tired
brand labels are just slightly faded," and the story feels "curiously clipped
five columns an allegation aired on French and German television that one of
businessman at the heart of the scandal, who then passed at least some of the
admitted receipt of cash gifts from a French former business associate, was
determination to stay in office. "The presidency is mainly a symbol," he wrote.
"A presidency under criminal investigation that keeps its mouth shut in the
face of serious public accusations tramples the symbol into the mud and has no
so fond, he should have operated his ejection seat three weeks ago. He didn't
courageous fighter and a courageous statesman  a warm man among cold people, a
sensitive man among the insensitive, a brave man among cowards." But it said
when he said 'I look you in the eye,' his eyes were searching the paper in
last night may be that he is too naive to be president."
circles in the United States" had been "stunned" by the huge sums requested by
official "numbers game" about casualties is losing any relation to reality.
campaign owed its dreariness in part to manipulation by the professionals. "The
got to take the first whack at weeding the field of candidates, and no sane
system would ever have granted them the permission. But this time not even
their rural cussedness can impart any drama to a race in which dollars and
polls have done their work before any 'real' vote is counted." 
Traditionally, those who lost elections or opted out of public service after a
long stretch have sought sometimes lucrative and often cushy appointments to
corporate boards of directors. It's either that or lobbying. Lately, however,
the flow of newly liberated politicos joining the Internet Economy is so great
blunt, many of these folks know about as much about managing an Internet
ignorance about servers and banner ads and cookies. But they do know politics,
site, which will officially launch next month, is a nonpartisan "political
action destination," one of a growing number of sites betting that average
according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
liked the fact that they understand the biggest contribution they can make is
to give people access to political information at the local level," he said.
most prominent ones. Most people are concerned about local issues involving
school boards, city councilmen and -women. That's where the real intense action
profit. Their business models are all based on attracting a lot of people to
officials. They all seem to believe they'll reach solvency by attracting
advertisers, which tends to overlook the tendency of people on the Internet to
turn to already trusted brands for information and commerce.
ventures. Many said in interviews that these new sites that help put people in
electronic touch with their representatives remind them of the politics of old,
that's not the only thing that's appealing to the likes of former Reps. Tom
presidential consultants, and former political contenders to the boards (and,
less often, to the staffs) of politically oriented Web startups is so great
that one would think they were giving something away. Oh, wait, they
"You're seeing the inevitable cashing in of politicians on the Internet," joked
of the advisory panel are guiding the technologists about politics and helping
opportunity to be involved in politics, touch on policy, have some impact, and
have a piece of a company that could conceivably do very well."
will divulge the numbers of options they are getting. These are private
companies right now. They don't have to make large stockholders known until the
remember how many options he's been promised, and he really doesn't know if
they're worth anything. (The rule of thumb is that they're only worth something
if the company is a success and is acquired or goes public.)
following to the Web. "But there is a little more noble cause in this for me.
House, talking to people about how we can improve the quality of information
and local politicians to bring out a big vote on caucus night. Each man had
about where each man comes from and where he goes from here.
populists who have contended for the Democratic presidential nomination over
the past three decades, he echoes the valor and innocence of the early 1960s.
looks instead to the programs and principles of the New Frontier and the Great
Society. He preaches faith, boldness, and big solutions to national problems.
He sees distrust of government not as educated skepticism but as uneducated
"racial unity" without defining it, as though the very concept were as
controversial today as it was then. His campaign slogan distills the idealism
solutions failed or backfired, that the War on Poverty was lost, and that the
racial equality that liberals promised in law remained frustrated by cultural
and economic factors they had thought government could easily overcome. These
setbacks brought discredit to the whole idea of government activism, converting
practical failure into political failure. Liberalism became a dirty word.
Democrats, banished from the White House, learned to temper their ambitions.
caution can be frustrating. Why not guarantee health insurance for all
"timid" Democrats who "nibble around the edges." With confidence and principle,
goodness," in which all obstacles can be surmounted. Gore's entrenched assets
battle on Gore's terrain. He poured millions of dollars into the state. He
offered a vision of a better world, confident that he could win over the hearts
unfamiliar terrain, the will to spend freely, the faith in hearts and minds. He
spent years in a prison camp paying the price of those ambitions. He learned
sees a world not of "new possibilities, guided by goodness" but of threats
abroad and hubris at home. To those who believe gun control will cure school
violence, he replies that the Internet is full of Web sites illustrating how to
build pipe bombs. To those who promise big tax cuts based on projected
surpluses, he replies that the government must first pay off its debts and
the battles before him as tests not of manhood but of strategy and discipline.
favorable terrain. The book on presidential politics says a candidate must
over and over in his announcement speech last fall. But his strategic advantage
is the opposite: Having proved his courage as a soldier, he can get away with
I have a little more humility, but no less confidence that I can win and do the
be warranted. But the humility may have come too late. 
Ivy League universities were overemphasizing the importance of SAT scores. For
dumb. They're about ways in which these two are actually similar. Above all,
was more flexible for top athletes, for alumni "legacies," and starting in the
would probably have an easier time with this question than Bush, because as a
Democrat he is not required to believe that "reverse discrimination" is
necessarily a terrible thing, and because athletic talent can plausibly be seen
cannot. But both examples undercut the argument against affirmative action.
and Bush also illustrate the fallacy of taking the SAT as a measure of
Bush, but because both have led successful lives and are patently better
qualified for the presidency than many citizens with higher scores.
college grades. Indeed, the test admirably predicted the freshman year academic
Judging from their undergraduate careers alone, you
takes into account personal qualities like drive and motivation, which may not
be captured on the SAT. Affirmative action is likely to fail when it is merely
a special preference bestowed upon those who have the right parents, whether
athletic superiority but that he has made the most of his talents. No test,
whether it takes the form of the SAT or a pop quiz on foreign affairs, is
conclusive proof of a person's potential. Scores alone cannot be the sole basis
for making decisions about college admissions, hiring decisions, or
presidential elections. Affirmative action (even for athletes and preppies)
sometimes has a place in this land of second chances, where anyone can grow up
Pour ice water over myself in the middle of winter.
But the horse has the bit in his mouth and won't be turned.
Do they have fresh water there, flowing from springs
Rainwater collected in tanks and saved for the purpose?
Which town down there is better for serving rabbit,
On vicious scandal he spread with impartial justice
Gluttons and prodigals, saying they ought to be branded.
"My heavens, this ragout of quail is simply delicious."
But when there's something better and richer offered,
You rich men live and dine in your splendid houses.
justices were quite concerned with the size of something. What?
distance from a homeless shelter that a family of four must remain if both
wide a jail cell has to be before it constitutes cruel and unusual
you please not stand so close to me when you ask that? And get out of my way.
participants. Scorn for the court has been a consistent theme of quiz
anniversary of the quiz. (Yes, there will be a party; yes, gifts are
appropriate; and yes, my clothing sizes and preferences in porcelain figurines
[drunken belligerent clowns] will be posted as soon as those lovable bumblers
can no longer draw. And a third observation is that, judging by the higher than
usual number of responses, quiz participants love an invitation to a penis
how big a distance might be maintained between a woman going to the doctor and
facility. Within that zone, people may not, without consent, approach anyone
heard, and thus the law does nothing to curb "uninhibited debate on all
topics." It merely allows a woman to go to the doctor without someone screaming
very seriously. Almost every day a customer is injured while boarding or
getting off of a train. They slip on the stairs or fall between the gap between
very hard to raise Safety awareness of its Passengers by using simple, short
Safety Slogans such as 'Walk, Don't Run,' 'Watch the Gap' or 'Stay Alert, Stay
mining"?), and who have made enough money to do whatever they want (which seems
politicians, lawyers, lobbyists, and journalists has woken up and
capital to be near regulators. No one noticed as they wove seamlessly into the
past five years are different: They are run by entrepreneurs, not lawyers, and
business problems: a plunging stock price, irritated customers, "harsh economic
fixated on national politics. "All they cared about was who was going to be the
away, these guys are becoming billionaires and affecting average citizens more
not their wealth. Homegrown fortunes have never impressed the establishment.
also overlooked the nerd millionaires because the cultural clues are all
preening quirkiness of the tech culture. "We were weird. We had guys putting up
chandeliers in their offices or lifting weights or watching General
White House. The techies labor like dogs on their suburban campuses, live near
work, and spend what social time they have with each other. They couldn't be
less interested in Capitol Hill's machinations. They buy boats, play the stock
market, fiddle with software and gadgets. They buy mansions in Great Falls and
he resisted efforts to relocate the company to Silicon Valley.
executives are uninterested in politics (though Case is an exception). "They
But in the last year, the two elites have finally realized
nerd fascination that has captured the rest of the country. The Post is
pouring resources into tech coverage. Scarcely a day passes without a
party with tech leaders. Nonprofits are courting the new plutocrats in hopes of
repeatedly says that policy will be more important than technology in shaping
since he bought the Capitals. (Invitations he does not have time to accept: "I
world. No matter how much money you have, power is going to be the main event.
It is not like they are going to come in and usurp that."
spoke to admitted that they were fascinated by Case and his confreres. Money
hasn't supplanted power but may have matched it. An ambitious young lawyer
hungry for power used to join a big firm, make partner, schmooze senators, and
that his politician friends have been imploring him to get their children jobs
a good living as a lobbyist or lawyer. Now they are coming because they want to
daughter's was at our house, and I gave her a ride home. During the trip she
sex with an older man?" and "Is it normal to 'play with yourself'?" The looks
but the body is quite mature. When we got to her house, she hugged me and gave
Beauty too many times. To protect yourself, in all ways, do not allow any
situation to occur where you are alone with that girl. As for "getting her out
of your mind," do understand that your daughter's friend's "plans" for you make
you the next thing to a science experiment. You would be a notch on her belt
and perhaps a candidate for her father to make your life a living hell.
feel a little odd asking for help with this, but you seem to have the savvy to
get me through this awkward situation. It stands thus: I am engaged to be
married next year to a wonderful young man. We're both thrilled, our parents
are happy, and our mutual friends haven't quit telling us that they "told us
so!" This seems like all is well. The problem, though, is bridesmaids. I want
to have a fairly simple wedding, but there are two people I can't imagine
getting married without (not counting the groom). One of them is my oldest
friend, who is now going to college several states away. I have always promised
her she would be in my wedding. The other one is my closest friend in college,
who has been there with me through the last four tough years. They're both
as maid of honor. Is there any way I can split the title? What can I
bridesmaids is usually a different bouquet and walking down the aisle first.
Simply have their bouquets be identical and perhaps have them walk together.
boyfriend and I plan to marry next year. However, we have realized we can't
possibly receive any gifts, simply because our tiny apartment is just barely
big enough for the two of us. Anyhow, I don't know how to say "No gifts" on the
invite, because presumably people would ignore it. So is it appropriate to ask
it is not appropriate to have the invitations say "No gifts, just money,
refunds being most unusual. At some point you can select something you will
have room for. Or you can use the credit to buy a gift for someone when the
occasion demands it. Or you can sell the store credit, at a small discount of
course, to a friend who you know is in need of purchasing whatever. And
shout and swear at each other. Even though their abuse is never directed at me
start job hunting. Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the shouting?
shout at one's employer. In the situation you describe, that privilege
phenomenon, by the way, with certain volatile personalities who work together.
It is always a strain on bystanders, of course, but often the underlying
relationships of the shouters can be essentially friendly. It is too bad when
the lack of control and decorum in a place of business encourages job
yelling duo that their form of communication is disturbing the rest of the
office, but she intuits that the hotheads are in the habit and will not change.
her to prove her claims, such as that I am "evolutionary psychology's
of her statements are simply overly general, others simply false, while others
are incomplete or take my thoughts entirely out of context. In general
evidence for my claims and that I have developed a fairly elaborate theory
based on evolutionary biology and evolutionary social psychology.
how business media makes men feel inadequate. It's always been my goal to make
other people, regardless of their sex, feel less adequate. This makes me feel
waste to an entire generation of men" exceeds my greatest ambition in this
regard. Here I thought they were just a bunch of losers. Instead, I now
out of the entire rat race and become folk singers or something, or they can
belly up to the bar and play in the real world where money is generally the
accepted way we keep score. If they're tired of feeling inferior to the latter
which might not be germane to this discussion, but will help me make more
money, which is, of course, one of my most important resolutions.
And anyone who reads my stuff without knowing I am frequently attempting to
achieve irony should probably feel as inadequate as they do. 
"Breakfast Table" on the tabloids, I feel I must object to the glowing review
in the city, but the fact that he can spin dross like the retirement of a Plaza
doorman into gold does not mean he deserves awards or even praise.
revolutionary about giving people control over data about them. Some don't care
much about data about them. Others do. But that's the benefit of a property
It is always the government's role to establish property regimes. Even my
property to protect this, if it will help assure more control over private
rights in our personal data. No website can steal my data unless I voluntarily
agree to deal with that website. Some people will deal with any website
regardless of privacy practices. Others will choose to deal only with websites
that establish privacy guarantees. The market, in other words, is already
working to accommodate consumer preferences and maximize social welfare with
legal techniques, from contract to legislation to constitutional protection,
carries over well to [the Internet], even after it ceases to be organized as
vast public space, as it was at its outset.  Of course there will be problems
on the Net, just as there will be problems in any space to which any of have to
A property right in our personal data? I don't know
what you mean. Of course, a web site is not allowed to break into your house
and read your diary. That's because of the law of trespass, not a law giving
you a property right to personal data. If you go to a web site, it can take
information about where you were, where you look, what kind of machine you use,
other sites to figure out who you are, it can share information with that other
"elegant," "lovely," "graceful," "generous," "luscious," or "smooth," I gag.
and whiskey divide into smooth and rough. My wife is elegant, lovely, graceful,
and even luscious. But contrary to what you read on the back of some bottles,
Grove's chardonnay claims that its wine has a "superb nose." White Oak
the same grape has "great character and distinction." Others describe tannins
on one of those little cards that wine merchants put in front of bottles. "From
the first sniff, one is impressed by the precise, deep but never bombastic
creamy, vanillin accent of oak, and it is wonderfully balanced on the palate
with ripe richness set off by firming acids and brightness."
write this way? Is this what happens when your job requires you to drink before
"fragrant," and despises "dense," which she says "doesn't mean exactly
anything." Winemakers, she says, favor fuzzy terms for a reason. "The labels
Having researched how people assess wine, Noble now
teaches scientific techniques to describe it precisely. To this end, she has
developed a lovely, impressive, and wonderfully balanced tool, which she calls
wheel. The words found on Noble's wine aroma wheel do not make me sick to
that she believes best describe wine aromas: fruity, vegetative, nutty,
caramelized, woody, earthy, chemical, pungent, oxidized, microbiological,
descriptions. A sophisticated nose might thus distinguish a fruity wine as
smelling like citrus, berry, tree fruit, tropical fruit, or dried fruit. The
outer ring ups the olfactory ante again, dividing these terms into such exact
Noble's main aim is not to teach wine appreciation. Rather,
she strives for a standard terminology that cuts through the babble of
step in this process, teaching students how to link aromas to wine. It's a
students pour wine into a bunch of glasses and then drop a different "physical
standard" into each one. For white wines, the physical standards include clove,
bell pepper, brine from canned asparagus, and apricot puree. The point of
making these physical standards is to educate your nose to recognize these
"From this point on, anything goes: Smell the wines
first, smell the standards, start to see which terms describe which wine,"
was tackling the workout, she replied, "Your nose is going to start to talk to
Following Noble's instructions, I put a little cheap white
standard: peach puree, apricot puree, brine of asparagus, strawberry jam, wet
cardboard, fresh strawberry, pineapple juice, soy sauce, green olive, melted
butter, coffee grinds, fresh lime juice, cloves, vanilla, and shaved almonds. I
identified the contents of each glass with a label, stretching plastic wrap
over the tops to prevent aromas from escaping. Into another set of labeled
glasses I poured three different chardonnays (which I expected to have
smelled the untainted wines, and then went back and forth between the standards
and the wines. "My nose isn't talking to me," my wife said. Next, each of us
wrote down descriptions of each wine's scent, but limited our vocabulary to
words that matched the scents wafting from the physical standards.
Our daughter, who has great character and legendary
intelligence, was a bit dense this evening and instead of describing the wines'
aromas offered blunt descriptors such as "I don't like it." Fair enough.
Interestingly, my wife and I listed different combinations of aromas for each
of the five white wines under assessment. But when we spoke about the choices
shifted the labels identifying the white wines to the bottoms of the glasses,
where we couldn't read them, and then tried to guess which wine was which. Save
Had I lost my wine aptitude or was my nose just fatigued? An hour later, I
Although my anecdotal evidence suggests that Noble's method
works, I don't expect winemakers to begin printing labels that brag about a
label lingo to useful information about the winery's location, the soil in
which the grapes were grown, and the climate. And make no mistake, a winery
need not cram a label with absurd adjectives to sell a wine. Recently, I bought
the Cold War, pundits entertained themselves with a parlor game called
Politburo, Western analysts spun fresh theories about who was up, who was down,
to. The triumph of capitalism spoiled the old game but replaced it with a new
which are supposed to become the platform for all devices that communicate
They interpret the "next generation" strategy, Gates' assignment to it, and his
Gates is doing what he does best. On the Today show, Gates said
The company's overall message is that the "next generation" project will
determine the industry's future and that Gates is the genius who can pull it
Cynics' translation: He's sinking back to his level of
must have been worse at what he was doing before. Critics link this point to
the Peter Principle, which holds that everyone rises to his level of
that he's going "back to the garage," where he belongs. They attribute all
good at: administration, finding new revenue sources, and avoiding bad
his current job. Some say he lost interest because he made too much money and
has nothing left to prove. Others say the antitrust siege, the attendant PR
damage, and constant media scrutiny have worn him out. A few offer the ultimate
macho corporate insult, speculating that he wants "more time to concentrate on
contempt of those who say Gates is too coldblooded to put his family first.
Gates is getting a puppy dog. The media always look for contrasts. Since
Department negotiators and settle the antitrust case. He's the puppy who can go
for a walk with his master, wag his tail, win over strangers, and help Gates
irresponsible" and dismissing speculation about such a plan as "ludicrous."
Reporters deemed his tone "strident" and belligerent. Gates isn't unleashing
insistence that the handover has nothing to do with the antitrust case, dozens
of market analysts, legal scholars, and reporters suspect that it must. They
sacrifice, removing the "lightning rod" whose "seemingly disingenuous
company's breakup. Many attributed a rise in the company's stock to optimism
spin the same theory the other way: Gates, having been pulled over by the cops
for aggressive driving, is sliding into the "passenger seat" and giving the
Gates will retake the wheel. Gates is just "putting a new face on the
team" who would work with "chief architect" Gates to "integrate" the company's
products and services. Having lost top executives in recent months, Gates and
theorists think Gates is organizing his commanders not to save the ship but to
abandon it to the government. "They are putting their affairs in order," said
know it and the creation of something new, then they would want to prepare
Times speculates that "Gates would run the Windows operating system and
impressing everyone with its ruthless practicality and wily resilience, it
can't easily brush off rumors of plots. "One still can't escape the feeling
agree: The only thing of which Bill Gates is incapable is coincidence. 
justices were quite concerned with the size of something. What?
two men for theft of electricity. What was going on in the
Martin was filming his triumphant return to the gay porn industry. Boy, that's
some sort of shelter for the poor. Don't worry, though; they put a stop to
a precise definition of electricity (particularly if you spent much of
it seems to have something to do with the movement of electrons from one part
of Long Island to another. Electricity enters our homes and offices and
Gilbert, at least to my adolescent knowledge). Apparently electricity has
famous experiment that no doubt proved something or other. This didn't make him
them twitch and no doubt contributing to the bad feelings most frogs have about
their place in the sciences. Not that they were so happy about their place in
electricity. The pair is accused of tapping into Long Island Power Authority
and carbon dioxide generators to stimulate the growth of pot plants in
weeks instead of the several months required under ordinary growing conditions.
attention to their operation. But heat dispersal was their undoing.
Participants were invited to devise a photo caption
city's dynamic new sports, entertainment and convention palace, which can be
arranged in a variety of configurations for concerts (continued on Page
to live in New York City, considers his latest response while enjoying a fish
frigid chill as first lady announces she will stay with him 'for the rest of
just let him die instead of stringing him along with this damn melting and
two men for theft of electricity. What was going on in the warehouses?
"Teaching. And what's so hurtful is not that they say that but that
they make those nasty little pig faces when they say it."- Jay D.
search or, like me, made up some data, you'd find that the two nongovernmental
organizations most assiduously covered by the New York Times are the
both, and it's not entirely jealousy. For one thing, within five minutes of
meeting one of these guys they inevitably let you know: I attended the College
l nuncio. Or the vanity disguised as humility: Does this vestment make me
tucks, tooth whitening, wrinkle removal, and other cosmetic procedures. These
vanity treatments, once scorned around the med school, are now enjoying
increased respect because there's money in them. Doctors weary of the
medicine to rich folks who pay for it themselves. "Now, in terms of survival,
practice on Park Avenue. "And of course by 'survival' I mean able to afford a
solid gold hat like the one on my pet monkey, over there in the Jacuzzi filled
during the legislative session that just ended. Which of the following did she
Police so damned sensitive about nonexistent bills.
Hats, Gloves" variety that should run in any news outlet. Results to run
blustery Arctic winds and walk in front of a bus stalled by frigid air, then
stagger to the pavement, trip over a frozen dog, and break my spine.
piece regurgitates the conventional wisdom on the presidential
"believes Republicans were put on earth to cut taxes," etc.  An
rushing to develop medications that will stall the disease by slowing the brain
story predicts that hell will survive, despite its downsizing. Pope
that prosperity and nationwide effervescence have "softened the political
culture." Both parties are advocating a blend of tax cuts and social
father and to best the intellectual elite who bugged him in college. Bush is
relaxed fiscal policy are sparking the boom.  An article applauds a new
circuit board inserted in their brains that will stimulate the visual cortex
a tiny camera. The product could make the blind more independent.
cover story calls for renewed dedication to planetary exploration. The
program, which has struggled since the "national psychic letdown that followed
the moon landings." Colonizing other worlds would be "the ultimate
public apathy on the professionalization of politics. Polling has whittled
politics into a science, and money has monstrously deflated the importance of
refuses to divert public school funds to private voucher programs. His
candidacy has started a healthy debate within Republican ranks.  An
upcoming caucus, his representatives deny they are even organizing
editorial argues that the level of debt in Japan and the United States
leaves the world's two biggest economies vulnerable to economic crises.
story warns that the next debt crisis is likely to occur in Japan or
the United States. Japan's stimulus packages have widened the government's debt
personal income. Soaring private debt will "amplify any economic downturn."
accounts and refusing to divulge the names of donors. Corrupt party financing
her longtime girlfriend because he wanted to encourage lesbian parenting.
cover story chronicles Al Gore's remedial education in politics. The early
incompetence of the Gore campaign forced the candidate to eschew his
ambivalence about politicking and come "to terms with his outer politician."
Gore's political performances often "reek of the greasepaint he rightly
scorns," but there are signs "that he can make a style of substance." 
decision to speak out against the paper's current management. Chandler's
protest against the crude commercialization of the Times has made him "a
folks who dress up conspicuous consumption "in the artfully tattered guise of
cover story argues that Bush's record of crony capitalism is a poor omen for
his presidency. Despite "catastrophic losses," Bush's oil company was
repeatedly bailed out by businessmen who hoped to profit from his influence. By
the same rate of tax. I also think that equal treatment by government is a
disproportionately more the richer you are, simply moving to an equal system
inevitably gives a break to the rich. I didn't hide this in the New York
Times Magazine piece. I said so explicitly. But that doesn't mean I give
the rich special favors. I give them the same favors as everyone else; and by
combining a flat tax with tax reform, take away large numbers of their goodies
complicated things simpler to enforce; but it's also true that in our very
appeal. My point is not that the 40,000-page tax code isn't easier to enforce
with technology. It is. My point is that the increasing cultural attractiveness
contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine.]
is, you might say, what social justice is all about. Old people get Social
Security and Medicare. Poor people get Medicaid. Young people get Head Start
college loans. Workers at the bottom of the pay ladder are guaranteed a minimum
additional dollar matters less, and therefore society has a larger claim on it.
read an unedited version of the entire exchange, click  and scroll to the
inconsistency of her own position. Claiming that "we are products not just of
classroom teaching of the evolutionary roots of rape (even as a prelude to
explaining the hows and whys of resisting those roots) on the grounds that
you're genetically programmed to rape." The inevitable consequence: "criminal
"we imagine ourselves to be" rational, sensible creatures capable of
distinguishing between biological drives and moral imperatives, it won't help
descriptions of those drives as moral justifications for giving in to them.
young males (or hungry old defense attorneys, or jurors of all ages and
"willed culture" over the animal model; rather, it is a subtler, richer
application of the evolutionary psychologists' fundamentally wise observation:
all, if we could truly will our culture to meet our ideals, then we could tell
not teaching them the truth. We're teaching them a deliberately
diminished view of human nature that has been useful in helping scientists
Teaching a bunch of unsophisticated boys that this helpful little fiction is
the gospel truth, that "men are driven to rape because their genes tell them
to," as if we really knew why some men rape and others don't, as if we were in
possession of the complete truth about human motivation, as if we had the
beyond the mob and move on to North Jersey, which I think is close to the heart
of what makes The Sopranos interesting. There is something about the
place that makes it special, and not only because I grew up there. It could be
everybody heads to the shore. (And can we get the Sopranos to the shore for an
episode or two please?) But whatever the explanation, North Jersey is a place
where people wear their ethnic identity (but lightly), and where the working
with money continue to cling to it, rather than embrace elite culture. (They
the editorial director of the New York Times Magazine.]
caucuses don't reflect the national electorate, but went on to
assess their significance. The consensus spin: Bush and Gore are now
The Congressional Budget Office raised its estimate of the budget
forecasts of tax revenue from the economic expansion. The optimistic spin: The
extra money will make it easier for Democrats to accept Republican tax cuts,
Republicans to accept Democratic spending increases, and everyone to accept
debt repayment. The pessimistic spin: No, it will just give them more territory
unexpected storm blasted the East Coast. Snow closed schools and airports
models for the oversight. A recent study showed that the current La
world's climate. If so, winters may be colder in the northern United States for
cool the Earth and alleviate global warming. (Click for an "Assessment"
study linked dual hormone therapy to breast cancer. The National Cancer
Institute found that a woman's risk of breast cancer increases by
most commonly prescribed hormone replacements during and after menopause. There
of uterine cancer. Researchers suggested that more data is needed to determine
which treatment has the lowest overall death rate. Doctors said they did not
know what to recommend in light of the study's conclusions and advised women to
His grandmothers contend that his mother's memory would be most honored by
The Supreme Court upheld state campaign donation limits. The
do not violate First Amendment rights, as "money is property; it is not
speech." Reformers said the ruling showed the court's openness
Western creditors may eliminate financial aid that is indirectly subsidizing
any team can make the Super Bowl. Skeptics doubted that much
second test of the Pentagon's missile defense system failed. The Pentagon
one more attempt, the Pentagon will determine whether the missile shield can be
percent. Optimists said the survey revealed the breadth and robustness of the
economic expansion. Pessimists said it showed the expansion's fragility and
warned that a bear market would bring it all crashing down.
so she doesn't know any words. Still, she sounds as if she is practicing her
scales. I crawl out of bed and tumble downstairs to turn on the heat, rigged by
people, we now keep our smelly cheeses in planting pots outside. Imprisoned in
odor; a minute later, whoever was on the third floor would shout in panicky
tones, "Shut the fridge! Shut the fridge!" Relations with the cheese had
her crib before she stops singing and becomes outraged. Coming up the stairs, I
lifted from her crib. Rising, she smiles and kicks her feet as if something
really great is about to happen. I try not to disappoint. Together, we draw the
neighboring apartment building to see if any French people are doing anything
particularly French. They are: sleeping. This is a nation of vampires; our
a minute of staring at the old building, then swivels and tosses her warm
little arms around me in her version of a bear hug.
move to the changing table the mood shifts. The moment she is laid on her back,
waiting for the tires to be changed. To keep her still enough to be unwrapped,
cleaned, and then wrapped again, I must find ever more exotic ways to trick her
into thinking something worth paying attention to is about to happen, right
here, in her own bedroom. She never falls for the same trick twice. This
watched less with amusement than with a kind of morbid fascination. The
they sell at the local market and swishing it back and forth over my head
mesmerized, I am able to remove one hand from the bag and do the dirty work,
dancing all the while. A moment's pause in the entertainment and she's flipping
herself onto her stomach, in a suicidal attempt to vault sideways off the
beneath the low staircase ceiling, and plunge down the narrow, unbelievably
bliss. She raises her arms and cheers and kicks up such a delighted fuss that I
am reminded all over again what a dull pleasure I am to my own child. I am the
coming from outside. The dog, somehow already possessed of a French dog's sense
of her rights, is busy breaking down the door with her head. Sometimes, for
fun, I open it just as she is about to strike again and she goes flying across
the kitchen floor like a vaudeville comedian in a skit, crashing into the
number is inflated by contributions that are mailed in but accompanied by
collected.) But although online fund raising has yet to catch on in any serious
way, there are six good reasons to believe at least some of the hype about how
It's cheaper. Online fund raising is less costly than direct mail, phone
potential contributors and convince them to write checks. Raising money on a
pictures with wealthy donors. Companies such as Politics Online handle the
donation transactions and instantaneously transfer the dough into the campaign
It's faster. The Web reduces the otherwise tedious process of contributing
to a campaign to a mere click of the mouse. By facilitating instant
contributions, the Internet could help candidates capitalize quickly on early
to remain competitive through later primaries if they do well in New
plumb the same ranks of potential donors, the Web attracts fresh contributors
It's cleaner. Candidates benefit from the perception that online donations
are purer than checks written in response to personal appeals. This may be
he improperly weighed in with the Federal Communications Commission on behalf
of big contributors. Of course, the increasing tendency of political
handicappers to cite the size of candidates' Web war chests will encourage
and Gore's campaigns are currently doing with contributions that aren't really
so beloved by school children, in the city's Natural History Museum. The
diorama is wonderful: The "Torah" and "roasting Christian baby" are incredibly
not merely a tourist attraction but a vibrant part of the city's life, with a
rule, being evocative symbols of the capital but lacking apparent utility.
yards from the Strip, so pretty much anything goes. And the shrimp
having sex with a gun, but that was before I stopped drinking and started
"Walk, Don't Run," "Watch the Gap," and "Stay Alert, Stay Alive" and feature
little mockery and derision. Damn government bureaucrats.
"Snowing, is it? It is? Good lord! We'd better ditch work
made applying what you learned from your first search. (And I, for one, am
objects to, but he's history, so the hell with him.) Euphoric with thoughts of
cats, and they expect something more than a handshake and the meowed suggestion
political expenditures as speech, the court determined that political
decision might limit the influence of the very rich, or so I understand it.
Geography aside, St. Louis is part of the East: It's more like
for the part about her being an alcoholic. While it makes my head go all funny
that she's not drinking, perhaps we should pay attention to what she says.
called. And by whom. And then go over to his house and kick the crap out of
fiscal future while cleaning up the moral mess of today.
me to slip back into the alcoholic fog that marred my childhood, had any such
commuter line he rides to work. Already taken: "Cleaning up the moral mess of
believe is a bizarre coincidence, this issue of Slate contains two articles
that take a benign view of fathers sleeping with their daughters. (Depending on
when you visit the site, one of these may already be in "The Compost." But it will
still be available there.) To publish one article on this tawdry subject may be
fathers and daughters is an unavoidable subject at the moment, because of
defense against vitriolic reviewers (among whom he does not include
course, but he does endorse writing about them. (Next month we will publish a
wife. Bob's daughters, we hasten to add, were infants at the time, and his
practice of training babies to sleep alone by ignoring their tears of
Accomplished," is mostly a highly educational description of two horses
enough to point out (but we are), his piece puts all those stories about
sleeping arrangements, whether among family members, animals, or both or
neither. Who knows what mysterious forces led us down this garden path? As Noel
something to do with Spring." Next week, though, it's back to the Future of
forum, has always required user registration. The lawyers make us do this
because participants are publishing messages to the world and must take some
Fray, not to those who just want to read it. So from now on, you can enter the
to do so. It's fun. It's free. And, in case you weren't aware of it, in the Web
culture people who enter bulletin boards and chat rooms but don't join in the
conversation are known as "lurkers." It's not considered sportsmanlike. At
Slate, though, we don't mind. Lurk away. It's easier than ever.
modest to have chosen one of his own. But you can sample his prose style in two
officer of the Library of Congress. His or her duties include converting all
public remarks by the speaker of the House into iambic pentameter (rhyming
optional); composing ribald limericks about any lawsuits filed against the
president for sexual harassment; and debating the chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee about whether a poem is lovely as a tree. Actually,
keep another diary for us after his enthronement so that we can learn what it's
all about. Meanwhile, his epic poem about fathers sleeping with daughters will
offer a paper edition of Slate. Why? Because paper is a dangerous medium, all
too prone to misuse by pedophiles, political extremists, paranoid conspiracy
for mass executions. Those of us at Slate who are parents must naturally wonder
whether paper should be allowed into a house where young children can read
the Heaven's Gate mass suicide, Slate's preferred medium of the Internet has
distant relation, perhaps, of the Heaven's Gate cult leaders, Do and Ti?) In
the modern era, the practice of writing on paper was first taken up, and
monopolized for centuries, by Christian monks, all of whom had taken vows of
celibacy. Even today, reading paper products is a lonely habit whose
practitioners often spend hours or even days at a time silently and obsessively
turning pages, immersed in a world of fantasy, isolated from normal society. No
Dick Morris). Yet society ignored the clues until it was too late.
the vast range of content now available on paper. Much of this, to be sure, is
harmless nonsense, such as the installation instructions that come with popular
software products. But paper is by far the favorite medium of pornographers.
Ransom notes use paper as well. Several years ago a scientific journal
published instructions for building a nuclear bomb. Where? On paper!
reality is dismissed as "virtual," the appearance of words on paper lends them
rumor can be set in type, and then printed and distributed by the millions,
with no guarantee whatsoever of its accuracy. And yet people say, "I only know
what I read in the papers." At best, paper's materiality creates an unjustified
impression of trustworthiness; at worst, paper can be folded into an airplane
clothes in the bottom dresser drawer. Any page can be folded, placed in a
pocket, and secretly transported or shared with other children. Books can even
be read by flashlight in bed, long after Dad has requisitioned the family
from corruption just because he is tucked in and offline.
parents are responsible for what their children read. But no parent can
moral is that children are never safer than when staring at a computer screen.
At least you know they're not reading a book or anything. Second, government
regulation of paper is clearly needed. We look to Congress for a Paper Decency
Act, to close the giant loophole left open when last year's Communications
Decency Act was limited to electronic media. Third, the recent ruling of the
United States Parole Board forbidding paroled federal prisoners to use the
Internet must be extended to forbid books, magazines, and newspapers as well.
must use paper, please do so with extreme caution. Thank you.
minister. The mistake has been corrected in the archived article but, as is our
next week. In the great tradition of political and cultural journalism, the
editors will spend the week lying on the beach, perhaps reading the odd scrap
other ordeals ahead. SLATE is proud to be launching this hoary custom of summer
editorial sloth into cyberspace. However, our computers will be on the job.
(They neglected to ask for the week off in their union contract.) And they will
happily serve up the current issue, plus a complete inventory of past articles
and features (in "The Compost") while we're gone. New material will be posted
over a month now, and in general, we're pleased with the reaction. Claims about
readership tend to be even more dubious in the online world than they are in
the world of traditional paper magazines. Counting Internet readers is an
inexact science, lending itself to exaggeration. But here's our count, as
honest as we can make it. Excluding our launch week, when the numbers were much
figures don't include people who are printing out SLATE directly from the cover
screen but offline. We never even thought of that. (Soon, though, we'll be
offering an offline reading edition that retains some of the Web's
reading SLATE. Readership declines through the week and is lowest on the
weekends. We have designed the magazine to be most current and timely
people would like to read it over the weekend. But maybe that's wrong. In any
enjoy popping in every couple of days to see what's new, which is a more
readership (though not necessarily of satisfied readership) is response. We've
(though I think he's doing a fine, neutral job), he said the only complaint
he's gotten himself was from the White House. In a couple of weeks, we'll be
launching our bulletin board, "The Fray," where readers from the White House or
any other house can bitch and moan to their hearts' content (though a kind word
or two would also be appreciated). But it's already clear that we have just the
kind of active, engaged readership we were hoping for.
know more about who our readers are when free registration begins in two or
three weeks. We're planning to tell advertisers that you're all highly
of automobiles, designer clothing, books, records, military aircraft, and
forgotten), has written that he's suspicious of anyone who talks of learning
people's mistakes. Still, if you're going to make mistakes, you might as
well learn from them. SLATE's made a few. Initially we were incompatible with
cover and contents page, united by theme music, has not, in our view, been a
success, and we'll be reworking that in the weeks ahead. (Meanwhile, many folks
seem to be missing the contents page completely, thus missing many articles and
features. You can skip the cover and go directly to the contents page, if you
In theory, it should be great: a file, delivered straight to your computer,
that you can print out (or read on screen) as the latest SLATE. At last count,
prepared for was problems in sending it. We apologize, and hope that's starting
weeks ago ("Electric Chairs"), about designing a chair for reading an online
magazine, was one I was uncertain about. It surprised me pleasantly by
Editors.") For the next week, though, the staff of SLATE will be
emphasizing comfort above all in our choices of where to sit. And should these
what the next century would bring. The newfangled monorail that ferried
do with selling overpriced and overcooked food than it did with space or space
in the deepest of its periodic slumps, dragging the entire economy down with
decades after its fair, the city has emerged as an international destination
for the ambitious and the fashionable. Visiting the city last weekend for a
I went. Downtown was filled with people noshing trendy food late into the
would be the next big thing. The science journalists attending the convention
this happen? I wondered. How did this timber, fish, and airplane town of my
isolated, provincial, insecure, and wet as it is connected, worldly, smug, and
fishing for salmon from dinghies, or just prowling the mysterious undergrowth
matter, who could blame me for decamping to attend college back East? In my
as they watched ships, heavy with fir and cedar, depart for Japan and return
money by extracting natural resources was capitalism for chumps. The way to get
Several local fortunes were made based on this concept. A
adding service, and took the idea nationally. A few musicians updated the
music city (and this time, the city's rock 'n' roll stars stayed put rather
from this playbook and start peddling gourmet wood.
they displayed at the World's Fair. What they couldn't have foreseen was that
local son Bill Gates and other software developers would figure out how to
market bits of plastic worth just a couple of cents each (floppy disks) for
before relocating to his hometown. I often wonder if the future would have
visit. Now, the city's entrepreneurs plan to encircle it.
year, the Space Needle looks more and more like a prop from a bad
'80s, when the economic boom sprouted a host of taller buildings, it remains
the city's symbol of progress. My family insists on calling the big black
skyscraper that soars over downtown the "box" that the Space Needle arrived
nothing, or practically nothing. We chose it as an empty vessel into which we
can pour meaning. We hope SLATE will come to mean good original journalism in
this new medium. Beyond that, who knows? Good magazines are exercises in
that the name "SLATE" is appropriate, because whenever he asks anyone from
struggling with some pretty basic issues. Starting an online magazine is like
news here. The good news is that our billing system isn't ready yet. We intend
paying. We believe that expecting readers to share the cost, as they do in
Depending completely on advertisers would not be healthy even if it were
if we can, that the economies of cyberspace make it easier for our kind of
journalism to pay for itself. Most magazines like SLATE depend on someone's
generosity or vanity or misplaced optimism to pay the bills. But
of the press is for those who own one.) If the Web can make serious journalism
For the moment, though, SLATE is yours for free. So enjoy.
We expect to start requiring registration in a few weeks, and to require
is that some features aren't quite ready yet. Prime among them is "The Fray,"
Editor" page until The Fray is up and running in a few weeks.
especially need, and appreciate, your comments in these early weeks. Every new
magazine is a "beta" version for a while, especially a new magazine in a new
but much of it not. We appreciate the attention. But of course, it also makes
read a special page called Consider Your Options. This page explains and
executes the various ways you can receive and read SLATE. If you don't like
reading on a computer screen, for example, there's a special version of SLATE
that you can print out in its entirety, reformatted like a traditional print
magazine. If you don't mind reading on a screen but hate waiting for pages to
selected articles from SLATE will also appear in Time magazine.
Consider Your Options page, please read about how to navigate around SLATE. We
use page numbers, like a traditional print magazine, and have tried to make it
as easy as possible either to "flip through" the magazine or to and from the
is basically a weekly: Most articles will appear for a week. But there will be
something new to read almost every day. Some elements will change constantly.
Other elements will appear and be removed throughout the week. Every article
will indicate when it was "posted" and when it will be "composted." As a
general rule the Back of the Book, containing cultural reviews and commentary,
archive, "The Compost."( THIS NEEDS TO BE A HOT LINK)
always be as solipsistic as this one. It will usually be a commentary on public
the news, a sense of how the week's big stories are being played and perceived.
culture considers important. (We aim to have these magazines in SLATE even
before they reach the newsstands or your mailbox.) The Horse Race
tracks the presidential candidates like stocks, as priced by the opinion polls,
the pundits, and a genuine market in political candidates run out of the
Gist, by contrast, is SLATE's effort to provide a quick education on some
current issue in a form as free of spin as possible. Also free of quotes,
In a weekly department called Varnish Remover, political
campaign. You can download a video or audio clip of the spot itself.
"Assessment" will be a short, judgmental profile of some figure in the news.
monthly on "Everyday Economics," using economic analysis to illuminate everyday
life. (His first column, in our next issue, will explain how sexual promiscuity
intellectual discipline of the written word. We hope for something halfway
like or dislike this stuff (we'll have plenty of linked commentary to help you
decide). What appeals to us about computer art is that SLATE can show you not
reproductions, but the actual art itself. We start with an offering by Jenny
of the Book will contain a weekly book review, alternating television and movie
reviews, and a rotating menu of columns on music (classical and popular),
poem, read aloud by the author, with text. In this issue is a new poem by
coming up soon, two additional Back of the Book features: an interactive
out a magazine that is free to think for itself? All we can say is that
me as misplaced. In a day of media conglomerates with myriad daily conflicts of
bad thing for a new company to begin competing in the media business? A
whether SLATE will have a particular political flavor. The answer is that we do
not set out with any ideological mission or agenda. On the other hand, we are
not committed to any artificial balance of views. We will publish articles from
various perspectives, but we will not agonize if the mix averages out to be
discussing current events, we have a preference for policy over politics. We'd
fondness for economics. This was not planned; it's one of those serendipitous
developments I mentioned. Whether it reflects good luck or bad luck is a matter
a fairly skeptical stance toward the romance and rapidly escalating vanity of
cyberspace. We do not start out with the smug assumption that the Internet
changes the nature of human thought, or that all the restraints that society
deadening conformity in the hipness of cyberspace culture in which we don't
intend to participate. Part of our mission at SLATE will be trying to bring
avoid hyperlinks to outside sites in the text of articles, and to group them at
Watch," which is often an effort to set the spin rather than describe it.
words "longer articles" raise one of the big uncertainties about this
enterprise: How long an article will people be willing to read on a computer
to learn of the places and postures in which people like to read magazines. Bed
interesting point that her problem isn't the screen: It's the chair. Even
"ergonomic" computer chairs are designed for typing, not for reading. For this
woman, and for others who may feel the same way, we have asked several
particular line is not what they are fundamentally about, and knowing where
they average out won't tell you what any individual article will say. Go
set of prejudices derived from logic and evidence, as best we can determine
page spent the 1980s vilifying the whole idea of independent counsels as a
scandalous waste of money and an unconstitutional infringement upon executive
that it's a Democratic president under investigation, the Journal is
naturally conflicted. Its former thundering constitutional anathemas are now
all should hope for the best" is remarkably unhelpful advice. Is there any
editorial ever written to which this last sentence could not be attached?
for the best.") Have we missed some other juncture, in the course of human
events, at which the Journal would not have recommended that we
all hope for the best? Will the Journal inform its loyal readers when we
may abandon the strain of hoping for the best and return to the less exhausting
task of fearing the worst? Do we really need the distinguished Wall Street
Journal editorial page to tell us to hope for the best? One might as well
turn to the Journal 's news pages to be told to "buy low, sell high."
always advisable to get a second opinion. At this juncture, we consulted Bill
Gates. Would he recommend hoping for the best? At this particular juncture? "My
dear fellow," he said, "Don't hope for the best. Demand the best." And
this publication staged a contest in another publication to name the
clumsy. This turned out to be wrong on both counts, as that scandal came to be
racist, please, and nothing (once again) ending in "-gate" (unless it's
triumph over adversity: new wife, new job, and so on. In the Times
during his adversity period: "Even the courier who used to bring films to me at
home said he'd be happy to bring them to me for nothing." What a heartwarming
courier. If more couriers took a moment to show a bit of human compassion for
Corp. (formerly known as Waste Management Inc.), a company he founded and has
run for decades. We trust he takes comfort in the thought that his
beneficiaries appreciate him even if his stockholders don't.
to the arms of her husband. Our apologies to all three.
faraway locales, so we appreciate their involvement in and dedication to
Slate's community bulletin board. If you haven't yet entered the Fray, please
give it a try. You must register in order to post a message (it's easy and
weeks ago, with more charm than enthusiasm, about the experience of being
this online, you probably got here by way of our new home page and "Table of
Contents." We hope you like it. For a site as packed with contents as this one
(and we speak only of quantity here), designing the contents page is a constant
review Slate's current offerings. If you click on the word "Date" just below
the Slate logo on the contents page, you'll get a straight list of current
articles in reverse chronological order, with the most recent additions on top.
To revert to Contents Classic, click on "Page Number." And let us know what you
previewed the new opening sequence for Bill Gates, who studied it for a few
seconds and said impatiently, "How do I find the place where I have people
killed every week?" We answered, It's usually buried somewhere in a column
leaves it to the reader to decide how good the summary is. As journalists
want our employer to thrive. (And doesn't everybody, really, wish the best for
ordinary people. We are skilled artisans, backed by centuries of tradition, who
pursue the noble calling of making writers miserable by insensitively slashing
their lovely prose. It is one thing for machines to replace textile makers (the
editors are imperiled, it is obvious that the technological revolution has gone
few days of being forced to read unedited copy will bring this country to its
reasons too vitally important to bore you with, Harry Shearer's dispatch on the
readers may have been wondering how it all came out. We could have told you, of
course, but we didn't want to ruin the suspense. We knew you'd rather wait and
the first of a number of directives I plan to issue to that end.
so key to success in the media and entertainment industries.
media and editorial folks will conform to the following dress code:
suggestion is that one piece of black clothing be immediately visible at all
times. Not only is it a good idea and slimming, it can help us to identify the
worn only under other items of clothing and only for the purpose of warmth on
days that the thermometer in the cafeteria dips below freezing point at
Certification will immediately launch a new series of courses called "Dressing
for Media." Each course will take only one morning to complete, and I think
spearheading creation of the Day to Evening Makeup Web site. (Though it was
originally intended only for the internal audience, we hope to eventually
Mission that has been evangelized for our division. Let's remember that it's
choosing which shade of blue eye shadow works this spring.
program to control the cost beast, they will not be connected for service.
ago, the average Slate reader is intelligent, discerning, politically
involved, culturally aware, and physically attractive. Also, of course,
skeptical of cant and immune to flattery. But we'd like to know even more about
you. Do you consume vast quantities of alcohol? Do you drive expensive
How many times a week do you have sex? Would you be willing to pay for it? Say,
ought to always be free?) Are you, in short, the kind of reader advertisers are
looking for? (Please say "yes.") Actually, what we mainly want to know about is
be grateful if you took a few minutes to fill it out. Thanks very much.
entrepreneurial spirit, a boon to all mankind, a splendid example of employer
benevolence at its finest, an institution beyond legitimate criticism of any
beyond that, we take no view. It is unfortunate, therefore, that we were
business and journalism, a brilliant track record on Wall Street, and a lively
every word of Slate before publication, in an admirable effort to improve his
vocabulary), his reaction was swift. "Have it killed," he observed
Kill the piece!" But by that time, the review had already been loaded into
Slate's "doomsday server," a device designed to ensure that this magazine
continues to be propagated into cyberspace in the event of a nuclear war. Once
loaded, an article cannot be retrieved. There was nothing we could do. Honest,
posted in print that's too goddamned small!!") Honestly, we were only trying to
help: Smaller type means more words per screen, and therefore, less scrolling.
(Especially helpful, or so we thought, in consuming Harry Shearer's hilarious
was not (clear, that is). So we're back to the normal point size, in a more
legible typeface (Times New Roman) to boot. Readers were also clear in their
removing the "links" discussion at the end of each piece. By an overwhelming
margin, those who responded prefer to learn about Internet links, even when
they're not reading Slate online. So we'll continue as before. Your wish is our
many years ago, maintains its culture and loyalties without much consideration
for national or civic boundaries. Its residents, solid and conservative in look
and outlook, are often referred to as "square heads," which suggests a stolid
cod that is treated with lye and is transformed, in the process, into a
The question and the tone turned me snarky. Why the hell do
ship traffic passes under the statue's gaze. Undoubtedly, it brings good luck
a man still waiting for more proof than contemporary maps, detailed written
more cocky these days, however, because the answer to my friend's question
before we get to the science, let me introduce a pet theory of mine: that there
unlike Viking ships. They were also fishermen and whalers, as many are today.
have a rich mythology with characters and themes not unlike those found in the
links may also be genetic or, at the very least, the result of ancient
spear point was found lodged in his pelvis along with evidence of other warrior
according to experts who have carefully examined the skeleton, that he was
were ancient native relics, and federal law backs them up. They argue that
creation myths. Imagine how they'd feel if tests revealed their ancient
the edges, suggestive of a cube. Look for evidence of a crew cut and a
search Slate, including "The Compost" (our archive), for specific words or phrases. Use
this feature to find articles by a particular author or a reference to a
particular subject. Slate Search is located on the Compost page, but search
results will include current articles (within a day of their posting) as well
as older ones. (If Slate Search isn't available when you go to check, it will
Gates" (in quotes) will find articles containing the exact phrase bill
Gates" will find only favorable references. To find unfavorable references,
Indeed, we make these complaints ourselves. First, the list is not a very
accurate measure of sacrifice for good causes, since it doesn't factor in a
to suffer any diminution of their lifestyle as a consequence of having given
finance new buildings at already wealthy universities.
extraordinary generosity by people who, after all, don't have to give
the money away, however painless that might be. And ranking by size of gift
provides a useful objective measure. But we'd also like to acknowledge
extraordinary generosity by people for whom it hurts, and to encourage more
either the donor's name being inscribed in granite or his or her being honored
standards. (Would that Slate's new search engine were so sophisticated.) But
victimized by the Red River flood as an example of what we're looking for. This
to put this request. We are looking for Slate readers, or potential Slate
people fall into this category, and we would like to make sure they have the
months, while it's still free. If you're reading these words on the Web, you're
clearly not one of those people, but you may have friends or colleagues who
are. And many of you are reading this on a printout, or (our spies tell us) on
read it on screen, directly off your own hard disk, as many choose to do.
Signing up is easy: Just go to the "Slate Help" page (or click here, you
or would prefer not to perform this function (as the flight attendants like to
(not essential, but helpful in straightening out problems), and we'll take it
how willing are you to take a few minutes to fill out an online reader survey?
are anything from mildly to extremely willing, we'd appreciate your input. And
you may even enjoy the exercise. This survey consists of a few simple questions
merely designed to strip you bare psychologically and to allow us to compile an
exhaustive medical and financial dossier on you that could be used for
unimaginable purposes. You may wonder, for example, why we need to know the
answer to Question 47b: "When was the last time you cut your toenails?" Or
comedy?" The answer is nothing nefarious or mysterious. It's simple morbid
curiosity. Our publisher, Rogers Weed (and isn't that a name you can
trust?) has an insatiable desire for knowledge. He watches tapes of old Bill
it too. So, help him out, and fill out the survey. (Actually, it's completely
dilute the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches in the
name of fighting drugs." On this particular occasion, however, the Times
searches the war on drugs cannot justify." The message was an 8-to-1 decision
a urine test. The Times noted that "there is no reason to suspect a drug
New York Times for moral guidance on all important issues were deeply
the New York Times editorial page verges on logical fallacy. One might
issue: Is there "reason to suspect a drug problem" among staff members of the
Times requires its own new employees to take a urine test for drugs. At
least one recent hire was told that flunking the test once would eliminate any
chance of being hired by the Times --now or at any time in the future.
When this person attempted to wash up after providing the required sample, it
turned out the tester had removed the handles from the faucets (apparently to
must be some explanation! It's true that the New York Times is not the
doesn't make the policy any less "unreasonable." It's also true, of course,
that a junior copy editor for the New York Times is obviously more vital
useful to have the Times editorial page spell out the exact difference
here for employers who must decide between doing what the Times says and
artists, and paying subscribers must produce a urine sample under the direct
grim ritual into a festive and sentimental occasion. Photographs are taken and
posted on the corporate Intranet. For those who will be writing about
individually in my office," Gates says with a sigh, "but the company's gotten
we don't actually send any of these samples out for drug testing. We just sorta
foreseeing that Time would repeat this device from last year, upped the
to make it clear that three can play this game. We have, of course, the
Therefore, we proudly announce that the entire population of the United
Century. Our heartiest congratulations to each of you. And we are confident
that Slate's list contains more people who will make history in the next
government is insisting on the highest safety standards possible."
that the highest safety standards possible are too high. You can always make
(increasing the minimum distance between aircraft or time between takeoffs,
cost, plus the law of diminishing returns, dictates that you stop well short of
there is no reason every airline should meet the same level of safety. In fact,
it makes perfect sense for discount airlines to be less safe than traditional
the rules don't recognize that some people, quite rationally, will wish to buy
less safety for less money, they are doing the flying public a disservice.
Try some rough math on the back of an envelope. According
from an airline "hub"). The standard statistic on airline safety is that you
folks whose grounding in mathematics is sturdier and more recent), you're
including the decision to step outside your house and risk being torn apart by
hounds as you pick up the morning paper (you could, after all, hire someone to
so desire. But society should not force them to do so. And society, in setting
question of whether to require small children to fly in safety seats. The rule
therefore, usually, fly for free. Flight attendants and other supporters of
safety seats make a good argument that it's a bit odd for the government to
require that coffee pots, and adults, be strapped down, but not little
would actually cost lives. How? By leading families to drive instead of
the car instead. Whereas the safety seats would save an average of one child's
life per decade, the extra driving (far more dangerous than flying) would cost
nine lives. Or so the study figured. Critics objected to the calculations, but
the principle of thinking about safety in this way survives any quibbling about
passengers last year. What fraction of that number chose to fly instead of
drive because of the cheap fare, and how many of those would have died in
vehemently that they are less safe than the majors, and the statistics show no
clear connection between price and safety. But if there isn't a connection,
that's too bad. Flying at a discount should be more dangerous. Otherwise,
priceless qualities). She doesn't have a computer, but she'll be faxing daily
answers questions about problems and possibilities in reading SLATE. "Ask Bill"
Committee of Correspondence was redesigned on the fly, three days after our
launch, when it became clear the original design (one very long page)
was too cumbersome. Try the new model; we think you'll like it. Other design
changes and "tweaks" will be coming along as this experiment continues.
known around our office as "The Battle of the Curly Quotes" was fought this
week. To make our pages more attractive, we had been using quotation marks and
marks that are straight vertical. But it turns out that curly quotes don't show
small way for the majority, or avoid a major problem for a small (but vocal)
does SLATE "go to press"? Many readers are asking this, and the
answer does take some getting used to. There is new material in SLATE every
every article in SLATE stays "live" for at least a week, so you can read or
print out SLATE on any day and get a whole magazine. And if you do miss
something, you can always retrieve it (free) from our archive, "The
disappointingly failed to settle the question of whether a camel can pass
has moved on to new theological disputes (in addition to ongoing exchanges
the National Center for Policy Analysis, is exchanging words with the editor of
month for special Fray threads devoted to books. Because "The Fray" exists to
preparation for asking questions. If reading a whole book sounds like too much
Slate had assigned a couple of chapters to its readers, he roared: "It sounds
"It is simply unthinkable an experienced officer would wear decorations he is
not entitled to, awards that others bled for. There is no greater disgrace."
decorations he wasn't entitled to claim: a Ranger Tab (indicating membership in
journalism, his military decorations, and his general trustworthiness occurred
last year. The Slate article went on to win a National Magazine Award, a
new editorial features this week. Look for "Egghead" today, the
Primer" is a weekly briefing on issues in foreign policy and world events.
consulting firm that specializes in analysis of global political trends.
lighthearted look at recent developments in scholarship and academia. Egghead
updated whenever the fancy strikes, independent of Slate's official daily
readers or, if necessary, download from his own head. The consensus of Jack's
colleagues is that reader contributions are essential. A button on the
"Chatterbox" page will make this easy, so please do join in.
Memorial Day week will be written by Beck. The editor has no idea who or what
this is. But everyone else around here seems quite excited about it. So maybe
and they made their money cutting down trees, building airplanes, and selling
shoes. Like the Cascade Mountains, they were "partially visible some of the
sociologist once said. The Cascades are still a rumor for much of the year. But
the rich have come out in force in this corner of the country once known for
around the lake. Rather than disparage this trend or try to describe it with
rubbed off on those who build this state's bridges, ferries, and nuclear
reactors? Why is this whiz kid's paradise also the world capital of
still, a marvel of suspension design, but for one rather obvious fault: Her
delighted generations of science students as a demonstration of oscillating
from hydraulic hoses that were being used to clean it. The hatches were
high seas. (At least its pontoons were sealed.) The year before, the freighter
later, when his wife shot him and torched his remains.
country's largest ferry system. Even so, in the early '80s it built six
repairs. Their electronic propulsion systems tended to conk out, especially
when braking, causing them to smash one dock after another. On dry land,
commercial skyscrapers, all of which remain standing, thank you. But this was a
state project: When a roof support buckled, the whole frame tumbled to the
50-yard line. Afterward, the recriminations flew: Was a bad weld to blame, or
state agencies wasted millions on a failed computerization scheme. While local
they pale before the state's most expensive boondoggle (and history's biggest
the old Soviet Union, where only the military and space industries functioned.
public sector sinks bridges. Perhaps competence is a finite quantity,
apportioned between the two sectors. When one gets too much, watch out for the
the government can't build anything right out here. Amid political and legal
renowned engineering triumph. It has weathered moderate earthquakes with nary a
crack or untoward ripple, and looks as fit for the eventual big one as it did
an inexperienced contractor who blasted the old foam off with water jets. The
resulting leaks dislodged four ceiling tiles, which in turn prompted a
roof for the ages, the county and state decided to raze it and replace it with
budget, and that the retractable roof will work flawlessly.) Among the
because its roof was "falling down." Ah, the things we'll do to snatch disaster
snafus conspired to delay both our daily "prop" of new material on several days
complicated! Just so you know how it's supposed to work (and usually does):
Each day's edition is supposed to be available on the Web the previous evening
weekend edition. This is the edition with the most new and updated material. It
concern last week was trying to keep Bill Gates from finding out about these
browser cache. Finally, though, we decided to tell him the truth. He took it
Slate readers to help her choose a Secret Service code name superior to the one
and begin with S, for some reason. Among reader suggestions (in "The Fray"),
Gore reports, "Sultry, Sexy, and Sassy seem superior to Schoolmarm, Shapeless,
not appeal, and Stripper and Stoner were positively alarming. Bottom line: She
few days, we hope, that Slate's pages are being served up to you a bit faster.
part of the morning, but that's a different story.) The reason for the
increased speed is new Web server software. This is the software we use to
it was time to upgrade, but we faced a dilemma: Which new server software
should we choose? The software business is viciously competitive, of course,
investigative team of editors, writers, developers, and a demographically
other electrical appliance in the past three months).
globe in pursuit of the very best software for serving you, our readers. In an
made with whale blubber, as the natives have been doing it for thousands of
Silicon Valley, they were wined, dined, and offered bribes by slick
engineered laboratory mice. Could the mice design a Web page with working
hyperlinks? Did they develop cancer or brain tumors? Did they turn into
Internet bores? The software was then exposed to extreme conditions: zero
trust games. An acupuncturist was hired to alleviate the stress of this
momentous decision. Several team members dropped out and had to be replaced by
(welcome!) and for regular readers who are a bit confused about our schedule
(and who can blame them?), here is how it works. Slate posts new material every
current contents list for a week. All past articles, features, and columns
site. Those services are free. An actual paper edition of "Slate on Paper"
Corp., we at Slate would like to offer the following declaration of our own
policy and goals. This policy statement was prepared without consultation, and
simply, is to own political and cultural commentary in this country, the
industrialized nations, and ultimately in the developing regions as well. The
whole world, basically. We will use any means necessary to achieve this end,
including competition, both fair and unfair, wholesale buying up of potential
rivals, strategic partnerships and alliances, strategic betrayals of partners
and allies, theft, bribery, murder, and, if necessary, putting out a
opera criticism, an analysis of the latest tax proposal, or a profile of some
obscure academic, you'll have no choice but to come to us. Building on our
domination of these areas, we will extend our reach into popular culture,
gradually monopolizing movie and television reviews and interviews with
brainless celebrities. Ultimately, our towering position, as well as economies
of scale in the production of opinion and analysis, will make resistance
futile. At that point, we will control the industry and be able to extract the
rich monopoly profits waiting to be had from poetry, book reviews, essays
pleading for entitlement reform, explanations of developments in foreign
We are committed to producing opinions that are compatible with all standard
political labels and work equally well for Democrats and Republicans. We
foresee a day when all viewpoints on every subject are equally comfortable for
anyone to swallow, and when the frustrating cacophony of today's political and
from computers when we approached him a year ago to create a strip for Slate.
He still doesn't know a lot about computers but, to our great delight, he's
really got into some of the technical possibilities of publishing on the
animated cartoons also use remarkably few data bits, meaning that they can be
for an example. Mark also does the delightful jumpy illustrations for "Summary
Judgment" each week. And all of us on the Slate staff especially loved his
hope you'll find the revised layout more user friendly.
advertisement for shooting heroin. The twist: The commercial is an ad for
not shooting heroin. The waif smashes china and plumbing fixtures in the
commercial, screaming angrily about how heroin will ruin your life.
air over the next five years. The ads are produced by the Partnership for a
parties in Congress, the biggest of big corporations and foundations, the
slickness and pervasiveness of the campaign conceals one flaw: The
stated goal is to produce and place ads that persuade kids not to try drugs, to
flush days network time is at a premium, hence the requisition of taxpayers'
funds.) The budget dwarfs even the public service ad campaign run during World
In addition to the waif ad is one that depicts a little girl answering
questions. Lesson: Her mother has told her not to talk to strangers but hasn't
told her drugs are bad. In another ad, a father and son sit at the breakfast
table in silence. Lesson: This time could have been spent talking about how
attacked the efficacy of these ads. Indeed, no study conclusively demonstrates
a link between them and reduced drug use. Few have slammed the hypocrisy of the
politicians and the ad agency staffers behind this campaign, who can't all be
drug virgins. But the greater scandal is the free pass that reporters, most of
destroy lives. But for every person who has died or ended up in a gutter,
millions have dabbled in drugs and still led productive, sane, successful
tell your kids marijuana is "a bad drug that can hurt your body."
it's true that marijuana smoke (like tobacco smoke) contains carcinogens and
the medical data suggest it compromises the immune system and can also lead to
admit to his son that he smoked a good deal of pot when he was young, still
occasionally lights up at parties, and has turned out just fine.
someone who does good work in a steady job, hurts no one, and once in a blue
days. How can they tell kids pot is an evil gateway drug when they're stellar
convince its audience; it need merely suck the oxygen out of the lungs of its
drug debate. Now it stands to monopolize it, thanks to its ad dollars and its
smokes companies, but even so, the alcohol connection remains:
suggests, many heroin users are able to use their drugs and conduct functional
lives. What makes heroin users' life so crazy is that their dependence on an
tried it have had no trouble walking away from it. And pot? No one has
don't lie to kids about alcohol. Everyone knows from an early age what it can
start observing drug users for themselves. When they discover they've been lied
to reach them vanishes. Simply letting kids know what the real risks are,
tell you that the city collects less annual precipitation than New York City,
nothing so much as wet cats. However, no account of the Northwest's soaked
to snow. "Rained all the after part of last night, rain continues this
go through a winter here to understand. The stuff puts you on edge. About the
all over life's syllabus. For the past couple of years my family, born of an
gene. Now they tell us that anxiety has its own causal gene, which has spawned
my own. The coming of the rain has only added weight to the sinking realization
the raw fact of mountains and an ocean. The Pacific Ocean generates warm, moist
rain has given rise to some of the Northwest's distinctive (read: "bizarre")
dark, damp movements that creep out of this moldy greenhouse: grunge music,
pants, and thereafter requires monthly tithes for boots, socks, gloves,
recently cashiered its funky Capitol Hill warehouse store for a palatial
culture still thrives at the new store, this is not necessarily a good thing.
outdoor culture's ugliest trait, a possessive paranoia that keeps outsiders out
fostered by the belief that those of us who go out and stomp the natural world
did is considered an experienced pro; you and all those who purchased their
fleece jackets the day after you did are pathetic wannabes. A rock climber who
before you get past amateur status," she said. Nothing commands instant respect
religion. A sign near its summit reads, "Only a fool has never climbed Mount
fools every year who strap spikes to their feet and attempt to walk nearly
buried. Those who make it up ("summit" as a verb) are offered the cruelest sort
of spiritual enlightenment: the realization that there is no spiritual
enlightenment on mountain tops. If I had kept a journal on the summit, it would
disagreeable." I may have added two words. "Get down." Sometimes rites of
passage, like the experience of suffering, lead to great wisdom. And sometimes,
suffering in the wilderness is just suffering in the wilderness, and the only
wisdom you gain is the knowledge that you don't want to do it again.
change the results of opinion polls. They can even turn a minority view into a
majority one without anyone actually changing his or her mind about the rights
who don't think he should quit or be impeached, many are disturbed at the
thought that he has lost the confidence of so many other citizens, and some
will feel that, whatever their own views, the president should go because he
has lost the ability to govern effectively. (This argument is already a
How many will feel this way? Impossible to say, of course.
moral grounds, you would almost certainly conclude that he should go on
effectiveness grounds alone. If half the country disagreed with you, you might
favored impeachment, you almost surely would not worry that this made the
believes that having a quarter of the population wishing him impeached makes
the president dangerously ineffective. The next time a pollster comes around,
too much for effective governance, and thus the next poll publicizes the news
believes he must go, even though only one in four actually believe he deserves
thinks the current level of impeachment sentiment means he should go. But is
dynamic is perhaps easier to see in the stock market, as explained in a famous
newspaper competitions in which the competitors have to pick out the six
prettiest faces from a hundred photographs, the prize being awarded to the
competitor whose choice most nearly corresponds to the average preferences of
average opinion thinks the prettiest. We have reached the third degree where we
devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the
contains optimists and speculating skeptics moves another group of more
conservative skeptics to start buying, driving the price to $70--even though
bringing more and more investors aboard, until someone gets spooked about
finding a speculating skeptic or an idiotic optimist who will continue the
private object of the most skilled investment today is to 'beat the gun,' as
believed that this kind of speculation was pernicious. The reason is that it
development of real operating businesses. Can a similar argument apply to the
voters who don't necessarily deplore his conduct. Something smells rotten about
the idea that you must surrender your opinion to your neighbor. The real
polity, like the real economy, ought to be what counts.
a demographic until you start to spend money. Last year I finally had enough to
neighborhoods, and we all love Craftsman bungalows. Ten years ago, perfect
were being punished for our sanctimonious attitudes and for enjoying our easy
recognized one woman from dance class: We were dressed identically in striped
sessions explaining how none of us would ever, ever own a home. Not one we
wanted. And certainly not one in a neighborhood where we'd feel safe. A view?
Forget it. Three bedrooms? Out of the question. Crack houses for all of you!
adjustable rate mortgages vs. traditional mortgages while I daydreamed about
agent dropped in to reiterate the impossibility of anyone in the room ever
were so terrified of the market that we bid on every house that was not falling
down. A house with a roof! we would gasp, feeling terribly lucky to have found
way that the house was fine as long as we didn't mind a foundation you could
cashier's checks dangling out of their back pockets. We bid like addicted
bid up, and she'd been shopping for over a year. Her lowest point came when she
considered buying a house that you entered through the bathroom. Every night we
neighborhood. I had lived there four years and loved the funny hillside street
Meanwhile, a family of squirrels had moved into our crawlspace, and the house
reeked of vermin poo, furthering our desperation to find a home.
house. We included a wedding photo that makes us look carefree and golden and
eyebrows aren't beetled together, a photographic achievement commensurate with
that my brother played guitar in the Presidents of the United States of
package. It seemed she had never before seen a letter to a seller that
of getting the house was chanting. She phonetically wrote down the familiar
book to read and out fluttered the chant. What the hell? If anyone would
fillings. I began to chant. The morning after my third night of chanting, the
with us as fellow writers. (Thank God we weren't editing encyclopedias at
series is, of course, available in "The Compost." But for Slate readers who wish to fondle this
classic of our times, bind it in leather, display it on their coffee tables,
and pass it along as a treasured heirloom to their children, we are proud to
offer a new sort of instant book. The entire series has been repackaged as a
28.8K.) Keep in mind, though, that you can also download the file and read it
took the time to respond to our reader survey a few weeks back, for which we
thank you. The results prove beyond a doubt that reading Slate is good for you.
our new, alternative "Table of Contents," go to the Contents page and click on the word
"Date" right below the Slate logo. Current articles will then be listed by the
date they were posted, with the most recent stuff first. If you like that
better than our highly conceptual system of departments and page numbers,
that's fine with us. (To return to the regular Contents page, just click on
delivery of our "Slate on Paper" edition, nicely formatted for printing out
you to stay efficiently abreast of developments you aren't wildly interested
in. You may have skipped all those worthy newspaper articles about that coup in
the subject. (Relax, that's only a theoretical example. There wasn't a coup in
week called "Keeping Tabs," which will track developments in the world of the
course, are much too morally austere to have any genuine interest in the sex
phenomena. But we all have a duty to stay well informed of what engages other
in the mud on our behalf and distill it into a palatable essence.
Justice Department's Criminal Division? Is he leaving town? Yes, he's moving
Weld and another top Justice official "abruptly announced their resignations
yesterday" as an act of "conscience" over revelations about ethically
warning that Weld's "mounting frustration" had reached the breaking point. So
we have long harbored the suspicion that Bill Weld, jolly and appealing
last year, at a moment when we had almost despaired of finding any name for our
enjoy Slate without soiling your fingers in the World Wide Web. Our popular new
time on the East Coast. At the moment it's a bit later than that. There's an
installation software, install the software, configure the software (using the
"personalize" option, clicking the "add" button, then clicking on "news and
and then clicking on "subscribe." That's all there is to it!
ways Slate can come to you, instead of your having to come to us. Slate on
Slate's table of contents delivered to you every week. And we also continue to
support Slate delivery by FreeLoader, another "push" software product that,
they seem determined to deny their customers this valuable opportunity.
Judgment" department, which saves you the trouble of reading reviews, will
be upgraded into a service that will implant the consensus opinion on all the
new movies, books, television shows, etc., directly into your brain, saving you
the trouble of reading and seeing the books and shows themselves. Also, while
eliminating the need to develop or even to express your own opinions.
enjoy having their own opinions, Slate will soon offer a new "personalization"
feature. The inspiration is published accounts of Bill Gates' new house, which
reportedly learns guests' preferences in music and art and adjusts itself
applies this concept to the magazine world: You'll register your views just
once, and Slate will thereafter recognize your browser and serve up opinion and
analysis that reconfirm your prejudices. You'll be able to cruise from article
to review to column to department with a growing feeling that you're absolutely
right about everything. Just like the editors of Slate ourselves.
secretary of labor fantasized large chunks of his recent memoir has stirred a
we must make troubling accusations against public figures, do so more in sorrow
than in anger. It truly disappoints us when a man or a woman in public life
fails to meet our standards of morality, literary ethics, or oral hygiene. Like
all journalists, we would like nothing better than to be denied all such
opportunities for indignation. That said, however, we cannot deny a small
frisson of excitement when the opportunity comes along. No doubt we are
the only journalists who suffer from this spiritual flaw.
territory for a publication. People are entitled to reply when criticized. But
usually that means a short letter. If you allow everyone who comes under
criticism in your pages to reply at equal or greater length, you won't have any
vastness of cyberspace, however, these considerations do not apply with the
the plots make any sense? To address this critical gap, we inaugurate an
which will analyze movies exclusively from the perspective of narrative logic.
holes come from. Aesthetic judgments will continue to be rendered by our
software firm, and in this book she shares the management insights she gleaned
investment banker. Liar's Poker is largely credited with transforming
threat of litigation, we have had to abandon the name "The Dismal Scientist"
economics column. The rights to that name have been claimed by another Web
would always outpace economic growth, keeping most people in perpetual poverty.
That was more than two centuries ago, and remarkably, it is the last time any
a rough business, requiring eternal optimism about the possibility of
publication, even if gloom is considered the Proper Poetical Stance on most
discriminating against poets who suffer the ultimate disability of being
deceased. Preference will be given to poetry of the past that is especially
rather than by the author. Living poets will continue to be eligible as well.
forthcoming poem, All I Really Need to Know in Poetry I Learned at
declared a national holiday in several states of the former Soviet Union (for a
criminals were released from prison in a general amnesty for plagiarists and
On balance, we think we do. The first year has, of course, brought both
successes and disappointments. On the positive side, we have transformed the
nature of journalism, morally vindicated the World Wide Web, vastly enriched
many difficult words. On the downside, we did get it slightly wrong about the
mistake to make). There was the unfortunate occasion when we accidentally
feature does not as yet work as well as we had hoped, frankly. (We're talking
We asked Bill Gates how Slate should mark this historic occasion. He said,
"Give the whole staff enormous raises." It was, of course, a characteristically
insightful suggestion, brilliantly slicing through to the heart of the
strategic challenge we face at the close of the second millennium. But our
publisher, Rogers Weed, was deeply offended by the idea. "That guy seems to
think money grows on trees," he complained. And so, displaying the kind of
Gates his idea sucked. (Well, actually, we told him that Rogers thought his
idea sucked.) As an alternative to Gates' suggestion we have put together a
selection of Slate articles published during our first year. We all agree
that perusing some of the highlights from a year of Slate is far more
pleasurable than a large raise. But try it and judge for yourself.
this week called "Today's Papers." To be updated daily (six days a week), it is a
papers chose as the day's big stories, assess how they played those stories
(both placement and content), and tell us about any exclusives or unique
pieces. Today's Papers will, of course, link where possible to the full stories
doesn't bother to get five newspapers home delivered each morning, go to
briefing before you face the world so you can embarrass less informed friends
people, we regret to report, are attempting to read Slate without the proper
baseball cap. Attempting to access Slate while improperly dressed can lead to
slow download time and even, in some cases, to the implosion of your computer.
Please take a few moments to order the appropriate gear, directly from the
Web (scroll right to find the Slate stuff) or, if you still use one of
will not publish next week. The site, of course, will still be available,
including all current contents, "The Compost," and "The Fray." Today's Papers will be updated daily throughout
the week. And there may even be the occasional "Dialogue" entry or "Chatterbox" item.
You never know. But Slate's editors and staff will be spending the week in
various mountain retreats, perfecting the spiritual arts of transcendental
Located on the sixth floor of the Justice Department's headquarters in
when a button nearby is depressed; an oddly textured ceiling looms overhead.
Outside its doors, the seals of intelligence agencies adorn the walls.
behind the bench, raised above plaintiffs and defendants to symbolize his
authority. Instead, he joins the witnesses and lawyers from the intelligence
agencies and the Justice Department at a single conference table. No defense
goal of easing the deportation of legal aliens whom the government suspects of
materially supporting terrorist groups, but who have committed no crimes.
that it needs the removal court to protect national security in sensitive
deportation cases against suspected alien terrorists. It argues that publicly
disclosing key evidence, as normal courts require, can expose and endanger its
intelligence sources, and that the unspeakable alternative is to allow
level of secrecy more typical of the executive than the courts. Justice
officials bristle at the charge that the secret courts also carve out a de
only thing the removal court will remove is constitutional protections for
Government attorneys will present classified evidence in secret to a
at any one time. If convinced that a proposed deportee is a terrorist, the
judge will authorize the Justice Department to initiate deportation proceedings
against the alien in a district court, where it will introduce as much secret
evidence as it sees fit. The defendant will not know he has been targeted for
district court, he will see only a sketchy summary of the evidence against him.
The district court then will decide whether the alien should be deported.
in extreme cases where national security would be damaged by the public
disclosure of deportation evidence. But modifying judicial processes to
accommodate the executive branch risks upsetting the traditional role of the
Civil libertarians worry that the trend toward secret
courts begs for abuse by intelligence agencies because judges seem incapable of
an advocate for the surveillance target persuade otherwise skeptical judges to
better than the previous federal wiretapping policy that permitted the attorney
secret courts constitutional? Probably. A host of legally significant
court, was used to deport noncriminal aliens based on their political
under the new statute. And they don't calm civil libertarians, who fear the
Studies. "But they draft the applications in a way to say that these facts meet
the requirements, and by the time the application reaches the court, it is
unlikely that the court really gets to notice deficiencies."
rubber stamp, attributing Justice's winning percentage to rigorous internal
review that weeds out bad applications before they're filed. That's how
Justice Department has been too conservative in what they are presenting to the
But the public doesn't have many independent guarantees
that the courts are applying tough scrutiny to the government's applications.
Secrecy prevents open investigation of the courts' methods and standards; there
is a paucity of serious journalistic coverage of the courts; and congressional
oversight of the courts is limited to the review (in closed session) of
disclosures that I agree would make the public more comfortable."
act with integrity. In the absence of more openness, nobody outside the
ruled that spending limits violate the First Amendment: The government cannot
restrict your right to spend money communicating the message of your choice.
The court upheld contribution limits on the reasoning that contributing money
to someone else is not an act of speech. (Spending limits for presidential
contribution limits but no spending limits creates all sorts of weird
anomalies, above all the shadowy and often farcical distinction between
"independent" and "coordinated" expenditure. If your spending is coordinated in
contribution, subject to limits. Unless, that is, you yourself are the
candidate, in which case you may spend and coordinate to your heart's content.
The court wandered back into this thicket last month, and
wandered out again. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee vs.
Federal Election Commission held that the government cannot restrict
spending by the state Republican Party on behalf of a Republican Senate
candidate. But the opinions were all over the lot. Some Justices said that the
anyway in the case of a political party. Some said it was coordinated and
because contributions deserve First Amendment protection just like
shorthand argument is that "money isn't speech." Spending limits don't prevent
anyone from expressing an opinion. At most they regulate the volume of speech,
not the content. Efforts to level the playing field of politics and reduce
political corruption, by reducing the role of money, actually serve First
Amendment interests. The New York Times has published innumerable
"reform" that did the same thing in the field of newspapers? That is, a law
designed to level the playing field and promote diversity in an increasingly
concentrated industry vital to the political debate. The law would limit the
amount anyone could spend in a year for the purpose of publishing a newspaper.
on what could be spent on a newspaper. And suppose that the limit were
example shows, money indeed is speech. Restrictions on people's right to spend
on their right of free speech. The government certainly may address the problem
of unequal voices in the political debate. It may do so through devices that
increase the quantity or volume of speech, such as financial subsidies or free
messages it prefers ("drugs are bad") over messages it doesn't ("drugs are
fun"). What it should not be allowed to do is to level the debate by reducing
the volume or quantity of someone's speech. And that means money.
conservatives that the best campaign reform would be to repeal the old rules,
not to pass new ones. Senate Republicans last month killed a reform bill that
some people don't care for. A major Republican talking point was that
contribution limits are an offense against freedom of speech.
judicial activism. What they are saying is that even though contribution limits
are so popular that voters are clamoring for more, and even though these limits
are embodied in a law duly enacted by a majority in Congress and signed by the
column sermonizing about First Amendment excesses, lecturing sternly about the
difference between "speech" and "action," and ridiculing the idea that (for
contributions "are acts of political expression, as well as exercises in
That's the argument, and it's pretty weak. Unlike, say,
burning the flag, the act of making a political contribution is not primarily
intended to send a message. In fact the contribution would often be unknown if
little to do with the size of the contribution. (A bigger contribution may or
may not mean, "I really, really support Candidate X.") "Freedom of
of court if some liberal proposed it. Contribution limits don't stop you from
associating publicly or privately with a candidate or cause, working for the
campaign, or even signifying your association by donating money. They may
prevent you from associating with the senator at an exclusive cocktail party
the one between "independent" and "coordinated" campaign spending, usually
signifies that the underlying principle needs work. In this case the
be a magazine of fashion, either in the sense of being about clothing or in the
sense of following the fashion in general matters. Yet, by one of those weird
coincidences that less scrupulous publications sometimes turn into "special
issues," we have posted two features relating to fashion (in the clothing
column reports on (and follows, through links) the bizarre theories bouncing
somewhat mysterious ads in many magazines and, apparently, of a line of
assume, from this onslaught of sartorial hectoring, that the staff of Slate
must dress in exquisite taste. And you would be correct. Any one of us could be
least. We pride ourselves on our fabrics. The staffs of other magazines have
spats; we wear them. Other magazines employ heels; we wear them. Not long ago,
since last week, two new "Dialogues" have started. And a couple more might have
just thesis and antithesis, but a bit of synthesis as well. (Occasionally, of
course, a dialogue serves to reveal the utter superiority of one side of the
best way to frame an interesting and useful dialogue is not to get a liberal
vs. a conservative, but to get two people from roughly the same part of the
spectrum who disagree on the application of their shared values to a particular
story about the increase of tailgating on freeways, a display of bad manners
Miracle, whereby a sleepy backwater has been transformed into a dynamic
entrepreneurial hub and the most livable city in the United States. When I
considered indentured servitude. Today the unemployment rate is a percentage
point below the national average, and housing prices are soaring, driven by a
air now hums with ambition and no one gets a day off.
aggressive capitalists, its previous stagnation was caused by the sloth and
land of vast abundance, the streams flush with fish, the forest thick with
game. Rather than invest their surplus in research and development or compete
was initially held back by an indigenous people who didn't value individual
in the 1800s only made things worse. In a previous "Letter From
contemporary culture of the Pacific Northwest, creating a city of tolerance and
egalitarian refinement. I beg to differ. The Vikings may have made a
and neatly trimmed grass were the ultimate virtues.
was someone selling loose joints at the bus station. In this spirit, a
early '80s, in the hope that evil corporations would be driven away. The region
slumbered, the people insulated in their down parkas and their "what's your
locals, who feel he should somehow "give more back to the community." This is
code for "give us some of your money, we want to go skiing." If Bill Gates is
Bill is lean and mean, evinces no interest in sports or popular culture, and
doesn't believe in giving kids an allowance. When he donates money, he endows a
over and turned it into a corporate behemoth, opening stores across the world.
encroached on a bit of park land in the process, just as a thousand other
sitcom and buy their own piece of paradise. They might, too.
voters to approve slot machines and video poker, proceeds of which will be used
"to build esteem" among the native peoples. Just think, groups of people
outside the mainstream with large stores of explosives, cash, and slot
has evicted the camp and plans to build something for himself.
used to be deals or, sometimes, partnerships. These days, there are strategic
cover anything from an actual merger to an occasional lunch. (It is an
entertaining parlor game to read about some new strategic alliance, especially
strategic alliance with the Motley Fool. The Fool, as many readers are aware, is one of the
most entertaining, illuminating, and successful online financial sites, with
baseball caps, and other logo paraphernalia. In addition, the Fool will be
providing, exclusively for Slate, a weekly business column. The column is not
about stock tips or breaking news, but rather is intended to be a discerning
backgrounder on business issues, somewhat in the style of Slate's "The Gist." (And who's paying
whom? Guess.) Slate's first "Fool" is about the corporate fashion for changing
week, by the way, we will continue to ramp up our business coverage with
will analyze the pay of one or more top executives who are of interest for
a subject most people would rather read about than try for themselves. We are
Examiner" columnist has chosen castration as the subject of his first
column. Medical Examiner will appear every other week in Slate. We cannot
promise that every column will be about castration. In fact, we can pretty much
promise that no more columns will be about castration. But they all will
deal with the general subject of health, science, and society. The author is
it. We think we've got the situation under control, but we would really
rather just get a weekly announcement of what's in the new issue, click
column. Or at least you'll be able to sign up for it.
software program and provider you use. (For actual delivery of Slate on Paper,
answers to questions, and solutions to problems with receiving Slate (or,
perchance, to thank our technical staff for the flawless technical performance
still available in "The Compost." If you're feeling nostalgic for wonderful
seems as elusive as the story itself. Slate readers responding to last week's
invitation to name the scandal have not covered themselves in literary glory. A
few of the more bearable suggestions: Hotel Bill, Cash Inn, China Pattern, The
considered opinion of our distinguished panel of judges. Please keep trying,
collection, a k a "The Compost," and you can see it again by clicking
mountains, rivers, and coastlines wrapped by an arm of the Pacific and
Sound. If peeled from a map, the peninsula would neatly cover my old home state
National Park at the peninsula's heart caught my imagination, as did the
has become incredibly diverse. But essential peninsula characteristics, the
tics and quirks that make us who we are, have only deepened.
entrepreneurs held the seeds of its destruction. I place the blame for today's
while his fellow townsmen were out stumping for commerce, Swan introduced the
idea of the absorbed eccentric. It clung to the city's mossy foundations like a
limpet. But even Swan went to his pauper's grave still hoping for a rail
fear, has cast a permanent shadow over the town's cultural identity. When an
to jury the competition. The result is a sterile concrete "tidal clock" that
a proposal by local sculptor Tom Jay that drew on the natural heritage of the
its past. Murals of farm buildings and country stores decorate downtown
knows precisely where it wants to go and how many more new golf courses it will
expensive landscaping in the town's recently developed highlands. The elk bed
police) expressed outrage; even some rose gardeners voiced distress. But
and tame collide will get even more interesting this fall.
a second settling of the peninsula. The frontier (retirees riding lawnmowers on
one side, loggers wielding chainsaws on the other) is continually in flux.
Speedway. Not long ago, some newly arrived speedway neighbors petitioned
commissioners (frontiersmen, all) were unmoved. "Speedway was here first," they
and Democratic, and the recent closure of one of two large pulp mills has
precipitated an identity crisis. Those clinging to the old economic order want
nothing more than another large mill. Others envision a conference center, an
from the state and federal governments, feeding a cottage industry that may
prove one of the peninsula's most enduring economies.
on the peninsula is federal largess more central to the economy than in Forks,
and nowhere is the populace more critical of the government. From the free land
doled out to the original settlers through various subsidies like bounties and
town was getting "stiffed" out of its share of federal aid for communities hurt
by cutbacks in federal timber sales. So the city pulled out of the program.
Period. Federal grant applications for improving the town's industrial park
(itself a federally subsidized project), upgrading its sewer system,
makes a statement," the city clerk said. A meeting with the district's member
of Congress has been scheduled, but I have no doubt how this will end. Forks
overlooked if a body isn't afraid of work. It is the common glue that binds
helping a neighbor thread tracks back onto his bulldozer. He had disassembled
the steel pads, welded new cleats on each one, and strung them back together.
bucks." Dumbfounded, I asked why he hadn't taken them. He lowered the greasy
wrench from his hand, looked at me, and confessed, "I couldn't bear the thought
recent welfare reform acknowledge a small flaw: The new arrangement requires
welfare recipients to take jobs, but does nothing to assure that jobs will be
it" was to require work and also, if necessary, to supply it (plus training,
day care, health care, etc.). But that kind of welfare reform costs more, not
signed, leaves out the second part of the equation. It supplies less money, not
more, to the states, frees them to cut off benefits, and largely leaves the
challenge in finding employment for all these people. And the federal
government, as is so often the case, makes the task even harder with
conservative editorial pages, and Republican members of Congress. Yet one such
shall exist within the United States"). Possibly due to misinterpretation by
even a liberal might understand: It denies women the freedom to control their
own bodies, albeit by selling them to someone else.
of government welfare programs often ridicule the notion that people would
Medicaid, etc. Private charity, they say, will provide for truly needy cases.
We may soon find out if this is correct. However, the logical defect is not
hard to spot. People are unlikely to invest in the feeding and care of others
if they are not in a position to reap the benefits. But this defect can be
ivory. Most of the rest of the world soon followed, and the ivory trade was
devastated. The best thinking now is that this was a bad idea, because it
herds. A better approach is to make sure that the elephants' human neighbors
assets. The best way to assure that private individuals will come forward to
be freed from their debilitating dependency on government is to allow these
giving individuals to acquire an economic interest in the nutrition, health,
and skills of the former welfare recipients. The employment arrangements that
Amendment would solve this problem, by allowing people to contractually commit
their future good health and skills to an employer.
this ability. Various devices such as bonuses and stock options enable
companies to reasonably assure themselves of the continuing employment of key
what should more accurately be called "contracts of permanent employment." But
poor people are usually not in a position to demand stock options. Therefore,
they are unable to make a convincingly binding commitment to an employer. The
the effect of hurting the very people it was intended to help.
permanent future employment is really an extension of the recently concluded
debate over the minimum wage. Although the reactionary forces of Big Labor and
course, absolutely right to note again and again (and again) that the effect of
a minimum wage is to deny workers the opportunity to contract for their
that matter, everyone who doesn't want to work). But it is only a first step.
One might argue that abolishing the minimum wage is close enough to
commit their future labor in a way that potential employers can reasonably be
expected to rely on. Only a contract can do that: a contract of permanent
future employment, which the employer can call upon the government to use its
welfare benefits, a compassionate government surely owes its poorest citizens
we'd try to be the only organization in either the software or the magazine
most frequently asked questions is this one: "What am I supposed to wear while
reading an online magazine?" We naturally consulted our monthly "Clothes
bargaining on both the federal and state levels, or writing fiction or poetry
products were illustrated with a pile of golf balls. If that's still the case,
computer industry is adamant about doing things its own way, insisting that the
begging for lack of trained people. This shortage, said Secretary of Education
unrealized corporate earnings." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
shrinking. "Today," said Vice President Al Gore mournfully, "many employers
report difficulty in recruiting enough workers with these skills."
the Commerce, Education, and Labor departments. (For comparison's sake, Sun
effort is little more than exhortation, like the Commerce Department's plan to
hold four town hall meetings to examine the shortage and discuss ways to
alleviate it. Other elements are only coincidentally helpful. The Education
businesses than to banks, breweries, or oil companies.
chatter, notably a plan to launch an advertising campaign to convince kids that
computer jobs are not just for geeks anymore. There is a little meat on these
Internet. But neither promises to make a dent in the supposed shortage.
into English, what the academics and bureaucrats are saying is that businesses
can't hire all the computer specialists they want at prevailing rates. They're
saying that businesses could make use of more of these trained workers if they
technical skills, it's no shock that demand for workers is rising faster than
the supply. (The cheapest way to close the "gap" would be to increase the
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to the shortage: higher pay. Since last
good for the youngsters who had the foresight to enter the field. It also
advances the goal of encouraging kids to consider computer careers. What's more
likely to dispel the nerdy image of programmers and software
pay doesn't improve the image of computer jockeys, it will doubtless provide
sufficient consolation to enable more young people to live with it. Rising
community college to retool for a second career. It should also induce firms to
provide more computer training for existing workers.
industry it represents can't wait for the market to fix the problem. "We
that the computer industry is uniquely important is common but groundless. All
sorts of industries are important to national prosperity, yet the federal
government doesn't take on the responsibility of monitoring and adjusting the
represent lost wages and profits. But the money that would be spent doesn't
industries whose products are also valued by consumers.
response is: Oh, what could it hurt? Not much. But some students will be
induced to study computer science rather than some other subject, and each one
A lot of the money is likely to be simply wasted, though.
the federal government's record in training people for better jobs is not
program, appears to be almost entirely futile. "It's been a failure overall,"
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international
association of market economies, found "remarkably meager support for the
hypothesis that such programs are effective." The best programs, nearly
everyone agrees, are those conducted by companies for their own workers. Why?
Because employers have strong reasons to tailor the training to assure its
sense to invest more in training computer workers and attracting more people to
need for taxpayers to do it for them. Corporate welfare is a bad enough idea
without adding the Silicon Valley gang to the rolls.
went to day camp, and hated it: To me, it was like an 8-hour session of PE. I
grumbled so loudly that my parents didn't send me back the next year. Which is
Oh, sure, the days were long, the factories were dark, and the machines claimed
both my pinkies, but at least I never had to play dodge ball again.
As for the smoking story, what's gone unreported in the Times is the
tobacco companies' proposed "compromise" wording for the warning label:
"Smoking will kill you. On the other hand, we are all mortal." Actually,
diseased lungs and rotting teeth could be quite attractive packaging,
particularly if you put a little cowboy riding in front of them. In any case,
annoy the consumer. I once talked to an architect who told me that the key to
designing a successful shopping mall is to include lots of angles, so that you
and walks, always convinced that the store he's trying to find is just around
the next corner. In the meantime, of course, he might stop in at any one of a
dozen other stores. Similarly, the Publisher's Clearing House, I remember
reading, makes its contests difficult to enter ("Go find the red stamp and put
it on the entry form. Now find the yellow sticker and put it on the envelope.
Now include a tail feather from a bald eagle. Now sing!") for two reasons:
First, obviously, is so that the customer will spend more time combing over the
materials and is therefore more likely to order one of their magazines. But the
second reason is that they've found that there's a much higher response rate
layout, the paucity of exit signs, the lack of clocks, etc.
fire and his head is often in the clouds. For he dreams and when he dreams, he
The Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
basis, that income inequality in the United States has continued to worsen in
the past decade, building on a trend that began in the late 1970s. Although the
report focuses attention on the huge gap between the top fifth of
striking numbers delineate the widening gap between the top fifth of income
Between the late 1970s and the late 1990s, for example, the top fifth saw
twice as much as the second fifth, and three times as much as the middle
Now, you might say to this, so what? In the first place, these groups are
much higher percentage will be than won't.) In addition, inequality itself is a
tricky problem. If remedying inequality comes at the expense of overall growth,
then it's possible that the poor and middle class will end up worse in absolute
In general, after all, the best remedy for poverty, and the best way to lift
people into the middle class, is not income redistribution but rather economic
growth. Although many critiques of globalization and free trade depend, at
capitalist economy inevitably impoverished most while enriching a few, the
experience of most capitalist economies, and especially those in the Third
not meaningfully change income distribution, and that even the poorest fifth of
show that in countries that adopted land reform growth was more equitable.)
Unfortunately, the United States does not fit well into that study. On the
contrary, the remarkable thing is how narrow the benefits, even in absolute
actually drop since the late 1980s, while the poorest fifth saw its
These statistics are, of course, subject to question. If the Consumer Price
Index really overstates inflation, then those real income numbers should be
Still, the economic inequality we now have in the United States is of a
magnitude we have not witnessed since before the New Deal. And what's
remarkable is that it's happening at a time when unemployment is at historic
lows and when economic growth is much faster than most economists thought
But it seems implausible that putting more money in the stock market or in
venture capital funds will affect income inequality at all. More to the point,
will just slam on the brakes. In terms of growth and employment, this is
probably as good as it gets. And as good as it gets is actually making income
Whether economic inequality of the magnitude the United States now has
should matter to a society is, of course, a matter of principle, and not logic.
importance.) And we should not let concern over inequality obscure the
entrepreneurship, and, above all, the allocation of capital by markets, not
planners. But as Congress heads into its latest round of budget planning, and
worth remembering who's actually in the middle class, and whether those who are
a long way out of it really need yet another break.
I cringe when I hear someone refer to "the Salt Lake City scandal," because,
commission. The outside influence is minimal. And yet the sponsors don't scream
all of us do too. For even as I cover the "reform" package and rant and rave
Get me to the athletes, and to their remarkable and emotional stories.
invisible on the field of play. And of no interest to us whatsoever once the
So Pound has to interrogate Coles to find out what he did and, ultimately,
I know it will shock you to find out that, even as we speak, Phil Coles is a
Before I go, I must share this Snowstorm of the Century media story:
use yardsticks to measure how much snow we've had. I use little children. Come
softly in the snow. Then pulls kid right out and examines his boots.)
The traditional media isn't changing quickly enough for either of us. But they
are going to change. They have to. The Internet is going to make traditional
media change because it allows readers to choose the content they want,
going to prevail on the media to rethink how we cover all sports, not just
women's sports. Because the sports landscape has already changed whether some
laggard sports editors fail to staff something like the World Cup games. Or
I think part of the lag has to do with sexism, of course. But I also think
that newspapers and the like rarely start trends. We report them only after
But this absence of coverage doesn't mean change isn't happening all around
us. Only that it's not being accurately or presciently reported. That's a huge
If there's any lesson that men should take from the history of women or
women's sports regularly, the women's World Cup final at the Rose Bowl last
Stupid as it sounds, sitting as we are on the cusp of this new millennium,
nonsense that's meant to keep them down. Last summer, the World Cup team from
women." But they still played on. They still showed up.
predecessors. When they began playing, they never thought soccer careers would
You now could argue both events were watershed moments for female athletes
at work, too. I also really believe that what people were responding to during
the World Cup was the spirit of those women. And not the sport they play.
that try to pretend they're just games, peopled by too many phonies who get
An authentic team. Women whose deportment and pursuit of excellence are worth
They're people who fell in love with something and became determined to
exhaust that love to its potential. And they're not "just" pioneers --that word
is too benign. They're revolutionaries. They're doing nothing less than
changing the world's ideas of what being a woman means. That is a profound
Now, you asked what bothers men so much about that. And I think the answer
Men aren't used to envisioning a world in which they're not essential.
That's why some men hate the attention lavished on the women's World Cup.
That's why they hate it when women make fun of the Super Bowl. Women's
how women's sports are not merely spinoffs of games that men have been playing
their own heroes and rich histories, their own character and ethos and
Perhaps the best thing is, as I said, there's no turning back. The World Cup
was about ideas and how women are changing their place in the world. Now, like
a boulder rolling down a hill, the process can't be stopped.
The best thing to do is admire its gathering strength. Or get the hell out
I confess with embarrassment that I didn't do my homework: that is, I didn't
such as" those. By that I assumed he meant they would pick from among them.
in mind "a grand game of Trivial Pursuit." And I was encouraged by the few
occasions on which the authors elaborate and suggest projects such as analyzing
sounded better than the fancy new textbook one of my kids used last year to
has struck me that my other child might benefit from more writing of paragraphs
and less discussion of "rubrics" and "hamburger model graphic organizers" in
last night's assignment, even though the concept of square feet and yards had
clouded by a wishful vision of more purposefully directed, but still active and
innovative, learning. Then again, that's what makes books like these
bestsellers: In a format as broad as this, it's possible to find some version
point to the need for a serious discussion about a standardized curriculum, and
champions of localism in education. Hence their enthusiasm for reform by
well. And there's another one: Even if constant parental lobbying at school and
suggest, what would the results look like? It seems to me this is a recipe for
widening the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Guess which
parents are going to be poking their noses into the classroom all the time, to
say nothing of turning "those garden chores into botany lessons." The ones
media stereotypes the one after that. As a contrived package of traditional
wholesomeness, the more authoritarian values of respect, order, obedience, and
cleanliness can prove stultifying, distracting. (Legible handwriting has
practical, not moral, virtue.) So can the progressive virtues of critical
thinking, independence, creativity, and community solidarity when served up as
ecumenical form of character instruction, of course, is moral stories. As
spectrum. The problem both encounter in trying to script the lessons in too
stories than children deserve, tidily presented with trite interpretations. The
homiletic approach, in my experience, seems to work best in connection with
real action (and, often, very obvious consequences). For kids in school, rising
to academic challenges posed by admired teachers, it seems to me, offers the
best route to building the responsible, committed attitude everybody hopes for
Schools should be one important place that children have the chance to make
Speaking of choices, without launching into a debate on school choice, I
wonder whether you see a growing gap between public and elite private
pedagogical culture that prevails. It's a question raised by my own
observations of pretty stark contrasts (plenty of homework in the early primary
"constructivist," ethos in private schools? Or am I making this up?
I agree with the Times in general that this has the potential to devolve
into propaganda, I also happen to believe that anyone who does anything just
because Blossom told him to gets whatever he deserves.
In other news, I neglected to mention yesterday my single favorite sentence
of the day, from a story in the Wall Street Journal about
As for my favorite sentence from today's papers, there's no contest. From a
liposuction. Even dentists have been doing it." Which, to me, suggests three
things: First, from here on out, no matter what procedure I go in for, it's
"learn liposuction at home!" programs. And third, of course, is that this
suggests a new lyric for the Cole Porter standard, "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In
Love)": "Birds do it, bees do it/ Patients should assume nothing, even dentists
have been doing it/ Let's do it, let's fall in love."
By the way, drugs is bad. May I have my check now, please?
which it is worth setting out briefly here. Over the past several years I have
had extensive contact with the Internet, not only as an academic but also as a
lawyer. But it is not because of any affection for, or preoccupation with its
technical architecture, or with its internal folkways. Rather, I have come to
it by indirection. If you have an expertise in privacy and defamation, then
someone will ask you to testify on the question of whether one should allow
strong encryption by private parties on the Net, or whether the publication
online of confidential information obtained by fraud or trickery is protected
under the First Amendment. For someone who sees the Internet as the latest
advance in technology, which is not all that different from the radio, the cell
phone, or the fax machine, there is a strong tendency to see issues on the
Internet as though they were outgrowths of familiar problems
is the way in which he integrates nice examples from physical space with those
from cyberspace. Thus he is right on to say that there are two ways in which to
punishment for theft, and the other is to render them useless once they are
sense) for their release. Here I might add that the second remedy is, in
conventional terms, a better one that the first. The higher penalties will have
multiple effects: One is to reduce the number of thefts, but another is to
encourage more violent action by the thieves that remain when faced with the
risk of capture. The marginal cost of killing an innocent party would be quite
offenders. But the puzzles of marginal deterrence are not invoked if the radios
are disabled when removed, and so architecture, or technology, works nicely in
real space, and it should work well in cyberspace to avoid similar
So far so good. No one could doubt that architecture matters in cyberspace.
The ability to limit the number of times that someone can resort to a computer
program, for example, means that technology allows for a form of price
with the sale of certain programs, just as an accurate billing system means
that pricing for phones is not subject to flat fees only. Here again, the point
is useful to make but does not get us to the question of the proper approach
for understanding the distinctive use and regulation of cyberspace.
of cyberspace was given to us by researchers and hackers. And so it was. The
usual ethic among both groups is for the public dissemination of information.
With researchers, the community I know best, the free interchange of ideas of
critical for the advancement of knowledge. There are no secrets in this world.
But many of the best researchers also have jobs that require them to work for
industry, where the protection of innovation via trade secrets and patents is
the norm, and for equally good reason: Business cannot turn a profit if all its
Now, it happens that the best minds are frequently used for both research
and commerce, and we have to develop protocols, and we do develop protocols,
that deal with the potential conflict of interest as they move from one regime
to another. And in ordinary space we have both public and private property,
with the same individuals participating in both regimes.
In ordinary affairs, I do not think that the rise of commerce results in the
loss of liberty. As a member of the university community, I have worked over
regulations that allow most people to participate in both. I see no reason why
that cannot happen in cyberspace as well. Those people who wish to set up
commercial portals through which others must come do not violate the liberty of
those who choose not to enter. The different values are certainly there, but
the Net is a richer and not a poorer place by virtue of the fact that some
folks can live in gated communities while others can run free over a commons on
some other part of the Net. There is no more loss of freedom here in any
intelligible sense that there is a loss of freedom when my neighbor erects a
new house to which he invites only his friends. Of course, the values in
character of the Net. The original enclaves can hold firm as new people open up
a single culture. We can have private and public, commercial and charitable,
spaces on the Net, just as we do anywhere else. If in so doing we change the
character of the Net, we do so by proper means, and so be it.
That said, how does this tie into the grander questions of what a
the attitude of "leave the Net alone" will lead to a loss of liberty. His words
are ominous: "My argument is that this response will lead to a Net with far
less liberty than the Net we know now, with a potential to be far more
the statement is right. If folks can defame at will on the Internet and escape
through anonymity, there is something deeply amiss. But if the argument is that
commercialization poses the same dreaded threat to the Net as defamation, then
I think that he is wrong, given that the two could live side by side in the
These conclusions follow, I think, from any account of libertarianism that
pays attention to the views within the ivory tower. It is, I might add,
relatively close to that which is given the idea of liberty by the ordinary
man. "Your freedom to use your fist stops at the edge of my face" is a
recognition of the universal duties of forbearance that lie at the heart of the
libertarian code. But I am told that there is a different world out there that
represents some present and powerful political reality: It is a world in which
it is wrong to think about defamation, wrong to think about trade secrets,
wrong to think about blackmail. That would make me a Red. So here is the irony.
To take a traditional libertarian position makes one a Red. If this
libertarianism has the message keep government out, then perhaps it is wrong to
describe this as a form of anarchy. Rather, it starts to resemble a
the popular sentiment on the street. The passages I quoted in the first round
points out, did believe that public opinion was one counterweight to private
action, and it has been a hard question since that time, whether popular
sentiment is an equal obstacle to individual freedom as law backed by force, or
whether it works with sufficient cohesion to influence conduct in a single
direction. That is a fair and important set of questions to ask, but again, it
the market form of organization itself disables a certain form of freedom. In
other societies, at other times, the market is the key, not the enemy, of
So here is where I am left. I do not understand how the market is the enemy
of liberty, at least if the competitive market is understood. I do not see why
low wages could ever be regarded as a threat to liberty, even if workers would
that "the market form of organization itself disables a certain form of
freedom." At most, the competition of new forms of social organization draw
people away from older forms of association. So that said, the passages that I
reflects at least in part the conception of liberty that was championed earlier
refusal to deal. Or, to the extent that it really means keep the government
out, it sounds like an attempt by the earlier settlers of the new domain to
monopolize its structure at the expense of later comers who wish to play by a
different set of rules in some portion of that space.
to do so, he has to explain why under the influence of commerce, cyberspace is
becoming highly regulable for those who do not participate in that commerce,
and why the regulation that commerce imposes on those who voluntarily join into
it should be a bad thing. Stated otherwise, the task that I think remains is to
translate the language and sentiments of those within the Internet culture so
that their positions can be better understood by those of us who do not yet
understand what is so distinctive and special about the Net.
Actually, your point about the taunting in presidential debates brings up an
interesting point: There have never been any presidential candidates possessed
of great wit. Or even medium wit. Even the best moments from presidential
scripted well in advance. More often, the candidates throw around canned
insults that were a) written by ghostwriters; and (b) aren't very good. The
closest we've come to a great moment of unpremeditated nastiness during a
I know that there are those who say politics have become too nasty and
personalized, that debates should be thoughtful discussions of policy issues.
And, ideally, I suppose that would be the case. But it isn't. Instead, what we
of us," the candidates say, waiting for their opponents to jump up and scream,
affairs, couldn't the debates at least be amusing? Couldn't we get some ace
script doctors in there to write bitchy, scathing lines for our candidates? Are
class, enabling us to continue our proud tradition of freedom in this great
great deal of sense. (Beat.) If you've been smoking crack, that is. You
reckless youth, which lasted until you were, what, 40?--but a basic rule of
economics is that you can't spend what you don't have. Or, to put this in terms
Are you following me now? Nod your head yes if you understand me. Good
Admit it. You'd be appalled for the country, but you wouldn't be able to
In other news, the New York Post 's "Page Six" reports that a movie
to click on links till after you answer all of them:
A. "In popular imagination, this has always been a white city: block after
block of pale marble buildings that glow even whiter at night, when the
generally pure, thanks to the speed with which government shuts down at the
safe to sea. The same cannot be said of today's presidential candidacies. All
"If all we do is save a species for display, then the panda bear will become
C. "revitalization of that sleeping monster, the Energy Department"
D. "an unhealthy obsession with oil industry profits"
Answers are printed below. If you scored all five correctly, call
Creators Syndicate Inc.; you've probably found your calling. If you scored four
correctly, you may appear on the New York Times letters page seven times
a year. If you scored two correctly, you may deliver a paper at next year's
you may post a message on Chatterbox's "Fray" page. If you scored none
New Yorkers like to say. Or as I like to imagine they like to say.
both tabloids were clearly tipped off to it, it provides an ideal opportunity
to compare and contrast the New York Post and the Daily
responsible for something like half of the text that appears in the Post
each day. You can find his byline all through a typical day's paper, usually
tabloids, but so rarely get. I like to imagine him as the sort of newspaper
reporter you'd see in movies from the 1940s, pounding the street from dawn to
dusk, picking up tips from shoeshine boys and calling his boss "Chief."
however, gets the scoop: "'I wouldn't be leaving this job if it weren't for my
of labor between the city's papers: It's actually far more finely nuanced than
I initially said. It's not just that the Times handles the serious news,
and the News and Post handle the fun, frivolous stuff. There are
also subdivisions among the tabloids: The Post has better gossip, more
As for the character issue, it seems to me to be a convenient canard to
distract attention from the fact that the candidates' real differences run the
gamut from A to... well, pretty much A. It's not so much that they're all
that those differences won't necessarily result in substantially different
Congress to contend with, and even once a law has been passed, it doesn't
necessarily mean that it'll be enforced. The barriers between a candidate's
rhetoric and his achievable results mean that the two bear the same relation
said, the character thing is a canard. Which means "duck." Perhaps, instead of
focusing on the character issue, each character should groom a duck to be his
representative, and we could all grade them on grooming, behavior, ability to
stories? Is it because they are so rare? Or because sportswriters don't spend
much time searching for them? I hate to say it, but I think the answer might be
stories in order to continue to pump out the continual steam of game stories
and side bars and advances and follows that have inspired millions of readers
to put down their newspapers and run to the Internet.
I continue to be amazed at the lack of creativity in our sports sections,
especially regarding women's sports and features that will attract women
sports section in many ways is the gateway to the paper, especially for
children. (It was for me.) Girls now love sports almost as much as boys. These
girls have parents who buy products. And yet, pick up the New York
"basketball" and "women's basketball." Can you imagine? Like one's real and the
basketball." It's little stuff, but it means a lot.
like you or me) slides the paper back across the breakfast table, goes to the
The Women's World Cup soccer tournament became the sports story of the year.
writer. Another major metropolitan daily in the South told its reporter that it
anyway. When the paper used this reporter's stories on A1 for five consecutive
days, she came home and submitted the expenses. The paper reimbursed her.
notice. Don't these guys drive by soccer fields on their way to work? Don't
Why didn't every sports editor in the country start devoting even a little
newspaper circulation numbers weren't plummeting. But they are.
fact, that story was the complete opposite of hype (fans packing stadiums and
surprising everyone, forcing sports editors to scramble to send reporters to
cover a burgeoning story)? Some of these columnists have been supporting
women's rights and liberal issues for years, yet when something this refreshing
and fun comes along in women's sports, they invariably begin to attack it.
Why aren't we thinking differently as an industry, before we're not an
Times lead with new Commerce Department indicators on the economy's
it. The New York Times tucks the story inside, and leads
The papers' stories on the economic reports are virtually identical. The
for overnight interest rates to climb by as much as a half point. The
prognosticators almost sound relieved to finally touch and feel the signs of
inflation they've been expecting for months. "It's as if there's been a murder,
local banks to repay its debts. Countries in debt usually prefer raising bonds,
which are cheaper to finance than regular loans, but Japan seems skittish about
issuing new bonds, which could upset its bond market or provoke scrutiny from
successfully "identified several glaring misstatements or distortions by the
Senate). This week Gore alleged that he has "always supported a woman's right
to choose." But early in his congressional career, Gore denounced abortion.
Divide "is all but gone," argues the story, citing several studies that show
to raise the notion of a digital divide from a contentious statistical claim to
based on economics and education. If this is so, then why is helping more
government is admitting that workers who handled early generations of nuclear
think that was wrong." The story predicts that the federal government will soon
have to shell out tens of millions of dollars a year in compensation.
efforts, New York City agencies have been recruiting former beneficiaries for
jobs as telephone psychics. "Clairvoyance is not among the qualifications
listed on the city's recruitment flier. Any public assistance recipient with a
high school equivalency degree, 'a caring and compassionate personality' and
the 'ability to read, write, and speak English'" could qualify, the story
reported. According to today's Times, the program was killed yesterday
after the story raised a fit of scorn. Apparently no one was more upset than
the professional astrologers, who consider the new recruits inadequately
schooled in, as the president of the New York chapter of Astrological
to educated, affluent voters in the Northeast. He cultivated a similar image as
tried to make his inverted charisma into a virtue. After he won the New
taken seriously as someone who could actually win the Democratic nomination.
But within a few weeks, he was knocked out of the race by a combination of Bill
past few months, Gore has pummeled him using demagogic attacks straight out of
as atrial fibrillation, has been acting up. At a press conference yesterday,
was nothing to be concerned about, but it sure doesn't sound like nothing.
getting around to revealing the problem raises suspicions that he is being less
floundering and that the battle for the Democratic nomination is, if not quite
of different polls. This has had a subtle effect on Gore's public persona. The
way in the early debates has receded, at least for the time being. In his
place, the confident, dullish Gore unconcerned about a guy running against him
in the primaries has returned to the fore. A piece of Gore campaign propaganda
not an academic exercise," he declared this afternoon to the crowd of "family
"about people.") But there's not much edge to these jabs, the way there was
even a week ago when the campaign was a more plausible horse race. Gore is no
longer going for the jugular the way he did in most of the debates. Instead,
appealing candidate. Speaking without notes or a teleprompter, he displays a
and mostly lacking in pedantry (though he did go on a bit). After that, Gore
antitrust enforcement against industrial hog producers. "We need to enforce the
mention something like the Packers and Stockyards Act too. But with Bush, no
one would suspect he knew what he was talking about.
has scientists arguing about whether the world is about to experience a
of campus fire safety. The paper points out some facts of the tragedy that are
typical: an older building not required to have sprinkler systems and a lulling
frequency of false fire alarms. The New York Times fronts the weather
and the fire but goes with the Federal Communications Commission's plan to open
up radio to hundreds of small broadcasting operations via its approval of
champions it as promising to bring many new voices to the airwaves that have
not previously had an outlet. All of which makes the reader wonder if the
The LAT fronts the growth last year of union membership, which is
the slowing down in the late '90s of the flight of manufacturing jobs to other
Medicare. As the papers report, the plan, which extends the government subsidy
to the parents of the poor children who are now covered and employs subsidies
and credits to encourage people to get coverage between jobs or prior to
in any case is not likely to get much Republican support.
the fellow POW who he admits saved his life, because the man accepted an early
issue will be held shortly. The coverage is mum about whether or not the
Supreme Court has ever ruled on this issue, which surely must have come up
that he knew absolutely nothing about this when he recently wrote an editorial
aviators. In the days ahead there will be much discussion about whether or not
the Navy has in the interim become fairer to women, but let's see if the papers
process is being able to see what the House Whip thinks.
battered dinghy. The contrast between the two candidates, and between the two
with a plush bus for the candidate, black wagons full of Secret Service agents,
an ambulance, and two press buses. For longer distances, Gore hops aboard Air
Here's the scene at the typical Gore event of yesterday, a huge rally in
to be one of our greatest presidents." Gore assumes the stage like a rock star,
khakis, with a Palm Pilot holster attached to his belt. The vice president
into a feisty pep talk to his troops. The press watches from two raised
platforms, but throughout the day has no direct access to Gore.
arrive. Occasionally, people wander to the back of the room, where there are
platters of raw vegetables and cheese. The head of the organization introduces
delivers a restrained chat and then mingles with members of the audience. Any
reporter is free to walk up and ask an awkward question about his heart
standing, or policies. It's the entirely different attitude the two men have
Gore presents himself as someone who once lost faith in politics but who now
disillusionment gave way to a sense that by running for elected office he could
among other things. He promises more money for public education, universal
health insurance starting with children, and "tax breaks to speed up the
purchase of new technologies." He slams Republicans, the Confederate Flag in
currently practiced. He says that he's running on the "radical premise that you
can tell people what you believe and win." He talks about the power of example,
he's trying "to find a balance between modesty and confidence." Almost every
ordinarily behave. And where Gore promises specific benefits and improvements,
fundamental challenge for someone running for president is to help people "find
some meaning in life that is deeper than simply the possession of material
At the end of his speech, Gore implores people to vote for him. "Feeling
enthusiasm is great but you gotta be there and you gotta bring
more people with you," Gore thunders. "I need you. And I want to fight for you
and I want to fight for the future of this country! I need you to fight for
virtuous nation, they are welcome to support him. "What my campaign is about is
asking good people to come forward and join us so that our voices can be
truth to it. When you see Gore, you see a thoroughbred politician who is simply
see a naturally diffident man talking about how he would like to run for
president and fretting about the distance between his ideal campaign and the
real one. This is the decisive distinction. It explains why Gore is almost
the man of action to the man of ideas. Because they prefer the politician to
the civics teacher. Because they prefer the probably better president to the
I stand corrected, and hope that Ms. Bullock can find it in her heart to
Still, I think the larger point holds: Something bad has happened to her
career. It's like it had some tainted soup or something. Did you see
seen the trailer. The movie could be a work of staggering genius. But somehow,
I doubt it. How often is the movie better than the trailer?)
running time of The Haunting trying to visualize himself in another,
In other news, any thoughts on who might win big at the Golden Globe awards?
a serious organization, if only for a night? There's a part of me that's sort
of amazed and outraged that a small handful of mostly unqualified individuals
susceptible to the influence of personal meetings with stars, lavish luncheons,
there's another, larger part of me that's convinced that such a ceremony is
really the only appropriate way to honor achievement in the movie business. The
folks at the Academy Awards like to look down on the Golden Globes as
You're absolutely right about companies' trying to frustrate and annoy their
customers. It's the best explanation I can come up with for the Taco Bell
Chihuahua. On the other hand, all those things you criticized about
So, I was thinking about our discussion yesterday of which newspaper
lightweight it makes our exchanges in "Breakfast Table" read like a dialogue
I saw The Graduate yesterday. I don't get it. Looks like my good
recently and I have to tell you, if there's something greater than the sanctity
retirement and running for president. If he wins the White House, I guarantee
Anyway, I have no idea if you care, but I wanted to bring a little sports radio
So that leaves me without much in the way of research as I try to comment on
the day's events. But fortunately, I have a copy of yesterday's New York
date, but try to be forgiving." Well, that's no problem, because if my new
running off and cheating on her. See, this is the problem with reading
economic boom, this year's election could turn on candidates' personal
qualities, as more than half the likely voters say a candidate's leadership
skills and vision are what counts. The story goes on to say that if the
election turns on personal characteristics, the Republicans should get a boost
issues amid an economic boom and the nation had supposedly grown tired of all
philandering ways we put him right back into office, and we knew what we were
children, and that since he is making character his top priority, he's voting
just another example of the "Breakfast Table" 's pseudo, misinformed political
commentary masquerading as humor, but before I go, I would like to leave you
think the rest of the quote was: "I mean, just look at it. [points to picture
What does it say about a team when its best player is its owner? A lot,
So the owner (or president of basketball operations or whatever he is) puts
This is going to be fun. Here's the story: The wily old veteran as wrecking
ball, crashing into the infrastructure of today's 20-something,
That's what that was: The boys picking their favorite boys who play
But, get this, I loved the guy. I loved the way he came into the news
was "a pain in the ass;" wondered how "scared" his players would be to practice
against him; and called all his new employees "disposable."
wants to listen to either of those tired old misbehaving bad boys?)
that could lead to his total failure on a basketball court. Golf and baseball
are one thing. Now he's putting that golden image of his on the line in the
sport that matters. He left us the last time with that wonderful picture of
He nails the shot. He wins the title. He walks away. Perfect. (Better than
girls growing up in the mid- to late '60s and early '70s swinging from trees
years old and reaching for the rope as I prepare to leap. The kids who are in
charge of pulling the rope from below yank it too soon. And I go thudding to
The plaster cast for my broken right wrist reached all the way to my
shoulder. At first I was chagrined, to say the least. It was late summer, and
there still were many days and nights of sports remaining before school started
But the cast did come in helpful with some of the bullies on the block.
Defending my little sister and brother, I conked a few bigger kids on the head
You know, some injuries aren't humorous. And some are downright sad. I don't
Who can imagine what that poor guy is going through right now? He's a
his car hits a patch of ice and he's not wearing his seat belt and he's thrown
from the car and he's paralyzed from the waist down. I guess doctors don't know
You picture these guys grunting in the weight room for hours a day, lifting,
Apparently, he's a good guy, one of those players who is great about
charities and really into his community. And I read that the other man who was
Do you think this has quieted any of that Super Bowl bluster down there in
yesterday wore it today? Probably not. They're all fearless. They'll all live
writes that "greed," in the form of a "desire to write books about the
some of this to get out into the mainstream media, then that would set you up
would be pulled into a conflicted situation" and that their book project was
her she shouldn't publish her story herself, but that she should let him have
it. In other words, he's trying to talk a source into giving a story to him,
and his employer. That's what reporters do, and what they're paid to
always turn into a book." A reporter would have to be a moron not to have that
suspect the incentives do more to bring out relevant truths than distort them,
remuneration his salary) since all of his reporting was supervised and
of course, being massively hypocritical here, given that he too is now
presumably large Random House advance? Has he donated the money to
Random author, was already interested in doing one himself!
a book about the case before it was even over! There's not enough room on
psychological motives for indulging in the ridiculous innuendoes of
In my experience he's honest and conscientious. Am I motivated to criticize
designates as the true culprit the 1970s. Strategically, it's a very shrewd
the 1970s were a slum of a decade. Right or left, we delighted in the narrowing
quibble: Good riddance to the 1970s, tacky decade of my youth! Nothing makes
orange, the unfortunate official color of that decade. It's a testament to the
rightly points out, the 1970s was the decade when the provocative ideas and
the period were largely indistinguishable from those of the second half of the
liberal mood. Commentators often argue that "the '60s," defined as a time of
various "social decline" indexes for the decade tend to have as their starting
with a little more narcissism and a lot more inflation tossed in. Anyone who's
explosion, the loss of faith in institutions, the sexual revolution, the rise
of the underclass, license, rudeness, etc., etc. (Interesting sign of the
times: legalized abortion gets only a glancing mention, even though Roe v.
practically the only argument in the book that strikes Chatterbox as truly
quickly from example to example and to abbreviate his arguments. (Apparently
the publishers are trying to pass this book off to some buyers as neutral
order. But then he puts some distance between himself and the Commentary
Like them or loathe them, the middle decades of the twentieth century
so strong, never had people submitted as uncomplainingly, never had the country
seldom was its political consensus more overpowering. You can see now why
people might pine for those days. But would they pine for them if they
conspicuous inability to reconcile these feelings will persuade conservatives
thinks that I have joined issues on the matter, and have been able to penetrate
think that his answer is so useful precisely because it does not rely on any
private norms of the cyberspace community in dealing with the broader issues.
Substantively, the question he poses at the outset of his letter is one that we
should all answer: Why is this space different from any other space? Why and
In answering that question, I will start again from the other side, to make
the case that the complications and issues that he sees in cyberspace are
reflections of similar issues that have developed in other markets, where the
issue is the same: How do we overlay private businesses of one sort or another
on some common grid or infrastructure? It is clear that architecture matters in
both kinds of space and in pretty much the same kind of way. As a first
approximation, we need to have public highways because it is simply too costly
in ordinary space to build roads that stand one beside the other each limited
to a certain group. But the converse hardly follows from that observation:
There is no need for all roads to be public. A large ranch can have lots of
private highways for internal communication. Common gated communities have
roads that exclude the public by allowing limited entry by all members of this
commons. And if someone could acquire the land to build a private road beside a
public one, we should not begrudge him because he removes some traffic from the
Now what happens if the cost of private roads really drops, so that everyone
can afford the right level of individualization? The answer is that we get more
private roads. This is what has happened in the telephone industry: The party
line (by which several families shared a single telephone line) went the way of
the dodo when the cost of technology allowed for cheaper phone lines to be
developed. And so it is on the Net. The reduction in cost could easily allow
the creation of private lines side by side with that open space; and if we have
these two regimes, public and private, operating side by side, we can recognize
it not only as a profound change in the Net, but a welcome change that is
predictable as a matter of general economic theory.
these private structures does more than make commerce more efficient. It also
makes control cheaper. But here I can accept the descriptive conclusion but
doubt whether he has pointed to a matter of concern. It is as not as though
There still remains the older public road for those who do not want to go along
marketplace, which means that those people who care more about freedom can move
in one direction, with the legions of hackers and researchers; while those who
care more about security can migrate to a network that gives them protection
threat to liberty when new technology increases the ability of all individuals
to separate themselves from their fellow man and to filter out the information
look at both sides of the question. Some people prize anonymous speech: The
Federalist Papers were written in that voice. But no one prizes anonymous
threats or thefts; so the question is whether individuals will trade in liberty
contract. Nor is there anything that says that the choice of anonymity or
frequently collate data in ways that allow for targeted mailings by
advertisers. Most people welcome this because they know that the address can be
used by an advertiser without being given to him: The company prepares a list
who wants out can click a button to escape. Here, a good technology allows
choices to be heavily individuated. A technological and design issue that
though it were an all or nothing issue. It is the extent that any portal to the
Net architects itself and gives notice of its deep structure to the rest of the
their tracks when they surf the Net. Here again the private response to the
But I think that they would lose market share if they did not allow users to
disable the system with a click of the mouse, which I take it they do. So again
individuation works. Taken as a whole, then, I see no reason for gloom that we
have changed the Net as its user population changes.
that all the action was in the user applications. That is fine in principle.
But what if the user wants to put his own private network at the end? I see
notes, a heavily regulated internal computer culture, while the University of
as far as I can see. It is the gated community example all over. The same open
Net carries the same traffic as before. It is not as though the size of the
commons is diminished because of the subdivision on its side.
shut down any other. But now they want to make sure that they influence the
traffic over the Net. So they will get less for the service they supply and
others will remain part time on the public highway. Or, if they have acquired
too many direct competitors, then we have a situation where there are possible
earthbound antitrust issues, a point on which I would be skeptical given the
ease of entry through other portals on the Net. Its power to discriminate could
Maybe now we have an explanation for the larger puzzle. Why are
uses? My explanation is that of optimism itself. I don't think there are
dangers that are anything close to the enormous possibilities that are
introduced by the enormous expansion of its use. That one Net can support
millions of Web sites dedicated to all sorts of different ends is a tribute to
the original model of how private diversity can flourish on a public grid. What
is truly optimistic about the Net is the sense of ratios. The amount of space
that has to be kept public for all to gain access is relatively small compared
with the amount of land that has to be used to maintain a coherent highway
system. So I quite agree that we should pay attention to these changes. But I
speaks of it as a "dark, exhilarating work." I see the cause of exhilaration
feet firmly on the ground, we shall not lose our way in cyberspace. Over to you
Did you go to summer camp? I went for five years, and the one thing I could
never get used to was that awful feeling I got in my stomach on the last
through my head from the last dance, the smell of smoke still in my hair from
just a few short hours the buses would arrive to transport me from the warm
nurturing womb of summer camp back to the harsh, unfriendly place that is the
Real World. Well, that's how I felt today, our last day of "Breakfast Table."
the Stomach With Soap Wrapped in a Towel Night," but everyone else in the bunk
attempts, almost zero outrage. So let me try with this one: Smoking is very bad
agrees with me, as it proposed radical new cigarette packaging rules yesterday
that would force tobacco makers to create cigarette packs that carry color
photographs of diseased hearts and cancerous lungs and lips.
Look, I think everyone should be warned of the dangers of smoking. I think
every cigarette pack and ad should have a warning label, and a straightforward
banned cigarettes in restaurants and public spaces in New York so I don't have
is an adult (key word there; scumbags who sell cigarettes to children should be
an item about the Rotary Club's new lawn sprinkler.
Oh, and let me say that my feelings are not based on some sort of
visit them I don't want to stop at a convenience store for a pack of gum and
have to look at a display case of diseased lung photos. It's worth noting that
the redesigned cigarette packs would also carry a warning: "Cigarettes may
cause sexual impotence due to decreased blood flow to the penis. This can
prevent you from having an erection." Yeah, and so can looking at pictures of
The study's findings were unveiled yesterday at a news conference in lower
organization devoted to challenging negative stereotypes of men, and the two
brightest young men to a devastating disorder. They are squandering their
enormous potential for growth and personal happiness on a meaningless obsession
The study suggests that some men may be so affected by the proliferation of
business television and financial services magazines that they fall prey to
purge, or rather, purge then binge. Because they feel worthless, they punish
themselves by coming in too early to the office and staying too late, whether
they need to or not. Then they waste time on endless day trading and deplete
browsers, huge bouquets they'll send to girlfriends alienated by their long
hours and tedious business gossip, even though the girlfriends will just throw
The periods in a man's life when he is most vulnerable to the condition,
leaving high school and entering college, leaving college and entering the job
attachment to "aspirational media," which traffic in celebratory stories and
photographs of highly powerful men and the symbols of their success, such as
the corporate titles they have acquired and shed, the venture capital they
haven't spent yet, and the wives they have married and divorced.
quickly and yet investing wisely that may make readers feel confused and
current issue of Fortune magazine turned to an article by columnist
pledges to 'make a lot of money.' It's role models like him that are laying
waste to an entire generation of men who could have had richly nurturing
relationships with their spouses and friends and gone on to be perfectly happy
and productive professionals with children in progressive schools and summer
Several noted psychiatrists confirmed that this disorder had become
increasingly evident among their male patients. "More and more young men in
"These boys have gone from being bright young things on their way to a
college degree and a promising career to feeling broke, hopeless, and doomed to
professional failure because they haven't started and walked away from their
whether to expand a previous category of addiction in order to cover the new
condition. "Let's face it," he said. "What we're talking about is men getting
executive positions, as well as the series editor who oversaw publication of
psychologists in general responsible for the theories of a single man? Isn't
discipline prone to express politically incorrect ideas?
about whether the person's work is qualified for publication." Indeed, says
instrumental in having him rewrite a number of passages, because I said to the
were so beyond the pale in terms of factuality. But I couldn't censor or ask
Not wanting to be seen as a censor is the defense of nearly everyone who has
journal. He has not been asked (as such editors are) to toss as many explosive
subjects as possible into the public domain, as long as they meet some minimum
standard. Nor can he offer a letters page for debate. He is not the editor of
books, making the task somewhat similar to that of a journal editor, although
scholarly books. His name is cited on the title page specifically to guarantee
the quality of the work. Under those circumstances, his judgment as to whether
the work is "qualified for publication" is tantamount to saying that he
the government, under the First Amendment. Freedom of the press belongs to
reflect poorly on the membership, but it can't be pinned on the officers. And
seemed the best way to combat the censorious hostility directed at most people
without peer review is an abdication of scholarly responsibility under the best
of circumstances and a poor idea for an association of evolutionary
psychologists, whose discipline is notorious for attracting cranks.
others thought about sitting down and writing a letter objecting to both the
work and the review. In the end, however, they decided not to. They didn't want
welcoming all ideas, you can't proceed to ignore the bad ones. You have to be
prepared to do battle against them. That is (or ought to be) the duty of anyone
who has staked his or her professional reputation on one particular scientific
approach or methodology. And giving publicity to bad ideas isn't itself
necessarily a bad idea. After all, if you draw attention a bad idea by refuting
going to lay claim to your methodology and benefit from your systems of
of the world won't go away just because you think they're not worth responding
to. Where they'll go is wherever as many people as possible will hear them. And
Note for all of you who have stuck with this endless New York Review
into a mosh pit to the music of Rage Against the Machine.
In case you didn't actually watch tonight's Republican presidential debate
they're flinging themselves into mosh pits at the behest of radical documentary
comfort to fans of Nine Inch Nails, was participating, however facetiously,
this way, he has already won his battle, which is to not be ignored.
With the exception of this and a few other sideshows, the debate was once
leader of the pack for (according to them) coddling China, wanting to
federalize education policy, equivocating on abortion, and endangering Social
Security with a huge tax cut, Bush ducked, smiled and declined to take the
charges entirely seriously. His dodging was as artful as ever. What makes
which is usually pretty evasive, but rather his jovial, confident demeanor.
Bush survives debates in which he is the constant target by refusing to get
riled. You can insult him, you can mock him, and you can patronize him, but you
Bush if he intended to do to the nation what he did to his own state. Bush was
slow on some of the particulars of his defense. He didn't remember until the
underprivileged kids were taking the SAT. But Bush's facial expressions and
Right away, you saw the notorious smirk cross Bush's face. But it was a
it completely." Then Bush turned away from the question, as if resisting the
squinted, smiled broadly and gestured by opening his arms as he said, "So many
was answering him. His pained, awkward expression suggested someone sucking a
candidates who is better on radio than television. Bush is sort of the opposite
moments, especially in the first part of the debate, when he seemed to be
Prospect- type liberalism. When all the candidates were asked about the
Al Gore's, lauding efforts to connect schools and libraries to the Internet and
liberal positions represent a change of heart, or at least an ongoing evolution
zonked to say anything coherent about the Democrats. Check this space for
voluntary federal spending limits in order to raise the unprecedented sum of
answer ready. Actually, they have two answers. The first is that, thanks to the
collected. Their other answer is that the campaign goes well beyond what the
law requires by making prompt and complete disclosure of all contributions on
for keeping track of how much various special interests are collecting for the
disclosed at all. In his own way, Bush stands to advance the cause of legal
The Bush campaign's technical innovation is the use of "tracking codes," to
campaign to stay fully informed about who is giving what. It also appears to
stir a sense of competition, if not competitive panic, among Bush's major
Pause to consider what is happening here. A trade association that would be
contributions from individual executives. Of course, "bundling" is nothing new.
the bundles, so it knows just how much it has gotten from the electric
contribution record using a handheld wireless device.) But more important,
communicating the secret pass code ensures that contributors in the electric
industry know that the Bush campaign knows how much they've given. The only
people who don't know who is really giving how much are the rest of us.
The Bush team's answer to this complaint is that the tracking codes aren't a
way of keeping score or encouraging competition among donors but rather a
benign device for making sure that contributors "are not stepping on each
using a tracking code, the three can avoid bothering classmates who have
of me understand how tracking codes help with the problem of repeat
solicitations. Presumably, the three classmates split up the list of Bush's
classmates would find out from having a code of their own that he had already
given at the office. Of course, they could find out by searching for his name
on the Bush database. But you don't need any codes for that.
If the codes really are an innocent bookkeeping exercise, there's any easy
way for the Bush campaign to dispel suspicion. They can do what
Among the duties of this column is to put weather events that cause
momentary media alarm into historical perspective. (See last summer's
Chatterbox feels impatient with the provincialism of local records and asks:
This data isn't as easy to keep track of as temperature extremes, partly
because snow melts and drifts and does all sorts of other things that make it
difficult to measure, and partly because the world's extreme snowfalls tend to
occur at very high elevations where there aren't a lot of climatologists
Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as setting a
record last year for "the most snowfall ever measured in the United States
[Chatterbox presumes that means the continental United States] in a
single season." This occurred during the snowfall season that stretched from
This information must, of course, be placed in context. In most places,
heavy snowfalls are considered a troublesome (albeit picturesque) natural
phenomenon. In places that depend heavily on revenues from ski resorts, like
Mount Baker, heavy snowfalls are considered manna from heaven. Chatterbox
snows there, is in any way preferable to the jubilation in Mount Baker, Wash.
Moreover, the very fact that Mount Baker is a place where people pray for
heavy snowfalls makes it likelier that the locals will collect potentially
skews the data, even assuming Mount Baker is scrupulously honest in its
eastern seaboard this week was a pittance compared with the quantity that fell
did read columnists regularly, is that even the very best of them tend to bat
and the tastes of readers more or less dictate that a columnist has to appear
of the day; rants on solidly uncontroversial topics (the New York Post 's
the rather daring notion that adults should not have sex with children); and,
there are few fates worse than being the child of a columnist struggling with
writer's block and a deadline. In the early 1990s, I could easily imagine Anna
say something innocent yet wise! And if it could have some bearing on a
meet; they have space to fill. They do what they have to do. But I do think
they're symptomatic of a larger problem: Journalistic overcapacity. Which is to
say, we now have so many news outlets, with so many writers, that we are now
saying far more than needs to be said, covering far more than needs to be
dominate the news for a few cycles do so not because anyone's legitimately
upset or outraged over them but because people like you and (especially) me
need something to talk about. Thus, all the silly debates over, say, a
be reductive and overheated. But at least they're something to fill an hour of
(This, in turn, ties into a favorite fantasy of mine: I am invited to appear
introduced as being for it. I give my little speech: "They give such warmth,
an enduring symbol of our national freedom, freedoms which you so clearly don't
that way at all. And now that you mention it, you're quite right: It is a
travesty. I agree with you completely." We are now about five minutes into the
In an editorial on its editorial page this morning, the New York
Times editorial board editorializes about an important editorial issue;
according to Salon magazine, for about the last two years television
networks have been secretly submitting scripts to the White House's drug czar,
doesn't have to give to the government for free and can instead sell to
have already come true, with the government's propaganda campaign in effect for
at least three decades, and with a far greater reach than Salon
where the castaways get superpowers after consuming irradiated vegetables. You
government censors insisted on the removal of two lines of dialogue that they
refuses to name a single donor to clarify the situation. Has Kohl done anything
year be identified in an annual report to parliament. (Contributions to
ignoring this law, and now faces punitive fines totaling twice the undisclosed
contributions, in addition to having to forfeit the actual contributions to
parliament. (Fines are deducted from the campaign subsidies the government
German parties must also report expenditures on broad categories like
"staff" and "political operations" in their annual report to parliament. The
Kohl insists he used the money for building the party in the former East
the funds was the party's original failure to disclose them. For political
remains obscured by secret bank accounts. So secret, in fact, that the scheme
The scandal continues to widen. Allegations have emerged suggesting a French
Kohl could face criminal prosecution if it turns out he accepted bribes for
specific government action. (The prosecutor would have to establish an exchange
of money for the desired action.) He currently enjoys parliamentary immunity,
partnership doing business with the government, and requires a "best effort" to
obtain the name, address, occupation, and employer of every individual
Institute for Human Gene Therapy. Independent investigations by the National
participant in the program, raised questions about the ethics and procedures at
consumer products and drug companies in the world. Although the deal is far
indigenous protesters and several disgruntled military officers seized the
should never have received treatment at the Institute. In addition, none of the
to participate (which should have been routine), nor were they ever made fully
syndicate that included prominent Communist party officials, members of the
order and therefore as a grave threat to party rule. It has vowed to prosecute
smuggling operation was recently uncovered in China, the ringleaders were
abortion, Bush more firmly asserted that he "disapproves" of Roe v. Wade. But
he stopped short of saying that the decision ought to be overturned, suggesting
instead that it is an issue best ruled on by state legislatures.
concern that the global economy has become precariously dependent on
economic contraction. Nonetheless, the G-7 is unlikely to issue any grim
warnings for fear of instigating a sudden and violent panic.
The off lead in the LAT reports that the Confederate flag is causing
he does renounce it he'll infuriate those who cherish it as a part of Southern
political negotiations at an impasse, both women made emotional pleas at a
(temperate) country to suggest that perhaps he ought to be returned there?
agreement to refrain from negative campaigning and "attack politics." The truce
paraphrase the explanations of how the hostilities resurfaced, each man
left paralyzed yesterday in a car accident, and I felt the same pang you did
when I saw the news this morning that he'd been hurt. I did have the pleasure
ago, when Derrick was only a few years old. Now this.
especially today as the reporters descend on the players and coaches for a
reaction. But I think we both know when reality intrudes in sports, the people
in sports tend to retreat even deeper into the games they play. And they can't
To be sure, there's always some sad talk about the infinity of possibilities
that are lost when something like this happens, or when some similar tragedy
comes along. There's been a spate of them recently, hasn't there? How about
was recently charged with after his girlfriend was shot and died. How about
headlines a few weeks ago after he insulted nearly every minority group this
them simultaneously defy and define the limits of what human beings can
achieve. You never think someone can throw as hard as Rocker or hang in the air
can summon such magic consistently. And on command. That's what's so
transfixing. It's like all of us, not just the athletes, need to see someone
who's fearless and acts like they're going to live forever.
It's been interesting to me, for example, that after all the rejoicing about
as a player, the next thing that most of his fans fretted about was whether his
us how little life actually does resemble sports, try as we might to say it
comforting belief in sports that no matter what happens today, no matter how
networks while bringing more than a few Internet companies to the verge of
nonexistence (since they burned huge amounts of cash in just a few months). And
will be unveiled at this year's Super Bowl. But while the story of these ads is
mainly one of a desperate grab for market share and brand identity via the
familiar techniques of jittery cameras, hyperbolic humor, and some measure of
interesting new Internet ad campaign offers none of these.
That campaign, which debuted a couple of weeks ago and has yet to attract
pretty much all the campaign advertises. In contrast to the frenetic style of
also doing print and outdoor ads following the same motif, but no radio ads.
(It seems hard to believe a radio station would accept an ad that consisted of
"convenience, simplicity, and freedom from higher prices." It's certainly
company isn't making enough profit to pay for real advertising. If anything,
what really conveys those values of convenience and frugality is the company's
strengths ("strength" here being entirely a relative term).
For all this, though, you have to stop short of calling the new campaign
brilliant, mainly because it's hard to see what kind of legs it will have, at
least on television. Watching the ad the first two or even three times was
fascinating, in part because even after having seen it once, I kept expecting
letters just fade out.) And there's also something compelling about the way the
only be made aware of that so many times before you get bored. The next time I
during most (perhaps all) of the shows on that tour, the band would, in the
middle of a song, begin playing two notes and just continue playing them over
until, as a friend of mine put it then, it sounded like you were in an airplane
While it was happening, it seemed like an eternity. Listening to this wasn't
enjoyable in any conventional sense, or in any sense for that matter. But there
was something incredibly interesting about being in the middle of it, and about
the way your reactions to what was happening changed the longer the noise
continued. And the way the stunt exposed the conventions of the typical rock
This wasn't anything you needed to listen to more than once (though I knew
point. But perhaps this is one campaign that doesn't depend on repetition, on
driving a jingle so deep into your skull that you can't forget it. Perhaps the
we're going to have a flood of these campaigns, in which case you won't be able
impressed more with his plaintive, rhetorical ploys than his substantive
argument. It is not that he is a failed teacher who cannot convey the sound
message to a slow student. It is that he is a skilled teacher, or at least
advocate, who has tried to sell an alarmist message that just does not add
change and a problem. Of course the proprietary systems will loom larger on the
Internet with the rise of commerce. But that makes sense for most people. If
the system turns out to be filled with folks who plant traps along the way,
there are responses to deal with them, whether they are the next generation of
right have their gates to filter information? Yes, if they can impose their
will on individuals who do not join in their cause; but no if the service is
requested and disclosed in advance. But whether it is done online or in person,
it does not count as censorship (or at least censorship worthy of scorn) if
private controls are the same, but they are not, at least when the private
there is some selective, legal void in cyberspace. Take one of his examples. If
to an affiliated site, that could well amount to a breach of duty that exposes
the operators of both sites to serious liabilities. Just think of the roar that
went up when it was found out that some public radio stations gave their lists
out only to Democrats for recruitment purposes. We could protest with the same
intensity for illicit sharing that takes place over the Net.
architecturally, a First Amendment." He laments that the new one does not. But
it is not as though once we shift to a partly restricted Net that First
Amendment claims cannot be brought against governments that seek to regulate
that "it becomes possible for local governments to begin to impose regulation
on people on the Net, by forcing local servers to condition access based on the
features of who people are." But the painfully obvious answer is, not if that
kind of restriction violates the First Amendment. The state could not condition
the power of a newspaper to sell its paper on the willingness to sell its
Let's be clear about one thing. My position is not that government can do no
wrong on the Net, or that private firms can do no right. My view is that the
standard set of legal techniques, from contract to legislation to
constitutional protection, carry over well to this new environment, even after
it ceases to be organized as vast public space, as it was at its outset.
Markets survive only if individuals value what they get for more than it costs.
They require government protection of property rights to work well. But
governments can abuse their powers and should be subject to constitutional
checks. All agreed. But nothing about the Internet, no special brand of
cyberspace liberty, changes these fundamental relationships and the problems
analogies are more instructive and less alarmist, because they do not ignore
available. Of course there will be problems on the Net, just as there will be
problems in any space to which any of have to venture. No one should be
legislation. The Times reports that state lawmakers are bearing the
Times scoops the other papers with a proposed $20-billion deal between Time
threatening to cut foreign aid and discourage investment in the economically
restore confidence in the economy. Critics of the plan claim it would hurt the
conglomerate in the world. Critics will bemoan the decrease in number of
competitors in the market (which could undercut the diversity of music
produced), but the paper suggests that such criticism might be offset by the
people buy music. Rather than shop in record stores, customers will eventually
a foregone conclusion, economic prosperity, and ideological similarities
"spirited contests" between candidates isn't enough to spark much enthusiasm
nominate their candidates. The LAT off lead, an exhaustive analysis of a
as fronts for terrorist activities. Surprisingly, letters found by prosecutors
points out that it's not clear whether the US has any direct evidence that bin
Laden ordered the embassy attacks, though there is evidence, apparently, that
soon. Late yesterday the Justice Department released a statement saying that
the grandmothers had made "a very compassionate and heartfelt plea" to be
policy paradigm of yesteryear, when the number one enemy of the US was the
it was a dangerous world and we knew exactly who they were. It was us
versus them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we're not so sure who they
are, but we know they're there." Let that be a comfort to them. Or us. Or you.
editor who published his scholarly work and the colleagues who welcomed him
into their professional association be held partly responsible for his
historian of World War II who is suing another historian over her charge that
member, should never have let him get as far as he has without refuting
(author of How the Mind Works and Words and Rules: The
Tune in next week for the continuation of the debate in a Slate
before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress
asserting that "the state of our union has never been stronger." Most papers
note that the speech was surprisingly ambitious for a president in his last
development of vaccines for poor nations, photo licenses and safety tests for
billion, 10-year tax cut (about the same amount as he unsuccessfully pushed
last year, the Journal notes) and a plan to encourage charitable
large donations from domestic and foreign sources through nonprofit front
comptroller's fine and initiation of a criminal investigation is expected to
Vice President Gore. He then corrected himself with "livable."
how much homework kids get, and what approach is used for teaching. With that
in mind, let me continue for a minute on the question of what topics are being
teach in depth and in breadth at the same time. But when I read him, I can't
help thinking that the former secretary of education has never actually been a
willing to bet, though, that the best teachers in those schools prune the lists
how radical a new curriculum may be, the best teachers have always quietly
perfectly reasonable sequence of math skills. But he also launches into a
You shouldn't expect it to be fun. You must practice, practice, practice. He
assumes that kids will not like learning math and that parents will not have
the foggiest idea about what is going on. He even provides parents with the
mind, since he makes a math error or two himself. In his list of basic math
facts, he can't seem to get product and quotient straight when it comes to
favorite academic subject. Math, he will soon discover, is far and away the
discussion. Just as there are children who have a seemingly natural affinity
for reading and others who have an amazing ability to imagine historical
events, there are those youngsters who just get numbers.
Now to homework. You suggest that public schools assign more than private
schools. But in my experience, there are private schools that assign a lot and
private schools that assign a little, and likewise with the public schools. In
New York, some of the more traditional private schools load on homework. I
night. Literally. Not wise, from my point of view. The load is lighter in
private progressive schools, but there, too, by fourth grade, knapsacks usually
don't demand enough from students. I work next to a public high school and the
Leaving homework aside, though, which method is superior, progressive or
some aspects of progressive thinking. That can work. I also think that for the
classroom can be a great place to learn. Personally, I prefer teaching in a
progressive style. But some students require something more traditional. I
remember one child who needed help in math. I tried hard to give him insight
into the concepts that underlie addition and subtraction. I used blocks. I used
when they go from the concept to the rote process, this student learned best
I have another student, an exceptionally bright child, who was enrolled in
one of the most prestigious traditional schools in the city. A real
progressive school, and he is sailing along without problems.
Children and teachers are individuals. One system cannot fit all. And so,
although I can see standardizing the curriculum, at least to a degree, I worry
about standardizing the approach to teaching. What does this mean about school
You, of course, get right to the heart of the matter: A good teacher never
follows a method to the letter. And if you're the parent of a child who's lucky
enough to have a good teacher, you rarely find yourself worrying about whether
the method being employed is traditional or progressive, whether there's enough
their kids are not at all the kinds of students yours are: Good teachers seem
to manage to find ways to fit the needs of many different sorts of students in
the same class. It's during the lousy years with weak teachers that we parents
suddenly find ourselves being led from our particular complaints to ask bigger
questions about the whole approach of a school, and being tempted to think in
I suppose an important question to ask, which is not at all the focus of
reform, is what sort of guidance proves most helpful to teachers and most
conducive to attracting good ones to the profession. Do you, for example, think
the Core lesson plans could be useful background material for a teacher who
quality of the bibliographies was. We all hear constantly that strong
principals play a large part in creating strong schools, but I was struck that
resort for disgruntled parents. What do the best of them do to help set a
school's academic direction? This book has notably little to say about what
sort of changes could help most to raise the quality of teachers and
principals, which they evidently consider to be pretty low.
But if anything is to be accomplished, it's clear they think school choice
parents to choose among not just public schools, but private and parochial and
charter schools as well. In fact, the program of constant oversight and
pressure this book advocates almost doesn't make sense, or is merely a recipe
for frustration, if there isn't school choice: "Start hunting for a different
school," they urge parents whose complaints haven't born fruit. But what do you
do if you can't afford, or get your kid into, a private school and don't want
alternatives to consider, you stew. It does seem somewhat surprising, though,
to hear these authors defend their voucher plan on the grounds that it fosters
"pluralism in schooling," after pushing a shared curriculum as hard as they
I haven't thought as much as I should have about school choice, but the
parents I know who have been able to pick from a variety of public schools have
otherwise would have left. As a spur to improvements in the system, given the
of school choice is to isolate failing schools even further than they already
are from pressures that might lead to improving them, it would be a failure for
This book has the unintended effect of exposing the unappealing side of the
admires. Instead, the micromanaging mother and father conjured up here resemble
demanding consumers, obsessed with promoting their child's future and convinced
that school and teacher should revolve around their needs and demands. What
parents makes me more tired than I already am of marketplace values. Along with
Pilots, and fast: "You must be the chief coach, trainer, coordinator, and role
your campaign treasury, and he might just win. Unfortunately, the latest polls
It looks pretty iffy. Which is why sincerely I hope
investigative reporting" as "tawdry voyeurism" and "sleaze." But that doesn't
jobs to three of his friends, whom he named." Is that really relevant? Well,
serial blow jobs to his friends. Simple fairness should have suggested that
laptop. Sometimes in his bathrobe! This can be a little disorienting for the
bed and eating breakfast is a day's travel for the new Web publication's
editor! "Think of it as a mosaic, a jigsaw puzzle," he said when I rang him for
genius grants, that houses the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where
the owner, will tell you his plan to save Social Security and what he really
Background Material and Data on Programs Within the Jurisdiction of the
agreement on genetically altered food products. The cornerstone of the treaty
is its support for the "precautionary principle," which allows countries to ban
the import of genetically altered products without conclusive scientific proof
agreement, and leads with an article exploring the Prison Litigation Reform Act
prisons back from the courts. Ten localities have sued successfully, with at
pharmaceuticals. The treaty also requires exporters to secure permission from
target countries before importing "living modified organisms" such as
genetically altered seeds. The most contentious issue was the establishment of
a notification system for foods produced with genetically altered seeds. US
representatives claimed that such a system would be a bureaucratic nightmare,
and after four days of intense negotiation, the delegates agreed to table the
effects of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, saying that it leaves no way to
prevent prisons from backsliding into the inhumane conditions that warranted
judiciary intervention. Some also maintain that the act is unconstitutional:
the Supreme Court agreed last year to review a case claiming that the law, in
effect, allows Congress to dictate judicial policy. Supporters of the claim
that many judges had overstepped their authority, and that overly strict
standards made it very difficult to end court intervention.
previous claims that he always supported abortion rights, and produced letters
Gore wrote to constituents calling abortion "arguably the taking of human
life." Gore now maintains that while his view of the morality of abortion has
backed a proposal to broaden the definition of "person" in civil rights laws to
include "unborn children from the moment of conception." The other big news
pedigree. As this story went to press, Today's Papers was still unsure whether
far right Freedom Party may join a ruling coalition this week. The party, which
negotiations between the People's Party and the Social Democrats broke down
since last winter, is inflating gas, heating, and airline ticket prices. The
diminished domestic stockpiles of heating oil, brought about by milder winters
and stricter regulations on storage facilities. Given the overall health of the
economy, no one believes that the price hikes will cause a recession.
and injuries to keep off the front line. Some plans sound like they've been
hatched by sitcom writers: One woman said that she would divorce her invalid
husband to keep her son out of the army. He could then legally claim to be his
journalists are terrified the Democratic primary campaign might actually end
give it to us, as looks likely, the reaction against him by reporters will be
Who Speaks for the Paranoid Center? The appearance of the New Gore
up. And it's hard to believe that if Gore wins the presidency the Democrats
won't pick up at least six seats in the House. So there's now the distinct
possibility, maybe even probability, that my own chosen party will control both
the House and White House. It's hard not to be at least mildly alarmed by this
unreconstructed colleagues could make if freed from Republican constraint.
Goodbye welfare reform, hello Urban Development Action Grants! I sort of
to avoid giving anybody more than he has to. It's not easy to have the same
Nowhere to be seen, that's where. There are still some New Democrats
A couple of months ago, I described Al Gore's attempt to create a
positive message and ignoring the vice president's hectoring, the unanswered
Gore in kind, he would be descending to his opponent's level, dispelling his
most of his complaints. The result has been ebbing momentum for the challenger.
for pandering to every special interest group under the sun, and wondered how
Gore would muster enough public credibility to serve as president if elected.
"And my question to you is, why should we believe you that you will tell the
in one of many direct confrontations. He also accused Gore of having once
cozy with corporate lobbyists and special interests.
pugnacity plays into Gore's hands as much as his earlier pacifism did. In the
play back on his accuser. "If that's not negative, I don't what it is," Gore
"I have never mentioned your name in an ad, I have never used your picture in
an ad," Gore said. "There is nothing I have said in this campaign that is in
to be childish. But that's fine with Gore, since it reduces the two men to the
establish that there's no real difference in their behavior. If they're the
same, then Gore is better because he doesn't hold himself out as a paragon of
political saintliness. By his own rules, Gore can go negative so long as he
hypocrite. "If you're going to talk about a higher standard, you're going to
can't reclaim the status of a conscientious objector.
about a change to the liberty of the Net? How is it any different from commerce
market in general reduces freedom. So why in cyberspace should it be any
presence of commerce on the Net by itself reduces the liberty of the Net. If
My argument is that commerce is changing the architecture of the Net, and as
a byproduct of that change, the freedoms of the Net will change. Commerce is
bringing technologies to the Net that will reduce the initial liberties of the
because the architectures that make commerce more efficient can also make
control cheaper. The very architectures that make it possible to profit will
He said that "physical aggression against neighbors is ruled out in part by the
imagines here, but he is appealing to a feature of the Net to make his
argument: anonymity. But "anonymity" is not a natural or necessary feature of
the Internet. We could just as well imagine an Internet where transactions left
eliminate anonymity, a certain liberty of the original Net would change as
And this is precisely the kind of change my book describes. There is an
increasing push to layer onto the Net architectures that facilitate
identification and tracking. The technologies are many. I describe one
will function as digital IDs. But there are any number of other examples that
make very same point: emerging architectures that make tracking and
Think about "cookies." Here's an architecture (in the sense I mean the term)
customers. When you contact a site, the site can deposit an entry in your
cookie file that will make it possible for that site to gather data about you
That change stripped away a certain amount of anonymity on the Net. Now
servers could watch where you browse; they could watch pages you skip to; they
could know something they didn't before. And all this because of a change in
The point is not that cookies do no good. I love the fact that Amazon knows
who I am and can recommend books to me when I come to their home page (they've
enough). But the point is that the freedom that there was has been changed by a
change in the architecture. Sites now get data for free, because the
But more important changes are just around the corner. For example:
One of the fundamental architectural principles of the original Internet was
One consequence of this design was that the network could not discriminate:
So long as you followed the basic Internet protocols, the network would carry
that new applications could be brought to the Net, even if they displaced the
dominant existing application. No one was in a position to discriminate against
Enter broadband cable, at least under the architecture initially proposed by
affiliates are now converting the cable system so that it can carry the
owner gets to choose the Internet service provider that you get your broadband
you to stream video through your computer (a possible future with broadband)
because that competes with streaming video to your television set (the past
with cable), it now has the power to discriminate. And it has that power
colleague for six years, and student for one; I know his chafing very well.)
The libertarian would talk about externalities, and about minimum regulation to
avoid externalities, and about the value of common carriers, and the like.
defend the principles of the initial architecture against the changes that
commerce would impose on that architecture. They have been slow because they
have been slow to see how the Net is changing. And more important, slow to see
how much of the freedom they enjoy comes not (just) from the absence of
government, but also from a constitution of freedom built into the architecture
The argument of my book is that we ought to pay attention to this
constitution, and to the freedoms that this initial architecture gave us. And
that we ought to pay attention to the influences that are changing this
hopeful Al Gore challenges yet another key assertion by the Gore campaign about
Gore's youthful marijuana use was more extensive than the candidate has alleged
for depression a number of times" and is "now living on disability."
But Chatterbox has learned from another source that Gore may not have
been truthful when he made the separate claim that he "never got high enough to
One of the cupcake boxes was already opened when it arrived at the counter,
Gore's mouth, she said, was smeared with a substance that may have been
toenail fungus, she insisted that this had not affected her powers of
thought it doubtful the company would still have a copy of the receipt this
long after the purchase. "Heck, in those days, we didn't even have computerized
swiftly to deny the latest allegation. In a statement released this morning,
said that I didn't work up a powerful appetite doing other things, like playing
A Gore spokesman said that the stain "may be chocolate, and may have been
challenge that Gore submit the paperback to an independent lab for testing.
by its own labs. If she fails to respond, he said, "the House will have no
will begin hearings of his own on the matter next week.
voting on his renomination as Fed chair, and he turned in a bravura
performance. Of course, it's probably easier to turn in bravura performances
when you know that everyone in the room listening to you believes that you are
exactly, we are on the curve of that technological change, keeping open the
possibility that there may still be many years ahead of rapid economic growth
watch the senators try to make their own dubious economic views appear to be
serves him well in those situations. He can begin with "Well, yes, Senator" and
end with an effective "so, actually, no," without ever making anyone look bad.
will have to pay the government billions for the foreseeable future, that
seeing the price of its key product rise because of taxes, and that's
making less money than expected. It's all The Insider 's fault, no
investors. The odd thing, of course, is that people keep pouring money into
underestimate the power of having a bull as your corporate symbol."
company that has yet to be identified. The franchisees fear that the new
Allow me to share a portion of a missive that came my way today from our
editor: "Let us in on the process of how you mine the news for subjects, what
strikes you as funny, how MAD chooses its targets, etc. We'd also love
to hear your reviews of the newspapers' attempts to be funny, from political
As long as it doesn't involve me having to dance in public, I will do just
Like anyone who has the good fortune to have a job where they get to spoof
current events, I do my best to stay, well, current. That is, I read a lot of
magazines, pore over a couple of newspapers every day, and watch a good deal of
admittedly, doesn't help me stay abreast of world affairs, but I now know how
Anyway, from there, the subjects pretty much suggest themselves, and it's
just a matter of coming up with the right hook and good lines. For that, I rely
As for the aforementioned newspaper columnists, well, I have to admit that
strictest sense, although she can be savagely funny), I don't really read the
pretty upscale magazine, and he comes on and you think he's going to be the
on bacon! Just bacon! Unfortunately, I missed the last few minutes and never
found out what kind of wine best accompanies bacon.)
sends the city into a delightful panic. (Delightful, and a bit confounding to
we Northerners who can't believe what a sleepy Southern city this still
run on milk and eggs and bread!" (What, is everyone making French toast?)
Now, if I were chatting with Al Gore outside that movie theater on
Listen sister. Let's get this straight. I wasn't working as a "Republican
"Breakfast Club" thing.) Here's the story: I interviewed him when I was still
watching The English Patient at the same theater I was on a rainy
So, as he and Tipper walked out, my friend and I were right behind them, and
Hope you're not traveling today. You know there's snow out there. So says my
before anyone else on his newly purchased team showed up. There's a bit of a
geek factor there, isn't there? Something that's not usually associated with
Mavericks but playing those pesky games just gets in the way.
Clearly, the whole sports scene needs some retooling. The tabloids here in
may be deported if he's convicted of trying to bribe police to get a friend
wonderful, stirring, spectacular sports event there is, was tainted by that
payola scandal last year. Remember? Representatives from the host city wannabes
What astounded me most was the cheesy stuff the voters requested.
fulfill your every whim, wouldn't you ask for something better than a titanium
members can demand just about anything in exchange for their votes on an
Lots of impressive earnings reports this week from the usual suspects
tech stocks remained fairly strong. But the Dow took it on the chin, perhaps
because (if you're feeling cynical) people who invest in Dow stocks are the
only people who still worry about things like rising interest rates or perhaps
announcing engagement plans. The news sent both companies' stocks down sharply,
supposed to have understood that most mergers don't work, and that when the
stock market punishes both stocks, the merger really won't work. But
then I remember: Even now, the stock market doesn't run companies. Men who like
the idea of running as big a company as can be imagined do. And so, on to this
The Journal used the word 'foil,' but surprisingly, it did not run a
think it's safer to lend money for a long time than for a short time
president). Apparently bond traders are now anticipating a steep decline in the
desire to control the presentation of Windows on PC screens to 
without the troupe's input. This means, of course, that if the case ever gets
coverage after taking campaign contributions from a couple of big drug
as close to clean government as we're going to get."
and over that same period often published letters warning that the stock market
was on the verge of a crash, but despite the fact that the crash never came,
winter thing is really a pattern or just a statistical fluke?"
every question and comment the audience could muster. After that, he held a
press conference in the snow outside. After the press conference, he got on his
full, your tape player is out of batteries and your pen is out of ink. After a
couple of hours, every journalist in his entourage has the same, enviable
hottest ticket on the campaign trail this year. Today there were dozens more
relationship with the press remains remarkably similar to the one I wrote
about during his announcement tour last fall. Surprisingly, the increased
scrutiny and intensity of a closely fought race haven't changed the tone or
cluster around, attaching microphones to his lapels, and sticking tape
talking seriously about his campaign and his life, engaging in badinage with
on a cell phone. It all feels like a collegiate road trip, with running jokes,
opportunity to receive the kind of education and training necessary to give
them the ability to take advantage of this prosperity. It seems to me that all
should be interested in addressing that situation."
coffee he drinks: "Seven to eight cups a day. But sometimes only three,
to a question about whether his politics have evolved: "All of us should change
I don't claim not to have evolved as a politician and in my philosophy and my
views. I think it would be an incredible waste of time if I hadn't grown and
Here is what some prominent national reporters wrote on it:  
Donuts to gummy bears, it's been a memorable journey
encourages favorable press attention (as well as increasing the risk of
chosen to run his presidential campaign as what one reporter on the bus
of running for president that he found pleasurable. And for whatever reason, he
these events with a comic monologue, ramps up to a serious pitch about
repudiating the power of the special interests and motivating young people and
then takes questions the floor. From time to time, he fertilizes the crowd Don
"expensive sweater" (sure enough, the guy asks him about cutting the capital
gains rate). By the time he winds down, the civilians are as glutted with
Even the hecklers get their due. At an event in high school cafeteria in
the candidates with posters that ask, "WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?" Today some of them
are dressed in elaborate costumes that include giant smokestack hats with
enough to listen to you," he says. "We had a guy in a shark suit last night." 
Personality and Social Psychology (not available online, but the New
characteristic of incompetent people is their inability to recognize that they
are incompetent. The study begins with the following slapstick anecdote:
them in broad daylight, with no visible attempt at disguise. He was arrested
later that night, less than an hour after videotapes of him taken from
that rubbing one's face with lemon juice rendered it invisible to videotape
then estimate how well they'd done at each. In the first, they were asked to
assess how funny they found a series of jokes of markedly varied funniness (as
graded by a team of eight professional comedians). In the second, they were
they'd done on the test. In every instance but the last, the worst scorers
guessed that they'd done better than average. (Participants in the fourth study
were able to assess their abilities more realistically, but only by becoming
side of their body but don't seem to understand that fact; when asked to pick
something up with their left hand, they will decline by saying they're too
is precisely this: it is unaware of being despair." Substitute the word
"depression" for "despair" and you have a cornerstone of modern
Dunning are careful to point out that in certain circumstances, it's impossible
for all but the clinically deluded to ignore evidence about one's relative
dueling guitars, or enter into a friendly wager on the golf course with Tiger
Woods." These individuals' superior skill, regularly demonstrated in public, is
simply too great to ignore. And as their study showed, when incompetent people
are given a chance to wise up a bit, they do acquire some
discussed frankly is how much the economy depends on people perceiving
Overoptimism is in fact the common theme in many of the most purely
immigrants' children can be doctors and lawyers, that you can turn your
franchise into a fortune, that salesman can make it on a smile and a
century. "When they were built they could hardly be justified in economic
who repeatedly overestimated their chances of success, but who collectively
managed to settle and develop the West while many of them individually were
The Internet economy is a more contemporary example of this phenomenon:
Surely most people trying to strike it rich in this gold rush will fail, but
right now their buoyant optimism is keeping the stock market high and making
lawsuit against the nation's major handgun manufacturers and distributors.
Today leads with fresh polling indicating that despite close races in
Bush have "huge" leads among voters nationwide. The poll shows that among
A particularly disturbing note: The paper quotes the union's general counsel as
saying it is "cleaner than most unions." It should be noted that the
Times says high up in its story that the report was "made available by a
union official eager to have the federation take a tougher stance on
corruption." This exemplifies the paper's admirable general policy when dealing
with unnamed sources of at least communicating to the reader the source's
series of legal setbacks recently, with judges throwing out several of them.
overseas the city's budget, can step in to prevent the funding of a lawsuit.
gist was that Congress has the right to dictate conditions that must be
more productive contact with Security Council officials yesterday than he'd
captured alive. The LAT explains that the rebels are making this claim
another connection, but doesn't give out the address. What's up with that?
the mustache. The story doesn't note one quarter in which upper lip layering
seems permanently out of fashion: presidential candidates. What possible
Times lead with the failure last night of a key test of the Pentagon's
leads with its latest political poll, which finds that no issue is considered
in the presidential election, the candidates' perceived personal qualities may
from closed before the missile test results had been released.)
sensors. Both Times say there will be only one more test before
choose not to go ahead with a national missile shield.
On the heels of yesterday's studies from two think tanks suggesting that the
income gap between rich and poor continues to grow, the LAT fronts and
from the Federal Reserve. The difference is that the Fed focused not on income
but on accumulated wealth. Some of the more striking findings: Although from
"BOOM TIME A BAD TIME FOR POOREST, STUDY FINDS." The Journal 's reads:
sense of Southern idealism and cultural particularism." And he mentions a raft
of dead Southern idealists who he thinks might well have voted to keep the
Capitol flag in place, but it's significant that he doesn't mention any living
ones. (For more on the politics of the Stars and Bars, click here.)
dialysis centers. The government alleged that the centers caused Medicare to
pay for hundreds of thousands of needless tests for patients and had paid
claims that the government's attempt to influence the content of shows is
"nothing untoward." After all, he observes, the Pentagon reviews scripts all
the time when filmmakers seek to use its facilities and equipment. And the
filmmakers don't protest that the government has exploited them. But one man's
public funds. Why should taxpayers only get to see war movies the Pentagon
teachers, but ordinary teachers, or at least teachers who have not taught well.
It is the experience of reading an exam from a student who just didn't get it.
student just isn't bright; the student must have had a bad day, etc. But in the
end, such a teacher can't escape the feeling that the fault is in the teacher.
This mirrors his picture of before, of many different sites at the ends of the
wires, so to speak, some commercial, some not. With both pictures, the moral is
ends, will effect the value of the commons. The original Internet is that
the experience of the Net that we know right now. Changes that would make it
less protective of free speech, changes that would make it more invasive of
privacy, changes that would make it more susceptible to regulation, changes
So take the example of regulation. It was commonplace at the start of the
Internet revolution for people to celebrate the fact that life there could not
be regulated. But in my book, I told the story about an increasingly
frequently carried ("voluntarily") digital IDs. In one version of that story,
these IDs collect all sorts of facts about people. And in that version, these
IDs are designed to be checked automatically by servers as you pass along the
information highway. And thus, in that version, quite invisibly, the network is
change, it becomes possible once again for local government to begin to impose
regulation on people on the Net, by forcing local servers to condition access
based on the features of who people are. It becomes possible, that is, to zone
Now, the argument is a bit complex. And no doubt one could disagree with it.
But it is hard for me to see how one could read that argument, and then talk
about "gated communities" or "side by side" networks. The argument is about the
commons, not the ends; it is about the control that is enabled for those in the
Internet we know now; and it is about the control that gets enabled because of
the emergence of one kind of architecture of identity. It is about a control
over the commons, not a control in gated communities.
Or consider another argument at the core of the book, this one about free
speech. When the concern about kids and "porn" became pressing, many said a
perfect solution would be code that helped filter content on the Net. And a
group of very talented architects came up with an architecture to facilitate
this filtering. They called it the Platform for Internet Content Selection, or
PICS. Using PICS, individual sites could rate their material, but more
important, third parties could rate the material of others. PICS was valuable
its ratings as well. Individuals would then select the rating system they want,
just now) would filter content according to this rating.
Sounds just great. Until one notices another feature of this
but it is also neutral vertically (the filters can be imposed at any place in
conceivably, the nation). And more significant, this vertical filter would not
announce itself as a filter. It could block access invisibly. So that this
now become a technology that would lower the cost of censorship generally. And
so the feature of the original Internet that people celebrated most
plan, flip. The technology would enable just the sort of speech control the
Now again, this is not a straightforward argument. One can disagree with it,
articles against my position. And I have seen how earlier parts of my argument
But I don't understand how one would believe that this change that I am
understand how one would read this argument and not get that it is about the
think they would lose market share if they did not allow users to disable the
system with a click of the mouse, which I take it, they do."
is the tracking of servers that we're describing. And second, in fact, there is
no obligation to disclose anything. Sites have their "privacy policies" (has
anyone ever read one of them?), but the interesting question is about sites
sharing data. You give your name to one site, but choose not to give your name
to another, yet unbeknownst to you, the sites are allied, and using a common
cookie identification, they can share what you didn't want shared.
to do so? Because again, by hypothesis, consumers don't know the data is being
shared. So they don't know enough to punish the sharer, by reducing its market
individuals are given is not, as you predict, a technology that "allows choices
There are more efficient technologies, that wouldn't bother you at each turn
as I ask there, why would one expect the market voluntarily to adopt these
technologies? For to build in a technology that allows choices to be heavily
individuated is to build in a technology that increases the costs of getting
data. But in Internet space, data is gold. Under the existing architecture,
commercial sites get it for free. What is the mechanism that one would imagine
whereby these sites adopt technologies to give up what they now get for
Once again, mine is a hard argument to make. Reasonable people have
disagreed with the particulars I recommend. But I don't see how one can see
this as a problem about gated communities. Once again, it is a change that
In all these cases, the changes I am describing are changes to the core
experience of life on the Net. And the question we should ask is how these
changes will affect what we find valuable in the Net. The point is not against
libertarians. Indeed, one could imagine a libertarian critique of emerging
architectures on the Net just as one could imagine a libertarian critique of
trying to point to a newly salient threat to whatever values you might
Trying, but not succeeding, not even with one of my brightest students. So
was a fairly obvious point, I have obviously failed to convey.
You know, one of the consequences of watching Blazing Saddles many
It is much, much funnier than it seems here. I guess, for the joke to work,
So, I think our "Breakfast Table" time is winding down. One final item: Did
image of him wandering around the newsroom, saying, "So, what word do I use to
the term 'widely unread' to describe 'On My Mind'?" (The answers, as best I can
wretched excess and the Super Bowl is actually providing the inspirational
It's hard to remember another athlete who went from nowhere to his sports'
wives than loan their quarterbacks to someone. But the Rams' apathy about
any of it. Between the legal drugs you can get there and the constant runs to
would show they've never seen a complete game. And if they do remember one,
it's usually only later. Much, much later. As a flashback.)
her heart or anxiously clasping her hands during games (she's the one with the
paper observes that such drops no longer provoke the anxiety they did just a
few years ago. As if to dramatize this point, none of the other papers fronts
the move, and even the Wall Street Journal business and finance news index puts it
campaigned aggressively." On the Republican side, the paper says that Bush got
taken by the Times to be a sign of the potency of the abortion issue in
caucus has gone on to become president since Jimmy Carter. Indeed, the paper
points out high up that the overwhelmingly white state is hardly representative
of the nation. Another important piece of perspective should have been higher
the honor of being the first in the nation to weigh in on candidates.
"provides some legal ammunition" for efforts to curtail soft money. The
LAT sees things more strongly, leading off its piece with the claim that
with the decision, the court "strongly endorsed the cause of campaign reform."
perpetuates a dichotomy from an earlier decision: Donation limits do not
countries that support terrorism, which would reduce its ability to get
screen all patients for heart problems before prescribing the popular nighttime
diverted computer specialists at many companies from other projects, which are
jobs were created throughout the federal government and track what's happening
'DEATH TAX' HIT HOME," followed by the subhead "Next generation faces a burden
change all that. But if you read the fine print stashed in a couple of the
piece's crannies, you learn that "next generation" and "hit home" are rather
merits. That is, until Weeks gets to one nominee in the criticism
Shields' effort "is an amazingly bad book, right up there at the top of my list
debates, which it describes as "personal and combative." The debates also top
definitive position on the issue of what sort of home work activities must
comply with federal workplace health and safety regulations, a position taken
after the Labor Department first said all such activities were covered and then
household is not covered, but hazardous manufacturing work there is. The
Times leads with the latest in the city's mushrooming police scandal:
which the arrests were based on officers' documented illegal activity, ranging
from lying to unprovoked shooting. At least three of those people are in jail
together to form a Polling Review Board that will monitor and discuss the flood
of political polls expected during the upcoming election season. One focus of
the organization will be scrutinizing and debunking online polls.
The headlines over the papers' debate stories suggest that the press can
looking positively exuberant, making what looks like a peace sign with each
hand, although, let's face it, at that age, it's probably bunny ears. The
preponderance of documentary materials relating to him, that, yes, he almost
mistakenly declassified and that on at least one occasion were accessed by an
outside researcher. But the outside researcher was not apparently a Post
sense in at least one concrete area: He's been wearing a hat while campaigning
say you're willing to do the right thing even if it makes you look bad in the
media. How can we believe that when, even in freezing weather, to look good you
that makes them so darn funny, but the mere mention of an Evil Clown makes me
the point. So I salute you, my friend, for bringing up Evil Clowns. Makes me
president sign an executive order to end racial profiling by law enforcement.
see who gets the nomination, and that could mean big bucks for the Democratic
By the way, speaking of columnists, where has the New York Post 's
In other news, the Wall Street Journal has made up for yesterday's
Page One story with a whole slew of wonderful news items. For instance,
according to today's "Business Bulletin," "Boat parties, casino nights, and
accompanied by an assortment of toppings," are declining in popularity, which
casino nights and events held on boats: "People are tired of being trapped."
The same column also features the following news item: "This year's top
carving, which a spokeswoman described as indescribable." These two sentences
"Hey! I could have called her yesterday!" Not that I would have. But I could
This is a strange time in the stock market. On the one hand, prevailing
wisdom among the chattering classes has it that current stock prices,
is for that bubble to lose slow air slowly, rather than in one giant burst. I
started collecting examples of journalists saying things like "this overvalued
market" and "Does anyone remember Japan in the 1980s?," but I stopped because,
well, I got bored. At the same time, though, no one seems to be actually
selling their stock, perhaps because everyone's succumbed to the siren song of
Or it may be that people are staying invested because for a supposed bubble
in which prices are driven ever higher by indiscriminate investors, this market
is actually quite discriminating, and its standards for corporate performance
column, I wrote about the segmentation of Internet stocks into winners and
Net sector by taking a real toll on Internet retailers. When Lucent recently
announced that its quarterly numbers would fall well short of expectations, the
Now, one way of looking at these sharp turns in market sentiment is to
a more accurate way of looking at them is to see that investors are thinking
hard about what news means for a company's future earning prospects and are not
interested in rewarding companies that fail to live up to expectations. (For
further evidence of this, look at the market's reaction to all the recent
merger announcements.) It's also the case that those expectations are very
Of course, the market's expectations should be very high, what with the
what's interesting is that it isn't just stocks trading at stratospheric levels
that are punished, nor is it just stocks that fall well short of
and revenue growth weren't staggering, but they weren't disappointing, either.
The company showed strong growth in its wireless business, which remains one of
the hottest sectors around, and it issued a bullish forecast for the coming
access to its local customers, fell well short of expectations. Since
business for local phone companies to dominate, this was not good news. On a
Pronto," but that's neither here nor there.) But the important point is that
the judgment was made. In a pure speculative market, like the South Sea Bubble,
it was enough to exist to coin money. And even in the months leading up to the
performance seemed to matter less and less. Say what you will about this
market. There are no byes for the teams that are playing in it.
response wasn't lamenting the end of cyberspace. It was lamenting the failure
to connect. What baffles me is your refusal to engage an argument that I have
You attack what I "seem" to be saying or what I must "assume." Why not attack
"carried over to the Net as needed." But where have I ever said anything
different? My argument is against those who say law won't "be needed" and
gates to filter information" so long as they don't "impose their will on
individuals who do not join their cause." But it was precisely my point that
the PICS architecture enables the imposition on those who do "not join their
cause." So are you agreeing with me? Or disagreeing with me? Or just not
same." Where have I ever said anything like that? Obviously they are both
"controls." Obviously they are differentially dangerous, depending upon the
context. What words have I uttered to conflict with these obvious
You rightfully report my "lament" at the displacement of an embedded First
Amendment, and then quote my argument about the increasing power of government
to zone cyberspace. But then you chide me that the "painfully obvious answer"
to my lament is that these changes won't come "if that kind of restriction
identification. The point was that this affected the commons, not only, as you
said, the gated communities. My argument about the First Amendment comes three
paragraphs later, and about filters, not IDs. Whatever protection this (local
ordinance) of a First Amendment has against filters, it has "painfully" little
And then you close by saying that your view "is that the standard set of
about the Internet, no special brand of cyberspace liberty, changes these
how to translate legal values from real space to cyberspace. So what do you
In every case, for some reason, I can't get you to focus on arguments that I
actually make, either here or in the book. I say commerce is changing the
character of the Net; you say you "don't get it." I say it is changing the Net
by changing the architecture; you say it won't affect the commons, only the
is changing the commons, not the private networks; you respond with a string of
banalities that have nothing to do with the commons, or my point. You run, but
you will not hide. Instead, you say more and more that connects less and
I have tried to "sell" a message, it is true. I am grateful to those who
bit more convincing in selling that message if you actually wrote about what I
It might just make the argument a bit less "diffuse" and "hypothetical."
occasionally someone will come along and, because of something you've written,
that. (The book, by the way, is terrific, and you should buy it when it comes
of profitability and a market capitalization that bore no connection to
the one company that he truly loved and invested in out of a real faith in its
illuminated what now seems to me to be essentially indisputable, which is that
(This, of course, makes me wonder why I wasn't able to see then what I see now,
interactions between buyers and sellers and not building or even really selling
anything itself, its gross margins (that is, the cost of actually providing its
"goods") are almost guaranteed to remain high. Although the company obviously
volume of items for sale, there are no obvious limitations on how big its
virtual marketplace can grow, making it, in that sense, almost infinitely
scalable. And the bigger it gets, and the more people grow comfortable with it,
the wider the variety of goods people will buy and sell on it.
that network increases. The network effect is often bandied about as
characteristic of many businesses on the Net, but in fact there is no "network"
buyers want to go where there are the most sellers, and therefore the positive
There are a couple of quirks to this story. For all the power of the network
something on auction at Amazon, I can never figure out why the person isn't
Amazon and Yahoo do have powerful customer bases of their own, and have set up
their interfaces so that auction items find their way to regular customers
fairly easily. Also, Amazon lets you buy a lot of items with a credit card, and
the company became fully valued not long after it went public. In other words,
at the "right" price in a matter of months rather than years (as arguably was
stock won't go up (or down) from here, especially since volatility is now a way
changing view of Internet companies, and Internet stocks, over the past two
years. What once appeared to be a bubble driven by hysterical investors now
looks much more to me like as good an attempt as possible at quantifying the
value of an economic opportunity that, taken as a whole, still looks
practically limitless. (Of course, to almost everyone else, it looks like a
bubble.) And while discussion of the Net remains swamped with hype and
demonstrate that you can take advantage of that opportunity and still make a
lead with a surprisingly large revised Congressional Budget Office 10-year
estimate of the federal budget surplus, now thought to be as much as a
candidates quickly weighed in on how they would variously divvy up the surplus
among tax cuts, spending, debt reduction, and Social Security and Medicare
money just yet: The surplus stories are juxtaposed with reporting about how the
women, whereas the LAT doesn't mention menopause until the eighth
paragraph and never mentions the number of women at risk. Both stories mention
that progestin also reduces the risk of uterine cancer, which prompts a
suggestion: It would be helpful if the papers would get in the habit of
accompanying stories about the particular potential cancer risk of a given
relented and agreed to allow his visiting grandmothers to see him today. But
country's spy agency will help ensure compliance. Western countries, the paper
explains, are worried that providing this information will lead to rampant
about this, the Journal says some will, rather than surrender source
who instead dispatches a cousin and friend to sing his praises. The result,
says the paper, is that "Bush is the only candidate who comes across like he's
been pressured by Whitewater prosecutors into cooperating with their
investigation as part of a guilty plea deal, was hired last year by an
passengers and avoid taking fares to "dangerous neighborhoods." Both the
editorial and the letter (from the head of the city cab commission) state that
failing to serve potential clients because of their race and redlining of
neighborhoods are both banned by the city's cab rules. As they should be. But
there's a complication here that both the editorial and the letter overlook,
but that cab drivers cannot: Although the local rules say a cab driver cannot
ignore a fare on the basis of "personal appearance," this obviously can't mean
that drivers must see threatening behavior before refusing to pick someone up.
Imagine for instance that you are a cab driver and around the corner from the
county jail you are peacefully flagged down by a young man in a bright orange
jumpsuit stamped "Property of County Jail." You'd be nuts to pick him up and no
law could possibly make it otherwise, even though he only looks like
and disability policy agree? Perhaps the dailies ought to pose this question to
How can school systems get and keep excellent teachers? Good question! I do
think that a good curriculum is part of the answer. And I think the Core
reading, which is no small thing. I like his emphasis on biographies and
mythology in the younger grades. He gives an important place to music and art,
a good idea from my point of view. His curriculum is fairly new and is
currently used in less than a thousand schools, and I suspect that in time, and
reciting scripted lessons all day long. I understand that many teachers are
relieved to have such a script, but I am sure that with guidance, most of them
such guidance? Good principals can certainly help. I agree with you that
By the way, the unions play an important role in attracting good teachers.
Decent wages and working conditions are not a side issue. I suppose it's not
unions usually support the Democrats and he is a Republican. But I wish he had
recognized how many helpful things the unions do, not just in regard to wages
and working conditions. In New York, the teachers' union runs a program called
I have to make a confession about school choice. I became a teacher in the
were hopeless. The conditions were too dreadful. The teachers and
administrators were too racist. The system was intractable. What to do? For a
lot of young educators like me, the answer was to start our own
sides have changed. Liberals, like me, understand that our society had better
educators have shown that you can make superior public schools even in poor
to be, for people with ambition and ideas. True, there is a risk that in
task. As for charter schools, I don't think we have enough information yet.
Charter schools are public schools that operate outside of the bureaucratic
system, and in some places that might be good, in other places not so good.
Concerning vouchers, my fear is that they will undermine a sense of the public
So what if some other kids are left in the lurch, is the implication. It is not
book has some good ideas, too (as you and I agree) and it has given us the
opportunity to bat around our own ideas, which has been fun.
were a Republican operative plotting Al Gore's demise when you ran into him
literary license. Trust me, sister. The story works great when you're not
the city gets so much as a dusting of snow. But here in New York City, as you
know, the mindset is a little different. Here it takes the equivalent of a
percussion bomb to get anyone's attention. Here, we don't chitchat much about
episode and, even when it's not, the tabloid headline writers try to turn it
Take today. Rather than waking up and remarking about the four inches of
snow we received here overnight, the big story here is about the two office
workers who were stuck in an skyscraper elevator that went on a 40-story free
Apparently, some rescue workers took an adjacent elevator to the place where
the man and woman were stuck, took out the side panels that separated the two
elevator cars, then asked them to make a tightrope walk across a narrow beam
that spanned the shaft between the two elevators, as if these two poor
pack of bubblegum into my mouth before every softball game I played. And
falling asleep to baseball games that I listened to on a transistor radio I
smuggled to bed. And getting so dusty from playing outside all day that I could
Perhaps not surprisingly, years later I had to go to the doctor because of a
back problem. I had a slightly cracked disk, and the doctor asked me how it
barn floor covered with straw; the time I wrecked a minibike or fell into a
class when a classmate forgot to hold my legs onto the uneven bars as I
practicing a gymnastics maneuver called a "Flying Eagle." I couldn't turn my
seem like an appellation that's likely to go down in the annals of crime
normally last night. As you and Otto (the dog) know from my frequent nocturnal
lag of the past week has been miserable. Every night, a roiling marathon of
phone with improper currency. But today I made it until dawn before having a
we already were booked. The horrible part about this wasn't the Anxiety of
Uncertainty (would the airline honor the tickets?), it was how reality impinged
permeated my waking yesterday. What a bizarre day. The children getting into
Still, I am surprised at the degree to which it's truly
typically enjoyed an unreasonable trust in all machinery except pay phones. In
sure it couldn't have been mechanical error. I figured it had to be terrorists.
We even talked about cranking out another lesser thriller, remember? Prologue:
New York, sight in on a jumbo jet, ready, aim, and fire one of those Stingers,
flaw, a fatal crack in its technology. Was it a technical glitch that caused
work means something to yet another novelist with such a sharp, funny, and
for us to be discussing a volume of letters in this format!
We may be certain of a few things, the most important
enter secondhand stores, ask for one of her books, and have the proprietor tell
the days when you would regularly run into Dawn's novels at thrift sales and in
the dustiest corners of secondhand book stores, priced at less than a dollar a
From this point on, anybody who undertakes any sort of
short stories, book reviews, and occasional pieces; a magnificent diary that
books sold so poorly when they were originally issued that she is, in some
sense, brand new. We read her because she's good company (the "death of the
needs no explication; rather, her wit makes us laugh, her characters are likely
You mention her "optimism"; I would prefer the word
Do I make myself obscure? Then let me put it another
religion, scornful of "happy endings" great and small, in marriages as in
revolutions. At bottom, her view of the world is bleak, blunt, unsparing, and
fundamentally tragic. She offers no great hopes, encourages no daydreams,
most of us will never get that rock halfway up the hill to begin with. And so
A Time To Be Born (1942)--a dazzling and unsettling
evocation of New York City on the verge of World War II, which grabs and holds
features homosexual characters and is neither a soggy plea for understanding, a
mockery or hate tract, a clinical case study, or anything other than an
intricate and compassionate rendering of some fellow human beings).
some immersion in her life and work. My publishers will kill me if I don't
make it to the platform by memory, rather than by sight. Finally, after the
microwaves similar to the kind that's emitted from mobile phones. Not
surprisingly, the poor rats couldn't remember the way to the platform after
swam to the place where it should be and looked around with concern; the
cellular rats just swam around randomly, like members of the Royal family at
I could see this one really upsetting the digerati. For
years, people have shrugged off suggestions that cell phones could cause
certain kinds of tumors. (I was interviewing an engineer recently who referred
Of course, it's impossible to say at this point if the
need to be conducted (rats in a tank of juice, I guess, followed by a vat of
beer). Also, Wired says the radio transmissions are slightly different
from the type used by cellular phones. Still, I figured that you, as president
and founder of the Cell Phone Haters Club, would want to be aware of this
development so you can disseminate it (how? Carrier pigeon?) to your
Sometimes it's worth remembering that the everyday business of Wall Street,
about the brokers and traders who are still out there trying to hit that bid
Smith Barney analyst who today started coverage of General Motors with a "hold"
recommendation. Think of it. Why General Motors right now? And starting it with
a hold? It's like a restaurant critic who's forced to specialize in different
gradations of bland. Or a movie reviewer spending his time explaining why
except that the big news was how little news the decision made on Wall Street,
at least in terms of moving the market as a whole or even the company's stock,
simultaneously be unimportant to a company and incredibly important to the
companies it's competing against. It's the inscrutable wisdom of the market.
ordered three top executives at Computer Associates to 
You can now offer bids on the price of groceries. Airlines make seats available
are about to expire, and mystery meat? Well. This is going to be big. Really
necessarily believers of the occult.' Apparently only if the show featured
someone who could actually raise the dead would it appeal to believers
million in a successful stock rights offering that allowed current
But I suppose that is a vote of confidence of sorts."
it actually held the press conference. One wonders what would have happened if
at the press conference it had only announced that it would be holding another
there in the first place. This doesn't make him a minimal realist. The truth
looking for would bring fresh analysis and a new interpretation of events. The
The problem with so much that's been written about the war is that it stops
evidence that the war was finally being won by the United States and South
journalists who wrote about the war critically and then lamented the outcome
Memorial. There's always a crowd there. I think it's partly because people feel
these soldiers haven't got a fair shake from historians, the media, etc.
would have been a huge political price to pay at home, far bigger than the one
upper hand. And some have claimed the war was essentially won. The first time I
posture statement. I didn't believe him at the time. But more recently the case
but left, say, two divisions behind and kept up military and economic aid?
While Chatterbox wasn't paying attention, the Old Executive Office Building,
a grand Second Empire pile that stands beside the White House and houses White
House aides who aren't quite important enough to get offices in the executive
ready to name him Man of the Century, and there seems to be general agreement
right are invited to get in touch with one another in the Fray. Chatterbox's
only request is that they not choose the New Executive Office Building, just up
would say, disturbing, than mine, that were in fact, I would say,
Who are these racist advisers? A quick look at the Crossfire
transcript reveals only one allegation that comes close to fitting
PRESS: I just want to follow up again. Because there's another adviser to
there for blacks, but blacks just don't go after them. It reminds me of Ed
book The Dream and the Nightmare had been a major influence. In
implied, black society in general. (Magnet says "only a minority of black
dysfunctional feature of underclass society, Magnet argues, is a failure to
take available jobs. "Of course there are jobs out there," Magnet told me,
sticking to his guns. "The success of welfare reform makes that abundantly
clear. Folks didn't have trouble going out and finding jobs."
Magnet's view is probably impolitic (though maybe less so than Wolf and
unemployed man and woman in the black underclass tried to get a job back in
being a culture whose members do not take advantage of economic opportunities
when they present themselves. The argument is actually anti- racist in
matter," the result of "bad messages coming from the larger culture [read:
those privileged, white hippies!] that have encouraged a weak family
Wolf a lot of protection when it comes to press coverage, though it might not
and inflames dialogue in a way that tends to prevent exposure of which ideas
are right and which are wrong. ("It's just bullshit," Magnet says. "It means
by Press' tendentious summary of Magnet's views. But Press didn't call anyone a
out anything racist, you'll be notified immediately!
"The downside of the changing statistics, and indeed a new figure came out
"Continued economic growth led to a significant reduction in poverty in
press release of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
"Sting really likes squash soup. He really enjoys soups that have been
leads with an anonymously sourced report that Secretary of State
movement and says that next week advocates will file for a proposed ballot
Gore's assertion, in an interview, that a cousin offered to help him join the
possibly be drafted (he ultimately enlisted). Gore did not take his cousin up
on the offer, he says, "because a lot of those decisions were made with
budget negotiations with Congress. The White House leak, the Times
A separate Post roundup of the budget talks (run inside) notes that despite
early promises from both parties, almost nothing has been done to reform
Medicare and that the parties' pledges to protect Social Security largely
focuses on House Republicans' anger at their Senate colleagues for taking
The LAT fronts, and the Post runs inside, the results of a large Pew Research Center
poll on political and economic attitudes. The findings are no surprise:
people are happier with their finances and more tolerant of government
intervention than five years ago. The Post identifies a group of swing
voters that Pew calls the "New Prosperity Independents." They are young,
these hardball tactics harm consumers. "This case is not about antitrust," he
which involves businesses getting together to raise prices and restrict
output. This case is about how business firms deal with each other. It raises
issues that go under such names as property rights, contracts, commercial law,
browser into Windows provides no technical efficiency or consumer benefit is
It's a jungle out there: These are trying times for yuppie
dads and moms. The Journal reports that United Airlines has been
replacing its crystal salt and pepper shakers in first and business class with
tubular paper sachets. United claims that the salt often condenses in the
shaker, but victimized travelers aren't buying this explanation. As one harried
the wrong spot." As if that weren't enough, the LAT reports that Burger Kings across the land are running out of
spokesman tries to calm the panic by reassuring distraught moms and tots that
franchises]. We have toys making their way by planes, trains, and automobiles
as well as ships." But what will this do to BK stock? The LAT asks a
"restaurant consultant": "In the short run, this clearly hurts Burger King," he
says. "The chains can't afford to have an unlimited number [of toys] on hand so
they just do the best they can and kind of regroup after the disaster."
trial, issued yesterday a 207-page document that states the software giant
"enjoys monopoly power in the relevant market." The story, with accompanying
lowest point in three decades.  The New York Times serves up one of several education stories:
stifled innovation, squeezed out competition, and impaired consumer choice. His
conclusions, a precursor to the verdict expected early next year, support the
who say that the findings are hardly surprising (an opinion also expressed by
in which findings of fact were released before the actual verdict. This was
interpreted by one analyst as a gesture intended to elicit a settlement. If
none is reached, appeals may drag on for years, experts say.
percentage point equates to roughly one million people.) The drop brought with
in good shape before the weekend close, and analysts predict that the Fed will
the ability to draw in the politically disenchanted. The story emphasizes the
can hold on with significantly less money than his rival. The Post
boomers put increased pressure on Medicare and Social Security coffers.
Beyond their shock value, New York City's test scores made news because the
coming years, statewide tests (with class work and attendance) will determine
which students advance to the next grade. All the papers report that a sharply
program until a definitive ruling is reached about whether the program violates
the separation of church and state. The program lets children attend parochial
schools using public money. The court decided to suspend an injunction
preventing new students from joining the program. Finally, the LAT
leaders' "serious alarm" at the shield, which could damage military and
"breakaway region" later on in the piece, was latently distracted by a blink in
today. The plan will dovetail White House ideas, such as tax credits for banks
of capital gains taxes on property sales in these "renewal communities." The
runs this story inside, and says the plan is vague and will yield little
notes that, at the last minute, a sentence was inserted in the legislation
job of contextualizing: The pharmaceutical industry is fragmented, with
inefficiencies in research and few new products; it also fears that that
Medicare may start to cover prescription drugs, which could lower prices. The
Journal 's online edition reports that early this morning the board of
entire board at any time. The Journal waits until the 31st paragraph
the North that invades the other. A report released by a House Republican
the '70s and '80s. "When you finish a story, I would say, read it, substitute
make me miserable, make my wife cry, but it has no innuendo, no unattributed
pejorative remarks, no slap in the face for joy of slapping, it is news, not
gutter gossip, and as a reporter I know the writer was fair, then give it to
advising are not true. She never advised him about clothes, she says, and she
mentioned "alpha" and "beta" only in passing, in one memo. As for her
exorbitant fee, she says, "I have written a whole book about how women should
successful writer, and I had to close down my whole shop" to write memos for
Gore. She concedes that it was Gore who wanted the payments concealed. In the
because she's radical? Is it because she's ambitious? Is it because she's not a
Because of the money? Because she's a girl? Because she's a girl who writes
transformed its marketing, and last year ketchup sales bested those of salsa,
which had been first for three years running. Where it used to pitch its tomato
commercials, with teens philosophizing about the "moodiness" of ketchup that
refuses to leave the bottle; forthcoming ads will teach the under-12 set that
ketchup can be "fun" (a campaign sure to draw the appreciation of moms and
Street Journal 's "Business and Finance" box. Most papers note that the
interest rates again this year, the other papers note that Wall Street will
Times leads with a Justice Department lawsuit against seven utility
consumers. (The Journal asserts, without attribution, that new
four people with a 9mm handgun, killing two. He is still at large. (Note: The
with a flying airplane," says the National Transportation Safety Board.
"The winds have plucked off slabs of concrete and left the sidewalks
historic reluctance to use the death penalty makes that sentence unlikely.
Many of these students are now reformists pressing for open, secular
calls for "dialogue."  "Every revolution at first has special idealistic causes
and aims to change the world," says one of the three students to organize the
takeover. "But in practice, after a while, the revolutionaries will come face
including a war imposed on us and poor economy," he and his peers are
"confronting the demand of the people to participate in politics." Meanwhile,
Earlier this week the Journal seasoned its editorial page with a
changes in business mores particularly well. In a cartoon from the '50s, a
As long as we're making of list of people who are not running for president
amazing it is, after nearly a century of Republican rule here on Long Island,
that the voters finally got fed up enough to buck the system. These Republicans
look amateurish. What finally did them in was making a financial muck of the
county's budget, getting the county's bond rating downgraded, and proposing a
boasting publicly about how well organized a "machine" the Republican Party was
frustrating it was to run up against that implacable wall of united party
loyalty. The Republicans used to hold these "informal" private meetings where
all the issues would be decided in a conference room. Then they would emerge to
take a "public" vote at meetings, often with little or no discussion of even
the most complicated topic. If anyone attending the public meeting raised a
things used to be done routinely; the fact that it's survived so long is
amazing. It's like the political equivalent of one of those tribes of wholly
isolated people that explorers stumble on from time to time in the jungle. Over
It will be interesting to see what happens when the county executive, a
up for election next. He's enjoyed a comfortable decade or more in office.
arrangement as a violation of journalistic ethics, and last week prompted from
does not approve of it), urges Parks to publish a lengthy investigation in the
One of the most important steps the Times can take is to publish
in its own pages a thorough examination of the events that led to the Staples
deal. The Times owes nothing less to its readers and to its
Others have written about the Staples controversy and will continue to do
Foreman in the late 1970s. (Foreman was a political writer at the
Inquirer who had an affair with a local pol while covering local
politics for the paper.) The Times petition is signed by many important
suspects other names have been added to the list since he acquired a copy.)
The petitioners have a good idea, and not just because it might cost Downing
of more cooperation between the business and news departments of the newspaper
probably led to this fiasco) their jobs. There remain many unanswered questions
about the Staples deal, of which the "journalism ethics" question is only
Staples deal was smart from a business perspective? According to the
the Times handed over to the Staples Center apparently was a down
of ad signs posted inside and outside the Staples Center; the right to sell
Center is surely of negligible value. Chatterbox suspects the same is true of
to pamper advertisers; but if the Times had simply rented its own like
An irony in all this is that the real way to make money off the
Staples Center would have been to pander to advertisers with a special issue of
but rather, to keep it all. Chatterbox doesn't expect Captain Crunch and
his minions to understand journalism; but don't they understand how to make a
suspect, a man of course, was wearing a brown hat, according to the police
account. And camouflage clothes. Aside from that, he looked pretty
to sound pretty average, too: He went into an office building (want to bet it's
his?) and opened fire. The television coverage is all too average as well: Lots
of Johnny on the spots, excitedly telling what they know "at this point" (not
police are searching, then showing the neighborhood from a helicopter, then
deciding that it was a boneheaded move to show where, exactly, the police are
hunting (let's not let the shooter know where the cops are!). and zipping over
to another Johnny on the spots who doesn't know much. At this point.
Ah, is there anything that's at once so exhilarating and banal as breaking
that we in the media do. Remember when we were both junior reporters at
dead and the near dead? And remember that time when that lady hissed at you?
overall process of decomposition. Why am I watching this broadcast? Why is it
national news? What good does it do? Where's the public need to know here?
Oh, cool: Video footage just came on showing the cops storming a house with
one of those SWAT shields. This is getting good. See you at dinner. Gotta
federal requirements. The new statewide standards, which will be phased in
amount of pollution emitted by the cars that are currently being manufactured.
to produce vehicles which satisfy the strictest state requirements.
Times lead claims that the findings will compound problems that are
defection of top talent; the emergence of new computing platforms; and the
technological shifts. Another Post piece explores the legal aftermath of
and the next president could order the Justice Department to abandon the
great harvest of faith will be reaped on this vast and vital continent" and
"forced conversions." Both Times es report that police officers beat
and arrested three demonstrators who dared to chant: "No conversions." A
principle, arguing that "politicians have to draw the line."
man who can defend his own life can defend yours." The slogan refers to the
states ratified the Constitution (click here for the
In passing the law, Congress cited the coins' educational value, saying the
new quarters would "promote the diffusion of knowledge among the youth of the
United States about the individual states." Collectors also lobbied for the
and sell it for the face value of the coin. A quarter, for example, costs the
These profits, called "seigniorage," go into the government's general fund and
are budgeted by Congress just like tax revenue. (Old coins can also be
exchanged for new ones, but this accounts for only a small portion of the coins
supply" as a tool to stimulate the economy and control inflation, this does not
mean that the Fed regulates the supply of bills and coins. New coins and bills
holdings, mutual funds, and other financial instruments. (Instead, the Fed buys
and sells securities, changes interest rates, and adjusts the required reserve
out monetary policies.) So, coins (and bills) are simply supplied as demanded
quarters, which is creating an unprecedented demand. The new quarters are now
a "Beta male" who needs to take on the "Alpha male" in the Oval Office before
"Ah don't know. Do you have anything that would be good to rebel
"Maybe you'd better take the motorcycle helmet off."
"You aren't planning to tell anybody about this, are you?"
sources deep within the federal government, the percentage of the
years, and probably its lowest level since the early 1970s. This "dependency
You get the picture. Welfare dependency among blacks remained at a high
(when there was already a lot of talk of reform in the air). Since then, the
Is the black dependency rate the lowest ever? Probably not, for the simple
reason that before the "welfare explosion" of the late 1960s, many poor blacks
were blocked or discouraged from receiving welfare. It's hard to know for
the lowest since the early '70s or even the late '60s.
administration, may not want to publicize these encouraging statistics, because
dependency rate has always been much higher than the white rate, at least since
the welfare explosion. This is one reason why the "underclass," as measured by
plunging dependency rate suggests is that this problem may be on its way to
being radically ameliorated, if not solved. A smaller portion of blacks on
welfare means not only a smaller underclass; it means more working and
latter two groups will eventually swamp and assimilate the former. (Might the
drop in black dependency just record people who are being pushed off welfare
into poverty? It could, but it almost certainly doesn't. Black poverty and
black child poverty have been falling. Click here for more on this
Can a favorable "tipping point" be far away? Things seem to be finally
exactly compare the number of people (including children) on welfare with the
with the adult population. Typically there is only one adult per welfare
qualify for welfare. There may be also be one, or two, or more children in a
single "case." The "case" numbers also include cases in which technically only
It is important to realize that as we go forward, there are no easy
solutions to complex problems. Inferences from recent events must be drawn
carefully so that decisions can be made that meet all critical and important
requirements. For example, the Staples Center mistake has been ascribed to the
that it had an equally awkward arrangement with the Fleet Center when it opened
newspaper along classy principles gets you: Somebody comes along and buys you
Bad decisions can and are made by people with all kinds of backgrounds in
the best kinds of organizations. The key is to have people make the best
decisions they can. And when they make a bad call, to quickly acknowledge it,
Other newspaper organizations have business ties that raise important
journalistic questions with which they successfully grapple every day. For
direct ownership positions. I mention these two examples simply to indicate
that as we go forward we must meet our simultaneous responsibilities to our
readers, customers, advertisers and communities. This requires sensitivity to
all of the relevant issues in a brutally competitive and complex world. We are
organizations: Flay us for the Staples Center deal and we'll flay you right
"Just who do you think I am, sir?" "We've already established that," he says.
"Now we're just haggling over price." In a sense, that's what we're arguing
have been politically acceptable in the United States in the early 1970s.
Let me try to make the case that the price was worth paying. First, look at
have never come to grips with this. But a lot of horrible things did
happen. One million boat people, of whom tens of thousands died at sea. The
legitimate educational institutions. An oppressive Communist regime over all of
Now, what was the most explosive event of the war in terms of adverse
State in which four students were shot to death by National Guardsmen. But as
vanish, but it did die down. And I think there was still plenty of room for
for the wrong thing. They got a peace settlement that left some North
"the folklore of the antiwar movement." One of those myths is championed by
necessary? Of course not. He'd have achieved his goal a lot sooner.
argument. Still, I think he made it especially well.
invasion. I doubt it. But, as you say, that's another story.
has strong support in the Senate, although the Post says a Democrat is threatening to filibuster. It is unknown
weapons. Retaliatory nuclear strikes are never justified, he argues, because
story (he accused the Bush campaign of "planting" the story in the
can't rule by heroic example alone; he must build and lead a team. In light of
how effective a Lone Ranger like him would be in the White House."
The Post reports on the latest hot Internet startup: a llama
ask his landlord before bidding, though. (He might have to settle for the
by a independent panel appointed by the Defense Department, that criticizes the
"kill vehicles," that would destroy incoming ballistic missiles by colliding
the Republicans, have reluctantly acknowledged that a "limited system" might be
necessary sooner rather than later to protect the United States from such
successful interception last month, there has been no integrated test of the
program's component parts: the kill vehicles, radars, and controlling computer
networks. And it remains to be seen whether the kill vehicles will be able to
withstand the shock loads of the booster rockets being designed to carry them
that their methods for measuring drug production might be "seriously flawed."
According to those officials, next year's estimates are likely to "skyrocket."
Two unnamed government sources suggested to the LAT that estimates of
said. "Where are all the corpses?" Many skeptics think the estimates are little
more than "guesswork" used by the administration to get more money out of
congressional cuts, low inflation, and efforts to weed out fraud. "The decline
in Medicare spending is a phenomenal development," said a former director of
lobbies to push Congress to adopt the legislation necessary to open trade with
China, should the United States and China strike a deal that would bring China
editors of the lauded paper, the capital letter has been taken down a peg.
in the first reference to the president of the United States.' Note: not 'the
current President,' with a capital P." Also losing caps are "founding fathers"
and "the king," in "God save the King." The country might not feel the
Air travel is a horror. But still, how amazing! I mean, to get on a plane at
Again, it's easy to leap to the wrong conclusions when you wander around
out on the town, and rather than talking to each other, each was engaged in a
to buy one (since you made me get rid of our old, useless one!) just so I could
"personalize" it with one of those translucent antennas with the lightning bolt
shopping here is it's a social activity, a reason to get out of your tiny
nonexistent problem. People want to leave their desks and their apartments,
indeed, they have to if they want to see each other. The Net will never catch
Back for more! It's always fun to share favorite authors. Someone once said
did with the diaries, for the simple reason that Dawn had already edited the
letters before she sent them out. With the diaries, she was writing solely for
herself (at least in theory) and sometimes became a little sloppy or redundant,
as we will in purely personal jottings or first drafts. Since I already felt a
thought it important to tidy her up here and there. (All of the words in the
published Diaries are Dawn's own, but some of the external structures
names, but otherwise they're pretty much as she wrote them. Although it's a
from her diaries that she was furious about the name her publishers had
she thought it was, but since she spent the rest of her life buying up any copy
she found and destroying it and never mentioned it in any lists of her work, I
seems to have been the great romantic love of her life, after her husband, to
very interesting for a biographer), is deeply autobiographical. It was written
living at home with her husband and son, and it is wracked with private
was also, as you say, a good life as well in its way. Her humor was the key, I
to write; her art, so rich in its laughter (even in some passages of her
saddest books), buoyed her up. How could she have stood all that she went
problems, impoverishment, and what was essentially a period of homelessness
(this last when she was in her 60s)? She was one strong woman, and humor was
I agree with you that sexism likely played a part in her long
men. I think the literary left was unhappy that her workers were likely to be
as silly as her bosses. I think social conservatives were unhappy with all of
in italics, the italics are Chatterbox's, not those of the source.
saying that the Republican budget passed yesterday by the House, which he
whether Social Security funds would be tapped for current spending. Chatterbox
doesn't much care whether Social Security funds are tapped for current
spending, but he knows the Republicans are making a big show of caring about
that and therefore are being somewhat dishonest in pretending that they won't.
But what really interests Chatterbox is the president's use of the word,
surpluses and we keep having budget fights. That's what's going on here.
"normalcy." The meaning, Chatterbox suspected, had to do with an intimate act
sometimes performed in the shower rooms of correctional facilities. In fact,
chiefly in the southern United States, means "to confuse," and probably derives
from some combination of "bamboozle," "fuddle," and "fuzzy." The Random
defined in the New Shorter Oxford Dictionary as "toilet paper; worthless
reflection, though, this reading seems more entertaining than sound.
acknowledgement of the kindly encouragement which made this book possible."
"Grandpa, that's a lie!" cried the girl, fiercely; but there were pink spots
in her cheeks as she retreated into the cabin and began to slam the pots and
Gen. Lee's bodyguard and cook (and, one presumes, slave). The Rev. Lee's book
will give the Rev. Lee (as quoted in the Bulletin 's profoundly
I saw the happy light that always dances in the eyes of his race at the thought
Conservative commentators have taken to repeating the mantra that Al Gore
Gore's a mean, tough political fighter. Gore is the one who introduced
Big Al can be a tough, mean player. After all, he's the guy who
which the state legislature finally did after much crusading by a local
discourse would not seem to be something to be proud of. Is it true that Gore
racist messages into the debate? The answers to these questions are,
The issue did not take for Gore, but the exchange attracted the interest
'This is incredible' ...It totally fell into our lap."
In reviewing this history, it's important to make some crucial distinctions.
had tolerated a furlough program for especially violent criminals in his state
even after a horrific incident strongly suggested this was a bad policy. It's
conceivable, of course, that Gore was warming up for more explicit and racially
been uncharacteristic of him. In any event, Gore dropped out of the race
as working for "an organization affiliated with the Bush campaign" phoned him
official Bush campaign, of course, kept its distance from such efforts, and
evidence that it was heartily appreciative of the racial subtext. In his book
wonderful mix of liberalism and a big black rapist." Although Bush's campaign
southern Republicans right before that year's Democratic convention:
a month ago and he said you'll never see me standing in the driveway of my
because both happened to be black. Gore never did that. He never did anything
advisers. The editors noted that while Gore is a sucker for trendy gurus
("who think nothing of sharing hotel rooms in order to save money").
he plays an analogous role as affiliated intellectual. Where Wolf advises Gore
clearly reciprocal. As a result of his association with a leading presidential
candidate, West can expect to see his fame and his already formidable lecture
I must admit to being poorly disposed toward West, mainly on the basis of a
stature as a "public intellectual," portraying him as a pretentious egomaniac,
a mass of contradictions, and a superficial thinker who dresses up diluted
Then I read some of West's writings. While he certainly can be eccentric,
solipsistic, and turgid, at his best moments West is shrewd, courageous, and
inspirational. I remain ambivalent about his work, but it is certainly not, as
his campaign, mainly because he finds him insightful and stimulating.
Let's get some of West's obvious faults out of the way. His vanity is indeed
considerable. West's picture invariably appears on the cover of his books, and
all" that really cinches it. West has an unfortunate tendency to refer to his
is a more a matter of style than of substance. West cultivates a distinctively
black mode of academic discourse, improvisational in tone and containing a
stronger element of showmanship and braggadocio than most of his white
Another annoyance is West's love affair with labels. In the early pages of
fighter." These stickers accumulate, as on a steamer trunk, without pointing to
any definitive destination. This habit, too, makes West easy to mock, but I
think it serves a purpose. West wants to communicate the intensity of his
effort to reconcile his various influences: religious, political, philosophic,
rigor. But I don't think West's intention is so much to work out a system as it
promiscuous use of slogans is a way of personalizing the philosophical, of
So what is it that I find appealing about West? I think his main strengths
enthusiasm about bridging it. West has a reputation as something of an angry
action, but notes that it "is not the most important issue for black progress
racism is no longer a big problem and the liberal view that it's the whole
problems. He thinks racism remains pervasive and destructive, a truth that
uttering, and one that West has helped him articulate more pointedly. Yet West
doesn't exonerate victims of racism for irresponsibility or criminality
Reed, can't forgive him). West is blunt about what he calls black
that is close to that of many conservatives on the importance of family
structure and religious values. He is also a relentless and insightful enemy of
character of the black freedom struggle largely depends on the open
condemnation by its spokespersons of any racist attitude or action," he
calls "politics of conversion," he considers no one beyond the possibility of
redemption and no problem utterly intractable. West is among the toughest and
concludes a diatribe with a condemnation. His religious sensibility tells him
to try to find what is useful in views that he deplores, and to try to pull
moral reprobates in a more positive direction. West is scathing on the subject
sometime collaborator Henry Louis Gates. He has said many things that I
Where he tries to lay out a policy agenda, as in his recent book The Future
think he oscillates between dreary, conventional ideas (public financing of
and utterly impractical ones (a modified parliamentary system, explicit
candidate with a charisma deficit, he seems like just the guy.
gender, race, media, dissidence, and, of course, pop culture. The host
that has been losing the culture wars on campus of late. You can't help
wondering whether its graduates, trained in such ephemera as "Rhetoric and
Principle," as one of the core courses is called, will be able to hold their
intellectuals will find themselves cerebrally all dressed up with no place to
training program for public intellectuals. At its best, it would be an
name. It's pretty presumptuous for any professor to declare his students
"public intellectuals"; you would much rather they got their certification as
such from someone else. Otherwise, the whole thing sounds harmless. For one
aren't looking for fame: "They are looking for some engagement with the
public." Kirsch is using code, but what he means is that what he's training his
everybody, no matter what he does, participates in some kind of intellectual
conception of the world and line of moral conduct, and therefore generates new
ways of thinking. The job of people who actually call themselves intellectuals
is to articulate such situational thought and put it to use for change. As
democratic society tries to gain the consent of potential customers, win
intellectuals are actively involved in society, that is, they constantly
Moreover, the ideal of the public intellectual is no newfangled fad.
"Organic intellectual" is not strictly identical with "public intellectual," of
signed up to teach, given his understanding of the term "public intellectual"
(in The Last Intellectuals he defines it as one who writes with "vigor
whom no one sneers at, except perhaps organic intellectuals. Almost every
special esteem its version of the active thinker who puts his principles across
well and thereby commands a wider public. We might think the idea is newer
because of the phrase, which gained currency in recent years mainly because of
intellectuals, he claims, have all retreated into academia, where they have
lost themselves in a thicket of specialized professional jargon.
graduating from college these days feels compelled to publish his or her
particular social critique, whether readable or not, and there is a small
Public Affairs Press, etc.) ready to print them. On the other hand, why should
there be any limit to the number of baby public intellectuals out there? And
forum was taking place. One, a young woman, shouted that military spending
should be cut to provide better health care until she was ejected from the
truly deranged. In response to a question put to all the candidates about
socialism and slavery. "The income tax is a form of
government control of EVERY LAST DOLLAR that is made or earned in income," he
bellowed, walking to the edge of the stage. "THINK ABOUT IT," he shouted at the
audience. "If I have to give you a percentage of my income and you get to
determine the percentage, how much are you in control of? HOW MUCH? ANSWER
This assault left everyone a bit stunned, but it was
foster the policy that withheld our contributions from the United Nations. The
were rolling their eyes, giggling, or trying to suppress gales of laugher.
As soon as the debate ended, he came upstairs to the hall where the press was
out their stories on deadline, didn't immediately respond with any. At that
race, they did the polling afterward. I actually won the debate in the eyes of
the people polled. I OFTEN win these debates, and every time I stand before you
press folks, you have no questions. I find it kind of amazing. At some point,
you know, one has to start to wonder. The people of this country have gotten
over their racial sickness. I don't know that you folks have. I think that
deadly SICK of it. Every time I get in front of audiences in this country, they
respond, just as it was tonight, to the answers THAT I GIVE. But your response
is nothing because you don't represent those people. You apparently represent
the same money powers that are seeking to destroy the representative nature of
our government. I frankly think you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. At
some point you ought to wake up to your responsibility not to let vice take
place in darkness and not to let virtue languish unnoticed. That's your job,
but you don't do it, DO YOU? Instead you PANDER to the money. But if you were
because there would be sufficient attention paid to every candidate in the race
without the expenditure of billions of dollars. But they don't know, because
you won't do your job. That's SAD! And it's DESTROYING our democracy.
room, leaving reporters somewhat stunned. In fact, I think the racial factor
The rest of the evening was less exciting. If there was
he wasn't trying to get the job of president without the job interview. Bush
took umbrage, saying he had to attend a dinner held in honor of his wife,
about how to get Bush to participate in the next debate. "If you call it a
good line about  "no taxation without respiration" before dissolving into his
without restoring the draft. After explaining that he thought the Army didn't
need volunteers, he turned to the issue of his temper, recently displayed in
response to a negative New York Times story that he
enlisted families, brave young men and women, on food stamps. That's a
States." To my ear, the applause meter topped out on that one.
Unlike last night's performance, which ended abruptly,
Supreme Court justices were getting old and that he wanted to pick their
I think it is silly to think of a backlash against a woman who has, to date,
things to put energy into than chopping down the work of a writer who worked at
the trade honorably and industriously for 50-odd years without getting any of
the recognition many of us believe she richly deserved. Why don't her supposed
for me. Different strokes and all that. The world is full of a number of things
radically changed her style), and the best novels of manners by John
(particularly young ones). Who else has created such a splendid "unreliable
I enjoy literary biography but don't think that it is essential to enjoyment
occasional difficulty with important artists whose personalities repel me.
totalitarianism. But would I feel that way if I didn't know their life stories?
her revival. For those of us who love her, she seems a wise, funny,
unpretentious, and compassionate friend, one blessed with a decidedly wicked
sense of humor. We like her company. She seems smart and civilized. She never
vision of the human condition. And yet we leave her with gratitude and cheer,
artists who will always be very much for some people. I don't find her any more
settings and circumstances a little and you have what Mad magazine used
to call "the usual gang of idiots" gloriously presented with a calm, amused,
It's been a pleasure getting to know you (in this distinctly '90s fashion),
and I look forward to kicking this whole matter around over a bottle of wine
Make Good Presidents?" question is that it's not a question anyone would
the New Economy, and articles about company heads routinely include lines like
that they got tired of wrestling with Introductory Calculus and quit, but that
they were too smart to waste their time in school. (A debatable assumption, to
be sure, but then I finished college, so I would say that.) The success of
Gates, Dell, et al., in fact, is antithetical to Bush's educational career,
The only reason this comparison really matters, incidentally, is that the
the past that we should look to business as a model for the way we run
government. This was never as congenial an analogy to Republican ideology as
money and take their time paying it back, and most invest heavily in the
luck. Actually, he probably would have fit in pretty well with the corporate
chieftains of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when there was no foreign and not
with reports of victims trapped under small mountains of rubble and widespread
emphasizes that the quake came, inconveniently enough, just two days before
nationwide. That said, the story adds that the Republicans could have done
worse, especially given their thin House majority, inexperienced new speaker,
low poll ratings, and internecine strife between conservatives and moderates.
military salaries and establish themselves as protectors of Social Security
revenue. Now, says the story, they simply "want to go home."
investigation. The National Transportation Safety Report still hasn't found any
evidence of fire, loss of cabin pressure, or any other clear reason for the
that the two pilots may have been thrusting the controls in opposite
directions, and surmise that they may have been fighting each other, struggling
with passengers, or simply panicking. "The dive was so violent that unbelted
sentenced to six years in prison. The trial's biggest revelation was that
who had helped them obtain the necessary weapons, and assuring future viewers
this much, they have no clue. So don't blame them and arrest them for what we
baked goods, are unanimously thought by nutritionists to contribute to heart
disease. Foods containing less than half a gram of trans fat and a half gram of
saturated fat per serving could proudly claim to be "trans fat free."
the Citadel built a stadium on the site without properly exhuming the graves,
Volunteers spent most of the summer digging the site up, and yesterday, Civil
rousing rendition of "Dixie." The papers agree that the event epitomized South
Some people rage against government taxes, others resent the old people who
are sucking dry our Social Security safety net even as they crankily vote down
local school budgets. Not me. I lie awake and worry about the national tragedy
that is the airline industry. I hate them all: the lackadaisical baggage
brown goo so shamelessly denigrates the memory of food. But most of all, I
not to explode, and fix any smoking engines before takeoff. So of course you
are right; "simple" mechanical failure is scarier than terrorism because it
connotes a level of indifference that is no less evil than overt terrorism but
far more insidious. And even worse, it epitomizes the attitude of most airline
employees toward their customers. The passengers. Those people who are paying
the privilege of being herded like cattle onto a death trap over which no one
seems to have much control. Stop citing those statistics that show air travel
is safer than automobiles. The big difference is that auto accidents are
survivable. That's because auto accidents are, to some extent, controllable by
has a choice: Pull off the highway or gut it out. The airplane passenger who,
powered by Magic Fingers has no such choice. I must sit. And hope that the
pilot is better at his job than the baggage handlers are at theirs.
I have never knowingly clicked on an online ad. Never. I
did it a couple of times accidentally about three years ago, when I was still
confused about how search engines worked and couldn't figure out which juicy
inviting button near the top of the screen to hit. But each time, as soon as I
realized I was going to a sponsor's page, I recoiled as if a spider had landed
in my hair. "No! No! No! No!" I shrieked in horror, jerking my modem's cord out
of the wall. Also I delete all the cookies on my hard drive once a week because
I have some vague belief that this diversionary tactic will confuse the
marketers and advertisers the next time I go to a site.
Also, I always lie on any surveys. Either I say our
I never wanted to admit any of this to you, but now that you are no longer
directly involved in running any Internet sites, I think you can take the
having people pester me to buy stuff I don't need. My own brain is already
you love so much and wake me up to see every time it comes on. "This is the
funny part," you shriek, elbowing me. I am proud to say that although the ad's
whose brain simply will not hold onto brand names? I know what I like, I just
ones with the shiny chrome fenders and bench seats. But I don't think you can
buy them anymore. Here are the attributes of consumer goods that appeal to me
to fall asleep in while you're reading. None of these features can be properly
conveyed online. Trust me; I spend my days shopping on the Internet.
is likely to have on one of the more hackneyed journalistic traditions: the
At most major news organizations, the advent of the holiday season means
that reporters, photo editors, and the like can kick back a little and set
about preparing stories, and sometimes whole broadcasts and magazine issues,
dedicated to what happened during the previous year. Since the events in
question were already news once, retelling their stories involves little more
This year, however, journalists are likely to spend the holiday season
of which will end at the same moment. Hardly anyone, Chatterbox predicts, will
mostly remembers is everyone marveling at or fretting about or otherwise
thinking of the momentous significance of the coming year. But a friend reminds
seemed to raise the possibility that the most powerful software company on
Readers are invited to nominate events suitable for commemoration in
Chatterbox's "year in review" item, which Chatterbox would like to post
before Thanksgiving (in order to beat all the various
the year; and if anyone comes up with a list that has never been thought of
before, even better. Chatterbox will publish only the findings that he agrees
with. Please do not post nominations in the Fray. Instead, please send them
depressives who don't get out of bed until noon," I have quite the opposite
problem. Recently I have been the victim of a team action by my four dogs to
keep moving the mealtime earlier and earlier they will hit some kind of a
any of the information in that format either. But oh, the things I have
her show to go on hiatus when she was hospitalized for dehydration. Like so
special episode of the series that will finally aim a much needed spotlight on
one of the most overlooked problems facing college students today. We hear so
much about excessive drinking on campus, but so little is ever said about all
the dehydrated young people who refuse all beverages entirely.
couldn't be better for this female population boom because in our country at
last a military advisory committee has opened up a debate that will eventually
pave the way for a world of the future in which every little girl will finally
And speaking of mildly feminist issues, can I use this as a segue to discuss
just briefly how truly repelled and filled with hatred I am for theoretical
expression, although that helps things along, I admit. But I have been enraged
supermodel instead of a tubby intern he would have been regarded as a hero. And
then he always finishes this up with a comment about how his weakness is that
he (Trump) doesn't smoke or drink but dammit, he "loves women." First of all,
let me say that I never imagined myself having a reason to defend the mainly
(or supermodel, as he calls them). That to me is like a caviar collector saying
you can help me with a new one. I have been looking for a better analogy for
review, not his book. But I hope I don't run in to him in a dark alley
certainly didn't see anyone reading her at the beach this summer. Nor do many
of my academic colleagues know her work. They've heard of her, though. "Which
both the biography and your prefaces, you shy away from any feminist
The otherwise admiring review of the Letters in the daily New York
Ammo, as we all know, is important. Diapers and dresses are not. How I love
and his sum total was war was pretty nice and a lot better than sitting around
a hot hall and writers ought to all go to war and get killed and if they didn't
they were a big sissy. Then he went over to the Stork Club, followed by a pack
know she is female, and if she should glance down in the shower and see a set
of balls she would only think, Dear, dear, how dusty things get in New York.
She had illness and struggle too, in spades, but what amazes me is the
hardiness of her optimism, her resilience, her delight in the exchange of
ideas, and her unshakable confidence in her own worth.
The feminist issues weren't her only hurdle. There is the simple fact of her
sanctimonious stuff that gets rewarded. Furthermore she wrote, scathingly,
"is that it's the wind and the time and the tide that decide your luck." Do you
think it is that arbitrary? A different turn of the magic wheel and it'd be a
item, "The Ending of the Underclass, Part XVIII," as excessively
How do you get from a declining welfare population to "the ending of the
underclass"? What if poor single mothers on welfare just become poor single
My answer is: "Underclass" doesn't mean people who are poor, or even people
who are poor and live in neighborhoods with other poor people. It means people
who are poor and live in poor neighborhoods isolated from the mainstream world
breadwinners, and an adversary culture (typically aggravated by race
differences). Although black poverty has been falling, let's assume, for
purposes of argument, that what is happening is poor single mothers on welfare
cut off from the world of work. On the contrary, she's likely to be on the
lookout for job opportunities that pay more, or offer useful training. She's
eligible for raises and promotions (not to mention government subsidies like
the Earned Income Tax Credit). She can't afford to develop an attitude that
sets itself in opposition to the mainstream culture. Her children will grow up
knowing the discipline of a working home, and they will have at least one
We can also say it because a society of poor working single mothers is
probably unstable in a good way. If women know they are not going to be
supported by welfare checks but are going to have to work, they are apt to ask
contribute by going to work. Young women will be less likely to have children
out of wedlock, or at least partnership with a man, precisely because being a
working single mom is a struggle. These trends are already starting to
radically ameliorated if not solved." (Four escape hatches in one
sentence should be enough!) But I am optimistic, because the logic behind the
favorable scenario seems so powerful. I hope more crack welfare
working but are still struggling and not making much money.
Yes, even if the underclass shrinks through assimilation, the problem of the
working poor will still be with us. But that's a different fight, and an easier
one to wage. Once people are working, it's not that hard to boost their incomes
the underclass has been, in part, that those remedies haven't been able to
of the national teachers unions, has called for "tough future testing for new
new teachers. Translation: I want to make it really, really clear that
the publication, at about this point in the enterprise's growth, of a snide
Good morning! It's an honor to share breakfast conversation with one of the
look up to as a formative influence. So, it was with particular pleasure that
today, as I do every day, I padded across the floors of my suburban Long Island
set, sat down in my spacious breakfast nook over my customary English muffin
up in the most adorable little catalogue we found, and began flipping through
the day's periodicals in search of something pithy and clever to ruminate upon.
And boy did I find it! It looks like the Gore camp is really in a tizzy over
as I am almost every night, watching Space Ghost cartoons in a drugged
haze, after seriously pissing off my editor by turning in the week's
depressives, I don't normally even get out of bed until at least noon, it sure
felt weird dragging myself into the corner store to buy the morning editions of
the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (for some reason they
that's because I get paid to make fun of it) and wondering just how a longhair
dropout like myself somehow ended up, for this one week anyway, being an actual
official employee (of sorts) of our man Bill Gates, the Richest Guy in the
But I did find something wonderful, actually, and right on the front page of
creates the music that announces the arrival and departure of Japan's commuter
trains. Because the schedule is so busy, each composition has to be only seven
seconds long, but he still considers it his mandate to make each one of them
True Art. Too cool. When you consider that Japan is also the center of
feedback and industrial sounds played at screeching, distorted levels, you get
train. It's this sort of postmodern news story that I love the most, because
you're not sure if it makes you want to laugh or cry. (My favorite type of
Also, I realize we're supposed to keep this current and newsy, and this is
definitely an old story by now, but I just have to ask what you think about the
whole Death of Irony debate that everybody was talking about a while back. As a
Master Ironist yourself, you must have had some thoughts about this character
just trying to be funny. We only wanted people to like us. We promise not to do
it again," etc, but I can't afford a full page of the paper I work for, let
alone of a publication a sincere, earnest gentleman of his ilk would be likely
he's just really happy with several of the candidates this year, including Bush
moment) as stubborn, heroic individualism. Or you can say The New
sort of remedial course on what's been happening in politics over the past
extremely effective campaign" but that "The race is about to intensify." Did
proposed an "extremely controversial" solution to each of the problems he has
bunch of sensible incremental proposals that practically everyone
his health plan, he got a bit cautious, and hasn't proposed anything dramatic
since. But that's not the sort of complication you can get into if you're
antipoverty plan had a "big price tag--$9.8 billion." If that's a big price
"gun control." But if ever there was a "hot button" issue that is big on
Democratic pollsters' radar screens but relatively unimportant in reality, it's
the question of how a military invasion of a hostile nation's information
analysts who spent the weekend scratching their heads over how the findings of
party in the world; previously, the outgoing president would simply knight his
candidates argued throughout the campaign that the party apparatus had buoyed
next year's general election if it can remain less fractured than its
top brass guidelines for conducting information warfare. They suggested that
be just as illegal under international law as if they were performed manually.
The Labor Department two years ago prohibited states from using money for this
purpose, but new regulations may be on their way. At issue: for 60-plus years,
only people who are involuntarily unemployed, eligible for work, and seeking it
have qualified for unemployment insurance. Employees who take time off to care
for newborn infants do so voluntarily, according to employers who disagree with
also say that the government shouldn't bleed the unemployment trust, which
people may need in years leaner than these. As if anticipating the Times
shows children left at day care tend to have a weaker bond with their mothers,
A generation of change in the South has allowed prosecutors to pursue a
Blacks hold more political power and have lobbied for suspects to be tried;
witnesses with heavy consciences can come forward without fear of speaking the
truth; and a feeling that the South must come to terms with past racism and
LAT staffers over the newspaper's agreement to share profits from a
publishers more cautious about experimenting with revenue sources, she writes,
The State Department will allow "the most anxious government employees" (as
well as the moderately worried, and those seeking a free trip home) in four
stay don't expect a meltdown; without electricity and heating, however, there
takes a look at that rock, that pillar, that spectacular golden prism for
store owners who had never paid any attention to the chain, were approached by
Where will they spend this anniversary of the event that altered their lives
I love that story! Especially how that one LI town went Democrat for the
Times Mirror Co., and company for the sheer, unmitigated crap (my paraphrasing
as far as I know, have a mustache; this is how my brain works, as you
In any event, for those of you not following along at home, Chandler was a
Times from a local paper to one of the four important newspapers every
thinking human ought to read every day (quick: Name the other three!). Sadly,
he was forced to retire from the board of directors of Times Mirror Co. last
between the paper and calamity. The Times has steadily lost its place
among the great rags, thanks mainly to the laughingstock way in which it has
appear to be unsuccessful. For example, he suggested that the breaking down of
going to result in new growth to the paper in terms of additional advertising
was quoted at the time in many national media stories as saying he was going to
reinvent newspapers, inferring that the traditional system was outdated and was
Oh dear. The letter goes on like that for about five glorious, Frank
the marketing department would never allow it, would they? Last words from
Times with executives in the top two positions, both of whom have no
newspaper experience at any level. Successfully running a newspaper is not like
Post says the first time in a century) and is close to winning the
dispatches this morning show the Democrat won). But Democrats won
from a 9-millimeter pistol. He drove a company van to a nature preserve and
gave himself up after several hours of negotiations. Most of the papers note
to bring him another gun so he can shoot himself," and recalls that his son
safety course, waiting period, and background check to get a permit. All the
deadliest in the nation's history. (To read Chatterbox's take on quiet,
to the right before hitting the water, suggesting that the plane began to break
up in the air. The straight initial drop also indicates that the problem was
plane to spin had they fired accidentally. The National Transportation Safety
fronts a story detailing the improvements in victim
cannot imagine, based on our analysis, that a genuinely free and fair election
war over that interest, if necessary. With current peace negotiations requiring
administration needs to begin building support at home by redefining our
participation in the process as something more than charity.
The Post editors weigh in on Time 's revelation that Al Gore had
running for president, he would not need magical elixirs," the editors write.
"The fact that his campaign sought to conceal payments to Ms. Wolf suggests
"You've got to respect a woman who gets a vice president to pay her a salary
higher than his own," she writes. "Of course, when a man has to pony up a
fortune to a woman to teach him how to be a man, that definitely takes the edge
totally beta. In fact, it's gamma. Lose it. And by the way, no more golf."
(For Chatterbox's take on Gore's beta problem, click here.)
Of course, the Cell Phone Haters Club has already convened an emergency
reason I had to rush out of the house so early this morning instead of helping
you feed all the children, round up lunch money, sign permission slips for
and hustle the older ones off to the bus without jackets. The "dumb down"
feature that cell phones are offering rodent users is no surprise to club
years ago and were just wondering how long it would take to make the species
then no person would ever use a cell phone a second time. The memory of the
end of the line, interrupted by "break up," the need to scream insanely into
the phone, "BRING HOME A QUART OF MILK I SAID" while passersby stare
felt to have human dignity and not be enslaved to a ridiculous chirping machine
that can summon you anywhere anytime to talk about the most trivial things,
without the threat of severe mental impairment hanging over them, will
rationalize the rat news. At least until, as you suggest, the rats do something
interesting in a vat of beer. Don't forget, people have been ignoring possible
health threats from cell phones for a long time now. Last fall, the venerable
New York department store Barneys actually sold trench coats that had specially
lined pockets for cell phones. Put a cell phone into the pocket and no harmful
rays would waft through the fabric to attack your body. The coats sold well, I
So if the rat work holds up, we'll probably see cell phone mittens next. And
special muffling ear muffs to block waves from entering the brain through the
unprotected ear canal route. And maybe nose plugs for good measure, because
installed an electronic security system that makes it impossible to get into
that "values" should play a larger role in educating children, which is why he
volunteer service of some kind. A danger of injecting "values" more fully into
school curricula, however, is that if it isn't done thoughtfully, it will end
up presenting certain pious and erroneous sentiments as fact. This is an
batty. Increasingly, something similar seems to be happening when
"conservative" values (like a literal belief in the Bible) get taught at the
expense of evolutionary science. If moral lessons are to be taught more
forthrightly in schools, it's important that the distinction between knowledge
In his speech, though, Bush himself seems to have stumbled over that
and courage beyond measure," Bush cited the following:
massacre. Shortly after the shooting, the horrifying story spread that before
she was shot, one of the two killers asked her if she believed in God. She said
yes, and the gun was fired. The anecdote became the basis for cover stories in
almost certainly isn't true. "We strongly doubt that conversation ever
What investigators now believe really happened is that another
freshman at the University of Northern Colorado.) She Said Yes
acknowledges this in a backhanded way, with the caveat that "the exact details
to tell her story, because whenever she does it's interpreted as a betrayal of
The church is going to stick to the martyr story. It's the story they
heard first, and circulated for six months uncontested. You can say it didn't
concludes that Bush's decision to use the story anyway is something a little
Times fronts an accord to admit China into the World Trade
East Coast papers and too late for the LAT to change its print lead (a
members.) Neither the LAT story, nor the Associated Press, nor online
make the early editions of the other papers. The two pilots are talking "like
off. Both work to try to fix it. There is some kind of problem that they're
dealing with. It gets progressively worse. And the tape stops.'' The
reduce their organizational structure by merging licit and illicit business and
this year the Justice Department expects to double or treble its estimate of
with fears among Republicans and their supporters that the party will lose
business groups are uncharacteristically giving soft money equally to Democrats
and Republicans. The Journal runs a similar piece lamenting the
Post notes sourly in an otherwise glowing story, "that a man who
stopped watching basketball, who wouldn't do sports interviews, who wouldn't
The Journal reports that Dow Chemical has revolutionized slime. Not
methyl cellulose thickens, rather than thins, upon heating, and is safe to eat.
rather than pasty, flavor. Discovered accidentally in the 1930s, it was kept on
a shelf until early this decade, when Dow decided to market it aggressively.
and as a thickener in soups, sauces, and gravies. One problem: getting food
manufacturers to believe that cellulose treated with chemicals is safe to eat.
substance for a presentation in front of food manufacturers. After he was done,
let's make a little history. Today I am ending my lifelong membership in the
intention to seek the nomination of the Reform Party for the presidency of the
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
My disparagement of those men of right good male fellowship,
He that outlives this day, and doth come over the hill,
erstwhile pro wrestler wasn't showing off his excellent grasp of the English
"I am not a candidate for president," he said. "I do not want the job." Indeed,
lunch mates that he could never be president because the job is simply too
restrictive. "The president is the leader of the free world, but he probably
freedom a great deal being governor." Jeez, he's never going to be happy as a
brassiere with that kind of thinking. Boxer shorts, perhaps.
imagine the flames and charges of nepotism and conflict of interest. So
list, I might point out, that's always far more interesting than the jokers and
sad sacks who are running for the highest office in
he not running again this year? I haven't heard that he's not running, so I
suppose I have to assume he isn't not running, which would be a shame since he
he says that if he were really running, he'd be a lot more organized, but he's
not. He said all he's doing, in fact, is reminding people of bedrock liberal
power to harm competitors in other markets; and that using its power in that
since the trial has ended, the media was apparently seized by the conviction
but markets are all about anticipation, and the stock market appears to have
the Internet and with benefiting consumers via innovation in other cases, the
weight of his ruling is on the side of the government. In particular, his
use its control of one market to give itself control over another, and that it
These happen to be ideas that many academic economists are deeply skeptical
profitable for anyone else to enter the fray against it. In fact, near the end
technological investment that would otherwise have taken place.
fact do seem as if they're describing a world that doesn't quite exist anymore.
these are phenomena that don't fit into the picture of a computing world in
which domination of the PC operating system translates into domination
definition of computing, it's not clear whatever remedies he suggests will
really conform to the way things are, rather than the way things were.
One of the odd things about the centrality of the browser war to the
antitrust trial, in fact, is that the browser itself now seems about as
important at all). Once, it seemed like he who controlled the browser would
control the Internet. Now, if anyone controls the Internet, it's the portals.
The unanswerable question, of course, is whether this would have happened had
agreement, although one might have thought a more balanced opinion would have
Nonetheless, there is at least one thing worth thinking about going forward.
monopoly over the PC operating system means that any expansion into other
applications like Word and Excel? In other words, does control of the
be, I think, a startling answer), then we may in fact be talking about the
would probably vote for him. Unless you run. I would always vote for you. But I
reincarnation goals to returning as a brassiere. You could be any piece of
underwear you want. Really. All you have to do is dream.
I myself am planning to return to life as the new computer printer that you
bought and installed yesterday. (I use the word "installed" rather loosely,
considering that the damn thing crashes every time you try to print a Word
for the really slow mode that you have to invoke if you actually will
need to subsequently read whatever you printed out.) See, if I were a computer
really have to do what I was supposed to do. I could "conflict" with other
"devices" constantly and it wouldn't be my responsibility to reconcile the
up to you to run out to the store to get some to fix me. (While you're there,
and have the phrase "Professional Series" written across my front in a font
that was perhaps modern looking back in the early 1970s. In short, if I were
reincarnated as our new computer printer, I could take comfort in knowing that
How much did we pay for that printer? I notice from today's paper that our
the printer nightmare is all just a glitch, and you'll fix
of the printer all the computers and appliances in the house will crash and
have to be rebooted and reinstalled and reconfigured and one or two of the cats
intellectually honest about Social Security and Medicare reform.
The Fox panel has fun with Time 's report that the Gore campaign had been paying feminist
agency) to advise the candidate on his wardrobe and on his Oedipal relationship
exotic consultant for the feminist psychobabble movement, who's trying to teach
[Gore] about 'alpha male' and 'beta male' stuff, you have to wonder if Al Gore
homeless people and poor people and all that. I don't need a Republican to tell
this heart, there is no malice or hatred of any individual. But you are looking
at someone who does enjoy fighting. And if that means fighting occasionally
Christian Coalition, that does not make you an evil person."
No one has told the Wall Street Journal editorial writers, to be
sure, but pushing for tax cuts has become the political equivalent of flogging
that proverbial dead horse. Congressional Republicans watched their proposed
budget surplus go toward paying down the debt than toward a major tax cut. And
It's true that if you frame poll questions about taxes differently, you get
government spending, and it's safe to assume that the Republican Party platform
hollow, at least from an intellectual perspective, and the reason is not just
increase) has proved to have pleasant side effects for the economy. Even more
on the harsh reality of life in an inflationary economy.
that inflation is dead, and that therefore the economy can safely grow much
faster than it has in the past. But they don't appear to have considered what
its average impact on assets held more than a few years." Contrasting the
situation of the late 1970s with that of the early 1960s, when top marginal
"the real tax rate is far higher, not lower, than it was during the days of
nominal amount of earnings that was mostly inflation, combined with a decline
in the value of principal equal to the rate of inflation."
What Gilder was pointing to here was in fact important. Because tax brackets
and capital gains are not indexed, the combination of rapid inflation and high
taxes ends up eating away most real gains. It works something like compound
interest in reverse. In the 1970s, just staying ahead of the game took a lot of
time Wealth and Poverty was published. Regardless, though, there was
something to the idea that in a time of high inflation, high marginal tax rates
acted as a disincentive to both investment and labor.
But we don't live in a time of high inflation anymore. Actually, we don't
monopoly power, many reports noted that the company's stock price fell in
It is simply the trading of stock after the markets close. Traditional stock
begun to make trades without a middleman by using electronic communications
by the end of the year. Theoretically they could allow trading around the
from exchange to exchange. And, because so few transactions occur, stock prices
which the investor names the highest price at which he'll buy or lowest price
at which he'll sell) instead of the "market orders" (in which the investor
accepts the prevailing market price) common during the day. As trade volume
have a significantly higher approval rating than Republicans on most election
as unready for war, the first time any division has received such a designation
participate in a regional conflict. The Post says this is partly an
advantage on health care, education, and Social Security. (The Republicans lead
on military readiness, but this issue holds little weight with voters, the poll
difference between the two Democrats in a race with Bush was not statistically
A Journal opinion piece describes why there have been so many pharmaceutical mergers
pioneer new methods of research and secure valuable patents. Soon, the
establishment companies realize they need the new research technology and
patents, and the small firms realize they need economies of scale to keep
producing successful drugs. Thus the antibiotic revolution produced a spate of
mergers in the '40s and '50s, breakthroughs in heart and digestive drugs
produced mergers in the '70s, and the genetic revolution is producing mergers
for Medicare recipients threatens to lower drug prices, which in turn pushes
firms to produce newer drugs with higher margins, which requires more research
that the true test of a presidential candidate is not temperament or virtue but
the shrewd ability to communicate with a constituency.
What disqualifies a leader is the kind of flaw that would turn away
encourage for the good of a man's soul, but it makes little difference at all
"stunning lapse in intelligence," a daft inability to perceive what will
more slavish to fashion, more terrified of originality and more devoted to
To this, Today's Papers readily, wholeheartedly, and unconditionally
are glossing over is that this stuff is homogenizing the world. It's turning
such Western paraphernalia as Nine West shoe stores everywhere. Of course
So in five years, we'll be able to ask ourselves if we'd rather travel to
flagging tourism industry. But really, the problem is not that the city lacks a
Magic Kingdom. This is simply not a city that screams "vacation destination."
Try instead: "Money!" "More money!" "How about going up in a skyscraper and
circumstances here that make the incursion even more distasteful. Putting
brilliantly modern design that effortlessly propels travelers to their gates,
public restrooms. Theme restaurants that serve dim sum. A lack of litter.
ponderous, authoritative, and dedicated to the proposition that the world was
changing slowly enough that giant tomes were the perfect vehicle for
reacted slowly, incompletely, and in almost blissful ignorance of the economics
revamped Web site for business two weeks ago and then immediately shut it down
The site crashed, after all, because tens of millions of people tried to access
the encyclopedia online. And that has interesting implications for the way we
think about offline brands and their extension onto the Internet.
an object lesson in what not to do. Because the company thought its brand name
without endangering its core franchise. But as the last few years have
it could have snared a huge chunk of it. Or so, at least, its recent (if
the Web and fees don't go together well, and its hope that its brand was
powerful enough to make an advertising business work. (As has been the case
with Yahoo.) Making that conceptual shift was important. But so was doing the
capitalize on the Internet, since technology isn't going to stop changing and
any successful company will have to make adaptability a core competence (at
together, it would be a Web powerhouse. At the time, I thought he was
the Web. But oddly, after the last two weeks, it looks more and more like
This book was a huge surprise for me. But first, let's have a little talk
It seems to me that there is a basic question about a book that's often the
real question in a reviewer's mind but that rarely gets laid out directly in a
review: Do you hope other people actually read the book? We can all think of
books that we read as reviewers (because we have to), and whose achievement and
message we applaud but that we'd never urge our friends to take the time to
read themselves. Similarly, other books may have big logical holes, or messages
we find unconvincing, but are nonetheless a ton of fun to read.
I will try to explain in the next few days why I am unconvinced by the most
fundamental point the book tries to make. But I will be satisfied if people
take from the Book Club one point only, which is that they should get hold of
this book. There is much more richness and subtlety to its content and argument
utterly fearless. He writes with a kamikaze spirit (in the admirable
does are often tempted to be contrarian just for the hell of it. Think of
the event that most people consider to have been a disaster, and by sheer
virtuosity try to show that actually it was a good idea and a big success.
But the tone I feared, of being contrarian for its own sake, turns up only a
little bit, as we'll discuss later on, in sections arguing that more or less
gracefully written development of an argument that I finally disagree with but
that cannot at all be laughed off. By the end of our installments here, I will
have tried to convince Book Club members that this book has the wrong title. It
very impressive job of showing why people who weren't idiots and weren't war
criminals made decisions that turned out so badly through the 1960s. He does
not convince me that it was "Necessary," in the sense that policy makers at the
But that's for later installments. Let me wrap up this one, and suggest some
areas for discussion and disagreement, in three ways.
the Cold War was a real war, "the third world war of the twentieth century."
The Soviet Union and its pawns and allies really wanted to expand their
ideological, military, and territorial influence, and they really were engaged
supremacy. Because of nuclear weapons, the United States and the Soviet Union
could not afford to do what great rival empires would previously have done: go
importance of winning or at least contesting the proxy fight: mounting an
resist any further push on these frontiers. If the United States had not done
so, he says, then its world position would have fundamentally changed, with
serious consequences for it and the world. No one would have believed in its
"minimal realism," the argument that the United States should do only those
things in the world that it really has to do, because the great evils it must
that the memo is presented in context, it is interesting, to say the least.
have been better to have started the defense, and continued it until the
casualties became too high for domestic politics to bear, than to have taken
the "minimal realism" course of not starting the fight.
This really is the crux of the "necessary" argument: better to have fought
and withdrawn than never to have fought at all. This is where I disagree with
that I am a "minimal realist." Here's a place we might start. Do you agree with
worth having made the start, even if the end was likely to be bad?
asked Gore why he feels so strongly about distancing himself from President
has been a tremendous surge in Internet fundraising in the last five weeks.
You lost three of the last four jury trials. Do you believe that those
juries were, in effect, influenced by the perception of you in the impeachment
Some would suggest that if you had not been practicing private law while
being independent counsel, the process would have moved along more quickly. In
hindsight, should you have stopped all private law practice?
Was it the Constitution the president was trying to save [as he alleged to
South Lawn of the White House on the day of the impeachment when Vice President
Gore stepped to the lectern and said that history would remember President
A close second is the Justice Department's victory in the first round of the
choose their president based on "judgment, vision, [and] philosophy" rather
than on factual knowledge. (The interview appears to be excerpted from a longer
Bush was entrapped, but reminds viewers that W. does not have his father's
that the interview "tells you that the guy who just won all the money on
would have refused to answer the questions or else launched into a deeper
Wolf's advocacy of "heavy petting" and "onanism" will not help Gore's
will not require a "specific remedy," but will require "a remedy." On
strategy is to drag out its appeal until a Republican wins the White House (and
presumably drops the lawsuit). Fox illustrates its commentary on the
it reinforces an emerging perception for Al Gore, which is that he doesn't know
matter, but it reinforces the perception that it matters, and therefore it
matters). (For a "Frame Game" on the media's circular priorities, click
"This was a political attack on success. The one thing the liberals can't stand
"I am not a fashion consultant. I do think it's a little sexist that that's
I am sitting here attempting in vain to find something to disagree with in
before the rest of the country, and we're just now catching up. (Unless we
mean really: How could any champion of the First Amendment let such a deal go
reporting of alien abductions, miracle pet rescues, and celebrity drunks and
tabloid media is consolidated under one owner. Where will we go for the truth?
on such and such a day, will the Enquirer ever dispute it? Even if it
readers would even have to ask such questions should put the stamp of death on
And another thing. It just hit me a few minutes ago when I was in the study
way we flit around from topic to topic here (and at our real breakfast table)
is indicative of a bigger problem in how we live our lives. We're so
fragmented. My attention, at any given moment, is divided among so many
competing thoughts that it makes my teeth ache. An example: This morning after
you left for work, I was playing with the baby on the couch and she was
wiggling her fingers in the air in a way she considered menacing as she
was perhaps the cutest sight I have ever witnessed in my life. But even as I
was saying, "Help, save me from the dinosaur," I was simultaneously thinking:
How am I going to wrap up that column today, the kicker I have stinks; should I
roast a chicken for dinner or not because it's not worth it unless I go get the
minutes going to a butcher store, how many of those red shelves will I be able
morning; is my skin starting to look old; do I hear the dog throwing up a sock
in the kitchen; maybe I should just end the piece by referring back to the
A certain percentage of these thoughts were perhaps valid. If I considered
them in an appropriate time and place. But the baby is only going to be this
to get mean and criticize my hair like the others. So why am I wasting the
Even earlier, it was called juggling. And I used to envy people who kept all
the balls in the air. I thought they got more out of life because they did
more. But now I don't know. It's been so long since I fully concentrated on one
idea or one task or one anything that my attention span has contracted to be
bookshelves. And these, as you know, are not big bookshelves.
Welcome to hard times. Oh, wait, that was a couple of weeks ago. This week,
Index came in below expectations, which means that there's no wage pressure in
the economy, making it a good time for capital. Of course, the infinite
regression loop was in full effect today, although no one was following it
pretty well under control, which helped lower interest rates and spur a lot of
not, even if inflation is low, the stock market could be burned. So were we
I have no idea. All I know is that when I woke up this morning, switched on
even have thought of, let alone imagined writing.) And so everything's good
again. Until the next big number comes out. On, then, to this week's Cocktail
although, the Wall Street Journal reported, their bottom lines were
helped by higher oil prices, they were hurt by gasoline prices, which didn't
rise as fast. I know there is a logic in there somewhere, but if you're selling
oil and gasoline, then aren't you buying from yourself? And if you're buying
said it was going to be spending very heavily on marketing in the next quarter
and that its losses could continue to grow. A number of brokerage houses
not supposed to buy it in the short term, how can you own it for the long
revenue the total value of the tickets and hotel rooms that it 'sells' on its
the original evaluation went something like this: 'If we lie, they buy the
have to have 'former' attached to it? Blue Mountain has next to no revenue
rate, pretty soon you're not even going to be able to say to someone 'you
would 'exploit consumers who live in warm climates.' Yeah, what's up with that
inflation. This is the happy situation in which we find ourselves: the less
possibilities between public figures who may or may not know each other. This
Senate. You've put up with worse! You'll be back in Beltway dinner
Bob-- True, there's that cult business in her background, but she's
handsome, charming, and funny, and she's got what you want: a knack for
while the Republican open seat total (counting resignations expected in the
Senate seat, which Democrats thought they might capture, is now in the
This Week they could "rest assured" that Roe v. Wade would be
a litmus test." Some questions: How can Gore be so sure his appointees will
support Roe unless he uses a litmus test? And what's wrong with litmus
tests anyway? Wouldn't support of Brown v. Board of Education be a
legitimate litmus test in picking a Supreme Court justice? If Gore feels so
strongly about Roe (which I think was wrongly decided) he should by all
least provides interesting scenery from time to time. But football, there's a
spectator sport that I really enjoy (though this year, with the Jets flailing
so miserably, it has been painful, tragic, and somewhat dull).
However, in my most unflinchingly honest moments, I
remember, the ads for online stuff. Is there anything funnier than that online brokerage ad that shows the kid
with the purple hair teaching his boss to make his first trade? No, not even
pigeons because he's shrieking into his cell phone while peering through a
Now comes the story in this morning's Times about how online retailers are going nuts this holiday
made the difference. Indeed, there's been a growing sense among online
News and used to watch our ad traffic (and every other number) with daily
percent of the money online sites spent in advertising was spent online; this
subscriptions and advertisers won't pay for banner ads, where does that leave
only instead of explaining everything that happens as a product of the class
structure, they explain everything that happens as a product of tax rates, and
they are unwavering in their insistence that the lower taxes are, the better
everything will be. By this point, they can be fazed neither by
There's an excellent demonstration of this ability to avoid the real world
matter), but also someone with a firm grasp on reality. His column is therefore
practically invented, and to his influence on current thinking about exchange
economics of its voodoo status." Of course, he doesn't then go on to actually
deserve credit for a great unrecognized feat: "the integration of micro- and
macroeconomics." Before them, no economist saw that there might be links
between the way companies and industries behave and the way national and
international economies behave. This is, needless to say, an announcement that
always a bad idea, or that emphasizing the effects of tax cuts on supply as
a religion. Its premises cannot be questioned, let alone refuted, and even
understood in its light. The odd thing is that this approach makes it
On the other hand, I keep reading. So maybe that's an answer.
Another nice week in the markets, especially the bond market, which rallied
strongly after a series of economic data suggesting that inflation, if not
dead, was at least still mild. The stock market was also helped by yet another
more consistent impetus to consumer spending than rising stock prices. The
giving him the disconcerting appearance of the leader of a strange cult sitting
at a small desk in a crowded room. But I may have been the only one who thought
In any case, it has been a powerful rally for the stock market in the past
week and a half, and all the talk now is of a revived bull market. But it still
all seems a bit odd, since the purported bear market lasted only a few weeks,
and was founded on nothing more than overwrought concerns about inflation and a
Which, from an investing perspective, means you should blink as often as you
company had come close to opening its local networks sufficiently to
'when the Fed tightened up the money supply people who needed to raise cash did
rate just jumped again. Better go get some more corn out of the silo to dump on
closing just below it, technical traders came out of the woodwork to say that
list of contenders include: two weeks of Navy SEAL training (if you ring the
answer questions from analysts. It's just a coincidence that this new openness
case are mainly interesting as a reminder of how powerful the Ivy League's
substantiate what many have gleaned from listening to the Republican
compliment. "Historically, there is no correlation between academic achievement
and success in the Oval Office," they note. Many of Bush's highbrow
The case against intellect in the White House is brilliantly
used it to great advantage in this year's presidential race. But is it correct?
The argument rests mainly on some fairly compelling anecdotal evidence. The
Objection: The sample here is too small to be statistically meaningful. It
could just be a coincidence that Carter happened to be both bright and inept,
treaty? Someday, someone will demolish the myth of Carter's alleged brilliance.
I can also provide some equally tendentious counterexamples. Highly capable
relative dimwits who were lousy chief executives might include Warren G.
Given that stupidity is not an advantage in any other profession, why would
it help a president? I think the theory derives from the familiar prejudice
against intelligence, which holds that people who are too smart must be limited
in other ways. There's a popular notion that people who think too much can't
conservative, political version of this idea, which holds that intellectuals
are bound to be impractical, immoral, and too eager to impose their
this view for the ages when he made his famous observation that he'd rather be
the personal qualities and corresponding successes and failures of just about
any president. The ones who were dim but successful successfully compensated
for their dimness with other qualities. But the lack of intelligence still
copious credit for bringing an early and glorious end to the Cold War. One of
the ways he did this was by taking an unambiguous moral stand against
Stockman, he simply couldn't process the information that his contradictory
goals would produce a vast deficit, despite repeated attempts to spell it out
there is something on the plus side of his presidential ledger. Most scholars
undone as president not because he was too shrewd but because of something
shrewdness didn't help him with: personal bitterness and lack of scruples.
brain, primarily in economic and some areas of domestic policy, he has largely
succeeded. Where he does his thinking with other organs, he has undermined
In fact, I think the conservative case for presidential stupidity has it
exactly backwards. Presidents get into the most trouble not when they behave
like intellectuals but when they delegate crucial brainwork to "intellectuals
with some of the failed schemes of the New Deal economists before describing
probably no modern president, smart or dumb, who hasn't landed himself in hot
To be sure, intelligence of the kind that might manifest itself in high SAT
scores isn't the most important quality in a chief executive. Leadership,
integrity, and determination are all more critical qualities. Dumb luck helps.
Chatterbox has experienced much frustration trying to figure out precisely
subject of that special issue, the new Staples Center sports arena. This
created a predictable (and justified) uproar at the paper, which caused the
was unfamiliar with newspaper etiquette, which encouraged reporters and editors
media critic). It also prompted Chatterbox to puzzle over the apparent financial
teams, concessionaires and various corporate sponsors" connected to the Staples
were sold by the Times 's advertising department." (This story is not
available online.) Now that Chatterbox is better informed, he still
down these advertisers just as effectively. But Chatterbox must admit that he
doesn't know what other goodies the Times may have extracted from the
Chatterbox also doesn't know how common it is for newspapers to enlist the
to own, ran a special section on its new downtown sports arena, the
them as a sales agent and paid them a commission for ads that they sold,"
too). Still, Chatterbox doesn't really think a ritual sacrifice will address
the basic underlying problem: When media outlets strike secret business deals
with other businesses, readers are unable to evaluate whether these deals might
potential conflicts to readers. It would be wonderful if publications could now
be persuaded never to raise revenue by any means other than sales and
advertising, but that's probably impractical. (Newspaper circulation has, after
all, been declining for many years.) A much better step would be for
deals they have going. Newspapers, for example, could run a small daily box
of agate type providing this information, with perhaps a longer summary
Times and elsewhere, is a bit of a mystery. Probably it reflected a
yearning to remain blissfully ignorant of trends in the news business for as
long as was humanly possible. (Most reporters Chatterbox knows are more
interested in maintaining their virginity than in actually helping to maintain
taping photocopied portraits of Chandler to newsroom walls, in silent protest
against what's being done to his legacy. Chandler was indeed a heroic
allowed a say about the paper's fate. But by all accounts, he won't be; despite
about the paper's undisclosed sources of income and labor. By doing so, they
business sides of newspapers needs to be breached. But they would have the
would find unpleasant precisely to the extent that it exposed unpleasant
of his own. When Chatterbox mentions a book that is in print, he usually
a sliver of the proceeds whenever someone buys through
link. Chatterbox, who has no ethical objections to this
arrangement, is free to say whatever he wants about the book in question
(frequently, he says the book is no good). He is under no pressure to mention
particular books, or indeed to mention any books at all, and does so only when
he thinks his readers might want to examine his source material. (Chatterbox
the other various source links he provides.) But readers of this column should
be under no illusion that it's in the business of finding the cheapest or
otherwise best online vendors for particular books.
Post leads with a federal budget compromise that will allocate nearly
story warns that there is still no agreement over environmental spending,
are optimistic that a budget deal is around the corner (the Journal
began its descent under apparent pilot control. This story is fronted by the
recorder reveals no abrupt movements and that the plane maintained its compass
setting during the dive, which occurred eight seconds after the autopilot shut
notes that pilots are taught to descend more slowly in such a situation. The
LAT decides to focus on a possible hijacking or passenger rampage, and
for no apparent reason it fills several column inches with a detailed summary
reporter dwell on this particular crash because he happened to cover it
himself?) It is unknown whether the autopilot disengaged automatically or
manually; most papers merely note this fact in passing, but the Post
oddly attributes this uncertainty to "sources close to the investigation."
The general says his plane had only seven minutes of fuel left when the
military commandeered the control tower and cleared the commercial airliner to
example of how the media turn an alleged appearance of impropriety by a
politician into a "political problem" and therefore a story:
an official trip that has nothing to do with her probable Senate candidacy in
active first lady's visit to the Holy Land. Neither the address she delivered
political. Yet with the election for the Senate seat she is expected to seek
And whatever her intention, there was no escaping the buzz of partisan politics
For a "Frame Game" on this style of reporting, click here.
Just Another Day at the Office: Among the findings of the
year is the following: "There was a widespread perception among the Mars
Climate Orbiter team that 'orbiting Mars is routine,' which caused the team to
not pay enough attention to the risks of interplanetary spaceflight"
No. A book's reported copyright date is essentially
meaningless. Copyright protection is granted automatically to a work
immediately upon its creation (which, in the case of a book, means the moment
an author first puts his pen to the paper or fingers to the keyboard).
required. Until this decade, however, authors had to publicly declare a claim
use of a copyright notice was made optional; users must now presume that a work
is copyrighted even if it does not directly say so.
If a work is copyrighted by the author, the protection
book's scheduled release date changes multiple times before publication.
Publishers often use the latest of the potential publishing dates in order to
announcement in the second spot of its "Business and Finance" box, giving top
Journal explains, wants to separate its farming operations from its
drug business to boost its stock price. Its executives are trying to either
conglomerate and then bisect the whole thing. (For more pharmaceuticals
doctors' decisions before treatment is given. The Journal has the most
concrete illustration of this change: Instead of questioning whether a heart
instead on how to get the procedure done more quickly to reduce the hospital
treatment costs with patient outcomes, which it will share with doctors. Only
stop listening to the marketplace and cease innovating its products. The
An analysis of the trial's fallout on the Journal 's "Politics and
politicians as possible; even if the Justice Department were to drop its suit
under a Republican president, the Journal writes, just one state
organizing. Where political ads on television and radio aim to disorient an
energize a candidate's own base and encourage turnout. The increasing political
activity of unions accounts for much of this rejuvenation, of course, but the
can sway a voter jaded by anonymous electronic campaigning.
investigators said that knowing about the fuel tank flaws would have led them
to realize much more quickly that the explosion resulted from mechanical
failure. Lawyers for the victims' families threatened to use the report in
The Times lead explains why some doctors and insurance providers are
yesterday's column for a rundown of the rules). Some doctors have said that the
patients enough discretion over their medical records. And insurance companies
are worried that the rules would make them responsible for privacy lapses by
that directs a patient to a pharmacy could be liable if the pharmacy abuses
The company's credit rating was immediately downgraded, and its share price
to have made the offer purely for its PR value, saying that it "wants to
on Congress in hope of being allowed to extend its wildly lucrative patent on
the drug. The lobbying effort has yielded a bill that, if passed, will let
another three years, thus preventing cheaper generic versions of the drug from
wrote letters to his contacts in Congress arguing on the company's behalf.
groundbreaking, lifesaving drug research and development. Last year, the
stunningly successful series of investments. Bush first sought Rainwater's help
opportunities in oil and gas, real estate, and a loan company. Bush sold his
avoid impropriety or the appearance thereof. The piece concedes that Bush
doesn't seem to have done Rainwater any special favors as governor, but
anticipates "more potential for conflict" if Bush becomes president. This is
because Rainwater "is involved in companies that are heavily regulated and have
hundreds of millions of dollars in Government contracts." But Today's Papers
would like to know how many recent presidents don't have buddies that
meet that description. The paper adds that one of Rainwater's many companies,
an operator of psychiatric hospitals, is being investigated for patient abuse
and Medicare fraud but doesn't explain how a newly elected Bush could possibly
able to protect them at a time like this, then they haven't seen nearly enough
read an "Explainer" on hostile takeovers), expectations are growing that we're
Whether all this buying and selling makes economic sense seems somehow beside
the point. After all, they don't call it merger- mania for nothing.
basic ingredients of many, if not most, mergers which has something to do with
the fact that most mergers destroy, and don't create, economic value.
No, the most perplexing thing about all the merger talk is the reaction of
investors, who have driven up the prices of pharmaceutical stocks pretty much
across the board. Since acquisitions almost universally occur at a price above
the current market price, and since bidding wars (of all kinds) tend to drive
prices far above fair value, investors have jumped into the drug stocks,
Here's the problem, though: There are no outside bidders for these
company. So, there isn't any flood of outside capital coming into the drug
industry. If a wave of mergers gets touched off, all that's going to happen is
that capital will be redistributed from certain companies' shareholders to
other companies' shareholders. But the total amount of value in the industry as
In bidding up the prices of all these drug companies, then, investors are
essentially saying that if you divide a pie up into four slices, it's more
valuable than if you divide it up into eight slices. But the pie is the very
four slices rather than one of the eight. But all other things aren't equal,
make the stock of the potential acquirers equally less valuable.
The other possibility is that there really will be synergies in the new
giant companies that will make them more profitable together than they are
apart. But it is hard to see what these are, and empirically, synergies are
What that means is that the determinants of value for the industry as a
have a few hundred words to wrap up the argument and resolve the points left
this camp. But we've suggested that the scope of argument is narrower than I
was worth it at several crucial junctures: when the United States got
"bandwagon" reasons of the Cold War we have discussed previously. I view it as
clearly, domestic politics had powerfully and predictably turned against such a
true (which I dispute, but that's for another day), by that time it was
that this had become a symbolic stand, and he couldn't afford to look as if he
read in a long time. It was, by the way, recommended to me by the novelist
a deliberate choice about whether it should raise or lower the stakes in
argument for the "minimal realist" view that it was unnecessary and unwise. And
The certainty that this was an unnecessary war, not merely in hindsight but
in the context of that time, also makes the astronomical costs that resulted
In a friendly takeover, the management teams of the acquiring and target
A takeover is deemed hostile when the target company's management objects to
merger.) In a hostile takeover, the acquirer can take control of the target
company's management one of two ways: a tender offer or a proxy fight.
for more than the market price. Individual shareholders then decide whether to
sell their holdings; if the acquirer doesn't win a controlling stake, the offer
their stead in management elections. The acquirer promises to replace the board
of directors that rejected the merger with one that would approve it. As in a
fee in their agreement. This provision requires any company that thwarts the
boards neglected their obligation to pursue the best interests of the
shareholders by undermining attempts at a hostile takeover.
I think a dark cloud must have passed over the country. Passions were so great
revisionist take, one that didn't accept either of the liberal explanations
(the United States missed opportunities for a settlement; the war was
unwinnable) or the conservative one (politicians tied the hands of the
book came along. I know Mike, but only slightly, and I haven't read any of his
would probably be quite different today (and far worse off) if the United
allow free markets and political freedoms to grow. And, boy, did they grow
certainly something to it. The proof is what happened post-1975 after the
paralyzed, and Congress was dead set against intervening anywhere. The defeat
United States was out of the game for a while. And this was an accurate
been sent and a bigger bandwagon effect touched off. As for minimal realism,
if only to avert the subsequent casualties that, he argues, wound up weakening
lure the enemy into big battles and stressed body counts. Meanwhile, most of
strategy, stopped fighting major battles, and began piecemeal seizure of land
from the Communists. His pacification program brought security and a better
divisions and provide military and other support for the government. The truth
It's just an odd coincidence, but there did seem to be something telling
about the "What's News" section on the front page of today's Wall Street
Journal, which listed as its first item the findings of fact in the
To be sure, it's not entirely fair to say that the Justice Department and
the Federal Trade Commission have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to
make other changes before mergers would be approved.
On the whole, though, the consolidation of industries ranging from financial
services to telecommunications to aerospace to the drug industry has proceeded
remarkably fast and with remarkably little interference. And what's perplexing
reduce the number of players in a market. If the Justice Department's default
Of course, antitrust law is a very blunt instrument, and should be used only
when real harm can be discerned. But antitrust law is also much better suited
economic profits, which otherwise would be immediately competed away. A
monopoly becomes illegal only when the company exercising it uses that monopoly
to shut out competitors in other markets, either through coercion or by
academic economists question whether this last tactic is really feasible, but
antitrust law depends on the assumption that it is.) And this, of course, is
This Week over the weekend, he seemed to be saying something more than
seemed to suggest that being a monopolist was itself unacceptable. "You know,
go to somebody else and negotiate. Here, everybody's got to go to one
into competing companies (since otherwise there still wouldn't be choice of
You're right. There is not A Dawn for All Seasons. If
novels were furniture, I would not try to sell her to people who insist on
smart reader I know snarled, "Her stuff feels so dated." I didn't even bother
I would read over a chapter and think of my vast teenage reading public saying,
Part of me, I admit, doesn't want to share her. It's
like having a newspaper broadcast the address of your favorite quiet little
restaurant. Hard not to wince at the notion of belonging to a Dawn cult.
have said about his rediscovery as an old man: 'It's too much too late.'" The
iconographic in this way. My first reaction is to fear it's the death of a
writer once he's in a position to do his own Gap ads (what product does John
eventually leads people to the work. You lure college coeds in black with nose
often funny. Almost typed "hysterically" funny; the etymology of that word
reminds us about the problems of being a witty woman.)
"really" like. I know a slew of 'em, and can attest that there's no "irony" in
of us are. That's what motivates us to write, after all: the rifts between our
actual lives and the much richer imagined possibilities. So I don't generally
me to have insider information about a writer's inspirations or source
material. Just as an example: I almost wish I didn't know that the inscription
jaunty, generous, doleful, complicated people in many of her characters that
she offers in person. Or at least as close to "in person" as letters and
diaries can get us. It's hard to say this without embarrassment, so Girl
fax me through a sample of Dawn's handwriting, so I could do some amateur
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. How a music guy became this involved with a
novelist is a very intriguing question that we never got to here. But I trust
that your outsider status would have pleased her enormously.
and no nonsense. There is less and less connection between what he's doing and
seeing and being and "Real Life," because what's really happening is the
the country's readers of literary fiction still don't know, which is why the
her work. And since her ideal readers are, I suspect, the people most
Let us admit that the Letters are not the best introduction to
voyeuristic in the best sense (as opposed to reading a stranger's mail, which
balancing acts of literary bravura and homey friendship. They made me rue the
to be writing for posterity. She made sure that each bulletin from the front of
her life was whole, vivid, shimmering, and immediate, a perfect vignette. (Of
course, I don't know how much of that effect is due to your editing, but I
assume that, like a good hairdresser, you won't tell.) Not too perfect,
she listened. The letters really make you feel as if you're settling down at
the bar with her and you're so excited to see each other that you start talking
right away, before the drinks arrive, before you even take off your coats.
her mocking eggheads at jazz clubs ("I do enjoy the intelligentsia's pretending
they know a horn from a harp while the musicians pretend they know a book from
a bookie"). I love her mocking the French ("I really dislike the pallid,
feel these wells of mystery and secrecy in her. Hardly a word of complaint
about her travails with her autistic son. (A heartbreaking story, and I must
say, I bitch more about having to help my son with his homework than she does
disagreements. And then, of course, there's the Mystery of the Missing Jack
barely mentions (even to herself, in her diaries). You suggest they destroyed
admire that this woman seemed to really understand the difference between
public and private life. Despite the mountains of verbiage, she had a
people don't exist. They turn into their own ad campaigns.
It's fun that he has slunk back into history, while she has risen up. These
It feels like a good life, actually. Far from perfect. But not Van
her diary, "of criticism or death or pain." That's what you feel most in her, I
I had the same peculiar aching feeling finishing this book of letters that I
do at the end of her novels. That I don't want it to end. That I miss her. So I
biographer, of course, carries on a love affair with a ghost. But you were so
All the papers except the New York Times lead with the recovery of a large piece of
possibly emitted by its cockpit voice or data recorder (this story also tops
injunction against the city, which said it will appeal and also fight the
possible suitcase tampering. But two paragraphs later, the Times notes
that officials "were not attaching much significance to the lead." The
separate Post story notes that the House put off voting on a bill to strengthen
Reserves. The Post says he secured an extremely rare reservist
application did not get special treatment from military personnel and that he
the Post notes, "display characteristics that recurred often in his
public life: foresight, circumspection, and skill at finding advantage while
country's rush to judgment on airline disasters. "An event with a
safety records between airlines have been shown to be statistically
insignificant. Nevertheless, the Post runs a story detailing the (mixed) accident history of
"Do not be surprised if, someday soon, you hear Gore growl. Do not be surprised
olive green suit, anyway. This will surely win Gore the respect, admiration,
shortly after takeoff. No one holds much hope for survivors, though only the
illustrating the jet's final moments and articles detailing the grief the
passengers' friends and family accompany most of the stories. It is believed
was no evidence to suggest sabotage. Only one body and some debris have been
found, none of it marked with signs of fire or explosion. Most of the papers
is made of the threat: The person behind it is being held on a homicide charge
between the two tragedies. The New York Times emphasizes the
wrinkle to the story: the one passenger who disembarked in New York works as a
battle over the future of the Internet." City officials decreed that customers
service providers, effectively forcing the company to share its wires with
that government intervention will ultimately hurt consumer freedom more than
company could be in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Executives
give conflicting explanations about the purpose of the information collected:
another maintains that the data is used to identify "sophisticated" users and
dropouts rate is climbing. The government has undertaken a campaign for
universal enrollment with some success, but no one's sure how much, because the
lack of funding has also caused many schools, theoretically free, to charge
longer assured a comfortable government job (the public sector is shrinking),
more and more families are deciding that educating their children doesn't make
financial sense. What's missing from the article is context: What's the
enrollment rate in the United States, or other comparable countries? 
consults for his campaign. Previously, the Gore campaign had funneled money
through other consulting firms to conceal Wolf's involvement. Wolf was also an
claims that teaching kids "sexual gradualism" techniques like masturbation and
preference. Analysts believe that the election belongs to the candidate who can
identify and woo this mysterious swing group. The poll also has some alarming
I would like to change the subject to elephant dung. Big surprise that a
really important art. I only wish this strong defense of the museum's First
Amendment rights had come a little earlier, before the whole issue got muddied
virgin, et al., by soliciting money from people who stand to profit by its
display. At least I think that's what the museum did; the financial shenanigans
In any case, the main thing that the whole flap settled for me was this
question: Who should I vote for in next year's Senate race? I was waffling, you
al., have become such tasteless parodies of politicians that I was doubting
whether I could pull the lever for Hill. (I call her Hill, because she clearly
wants to be my best friend, what with moving to a New York City suburb to show
that she's just like me and all.) I almost could have seen myself voting for
homeless people off the streets, start a nationwide campaign to ticket (or
security guards to walk neighborhood beats to build up, uh, empathy for the
But then he pulls this: trying to yank a museum's funding because he doesn't
like a picture that's going to be hung on the wall. Here is a man who is
running for the job of lawmaker who clearly has not read one single law ever
candidate who relishes the act of taking patently illegal and morally repulsive
stands. Would this not embarrass me and the other voters from this great state
of New York? I can just see him trying to pass laws requiring men to have crew
cuts (or whatever nutty thing he wants to impose on the world next). I would
like to think that his nutty museum stunt was past of his Senate campaign, an
probably a huge demographic. But don't they have enough candidates to choose
even though that's obviously not her name, kind of the way millions of people
(er, Brandy) must be going through herself on a personal level (I once saw a
Lifetime original movie about coping with dehydration, and believe me, it was
more than a docudrama, it was the powerful story of one woman's courage in the
glasses, except she refuses to wear them because she thinks they make her look
ugly, and so she spends the entire episode bumping into things and getting into
listings one time a couple of years ago, and I gotta tell you, I laughed my
not an anthem of celebration and joy but a somber dirge of melancholy and
another one: An entertainment reporter here at the paper attended a press
they were all teens, he sarcastically asked them if they had any advice for the
themselves, they could make their dreams come true.
But get this: That's not the funny part. To illustrate her point, she said
sitcom actress, or movie star, or whatever. She was worried that people didn't
candidate now? Doesn't this guy know his life already parallels the plot of
would have to say about that? And maybe all the nation's aspiring
and, in the event of World War III, actually launching thermonuclear weapons,
if only they just believed that they were pretty enough, huh?
that had evolved along ethnic lines, many minority groups are now vying for
settlement of World War I, which recognized the country as independent (the
the prime minister and six others last month, observers attributed the killings
but the government has refused to accept the decision.
Constitution did not officially grant independence to these two territories,
has recovered faster than other former republics due to its tourist trade (the
Black Sea Coast has a warm climate) and its relative political stability.
marriage, as well as to religious repression and Soviet attempts to force the
international community does not recognize its government as independent.
Well, after our moment of concord, let's give the crowd what it came for.
Actually, let's talk about concord a little more. Maybe the most surprising
was coming out, and what its title was, I thought: Oh, no, here we go again. I
was remembering the rancor that followed two previous revisionist works on
back in the '60s. Each of these books seemed to zoom us straight back in time
to all the anger of that era. (Disclosure: I was really in a lather about
Secretary, you should have the decency to remain silent now. Chances are I
attacked the other books too. Bonus disclosure: As is no secret, I was in the
positive reviews, and not all from publications in the "stab in the back"
It's conceivable that the calmer reception has to do strictly with the book
was a schoolboy. They wrote as if they had scores to settle; reviewers often
settled scores right back. But factors like these can't be the whole
explanation. One of the things I don't like in the book is a long chapter
reasonable, but it's the one place where he has a categorically dismissive
rather than explanatory tone. The journalists were all dupes, so were the
lefties; this is a picture of the antiwar movement similar to the protestors'
flap may mean that people haven't noticed. Or it may mean that the emotional
has a lot to do with it. Or it could just be actuarial forces. The median age
test each other for dominance, and if one side shrinks from a fight, even a
presents the "bandwagon" effect of weakness in too sweeping and mechanistic a
way. But that's because I belong to the camp he's specifically arguing against:
the "minimal realists," who think the country doesn't have to accept every
bear in mind when the country makes commitments. (As an important corollary to
attacks on the North, because China and the Soviet Union would have backed
When you put these together, you end up with the contention that it was
better to have gone in, casualties and all, than to have avoided the fight
invasion, it wasn't worth it. We are marveling at an end to rancor after
The clinching argument on my side comes, you will be pleased to hear, from
War, which he endorses as a way to offset the bandwagon of weakness that
after Marines were bombed there. So he clearly found a way to project a
unveiling today of sweeping privacy rules protecting patients' medical records,
the nation's largest bank, the story says that the transfers are protection
his own medical record and will have to approve of their release for purposes
not related to treatment or billing. Doctors will be required to hire a privacy
example, he is usually given the employee's entire record. The rules do not
still on paper. And while the rules cover providers and insurance companies,
they cannot cover the lawyers or pharmaceutical companies who consult for
Both the Post and LAT stories on the privacy rules are well done, but there are
some lapses. For instance, in its second paragraph the Post tells us,
(should we pat them on the back for that?). And the LAT inexplicably
devotes its entire third paragraph to an airy statement from the text of this
All the papers front (and the LAT reefers) yesterday's astonishing
account for productivity in the tech sector; this revealed that growth this
decade was stronger than previously thought. The stock and bond markets soared.
before Congress and turn lead into gold, what percentage of the country would
turned up hundreds of bodies, not thousands or tens of thousands, as has been
Liberation Army, and behaving with the brutality typical of security forces."
The Post fronts a feature about ambivalence in Silicon Valley over
from today.) On the one hand, the libertarian Valley entrepreneurs dislike
stock traders yesterday. It's the first of a string of scheduled speaking
engagements, product endorsements, and television roles. But unfortunately for
million. He didn't see a cent from the book and movie rights he sold, and the
bills (he has colon cancer) or into pension and mutual funds. 
praise its evenhanded take on his policies as well as his personality: He's
said to have been both intellectual simpleton and political master.
Conservatives profess shock that something so "remarkably balanced" was
interracial relationship in the 1950s. Plaudits to the series for popularizing
becomes the latest actor to attempt a comeback via a sitcom (about a glitzy
can't make up for his inept comic timing or for the show's witless
his training as an architect and his embrace of bright colors. "Even the lesser
His ability to act out a conversation among five people leads the New York
novels resist adaptation to the core of their beings." The Wall Street
of the most vibrant actors of our time, into a passive, opaque, mannequin of
front pages across the country. "Crowded Stores Buoy Hopes of Retailers,"
created a Justice Department criminal task force to look into the matter.
the facts through congressional hearings. Meanwhile, the Wall Street
annulment of municipal elections that appeared to have been won by opposition
parties. Police arrested several protesters, and threatened the rest with
grounds that the working class is too distracted, ignorant, and cowardly to
Communist tyrant oppresses his people. More skeptical news reports indicate
that the opposition leaders are no angels. Western diplomats are quoted
appointed by Congress is expected to propose a new inflation index to replace
Security and other federal benefits. This increasingly looks like the way
Democrats and Republicans will agree to prune entitlements, while sharing the
York Times observed that if the lower inflation numbers are applied to the
economic statistics of the past couple of decades, the perceived stagnation of
him as "a romantic in pursuit of a beautiful dream," but noted that his career
portrayed him as the victim of an "inhuman" corrections system. Mother
the fourth time this year, received an emergency angioplasty, staged a
surprising recovery (attributed by doctors to her "spiritual strength"),
suffered another setback, then improved slightly, but remained in critical
reported that her followers "were reconciled to the prospect of [her] death."
picking at pimples, and that she might have split her own lip by falling down.
diary, his own phone records, notes from his interview with a defense
photo was real but the shoes depicted in it were a "fraud.") The New York
Times called it "potentially the most damaging day yet of his civil trial."
prosecutors' mistakes in the criminal trial and was correcting them, chiefly by
in the early days of the criminal trial. Moreover, several legal experts called
stipulated that she wasn't proposing anything like her dominant role in the
his aides don't want her to take a public role, because she'll become a
major step forward, and averred that their man had spoken firmly against
reduction (China is a major nuclear proliferator) for free trade, while others
that there wasn't enough fuel on board to get there. Early reports said two of
the hijackers were in custody; later reports indicated that police had grabbed
investigators' job comically easy (he even climbed into a car with diplomatic
busted soon enough. Commentators also debated whether the mole's exposure
troubles eased, while its legal peril deepened. The company settled a
black employee. Reportedly the biggest payment made in such a case, it is
stations misguided, and argued that the crusade against corporate racism should
in what many saw as a maneuver to pressure him for new leads in the
decided to allow car owners to disconnect their air bags, which,
according to government estimates, are killing one child per month and are on
track to kill one child per week as more and more cars feature them. (The
deaths are generally caused by the child's impact against the bag, or against
the seat on the rebound.) The decision was viewed as a vindication of
automakers, who warned of such injuries many years ago; the Wall Street
many more people than they kill, and worried that the backlash will go too far.
Everyone agreed that the solution is technology: Automakers favor
the size of each passenger and adjust the inflation speed accordingly.
Republic. Several newspapers reported that marijuana is becoming more
revolution has fizzled, in part because office teamwork is becoming more
recent films scant attention, they declare him "underrated" and "overlooked"
praise despite its familiar story and conventional telling. Strong performances
style. Detractors complain it's just plain boring. (Here is
Movie Roundup. Few summer movies are even trying to duplicate
story bashing gay studies, Entertainment Weekly declares the once
book about its groundbreaking directors. Reviewers share the author's view that
dramas but arrogantly overindulged in drugs and sex. Some critics rant about
the tract's continued relevance as a critique of labor relations, while
the economy's dynamism and strength. Scholarly reviewers honor it as "an
Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria
Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme
movie star. Critics delight in the chemistry between his character, a charming
about a young man and his friend who set out to retrieve his father's ashes,
for eschewing "the high seriousness and dubious mysticism" of most films about
its wry humor and cutting observations about life on the reservation, a few say
sophisticated computer graphics to make cute animals engage in sexual innuendo.
of the Old South. Most critics still consider it a masterwork and celebrate the
subject into the "pantheon of legendary women who have successfully passed as
gender is a historic construction, but critics mostly wax prurient. They obsess
novelist's latest, about the fantasies of an insurance executive whose
estranged wife slept with his preadolescent son. Some critics are tickled by
played up the size of the dissenting faction anyway. Pundits agreed that the
afterward; members will have to vote again on his punishment; he'll be
distracted, tarnished, and weakened; having lost prestige and twisted arms just
foreign diplomats' immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in the
police allege he was drunk and speeding, and that he ran a stop sign. In New
police who were trying to ticket their car because it was parked at a fire
ignored him and blamed the police. Under the international policy of diplomatic
governments waive immunity, which is highly unlikely. Pundits rushed to join
the outcry to modify this policy to allow the scoundrels to be brought to
diplomats abroad were buried near the bottom of most stories. (posted
Social Security released its prescriptions for the trust fund's solvency
problems. Members agreed to hike payroll taxes, raise the retirement age, and
invest some money in stocks, but failed to agree on how far to privatize the
would set up individual accounts but would fund them separately through a
payroll tax hike. Conservatives hailed the rough consensus on stock investment
as a "paradigm shift," while critics warned of leeching by Wall Street brokers
and asked whether the government will bail out retirees who lose their savings
because of market volatility. Union leaders vowed to kill any privatization
scheme; politicians signaled they're not ready for full privatization but are
willing to experiment with stocks as long as the government picks the stocks.
Since the commission failed to reach a consensus that would give politicians
Dodgers are for sale. Analysts predicted that with its prestigious history
the previous record for a baseball franchise. Sports historians noted that the
New York business leaders to bid for the team, but the early line is that this
they did and are warning everyone to beware of unexpected parcels from the
Middle East. Analysts suspect the culprit may be somebody offended by Al
responded with outrage at this heinous act against the media. Middle Eastern
Post weighed in with articles on how easy it is to construct letter bombs
apiece of meeting in the Super Bowl. Having already pushed aside the
columnists declared the old guard dead, lamenting the Broncos' traditional
expansion teams' success proves they were given too many picks in the college
and expansion drafts. Sportswriters reply that these teams have had plenty of
similar chances, have blown them, and may be booted from their jobs now that
the Panthers and Jaguars have proven that it doesn't take years to build a
the Pacific Northwest. After two massive snowstorms, heavy rain and melting
Northwest's woes to biblical plagues ("We finally got our natural disaster, as
businesswoman and several associates with investment interests in China met
participant in the sale of presidential access to foreign contributors. Pundits
without provocation, wounding seven civilians. The soldier was wrestled down by
in part because the soldier was a lousy shot and failed to kill anyone, and in
protect sharks from depletion by fishermen. The Wall Street
Journal says marshmallows are the new rage in fancy restaurants.
and more cops on the beat. The New York Times reports that debutante
balls are coming back. A study finds promise in a new therapy for impotence: a
battle against the city's decrepitude. In the New York Times Book
worker and a poor black grandmother with political history. The Wall Street
copies so far, escalates. Several recent reviews buck the critical consensus
and deride the book, the story of a Confederate deserter, for being too
highbrow critics misunderstand its middlebrow virtues. It is "a perfectly
enjoyable piece of sentimental fiction, straight from those golden days of the
intellectual. "Alone among the guru class, he grabbed hold of business and made
marriage damaged by grief over their runaway daughter, pursue extramarital
affairs and unwittingly swap partners with a younger yuppie couple. Christie
"renders such a captivating performance that she alone justifies the price of
seductive handyman), and melodramatic dialogue. It "descends into a silly
praise for charting the tumultuous friendships among these popular social
hackneyed gender politics, and its presentation of the boy's colorful,
creators don't realize that "this kid is profoundly troubled." (Stills and
document, an anthology of unexamined prejudices, a tiresome Manhattan whine."
Staples finds that the novel's "absence of workaday and historical detail keeps
Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall
view of the criminal trial was that a black jury ignored its instructions by
view of the civil trial is that a white jury ignored its instructions by
Reporters, however, scrupulously pointed out that a civil trial only requires
proof by a "preponderance of evidence" rather than proof "beyond a reasonable
himself in by contradicting photographic evidence and other witnesses'
testimony on the stand. Next comes a short hearing in which the jury will
found it long on grand exhortations but short on government action, confirming
of our time is inaction.") The two topics that caught the most attention were
standards. The good news: Reviewers deemed it his best State of the Union
assets under management, will be the biggest securities firm in history. The
(Dean Witter). The Wall Street Journal predicts a frenzy of copycat
royal title, particularly since she only married into it. Advertisers predict
her adultery, kinky sexual practices, contempt for authority, and general
Times sees two trends in the deal: the prostitution of the royal family
last fall's local elections. His attempt to annul them had triggered an
uprising that increasingly threatens to force him from power. The pessimistic
retreat because he's on the verge of losing control. The optimistic view is
magazine reported that the new Democratic National Committee finance chairman
tax cuts for education and for capital gains on the sale of a home.
harmony and tried to egg the two sides into a fight, with little success.
Welfare reform was the hot topic at the National Governors'
Association winter meeting. Several Republican governors supported
restoration of aid to legal immigrants (which was cut in the new welfare law).
Republican congressional leaders reportedly hit the roof over the governors'
defection and, under that pressure, they fudged their stand somewhat. But a
considering. As with welfare, the states will have to pick up part of the bill.
Conservative commentators complain that the Republican governors are chickening
out on the principle of returning authority to the states now that it's costing
them money. Liberals are gloating for the same reason. The popular bet now is
that the governors' refusal to let go of the federal teat will doom
proposals include abstinence education, school vouchers for poor kids,
construed the project as a coalition bid for mainstream credibility; the
project as a private alternative to government programs, reporters noted that
exile, imprisonment, or intimidation. The report also cites China's transparent
maintained that it will in the future. Editorialists applauded his candor but
first installment of the "Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition" opened in
and new visual effects, will soon be followed by The Empire Strikes Back
quest. The less reverent version is that it launched the era of gaudy action
a higher poverty rate than blacks. Government figures indicate that cigarette
Today warns that this may be an "early warning sign" of an emerging
environmental peril. Medical advocacy groups are pushing a home test for
them to a lab. The Wall Street Journal reports that despite the best
efforts of entrepreneurs, the cryonics industry remains lifeless. On the bright
funds made Page One news in the New York Times and Wall Street
the market's rising average. In recent years, the index strategy has triumphed
steadier cash and bonds to protect investors in the event of a market plunge.
antique dealer's murder trial, is called "listless, disjointed and
ambience of his other films. A few critics still applaud Weaver's "fierce
language, though the melodrama of the original is said to remain. The New
says the 75-minute work's "themes are nondescript, its harmonies blandly
predictable, [and] its structure maddeningly repetitious." Most point out that
Defenders argue that the piece brings a wider audience to classical music,
long, too weighty" for a "somewhat preachy story that was always slender."
his minimalism and use of pale colors. Others say the film has the "earnest
Trainspotting should have turned out to be a "pileup of spectacular
courts a philosopher is the season's surprise success. Critics praise it for
books. Hill sympathizers, on the other hand, like the book's "straightforward,
remakes with good intentions cannot overcome the blandness of the original,
machine kicks into high gear. Critics call the subject of the film inherently
to secure her place in the top tier of pop divas. Critics praise her eclectic
pronouncements about his influence on contemporary dance. Critics are surprised
that his signature style, in which dancers' movements are determined by
A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of
this film about an apocalyptic war between human beings and giant bugs renews
effects and campy characters: "a cheerfully lobotomized, always watchable
critiques, "pumping up the humdrum into the histrionic." The post- Pulp
plays every character as a charming lout. (Click here for the official
riffs on race and death. Reviewers take him to task for overworking his
trademark Borscht Belt repartee. Cardboard characters and a contrived plot are
thin evidence for others (many sources are anonymous, and some named sources
organized and filmed orgies. Many applaud the book's conclusion that his
perversions distort his studies. Others find the book cynical, "simplistic and
said to be more accurate and better organized, with fewer chatty digressions.
But most critics regret the disappearance of the "quirky personal voice" of the
longer a guide to daily life and an antidote to the worries of its era" (Molly
Items exemplifying the artist's campy humor (his massive Barbie Doll
tendentious points about art and fashion. Besides, complains New York 's
industry. A damning "indictment of the excesses" of the era, says
no difference to the average user, who will consider the competing browsers
that the brain is like a computer program that has been shaped by natural
selection. Critics find the book entertaining, praising digressions on
grace that it becomes a riotous, sprawling historical entertainment."
schematic: "Large thematic strokes may define his architecture, but within lies
continual surprise at the fluidity and resilience of the human condition."
A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of
shrink is said to revive his career, two weeks after it was pronounced stalled
morality tale about the inventors of the breast implant, who go from being star
surgeons in the '70s to coke heads in the '80s. "The Boogie Nights of
admire the show's witty satire of sleazy doctors, as well as the performances
the original's faults. The revival "doesn't diminish the magnitude of the
explaining the slave revolt itself. The score, which borrows from Benjamin
emotional questions she asks do not admit of such neatness," says the New
End of Time. The New York Times Book Review declares it one of the
series is said to lack the original's campy charm. "Silliness has been replaced
dethrones Titanic as the weekend's top box office draw. "Audiences must
haters complain he's still too abstract, can't write female characters, and
the show is little more than a vehicle for showing women romping around in
concerns (power politics, "narrative") at the expense of spiritual content.
Pears uses the thriller as an occasion to wax philosophical, meditating on
scientific method and political liberalism. Critics praise his skill at
excellence, writes about someone other than herself, and earns mixed reviews.
Feminists approve of the novel, about an aging rock star and her two abandoned
Close retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art as "the work of an artist
said to have overplayed its fame by appearing in too many commercials.
ABBA.) ("Hi! We're the Spice Girls" is the official site. For
Contemporary Arts Center (New York City). A Queens elementary
school turned art gallery undergoes an $8.5-million renovation and becomes the
"world's largest contemporary art space." Art critics welcome the expansion,
pointing out that the gallery now can exhibit oversized installations most
museums can't accommodate. Works by young, experimental, and overlooked artists
are also displayed in bathrooms, basements, stairwells, and halls. Highlights:
dismissed as hackneyed, borrowed from Cold War thrillers and courtroom
novel, about a widow who finds happiness communing with ghosts, switches
pretentious, particularly when Rice holds forth on Catholic theology and
classical music. But some reviewers claim to have relished the book's spirit of
kitschy fun. (Random House has a gothic page devoted to Rice.)
oversimplify, overanalyze or sentimentalize," says the New York Times Book
obsession, her childhood. It's time for her "to tell us something new" (John
occasions, the company has seemed more like a "postgraduate workshop for the
"rowdiness and bawdry [which] are as out of place as a belch in a declaration
Time in the aftermath of a horrific conflagration. "It uses the moral and
historical grandeur of a world war to promote its cranky local obsessions to a
level of universality and interest that they do not deserve."
thriller is pronounced a failure. The problem: a disappointing ending. It's
"the worst kind of bad film: the kind that gets you all worked up and then lets
call this version more polished than the low budget original and better than
the other six sequels but say nonetheless that it is predictable, devoid of
scenes, incredibly detailed descriptions of cutting edge military technology,
and enough acronyms to set your head spinning. This isn't great literature but,
and cardboard cutout characters, most critics admit the novel is "a ripping
about everyday life, but audiences give him standing ovations. Praise goes to
approbation to the choice post- South Park spot on Comedy Central. The
motorcycles is the most attended exhibition in its history. Some critics find
beauty in the bikes' sleek, modern designs, but most reject the exhibition as
(Showtime; click here for air times). Despite the refusal of major distributors to
minded critics call it "a preposterous polemic celebrating modern feminist
cop hostage, then picks Spacey as his negotiator. The actors are unable to
lost in the hubbub are wit and logic." (Check out the official Web
Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet
attempt at running an Internet startup. Critics revel in his caustic humor and
calls the book "a fascinating cautionary tale" of the way money is shoveled at
reminding the reader of what a dishonest, scheming little shit he is, he seeks
greatest contribution is said to be the integration of Modernist innovations
remember his unrelenting perfectionism (some say meanness) and his audacious
designed to make sure he can't keep any money he makes from his notoriety in
in calculating his net worth, so the judge or an appeals court will probably
education, juvenile crime, family tax cuts, tax credits for businesses that
stories. Consensus prediction: The big studios will be embarrassed for a few
weeks and then will go back to churning out mindless blockbusters.
ordinance against vicious dogs. Strike One was the rooster. Strikes two and
three were escapes from home. The case inspired outcries throughout the country
and was widely covered by national television and the foreign media. New
prosecutors buckled and agreed to reduce Prince's penalty to exile.
fighter jets dogged passenger planes in two incidents. First an F-16
causing its pilot to attempt violent evasive maneuvers. Then another commercial
dollar for some time now." Finance ministers and central bankers
producers, but it also makes it harder for them to attract capital investment.
The Group of Seven industrialized nations, meeting in Berlin, decided that the
What the experts didn't explain was why, if the boundaries are artificial,
concerns have waned, disposable diapers are driving cloth diapers into
who couldn't get online, is now under fire for failing to tell users about
other phone routes that are less jammed but cost the company more money.
accused have yet to be tried. The network said the movie would provide
York Times editorial, everyday lessons like whether "a newly engaged couple
should cement their relationship by exterminating former lovers."
Times sees it as the latest sign that Republicans, having made sure that
boost investment in education, cut taxes, and eradicate deficit spending for
sham: It doesn't specify where programs will be cut. (Budget Director Frank
solvency plan for Medicare, assumes there won't be a recession, and defers
office. The Wall Street Journal pitifully observed that Al Gore will be
left holding the bag. The political consensus is that the Republicans are ready
to deal this year and will work out a compromise budget, which won't balance
to establish a "humanitarian fund for the victims of the Holocaust." This is an
attempt to resolve the scandal over whether the banks ingratiated themselves to
groups. The boycott has been called off, but demands persist for full
disclosure of records of Holocaust victims' assets, and there's little sign the
chalk it up to sluttish ruthlessness; defenders argue that, like most women of
her day, she had been socialized to build her plans around men. Intent on
proving that she was more than a seductive dilettante, friends are touting her
success as ambassador. The French, meanwhile, are praising her seductive
for abandoning their heritage, but were unable to find anybody making the
lovers. Dissenters gripe about hackneyed dialogue, stock characters, and too
it alongside his '70s classics. They laud his intermingling of fiction and
following. Giving it a second look, critics attribute the show's appeal to its
unconventional plots and insights into contemporary young women. "Irresistible
debate. Some praise the museum for its uncharacteristic timeliness and for
of his designs, which got noticed only because celebrities wore them. In the
should go far toward raising the standards of architecture in New York City,"
English painter wins praise for "bringing [her] subject and his milieu alive"
prurient fixation on sex. (In one painting, women watch a man masturbate in
lore and language of movies rather than life," says the Wall Street
Wright, receive mostly raves. "A symphonic set of variations on the classical
dialogue. Others complain the plays are pretentious and without much plot. Some
war. "Some of the shocks here are too sadly predictable," says the New York
that the Internet will expand democracy, build communities, and liberate
workers. "A cross between New Age philosophy and 1950s hyperbole," says
previously published magazine articles, writes turgid prose, and puts too much
World: Life, Death, and the Human Drama" (International Center of Photography
Midtown, New York City). With this retrospective, the newspaper photographer
great artist, and an inspiration to his followers. Critics marvel at his knack
for arriving at murder scenes before the police. Others blame him for today's
news media's voyeurism and disapprove of his borderline ethics (he composed
scenes that he passed off as spontaneous). "His influence was like a rock
dropped in a pond: its ripples are still spreading," says the New York
Rainmaker generic. "Must we simply face the iron fact that current
filmmaking conditions have deprived still another individual director of his
evil king and his good twin, emerges relatively unscathed. He is better "than
character actor John Hurt's wry depiction of the writer. Critics deem Hurt a
offbeat subjects, which make him the "most restlessly independent independent
and his cinematography drab. (Stills and clips are available here.)
say they have no interest in watching "spineless, whiny, indecisive nitwits"
album of new songs in nine years is deemed melancholic and sluggish, "like it
(New Line Cinema). Pundits can't resist noting the "scary
acclaimed satire about a fake war orchestrated to divert attention
from a presidential sex scandal. Their spin on the eerie parallel between art
critics' pans of the popular Spice Girls and conclude that "sometimes the
and apparent awareness that "they have achieved ludicrous measures of fame and
about his marriage and admitting his insensitivity and infidelity, which some
highly polished diversion." (An excerpt is available.)
thriller about a science writer and an evangelical drifter who's obsessed with
overpriced commercials to kvetch about. "Surely a future Super Bowl will see
Internet to vote for its ending, to no apparent consequence.
Chamber Ensemble" (City Center, New York City). On the occasion of his
majestic solo concert. "The profundity of an artist such as we won't see again
he has given modern dance, having switched from classical ballet in
theatrical watershed: an awesome pyrotechnical display of theatrical craft and
Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall
thriller The Fugitive is judged inferior to its predecessor. Critics
"you'll feel cheap in the morning." (The studio touts the movie here.)
pragmatic, and basically liberal (except when it comes to gays). "If you are a
million but flops with critics. It wins credit for downplaying special effects
with too few action scenes and characters who seem oddly cavalier about their
that presumes on its reader's infinite patience." Others say it's muddled by
poorly demarcated flashbacks and instances of incomprehensible Dutch humor.
sons to trade on his father's name in launching a pop career. Critics say
(Random House). A new biography prompts a round of comparisons between the
the New York Times Book Review for bringing an unusually fine "moral
intelligence" to the declining art of biography. His tale is said to transcend
pathological tightwad, and a philanthropist whose giving was motivated by PR
suffers an anxiety attack on a Venetian gondola and rarely leaves his hotel
press and deliberately hammed up his insecurities for the camera.
"Actresses get attention for their hair when they don't draw you in with their
death of a genre. "Romantic comedy has been in a funk since women's lib and the
pill popped the champagne bubbles of sexual tension." (A trailer is available
alleys and markets are said to overcome a flimsy plot in The Joy Luck
predictable and despicable: "Lower their grammar a few notches, and you can see
mocks "the endlessly repeated mantra that the show's genius is that it's 'about
inchoate fulminations on feminism and familiar rants on being single. Others
Closed Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles
name, the movie won't succeed financially. (Here's the official site.)
loses all its children in a school bus crash. Critics say the film, which won
subject matter. Critics especially like its intricate structure (it has four
to be especially skillful. (Clips are available here.)
adaptation of its cartoon movie. "Far more textured and original than the
masks and are said to be stylish and innovative. Critics also like the way the
story has been rewritten to add some psychological depth (it's now an Oedipal
dropping and gossip mongering, particularly his boasts of having given Nancy
China safe for capitalism, openness, and prosperity. References to his
Pundits are already handicapping the power struggle among China's next
criminal record and has allegedly bragged that he stands to gain much of the
correspondents agree that all this significantly wounded the government's case.
investigation would soon end without indictments of the president or first
press that he had made his decision without regard to the investigation's
called him a quitter. Conservatives consoled themselves with the prospect that
met to discuss how businesses and churches could provide jobs. Instead, Earl
Graves, the publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, said it was wrong "to
"slavery" and protested that it was "demeaning" to clean toilets. Meanwhile,
Trade Organization would become foreigners' tool for conquering the United
Council had warned the White House against consorting with shady characters who
senators and the media responded by demanding to know why the White House had
no governmental actions affected by contributions to this president."
strike for two months while federal mediators try to resolve the dispute. The
average salary. Editorialists are having trouble picking sides because both the
company and the pilots seem to be making too much money. Pundits agree that the
benefits of intervention (pleasing passengers and saving jobs in politically
mostly Republican and are isolated from the rest of organized labor) made this
for similar confrontations may be encouraged to hold out for absurd demands in
Police said the diplomat appeared to have been drinking and speeding. The State
the two countries. Observers worry that their reconciliation process might
certified her as the newest celebrity in sports but worried that she'll end up
warped or burned out like other recent teen prodigies in gymnastics, skating,
and tennis. The cynical view is that she's got a year or two at the top before
proclaiming once again that the optimists have been vindicated, are having more
and more trouble finding anyone on Wall Street who was this optimistic. Even
analysts who had argued for loosening the old standards, by which the market
was clearly overvalued, now think it has maxed out for a while. The rosy view
is that the market's remarkable rise makes sense because conditions have been
perfect. The pessimistic view is that investors have been spoiled by the
perfect conditions and will panic as soon as something goes wrong. The Wall
bolstered the case. The disclosure gives the scandal an important new twist and
ratchets up pressure on the Justice Department to appoint an independent
counsel. But the Wall Street Journal says there is still no evidence to
committee investigating the scandal has collapsed into partisan feuding,
taken by some as a sign that the probe may now be focusing on the girl's
parents, who have hired their own lawyers, detectives, and PR people while
still refusing to be interviewed at police headquarters. The more cautious
interpretation is that the case investigators don't want to repeat the forensic
reinstating a ban on funding for groups that also perform or promote abortions
passed by a wider margin, but the Senate is expected to oppose such a
their efforts to disentangle support for contraception from the contentious
musical highlights. They're relief from the rest of the film." (Visit the official site.)
just as nasty as his first film and leaves critics arguing over whether the
callous bastards. The action revolves around six characters (two couples and
two singles) who betray and manipulate each other in various combinations in a
embarrassment, and misery." But some find the bleakness compelling and praise
four real single people living and looking for love in New York City, but
film is scripted, based on conversations with his subjects. Some critics are
fascinated by the new possibilities opened up by this license and call the film
Others are uneasy about the intimate, sad, and somewhat mocking portraits that
emerge of these deeply flawed and lonely individuals and call the film
who says watching this film "is like having a hangover without the fun of
getting happily plastered in the first place." Entertainment Weekly 's
Ken Tucker is the lone dissenter, claiming the film possesses an "irreverent
energy and a swaggering style that does its subject proud." (Visit the official
"instinctive grasp of familial dynamics, the ways in which dreams and emotional
parts are "perilously at the edge of sentimentality." (Read an essay by the
Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the
swashbuckling legend makes critics wax nostalgic for the era "when boyish
Robin Hood is said to offer impeccable stunts and a genuinely witty screenplay.
lifeless, [with the] contrived feel of a Thanksgiving Day parade." (Here's the
prose and quirky characters, they focus more on the similarities between the
in the Weekly Standard that the book "becomes a porn novel," with its
heavy focus on presidential sex. (See what the publisher has to say about
Coles says her presence is "so obvious a gimmick to draw in those who don't
normally bother to see the Bard that it's almost insulting." Unanimous praise
staging of the gender bender, which breaks with the recent trend of
interjecting gay subtext into the play. The consensus: Twelfth Night is
political chat show. Most critics use the occasion as another opportunity to
to deliver the dish his promos promised. Still others, such as Entertainment
Weekly 's Ken Tucker, predict the unpredictable Drudge, a "refreshingly
snarky news anchor," will shake up political television. Here's the Drudge Report, which
wins praise for her first leading role since coming out. Though some had
has lost his touch and is now just recycling old lines and plots.
Times )--runs off with her gay brother's lover. Reviewers like the
unpredictable plot twists, witty asides about sexual identity, and the casting.
uses saucy lesbian love scenes simply to attract viewers and to make up for its
insights into the playwright's tortured mind. They're shocked by the violence
"his mode of interviewing consists mainly of salivating over guests for being
by writing a straightforward novel about a soap company and an employee who
gets ovarian cancer. Some critics praise his insight into the dark nature of
Others say his characters just deliver long, boring speeches on esoterica. "It
(New Line Cinema). This hip urban vampire tale is either
admirably true to its Marvel Comics origins or boring and brooding, depending
and special effects and is said to radiate a grim beauty. But neither script
his death did the three find out about one another. Critics say the film never
summer is pronounced "tacky, tiny and about as seductively nostalgic as those
doesn't disappoint. "It's a testament to her talent that the novel, while
improvisation. The album is "shockingly raw for mainstream pop, with the
this story. It is possibly the most tried and true dramatic plot known to man."
patriotic war movie you might think went out of fashion" after the glut of
throwback to a time before fiction turned graphic and interior and hot to the
ability to create a sense of linkage, of one existence impinging on the
Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the
against the amendment because the Senate rejected changes he had proposed.
handwritten note shows that he directly approved and encouraged a plan to
other White House perks. The initial media spin is that this was scandalously
The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors have evidence of
the vast majority of patients who have the procedure (technically known as
intact dilation and evacuation) are healthy women with healthy fetuses that
hospital. The district attorney concluded that "the wealthiest murder defendant
few hours later. The bomb wasn't detected, but it failed to go off. The Army of
responsibility for the bombings of an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub in
after discovering that two men who were thought to be assembling a huge
fertilizer bomb were average guys working for an industrial cleaning firm.
written by the gunman seems to confirm police suspicions that he was deranged
experiment (on sheep) said their technique will allow the engineering of
animals to produce helpful drugs. Other scientists pointed out that the
technique can be applied to humans, that the United States has no laws against
it, and that such laws couldn't be enforced anyway, since the procedure can be
done in almost any lab anywhere in the world. While enthusiasts point to
1960s with strikes against school decentralization. He later endorsed strong
standards for both teachers and students, which annoyed many teachers but made
him a hero to school reformers. But he'll be best remembered for a line in
agree that the reversal fails to erase the widespread conclusion that he has
judgment, further weakening the investigation's credibility. Meanwhile, the
adapting his positions to the demands of contrary constituencies ranging from
Marine training turned out to be a lot harder than his boxing training regimen
to do. Commentators dismissed him as a pampered wimp who jerked around both the
military and the taxpayer. The Marines gained new respect for having broken
spoof of his old choirboy image. Nevertheless, outraged viewers complained to
the Christian television network that had been airing his show, causing its
cancellation. Callers to the network are being advised to pray for him.
notorious rapist who hacked off his victim's forearms and then spent only
another woman. Outraged citizens and commentators are scorning the folly of
rehabilitation and demanding tougher sentencing laws for sex offenders. The
irony is that such laws are already in place, inspired in part by Singleton's
clever, and emotionless. The hoopla is evidence "that the art world takes
for his candid memoir of his days as a young civil rights radical. They praise
Coordinating Committee, the organization he headed. Most reviewers mythologize
Staples argues the book's real value lies in its revelations of the class
terrible challenge to interest a populace that's already had Titanic up
disease (he rejected a tenure offer because he believed he was about to become
"of conceiving of a nuanced theory of rationality could descend into madness"
of synergy, reduced to "scrounging around for tony material to turn into tacky
to Abstract Expressionism. But critics hate him as much as ever: "His art is
tourists' bad taste to garner huge crowds. (For the lowdown on the show, click
gratuitous violence and grotesqueries, critics lay into this "merchandising
harmless plot: An avaricious toy manufacturer places vivifying microchips into
Many critics even wax nostalgic for the psychological acumen of earlier
(Lions Gate Films). Critics either tout or trash this
what "it would be like reading papers for a freshman creative writing course"
(sometimes gothic, sometimes macho) lyrics, refreshing in a world inundated by
cult star to become a genuine pop star. (Mercury plugs the album here.)
ranking their favorite books, movies, albums, and other cultural fare.
's editors thought it only fitting to use this special
installment of "Summary Judgment" to summarize the Best of everyone's Best of
about a Civil War deserter, which, to the dismay of many critics, beat out
reviews all leave it off their lists, but Entertainment Weekly considers
it the best of a "banner year for adventure stories." (See
no consensus emerges. The weekly book reviews like such highbrow biographies as
critics bemoan. "Why not pay real writers to write?" Time grumbles.
critics lament the ubiquity of disaster movies, mindless screenplays, and actor
woman" in rock: "Never in pop history have female singers been quite so
say the sitcom was witless and pointless until it focused on its main
excoriate Digital Pets, a noisy, interactive version of the 1970s fad the Pet
Rock. Digital Pets are labeled the year's worst innovation and a "nightmare for
"suitably preposterous plot." (Visit the official Web site.)
for it, and if the other two don't admit their complicity (and do time in a
dangerous prison system), the one who was caught will be executed. Some critics
praise it as having "the moody, disquieting undertow of a true moral thriller"
might be melodrama, but it's melodrama with heart, bones, sinews, and tear
developing sexuality and the crazy dynamics of her less than affluent family,
toward sitcom jokes and timing but nevertheless embrace the "affectionate
had speculated for four years about the effect of marriage and motherhood on
the queen of sexual bravado and confessional songwriting. The consensus:
stunts and manipulation of the public's buying patterns through now commonplace
praised for thorough research and the ability to see through his subject's
inflation of his accomplishments. The critics are not impressed with the book's
and celebrity dirty laundry. Others dismiss the book for its dearth of sources
the legal document as if it were a literary creation but disagree on which
genre it falls into. Some find it squarely in the tradition of "the
"nonfiction novel" in the New York Times and finds its closest literary
scapegrace hero is always more appealing than a moralizing narrator." (Read the
genres somewhat awkwardly. (Listen to this Terry Gross interview with King.)
latest rehash of Manhattan fast living is Bright Lights, Big City all
over again: Smart young man works at a magazine, dates a model, runs with a
debauched crowd, looks for meaning. Critics say the novel "wears a sort of
and, worse, "it's never clear if we are meant to ridicule, pity, or envy" the
her wordplay, wry humor, and smart, bitter female protagonists; this collection
gives way to bonding) and, along the way, treat the audience to some great
action scenes and some not so great ethnic stereotypes. Tucker's hyperactive
thoroughly unappealing for the audience to ever root for him. (Find out more
The film is an understated but moving depiction of the day to day existence of
praised as having "captured something true about families and friendship"
film lacks any real sense of narrative continuity and feels like "bits and
negatives for his forthcoming film. "[A] stunningly bad, sophomorically vulgar
pseudonym used when a director removes his name from a film's credits.
spiteful tone; and disjointed editing, done by the film's despised
purveying racial stereotypes. Its laughs are as crude as the chuckles of
with her first pop album in four years. It works. Critics are charmed by
unparalleled phrasing and effortless style and glance over his unexceptional
pitch and range. They attribute his enduring popularity to his complex persona,
with tenderness. All but a few whitewash his Mafia ties, brawling, silly
grudges, boozing, racism, womanizing, and the fact that "he not infrequently
grand finale fails to live up to its hype, and a few even pronounce it "a major
writing, and humor about everyday situations. Others are pleased that the show
stayed unsentimental to the last and didn't compromise itself with a sappy,
own murder and then begins rapping about the virtues of socialism and
personal political agenda down the throats of an audience," says
accuse him of turning out "agitprop for a politics whose few remaining
girl's. Others say the novel rambles: "As with a bright child brought down to
century seals his canonization. Although critics find Cities of the
Plain less inventive than All the Pretty Horses and The
philosophical musings, which no longer seem fresh. The book's plot (about a
man's anonymous love letters to his girlfriend) is said to be trite, and the
unpredictable, and reminiscent of his masterpiece, The Unbearable Lightness
Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria
Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme
this year's outfits were deemed boring: less gothic and showing less cleavage
as entertaining as reality. Others gripe about the film's two and half hour
teen drama. Reviewers like the labyrinthine twists of the story, about two
to enjoying the "guilty pleasures, including banzai bikini footage" (Mike
rating and find it lacking even "the saving spark of low art or high camp"
are swooning over this pretentious, sluggish "lifeless drone" for political
(Henry Miller Theater, New York City). Applause for
uses a stage backdrop of nothing but stark blue and projects bands of white
light across it, while his performers stand almost motionless. Reviewers find
the innovations that have transformed opera over the past half century" (Mark
continued attraction to him implausible and object to the film's lugubrious
clearly had a lot of practice trying to explain the unexplainable in 12-step
but is said to suffer from simplistic characters, windy dialogue, and a facile
in the Holy Land, comes up short. Stone's thriller about the sojourns of a
Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous
to fame: A onetime prostitute, she founded a brokerage house, ran for
president, championed free love, and brought down the preacher Henry Ward
previous low standing to the abundance of sculptures he made in the '60s for
Opera (Metropolitan Opera, New York City). Critics applaud the St.
Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme
the movie's frighteningly realistic violence, especially a scene in which a
husband beats his pregnant wife, causing her to miscarry. Watching the film,
head with a shovel." (Click here for the official site.)
complaining that the movie feels like a retread of the original Blues Brothers
guys. Critics say the tuneless John Goodman can't measure up to the late
swept the film critics' awards. Critics failed to expect only one inclusion and
nominations, the critics' sentimental favorites are aging actors staging
[Dickens], you get your insider's chuckle. If not, you still get a good yarn"
repackage her old New York Times columns. Issue advocacy comes at the
expense of realistic characters and a coherent plot. And why is it, the critics
much like a sophisticated Manhattan journalist? Dissenters congratulate
by refusing to "sell out" and make videos. General consensus: "The fabled '90s
sculptures, ceramics, and paintings, most of them never seen before outside
new species that chooses to travel halfway around the globe to lay his eggs in
the middle of Manhattan doesn't seem built to survive, evolutionarily speaking"
poorly at the box office) may also be due to overexposure to disaster movies.
the lack of a plot, critics say, there's a senselessly spinning camera meant to
rather than quality films. "It's become a carnival midway of commercial
Gaze didn't win.) Other films to emerge from the festival are Safe
as much for its social history as its compelling story" (Tom De Haven,
into urban decay and race, as well as his cinematic dialogue, acquired in his
more funny," says Entertainment Weekly 's Ken Tucker. Encomiums for the
biz, and its blurring of life and art with celebrity cameos (guests on the
against his former manager, who allegedly swiped Sanders writers for
its plot absurd, and Reeves' performance typically bad. (See the film's
tomes as hopelessly pedestrian, with "the formulaic plots and the formulaic
prose, and extensive research, while gleefully bashing the snobbery of his
show's frank treatment of the twins' sex lives. They say wrenching portrayals
for the decrepit city's renewal wins more praise for its intentions than for
postmodern building, consisting of concert halls and theaters, looks like a
on kitsch (examples of overkill: steel rods poking out of ceilings; floors
inlaid with colored stones). But complaints are downplayed because "the
on a line of clothes with embedded computers. The duds get heavier or lighter
depending on climate, and they automatically play music in response to the
computers do nothing useful, and the futuristic designs are not anything
their heads at the New York Philharmonic's penchant for reviving obscure works
A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of
stop letting actors direct. (The trailer is available here.)
and they insist it's time to retire the Bond franchise. As the sixth Bond,
vistas and elegiac tone, saying the latter resembles "a meditative and
Most critics respectfully note that the lack of a plot and the lengthy scenes
the card hall settings are said to be gritty; the dialogue is said to be
Objections: a sluggish plot and a predictable setup. Dissenters call the film
mother and daughter forced to reconcile in the face of grave illness earn
though small, is said to be emotionally powerful. (Watch interviews with the stars
the loss of the author's blessing and the right to use the novel's name. What's
left is a string of corny adventures shared by two young boys, one of whom
believes he is on a special mission from God. A minority of critics praise the
page memo detailing his objections to the studio's cut of his
the occasion to rethink the movie itself: "A jammed, discordant, discomforting
many complications a moral significance of disturbing perversity and
diary that had been removed by her father before publication, largely because
they reveal unhappy details of his marriage. These pages overshadow the
contents of the biography in news coverage of the book, but those who do
Frank: the Cultivation of the Inspirational Victim.")
unfamiliar directions. Some critics call it his "best album in years" (Tony
choreographer Mark Morris is judged to be worse than expected. "It's like
convicted murderer, fails to make its protagonist sympathetic even as it
Picketers castigated the show for glorifying a killer. (Audio clips are
reporting on the scandal but admit that they like watching it. Their main
student's affair with his teacher and a character who masturbates while
irked by the movie's artsy pretensions (Pip is turned into a tortured painter)
waste an intense performance on a silly film. He plays a psychotic murderer
said to come at the expense of developing her characters, who "don't behave
liberals, in this case an older couple whose son is accused of murder.
Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall
(Paramount Pictures). Raves mount for the summer smash, in
M for Murder transposed to Manhattan, "sexed up, opened out, and finished
It's also said to replicate the original's flaws, in that it isn't very scary.
to lack her usual charm. "She's in love with the camera. Unfortunately, it's
classical, pastoral). Others continue to dismiss his work as sappy and say he
and sympathetic portrayal of the lives of a gang banger, a crack dealer, and a
journalism has fallen from the pyrotechnics of its originators, such as Tom
times to grow up in: "One wants to ask, 'Harder compared to what?' To life in
detective battles a demon that jumps from one person to another when they
reviewers wonder why his characters never have romantic relations with white
from last year's competition flopped at the box office, critics declare the
restored hegemony. "Does this prove once and for all that size matters?"
(Ford Center for the Performing Arts, New York City). New
the struggle. King, the book's central figure, emerges as "our century's epic
King years is that there now is no struggle over [their] historical
master's wry humor and enchanting storytelling. It has "a strong claim to being
Others say it's no coincidence the novel didn't appear until seven years after
Singer's death. "Chaotic, rambling, repetitive and parochial," judges Lee
network's animated show about third graders obsessed with violence and bodily
the show's cult following to the timeless power of bathroom humor and to its
(and arguably the first painter anywhere) to abandon representation. "Dove's
visionary abstraction was of such strength, originality and integrity," says
who denied Dove's paternity of their movement and dismissed his landscapes as
Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall
in a nightclub modeled on the legendary Studio 54--and lap up the characters'
exhausted of insight. (Click here for the official site.)
with stuffed animals, and the "emotional range of a sympathy card" (Roger
is also judged charmless. Some reviewers endorse the film as benign summer fare
ever. Still, they admit the sequel isn't that great. While full of delightfully
quality but criticism for playing fast and loose with the facts. Journalist
nonfiction book it is based on. Grateful Nation is said to present a
meaning of the Abstract Expressionist's famous floating rectangles. "Like
landscapes. A few interpret the dark hues of his later works as a reflection of
the violence and hoped "to pull back from the brink."
Federal Reserve 's decision to not raise interest rates reflected both
campaign politics and internecine struggles at the Fed. Although the Fed rarely
Fed's regional bank presidents, who wanted a rate hike, had leaked their
might help friendly investors get a jump on imminent Fed actions. Either way,
explosives. The raids apparently thwarted a truck bombing akin to those that
of interest in a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
United States was the subject as the United Nations opened its
governments. Editorialists warned that the United States is in no position to
women. Fire rescue workers expected to carry Lucid from the space shuttle,
since the weightlessness of space tends to confuse the body's sense of balance
and deplete blood, bone, and muscle strength. Instead, she stood up and walked
away, with some help. Her strength was credited to a rigorous workout regimen
"young girls who may have nontraditional aspirations."
chemical weapons make it a threat even beyond the Gulf. The New York
intelligence, saying they've have been trained as terrorists. In other
debilitating stroke. Other reports asserted that his kidneys and liver were
although his surgery would be delayed a few weeks, he would probably serve out
his term. Stocks recovered, and governments around the world breathed easier.
"Think of all the awful healthy leaders we could have," said one doctor.
Even the caterers had to sign confidentiality agreements. After years of being
in their escape. "We were so excited to have fooled everybody," said one
passed them both. The larger bill would fortify the Border Patrol, facilitate
deportations, and restrict the benefits available to illegal aliens; the
detached bill would let states exclude children of illegal aliens from public
schools. The second bill was dismissed as veto bait, but Republicans were
excuse to veto the larger bill. Liberal interest groups and the White House
scrambled to find new objections to the larger bill: Among other things, they
warned that it threatens legal immigrants with deportation and diminishes their
safeguards against job discrimination. Bob Dole issued a letter pretending to
Post disclosed that congressional Republicans had actually forced the idea
on Dole. A further Post article suggested that ultimately, the joke was
parents. (Stations running the ads claimed that they wouldn't air them during
them from competing on the tube with beer companies.
discounted previous concerns that the pill contributed to cardiovascular
trouble, and touted studies indicating that it reduces the risk of ovarian and
endometrial cancer. Meanwhile, a new survey by a contraceptive pharmaceutical
company suggested that the pill has surpassed sterilization as the country's
apparent factor in the pill's previous decline in popularity.
more on its first weekend than any other women's film in history. Critics were
suddenly drop an inconvenient first wife without social opprobrium," and
novelist's eighth murder mystery about a female medical examiner, in as many
Scream -bred teen horror flicks is roundly panned as a "disappointing
lacking either an ironic or a frightening touch. (See the official site.)
disguised as a soldier seduces a single mother and becomes a father figure for
established etiquette for getting people to see them. 'Hey, we should try this
Hunter calls it "simply the greatest war movie ever made, and one of the great
and triumph, and it was triumph that gave meaning to the tragedy.
not only as an artist but as an adult." (Click here for
brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained" (Roger
air guitar." (Clips are available at the official site.)
least mandarin and most likable film to date. A morality play about a garbage
Trigger and his tendency to express himself through ballads, not fisticuffs.
broader cultural assumptions. Critics revel in his elegant deflation of bunk
theories, finding in his work "qualities in increasingly short supply in
response for a reporter's study of how guilty white liberals and black radicals
liberals carp that her tone mirrors the anger of the black radicals she
on incessantly, never asking a more challenging question than 'Do these pants
denunciations of the National Endowment for the Arts. Most critics find her
government funding. Less predictably, conservatives admit to attending her
performance multiple times: "If new material has been added since her first
the light, turns it this way and that, and then wisely leaves us more or less
miniature bombs in the buttons of jeans in order to blackmail the world. "Pay
noted are hints of nationalism in his last few films, which were not as well
received as his early masterpieces. (Here is a complete listing of his filmography.)
Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the
murderer who spent most of his life in institutions for the criminally insane.
raised about explanations offered for Minor's sexual mania, which tormented him
so severely that he amputated his penis. Also considered a stretch is the
suggestion of romance between Minor and the widow of his victim. (You can
wave of reviews amount to a backlash against the backlash. Daily New York
memoir" and is a "leap forward in maturity and emotional candor." In the New
disturbing," though she adds, "I often found myself wondering how much of her
Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the
is dismissed as "another variation of the same old supernatural junk" (Mike
(First Look Pictures). Finally, critics say, a film
transcends its formulaic plot. "Little more than an excuse for a soundtrack
said to be insubstantial, with "an unlikable hero, a slapdash plot and some
annoyingly smug? His latest novel, about an insane heir to a manufacturing
fortune who's forbidden to see women, is deemed diffuse and stocked with
caricatures. But even those who pan the novel continue to celebrate his
complain there aren't enough such stories, citing the compelling drama
favorite bits: a celebration by Close of the word "cunt" and a pitch by
work is said to refute the rap that feminists are humorless: "What it was like
Spin and Rolling Stone simultaneously run covers extolling the
virtues of South Park. Rolling Stone attributes the show's success to
rhapsodies on its characters like a demented anesthetist bullying patients with
who can hardly speak English. They say Crystal tries too hard to be likable
film's New Age spirituality, its sentimental ending, and Cage's lack of acting
credulous audience. English critics say the crowd's gullibility proves the New
York art establishment's "utter obliviousness to the ridiculous" (the
starvation at the end of his 40-day sojourn in the wilderness. Unlike Mailer's
Quarantine is lauded for its historical accuracy, lyrical prose, and
The film's strength is said to be its uncompromising psychological complexity:
It shows the preacher as both very good and extremely evil, without lapsing
into moral condemnation. Unlike most films about evangelicalism, it is not a
(Universal Pictures). Reviewers claim to be weary of Northern
that Capote spent more time schmoozing than writing, and deem his work less
for its lack of cohesion, its failed forays into magical realism, and its
and a windy Romantic bore. Now, critics declare him a cerebral modernist who
evolutionary psychology to task by attacking its standard bearer, How the
endorsement of infanticide in a recent New York Times Magazine article
exposes the ethical failings of the wildly popular new branch of science.
Kelly, says that Pinker wants us "to see [infanticide] not as a moral horror
but as a genetically encoded evolutionary adaptation, as unavoidable as depth
perception or opposable thumbs." (Pinker has denied the accusation, arguing
(Paramount). The 1950s nostalgia film, panned when it was
Titanic at the box office. Critics also come around. "As timeless as its
enthusiasm for space exploration, which has lost its mystique since the '70s.
But they also say the series is "too long, too prolix, too cable" (Ken Tucker,
to television, hindering their mental development. The magazine calls
virtues in the "sublimely ridiculous experience" of the show (Tucker) and note
(Martin Beck Theater, New York City). Critics find no
Although reviewers grant that this production benefits from some nuanced
performances, they still conclude that "The Sound of Music isn't really
audiences will continue to devour the show's sentimental story anyway.
like the book any more than the essay. In the New York Times Book Review
above her own kind of sanctimony." (To read the first three chapters, click
line up on opposing sides. Some praise his emphasis on biology as "a strong
praises the book. Click here to read the first chapter.)
sport of the decade." This year's lines are noted for representing a backlash
younger designers for not taking risks, preferring the continuing inventiveness
two separate occasions. "Nobody's interested in the vitriolic ravings of a
bitter man who attacks and rips apart movies that the great majority of viewers
Yes, he's the Comeback Kid, but only because he keeps getting himself into
trouble from which he must come back. When things are going well, he finds a
they're the ones who feel ready to "start dating again." Now that
spared further lurid disclosures, and increasingly open to voting Republican in
forging ahead with impeachment. The charitable explanation is that they're
hard to see what further information about the affair would bring him down.
and the venting of outrage by Democrats on the Senate floor, pundits on
television, and citizens in everyday conversation. People will always be
care even less for politicians who set aside the public's business in order to
vented its disgust, the congressional impeachment inquiry is being reduced to
an inside game. The more it consumes Congress' attention and the nastier it
gets, the angrier the public will become. And the party most likely to be
finally been forced to shut up, since nobody wanted to hear anything from him
but apologies. But now that he has apologized and taken a beating, he is
gradually recovering the right to open his mouth again. The effect of his
videotaped testimony on public opinion shows what he can do. If the Republicans
drag out the impeachment process and summon him for a verbal spanking before
Democratic voters sleep through the election, allowing the Republican base to
the polls. But if Republicans push the impeachment inquiry to the point of
investigated. He already faces a court fight over whether he has unlawfully
leaked grand jury information to reporters. Now that the background material he
sent to Congress has been released, the press has become interested in whether
consumed journalists' attention. To the extent the Republicans have held their
mockery, and incredulity. By charging into the arena, the Republicans are
offering the press an alternative political target. This is particularly unwise
Should further revelations warrant impeachment, Congress may have lost the
necessary credibility. Polls show most people aren't willing to impeach
lying and covering up those matters as well. That report could deliver a
Republican majority has squandered its authority by overplaying an arguably
lesser scandal that most people think boils down to lying about sex.
night, thousands of people walk into casinos and rack up big winnings. But
casinos stay in business because few of those people have the prudence to walk
out while they're ahead. Instead, they keep playing until they've lost
presidency. And that's how his enemies will save him.
to hand the independent counsel the head of Bill the Southern Baptist.
Apparently the president is a man with precise, if deranged, views on the
president allowed them to engage in kissing and "heavy petting" while they had
these episodes, while the dress lay on the carpet. The Star 's "source"
undress, that it's not technically sexual relations." Let's see, making out
with someone, then ejaculating while she strips in your office does not
constitute sexual relations. Bill, that's good, that's good.
young guest while the two were enjoying an extended stay in the private study."
makes a very different kind of appearance in the National Enquirer 's
stories that could be harmful to him, he refused to listen." In this version of
he eventually came to realize, the Enquirer quotes him telling friends,
know if she even knows what the truth really is anymore."
their dalliance was a true love affair. "I thought he turned to me because his
wife is so cold," another insider has her saying. But soon she realized she was
when he told me I should return the gifts," she is quoted as saying. Despite
feeling humiliated and enraged, she did it, because "I didn't want him to be
it's difficult to reconcile the portrait of the "virtual psychopath who had
created an entire fantasy world involving the President, a woman who now wanted
to destroy him," with the woman who was pursued then "coldly dumped" by him,
the only prudent conclusion to draw from the Enquirer is that we have
The Enquirer also calls in the services of forensic
"It's very, very bizarre. Why would she keep the dress? Why would she send it
to her mother? The normal thing is if you stain something, you wash it off."
mess, preferring to examine more elevated topics such as the possibility that
20-percent discount on hardback books to unborn children."-- Beth
accidentally impregnated while waiting in a really long line to pay for their
continues to permit browsing, instead of forcing its tightwad,
juggernaut. (We called them "notions." The police used an uglier word.) And
serious literary bookstore, a guy could get himself a drink. Maybe over near
Disclaimer: All submissions will become the property of Slate and
will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
town. Just before opening night, he sang it at the Eye, Ear, and Throat
else would you hear the song? "Years ago, we used to have records of our stuff
apex of popular music; the most famous songwriters were show writers, and the
from rock and became, by definition, staid, conservative,
album you can play on pop radio stations. As every New York Times reader
transsexuals, and drug addicts from the East Village, whose cachet was greatly
enhanced by the death on the eve of opening of its young
conflict of our time, paints its story on a big, sweeping canvas and has gone
musical, as it shrivels away to its core audience. I would doubt its potential
on the road or overseas. But Rent won its awards not just for its
to do: He'd used the language of rock to propel a theater piece. He'd fused
waltz echoes alarmingly through Rent 's finale, you're reminded of a
basic fact: Music is music. If a tune's muscular enough, you can do it as an
operatic waltz, a big pop ballad, an electric guitar solo. Rock, like swing or
disco or bluegrass, is a style and, in the theater, its usefulness depends on
they take so many years to get up on stage: By the time your grunge musical
opens, grunge will be out and splurge will be in. That's the problem with
The big driving numbers, like "What You Own," [LINK TO AUDIO] come out sounding
ballads, on the other hand, are overwrought and declarative. The best, "Seasons
of Love," [LINK TO AUDIO CLIP] affects the same ensemble solidarity as "What I
the vicissitudes of life as a chorus gypsy, the other for those "living in the
printed lyrics and the college courses that study rock songs for their elusive
allusiveness, pop texts have been freed from the first requirement of a
decoding just five words, but I felt on top of them and was ready to move on.
TO AUDIO CLIP] is a rock gloss on the hoariest of musical comedy staples, the
indicates a good song idea, a good central lyric thrust, something to resolve.
As pop and theater have drifted apart, it seems that the rock crowd pays more
better titles and stronger images than you get in most show tunes. In Rent,
there are few strong song ideas, few resolved lyric thrusts. That's one reason
why it's deficient as drama, but also why it will be hard to play on pop radio.
Brave Last Days," reads the headline of a Star story that begins, "Frail
In May, the National Enquirer 's cover read "Bob Hope's Tragic Last Days"
article demonstrates a frequent tabloid dilemma. While death is inevitable, it
is not predictable. A few tough old celebrities stubbornly refuse to make each
was unlikely to make it through the month (but she's still around). And in
in sorrow, it seems, both the Enquirer and the Star are
The tabloids are modern versions of the Art of Dying
manuals of the Middle Ages, which instructed people on how to die properly. In
the medieval world, death was not something to be feared or hidden but rather,
a public event, a crucial stage of life that needed to be anticipated and
mastered. When death arrives at a celebrity bedside today, the tabs defy modern
had become a recluse, refusing to see his friends following the death of his
In a series of interviews about his impending death he told the Enquirer
that he would miss his children, but added, "It's time they started living
their own lives and not have to worry about this old man." The Enquirer
and carrots for dinner) and the final treatments for a blood clot in his right
assessment of the dying star. After asking about his lungs and his liver, the
a very full life, a good life, and I don't want to ruin it by prolonging it any
recently. He is also sweating his final judgment. "St. Peter's going to have to
tabloids abhor sudden departures, especially unnatural ones, which almost by
Just to reassure readers that he died well, the Star quotes him as
having said in an interview, "I want to be lucky and die doing what I love
celebrities might make it to their deathbeds. Dramatic weight gains, in
are celebrities who appear to have a power over death. According to the
she disappeared off her docked yacht, the Star reports. This
following which she stomped off in anger, never again to be seen alive. And
star Bob Crane. The Star doesn't explain that one either, but it does
and gave him a tranquilizer. The horse died within hours. Though the
Globe doesn't say so, it was surely an end that was both tragic and
bizarre ritual. The Democrats go to the nearest microphone, call the
committee's conduct of the inquiry unfair, and accuse the Republicans of
partisan warfare. Then the Republicans step before the same microphone, deny
that the inquiry is partisan, and insist that everyone is getting along. "No,
we're not," say the Democrats. "Yes, we are," snap the Republicans.
hard to figure out who's going to win this fight. Politics, like litigation and
sports, is stacked in favor of the defense. In football, it's far easier to
ruins a brilliant sequence of passes. In a criminal trial, one slick
And in Congress, every eruption of "partisanship" or "unfairness," whether real
or manufactured, bleeds away the institutional credibility necessary to impeach
view politics this way. Cursed with a combination of irrational idealism and
irrational narcissism, they insist on interpreting public opinion and behavior
contract was designed not to win the election but to spin it, by inflating an
an affirmative referendum on the conservative agenda. The public wasn't
in Congress began parlaying it into impeachment proceedings, the question
process any more than they trust national health insurance. Democrats in
Congress are deliberately and successfully exacerbating that mistrust.
Republicans understand this strategic disadvantage but mistakenly think that
But no matter who becomes the "bad cop," Democrats will attack him, and the
media, always hungry for conflict, will flock to the fight. Other Republicans
console themselves by noting that some Democrats will vote for a formal
impeachment inquiry. They're missing the point: The longer the inquiry drags
on, the more it will invite resentment, acrimony, and backlash. Conversely,
really wants a deal? From a purely political standpoint, now that he's
confident he won't be convicted in the Senate, his best move might be to let
Recognizing the futility of arguing with the Democrats,
demands. He agreed to send a bipartisan staff delegation to inspect documents
evidence), ordered a hearing to address the Democrats' query on what
constitutes an impeachable offense, and endorsed the idea of giving the
Democrats subpoena power. The Democrats "would like to make process, procedure
we aren't credible, what we do amounts to nothing."
accommodations are noble but futile. The Democrats can always find further
his concessions than Democrats amended their objections: The hearing on
impeachable offenses should have been at the committee level, they argued, and
themselves, not just staff. "These are concessions, no question," admitted Rep.
job search in exchange for submitting a false affidavit denying her affair with
investigation. Democrats won't shut up about partisanship unless Republicans
agree to include those matters in the inquiry. And at that point, from a
the Republicans break through the Democrats' defense and carry the ball into
the end zone? The cynical answer is: They don't. They punt or fumble, and the
Democrats carry the ball the other way. Indeed, the Democratic counteroffensive
Republicans of substituting partisan impeachment proceedings for legislation to
denounce Republicans for bogging down Congress in "scandal, cynicism, and
partisanship." Eventually, the Democrats will overreach again, and the public,
ever wary, will turn against them. It's not about ideology. It's about
considered himself lucky for so doing. But the other week he went out to the
kill themselves, we gloss over that fact: It isn't really a tragedy, not like a
songwriter who's taken his life. I only had a very slight acquaintance with
hammerlock on the first half of the 1950s. Even then, he wasn't exactly a
Pictures, but when he tried to break into Tin Pan Alley, they kept telling him
be unfair to call this a nursery rhyme; it was childish rather than childlike,"
knows how many music fans stopped listening to the radio after hearing 'Doggie
don't forget, were the heyday of the dog song, and rare was the pop star who
managed to avoid having one inflicted on him: Half a century later, Frank
about it, but then, of course, they are dogs. By these standards,
the early '50s, novelties weren't so much a novelty as terrifyingly ubiquitous.
Even if you were minded to write a song about a gal who wears red feathers and
He composed, in case you hadn't guessed, on a child's toy
who wrote that gets hammered from both ends. To those who love the great
songs of the decade and so debauched the currency of mainstream Tin Pan Alley
rockers, when all other musical, lyrical, and sociopolitical claims for the
rock 'n' roll revolution have collapsed, the memory of growing up with the Bob
Having been told he was too complex for pop music, he was now regarded as too
break, she's prone to toss in a homily about world peace and how, whether we're
straight, or transsexual, we're all still people, people who need people. When
public identity that she'd neglected the personal; she could love audiences but
professionally: She declaims her love songs as if addressing an audience of
general lyric, it is, in fact, the most specific of all.
occasional Slate department based on the premise that who wins in
endorses nor condemns any of the views expressed, however laudatory or
"vindicated," Wright was the country's most honest Republican, and Independent
his enemies looked, as it so often does, like the ground war between the United
their savvy by picking out the most obvious spin they've been fed and exposing
it as such. In this case, the buzzword put out by former White House Counsel
telling viewers that according to the judge, "the charges against the president
supporters to maintain their delicate policy of defending him without having to
magnificently hollow testimonial: "I believe the president's denial."
lawyers disputed the "vindication" spin but failed to organize an effective
they still didn't amount to a breach of law. Whitehead simply removed the
clearly that the attitude of the president was boorish." At every opportunity,
exposed his genitals, and asked her for oral sex. News anchors responded to
these clumsy tactics by turning to other guests and changing the subject.
attorneys did after Wright's decision. The judge starts with a presumption of
concerted attack on these points. In one breath, they doubted her integrity; in
camp also tried to take the focus off Wright and put it back on what happened
make it go away? Ordinarily, this is a good strategy. But in this case, the
advisers failed to put out an alternative story line explaining not just
decision lay in her defiance not of the facts of the case, but of the politics.
right decision, notwithstanding all of the political atmosphere surrounding the
analysts and reporters followed suit, marveling at Wright's "guts" and
"gumption," even as their own instant polls showed the public favored the
ruling. The media's willingness to buy this line was a result, in part, of the
White House wants. To begin with, it threatens to pit the world's most powerful
man against working women in general, a theme assiduously promoted by
Hence Whitehead's argument, repeated in several venues, that the ruling would
"the boys in the War Room" had "won a little victory today over this little
message was less nuanced and therefore more effective. On every network,
investigation and about his obligation to "put up or shut up," as Rather
formulation. The New York Times opened its front page analysis by
saying, "it is now politically inconceivable that Congress will consider
their significance at the time they were committed, not by their significance
a weapon that can be turned against its makers. He wants her captured alive.
anything. I want this to go on. Because I want this to be the linchpin of an
investigation of who got paid, how much, by whom, and to say what." The
"Little Drummer Boy" in the bookstore, "Jingle Bell Rock" in the toy store, or
the number brims with all the possibilities of teen romance in those hot '50s
But I wonder how many others will get to hear it. The
time taking off. The album is selling tepidly; the show's been picketed by
opposed to racial stereotyping; the opening's been postponed to the end of the
month; and, depending on which rumor you believe, the director's either so
complacent that he only bothers dropping by once a week or so dozy that he
was supposed to be the show that would heal the great historic rift between pop
major rock songwriter and the one that would entice all the others in, ending
wrong. One wouldn't want to characterize the diminutive, balding rock star as
being (in Cole Porter's marvelous phrase) down in the depths on the
do you think?" he says. "Do you think they want something new?"
them. In the rock biz, most of the executives are old, too. But at least they
make an effort, sporting ponytails and U2 tour jackets; they don't continually
me there's about five or six people in the world who can do this, and here are
taken years to write it, so why would we want someone who says, 'I think this
part should go over here and that character is really a woman'?" His voice
found interesting." One wouldn't want to exaggerate the points of contact but,
himself as pretty hip, but his young collaborator wasn't impressed by the older
man's attempts at rock. "He played a melody, and it was an awkward moment. He
said: 'If we're going to collaborate, we have to be completely honest. So what
do you think?' I said: 'Well, that's not very good. That's not rock 'n' roll.'
He was taken aback." The composer drew himself up and said huffily: "This is
seriously the theater's nervous tiptoeing into the territory. "I never thought
to use dramatically. "Well, I don't think it's difficult," retorts
everyone knows what rock 'n' roll sounds like, it wasn't fooling very many
fairness, the theater found it hard to attract genuine rockers. At the end of
earn their reputations with the kind of elliptical poetic impenetrability that
sitting in a theater, you get one chance to grab those words as they're flying
across the footlights at you. It's a surprise, then, to find that The
of characters far less articulate. I don't know whether he's "arrogant" or a
director spent the morning setting up a perfect shot for the interview, looking
That's nothing to do with who I am." So everything was dismantled and the crew
set up at the opposite corner of the room, away from the window. It was a
still not an entirely comfortable fit. But, whatever happens to The
popular music, not serious music, but existing in some grisly limbo in between.
how much glee it might afford the Schadenfreude set. Negotiating a
few years, people decide they're bored and they want something fresh. So that's
a good time to have something fresh." He shrugs fatalistically. "The rest of
when a man and woman first meet, the man speaks words so true, so stirring,
This month the tabs explore the sexual gambits of famous
men. Chief among them is the commander in chief. The Star breaks news
plane of an alleged sexual assault by him. The plane was called Longhorn
Monkey Business were already taken) and is described by the National
figured prominently in the tabloid universe in recent weeks. The
feeling her breast, he also wanted to feel her pain. When she mentioned she was
says he said to her, "Well, why don't you come in and shut the door?" Then
told them that one thing he was afraid of reporters uncovering was a story
about a couple who were friends of his. They were getting divorced because the
her reaction: "My God, can you imagine if he becomes president that we were
so great because I haven't been getting any of this lately." He carried it
had to take the deformed orange away from the future leader of the free
friends of the women in question confirm the advance but often say it wasn't
finding his behavior "humiliating," as she now tells the Star was the
also appeared recently in the tabs. The Star has an account from
from the study, her hair was mussed and her clothes askew. After she left,
exploits are just an appetizer for someone whose sex life they really care
named included aides, wives of major supporters, executives, reporters, beauty
Wright brothers probably never anticipated their contribution to priapism but,
fresh strawberries and ice cream, and they made love while looking at the
stars." The publication does not mention if any oranges were involved.
Globe reports that the actor was accidentally hit by a men's room door
begun therapy for sexual addiction in a bid to save his presidency," the
sex addict in training. To avoid this fate, a "pal" warns, the actor "needs to
settle down and find out what real love is all about."
fate of talk show host Jerry Springer. The Star labels his lines as
would spot women in the audience while he was speaking. According to one
trooper, he would then say: "The lady in the red dress, the lady in the green
peeks at the audience before the show to pick out pretty girls, then sends crew
attendant with whom the Globe taped him having sex. (Perhaps the lesson
Enquirer reports there's hope for men who stray in even the most public
the tabs came up with new women or other bombshells this time. The most
"totally out of control in the White House when it came to women." Does this
of the first couple's first conversation about the news. After Bill denounces
moment. Your trust and love will help me through this." Maybe the real news
here is that the Globe is being secretly funded by the Democratic
Star defends its reputation as the most politically engaged of the
tabloids. In addition to its coverage of the Flowers affair (reportedly
set during a chance encounter in a crowded White House hallway. As she and
according to the publication, "turned her butt toward him, pulled out the
To any sane boss, the message would be "Get this lunatic out of here." If the
This is the condition that causes the penis to bend at an unusual angle; for a
time it was reported that this was the "distinguishing characteristic" of
shape." But not anymore, apparently. The Star asserts he had some
corrective work done at the time of his knee surgery. And it also reports that
payment on her credit card," it reports. The Star doesn't speculate
Star portrays her as a young woman caught up in a heady love affair. "I
really love him," they quote her saying. "It's so exciting being with the
president of the United States. That's not something many girls can put on
probably only as many girls as can fit inside the Astrodome.
become increasingly depressed and "has been ravenous for junk food. Big Mac
constantly swept out of sight." He's not sleeping well and spends the predawn
as telling her husband: "If this is true, your life is ruined, our lives are
couldn't keep his fly zipped up." An "insider" told the Enquirer that
led her to seek out older men to replace the father she felt had abandoned her,
It's a picture of a needy young woman, one whom any older man with something to
noon swearing in because of adverse astral influences at that hour. The last
presidents to be sworn in under those conditions, she says, were John F.
has shriveled away to one toxic little stream on a dry, barren mud flat. You
City College asserts, among other fancies, that "Black English is in Negro
dialect lyric. Ever since, most black singers have preferred to sing
But, in a way, he has a point, albeit not the one he thinks
River" was the song in which he first found his lyrical voice, compressing the
doing it so naturally that it's no wonder folks assume the song's a Negro
that it was the country's national anthem. The great strength of these songs,
one of the reasons they seep into our collective consciousness, is that they
less concerned with enchantment than with the painstaking artistic judgments
Example 2.5a ("Who cares if my boat goes up stream" and two statements of "I
drift along with my fancy") Kern ingeniously varies the harmony of the final
melodic note D (Example 2.5b and c). Its first appearance on the words
"upstream" (the third measure) is paradoxically the lowest note of the
upstream or downstream. Here Kern harmonizes the tonic or central key, D, with
(Example 2.5b), Kern sets the word "fancy" with a fancy (and deceptive)
resolution to a minor triad on the sixth degree of the scale. On the final
Magnolia's piano theme and Kern displays his fanciest chord, again on the word
There's only one problem with Block's approach: That's not how it happened. In
that an ingenious word might be made to fit, and certainly no concessions to
literal meaning in his melody or harmony. He didn't "set" the word "fancy" at
paradox?" but I doubt it: That's not the way the ear hears music, and
"It's a question of finding what Johnny Mercer called the sound of the
music. You're trying to capture something as elusive as a sound, which suggests
a word, from which eventually a complete lyric emerges."
for trying. He's coming at it from the conservatory end of things and, if
your breath away. Operas have plots and lyrics. But the words have no
relationship to the music. Or, to put it the other way round, the music takes
so much weight to the definite article because he'd know it was the most
Good musicals are both specific and universal. But they're
specific because the words fit the shape of the tune, not because the tune is a
"You're the Top" Porter does not capitalize on the text's potential for
realism. Although the "I" always appears in the bottom throughout most of the
song, the "you" blithely moves back and forth from top to bottom. The upward
leaping orchestral figure anticipates the word, "top," but the sung line does
Phew! That entire paragraph deserves a rousing chorus of
"You're the Pits!" With his fixation on tops and bottoms, Block's beginning to
sound like the gay personal ads in the Village Voice. Unlike Kern with
his top paradoxically on his bottom, poor old Porter gets no credit for having
his bottom paradoxically on his top. Block's so busy following the vocal score
orchestral figure" he mentions is the bit that goes:
conversational lyric phrases that fall in the gaps between the
matter. But how could you sit down and analyze the thing and fail to notice it?
It's the (relative) musical monotony of the phrase that makes it so insistent,
so driving, and such a brilliantly effective cap to the song. It's the punch
line; it's the exclamation point. How sad that Block, for all his technical
goatherds than with Block's misguided praise. In great popular art, after all,
you notice the art, not the artist. Which brings us to Block's final chapter:
It's the triumph of the artist over the art: the man who knows more than anyone
else about musicals except how to write one where you don't notice how much he
knows; the one subject who repays Block's analytical approach if only because
that seems his natural home. I think of "Good Thing Going," his wonderfully
from the tabloids this month as they return to their classic themes: lousy
married last year. It's usually a bad sign when, as the Star reports,
your friends are more surprised by your wedding than by your separation. The
Enough money for a B-2 bomber is also at stake in the
Slater is another guest) has made him realize he wants out. If one of them gets
million fortune. The tabs leave the impression that the Promises counseling
sessions are patched directly into their newsrooms. According to the
right now is that he is unhappily married. The publication says he's asked his
incessantly. "From the kitchen to the garage, they've christened practically
every room." Maybe a session in the broom closet killed their passion because,
scene," reports the publication. He has also "fumed to friends, 'There's no way
has left some friends with no option but to start "taking bets on how long the
were widely covered by the rest of the press, but one of the tabloids' special
missions is to give you celebrities' final words and farewells. The tabs were
her last days. To protect the family's privacy, a spokesman told the press
said, as the Enquirer reports, "I want to smell the Pacific," or that an
saying he held his wife in her final moments and told her they were riding
said the family was on its ranch shortly before her death.
did make to his dying wife. Keeping it may have led to the situation with that
Matrimony was also very much a part of the tabs' coverage
turned his picture of her over and signed on the back, "Dream on! Dream on!
up to the casket and tried to lift Tammy right out of it, saying, 'Come on
encounters are all the tabs can muster this month. The Globe has an
describes their relationship thus: "When I was six or seven, she encouraged me
you start thinking private school vouchers would curb such situations, the
but also to poetry. He says she gave him the confidence to be an actor, and he
ended up helping to support her at the end of her life.
writing a review. A "close friend" of the singer says: "He's a performer
both the Globe and the Enquirer note Rogers' most famous
quotation: "I never met a man I didn't like." The Enquirer also
and kissed me on the lips. It was a dry, short peck and it felt weird." Perhaps
"he's a terrific kisser on top of everything else." But what he's not, the
Globe documents, is a terrific spaghetti eater. A series of photos shot
through a restaurant window shows the Titanic star slurping up his
finding his life "a living hell," the Enquirer says. So he is taking the
was shot while riding on the handlebars of his sibling's bicycle during the
had to give up a promotion to the appellate bench the other day, when it turned
out that the dramatic story he'd been telling for years about his martyred
brother actually happened to someone else. Why on earth would he tell such an
be thinking that asking why public figures lie is like asking why fish swim.
Judge Ware himself described it: the biographical embellishment for public
consumption. This kind of lie is remarkably common, even though it is also
cases are those involving people who generally tell the truth.
explanation is that he was confused. His actual sister, he says, was shot
around the same time as the bicycle incident. His "feeling of loss" and
possible kinship to the murdered youth led him to merge the two happenings in
his mind, he says. Doesn't seem likely. More plausible is that Ware was
entrapped by his own rhetorical success. He'd been enthralling audiences with
this tale for years. You tell a good story. The crowd loves it. Word of your
marvelously moving speech gets around. You are invited to give more speeches.
How could you explain the sudden disappearance of your signature anecdote? "I
said, caused him to "pour my heart and soul into the cause of protecting our
children from the dangers of smoking." But Gore continued to seek the support
of the tobacco industry. "Throughout most of my life, I raised tobacco," he
of the people in rooms full of unattractive fat cats and grandees making
initially reluctant to go to the balcony where King was shot, though he might
later have been close enough to King's body to acquire some stains from the
waxed eloquent about his memories of the "first hearing of the Senate I ever
last year that a wave of black church burnings brought back "vivid and painful
memories of black churches being burned in my own state when I was a child."
community buildings" (though there is no record of that either). But, wherever
No doubt. As the literature on lying often observes, those
who become skilled in the art of deception can easily fool themselves. When
was a special case. He made himself up as he went along, borrowing bits and
pieces from this movie or that. ("I paid for that microphone" probably came
movie in which he starred.) While some of his political lies were far from
harmless, most of his autobiographical lies were relatively small stuff: "I
never wore makeup in films" (check the films); "I believe in tithing to
the Air Force and volunteered for whatever dangerous assignment there was." In
theatrical productions (though he did crash one helicopter and three jets while
Jimmy Carter once described himself as a "nuclear physicist." He later
acknowledged that "nuclear engineer" was a more just description of his
academic qualifications. A modest fabrication, but not bad for a president
easiest answer is that, by and large, or at least for long periods of time,
public figures get away with it. And even when they are discovered, the public
is often forgiving (or at least forgetting). One theory has it that public
figures see their audience as a distant, easily manipulated mass to which they
can lie with impunity. But maybe that's not the whole story. Perhaps we, the
public, don't mind being lied to if the lies evoke a vision not only of better
with news of an elemental nature, examining the desires of celebrities to
marry, divorce, procreate, and swoop, godlike, into the lives of others,
deadlines, the supermarket tabs were unable to reveal this week if they managed
did their best to glean details of the wedding when they weren't being driven
Transmissions, has been badgering the reluctant singer to go to the altar. For
But before this condition caused her to resemble one of those ancient, frozen
anything to do with the terms of the couple's prenuptial agreement.
that numbers in the thousands. All three supermarket tabs agree the reason for
the split was the basic one: the wandering eye. The Star and the
portrayed only as the wronged woman. The Star brings up her
individual girlfriends and a penchant for hanging out at strip clubs. The
stormed out and installed himself in the Best Western motel across the
Bobby Brown, a decision the Globe says was cemented by his latest
arrest, this time for allegedly having touched a woman against her will. The
both the Enquirer and the Star say she is concerned that sexy
videotapes they made to spice up their marriage may end up spicing up the
saw him through sinus cancer and a drug overdose, she tells "sources" his
Globe says she told a friend. The publication also reports that the
"Unless he's laying bleeding in the street [a sometime occurrence with him], I
don't allow myself to get too involved," she's quoted as saying.
Despite the frequency with which celebrity love dies,
celebrities this month are obsessed with having babies, although in some cases
it's unclear whether the process or the outcome is the chief motivation.
constantly," the Enquirer quotes her as saying. But it's all for a
higher purpose: "That old biological clock is really racing away," she
of Friends allegedly confided to a friend: "Every time Brad and I sleep
publication reports her confiding to a "pal," although it doesn't explain what
celebrities are having such a hard time being fruitful. The Enquirer has
with the infant next to him and the toddler on his chest. Unfortunately, it
Finally, this month's tabs seem to give an implicit warning
that too close contact with a celebrity can have unintended consequences for
second mother to the child, whose own parents were recovering drug addicts with
no steady employment. The newswoman helped arrange a larger apartment and
psychiatric care for the family. She gave the girl clothes and gifts and took
asking. Then, says the publication, while the mother was in the hospital giving
birth to her sixth child, the girl called Sawyer's office to ask if groceries
office to say men with guns were at the apartment. Sawyer's assistant then
situation. Thinking they were about the find themselves part of a PrimeTime
Live expos, says the publication, the bureaucrats swooped in and placed
all the children in foster care. In a statement, Sawyer said she "played no
and gifts the generous talk show host lavished on his wife, according to the
she was being elevated to a higher level," the husband says. Although he tries
to imply a romance between the two women, even the Globe doesn't believe
spokeswoman says the actress is barely acquainted with the couple. But Brooks,
rock 'n' roll and it's called Prudential Insurance. In case you're one of those
against the projected earnings of "Space Oddity," "Jean Genie," and the rest of
as they're officially known on Wall Street, would have caused a big splash in
an industry that prides itself on permanent novelty, but in all the hubbub over
story did emerge, the rock press was mostly silent or flummoxed. Rolling
Stone gave it a paragraph. Pop fans know their idols are rich, and they
their own vomit, they hoped to die before they got old. But those who failed
(to die, that is) grew increasingly concerned about the fine print. In the
Hill and Patty Smith Hill but, thanks to a legal judgment in the 1930s, is
the trend toward rock respectability is going too far. Recently, he dropped in
cocaine, and louche young men. "If I see another fucking piece of
gentility. A beloved national treasure, second only to the queen mother, he's
he was invited to jive with her majesty to "Rock Around the Clock," dancing
mighty, concentrated blast, the accumulated racial and social proprieties of
even has its own Year Zero. Pick up Billboard 's Hot 100-chart reference
have proved surprisingly resilient. And, since rock's into defining moments,
million day rock 'n' roll finally gave up on revolution. Maybe we should
just talk the talk but walk the walk, even unto the grave. But how long can
Enquirer hired two private investigators to stake out the home of a
Little Rock heiress rumored to be having an affair with Independent Counsel
Enquirer dropped the inquiry. It seems, however, that the whole episode
adulterer, he is presented as less than a manly man. Embarrassing secrets about
spoiled and temperamental and so "got a lot of spankings." This turned him
around and by junior high school, "his hobby was polishing shoes." (This
Enquirer publishes a silly, but less than titillating, example of this
didn't really start dating until after college," Mom reports, which the
kind of guy who gave sex a low priority." We also find out that the heartbreak
asks the question that now haunts the nation, "Why can't the President be
this spiral by transferring her from the White House to the Pentagon after she
Star weighs in on the scandal this week with a piece on five unnamed
rope line was sent by the designer to the White House as a gift for first
these tidbits, now, more than six weeks into the scandal, it's clear that for
the tabloids it does not have the enduring cover power of the murder of
to ever smaller headlines in recent weeks, and the Globe 's disinterest
in the whole matter is best summed up by this week's coverage: none. All along,
suit. But, as the tabloids demonstrate week after week, stars can be counted on
lovemaking session that swept the Internet. Alas, it appears it is not to be.
The Enquirer reports this week about the couple's Valentine's Day
wife." Although their spokeswoman denied the story, Lee has since been arrested
never seen. Female stars are causing a run on the sperm bank, according to the
some celebrities just shouldn't be allowed to reproduce at all. Both the
nanny and a nurse take turns watching the baby around the clock, although they
are not allowed to kiss him. The baby gets new toys every day, because used
toys are immediately discarded. All eating utensils are first sterilized, then
who lives apart from her husband and son, gives birth to their second child.
ran photographs of that couple's recent romantic and very public evening out in
couple was later pictured kissing tenderly through the mask. As longtime
tabloid readers know, the reason for the mask is that after innumerable
found out that a lump in her breast was benign. She shared this with her
audience, according to the Globe (along with the news that she's
approaching menopause and that her young son walked in on her and her formerly
trifecta this month with extensive reports on three of their major stories: the
course of a long, fatal illness, with many remissions and recurrences. But this
week, at least, the tabs indicate the end may be near. Each of the three
weeklies touts different "bombshell" allegations that tie the girl's parents to
by the discovery of his daughter's body as you might suspect, says the
friend Fleet White. According to the publication, White looked in the basement
for the supposedly kidnapped girl but, unable to locate a light switch, he
already knew his daughter's body was there. The Enquirer also says
lifting a grate outside the basement. But, the Enquirer reports,
was found on the duct tape used to cover the murdered girl's mouth. Police
suspect it will match the boots Patsy was wearing the night of the murder.
Also, three weeks after the murder, a bookkeeper at a Boulder hardware store
notified police that a man named John had called wanting copies of receipts for
the store, but the receipt listed only prices, not specific items. Also, John
dinner and never seen her alive again. But an autopsy revealed that at midnight
Globe touts an "exclusive" from a "tipster" who claims that in the hours
The Globe claims that the box actually contains the sheets and several
stuffed animals that were on her bed the night of her murder, as well as the
nightgown she was wearing. An informed source told the Globe the
allegations are "totally misinformed" and "completely inaccurate."
exhume their theories about the nefarious reasons her life was cut short. The
level where it could be characterized as preposterous. Here it goes: The
unwittingly ended up pointing the finger at a really big fish. In this week's
she was planning to remarry the prince!" Now, if this were true, there is
certainly one person who would want to make sure such an event never came to
are filled with royal news this month. Most disturbing is a report in the
The publication says royal insiders are worried about an apparent decline in
Stuck in his old life is our commander in chief, and the
tabs take notably different approaches to his predicament. Last week the
Enquirer delivered when it said it found out the "shocking truth behind
"I never really knew what love could be until you came along."
Enquirer is probably the only publication in the world to go with this
nothing more than a political alliance that would end when his term did. "The
Vineyard became a synonym for the first circle of hell.
Enquirer also leaves the strong impression the report is being written
you first think, "This didn't happen; he couldn't be that stupid." Then you
is in Bill's corner, complete with transcripts of the first family's heartfelt
controlling genital authority." And the president also told his wife: "The hurt
massacre took place. Together, headline and image signal that the tabloids
Real Princess Di," with such unlikely revelations as the alleged fact that she
did her own ironing and joined the help in washing dishes. The article also
stated, "In an age when so many celebrities put on one image in public and hide
course, a chance to look at that ugly, private side is the reason readers pick
up the tabs in the first place. So it was comforting this week to be told by
questionable territory of the tabloid with taste, explains that many
celebrities "ask us to interview them and take their pictures." However, other
celebrities "are furious because they can't stop us from telling the truth,
even with their powerful publicity machines." The statement ends on a
issue, full of stories such as one about a nurse who was fired for trying to
that was found embedded in a potato. And then there was this shocking headline
the Enquirer was having second thoughts? No, as it turned out. The
article alleged that the retired detective brought in to work on the case was
not admired by the other cops. And this week, the story was back on track with
predicts her show will be canceled. On the other hand, do we detect a defensive
note in a story about singer Merle Haggard, which finds it necessary to explain
why the Enquirer had chosen this moment to portray Haggard as a
explains, because "his famous father is working on a biographical feature film
"Like all artists, I love the art of communication and I fully support the
knows how to act like a star as she happily smiles for our photographer." Hint,
Star also has taken to congratulating itself for the people it gets to
speak willingly. On a recent cover, the logo "Look Who's Talking to
cottage industry: the one between surgically enhanced former flight attendant
period, the Globe went supernatural with this exclusive: "Princess
smiles down from Heaven on her Brave Boys." But it returned to Earth last week,
Disorder. "When I first heard Di was dating my former patient, I wanted to
Over!" read the headline on an account of how the "battling lovebirds" were
"vowing to put passion and togetherness back in their marriage." The logical
"Some nights I wake up shuddering and bathed in sweat."
are probably best illustrated by their varying explanations for the mysterious
staffer and broke a bone. The Star 's version is that he injured his hand
discussed the genitals of his celebrity patients while they were under
anesthesia. It's a natural story for the tabloids, but it caught them all with
their pants down when it first appeared in a long, entertaining piece in the
have to split it with accountants, managers, coke dealers, and any traumatized
We've come a long way since then: ragtime and radio,
the host asked him if he liked any of the older songs: "Oh, sure, I love Harry
But even rappers are getting into the nostalgia act these
Which reworking of the protean vaudeville gag prompts a
thought: Maybe, after a century's rise and fall, rap is the final ebbing of
National Political Congress of Black Women renew their assault on companies
that profit from gangsta rap and claim that it marks a shameful new low in
orphan girl asking the telephone operator to be put through to her dead mother,
irritated by a sobbing infant and demanding to know where the mother is. As the
child's young father explains, mother is in a mahogany casket "In the Baggage
little lurid, that's the whole point: These were ripe metropolitan melodramas
served up for the genteel piano parlors of the suburbs. Same with rap: For all
the simplest of tonal structures. Similarly, rap is the logical consequence of
pop's 30-year promotion of street cred over music: the reduction of the tune to
rhythmically simple and harmonically negligible, 1890s ballads are melodically
simple and harmonically negligible, but the effect is the same: Even as the
subject matter in each case proclaims its modernity (railroads and telephone on
the one hand, guns and crack on the other), in both cases, the music underneath
just opened the newspaper, found a suitable story and wrote it up. Gangsta
rappers have eliminated the middleman: They are the stories in the
minstrelsy: Following "After The Ball," while black ragtime composers starved,
white Tin Pan Alley hacks stuck "rag" in the titles of their novelty songs and
complexion as a shorthand for pop's history: He's the first black singer to
a century of black music. Instead, in its principles, in its forms, in its
opportunism, in its willingness to pass off individual pain as mass
entertainment, it returns us to the 1890s, to the whitest popular music we've
known in this country. Gangsta rap is the whitest black music there is. At
events. Here's the final breakdown, by percentages:
offer our congratulations and ask how he feels about winning the first
the contest from the beginning, he obviously took no joy in his success.
by writing parody, which was prohibited under the rules, and filled the
will return next fall to defend his title against three new challengers.
all of journalism? With your help, we hope to settle that question with the
favorite hacks to compete in four weekly journalistic events designed to
showcase journalistic glibness, intellectual sleight of hand, greed under
pressure, and a total disregard for what the rest of the world thinks.
Actually, our four contestants have already demonstrated their disdain for what
hackwork will remain a mystery to all until the weekend of the competition,
cheat sheet of facts, figures, and quotes from which they can crib. The cheat
quotations (sorry, guys). They may take no more than two hours to complete the
assignment. They may, if they so desire, do additional research. But they
shouldn't. As a great hack once said, the essence of hackery is "adjusting a
minimum of information to produce the maximum journalistic effect." (The only
greatest total will be declared the winner and will return next year to face
you do so now by clicking here. But you can always register later.
murderous blond wife had a major cocaine habit that caused wild mood swings,"
blew her brains out after he announced he was dumping her for another
The other woman has not been universally confirmed. While
husband implying that he wanted to end the marriage, the New York Daily
News quoted a friend who said the comedian told him only a few days earlier
that his marriage was "better than ever." The publication also reports that
incoherently confessed to the murder. The friend did not believe her, but after
she fell asleep, he opened her purse and found a gun. They returned to her home
distraught families of the couple issued a joint statement that implied the
tragedy was some sort of creation of the press. "The unbridled speculation
devoted to each other and their children." Their will gives custody of the
week, this week the supermarket tabs turn to the gory aftermath: the escalating
any of his three children to tell them the news. After the singer was
to side with the kids, the Globe comes up with a twist. Daughter Nancy,
to salute daddy." In order to do this the children wanted a "massive,
a wanted a private funeral, with no military presence and no saluting.
anyway the staff would try to make sure he didn't see any of the parents there
Star reports he said, and he advised the actor to lose "maybe a hundred
of time to contemplate his temper as he serves his six month sentence for
Lee. More ominously, the Star reports that the actress is actually
planning to give him another chance and wants to try a second honeymoon after
he gets out of jail for assaulting her. The Enquirer also reports that
she is going to court to stop distribution of a home video of her having sex
free falls are rampant this month. Actor Charlie Sheen's latest accessory is an
actor Martin Sheen, and other family members tried to get Charlie to go to the
keeps loaded guns in the house." Another source predicts if Sheen doesn't shape
up, "it's only a matter of time before they'll be printing his obituary."
For a year the tabs have been reporting on what the
The Star reports she canceled a scheduled press conference and never
say, when she did make appearances. The publication quotes a "film critic" who
calls their "weird love pact" is working. The couple has agreed to make love
lust. And he has also agreed to stop making funny faces every time he passes a
the tabloids, ever hopeful about the promise of celebrity love, constantly made
cynical by its failure. But who wouldn't be moved by the stirring vows famous
people incessantly exchange? Take this account in the Globe of the
so sure is King that he has found "the love of his life" with his seventh wife
that he ignored the advice of his daughter and his financial advisers to get a
prenuptial agreement. This week's Star takes us inside former Golden
that we've met the soulmates that we've been searching for." Then there was
Though the tabs are fools for love, occasionally even they
find a wedding not touching but tawdry. That is how the marriage between Woody
child psychiatrist, is quoted in the Globe as denouncing it: "rude,
nasty and most of all, it's a reflection of his own narcissism."
the tabs report, the wedding day leads right to the divorce lawyer's payday.
began to unravel when he had her served with divorce papers while she was
returning home from a CAT scan to assess her injuries. In the case of actress
him." Since Givens did not pass away during the night, her prediction was not
to be. The Globe says that in her divorce papers, she revealed the
The more elaborate the wedding, the greater the trouble ahead. Take the saga of
However, this week's Enquirer reveals there's only a patch of very white
another unwritten rule: Never, ever hire a personal assistant named
have taken to chronicling their bumpy road to bliss. While exchanging vows,
alleges, he was calling friends, asking, "What have I done?" after both he and
producers to give his wife a part on the show because she's so bored while he's
at work. Let's hope she doesn't decide to get a tattoo.
Then there are the marriages that are giving readers
her sportscaster husband, Frank. This week the Enquirer made news with
wife, confided to her uncle, a minister, that she had found evidence during her
The counseling sessions gave her new hope that "she can reignite the flames of
publication also says that she is recording a blues album, all the better to
"[rub] her martyrdom in the face of her errant husband."
canceled their wedding plans three times previously. But having to constantly
administer youth serum can send a spouse fleeing into the arms of someone who
to have a sort of social consciousness about not letting celebrities suffer the
have to give credit when love proves the cynics wrong. That's what the
medical care and for seven weeks forced him to drink gallons of water to flush
earlier. On the other hand, he also brought back the potato, and how many great
potato songs had anybody written by then? But sooner or later everything winds
almost certain that the Cigarette Songbook has no new leaves to turn over. For
document, rounding up as it does some of the smokiest songs of the century,
title: Drag is a deep, languorous inhalation. Its orchestrations,
sensation of smoking, even if by the time she gets halfway through the Hollies'
heading out clubbing. It's as much about sexual role play, and smoking as a
metaphor for love, every popular singer's real addiction. (If any male vocalist
is looking for an equally adroit album title encompassing both cigarettes and
sexuality, may I suggest, at least for those versed in the divergences of
pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one
In a way, it's the album she's been working up to for
an Ashtray" and, best of all, "Black Coffee" (click to hear it), a smoldering
as an exhilarating high, and the next track on that album begins, "You swim
after all that, we're talking about hot beverages here? Well, probably.
The best example of stylish smoke comes at the opening of
improved on the original. His is one of the most quoted lines in all popular
strawberries only seven francs a kilo," "the waiters whistling as the last bar
Since then, the singing cigarette has dwindled away to
songs now, paradoxically, pack more of a punch than ostensibly more searing
that she can pull off even the most anachronistic trifle without patronizing
it. The songs emerge as charming and dated yet somehow contemporary. Her
approach, which she's used consistently since recording Cole Porter's "So in
Love" seven years ago, is to honor the broad parameters of the original
orchestrations. The only surprise is that more singers haven't picked up on
seem the correct assessment: Smoking is a consolation for the vicissitudes of
years, dimming the lights and getting them out for "Angel Eyes" or "One for My
Baby," sad songs for guys with nothing to do but drown their sorrows. It's a
produce any decent songs, but it undoubtedly sells more cigarettes.
Whatever happens to tobacco sales under the new settlement
the further withdrawal of cigarettes from the mainstream of popular culture,
including songs. That being the case, maybe, like the fatalistic protagonist of
of irony. Bob Dole's poll numbers may finally be proving the Brits right. Dole
with his campaign theme song, the only conceivable purpose of which is to serve
rappers his advisers periodically call on him to denounce. Then again,
been especially picked for the blithe insouciance it shows toward the Dole
candidate's most frequently cited defect: his campaign's lack of any central
theme. "Dole Man" isn't about anything at all. You can't blame Dole for having
trouble staying "on message" when the only message of his song is that you
Code, but it clearly never registered with him that, in pop songs, copyright
recording artists. One of the song's writers objected to "Dole Man," the
So much for Dole's line that though he may not have a lot of fancy words, he's
to a that suited him perfectly. Yes, that's a cruel thing to say about anybody,
but the point is that it was a plausible soundtrack to his campaign:
For a campaign song that's pithy you have to go back to
Wintergreen campaigns for the White House with a powerful slogan ("A Vote for
Unfortunately, the strategy wasn't so successful the second time around. In the
how hard it is to find anything to sing about. Most presidential elections in
the republic's history have had specially commissioned themes: "Teddy, Come
"INSERT NAME OF CANDIDATE HERE" approach, shoehorning their man into the
service. "Funny you should mention that," he said, "but I got a call from some
Irresponsible" and "All the Way" insisted that the song he wrote to mark Ed
campaign workers in immaculately pressed plaid shirts they'd clearly changed
scientific evidence, is credited with mystical powers to transform any flagging
Rocky (Ted as the plucky little underdog). As we all know, he swept to a
calamities, plastic surgery disasters, and urological deaths and rebirths.
perfect union (of the catastrophic type) than that of Godfather producer
would be hard to achieve. It was summed up by a friend of the couple, who
faster than the leftover food from their wedding reception?" While details
differ, all the tabs agree that courtship to annulment took the pair less than
plants. The publication says the marriage effectively ended in two days and
agreed to marry him out of sympathy, says the publication, believing he
wouldn't live more than six months. He must have been disconcertingly robust on
their honeymoon, because during it she told him she was returning to her former
been at a spiritual retreat in which she was told to help others. When she met
publication quotes her telling a friend, "Bob told me he couldn't have sex
desperately want to help him." Unfortunately for their marriage, she was too
effective a helper. As she napped one day, he came in the room, reports the
question: Can love flourish again once the restraining order has expired?
estranged on New Year's Eve, when in an excessive spirit of revelry he
threatened to drive his truck through their house. The comedian filed for
Ben is a new man." No word if New Ben has to abide by the prenuptial agreement
is really over and that he is ready to fight for joint custody of their three
daughters, the Enquirer believes reconciliation is in the air. According
fearing that compiling such a list would cause crippling writer's cramp, has
refused. And he would certainly be backed up on that decision by a couple
newly diminished honker, the publication offers a computer generated "preview"
tabs this month report on attempts at surgical improvement gone awry. Pity poor
Globe reports, she underwent a five hour overhaul. Let's hope she's
plague. After getting cheek and chin implants and facial liposuction, talk show
implant problem by having her silicone breast implants removed and keeping them
so far apart she lost her cleavage." She went back to her plastic surgeon, and
after he fixed them she admired his handiwork so much that a romance between
in ethnic identity is another danger of an overzealous scalpel. According to
giving his eyes a slightly Oriental look." Changing identities is the goal of
doesn't report any plastic surgery in her future, when her legal troubles are
over she wants to make a "fresh start" and plans to do so with a name change.
Perhaps if the president had suffered the same terrible
with women," the publication reports she said. "But when he became impotent, it
circumstances: "I tried everything. I had my breasts enlarged. I had a nose
the publication. It does not report whether he has sought the services of
dead of a heart attack while in bed with one of those bimbos," the Globe
give the question and identify the speaker: "Well, I think it's obvious that I
of marketing at Universal Pictures, told a New York Times reporter, "By
taste is as bracing as a splash of Old Spice, now with real buttery flavor.
why, as a campaign manager, I advise my candidates to be sexually
effortlessly lift an inoffensive pop tune well into the soprano register. Which
to a movie once with a friend or two, girls often see the same film many times,
Disclaimer: All submissions will become the property of Slate and
will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
stars leaving curiously apt or ironic song titles just before they die. When
one way or another he is," said a disc jockey on that sad day. "Well, at least
accidental as suspiciously well orchestrated. Just a few days after the murder
rush it into high rotation. Filmed a few weeks earlier, the video shows, by
gangsta rapper, they claim, faked his own death. The boy is still in the 'hood,
not the shroud. But, just as commentators bemoan the way contemporary pop has
celebrity deaths. There's the question of physical evidence: No autopsy was
certificate, and, since both these witnesses died soon after, how can we ever
rumors of his death by appearing on the Abbey Road cover without shoes
crucifixion pose, suggesting he intended a resurrection.
There are several flaws with these theories. This may be
heard anything about that wily courtier dodging death. Possibly, he's confusing
stage of that maneuver is easier to accomplish than the second. Pop stars
drop the "y" and relaunch himself as "Rick Nelson" was accompanied by a switch
would, at least, have been different.) From the opening track, it's clear the
In the 1970s, many rockers despised disco. But the rap wars are a civil war,
occurring within the genre. The only real precedent is the 1940s competition of
version of "Bye, Bye, Love," amending the line, "I hope she's happy, I sure am
But, with this album, musical comparisons are irrelevant.
The most melodically interesting track is the exhibitionist provocation of
energy seems to have gone not into the music, but into the dialogue and sound
effects that precede and increasingly disrupt the songs. Those who bemoan the
decline of radio drama should listen to all the screeching tires and gunfire,
the lyrics are the merest afterthought; by this stage, he was more gangsta than
rapper. The only interesting musical effect is the funereal bell tolling
well timed, let's tactfully put that down to shrewd career management on the
Maybe Death Row is the first record company to understand, as manufacturers of
happened in the criminal trial. This makes him the judicial equivalent of the
buttons. If passengers started pressing their own buttons, there would be fewer
jobs for elevator operators; if jurors started gathering their own information,
of the workplace to make themselves indispensable. Everybody knows about union
notice that judges have developed the arcane rules of evidence that keep judges
Judicial featherbedding explains why judges insist on
of interesting arguments have been made, and not all of them have been made in
reasoning just because it happens to arise not in the courtroom but in an
standard response, of course, is that we want to shield jurors from bad
reasoning. But, if we trust these people to sort out wrongheaded analysis from
sound reasoning in the courtroom, how can we not trust them to do the same with
from "irrelevant" information (like past convictions, in criminal trials)
betrays a disturbing inconsistency. A juror who is capable of sorting through
Nevertheless, we allow judges to exclude evidence even though, once evidence
has been introduced, we trust jurors to decide how much weight it should
receive. In other words, we believe that jurors are perfectly competent to
limits of jurors' competence that would recommend such a policy.
Either jurors are capable of deciding how much weight to
assign a given bit of evidence or they're not. If they are capable, then by all
means show them all the evidence and let them ignore what they think is
irrelevant. If they are not capable, then why do we have juries in the
first place? Either we have a very muddled view of what jurors can accomplish,
or the system has been devised to serve the interests of judges and lawyers who
talking about things like the exclusionary rule, which prohibits jurors from
seeing evidence that was gathered illegally. The exclusionary rule serves a
clear purpose by discouraging overzealous police officers from inappropriate
behavior. Whether that benefit is worth its cost in terms of false acquittals
is arguable, but at least there is a clear benefit. By contrast, the
limited admissibility of legally acquired evidence serves no apparent
purpose, except to generate motions by lawyers, rulings by judges, and grounds
carefully control the flow of evidence, jurors would drown in a sea of
solved most efficiently by having lawyers pay (in cash) for excessive use of
courtroom time, not by the long and costly process of motions and appeals.
enormous lengths to choose unbiased jurors. But what is so desirable about the
bias? At election time, we are not urged to avoid the media so as to remain
unbiased until we get to the voting booth. Isn't it inconsistent to prefer both
(Sometimes, apparently, jurors are chosen not just for specific ignorance of
the case but for general ignorance of the world around them. I have a friend
who was excluded from a jury because he answered "yes" to the question, "Do you
think a man who's been arrested is more likely to be guilty than a man who
hasn't been arrested?" Presumably his place was taken by another juror who
really believes that the police arrest people completely at random.)
defendant is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt," without telling them whether a
can be quantified so precisely. Their scoffing is justified, but it's also
irrelevant. It is true that no juror can be sure whether his or her doubt is
whether his or her doubt is more or less than "reasonable." With a quantified
target, jurors would at least know what to aim for, even if they can't be sure
jurors who are unsure about two criteria (what is a reasonable doubt,
and does my own doubt exceed that level?) will be more accurate than jurors who
adjusted to different levels for different crimes. But judges, whose jobs
depend on judicial procedures being impenetrable, convoluted, and
purpose of legal tradition and precedent is to make outcomes predictable. But
judges have both the motive and the opportunity to contort tradition and
Respect for the law is enshrined in our culture, but it should not blind us to
the possibility that the law can be corrupted to serve sordid ends.
Lane's own investigation confirmed that Glass had made things up wholesale in
Although there are often no references before Glass published his fantasies,
such apparent Glass inventions as the National Memorabilia Convention,
monumental piles of bullshit past me, a vain skeptic. I shouldn't have believed
weren't my suspicions aroused after three New Republic pieces
discovering bizarre cults centered on implausible political figures? First, he
Editor Lane declined to answer my questions. (The magazine's New York PR
officer called with the magazine's regrets.) Glass could not be reached for
comment. But I can speculate about my own failure to see what seems so clear in
One explanation is that factoids such as the bondsman's
portable urinal, which seem starkly implausible when presented alone, are less
by "reporting" that assistants serve bond dealers lunch at their desks and do
dropped in boiling water but cook to death in water that heated up
partial explanation is that Glass built up credibility as each story was
principals in his stories didn't complain about the falsehoods for the simple
good to check." As a reader, not his editor, it was not my job to check them.
But I didn't even bring my usual editor's skepticism to reading them, because I
originality. The filigree of detail dazzles. Some of his better pieces read
like textbook examples of New Journalism, fusing the world of fact with the
software company is signing him to a contract. He interviews the adoring mom.
improve his pieces whenever his editors asked him to. He was completely open to
criticism. He regularly entertained the staff at editorial meetings with
previews of the dish to come in his next piece. It's a testimony to his energy
that when editors questioned his hacker piece, he erected a Web site to prove
the existence of a nonexistent software company. A layabout would simply have
written a true story. When you like somebody, you tend to trust him. (Let this
fact checking department. It was established following New Republic
who makes things up. And hindsight is easy. That said, a publication can make
scamming its readers more difficult than the New Republic made it for
Glass. Giving young reporters unimpeded access to anonymous quotations is like
I responded. As he coughed up his sources he sheared the sharper edges off his
sympathy because the system pressures them into becoming stars before they are
journeymen. Please. This explanation exonerates dishonest writers while
providing protective cover for careless editors. If there's any moral to be
taken from this story, it should be "No more excuses."
it places reporters at the center of action as frequently as it did the young
Glass. And he wrote so well. Anyone can doubt a bad writer. It's the good ones
dailies, he made his first electronic news as the executive producer of the
troubadour and great defender, simultaneously promoting it to outsiders and
later. The persona worked. He quickly became one of the Web's signature voices,
the site. And they indulged him, answering and amplifying his
with smarts, youth, leisure time, and moxie, and who own $2,000-plus
you and your family." They despise the fact that you now get your news directly
Surrendered Discussion of Moral Values to Opportunists, Nitwits 
loss of control has been jarring to our traditional media and political
organizations, who had sat astride a tight monopoly over politics and news,"
fighting ever since, complaining that these new interactive media are dangerous
and destructive of public discourse. New media have brought with them enormous
academics who controlled most of our information flow have all been, to varying
impressive; yet, only rarely does he name those conspiring to deny him and his
career in rock 'n' roll Comstockery, she convinced some labels to affix
younger listeners embraced as a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
Time magazine cried wolf about the prevalence of porn on the Net.
technology, miniaturized computers and communications devices, you name
is won, but declaring victory and resting his vocal chords would mean giving up
commercial calculation isn't sufficient to explain his stand. He identifies so
deeply with the victims he has invented, the aggrieved Internet comrades and
the chastised Jerry Springer fans, that he's become one of them. Lest one think
who embraced a new technology to speak truth to power and suffered greatly for
the characters in his "Suburban Detective Mystery" series-- Death by Station
that won't conform to his expectations. Consider the parallels:
in his cabin, limiting his contact to the outside world to letters and books
isolation of his suburban basement office, apparently limiting his contact to
Victims' Manifesto, that impenetrable screed called Virtuous Reality. I
of Cyberspace suffers hourly in the service of his new media victims: the
paranoid who extrapolate "the world is out to get me" conspiracies from the
Shack; and the teeming millions whose idea of a reality check is consulting a
to work, but it's not the scariest place he knows, as he confided to New
York magazine two months ago in a piece about his suburban community of
about: being rich, or being richer than their neighbors?
a lot of things that have nothing to do with being rich. Just by logging on to
Slate instead of using this time to earn an extra dollar, you've refuted the
proposition that people pursue wealth the way sharks pursue food. Instead, we
compromise between the pursuit of wealth and the pursuit of leisure, sometimes
accepting less of one so we can have more of the other.
wealth and leisure, there's a long list of other things we value. We like to
avoid risk; we care about the qualities of our mates; we want our children to
be happy. But wealth is one of the things we strive for, so it makes
sense to ask how we measure success in that dimension.
One hypothesis is that it's only your raw wealth that
or twice what your neighbor has. In other words, you measure the value of your
wealth by what you can buy with it. The alternative hypothesis is that you also
keep what you earn, and you can each decide whether you'd rather earn more
money or enjoy more leisure. On the other hand, if people care about the
pecking order, you and your neighbor can get involved in a costly and futile
"arms race," sacrificing valuable leisure in your mutually frustrating efforts
this in perspective, imagine that we could all agree to take an hour off from
work this week. Under the "raw wealth" hypothesis, there's no advantage to that
agreement. After all, you were always free to take an hour off. But
under the "pecking order" hypothesis, the agreement could serve as a sort of
"arms control" that leaves everyone better off by preserving our relative
positions while freeing up some extra time for leisure. But any such agreement
would be impossible to enforce, which (if the "pecking order" hypothesis is
traditionally have assumed that relative position does not matter, and
to medieval monarchs who earned less (in real terms) than today's average
something is easy to imagine, it's often because your imagination is limited.
In this case, your vision probably has neglected to include the disease,
monotony, and isolation of medieval life. I think it not at all unlikely that
Henry V would have traded his kingdom for modern plumbing, antibiotics, and
Here's another reason to be skeptical of the hypothesis
never met anyone who subscribes to the analogous theories about leisure or
risk. Do you care about the length of your vacation, or about whether your
vacation is longer than your neighbor's? Do you care about how well your air
bag works, or about whether you've got the best air bag in your neighborhood?
In each case, surely it's the former. But if we feel that way about leisure and
other hand, if you really believe that people care about wealth only for what
it will buy them, it's hard to explain why Bill Gates gets up and goes to work
in the morning. Surely it's not because he's afraid he'll run out of money? But
about human behavior on the basis of a few extraordinary individuals who
one hand, people do not care directly about their relative positions in
the wealth distribution. On the other hand, they care indirectly about
their relative positions, because a high relative position allows you to
simple, but it has some remarkable implications. First, it implies that the
competition for mates drives most people to save too much money. Young people
everyone could agree to save a little less, we'd all be better off: Our
suggests that income inequality should grow over time. But if inequality
becomes so great that people lose all hope of changing their relative
concern for relative position vanishes in societies where mates are allocated
by mechanisms other than wealth. Imagine an aristocracy, where your social
status is inherited from your parents and dictates your choice of mate. Such an
aristocracy might not be sustainable. People with low status and high wealth
can prove attractive to people with high status and low wealth, whereupon the
entire social structure disintegrates. Even families with low status and
low wealth might be able to save aggressively for several generations in
order to buy their way into the aristocracy, and again there is an eventual
deterred in a society where the children of such marriages are relegated to the
social barriers (and who cares about his offspring) must save enough to
demonstrated that to succeed, such social rebels would have to achieve
societies that are identical in all the ways that economists traditionally view
as important. They have identical populations. They have access to identical
technologies. Their people have exactly the same preferences in all things. But
in Society A, you attract your mate by wealth, and in Society B, you attract
your mate by inherited status. Then the standards of living in these societies
will differ dramatically and diverge dramatically over time, because they offer
growth. (The other engine is technological progress, which we've assumed is the
that cultural norms are extremely important. Of course, one could argue that
demonstrates something genuinely new: that cultural norms can be extremely
important even if we accept all the standard simplifying assumptions
societies where status is conferred not by accidents of birth but by learning,
or by physical strength, or by darkness of complexion. Clearly any one of these
societies will evolve very differently from all the others. But what makes them
Manhattan, a neighbor approached me in the corridor of my apartment
question many times over the years, I still don't know the correct response.
Yes, I am; no, I am not. Both are accurate. Unfortunately, I offered my
neighbor a reply that raised more questions than it answered.
opportunity for amity had existed between us, it seemed to have vanished. He
slipped into the elevator, I slipped into my apartment, and I imagine he rolled
his eyes to the ceiling and thought, "Great, another nut case in the
nearly a decade, and I have written a book about my experiences covering the
should feel good, I should feel triumphant, I should feel like a master of the
literary universe receiving the adulation he so rightly deserves, and I should
him, compliments intended for him, a publishing solicitation intended for him,
even a job offer intended for him (which I turned down).
recently, I enjoyed the confusion. There's something flattering about people
thinking I was capable of writing a best seller about a New York cop when I was
20s, while at the same time reporting one newspaper story after another. I had
Circumstances have changed. I now have my own literary
foreign words in my writings (see previous sentence) and living on the Upper
West Side of Manhattan. Also, I should be able to revel in praise rather than
worry about it. But in my case, praise from a stranger is like a glass of water
may be tainted. Even if the water tastes pure and delicious, you cannot enjoy
it as much as you should. There's nothing more pleasant than being
congratulated for your literary skills, but there's nothing less pleasant than
realizing the congratulations are intended for a guy who writes about the
hoped that my book would end the confusion, that I would emerge as the
the least, I hoped the confusion would turn to my favor. Shortly before my book
was published, I wrote a piece about my identity crisis suggesting that if an
away and confide that my "newest" opus was far better than "my" previous ones.
thought little of it until a beefy audience member walked out shortly after I
the Bull. It's not that I can't drive people away from my readings, but it
Ignominy has many forms. Once, after I signed a pile of
books at a bookstore, a clerk told me not to leave because there were more
to sign them, and nobody would have been the wiser, but something held me back.
ago to attend a book festival. A number of people lined up for my book signing,
and I was very pleased until some of them pulled out copies of his
books. It was a bit embarrassing, especially as my father was sitting next to
me, and the husband had my book. My book. I introduced him to my father,
and wanted me to sign his books. A distraught look emerged on the husband's
face and his wife stared coldly at him. "I told you!" she sneered.
think my inscription soothed the pain for him, cheered him up, and naturally
this was my intention. It was only later, of course, that I realized my
inscription made it impossible for him to get a refund.
'90s," while the New York Times asserted that the "heroin vogue has been
another useful occasion for noting this alleged trend.
Is Back"? For the press, smack is always back. It never goes away, but
the New York Times ("Latest Drug of Choice for Abusers Brings New
reads as fresh today as it did then. We learn that heroin has breached its
and desperate nodded out. The drug is being retailed at rock clubs, at
abundance is prompting concern about a potential 'epidemic' spilling across
demographic divides." And heroin purity is increasing dramatically: "Purity
years ago, you wouldn't think that heroin purity could keep rising. But for the
right a few years ago, recent purity actually has declined somewhat.
significant risk factor in overdose deaths. A study of heroin overdoses in
junk and survived.) The researchers attributed most overdoses to intermittent
misjudge tolerance when returning to the drug. Another risk factor that never
combination with alcohol. The mixture has an additive effect: A drinker could
about heroin use? For one thing, the federal government's National Drug Control
reports that the number of "casual users" (less than weekly) of heroin came
year measured, while the number of "heavy users" (at least weekly) dipped from
reason for seeking ER treatment. But the statistics, which come from the
government's latest Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) survey, come with a
disclaimer suggesting that the explanation may be multiple visits by aging
druggies who are using the ER for a variety of health problems.
disclose that the smashed pumpkin was drinking booze while shooting, a fatal
a mesmerizing image of a "smouldering maw/ of a pile of newspapers lit long
embraced "Flame Posies" as the name for my occasional column on the press. I
also hope that the oxymoron will remind me to include applause as well as
activist chief executive, but a paradox of his own making stands in the way. In
his last State of the Union address, he repudiated big government. "We know
there's not a program for every problem," he said. "The era of big government
rhetoric has helped. But so did his embrace of what might be called
intended to make people feel good, not actually to accomplish anything.
Sometimes, it addresses a virtually nonexistent problem or, at least, a problem
that ranks lower on any sensible scale of national concerns than the fuss and
problems, but in an almost totally symbolic manner. Often, therapeutic
legislation exploits the electorate's short attention span, its capacity to
legislation costs the taxpayer little or nothing and generally offends almost
no one. (In an important subclass of therapeutic legislation, however, stagily
another of the many therapeutic laws for which he has taken credit. This one
offense, punishable by five years to life in prison. The law was sponsored by
law is typical of much therapeutic legislation in that it addresses a hunger
callous as to suggest that stalking isn't an urgent problem, fully worthy of
immediate action by a Congress that can't pass a budget on time. But is
stalking across state lines or on federal property really such a
pressing concern? Undoubtedly it is terrifying when it happens (as it
have outlawed it with such a flourish, however, is as a way of expressing
that it has collected no information on the number of interstate stalking
if there were thousands of interstate stalkers, if they did pose
out some sort of constituency to oppose the bill. If a stalkers' lobby itself
implications of a federal stalking law would have criticized it. Instead,
passes with no opposition is a good bet to be therapeutic legislation. (And it
is doubly hypocritical for Republicans, who claim to believe in less government
and in state government, to be clotting the federal statute books with laws
M >any therapeutic laws are superfluous. Some are passed unanimously.
But the defining characteristic of a therapeutic bill is its thrift: It doesn't
increase the budget; it requires no new taxes; and it offends no
members of Congress absolutely nothing, but allowed them to inflate their
acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention was used to publicize
therapeutic laws passed on his watch or new ones he wanted Congress to
constitutional amendment; argued for an extension of the Family and Medical
Leave law and a measure to keep moms and their babies in hospitals longer than
guarantees portability of insurance but places no ceiling on the rates insurers
can charge); applauded the ban on "assault" rifles; and bragged about the new
illegal "even to attempt to pollute" (whatever that means).
fingerprinting of Little League coaches, den mothers, and others who volunteer
their time to children (never mind, as the Wall Street Journal reports,
institutional setting; that most accused child molesters have no previous
convictions; and that child abuse is down in the '90s). And with the continued
Balanced Budget Amendment follies, Congress indulges itself in the grandest of
therapeutic fantasies. If it really wants to balance the budget it should just
and believe is more than merely therapeutic. Your particular law, or two,
address problems fully worthy of a national fuss and Rose Garden signing
ceremony. But surely even you will agree that most of these laws are merely
therapeutic. We can all agree on that, without agreeing on which are the
Therapeutic laws become props for rhetoric that might be
genuine demagogue assails minorities and labels his foes Communists. The modern
safety. He artfully constructs his debate to make his foes sound as if they are
against children, for gun violence, against safe streets, and for pollution.
election season, it's enough to make you long for the days of negative
Even though my personal tastes in legislation tend toward the kind that begin,
a workfare program that would cost more, not less, than simple handouts. That
stimulated a thunderous and enlightening debate. He demonstrated to the
He maintained that the grand institution of matrimony is demeaned by those who
marriage is a contract. You can write that contract yourself (in which case
it's called a "premarital agreement"), or you can accept the default contract
choose between two prefabricated contracts, each with very different
Even if you never divorce, your choice among contracts can
affect the entire course of your marriage. That's because the
possibility of divorce alters your incentives to keep your spouse happy
(and vice versa). Of course, you might want to keep your spouse happy for other
reasons, the most notable of which is love. Sometimes, love is all you need.
But because we're talking about divorce law, I want to focus on cases where
incentive for good marital behavior. The answer may not be what you think.
(where both parties must agree to a divorce), and a covenant marriage (where
always the most likely to end in divorce. That isn't true, and here's one
device and which one wears the earplugs, and so on. Here the negotiating
process itself provides all the right incentives to respect your spouse's
needs. What you won't do for love, you'll still do for a bribe. And those
things you won't do even for a bribe are, presumably, sufficiently distasteful
mutual consent (though the choice of contract alters the balance of power and
therefore might alter the size of the bribes). Under either system, the
marriage survives as long as it's possible to keep both partners happier
together than they would be apart. Therefore, the two systems produce the same
turns bad for both of you. If we assume that all marital conflicts are
negotiable, the covenant marriage has no offsetting advantages: It keeps
couples together only in those cases where they'd both be happier apart.
The analysis changes if there are important decisions that
can't be negotiated, like the decision whether to bring home a surprise
bouquet of flowers. Chronic thoughtlessness on such matters can cause a
marriage to deteriorate. The knowledge that divorce is impossible might make
Doomsday Machine: You are each on notice that you'd better work hard to
preserve a good marriage, or you'll both be forced to live your lives in a bad
one. Doomsday Machines can be very effective. But sometimes they blow up. So
issues you can't negotiate that make the covenant marriage worth considering.
That gives you an incentive to keep your spouse happy. And this process feeds
on itself: Your spouse works to make you happy, which makes you want to
preserve the marriage, which makes you work to make your spouse happy, which
makes your spouse want to preserve the marriage, and so on, in a great virtuous
consent, your spouse could accept your efforts to make him or her happy without
feeling a strong need to reciprocate. This prospect discourages you from
bearing gifts in the first place. But when either partner has the power to end
the marriage, kindness tends to be repaid with kindness, and therefore kindness
thrives. Notice, once again, that this analysis applies only to surprise
efforts. Efforts that are negotiated in advance can be negotiated equally well
is always a mistake. But when important issues can't be negotiated, both the
exhaustive, and I know from much recent experience that Slate readers will
ignored: How does a change in the marriage contract affect a couple's decision
about whether to get married in the first place? There's a lot of interesting
the political realm? There he has carried risk aversion to rarely reached
heights. He will pay almost any price, in terms of policy, to marginally reduce
on the ideological spectrum considered a good idea. To pick up some superfluous
president keeps him from taking policy risks that might deprive him of the job.
glaringly exemplify its message of principle above politics. Hence, a general
theory: Men who obsessively convert power into sex are less willing to risk
We can test this theory by using as our control group
White House pool with nude staff nymphs or confidently steering a beautiful
to which various convicted felons on his staff can attest. If we want
other hand, it might make sense to elect fewer men generally. The point here
females. For women, lots of sex didn't mean lots of offspring. Power, to be
sure, brought other benefits to a female's genetic legacy, so women naturally
like having power. They just don't like it as much as men do.
with replaceable coalition partners and a single permanent goal: power." For
females, on the other hand, "coalitions withstand time." Thus a male
men to put power above principle is because during human evolution, power led
solution is obvious: If you want elected officials who put principle ahead of
even fairly firm ones, are only aggregate differences. The average woman
will surrender less principle for power than the average man. And women
been compared to two bald men fighting over a comb.)
have been more ambitious than the typical woman, she was a paragon of
everywhere, that he's an especially egregious example.
betrayal of the feminist values he professes. Maybe. But in another sense his
once again singled out for favored tax treatment), virtually every opponent
often that everybody believes it. But everybody is wrong.
pointed out in a recent Journal of Economic Literature article that the
For example, in his paper titled "On the Size Distribution
Creation: Dissecting the Myth and Reassessing the Facts," in which they assert
rests on statistical fallacies and misleading interpretations of the data."
and newspapers have recently run articles like "Debunking the Small Business
Myth," "Small Is Not Beautiful," "Doing the Small Business Shuffle," and "The
being created by businesses with fewer than four employees." Where do these
numbers come from? The Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration
will gladly supply you with a table that might appear, at first glance, to lend
across the second row, for example, which seems to tell you that firms with no
of course, is that the rows broken out by initial firm size tell only part of
workers, almost as many close their doors, sending their workers onto the
other ways is what produces the grossly exaggerated picture of small business's
sorting firms by class size in a dynamic situation the "regression fallacy."
still static, picture of what's really going on, let's relabel and complete
Computed by subtraction within the same size class.
(mostly net losses) in job counts produced by firms that either opened or
you will get quite a different picture of where the net new jobs are. By this
since some very successful small companies may end up big by the close of the
period, and vice versa. We need a more dynamic model to get a real sense of
good fix on this phenomenon isn't easy, because most government data are
collected to measure monthly employment changes, and there are no current data
however, I was able to specify the preparation of special tabulations by the
Census Bureau from business payroll tax reports for the entire private nonfarm
economy. These tabulations make it possible, for the first time, to study job
flows for the same firms as they migrate from one employment size class
time --tell a fascinating story of job creation and destruction. For
that firms that remained small (including those that entered or went out of
large were essentially offset by employment losses of firms that were large and
confirms what earlier studies had suggested: Big business, not small business,
recession. However, Census Bureau counts show that during the phase of rapid
reported job gains as losses. This same result held true in the period from
conditions, the probability that a firm will add or lay off workers is
accounts for these observations. Firms are constantly competing with each
other. Both small and large businesses expand when there is a demand for their
goods and services that they can meet efficiently. All the economic research
suggests that there is no difference in the efficiency of small and large firms
once a firm grows beyond a minimum size. It is for this reason that Census
employment size distribution of firms and establishments.
carving exemptions and preferences for small business into virtually every
piece of economic legislation that passes Congress. As the editor of this
policy in favor of 'small business' is based on logical fallacies and
is a noble organization that fights disease. It would like your support, too.
assert that CARE is worthier than the cancer society. Having made that
diversify because you don't know enough to make a firm judgment about where
your money will do the most good. But that argument won't fly. Your
contribution to CARE says that in your best (though possibly flawed) judgment,
and in view of the (admittedly incomplete) information at your disposal, CARE
is worthier than the cancer society. If that's your best judgment when you
comes to managing your personal portfolio, economists will tell you to
diversify. When it comes to handling the rest of your life, we give you exactly
the same advice. It's a bad idea to spend all your leisure time playing
golf; you'll probably be happier if you occasionally watch movies or go sailing
investment goals. Two hours on the golf course makes a serious dent in the
problem of getting some exercise; maybe it's time to see what else in life is
worthy of attention. But no matter how much you give to CARE, you will
never make a serious dent in the problem of starving children. The
problem is just too big; behind every starving child is another equally
not to say that charity is futile. If you save one starving child, you have
done a wonderful thing, regardless of how many starving children remain. It is
precisely because charity is so effective that we should think seriously
about where to target it, and then stay focused once the target is chosen.
what I can do about cancer." But such delusions of grandeur can't be very
common. So there has to be some other reason why people diversify their
know what that reason is. You give to charity because you care about the
recipients, or you give to charity because it makes you feel good to give. If
you care about the recipients, you'll pick the worthiest and "bullet"
(concentrate) your efforts. But if you care about your own sense of
myself. Do you say, "Oh, then I can skip my CARE contribution and go directly
contribution to CARE does not stop you from making CARE your first priority,
delusion of grandeur or an elevation of your own desire for satisfaction above
organizations, or you can be truly charitable by concentrating your efforts
economic problem, first translate into mathematics, then solve the problem,
then translate back into English and burn the mathematics. I am a devotee of
experiment with a slight deviation: Rather than burn the mathematics, I will
following proposition: If your charitable contributions are small relative to
the size of the charities, and if you care only about the recipients (as
opposed to caring, say, about how many accolades you receive), then you will
bullet all your contributions on a single charity. That's basically a
mathematical proposition, which I have translated into English in this column.
If you want to see exactly what was gained or lost in translation (and if you
a parent is allowed to return. The baby may then be patted but not picked up,
and the parent must quickly leave, after which the crying typically resumes.
Eventually sleep comes, but the ritual recurs when the child awakes during the
night. The same thing happens the next night, except that the parent must wait
five minutes longer before the designated patting. This goes on for a week, two
weeks, maybe even a month. If all goes well, the day finally arrives when the
child can fall asleep without fuss and go the whole night without being fed.
expert on infant sleep. Many parents find his prescribed boot camp for babies
depicts the ritual as the child's natural progress toward nocturnal
At this point I should own up to my bias: My wife and I are
minutes without reloading, we gave up and let her sleep in our bed. When our
second daughter showed up three years later, we didn't even bother to set up
brings me to my second bias (hauntingly familiar to regular readers):
sleep alongside their mothers for the first few years. At least, that's the
social environment in which humans evolved. Mothers nurse their children to
sleep and then nurse on demand through the night. Sounds taxing, but it's not.
When the baby cries, the mother starts nursing reflexively, often without
really waking up. If she does reach consciousness, she soon fades back to sleep
with the child. And the father, as I can personally attest, never leaves
doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. The technique may well be harmless (though
experts to reciprocate my magnanimity. They act as if parents like me are
derelict, as if children need to fall asleep in a room alone. "Even if
you and your child seem happy about his sharing your bed at night," writes
exactly, is it bad to sleep with your kids? Learning to sleep alone, says
puzzled. It isn't obvious to me how a baby would develop a robust sense of
autonomy while being confined to a small cubicle with bars on the side and
rendered powerless to influence its environment. (Nor is it obvious these days,
that if you let a toddler sleep between you and your spouse, "in a sense
separating the two of you, he may feel too powerful and become worried." Well,
he may, I guess. Or he may just feel cozy. Hard to say (though they certainly
you refuse to retrieve her from the crib, "she won't like it, but she'll
bed is that "you are not really solving the problem. There must be a reason why
he is so fearful." Yes, there must. Here's one candidate. Maybe your child's
brain was designed by natural selection over millions of years during which
mothers slept with their babies. Maybe back then if babies found themselves
mother had been eaten by a beast, say. Maybe the young brain is designed to
respond to this situation by screaming frantically so that any relatives within
earshot will discover the child. Maybe, in short, the reason that kids left
alone sound terrified is that kids left alone naturally get terrified. Just a
harms kids, it's more likely doing so via a second route: the denial of
mother's milk to the child at night. Breast milk, researchers are finding, is a
kind of "external placenta," loaded with hormones masterfully engineered to
Still, we certainly don't know that an 11-hour nightly gap in the
feeding schedule isn't doing harm. And we do know that such a gap isn't part of
species that nurse frequently. Or to judge by the mothers: Failing to nurse at
night can lead to painful engorgement or even breast infection. Meanwhile, as
asserts the opposite. If after three months of age your baby wakes at night and
wants to be fed, "she is developing a sleep problem."
boosters have noted, male physicians, who have no idea what motherhood is like,
have cowed women for decades into doing unnatural and destructive things. For a
while doctors said mothers shouldn't feed more than once every four hours. Now
they admit they were wrong. For a while they pushed bottle feeding. Now they
admit this was wrong. For a while they told pregnant women to keep weight gains
minimal (and some women did so by smoking more cigarettes!). Wrong again. Now
they're telling mothers to deny food to infants all night long once the kids
as in the behavioral sciences generally, we could have saved ourselves a lot of
time and trouble by recognizing at the outset that people are animals, and
means you can surrender your money or you can surrender your slightly bloody
the gunman's direct approach with the "voluntary standards" shakedown practiced
standards in the first place? Why doesn't it just pass laws or issue
regulations instead? It would if it could. Usually, the request for volunteers
legal authority to force industry or others to bend to its will. It doesn't
want to seek that authority either because it doubts it can muster the
necessary votes in Congress or because the Constitution stands in the way.
tobacco offers the most telling example of this sort of extralegal extortion.
While negotiating the tobacco settlement last year, the government wanted
desperately to bar Big Tobacco from advertising its products. The First
Amendment prevents the government from stopping the tobacco companies from
advertising, however, so the negotiators worked out a deal. Limit advertising,
and we'll cap your liability lawsuits. Fearing that ultimately the tort lawyers
would bankrupt them, the tobacco companies agreed to give up their
constitutional ace in the hole. Only when Congress reneged on the immunity side
power relationship between the government and the governed. A law provides the
governed with the independent venue of the courts for whatever arguments might
unfold. The last word a bureaucrat wants to hear from the courts about a new
another advantage: Laws can be repealed, but voluntary standards are forever.
prod Congress into investigating the proliferation of beer ads on television.
Millions of dollars of ad revenue would be lost if Congress chose to regulate
beer ads or, worse yet, proposed new voluntary standards.
Some industries embrace voluntary standards as a way to
dodge more onerous government regulation. Currently, commercial Web publishers
think they've staved off Federal Trade Commission regulators by establishing
look, we're in compliance with the voluntary regulations, but Company X
standards doesn't automatically get a company off the government's hook,
either. When dozens of youngsters found themselves either strangled or
the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission worked together to establish a
set of voluntary safety standards. The two sides agreed on guardrail design
standards and provided warning notices for the proper use of the beds (such as
commission Chairwoman Ann Brown boasted about its relationship with the bed
makers. "We are a regulatory agency," she said, "but we prefer to work
month that the commission's staff is now recommending mandatory
standards. Mandatory standards enlarge government power to penalize makers who
that don't conform. Having previously agreed to voluntary standards, the
furniture industry finds itself stuck in the regulatory maw. No wonder the
first thing you learn in the military is to never volunteer.
unscrupulous. It turns government suggestions into veiled threats and devalues
true voluntarism. At its worst, it can kick up a stench that would have made
cleaning, maintenance, and construction projects that the commissars decided
stay on the island. We were delighted to arrive after our long trip yesterday
watch the sun set behind the lighthouse to the west, the moon rise from the
tinted sea to the east, the water darken and cap with white in the south. Of
course, you probably didn't spend much time on the deck looking south because
though it did take some scrubbing. Next year I must make sure to leave you a
others being too small, which means the lobster shells and fish juices spill
over and mix with the chewing gum and pasta in the bottom of the can. You can
buy the liners right in the harbor at the supermarket, though I suppose it is
easier to grab the 30-gallon size. And with all the guests you have while
in a rocker on the porch this morning, to watch the seabirds and admire what's
left of the garden. (It's amazing what a little watering will do for the
flowers in a dry summer like this one.) Unfortunately, I didn't realize until
it was too late that one of the spokes holding the left rocker had come loose,
suppose it does make handy kindling. I noticed there were only a couple of
beads of the carving left when I cleaned the fireplace.) But I didn't really
thanks for the bottles of wine. I can see from all the empty cartons that you
must have enjoyed it too. Hope you're having a great summer's end.
that you can see water from every window of the cottage. I noticed this as I
was moving the furniture on the second floor back into the bedrooms. It's easy
worry, I did finally find all the rugs. No doubt they'll dry out in time and be
as good as new. You know, it's not a bad idea to close the windows when it
don't want to be intrusive, but if your guests do get into another knife fight
or whatever, it's really easy to get the blood splatters out of the white
frilled curtains if you wash them in cold water right away. (You can just throw
them in the washing machine, if the kids' sandy clothes haven't stripped the
another line to remind you for next year that the cottage is made of wood. The
wood. That means they burn very easily. So: Do not lean the pleated shade on
the bedside lamp against the bulb while it is lighted. As you have no doubt
noticed after two such experiments in consecutive years, when you do that, the
shade melts and finally burns. Left long enough, the burning shade will set the
house on fire. I assume you leave the house when you conduct these little
trials, but there is always the chance that someone else may have lingered.
it next year, don't let the kids remove the front legs of the pedestal sink in
days! And if they must do it, try not to discard the peculiar bolt fittings, so
are hard to find. Ditto the handles on the bureau drawers. I know they are old
and can come unscrewed. But the nut will always fall inside the drawer, so all
you have to do is thread it back on the screw and then tighten it. Well, I
suppose that's a bother on a vacation, but wouldn't it be just as easy to put
the whole thing inside the drawer as in the wastebasket? Speaking of
show you how to replace a light bulb? There are lots of brand new ones in the
sideboard in the dining room, and I would have thought you'd find it
great chef. Of course, great cooks don't usually make great cleaners. But not
for the winter. What a good thing, though, that I happened to look under the
time to mind all those recycling rules posted at the town hall.
How thoughtful of you to have paid the rent a whole year in advance. And the
insurance and the chapel and library and conservation society appeals and the
tactic to assert that some respected figure of the past would endorse your
position on some controversy of the present. There is little doubt that the
even as they pursue policies certain to prove detrimental to large numbers of
achieve this feat, they define King as a champion of "colorblind laws," and
citizens by race. In this way, programs that take race into account can be
demonized as violations of King's memory. Proponents of the ingeniously named
a Dream" speech looking forward to the day his children would be judged not by
the "color of their skin" but by "the content of their character." Calling for
the abolition of affirmative action in his book, The End of Racism:
following in King's footsteps even though he advocates repealing the Civil
segregation) to argue that since segregation was a system of "racial
view, opponents, not proponents, of affirmative action are King's legitimate
revisionists are quite wrong. His writing and actions make it clear that Martin
"affirmative action." The phrase itself was not widely used during his
lifetime, but King spoke repeatedly of granting blacks special preferences in
jobs and education to compensate for past discrimination.
movement to dismantle segregation reached its peak, King observed that many
white supporters of civil rights "recoil in horror" from suggestions that
blacks deserved not merely colorblind equality but "compensatory
consideration." But, he pointed out, "special measures for the deprived" were a
all sorts of privileges to veterans. Blacks, given their long "siege of
denial," were even more deserving than soldiers of "special, compensatory
said much the same thing in his last book. Where Do We Go From Here was
way to foreboding prompted by the emergence of a white backlash and the
more difficult than eliminating segregation. He called for a series of
programs, including full employment and a guaranteed annual income, to uplift
the poor of all races. But he saw no contradiction between measures aimed at
fighting poverty in general and others that accorded blacks "special treatment"
because of the unique injustices they had suffered. "A society that has done
something special against the Negro for hundreds of years," he wrote,
Throughout the 1960s, King targeted both economic and
racial inequality. His policy proposals embraced a variety of approaches, from
colorblind assaults on poverty to demands, such as setting specific goals for
the employment of blacks by private companies, that today would be called
and affirmative action must be defended or attacked on its merits. King aside,
what is most striking in current discussions of civil rights, race, and
affirmative action is the absence of any sense of history. Segregation was not
simply a matter of racial classification (or "thinking by race," as Justice
subordination whose political, economic, and social elements all reinforced one
"Jobs and Freedom," and the movement's ultimate goal, King insisted, was to
elusive today as it was during King's lifetime. King's real heirs are those
who, like him, see affirmative action not as a panacea or an end in itself, but
aware of their rising net worth, to the dollar, on a daily or even hourly
basis. Troubadours of capitalism celebrate each new high as evidence of the
what sense has the stock market boom created wealth? This is not a
philosophical question. It's a mathematical one. Nor is my point that a Dow
reserve the right to claim that was my point if it happens). But when we
imagine how we will spend our stock market wealth, we're engaged in an orgy of
Here's the puzzle. The shares traded on the New York Stock
this is the sum of the prices they're trading at, little bits at a time; and b)
trillion of that "worth" has been added in the past year. Meanwhile, though,
fact, very healthy. But it means that the increase in goods and services in the
goods and services implied by the rise in prices on the New York Stock Exchange
investments, and the growth in the economy's capacity to produce real wealth
shrinks into insignificance compared with the increase in "wealth" as perceived
houses, vacations, new washing machines, whatever? Two things would happen:
Stock prices would plummet and the price of "real stuff" would rise. As a
result, much of our perceived wealth would melt away.
levels is baby boomers socking money away for retirement. But many experts have
predicted that this pleasant dynamic will reverse itself when the boomer
generation starts withdrawing and spending its retirement nest eggs. Instead of
decline and general price inflation will deny boomers the value they think
another reason that the notion of solving the Social Security problem by
investing payments in the stock market is such folly. The infusion of these
extra billions will drive prices up when boomers are all buying, and the
subsequent withdrawal will drive prices down when boomers are all selling.)
So the alleged wealth accumulated in the stock market can't
be realized all at once now, and probably can't be realized all at once decades
from now. Can it be realized gradually over the years, as people sell off a
little at a time? It's possible, but pretty unlikely. Stock prices represent
the discounted present value of a company's future earnings stream. In other
words: What you're willing to pay for a share of stock is, or ought to be,
equal to what you would pay today for the right to claim that share's fraction
of the company's profits from now on. If prospects for future earnings have
generate enough wealth to cover all the new chits in people's pockets.
percent during a period when the economy's general productive capacity
undervalued a year ago. The other is that something happened in the past year
stock prices and profit potential are, in theory, now correctly aligned.
about the past, or revelation about the future, during the past year that would
Stein wrote in Slate a while back attributing the bull market to new understanding
the past year has brought good news about the economy's ability to tolerate low
the Dow." What's more, if the past year's huge rise in stock prices reflects a
new but accurate optimism about future economic growth, this means the payoff
for that future growth is already in the past. In other words, future
possibility: The increase in stockholder wealth could reflect a transfer from
reflects the ongoing shift, from labor to capital, of the return to production
of what we do produce goes to corporate profits and less to wages? Well,
Then there's what economists call the wealth effect. Even
if the impression that we're a lot richer than a year ago is a fantasy, the
very fact that millions believe it might help make it come true. Prosperity is
like Tinker Bell: It lives on belief that it lives. Folks who believe (even
the economy will thrive and grow as a result. Of course this kind of
money you don't really have is the key to prosperity, big government deficits
would do the trick just as well. Yet deficits are deeply unpopular, most of all
with the sort of folks who celebrate the new wealth created by the stock
directly reducing by as much as a single doughnut the amount of goods and
services or the economy's ability to produce more of them. Maybe the moral is
just the obvious one that stock prices occasionally overshoot the mark in both
directions. But maybe the moral is that the only folks who are going to get
known as AIDS, seers have periodically predicted that the end of the epidemic
was near. But the trumpets have grown louder in recent weeks, as the success of
rescued him from death's door ("Last Year, This Editor Wrote His Own
Study after study has shown that in many patients, the
but many researchers believe that less virus equals less damage to the immune
system. For certain, the new treatments are having a visible effect on the
unknowns, which the optimists dismiss far too quickly. With all best wishes to
because of the advent of protease inhibitors, "I am probably more likely to be
"this ordeal as a whole may be over" is likely to mislead sick people in need
of hope. And the argument that AIDS is conquered may also lend a sharper ax to
about the power of these new treatments. There are scant data to explain how
studies have been completed that compare hundreds of treated people with
hundreds of untreated people. Another downside to the drugs is that they often
make people feel nauseated and can have serious toxicities. In some people,
a stealthy foe: It can take refuge in body tissues (as opposed to blood), where
the drugs have a harder time reaching. And the virus routinely mutates into
strains that are resistant to every drug that has proven effective against
these depressing findings alongside his good news. But there is plenty of bad
news that he doesn't report. The lymph nodes (and other sites in the body) can
summer's international AIDS conference, researchers described a patient who had
returned in a week. An AIDS researcher told me last week of four patients who
recently died from AIDS, even though their viral loads had become undetectable
with the new drug treatments. Just because you drive a viral load to the point
where it can't be detected doesn't mean the immune system returns to normal.
There are also the practical obstacles to AIDS optimism. Taking two dozen or
more pills a day, on a schedule, is a daunting task to carry out for years on
end. Missed pills lower the potency of the treatment, opening the way to
cannot afford these new treatments, for those who can, the drugs will possibly
stave off disease and death. But, because no one knows whether these new leases
on life should be measured in weeks, months, years, or decades, balancing
was hailed as a godsend. Then it was denounced as ineffective by activists,
after larger studies showed that, when taken alone, the drug offered little
drug as a worthless poison being hawked by researchers who were on the take
their hopes on combining drug treatments with strategies that boost the immune
can help rev up the natural machinery that clears the virus from the body.
the AIDS epidemic is not expensive drug therapies. Never in the annals of
medicine has a viral plague been stopped by any therapy. Viral plagues such as
scourges have only been beaten back by vaccines. It is most perplexing then,
mentions the word "vaccine" in his article. That's because his true focus isn't
the end of the epidemic, but lengthening the lives of the already infected.
budget on the problem. And, primarily because of the daunting scientific
release for the big Volunteer Summit (officially, "The Presidents' Summit
has never been enough and never will be. The concept exists only for the
networks, celebrities, corporations, foundations, all huffing and puffing in
the conceit of Swift's Modest Proposal (to eat children) would be
So let us stipulate that everyone involved in the Volunteer
aren't looking for a PR fix. Let us stipulate, furthermore, that a little bit
of good can outweigh a lot of bullshit, and the summit probably nets out as a
Good Thing. But let us also consider the summit's philosophy. Distilled from
pressure its citizens to do more good works, for children and in general. That
social pressure should be a cooperative project of government, employers, and
start, is it obviously better to give your time than your money? This notion
and specialization of labor. Take an extreme example: a successful
company thinks she's worth what she's being paid, why should it encourage her
to devote several hours a week to, say, working in a soup kitchen, when others
few more hours doing what she does best, and let the company turn the proceeds
over to the soup kitchen? Or, more realistically, why shouldn't she write a
large check and not feel guilty about it? Would the soup kitchen really prefer
obviously requires more valuable skills than serving soup does. But is it
compassion or arrogance for our executive to assume that her tutoring is worth
time instead of writing a check. True, the emphasis of the moment seems to be
buy. But she has to be pretty confident in her mentoring skills to believe that
but professional tutoring and counseling, health care, etc.).
course, this assumes that our executive actually does write that contribution
check, and that she writes it to the soup kitchen or tutoring program and not
to her of personal involvement in good works. She might quite reasonably
poring over spreadsheets in her office. She might enjoy the moral
the soup kitchen rather than donating the cash value of her time, this means
people are going hungry so that she can be morally uplifted. A strange moral
a way of achieving a national goal without costing taxpayers any money. But
logically, something either is an obligation of society or it isn't. And if it
is being left to voluntarism, that obligation is not being fully met. (That's
why each volunteer "makes a difference," as we are constantly being told.)
Perhaps this or that function cannot or should not be provided by the
government. But to say it is a social obligation that ought to be satisfied
through voluntarism is to have it both ways. Society accepts the
it's not a pleasing noise. The summit itself is an example of the summit's
philosophy about how things ought to work: identical and mutually reinforcing
the country. Basically this is the propaganda machinery of war being revved up
in peacetime, which is one reason the rhetoric is so overheated and so full of
martial metaphors. Festivities like the Volunteer Summit address a national
they do the practical problem that is their alleged subject. And the premise
that you must give of your body, not just of your money, makes voluntarism an
touts two different interviews with the former general. One of them is
breathlessly but illogically labeled an "exclusive."
promotion. Who are the victims of that discrimination? The most obvious
candidates are the black workers who are denied suitable positions. But there's
a second class of potential victims: the corporate stockholders, who are denied
guess that when there is discrimination, stockholders suffer less than the
black workers do. In fact, it's more likely to be the other way around, for
would be cruelly ironic. Boycotts lower corporate profits, which punishes not
sinners, but their victims. There is even greater irony in the reports that
To see why the stockholders bear many of the costs of
discrimination, let's think through a few alternative scenarios.
blacks will be filled by whites, presumably of about equal competence. (Because
black executives end up profiting from the equal wisdom of white
suppose this time that discrimination is rampant throughout the industry. Then
are comparable jobs available in other industries, the oil industry as a whole
cannot treat its black employees any worse than the standard set by those other
industries.) So, in this scenario, blacks can be harmed by discrimination in
second scenario, it's the stockholders who suffer for the sins of the
management. To see why, consider this example: Suppose that throughout the oil
payroll by firing all its white executives and hiring blacks to replace them
elsewhere in the market. But that is just a matter of definition, and we can at
least agree on this: No matter how you define discrimination, hiring
up with lots of black executives and a tidy profit for the stockholders; but if
is a single best person for each job and a single best job for each person. In
employees who are thereby excluded from their ideal jobs or forced to accept
lower wages in order to remain in those jobs. But in this scenario,
discrimination becomes even costlier to stockholders, who now own shares in a
workers and the stockholders are victims. The truth is probably some
discriminated against blacks (and it's worth noting that the evidence for that
tastes for racial discrimination at a multimillion dollar cost to the
stockholders, the same conclusion should be equally obvious.
corporate executives who bilked their investors by failing to hire the best
affirmative action. But the military has a good kind of affirmative action,
which expands equal opportunity without making racial preferences. She offers
insist that they support affirmative action. And they often point to the
military, by all accounts, has indeed done a great job of integrating its
higher reaches and achieving racial harmony without harming its ability to
serve its mission. Affirmative action in the military is a success. But has the
military avoided the alleged poison of reverse discrimination? Not at all. The
real lesson of affirmative action in the military is that reverse
its face. The boss asked for a list that included blacks and then chose a black
off the list. Equal opportunity or reverse discrimination? A little more
promotion to brigadier general. An exception was made in order to give
forthright in his defense of affirmative action, says himself that he wouldn't
have appeared on the second list or been made the youngest general in the Army
place where (in her words) "people rise or fall according to their merits, not
their race." But this is a misconception. The services set stringent guidelines
for minority recruitment and promotion that sometimes surpass the supposed
excesses of racially obsessed university admissions officers. For instance the
Air Force, long the most resistant of the services to affirmative action,
recently changed its promotion policy to increase its number of black pilots.
of white applicants. Do you believe this is the result of pure "equal
opportunity," with nary a drop of "racial preference"?
turned down long lines of qualified white males to save room for blacks. I
denied whites interviews. I put their names on waiting lists. Every few months
among the black rank and file, which had resulted in race riots on bases. To
diversify its officer corps, the Army began targeting scholarship money
candidates' race into consideration. Promotions, the guidelines say, must
roughly match the racial composition of the pool of candidates. The regulations
naturally say that the panels should not lower standards simply to boost
usually have little trouble seeing through it. Members of the panels are under
heavy career and political pressure to meet goals. According to the Pentagon,
more minorities and women have been appointed to promotion boards and
explicitly instructed to act as advocates for the minority and women candidates
who appear before them. To see that as expanding "opportunity" and not granting
called the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute to ensure that the
Standard showed that the officers who serve in the institute on a rotating
basis are trained in lengthy seminars, rife with the goofiest sort of political
correctness. In one class on the "White Male Club," an instructor lectured: "Q:
mechanics of affirmative action in the military mimic those of affirmative
action in higher education, why hasn't the military taken the same flak? Unlike
the universities, the military has none of the notorious statistics about
successfully transformed from a clubby elite, where promotions depended on
golfing partners, into a more integrated meritocracy.
To be sure, the Army's program insists, though more vaguely
minimum qualifications as their white counterparts. But there is a critical
difference between being qualified, in the sense of meeting some minimum
standard, and being better qualified than all those who are rejected. Choosing
military and civilian affirmative action is that the military has an
overabundance of minority candidates. Consequently, the Army can eliminate its
and federal agencies must compete aggressively over a much smaller pool.
works, its critics deny its essential nature. For affirmative action to do
anything, it must involve advancing people who are slightly less qualified.
prevailing standards, than people who get passed over. It is necessarily a
sloppy process that injects another arbitrary standard into an already
runs a lot of headlines about scandals, but rarely does it run a headline that
probably subconscious racial prejudice that has turned a legitimately
wrongheaded, implying that there's something inherently scandalous about
headline was necessary to prevent the story from seeming absurd. Can you
in the form of improper or illegal donations (which, of course, we already knew
about). Foreign citizens or companies funneled money through domestic front men
or front companies. And sometimes foreigners thus got to rub elbows with
news of the existence of this document outlining a plan to raise money from
weeks.) Would the Times be billing minor investigative twists as lead
paragraph, which is supposed to crystallize the story's news value, is this: "A
special access to the White House, the committee's records show." You mean
story. But among them isn't the fact, repeated in the third paragraph, that
path to power." And among them isn't the fact, repeated (again) in the fourth
these nuggets is interesting enough to make this the day's main story. The only
brain. That's why the story's headline is so telling.
thing about this scandal is that its root cause and its mitigating circumstance
gloves, and so on. Yet it is perfectly legal for them to lubricate such
age of globalization and with the United States' fate increasingly tied to the
fate of other nations, the United States' best newspaper would be careful not
to run articles that needlessly feed xenophobia. Guess again. Six weeks ago a
"distinctive characteristics" that give them "significant advantages" over the
United States in foreign policy. They "see politics as exclusively combative
contests, involving haggling, maneuvering, bargaining and manipulating. The
political theory"), China's leaders "insist on claiming the moral high ground,
because top leaders are supposed to be morally superior men." In short, China's
noted, aggravate another disturbing feature of modern China. It seems that the
Dad was a Camel man, and his offer usually came as he filled the air with smoke
and ash. He so despised his deadly habit that he routinely thumped any kid
teen smoking a federal affair two years ago when he unleashed the Food and Drug
Administration on the problem. And there is a problem: A recent study shows
federal government into the fray by diagnosing teen smoking as a "pediatric
disease." Assuming regulatory control over the noxious weed for the first time
in the agency's history, he defined tobacco as a "drug" and tobacco products
held that poisonous products like cigarettes, for which no health claim
is made, should fall outside government regulation. The tobacco bastards didn't
actually call their product poisonous in court, but that's their
our product kills. And make no mistake about it, tobacco kills: The average
cigarette smoker lives eight fewer years than the average nonsmoker.
because the tobacco companies are evil doesn't mean that we should sympathize
consistent, it would leapfrog the Drug Enforcement Administration and start
joint.) Or it would police whiskey and shot glasses. Or it would go after the
and most kids don't want to grow up to inherit such a safe place, either. The
nibbled away if suffering children can be associated with it. But even the
acknowledging the agency's power grab by rejecting the proposals that don't
administration's goals of halving teen smoking in the next seven years. But
do. Young black girls are even more resistant to tobacco: Forty percent of
percentages. What changed? One theory holds that young white girls (unlike
young black girls) subscribe to a cult of thinness, and smoke to block their
appetite. Some black teens tell researchers that they feel that society has so
thoroughly stacked the deck against them with racial discrimination, crime, and
poverty that their very survival depends on resisting tobacco. And still others
young whites. To the sociologists' speculations, add mine. Everybody likes a
little danger in their lives, but perhaps most black kids are already
experiencing all the hazards their psyches can take. Meanwhile, kids (of all
grab is because the Zeitgeist has been moving in the agency's direction
for some time. Our culture now interprets nearly all pleasures as
booze, gambling, food, cheap thrills, and yes, tobacco. Shall we call in the
current plans to dispatch referees to our bedrooms to enforce safe sex, but
when it does, you can be sure it will be in the guise of protecting
quit the cigarette habit, as did my oldest brother and my baby sister. The
press the magic button and quit tomorrow if they could.
makeshift flagstaff. I don't remember what I spent the money on, but I do
recall how I rebelled my way through high school. I drank to howling, puking
hotel, for the apparent purpose of sexual dalliance.
a careful review of the evidence makes clear that there are only three
not one of the feminist groups that clamored first for a Senate hearing for
is that each prompted a rush to judgment by people on both sides of the
ideological divide. And most striking, in my view, is the hypocrisy (or
piece of paper with a suite number on it, and said the governor would like to
employee's performance of her job and bring her to his hotel room.
And that seems pretty shabby no matter what, exactly,
her about pornographic movies and his own sexual prowess. Hill did not accuse
recommendation that helped her land a law teaching job, phoning him repeatedly,
inviting him to make an appearance at the law school, and more.
corroboration. "I could see her shaking" as she came walking back to the
the details offhand but that "I know he grabbed her. She said he just kept on
moving close to her and putting his hand on her knee, and every time she
describing something dramatic. "He dropped his pants," she responded, "and I
putting his hands on her legs and he was trying to put his hands up her dress.
good friend of mine,' and he told her, 'I know you're a smart girl and you're
Brown, has drawn more publicity than the other five witnesses combined, because
together, these six contemporaneous witnesses provide far stronger
witnesses testified that Hill had told them in vague, general terms of being
legal, as distinct from her factual, claims have their weaknesses. But her
legal theories are hardly frivolous. A single, extremely outrageous act of
sexual harassment, without much more, can arguably support a "hostile working
why have the media and a lot of other people acted as though the opposite were
with big hair coming out of the trailer parks." But that's not all of it. Not,
that is, unless you believe that the press would have given similar coverage to
a similar accuser, making similar allegations, supported by similar evidence,
discrimination. But more importantly, it's about how a little arithmetic can go
mind is, Why do blacks earn less than whites do? The easiest hypothesis is that
the employers discriminate. Some commentators have attempted to dismiss that
hypothesis on the grounds that discrimination is costly (because it entails a
willingness to pay premium wages for white workers) and therefore unattractive
kind of dismissal is too glib, because it is not based on any estimate of how
much it costs to discriminate. Without that estimate, we can't even
begin to think about whether the cost is high enough to make much
workers, a half dollar gets paid to the bondholders and the stockholders
more concrete, suppose you're the manager of a corporation that employs one
discrimination. Notice first that discrimination must be quite common in your
industry; otherwise your black worker would have gone elsewhere long ago. That
percent increase overnight. Your payouts now look like this:
company's stock. That's enough to put you on the cover of Time magazine
as the financial genius of the century. To continue discriminating is to throw
away an opportunity for unprecedented financial success.
In fact, that same opportunity is available to every other
corporate manager in the industry as well, and they're rejecting it too
(remember that discrimination must be widespread or all blacks would move to
nondiscriminatory firms). So in order to believe that discrimination explains
percent gain for their stockholders, and the acclaim of all Wall Street for
themselves. Personally, I find that wildly implausible.
disproof that discrimination exists, but it's at least a calculation that needs
ironclad. If you juggle those initial assumptions a bit, you'll get a number
discover a scenario in which discrimination is plausible. (My guess is that you
won't, but then again, you and I might have different standards for what's
plausible.) Regardless of how that experiment turns out, it's well worth
performing. Without some such test, there is simply no way to know whether
for example, that there is discrimination not by employers but by customers,
who are willing to pay a premium for goods and services produced by white
workers. To advocate that theory convincingly, you'd have to estimate the size
of the premium and assess whether it's something that consumers would plausibly
that blacks earn less because they have fewer marketable skills. Like theories
of discrimination, these theories are best judged by quantitative criteria, but
now we have to go beyond what can be computed on the back of an envelope and
look, for example, at what we can learn from standardized test scores.
largely explained by differences in skill levels which are already detectable
explain those skill differentials, one can try pointing either to training or
performance gap between blacks and whites is considerably larger for young
by heredity (why should an inherent difference become larger over time?), but
not if it's caused by training (if blacks get inferior schooling, then it's not
done, and is being done, and will be done. All of that research, at least when
it is useful, will be quantitative in one way or another. Some of it requires
sophisticated techniques and sophisticated measurements. But there are
theory can be well tested with nothing more than the back of an envelope and an
United States. An aggressive prosecutor offers to purchase that information
with a lenient sentencing recommendation. Do you take the deal?
your motives are selfish, you'll probably first make some discreet inquiries to
But suppose it's an election year, and the president can't
risk granting a controversial pardon in the midst of the campaign. If you
choose to remain silent, you'll have to wait till after the election to collect
juicy your information is. If you know enough to trigger an impeachment, the
president won't dare cross you. You might as well sit tight, confident that
other hand, if the offenses you know about are embarrassing but short of
impeachable, you've got to make the best deal you can right away. Once the
election has passed, your leverage at the White House will be severely limited.
nothing at all. Then, assuming you can't get away with bogus accusations, your
the two Friends of Bill who now await sentencing. At the moment I write this
or that she knows enough to extract a high price for her silence. If she knew a
That analysis is an excursion into the branch of economics
is notorious for its ability to generate radically different conclusions in
response to small changes in the underlying assumptions. Thus I have only a
yield far more reliable predictions, and the theory of competitive markets is
the most reliable branch of all. So that's the branch we should climb out on if
we really want to use economics to get at the truth about the scandals
there is no lack of additional scandals to analyze. Take the case of the late
the only administration official willing and able to sell out to the
charges against him were accurate, there must have been others in the
administration who shared his ethical laxity. Those others are presumably still
in office. It might be worth an attempt to ferret them out.
Similar reasoning could be useful to investigators who are
concerned with national security leaks. It would, for example, be interesting
monopolist or one of many sellers in a competitive marketplace.
seller. That would be reassuring. If, on the other hand, the information was
forced to underbid a host of potential competitors. In that case, those
potential competitors constitute an ongoing security risk.
infiltrated by moles is to conduct elaborate investigations of employees and
institutional procedures. A much faster, cheaper, and more accurate way might
is behaving surreptitiously, we frequently have to guess what he's up to. We
can't hope to guess right all the time. But we can strive to make our
guesses consistent with all the evidence and with the basic laws of human
behavior. In that enterprise, a little economic theory goes a long way.
industrialized world. The patterns show up in comparisons between countries
show up whether you look at snapshots in time or at trends that span
The data suggest that, on average, a 10-percent increase in
the rate of owner occupation is associated with a 2-percent increase in the
rate of unemployment. If that's right, it accounts for a substantial fraction
geographically. The jobless homeowner looks for jobs within commuting distance
of his home. The jobless renter is willing to move to where the jobs are.
theory is testable, because it predicts that homeowners suffer longer
periods of unemployment, as opposed to more frequent periods of
increase in time spent unemployed but little change in the frequency of job
spending a lot of time at home, and you'll want to buy a nice house. A more
plausible explanation is that when jobs dry up, renters move out, so that only
homeowners remain. The other side of that coin is that booming areas tend to
draw a lot of newcomers who want to rent for a while.
two things occur in tandem, it isn't always right to ask which is the cause and
which the effect. After all, mistletoe and eggnog tend to appear in the same
month, but neither causes the other. Instead, they're brought on simultaneously
that causes both phenomena? The most obvious candidates are age and wealth,
unemployment (the young and the poor scramble harder for jobs).
candidate, namely, the regulatory climate. He points out that where regulators
run amok, they tend to disrupt the rental market and the job market
simultaneously. Consider the housing market in New York City, where rental
apartments are outrageously expensive. That's largely because New York
are skittish about leasing to strangers. At the same time, labor laws make it
hard to fire a bad employee, so employers are conservative in their hiring.
possible that the numbers themselves are wrong, because of some hidden bias in
the way they're collected. Maybe when you're counting the unemployed, it's easy
to overlook a transient and hard to overlook a homeowner. So you can tell a lot
discussion, let me go back to the first (and, I think, most interesting) story:
Homeowners stay unemployed longer because homeowners are less mobile. If that
through subsidies). Where those attempts have been most successful, the
efficiency of labor markets has declined most dramatically.
people they're trying to help, but such an interpretation would be hard to
defend. Surely home buyers are well aware that they're sacrificing mobility.
That's a voluntary sacrifice, and so (in the judgment of those who choose to
buy) it must be more than compensated for by the benefits of ownership. In
other words, high unemployment might be the price we pay for owner occupancy,
That analysis is guided by an economist's faith in the
maxim that people are generally pretty good at looking out for their own
interests. The companion maxim is that people often make no attempt at all to
look out for the interests of others. So if we really want to pull every
possible moral out of our story, we should think about the other people whose
interests are at stake when you decide to buy a house. In other words, we
extremely important for children. If your family moves during your school years
chance that you'll be "economically inactive" (out of school and out of
"families that move are more likely to be poor, and that's why their kids don't
to rule out this and similar alternative theories, leaving us to conclude that
they carefully weigh the damage to their children against competing benefits
and act in the interests of the entire family. Or perhaps when parents move,
case, a government that cares about children would want to discourage household
like this: They have two children, and are undecided about having a third. They
lean one way and then the other; they weigh the pros and cons; and finally,
they decide to go ahead. Then from the instant that third child is born, the
parents love it so deeply that they'd gladly sacrifice all their assets to
that with the way people shop for appliances or furniture or compact discs.
Generally speaking, if you know you're going to treasure something, you don't
unlikely to be cherished. Why, then, are children so different?
One of my colleagues maintains that there's no real
inconsistency here. He says it's wrong to think of a baby as the equivalent of
a microwave oven; instead, you should think of it as the equivalent of an
addictive drug. People hesitate about whether to try heroin, but once they try
it, they become addicted and can't give it up. Likewise with babies.
I think, is a very bad analogy, because heroin addicts tend to be people who
believed at the outset that they could escape addiction. Perhaps that's because
is what they were thinking. (Why else would we hear so many addicts recounting
of parents. Parents know in advance, and with near certainty, that they will be
addicted to their children. They choose their addiction with eyes wide open,
certainty, that they won't want to break their addiction. If you've already got
two kids and are wavering over a third, then you've already got a pretty good
idea of what parenthood is like, and you already know that, unlike the addict
who despises his addiction, you're going to treasure your attachment to your
children. When you know you're going to love something that much after you've
got it, how can you hesitate about getting it in the first place?
the parent of an only child, I can verify that people do behave that way. I
coherent way of thinking about how to make decisions that appropriately reflect
emotional and moral attachments to people who are not yet born. The resulting
confusion makes it almost impossible to resolve important questions of public
example, the following question seems to me to be of both supreme importance
and supreme difficulty: Do living people have any moral obligation to the
trillions of potential people who will never have the opportunity to live
either answer leads to troubling conclusions. If the answer is "yes," then it
seems to follow that we are morally obliged to have more children than we
unable to break through into the world of the living. If they have rights, then
surely we are required to help some of them escape.
earlier Slate column, "Be Fruitful and Multiply," I argued that we should reproduce more
quickly because it would improve living standards for existing people. Here I
am raising the entirely separate question of whether we should reproduce more
quickly in order to give life to potential people.)
trashing Earth, to the point where there will be no future generations. (That's
not to say that we'd necessarily want to trash Earth; we might have selfish
reasons for preserving it. I mean to say only that if we ever did want to trash
Earth, it would be morally permissible.) If we prevent future generations from
entities, then our crimes have no victims, so they're not true crimes.
rights, we should massively subsidize population growth; and if they don't have
rights, we should feel free to destroy Earth. Either conclusion is disturbing,
but what's most disturbing of all is that if we reject one, it seems we are
forced to accept the other. Perhaps there's a third way, and that's just to
admit that we're incapable of being logically rigorous about issues involving
hopes that one of them would grow up to be a creative genius who could solve
teach us how to think about the population problem. I hope the next generation
The book scared me, not because it concerns incest or happens to be true but
because of the malign figure of the father, who reminded me of the character
the drugged cadence of the prose, with a chasm between every two sentences, and
same neighborhood, but literary New York is a small town, anyway), but I don't
know them well enough for it to carry gossip value. I judged The Kiss as
all discussion and become the sole focus of criticism. But I naively
underestimated its effect, imagining a bunch of dumb reviews and one or two
from shrill to vindictive. People went out of their way to attack not just the
personally, and her husband, her agent, and her publishers for good
Bad publicity is better than none, of course, but after a
time you could no longer ignore an odor of smoke, and it wasn't your usual
of being a liar, an opportunist, a traitor to all segments of her family, an
unfit mother, to have written the book solely for the money or the
it. The Kiss has been called "slimy, repellent, meretricious, cynical"
Yorker killed a scheduled excerpt. The publisher, attempting damage
control, rushed the book into stores two months before the publication date.
from perfect. But literary matters are not of much interest to the peanut
Comment has instead tended to focus on familial betrayal, dubious motives, and
those who fret about the effect on her two young children. While this is
book now, "before our children were any older and more aware of the media
around them." She has a point: The dogs bark, the caravan passes. The furor
will be over long before the kids are able to understand it (the spotlight
would only be harsher if they were older), and the subject itself would either
alive; the book could hurt him. These tend to be the same people who describe
the relationship as "consensual," a word that could not occur to anyone who has
read the book. Of course, there are men who seem to think that rape is a sex
act rather than an act of violence. But the very notion of incest-- the last
the victim, this attitude is also provincial and illiterate, if not
have shed its last gratuitous prohibitions. It is also a century in which
you'd think, judging from the press, that recent authors of memoirs had called
incest or alcoholism or any number of species of abuse into being by writing
served if rage or remorse were diverted into parlor comedy. Who knows? Again,
complication more than they care about the state of literature.
Everybody wants the inside scoop, the shoddy truth that lies at the core of all
decisions. Accordingly, it is widely believed that books are always planned and
written with marketing in mind. Fortunately or not, though, calculation usually
results in failure, and for most writers, the foolproof concept that briefly
shone at conception looks like a mirage within three days at the keyboard. Also
a writer? You should meet my cousin Don. He's got a story that will make you
question of memoir vs. novel. Critics are as frantic about saving their novel
reminiscent of the moral defenses of painting that were worked up when
photography began to look like a threat. That debacle should have taught the
world that media can coexist, and that artists can even migrate between them
depending on the flavor they seek. (The analogy is imperfect, because there's
no fixed line of demarcation between fiction and nonfiction, only a broad gray
fictionalization of actual events: "I do not regard such a thing as childish, I
regard it as monstrous. I insist on knowing the names, on being interested only
in books left ajar, like doors; I will not go looking for keys." Fiction has
voodoo doll has nothing to do with the actual merits or failings of her book,
but is entirely owing to how economically her case concentrates the fears,
resentments, misconceptions, and idiocies prevailing right now. It also
reflects the fact that most cultural journalists are under constant pressure,
whether from above or from within, to whip up instant controversies tied to
perhaps, their often hapless targets. In the meantime, they don't tend to
democracy was flourishing more than it seems to be now, hoping to draw
inspiration and lessons for what might be done to revive our apparently ailing
the 1830s, gathering observations and ideas that were, in due course, published
descriptive observations of another nation, written to influence political
that they should encourage voluntary associations in civic society as a new
stations in life, and all types of dispositions are forever forming
on voluntary associations (understood as functioning in opposition to
errand, we might want to notice that the best historical social science
challenges the claims of conservatives and centrists about when, how, and why
democratic civic engagement has flourished in the United States.
size for commercialization and urbanization had already emerged, but without a
vibrant set of voluntary associations. By the early 1800s, however, the
emergence of associations in both smaller and larger communities was
Brown emphasizes that the Revolution, political struggles over the Constitution
and the Bill of Rights, and deepening popular participation in national, state,
and local elections served to spur associational life. So did religious and
commercial and public affairs through widespread newspaper reading.
participation, marveling at the United States as the "one country in the world
which, day in, day out, makes use of an unlimited freedom of political
association," which, in turn, encouraged a more general "taste for
the 1820s to the 1840s, coincided with the spread of adult male suffrage and
the most associations and the most newspapers." Yet, blinded by his negative
army, as an army with a state. Similarly, the early United States may have been
not so much a country with a post office, as a post office that gave popular
U. S. government had everything to do with the spread of the postal network.
The legislative system gave senators and (above all) members of the House of
Representatives a strong interest in subsidizing communication and
transportation links into even the remotest areas of the growing nation.
Special postal rates made mailing newspapers cheap and allowed small newspapers
postal system was even more important for civil society and democratic politics
than for commerce. Congress could use it to communicate freely with citizens.
Citizens, even in the remotest hamlets, could readily communicate with one
another, monitoring the doings of Congress, and state and local governments.
Voluntary associations soon learned to put out their message in "newspaper"
formats, to take advantage of the mail. Emergent political parties in
institutions and centrally directed activity of a very distinctive national
becomes even more apparent when we consider that most of the big voluntary
1960s or 1970s and in full symbiosis with public social provision.
Republic spread in the wake of state and national benefits for Union veterans
of the Civil War, for example. The Fraternal Order of Eagles was so active in
of local, state, and federal regulations, services, and benefits for mothers
and children. New Deal laws and administrative interventions were vital aids
quite rightly, no longer feel they can effectively band together to get things
done either through, or in relationship to, government. The problem may not be
than virtually any other advanced national state. The issue may be recent
shifts in society and styles of politics that make it less inviting and far
National Right to Life Committee, the Christian Coalition, and the National
founded have been structured like thousands of smaller ones: They are
careers, and crowd into cosmopolitan centers. Indeed, by the 1960s, the United
contacted directly by party or group workers. Politicians may not care much
"swing" groups of voters. This has happened in electoral politics at the same
would be just as worried about these national trends as about possible declines
associations of all sorts. He would also surely be surprised that today's
depoliticized and romantic localism as an improbable remedy for the larger ills
Street playhouse portend good things or bad things for the Great White Way?
thousand booms. No season has ever been plain average. Consider this classic
some dialectical process that dooms it to fall on its face every other year.
Compounding the confusion caused by these historical fluctuations are
investors' money, the paper editorialized, "The Great White Way is ailing." In
just a matter of theatrical exaggeration. Reporters and critics have a
for most of this century, theater's biggest boosters have been convinced that
they were celebrating an antiquated institution long displaced by movies and
buildings: it is obsolete." This anxiety colors these critics' assessment of
optimistically greeted as a potential watershed, an end to the perpetual
crisis. All negative data merely exacerbate the fatalism.
the line adopted in several recent Times pieces is that while
extravagant musicals can score funding and bring in huge crowds of tourists,
art form. But wait. Maybe it's thriving as an art form but dying as a business.
circles, everyone is waiting for the next X. "X" was the byline on the famous
Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order is now hitting the
"according to the editors of that distinguished journal"). Blurbs from
tribal theme shows up in treatises about the importance of the sentiments
aroused by such men. Now that the bipolar order of the Cold War is gone, we're
told, the primal bonds of ethnicity, language, and religion will be a
carries this idea to new heights of theoretical elaboration. Surely tribalism
has never sounded so cerebral. But it's one thing to analyze a phenomenon and
you wonder: How different, really, are the lowbrow and highbrow expressions of
of the Cold War had inspired such upbeat visions as the inexorable triumph of
and the clash of civilizations is tribal conflict on a global scale," he writes
in the book. Relations between nations from different civilizations will be
tribalism? Tribally. The very "survival of the West" depends on Westerners
"uniting to renew and preserve" their civilization "against challenges from
diagnosis (perilously deep fault lines) leads to his prescription (further
deepen the fault lines) is a puzzle to which we'll return. But first, a word
about the diagnosis. Does his notion of "civilizations" as tribes writ large
thwart the West on such issues as arms proliferation. But the grab bag of
national policies that supposedly add up to this grand transnational
wanted to use one variable to predict whether a nation is involved in
one of the four remaining Communist dictatorships than knowing whether it's one
really bothers me. Though ancestral cultures aren't the mystical epoxy that
pretty tense. But why can't this change with, say, a new, more cosmopolitan,
regime in China, or firmer and more consistent diplomatic signals from
should be able to calmly find their zones of common interest with the West and
with these people? Are only Westerners capable of perceiving their rational
"constructive engagement" and "dialogue" across the Pacific, he writes, "To the
supremacist: He is defending the integrity of all cultures, theirs and ours.
Indeed, he sounds almost like a lefty relativist when he says we must accept
Western values as the inexorable fate of humankind. But of course, that's just
fits us. In this light the meaning of his call to "maintain the
equal. You let one alien nation move into your trade bloc, and pretty soon the
down to "the West against the rest." Raise the drawbridges!
Up until this point he has been ignoring or downplaying the interdependence
about environmental problems soluble only by international cooperation. On the
that "natural conflicts of interest" dominate world affairs.
It is in the interests of civilizations not just to "coexist" but to actively
cooperate. We live in a world not just of "transnational corporations" but of
"transnational mafias and drug cartels," problems that nations can solve only
by acting in concert. In the book's final paragraph he repeats that, "in the
separately," but he adds that in "the greater clash," the "global" clash
World Order handshake, we'd like him to resolve some paradoxes in his thinking.
In particular: the tension between his prescriptions of (a) the West turning
inward for its own salvation; and (b) the world's different tribes cooperating
for global salvation. Clearly, the first can complicate the second. If, for
its uses. But the growing academic fad of thinking in primarily, almost
obsessively, tribal terms is another matter. In addition to being analytically
much time talking about people from other "civilizations," as if they lived on
the evolution of altruistic impulses toward close relatives. The textbook
example of kin selection is a newly minted gene that inclines a ground squirrel
to stand up and give an alarm call upon seeing a predator. At first glance,
this gene would seem to have no chance of proliferating via natural selection,
since it attracts the predator's attention and thus endangers the organism in
which it resides. But remember: The gene will also reside, on average, in half
call" gene occasionally causes the death of its possessor, the gene itself may
still flourish by natural selection, as long as more than two siblings are
saved for every one ground squirrel that is lost. (If this Cliff Notes
version of kin selection doesn't seem to make sense, then please go and read
the excerpt from the chapter titled "Families" on the Web site for my book,
Animal, then come back, and keep reading.) In our species, the result of
proportional to the closeness of relatives. Most people would be more inclined
to risk their lives for a sibling than for a cousin, and for a cousin than for
reared in close enough proximity to these relatives to develop the emotional
enters the minds of people eager to believe that whites and blacks are innately
hostile toward one another. They try to extend the logic of kin selection
beyond the scope of the family and carry it all the way up to the level of
whole races. They are assuming, in other words, that there is a universal law
dictating that altruism between individuals be proportional to their degree of
problems with this logic. The first is a fairly technical (though
even try to explain the fallacy here, except to say that a) It consists of
assuming that kin selection would make altruism proportional to overall
have in common with another organism; and b) This assumption has been memorably
to the National Review fallacy (they don't call it that, of course), see
their chapter in the forthcoming textbook Evolutionary Social
accessible. Kin selection isn't some inexorable force of evolution. It's just a
theoretical possibility, one that will only be realized if the circumstances of
evolution are conducive to its realization. In the case of altruism directed
toward close relatives, we know that circumstances were indeed so conducive:
Throughout human evolution, people were reared a) near close relatives; and b)
near people who weren't close relatives. Thus there was lots of opportunity for
the flourishing of genes that led humans to discriminate between the two,
favoring the former at the expense of the latter. But in the case of comparable
discrimination between members of one's own race and members of other races,
there was no significant opportunity for the evolution of such a trait. Because
during human evolution (that is, during that short span of human evolution that
took place after distinct races began forming), there was roughly zero
back then. Saying that white people evolved an innate aversion to blacks, or
blacks an innate aversion to whites, is like saying people evolved an innate
aversion to some poison plant that grows only on Mars; the opportunity simply
that human nature doesn't vastly complicate race relations. People are
obviously inclined to derogate groups whose interests seem to clash with those
of their own group, and to identify those groups by whatever means are
available. Skin color can be an unfortunately handy means of doing the
identifying. What's more, kin selection itself may complicate race relations in
various subtle ways. For example: Nepotism, one legacy of kin selection, is
members of your race. When a white boss promotes his niece, he is
discriminating against some whites (the ones who aren't in his family), but
exaggeration in saying that xenophobia is a part of human nature, at least in
this sense: Uncritical hostility toward an identifiable group of
capacity, activated under certain predictable circumstances. But that is very
different from saying we are designed to automatically dislike people with
The article in which the "National Review fallacy" appeared was a review
impossibility of racial harmony). No doubt some of my animus toward the article
that the "National Review fallacy" is indeed a fallacy. The same opinion
biologists of this century and arguably the chief architect of evolutionary
debts than assets. How should the estate be divided among his creditors? Two
reasoning of the ancient rabbis is best understood in the light of modern
distribute, then everyone gets an equal share; that is, everyone gets
Where do these numbers come from, and how should we behave
certain patterns are evident. Apparently the rabbis reasoned that nobody can
legitimately claim more than the value of the entire estate. Thus when the
this: "Both claim half the garment, while only one claims the other half. So
we'll split the disputed half equally and give the undisputed half to its
to settle a case where one claims all and the other claims a third.
bankrupt estate, provided there are just two creditors. Here's an example:
should we do when there are three or more creditors? According to Professors
can solve this problem by introducing just one more principle, which they call
creditors must divide their collective share according to the principles we've
already enunciated. To see what consistency means in practice, think again
prescription satisfies the consistency principle in this instance. It's not
hard to confirm the same would be true if you started with the first and third
But wait! All we've done is checked that the first two
inconsistent. (That is, with any other division, some pair of creditors would
have its collective share divided incorrectly.) In fact, they have proved more
generally that every bankruptcy problem has exactly one consistent
solution. Once you've found a consistent division, you can be sure that no
rejecting each one as inconsistent until they hit upon the unique consistent
approaches are possible but a bit complicated. Click for an explanation of the
the consistency principle gives a complete explanation for each example, in the
sense that, in each case, only one consistent solution is possible, and we can
imagine that the rabbis kept trying until they found it. The consistency
principle is both universally applicable (because a consistent solution can
always be found) and universally unambiguous (because there is never more than
found them all. So this is the only division that obeys all the
principles we've stated. Although the ancient rabbis failed to consider this
had considered it, they would have endorsed this unique consistent
creditors are put in a room and told to agree among themselves on a division of
the estate; if they can't agree, nobody gets anything. Suppose also that any
others) is required to accept it and leave the room. What would the bargaining
branch of economics called "bargaining theory" that attempts to answer such
questions; unfortunately, the answers turn out to depend rather heavily on
the bankruptcy negotiation, it follows from reasonable assumptions that the
creditors would eventually agree to divide the estate in accordance with the
prescriptions coincide with what the creditors themselves would have agreed to,
given appropriate bargaining rules and sufficient time.
"reticent," and "loath" to discuss it, claims the press corps. Or "even to
loves the Wound for the reductionist power it affords them when they write
about the candidate. Writing in the New Republic on behalf of hacks
shorthand? Explanation: Infirmities prevent him from scribbling much beyond
his signature, so he's trained himself to compress the world into verbal
hieroglyphics. Dole refuses to give up? Explanation: He was left for
the dirt nap today if not for his interminable spirit. Dole is a hatchet
hardscrabble and was crippled in the bloom of his handsome prime! He earned
But most of all, the press corps loves to touch the Wound
because they've convinced themselves that subject was previously taboo. Give a
revealingly, [Dole is] willing more and more to speak of being shot in World
War II, and of his lengthy recovery from wounds that almost killed him and left
decades in Congress has been to reluctant to draw attention to his wounds from
World War II, returned today to a hospital building where he suffered
stoicism being what it is, Dole still seems uncomfortable talking about the
wrapped up his party's nomination, his generation's World War II experience is
at the heart of his third run for the presidency. But he talks about it
[Dole] has given up his reticence to discuss his war wounds.
three years and left him with a useless right arm signaled a change in the very
private man who has been reluctant to discuss the episode.
reluctant to discuss his injuries and his grueling recovery, Dole has been
warming up to the subject in interviews and speeches.
But the notion that Dole is just now exiting the Wound
on is a perennial press fantasy. Dole is always talking about his Wound,
and the press is always asserting that he is doing so reluctantly, for the
and his reflections on the Wound and the aftermath consume a great chunk of
first time in his public life, he has forced himself to speak openly about the
horrible war wound that turned a strapping, athletic youth into an emaciated,
advisers have also sought to turn the toughness that enabled Dole to overcome
his injury into an asset, the counterpoint to the Bush "wimp" image that is the
other side of the deeply personal contest between the two men.
which Dole himself describes the Wounding in graphic detail ("Some
body, I couldn't move my arms, my legs."), the press would finally say with
authority that Dole is not only comfortable with talking about the Wound, he's
chance. In the final hours of the Republican National Convention, reporters
were still writing that Dole was only just coming to grips with his
touchy subject is Dole's grievous war wound. He has always been loath to talk
nicely with their other blind spot: that a "new, sensitive Dole" has emerged to
replace the "mean hatchet man." When Dole misted up at the convention,
fact a sluice of his tears courses its way through his recent career. He sobbed
retired from the Senate earlier this summer; when he visited his hometown of
whenever he hears "You'll Never Walk Alone" (which he played continuously
does the press paint Dole as a New Age '90s guy who is finally making the big
hug with the inner child who was ravaged by the Wound?
Don't blame Dole. He hasn't exploited his war record for
exploiting the Wound nor shunning it, Dole has folded it into his life,
With Disabilities Act through Congress, and going out of his way to align
himself with the physically impaired. When he gave the commencement address
engaging in political grandstanding. He was working his constituency.
this election cycle is the media's Campaign Cognitive Disorder, a seemingly
journalists blot out the past and embrace the mawkish. In the case of Bob Dole,
since the '70s and, despite the tears, is just as mean as ever.
He's probably been chortling for more than three decades. In a Dole profile
gatherings passed without a tactful mention of [Dole's] military service in
sympathy when he retold the tale of his battle injury, leavening the reference
by saying it won him a "bedpan promotion" to captain.
ask him about the war wound," says French. "It would switch the conversation to
free than for one innocent person to suffer. And for two centuries, legal
principle. Apparently, none of those scholars has thought to ask the obvious
and acquitting the guilty. The hard part is deciding how many false acquittals
you're willing to accept to avoid a false conviction. That number matters. It
criminal statute or modify the rules of evidence, we are adjusting the terms of
Here's one approach: Imagine how a guilty man going free or
a free man getting convicted might affect your life. (Or, so we don't get too
deeply sidetracked into your personal idiosyncrasies, how the guilty going free
or the free getting convicted might affect the lives of your neighbors.) On the
one hand, your neighbors risk being falsely accused and convicted. On the other
hand, they risk being victimized by criminals who have been falsely acquitted
(or by others who were emboldened to become criminals because of the frequency
of false acquittals). In principle, the cost of either disaster can be measured
in dollars. In practice, we can approximate those measures by making a
reasonable guess as to how much your typical neighbor would be willing to pay
to avoid a year in jail or to avoid being robbed on the way home from work.
estimating the costs of being either an imprisoned innocent or a crime
victim, we can estimate the probability that your neighbor will actually
face each of these problems. But once we know the cost and the probability
associated with a given risk, we can infer a lot about how undesirable that
risk is. We can do this, for example, by observing the way people behave in
insurance markets. Suppose you want to know just how unpleasant it is to face a
see how much they are willing to pay for fire insurance.
look at labor markets: How much extra must you pay a worker to get him to take
the value of an arm; this is a hypothetical example), then we have another way
can use data from financial markets: How much more interest must you offer an
That's relatively easy to observe, and it gives yet another measure of how much
False acquittals and false convictions are each associated
with certain levels and probabilities of risk. By examining behavior in
insurance markets, labor markets, and financial markets, we can make some
reasonable guesses about how much people dislike each of these prospects, and
also the extent to which people are willing to trade off one kind of risk for
the other. That will give an indication of whether we ought to be expanding or
work to complete that project, and at the end all you'd have is a rough
estimate. Your final number would be suspect in a hundred ways. For example,
the data from insurance and labor markets tell a pretty consistent story about
people's aversion to risk, but the data from financial markets make the degree
of risk aversion appear much higher. There might be no entirely satisfactory
way to resolve such inconsistencies. But until you've done some kind of
of arithmetic allow only two possibilities. Women's clothing must be associated
either with higher costs or with higher profit margins for the dry cleaner.
Unfortunately, neither theory seems terribly plausible.
Let's start with the "higher cost" theory. In its most
naive form, this theory predicts that if I move the buttons on my dress shirts
from the right side to the left, the cost of laundering them will more than
triple. That one's not going to fly. So, to give the theory a fair chance, we
have to look for more significant differences between men's and women's
argue that women's clothing is typically made of more delicate fabrics than
men's. But if that's the relevant factor, why don't dry cleaners just quote
different prices for different fabrics? (For some materials, such as silk, they
typically do quote separate prices. The question is why this practice
does not completely displace that of distinguishing between men's clothes and
alternative version of the theory is that women's clothes are costlier to
process because women demand higher quality work. I can't disprove that
version, but I have no real evidence to support it, either. So, in a search for
better alternatives, I called three different dry cleaners and asked for
their explanations. The first said that men's shirts are machine
pressed, while women's are hand pressed. That left me wondering why they don't
simply quote different prices for different kinds of pressing. The second said
that women's shirts require specialized treatment because they are typically
chronically dissatisfied with their dry cleaners. The third said that this was
their pricing policy, and if I didn't like it, I was free to shop
cleaner is exploiting female customers through higher markups.
sense of that theory, you have to ask why dry cleaners would want to
discriminate specifically against women, as opposed to, say, men. That strategy
likely to walk away in the face of a high markup. But why should men be more
as long as we're dealing in stereotypes, you could argue equally well that
would be more likely to walk away from a high price, and it would make more
candidate for getting soaked at the cleaners. But there's a more fundamental
reason to doubt that either gender can be victimized by price
discrimination, and here it is: There are over half a dozen dry cleaners within
easy walking distance of my house. If they're all earning higher profits on
women's blouses than on men's shirts, why hasn't any of them decided to
entertaining) they are equally expensive for the cleaner to handle. Then if I
Because nobody has adopted that obvious strategy, we should suspect that
despite appearances, the profit margin on women's clothing can't be much higher
business would quickly eliminate any profit differential.
argument rests on the fact that dry cleaners are highly competitive. If
discriminate against women (or men, depending on market conditions). But in the
so many interchangeable dry cleaners that none of them should be able to get
lure away her business. If most customers are as devoted as she is, then each
that case, price discrimination can survive. But I am instinctively skeptical
that many customers are as fanatically loyal as my colleague's wife.
that only a monopolist can price discriminate is standard textbook fare, and
it's borne out by a lot of observations. Movie theaters have a certain amount
of monopoly power (on a given night, a given moviegoer is likely to have a
strong preference for a particular movie at a particular theater), and they
price discriminate by offering discounts to senior citizens (which is
they heavily discriminate against business travelers by charging more for
midweek flights than for weekend flights (when most travel is for leisure).
industries, there is no price discrimination. As I am fond of pointing out to
my students, you've never heard of a wheat farmer who offers senior citizen
discounts. Likewise for gas stations, which are ubiquitous and sell to everyone
least that's what I used to tell my students. But I might have to make a
small change in my lesson plan. The gas station nearest our campus has just
price discrimination in favor of seniors, or does it reflect a genuinely lower
If you push me hard enough, I can probably concoct some
kind of story about lower costs. Maybe seniors tend to drive cars with bigger
the cost of processing credit cards. (A significant part of that cost is the
time spent waiting for the card to be approved, during which the pump is
unavailable.) But if this cost saving is significant, why has only one local
colleagues that none of us should be permitted to present ourselves to the
world as economists until we figure out what this gas station is up to. Nobody
has risen to the challenge. A few have suggested that perhaps the gas station
owner is just a little quirky. Maybe that's right. But it would be far harder
to believe that the entire dry cleaning industry is just a little quirky.
Either there is enough monopoly power to sustain price discrimination, or there
is some reason why women's clothes are incredibly expensive to clean and press.
brought both costs and benefits into this world. The costs include the demands
you made (and continue to make) on the world's resources. The benefits include
your ongoing contributions to the world's stock of ideas, love, friendship, and
benefits, or vice versa? In other words: Should the rest of us consider your
birth (or any child's birth) a blessing or a curse?
settle this by listing all the costs and benefits of sharing the world with
other people. After an evening stuck in summer traffic, you'll remember that
the driver in front of you imposed a cost, but you might forget that the guy
who invented your car's air conditioner conferred a benefit. New Yorkers
remember to complain about the crowds, but sometimes forget that without the
of making a list, let's think about the decision your parents faced when they
were considering whether to conceive a child. Is it more likely that they
birth is that it gave your parents a child to love; they certainly counted that
one. But the other benefits are spread far and wide. If you build a better
mousetrap, millions will be in your debt. If all you do is smile, you'll still
brighten thousands of days. We don't know how to list those benefits, but we do
know that many of them fall on total strangers. That makes it unlikely that
costs of your existence fall into two categories. First, you consume privately
owned resources like food and land. Second, you might consume resources to
that pollutes the air I breathe, or you might become a burglar who steals my
imagine that there are also costs associated with your competing in the
marketplace, bidding some prices up and others down, applying for the job I
wanted, and so forth. But each of those costs has an offsetting benefit. If you
bid up the price of cars, sellers will gain as much as buyers lose. If you
prove a stronger job candidate than I do, my loss is the employer's gain.)
strangers. But if you're at all typical, your consumption of staples like food
and land will far exceed your consumption of other people's air and other
people's property. In other words, for most people, the first category of costs
resources you own and consume? Some you create; those don't cost anybody
anything. Some you trade for; again, those don't cost anybody anything. The
rest you inherit; and those come from your siblings' share. That means your
point that's often missed. When people think about overcrowding or
overpopulation, they typically imagine that if, for example, I had not been
born, everyone else would have a slightly bigger share of the pie. But that's
not right. If I had not been born, both my sisters would have substantially
So when parents are deciding whether to have a third,
fourth, or fifth child, they are generally more conscious of the costs than of
the benefits. Most of the costs are imposed on their other beloved children,
while many of the benefits are dispersed among strangers.
conscious of costs than of benefits, he tends to make decisions that are overly
conservative. That almost surely means that parents have fewer children than is
socially desirable, and that therefore, the population grows too slowly. My
daughter is an only child, which makes me part of the problem.
there is a young lady whose life has been impoverished by my failure to sire
the son who would someday sweep her off her feet. If I cared as much about that
because I selfishly acted as if other people's children are less important than
The owner of a polluting steel mill weighs all its benefits (that is, his
profits) against only a portion of its costs (he counts his expenses, but not
other children) against only a portion of the benefits (they count their own
love for their children, but not others' love for their children). Therefore,
suggest that I should have had more children for the sake of strangers. A
second, completely separate argument says I should have had more children for
the sake of those children themselves. Presumably they'd have been grateful for
nothing close to a consensus on how to assign rights to the unborn, so we can
arguments when I selfishly limited the size of my family. I understand
selfishness. But I can't understand encouraging others to be selfish,
which is the entire purpose of organizations like Zero Population Growth.
Instead, we should look for ways to subsidize reproduction. A world with many
people offers more potential friends who share our interests, more small acts
of kindness between strangers, and a better chance of finding love. That's the
describe: earnest, well meaning, and hopelessly naive. We envisioned an
eventual era of global peace, a time when nationalism had lost its edge and
Nations or even a true World Parliament. This fuzzy idealism earned us the
With the Cold War over and economic globalization accelerating, the ideological
Meanwhile, less enthusiastic tracts, with ominous titles like One World,
World Parliament phase. But the migration of governance from the national to
the supranational level is proceeding apace, in lots of little but ultimately
momentous ways. If this fact were more widely appreciated, globalization might
constraint placed on a nation's domestic policies by worldwide capitalism.
Global bond markets punish national governments that splurge on safety nets.
Global labor markets punish nations with a high minimum wage or costly
environmental standards. "One world" now means a single planetary market that
can sweep away national policies designed in a simpler era to blunt the
the sudden provincialism of liberals. Supranational bodies like the World Trade
now, at least, they indeed are little more than that. Still, even the new
mushy ideal that got us laughed off the stage in the first place? Supranational
Indeed, the dependence it creates can be volatile. Witness Japan's testy
noted in Slate, free trade gives millions of poor people a step up the
ladder. Yes, that may mean working in a sweatshop. But these people manifestly
prefer that to their prior condition. It may come as a shock to some suburban
even leaving lofty universalism aside, international trade organizations can
that some of the regulation is excessive, but much of it isn't. And, anyway, my
point is just that a supranational trade body can in principle be supported
coalition and reflects that fact. But it's not beyond change. For negotiations
strange that so many of those most offended by globalization call themselves
"progressives." Early this century, the progressives were people who realized
that communications and transportation technologies were pushing the scope of
economic activity outward, from individual states to the United States as a
whole. They responded by pushing economic regulation from the state to the
federal level. The analogous leap today is from national to supranational
regulation. Yet many of today's progressives are economic nationalists, viewing
intercourse is about as deeply ingrained in the human brain as any other form
slowed, but it can't, realistically, be stopped. The original progressives
chose to swim with this basic current of history. Many of today's
conditions that foreign factories must meet if their products are to sport a
Thus the old left, intentionally or not, is pushing us from national regulation
significant functions of governance is no longer the issue. (Mainstream
countries that fail to open their telecommunications to foreign investment.)
The issue, rather, is the perennial issue: whether governance will be to the
column is posted, the Senate is poised to vote on the Chemical Weapons
and two of the most rabidly reactionary institutions in politics today: the
Wall Street Journal 's editorial page and a reptilian Cold War vestige
called the Center for Security Policy). Even so, the fact remains that this
all Senate Democrats, around half of all Senate Republicans, Presidents
that, in the modern world, where neither commerce nor terrorism knows national
induced, the fetus' skull is crushed, and its brains are suctioned. So,
performed and claimed incorrectly that most such operations were necessary for
change his position now that the truth has been revealed.
stirring. First, there was the critical moment of moral doubt: The day after
forward when he could no longer watch the debate be "engulfed by spins and
have influenced the national debate, because the segments of the
recantation and confession, moreover, there is nothing new about what he
country. After interviewing doctors who perform the procedure, both papers
protect the woman's health. Most of them were performed on poor women who could
not muster the money to pay for abortions earlier in their pregnancies.
of his patients choose it because it is safer and more convenient than the
before a congressional committee two years ago. These two doctors together
of the groups that provides reliable statistics about abortion tallies up the
total numbers of IDEs. Consequently, there's much improvisation and sleight of
hand involved when anyone throws around numbers. Both sides claim to have
derived their figures from interviews with doctors who perform IDEs, but
different doctors use different definitions of the procedure and, in many
cases, they probably make only rough estimates of their own caseloads. Whether
(but not Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United
States). While it aims to protect abortion rights, its agenda is mostly more
mundane. Right now, its biggest task is negotiating contracts with
newspaper accounts fail to point out that, in spite of his confession,
carrying badly deformed babies who have no other alternative. Perhaps the
guilt about the uncritical reportage of his old one.
disingenuous strategy coming back to bite them. Instead of categorically
defending a woman's right to an abortion, they have chosen to challenge
abortions. But these details are their weakest points. Abortion is necessarily
an ugly business, and it doesn't do them any good to debate the extent of its
ugliness. Once Congress agrees to regulate one sort of abortion because it is
insist that it, too, be regulated, because it, too, is gruesome.
life, then all abortion is murder and the debate over any particular procedure
alternatives is more unpleasant, but whether the government should be making
the Post rollicked readers with its cheeky personality and the next
suffocated them with the sort of overcast official news that made the
Times famous. Meanwhile, the Times sloughed its Old Gray Lady
persona for the daredevilry that was the Post franchise.
Times for the joy of it, not because it was the newspaper of record. I
know this sounds like the beginning of an encomium for the Times at the
In the traded virtue category: The Times takes a lot
of risks. It has turned its back on the five boroughs to become a national
Ideas," while the Post hasn't contributed anything significant to the
general interest publication in the world. The Post 's isn't.
traded virtues: The Times prints in color, the Post doesn't
(yet). The Times sports an aggressive and handsome design. The recent
Post redesign aches like a bad face lift. Times Editorial Page
would count this as a swapped vice and not a swapped virtue). On the news side,
astonishing that you scream spontaneous profanities when you read them. The
downside of holy shit stories is that they can turn out to be wholly bullshit,
workforce was creating "millions of casualties." Actually, job creation was
in the wreckage. The Times reported: "Law enforcement officers said it
was impossible to know, for now, whether the explosion was caused by a bomb or
Still, the discovery would seem to knock from contention the theory that
also got the age of the crusading newspaper editor wrong, misstated the paper's
circulation, and mistakenly described the method by which the sheriff defrauded
the government (the sheriff cashed checks improperly made out to him; he did
Just horrible! But consider the alternative. Who wants to read a porcelain
white newspaper that has flushed all its holy shit? Whose reporters drive
But in adopting Old New York Times values of cautiousness and fairness
and dullness, in striving to become the new Newspaper of Record, the
Post has lost its verve. Sometimes a loss of verve is not a bad thing.
Compare the Times and Post coverage of the China satellite story.
launches. The Post 's sober coverage expands the theme to detail how the
president was as happy to fulfill the satellite dreams of the Republican
pieces struck a chord that still rings, and I predict a similar impact for
breaking news story like Flytrap. But at its worst, it sits on hot news. In
been made by going the other way.) But it should pay closer attention. It
desperately needs something like the Style section, where it can run imprudent
stories that readers are dying to read but have yet to acquire the Heft and
Importance of a New York Times News Story. Then again, if the
Times were to embrace the virtue of a Style section (or is that a
vice?), would its news sections lose their current virtue of attitude?
its readers, day in and day out." Kaiser obviously lusts for the Old
Times as he repeatedly calls for "authoritative journalism" and higher
and creative. "Authoritative, creative journalism that meets the highest
standards must have intellectual content," Kaiser says at speech's end as he
stodgy floats over the Post newsroom like a thought balloon. The easy
competition and straight at the suburban dailies. You're reading the paper they
sense. His paper claims the highest reader penetration in the nation and is
unfairly labeled the debut issue racist and targeted the paper with
demonstrations and a boycott. Its momentum shattered, the extravagantly funded
Post abandoned its grand financial and editorial ambitions and
in zoned suburban coverage, expanded its business page, improved the quality of
its travel section, extended the heft of its sports coverage, experimented with
tear the skin off of our subjects more often, to write better, to go deeper, to
its executive editor job, and this turnover has helped to reinvigorate the
paper: Times executive editors know they must make their mark in haste,
farming him out to write a column right about now. Instead, he's ensconced like
always be simple: I would write articles, and people would pay to read them.
But then I heard about the impending death of intellectual property, a scenario
online, they say, content will be so freely available that getting paid to
produce it will be hard, if not impossible. At first, I dismissed this as
solution. In the future people like me, having cultivated a following by
providing free content on the Web, will charge our devotees for services that
say, or go around giving speeches, or spew out insights at private seminars, or
(this one is actually my idea) have sex with young readers. The key, writes
the Grateful Dead, offers this analogy: The Dead let people tape concerts, and
the tapes then led more people to pay for the concerts.
less insightful than himself (a group which, in his opinion, includes roughly
everyone). He says, for example, that the ability of courts to deal correctly
technology is detaching information from the physical plane, where property law
of all sorts has always found definition." This is wrong on two counts. First,
all information does take physical form. Whether digital or analog, whether in
ink or sound waves or synaptic firings or electrons, information always resides
sure, the significance of information is independent of its particular
physical incarnation. So is its value. You download this article from Slate's
enjoyment out of it regardless of which particular bunch of electrons embodied
B >ut this independence of meaning and value from physical incarnation
that people can acquire your information without acquiring the particular
law of all sorts" has always "found definition" on the "physical plane" signals
a distressing confusion on his part. The one sense in which it's true that
qualify as an original insight, and not only fails to make
mountaintop: "It's fairly paradigm warping to look at information through fresh
but it's hard to say for sure, since the people who really did take that fresh
to articulate his thesis without the wacky metaphysics, he'd probably say
something like this: The cost of copying and distributing information is
now do it right at their desks. So in principle, content can multiply like
fruit flies. Why should anyone buy an article when a copy can be had for
The total cost of acquiring a "free" copy includes more than just the
finding someone who already has a copy, and will give it to you for free or for
premiums you pay to others for incurring such risks (as when you get copies
a cheapskate. The size of this last cost will depend on how norms in this area
the distant future, the total cost of cheating on the system, thus figured,
will almost never be zero. Yes, it will be way, way closer to zero than it used
people cheat doesn't depend on the absolute cost of cheating. It depends on the
cost of cheating compared with the cost of not cheating. And the cost of
getting data legally will plummet roughly as fast as the cost of getting it
aware of this fact. But they seems unaware of its fatal impact on their larger
paid for putting ink on paper, to appreciate how much of the cost of legally
acquiring bits of information goes into the ink and paper and allied
anachronisms, like shipping, warehousing, and displaying the inky paper. I
know them will disappear. People will download books from Web sites and either
computers. But if so, it will then cost you only $1--oh hell, make it $1.25--to
imagine being at my Web site, reading my promotional materials, and deciding
you'd like to read the book. (Thank you.) A single keystroke will give you the
book, drain your bank account of five shiny quarters, and leave you feeling
like an honest, upstanding citizen. Do you think you'll choose, instead, to
call a few friends in hopes of scoring an illegal copy? And don't imagine that
Web and find a hot copy of my book. As in the regular world, the easier it is
cops to do the same. Black marketeers will have to charge enough to make up for
for the cost of legal copies to drop. Many journalists will reach a much larger
audience on the Web than they do now. The "magazine" model of bringing
information to the attention of readers is stunningly inefficient. I hope it's
not egotistical of me to think that when I write an article for, say, the
interest in it. Granted, the Web is not yet a picture of efficiency itself.
Search engines, for example, are in the reptilian phase of their evolution. But
their audiences grow, while the few rich and famous journalists will see their
various data brokers offer a "Daily Me," a batch of articles tailored to your
tastes, cheaply gleaned from all over the Web. When this happens, guys like me
fans of my article will be shown, say, the first couple of paragraphs. If they
want to read more, they deposit a quarter. Will you try to steal a copy
instead? Do you steal Tootsie pops at checkout counters? The broker and the
Of course, this "disaggregation of content" may be ruinous
for magazines like Slate. But consider the upside. Not only will the efficiency
fluidity of content will disrupt channels of potential cheating. If you
cost of a subscription with a few friends and furtively make copies. (You
wretched scum.) But if you subscribe to the "Daily Me," this arrangement makes
occasional article from your "Me." (You wretched scum.) And, in general, this
reach massive proportions to negate the overall gains in efficiency that will
arguments about the future, is speculative. It may even be wrong. But it is
larger and larger fraction of all economic activity. Thus far, in other words,
as the realm of information has gotten more lubricated, it has become
Cyberspace is essentially a quantum leap in lubrication.
intellectual property will soon be worthless is especially puzzling since he is
one of the biggest troubadours of the Third Wave information economy. Sometimes
he seem to think it's possible for a sector of a market economy to get bigger
and bigger even while the connection between work and reward in that sector
breaks down. He writes: "Humanity now seems bent on creating a world economy
primarily based on goods that take no material form. In doing so, we may be
eliminating any predictable connection between creators and a fair reward for
the utility or pleasure others may find in their works." Far out, man.
nature's awful retribution for our tolerance of immoderate and socially
irresponsible sexual behavior. The epidemic is the price of our permissive
attitudes toward monogamy, chastity, and other forms of sexual
read elsewhere about the sin of promiscuity. Let me tell you about the sin of
Suppose you walk into a bar and find four potential sex
partners. Two are highly promiscuous; the others venture out only once a year.
any given night, you'd run into twice as many of them. Those two promiscuous
bar patrons would be outnumbered by four of their more cautious rivals. Your
activity by sexual conservatives can slow down the rate of infection and reduce
multiple partnerships save lives, then monogamy can be deadly. Imagine a
country where almost all women are monogamous, while all men demand two female
partners per year. Under those conditions, a few prostitutes end up servicing
all the men. Before long, the prostitutes are infected; they pass the disease
to the men; and the men bring it home to their monogamous wives. But if each of
those monogamous wives was willing to take on one extramarital partner, the
market for prostitution would die out, and the virus, unable to spread fast
enough to maintain itself, might die out along with it.
have met the charming and healthy Martin. Unfortunately Fate, through its
agents at the Centers for Disease Control, intervened. The morning of the
virtues of abstinence. Chastened, he decided to stay home. In Martin's absence,
more effective against the cautious Martins than against the reckless Maxwells,
freed Maxwell to prey on another equally innocent victim. To this there are two
replies. First, we don't know that Maxwell would have found another partner:
were, we'd outlaw sex entirely. What we really want is to minimize the number
of infections resulting from any given number of sexual encounters; the flip
side of this observation is that it is desirable to maximize the number of
(consensual) sexual encounters leading up to any given number of infections.
Even if Martin had failed to deny Maxwell a conquest that evening, and thus
To an economist, it's clear why people with limited sexual
pasts choose to supply too little sex in the present: Their services are
But that doesn't happen, because such conservatives are hard to identify.
Insufficiently rewarded for relaxing their standards, they relax their
experienced before. We face it whenever a producer fails to safeguard the
usual response to environmental issues, I assume that liberals will want to
attack the problem of excessive sexual restraint through coercive regulation.
subsidize Martin's sexual awakening without simultaneously subsidizing
with Maxwell around to reap the bulk of the rewards. The key is to subsidize
something that is used in conjunction with sex and that Martin values more than
plausibly, that something is condoms. Maxwell knows that he is more likely than
Martin to be infected already, and hence probably values condoms less than
Martin does. Subsidized condoms could be just the ticket for luring Martin out
of his shell without stirring Maxwell to a new frenzy of activity.
As it happens, there is another reason to subsidize
protecting both yourself and your future partners, but you are rewarded (with a
lower chance of infection) only for protecting yourself. Your future partners
don't know about your past condom use and therefore can't reward it with
extravagant courtship. That means you fail to capture the benefits you're
conferring, and as a result, condoms are underused.
subsidized (or free) condoms have an upside and a downside: The upside is that
they reduce the risk from a given encounter, and the downside is that they
encourage more encounters. But it's plausible that in reality, that's not an
use enough condoms, and the sort of people who most value condoms don't have
made visible, so that future partners could reward past prudence and thereby
provide appropriate incentives. Perhaps technology can ultimately make that
solution feasible. (I envision the pornography of the future: "Her skirt slid
grandiose, I hereby declare myself to be involved in a bitter feud with no less
but an actively muddled man who has warped the public's understanding of
nothing. I heard through the grapevine that he was riled. But, savvy alpha male
that he is, he refrained from getting into a gutter brawl with a scrawny,
marginal primate such as myself. Then, last month, my big moment finally
psychology as "pop science," he called my book The 
It is, of course, beneath my dignity to respond to this
actually deigned to read my puny book, you must be getting him mixed up with
someone whose time is less precious). Instead, I will use the occasion of
History essay, in keeping with his long tradition of
taking courageous political stands, argues against genocide. Its final lines
are: "It need not be. We can do otherwise." You may ask, "Where's the news
doesn't name names. Instead, just when you're starting to wonder who exactly is
making this ridiculous claim, he changes the subject to an allegedly analogous
begins by distorting a basic evolutionary psychology argument: that because men
can reproduce more often and more easily than women, natural selection (which
favors traits conducive to genetic proliferation) has made the minds of men and
"should act in such a way as to encourage male investment after impregnation
(protection, feeding, economic wealth, and subsequent child care), whereas men
for maximal genetic spread." The "wander right off" part is wrong. Evolutionary
psychologists classify our species as having "high male parental investment."
Men are naturally inclined to fall in love with women, stay with them through
pregnancy, and fall in love with the endearing little vehicles of genetic
To be sure, men may be tempted to philander on the side,
even to fall in love with a second woman; they are more inclined than women to
both infidelity and polygamy. (Women do have a penchant for cheating or
straying, but under a narrower range of circumstances.) Moreover, men find it
easier to have sex without emotional attachment, so they do sometimes
want to "wander right off" after sex. Still, the fact that evolutionary
psychologists don't view desertion as standard male procedure vaporizes what
thing about evolutionary psychology (if he had, say, read my book), he'd know
that this "drive for nurturing behavior" isn't some news flash to evolutionary
psychologists. It is central to their view of the tensions within male sexual
basic argument is wrong. Such differences in behavioral strategy do make
without (to my knowledge) making such concessions. Now, as it gains support
within both biology and psychology, he seems to be staging a strategic retreat.
But, of course, he can't be seen retreating. He must, in the end, still manage
to depict evolutionary psychologists as simpletons. What to do? Create
men and women are mere "capacities, not requirements or even determining
propensities." Now, first of all, a truly determining propensity
view, while a more discerning interpretation of biology (his) takes the
dishonesty of insinuating that I, or any serious writers on evolutionary
psychology, believe infidelity or genocide or anything else is rendered
is this: Isn't the range of alternatives to inevitability too broad to cram
under the single heading of "capacity"? Do I just have the "capacity" to eat
doughnuts and hamburgers and broccoli? No. Unfortunately, it's more complicated
than that. I almost always feel a very strong attraction to doughnuts. To
hamburgers I feel a fairly strong attraction under most circumstances. For
these attractions can be bridled, but the amount and nature of the necessary
turmoil over doughnuts is not of great moment. But let's get back to things
like infidelity, men's desertion of their families, or even genocide. If we can
learn something about how the underlying emotions wax and wane, about the
circumstances under which bad things are likely to happen, wouldn't that be
nature, he continues, "At the very most, biology might help us to delimit the
environmental circumstances that tend to elicit one behavior rather than the
very most? Delimiting those circumstances is the central aspiration of
succeeded in explaining how upbringing and social experience shape us, it all
can do is find the Holy Grail of behavioral science.
Obviously, evolutionary psychology hasn't yet come close to
finding the Holy Grail. But, it has provoked ideas about the role of
environment that, if confirmed by further study, can inform moral discourse and
inequality of income, all other things being equal, tends to raise the divorce
indictment of evolutionary psychology, it is neither obvious nor, if true,
didn't already know. So far, its main contribution is to illuminate not epic
"dishonesty" in misrepresenting my views, but maybe the dishonesty isn't
status, an enemy. According to evolutionary psychology, it then became hard for
reading it would have been a start). Tactically caricaturing my beliefs became
have trouble being objective about him. My radar readily picks up, even
magnifies, his distortions and confusions, but is less sensitive to my own
online debate with me, during which the truth can emerge from dueling
that people have a biologically based "capacity" to view enemies as "beyond
fellowship and ripe for slaughter." But that makes it sound as if most of us
had a similarly high opinion of themselves in the early 1930s, and no doubt
evolutionary psychology can save the day. My point is just that (here comes my
fears, be used to excuse evildoers as victims of biology. It can actually serve
humanity by making it harder for any of us to casually assume our own goodness.
scrutiny, being unnatural, is very hard. But it also suggests that the effort
is needed. If you sit around waiting for some switch to get flicked, you'll
missteps have been harmless, even amusing. Who among us didn't chuckle when he
could actually play an important role in world history. The Chemical Weapons
Convention, signed by roughly the entire civilized world, awaits Senate
ratification and is bottled up in Helms' committee.
factory "without probable cause, without a search warrant," and "interrogate
employees," "remove documents," and so on. Second, the treaty isn't tough
enough to reliably sniff out chemical weapons. Hard man to please.
Let's leave aside Helms' factual errors (he's about the
search warrants) and look at his basic paradox: that the treaty is too tough,
yet not tough enough. This is not logically impossible. Chemical weapons could,
couldn't find them. But if that's Helms' view, then he is opposed not just to
event, the second half of Helms' paradox is the claim now being emphasized by
we're being told that the treaty is "not verifiable." In a sense, this is true.
The convention will definitely not succeed in sniffing out all chemical weapons
and his allies offer five downsides, all of which vaporize under
the treaty initially exercised the basic Republican reflex of complaining about
to fill out some forms. But if the United States doesn't join the
treaty, these same manufacturers lose sales to nations that do join. That's one
reason the Chemical Manufacturers Association heartily supports the treaty.
regulatory burden. Faced with the big chemical companies' support of the
bear an unwarranted burden. Helms resoundingly declared on the Senate floor
that the National Federation of Independent Business opposes the treaty.
members are not going to be impacted" by the treaty.
uniform. Some treaty opponents argue that if the United States destroys its
chemical weapons, it will have surrendered a vital deterrent to chemical
attacks. But you don't need chemical weapons to deter chemical weapons. As
destroy its chemical arsenal, deeming it a needless headache. No one had even
bothered to complain about this until the treaty linked it to the dreaded New
treaty expressly devoted to eliminating chemical weapons obliges members to
help build them? This claim is based on of a somewhat opaque section of the
signatories and won't be affected." Well, it's true that these nations aren't
fact, they will be shut out of the market for many chemicals, including "dual
use" chemicals that are ingredients of both nerve gas and things like ink. This
Right now about two dozen countries are suspected of
national government must escort inspectors to the perimeter of the suspected
site, it can then argue that the search violates its constitution, or whatever.
(If this national prerogative weren't preserved, Helms and company would be the
first to object.) Such a standoff, when it occurs, will trigger a global media
inexcusably obstinate, it can be judged noncompliant by a vote of convention
anything in the history of global arms control that to call it an important
evolutionary step borders on understatement. And it comes just in time, because
technology for making biological weapons is spreading. What, you may ask, is
the key difference between chemical and biological weapons? Oh, about a million
Manhattan in the same time. Right now there is nothing approaching an
international regime for keeping biological weapons out of the hands of
terrorists. If there is ever to be one, it will have to resemble this treaty at
least broadly: surprise inspections of suspicious sites, the economic and moral
industrialized nations can monitor the average rogue state once they start
the world's nations face common problems soluble only through concerted effort.
This often involves some marginal sacrifice of sovereignty: an agreement by
each nation to constrain its future behavior so long as others do, and
systematic deference to international judgment. You see this logic at work in
(the World Trade Organization, growing in importance), and other areas. The
proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is a paradigmatic problem of
out of pocket for care, and push them into managed care. Dole and House Speaker
"wither on the vine." All these were, as Gore put it on Meet the Press
recently, "extremist measures that would have devastated Medicare."
limp response was that he would honor his mother's word not to cut Medicare. He
"The president himself suggested that the reduction in the growth of Medicare
Medicaid and Medicare are going up at three times the rate of inflation. We
propose to let it go up at two times the rate of inflation." Given that prices
Medicaid cut," he reassured seniors. "So when you hear all this business about
cuts, let me caution you that is not what is going on. We are going to
have increases in Medicare and Medicaid, and a reduction in the rate of
plus an allowance for population growth." That puts Medicare growth at just
told a press briefing that "slowing the rate of growth actually benefits
beneficiaries considerably because it slows the rate of growth of the premiums
Medicare trust fund." The implied political point was that Medicare cuts were
Act, however, also cut Medicare more than was needed to repair the trust fund.
Most of the savings from Medicare were to be plowed back into new federal
health programs. As the Congressional Budget Office put it: "Reductions in
Medicare spending would provide a major part of the funding for the
Administration's proposal." More than a quarter of it, by White House
Security Act, more than a quarter of the savings came out of the hides of
seniors. They were to be charged higher premiums for Medicare Part B, the
it. Today, seniors can stick with Medicare, or opt for Health Maintenance
reforms, and even his more recent Medicare proposals. One section in his Health
Security Act was titled "Encouraging Managed Care Under Medicare Program."
parties used basically the same regulatory machinery to try to make their plans
work in the market without creating a huge "adverse selection"
twice said that Medicare would "wither on the vine" under Republican reforms.
opted for the private plans. But the quote has been misused by Democrats ever
forecast the decline of the Medicare bureaucracy. New retirees under his Health
Security Act would be able to stick with the plan they had when they worked.
The government would pay the premiums instead of the employer. Current retirees
wanted to sweeten the Medicare pot at the same time it was making these cuts by
that its proposed cuts in Medicare were acceptable because they were in the
context of "universal health care reform." But that wasn't the argument it made
Medicare were easy because "we have too many examples now of how it can be done
better at lower costs with the same or better quality, and that's what we're
been employed as a writer at a major media conglomerate for many moons, I had
hysterical. But then I discovered something quite amazing about my
your share got paid out at the values in effect at the end of the preceding
prices, I negotiated a contract with my bosses to continue scribbling on a
thing a fellow notices after attaining vendor status is that it is harder to
deposited instantly and automatically in my bank account. When I became a
and unnecessarily complicated, since my new contract called for me to receive
the same amount every month, on the first of the month. It seemed doubly odd
when months came where the secretary forgot to put the requisition through. Or,
alternatively, where the secretary put the req through but then couldn't
remember whether the blessed event had taken place.
call. But my diary shows endless fretting and nagging on my part as the sixth
not. The situation improved only marginally when the monthly requisitions
ceased and my payment problems were essentially turned over to the corporate
Accounts Payable department. The payments were still generally late, and once,
few days before the first of the month. This was naturally fine with me until I
complained about this prospect, and before long we were back to the default
accounting executives. And yet, there is this nagging question: Would Accounts
Receivable be as relaxed as Accounts Payable plainly is about money regularly
changing hands a week or more later than had been contractually specified?
weeks back from Slate. I had yearned to write for this online journal, and was
seven days after I had taken on the assignment. How fast it all goes online!
postmark. The case law says, plain as day, that this is "constructive receipt"
paperwork and printed forms plainly designed with other kinds of vendors in
mind. These other vendors are not guys sitting alone at home writing articles.
departments. And they are equipped to answer questions about the possibility
up to its arrival was a telephone query from an editor of a financial journal
that had recently published some of my thoughts on the stock market: "Did we
ever send you the paperwork we need so we can pay you?" Naively assuming that
this would be a request for my mailing address and Social Security number, I
volunteered to provide this information right then and there, on the phone. But
was some variant of the "principal business or professional activity code" that
Like thousands of others in my line of work, every year at
this schedule, the instructions for which mention a huge number of
"other business services," which leaves me feeling somewhat marginalized but
extensive cruising around on the Internet, had eight or (in some accounts) nine
digits and provided much more detailed information about one's place in the
economy. But how to find out one's number? Instructions that came with the form
Business Administration. In the end, I brazenly sent the form back without any
I get to pay city income taxes twice. It's incredible, and it works this way.
The 1099s one garners during the year are of course cumulated and reported on
federal Schedule C, then carried over to New York state form IT-201, which
combined marginal rate for the state and city taxes was recently running around
 percent, which is bad enough. But when you have paid it all, the New York
City Department of Taxation and Finance taps you on a figurative shoulder,
reminds you that the city also has an Unincorporated Business Tax, and states
earned income paid to the city on form IT-201, and this time around, the bill
weren't screaming about it. The woman I spoke to coolly asked how much I made
as a writer, judged the amount too high to warrant condolences, and said I
should be glad to pay my share. She was obviously not a vendor.
the country must have sunk at that moment amid premonitions that she would
available research suggests that the average life span of male homosexuals is
Yes, it's a sensational, arresting number, which may soon
pass into general circulation. Already, for example, the National
later formally terminated from membership following complaints about his
to represent their first real breakout into wider public discussion.
community papers, mostly of the giveaway sort that are laden with bar ads and
personals. They counted up obituaries and news stories about deaths, noted the
ages of the deceased, computed the average, and published the resulting numbers
Institute sums up the reactions of several of his fellow demographers: "The
method as you describe it is just ridiculous." But you don't have to be a
trained statistician to spot the fallacy at its heart, which is, to quote
"you're only getting the ages of those who die." Gay men of the same generation
destined to live to old age, even if more numerous, won't turn up in the
critics rattle off further objections. The deaths reported in these papers,
mostly AIDS deaths, will tend to represent the community defined by such papers
or directly known to their editors. It will include relatively more subjects
who live in town and are overtly gay and relatively few who blend into the
of an envelope. A moment's thought might have suggested a few simple test
virus and die of it. The actual average age of AIDS patients at death has been
obits, even if they don't have AIDS, homosexual males tend to die by
concluded not that newsworthy deaths tend to get into newspapers, but that gays
must experience shockingly high rates of violent death. With a perfectly
more likely to die in car crashes than females of similar ages in general.
gay male may actually live longer on average than the straight male: Gays may
this view, terming gays, "as a group, wealthy and well educated.")
which he said coincided with the views of other authorities such as
his assertions but merely falling back on the first via its recycling by
to the extent that there's no excuse for telling falsehoods in the course of
raising otherwise legitimate issues. He should mind his own lesson.
world, is that the Internet is a place where a smart young man can become a
where anyone with a home computer, a modem, and some animus can make your life
miserable, and perhaps do real damage to your business. The bad news for the
properties of the Net have a creepy and oppressive flip side.
with "The Earthling," the name of this column). In less than two years,
nationwide access points beats its price. But if you do your research on the
World Wide Web, you'll probably discover something else, too: a Web page
the antichrist. It slaps lawsuits on church critics who post quotes from
copyrighted church documents, sometimes getting federal marshals to search
homes and seize computer disks. There's no evidence that the church currently
note that this isn't just another case of accusations speeding across the Net,
subtler dynamic at work here, a property not of the Net at large but of the Web
in particular. This dynamic will affect more of us as the Web grows and more
people's reputations are mediated there. On the Web, anyone can construct a
for example, that some business heavyweight is pondering a business deal with
everyone who finds either of those pages through a search engine. This is the
cyberspace equivalent of hanging a sign around someone's neck saying
physical world, the victim can remove the sign. Shadow pages, in contrast, are
As copying and transmitting data get cheaper, the distribution of power grows
shots was diffused, and the Reformation happened. Now the power over
page, but you may also have doubted two years ago that someday you'd need
empowerment may take some of the thrill out of your own empowerment. On the
you can always shadow your shadow identity with a rebuttal, so that people who
see the charges against you also see your reply. When I mentioned this to a
evolutionary psychology is less touching. Natural selection did not, in fact,
design our brains to apprehend Truth. Our moral evaluations of people are often
subordinate, by design, to our social agendas, and as a result, our whole
practice my personal right to choose my own beliefs," he says. Some of the
shadow page's other specific claims also are true. But there's no evidence
pages are the scariest of all. As many have noted, these days, much of your
mail or a phone call. Most financial transactions don't involve cash, and are,
thus, recorded. Your wanderings on the Web leave more footprints than you may
may eventually be neutralized by encryption and other tricks. But until then,
technology will in some ways be pushing us backward in time. The Net, though
celebrated as a libertarian institution, can also be the opposite. It can be a
bit like a claustrophobic small town, where your private life is part of the
quitting his day job (plotting and scheming against the House Republican
tells the press he or she has swapped the horrors of work for the bliss of
village board member cast her last vote because they allegedly wanted more time
individuals are lying about their motives. It's safe to say that in the course
of a year, perhaps two or three people on the planet really do quit so they can
business. Lynch has since learned that the sure cure for wanting to spend more
time with your family is spending more time with your family: He's just thrown
tender the family alibi because they're ashamed of having been fired, or
embarrassed to admit that they've conceded defeat to the god of success
family, the worker neutralizes the stigma and efficiently blocks further
questions. No responsible reporter will allege a firing if she can't prove it,
because that would risk a libel suit. Besides, only a pit bull would continue
to tear into the flesh of a foe that has rolled over on its back to signal
interest in one's family with a profound disgust for the system. Or to say that
personal campaign" he saw looming. Today, Weber labors in the genial, positive,
announced that he would not seek office this year because he wants to spend
secure a wife and two children as soon as possible so we could spend more time
that you're seeking "new opportunities," without naming them. This excuse
usually appears in the form of a corporate press release, because nobody can
keep a straight face when it's spoken out loud. In a more honest world, it
wouldn't be tacky for titans of industry to say they're leaving to pursue a
person who actually does quit to spend more time with the family may discover
that paid work is almost always more rewarding than the "tedious work" of child
factory, with an endless stream of clothes to clean and kids to shuttle and
broken windows to fix and meals to cook. Why not escape the noise and the
this month in opposition to the business plan forced on him by his superiors.
"Put it this way, it's nothing to do with ill health, it's not to pursue other
interests, it's not to spend more time with my family."
however, a larger issue. Independent counsels are not punished for
overspending, so in general they'll have a tendency to overspend. Over the past
seven months or so, a lot of people have made that point, but few have placed
it in its proper context. Overspending due to bad incentives is not a problem
with independent counsel investigations in particular; it's a problem with
To address that problem by tinkering with the independent
he's dealt you the most devastating financial blow you've suffered at the hands
of obsessing over a minor symptom of a major ailment, maybe we should devote
more attention to the underlying disease. If the disease is incurable, we can
at least think about how best to alleviate entire clusters of symptoms.
counsel's office is not terribly useful. Maybe that office should be
this episode. Applying the same insight to more serious instances of spending
run amok, we'll end up making recommendations like "abolish the Pentagon" or
surely unrealistic and possibly unwise. We'll learn more if we ask questions
like this: Assuming that we're going to have an independent counsel, how can we
adjust his incentives to make him more fiscally responsible? By thinking about
that question, we might learn something about how to encourage fiscal
idea: Make the independent counsel finance his investigations out of his own
pocket. At the same time, reward him handsomely for results, such as
convictions or impeachments. That sets up two good incentives. First, when
there's good reason to suspect provable wrongdoing, the prospective reward
nothing more than political or personal harassment, the prospective expense
encourages prosecutors to shut down sooner rather than later.
independent counsels become independent contractors, it will be relatively easy
for legislators to adjust their activity levels. If a prosecutor is too lax,
Congress can either raise the bounty for convictions or subsidize the counsel's
do the opposite. So legislators retain control of the prosecutor's overall
fervor while inducing him to concentrate that fervor where it's most
schemes might improve the performance of any government agency that has clearly
defined goals. For example, the Food and Drug Administration is charged with
keeping dangerous pharmaceuticals off the market. Here the potential problem is
not so much excessive spending as excessive caution, which creates unwarranted
delays in the introduction of safe and effective new drugs. But that's not a
so also is a regulator tempted to overregulate when he's playing with other
people's health. If the problems are fundamentally the same, then so are the
solutions. The regulator, like the prosecutor, should bear the costs of his
pharmaceutical company stock, which ought to introduce an appropriate sense of
urgency to the drug approval process. Unfortunately, it will also discourage
regulators whenever a deadly drug slips through to the marketplace.
that is either more or less stringent than it is today, at the option of the
legislators who determine the size of the stock grants and the size of the
fines. But either way, it would give regulators an incentive to focus their
attention more precisely on those drugs that are most likely to be
people for good outcomes and punishing them for bad ones is relatively easy
when the quality of the outcomes is easy to measure. But it's harder for
officials with broader portfolios of responsibility. Take the president, for
example. How do we know when the president had done a good job? Should we
reward him for keeping us out of war? What if he keeps us out of war through
policies that make the world more dangerous for our children? Should we reward
him for prosperity? What if that prosperity is a temporary illusion? And who
Only one system of government has ever dealt adequately
with the incentive problem for the chief executive, and that's hereditary
monarchy. When you know that your beloved heirs are going to, in essence, own
interest. Unfortunately, hereditary monarchy has offsetting drawbacks, which I
assume I don't need to enumerate for the readers of 
a way to recover some of the advantages of monarchy while retaining the
advantages of our current system of government. We could pay our presidents
our future by weakening defense, the price of land will fall. If he raises
taxes to support "defense" programs that fail to justify their costs, once
again the price of land will fall. So by giving the president a sufficiently
that the nation's interests and his personal interests coincide. Whenever the
president makes a bad decision, his pocketbook will surely feel our pain.
that prohibit him from dealing with known terrorists and other undesirables.)
really serious?" The answer is no and yes. No, I don't believe that anything
yes, I believe that incentives matter and that we should seriously entertain
radical proposals for improving them. Even when we ultimately reject those
proposals, we learn something by articulating their flaws. And every now and
then a "crazy" idea stops seeming crazy once you've thought about it hard
story "Tardy Catalogue Shoppers Risk Losing Out as Supplies Run Short" (Dec.
all sorts of outerwear and slippers and silk undershirts and lace nightdresses
may find they won't be able to get what they want if they don't order this
"The most popular items appear to be outerwear and all things made of fleece.
a 'cardinal' blanket, a hat, a pair of moccasins, a silk undershirt and a
Times as the Newspaper of Record; its competition thinks of it as the
about what's newsworthy are automatically cribbed by those lower in the
News all did variations on the Times story, flogging consumers in
uncovered the "bad news" embedded in the good news. (Economic news is like
that. If somebody is making a killing, then surely somebody is dying.)
tougher to find what you want, especially if you're shopping from catalogs,"
Stocks are short. Many stores already are running tight on sizes and colors,
particularly cashmere and outerwear: coats, hats, gloves."
surplus didn't spawn a "Procrastinating Catalogue Shoppers Get Whatever They
standard than department stores when it comes to keeping things in stock,
because the catalogs afford them a photo and item number for every parka,
turtleneck, and blazer ever placed in inventory. When those same shoppers shop
at a department store, they have no way of knowing that it has sold all of its
unless they ask a clerk or keep notes from previous visits.
"most popular items" shouldn't be much of a surprise. For one thing, you define
your "most popular items" by what you run out of. And for another, retailers
selling sturdy commodities like chamois cloth shirts and field boots that are
easy to keep in stock because the demand for them is stable from year to year.
of capitalism to herd recalcitrant consumers into buying, the company was down
national debt will impoverish your children? Are you incensed about paying
thousands in taxes just to cover the government's interest costs? And do you
long for a political hero who will dare to close the budget gap, even if it
means raising taxes? If so, I have one word for you. I learned it from Ann
entirely voluntary burden. If you don't want it, you can dispose of it this
careful, though: There's a wrong way and a right way to handle this. The wrong
They'll accept your gift all right, but they won't credit your personal
debt. First, calculate how much you owe. Suppose, for example, that you're the
nobody at all. Each year, you'll pay taxes to cover your share of the interest
on the debt, and each year, that money will come right back to you as interest
you're worried about, give them the bond. Let them collect interest
until the day of reckoning when that political hero finally arrives to raise
taxes and retire the debt. Then they can sell the bond and use the
to buy a bond. But on the other hand, if the politicians take your advice and
raise taxes in order to pay off the national debt, you'll have to come up with
more attractive than being taxed for debt reduction, but it's no
less attractive either. If your mantra is, "Go ahead and tax me but
debt burden by asserting that we "owe it to ourselves," meaning that some of us
(the taxpayers) owe it to others of us (the bondholders). That was scant
becomes genuine wisdom when embellished with the observation that anybody who
griping that the national debt is too high, I nod in apparent agreement and
point out that the problem is more general than that. "Not only is the debt out
of control," I say, "but so is my front lawn. The grass is ridiculously high.
When will the politicians finally face reality and force me to mow it?"
usually has one of two desirable effects. Either the griper moves to the far
end of the room, or he asks, "Why not just mow the lawn? Why would you need the
government to force you?" In that case, I reply: "Well, why not just buy a bond
and eliminate your share of the national debt? Why would you need the
government to raise your taxes?" I don't mean to say that everyone should buy
In dismissing bogus concerns about the national debt, I do
not mean to dismiss legitimate concerns about government spending. Your share
of government spending is something you can't opt out of, short of
emigrating or resorting to felonious tax evasion. That makes government
aircraft carrier or a worthless social program. Then one of two things must
debt over taxation, you can count on thoughtless commentators to denounce the
interest payments on that debt as a second, and separate, outrage. That's
yourself to pay off the debt right away, and limiting your damage to the
government is that it spends your money. Those politicians who have devoted
is limited by the consent of the governed. Once upon a time, that consent was
by designing laws and institutions that require each new government burden to
wisdom underlies the "takings clause" in the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution, which says, in effect, that the government can't take your front
lawn and turn it into a park without paying you for it. The takings clause
forces taxpayers to share in the cost of any taking, and so ensures that
frivolous takings will meet broad opposition. Inspired by the same logic, I
propose a constitutional amendment capping everyone's tax bill at (say) five
would force many taxpayers to share the cost of any new government spending,
and so ensure broad opposition to the growth of government.
It's traditional to evaluate tax proposals according to the
twin standards of "equity" and "efficiency." Before I subject my own proposal
to those standards, let's talk a bit about the standards themselves.
when it discourages beneficial economic activities. By discouraging working,
that standard with ease. The only completely efficient tax would be one that
of head tax is interesting not as a realistic policy proposal but as a
benchmark for comparison: Economists like to say that a head tax has the
advantage of being perfectly efficient (it does not discourage any economic
activity), but the disadvantage of being perfectly inequitable (the rich and
the poor pay equal amounts). But those economists are wrong on both counts.
violence against the English language to describe as "inequitable" a tax that
charges everyone an equal amount. In the rhetoric of tax policy, the word
"inequitable" almost never means "inequitable"; rather, it means something like
don't want to dismiss a substantive concern just because people frequently
choose the wrong word to describe it. Instead, let me make a substantive
response: Even if you believe that the tax system should be used to iron out
income differentials, it's still perfectly easy to devise a head tax that is
dependent on variables that are good predictors of income but entirely
outside the taxpayer's control. For example, whites (on average) earn more than
blacks do. A direct tax on income might discourage work. But taxing whiteness
would not discourage anything, while still redistributing income (on average)
On similar grounds, we could tax people for being male or
tall or beautiful; all these traits are positively correlated with income. In
the case of beauty, though, we'd have to be careful to tax only natural beauty.
Otherwise, we'd discourage expenditure on shampoo, cosmetics, and dentistry.
(In fact, if we enjoy having beautiful neighbors, we might want to
subsidize beauty rather than tax it; you can't always pursue two
philosophy. Thus "inequity" (or, more accurately, "insufficient redistributive
inequity of head taxes is no vice, so may their vaunted efficiency be no
virtue. The problem with an efficient tax system is that it provides no
That is much less likely under an inefficient tax system. The income tax, for
example, is gloriously inefficient. The higher the tax rate, the less people
stop working, and tax revenue would be zero. To convince us to earn an income
taxes more efficient without making them too easy to raise. This brings
me back to my proposed constitutional amendment: capping individual taxes and
tying the cap to the average tax bill. Adding a cap to the current system would
improve efficiency (there would be no disincentive to earn income beyond a
certain level), while maintaining the natural safeguards against confiscatory
government that are built into the income tax. In fact, those safeguards would
be strengthened by the fact that any tax increase would have to be quite
equitable, in the true sense of the word. The offsetting disadvantages? None,
majors, and the most proficient strikeout pitcher in history. At the plate,
home run I think I have ever seen hit." Not only that, it seems to be the
first estimated on a wide scale. Sports pages and broadcasters across the
worked independently and have written extensively on the science of baseball,
the human limit for hitting a baseball at sea level, under normal temperatures
called the Mariners to see how they devised such a spectacular number. The team
repeatedly refused to explain how they arrived at the figure or to allow me to
that the figure is "a guesstimate." "We don't really believe in the process,"
warehouse for the numbers that Major League Baseball sends us."
further could the ball have gone? Based on a review of the trajectory charts in
The Physics of Baseball and Keep Your Eye on the Ball: The Science
marveled at the ball's hang time. According to the Major League Baseball
500-footers are impossible. A few have been hit, but all were aided by
the intended method of measuring these home runs. "Distances are measured using
a grid system matched to each ballpark's unique parameters and configuration.
Each home run is estimated based on how far it would have traveled from home
plate on a horizontal line had it not been obstructed by something (seats,
fence, roof, foul pole, other stadium parts, etc.)."
tell the estimator how far the ball was from home plate when it landed in the
seats, bullpen, or other stadium area, and how high it was above field level
when it landed. (In today's stadiums, very few home runs touch the ground
with the distance and height, the estimator would assess the ball's
determine the ultimate distance the ball would have traveled. Click for the
In theory this is not a bad system, but in practice it's
not always fully observed. Some teams work from arcs rather than grids, making
the estimators' jobs more difficult. Some teams measure only to the point of
league PR meetings next month "so everyone will be on the same page for next
awful numbers have already tainted one set of record books. Click for the
review and refine the system and for Major League Baseball to ensure compliance
adjustment, during which many long home runs will seem puny, we'll slowly
Drug Abuse concludes every press release on its Web site with the boast that
aspects of drug abuse and addiction, and publicizes the results of that
government's drug warriors are the customers for most health studies on drug
heroin and cocaine, and that pot's "subtle disruption" of brain chemistry may
regularly smoke large amounts of marijuana may experience changes in their
brain chemistry that are identical to changes seen in the brains of people who
abuse heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine and alcohol, scientists have
marijuana produces changes in the brain that are similar to those seen after
long term use of other major drugs of abuse such as cocaine, heroin, and
"Marijuana may be a far more insidious drug than generally thought," the
Post reported, "and apparently alters the brain chemistry of pot smokers
in ways that may make them particularly vulnerable to 'hard' drugs such as
heroin or cocaine, two independent research groups have found."
marijuana users experience anything approximating physical withdrawal if they
these habituated rats with a drug that "blocks" the effects of all
amygdala is associated with stress and anxiety. Withdrawal from heroin,
paper lean on these findings to suggest that marijuana acts on the brain as
other drugs of abuse do, and that users who stop smoking marijuana might
indulge in heroin, cocaine, or alcohol to stave off the unpleasantness of
was also mentioned in the Times and Post articles, further
recreational drugs, like heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine, increase
like heroin and cocaine than was previously thought.
Before going any further, consider two points. First,
and smoking a drug is a different experience from injecting it. (Imagine the
difference between smoking a cigarette and injecting pure nicotine directly
several pharmacological and social differences that reduce the relevance of rat
research to social policy. And since the pleasure derived from smoking
marijuana is a core issue, consider a third point: Rats don't like pot.
drugging rats and then killing them for the necessary dissection. "At least
they're getting stoned first," I rationalized. Then I realized that being
stoned means very different things to rats and humans. Marijuana makes rats
slothful, and they excrete all over themselves. Before the injection they're
placebo, rats consistently choose the placebo. And when given the choice
millions of humans, as we know, willingly partake of marijuana, and these
differences between rat and human behavior should discourage us from using two
rat studies to assert that a) marijuana is addictive in the same way as harder
drugs are and b) marijuana primes humans for addiction to harder drugs.
Science studies also ignore simple truths about brain chemistry.
Consider that sex causes dramatic increases in dopamine. Laughter, too,
increases dopamine. The syllogism that dopamine equals pleasure and pleasure
leads to addiction just doesn't apply directly to human behavior. How seriously
would anyone take a researcher who suggested that laughter could lead to drugs
with marijuana withdrawal is not unique to drugs. Just as sex increases
Again, the science reported in Science is reputable. It's just taken out
findings like these that don't support the government's drug agenda are rarely
moment the drug preferences and predilections and propensities of rats and turn
and the pliant journalists should inject themselves with a big dose of common
military annals by subduing and then eating the crew of a French survey ship in
roles did differ once the fighting began. The women would fall back to the
one of the enemy fall, it is their business to rush forward, pull the body
quite the role models that proponents of sexual integration would order up from
central casting. But history has provided few candidates for that job. As
rule, the fact that women have not traditionally performed a given role has no
bearing on their competence to perform it now. Centuries of female exclusion
from academia or civil engineering haven't rendered modern women unfit for
those professions. However, male dominance of the killing business seems to
have influenced human evolution, shaping the biological foundation of human
psychology. If so, does that mean male and female psychology are so different
that the sexual integration of the military is misguided? The question breaks
As regular "Earthling" readers may recall, the premise of evolutionary
psychology is simple: Those genetically based mental traits that, during
evolution, consistently helped their possessors get genes into the next
generation became part of human nature. Careful thought experiments have shown
that, in a context of regular violence, mental traits conducive to killing
would do more for your genes than mental traits conducive to getting killed
would. So if during human evolution men often fought in wars and women didn't,
then indeed men might be naturally better warriors than women.
the frequency of war in prehistory is not well recorded. (Hence the term
models of the social environment of human evolution, and thus the purest
according to one chronicler, made it a point "to massacre all strangers who
fall into their power." In some of these societies, more than a fourth of the
often participated in actual "war," they probably fought other males and
and a friend gang up on an enemy, etc.) So, ethnographic evidence alone
suggests that men could well be designed by natural selection to fight, and
more evidence, which we'll get to shortly. However, the policy implications of
any male propensity to fight would depend on other questions. For example:
Aborigine women would sometimes square off and whack each other with yam sticks
people of Japan, women would go to war and actually fight, though only against
combatants, they hardly shy away from the thought of war, or from its gore.
returning warrior, singing songs of praise, while the head of one of his
chief instigators of war are the women." If their men are insulted by other men
and don't retaliate, "the women make fun of them: 'You are afraid, you are not
though women as a group are less combative than men, they are not wholly averse
to combat. And plainly, some women are more eager and capable fighters
fun? If there is a good reason, it has to do with our final question.
to a problem that will prove stubborn if the military tries to sexually
integrate ground combat forces such as the infantry. The problem isn't so much
that men are designed by natural selection to fight as what they're designed to
raid villages, kill men, and abduct women for procreative purposes. Moreover,
tough, mean men enjoy high social status, which attracts women and helps the
just a question of men disinclined to violence getting killed off. Two men
might fight over a woman until one man submits and the winner gets the woman.
Or, men might fight for seemingly nonsexual reasons, but the winner still
enjoys the high social status that wows the ladies. Indeed, it's possible that
Male combat is common among primates. It is the reason
that, in many primate species, males are so much bigger and stronger than
the sexes. The toughest male gorillas get a whole harem of females to
themselves, and the wimpiest get zilch. Eons of combat over such high genetic
stakes have led to males that are about twice the size of females. In our
species, the more modest but still marked difference in size and strength
between men and women is hard evidence that violence, whether lethal or
is the fact that testosterone makes people aggressive.
problem with fielding a sexually integrated army of gorillas wouldn't be that
the females can't fight. Try stealing a female gorilla's baby and see how you
fare. The biggest problem is that if you put three male gorillas together with
one unattached female, esprit de corps will not ensue.
controlling their hatreds and rivalries than gorilla males are. But are humans
so good that it makes sense to sprinkle a few women into a group of infantrymen
and send them all off to war, where everyone's prospects for survival will
depend on their solidarity? Hoping (even subconsciously) that one of your
comrades will die seems a poor frame of mind to carry into battle.
same argument apply to nonmilitary workplaces? Doesn't sexual integration sow
nonmilitary workplaces is not severe enough to restrict the rights of women (or
But the military is special. The cost of dissension is death, not lower
earnings. (And during big wars, when the draft is on, many of the victims are
people who didn't volunteer for the job. That's one big difference between this
issue and the issue of sexually integrating police forces.)
This logic has no direct bearing on the currently topical
issue of sexually integrated basic training. The troops that take basic
together don't go off to war together, so their bonding isn't a matter of life
and death. Still, basic training is meant to model some of the rigors of war,
and it turns out to be a useful model indeed: The complaints of sexual
didn't involve basic training) show how male and female psychology can
complicate life for a sexually integrated army. Obviously, the more conspicuous
sufficiently harsh punishment. But the underlying psychological forces will
still be there, taking their toll. And remember: When soldiers go from training
camps to actual war, things get more primitive, not less.
reflecting on human nature doesn't seem to be a common pastime at the Pentagon.
Sexually integrating ground combat forces is now favored by one assistant
the idea. And already combat forces are somewhat integrated in the Air Force
(squadrons of pilots) and Navy (ship crews). (These things, though, as
integrating the infantry would be.) Given the stakes, shouldn't such decisions
be informed by some knowledge of sexual psychology? Or, instead, we could just
was, "It does not take a village to raise a child. It takes a family to raise a
child." Pretty nervy line, coming from a man who left his first wife and their
generally perceived as constituting a "character" problem, whereas Dole's
confused? In an attempt to settle this question impartially, I will now put on
my lab coat and take up the tools of modern science. We will dissect the
men. They are, after all, Earthlings. They were created by the process of
exist today only because they helped our ancestors transmit their genes.
in particular. According to evolutionary psychologists, this thirst exists
because during evolution, it led to lots of offspring. Those of our male
ancestors who most doggedly climbed to the top of the local status hierarchy
of view, a central purpose of pursuing status is to convert it into sex. Yet,
demonstrated success in making this conversion is now deemed a disadvantage in
puritanical paradox? Well, consider the limited menu of options:
little wealth and thus, only mild inequalities of status and power among men.
In this "ancestral environment," large harems were rare; competition for women,
though intense, was seldom epically intense. But then came agriculture and
other sources of economic surplus. Suddenly some males could be way more
powerful than others. The commensurately massive sexual rewards made men
and become very unhappy campers. This volatile discontent may be the reason
women, coughing or spitting at his dinner table was punishable by death.
sense, monogamy meshes better than polygamy with the egalitarian values of a
to sustain given our species' naturally polygamous bent. And that's especially
married men feel an extravagant sense of sexual entitlement, and many women
can acquire a second spouse so long as you discard the first one. This is
monopolize more than one fertile woman. Thus Dole, having risen from crippled
downside not shared by polygamy: Lots of kids get reared either without fathers
reared by both biological parents are at greatly elevated risk of physical
abuse, even murder. That's one piece of the larger truth at the heart of the
monogamy, then, would seem a very worthwhile institution. But if monogamy is at
odds with human nature, how do you keep it from metamorphosing into serial
males leave their wives for a younger model, you can stigmatize them, damaging
stark status inequality of a modern nation. Note its ingeniousness: To repress
the powerful polygamous impulse in men, you employ their equally powerful
country." Well one duty, back then, was to stay with your family. In explaining
his divorce, Dole says his marriage had become unhappy. But if doing your duty
was easy, they wouldn't call it "duty," would they?
seems well adjusted. Children of her socioeconomic class obviously stand a
presidents, etc. Dole's divorce, in some incalculable but not trivial way,
than his; including divorces that will push women and children into poverty. To
elect a divorced president is to reject a central pillar of the moral order
rate than divorce. Indeed, in some cultures, permissible infidelity is paired
males get a mistress as compensation for sticking with their aging wives. And
infidelity was forgiven more readily than his desertion.
that aren't merely local. The man is role model in chief. So it's not an excuse
get single women pregnant. And unwed motherhood is as big a part of the
those men lived back when it was possible to keep such things a secret. Which
front. Dole is marginally more vulnerable because his moralizing is more
detailed, and thus its irony is more glaring. ("If I could by magic restore to
every child who lacks a father or a mother, that father or that mother, I
rhetoric. This probably represents a failure of vision, but it may partly
represent a certain clarity of vision as well. It's harder to be smug if you're
aware of your own failings. And it's harder to yearn so unreservedly for the
tricks, may dazzle through deceit. Take, for example, the recurring metaphor of
society as an extended family (a particular favorite among those who aspire to
be the head of the household). The accompanying patter goes like this: Families
need something like a bigger welfare system or a more progressive tax code.
rhetorical sleight of hand. While you were still pondering whether society is
really like a family, I slipped in the wholly invented "fact" that families
take from the rich and give to the poor. The truth, at least as it is revealed
by last wills and testaments, is otherwise. Apparently, among the children,
even when some children are much wealthier than others. A bequest is a final
opportunity to redistribute income among those you love the most; if most
parents reject that opportunity, then it's pretty hard to see anything
"familial" in using the tax system to redistribute income among strangers.
But bequests aren't the only economic transactions within
families. Does the family function as a welfare state in other ways? What about
schooling? Let's think about that. Who would you rather send to college: your
smart kid, who can make the most of an education, or your dumb kid, who needs
it up to the dumb kid through bequests (or other cash gifts). That strategy
maximizes total family income, which allows you to do more good for both
schooling, then what about time and attention? At least in large families, the
and attention are valuable in much the same way that schooling is, and that
they are, therefore, equally unsuitable as a medium for redistribution. So, the
general rule is that if people wanted to redistribute among offspring, they'd
children with schooling, time, and attention might be the only way to transfer
income in their direction. This exception, incidentally, could explain why
programs like Head Start are disappointingly ineffective: When little Johnny is
accepted into the Head Start program, his parents compensate Johnny's brothers
and sisters by spending more time with them and less with Johnny. There's a
nice irony here. By and large, the folks who want to argue that most people are
instincts of Johnny's parents, the less he'll gain from the Head Start
rule, the best way to redistribute income is through bequests. But parents
don't use bequests to redistribute income. We are entitled to conclude that
parents don't consider redistributing income to be terribly important. That
important? How do they decide what to leave to whom?
the theory that parents believe there is something intrinsically fair
about giving equal amounts to everyone. But to test that theory, we'd need to
An alternative theory is that a bequest is a mistake.
According to this theory, parents would prefer to spend everything they've got
before they go. The only reason there's anything left over is that death
arrives unexpectedly. But if this alternative were correct, we'd see old people
using all their savings to purchase annuities that pay them a guaranteed income
for life. The limited market for such annuities suggests that people prefer to
another theory is that parents are governed by a "strategic bequest motive,"
using their estates to purchase attention from their grown children. The threat
of disinheritance keeps those children in line; when the threat is effective,
nobody is actually disinherited. If this theory were true, you'd expect parents
(such as pensions). That prediction and found accurate, which is one good
can hypothesize a "strategic gift motive" that operates while the parents are
still alive. Those children who are struggling, and hence more likely to burden
their parents (say, by returning to live with them), get extra help in the hope
theme, one can imagine a "strategic schooling motive," whereby the
become more interesting to converse with.) At bequest time, the strategic gift
motive would evaporate, and the favored child would be favored no longer.
cut can depend on whether most parents are altruistic or strategic. Altruistic
parents would save the money from their tax cuts and leave it to the children,
who must pay off all that government debt someday; that saving would hold
interest rates down. Strategic parents might spend a large portion of their tax
interaction with fiscal policy that has drawn economists' attention to bequest
motives in recent years. But a deeper reason for investigating bequests is that
they reveal something about people's instinctive sense of justice. That
instinctive sense is the best guide we have to economic policy in every
to determine how rational you are. This will work best if you stop and answer
that each of your three fabulously wealthy cousins offers you a choice of two
Now that you've made your choices, you can read on to
discover whether you're a rational creature. "Rational" does not mean
equally rational to avoid risk or to seek it out. The insurance and gambling
industries are based on these proclivities. Even so, rationality does imply
some logical consistency in your choices about risk. It would be embarrassing
it easy by adopting a very broad definition of rationality. As long as you
B, then you should prefer a chance of winning A to an (equally large)
chance of winning B. And here's the test to see whether you've met that
second criterion of rationality: If you're choosing between two lotteries with
identical chances to win, then your preference should be unaffected if I throw
in a consolation prize that you get if you lose in either case. You pass that
To sum up, if you are even minimally rational, your answers
with the most rudimentary theory of rationality, no matter how you answer
an extent that rational risk aversion can't explain.
opportunity, and a challenge. If you're looking to explain all human behavior
on the basis of a few simple axioms, it's a warning. If you don't believe that
casual answers to abstract survey questions constitute an important part of
human behavior, it's a trifle. If the survey responses mean that people are
less rational than they ought to be, it's an opportunity for economists to
element missing from our theory of rationality, it's a challenge to identify
losing the lottery but also feeling regretful about your recklessness. But when
what I chose." Maybe that's why most people go for the sure thing in
distasteful task of executing a prisoner. Which of the following do you prefer?
ammunition? Either way, you'd have a 10-percent chance of being the
executioner, so simple theories of rationality suggest that you should be
indifferent when asked to choose between the two options. Yet most people
prefer B), because in case B) you never know whether you've been
the soldiers who choose method B) are trying to avoid regret over bad luck,
while the survey respondents are, perhaps, trying to avoid regret over bad
decisions. But in either case, ignoring the human impulse toward
marvelous new marketplace is opening its doors. Soon, thanks to the next great
wave of deregulation due to arrive in neighborhoods across the nation, you will
be able to haggle over your electricity rates. What's that you say? You are not
thrilled at the prospect of a new bunch of utility companies calling you at
worried, perhaps, that, when most of your neighbors are buying their kilowatts
from elsewhere, your local utility will no longer gladly send crews to restore
your power in an ice storm? Or that competing electricity producers won't
dirtiest coal they can find? Or that average prices won't really fall after
they've paid for all the new executives and middlemen and advertising
copywriters and telemarketers they will need in order to compete?
If you're suffering such qualms, you're probably the sort
of person who doesn't appreciate the ample benefits telephone and airline
someone who still thinks it wouldn't be such an awful thing to have a single
phone company reaching from coast to coast, because it means you need only one
phone card to call anywhere in the country, who would willingly relinquish
yourself against "surprise charges" by "no name" telephone companies (a fun
service my local carrier recently introduced). You would just as soon avoid all
those arguments about being "slammed" for charges by a phone company you didn't
choose or being "crammed" for special services you didn't order.
needs to make flight reservations at the last moment, who has better things to
do than search the Internet for bargain rates, and hates feeling the person
next to you paid only half as much for a ticket. You long for leg room and
meant the airline would a) hold your seat and b) feel obliged to find you a
words, you're someone like me. What's the matter with us? Surely we know, from
both economic theory and concrete example, that open competition is the best
assurance of consumer satisfaction. Companies shielded from market pressures by
monopoly position or government intervention grow fat, lazy, and indifferent to
their customers. Why are we so dubious about the benefits that freely competing
Well, partly it's because the world keeps offering us more
our hands full doing our jobs and caring for our families and shopping for the
everyday things of life in malls and catalogs and now the Internet. We are not
wrong to suspect that many of the corporate efficiency gains the economists
extol come at the (usually uncounted) expense of our own time and convenience.
When airlines overbook to minimize the chance they might fly with empty seats,
the value of the hours we waste doesn't get counted in their costs. Unless it
to figure out whom to call when our phone is out of order. In other words,
these companies are improving their bottom lines by shifting costs from
more, there are theoretical as well as practical reasons why deregulation may
not always produce net gains. That's because, for much of our day, we live in
about the world of the second best because it's such a messy place. It inhabits
those sectors of the economy where one or more requirements of purely
access for new companies to the market, enough information for consumers to
place. Or entry costs are so high that no one will pay them unless guaranteed a
different telephone lines in your house just so you could connect with all the
different phone companies your friends might select. Sometimes it's because
safety, national security, a clean environment, or social welfare. Sometimes
complex for anyone but a specialist to understand fully.
Of course, no markets are really perfect in this imperfect
world, and you want to be careful not to let suppliers exaggerate the
that economic theory tells us about them: In the world of the second best it
is not guaranteed that a move toward eliminating the market imperfections will
might make them worse off. There are no guarantees.
assuming less regulation is better than more or more competition is better than
less, you have to study the specifics of each case very carefully. And you have
to keep experimenting with alterations and examining the results as external
conditions change over time. And this can be very tiresome for everyone
electricity service. Or whether the recent move to consolidation among the
rising epidemic of child abuse last month. She reported that "child abuse and
was only the beginning of the ugly news. The number of "serious" cases had
quadrupled, and the percentage of cases being investigated by the authorities
think is more likely, is the methodology behind the study and the
peril, is she undermining public interest in the problem by making it appear
statistics from the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, which
have suffered specified harms or to be living under specified conditions.
definitions of "abuse" and "neglect," and generated estimates of incidence.
point to such a dramatic increase in child abuse and neglect. Fatalities
Nevertheless, the proportions I describe below provide a general picture of
the child was not actually harmed by parental abuse or neglect, but was "in
danger of being harmed according to the views of community professionals or
involved "the refusal or delay of psychological care."
attention, but the explosion of numbers may be caused by the growing
reportorial sensitivity of professionals, that is, "definitional creep."
Professionals who become more sensitive to possible abuse, or more adept at
had not risen. In endangerment cases, at least, the study seems to accept this
or emotional capacities, or required professional treatment aimed at preventing
I >n cases labeled as serious physical abuse, the reported injury
cases, the study seems affected by definitional creep. For example, in three
categories (sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect), the number
of cases described as "moderate" declined even as the number of "serious" ones
threatening have now been "upgraded" to the most dire category.
study compared the number of cases identified by professionals with those known
agencies usually avoid these cases because they tend to involve subjective
Definitional creep is clearly at play here, too. Professionals who are
increasingly willing to identify situations as harmful aren't necessarily ready
to equate them with the sort of abuse and neglect they are legally obliged to
of proposing radical action when she released the report, she outlined modest
neglect is real. But however well meant, exaggerating the severity of abuse
endangers children. In the late '80s, for example, the nation was told that
immobilized by estimates that tens of billions of dollars were needed to
decade later, the government has yet to mount a meaningful program for the
obscure genuinely worrisome findings. Some of the increases in sexual abuse,
for specific types of maltreatment exclude endangerment cases. Percentages
a burglar alarm, thoughtful burglars are encouraged to choose a different
had hired an exterminator to drive all the vermin next door. On the other hand,
if your neighbor installs video cameras that monitor the street in front of
both your houses, he might be doing you a favor. So the spillover effects of
alarm systems and the "Club" have a social upside: Their proliferation might
make car theft so unprofitable that potential thieves would decide to seek more
useful employment (though, on the other hand, it's possible that they'll seek
employment as, say, arsonists or killers for hire). But those same devices have
a social downside: They encourage thieves to prey more heavily on those who
haven't bought one. From a social viewpoint, if the total number of thefts does
not change, then the expenditure on alarm systems is pure waste.
to an alarm system, or a cheap piece of foam rubber that looks from a distance
like the heavy metal Club. Here again you're imposing a cost on your neighbors:
If these devices become common, the value of the real thing is diluted.
You could then go out and install your own system for considerably less than
Professional car thieves know that the security system is mandatory on
of trying to fool them and smash my windows to find out.
can be activated after your car is stolen, to lead police to the thief (or,
better yet, to the chop shop that employs the thief). The transmitter is hidden
randomly within the car, so thieves cannot easily find it and deactivate
car from being stolen; it will only increase the chance of its being recovered.
helping your neighbors rather than hurting them. The Club convinces
equipment when theft rates are high, and second because regulators behave
What's happening to all those car thieves? Are they moving to other cities, or
are they becoming house burglars, or are they turning into socially useful
strangers better off, you should be encouraged to do more of it.
insurance company, you might expect that company to supply the appropriate
company should be willing to pay you to install it. But with multiple insurance
research is in many ways more informative, because the authors were able to do
a thorough job of distinguishing between benefits to the purchaser of a
countless times at countless places, and I pride myself on wasting the least
amount of time. This requires that I be fully cooperative. I am also a private
pilot, and so I can affect a pretty good "yes, sir, yes, ma'am" style of snappy
camaraderie. When airport security is tightened, and everyone is being asked,
"May I look into this bag, please?" I reply happily, "You bet, sir! Let me open
from security on an attached label in order to board. I said, "Yes ma'am, no
problem." I thought, "Security must be really tight today."
With no lines at security, I got through in record time. My
measure was determined to be under the threshold. I must be the person with the
lowest metal content in the history of air travel. I do not even carry small
change. (I am practical.) So I asked the security people, "What about the
signature?" A supervisor appeared, quickly signed while avoiding my naively
hit me. It was not that security was especially tight: It was only me
they wanted. And that "May I?" polite foreplay had gone out the window. The
label my friendly hometown airline had affixed to my bags had unexpectedly made
me a marked man, someone selected for some unknown special treatment. The
routine was broken; the power had shifted; the violation had begun. I suddenly
felt as if in the grip of a giant vise, a terrible feeling I had last
where they start to smile, as if a diagnosis of my condition had suddenly
more concerned about the person's condition, not the door. In a like manner, my
makes me overly sensitive to perfectly reasonable intrusions by the state.
explain: The communism I had fled was hardly traumatic or violent. One aspect
of the horrible vise was the constant minor humiliations I had to suffer, such
as interaction with the block warden, the party overlord of a block of houses,
who had to give his assent to all matters tiny or grand, including travel. On
to board the plane and would have missed my meeting. So I did what I had done
a thorough search for diseases and disabilities. I knew what it would entail,
why they do it, and that everybody is treated the same way. I had no problem
took about six minutes. Junior kept up an awkward canned patter, assuring me
that I would be a safer person for this and that he understood my anger. I
mumbled a lie about how I was not angry with him personally. First I attempted
to hang onto my dignity by being passive. However, as time stretched out, I
collected my clothes from the bin, my tie from the floor. I was free to go to
envelope. Of course, it had been there from the beginning, slipped in by the
ticket agent. But who reads those inserts next to the "Limitations on Baggage
are selected both randomly and through an objective systematic approach based
carriers from sharing specific information regarding this program with the
be against an "objective systematic approach" (except for the inventor of the
automatic buzzword generator that gives us terms like "synchronized synergistic
systems")? What does "based on" mean? Is the airline just following orders, or
is it adding its own fantasies? And as to what one can do to avoid this
treatment in the future (good question!), the pamphlet is clear: nothing.
bag to check in, and when I asked my associate to do the same. But I was
determined not to be humiliated again. And of course, we flew Another Airline.
completely random," said the agent quite sincerely, adding for reassurance,
"Why, half an hour ago [the computer] tagged a guy who could barely walk."
associate was impressed by my prescience, and we both felt free and in control
as we walked off with our hands in our pockets, carrying only a few dollars,
the boarding card, and a driver's license. We had a great day. I felt much
better: I was not completely paranoid. I fit the profile. But a profile of
next morning there was a phone message from him. "I am calling you from the
luggage. I was livid and made a big scene. They relented and bypassed the
noticed an irony. The jumbo egos that now surrounded me were less conspicuous
milieu, it was considered bad form to note that you'd made a good grade, or to
environment, I soon began to affect a fairly convincing air of humility.
principle here is that the higher the socioeconomic class, the less conspicuous
certainly doesn't mean "less effective." On the contrary. What my college
effective. Having an obviously high opinion of yourself threatens and alarms
both peers and superiors, often to your ultimate detriment. All of which, I
many coaches took white players and tried to get them to play black, he took
black players and tried to get them to play white. He was alluding to a rarely
spoken but widely known truth: There are two cultural styles of basketball,
which we can conveniently label with the familiar code words "inner city" and
egotistical. There is less passing to set up the open shot, more driving to the
more trash talking. Vividly humiliating the man guarding you is highly
better basketball. But one cannot argue about which ethos is more conducive to
that perceives roughly all human behavior as a sign of disrespect. (Recall his
Aside from athletic talent, nothing is more helpful in
getting you a big shoe contract than being an asshole. There are exceptions,
good. And humility is not his specialty. When he won the Rookie of the Year
Award this month, he said: "I thought the award should go to the person who had
of the playoffs by perhaps the most suburban (and ethnically whitest) team in
ancestors weren't slaves. I didn't spend my teens being viewed by merchants and
small way helping to keep young blacks trapped in poverty, defending it is not
the liberal thing to do. Certainly celebrating it isn't. (And, beyond a
Phil Knight likes to pose as capitalism with a human face, a man devoted to
sport's biggest asshole.) Well, let's see Knight truly put his money where his
mouth is. Pick a great basketball role model, put him on a pedestal, and let
make their stars look cool, thus boosting the prominence of athletes who, in
of stigma among socially conscious shoe buyers. Let's have a real boycott!
We're boycotting not just hoops shoes, but running shoes, hiking boots,
of shame. Of course, it will be hard, with those two companies dominating the
write this column. Does that affect my objectivity? I don't think so, but I
work it out. Now, if you were to undertake to disprove that proposition, would
operating system monopoly into the browser market as the Department of Justice
browsers with operating systems only to take advantage of technical
probably no better informed than yours. Instead, I want to ask a related
question, one that is central to this whole affair but has been almost entirely
of that scenario is that browsers would get better; the downside is that
innovation uses a lot of resources that might be better employed elsewhere.
It's not clear whether the benefits of that competition would outweigh the
those would be better for consumers? Your gut response to that question
is likely to depend pretty heavily on whose software has caused you the most
recent frustration. For the record, my own level of frustration with
individual peeves and recasting the question at a more abstract level. Assume,
for the sake of argument, that there will be only one browser and that its
it. Then should you, the consumer, care who supplies it?
Under those assumptions, there's an unambiguous answer: You
the marketplace. At a higher price, too many customers would walk away. (If you
doubt a small price increase would significantly affect the sales of Windows
Second, with each of those lost sales, it loses a potential user of Internet
people who don't buy Windows won't need a browser.)
that Internet Explorer can be downloaded free. The answer, of course, is that
in the long run, it won't be free. Even when it comes packaged "free"
the browser market. The second punishment would be doubled--2,000 lost Windows
the downward pressure on the price of its operating systems.
the same kind of pressure works to lower browser prices too. Just as a doubly
fear of losing Internet Explorer users, it would be equally reluctant to raise
not be willing to invest in a computer at all if the price of browsers is too
high). Of course prices will still rise and fall in response to other
argument that would stand or fall on its own merits, and I claim to have
fulfilled that promise. You can judge the argument for itself, and it doesn't
matter who else has endorsed it. But I do want to mention for the record that
it has a lot of endorsements. In economics textbooks, it is commonplace to
observe that vertical integration of monopolies tends to reduce consumer
attention. (In my own textbook, the discussion of this issue is peppered with
even imagine what it would be like to have that kind of pure income. But it
United States could achieve the growth rates that have been reported by South
impedes economic development to preserve some specimen of natural beauty, it is
asking people who live like you and me (the relatively poor) to sacrifice for
the enjoyment of future generations that will live like Bill Gates.
giving to the rich is the opposite of income redistribution as it is usually
practiced. If we were consistent, we'd insist that those wealthy future
generations owed us something, not the other way around. If some moral
accepting, for the sake of argument, the Sierra Club's presumption that it can
accurately foresee what our descendants will value. But it's worth mentioning a
separate reason to be skeptical of the conservationist agenda: For all we know,
those descendants might prefer inheriting the proceeds of economic development
their pathological concern for future generations. The same impulse has
launched an epidemic of hysteria over federal deficits. The national debt is to
the '90s what the nuclear freeze was to the '80s: It's the one issue you don't
really have to understand before you can start feeling morally superior to your
neighbors. From that point of view, it's even better than the nuclear
ground, but you actually get to stand on that ground and prescribe suffering
Coalition types, who are always whining that the national debt forces them to
lifestyle is too extravagant, spend less and bequeath the savings to your
might legitimately worry that someone else is living well at your
a car made of steel that could otherwise have been a girder in a factory that
might have employed your grandchildren. Economists disagree about how plausible
that story is, but we all agree that if you're out to protect your
grandchildren from the national debt, it's basically the only story you have to
that your neighbor has that right, but you'd prefer to prevent him from
moral niceties that you wouldn't be reading a column like this one in the first
to live well at the expense of your fabulously wealthy grandchildren, you must
also believe that your neighbor has no right to live well at the expense of
Bill Gates. In other words, if you're unhappy about the national debt, you
should be doubly unhappy about the progressive income tax.
income redistribution requires us to transfer income from the few high
earners of today, while the popular philosophies of conservation and "fiscal
responsibility" require us to transfer income to the many high earners
anyone to lie about it. Any intimation that our relationship was improper will
be a source of deep distress to me, to my husband of many years, and to other
have met with the president at the White House on occasion, I did so only to
consequences. Any elation or dishevelment observed in me upon leaving those
meetings was strictly professional. I just have that kind of hair. All the
White House faxes, memos, and other messages I have in my possession deal with
States in any of them. All items of underwear in my possession were purchased
either by me or by my widowed mother. While items of my clothing are currently
at the cleaners, I can provide explanations for all the spots.
difficulties were in no way related to any unwillingness on my part to discuss
rates in those other cities. This led Wright to ask a question that ultimately
with economics and much to do with the behavior of state regulatory agencies.
he had few assets and no insurance, so Smith had to collect from his own
insurer. That unpleasant experience gave Smith and Wright the insight that led
cause high premiums, and high premiums cause uninsured drivers. In somewhat
more detail, a plethora of uninsured drivers increases the chance that, like
Smith, you'll have to collect from your own insurer even when you're not at
fault. To compensate for that risk, insurers charge higher premiums. But when
premiums are high, more people opt against buying insurance, thereby creating
the plethora of uninsured drivers and completing the vicious circle. Once a
expects a lot of uninsured drivers, insurers charge high premiums and then many
drivers choose to be uninsured. Conversely, if everyone expects most drivers to
be insured, insurers charge low premiums and then most drivers choose to be
category (for whatever random reasons) remains there indefinitely.
exorbitant price for a brief outbreak of pessimism among their grandparents.
neighbors will become insured, that belief alone could cause insurance rates to
fall and the neighbors to become insured. And then forever after,
potential to maintain low insurance premiums in the long run.
cases where that potential exists, it would be nice to see it realized. One way
the states have already done, is not the same as enforcing a
laws are enforced, minimum liability limits are typically very low, and
yields a dramatic drop in premiums, then both the previously insured and the
newly insured can benefit. (In practice, there will probably be a small segment
insurance subsidies would allow even the poorest of the poor to share the
intellectually jarring. We are accustomed to defending free markets as the
guarantors of both liberty and prosperity, but here's a case where liberty and
prosperity are at odds: By forcing people to act against their own
prosperous in the long run. (Though some diehard libertarians will object that
the prosperity is an illusion, because governments that have been empowered to
make us more prosperous will inevitably abuse that power to our detriment.)
small amount of freedom for cheaper auto insurance? I am inclined to believe
that the answer is yes, but the question makes me squirm a bit.
the amount you spend in a given place minus the amount you earn there. (A trade
surplus is just the opposite: The amount you earn in a given place minus the
of the truth. When people take advantage of new opportunities to buy things
journalists describe every increase in the overall trade deficit as a
"worsening." According to that tradition, I had a very bad day yesterday. But
have been inconvenient to put off buying it until a day when I felt like
are spending more than they are earning. Maybe that's because your neighbors
are behaving foolishly; maybe it's just because they have the good sense to
surpluses are a greater danger than foolishly excessive trade
you run a trade deficit every year, bankruptcy will eventually force you to
stop. But excessive trade surpluses can go on forever. A perpetual trade
surplus is likely to mean you're either working too hard or consuming too
little; either way, you're not getting enough enjoyment out of life.
should keep in mind when you read about the nation's overall trade deficit: The
nation is nothing but the sum of individual households. But there are limits to
how much you ought to care about what goes on in other people's households.
too little, or spends too little, or earns too much, it's not entirely clear
why it's any of your business. As long you have your own household in order,
fretting about your neighbor's spending habits is a lot like fretting about the
not by viruses, bacteria, fungi, or some other mundane agent but by something
"prions," short for "proteinaceous infectious particles."
But do prions cause these diseases? In the past year,
journals, have published three major papers suggesting that the causative
prion research is simply wrong. The latest of these papers was published last
moving on, a quick course in molecular biology: All living creatures, from
prion hypothesis was at best a long shot, he won a $4-million congressional
award "to determine the structure of prions and how they cause disease." In
infectious agents of these diseases were proteins free of nucleic acids. In
particular, he had created mice with a genetic mutation that caused what was a
produce disease. He then took brain matter from these mice and injected it into
new mice, which promptly got sick, showing that no viral particles were
necessary to transmit the disease. But there was still no paper proving the
Two years later, when he presented the same mice work at
another conference, the news pages of Science and Nature wrote it
replicated by anyone and he had still not published these supposedly seminal
be explained by contamination, which is to say, by sloppy laboratory
of the other "prion diseases" is caused by a virus, then surely that virus
would have been discovered by now. The fact is, it's damned hard to find a
virus in a mishmash of animal brains, which is where you have to look. One
that no one is doing the laborious and expensive work to find it. It can take
But at least those researchers got funded to look, which has not been the case
that if the virus turns out not to exist, then their study will have been "of
insufficient significance and scientific merit" and thus not worth doing.
the prion hypothesis is still rife with loopholes. For instance, the diseases
that allegedly are caused by prions come in a few dozen different strains, the
same way that dogs come in different breeds. It's easy to imagine variations in
viruses or bacteria, because they contain nucleic acids, which encode for
has no nucleic acid could encode for the variations. His own grant proposals,
describes the problem of prion strains as a "fascinating conundrum," while
another explains that the goal of the research project is to find out "whether
instance, that a protein sans nucleic acid can be infectious, and consequently,
he has invoked the potential involvement of yet another agent in the disease
process (although he insists it has no nucleic acid and calls it "Protein X").
which is doublespeak for saying that the prion ain't the infectious agent, a
prize in recognition of the wealth of information he has unearthed on
demonstration that the preferred interpretation of the data was the only
interpretation. In other words, remarkable results demand remarkable evidence.
wall space, plus of the attic, the garage, the basement, and every closet in
life, there's an excellent chance I won't live long enough to finish them all.
attempting to deny my own mortality. It's also because buying books is so much
countryside to attend the equally glorious Green Valley Book Fair. But two
recent innovations have ushered in a true golden age of obsessive book
lounge in comfortable chairs, sip coffee, and listen to music while you
is so easy that I often come away from a virtual visit with the exhilarating
are quite a bit costlier to provide than the amenities you get from Amazon. One
Amazon avoids most of those costs, and it passes some of the savings on to the
good. The market offers a range of options. Those options that provide
consumers with sufficient value will thrive; in the long run, those that fail
to justify their costs will face extinction. If enough consumers are willing to
not. Either way, economists will applaud the triumph of consumer sovereignty.
Likewise, if enough consumers are willing to sacrifice physical browsing for
Amazon discounts and convenience, Amazon will prosper; if not, not. Once again,
economists will stand ready to endorse the judgment of the marketplace.
one that economists would not endorse. Some consumers browse in the
books from Amazon at discount prices. In sufficient numbers, such consumers
thing to watch a business fail because of its own inefficiency; that's just the
market doing its job. But its quite another thing to watch a business fail
because it's efficiently providing a service for which consumers have managed
economic equivalent (though not, I think, the moral equivalent) of theft. Among
How can this disagreeable outcome be avoided? One solution
business to one of its own subsidiaries. And to a certain extent that's
happening: It, and other large "superstores" such as Borders, has begun
and holds a substantial market share, at least a part of the problem
raise its prices. (Amazon relies on publishers for timely book shipments, so
the instruments of pressure are readily at hand.) But publishers might or might
not want to play that role. On the one hand, they have a considerable stake in
the success of large and luxurious bookstores; on the other hand, they also
have a considerable stake in the success of services like Amazon. My friends in
the publishing industry tell me that, on balance, they wish Amazon well.
refused to supply bicycles to discounters. In recent decades, the manufacturers
of mattresses, patent medicines, electronics equipment, herbicides, and light
bulbs have insisted that their products be sold only at the full retail
explanation is that manufacturers always like high prices. But that's
controls that directly. A more plausible story is that bicycle shoppers like to
visit fancy showrooms with knowledgeable sales staffs but then buy from
discounters. Eventually, retailers recognize that there is no reward to
offering quality service, and the fancy showrooms disappear. Customers are made
By forbidding its dealers to compete with each other via
to the ultimate benefit of consumers. That was exactly the reasoning endorsed
Sharp decision, the court showed an admirable understanding and respect
editorially called for legislation to overturn the ruling. The Times
asked for compromise legislation that would give manufacturers the right to
"set high standards for service and refuse to supply retailers who don't meet
them," while denying manufacturers the right to set prices.
dealers, there is no difference between setting a standard of service and
setting a retail price: For a given service standard, competition will lower
the price until it's commensurate with the service standard, and for a given
price, competition will raise the service standard until it's commensurate with
choose how much to sleep while forbidding them from choosing how much to stay
awake; the reality is that you can't choose one without choosing the other.
recognized, discounters can be clearly detrimental to both manufacturers and
consumers in the market for electronics or bicycles. But when it comes to
convenience of shopping from home. That's why bicycle and electronics firms
have been so keen to stop the discounters while publishers have laid out a
book, A Moment on the Earth: The Coming Age of Environmental Optimism,
precisely when people were inclined to think my central idea was crazy. The
this demonstrates that federal health and safety regulations really work. But
century and public opinion was retreating to the view that nature is doomed.
This year, though, Newt crashed and burned, while liberalism has grown eager
for arguments that government provides genuine benefits. Suddenly, my
environment is recovering. She rejected my contention that ecological
and slammed me for using the word "success" to describe environmental
debated me on Charlie Rose last year, scowling as she told viewers
environmental optimism was an appalling notion? This must be the next frontier
in stealing ideas, I thought: Discredit someone, then write the same thing
yourself as if you'd thought of it. Then I cheered up a bit. A Moment on the
Earth predicts, "Soon we're all going to be environmental optimists." Could
Sure didn't seem that way a year ago. On publication my
splatter tactics: Throw enough mud, some will stick. Stick it did, and the buzz
information on "who is behind" and "who is providing the money" for my work.
Endangered Species Act. The event was staged atop a Manhattan skyscraper where
peregrine falcons, birds that have rebounded from the brink of extinction owing
to federal protection, now nest. Babbitt hailed this as "a symbol of hope" for
begins by describing wild falcons nesting on a Manhattan skyscraper as a symbol
of hope for the environment. Protocol says Babbitt should have invited me,
because authors can lend photo ops extra credence. But the grapevine said
persuade Democrats that environmental optimism could be a potent political
idea. Perhaps anyone who tries to be his own spin doctor has a fool for a
patient, but Viking's publicists had shifted their attention to another book,
the slightly more remunerative The Road Ahead by Bill Gates. (One day of
your sales, Bill. It's all I ask.) I huddled with the Democratic Leadership
environmental optimists before Republicans stole the march. Several Democratic
had hit the Al Gore glass ceiling. The vice president has staked out doomsday
the Hill. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner asked
works for the administration under her maiden name, rolled her eyes, saying,
"Gore's office is never going to let you get away with the credit." Sure
Meanwhile, it turned out my fear that Republicans would
expropriate environmental optimism was unfounded. The last thing Republicans
the Earth in his office. (True? Who knows? But I take comfort in believing
environmental optimism would appeal to many political camps. Liberals would be
happy that regulatory intervention was protecting an essential aspect of life;
conservatives would be happy for proof that nature and industry are not
incompatible. Instead, left and right united in a screwball shared interest in
rejecting any positive environmental tidings. The left was using alarmism about
nature to raise money, while the right was raising money with alarmism about
regulations. Now with Newt in hiding, that dynamic has changed. Progressives at
last are noticing that the best argument for government activism is that it
camcorder. Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow, and so on. But now that the
radiance of the yuletide season is fading, it's time to confront a sobering
scientific truth: The more you think about the biology of parental love, the
familiar with my obsessions may fear that this column is just another attempt
to spoil everyone's fun, to replace the beautiful mystery of life with ugly
affinity. You see the confusion when biological parents invoke "blood ties" to
reclaim a child from adoptive parents. You see it when opponents of
universal brotherhood but believe in their hearts that it's ridiculous, that
truly loving people to whom you aren't related violates some law of nature.
maternal love, and paternal love. It's all due to the operation of "kin
selection" during evolution. A greatly oversimplified textbook example: Two
million years ago, two hominids, Loveless Bob and Loving Bob, stand on two
different riverbanks, in identical situations. Each is watching his full
sibling Bill drown. Loving Bob has a gene inclining him to love his brother and
Loveless Bob has no such gene, and thus stands on the bank wondering whether
his brother's corpse will attract any large, edible fish. Which Bob's genes
has the same gene and, thus, that a successful rescue mission will pluck an
otherwise doomed copy of the gene from the dustbin of history. Do the math, and
you'll see that, over time, Loving Bobs send more genes to posterity than
Loveless Bobs. As love genes spread at the expense of indifference genes,
Loveless Bobs slowly become extinct. Die, selfish scum! Genes for sibling love
maternal love and paternal love. All brought to you by kin selection.
status of conventional wisdom. So are some attendant misconceptions.
ascertain with perfect accuracy which organisms are close relatives of its own
host organism and thus may carry copies of itself. In truth, genes aren't
kin, they'll have to determine who qualifies as kin in some pedestrian and
infant named Bill and sleeping by its side every night, there's a very good
chance that Bill was Bob's sibling. So a gene disposing Bob to love children
whom he sees his mother nurturing could spread through the population until
everyone obeys the same rule. But this rule would misfire now and then, when a
misfiring wouldn't happen often enough to greatly dilute the genetic math
are fallible. Even mothers, who you'd think would have a damn good idea of who
their offspring are, can in principle be fooled. When hospital staffers for
irrelevance of genes is why surrogate motherhood is so messy. Even when, thanks
carries, she will, upon giving birth, fall in love with the child. During
evolution, after all, having a baby come out of your womb was reasonably strong
evidence of kinship. The power of the hormones that govern this bonding is
briefly considered snatching the baby and replacing it with an 8-by-10 glossy
of myself.) This hormonal power was also observed by researchers studying
oxytocin, a hormone that's present in human and other mammalian mothers at
birth. The researchers put it in a syringe and used it to shatter all previous
records for cuddling among laboratory rats. By the way, the synthetic version
homo sapiens were "designed" to get their genes into the next generation, but
not that they were designed to do so consciously and rationally. As surrogate
mothers have proved, knowing that you've given no genes to an infant needn't
stop the bonding process. Thus, "kin- recognition mechanism" is a doubly
identify kin, but just identifies factors correlated with kinship; and second
because people aren't really aware of doing the identifying. We don't
think, "There's strong evidence that she's my daughter, so I adore her." More
good news for adoptive parents that neither genetic relationship nor conscious
awareness of genetic relationship is a prerequisite for love. Still, it is bad
news that maternal bonding begins with hormones at birth. It is also bad news
bonding hormone oxytocin. Then again, there is no reason in principle that
sessions. (Oxytocin seems to be part of the bonding formula in men, too.)
Besides, some genetic mothers aren't conscious at birth, and many don't
successful adoptive parents know, lots of the magic moments that add up to
Anyway, the main point is that when genetic parents give up
a child for adoption and have second thoughts weeks, months, or even years
later, their appeals to blood ties should count for zilch. Their love of their
child, and their child's love of them, depends not on genetic math but on a
long and complex chain of bonding, much of which they have already voluntarily
mystical genetic affinity with their "own" kind is silly. Obviously,
taunts, and it may give the adopted child an identity crisis. But it won't do
this because of some ancestral memory in the genes. As attitudes change,
influence personality so powerfully that mixing unrelated siblings is like
the true absurdity of familial love. As we've seen, the genes that sponsor it
genetic level (the inexorable triumph of Loving Bob's genes). As we've also
Still, you might argue, in defense of your genes, they usually direct
familial love toward genuine kin, and thus usually succeed in being efficiently
selfish. Wrong! When genes confine altruism to kin, and deny it to needy
our entire species! Loveless Bob is extinct, remember?
be forgiven for doubting my logic. People like me, in writing about kin
selection, often talk about full siblings sharing "half their genes," implying
really mean is that full siblings share half of any genes that are newly
starting to pass judgment. Genes that natural selection fully endorsed long
So genes that originally flourished by bestowing love with discerning
who do contain copies! You may doubt that natural selection, a process
that supposedly maximizes genetic selfishness, could fail so abjectly to do so.
So this past holiday season, as you rushed to buy presents
for your kids or your siblings or your nieces or nephews, impelled by
These "selfish" genes could do just as much for themselves by encouraging you
to instead spend your money on the beggar outside the department store. In
fact, they could do more, since the beggar is closer to perishing than your
relatives are. (Also, the beggar might buy something useful such as food, as
virtually all ethical philosophers who have pondered the matter agree, it
doesn't make sense to model our moral values on the logic of nature anyway; to
leads to moral confusion. For example, you might, after observing the natural
behavior of praying mantises, be tempted to conclude that it is morally good
and wrongheaded doctrine! (Though slightly less repugnant than the idea of
recognize the naturalistic fallacy in some contexts. They sense that there's
something visceral about, say, malice; yet they'll tell you (when not in its
thrall) that they disapprove of it. It's obvious, they believe, that the
natural strength of hatred is not a good thing. They're right. What is equally
right, but a bit less obvious, is that the "natural" limits of love aren't
necessarily good either. And, on close inspection, these limits turn out not to
the universe abruptly exploded into existence out of apparent nothingness some
creator. A couple of months ago the same claim was enthusiastically aired at a
that only God could have caused the big bang is scarcely new. In fact, the big
bang is probably the only idea in the history of science that was ever resisted
could not be static; it must be either expanding or contracting. This struck
"cosmological constant" that eliminated the implication and held the universe
of the universe. Reasoning backward, he proposed that at some definite point in
the past it must have originated from a primeval atom of infinitely
around us were receding. Both theory and empirical evidence pointed to the same
verdict: The universe had an abrupt beginning in time.
the moment when, along with matter, there burst forth from nothing a sea of
their teeth. Quite aside from its religious aura, the new theory contradicted
"scientists who effectively turn traitor to science, and discard scientific
facts to reach conclusions that are convenient to the Catholic Church."
scientists were so upset by these theological trends that they resolved simply
to block their cosmological source," commented the German astronomer Otto
that an explosion was an undignified way for the world to begin, rather like "a
sardonically referred to the hypothesized origin as "the big bang." The term
pervasive microwave hiss that turned out to be the echo of the big bang (at
first they thought it was caused by pigeon droppings on their antenna). If you
'60s, scientists have been busy working out, and feuding over, the details of
deducible from the mere fact that there is a world at all. So goes the
Supreme Being. (Click to read the ontological argument and the
Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
has a cause of its existence. (Click to learn more about the surprising
many options for attacking the logic of this cosmological argument, and
contemporary opponents of theism have tried them all.
If everything needs a cause for its existence, then so does
God. (More frequently heard in the form "But Mummy, who made God?") This
everything needs a cause but that everything that begins to exist
the universe had a natural cause. But the big bang could not have been
a boundary or an edge in time. Since no causal lines can be extended through
it, the cause of the big bang must transcend the physical world.
is hard to think of a principle more amply confirmed by our experience than
that things do not just pop into existence uncaused. No one can really pull a
principle, tiny "virtual particles" spontaneously appear and disappear all the
time. An entire universe could do the same, claim some cosmologists. Calling
themselves "nothing theorists," they have produced models showing how the
cosmos could have burst into being all by itself out of a patch of "false
pages of math). So the universe is summoned out of the void by the laws of
physics. But this can't be right. The laws of physics are just a set of
equations, a mathematical pattern. They cannot cause the world to exist. As
and does not have any other reality (whatever that might mean)."
is temporally finite does not mean it had a beginning. Speaking of Hawking,
this is his famous "no boundary" proposal. "So long as the universe had a
beginning, we could suppose it had a creator," Hawking wrote in A Brief
no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning or end: it would simply
which space and time are commingled. "Time zero" becomes an arbitrary point,
not a true beginning; it is no more a boundary than the North Pole is.
proposal is extremely popular with laymen who are hostile to the cosmological
argument, judging from the mail I get. Apparently they enjoy being baffled by
so that there is no beginning. In real time there still is a beginning.
Sometimes Hawking says that imaginary time is "earlier" than real time, which
is a logical contradiction; sometimes he suggests it might be more real than
Cause, which is, moreover, transcendent. How does it follow that this cause is
has suggested that something humanly inconceivable lies behind the big bang.
What, if anything, can really be inferred about the First Cause? Well, suppose
that it were something mechanical. An ideal machine produces its effect either
always or never; it does not just suddenly start to operate at some moment,
unless someone gives it a kick. If a mechanical cause produced the universe at
argument can be repeated to T minus infinity: A mechanical cause would have
either produced the universe from eternity or not at all. But the universe was
created at one moment out of an infinity of other indistinguishable moments.
This implies that the moment was freely chosen, and hence that the creator had
a will, and to that extent a personal nature. And power.
has one unwelcome consequence for theists. It seems to suggest that the Creator
was a bungler. A singularity is inherently lawless. Anything at all can come
rise to a universe whose conditions are precisely suitable for life, let alone
pointed out, "If God created the universe with the aim of making it animate, it
is illogical that he would have created as its first state something whose
natural evolution would lead with high probability only to inanimate
his own image was by repeatedly intervening and making adjustments to steer the
evolution of the world away from lifeless disaster. But "a competent Creator
does not create things he immediately or subsequently needs to set aright,"
observes Smith. (Remember, we are talking about the universe's physical
bang? Overcome by metaphysical lassitude, I finally reach over to my bookshelf
there was nothing. And God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was still
rich, complex, ever expanding. The latest additions, however, rattle that
fairly simple fellow. Recent releases portray him as hero or hedonist, romantic
investigative reporter's book lies neither in its revelations (which are few)
nor its hype (which is considerable, and has stirred up waves of attackers and
situation room, he flirts with nuclear holocaust. Reckless at play, reckless at
For every bitter revisionist, however, there is an equally
aristocrat, perceives only light. "This wasn't a man who simply needed a woman
to satisfy his cravings and would then go on to something else," she explains
innocence." He swoons, he sighs, he weeps. He looks toward the heavens and
a helpful insight: All pols engage in what the author calls "creative
important and troubling questions about his presidency. How could a man so
dissolute in his private life display such discipline in his public role? If
is not the first to recall his relentless tapping of feet, of fingers, of
almost absurdly careless, how does one explain his mastery of the televised
press conference? This was a controversial innovation during the Cold War, when
new medium, and not just with his winsome smile and quick wit; his preparation
was unmatched by any but the most thorough reporter.
puzzling, which explains the temptation to ignore or deny them. It is hard to
believe that any man, particularly a public figure, could embody such
nicely puts it in his first chapter (before denying it in the rest of his
Reckless Youth --confront the dualities in his character. If they do not
explain them, at least they acknowledge them, which is more than this current
ago under the strain of molls, mob money, election fraud, and foreign
romantic nor wholly cynical, tells the story: This is a man who breaks the
rules and is attractive, wealthy, and smart enough to get away with it. In his
aware, a dispute has long simmered about whether people in ancient times read
to themselves silently, as we moderns do, or mostly read aloud. The unequivocal
references in ancient sources to silent reading are few, and the context often
Origins of Silent Reading that most ancient texts virtually demanded to be
foreign language, began inserting spaces, just to help tell all those
whole Western world, and the separation of words became a universal
lapse. But I was drawn to the argument of Space Between Words for two
reasons: First, it treats words as physical objects produced by physical means
and designed to be understood by physical beings; and second, it reminds us of
the breathtaking role serendipity can play in matters of language.
The physicality of words is something we tend to lose sight
often startling. Some years ago I shouldered the rewarding (and not very
from right to left on the next, then from left to right again, and so on.
the matter a little further, asking how such a writing system came to be.
Lewis' answer emerged after a pleasant subterranean rumbling that I took to be
laughter (though his answer was entirely serious). "It probably arose," he
said, "from the practice of writing long inscriptions on cliff faces." Imagine,
he went on, lowering a chap with his chisel from the top of a monument and
moving him along as he does his work. What do you do when he finishes the first
line? Do you haul him all the way back to where he started? Or do you just drop
him down a few feet to the next line and then let him continue his work in the
opposite direction? The subterranean rumbling resumed for a moment, making it
a shape that is almost sickle, spoon, eyelid. The letters are washed blunt
people wrote on were too brittle. A straight line would cut apart the leaf and
been no lack of commentary about the consequences that the latest version of
writing, and the Word, and I have no wish to revisit all the speculative Big
the gang can agonize or exult over these without any outside help. Many issues
will simply remain up in the air for years to come, no matter what anyone
Still, computers and electronic text have already wrought
changes in the way the world's words are constructed. In Japan, individuals
have long been accustomed to elaborating upon the way their basic names are
characters or with added or subtracted strokes. Those flourishes now must come
to an end for official purposes, in the interest of computer standardization.
have begun this year to phase out their distinctive letter for a double "s,"
the letter that looks somewhat like an English capital "B."
that are bringing a little more order to orthography are doing the same to
semantics. Because an electronically linked worldwide medical community needs a
common language, new terminology has been adopted by the International
Federation of Associations of Anatomists to describe human body parts. The
Electronic media will usher in a resurgence in the quality and value in
handwriting. Signs of a renaissance of the handwritten word are here and there
discernible. Most obviously, there is the proliferation of specialty shops for
fountain pens and handmade paper. But it can also be seen, hauntingly, in the
the cursive flow of human thought, from brain to hand to pen to ink to
less a daily utilitarian workhorse it may well become ever more a cherished
legitimate place in the coverage of the coverage, or at least in the
commentaries about the coverage of the coverage. As far as I can tell, however,
relative sent off to the country whose presence lingered nonetheless.
culture in which the words "of our time" have become synonymous with "of the
characteristics of our time. It is, of course, ubiquitous in the world of sport
occurring unintentionally, and in two ways. The first is etymological. My
rise to hype in the sense of "artificial stimulant," which is the direct
ancestor of hype as employed in advertising and the communications
be weirdly appropriate. (Note: An alternative etymology of hype would
provocation is conceptual: How does one match up this term and its variants
blood pressure, which in healthy individuals and societies maintains a certain
constancy, but which can rise or fall to dangerous levels. But hype
could thus refer to a level that is subnormal but nonetheless sufficient to
of public recognition. For example, I received a postcard some while ago
imagine that only after attaining the level of being fully known can one
overrated and underrated inevitably intersect with this
discussion, because to be described as either of these things one must display
most difficult category to conceive, though it does exist, is that of figures
concept may be ready for scientific quantification. There is precedent for this
not only in the hard sciences, where one would expect it, but also in the
social sciences and humanities. Thus, much as we have a unit of heat, called
who generated news reports for months despite having failed to participate in
tyke whose rescue became a brief focus of attention last summer after he fell
language and dynamics of hype come to resemble those of arms control.
ceiling at a level far higher than what any ordinary person would find
movies, we were taken to ice shows, we took lessons, and we had strong views
hockey, which we played in boring skates and unlovely clothes on a frozen pond.
It was a romantic and competitive display, emphatically a girl thing. Adorable
are, and not just for girls. My interest in skating withered and died before I
of the rules of the game. I mainly notice that things have come a long way
display has been profitably invigorated with sex, fashion, and progressive
out among the participants and spun out in the media.
touches suggesting conventional winter or conventional cuteness. Gone are the
suggest the disco dance floor or the hotel ballroom, except when they're
women's have burst into hysterics. The physical risks have become very great
for male ice dancers, but their clothes stay conservative. When they don't,
neckline and wrapped sash, apparently too outrageous for pairs skating. The
for supreme skill at multiple turns in midair and in their willingness to wear
was established all over the world in the last century, and it allowed any sort
of glorious finery above the waist, even with long, plain legs below. Later,
"Faun" costumes, among others, gave rise to a host of abstract creations for
the male body. These have appeared on the dance stage throughout this century,
made his leaps and lunges most historical, the whole thing being quite rare for
governs the clothes for traditional pairs skating and affects ice dancing too,
keeping male ice performers looking fairly sober. Men's skating costumes are
strictly simple and symmetrical, beginning with long, black trousers that
black shirt, or with various Star Trek effects above the waist. Male
skating costume, like male evening dress, is still meant to offset the
fantastic extremes of the women's costumes, which run to exposure, asymmetry,
and fluttering ornament, just like Ginger Rogers' dancing dresses in the early
jackets. Metallic fabric, rhinestones, or sequins may coat both him and her,
the better to mesmerize us equally as we track them flashing past. Not for
array of inventions in women's costumes, where all the most dangerous aesthetic
risks are currently being taken. But some things are constant. For pairs
skating, women's skates must be white, and unfortunately very big. These used
however; some tend toward approximations of current fashion, with many
ponytails, little bandeaux under boleros, and several bare midriffs, along with
remote historical allusions. Whatever the costume, it must go with tights and
skates, it should enhance the skater's performance, and the rules say it must
have a skirt. But this can mean two panels fore and aft, eight overlapping
patch of salmon pink and another of black making one breast look heavy and the
perfectly balanced by the two flashing white skates below. A dress in any
bright single color tends to be great; two colors in several patchy sections
tends to be dreadful, especially when mixed with patches of bare skin. Slanted
hemlines are bad; slit skirts are good. A ponytail with a lot of feathers or
fluff holding it together is no good; hair that neatly caps the head, whether
in a bob or a bun, is very good. Anything that looks as if it might get in a
partner's mouth and eyes or slap his face is bad; any material that caresses
the '60s, when psychiatry appeared to loom over vulnerable minds with a kind of
menacing grandeur. White coats seemed scarcely less ominous than white hoods,
freedom against the depredations of nosology. Nowadays, though, news of a
Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
such, it provides comic material for a certain contemporary genre of psychiatry
criticism that finds it laughable (rather than sinister) that psychiatry
appears to be expanding its territory from real craziness to everyday
piece on the absurdity of the diagnosis "road rage," for instance ("You're Not
Psychiatric Handbook Lists a Madness for Everyone.").
respectively, have, in their second joint effort, Making Us Crazy (their
reproving than suspicious, and more earnest than parodic. Its criticisms are
were crazy people: They were the ones barking like dogs and thinking
they were Napoleon. The rest of us, meanwhile, suffered only from ordinary
problems that are not medical, to find psychopathology where there is only
problem with this reasoning is that the concept "crazy" is entirely foreign to
less in quality than in quantity and context. Checking to see if your oven is
every time you leave your apartment probably is. Which is not to say that
find that the psychiatrist would produce a name for his behavior, would assure
him that other people engage in it also, and might offer him drugs to help him
it's going to call mental disorders every few years, so obviously we can't
trust it as a guide to what mental disorders really are.
of the biologically oriented majority of psychiatrists to produce a manual of
which lists diseases that are each traceable to a unique, identifiable
etiology, which is to say that its disorders are grouped according to
observable symptoms rather than presumed cause. If you look up a disorder in
impaired motor activity, or feeling numb and empty), a certain number of which
for determining whether a phenomenon belongs in a class, such as the checklist
bible," implying that it inspires reverence and is in need of suspicious
dictionary. It is periodically revised in response to arguments about usage and
usefulness, but new disorders do not represent claims to fresh biological
knowledge. Which is to say that yes, a particular mental disorder is whatever
resolve the question of whether or not homosexuality should be called a mental
disorder by means of a ballot mailed out to its members. The majority of those
responding felt that homosexuality was not a mental disorder, and the
was sitting down with a committee that included his wife, in the process of
But it's not clear that any science is so pure that it's exempt from
is informed by social values. Medicine is informed by social values. To
declare something a disease (rather than simply a part of life) is to declare
it unacceptable and in need of treatment by doctors. When is a person too
unhappy? When does eccentricity become psychosis, or political suspicion
paranoia? How much pain is pathological? Under what circumstances should a
person's death be described as "natural" and attributed to old age, rather than
described as "premature" and the result of a disease? Social questions,
and societal injustice by calling their problems "mental disorders," thus
implying that the victims are wacko and have brought their problems on
tendency to break things (recommended treatment: whipping). Yes, there can be
purposes, and that diagnosis is always inflected by the politics of its
Disorder, for instance. This diagnosis, which describes the delayed
aftereffects of extremely unpleasant experiences, made it into the
been applied to all sorts of people, from the victims of domestic violence to
suffering from hallucinatory flashbacks and wild mood swings looked, to the
benighted layperson at least, nuts. But now his behavior seems ordinary, even
victims must necessarily be in the service of evil conservatism, but
drawing attention to its causes, rather than those who want to assign
institutionalization (and it still is, though less so than in the '60s), it
seems clear that the diagnoses that license dragging people off the street can
to the vast majority of psychiatric encounters, which involve adults showing up
in offices and asking for help, railing against the men in white coats is
mostly beside the point. Labels can be reassuring. Drugs can be our friends.
Governmental Affairs Committee, have eased finally into insentience. As with so
many political efforts, the committee's most lasting achievement is likely to
be linguistic. Much as the one tangible consequence of Jimmy Carter's famous
French word (which Carter in his speech in fact never uttered; the word was
can be collected for use in political campaigns but which enjoys an existence
outside the rules, the oversight, and the control of the Federal Election
Commission." Specifically, soft money can be contributed in unlimited
rather than on behalf of, or at the direction of, particular candidates.
both parties," Levin said. "This is what Congress permits, folks. Heck, we not
point, or at least to carry the culinary metaphor a little further along, the
There is no deep mystery about the proximate origins of the
term "soft money." In its current sense, it came into use almost as soon as the
present contours of campaign law were established, in the late 1970s.
refer to metallic money and paper money, respectively. Because hard money was
tied intrinsically to the value of precious metals, the term was soon applied
more generally to currencies of enduring and robust value, currencies that were
under tight control and backed with ample amounts of metal. Hard
currencies aren't pegged to metals any longer, but in casual political and
optimistic and permissive attitude toward control of the money supply, and
people are those who take a grouchy and restrictive
applicable to campaign contributions. The immediate linguistic conduit through
which it arrived was probably the language of Wall Street, in which soft
one that wouldn't count toward the campaign's spending limits because it was
"educational" material technically being sent out by a labor union. "Ah, the
sound of soft money," the operative said.) In business terms, hard money
is straightforward enough. But let's not lose sight of a larger phenomenon. It
is said that the human tongue naturally distinguishes among four types of
tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Similarly, the human mind is always
a famous assessment, classified people according to whether they were hedgehogs
(those who know one big thing) or foxes (people who know many little things).
might include dogs vs. cats, savers vs. tossers, deciduous vs. evergreen,
standard vs. automatic. Somehow, though, the qualities soft and
given the prominence they are coming to enjoy in the public arena of
not, of course, the words having literally to do with the physical properties
of the same name, but rather the higher, metaphorical qualities associated with
the words: that is, hard in the sense of "stern," "uncompromising,"
"grim," "tough," "realistic," "verifiable," or "physically palpable"; and
soft in the sense of "moderate," "subjective," "subject to emotion,"
"simple," "idealistic," "weak," or "physically immaterial." In religious terms,
probably will encounter examples within just a few minutes (not counting the
aliens are given expulsion orders but not actually subjected to any further
moment they washed up on beaches. This would be a hard immigration
policy.) Labor disputes in professional sports have centered on whether teams,
and therefore players, would be subject to a hard salary cap or a
military might. Soft power is power that comes in the form of economic
improve minority representation in the classroom and the workplace. Hard
affirmative action emphasizes explicit quotas for jobs, promotions, and
seek ever more cultural and political autonomy for the Francophone province,
whereas hard separatists demand outright sovereignty. Political theory
distinguishes between a hard state (a state with a relentlessly
efficient, perhaps authoritarian, central government and a high regard for
pluralism and aggravating domestic politics in an environment of at least
and soft carry no troubling value judgments. They merely express an
almost any context is intuitively clear. The hard truth, I would argue, is that
this way of seeing the world is itself distressingly soft.
twin brother, who lives beneath the stage and harbors resentments about a
Prairie Home Companion does not rely for its comedic grammar on concepts
phrases crop up on that program, you can be pretty sure the underlying meanings
conclusion. The term has so rapidly evolved from restricted jargon into
Companion cannot only use it safely, but can even give it a knowing, ironic
Closure has familiar applications in the realm of personal
but you've been walking through our life dead. And now I have to demean myself
story where "finis" is being written. Patients who served as unwitting subjects
of 1950s radiation experiments described their recent settlement with the
closure." In contrast, the rambling valedictory press conference last fall of
most often encountered in contexts involving death. Newspaper and broadcast
helping families establish a sense of closure." Now that executions are once
police officer told a reporter after an execution was carried out last month in
documentary in which parents witnessed the execution of the killer of two of
century. In literary criticism, closure refers to the manner in which a
poem (or any text) achieves thematic and structural finality. In the
psychological jargon of Gestalt theory ("Gestalt" being German for "pattern" or
"form"), closure refers to the propensity of the human mind to impose or
perceive order despite gaps or asymmetry. This meaning of closure helps
readability and readers for comprehension. The Gestalt term closure has
as timeless as sentience itself. But how did it come to be so closely bound up
development that scarcely needs documentation. When we require words to
describe personal motivation and other interior processes, the most likely
source today is psychology. The lexicon so derived is large and growing:
television news, which is built on abbreviated human stories with a
recognizable beginning, middle, and end: A violent crime. A daring rescue. A
belated discovery. A sudden disaster. Psychotherapeutic templates are easy to
apply. The words "a sense of closure" have by now been uttered so often on
without question. I won't be surprised to learn someday that wedding vows are
being exchanged in which the union is set to last "until a sense of closure do
us part." And surely, "A Sense of Closure" will be the headline above the news
analysis in the New York Times the morning before the asteroid hits.
read "The Healing Process" on the editorial page the following day.
gathered momentum this spring in the Republic of Zaire, commentators felt
decades. All the commentaries at some point brought up the subject of the
endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving
fire in his wake." An alternative translation, according to a second group of
reports, is "the cock whose prowess leaves no hen untouched."
a symbolic personal name by way of an aggrandizing personal epithet has sadly
fallen out of favor. Among world leaders today the few practitioners of this
Most of the world's remaining monarchs possess a number of
designations and little more than quaint vestigial appendages, like a whale's
arms. There is certainly no contemporary leader with an adopted name as coldly
where adopted names retain an organic vitality is in occupations where
professionals can still claim some prestige based on a perception of personal
decision making has devolved from the autocrat to the ordinary citizen, it is
campaign worker talking to another in an office near the Capitol, and bore a
his poem of that name. (The epitaph on the monument to this Citizen reads, in
part: "The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day/ And that his
reactions to advertisements were normal in every way./ Policies taken out in
related to the people whose names are found on the credit cards and driver's
licenses displayed in advertisements, and I assume they all know the mysterious
any male person, is "John Doe"; and for his female counterpart, "Jane Roe."
times, in cases where suit needed, for arcane reasons, to be filed against a
legally fictitious person. They served precisely the same function that the
and a handful of similar variants are used today to shield the identity of an
actual person whose identity is known (as in the famous abortion case Roe
the man down and also establishing his innocence. The lawyers for Timothy
forms. The Supreme Court this month will hand down a decision regarding a pair
in the field of generic fictitious names, and there will not soon be a movie
difference. Whereas Jane Roe and John Doe at least give a nod to status based
household," "user," "the consumer." This has come about owing to the continuing
merger of demographic science and marketing, and the tendency is probably not
All the more reason, perhaps, to insist on a little more
bravura individuality on the part of our world leaders. One could stop well
presidents (for example) to add the name of at least one former president or
owing to the quotidian proximity that the role affords, has demonstrated a
Carter. Bob "Patriot" Dole. Should an unelected tribunal be entrusted with such
daytime talk show: Everyone gets his or her say before the floor passes to the
remarkable how well the music has aged. Here is group improvisation at its most
voices, listening and responding to one another as equals in interplay as dense
couple of small quibbles with the way the box set was put together.)
every party with intellectual pretensions. More than any other jazz musician of
was in a creative slump in the early '60s. He couldn't keep a band together,
between improvisatory freedom and adherence to form.
favored pianist in Blue Note's stable, was the most versatile of keyboardists.
He could play in a hushed, romantic style, then plunge, at a moment's notice,
complex music, as exploratory as any of its era. Incredibly, hardly anyone
recognized this until the late '70s, when the quintet's work was adopted as a
revolutionary age of free jazz, with its joyful defiance of form and radical
That said, the music bears the unmistakable imprint of the
'60s. The hierarchy separating the leaders and the led, teachers and students,
foreground (improvising soloists) and background (rhythm section). The
quintet's music was built from the bottom up, assertively declaring jazz's
hypnotically, without soloing, making this tune arguably one of the first
percussive style of improvising, throwing aggressive, staccato darts at the
material was also new. Everyone in the group was composing, especially Shorter,
so fragile you're amazed they hold together. But, in fact, they're quite
pliable, lending themselves to dramatic shifts in tempo and voicing. Listen,
acoustic jazz, and his final sessions with the quintet are restless,
transitional works that point the way ahead. After the release of
pop? It's true that some of his later work sounded like the desperate effort of
an aging star to sell records to rock fans. But the quintet's foray into
electric jazz was a natural extension of Miles' studio experimentation, and of
in the tricky harmonies of bop, he was acquiring a more painterly, and no less
Beck, and imagine it being played on FM radio. Sure, it drags a bit without the
volatile repartee of the earlier albums. On the other hand, this druggy,
as anything the quintet recorded, suggesting both the psychedelia of King
once lush and frightening, "Tout de Suite" literally vibrates with intimations
suggesting that the chic woman's skirt will fall below the knee next fall.
the shoe tops, and women in the street adhere in great numbers to the
hemline goes on being a key visual element in the theater of female appearance.
Wherever the line is drawn, a suggestive point is being made about female
glance of the beholder. Pants just can't offer anything quite like it.
fashion history claims that the Modern Woman was created when women gave up
corsets. But that moment never quite occurred, at least not as it has been
portrayed. Women have been shaping their bodies to suit shifting ideas of
feminine beauty not only for centuries before modernity but ever since. The
temporary abandonment of tight little waists represented no more than a change
in method. The most important moment in the modernization of female dress was
That was just before World War I, about a decade before the
second most important moment, when they cut off their hair for good. These two
radical acts made irreversible transformations in female appearance. They
permanent that the little female logo on the women's restroom can doubtless
high women's hemlines become or how much their hair length varies, the point of
women have the choice to lift their skirts and crop their hair. Before the
skirts, like long hair, had been required for women by religious law and
developed its own history, both skirts and hair were considered immutable, even
never lasted long. The arrival of women's legs in the first quarter of this
were meant to be seen and judged privately. Women's legs obey mechanical laws,
of course, and move apart while they are being used. Watching them do that has
always been a volatile matter for the male viewer. Throughout all those heavily
skirted centuries, men paid good money to watch women's legs prancing, kicking,
and leaping on the stage, since on the street, the shift of weight was about
mythology of the feminine had a lot to do with the veiling of a woman's lower
treasures difficult (and perhaps unwise) to discover. It's not surprising that
at the beginning of this century women who wished to declare a new parity with
men, to escape feminine mystery and enter female reality, should shun male
gear. It was too frivolous and perverse. Instead, they remodeled the skirt. If
a skirt could be shorter and simpler, female legs and feet could be seen at
work, the normal action of knees and thighs would be apparent under its neat
shape, and a woman could at last be seen to make strides. Her brains and her
feet could be seen to connect, and she would become a normal human being.
so on. Once off the ground, the skirt's exact length became a burning issue,
first about hellfire itself, since a woman with visible legs was seen by many
to be walking toward her damnation. Then a range of personal worries about the
exact level of the hem came into play. Shorter might be too silly or too
daring, longer too staid or too sultry, either choice might be too modish or
the hemline into a derogatory synonym for fashionable change. Legs turned out
but the hand. It soon became clear that dispelling mystery involved more than
to be outrageous, and up they went to within an inch of the crotch. And there
century, including back down to the floor and even trailing.
departure. The heavy threat of the ancient long skirt was long
not only as a separate garment but also as the bottom of a little dress, worn
and pale lipstick went with it. The look was a bid to be a little girl again,
with all a little girl's irresponsible eroticism. Adult female reality was
skirts were conventionally part of the innocence of childhood. But as soon as
the miniskirt became part of the adult erotic arsenal, little girls' dresses
they still are, guarding traditional female decorum as their elders' skirts no
longer do. The sexiness of children has lately been thoroughly acknowledged,
which may be why their tasty little legs are now conventionally covered.
was another theft by women from men, only disguised. Pants were an old story,
belt, seemed to put girls into the clothes of Renaissance youths, so they
Robin Hood allusions have long since been extinguished. There followed the
epoch of leg warmers and other mutations into the aerobics class look.
Miniskirts withdrew from such sweaty connotations, emphasizing instead their
harmony with classic jackets. These days, most miniskirts stop quite a few
inches below the crotch. They have mainstream acceptance and no shock value,
and are worn by young career women and old grandmothers alike.
very short, novelty has lately required increasing their length, not their
gauzy, to suggest more exotic freedoms, newer ways for longer skirts to seduce.
connotations. The fashion business sees to it that interest in shifting skirt
years of skirts that liberate and expose, women will again feel the desire for
fullness, drag, and bulk in their skirts; for the chance to swish, trail, and
sweep; to swing heavy fabric from the hips; maybe even to lift heavy folds in
legs with something that isn't pants. The couture ball dress and the standard
long ago, Late Night host Jay Leno told his audience that Air Force One
to return the flight attendant "to her full upright and locked position."
("seat pocket," "ground personnel," "emergency flotation"), its stilted
sometimes counterintuitive rhythms and emphases ("The captain has turned
federal offense to tamper with, disable, or destroy any lavatory smoke
linguistic equivalent of the worldwide nonverbal graphic system that conveys
such meanings as "ladies' room," "no parking," "first aid," and "information."
It is just as streamlined, just as stylized, often in the same oddly archaic
sort of way. The worldwide symbol for "cocktail lounge" is a martini glass with
olive, even though martinis themselves are a relatively uncommon sight these
days. The symbol for "pharmacy" is a mortar and pestle. Airline language is
similarly atavistic. Whenever else does one hear the word "stow" being used,
except as part of the command to "stow your belongings in the overhead
where "stow" is frequently used is on board boats and ships. One significant
element of airline language, including many of its archaisms, derives from the
unnaturally, given the obvious parallels between the two modes of
transportation (fragile means of conveyance, built to negotiate a boundless,
often turbulent medium of fluid or gas). An airplane is a "craft," and its
"crew," including a "captain," "first officer," and "purser," operates from a
"deck" inside a "cabin." The aircraft is segmented by "bulkheads." Its kitchens
compressed time of air travel gives its language a focused, liturgical quality
that oceanic travel has never had (at least for passengers), from the initial
which in their original versions date back to the early 1960s, concerns
everything from seat belts and life jackets to emergency exits and oxygen
masks. The regulations are distilled by each airline into detailed scripts
which are reviewed by company lawyers and must be approved, finally, by the
considerable latitude when it comes to routine announcements; again, though,
the language is often fastidiously scripted, down to even the most casual
remarks. ("Would you like Coke or Sprite?" appears in a script provided by the
Association of Professional Flight Attendants.) Most of the dozen or so
airlines contacted were reluctant to furnish actual transcripts of approved
language manuals, although one veteran pilot (with United) asserted: "You're
gonna hear the same thing, but you'll hear it just a bit differently."
Southwest Airlines did provide an example of an unusual rap announcement that
some of its ground personnel have used. It reads, in part: "We board in groups
of thirty,/ According to your card;/ One thru thirty boards first,/ It's really
not that hard." And it goes on, "Federal law prohibits smoking/ On most
domestic flights./ No smoking is permitted,/ So don't even try to light."
Southwest's corporate culture of officially sanctioned iconoclasm, if there can
passengers may notice a crew member reading an announcement from a laminated
part the scripts are committed to memory, and the habits born of rigorous
training die hard. Not long ago, one of my sisters discovered that she was to
be the only passenger on a commercial flight, and settled in for the journey.
As she prepared for the plane to push back, a flight attendant materialized for
the safety briefing, and in the one concession to the circumstances, sat down
in the seat next to my sister instead of standing in the aisle at the front of
the cabin. The dull monotone was the same as ever. "As we prepare for takeoff,"
the flight attendant said, looking at my sister from six inches away, "please
take time to look through the safety information in the seat pocket in front of
stripped off the same beasts that provided food and bone tools. Fur clothes
were strictly utilitarian until people learned to spin thread fine enough to
weave into cloth soft enough to drape around the body. Once that happened,
symbol of wealth and power, and it still is. Fortunately or not, we can never
for most, fur has been tamed and put in its place. Men and women swathed in
seal and sable are no longer obvious lords of the world, trailing intimidating
coats, still found in old movies, have vanished from real life ever since the
idea took hold that exotic fur garments were not just too luxurious but also
bad for the soul and bad for the planet. These days, the wearer of a big coat
made wholly of fur seems almost to be hiding inside an animal costume,
disguised as a member of an endangered species, as it were.
decorative little sealskin scarves or squirrel trim for hoods or neat fox
collars for coats. All these are very attractive, and marginal enough to
suggest the wearer's superiority to fashion altogether, in accordance with the
current style. In the same spirit, they can all be jolly fakes. Real is fine;
fake is essentially no different. That's because textile technology has finally
produced a range of synthetic fluff that vies with fur in visual beauty and
tactile lusciousness. Some of this synthetic fiber is wrought into velvet and
all, now we can have no fur but the image of fur, pictured skins of the rarest
kind with which we can enjoy ourselves in a range of materials. Fur has solved
its social and economic identity problem by leaping out of nature and into the
sofa cushions or tough twill suitcases in tiger fur, and nylon zipper jackets
with a clever blend of black lace and leopard skin. In it I can vaguely
living flesh and fur, and I came to understand why leopard is the most
desirable of all the fur prints for clothes. It's because of the way a real
wart hogs and wildebeests no less than elephants and antelopes, zebras and
they share with other animals. But among them, it's the leopard who seems to
sunlit clearing, and pose. There's no other word for it. She stood perfectly
seconds. Then she paced slowly off as if on a runway, each perfect paw straight
in front of the other, haunches delicately swaying, tail holding its curve,
peerless coat glittering in the sun. Our guide said that only the leopard walks
cheetahs, too. But the leopard is another thing; and all things considered, we
low table, her hands engaged with some objects and her body clad in a long,
spots. Well, well, well. This was no real animal's pelt. Leopard skins do
over the shoulders of priests with paws and tail dangling down. No, by golly,
eternity in the Realm of the Dead. I turned my head and saw the woman next to
exactly say that leopard print is always in fashion. But you would have to
synonymous with glitz and indecorousness, but he was also a man of great
with a strong capacity for pure delight. There was nothing hostile, rancorous,
of the Costume Institute's show and author of the catalog, has stripped the
dramatic fabrics, bold cut, and applied glitter. It is in their look of
character. Many of these outfits seem intended for actors in 1940s Bible
Weirdo and the Bitch. The clothes do the work, the actor could be anybody. Just
tends to twitch the drapes so they hang an extra bit, as if already plucked at
by a lustful hand. A black columnar dress with long sleeves and a neckline up
to the chin in front leaves the whole back bare to well below the waist at one
side. The bareness is enhanced by a drape that seems yanked down on purpose to
that begins the slit in the skirt, opening over the right buttock and
swerving to avoid the cleavage of the buttocks, is invisible from the front.
cotton, linen, and wool but also metal and leather, synthetics and plastic.
wait until after World War II to regain its rightful status as a primary
marble, bronze, and silver, and later in steel and aluminum, in vinyl and
conceptual play. When he forgets the eye and the body and tries to appeal to
leopard so you can't see the dress; or when he overburdens the feminine torso
with a short, floppy, bulky hoop skirt apparently made of hugely printed pastel
jacket with big brass buttons, then he starts looking too French, and by that I
of modernism rather than embracing it directly, in bodily terms. What does
warring shapes and prints is attuned to the female shape underneath, so the
result is a modern garment, not a modern sandwich board. Another triumph is the
a closefitting column that turns the wearer into a walking blend of wild beast
and ormolu candlestick. Note how the swirls of gold hit the body over the
breasts, navel, and ovaries, while the leopard's spots slink over the crotch,
Also yummy is a virtual slip in sparkly white metal mesh,
trimmed top and bottom in sparkly black cotton lace. But the most perfect
garment is a sleeveless black dress of tough synthetic net, ornamented with
black flames (maybe seaweed) around the thighs and pelvis and descend from the
neckline in uneven black clusters of grapes (maybe clouds) over the breasts and
imagination working with mobile combinations of expanded and unearthly human
creatures, covered with color and pattern and accompanied by music, not so very
capacities of modern tawdriness. He found his own way of expounding them in the
female named Dolly, has raised questions of considerable public urgency, the
most troubling of which in my own mind is: Dolly? The cells from which Dolly
was cloned, it turns out, were taken from a sheep's ample mammary glands. The
country singer Dolly Parton. Such are the improbable byways of on the wintry
commerce in the very stuff of which we're made will ultimately turn humanity
into merchandise, our genesis controlled by some mutant form of agribusiness.
"Turning People Into Product" was the headline above a New York Times
commentary by Brent Staples that evoked, among other things, the
The word was apt. Product in this collective sense,
used without an article, has none of the quantitative, formative, or even
Product as a generic mercantile term for "marketable commodity" has been
industry during the 1960s. In his book Rock Gold: The Music
always talk about [music] with one word that you hardly ever see mentioned in
with all the benefits of the latest digital electronics, but it's only 'good'
Product, 'live' Product, or 'strong' Product if it sells. Otherwise it's 'dead'
of the entertainment world, and the cynicism it once embodied is today only
occasionally highlighted by means of its presentation in quotation marks.
year's nominees," wrote one newspaper critic recently, after noting that a
of the most hollow product ever to pass itself off as art."
most advanced and today most widely used sense, means the totality of all
substance (in particular, commercially viable substance) that can be made
available through the various communications and information media: not just
source or substance and its medium of transmission are irrelevant to its
definition, much as source and medium of transmission are irrelevant to a
took a tremendous amount of effort to define. We argued about what it really
means and sent drafts back and forth for about a week before we arrived at the
following definition which (like all definitions that one struggles with) looks
creative material viewed in contrast to its actual or potential manner of
the meaning of content in the cloying phrase "content is king," the
mantra repeated endlessly by Bill Gates and other multimedia conquistadors.
"The dominant corporations are bigger than ever and have more control than
down to apply to individuals. "We like to think of ourselves as content
providers," I heard a cleric say recently about his line of work, a comment
that I took to be knowingly ironic but which could also have been a sincere and
pathetic attempt to be with it. (Church talk presents this problem often.) The
it, and I go, "Well, that's not really horrible." In fact, I eventually started
the next century, and the concept of intellectual property --a term that
particular claim and embody it in the form of copyrights, trademarks, and
creative product and, like a rising sea, it seems to cover new territory with
every passing year. The National Basketball Association has famously sought to
rumble of its motorcycles. Patents can even be held on the genetic blueprints
But it is not premature to begin thinking of Dolly's ovine progenitor not so
clone's eyes, of course, she will always be a significant udder.
cha; or a trumpet's eerie whisper, into a thunderous row of piano
clusters. The best Sun on vinyl, Jazz in Silhouette is also the most
jazz. From a strictly aesthetic perspective, neither of the two volumes of
combined effect is more curious than moving. (Click for a clip from
more supple backdrop provided by a hypnotically sustained drone, or "space
turbulent journey, as it turned out. Even today, the music sounds pretty far
out, clanging with esoteric percussion, electronic distortion, and novel
titles like "Cosmic Chaos" and "Outer Nothingness."
expression, he appeared in garish flowing robes, a shining turban, and space
goggles. For nearly four decades, this cosmic jazz messenger performed, lived,
believed in the myth of their leader's origins and, like him, waited to be
band's concerts were filled with dance, light shows, midgets, fire breathing,
child of the black bourgeoisie. Poor and fatherless, he grew up in 1920s
that "others might find out and that he might be treated as a freak," he became
a recluse, burying himself in music. When not practicing piano, he was delving
conscientious objector to World War II, he directed a poignant appeal to the
National Service Board: "I don't see how the government or anyone else could
expect me to agree to being judged by the standards of a normal person."
his repudiation of physical reality as a "prison," his conviction that our
hinted at such connections to the tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin: "I must be
white hippies. His appeal to different constituencies isn't hard to fathom. To
commune. The band's ensemble structure seemed to prefigure the black music
himself as a charismatic leader who would deliver his followers through
believed, provided a "model for government." That model combined futurism,
incumbent upon black musicians to master electronic instruments, notably the
was the law. He could wake up the men in the middle of the night if he desired,
risked corporal punishment. "We're less than his pupils," explained one
It's understandable why this fantasy of flight would take root in black
organization, and enterprise. There is a word for organizations that obey a
charismatic leader, uphold fantastic founding myths, and assemble a body of
a cult, he earned a lasting place in the larger culture, which otherwise might
maintained by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an evangelical group whose
aim is to translate the Bible into all the languages in which its words have
many of those languages have never even possessed alphabets, let alone
What will be the impact of a vernacular Bible on the future
for ordinary spoken and written English. The coinages and cadences of the
fight"; "suffer the children"; "the salt of the earth"; "in his right mind";
served both as psychic libretto and as percussion section for English speakers
everywhere. And, as the printing press gave momentum to these new vernacular
Bibles, so too did the English language itself acquire new cohesion and power.
(An archaeological aside: The entwining of Bible, printing press, and popular
literacy reveals itself in a curious fact from the New World. In
during excavations of early sites; they don't show up at all at sites of
biblical language will continue to serve the same functions in English is
well that his biblical tropes ("woe unto the world because of
sent a team of crack investigators "to and fro in the earth, and walking up and
everyone who was stopped for questioning had heard the words "And God said 'Let
those surveyed failed even to recognize the expressions "New wine into old
that "There is no new thing under the sun," but for half of those surveyed, the
an expression may have been generally familiar, its origin remained a matter of
mystery or guesswork. Thus the statement "To everything there is a season"
universally ascribed to "a song from the '60s." "The truth shall make you free"
identified the Bible as the source. (The guesses of other respondents included:
Farm Belt inhabitant picked at random surely knows more of Scripture than any
these respondents with the comment that "Pride goes before a fall" (Proverbs
appreciation for, and sensitivity to, religious matters was "stirring
have been unaware of connotations associated with the name they gave to a new
women's running shoe: "Incubus." (An incubus is an evil spirit that has
sex with sleeping women; the term is a product of medieval theological lore,
not of the Bible.) Whatever the fortunes of religion itself, a dwindling
cultural acquaintance with the Bible's English is surely inevitable. To
acting happened minutes before the filming of a crucial scene in Marathon
half an hour before the shoot, he jogged rapidly three, four, five times around
carefully setting down his cup of tea and languidly rising from his chair. "I
is that it so symmetrically counters the usual assumptions about the difference
technique into his being that, like a classical pianist, he could stop thinking
about it the moment he began performing. In short, it's the difference between
all his ambiguities and contradictions simultaneously.
thoughts were occasioned by what I regard as without question the two most
is a former graduate student of English literature who, in his own description,
of the intelligentsia in an unnamed country in the near future, and the
regime, and the moral disintegration of Jack, the eponymous survivor. A man
characterized by envy and cynicism, superficial wit and subterranean rage,
ceaseless introspection and emotional detachment, insufferable smugness and
interpretation, the problem of technique immediately arises, because to give
examples of specific line readings suggests that he's merely made a sequence of
acting choices, when what makes his performance so engrossing is his ability to
embody all these aspects of his character at once. Now cynicism comes to the
fore, now rage, now a brief interlude of tenderness, but their opposites also
onto his chest, bobs his head back and forth, gulps as if stifling a burp, then
suddenly lifts his head and expresses a thought that not only seems to have
just occurred to him, but which also seems to have struggled with conflicting
emotions before emerging. A technique, certainly, but one so expressive of
character that it never occurs to us that he's reciting a text. At times he
speaks in short, halting phrases, pausing between the most unlikely words, and
then he'll rush through a series of phrases so quickly that he'll nearly run
his cadences revealing the contours of his troubled spirit as concisely as his
tempting to go on for paragraphs. How can one overlook the abruptly truncated
laugh, for instance, that conveys a perplexed intellect? Or the voice suddenly
shifting from silky to raspy when derision erupts from his muddled emotions?
But each moment remains significant only as it traces the trajectory of his
he can barely breathe, his anguish seems nearly unendurable, but it's only a
momentary spasm, he regains his soulless equanimity, and as he quietly intones
ironic fusion of elegy and despair, the inseparable linking of a brilliant text
kittenish way: flighty and fluttery, as the role calls for, but with a
much a woman as a collection of manic mannerisms. But we gradually realize that
childlike silliness that will astonish even her. There is so much she's not
doll and the feminist icon. But, on the contrary, she subtly provides the
psychological continuity between these two aspects of her character.
with a hint of voracity that hints at her dissatisfaction.
difficult, and all the more shattering.) But when her web of lies begins to
unravel and he calls her "pretty bird," she rolls her eyes in a gesture at once
accepting of his flattery, aware of her deceit, and resentful of his
condescension. She knows nothing of this consciously but, in dozens of such
way her wildly unfocused energy is the consequence of her inner turmoil, of
capacity for insight frustrated by her familial role. When she hears herself
saying that being with her husband is "like being with papa," she pauses for a
second, then flashes her eyes with something close to a recognition of primal
sin, utters a sound somewhere between a hysterical giggle and a shriek of
horror, and rushes across the room as if in flight from her own words.
meekness but at last with a sense of her separable self. Out of her stillness
When her husband says that no man would sacrifice his integrity for another
is it implies that any competent craftsman could carefully study the
acting is that it involves assimilation rather than accumulation, that the
performer isn't so much a surrogate as a vessel. There's paradox in artifice.
The supreme tragedies leave us not devastated but exhilarated, and the sublime
actors, the moment their performances begin, stop acting.
Wall Street Journal editorial writer observed recently about campaign
Journal Sentinel presciently pointed out in advance of professional
this "day" that everyone is referring to? It is not so much a unit of time as a
unit of consummation, and it highlights, in a way, our larger confusion about
what chronological time is and what measuring it is good for.
The planet's most accurate time is kept by an atomic clock
accurate that every so often the time must be adjusted by adding a "leap
second" to account for the gradual, if modest, slowing of the Earth's rotation.
next year.) The idea that time's passage has an objective dimension connected
with diurnal rhythms is, of course, increasingly quaint, and may eventually
novels, imagined a thickly settled universe where the familiar "24-hour day" is
an accepted convention, presumably based on the rotation of humanity's planet
language, too, time seems to have got out of hand. Temporal language often
depicts the passage of time not merely as fast, relentless, and irrevocable but
also, more and more, as conceptually slippery. The term our times and
its portentous relative our time (as in "one of the most important
temporally indeterminate, even as they become trivialized by overuse. (One
Housing and Urban Development now under indictment, "the most skilled
an interval whose length no mechanical or atomic clock can measure; the only
instrumentation that works is emotional. The Wall Street Journal 's G.
journalism, was awash in defining moments (you know, the Gulf War, the
subtext is that time is fluid, that circumstances change, and that truth could
with the sense of "when all is said and done" or "eventually" or "in the
fullness of time," has a shapeliness and finality about it. It has been waxing
in popularity since the early 1970s. The term's proximate origin remains
finance, where activities are indeed governed by an actual daily cycle and
where a metaphoric sense could easily have arisen out of the literal one. As
utility of at the end of the day has been augmented by the various
unresolved episodes lumped under the word "Whitewater," which call for an
economical way of expressing the thought "when things finally get straightened
though lately putting in overtime, is not so young. The Random House
day, and all comes out still more even when all the days are over." That
quotation itself calls attention to apocalyptic antecedents in the Bible, where
the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all
Any cant word or phrase becomes tiresome, which perhaps
matter of hours.) At the end of the day has its good and bad points.
Among the bad: It imposes an implicit template of struggle and confrontation
where none may exist. It also implies the inevitability of resolution. The good
points include its realism: Even as it invokes the traditional language of
time, it does not in fact insist on squeezing events into a rigid chronological
Fallows in Breaking the News castigated for having become "the basic
unit of political time," a status ruthlessly enforced by the weekly schedule of
political talk shows.) Also, the whiff of eschatology that the phrase exudes is
nonce expression, enjoying an ephemeral vogue. That was a decade ago. Those
speakers, suggests that its colonizing power remains robust. My guess is that
it will achieve, at the very least, a kind of status that is going to be
conferred on more and more English locutions as time goes on: the status of a
native idiomatic expression whose constituency is in fact an international
group of English speakers. At the end of the day, its best days lie ahead.
visiting friends and monuments and taking note of what everybody was wearing.
government and public education system are secular, and both emphasize equality
modern fashion in a city where East has been meeting West for so many
notorious for veiling its women, but such veiling was once universal. Old
clothes and that are, in fact, similar to early forms of peasant women's
outdoors and that the body never be exposed except in private. All around the
expression necessary for an ordered human society. Female physical beauty was
viewed as an incendiary and corrupting influence that could lead to
look so alien, so alluring, and eventually so infuriating to Western
following the Renaissance, Western women's beauty was made to function both as
conquest. Nude girls representing Truth and Virtue began to appear on public
monuments. Titian painted great ladies young and old, saints, goddesses, and
successful prostitutes, all equally delicious to look at. The virtuous but
lively daughters of Protestant capitalists were encouraged to show some ankle
forces and influencing literature and politics. Female beauty helped to
was potent and important, but it functioned covertly. Female beauty was valued,
straight dress with high neck and long sleeves, and a folded head cloth that
wholly hides the forehead and hair, the ears, neck, and bust.
costume forms a fine visual contrast to the vagaries of fashion in modern
cities. The style is harmonious, dignified, and not impractical. I saw gear
around the midsection, carrying groceries, the baby, and other sundries in its
overlapping folds. The spirit of the outfit, however, is utterly alien to
seem subversive, a stumbling block to the sane ordering of human affairs.
Keeping women in the dark, wrapping them up in public like so many identical
packages, is felt to corrode the social fabric, not strengthen it; to stunt,
too. Many women there display the range of hairstyles and cosmetics and
physical exposure found in any big city. But many more women wear a new version
and universities, when an old law prohibiting its use was suddenly enforced. A
universal religious tolerance, as Turkey does, and as part of their religion,
this harmless religious practice improper. But they do.
trying to have it both ways. Unlike the yarmulke, which is strictly symbolic,
the folded scarf is functional. Like the original veil, it serves to create the
others on an equal footing in all respects; and in determinedly modernized
Turkey, too. The girls who wish to wear the scarf in Turkey say it represents
forbidden. They may claim this, but their very appearance in these scarves
cancels that interpretation. Those who object to them seem closer to the mark
in fearing that the scarves signal a rising fundamentalist opposition to the
secular principles on which modern Turkey was founded. The girls who believe
the scarves mean freedom may in fact be blinded by them. They may not realize
their complicity in a movement that seems likely ultimately to take such
pinching her head and reducing her face, I would think, heavens, take it off,
remember that, above the shoulders, unattractiveness is the whole point. It was
startling to me how unnoticeable the attractions below the neck became without
a personality to avow them. A tightly wrapped head, with encapsulated eyes,
nose, and mouth, doubtless suited the publicly shrouded female of antiquity,
for example, where women can't vote, since it squashes public expression along
shapely legs and curving torso displayed in contemporary clothes below it. The
in fact betraying its ancient and honorable reluctance to take on the
suppression of women's hair, has long since solved the problem another way,
never been challenged, and they cohabit, more or less, with modern fashion if
couple of yards of plain wool around their necks; no sign of bright printed
silk. Shiny stacks of beautiful scarves are sold in the Grand Bazaar, for
waiting, lugging, and shoving, I found myself wishing that modern clothing
Odyssey recounts a journey in many stages, with several other trips
contained in it, Homer describes many arrivals and departures, often at
food and drink, entertainment, and a comfortable bed for the night. Unlike now,
however, it involved new clothes, too. At the time Homer wrote about, clothing
was a household supply, like a wine cellar full of casks or many herds of
cattle and coops of chickens. Guests would use the clothes the way they used
all, except gifts for his hosts. When he arrived, he was stripped, washed,
oiled, and freshly dressed from head to foot in garments woven by the lady of
the house and her servants. His own were presumably cleaned and absorbed into
evening throughout his stay, and he left for the next stage of his trip, also
carrying only gifts, dressed in whatever his hosts had last given him to wear.
clothes were often elegant. Elaborate patterns, some of them with narrative
scenes, might be woven into fabrics of great finesse, their finely spun fibers
dyed in strong and subtle colors. Women did all this work, and they did it
unceasingly for their households, which could become famous because of it, if
the mistress of the house was a talented fabric designer and had skilled help.
onto the body. Sometimes two pieces were sewn up the sides and across the
shoulders, with slits left for head and arms, to be slid on and belted or
arranges to get him saved and sent onward. She prompts the island's Princess
about this, you realize that laundry could be so large and rare a project only
because the palace was supplied with hundreds and hundreds of available
garments, along with hundreds and hundreds of sheets and blankets, and kept on
making more. The princess wanted the laundry done right now, though, because
she hoped to find a husband soon, and the family would need clean clothes and
bedding for possible marriage feasts. A handsome, stranded stranger would be
certain to capture her interest, too. Those gods left nothing to chance.
of the family clothes, now clean and dry. Then she tells him how to find the
palace and how to approach her royal parents to ask their help, not liking to
appears alone as a needy traveler before them, the queen narrows her eyes:
And just where did you get those clothes you have on? The queen
sounds familiar enough, since we're used to the distinctiveness of designers'
always linked with its maker but not with a particular wearer. In a world
without textile or clothing markets, each piece of weaving was like a family
meal or a home performance of music, available to anyone present but the
property of no one person, never bought or sold, always identified with the one
who had created it inside that house. Except in times of war or pillage, it
Homer wants to dwell on the perfections of dressed persons, he mentions the
dash with which their clothes are worn, unless the point is the beauty of the
fabric and who had woven it. Often the poet has a guardian deity adding more
facial expression, and sprinkling extra grace over the frame.
in their basic shapes, with individual appeal added by the wearer's own style.
until a supple person slides into them and strikes a cool pose. The more
fantastic grow the evening gowns on the runway, the more uniform grows the garb
everywhere much the same, and suggest interchangeability; outstanding effects
What contemporary travel needs to become truly convenient
shower, slip on the robe provided (this part we already have), and then, in the
or two and some jackets, all in many colors and all in your size, since you
choice of these, have dinner, spend the night, dress anew in the morning if you
like, and check out. On to the next hotel, same story. Eventually you get home,
carrying no bags, wearing some clothes you can add to your own collection as
you find you suddenly need a really good suit for the day, that would be
arranged, like a rental car, or added as an extra hotel service. The hotel
would deliver the desired ensemble to you (along with the indispensable
for a more modest range of products. You'd have to invoke your own gods for the
the air. For my scheme to work, certain questions, I admit, need more thought.
But the thought of traveling without packing, except maybe for a tiny computer
and a tiny camera, has a powerful charm of its own. Some might even take a
just the widening international scope of the fashion industry that makes
clothing design everybody's business these days. It's the shows, which are ever
more fantastic, and the press coverage of them, which is ever more hysterically
serious. It certainly isn't the clothes. If you look around at what men and
all. The extreme garments created for the shows may be worn, occasionally, by
people in fashion, showbiz, or society. But the only way the public has of
relating to these items is to gasp at them and applaud them, swoon over them
that evoke these responses, it's their likenesses transmitted by the media.
gasping with relief and fatigue afterward. This lets us know how epic the
designer's personal ordeal has been, how heroic his endurance. The other epic
elements of the show are insistent music, striking lighting, and a piquant
setting, perhaps a skating rink. But these are beside the point. The central
focus of everything is the bevy of unbelievable models and the way they work.
Clothes, no matter how outrageous, don't register by themselves. It's the girls
parading around in them that make the show, dazzle the audience, magnetize the
cameras, and entrance the world. Them, and the obscurely thrilling knowledge
golden chairs leaving a serpentine passage for the parade, and surrounded by
milling and chattering in several languages and photographing each other during
music began, the mumbling stopped, and on came the procession of ravishing
visions. They passed inches from me, stalking and swaying, pausing
occasionally, casting friendly looks on one and all. They were very young and
wide range of strong colors and textures that were cut and fitted or draped and
buttoned to mold the body and occasionally expose the bosom or upper thighs.
historical styles to achieve shockingly modern erotic results.) The girls all
crucial at fashion shows. On television the camera rests fleetingly and
incompletely on a single outfit. But in life the important thing is the
girls all had bare legs and flat mules and their hair hung down perfectly
straight. They wore no makeup at all. The clothes were unshaped and the colors
beautiful, and paraded with the same pleasing, well disposed manner and well
paced gait through the perversely austere production.
all such intensely concocted efforts, year after year, set ablaze by fierce
lights and lashed at by loud music, rows of tall, beautiful, amiable young
women stride and pause and turn, obligingly decked in strands of rope, piles of
feathers, patches of metal, mountains of taffeta. Every once in a while, one or
this. Mannequins have paraded in designers' collections since the turn of the
century, but until World War II their status was low and so was their pay. They
were employees at individual designers' studios, and their job was to resemble
charms of prospective customers were on no account to be upstaged by those of
the model. Mannequins were nameless, their standard good looks as uninteresting
evening wear, so their bare skin wouldn't be distracting.
It has remained true that the fashion model's only job is
to appear in clothes; indeed, in the atmosphere in which they shine as
individual stars, it's all the more important that they have no other
distracting talents. The appeal of these female platoons is ancient, potent,
and forbidden. They are like rows of whores or slaves, odalisques or
don't offer intricate performances that took years of severe training to
perfect; they don't sing, speak, or chant; they don't earnestly appear for a
cause; they aren't eagerly joining in a festival. They have no will. They
parade their fresh charms in seductive, borrowed plumage for our judgment, but
only for the greater glory of the sultan, the high priest, the whoremaster, the
ringmaster, the devil himself, the designer and his backer who have bought them
as toys to play with. It's one of the oldest erotic fantasies, recurrent in
legends and fictions of many kinds, lending itself well to traditional ballet
perceive fashion shows as variations on this particular theme, because it would
force us away from the comfortable notion that fashion is the mirror of our
time. But we do know that deep beneath our surface approval of the wholesome
worldwide tide of luxury commerce that keeps the fashion business
like about fashion is seeing it perennially exposed in daring, costly,
ridiculous, delicious, televised runway shows full of mobile, passive, perfect
girls. Anyone looking for a further proof of the return to barbarism at the end
allows us to say something. Yet it is also frequently called upon to say
nothing. There are semantically and grammatically complex ways of doing this,
contexts where I have grown accustomed to expect a resigned or satiric
attempting to "walk back the cat" (to use the increasingly prevalent argot of
the intelligence services for tracing a chain of events backward to establish a
manifestation, though, is in an advertisement for Converse athletic shoes
national television during last spring's basketball championships:
whose spelling he was uncertain of, "simply seemed funnier than blah
The various lexicographers I have consulted are quite certain, however, that
the term is known to have been around for a while, documentary evidence for it
responsibility. True, our experience could simply be the result of what might
be called the Awareness Tautology: One's sense of a phenomenon's pervasiveness
is heightened by the fact of one's having been alerted to the phenomenon in the
prominent form of what is known as "sound symbolism" is crowding out some older
ones in competition for a familiar piece of habitat. English has long had
various ways of mimicking the generic sound of spoken language, the noise of a
crowd, or idle chatter (chatter being such a word). The class of onomatopoeic
would call crossly. "Pay attention to your flying, for pity's sake!"
in a crowd are supposed to be talking animatedly but unintelligibly to one
another, she observes, the effect is sometimes achieved by having half the cast
The second thing happening is not so much etymological as
sociological: a continuing evolution in semantic function. Terms such as
have a special utility when the speaker's audience can accurately fill in the
keys, cued to circumstance, that can designate specific information. In other
like: "You and I know all the points that would ordinarily be inserted at this
place in the conversation, so let's just skip it and move on."
repetition of words and arguments in the various public media. I am not aware
of any studies comparing the number of words an average person could expect to
now, but the increase surely is vast. If a politician were to say today that he
all know what he means, and we would know what was meant if, after an arrest, a
phonemes, and it will be instructive to watch as something along these same
obvious reasons have far more trouble gathering oral citations than written
similarly imitative terms) in any communications media other than paper. Date
and explicit provenance must be provided. The information will be turned over
ongoing sexual and legal battles, "and I told the truth."
support her version of the event, and that I had, in fact, done so."
headline, "Who can claim truth or objectivity anymore?"
Perhaps because it is less accessible, or at least less prevalent, the act of
truth telling has garnered far less attention in popular speech than the act of
those associated with veracity by about 5-to-1. Synonyms for truth telling are
gravitational pull of falsity is so powerful that even words and phrases that
start out as truth reinforcers tend, over time, to acquire the opposite
connotation. Who is not immediately put on guard when confronted with
in press accounts (as, unavoidably, they also are here) within an isolated
setting of quotation marks, which function as a stage wink. The ostensible
synonym for "don't bet on it" or even "not on your life."
denials have suffered an irreversible erosion of face value, owing to their
routine issuance by bombastic politicians, aggrieved miscreants, and
representatives of liberation armies and international terrorists.
speakers.) Once intended to endow a denial with the qualities of pervasiveness
and totality, the adjective categorical ("absolute," "unqualified,"
company declared, "I categorically deny that we would ever touch Snow
the realm of theology. Say what one will about Catholic theology, it offers a
cosmological taxonomy in which all things have an appointed place and a
for instance, is helpfully defined in The Catholic Encyclopedia as the
"accordance or conformity between what is asserted and what is," or "the
In the weeks ahead it will be important to maintain clear
purpose is to achieve some useful end or to prevent some distinct harm.
(Examples might include a doctor misleading a terminally ill patient or a
be encountering most frequently these days. If a lie, by definition, becomes a
lie only in the context of communication (speech, writing, gesture), and if a
lie is immoral because it destroys the fundamental trust that makes
communication is understood to have no objective value to begin with? I give
extremely difficult situations being considered, there is no mutual trust or
confidence to destroy. In fact, a maximum of distrust prevails between the
parties, and no man in such a position could prudently take the words of the
other at their face value. In such a case, words would cease, to a degree, to
be a medium for the exchange of thought. Communication would be broken down,
and to the extent in which communication of mind with mind has become
[It] seems incontestable that if no communication in the ordinary sense of the
lies are told without any intention to deceive ("You've lost weight!" "Let's do
lunch!"). Moreover, some deceptions are, technically, not lies, theologically
speaking: "A person could tell a truth with sufficient clarity to avoid making
a false statement and sufficient ambiguity and evasiveness to avoid revealing a
truth which he wants to keep hidden." (For instance, if you're a presidential
candidate and are asked if you have ever smoked marijuana, and you have, but
statement that successfully picks its way across this dangerous terrain is said
characterizations, too, were originally conferred with a sense of professional
have also been pulled out of truth's orbit and into the atmosphere of
mendacity. Today an economy of truth sometimes just means "a lie,"
resistance of the other party to sexual intercourse by a combination of gifts
and being economical with the truth takes us perilously near to
economy of truth may have lost its purity, but it retains considerable
utility. If nothing else, it adds a timely new dimension to the hortatory
couture is a constant refrain of fashion critics. It has been coming to an
end ever since it started, much like culture in general. What a killing blow
The Press was first invited to fashion showings! Its presence would surely
destroy the secrecy between a lady and her dressmaker, which was crucial to
individual distinction. More than half a century later, the ascent of
status. More recently, the street fashion called "grunge" was imitated by
death of high fashion in much the same way, when slashed sleeves, grotesquely
imitating the rags of mercenary soldiers, came into style.
accessories, and related materials. Most of the garments belonged to elegant
at the latest. A few dresses, shown together in the catalog as a group titled
castoffs at close range. You could handle them if you wore the white cotton
leaned your nose too near the chiffon or made too broad a gesture toward the
It's more interesting to see what actual couture clients
ordered and wore than it is to look at runway numbers worn only by models. One
noticeable fact is that rich women, unlike beautiful models, are not all tall
and thin. Displays of historical costume have always revealed the way
are molded to fit the mode, with the help of individualized exercise,
garments fitted onto padded mannequins showed that their wearers were of
physical as well as financial substance, and these masterpieces are striking
mainly as imaginative triumphs of individual fit and suitability.
was classic in the best sense, lacking quirkiness and full of internal harmony
even when it was daring, always both beautiful and personal. The ensemble that
clear historic value and great elegance, but not much independent life. It
with a close fit, high collar, and richly draped skirt. Beautifully realized,
very wearable, very simple, it should obviously be worn to lunch, not put on
that most buyers do wear their purchases, prepared to sacrifice currency for
Among the named original owners, the most palpably present
designer, whose masterpiece here must have suited her perfectly. For this
black lace. Covering the breasts was a joined pair of black velvet,
navel in front, and swept diagonally back in a bigger V to the bottom of the
attached to thin black ribbons that climbed over the shoulders. Two other
ribbons came around from the sides, and two more rose diagonally from the hips
halfway down the rear plunge, all six converging between the shoulder blades
with a bow. Two more bows appeared on the shoulders and two more
correspondingly at the hips where the lower two ribbons began. Like almost
everything in the whole group, this amazing dress combined complexity and
simplicity, sensuality and decorum, refined wit and strong impact. French
years, solidly backed up by visibly inventive tailoring and visibly exquisite
fabrics and craftsmanship. The result is an undeniable beauty whatever the
mode, a beauty specifically meant to render the individual wearer beautiful,
Look to Now," mainly focuses on the impact of the garments themselves. The
perceptions of high fashion have slowly altered its character. Fifty years ago,
rarity and the rarity of their wearers, faintly implying that they were all
proportioned rooms. Fashion shows were designed as exclusive events. Fashion
photography aided that impression with formal views of nameless, thoroughbred
models. Since then, all fashion has gradually become a branch of popular
entertainment that involves everybody in its creation of vast revenues, through
carefully fostered connections with all kinds of celebrity and fantasy.
have the fantasy look of things not made with hands, things always more
fleetingly pungent or allusive than they are authoritatively beautiful, visions
they have been designed, costumes for one performance. Just as with actual
the appeal; everything must look easily conjured up and as easily swept away.
crumpling their clothes as they gaze straight at you, a strap slipping down,
unless they're poised in fragile tinseled drapes and staring from under dream
headgear. Fashion journalists covering the couture are careful to explain the
isn't meant to register on the scanning gaze. The throwaway aspect of popular
inexpensive fashion, now normal since nobody learns to sew, has lent its look
to the costly couture, which more and more seems incompletely imagined and only
But real quality does show at close range. At FIT there is
acetate knit that molds the body better than a glove, with similarly canny
curved seaming. Set into one of these audacious seams is a zipper that begins
between the breasts, snakes up over one shoulder, slithers diagonally down
across the back and swoops forward over one hipbone to continue diagonally
distance, it's invisible on this sleek sea creature.
creation of sartorial beauty will never end. It will only shift ground. Talent
will arise to cut anew and drape afresh, to hang the mirror in another place,
scientist, bills himself a "forensic" scholar. He's fashioned a career out of
demographic records to make her case, the book's supporters attacked him as an
an act of provocation, to say the least, and so it was taken. Last summer,
Books, an imprint of Holt, decided to publish a revised version of
publisher of Holt and a German, to express his outrage.
accused her of having defamed him in her Historical Journal article,
from the government's war crimes division (where she helps build cases against
has demonstrated insensitivity unbecoming a public servant.
historian who agreed to write a preface, backed out. He did
provide a blurb, as did seven other distinguished academics, including the
secondary sources is untrustworthy. (Click here for another
creed; when they rallied against Bolshevik enemies, their audiences did not
strategy, he'd have to write, "Not race but crime served as the prime scapegoat
scapegoat, they occasionally lashed out at the weak." The first adverb casually
Holocaust literature that portrayed the catastrophe as the natural culmination
veneer of social science sophistication to this reductionist point of view.
subtext of Holocaust writing. But they also take pains not to dismiss the
better than anyone, and she has come up with more quietly damning observations.
propaganda, it need not be sincere," she writes. (Click here to see how these statements could instead form part of a
report the same witness's account, on the next page of testimony, of the
and worked to death in the camps. Without minimizing the significance of
totalitarian rule, the hysteria of wartime mobilization, and the effects of
didn't read the article very carefully. I made the mistake of giving my consent
convincingly and authoritatively dismantle its arguments."
masterfully lays bare his gravely flawed use and interpretation of archival
sources. Both authors also raise hard questions about the political reasons for
interpretation of the Holocaust. Their contribution to the debate is, in my
conclusions concerning the politicization of Holocaust historiography, I am
The authors of this volume express serious doubt, which I share. To reduce a
German society as it also permeated other societies is to be simplistic and to
show contempt for the reader. This book rights the balance."
mesmerized by its hypotheses. Fortunately, in an open society all scholarship
is subject to public scrutiny, and the advance of historical knowledge cannot
do without rigorous criticism of the kind provided in this important and
essays constitute a sharp rebuttal provoked by the public's and the press's
love affair with a book that casually dismisses excellent work done by others;
that contains many contradictions; and that upholds dangerous myths regarding
It's not my style of writing. But I don't think he's gone beyond the bounds of
scholar who came before him. Two of the blurb writers have quite understandable
peer pressure in explaining why German soldiers participated in genocide; in a
being a Holocaust revisionist. In any event, these blurbs often appear to be
among Social Democrats, intellectuals or workers. Back
of removing the Holocaust from history and turning it into a sort of secular
would deplore if they were implemented in their own countries. Back
rather than two months after, as most historians believe. He bases this claim
on the "conclusive" statement of two former storm troopers. In fact, their
explains, as part of a "defense focused on superior orders as an
Etymology, the study of word origins, often interests people otherwise
uninterested in language. The reason, surely, is that etymology is tethered to
ordinary life in ways that are easy to grasp. Anyone can enjoy knowing how a
early notes reminded people of the wooden sawbuck used in carpentry), or how
word "book" (Germanic tribes used beech staves to carve runes on). We like
There would be no telling of stories at all, of course,
without grammar. But people uninterested in language issues are content to
remain uninterested in grammar. Grammar, the genetic blueprint of meaning,
operates at a level of abstraction. Nouns and verbs and other parts of speech
are considered not as familiar individuals but as members of different species.
Their interactions are considered as elements of an ecosystem. Grammar is hard
that make it possible to see the dynamics of linguistic grammar in a
book with the unprepossessing title The Visual Display of Quantitative
presenting numerical data in a graphically arresting manner. This tour de
recognized as a classic by data wonks and makers of fine books alike. It has
analysis of such improbably compelling genres as railroad schedules and balance
noted, that illustrates "how multivariate complexity can be subtly integrated
into graphical architecture, integrated so gently and unobtrusively that
viewers are hardly aware that they are looking into a world of four or five
in that first volume of his trilogy, but it has turned out that the whole
statistical honesty" whether the subject is traffic deaths or the distribution
of galaxies. The second book in the series, Envisioning Information
than numerical reality: the depiction of cartographic information, diagrams,
and signage. (What's the best way to show sunspot activity, for example, or the
processes and can therefore function as explanatory narratives.
information that would have delayed the launch was undeniably "there"
element whose malfunction contributed to the Challenger tragedy. After
presenting his own version of what the charts should have looked like,
displays that reveal truth and displays that do not."
analogs in writing. (Hierarchy, for instance, is the building of large
structures out of small ones, be they nautical charts out of soundings or
sentences out of morphemes.) Aware of the parallels between visual grammar and
understanding of each. In one place he shows how the rhetorical shape of a
paired images and a ribbing of parallel verbs, finds a visual counterpoint in
works of landscape design and even dance notation. (To get the full picture, so
to speak, you'll have to look at the book yourself.) An entire chapter is
devoted to the concept of "smallest effective difference," showing how
distinctions that are subtle but clear (two light colors on a map, say) can be
be not just fastidious but also an evocative and wonderfully quirky writer.
page, since there's no room to show them stretched out like the other rivers.
around a tight frame." That word boustrophedon describes writing that goes from
left to right on the first line, then right to left on the second, then left to
for a biotech company that offered prospective parents "children made to
cure had been reported. Considering the difficulty of such relatively simple
"There's not a chance in hell," said a conference participant, geneticist
recombine all those genes and get a desired effect."
sequencing and identifying all human genes, was intrigued enough to see
the ethical reverberations of genetics quite a bit these days. What he worries
about most is genetic redlining, where claims adjusters use tests, which he has
insurance. What fascinates and horrifies artists, on the other hand, is the
and books, artists have dreamed up complex nightmares of genetic determinism,
animals into men until the misshapen creatures revert and kill him, the forces
of nature overcoming man's civilizing artifices. From The Boys From
scientist; something gone terribly, terribly wrong.
scientist is no longer mad, because he has no illusions of mastery. Instead,
he's a lone and often belated moralist, eaten up with remorse and anxiety,
pushed into unsavory experimentation less by runaway curiosity than by
unscrupulous corporate overlords. Genetic manipulation is a given. The yucky
thing is the profit motive. And the mistreatment of lab animals.
at the space agency. The hero, in a sense, is the company doctor, who helps
warehoused. Arriving to investigate, he finds them standing around a campfire,
In the end, his nostalgia for fuzzy critters results in an act of defiance
against his corporate boss: He throws biotech and science to the wind and helps
The misgivings of scientists are particularly shrill in
reflecting capitalism's relentless remaking of the world in search of
The genetically altered kids are exceedingly bright, ambitious, and nerdy, as
if cloned from Bill Gates, and grow up believing that a person's only value is
force the moral issues. They're sloppy, imperfect products, trying desperately
to live up to an ideal of progress. "Are we not men?" they plaintively ask.
mischief. "To this day I have never troubled about the ethics," he says of his
have given scientists pause, but the doubts they occasioned came too late. They
didn't stop the arms race or radiation experiments using human guinea pigs. The
Human Genome Project, in fact, was built using the infrastructure of the
division to explore the social and ethical ramifications of genetics. Its
forcefully denounced that prospect at Senate hearings held last spring.
scientists talk a great deal more about God than does the rest of the world,"
she writes. "What is that but an obeisance to the shadow of the God who ran
off, the God they drove off when bold and young and frightened of nothing!" But
will be filled with Orthodox families wandering to and from shul, the women in
wigs and long dresses, the children otherworldly in clothes bare of sports
and check out the work of a group of young novelists busily turning the
fulfillment. What the new generation embraces is the past, a godly past hedged
of being forced out of her sect by her own intellectual and sexual curiosity.
she all but rejects that rejection. The narrator is an unhappy ad copy writer
before she can make something like peace with her life.
rabbinical courts? The difference has everything to do with the passage of
and imagination to a kind of writing all but given up for moribund, and
even she has gone native. In a brilliant novel published last year, The
themselves, who are much less vacuous than predicted and insist that they, too,
characters, who are the children of Holocaust survivors, the right to suffer
this year (though it was written in the '50s and set even earlier). It is a
stunning, heartbreaking novel, the darkest and most modern of his works,
whether cultured cosmopolitans or members of the pious bourgeoisie, don't
suddenly convert to fundamentalism; that's a specialty of godless
and carry their rituals off with comparable ease. Ease, that is, compared with
frets about them: "They are good people," he tells his son. "But they are very
the religious, alive. It is the most important, but they have lost the other.
They have forgotten the poetry. There is not one of them who is what we used to
has two advantages over her characters. With an advanced degree in literature,
success of her novel lies in its casualness, the way it makes the extremes of
that, unlike other members of fundamentalist sects one might find in novels,
her characters don't chafe at their restrictions, or not too much. At the
practical things for her." Indeed, she's one of the few deeply observant
The sacred is not mysterious to her." Rather, she "romanticizes the secular.
Poetry, universities, and paintings fill her with awe." It's typical of
revelation of a most unambitious ambition: She wants to open a kosher grocery
requires, for example, permission from the rabbi and renting from an
the edges of her life, but she doesn't yearn to escape it, exactly. She has
merely learned that her leaders are capable of stupid mistakes in their
dealings with her. She has no intention of leaving, first because her doubt is
not enough to sever her from her husband and children and second because that's
prodigal, one duller but more loyal; the Holocaust survivor numbed by his past;
at least, despite bits of soggy sentimentality; she makes you care. (The
white trash.) And whatever one's quibbles, Goodman should be credited with
was belabored and cartoonish; it kept coming back long after it seemed to have
drawn its last breath. World War II is what really did it in, since the gas and
rubber shortages prevented large groups from going on the road. But once the
big band no longer played dance music, it morphed into some strange, decadent
tradition that survived in altered form was that of the mood arranger, who went
from scoring music for big bands to orchestrating tone poems for individual
Deluxe, semiclassical, and exotic, a hydroponic creature of the recording
studio, this music can't be understood simply as jazz. It's a lot more
But instead, he walked the tightrope between commercial and art music. His
extra arrangements for his band. The music from that period was slow and
haunting, moving like someone trying not to sweat on a boiling day. It had no
vibrato and a lot of French horn, which would be combined with clarinets or
too intense and inward; as he noted in his autobiography, he was struggling to
likewise, he never had any problem understanding that jazz was a form of
T >he duality of high art and mass sensibility is at the heart of
jazz, are for the most part rendered useless by the intricately accented horn
charts within the 19-piece ensemble sound. The orchestra gathers around the
soloist, rather than the soloist trying to ride the waves of the orchestra, and
way to oboe, which slides back into trumpets, and the progression into the
fourth measure, with nothing but the treble of muted trumpets in unison, feels
like an airplane taking off. (Its power as an organic whole is no accident:
Miles Ahead was recorded in bits and pieces, and "The Meaning of the
shifting its emphasis from the first and third beats to the second and fourth,
constantly renewing a stirring chill. Sketches sets up processional
trickles of harp or flute from the rest of the mass. It is music of painstaking
The records were received as instant masterpieces, in
breathless appreciations that couldn't begin to take in the complex way that
you hear his music most often being played by repertory bands. One of the most
a major jazz metaphor, one that more commercial composers would never try to
toward that end: He has provided a 6.5-second "pause track" on each CD, so that
you can reflect on what you've just heard. He writes that it's the first time
he's added such a track. Music that conjures up a sense of suspended time and a
still, suburban afterglow seems a perfect occasion for its debut.
attempted to excuse his client's behavior with a convoluted explanation, Judge
One can almost hear the appreciative chuckles from the
venues. And yet someone should have risen to say, "Objection!" It is common to
designed less to seek the truth than to make a case, a form of argument that
at times cunningly equivocal or downright deceitful. Aside from pure
broadest possible leeway to individual behavior. This form of justification,
devoid of any overtones of prevarication: "subtle, intricate, moralistic
reasoning, informed by a rigorous logic" is his definition. I am not as
slight risk: It may be wielded as a slur and received as a compliment, or vice
commentaries on the commentaries (the process goes on and on) cannot be faulted
for using guile to arrive at a congenial "truth." But the word has its own
As a result, even infinitesimal details are treated with the utmost
affairs (for instance, civil and criminal law, dietary laws, the status of
women), it also considers issues that have no practical application at all, and
sometimes delves into matters that may seem utterly fanciful.
sauntering past, something struck me. Blondes were everywhere, their bright
thatches catching the sun, but until that minute, I hadn't taken proper notice
blond hair actually covered their scalps all the way to the roots. Everybody
had abundant streaks or sizable tracts of blondness, all supported by dark
Natural blondness, once the badge of physical and moral perfection, now marks
longer enticingly innocent and desirable but boringly earnest, naive, and
True blondes used to thank providence for their hair, then
paint their brows and lashes dark to create enough smolder to match its
no trace of the original color was permitted to show. Popular fiction of the
1940s and '50s was full of scathing descriptions of women whose deceptive
blondness was dark at the roots. It was the visual evidence of feet of clay, a
heart of sloth, a general moral degradation. Blondness could be false; but
integrity dwelt in keeping it perfect. Dimming natural blondes would
scrupulously dye the blond back in and touch up all traces of shadow at the
sober or smoldering brunettes leave their natural roots in place and add
blondness to taste, as a patent ornament and sophisticated reference. Hair dye
exclusive privilege of prostitutes, actresses, strippers, drag queens, and
anybody who didn't mind being taken for them. Now it is modish for both sexes.
not afraid of their beauty secrets and can appropriate their willful blondness
1980s, when kids bleached the top half of their spiky hair so they could dye it
remained; and when the whole thing grew out, the dark roots showed up under the
of body piercing. These evolving styles were much deplored by the mainstream at
the time and have duly been adopted by all and sundry.
her blond pile of hair covering only the top half of her skull, her nape and
blond mane and an inch of dark roots, the new ideal of perfect blond young
womanhood. And there on the next page was the old ideal. It was the Grace Kelly
scalp out of her pure mind and elegant soul and reverently coiled into a
Next I looked at blondes from the more distant past. Titian
is the most famous for painting golden hair, along with his many Venetian
Renaissance followers, and it's also well known that ladies in Renaissance
with their rippling cascades and looped braids of brilliant yellow hair. But a
closer look shows they all have dark eyes and dark eyebrows and that their hair
spreads from a center part where at least an inch or two of dark roots is
clearly visible on either side. You can usually see more darkness along the
function as a sort of witty allusion to an outworn creed.
humanist High Renaissance, golden hair brought to mind the secular and
golden hair, flowing down from the Virgin's head in a natural veil, suggesting
the descending rays of an ultimate blessing from above. Eve wears it too, as do
the mark of God's favor, affirming the signal beauty of the old pagan deities
altered world that natural blondness should have such sacred power no longer.
Instead, we have reinvented the much more flexible and imaginative Venetian
blondness. We have a new awareness of how limiting and unfair the cult of fair
welcomed. Its varicolored roots have grown in for all to see and for all to
reckon with. Blondness has become just one of the many attractive ways to adorn
was to stimulate discussion. In that, the list has been a success. It has
engendered not merely discussion but objection, accusation, abuse, and
standards but no less fascinating for its shortcomings, and no less culturally
pick of things wrong with the list. It fails to recognize acknowledged classic
"prominent" persons, including celebrities and politicians; that makes it an
arbitrarily conducted test of popularity. It is designed to stimulate video
rentals; that makes it a commercial list. At least one columnist has argued
For the sake of argument, let's stipulate that the way the
that is at best controversial and at worst dumbfounding. But controversy is
cinema scholarship, and educated judgment. It nods to expertise by anointing
expertise. It thereby marks another stage in the decline of cultural
popular) long exerted by critics, educators, repertory programmers, film
but in recent years their influence has been waning. (Compare the influential
more choices than it had a generation ago, and vastly more power as a result.
transformed access to film's past. The old classic rep houses are now mostly
daily struggle to survive was the first attempt to join documentary filmmaking
overcome Nature. Once one of the world's most popular works, today
culture were not only closer in time to the silents, they also acknowledged
their stature, and stature mattered to audiences then more than it does now.
compilation reflects more than just technological change and the shifting power
to confer "greatness," however. It also suggests a change in the characters the
especially notable in the genre films on the list, the tales of tough guys,
dames, cowboys, spacemen, and gangsters traditionally at the heart of popular
most of them represent their genre in its late period-- The Godfather
so on. These are indeed great films: powerful, handsome, strikingly edited. But
in many ways, they seem just the opposite of the movies from which they
developed. There is a startling difference between the gangster romanticism
end, you knew they were bad: They broke their mothers' hearts and paid too high
The same is true of the cowboy and the tough guy. There are
traditional cowboys and tough guys on the list, but the former (as in
their stars than for their dramatic power. The old western was almost always a
features existentially disillusioned outlaws going out in a montage of bloody
worldly wise woman on the list. The tough cities that such women and their
fugitive men once haunted are nowhere to be found. The seductive and corrupting
themselves to sound cultural interpretation. But there is an upheaval in canon
is and isn't. The alternative is sitting in the dark, waiting for a show that's
missed the link, click to see how the influence of cultural gatekeepers has
in the town where he achieved his greatest revolutionary victory. You might
itself, where glamour, like everything else, remains under state control.
not, after all, the best of communists. He was, in his dashing manner, the
democratic or libertarian impulses, quick to order executions, and quicker
still to lead his own comrades to their deaths in doomed guerrilla wars. Love
of the Soviet Union was his first instinct, and when he evolved a second, more
critical instinct, it was only because the Soviet leaders turned out to be less
and a frightening abstract hatred, who in the end recognized only one moral
value as supreme: the willingness to be slaughtered for a cause." But I am
himself, yet a figure of great importance in the revolutionary history of the
offering a political method that, in the long run, had disastrous effects on
whoever tried to uphold it. Guerrilla war imposed a militarist logic and closed
was good. His ideas were hopeless; but he remains the embodiment of an ideal.
man, the child of his continent, who knew how to die for his generous ideas in
dream, and who earned a place in history precisely because he refused to yield
what is most just and dignified in the human spirit." And so forth, one
commentator after another, which would be hard to believe, except that right
military writings. And the mania is not just a matter of mass culture.
emblem." But then, I can understand that particular confusion. A couple of
though I knew better, I ended up adding a superfluous nod to the innate
"nobility" of this man whose fanaticism and lack of human sympathy brought
say such things? It is not because of the doctrines of communism. It is because
of the doctrines of glory, which are much more primitive. What is glory? This:
commitment that expresses itself in only one way, by a willingness to kill
other people on its behalf, and to be killed in turn. A commitment, finally, to
defeat. For victory is always partial and compromised, but defeat and death are
total and grand. Victory is secular; defeat is sacred.
survived his guerrilla adventures, and was today an elderly figure,
would not be straining their brains to draw ever finer distinctions between the
man's calamitous influence and some undefinable greatness.
aspects of the French Revolution, had betrayed the revolution's democratic
glamour. They would say: He was wrong, but he was great. It was a question of
having failed spectacularly, and not having flinched. It was the appeal of
Napoleon had tried to conquer with the sword instead of with the mind. Yet a
keep you in their memory,      Day as beautiful as glory,      Cold as the
as beautiful as glory, cold as the tomb. And because the cult of glory feeds on
defeat and not on victory, we can be sure that, like the passion for Napoleon
that at its root the problem is a matter of genre. The thing is, child abuse as
currently conceived is hopelessly Gothic. Stories about child molesting are
populated by evil monsters and helpless innocents (rather than flawed or
unfortunate humans), and they languish in a miasma of sinister eroticism. Child
molesting is thought to be so evil, so far outside the bounds of civilization,
that no means of exorcism can be considered too harsh or prone to error.
same time, though, the evil is elusive and invincible. How can we prevent
continue to molest, no matter what the penalty. (Never mind that the recidivism
rate for child molesting is less than half the reported burglary rate and lower
than that of many major felonies.) How can we catch them before they start? We
suggestion. How can we tell whether "recovered memories" are accurate? We
can't. How can we make sure trials convict molesters and acquit the falsely
accused? We can't. Child abuse is horrible; child abuse is inevitable.
The consequence of this conceptual impasse, according to
the same script over and over again, claiming all the while to be "breaking the
silence." Their monsters differ (Satanic pornographers and incestuous rapists
on the one hand, megalomaniac therapists on the other), as do their helpless
in some nasty little way exactly what we want. It's pleasurable. The more we
exclaim how horrified we are by child molestation, the more we can permit
ourselves to linger, in a way that's not far from lascivious, over images of
childish bodies. (Little tummies! Little bottoms! Little feet!) The more we
condemn the perversity of child beauty pageants, the more we get to watch
death. But there's more. Talking about abuse not only permits guiltless
us why we are the way we are and gives us someone to blame, and it deflects a
sense of cultural or moral decline onto a group of particular individuals. In
symbiotic relation with sanitizing, and the veiling and the exposing exist in
the sciences that investigate its perversions, in fact talked and wrote more
people enmeshed in this culture of sex could no more escape or stand outside
nothing if not an optimist, though, and he believes that if what's wrong with
of all by acknowledging, rather than suppressing in a panic, the erotic
feelings we have about children: We should realize that finding children
prosecutors so nicely put it. And then we should follow the series of steps
everything backward, looking always to the past for sources, explanations, and
advises thus: "If you find yourself getting too excited, going too far, wanting
It's possible to dismiss such prescriptions as naive, but
ideas need. No, the problem with his analysis is not the prescriptions, nor is
it his occasional failure to restrain himself in the silly jokes department
("Innocence is a lot like the air in your tires: There's not a lot you can do
real problem with our obsession with child sexual abuse is that it distracts us
from other kinds of abuse that affect far more children than molesting does:
boring, unsensational kinds of abuse such as poverty, neglect, and bad schools.
The question, though, is why these things should be considered child
dimensions of the Romantic child cult. We should still adore the child as the
children is considered somehow much worse than abusing adults, child
to say things like "even one child abused (or hurt or hungry or killed) is
unacceptable"; whereas politics needs to be able to weigh risks to some people
abuse legislation specific to children. Our zeal in defending children is not
universal and not to be taken for granted. Why do we have special charities
because it killed children? Why do we decide custody cases according to the
best interests of the child, as opposed to the parents' interests? This
directive of which takes effect as soon as summer comes to a close. By the
put into place the first elements of the government's Plain Language
Initiative, which aims to make the government "more responsive, accessible, and
understandable in its communications with the public." Those elements include
the use of something called Plain Language in all documents other than official
contents of the daily Federal Register --must come into compliance by
Plain Language? Ordinary English speakers might well give different answers,
but according to the government, Plain Language uses short sentences; common,
everyday words "except for necessary technical terms"; and "you" and other
accompanying the president's memorandum notes that the Plain Language
Initiative, which now forms a part of Al Gore's "Reinventing Government"
charged with promoting the regulations, states on its Web site, "We are guided
by a small steering committee." Ah, well: There is nothing intrinsically wrong
with the passive voice, and the active voice sometimes sounds stilted. Besides,
What impact the full force and majesty of the United States
government can actually have on the English language remains far from clear. To
be sure, some official language programs have enjoyed success. In the late
to turn the dialect spoken at the royal court into a national language. With
the advent of a standardized court vernacular, a cadre of scribes trained to
circumstances, the spread of the king's English and the king's French was
difference between a dialect and a language, replied, "A language is a dialect
with an army.") Today, of course, government pronouncements constitute a small
and probably shrinking proportion of all verbiage that is in some sense
"national." Apple Computer's "Think Different" advertising campaign may have a
persist in putting pressure on governments to do so. I won't bother mentioning
laws and regulations more straightforward. The campaign has spread throughout
announced a recent cover story of the organization's magazine) and has opened a
tirelessly promoted his version of Plain Language, to which he gives the name
Initiative, its stated ambitions are in truth astonishing. The initial mandates
memorandum also commits the government to cleaning up the backlog. It declares
attention. Should the cleanup include all back issues of the Federal
teachers recently complained that one reason so many of them fared poorly on a
teaching proficiency test was that they were unfairly expected to comprehend a
gloss on our entire constitutional system. Needless to say, the
Federalist essays do not meet the simple strictures of the Plain
it happens, though, the initiative comes with no enforcement provisions beyond
a tolerance and perhaps even a relish for gobbledygook. In corporate staff
meetings, the Wall Street Journal reports, employees everywhere pursue a
game called Buzzword Bingo, in which players score by quietly taking note
bosses. We would all feel oddly impoverished, I think, in a world where the
outcome" or where the occasional plane crash was never described as a "failure
The one area of modern life where I wish Plain Language
years, the words dispensed to the young competitors seem to have become more
of amateur enthusiasts and is accessible only to a specialized class of
words much anymore," lamented the mother of one contestant last spring, after
spelling bee is the venue where children of immigrants triumphantly demonstrate
mastery of their new language. Too often, now, the winners demonstrate mastery
of words that don't sound like English at all. Surely we can do a little better
enormous hope for Reinventing Government. But a few new guidelines for the
doubt about it. He invented sfumato, inaugurated the High Renaissance, and
created what is arguably the cleverest composition in the history of art,
science? The casual visitor to the current exhibition of the Codex
curators describe the 72-page manuscript, on loan to the museum from Bill Gates
on hydraulics, geology, anatomy, flight, ballistics, botany, optics, and
astronomy, as well as designs for all sorts of fantastical inventions. It was
not until the time of the Industrial Revolution that his notebooks, by then
What is the evidence for such deep originality in the
illumined in a series of glass cases at the museum, is not, at first blush, a
seem rarely to have looked at it. "Nothing like three centuries of aristocratic
insisted it be called the Codex Hammer and claimed that he had retained
analytically maddening. At one point, for example, he notes that the higher a
conclusion. But elsewhere in the codex, he maintains that only moving
water produces pressure at the bottom, reasoning that the still water of a
pond, after all, does not press down the grasses that grow on the bottom. Not
only is this breathtakingly wrongheaded, it contradicts the previous
was, not paradoxically, his greatest strength as an artist: his eye. This, for
him, was the ultimate epistemic instrument, one to be trusted over all
classical authorities. "Do you not see that the eye embraces the beauty of the
one had before, precisely what it looks like when two streams of water
was poor at figures. (When he writes, "Let no one read me who is not a
mathematician," he is using the term loosely, to suggest a rigorous cast of
mind.) His ocular observations were in a qualitative vein, hearkening back to
thrust his nicely manicured hands into the guts of dead felons he was
dissecting. But it's disastrous in dynamics, where his experiments led him to
conclude that both the velocity of a falling object and the distance fallen are
logical absurdity. (The only other figure I can think of who had similar claims
contemptuous of it.) The true precursor of the scientific revolution was
an engineering point of view were usually borrowed from contemporaries. His
machine" would not have flown, but that hardly counts against its visual
bravura; one version resembled a calabash shell crossed with a windmill, and
brocade doublets and bad boys with pretty faces. (Since his disciples were
chosen for their looks, he had no distinguished successors.) Little of
Renaissance humanist who regarded his fellow men as "stupid and deranged,"
As of a few weeks ago, however, you could pick up a digitally enhanced, more
one that created problems for the Warren Commission. Among other things, the
film led to a "magic bullet" thesis to account for a lot of wounds from three
after year, measuring prints with calipers, subjecting the movie to "vector
analysis" and performing their own stopwatch experiments, these critics
(including several academics) have discovered the film is not merely evidence
National Photographic Interpretative Center, though nobody knows when. In one
manipulated the film to mask what had really happened. Faked prints were rushed
home movies surfaced, they too were "collected" and altered to match. The
frames were gone, but the stakes on "missing frames" have since risen: One pair
of critics now theorizes that three times as many frames were exposed as we see
implausible moves between frames, the "blink" pattern on the presidential
limo's front lights is said to be uneven, the awful results of the head shot
autopsy, has written elsewhere that portions of the head shot sequence look
grassy background one sees is surely a repeated matte shot, because nobody in
it moves; that the head shot sequence features an optical zoom to eliminate
foreground figures and make it easier to manipulate; that the head shot itself
is an optically collapsed version of two more widely separated hits. Oddly,
researchers, it contained incontrovertible proof of conspiracy (more shots,
say), but just what that proof was depends on which conspiracy each believes
in. A few theorists believe the lost footage showed an assassin actually
masterminds" behind the murder wanted a film they could alter. Otherwise, he
writes, the whole sequence of events is just "too convenient."
conspirator. At least it gives the film a surprise ending.
of "government" is in large measure coverage of politics, so also do
discussions of "language" get skewed toward issues of usage and etymology. In
ways. Yet most of us give little thought to how, say, there came to be spaces
between words, or why English has the letters that it does, or how the
mechanical means of writing affects the nature of writing.
to time, however, language infrastructure pokes momentarily into public view. I
lecturer in paleography at Oxford, enjoyed a certain modest vogue. This work
anonymity from the important work of commas, periods, dashes, colons,
backward and used to indicate a question that is purely rhetorical. It is a
This fall another noteworthy volume on the apparatus of
how footnotes became an essential element of the "narrative architecture" of
historical writing. This is not a reference book to be consulted but an
excursus to be savored, by a writer with a studied sense of style. "To the
inexpert," he writes in one place, "footnotes look like deep root systems,
solid and fixed; to the connoisseur, however, they reveal themselves as
anthills, swarming with constructive and combative activity." Elsewhere he
writes: "Unlike other forms of credentials, footnotes sometimes provide
author's colleagues. Some of these are inserted politely." He sympathetically
quotes Noel Coward's observation that having to stop for a footnote is
sometimes like having to answer the door while making love.
momentous time in the life of the footnote. On the one hand, encouraged in part
by the cultural ascendance of irony, and by recreational obeisance to the
footnote has become increasingly prominent in recent years in journalism,
criticism, and fiction. (For examples, see the effective but very different
hand, the footnote as scholarly reference tool or scholarly reference weapon
rather like a tank." In law, the analysis of footnotes even sustains a new
is the mastery of electronic information, an undertaking that offers
opportunities for utility and mischief on an incomparable scale.
good reason but usually without attending to the other chapters in this story."
footing, doubtless had a more pervasive influence on the formal output of
commentary in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire remain more
accessible and entertaining to ordinary readers. Gibbon straightforwardly
the gods in his Meditations for giving him a wife "so faithful, so
gentle, and of such a wonderful simplicity of manners." Only in the annotation
deceived, if the wife condescends to dissemble." We owe a debt to the
out of the back of his volumes and to print it at the bottom of the relevant
back through time in search of antecedents. Medieval commentators ardently
"glossed" the margins of documents with references and asides. These, "like the
historian's footnote, enable the reader to work backward from the finished
argument to the texts it rests on." Religious writers in antiquity penned
notations that sometimes, we now know, were later absorbed wholesale into the
primary text itself. The structure of footnotes grew increasingly elaborate
mainly because of the rediscovery during the Renaissance of a wealth of old
documentary sources, along with the proliferation of new sources made possible
by the printing press and the modern archive. Some mechanism was needed to make
sense of it all. What is more, humanism and the Reformation set off a fight for
The story can get a little dense, although any reader
captivated by footnotes to begin with has already passed the first endurance
notes, "offer the reader only a thin and fragile crust of text on which to
conjured a memorable image of the modern critical historian confronted by, and
determined to derive order from, the boundless quantities of available source
strange feelings that would arise in someone who entered a great collection of
antiquities, in which genuine and spurious, beautiful and repulsive,
spectacular and insignificant objects, from many nations and periods, lay next
of the world's most populous countries were compelled to relinquish their hold
apparently, in his nation's constitutional system of checks and balances. Both
public statements they made, but they did use language that seemed to indicate
committed himself to running "a clean government, free from corruption,
noises. It signals that the noisemaker under discussion may be no more than a
all, could not possibly be taken in by the noisemaker's blandishments. It also
leaves open the unlikely possibility that the actions will indeed live up to
Making all the right noises, carrying the connotation just
1970s and early 1980s. It surely evolved from earlier use in more literal,
straightforward contexts (for instance, to describe the sound of an automobile
nonjudgmental phrase to make noises (that is, to express oneself about
something), a construction that happily accommodates all manner of adjectival
circulatory system. Today it is applied in a wide range of circumstances,
especially when the noises being talked of invite a presumption of hollowness,
make all the right noises about economic reform, but his own ties to the
of the tendencies of Scripture translation in recent decades, it would hardly
making all the right noises achieves wide usage quickly is this simple
one: The phenomenon of empty talk is so prevalent that new ways of describing
welcome. As it happens, many wonderful terms for empty or hypocritical talk are
service, as in the phrase to pay lip service --from the act of raising
one's voice publicly in prayer or song while inwardly harboring contrary
the New York Democrats currently vying for the nomination to run for the Senate
"paying lip service to gay issues.") Similarly, lip salve is
insincere flattery, though it may be enjoyed by the recipient nonetheless as a
formed numerous slang combinations whose meanings touch all the compass points
of verbal intention. To shoot from the lip is to speak rashly. To zip
your lip is to shut up. To invite someone to read your lips is to
noises possesses just enough color to be memorable and yet not so much
color as to cloy. It may be in for a long run. In contrast, one has to wonder
about the longevity of its main rival in the linguistic marketplace right now:
talking the talk, but not walking the walk --a vivid expression from
black English that seems lately to have become a mandatory part of the
repertoire of white politicians, corporate executives, consultants,
motivational speakers, newscasters, and sportswriters. A person who talks
the talk and walks the walk is one who acts naturally and stylishly, whose
words and behavior are of a piece; a person who talks the talk without
insincere. The incorporation of walk the walk and talk the talk into
may not bode well. One need only remember how the appropriation of the verbs
expression has found favor was brought home a few weeks ago when Archbishop
this injunction to the young man: "When you teach, be sure you receive the word
into your heart before the word forms on your lips. Walk the walk and talk
the talk. Don't preach one thing and turn around and do something
assume that the new priest, in response, made all the right noises.
sooner sloughed into despond than I came across the following sentence in an
denying," Lewis wrote, in the finale to an antic "Campaign Journal" series that
saw him parting the crowds around various presidential entourages with the
inform the public than a lust to become rich and famous."
that has been formed from the name of a person, place, or thing
shown weeping. Masochism comes from the name of the demented
reporting that emphasizes hard analysis of serious issues and eschews the cult
confirmed that this meaning was precisely the one intended, and said that, as
far as he knew, his use of it in the New Republic marked this proper
noun's maiden voyage as an adjective. Fallows himself, affably abashed, was
of them in the ordinary stock of the English language, a figure that does not
include the many eponymous words in the specialized languages of science,
engineering, and especially medicine. The use of eponyms in medicine is steeply
on the decline, but ordinary eponyms, linguistic experts say, are enjoying a
growth spurt these days. According to citations in recent newspapers and
use every means possible to sabotage a nominee to high office). An eponymous
metaphoric senses. For instance, the verb is used to mean "to deprive of vigor"
leadership when confronted with Democratic tirades." (Linguistic note from
The surge in eponyms is no doubt related, in part, to the
employed than they are today, when millions of invented, incorporeal identities
are in play in all kinds of electronic communication. The married woman who
takes her husband's family name as a surname yet keeps her own family name as a
introduced a new form of patronymic, which takes its place alongside the more
owing to controversy earlier this year over the authorship of the novel
profile in recent months. I don't know what name future historians will bestow
proliferation of commercial brand names is certainly a major factor: Consider
For reasons that hardly need belaboring, it is easier today than ever before
transiently. Memorable eponymous terms require memorable nominal roots and, in
interesting as more cultures are demographically and linguistically annexed.
Also, eponymous terms allow almost anyone to display competence, even
imperfect in its assessment of human behavior. "If all the economists were laid
conclusion." Economic terms and concepts, on the other hand, have been absorbed
into ordinary English by the dozens, mainly for their sheer descriptive power.
list one can add a pair of complementary economic terms that is emerging from
newly diversifying, the other its mirror image, just beginning to find a
words, the amount of value added as wood metamorphoses from tree to lumber to
house, or as oil is refined from its captured state into petrochemicals, and
glancing attention. The tax, conceived around the time of World War I and now
value during a commodity's industrial transformation.
"processed." Or, it can refer to any product that includes some special feature
that comes in a container with a screw top.) Putting words such as "healthy,"
might otherwise seem like casual appropriation. A recent article in the
Marbles from the Acropolis, we should expect their prominent display in the
not enhanced but somehow diminished with each step in its manufacturing or
shirts so ugly and poorly cut that not even Soviet consumers would buy them.
Hence all that spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting, and sewing actually removed
years, it is acquiring traction in public parlance largely because of
trying to make something out of them. ("That is why," the Economist
observed a few years ago, in its trademark tone of languorous hauteur, "when a
suck social and economic vitality from the rest of the country. Some management
consultants describe dysfunctional interactions with one's fellow workers as
customers who demand an inordinate amount of time, money, and morale (and we
have all stood behind them at the bank) have acquired the name
about "laboring to bring forth a mouse," or lament the forests felled to make
possible a terrible book, or recollect an experience of working by committee.
The idea that value may decrease as a result of the very efforts made to
increase it is an essential part of human experience, and it will ensure
theme of the song," he wrote, "is two people boring each other with talk, talk,
talk.") Various readers offered citations from the television shows The
performers to generate "crowd chatter" in theater productions include
rhubarb; peas 'n' carrots, peas 'n' carrots, peas 'n'
discussion, is commonly heard in Japan as an expression roughly synonymous with
advisers have convened to discuss an extraterrestrial communication in the form
That isn't, in the end, what the aliens have in mind, but
been enjoying a prominent vitality these days, as befits an era that values
frontal hostility far less than it does insidious subterfuge. "Year of the
and brought within its walls. It immediately achieves an afterlife as metaphor
prize so glorious that China's Communists cannot leave it outside the gates but
which, once inside, will destroy those in power" with its irrepressible example
of roiling capitalism and affluence, and its concentrated economic power.
horse has found further application in recent months in the realm of
plastic surgery. The phrase refers to a bodily overhaul so extensive as to
their way into acceptance by the body's cells, and then cause illness; and the
instructions secretly embedded in computer software, making possible various
kinds of unauthorized or unintended outcomes ranging from theft to breach of
database managers, and weapons experts at the Pentagon, afflicted thousands of
ordinary consumers in the course of an episode concluded by the Federal Trade
Internet. Consumers were unaware not only that they were placing such a call,
bills to individuals, soon suggested the existence of a problem.
stealth to it as a modifier. The relatively recent term stealth
candidate has had two meanings. One refers simply to a candidate who seems
common, meaning harbors an element of deviousness: Stealth candidates in state
secular conservative issues in their campaigns but failed to disclose that
their candidacies had been covertly planned and energized by the religious
right. Stealth in both usages obviously builds on the precedent of the
penetrate enemy air defenses undetected. The aircraft, in turn, eventually gave
reminiscent of the Stealth Bomber's design, bearing the motto "They'll Never
confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive," a concern that might have been
agent who has burrowed deep into a society or government. The connotation is of
Cold War provenance and was given broad currency in large part through the
population who sympathize with an enemy's aims, and may render assistance when
effect that his four columns of troops would be supplemented by a civilian
the term seventh column was applied later to those whose carelessness
led to industrial accidents. If every new refinement since then in the quiet
sapping of our national morale has earned a numerical "column," then by now, I
luggage that they know won't fit into the overhead storage bins) or possibly
reporters and commentators seeking context for the national controversy over
board's action. They were written two decades ago, when the vernacular used by
first round of national attention, partly as a result of influential works of
districts to take account of Black English. The most remarkable element of this
story, in other words, is how unchanging it is. The central pedagogical
problems (low achievement by large numbers of black students, and how to reach
these students), the scholarly arguments (how should Black English be
characterized?), the flashes of racial feeling, the sober (and dyspeptic)
resolution whose ulterior intentions remain unclear, but which, at the very
"black," and "phonics"). The resolution asserts that deficiencies in black
recognized and somehow dealt with. What might "somehow dealt with" involve?
conflict with the wording of the resolution itself on such issues as whether
something that teachers simply should be given financial incentives to be aware
stifle criticism. (Click to read the full text of the resolution.) The
educational politics of this issue will no doubt play themselves out in the
publicity (that being where experimental educational programs that involve the
putting on airs, but what many linguists prefer to call "Black English
stream that has been flowing within recognizable channels for centuries.
English Vernacular is not considered a separate language by most language
specialists or, for that matter, ordinary people. (As one commentator has
recently noted, the complaint about rap lyrics is not that they can't be
displays features that one finds nationwide, owing to its roots in the black
migration from a common region, the South. There are telltale characteristics,
of consonant clusters in general (so that "first" becomes "firs" and "hand"
'round, come 'round"); the dropping of the copula ("I here," "the coffee cold")
and of certain tense inflections altogether. The ancestry of vernacular
elements such as these is diverse and includes antique forms of English and
Second, disagree as one might with the highhanded approach
confronting urban schools defies armchair comprehension. Discussions around the
classrooms belies that notion. Those interested in acquiring some (sanitized)
writing skills to black students who don't have them might consult the
several brief introductory chapters, the book settles into a detailed program
of lessons and drills. The therapeutic lesson plan I suggest for speakers of
arguing for years that, whatever its original sources, the language of poor,
invariant "be" to indicate continuous or habitual action ("he be late"),
win you a supporting role as a villain. But the rules are different for the
role of the tragic, troubled, and ultimately noble Good Guy.
virtuous hero throughout, so much so that at the film's end, the authorities
blithely grant him his freedom. Similarly, last year's The Devil's Own
Own do). Most also pay lip service to the idea that murder is not the
solution to political problems, generally by making the hero a regretful killer
who wishes he could just put down the gun. Yet all these films are suffused
an old man, beats women, and bombs pubs. Yet in every case, the villains are
existed only as a shadowy fringe group. But the turmoil of the 1960s, during
which a movement for Catholic civil rights led to sectarian violence, brought
never repudiated the use of terrorism or the targeting of civilians.
members look and act more like professional criminals than like
the intricacies of a crime, all the more when it's for a good cause.
the true believer does, especially when it's festooned with the trappings of
with its noble heroes, amoral enemies, and glorious deaths. It's no surprise
political structure or foreign policy, a more moderate line in social policy
revolutionary phase of development. Currently, its advance is generating the
electorate's desire for change and may become a significant landmark in the
country's history. Offered a clear choice of candidates and policies for the
voted to overturn the social and cultural restrictions that have become
reputation for supporting liberal policies during his tenure as minister for
stressing the importance of civil society, individual rights, a wider role for
women, and greater freedom of expression. This allowed him to appeal to a broad
range of constituencies that have eschewed electoral participation since the
received the overwhelming backing of the intelligentsia, the urban middle
the existing political system. Moreover, moves to introduce radical
Ultimately, the extent of any shift in domestic policy will depend on the
restrictions is compelling enough, and opt to assist the new president in
Similar transformations in foreign policy, particularly
believe that the other must make the first conciliatory move. There is debate
restricted ethnic base may limit its attractiveness. In contrast, this may not
are believed to have supplied finance. All three countries have an interest in
unifying force. This simple message found a ready audience among the largely
majority of the Afghan population, had not fared well in the civil war.
from work and most education, and men may not trim their compulsory beards. In
southern rural areas, such strictures have been accepted, especially as the
Domestic drug use is severely punished, but heroin production for export is
Molly Bloom's famous monologue and rewriting knotty sentences. Some of editor
attempted classification of an obscure group of blue butterflies known as
deemed still valid, and the two mistakes could be attributed to his not having
had enough samples. In recognition of this achievement, the lepidopterists have
same data, the nation's two leading medical journals have reached opposite
conclusions on the consequences of legalizing assisted suicide. Last winter,
accompanying editorial argued that the Dutch experience should alleviate
fears that legalizing assisted suicide would lead to "widespread involuntary
euthanasia" performed on society's weakest members. A new report in the
physicians had administered fatal doses of painkillers to "fully competent"
patients without their approval. Now each journal is accusing the other of
as Chronic Fatigue and Gulf War syndromes are simply psychological disorders.
The claim has so angered Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers that they've turned
that those who have emotional problems often project their problems onto
others? And so, aren't you yourself doing this?" Other recommended questions
subsequent tapes that didn't contain these words than to those that
with our general cognitive prowess, not with any particular language "module."
problems." In other words, it's not our vocabularies but our ability to string
words together that is a distinctively human evolutionary adaptation.
officials excused the ploy by saying that if community members had known they
that the school had committed a "breach of trust," and promised to be more "up
will set off "World War III between congressional Republicans and the White
the alleged link between campaign contributions and Secretary of the Interior
independent counsel will follow the money back to the White House and
investigate the phone calls anyway, Page explained.
Offering the only new spin on the independent counsel was
the Soviet penetration, injuring democracy and fueling conspiracy theories in
for running such huge trade deficits. Roles were reversed at this summit,
predicted that the coming International Monetary Fund bailout will run into the
be the ultimate victor." Therefore, a show of force will rally the region to
Theory. She said the president reliably says the correct things about foreign
policy and economics, and then reliably blows it by deferring to the
alleged, because they can't accomplish their goal domestically. He added the
non sequitur that nerve gas is more of a threat "to our children than global
Predicting that he would "get a lot of heat" for treating the minister with
confrontational and provocative than a lot of the politicians we talk to
his rallies. His transformation from reasonable man to demagogic bigot is as
saw the president's point. None of the pundits did.
Ordinarily, the press complains about the president
the 30-question romp a "virtuoso performance." Playing to character, two
Instead of noting that anybody who can control the week's news with a press
majority viewpoint that the promise was an obvious campaign lie. But not
day of hunting season, locking and loading in anticipation. The only consensus
race by meeting at the White House with several leading doubters of affirmative
initiatives" with his racial jawboning if he wanted to accomplish anything.
president to augment his racial dialogue with discussion of black racism, jury
nullification, hate crimes perpetrated against white people by black people,
the clock with silly segments on what hypothetical gift each of the panelists
would give to various politicians, and what hypothetical gift they would give
their numerous interruptions of one another in an attempt to calculate who is
The teleplays, adaptations of undistinguished short stories by the author,
world's peoples. Not according to Nancy Shoemaker, an assistant professor of
cites English and French diplomats' diaries and treaty records from the 1720s
best serve comes from the tip of the racket. But why? Cross put his own racket
in a vise grip and hooked it up to instruments designed to measure the bounce
famous serve is generated by a "dead spot" five centimeters from the tip of the
racket, where the ball doesn't bounce at all. The explanation is basic physics:
racket, which, were it in full swing on a tennis court, would return the energy
to the ball, guaranteeing a power serve. For returns, however, the dead spot is
no good; it would just absorb all the ball's energy.
years of Cold War bickering over who gets to name certain disputed elements of
last month, when the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
adding, "you can't investigate the press" and hope to come out on top.
counsel the issue instead of the Sex Pistol in Chief.
tad, or at least bring a froth cup when you appear before cameras.) Former
tin ear for politics as precisely what you want in a prosecutor. Yet even
understand the game, and the law prohibits him from fighting back in
says, where he is vulnerable to charges of perjury, suborning of perjury, and
obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, the pundits scoff at the trial balloon
agreement in principle, but predicting that the whole conflict will be
revisited in a couple of months. The conservatives strafe the deal, because the
the United States is still "frozen into a military response" to the crisis,
large part, Bob didn't spend time on them when they were babies."
Week doesn't get around to the week's real thing (Flytrap) until the
Central rejects the new name as too long and too inelegant for even a first
mention. Henceforth, this column will refer to the show as This Week
them." The weight of pundit opinion may have tilted ever so slightly toward the
But establishment heavies weighed in strongly enough to
the United States should stay the successful course. Late Edition 's Tony
"experts," making clear he prefers the experts. "Most experts recognize that
there is a relatively small zone of policy dispute," he said.
got chewed over with the revelation that the White House had leaned on
administration's late delivery of subpoenaed documents to the president's
"sophisticated litigators," who know how to slow the process down.
talking heads bobbing in unison for a half hour on the deplorable state of
affairs. The "cynicism is reaching a new level," said the dependably earnest
it does for consumers. "We need to innovate," he said eight times if he said it
Million Woman March. This was odd, seeing as each show makes it a point to have
a female panelist. Maybe the march's organizers should have held their
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
visit to the United States and predicts he will toe the same line in China. All
True enough, agrees Al Hunt, but let's not forget that the trial lawyers bought
didn't kill the bill, argues Gigot, the bill killed itself.
says Shields. It proves that he is feckless, says Gigot.
an honest piece of work" and "more than sloppiness" and Brill himself as a
undisclosed campaign contributions and for overstretching his legal case
"It's an interesting story, rather than an important story."
telecommunications firms, luxury car companies) as well as one unexpected spot
racist. Depicting four stages in primate evolution, the cover portrays drawings
"callous and thoughtless science" that trades on historically racist
to alter the image for the book's newly released paperback version, but the
books, filling the void left by the Free Press, reports the Chronicle of
kind of books he'd like to print. He plans to release the first titles in two
has allowed her orangutans to grow too dependent on their human caretakers and
whether she's exposed the animals to human diseases. The publication last month
government is intimating it may bring her up on formal charges.
from the Times Higher Education Supplement titled Consuming Passions:
in troubling times. "Food is the irreducible factor of daily life," she
politics and ideology, to mental or spiritual hopelessness." Other essays
against romanticizing the Roman bacchanalia, since "most ordinary people
experienced famine and lived at subsistence level."
hostile and have pointed to the vast differences between their languages as
proof that they lack a shared ancestry. But biology and the archaeological
to underwrite the costs of moving the institute's archives and library to a
tripled in size. The new institute opened its doors in March.
donations from foreign dictators, routinely denied tenure to brilliant young
resentment, and mall ethnography; and a national conference, held at the
objectives is exposing the privileges that come with being white in order to
culture, will publish its own white issue, in which nonwhite scholars will
second time in six years, the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study in
apparently, impeccable credentials. Despite the unanimous support of the
institute's tiny School of Social Science and a search committee's favorable
say that Wise's scholarship was not up to snuff. Others (including
colleagues in chemistry and physics of harboring a bias against anyone who
following: "To call a claim 'absurd' or knowledge 'accurate' has no more
Astronomers have long assumed that the universe is directionally
physicists reported that polarized light moves through space according to a
predictable but previously undetected corkscrew pattern. This means, they
inferred, that light flows through the universe in one direction, along an
identifiable axis of orientation. (Which end we want to call "up" is up to us.)
the data for errors. The findings could have more than just topographical
implications. Questions they raise include: Was the Big Bang not a uniform
explosion after all? Is the speed of light not always constant?
remains unable to choose a senior scholar to fill a new chair in Holocaust
foisted on reluctant faculty by administrators eager to please wealthy donor
with a job description. When the university proposed a temporary
him notoriety and worldwide speaking engagements but not, as yet, tenure.
has turned his attention to toilet paper. A year ago, the wife of the Oxford
time was thought not to exist in nature but has since been identified in
boredom of tiling the bathroom floor, nor some mathematical doodle. It was a
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
fact that Pundit Central found himself without a clear sense of the article's
laudable effort to "put the press under a microscope." On Fox News
magazine Brill publishes, is more publicity stunt than serious journalism. Wolf
granting Brill an interview. He's somewhere between naive and idiotic, agree
increased trade will prove a more effective strategy.
that Republicans have been emboldened recently by a widely circulated poll
voters are "for [the tobacco bill], but don't care about it." Shields notes
can claim credit. In the absence of legitimate campaign issues, he predicts,
Add "saves need to follow news" to the list of reasons why one should watch
story [presidential scandal]? What should the public know or think about this
is this? During a rare religious segment on This Week (Southern
scholars known as "biblical minimalists" is claiming that the Good Book is
thoroughly worthless as a historical document, and that all future efforts to
biblical story would actually believe in an Exodus event." Discarding the
wrested their land from feudal lords. Traditional scholars respond that, while
the Bible may have a shaky sense of chronology, to dismiss the text entirely is
simulacrum of warmth in a house devoid of people; she represents the instinct
of workmanship to a population long divorced from it." With a nod to another
not much help for a troubled young woman with a fearful secret if a medical
system fails to be personal, complex, creative, [and] sophisticated." In a
snake experts, the skeleton shares many physical characteristics with that of
into a convincing pastiche. "There's no expert in the world who could, without
artificial intelligence algorithms may not produce masterpieces, he promises
said. "God, it would be great to hear a new one.") Music critics complain about
the computer's tin ear, but artificial intelligence experts are impressed.
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
derailed the tobacco deal? It was "gold rush, mob psychology" among greedy
legislators were so entranced by pots of money that they lost their heads and
hopes of creating a campaign issue with which to truncheon the Republicans.
the same underage smoking preventive measures as the Senate's. That is,
Security reforms, at all. (On four of the six shows considering Social
Security, a panel member mentions that the issue was formerly the "third rail
The public is wary of Republicans who want to monkey about
If the stock market crashes, the calls for privatization will simmer down, say
tampering and obstruction of justice, President Al Gore should name him a
"leverage of the ruthless is considerable," says Will.
his opinion that presidential diplomacy is "indispensable" in the New World
the Legacy? With the sex scandal on hold, pundits are back to business as
it? The jaded viewer mocks the gag, then promptly buys it. Most consumers,
studies have shown, believe themselves impervious to the pitiful ploys of
especially vulnerable when advertisers play directly to their skepticism.
bears his burden of blonde and cans with ease. A hot young thing swings on a
at its own satire. The jingle trips the light fantastic, promising the earth
edges? Absolutely, the transition seems to say. Borrowing a
spot playing, as a sign that we're being manipulated, that what we're seeing
raises his can and looks within. He's searching for the beach. The other tries
to open his can, and breaks the lift tab. It's happened to all of
So is the message: Sprite must taste good if the company can risk advertising
very company that's helped inure us to the images being satirized here. Or was
intention and product crystal clear: It's taking on a whole genre on behalf of
a drink that promises only good taste, not the good life.
for him to place her hand on his tented trousers after she'd pleaded for a job
ago. If the Republicans don't define the agenda, the Democrats surely will,
's take on future Brock apologies) for scrutinizing the president's
sex life, which he claims started the whole scandal. (Brock appeared on both
Face the Nation and Meet the Press as part of his Apology Tour
who overstates his historical role. On several shows, Al Gore's plan to spend
executive, a weak legislature, and an efficient but politically neutral civil
continue in the short term if money still flows in from the mainland and
costs and create jobs quickly for a large number of unskilled immigrants.
affairs. If not, the territory's autonomy will suffer. More than ever, Hong
the final say in important matters by appointing those with proven loyalty to
top administrative positions. Next, it wants to make sure that it can influence
justified internationally as being akin to the electoral system that existed in
of issues, as well as civil disobedience by political activists. Chief
degree of administrative leeway unthinkable for his counterparts on the
independent, except when it is handling highly sensitive, politicized cases in
urged China to conduct fair, competitive elections next year. There will also
amount of which will come from China. The territory's gross domestic product is
torrent has moved into the local property market, raising prices by as much as
government itself relies on revenue from land sales to finance its budget,
while banks are too heavily exposed in property lending to allow any property
government land sales, with the ambitious aim of raising the proportion of
technology and developing human resources to meet the needs of its increasingly
inflating asset prices and making the city the most expensive in the world. The
vitality to adjust itself to the needs of the future and that the government
first salvo as the territory's leader is likely to include the introduction of
reproduction in whole or in part without the written consent of Oxford
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
China's general approach to human rights. The televised criticism will have a
a little freedom get started, you can't stop it." "Great stuff," agrees Brit
"very proud of the president," though he believes China's evolution into a free
Many pundits note that at the outset the trip smelled like
support for human rights over commerce just to court votes. Conservatives know
conservatives don't control the White House and therefore have no foreign
policy teeth. "The farther you are away from power, the more likely you are to
(Caveat emptor: the same voices that have been predicting a close for
delivered by a foreign correspondent. Generally, correspondents strike an air
of stern impartiality, just as on the evening news. But not Fox News
Pundit Central, responding to reader mail, has decided to keep stats on the
the first of many weekend warriors to repeat the stock formula about how the
desires while in the White House. If he had violated that deal by having sex
independent counsel could prove obstruction of justice.
president shouldn't be impeached because he lied about having sex. (Perhaps he
morning, feeding off new allegations unearthed by television reporters: He had
report that White House aides were talking about resignation. House Judiciary
how his committee would entertain such proceedings against the president. But
who kept going on about "moral turpitude" in the White House, seemed more
interested in having the president crucified for his sins than in having him
impeached. (Will also described the crisis as "military," all but predicting
hold a press conference, and address Congress. Such a presidential Chautauqua
political stories to financial ones (perhaps sensing that their views on the
can you play tape of that damned bell at the New York Stock Exchange?
incompetent, the pundits weren't completely ungrateful. They lauded him for
Congress' prerogative to shape the news, the shows feigned interest in Sen.
Court ambitions would be ruined by accusations that he had blocked a casino
sounding off about his usual themes. He did introduce one new subject: the
impending rewrite of the patent laws that (he says) will allow foreigners to
seemed ready to suit up for Gulf War II as he enthusiastically summarized
trying to do the best he can in a world where the odds are stacked up against
created by the nonprofit Ad Council, will be run free on television, radio, and
flagship 60-second spot does at least as much to promote the president's
podium complete with waving flag. It moves on to shots of oil paintings of
portentous pronouncement, our expectations are confounded by what comes next.
parent." Appropriately, the camera no longer focuses on the president alone. A
clearly going to be seen more in the second term than in the first) is followed
by one of the first lady, seen next to the president, talking of "drugs and all
the other pressures facing our children." The ensuing images and words evoke
two of her favorite themes: a wider investment in our children (it takes a
reading to a youngster, are followed by a series that shows the first couple
interacting with the children on whose behalf they are crusading. Where the
aim being, of course, to equate involvement with warmth. The first lady speaks
raise good kids," an idea that infuriates ideologues on the right, especially
best they can; everyone, young adults and seniors alike, can "make a
images of the president and the first lady together, of their obvious bond,
speak volumes about their commitment to family values. What would have been
powerful in an explicitly political ad is even more powerful in an ostensibly
at a better time: The scandals aside, he was recently attacked in an
like the coalition for which he is speaking, is "fighting for the children,"
that he's trying to do well at the toughest job in the world. It might also
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
lands on top this week. He's a serious prosecutor, not the rogue we once
direct and egregious opposition to earlier and more public statements holding
defined a conservative agenda that was eventually elected in the person of
Snow questions, all of which essentially ask: Have you decided when to deliver
office is committed to eventually delivering a report (thereby indicating that
contends that, in common conversation, "intern" can signify something akin to
sexual receptacle, ergo no respectable young thing would accept the job
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
in fact, slavery is wrong, ergo it's fine for a president to say
interview but released only two in response to an earlier subpoena. The
cheer from several pundits for admitting no knowledge of whether or not his
lawyers have invoked executive privilege (the president must sign all such
suggests that he wanted to install a successor with all the "charisma of a tree
think he's just crazy or possibly boozed out of his mind.
Pundit Central is shocked-- shocked! --to learn there is gambling at the
attention away from polls (three in just the last week) that show her in a dead
media adviser Mike Murphy, this spot disdains contentious facts and boring
her mother as a role model. This one has both kids going the same route. Not
also gets extra points for having taught by example. As important, perhaps, is
that she has been a caring, fun companion, the glue that keeps the family
much laughter and camaraderie, reprising what is arguably one of the most
images are meant to say: What matters is heart, the desire to do good. The idea
that wealth is venial if pressed into public service is a harder sell for a
are unimpeachable and always have been, her commitment to her various roles
absolute ("she has that ability to go home and forget about all the political
undermine her popularity among female voters by attacking her handling of
successful separation of personal from political does not, however, extend to
prominently uniformed) reminds voters that it is she who deserves credit for
the decrease in crime. And she has "stuck with what she said she was going to
behind a sign that trumpets her "Work First" program, then a shot of her
points out, the governor "wants to do the best that she can" for her voters.
Cool Mom invites its viewers to look beyond an administration's
makes artful use of the personal to validate the political. Whether it can
trump an opponent's attacks and ease an electorate's frustrations remains, of
Basketball is everywhere, and excess is everything. The players are
your face, these icons, chattering relentlessly about success, shoes, hot dogs,
get a break. It isn't a break from basketball, and it isn't a permanent break.
colors animate this Grand Tour, which begins with an overhead shot of the
across an improbably bucolic New Jersey toward the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan
behind her. Cauliflower clouds scud by and birds take wing. The dribbler pauses
at water's edge, then lofts the ball toward Lady Liberty, who reaches for it.
The ruddy basketball and the boy's red, white, and blue togs seem to reinforce
background, you know what's coming. The ball's on the move again. Destination:
Then onward to China, the next pause on the tour, and the Great Wall, which
invites the backboard. And again, there's a shot of the plane, climbing into
the spinning globe morphs into a basketball, the stars around it outlining a
beyond the platitudinous fuzz about basketball being the world's game and the
has increased basketball's appeal among the capitalist underclass, the
the need to "investigate the investigators" and fuming unconvincingly about
the leaks because if the independent prosecutor wanted to leak something, he'd
all in perspective: "Are the leaks the question, or are the facts the
"on the Oval Office carpet," though witness tampering and perjury concern him
also takes a mild drubbing from within: A mad "rush to judgment" is how Mark
Tailgate, though there was far less disagreement. It is "always possible to
pundits caution the administration to look before a leap. We need to think out
the country is in favor of an attack but "unprepared to go to war."
uses the word "deterrence," though he doesn't use "Mutually Assured
found grinding wheels and vials containing dried pollens. Inspired by these
findings as well as by ancient perfume recipes preserved in the writings of
possible. She uses no alcohol or water and imports many of her ingredients from
vandalism, theft, and chronic funding shortages, as well as from pedestrian
measures, including corporate sponsorship of individual villas on the site.
have developed a smell test for insanity. It has long been known that the
breath and body odors of patients suffering from serious mental disorders are
schizophrenia and are working on a breath test. The creators of the test are a
develop the first generation of electronic noses, which produce electric
electronic nose could diagnose patients over the telephone.
chosen a sometime historian of presidential sexuality to help him write his
at New York University's law school, who swept to prominence last year with the
Chronicle of Higher Education last month, involves a man posing as a
invitations. This man claims that he has been robbed en route and is stranded
Middle East. Moved by this plea for help, the duped scholar promptly wires the
had been taken in by the scheme, the Middle East Studies Association posted a
strategy and is hoping to exploit it to battle heart disease and cancer. The
virus insinuates itself into its victims' bloodstreams by using a glycoprotein
(a protein with sugars attached to it) to disable the host's immune response
musicians may be contributing to the despoliation of the rain forests.
a growing demand for flutes, clarinets, and oboes made of rare tropical wood,
to reach the remote regions where the species grow. This encourages peasants to
reach maturity and have proved resistant to plantation cultivation. One
with the problem: Make the precious wood stretch further. The company's
the pharmaceutical industry, had an image problem. Like your friendly
neighborhood politician, your friendly neighborhood drug company was considered
avaricious, monopolistic, loyal only to the bottom line.
charged with the task is a past master at peddling image as product. Head of
convergence of political and commercial advertising. Using one of the former's
most powerful ploys, it chooses to come at the viewer obliquely via a human
face, a human tragedy, that carefully fronts the industry behind.
osteoporosis and the speaker, a young woman whose life it touched. "My
victims who might have otherwise been collapsed into a single statistic by the
her earnest face and voice limning with hope the shots of an ailing elder and
of single, bleak lines of text that bring the disease to life and the living
room. Her speech seems spontaneous, not scripted: The desired effect, of
course, is that she personalize the industry she is promoting, edging it into
briefly recalls happier times, then makes way for this young professional
(she's wearing the mandatory blue suit) describing her grandmother's
degeneration, her increasing frailty and the consequent reversal of roles: "I
had to carry her and hold her as I remember her always carrying me." As we read
the astounding numbers--62,000 osteoporosis victims will enter nursing homes
bones that yield to the gentlest touch. There is a solution in sight, however,
and she tells us that she is a part of it. The stage set, the audience primed,
feels" she is making a difference, that she is a proud member of a group that
is the clincher, which, fusing human face and industry, testifies to a mission
brief appearance, and the spot seesaws right back to the human issue. A
become anyone's reality. Going behind the figures and images, she talks of the
psychological impact of the disease, of the victim's discovery that she is
"that frail old woman she never wanted to become." Then the counterpoint, the
explicit projection of the young woman's company as the harbinger of hope: It
effort to find a drug that will enable a woman to "climb stairs without fear,
and humanity that energize this individual and the behemoth behind her, the
to convince the viewer that she is on the threshold of a wider truth,
we are supposed to decide; more information is a mere phone call away. And this
are in your corner, pulling for you. They're new and improved, like Labor in
bottles, old dogs and new tricks, take a look at those election returns.
The conservatives predicted that this episode, too, would
The smart money insisted that the case would end with a trial and not in a
determine "the effect of weightlessness on orange hair." (On This Week
even bluff interruption in all his bantering with Al Hunt on the week's edition
charged Hunt with one verbal offside, bringing the running interruption total
safe to turn on your television, the political spots are back. No matter that
the president is back in the White House and Newt is in the speaker's
crime. Both image and issue also resonate in the black community, whose
neighborhoods have been hit the hardest by crime. The ad opens like a
traditional biography. "As a young boy," the narrator reassures us, "he worked
to help support his family." The language is precisely calibrated, giving no
details about the child's labors. The accompanying photograph reinforces the
of a small handful, but it strikes a note that will carry through the spot:
tough jobs, but the smile endures. Again, the language is careful, precise;
again, it says little: "When duty called, he stepped forward." The words echo
a new uniform, this time the police chief's. Unfolding headlines reiterate
polling results show the people want change, as usual. "First Black to Lead
Force," the only racial reference, attempts to touch black pride while still
much stronger fillip than a conventional bio spot's recitation of the
Overworked language, no doubt, but effective shorthand that communicates how
St. Louis has been stripped of its vitality as people and businesses have moved
who was ousted by the system and has now stepped up to the plate, yet again.
despite the fact that Bio is mute on his plans, the leaders and cops who
surround him in these scenes provide visual endorsements, suggesting that he
he will "stop corruption" appears over a scene apparently set in a district
attorney's office. This may be fertile ground, and taps a background of
accusations (against the incumbent mayor's father, against the circuit clerk)
and intrigue (about a mysterious murder, and about the mayor himself being
the same message: "Help our city to be great again." What does "great" imply
values," "law and order," "economic growth," and "cleaning up government," all
in "our city"? The visuals first focus on elderly white women and then cut
across racial lines to a mixed group of children, an appeal for change, a break
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
for only one issue this weekend: Secret Service testimony. Well, actually they
take a moment to discuss the politics of homosexuality too.
Service agents cannot refuse to testify before a grand jury. As to the safety
felonious conduct" in front of agents should not cramp any president's style.
legislate some form of protection for agents from a compulsion to testify.
spirited effort to keep the Secret Service agents away from the grand jury
strategies. Liberals predict the agents' testimony will prove unimportant.
cautions readers to beware of pundits bearing predictions (especially the
homosexuality is a curable disorder are distasteful to most voters, agree
funded the campaign intend to mobilize conservative voters and to raise money
sense: A small number of people have indeed practiced then left the homosexual
instance of the rule that divisive social debate conducted in the political
Unto the Representative What Is the Representative's: On Capital
deftness but gets off this quip: "I have no idea whose side you're on or whom
you're defending but I know you just endorsed the New Testament."
you're counting). Then the three were asked to comment on these past thoughts
(none found any errors, of course). As far as Pundit Central knows, this is the
first instance of talking heads elevating their own comments to the status of
newsworthy chat fodder. This makes Pundit Central quite anxious, since
there are letters going out right now by candidates all over the country
raise money: 'The conservatives are coming, the conservatives are coming.'
ungraciousness at best, in failing to credit their scholarship in his recently
appeared this spring, and while both were met with enthusiastic reviews, a
provided neither footnotes nor a bibliography, and made scant mention of
colleagues' work. Now the Chronicle of Higher Education cites complaints
issued a declaration applauding cloning technology and dismissing religious
journal Free Inquiry, the declaration asserts that "the moral
issues raised by cloning are neither larger nor more profound than the
suggests cloning could in fact be fun: "Wouldn't you love to be cloned?" he
suggests that eating disorders may be genetic, not cultural, in origin. Social
critics have long accused women's magazines like Vogue and
Glamour of creating unattainable images of female beauty that have led
to rampant anorexia. But according to the Times Higher Education
which display symptoms of anorexia. The prevalence of "wasting pig" and "lean
recessive genetic trait. "With intensive breeding, an increasing proportion of
at the University of Wales. Still, in pigs, as in human beings, individual
anxiety may be what triggers eating disorders, even among the genetically
early separation from the sow and having to mix with pigs from outside their
own group, which leads to bullying until a new social order is
who speculates about literary authorship using an electronic database of texts
of early modern literature, the 585-line "Funeral Elegy,"
authorship on both lexical and aesthetic grounds. One critic calls the poem a
Riverside edition, observes in his introduction to the poem that it has "none
openly admitted to instructing undergraduates in pagan rituals is no longer a
one of three finalists for a job as dean of the college of arts and sciences
never been initiated into a coven, but I like to call myself a witch." In May,
after receiving negative coverage from the local press, the university scrapped
its search without making a hire, announcing that none of the finalists met
abandoning the formulaic, this 30-second spot dispenses with such staples as
the narrative voice, choosing to rely on the soundtrack to present its subject
so the music has to be the emotional voice for each car." The copy is spare,
wordless, oddly comforting; the thrum of reverse guitars and synthesizer pads;
and the first set of images: two headlights, then four. Panels aglow; pedigree
guitar, the promise of trouble. This spot isn't about summer picnics in
the asphalt, giving the spot some depth and visual interest. And through it
all, the music: rounded plops, stretchy roars, sibilant hisses. As the car zips
away, picking up speed till the tail lights are pinpoints in the distance, a
single line of text reinforces the point. This is a "new breed of Jaguar." You
the show that gave him enough currency in households across the United States
Capitol building in the opening shot, creating an immediate association between
the spot's principals and that bully pulpit. We assume we're seeing a
around the limousine, the fluttering flags atop it, the stoplights freezing
challenged Bush in his second bid for the presidency, and himself ran "twice
Surely he's controversial enough to need that Secret Service battlewagon we now
see behind the limo? And so what if the next campaign is too far away to
Was he at the street corner all along, watching the pretentious parade go
week. Though the buildup is sharply amusing in retrospect, it has succeeded in
making Pat's return to television an event. A markedly different "inauguration"
University Press is publishing The Art of Desire: Erotic Treasures From the
bad impression left by that book. While the catalog does contain some
displaying some mild buttock fondling. In order to "sustain a celebratory
tone," write the curators, "representations of certain sexual practices or
fantasies (those judged by common consensus pathological) were ruled
inappropriate for our overarching agenda." The truly weird stuff can be seen
general theory of relativity. Historians of science have long questioned
Berlin, reveal that crucial steps were missing at the time of his submission,
abbey's romantic ruins. In response, Midlands Mining promises that no harm will
topic at the Modern Language Association meeting this year will be Disability
Studies. Scholars in the field decode and debunk the literary tropes that
rhetorically separate "normal" from "abnormal" bodies. Essays to be delivered
known musical instrument. It contains four circular punctures that eerily evoke
just about the right separation for humans to put their finger on." And Bob
scale" may be much older than we thought. (His analysis
is posted on the Web.) Based on the fragment, Fink speculates that the original
State University, feels the holes conform to "a number of scales," including
summer after she published a negative review of a book that claimed to defend
science from postmodern critiques. The review was of Higher Superstition:
received a flood of angry telephone calls and letters, according to the editor
passes for scholarship in the postmodern world.") In an interview with the
concept of continental drift may need to be revised to account for some sudden
years. (Typically, a continental shift takes much longer to complete.) What
balance was thrown off, and a massive migration was required to regain
this upheaval may have enhanced the workings of evolution. "Each time you
disrupt an ecosystem, you break it into small communities, where evolution
the boom of the band. Strains of music, the words foreign yet familiar.
barely there memories of a better time: "It's so good."
effect along the way. Explicitly abandoning the brittle brightness of standard
beer commercials, Bottles starts by drawing on a vastly different set of
there was a human element in the production process, the spot consists largely
created unprecedented employment opportunities for blacks and women
(opportunities that were lost when peace returned and Johnny came marching
home); mass migration from the rural South to the industrial North that made
optimism, romance. No gloomy prognostications of doom and bloodshed here;
technical difficulties of early live television as it presents the first words:
what the spot was setting up all along. The retro feel, the sense of intimacy
by drawing attention to the words "genuine" and "time" while linking them with
the brand name. The message, of course, is that this brew is the real thing;
and the humor, of course, makes the message more palatable.
personality." Part of the company's move to generate fresh ideas for the
mines a largely imagined cultural memory, using fuzzy images of the past to
peddle a distinctly contemporary product. Like the other spots, this one works:
congressional support waned after the president made his case, as Capitol Hill
realized that the administration's "ends and means don't coincide." Congress
imperfect offer that, for political reasons, the United States cannot
beating) sent the pundits scurrying for thesauri to find synonyms for "fiasco"
confess to having hired private dicks to investigate private citizens
remarks must be interpreted as the first steps toward a bawdy version of "I
an amateur lip reader could discern that one chanting activist was not using
incoherence this week, apparently the victim of a balky TelePrompTer. Returning
This week, he recycles the same suit and bow tie and evasions on Face the
series of quotations that document how, not too long ago, the lawyer was a
for his client, though he refuses to discuss his client's account of events,
specifics of her proffer, her legal strategy, her future plans, her definition
of a sexual relationship, or anything else of interest. Why does he bother to
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
establishment for failing to predict the blasts, but by the weekend the pundits
draws just short of calling the United States "a helpless, pitiful giant" as he
is not serious" about policing rogue nations. He also compares the tests to
[Democrats'] frantic pursuit of money lead to the endangerment of the world
Dribble: Habitual double dribbler Mark Shields sins again. He declares on
responds, "So convictions of Cabinet members don't rise to the level of
Congressional District, which just held a special election for the seat of Rep.
challenge, to his niche appeal in a district that is also home to two Air Force
strong track record on the issue: Not only did he make it his priority during
before that, but he has also identified it as a key issue in the second round
raising has been the subject of much invective). This spot opens in the school
nod to diversity and to the blacks enlisted at the Air Force bases that are the
"make our schools the envy of the world" is followed by a question that implies
far more than it says: "Are you with me?" The call for solidarity reaches
beyond the issue at hand to tap a deeper sense of ethnic and cultural
linguistic barriers to rise to positions of leadership in the area. His appeal
aims to strike the balance of people politics, community, and patriotism that
down a school hallway. Overlapping frames are one of several gimmicks the ad
maker uses to get around the fact that the spot was shot not on film but on
videotape, which tends to look flat, metallic, too much like the local ads for
series of quick cuts give this spot some depth and visual interest.
hall, he is identified first by name, then as the person who "led the fight to
the empty classroom; of the faces in the library; of the robes. A bigger budget
might have brought us visuals of a college campus, of "our children" actually
saved money not only by using tape, but by finding all its education visuals in
one high school. The visuals aren't particularly narrative, but they work. So
does the plain, almost nonpolitical language. The narrator draws a direct link
now, we are told. He is working to bring "the cost of college into reach for
working people," for the kid in the robes and the young woman whose photograph
empty lockers. As the smiling graduate finally puts on his mortarboard, we know
straightforward, empowering conclusion to an argument that is as much about
pride and shared experiences as it is about the more tangible issues. Political
consultants have given the edge in this race to the candidate who best
addresses concerns about education, economic development, and the security of
to the tape suggests the intangibles might make the difference. Each candidate
he is trying to win. But by focusing on the populism that made the
consultants are moving from pushing candidates to pushing issues, a change that
is unlikely to meet with universal approbation. Take A Stand is the
issue is legislation that would undermine the unions' federally
Its strategy is "comparative": Affirmation moves seamlessly into attack; the
ring newish variations on familiar themes of family and friends, companionship
to the minority family, an implicit nod to the minority parent.
new wheels, new digs, or a college degree. The spot serves up a sanitized,
sitcom version of the grand melting pot; the images of diversity are carefully
around cake, and we've seen the black mother reading to her child. We also get
the picnicking towheads, the strolling seniors, the black graduate.
credible complaint that big banks levy higher ATM fees. Focus groups have
identified this as a pet consumer peeve, and Take A Stand urges viewers
to do just that. The visual limns an urban skyline, superimposing a sinister
succeeding scenes. The sponsors of the spot really want you to make that
representative, your name added to a petition, and so on. After all, there are
the white hand, and so on. So what if the narrative is a tad cluttered by all
populism is entirely palatable. The proof of its success, however, may well lie
malaria, and heavy drinking have all been cited to explain the peculiar
physical symptoms that accompanied his death. The strangest of these is the
bowel distress, the scholars say, but the disease can induce a rare
voyages undertaken by more than a dozen countries and that it revolutionizes
growing protests, research was suspended for three months in the spring.
country's top business schools are discovering new targets for their venture
giving away the money; they expect to turn a profit on their investments within
several years. Projects these schools have backed so far: a candle and
that she take a neurological exam. After four students complained to the
examined before teaching again this fall. According to a recent article in the
included "bringing too many personal issues to class," failing to adhere to her
announced syllabus, and singling out students "for ridicule and contempt."
opportunity to defend or explain her behavior and that "There's no evidence
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
Union's further move toward a common currency, makes nary a ripple.
strategy? It's the only way to make people realize that this isn't about sex,
Explicitly personal attacks on the president provide exactly the "background
attacks, which came off as terribly partisan, mitigate damage to the
president's popularity caused by some of this week's more embarrassing
conference. You cannot do it for two and a half years." Speaking ethically,
fielding tough questions, agrees everyone. Most saw this week's conference as
another rhetorical masterpiece in his career of gems, but a few pundits thought
president is above the law. Maybe he just "couldn't bring himself to do that,"
you believe that bathroom tissue is more than trash in the making. Produced by
renders it different. Needless to say, success, in such cases, hinges on the ad
maker's ability to manipulate that fine line between the familiar and the
animation soft, the music folksy, we are introduced to the "Quilted Northern
Quilters," a group of women creating handmade paper. It's an engaging image, if
an unlikely one. And though it isn't clear why the women use knitting needles
to quilt, the explicitly artificial setting makes the sale. Animation, which
lets mice sing and lions be kings, saves the spot from ridiculing its own
quilting group's newest entrant, but her integration is seamless, the bonding
novice. "Don't worry, doll," says the black woman. "Just keep quilting."
Because that, adds the white one, is what makes the sheets "so absorbent." Fie
on those of you who think quilted bathroom tissue is all about aesthetics: It's
more. The spot plays to a couple of postindustrial truisms: that proof of human
workmanship qualifies as more; and that more is better. (Your alternative,
Quilters reminds you, the music slowing to an ominous clank, is one of
Really Protect Your Infant From the Salmonella That Will Turn His
quilted to create "thousands of places for moisture to go," we're told, the
animation now reminiscent of 1950s spots that showed how a pill absorbed
ending: "Nice job, dear." And for the final pitch: the brand name and a gentle
reminder that Quilted Northern is "quilted to absorb." The more effective
because it is so simple, Quilters ends up confirming what the burgeoning
for future witnesses not wishing to contradict the president's sworn
deposition. Subtle manipulation of the press is what "smart lawyers do," says
But there are other, better ways of transmitting the
the White House would not needlessly admit the existence of presidential love
gifts, thereby undermining the Story of the Seventh Commandment that it is
president might be undone by the possible discrepancies between his testimony
banned the measure from the Senate. All agree that the Republican leadership
trembling." Many opine that the Republicans have become impotent, but no one
Primary Colors by citing the conventional wisdom that it paints a
asking, "Is this a Republican or Democratic Congress?"
fundamentals. Its message is simple and populist, and its visual elements
linger in the viewer's mind long after the ad ends.
Nations vote against us when we pay most of the bills?
spots confer legitimacy to their charges by citing a source, this one quotes
the point. The United States will be "forced to make drastic cuts in energy,"
the spot says, while these other countries do nothing.
exempt from the emissions portions of the treaty, aren't singled out. One
reason may be that the sponsors of the spot include the Black Chamber of
the exempt nations are "responsible for almost half the world's emissions." In
fact, the treaty does shield the developing world on the grounds that advanced
for developing nations, although the resolution was carefully worded not to
demand equal cutbacks for those nations because this would leave many
with gaping holes where there were once nations, the viewer assumes that the
administration has been debating whether it should even send Al Gore to the
manufacturers, who are almost certainly paying the bulk of the broadcast costs,
to include farmers, blacks, and small business. There are other sponsors not
themselves in rare agreement. For big business, populism has its occasional
but it understandably infuriates environmentalists. Depending on your point of
view, the ad is either edgy or diabolical. But nobody can deny its
treaty and its supposedly glaring loopholes. Whenever viewers hear of the
this spot is any indication, so will the treaty. Complex proposals and
the negative spots are as well done as this one and as well grounded in
ingrained popular attitudes. So look for warmer weather ahead.
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
system has become corrupted." Other pundits downplay the accusations of treason
and malfeasance, noting that Republican presidents were the first to enlist
The court's rejection of the executive privilege claim for
buys him time. His "delaying" strategy is to run the clock down until the
Punditry's leading exponent of redundancy, Mark Shields, plows new ground on
expresses amazement at the White House spin machine's "cautious, almost slow"
almost giddy in anticipation of battle. There was no talk of body bags. Late
analyzed the political shadows cast by the legislative battle. Why are so many
Democrats deserting their president, and why are so many Republicans deserting
although he confided that he didn't think the gay alternative should be taught
lockstep sound bites are confirmation that the issue is now at the center of
the conservative agenda. And yet even conservatives are careful to express a
degree of acceptance that would have been considered radical just a few years
The Republican party line was, of course, that the country is turning
by rehiring Dick Morris, who could save the Democrats by "triangulating"
coalition did not serve Republicans but "the name that is above all names."
each occasion, a significant section of Congress is unconvinced. This pattern
has repeated itself for the past decade, no matter which party controls the
this year's dispute may be more intense and the final margins closer than last
act of monumental folly over the next few weeks. The rules favor the occupant
days to decide whether it wants to reject the presidential preference. Even if
In the past, Congress has come nowhere near even a simple
majority in either chamber. In part, this is because the various pressure
groups hostile to China have known that success was too unlikely to merit their
mobilizing troops. It also reflects the enormous pressure brought to bear by
resumed a more intimate path, or that opponents of the administration's
"constructive engagement" approach are in retreat. In fact, the opposite is
true. Policy toward China remains the most difficult and divisive aspect of
circumstances that affect this element of the China debate. Moreover,
fixture this year, thus ending this annual, largely symbolic fight. Any such
defensive strategy aimed at preserving what it can of the
second term could spin out of control. The most politically explosive
contributions, and that administration officials were warned about the practice
hearings substantiate these allegations, the White House will have little
it very difficult for the administration to ride roughshod over such
facilitate its application. However, a majority in Congress either favors a
does not require the president to request congressional support before
tried to pursue the issue in the face of firm majorities against him in
react badly to what it will perceive as prevarication. Should he try and then
States as the one country that can influence China's emergence as a major
global political and economic power in both a positive and a negative
held its first direct elections to the presidency. The United States responded
lack the late paramount leader's dominating influence. It is thus very
of formal presidential visits, which could happen as early as next year.
in Congress, by contrast, generally favored constructive engagement with China,
while liberal and protectionist Democrats usually opposed it. The liberal and
must find the United States equally perplexing. It will be some time before
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
television? Pundit Central hasn't either. He suspects that, sometime during the
middle of the race, network commentators simply unplug their mikes, relax with
standards of the last two months, is noticeably meandering.
without the prodding of commentators in our position."
trade: Rising profits will lift human rights boats. Shields vividly criticizes
this approach: He doesn't believe that "the people in the slave labor camps are
going to feel those lashes a lot less seriously because profits are rising."
can reasonably refuse to give a preview of her testimony, since the opinion
different times, but he declines to respond in each instance. Most pundits
legal losing streak (he also lost a Supreme Court case recently), exposing him
to charges of being a rogue prosecutor. Gigot believes this may make no
or how partisan, if the case [presented to Congress] is strong itself." Is this
Congress, namely they make impeachment proceedings more likely. Well, which is
produced by National Media Inc. for the National Association of
federal taxes, this timely, pointed spot extends history's reach in an effort
remains a compelling symbol of hope, is not pass. Targeting Democrats and the
the Republican version of the tax cut was unfair, the spot challenges their
transitions seamlessly to another section of the speech. Back then to a shot of
opposed the Republican version and were split on the final compromise). Details
want to talk it up, and probably assume that it will be lost in the crowded
accept the tax cut "we're talking about." History is the more persuasive when
disclaimer, the spot eventually identifies its sponsor: the National
thank you for it in the last one." And it is also true that most of the
It's not clear what, if any, effect this spot had on the outcome. Growth
luxuriated in the good news of the budget surplus and introduced his plans to
expand Medicare and support child care. "It doesn't get any better than this
the Republicans, because nobody wants to go on record as being against child
illusory and temporary by This Week 's two conservatives, who failed to
the balance sheet were to include the trust funds (Social Security, etc.), the
cribbing from his next day's New York Times column: According to a
broadcast Bugs Bunny cartoons between magic tricks, and host a studio audience
of Cub Scouts and Brownies are unconfirmed as "Pundit Central" goes to
wife and children as one of the reasons he had decided to step down as host of
pundits aren't half as shamefaced as they should be. This Week 
collapsed after the surge. "People are suspending judgment, not making
perjury or encouraged anyone else to commit perjury to the less troubling
of the Union speech set the stage for the kid's comeback, agree the pundits. "A
about his prescience from last week, when he said he didn't think extramarital
sex (and its complications) was sufficient to force resignation.
has convinced the public that the government is run by liars and incompetents.
Republicans want the wounded president to stay where he is, while the Democrats
want his tainted flesh out of the White House so they can regroup for the
compromised his client's rights by volunteering too much of his conversations
ways this week with some of the most polite behavior ever witnessed on a
The next he is snapping "Shut up!" at her as she tries to get a point in
interest, both candidates took to the airwaves in the last few weeks of
voters will skim the ad and buy its message. And to this end, the spot proffers
fact "drafted compromise amendments that broke the logjam and allowed the ban
on ocean discharges to be written into law." Detractors have pointed out that
the only significant amendment to the bill ended up delaying the pipeline's
they have no memory of his involvement. But his protests seem to have had
little effect on area environmentalists. The New Jersey Environmental
a group of greens who had supported the closure of the pipeline recently held a
environment. He's taken on the big polluters in Congress, we're told, the spot
cutting to what looks like footage of a congressional hearing but which is, in
fact, staged. (House and Senate ethics rules prohibit the use of official
facilities for campaign purposes, which means that any "hearing" in a political
ad must be contrived, and made to look as authentic as possible.)
rating in 1996--only three state senators did better. A different group, the
involvement in the pipeline issue notwithstanding, he gets credit for
sponsoring the Pollution Prevention Act, which reduced the toxins released by
the chemical industry. His initiative notwithstanding, he has come under fire
take the toast and tea. Shore Revised ends with the ubiquitous shot of
the politician with his family and the ubiquitous spiel about him fighting for
wasn't mobilizing public opinion for the coming clash. No problem, said all the
United States, but this week the emphasis shifted slightly to leave no doubt
that the United States will settle the dispute, unilaterally if need be.
strategies. "If you go in, it has to be a sustained bombing campaign and that
declared war, the pundit posse immediately expressed doubt that it could be
United States "bomb him into submission." The "end game" of all the dictator's
these diplomatic victories and preserve the United Nations' power to police
only outsider nation with chemical and biological weapons.
(the balanced budget, welfare reform, the tax cuts). "They're not scared of
"campaign far enough in advance" to pass fast track.
"politicized" Justice Department that had "changed" her mind on appointing a
"not independent" because they're appointed by a partisan panel.
deliberately written his memo in support of an independent counsel, knowing
"the sharpest knife in the drawer" or "the brightest bulb on the circuit."
legal matters while neglecting macro legal matters. Riffing off a recent New
top cheerleader for an independent counsel, confessed that he couldn't explain
against his coach, moved across the shows like a fast break. But because
affirmative action, he can't just throw in a question at the end of the
passing the Civil Rights Act, not by asking questions.
Meet the Press that the surplus could engender a "substantive" political
discussion given the unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities looming
out" with "no political costs" to Democrats or Republicans who resist the calls
weekend's biggest problem was how to handle the extraordinary good news of a
found only the dark lining in our silver cloud. Future generations will judge
to "stop all this public pondering" over his "legacy" and actually harness our
themselves had little to offer in the way of imaginative suggestions, falling
back on the usual ideas about expanding the federal role in education,
rebuilding the infrastructure, and providing health care to the uninsured.
because a political talk show is an awkward venue for the discussion (the
into a corporate shill should set off no alarms. But it does, perhaps because
then as the founding pundit of This Week created the illusion that he
Then he explained that in coming weeks he'd be talking about nutrition and
middle of his old program was so disconcerting that when This Week
just a couple of letters farther down the alphabet.
plugs in the network's dramas and sitcoms, this piece of advertising works.
and high production values to appeal to both parents and children. Never
visual message before the first words are ever spoken. First the hair dryer,
then the clutter of a young girl's bathroom. The dryer blasting at a flipped
the girl, shot from behind in sharply faded color, then a less clearly
dialogue at work here, the play of color capturing the tensions of the
budding adult. A switch to full color accompanies the first words, spoken in a
especially about marijuana." As the words begin, the colors fade, drawing you
toward the obvious "it's hard to talk to kids today because kids are no longer
dryer off. The thumb ring, even more than the earrings that have been there all
along, taps fertile ground, its associations with rebellion and the
unwillingness to conform inevitable. From thumb rings to smoke rings wouldn't
number of teens, the smoke is coming from marijuana. But this one hasn't taken
how difficult it was for parents to talk marijuana with kids now asking,
the most persuasive advocate: a kid, telling parents that their kids want and
need to hear from them. As the first half of the spot ends, we notice the
help." Research shows that parents today want that help, that they lack the
language to bridge the generation gap and persuade their teens not to do as
they did in the '60s and '70s. That's why this spot will probably succeed in
politics today, and that it cares enough to turn over prime time to the
contrast between the two parts of the ad shows why agencies are paid so much to
Ennui is exactly what activists complain about: They say the '90s have seen a
down. This time, it's the parents who are being told they can make a
sets. None of the pundits spoke about the flowers, which are members of the
to elevate the International Monetary Fund's $55-billion (and climbing) bailout
Besides flowers, the main theme of the weekend gabfests was
Biggest Loser, Brightest New Face) to disguise their lack of enterprise, while
Goodman) pinned it on politicians and the presidents who have failed to frame
our pressing problems (race, Social Security insolvency, women's issues) in
a time of prosperity as examples of how a leader can mobilize the people with a
president who endorses contradictory initiatives like teen curfew and
Say It Again? Mark Shields triple dribbled his astonishment that a new
the year's "Most Boring Person" for his "predictable and platitudinous
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
Republicans' bumbling on campaign finance reform shows they're a party that
now they're trying to take credit for reviving it. Cynical in the extreme, says
thereby permitting private donors to set the agendas in congressional
determine the bill's fate. The early line on what that answer will be:
education with this issue, suggests Gigot. But this particular proposal is a
demand Flytrap testimony from Secret Service agents draws fire from some in the
White House stonewall. How about letting a judge decide the question case by
sat next to her at dinner and reports she "carried herself like a lady," in
contrast to certain vulgar attendees who booed her and made classist snipes
universally derided as crude. He should have had the sense to call the
president names in private, says the smart set. The president is lucky to have
never wise practice to call the president names in public, even if you're not a
louse, and the phone didn't stop ringing for a week. (Related story: Pundit
Group panelists appeared discomforted by the, um, timbre of John
[but] bad for gigolos." Other panelists agreed that mo' better coitus can only
libidos and the promise of better sex will drive people to get toned and fit.
that "her fingerprints are on almost everything from Whitewater up to now."
be precise, and a sassy one at that. No moldy bolls sprouting wispy white
nothings here: This plant is lissome. It is lush. And it will go to great
cotton plant, causing it to age, lose its leaves, and open bolls ahead of
schedule. The Cotton Club dramatizes that compressed cycle via the
Rose's famous "Stripper," which urges one to "take it off, take it all
curves around a gyrating graphic, "it takes off those leaves. Then, it keeps
them from coming back." We aren't sure what "it" is, but clearly, this product
combination of potent chemicals and strip clubs isn't likely to endear itself
to the PC police; and there are those who would be hard pressed to distinguish
between Finish and Agent Orange. But all's well, etc., because the stuff in the
consistent than any other harvest aid." As the curtain closes and applause
spills across the footlights, the message is reiterated: "Cotton has never
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
3--spur the opinion mafia to wonder how the ongoing scandal will react with
revamped legal team. Her new representatives are "famous for cutting deals,"
beginning a quiet smear campaign against her. She is not a very credible
The tapes contain inconsistencies, and her affidavit contradicts the tapes on
are wary about rocking the boat with scandal hearings.
political neophytes lost big). It just shows that all incumbents who aren't
under house arrest will win, quips Gigot (the only incumbent to lose was a
reject screwy ideas such as bilingual education. It shows only that
programs. The defeat of Proposition 226--labor unions can still make political
She still has a hopeless crush on the president. Though she was crazy for the
the first lady. Accordingly, she is willing to turn on her formerly
candidate had not won a Democratic primary for governor or senator in
wrong with lawyers; some of my best friends are lawyers: Lapsed lawyer
particularly well with women, who placed it in the top five.
overweight father clearly looking to realize his old dreams vicariously through
his son. Dad knows that the key to success lies in the early start he did not
get, that only the savvy fledgling gets the worm. So he's willing to go to bat
for his boy: "Now, we got a lot of work to do before the next game," he tells
backyard and white picket fence, is perfect. It invites nostalgia, stirs
response ("Yeah, fine," when he's clearly not) and the next two scenes (a
flurry of action, then a shot of him flat on his face) suddenly clarify the
spot's real target. It's the woman, of course, who, seeing her own frustrated
sportsman in the prone figure on the field, smiles as she turns up the dial on
the ad meter. She knows that Dad will try something he shouldn't, that he will
stub his toe, that he will complain, and that she will have to give him
struggling to keep up, then finally gesturing for a timeout. We get a
best moments in life sometimes come with a few aches and pains." A shot of the
headache sufferers here. No irradiative blue waves pulsating to pounding music.
This is a happy ad for a pain reliever so effective that, as we see in the next
scenes, it can help you smile through a broken arm.
taken, Dad gets his payoff. The scene moves to the real world of real players
be holding his own: "Your little guy's looking pretty good out there," says an
over, father and son walk away from us, satisfied. The little guy in the big
shirt gets a pat on the head from Dad: "Hey, that was a good game, buddy." The
red. A perfect end to a perfect day. Dad's been injured, sure, but his pride is
intact, his love for his son papering over his shortcomings as a coach. Mom's
out of the tobacco industry's pouch: It targets kids. Capitalizing on a truth
spots, some more controversial than others, that attack smoking. And while
profits, but other states are joining the burgeoning bandwagon as well.
to staccato music and pulsing visuals, "but the facts tell a different story."
The female narrative voice serves a different purpose here than in traditional
political campaigns, where it is sometimes used to soften negative spots. Here,
it only compounds the menace. The context gives the woman an implied stake in
the issue: She could, the spot seems to say, be the mother of one of these
"go ahead," assuring them that "it's on me"; shots of youngsters drawn to
industry that has long been banned from running ads on television.
who will nonetheless drop like flies because of "their addiction." Flash
The corollary: Protecting kids from "tobacco marketing and sales" (by
supporting the Food and Drug Administration rules the spot is promoting) will
dissonant note here, however: Throughout the spot, our smokers, the last one
seen in satisfied profile, seem to be enjoying their smoke. A testament to the
addictive power of tobacco, you say? Be that as it may, a tobacco company that
dared to make an unabashed link between cigarettes and pleasure would have had
only one weapon in the fight against tobacco: A proposed settlement being
spots of its ilk (one shows a tobacco junkie smoking through a hole in her
neck; another, a teen smoker's face putrefying, shedding worms, as she brushes
its point: Hook one kid early with promotions, and peer pressure will do the
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
minister's trips to the United States. "He dropped him a note suggesting a
bantering but Downing Street staffers are adamant the White House was putting
words of a Downing Street source, "to stay with his Tony."
free flow of information could reduce scope for blackmail," he added.
sanctimonious nonsense" in his paper's comments on Flytrap. Lamenting "the near
total erosion of the distinction between the upmarket dailies and their tabloid
entirely more sophisticated in grappling with the changing nature of
world financial crisis. The summit did not mark "the finest hour of
"must report back with a plan as soon as possible, and certainly before the end
of the year": The next scheduled G7 meeting (next spring) is too far away. The
acute political and social chaos," and it criticized conservative policies for
dealing with this. There are "serious questions as to whether this epidemic
ought to be treated as a global crisis, or on the basis of each nation trying
1990s, which was controlled by certain groups and was very unjust.
in reply to a journalist's question about what he would do to prevent
government's labor affairs committee has proposed a minimum hourly wage in the
attention. Then he changed the subject to the unjust imposition of sanctions on
claiming the sanctions had contributed to the deaths of as many as 1.4-million
squabble about the validity of the numbers and a fumbling calculus of how many
The peaceful resolution revealed him as weak, was the consensus view. "As
president of the United States, he didn't feel he was potentially powerful
that only a renewed "Middle East peace process" could bring stability to the
an abortion angle, exclaiming that Congress would never regulate fertility
technologies because the Supreme Court had decided that "a fetus is
white teacher to avoid a potentially unfavorable Supreme Court ruling), also
damaged Insight (the magazine owned by convicted felon the Rev. Sun
even though he didn't do it. "People were really ready to believe it," said
like nothing more sinister than extremely tired and slender party trash,
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
deanship, hired a PR man, and exchanged angry notes with the Justice Department
Discarding the deanship was "thoughtful and reasonable," admits Mark Shields
report to Congress will be ready by the end of summer and believes Congress may
Almost everyone is baffled by the fact that Gore gave only
juxtapose images of the president's recent visit to disaster territory
(casually embracing a black family) with the vice president's (dyspeptic
local academic institutions for endorsing a "thinly disguised payoff." "I think
the mayor might end up in the movies," the Post quoted one aide as saying.
a leading candidate for the proposed professorship, but the committee got
will have another chance to duke it out when he comes up for tenure in the
Traditionally, most scholars have believed there's only one existing
sister. But a debate now raging in the Times Literary Supplement
Electronic Facial Identification Technique testing performed by independent
costume historians remain skeptical. "It is a pretty portrait, and one can
a disgruntled costume historian. "But on costume grounds the portrait cannot be
reversed his decision to close the school's press. Chancellor John White had announced that he
protested, noting that most university presses operate with a deficit. Among
plague of lice and fungus has attacked the undergraduate library at the
devastated the entire collection. Eighty thousand books were placed in
cleaning followed to remove the mold. The volumes are available again but won't
be returned to the stacks until the damp library itself gets renovated. It may
most likely to remember what they've read when the text is printed with a
ragged right margin and a solid line running straight down the middle of the
page. That bizarre finding is reported in the Journal of Scholarly
conclusion? None of the alternatives look too thumping. While few pundits
endorse specific proposals, that doesn't stop them from criticizing the White
appeal of bombing: It provides "gratification without commitment." Yet air
the public. The "make love, not war" sentiment is strong on The
forecast a 60-percent chance that the United States will stand down from armed
predictions are popular with the pundits because they provide the necessary
automatic pilot. They're looking forward to the next step in the process, when
taint the investigation and deter Congress from impeaching the president with
has "the finest reputation [for ethical conduct] of anyone in public life"
Hunt," much to the amusement of the other panelists.
associate counsels, nine are on loan from the Justice Department, four are
this spot) is the newest ad in a series by advertising powerhouse
tap of the spot's message glides across the screen, the keyboardist
our narrator types. A demonstration of what? The screen and the clacking keys
view, we're informed that the product is "Lucent wireless systems and
technology." In fact, no one specific product is hyped.
from below, as if the computer screen is not just a computer screen but also a
big, clear bowl. The rising tide distorts the words ("this is now just about
the only place") and then swamps them ("where you can't stay in touch."). As
narrator types. The fish turns to face the camera, as if it might have one, and
then swims away because, of course, we can't communicate down here. The fish
swims into the next scene, across the company name and into the last frame,
complete with name, logo, and a reference to "Bell Labs Innovations" (there's
an explicit message: "We make the things that make communications work," says
and types the keyboardist. At the same time, an air bubble burps over the fish,
making it seem as if we're listening to the fish's thoughts.
inventing the future for everyone (except for fish), the spot disarms potential
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
Gigot to charge Burton with "political malpractice."
aides wear latex gloves while opening mail, for prophylaxis against
certainly, answers liberal Shields. He undoubtedly treads on "delicate
political territory," euphemizes the conservative Gigot.
Either: During a rambling discussion of oncology and longevity on This
look back and rue the day that you helped wage this war the way you have."
question, retreats with the most transparent wiggle of the weekend. "Beg your
pardon?" asks Burton, cupping his ear. Again the question is asked, again
closet is a milestone: No other star has stepped out of it at the height of his
or her career. While there are currently about two dozen gay or lesbian
house parties, complete with party kits, to celebrate the lead character's
terms. Never explicitly seeking approval of a lifestyle, it follows a tested
silhouette walking away from a punitive "personnel" sign, it follows her
unsteady progress down a flight of stairs and uses a staccato colloquy between
by the announcement that "it" is legal. Job discrimination against women?
Surely not. Building on an already secure national consensus on women's rights,
the dialogue draws on basic, inarguable values while the visuals emphasize the
sheer normalcy of it all: the ubiquitous setting, the ubiquitous employee, the
acknowledged this employee's "sustained superior performance" and must now be
maximum audience susceptibility that we hear, for the first time, that the
woman was fired not because of her gender but because of her sexual preference.
Confounding our initial assumption, the spot prompts us to question why this
into the narrative after she had told a lot of people, including her parents,
about the spot. "They all said there must be a law against that," she says.
the scene in the woman's office is relieved by a shot of yellow flowers,
says. "Visually we wanted to create a little bit of hope, a transition to the
never told which) female subject allows Shoes to tap wider contexts of
discrimination: A male protagonist wouldn't have had her access to the history
of discrimination in the work place; and an infusion of color (read: race)
might have narrowed the canvas, making the problem seem less pervasive than it
such discrimination with its choice of a subject, the spot then personalizes
her. She is more than an abstract cause, a dry phrase like "sexual
ask if there is anything they can do to help. There is, the narrator answers as
national campaign to pass it. It's smart politics, because the narrow focus
likely to raise the network's ratings in the crucial May sweeps? Not really. It
vacillated for months before going with the show's proposal; it also recently
turned down another ad request by a cruise line that targets lesbians, on the
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
attention. From the standpoint of wit, rather than substance, it is a good
strikes a chord with voters in a way that tobacco and campaign finance reform
did not. The big dispute between Democrats and Republicans will likely be over
has recently been accused of doing nothing of importance recently. This is
Just My Hobby: The surest proof that political talk shows lack fodder this
have a silver lining because it puts computer programmers to work. A majority
(digging ditches or restoring hiking trails will also do). But Pundit Central
programmers fixing antiquated mainframe systems as either a consumable good or
service. Of course any sane person recognizes the importance of paying computer
experts to fix oncoming problems (just as it is important that plumbers fix
antiquated pipes), but the use of their time is a cost, not a benefit.
viewers probably will be happy to hear that we are going to skip it. We'll see
This Week 's round table signs off by predicting the outcome
admits he picked Brazil just because the French would be insufferable if they
since I saw that frying pan ad." (Later during the show she proposes to pay
covered the president and recently gave an interview discussing a shared but
not things that didn't happen. I mean we have enough with completed passes, we
prosperity, of freedom well earned and much valued. Nothing novel about the
advertising techniques here: But they're put to effective use, and are unlikely
to offend in this era of peace and plenty, where the political battles in
elicit strong reactions from their public. Not that the spot raises the
country's speckled history, it is careful to take the edge off.
spot mines the collective memory for its material. There are shots aplenty from
clash; the dun and dunes of what appears to be Operation Desert Storm; an
pigeons; of a fiercely bespectacled towhead whooshing down a slide; of a happy,
paid for by cigarette taxes, part of this summer's bipartisan budget bill.
sign. In each case, the word is first brought to life with a few images, then
rounded off by a question that is answered by the images that follow. For
example: A shot of the wire fence merges, via the pigeons in the park, into
comes to brief rest on a sign emblazoned on the side of a bus: "What is it?"
The montage continues, familiar scenes reminding us what freedom has come to
mean. It's about popping a wheelie on your mountain bike, framed by the Golden
Gate. It's about acing a race, tasting the rain, reaping a new harvest,
the fruit of wars and sacrifice and struggle. "How much does it cost?" "How do
us that freedom is as tenuous as it is precious, that the current sense of
Savings Bonds." A discordant note, this one, but an effective reminder that
unprecedented effort to increase public awareness before spring and the next
hopes its makers, will give its viewers those facts and rouse them to
escape, we are given the numbers. Up to half a million seals, most of them pups
a bloody ice field as the sealer drags the pup away. The image of the
not made to witness a skinning or an impaling, we hear the pup crying and see
hooks waving. (And though the spot never really tells us that these crimes are
ignored by the authorities, there have been reports to that effect.)
claim that their penises increase human potency ("totally inexcusable" in "what
group on the ice. (The juxtaposition is familiar enough, and reaches for the
emotional energy of other battles between environmentalists and apparently
impervious consumers. But the portrayal of the transaction in question is
Department of Fisheries and Oceans to raise annual hunt quotas on harp and
those who have no voice," Hunt hopes your conscience will win the
delivery of Pundit Central, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "International
people's business, which receives relatively little attention.
in the National Journal and appears on This Week to reprise the
dismissal directs the scandal's focus away from sex and toward allegations of a
questions tomorrow, thereby ending the circus immediately, advises
sides. The transportation bill is porky, the squashing of the campaign finance
bill was a dastardly use of procedural rules, the tobacco settlement may go
through, but only because everyone wants to get their paws on the proceeds. The
Republican leaders wish the impeachment hearings would just go away,
a brain and gave them only enough blood to run one at a time. And that's why we
used to have dormitories that separated the boys and the girls, and we had
week, he apologizes for offending viewers, pronounces slavery an "unmitigated
evil," and claims to have meant only that "our society was enriched by
You know how they got here? They were all slaves, weren't they? So it's kind of
a problem. We wouldn't have this enrichment of our society if it wasn't for
accompanied him are. If it hadn't been for slavery, they wouldn't even be in
One look at the distinctive do and tony threads and New Jersey voters are bound
to think they've pinned the tail on the right donkey. The spot also plays off
Index finger proudly raised, the hand's relentless bobbing is meant to grate
between this patrician politician and the voter. Her voice is annoyingly
cut, her centerpiece promise four years ago, now fully in place? As the
looking us in the eye, not giving us the back of his head (and his policy)
spot might actually cut through the New Jersey market, where it's notoriously
malpractice law is educational lawsuits. The Chronicle of Higher
for "breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, or negligence." Most of the
claimants are angry at the poor quality or low value of the degrees they
litigants are suing over degrees that were never awarded. A student who had
from the school's nursing program is suing for breach of contract and violation
Week reports. According to that publication, the student contended that
"the catalogue of course offerings and academic policies created a contract
that obligated the college to provide him with a nursing degree." He complained
that courses required for his degree hadn't been offered during the time of his
matriculation, forcing him to leave before earning the degree. But an appeals
student workers were employed to remove the limbs and that the policy was
designed to save money. Both charges turned out to be false. But the school of
medicine has stated that "in the future no student workers will work with
cadavers or disintegrated anatomical remains. Further, we will no longer
respectful of people who have donated their remains to the cause of
replacement of blood by a colored polymer, which maintains its shape as the
flesh is gradually removed. The entire circulatory system, down to the tiniest
English department to which he attracted a parade of stars and controversies.
commuter campus making a bid for greater prestige and attention. Fish's wife,
scholarship the subject of both her courses and her writing, will teach one
not the only academic celebrity making a somewhat mysterious job switch.
better offer comes along. His reason: He wants to be nearer to some members of
likeness may be a death mask most other scholars think is a fake.
photographic techniques, found close similarities between the mask and a famous
bust bears traces of "three small swellings on the nasal corner of the left
suburbanites alike by devoting a disproportionate share of its broadcast time
Agenda, whose polls PROMO used for the report, has publicly disavowed it.
Public Agenda charged that PROMO's report "while using data that are
technically correct, distorts Public Agenda's findings by presenting them in a
biased context and tone." In particular, the pollsters charge that PROMO
downplayed the extent to which respondents' fear of crime was based on the
experience of crime--53 percent of those polled had said that they or someone
they loved had been the victim of a crime. Miller stands by his conclusions and
insists that "anyone who reads my overview and their report will see that there
University has filed a lawsuit against the operators of a soft porn Web site.
the women will "romp for your enjoyment in their own dorm room." Visitors to
in a recent "Talk of the Town" piece for The New Yorker that among the
"humdrum vulgarities that have become the bread and butter of the Internet,"
system of video linkups. The plan has drawn criticism on a number of fronts.
Some say it slights the teaching abilities and intellectual talents of
professors who don't happen to be world famous but who do a perfectly good job
that the videos will pacify the minds of students rather than stimulate them.
"You would lose that excitement of a live performance on a stage."
another lawsuit like the one that plagued his last movie, the slave trade epic
motives as the White House "trying to throw sand in our eyes."
privilege is widely dismissed as a foolish delaying tactic.
commentary with a sigh: "I had my usual experience. I thought, my God, this is
narrative arc of congressional hearings, in which belligerent congressmen make
connection only because they failed to think of it, not because they respect
agreed that Gore is doomed if the treaty becomes his signature issue. Several
issues like these in principle, but rebel after they get wind of the
salute it for its political ambition. "Bold move," said Shields. It will "get
squabbling over Lee's impending recess appointment subsided with this
solace in this retreat is a mystery: The 120-day limit can't be enforced,
composure at the hearings disproves the "contention at the White House that
bitch back and forth every week on Capital Gang about who is
interrupting whom. "Pundit Central," which can claim impartiality because it
his wife, his children, his teammates, opposing players, umpires, clubhouse
attendants, waiters, and store clerks. He is said to have killed a man in a
Teenagers have been up to this sort of thing since long before South
school's five toughest teens beat up yet another teacher and drive him out of
they came to school only in the middle of the winter term. They came to thrash
the teacher and break up the school. They boasted that no teacher could finish
to correct an intractable problem: the "breaking up of rural schools." "It had
to be tossed out the window. Sometimes it was just a winter ritual to let off
wild student riots on college campuses, sometimes leading to the deaths of
gunpowder); high school duels involving knives or guns, sometimes culminating
in the deaths of students; scrimmages between higher and lower classes,
sometimes leading to massive injuries on one side or the other, or both.
What calmed schools down in the latter half of the century? The introduction
of less brutal disciplinary methods; sports, particularly football; the
students and teachers. (Students, who were usually wealthier than their
teachers, regularly underscored that point by beating the teachers up.)
manufacturing. So where were the random shooters of the second half of the
unhappy, you took off and went somewhere else. The kid in the state of
perpetual rage, he'd probably wind up on a whaler."
leads with initial government data showing that most states are in compliance
jobs or actively prepare to do so. The Times points out, however, that
welfare families and that the government statistics do not show whether welfare
report that the House managers' aggressive position puts them in conflict with
favor of a quick timetable that would probably preclude hearing from most of
the scandal's key figures. And it is the Senate, the papers remind, which
House managers and some House Republican aides said they were stunned and
number holds they should be called only if absolutely necessary.
boutique firm called Vector, which went under last fall and whose president was
a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is being investigated by
several federal agencies. The company specialized in the highly secretive
agencies, and the authorities are looking into irregularities surrounding some
it legs: phony paperwork to disguise weapons' true destinations and colorful
Times is alone in observing that White House aides were "amused" by the
or indirect quotations from aides, raises a host of issues: Were those aides
really so unsophisticated as to reveal such a politically loaded emotion in
front of a reporter? If so, then why aren't we told what the aides said? If
not, then shouldn't the paper back down to "seemed amused?" Or to "were said to
be amused by White House sources?" This is not trivial, because communicating
White House amusement is likely to have adverse political consequences for
reflects the event's two contrasting sides: Austere formal procedures cloaking
raucous partisan disputes. The LAT especially emphasizes the rigmarole, with
recipe, but they're still making sausage. The House managers and many Senate
Republicans want a plan that allows the calling of witnesses, while most
Democrats and the White House want one that does not. The attendant
complications make it seem that this could well turn out to be the trial of
unfathomable that they're of any interest to any reader who's not a member of
he was learning for the first time, in phone calls from puzzled Democrats, that
he was being blamed for blocking the bipartisan caucus. 'I was flabbergasted,'
out the trial's procedural rules. None of the papers, by the way, explains how
it can be that the entire Senate can go into closed session. What is there to
prevent the Senate from doing the whole trial in closed session? Or for that
matter, all the rest of its business? The papers don't say.
staff, although the story also says the take of the eavesdropping operation
almost certainly helped the Pentagon plan last month's bombing campaign. That
paper adds that the exposure of the gambit is thought by some diplomats to have
The papers don't really get into it, but it's hard to see how this use of an
If this point is accepted, the controversy disappears and if not, then why is
a good day for bombing." The paper says he "exulted" in saying this. What proof
is there of this? The paper doesn't say. And it needs to, because the statement
is one that could be made quite straightforwardly (as part of a briefing, say),
by a military professional without any untoward implications, like "It's a good
The impeachment trial continues to lead all around. Today's big story is the
last night and will continue again today. The secret session came about after a
motion to hold all impeachment deliberations in open session was defeated. The
lead editorial calls the shuttered approach "an affront to the public."
The papers report that with the matter of whether or not to call witnesses
hanging in the balance, much of yesterday was taken up by senators trying to
expeditiously without witnesses. But, say the papers, none has the votes yet.
And so the Senate Republicans are encouraging the House Republican managers to
adds that there has been some interest in calling Dick Morris, whom the paper
The papers report that one idea being kicked around by senators is one vote
explanation of why this is attractive to Republicans: This would be a stringent
must be an actual headcount, not the statistical sampling that's alleged to be
more accurate. The main political impact of the decision is that it will affect
how many congressional seats each state gets, and perhaps will also affect
which party's members occupy them, because the conventional wisdom is that
sampling favors Democrats, by being more able to include folks in cities and
claim eleven civilians were killed when one of them went wide of the mark.
to allow Web sites to identify a computer. The feature has been called "cookies
Huge legal fees involved in successful defenses against such charges by the
and defense costs in such cases. One special requirement: taking out the policy
including luxury accommodations at the Mayflower Hotel, are being paid by Ken
the Senate's imminent reevaluation of the independent counsel statute, which,
the paper says, will probably either not be renewed at all or will be
substantially revised, primarily because of widespread dissatisfaction with the
on the statute is more categorical, saying flatly, "there is virtually no
talks. The talks ended with nothing signed, no peacekeeping forces in place,
Western peace plan but would take a few weeks off to check in with the home
calls the outcome a "limited success." But even within such a cheery take, the
"piecemeal success," but does point out that the result is very close to what
Only the Wall Street Journal points out high and clear that the
plunged into the case's penalty phase, which could result in a death sentence.
Two other white men are awaiting trials for their alleged part in the grisly
includes some good detail on courtroom spin: King appeared in court with his
hair grown out so as to cover the pentagram tattooed on his skull and in a
that King's father offered his condolences to the dead man's family.
Contemporary reporting has a hard time lighting on a topic unless it can
find a way to make it into a political story, preferably one about a
ninth paragraph of a fourteen paragraph story to say what the two bills are and
how they differ, and none too clearly at that. Far more important apparently,
is taking up the top of the piece with the back and forth sniping between the
of its halting path thus far. The paper includes this interesting detail, which drives home the unusual course the
replays Witness Week and finds no progress for the House managers. The
that the censure language may be "harder to nail down than Jello to a barn
explains, is determined. She was among the first Democrats to openly condemn
the President's conduct and she has nudged the censure option along from
woman as a poised, ironical, occasionally even sassy witness who handily
outmaneuvers her stumbling interrogators. ("Question: Do you think he's [the
President's] a very intelligent man? Deft answer: I think he's an intelligent
mourning already, with people hovering in dread beside their television sets to
await official word. Reports are that the King's family will not remove his
and abroad, about the stability of the relatively small and defenseless
and population issues, and the Gates Learning Foundation. This megadose of
Dipping back to impeachment, here's a classic exchange between the "poised"
Ah, the golden age of magazines! Few people are more credulous about that
fabled era than journalists who cover the media industry. How else to explain
two recent articles in the New York Times and the New York
In its Business section yesterday, the Times described a proposed
to Vogue readers. This, the reporter wrote disapprovingly, is "only the
latest example of how publishers are exploding the traditional business
boundaries of the magazine industry." (Other examples: magazines generating
What's new about this? When did women's fashion magazines exist to do anything
other than push advertisers' wares? Consider this tidbit from Hope in a Jar:
rewarding each with a grab bag of cosmetic gifts. Similarly, in the
hundred readers to be 'beauty consultants' for product development and
ominous larger trend in the industry. Also, in what way is the Vogue
deal corrupt if it doesn't directly affect editorial copy? Not that
books feature only the clothes and cosmetics of advertisers. It's just that
Vogue 's latest scheme strikes us as an unusually innocuous way to
story (later reported in the Times too) that, in exchange for a lecture
or two, New Yorker writers and editors will be flown to the South
Pacific and other idyllic spots for a week's cruise courtesy of an advertiser.
The Times and the Observer treated this as a stealth attack by
wondrous place for New Yorker writers. I mean, no one's even asking them
Gill. Both writers gave lectures and were paid "cash dollars," says Singer. "We
didn't have any ethical qualms or quibbles. I wasn't going to write a travel
going bareheaded, the business side of the magazine tried to stem the decline
of an valued advertising category by decreeing that all male Esquire
employees wore unfashionable hats; New Yorker employees go on cruises.
taking from an investigation of government to a government of investigation
propose new emissions standards that would require minivans, light trucks, and
yesterday, telling him that airstrikes would hit his country hard. The
and barracks. The Post says the planned airstrikes would be the "biggest
just in this theater of operations, or if it would also be bigger than the
agents independently became aware of his presence shortly thereafter.
disparities in the 1980s, "What Went Wrong?". For instance, reports the
as similar insulation against the nation's labor, safety, and environmental
request from the Marines to use a clip from its movie "Full Metal Jacket" in a
Marines stay alive runs a distant second to squeezing out every last licensing
dollar. The Marines should remember that the next time the studio comes asking
for technical assistance on a picture (as it no doubt did on "Full Metal
frantic, teary cry for help has never failed to shock and appall. Surely no one
believes that the reason these tapes are made public is because the people have
a right to know if their emergency services were performed appropriately.
Now this is news, and not just because it got one of those great Brit
tabloid expressions, "blazing row," into papers worldwide. Who, if anyone, will
conference room mulling over prospects ("Mother of God! It's another fax from
thinks "Taxi Spice" has some zip as a name. But to keep their position as the
the Spice Girls off the front page and next to the recipes and the crossword
Does everyone realize now that they got taken? That he never had any
intention whatsoever of doing this movie? His list of "approved directors"
lot as if the whole purpose of this charade was to get a little faux buzz for
of a sadist, everyone released statements denying that anyone had agreed to
Universal. None of those movies has ever been made.
that condemns China's recent record on human rights, including China's
squelching of the formation of a opposition party, religious expression and the
analysis of the "nearly sublime" national economy. The paper observes that the
torrid pace of growth has confounded prognosticators, who had widely expected
Sputnik. The papers report that the Dow retreated because of fears that the Fed
will raise interest rates to cool the exuberant economy.
The Post exclusive informs that a Defense Department team has
there has been "no compromise of technology whatsoever." The Pentagon suspected
"aides said" that "some members of Congress" plan to press for more information
and are dissatisfied with the Pentagon response. Is this sourcing detail a clue
as to why a story of dismissed suspicions, which are sure to stoke
international sensitivities, turned up as the Post 's lead?
annual human rights report, observes that the criticism came on the eve of
story provides some detail on human rights flashpoints, no story notes that the
to provide an authoritative basis for international affairs decisions by the
major speech on foreign policy challenges, the president advocated an active
role for the United States throughout the world and defended his policy of
the paper's discomfort with this disquieting story and the media's discontent
with the terse denial issued by the president's attorney. The Times
opines that "the public and the press are in a muddle as to what to think" and
"discourse" is not simply a factor of his having recently assumed the
presidency of the Modern Language Association. Said is considered a prime
offender when it comes to inaccessible communication. The Times informs
Bad Writing Contest, in which leading scholars take the prize. The paper refers
readers to an Internet site that automatically creates an impenetrable
Yesterday's LAT Metro Section conveys a cautionary tale: beware of
pickup. Tragically, a truck driver was killed when the airborne heifer smashed
through the windshield of his vehicle and struck him in the head. The bovine
bounced off the truck and was hit by another pickup. Curiously, the story does
special House committee's secret report concludes that over the past two
among technology workers: come next New Year's Eve, many of them will be not at
transpiring during Republican and Democratic administrations alike. The
of loosening export restrictions, which, according to the papers, the committee
flow of sensitive satellite technology to China's strategic rocket programs,
confirmed that transfer, but, say the papers, went much further, also
executive. The papers draw their information from remarks made by the committee
much more the general public will ever be allowed to learn about the
Senate voting by the fourth day of the trial about whether or not the alleged
offenses, even if proven, would count as high crimes and misdemeanors. If that
that it doesn't provide for the calling of witnesses.
the Senate: it gives the Senate an opportunity to avoid a long trial, while at
the three ground targets implicated with missiles and smart bombs. As it did
hasn't done something that countries who have shot down planes have done since
are the architects (How to mark the cornerstones of buildings?), and the movie
producers (How to write the copyright date at the end of the credits?). Thank
God the government's National Institute of Standards and Technology is working
The LAT leads with the emerging diplomatic wrangle over whether or not
investigators are broadening their inquiry to include possible tax fraud
cut back on the number of troops they will commit to the program. And, says the
putting their loads on container ships instead. The story gives a little too
indication that they will bring him down or to heel any time soon has led to
committed as ever to sanctions. The paper quotes a senior State Dept. official
weapons inspectors, "it has literally chosen for sanctions in perpetuity."
claims there is a general consensus that a Senate trial will start before any
action is taken on censure. The paper adds though that there is strong support
for censure among Democratic senators, and that about a dozen Republican
that Senate Republicans are looking for ways to avoid a long trial and the
damage to the party's public standing one could bring. As to how a deal is
is something, he advises, that should be worked out strictly among
companies have previously always denied allegations that top executives knew of
or were involved in any such alleged illicit traffic. What's more, the
taxes by suggesting that an increase would encourage smuggling. The story,
dangerous to the babies, who are born so tiny and premature that they are at
high risk of lifetime health complications. Even if the babies emerge healthy,
the parents are faced with an enormous burden of care that few are prepared to
meet without outside assistance. Moreover, the cost of multiple births is very
who fess up. On the opening day of the new Congress, no less.
in Congress as crooked clowns. After all, not everybody in Congress has
dirt, while the rest of us try to figure out where the slippery little line
between private and public is." The latest Drudge Report rightly reminds that
modestly concurred: "I know an embarrassing lot. Terrible.") Once again, the
Times has spotted a trend. Although background research is out of
when their female companions are more elegantly attired
does. After all, being unconventional is fashionable. Almost as fashionable as
The papers spend most of their impeachment ink counting votes and recounting
perjury charge won't even get a simple majority, and some chance that the
Collins might vote no on one or both articles. The LAT is most definite
about this, citing sources close to her saying Collins will vote no twice.
On the other hand, say the papers, two other Republicans also widely thought
his Cabinet, his staff and his judicial system. In doing so, he brought shame
and dishonor upon the office of the President and especially upon himself." And
The papers say that after the midday impeachment vote a formal censure of
the LAT explains, would be read into the record but not acted on.
House. Wonder why the Times doesn't mention that it was where those
nation tomorrow after the trial's conclusion and that he will be mindful not to
several gun manufacturers were legally responsible for the criminal use of
shooting. The decision is likely, say the papers, to lead more cities and more
shooting victims to mount such liability lawsuits. It's a bit curious that the
the story on the very bottom of the front page, below a story about the
being added at National Airport. Similarly, why is the Post waiting
everybody else likewise paying little attention to this?
wane. The story points out that in contrast to a year ago, a few computer
even though Internet company consolidation continues to proceed at a furious
All the majors lead with the last day of the White House's defense in the
Senate and lavish most of their attention on the concluding speech given by
were viewed by the Senate audience as a refreshing contrast to the lawyerly
who also spoke yesterday) that had heretofore carried the day. The New York
not to vote for impeachment in order to avoid heightening people's alienation
"indefensible, outrageous, unforgivable, shameless." The LAT goes high
to being an impeachable offense" because they were not "political offenses
about the consequences of his actions beforehand. But the paper leaves out what
his former colleagues, saying, "Just as you and you and you and you, and
millions of other people who have been caught in similar circumstances, should
have thought of it before." The Post is also alone in noting that
The coverage suggests that in the wake of Bumpers, momentum is building
among senators to press for a quick resolution of the trial, even to the point
Bumpers' speech. And the LAT 's lead editorial calls for bringing the
trial to a rapid end. It's recognized all around that today the proceedings
will enter a far more spontaneous stage, with senators submitting their
submitted by readers. It will be interesting to see if the actual questions
was sentenced to fifty years in prison. The outcome signals, says the
The LAT front carries an exclusive account of a particularly twisted
tried for using the Internet in an attempt to set up the rape of a woman who
had spurned him. The man sent out email and posted online ads purporting to be
from the woman suggesting she desired to act out fantasies of being raped. The
postings resulted in six different men showing up at the woman's apartment at
various times, although no rape occurred. The man was caught with the
It's hard to know what the woman could have done to protect herself, the
charging the poor to see the pontiff. Perhaps the wackiest papal product
Doubt For Conviction on Perjury; Obstruction Faltering Too."
Specter. Everybody quotes Specter's intention to vote not "Not Guilty," but
rather "Not Proven." Yet, nobody says if the Senate will actually let him do
saying there will be additional Republicans crossing over. Meanwhile, during
the day a stream of Democrats announced that they would be voting against both
no constitutional relevance, such an outcome could become a "potent political
to unseat Republicans who, in the group's words "did the bidding of the party's
The papers also report that censure is fading fast, foundering on a
combination of strict constitutional readings and disputes about precise
wording. They all report that among censure proponents a fallback has emerged:
whatever bipartisanship emerges after the impeachment vote may quickly fade.
them for a few years. The papers report that after being previously beaten,
picketed and served with an eviction notice because of his window display, the
man won the right in court yesterday to put it up again. But immediately upon
arriving to do so, he was set upon by a crowd in front of his store and hit in
software that measures office worker skills. It mentions the location of the
test such items before giving this sort of play? On the assumption that no
money changes hands, what propels such a small product from such a small
company into the paper when, as in this case, it's not making news?
that the character is meant to be a boy but carries a purse. Plus, "he is
Just about everything in the paper today makes you wonder about the piece
health yet. Figures released by the Commerce Department show that the economy
inflation and unemployment still deep in remission. The papers explain that
have kept business brisk and spending high. Only the New York Times story actually quotes a Commerce
official; most of the valedictory analysis comes from exuberant Wall Street
report on the killing, the Times devotes a large chunk of its story to
effort. Although he's been busy fending off an ethics investigation and tending
to his investment bank's business, he's still solidly in the loop, and will
Justice's campaign finance task force has been continually stymied by
unfavorable court decisions and lack of cooperation from essential witnesses,
As for the daily impeachment trial update: the three witnesses have been
week, whereby the President would be found guilty of the facts of the case but
allowed to stay in office. The plan is drawing criticism from both ends of the
support, and Democrats argue that it's a backhanded way of punishing the
President without satisfying Constitutional standards. "You can't be a little
House Managers and their more deliberative Senatorial hosts. The Senators lord
it over the managers, acting "wiser and better" than their House peers, claims
added teeth to its efforts to eliminate the wage gap between the genders. Women
reviews" of male and female managers at businesses that hold government
contracts. Those found to intentionally discriminate against women must pay
protests one dissenter. But even more of these bombs may detonate soon:
message with the masses. Preceded by pomp, shielded by minions, and thronged by
reverent devotees, he meditated and preached on race, poverty, morality, and
the significance of the coming millennium. "Children screamed. Grown women
shrieked. Little girls cried from happiness," the story recounts. Sure, the
a report on the increasing cynicism and resignation of the religious right
paper quotes a confidant of the as yet undeclared candidate in summing up the
leaders are complaining about the lack of obeisance on the Hill, the Christian
coalition is struggling to coalesce around a clear strategy and a single
presidential candidate. The paper notes the forthcoming publication of a book
by two former Moral Majority officials, arguing that government cannot correct
the religious right will increase the willingness of Republican candidates to
distance themselves from the coalition. Oddly, this analysis does not factor in
the effect of the failed impeachment move on the mood of Christian
are prepared to sign the interim peace accord that emerged from the recent
deal" and that agreement remains "uncertain." The Times does not spare
the "most embarrassing" details of what it portrays as a misadventure,
stood Dole up, leaving him to wrangle over the telephone with another guerilla
the good news is due to many factors, including: the increasing prevalence of
smoke alarms, major strides made in the treatment of burn patients, tougher
building codes, tighter standards for fire resistant furnishings, migration of
many hazardous jobs overseas, the growing percentage of meals that are eaten
outside of the home, the increase in the use of microwaves and the decrease in
caucus, offers an alternative explanation: when the economy is strong, "they
don't need to commit arson or bail out a business."
anticipation of the launch of his exploratory committee today. The paper
reports that a slew of supporters arrive daily to pledge allegiance, offer
assistance and grab a piece of the action. According to the papers the support
personally pledging support to Bush, as they were instructed to do by veteran
on the story, pointedly noting that the espionage was previously
Post last month that it would be difficult to demonstrate the importance of
one of three cases of purported espionage. Is The Post downplaying the
care workers are allergic to latex. The allergy impedes the careers of medical
professionals because latex gloves are required by many hospitals and medical
equally irritated by latex precautions for other extremities. The paper notes
News goes with a military cover: "Submarine!," gloated
one recently in the "In Other Magazines" column. "(Three weeks ago, it
It's easy to bash a magazine whose owner does the same thing at dinner parties,
when he isn't shopping the editor's job all over town. That's what Mort
Snooze article rather like being buttonholed by a retired admiral with
way too much time on his hands. But you get more hard facts and historical data
from the admiral than from almost any other source.
news judgment is another man's smart market positioning. Rather than go up
education, religion. Hence the (quite enthralling) cover story on life aboard a
less boring than it used to be, and besides, newsweeklies are boring by
each week is fundamentally unglamorous. Nobody in the media really respects
envelope, not their peers in journalism, who measure a journalist's worth by
the number of his scoops. But readers outside the media bubble (and that's
everyone who makes a newsweekly his primary news source) want their world
reliably summarized. They don't care about the very latest wrinkle in the
oppressive. There's too much too read. Everything is monumental. Everyone is
popular music in the second part of the very century when the music was
modestly enlightened, rather than desperately out of breath. Which, in the end,
Times --lead with the hyperbolic rhetoric of the House prosecutors as
they closed their argument on day three of the Senate impeachment trial. The
perjury has dethroned judges in past impeachment trials. Rep. Henry "Hotshot
of the bipartisanship illusion, a theme that resonates throughout today's
proposing the formation of a bipartisan group to map out potential witnesses.
The reigning consensus after day three is that the House did a surprisingly
costs and other damages. The legal merit of such claims by foreign countries in
students but has achieved minimal discernible progress. The reasons? The money
discarded in a mass grave. The story, coupled with gruesome photos, runs on all
fronts. The papers conclude that this could sound the death knell for the
financial disclosure investigation that has delayed his nomination. The
precarious time for the ambassadorial seat to be empty.
early warning defense against nuclear missile attack, which the paper says, has
up." The paper follows up inside with a fascinating interview with the former
eight votes), senators spoke one at a time for or against the two impeachment
sniping, but the speeches were almost all along party lines. The LAT
lead quotes one senator saying that each of his colleagues to speak thus far
senators' versions of the day by stating that although Senate rules forbid the
lawmakers from divulging what occurs in closed session, senators had voted in
open session to allow each other to essentially reiterate what they said behind
office, the LAT suggests that a few senators in each party will cast
court ruling, almost surely headed for the Supreme Court, holding that for
"a significant public health concern." There is at least one hopeful finding
though: college educated women are more than twice as likely not to suffer from
lack of sexual desire as those who did not complete high school, and men who
complete college also tend to complete something else, suffering much less
premature ejaculation than male high school dropouts. Today's Papers thinks
feature specific books. One question, though. Today's Papers notices that the
this? And if so, isn't this arrangement similar enough to the one at Amazon to
Highly partisan, negative campaigns seem to be implicated. But on the other
resulting in serious burn injuries. The New York Times
The papers do a good job of providing the historical context to all this--
government is pleased with his apprehension. The LAT observes that in
case. The Post points out that a finding of civil contempt could force
An oddity in the Post story: It claims that "for the president's
weary defenders," the judge's remark was a "dispiriting development." Yet the
piece goes on to note that calls made by the paper to the White House were
the Post know the president's defenders were dispirited? It doesn't.
House committee. The Times stresses the agency's findings that it is
corruption angle too, but also has some discouraging information on the
personal searches Customs conducts: Whereas ten to fifteen years ago, the hit
frequently miss head injuries linked to child abuse. The study holds that
front reports that strollers and mattresses that can injure or kill small
production line for the aircraft is being kept alive by sales to the United
tenure as president of the Red Cross found that it was marked by her tendency
to put political allies on her payroll. The Post mentioned as an example
But the Post made a telling omission here. Because the paper did not say
tic of exposing potential conflicts of interest involving politicians while
ignoring those involving journalists. Homework assignment for the next
US defenses against biological weapons attacks. The president's speech
hopes to shift voters' attentions away from the impeachment trial. Predictably,
than arguing that none of the allegations warrant removal. All papers report
that most senators expect witnesses to be called. Democratic senators are
he, a young press agent, organized a press conference for the then obscure
that King's rhetorical prowess made whites ashamed about this country's racial
history, unwittingly encouraging liberal whites to feel "responsible" for
should be revisited as a man who "made freedom first of all a black
sullied itself. The House has fallen into the black pit of partisan
The deal, in short: Both sides will present their cases beginning next week,
but the contentious decision over whether to call witnesses has merely been
Under the rules pounded out in yesterday's "historic" session, House
decide whether to adjourn the trial and, if not, which witnesses to call.
All papers emphasize that the dignified Senate shudders at the prospect of a
The Senate consensus, achieved after a meeting in the solemn Old Senate
part, the Senate is positively gloating about its own unanimity, so different
from the squabbling rancor in the House. Stoking the unanimity image, each
paper fronts a symbolic photo of two staunch ideological opponents, Senators
type from direct money to scholarships to health care, was dished out not only
York Democrats, who are scrabbling to find a strong candidate, especially since
attack on the perjury and obstruction of justice charges lodged against their
team's willingness to not only question whether the prosecution's facts mandate
impeachment but also to question the facts themselves. But for the most part
the coverage makes it clear that the weapon of the day was nonetheless not the
papers want whenever possible to have heroes and villains and they love new
shopkeeper grandfather's penchant for selling to blacks when few whites would.
the very bottom of its account. The LAT also plays it high, but then
late in its story flatly states that in making this response "Mills strayed
considerably from the facts of the case." And the Post dings Mills for
impeachment hearings." But none of them wonder, Why would we want that?
Obviously, impeachment was designed as a sanction that would regulate
presidential conduct, a feature utterly lost if it were to become a dead
The paper goes on to point out that most of the hardware that would go into
given final approval. And the Times emphasizes not the hardware but the
stories emphasize that the renewed interest in missile defense has been
proposal to allow some Social Security funds to be invested in the stock
treatment for a patient who later died. The papers say the award is another
thousands of guns out of the hands of felons. But it turns out, reports the
background check has been arrested, even though trying to buy a gun by lying
Sons), has been accused of plagiarizing substantial portions of his book from a
The New York Times called it "compelling." To its credit, the
plagiarism law, but she has looked through both books (cursorily, it's true)
birthplace, of a demonstration of Bell's "harmonic telegraph," and of Bell's
same order, albeit with slight changes in language. The flow of narrative in
National Geographic Society for allowing him use of their vast archival
holdings on Bell, in what he calls the Bell Room. In fact, as Lingua
transferred to the Library of Congress more than twenty years ago, and the
looked at papers in the Bell Room at the National Geographic Society, as he
makes clear in his acknowledgements, and cites them in his footnotes
exhaustively reviews the legal and political minutiae surrounding the upcoming
instead turns to tobacco, the old standby, to explain the creative ways states
easily crumble when it comes time for the decision on whether to call
continue, then they're going down a very treacherous path." Already, says the
Republicans lean toward opting for witnesses, while older conservatives favor a
including such momentous issues as whether "antiquated Senate rules" permit
Report, which will serve as the conveyor for much of the Senate evidence.
states by Big Tobacco is going to a slate of random causes such as sidewalk
government, as a major contributor to states' Medicaid services, is wrangling
doesn't look like a secret agent. He is the only man in captivity who could go
not mine. It would get me great trouble if I used girls as a cover. Chou
lead describes the easy end run that insurance providers have found around the
Parity Act only requires that dollar limits on mental health coverage equal
those for general medical services. So providers and employers simply mete out
hospital. Congress is expected to close the loopholes next year.
prevaricates about how to handle his role in an impeachment trial. Yes, the
Constitution requires him only to preside over the Senate and to break any tied
vote on verdict or procedure. But can he lobby Senators to vote against
impeachment? Gore opines that it would be "inappropriate" for him to
communicate with them in full." In this spirit of indecision, the interview was
articulate the stickiest and most obvious of the Vice President's conflicts of
interest: how Gore's own presidential ambitions could influence his performance
chance to flex its slackened superpower muscles, but at the cost of providing
has been known to gag the opposition press and imprison dissidents.
reports that Western monitoring forces will continue to saturate the area in
shatter it at any minute: "We will win or we will turn to dust," says one young
should have equal rights and opportunities in the workplace. The piece suggests
that gay rights may become the same kind of ideological litmus test for
electoral candidates as abortion. However, the ideological confusion reported
in the survey is complicated by unclear statistical reporting: although the
credentials of the pollsters are described at length, the size and nature of
gurus who capture minds and pocketbooks with lectures on "spiritual healing"
television community has ranged from sheepishness to horror. But perhaps these
videotape sent to thank viewers for their pledges by "scholar, author,
On this day of all days of discretionary news, the papers revert to type.
trying to hammer out a workable Republican consensus on impeachment strategy.
of their individual currencies with the euro, which provides the starting point
other transnational businesses on the Continent haven't quite gotten their
minds around yet: wage transparency. That is, the advent of the new currency
will make it suddenly easy to compare salaries earned in different countries
for the same work. The story mentions a school of thought according to which
the euro's transparency effect will eventually tend to make salaries more
comparable across borders, with the suggestion that the uniformity will be
established at a level closer to the high salaries than the low ones. But it
doesn't explain why the reverse couldn't turn out to be true instead.
It has always seemed a little odd for papers to insist on coming out on such
result is that when the world predictably stops on its axis, the workaholic
censure deal and how conservatives in the House and Senate are less than
publication policy seems even less sensible given that the papers now have the
ideal vehicle for transmitting what little holiday news there is: their web
finally comes down in favor of getting blitzed next year. Thanks to its
of the Times Square action last night, featuring the biggest and most orderly
crowd in years. A crowd of students, tourists, and cops. And oh yes, at least
one media critic, a man who "marked the passing of another year by vomiting
Official: He Will Run in 2000/Filing Establishes Presidential Campaign." Why
that Gore "will take his first formal step toward running for president in
avoid questions they've had to stay inside their beach hotels, but they've been
provided with security guards to protect them from people whose lives they've
ruined, and the Post says there are reports the government's given them
In the last week, the papers have tried every way possible to tie up this
past year in a ribbon and present it to the ages. Finally, in today's
choice a few months back. The line was to have been uttered by a
The epithet was apparently already being used elsewhere in the movie, and so
But let us not judge it on the basis of its noble intentions, either. Is
image isn't so iconic in the minds of today's moviegoer that subverting it is
concerns over the corruption of government by money. Why it's being released
this picture, the audience has a pretty good idea of what subject really
Concealing an extramarital affair is easy as long as there are no witnesses.
represent only circumstantial evidence, and tape recordings of private
Lady's reporter pal at the Associated Press. The 30-year relationship between
manner of speculation over the years. Yet despite the existence of reams of
charged correspondence between these two women, the precise nature of their
relationship has never been definitively established.
different assessment. Not surprisingly, Cook's book proved controversial, and
are so many wedded to a stereotype of a frigid, sublimating, forever lonely
The opportunities for romance were no doubt there: Hick had a small bedroom
only dalliance; much has also been made of her relationship with a New York
critical of Cook for getting carried away, acknowledged that the letters
explicitness that is hard to disregard." But after this brief lapse in No
and hugs, a question there is absolutely no way we can answer with
She is, of course, right on both counts, yet idle curiosity persists. So
book, but can offer up a couple of the more florid lines gleaned from previous
Oh! I want to put my arms around you; I ache to hold you close."
area. But electricity still crackled through the Senate chambers; lead stories
references to the senators as "jurors." The Senate is not a mute jury,
the Senate is not merely making an innocent or guilty verdict, but also passing
speeches "do more to inure the viewer to the president's offensive conduct than
let its currency, the real, drop to market level (the real obliged, plummeting
misdemeanor)? Publishing a paper based on a college student survey about
to impact the impeachment debate. With the publicity about his demise, he
and evacuate the great majority of his troops. The New York Times
unarmed monitoring team (a far cry from military withdrawal). The papers all
quote the president as saying that strikes will definitely be ordered if the
deadline passes without agreement, but they give varying impressions of when
months on the lam, the US funneled surveillance data on his whereabouts to
sheltering him. The officials stress that the US had no "direct involvement" in
case? The paper doesn't say). Details of the alleged encounter echo the ones
coffee in his hotel room, and then forced himself on her, biting and bruising
to pursue. But the allegations were reviewed by House Republicans anyway, in a
sealed room just prior to their vote on impeachment. The paper offers no
remained silent until now out of fear and shame, but is now talking in order to
teach her twin granddaughters the value of honesty: "I want them to say, `That
tunnel syndrome, lower back pain, and tendinitis account for a third of all
million employers to prevent and treat their assembly line workers, database
clerks, and journalists, among others. Business groups and congressional
Republicans have long opposed such standards on the theory that compliance will
the moguls are simply trying to "enliven the presidential dialogue" and
"stimulate discussion on meaningful subjects." The story does not consider that
the businessmen may have more practical reasons for securing political
regulatory legislation expected from Congress later this year. The gatherings,
decision upholding the limitation on the First Amendment rights of illegal
illegal's claim of being banished from this country on political grounds is not
a defense against deportation that requires additional federal court hearings.
goes instead with the Senate's passage and sending on to the House a military
equivalent to those created by a massive snowstorm. But the story's
that could mean only minimal disruptions in those places.
immigrants' use of the federal courts to fight deportation until they have
already exhausted all administrative procedures. In short, the ruling supports
the way in which current immigration law deprives illegal immigrants of a
defense and a venue. Both papers note that even before this decision, the new
law has produced a much more active deportation rate, and so even though the
decision doesn't have that much direct impact because comparatively few illegal
immigrants claim political persecution, it may still cut a rather wide swath,
immigrants and make them wary of speaking out about any political matter for
fear of drawing attention to their illegal status."
percent pay raise across the board, increased educational aid funds, new
Congress increases the Pentagon's overall budget to pay for them. Otherwise,
communicates the widespread sentiment among members of Congress that these
costs are inevitable if readiness is to be maintained. But there is no
bonuses for the specific warfare specialties where retention is worst, or
restricting them to those in combat specialties (a surprisingly low percentage
of military personnel). Nor does the story mention that service members receive
exchanges. Or that they typically become eligible for their pensions in their
early forties, and hence these shouldn't be viewed as needing to be competitive
determine the course of treatment doctors pursue. Previous studies had produced
similar differences, but have been generally discounted as based on such
differences as illness severity, insurance coverage, or patient preference.
But, explain the papers, this study eliminated those explanations by using
demographically diverse actors describing their chest pain from identical
married men, and that she wants to apologize to the country for the yearlong
growing job categories in the country is fitness trainer, whose ranks have
important news stories of all time released yesterday by a panel of
explosion outranks China's Great Leap Forward. And while we're at it, how, pray
Times headline suggests the drama associated with a criminal trial:
"President's Fate is Now in Hands of Senate Jurors." Down below in the body
type, though the stories get more real. The LAT says there is "virtually
about the how: "Closed Senate Debate Likely." That's because there don't appear
editorial finds the prospect of closing the doors on the impeachment
is whether enough Republicans would join the Democrats to keep either of the
two impeachment articles from winning a simple majority.
air front moving through: One senator after another getting up from his desk to
Senate asking for a postponement in the start of deliberations to allow the new
page: "What a fuss! What a load of phony differences without distinctions!
story, with its equally foul implications. He has now admitted to telling some
such version to 'friends' of his as well as journalists (and I still consider
myself to be both). That story got into the press, a lot. The message was
devoutly wishes he'd written an intended column on the matter a week earlier,
"being readied to be used as yet another human sacrifice by his employer." One
kept him from being able to write a column of his own about the matter?
account of the facility. Today it raises more, with an inside piece stating that chemists hired by
the plant's owners examined soil samples from the plant and found no traces of
chemical weapons compounds. One problem though: although the piece makes it
clear that these chemists have the same monetary tie to an interested party as
any expert witness, the headline does not. It simply says, "Experts Find No
acquired wood stoves and a rise in gun violence accompanying the upsurge in gun
much worse than any pure outcome of the problem itself, especially since the
actual problem is being attacked with billions of dollars of remediation.
According to a story flagged on the Wall Street Journal front, not all of the hoarding will be
And wait, that doesn't include the 1.999K problem! For that, check out the
leads with word that the nation's blood supply is drastically low. About half
the country has only a day's supply of blood to transfuse, whereas three days
is the norm. The paper is to be applauded for closing the story with phone
often exhibit of viewing the guise of objectivity as more important than
actually helping somebody. In that spirit, this space proposes that each member
of the House and Senate give blood this week. Or come to think of it, let's not
staff who's covered a presidential impeachment before, so they are still
feeling their way into the proper kind of coverage. So far, they've pretty much
opted to lead with the story whenever possible, regardless of whether or not
anything has actually happened. Thus we get the Post lead falsely
telling the reader that disputes about witnesses, censure and the very
the television interview shows yesterday...." and the paper's flash that the
White House's written response to the charges to be submitted today will "not
anniversaries coming up in China this year that could stimulate popular
virtually no pressure on China in response. For instance, says the paper, there
agents masquerading as airline passengers have been able to smuggle guns, hand grenades and bombs past security guards or have
gotten the weapons sent in through exits. The airline whose laxness is revealed
airline's security record is about the same as other big airlines. And
carry enough lifeboats to save all those aboard, this is not true of commuter
that a German couple drove into a river near Berlin one night not too long ago
because their car's computer navigation system did not tell them they needed to
retraction, leading not with a concession but with word that the kid is "doing
again having satisfied his readers' expectations of "details on events rocking
and shocking those unfortunate souls who rise to power!"
pretty creative in trying to protect themselves against a rising tide of armed
concealed buffalo gun that shoots up at a hijacker's nether parts, and an
paper has ever offered such translations for anybody besides a Southern white
The majors all say that the meeting produced no explosive new information.
in on the interview, say this means she shouldn't be called to testify. But the
Republican congressmen say the opposite. All the papers report that the
particular, say all the majors, the circumstances surrounding the transfer of
gifts could have occurred later than she previously testified, and hence after
her previous testimony that no one ever asked her to lie about her affair with
papers says, however, who picked up the tab. Was this congressional
stands for The Shooting Gallery, an independent film company one of her friends
works for. No word on whether the ball cap was part of a product placement
prospects for the Republican case managers winning the right to call her or
relevant to the two impeachment articles and then take a separate vote on the
articles themselves. The point of this, the paper quotes a Republican senator
question of whether what he did is impeachable. On this latter question, the
Wall Street Journal editorial page weighs in with a
bit of historical research. The paper claims that the most authoritative source
on the common law known to those who wrote and ratified the Constitution
includes in its list of "high misdemeanors" that can be committed by those
serving the public trust, both "obstructing the execution of lawful process"
that appears to offer its citizens little in the way of options or futures, it
does have a stock market. And, more surprising still, it's doing pretty well.
or homework. The paper then points out what it calls a great disparity in
percent say they use computers regularly) and those attending traditionally
academics explaining that the results augur a new and widening inequity between
made around such results, it might be good to add a question to the survey: "Do
you have a luxury sound system or a car less than two years old, or a luxury
and being amazed at the numbers of students' hot cars and loud stereos. Any
may be a function of their own interests and choices rather than of
Bridges had been its star. Remind them, while you're at it, that even if they
with Six Days, Seven Nights another question gets answered. The question
Not hard to understand why that big studio blanched at the prospect of coughing
for maximum comedic effect. Their collaboration was wildly successful, but
was, farting his way through the hugely successful Nutty Professor. To
Can you have an adventure film with only one big stunt? Will it be a
Romancing the Stone for the '90s? One thing's for sure about Six
As befits the last day of a holiday weekend, the papers reheat and serve a
smorgasbord of mostly familiar issues. The New York Times
leads with a budget forecast story: despite ample surpluses, spending caps mean
the Administration must scrounge together funds sufficient for its activist
inspection efforts fail to screen out the duds. As a result, many condoms
putatively reliable way to protect themselves and stem the continent's AIDS
An inside piece at the Times explains one factor behind Defense
salaries and quality of life, juicier retirement packages, and limitless
opportunity for advancement, officers trained in finance and technology are
retreating to the private sector. Only one of the five soldiers quoted mentions
the "higher calling" of serving his country. But he also points out, "If you go
the 20-year point you'd be a partner and a millionaire."
The LAT editorial page calls on the Senate "to fashion a strong
he lied under oath", and then to get on with the business of government.
On the military: "The sons of bitches are not interested in this country." On
women in government: "A pain in the neck, very difficult to handle." On blacks:
"There are just not enough competent ones, so you put incompetents in and get
along with them, because the symbolism is vitally important." Why? Well, said
situation: too much code, too little time, too many unpredictable consequences.
stories featuring an increasingly familiar cast of programmers, pundits, and
predictions. Far more practical is the Times Magazine's guide to
House managers claimed that the videotaped testimony bolstered their case while
airing of the videotapes did little or nothing to change senators'
Other Republicans, loath to abandon their image of a manipulated young lady,
lunch discussion they had last March. House investigators, according to the
unconscious, hours or days from death and sustained only by a respirator.
national murder rate, then we should strongly consider military (as well as
In a current application, the authors support intervention in Sierra Leone,
Through this impeachment ordeal, the individual most to be pitied may be
ruling blocking Congress' recently passed Internet porn law, which would have
made it a crime for commercial web sites to purvey material harmful to minors
without employing the "electronic brown wrapper" of first collecting
case include sex advice sites, a woman's health site, and those of major media
companies, but doesn't say whether the list also includes XXX web outfits.
(It's a little suspicious if it does and nobody mentioned them.) The paper
regret "on behalf of the president" for all that she's been through. The
once she answered a question simply be referring to her prior accounts before
the grand jury. The Post finds her demeanor more guarded and coached
than previously, so much so, one Senate lawyer tells the paper, that she should
partisan leaking." The LAT lead editorial says that with this story,
invited further disrespect for its motives by clumsily trying to manipulate the
not legally? After all, every bit of information in the papers today about the
as well as to new expenditures in the areas of defense and social spending. A
companion story says that under the budget, over the next five years, senior
(Question left unanswered: how many cents is it now?) The paper says that
Republicans quickly derided the plan as a big government strategy that unfairly
a daily newspaper, a store, a barber shop and automatic teller machines. The
main problem is the vibrant civilian economy with its array of high paying and
terrestrial jobs for many of those trained to work in aviation and engineering
specialties. The piece seems a little credulous about the military's staffing
plight. For instance, one question it doesn't raise, but seems worth asking: If
the Pentagon can, over a number of years, make the plans necessary to design
and build an aircraft carrier, how come it can't, over that same length of
time, plan for the personnel demands caused by the likely ebb and flow of the
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reveals yet another
Featured atrocities: Big shots have had to do without email or limos, and the
against gun manufacturers: engineering legislation that makes such suits
being targeted for such bills. An example highlighted by the paper is the bill
rarely suffered, it should be noted, by those convicted of illegal gun
smirking," and notes that he is the first white person to face execution for
put to death for killing whites. Presenting this statistic without also saying
the total number of convictions of crimes of each sort leaves the reader
it, but this story should give pause to anyone who thinks the death penalty is
a deterrent. The unspeakable crime took place in the state that leads the
radio gig, but also from his position as a volunteer deputy sheriff). The true
significant bearing" on the human rights violations it committed, including
rigor to nonetheless play out the arguments against the unilateral presidential
commitment of forces there. His column takes on the demand being raised in the
really answer, comes when he notes that the administration's position is that
in neither of those cases was the recognized government where our forces
concerns are substantial, they will hold up just fine in the congressional
debate the Constitution and the War Powers Act requires.
on stadium billboards, the US Postal Service received the use of luxury suites
at football, baseball and hockey venues around the country. The postal official
quoted in the story miraculously can't provide an estimate for the regular cost
of the suites. But he does say the suites were used to promote customer
relationships and to reward outstanding employees. The Post ought to try
to see how many actual letter carriers ever saw the inside of a suite.
conducted a survey concluding that people living in neighborhoods they perceive
to be unsafe are less likely than those living in safer areas to engage in
physical activities like walking a dog or pushing a stroller. For this, we
leads with big business' drive to obtain credit for cuts in waste gas
An ursine LAT lead says the economy is headed for big trouble in
corporate profits. Seems like a safe prediction for a paper to make: if the
LAT is correct, they can scream "I told you so," but if another year
passes with no economic downturn will readers be reminded of this lead
favor a streamlined approach, and a conservative group that wants a full Senate
begin considering censure. Conservative senators and House prosecutors feel
treaty pending, major corporations are spearheading legislation that would
ensure they receive credit for cutbacks they have made in gas emissions over
the last few years. The Times thinks that passage of such legislation
would soften Senate resistance to the treaty and help align industrial and
international water, lied to cover it up, paid a fine, apologized, and then got
its lobbying campaign. Because the company still refuses to turn over results
systematic pollution and falsification of records is ongoing.
the profile argues, claimed to have repudiated racism but used issues such as
soon, reports the New York Times lead. With conviction by the Senate
he still holds office. His indictment could remain under secret seal, and a
unnamed sources ("associates" of the independent counsel) also allege that
all eroded by public disapproval: "Prosecutors do not take polls to decide what
could induce both parties in the Senate to unite around censure. Censuring the
President would make Republican senators look firm and responsible but also
the tawdriness of the President's misdeeds while still preserving the requisite
announce his nascent Presidential candidacy on this morning's talk show
opponents are traditionally strongest. By churning out legislation supporting
block grants, local control, and parental involvement, the Republicans are
Internet companies engender and monitor relationships among strangers. The
rooms and message boards and assign demerits to their authors. The company
possible First Amendment obligations to allow open discourse. The Post
facilitates actual commerce, it approaches regulation lightly, relying on its
abusing the feedback system is instantly "vaporized" from the site. Its
"an ineffectual police state, doling out random discipline without due
leads with the Supreme Court's ruling that the voter referendum process should
suit she had brought against him. None of the other papers runs this story on
its front, which makes sense since the decision to pay was reached two months
ago (the only real news coming with the actual check is that nearly half of the
just a combination lead and "cover story" but also an 8-page "pullout keepsake"
effective vehicle for pursuing socially controversial positions. Such
controversy, explains the paper, had led several states including Colorado to
initiative petitions be registered to vote in the state and wear identifying
argued that such regulations conflict with the First Amendment value of
became a yearlong running national soap opera...." And in an apparent Iron Eyes
heard the articles of impeachment formally presented, "a single tear coursed
his cheek." Note to readers: if a story's headline is built around words like
"anticipates" "expects," "awaits" or "braces," odds are good there's not much
actual news in it. But the second half of this story does include some
observations that drive home the oddity of the looming process: one of the
Another sports story getting prominent play today is the auction of Mark
several doctors have brought a private federal civil suit against the
in this list was the name and likeness of a doctor shot by a sniper last fall
federal law that prohibits force or threats of force against abortion clients
and providers, and the first to wrestle with what exactly on a Web site
probably not disrupt Congress' legislative agenda, because "the Senate rarely
does much in the first few weeks of a new session." But why not go further and
use some of the Post 's research horsepower to actually document this
sprouts. An epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is
quoted as suggesting therefore that consumers "should consider this danger when
deciding whether to eat alfalfa sprouts." Now, what exactly is the cash value
of that "guidance"? Does one dare eat the stuff or not? Newspapers should avoid
passing along scary information nobody can do anything with. Today's Papers
says either get the experts to come across with more info or pass on the
item "For the Record" stating that in a previous article on the page, the
more detail is given about this. Not explicitly stating previous mistakes in
this case, for instance, the reader is left wondering what horrible goof is
already brought the toys into their offices are advised to "contact the Staff
pulsing rays! Airplanes that fall from the sky! Government coverups! The point:
have been accidentally downed by electromagnetic rays emanating from military
New York Review of Books --and why, last week, in the same publication's
pages, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board stepped forth to
could have been caused by one of these misdirected power surges, since there
were several military planes, helicopters, and even a naval destroyer
literature and moral philosophy. She was writing a study of the social contract
that exists between the military and the civilian population in a democracy,
powerful signal to come that far and result in this sequence of events. The
source has to be so powerful, and the signal has to find some coupling path to
the fuel sensors, and that's not easy because there are many obstacles in
"Most accidents are a sequence of rare circumstances. If you asked people about
a lot of accidents, if you said: Could this happen? They'd say: This is
manufacturers are aware of the problem, but consider the cost of correcting it
point out that attitude doesn't exactly conform to the social contract,
whether between her and the military, or between her and the military
this question to you, dear reader: Who looks more like a buffoon in the wake of
jumping up and down to claim responsibility for something he didn't have the
authority or possibly even the inclination to do? For one thing, Fallows gave
ago, which raises the question: Why didn't he see Fallows' move coming? The
is now a man for whom announcing to the world that you were fired is
Times leads with the heartening nuclear weapons agreement reached over
call by governors of both parties from their winter national meeting for
impeachment and get back to issues of concern to voters such as education.
curtail the deceptive sales practices of sweepstakes companies. The Nation's
Newspaper also runs a news section "cover story" on the problem that there's no
than anticipated, hesitating to sign an agreement that doesn't explicitly
response the promise that the international community will consider the voice
ministers agreed to warn each other of missile tests, swap information on
nuclear strategy, and to quit testing nukes altogether. The two leaders made no
again later. The LAT points out that the agreements regarding nuclear
weapons were significant because the proximity of the two countries equals
time when Republicans in Congress are on the verge of releasing a report
concluding China's military has profited over the years from stealing and
of their criminal records: give felons back the right to vote anyway. The idea
is, says the paper, picking up support from mainstream civil rights
bill under consideration that would restore convicts' right to vote one year
after they complete their sentence. The Post says civil rights groups
to vote. And adds the paper, many moderates are reluctant to reject the idea
for fear of appearing racist. "With the huge number of people disenfranchised,
you're really not open to all of the citizenry in making decisions," is one
sexually harassing teachers is getting a disability retirement payment of about
women without trying to get them to have sex with him.
from his father: "A black man voting for the Republicans makes about as much
China the recipe for launching multiple warheads from a single missile, thus
providing China with the "backbone of a modern nuclear force" and a
Times also suggests that the White House itself downplayed the findings
secretly shared his findings with a bipartisan congressional panel monitoring
Lest readers underestimate the story's import, the Times quotes
the stock market, the bond market, and economists cheering in the bleachers--
rates dipped in deference to the good news. The LAT notes that even
manufacturing, the one sector to suffer job losses, has become bifurcated
pace. It also backgrounds the jobs report with helpful descriptions of its
methodology. (Example: the Labor Department's job growth stats are based on the
many members of their household are working, instead of wage reports from
employers. The latter are considered broader and more reliable).
of rape and domestic violence victims to sue their attackers under federal
Act. Federal courts are desirable venues for victims because of their high
damage awards and relatively lax statutes of limitations, but the court found
the victims' claims outside the constitutional scope of its jurisdiction. The
account doesn't remind readers that even at the time of the bill's passing, the
provision was generally considered a socially sympathetic but legally
on late taxes to any and all residents of areas deemed disaster areas, instead
know!-- inexpensive enough to be considered 'nominal' gifts from lobbyists to
Hill types refrain from reading the free programs and parking in the
complimentary garage, the Ethics Committee will consider the seats worth a much
The Senate impeachment trial continues to dominate, leading all around for
the umpteenth day. Today's plot point is the impending vote on whether or not
the Senate should depose (in closed sessions, on videotape; public testimony in
the Senate would require another vote) the three witnesses the House managers
witness list was shortened, says the coverage, in order to attract more votes.
The day should also see, the papers report, a vote on a motion to summarily
votes are there for the witnesses but not for the dismissal. The papers flag
another developing witness issue: the House managers have urged the Senate to
calling witnesses is that it would necessitate a comprehensive "discovery"
Everybody notes that the House managers have promised the Senate that they
matters relating to the obstruction charge, such as her job search and her gift
used to spin the grand jury and for his alleged role in planting negative
The ethical murkiness involved in reporting this scandal is apparent in the
way the papers contend with the rule that makes it illegal for senators to
LAT refers to several unnamed senators in its description of a
participants, says that the sessions sometimes involve shouting. Now, didn't
the senators who spoke to the reporters do something as illegal as perjury? And
aren't the papers, in encouraging them to do so, guilty of the equivalent of
continuing to conceal past and present illegal weapons programs. The two papers
their missions. The LAT lead editorial points out that this new more
aggressive stance does not necessarily have the endorsement of Congress. But
therein lies one of the hidden crises behind the manifest one: While one
executive branch is unilaterally making foreign policy. And the press is
contributing to this myopia. When was the last piece you read noticing the
celebrate him in conferences, film festivals, books, reissues of concert
controversial was his willingness to step outside the frame which usually
contains the works of artists and his status as an artist to advance a complex
program of civil and human rights changes around the world and in the United
the far right and far left has emerged to drive that point home. From a recent
Party: "As the centennial celebrations are taking place today, many are
the life he actually lived. We cannot allow the ruling class to praise him, in
Whatever the real version of that history would look like, one thing we
cables to women's body parts? Can you say, "I hate my young female
But it's nice he's getting the big payday, because after last week, you'd
was the Dodgers' best player on the field, its most popular with the fans, and
its most expensive to keep. He and his rocket scientist of an agent had
million. Piazza publicly dissed the Dodgers' proposal, which made the Marlins
being the kind of company which didn't seem to care about shmoozing talent.
divorce may go further toward explaining why he didn't arrange to see a lot of
money from his blockbuster right away than Fox's greed does.
than five times its cost worldwide. Which success would appear less taxing to a
address of a plan to increase diversity in the state's university system by
The paper notes that the proposal would counter the effects of Proposition
209--which among other things banned affirmative action in state university
Is this merely faulty reporting or a conscious attempt not to alert the
administration is nonetheless resisting bipartisan calls for a more sweeping
presidential election. "That's something Gore can do right after he's elected,"
the paper quotes a "senior White House official" as saying.
for this bit of diplomacy. The Post advances a plausible answer: unlike
mention why baseball may be especially well suited to this particular irenic
the definition of sexual relations he was given. That definition referred to
fondling certain parts of the anatomy "with an intent to arouse or gratify the
sexual desire of any person," and it could be argued that no one has proved
have sex with her, this new move is that he didn't have sex with her on
purpose. Note that for this to work, the president's lawyers have to argue that
The Post front features a story recounting horror tales of domestic
staffer, who also beat her. A question: Before doing these stories, did the
Post look into whether or not any of its employees are likewise
underpaying, or otherwise mistreating their servants? Not to mention making
various political types to do some script doctoring. For a show having to do
lead with the Senate's mood as it prepares to conduct the impeachment trial.
or for the relatives who take care of them, a proposal that is also fronted by
senatorial heads talked, according to the LAT --and the main new
emerging as two proponents of a full trial with witnesses, in opposition to the
care policies for its employees. There is no firm word in the papers about how
educated guess is that the money will come from eliminating some corporate tax
loopholes. The Post story has a lot of missing nuts and bolts. For
instance, how many people in the country would the proposal affect? Is the
credit duplicated or divided among multiple caregivers for the same person? And
doesn't a tax credit ignore the plight of the disabled and their caregivers who
Journal says, doesn't just signify the surge of a particular market
influencing the market. And since these folks move in and out of stocks at the
The LAT front runs a feature detailing the battle in China between
about the official government line. Besides the obvious politically sensitive
sites, according to the piece the official firewall servers also screen out the
One of their latest tactics is their unverified claim that they have inserted
Times goes with word that a congressional study to be released today
reminds just how pressing this issue is with a report that research scientists
semen at a fresh crime scene to clear or implicate suspects within minutes.
fraud observed on behalf of both candidates by international election monitors
including Jimmy Carter probably did not affect the outcome. Given that
vote tallies. (He's also quoted referring to "results that were manipulated,"
but the paper doesn't explain how this differs from the other two infractions.)
former military ruler of the country, but neither mentions in their capsule
governmental histories when he ruled or under what circumstances he ceased
concludes that mothers who work outside the home are not harming their
children. The story says that via standardized tests and parent interviews,
the study concluded children whose mothers worked during the first three years
after giving birth were not significantly different from those with unemployed
included how many hours weekly the mother was employed and whether periods of
unemployment were interspersed with her working, it's curious that the story
didn't include any comparisons across those parameters. Do the children of
mothers who work only ten hours a week or who knock off completely during the
summer fare better than those who work more? The paper doesn't say. It also
would have been interesting if the paper had mentioned whether the study's
economic phenomenon cropping up here and there in small communities threatened
by the outflow of local cash to say, big retail chain stores in the nearby
city: the creation of local currencies, good only in town. There are now, says
oversized control knobs, larger trunks for golf clubs, and ignition keys that
go on the dashboard rather than on the steering column (arthritic wrists find
they're easier to turn there). And stand by for seats that swivel out for easy
proceeding slowly and minimally, lest they turn off legions of younger
that after he had three daughters, he became a devotee of the book "How to
Choose the Sex of Your Baby," and subsequently fathered a son after following
the book's dictates, which included drinking strong caffeinated coffee before
Day One of the Senate impeachment trial leads all around. Banner headlines
"obstruction," and the latter charges of "egregious and criminal conduct."
yesterday have substantial courtroom experience with the Justice Dept or as
local prosecutors, and that they emphasized the more difficult to prove of the
or not perjury counts as a high crime or misdemeanor, namely that bribery is
listed as a high crime and under federal sentencing guidelines, perjury and
striking point that despite all the day's presentations and those to come, the
rules of impeachment leave senators "free to vote as they choose for whatever
nonetheless the job search assistance effort became markedly more urgent once
presented his case "with a bit of folksiness and some narrative drive."
The difference here is an important one. The Post 's assessment occurs
paper's "Style" section (not, please note, its "Substance" section), marvels
that senators could sit still and pay attention to all this. His piece runs
under the headline, "On The Floor, The First Day Wore On, On, On." The paper's
asks, "that making history could be such excruciatingly ponderous torture?" In
other words, by the Post 's lights, it's not that the House Republicans
not impeachable, is headlined "We've Heard it Before."
majors' editors have consistently stuffed these incidents inside. Indeed, the
Times lead with yesterday's Supreme Court decision saying schools must
provide whatever nursing care is required to enable students with physical
disabled states that schools don't have to pay for "medical services," but the
school chancellor's threat to quit if the city goes ahead with a planned
The coverage of the Court's call for classroom nursing support notes that it
means fresh mainstream classroom access for many handicapped children and
billions in unexpected costs for public schools, and hence for taxpayers.
boy, a high school sophomore, was rendered quadriplegic by a childhood
accident, the cost to the school system of his attending classes was as much as
students. ("Regular" is the paper's word; better would have been
There is one area that all the stories on this decision gloss over. They
each mention that the plaintiff's child in the case was injured in a childhood
the boy was four years old. But everybody leaves it at that. Which leaves
Today's Papers' nose twitching. Did one of the parents drive a motorcycle
helmet?) If the answer to either question is yes, then here we have a case of
the cost of parental irresponsibility being doled out to everybody else, a
phenomenon the papers should be more curious about.
The story does not explain when or under what circumstances the House threat
likens her story to a "romance novel, heavy on grief, despair and passion." And
tidbit that to keep potential evidence out of investigators' hands, her father
burned her White House souvenirs on the family barbecue.
and then proceeded to a House hearing where he displayed his deadly sample. The
man then testified that in addition he has done likewise "through all the major
airports, and the security systems of the State Department, the Pentagon, even
endowments. And then the Journal asks the very natural question that the
schools themselves never raise, Why, in light of this investment success, don't
the schools use more of their own resources to help students? Why, in other
the impeachment trial. The Wall Street Journal flags the story in its front page news
box. The headlines at the two Times and the Journal stress the
explains that the paperwork dumped on the Senate includes arguments from both
The upshot of the White House filing is that the charges do not rise to the
level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," while the thrust of the House
impeachable, then no president not a convicted felon or murderer need ever fear
impeachment in the future. It's noted all around that the White House has added
a more aggressive wrinkle to its posture: now claiming that it's a "myth" that
article of impeachment concerning it was not passed.
that the congressional wood shop has been busy building new tables especially
those surveyed said they had definitely made up their minds about the case,
The coverage emphasizes that the White House chose at this time not to file
motions challenging the proceedings, motions that could have added weeks to the
whole process. But the papers also report that the White House has indicated it
will probably file such motions if the Senate chooses to allow the calling of
witnesses after the initial presentations by the House managers and the White
House defense counsel. The Post notes that the White House has also
dropped for now plans for any constitutional challenges such as that the
would open the Senate's closed door for deliberations on trial motions or the
refusing to answer questions put to him about a relationship with a woman not
then his wife (she is now) during divorce proceedings.
But wait a second, it is an old shoe! The piece is merely a lift of two pages
According to the coverage, yesterday's Senate votes fixed the impeachment
will, guess the papers, be an acquittal on both the perjury and obstruction
counts, with no finding of facts in lieu of a conviction, but, after the trial,
note the papers, was the first one in the proceedings that didn't follow party
Today sees "impeachment fatigue" in the day's debate, and the New York Times
says there was little ardor or urgency in the speeches, comparing the whole
here and there, noting that one House manager said, "If one senator has failed
to personally sit through this deposition and every deposition, that senator is
not equipped to render a verdict on the impeachment trial of the President of
week's phase of the trial was reached over the objections of the White House.
Post points out that the Senate vote on video admissibility contains a
rider that excludes any statements made by the witnesses after the end of the
House lawyer at the end of hers will not be disseminated.
reckless and indefensible." The White House would go for that, says the paper,
knowingly lied under oath, tampered with evidence and witnesses, and attempted
to interfere in the progress of a civil rights suit.
replies, "I think he's an intelligent president." At this remark, the room full
of attorneys, congressmen and senators "erupted into laughter." And in his
doctrine: "I do not view the president as giving me instructions."
The Wall Street Journal reports that researchers have just
percent of those newly infected are carrying forms of the virus resistant to
was unarmed, and no weapon was found near his body.
ended up in the bank's accounts so that it can receive approval of its planned
was one little building project the bank helped finance but never mentioned
competition to develop a new fighter airplane for all the services, has thus
in charge of the program says a lot about the military's attitude towards
points out that the debacle is "somewhat ironic" in that the plane is supposed
about what problems are causing the money hemorrhage.
flicks they've enjoyed on Turner Classic Movies, which they see via the
that the two articles of impeachment failed to muster a simple majority.
the Times is the only paper of the big three to headline the sinking of
staging of the drama's denouement. Its overview story reports that Senate staff
members scripted each stage of the final day's proceedings, down to the
disturbed by murmuring in the press gallery only when Republican Senators
votes signaled that the House had erred in sending forth impeachment articles."
The story does not say which Republican Senators advanced this view.
The LAT highlights the collegiality that marked the closing of the
certain ring of civility to it, but it means one side is disadvantaged, and we
were." The LAT reports that back slapping abounded after votes were
The Post and the Times front separate features on the
President's rose garden apology and expression of "profound sorrow" for
triggering the events of the past year. The Times story emphasizes that
the speech struck a conciliatory and hopeful tone. Though the paper reported
at the ballot box, it does not pause to compare and contrast.
All three papers front separate articles on the reaction of the House
satisfactory agreement is reached between the "warring parties" currently
plan last week, but promised to consult with Congress before making any formal
commitments. The Times notes that the mission would probably be headed
represent an important change in Presidential elections. The National
Association of Secretaries of State adopted a plan that, if implemented, would
reverse the increasing compression of presidential primaries, and the
The story notes that getting the necessary approval by the states and political
At the close of yesterday's drama, Congressional players were confronted
with the bittersweet question of what they would do next. According to the
Times lead with the issues that the Senate must soon resolve to
stress will instead be on: whether or not to call any of the already deposed
witnesses to the Senate chamber for questioning, whether or not to release to
the public the videotapes of their depositions, and whether or not to vote on
Although support for these choices play out largely along party lines, the
papers note that Republican support for the choices that make life more
leads with the nationwide gas wars, caused by an oil glut and petroleum
industry improvements. The upshot: the national average price of a gallon of
Adjusted for inflation, the paper says, gas prices are the lowest in
On the impeachment front, despite the handwriting on the wall, there are
still plenty of Republicans strolling the halls of Congress with ink remover.
make himself available for a deposition. But even that letter stated that the
One sign that there really is light now at the end of the impeachment tunnel
House acknowledged yesterday that a Democratic pep rally on the South Lawn
organization. The LAT says the raid uncovered evidence of tapped phone
Republic amassing strong evidence that Tom DeLay, a leading congressional doubter of President
time he reported to Congress that he was the company's chairman. The
up evidence that DeLay made further misstatements about the amount of money he
was drawing from the company and also about the amount of speaking fees he
rage" over poor airline service, a bipartisan bill, the "Airline Passenger
doesn't say what rights will thereby be protected, although presumably they
won't include the right to intestinally offload onto the liquor cart (an actual
while he was on active duty. (He had not, says today's story, informed the
magazine of this.) The story doesn't explore whether this fact would be grounds
for dismissal under the present "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Which is too
bad, since it's actually an interesting test case. If a soldier is completely
circumspect in his military life and makes every effort to disguise his
Today's coverage of the impending Senate actions on impeachment includes a
is completely unsupported in the story. And therefore shouldn't be there. The
telltale sign that such phrases represent the illicit smuggling into a story of
a political opinion is that just below this the story continues, "The White
that comes with "steadfastly," but please do notice that this sentence does not
read, "In order to make Republicans look bad, the White House has..."
military capabilities. This story is also on the LAT front. Both
fighting, documenting that their number includes horses and babies. The
is yesterday's signal from the House Republican leadership that despite
members of Congress who fear the plan is too costly and politically risky
because it smacks of favoring the rich. Into this breach, explains the
goes with the upswing in federal health care fraud prosecutions, resulting in
unprecedented numbers of doctors and administrators going to prison. Sixty
percent of these cases involve bogus Medicare billing. The story's
comparison, but the body explains that the baseline year for the comparison
themselves. The paper notes that they've never had to make collective decisions
sales, making it likely that China will interpret the quashing of this
economic relations. The paper says the Commerce Dept. approved of the sale, but
that State and Defense opposed it on the grounds that the technology involved
This suppression of news is particularly odd here because these very relevant
civil contempt for failing to produce records of accounts
the names of the two men until the sixth paragraph. Also, the paper never
mentions that the judge in this case, who suggested the failure to produce
smacked of official deceit, had previously harshly ruled against the
administration in the matter of whether or not closed meetings of the
against the government. The Post goes right out of the box with mentions
downsizing, headline writers have trouble finding a new, er, wrinkle.
Watts' father was quoted comparing blacks voting Republican to chickens
supporting Colonel Sanders. It turns out that this is not a fresh quote, but
rather has been attributed to Watts' father in newspaper articles going back at
Village? After all, even this architectural utopia has turned out to have its
downsides: onerous zoning and architectural restrictions, rules about what you
can and cannot do with your garden, a general atmosphere of
If so, the satire has gone over viewers' heads. Seaside town officials have
available to renters. One of the movie's producers commented, "I recall we made
debunking the illusion of movies is: It doesn't matter how devastating your
expos, of an illusion, if the illusion's a pretty one, some people will always
publishing firms that had donated big money to the event? Or if the Met was to
And as long as we're asking annoying questions: Where are all the great
to be out on video.) Ditto for, say, a dozen great directors and
The more important questions: Why are we selling off our greatest cultural
right they happen to be. But must we celebrate our tainted taste on
Congress convenes and could proceed very swiftly. The New York Times
representatives' salaries are going up, says the paper, in at least ten states.
show appearances to appear less partisan and less combative than their House
counterparts had seemed when they had the impeachment ball in their court. The
colleagues when, on "Face the Nation," he expressed doubt that it would be
expressing the fear that at stake here is the possibility that Congress could
began routinely removing presidents, speakers become president, no one knows
explanation for the trend: more police and stricter gun laws. The LAT
quotes an academic expert citing another: a decrease in the crack cocaine
trade, caused by the proliferation of legal economic opportunities for young
explanation much higher, and notes that the two crimes that have fallen the
explanation for why the young have been avoiding crack of late: The clear
negative consequences for role models who got caught up in the stuff. The
security system may, says the Journal actually be a big part of the
problem. Companies averse to firing employees are, in a sluggish economy,
reluctant to hire too. By contrast, accustomed as they are to the prospects of
elected and appointed officials in which they document all their sexual
activity for the previous year. Cutler's form has the usual bureaucratic
there's a serious omission when it comes to public servants like his last
presidential boss: it doesn't define "sexual activity."
proves to be down with the Zeitgeist, providing the latest evidence of the
at least he's keeping it out of his movies. The forthcoming
ape wildly successful Chatterbox style? Answer: Hell, yes!...
longer than The Horse Whisperer the National Hockey League regular
to be interviewed for the position of official biographer, the friend surely
wasn't thinking: Ah yes! Let's bring this fashionable memoir writer face to
What a surprise, then, to come across the following title in the Random
Morris. This is the most eagerly awaited political biography of the
But a rumor floated: Morris had lost presidential favor. The book was late
"impossible to understand," a dilemma that had caused Morris to experience a
Globe earlier this year, Morris downplayed expectations: "If you want to
study of his life and imagination, and his gift for stirring the
breadth and depth of a biography: "It's just simply the fact that I spent a lot
of time with him in the White House and had the chance to talk with him a lot.
It's a privilege most biographers don't have, at least not biographers of
presidents. We schmoozed a lot and had long dialogues."
As befits the day, the papers are relatively quiet, finally getting to lead
cancelled planes and trains, giving us along the way the definitive holiday
third of it. Yesterday's LAT said "nearly half," but today's settles on
stance is "particularly credible" because he is not running for
A piece inside the Times braces with the reminder that a full blown
soon to preside over the Senate's impeachment trial. The piece notes that
most significant previous impeachments (both unsuccessful), that of Supreme
that the book, for much of this year one of the capital's most sought after, is
which a young bomber pilot broke formation and disappeared with a plane full of
bombs and was later discovered to have crashed into a Colorado mountain. The
turmoil over his mother's religiously based pacifistic disapproval of the
military and over a failed romance. The man's parents deny this, claiming
instead that something happened on the flight to make their son lose
consciousness. The Times notes that the report is silent regarding two
and that he committed suicide because he was a tormented closeted gay. The
Times itself is oddly silent about some relevant context though, never
noting that the sort of speculative psychological explanation indulged in here
by the Air Force is strikingly similar to that wielded by the Navy when, in its
initial official report on the disastrous gunnery explosion aboard the
but his best columns have always been wonderful correctives to everybody
Supreme Court justice has expressed "grave doubts" about the guilt of some of
the convicts executed during his tenure. The judge notes that in the past ten
convicted criminals yesterday, for offenses ranging from going AWOL to blowing
up a building. The group includes three people convicted of lying.
repository of Constitutional wisdom and "defender of Senate prerogatives," was
basically just counting votes. He said that there weren't enough to convict,
from the floor of the Senate: "You're saying, I guess, that perjury's okay if
Hatch, the papers report, said that the Senate should hear witnesses and
adjourn the trial, letting the House vote stand as "the highest form of
condemnation." The LAT lead says that the impeachment case "appeared to
than ever for a graceful exit from a potentially prolonged trial."
the clearest about how the surprise announcement was made, in a press release
There are two key subordinate trial stories. The Post 's second lead
lawyers say she doesn't want to help "either side." The managers called in
The other story addresses how the trial in the Senate progressed. The
oddness of the proceeding, wherein Senators, forbidden to speak, had to submit
agree that the Senators used the opportunity almost exclusively to lob softball
Over the last few weeks a story about the Chief Justice has rarely been
complete without a reference to the zeal with which he enforces time limits on
oral arguments in the Supreme Court. (He's often described as cutting attorneys
off "mid syllable" when the clock runs out.) The papers, with perhaps a bit of
disappointment, note his uncharacteristic laxness on this point as he presided
responses. The first answer went on for nine minutes.
see him through his own eyes, and measure him by the yardstick of church
history." The LAT is more probing about his effect on the church's
which had enlivened the church, particularly by attracting new clergy. Now
they're low on priests, and capitalism stands rampant, with its attendant onus
largess in the form of medical treatment, college tuition, and slick land
yesterday testified that the massive response to the speech was fabricated.
it, has the details. He said he enlisted help before the speech from labor
locomotive full of mail into Union Station. "He did generate a lot of mail,"
welfare. A Health and Human Services survey shows, says the paper, that state
officials have, despite winning the right under welfare reform to control a
billion available to them in a recent nine month period. The paper attributes
this to the steep decline in the number of people on welfare, the states'
slowness to develop new welfare programs, and their desire to save money for
the country by his oldest son, who hours later was sworn in as king. The
in mining and manufacturing the stuff. Those who will die, says the paper,
pattern of jury nullification. The most concrete sign of the trend, the paper
says, is the sharp increase in hung juries. For years, the norm was considered
supporting story inside about a woman advocate of jury nullification on a hung
Colorado drug case jury who was later convicted of failing to disclose her own
premium package for a newly released computer book, which includes the top slot
on the site's home page, an author profile or interview, and "complete
delicate move for Amazon, which has distinguished itself with its thoughtful
of those thoughtful voices.) Amazon officials tell the paper that their site
space is not for sale, and that most of the books featured do not bring a fee,
are rarely rejected. The piece notes two big problems with Amazon's advertorial
independent houses at a competitive disadvantage, regardless of content. The
preparing to launch a similar advertorial program later this year.
the next decade. The story notes that housing purchases are a function of
household formations, which are a function of demographics, which augur a bit
of retrenchment. After all, baby boomers, who are responsible for much of the
growth, have probably peaked in household formation. And the country is getting
workplace experiences of some other recent interns. Give the paper credit for
noting one job where the problem was hardly an intern's getting too much
attention. The intern's account reads in part: "I have just completed my first
week of work at The New York Times ....I enter in the mornings without
anyone saying hello and exit in the evenings without anyone waving
work under a judge's threat of heavy fines if they continued staying out in
call in sick on the same day, does the company ask for a note from a doctor and
got them to sit down together. (What had they been doing there until then,
LAT quotes her high saying, "There is every indication they will be
her saying "I will not be able to say that the path to agreement is clear or
that success is in sight" before having to leave to report back to President
for peaceful leadership. The second half of the LAT account dwells
law have become more detailed recently because prosecutors feel the company is
stumbling in its court defense. A forced breakup is currently envisioned by the
only the Windows operating system and one that would sell other MS software
big questions in all of this, says the paper, are: Would such moves really
create new competition? And which company would get Bill Gates? (Perhaps if
cloning technology continues to pick up speed, the latter problem can be
obvious it's not clear why they don't fear looking too confident of victory
Like a decapitated chicken still racing around the barnyard, the papers
us, and above the fold with the debate within the Republican ranks about
for the impeachment trial. Similarly, most say the Senate should end attempts
weekend meeting of moderate Republicans worrying about how to repair the image
rich people and the business people still like us," and then reports that the
violent crime more than twice the national average, and unlike most other
first airing last week. But the column also reports that a recent "Biography"
leads with the continuing rise in cable rates even as the medium approaches
much of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, while tornadoes will hit
Collapse." The paper goes high with the claim by a former prime minister that
"doomsday was a wrong estimation of what would happen, and what will happen."
The Journal enumerates some of the things it says have nonetheless not
million folks have lost their jobs (since when?) and the ruble is off by
fast as was forecast, and why the stock market is "stirring." And the country's
entrenched barter economy means that companies can press on regardless of
than four times the rate of inflation. What's happened, as if you didn't know,
is that while cable price controls came off, much of the expected
government's agency in charge of federal buildings has been warned repeatedly
and unrestricted entrances. But, says the paper, since the building opened
with huge cost overruns, there has been tremendous reticence to create a strong
visible security presence that would cut down on revenue by discouraging the
public from visiting the retail stores, restaurants and convention facilities
to wrest artistic control of his pictures away from the studios. According to
trend appears to illustrate several unintended consequences of
locks and security systems, unattended locked cars became much harder to steal,
caught by police in their own cars. A separate Times item reports that
an attempt to rob her at a bank ATM and gave the police a getaway car license
plate that directly led to the arrest of three suspects in the crime.
where you can buy a Judicial Watch report or a Judicial Watch baseball cap.
for instance, were all right. But Frank lacked a sense of humor. He took
generation, a way of saying no to people sitting on wooden stools under a
spotlight crooning insincerely. Rock 'n' roll wasn't smooth, like Frank. It was
of phrasing that Frank invented. That is nonsense. You will hear nothing of
other members of my mothers' generation is perfectly captured in a clip they've
that dreadful duet, in which both were forced to mimic themselves as
the deadline passed without an agreement. He changed his mind on the advice of
Times restrict themselves to observing that this is a policy
None of the three papers seems to know just what convinced the negotiators
that three more days of negotiation would be valuable. It's particularly
opportunity for evasion and delay," and nowhere does she explain why things
foreigners on their territory," which might be a first step towards some sort
will be gone" by the new deadline three days from now, adding that "there is no
it comes time to sign their little darlings up for summer day camps. A mother
is driven to tears at the news that her child had missed the deadline for a
magazine also introduces a redesigned front section, which grandly aims to
chronicle "The Way We Live Now." Included is a new ethics column (written by
A slow news day yields different leads at all the weekend papers. The
Times lead accuses Congress of using money marked for education on
overseas." The article says that the move might be an attempt to undercut
presidency. The piece also predicts a lively struggle in Congress over how to
whose parents are ineligible for welfare are receiving public assistance. Most
are either children of illegal immigrants or those living with relatives
because their parents have lost custody. While welfare reform and a strong
economy have gotten many adults off the dole, welfare kids seem to present a
percent. A question that is not addressed in the article: is the percentage
While bringing home the pork is not a new congressional hobby, doing it at
the expense of educational programs is, according to the LAT lead. The
and investment." And it is from this discretionary pool, that representatives
specials made consumer goods, which were previously subject to local
magazine's staffers were still sipping their first cup of coffee when word went
known as "the piazza," an open space adjacent to the corridor where the
Sporting a simple blue suit, her hair streaked with just the right amount of
still making their way up the stairs. This was, she said, a very difficult
thing to do, but she had been presented with an opportunity that she simply
couldn't refuse. After uttering the usual platitudes about how The New
produce films and television shows. (She will be the chairwoman and a part
seems concerned with turning a profit at the magazine. And who can blame him?
As for who will preside over this dark day in New Yorker history, we
can only report what we have gleaned from the rumor mill over on 43rd Street.
celebrated) editor of Vanity Fair who has perfected the formula for the
profile that simultaneously glamorizes and eviscerates its subject. It seems
respected newspaperman who did a tour as Page One editor of the Wall Street
York Review of Books with none of the intellectual snobbery. All the while,
he has been writing nifty pop culture pieces for the New York Times
today that it will initiate the creation of quick response "strike forces" of
threats and scenarios. One issue not decided yet, says the paper, is whether
performance in this area to mean that he plans to recommend later this month
presidents signed agreements to increase air travel between their countries, to
suppress the spread of tuberculosis, and to improve communications between law
enforcement on both sides of the border to cut down on migrant death and
can undertake a foreign trip without being dogged by scandal. Indeed, the
she did preside over the resolution of the agency's tainted blood problems.
management style wanting and critics have noted her tendency to add political
prominently featured Ms. Dole and ran eleven days before she stepped down to
Post story about "deadwood" federal employees. The story had mentioned
that in its effort to better understand the problem, the government's Office of
Senate for its handing of the impeachment trial, with Republicans taking most
views the impeachment process, not as an honest investigation of possible
decision, and doesn't need to make public the videotaped testimony it decided
to take anyway. The paper sums up the popular sentiment thus: "Enough already!"
The poll finds that just under half of all Republicans feel the whole thing
"threat" in such a way that the jury could consider the impact on the mental
state of the plaintiff doctors of nationwide violence aimed against other
those words that produce or are likely to produce "imminent" lawless action.
The LAT says however, that the trial judge's approach reflects current
appellate case law. The paper effectively sums up the troubling side of the
wider definition of "threat" by quoting one of the defendants' lawyers saying
that under it, "virtually any document that criticizes an abortionist by name
is threatening. I think the effect on political protest will be
One of the annoying tics of newspaper coverage of jury awards is the
the defendants in this case have preemptively gotten rid of their assets and
hence that the plaintiffs will probably never collect a cent of the millions
there was a major inaccuracy in the video the company played in the courtroom
tag, was that the browser had not actually been removed. Later in the day,
did have the browser removed, but that the screen tag usually signifying
implement an unprecedented consumer notification procedure relating to one of
the town's most cherished substances: fur. The city council has, says the
paper, agreed to hold a special election on requiring all local furriers to put
warning tags on their garments that would read: "This product is made with fur
from animals that may have been killed by electrocution, gassing, neck
breaking, poisoning, clubbing, stomping, or drowning and may have been trapped
story includes far more detail about methods of extinguishing life than any of
ridiculed figures in pop music, her shortcomings as a singer and musician all
Why this should be, when it wasn't her idea to join Wings in the first
been the decorative spouse who kept the creator satisfied as she gave him a
stable home; two decades later, she'd have been Baby Spice with a brain,
critic. Her writing since certainly confirms that rock 'n' roll was not her
ideal subject, but the idea that the value of her provocative thoughts is
somehow debased by her candor about her personal life, or by her willingness to
appear topless on the cover of her book, is hilarious. In case you missed it:
if one were to ask me, "Can you do my laundry tonight?" my only response would
A Magazine About Nothing: There's plenty of buckshot being sprayed at
charge. Believe whom you will, but it's Jerry who behaved most caddishly by
by not taking the blame for wanting to check out the piece in advance. Like he
squashed in its opening weekend by Lost in Space --featuring a fully
remember when Titanic was going to be the Ultimate Boy Movie, based on
the pants off such movies as Wild Things --whose Boy Culture appeal was
Meanwhile, "My Heart Will Go On" has pulled two different albums to the
the music industry has been hip to the death of Boys R Us since last summer,
Elsewhere on the cultural landscape, the news for Boy Culture gets
celebrations, I thought I was supposed to enjoy it when athletes got rowdy. Not
little faith in the buying power of their core audience of males that they're
it? Hug it? Drive it? Hug it?" ad campaign so insufferable it makes Hello Kitty
So where can Boys R Us make its last stand? There are Comedy Central's
impeachment trial. The LAT goes with yesterday's air action in the southern
According to the papers, the only thing that's really known about the
senators in breaks from yesterday's continuous palavering suggest that the fast
of Senate Republicans bucking their leadership to complain that the House
managers are entitled to more time to make their case against President
against a fast track. A related fault line is whether or not the proceedings
should include the calling of witnesses. On the one hand, a trial without
witnesses seems odd and on the other, there is concern that with a full slate
of witnesses, the Senate cannot avoid the rancor just seen in the House. "We
Another issue is whether the Senate is constitutionally empowered to consider
remarkable statement, says the paper, in light of the public's overwhelming
actually were). But none of the accounts address the issue this difference
conventionally understood provocative act required?
Also, for a press that's become quite intoxicated with the technical details
of our weapons, especially when they work, there's a notable lack of
with the help of distracting countermeasures, made sudden maneuvers the
missiles couldn't duplicate. Another possibility is that the shots were all
In the past year, the papers have made much of the various safety and
environmental negatives posed by the wild proliferation of sports utility
principle that we will want our next president to be everything this one is
Once again the Senate impeachment trial is the consensus news leader, with
today's installment given over to yesterday's votes to press on and to
the immediate event. The big print at the New York Times
takes a longer view: "Senate Refuses to Dismiss Case and Agrees to Call
that the Senate has told the House managers they have the chance to make their
the trial schedule from here on out. The Post says that if the three
depositions just approved don't drag out and aren't sensational, the White
threatened. (But the LAT notes a possible obstacle: the House managers
disliked least when she met with several of the managers last weekend."
but that Ford has become viewed as the "acquirer of choice," because of its
track record of injecting capital and expertise into new purchases without
of increases in military pay and pensions even more generous than those
between rendering military pay strictly comparable to civilian pay and making
military pay high enough to attract and retain sufficiently qualified troops in
the various specialties the services require for true readiness. It's the
latter that the budget should reflect, not the former. The editorial goes on to
suggest that the readiness pay standard should be applied year by year instead
that would help retention of the right kind of personnel while avoiding waste:
target pay raises and bonuses not just to combat specialties but also to
extra reward when he's jumping out of planes and sleeping in a foxhole, but not
when he's serving as a clerical assistant at the Pentagon, returning to his
nice suburban home every night in time for dinner with his family.
Everybody's been talking about the growth of online stock trading, but today
growth of online stock trading problems. The Times says investor
complaints about online trades have quadrupled over the past year. The chief of
the ease of mouse transactions goad them into trading too quickly or too
complained bitterly over his use of the word "niggardly" in a business meeting
with two subordinates, one white and one black. The Post notes that
"niggardly" is etymologically completely unrelated to "nigger" (it has Middle
English roots and means stingy) and says that if in fact the man used the word
innocently and in its correct context, then the loss of his job is "truly
remarkable." The paper cites other phrases that will have to be dropped if the
standard of this case is widely adopted: "a chink in the armor," and "a nip in
Social Security by investing some of the budget surplus on its behalf in the
stock market and also to use some of it to subsidize a new system of individual
separate headlines over its Social Security lead and
only the revelation that the federal government has decided to sue tobacco
There is much mention of Republican enthusiasm for tax cuts instead, but only
for most of his new ideas, and that some stand little chance of passage.
preserves the program's size but only by accepting something that was anathema
held back its Social Security plans and its new tobacco legal strategy to
defense before Congress earlier in the day, would drive the coverage. Both the
the speech was designed to portray a president who intends to stick around.
The LAT says that the speech was in its own way the ultimate
people really care about, and hence might help him maintain the strong poll
ratings that may be his ultimate lever with the senators sitting in judgment of
The LAT fronts the International Monetary Fund's publication of a
slow to see the extent of the banking overhaul required, but also notes that
very few others saw things more clearly. But even though many have said that
Brazil, now in deep crisis with a rapidly disintegrating currency.
the federal government decided yesterday that embryonic stem cell research is not ruled out by the ban on
federally funded embryo research, because the cells aren't embryos. They don't
have broken into the Capitol Hill office of a polling firm working for the
advisor is quoted as saying, "We hereby declare the demise of the coincidence
the regular broadcasts of what he calls "National Tom Radio," the daily
of record for the number of occurrences of the word "mommy" in a Post
violate a great unspoken but true taboo: Other Peoples' Kids Are Boring. For
sitting next to you in coach who just has to show you pictures of his
that each right now would beat Al Gore. The story also states that a House or
affect most voters' attitudes towards him or her, and that most voters also
think impeachment should not be an issue in the upcoming presidential
charge is "doomed." And both say not to expect any big bombshell from the uh,
been asked about her testimony, but presumably will be when he's deposed later
billions in new spending while preaching fiscal conservatism, via combining
such liberal domestic programs as urban housing vouchers and classroom
construction with cherished Republican priorities like the military, the police
and small business. The Times says that with his State of the Union and
scandal and the Republicans' failure during that time to offer their own
to humans through the blood exposure involved in chimpanzee hunting and
this process will help them learn more about ways of combating the disease. A
lengthy Wall Street Journal takeout points out a possible side
military has asked for the power to take charge in the case of major terrorist
previously, today's coverage mentions the concern some civil libertarians have
about this unprecedented augmentation of domestic military authority. The
officials, quoting one who emphasizes that "the military wouldn't get involved
in law enforcement." The reader is left puzzled, since it seems obvious that if
a military unit were to take charge during any sort of domestic terrorist
already involved with law enforcement. Remember those Marines who shot that
released in connection with the company's myriad court cases as well as
the company's heated internal conflict over whether or not to
abandon Windows and its successor PC operating systems in favor of a
programming base that would run on any kind of operating system reachable via
the Internet. The coterie of Internet "doves" inside the company's senior
combined with a warning from the head of the players' union that if so, the
runaway number one story of the year was You Know What, but number two was the
officer suggesting a more prosaic explanation: "I think what he's trying to do
would be premature to declare that the problem has been beaten throughout the
ground on before: the increasingly pronounced split between the races when it
The preference trend, the Times explains, influences the way the shows
look. Since, for instance, whites rarely watch shows with mostly black casts,
and since advertisers focus on the more numerous and generally more affluent
white viewers, network shows on in prime time with black or even integrated
casts have become relatively rare, reversing a trend towards cast integration
that was big in the 70s and 80s. One producer sums up the situation by saying
activity that drives home the point that some sort of benchmark has been
biggest online brokerage house is now just the biggest brokerage house.
deeply stung by the accusations against him and his company opens with an
anecdote that's evidently supposed to humanize him but which will probably have
the opposite effect. It seems that last summer Gates and his wife took several
dozen friends on a vacation trip out West, and at one point they stopped at a
restaurant for dinner. During the meal, a couple of strangers eating nearby
joined the group and proceeded to mercilessly tease Gates, amazing all of his
front shows the bodies on display in a village mosque with shrouds over their
heads, where they were apparently shot at close range. The papers report that
autopsies, which means in all likelihood that international authorities will
killings. The Post also carries Walker's condemnation, but also quotes
him making this odd concession: "Maybe we went beyond the limits [of the
mission's mandate], and that's why the government is mad at us."
less impregnable than previously feared and weakened his support among his
military protectors, the Republican Guards. Now's the time therefore, he
writes, to "really rattle his cage." He offers such suggestions as turning up
the story shows that the paper is just a little too credulous about the need
for this spending. Examples of "worsening congestion and strain" at the White
House the Post cites include: "Storage space is so scarce that items for
the China Room, where the presidential china is on display, doubles as a coat
room for state dinners"; and "The florists were forced to open boxes of flowers
The Post has apparently adopted a breakthrough innovation that
enables it to get copy into the paper faster: Each piece gets its own editor,
won't be ready with the next piece of the station on time. And this comes on
The coverage explains that each impeachment witness will be questioned for
four hours by each side. Two senators, one from each party, will supervise. The
videotapes can be shown in the Senate and before the witnesses could be called
to testify before the Senate in person. (Even so, the LAT says in its
of witness tapes.) Also decided yesterday was that Republican managers cannot
seek any additional evidence or testimony uncovered during these witness
the LAT or Post with word that the notion of a "split decision,"
where a finding of fact is voted on in addition to the ultimate issue of
the defense team might well respond with delays of its own. The LAT lead
impeachment trial by stressing to the senators in attendance the importance of
commuted the death sentence of a convicted murder to life in prison without
parole after the pope, during his recent visit to St. Louis appealed directly
killing of a married couple along with their disabled grandson.
count on projected government budget surpluses to fix Social Security,
primarily because budget forecasts have proven to be so unreliable. The
stock prices is "good for our system," in that it's channeling capital to
promising new enterprises before they actually turn a profit. A Post
inside piece notes instead that despite his doubts about the reliability of
to draw down the national debt and to help fund Social Security. The Wall Street Journal piece on the Chairman's appearance
testified at a Senate hearing yesterday that he had reservations about the
a move could create a "rogue state" there that's even more destabilizing than
in the 1980s to arm indigenous forces against the Soviet occupiers. The
has the advantage of avoiding mention of such gritty matters as arms shipments
owned by folks who are living longer than they expected to.
confidence regarding his impeachment trial chances, pointing out that such
informal statements are probably all the Senate is going to get from him. The
Today lead is that a government commission report to be published today
will urge a new package of better benefits for military veterans.
It probably didn't help that the president of the country's central bank
suddenly resigned or that it's widely believed any economic troubles in Brazil
Maybe it's the dismal science rather than dismal writing, but from the
The paper says the devaluation eases pressure on Brazil to defend its currency
by spending its reserves keeping interest rates high, and that the government
describes its move as a way to restore consumer confidence and credibility
After all, if the currency is falling, won't investors be motivated to take
what they've got and convert it to a more stable currency before things get
worse, thereby putting more pressure on the real? And why is a devalued
currency preferable to increased interest rates? They both suppress consumer
spending and hence both contribute to the kind of transnational recessionary
contagion that is the main worldwide economic concern at the moment. Similarly,
trim interest rates, "domestic industry can worry less about paying its debt
and more about borrowing to resume production." But if the country's money is
worth less, don't companies just have to borrow more to accomplish any given
table the matter for now, a small group of Senate Republicans has met secretly with the House impeachment prosecutors to work on
story inside headlined "Retirement Sends Shock Around a Small Planet," but at
least the Post front notices that in his press conference yesterday,
Times goes with a sensational two decks across four columns ("Judge
a "storm of partisan fire" in the Senate. Both papers seem caught up by the
the ruling was issued. The New York Times plays it much more calmly; the
ordered to talk: Her immunity agreement not only said specifically that she
must cooperate with "congressional proceedings," but also that she talk to
to. She'll be doing the talking today, the papers say.
The continuation of the question period in the Senate trial is the second
keep the Republican forces in line. You have to read a while in all the papers
supposed bipartisan agreement worked out before the Senate trial. But the paper
points out that such fracturing was inevitable, because those first days of
relative amity came at the expense of the senators' actually making a decision
pessimistically: "The likely result: an ugly battle along party lines, a series
of arguments over witnesses, and at least several more weeks of trial for the
justice charge is still volatile, and that she, by being convincing one way or
the other, can prevent the proceedings from being decided on something other
the paper says, is just a move to "hijack control of the trial."
well. A lengthy story details a "small secret clique" of lawyers who consulted
female suicide in China, which could be as much as five times the rest of the
world's average. The problem is in the country's rural areas, where there seems
to be an epidemic of impulsive suicide attempts, made more gruesome by the
availability of a pesticide that doesn't taste too bad.
section and the weather map will brighten up as well.
and another about a prospect who, when asked to bring references, showed up
Magazine appends a tacky postscript: a hymn to the Rolling Stones' fashion
ancient redwoods in private hands. This also makes the LAT front. The
Congress for walling off Social Security funds from the rest of the federal
budget. The main divide among advocates of the move, the story explains, is
between those who want to do it now and those who want to do it gradually.
Yesterday, House Republicans introduced a gradual plan. Gradualism has the
and shoring up Social Security in the long haul. The story delays until the
counting Social Security among general revenues, and never mentions that in
business accounting, earmarked pension funds are not considered among a firm's
vulnerability but little risk of disaster" and the story proper quickly
includes calming words from two senators. Nonetheless mentioned are potential
problems with paychecks and medical records, and accidental nuclear launches.
The LAT lead stresses the risks a bit more, with its first paragraph
mentioning computer crashes, disruptions leading to civil unrest in some
countries, and the risk of terrorist attacks amid the resulting confusion.
risks there are will be more acute in many foreign countries than in the
tourist treks aiming to see mountain gorillas became popular after the movie
reports, launched his effort with a speech criticizing economic globalism, the
capability to accept tax payments via credit card has become unexpectedly
"struggles with his sensuality") opens tonight. The LAT front quotes a
commentator saying, "This country's appetite for the salacious, the sexy and
should be walking around with a scarlet A." And she "seemed more interested in
making money than contemplating the deep meaning of her actions." The
Journalists tend to think that libel law exists to let rich and famous
protect the innocent against unfounded accusations of crimes of a heinous
evidence that on occasion, sir, the law is not an ass.
to get them to accuse Love not just of being a jerk, but of being a murderer.
have theories about why and how Love killed her late husband. None offers solid
His main objective appears to be to air these patently ludicrous accusations.
What else could he do? he asks us plaintively. After all, she wouldn't talk to
Reviews have been mixed, but smart critics who should have known better have
expose of the seamy underbelly of fame by a renegade who eschews the boring
adversarial stance toward celebrity culture that they overlook the main
accusations of murder without offering evidence that the accused is guilty of
anything other than being an ambitious loudmouth and drug user.
there's smoke, there may be fire, might not realize that for the last decade or
torment, and libel the controversial female public figures he chooses as his
subjects. Then he claims it's because they won't cooperate with him.
digging up all sorts of unbelievable charges about her then failing to refute
Airlines pilots who've been calling in sick for the last week. (It's illegal
for them to actually strike.) The Post story, much more colorful than
comparing the pilots to Mafia extortionists, promising the union that its
assets will fit in the "overhead bin of a Piper Cub" after he got through with
it, and even pointing out that many of the pilots had learned their trade while
some of the pilots are combat veterans who risked their lives for the country
motivations, goes out of its way to report that White House aides "expected
mobilizations and postings of the multinational troops.
presidential campaign will look in the mirror this weekend and see a possible
Those who make it to the end of the story will probably say amen to the closing
political phenomena that, all along, seemed systematically to help the
Democrats and hurt the right. It includes a trenchant "for want of a nail" tale
was unexpectedly delivered to Congress, even as an overheard remark of Barney
Frank's enraged a Republican representative, leading him to introduce a motion
pessimistic one. Democrats and Republicans hate each other, the paper says.
anything done anyway, he might as well concentrate on electing Gore and a
large numbers of people." A major report on the LAT front page details
led a dusty group of cowboys to take the national championship away from the
her first name. (A female movie exec gets the same treatment.) In this context,
it's not clear whether the writer or the subject appreciates the irony of the
Everybody leads with the emerging ground rules for the Senate impeachment
trial that starts today. The headlines emphasize various aspects of what's in
headline dwells on the probability of a "full trial" leading to a vote on the
Times header says the new Congress is in "turmoil" and claims that the
According to the papers, what is emerging from yesterday's full shift of
not to a censure vote, but to an up or down vote on the specific charges the
of justice. A trial that will probably include live witnesses. As the papers
went to bed, the witness question remained unresolved, but indications are that
But apparently the procedural discussions are far from over. For instance,
the trial by offering a motion to dismiss, requiring only a simple majority to
prevail. The paper also observes that if the House trial managers get to call
danger is that the Senate yields control of the proceedings to the White House
to stipulate to certain evidence in return for an abbreviated trial. No word on
which evidence, though. The Post says the president's strategists
related to their assigned task. Today's Post reports that in
deal, says the paper, was that the inspectors did this in return for getting
hiding evidence of its weapons programs. The Post reports that the head
day, the paper claims that China received secret design information for the
what China has done with the purloined information, but, says the
from the Secret Service. The story says that although the company claims to be
merely in the business of fighting credit and check fraud, congressional
supporters of the aid and the Secret Service envisioned using the photo file to
Berlin were two men and a woman and says the rioting there may "foreshadow a
waiting later and later in life to have children: elementary schools now have
to gear up to teach students about parental death. One principal is quoted saying he assures students
district attorney has decided to accept an appellate court decision reversing
witness lied on the stand when he denied being a police informant. The case has
embezzling fort funds. Although acquitted of that charge, he was convicted of
another stemming from the original case. Burying the news seems pandemic today:
this story waits until the last paragraph to inform that others stole the money
and accused Flipper of doing it out of racial hatred.
tried to step forward to tell New York City cops what he knew about a collision
involving an unmarked police car. For his trouble, he was flipped to the
pavement and beaten so severely that he went blind in one eye. Recently, the
accused of body slamming the plaintiff was asked to demonstrate his actions, he
while he did it. Fortunately, the jurors weren't laughing. Last week, they
bombing conviction, a story that nobody else fronts. The appeal had alleged
could delay the imposition of his death sentence for years. What gets a lot of
to require computer manufacturers to share details about their machines as a
gone to trial it ran the risk of being legally judged to be a monopoly, which
the papers explain, could have many adverse legal consequences across a wide
when it can withhold technological information from computer makers. Both the
"merciless competitor and litigator" to the current one, who personally
successfully negotiated a longstanding patent dispute with the concern's chief
One discrepancy in the LAT account of the settlement: the paper says
tactics, and besides, the use of the phrase makes it appear as if the
LAT is condemning the company, which it shouldn't really be doing
charged with anything, Lee is now officially the prime suspect in the case.
workmanlike player that is practically gone from today's courts and fields, a
piece he wrote right afterwards to mend the fences with the fans, in which he
advances the same "if movie stars can get it, why can't I" arguments you hear
officially taken this stand, and marks a reversal of Justice's longstanding
groups, but was nonetheless encouraging about China's chances of joining the
World Trade Organization. The Times sees the meeting as illustrating the
year to organize physicians, especially those who are salaried employees of
fraudulent and wrong refunds and that it lost track of a Chevy Blazer and a
problems to outdated computers and personnel turnover, problems it's
could still name special counsels. But the papers don't say how this capability
is thought by the administration to avoid the perceived most problematic
feature of the current law: that if an independent counsel is to be truly not
controlled by the executive branch, he must be virtually immune from dismissal.
conviction that the law has been a good one, helping to restore public
produced much valuable intelligence that was completely unrelated to the
inspectors' assignments. This contrasts, the paper explains, with previous
such use of intelligence equipment or agents was done with the full witting
cooperation of the inspectors and produced information related to their
inspection mission. The story contains excellent detail about how the covert
neutral position on circumcision for male infants. The group now holds that the
be coerced by medical professionals" into having it done. Also, the group says
that if the procedure is done, the baby should receive pain relief beforehand.
The report does say that physicians should respect opting for the operation on
Today's Papers has more than a passing interest in a civil case written up
suffered a breakdown after three years on the night shift and United turned
down her request to switch to days. The column also passes along heartening
First the credibility, then the credit. "The Reliable Source" in the
by Republican congressional leaders that their budget plan will set aside money
for Social Security while also providing for a tax cut. The Post says
this is a vague proposal, with the size of the tax cut still undefined. But the
would devote some of it to Medicare, special savings accounts, and extra
it clear that his authorship of the Roe v. Wade opinion is at this point viewed
sitting when the verdict was read. Unlikely. The other papers have him
homicide but also of charges of dereliction of duty and destruction of
property, even though he was flying lower and faster than the rules allowed.
None of the papers mention it, but the trial outcome is part of a disturbing
Miraculously, the military justice system found that none of these actions was
nation in this category. As if realizing what the study suggests about the
cognitive prowess of LAT readers, the paper points out that the federal
assessment "also" showed that eighty percent of the state's fourth graders are
The Wall Street Journal main "Politics and Policy" piece argues
understanding of his policies. And will hurt historians' understanding of them
Follow up: Yesterday, in discussing the Supreme Court ruling that physically
classroom care, this space wondered how it was that none of the papers covering
the decision seemed at all curious about how the disabled boy in the case could
Papers couldn't take it any more and quickly found out some further interesting
facts: The boy was injured when, after his father put him on the back of a
motorcycle, the baby blanket that the father placed around his shoulders became
entwined with the cycle's drive shaft, breaking the boy's neck and snapping his
spinal cord. The parents sued the motorcycle manufacturer and accepted a
anything about the motorcycle design or manufacture could have been nearly as
to pay for the costs entailed by the boy's injury. Hence, here's a crucial fact
not reported in any of yesterday's stories: the parents had already been
given more than enough money (by their own estimate) to provide for the
additional cost of keeping him in a mainstream classroom.
visit to the Interior Department yesterday. Seems Interior honchos decided to
grazing. Problem was, it was discovered late in the game that the buffalo is an
Re women on welfare: I have no problem with the idea of supporting
poor women to take care of their own small children. But if they are to
be made to work, they should be paid decent wages (for example, in New York
City, the wages of the city workers who did those jobs before workfare). They
should have vacations, benefits, proper clothing, recourse for grievances,
bathroom breaks (and bathrooms!), and all the other things that workers get
that workfare workers don't get, or get only sporadically. And their
early brain development, and on and on, and even today working moms are subject
to tremendous amounts of disapproval for supposedly compromising their
but now we are taking the most vulnerable kids and saying we don't care what
Rate," which evoked this response from Family Research Council spokeswoman
giving your kids vitamin pills means you don't care if your kids eat nothing
but junk food? Originally sexual conservatives claimed to oppose condoms
because they would provoke more sex. If they have no such effect, why continue
What do you make of this from the AIDS perspective? It is as though
problems, it seems to me, than virginity. Better a thousand rubberized
But have you noticed that the big conservative welfare reform fans never
talk about birth control? You'd think they'd love it, but they don't.
We were so harmonious last week in our shared indifference to news
celebrated athlete is that he's been charged with rape, domestic violence,
"Christian" homophobic racist prejudices with the public. So you can imagine
baseball stadium. This is the same city we are always being told can't afford
to keep schools is good repair, let alone cut class size. Or provide day care
build his own stadium. If sports are so important, the city should build some
nice new swimming pools and recreation centers in poor neighborhoods.
Can you imagine the field day conservative commentators would have if
the billion dollars was to be ladled out for effete artistic pleasures instead
arts on the grounds of their personal tastes ("why should MY tax dollars go for
that pornographic drivel?" etc etc) how come effete types like me have to pay
dollars paying for male (mostly male) pastimes. You'll notice no one's
proposing a billion dollars of public funds to promote ballet!
such a difficult one. What could make her happier than to see how many
Slate readers delight in the malice of others, and how eagerly they
to a similar stature. Even when they weren't ready. Some of them recognized it:
we should have seen it coming: journalists destroyed rock; then they trashed
It's a very good question. Many times I have tried to figure out what it is
welfare, the reduction of the deficit, the acquiescence to the rollback of
For my part, it's not sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. Believe me. Some of
said it was a holocaust, then did nothing to stop it, then claimed credit for
ending it, then apologized for the holocaust. Anyone who can use such a grave
moral issue so glibly and cynically is pretty close to being evil. Ditto his
complete lack of substance on civil rights. Here is a man who says he is
against discrimination, then fires more gay people from the military than
and asks for less money on AIDS research than the Republican Congress. It's not
the end result that gets me so much. A Republican might have been worse on both
anything, or take credit for things he opposed, or evade blame where blame is
genuinely deserved. When someone like that is at the head of the country, it is
truly corrosive of our morality in the real sense of that word. Because it is
been about it over the past four centuries. First they worried about our
they fretted about our intellectual life: Would we ever produce great poets?
Then they waxed romantic about our charming freedom from social hierarchy. Then
they turned against it, since the French Revolution had proved that social
of all, too bourgeois to understand the geniuses of our age, such as Jerry
The latest outburst of Continental condescension comes, sad to say, from an
of democracy. They just don't understand that politics is politics and culture
culture, and so when they have a political revolution, they're forced to apply
its principles to "every aspect of our lives." Hence feminism, or rather, in
multiculturalism; gay rights; and all the other movements which subject
personal relations to "the exacting scrutiny of pure democratic
grossest and the lowest in their intercourse with the highest and most
capricious, its instruments rude, its laws imperfect,' granting as well an
the best, but as the only means of preserving freedom.'"
way more nuanced than just being nearly flattened by its overwhelming power.
The second time, though, I detected one false, and creepy, note. That is the
soldiers who don't see him, and can't bring himself to pull the trigger. When
appreciation of this point was sharpened by the audience's yelling "faggot!"
personally responsible for the death of three of his comrades at arms,
including, as I read the narrative logic, Captain Miller, the hero.
in the movie that he wants to depict the bonds that form among soldiers in
spends most of his time proclaiming the superiority of moral principle to
end? The move here is to react to the automatic suspicion of anyone artsy in a
military setting by signing on to it, rather than challenging it. See, I agree
movements (mincing) are completely different from those of the other soldiers,
and seem somehow to be linked to his being more educated. Could his
because it has made information available too quickly to people who, in turn,
overvalue the importance of information gotten too quickly.
Further, the industry itself starts pushing albums that will "open
it would prevail in the end. There just wouldn't be enough blockbusters to keep
booksellers pursued that strategy, in the end some of them would be forced to
opposite effect. By allowing publishers target their marketing dollars more
there on a book tour; could test whether her books were responsive to
and so on). In short, with real numbers publishers would be able to maximize
publisher for full credit and a one percent reduction in returns would save the
"Fuzzy Logic" existed in the music industry in the early '90's.
Also, the scanning device that you mention has existed for over two decades
and has been utilized by package goods manufactures to target market their
retailer identifies the book, format, suggested price point, genre, etc.
down to an idyllic agrarian planet where people knead dough and dress like
which means that he has to be "just passing by" whenever one of these Star
Trek: The Next Generation features starts up. It's worth getting him back
on board, though, because no one can utter a line like "I have an odd craving
befuddlement. Insurrection boasts the only space battle in film history
Please note: All times given are Eastern, but check your local listings
Television is a mass medium, and this week's programs are going to lure some
may be convinced that it's your patriotic duty to watch the game. If you
dearly to win the rights to broadcast the Super Bowl, and they're not going to
let you ignore it. On the day of the big game, for instance, they're offering
about football, of course, but about ads, network promotions and a new series.
The series this year is an innovative animated Fox series to air in March,
funny as either, but still, it's pretty inventive and daring. Don't be
offers an engaging documentary about a genuine indie filmmaker, In Bad
But there's no assurance of that when Fox broadcasts another unnecessary
based on ballots by one million readers; naturally, The Jerry Springer
fighting Internet crime and a powerful computer titan modeled after Bill Gates
dominates the browser market. But the show does have potential as a kind of
leave. The best sweeps night program of all may be the Turner Classic Movies
broadcasts of the original (and best) The Thin Man movie and its five
Eastern, but check your local listings just in case.
Thanks god it's over. Holiday hell is behind us now,
Leading off the week, there's good news for everyone
the Board, the documentary is chock full of fascinating details about how the
result in some confusing chronological jumps, but the damage isn't serious. One
chums. In practice, he stinks up the joint. Admittedly, the script is no prize,
For those not completely overdosed on reruns, there's
watches. Discovering Finch's plan, the women plot revenge, devising a list of
place. The hysterical part is watching Spade's character actually accomplish
who are desperate to help Finch live out "Every Man's Fantasy." It's funny
harpy of a wife, whom we hear only over the phone.) For the relaunch, I was
hoping the series' writers had done a major creative overhaul, but the early
plain stupid, relying heavily on dopey sight gags and potty humor. The episode
continued to harvest much of its blood supply from prison populations.
lobbying range to wait for the development of a French procedure, which
they promised was only weeks away. Long weeks, if you were a hemophiliac.
embarrassingly thorough diktats aimed at purging French of Anglicisms
"real" unless it was shaping politics and the economy. His ministry's motto
on were always insistent that the concerts created a climate of tolerance.
All right, then. Should they therefore shoulder responsibility for the
people die of AIDS while awaiting a "French" way of testing blood?
culture, armed as it is with theater monopolies, language advantages, and
The other day you referred to affirmative action as "reverse racial
discrimination," which in my view characterizes it most inaccurately. Then,
affirmative action program (as if men, of all people, had been the victim of
discrimination for which the monopoly on ordination was a recompense!). Rather
to know what your plan is for remedying racial discrimination in this country.
Because a student can get a higher grade point average if he or she is
fortunate enough to go to a high school that offers a full range of advanced
placement courses, which poor urban school districts are less likely to do.
"We are not talking about differences of ability here. We are talking about
students having had unequal opportunities to demonstrate that ability. Asking
that disparate opportunity be taken into account is not a 'preference.'"
Redwood argues that "affirmative action is one tool for breaking the chain
of unfairness." How do you propose to break that chain? If a good student can't
get extra points because their school doesn't offer extra courses, why is it
significance as it becomes truer and truer. I had my epiphany when I was asked
blathering soundbites about things I know nothing about, watched by a couple of
subsequently, mercifully, disappeared into the ether. Hell on earth. It's also
tourists who lined the walls literally screamed and clapped and cheered as he
walked by them. One lady grabbed him ecstatically and handed her friend a
replacement of politics by celebrity, was perfectly exemplified by the evening.
Anyone's power was related almost perfectly to their media exposure. The sole
pretending to be above all this, merely partly horrified at my own
everyone's a critic, so we invite you to send your picks, pans, and flames to
promise to reply to each and every one of you. Also, all times given are
Eastern Standard. Check local listings for broadcast times in your
approaching critical mass on pretty much every channel. And navigating the
In the coming week, viewers will be bombarded with holiday episodes of
draining on a regular basis, so this week's attempt by the idealistic Dr.
perverse thrill in seeing what abject humiliation will befall the show's
recent episode found Ally wedged into a toilet; in another, she got her fingers
stuck inside a bowling ball. And during last week's holiday rerun, the
branches until her roommate came in and marveled that Ally's sex life had
those who like their merriment in one concentrated dose, Fox is rebroadcasting
snippets from holiday cartoons, movies, specials, and commercials through the
guided tour of the White House by none other than this month's Vogue
Some of the more terrifying movies and specials to avoid include the Family
Seriously, what could be more festive than voodoo priests, poppy fields,
brother (John Glover) plots to have him killed in order to take over the
actually preview many of the aforementioned shows and in many cases am relying
on press releases, written synopses, and assurances from network flacks that a
particular episode doesn't suck. My recommendations, however, are made in good
marry, for exactly the reasons of civil liberties and civil rights you cite.
You even anthologized my essay on the subject. So please don't get on your high
And who exactly is this "left" that shuns "fidelity and bourgeois bliss"?
Outside some small gay subcultures, like Sex Panic, I think there are few who
relationship, and no, you can't have a nice quiet domestic life with children
celebrities and millionaires many times over, "bourgeois," exactly, by the
way.) In practice, of course, people of all political persuasions are
too-- have "bourgeois bliss" with a life partner and sexual excitement
somewhere else. I don't think politics has much to do with these intimate only
practice, they compete with all the other exigencies and opportunities of
Just for the record: my own relationship is so square it's cubic. It's just
not a legal marriage. I think you are making a mistake to equate distaste for
wedlock with libertinism. There are many more than two sides to these
marriages are rooted in friendship, not romantic love, or, very rarely, in
romantic love which somehow manages to evolve into friendship. (That's a good
deal of what my next book is about). It's often a miracle when it works,
especially given our culture's bizarrely high expectations of the institution.
So it seems to me to behoove those who believe in the virtues of marriage to be
more effusive in their praise when a couple manages to carry off this difficult
Right; and their traditional adherence to fidelity and bourgeois bliss
are surely more admirable in their modern embrace of traditional values than,
As to equal marriage rights, it is very frustrating to see people on the
right and left completely equate the right to marriage with the duty to marry.
I think it has to do with the fact that it is so inconceivable to most straight
people that they couldn't have the right to marry that it is literally
unimaginable to put themselves in gay people's shoes. Right now, unlike you,
whether I like it or not. You cannot spurn marriage if you cannot also choose
arguing for is a simple equality in that choice. Where marriage can work for
gay people (and successful marriages will be as rare, I think, as they are for
straights), then we should rejoice and be happy. Where marriage doesn't fit
people's needs or desires, then there's no reason for people to feel
constrained to be a part of it. It's a free country, after all. But the right
to choose such a thing, even if that choice will make you miserable for the
rest of your life, is so fundamental to our culture's and constitution's
definition of the pursuit of happiness that to deny it to anyone, for something
they cannot change, is a grotesque and deep injustice. I can't think of a
deeper denial of civil rights in this country, can you?
Which is to say that just as gay people should have the right to be as
boring, and as traditional and as conservative as everybody else; so too should
they have the right to be as miserable in their relationships. Or, in the rare
Should feminist scholars be allowed to apply their theories to the
and studies written by women (and a few men) he calls "feminist
On the other hand, all fields of inquiry have their great thinkers and their
in the proliferation of methodologies and agendas, the incomprehensible horror
fog of categories and subcategories and rhetorical feints at ideological
used, it has clearly not been used frequently, and so is not coming at us from
The more significant difference is a matter of balance. Against the danger
of trivializing the Holocaust by speaking of it too lightly, Alter juxtaposes
kinds of Holocaust speech and failing to offer other kinds that would be
acceptable to him, strongly implies that it is, indeed, a religious topic, for
which some words are not just inaccurate or inappropriate but blasphemous.
"human decency." When it comes to discussing something as tasteless, indecent,
You have a sly way of encoding your political slant in statements you then
present as our shared views. Very clever! Thus, just to clear this morning's
table of yesterday's old toast crumbs, I don't share your view of
the President is close to evil, uniquely immoral and irresponsible, worse than
discrimination" as a way to characterize affirmative action, which (as I guess
you know) I support. So, really, we don't have the same view of President
I also don't want to leave our May Day thread without challenging your
says, when we speak of fascism, we must not forget to include Red fascism. But
when you wonder why in this country, a demonstration of communists is regarded
would be, I think you are forgetting the very different domestic roles of these
things: opposition to segregation and racism, for example, going way back to
now even the far right concedes was a Good Thing, but which at the time it
bitterly opposed. The Old Left stood for things that benefited lots of people
Deal, unions, the safety net, civil liberties, even (just a little) women's
of very mainstream social causes, often on what everyone now agrees was the
But I can't think, off hand, of any great contributions to our polity made
"Before you play with me, please follow these simple steps:
While holding me upside down, put your finger in my mouth and hold down my
While holding my tongue switch, please close my battery door and secure the
I will now wake up and tell you my name. I am now ready to play!"
it learns. It has a motor, internal speakers, a computer chip, a light sensor,
it may or may not give you a kiss. If it kisses you and you immediately pat it
on the back, you increase the likelihood of it kissing you next time you tickle
This is all very cool from an adult's perspective. From the child's
The Carapace Issue. In order to protect the various motors, there has to be
a rigid plastic shell under the fur, which makes the thing hard to hug.
The Work Issue. Who wants to train a toy to kiss you, when every kid knows
that a regular stuffed animal kisses you every time you touch its plastic nose
be snapped, and the toy's many cool functions spark curiosity about how it all
you "feed" it by pushing down on its tongue? These questions are all worth
memoirist who is now accused of having wholly fabricated his harrowing tale of
was. I hadn't read the book, but I remembered the reviews. Here was an author
hailed by one shaken critic after another for the literary quality of his
horrific prose. His book (his first) had been instantly promoted to the first
ranks of the Holocaust canon. What did factuality have to do with artistic
Before you write me off as a waffling postmodernist, let me remind you that
publishing fiction as truth is an enduring tradition in world literature,
dating back to the early days of the novel, a genre deemed suspect because it
was true, even though written by this other fellow, Mark Twain: "There was
things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth."
to his "discovery" that he was a Holocaust survivor. That was
masterpiece and savor the higher truths that emanated from its pages.
credibility if the author hadn't sworn to having had the memories himself.
First he apologizes for the book's fragmentary nature; then he proceeds to
in place, although the childish narrator professes not to understand them.
There's the death of his father. The story of hiding in a farmhouse where the
farmer's wife is raped by a soldier. On it goes: How the child was separated
from his brothers. The motherly guard who took him to the camps. His life in
the barracks. A visit to his mother. How he survived when everyone else died.
implausible: No child who had gone through what he had gone through by the age
of six would have remembered every key element this specifically. As fiction,
screenplay, or given us the eyes of a more heartbreaking innocent to view it
This raises the question of why so many critics were so moved by so many
in the most appalling subset of the most gruesome atrocities known to
children. We've been primed to pity by other Holocaust classics, many of
Night --also involve children, as if only children could give adequate
testimony to the horror of what took place. It is all but impossible
to retain critical equanimity in the face of such things, especially when we
true.  Fragments does us the favor of filling in more of those
outlines, but with only marginally more artistry than a network
produced the magnificent fraud world literature deserves.
You didn't just accuse me of complicity in murder, did you? If we want to
get into evil empires and who supports them, conservatives have a great deal to
there are more than two positions. I didn't defend the Soviet Union while it
and the final trouncing of the Left. Faced with the fact that your side in fact
going on now is basically the looting of the country's resources by an elite of
You know, for generations Communists told themselves the sufferings imposed
same argument on behalf of unbridled market capitalism, and with the same
system in tracking him down, by the way, because the kidnapping took place in
l979, before parental kidnapping was covered by appropriate laws. She spent all
was an alcoholic who neglected the children, leaving him no choice. (She denies
untrue and gave her custody.) He doesn't explain why he kept up the deception
went to college (why do we all have this little fact so firmly implanted in our
who had been suddenly plucked from obscurity by the hand of fate, and he knew
what to do with his hands (kept them quiet, don't gesticulate or fiddle with
your ear or other body part), how to arrange his expressions (relaxed, alert,
open, affable), how to speak in sound bites (don't digress! don't get mad!
episode when Homer was desperate to switch channels because there was a shuttle
a shame, but essentially carrying on as normal. Then I switched on the news and
everyone was having a national identity crisis. Still can't figure it out. I
horrible mixture of boredom and uplift. But we better get used to it. Two words
Talking of dead people, can you bring yourself to say something nice about
Nation, Indivisible and one of the loudest opponents of affirmative action
around. There's the venue: the Wall Street Journal editorial page.
college doesn't matter as much as everyone says it does, so elite colleges
affirmative action from top schools because that's what created the black
control groups, demonstrating in some rigorous fashion that the equally
academically strong, ambitious and discipline black student who attends the
success, like the fact that Staples went to graduate school at the University
things (rather than remedies to past discrimination), and black people don't
need fancy schools to do well in life, why should we think white people need
about these schools' efforts to level the playing field? The better strategy
doesn't accept the unintended consequences of her own argument. But that
consumption a debate raging among economists. It is widely known that there is
a huge economic return on higher education in general. The question is: Is
there a bigger one on an education at an elite school? In other words, does it
matter where you went to college or that you went to college?
In purely economic terms, it turns out, it matters only that you went
Feeling terrorized by cuteness? The last few years have witnessed Beanie
new Beetle, a shiny bubble of a thing whose tag line in print ads wonders: "Hug
seems to declare, "Unlike all those complicated computers that try to
the chip manufacturer having recently unveiled the design for a machine it
in industrial design. Cute might seem downmarket, given the associations
which in the electronics and automobile businesses is often a coded reference
the advertising executive behind the car's marketing campaign, denies that the
company was targeting women: "I don't think the car is not macho. It's just
In fact, another theory of cute machines holds that not only are they not
admit that even bugs sell as long as they're cute. Why fight it? Cute cars and
computers are personable, friendly, marginally less annoying than the clunky
monsters of the 70s and much less annoying than the creepily sleek, black
theaters left in the United States and fewer old movies to see in them, since
the tiny market leaves little incentive for the studios to strike new prints
when old ones age and break. And college film societies can't fill the gap,
since 16-millimeter prints are slowly passing out of circulation and
35-millimeter prints are too expensive for students to rent. Where's a film
rather than rudely cropped on video? The answer is nowhere. There isn't a print
Institute, the organization ostensibly charged with protecting our national
film heritage. College and museum film programmers report that they can't book
the studios with movies on the list have been pulling them out of circulation
before sending them out on national tour. This state of affairs is only
expected to last through spring, but still. For the entire school year,
still available), were it possible for their professors to find them. But even
that last summer, when he tried to find John Carpenter's original version of
were no prints to be had. In the end, he stumbled across a sale by a film
missive is what makes the report so mordant, so mysterious. Caustic rumors
since his films of the last two decades have come so many years apart and have
bags, to be read by the intended recipient and then returned via hovering
didn't feel like directing, production of Eyes Wide Shut down. What
exactitude of individual sequences in what was often a sour, fuzzy whole. The
hotel, which capture indelibly the circular, labyrinthine evil at the heart of
the story. Even those of us who despise Full Metal Jacket will not shake
sequence, in which men are mechanistically stripped of their individuality to
gave us some of our culture's most enduring visions of the absurdity of war,
than he has subsequently been depicted. That's at odds with the portrait of a
man who was, for better or worse, a pinnacle of integrity. While his movies are
himself would go around arranging the lights in the manner not of a deity but
wandered his sets with a camera lens, groping for shots on the spot. He spoke
more of each lined up on hangers. The act of making choices was clearly
excruciating to him; that's why the choices he made are so
developing a personality. I can't think of any other explanation for the cruel
filmmakers who painted images in a grand style. An obituary in the New York
Times used the word cold three times, and for good measure added
was not a warm, cuddly director, but what great director ever has been? The
to the director's generous wit but also to his bravado. These movies are
visual, musical, and verbal dances in which even the most minor player and the
The question is: What is art supposed to do for us?
Should it make us feel better about our lives, show us friendly mirrors? In
His most uncanny disclosures came not in the obvious transcendentalism of
found dozens of new corridors. Look at it again and see it how pins down
his bat: "Have you ever thought for a single solitary moment about my
the light in the movie is amazing: all that blinding snow, all those fades to
In response to your "whole indie scene" point: To me this is the problem,
just to the artists who created these works, but to the lived texture of life
promoted by mainstream businesses, who knew how to reach them. I think these
mainstream businesses produced, dispensed and promoted these products not
because there were hard numbers because some individual in some office at these
Now we have a vapid Blockbuster Culture and a fringy Indie Culture and a
I don't know. I think you're letting nostalgia cloud your vision. Then as
is merely a few blocks over and up from that.) Or that musical wonder Herb
talking cornball kitsch that couldn't even get an audience at a hip coffee bar
Conversely, I don't think the current music scene is half as bad as you make
truth to many and lingered on the bestseller list for weeks. We 
On another front, I have to insist that better, clearer, more rigorous
numbers would help books more than they'd hurt them. For instance, if the
looking at certain bookstores and going so far as to seed the process by
sending out a list of books it's interested in tracking, as my colleague
so long to come to national attention. I know the conventional thinking is that
comprehensive numbers, rather than guesstimates, why couldn't the Times
still refuse to track crap? It would just have to be more upfront about how
it slices the stats and then it would do much a better job of following the
serious books throughout the country, not just at selected stores.
Before delving into the coming week's programming, I have to ask: Why do
Address, was painful to behold. He speaks preternaturally slowly, as if
operating underwater, so that watching him in discussion with two or three
delivers clever, sarcastic, deadpan humor. The series relies too much on
comic strip relies heavily on its final frame to deliver a hysterical, twisted
My Last Love comes in. Basic premise: Dying from some unspecified form
intentioned, overbearing grandparents, tearful reminiscing about the poet-
waiter's dead sister, and repeated shots of characters gazing soulfully out at
the Pacific, and you've got the makings of a movie so overwrought it should
The good viewing news this week is harder to come by, in part because the
networks are going heavy on the repeats. There are, however, a number of top-
Regrettably, viewers will also be subjected to "behind the scenes interviews"
serving largely to feed the egos of the cast and crew. But no viewing
at the mercy of the Big State? You really ARE reactionary! I keep forgetting
information about birth control and many other forms of free speech; it
barred them from many occupations and activities. It used its police power on
behalf of mining and industrial interests to break strikes, beat up
demonstrators, and deport immigrants with the wrong ideas. What conservatives
usually mean when they talk about Big Government is government that puts some
kind of limit on the power of business to do whatever it wants. For all your
opposition to the Big State, for instance, don't you oppose legal abortion?
Even though effectively criminalizing abortion would mean an immense expansion
What really amazes me in your posts is your reluctance to admit that the US
has, or ever had, any problems or injustices or wrongs that the left addressed
and the right did not. You treat the left's record on everything from race to
in a country without desperate poverty and homelessness, with good schools and
health care and child care for all who need it, with real environmental
protection and good public services, and in which people who work for a living
not. If that meant I had less disposable income it would be worth it!
solves every problem (it just bypasses some of the more avoidable ones). But
nor do I think some wrenching social and economic difficulties in a
Nor do I think there is or was any faint comparison between the evils the
exhaustion. But the difference between what another Major government would have
Maybe I should apologize for my distemper this morning. I didn't mean to
even more thorough accounting to perform than the Right. It seems to me that in
be that the Left's refusal to pore over its often shameful and mistaken past
justified if they mean that more people read more books.
underpinnings of a far greater publishing venture, Random House.
The moral of that story is: If you know how to market
why Modern Library's list is, as such things always are, brilliant. Irksome,
reduced to silence if she hadn't been moved to applaud.
Sorry to be late up. Crashed out last night and took a long time to emerge. The
on anything (except inflated property prices). Smacks too much of selfish
pleasure and too little of communal worth. Save me from such
stoic bunch, suffering in silence, blaming themselves for any illness,
apologizing for any sort of dependence on the health system, probably never
having my front teeth removed by the wonderful National Health Service: nurse's
foot on my chest (I kid you not), dentist's pliers in my mouth, blood
all those lovely physiques and smiles to show for it.
squeeze some fat out of the system, but the rising costs are simply a
life, and the astonishing technologies that are making it possible. Let it rip,
destroys him. The question of the month in certain literary circles is: Will it
For confirmation, see this week's fall preview in New York magazine:
mistakes become daily fodder for public titillation, and are then used as
the moral seriousness one could ask for, knowing what we know today. But what
that is. It's his foolish marriage and adulterous affair, as exploited by an
evil gossip columnist who goes on to become a United States senator.
There are many passages in this novel that are hard not to read as
commentary on today's Topic A. Until the book hits bookstores in a week or so,
Once the human tragedy has been played out, it gets turned over to
inaugurating the postwar triumph of gossip, as the beginning not just of
serious politics but of serious everything as entertainment to amuse the
"bashing the poor" as if welfare reform was anything of the kind. I was just
communism. We do have nice, fuzzy memories of those lefties in the 1930s. And
decades: stupendous military and economic resources, which could have been far
better spent elsewhere; a morally corrupting political division over the
Even the deficit of the 1980s seems to me to be essentially a consequence of a
final military buildup to defeat the Soviets. Why, I wonder, are we not more
enraged by this? Is it entirely magnanimity in victory?
was completely right? We've also, I think, become beaten down with state power
in a way previous generations would have been shocked by, and so numb to the
Left's continuing assault on individual economic freedom. We think there's a
market as well as the free society. The slipperiest slope, in other words, as
So we're soft on them because your side has done a brilliant job at spinning
the terrors of the far left, and because we have slowly acquiesced to an
rapaciousness. So we laugh at young communists, and are sickened by young
however. In addition to being quietly devoted to family values, without wishing
to force them on others, we Nation staffers are quite modern in our
dress, while agreeing, of course, that others should be able to wear tweed, if
he is. Are we not talking here about the man who shelled his own Parliament?
Who threatened to dissolve Parliament if they didn't go along with his choice
life expectancy (virtually unique in the world), hordes of homeless people,
unemployed people, people working at jobs who haven't been paid in six months.
worse off: something like half of children have significant health
The foregoing should not be taken as nostalgia for the Soviet system. The
people that were running the Soviet Union are the same people who are robbing
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that linguists have
invented a computer program that understands student writing. That would be a
welcome advance in civilization, had it not also opened a window on the corrupt
bargain between students and professors when it comes to teaching basic
reference materials to sample essays which have been graded by a professor,
then compares the sample essays to student essays. The students don't have to
use particular keywords for the program to figure out what they're talking
convey the same knowledge as verifiably good essays, the computer gives it a
good score. If a student's work looks similar to a poor essay, it gets a low
first place; plagiarists; people who try to beat the program by packing the
essay with relevant keywords but not stringing them together in any meaningful
way. Here's what it doesn't catch: "clever turns of phrase or creative
approaches to an assignment." But isn't that the essence of higher education?
students than ever don't give a fig about clever turns of phrase or creative
approaches to assignments. They want big financial aid packages and the
assurance of a good job after graduation. Once they get into the school of
their choice, they study less than they ever have. "College students want to
 for the minimum amount of work," says the study's author.
This suits professors just fine. They've told the Chronicle that
they're grateful to have their workload lightened by a computer. And why
shouldn't they be? They're not graded on how well they teach; they're graded by
the number of articles they publish in research journals. Deepening the
intellectual understanding of the next generation, or just teaching it to
compose a decent sentence, seems to be the last thing on anyone's mind. The
jobs, not to burden them with fine points of style, have already adopted the
Intelligent Essay Assessor; so has the Graduate Management Admission Test. It
won't be long before the rest of the country does too. So, kids, it's a deal:
We won't teach you how to write, and you won't object that you can't.
I never said or even implied you didn't support equal marriage rights. I
merely protested that it is simply wrong to conflate the cultural arguments for
marriage rights with the political ones. Which seems to me to be the point
with certain "conservative" impulses, and (gently) warned homosexuals not to
But you're right, of course, that marriage can be interpreted and lived a
conservative in their way of life than some with church white weddings. But
you're exaggerating surely when you say that the left has completely acceded to
"family values". The Democrats have, but the Left? In lower Manhattan? All your
policies with regard to women (if abortion on demand can be described as
in other circumstances hold conservative views. Both right and left in
hypocrisy game than, say, the Christian Coalition which, bizarrely, supports
and to get on with the nasty game of political warfare.
Opera is something I know zilch about. Whenever I go, I recall an essay I
critic implied, hews (comfortingly) to the familiar, but cultivates states of
mind that (challengingly) make the familiar fresh. In those days, we budding
artistes found this doctrine a congenial one, since you could carry it out by
getting drunk before lectures or going to breakfast stoned.
At teas, she doesn't understand the conversation and concentrates on the cakes.
At operas, she doesn't understand what's going on onstage and just scans at the
It's a good point, but it was lost on us, since we were all more or less
captivity. Since the Pasha owns three of them, he would be within his rights to
hang them. He pardons them, of course, and sends them on their cooing way. But
demanding that the four be first decapitated, then hanged, then impaled, then
burnt at the stake, then tied up and drowned, and then flogged:
In so doing, he shows us that a great deal of sadism, animality, and outright
lust can lurk behind people's anodyne professions that they just want to
"uphold the law" or "maintain a level of decency." To fall afoul of the tiniest
for conduct that in other countries would be considered praiseworthy. But he's
to smoke are gradually being made liable for the entire federal budget.
listens in fascinated befuddlement as all the adults around him utter the
that its editors should have known better than to run the comic strip and
reporting that the newspaper had complained to Nickelodeon, which produces it,
What was wrong with the Rugrats strip? The Editor's Note said "the
were upset about the inclusion of the Kaddish, although a few were incensed by
might have been cause for an Editor's Note pointing out that while some
people may have taken offense, none was intended. But there's no excuse for
censoring cartoonists (even after the fact) because they've used religion as
their subject matter. That's like saying Peanuts can't focus on
Lord's Prayer. Since there was no mockery in the Rugrats depiction of
conclude the callers deemed the comic strip, as a medium, insufficiently
parents with young children for its helpful and sympathetic depictions of
is that one of the nation's leading newspapers gave in to them.
are Eastern, but check your local listings just in case.
getting out of the house and actually doing something.
problems with his wife, kids, and elderly mother, Soprano is depressed that the
fans will be particularly pleased to see how well he's made the transition from
watching now; the early episodes are wonderful, but the scent of "short shelf
Those without premium channels need not despair. Also
incorrect humor. (The ghetto jokes have already prompted protests from black
activist groups.) But even if the show stinks, you should watch at least one
blathering about the social implications of the first black animated series to
stumbles into a strange town populated by the souls of dead outlaws doing
penance in the hopes of earning a seat on the great stagecoach to heaven. (To
illustrate this, a big black stagecoach magically materializes at key moments.)
The execution is even more problematic: There is an abundance of bad acting,
Perhaps to atone for all the repeats we've endured in
the past month, this week the networks are wheeling out new episodes of The
solid. But if nothing this week grabs you, take heart: The lockout is over, and
The story about the Web confession was very disturbing, involving a
set the house on fire intentionally to kill the child (in fact, he went in as
promptly flamed by others. Interestingly, one who did not tell the police was
"no purpose would be served in the form of protecting anyone for rash,
I think you're right about the effect of anonymity on the Web. It's part of
the general lack of reality about the Internet: is the child dead? or only
relatives of alcoholics, and I must say I thought it was a good group: people
were very kind, with much life experience and wisdom. And it wasn't so
a big date scene, maybe it still is). There's an egalitarianism about the
the thing is, it's not like there is some fabulous alternative that works
stigma of alcoholism. On the Internet, it seems connected with the desire to
Interesting that we both were taken by stories about evil fathers in divorce
cases. (Let's not forget the one in last week's horrific story, who injected
his son with the AIDS virus to avoid paying child support.) It casts an
interesting, lurid glow on the current obsession with Fatherhood and father's
rights. But how long do you think it will be before the Wall Street
in these cases had only had covenant marriages, those kids would be alive
ps. I haven't read Conversations with God. What is it?
homophobia they'd experienced since coming out as lesbians last year.
my own period of playing the gay megaphone, which took place on campus at age
dilemma was notable mostly for its irony: Could an sitcom get decent ratings
overshadowed by her status as a lesbian, she's the one who set it up that way.
dominated the troubled last season of her show. She should have copped to the
unfunny plot developments about parents and first girlfriends. Instead, she
indie film Walking and Talking back when she was just an alumna of the
queens who whine while their careers steam ahead. Watching them make out in
interview with the couple's publicist, who claimed that their comments were
taken out of context. (What context would that be?) He added they should
have been taken as "wistful," rather than literal. As for whether the two
actresses are really dropping out, Variety writes, "They don't have
his daughter to marry someone with an appetite for Contemporary Short
This is an extraordinary collection. Roughly a third of the stories are
should not take it out of the house without a change of underpants. The three
rock producer trying to figure out who had a motive to break into his house and
castrate his dog (answer: anyone who's ever had to deal with him for five
her own, bred by centuries of tradition. Her purpose in life, which she will
fill out a bunch of French forms. Pain in the neck, but I guess they know what
they're doing." And a mafioso in "Destiny" says: "These girls, me they would
that the mere handful of critics who've noticed it have reviewed it as a
screenwriter] isn't quite as stylish with language as his brother is with a
almost as interesting as other writers' successes.").
Fiction is shriveled up like a protectionist economy. It is an economy in which
commonplace that he's a narrative virtuoso. But like a docent at his own
retrospective, he's ever insistent that we notice that virtuosity. The
in it, is Exhibit A for his skill. But even there, the cuteness cloys: "What
were we running towards? I don't think any of us would ever know fully. But
superficially the answer was, a balloon. Not the nominal space that encloses a
cartoon character's speech or thought, nor, by analogy, the kind that's driven
Man are both bad, short, and minor works. So what does it mean to call a
infantile simplicity worked out among four characters. (I won't reveal it, but
characters meet occasionally, but they all hammer out their motivations,
allegiances and enmities in private: on long walks, doodling in the office,
vegetating in bed, sitting at the kitchen table getting drunk alone. Missing is
suspect they give an accurate picture of the state of human variety among the
Glad you're back. I missed my morning bouts of dyspepsia.
I was fascinated by the story in this morning's New York Times of the Internet
meetings horrifies and intrigues me. Each forum appeals, I think, because it
creates a space where you're free to be completely frank and anonymous, while
still actually being yourself. And, thanks to this peculiar brand of invisible
visibility, we're led to believe that both are spaces free of traditional moral
So in AA, you only have a first name, just as on the web you only have a
confess to anything, and all that fundamentally matters is whether you have
lapsed from your obligation to sobriety, not what the consequences to others
were. And on the web, you can live out any sort of fantasy, in real time, with
limited accountability. On the web, you give up all your responsibility to the
wonder? Or are they simply updates of the confessional and the shrink, the cult
"I date it to the Vanilla Fudge recording of 'You Keep Me Hanging On.' I
lowered by a fifth sounds important. It's the rhetorical trick of speaking very
slowly when you want to say something important. The wonderful thing about
like Vanilla Fudge. It sounds like the Deep Meaning Songbook. You play these
"I associate this with things like having a guru and putting out
it, there was something disarming about it, but just think of anyone else doing
started throwing their weight around. Everybody was making some kind of grand
statement. It was the era when the Bee Gees could release a record in a red
"I think it was once rock stars starting going to rehab. In rehab you sit
down and think about all the people you've screwed over, you've done horrible
things to so many people, and people have let you because you're a rock star
and you sell records and they want to do anything that will keep you selling
records. You realize you were an asshole, you meet somebody who lives in the
real world, maybe he's your roommate in rehab, and you realize how far away
you've gotten from all that. Then you become a rock star who doesn't live in
the real world who thinks he or she has got a corner on understanding the real
charming. The question is, when did things really become so completely without
irony? In the late Sixties you get the concept album, which is what the
all. There was this band called Iron Butterfly and this 18-minute song called
Must Pass which was pretty pompous. One other thing: The Last Waltz
and The Band. I love The Band deeply but here's this band already in decline
"Contrary to conventional wisdom, pretension was introduced into mainstream
they never made anything as fake as "Their Satanic Majesties Request." And I
in rock and roll. Do you think Chuck Berry had even heard of
"It's a combination of groupies and the rock press both serving to inflate
the egos of these guys. If on the one hand you have somebody telling you you're
a great artist and on the other girls wanting to sleep with you every night,
it's hard to stay humble. Some of the pomposity is insecurity over the
have a sort of bluster. Authors like to complain, of course, but it is so rare
They just chew you up and spit you out. All these guys just have to be
grandiosity that is very four years ago. Did you know he is boycotting
Spin because he felt we weren't reverential enough to him? When the
"Reason" album came out he made sure his label pulled his ad from Spin.
Electric Light Orchestra. They performed a very vital function for me. I was
sort of classical. This was back when you still had to justify your pop taste
to your parents, before they started lighting up and handing you joints. But
pomposity is a perfectly legitimate cultural style. The audience for music is
Readers are of course invited to submit their candidates to the Rock
Re marriage gay and straight: of course I can have it both ways. Since there is
marriage, do I think it should be available to all? Yes! Do I think its social
and economic benefits might be better distributed in some other way (health
insurance, for example), are often illusory, come with large helpings of
inequality, sexism, psychological torment and so on? Yes!
wife no less) with whom he has one child (also two children by a previous
maybe he's a bit of a rogue, I give you him too. But as far as personal conduct
goes, The Nation is probably as conventionally virtuous as any magazine
As for ideology, I stick to my contention that family values hold sway
are okay, and so forth. But perhaps we should define what we mean by family
legally actionable, even if she could prove it, which she can't, is another
a hilarious letter from a reader who opined that if the magazine really
believed that it was okay for the boss to drop his trousers and ask an employee
and letting the market take care of most people's healthcare, and the
government coming in to rescue those who fall through the cracks. This would
needs and wants. What it would avoid is the impossible politicization of
grandmother. It's an impossible position to put politicians in, and brings out
I know, because of insurance and third parties, there is no true
market for healthcare, but we should try to approximate one as best we can, so
that people's real desires (and not some political hack's view of
say, computers, and the state should step in and help those who really can't
pioneered in the US by big drug companies trying to make profits, not do
should and will guarantee that most people who need them (and can take them
responsibly) should get them. The notion that large numbers of people who need
death rates have been among the poor and racial minorities. But do some people
fall through the cracks? Yes. Should we do all we can to find them and help
every citizen? Not in a universe of limited funding, which is the universe we
less effective treatments to give people in the first place.
As to Japan, I don't think our cultural differences are merely related to
media distortion. Lots of people I know who have lived there concur. It sounds
like a living hell. And the only way I have ever enjoyed eating fish is deep
fried in batter, wrapped in newsprint. And lots of vinegar.
dealt with him he has seemed an extremely reasonable fellow (he wrote a good
he just seems to lose it when it comes to the obvious fact that homosexuals
have been happily murdering and killing in uniform for generations. At least he
which is what Pentagon flunkies were whispering to gullible journalists. He
soldiers. It's rather like holding turkeys responsible for Thanksgiving. As to
the notion that gay soldiers disproportionately leave early, this only applies
possibly be that bigoted commanders, who hate the idea that they might have to
tolerate discreet homosexuals in the ranks, now try to flush them out early and
with the declaration "There are three things I hate: liars, thieves, and
his position would never have been a generation ago, that young people do "come
out" at an earlier and earlier age. Society has changed enormously. So all the
policy is doing, it seems, if he is correct, is successfully flushing out a
of being gay. Should the military be happy it's getting rid of all these people
and becoming less, rather than more, like the society it's supposed to defend?
Or are we better off with a bunch of conflicted, repressed neurotics?
As to welfare mothers, I share your abhorrence of the guy who demeaned
motherhood, although I am probably uniquely unqualified to talk about its
onerous responsibilities. My sister has two small children, though, and she
works harder than I ever have in my life. Or ever will. But the apposite
question, it seems to me, is not simply whether day care is adequate (it almost
certainly isn't) but whether, as a whole, it is better that, whatever the
current problems, the old system has been shaken up and reformed in the
direction of work. Of course, welfare bureaucracies being what they are, a lack
of support in health care and day care is hardly surprising. But the answer to
that is to fix the health care and day care with some of the large amounts of
money being sent back to the states rather than to return to what happened
before. Or am I wrong? Is your position that welfare mothers were better off in
dependency and close to their kids rather than in work and distant (for some of
without its injustices. But isn't it an improvement on what went on before? And
isn't it at least a more constructive place from which to improve policy than
My nomination for the most boring story of the day: bank mergers. And
station that he opposed the giant Holocaust memorial planned for the center of
camps, "a landscape of death [that] is considerably more moving and has
would be resolved by public debate. But the buzz has not died down. In the same
were elected: federalizing the arts budget in a country in which the arts are
mainly supported by the states; revitalizing the German film industry by
As you can imagine, these proposals have been amply dissected and nitpicked
main spin: Who the heck is this guy anyway? Is he "a fresh wind from New York,"
journalistic value of men of unusual candor, sincerely hopes that the German
distinctions drawn between private and public life, and between the inner and
or inner selves is a society governed by madmen or cretins.
whether any speech about the sexual behavior of public figures is worth
he doesn't go overboard the way Lewis does. He defends privacy without
acts was so taboo we had no way to talk about domestic violence or flagrant
tolerance has been transmogrified into an increase in sexual shaming: "What
our worst moments of national hysteria (this is definitely one of them) can be
catalogue copy states, there is "no guarantee that [the role] will be included
an arty $10-million feature into a $40-million vehicle for himself. Sic transit
supplicant, to grovel before the living proof of his own inadequacy! How
cringing at the feet of the New York intellectuals who helped him with his
be taken in by the mentor, while storing up anecdotes that prove his foulness.
Yorker 's headline: "The Enigma of Friendship." As if! This is not a nuanced
exploration of the mysterious bonds that form between writers. The portrait may
composed in spite. Readers are hereby invited to submit suggestions to
encountered. A warning, however: Should your suggestions turn out to be
This, I realized, is the excruciating scrupulosity, the same
maddening, meticulous attention to every last detail that makes you great, that
keeps you going and got you through and now is dragging you down. Standing with
in print, you take on this big book, and then you sit here like a schoolboy in
"It's hard," I murmured. "You bully me." The more annoyed he got, the more
unnerved I was. Cowed by his intensity, I was afraid to open my mouth. My way
argue; it was a way of working off grievances, improving one's mental
circulation. For him, rudeness was to conversation what polemic was to
I had never met anyone so certain, so intense, so observant, so impatient,
so intelligent. He was stimulating and tiring to be with, like a brilliant,
obviously right; but I had a fondness for those times when she was right while
seeming to be wrong, or when she went via wrongness to get to the right stuff.
Critics claimed to discern superfluous gloss, but what she did was to apply the
invigorating rhetoric of gloss to the supposedly unglamorous, and thereby
account for her kindly tolerance of my grimmer taste.
health care as related to other social values. For instance, awful as your
childhood dental experience was, at least you had a dentist! In this country,
lots of people can't afford any kind of dental care (it mostly isn't covered by
health insurance that pays for the drug regimen? I think I remember a news
meal of baked beans on toast. Your portrait of Japan is funny, but if they were
really as timid and mingy as you suggest, they wouldn't be so healthy and
prostitutes, people eating potentially fatal blowfish just for kicks. And, of
course, the incredible level of sexism, conformity, pollution, hideous modern
Conquering troops swagger into towns, round up members of an undesirable
ethnic population, and systematically slaughter them. The world knows all about
it but dithers anyway. Not for years after they first learn of the pattern of
atrocities do they do anything about it. Sound familiar? We're not talking
One of the many unpleasant duties of Holocaust historians involves rounding
added some new details to that picture. In his book, Official Secrets: What
radio signals from German special police units. Messages intercepted from the
duties" or "pacification" meant something much worse than relocation. They'd
also heard enough to know that it was a campaign planned before the
mass execution that didn't quite explain what was occurring.
What difference would this information have made? The difference the
confirmation of rumor always makes. Had the world known for certain that the
been warned. Neutral and satellite states could have been pressured to accept
reports could have helped pin the blame on the right people. During the
units largely responsible for the slaughter on the Eastern Front as
future mass murderers of the world surely drew the obvious moral lesson.
role of fiction editor, cutting as many as half the words in a given story,
rewriting entire passages, changing titles, and adding final lines himself. In
short, he carved out of a prolix man's copy Carver's trademark minimalist
The piece is scrupulously fair, airing all sides and concluding that
collaboration, if that's what it was, may not be such a bad thing, especially
for readers. However, the article also includes a certain amount of
enormously controversial for a number of reasons: his mannered writing style,
for one, and his interventionist editorial style, for another, which made other
original version as "A Small, Good Thing." "Was it unconscious jealousy?"
It may be possible that, as Carver's fans claim, he wrote his best pieces
editor, and had her own moments of sulking at her ungrateful writers. So
compare and contrast the opening scene and decide for yourself. (Email
the pages, she ordered chocolate, the child's favorite. The cake she chose was
decorated with a spaceship and a launching pad under a sprinkling of white
eight years old. He was an older man, this baker, and he wore a curious apron,
a heavy thing with loops that went under his arms and around his back and then
crossed in front again where they were tied in a very thick knot. He kept
wiping his hands on the front of the apron as he listened to the women, his wet
eyes examining her lips as she studied the samples and talked.
The mother decided on the spaceship cake, and then she gave the baker her
No pleasantries, just this small exchange, the barest information, nothing that
pages, she ordered chocolate, the child's favorite. The cake she chose was
decorated with a space ship and launching pad under a sprinkling of white
would be in green letters beneath the planet. The baker, who was an older man
with a thick neck, listened without saying anything when she told him the child
like a smock. Straps cut under his arms, went around in back, and then to the
front again again, where they were secured under his heavy waist. He wiped his
hands on his apron as he listened to her. He kept his eyes down on the
photographs and let her talk. He let her take her time. He'd just come to work
and he'd be there all night, baking, and he was in no real hurry.
the child's party that afternoon. The baker was not jolly. There were no
pleasantries between them. Just the minimum exchange of words, the necessary
was bent over the counter with the pencil in his hand, she studied his coarse
features and wondered if he'd ever done anything with his life besides be a
birthday parties. There must be that between them, she thought. But he was
him. She looked into the back of the bakery and could see a long, heavy, wooden
table with aluminum pie pans stacked at one end; and beside the table a metal
container filled with empty racks. There was an enormous oven. A radio was
The baker finished printing the information on the special order card and
dysfunctional family and practice real medicine in the local clinic. In the
first three episodes alone, viewers are subjected to two deaths, an aborted
boyfriend in the shower with another man. Compounding the emotional
Content aside, Providence also has a few "artistic" problems. The
face. Since she's unquestionably beautiful to behold, a little visual
indulgence can perhaps be forgiven. What cannot be forgiven, however, is her
life, most of which revolves around her bickering with her dead mother and
making out with this guy she had a crush on in high school who is now a local
we have to sit through the characters' tedious personal dramas as well as their
The plot lines aren't particularly surprising or clever, but the dialogue is
show's defining feature, however, is its overabundance of male bonding: A
bag one of the boys in blue. (There is nary a female cop to be found.) Perhaps
that, the pickings get decidedly slimmer. Thank god for Lonesome Dove (Family
who lures all of his former frat brothers back to the scene of their youthful
crime. He can't save the movie, but he definitely livens it up.
the special is as silly as it sounds. The history of the myriad painful fads
was about. For the most part, however, listening to lingerie designers ramble
insipidly about the form, function, and sensuousness of undies makes one
suspect that the special was conceived largely as an excuse to show shot after
and it turns out to be apt: They were both childish women whose
individuals who had maneuvered themselves into positions of national
long as the explanation is given by a woman who can claim to have been hurt by
a man, and as long as the man is a prince or a president.
threw daily temper tantrums from the moment she entered the royal palace, who
tried to blackmail the president of the United States, who in fact was
clearly married her because he thought she would be a docile breeder.
Going into the book, we think she's the president's. After all, that's the
metaphor for all our feelings about political slickness, its uncanny ability to
tell people what they want to hear before leaving them high and dry.
princess and her story, more interesting, in fact, than any version of the
president who traduced the morals of an immature girl. It is the prurient
right to call her lawyer, harassed her mother and brother, flagrantly violated
a helpless, goofy romantic, a emotional isolate tormented by the barrenness of
In this morning's New York Times headlines, ''Astronomers Say a Disk
of Dust Holds a Clue to Birth of Planets.'' Three years ago, scientists learned
that other suns also have planets. Now they think they are actually able to
understand how planets are formed from stellar debris. According to the paper,
it's looking more and more likely that there is life on other planets.
Are you with me in adding outer space to our list of boring subjects? Last
year I wrote a column in The Nation confessing that I didn't care what
turned out almost everyone I knew found this sort of information utterly
inscriptions that had baffled scholars for decades. It turns out that the
old story!) violent enthusiasts of war, torture, human sacrifice and painful
shaft of his own penis on ceremonial occasions.'' Sounds like Performance Art
read the book) and at lunchtime they went to a demonstration in Union Square,
that was supposed to be of Latino sweatshop workers, and came away reeling:
maybe fifteen people, mostly ancient sectarians and a few young ones, all full
of the old rhetoric (a moment of silence followed by a "moment of rage" with
raised fists but some people didn't know how to do it, memories of the black
to (with this same study group, so clearly we are picking up the wrong
leaflets) was the same: tiny, futile gatherings of people who, whatever their
ages, are living in l933. There are a lot of weirdos on the sectarian left, as
heard, not exactly a political program, more like an ethnic slur, is that (fill
workers' councils and other localized forms of ownership, that opposes vanguard
parties and state power left and right. There are more than two perspectives
The editors asked six celebrities to describe their vacation reading, and one,
while procrastinating, since elsewhere he has said that his autobiography is
offer the name of a book. Of the six, only the basketball star in the bunch,
other than his own prose. His summer printed matter was a celebrity
A congress of keyboard tappers so dedicated only the athletes have time to
autobiography in the West reflects the development of the mature, individuated,
"Autobiography is the highest and most instructive form in which the
Of course, the autobiographies of celebrities are outnumbered by those of
Oh, God. We're agreeing again. Since when was sport a crucial civic
virtue?? Even egghead effete sheets like the New York Times dedicate a
whole section most days to it, as if it meant anything real or interesting, or
wasn't a lowest common denominator entertainment. You're right about stadiums
new Redskins stadium, and every idiotic newsman and woman is required to nod
knowingly when the sports guy makes some obscure reference to some impenetrable
football play, and anyone like me who finds the entire exercise faintly
ridiculous is regarded as unpatriotic and unmanly. IF DC spent an ounce of the
mental energy it expends on sports on education then the city might be livable
once again. And the only people more boring than sports stars are movie
My own theory is that sports are one of the very few ways that most
heterosexual (and some homosexual) men can communicate with each other about
anything other than the weather. They cannot talk about their feelings; and
they cannot really hang out in groups of three or less (someone might think
Skins? Yes, there are some aspects to sports that are beautiful and admirable;
and baseball in this regard is on a different plane than football; and soccer
called lower pleasures. And we need to do a better job of keeping them in their
On a more troubling level, the sports fetish is also a crude way of
defining masculinity down. I went to a high school (all male, and not one of
to me to have allowed for these other pursuits but to have avoided seeing them
as part of being male. (It's bound up, at some level, with a fear of
But are you as interested in the business pages as I am?
celebrated for its uncommon pleasantness and normalcy by publications as
can indulge the show in that fashion if you've seen it once or twice, but after
repeated viewing you can't help suspecting that its niceness is the punch line
dispel them with the dreamlike reasonableness of a ministerial counseling
dangerous but not yet outlawed substance ephedrine. Once she finds out, father
and daughter join forces in proselytizing against it.
The dark joke here, of course, is the late '60s and early '70s, and the
social disorder we are alleged to have inherited from that period. Set in the
Weekly Standard had its way with it. (It is not a coincidence that
when the show flagged in its second season, the network hired a publicist to
image of history. Everything in its universe is '70s revival, from the
until last night, when, while filming a concert by the pathetic dregs of a
real '70s band, the camera tilted sardonically, just for an instant.)
The difference between then and now, though, is that while family life in
those real '70s shows was unrealistically goofy, in this fake '70s show it's
night's episode, for instance, and how afraid he was that they'd bring
with strange addictions, illegitimate babies, or the need to slice
family; they're fighting a culture war, no matter how gentle the father's
missionary zeal that comes off as more High School Confidential than
when she ignores the warnings issued by the good reverend to her father and the
mothering is loving but grim, and she's prone to irrational outbursts the rest
of the family has to tiptoe around. There's the time her widower father showed
episode was: How can we get Mom to behave? Her husband couldn't have been more
understanding, but his wife's emotionalism was so impervious to logic it became
character is allowed to be, a sense of inexpressible rage hovering somewhere in
the vicinity of her brightly upturned mouth. She makes you realize with
It is said that publishing is not a business but an art. Movie executives
client's book is selling, and he'll say 'Oh, gee, I don't know! Let me check
with inventory," an agent told me recently. "But of course, all inventory can
how many books have been ordered, not how many have been sold." Not until much
later (as much as a year later), after bookstores have returned all their
unsold copies, can publishers compile firm sales figures. And even then, the
There are ways to answer those questions, but the book industry doesn't seem
Was that the real reason it was rejected? Publishers could have come
price down. You'd think they'd be eager to learn whether local or national
advertising works better, or whether book tours do anything other than stroke
wonders whether publishers really factored in the savings they'd accrue from
publishing is one of the last industries to seek the comfort of hard
serious books with limited sales. A corollary to this theory is that publishers
authors (they usually linger under 50,000)--it might make the whole industry
themselves. It turns out that most contracts between authors and publishers
and force publishers to fork over all royalties right away.
the big chains (though they are talking to them). Also, if publishers are
getting the numbers for free from the chains, why pay for them?
Whatever the reason, publishers are making it clear that what they want more
publishers' concerns was to turn it into a "closed system." In other words, the
data will not be published and no one but the publisher of a book will be able
This weekend, you can relive the hunt for two '70s monsters: a killer shark
chance to remember what real high crimes and misdemeanors are all
small, isolated town of Little Tall Island finds itself under siege from both a
we wait and wait for him to tell us what he wants, the movie employs stalling
devices such as the search in a darkened house for the elusive bogeyman. "Hell
odyssey of the mulatto daughter of a white rape victim, but who cares?
If you want to solve mysteries, turn instead to the conclusion of the
Cigarette Smoking Man finally explains (almost) all.
The week's most interesting programs may be documentaries. (Exceptions to
incidents exposed elsewhere as hoaxes and illusions. For a more skeptical view
of these issues, check out these sensible articles:  What Really
It is an inspired solution to the problems that beset publicly funded arts and
humanities in the early 1990s. Back then, public broadcasting and the national
endowments for the Arts and Humanities were (rightly) taken to task as
heirlooms from their attics and cellars in hopes they'll turn out to be Ob Jay
a lady who brought a pair of gold bracelets, which turned out to have been
Then a jade necklace someone's great aunt had brought back from China--$35,000!
highlight came a year or so ago, when some old lady found out her 25-dollar
What's really showcased is the reciprocal exploitation at the heart of the
a piece of furniture they'd otherwise use as firewood. There's a reciprocal
malarkey as well: The experts pretend to know offhand the history of the
object. (Which they've obviously rehearsed, since it includes such arcana as
eyes crinkling happily, her full mouth struggling vainly against a triumphant
this girl come from? Could she possibly believe her teen fantasies of secret
love? Is sucking the presidential penis really to be her greatest
The probable answer is yes. You could see this realization dawning on
suppressing a grandmotherly impulse to shut this child up. For what was much
try to have intercourse?"; having exploited an insecure person's lack of
older woman eliciting the confession all too easily from the younger one and
over the course of this debacle. She is guilty of a lot of small ones. But it
is not a crime to have an affair with a married man and then be indiscreet
about it. Her behavior was stupid and hurt a lot of people, but if the point
here is to measure the size of her errors, they are barely perceptible next to
those of the people who ruined her: a literary agent with profit and something
akin to treason on her mind; a federal prosecutor who chose to hound and harass
a citizen with overweening force and little justification; and journalists who
cooperated by exposing every last detail of her private life.
The New York Times today joined much of the rest of the media in
did not choose her notoriety. Being a blabbermouth doesn't mean you've sought
saddled with hundreds of thousands in legal fees. She could not have known that
messing around with the president meant losing the likelihood of economic
independence when the day comes, as one hopes it will, when she finally
achieves the emotional maturity to take care of herself. But not even Bill
human after having been reduced to a national joke. One can pity her for
neither seeing the unsettling impression she creates nor grasping that there's
no way to talk about the affair that will restore some measure of dignity to
watched this woman be knocked down again and again and again, yet still feel
the need to vilify the object of our voyeuristic pleasure.
Please note: All times are Eastern Standard. Please check local listings
We're heading into the holiday home stretch, and you know what joys that
deserves a seasonal break, leaving viewers this week to pick through a melange
features Ray's pathetic attempts to get his wife in the mood for a holiday
interviewees to tears, but there's a guilty pleasure in seeing just who will
succumb to one of those famous crying jags. This time around, potential weepers
of the year's No.1 most fascinating person under wraps until the show's
endless agonizing over whether you'll receive the year's hot toy. (And, for my
flurry of profanity and tears is one of cinema's finest moments.
and take refuge in the one decent offering available on the small screen,
attacks, and an impeachment vote looming on the Hill, you may just want to keep
With all due respect, you keep changing the subject. My point was merely
largely because of lingering (and I think mistaken) notions that somehow the
Communists weren't quite so bad. They were. The targets of their liquidation
were different; but the totalitarian structure, police state, and militaristic
expansionism in both systems were uncannily alike. So, of course, were the
crude, domestic economic policies, which harnessed big business interests to
the military state. Both were evil empires; and both were essentially national
socialist experiments. The only difference is that we defeated one in six
Soviet Union. Could anyone now dispute that? Oh, maybe you do.
And no, I don't dispute that, for a short period of time, some socialistic
intervention?) But I do think that, given Big Government's record in providing
public goods over the last few decades (almost universally execrable, wherever
you look), and given Extremely Big Government's record in the Soviet Union and
imposing a higher tax burden on ordinary citizens than at any time in the
They are consumers and citizens; and they are being bilked of their own
cut government's suppression of our economic choices and liberties doesn't mean
First Amendment absolutist, a solid believer in gender and racial equality of
opportunity, etc, etc. And you know it. A truly liberal government would be
strictly neutral between citizens, and do as little as possible to rob them of
their civil liberties and worldly goods. Given the twentieth century's record
and terrorized half the planet. Economic and social decline were accelerating
in the last years of the evil empire, and any attempt to put them right will
inevitably make some of them worse in the meantime. You can't solve such
its early years, when half a century of disastrous socialist economics had
wrought another mess of poverty, stagnation, and resentment. And, of course,
people at first blamed Thatcher, not socialism, for the mess. Now ask
the Parliament was, in my view, a necessary evil, given the Communist Party's
continuing attempt to derail democratization and market reform. And while there
suggests whose side he's really on. Why won't you give him credit? It still
seems to me part of the Left's inability to come to terms with its intellectual
leaves it reluctant to get clearly and unequivocally on the right side in
As to Bill, I agree with you about his enemies, but they are worthy of him.
The responsibility for all this mess lies with the president and him alone, not
with the special prosecutor who was appointed by the Justice Department, for
good and obvious reasons. Again, it seems to me you cannot see the wood for the
better. Which brings me to the nice irony about family values. It's amazing how
many advocates of the traditional kind (married for life, totally faithful,
scourge of gay monogamy, quitting his first marriage after a matter of weeks,
in the slightest bit immoral. We're all human. But perhaps their devotion to
the cause of orthodoxy is related to their awareness of their own frailty. I
know, to some extent, my own support for (and admiration of) gay couples,
fidelity, marriage etc. is probably, at some deep level of my subconscious,
related to the fact that I have never been able to keep a steady boyfriend. I
Couldn't it also be true that all the tweedy monogamists of the old left are
so naturally virtuous that they can't conceive how others might need social
incentives to maintain similar virtues? How many of us, after all, can aspire
supporters of her right to a say in court and leery of those who dismissed her
and, like you, am unsure about her legal position. Nevertheless, NOW is still
an absolute scandal, no? Have you taken them on, yet? Or does
I think, to be a billionaire and still be thoroughly middle class. Look at the
finally said that, although his heart told him he didn't exchange arms for
hostages, the evidence proved that he had. There. He did admit it. I don't
has slithered away from at every opportunity, if it meant any cost or pain.
for dearly. There was risk because there was a small degree of conviction. With
with it because it goes against the values I was brought up with: you tell the
truth, stick to your principles, and face the consequences of your actions. He
think some conservatives are uneasy with him for the reasons you cite; and
because they associate him with the boomer generation, whose moral and
psychological grip on reality is famously suspect. I don't think they're
recognizable "redneck philanderer" rather than a "liberal pinko sleaze." As to
Most people laughed at it, but I was stunned at how many of the marchers were
themselves." Yes, I know these people are representative of nothing. But I
Please check local listings for times in your area.
week, and pro wrestling is more "sports entertainment" than actual sport.
Nonetheless, these are heady days for sports fans. Gridiron junkies in
continues its grim run. The series repeats continue apace, and the movie
selections aren't much more appealing than last week's offerings. Exhibits A
launches its Twilight Zone marathon--21 hours of the eeriest series
Magic into giggling fits, and much of the acting is barely second rate. But it
can raise the hair on the back of my neck quicker than a scene out of
crime scene and is transported to a wondrous place where every desire is
in charge, arguing that Heaven is not really his bag. "Heaven?" the
Reminiscent of the first couple of seasons, the dialogue is sharp and
much musing around my house about shifting relationships between actors and
but it doesn't try to bait viewers into watching with the tired "Ooh, maybe
week, or maybe not. What does it matter? They're together. They're happy.
Finally, whatever your plans for New Year's Eve, set
while broadcasting live from Times Square, you do not want to miss
and media people on your list as actually believing their professed ideology,
in flight from their own homosexual impulses. Except, in the case of the people
you mention, they do get divorced all they want to. That's what gets
being made more understanding by their own frailties and failures, they just
In any case, I don't think marriage works as a preserver of relationships.
was the story there, I wonder.) Having children often does make people try hard
to make their relationships work, but I don't think marriage, in and of itself,
does that, although I know that is an argument often advanced in its favor.
People just get mean and depressed, and drag about sullenly hoping their spouse
position is as bad as it's been made to look in the media), but also their
Republican representatives girding themselves for the labor of impeaching a
popular president would have had reason to feel proud if they happened to read
the argument for voting one's conscience rather than one's poll numbers:
"Greatness and transcendence are why people join political parties, and why
they go to war. It is why they risk and sacrifice, and engage in political
argument. Ultimately they are moved by principle, and will for its sake throw
aside or forgo the material things that scoundrel politicians think they hold
of the warrior and his worldview. He is also a member of the Journal 's
classes teach us to define it: that a man's character shapes his actions.
"As others move in the light, he will move in the darkness, so that as others
temperament that is suited for the Medal of Honor, in a soul that is unafraid
it comes to stretching the truth so fine it can't be distinguished from a lie.
that he couldn't help but spin tall tales, but had learned from hard experience
the downside of doing so: "In my first radio interview, the announcer said,
'Tell me about your life.' So I began telling him about how I was a mercenary
coup and I left with sacks of diamonds. I told the story in such a way that it
sounded plausible, and the announcer kept on saying: 'You're kidding. I can't
probably true, but, as the Times writer said, the details surrounding it
recent political articles are filled with yarns that make one long for a little
It would be nave to criticize a fiction writer for fabricating fictions;
that's what a novelist does for a living. But what about when the prevaricator
becomes a political columnist and tries convince politicians to impeach other
Last year the Modern Library raised a ruckus with its "hundred best novels
The first complaint about the earlier list (aside from the basic crassness
of the enterprise) was that it had been made from a checklist prepared by
experts. But experts turned out to be not such a bad thing. When Random House
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird cracked the magic circle.)
A second complaint: The panel was too white and too male. So the new panel
It will be hard to make this work. Another problem is that there's vastly
Rebel is an automatic. But do you include dazzling prose writers like
Way of All Flesh so bizarrely did on the fiction list?
Poetry and the Age (and she won't), who will? Someone must argue (it's
influence and style by picking the top books about the major events of the
strikes me that I have in you a tremendous resource: instead of wondering what
it is conservatives can possibly be thinking when they say or do something I
don't understand at all, I can ask you! So here is my question: Why do
example); his judicial appointments have been very centrist; he favors the
other causes dear to the right. It's true he's not a homophobe like so many
(except, as you've noted, get more of them than ever kicked out of the armed
For a person of materialist turn of mind, like me, it is hard to understand
there, either. Conservatives should love this man, who accomplishes so much of
their agenda while bewitching so many liberals! A Republican could never have
pushed through welfare reform, or the crime bill, without raising a major storm
Is it all really about sex, drugs and rock and roll, after all?
intransigence we are supposed to be grateful for. Why is it that, in the press,
terrorists are heroes if they enter "peace" negotiations but not blackmailing
monumental, and just when he is dismissed as a buffoon, he tries once again,
against the odds, to keep economic reform on track. His personal
unpredictability is arguably essential to keep his many enemies off balance.
expanded without a revanchist response; and the Constitution is still
scene in Primary Colors when he learns that he may have made a young
black girl pregnant. "Can't I ever get a break?" he laments. The man's
incapacity to take responsibility is fathomless. My favorite quote of the day
take the hit for not cooperating in the Rose Law Firm inquiry: "I will not
Please note: All times given are Eastern, but check your local listings
Step right up, ladies and gents: The Sweeps have come to town. Everyone's
pandering, but the Fox network is the most blatant with its sleazy
The spirit of Fox seems to have influenced the arty networks, too. The
three years researching the life, crimes, and recent execution of the talkative
camerawork helps recreate his murders of two old men and the impact on the
even obsessive fans have been struggling just to follow it. The story so far: A
mysterious Syndicate of rich white evildoers has been in apparent cahoots with
aliens seeking to colonize the earth. One of their weapons: infecting humans
with an oily virus that incubates aliens. Or something like that.
secrets. Don't hold your breath waiting for final answers.
The roots of today's conspiracy thinking go back to the assassination of
nostalgia and history lesson but flounders as drama. The acting is competent,
world is changing for the better, son. We got a long way to go but look where
apparent target of the new Hallmark Hall of Fame weepie, Night Ride
their response to the tragic death of their son in a horse- riding accident.
Family healing, blah blah. Only the threat of, say, an alien abduction could
make a man watch all the way through this domestic bathos.
daughter to scout a college campus, only to spot a mob snitch he may have to
uplift for black kids, part thrilling feats of circus daring, it's family
programming that can appeal to adults of all races.
The broadcast networks are keeping up with potentially strong episodes of
seeking help for an alcoholic friend. It's about time. They won't be killing
episodes because the maverick heartthrob gives an unauthorized painkiller to a
Couldn't agree with you more about tobacco. I grew up imbibing the
why it gets so many people steamed at a political level. Liberals particularly.
companies represent the supreme evil in the universe when they're just a bunch
of lying, avaricious executives trying to make money. In my book that's legal
about it and passing virtual bills of attainder against them. And don't try to
persuade me that my mother never knew the risks of smoking. She did. My own
theory is that liberals and lefties have to find some outlet for their
lost the argument completely. And they know they shouldn't be sexual puritans.
pass. So they hammer the smokers. Or rather they hammer the Big Tobacco execs
in order to "save the children." Save me from saving the children. The most
heartening news from the younger generation this year (apart from the
kids? Fathers are apparently spending more time with their children and on
this a function of feminist lawmaking or the free market and empowered,
stranger than fiction and often more entertaining as well. The medium's blend
world that sometimes seems as real as our own. It's the perfect environment for
scandal and the White House. There's even a nefarious independent prosecutor
who abuses both key witnesses and our heroic prosecutors! Unfortunately, the
days. Still, it's good to see the Homicide crew finally spending more
time solving crimes than pursuing their boring office romances.
all patrician bite and bluster. Told in flashbacks, the film drags a bit when
basketball team that faces off with the best white team in the segregated New
riveting as a priest leading his players in a drive to integrate school
athletics. Although supposedly based on real events, it also feels phony at
times. Is there a federal law that says all basketball flicks must end with one
widow, includes the mandatory scene of the downtrodden composer working out his
any drag queen's, but her sullen pouting and his whining make it seem like a
Genuine immigration abuses are the backdrop for the schlocky murder mystery,
mind the viewer. A better bet for drama is Meltdown at Three Mile
newsmagazine segment on "Operation Tailwind." To refresh your memory, the
But how do we know that such memories represent real, rather than imagined,
he came up with his seduction theory, which linked hysteria to repressed
memories of sexual molestation during childhood. A few years later, however,
brewing against therapists who are considered too skeptical of recovered
memories, and a new movement is born: Repressed Memory Therapy. By the
"repressed memory syndrome." The message is always the same: If you're feeling
It turned out, though, that the daughter had been hypnotized by her
therapist to help remember the details of the event. The case was thrown out a
memories are simply the product of the power of psychoanalytic persuasion?
mechanism that could create this ignorance of memory. If anything, things of a
traumatic character are more likely to be remembered than forgotten." Recovered
But we do have some clues. A psychiatrist who treated World War II veterans
reported that one man who had been in a tank regiment visualized being trapped
inside a burning tank, though it never actually happened. And decades later, a
during a firefight. When one of his fellow group members called Ed's parents to
help put together a surprise party for him, his mother was shocked: "What? He's
in a veterans' recovery group? But he was rated 4-F. He never was allowed to go
minorities is a consequence of institutional racism at universities. Do you? At
either. So, frankly, I don't see the alleged problem of racial discrimination
that we need to remedy. The only discrimination I think we need to address is
the recent attempt by many universities to deny many people admission purely
because of their race. Now there's discrimination. But it's directed primarily
high school education, and more engaged and dedicated parenting. Period. Like
you, I would like to see much more money spent on public education, as long as
the teachers' unions don't throw it down the toilet. And I think we should do
all we can not to encourage family breakdown among minorities. But even then, I
doubt whether we would have a perfectly balanced racial mix at our
universities. And frankly, I don't see why we should care. Why should we be
concerned what race someone belongs to at college, as long as there isn't any
decent public high school education is also widely available? This racial
obsession is a legacy of past evils, and decreasingly relevant to the polyglot,
repeated across the country. And I hope we make a better effort to educate
black and Latino kids in the cities. And I hope the black family recovers. And
I hope we stop the futile attempt to make amends for past injustice by wreaking
irrational form of institutional sexism, and I oppose it on the same grounds
that I oppose reverse discrimination. And if we attempted to remedy it by
You sent me scurrying to the New York Times business pages and
there I found a potential solution for one of my life's peskiest problems. A
French company is now producing a tiny little car that seats just two, weighs
just the thing. I know how to drive, I do, I do, I do. I just get all flustered
vehicles that roam I-95 like woolly mammoths looking for prey. I hate those
was always the shortest girl in the class, I know. So I would only use it on
Those are just about the only places I want to go, anyway.
aging analysts packed into the auditorium, sweating through their dark clothes
couches, in this impossible time for the famously impossible profession, up to?
Composing thoughtful rebuttals to their scientistic critics? Ignoring the
Overhearing the audience's indulgent titters, Crews would have found it
patient's obsession with filming him before letting him do it. ("Was it
several minutes of film that brought dozens of bit players and their world to
shockingly commanding presence, a man of barely checked intensity lurking in
The emotional coloring of the evening, though, came from the soundtrack, a
scene of gravity, even of mourning: Here were today's analysts, at a time when
psychoanalysis seems to be sputtering to an undignified end, done in by managed
health care, psychopharmacology, and the intellectual vindication of behavioral
psychologists by modern trends in genetics. There were yesterday's analysts, at
the field's most hopeful, eager beginning, when it seemed the most brilliant
that wiped out a world and an intellectual war that discredited a past. When
the movie came to an end, there seemed nothing left to say.
French mental hospital a decade ago, started publishing poems, and branched
researcher who seeks through cloning to make sex obsolete. The two have more in
several hundred thousand copies and launched the first real French literary
places where the two overlap, like drugs, abortion, and penile and breast
implants. But the reader soon notices that these diatribes are being delivered
excitedly rendered. A reviewer who, like this one, is shaky on his French
that's where I draw the line. But finish this book and you'll have no trouble
the world it leaves in its wake? By viewing both as stages on the way to a
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "Pundit
the sex scandal subsides, the president has been tainted," the paper said. "He
will not be remembered for his economic triumphs, his political agility, his
other smaller initiatives. Already he is the subject of countless jokes, and he
will be remembered as the president who could not keep his zipper zipped."
past," it said in a front page editorial. "She even lives in it, fascinated by
her navel. But until now, she has cared above all for her moments of glory,
when she thought she could give orders to the universe. She preferred to skip
the black pages in her history. But not for the past few years. One may call it
same that she dares, at last, to look herself in the face. With stains on her
severe as those which have almost destroyed the Middle East peace process since
abroad to "ask themselves what future there is for a country under a Prime
Resurrection, may be transformed into the funeral of peace," La
Under the headline "Dangerous Games in the Kremlin,"
"One day, soon perhaps, the public will have to stop gaping at the ability of
those who get a good return on their investments. "Take, therefore, the talent
from him [who had one talent] and give it unto him which hath ten talents,"
abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he
worries that standards for entry into the union will soon be diluted and that
to join, it will be on the basis of what they say they are going to do, not on
want to pretend [AIDS] is a black disease, but the white community is equally
affected, they just have more money to keep it hidden for a longer time than
suggested by the Reform Party (a group, the piece notes, that is often accused
of racism and extremism). Among the proposals: Tie immigration levels to the
higher priority to the "independent" class of immigrants (those with necessary
job skills); crack down on family sponsorship of immigrants, limiting it to
immediate family members; and cut down on fraudulent claims of refugee
severely doubt the authenticity of the remains) and, on the other side, radical
"pragmatist," wants to plan ahead for his final sendoff, argues an anonymous
Chronicle announces that the Electoral Assistance Bureau has determined
place was considered to have had a poll that was unacceptable or invalid."
entertainment and gambling industries, successful and still expanding, have
spawned prostitution as a growing field in this economically shaky country.
Smart, educated, gainfully employed women have taken to becoming casual sex
of death, statement in hand, approaching a lectern bearing the seal of the
longer hide his own doubts about the effectiveness of a bombing campaign."
violence but continued to insist that a peace agreement "can be done and
failed before even beginning, since nobody knows where they are." Attempting to
switched off during the night to reduce the number of accidents caused by
that cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco had been suppressed by the World
drinking two or three glasses of wine a day has been proved to cut the risk of
"impotent." Even a former minister of parliamentary affairs, whose job had been
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
appealing strongly for a yea vote. "The good reputation of the island will be
immeasurably enhanced, if we can cast off the negative impression of conflict,
in an editorial that, although "there are a thousand devils in the details" of
the agreement, "democrats should accept the convenient rather than insist on
no fudge between democracy and terror." If he fails to insist on the
decommissioning of weapons before paramilitaries could hold office in the new
strongly supportive of the Ulster Unionists, highlighted the agreement's
weaknesses and, while not recommending a "no" vote, said in an editorial that
if a majority of the Unionists were to vote negative, their decision should be
respected. "Let no one outside Ulster dare accuse them of bigotry or
belligerence," it said. "In voting No, they too will be expressing their desire
for peace, and their sorrowful belief that it is not, in reality, on
explained, was that following the end of the Communist threat, the United
States' present "biggest headache is that the collapse of a major trading
partner will cause a domino effect across the world's economies."
say to officials and congressmen on the Hill." Predicting that the delegates
newspaper's correspondent there that they should have chosen a better time to
global community on the nuclear issue," should now "make the international
community ashamed of itself through its nuclear restraint and ensure that it is
conduct the tests so that the principle of mutual nuclear deterrence would
automatically come into force and nuclear confrontation can be ruled out for
nuclear tests and then proceeded to declare itself a nuclear weapons state."
country's new nuclear capabilities. "It looks like the bad old days are back
the same time proposing himself as a candidate for the future leadership of
militarism is especially offensive. Worse still, it will be ineffective," the
impression of double standards being applied was particularly strong where it
which led its front page with a story about an astonishing secret alliance
foreign and security policy, it said, would be insular and isolationist and
would invariably prefer appeasement to intervention. "The President should note
that the special relationship cannot be reconciled with the creation of a
minister, accusing her of "sheer gush" and "babbling soppiness" toward both him
and his host, the president. "Come back and help our 'clever, young and
nine months in power," it said. "Come back and bathe him in the balm of your
interview with the tabloid Daily Mirror saying he believed that the deaths of his son
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "Pundit
despite the Ulster Unionists' firm rejection of the draft agreement submitted
for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public restroom in the Will Rogers Memorial
front page headline that read, "Zip Me Up Before You Go Go."
logical development." Its front page headline on the talks was "So Near and Yet
that "the prize is within the negotiators' grasp": "If they fail to seize it,
they will surrender to the sinister men lurking in the wings. At the moment of
the best way to safeguard the Union. But the damage that has been done in the
expressed alarm that recent World Trade Organization rulings against the United
in New York. Now he says he plans to redecorate it. "I want to get rid of all
deserve to be preserved historically." Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported fury
and then as a senator, has spent his career trying to understand the point of
surprisingly, the immigration system is set up to benefit the United
allowed in, and only a tiny fraction of the ones who make that cut are allowed
for permanent residence and most of the benefits of citizenship, with the
their families) of naturalized citizens and their families, and adult sons and
daughters (and their families) of naturalized citizens.
couples cannot legally marry in this country, there is currently no legal way
(including "multinational executives or managers" and "outstanding professors
or researchers"), "professionals with advanced degrees," investors or
for "diversity" immigrants, designed to allow citizens of countries with low
levels of emigration to the United States to jump the queue. (Such countries
these complex categories, there are national quotas to ensure that no country
States as resident aliens. But of late, lawmakers have indicated a change of
attitude toward legal immigrants, and this has affected the number of
entitlements, denying legal immigrants access to government housing and welfare
while still requiring them to pay taxes. This loss of benefits has almost
character." Candidates must submit a set of fingerprints for review by the
increase in citizenship applications has led to longer processing periods and,
according to critics, to some immigrants being wrongly naturalized. In May
criminal arrest should have disqualified an applicant or in which an applicant
lied about his or her criminal history." A more recent press release from the INS suggests that the agency has made a
country legally on a temporary basis and didn't go home. Most illegal
recent changes in the law, summarized here, establish new grounds for denying admission to the United
jobs attracts illegal immigrants. Although the INS negotiated its largest
$1.7-million fine for hiring and employing illegal immigrant workers, critics
claim that Congress doesn't do enough to punish employers who make extensive
use of illegal labor. Unscrupulous employers see these workers as more
manageable and less likely to complain. Despite regulations that punish
employers who knowingly employ them, pressure from business groups like the
National Federation of Independent Business and the National Restaurant
Association scuttled an attempt to include computer verification of employee
A fact sheet prepared by the State Department's Bureau of
race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular
social group." Recent changes in the law prohibit asylum applications from
(this last phrase being printed in English). "And we mustn't forget the role of
the mother who instructed her and who is certainly much more expert than she is
president has to understand this and make the necessary sacrifices. "To
renounce his manhood for four, or even eight, years is a fair price to pay," he
right to privacy." They should recognize that new technology "lays bare
quickly forgotten if, for example, the internet didn't render them shameful,
is that the first believed in the president's right to privacy, and the second
and "was expected to make love to two a day, and was trained in special
techniques to make sure that he could manage this." "Even at this rate it would
displaying natural human foibles while being excellent at his work." The
be forced to submit his resignation because he has lost the confidence of key
the New York Times that "these are not grounds for impeachment: they are
grounds for divorce." "She is right. Let's hope Congress agrees," it
the president should resign if he cannot maintain his authority. In the world's
current parlous condition, "US leadership and prudent US policies are vital,"
said, "The most important thing for the Communists is to get control of money
from weapons exports. This money will become a source of financing in the next
second day running with negative comment about the United States, taking their
one hand, the United States has realized that the world cannot be entrusted
solely to the pursuit of profit and to the indiscriminate use of the global
capital market, and it has breathed new life into supranational institutions
military continue to regard their host countries as subject to their military
needs or to their war games while they live in superb isolation in their
uncontrollable, inaccessible bases. Perhaps imperial powers have always behaved
like that, but it's not pleasant and it's not dignified for those who have to
would see only this "sad face" and forget the millions of "respectable
Home." This was not a call for action, however, but a nostalgic evocation
penitent," and said, "One couldn't imagine a better argument against the death
crime, but against this other person the criminal has become in the meantime."
syringe in one hand and a scythe sporting the stars and stripes in the other,
facing a sea of television cameras and announcing, somewhat obscurely, "Me,
headlined "A Justice That Kills," said this was a kind of justice that could
never be justified. The paper quoted Amnesty International statistics showing
penalty. The United States finds itself in the company of countries like China
exception." It is common knowledge among criminologists that "the death penalty
"considered cancelling the visit in the light of the media frenzy that has
nastier than it was before, directed at civilian targets, which the coalition
electricity grid, but acknowledged that a lengthy interruption of service would
people for their watchful insistence on probity and moral rectitude for public
affair but by "the world's refusal to be shocked by it." It blamed "this
our times which spells instant immunity from all wrong."
referred not, as one might have expected, to the continuing massacres by
with them to study ways of pursuing the authors of these terrorist crimes."
covered up the fact that the bombing had been a broad conspiracy, involving
editorial opposite this piece, the conservative Daily Telegraph noted
fall in the price of gold, and said: "The insatiable demand for dollars, and
poised to claim China as its next victim unless there was a "rapid and
seems to be sinking inexorably into crisis," its alarmist editorial continued.
"There is a vicious circle from which one can see no way out."
this week. "The old lion had some paw," it said. "Without going as far as the
day, the exhibition shows the work of a real artist," Libration added.
were printed on recycled sugar cane, but this gave them the texture and color
of a stiff brown paper bag and was abandoned in favor of recycled paper. Last
Festival for the Recycling of Primary Materials" would be shown live on
the world, imbued with irrepressible optimism about the prospects for the sugar
Peacetime." Among several cheerful sugar stories in the last few days was one
accentuating the positive aspect of recent flooding in the countryside. While
shortcomings of capitalism in general and the United States in particular, with
asteroid danger, which it accuses the United States of understating. This week
the headline "Monstrous Experiment." The lifting by the United States of some
inside page and was the subject of no editorial comment either then or
almost every day, even if sometimes on a date that is fairly distant from the
the last two subjects have been pancreatitis and optical neuritis, and an
occasional books column that, this week, discussed a book titled The
"Sexuality, sensuality, passion, and pleasure have always been the main
one letter a week from a reader, always with an editorial riposte at the
bottom. This week's was from a woman and had to do with the desperate attempts
parlors and found them variously full, out of food, closed for lack of water
But they persevered, she said, "firm and optimistic" in their search, until
they were finally allowed by a packed restaurant to eat their dinner off the
floor. They were lucky enough, she said, to find a bus quickly and be back home
this letter said the newspaper had decided to omit the names of the restaurants
concerned, "because they wouldn't be known by respectable people outside the
neighborhood," and made no comment on the facilities they lacked. Instead it
congratulated the couple on the courage and optimism that had enabled them in
the end to triumph: "You got home in time to see the film, so it really wasn't
which, beginning next week, will appear in Slate twice a week.
disappointment" and "a wave of frustration" and said that Gore might even have
was more polite, but still referred to his speech as "ambiguous." The worldwide
awaited with such excitement, had signally failed to deliver a breakthrough in
the stalled negotiations because of political pressures at home.
Age didn't mention it at all, being more interested in the nation's prowess
competitions, raising the question of whether they should do so as women or be
he said, "in the dreams of all men" and "even more beautiful than on the
screen." The United States, on the other hand, was "a world made to measure for
escapades": "I run out through the back door and drive past the gates in a
German teacher I had, at the end of one of the lessons." He may be trying to
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "Pundit
not naive to be optimistic about its prospects" and "we must all resist the
temptation to see future violence described as a failure of the peace process,"
criticized several aspects of the settlement and emphasized that it "does not
in itself mean peace in Ulster's time." It added that Ulster's unionist voters
"should not, at least as yet, feel that they are against peace by rejecting
editorial that while failure was a possibility, so also was success. "It is a
time for gratitude, and even the odd private prayer," it went on. "For this was
Conservative predecessor John Major to campaign together for a "Yes" vote in
peace settlement. It described his intervention as "merely opportunistic" and
reminding him that Ulster is, and remains, part of the United Kingdom and, as
stressing the difficulties facing the peace settlement because of divisions
time of the referendum. Continental newspapers, too, emphasized the problems.
as "typically English" in its pragmatism. "What continental jurist could have
thought up a statute which reaffirms Ulster's dependence on the crown without
Ulster settlement as a possible key to solving the Basque terrorist problem in
there were no comparisons to be made between the two situations.
counterpart. The Cork Examiner hailed it as the achievement of "lasting peace," and the
will almost certainly resist any attempt to accede to unionist demands for
and rewarding field for further blackmail" and that the peace proposals "may
well be defeated" by unionist voters in the referendum.
delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit Central"
is "becoming out of date," the paper said. "US commentators are waking up to
Telegraph said the case for "associating with the New World" doesn't
rest simply on an affinity of culture, language, or political values but is
through consensual rule rather than despotism." The paper's editorial recalled
genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense,
(Madras), the paper said Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals plans to start
now, even at the height of the Cold War." If the United States continues to
behave like an international bully, "the result will certainly not be greater
peace and cohesion in the world: that much is for sure."
United States and other Western governments of "inexplicable delay" in checking
said in an editorial. "Even if the measures implemented require painful
sacrifices, people are willing to bear them if they promise a secure and
recovery." It concluded, "Japan cannot afford to stand idly by: China's
certain to be excluded from the list of medicines approved for free
Peter Pan trap" and asked whether it was really a medicine against male
serve to cure an illness or to regulate eternal adolescence? Does it belong to
the world of pharmaceutical drugs or to that of aesthetic surgery, like
illusion that time never ends and that the seasons are forever renewed.
"the most beautiful and happiest old people, pill or no pill, will be those
like Peck, proud, aware, and strong in their imperfect human reality."
an editorial that "no reasonable person could feel any personal animus against
celebrate," because "the rising sun flag remains, for much of the world, a
their grievances generated long ago," the Standard concluded. "But their
anger and bitterness deserve the sympathy of us all."
sharply divided over the need to apologize to Aborigines over their past
was not among them." The prime minister had told parliament that "a formal
national apology, of the type sought by others, is not appropriate."
something very sad about a man who can't say sorry," "National Sorry Books" had
been signed by half a million people, including "the Catholic bishops of
called because of the exotic plant life found there by Captain Cook) should
that the high voter turnout, despite torrential rain, might have been at least
discount to anyone who took along the commemorative card to show they had
piece of clever marketing, but it comes perilously close to using a financial
to be a less political society, "but once it has been let out, the electoral
"illuminated master of spirituality" and a "tireless preacher for social
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
conservative tabloid Daily Mail said that "the fact that the New York
being sold off by gangsters from the former Soviet Union," the Daily
Mail said, "the Prime Minister would have done better to trust the people
with the truth in good time before this controversial assignment was due to
that even the charge of excessive secrecy had about it "an aura of manufactured
that might in any way distress its proprietor, the paper gave full coverage
ticketing arrangements for this year's soccer World Cup. When a telephone hot
percent reduction of the jail terms of all prisoners who had already served
permanent International Criminal Court to try those accused of crimes against
real teeth" and that "the ghost of Pol Pot should be a reminder [to the
terrorism in Morocco constitutes a grave danger for the stability of the
these reports, though a source in the interior ministry had described them as
West in the next millennium. In this he was profoundly at odds with the United
could leave the room for a few moments to pray ("I knew that the pope was also
people with white sheets over their heads demanding access to a new cancer
outcome of clinical trials. The marchers barracked the office of Prime Minister
that men will change their ways. An opinion poll published over the weekend
prostitution problem and did its bit for the cause the next day by devoting two
the biggest killer in most countries of the world. "We import from the States
so many useless fashions, horrible films, and suspect religions," it said. "So
why can't we pay more attention to a war that, in this instance, actually is
sentences for "conciliating the law of men with that of memory and conscience"
Organization, recently accused of suppressing a report showing that cannabis
isn't as dangerous as tobacco or alcohol, had now suppressed "a study which
lung cancer but that it could even have a protective effect." The next day the
claimed in its front page lead story that this was nonsense put out by the
conclusions from the study, which had not been held up by WHO but had been
submitted to the journal of the National Cancer Institute in the United
lose his seat in the House of Lords and the Telegraph that minor royals
Constitutional Council) in an alleged corruption scandal that has to do with
Green Party, whose radicalization might make a political alliance with moderate
days of sights and sounds from the period of impervious apathy which preceded
crisis with unforeseeable consequences because of the fall in the price of oil.
it said, adding, "The risk is a repeat of the scenario of the second half of
government had made "a final decision" to have a state funeral (complete with a
While the federal government will foot most of the bill for the funeral, "the
city will have to cover costs for paving roads and painting houses," the
German newspapers, which tend to avoid catch lines anyway, are calling it
any kind, using straightforward catch lines like "The White House Scandal" or
rushed to have their belated say, many of them posing as Old World
even the economy and politics of the United States, if not of the entire
planet, appears an amusing, absurd and incomprehensible triviality. Our
presidents and prime ministers have never had such problems, partly because
they are almost always Christian Democrats, or at any rate very Catholic, at
least in words, and partly because they are almost always ugly and old and
shadowed by energetic wives who do not permit them any distractions, or they
are widowers pledged to chastity." But if they did commit such indiscretions,
don't belong to it, those which it dreams of committing, but not those which it
victim of political correctness. "It has come to this: the natural desire of a
reciprocal pleasure that such a man has in the flattering attention of a pretty
United States that could lead to a constitutional crisis. Indeed, this natural
libidinous reaction could well have a major impact on the lives of
"expose the sexual political correctness that distorts our law and our lives,"
The president's member featured as a subject in numerous
his penis off his presidential pedestal into a throng of hysterical,
achievement for which he deserves credit. She persuaded her nation why Bill
used to think, in all good faith, that the fate of the peace process was in the
scandal could not possibly be a coincidence. According to that version, the
book The Private Lives of the Three Tenors a passage "imagining" a love
him in an "imagined" romance. The same newspaper had a scoop over the weekend
and having been a reporter for five, I have never seen a president in the
president is visiting Capitol Hill for a private session with House Democrats.
the horde has gathered anyway. We are hoping that he'll tell the Democratic
House members something about the scandal in private, and they will pass it on
inside the conference room. (He ducked the press and entered through a side
trained on the microphone bank by the room's exit. (Capitol Hill security is
treating the press with all the respect we have come to expect: We are penned
is immediately and disappointingly obvious that the president said nothing
about Topic A, and his Democratic allies didn't ask him about it. One by one
the 100-mouthed monster: "Was there any discussion of the president's, ah,
few of these futile interviews, I begin to discern three distinct genres of
question is asked, sigh deeply, then say exactly this sentence: "The
meeting was very, very positive. [Always "very, very." Never just "very."] We
soon as the horde hears the words "Social Security," a silence falls. Pens stop
scratching, cameramen turn off their high beams. Then reporters turn away and
would not talk about Flytrap, why reporters should not ask him about it, and
why they should be ashamed for even mentioning the subject. Time spent on
involves a disjuncture between mouth and brain. The mouth becomes literally
incapable of talking about the scandal: "He has already addressed this once. He
were my name, I might not want to talk about the scandal either.)
are mouthing these sweet nothings by the front door, the president heads out a
was in the neighborhood, I thought I should drop by another scandal landmark on
the Hill: the House Judiciary Committee. Any presidential impeachment will go
glee. The Judiciary Committee offers as fine a display of intellect and
Committee may or may not be judicious, but it will certainly be
reform bill that everyone seems to agree with. But the Judiciary Committee,
bless its heart, is a committee that can disagree to agree. After a few minutes
of collegial discussion, presided over with mountainous dignity by Rep. Henry
who has never found a subject he doesn't like arguing about (and has never
hazy on this, make it either harder or easier to dismiss class action suits.
one of the new breed of Republicans who looks like a choirboy and acts like
Congress' parliamentary mantra: "Will the gentleman yield his time?" Since
voice further. Frank counters by yelling the phrase again and again and again.
wants to heave it at Frank. And this is what happens when they agree!
window this weekend, has been compared in newspapers around the world to the
several suicide notes that "only through my death can I prove my
coincidence, the publication of such a photograph, taken inside a restaurant on
the wake of the princess's death. At the same time, the charge made most
that paparazzi were responsible for her death, has been implicitly
princess's two sons, "rocketed in popularity" among Times readers naming
their babies immediately after her death, while the popularity of the name
reverberated around the world to almost the same extent as the one about
its heritage" by setting the record for "the world's largest dancing dragon."
convicted thieves warning them they were being kept under surveillance but said
qualified to receive such cards would make the cost prohibitive."
would be taken by his critics as evidence that he was "hungry for power,
engaged in what is virtually slave labor, sewing leather footballs printed with
reported, had told her fellow citizens that they had a duty to give immigrants
this, their hostility to immigrants was increasing. The problem wasn't large,
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
conviction that the intimate life of a human being, even if he is the president
of the United States, does not justify this obscene official inquiry. We
therefore declare that the media for which we are responsible will not, as from
generally failed to catch up with the idea that impeachment is becoming
increasingly unlikely. The satirical magazine Private
papers have in common is that their reporting simply reflects their
every new turn of events." It takes quotations from both journalists' articles
over several months to show, convincingly, the repeated inaccuracy of their
words," Private Eye says, "Perhaps they could be joined on this verbal
him cause to believe that the West means business."
facing a rerun of the 1930s. "We are entering a similar era," he wrote. "But we
have become so accustomed to the danger of excessive demand that we no longer
contraction is under way," he added. "We are experiencing only the
falling real wages throughout the region; stagnation and unemployment in
on central bankers in advanced economies to consider whether it was time to
loosen the reins on the money supply. For the United States, he recommended
that pending budget surpluses be used for tax cuts and additional spending.
was on the edge of an abyss and could plunge into "a planetary
recession of which democracy, in several countries, could be the principal
victim." The reason, he said, was that society was "ruled by the laws of
everybody else." "In economics, as in psychoanalysis, understanding is the
with the research facilities to stop lying and to tell the truth about the real
international speculation to increase the financial resources of international
governments around the world to make public international investments to show
in the markets a taste for being different, for "finding it fashionable to be
could govern such an ambitious currency is well founded," he wrote. "The
nobody dares to utter the most relevant but most forbidden word of the
headline "Japan Says Sorry to the Sun." Inside, it published what it claimed
childhood membership in the Boy Scout movement ("I still cherish the memory of
during World War II and promised new reconciliation initiatives.
friendship toward Japan, published an editorial promising "a new era of better
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily) and "Pundit
misguided government policy," in effect since the early 1970s when a military
dictatorship was in power, that sought to populate the Amazonian forest with
poor peasants from northeastern Brazil. The goal: to prevent the region's
"annexation" by foreigners. "Condemned to destroy the forest, because a cleared
area provides at best only two years of crops, the 'settlers' are the first
victims of a perverse policy that unfortunately hasn't changed one jot since
to act as a safety valve for the social tensions generated by the unjust
children reading the words "I have a dream" from a book of King's speeches, as
"Maybe we should burn books as well?" In a full page tribute to King, the paper
focused, by contrast, on the plight of the peace process, blaming the United
over the demolition of three Bedouin homes in the "unrecognized" western
Sacrifice" for the deprived, called for an end to the slaughter of rams in the
streets. "Rather than turn our cities into slaughterhouses," the paper said,
the rams in appropriate places, preserve the meat in a hygienic manner, and
distribute it in a fair way among all those who actually need it."
government to cut income and corporate taxes in its promised emergency package
to banish the "dark prospects" hanging over the country's economy. The rest of
for a convicted pedophile and child killer as he was released from prison after
filled in time between exotic holidays and shopping for clothes by putting in a
otherwise exact replica of the Titanic to make its maiden voyage from
reports the "slowdown in growth for the second quarter was across
dole advance. Even so, Prime Minister Bill Skate assures the interviewer that
"economic outlook is getting worse than was anticipated."
in the future, a sentiment that dueled with a quotation from the minister of
goods and service tax, which would "clean up the indirect tax system" and
create jobs in the process. The package will also reduce taxes on families,
extend various personal tax cuts, make changes in the social security tax, and
and National parties) for using the tax plan as an election trump card, and an
Age editorial blasts the government, noting that there has been
"little headway against unemployment, manufacturing export growth has slowed,
displace attention from other countries where the threat is very real, whereas
reports increased security precautions by the United States in
also reports rumors propagated on the Internet predicting
the rumors as utterly false, citing the deplorable readiness of people to
discovered a solution to its ubiquitous drug problem. Two high government
officials were reported as discussing the matter, with one condoning extreme
measures when it came to treatment of drug dealers. "Does that measure mean
shooting them?" asked one. The response: "You can do whatever with them. We
knows bombs will not lead to his overthrow, but feels it has to do something.
utilitarian calculus: violence now by the West should help to prevent future
concluded. Even the ultraconservative tabloid the Daily 
military installations, and also civilian infrastructures, from bridges to
states that appear to be keeping their distance are in reality supporting us,"
missiles. "The situation today is quite different from the situation seven
announced in an editorial the end of the New International Order. The United
firmly opposed to military intervention. It is a heterogeneous front that
battle with the Third World countries, which are equipping themselves with
This was primarily for humanitarian reasons, she said, "but we also have other
might view the prospect of a new conflict." Asked if she thought it was
people around the country had been queuing up for gas masks. In an account
said she was frustrated by the lack of progress in the Middle East peace talks
look" in photographs left no room for doubt about her relationship with the
president. There was no need for her to confess to anything, for those eyes
were the "two principal witnesses" in the case and gave "irrefutable proof" of
clemency that would contribute to the creation of a culture more favorable to
accomplished." Soon after his speech, a violent protest broke out, during which
emerged as a powerful contender for the German chancellorship. Current
abilities." The liaison will involve joint training sessions, the sharing of
criminal dossiers, and cooperative investigations centering on money laundering
and the trafficking of firearms, drugs, diamonds, gold, and uranium.
government leaders. A frustrated collection of journalists, activists, and
friends out of old enemies," and sharing government information with the
censors have been at work. On its Web site, however, the Times posts an
archive of censored articles. A sidebar explains, "We are generally not allowed to do the
following things: Report on human rights abuses. Criticize the president or his
outposts to train potential Mars travelers, because the region offers isolated,
freezing, rocky conditions, replicating a possible Mars mission, on which
astronauts could be sequestered with a small group for long periods in a harsh
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
Powerlessness." An editorial said that "the long premeditated snub inflicted on
States to get itself listened to, even by its closest allies."
world's last Superpower" is "forced every day" to recognize "the relativity" of
its power. "This phenomenon of insubordination" is exacerbated by "the relative
"play Congress openly against the White House," the editorial went on. "Only a
House is incapable of punishing his insolence as, six months before the midterm
There was a striking contrast between the attention paid in
the peace negotiations are effectively at an end. "For more than a year it has
been customary to say that the peace talks are blocked, paralyzed, in grave
yesterday there has been a strong temptation to say that they are dead and not
which biological and chemical weapons might be used. In one of the interviews,
the window of opportunity created by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
dominated for several days by the crisis threatening Foreign Secretary Robin
company to sell arms to help overthrow the military junta in Sierra Leone, in
to celebrate "the West's greatest Cold War victory: the breaking of the Berlin
The airlift, it said, had been "conceived, directed and largely carried out by
cripple rather than kill" in clashes with protestors. Quoting a military manual
clearly threatening to kill others [or to] cause heavy material damage." If
this doesn't work, it added, a platoon commander has the authority "to proceed
personal troubles but on his contribution to peace in Ulster. In the Republic
foolishness in his personal life "does not justify the persecution to which he
has been subjected," nor take away from his achievements as president. "Among
"radiant," received high praise from conservative Catholic
the president "would probably fully agree that in terms of strength of
has achieved more progress in the last two days than in the previous two
faces inevitable bankruptcy and that, by the end of the year at the latest, it
will have to admit it can't make payments on its foreign debts.
is "just one of several banana skins the US leader dropped and stepped on in
noting that "nothing was right about the summit, least of all its timing."
Security Council, which has special responsibilities for the maintenance of
'international peace and security,' has openly applied the 'state's right of
should be treated as such. However, they should not be punished without due
process in the name of 'national security' or 'protection of citizens' lives.'
drawing up regulations to try to stamp out sexual harassment based on a new
report defining what kind of behavior is "inappropriate." It said, "Such
staff to serve tea or to clean the workplace." Ogling colleagues or forcing
female employees to sit beside their bosses at social events is also
is also classified as sexual harassment," the paper added.
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
meant that the only official account of the visit to be transmitted from
said the United States has rightly "elevated China to a far more central place
in its foreign policy than it occupied in the past," given that "China is
ally. China remains "an oppressive communist dictatorship," it said, and this
stands in the way of a "genuine" partnership in any field besides trade and
Though the size of the president's entourage made his trip seem "like the
environmental deficiencies, the newspaper said that "the sheer audacity and
improbability of the place so perfectly captured the spirit of the city that
now threatening to undermine the most vital system of checks and balances in
tougher," it said, adding that it will now be almost impossible to
reportedly proposing to do, "it would detract from its credentials as the
principal promoter and protector of the Middle East peace process," it said.
is simply no option but to return to the path of peace and stability in the
Unionist Party leader and first minister in the new Ulster assembly, had
the Orange Order would voluntarily decide to return home by another route.
Whitewater, the scandal he was appointed to investigate lo these many years
evidence from them to the three judge panel he reports to, and that will
certainly lead to indictments against White House aides. But the implication is
that the only impeachable offenses he is pursuing relate to Flytrap.
scandals themselves are too incomprehensible to make any charge stick. (Or,
even if they're not incomprehensible, the media have never succeeded in
may disrupt the scandal. In theory, a Flytrap Only report should make it much
decks: Flytrap would disappear, and the other investigations would not remain
to threaten him. He'd be humiliated but safe. But although a Flytrap Only
much truth as he needs to. The more you press him, the more likely he is to be
honest. Anything that eases pressure makes him more likely to lie. So if he
brazen out Flytrap. After all, he only has to beat one scandal, not six.
opponents. They repeated the names of the scandals like a mantra: Whitewater,
matter what these scandals involved, they served primarily to justify Flytrap,
a way to sanitize the sex scandal. See, it's not just about sex. It's about
a pattern of obstruction of justice and perjury dating back to his years as
is just about sex? I am looking forward to a week of creative new
recommendation and said she never told the truth. She was a shameless hussy who
the past month, and especially last week, there has been a kinder, gentler
sounded sweetly sympathetic: She told a friend "it breaks my heart" to testify
graduate school in sociology, she's scrimping because she doesn't want to
burden her parents financially, she is so much a hostage to the media that she
taken up knitting. The coverage of her day in court was uniformly kind, rarely
mentioning that she has lied before and changed her story now.
Why the "strange new respect"? First, the Golden Rule of
story: Reporters needed a new angle for this round of Flytrap. Result: Knitting
almost as much as a Penthouse spread would have. She is also enjoying
the imprimatur of the law. Whenever someone testifies, gravitas follows. The
mere fact of giving sworn testimony to a court imbues a witness with
credibility and weight: She is participating in the measured and solemn
savage her if the president is going to admit an affair.
a nut cake, but the effort will be made. A National Enquirer story,
presidential obsession. White House officials are tallying and comparing all
she will be killed (metaphorically speaking, of course).
his visit, but they were far apart in attributing the blame.
"rudely" announcing that he would have to buy a ticket like anyone else. It
Holocaust Memorial Museum, after museum officials refused to treat him as a
intelligence to the White House because it often seemed to find its way to the
revelations as "damning and devastating," and said, "They will inevitably cast
deserves not only an apology from the White House but credible assurances that
such episodes will not occur again," the Times said. "There is one move
the President can make as belated compensation. He must show that there is more
In more moderate language, the Financial Times also described
editorial. "The White House should make it clear that both will be
government sources as saying that the attacks on her had to be seen in the
White House. "The Government believes she has been critical in focusing the
ceasefires," the newspaper said. "As the process enters a crucial phase, the
Ambassador and will not be deflected by the attacks."
Times started publishing these poems over the weekend, there has been
addition of a political crisis to the existing economic crisis might result in
"a revolutionary situation." The possibility that the country might be left
without legislative power for the next three months is "fraught with the most
general situation is rapidly approaching the critical point: It faces
simultaneous financial, industrial, social, and political meltdowns; it must
with the danger of Afghan military action on its southern border.
received from the same person so many reasons for hope and then so many
mindless, unjustifiable terrorism" going to "the heart of the tensions in our
troubled society." Making no reference to the United States or to the
remain divided." It urged people to "use this opportunity to recommit ourselves
to a united city and isolate all those who have different and sinister
believe, but pure profit motive which seems to have weighed." Instead, it
advocated a closer look at a prospective International Monetary Fund package,
in the new laws they are drafting to make it easier for the police and courts
concluded, "Civil liberties, once eroded, are not easily regained." The
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
labeled "nuclear test." The caption: "This will definitely cure your ailment.
in praising the government for carrying out the tests and urging the rest of
simplest answer would be for both to emerge from a rather inadequate closet and
paper was rather less upbeat. It urged the government to cut down drastically
on spending and to devise an economic policy "attractive enough for foreign
would now "take measures which correspond" with its outrage. "It is here that
action plan to tackle the political and economic fallout of the tests, the
stance towards foreign capital than it has so far." The newspaper attacked "the
hypocrisy which governs US policy on nuclear matters" and said "no country has
the right to dictate to another what policies it can and cannot follow."
nuclear club. "If the theory is correct that a credible nuclear deterrent makes
will automatically be unnecessary if both acquire nuclear weapon capability."
afraid of wars," he said. "If there is a war, we have to fight." Asked by a
surprised reporter if he really meant what he said, the minister replied, "Yes,
security strategy" if it is to be "adequately prepared to meet the critical
universal desire to wipe such weapons of mass destruction from the face of the
Earth." But it also attacked the United States "for excluding certain tests
that do not involve the detonation of nuclear devices" from the provisions of
world's largest nuclear power, and its failure to take nuclear disarmament
the nuclear powers meet their disarmament responsibilities in order to prevent
its nuclear credentials comes down to nothing more reputable than a desire for
intensify nationalist fervor in that country. "Instead of feigning horror over
realities of another major member of the nuclear club, and use his visit to
make sure its government knows that its future lies in forging closer ties to
week, it said, the government should make up its mind. "What should it tell
any attempt by any country to impose a single model, let alone its own rule, on
the world is unrealistic and even dangerous," he said.
military, will only push the region toward more tension, and will only increase
the regime's attitude. Deceit and the evil intentions are too deeply rooted in
had subsequently decided that Turkey's best interests in dealing with the
weekly Telegraph column. "Our Prime Minister, less formally, wore an
evening shirt with a turned down collar, a style introduced to this country by
had squandered its "immense prestige and capacity for action" in the Middle
East and would not recover it "until such time as it forces the hand of
government interference in their traditional way of life, and especially its
editorial, calls on the United States to abolish the annual "certification"
process by which it sits in judgment on other countries' efforts against drugs.
"little connection with what is happening in the market for narcotics," and
that have the misfortune to be suppliers." The Financial Times reported
administration of Internet addresses, because it feared they would "consolidate
that can prove crucial for the survival of broods." This was the first ever
recorded example of bird prostitution, the paper said. Other stories in
neighbors against his plan to create a 500-car parking lot outside the walls of
ultimately take place which will have devastating effects in the region and
newspaper, devoted both a report and an editorial to the news that a surge in
deliverance. Changes to be announced shortly "are not expected to alter the key
part, where the demon is ordered to leave the person, but to shorten the
accompanying prayers and invocations." The editorial said it was "encouraging
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
feet, was not greatly admired abroad. "Violence and boredom at the opening
also sniffy about what it saw as tedious French artistic pretentiousness. The
on the glory of soccer as "the only truly universal sport." A special
supplement reported on everything from the exploitation of football symbols by
leaders," rejecting violence, promoting democracy, respecting human rights, and
encouraging economic reform. But now they seem "bent upon repeating the cruel
and monotonous rites of the religion of totalitarianism." "Offering themselves
old Pentagon stock, which they are now discharging copiously on each other,"
earlier this year, is hardly better, it added. He was the inventor of the
detainees and establish a "Government of National Unity" as first steps toward
civility to this nation," the paper said. "There has been so much violence, so
much corruption, so much arbitrariness and so much criminality in this land."
Another recommended priority: to "restore confidence in the spirit of
Finally, it should organize a "National Conference to discuss the sore problems
that make us a disunited and grossly discontented people."
leaders this week to rid their continent of tyranny, was just as pessimistic:
world and the dustbin of history for himself, he has no other choice," the
paper said. "His reward would be just as tangible. He'll be remembered as the
lamented "the speed with which, through a banal pair of sandals, there is
happening in record time the iconic beatification of one of the most savage
mass murderers of our time." "It's a shame for those millions of skeletons to
which the victims of the great Pol Pot massacre have been reduced. They can't
sanctions could be lifted immediately. They recoiled at the specifics of
indefinitely." The Telegraph also voiced the United Nations' reaction to
do little to pull that country out of its economic mudslide, wrote the
drained by the minute." The gravity of the crisis is underlined continually,
and the growing concerns are (appropriately) illustrated on a global scale,
since any injury felt by Japan would also be felt internationally. The Japan Times reported that
the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry had called on the government for a
hard by the prolonged economic slump." The paper also noted that Prime Minister
ministers in Japan's history." As the crisis escalates, the critics pile on
or other criteria." Urging "all our people to take active and positive part in
acknowledged the country's "remarkable achievements" in embracing democracy and
rights record, the independent daily Post Express, which opposes the dictatorship, reported an
for saying the United States would not accept the emergence of any military
laws or disenfranchise its military men as second class citizens." In an
Express urged the pontiff "to plead the cause of political and other
political activities and stifles human rights." It added, "Although the US was
over the past few years shows considerable tolerance."
governments' plans to put the money into health and education." But it also
pact between part of the country's respectable political right and the racist
Monde and Libration but even more strongly in the liberal press in
ambassador," the newspaper said that, despite her hotline to the White House
always something of a loose cannon, not much given to bureaucratic niceties or
offering a promising lifeline for newspapers during the dog days of August.
fellatio and penetration, he will founder in ridicule. If he admits to having
lied, he will be found guilty of perjury." But it was still unlikely that
Congress would find enough evidence to bring a charge of impeachment to trial,
not be toppled by the affair. The president would be wrong to commit perjury
shockingly wrong." It said there was also some irony "in expecting a president
to be absolutely truthful on personal matters when he heads a government which
paper concluded, "This summer now seems likely to be remembered for the climax
would unseat a hugely popular President." And "in the extremely unlikely event
the White House would suddenly turn on the Congress, accusing the Republicans
of trying to reverse the will of the people by abusing the legal system,"
presidency is able to run its course, it already resembles a drifting hulk,
gutted by the tawdry activities of its skipper, bereft of the moral authority
were a family where business came first, the article said, and that meant two
something like its current shape will be one of the most expensive divorce
settlements ever recorded. And second, that the settlement will be reached out
will survive his present crisis. "His visit here was exemplary in its political
substance and confirmed the sure touch he continues to demonstrate on the
the possibility that he might not stay in office for long.
that the United States cannot remain indefinitely untouched by the troubles in
part by stock market gains, a continuing slump on Wall Street will slow growth
as well as inflation. If this proves to be a correction, the Fed's task will
possibilities that would require prompt and decisive action."
government, published a report proposing the removal of the queen's last
to succeed her. The conservative Daily Telegraph, in its main editorial, called this a
demand for a "republic by another name." The conservative tabloid Daily
exactly lend weight to the think tank's call for an elected monarchy."
that it will be a long time before she is canonized, but quoted her successor,
Journalism Review about the extent of his personal interference in the
"absolutely free rein" provided they abide by "some general rules." These, he
explained, were a "constructive" editorial policy for the country in which the
paper is located and an appreciation of history: "We are all moving towards
this is the right time to be alive. The rules are very clear."
Flytrap II enters Week II, it is segueing gracefully into the second stage of
Republicans' new strategy seems to be: (Possibly) Forgive and (Maybe)
and others hinted at over the weekend, seems to go like this:
president is trapped, and everyone else is embarrassed. The only remedy is a
public, explains that he lied to protect his daughter and wife, and apologizes
impeachment proceedings) are inclined to be forgiving (unless, of course, there
is evidence of other high crimes). Other Republicans, he implied, could also be
may have been arrived at only after much jujitsu with public opinion polls. The
Forgive and Forget strategy has this virtue for Republicans: It is the only way
they're going to win a clean PR victory. The polls are impossible for them.
Whether they've reached their conclusion for cynical or
idealistic reasons, Hatch and Co. do seem to have hit on the only solution to
persecutors enough to quiet them, and save us from two more years of this
horror. (All this assumes the allegations are true. Insert usual caveats here:
grace to pull off such an apology in a way that doesn't seem phony (he'll blame
it on his own big heart, his fierce desire not to hurt wife and child).
impeachment hearings. An apology would prevent them. The Flytrap investigation
Republicans decide later that they don't actually forgive and forget, it may be
too late. An apology could wipe away all the scandals but campaign finance.
closest thing to an official source who is talking, deflected the idea of an
apology when quizzed about it. But if the administration isn't buying, its
allies are. Democrats are matching Republicans big heart for big heart. Barney
around? If I were a betting man, I would wager that during this week, other
listen. Surely he's willing to tarnish the legacy he cares so much about in
criticisms of the United States, which it said were a break with "the treatment
usually reserved for the president of the world's greatest power," the
leaders were not totally manipulable and controllable people. "This message
will have to be listened to by the US and by every other power," the editorial
the many. "These are attitudes and practices that must change, if we want the
slavery was "too late" and "only rubs salt into wounds." It demanded
flag means a lot of sacrifice," one of them said. "It means that you are
for the world's inaction in the face of the genocide in his country. Referring
people need, and deserve, more than this if they are to rebuild their lives,
which would not have been shattered had he acted sooner."
United States and said in an editorial that Argentine citizens were also
rapidly arming themselves as a reaction to a surging crime rate. "Yet massively
and understood international situations. "He is a man fully capable of
of war had been lifted, and pressure on the United States to back down
"taking for itself rights that the international community has not accorded
deterrent capability, has made the possibility of nuclear warfare more
tangible, has frightened away tourists, has generated huge expenditures, and
diplomacy. But to exchange public greetings with a mass murderer accords him a
fiercely attacked the "mischievous and irresponsible role" of a certain
is to open an office in New York because of "the strength of interest from
all methods are deemed to be good as long as, in the perception of the
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
page that "in the euphoria which has overcome the country there is a dominating
idea that something has changed, or may change, in the collective
racist, it said (only two members of the French team were of French,
National Front Party had "found itself, for the first time in ages, unheard, in
there was "still a future for French confidence, for French ambition, for
French unity." Referring to the multiracial nature of the winning team, the
They gave us a French pride, they offered a model to the universe."
often remarked before upon the French tendency towards emotionalism and
which to draw the attention of the French to the shortcomings of their
nationalized industries, fiscal honesty, road safety, hygiene, and performance
at Waterloo. Otherwise, it would all really be unbearable.
Shepherd." In an editorial, the newspaper said, "Evil has stalked our country,
be a powerful focus for healing if the Church leaders were to nominate a day
when we could each reassert the commitment to basic Christian principles we
world will ask the same question, and get the same answer. There need not, and
called on the next prime minister to dissolve the Lower House to permit a
blamed the election defeat on "rising unemployment and bankruptcies."
that the election had "injected greater uncertainty into Japan's political
future, but at the same time the outcome has raised hopes for the realization
of greater justice and fairness in the nation's parliamentary democracy." It
his job. "His successor will have to set a firm course and stick to it," it
said. "Unless the will is there to restructure and introduce transparency, the
system could collapse, with the prospect of dragging down the rest of the
billion yen on its defense bill over the next three years, while Japan's
defense expenditure continues to rise. "Why has Japan been unable to reap a
liberalization are not the only areas in which Japan lags behind Western
countries; it appears that Japan's defense, too, is due for a thoroughgoing
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
fly. She was miraculously unhurt when she landed on the sidewalk in a
"may survive in office far longer than anyone initially expected." While
students would not be deterred from trying to bring down another unpopular
leader even by threats of military force, "there is no longer the strong
President seems to have acquired a surprisingly firm grip on the reins of
elections to "possibly prevent a descent into anarchy."
establish law and order, stamp out corruption, and above all help the poor who
carries out what he promises to do: abolish pork barrel politics." "That,
indeed, would be his greatest performance," it added.
opposition in principle to nuclear proliferation, had "left no doubt that
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
will decide whether to table its latest Middle East peace initiative only after
political considerations, the paper said. "As in the past, a political concept
is totally overriding sensible urban considerations," it added. The
omission." But the "disinterested historian, reviewing the history of the
clear to all and the verdict unambiguous: No apology is required."
offenders must "recognize their debt and pay it off," the paper said. "First,
and second, by ceasing to offer blacks in their own countries no choice at all
with the news that fierce Roman Catholic opposition is causing the French
government to prevaricate over its plans to recognize unions between
workers in detention camps" to "subdue them before repatriation." The poisoned
shot dead, and others tortured, beaten and robbed before being deported." In an
editorial, the newspaper described these events as "the human cost of financial
carnage" and demanded "a new international financial architecture" under which
"developing countries can insulate themselves from vicious reversals of
investment flows." Criticizing the United States, the paper concluded, "the
and finally resign from the government, unleashed fresh press attacks on Prime
Levy was right to have resigned over the budget's stinginess on welfare,
because "much funding has been diverted to settlements in the territories, to
majority in the cabinet will seek to exploit Levy's resignation to delay the
implementation of the next withdrawal in the West Bank, and perhaps even to
the worst part of each rapid, and that escaping each does not mean that he has
survived unscathed. The damage is cumulative, and eventually the boat takes on
so much water it is impossible to steer." The only way to stabilize the
concluded, is "by marking out a clear stance on the peace process that either
works or results in new elections. Move forward, or go back to the people;
destroyed." But for this to be achieved, the government must stop trying to
criticism by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund," which were
withholding aid payments "citing tardiness in effecting reforms in the energy
and telecommunications sectors and in tackling corruption generally." The
Nation also reported that "a thorough cleaning" of the venue for
by "hundreds of prisoners under tight security." In a separate article, the Nation reported on the desperate
in a skiing accident was the subject of an exceptionally heartless editorial in
tedium of tabloid headlines involving an overdose of the usual ingredients of
bad, smutty, phonemic [wow!] pun in the past tense."
risk as a challenge, and believe that failure to meet any challenge is
cowardice," he wrote. "Cowardice is unforgivable. This imposes on them a heroic
view of life, though continuous heroism has the odds stacked against them."
has been doomed by its best as well as by its worst qualities; most of all,
perhaps, by the rashness of its courage. As each new blow falls, we react with
delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit Central"
remains, which a government commission has found to be those of the last czar,
repentance and reconciliation' is shaping up as one lousy historical event."
attend, despite the church's refusal to accept the authenticity of the remains,
the damage has already been done, the editorial said, and "[a] historical
occasion which at the very least deserved both gravity and grace has been
playing down the crippling effects of drought on the country's grain harvest
because it knows it cannot afford to provide compensation to farmers. The paper
football hooligans now to prevent further violence at the next international
known German troublemakers, but to back this up with fiercer measures such as
immobilizing their cars or, as a last resort, locking them up. The conservative
potentially disastrous effects of this scandal on the world's greatest cycling
praised the Ministry of Sport for having apparently decided "to burst the boil"
into the process rather than exclude him, but asked, "All the same, can one
tolerate the imprisonment of more than two thousand prisoners of conscience in
a country which one is seeking to make one's 'strategic partner'?"
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
Middle East peace process in defiance of his own country's foreign policy.
only message had been that "whatever he does, [Prime Minister Benjamin]
power to make his own foreign policy as "an unprecedented, unhealthy and
dangerous situation," and added that by fighting against his country's
diplomacy, he had "forfeited the right to be considered a statesman." "If he
should one day take his chance in a presidential election, it should be
loony tendency." In the last few days they have "tightened the noose of
foreign affairs front." It said that his "soft policy" toward China was
marks. The paper said that if the International Monetary Fund and World Bank
would be to get credits and conduct a devaluation at the same time.
his public appearances. In an editorial, the paper blamed Japan for the ill
feeling it continued to generate in the countries it fought in World War
years after the war, the government and people of Japan made no real effort to
understand the wrenching experience of war and the anguish of those in other
a time, "those who felt themselves victimized by Japan might have felt at least
somewhat mollified"; but that "with the passing of time while we do nothing,
however, discontent and ill will can coalesce into bitter enmity."
delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit Central"
petulant" opposition to the court, which was established by an accord signed in
more decent world," the FT said "there would be more reason to celebrate
"superpower that sees itself as guardian of the world's conscience should think
wants to be consistent with its own pretensions, it has no choice but to
approve the idea of a world system of justice." And whether or not the United
States and the court "love each other," it predicted they will have to "work
nuclear five did not want their right to commit mass murder to be compromised
a paragraph that defined as a war crime an occupying power's transfer of a
civilians to territory it has occupied. "This attempt to place the relocation
all that is and can be good about our beloved country."
continent might still provide hope for all its people. But if "political
chicanery and corruption" continue, the term might be "soon enough consigned to
to keeping the country a presidential republic, the Great Council of Chiefs in
Pacific, reincorporated the Union Jack into its own flag after people
round her neck to protect her from harmful energy rays. The Daily Mail
that it "contains a 'magical configuration' of quartz and other crystals which
contained characters and scenes unique to her historical novel about the slave
published work, but claimed that she had done nothing wrong because the book
was a "reference" and her novel was intended to be a "seamless narrative using
century, writers borrowed freely from each other without shame or punishment.
Books were copied by hand prior to the rise of the printing press, and
individuality became widespread. These laws provided legal remedies for
plagiarism. The courts have ruled that a work cannot be legally copied if it is
idea. Fifty years after authors die, their works enter the "public domain" and
similarity" to the plaintiff's original. It sounds like a legal blur because it
is. Different courts have different opinions on what constitutes "substantial
infringement. Also, the doctrine of "fair use" allows writers to quote limited
sections of a work, as long as it is germane, properly attributed, and doesn't
undercut sales of the original. The courts ruled that The Nation
Ford's memoir in an article that was published slightly before Ford's book
reached stores. The courts can be as fuzzy about what constitutes fair use as
they are about what constitutes substantial similarity.
courts find infringement only in instances where language, images, or music
were lifted wholesale. They rarely consider cases in which a character was
copied or a plot was stolen. Thousands of writers bring suit each year claiming
their copyright has been violated, but almost none win satisfaction in court.
However, the courts strictly police the unlicensed "sampling" of music (the
insertion of a passage into another artist's musical collage). Book and
software pirates are prosecuted under the copyright laws, but pirates are not
Historical Association, etc.) investigate formal charges of plagiarism.
Reprimands can come from the associations or from colleges and universities
themselves. Accusations of plagiarism seem to be the greatest deterrent.
were brought. (Click for a comparison of passages that the historians
shown to her three years before her film's release. These cases, like most
credible suits brought against the studios, were settled out of court.
directors and producers avoid signing rejection letters, making it difficult to
prove that they had prior access to the material, a legal prerequisite to prove
magazine proved with this prank in the '80s: It shipped the screenplay of
Later he admitted that he had borrowed it himself from a
that plagiarism is pathology, akin to kleptomania. Accused plagiarists are
from obvious sources (from their colleagues or authoritative works). Academics
professors are let off the hook to plagiarize again because their colleagues
that the film's screenwriters read her historical novel about the slave
and plot twists. In a legal brief, her lawyers claim that:
Punch Productions for six to eight months as a writer on the "Echo of
black man involved with the printing of abolitionist literature.
screenwriters rendered the similarities irrelevant.
"extraordinary" that the greatest democracy in the world should permit itself
anatomy." He added: "One can't altogether rule out that these young women may
be showing off or lying. For women, too, can sometimes lie."
usual, lots of French people will guffaw over all this fuss about a few
indiscretions." But it said the French should understand that the scandal was
not spared any detail, whether spicy or not, of the relations between Bill and
not step down until his guilt of either obstructing justice or suborning
perjury "has been demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt." "As was illustrated
policy is the proper forum for him to do so," it added. Whatever the impact on
Times said that "what the US needs above all, and what it is probably not
going to get, is a rapid resolution to this unhappy affair." It said that a
president under siege couldn't give the world the leadership it needed. "The
thrown off course, and this may be just the beginning," the FT said.
no rational discussion about the great policy issues so long as this
The liberal Guardian said the talk of impeachment was premature. "Impeachment is a
"That 'droit de seigneur' White House tradition of serial infidelity, as
foolish. But it is not yet the stuff of impeachment."
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
punctuated pauses and delicate emotional overtones to create songs that were at
that seemed to comprehend the rhapsody of romance, the obscure logic of love."
that "My Way" was "one of his less memorable songs."
as well as "nuclear and missile technology while issuing public denials and
of his electorate's disillusionment and wrath," the paper said in an editorial.
"If it does not test, the government might find it difficult to survive against
will probably take it as a personal affront" and impose sanctions that would
attack on the International Monetary Fund for its handling of the economic
the International Monetary Fund will be physically able to hand over the next
tranche of its bailout package." While admitting "the problem is primarily
the newspaper said that "it will now be difficult to rebut the increasing
success a program that is partly responsible for such bloodshed and one which
that the meeting served merely to "highlight the limits of power in an
anarchy, participants were "either divided or unable to offer much beyond
the government's advice on how to deal with one. There being a shortage of gas
masks were "not very effective" anyway. An alternative: Break up pieces of
coal, tie them in a wet towel around one's face, and use that for breathing. An
all those questioned were very optimistic and "unanimously ruled out any doubt
regarding the government's preparedness to face any eventuality." Although the
instinctive patriotic solidarity that would accompany the president into
president knew the risks involved. "The citizens of this great power are ready
wrote. "But no first lady and no stock exchange index could ever save a
schizophrenia, depression, neuroses, and personality disorders."
amplification given to this book on Fleet Street, particularly by the
of his entourage for his material, said he had made no attempt to contact the
princess's family because he believed they would not respond. One of the
is a new marriage. I need it like [I need] a bad rash in my face."
isn't the mummy bee, then the daddy bee might have to resign as President of
the United States," said Dad. The resignation or impeachment of the president
Last Hours," and an editorial saying about the White House "soap opera," "The
world knows how the plot will end, and there are few episodes left." But the
its head high. The land of the free has upheld the finest democratic
editorial titled "The Indignity of It All," blaming the president fully for his
misfortunes. "His words are weasel ones, his actions based forever on political
expediency," it said. "He still appears to think that the affair is a
was "vilified by the White House aides" as a result. "Once the members of the
that the President is a borderline sociopath who must be removed at once." In
an editorial, the Telegraph described the president as
sitting "in a political wheelchair." "He may beat his breast. He may blacken
his opponents. His charm and theatrical abilities may see him through for a bit
longer, but it is, sadly, to no purpose. He cannot save himself; he can only
Paralyzed and Demoralized." The paper also ran a short and unoriginal comment
on the dilemmas facing Al Gore as he comes daily closer to fulfilling his
received promised compensation for switching to other crops. "The authorities
must take the challenge of crop substitution seriously," it said.
by the Department of the Army. All the rest fall under the jurisdiction of the
Unknowns and the Tomb of the Unknown Dead from the Civil War, the latter a
reserve. To conserve space, the government adopted new eligibility rules that
made the cemetery a more exclusive --and therefore more
including those who won the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy
Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, or Purple
years of active duty or active reserve service who qualify for retired pay upon
veteran who is the parent, brother, sister, or child of an eligible person
already interred. Interment must be in the same grave as the primary eligible,
veteran can have no dependent children at the time of death.
government established a waiver system for exceptions granted by the
apparently lied about having served in the Merchant Marine during World
War II. (Besides, the Merchant Marine is not a part of the armed forces.) Other
widow of Chief Justice Warren Burger; Army veteran and Drug Enforcement
government employees who are "killed in the course of their service to
reservists who die while on active duty for training. "Humanitarian
acknowledged, said West, citing a World War I veteran who didn't automatically
forwarded to the superintendent and the secretary of the Army from members
corpses have a short shelf life, the decisions are made quickly.
remains of any veteran who received an honorable discharge.
village was established on the Lee plantation, and included a hospital, a
talked of "unprecedented diplomatic pressure" being imposed on the increasingly
frantic, bossy telephone calls (following those he had already received from
editorial of the Manila Times was devoted, on the other hand, to congratulating
security and personal staff, as befits the powers and responsibilities of his
not counting the inevitable "business delegation" composed of representatives
Times added, pointing out that "every single presidential aide or factotum
for allowances alone," on top of which there were the air fares, hotel bills,
canceling his trip could send the wrong signals to the world that we are going
under. Possibly so. Or worse, they might think we have slid down to utter
poverty, we can't even finance our chief executive's voyages overseas," the
say 'we are a rich country pretending to be poor.' For a long while it did seem
like we, the people, were consigned to endure poverty, while our leaders
wallowed in assumed wealth at our expense. The President has shown a fine
civilians, under orders," the newspaper said. "The defectors said special
election, only to see the result quashed and its members jailed for five years.
said that, by rejecting a political solution and refusing to protect the
population, "the government bears a large part of the responsibility."
alone. This was not so surprising, it said, when it was taken into account
longer have either respect for or confidence in their police."
ideology, backed by violence, intimidation and clandestine propaganda, grows
rapidly across the region, say experts, researchers and social workers." The
considerably higher in the east. The German police put the number of active
rise in four years. But that figure represents only the hard core of those
views, and often tacitly endorsing violence against the heterodox."
consciously embrace racist or far right ideas, seem ready to work themselves up
into a hysterical state over immigrants and foreigners, as the recent uproar
year is that the mainstream political agenda is being affected by racist and
has a duty to curb the growth of racist attitudes whether in the crude protest
form they take in the east or the more subtle variants seen in the west," the
inside pages across most of the rest of the world. It didn't, for example, make
because it would be "a slap in the face of all Holocaust deniers."
Pope, in his turn, increases the pressure against the embargo, he will
participate once again in collapse of a Communist regime."
Far East and the Pacific region, newspapers gave prominence to the failure of
the latest International Monetary Fund rescue package to restore faith in the
other than the probably violent overthrow of the Government [of President
collapsing currency and hyperinflation provoked food riots this week in the
economy was astonishing," adding that he had failed to consider any of the
privately owned farmland, most of which was owned by whites.
farmers from black peasants who, otherwise, would rise up and kill [them],"
he will pause and rethink his positions on the land issue, the economy and
English lord) had been outraged by hints that his health was responsible for
announced this week that the concert was being canceled for "unforeseen
saying that he was in perfect health and would still be happy to come if the
orchestra did. The organizers were now trying to persuade him to come without
the orchestra, the newspaper added, "but the chances of that seem rather
stabbed to death in his apartment with a collection of gay pornographic
magazines at his feet. Police said they "could not exclude" the possibility
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
transatlantic aviation." Meanwhile, air transport needs to be brought within
be "to get governments out of the airline business, other than to the extent
required to ensure safety, essential infrastructure, and free competition."
that was little read and even less talked about," it said. "She axed the
region and gone so far as to "risk its standing in the eyes of the
nuclear power stations on its territory," the paper said. But it concluded that
run, because cooperation with one of the world's most hateful regimes is
the brink of total instability." A "wave of people's wrath" is already
spreading across the country, it said, despite forecasts by analysts that mass
civil unrest will not break out until the fall. Referring to protests by
defense industry workers, miners, teachers, doctors, and energy sector workers,
gang to trial." Underestimating the present threat could be fatal not only for
the government but also for the whole country, the paper added.
to help meet the cost of burying armed robbers, lunatics, and unclaimed bodies.
sometimes had to pay for such burials out of his own pocket. The cost is often
high: Delayed release by authorities means the bodies are decomposed and
require "extra burial materials." Since the state stepped up its campaign
against banditry, the agency has been burying an average of three such bodies a
the independent counsel not to "lose sight of the broader picture": It said his
office was created not only "to assure the unfettered investigation of charges
against the highest government officials" but also to ensure "that a
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
crops will help consumers and the environment. The prince said he will not eat
food made from such produce; nor will he give it to his family or friends:
Genetic engineering "takes mankind into realms that belong to God and to God
significant that the United States, one of the largest producers of mines, has
eliminating land mines," said the paper, wondering why such a major policy
president to "show a more specific course of action leading to an early
are deposited around the world and people are being "killed or injured at a
over. The parallel lines did not meet, a unified field could not be found."
disenfranchised barely five years after the country became a democracy" if the
government continues insisting that all citizens possess a new identity
document if they are to register as voters in next year's general election.
minister of sport's promise to "intervene decisively" to democratize sport and
put an end to its being "a predominantly white affair in a predominantly black
country." What about women, the paper asked in an editorial. What about the
disabled? "They, too, should be allowed to play in the national rugby team. One
is not referring here to the mentally disabled, who are already well
rights." There is also the question of "the Third Sex," the paper went on. "It
is disgraceful that we do not know whether gays and lesbians are represented in
religious law) police objects, are not. The authorities are also waging war on
drugs and sex, the paper said, and owners of "love houses" sometimes hire a
mullah to sit at the entrance to pronounce every entering couple "man and wife"
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
had avoided doing. In Shanghai, he was unwavering: "We don't support
an idiot to have committed the foul that got him kicked out of the game ("an
.Why do we always need a scapegoat in a case like this?"
football," noting the team's fortitude in playing a man down for almost the
entire second half. The Telegraph also nabs a quote from the queen: When
asked if she'd been rooting for the team, Her Royal Highness responded, "Well,
I think one should." The Guardian wonders why the English team is bad at
penalty shots (the match was decided in a penalty shootout). Dismissing the
possibility of inferior talent, the paper decides it has something to do with
the national character: "Is there some cancerous part of the English psyche
quotes several English fans declaring they were "robbed" by a missed call
But it's a game," says one English fan. Offering a less cavalier attitude
of election: the president of the nation or the coach of the national team. I
he had ordered showed there was no nerve gas on the site, the paper claimed. An
editorial described the missile attacks as a disaster: "The hasty resort to
violence shows that yet again the US is failing to grasp the political reasons
diminished by sickness and by his obsession with power, who fails in everything
less handicapped. "In contrast to the dollar, but just like the ruble, he is
devalued, ridiculed and lacking credibility," Libration said. "It is a
far from ideal position from which to negotiate with a partner who has nothing
more to lose and who cunningly exerts an effective blackmail by threatening
titled "The Crisis of the Lame Ducks," the paper's founder and former Editor
terrorism is not getting the full backing "of all politicians in Congress, all
how the vast machinery of United States intelligence, military, and diplomatic
suggest he needed a cruise missile strike against terrorists to enhance
failure" unless it is accompanied by diplomatic efforts to promote
claimed to be sole "international sheriff, judge and hangman, all at one and
the same time." It asked: "If the US is to replicate the judicial standards of
the Wild West across the global stage, what need for the flummery of the United
Nations and all the talk that goes with it of international law and morality?
cosmonauts in the 1960s. Their training, kept secret from even their wives,
involved making them lie motionless for two months with their heads lower than
their legs, keeping them for long periods in isolation chambers in total
darkness and silence, making them give samples of bone marrow and muscle and
him pictures of food. Only now are the stories leaking out, the paper said.
more than any other, has been steeped in blood and controlled by the power of
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
state of the Middle East peace process. But this did not prevent her from
"in a pretty strong position in his cabinet." But when asked if the United
FT and all German newspapers. In an editorial page analysis, the
FT said that "without a successful merger of minds, the transaction
without conquest" and attributed this to the launch of the euro. "The single
the negotiations reflected the increased power of the German automobile
dentists against mercury fillings, which they claim to be dangerous. They are
asking all their fellow dentists to sign an appeal against such fillings (even
Abbey Choir as a result of their participating in the Princess's funeral
service." The choirboys and their parents didn't receive any money in expenses,
even though "a number of parents spent hundreds of pounds cutting short
holidays to return their sons to sing at the service, which was broadcast live
to hundreds of millions of viewers across the world," the newspaper said.
excellent move when he invited his predecessor, John Major, to campaign with
newspaper urged that the traditional French boundary between public and private
morality be maintained. Many of them also "wondered if this may not be the
start of an evolution affecting all democracies because of the distrust that
surrounds political leaders, the latitude permitted to judges, and the pressure
judiciary and the media, and no democracy is immune from that."
Monde pointed out that, until now, episodes involving the mingling of
had provoked many protests about the intrusion into his privacy. This
but emotional sympathy, "demonstrating once again that the French don't confuse
naked woman, blindfolded and holding the scales of justice as he ate little
the president's chair in the Oval Office and reading with dismay the newspaper
report fall far short of the constitutional requirements for reversing the
people's electoral choice." This, it said, is in their own interests. "They can
family, and has done nothing to warrant impeachment." The liberal Guardian carried a
future." The West can't justify giving the country any more funds, it said,
that the prime minister had no choice, because no single political party is
pill this week has lifted the taboo on discussion of sexual dysfunction. It
published figures showing that "the French suffer more frequently than was
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
democracy" and that the danger "will not recede" until the mainstream parties
One Nation. "The essence of that challenge is that One Nation peddles
simplistic certainties in times that are anything but simple and certain," the
Age said. "The Prime Minister has, through timidity and ineptness,
helped to make this monster. He must lead the way in ensuring that it does not
Morning Post ran its second editorial in a week about One Nation, observing
general election," the paper said. "Rather, their job is to work out ways of
policy task is to deal with "the challenge of China, and the possibility of a
countries." It concluded, "When the alternative is the unthinkable, it is
churlish to quibble over dates, venues and terms of reference."
female fans around the world are in despair," it claimed. But the paper also
because, if anything serious were going on, her daughter would have told her
performance in the film Titanic and had met him in a New York night
commission to investigate all the accusations against the president, and there
independence from. In the meantime, everyone who wanted to be independent from
millions of dollars into Democratic Party coffers. "This contradiction of
properly to terms with the interweaving of show business and death, of dollars
and necessary response which should not be understood as blind retaliation for
suffering terrorism can bring to innocent people,' he said. 'I strongly support
headline of its editorial: "Diversionary action." The paper clearly laid out its Wag the
Dog theory: "After a weekend of sexual revelations and lies, which have
taken a severe toll on his reputation, the President with the help of the
is [a] clear way of demonstrating that the institution of the US presidency is
Inside, an opinion piece suggested that on hearing news of the bombardment,
"no impartial judge could avoid the immediate suspicion that it was a desperate
observed, "If we allow our fear of retaliation to dictate our action or
inaction, we will have handed the terrorists the ultimate victory." An analysis said,
terrorism, which tries to deter terrorists and make them pay a price for their
be immediately confirmed, the critical factor here is not the damage that was
negative note: "In the absence of precise intelligence, the administration
with the United States; and partial sanctions have already been imposed on
sanctions law last year, even though it is included on the list of countries
show had apologized in only a guarded way, refusing to accept responsibility,
have infected several small children, killing two. But the newspaper's
practical advice to the public seemed excessively relaxed under the
circumstances, saying merely that flu symptoms include fevers and chills and
can take as much as two weeks to recover from. "Do not struggle into work," it
little cousin had already caught the flu was being urgently studied by the Hong
spokesman said the virus had so far been "relatively inefficient" but might now
of the press, though it was generally devoid of any spirit of peace or
his eyes out," the boy's mother said. "All the innocence has gone and it can
Clauses on the influence of the United States and mentioned that, "according to
is so terrified by the experience that it should be seen as a form of child
charity appeal in history with an editorial asking for money to save the
for herding their cattle." "Beside the ox, the ass and the sheep around the
attack on the United States, this time over the practice of eating turkey at
Cowboys. This was, it said, the first time the United States had accepted any
without adversaries since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc."
commercial arguments were finely balanced. It recalled the United States'
set against a background of rock guitars. It is said to be concerned that this
China in a serious way." His comments were taken from the transcript of a forum
replied in a statement that "the China coverage of the Times is wholly
and solely in the hands of the editor," adding: "I have never taken an
book but said the executives should have been forthright about it, instead of
record as finding it the most lucid and intelligent book he had ever received
the Telegraph returned to the fray, reporting on its front page that
reintegrated into the international community unless there was a negotiated
policies wrong throughout the Middle East. "Their position is bad because it
doesn't rest on justice," he said. Asked if he also opposed sanctions against
there, but because they see us as the new promised land, like their own
had personally intervened to get the book stopped, because he feared that its
determination to suppress condemnations of a vicious and brutal dictatorship,"
provoked much comment by failing to publish anything about the affair until
threatened revolt by some of its authors." The writer of this story, the
in a radio interview that the lack of coverage in the Times had damaged
his own reputation and probably that of the newspaper as well. "I agree
entirely what has happened is unacceptable," he is supposed to have said.
"brought forth a torrent of abuse from his newspaper rivals, of a kind that
might make a lesser person feel faint." But it said that this scandal was "not
other assaults on the country way of life. The Times described the march
as "a public relations triumph" and attributed much of its success to one of
certain that the people will again face a hung parliament of uncertain
duration, cobbled together by the flimsiest of uneasy regional alliances." It
or free and fair as it should be in an ideal situation, but then nobody has
her in an "improper relationship." "It cannot be long now before the tissue of
told," it said, accusing the president of "a pattern of slipperiness." The
editorial concluded, "He smoked but didn't inhale. They had 'a physical
relationship' but it wasn't sexual. He spoke but we couldn't hear. He is in
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
took it as a done deal. The conservative Daily Telegraph said in an
wizard can perform another miracle in the Holy Land is nice, but somewhat
about terrorism," the Post said. "If he were to do so, and communicate
Post said it was "difficult to fathom why the US seems slavishly
inspections, that is doomed to failure," when it should be supporting this
efficient channel for the conduct of secret talks, particularly with the
not "act permissively toward those who are entrusted with its deepest secrets
and then decide to breach their commitment," but it deplored the fact that
of policy a few years ago, when he decided to engage in dialogue with the
the right direction." It added that the human rights situation is likely to go
embarrassing legacy from a less open past which sits ill with his determined
eliminate internal dissent. In continuing heavy coverage of the death of Pol
church's thinking on the future of mankind, expressing fears about modern
materialism and urging people to look into the real meaning of life. The same
to explain why the president remains so popular despite all the bimbo
eruptions. It said he was benefiting not only from a national "state of
latter "are overrunning the world, and their animal slaughter practices are an
was massively reported in papers all around the world.
They are not, admittedly, gripping remarks. They are not, sadly, a muttered
First, a critical question of interpretation: From my sense
analysis is, of course, an absurd exercise, but no more absurd than anything
that we will report nothing of substance this morning. The mob has assembled to
corridor, and disappear. Something momentous may be happening in the grand jury
chamber but, as far as news goes, it is a complete vacuum. No matter: Her
marshal, another newspaper reporter gloats, "He's totally screwed.")
the List is a dubious honor, an excellent example of the pathetic running
battle between the Flytrap authorities and the Flytrap media. The Flytrap
authorities are winning: The List entitles you to stand in the hall outside the
witnesses. They cannot even see anyone enter or leave the grand jury chamber,
hopes of seeing the reflection of a lawyer or witness.
camera on a cherry picker to get a better shot of the most likely entrance. A
to make trouble. They hand me a phone, where I find myself live on the air. I
sputter through an interview with the disc jockey. They start chanting into a
megaphone behind me: "If you can't find the sperm, let the worm finish his
testifying. False: A couple of minutes later, cell phone reports say she has
folks have stayed outside, because cameras are banned, and others haven't
pumps and is carrying a white purse. She looks neither relaxed nor nervous.
silence when she opens the door. (It is during this quiet that I hear her two
corner and disappears into a closed back corridor, followed by her legal team.
At that point the reporters break ranks, some sprinting up the stairs, some
(like me) clambering into an elevator in hopes of seeing her enter the grand
jury room. No such luck. She's inside and hidden, and there's nothing more to
Burton, who's the chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight
Committee, the force behind the campaign finance investigation, and an
finance investigation. The contempt measure is expected to pass but,
appropriately for this theatrical day, it is a theatrical gesture: The full
House is highly unlikely to approve such an inflammatory action.
The contempt scheme is such a stupid, vicious, wrongheaded
grandstand against it. "For the past two years we have seen this committee
systematically demean and abuse almost every tool of congressional
committee. "Today if the Republican majority supports the chairman, our actions
will be added to the growing list of travesties that this committee has
inflicted on the oversight and congressional process. We have made a shambles
every fight and go out of his way to provoke every imaginable showdown. What
does it accomplish? Nothing. Any fight, of course, attracts some media
attention. But are we doing anything of consequence today? No."
defending his right to "maintain order" in the province and attacking the
equivalent of "pushing under water the head of someone who is already
drowning," and asked, "This international community, is it you? Is it me? If
are the true architects of the new world order": "It is largely in reaction to
them that, by a series of improvisations, the vaunted 'international community'
the Cold War, would have happily left the rest of the world to its own
force, deploying troops in faraway places, and cobbling together coalitions."
And they had presented the rest of the world with constant dilemmas: "to demand
looked him straight in the eye, hesitated for "long" seconds, and then said, "I
only smoke with people in whom I have confidence." A moment later, he accepted
where he had been invested with a knighthood by the queen. The newly created
he heard "God Save the Queen" being played. "It's my national anthem now," he
announced that its Independent National Directors, a body established when
policies, had rejected allegations that he had suppressed criticism of the
need to kowtow to China to protect his business interests there. "He has at his
Communist Party should be afraid of him, and not the other way round." The next
allegedly keeping him away from the press. Despite foreign office denials, the
of its market. So much for an ethical foreign policy."
cleared the area named in a phone call to the media, only to have the explosion
occur at the evacuation point. As the chief constable of the Royal Ulster
carnage and unusually unanimous condemnations from politicians of all stripes.
The fragile peace settlement is another potential victim of
paramilitary weapons. Reflecting suspicions that the bomb was set by the "Real
a caller using one of that group's code words, though official spokesmen denied
politicians urged that the bombing not be allowed to disrupt the peace process,
the country's biggest banks, which were in danger of default." There was a
extremism, terrorism, narcotics trafficking and money laundering." It
concluded, "One can only hope that in the wake of the brutal bombing of the
political and bureaucratic blunders have left equipment "desperately needed to
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
countries about to receive a visit from the president of the United States, the
would be authorized to proceed beyond this point up the emergency staircase to
the presidential suite. They were listed as five waiters working
newspaper did not attempt to explain who these people were or why they would be
tripping up and down the stairs to the president's suite. Those curious about
open during the president's stay. "Paradoxical though it may seem," said La
capitals that it was "forbidden to give any kind of information to
enthusiastic editorials on the significance of the second Summit of the
which have since been confirmed, of the death from a heart attack of ousted
its front page with the news that his body had been shown to Western
conclusive proof that this corpse was really Pol Pot's. It also ran a feature
as "a mere shadow of the fearsome army which once subjected the entire country
sanctions." Dawn also ran a feature deploring the escalating arms race
despite its rejection by large sections of the Protestant leadership in the
said it came as a "surprise" that support for the deal is smaller
in the south than in the north. It said this possibly reflected concerns about
reunification contingent on majority consent in Ulster.
forecasts will have to be revised as the turmoil continues.
quarterly survey showing that the index of confidence among major manufacturers
blamed the publication of the survey for a fall by the yen against the dollar
release of some of its expected international bailout funds, that President
give the same kind of painkiller to everybody, he said. Meanwhile, reported
It is just a new version of telling Turkey: You are not one of us, but you may
go on trying your best to become so in the unforeseeable future."
firmly into the ambit of the law." "Increasingly," it predicted, "Windows will
be a product shaped as much by the courts as by its programmers'
seen as a benefactor of mankind, who had developed new and efficient software
Gates is widely seen as a systematic monopolist of communication software who
will not be allowed to expand, or even retain, its present degree of monopoly,"
out dimes to children in the street in order to soften his image as a
Bill Gates is to start handing out money to children; I know he will need to
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
statutory eight year term and will then be replaced by the governor of the Bank
compromise, held by many critics to be in contravention of the terms in the
But like the German newspaper Die Welt, which titled its editorial "An Historic Day,"
that it has humiliated the man without whom the euro wouldn't have seen the
officials feared it would necessitate modifications to the concordat governing
the playground, picked up the ball and refused to play on until everyone agreed
tough on terrorism, the issue on which the process will ultimately stand or
quizzes, retrospectives, and predictions of one kind or another. For example,
cards. By Western standards, the predictions are very precise. For example, in
university that has compiled a vast world database of happiness "to judge the
happiness," the newspaper explains. "But for all the complications in arriving
is not good news or glad tidings in tune with the season of good will. For, the
says the newspaper, "has annoyed almost as many as it has pleased, for it has
rich nations, regardless of the extent of societal heartache caused by broken
homes and dysfunctional families." "More paradoxical still is the fact that
Protestant terrorist Billy Wright, and the subsequent retaliatory shooting in
many other chickens were reported to have been bought, though not eaten, as
leprosy in humans. The crisis had been made worse by a dispute over
Star reported that a woman had been "trampled and kicked" to death by an ostrich at a farm near Cape
Town while her husband, already badly injured by the same bird, lay helplessly
by "for hours" on a dirt road. The same newspaper reported the "disappointment and grave concern" expressed by
international disgrace" and "a lasting shame which renders the entire
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
was the focus of attention. It also noted that foreign governments would have
preferred that Kohl win, because they fear that, with the move of its capital
of residents aren't allowed to vote because of their immigrant status:
"Democracy doesn't function when certain people are excluded." Die Welt challenged the comparisons
the risk of retreat into poverty, there has never been so much need of a
substitute for French influence but at least as a counterweight to it." The
German unification. It was his commitment to the former which ensured that
from the economic paralysis of the past few years, "because we all know that
President has no one to blame for his fate but himself. He has tarnished his
office. His actions have earned him at best ridicule and at worst ignominy.
from which nobody will emerge victorious, he replied. Asked if he felt
sympathetic toward the president, he said, "I feel a great sense of solidarity
with everyone who finds himself under the scrutiny of the media, which in this
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
news coverage, an analysis piece reports on the careful press manipulation of
wonders if this was the result of dumb luck or devious engineering. A separate
However, a handful of people, who have a Cold War mentality, will spread rumors
opportunity arises. This definitely does not enjoy popular support.
United States could build a "strategic partnership" with China, which is
crumbling from within and is a poor country whose Communist leadership no
should press without compromise on human rights and political reform.
Air Force Tornado fighter jet intercepted him and forced him to land in
[the pilot] was the first Argentine to step onto the islands since the
conflict." He was arrested as an illegal immigrant and immediately
firms an unfair advantage. What's stumpage? "Stumpage is the fee per cubic
the damage caused by outsiders, it asked, why don't they similarly condemn the
internal ethnic clashes that, despite having cost thousands of lives, "did not
pursued it as a policy of deterrence as well as populist satisfaction. But can
a short frontier conflict between the two countries cost the lives of dozens of
Military Observation Mission, designed to guarantee peace between the feuding
spokesman declared that the "hemisphere's peace and stability cannot be
endangered by a confrontation that can be resolved at the meeting table."
divided, weak, and confused, doesn't take proper advantage of the government's
coalition, could bring reconciliation and reform to a nation wracked by
criminality, corruption, and inequality. "His success depends on the extent to
which he can assimilate into the political life of the country groups that
until now have been opposed to its institutions," it concluded.
to the United States Federal Reserve Board, yielding one more lever of economic
Independent called for a "campaign for real tea." Apparently,
chic. The paper's tone was more funeral dirge than rallying cry: "One of the
more regrettable consumer fads of the 1990s has been the invasion of ersatz
meretricious charms have proved all too attractive to us, especially for those
credited her untimely demise with the greatly increased popularity of the
modified the medieval tradition of the 'royal touch,' bringing hope if not
"the princess who would not go quietly has humbled an arrogant, remote dynasty.
rejoiced that "the hounding of the Queen" has ended and that "instead of
demanding that the Queen be made to dance to the tune of the mob, the country
The anniversary was the subject of massive press comment
investigating magistrate has already concluded it was fundamentally a banal
road accident. The paper published full page profiles of the two chief
were portrayed as thorns in the side of the royal family.
Ashes" sought to explain why "the river of tears has slowed down and the
dissenters from the myth have become bolder and more numerous." Unlike other
fans are battling strenuously to save from the bulldozers the theater in which
he last performed." In contrast, the followers of the dead princess are
"groping about in silence" and losing "the faith which seemed so solid only a
the place where, when you have to go there,/ They have to take you in." The
of convenience activated by unprecedented power that makes one unmindful of
behind them, "especially if they have daughters who could be interns in the
exactly what one would describe as charismatic. He is not the sort of guy who
position to help the other" and that the best to be hoped from them is that
they will arrange the closest possible cooperation on security issues because
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
reportedly went. Answering the phone "in a rather hoarse and velvety voice,"
hope you won't make bad use of it." Asked if she had ever imagined she might be
at all happy about it." Did she love the president? "Perhaps, but now it's of
no importance." Did she feel exploited? "In a certain sense, yes; I never
expected all this." Would money and fame change her life? "I don't think about
such things. Money has never been important to me."
said she now spends most of her time on the telephone and almost never watches
papers." But when the weekly asked if, during her meetings with President
In the continuing flood of international press comment on
mere intern, could be protected by the State against such a mighty opponent as
the most powerful politician in the world, reveals the beauty and the
costliness of democracy. It is significant to note that even at the possible
cost of the presidency, the right to fair hearing and enabling unconcealed
any enthusiastic reporting press of this scandalous episode in any undemocratic
doubtlessly doubly weary of hearing 'experts' tell them how they feel about the
whole thing." The theme of the editorial was the distinction that should be
made between feelings and deeds. The endless "mood monitoring" of the people
and their president has revealed a "swirl of conflicting feelings," but the end
remains the President and the citizens remain guardedly content to keep him
may be experiencing all kinds of feelings about their President, but they are
remarkably consistent when they are asked what they want to do about those
emotions," the Globe and Mail went on. "Impeachment? No, a majority of
the US public has answered, from the start to the finish of this story." It is
his private feelings but a clear desire to see him pay a limited price for his
Sooner or later, the pollsters and the pundits will understand that too."
apartheid in the 1960s, the racism they are still fighting to eradicate today,
manner and his unflappable dignity show him as a disciplined, persistent leader
the kind of moral leadership we need everywhere. A real, untarnished hero in a
character: Am I going to be a sleazy liar forever? Or will I finally tell
beginning to think the real character test in the next few weeks is not for
biggest fish in the biggest pond. Why on earth would he give away precious
who is helping you might perjure himself in front of a grand jury, you tell him
information so he won't lie). Prosecutors do not reveal sensitive evidence to
president, of course, is not a regular target of investigation, because a
regular target would never testify in front of a grand jury if he had something
to hide. The president, because it's politically impossible, can't take the
Fifth. It seems unfair to trap him in a lie that he would never have had to
positive test result. The president, of course, ought to tell the truth, but
depends on what kind of prosecutor he is. If he wants to expose criminal
advantage. He will blindside the president with test results if that will build
a stronger case. But if he's a prosecutor who wants to turn up the truth as
thing to do is tell the president. There is no advantage whatsoever to getting
the president to lie before the grand jury," says former Deputy Attorney
having called the president and inviting him to lie unnecessarily."
game of chicken like that with the president of the United States."
the results away. Do we really want the president's career to rise or fall
more likely Flytrap will be played out in the open rather than in private legal
proceedings. And the public political realm is where Flytrap belongs.
a prosecutor is to protect the honorable institutions of government, and one of
those institutions is (believe it or not) the dignity of the presidency. That
behavior by the president. But he can also protect the presidency by preventing
to damage the office of the presidency even more. Telling the president lets
prosecutor who is destroying the president over sex. He can become the
dressed inappropriately? She confused an evening out with a busy day at the
of murder when his wife saves his semen and spreads it on a woman she murders.
New York Times has managed to work up the courage to use "semen," and I
made the victim of a White House campaign to destroy her credibility, she would
whisker" of abandoning the lawsuit. Pressed to accept a financial settlement
that would have let the president off without so much as an apology, she is now
him wiggle room before. We were willing to let him say 'I may have.' But now
we've collected a lot more evidence and the days of wiggle room are over. The
word 'may' has been stricken. He is going to have to confess to everything on
The interview was conducted at the couple's home in Long
amok and raiding the fridge," while her husband spoke on her behalf,
said. "He chose the wrong girl to pick a fight with, didn't he? And now he's
brought the President to the brink of impeachment. If I could give one piece of
that the crisis should be rapidly resolved. As the headline over an article by
intimate knowledge of the president's genitalia." This claim is as "wild as
husbands' genitalia "under experimental conditions." Incredulous that the
contradictory claims, it concludes, "So far, all the ballyhoo over Bill
Perhaps the cold war was a symbolic reminder to the world that the preservation
of democracy can best come about through the natural conflict of dialectical
forces. In the present circumstances, we may have to start thinking in terms of
when he was criticized for having a mistress: "What do they want? A eunuch in
know her well. She is a woman of the first rank. Of great quality. I wouldn't
Rock, as her enemies call her because of her toughness and her imperiousness,
has been and still is his inspiration, his ace in the sleeve." Referring to her
presidents of history, she, on the other hand, is among the best first
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
cartoon of a cameraman filming inside the president's trousers, while its
"persecution" of the president and the broadcasting of the grand jury
videotapes as the equivalent of "a public execution." It said the Republicans
in Congress have abandoned the principles of justice, "which used to do honor
individual rights." It concluded, "There is no mystery anymore. The law in this
case is no more than a cover for a political offensive working methodically to
affair." But he did say that "the way in which the world is following, with
hypocritical eagerness, all the most private details on the Internet is
is this: Everywhere, fewer and fewer voters and more and more viewers."
"investigators can no longer claim this is freedom and democracy in action; it
continue to show the sound sense they have demonstrated throughout."
constitution has its faults (as does our own), but it is the bedrock of
minister will unveil "a whole new kind of politics, unlike anything seen before
promotion of enterprise and the attack on poverty and discrimination." This,
approach to politics is "permanent revisionism." The tabloid Express on
at the same time the two leaders are meeting in New York.
"completely right to conduct business as usual" with him.
coming apart at the seams, it is truly disappointing that the leaders of the
having to struggle for their own political lives," it said. It added, "Signs of
weakness will not be overlooked by the market, which exploits every little
"nursery rhymes," containing warnings about sex offenders who might abuse them.
said, are doing well and enjoying themselves "despite their bent backs and
wizened faces." It commented, "They have [been] featured in the media several
times in the recent past, and do not seem to be any the worse for it, unlike
morning delivery of this column, plus "Today's Papers" (daily), "Pundit
lauded the country's enormous achievements but said they have been "darkened by
developed nations" and has limited its citizens' freedom of choice in important
"from a national movement to a civilized and developed nation," it added.
"Improving democracy, firmly establishing the rights of the individual,
granting equal expression to minorities, supporting the weak, encouraging
birthday celebration, speaking of achievements is not quite in fashion." Even
so, it added, "The resurrection of an ancient people in its own land, following
the destruction of a third of its number in the Holocaust, is unique in history
and represents ample cause for celebration." Quoting an opinion poll in
"confidence of the overwhelming majority" that was striking but the question
question?" In a jubilee interview with the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin
century, and in many ways the greatest triumph of a people of all the nations
desperate" today and "the young want to leave the country," it's because of
him, she said: "This government must be overthrown by any means."
liberal French daily Libration devoted its whole front page and five inside pages
newspapers. "We are cousins, we were cousins, we will remain cousins," said
acceptance of the sinking of a peace process the success of which was the
to end its present "stubbornness" and to ensure the peace process resumed, "so
would remain "a restless, innovative society" and continue to make sacrifices
succession of second childhoods," the Times said. "It is unlikely that
reflected not only specific grievances in the east but also more general German
papers mainly led their front pages with congratulatory remarks on the imminent
about the effect the new Euro may have on the dollar.
lawyer claims photographs show the driver was dazzled by a camera flash before
"Leave me alone, leave me alone." A doctor said photographers had been snapping
pictures "a few centimeters from her face." Bottom line: Investigators are
leaning toward blaming the driver's speed and intoxication, but the
title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic." For days, the
royals were scorned as stuffy brutes for failing to display grief in public.
When they relented and displayed their grief, they were likened to President
of her character. They resumed covering the story obsessively based on the
privatization, and are considering political reforms that could gradually
extend elections from the local to the national level. Currently, privatization
is merely tolerated. Officials complained that instead of focusing on changes
of his legal bills and liabilities. This ends the plausibility of a monetary
something his lawyer says he won't do. Pundits look forward to embarrassing
in royalties, but then backed out after being denounced for prostituting
upperclassman. The cadet was among the first women admitted to the school under
last year's Supreme Court decision. She struck the blow in response to ritual
Pundits paused to pay their respects before returning to the topic of Princess
comparisons, which in turn inspired a backlash of equally silly commentaries
die during the week, coverage of his demise was largely buried.
semifinal opponent a "white turkey" and portraying the opponent's collision
contrast her arrogance with Tiger Woods' good manners. Defenders see a double
Post reported that some of the money Gore raised in phone calls from the
Democratic National Committee ("soft" money). This removes Attorney General
that a counsel will be named, and will hound Gore for years. Scandal questions
female soldiers say Army investigators pressured them into falsely
accusing their superiors of rape. Four of the five say they had sex with
their instructors, but that it was consensual. The women claim they were
promised helpful transfers if they told investigators what they wanted to hear
and threatened with retaliation if they didn't. The announcement was organized
six members of Congress last year that China had targeted them for illegal
reported that the administration endorsed a project in China that was
Post reported that a Republican House committee counsel hit up
that Republicans sold big political donors meals with the party's leaders in
of trying to destroy the Middle East peace process. In a letter released to the
a government radar tape supposedly shows a fast projectile on a collision
using their country as a spy nest and keeping them in the dark about it.
debunked when the scientist explained that he had merely fertilized an egg in
couple are soliciting women to conceive and bear their grandchild, using frozen
behave like quails by replacing their embryonic brain cells with quail brain
cells. The media, consumed by the frenzy over cloning, have largely ignored the
tissue into human embryos is far more imminent than human cloning. Researchers
disease patients. The Associated Press raised the specter of "people with
socially unacceptable behavior being forced to undergo brain surgery."
The idea is to set an example for business leaders. The announcement appeased
take this step. But skeptics pointed out that there are few openings for
giving welfare recipients preference in the competition for those openings.
suspects in her murder, evidently because both were out of town when the crime
was committed. Locals are said to be increasingly suspicious of the refusal of
the girl's parents to be interviewed separately by police. Material collected
police have recommended indictments against Prime Minister Benjamin
concern an alleged deal to appoint an attorney general who would go soft on a
now think they can dump him outright. As with the controversial relationship
all cigarette liability suits against them, according to the Wall Street
advertising in exchange for an act of Congress that would require plaintiffs to
White House might reject the bill if it provides too much legal immunity and
failing to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Democratic
the credibility to intimidate the attorney general. The press contrasted
will be tested). The Fourth Amendment spin is that the court, having upheld a
student athletes), finally encountered one too preposterous to tolerate. The
ideological spin is that the principled left and principled right (including
pointed out that blacks own none of the league's teams, that the stadium failed
to sell out, that the crowd was overwhelmingly white (as is usual at baseball
gains and persuaded some market watchers to declare the slide a correction.
sector turned stock speculators exuberant. Irrationally so? asked the Wall
market was likely to keep lurching in response to changes in economic
This is the first such insurance offer since the onset of AIDS, and is viewed
as tentative commercial confirmation that AIDS is now, in the company's words,
"a treatable chronic illness rather than a terminal disease" for many people.
The Wall Street Journal hailed it as proof of the success of new drugs.
If the company makes money on the policy, other insurers are expected to
year Woods was born). The game's current stars declared Woods the best player
in the world and possibly in history. Optimists predicted that Woods will make
golf hip and popular, especially among nonwhite kids. Pessimists grumbled that
Woods is so superior he'll make tournaments boring, and that his corporate
that if the evidence holds up, the United States should consider a military
let the crisis escalate, because their trade relationship is too cozy.
the president legislative powers constitutionally reserved to Congress. The
ruling is seen as a victory for constitutional purists and a political blow to
heartened, though a few winced at his boast that Republican ideas are carrying
Journal editorial page urges him to crown his comeback by announcing that
satellite pictures substantially increase the probability that life exists
internal ocean is, or was recently, roiling the surface and providing the heat
and chemicals necessary to create life. Ironically, much of the optimism that
microbes are thriving in an even less hospitable environment: volcanic vents on
off welfare in the next four years to do its share in putting welfare
Gulf War, but failed to give the armed forces clear warning before they blew up
soldiers couldn't have been exposed to nerve gas, and (after that assurance
proved false) that the agency had been unaware of chemical weapons in the
bunker. Editorialists still doubt that the bunker's destruction accounts for
the putative "Gulf War Syndrome," but scoff that the government has lost all
credibility on the issue. Analysts agree that the new disclosure throws a
"cannot continue with negotiations as long as such strikes take place, and the
carnage dismissed the current "peace" as a bad joke and called for war against
congressional Democrats had demanded more spending for their pet programs.
Thanks to the booming economy (and unspecified future spending cuts), all sides
got what they wanted. Meanwhile, the negotiators threw out proposed premium
hikes for wealthy people on Medicare. The consensus is that both parties have
that he had acquitted himself brilliantly. Reviews of the senators so far:
according to various reports. This would complete the return and vindication of
Apple's immediate needs: strategic vision and a morale boost for employees and
house arrest. Editorialists denounced the trial as a "charade" on several
Rouge refuses to hand him over to anyone else for a real trial. Commentators
who saw video of the trial noted that the aged defendant didn't look like a man
do it are escaping justice, and that one of them (dictator Hun Sen) is on his
himself. The premature anticlimax disappointed the media, but they continued to
calling his deceased son's cocaine supplier "a partner in murder." The pusher
portrayed the verdict as a victory for celebrities. The jurors portrayed it as
prison after being convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to murder.
places like the subway) to make money for their "pimps." The media bemoaned the
vulnerability of illegal immigrants (trapped by their fear that outsiders will
the New York slaves. Eventually, the Times conceded that the conditions
return, were just as bad. "In a country of many poor and marginalized people,
has vowed to quash the nomination on the grounds that Weld is soft on drugs.
resignation won't help him. The subtle theory is that Weld knows he will lose
is that Weld just loves a good fight, particularly with Helms.
evidence shows that Neanderthals were not our ancestors. Some analysts
have had so little time to diverge genetically that the differences between
we interbreed with the Neanderthals when they were still around? Because they
greatest hero in a century of jurisprudence. Conservatives noted their
disagreements with him but remembered him as a man of principle and a truly
Citizens are angry over his alleged illegal wiretapping and suppression of
journalists, and newly discovered documents indicate that he may have been born
Army discharged a 20-year decorated veteran one week before he would
have been eligible for retirement benefits, because investigators discovered
recorded in the open) and cover only the first few minutes of each coffee
Hundreds of thousands of men attended the Promise Keepers national
confess their selfishness and sexual sins; and take leadership in their
families, churches, and communities. Critics accused the group of advocating a
return to patriarchy. Several members of Congress showed up, and President
the families." The media's buildup to the assembly focused on gender
attendees behaved humbly, and the speakers forswore political plans or motives.
The press finally acquitted the Promise Keepers of the charge that they are
divisive and leveled the more serious charge that they are boring. (Slate's
antidote for the lethal nerve toxin used in the attack, in order to assuage
the attack was so stupid and potentially calamitous that he's lucky he screwed
spokesman says Bush was referring to how the selection was managed, not to
doctors told the New York Times that he showed no signs of
with hostile legislation or obstruction of its affiliates' license renewals
only journalists (not "the subjects of stories or anyone connected to them")
car just before the crash. The bodyguard who survived the crash has recovered
partial memory of events before the crash, but evidently can't answer whether a
advocates said the measures are too weak (they don't set the same standards
may prompt retaliatory measures from affected countries). Analysts said they
are driven by political rather than safety concerns (the plan may garner votes
influxes of contaminated food). The public is expected to welcome the measures.
to persuade Congress not to pull out the troops. The paper also concluded that
frat party. This has rekindled the concern and outrage sparked a few weeks ago
spin: The two cases underscore an epidemic of binge drinking in frats and
considered sinful," because it "is experienced as a given." The catch: Gays
must remain "chaste," which means avoiding "genital sexual involvement" with
ban unions from funneling dues to political activity without workers' explicit
consent. Analysts agreed that he's using the amendment to make the bill
unpalatable to Democrats so they'll kill reform and the blood will be on their
hands. Editorialists admired and reviled his diabolical shrewdness. Critics
argued workers can quit a union if they don't like its political activities and
that any debate about regulating union money should be taken up separately.
Even if enough Republicans join Democrats to kill the amendment, more would be
needed to defeat the filibuster that has already been promised. (For Slate's
Party. Republicans were glad to get rid of her. Democrats gave her only a
staff, not as waiters, thereby preserving the tradition of Hooters Girls.
texture and esoteric expression with irreverence and ironic wit, and for being
he's still in office, as the Constitution doesn't protect the president from
civil suits unrelated to his official duties. However, the court instructed the
to keep postponing the trial. Editorialists of all persuasions congratulated
conservative justices had suspended their usual worship of executive privilege.
contentions as the main problem. The case "plays into a public perception of a
(by settling the suit), but his advisers seem intent on dragging it out
merchandise. They also agree that its poor reviews (for a weak plot,
characters, and dialogue) were overpowered by its shrewd timing (theaters
showed it because no other big movies were out), legendary pedigree (everyone
billion, the deal would double the size of the biggest merger on record. It
United States needs its own giant to compete with other countries' national
elections, raising the prospect that a leftist alliance of Socialists,
New York Times reported that "euphoria" in the capital is giving way to
with the United States. Skeptics doubt that one man could reform the country,
moderates." Cynics dismiss the term as an oxymoron. Good news: The
political oppression. Good news: Turkey 's armed forces are tightening
erupted over the final lap, in which officials sent mixed signals as to whether
health risks of breast implants may be skewed because women who get the
implants are (among other things) more likely to be alcoholics, more likely to
The real bomber was blown up in the explosion. The key evidence: A severed leg
bombing case in which an extra penis found at the site turned out to be the
allegedly committing adultery, lying about it, and disobeying orders to end
that affair. However, the discharge will cost her veterans' and other
the media were becoming skeptical of her "carefully orchestrated publicity
After reading about a photographer who died of a heroin overdose after selling
officers for resisting budget cuts and reforms. Analysts regard this as a key
judge dropped charges against the Danish woman who had left her baby in
a stroller outside a restaurant while dining. The catch: She has to get out of
evidently patched things up. There was no word on what they ate.
acquaintance. Meanwhile, the press unearthed problems with his anonymous
's assessment), arguing that his legacy of reforming the
and rationalized his scam as a "desperate" response to the threat posed by his
access to technology. Best argument against it: Kids will lose their laptops.
Bottom line: The question is when, not whether, the switch will happen.
Department officials predict that an independent counsel will be named to
facts that the department can't resolve in its allotted three months. An
independent probe of Babbitt would include examination of top White House and
to local newspapers and talk radio programs suggest, the answer to every
still "love" each other count against her (as psychologists insist) or for her?
The boy's mother says: "I don't feel that this is a crime. My son does not feel
whereas men are jailed longer for similar crimes? The respectable rejoinder:
Congress killed payments to the United Nations and the International
Monetary Fund for the rest of the year. The reason: an abstruse quarrel over
abortion funding. The payments to the United Nations were already overdue.
immigrants to stay in the United States but tighten controls on future
illegal entrants. Immigrant spokesmen welcomed the relaxation but said it was
mastermind and the driver in the World Trade Center bombing were
convicted. They face life sentences. Four lesser conspirators were convicted in
whether some other person, group, or country funded and orchestrated the
bombing. The sunny spin: We nailed the terrorists. The ominous spin: The
terrorists nailed us first, more are coming, and there are too many to keep
crash, leaving mechanical failure as the only theory under investigation.
Editorialists labored to connect the two contrary outcomes. (Various sites,
infiltrate the United States, but couldn't say more because the evidence is top
in exchange for partial immunity. Republicans worried that an immunity grant
the scandal) toasted North at a gala in his honor. The early line is that the
times a year. The Food and Drug Administration is sending warnings to thousands
of doctors. The news cycle on drug scares has become so fast that the backlash
landed a robot on Mars and began exploring the surface. Scientists are
miles away) and downloading the video and geological data it collects. Evidence
of ancient flood water (which might now be frozen at the poles or beneath the
planet's surface) and signs of repeated melting and crystallization of the
planet's crust indicate that Mars is much more like Earth than was previously
five days, making it the busiest site in the history of the Web.
the country's first prime minister. The victors began looting, and hunting down
the new leader's political rivals, one of whom has already been executed.
Analysts foresee two possible outcomes: brutal tyranny (the optimistic
reinstatement in a year. Optimists called the penalty stiff and predicted that
it would restore some standard of decency to the sport. Pessimists pointed out
services overseas. Fans rated the bite the most disgusting offense in the
of freedom and democracy he has fostered. Now that the party has lost its grip,
analysts foresee a wave of opportunistic defections by politicians, as happened
reportedly on the verge of deriving human blood plasma from sheep and cows. A
journalists found excuses to spend the week there, playing up the possibilities
of political confrontation and violence (China oafishly sent thousands of
troops to show everyone who's the boss) before conceding that nothing was going
capitalism will continue to flourish there even if democracy doesn't: The
that if he had stayed in the race, the election would have focused on his
annulment and his brother's alleged fling with the family baby sitter. Media
and the 1970s. Targets were evidently chosen by race as well as by mental
agriculture secretary Mike Espy was indicted for soliciting favors from
Court ruled that victims of age discrimination in the workplace have the
conservative attorney general also endorsed a proposed study to settle the
debate over the benefits of medical marijuana. SAT math scores are up, reaching
a 26-year peak, but verbal scores remain low. SAT administrators noted that
grades assigned by teachers are being inflated relative to SAT scores. A
Gore's previous characterization ("a few occasions"). The White House says
there's no logical inconsistency between Gore's description and the new
numbers, but the press agrees that Gore has shown a pattern of fudging. Two
"has been very responsive to his company." (For more on Smith and money
excuse that the president and veep are exempt from the Hatch Act. Instead,
causing severe injuries. Other racial flash points: The Army is considering
selective prosecution of black officers for sexual harassment. And the
had been touted for years as one of affirmative action's success stories.
Understanding the mechanics of the flaw will lead to new methods of preventing
colon cancer. The official pessimistic spin: Insurance companies might use
could provide the United States with loads of valuable intelligence about North
with the Teamsters scandal. The Justice Department reportedly is investigating
The House investigating committee subpoenaed records to determine whether the
to pose in photos with its principals. It then used the photos in promotional
of the Teamsters, citing evidence of fraud and diversion of union funds to
ruled out, either. The official delayed the announcement until the UPS strike
was settled, so as not to influence its outcome. The Wall Street Journal
points out that this decision influenced the strike's outcome. The election
$400-million New York state subsidy scheme that aims to reduce the surplus of
doctors. Critics argue that the subsidy is idiotic. Defenders argue that it's
less idiotic than the current Medicare policy of subsidizing physician
training, which has exacerbated the surplus. Opponents of the New York scheme
had pointed out the unfairness of paying New York hospitals to undertake
cutbacks that hospitals elsewhere were undertaking at no charge. Instead of
equalizing things by scrapping the New York payment scheme, Congress decided to
equalize things by nationalizing it. Now economists are pointing out the
unfairness of subsidizing the reduction in the number of doctors while refusing
to persuade customers to continue eating its meat. Editorialists conducted the
cynical view is that there is no reason the United States should care about
big political donors meals with the party's leaders in federal buildings
attempt to salvage some part of the power he once held. Analysts see no real
future for him: He is gradually dying of prostate cancer and has no leverage
because his troops are getting whipped by rebels, who are expected to roll
seems to be angling for some kind of coalition government, playing off his
chief political rival in the capital against the military leader of the rebel
forces. The general consensus is that the rebel leader holds all the aces. (For
40s. This contradicts the National Cancer Institute advisory board's recent
recommendation that the benefits to women in their 40s didn't necessarily
justify the cost, and that these women should decide for themselves whether to
reverse that recommendation this week. The prevailing wisdom now is that the
"decide for yourself" advice was too confusing, and that women need to be told
dark horse, Providence, which was led by the memorable point guard God
outsider, getting its first Final Four berth ever after having been denied an
team, redeeming itself after having lost its first three conference games this
ban must once again depend on the Senate to sustain a presidential veto.
about the circumstances under which the procedure is generally used, only five
lawmakers switched their votes from "no" to "yes." (See Slate's "Abortion Apostate" on
tobacco industry suffered a potentially catastrophic defection. The
tobacco to minors (which will increase congressional support for stiff
biggest tobacco companies, which industry critics believe will prove a
conspiracy of deceit. Also, the tobacco executives who told Congress they
didn't consider nicotine addictive might now be prosecuted for fraud and
attractive merger partner by eliminating its exposure to possibly huge jury
unpleasant hearings on top of the pounding he's already taken. Lake said
will now be confirmed easily because the Senate is satisfied with having killed
substantive issue at stake is hard news vs. soft news: Each network is accusing
subordinate but is still married to multiply disgraced political consultant Ed
Organization announced that a new strategy for treating tuberculosis
consists of four drugs taken daily under meticulous supervision. The
organization's director calls it "the biggest health breakthrough of this
The New York Times agreed: "Partisan Fencing Draws No Blood." For
of war criminals is worth the risk. Media coverage was generally
enthusiastic, with several commentators celebrating the bust as an overdue
landed a robot on Mars and began exploring the surface. Scientists are
miles away) and downloading the video and geological data it collects. Evidence
of ancient flood water (which might now be frozen at the poles or beneath the
planet's surface) and signs of repeated melting and crystallization of the
planet's crust indicate that Mars is much more like Earth than was previously
motivated by domestic politics, not statesmanship (specifically, pushing to
counterparts, "all the politicians would be in prison, because they sell their
although saliva is a poor carrier of the virus, in this case both partners had
big tobacco settlement that would restrict the Food and Drug Administration's
the country's first prime minister. The victors began looting, and hunting down
the new leader's political rivals, two of whom have already been executed.
Analysts foresee two possible outcomes: brutal tyranny (the optimistic
of freedom and democracy he has fostered. Now that the party has lost its grip,
analysts foresee a wave of opportunistic defections by politicians, as happened
reinstatement in a year. Optimists called the penalty stiff and predicted that
it would restore some standard of decency to the sport. Pessimists pointed out
services overseas. Fans rated the bite the most disgusting offense in the
times a year. The Food and Drug Administration is sending warnings to thousands
of doctors. The news cycle on drug scares has become so fast that the backlash
capitalism will continue to flourish there even if democracy doesn't: The
reportedly on the verge of deriving human blood plasma from sheep and cows. A
He also urged privately funded researchers not to clone humans. A bill was
filed in the House to ban human cloning outright. Contrary to the traditional
of cloning are increasingly objecting that it permits reproduction without sex.
behave like quails by replacing their embryonic brain cells with quail brain
cells. The media, consumed by the frenzy over cloning, have largely ignored the
tissue into human embryos is far more imminent than human cloning. Researchers
disease patients. The Associated Press raised the specter of "people with
socially unacceptable behavior being forced to undergo brain surgery."
with the government. They claim that police are preparing to storm the building
of scientists conceded that a planned robot mission to Mars might bring back
that Martian germs could do much damage here, since they probably can't compete
when the crime was committed. Locals are said to be increasingly suspicious of
the refusal of the girl's parents to be interviewed separately by police.
made private phone calls (some from the White House) soliciting donations. The
report prompted further calls for an independent counsel, on the grounds that a
high government official (Gore) had violated the law by making political calls
from a federal building. Editorialists derided Gore's response that the law
the White House to raise money). Democrats also released records showing that
their faith that Gore was the One Honest Man in the administration. The betting
and donors, and that the administration endorsed a project in China that was
subpoenaed White House records, evidently to find out whether the
probe will cover congressional as well as presidential campaigns, but will
raising in federal buildings apply only to direct campaign contributions,
an investigation of possible efforts by foreign governments to influence
Party is demanding an investigation of a report that Prime Minister John Major
not to screw up the peace process by provoking further conflict. News accounts
honored by the White House not only as a virtual head of state but as the
question appears to consist of notes taken by a defense attorney during an
had faked the putative confession in order to persuade a witness to talk to
private eye told him of the fake confession a year ago. The executive editor of
Immigration and Naturalization Service, pressured by the White House,
immigrants through naturalization last year and ended up
been rejected because of past felony convictions. Again, Vice President Gore is
records indicate that the pressure came from Gore's office and was driven in
whether an animal burns calories or stores them as fat. The next step is to
Clashes over human rights upstaged collaboration on other matters. First,
"showed plenty of spine." Then, congressional leaders grilled and lectured
officials to move protesters off the street outside Independence Hall in
promised to "open China still wider to the outside world" and said that
persistent evils but grudgingly conceded that it was a good idea to make nice
jury the option of a lesser manslaughter conviction. The cultural spin: This is
international supervision. Both sides will now replay their old game: The
United States will seek international support for sanctions and perhaps a
idiocy by galvanizing the international coalition against him, which had been
appeared before the Senate investigating committee and denied allegations that
please Democratic contributors. Babbitt explained that he had probably lied to
the lobbyist. The New York Times called it "the closest [thing] to a
The casino episode is seen as a prime candidate for triggering an independent
Republicans on the Senate investigating committee received political help from
consensus is forming on why the stock market pulled out of its nose
get out at a time of their choosing and therefore, that they needn't rush to do
so. Corollary: The "circuit breakers," which suspended trading, backfired.
(What are circuit breakers, and how do they work? See 
Monetary Fund is now putting up billions of dollars in loans in the hope of
solving this problem, and the United States has agreed to backstop loans to
forging ahead. The contrarian view is that the rally happened too soon, that
the market hasn't bottomed out yet, and that it needs to do so in order to
to cool off the economy, so that the Fed won't have to raise interest rates and
lurking around schools and parks and had sex with them despite knowing he had
evidently had sex with many women there as well. The story is igniting two
confidentiality laws too strict? Authorities had to get an unprecedented court
order to allow the release of his name so that they can find, warn, and test
his sex partners and their subsequent sex partners, who may number in the
Miscellany: The National Basketball Association hired its first female
ally with the West in order to avoid a "fascist regime." Tests show that John
themes: the status of black women, family unity, repentance, and renewal. Other
topics: drugs, homelessness, and civil rights. Unlike the Million Man March,
attend. The New York Times saw the march, along with the Million Man
institutions and are organizing to solve social problems themselves.
team and the youngest club (they were founded five years ago) to win the
Commentators complained of the Series' sloppy play but applauded the epic Game
book. Analysts see this as a milestone in the publishing industry's descent
superstar expects the industry to justify his compensation by finding new
bombing. Journalists, having exaggerated the defense's options and prospects
for dramatic effect throughout the trial, finally conceded that the contest had
never been close. Editorialists congratulated the judge and jury for proving
system works. While proclaiming that the United States has finally lost its
Having milked the trial for pathos, the media applauded the judge for
instructing prosecutors not to manipulate the jury's emotions. The early line
the rest of his presidency being hounded about his privates instead of showing
off his public service. Settlement demands: his admission that she told the
"to put her reputation at issue," dredging up old boyfriends. Settlement
legal costs, but "no apology" and "no admission of misconduct." The National
lawyer for stooping to the old tactic of bringing up the accuser's sexual
pundits, confused by the results, accused the voters of confusion and warned
United States. The Wall Street Journal blamed the weak showing of
scientists be allowed to clone human embryos for experiments, according
research, unsupervised quacks will control it. But the commissioners decided
they trust Congress even less than they trust scientists. Related updates:
Weld's nomination would foster bipartisan harmony. Instead, it has fostered
Republican disharmony. Helms cited conservative Republicans' quarrels with Weld
(who favors medical marijuana and abortion rights) as evidence that Weld isn't
French voters booted conservatives out of the national Parliament and
put leftists in power. The Socialists, Communists, Greens, and other leftist
coalition lost nearly half its seats. Commentators agreed that, unlike the
few thought that an available choice. The most common view was that the
privatization. Ironists noted that, as in the United States, "liberal" has
Jazz in the opening game of the National Basketball Association finals.
Meanwhile, the New York Times observed that serious dog bites have
been faulted and ridiculed by critics, won the award for best musical, plus the
four other categories in which it had been nominated. The New York Times
but observers were less impressed, since it had been expected to do well.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo won the award for best play, and A Doll's
Miscellany: The new health scare is a staph germ that is becoming immune
to the antibiotic of last resort. The germ has appeared in Japan, and the
question is how long it will take to get to the United States. The new
bioethical controversy is whether doctors should obey families who want to
in the hospital with a chest infection. News outlets declared it "potentially
fatal" but acknowledged in the fine print that he'll probably come out fine.
to his kneecap. Pundits rehashed the rules of succession in the event of
reported on by the New York Times are "two hands holding up a severed
head by the hair," "a man confronting his own severed head on a plate," and "a
react violently to the settlement, there might be a "war to the finish" in
years, was knocked out of the tourney. Commentators were disappointed that
pyramid investment schemes collapsed, which wiped out the life savings of
led to police giving loyalist civilians assault weapons, which led to gunfire,
looting, and roving bands of robbers. Inmates are escaping from jails, and the
in a few dozen military and police advisers, but not a big force. The United
revolution, a popular uprising or just plain chaos," said the New York
cloning backlash is underway. At a Senate hearing, Republican
fertilization, "tens of thousands of embryos are steadily accumulating
in tanks of liquid nitrogen" in the United States, and their lives can be
women to conceive and bear their grandchild using frozen sperm from their dead
City bombing. This is the third such report in recent weeks. The first two
city, and are expected to head for the capital soon. Everyone is now convinced
over the quarrel. The next day everyone insisted it was just a
year that China had targeted them for illegal campaign donations through
administration endorsed a project in China that was financially important to
elections. This brings soft money and other much criticized practices under
Post reported that a Republican House committee counsel hit up
that Republicans sold big political donors meals with the party's leaders in
victory allowing her to remain married to the man she loves (and with
have the sole authority to choose her husband. Her father is appealing to the
also matches the description provided by the woman who allegedly saw the
now say the killing looks like a random robbery attempt gone awry.
fast projectile on a collision course with the plane. Federal investigators
said that lab tests show the residue is from standard glue used in plane seats.
They also seized the radar tape, examined it, and said it shows no missile. The
female soldiers say Army investigators pressured them to falsely
accuse their superiors of rape. Four of the five say they had sex with
their instructors, but that it was consensual. The women claim they were
promised helpful transfers if they told investigators what they wanted to hear
and threatened with retaliation if they didn't. The announcement was organized
using their country as a spy nest and keeping them in the dark about it.
promoted just last week, can now put allies in key jobs and restart economic
landed a robot on Mars and began exploring the surface. Scientists are
miles away) and downloading the video and geological data it collects. The
mission's purpose is to study rocks, but observers are more fascinated by the
advent of true democracy. The story was almost overshadowed by the news that
staged a successful coup against the country's first prime minister, wrecking
journalists found excuses to spend the week there, playing up the possibilities
of political confrontation and violence (China oafishly sent thousands of
troops to show everyone who's the boss) before conceding that nothing was going
capitalism will continue to flourish there even if democracy doesn't: The
puns and rekindled the ancient debate over whether boxing is inherently or only
sporadically barbaric. Fans rated it the most disgusting offense in the history
champions of virtue and the common man. Television journalists ceaselessly
won fame for cloning a sheep is reportedly on the verge of deriving human blood
plasma from sheep and cows. A new scientific report claims that puberty begins
a field trip to the "Island of Peace," a border strip shared by the two
pyramid investment schemes collapsed, which wiped out the life savings of
led to police giving loyalist civilians assault weapons, which led to gunfire,
looting, and roving bands of robbers. Inmates are escaping from jails, and the
president has lost control of the army. There is talk of importing a
themselves were unsure whether to call the violence a civil war, a revolution,
a popular uprising or just plain chaos," said the New 
also matches the description provided by the woman who allegedly saw the
now say the killing looks like a random robbery attempt gone awry.
cloning backlash is underway. At a Senate hearing, Republican
had cloned a human, but the report was soon debunked when the scientist
women to conceive and bear their grandchild, using frozen sperm from their dead
fast projectile on a collision course with the plane. Federal investigators
said that lab tests show the residue is from standard glue used in plane seats.
They also seized the radar tape, examined it, and said it shows no missile. The
over the quarrel. The next day everyone insisted it was just a
year that China had targeted them for illegal campaign donations through
administration endorsed a project in China that was financially important to
lawyers were skeptical. The New York Times reports that "details in the
article contradict physical evidence already presented in open court."
female soldiers say Army investigators pressured them to falsely
accuse their superiors of rape. Four of the five say they had sex with
their instructors, but that it was consensual. The women claim they were
promised helpful transfers if they told investigators what they wanted to hear
and threatened with retaliation if they didn't. The announcement was organized
Post reported that a Republican House committee counsel hit up
that Republicans sold big political donors meals with the party's leaders in
using their country as a spy nest and keeping them in the dark about it.
example for business leaders. The announcement appeased some critics who have
the government is shrinking), and unions objected to giving welfare recipients
tax cuts to everyone. Meanwhile, they threw out proposed premium hikes for
fiscal consensus is that politicians of both parties have once again managed to
take credit for a windfall not of their making (since the economy is generating
enough revenue to balance the budget without any deal) and squander the
places like the subway) to make money for their "pimps." The media bemoaned the
vulnerability of illegal immigrants (trapped by their fear that outsiders will
the New York slaves. Eventually, the Times conceded that the conditions
return, were just as bad. "In a country of many poor and marginalized people,
himself. The premature anticlimax disappointed the media, but they continued to
partner in murder." The pusher portrayed the verdict as a victory for
celebrities. The jurors portrayed it as a defeat for scum. Reputed Mafia boss
has vowed to quash the nomination on the grounds that Weld is soft on drugs.
resignation won't help him. The subtle theory is that Weld knows he will lose
is that Weld just loves a good fight, particularly with Helms.
and that he had acquitted himself brilliantly. Reviews of the senators so far:
evidence shows that Neanderthals were not our ancestors. Some analysts
have had so little time to diverge genetically that the differences between
we interbreed with the Neanderthals when they were still around? Because they
reporter says he saw Pol Pot tried for genocide and sentenced to life
jurisprudence. Conservatives noted their disagreements with him but remembered
wiretapping and suppression of journalists, and newly discovered documents
him ineligible for his job. The Army discharged a 20-year decorated
veteran one week before he would have been eligible for retirement
benefits, because investigators discovered evidence of his homosexuality after
fine) out of his own money. The catch: He will borrow that money from Bob
a legal defense fund, he would have been forced from office. Instead, the loan
allows him to serve out the maximum eight years as speaker, at which point he
can repay the loan out of his campaign kitty or a legal defense fund. The
and bought himself time to regain his stature as a policy leader. Liberal
justice and creating a conflict of interest if he failed to pay the fine with
his own money, accused him of evading justice and creating a conflict of
minister, and his chief of staff. The charges concern an alleged deal to
trouble, then backed off after learning that the proposed indictment against
him rested largely on the testimony of one witness. The growing scandal is
prosecution of an Internet service in the West for providing access to material
it did not produce. (The porn is produced by independent sites and distributed
through Internet newsgroups.) Under German law, the executive could get five
years in jail, though this is considered unlikely. He has previously threatened
advertising restrictions in exchange for an act of Congress that would require
than from the companies. The media initially gloated over the news, on the
grounds that the tobacco companies were offering unprecedented concessions. But
liability would be immoral, unconstitutional, and profitable, as evidenced by a
court ruled 8-to-1 that the urine tests were an unreasonable search under the
finally encountered one too preposterous to tolerate. The ideological spin is
threatened to summon her before Congress and investigate whether she was
"the guru of ethics," had neither the right nor the credibility to intimidate
persuaded some market watchers to declare the slide a correction. Healthy
turned stock speculators exuberant. Irrationally so? asked the Wall Street
was likely to keep lurching in response to changes in economic indicators.
own none of the league's teams, that the stadium failed to sell out, that the
crowd was overwhelmingly white (as is usual at baseball games), and that nearly
such insurance offer since the onset of AIDS, and is viewed as tentative
commercial confirmation that AIDS is now, in the company's words, "a treatable
chronic illness rather than a terminal disease" for many people. The Wall
Street Journal hailed it as proof of the success of new drugs. If the
company makes money on the policy, other insurers are expected to follow.
if the evidence holds up, the United States should consider a military strike
crisis escalate, because their trade relationship is too cozy.
the Masters golf tournament and was anointed a Transcendent Sports
born). The game's current stars declared Woods the best player in the world and
possibly in history. Optimists predicted that Woods will make golf hip and
popular, especially among nonwhite kids. Pessimists grumbled that Woods is so
superior he'll make tournaments boring, and that his corporate marketing
prosecutors think they did. Angered by the media's interest in the rabbi angle,
because he didn't head a synagogue), and angst (who will tell the bad news to
ago, after hoodwinking his friends and jumping bail, has been captured in
Pot reportedly has surrendered after being hunted down by his own former
bodyguards got into a deadly turf skirmish this week, which bodes ill for the
elections. The New York Times applauds Pol Pot's demise but regrets that
crooks, schemers, and butchers evidently will continue to run the country.
his failure to propose solutions other than affirmative action and more money
reform and the budget deal. Liberals doubted the sermonizer but loved the
defending "quotas," complained they were underrepresented on the advisory
suspect other conspirators are at large. The Internet is percolating with
theories that an "electromagnetic pulse weapon" destroyed the building, that
not going to have a confessed adulterer as supreme head of the Church of
reminiscent of the recent scandal that ruined a top Communist Party official.
Authorities have responded by banning the novel and arresting its putative
National Basketball Association title in seven years. Pundits reaffirmed Bulls
to give him its Most Valuable Player award. His defenders argued that the award
was what had caused him to choke in the first place. Sportswriters are already
remain for another six years. Advocates of rent deregulation, led by Republican
gradually raise rents by regulating the existing regulations. Among the
tenants could remain in regulated apartments provided they were willing to pay
against each other for the first time in the sport's 120-year history.
cities, thereby boosting attendance and merchandise sales, which, in turn, will
enable owners to satisfy players' skyrocketing salary demands. Traditionalists
of statistics, obliterate the quaint differences between the two leagues
mystique of the World Series, which, until now, was the leagues' only
play] has restored one of baseball's grandest traditions: the passion for
delivering and abandoning a baby. This is the third such case in New Jersey in
recent months. First, two students were charged with killing their infant in a
motel room and dumping it in the trash. Then, a few days ago, another girl gave
where it would later be found dead. (She then checked her makeup in the mirror,
almost overshadowed by disbelief that nobody had noticed her condition. The
apocalypse littered with condoms, fear of school prayer, hysteria over Gen.
case, in which a girl gave birth in her parents' garage and left the baby
there. Again, family members say they had no idea she was pregnant.
may not even know it's a religious cult or sect or whatever it is."
the usual factors: strong profits, low inflation, expectations of a sound
recession is inevitable, acknowledged that such warnings have lost almost all
and embarrassed the entire judicial system. Proponents of affirmative action
this as a war between liberal and conservative judges that only the Supreme
affirmative action will have to "find new ways to achieve the same objective."
reputation for racial conflict) and did better than any Republican candidate in
to trigger the orgasm sensation in the brain. Researchers found that three of
peptide through the vagus nerve (which connects the brain directly to the
cervix) rather than the spine. The researchers envision turning the chemical
into a pill, which they claim would be used for pain suppression. The director
poor black men were deliberately left untreated for syphilis from the 1930s to
sexual orientation. Scribes and pundits are already reacting to both events,
reaching puberty much earlier than previously thought. A study finds that
because girls who develop early sexual traits might be more likely to be
war by resigning and leaving the country. The logistical problem here, as with
included four successive wives, two of them too young to be his daughters.
House and the Democratic National Committee for not screening out sleazy
his attorneys have found no evidence "that any sensitive information was
Administration hastily abandoned a Web site it had created that allowed
workers to check their earnings records and benefit entitlements. Critics,
fearing that snoopers could access the data, called it another illustration of
cheap (saves the taxpayers money), gives Social Security recipients an easy way
to access their own records, has never been abused, and is safer than the mail.
country's biggest medical provider, is becoming the poster boy of corporate
doctors outside the company while referring rich patients to doctors affiliated
with the company. Federal regulators are investigating whether this is an
experts explained that this kind of risk is inherent in a complex
in the wee hours of the morning to watch the funeral on television. The big
continue to generate her particular brand of magic." For days, the royals were
scorned as stuffy brutes for failing to display grief in public. When they
feeling others' pain) and scorned for pandering to public opinion. Several
character. They resumed covering the story obsessively based on the public's
Pundits paused to pay their respects before returning to the topic of Princess
comparisons, which in turn inspired a backlash of equally silly commentaries
die during the week, coverage of his demise was largely buried.
instead of the Democratic National Committee ("soft" money). This removes
The betting now is that a counsel will be named, and will hound Gore for years.
her father screwed it up by calling her semifinal opponent a "white turkey" and
her press conference. Critics contrast her arrogance with Tiger Woods' good
manners. Defenders see a double standard: Critics don't blame white players
If history is written by the winners, is rock history written by the losers?
By wounded fans correcting popular slights, redeeming ignored heroes?
Miller gets his most contentious in the Velvet Underground chapter, when he
Billboard's album chart. He then spins this not especially supportive
with those of minimalist composer La Monte Young, whose influence, via violist
great, hugely influential cult band? Maybe he didn't want to recycle the line
about how few bought their records but everyone who did formed a band.
As I skim Flowers in the Dustbin for fresh anecdotes (which we agree
may be the book's real pleasure), I realize how many of Miller's vignettes seem
studies. Not too shocking given his day job, but sometimes these pieces of
"evidence" seem pretty chimerical, other times just hilarious.
that this was achieved through "the intersection of the band's alienated look
didn't shop that song to labels because he wanted to be "a straight blues
Domino cover in concerts as "Isn't That a Shame"? And that, because he
and opium to help him "sustain a note on his viola for two hours at a stretch"?
Such apocrypha is the envy of any popular historian, and it's definitely a
major selling point for Miller's book. It also serves to make Miller seem a lot
personal project. Miller says as much in the preface, beginning with his
disenchantment with this "routinized package of theatrical gestures" in the
'80s. This puts him in an odd, if touching, state for a critical endeavor.
rock and roll." Others might have just got into gardening.
Re: The Pretenders. Are you sure you aren't thinking of, say, "Precious"
Times lead with the political and public health aftershocks of the
reflecting both its later closing time and the speed with which the numbers are
exacerbated the effects of the earthquake. Rescuers sifting through the rubble
the government are vociferously blaming building contractors for violating
safety standards. But the piece explains that Turkey has virtually no standards
to violate. Once construction begins on a building, it is never subject to
feverishly scrambling to bury its rotting corpses before they spawn disease.
speedy burials, and the Prime Minister ordered that bodies be buried as soon as
they are found (relatives will have to identify their dead through a
corpses themselves are not a health hazard; open sewage and lack of water are
far more dangerous. This caveat gets only a single sentence, and no further
explanation of Turkey's possibly misplaced priorities.
warning that it hadn't yet confirmed that the plant was producing chemical
weapons ingredients. An "unnamed official" tells the Post that the
administration has since backtracked on its initial assertions that a toxic
substance was manufactured at the plant and that its owner was a terrorist. The
story admits that the bombing may have required a difficult judgment call,
asking, "Just how certain does the government need to be before it uses force
allegedly transferring classified computer files to his own computer. The
medicine without protest and even issuing contrite remarks about the security
financial chat room, may have suckered his day trading followers. All week,
server. Later that afternoon, Park boasted that he had made a quarter of a
they repaid their debts. The smugglers had duped many of the women into
thinking they would be working as seamstresses or masseuses. In a fit of
numerical detail, the Post calculates that a typical victim had to have
on his callers. "There is something deranged about you," he told one guest.
"Either you don't read the newspapers carefully enough or you're so prejudiced
and biased that you block out the truth," he railed at another. The host is
as obsessively as other people can talk about, well, about the Internet. But
I fear, meanwhile, that our readers are getting sick of hearing us go back
and forth about the Internet (aren't we supposed to be discussing the day's
You keep focusing on it as a new and improved means of communications.
Surely, though, it is becoming apparent that purely in terms of its power as a
communications medium, the Internet is, at most, a marginal improvement over
Web sites like this one have cool features that magazines can't replicate (such
as conversations like this), but it isn't that much different. Chat
rooms can create a sense of community, but communities have existed for as long
as humanity itself. You keep saying that the free flow of information the
Internet fosters is a net good that will expose the bad guys and make the world
a better place, but I don't see a shred of evidence that is happening. The
Internet provides convenience, provides fun, provides information, but it's not
changing the way we live in any substantial way. The invention of the telegraph
reduced communication time from five days to five minutes. To my mind, that's
far more powerful, and more transforming, than anything the Internet has
the Internet before anyone else in his industry and begins crushing the
competition. Bill Gates becomes terrified when he realized someone else beat
on the Net that put longstanding, valuable franchises at risk. You bet media
companies are focused on the Web; every business has to be. The Internet cuts
out middlemen, causes prices to drop, changes distribution patterns, blah,
blah, blah. But you know, in the end it's just business. Nothing less, but
been called worse online. Just ask the Motley Fool.
If you blinked you missed it, but for a short while yesterday morning the
rejected as unlikely, and both markets rebounded nicely.
Fleeting as it was, the momentary episode of selling panic was interesting
for a couple of reasons. In the first place, the rumor had all the makings of a
story that was being floated by someone who had taken a large short position
(in other words, who was wagering that the market was going down) and was
trying to knock the market down after it opened strongly. There's something
fits our ideas of the 1920s, when the market was incredibly manipulable, or
even of the 1980s more than it does the late 1990s.
But the truth is that in the short run, markets can occasionally be pushed,
especially when so many decisions to buy or sell are keyed off what everyone
else in the market is doing. Chain reactions are not much harder to start (in
fact, given how quickly price moves get noticed, they may be easier) than they
resignation rumor was that it raised an obvious question: Would it really
the middle of next year. But it's interesting to note that in the past couple
beneficiary of good economic fundamentals than the creator of them.
shown an unusual ability to let his thinking on inflation, productivity, and
the economy's possible growth rate evolve in response to changing data. But the
essential point, that the soundness of this economy does not depend on
still concerned about the possibility of an overheating economy but also
convinced that important technological changes have allowed this economy to
grow faster than in the past without sparking inflation.
If anything, in fact, the bond market should have rallied on news that
paranoid enough for bondholders, who seem perpetually convinced that the United
States is about to become Brazil. There are certainly Fed governors out there
who would be far more likely to raise interest rates aggressively at the first
the world isn't going to fall apart anymore. When he leaves, the market will
hiccup. But it would be surprising if it did more than that.
To say that corporations rather than the government are driving economic
policy isn't to say that they have absolute power. After all, even dictators
have to worry about justifying their policies, hence the centrality of
propaganda to fascist and Communist regimes, and can't do everything they want;
there is always the danger of provoking a rebellion. Of course, in the United
States (and other Western countries), the corporate elite has to worry about
public sentiment, expressed not only in elections but in organized opposition
(however weak, there still is some) from the labor movement, the environmental
and deregulation in the '70s to seriously erode the liberal welfare state, and
there is still major resistance to the privatization of Social Security,
significant erosion of Medicare, and so on. But corporate economic and
political pressure has steadily pushed public policy in this direction,
regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in office.
The term "hate crime" doesn't get at what I think is the real issue: that
certain kinds of crimes are not just aimed at a particular victim but are meant
to intimidate or "send a message" to a whole class of people, whether to stay
out of certain neighborhoods, hide their sexuality, stop performing abortions,
or whatever. In other words such crimes are a form of political terrorism. They
to me that this kind of intimidation should be recognized for what it is and
specifically punished. The question is how best to do it. The problem with the
idea of hate crime, aside from the fact that violent crime is inherently
hateful, as you say, is that it doesn't distinguish between deliberate
terrorism and acts that may be motivated in whole or in part by bigotry but
don't have a purposeful agenda behind them. Rather, I would define the crime as
premeditation. I would make it a distinct crime that would have to be charged
(and proved) separately from charges of murder, assault, etc.
Agency will demand that states intensify efforts to combat water pollution. The
shooting. The first sets the diversity of the medical team that saved Benjamin
over whether or not the federal government should confront extremists more
Bush's less than overwhelming margin of victory in the mock election does not
beat back fears that her candidacy might not survive a poorer showing. The
that shields the organizations from liability for their decisions. A recent
level to which pollution must be reduced in a body of water and then assign
quotas to individual polluters. The latter would then have to cut back
emissions or buy discharge rights from someone polluting below allowed
campaign.  Citing local and Western sources, the paper says that patterns have
expanded the labor federation's influence abroad (for example, by sending money
presidential campaign trail) from botched Western policy initiatives undertaken
mistreatment of children abroad.  The former paper says that in Japan, reported
cases of child abuse are rising against a backdrop of record unemployment and
increasing divorce and remarriage rates. Legislators may scale back laws that
Children." The piece details the nightmarish conditions under which children in
woods and rich wildlife, skeptics wonder who would feel safe enough to camp
there.  Link or no link, maybe the skeptics will find comfort in that the
communications medium of all time"? How will it sweep away ignorance about
racial hatred or empower people to take control of their lives? It seems to me
the Internet is going to change the world as we know it.
Let me lay out some of the reasons for my skepticism. First, from a purely
historical point of view, I don't see how anyone can view the Internet as more
important than any number of communications media that have preceded it: the
printing press, the telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph player, the
television among them. To my mind, the Internet is demonstrably less
Secondly, more often than not, powerful new technologies don't live up to their
supposed "true" potential. Here, of course, television is the prime example.
Look back at the claims that were made for television during its formative
years, and they sound a lot like the claims being made now for the Internet.
Would anyone claim today that television has changed our society? Well, yes,
bringing out the worst in people rather than the best. The anonymity it allows
emboldens people to say things to each other they would never say face to face.
There are at least as many sites for nuts as there are for people trying to
make the world a better place. Everything has to be short and quick. And even
some Web ideas that started out as utopian have been subverted over time. The
example I know best is that of the chat rooms devoted to particular stocks,
which were supposed to be informative, illuminating places, filled with
stocks. And what happened? Chat rooms have become astonishingly intolerant
branded a traitor and pretty much hounded out of the site. As you know, they've
also become havens for fraud, abuse, and all sorts of dirty shenanigans. Two or
three years ago, I made a point of checking the chat room whenever I began a
story about a particular company. Now I don't bother; it's just a waste of
widespread expectation that someday Amazon will be a gigantically profitable
corporation itself. But why will this ever happen? There will always be some
ability to know every price that exists for the good you want to buy. That's
empowerment, all right; no question about it. But it's not the kind of
empowerment Internet stock analysts like to talk about. So do I use the
Internet? All the time. It's part of my life. The past few weeks, in fact, I
don't think so. Needless to say (he hastens to add) all of the above is offered
in the spirit of good, healthy debate. Glad I got that out of my system,
though. Looking forward to tomorrow's correspondence.
I promise two more dispatches today, you lucky old dog.
for all his scandals, which are too numerous to repeat) travails. The
public, which by and large cares more about its pocket than politics, would've
said send the skunk to the showers. And, as a result, Gore would be the
Explain to me, re: your second post yesterday, how techno is "interesting in
a larger political sense." I fell off the pop music train in the early '90s; my
and he thanked me, but I bet he hasn't played it yet. Let's be provocative.
don't mean to be a drunk at the host's cocktail party, but I have mixed
already obsolete) it's very slow. The links are valuable, especially the
subscribers and would subscribe again, just for the services.
wants to incur the wrath of a possible President Bush.
As for Dole, there's no way she'll be the veep. The choice will be Tom
will have a story saying that Bush, coyly, has said he hasn't used drugs in the
House. I hope he sticks to his guns on the cocaine question. His "I won't play
the gotcha game" answers to reporters have shown the most passion in his
on pot. Obviously, this wasn't a problem years ago, but now that Boomers and
for a serious candidate to say: "Yes, I smoked pot a lot and really enjoyed it.
Just like I enjoyed having several beers at a dance. I was alive at a time when
pot was part of the culture, I was curious, and you know what, it was pretty
damn cool. Made me think in a different way. But I don't smoke anymore."
That would satisfy me. I smoked pot for years and don't regret it a bit. I
mean, who didn't? I did coke, but didn't like it. It made me feel like such a
whore: Since I didn't have much money, you'd always have to schmooze the person
who had the stash, even if you didn't like him or her. That made me feel cheap.
putting out my college paper, chasing it with Squirt soda, and then have a few
beers to calm down. I remember one final exam where I was totally fried, and I
just undid my aluminum packet of crystal and snorted right on the desk in the
exam room. The professor was oblivious. I got an A.
I don't do drugs now, but it certainly was part of my teens and 20s. I wish
It's nice to know that reporting does not change. One of the first lessons I
learned in journalism school was the old phrase "there is nothing new under the
sun," and I suspect that in five years an exciting new topic will be
fascinating us in the same way that the Internet is now and the takeovers of
the 1980s did then. I too was riveted by leveraged buyout stories in that time
about this time period, which I liked because of just what you were talking
about. Business was dramatic, made up of people and not just numbers. I was
that all the successes and failures there over the years were due more to a
lucky star, was able to attract the right person at the right time to cause it
to be able to get to the next level. In its earliest days, it needed the
cable, telephone, and Internet business to achieve some iron lock on the
success, along with its struggles with the Justice Department, is in this
genre. Bill Gates, no matter how big that company has become, still hangs over
it like a living icon. I wonder if that is a good thing or a bad one as
In a completely unrelated topic, were you are disturbed as I was about the
did fire in incendiary devices, despite its denials. I swear, I am
still so surprised when people or institutions lie like that. Does that make me
the upper reaches of the cable box, there's no room for true international
to show three great international matches a week instead of six hours of
The key words here, though, are "thought to have little or no value."
despite the fact that a generation of kids has now grown up playing soccer, and
international soccer exists. But more and more, this seems to be a clear case
where one of the reasons that audience has failed to materialize is because the
opportunity for it to materialize has never existed.
It's not, after all, as if the networks had given international soccer the
old college try, found that it failed, and then abandoned its plans. On the
contrary, if you want to watch international soccer, you usually have to pay
lot of money. And even then the publicity for the games is essentially
What's odd about this is that in certain respects soccer seems to be a
natural. Not to replace football or baseball, but maybe to replace women's
States than ever before, who you would think might be interested in watching
which presumably must make them curious about the people who play it better
And then there's this interesting fact, which was actually noted in a
international teams. Is it really plausible that there's a huge market for an
international soccer video game, and no market at all for international soccer
In theory, if an opportunity to make money by showing international soccer
exists, someone would have already taken advantage of it. But it's almost
certainly true that none of the executives in charge of programming grew up
playing or watching soccer, which is why you always hear the same criticisms of
of one is a poor measure of the potential popularity of the other.
network. But it has all the makings of a perfect niche market. The problem is
that until someone gives that market a real chance to show itself, we can't
prove it exists. Until then, Electronic Arts will keep raking in the profits of
which some television network might otherwise claim a nice share.
Brilliant, Tony, brilliant! I love your interpretation of the wizard world
difference, the sudden revelation that there are tons of other people like him.
Do you see a Magic Pride movement starting, with witches and wizards insisting
I like your idea of foreign wizardry, too. Did you ever read Kingdoms of
various countries. They're partly exquisite little parodies of travel lit,
can hear them muttering "Fairies? Come on!" in their heads. But these stories
Every day a fasting weasel bites the child's neck and drinks its blood for
three minutes. The amount of blood drunk by each successive weasel (who is
weighed before and after the drinking) is replaced by the same weight of a
not cancel human nature (the distillation is only approximate: elfin blood
changeling he is put out of the hill to make the rest of his way through the
winter gales penetrated its polished windows; if the summer sun shone too
vehemently, blinds were pulled down to protect the furnishings. Drinking bouts
were long, taciturn, and ended in somnolence. The Queen was celebrated for her
around the school: First we get a few chapters of Harry at home with his awful
muggle relatives, who lock him in the closet, starve him, and cower at the
thought that he might perform magic (his frustration at not being allowed to is
we visit the Forbidden Forest, a spot of hazard and wonder, right on school
formula, yet provide such a wealth of new details and such deep, dangerous
plots that every book seems completely new. It's a trick other people have
chapter in which one of the kids loses her temper, one in which we visit a
trajectory that deepens and develops from book to book. It's as if she's
(Not a succubus, by the way. A succubus is a female demon that comes to you
in the night while you're asleep and has sex with you against your will. I was
thinking of a monster that looks like an ordinary woman, until you see her
its spectacular Golden Gate Bridge. There was a touch of wind blowing off the
water, which was enough to keep my guests cool, but not enough to blow their
carefully coifed hair into a mousse mess. The amber light sparkled all along
If I say so myself, it was a completely perfect wedding to go along with the
perfect weather. There were of course the superficial details of the
of festively decorated individual cupcakes that an ingenious baker hand
fashioned into a unique kind of wedding cake to the delightful surprise I got
yesterday each time I noticed the antique ring around my finger that had
previously and always been bare. And there were the much more profound moments
that come from finally committing to a person for the rest of your
one another, the joy radiating from the sea of faces of loved ones who had
traveled from near and far to share in the event, the rush of happiness as
their glasses clinked in a unified toast to our shared lives that lay ahead
same weekend that several Republican presidential candidates had pledged to
under the term "marriage," discussion of homosexuality in schools, and federal
laws to specifically protect homosexuals from discrimination, part of an
phraseology), I guess they told me. Except, of course, I don't seem to be
paying an ounce of attention to the continuing and perplexingly tireless
intolerance. Apparently, a great gob of Republicans had signed on, although
this obviously ironic twist of dysfunctional familial fate) had confirmed their
while more and more people are learning more and more about the lives of gay
invaded the body politic. I simply felt like I was someone in love with a
kindred soul, who wanted to be able to declare that in a way that had been
It's hard to imagine then that, given these complex times, with so many
important issues to deal with that are likely to challenge this country going
what you think about this, because I cannot for the life of me see why this
issue seems to inflame so many. Is it the religious thing? Is it the last gasp
of a former culture that wants to hold back the new one? Is it just a
smokescreen to inflame voters rather than actually inform them? I only know the
words of guest after guest who came up to toast my partner, who talked of love,
commitment, family, and the future, and not much of politics.
My partner told one guest she was marrying, but it was a girl and not a
"Well," came the response. "People have been marrying girls for
I could not have said it better myself. So I won't.
great bitches of entertainment history understood this. They knew that
bitchiness must be both extreme and extremely meaningful, or it just comes off
person who went wrong and apologized and would really be a lot nicer if she
replace her, are powerful actresses. But you can't imagine either of them
surgeon, but instead of enjoying the occasional triumph over her supercilious
colleagues, she just had more bad stuff happen to her than maybe anyone else in
nighttime soap history. Really bad stuff: Her father died. She lost her
girl, got arrested, was fired, and then, when rehired, was forced to endure the
humiliation of being the best heart surgeon on staff with the least seniority.
She put up with petty bad stuff too, like the constant carping of her male
colleagues about her lack of a gentle touch, or the punishments doled out by
for instance, her daughter wandered off into the winter night and nearly died
fancifulness that passes for creative on television these days. Here's an actress with a rare knack for
emotional realism, the kind of intelligent, commanding presence that drains
thinking, without mistresses, who'd ever realize the falseness of a false
she suffered more interestingly than anyone else on the show.
Hope never managed to do anything more interesting with her
astronaut, the ridiculous quest to which she devoted her last year on the
ceiling. She was a woman ready to wreak some serious havoc. Let her loose and
she could have been, to say the least, memorable. Instead they tried to send
her into orbit. In space, presumably, no one could hear her scream.
It's never good to get your hand caught in the cookie jar. But if caught you
must be, Chatterbox recommends that you arrange for it to happen during the
month of August, when the media get lazy and inattentive. The latest
illustration of this principle is the lack of publicity surrounding some
editorial adviser and research consultant, now a Fox News political analyst and
author of two titillating books dishing "candid commentary" from her mentor,
the Journal ran an editor's note that read as follows: "There are
search conducted earlier today turned up only two other references to this
day the Journal ran its editor's note, and one brief item that ran in
the back of the New York Times' business section three days later.
Since the Times item, which appeared a full week ago (and which
in the language. I have wracked my brain, and I can honestly tell you that I
"There was none of the personal corruption which had marked the rule of
"There was none of the personal corruption that had marked the rule of
enemies and their willingness to sacrifice the national interest in the pursuit
underestimated their ruthlessness and willingness to sacrifice the national
interest in the pursuit of their institutional vendetta."
well conclude he would have been justified in allowing events to take their
course and in subjecting the nation to the prolonged paralysis of a public
impeachment, which at least would have given him the opportunity to defend
himself by due process of law. But once again his patriotism took precedence
he would have been justified in allowing events to take their course and
subjecting the country to a prolonged process of impeachment, which would have
given him the chance to defend himself by due process of law. His allegiance to
[This assertion, unlike the others, has some merit, and it's possible the
two arrived at the phrase independent of one another; but given the other
examples cited here, that likelihood is not great.]
order to finish a Talk magazine profile she's reportedly writing about
in the history of Western civilization," must have been a heady enterprise
Yes, new sounds can really ruin critical paradigms. Show me someone like
rock," requires either some impressive semantic gymnastics or deafness. I have
to mistrust someone who, while bemoaning the bland repetitiveness of current
Still, the stars have aligned to give Miller a nice context for his book
"Coronation Ball" and the early screenings of Blackboard Jungle seem
movie theater, disappointed that there wasn't a riot.
What I like about the early chapters is Miller's idea of rock's
These kinds of unorthodox responses to rock's creation myth were fresh enough
to make me expect more from the later chapters than a gloss on punk as simply
rock's "quintessence" of "stunning ugliness." Man, Miller's writing sure is
Miller was trying to trace, I think you're correctly suspicious of disco's
chapter lovingly detailing the design and production of the Fender electric
guitar, showing how the technology enabled an amateur musical expression that
would change mass culture. Disco prefigured the most cataclysmic reordering of
"gimmickry" that Miller seems to both enjoy and distrust became central to
Believe it or not, word of your splendid wedding had spread to the East
Fortune magazine's hot young technology editor, who is also (I believe)
a childhood friend of yours. In that lovably sardonic way of his, he described
your impending nuptials as "the event of the season" in Silicon Valley. From
your sweet account, it sounds like he wasn't far off. I was deeply impressed,
thing I remember about my wedding is what a blur it was. By the next day I
could barely recall who was there, much less what they said to me. Here's the
It is, of course, ridiculous that there is political hay to be made by
a candidate gain the nomination, but will only be a curse once the general
tolerance is pretty much taken for granted. (Though not always: We had a
boy on a downtown street. It later turned out that the killer had been taunted
But another reason, I think, is that baby boomers in particular have tended
to segregate themselves along political lines as well as class and racial
a whole other story.) Although I was considered something of a lefty in
neighbors than not. There may well be large pockets of gay hatred in the land,
but it's not something I can gauge because I rarely see it in my daily life. So
view.) But I also have to acknowledge that my isolation could be leading me
very astray. After all, I am also utterly baffled by the extent to which Bill
Times sports section this morning about the Tom's River Little League team
winning its first game in the Little League World Series. I realize this is a
real story for the Times --Tom's River is in its circulation area, and
the story was written, as if it were a big league game with big league
since it has become one of our most frothy debates these days. In fact, I just
got back from a book tour with two other technology writers, one of whom held
your exact sentiments about the current development of the Web. He and I
debated intensely over the course of two weeks and we never really changed each
con that are taking place, so let me address them one by one.
fomenters of hate who are spewing their poisonous attitudes out to the wider
world using these powerful new technologies. My general attitude is still that
sunlight is the best disinfectant and all speech needs to be spoken. All these
sites are surely loathsome to see, but haven't these attitudes been in
existence since the dawn of time? Frankly, I would rather be able to more
clearly see exactly what these sites are spouting than to have them hide away
dangerously in dark corners, ready to pounce. For the vast majority of people,
idiocy only more clearly. When you know that the Internet seems to bring out
the worst in people, I think your problem may be with the darker side of
Second, you are right that it is unlikely that the Internet will live up to
its potential. But what does really? Not me and not you and not television and
not anything else. Some of what is on the Web right now is silly, some
depressing, some crazy, and some just plain stupid. A lot of what is being
created now is aimed only at getting people to buy more stuff they probably
bidding frenzies are not going to change the world for the better.
But I firmly posit that the increasingly free flow of information that the
Internet allows can only benefit people in the long run by educating them on
the wider world outside their windows. What is undeniably powerful is the
television network, or even a fine newspaper like the Wall Street
really matter if people go there or not. Perhaps all this communication will
only result in pointless cacophony, but I like the noise.
I am troubled by the kind of behavior that the Internet seems to engender
and am often offended by the cruel and mindless blather that is too easy to
find. The stock chat rooms are a good example, since most of them have turned
into places of little value. But I encounter rage and misbehavior when I drive
to work every morning, as people seem to have lost a lot of the civility that
used to rule. But again, I don't think the Internet is to blame for this. It's
If you want to know why so many people come to stock picking with a
trader's, rather than an investor's, mentality, one reason is that Wall Street
analysts so often seem governed by the very same mentality. Take this week's
raft of upgrades and bullish comments on some Internet bellwethers by analysts
comments came out this week, after these stocks had already rallied strongly
from their recent lows, was telling. Instead of making a real contrarian call,
telling their clients that these stocks were excellent buys no matter what the
upcoming quarters. Now, set aside the complete foolishness of distinguishing
"We believe [the stocks] offer a sound way to play the fundamental strength
and renewed investor enthusiasm we expect to see during the fall and holiday
shopping season," he wrote, arguing in essence that places like Amazon and
Yahoo would reap the benefits of all the new online shoppers, most of whom
After all, nothing has changed in between to make the impact of the upcoming
and Yahoo, whatever they are, have not changed, either. The only difference is
fact that these stocks are now more expensive than they were a week ago
Does this make sense? Of course not, at least not if you believe that
eventually the price of a company's stock reflects the discounted value of all
the future free cash flow of that company. (Which it does.) After all, normally
you want to buy stocks when they cost less, not more. But in the world of
momentum investing, which is to say the world that all those traders who "watch
the tape" live in, buying stocks after they've risen is what makes sense. And
even those who have an excellent sense of the economics of the companies they
would have to be furious that he was telling them to buy Amazon when it was far
more expensive than it had been a week and a half before. But since his report
helped bump Net stocks up yesterday, they probably didn't even notice.
elections are an important form of popular culture; they always have something
to say about what's going on with us. But my view of the electoral scene is
running for president would be fun, but on the other hand he blew it by
missed the point. Bush has every right not to talk about his past drug use. In
fact, silence is a lot more seemly than all the blather he would feel forced to
put out if he owned up, to the effect of what a terrible mistake he had made in
the feckless days of his youth. No, what's truly objectionable is his
Even more ridiculous is the controversy over Bush saying "fuck," apropos of
column today, saw fit to lay on us the information that he himself never uses
creationism. Since she is "seeking to lead this country into the
with their usual respect for women, may nominate her as vice president on the
theory that women will vote for any warm female body. (Not that Bush seems to
"fuck"? And was she ever unfaithful to Bob in those dark times before
abortion. Will the Conservative Party swallow that and his position on gay
week ago. And today's question is: Won't someone just put this dog out of its
almost three years now. It has reported shrinking earnings, which eventually
turned into losses, in every quarter in the last two fiscal years. If even a
of junk bonds. Trading in the company's stock has been suspended, and the
demonstrating the important lesson that buying a cheap stock because you're
It's hard to feel sorry for either the bondholders or the stockholders,
since this was a train wreck you could have seen coming a mile away. (Click
plan is nonetheless dismaying. It keeps current management in place and hands
worth. The striking thing about the restructuring plan is not that the equity
is being redistributed but that so much energy is being put into an enterprise
the upside of which seems so small. Why, after all, do we need a Planet
restaurants have a terrible track record. And the restaurant business in
continued distance between the interests of corporate managers and corporate
raging), there are still plenty of businesses that stay alive just because they
are alive. In an ideal economy, capital will migrate away from inefficient and
unproductive businesses and toward productive businesses.
instance), and even though it happens here much more than in any other
country's economy, the "long run" can be very long indeed. And sometimes the
mere fact that a company exists can be enough to trick investors into believing
disappeared two years ago, at the point when it became clear that the novelty
of the business had worn off and that all the future held was empty restaurants
The other thing keeping the company afloat is that it's been run by people
who were taking home nice salaries and plenty of corporate perks even as they
investors, the best thing would have been the liquidation of the company, which
would have let them take their money and put it into real companies. But for
If you're being paid well to be captain, it's a lot better to let the ship
slowly sink, even if scuttling it is what's best for everyone on board.
right, and that only the paranoid survive. But when you look at how tenaciously
survive. Perhaps what only the paranoid do is thrive.
reading the newspapers, much less absorbing the information contained within.
that finally exposes me for the fraud that I really am. My wife thinks this is
an utterly absurd way to go through life, for which I can offer no defense but
a helpless shrug. I used to think that I would get over this feeling; now I
morning. First, on the question of Bill Gates, it strikes me as completely
unarguable that his "living icon" status has been a tremendous asset to
command within companies, while also having the set of skills, rarely seen in
his employees will follow him over a cliff. The classic example was when he
the Internet. The entire company had to shift on a dime and promising projects,
which people had devoted years to, were scrapped because they didn't relate to
the Internet. At a typical big company, there would have been enormous
Everybody simply got with the program, because, by God, that's what Bill
During the antitrust trial, though, you could see the problem with that lack
could admit that obvious truth. (Instead, they blamed it on the Feds for asking
"bad" questions, and the press for writing stories that simply said out loud
witnesses brought to the trial the same set of characteristics that were so
unwillingness to say anything straightforwardly. Fairly or not, they all looked
as though they had something to hide, just as Bill had. It's such an insular
that point wonderfully. Ken would constantly ask Gates simple, sensible
never have happened. It gives solace to the "off the grid" crowd. It's scary
firsthand knowledge is willing to tell the truth. I can't stand people who play
for instance). But at moments like this one, it is hard to argue with them.
ranks among the worst attorneys general of all time? Sure seems that way to
Today mentions the Fed's news on the front page, but leads instead with
a possible link between the Kremlin and the Bank of New York laundering
All the papers give the same lowdown on the Fed's decision. The federal
funds rate (that is, the one banks charge each another for overnight borrowing)
Fed's announcement was characteristically opaque. The stories follow the Fed's
lead, hedging their bets as to whether this will be the last hike of the
some personal loans are tied directly to the prime rate, millions of consumers
If he doesn't, they are emboldened by what can only be a sure sign of economic
health. So even though the rate hike might stave off consumer inflation,
now under scrutiny. He is married to a Bank of New York executive who is also
being investigated. The scoop certainly sounds like a potentially juicy one.
excused most of the sect's adherents as victims who didn't know they were
joining a subversive political organization. The group's leaders, on the other
health authorities. Instead, the company contacted Planet Out, a gay online
service based in the city, which pelted the denizens of local gay chat rooms
decried the way he manipulated the discrepancies between the two legal
Board's recent decision to excise evolution from its official curriculum. Most
locally elected school boards who have the option to tell the state board to go
jump in the lake," said an aide to moderate Republican Gov. Bill Graves. "The
Governor is confident the overwhelming number will."
Should we, too, agree to disagree? Oh, I suppose. It's unsatisfying, but
Nobody talks to each other; they talk past each other. They're not trying to
persuade; they're just trying to stake out claims. (You and I, of course, are
the rare exception.) "Stock Hucksters Thrive on the Web," said the front page
of the New York Times yesterday. No doubt the author of that dispatch
writing stories that I thought were models of judicious balance, only to have
amazing that people can have such heated and passionate feelings about this
technology. Was there the same debate over the telephone? Over the automobile?
It is also possible that my general grouchiness on the subject of the
few years claiming that the valuations of Internet stocks make no sense, and
the end is near, or at least the end of the bull market. There is a new book
out that catalogues all sorts of financial manias over the years; you can't
read it without seeing the obvious parallels to the Internet mania. But of
course, every time I say that out loud, the stocks keep going up, and I look
like an idiot. And the Internet crowd has a grand old time mocking me.
of INS and customs officials. The workers used their security clearance and
free flight privileges to smuggle fake cocaine and hand grenades for undercover
particularly prone to smuggling problems because it has the most service to
interesting safety angle: Not only is smuggling laughably easy, it's
potentially very dangerous. Smugglers often stashed contraband close to
Various organized crime bosses and politicos are being scrutinized by the
finance ministers and a former deputy prime minister are under investigation.
case. In addition to revenues from prostitution and contract killings, as much
explains why all this is coming to light now: further investigation by a
documentary filmmaker and attorneys for siege victims. The filmmaker also
compound, another action that has been repeatedly denied.
openly gay Republican state legislator who was also in the Army Reserves has
number of armed forces personnel discharged for homosexuality has actually
thought. Of course, we did get the first glimmerings of it in Chamber of
in Book 2--evidently, wanting to make a good impression on your beloved is
another impulse that can inadvertently put you in the hands of darkness. Is
there more story to be milked there? Ginny, for example, could turn into a
hitherto impermeable heart of Potter, then extracting just revenge by scorning
inclined to look for the sexpots of supernatural tradition: sirens, vampires,
various enchantresses, those green ladies with rotten or serpentine lower
of the kids are products of mixed marriages. (Can't remember who, though.)
needn't be a love interest; it could just be someone with whom frustrated
nevertheless enters the wizard world and makes a difference. I agree with you
that we all know ourselves to be misunderstood magicians trapped in a horribly
by writing a place for us. (Well, me, anyway. You're clearly a real
be gay. Bet you a silver sickle the homosexual themes are treated with
really think that's where the series is headed. We've seen it so often
by a mirror that shows the viewer's heart's desire. Gazing in it, Harry sees
his family for the first time: his dead mother and father and a whole array
ancestors. He can hardly bring himself to turn away, and sneaks back for
another fix whenever he gets the chance. I think he's more likely to be caught
dwell the brave at heart." It's not immediately clear why the Sorting Hat puts
people in the houses it chooses. For example, wouldn't you guess scholarly
scolded by his grandmother, and cowering in corridors. What's he doing in
What would you like to see? Got any suggestions for the divine
Like you, I began this assignment with a mixture of puzzlement and
eventual movies and the inevitable merchandising frenzy that will follow. My
wands, owls, and endless other wee wizard paraphernalia sure to flood the
I also had to overcome some grownup resistance to the books themselves,
mostly owing to the atrophying of my capacity for the kind of
the Harry Potter books restore this capacity with brilliant efficiency must be
part of the reason they appeal to adults. But, as you point out, they're hardly
mention in this company suggests that he's the real thing.
reading life (which is to say, my life) is divided evenly between bedtime
likely to have fond, intense memories of just those pleasures. We try to
recapture them with genre schlock, as though the dream world of our youth were
exact in her portraiture. There's no reason why solid storytelling, brisk
prose, and vivid characters should appeal exclusively, or primarily, to
children, though children are less likely to submit to being bored, pandered
wizard world (and slyly fill you in case you've missed the earlier
installments, something that will become increasingly important as the series
fills its projected seven volumes and sales figures mount into the trillions),
the Dark Side), and to create and resolve enough satisfying short- and
which children have no interest (knowing, as adults refuse to, that they are
(who is likely to be everybody's favorite character) are believably
mischievous, competitive, vain, and, for all their intelligence, prone to
summers ago, which also took the world somewhat by surprise (although Star
Wars was more carefully calculated to appeal to both kids and adults,
by nobody). Like the first Star Wars movie, the Harry Potter books have
ingeniously recombine elements of fairy tale, religious allegory (Harry as the
fairly explicitly in the case of Potter, the Star Wars cycle itself)
into something new, fresh, and irresistible. You feel, somehow, that they have
always been there, waiting for you to discover. You also feel, in spite of
being one of several million crazed fans, that they were written for you alone,
a wizard stranded in an uncomprehending Muggle world, waiting for someone to
recognize that what everyone else calls your abnormalities are really powers.
This, I think, is the deep appeal of these books (and of a number of the others
But why these books, why now? It's probably a mistake to try to read to much
years. But it must mean something, no? What do you think?
According to a clipping from the Daily Telegraph passed along by our
the Harry Potter books designed especially for adult consumers. The content is
thousand have been sold. I thought this was funny, but then again when I was
reading these books in public places in preparation for our chat I would make
sure to have a notebook and pencil and even my laptop handy, to make clear to
I take your point about kids and preaching, though I think that they tend to
tolerate the moral if the story is good enough. But then again, they may learn
their morals in part from the stories they hear. I do suspect (you imply that
because they're so blessedly free of didacticism. Of course, there are subtle
clan), and affirmations of the virtues of honesty and friendship. But there is
also ample recognition of the fact that it's sometimes necessary to break the
rules, talk back to your teachers, or fling a fistful of mud at someone who
pisses you off. This flexible, realistic moral sense coexists with reassurances
that the important moral categories are, in the end, stable. Good and evil
exist in this world, and their struggle for dominance is what makes it go
I agree that the books get better and better, and that as you proceed from
one to the next the series acquires more richness and density of detail. One of
seem to return as teachers.) And there is a lovely mirroring of past and
still around to torment the son of his tormentor. And the themes of loyalty,
friendship, and betrayal that Harry uncovers in the story of his parents'
demise (a story about which we still have much to learn), cast their shadow on
behaving oddly, and it seemed as though he might be harboring thoughts of the
Dark Side. And I think (I hope) he still may be headed there: the great,
operations of free will in a supernaturally determined world, is classically
always the favorites who turn evil in this kind of story. It seems to me that
overcoming the temptation to join them. There is an inkling of this possibility
early on, when the sorting hat, which places new students in their residential
Still, I suspect he'll face this dilemma again before long. After all, Harry
It's the wizard pastime, something like three games of lacrosse played
simultaneously on broomsticks, with magic balls), and a natural leader among
his peers. His decency has for now held his pride in check, but this might
(should, I daresay) change. I don't think the series can continue to be as
interesting if the menaces he faces continue to be strictly external. The
veneration of his martyred parents may be colored with doubt, even anger. The
that some characters seem to slip and slide in the twilight zone between benign
possibilities. In any case, I trust her to keep us enchanted.
And let's not forget that Harry has, at the end of Prisoner of
puberty can't be far off. What is wizard adolescence like? Adolescence of any
kind is risky territory for the "young adult" book writer, perhaps especially
tradition of English boarding school buggery to consider. Will Harry and
up your spells? Is there a potion to cure acne? Do wizards ever date
Can you divine the future? I await the magic owl bearing your answer to
The earthquake in Turkey takes center stage as the death toll
here.) Some papers report that the quake may be downgraded to a
the mayor turned the local ice skating rink into a backup morgue. Because it
took government rescue teams nine hours to arrive there, survivors at first
attempted to dig out victims with pickaxes and sledgehammers. (The LAT
earthquakes this century," but what does this mean? Do they mean in Turkey or
The Wall Street Journal and the Post report that defense
it would retaliate only against a nuclear power that had used nuclear weapons
limit nuclear strike authority to the prime minister or his designate. Experts
AIDS research. Many doctors have long criticized the research as
microbiology, and immunology brought about by the research have now led to
chronic viral diseases, historically among the hardest to cure.
Wen Ho Lee is racist. It waits until the seventh paragraph to credit the
spin. In this spirit, the lead paragraph of the Journal's earthquake
article merits quoting in full: "A powerful 45-second earthquake cut a swath
through Turkey's industrial heartland, killing thousands of people, shutting
businesses, wrecking major power lines and jolting national confidence just as
the economy showed signs of leaving 1999's recession behind."
That lumbering pace, though, has raised new fears of flooding in southern
Today quotes a pregnant woman interviewed while videotaping the
fail to explain how a storm qualifies as a hurricane (once its top sustained
hurricanes are named (an alphabetical system that starts over each year with a
name beginning with "A" and is planned years in advance, so that we already
stemming the spread of disease as it became clear, five days after the quake,
that few if any victims remain to be discovered alive. The New York Times reports that
houses facing the water. The paper also describes the growing profile of the
accountability that carried the headline "A Complete Change of Mentality Is
used cocaine. "An honest declaration would serve him, and the nation, well,"
which failed to pursue with any energy what he considers credible charges that
"It appears that many reporters have gained their second wind."
bounty hunters' tactics in the past, the paper says, but now consider those
efforts rogue police work and a serious violation of national law.
the paper calls "flawed arrests." City prosecutors tossed out arrests last year
at a rate more than twice as high as four years ago, with drug charges more
likely than any other kind to be dropped. New York is also paying more to
recommend dousing plants with mixtures that include chewing tobacco, mouthwash,
and bourbon. A former undercover cop who began writing a gardening column in
television. Scientists, on the other hand, call him a huckster whose advice
air primarily because he's so good at getting viewers to pull out their
Normally, when one of three big players in an industry buys one of its two
competitors, you hear rumblings about possible antitrust violations and the
deleterious effects of lack of competition. But we've yet to hear any such
position. And as the example of the auto industry suggests, having two or three
major players in an industry is qualitatively different from having just one.
Actually, that's the other thing. It's hard to figure out what the bad
by this deal (hard to figure out who's being hurt that we don't want to be
hurt, that is). The pricing of magazines is difficult to decipher (it often, in
which accounts for the fact that so many magazines are sold at the newsstand,
even though the price of one copy there is often equal to the price of four or
five copies bought by subscription. So, consumers won't be hurt in the
God bless you. That doesn't mean, of course, that it won't be a new experience
The one group that probably will be hurt by the deal is the advertisers, but
the company to drive harder bargains. The flip side of this is that it will
make advertisers think harder about why they advertise and where they
advertise. In other words, the acquisition may have the unforeseen effect of
take more critical looks at the companies and personalities in the fashion
industry. It's an open secret in magazine publishing that there are some
stories that just can't be done, because running them would result in
advertising's being pulled that magazines can't afford to be pulled. But now
pieces: "You want to pull your advertising? Fine. If you think you can make it
more power to you." Shifting the balance of power away from
advertisers is, in that sense, entirely a good thing. So, to take a purely
To the chagrin of many and the joy of at least a few, Cocktail Chatter
fonder. Not coincidentally, perhaps, the two weekly recaps that went unwritten
would have had to detail a stock market tumbling steadily downhill, a Net
sector in which investors appeared to have lost all faith, and interest rates
for no obvious reason aside from excellent earnings from bellwethers Cisco (a
"Oversold" doesn't mean anything, of course. It just means that prices have
dropped pretty far pretty quickly. Unfortunately, sometimes prices drop far and
quickly for good reasons. This wasn't one of those times, I think, but
"oversold" is not a label that helps you tell the difference. But it's a good
word to use at cocktail parties if you want everyone to know you're in the
know. Actually, it's a good word to use if you want people to think you're a
crackpot. But that can be fun, too. And so, once more into the breach.
delivers customized information to handheld computers, will offer
distribution is part of a sweeping effort by the world's biggest software maker
openness as evidence that companies were no longer as quick to hide potential
redeem billions of dollars of withdrawals from investors who had entered
great business when you can borrow money with no intention of paying it
to turn down jobs because he can't find enough workers, despite offering a
domination of the microprocessor market and practically every year has a
locations. Someone tell me again: Why did the Automats go out of business?"
Day of Trading Hardly a Blockbuster.' It's genius, I tell you! Pure
"brought the world closer together than any event since the Congress of
for this way of thinking, maybe not. But you've certainly hit on something by
focusing on Miller's partiality to music that "brings us all together." He's an
us became these instant celebrities, yet none of us really had any talent."
There is an implicit criticism here of rock's role in creating today's
But Miller is not awfully concerned about authenticity. For him, rock is
the product of the coldest sort of commercial calculation, true,
Body, Black and White, dancing the same dance, moving to the same beat, as
But this is ignoble. This is where rock turns into the
always condemned. Once rulers understand the political implications of
Dionysian revelry, it gets turned to rotten ends. Merengue is terrific music,
Rock has its roots in the Cold War; it is, at least in part, the musical
like so many protest movements, it partakes of the very vices it purports to
Kids understand this. Miller doesn't always. That's why he gets blindsided
by punk and disco. The Sex Pistols, of course, are incomprehensible without a
on the other. Not that there weren't a few truly emetic songs that united the
But what is disco? Since I know little about it, and since you make big
claims for it, I would love to hear more. At the time, it seemed like a bid by
classes. Since disco came precisely at a time when the privileged classes, in
blacks through such innovations as forced busing, this seems like an odd
Maybe you're right that Miller is not listening to much modern rock. I don't
listen to much, either, and most of it's poppy stuff I hear on the drive to
Crow's guitar licks seem so familiar that I have often suspected they're simply
that any casual acquaintance is bound to lead to similar ones, because the
surface of rock is exciting only at rare and lucky moments.
First, I wanted to assure you that I never discriminate against straight
white men. In fact, some of my best friends are of your ilk.
Thanks for the good wishes about the wedding. I had no idea that it had
record, I didn't take any stock as a wedding gift. Frankly, I think all the
hubbub about the event was due to the fact that few have seen an actual
the 123rd one, I am sure that people will become as thrilled about
going to one as they are about heterosexual nuptials. ("Honey, not another
lesbian wedding? We're going to go broke buying all these power tools.")
I hope so, although I was not heartened by an article I read this morning in
laws on the books, few are being implemented by police, who appear to decline
being beaten up by a skinhead who didn't like the color of his skin, was only
eclipsed in horror by the story of a man who had his head split in half and was
"roasted" by a man who claimed the victim had made a pass at him. I am not sure
when a simple "No, thanks" fell out of a favor for more brutal solutions. Both
crimes, shockingly, were not reported as hate crimes.
Internet, which I am thrilled to talk about all day and night. In fact, I do,
one of the largest gay and lesbian sites on the Web. I report all day about the
Internet, and then go home and talk about it even more. Perhaps you could call
me a loser, but I have never been so captivated by a medium in my life. I think
I have become so obsessive about the advent of the Internet because I have long
believed that it will turn out to be the most powerful communications medium of
all time. To me, it has the potential to sweep away ignorance about such topics
as gay and racial hatred and empower people to take more control of their
lives. The idea of a fully interactive medium that only becomes more powerful
by its exponential growth, that gives people the tools to instantly publish,
that allows for a freer and even chaotic flow of information, is a gigantic
I know I sound like those demented digerati who have spent too much time in
the insular world of Silicon Valley, but I firmly believe that the Internet is
here has been underwhelming and derivative of the old world. For all the
attention given to electronic commerce of late, and the incredibly high
valuation being given to companies that lose scads of money, some of the
business on the Web is little more than a glorified version of selling crap on
the Internet. Not very exciting to be sure, and a little unnerving to me since
fewer companies I see these days are as concerned with building a real business
to figure out what to do next. This makes me very nervous and it should make a
In fact, what disturbs me most is the lack of information individual
investors are using to make their decisions, despite the flood of good data
available. It's more than a little ironic that the Internet is a place of
endless information and people who are buying up stock in Web companies have
little knowledge of the businesses they are betting on. It seems to have become
a big guessing game in which a few will end up with the right answers. In fact,
since this medium is built from the ground up, no one is entirely sure what the
right answers may be in the years to come. Thus, the theme of my coverage of
this interesting time in business history, which was also the theme of my book
Re: the little league story, I am never surprised by the lengths we go in
the name of sports, which I do not follow closely, making me a bad lesbian, I
years old, traveling east. We are taking only two days off, losers that we are,
for our honeymoon, since my partner is in the throes of the second round of
financing for her company. It's one Internet business I don't cover, for
On Columbine, before I forget: I don't, in general, buy as a sufficient
explanation for media obsessions that "it's all about ratings and selling
papers," for two reasons. First, because you have to ask why huge numbers of
reporters, editors, producers, etc., who are responsible for the actual
coverage, when in fact journalists are caught up in the same fears and
fantasies as their audience. As I see it, Columbine hit more of a cultural
protecting children, whether it's censorship and drug testing or welfare and
gun control; on the other, adults are fearful of young people, feel that
they're out of control, and at the same time guilty about the many ways kids
are forced to take urine tests if they want to participate in extracurricular
activities or take the classes that are, in some cases, connected with these
activities. Aside from the travesty against the Fourth Amendment, this is just
all like presumptive criminals who deserve no autonomy and respect, and then
wonder why some actually fulfill your expectations.
that its application is discriminatory, mistaken executions of innocent people
are inevitable, keeping people on death row for years during the appeal process
amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, yet limiting appeals is even worse,
there's no evidence that executions have any practical deterrent effect, and
emotional catharsis is not a good enough reason for the state to kill people.
question to be raised about what you do about someone who's already serving
life without parole who kills an inmate or guard; how to deter a murderer who
shoots the cop trying to arrest him, figuring he has nothing to lose; and other
such situations. And then there's the issue of whether politically motivated
Which leads back to the issue of why we ought to create a special category for
more deleterious to the social fabric than ordinary crimes. I disagree with you
reports suggesting that states are doing a wildly uneven job of testing
interviews with survivors and relatives of the dead to paint a macabre picture
at the epicenter, to use the city's skating rink as an overflow morgue turned
disastrous when the power went out. "As hundreds of corpses lay in their body
bags," the paper reports, "the ice grew soft and watery, and a thick pungent
mobilization in the days following the quake. As soldiers finally appeared in
profile the army has taken thus far, but also cautioned citizens not to expect
state forces to "work miracles." The paper also says the governors of three
damaged provinces will be fired because they failed to put together efficient
to commandeer private hearses, trucks, and construction equipment for the
requiring lead screening for children on Medicaid. Data show that child
published, indicated that even a dozen years after leaving his job his bones
Carbide, covered workers' skin and even their teeth.
consumed by periodic bouts of rage. The story says only in the white
supremacist movement was he able to find a measure of acceptance.
database manager and member of a local environmental group, tells the
"Our worst fears were realized." This controversy is in contrast, the paper
employs a "laborious accumulation of detail" to back up her diagnosis that the
late princess "was unpredictable, egocentric, aggressive, insecure,
manipulative, paranoid, possessive, easily bored, uneducated and a habitual
control, but I really can't believe that everything in the pop
marketplace is just numbly imbibed by a passive audience. (Also, isn't pinning
today's celebrity culture on rock letting the tabloids, glossies, talk shows,
As someone who routinely got his head pounded into school lockers by Led
conformism. Still, I think Miller's somewhat overheated "Dionysian" riff does
make an important point: that even a music with the crassest commercial aims
line "I can't hide, I can't hide" was "I get high, I get high," and concluded
tale is suggestive of rock's power as charged, volatile, as they say, "open
Whether or not rock still has such possibilities depends, I think, on your
verb, is its ability to take private but common feelings and put them into a
shared public language. This phenomenon gets more interesting as the culture
problems with Miller's critique. As a critical theorist himself, Miller must
it), yet he still seems to present pop music as the product of the same shared,
While I don't mean to make too great a claim for disco, I do think it
represents a moment in which cultural forces that Miller doesn't account for
realigned in a way that changed "rock." The polarizing "Disco Sucks" movement
revealed a mass audience not just splintering, but clashing along certain
demographic lines. Meanwhile, the music's sound and technology was providing
similar, if less broadly significant upheavals are happening in the worlds of
house, techno, and other electronic music even now. Musics that emphasize
rhythm and texture over melody and lyrics aren't necessarily apolitical or
Nowadays, you just have to work a little harder to hear it.
Which Miller, by his own admission, stopped doing over a decade ago. This
raises a question we've both evaded. Is this book really necessary? Is Miller's
I want to close this quite enjoyable week with a plea for clemency. Let's
Flowers in the Dustbin is idiosyncratic enough that it's hard to imagine
over the past few days. While doing his best to expose the men behind the
Miller actually tries to address the nuances that make a music succeed or fail,
which is pretty uncommon in his milieu. He recognizes that even prefab,
is it a cursory attempt to include still another music that discerning
that's pretty parlous ground to dash over in eight pages. Miller obviously
enjoys the moment of The Harder They Come knocking The Sound of
provocation, emotional retardation of most pop culture. If we're going to
The Carter administration: What a time to first hear "All Tomorrow's
Miller, you, and I hear it? Obviously, popular music needs some context
in which to be understood. But more and more of these disengaged bits of audio
expressionism are floating around us, daring us to make sense of them. To
listen intelligently, which I believe is still possible, you have to draw
parallels, be alert to links and exchanges, respond both musically and
But maybe we're all being too sloppy with this term "rock." Maybe Miller's
favorite trends in this, er, "cultural form" began. Did all of the music,
make things easy for us content providers, but I don't think so. Still, maybe
trenchant analyses often come years later. Maybe the etymological evolution
from "rock 'n' roll" to "rock" to whatever else we decide to call this intense,
edgy, corrupt, joyful form of musical expression is long overdue.
You lost me on your techno explanation, but my thanks for trying. In your
Slim, and the others, and confined to that, I don't see the counterculture.
Where does today's youth stand on politics, for example? Besides the
communications breakthrough, what's today's equivalent of the sexual
revolution, the feminist movement, etc.? Besides the tattoos and piercings,
not sure if someone's in and you trade voice mail. Also, in reporting, if your
subject is willing, you can reproduce exactly what they've said, on
record, so there's no dispute on misquotes. Although when I was sifting through
when was the last time you got a real letter? I know I never write them
anymore. They're relics now, and will make for fascinating reading in future
a flack by his side, looking for all the world like a don out of the opening
I don't agree with your point yesterday that Gore himself is messing up his
campaign. Yes, he's made a lot of dumb moves and gaffes and is spending money
moving all those union delegates to tears with his speech about his sister in
fucking (figuratively, I assume) Gore, too. She'd be a far better asset being
on the stump for him and other Senate candidates, rather than sucking up money,
awful outlet for conventional Beltway wisdom. It would save so much time. An
pressure from the Bush organization to unite behind the mayor. With a united
I read Dick Morris' column in the Post today, and as usual he had
opponent, because the publishing scion is too dorky to win, an assessment I
I also read today that the Voice will unveil a new design tomorrow.
should be banned nationwide, collected, and destroyed.
unannounced checks of Furrow's house and car for weapons. This despite Furrow's
frequent claims that he was homicidal and suicidal, and despite a judge's order
Wash., had at least five owners before Furrow. A year ago, Furrow sold two of
pawn shop and later bought them back. The LAT quotes the pawn shop
owner saying that had the transaction taken place several months later, he
slightly reassuring, but the same Times article reports that Furrow
had six other handguns and rifles in his van besides the two he sold to and
Apparently, Furrow's was a borderline case: He had slashed his wrists, tried to
stab workers at a mental health facility, and constantly talked about his
the law, had sought psychiatric care, held a degree in engineering, and had
believe that while dismantling nuclear missiles, radioactive gold, lead,
aluminum, and nickel were melted into ingots and sold to the private sector.
scrap metal from nuclear weapons facilities into forms that could be used in
investigation in the first place, which I obviously don't. A terrible sense of
spin machine for that insanely prurient report is something of a stretch. Gore
talent as a politician can't help but emphasize Gore's lack of same. People are
hasn't opened his mouth. Basically, he's of the same New Democrat ilk. I don't
see any particular reason to vote for Gore, who is fundamentally conservative
economically and socially, as well as married to one of our great
House so that whoever wins the presidency, nothing much will get done in the
next four years. From my point of view, so long as there is no functioning
social movement on the left, mainstream politics will continue to be a vast
wasteland and my main criterion in voting will be how best to stave off the
By a functioning left I mean among other things a left with ideas, a left
whose advocates can put forward an analysis of what's wrong with the
restructuring of the economy and the repressiveness of the culture, rather than
avoid looking at the quality of their own lives via sentimental moralizing
earnestness that grates. I confess I had skipped over that story, basically
these days, but the genres that are most interesting to me in a larger cultural
Experts believe the recently published document is just an outline to the
New York Times article briefly mentions that the longer document is
He was worried that publishing the memoir would give readers the impression
The memoir's existence came to light only in the 1980s, when it was
memoir, since he had already been given his day in court.
The document will be released in German, with commentary pointing out the
Is it coincidence that the German newspaper Die Welt released the
document, and it's reasonable to assume they sped up their editorial process to
deadening lighting of a typical office. One of my favorite writers, the
"different in the ways that make no difference and the same in the ways that
do." As I sit here under fluorescent lights in the Wall Street Journal's
I did indeed write my last posting late at night, but remember I am three
you decry the faster lifestyle of us all, I will add that I have been a night
owl since I was a wee lass and this is nothing different. On the topic of these
time. I often wonder if I can keep up the pace I have set for my life, but I
Which is probably why I am such an optimist about this Internet phenom and
you are more circumspect. I caught the bug early from covering the early days
feeling of speed and change and something different was palpable. So was the
feeling of imminent crisis, of being on the edge of disaster constantly. This
has almost been comical at times, but they have endured everything from lack of
funding to questionable accounting to technological glitches to attacks from
some of the biggest companies out there. All of these challenges, it was widely
So, the free access trend seems to me to be another assault at the gates of
that they will eventually make the service free and make money off the giant
audience via advertising and commerce fees. I remember a long time ago that
not give away free what it used to charge for, I would point out that it used
to make a lot of money from hourly charges (some users spent hundreds of
dollars on the service a month) and it managed to wean itself away from that
taking over. They moved from an Apple to Windows audience in their early days
without a blink; they moved from a gated service to one where the Web was
making a lot of noises in this direction of late and those strategies are
lot. This is a resilient and deeply cynical team, who has been around the block
more times than I can count. They are like a giant dysfunctional family that
a smart and clever guy and someone I would not often bet against. This is a man
who was told on a daily basis that he was an idiot and he kept going anyway.
His hard shell, in fact, was one of the problems I had when writing my book.
How do you make a main character of a cipher? I think the most important thing
and it has worked thus far for them. He apparently often tells the joke that he
hire him because he has been so obnoxious for so long. You might imagine I
We are on opposite schedules. While you were writing yesterday's last
On "hate" crimes, I see your point, but I think the media and
to a whole class of people. It was the case of a couple of losers who were
bombings. In any case, my point remains: What's the point of "hate crime"
killers are fried, but they can't be killed twice, right?
pundit is these days, and chastises Bush for not answering that query when he's
stated that he's been faithful to his wife. Yet she closes the piece: "He seems
to have good instincts, and he knows how to get good advice. But does that
qualify him to lead the country? That's the substance abuse we should worry
everything trivial, while wrapping it up in some political context. Last
though it's a bogus award, an example of the media elite slapping each other on
for a maximum of ten minutes. No one was brilliant, and several were actively
terrible. Here's my estimation of how they stacked up. (Click here to see the results
really knows how to give a rousing speech. The hall loved him, though few would
conservatives. "Campaigns aren't supposed to be about how much one guy has
raised and another guy has inherited. Campaigns are supposed to be about our
arena setting. His lines were elegant (who writes them?) but he made no real
thrilling. "We need a contest because this is not a horse race. This is not a
football game. This is the biggest job in the world."
trashing the White House which is not theirs to trash."
speech takes the daring position that telling the truth is good. "Integrity
never goes out of style. It never goes out of style."
the weakest of the true believers. The consensus is that he's lost his
allotted ten minutes. "We are coming to the end of the most disgraceful and
immoral presidency in the history of this country."
back. If he thought that was heavy, wait until he campaigns next year carrying
terrifying indoor fireworks and a release of hundreds of balloons. Supporters
of opposing candidates pop them for the first half of his speech, making it
inaudible. Lesson: Next time, release balloons at the end. "The power of these
pollsters and tutors to tell him what to think. Only an independent outsider
family member I did get hold of the first Talk issue, speaking of
Insurance Company Protection Act), a pious communitarian (against divorce--!!),
no friend of civil liberties, feminism half a millimeter deep. I would vote for
candidate, not because of the New York thing but because she's arrogant, hates
endorsement or no; and the Conservative Party probably won't endorse him unless
he makes some gestures to the right, which will not help him with his New
I don't detect so far. I hope she does, since it would at least be an exciting
have been the best candidate, actually, but at this point she could never
Re: the dailies' casual attitude toward facts: If news stories get the dates
wrong, the "facts" purveyed by what passes for news analysis and commentary
in the middle of an endless euphoric economic boom and lots of jobs at rising
wages, while what I see is a shaky stock market, technology companies unable to
unload their overstock of computers, continuing layoffs, people losing good
beliefs were way out of line. They were good neighbors, but, well, I got blue
"He used to say, 'They're watching me, through your satellite
"We figured they would have questioned him and let him go and
Pretty nice? Harmless? Forgot about it? Why, oh why, do the neighbors feel
this compulsion to brush aside the dark side of the killer next door? If you
just found out that nice man you saw trimming his lawn yesterday just mowed
down some people, your first reaction would not be to relive the sweet memory
neighbors go on the record with comments that are nave, foolish, and odd.
It may be the neighbors are simply following the script. Thanks to
television news culture, the neighbors have undoubtedly memorized what
neighbors are supposed to say, (nice guy, kept to himself) and dredge that from
little withdrawn. But not real bizarre," and that, "he never bothered anyone."
(Anyone? What about all those people he killed?) According to his neighbors,
The most generous explanation is that the neighbors are demonstrating a
savagely murdering his first wife, but they blocked that out. Furrow's
the shots he fired at their houses, and the punches he threw at girls as just
defensiveness. No one wants to be blamed for not reporting a mass murderer. So
neighbors make a Herculean effort to present their homicidal acquaintance as
banal. Then they won't seem like idiots for not noticing his villainy.
closets] locked. He had a video camera attached to the ceiling, which recorded
every move. Otherwise there was nothing strange, they said." There wasn't? They
also noticed the stench of rotting meat from his apartment and they "heard
there was nothing odd about him, that he joined in neighborhood barbecues, that
them: "We've got other ones around here that act a lot farther out than he ever
But don't blame the neighbors too much. Their trite comments say a lot more
neighbors themselves. Reporters rely on neighbors to flesh out the characters
of killers, but what, really, do neighbors know? Ask yourself: What could you
No, the ignorance stems more from the very nature of neighborliness.
Neighbors attribute decency to the killer next door because the standard of
behavior required for being a good neighbor is so extremely low. Barton managed
Furrow once helped someone park a car. Almost anyone, even the most sociopathic
of sociopaths, can get through the occasional interaction like that without
Of course, not everyone fails to understand the killers in their midst.
neighbors missed. Even as the adults in the neighborhood were remembering
Golden as "a beautiful young kid," the children who played with him were
Why did the classmates see what the neighbors didn't? Because you can fake
your way through a neighborly hello, but you can't fake your way through
floor of something really new and different and exciting. I know how jazzed you
own. I had never written a business story in my life. I barely knew a stock
It was the dawn of the age of takeovers; nobody had ever even heard of, say,
later come. And, of course, takeovers were much more problematic as a social
but more than that, hooked on business as a subject to write about. Those were
the days when you got the business beat after you'd been demoted from the obit
on this wonderful secret: Business was exciting! Business was dramatic!
Business stories were less about balance sheets than about egos and pride
and failures and triumphs and all the other things that are the grist of good
the Wall Street Journal and began emphasizing the drama of business, and
companies, and the people who built them (Gates, Jobs et. al.) They fueled the
popular imagination. Now everyone understands how exciting this is. And the
Internet industry has only ratcheted up the excitement all the more.
The weird part about it all is that the people who build these companies are
them to build empires make them lousy to write about. They usually lack
introspection. They don't want to recount the past, because they're looking
often writing about boring people doing really interesting things.
to questions about his rumored drug use. Bush admitted to youthful mistakes but
could scare them away.  Speakers called for the president's swift exit but
comments came after a journalist's inquiry into whether or not Bush could pass
a background check that might be given to members of his administration. The
curiosity into his activities as a young adult and debate over the press'
buried in the rubble. The Post carries this figure as well but
attributes it to an official government estimate made after flights over the 
region. Unburied bodies pose great risks to public health as a source of
disease, the papers report. The fire at Turkey's largest oil refinery, which
the LAT led with yesterday, was brought under control after fire
brought with them more bread and water than locals could consume, but no
criminal investigation into contractors who built the apartment complexes that
Church, two years after dismissing a similar measure. The two churches will
missionary and social programs. The pact will have great resonance abroad, as
and programs. The Episcopal Church is expected to approve the union at its
predictions that smaller competitors will lock arms as well, thereby reducing
History textbook or today's front page?:  "The revolt of the serfs
has sparked a backlash by the landlords, who are moving to crush the rebellion
before it gets out of hand."  Both. The LAT "Column One" article reports
that the drive for freedom is rattling the world's largest remaining holdout of
against landlords who have shackled and sold them for hundreds of years.
I have to admit, I began the first Harry Potter book in a mood of irritable
skepticism. Having worn out flashlight batteries under the blankets since
their readers through adventures of the sort that seem to have vanished from
serious adult fiction, with compelling inventiveness that's rarely been seen
for children, once explained it by saying, "You're not allowed to bore
children." And since no one bundles them off into the ghetto of genre when they
can draw on myths and fairy tales to give their books resonance and deeply
adult to read them. Friends would thank me with polite puzzlement when I gave
would rather spend their beach reading on plodding thrillers than on the
reading aloud to them when they were laid up with the flu (which does work, but
you lose your voice). So what were these Harry Potter books? Why were healthy
favorites here, Tony), which everybody turned up their noses at?
Well, no, the Harry Potter books aren't better. But that's good news for his
adults will find a savory spread of great kids' books right beneath their
noses, now that they've plucked those noses down from the stratosphere. And I
bet kids are turning to other great books while they wait for the next
School for Wizards after discovering his own magical powers in the first book
There's even a fine body of literature in the intersection. When I started
about a hapless student at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches. The two series
minds of their own; scary teachers; potions gone wrong; school uniforms that
books. It's a dark, witty suspense story about an outbreak of illegal magic in
But soon I was hooked, just like everyone else. The woman has an amazing
imagination. She structures the series like one of those Renaissance paintings,
with the perspective lines heading off to infinity in all directions, and weird
supernatural beings and rock formations in the background, while in the
foreground someone in a peculiar hat has an intense interaction with a
hippogriff. And she's so funny! Didn't you love the Whomping Willow, the tree
on the school grounds that bashes any creature fool enough to touch it, and
Peeves, the school poltergeist, whom everyone treats with irritated toleration?
Not to mention poor Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost who's not allowed to ride
in the wild headless chase because the ax that did him in was too blunt and
I was impressed with her technique for interweaving her magical world with
with its denizens wandering around in a bit of a muddle. Think of that
And the books are getting better and better. What did you think of the
prison, by sucking hope from the prisoners, leaving them in a state of icy
after finding security there too tight, he stumbled upon the North Valley
as simply, "federal limits on handgun purchases") and never mentions what laws
elaborate precautions against shootings, despite federal reports that
featured SWAT teams, helicopters, ersatz pipe bombs, and drama students
sporting fake wounds. The director of a superintendents' lobby group sums up
something, even though no one agrees on what that should be."
its recent talk of independence. Both stories, sourced to "experts" and
nonetheless real. The Post says any action would likely occur after an
properly investigate espionage allegations against fired employee Wen Ho Lee.
recommend disciplinary action.) The officials, fingered by the agency's
inspector general, were not named, but a "department source" tells
had been punished rather than rewarded for speaking up. "There was a total
pilots have fired on more than triple the number of targets attacked in last
story: It is hard news reported almost as if it were a trend, and it is pegged
partly to its own absence in the very newspaper in which it now appears.
An LAT "Column One" story describes how the spouse of nearly every
Journal also puts this story high in its "Worldwide" box.) The
Conducted by the congressional General Accounting Office, a preliminary
follow leads pointing to financial problems, criminal histories, and alcohol
The LAT reports that despite the slowdown in prison growth,
parole violators have kept the growth rate from dropping as much as it might
The Post runs a fascinating feature on the informational firewalls
divides its men into "clean" and "dirty" teams; the former collects criminal
evidence, the latter, intelligence. The dirty team has an attorney filter what
is illegal or too classified for the "clean" prosecutors to know. For example,
Knowledge of this confession was relayed from the dirty to the clean team,
which then used the tip to help it extract its own, legal confession.
or lowering rates. It's also a matter of sending the right messages to the bond
touched on this point once before, when the Fed announced at its last
meeting that it was keeping interest rates steady but changing its bias. Where
once the Fed kept its deliberations secret and acted as sphinxlike as possible
about its intentions, it now tries to indicate what it's concerned about and
the direction in which it's leaning. In one sense, this has made the exercise
of trying to game the Fed easier, since there's more material to go on. In
another sense, it's made everything trickier, since there are a host of signals
to interpret, and sometimes they're not in harmony.
Today, for instance, the Fed didn't make what would have been the surprising
least at first. But the increase would certainly have slammed the brakes on an
worried about inflation, even though there are signs that continued strong
demand and tight labor markets are beginning to make themselves felt. But then
interest rate the Fed charges banks who want to borrow money from it). And
while the discount rate itself is not that important, which is to say that an
increase in it will have no material effect on the economy, the message the
increase sends is important, and that message is that the Fed is more concerned
about inflation than the small hike in the federal funds rate would indicate. I
In addition to the rate increases, the Fed also shifted its bias back toward
believed it would be. But the fact that the Fed isn't biased toward further
tightening suggests that the economy isn't necessarily growing faster than
In the long run, worrying about all this stuff probably doesn't matter very
much. The Fed and the bond market will determine how fast the economy goes by
determining interest rates, and the concrete impact of the federal funds rate
psychological effect of the Fed's symbolic gestures. But it also seems true
gestures to push interest rates in a certain direction without the Fed's having
to take concrete action. It's as if he can speed things up or slow them down
Of course, mixed messages are a persistent danger here, as evidenced by
market will do a good job of sorting through the messages and finding the ones
the Time Inc. building, where Fortune is headquartered, I was a pretty
cranky guy yesterday. My mood is much improved today, back in my lovely little
worried that you're not getting enough sleep on what is supposed to be, after
all, a short vacation for you. In any case, yesterday I didn't think I could
muster another thought about the Internet if you put a gun to my head. But as I
The distinction I was trying to make yesterday was between the Internet as a
tool to make the world a better place (which I don't buy) and the Internet as a
powerful business tool (which I very much do buy). And so there is not that
much in your message that I disagree with, because you are focusing on the
business dynamics. Where we do differ, clearly, is our level of enthusiasm for
the coming of interactivity. You're right: I roll my eyes at the thought of an
(To answer another query of yours: On the privacy issue, I subscribe to the
the effect of: "You've already lost your privacy. Get over it." Some years ago,
I wrote a book that was devoted, in part, to the rise of the credit card
industry. In doing that research, I became painfully aware of how much personal
information was already "sloshing around," as you put it. In other words, long
before the Internet, this battle had been lost. And in truth, I don't much care
what is discovered about my "habits" through my Web use.)
The reason it is the most successful Internet company is that it has a huge
revenue stream because it charges a monthly subscription fee. There is no way
it wants give away free what it used to charge for, but it is being forced to
company, to squeeze away profits, and to give consumers a deal that seemingly
makes no economic sense but is great for them. The irony is that the
are awfully resilient. They proved it a few years ago, when it was widely
believed that their service would be rendered irrelevant by the growth of the
Internet. And the company's performance during the past few years has been
little short of astounding. I have no doubt they will adapt to broadband, and
the potential loss of most of their revenue stream? I dunno. Do you?
Case, who was deposed one day when the trial was in recess. They were both
smart, clever guys who could not be rattled, and easily deflected even the most
SOB.) But the trait they had most in common is that were both real wiseacres,
University basketball stadium. They competed on food, music, and celebrity
on a roll is overcooked and a little dry. Baby back ribs are better.
News reports covering the earthquake in Turkey have emphasized the health
so that the country can dispose of corpses more quickly. Do these bodies
The rotting corpses of earthquake victims are a "negligible" threat to
public health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
A corpse is only a danger to public health if the victim died of an
infectious disease. (In that case, the disease organisms can infect living
people who come in contact with the cadaver.) But when someone dies of trauma,
as most earthquake victims did, the decomposition process is harmless, if
the corpse also eat the cadaver, as can wasps, beetles, and other insects.
Larger animals such as birds, rats, and dogs pick at unguarded corpses.
The bacteria involved in decomposition are not dangerous, because living
people already carry identical germs in their own bodies. The maggots and other
insects, though revolting, also constitute no threat to public health. Rats do
host fleas, which can transmit typhus, typhoid fever, plague, and other
diseases. But rats endanger public health wherever they mingle with people:
They are no more harmful when they feed on corpses than at any other time.
Despite ancient fears of death's "miasma," the foul odor emitted by the body
Some reports hint that unburied corpses could contaminate Turkey's water
supply. This is not a serious danger. In a very few cases, bacteria from
corpses can cause illness when they contaminate drinking water in large
quantities. But water in Turkey is much more likely to be contaminated in other
ways, especially ruptured sewer lines that dump bacteria into reservoirs and
Because the public health threat from corpses is minimal, the WHO has even
urged Turkey to allocate more resources to aiding the injured and fewer to
curtailment of his role in the continuing nuclear espionage investigation. Last
was slowed by political interference. The resignation comes amid growing doubts
be in violation of a constitutional prohibition against gaming, threatens to
Reserve Board will announce its rate decision today. The Wall Street Journal explains that the market is
interpreting the anticipated rate hike as the last raise this year and an
effective means of keeping inflation at bay without slowing economic growth.
raise interest rates again this year. All papers expect the Fed to hue to its
"neutral bias" by indicating no predisposition toward a future rate
uncovered in ruins two weeks after previous quakes. The LAT reports that
of disease, and doubts that the devastated cities will be rebuilt.
system designed to protect battlefield troops by tracking and shooting down
further review, simulating field conditions, is necessary.
once received government grants through scientific foundations that rigorously
lobbying Congress for earmarked appropriations. Congress members insert
deliberately obscure provisions into unrelated legislation to provide money for
favored educational institutions. Colleges in the home states of powerful
Appropriations Committee senators benefit from a disproportionate share of the
to cut emergency service costs by encouraging its customers to call the health
They fear that insurers will fail to send the closest ambulance and deny care
One week after the paper published an inaccurate lead story, which left the
Times editorializes on why foreign aid is an unpopular cause. The paper
condemns Congress' myopic intent to cut foreign aid and argues that
international assistance is a good investment because it can bolster political
foreign aid money has been wasted in the past. But that is no reason to starve
Well, I guess we probably will not ever agree. But I only need to use your
examples as proof that what the Internet has wrought in an unbelievably short
Dell's success) has been turned on its ear, the retail industry is reeling (did
to prominence in only five years. I think you don't even have to take a poll of
And why is this? Because, finally, after all those years of promises, the
interactive age is upon us. I used to joke that the idea of interactive
television has been around since I had been a fetus, but that it never seemed
to work. Now, pretty much every major communications company is formulating
in the house, really. Did you hear about the Internet refrigerator that links
to grocery sites? Of course, I am probably the only one who thinks this is a
good idea. It's clear to me that either via a plethora of wires or satellite or
wireless means, we are all going to be plugged in more than ever before in the
coming years. I myself am a cell phone freak, who cannot imagine being without
be mocked for my cell addiction, but now I am regularly sought after for advice
But to a bigger point, we should all think about what this means to society
and its citizens on a more personal level. For this, I turn to an article in
the disease have said they met those partners offline after meeting in
cyberspace first. To say nothing of the idea that the Internet is replacing the
bar as the best place to hook up, the Times asked the more pertinent
question: "When does the right to online privacy yield to public health
issues?" The big problem is that most of the men knew their infected partners
I would be curious what you think of this and perhaps about the broader
issues of so much personal information sloshing around about Internet users.
The medium is really a marketer's dream, giving them the ability to glean a lot
of highly specific information about people and their habits. A dozen companies
and more to come are focused solely on recording and interpreting user
It also cuts both ways. Several missives ago, you did hit on a good point
about products and, most important, prices. This is another big idea to me and
one that I have been waiting to happen for a long time. I was a retail reporter
for seven years before I started covering the Internet, and my one major
conclusion from the job was that retailers hate customers. Any new system that
allows a consumer to take back some of the power that is rightfully theirs to
retail. In this system, people ask for what they want and the retailers respond
rather than being told what they like and don't like. But is there some problem
with this? Will, for example, there eventually be a site dedicated solely to
intellectual understanding of what certain major acts have contributed to rock
'n' blues (the music of the black South) and other manifestations of the black
could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make
Miller's training as an intellectual historian is the source of most of the
Finally, the Sex Pistols unite all the nihilism and flimflam that's been
One of the striking differences between this rock history and others is that
nothing but reprises of old themes. Do you buy that? I distrust it. When Miller
hear not a critical insight but the moaning of one who's, like the rest of us,
oracle's excruciatingly dull metamorphosis into a pitiful, drunken slob.")
Where is disco, surely as reliable an indicator of musical decadence as the
And what do you think of Miller's take on race? Most accounts tend to view
capitalist race theft. Miller is subtler. On one hand, he shows just how many
It a Shame") that languishes in the middle of the charts. But he also shows
that borrowings worked both ways, and that white audiences were more daringly
The musical descriptions in Miller's book strike me as flat and formulaic,
unconventional modulation between major and minor keys, 'Hold Me Tight' was
away and what are you left with? Business writing, a narrative of how
I liked something, it must have been the most esoteric thing on the album.
marginal role in the early Stones. Same with Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols.
of seven or eight years ago, another rock history overstuffed with intellectual
structuralism to the Situationist International, that you could easily forget
downtown art world. "All Tomorrow's Parties" haunts me as much as it did when I
Mirror" has some claim to be the Great Rock Love Song. But if there's a lyrical
voice to the Velvets it's Reed's, particularly when he's in good humor:
Miller is to be admired, too, for pointing out the role of "texture" in the
Velvets' best music. Mo Tucker's drumming on "Run, Run, Run" is groundbreaking,
One thing I wanted to raise with you before I sign off on this very pleasant
week: What did you think of Miller's reggae chapter, which seems to make
mocked, ridiculed, and beat into cultural retreat." Did it? Rock seems to have
what is it in rock and roll that has allowed it to maintain its cultural
a decent living when I worked there, not to mention its role in representing a
militant staff culture and defending the autonomy of editors and writers,
with the Voice's editorial problems. The Voice was much better in
really strong, but it seems totally toothless now. On the contrary, the
Voice has been done in by '90s corporate culture with its emphasis on
because it's ultimately unquantifiable and resistant to control from the top.
If a publication is built around writers with strong, individual views and
identities, and people read the paper because of those writers, it gives the
Voice to stop being a writer's paper. Free distribution also changes the
nature of the readership and the relationship between readers and
A while ago I had a conversation with the Voice's managing editor in
which he said I was one in a long line of Embittered Alumni. I thought that was
witty, and briefly considered making up a Village Voice Embittered
just frustrated: I think the paper served a crucial function as a space for
cultural reporting and analysis and culturally radical ideas that were censored
elsewhere, and it isn't serving that function anymore, nor has any other
publication come close to replacing it. The Voice was the first
happened, the Voice would have sent a reporter out there for a few weeks
and would have had the best story on what was really going on there. And so on.
Well, I am sorry you were much maligned by my friends on the Motley Fool,
which was one of the first really successful online communities to take off.
But the kind of response you are getting is just the kind of thing I like about
the Web. Remember the days we used to sit on high at elite media organizations
and broadcast down our words to the people below? No more. And I could not be
more thrilled to hear back from readers since it only makes us better at our
jobs, despite the agony of having to listen to the wackos that always accompany
In fact, I really like this part of the Internet most of all, the ability of
people to bypass gatekeepers and perhaps even flex their minds a bit. I am
is another thing that seems to be a human perennial no matter the medium. It is
lot of people to hand over the most intimate of information.
my electronic letters to you while traveling. But there are no phones on this
into. So I have been calling in to two very patient 
have it posted. That has worked fine until I passed through a particularly
large group of buttes or canyons. Stupendous as they are from a nature point of
view, they utterly block my cell phone transmissions and I am left completely
without any useful technology. Imagine, a butte trumps all of man's
Nonetheless, since nothing works in this situation, I would like to take up
before it, like the printing press, the telegraph, the telephone, and, finally,
television. While I think all these mediums are momentous, I feel that they
have all been steps to where we are today with the Internet. At its very best,
be instantly telegraphed anywhere that adds on the interactivity of the
telephone. Soon more advanced audio and video will be part of the daily picture
on the Web. A network that links up people all over the world is one that is
clearly going to be more important than all others, if you really have to
I think the big question is how does society give everyone a seat at the
digital table. As far as I am concerned, the Internet is still a conversation
among the world's elite, a woeful trend that I see only getting worse. So I
perk up every time the notion of a free PC or free Internet access is brought
located in Silicon Valley that there are not enough rat holes to shove it down.
Combined with the giant amounts of money these companies are getting from Wall
people and too few new ideas. I think there has to be more branching out with
these investment dollars, especially if they're going to help as many people
The real question is, of course, will these already questionable Web
business models ever make enough money to pay back all this funding? I don't
know if Amazon can ever make the kind of money that will justify its lofty
stock price, although it certainly seems adept at spending cash. I have heard
the 1920s, and this current craze is nothing new. But it should not blind us to
the fact that some very real and significant businesses are being built
constantly fascinated by his desire to paint himself as a victim, especially in
fascinating to me because it painted an awfully childish tycoon who doesn't
seem to like the way he world is changing. Nonetheless, notice that most of the
riveted by the Internet, as well they should be. As the song from my favorite
much maligned craze that the Internet was often compared to in its early days.
banter was a version of chat rooms, and instant community was created from
and have their mail delivered by eagles or pterodactyls instead of owls? Or
maybe, if the stateside magic kingdom is too much to contemplate, the next
organization of the magic world. There seems to be a class system of
themselves.) But where do these distinctions come from? What is the source of
by workers in offshore magic sweatshops? Are they unionized? What is the
plausible and interesting questions, and ones I bet she'd have answers to.
Perhaps someday she'll publish a concordance to Harry Potter and explain it
Meanwhile, I don't see Harry falling for a succubus (I think that's the word
Which brings me to an intriguing point in your letter. I owe you a silver
sickle, since it seems plain to me that the homosexual themes are already
there, and treated with the sublimation and symbolism you predict. Well, not
conventionally and safely infantile. What I mean is that being a wizard is very
much like being gay: You grow up in a hostile world governed by codes and norms
that seem nonsensical to you, and you discover at a certain age that there are
norms right alongside the straight (muggle) one, yet strangely invisible to it.
find your way to them. The reaction of many straights (muggles) is hostility
that made me laugh out loud.) Consider too that there are wizards born of
muggles and muggles born of wizards, so that having magical power (like being
gay, at least according to some schools of thought) is, while not hereditary,
clearly innate. Your use of the phrase "a place for us" was especially
suggestive (though by "us" you meant the muggles), since that's the title of a
modern gay male cultural identity. The process of acculturation he describes
(which involves playing the cast album from Gypsy in your parents'
suburban basement), is not unlike what Harry undergoes in the early chapters of
Is this completely crazy? I won't be offended if you say yes. Will Jerry
but for other reasons, namely that the Potter books take a benign view of
paganism, magic, witchcraft, and other things that scare Christian
fundamentalists. A few years ago they went after Barney because he could fly,
and because he taught kids about the powers of the imagination (in their
have also been outcries raised about Dungeons and Dragons, and about the mere
matter of time before school libraries start getting calls from concerned
parents complaining about our dear Harry. Which makes me like him all the more,
That's it! On their year abroad in the United States, Harry and his pals
In an unusual turn, foreign policy leads at all the papers. The New York Times goes with an
Post leads with its exclusive interview of the former chief of
funneled to the three nationalist parties that govern the partitioned state of
the United Nations, the United States Agency for International Development, and
end of the war in 1995--were to have gone to infrastructure repair and
not a "shred of evidence" against Lee, and that China's stolen nuclear secrets
could have come from any of hundreds of government agencies and defense
conferences have never been investigated. (To read 
is rich but not very liquid. He has been cutting down on his father's more
family business, liquidate real estate in his home town in New Jersey, or go
may not be entirely cynical, because the farmers' pain is real. Fresh evidence:
and hotlines in farming areas have soared with the recent decline in commodity
and kids are known to get ulcers worrying about their parents' fate. But wait!
"Work Week" also reports that farmer retraining programs at community colleges
sporting bras with patterns and prints. Some wear headbands made of faux bra
editor of Apparel Industry magazine. A textile manufacturer pins down
the appeal: "You can peek but not touch. It's sexually baiting but not in a
conscious way. It's just naughty enough to get away with."
seriously disrupted the normal order of society, causing chaos in people's
he was in his 20s. Pundits also spend a few moments discussing the political
Most pundits agree that questions about whether Bush has ever tried cocaine
are relevant to this year's presidential campaign and a legitimate part of
public discourse. They also agree that the imbroglio in which Bush now finds
Still, pundits are highly critical of Bush's handling of the cocaine issue.
They believe it raises serious questions about the character and credibility of
responses to questions about drug use as a youth. They attack him for sounding
controversy looking like a waffler and, worst of all, a hypocrite of the first
based in large part on his personal biography. He has trumpeted his credentials
as a faithful husband and fine father, volunteered to reporters that he no
tarnished the dignity of the Oval Office. Bush has promised that as president
he would uphold the dignity of that office, and pundits wonder how he can talk
about some aspects of his personal life without discussing other, less pleasant
tough who supports stiffer sentencing guidelines for convicted drug
indeed, other than the Bush cocaine controversy, the opinion mafia has little
running a listless campaign and needs to start focusing on major issues of
almost brought down a president and has been, by most measurements, a
sensational, 15-second spots that titillate viewers and try to convince them to
stay tuned for upcoming segments. This week the producers at Fox News advertise
an upcoming dialogue on the Bush cocaine controversy by playing the popular
'80s dance song "White Lines" and showing footage of a protester running across
injured and thousands more still missing. Rescue and relief teams from all
blaze out of control, threatening to blow up a nearby fertilizer plant and
forcing tens of thousands of local residents to flee. The New York Times lead
Post lead, dwarfed by the quake headline below it, carries yesterday's
to the drought by regional officials could impede effective conservation of
goes with results of the annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. 
Survivors interviewed by the paper blamed the government for not conducting
adequate building inspections, failing to create food reserves, and failing to
government leaves regional authorities without the resources to cultivate local
civil defense teams. Earthquake experts tell the LAT that strict
than Turkey, despite similarities in their fault systems.
ruble crash sent money flying out of the country even more furiously than
usual. Money sifted through the Bank of New York account may have gone to pay
contract killers and drug lords, the paper reports. 
The federal survey reveals that teen use of cocaine, marijuana, and other
an indication that messages from parents, schools, and the government are
people aged 18-to-25 saw an increase in both drug use and smoking. A substance
flawed because parents must consent to their child's interview and tend to
final report is complete raises a thorny issue: Do the three judges who sit on
the panel that appointed him have the right to name a successor now that the
prosecutor statute has expired? A new appointee might face legal roadblocks
may make resources more scarce and finally tug prices upward at home. With
Economists expect that interest rates will head north to attract foreign
pushed their own savings rate into negative territory."
answer rumors that he has used illegal drugs:  "I happen to think Bush is a
carousing, his lost youth, his meandering career path and how he gave up booze
and found God. This is a stirring tale, and I am moved every time I hear it."
the success of this movie is not a myth. One of the surprising things about the
response, though, was how many people hated the film. In part, it did
sound like a classic case of a movie that in two weeks went from being a
film ever made. But I was still surprised, since I thought that the quality of
Witch is owned, after all, by Artisan Entertainment, a small independent
over the country in the space of just a couple of weeks.
good, which undoubtedly made selling the film to theater owners easier than it
would otherwise have been. But there's still something wonderful about the
speed with which theaters that normally would have had four screens showing
example of how quickly supply rises to meet demand with no planning involved at
The second point is more mundane, but also more curious, and it has to do
with a weird new trend in movie advertising in which one film tries to take
advantage of the buzz surrounding another film, even though the two movies have
absolutely nothing in common. This strategy was used to great effect by
The answer, I think, is none of the above. Instead, with the buzz on
threw up their hands and decided that there was no point in selling the film as
what it is. Instead, they wanted to see if they could catch a little halo
still doesn't really make sense. Who would ever go see one movie because its ad
Third parties, as the saying goes, are like bees: They sting and then they
elections but by influencing the two major parties to adopt their positions.
nonetheless effective in the sense that both the Democrats and the Republicans
buzzing around recently have been political oddballs who seem to hail from
If none of them has yet taken the plunge, it may be because there's a small
catch to the cash, namely the Reform Party itself, which has come to resemble
catastrophe. In short, the Reform Party is both run and overrun by people who
table. But in this unstable environment, no one can predict whether that stake
will be used to whack the Democrats from the left or the Republicans from the
requirements are a commitment to political reforms like term limits, a belief
in fiscal discipline, and skepticism about free trade. Even these points may be
interest is in keeping a seat warm until he's ready to run for president
but has come out in favor of gay marriage, which would seem to rule out
next year's Reform Party nominating convention might be the most entertaining
Why these books, why now? Boy, that's a hard one. Could be a simple matter
of demographics: Boomers' kids are old enough to know what they like and say
so, and there are enough of them to give their collective voice a certain
volume. Or maybe it's a cyclical thing: Fantasy was last in fashion during the
'70s, when (as you point out) Star Wars had its astonishing apotheosis.
leaving her readers no time to lose their appetites. Or could it be our
ambivalence about the recent furious surge of moody technology, giving us
apparently magical powers that we can't quite control? Or is someone at
I wonder whether it's true, as you claim, that children are less likely than
whole certainly don't seem to think so. Classics like Little Women and
The Secret Garden preach shamelessly without losing their passionate
young groupies, even today. Kids, after all, get plenty of lectures
("discipline," "limits") from their beloved parents. The more recent crop of
books continue to preach, though they promote psychological health rather than
depth from a combination of allegory and genuine human interactions that
trajectory: Harry is sure he knows who are the good guys and who are the bad
guys, but he guesses wrong. In the second book, I thought at first that she was
pulling the same trick, but I should have trusted her. The apparent villain
more clearly in each volume, there are lots of ways to help the forces of
darkness: You can join them with all your heart, but you can also succumb to
kind of folks (in his case, dragons and monstrous spiders). Or you can just be
a vain goofball. In each book, the enemy's helpers become increasingly
The series also has some of the excitement that Dickens' readers must have
felt as they read his novels in serial form, knowing he was home working
frantically on the next installment. Publishing the first books before she's
puts them to new uses. The Whomping Willow, for example, which seems like a bit
rummage around for mice and rats to enchant into horses and coachmen.
I wonder how she's going to handle the Great Battle that comes with the
genre, where Good meets Bad for something like a final showdown. So far, she's
given us small (if important) skirmishes, and sketched out a grand battle past.
The danger of series like this is that they can so easily collapse at the end,
becoming too allegorically complex or too morally simple. How do you think
will play a villainous role in one of the next books? I hope so.
A difference between you and me that transcends right vs. left is that you
take electoral politics more seriously than I. Democrats vs. Republicans is a
politics of small differences at this point. The country is basically being run
by global corporations that, aside from their direct economic influence on who
gets elected and what they do when they get elected (a large aside), control
economic policy by essentially saying to politicians on all levels, federal,
state, and local, give us fiscal austerity, low taxes, and less regulation or
we a) will take our jobs elsewhere and b) won't lend you money. In general I
prefer Democrats because they're not beholden to the Christian right and the
appointments, etc. But even on social issues, there's more convergence than
convicted of anything, Draconian sentences, peeing on command as a requirement
plants, although no one can guarantee it won't be an ecological disaster; these
hunts. Then there's welfare reform, whose two basic assumptions are that
endless work at wages too meager to live on is morally uplifting and that
single mothers are causing all of society's problems.
The bottom line (probably not my best metaphor in this context) is the
present economic and social system, like it or not. This is a colossal failure
of imagination. It's true enough that it's very difficult right now to envision
what that alternative might be. I certainly have no blueprints to offer. But
there have always been people who argued that change is impossible, or
unnecessary, or both, and they have always been wrong.
paralyzing on a cultural as well as a political level. I didn't mean to imply
that there is really a "counterculture" now, in the sense of any conscious
collective opposition. You're right, there's nothing comparable to the cultural
think most people these days see politics as pretty trivial and irrelevant to
things can be different, so the desire stays under the surface. I think
my standards for a really good magazine are still New York and
Esquire in the '60s and Rolling Stone in the '70s. This is a
recipe for total frustration on the contemporary magazine front. Never mind
"favorite." What are the magazines I look forward to reading? First, I guess,
get high." And you're right about how easy it is to get caught up in the sound
have always assumed it to be totally apocryphal. On the other hand, it makes
record collection, he had to borrow one. He didn't have a record
Monk and threw up his hands as if to say, "What's this crap?"
responsible one. He gives us a history of the term "oldies but goodies," and
mentions "In the Still of the Night," scarcely noticed when it came out in
oldies stations is any indication of his ultimate stature, he's one of the
giants. Similarly, I remember that on the Pretenders' debut album, "Talk of the
stations. The album didn't have any "hits." Today, no matter what town you're
as evidence that it's my memory that's failing. Perhaps rock history is
food goes. I suspect this will be a huge political issue within a few years,
and five to ten years from now, after the boycotts and hoopla, we'll all be
eating very strange (as we currently perceive it) foods. A tomato that's
Whatever. I don't think there's any fighting it. It took me a while to get used
to waiting behind someone on line at the coffee shop near work who ordered a
The Bush "coke" story will be in the papers for a few more weeks. As this
story has progressed during the day, in retrospect I think that instead of
strategy: "Fuck you. I ain't playing your game." It'll be interesting to see
what the White House is cooking up for the general election as far as Bush
conservative, if you can believe it. Granted, I live in New York, but my many
Gore's run a crummy campaign, but he's got a huge, horny monkey on his
changes are minimal. Looks fine to me; just some tinkering with typefaces,
misleading, with the absurd headline "Village Voice Is Cleaning Up Its Act."
Some comics have been moved to the front of the paper, including Tom
phased out? The Voice never takes my advice in MUGGER, but what they
need to do editorially to make it vital again is this: Bust the union, get rid
of all the deadwood that's cramming its pages, reduce its staff by half, find
Perhaps you're a loyalist, but the Voice is far more dull than say,
begging all politicians and elected officials to stay away from baseball,
football, basketball games, etc. I agree. Most presidents don't give a shit who
wins or loses, and just cause huge traffic jams and inconveniences to real fans
The papers are still milking Bush and the drug thing because they're filling
he isn't saying anything substantive, let alone controversial. The reason
politicians won't be honest about their marijuana use is simple: If they
admitted they had enjoyed pot and suffered no adverse effects, this would raise
uncomfortable questions about why they don't come out against laws that put
people in jail and confiscate their property for doing the same thing. And
advocates are for the most part scared to defend drug use as a legitimate
pleasure or the right to alter your own consciousness as a civil liberty; they
just talk about "harm reduction." There are three opinions you can't voice in
experiments in consciousness expansion were basically a good thing; organized
And speaking of religion, the Wall Street Journal had a story on a
the government to label genetically engineered food, on the grounds that food
don't know and don't care about the potential consequences of their
eat beef with antibiotics or milk with growth hormone. Of course, this is just
what the industry is worried about, as an official at the Biotechnology
Industry Organization admitted in the article. They argue that since such a
boycott would be irrational and would ruin the industry, the information should
be withheld. Now, here's an issue for defenders of the free market. How can I
(and I can't simply not buy food)? And don't I have the right to reject goods I
don't want for whatever reason I please, rather than have biotech companies
Can it be that our exercise in stunt online writing is nearing its
conclusion already? And just now when we'd gotten to the topic of Newt
Newt's hypocrisy is truly flabbergasting. But the thing that always kills me
or even the hypocrisy, it's how these affairs undermine the work of the other
women (and men) who hold the same jobs as the old guys' paramours.
kind of class action lawsuit. Couldn't they get damages for their lost future
the same story fails to unearth a single credible potential buyer. As you asked
reacted to the Chronicle columnist's suggestion that he should buy the
deceased cooking show hosts, and dying newspapers. I wish you luck in all
depressingly familiar story. Why is the world unable to create an international
force to provide manpower and equipment to assist in the aftermath of huge
natural and manmade disasters (which seem to occur pretty reliably at least
five or six times a year)? This extremely sensible idea was floated by the
1990s. But for some mysterious reason, nobody seemed terribly interested.
from all over the world, than it used to, thanks to its new Office for the
many duties of the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator
disaster scenes is to pool the efforts of national governments, not to do the
been tried. Clearly, whatever small improvements the United Nations has made in
government doesn't strike Chatterbox as the way to go.
A flexible rapid deployment force would report to a single director. More
important, it would know what each kind of disaster called for, and would
either possess or have immediate access to the basic required equipment. The
agreement with other nations, promising to help each other in case of disaster,
the burden would be to refuse aid rather than to ask for it.
humanitarian level." Either way is fine with Chatterbox.
lamp" image as the mother of modern nursing completely obscures her real
significance, which was as a ruthlessly effective administrative reformer,
least had the excuse that the age of modern medicine, with its emphasis on
sterility and proper ventilation of hospital rooms, was only just dawning.
Who even knew that anyone still cared about things like trade deficits? I
mean, the United States has been borrowing tens of billions of dollars every
month from foreign investors for so long that I thought it was just something
scare even the most dedicated stock buyers, so that yesterday's news that the
Concerns about the suddenly weak dollar, worries about the trade deficit,
of these anxieties feel like just that: anxieties without any real object.
After all, bond yields fell by more than a quarter point this week, assuaging a
lot of concerns about the impact of rising interest rates on stock prices. So
all the victims of the fears of August just had to find something new to fret
all this talk about a suddenly fragile economy will make any sense. So go buy
something and keep the boom going. Here's Chatter for this week.
favor of a campaign that focuses more on Sears' strength as an affordable
'Come for the batteries, stay for the home furnishings.'"
write the 'Laughter Is the Best Medicine' column would have made such a
despite the fact that interest rates there remain at about zero. That means
means that it's hard to see how economic growth is going to be sustained there,
apparently negotiated a refinancing deal that will wipe out the value of all
best Democratic candidate. Perhaps she best represent your politics, and those
of many New Yorkers, but she certainly doesn't have the juice to defeat
he's a control freak. So he's somewhat immunized against such lapses in a
You may be correct, but where do you get your information that the stock
the rapid communications system in place today alerted the people who could do
Back to your old turf. I don't know if you read the Times today, but
acknowledge the pop star's vast wealth, but still gives him a bye. He writes:
"But at the same time he has gotten more than he wanted only to discover that a
dream fulfilled is no longer a dream; it is a new and heavier weight." Yikes.
mournfully would trade places with him in a second.
make sure my younger son didn't get swallowed by the undertow. My wife and I
managed one night without the boys, going to a country club dinner with my
brother and his wife, which was remarkable only for the dazzling array of
when he visited the (mostly) golfing facility in the early '50s, was very
kind of cool: You'd get the meaningless Times fax with breakfast, but
arduous exercise of building sand castles and going swimming, it made me less
hobbyhorses is that the vast majority of dailies and magazines are overstaffed
dailies. For example, in a sidebar to the letters section in today's
Time magazine, an editor wrote: "Several people pointed out that while
one of the scores of editors and editorial assistants and assistants to
editorial assistants could've snared that mistake. We run a small shop at
inexcusable that large media organizations are rife with errors every day.
Today's New York Times has a teaser on the front page, "With Straw
contest on his hands. You don't have to guess who wrote the story
which outspent Bush considerably, was privately disappointed by the outcome,
hoping to either defeat the governor or come within a few percentage points.
to alleged rape and illegal campaign contributions, but don't get me
that Gore is on the ropes, will do everything in its power, from pictures to
captions to editorials, to stop Bush. Which is fine; I just wish they'd declare
themselves as partisan, as say, the Guardian or Telegraph in
I may be going on too long, but one more thought. I read in the New York
that the media is scum: They love all the coverage, love the Lady Di and Royal
Family hagiography, etc. And of course a large mass murder at a high school,
funeral of the black boy who was killed. That smacks of patronization to me.
straying from the news of the day. My heart says: Fuck them, let's talk about
what we want. However, since they were kind enough to invite us to the table, I
do have a few things to say about today's "news." I know you're not as
sort of way, but I cannot for the life of me understand the Beltway media's
what a "maverick" he is. Instead, they'll draw a picture of a sour,
we've seen for months: He's unpredictable, angers Republicans with his campaign
finance and tobacco stands (making him an honorary Democrat with that sort of
was a stupid war and not worth fighting and dying for. Get over not having that
isn't quite as "liquid" as everyone thought and is going to have to sell some
assets to compete with Bush. I wonder how his family feels about his quixotic,
and ultimately selfish, presidential campaign? If I were one of his five
aphrodisiac. Instead of dealing with Bush, and getting a plum position in his
administration, or running for senator from New Jersey, where he'd stand a
various states to get out his message. I like his message, but I read it every
in his sniffy Observer way: "Nobody ever said the Voice was all
about the high road" and objects to the headline of the column "I Am Butt Girl,
get them first, no home delivery up here. Hopefully something in the paper will
stimulate a little adrenalin (not much luck this week; last time I did one of
my relationship to a restaurant than to any print publication. I go there
occasionally, sample whatever looks interesting, often because somebody has
to the rest of the Web, actually, casual and uncommitted, without intense
expectations about what ought to be there or any necessity, as with newspapers
about X. Plus, there's much too much stuff to do anything like read a whole
"issue." I didn't subscribe to it when you had to pay. I might now, just
because it's become more prominent in the public conversation, and if I did
have to pay I might pay closer attention to it in the interest of getting my
most interests me about online journalism is it's so much looser and more
less like writing a piece than like participating in a panel discussion, only
I can in writing. I like the idea of talking to people I don't usually get to
conventional "high journalist," as I think of them; in my view it would be a
simply merge into one composite columnist who would write once a week so I
could find out what the latest conventional wisdom is without having to spend
that it's the medium of a counterculture; techno fans are looking for ecstasy
(I mean the state of mind, not the drug, though that too), for a kind of erotic
was totally dependent on technology), this one resonates with the
computer freaks or overlaps with them, I really have no idea, just that there's
a common impulse there). And this is what makes pop music, or popular culture
of any kind, compelling: that it becomes the catalyst for a new oppositional
art and the relation between them in some fresh way. Whereas rock 'n' roll in
its various forms just seems to be rehashing and cannibalizing the past.
candidates have been dropping by to eat corn dogs, drink ethanol, and hand out
locally famous for the big cows she crafts out of butter every year for the
decry it on the floor of the House of Representatives. But because it's at the
can't think of anything he's ever said that has gotten him in trouble. This may
everyone declaring his candidacy toast, he's not about to speak his mind just
for the sake of it. I try to provoke him a bit more.
quietly. Having downgraded his expectations, he now says that even a fourth
place finish in the straw poll will keep him in the presidential race. Though
all but abandoned by the press, he seems determined to hang on. Walking around
the state fair, he hurls himself at voters. Anyone who looks at him twice gets
"What's your name?" a woman sitting on a bench asks
presidency. Dudes puffing on big cigars signal higher and higher bids. Finally
on: "The presidency is too important to be bought or inherited," he says. "It
big mistake to nominate Bush without putting him through the hazing of a
acting the part of Secret Service. There's a sense of excitement when the
governor and first lady, as the Bush aides refer to them, emerge against a
rather cool outside, suggesting that he too is keenly aware of his visuals. He
Where Bush shines is in less formal situations after
reporters. He has a hearty, disarming manner, and expresses his enjoyment of
the moment with body language that is fluid and comfortable. Grenades don't
gives him a chance to lose his balance. "Governor, have you ever manufactured
substance. Another reporter asks if Bush regrets giving an interview to
"Somebody came in to get a flavor of the campaign. It
"Governor," she says, "you need to get back to your guests."
the "country is basically being run by global corporations" rap. That's too
violation of "family values") wouldn't exist, and capital gains taxes would be
slashed. I agree that the president and Congress has less to do with the
economy than is believed, and what they take credit for when things are going
that were true, the crazy amount of entitlements, handouts, and obscene
be an economic boon to the country. I am in favor of capital punishment and
think all this nonsense about "hate" crimes is just that: nonsense. Rhetoric
that obscures the debate. Any crime is hateful, whether it's committed
As for Columbine, I think the media, especially television, behaved
disgracefully. It was all about ratings (just as the intrusive coverage of John
it simply encourages copycat crimes. Columbine had the great hook: kids,
especially the unfortunate girl who professed her belief in God and became an
carried out in a financial work setting; it didn't have the juice of a high
more vital in the first half of the '70s; after the move to New York things
went downhill. My framework also includes Rolling Stone from that era,
the Voice in the '60s and early '70s, Spy in the late '80s. The
Brown (and I admired much of her work at Vanity Fair and the New
Like many legal terms, "hate crime" does not mean what it seems to. If you
crimes are crimes motivated by racial, religious, gender, or other prejudice.
Hate crime laws generally impose tougher punishments when crimes such as rape,
arson, assault, intimidation, and damage of property are motivated by bias.
others require it to be the sole factor. The federal Hate Crimes Sentence
because the victim was engaged in activities such as attending public school.
Some scholars believe hate crime laws are unwise or even unconstitutional.
They argue that criminals should be punished for their crimes, not for their
sentencing violates the First Amendment. But the Supreme Court unanimously
As ahead of itself as the presidential campaign, fall preview season is
magazines and newspapers in the country will participate in that odd
journalistic ritual whereby critics abandon the skepticism we demand of them
to bile when the plays or movies or art shows in question prove as
disappointing as one sort of suspected they would be.
writer has picked things to preview, he has to justify his choices), previews
everybody goes to cocktail parties, or even longs to be up on the latest thing.
tickets our parents are trying to pawn off on us is a gaudy spectacle from hell
or Great Art? We don't want long lists of everything we know we should see but
never will. We want the opposite: a list of everything we must absolutely not
see, under any circumstances, if it were the only show playing in the
literary, theatrical, and sartorial seasons. Just because it's unscientific
underlings to read, watch, listen, and try on the latest size-2 fashions for
her, she will rely on you, dear readers, for data. Tell her what on the fall preview lists about
to inundate us you've actually read, or seen, or worked on the set of, or worn,
or gotten some serious inside dope on, and know for a fact to be a
in For the Love of the Game. Having failed to win critics' hearts with
is presumably reverting to the most consistently successful formula of his
screening nor of gossip. She just has this hunch that For The Love of the
Cup --that mistakenly found its way to film. You make the call: "His team's
in last place. He's just found out he's about to get traded. And the love of
perfect game, he flashes back on his life and replays its pivotal moments."
For a company whose roots are in Bell Labs, source of innumerable
technological breakthroughs, Lucent is surprisingly unembarrassed about buying
technology that it can't, or doesn't want, to build itself. Since it was spun
well known that certain companies are exceptionally good at integrating
acquisitions into their existing operations. Not coincidentally, perhaps, two
of the best are competitors, namely Lucent and Cisco (which, reader beware, I
access. And before the year is out, expect Lucent and Cisco to announce more
For the most part, the logic behind that race is compelling. Lucent, with
its roots in more traditional telephone equipment, is trying to move strongly
into computer and data networks. Cisco, for its part, wants to build on its
already commanding position in data networking, even as it shifts more and more
of its business to take advantage of the explosion in the Internet. And with
technology shifting and developing as rapidly as it is, it's difficult (let's
companies create and develop technology, and Cisco and Lucent step in, buy up
these companies with their pricey stock, and reap the benefits. Needless to
say, this strategy works only if you're good at bringing companies on board
without wrecking them or yourself. Both Lucent and Cisco are.
The danger in all this, though, is overreaching, stretching a company beyond
companies design, install, and maintain computer and data networks. The deal
was hailed by analysts and the press as a powerful move by Lucent into
"services," offering the possibility that companies will now be able to come to
can now promise, but we'll help you install it and keep it running. Hell, we'll
even tell you why you should buy it in the first place.
That last point signals one of the obvious problems with the deal, which is
the best advice possible. If, every time a company asks an INS consultant what
kind of system it should install, the consultant says, "Why, Lucent, of
course," companies aren't going to be trusting INS much longer.
But even aside from that, this was a dubious acquisition, because in essence
revitalizing itself as a services company. But the truth is that it's better to
make hardware or software than to be in services. Consulting is a fine
The reason is obvious: Services require people, and always will. When you're
making hardware or, even better, licensing software, all your costs are under
your control, and once the product is actually developed, your profit margins
are very high. And production lines can be automated. Consulting, though, is by
Lucent would want to offer services in addition to equipment. But in acquiring
INS, Lucent appears to be forgetting one of the most important lessons of the
past two decades: Companies do best when they do only what they do best.
the vote.) The teaching of evolution in schools is a distant second.
other candidates proved they can't. The candidates seem to agree with this
and that as president he would pose a litmus test for judges on abortion.)
generated makes it important regardless. (In other words, it's important
that, at the straw poll, none of the candidates would go near the topic (save
Governmental Reform Committee hearings into campaign finance (the "Burton
unsolicited documents detailing how to go about taking the Fifth
but her arms shake uncontrollably throughout the interview and the microphone
picks up her hands spasmodically rustling against her papers on the interview
"reform and revive" their banks. The other potential causes of global
trade policies. For the second week in a row, the Economist calls for
theoretical threat to peace. He is a proven one." The magazine profiles
editorial calls for unilateral military action by the United States to enforce
"sovereignty." The cover story mourns the death of Oxford philosopher Sir
learn from each other: Indies offer character development and plot, while
him: "Usually in the pictures I make, the characters are not the most likable
the magazine says, and sources for damaging accusations are dubious or
cover of the year tracks "The New Science of Impotence." New drugs make flaccid
wonderful philanthropist, and a better parent than Di was.
plea for no death penalty: "There is no way around the fear and
sorrow that comes with knowing you may have a hand in causing the death of
evil." Other stories warn of biological terrorism and detail the growing legion
nightmare on the horizon. The new euro, based on nine different currencies,
evenings by making ourselves miserable, solely based on our ability to speak
package crows over Republican election victories. An analysis of the elections
promise to cut taxes. They lose or come uncomfortably close to losing if they
of the 1980s is still humming in the '90s; New York itself is a vastly cleaner,
eighties. We know perfectly well that children are most at risk at home, from
their own families and adult friends." An editorial blasts New York
models that economists are now building to predict the next currency crashes.
historians debunking the myths shrouding the venerated founder of their modern
whether he was atheistic, alcoholic, and authoritarian. (A cause of the current
story trashes health care reforms put forth by both Democrats and Republicans.
expensive. The only valid solution: national health care with guaranteed
story warns that antibiotics may soon stop working: Bacteria are quickly
developing immunity to even our strongest medicines. When antibiotics are no
longer effective, simple medical operations could lead to deadly infections.
sensitive personal info leads the piece to conclude that "the power once held
Your Ad Here" displays kids wearing clothing with corporate logos (Tide, Apple,
story details how costly divorce can be for rich executives. Jilted wives (the
execs are overwhelmingly men) score huge court victories, winning money,
property, and sometimes a large stake in their husbands' companies. Tips for
compete with Coke's Minute Maid. Coke refuses to concede, directing inordinate
autobiographical essay describes what it's like to owe huge amounts of money.
The author knows he can't afford his kids' private schools but compulsively
sinks himself further into debt just to keep up with the lifestyles of those
around him. Result: ongoing fights with credit card companies, the Internal
underworld of rape and child molestation. The author spent years covering the
sex assault beat for a newspaper, and the experience left him traumatized.
country club, who throws the best parties (read: most celebrity guests), how to
find good caterers, and where to hang with rap star Puff Daddy.
chronology details the shooting itself, while background information certifies
become deeply religious in the wake of the experience, one claiming that, while
in space, he "felt the power of God as [he'd] never felt it before."
outbreaks have stemmed from bad drinking water, apple juice, and hamburger
meat. Suggestions: Wash your hands, cook your food, and don't let kids in
but they may work with an already familiar icon (one of the first ads is a
recently busted the ring, but millions in treasure are still missing.
and speculators pay hundreds of dollars for nearly worthless stuffed animals.
story bemoans the decline of manliness and blames liberals, whose attempts to
unmanly. We need to teach them the real male values: heroism and honor.
against environmental racism will actually hurt minorities. The policy
discourages polluting factories from locating in areas with large minority
other teams from extorting their cities in the future. Publicly funded stadiums
Title IX for opening opportunities to women athletes. It does not hurt men's
college programs unless the college opts to sink money into major men's sports
still have almost twice as many opportunities to play in school athletic
sport with a socialist heart ("handicaps" allow bowlers of different abilities
to compete against one another on equal terms). Recent technological
improvements (new lane surfaces, different ball materials) have made the game
even better, and it's still affordable, social, and fun.
climax, when he finally gets to pick up a gun," says Entertainment
vitality and pure inner joy contained within the music disguises how dated it
Independence has endured the decades. "A surprisingly (if oddly) skilled
just nods to jingoistic values in a time of social upheaval." Praise goes to
resentfully, how the "reactionary" show beat out Hair for a Tony;
original about sailors on 24-hour leave in New York (which later became a Frank
problems starts with basics like the acting and dancing: Its cast of unknowns
"is jarringly unbalanced," and "as a dance show, it has two left feet"
presidential candidate plays fast and loose with history. (Most problematic: A
small and brief and enigmatic certain writers' lives can be once you've
his books. Preferably without." (See the elaborate Apaches
confidence of outside investors." He must also balance "white fears against
and work for peanuts (actually, for eggs, rice, and fruit). They do get sick
are otherwise occupied. (There is no "shake violently" function yet.)
times as many as a decade ago. (Most are offensive linemen.) Surprisingly, very
He has the right political instincts, but he's still too wooden. He should try
gentiles.) The predictable conclusion: Some interfaith couples choose one
religion and stick to it, others let the kids decide. (See
cover story reports on the apocalypse, collecting popular
prophecies on how it will happen. Favorite portents: the formation of the state
wonders if the apocalyptic obsession fuels distrust of public officials and
institutions. An essay claims the White House wanted Republicans to block
"Cartoon Issue" prints dozens of new drawings and old favorites (Businessman
you?"). There are features on "desert island" cartoons, holiday cartoons, and
cartooning career. An essay notes disapprovingly that adults are behaving more
and more like children: They wear childish clothes (jeans and sneakers), watch
vehicles), and eat childish food (ice cream). And, of course, they read
Same as always, shoplifting other folk's style and music," says
borrowing from "the same [musicians he] denounced a few years back as the sons
generic formulas and special effects, trite though they may be. "Disaster
movies are our millennial No plays, totally stylized, totally predictable, but
blizzard of boulders, the village blanketed with mauve ash, a bridge cracking
"Rumble in the Jungle" and a Mailer bio are available on the When
humor and cinematography (mostly rugged mountain vistas). The Wall Street
Farrow's prose exonerates her of the charge that she is crazy. Time 's
"questions her own passivity in dealing with men and blames herself." But
Fair) and playful ("He trounces words; he pivots on commas; he drops in and out
of styles like a vaudevillian who lets the audience watch him change costumes
point of annoyance? Or is there seriousness underneath the mordancy? In
behind the postmodernism an old realist modernist grinding away, eager to
notate reality (though in funky ways)." (Click here for more on
He makes equally scathing fun of white people and black people," says
Morris' book, Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the
Party (the wronged wife): "She doesn't understand her man, she can't fulfill
yet she functions as his official consort. Morris, by contrast, when he wishes
to be alone with his loved one, must come in through the back door (the East
Wing), alone, at night, passionately but illicitly."
cover editorial warns that Japan's economic woes are real
and are not going away. Japan must reform its banks and maintain loose fiscal
and monetary policy (even though that means a cheapened yen), or the rest of
We should be raising interest rates to keep our overheating economy in check,
A story says company directors' investing habits are a good gauge of where the
market is heading. Lately, directors have been overwhelmingly selling their own
team from the World Cup if it is unable to squelch the violence of hooligan
addictive, carcinogenic, and evil (and that firms may have marketed cigarettes
to kids), yet he's leading the fight against congressional sanctions. Goldstone
finally decided a settlement didn't make fiscal sense and that he'll continue
him naive about the workings of the modern world. (He still views China as
systems, having been bolstered by the drugs, are suddenly able to fight the
world's hottest celebrity is exposed. The hilarious cover story chronicles
night, hoping she'd leave her boyfriend and join them for drinks. When her
finds the Supreme Court justice bitter at his lot and deeply suspicious of the
their neighborhoods, "you won't ever really be able to go back. But you may
find you're never fully accepted up ahead, either, that you've landed between
worlds. That's the way I feel sometimes, even now, and it can make you angry."
issue of a magazine billing itself the "independent voice of the information
age." Overall tone: sanctimony, exemplified by the series of "lessons" to the
press at the end of the cover story ("no one should read or listen to any media
outlet that consistently shows that it is the lapdog of big, official power
insider looks at the media biz, including a feature listing selected
Time is the latest magazine to discover that "crank"
can be cooked up at home and attracts women, who often use it as a diet
cover story calls the virus the "next epidemic." The disease
no effective cure. Hep C is transmitted much like AIDS (blood transfusions,
Companies literally pay their taxes in vodka and do most of their business in
honors the "Spirituality of Hashish," and records a "batting average" for
story analyzes the split between "Rich Republicans" and conservative activists.
prosperous and peaceful, and appalled by the vitriolic, negative activism of
conservatives. Conservatives resent the passivity and sluggishness of Rich
"horizontal" disarmament (taking weapons off alert, partially dismantling them)
abortion are ridiculous. Roe was itself a compromise: Radical feminists
their own stock portfolios, not enough about policies that affect us all. (Full
should force themselves to become "indignant" in order to tackle these problems
Administration approval for thalidomide, the drug that caused thousands of
birth defects in the 1960s. Thalidomide relieves symptoms of AIDS and leprosy.
Its new spokesperson? One of the deformed thalidomide babies, all grown up. He
story says liberals shouldn't get excited about the budget surplus because it
could easily disappear. Instead, liberals should focus on a more pressing
society. That, in turn, might cause a peaceful transition from communism.
patrons flock to faux blues clubs on the yuppie North Side, while authentic
similarities: both in their 70s, both haters of rampant capitalism, etc. The
slightly crazy. New genetic research suggests that the difference between
"normal" behavior and mental illness is a matter of degree. For example: A
Time identifies the next big food boycott: swordfish. Lots of trendy restaurants have stopped serving
while cutting back welfare), "economic globalism" (the commitment to free
trade), "fiscal discipline" (the balanced budget), and "government as
fiction's runaway success might kill the genre. A slew of best sellers
boat that has sat untended the entire time we've been here. Boats like his are
now fetching up to five thousand dollars. Inner tubes went up to three hundred
ossify, leaving them paralyzed. So far, no explanation or cure for the
asteroid. (Odd scientific fact: There is no firm definition of "planet.") On
to abandon him and for the International Monetary Fund to withhold loans unless
the gradual breakdown of the Middle East peace process. The United States
Minor was in the midst of a delusion when he shot a man. He filed his excellent
cells, one of which he turned into a library and filled with antiquarian books;
allowed a knife, to cut the pages of the old books, although in the end he used
Post 's "Page Six." Foppishly dressed and snottily mannered, Stern always
The piece points out that gossip columnists are generally far more seasoned
and announces Glass' dismissal as associate editor. It acknowledges that, as
has been widely reported, Glass invented characters, organizations, and events
in the recent article "Hack Heaven" and other pieces. How did it happen? "For
reasons known only to him, Glass mounted what appears to have been quite an
elaborate effort, including the falsification of documents and reporter's
irrelevance of college presidents. Once, they were revered public
intellectuals; now, they spend more than half their time fund raising and most
school, on the family farm, on inner city streets, at the mall, and in their
considered the godfather of game theory. In the '60s, he succumbed to
schizophrenia, believing himself a "messianic figure of great but secret
newsweeklies to strike a favorite pose: pretending to preach caution while
Cure," while Time puts a huge red X through the word "Cancer." Beneath,
they run sober (and nearly identical) small print: "The Hope and the
cure. (Both mags rap the New York Times for its overenthusiastic
endorsement.) Time runs an excellent chart of the various kinds of
cancer treatments. Requisite Wall Street angle: Time says biotech stocks
his imprisonment on rivals jealous of his company, Death Row Records.
also explains why human trials of the drugs can't begin for at least a year:
The current total supply of the drugs is only enough to treat a few mice.
last week, hate the (slightly) more racially tolerant rappers, who imitate
Whisperer --says he's "wraithlike" and private. But he is responsible for
because the mound is too low, the strike zone is too small, and the rise of
who sought to be the first woman to fly an F-16 in combat, complained that her
New York Air National Guard unit mistreated her, ending the careers of many of
destroyed morale by sleeping with her supervisor, and herself sexually harassed
male pilots. Lesson: The gender wars are undermining military
(Universal Pictures). As invariably occurs upon the release
there's some passion in the action, a lilt to the chases, a fluid lyricism in
revenge into lighthearted fare; critics say they failed. "It gives us the
grateful for these final installments, which concern a vigilante who blows away
empty tunesmith he seemed in the '70s and '80s. "He is the keeper of the
with unabashed Fab Four nostalgia, draws warm praise. "The old bloke sounds
Morris (Random House). A very friendly reception for the first volume of a
Time founder Henry Luce. "Morris has written a model biography of a
but too harsh: "Morris struggles for fairness but portrays Luce as a
result, doubled their space. The Met has finally given a "great art tradition
Dynasty to the present, can now be called "the most comprehensive view of
women. One wonders whether she is conscious of the fact that, taken as a whole,
Crystal and his "repeated relief from the pretentiousness of presenters" (Tom
Usually the most controversial group show in the United States, this year's
rife with safe curatorial decisions and art that has already been widely
reflects nothing less than the state of contemporary art: derivative and
lawyer forced to tell the truth for a day, "removes the rubber nose and plays a
[so that] our poor hero is reduced to saying therapeutic things like ...'You
sex while driving "sexual without being sexy." The New Yorker 's Lane
calls it boring and pretentious: "The characters in Crash are so
stock, and the themes, such as the subplot about unrequited love, tired. (See
significant, resplendent with the thick texture of feeling and history," writes
policy prescriptions won't solve the problems they shrilly decry. If anything,
Press). The memoir of this former ally of the Black Panthers turned scourge of
the New Left draws cheers and jeers from predictable quarters. The Weekly
calling his former radical collaborators cowards and poltroons."
dump a deaf woman. Some discern a feminist slant to the film's "ballsy
its "critical detachment" and "coolly stylized exaggeration," which make it
horror movie designed to shock, and nothing else." (Stills and clips are
Spawn action figures have been selling out of stores, and the film
summer's most spectacular concoction of visual effects and color." Most
Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb
(he shot his wife accidentally, slept with little boys, and hawked his
typewriter to buy heroin). Yet none of the obits argues for his literary
greatness, or that his writing should be read by future generations except for
magnificent on the surface and haunting at the core." Others, though, bash
cover editorial urges careful treatment of the world's
banks. The International Monetary Fund must bail out banks when their failure
databases, the "broken window" theory), more policemen on the beat, and the end
cover story says the spread of suburbs has spurred the
rise of the Christian right. Back when evangelicals inhabited rural
communities, they were never forced to confront cultural enemies. Now that they
live in diverse suburbs, they have become separatists. Alarmed by cultural
differences, they have started home schooling kids and running for political
refuse to return to poverty now that the economy has collapsed. So they are
Museum of Art has been steadily adding to its once meager collection, and
photography has become "the medium of the moment." Because millions of amateurs
own cameras and take pictures, photography sometimes gets little respect from
motherhood). Making Beloved was a deeply emotional experience for
that stresses prevention over treatment and which even makes house calls.
their late 20s don't want to sacrifice their independence to marriage and
upon, so motherhood can ruin a woman's career. Japan's fertility rate is now
rental (for home or office) is a growing industry: One rental facility
explains, "We give kids another out. If somebody says, 'Hey, try this,' the kid
us who deplored the investigation from the start can only take satisfaction in
that devolution of power from the federal government to the states is an
opportunity for progressives. Giving power to local governments encourages
experimentation that the whole country can learn from. Examples cited: state
finance reform at the state level, and better local mass transit. Drawback:
Progressive policies make a community less "business friendly," so surrounding
views" and supported AIDS research. Apparently even diseases are partisan.
genetically engineered crops. Extremely popular in the United States, such
contain few, and mostly simple, genetic alterations: They are not terrifying
growing increasingly rebellious because of the nation's terrible poverty, says
vamping with pink feather boa. There are coy captions: "Was this the
magazine publishes the results of its investigation of former Associate Editor
several that were entirely fabricated. Among the invented characters and
battlegrounds by insisting that almost any sexual interaction between a man and
a woman is coercive. This must stop. The author also proposes limiting employer
liability for sex harassment: To prevent lawsuits, companies have adopted
sexual policing policies that strip employees of privacy and stultify offices.
These policies would be unnecessary if sex harassers, rather than companies,
education. Parents are rushing to enroll kids in charters, which generally
offer smaller classes and more enthusiastic teachers. Among the problems: Kids
with unmotivated parents are left behind in bad public schools, and charters
dupe parents by promising more than they deliver. (One charter company claimed
exhausted from the flight that he'll have to be carried off the shuttle on a
Time 's cover story warns that children know more about sex than their
a surge in research about memory. (Conclusion: Your kids know everything you
have already forgotten about sex.) Time says teens and preteens are
largely because parents aren't imparting the sex education they should. A
boys about sex. They undermine the premise of the cover story by being
pressure, and too little sleep can damage recall. Physical activity, mental
exercises, and estrogen (for women) can protect it. More and better therapies
vitamin and herbal supplements such as ginkgo, saying the medical evidence
Time claims the United States secretly deployed the
chemical weapons. The article describes one such deployment in grisly detail: a
sentences. Unsurprising fact: Children whose parents talk to them a lot have
small health benefits of circumcision are not worth the pain of the
Manhattan dominatrix called "Nurse Wolf" is profiled. "One of the busiest
mistresses in Manhattan," she has a medical exam room, a dungeon, a cage,
dressing clients in diapers and having them soil themselves, tying clients in
seems to be worth every penny: It has three blades that are more than twice as
manufacturing a product that is not only the world's most popular but also its
inflammation much better than aspirin or ibuprofen, with no side
effects. The "COX-2 inhibitor" could be a godsend for those suffering from
"seduce you into greater and greater flights of preposterousness." (Click
who pimps for him. Most critics agree the film is heavy on melodrama, and the
Maps signals the arrival of a potentially major new talent," says
recent trends in airport design that have "struggled to keep up with the
increasing popularity of air travel" by casting aside "such amenities as beauty
previously believed. (One example: she allegedly plagiarizes recipes.)
Reviewers don't quarrel much with the biography's slant, though they almost all
lavish review calls it "the book that you have been awaiting since you read
book, seems willed, unfree, a hysteria that he forces onto his scenes because
(United Artists). The only thing critics can agree on about
is that the car chases are so phenomenal that they redefine the form. As for
novel shifts seamlessly among viewpoints and time frames. Most reviewers concur
Book Review that the book is "so focused on darkness and degradation as to
apologetic for their negative reviews. After describing the production as
a point of singling out a few elements of the show for praise.
the score "rich with color, by turns lush, frantic, heartbreaking, even funny."
"sublime and subtle beauty" in the heartfelt, rich album from this unlikely
a minor irritation. (Listen to a clip from the album.)
Times )--are mildly approving, but the show doesn't come close to meeting
Collins calls it "pretty good, gooey, yearning, adolescent fun," and
Entertainment Weekly 's Ken Tucker calls it "a solid weekly soap opera."
confused characters and burrows inside their heads to find a deeper humor,
but are ordinarily scattered around the museum.) The straightforward
chronological order and detailed explanations of the workshop system of the
time, coupled with the high caliber of the art, makes for a show that is "both
going nuclear. The move would boost the government's popularity but would
story explains a new theory that algae create wind. Algae on the surface of the
ocean emit gases that heat the air. The pressure change stirs up wind, which
lifts the algae off the water and up into the clouds. The algae then travel in
says blacks score poorly on standardized tests because they don't take
partly because the United States thought he would be "more secretary than
general," but he has proved to be a wily negotiator, restrained and persuasive.
experience. On her side: Her main opponent is best known for having played Pa
To counteract mushy curricula (whole math, multiculturalism) and keep pace on
claims that the company exploits workers. The plants are "modern, clean, well
lighted and ventilated, and paying decent wages by local standards." However,
workers still have no voice at the plants and "fear reprisal from
article applauds the growing automation of medicine: Computers using
statistical evidence make more accurate diagnoses than doctors, who are misled
by irrelevant "human" factors. Some doctors have responded by becoming more
Bowery wore scab makeup and pubic wigs, dribbled glue over his skull, slept
booted from the union without due process. While aides may be guilty of
organized religion. There needs to be a "Christian Left" that recognizes the
paradoxes: the lost but unforgettable frontier, the wilderness which is
society's favorite dream." (Excerpts of the book are available here.)
across the ideological spectrum for Whitehead's attack on divorce and the
permissive culture that tolerates it. The New York Times Book Review
says her scholarship rates no higher than the "the popular 'expert opinion' and
liberal divorce laws, the economics of women in the workplace, and common
Weekly Standard faults Whitehead for shoddy scholarship and pop
psychology. (For more debate on divorce, see the "Dialogue" between
When the Sons of Heaven Meet the Daughters of the Earth
is the useful intersection between art and commerce? How corrosive is fame?
sometimes reads like a "pitch against the National Endowment for the Arts."
lesbian. "As obstacles in the course of true love go, that's fairly major,"
all the small regional footnotes of gesture and inflection just right. But
these actors also convey the sense of an internal furnace of pain and anxiety
threat to new companies, then its power should be curbed." Because the price
might "stifle services that would emerge with competition," the editorial
government's position on encryption, Internet taxation, and shareholder
emotional bonds with their new parents, probably because the absence of
attention and affection in infancy stunted brain development. They are often
vicious, deceitful, and mentally slow. Lesson for all working parents: Children
article says that criminals and arms dealers use gun shows to skirt firearms
laws. If you claim you are adding to your private gun collection, you can buy
whatever weapons you want from shows without a waiting period or paperwork.
best players and a computer programmed with all the words in the Scrabble
about his incomparable music, surprisingly impressive film career, hipness, and
are also dozens of fabulous pictures. Time 's eight page package regrets
bad derivatives, and that's just the beginning. (The article does not
piece claims Al Gore's plan to wire all classrooms and libraries to the
Internet is in trouble. The scheme, paid for by a telephone surcharge, is
costing more than anticipated, and critics in both parties are condemning the
"Gore tax." Why should the feds pay for something most schools would do anyway?
cover story says that the national drop in murders has been
caused by the decline of crack. The viciously addictive, lucrative drug fueled
violence in ways that other drugs don't. Smarter policing and more imprisonment
also contributed to falling crime rates. Property crime is falling because
fierce, tyrannical intellectual who has nothing but suspicion and hatred for
doesn't care if that ends the peace process. The piece includes incredible
A piece says journalists and celebrities suck up to radio talk show host Don
to him: "Kid, don't waste your time with these bums. You got stardust on your
Valentine's Day cover story notes the globalization and professionalization of
down prices for prostitution and pornography worldwide. The real money is still
videos. Good news for porn fans: The Internet makes it possible to learn which
increasing. Unless China manages to dismantle its gigantic, interfering
bureaucracy (which is unlikely), it too will face economic disaster.
can solve any problem (environmental degradation, nuclear proliferation, etc.)
and doesn't understand emotionalism and power politics. This blind spot could
handicap his presidency. A second piece berates Gore for supporting affirmative
have already figured out how to give a fruit fly a photographic memory by
the notion that the Internet is distorting news. The Web has sped up the news
cycle (just as the telephone did at the turn of the century), but good
reliable online journalism from garbage. (Full disclosure: 
enough managers. Startups can't sustain themselves because they lack talented
chief operating officers, chief financial officers, and salespeople. Why does
no one seem to care? Most venture capitalists and company founders are hoping
wanted to offer immunity but, for unspecified reasons, would not put the deal
story: It bounced from the Drudge Report to countless news outlets
effeminate. (Tactless comment: "I don't have a feminine side. Maybe if I were
specialty) is overrated, and shouldn't be a prerequisite for the gold. An
article explicates curling (shuffleboard on ice with brooms), "the one game in
all the world wherein the human participants move faster than the object they
might have been saved had the ambulance rushed her to the hospital, rather than
Family Research Council) have become more influential. The coalition recently
scandal, however: One attendee joked, "The French ask why he hasn't had more
dialect, and starve themselves in order to attain the gaunt look of Confederate
troops. (Gross detail: Soaking uniform buttons in urine gives them a
by uncovering dirt about the accusing women. A former '60s radical, he's worked
reprehensible "central dogma" is that consensual sex "ought never to be subject
"friendly, funny, reliable" and "believed in the integrity of public service."
had countless plastic surgeries in order to look like a jungle cat. The photos
exchange for a $1.5-million reward. The author claims to have seen the stolen
Photos with her baby inside. Accompanying article says she's finally learning
to express her deepest emotions in public. God help us.
a forceful cover editorial. Regardless of whether he committed any criminal
quickly if the allegations turn out to be true: They don't want him dragging
may be personally slimy, his entire presidency is not founded on corruption and
chats amiably with gawking tourists outside his house, and thinks he'll be a
"Let's say I committed this crime. Even if I did do this, it would have to have
dwarf convention that is the main courting ground for little people. Dwarf guys
Dwarfs socially stratify each other based on extent of
he must remember eight birthdays and two wedding anniversaries in a single
rattles the former colony, its residents want a larger voice in running it. The
Chuck Close, who manages to paint astonishing Pointillist portraits despite
exhaustive account of the story to date. Its package includes a long, exclusive
reaction: While Bill crashed on a couch, she went into overdrive.
use that to ruin his political career as the really bad guys. Not her Bill.")
clinics and labs file false bills, and the system is so big that no one
now merely average. The survey also advises investors to consider moving money
that the president is the real victim of the scandal. He may lose his job,
on genes and a chemical called leptin than on food intake. Good news for the
obese: Scientists believe they are close to understanding and controlling
He's now proved himself "pathological," "unbalanced," and "compulsive." He has
Even if we launch airstrikes, he will preserve his chemical weapons and his
hold on power. The only satisfactory option: A ground invasion that
editorial argues that "road pricing" will solve the world's traffic problems by
making drivers pay for their privilege. Charging varying amounts for driving at
technique would be ineffective for all but the sickest firms. (For
Capitalist.") A few weeks ago there was a media flurry about a computer
can improvise jazz. Its programmer enters parameters of style and tempo. The
computer's getting better: Many experts can no longer distinguish it from a
film about a slave revolt, on the cover. Among four related stories: a rave
invade other countries (good news), but also too weak to prevent its soldiers
from selling arms to terrorists (bad news). Also, a report from the Rev. Moon's
hometowns after the wedding. They may or may not see their spouses in the
Her mom doesn't like her punk nose ring, but she leaves it in. An article
describes a new medical study about prayer: When devout "healers" prayed for
epiphany: A voice in the woods told her to become a minister. Also, kudos for
says one, "the folks in town are sitting in church, waving a book that makes no
trend: the exodus to exurbia. Time 's cover story on small towns follows several couples who
Telecommuting and the great job market make mobility easier than ever. A
Professionals" (unhappy, that is, till they drop out).
assesses the legacy of slavery. Among the conclusions: A national apology for
presidential advisory board on race. (He's against an apology, and for
affirmative action. See "The Sound of One Hand Talking" for 
(though the magazine inexplicably calls it "controversial").
past two years, will be the first Ford to head the automaker in a decade.
contributes a short defense of his movie, but an accompanying review pans it:
story on junk mail. Lots of insider info about how junk mailers reel you
retailers make more money by selling their mailing lists than by selling their
of junk mail a year.) A story praises the Trinity Foundation, a Christian community in
guide to personal finance advises investors to stop worrying about
usual Gore psychoanalysis a step further. It agrees that Gore's outer
itself masks Gore's fundamental emotional coolness. Gore admits that his "no
controlling legal authority" press conference was a mistake. A "Comment" by
Republicans used to be the party of "noble aspirations" and Democrats used to
be the party of "just causes." Now Democrats tout bland aspirations (like
racial healing) while Republicans fervently champion causes like tax reform and
story makes the case for national education reform. Decentralization, the usual
conservative solution, isn't helping schools. National policies could increase
the number of charter schools, cripple local education bureaucracies, and limit
international mergers, and led to quotas, tariffs and overcapacity at many auto
for cystic fibrosis. Inheriting a faulty gene from both parents means getting
this fatal disease. Inheriting the faulty gene from only one parent means no
cystic fibrosis and also means immunity to typhoid. Once, this may have been a
sanctions are more effective at undermining evil regimes than trading is at
indications suggest members will vote down the merger.
says his new movie is the most radical political statement of his career. In
the film a senator discards politics as usual and starts talking straight,
are breeding better bees. Farmers rely heavily on honeybees to pollinate crops,
but new, specialized bees are quicker, more effective fertilizers. For
instance, honeybees have adapted to steal alfalfa nectar without taking
Christian right is politically naive, and its intractability dooms its own
goals. An accompanying piece says Republicans no longer own a monopoly on
story: how to raise male children. Boys are more enthusiastic and just as
emotional as girls but less able to express themselves. Give them lots of
Time 's peculiar cover story follows the sad case of a banker whose
designed to protect women in abusive marriages can sometimes keep innocent
life" afflictions such as arthritis, but how much sex is required for a decent
quality of life? (We refrain from making a joke about this, the only
encourages the Net as a means of increasing commerce.
cover story on the "next pope" profiles leading candidates.
curial experience, and is archbishop in a nation that is not a major power."
overhead bins and injure you. Oh, and definitely buckle your seat belt.
aren't aware they have the disease until their liver is nearly destroyed. Sex
and shared needles easily transmit the disease, and anyone who received a blood
also hired too many nice guys to work for him. (See 
values but lacks the ego and charisma to win votes. Possible mission: Win a big
the permission of members annually before using their dues for political
activity." The bill would crush unions' political strength, since thorny
logistics make it costly and difficult to get permission on a yearly basis.
cover editorial on terrorism says Middle East radicals
other policymakers. She seems to have "less leverage at the White House than
the bombing front, an article says that since it's tough to guard against
of toil, sacrifice, saving, and abstinence" to a "culture of consumption,
York Liberty road trip, admiring the team's genuine camaraderie, warmth, and
sheer joy, and calling each game "a celebration of girl power." Another admires
women's basketball for discouraging "ladylike behavior" and promoting "raucous
intermarriage is excluding blacks. Instead of melting into one brown nation,
story focuses on the gay "conversion" controversy. Exodus International, among
rights in theory but dislike public displays of gay affection. The editor of
the gay magazine Out urges gays to mingle more with straights and not
Discovery mission "a timely reminder that we can still have heroes." Why is
targets, because major targets are too well protected.
argues that scientists have grossly overstated the importance of parents in
molding their children. In fact, children are shaped mostly by other children,
who serve as role models and guides for living. Children tend to resemble
parents only because they share genes, not because they are influenced by them.
Evidence: Adopted children have as much in common with random adults as with
slowing, the world economy is uncertain, and investors are ignoring repeated
acting, raising interest rates enough to stop the market euphoria. A recession
is inevitable, and we need Fed intervention to ensure it's a mild one.
lack the selflessness required to build an organization that would endure after
his loss. Why would he run? Because he is desperate to remain important.
"farcical plot and sight gags to provide hilarity" to the story of the
this memoir about a novelist's incestuous affair with her father as a product
recently featured this literary murder mystery as a case study in
about an unglamorous firm whose lawyers take on lowlifes as clients and work in
shabby offices, skillfully interweaves several plots into a single episode.
in wise guys; I have an awful feeling he may even think of them as slightly
cover editorial reassures readers that a global depression
United States can still lower interest rates or cut taxes to prevent a slump,
there is little to worry about. The essay takes pains to note that current woes
are not the fault of the free market system and that protectionism and
freshener industries. While companies once mined scents from natural sources
use computers and chemical synthesis to create new scents: After sampling odors
pedantic, religious, exacting personality led him to drag out a case that other
Supreme Court justice, and his "tin ear" for politics has hurt him in previous
in the drug war. Treatment is cheaper and far more effective than interdiction,
portraying him as sympathetic to Communist interests. (Minor problem: After
Time went to press, Communists, who control Parliament, blocked
piece examines a new book claiming that parents have a scant role in shaping
their children. In fact, it's genetics and your peers that make you who you
emphasizes her embodiment of, yes, globalization: "Globalization has
become the decade's most overused word, but at its heart, it embodies a real
truth: technology has made this a planet of shared experiences."
salt of the earth guy who cooks his own dinners, plays tennis with his son,
marvels at bank cards, and harbors a passion for books. (The piece is pegged to
longer effective: "Since when do we kick presidents out of office because they
drop in share prices could be exactly what is needed right now." Stocks remain
overvalued, and a harmless fall now will prevent a tragic fall later. A true
credit card number and minimal personal information. Legislation banning the
national programming, Fox gives viewers more coverage of their home teams.
fiction every day (despite not having published in years), and his house holds
articles. Glass' former colleagues say he was pathologically insecure and too
eager to please. He lied up until the bitter end, even in the face of damning
a heavy hand in shaping Carver's early voice (rewriting long passages,
violently cutting text, changing the tone). But this does not differ from what,
say better) stories were entirely his own. The piece notes that authorship is
always a collaborative process to some degree, be it with editor, spouse, etc.
prediction that the House will do nothing before elections; and a piece
still in office, but holding off on the trial until he is a private citizen,"
taking them to improve performance and win college athletic scholarships. How
do you know if your daughter is on steroids? Her breasts shrink and her voice
slipped too far into the sheltered and irrelevant world of academia,
anthropologists now strive to make a difference: One anthropologist hired by a
killing by policemen continues. Leader Hun Sen ignores election results and
comedy about government agents who police extraterrestrials is hailed as the
reviewers revel in its deadpan humor, stylish costumes, and comic performances,
cause most actors to snap in half" (Lane). (Stills and clips are available
wondering whether Ford can write about anything other than the subject of that
concern the midlife crises of womanizers and all three are deemed mediocre
knockoffs of Ford's earlier work, littered with characters "not complex enough
Some, however, appreciate Ford's continued explorations of "contemporary
the Declaration of Independence wasn't his individual handiwork but the product
outstanding work of research and analysis, written with grace and wit," says
a world without ideas." (Click here for an excerpt from the book.)
Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism's Greatest Spymaster
Spymaster, legendary for helping bring down West German Prime Minister Willy
nothing about the East German secret police's brutalities and to have been just
concurs that Wolf ultimately did little to abet the Communist regime and calls
his memoir "a testament to the essential uselessness of almost all
graffitist turned '80s art superstar gets his first major retrospective, to
enterprise was bigger than art and, in its fashion, better." Haring, adds the
high marks for its realistic and "gritty" (the critics' favorite term)
Oz "an ecology and anthropology of terror, not for the faint of heart or
achievements and solidarity is already undeniable," says the New York
Art --"Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life" (Museum of Modern
cover editorial urges Japan to reform its banking system.
Japan's politicians must quit dithering and revive consumer confidence. If
interest rates too soon: Rate cuts are a powerful weapon, to be saved for a
Hemmed in by censors and given to subtlety, these poets said "I love you"
without actually saying it. During the war and after it, directness became the
fashion, and lyrics lost their sophistication. Can any postwar song match this
story says that science increasingly tolerates faith and meaning. Science had
become linked to the notion that the universe has no purpose, but scientists
are starting to argue that scientific phenomena are more meaningful than
partly from a yen for parliamentary politics. Our system gridlocks when a
feminists to reconsider: Should invasions of privacy really be necessary for
sexual harassment cases? Perhaps social sanctions can stop boorish behavior
more effectively than laws can. Such a shift would enable feminists not to look
relationship with players and other employees is now intense but cordial. All
burnout to lack of ambition. Sharp, wry, and likable, Weld quickly sank from a
time" in the scandal, with no one safe from partisan smears. Time agrees
chance that he will be impeached by the full House and put on trial in the
adulterer who wrote a book about his sins. Time offers thumbnail
sketches of prominent members of the House Judiciary Committee, the body
Time says that space tourism has a new proponent: former astronaut Buzz
frustrated by her failure to make a statement about her husband's behavior. An
series, a pet project of Ted Turner, is evenhanded, thorough, and
laws that let prosecutors look into the background of accused sexual harassers.
interesting article goes behind the scenes in the development of a new sitcom.
fought the network, refusing to include a laugh track or dumb down their
story blasts the flat tax, which Republicans are adopting as their top
is an equally regressive scheme, and totally unenforceable.) The editorial
endorses progressive tax reform: Cut rates but scrap loopholes such as the
decides that it should be. A key reason: The Fifth Amendment does not protect
care for elderly relatives, but at least the strangers are willing and
callousness. An article notes the rise of "whiteness studies" in academia. Grad
students say they are analyzing whiteness in order to undermine racial
supremacy. The author worries that they may only succeed in cementing racial
offers a time line of the doctors' plans for a successful delivery. It also has
Time identifies a new racial conflict: bilingual education. Blacks resent
more effective method of deposing the dictator than a bombing campaign. Also in
"Annual Guide to Techno Life" on the cover. Highlights of the package: An
article says that wearable medical computers will diagnose
map details the wonders of Bill Gates' wired house: The library has two
secretly pivoting bookshelves. (One hides a bar, what does the other hide?) His
walkways, we note approvingly, are covered with slate (or, as it's known here,
software will displace entire professional classes, like auditors, by
(Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice). Who's to blame? Parents, often speed
that is contrary to evidence and experience. It is very likely that a slow
civil war in the north, and indict him as a war criminal. If we attack
militarily, we must use ground troops: As the Gulf War proved, air power alone
antitrust law, which maintains open competitive markets with a minimum of
involvement in film production has been wildly exaggerated, and his affair with
marvels at New Yorkers' conspicuous consumption, which far outdoes the '80s.
Drudge depicts him as a charming, naive young man who made a terrible mistake
brand. So far, his handful of rail routes are losing money, and he hasn't made
can't grow back missing body parts: Regeneration (in amphibians) requires
Service agents should not be forced to testify against the president, as this
"concept" albums. What happened? CD players: They let fans program the track
the cheapest treatment over the best one and denying membership to unhealthy
Peepholes look in on the office so staffers can know when meetings are ending,
peephole, and a secret tunnel underneath the Oval Office could be used for a
how the scandal affects Wall Street. Answer: It doesn't, since
economic policy won't change even with an impeachment. The millennium bug, on
that imitate touch and sense emotion in human voices. (For
of the rich and famous only once: An article chronicles the miserable lives of
admitted to adultery, proving his essential honesty, and maintained his
brooding over a woman), but a more subdued, elegiac tone. Almost everyone
lavishes praise on the book, not minding the absurdities they find in the plot
instead something far more rare: the work of a great master still locked in
nine seasons leaves reviewers unimpressed, but it occasions encomiums for the
Most agree, however, that the show declined in its last years, especially after
ornate props and gorgeous showgirls, he shares his act lovingly with ordinary
glitz subside during the festival's second week. It "reasserted its claim to
hackwork. Rehashing his favorite subject of New York City police corruption,
drug dealer, idealistic liberal defense lawyer), and preachy moralizing. ("The
screen full of strongly drawn, fully dimensioned, psychologically valid
doesn't translate well to film, critics say. They regard the adaptation, which
dissent, extols the film's "richly nuanced" performances and its "intense mood
there is nothing quite like it in our literature, except maybe V. and
the first two films in the restored Star Wars trilogy. Critics deem the
also feel the technological revolution in movies that Star Wars ushered
Critics are skeptical of anachronistic touches in the production, including
loud sirens, camcorders, and video projections of political speeches.
scene as a joke "unforgivable." (The Public Theater
the last minute. The fiction editor quit, claiming the editor in chief had been
"adolescent" and "does nothing to illuminate its heroes' lives." Others find
Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague
who recently pleaded guilty to molesting a little boy. The book is said to
However, the Weekly Standard attacks the author, calling him an
Any speculations to the contrary would be indecent." In the New
Stern train, condemning the shock jock for his megalomania, his "fifties
someone whose fierce love of music is making thousands of others listen to
autobiography. The reviews differ only in emphasis. Some argue that the "iron
women, and the profound changes brought by the women's movement, than a dozen
tomes filled with psychological jargon." Others are drawn to the gossipy
What It Means to Be a Libertarian: A Personal Interpretation
the tricky questions that are customarily lobbed at the high school junior who
the same reason that 'Born Free' is a song about lions, not the animals they
Standard is skeptical: "The sheer magnitude of the problems that government
debut in a collection of short stories. But the paranoid rantings of an East
a tide pool, but instead of examining shrimp and sand crabs, she tracks loss,
allowed him to evade the gangsta rap typecasting forced on him by the music
classic. "The subject may not be as universal as loud music played badly," says
Art, New York). Is the abstract expressionist's late work a last hurrah, in the
paintings, but maintain a genteel focus on the paintings themselves.
Conclusion: The paintings are shockingly genteel, too. New 
seems to empty out his art, like the man who wants to give everything away
the melodrama of vulgarity. The messy, vicious slathers of pigment, the
"About as entertaining as having blood drawn," says Peter Marks in a vicious
roles and personal growth. Critics dismiss it as tedious psychobabble. But,
young couples and groups of women nudging one another and mouthing, 'That is so
petty egomaniacs intransigently reiterated their familiar positions"
with a flashing wrist; he gives us flourishes, a kind of
spectacle that audiences for romantic comedies expect, or deserve." (Stills,
authenticity: harsh wooden benches, vendors selling wine during soliloquies,
theater makes it seem as if actors "are talking to you, asking you questions,
"a quick eye for the illuminating detail and a capacity for assembling fact."
dictated the book letter by letter, blinking his left eyelid as someone read
about invalids, critics grandiloquently pronounce the book a "testament to the
narrative style (multiple flashbacks, rotating narrators) and "the exuberant,
the modest magic of perception into an occasional clumsy piece of magic
Reviews cite the book's eclecticism: It combines a lucid explanation of the
storm's complex meteorology, gritty descriptions of sailor bars and, most
contemporary art exhibition fails to excite. The show "lacks insight and
that the superstars are over the hill, and are trotting out mediocre work. One
of racial stereotypes, are said to add "some spice" to an otherwise "sleepy
Art --"Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life" (Museum of Modern
overvalued. The Federal Reserve Board should raise interest rates now to
prevent a horrible crash later. "Ominously, merger mania is usually associated
with the final stages of a bull market." (Click here to read a
radio astronomers. Cell phones interfere with radio frequencies and force
scientists to develop complicated countermeasures, wasting precious research
story says we can't stop global warming, so we should just adapt to it. One
problem: Environmental groups are so obsessed with alternative fuels that they
"pressure against any research that would render fossil fuel use benign."
equivalent of gathering people from all over the world to put on a play in
has been substantially lowered, and this is feminists' own fault.
counterclaim: Bacteria growing on the shroud throws off the dating process.
Shroud tidbit: The person wrapped in the shroud was crucified through the
drug Tamoxifen. It drastically reduces breast cancer rates but increases the
chance of blood clots and uterine cancer. The drug only makes sense for those
already at high risk. Time does a better job of explaining how the drug
"portal" of choice. Both companies want to provide news, shopping, chat rooms,
Oceanographers predict where and when goods lost at sea will wash ashore.
theorizing from the child of an assassinated '60s icon. A week after Martin
package slams the tobacco deal and the persecution of both smokers and the
individual choice that hurts no one else: The risk of secondhand smoke has been
exaggerated and smokers actually save Social Security costs by dying younger.
An accompanying piece says schools waste huge amounts of time indoctrinating
students about tobacco's evils. Kids are now routinely assigned classwork on
"less imperialist, less militarized, less threatening to its neighbors and the
story identifies the latest drug to endanger kids: caffeine. Youngsters drink
huge amounts of highly caffeinated sodas (Coke, Mountain Dew) and hang out at
(who must wear impractical skirts), cost money to parents (who still must buy
play clothes) and schools (who must provide uniforms for poor students), and
have not been shown to improve academic performance or behavior.
a single musical moment that goes beyond artful amplified competence"
"Jane Campion has done something of which I never thought her capable," writes
abstract," and filled with "imagination and surprise"; the Village
Portrait of a Lady is to Jane Campion." (See the film's official Web site.)
translation of Homer's The Odyssey has whipped up so much fervor that
in the New York Times and the New Republic point out that the film's hero, the publisher of
wins praise for his witty prose and inventive historical fiction, which
virtually alone in finding the book indulgent and vapid. (Click here for an
collage artist's oeuvre --possibly "the largest retrospective of a living
if qualified, reviews. Critics excuse failed experiments (such as paintings on
dozen assistants) because of the importance of the artist's conceptual
innovations. Many grumble that the curators weren't more discriminating. New
"gently ironic touch" in adapting a novel by Rick Moody, and for being "less
interested in assigning blame for all the misery than in simply documenting it"
in the New York Review of Books, he attributes to Mailer the subtlety of
by theological argument but by telling or retelling a story."
assembled so many fully formed characters or shuttled so authoritatively
Foster (Oxford University Press). Coming after a long line of mediocre
impressively into the complex fabric of the great poet's life" says the
that the biographer is himself a fine writer, bearing with grace his knowledge
emotionally intricate, and its tensions adroitly controlled." Others think he
overwrites. "This is a novel that doesn't seem written, but declaimed, in a
is said to redeem the melodrama. It is "artful and literate" says the
a negative judgment: "That [Reeve] can direct at all is impressive. Too bad the
cycle (the third installment was performed last week). Kudos mostly for
reminder that not all greatness lies in the past, that not all the best
performances are contained on crackly old recordings adorned with sepia
considerable charisma can compensate for the ridiculous plot. "Serviceable at
mediocre." Westerners only like it, he says, because they are obsessed with
hours. In every other respect, however, critics find it numbingly familiar.
you may feel you've tuned into a commercial for Colonial interiors or an online
president, murdering his mistress is deemed cartoonish and incredible.
"Frankly, Mars Attacks! had a better handle on the White House," says
"would have to be telepathic to keep popping up, as he does, whenever the plot
time he even pokes fun at it." (Castle Rock has stills and clips.)
universally applauded. The Economist called it "quite simply, a
unity. He also writes confusing prose. "It is something of a lazy book. (As in
associate Gothic novels with elegance and discretion, but these are the
of restraint. The story of a psychiatrist's wife who falls in love with a
murderous patient, it culminates in "a departure into madness that is perfectly
suppressing his usual fondness for the fantastic: Asylum "is closer to
effort to cover up the incident, and by way of "interviews with survivors
[that] provide us with a chilling view of the famine as it was experienced by
bizarre (some say grotesque) watercolors by the reclusive (some say mad)
lies partly in the weirdness of his obsessions (scantily clad little girls with
penises), "so pungently suggestive of an imagined world," says New
he a psychopath or an undiscovered genius? "He is not better than a trained or
Farrow of cashing in with a memoir "that will satisfy a Peeping Fan
Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the Nineties
by Dick Morris (Random House). To hear the critics bash him, the former White
House political adviser's entire life has been a dalliance with prostitution.
As a professional, he was an amoral whore; as a husband and a public figure, he
book is lively, readable and anecdotally rich, for his insider's account of the
occasion to wax confessional, particularly on the subject of the writing life:
the roots of violence in art, the mystery of personality," says the Wall
negative nonetheless. Rhetorically, the speech is deemed to have been
was that the president spent too much time "pouring over past Presidential
speeches and anthologies of poetry." The upside was the speech's
"stirring." Television coverage struggled to make something out of nothing,
making documentaries about the events rather than transmitting them into
World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism
of markets and leads reviewers to reconsider their own enthusiasm for free
bashing of the Federal Reserve Board (a repetition of the theme of his 799-page
demanded by florid passages." But reviewers agree that the recording
takes wing, her luscious, tight vibrato perfectly capturing the adolescent
lost its charm? Reviews of the latest one suggest the answer is yes. Critics
skitters across a patch of ice," says Ken Tucker in Entertainment
man in the long skirt with the cloche hat, doling out these white feathers to
work so far"). He attributes its success to feminism or, more specifically, to
"its entry into the psychological subtlety with which Homer presents women."
should be reminded that for nearly twenty years, 'the most trusted man in
asserts that they could well spread to the rest of the world. The
shouldn't block capital flows or choke the money supply. An article says
current forecasts of ecological doom are greatly exaggerated. Environmentalists
have long predicted the imminent exhaustion of fossil fuels, but there are more
fat.) Also, a story looks at what the world laughs at. Blondes and Bill
article profiles a scientist who fights cancer with the common cold virus.
disqualify Di from Time 's Woman of the Year honor next week?)
and Mighty Ducks offer entertaining sideshows (mascots, food courts, dancers)
but the teams stink, and fans say that's all that matters.
funeral, at the Promise Keepers rally, and on countless talk shows. Another
essay argues that healing racism requires civility and
cover story counters the popular wisdom that millionaires are the
president (a persistent rumor), but he will force Republican candidates to heed
supplies of clean water and food is a much more fundamental project than
hashing out unenforceable international pollution laws. An article says the
citing the First Amendment, refuses to endorse "content filters" for
than major publishers, university presses put out the regional titles and
modest books that the trade presses ignore. One criticism: University presses
(he's a "career politician" posing as a "populist tribune"), the piece claims
that the past five years have been the greatest in human history (due to
Grove. (For example, a picture of a woman with tubes coming out of her head is
captioned, "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories.")
But it also uses unfunny gimmicks, particularly a running gag of dramatizing,
The film is deemed a gesture more of sentiment than of artistry. Critics
Holden calls the film a formulaic, "overly schematic exercise in cinematic
partners). It "might have been more honestly called Hilly Buttocks I Have
don't dismiss it as salacious gossip laud its revelations about gay New York
[The book is] pugnacious and angry to the point of occasional bitterness and
editorial assesses Japan's current recession, which has so far been mitigated
by the country's great accrued wealth. Keys to ending the downturn: instilling
consumer and investor confidence, increasing public spending on "modern
infrastructure" (computers, telecoms), reducing government corruption, and
had previously realized, including stomach ulcers, hardening of the arteries,
and some forms of arthritis. (A sidebar recommends cooking with lots of spices,
blacks still lag far behind in key job qualifications (test scores, grades,
feminism," with sexually confident protagonists. But the heroines are actually
insecure, weak, and define themselves in terms of men.
parents. She will soon be smarter than her mom and dad but is having trouble in
stilted speech patterns of her parents. Until recently, retarded adults were
routinely sterilized, even though they usually give birth to developmentally
reprehensible as Big Tobacco and even more powerful. The difference: The
alcohol lobby can stress liquor's ancillary health benefits and proudly point
to the "Know When to Say When" ad campaign. Like the tobacco companies, the
South Park successfully balances crudity (singing, dancing stool
which runs an inside feature, thinks the show has slacked off lately and
knows when she may decide to end [a] friendship over some perceived slight."
cover story exposes chicanery in the death business. Funeral
homes lie to the bereaved and grossly overcharge for caskets and services.
photo essay looks at life in prison. The pictures are
"Lord of the Flies world," the children become brutal, heartless
tolerate it in the hands of a man who is so willing to suppress news for
Instead, it shows how politics is about choosing between imperfect, morally
morality is "empirical" law that evolved biologically, not "transcendental" law
created gene pools with certain moral traits, and these traits became the basis
fear of crowds. He published just one piece in The New Yorker under his
while the rest of the world went about its business as usual."
Spectator article was spurred by an "open political agenda." (For other
shorter articles than its rival. The effect: Sports news for Attention Deficit
needs another two points to break the record for real.
pitched and underlined in the most obvious way," says Variety 's
an abortion clinic and considers breaking his own celibacy vows. The subject of
religious ambivalence is called daring, the treatment of it smart and
critics say, is the level of gore. Nine minutes into the first episode, a
sniper blows a chunk of brains out of a detective's head. While this latest
dour, crusading prosecutor, is called, alternatively, "credible" and "likable"
says, are "as facile and pretty as a souvenir thimble"; the apparently hot new
genre of pop elegy, she adds, is tacky. But John also wins praise for refusing
Overcoming skepticism about the need for yet another Holocaust memorial,
reviewers express mainly admiration. The museum distinguishes itself, they say,
shown as they might have liked to be remembered, rather than as victims). The
video interviews with Holocaust survivors: "A faceless mass resolves eloquently
cause of racial justice." Its "great strength is its insistence that some of
is that it sometimes finds those answers too predictably."
superior special effects, critics deem it inferior to the last volcano movie,
special effects as the main attraction, there would be no movie here at all,"
both implausible and boring. "Volcano is a movie without a villain or a
mystery. The volcano has no quirks of personality, because it has no
personality. Defeating it is a breeze, because it is dumb, mechanical, and
like a peroxided Clueless wannabe straggling along to the party two
ideological stripe, critics agree that the former labor secretary's
massive ego (he thinks he has all the answers). The Weekly Standard 's
supremely unhappy man, convinced as strongly as ever of his superiority to its
processes, its practitioners, and to the man who gave him the coolest job he'll
Stein's review in Slate. Random House plugs the book here.)
life in the early Cold War years, when prominent citizens suddenly turned their
admirably restrained, in prose that conveys strong feeling by
Press). The feminist literary critic's claim that the Gulf War and
that Gulf War troops may indeed have been exposed to chemical weapons belie
probably the most exciting thing that can be said about it," says the New
deliver the extravagant sets and staging they've come to expect from theatrical
in an effort "to make a sensitive and tasteful show about a trashy subject,"
production from its pretensions. The play "is so wildly miscast and so
haplessly misconceived that it is hard to figure out what its creators exactly
classical composer. "As you watch the stage, your brain seems to get bigger,
bodies. "It is unique among the major companies of its kind in looking utterly
new book by him is worse than the last; he has become a bibliographer's
definition of nostalgia. He remembers that one must be daring as an artist, but
extraterrestrial life is declared pretentious. "People magazine's mail
him to take dance lessons. Reviews praise the movie's depiction of the
and drawn out. "Even when the catharsis we yearn for arrives, it's tinged with
attorneys is deemed humorous but "pointless" (Rob Long, the Weekly
way lawyers work, Long says; it's really about "what colorful New Yorkers talk
station, and threatens to murder a goose. According to reviewers, Straight
said to lack the camp irony of the original. The most "shamefully derivative
"because you're dying to know how the black guy got in the cast." Other critics
Hare, criticized in the past for his "preachy politics," is said to have
media) and for its sensitivity "about such personal matters as loss, grief and
million its opening weekend and receives rave reviews. "Empire Strikes
are said to have matured into actual characters (as opposed to cartoon ones),
that defies the laws of time and space. "The cries of 'Cheat!' that attended
the later episodes of Twin Peaks are likely to be heard again," says
deemed important as history but insignificant as art. Director John Singleton
showed without ads, under the sponsorship of Ford. But the praise is tempered
"Monster offers a crash course in getting a script through the hazards
"Shock and petty moralizing are the mark of an outsider." The New York
makes him so readable, but it doesn't give him a voice for brooding."
the Declaration of Independence for his conflicted views on race nor dismisses
biography "an honest and indispensable book that goes a long way toward
restoring to Chambers an elementary human plausibility" (gosh, thanks).
(Circle in the Square, New York City). Two weeks ago, art
production itself: "The staging is infinitely inventive," says New
though he were plugged into a power source the rest of the world had yet to
ins when one of the cabbie's fantastic theories turns out to be true.
talks to himself and mails long, delusional screeds to strangers is not usually
outback town. "A wickedly funny examination of obsessive romantic behavior,"
gentle satire of the culturally backward outback (the radio station doesn't
even have a CD player). Her idiosyncratic script and direction earn her
work in human history." Critics expect extra attention for the show because of
Republic urges holding on to the art until democracy is restored in
and the events that he is writing about, but does not feel the need to disclose
schematic, coldly cynical work that pretends to expose coldness and cynicism."
achievements, but as a grievous example of its degeneration."
exploring when there's nothing left to explore." Our obsession with buying
expensive outdoor gear leads us to find excuses to use it, resulting in utterly
pointless, dangerous journeys. The author, who dogsleds through the Arctic,
decides that the greatest thrill lies in returning home with all his toes.
and unstable and that we should stop cutting him slack. Though he successfully
journalists detest his eagerness to mix business and editorial (ad guys and
editors work together to plan profitable special sections), this is nothing new
newspaper: one that has increasingly little to do with news." (For
biological or chemical weapon attacks. By the time a toxic attack is discovered
and appropriately dealt with, hundreds of thousands of people will be sick or
dying. The government should improve its medical response rather than spend
package celebrates the resurgence of baseball. Secrets to the game's success:
story slams modern vacations: All the good spots are swamped with tourists. An
excitement," while hype is "propaganda" created by PR firms and the media.
Time 's trend story: infant massage. Babies, especially preemies, are
more relaxed, have better digestion, and are generally happier when they are
hospitals are rated in several specialties and in overall quality. The overall
"oversees the care of people while they are in the hospital," discussing
treatment options, following patients from department to department, and trying
opening combat footage "may be looked back upon as one of the greatest
delightful piece reviews a newly published collection of obituaries culled from
century obits reminds us how unheroic modern times are, and insists that
wit and thoughtful personality, and he fought for small government and low
to go because he failed to reform the banking system or to stop Japan's
financial descent, but it will take time to choose a new prime minister and
article notes an unpublicized cost of the General Motors strike: It is delaying
insurance, favoring predictive models that help manage risk. Sometimes, a
company can foresee insurance will be unnecessary: While an earthquake in
may survive impeachment proceedings, but he will be so distracted by the fight
as to be unable to lead the country. The honorable thing to do is hand the
reins to President Gore. An accompanying essay predicts that this scandal will
cause several changes in the future, among them, a reduction in the power of
the independent counsel and more restraint on the part of the press. (See
school breakfast each morning got higher grades and were better behaved than
issue on television. The lead essay claims that television has always been the
drama, "more than twice" what it "had totaled in profits the previous year."
world. He's also a crime buff, and whenever his official duties take him within
impeachment, only "technical violations of criminal law that have no obvious
connection to the president's official duties, which was precisely the vision
[of impeachment] that the Framers [of the Constitution] rejected." The piece
wittily assesses the literary value of the report, comparing it with classic
offers unnecessarily colorful detail: "Instead of prosecuting a case, his
narrative enacts a drama, and makes sympathetically banal what might have been
autobiography emphasize his profound respect for the game of basketball, his
with fashion models (both are releasing new books about models). A male
timed for the bear market, Esquire publishes a doom and gloom issue. The
cover essay compares our present economy to the bubble of the 1920s. It
predicts a brutal worldwide depression, leading to totalitarianism and world
around. All three mags excerpt the report at length (not edited for bawdy
to prove his point, and at times ignored or discounted evidence that
kids (be honest yet elliptical; whatever you do, don't talk about the cigar).
section on impeachment, focusing on the ambiguous phrase "high crimes and
misdemeanors." They conclude this means whatever Congress wants it to mean.
story argues that pain is all in the mind and that we should treat, not
dismiss, patients with unexplained chronic ailments. There needn't be a
physical injury for the brain to send pain signals, and that pain is as real to
the sufferer as it would be if she'd hit her thumb with a hammer. Doctors are
seeking superstrong, nonaddictive painkillers and may have found them in
substances extracted from certain snails and frogs. (Full disclosure: The
to judge acceptable a president revealed to the world as a lout and liar and
criminal. Congress must refuse the request and remove him." How excited is the
pornography. Tweedy professors and porn starlets mingle at presentations such
as "Cum Shots: History, Theory, and Research." (Isn't this also a chapter
country resists Westernization in the cultural realm (literature, fashion,
The newly wealthy don't give enough and don't give creatively. They are
angle: Can it save endangered species? Among the endangered animals poached for
story follows investors seeking opportunity amid the economic chaos in
state, Brown now seeks to fix potholes. Minority mayoral candidates see
piece says Democrats have a new strategy for winning back Republican
congressional seats: Be Republicans. Some of the "Democratic" candidates
currently supported by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are
perpetuating racial bias at elite schools, but actually they are a good measure
story praises the experiment of a public boarding school in New Jersey. The
kids from the distractions they face at home. While not workable on a grand
scale, the idea holds promise for areas where donations would be plentiful.
marry to escape poverty. The men promise money to the brides' families, then
juvenile, with no interests beyond his own children.
about a man who's unaware that his whole life is televised, leaves "the viewer
with the police to keep good kids off the streets and send irredeemable kids to
food often contains pesticides from rainwater or dust and is no more nutritious
steal your Social Security number to gain loans and charge cards. Bill
collectors hunt you, and once your credit rating goes south it's nearly
indifference to privacy. Virtually any diary or utterance to a friend can now
unconscionable, but they are now commonplace, thanks to bad Supreme Court
decisions. Sadly, only libertarians are battling this erosion of privacy.
fourth installment of The Nation 's attack on the "National Entertainment
State." The target this time is television. A foldout chart shows that seven
Weather Channel.) Articles chronicle the phenomenal efforts by the seven firms,
transfer to China, and appeasing the still brutal, still Communist
dictatorship. A piece acknowledges that the Bush administration also allowed
days are numbered. Supposed advantages at home (a trusted brand, political
patience with its reluctance to accede to the West Bank redeployment agreement.
The United States must now use its clout to arbitrate a solution once and for
southern United States, but it has left behind its rustic past. Modern
federal budget, and it greases the wheels of politics. Conceding tiny bits of
Social Security proposal. Widely hailed as "courageous," the plan is just a
politically motivated concession to privatization hawks. (For more on the plan,
to rear three kids. She wouldn't change a thing about her rewarding life.
Another follows a mother who works full time and lets dad and nanny care for
the kids. She wouldn't change a thing about her rewarding life, either. Also,
celebrities' outfits, all with a delightfully high level of bitchiness.
tragedy." Both magazines print schematics of the crime scene-- Time 's is
that he acted alone. The piece systematically rejects all the popular
and make small talk. ("But enough about me. How much are you worth?")
Manufacturers of stun weapons, sold domestically to police departments, have
flow to women's genitals, improving sensation and lubrication. The Food and
Drug Administration has not yet approved its use for women.
of life aboard a nuclear sub and an examination of subs' changing roles (less
defense, more espionage). The pullout cross section of a sub is fascinating.
stations now use market research to determine playlists. (Sorry, solo
early '90s "diagnosed" it in thousands of women: They hypnotized patients by
the thousand, persuaded them that they had been sexually abused by family
members, and then induced them to discover other personalities. Lawsuits by
movie industry. Chief complaints: Studios prefer cheap irony to real emotion,
"traded up; he used to live in an unimproved shack in the wilderness."
point because it incorporates some Republican ideas on privatization.
trademark dialogue helps overcome the banal premise of his screenplay: A
hate each other are stranded in the wilderness with a mean bear. The bear's
Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of
former Times reporter's historical epic, completed just before his
"This book is to 'true crime' stories what War and Peace is to most war
complaint: too many digressions, inflating the book to 800-plus pages. (See
the Slaughterhouse Five author has called his "last" work. Critics call
wins accolades for introspective lyrics about mortality and is judged his best
work in decades, "attesting to the creative renaissance of an artist still bent
drama's live broadcast as a welcome throwback to 1950s television. "A walk on a
episode, making "Ambush" "something the show has never been before and isn't
Handy. Not all skepticism has been banished, however. "This street has the
the old married couple shtick so well they should open a joint bank account"
"How can filmmakers devote a year, even two years of their lives to such
(First Look Pictures). Raves for this adaptation of
features three intellectuals holding forth on the decay of high culture ("like
[and] has a measured elegance," says Holden. Praise also goes to comedian Mike
strange pauses through which we grasp the full weight of his irony, derision,
and sheer incredulity at the peculiarity of the human phenomena that surround
Courage to Stand Alone: Letters From Prison and Other Writings
written, they are an extraordinary and moving record of a courageous,
compassionate and obstinate mind dedicated to democratic principles and the
Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work
parents put in ever longer hours at work not because they must but because they
tends to disguise how truly subversive and depressing her message is." Slate's
without an iota of anarchy or inspiration," says The New Yorker 's John
truly one of the best of all possible musicals, but only if you close your
the newspaper business from Daily Planet panels in an old
monument "misrepresents and diminishes the man" because it lacks the
accessible and gentle as your grandmother's garden."
International Monetary Fund's bailout. The recession it's supposed to prevent
might never have happened, and rescuing financiers who make mistakes encourages
them to make the same errors again. A 16-page package on tourism notes that it
watermarking. Subtle number patterns within digitized pictures and music let
their owners bust bootleggers. Also, an article praises the ongoing Lunar
million). The directive: Find water in the moon's polar craters.
policy. For instance, Turner's donation might fund projects to fight world
argues that Al Gore secretly hates politics. His family bred him to be
president, and he does his duty as a good son, but he'd rather be doing almost
behind his wooden exterior. An essay wishes the New York Times would
ditch its new sections. "Dining In," "Fine Arts," etc., help advertisers more
than readers, and make the paper unwieldy to read. Also, Vanity Fair
story deplores local television news shows' obsession with titillation and
ratings. Local news panders to viewers by showing crime and disaster footage,
ignoring education and politics. Responsible conclusion: Local news should try
candidates, and partisanship annoys voters. Reed says he models himself after
only six months ago, puts him on the cover again. The package offers thumbnail
unfairly remembered for sleeping with his kids' baby sitter.
customer perks (like discounts and air miles), advertising geared toward
as long as you exercise; interviews with a chef and a nutritionist (both
's "Dialogue" on fat.) A story explains the publishing industry's new survival techniques.
Huge advances are history, and better technology lets publishers ship books
chronicles his own long bout with depression, a period when he couldn't eat and
(more available software) outweigh its technological disadvantages. This
annoys classical economists because it denies the principle that the best
product always wins. A story recounts the strange rivalry between top figure
world capitals, "cheats" by coercing software pirates into signing deals with
the company, and "lies" about his business intentions, the magazine says. One
another alleges that the company intends to compile dossiers on all PC users,
states out of the nation's most populous states to restore representative
gags and formulaic plot, critics end up smiling at this slapstick courtroom
(Epic). The megastar of '80s pop has hit bottom, critics say. Sales of his new
beast, promoting funding for the arts and physical education. "There he goes
soap General Hospital spins off, to general approval. The new show is
set in the same hospital, but with younger, hipper characters, "as if the cast
"should have no trouble creating a solid place for itself among the young and
everywhere) and the right (for willfully seeing racism nowhere). "An admirable,
the ethical ideal he cherishes and the moral muddle of the actual world."
nearly as mad as previous biographers have alleged. Praise goes to Lee's
poorly drawn. Glimpses into his character "do not add up to a full motivation
varying embarrassment and crying and hugging and saying they loved each other."
"Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life" (Museum of Modern Art). This
"The exhibition almost never deviates from the Modern's pantheon of anointed
hardly allow her new subject the smallest uncontaminated virtue."
different shows at the Met and drawings by the artist and his disciples at the
in an age when everything has already been done? The answer: You recycle." But
most reluctant to admit that the finest art can flourish in harmony with the
ruling classes and without the tensions that beset us now, so that, where
necessary, we try to detect such tensions in the art of the past." (Check out
its flashiest commercials during the Super Bowl, and critics predicted that
these would hold more appeal than the game itself. On the other hand, the death
reporters to question whether organizers had finally gone overboard. But
reviews of all the halftime spectacle were favorable. "An eventful game
combined with a cavalcade of crafty commercials kept Super Bowl XXXI lively and
(making its first Super Bowl telecast) proved that it could cover the big game
with as much "zest and panache" as the bigger networks. Other critics' picks:
bullied into being entertained by a boor repeatedly accosting you to ask,
unusually mixed for a book by the popular Sacks. The Island of the
dismissed as half botanical treatise, half travelogue. "Apart from observing
subtle tones, Dr. Sacks can do little more than give us an
inherently interesting, it is difficult for most readers to get as worked up
Because he shows "how patients who are truly isolated and insulated by a
disease can retain their humanity, their dignity." (Random House excerpts the book at its site.)
"fearlessly exposes a man like a surgeon probing his own wounds." New
rare mark of theatrical greatness: it is rooted in specific, even earthy
Shots of cute animals are deemed an inadequate substitute for the cutting wit
curious antiquarian feeling, in fact, to the whole leering enterprise," says
murder in its stride, as though they were merely obligatory literary devices."
One shortcoming: The plot "veers into melodrama that seems a bit outsize for
criminals, possibly for personal profit; the destruction of the Argentine
economy; the laying of the cornerstone for the "Dirty Wars" of the 1970s and
represented the worst of this tradition, the worst of our century," writes
with sex or personality or ideology. It has to do with the bottomless demands
many to throw up their hands in the face of the global economic juggernaut and
become politically passive in the face of its economic imperatives."
cover editorial urges the United States to lift its
argues that the region's authoritarian regimes should be replaced by democratic
throw acid in women's faces, disfiguring and blinding them. (Estimate: There
story uses the trial of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy to slam the
proliferation of picayune ethics laws. Special prosecutors wield unchecked
ridicules the company's new diversity training. Silly games and animated fables
story laments the disappearance of abortionists. Young doctors don't learn the
of clarity." He also had "the best date of my life!": She did all the
inmates, for the entertainment of the public, sustain horrible injuries in
the ring, while a bull is goaded to charge them. The last inmate to stand up
wins.) Despite the pain and humiliation, the inmates love the rodeo and feel
psychic. Callers, overwhelmingly poor people of color, think their lives are
psychic) oblige. Other callers just want someone to talk to. (Cost: more than
of a curse, as it distracted her from her work. (See Brent Staples' review in
chimps may have better language aptitude than previously thought. Chimps can
use word order to determine meaning ("bring the person to the water," not
"bring the water to the person"). Chimp neologism for a stale pastry: "cookie
cover story worries that our military needs retraining. Budget
cuts and boring, noncombat peacekeeping missions are atrophying our troops'
office. The secretary of state uses immense charm, straight talk, and fluent
about their experiences (one was raped, another used abortions as birth
accident, and her parents' real crime was covering it up. The piece praises
with corpses, since it's holy to be buried in it.) Scientists propose using
substitute for the home and family that he never really had. (His mother killed
three Supreme Court seats to fill, enough to shift the court's balance against
conservative chestnut: An article asserts that the death penalty is used too
interests, much of it while ruling favorably on a landmark casino case").
seven months of paid maternity leave, social harmony). Changes: The state is
nudging the jobless to work and shifting from income taxes to "green" taxes on
argues that Al Gore secretly hates politics. His family bred him to be
president, and he does his duty as a good son, but he'd rather be doing almost
Times would ditch its new sections. "Dining In," "Fine Arts," etc., help
cover editorial welcomes the impeachment or resignation of
presidency is powerless without moral authority. "This newspaper has no wish
civilization," the primal father must be destroyed for society to survive
journalist warns that her country's economic collapse may destroy its free
press. Banks, which own or control much of the media, are too broke to support
hard in his youth, but getting married and giving up alcohol focused him. He's
toned down his social conservatism, and his hugely likable personality makes
him a great campaigner. (He's not much of a policy wonk, however.) Critics say
his greatest asset is his name, but Bush seems to have emerged from his
governors of "small, politically marginal" states; and eschew right and left
basically bullish on the stock market. Time tells investors not to panic about the bad world news: "One
of the worst things [investors] could do is let rising volatility and
uncertainty drive them out of stock investments." Time 's guide to the
though generally optimistic about the economy, does offer bear
market advice, just in case. What to do when the bear growls? Buy
markets and got slammed, try real estate investment funds, and seek stability
into enemy territory and spy, or perhaps release lethal toxins. Soon to come:
simple remedy for cellulite: Doctors now treat skin with a special massage
machine that kneads away that "cottage cheese" look without surgery.
nun, certain scenes and dialogue (God works in mysterious ways jokes, for
originality, so why would it bother to steal from you?
dad and more conservative. His central theme: limiting government. While a
have stood together, instead of "taking an independent turn on the world stage
designed. Corporate sites are too specialized (geared only toward investors or
customers), and their jazzy graphics take too long to download.
divided by a disagreement over the correct size for government. The Christian
domestic initiatives to halt the right's drift into localism and
story says the worship of newness is the key to the Silicon Valley economy. New
modeling) instantly worthless. Entrepreneurs move on to the next big thing
before the last big thing is even established. (Full disclosure:
thriller. The cynical authors analyzed best sellers, parroted them, and hired
and selfless teamwork allow it to beat teams with more raw talent. The players
remain committed to their academic work. (No kidding.)
intricate security measures (he maintains surgically altered body doubles).
Time says Dolly the cloned sheep could be a fake. There is a
blond wood are showing up everywhere, even in the furniture of Men in
no workplace hardships (save for not getting flowers on Secretaries' Day) and
thereby explaining their close relationship and the need for secrecy. Tom
Commandments and to prevent a school district from allowing prayer before class
old boy who believes that states are allowed to establish religion. According
Nations fails to enforce inspections here, when it has a clear mission and
broad powers, its authority will be challenged in the future. Another editorial
that the pill is unsafe (it isn't), that it would quicken the spread of AIDS
(it hasn't in other countries), and that Japan's falling birthrate must be
reversed (this doesn't justify an infringement on rights). What's the
doctors. A story says cable television and the Internet haven't yet killed the
major networks. Networks still charge far higher ad rates than cable companies.
Keys to future network prosperity: They should produce their own shows, and
publicity stunt. Draining the lake would reveal the beautiful canyon
underneath, but destroy the ecosystem that thrives there now. Also, toxins that
have collected at the bottom of the lake would be exposed. A story says a new
(such as Harlequin's "Love Inspired" series) feature chaste relationships and
cede control of the production. Now, he happily collaborates with
success of Southwest Airlines: quick flight turnarounds (they ready a plane in
the feminist scholar is now studying young boys: "What we are discovering is
how vulnerable boys are. How, under the surface, behind that psychic shield, is
a tender creature who's hiding his humanity." Also, a stunning overhead photo
Time warns that recession might be imminent, caused by high consumer debt
trouble for the SAT. With affirmative action dying, public
SAT requirement, since minorities score lower on average. Also, generational
the single issue of firing the local basketball coach." (For a
York City cop describes his life on the beat. Among the cop's observations: An
questions, then you hold his hands to fingerprint him), most police work
consists of "cheesy collars" for disorderly conduct and public urination, slum
residents adore cops. The cop weaves in a story about a hit man who snitches on
amnesty rarely tell the whole truth (they seldom admit to torture) and rarely
apologize to their victims. "When you trade amnesty for truth, murderers get
some opera buffs nervous because they think he's castrated. He's not.
editorial chides the members of the House of Representatives for banning
recycles a riff from his recent book tour: Instead of reading The Nation
Standard line that churches are the key to saving poor neighborhoods.
Churches offer day care, food banks, and irreplaceable volunteer services, and
pauper/ Walked the lonely roads of life/ In many ways so different/ And yet so
time like candles in the night." This is not a joke.
which are critical to a stable capitalist future, will require unwavering
Let your kids get sick. Children who get illnesses like malaria, diabetes, and
asthma and aren't treated for them have more resistance to disease in later
The "Maharaja Mac" is made from mutton, and customers can top it with sauces
doesn't seem to know much about the subject, or to want to talk about it. He's
race. Other candidates protest his free air time. Also, wary praise for the
hush money. Also, a story rejects the conventional wisdom that overpopulation
is imminent. It argues that birth rates are falling across the world, and
military will strike first. (Quote from senior Pentagon official: "We're just
waiting for him to do something stupid so we can whack him.") Time also
throwing the embers into a river." Time 's explanation of the science of
discharged for adultery. She claims the Air Force treated her unfairly and that
her commanding officers gave her no guidance. The Air Force says the case was
foreign aid and investment will improve human rights.
was investigated after patients died suspiciously. Later, he was convicted of
poisoning five paramedic colleagues with arsenic. Even so, he landed subsequent
jobs as a paramedic and a medical resident (hospitals didn't thoroughly
investigate his background). In every case, colleagues and patients
mysteriously fell ill or died. He's currently in jail for a minor fraud charge.
An essay examines Napoleon's mixed legacy: Alone of history's great leaders,
to civil rights: "Homosexuality should not be socially validated, for reasons
rooted in custom and tradition, natural law and teleology, morality and
cover story rails against the growing commercialization of public
naughty actions (lying, subjugating his citizens, developing weapons of mass
involvement in film production has been wildly exaggerated, and his affair with
marvels at New Yorkers' conspicuous consumption, which far outdoes the '80s.
Drudge depicts him as a charming, naive young man who made a terrible mistake
system or to stop Japan's financial descent, but it will take time to choose a
new prime minister and even more time for the new leader to push through
now eschew insurance, favoring predictive models that help manage risk.
Sometimes, a company can foresee insurance will be unnecessary: While an
risks and rewards of every decision. He judges decisions on their logic at the
media baron, but he manages to be simultaneously tough and charming. His taste,
Time 's cover package hypes online shopping, which is now efficient and
Time story says transsexuals are gaining political clout. They
they wish gays and lesbians would stop excluding them from homosexual rights
Scientists were once ostracized for holding religious beliefs but can now
worship without embarrassment. Religious people are finding evidence of God in
recent scientific discoveries. (Outcomes determined by "chaos" and the
randomness of radioactive decay are actually specific results chosen by God.)
White House. Publishers say her book career is more promising than her
cosmology cover story wonders if there are other universes.
(Conclusion: maybe.) Through diagrams and interviews with physicists, the story
describes how separate universes could break away from ours (a bit like a soap
Companies offer dark, quiet nap rooms, reasoning that midday naps help workers
must be sacrificed in order for the Messiah to return. (Red cows are plentiful
people drink, take drugs, and use machinery and electricity. The recent case
the scenes. Nancy shaped the Cabinet, pushing her husband toward moderate
pure cinema" and the climax an "almost unbearably thrilling firefight and
players and innocent bystanders alike. Even witnesses only tangentially
longer poses a threat to the world because it has become a localized crisis. In
racial ax to grind and so can act as the "builders of bridges" between blacks
stars. Guaranteed that the clips will never air outside Japan, several major
politics. Independently wealthy candidates win office with no political
background or platform. Career politicians, with solid ideas, can't raise
books, which ignore public policy, are shameless attempts by candidates to
cover story, a scientist seeks the gene that causes an abnormal number of cleft
remote areas face ethical unease: Locals, valued for their genetic isolation,
often don't understand what the research is for and rarely benefit from it.
suffer. Two accompanying articles argue that the boom will continue (because
electronic cash, your medical history, and "keys" to your home and office.
cover story is skeptical about charter schools. The schools can
succeed when dedicated teachers push innovative curricula, but in many charter
schools, kids attend only four hours a day and learn from computers instead of
sewers they require. City centers end up paying the difference. This lowers
own power to the people: Now even socialists want to preserve the monarchy.
old words: "terrorist," "United Kingdom," "culture" and, most of all, "nation."
story argues that we should build more highways. Public transportation has
cars. Our roads are congested not because we lack alternative transportation,
but because we lack superhighways and connecting roads. (See
installment in the Batman series as nonsensical kitsch, a "wild, campy
action flick stands out as the best, by far, in a bad summer crop. Critics
emotionally involving storytelling in a way that has all but vanished from the
bankrolls other blockbusters, or will his productions simply serve as a vehicle
glowing reviews just the same. The story of the travails of a brainy single
about modern urban life, which is said to be reminiscent of Bellow, "a vision
book. (One chapter title: "How to Suffer Successfully.") The book, they say, is
irresponsible. Still, critics say the daughter has inherited the father's "gift
artifact of personal and social upheaval." Reviewers also approve of the
Pastoral, saying the book caricatures 1960s radicalism. "It does not tell
complex attitudes and allegiances of a time and a place."
Art --"Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life" (Museum of Modern
turn as an unhygienic redneck mechanic. (See the official site.)
ease, uncomfortable, straining for effect." (Download a trailer here.)
receipts--$30.4 million in two weeks. Some critics praise the film for
magnificent building will overshadow the art it houses, which will be mostly
controversial to the canonical. Having endlessly debated the staying power of
A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of
performances in The Scarlet Letter and Striptease as stolid and
humorless, most critics say that this movie revives her career. Cast as an
(Dimension Films). Reviewers are divided over whether this
sprinkling the film with Catholic imagery and allusions to classic films. He
style to the genre's oldest tricks." Others say that his efforts to shock
dissents, calling Already Dead "simultaneously pretentious, sentimental,
management" and industrial efficiency is dismissed as fairly conventional, but
Mac's new songs, their '70s sound notwithstanding. "For these expert purveyors
It "has heart and charm and not just the usual gag reflex," says the
generally condemned for mindlessness and tastelessness. Especially reviled is
government should have advised the public earlier about risks (as it did with
AIDS) and should have spent more on research (a cure is still nowhere in
nuclear testing to thyroid cancer because it conflicts with a study done by the
says it "belongs to all mankind," but mineral exploration companies think
than it seemed (particularly on funding for the arts) and have cut ties to
is a flaw in the argument that a generous welfare state generates good pop
the fed head with the economy's success and trust his judgment on everything.
story claims that "the chances of a nuclear exchange have arguably never been
each other, and the United States, despite signing the START I commitment to
likes starting political battles. (Full disclosure: 
Time says it's a believable portrait of the president, one that includes
meditation, and love are better than surgery for curing heart ailments.
documents were, but they may have been classified intelligence briefings.
Senate grilling. For the complete diary, click here.
disappointing. Some systems offer slightly cheaper rates, but the sound quality
him crazy (despite little evidence of mental illness) and wouldn't let him
abolitionist John Brown, who was tried and hanged after he resisted efforts to
Sun's business, but he may be slightly more obsessed with destroying Gates than
article embraces much maligned, gas guzzling sport utility vehicles. Problem:
there is a religious base to our freedom; and entrepreneurship, invention, and
work create far greater wealth than any bureaucracy in history."
broad principles (fiscal responsibility, free trade, etc.) and political
nearly as much as they did during the Gulf War: We'll have to go it alone.)
Another article says the United States should not limit itself to a few days of
bombing (the current battle plan): Only a long, insistent air campaign will
too weakened by corruption and too bullied by management and the feds to be the
gays. Reason: They consider homosexuality an active choice. If they believed
and private detectives labor to contain bimbo eruptions. It runs several new
the media should stop reporting on the scandal because the public has spoken in
overzealous, and nerdy. In junior high, "his hobby was polishing shoes," says
rundown of how the scandal played across the world includes these words from a
essay makes the case for human cloning. The risk is small,
affection, and respect, argues a piece. She's not loyal for cold political
sweet, good, and truly religious. (For more on the story, see what the international papers are saying.)
obsessed with him and sent him gifts; he tried to help her while gradually
pushing her away. The problem with the story: It's not credible, given
parochial worries into matters of state," dealing with picayune issues rather
horrible values to the rest of the world. They're both wrong, says the
who wrote a piece in last week's New York Times Magazine about the need
reduce inequality, strengthen public education, etc.
will lead to political confusion. The enormous, powerful monetary union will be
story says microwaves are being used to clear minefields. Portable microwave
units heat the moist earth that surrounds mines but leave the mines themselves
unheated. Infrared cameras then use the temperature difference to find the
higher cigarette taxes don't convince the poor to stop smoking, studies have
story uncovers a weird new corporate strategy: Instead of prosecuting kids who
hack their computers, businesses now hire them as security consultants.
cops," who work in human resources departments, help companies draft and
enforce rules on office romance. Even consensual sex between workers of
different levels can be considered sexual harassment. Just one lawsuit can
willing to compromise. Peace will come when both sides forge "a genuine
security partnership against common enemies and a political partnership to
revolution" and "the Sixties," respectively. The right cannot understand that
corporatism. Since these movements occurred within the same generation, they
people work in a corporate world by day but play in a "moral and cultural
universe shaped by the Sixties." The author urges both sides to admit defeat
sexuality to the ability to sustain an erection. Time also asks several
have witnessed the formation of a planetary system much like our own. Planets
are a prerequisite for extraterrestrial life, and one astronomer now guesses
and name recognition, but may be too airy and intellectual; dark horse
orchestrate a huge split from the Republican Party. Fed up with Republican
effect: No jobs were lost, and the poverty rate remained unchanged.
argues that we must levy sanctions on China to improve its human rights.
appease their religious constituents while sticking to the tax policies
was politically advantageous; he should have denied funding because
cover editorial questions the wisdom of the United States'
they may spur further terrorism in revenge. Seeking justice in the courts would
step: urine sampling toilets that check your liver's health and test for
longer effective: "Since when do we kick presidents out of office because they
any chlorine taste evaporates if the water is left to settle for a few hours.
his victory, but international monitors concluded that a rigged election was
fascinating story explains the life cycle and social customs of honeybees.
Hives feature the mathematical genius of honeycombs and precise divisions of
labor. Some workers guard the hive entrance, others collect nectar, others dry
nectar by beating their wings, others groom the queen, others manufacture an
"Average number of public school students expelled each school day last year
dispatch from the porn industry's annual awards ceremony entertainingly and
comically explains the modern porn ethos: bravado, shamelessness, and (believe
it or not) increasing degradation of and violence toward women. The
nontraditional abbreviations, excessive and occasionally cloying
tag on both covers, lumping together last week's Flytrap revelations and
essay urging the president not to resign but to "repair the breach" between
character flaws make Gore look great). The similar missile strike stories
include maps of the attack sites and diagrams of the Tomahawk missile but
and bemoan his inability to carry through promises about health care, race,
could impeach them, too?). They should be ashamed of having lied for a
coverage. The lead story recounts the tense White House countdown to testimony,
dissects the legal equivocations in The Speech. Time 's exclusive: While
explicit questions about sex before the grand jury and "did not acknowledge
He's jammed between a rock (disloyalty) and a hard place (loyalty). And don't
inflation. Suggestion for improvement: unregulated competition, which would
encryption software on the Internet. Federal agencies want the right to read
encrypted messages, much as they currently have the right to tap phones. A free
market for encryption is a better idea: It would produce more reliable
encryption software and protect electronic commerce from criminals.
travel as a way of life. Sixteen features look at the nomadic ennui of the
frequent business traveler. An article claims airports are our new cities: The
fictional air terror must "inoculate a troubled mind with a homeopathic dose of
angst." Also, a writer tries to break his personal record of West
cover: A smiling Bill Gates proclaims, "Why We Will Win." Inside: A story
scare: your malicious thyroid. Thyroid problems can be hard to detect and can
(some learning nuclear physics) currently go unwatched once they enter the
advice: Claim lots of dependents and don't get married (tax laws favor
speculates that rogue nations are now employing its scientists. Chilling
mourns the end of loyalty. Presidential aides used to fall on their swords for
their boss; now they stab him in the back. Why? We are a "Free Agent Nation":
Those hoping for months of tawdry sex revelations will be disappointed.
investigation. They just need a few Democratic votes so they can claim
coverage. The lead story recounts the tense White House countdown to testimony,
dissects the legal equivocations in The Speech. Time 's exclusive: While
explicit questions about sex before the grand jury and "did not acknowledge
He's jammed between a rock (disloyalty) and a hard place (loyalty). And don't
"Holy Grail" of genetics could hasten cures for cancer, hepatitis, and even
cheaply than the feds, but critics worry that he could raise the cost of
eight different screenwriters. Each auxiliary writer is a specialist: One adds
humor, another adds plot structure, a third adds dialogue that will appeal to
women or minorities. The voice of the original writers goes missing in action.
means the mags will be outdated by the time they hit newsstands.)
the United States can capture him, and even if we do, it's not clear that he
practicality, whereas Fuller exudes buzz. (Here is Time 's shorter version.)
older brother was rarely discussed, but "pretenders" claiming to be the missing
rarely bothered to listen to his patient's problems. Instead, he liked to
piece says the scandal has paralyzed daily life in the administration: Nothing
initiatives are merely cosmetic. Staffers, meanwhile, are trying to pretend
cover editorial on terrorism says Middle East radicals
other policymakers. She seems to have "less leverage at the White House than
benefits shareholders. Financiers may be "mistaking size for profitability."
seems horribly overvalued, and a crash would be devastating now that so many
views in order to win over the Religious Right (a group that hounded him in
deduct health insurance costs, file taxes several times a year, and are
routinely audited. They're angry and they're not going to take it anymore.
so we've rallied around him as we would a family member in crisis.
profiles an Internal Revenue Service tax collector whose nightmare of a job
mostly involves shutting down businesses in arrears. He has been attacked with
it early in the day: 'You don't want to interrupt someone's lunch, make a big
beat out more flamboyant entrants. His design so subtly integrates its
Spank": A quick slap to a child's wrist or buttocks is effective and not
emotionally damaging, as long as it is accompanied by a clear lesson and
hand out business cards with gang names printed on them and frequently sport
Time begins its millennium project with a special issue on
"I think the evidence there is also compelling that her story isn't true. I
government must do more for education and training. Gubernatorial candidate
history (he puts brash young designers in charge of hallowed clothing lines).
staff), but she's expected to win the Democratic nomination. No one questions
essay claims that baby boomers are ushering in a new buzzword in the funeral
realistic treatment on film, World War II is only now being portrayed as
"speak up, not just to the nurses and doctors but to our employers as
cover story says pro sports are in trouble. Overpaid athletes,
explaining how they create their front page each day. The Times chooses
its lead story with exacting care and great pride, seeking input from every
how the Times became a more readable paper, see "The
business. Tickets bring in just half of the profits: Concession stands are the
Theaters salt their food heavily so you'll want to buy more soft drinks.
Democratic nomination. Despite his centrist stance, Gore has managed to enlist
nomination. Why no challenge coming from Gore's left? Democrats have decided
but now the party has lost all touch. Still focusing on government spending and
the budget deficit, the party is ignoring the newer concerns of the "angry
parental attention and that limiting population will stop environmental decay.
In fact, says the review, only children are no better off than children in big
developing nations start having fewer children as technology and industry
and the Constitution. Our nitpicking exegesis of ancient texts limits our
(Touchstone Pictures). This action flick, about a rogues' gallery
ridiculous plot twists, too many explosions, too much ripping off of its
role that suits his rocklike demeanor perfectly and makes virtues of his
peculiar fetish, has lots of gorgeous naked bodies but little plot or character
development. A "cold, contemptuous, and interminable Oedipal saga," says the
beautiful imagery, captivating symmetries and brilliantly facile tricks" redeem
dense, obsessed, prolific and full of popular and arcane references as a
investigation. Wanting still to win the case, he rehashes arcane and forgotten
anecdotes and slammed for shoddy thinking. The part about her sexual
personal and political so gently we're barely aware of the difference," says
especially her idea that girls should retreat to the wilderness with older
big time. Rescued from obscurity three months ago by a rave from the New
to languish in obscurity because of its "annoying cuteness."
someone who has published so much, some of it admirable, have written such a
bad book? A book whose badness leaves the reader first with a sense of
reluctance (must I really go on?), then anger (how can he let himself get away
with this?), then embarrassment (it is unseemly to cast my eyes on such a
Art --"Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life" (Museum of Modern
coupled with an active military presence in the Far East, will keep China from
endangering the world. A story recommends that baseball teams share television
revenue. Currently, teams in small television markets can't afford to pay great
dread of germs. New, incredibly popular "antibacterial" products rely on fear
to boost sales, yet are largely ineffective in fighting bacteria. The piece
also notes that bacteria aren't so dangerous that we need to be constantly
should be able to flee bad schools just like the rich, and the competition will
pregnancies. Thanks to donated eggs and sperm, women in their 60s now can give
birth. Older mothers face high health risks and, as they become elderly, might
not be up to the job of parenting. It's just plain unnatural, some doctors say.
magazines. Time 's cover package considers "what makes a good school."
classes, and higher standards for teachers. Time also tracks the
growing popularity of school vouchers among blacks in
inner cities. Republicans hope to attract black voters with the issue.
disabilities. Early diagnosis, new teaching techniques (emphasis on the arts,
schoolchildren may have a neurological deficit, ranging from mild to severe,
a gesture. We have made it clear that we respect human rights." A Time
investigation finds that nursing homes neglect patients:
Seniors have died of thirst and starvation; some facilities are crawling with
career paths include: animator, crisis specialist, corrections officer,
grief therapist, and cosmetic dentist. A companion piece notes that a growing number of companies pay full
single smart card could replace a fistful of credit and debit cards, serve as a
driver's license, store a person's medical history, feed a parking meter, and
essay lambastes the talk show Politically Incorrect for its inane
discourse: "The pace is plodding, as host and guests struggle to figure out
committed suicide, and that the conspiracy theories hold no water. The real
an editorial condemns Republicans for avoiding the accelerating fight against
racial preferences: "It won't do for Republicans to delay the prize of
colorblindness, even for a moment, by silently ignoring the battle while it's
Diary of an Assistant Bookkeeper," and "Elements Most Often Found in Novels,
average person takes an hour and a half to burn.") A book review calls
"is the shrewdest observer of his neighbors and the purest and most native
advantages: great weather, varied scenery, and nonunion labor. Also, an article
notes scientists' inability to discover a magnet with only one pole. Physicists
believe the Big Bang should have formed "monopoles," but they can't find or
and fills prisons with older inmates unlikely to commit serious crimes again;
"Just as our women dominate you now, so will our men dominate you in four,
five, six years, and so too will we dominate you in world economics.")
to his office. An article offers an evolutionary explanation for recent cases
murdered their newborn). Ancestral mothers couldn't waste scarce resources on
babies born at the wrong time, so they killed the kid and waited for a less
as a politician, does lousy guest interviews and mangles the chitchat with her
harrowing Mir expedition. When the supply ship crashed into the space station,
universe. Among its discoveries: planets forming, lots of black holes, and
galaxies born "when the universe was in its infancy." Many spectacular pictures
problem for surgery patients, called "awareness": Patients wake up from anesthesia during the
operation. Able to feel pain and hear doctors (who sometimes ridicule the
"unconscious" patient), "awareness" victims remain unable to speak or move for
frequently about his education and military service, and he has a yen for
that the vice president could use the phrase 'came out' and assume that his
listeners knew exactly what he meant is an indication of how the private
language of the homosexual subculture has become the common language of the
failure of New York liberalism. New York leftists' lone remaining cause is
income inequality, but they don't know what to do about it. (For a
glaciological whodunit. "What will surprise everyone is the dry iciness, the
the disconcerting effect of a neon sign flashing, 'We're doing television that
clothed, teens are prevented from committing suicide, and a kidnapped baby with
series: "A Bunch of Klutzes Who Should Mind Their Own Business." (Click
(government lawyers hunt down villains and prosecute them), it is said to be
about a cable sportscaster to be a conventional comedy about black urban
professionals. Critics agree that it's a conventional comedy. "The show has all
emotional nuance. Reviewers focus on Garment's past as a clarinetist, on
with voice boxes and prosthetic hands who move to New York and become
impossible task of making these dogs 'human' and just misses the mark," says
led to the sale of the foreign rights and to a major movie deal.
equivalent of comfort food, something for those who like their nostalgia
less than a year after the Museum of Modern Art's grand exhibition of his
portraiture. Most critics are happy to reconsider the maligned "blue period,"
production that studios don't often make anymore, now that movies about
tornadoes and invasions by aliens have become too expensive to be taken
the movie's preposterous premise: An introspective hit man returns home for a
freshness of the original idea: The film "isn't nearly as clever as it thinks
stint at a nudist camp) and others (he titles a piece about people who picked
him up hitchhiking "Planet of the Apes"). The book is a "wedding of funny and
astonishing book, a masterpiece," says the New York Times Book Review 's
Alter. "It is a notable example of what happens when writers discount the
sordidness, and racism (one of the poems is titled "King Bolo and his Big Black
attacks Ricks' annotations to the poems as "adventurism." The notes, says
"ridiculous." Episodes reviewed so far are dismissed as failed attempts at
plays a newly unemployed publicist forced to move in with her former secretary.
first wave did. "This is an intelligent and absorbing romantic drama,
heat, and flings herself about as if playing racquetball with her own
that my objections to 'The Kiss' have absolutely nothing to do with its being a
recently found favor with readers.' My objections are based entirely and
exclusively in the simple, inescapable reality that 'The Kiss' is an
argues that only children receive closer parental attention and that limiting
population will stop environmental decay. In fact, says the review, only
children are no better off than children in big families, and overpopulation
worshipful of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. Our nitpicking
exegesis of ancient texts limits our ability to innovate.
Congress. Conclusion: Babbitt is a fine, upstanding man caught in an
well crush the record for most homers in a season. His secret: a smooth,
concealed weapons lower crime rates. While scholars debate the accuracy of the
study's statistics, gun rights activists embrace its message that an armed
combination of video games, insecurity, and pure, inexplicable evil.
hair, wears Gap clothes, and flies coach. Inappropriately chipper line: "She's
also a morning star still in mourning for her husband."
story explains the Supreme Court's new rulings on sexual harassment.
a defense unless they've already instituted a "strong system of dealing with
slimy history of harassing subordinates. His company decided it made better
researchers are pursuing the wrong kind of vaccine. Most researchers hope to
targets (us) are too conscious that they are being spun. The real PR triumph of
this century is direct mail: Obviousness and repetition get better results than
conservative calls him) who avoids taking firm stands. And he's not well
fragile and its leadership infirm. The summit is a good way to "talk over"
differences, but it will produce little of import. An accompanying essay argues
becoming involved." China continues to focus on economic rather than military
such a move. Both leads note that although a rate cut is a mere possibility,
crisis. The LAT says that the Fed chairman's remarks are the first
addressing the possibility of lower interest rates.
this fight," they do criticize the two nations for their hostility towards each
resources away from funding international terrorism, it would also hamper their
television producer, who was arrested, locked in a windowless cell for three
after signing confessions that she broke laws regarding press accreditation and
piece highlights the massive increase in popularity and prestige baseball has
the Hall of Fame and the city by its unflattering portrayal in the movie
The first day in months you'll have time to read the papers and they barely
fiscal nosedive and that further political squabbling could lead to social
that the job is becoming the primary focus of many people's lives.
platform he rolled out last week: printing billions of rubles now to pay for
years of soldiers', civil servants' and defense workers' back wages and
in just a few months, strictly controlling the currency, collecting taxes and
cutting government spending. The program has quickly been criticized, says the
hyperinflation may have already arrived, with the ruble now three times cheaper
although in the nineteenth paragraph of its story, well after the jump, it
enter the Kremlin on a white horse." Similarly, the LAT story emphasizes
landscaping, flower arranging, and maintenance and custodial work. Mirage has
baseball fan who's taking a glove to games these days in hopes of catching
your tax advisor along too. If you catch the ball and sell it, well obviously,
suppose out of a love for baseball, you decide to just give the ball to
the new home run king. Well, the Times explains, then the federal gift
which time it would be a taxable part of the fan's estate. The only way to
avoid tax entirely is to give the ball to charity, which could then sell the
ball at a profit without paying any tax. (And, Today's Papers notes, if the fan
could arrange to have the charity then sell the ball to the new home king, he
would accomplish his original philanthropic goal while beating the tax man.)
embassy's back gate that killed several guards before the bomb went off.
underground garage, where it probably would have caused even more death. The
LAT interviews another witness to the attack who says the man who jumped
from the bomb truck was dressed in the uniform of an embassy security guard.
This observation that a man jumped indicates a point not made expressly in any
of the coverage, namely that this was not a suicide bomber.
says, are seemingly worried that their allies might use the occasion to sift
The papers say that rescuers continue on the trail of faint noises in the
alive inside the rubble. And the Post notes a special problem in
dental records because few can afford to go to the dentist.
says they currently suspect plastic explosives, perhaps from a lot sold to
her heart and tears glistening on cheeks cut by flying glass."
Times says experts think these are the youngest murder defendants in
bicycle home and watched cartoons, and the younger boy went home to play with
his puppy. One glaring lacuna in the coverage: the accused killers' parents.
They are hardly mentioned although they have obviously done a horrible job.
oath, and at least tacitly encouraged others to give false testimony about it.
sparing the nation the immense distraction of impeachment proceedings.
permanent international court for prosecuting crimes against humanity. And the
laws designed to protect other children from the fates met by their own.
mental hospital of dangerous repeat sex offenders after the expiration of their
prison terms)-- are but the tip of a legislative iceberg that, the Post
considerably broadened the constituency for victims' rights.
admission in a Content magazine interview that he spoke privately to
the possible wrongdoing here while at the same time exculpating its own prior
the LAT does not, the LAT doesn't say. It almost seems as if the
paper's position is it's okay to talk to an "office," but not to any actual
person who works there. But then again, papers love to fuzz up the origins of
their information if for no other reason than that it makes them look more
original than they really are. This very LAT piece is a good example:
although the whole story is generated by the Content article, the paper
the tobacco bill now working its way through the Senate. Although the bill had
from starting, and to keep children from buying cigarettes, it now contains
The Wall Street Journal reports that according to a benchmark
annual customer survey, Apple Computer has fallen from its longtime position as
the personal computer industry's leader in customer loyalty. The company is now
third in the allegiance sweepstakes, behind the new leader, Gateway, and
bomb tests was provided nearly forty years ago as part of an "Atoms for Peace"
both countries in writing that the reactor would be reserved for "peaceful
and Drug Administration cannot regulate nicotine as a drug without explicit
efforts to curb the targeting of underage smokers. It effectively overturns an
cigarettes, banned cigarette vending machines from most public places, and kept
options in addressing the nation. While calling a nationally televised address
appalling: Immense pressure is reinforced by torture, and all operations are
has become something of a terrorist hotbed in recent months: The three
cake and other goodies, is described inside at the LAT and in the
markets. This amount almost doubles previously requested sums. According to the
manslaughter. Charges against the other two Marines in the back of the plane
were dropped, though they will likely testify in the upcoming court
that Earl Spencer created to memorialize his sister. Among the features: a
leads with the Senate's passage of an amendment to the tobacco tax bill that
LAT goes with its disclosure of a secret agreement under which State
and backed off its previous policy of guaranteed property replacement. The
outcome could, says the paper, expose State Farm, the nation's richest insurer,
to thousands of similar claims by other policyholders whose coverage was
percent of their debts, will have to. The bill was backed by credit card
contributions at twice the rate of the tobacco companies), who stand to recover
fallen on hard times while not holding the credit card issuers responsible for
promiscuous marketing. Additionally, they argue it will further hamper the
bill may fall by the wayside when the Senate takes up the issue later this
pack tax increase in the tobacco bill, originally all channeled to
paper notes that the bill now not only rewards couples who otherwise would
suffer the "marriage penalty" at tax time, but also those who would not. The
First Amendment because it had neither the purpose nor the effect of advancing
decision is only the second courtroom loss ever for a tobacco company in such a
suit, and is certain to trigger a slew of similar court cases and hence to
further dim any fleeting hopes the tobacco companies had of gaining blanket
congressional committee. "It is possible that we have moved 'beyond history.'"
it's true, but the papers have also moved a little beyond history: Somehow
Department report. The good news (which catches an inside headline at the
Times leads with farm troubles in the northern plains, caused by low
wheat and livestock prices. There's no quick fix but plenty of partisan
law allows the special forces to conduct overseas exercises if the "primary
to head the dominant political party. This development should bolster the
injured. Even as the papers went to press, screams were still heard from people
groups are largely discounted; initially at least, experienced terrorists from
the Middle East seem more likely candidates. Though the State Department
all the means at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice, no matter
headline, however, is more realistic-- "Embassies Can Never Be Fully
considered relatively low security risk and thus were not among the upgrade
grand jury leaks. She noted the "serious and repetitive nature" of the leaks,
question prosecutors or subpoena documents in the investigation. Nonetheless,
Times lead with a story that's already made the rounds once this
speech, he said he would release all political prisoners jailed by the previous
military regime, allow the formation of political parties, reform the prison
system and put an end to "lapses" in the management of public funds. The
summed up his predecessor's reign of corruption and false imprisonment thus:
profitability as it moved from celebrity news and salacious scandals to real
investigative reporting. Recent stories: thefts of antiquities during a
last month a government paper launched its own copycat.
power and, as a result, are generally viewed very positively. One reason for
checking and the separation between editors and publishers have profoundly
scandal stories of the 90s. If the "perjury epidemic" is to be checked, then,
The most disturbing thing "Today's Papers" has read on the job yet was in
Cash, who apparently learned right after the fact that his friend had murdered
Following up its story yesterday about Big Tobacco's propensity for flying
results of a Center for Responsive Politics study of the free travel
accepted by members (it's still legal as long as it relates to
congressional business). The chief finding: Corporations, trade groups and the
to assess accurately the global economy's health. Growing pressure on employers
to cover the cost of birth control as part of employee benefits is the New York Times'
production have economists scratching their heads over the health of the world
economy. Current methods of economic diagnosis are being questioned, and a
global recession is seeming ever more possible to skeptical economists. The
local economic events can set off chain reactions felt throughout the entire
state lawmakers to mandate employer coverage of contraception as part of
not birth control, have stepped up Congressional lobbying in recent months.
lobbyist states, "It may be good social policy. On the other hand, so is
enforcement policies governing nursing homes. The story is also on page one at
but absent from the other fronts, an odd elision for a slow news day in a
consternation, to maintain current levels of financial support for the National
random inspections at night and on weekends and impose immediate civil monetary
Supreme Court decision allowing limits on the funding of indecent art in
going so far as to call the aforementioned new grant limits "political cover"
psychological thriller "The Game." (Oh, he's the one.)
The LAT front reports that a consortium of software companies
public school system over illegal copies of programs made by school employees.
An outright payment to the companies as well as administrative and replacement
being tarnished, has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of a sexually
explicit Web site that features a secret camera purportedly spying on
paper says university officials said they first learned of the Web site from a
Daily News reporter. (Yeah, right.) The university's housing director,
Another clue: the women aren't discussing feminism.
in New York City to the Council on Foreign Relations, called the current
situation "the biggest financial challenge facing the world in a
the flames of the international financial crisis." The Post notes that
silence" about the crisis. The papers note that soon after the speech, the
finance ministers and central bank heads of the G-7 countries issued a joint
statement pledging to spur global growth and restore stability to the financial
hinting at the need for the Federal Reserve Board to lower interest rates. But
appearance of trying to dictate interest rate policy to the Fed.
that children in immigrant families tend to be healthier than those of
here. And today's LAT front bears yet another example of a recent skein
of managed care plans in recent years have already been achieved, with the
result that the nation's health care costs are likely to double over the
next decade. Also contributing to the rise, says the study, is an increase in
the consumption of expensive prescription drugs and new medical technology,
plus greater patient demand for choosing one's doctor. Already, notes the
various previous lawsuits. The files, says the paper, could have served as
Times to have been unaware of the deal but to look on it favorably as a
For the third straight day the papers lead with stories about the
already frozen, but fails to make it clear if any such assets exist. Everyone
quality universities, and oil. Corrupt leadership, however, has left the nation
reveals that polling was done among two groups of "randomly selected
criticizes police departments that take credit for falling crime rates while
padding their budgets by fueling unwarranted paranoia.
she escaped from an abusive father and an arranged marriage to her uncle (her
fundamental way in which the United States intends to combat the forces of
From the Department of Redundancy Department: yesterday's Today's
their decisions to eat some animals and not others. The article cites perceived
to mention what historical role taste buds may have played.
course, to discuss testimony she might give in return for an immunity deal. And
president," while the LAT describes it as "a special legal session known
as 'Queen for a Day,'." Would the LAT care to explain what on earth this
session, nothing a (female?) defendant says can be used against her.
is a government attorney. (A private attorney could claim the privilege.)
White House, know in advance what it will concern and have limits on its
All papers but the LAT have page one stories on the proposed merger
tripped up by regulators, say all the papers. The merger of the two firms is
just one more instance of a trend towards consolidation in the industry.
firms relying on sweepstakes mailings to foist unwanted magazine subscriptions
(different author) explaining that casinos were fleecing seniors because
secret grand jury testimony and the general word from them is: sex with
credibility, to be used if her testimony proves damaging.
House's passage of campaign finance reform legislation that
interest group attack ads. The paper says that the vote puts new pressure on
hostile Senate Republicans to approve the bill. A Post editorial calls
the House move impressive because it occurred over the opposition of the House
The Times editorial says and does pretty much the same. And the
appointment of an independent counsel in the finance matter.
vaccines at various strategic sites, developed in record time, is now in
jeopardy. The problems include a dispute among experts concerning the merits of
such vaccines compared to antibiotics. The stockpile plan was developed, says
the paper, without consulting drug industry leaders about feasibility, and by a
opened up an investigation of alcohol advertising and has reached a settlement
how are booze companies handling marketing to young people.
in hospitals nationwide. The market for these has increased two to threefold
just in the past three years. In light of that scary story of undetected baby
that, according to the paper, the devices really don't do anything to prevent
For those of you who are sticklers when it comes to showbiz bureaucracy, the
founder of the Blue Man Group, referred incorrectly to the group's structure.
project fund after an internal check seemed to suggest kickbacks and
the paper reports, is making a rare congressional working visit to plump for
yesterday at Senate hearings, but as the Times reminds the reader four
paragraphs in, it was already aired last winter. But the Times gets
excited enough by this virtual news to also offer a lead editorial and a
The World Bank investigation apparently encompasses, says the
investigation. The Post quotes a senior Bank official as saying, "So the
The LAT "Column One" reports on an interesting conflict between
medicine and the law. One of the most common causes of death in this country is
heart attack and in most attacks there is only a window of ten minutes to save
the victim's life. So it would seem obvious that the advent of the portable
it be great if defibrillators were as common as portable fire extinguishers?
Well, as the LAT tells it, the trial lawyers don't think so, because
they don't like exempting bystanders who use the devices from possible
lawsuits. The cops aren't crazy about them, because they fear this will lead to
a distraction from their primary law enforcement role, and besides they don't
want to get sued. And there's the fear that improper use of the machines can
on the international prostitution trade. So what does it say about the First
Lady that for this article she not only declined to be interviewed but even
The Wall Street Journal reports that publishing houses receive
a steady stream of requests for free books from prisoners, which they
requested, but doesn't explain the point of mailing out "The Seven Habits of
illnesses caused by the company's breast implants leads at all papers except
too early to cover it. The average dividend for each claimant will amount to
out, studies have been inconclusive on the degree to which the implants are
linked to sickness. The settlement ends a legal struggle that has gone on for
over six years, but individual women can still pursue their claims for damages
with two additional articles inside accompanied by a timeline of the magazine's
instead to start a new monthly magazine in partnership with the film company
all five papers not to use the words "venerated" or "venerable" to describe the
new grammatical vogue. Despite the egregious lead pun ("The punctuation world
leaking from cyberspace addresses into traditionally hyphenated items such as
less space than hyphens, and the period key is easier to hit on the keyboard.
curiously leaves the arrest out of the headline, which instead trumpets the
the papers cite widespread indications that he is ready to acknowledge that he
"lawyer familiar with the matter" as saying that this is indeed the phrase he's
his marijuana use, his draft situation, and those White House coffees for
anyone else to cover up the relationship. The LAT quotes that
an excellent feel for the difficulties such questions might pose, ticking off
accomplishments and his scandals. The piece quotes one writer's hesitance to
press soon. His explanation for holding off: "The jury is still out...."
more, according to the Post the man says the team was put together and
designed for the secret resumption of the country's nuclear weapons program,
into the contemporary political mind. The point of the piece is for the author
to rue the state of contemporary politics from the perspective of one suddenly
removed from it by an election loss, but what he mostly communicates instead is
that he loves his newfound ability to: take more and better vacations, to be a
declared secondhand smoke a dangerous carcinogen. The New York Times
lead says that the military may soften its adultery policy by limiting the
looks at national security lapses connected with the export of satellites to
statistically significant association between [secondhand smoke] and lung
cancer." Few studies have convincingly linked secondhand smoke to cancer, and
the new ruling is sure to reignite the controversy. The government will
Pentagon committee has proposed changes to the military's Manual for Courts
discharge upon convictions." The movement has generated significant debate
controversies. Ironically, the changes in adultery policy must be approved by
The LAT lead raises concerns about the Pentagon's monitoring of
satellite exports to China. The fear is that technological expertise from the
from a political marriage, it is obviously one of true love. The years seem to
goes-- Playboy is prancing around as the "official worldwide brand of the
Times leads with a regional story on the debate over how to use
welfare aid; Republicans want to restrict the increases to the blind, aged, and
disagrees: "Aides said the president's aim was to avoid a lecture about human
an epidemic among black people." Not until the fourth paragraph does the paper
cases among whites than an increase among blacks." The rest of the story
focuses on the failure of black communities and institutions to confront the
set certain limits, engaging in physical activity without allowing it to reach
The Wall Street Journal leader says railroads want to use a
satellite positioning system to avoid collisions. Not only would the system
make trains safer, it might reduce travel time, allowing more efficient
scheduling and faster speeds. Problem: The technology is expensive and years
homeless man who was trying to talk to him. All the shots missed their target,
rid of the homeless and boost tourism, and look how things turn out.
letting individuals invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock
The caskets of the two murdered Capitol guards will be displayed all day
reserved for presidents or military leaders, adding that we've conferred this
family cats a few days before his assault on the Capitol, while the LAT
victory quashing the subpoena, White House officials fear that any attempt to
fight it might cost them support from congressional Democrats. The subpoena
party pressure angle. The other papers focus on the fight over what form
clearest terms: The two companies "agreed to form a global phone venture with
services to multinational customers." The venture seems designed to counter the
an armadillo. The experience held little to recommend it.
report is a vicious personal attack that fails to demonstrate any impeachable
the infamous cigar story, simultaneous engagements in oral sex and phone
conversations with members of Congress, and a White House rendezvous
"relentlessly accusative" and says it alleges crimes for which the President
could be prosecuted even if he leaves office. The article calls accusations
the report," but judges sections about abuse of power and witness tampering
revealing thong underwear to the President. Today's Papers is puzzled by
the logistics of such a divulgence and begs to know (but is not told by the
papers) exactly where and how she was wearing a thong that became visible
"turned a corner in his favor." The piece also notes another sign of relief:
Communist Party favorites to top government posts, a sure sign of movement
towards tighter regulation of markets. Interestingly, the papers report
expression of his profound regret for his actions in the White House sex
including this assessment from a market strategist: "The pros are scared to
grounds for delaying its decision to distribute additional aid until
than were predicted: an arms accord providing for the sharing of nuclear
why not just come right out and describe it as a "blown opportunity"?) and
at the summit might be politically useful, in that this could make reporters
international court for the crime of genocide. The defendant, held responsible
mayor, who now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. The LAT runs
essentially a sequence of high dosage birth control pills, which is thought by
its manufacturer to be less politically controversial than the French
drugs points out that one of them, tamoxifen, is already approved as a
treatment for preventing the recurrence of breast cancer, but now becomes the
first drug ever approved for the prevention of cancer in those who've never had
world had better get used to, since it's become pretty firmly ensconced. The
paper says the cabal keeps its hold with public floggings and executions (the
story describes a burglar's raucous public hand amputation), intensive street
patrols and networks of informants. And in a big cultural change, it has
disarmed most of the general populace. With renewed law and order has come the
comparatively safe transportation of goods, increased tax collection and
improved essential services. There is now electricity, reports the
informed airlines that, in an expansion of disability rights policy, they must
Journal story prompted numerous calls to airlines, some of whom haven't
problem calls in advance, there will be no peanuts on that flight. Apparently,
the West's economies "will not emerge from this turmoil without being affected
whether Japan has any conception about how to stop digging the hole it's in."
radical revamp to get out from under hundreds of billions of bad loans, but
the Joint Chiefs over the timing of the air exercises. The Wall Street Journal reports that members of Congress open
towards the flight profile involved in that Marine flight that hit the ski
lift, suggesting that such low flying is not without its applications in this
theater of operations and not necessarily a sign of joyriding.
emphasize the details of the air activity, the LAT lead instead focuses
following a soldier, the whole scene looking like the Pied Piper of
sin, like alcoholism, kleptomania and sex addiction.
of the Southern Baptists' biblical justification for their recently announced
doctrine that wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands. Does this
Baptists condone slavery, or pool all their property, or abjure money lending
or investment? And does the Southern Baptist Convention embrace pacifism?
writer who once interviewed the spy claims that to the dead man's
Hill. The general consensus is that the public's support for President
testimony and indeed, has even grown a bit stronger. This has, report the
papers, encouraged Democrats to seek a compromise outcome short of
with a guarantee that he wouldn't be removed from office, although perhaps
politics of that schedule: it would allow Republicans to avoid looking too soft
or too hard on the president before the elections, while still forcing
up out of the formal report he tendered to Congress. "Ultimately, we just got
the sex," a presidential advisor is quoted in the LAT. Exhibit A of something
that "no one ever asked me to lie and I was never promised a job for my
when this statement was paraphrased in the report the modifier "explicitly" was
trouble getting these days from members of his own party."
The Wall Street Journal reports that China has banned a kind of
foreign joint venture that was the principal way such telecommunications firms
in a series of protectionist steps that are worsening the business climate for
a long way off, LAT 's front, and inside stories at all the other papers,
still lead the way in fighting against threats to their children so slight as
to be all but invisible to ordinary folk. The latest bogeyman: peanut butter allergies. A number of elite schools in the
serve peanut butter sandwiches only in a special designated area. Some schools
have stored syringes of antidote around their buildings. And thought is being
children. One lawyer who represents many New York private schools is concerned,
says the paper, that peanut allergies might qualify as a disability that must
schools have done none of these things, largely because no one has complained.
(Although peanuts are not served because they are deemed a choking hazard.) The
connecting bin Laden to numerous terrorist plots and had been tracking him with
investigation in history" has successfully pieced together the details of the
bombings and now looks to uncover a vast terrorist conspiracy linked to bin
real danger lies in the possibility of a global depression. The piece cites
"analysts" who say that because Japan refuses to bite the bullet and make
Peter Lynch, argues that through nine recessions, a presidential assassination,
multiple wars, and numerous political scandals the stock market has increased
in value. Thus, one shouldn't get too upset over current banking crises and
earnings. Thankfully, Lynch believes earnings will continue to rise over the
broke too late for the other papers' early editions. The "The Seven Samurai"
The papers report that there are no indications thus far of foul play.
Everybody reports that moments before perishing, the flight crew radioed that
it had smoke in the cockpit, and the LAT explains that this came either
Post adding that the aircraft featured cargo holds offering the greatest
possible degree of fire detection and suppression. The Post also reports
readings indicate that a large piece of the aircraft, perhaps the
Everybody notes that the plane was only a few minutes away from its
then returned over water to dump more fuel. All the papers note that among the
taken away in handcuffs, says the Post today, authorities searched her
apartment and confiscated notebooks, plus video and audio tapes. The paper says
of the mushrooming world financial crisis: the prominent view of the past ten
years that money should move freely around the globe. It seems that many
countries deep in economic turmoil will now be instituting limits on the
freedom of foreigners to lend and residents to borrow foreign currency. After
all, the Journal notes, the countries that most steadfastly resisted the
easily too, driving up interest rates and pushing down local currency exchange
Wire" that the recent stock market jitters have probably suppressed enthusiasm
perception that they have more immigrant readers these days and b) chance to
justify all those upcoming French expense account items.
but its loss of control of Parliament's upper house means other party pols now
of Protestant extremists reacting to the Catholic mother's recent move into a
mostly Protestant neighborhood. Although the bombing certainly seems capable of
hope: unlike in the past, the murders quickly prompted bipartisan calls for
air bags can inflate without a crash. Federal safety regulators have also been
kids who wouldn't be seeing the movie. The chain quickly devised a contingency
"Today's Papers" remarked earlier this month on the oddity
never owned a home, several readers complained. Reader Ed Gray reports that
N. Midland in Little Rock. "Today's Papers" regrets the error.
journalism scandals have produced a distinct article genre: the media career
obituary. The piece then inadvertently throws dirt on the face of director
weapons inspections, which is the LAT 's top national story, and which
directly told to lie under oath about it, she was given suggestions it should
rehearsal. Spending the day this way raises a question not addressed in any of
Isn't this just coaching the witness? The Nation's Newspaper makes the nifty
Especially since just a few paragraphs in, the story quotes chief inspector
track again and again." And a little further below that, it quotes a National
Security Council spokesman saying, "We've heard this bluster before."
documents the White House's legal tacking by quoting White House counsel
speech? Isn't this just another annoying example of Boomers mistakenly thinking
they discovered, nay, invented, something that's been around for quite a while?
Rather, "greater and stronger." Other talking heads brought on board include
Policy" (point: being first is profitable). When was the last time Shaw did a
piece that didn't quote all these media mafiosi? And would it be too much to
ask that their ideas be more substantial than their job titles?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Golden Books, off of
"strategic opportunities." It's not just that Toys "R" Us isn't stocking as
One of the bigger challenges faced by contemporary journalism is
convincingly dressing up its desire to dig dirt in the clothes of some
states that her testimony "offers a welcome opportunity to turn this
investigation away from the fascinating but tangential privilege questions
about Secret Service agents and White House lawyers in which it has so long
separate from its Internet Explorer browser. The ruling is widely viewed as
boding well for the company's upcoming federal antitrust trial concerning the
minority firms preferences in the awarding of government contracts when
independent surveys show that their share of federal business is smaller than
their overall market share. The White House hopes, the paper reports, that the
are a remedy for a proven record of discrimination. Nobody else puts the new
piece, mark the beginning of real competition in both local phone service and
Post quotes a powerful House member's spokesman saying the deal "runs up
though. The paper reports that the congressional investigation is trying to
have been so effective they may well become the models for federal legislation.
treatments available; and patients can protest to an outside board a plan's
epidemics of history. The paper says this is the gloomiest picture of the
months to just one year the holding period required to enjoy a drop in the tax
distributing it to young members of their sect. This is apparently the first
documented cloning of adult mammals since Dolly. The New York Times
nominee for Secretary of the Air Force. The nomination gets lots of space
elsewhere, but only the LAT infuses the vote with racial overtones from
the first black ever nominated to be Air Force secretary," even though the
issues that brought him down were discrepancies in his statements about his
career as a pilot and his apparent practice of pressuring subordinates to buy
human cloning will "happen sooner than we thought a year ago," and guessing
have proved beyond doubt that Dolly is a clone. The paper waits until the ninth
paragraph to mention that, oh by the way, both of these developments are from
today on such problems as: crashing computers wiping out medical records,
failing. (Wry commentary or poor word choice? The Nation's Newspaper says the
Senate is "staging" the hearings today.) Senate investigators have discovered,
the departing head of Justice's look at the matter has concluded in a report to
the paper's lead editorial uses this news as the springboard to once again call
sometimes, like yesterday, dying two at a time. According to the papers, the
LAT front and considerable space at the other papers. (Incidentally,
such episodes evince the papers' basic celebrity obituary photo policy: don't
also two more stories inside. The instant upwelling of space lore in the papers
The culture's yawning need to celebrate such past events has meant, says a
Addiction recently did a reunion tour, that the compilation CD "Living in the
just signed a record deal. (The Journal 's style sheet calls for
rather fundamental omission. Although the story says that sentiment against the
move has been criticized as discrimination against gay men, nowhere does it
mention the age of consent for straight men. (Nor does it mention if there's a
It's often interesting to wonder who brings the need for a correction to a
paper's attention and why. Consider for instance, the following item in today's
among New York City police officers misstated the street number of what was
step closer to obtaining testimony from perhaps the last impartial and credible
the most details from the trial evidence, such as running quotes from
killed a [racial epithet]." The LAT renders the confession thus: "I shot
federal highway program may have a problem: with the construction trades
already stretched tight, new workers to carry it out may be hard to find.
new highway construction is apt to raise to "epidemic" proportions an already
high accident rate among rock quarry workers. This could be avoided, the paper
notes, by a few hours of training for new hires. But there's a catch: federal
law prohibits enforcing safety training rules at quarries. (This brute fact is
provision has been kept in place, says the story, by a stone industry that
"Today's Papers" is sentencing itself to the Dept. of Corrections for two
In fact, the paper has run two stories reporting on the erosion of the man's
newsroom, "Today's Papers" was assured that if and when the paper issues a full
is conceivable, because it's actual: the two starred together in "Dark
headlines merely stating that the tape was nationally aired, although the
"composed" chief executive offering "new insights" into his version of events,
To varying degrees, the papers all note that the taped testimony did not
writes that if the speech had been more like the testimony in this regard,
allowed by the prosecutors to go on at great length without directly responding
hours, also meant he was able to avoid some lines of questioning altogether by
sex, that like his, required sexual intercourse, some of the jurors sent back
testimony came when he tried to save his testimony from perjury by advocating
arcane definitions of such words as "is" and "alone." In conjunction with
answers included the enunciation of his own philosophy of such testimony: be
truthful but not helpful; say what's true, but if possible make it misleading.
"unfortunate fundamentals of the case." And so the paper maintains that the
only thing to do is for Congress to open a formal impeachment inquiry. The
"endorse his lying." We can afford, says the editorial, to be a nation of
heavy to wear the dress and hence didn't need to wash it. There's also the word
memory for details was so good that she rattled off for prosecutors what she
her use of steroids during her career, made relevant by her death of heart
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column says that the
shootings while digging deeper into the gunman's troubled past. The New York Times
with murder and could receive the death penalty. Both papers note the reopening
of the Capitol the day after the shootings. The LAT alone specifies the
shooter's mental illness as paranoid schizophrenia.
testify, certain House Democrats have agreed publicly that the President should
needed to track two men later described as easy to find.
claimed mixed ancestry in order to avoid more severe restrictions, often
changing family names and falsifying birth records. Cynics cite the opportune
them less and work them harder. The workers need new visas to change jobs and
face stiff fines for doing so. Moreover, companies dangle green cards in front
align the values of the military with the rest of society. One defender of
separate military culture opines, "We shouldn't be running the military like a
congressional Democrats documenting that the tobacco industry is providing more
travel to members of Congress on corporate jets than any other industry. The
Secret Service agents that because of the agency's practices inside the White
personal activities. "They're specifically trained," says one agent's lawyer,
monitor patients' health even if they switch insurance plans, would make
obtaining old medical records much easier, and would streamline billing.
Additionally, putting the code in place would create a national disease
database great for research. Nevertheless, says the paper, privacy advocates
doctors, they say, would be eroded. And when even the Pentagon gets hacked,
The Times also notes there are disputes about what kind of identifier
should be used. The trouble with just using Social Security numbers is that too
many people, companies and agencies have access to them. So more complicated
ideas have been proposed: retinal scans or numbers made from such personal
information as date of birth and the latitude and longitude of one's hometown.
public comment at a series of hearings. Which means the Times is a bit
unfair in saying that the administration "is quietly laying plans" for the
far the plant's schedule has not been changed. Workers' issues center on
concern about a decreasing role in management, manufacturing and purchasing
decisions, and the outsourcing of work to other GM divisions and outside
suppliers. There's also a $1,000/per worker dispute about the size of second
The Post reports that the Democrats say no member of their party
period studied. The paper explains that although members must pay the companies
the cost of a first class ticket for such flights, their actual cost can be
tens of thousands of dollars more. The story quotes Republican congressman John
The Wall Street Journal takes a snapshot of Web commerce thus
far, concluding that entertainment sites have been a bust and that the only
considering merging with a cable company (to get a piece of subscriber fees) or
called the local hospital requesting a crisis hot line to call when he felt
like stalking women, which he'd been previously convicted of. The nurse who
took the call gave him a number she'd found in the white pages. But when she
that a distraught person might be pushed over the edge by sex talk, tried to
get the number changed. But time spent on the phone to the utilities commission
and the attorney general's office was to no avail. So, finally she went to the
substance? If it's drug abuse to take a pill simply to look virile, the piece
wonders, why isn't it illegal to take one to become virile? Because, it
appearance, a story that also makes the others' fronts. The New York Times
goes with new data indicating that the birth rate for unmarried black women is
alliance aimed at resisting the immersion of their indigenous cultures in a
a change there were no leaks of testimony, the story has one shortcoming that
wires to run it where it belongs, but one still has the feeling the piece
somewhat mishandles the information. Several times high up, the drop is
credited to increased sex education and condom use among blacks. All this in a
And the piece waits until its fifteenth paragraph to mention welfare reform,
then, claiming that the drop has been steady long before welfare reform was
passed, says that "according to some people who monitor fertility rates" it was
not a significant factor. If this is indeed true, then the piece should have
investigation. No death total is given but the stories mention that according
discount the lives of people in other cultures, because they are people we
don't know, but it's wrongheaded to play to that bias. Instead, journalism
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Learning Channel was
journalism, Breaking the News as a "pompous screed" and says he has "a
moderate success and warned of possible strikes against terrorists in the near
future. The papers all report that bin Laden survived the attack and that at
to the Treasury Department's list of official terrorists. This allows the feds
financing terrorist activities. Both papers question why bin Laden had not been
psychological: bold, unilateral action bolsters moral at home, inspires
another public address concerning his relationship with "that woman." The
LAT reports that White House insiders want the President to publicly
discuss the issue, this time clearly expressing "contrition" for his
numerous states in an attempt to settle their claims, which remain in the wake
of Congress' failure to pass comprehensive tobacco legislation. The LAT leads
Co. for any alleged harm caused by its breast implant subsidiary Dow Corning
Corp. The paper points out this limits implant plaintiffs to a share of the
board designed to trim the agency's powers and shifts the burden of proof in
shortening the holding period required for the optimal tax treatment of capital
stages last year, the measure built up unstoppable momentum after a series of
hearings in the Senate Finance Committee laid out horror stories from
the overhaul, now says he looks forward to signing the bill."
the companies offered in last year's negotiated settlement, left in limbo by
the failure of the Congress to implement it. But, the paper points out, there
is certainly pressure to continue talking: in the form of more bills in the
making that could hit the cigarette companies with a large tax surcharge.
Terms in Prison in Baby's Death." Doesn't the Post headline better
campaigns. The story doesn't mention what the Post tips in the headline
of its version and plays high up in the body: that the man is a friend of Al
"Today's Papers" wants to make a clean breast of the mistake it made
Dow Corning implant settlement because the news broke after the paper went to
At yesterday's afternoon Page One meeting, the editorial top guns at the
front this morning. It's a geometrically pleasing and emotionally charged
picture of two sons at their firefighter father's funeral. After all the
expense and complications the Times has experienced putting color
pictures on the front page, it might be a little difficult for the brass to
admit that the picture has something else going for it: its main colors are
is more concrete, saying that according to a "lawyer with knowledge of the
With Knowledge Of The Report?) as agreeing that perjury is charged, and
and for claiming he could not remember being alone with her except when she was
unreleased details that will "surprise the public." Everybody notes the report
is sitting in a locked House storage room while the congressional leadership
ill feeling towards the president among pols is "pervasive." Everybody reports
out that sex means always having to say you're sorry.)
tireless 575-word effort to discover things that have the same circumference as
management: check the ventilation in the "Style" section offices.
didn't sneeze toward the garment, or perhaps inadvertently drool on it.) The
"whether the quality or quantity [of semen] is sufficient" for accurate
testing, meaning a legal break for the President might be an affront to his
spurred higher salaries, which in turn have spurred record consumer spending.
The Post adds that, despite the wage gains and consumer confidence, the
economy has slowed down, but still asserts that "few if any economists are
argues that many indeed fear an impending recession: "Signs are emerging that
our trade deficit and causing worldwide oversupplies that crush our businesses'
child's blood tests did not match her mother's and father's. The hospital
claims its procedures are precise enough that only foul play could be
responsible. The parents will now decide whether to swap kids or stick with
used simple accounting lies to siphon funds to his bogus private company. His
doubtful the agency will get much of its money back. One more losing battle in
lead with a federal court's ruling that the Census Bureau cannot use
The Post lead says the court's rejection of census sampling is a
powerful victory for House Republicans, who favor attempting an actual head
all the papers explain, is that it would probably add categories of people who
don't show up so readily in actual head counts. The Post says the
categories are minorities and poor people. The LAT mentions children,
minorities, renters, and poor people, especially these categories in rural
editorial on the subject does). In short, the method is likely to produce more
The LAT notes that due to its effect on counts related to education,
federal monies. The administration will appeal, but in the meantime, observes
substance found in the surrounding soil has no commercial uses and is not a
production at the factory that was hit as well as at another one a few miles
away. The second plant was not Tomahawked, says the paper, because it is in a
factory may have also been manufacturing medicines.
The Wall Street Journal 's "Work Week" column reports that the
notion of "vicarious liability" of a company for behavior by its employees that
it doesn't even know about is spreading well beyond the Supreme Court's
application last spring of that concept to sexual harassment. A federal judge
held vicariously liable for racial harassment happening in a branch,
"if there is no hope for the agenda, what need is there for the man?" And
a record high, "even as her actual achievements are at a record low."
The dramatic court fight over just how secret the Secret Service is supposed
because yesterday a federal appeals court unanimously refused to quash them.
Some of the language used by the appeals court judges was quite strident. "The
president's agents have literally and figuratively declared war on the
events that he accepted being temporarily relieved of his presidential duties
"being compelled to testify goes against everything he's been trained to do,"
issue of Secret Service confidentiality is the most contentious issue yet in
says some senior officials at Justice argued against filing the Supreme Court
the takeover, which had already been approved by both sets of stockholders and
which would have created the nation's largest military contractor. The
LAT says the decision was made because the company couldn't see how to
because of government opposition. The resistance stemmed from a fear that the
business that competition would be suppressed and prices driven up. The
Service to the presidents they protect reports that they routinely hold him by
his belt when he goes into a crowd, and have been known to disguise themselves
visits. Not to mention that they go through his dresser drawers looking for
many news organizations, the paper explains, have been stretched thin by
are, says the company's PR sheet, "accomplished, fashionable and beautiful."
avoid the term "crash" and all point out that despite the big raw numbers, in
percentage terms, there have been many far worse days. For instance, right away
pessimistic, appeared to remain orderly. And everyone finds it easy to produce
individual investors who are not pulling out, and others who are even buying.
But basically, the coverage follows the usual pattern: There's the numbers.
Lynch "analyst" saying, "It may be that we are reaching a temporary climax,"
but adds that he also said the market was just as likely to stumble further.
"certain stocks will retain their value. I think the market in general is
selling," they make it seem like there were no buyers. But wouldn't there have
to be for these trades to occur? So why not call this waves of buying? And
although there's a fair amount of discussion about who's selling, there's
mention of the role computerized trading played in the recent intense action,
there's not much discussion of how such trading differs nowadays from say, the
breakers" on the books now or not? Today's papers don't say.
"experts," but why is it that the experts' own agendas are rarely mentioned?
very little reason to think stock prices should have declined in the manner in
Today's Post quotes her as calling the current correction "overdone."
don't financial sources routinely get the same treatment?
which sent the missile's second stage clear across Japan and displayed a far
greater range than was previously attributed to it. The story runs inside at
A story on the LAT front reports further on the increasing
must have been producing components for nerve gas (difficulties first broached
officials have quietly expressed the belief that possibly pharmaceutical
saying the current administration account of the evidence is "untenable."
Surprisingly, no mention has been made in the coverage of an eerily similar
writes because a recent Post article stated he was aware of intercepted
saying he is "not aware of the specific nature of any intelligence information
of course, it would be illegal if he did, much less if he spoke about it on
high, given the weakened status of both presidents. In paragraph two, the
will be no return to the past," may have been intended to mollify the
saying, "Perhaps more than at any time [since] the Soviet collapse, the
concepts of liberal market reform and democracy are in retreat."
The papers continue coverage of the pilots' strike at Northwest Airlines,
results, especially in a time of multiple international crises. However, the
missile attacks. One article decries "vigilante justice," and says that the
United States erred by declaring itself in effect "free to make its own rules"
against an amorphous terrorist network. Another piece questions the wisdom of
a concentrated campaign using ground troops and special forces as well as
months. In his optimistic view, "the federal role in the arts should be equal
rituals includes "satanic baptisms" and the use of nude women as altars. The
church's charismatic and controversial founder recently died (presumably, went
to hell), which may catalyze the institution's demise. But devoted followers
made participants one percent more depressed. In addition, their circle of
calls it "the single worst terrorist incident in the 30-year history of
sectarian warfare" in the province. For its lead the Post turns to a
misleading warning about the bomb's location. A caller warned of a bomb near
crowds had retreated to get away from the courthouse. Prominent among the early
changes of mind and could go against his advisors' recommendations. Another
hinges on his "own lonely struggle over whether to admit a relationship with
are against loners." He decries quick fixes such as assassination because they
either backfire by perpetuating the cycle of violence or aren't comprehensive
enough. A better strategy, he argues, would involve gradually undermining and
agreed to feed subscriber information to a tracking system. This information
will then be sold to advertisers, who can tailor their marketing strategies
since privacy regulations on the Internet remain notoriously nebulous.
story under a banner headline on market dives and global turmoil. Each
substantial power away from the presidency and over to the parliament (the
State Duma) constitutes a likely setback for reform. The LAT is the only
summit will yield "psychic solace but little tangible assistance." Newt
certainly makes trip logistics a nightmare, as all papers note. Interesting
angle not mentioned in the papers: What is the status of security
any other among a larger set of targets presented to him by military planners."
her death. However, some editors dare to predict that this may be the
having yesterday led with the details of the tape that no one else had until
suggestion, whereas the LAT videotape story describes the White House
reaction as "qualified support," quoting a spokesman as saying the idea is
served to explain exactly what he did, exactly what he was thinking." Well no,
has pressed harder than anyone else. The big news is that the paper now has
foreign agents, at least one of whom turned out to fabricate his information,
The Wall Street Journal 's "The Outlook" worries that Japan's
decision last week to opt for bank reform legislation is "widely believed to be
politicians have the political will required to implement the new law, nor that
economically ravaged countries: Japan has no foreign debt and hence is free
the infliction of extreme physical pain, but the use of a hood along with food-
embassy bombing suspect, where precisely these deprivations were employed?
says he'll distribute to the victims' families. A study shows that sons of
absentee fathers are twice as likely to do jail time as those raised in
pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and as a result, could be out
banner headlines across their tops, while the New York Times
mention them, although at the cost of omitting the location of the strike
targets. But with its top line, the paper does best communicate the
saying that bin Laden had not been hurt in the strikes. Everybody reports that
by its government sources as part of a cover and deception plan, or like a
congressional leader, was let in on the deal with the promise to keep quiet
reports that yesterday was chosen for the action because intelligence indicated
a major gathering of terrorist leaders was to take place at the Afghan site.
wanted to "focus attention away from his own personal problems." And the
comments as "unusually swift criticisms" and reports that Secretary of Defense
Dog." Everybody runs "Wag the Dog" stories. Their basic form: there is no
evidence for the "Wag the Dog" comparison of course, but here's the comparison.
"How do we know these attacks aren't meant to distract us from distracting the
appeals to Catholic doctrine and English royal history that what was really
did. And indeed, the LAT lead never says. For that you have to turn to
headlines, which make it plain: lied (both papers), obstructed justice (the
release, a battle, say the papers, the Republicans have won. The LAT
cites one argument Democrats wielded, but to no avail: when the House Ethics
relationship with her. These charges are expounded at much greater length in
telling the reporter, "I don't know how a newspaper like yours will be able to
talked on the phone with members of Congress (say both papers) and the
according to her, the two once used a cigar as a prop in a sex act.
All the papers have comments from Cabinet members and Democratic senators
minister. The papers all note that the choice met with the communists' approval
and hence is likely to be approved by the parliament, possibly resolving the
diplomat, has no expertise in the area of the country's burning problem,
Senate yesterday killed an attempt at campaign finance reform, probably tabling
such efforts for the rest of the year. The arguments of the corruptions of
means the chances of a managed care overhaul coming out of Congress this year
Now that "White House leak" has taken on a whole new meaning, presidential
computer systems, ranging from ones controlling Tomahawk missiles to those
and subsidies for solutions, and the Post lead is the second in a
they include planning for the glitches possibly experienced by other
who had been raising her thinking she was theirs. The Nation's Newspaper adds a
were killed in the fighting, the caption under an accompanying picture inside
seems that the current Pentagon budget has created a perverse incentive: the
more surplus ships are sold overseas, the more extra weapons the Pentagon can
Even as the Wall Street Journal editorial page rails against the
envy of those who, thanks to booming job and stock markets, make even more.
death. Some biologists speculate that they do this so that their mothers would
state and local election returns lead, and the top national story is further
although grand jury testimony must be kept secret, Congress is not covered by
The LAT lead stresses the rancor inside the committee the video has
president "even erupted at a couple of points" (Note to reader: Insert own joke
some questions. The Post quotes the assessment of a congressional aide
reports that at a meeting between Senate Democrats and White House staffers, at
LAT says two other Senators besides the one at the meeting privately
A sense of what should be engaging the country more than all of this comes
depression, meaning of a much longer duration and with much more unemployment
Reading the various obituaries, it's been hard to know what to finally make
mistakes, for his willingness to change and to set things right with those he
The main Wall Street Journal "Politics and Policy" piece reports
that the moderate "New Democrat" wing of the party, with its "values agenda" of
forced the evacuation, say the papers, of nearly half a million people. The
both Times explain, the government trying to delay the scheduled
repayment of its debt, and the banks furiously dumping rubles for dollars. The
harks back to Soviet times, with his suggestion of more government support for
because they posed a competitive threat. The Times notes that the
just minor disputes arising in routine business meetings. The Times
lawyer for one of the accused tells the Times that he will demand access
was charged in a sealed indictment with various terrorist activities. (That
prospective grand juror." The Post adduces further evidence of the
demands (videotape, lawyer present) in an effort to avoid any further delays as
contain nothing suggestive, but do "indicate an unusual relationship between a
to testify, and thus he must be facing political pressure (a theory first put
truth," and complained that "many in the entertainment industry have chosen to
affirmative action). Defending himself against charges of betraying his race,
economy remains strong, with inflation, interest rates, and unemployment still
at the lack of minority law clerks hired by the Supreme Court. The National Bar
Association tried to discuss the minority clerk dearth with Chief Justice
list seems so screwy: The judges never ranked the books. They were given a list
Everybody leads with the demise of the tobacco bill, pulled off the Senate
goes passive with "Tobacco Bill Dies in Senate." And the New York Times
members of the Senate would vote like parents rather than politicians, we could
solve this problem and go onto other business of the country." Senate Majority
strayed from its original purpose to become instead, in the LAT 's words,
everyone as saying that House Republicans will take up and pass more narrowly
focused legislation intended to reduce teen smoking, but not increase
young people and strictly regulate the tobacco industry." All the papers note
Noting that the bill came out of the need for federal legislation to enforce
last year's proposed settlement deal between the cigarette manufacturers and
on the Senate floor in which he castigated his own party, he received a
standing ovation from Democrats in attendance and seated silence from members
of his own party. This of course, leaves the reader hungry for more information
All the front pages feature coverage of a bold and surprising move
the currency markets in three years, buoyed markets around the world, including
ago. Administration officials express to the paper their concern that the
suggesting his country's military may be planning to use the system to gather
information from mobile phones in use in China and neighboring countries.
Another discomfiting feature passed along by the Times is that the
than three thousand times cheaper than birth control pills, says the
substance may well be a carcinogen, quinacrine sterilizations are banned in the
foreign governments. But, the paper explains, since the men aren't running
clinical trials and aren't doing any domestic sales, they are beyond the reach
meager regulatory mechanisms those countries maintain. They have already sold
reports that sales rose three percent last year. Wonder if tie aficionado Bill
depicts the president in a sartorial style rarely seen in official
advertising campaign that was in fact an improper attempt to circumvent federal
limits on his own campaign ad budget. The story also gets major play on the
White House operation initiated in the past two weeks. Although, notes the
before, but each time stopped after an initial 30-day review. Both papers
Commission report helped persuade her to look again. And both report a White
House lawyer's comment that the vexed ads were carefully previewed by lawyers.
under review at Justice, but at an earlier stage of review. (Why isn't it as
to deliver his report to Congress as early as the end of this week, probably
Times tell the paper that the report is likely to say that President
Democratic congressional support, with advisors reporting that he is going to
apologize at a meeting with House Democrats today. He may also, says the
economy would have collapsed last spring and lenders "would have stopped
the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue (not "for" Arts), and the writer
According to the Wall Street Journal "Tax Report," just about everybody in
historic home run ball back to the slugger who launched it. Presidential
not owe gift tax. The one problem with all this: despite the apparent oddity of
the home run ball case, not one of these horrified public servants has shown
why it isn't a perfectly straightforward application of the gift tax. So
loosen its political control, says he will turn over power to an elected
from the new leadership of the imminent release of many of the country's
international praise but domestically could unleash a big popular movement
leader "held little promise of a swift return to civilian rule." However, the
paper goes on to say that because of his military training in the States, Gen.
with. The report contains copies of the minutes of these meetings.
The LAT goes top front with words and a picture regarding three white supremacists arrested yesterday, charged with killing
a black man by dragging him behind their car for several miles. Nobody else
The Wall Street Journal notes that this week's recall of a
efficacy, the real experiment begins only after a drug hits the market and
vastly more people begin taking it." This is especially true of safety issues
relating to interactions with other medications. In fact, says the paper, it
its statement of essential beliefs to include the declaration that a woman
should "submit herself graciously" to her husband's leadership,
and a husband should "provide for, protect and lead his family." The
Times puts the woman's responsibilities in its headline, but not the
group of minority lawyers for a meeting to discuss the dearth of minorities
at least one case almost produced a forced landing. Things have gotten so bad
that the airlines are addressing the issue in their training and hiring
on a plane while arguing through the door with the flight attendant telling her
to er, return herself to the fully upright and locked position. Which makes
while the Journal very decorously referred to another passenger,
ultimately convicted of abusive sexual contact for the aerial fondling of a
purchases of dollars. The Wall Street Journal also gives much prime space to the
political advisors have reached virtually unanimous agreement that he must say
considerable text and picture front coverage everywhere.
their savings, and captures the spirit on those sidewalks with quotes from a
currency reform. She was unable to get her money yesterday because many banks
their mattresses, and many bankers are making a killing speculating in foreign
Democrats taking flight from the president. Indeed, the paper notes that
speech today on school violence or an upcoming breakfast meeting with religious
administration had blocked the work of the inspectors, who were "on the
administration, the papers report, denies the accusation, but they also confirm
story of secret administration resistance to inspections (a provenance not
watching. An international agency charged with overseeing chemical weapons bans
production could possibly be used for commercial products, such as fungicides
or pesticides. A Pentagon spokesman reached by the paper responds that academic
samples were, as is likely, not collected or tested under ideal laboratory
General Nutrition Centers don't sell it though. Ads for the product will soon
to resolve its banking crisis leads at the New York Times
Japan's bank plan, which must get the approval of Parliament before being
troubled loans, and as the LAT notes, to assuage the rising tide of
it is a departure from Japan's "convoy" system via which all banks support
additional coverage inside. (Question: why is it only the LAT 's headline
that mentions that Time made a retraction too?) Media retractions are
rare enough, but this case produced something rarer still: firings and
resignations arising from poor journalism. Two producers were cut loose,
who concluded, say the papers, that the journalists involved "ignored or
minimized" information that conflicted with the nerve gas theory.
Even in the retraction and the papers' coverage of the retraction there is
plenty of residual bad journalism. The stories make it seem that the only
indicating that all the key questions were raised the day after the story aired
for what the mission was not, nobody seems at all interested in a coherent
away from the story leaves plenty of worthwhile questions on the table: Was
and disabled, on the grounds that under Medicaid, prescription drug coverage
men but not for birth control or infertility treatments for women. And not, the
Times quotes one source as saying, for medical equipment needed to keep
quadriplegics and people with cerebral palsy out of nursing homes. The
nuclear weapons program, who as part of his process of seeking asylum in the
"Can you imagine a man with more skeletons in his closet?..."
they held onto after World War II, a story that also gets front space at
government had declared it would pay no more than half that sum, but also, the
LAT points out, after several state and local governments, in defiance
the old one at the time of the bombing. None of the reporting mentions it, but
to his superiors about the vulnerability of his troops to hostile forces
the driver of the water truck believed to have harbored the bomb deployed
have been a faithful embassy employee, was found in the wreckage. The
restrictions of the old one that was disbanded earlier this year, has already
The paper says funds have come in from "Main Street, Wall Street and
zealots who want to bring down the President. And this guy has no money. He's
A staple newspaper feature is the academic convention piece, which features
down into a big hotel in a big city because they're so terminally immersed in
hotel, not one of them sure the others are really there too! But before you
The New York Times leads with a sneak preview of the videotaped
instead reading a prepared speech, the text of which the Times prints.
minute?) The source for these leaks? "Lawyers with detailed knowledge of the
its recession: lowering interest rates, slashing taxes, and throwing government
constitution would not allow weapons exports and that he would "never consider"
nonrefundable fee just to talk to him (this fee is not applied to charges for
actual services), and you may have to offer character references. "If potential
immunity, meaning that she may testify before a grand jury as early as next
week. Her transactional immunity agreement guarantees that she can't be
prosecuted for past perjury or witness tampering. (She can be prosecuted if she
not ask her to lie, though the two discussed how to avoid cooperating
House helped her write the infamous "Talking Points" memo.
dignity," over the last six months. If Today's Papers ever musters any grace
and dignity, he certainly hopes his friends won't find it "shocking."
All of the major newspapers run page one stories on a tentative accord
between the United Auto Workers and General Motors. Factories may rev up
others will crop up again. Industry analysts think GM is the loser. Astonishing
reports that GM plans to run its factories around the clock, thereby
compensating for lost production, perhaps even recouping half its lost profits.
macroeconomics textbook by quipping that the Fed's mission is "to take away the
have secured a deal to grant the parliament greater powers in exchange for
little power and little to offer each other. For each, just being seen with the
largely anecdotal, and the paper refers to "an important minority of
piece argues, investors do not view the recent decline as a "buying
investments, consumer spending might fall, hurting the economy. Possible
LAT reefers a story about other airlines' rush to steal Northwest's
primarily by Northwest, will soon run out of flowers and fresh fish if the
Cannibalism simultaneously achieves two ends (finding food and killing off a
rival), so why isn't it more popular? Animals that feast on their own kind are
more likely to eat harmful microbes than if they dined on a different species,
and thus they are more prone to disease. The article nicely characterizes
everybody's fronts.) The respective lead headlines focus on various strands of
the embassy and sent around to the rear, where a grenade attack killed some
been pointing right at the bomb site by the building's front gate, but all but
bombing investigation. Many papers have been reporting that one focus so
rescued them over a shot of a woman's body being loaded into a vehicle, a
lifeless arm hanging out from under her shroud. The coverage reports that
to get much coverage. The LAT front says that at a time when much of the
suggests that the story of the woman who died shortly after being told that her
insurance company would only cover a bone marrow transplant if she had it in
the local hospital did not perform bone marrow transplants. And the health plan
sent a nurse to accompany Garvey back to a suitable hospital.
The Wall Street Journal reports that according to the latest
Labor Dept. figures, the economy last month suffered the biggest loss of
the local papers has taken to running the names, addresses, house descriptions
average. No wonder four of those on the latest list persuaded the city water
and Rep. Barney Frank (the top Democrat) announced the decision at a press
three papers describe each and every point the committee discussed. Every
article mentions the remarkable partisanship displayed behind those doors.
cigar, while the LAT mentions the cigar and "detailed descriptions by
musings.) None of the papers catches the irony of Republicans introducing
sexual explicitness into the public sphere whilst Democrats fight to keep it
paper has much more to say, since details of the deal are not yet available.
Western officials had hoped. Instead, the surprise winner is an
All three papers report that the Senate failed, by three votes, to override
the president's veto of a ban on partial birth abortions. Got that? It means
partial birth abortions remain legal. The veto has already been overridden by
and Profit in Breeding Alpacas". Sound familiar? Maybe it's because the
same (except apparently alpacas are more lucrative). Today's Papers checked
and, astoundingly, the articles are written by different people. Next month:
Three Secret Service agents testified before a federal grand jury yesterday,
and the surprisingly swift development captured the leads at all three
Service personnel to the courthouse for two hours of afternoon hearings. Such
agrees to hear the government's case that Secret Service agents should not be
"Disclosure of past events will not affect the President's relationship with
heavy with remorse. "All of us are guilty," he said (the LAT uses a
and cellar where the executions took place, in order to eradicate a potentially
the hopes of organizers who wanted the event to provide a grand gesture of
dissenting, the United States joins such human rights luminaries as China,
packed with drugs, and the team coach has since admitted to giving illegal
drugs to his riders "to optimize performance under strict medical control." The
lead also looks at the popular reaction, summing it up as revulsion at
that over the weekend there was "no ground swell" in Congress for impeachment,
although noting that prominent members from both parties called for censure of
itself, this means nothing, since they might have already thought he was an
who puts his interests above the nation's cannot lead."
the timely payment of salaries and benefits, and that it is unacceptable for
The Wall Street Journal 's "The Outlook" is sounding what could
be an early warning alarm for a new round of international economic crisis not
skeptics about the euro have been buying pounds as a refuge.
response is obvious: How could Drudge have been so consistently right if he
merger of the nation's two main teachers' unions by the membership of one of
diplomatic observers. The patrols, explains the paper, were first proposed by
who stresses that the two countries are now working together to defuse the
in response to increased attempts to limit teacher rights and to give students
publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools. But, both papers say, the
of urban poverty. With Medicare, it's tended to be rural communities with few
a return to skimping care for the poor and elderly.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the semiconductor
laid off workers or tipped upcoming bad earnings include, says the paper,
has decided he will not submit an interim report on his investigation of
will, said an aide, submit a report only if he determines there is substantial
information that crimes have been committed. The aide also opined, reports the
current policy against the use of computer encryption technology the feds are
finance, the White House is said to be loath to oppose either her or Louis
cuts and banking reforms, and to open up its domestic markets to more foreign
do these things, but as a result of his party's severe election losses, he
restaurants, describes the two most likely successors as respectively "spicy"
electorate's mood. One man seems to speak for many when he says his
One question not answered in the coverage: Why does reform for Japan mean
million, a sum the paper notes he may have trouble collecting even if awarded,
security firms and twelve exchanges began the first day of two weeks of
simulating what it would be like to run the markets as the nines turn over. The
test so far has excluded small securities firms and international markets, but
front page is a reminder that you are at least sometimes right: It details how
life three years after hitting bottom as a cocaine binger.
The Journal 's "Work Week" column reports that according to a survey
on their need for meetings. Nine out of ten say it has also reduced the need
for paperwork and has improved overall productivity. But nearly half the execs
trend "Today's Papers" is quite sure the Cross pen company deeply deplores.
After Today's Papers: Summary Judgment wraps up the reviews of the reviews.
press conference that he still has the moral authority required to remain in
perjury. The LAT reports that most of the questions posed at the
"part of a determined effort by the White House to change the subject," and
globalism, by the time the LAT gets around to the remark, the reader is
of his actions and voiced no protest as the House moved further down the track
man resigned to a process bigger than he is. The Post notes that when
Republicans that some of the material suggested for imminent release is too
reminding attendees that the House had already voted for full disclosure, and
that pulling back now would only lead to news leaks. Also, both the Post
acknowledged a 1960s extramarital affair and that the White House denied
the inside of the home of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
dizzying upswing, more students are studying abroad, theatrical ticket sales
are up, as is opera attendance, plus pubic radio stations have tripled since
that may presage a whole new dimension of tobacco scandal. Citing internal
memos from the world's two largest tobacco companies, the piece details their
response: "Since we must comply with local laws and regulations in every
country in which we do business, we expect that there has been no improper
conduct in the countries that you have referenced." Not exactly "We didn't do
Everybody leads with yesterday's bad day in the financial markets. The
its business section with such lines as "Crisis Hits Home" and "World Economic
Troubles Arrive 'On Our Doorstep.'" In the same Chicken Little spirit, the
pass up the usual trading floor desperation pix in favor of shots of full
rescue packages in the past year probably deepens the rift among Republicans in
Congress over whether to give the organization a fresh infusion of federal
Perhaps the scariest feature of the market turmoil served up by the papers
is the realization that for all their new analytical tools, those in the
business are no more capable of cognitive significance than in the days of
you can withstand the pain and you've chosen good stocks, you should come out
reportedly confessed his role to the feds. He is said to have admitted that he
any bombers would expose them to further terrorism. "You'd think," the paper
overseas. But the Post doesn't tell us what then happened to them in the
men in the same age bracket. And the highest rates of infection were among
"women across the country." It's interesting to see what the Times means
by that phrase. Here is the complete listing, in order of appearance, of the
occupations of the women quoted in the story: shareholder activist, novelist,
author and editor, graduate school dean, volunteer, hair salon owner,
university public relations executive, producer, writer, English professor.
Apparently, the Times couldn't find any women who are secretaries or
raising the retirement age would enhance the solvency of the Social Security
subpoenas, supported by an appeals court decision last week impugning the
notion of "protective privilege," targets agents with far more intimate
knowledge of presidential behavior and movements than the uniformed Secret
against an air carrier, because of maintenance lapses the agency alleges,
catching up with some dual career couples it wrote about more than twenty years
ago. Nice idea, but the piece turns out to be one part sociological reporting
and twenty parts nationally distributed resume and family album. Whoopee for
much good stuff to read, "Today's Papers" suggests the following rule of thumb:
Always skip a story that starts off with a woman's valiant struggle to keep off
her cellular phone for a few days for the sake of her family.
conservative religious groups. The groups say they have been inspired by the
of the media "to forget about news and focus on themselves." And she has no
difficulty in culling support for her thesis from the recent list of hot
could have used to write about "news," but didn't. And indeed, today's column
be gathering to reenter their town on the heels of the military assault. One
elderly woman clutching a small bag of her belongings gives this situation
to move the map that the Times runs inside to before the jump, where the first
appeals in these appearances for the expansion of individual liberties and his
challenging them. The paper also points out that his many last minute speech
rewrites meant that translators couldn't adequately prepare, with the upshot
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column tells how federal
worker unions continue to battle for pay matching the private sector, and cites
something wrong in the figuring here: How many private sector employees do you
Today leads with the manufacturer's withdrawal from the market of a
It was their first joint public appearance since the "rooftop session" at Abbey
pollutants than they are supposed to. There is very little explanation in these
because of potentially lethal interactions with numerous other medications. The
the medication, which is used for chest pain and high blood pressure by about
brutal suppression of political opponents and who had no designated successor,
dictator's defense chief was sworn in as the new leader, and for the moment
anyhow, the democrats and other political prisoners remain behind bars and in
from consumer activists of higher fees and poorer service, but also notes that
while at large in the jungle. And here's an interesting question today's
newspaper accounts don't address: Why would there be a commando raid to
LAT go lighter on the details, but spend more time stressing the
significance of House Democrats who want the President to accept some form of
lying and cheating, while French papers expressed their country's predominant
troubles as yet another setback in an already difficult summer.
what "oral sex" is. Although "ask your mother" seems like an appealing response
for dads, the paper cites "therapists" who say parents should discuss the
rejection of the latter could mean the failure of Western diplomats' peace
An LAT front page piece claims that despite promises to break up
out reforms it agreed to as part of last years' international bail out.
bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the nation's economy continues to suffer, with the lower
and middle economic classes taking the hardest hit.
precludes the public disclosure of any dialogue from the cockpit
Trump: The Art of the Comeback. No stranger to scandal and hard times,
Trump advises the President to rid his mind of troublesome women by dumping his
impressive numbers of people off its welfare rolls and into jobs. The findings
harsh treatment of women and its involvement in drug trafficking, but goes on
for international recognition and aid. There is no evidence, says the
percent raise on top of that for the following year. The story makes two
employees earn much less than their counterparts in the private sector even
though there is much evidence to the contrary. Thus the piece mentions that the
up costing much more because it increases federal pension payouts, which are
ruminations of a few hundred clerks who make their decisions without much in
competent and committed individual," reads the woman's INS rejection letter,
doesn't show "that her contributions are significantly above any other member
of the education profession" or that they would "provide a prospective benefit
his career from a controversy over his lifting material from a book, longtime
reporting that there was cheering in the Globe newsroom when the
In the days since The Speech, the papers have been fairly spattered with
papers themselves. Many of them know that they are harboring on their staffs
fiction artists and plagiarists. Today's Papers knows about a few of them,
print their names here if it comes to that. So Today's Papers issues this
Times lead with the continuing political and economic turmoil in
been picked clean of such items as toothpaste, butter, and toilet paper. The
LAT also goes high with this observation, mentioning shortages of
reforms by disguising himself and walking out among the people. "But," the
legislator is quoted, "you'd better disguise yourself really well. You'll be in
she said, "You managed to do it. Look at the empty shop counters."
parliament and hold new elections, but the LAT alone reports a further
Here's the week's biggest stealth news story: come fall, both of the planet's
largest nuclear powers could be considering throwing out their presidents.
although married, admitted having an "improper relationship" with a female
grounds that he is corrupting young people. (Oh, he's the one.) The resignation
The Wall Street Journal reports that the number of black female
architects in the country has doubled in the last ten years. But the raw
been useful if the item had also mentioned the raw numbers of whites, white
because under the reform the states get a fixed amount of federal money no
matter how much they cut their rolls. Some states have, says the paper, used
the money to start new welfare services, but many others are diverting the
money to education or tax relief, or just saving it. The upshot: welfare now
(hitting that partition with your head is a leading cause of passenger
injuries) and always request a receipt (most receipts give the cab's number).
Today's Papers would add: immediately upon entry tell the driver that speeding
medical center that a rectal procedure he underwent during his recent treatment
for prostate problems was "just not natural, unless maybe you're Barney
since The Speech, which include his declaration that impeachment would require
available to the public, but that the supporting evidence will be kept
trained "tens of thousands of terrorists operating in more than a dozen
countries." Question: if this is so, then how is it that there was virtually no
The papers report that in the midst of his country's economic crisis,
relations with financiers and with the Communists in Parliament may help
deflate the widespread calls for his own departure. Everybody points out that
presidential competitor. The papers report that despite the upheaval, the
mentioned that the major growth in the Catholic Church is now taking place
Being a celebrity often means you get for free what ordinary people have to
pay for, even though you can afford it and they can't. So for instance, Tom
it's not just the studios that are complicit. For years, the main column on the
Property," which chronicles the real estate doings of the glitterati. Now, if
pay a hundred bucks or so for a tiny little buried ad, but if you're say (as in
paper leads the section with ten paragraphs about your house, including mention
of the neighborhood, the asking price and the names of the realtors to
It probably took a presidential sex confession and a transcontinental cruise
surveys to determine which cigarette brands underage smokers prefer. The
news, claims that while inflation remains down, prices for many products are
are most popular with minors. The executive order directs the Department of
essentials (food, gas, cars) are fairly cheap. But prices in the service sector
overcharges: video rentals, legal fees, theme park admissions, and pay phone
behind schedule and still not ready, largely because of the company's
politically heated match was marked by excellent sportsmanship from fans and
that it handed its opponents not only trinkets of goodwill, but also the match
Today leads with more news on the two girls switched at birth. The
The LAT calls the provisions of the campaign finance bill "the most
skirt regulation. Despite approval, the bill still faces competition from other
House bills, and even if passed is not expected to win approval from the
tale. Latest news: The two girls' respective guardians have agreed to maintain
President has told the truth about this and he will continue to do so."
offers the clearest explanation of this legal maneuvering.)
outcome that probability would predict, can identify cases where a series of
Nobody agrees on the lead today. The New York Times
leads with the various natural calamities plaguing the country right now:
pledged to provide relief groups and international monitors with access to
return there. However he did not, observes the paper, agree to withdraw his
genuine, it's beyond curious that nowhere does the story mention that he is
and is not being hauled before an international tribunal to answer for them
primarily because he is a head of state. This context is also missing from the
military's doubts about being able to operate effectively in and around
particular, explains the paper, there's the fear that if the yen continues to
drop, China will abandon its pledge not to devalue its currency, which could
seventh paragraph about the desire for Japan to "stimulate and deregulate" its
economy and bail out its insolvent banks. There is the comment that Prime
there is no detail on what they were or why they are considered
According to the story, men stalk men for the same reasons they stalk women:
doesn't say) seeking damages and asking that she be prevented from making
interview or book deals allowing her to profit from the death. The story also
that the number of disciplinary actions taken against physicians for
of the doctors disciplined during this time span were allowed to return to
in the fields of psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and family and general
The Wall Street Journal reports that in congressional
the current merger environment and indirectly criticized the government's case
In his survey of the recently released House and Senate financial disclosure
leads with a report, sourced to senior White House advisors, that President
for months been secretly dissuading United Nations weapons teams from making
and legally perilous moment of his presidency," and says he has been conducting
practice sessions in which his lawyers are questioning him and designing
body parts doesn't include the mouth, it doesn't count oral sex as sexual
Another bad reaction will come from women's groups if they ever notice that
chemical, biological and nuclear status. But the Post lead is a bombshell because it shows inner
weapons components and supporting documents. After a second such caution from
investigators are looking for a missing assistant on a water truck thought to
obliterated in the blast. The paper says the security officials strongly
Dept. to look into whether banks are violating the Fair Housing Act in their
acceptance of mortgage applications. The paper cites new data showing that the
whites. But the Journal should have noted that these aren't the relevant
are the relative rejection rates for blacks and white of the same degree of
Back to that Post lead for a moment: it features something "Today's
Papers" applauds and would like to see more of: a clear explanation of the
motivations of the story's unidentified sources: "officials who regarded the
abandoned leads as the most promising in years and objected to what they
trade by smuggling large quantities of oil into Turkey. The smuggling involves
thousands of tanker trucks openly transporting millions of tons of fuel along
raises cigarette prices nor offers tobacco companies legal indemnification but
which would take aim at teen smoking by revoking the drivers' licenses of
teenagers caught with tobacco, as well as the determination of numerous state
attorneys general to pursue their individual lawsuits.
further and promote deregulation." The paper notes that the government has
provided no further details of a course of action. The Post also notes
that a deputy treasury secretary and the president of the New York Federal
main issue they confront is what to do with all the country's banks, which are
saddled with billions in bad loans. The less ambitious plan being discussed
focuses mainly on ways to help the banks resolve bad loans, the more ambitious,
banks. Things "Today's Papers" finds missing from the coverage: any mention or
explanation of whether or not Japan has, like the United States, any sort of
become a big issue in health care policy debates, but which is still fairly
unknown to most patients and voters: in general you can't sue your
specialists. Bills changing the situation are working their way through the
House and Senate. Critics, who include in their number House Majority Leader
coverage. The argument figures, says the story, to get louder during the fall
vilified in that ad campaign may have helped his White House chances. "They've
determined that she had fabricated people and quotations in four of her columns
acknowledges her "misdeeds" in her farewell column today. The Post
account says that some Globe staffers are worried that the dismissal of Smith,
a black woman, might have racial repercussions. Question: Do such worries have
anything to do with the fact that although both stories mention the recently
health insurers who deny coverage to sick people in violation of federal law.
guarantees people losing group health care coverage alternative access to
individual policies regardless of any preexisting medical condition, and
provides for uninterrupted coverage for those moving from one job to another.
The paper reports that government officials are concerned that health insurance
companies are circumventing the law by discouraging sales to certain
individuals, charging very high premiums or penalizing insurance agents who
sell policies to those with preexisting conditions. In response, says the
The LAT sums up the trouble looming for both sides and the general
The Wall Street Journal weighs in with the only other potential
participating in the paper's latest semiannual forecasting survey named the
hit here during the next six to nine months in the form of slower production
and reduced employment. But the economists agree that these changes will not be
drastic because our low interest rates and low inflation mean we can keep
more valuable to the reader if they included a summary of what the
sun, racing across the harmless West upon Trigger, is a picture as invincible
to time as a childhood memory." Still, the obituaries make it clear that both
business today: wholesome fame based on actual wholesomeness.
investigation concluded that the Pentagon's former deputy Inspector General,
paper reports that the case is being watched closely in Congress, where there
are concerns that officers get treated more leniently than enlisted men. There
are other hotter background issues that the paper could have also mentioned: In
service members get a different sexual deal than females? And, how, given his
scientist who interviewed the man for an hour, "the most elementary facts about
content, which basically say that the Post should be written so that it
could be read by a family together at the breakfast table. But it's still
surprising to learn that actual Post reporters actually internalize
the Web to look up the evangelical concept of "rapture," he got religious sites
away for keeps unless he spoke to the court in a particularly informative or
emotion. But the LAT says that upon entering the courtroom, he broke into
at the bombing site testified that whenever "I see these mothers with empty
arms, I wonder, was that your baby I kissed on his way to heaven?"
and protective privilege back to the regular appeals court process is generally
constitutional crisis of the first magnitude. There is more divergence about
what this does to the course of the case. The LAT says that this might
Court might well end up hearing the case "by month's end."
The LAT "Column One" fascinates today with a story of
provides the best database in the world for trying to isolate genes responsible
"culled" by a plague and a natural disaster, and keeps excellent medical
records (including a tissue sample from every autopsy conducted in the country
to sell public stock shares within a year and if the science pays off, could
but, the paper reports, any effective treatments it creates will be dispensed
point about this new leg of the arms race. Previously, it had generally been
really build their bombs to address security concerns. (When was the last time
problem, conventional medicine doesn't work. It takes large doses of
thought massless too, in fact has mass. The papers assure us this is
bombings, to shut some embassies in order to update their security. The
upcoming report to Congress will focus on evidence of possible impeachable acts
to a bomb threat. The paper adds that the embassy in the Ivory Coast is cutting
much, with its suggestion that all embassies are being affected. Better is the
produce a separate and more inclusive document for the judicial panel that
produce much partisan acrimony during the fall elections.
were given the strictest sentence available to juveniles, for shooting to death
four students and a teacher: confinement in a juvenile detention center until
apologized but also said he meant to shoot over everybody's head.
closed to the public and press, but that the judge in this case had allowed a
more open hearing. And the nation's newspaper editors seem to have likewise
feature pictures of them. Just what are the papers' policies in this area? It's
Shouldn't a war memorial be built to last longer than the war it's a memorial
year, you get access to a doctor who, when you get sick, advises you how to
best navigate the health care bureaucracy. The paper says such a development
care might depend even more than it does today on a patient's wealth.
in the capital these days and when it does it barely causes a ripple." The
lead with public and political reaction to The Speech, which is also the
subject of the Wall Street Journal 's main "Politics and Policy" piece. The
Three of the fronts feature pix of the First Family walking across the White
House lawn to start what would have to count as the worst family vacation in
history. Buddy is there too, on a longer leash than his master will be on for
The LAT draws the blinds the morning after and sees some members of
was clear the sordid spectacle would not be put to rest quickly." Looming large
The paper points out that Boxer's comments were surprisingly negative given
reaction among Republicans as "unusually tame." The LAT says instant
statement and wanted the matter dropped. Similar observations are given
to notice that this shows there is a serious divergence between what they and
the health risks of breast feeding in the undeveloped world, the location of
said one of the men is a pivotal bomb plot participant. All three men are
bin Laden runs and finances a terrorist network, which pulled off the embassy
peace accord, issued a telephoned statement admitting that it set off the bomb
apologized for the deaths, saying that they occurred only because its
for sole access to a prime property. The Times quotes the headline of an
Everybody leads with a federal judge's dismissal yesterday of the tax fraud
his authority and strayed too far from his original mandate of investigating
view of some of the papers that the ruling was a quite personal assessment of
seizure as "the quintessential fishing expedition."
The papers note that the adverse ruling is the latest in a string of
Most of the stories get a little lost among all these trees, with the
LAT alone in high up clearly sighting the forest: the ruling will
impose its will on their country. A Times piece inside says the show
(mostly of local, not national officials) unthinkable just a few years ago. Two
A few weeks back, the LAT reported that a women in the advanced
throes of childbirth asked for an epidural anesthetic to relieve her pain, only
to be told by the attending nurse that she couldn't have one unless she paid
for it on the spot. The suffering woman offered to write a check or use a
credit card, but no, said the nurse, it had to be cash. So the woman went
without. Today, the paper's front reports that the hospital has apologized to
policy of epidural anesthesia to women in labor on demand, regardless of their
The Wall Street Journal "Business Bulletin" reports that the
percent of the general populace think too much power is in the hands of a few
information for a story on economic issues, over half the respondents usually
privately owned residences, and told families there that home ownership is an
Times had trouble resisting the observation that it's an investment
pledge to testify "completely and truthfully" at his grand jury questioning in
awesome impact of the GM shutdown, the LAT notes that it shaved a full
President's testimony will be transmitted live to the federal courthouse,
President "maintained a casual, unaffected appearance" before reporters,
express public frustration with government. Critics claim the process is too
the legislative process." While no one wants to abolish the initiatives
An LAT front page article reveals a "serious slump" among dozens of
the industry faces another round of wage reductions and layoffs. This past
through plant closings, forced retirements, and pay cuts in the once
unstoppable Valley. The LAT reports that one industry has thrived during
Times lead with the day's dominant story: a gunman's shooting spree in a
Capitol corridor that killed two police officers and wounded a tourist. Details
been investigated by the Secret Service for making threats against President
police officer and mortally wounding a second officer whose own shots brought
fallen officers, including their marital status (both were married) and number
Counsel without forcing the first ever appearance of an acting President before
a grand jury. All three papers mention that discussions were initiated by fresh
been "drawn up and ready for delivery" to the president. The LAT
prize: a ruling party divided between young reformers and conservative
lawmakers and Japan's worst economic recession in fifty years.
"vengeful" and cite her as the driving force behind the murder of the
Today lead is about a forthcoming government report saying that human
tobacco bill is "dead in the water." The top national story at the New York Times
Services will issue reports calling for reforms in the way human medical tests
are monitored. The reports do not claim widespread abuses of test subjects but
say that the increased speed of research created by the hothouse competition
among drug companies has led to weaknesses in the ways safety is monitored. No
one, says the paper, in government or industry knows how many people take part
in medical trials or how many people are injured or killed in them. The story
says the reforms the reports call for include providing more education for
researchers and preventing conflicts of interest, but doesn't elaborate. This
vaccine experiment on subjects that's not enmeshed up to its eyeballs in the
conflict between company profits and subject safety?
president's party has picked up seats in a midterm election only once since the
competitive. And because voters are very pleased with the economy, most of the
-seat margin, even a tiny wind, not necessarily a gale force, can make all
Yesterday it was reported that a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
on p.18) on the LAT front? Could it possibly be because the story was
According to the Wall Street Journal 's "The Outlook," one of the most
shoppers. This fact is helping to remind us that the traditional biz world's
is quoted saying: "There is nothing more terrifying than a consumer who knows
The Journal also reports on the hottest new recreational pursuit of
off the boxes as the gems flow. The first player with a line checked off wins,
is popular at companies supervising human medical trials.
day) and the papers have been full of his greatness. One wonderful line quoted
hit off the gunpowder fumes on his fingertips, b) blowing kisses or c) throwing
school districts may not be held responsible for sexual relations between
teachers and students unless school officials know about and fail to stop the
recipients that will require private health plans treating them to guarantee
access to specialists, the provision of translators when needed and medical
record confidentiality. The order also grants Medicare beneficiaries the right
to obtain information about the financial condition of a private heath plan and
for student victims of sexual abuse and harassment to win damages. The
LAT adds that this will be true even at schools that fail to establish
sexual harassment policies and fail to give students a way to complain about
said the decision gives school districts an incentive not to take steps to
protect students. The Times lead editorial says the decision "perversely
deprived" students and their families of an effective legal remedy. The
"sexually taunted, groped or harassed." Everybody points out that the Court
will be ruling soon on the similar question of employer responsibilities
regarding supervisors' sexual harassment of workers in a job setting. But there
is another bit of context missing from all accounts: what responsibilities the
law currently assigns to school districts with regard to other sorts of teacher
off the market after being implicated in the deaths of four patients and in the
manufacturer took the action. The papers all observe this is the latest in a
string of prescription drug recalls, raising the issue of whether such drugs
back home to see via the television coverage that a changing modern China can
the independent counsel. She previously allowed her apartment to be searched
According to the Journal 's "Work Week" column, a survey indicates
future. On average, the docs surveyed were worth more than half a million
that in point terms, yesterday was the second biggest up move ever, but far
other "notable strategists" (the Post 's phrase) that investors should
it. On the other hand, the paper dedicates most of a paragraph to passing along
the human side, with a tale of a broker abruptly coming back in to work from a
family vacation, and two stories about brokers making reassuring calls to their
professionals were dressing differently at the office yesterday, to allow for
Times includes a paragraph in its coverage (albeit after the jump)
about how "specialists" were functioning as the buyers of last resort during
fundamentals, running a piece noting that the three economic reports released
remained robust in August. "Overall it's hard to see global economic collapse
thinking the stock market's turmoil will not cause a recession.
court because of apparently misleading answers he gave before her about his
Today's Papers experienced its very own market correction yesterday when
several readers pointed out (okay, several readers and one boss) that the
if any, "circuit breakers" based on excessive market moves have nowadays. But
to report that they are soldiering on. In sheer dollars, says the paper, few
towns have benefited as much from the Dow. The piece is accompanied by a
leads with the decision by Republican leaders in the Senate to abandon their
push for a big tax cut this year. Following its lead earlier in the week about
Today leads with more information about how lax government supervision
overhaul of the laws governing immigrant farm workers that would make it easier
opposed the measure, says the paper, citing a recent government finding that
there's no farm labor shortage. It's unclear, says the LAT what will
happen to the measure in the House, where Republicans are divided: some want to
help agribusiness hiring, while others worry that workers brought in tend to
the Census Bureau, there's been more residential building going on in the
than a third faster than the population. Among the causes cited: the
The Times says one of the main political facts that has scared top
enforcement numbers are "shocking," and that the federal agency charged with
overseeing the homes "has failed." Meanwhile, the paper says, the agency head
biggest criminal fine ever in a food injury case--$1.5 million. The company's
removal of the fetus' brain. The Senate is thought to be a few votes short of
sentence: five years in prison, getting whipped and being fined more than
In light of those cloned mice "Today's Papers" has taken to calling the
are in the same ballpark. Denominations that take a cautious but not condemning
the religions' doctrine of reincarnation, but doesn't satisfactorily explain
why this is thought to support the liberal view. After all, clones are not,
making the rounds, "Will a Secret Service agent take a subpoena for the
*Department of Corrections* If to err is human, yesterday's column was
The lead at the New York Times details the launching of an organized
international rescue operation, replacing the heroic but chaotic efforts to
article to the story. The biggest problems are blood shortages and dwindling
equipment and supplies. There was little reported progress in the search for
happened months later when the World Trade Center was bombed. Dubbed too
alarmist for their time, the papers were "quietly buried," says the
retreated inside for the first time in weeks. Savor it: she won't stay there
a breakdown in consumer protection as people invested in a smorgasbord of
incompetent companies. ("Investors could even buy a pension from the big
with Social Security, the article makes few links to the challenges facing
deeply disappointed to discover that the article was really about a
Times slug, the president fessed up to an "inappropriate relationship."
Bennet points out in the second paragraph of his paper's lead story, the
"wrong," but never used the word "sex." The LAT observes that the speech
"legally correct" even though in that deposition, he testified he couldn't
that entirely to his lieutenants. The papers report that, according to one of
refused to answer some questions he found too personal. This despite, the
completely." The Post says some sources have told it that in the grand
Given the subject matter, a certain amount of waffling was to be expected,
but what, according to the papers, surprised many (including some White House
decision to devalue the ruble and to default on billions of dollars in debt.
means the overall amount of debt is reduced and terms for repaying it become
accomplishments: a stable currency and low inflation. And given the increasing
connections between markets, there is the threat posed to the currencies and
Inside, the papers report that authorities have arrested five people for
neither admitted responsibility for the attack nor implicated anybody else.
that continuing strikes at GM could have effects throughout the economy.
a taste of the power that could be turned on him if he persists in attacks on
Research Council offers the Post this response: "He's setting up a false
dichotomy. He's claiming that the debate is between a policy of engagement and
a policy of isolationism, when in fact the debate is about what kind of
engagement we're going to have." The LAT runs this on the front, while
for a large tax cut this year, are pressuring Congress' budget forecasting arm,
deficit and its recent understatement of the budget surplus. The story reports
settlements have been reached in a case in which without permission or
of the disclosure had originally tried to expel the sailor, has agreed to allow
with the disclosure violated the terms of its own service agreement, has
apologized to him and agreed to pay him damages. The sailor has declined to
discuss his sexual orientation, and so the coverage of the story has dwelt on
the electronic privacy issue, but this episode is also relevant to the Navy's
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The whole thing started when a third party saw
that the man's email profile mentioned his hobby of "collecting pictures of
telling has nothing to do with what common sense could easily and
and hence has nothing to do with protecting unit cohesion, which could easily
then the current superficially more tolerant policy immediately reduces to the
old intrusive one, because investigations would become so easy to set into
fabricated. And the Times segues into doubt about the effectiveness
in the Times suggest that here at least is one department of the paper
years before the Gulf War and occurred because the Airbus was mistaken for an
paper without being checked? And if so, isn't this just as bad as a similar
The big story today is what happens when blue tape meets red tape, with the
puts that story on the top front, but goes instead with Congress' likely
decision to transfer control of satellite exports back to the State Dept. from the
provision is part of the defense budget bill, which makes it politically hard,
Contrary to expectations, yesterday the Judiciary committee did not release
didn't have much to do with the tape itself, but rather with all the other
Democrats are trying to screen out as much material as possible, holding it to
be not probative but merely inflammatory, while the Republicans are opting for
maximum disclosure, arguing that the full House has already voted for just
that. It's widely reported that the Republicans are winning all the particular
fate. The LAT notes that the politics aren't all black and white, with
two House Democrats (not on the Judiciary committee) calling for the immediate
calls his "betrayal" that she recently turned down an invitation from him to
contrasts of that deposition with the president's later and often conflicting
understanding of the meaning of the oath to tell "the whole truth."
There is much reporting in the papers of the fallout from the revelation
magazine's disclosure.") The House Republican leadership, the papers report,
campaign. And there is plenty of reporting on Capitol Hill fears about who's
concern is that those running for office won't be asked what they've done, but
story at the Post refer to the newly poisoned atmosphere as "sexual
harsher, running the headline: "Panel on Race Urges Nothing but More Talk."
hard lately) report inside that dissidents attempting to register a
democratically oriented political party in various parts of China were detained
commitment of schools to excellence in teaching. The writer is a retired Navy
submarine skipper with bachelor's and master's engineering degrees, twenty
graduate credits in education, and college teaching experience. He explains
that earlier this year he applied for a teaching job, sending his resume and
interviews. For God's sake, if a middle or high school principal in the area
reads this item, get in touch with the Post and give this guy a
fact she now omits from her contest resume. "I didn't," she tells the paper,
"want anybody to have any preconceptions about who I am."
tied for first place in the National League pennant race with about a week to
go in the season. (This was in the days when there were no divisional playoffs,
let alone wild cards. If you won the regular season title, you went to the
World Series.) The two teams met for a game at the Polo Grounds and went to the
was digging hard for second base, swerved away (he never touched second) and
started running for the Giants' locker room in center field as soon as he saw
all vulgar snickers, please.) According to the rules of baseball, the game
the ball (actually, people who were there say he got another ball from the
dugout, since the original ball had disappeared into the crowd), grabbed an
umpire, and stepped on second base, which in theory completed a force play on
game a tie that would have to be replayed. A week or so later, it was, and this
base and instead headed for their clubhouses. A month or so before, in a game
runner who had left the field at game's end, but that time the umpire had
In suddenly invoking the letter of the law, then, the umpires were requiring
The community's understanding of the rule that a runner must always touch the
base to which he is forced was that this rule didn't apply when a game was won
to do. This may not mean he was right to do what he did. But there's an
argument to be made that when custom systematically changes the meaning of a
to invoke the original meaning arbitrarily and without warning.
All of which brings us back to New York City's crackdown last week against
shopping or business districts) is customary throughout the city. On my street,
orderly and systematic community response to the reality that people need a
place to put their cars while the streets are being cleaned.
By descending on selected residential neighborhoods and ticketing all those
the law as written. But by doing so without notice, they're catching people
breaking rules that the community had, in a sense, decided didn't need to be
enforced. (I exaggerate here, since the "community" is the community of car
owners.) And insofar as much of our everyday lives depends on knowing that
was served that as of a certain date, things were going to be different. And if
you're going to hold people to the letter of the law, that seems like the way
Post and LAT lead with the military's tightening grip on
All the papers run roundup articles assessing the defeat of the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty in terms of international prestige, foreign policy, President
41-year Senate career: because the Senate didn't debate long enough to allay
his doubts about the treaty, but it was too important to vote down.
dismissing the parliament, suspending the constitution, and proclaiming himself
chief executive. The LAT and Wall Street Journal note that although many citizens and some
central bank froze foreign capital for a week. Taking advantage of its later
deadline, the LAT reports that the State Department finally recognized
flying back to the country and forbade his plane to land; as the plane ran low
on fuel, the army commandeered first the air control tower and then the
is no doubt in our minds that the world will never accept military rule, but we
are in for the long haul." He adds: "We have decided we must cleanse a
political system that allows corrupt people to decide the destiny of our
monkeys has determined that their brains add neurons to the cerebral cortex
even in adulthood. Such a finding would uproot decades of conventional wisdom,
which holds that higher mammals add brain cells only in childhood. If the
discovery translates to the human brain (the Times is optimistic), it
turn out to be a long string of continually produced neurons that record
that any regenerative potential in the brain would have to be massively
Journal says the merger is a blow to the Pentagon, which had been trying
necessary, the paper argues, by technical inefficiencies revealed during the
character, Gore struggled with his decision for many months in the summer of
say he took some risks, but was kept out of harm's way by Army brass and never
going to divinity school to atone for my sins." (He did, for a year.) During
century of ill treatment by the sinners of New York and "restore the earth's
One issue about masculinity that intrigues me revolves around the experience
women were allowed to be taken care of, as part of caring for others; men
fact, this traditional image of masculinity is nonsense. Imagine, for instance,
someone at the beginning of an affair declaring, "Don't worry, I can take care
of myself, I will never lean on you." You would soon lose interest; after all,
experience, have a great deal of trouble saying "I need you." It seems weak,
of their trouble. Again, I think economics matters in this silence today. The
ideology of work in modern society puts great emphasis on independence, on
agent, you don't establish much emotional connection to other people. It's the
same problem: If you don't acknowledge you need them, they are not going to
giving people more independence; as she herself has shown, experiences such as
working from home via the computer often plunge people into situations where
they are more tightly monitored than if they were working in a traditional
office. So perhaps part of the trouble with conceiving of strength as autonomy
is that it makes people feel actually worse about the tangled web of
dependencies that in fact rule their lives. Men in particular.
fall under the spell of this silence. In fact, making issues of dependence
overt and legitimate requires a great deal of personal strength: You need to
know what you need, and you need to figure out whether someone else can help
masculinity, though the problem surfaces in her interviews again and again.
citizens. Stiffed is blessedly free of jargon, and full of telling
detail. Its analysis is meant to provoke debate, and will continue to do so. I
Readers should know that, in the interest of providing an experiential base
Bridge and back yesterday evening. Prior to the run, we gathered at my
First off, isn't cookie dough the wrong association for someone who presumably
cookie dough right before running? This bar possessed a floury dryness that
but for my money they were all bad, and mostly in the same way as the cookie
dough: chalky, a chore to get down, bland tasting, eliciting tremendous
Cookie Dough was and more. So much more, in fact, that I spat it out before I
swallowed it. I rarely, verging on never, spit out food, yet this was so
was, but not cookies 'n creme, I can for sure tell you that) that I could not
countenance digesting it. By far the worst bar we tried.
bars we ate, but it can't be ruled out. Halfway through the run, I tried our
that one is meant to squeeze into one's mouth in the midst of an exercise
session. Power Gel's consistency was like a more viscous yogurt. I ask you, can
there be any food one wants less in the middle of a long jog than yogurt, only
definitely a little thicker in consistency. We also tried the Jog Mate Protein
nothing so much as pudding, in a tube. Actually, more like just pudding skin.
Today I feel pretty good, other than the quad. I guess most of my muscles
recovered, perhaps thanks to the tube. But what I want to know is, is there any
popular form of pork barreling, in this round of the spending fracas.
designed to leave Social Security untouched and placate seniors. According to
million people took to the streets urging a swift peace between the ruling
brought about by default. Since Congress and the White House can't agree on how
to spend budget surpluses, most of the money will likely go to pay off the
component of the debt could be paid off in 10-to-15 years, putting downward
politicians say such measures benefit the majority, and help speed bills
through the House and Senate, critics feel that earmarking undermines the
most of the money has already been allocated, rendering the administrators
judicial reform, human rights, drug trafficking, and agricultural policy. The
conciliatory overtures began early this year, after nearly four decades of
violence, when the government removed security forces from a large
international verification committee monitor the zone. Talks began again on
observer who claims that the election signals the "end of the era of the
of his predecessor, included a fiscal policy that helped stem the nation's
hyperinflation. He also pledges to combat the corruption and tax evasion that
have plagued previous administrations, an angle emphasized inside the
him as a reluctant but incredibly effective fund raiser, whose outsider image,
distance him from Al Gore's more centrist policies. The biggest problem with
is a former pro ballplayer. It's an interesting assertion, but one that should
be supported by more than the reader's own sexist preconceptions. Without facts
preferred Gore because of his sculpted jaw and tight buns.
Most pundits are skeptical of Dole's claim that she simply couldn't raise
Dole's supporters went to Bush and note that nationally Bush leads his
gender gap between Bush and Gore (Bush has a 21-point lead among men, Gore a
cut and the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.")
says there is "a very great possibility that I will run" for the party
"and I wouldn't do it unless I thought I could win" both the nomination and the
his highest priority. He wants a "substantial tax cut in line with the top
marriage and gays in the military? His instinct is yes, he says, but since he's
heartland and to military advisers to get their views. He claims that his life
separate independent counsel should have been appointed to look into Flytrap.
The broad scope of his investigation saved the taxpayers the cost of another
also thinks that it was a mistake for him to continue practicing law while
serving as independent counsel; he speculates that, had he not allowed himself
to practice privately from the start, he might not have been able to accept his
Fox conducts a charming interview with a reflective, avuncular
communicate his sense of humor, his empathy, and his religious faith as well as
campaign, he says, "Yeah, yeah. Am I bitter about it? Not anymore. I didn't
can't help but like the guy") and threatens to sue Fortunate Son
expunge his son's putative drug record. (To read Ballot Box's take on the
here.) He says the press has gone overboard in its investigation of
justified the media's rapaciousness, he laments. He plans to parachute from a
Bush Administration employee) Tony Snow praises him for his "superhuman
I had led a very sheltered life and my closest friend [upon joining
eyes, on the deck of the carrier, a chief petty officer sliced into three parts
In our family we have two sons in public life. Both of them can
The language front has been unusually quiet today: The only news I see is
two languages, arguing that bilingualism will better prepare workers for the
with language issues, having authorized a set of official languages and having
gone on record as supporting a variety of local languages as well. I assume the
languages are difficult to spread. Quite a few universal languages have been
one's native tongue). But even if we had a universal language, it would soon
begin to break up into minority tongues. Babel myth notwithstanding, it's quite
possible that multilingualism has always been part of the human condition.
give up their first language. Then we turn around and make them take a
immigrants give up are not useful ones, or ones with literary cultures worth
argued that multilingualism was actually a cause of mental retardation. Even
more thoughtful educators claimed that immigrants should give up their language
for English because children didn't have room in their heads for more than one
For a variety of reasons, language has come to stand in for other issues: It
can mask xenophobia, signal patriotism, or reveal membership in an elite or a
stigmatized group. One reader asks why we don't discuss how politicians and
advertisers twist language to get across their point of view or sell their
product. But in a larger sense, that is exactly what all of us do when we use
of saying anything. It bothers most of us that not all language use is fair or
ethical, that it may be deceptive or an outright lie, or what we perceive as a
mistake or usage error. But lying, deception, and lack of ethics, not to
mention real and imagined mistakes, much as we may deplore them, are natural
language use, to make them more precise, to make them more honest, but it
doesn't help to blame the language for failings we perceive in language
In fact, there are many times when language should not be precise, or even
honest. Think about linguistic behavior at funerals, for example. There are
lots of times in our social interactions when if we told the truth, or spoke
precisely rather than in a more circumspect fashion, we would find ourselves
anger our interlocutors may be useful, even unavoidable.
Will there be a universal language? I don't think so. Will everyone become
bilingual? No. Will bureaucrats ever learn to write clearly? Don't get me
started! But none of those things is my ultimate goal. What I hope people will
interrogating our own preconceptions about language, broadening our
understanding about how we use language and how we'd like it to be used.
The biggest news here in New York City last week was the sudden crackdown on
midtown business streets and issued a slew of tickets. Because residents are
accepted social custom. (In some sense, it probably was, and in Moneybox
city was the way it showcased how little parking there is in New York.
park a car too close to a fire hydrant, even though doing the latter will let
avoid paying for a parking garage, or deliverymen trying to avoid having to
walk around the corner. So no pity for them. (Except when they're me or my
friends, of course.) But people want to avoid paying for a spot in a parking
garages are usually full. These two phenomena are not, needless to say,
In fact, there are way too few parking garages in New York relative to the
traffic, because the city, since the end of World War II, has limited the
number of garages that can be built. For the existing garage owners, this is a
great deal, since it means that in most neighborhoods there's effectively no
competition. Parking real estate is not quite as valuable as land in the
There was an idea behind the limits on garages, which was that if you make
it easier for people to park in the city, you make it easier for them to drive
into the city, and "we" don't want that. But in a deeper sense, the limits on
garages are emblematic of the way successive administrations in New York have
handled most things: They have consistently assumed that without a strong
managerial hand, the city would degenerate into chaos.
Take taxis. Why is it so hard to get a cab in midtown, especially on a rainy
day? Because obtaining a taxi medallion is next to impossible, and the price of
the medallions has soared out of sight. Cab fares are, of course, regulated,
but that means only that the pricing is determined by whatever
number of companies it's dealing with. Opening the market to new competitors
would drive down prices. The fear seems to be that if you opened the market,
you'd have a deluge of cabs, marring the relatively pristine streets of
Manhattan. And perhaps you would at first. But pretty quickly the supply of
A similar point can be made about rent control and about the haphazard
application of zoning ordinances to commercial establishments. Pace a
Chatterbox piece, New York is certainly an exception to his rule about
cheap movie tickets, and one reason is that there are too few movie theaters
here to meet the demand. That's partly because of the high cost of real estate,
but it's also about the sheer effort it takes to negotiate with the city to
instead of letting it be taken over by developers and entrepreneurial
York has been "avoid the tragedy of the commons" (while also letting the people
on the inside wet their beaks over and over again). I don't really think a city
is a commons that will be destroyed if there isn't someone to tell us all what
herbal diet pills. So the company put an unedited videotape of the interview
Chatterbox believes the behavior of the press merits no less scrutiny than
went into this with no knowledge, and no opinion, about the safety and efficacy
that he's read the transcript, but not enough to render a reliable judgment on
professional and responsible interview. Which (unless the unseen tape reveals
material, accurately presents what scientific study has found about the
various scientific studies, or misstating who the lead scientist on this or
product while you were on probation for a drug conviction.
that I did receive probation for using a telephone to further a drug
misconception. But I made a grave error, just a bad mistake on my part.
Chatterbox predicts that this exchange will end up airing in the
a very personal issue with him; and why I got involved, he's like a brother to
me, he's like my best friend, and I allowed emotions to get in the way of
involved in a very large methamphetamine lab manufacturing speed," but that
certified laboratories to determine if in fact you could make methamphetamine
Chatterbox predicts this question, and the following answer, will also make
certain things they do, but it doesn't stop you from loving them. I still love
especially, that was like a mother to me. And so, because of an incident that I
and judge the real character that the person might be.
health spending will fill the hole in their budget. Administration officials
argue that the Republican plan does not add up and that the proposal would
financial institutions will agglomerate into "universal banks" to provide
Even though Senate Republicans acceded to a Democratic provision that will
prevent banks with unsatisfactory lending records from moving into other
financial services, advocates for disadvantaged borrowers argue that the
will disarm Sierra Leone rebels. The United States will contribute logistical
that special forces bombed the market because it was actually an arms bazaar.
five attending politicians blasted Bush by arguing that his absence from the
stage was an affront to voters. "I think he was the big loser here tonight,"
the eggs of fashion models to the highest bidder (presumably infertile
Everybody leads with the Senate's rejection yesterday of the comprehensive
vote as more about partisanship than nuclear policy, and all see it as
The papers also see the vote as quite historical. The New York Times
Today says the vote was the first time in history that the Senate has
nobody quite connects the dots on what the comparison could mean for the
of World War II. But this general level of gravity is apparent in the
necessary to jump into the nuclear arena." The lead editorials at the
"Never before has a serious treaty involving nuclear weapons been handled in
countries, which implies that it is as of right now completely dead
The LAT says that Republicans wanted in return for deferring a treaty
vote an ironclad promise from the Democrats not to bring the treaty up during
the event of a diplomatic emergency." Without further explanation, this leans a
have that fear, he also surely wanted to have the treaty as an election
and the LAT front the announcement that the Boulder County grand jury
Medicine features a study revealing that a big reason lung cancer is
deadlier for blacks than for whites is that the former are less
likely to have the cancer surgically removed while doing so would do them any
to explain this difference, because in the study racial comparisons were made
between patients with similar access to health care.
"chairman" by women as part of their job titles, advocating instead
Reporters, just getting back to work after recovering from the grueling chef
couples, including homosexual couples, making it, says the Post the
mention the heterosexual angle. What's more, the latter reads more like it
slugs a story about the Amalgamated Interior Decorators and Salon Stylists.
The issue of minority languages is one that I find very interesting, and you
raised some important questions. You have written quite a bit about bilingual
a romantic attachment to these obscure languages, often for nationalistic
The political movements that support English as an official language are not
it ironic that there is interest in some of these languages at the same time
there is such hostility to other languages and nonstandard dialects?
York Post --I agree that it won't have much staying power. The difference
wife or girlfriend," and debated entering the term in the second volume of the
editing at the time. In the end, I thought that it was unlikely to last, and
kept it out. Based on the subsequent history, I think it was a correct
this usage, it would have died a relatively natural death; instead it will be
Chatterbox, ever alert for signs of when the next recession will come, tries
always to read the Wall Street Journal very closely. It is a superb
publication (full disclosure: Chatterbox used to work there). During the last
few days, however, Chatterbox has been a little pressed for time amid the
feature. But another technique is to count the number of sections the
Journal comes in. Lately, it's often come in four (front section;
marketplace section; and money and investing section) rather than the customary
three. In addition to making it more difficult to find the Journal 's
tendentious editorial page, more sections have the added benefit of
demonstrating that the business sector has more money to spend on Wall
Another sign might be the disappearance of ads like the one in the latest
goldfish bowl. Come to think of it, this ad may be a sign that a stock market
I agree with you that languages and language varieties are both adaptable
and multifunctional. I will add to the mix of comments on this discussion the
observation that we are all adaptable and multifunctional in our individual
language. You know those radio shows, all news, all the time? We are all
content to context in speech as well as writing. And our language is not
limited: It can grow and mature, adapt, and in some cases even atrophy. We lose
and gain words, expressions, pronunciations. Language is creative: We can
manipulate it to match a new concept, or a new invention, or simply to tell a
joke. And we seem able to use language to discover new concepts as well.
its users' needs and whims, and it is also a system in which the users attempt
formal and informal kinds of regulation, establishing standards or trying to do
so, making judgments about our own language use and that of other people (in
the words of the radio commercial, "People judge you by the words you use
policies, often fail to achieve their ends, or achieve ends somewhat different
from what may have been intended. I find that we all establish linguistic
standards and try (but often fail) to adhere to them; but interestingly, our
standards don't align. Our linguistic use and preference vary slightly from
I also find that when it comes to discussing language, we have a significant
and rightly so; but they also tend to reject or challenge what experts have to
say. Again a complicating, subjective factor is that experts are also users, a
situation that both compromises and informs their expertise.
Is it your experience that experts on language are challenged with greater
regularity by the general public than, say, experts on math (let's leave
Language is a complex issue as well as a complex phenomenon. When language
is perceived to be a public problem (bilingual education, poor writing test
scores, nonstandard usage), the public seeks simple solutions: Make English
official; teach more grammar; emphasize correctness. But simple solutions don't
seem to work for complex problems, either in language or in medicine.
By the way, to return to the subject I introduced this morning: In addition
years ago that showed writing could improve the immune system by actually
claimed that sentence complexity in writing could be used as a predictor of
notice that the experiment was structured so that some participants were asked
to write about their most stressful experience, while the control group was
asked to write about their plans for the day. Those writing about stress showed
cellular phone use increases the risk of brain cancer. What are the facts?
Think of cellular phones as little radio stations, beaming voice and data to
of the average microwave oven, however, is significantly greater than a cell
exposure levels are not well established. Since this radiation penetrates the
human body, critics theorize that cellular phones could cause physical damage
cellular phones is significantly weaker than the energy occurring naturally in
the body's cells, and would therefore be unable to physically alter them. They
also contend that even after long exposure periods, the phones could only cause
radiation could cause damage, they say that cell phones should be presumed
or have produced statistically insignificant findings. Selecting subjects for
ongoing cellular phone studies is a challenge, since the highly exposed
population remains relatively small, and many forms of cancer may take years to
react as if they were being heated (though no temperature increase was
observed), which investigators hypothesized may damage cell function over long
periods of time. Another found that cellular phone use was associated with an
increased frequency of a certain type of brain tumor (although the overall risk
of cancer was not found to increase). Most scientists call for further research
and testing. Some cellular phone users are reducing possible risk by using
earpiece and microphone headsets that plug into the telephone and make it
possible to talk without the phone being held to the head.
Regulatory agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and Federal
Communications Commission hedge on the issue, neither guaranteeing cellular
phones' safety nor recommending that users stop using them. And the greatest
danger posed by cellular phones yet discovered is an increased likelihood of
Radiation Research magazine published a scientific assessment of the research to date into the cell
everyone would feel better if there were an agency that could actually step
forward and say, "We are now officially in a correction," the way the
government does with recessions? Or would everyone feel worse? Regardless, the
market did take it on the chin this week, battered by the combination of
earnings disappointments from a couple of bellwethers and, above all, by the
now a foregone conclusion, and there may already be a rate hike after that one
Of course, that means that if you're in the market, now
is most definitely not the time to sell. Instead, it's a moment to remember
state, and it's not necessarily any more accurate. So let's call it a
dislocation instead, and imagine that someday soon all our shoulders will be
back in their sockets. Right where they belong. On to this week's Cocktail
cable households, but changed its definition of 'cable households' so that any
telecommunications industry were absent when this deal was announced. I think
come in slightly below Wall Street expectations. This came as something of a
offline, too. Thought not giving out your cell phone number would keep you
safe? Well, in this brave new world, if you have a screen name, you're fair
cancer and other diseases. Next, coffee makers will admit that caffeine
Let's start with: The test ban is good. It's better than no test ban. And yes,
it's imperfect. And no, we won't be able to know everything everyone does in
the world. But knowing a lot of it and being able to nail a government for
testing is better than "who cares." Fact is, we're moving away from arms
and the people there are eating their cats. Someone, somewhere is converting
counteract global warming, producing mild temperatures along the Eastern
love to see the door open to testing for all kinds of Star Wars shit?
Call me a dopey idealist, but I think there are still too many people who go
sick, hungry, and uneducated right here to be playing with these toys.
How about the French union leader who is being celebrated by the press there
substantive fallout, if you will, of the Comprehensive [Nuclear] Test Ban
public relations war, given the public's overwhelming support for the treaty.
the treaty, and that when it comes to foreign policy as a campaign issue,
stance will help him with women voters (who worry about nuclear apocalypse more
as much money as Gore does. And many also criticize the vice president for
the system, but neither knows exactly how. ("One generation's reform is
ostracize him for his crusade against "corruption," the more popular a
Hewing to the journalistic dictum to "sell every piece
twice," Mark Shields has perfected the art of recycling his own sound bites.
justice charge was never ventilated. There was no chief justice of the United
States sitting in the Senate, but that's what it was. It was Impeachment Two.
was nothing less than Impeachment Two. And that was their chance of getting
in the company of minority groups. He's comfortable there. This is something
that most presidential Republican nominees don't do except in a week when the
Democrats are holding their convention and there aren't that many cameras
president in my lifetime who was not the nominee of his party have a better
community appearances. Usually the Republican nominees do their minority
appearances during the Democratic convention when there are no families around.
to call the members of the Senate corrupt, you need to prove it.
Soft money goes to political parties. Political parties
finish my answer. It finances issue discussion in this country. The
one every nine days. They are a corporate soft money issue advocacy outfit, as
is this [party] program financed by corporate soft money.
Republican committees, and say, "Only those six can't engage in issue advocacy.
learned tonight that the millions of dollars the Democrats have received from
the teachers had nothing to do with the Democrats' opposition to vouchers. I
guess Republicans alone of all our citizens are in--
politicians are impervious and indifferent to large [amounts of money]--
be predominant on commercial signs. The judge ruled that two antique dealers
didn't violate the law by hanging a sign outside their store with French on one
side and English on the other, with lettering that is the same size.
was replaced with a requirement that French have "greater visibility" or
still needs protection in the province, while the judge sided with the defense,
holding that French had made great strides and is not threatened. Justice
The defense lawyer said he would fight any appeals all the way to the United
signs has often been controversial. Government inspectors went around with tape
government complained that Anglophone business owners sought to evade the law
by having larger French letters on their signs, but in the faintest of colors
older generation in the city, that the young people, Anglophone and Francophone
alike, were all pretty much bilingual and were generally bemused by all the
squabbling. In the countryside, of course, everyone spoke French, and there was
no language issue there. But older Anglophones assured me they felt constant
province because their children had been required to attend French schools, and
as Anglophones they'd have no economic opportunities in the province after
was debated in Congress a couple of years ago, someone wrote to the
supporters of official English want to protect English. The problem is that
language legislation frequently creates more problems than it solves. And
English in the United States doesn't need protection.
States are abandoning their first languages for English faster than ever
communities? you may ask. Where violence does occur, it's because language
rights have been taken away, not because minority languages have been
tolerated. Official English in the United States is unnecessary.
Furthermore, establishing an official language in this country will drive a
than language holding this country together. A common language can be a
ahead and pass an official English law. That should really stir things up.
station after treating herself for breast cancer for five months. Who lives in
Antarctic Treaty. It guarantees cooperation and free movement among scientific
operations, prohibits military activities, and suspends indefinitely all
Antarctic facilities. Most meetings focus on environmental protections: In
many types of research, including astronomy, atmospheric science, meteorology,
when brutal weather makes air travel all but impossible. As a result, few
I find, as you suggested, that computers are having an impact on student
writing. More and more students compose at the keyboard, and some are even
computers, and right now that means they're writing and reading a lot, since
attacking computer use in education. I haven't read the book, so I can't
summarize his stance, but on one page he was complaining that students spent
us to the possibilities of using more traditional technologies. I remember once
down and he needed to get some vital information from a colleague several
colleague from my workstation, a third friend came up and suggested, "Why not
I would argue that all writing is a technology, and to emphasize the
technological aspect of writing I have my students spend an hour writing in an
clay, a wooden skewer, a length of -inch dowel, and a writing assignment.
Their task is to fashion the clay into a writing surface, then do the writing
assignment using the clay and the wooden stylus. When they are done, we talk
about how this was different from the more conventional writing technologies
they are used to: pencil and paper, computer (few seem to use typewriters
the mind. It forces you to think about elements of writing that have become
more or less automatic in a more ordinary setting. Here are some of things my
students find: You look at writing differently if you have to prepare the
surface. Inscribing on clay means you can't use cursive very easily, or even
rounded print characters. Clay's not easy to edit. And it's not that easy to
read the final product. You can't put a lot of writing on four ounces of clay,
and you can really only use one side, so you have to make all the space count.
Clay could get heavy if you had to carry around more than a few "pages" of it.
And clay allows you to play with document design in ways you might not with
Will computer use improve student writing? Not necessarily, although there's
some suggestion that writing a lot does help, and students are writing more
with computers than they were before, so far as I can tell. It's certainly
easier to revise on a computer: Students tend to forget that "cut and paste"
once involved literal scissors and glue, a laborious process that I used to get
stretches using a computer, with less physical and psychological strain, than
when I was using an electric typewriter. New writing technologies have their
downsides, inevitably. There was a complaint voiced in the New York
Times when typewriters were coming into favor in offices that the
typewriter depersonalized the written word, since the reader seemed further
removed from actual contact with the human element in writing. To some extent
this was true, but it was also a bit silly, since before the typewriter there
was a great emphasis on people developing uniform, depersonalized handwriting
to ensure legibility. The computer allows us to revise, true, but in that
process I see that we lose what I call the "archeology" of the text, the stages
through which it passes from first to final draft. I used to miss that. Now I
But here's something to ponder, and let it be my farewell to this chat,
as well: The next generation of text processing with computers promises
temporary phenomenon, then? Will we, or our children, be talking their essays
sitcoms? I trust that will still count as "writing," though I imagine some
technophobes will insist that it is not writing since the composition will be
English was published last month, the press celebrated the event by listing
books as living in the mind, not on the page, he's saying to some extent that
books are the creation of the reader as well as the writer. I know that when I
read, I turn the text into a world that is influenced by who I am, what I have
read or thought up to that point, what's going on in my life or around me. And
You mentioned the example of people living in houses
thinking they can critique houses as if they were architects. Well, not
everyone can design or build a house, that's true. But you know from your
experience living in houses that you might have laid out the kitchen
differently, or put the closet somewhere else, or made one room smaller and
another larger. Users of dictionaries get to use them any way they want to,
whether we like it or not. When I ask people how they use their dictionaries,
they tell me for spelling (now I suppose more and more people just use spell
checkers for that), or sometimes to look up an unfamiliar word. But to some
extent they're saying this because they think that's how they're supposed to
use dictionaries. In fact many people use dictionaries to press flowers, hide
money, or prop up uneven table legs. Or as booster seats for visiting small
the fine distinctions that exist among dictionaries. But end users often treat
simply "dictionary." This is an indication of how people lump dictionaries
name of several dictionaries now), but it may also reflect an unwillingness on
the part of dictionary makers to admit that the public doesn't discriminate the
dictionary brands the way marketers would like them to.
Users of language, like people living in houses, often
wish things had been designed differently, and they often take a hand in
remodeling efforts (these may have amateurish effects, or they may be quite
professional). I like to ask audiences every chance I get, "If you were the
boss of English, what would you change?" The three most common answers I get
The answers are a nice springboard for talking about:
function linguistically (people aren't saying "you know" just to annoy you,
thought, when I began reading your piece, that you were going to mention the
future of the book, that is, the question we hear a lot: Will print books be
on our reading and writing practices, and wonder if that might be something
expanding. I don't see us yet curling up with a virtual book, taking a virtual
book to the beach, browsing through musty used virtual book stores looking for
that elusive something special. But I do see changes happening everywhere so
far as reading and writing are concerned, especially in my own literacy
good fountain pen, I find that every time I have to write by hand on a pad of
printing things out, editing them at the desk, then keying in corrections.
That's what I mean by technology affecting our literacy practices.
Museum of Art's "Sensation" show. Have you seen it? I haven't; just read the
Back when I was a struggling cartoonist trying to get my career off the
provocation without substance; it isn't so much offensive as it is dull and
no way any group of government experts can render a fair judgment as to what's
good art and what isn't. Either give money to everyone who calls themselves an
strip dead. Perhaps there's something running in some paper somewhere that I
don't get to read that's really great, but I haven't seen it. So as far as I
know, all comic strips seriously suck. (I would make an exception for
that strip came out today as is, it would be too weird and melancholy for daily
papers; it might run in a few of the more daring weeklies.)
sardonic, smart. I always check out my friendly competitor Tom Tomorrow's
Editorial cartooning, I assume you'll agree, has declined into stupid gags
about the news; my test for a good editorial cartoon is that you should be able
but he doesn't give a shit about anything, which makes his work soulless. The
The most depressing aspect of the profession for me is that the youngest new
himself before he does the next one, which would be sad since he's such a
genius. This stuff is not, however, for the faint of heart. Perhaps the most
compositional skills are amazing, but he has absolutely nothing to say. It's a
cosmic joke that someone so talented is so utterly clueless about the real
fondness for retro '20s graphics. People always relate to the familiar and
iconic and reject what's truly new. (Journalistic conflict: Ware wrote a letter
I always thought his work sucked; his letter merely reminded me of his
All superhero comic books are stupid, have always been stupid, and should be
somebody in The New Thing expressed a measure of skepticism. When
the computerized yacht, thinks Internet investors are mad, observing that
document this as the largest financial bubble in the history of the world
probably guess what I think he'd think. He spent most of his life trying to
cycle, stifle speculative manias, control corporate competition, keep the
currency "sound," and stop panics. But he was also looking for the
underwrite transformed that world as dramatically as the Internet is
transforming ours, though much more slowly. The transatlantic cable and the
later he capitalized the new corporation (which included other steel mills,
within a few years the corporation was earning profits and paying
be one of the suits trying somehow to harness new ideas, fascinated by their
revolutionary potential but appalled at the idea of throwing billions at
companies that exist only "in a state of pure possibility." Like you, I greatly
admire the portrait Lewis has drawn of Silicon Valley and don't think this
state of things can last. I wish I believed in the "new paradigm" that says
we're beyond the business cycle and will not see another recession. According
reach beyond the style epicenters. But I think you are right on target in
identity crises because they are trying to get by rather than get ahead. When I
lived in New York, it drove me crazy listening to people complain about making
the Manhattan female hotshot is as obsessed about the people who stand above
has told is about men in capitalism, rather than men as such.
are being lumped into a new synonym for class; they are "losers." In the last
generation, as we know, the gap between winners and losers has grown; the
has declined. As our society becomes more unequal, however, the imagery of how
people ought to live, the ideals of self and mutual respect, are increasingly
defined by behavior and possessions at the top. Thus the gnawing sense of being
taste and behavior; a stark inequality of material, educational, and social
means in measuring up to the image of how you ought to be. And this is why,
of diminished potency which is more economic than sexual.
men suffer in large part from a crisis of masculinity because they have failed
blacks, makes me, like you, deeply uneasy, though in my case for quite personal
reasons. I was raised by a resolutely single mother who in the 1950s was
nuclear family, she was doing me untold psychic harm. In my own case, this
didn't prove so, but the prejudice in favor of nuclear families is deeply
As you say, the myth of the strong father is one thing;
the reality is often quite another: often tyrants who are intimidating rather
than encouraging. My own experience of parenting is that adult firmness coupled
with irony and occasional bouts of silliness makes for sturdy children. Perhaps
of no country in which children lead more lonely isolated lives, isolated from
social contact with children unlike themselves and from adult society. You
can't be taught just by rules how to be a man or a woman; you learn adulthood
for yourself, and to learn adulthood well you need far more exposure to real
You've written about cooperation in the workplace. Do you think the ills she
recounts might be righted if in communities there were more opportunities for
less oriented to displays of potency, would ease crises of masculinity.
Thing is the best book ever written about Silicon Valley.
central truth front and center at all times is that the book's flaws are the
kind that tend to drive me completely batty. And so my natural tendency is
going to be to harp on what he's done wrong rather than what he's done right.
And what he has done right is something big and important: He has absolutely
is, how the old rules have been turned upside down, how it is filled with the
sense that anything is possible, and that everyone will soon be rich, if they
aren't already. You would think other people would have done this by now, but
they haven't. And that is because very few people have Lewis' ability to
capture something deep with a few deftly written scenes.
There is a wonderful scene, for instance, that comes
do. Doesn't matter: The venture capitalists are practically pleading with him
Then he goes out and hires one person, an engineer he
knew back at Silicon Graphics (which he also founded). That night the engineer
And then, after that engineer has hired a handful of his buddies to start the
they know nothing about. "We sat up all night reading all this literature about
largely wandered off. After all, his job (in his view) is to come up with an
idea, however unformed, and then cause money and people to coalesce around it.
I say, I really think Lewis has done a terrific job rendering this new world in
all its insane particulars. (There is another scene I feel compelled to
And now please allow me to gripe for a few minutes. Is
can't solve, no hole he can't fill, with a graceful turn of the phrase. But
that also means that when confronted with the choice between doing a little
extra digging and writing his way around a problem, he chooses the latter every
place, the market was tanking, and the company's road show had been a bust. But
happened in the interim? We have no idea, because Lewis never bothers to tell
us. All he says is, "No one asked how a company the stock market deemed
unworthy was now, suddenly, desirable. It just happened." Well, that may be
nice writing, but it's pretty unsatisfying journalism.
In fact, I don't know if you noticed or not, but Lewis
written with great haste. There seems to be a belief among publishers that if
you don't get your Silicon Valley book out fast, it will be outdated before
it's published. And maybe they're right. What do you think? And what do you
their temperament in the same way that singers' voices reflect their own
what if Jewel was one angry bitch with a bad hair day and a gun to use on any
guy she despised? So maybe my workaday "style" fits my cranky, as you put it,
outlook on life, I dunno. But I still would like to draw better, if for no
other reason but to like the way my stuff looks more when I see it in print.
Anyway, I suspect that maybe you're just trying to keep all the primo drawing
it's amazing that it was ever broadcast, much less promoted to the point that
it was permitted to gather an audience and eventually become successful. But
though this business of preempting the season premiere in favor of baseball is
stupid. Why can't baseball games be played and broadcast during the middle of
the day, like in the old days? Any station that preempts news or other
spectator sports don't deserve coverage in any newspaper so long as they're
cramming comics into one tiny page and skimping on the international coverage.
it's not written for adults; it's really more for kids. The humor is more
appears relaxed for a guy who signs more death warrants for his state's
impeached. He may have remained in office, but at what cost? He crippled Gore's
years of economic expansion during which really great programs might have been
enacted while we had the cash lying around. To those who say that private
consensual sex is nobody's business, they'd be right if not for the fact that
important, unforgivable. Anyone who's ever sat in a courtroom and watched some
then it's been a pleasure solving the world's problems with you. And if this is
endure the scurrying roaches long enough to say It's been a lot of fun
(although I don't usually have elephant dung with my oatmeal).
About drawing ability, don't sweat it, Ted. Your work is so much better
understanding of our own artistic personalities, temperaments, and, yes,
limitations that enables us to shape an effective statement on the page. While
every single solitary day of his long and lucrative life), excellent
cartoonists figure out how to draw in a way that perfectly supports the
drawings bring you right in. Somehow (and I don't know how) they cause you to
story. The Tom Tomorrow thing is interesting. He'd be out on his keister
without a Xerox machine. But who cares? The image matches the voice
wonderfully. And the voice is saying important things. Your work understands
how fast we're flipping through the newspaper. It brings us immediately to the
idea. Your understanding of blacks is very keen; those lines hold the image and
seemed a cheap approach to animation. Plus it was on the Fox Network, so, I
the crappy drawing and "family situation comedy" is a ruse. It gets the masses
strangely committed. On top of that, there's very real and touching character
development. It is a work of unalloyed genius. More than the work of my
favorite graphic artists, this program will be the thing our cultural era will
be remembered for because he wrapped his message in such strategic cleverness
flippant, casual, with a little buzz on. You could just see the cigarette.
Everyone knows a guy like this; someone so comfortable with himself that he
traveled everywhere, knows about life. Every movement is easy. He's comfortable
with himself. Al Gore looks like a guy who broke his toe because the vibrator
because he cut his finger trying to undo his wife's bra. People don't think
these things, of course. But I think they perceive them subconsciously. If a
man is comfortable with himself, he'll be comfortable in the job. It's too bad,
all the attention. Far more interesting, though, was the idea of conservative
activist government that the shrub articulated. "Our Founders rejected cynicism
and cultivated a noble love of country. That love is undermined by sprawling,
arrogant, aimless government. It is restored by focused and effective and
energetic government," W. said. "And that should be our goal: a limited
government, respected for doing a few things and doing them well."
This phraseology recalled a series of articles written
conservatism." The echoes of their writing in Bush's speech were very clear
parks, and the Panama Canal. Bush used the same presidents and the same
Bush called for "effective and energetic government."
Bush: "Too often my party has confused the need for
limited government with a disdain for government itself."
What this shows, I think, is that Bush wasn't simply
Tom DeLay. He was tapping in (candidates being allowed to plagiarize from
journalists) to a line of intelligent, moderate conservative argument about the
federal government's rightful responsibilities. But the question arises: How
allow tax credits (and not just a deduction) for contributions to charities.
from the supply side to the Lord's side. After a stint working as a journalist
responsible for most of the intellectual and historical references in Bush's
Of course, Bush is not the only politician who uses a
speechwriter. What's troublesome is the evidence that Bush has an unusually
distant relationship to the material in his speeches. Did Bush even read the
reading policy tomes, combined with the way he delivers his speeches, might
lead you to suspect otherwise. Bush squints into the teleprompter, sounding out
the words streaming by as if encountering them for the first time. In his
education speech, he tripped over the term "exemplary," which came out of his
called the Manhattan Institute, one of the more influential conservative think
tanks, simply "Manhattan Institute," without the definite article, a
support for this suspicion when he appeared on Meet the
I will take some responsibility for not seeing that. The line is "Republicans
makes it sound as if Bush has no more responsibility for what he says in a
Here's how the five candidates who showed up were running:
wants to be the conservative alternative to Bush. So right out of the blocks,
other strategy for wooing conservatives was to mention constantly his
tried to demonstrate his conservative credentials by getting as far to the
protections should apply to fetuses from the moment of conception (thus
should be prosecuted for capital murder). Despite the best coaching millions
emits his words metronomically. His hand gestures are dissociated from his
words. He raises his eyebrows and forgets to take them back down again. With
Republican primary. His first answer, to a question about child poverty,
"disgrace." He also framed education as a "civil rights issue" and repeatedly
denounced corporate welfare, especially for ethanol. Asked a blunt question
about abortion, he suggested continued, if tepid, support for overturning
senator, I think that the abolition of Roe vs. Wade would deserve a
doesn't really come across in a debate format. He has Bob Dole's problem. To
let fly with his caustic wit risks a boomerang effect. But restraining himself,
that the other side actually won the Cold War and that he is the only one who
knows about this. "We must get rid of the socialist structures that control our
government beginning with the income tax itself," he declared at the outset,
explaining that he would prefer to fund the federal government with tariffs,
blooming lilac tie and a shirt that matched the color of his suit, he appeared
technique of simply shouting over the moderator when his time is up is going to
opportunity to praise his rivals, yielding time to his distinguished colleagues
as if they were all in the Senate. Mainly, though, he praised himself,
constantly reminding viewers of the many important committees he has served on.
as president. "Frankly, if you look at it, we've had an unprecedented economic
of a handful who convinced him that should be done." More extraordinary was
someone means to make some personal limitation seem so overwhelmingly
ridiculous that the victim becomes a permanent national laughingstock. The
to take him seriously as a presidential candidate, because all that the
successor as vice president. In Al Gore's case, the drubbing is for a slightly
more vague constellation of qualities such as dullness, starchiness, aloofness,
pomposity, condescension, privilege, and political klutziness. There's an
element of truth to these criticisms. But by becoming a shtick, the observation
of these qualities threatens to obliterate not only Gore's corresponding
virtues but also any hope of his becoming president. Every minor misstep that
to correct these flaws, whether it's playing along by mocking himself or trying
stiff. When he upends his campaign, yanks off his necktie, and engages his
Here are a few examples of what Gore is up against,
tones,' and then they take a focus group: 'You like the shirt buttoned or not?'
phrase sounds unnatural coming from a man whose shoes are always polished,
whose hair is always combed, whose shirts and suits are always crisply pressed.
He asked people to join his new, this is what he called it, his new,
On the campaign trail, this mockery translates into a
have been played as "more woe for the troubled Gore campaign" (or possibly,
"last straw for troubled Gore campaign"). Gaining the endorsement, however,
President Gore, depending on how the political media spin it, in part." Memo to
But there's a silver lining for Gore: If the public
really demands candidates with a flair for schmoozing, smooth talk, and ersatz
genie back in the bottle because we act badly in groups and that all pacts as a
has been fired in anger. That's an amazing record for a species that can be
counted on for the worst behavior all the time. The treaty didn't alone arrange
for that. It was a part of humanity's desire to step back from the brink and
cool the madness. Unless that idea has salience in the future, we can kiss our
draw about. Instead of trashing this treaty because it doesn't do everything,
we ought to be working on how to go further in the direction of international
the advent of a world federal government. The whole process of killing the
regardless of what the suits tell us) won't be brought to heel without strong
Who will lead this movement? Will they be successful? How far will they get
before we see we're really doomed? We'll find out deep in the next century. It
really will be crunch time. A time of desperate political upheaval, calling for
a focused and educated world population. But let's leave that to the kids and
because it was unclear whether congressional Democrats could have sustained a
veto and because the president wants to focus on other budget issues, like the
celebrated," writes the LAT 's correspondent, who notes the
into the godless New World Order that the elites are constructing in a betrayal
of everything for which our Founding Fathers lived, fought and died." The
here; to learn how the Reform Party picks its nominee, click 
seconds to affix oxygen masks before losing consciousness from hypoxia. (The
therefore virtually unnoticeable.) The Journal says the crash may
"throw a spotlight on the widening popularity of corporate jets," but the same
article notes that private plane crashes have actually decreased over
that yesterday's plunge came after Big Blue announced that its mainframe
announcement and stock plunge, four of them downgraded. "This is what rural
types call locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen," he observes.
or wish to avoid paying excessive taxes to a corrupt government. "Safe
teacher cluck with disapproval: "An item on yesterday's Science page
Forgive me if I don't have much spring in my step this morning. I was just
in appreciation of the printed book. He makes the usual comments about how
wonderful books are, and how an ideal home would have walls full of books, and
then I got to this: "Every real book (as opposed to dictionaries, almanacs, and
other compilations) is a mind, an imagination, a consciousness."
Sigh. As a dictionary editor, it is frustrating enough to be thought to be
producing interchangeable and useless material, but for a respected writer to
regard dictionaries as mere compilations with no mind or imagination behind
experience; it's pretty much universal that language is thought to be a subject
that anyone can comment on because everyone uses it. Unlike math, medicine, or
even some sports, which require deep knowledge to approach, language is wide
open. Everyone has a pet peeve, be it a misused word, an unusual pronunciation,
For lexicographers, this manifests itself most annoyingly in the poor state
of dictionary reviewing. Most new dictionaries are not reviewed in the
mainstream press, and even when they are, they are not reviewed by linguists or
lexicographers. They are reviewed by writers, on the grounds that people who
use the language professionally must be qualified to critique books devoted to
in a house is qualified to be an architecture critic. The result is that when
dictionaries are discussed in the press, only the most superficial issues are
notes, the number of illustrations. Important considerations, such as the
quality of the definitions, are ignored. And those writing dictionaries are
encouraged by their marketing departments to add ever more flashy features to
I find that much of the time users have a very strong sense of what they
influence them. Nor would I necessarily want to; a person's aesthetic sense is
not to be tossed away lightly. But I do wish that they would at least consider
what we have to say, since they might learn something on occasion.
that dictionaries are more than dull compilations. They are even, sometimes,
Last month, in Science magazine, a scientist wrote that the computer
hold had doubled once every year or two. (Integrated circuits are the basic
that allow digital information to be transmitted, processed, and stored. The
more transistors you can pack on a circuit, the more powerful the circuit
the computer processing power available to consumers at a given price has
scientists generally agree that it will eventually be violated. Previous
predictions that it would break down have proved incorrect, and most scientists
Your trip sounds wonderfully dangerous. Looks like you
got your story. So are you going to do it up for someone? Could even be a book
even more so. Let us pray. And have a smart foreign policy. We here in the
United States don't think much about the rest of the world. As yet we don't
have much reason to think about them, except when we want to start bombing
people after they rise up against the awful regimes we support (saw the film
to burn something. I think it's all right for museums to have awful art. If
that you never hear about or go to. It's amazing, isn't it? This, like it or
allowed. And bless it. We need the crap. It's good fertilizer. Because a small
percentage of anything any culture at any time winds up qualifying as good. But
you need the bad stuff to keep the pipes clear. In this vast Times listing, how much contains sexuality, blasphemy, pornographic
violence, vacuous, gratuitous abuse of one kind or another? A good amount. If
we want museums and theaters and libraries, we have to fund them. If we want to
fund them based on a vote of how much we like and don't, then we have some work
to do. Let's start with the New York Public Library. You know there's plenty of
the stuff he doesn't like and doesn't want us to see. Perhaps we can use that
percentage to cut the funding for that institution. By the way, implied in all
said about the Holocaust. It isn't anyone's eccentric or revisionist view of
history. It's the fantasy of a disturbed person who thinks he can get elected
the central problem with The New Thing is the exaggerated claims it
have happened sooner or later anyway, maybe in somewhat different form, with
lower forms of life ("the sucker fish of economic growth").
To make his case, Lewis offers up some big pronouncements. For instance,
says that now "wealth came from the human imagination," and concludes that "the
new theory conferred a stunning new status upon innovation." Am I missing
The Prime Mover of Wealth was no longer a great industrialist who rode herd
on thousands of corporate slaves, or the great politician who rode herd on the
nation's finances, or the great Wall Street tycoon who bankrolled a new
enterprise. He was the geek holed up in his basement all weekend discovering
There is of course a huge difference between a physical light bulb and an
abstract computer idea, and the revolution in information technology really
terms to venture capitalists, but as you pointed out this morning, the biggest
world skepticism was not a sign of intelligence. It was a sin." Actually, it
I think there's another big problem here as well, connected to the question
great ride, and so do we, but it's impossible not to want to know more about
on the subject of "character," this book is odd. Lewis says that the only
hear from or about his three wives (one of them current: Her name comes up just
a couple of times, and she never enters the story). Maybe wives were declared
off limits; if so, that would have been useful to know. After the second wife
college professor with a warning label on his forehead to a founder of a
Still, to revert to our basketball analogy, it would be hard to get inside
after he determined that this was somehow impossible that he went ahead and did
good boy." "He really did feel some strong impulse to meet other people's
the end, having brought out in a scene you've described that no amount of money
image that "the best and most lasting motive for wanting to change the way
Maybe more tomorrow on the good guys and the bad guys in this story?
bonds are looking like a tastier investment, and there's still a lot of concern
quarterly numbers that were a couple of cents shy of analysts' expectations and
got crushed as a result, with much of the rest of the tech sector falling in
sympathy (or empathy, or whatever you want to call it).
the world, meaning that if it's having trouble, a lot of other companies
probably are, too. And given that in the past few months expectations for the
The company, for instance, took great pains to point out that demand for its
it was manufacturing the chips, especially its newest chips, that tripped the
competition, most notably Advanced Micro Devices, that finds deadlines
bothersome. But apparently even masters of manufacturing can trip up.
make chips that cater to that market, and naturally they earn less profit on
still remarkably high for a manufacturing company (and would have been much
not, in and of themselves, evidence that things are falling apart. If you do
things right, turning inventory more rapidly, you can make it up on volume. The
value of a business depends not on how hefty its profit margins are but on how
efficiently it uses capital, and you can use capital efficiently by setting up
It's no surprise to me that there are language issues in the news. In my
replacing French as the prestige second language? And Education Week
which came out just last month, reported this scary news: The writing ability
urging that English become the official language of the country. As if a law
But back to your comments. Yesterday's New York Times ran another
chose a euphemism where elsewhere they have been much more blunt. (Of course,
to sex crimes, something that didn't occur to me till I saw the first episode.)
a person, for those who are reading over our shoulders) involving one person
doing something physical to another. Of course, while a future episode of
Special Victims Unit may choose to become more explicit about this
interesting summary of what we might call "the linguist's dilemma": People want
linguists to tell them how to be correct, but at the same time, they resist
intervention, taking the attitude, "Who are you to tell me what to do?" It may
natural part of the linguistic give and take (or what a theorist might call the
I missed the angry response letters to the Fox essay. Maybe they didn't
that day. But they don't surprise me. I get angry mail every time I try to
was a similar requirement in the state's prisons, and he thought it worked so
well he wanted to extend it to the schools. In my essay I pointed out that
language is difficult to regulate: People just don't want to use language the
way other people tell them to. I also observed that people used to want schools
to be less like prisons, but that now the trend seems to be to make them more
like prisons, adding language regulation to crowd control, uniforms, metal
detectors, and locker searches. In response, I got an angry letter from a
reader telling me I ought to be in prison for writing what I did.
So I have come to realize, over a long career of such angry letters, that
part of my job is to encourage people to look critically at language use, and
of his dad as a guy unjustly toppled by a womanizing schemer is historical
revisionism, pure and simple (remember the last recession? went on for perhaps
months? couldn't put both nouns and verbs in the same sentence?). On the other
The answer, methinks, is that the presidency attracts
consumption this morning. (I was too sleepy to note the reporter's name.) As
like to try one) and a Park Avenue apartment building where the grungy units
furniture shifts whenever the commuter trains rumble beneath is beyond me), she
cleverly pointed out the analogies with the '80s economic bubble and the
from the '80s boom. When this one heads south, it'll affect a lot more people
may be the stupidest ever: "A PLAN IS IN WORKS TO PUT OFF A VOTE ON TEST BAN
get the crank out of the water supply down on West 43rd Street; what the hell
is wrong with the headline writers? First of all, no one cares about the test
ban. Maybe they should, but they don't, and I don't blame them. We did the Cold
have zillions of nukes pointing at us and nothing has really changed, it's
My quads are doing quite well, thanks. And that's a very good question you
raise about whether or not these bars are any better than regular food, because
from the outside, they look like treats. The crackly foil wrappers, the
tempting names like Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch and Wild Berry. This
deceptively yummy packaging makes what you find inside even more disappointing.
waxiness. Likewise with sports drinks. Their names (Arctic Shatter, Frost)
promise limitless refreshment. But when you drink them, your first thought is
So why eat this stuff? Are sports bars and drinks an improvement on a
balanced diet and plain old water? Or are they just another piece of gear, like
an expensive running watch that looks cool but won't get you to the finish line
any faster. According to a dietician I spoke with, the garden variety athlete
has no need for either sports bars or drinks. The bars are, in general
"glorified candy bars," and if you read the label, they often list
and fats, as well as high fiber. She also said one thing to look for was a
What about the drinks? There are a few reasons why sports drinks are
than you would plain water. On the first point, if you keep sucking down the
water before and during your workout, the speed of the absorption shouldn't
matter. The second point may well be valid, but the question is, would it be a
noticeable difference? (We'll see after tonight's run.) And on the third point,
I say, tastes good? Depends on whom you're talking to. But in general the
refueling during long runs, and that the taste and texture become irrelevant
when you are incredibly hungry and tired. This touches on two important points.
First of all, this type of food is not meant for someone who jogs a few miles
or goes to an aerobics class a few times a week. The bars are high in calories,
fat and calories, but most people get more than enough in the rest of their
diet. What this boils down to is if you're training for a marathon or working
out twice a day you may benefit from the bars and drinks. But for your average
As for the merits of individual bars we tried before our run, they ranged
sports bar is excellent) to the truly horrible. I completely agree with your
reflex hit." I did not spit it out, though. Which may explain the intense
nausea I felt on the first leg of our run last night. Although we ate them as
disturbing violence. It wasn't until I released two massive belches (each
smelling strongly of false banana) that I was able to settle into the run and
feel halfway normal. And I trace that false banana to the Nature's Plus
it ranked decently in terms of taste and texture going down, was no treat
Tomorrow, let's get into the specifics of which drinks and bars are the best
hard line the White House is taking with Congress on spending (made clear by
money bills until Republicans assure the protection of the Social Security
mostly reports on declining numbers of juvenile arrests and hence doesn't
address the possibility that increasing numbers of juveniles are committing
mostly on the absence of a clear explanation for these decreases, while also
noting two retrograde movements: There hasn't been a significant crime drop
have been attributing to pilot error. The story says that the system has failed
widely, including along some of the nation's busiest airport approach
backing a peace accord in Sierra Leone that provides a general amnesty for
rebel war criminals and indeed, will put eight of them in the country's
the Senate's defeat of the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. His key
claim: Nuclear arms are coming into the hands of more and more countries not
administration's failed nonproliferation policies. "This administration," Helms
writes, "in its shameful effort to curry favor with Silicon Valley executives,
weapons factories. The administration has decontrolled satellite launches,
helping China improve its nuclear missile force. The administration has looked
in their drive to build weapons of mass destruction."
money." Here in a nutshell is the difference between a politician and a
journalist: If a politician tries to get money out of politics, it's a career
With absolutely no malice aforethought (honest, it's just happened this
way), Moneybox this week has been devoted to the thoroughly scintillating
return to our usual diet of sex and scandal. But in any case, class, today's
Hey, you in the back row, stop snoring! And you, put down that Game Boy!
its acquisition of Level One Communications, upon which some commentators cast
sensible, since Iridium may very well turn out to be a complete bust, and
truly successful industrial conglomerates left in this country, with lines of
business ranging from disposable medical products to underwater
acquisitions that it has done a rather remarkable job of integrating into its
strategy may be a way of masking slow growth in its underlying business. In
write off a little bit each year. Investors and analysts tend to treat large
the minds of bears, can be a way for companies to hide the costs of
company announces it quite publicly. And while it's possible that there are
free, it's also true that there are people who still believe their fates are
governed by the stars. Companies are no more responsible for the former than
the latter. The market as a whole cannot be systematically deluded by
accounting gimmicks, as long as the gimmicks are publicly disclosed.
it's setting aside a reserve of money that it says it believes it will need to
complete the acquisition. The danger is that an unscrupulous company will set
years. You need a couple of pennies of income to meet Wall Street estimates?
baseless and just about every Wall Street firm reiterated "buy" ratings on the
even be possible. The reality, though, is that this kind of stuff still happens
all the time (even though eventually everyone does seem to get caught). And
really sure what the comptroller of the currency, as opposed to a comptroller
financial institutions use, did not spook an already nervous stock market
because anyone actually read or listened to the speech. It spooked the market
happened had he mentioned "tulip bulbs" and "Internet stocks" in the same
outside observers did, leading to the inevitable conclusion that, in his
typically oblique way, the Fed chairman was trying to talk down stock prices in
speak to the idea that investors are starting to see stocks as not much more
's "Crapshoot" for a critique of this idea), the real focus of his
speech was something much broader, namely the way financial panics tend to
eradicate the delicate distinctions between different classes of assets,
distinctions that any market system needs in order to invest for the
The two most striking things about financial panics, at
least in the modern economic world, are that they happen more often than one
when they happen, they tend to spread rather than remain localized. What
when we think about managing risk in the future. Specifically, he said, banks
recognize the limits of the models they're using. Panics can't be anticipated,
Now, you might say that this speech should have spooked the stock market, since the Fed chairman was
saying that sudden crises of investor confidence can descend without warning.
But that is something we all knew already. More to the point, saying a crisis
can descend without warning is not the same as saying that it can descend
without causes. Talking about the current stock market as a bubble without
are few safe havens once a financial crisis starts. Last year, for example,
during global crisis, investors flocked to the 30-year Treasury bond but were
totally unwilling to buy the 29-year bond, even though the difference in risk
between the two assets was presumably minimal. In that sense, saying that
stocks are riskier than bonds because the stock market could crash is wrong. If
crashes determine risk, then there are very few assets that you can really call
was trying to talk down all markets. Which I think tells us that he wasn't
trying to do anything of the sort. His message was a simpler one: Be more
Medical Association that concludes writing may be beneficial for your
conducting the study asked subjects suffering from acute asthma or from
They were asked not to concern themselves with the niceties of spelling,
punctuation, and so on. They were told instead, just write and write and write,
A significant number of study subjects reported that their symptoms improved
with writing. This of course is good news. But even better is the prospect that
future studies may go on to show that writing may actually cure much of what
days? Did their symptoms then worsen, or remain the same? I know my own
symptoms would worsen if I were told not to write, since I write all the time.
will be four days. Should I be taking my pulse and blood pressure regularly?
Should I not use my inhaler? (Actually, I do have an inhaler, but seldom need
to use it.) What should I expect to see happening? To whom do I report the
prophylactic. There have been a number of "scientific" studies like this one
so I should know), there was some discussion in the press about the discovery
of a grammar gene by neurologists. This was based on a study of an extended
grammar: They could not form certain kinds of sentences, couldn't answer
questions, couldn't write clearly, and so on. It was held, in these popular
reports, that the discovery of the shared defective gene seen to cause the
symptoms would eventually lead to a cure not only for dyslexia but for freshman
happen. It seems that writing, and grammar, are too complex to be controlled by
That is not to say that people don't or won't find writing to be beneficial.
writing as good mental exercise for as long as I can remember. Of course, I was
a sickly child, and one who wrote all the time. What does that tell us? Nothing
But once people read about the physical benefits that accrue from writing,
a pilgrimage to these clinics, perhaps even swarming to our own writers'
Will writing become a remedy of the desperate, like grapefruit diets, coffee
there be minimum recommended doses? Warning labels on keyboards?
anyway, writers seem not to have a choice in the matter: To paraphrase the
personally oppose the intentional release of radiation near human skin, unless
that skin happens to belong to people I don't personally like. But the bottom
line is that you can't put the nuke genie back in the bottle because human
we all act like the meanest, stupidest person in whatever group we happen to be
in. So these pacts will inevitably disintegrate to the worst behavior of their
only thing "free" about free trade is the average salary the corporations have
in mind for the rest of us?) for that French guy. He should have got sued,
sure, and jail was entirely appropriate for this particular act of civil
disobedience, but as an occasional customer of the Golden Arches (personally, I
willing to take a risk for their principles now and then, particularly when
it's a blow against a monolithic transnational corporation that built itself up
by underpaying children who ought to be at home studying for the next day of
By the way, it only seems appropriate to include a little cartooning
stripping babies. Is it just me, or is this more boring than offensive? Second
documents paints a diametric picture, reporting that Justice took extraordinary
steps to maximize the terrorists' chances for clemency, including the highly
unusual step of making their applications for them and having supporters
candidacy, at the expense of the prohibitive favorite, the daughter of the
LAT note that he is a moderate, with the LAT stating he has
the outbreak of street violence upon the announcement of the election outcome,
yesterday that she was abandoning her presidential campaign. The papers all
basically credit Dole's explanation: Money has come to mean too much in
era who's given up federal funding so that he could raise an unlimited sum of
because it "wasn't fair." The paper notes a Bush spokeswoman's response: "We
model for how Governor Bush will raise money or lead the nation." The
The LAT front turns in an exclusive on a topic it first broached a
of its own ethical policies requiring the disclosure of authors' possible
LAT finds eight in which researchers reviewed a drug's performance but
of the future: the union set up a Web site to give the union's take and also
other tire plants were notified about the strike and its issues and encouraged
sell securities on the Internet. The three agreed to stop and as a result are
investors have access to good information regarding any stock to be purchased.
Gore arrived on stage like some sort of feral animal
who had been locked in a small cage and fed on nothing but focus groups for
several days. Upon release, he began to scamper furiously in every direction at
still at it, sitting on the edge of the stage with his wife, talking about
vaudevillian. He oozed empathy from every pore, getting all over every
questioner like a cheap suit. First he would ask the person about his
circumstances, his family, or his job, in a desperate effort to bond. Then he
would respond with an explosion of gesticulation, sympathy, and agreement. At
the very first question, which referred to "behavior by members of your
administration," Gore came out with a blast of empathy for emotions the
questioner never expressed. "I understand the disappointment and anger you feel
At first, you think: Hey, this new Al Gore's not such a
stiff after all. Then you think: This new Gore is a bit over the top. By the
end of an hour, the impression is of someone as desperate as he is unable to
asked a questioner who asked him what he was going to do about school violence.
you have the most trouble with?" Gore joked, smarmily.
A clinical psychologist who asked about the problem of
"Give me a chance to roll up my sleeves and go to work on this. This is one I
told by St. Peter, "You can come in, but you can only stay three days." This
elicited groans in the room where several hundred reporters watched the debate
on video monitors, as did Gore's fulsome expression of thanks to the people of
Gore's problem, I think, is that he has watched Bill
with an audience. But even as he copies the steps, he lacks the music. When he
The problem isn't that Gore can't be personal and expressive. It's that as a
performer, he has no emotional range. When he pumps up to the volume, he always
Gore's plasticity. I saw him in person after the debate, when he sat on the
stage answering questions. He was calmer and seemed much less phony.
as anyone who I can remember running for high office. Aside from one direct and
passionate defense of gay rights, which got the biggest applause of the night,
the high cost of his health proposal, he finally responded by uttering, in his
experts. I dispute the cost figure that Al has used." Other than that, he
But running against the world's most eager salesman,
to win you over with his charisma. He just has to wait for you to get sick to
propose sweeping privacy protections for medical records, stricter than those
these companies from sharing customer information with other insurance
companies without the customer's explicit permission.
producer of the product that's ubiquitous in a lot of other products." The
most comprehensive. Under the headline "As Obesity Rate Soars, Hormone Offers
the highest preventable cause of death after smoking.  However, obese people
given injections of the hormone leptin in a study lost weight proportionate to
fire for over -hyping a cancer study) gives a dour prognosis. Leptin
patients lost a "moderate amount of weight at best" and many participants
obesity figures at all. The Post --"A Hormone Helps Obese Lose Weight:
think that we control what the New York Times writes," a Bush
I wanted to go back to something you said yesterday, as
it has been rattling around my brain all night. You noted an "immense divide
suffer far less from identity crises because they are trying to get by rather
far more extensive than its presumably "screwed up" epicenters. But now I want
equivalent, to be "getting ahead." That formulation strikes me as emblematic of
battling it out in these places, "winning" or "getting ahead" means being
mentality of "others notice me, therefore I am" is quite appropriate if you are
like a perpetual twilight of adolescence; it is a thwarted adulthood. For those
who exist only in the gaze of others, "getting ahead" may well mean achieving
more time at the center of attention, but that really gets them nowhere new,
The real challenge of "getting ahead" as an adult is
far more complex. It involves the work of forging an identity that has
coherence and integrity, whether or not anyone is looking. But adult
there with the achievement of an autonomous identity. It can also mean learning
that my humanity is larger than the roles I inhabit, and in the exploration of
my individuality I also, paradoxically, discover the possibility of a deeper
connection with many kinds of people. Autonomy is not an end in itself but a
foundation for the ongoing work of individuation and real intimacy. These
triumphs of adulthood are hard won, and as you said about children, they often
spring from darkness and grief. They always spring from engaging with the
are "getting ahead," in this truer sense; they are not merely "getting by."
people and mothers and veterinarians and teachers. They are in the hills of the
altiplano, caring for their land and their animals and their families. They are
where the cameras do not roam, making love, making family, making dinner, and
making a world. They are not hanging around making bombs and complaining about
I am persuaded that the new economy already shows signs
of offering much more opportunity for adults to move beyond the conformist
organizations and the fragmented identities of industrial society. I think this
emerging era will provide more adults with the possibility of becoming
individuals, as it enables us to reintegrate work and life in many new rich and
authenticity of her effort and the seriousness of her subject. Whether or not I
agree with her analysis, I do think that these times require a reexamination of
that gender has played in the maintenance of traditional economic models. May
that in using it, you've stumbled across the biggest problem with The New
he was also a helluva talent. You could undoubtedly write a more interesting
the greatest player of all time, is bland as toast off the court, and a tougher
season, couldn't wrest an interview from him. But if you were to decide that
Basketball? Nobody would dare make such a claim, would they?
boils over with absurd resentments. He bubbles over with interesting ideas. He
spends half the book building the biggest yacht in the world. He must have been
a ton of fun to write about. (And he was accessible to the author!) But can it
other single person, shaped the current ethos of Silicon Valley? Or is it more
likely that having landed his subject, Lewis created a thesis to justify his
My own suspicion is that the truth is closer to the latter than the former.
of forces at play that conspired to create modern Silicon Valley. My guess is
that the various changes Lewis documents would have happened with or without
Of course, the biggest force was (and is) the Internet. Here Lewis would
what changed everything. (And oh, how I longed for a detailed inside history of
profitable. Once that offering took off, it was as if a light bulb went off all
over the Valley. YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE A PROFITABLE COMPANY TO GET RICH! What
he wanted to build a new boat, and this was the only way he could think to pay
stand in for any Silicon Valley "type." "I can't be a venture capitalist
write, "His role in the Valley was suddenly clear: he was the author of the
story. He was the man with the nerve to invent the tale in which all the
doesn't dare say. And Lewis captures that exquisitely. There is another of
adds, "You know, just for one moment, I would kind of like to have the most.
to forget about the claim the author is making for his subject and simply revel
in scenes like that one. But for me, at least, that's awfully hard to do. I
Judging from the responses to our exchange, we've skipped over some of the
issues important to most people, so perhaps we should go over dialects before
being unable to do math because their language can't handle it, is tied into
the biggest questions linguists face. The notion is a myth, of course. As you
that mean that you are incapable of doing math? Well, it would take some work
to develop the tools necessary. But that is true of the jargon of any specialty
philosophy than other languages, but he answers his own question by observing
could benefit from the German language not because German is intrinsically good
for the discussion of philosophy but because after years of such discussion it
had developed appropriate words and structures, and German philosophers could
In other words, when we say that languages or dialects are equal, we do not
mean that they are all equally able to concisely express every nuance at every
time. We mean that they are equally capable of expressing any thought
necessary to the speakers of that language or dialect. Most educated English
speakers are unable to understand medical jargon; that does not mean that
standard English is incapable of expressing complicated medical concepts. When
not be as concise as medical jargon, but will do for the circumstances.
To take a very common illustration from English: Though the vocabulary of
English is vastly larger even than other Western languages, there are many
simple concepts that have no one word to express them. If I am referring to my
ambiguous; it could refer to my wife's brother. And this is a very common
concept. Other languages, often regarded as more "primitive" than English, have
highly evolved vocabularies for denoting family relationships, so that a single
word can denote, say, one's maternal grandfather's sister. Does this mean that
English is deficient? Well, it means that in the culture of these other
languages, the denotation of family relationships is more important than it is
in English. But even in English we can always say "my mother's father's
The number of words in a language is irrelevant, contrary to what one
respondent suggests. Most speakers, even highly educated ones, use only a
relatively small proportion of the words available to them. (The entire
certain thoughts. Indeed, there are structures in nonstandard dialects that are
certainly more expressive than what is available in the standard dialect. One
distinction between singular "thou" and plural "you," but now only Southern
varieties of English are capable of this distinction without resorting to
"aspect marker," indicating that the action is habitual: The sentence "He be
to make one last point. We are not saying that minority dialects should be
favored, or that speakers of minority dialects should be prevented (or should
be discouraged) from learning standard speech. It is often true, as several
respondents observe, that in order to succeed in the mainstream world speakers
must use a standard variety. But this goal is not necessarily shared by the
speakers themselves. Dialects survive because people want to be part of a
social group, and this is often more important than other factors. The theory
that mass communication will eventually level all dialects ignores the fact
the bridge, trying several new bars, a different brand of goo, and a couple of
My clearcut taste winner among the new bars was the Grabber Energy Bar in
Wild Mountain Berry. Grabber must have some sort of French affiliation, as it's
Drawback: I don't quite understand why it's an energy bar, since it has barely
the same stats, but was less enjoyable. Chocolate Truffle is way too rich to be
During my run I felt good and energetic, and midway through I paused to try
flavor ("banana blitz") was mild and delicious. I actually felt better after
helps maintain fluid balance and stop cramps. The goo packet market is
exercise. The great thing about the goo packets is portability. They're a real
boost out on a run, and they're easier to carry and keep better than a
flavor I tried next was a disappointment. It had that very weak lemonade
determined anything conclusive, but I guess we can heartily recommend the
have the lobster. For quick reference, here's a chart of our reactions to the
left out there who feels confident enough to tell you what the market's going
to do next. (Well, it will fluctuate, of course.) Beaten down by last week's
an impressive feat of discriminating between good and bad stocks on the part of
the market, instead of the perhaps more common "Kill 'em all and let God sort
I hope nothing else important happens between the time I write this and you
probably give you a version much like the one in the previous paragraph. And
speculation has immediately arisen that its version of the online service will
quarters, well into next year, would be sharply lower because customers are so
or no effect on their business. But this does raise an interesting question:
quarter would be lower because it was going to trim its inventory of razor
in its first day of trading, after some dubious trading shenanigans in its
recent quarter, meeting estimates, but its shares fell nonetheless when it
political and economic instability: Some of the hotels recommended in our
Lonely Planet guide had closed in the last year, inflation was literally eating
But as I reported on my radio show for the first time
death and denying medical care to women, aren't the most subtle guys in the
democracy in name only; even before yesterday it was a barely disguised
strategic juncture between East and West, continent and subcontinent. The State
Department, by backing the coup, is defending the very same regime that has
seriously frightened, despite today's insipid headlines saying that things are
break off formal diplomatic ties with this illegal military government until a
true democratic regime comes to power. Right now, the military runs everything
from road repair to tax collection, and there's no room for free speech in such
a place. As they said back in the '60s, you're either part of the problem or
part of the solution, and we're clearly a big part of the problem. But don't
The Future of the Book question is one that's been so
one even more recent), that I hardly think I could add anything. But I don't
think that books are going away in the near future. Even if we had some sort of
electronic book that was convenient and had a good screen, physical books, in
real affect on the publishing world, but that's a different subject. And I say
getting any kind of serious writing done on paper (though I do love fountain
pens and think they're not at all inconvenient), and I can comfortably revise
computers have already had a tremendous impact, and this impact will grow. The
tools available for language analysis are so helpful that it's hard to imagine
corpus is indispensable for any sort of dictionary work today. Briefly, a good
corpus will gather millions of words, from a wide and carefully selected range
of sources, so that you can study it for any sort of patterns you want. If
you're concerned with the words alone, you can look up individual words to see
how they're used. (A rough idea of how this works can be had by entering a
moderately uncommon word such as "nugatory" into an Internet search engine and
seeing what you get.) But you can also learn about grammatical patterns that
researcher in this area, and he's been able to find incredibly early examples
more databases become available, we're likely to see ever more important
discoveries that force us to rethink what we believed about the history and
this particular poem, he and others have showed us new ways of thinking about
What sort of effect do you find computers have had on
your students? Has there been any sort of change in their writing or reading
skills that you can attribute to them? Do you make use of computers as a
You've been at it a long time, so you're in a good position to judge whether
appear in the Dow) is fine testimony to what all of us already knew: that the
industrial powerhouses have been superseded by the avatars of the New
Actually, the four new Dow companies are avatars of the old New
Steel, a company whose industrial fortunes peaked sometime back in the 1930s,
capitalization of any company in the world. So the Dow isn't exactly going out
The striking thing about today's announcement is that changes in the Dow
still make headlines, not because they happen so often (actually, they happen
very rarely) but because the Dow is such an arbitrary collection of names to
begin with. Any index is arbitrary in its inclusion and exclusion of names. But
That's had two contradictory consequences in recent years. On the one hand,
it's led people to overestimate the nature of this bull market, especially in
conclusions to be drawn from their performance. And the same will be true if
The second consequence is that the focus on the Dow has led people to
companies in the Dow. But if you just look at the four companies that will be
no comparison between them in terms of business fundamentals. The incoming
companies have rapid growth in revenue and in cash flow, and extraordinarily
high returns on invested capital. The outgoing companies have slow growth and
low (in some cases, perhaps even negative) returns on invested capital. Was the
This is not news to the stock market as a whole. The outgoing companies have
the two groups are not that distinct. You could see this as yet more evidence
only now realizing what the market as a whole has understood for most of this
limited missile defense system, but negotiations have been underway for only
lead, pastes across its front a new study on Internet use that christens the
defense systems, for fear that they would provoke a race to develop
to tinker with the treaty enough to allow installation of its fledgling missile
defense system. The LAT defines the problem most succinctly: "Under the
objected to the proposal, saying that reported nuclear threats from upstart
The Hector Mine earthquake, named for a mineral mine near the epicenter, was
though almost all was restored by the afternoon, the LAT reports. The
contributions, which are not supposed to be used for federal elections, are
raised by House party committees concerned exclusively with federal elections.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has grown much more quickly
than its Republican counterpart in its ability to raise funds for House
money they beg from wealthy contributors and have begun more aggressively
Republicans. (The National Republican Congressional Committee has raised more
"Credibility, transparency and accountability in running state affairs" top
accounts a political neophyte, is expected to avoid international tension while
he figures out, as supreme commander, how to dig his country out of corruption
rather than on allaying immediate international worries.
priority, and later this month a Senate health subcommittee, the chairman of
Within five minutes, sensors sent data to an Internet site measuring
reports online. Much of the data came from a network of hundreds of
generally speaking, there is one briefing that stands out as an authoritative
stocks today is dominated by momentum traders, day traders, and technical
traders, none of whom are paying attention to the underlying fundamentals of
the companies whose shares they're buying and selling, and all of whom are
As it happens, this is wrong. There are lots of momentum traders and day
traders and technical traders, but there always have been, and in any case the
increased volume on the stock market and the greater number of traders has
almost certainly made stock prices more efficient and more accurate indicators
What's interesting about this, though, is that the same picture is very
rarely drawn of the bond market, even though if you talk to (or listen to) bond
the trend of bond prices over the last month or last week, about support levels
indicators that are or are not flashing green or red. And you also get a lot of
numbers. The conventional image of bondholders is that they're conservative,
This doesn't mean that the bond market is any less efficient than the stock
market, though it does seem a bit curious. But what bond traders' reliance on
it is to successfully predict a market in which every piece of potential
information seems to point in two different directions at once, and in which
there seems to be nothing that doesn't count as potential information.
history, it was still weaker than expected and smaller than last month's trade
news for the bond market. On the other hand, a weaker trade deficit meant that
factories were producing more, which probably means higher growth and,
potentially, higher inflation. That seems like it would be bad news for
that potential inflation from the weaker dollar (which would drive up the price
of foreign goods) hasn't had much of an impact. So maybe inflation is still
foreign demand is rebounding, and since the slump of the rest of the global
economy has helped keep commodity prices down, a global rebound could have
inflationary implications. So that could be bad news.
Then you have to divide the import side of the trade deficit ledger into
impact in the last month. And you probably want to take a look at capital
in which it's difficult to tell where anything begins or ends. And we haven't
even taken into account that the bond market needs to interpret not only all
these numbers but also what impact the numbers will have on the Fed, and then
in turn what impact the Fed's interpretation of the data will have on future
Given all that, it's not too surprising that the bond market preferred to
meander around today, basically ending where it began. Set yourself the
impossible task of predicting a macroeconomic future, and your head will start
with the interview's overall tone of deference (headline: "The Long View of a
a kind, thoughtful, and (for the most part) honorable man. The facts that
noted prominently, and did not strike Chatterbox as disqualifying.
But Chatterbox is at a loss to explain how anyone but a pair of formerly
without grilling him about his representation of the tobacco industry, which in
and Hand, into a gaudy lobbying powerhouse (at least in terms of billable
the settlement reached between state attorneys general and the tobacco industry
(without, of course, letting Congress make the minimal improvements required to
make it even a marginally acceptable deal), was in fact mostly selling its
reputation. The substantive negotiations were conducted by others; the firm's
story: "They were getting paid more for who they were than what they did."
Q: Some would say that money talks loudest of all in the business you're
now in. What about your practice and this firm's practice? Can you represent
people based on some ethical or political judgment about how much they deserve
your representation, or is it really just a question of selling yourselves to
A: Well, you hope that the people you represent will be those that you
feel ought to prevail or at least ought to be protected. Let me take something
number of hits for being one of the people who signed on to represent the
tobacco industry when they started their negotiations with the state attorneys
Chatterbox translation: "Don't blame me. It was that greedy bastard
He was invited to involve his firm, my firm, in representing the tobacco
industry as it began a negotiation in which it was prepared to pay an enormous,
an unbelievable amount of money to various state coffers, which could be used
toward young people. In exchange for that, it was hoping to get protection from
bankruptcy, which it feared would come if some of the state suits that had just
Our job in this law firm was never to go to the Hill or to the executive
branch and say smoking doesn't cause illness. It was never to say the tobacco
industry is being mistreated. It was simply to say the industry is prepared to
make revolutionary changes in its behavior if it gets some protection from
these giant suits, and this is a good deal for the public.
Chatterbox translation: "Of course tobacco companies represent
something close to pure evil. But the real dirty work had already been done. We
client's behalf) whatever sacrifice Big Tobacco had to make. And if, as
ultimately happened, no settlement resulted, we could shrug our shoulders, say,
'Hey, we tried,' and act like unsuccessful brokers to an honorable peace."
agreed to do it because we thought it made a lot of sense in terms of the
public interest and, secondly, because it was very handsomely compensated
Chatterbox translation: "See how easy that is? Look, we can even
we should point that out, rather than you --and still make
our critics look like a bunch of braying jackals. I bet you aren't even going
down, the welfare rolls are dwindling, fewer women are having abortions, and
SAT scores and charitable giving are on the rise. This is the dilemma facing
battling the inconvenient onslaught of good news with three
positive developments," and he cites them. He also tells readers, "I have
amended some of my own prior views about the efficacy of politics and public
takes hold, it exacts an enormous human cost. Unless these exploding social
pathologies are reversed, they will lead to the decline and perhaps even to the
impervious to government spending on their alleviation, even very large amounts
The new edition is considerably more sanguine (it could hardly be gloomier).
to legislative action and political leadership than I once thought." This
a gathering of his fellow conservatives that "these are times in which
conservatives are going to have to face the fact that there is some good news
on the landscape. We're going to have to live with it." (The quote is from
gave it, though he emphasized at today's press conference that he didn't
pessimism that is common among conservatives. (For a fuller discussion of the
after all, nearly became chairman of the Republican National Committee a few
"progress on key social indicators" during the 1990s the drop in violent crime
presided over these jurisdictions for the last several years were Republicans.
When Chatterbox asked about any contribution the Democratic White House
bill was significant, and said, "I will give credit to the president for
cites them: a rising percentage of births to unwed mothers, rising marijuana
from attention deficit disorder. (This last social problem wasn't discussed at
all in the previous edition.) In Chatterbox's book, none of these is nearly so
serious a problem as that of growing income inequality; but inequality isn't
chapter on "Youth Behavior" with the shocking news, presented in large boldface
significant statistic. In effect, it's a way of saying that the venerable
disinclination to marry their high school sweethearts, on the other. Since
imprison criminals. "Nearly three out of every four convicted criminals are not
generations of social and political elites, both liberal and conservative, have
liberated themselves from the belief that criminals are free moral agents and
that publicly sanctioned punishments are what they justly deserve."
followed up with statistics about the number of people in federal and state
fairly screams, "There are too many people in prison nowadays." Which is odd,
The Index seemed a smart bit of ideological entrepreneurship when
document vividly the rise in all sorts of societal ills. By now, however, it
has clearly outlived its usefulness. Chatterbox predicts a third edition will
I may have spoken too soon in my earlier message. After
decent household will have a dozen) without my eye lighting, along the way, on
So he does appreciate dictionaries after all, even if
he somehow thinks that they simply spring into existence with no help from
You are of course right that people who use things, be
they books or kitchens, have a real stake in how they decide to use them. The
that. But it would be nice if a user's needs coincided with the expressed
purpose of an item. Thus even if dictionaries were used chiefly as booster
seats, it would behoove a reviewer to address their real purpose. An office
building that functions poorly as an office building but looks impressive
should be criticized, just as a dictionary that has impressive photos and
presses flowers well but has poor definitions and etymologies should be
Speaking of criticizing dictionaries, it seems we have
dictionary. For once the newspapers got things right, and largely because they
bothered to call lexicographers for opinions. This wasn't a case of
on even in the harsher newspaper reviews (which, in any event, are unlikely to
in the title! You're quite correct that most people view that word as a generic
you want to differentiate your dictionary from your similarly named
competitors. Nothing is more frustrating than spending an hour on the phone
with a journalist and then seeing an article with your competitor's name in
for a summary of how the Republicans do it), and has been subjected to much
recognize the Sorting Hat as a magical wizard's hat, pointed and "patched and
Sorting Hat sings to the assembled new students in full:
The advantage of the Sorting Hat is that it doesn't tell you which candidate
is best; it merely sorts the candidates according to their most pronounced
characteristics. Chatterbox can't know, of course, how the Sorting Hat would
assign the current candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary races,
but in the spirit of political punditry offers the following prediction:
Chatterbox gratefully acknowledges technical assistance for this item
Times lead with yesterday's procedural votes in the Senate that
effectively ended any chance of passing campaign finance reform this year.
militias and hate groups will become increasingly dangerous in the coming year
because of the apocalyptic significance some of them attribute to the new
What happened in the Senate, the papers report, is that in successive votes
of the unregulated campaign use of donations made to the national political
parties ("soft money"), the other a broader bill that also would have tightened
rules about "issue ads" that actually function in support of particular
votes required to cut off a filibuster against the measures. After these votes,
Senate impasse "a victory for the politics of cynicism." The LAT claims
issue, although the paper provides no evidence of this, noting only that
goes high with the observation that the outcome keeps the special interest
money issue alive for next year's presidential campaign. The LAT and
is the fourth straight year that campaign reform has died in the Senate.
(based on a Common Cause investigation) to the Senate vote lead reporting that
protecting airline passengers in favor of a much weaker bill after airline soft
rush of money, he admits in the story that "Big people have access to my office
apparently decided not to run to remain in office, but the bigger news that
complete a trade agreement that would bring China into the World Trade
published today in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that is the
Cold War of nuclear weapons in foreign countries, many of which have policies
strictly banning a nuclear presence. The only real remaining mystery, say the
Both the Wall Street Journal 's "Heard on the Street" column and
since the decision is tantamount to pouring millions into their stock?
prosecutors had filed rape and kidnapping charges against a "John Doe"
fingerprints, is unique to each individual.) The prosecutors took this step
because the statute of limitations for the crime was about to expire and they
located, will statutes of limitations become irrelevant?
Statute of limitations laws require plaintiffs to take legal action within a
specified time in order for their claim to be valid. (Murder is the one crime
exempted from statutes of limitations.) The purpose is to guarantee defendants'
Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial and to ensure that they will not have
to defend themselves against stale evidence. (It would be difficult, for
example, to find witnesses to corroborate an alibi many years after the
statute of limitations in rape cases is six years, a warrant requires a name,
an alias, or a physical description of the suspect that would allow him to be
arrested with reasonable certainty. This ensures that prosecutors are charging
a specific suspect. It also prevents them from bringing charges in secret,
which would violate Fifth Amendment due process rights.
Some defense attorneys say that allowing prosecutors to charge suspects by
recovered in a very large percentage of criminal cases. And if a suspect can be
from semen swabbed from the victims' genitals on the nights of the attacks.
Arguably, few fingerprints (or other identifiers) would be sufficiently
charging him in secret because few people would recognize their own genetic
code even if they read it in a newspaper. In any event, the statute of
the crime, and his lawyers protest the prosecutors' strategy.
democratically elected government. The majors all cite the same immediate
Thereafter army units quickly took to the streets and overran key government
and several other top officials under house arrest, announced that he was in
The papers also agree on the main background factors: The army had been
signing the comprehensive test ban treaty, and his plans to divert money from
the military to housing for the poor. The Post also mentions the army's
government. But the LAT says that there is no immediate concern in the
if the paper had said what law. How long has it been in existence?) The
writes of a time that he was out at a restaurant with Chamberlain and
Chamberlain's date when the player excused himself to get the phone number of a
woman at another table. And another time, Shaw says, Chamberlain ushered him
out of his hotel room in order to entertain three women simultaneously. (Shaw
sign that the papers are maturing when it comes to market swings, is that, on a
relatively slow news day, no other paper fronts the story.
insurance. More than a quarter of whom, says the chart, earn more than
"horseless carriages," a designation meant to be reserved for vintage vehicles
Congress by the end of the week. Yet the papers give the story wildly different
raised fears among some scientists that what the paper calls "fundamental
advances in a genetic revolution" will wind up being controlled by a handful of
days about the state of Social Security legislation, which aims to confront a
stock market idea until the eleventh of twenty paragraphs.
puts the news about the dropped stock market measure in the seventh paragraph,
and explains Republican opposition to that plan more succinctly than the other
papers, citing "fear that this could eventually lead to government control of
the total number of applications has declined. Embassy officials apparently
need to bolster cultural ties between the two countries.
much touted "compassionate conservatism." Early this year, legislators in
enroll in Medicaid, a program that requires a hefty state contribution per
child, fought to limit eligibility for the federal program. The legislature
ultimately won the fight, "but the governor fought us tooth and nail," one
financial interests as a senator, the paper notes. But the relationships he
also helped, since so many on Wall Street are sports fans.
climate with an avuncular style. But his grip on power, the paper reports, may
age, though.) Even his supporters began to worry when military aides had to
Manhattan, "household managers" (that's the favored term these days) now
divisions as well as plenty of eccentricities. (Trump hates shaking hands, for
example, which might make pressing the flesh as a presidential candidate a bit
difficult.) "The upshot," Bennet writes, "is that the Reform Party is entering
a critical election torn by what is essentially a civil war."
stories people are writing now and how frightened folks are at the prospect of
wrestlers, developers, and movie stars entering politics. I remember all the
When you think about it, none of the three current "serious" boys arrived at
its advantages, as they say. Famous sons of famous men are remarkable when they
being remarkable. Folks couldn't get over that he wasn't in office or, at
least, in the movies. His death reminded people that the later chapters of his
life were not going to play out as they had dreamed them. I don't think we ever
completely got over the allure of royalty. Our favorite soap operas seem to be
about dynasties; generations handing down traditions of abuse and debauchery of
the whole teeming Bush clan moving back into the limelight. It won't be the
stale Bush administration we knew. We now have a panoply of archetypes we know
and are, I think, already responding to. The young slacker Bush, called by his
country, avenging his father against the sinful pretender. The ardent, pious
wife, taming the young prince, guiding him to his glorious destiny. The
knee. The powerful and benevolent queen mum. The equally ambitious younger
brother who will not take a cabinet post (will there be family rivalry?). And
move in to the circle? Ah, we breathlessly await the next exciting episode.
The last few weeks have been good ones for popular discussion of language.
refer to a sex act; a woman chosen to run one of the world's largest law firms
delightful word "floccinaucinihilipilification," the longest word in the first
I hope we can talk about some of these issues this week. But the one thing
that's been most striking recently is the response to an "On Language" column
Ms. Fox, citing various linguists and explaining things quite clearly, said
that negative reactions to nonstandard dialects are the result of social
To us, as linguists, this is familiar and noncontroversial. I had thought
that Ms Fox's presentation would be viewed by the general public as
noncontroversial as well, but I was mistaken: The letters column last week had
no fewer than six angry letters, calling us "intellectual diddlers" and
jobs." It was even implied that considering dialects to be linguistically equal
was a "pernicious threat to common sense, logic, science and our basic
It would seem that the writers of such letters themselves lack common sense,
or at least the ability to understand simple language. Ms. Fox was very clear
that languages were considered equal "on purely linguistic grounds," and that
value judgments were "socially determined." The linguists who spoke in favor of
diversity were certainly not advocating the abandonment of language teaching,
It's too bad that a genuine effort to spread this understanding has to meet
together, thinking and acting in this new way, trying to reinvent the business
world and perhaps even trying to redefine the nature of capitalism itself. (Can
Ultimately, every character in the book is going to
what Silicon Valley is like at this moment in history. From my vantage point on
most people in the Valley firmly believe. If that turns out to be the case,
way. They are true heroes." But now let's suppose that Silicon Valley at the
millennium turns out to be what the 1960s were when we were in college: an
ultimately falls by the wayside, much of the wealth evaporates, and one day
people wake up and wonder, "What were we thinking?" In that case, we'll look
idiots those guys were! Couldn't they see that it was all about to collapse?"
book will hold up no matter how this story plays out.
it is all going to turn out badly. And that is perfectly appropriate for this
book, because there really is no dissent in the Valley. But reading the book
provoked in me, at least, the lingering thought that it can't last. There is
it's impossible to know from the scenes in The New New
actual business plans. Nobody seems to even care about profits anymore. All of
just have to come to the book predisposed to look for them.
Which, I admit, is my general bias. Yes, I believe the
companies profitable some day in the distant future. But no, I don't think
what's going on in the Valley right now is sustainable. What was that line you
quoted? "In this new world skepticism was not a sign of intelligence. It was a
and it has taught me a lot. (You've been following Silicon Valley for some
Lewis' characters calls "the greatest legal creation of wealth in the history
is among other things a terrific introduction to the ongoing revolution in
Like you, I found a number of annoying and frustrating things in the book,
funny, telling moments that he often doesn't have to "tell" much around
computing would link up with personal communications once the PC became fun to
games part), but as Lewis observes, "he was groping toward a mass market." (It
to a piece of software called Mosaic that enabled its users to travel around
the Internet. With the help of Mosaic's young designer, he set up what became
There's lots more that's good in here, but we've got two more days to talk
about it, and I want to answer some of your questions and outline some of my
own reservations. Yes, I think it's possible that Lewis has too much talent for
his own good. He's in fact so deft with the "telling" incident that he doesn't
bother to fill in facts you really want to know. I did notice that he never
the scene in which the venture capitalists and Wall Street wizards throw money
billions have been made, it doesn't matter what the company is or does.
it's 157-foot) computerized sailboat, I thought it was fun to read but too
risk, and sets up a neat contest between computer engineering and "real world"
engineering (in this context, real world wins so far). And there's a funny
that @Home has just bought Excite, and the crew goes on about stocks and taxes
But there is too much boat stuff, and though as always with Lewis it's very
well written, it feels like filler. Substantive reflections on history and on
ago, that it would be nice to have her back. But consider the hole she left
behind her in the pundit universe. The columns of her successor at the
She's substantive and stern; she's loyal to husband and kids; she makes peace,
ourselves as others see us,' was the line my grandmother would always throw out
when she was crabby and I was full of myself," is the sort of thing she's wont
Let's clear up another common misconception while we're at it. Big
time. It's easy to mistake it for that, and her critics generally do, making
her a springboard for an attack on feminism in general. She draws on her own
experience, thereby making the personal political, and was for a long time the
good for kids and against stuff that's bad for them. But feminism is an
ideology, which is to say a relatively coherent intellectual position, a set of
arguments attached to a political objective. So weighty an agenda demands a
newspaper editorialists and magazine editors and advice columnists elevated the
anecdote of daily life to the status of gospel and did more than just about
in the world, and it's about the only thing a fellow can have as much of he's
acknowledged to be his elegy to his daughter, who died after she ran into a
strongly about? Editorials are supposed to be the literature of opinion, but
as morally instructive in their way as the works of another, far greater
the perils of letting others tell you what to do in life. The homily is
big sister: "Just remember that sometimes you drift into things, and then you
can't get out of them," the sister advises the novel's protagonist. "Not to
home to take care of her dying mother and winds up accused of euthanasia,
echoes that lesson but ups the ante: If you're passive enough to let your
parents dump their problems on you, they can darn near destroy your life.
letting someone else tell you what to do even more horrifyingly explicit: It's
yourself, take some responsibility, for crying out loud.
As convictions go, it's not the most original around, but it's not a
most on this subject, with more of a sense of history (she tosses the New York
Society for the Suppression of Vice into the mix). But ah, yes, here comes the
grandmotherly language: "Oh, for pity's sake, here we go again." Here's the
priests of impropriety, and thousands of children are failing in the New York
City schools. And civic leaders, both political and religious, are using their
The point is, she's right, as she usually is. It wouldn't hurt us to eat our
Busting Bush's Biographer"). I say this not to congratulate myself (well,
not merely to congratulate myself) but to ask why St. Martin's Press, which
announced yesterday that it was "suspending" publication of the book, was
evaluate books for a living. Why couldn't they smell the huge fish rotting in
The answer is that book editors, and especially some of those at St.
Martin's, are very skilled at holding their noses. People often assume that
books are more reliable than newspapers and magazines because they are printed
on higher quality paper and bound between hard covers. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Book publishers have the lowest editorial standards in
journalism, with the possible exception of the Drudge Report and
In news journalism, editors assume a degree of responsibility for the
veracity of what they edit. If a newspaper reporter quotes anonymous sources,
his editor will usually want to know their identity, so he can reach some
conclusion about whether they are trustworthy. Many magazines employ
In book publishing, by contrast, editors avoid getting involved in issues of
knew who one of his three alleged anonymous sources was. (I stipulate that I
have no idea whether this is true, since St. Martin's employees refused all
book are attacked, the editor is not obliged to defend them or even to have an
Fortunate Son appears, has taken this position explicitly in the past.
people to expect him to judge the author's reliability. "I have been told,"
for an editor to sit in judgment of his own books would be censorship!
In place of editorial standards, book publishers have legal ones. While they
may not care whether what they publish is true or not, they do care whether
they can be sued. So lawyers vet books like Fortunate Son for libel. But
sue his client. And in an instance like this one, a libel lawyer would say that
the chance of a lawsuit was next to nil, even if he suspected that Fortunate
Son was fabricated out of whole cloth. Why? Because nonexistent sources
can't sue, and politicians don't sue. By filing for libel, a
to happen even if he stood a chance of winning a judgment against St. Martin's.
To sue would mean that Bush would have to answer endless questions about his
caveat especially lectors of books published by St. Martin's Press.
It's hard to tell if this is still the Era of Stock Market Good Feeling or
to a sudden end. What we seem to be living through right now is a strange time
in which the market is simultaneously being excoriated as overvalued and
hysterical and being described as being in a slump that forebodes bad
As evidence of investor hysteria, the financial media often point to things
after it announced that it would have two, and perhaps three, disappointing
quarters in a row because its customers were cutting back on spending in order
the narrative goes, and then pile out of it without paying any attention to the
stock market, was instead a sign of just how discriminating investors have
become. If stock prices really were being driven solely by inflated margin
expect investors to be forgiving. In fact, they are more punitive then ever.
Investors are willing to pay high prices for companies that deliver consistent
The speed with which a negative earnings report can vaporize a company's
market cap is also sometimes held up as problematic. But here again, it's no
surprise that in a world in which trading costs are minuscule, the diffusion of
information nearly instantaneous, and trading volume immense, prices will
change very fast in the wake of significant news. This just means that markets
are more efficient, not less, in the sense that they establish a new
the past (and even the recent past), we've seen announcements like the one that
Big Blue made have a ripple effect on tech stocks across the board, as momentum
and program traders bailed out of anything that might suffer from association
with a big name's blowup. But last week, investors rather quickly recognized
sold. In other words, investors rewarded the companies that should have been
rewarded and punished those that should have been punished. Capital was
There are, of course, always going to be under- and overreactions, like the
after an unsubstantiated rumor that the company would miss estimates hit the
depending on how you're counting) years of a bull market have not made
officers at which they were told that investigators are now looking into seven
high. This is, the paper points out, money therefore not available to spend on
service members' training or housing. The New York Times front is a campaign
manager's dream: The lead is Al Gore's vow yesterday that if elected president,
providing working parents with various tax benefits. Pictures of the candidates
appropriations bills currently on Congress' plate are salted with discreet
little money plums for business: for auto companies, defense contractors,
utilities, agribusiness, shipbuilders, chemical companies, and even an
develop a supersonic business jet, apparently to meet the pressing national
need for fat guys in loud pants to get to golf tournaments quicker.
understanding of why, despite eyewitness accounts of the mass murder of
little murder evidence. They now believe, says the paper, that the
militiamen took pains to cover their tracks, in one case burning their victims'
extremely concerned about saving face. They want to be able to deny any of this
perhaps the world land speed record for credibility disintegration: not only
conviction in his past not contain a shred of convincing evidence, but it turns
stretch for attempted murder. Confronted with the blow up, St. Martin's pulled
quality control in the publishing business lacks only two things: quality and
already making for a better and more interesting campaign. When both candidates
lay out their proposals on a given subject at the same time, we journalists are
impelled to compare and contrast them. And in this case, the exercise is
expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and fully funding Head Start. But they
have fundamentally different attitudes about how the federal government should
The most striking difference is in the way the two candidates frame the
poverty, emphasizing the need for personal responsibility and New
Families, Reduce Child Poverty, Promote Responsible Fatherhood." The nuances of
language are significant. Note that Gore avoids separating out his proposals
voters don't like Democrats enamored of liberal spending programs, Gore
ideas. The objective of reducing (not eliminating) poverty comes attached to
characterized in his speech as "cracking down on deadbeats who abandon their
children." Gore's proposal is filled with coercive and punitive mechanisms. He
would require poor mothers to sign "individual responsibility plans." He would
require fathers who owe child support to go either to work or to jail.
programmatic reach or generous funding. "I am issuing a simple challenge
suggests various ways of raising their incomes to the poverty line. In other
simply a lack of money. If in the end he doesn't offer very much money to
address the problem, it's because he knows that any Democratic president
There are two specific areas that highlight these differences in approach.
the Senate. "As a result of welfare reform, millions of families have moved
from the dependency of welfare to the dignity of work," Gore said in his
is that welfare reform is working remarkably well. Someday soon, Gore will club
A similar distinction in tone and approach marks what the two have to say
speech, he called on fathers to realize "that having a child is a lifetime
commitment." Gore would give them no other option. He wants to take away their
credit cards, on top of their driver's licenses and passports, while attaching
their bank accounts and garnishing their wages. Gore then proposes throwing
them in jail if they refuse to work. Somewhat comically, he follows this call
for relentless harassment and involuntary servitude with a proposal to
Morris-1995 flavor to the inventive punishments applied to absent fathers, the
public enemies who have no friends. The more substantive part of what Gore
recipients and replace public housing projects with more humane alternatives.
But Gore seems to lack the guts to confront the issue of poverty directly. And
measures would really work. Nor does it acknowledge how much they would cost or
which is modest and incremental. Eliminating child poverty in a decade, which
at the rate it has been dropping during the past eight years would be a far
Since the 1980s, the conventional wisdom has been that Democrats who are too
interested in helping poor people get their heads handed to them. Gore's
unsafe and ineffective. If you want that kind of consumer information, try this
Chatterbox spent most of today continuing to quake with fear at the prospect
report on in a forthcoming (but as yet unscheduled) report. Believing that
when the program airs. But when Chatterbox actually went to the Web site, he
was confronted by an elaborate "user agreement" that essentially threatened to
sue anyone who used the information on the Web site for journalistic purposes.
But Chatterbox wasn't going to do anything without talking to a lawyer. He
to consider the information it had gone to some expense to publicize without
the transcript under the fair use doctrine, and you also can certainly take
still frames, make still frames, of the videotaped interview under the fair use
doctrine as well." He said Chatterbox could also link to the Web site, which
was a great relief to hear, because Chatterbox had already done that in the
the copyright on an interview conducted by someone else (incorporating,
"I don't know what possible basis you would have for that question," he
million hits on the first day it was up. He also said that if 
lengthier, more intimidating set of disclaimers that goes on page after page
should give you some idea about how little prominence 
legal language was much harder to find, but said that when you read it, it was
yourself. Chatterbox thinks that the few obsessives who wander onto this page, which
publication in the world, on the Web or elsewhere, is more than happy to have
urging Chatterbox to come home. Chatterbox will report on his visit to
market, the "curse" is an exaggeration. Often, there are no major drops during
forgiving, since there is still time for the company to recover before year's
end. In the third and fourth quarters, though, poor earnings reports often
stock price after the company's earnings announcement). Of course, the market
also reacts more strongly to companies beating expectations, so this may simply
to ensure that annual fund performance appears strong, managers may engage in
"profit taking," or selling stocks that have increased in value. As with any
product, the increased number of sellers tends to drive down prices. Third,
While the year's first few months are a time of optimism, they say, the end of
the year is characterized by pessimism compounded by the onset of winter.
make investments before the end of the tax year.) And past crashes may make
investors may be especially skittish during the month.
reactions would tend to counteract it. That is, if an investor knew that stock
opportunity to buy into the market at lower prices. As investors looked to
on this expectation. But this year, some analysts did advise their clients to
and All Sport, are all represented. The variations between brands are as
the classic orange thunderbolt design, and has generally more mild watery
and Glacier Freeze. The new trend in drinks seems to be away from the
end of the color spectrum and the dropping of all pretense of fruitiness.
strongly like bathroom cleaner you think you're going to burn your nose
Instead of chowing down on sports bars like I did for
drinks before I ran. And I felt a lot better than I did with the bars. But the
many uncontrolled factors involved here (did I get a better night's sleep? Did
I feel better because I didn't have a brick of imitation banana in my stomach?)
make it impossible to conclusively attribute my feeling better to the more
rapid and effective hydration I was receiving from the sports drinks.
The differences in prices among the drinks were small.
After sampling everything on my smorgasbord of colored
aids in stimulating fluid consumption." Is the idea to make you even thirstier
So what did you think of the drinks? Are you worried at
all about the amount of artificial flavors and colors that you're
agree. She says, "Oh, Dear," and I say "Hooray!!" The only problem I have is
that it's not breaking down nearly fast enough, due to vested interests,
institutional inertia, and lots of uncertainty about the new models of wealth
creation that will replace the industrial leviathan. Gender has a role to play
here too. Men have dominated the old order. Or perhaps it's more accurate to
say that a certain interpretation of masculinity based on dominance has imbued
the old order. Many men feel comfortable with what they know, and it's not
clear that they will be able to enjoy the same kinds of perks from their
masculinity as wealth creation evolves toward new models in the next century.
Fifty years of social science have decried what that old order did to human
suddenly turned on to the financial benefits of treating employees like paper
something of a normal distribution, with some being quite progressive and
humane, offering great benefits and employment security, and some being right
bastards. Most were somewhere in the middle, treating employees like paper
clips when their balance sheet required them to do so. This situation has not
changed. Today, the really cool companies that make the Fortune cover with their great family policies, benefits, and
distribution still holds for the rest. Despite all the hype about the end of
loyalty, most of the studies conducted by labor economists show that the length
of time that people spend with an organization and the number of changes they
make during their careers has not varied dramatically over the last
experienced managers in the early 1990s, during the recession, but even that
So in what way are things changing? The short answer
here, I think, is "choice." The very success of the old order has created new
skyscrapers and industrial parks. This means new choices for employment and new
or their consumption. They are seeking ways to exert more control over their
own lives and in the process to enhance the quality of their lives.
For all the narcissism of those who are busy ringing
and what's local no longer accurately describe the scene. In these new worlds,
people are participating in the global economy while their lives remain
was the first year in which there was a net migration away from the cities and
commercial activity was based at home. Craftsmen had their shops out back.
factories and offices. Perhaps as a way to displace their collective grief,
they decided that the workplace was really important and what went on at home
who was allowed to work from home without being regarded suspiciously was the
educated people who can now free themselves from the hegemony of the old
"epicenters" to live the life they want without sacrificing their participation
So where does this leave the "masculinity crisis"? It
brings us right back to "choice." The people making these new choices are the
ones forcing the breakdown of the old order. Yes, it's doing plenty to make
itself vulnerable, but organizations based on the old industrial model are
simply not the first choice of an increasing number of people who work and
consume. The new path they are forging is still in its infancy, but unlike the
the trends on which I place my bets for the future. For the men who are making
these new choices, I don't believe there is a masculinity crisis but rather a
liberation from an identity constrained by the "I am what I do" and the "I am
my status on the totem pole" mentality that dominated the emotional lives of
excited about carving out a wider individuality in which they can develop and
enjoy a more spacious and multifaceted sense of self. For those who continue to
pursue the more traditional masculine identity, there is no crisis, but rather
denial. They will work to keep those identities intact until something happens
in their personal or professional lives that profoundly challenges their sense
very much about choosing friends capable of a commitment to the person he could
"losers." It's a hard word, but there is truth there. They are losers because
the old identity is foreclosed to them while the new choices don't appear to be
accessible. And it is precisely for this reason that, however important their
stories may be, they do not provide a basis for generalizing about the state of
Times lead with the decision by Republican congressional leaders to
the partisan budget differences which have left the government operating under
leads with the government's announcement of new regulations for transplant
eliminate, as much as possible, the current disparities in recipient waiting
time from state to state and to maximize the chance for the sickest (but
administration's legislative proposal, sent to Congress yesterday, which would
steer Medicare beneficiaries towards preferred doctors and hospitals that have
agreed to offer discounted charge rates to the government and to reduce patient
fees correspondingly. The White House claim, says the paper, is that the
participating hospitals would not be financially hurt by the scheme because of
and doctors object, fearing that such a plan will favor low cost over high
whenever they have, they've gotten their heads handed to them. The big budget
issue, the two papers agree, is whether or not to tap into the current surplus
generated by Social Security taxes. The Post quotes experts who think
that any subsequent budget agreement will tap in, but via "enough budget
report released today by the Rand Corp., at the behest of the government, which
troops during the Gulf War may be the cause of the host of mysterious chronic
illnesses afflicting tens of thousands of Gulf veterans. The LAT and
"extraordinary service to the country at great personal sacrifice over the past
killed by a stray bomb from a Marine jet. The Times story notes in its
York Senate run and her sudden interest in naval aerial training
A surprising percentage of donated monies end up supporting national
administrative bureaucracies. The writer states that his own church, the United
This sum, he says, would enable the Salvation Army to provide two meals a day
Catholic chaplain about his political mission, the chaplain broke the news to
not to ask an applicant what religion his was, since "colleges are historical
answer and he said, "You're wrong. The legislature can do anything it wants to
do provided it isn't unconstitutional." He instructed me, in effect, not to
stress my own libertarian line, but simply to say I had no reason to suppose
Education Practices bill, which never did pass, would not likely have been
that there were no quotas. But there were quotas. Whether these were
quotas' that had the same net effect," and these "were not relaxed until the
What Chatterbox wants to know is: Why are we learning about this only now?
extensively about his own personal experiences; moreover, the first book
that, a mere two or three years before publishing this book, he himself had
encountered some evidence that systematic exclusion might still going on.
Yes, it's ironic, but predictable, that people express
ambivalence toward second or heritage languages: They attack languages such as
in New York are choosing to have their very young children begin the study of
indicates, does this mean, as the Times suggests, that they have come
to value multilingualism, or does it mean they are just being practical? And
language whose speakers maintain a great deal of language loyalty, that is, the
they maintain their social isolation from the mainstream. But once that
tend to spring up when cultural preservation is in danger, and their record of
the case); but they can't read it well or write it fluently, and their grasp of
its grammar may be weak, since they haven't actually studied it as a language.
use college language classrooms to try to recapture the heritage languages they
What interests me about these minority language and
English serves as an international language. Furthermore, living as we do in a
(largely) postcolonial world, we tend to recognize that each national variety
emphasize this fact. Yet within a community, group variation in standards still
revolutionary, postcolonial product, is seen as simply "the way things are"
language isn't capable of rendering the subtleties of math. Sometimes it seems
to me that every language except my own is capable of rendering those
mathematic subtleties, and my colleagues in math sometimes insist that the
subtleties of math cannot be rendered into English, or at least English that is
told me, when I asked her what she was working on, "I couldn't possibly put it
understands what she is up to on her grant applications. The math case may
the kind of thinking about language that pervades our society. How would you
and adaptable. But they also exist in contexts, and while these contexts don't
speakers exist in is one that does not bring them up against the differential
calculus, what follows? Low math scores, for one thing. But that's not the same
base his whole political career on crushing the messy process that is popular
culture and scapegoating people too weak to defend themselves.
As New Yorkers will recall, he launched his career by
going after homeless guys who spritz your windshield at intersections and
houses that have enjoyed continuous operation during the years that the mayor
has been after the squeegee men. Then he put all the accouterments of street
suburban mall. Last year he attacked taxi drivers with fines for
regulations designed to make their lives impossible. I drove a cab for years
kind of bully picks on guys who earn five bucks an hour?
shops are all but gone, nightclubs find it nearly impossible to function after
getting busted all the time, and now he's stopping the rent check to the
lines. Still, there's quite a bit of repetition there, too, which I think is
tapped out at 3,000-plus ideas, and they had the class to recognize that.
Moreover, the daily papers are constantly shrinking the space available for
comic strips, which means that it's impossible to stretch out artistically.
Fortunately, I don't read papers where he appears, but his work is trite,
appallingly apolitical, and graphically bereft of any character whatsoever.
Even worse, the guy never paid me for thinking up ideas, crosshatching,
apartment now. I need the cash for drawing lessons, man.
But the greatest conflict in cartooning is about which
is more important: Ideas or drawing. It helps when a creator enjoys both a muse
lucky to have one or the other. Editors, it seems, lean more to the graphics
great cartoons with lousy art. I have yet to find a great cartoonist with bad
or nonexistent ideas. In my case, I know that the art has always been my weak
point, which is why I developed a highly stylized drawing style (it also helps
and why I still take drawing lessons and study everything from old woodcuts to
either you have them or you don't, and there isn't much you can do about it
news: Doctors Without Borders won the cherished award.
Most analysts cite two reasons for the market's downturn: an unexpectedly
large increase in the product price index (generally a harbinger of inflation),
reserves. It is widely agreed that the Fed will raise interest rates when they
superstition: many investors are selling because they know that the market has
page article explaining the product price index, which measures inflation
to one analyst, creates a "stealth bear" market, where, despite a rosy overall
readers that it's misleading to judge a dip's severity by points rather than by
percentages. Then, without missing a beat, it breathlessly reports that this
Without Borders. The organization sends medical personnel to troubled areas
throughout the world. Rejecting the political neutrality of the Red Cross, the
group is often outspoken about the injustices its members see; the organization
which it attributes to his "unabashed devotion to political money." One of the
and thus prohibited from "coordinating" with candidates.
conglomerates, mercenaries, and other outside interests supplying arms, money,
and expertise to both sides. The ensuing clashes were particularly brutal,
the destruction. The warring factions signed a peace treaty this summer.
Corps is charging a commanding officer with negligence in a training death. An
investigation discovered that the officer marched his troops faster than was
recommended and ignored other safety procedures during a training exercise this
wandered off after the hike's end, and expired of a "heat illness." If
convicted, the officer could receive a dishonorable discharge and almost four
millions, this hero gave his life trying to protect the ones he loved, after a
lifetime devoted to fighting tyranny in all its guises. In a novel released
moon collides with a planet he was trying to save. The plot twist was approved
hour arrived, Chatterbox, having spent a pleasant evening 'round the hearth
news coverage of same, slipped entirely from Chatterbox's mind.
transcript of the broadcast but also to post the transcript, along with a streaming video of the segment, on the
saying, on camera: "There's nothing in the medical records that indicate that
long they spend on a story, a statistic that by itself means nothing) and was
products may be safe in some people, but not all people," and that side effects
such as heart palpitations and sleeplessness may be harbingers of "potentially
more dangerous side effects, such as increases in blood pressure and pulse,
that in turn may led to problems like heart attack and stroke."
"trying to suppress information regarding a potentially unsafe product."
interspersed throughout the manuscript, tricked Chatterbox into thinking,
honestly fair with you, I do not know what our Web site looks like.")
labeling "could be misleading" because it downplays the fact that it's been
wants to impose "strict limits on the daily dosage" of ephedrine, the key
unedited interview transcript) that "another government agency" (he means the
and real estate agent [this last strikes Chatterbox as a cheap shot] who, it
charge, using a telephone 'to facilitate a drug trafficking offense.' And got
doesn't say, as he said in the raw interview transcript, that the lesser
astonishing admission that until about a year ago the fellow who was "like a
So who wins Round Two? It depends on how you score it.
away with a more favorable view of the company than if they just watch
is whether Chatterbox (who could stand to lose a few pounds) will now ever be
called PULL. The author writes that he discovered this scandal only after his
book was in galleys, which is why the accusation is tacked on as an afterword
to what is otherwise a shoddy clip job with no fresh news.
Should we believe this story? I don't think so. The
asking us to trust him, he provides a multitude of reasons for thinking he
afterword's accuracy and the author's criminal record. Click here for more.)
that might make it possible to check the story. Among other things, he is
missing the name of the judge who supposedly let Bush off, the name of the
arresting officer, the police station, the date and circumstances of the
arrest. What he claims to have are three sources. Naturally, they're all
anonymous (making this a good example of the kind of story that wouldn't meet
the evidentiary standards of the cheesiest newspaper but that presents no
publisher's office, he told me that these sources are all old friends who have
contemporaneous, independent knowledge of the alleged arrest, but that none
would provide specifics for fear of being identified by Bush. Here's how he
adviser who had known the presidential candidate for several years."
confirm information in the book and spent three days bass fishing with him in
Bush supporters want to supply a hostile reporter with information that would
about his sources, he acknowledged that some of what he says about them in the
"I can't and won't give you any names, but I can confirm
uncovered a stale but nevertheless incriminating trail for an overly eager
reporter to follow," he said, pausing occasionally to spit tobacco juice into
Spitting tobacco juice into the Styrofoam cup is a nice
the phone, and said that he knew the source chewed tobacco because he had spent
time with him. But then he added: "I might have put that in to protect him. He
or created composite characters to protect his sources. His admission about
Or what, if anything, in the book isn't fictional. Anyone with a nose for cooked quotes should be able
same thing, and congratulating him on his genius in ferreting out this facts.
around to uncovering the truth," he replied, surprisingly unruffled by my
kid who got caught with a little snow and because of his family's connections
the way," he warned, speaking almost in a whisper. "Without sounding paranoid,
for his White House run in a matter of only a few months and his corporate
all this shit? It's the hypocrisy. Cocaine use is illegal, but as governor of
You can't prove that someone made up quotes from an
anonymous source, just as you can't prove you never got arrested and had the
bill. The anachronistic colloquial expressions ("bedding down," "a little
snow," "shit, man"), the insertion of gratuitous detail ("his TR-6 convertible
was already in galleys when the author made his "discovery."
The story reminds me, in fact, of another great episode
That scandal, you may remember, featured the elder Bush secretly flying not to
What the two fantasies have in common is that neither
can be either confirmed or proved definitively false. Reporters can't
"totally ridiculous" and "not true"), he can't prove that something never
In fact, we should credit the Bush campaign's denial.
friends, and so on. There's no way Bush could be sure that someone with actual
evidence wouldn't come forward. And while he might survive an admission of
story had any truth to it, Bush would be fatally compounding his problem by
Bush really is on an accelerated schedule. He already
So much stuff to respond to, my keyboard is shaking. Of course, that could
just be the horrifying turbulence on the plane. That and the fact that reading
political correctness. The fact is, black men in the South in the 1930s had a
about working twice as fast to go half as far. If Green Mile had any
bravery, it would have dealt with the fact that racial epithets were
offhandedly tossed off by what were considered the best of men during that
Mile 's fear of the real world is the real political
correctness: Every white guy in the movie is a warm, decent sort who regrets
any motion that's vaguely menacing. Every racist in the movie is a
If Hanks had been forced to deal with his own incipient racism, that would have
remind us of attitudes that still drift throughout this country. (I have a
cassette of censored cartoons from the era, and the racism in Coal Black and
One of my concerns about moving to New York is the open racism that still lives
in the city; the joke I used to make is the only reason black men date white
mystics that runs throughout King's work, and put that stuff in my
to wait until most actors think about collecting a pension to watch his career
start. It creates a core of tension in Freeman's work. (This residual anger can
revolutionaries with a thirst for payback. It was the first sense I got of a
treating women seriously has come from other countries. And I hate saying that,
of the basic errors of welfare coverage, an error that might be called the
only half the story." The other half includes those families who would
have gone on welfare under the old system, but who now "no longer even apply
for welfare." These latter families, you'd think, would tend to be more
successful in the marketplace than people who now spend some time on the rolls.
To really judge welfare reform, then, you have to look at what happens to
all families who would have been on welfare under the old system,
those who leave and those who never go on. Actually, you can't even stop there.
You have to look at what is happening to the overall society in which those
welfare for work and who still have big problems. From this he concludes that
welfare reform "may end up making less of a difference in the lives of the
poor, socially or economically, than much of the public imagined." But his
piece has very little evidence, and almost no statistical evidence, about what
lives of the poor, including "violent neighborhoods, absent fathers, bare
cupboards, epidemics of depression, the temptations of drugs." That's very
true. But are they getting better or worse? That is the issue, isn't it?
taking more of an interest in their children? Are there fewer kids born
without fathers present in the household? Are more mothers being beaten up by
their boyfriends? Are kids doing better in school? Is the culture of
depressed? Hungry? Overall, how has the texture of ghetto life changed? Welfare
reformers said it would be change for the better. Were they right?
Some of these things would not be difficult to report on; some would be very
try to come up with much. We learn a lot about the problems in the lives of the
individual anecdotes, they are all "leavers," people who were on welfare
cover line ("Welfare Reform's Victims"), the article contains more positive
news than negative. "Employment among single mothers has increased more than
almost anyone expected." Most single mothers are a little better off
economically, but a small minority at the bottom "seem to be a little worse
proportion of children born out of wedlock doesn't seem to have improved
the impact of reform on his clientele. The Journal Sentinel clip got
his tenants, who no longer receive guaranteed monthly welfare checks, are
offering "excuses" for missing the rent. "So far, haven't seen a big
be one of those kind interviewees who winds up telling reporters what they want
to hear. (And aren't there other bus drivers to talk to, like the two drivers
were actually stronger than Love's? What about local church leaders? Social
the work has failed to translate into economic progress." These families, he
doesn't give any figures on how much it's growing. When I checked a couple of
years ago, the shelter population had indeed increased, but only by a handful
of families. Is the problem now more severe? Are we talking about dozens of
after two decades of desperation and chronic dependence on welfare." She's
this year," she "struggles to simply keep food on the table" to feed her
recently "found a job, as a hotel maintenance man." Presumably he gets paid.
Lazar are doing at the Breakfast Table. I can only assure them that, in our
serious, luckily, and now he's tearing around the house like usual), so if this
were a real breakfast table, my conversation would not be rising very far above
occasional groans, grunts, and frantic gestures towards the coffee pot. This
opener?), one of the funniest things about it is that one of the surviving
But more seriously, you suggest we talk about the Millennium. What has
interested me, as a professional historian, about the media's coverage of the
subject so far, has been how relatively little attention has been paid to the
particularly given the enormous interest in history that is demonstrated by
things like the success of the History Channel (history as a living presence,
in the living room). All right, there were the special issues of the New
I suspect one reason is that a thousand years is just too long a period of
time. There is too much to consider. In one sense, the second millennium in
fact contains nearly everything we think of as "history," for even if we
would bet that all the extant written material from all human civilizations for
Magazine series never really worked, and tended to veer off into
interesting digressions at best, and postmodern silliness at worst.
The difficulty of even generalizing about such a long period is probably the
same reason we are seeing very few predictions about what life is going to be
right (and if some of your predictions involve the lengthening of the human
life span, and you hit the mark there, you may even still be around to see how
Another reason for the lack of attention, closer to my own concerns, is that
Western historians no longer have a simple story to tell about the history of
years ago, for most historians, and for the general public as well, the story
of the millennium was the story of the Triumph of the West. If you had taken a
figure of this triumph. But today, the picture is much more murky, the triumph
much more dubious. I suppose "political correctness" has some role in this loss
mood to discuss political correctness. And anyway, more fundamental than
political correctness is surely the fact that the West has not exactly
Westerners, given who their teachers were. And now the century is coming to an
respectable by any standard, but it's especially remarkable when you consider
I know, I know. These numbers are effectively gibberish, especially since I
could fill this column every day with stories about stocks making incredible
moves upward. So why does it matter or not matter whether in May the mention of
catapulted him into national attention and, in some sense, probably got him his
analysts to make audacious calls. Otherwise they won't even be noticed.
You can see the same phenomenon at work in analysts' estimates of things
that if you're an analyst and you cite that number, no one will notice you. So
The phenomenon of number creep is bad because we want analysts to reach
conclusions they think are true, and not conclusions that they think are going
the truth is that there still isn't enough accountability for these kinds of
forecasts to make the rewards and punishments for success and failure
commensurate. But the phenomenon is also bad because these kinds of calls have
trade as a result of them, at least if you're a trader.
According to a traditional definition of "information" about a stock (as in,
a stock's price reflects all the available information the market has about
probably: "Why are you just starting to cover this stock now?" But if we
broaden the definition of "information" to include everything that might affect
that stock's price, even in the short term, then the report has to be
considered new information, which means that it has to affect the stock price.
And that means that ignoring it is not necessarily rational, even if
forecast to be forgotten. In the long run, even in this stock market,
companies' stock prices will find their true level. But what has become
means that it will take longer for those true levels to be reached.
definitive, feel of "Apocalypse Soon," featuring as it did three different
columns arguing that the stock market was patently overvalued, that this
the economy as a whole even if, as seems certain it would, the Federal Reserve
were to step up and cut interest rates to keep liquidity in the system.
But what's interesting is that even if you set the question of overvaluation
correction is in the offing, it's really not clear that a major correction
would have such a dramatic impact on the economy as a whole.
It's not clear because the evidence for a causal relationship between a
booming stock market and a booming economy remains surprisingly scanty. For the
most part, it's accepted that there is such a thing as a "wealth effect,"
whereby some percentage of every dollar people make in the stock market is
turned into consumption. But the magnitude of that wealth effect has, at least
in the past, been shown (insofar as something like this can be shown) to be
relatively small, on the order of three to five cents in additional spending
per dollar. Over the past few years, as the economy has grown at a much faster
than anticipated rate and the stock market has also risen sharply, the media
and Wall Street seem to have assumed that the size of the wealth effect has
also increased, and that more of every dollar in market gain is being turned
into consumption (which in turn drives the economy). But that remains very much
effect on spending a study of the past couple of years showing that retail
spending and the stock market have risen quite briskly and seemingly in tandem.
But contiguity is not causality. There probably is a virtuous circle at work in
which the strength of the economy as a whole pushes up stock prices, the gains
from which are then put back to work in the economy. But drawing a strict
It's become easy to accept this argument, of course, because the stock
market has taken on such tremendous cultural prominence in the 1990s, and has
become, in fact, the key symbol of this decade's economic boom. But it is just
money in the stock market at all). Given what we know about the way people use
money into different kinds of accounts, rather than thinking about their money
spending lavishly because their 401Ks, which they know they won't be touching
This isn't to say that if the market were to swoon significantly the
young companies would rise and the use of stock options as compensation (which
has helped keep down wage pressure) would be limited. But it is to say that the
people with very little or nothing at all invested in the stock market, that
there is an apocalypse soon, something other than the stock market will have to
(although it fronts a picture of troops maintaining order there in the
aftermath) and goes instead with the New York state court ruling that the
requiring all oil companies to produce cleaner gasoline (via lowering sulfur
of the new rules as saying their impact on air quality will be the same as
international aid response is quoted by the paper saying, "You have areas where
the mud is more than one story deep and the bodies will never be recovered. The
under mud, there are bodies everywhere," while the LAT attributes this
paper explains, the store owners were clever back, often lining their shelves
with videos of cartoons, wrestling, and karate movies that were hardly ever
sold. Although the city called such practices, "sham compliance," the court has
which say nothing about the profitability or turnover of stock.
the same legal benefits and protections enjoyed by heterosexual married
breakthrough for advocates of gay marriage. The court left it up to the
legislature to decide whether this equal entitlement can best be achieved via
legalizing gay marriage or, alternatively, by codifying the rights and benefits
of domestic partners. The papers rough out how this decision could be not the
end but merely the beginning of a legal morass: If the legislature does proceed
and then return to their home states citing the privileges of marriage
few years (it would have been nice if the story specified exactly how many),
launching an advertising push on the Internet that could demonstrate the
ads pop up when a Web surfer arrives at one of a number of sites chosen for
then provide an interactive tax calculator to let the surfer answer the
assessment in the LAT of the LAT 's Staple Center mess. (Today's
found an instance of towering journalistic integrity in the whole episode: At
one point an LAT ad exec objected to the magazine's special issue's use
of the locution "the Staples Center," because the facility's owners do not use
the same "benefits and protections" as heterosexual married couples. Earlier
grant marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. Why the different results? And
clauses in their constitutions that guarantee all citizens the same treatment
under the law. (These clauses are similar to the equal protection provision of
for racial minorities, women, and other groups.) In both states, gay couples
protection: They argued that it blocked their access to the same rights and
obligations that heterosexual couples are granted through marriage, including
and shared parental and financial responsibilities.
marriage amounted to discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation.
Unless the state could demonstrate to lower courts that it had a valid interest
in denying gay marriages, continued discrimination would be unconstitutional. A
which seemed to pave the way for gay marriage. The state appealed, but before
Court had no choice but to throw out the gay couples' claims to marriage
Court determined that the legislature "was constitutionally required to extend
exempting marriage from the equal protection clause, although they could.) The
immediate because all the states recognize marriages performed in other states.
home, demand that their states recognize the unions. 
Anticipating this strategy, Congress passed the "Defense of Marriage Act" in
preemptive laws saying they would not accept gay marriages from other
The courts will have to decide whether these laws are constitutional. The
public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other state." The
Supreme Court has held that this "full faith and credit" provision covers
if you moved to a new state.  If the Supreme Court extends the provision to
category of domestic partnership that provides precisely the same state
protections and benefits as marriage. But this domestic partnership would not
necessarily yield rights for gay couples from other states or from the federal
government. Many federal benefits and responsibilities depend on the "marriage"
classification, which has a privileged constitutional status that domestic
partnership does not. Marriage is considered so fundamental a right, in fact,
Although the wording of constitutional equal protection clauses varies from
often look to courts in other states for guidance on how to rule in similar
legislature's course of action, gay rights advocates will use the ruling in
Explainer thanks many Slate readers for suggesting this
York Times lead summarizes a report documenting mistakes in Veterans
takes responsibility for violating the hallowed "separation of church and
these cases resulted in the patient's death. The study, the first of its kind
probably no lower in other hospital systems. The National Academy of Sciences,
which recently called for similar studies in hospitals nationwide, reported
That's higher than the number of people who die annually on highways or from
watching with increasing vigilance potential New Year's Eve hot spots. The
suggests the story might be about Customs Service preparations against future
Laden. The equipment confiscated by customs officials seems to match that used
investigators have helped pin down at home and abroad people suspected of
plotting violence over New Year's. An aside halfway through the piece likens
how low Web "retailers" will go in the name of establishing a loyal customer
pursuing tactics that "would be, in any normal business, ruinous"
Times es see the election as an "unofficial Presidential primary"
administration is debating whether it is worse to give loans to an operation
generally thought to be shady, or risk jeopardize already strained relations
with the Kremlin. Isn't this thinking similar to the logic faulted in a number
something worse around the corner persuades the administration to live with
the LAT 's publisher and editor, explain that the paper shared with
after Downing asked forgiveness from an irate staff. Tomorrow, the paper will
Below their note the paper runs its statement of principles: "Our mission is to
provide the news, information, analysis and commentary [readers] need to lead
successful lives and to be effective citizens in a democracy."
In their two televised debates this weekend, the Democratic candidates both
showed substantial improvement since their previous
still hyperactive, he seemed much less desperate and hysterical than in the
an effort to seize the offensive on health care, asking Gore repeatedly, "Who
would you leave out?" In response, Gore just kept repeating his ineffectual and
inaccurate answer that his plan would leave no one out.
But it was during the much feistier encounter on Meet The Press
finally came into his own. He performed a sort of political jujitsu I have
never really seen from him before, waiting for Gore to charge at him, and then
they both agree to a moratorium on 30-second ads and that they debate twice a
this offer right now. If you will agree, I will stop running all television and
radio commercials until this nomination is decided. That can get a lot of the
money out of the presidential campaign and accomplish one of the best reforms.
ridiculous proposal. You know, the way you communicate with people is
of all these television and radio commercials. Why not do that?
months that I was running for president you ignored me. You pretended I didn't
exist. Suddenly I start to do better and you want to debate every day. It's
Look, we could call this the Meet The Press agreement. We could have
two debates every single week and get rid of all the television and radio
responded by snipping off the huckster's polyester necktie, saying in effect,
disdainfully critiqued and dismissed his whole approach to politics. 
both candidates tried to rule out the option of raising the retirement age.
itself discussed this option. Gore responded that he hadn't ever discussed
is that at the same time you criticize me for wanting discussion in the United
accompanying hand gesture, undoubtedly unconscious but perilously close to the
universal symbol for "pull it a little harder." Throughout the entire debate,
box that Gore has tried to put him in. He has figured out a way to defend
At various points in the broadcast, you could hear Gore chuckling and
hand, came across as straightforward and real, his authenticity underscored by
lead with the speedy trial, conviction, and sentencing of four leaders of the
passengers during the day yesterday and persuaded the hijackers to release a
government's intolerance for members of its ruling party who belong to the
organization: All four accused were in the Communist Party, the Post
ministry official who helped organize the group's 10,000-person silent
group, who was charged as an accomplice. The four were officially accused of
using the organization to undermine law, contributing to the deaths of some
dispersing information about the state's crackdown on the group.
whom or what it is unclear. Authorities conducted about a million background
percent a year in recent memory. "Loopholes in the travel ban wide enough to
sail a cruise ship through," not to mention the attraction of taboo, encourage
news sites, which now "include speedy, professional crafting of original
does the article's own Web version compare with this description? There's no
Pew Charitable Trust seminars, doesn't it? But I don't really buy it. To these
newspapers up against the newspapers of any era you can name.
scrutinized. Just look at the list of media critics listed in the right gutter
of interest or press indiscretion that goes unexamined these days.
While it's true that newspaper audiences are shrinking, that decline has
Journalists For? The newspaper audience and the number of daily newspapers
have been steadily shrinking since the advent of radio in the 1920s, and every
newspapers that folded were rotten and deserved to die, a sentiment that many
these days, it might have to do with the fact that it isn't paying attention to
At the same time, I believe that the appetite for serious journalism has
grown. The best marker of this trend is the popularity of national daily
newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York
Democrats running for president, whose political differences can be measured
Let me toss one more idea on the fire as I walk out the door: The notion
that journalists have "lost touch with their communities" is utter bunk. It's
been at least a generation since the majority of the newspaper audience hailed
were their mothers, fathers, and grandparents. And one of the institutions that
Hey, seeing as we both punched our tickets at alternative weeklies, you at
Chatterbox's request that readers submit nominations for the First Annual
against the printing press, a technology whose usefulness is now being
which (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) is French for "to click,"
refers to the "striking of melted lead in order to obtain a proof or cast."
That is, it describes a process of  printmaking in which a metal plate is cast
from something else (a woodcut, a plaster mold) and then used to make copies.
pejorative meaning. Of course, Web aficionados should take care not to be
expanded it. Indeed, it's quite possible that in the next century the terms
unfeeling simply because they're manufactured rather than born." In the
Although some readers submitted citations along with their entries, per
Chatterbox's request, most did not. Also, readers' methods for counting
some used Yahoo, and so on. In the end, Chatterbox took the advice of reader
any other word or phrase nominated (at least among the ones Chatterbox bothered
to check). "Inappropriate" easily outstripped "evil," a word that appeared in
moral relativism take note-- it still lagged behind "wrong," which appeared in
senators); lots of arts funded by the National Endowment for the Arts
a House resolution endorsed by just about everybody that apparently came out of
It must be said, however, that the rate at which Congress is deeming things
Chatterbox had thought it old hat (it dates back at least to the Bush
in its frequency of appearance over the previous congressional session, when
rate, Chatterbox hadn't previously been aware of its overuse.  Like "at the end
previous congressional session. According to John Burke, who submitted
condemned to write about legislation and policy making. You know, everything
has to be robust now: a robust foreign policy, a robust national defense, a
policy, a robust investigation of abuses.  Most political activities are
Many excellent nominations failed to garner as many CR citations as Chatterbox expected. These
hand"). These are all comers, in Chatterbox's view.
Sixth Sense is every bit as ambitious and provocative, and in some ways
trick so much as the solution to a problem the film has been posing all along.
fragments to a new level of clarity. I may be jumping to conclusions based on
me as philosophically rather complicated, and possibly in dialogue with some
point. On the other hand, I don't think this was just pandering. Death is
a blockbuster, is that death is inevitable, and not an enemy.
these days is quick. Even since he wrote that piece a few months ago, Being
movies which taken together suggest that breaking through to the real is
old. In fact, the best films this year no longer placed much stock in reality
Three Kings where a body ceased to be a person and became the pathway
for a bullet and a haven for microbes and disease.) They explored the problem
explored the problem of a soul attempting to will its wishes into being, even
has been restocking its supplies of prohibited weapons; the LAT lists these
as chemical and biological arms and components of atomic bombs. All papers
Council abstained from voting, which might weaken the council's position and
permanent members that supported the measure. Except for the LAT story,
uglier, as a federal appeals court resurrected plans to replace the
to provide health care coverage for as many as one million uninsured New
over the next three and a half years, to expand coverage. Passage of related
legislation, to be introduced possibly next week, is highly likely.
indicating that the two Democratic hopefuls discussed anything else: It reports
was a contentious issue, said the two candidates "agreed more than they
reach enough currently uninsured people. The LAT has the
insufficient commitment to federal action on education. None of the papers have
poll statistics related to how any of these issues rank on voters' list of
emissions of nitrous oxides that contribute to Eastern seaboard smog at the
request of Eastern states who asked for help meeting national smog standards.
but that costs to consumers are still expected to decline "because of
to consumers might be. Some executives and officials in the targeted states are
This was serious." The LAT also mentions the possible connection, though both
Laden and credits an anonymous government official with the quote, "There's
says government officials are worried that the man could be part of an
on those who didn't serve. He's walking, talking absolution for the rest of us.
Times lead with the heightening of security measures in the wake of
will have powerful new competitors who already have service relationships with
intensifying concern occurring across the full spectrum of the federal
adequate identification, and later a false French passport was found in his
residue of explosives there. The paper gives over half its lead to this arrest,
established committees that channel large contributions to several Senate
campaigns in a way that circumvents limits on contributions to individual
legal" because, despite being incorporated and administered by national party
organizations, they create only an informal tie between the donor or the
national party on the one hand and the individual candidate on the other
(whereas a formal tie would be illegal, given the amounts involved). And yes,
tune of "several hundred thousand dollars." Gripe: Although the story makes it
clear that the Republicans have established victory funds as well, the headline
box, although in the summary there, the reader is spared any reference to the
nuclear secrets, often detailing suspicious behavior of Lee, puts this one
critique of the principal government document making the case against Lee and
schools on military bases: Although their student bodies are more racially
diverse and poorer than those in general society, their test scores are very
story suggests is partially responsible: The military commands tend to support
the teachers in disciplinary wrangles with students and their parents.
antitrust trial judge's finding of facts. The paper says that one hastily filed
Today leads with a report that because of the general reluctance to fly
flags its story reporting that in part because of the major airlines' lower
paper says he decided to enlist in the Army primarily because he didn't want to
preserve his own political viability. The story reveals Gore turned down a
personnel decisions made at the Department of Defense, concludes that the
Pentagon regularly grants security clearances to civilian employees of defense
financial irresponsibility or substance abuse. Recent grantees include, says
the paper, a convicted murderer, a man convicted of sex offenses against a
The story says that even though many of these local small shops have been
city's planned gala millennium celebration. The main reasons cited: the city's
man trying to smuggle in materials for large bombs.
hand out cards to crime victims and witnesses advising them that they have the
thinking? Of all the sex options open to a president, this was a helluva
pick. This, I realize, is not exactly a stunning insight, but since the Jenny
but feel pity for the gal. She's got a bazillion dollars in legal bills thanks
to the Scarlet Letter Special Counsel, and she has to do this humiliating
she said that this was the most tasteful of the offers she got.) By the way, my
favorite line from the scandal, which I think reduces the whole thing to one
reports that they're going to cut a deal in which the father comes here and
picks the kid up. I fear this whole thing will get even more bizarre. Won't
where he belongs. Did the father have any real role in the kid's life? What
that the other one is a mere tinkerer and not bold enough. Neither guy is
When I read a sentence about Tom Hanks like "Wherever he goes, a treacly,
add the words "white guy" to the sentence. That's the one part he can't help.
don't like because as scripts they embody treacly triumphalism?
reflect their values, because we must have our own, but to understand them.
Most of the ideological criticisms of The Green Mile are by and for
sophisticated and subtle observers, writing for one another. The average
or herself subtly more complex, humane, and liberal after seeing that film than
before. It is reductive and stereotyped to a media cineaste, but perhaps the
best and most evolved movie that many of its viewers will see all year.
I agree with you, by the way, in feeling fed up to here with movies about
men being on the ropes. The most offensive example of that trend, of course,
the poverty was almost inconceivable to me, I now have even less sympathy for
pathetic preppies who have to beat up each other to feel authentic. I am
generation needed Fight Club because they have been denied a war like
suggested taking the keys to the treasury away from the apparatchiks before the
dignity. I beg to differ: Her dignity could be damaged only by doing
New York Post 's reporting of the National Enquirer 's reporting is
everyone knows what they look like. Timing, gals, is everything. This is the
back: If a woman from Mademoiselle magazine wants to be taken seriously
hijacking, but few explain the dispute. What's the gist of the conflict?
responded by sending more armed forces to the region. The rebels expanded, too,
the United States and is one of the most violent and extreme rebel groups. In
mentioned that most movies these days take place in real time. Maybe that's why
I liked the animated stuff so much. I didn't suffer booty fatigue or gluteal
resolute quality to all of this cinematic sprawl that hurts filmmakers. The
But the painstaking build to this payoff has people fleeing the theater in a
blind rage. It opens with a shot of an usher carefully checking a theater seat
in the corner of the frame. And sure enough, we see the usher go across the
I don't think it's a critic's job to tell filmmakers how to do theirs. (Though
a recent New York Observer quoted a former boss of mine whining that I
directors marks in citizenship and playing well with others. And he wonders why
issue, instead of making a movie about racism they may have made a racist
I hate to end my correspondence on an up note, but I had a better time at
movies this year than I have in years. The girl who plays the younger sister in
There are shards of movies that stick with me. The first half of
doggie paddle he does before revealing himself is more unsettling than any of
More Selective Than You Think"). In any case, even though all we're going
Dow, the best rule to follow is just to assume that all those explanations will
reason and continue for different reasons, they can reflect genuine changes in
moves are, almost by definition, impossible to parse successfully.
couple of interesting things to note about what happened today. The first is
the resurgence of the idea that rising interest rates actually do matter to
in the short term, you can no longer separate the event from the media's
the contrary, thanks to the spread of the Internet and the rise to prominence
as they are trying to make those decisions. In other words, what the media is
saying becomes part of the information that is influencing how stock prices are
about before, is the ability of its collective, but decentralized,
conclusions any single member of the market could reach, which offers some
evidence for this. That's why markets are better at allocating capital and
setting prices than any planning board ever could be. The problem is that most
make better decisions when each member of the group reaches his or her decision
independently of everyone else. In other words, it's not through an open debate
or an attempt to reach a consensus that the best conclusion is reached. It's
only through the aggregation of independent individual conclusions that it
how "traders" are feeling, it becomes much harder for investors to reach an
independent decision about the only question they should actually be
considering: What are these stocks actually worth? This is, again, a
Over Stock Splits"). The signal is material information about companies'
future earnings prospects, about interest rates, and about inflation. Noise is
In the long run, hard as it may be to believe, this does not matter. (Which
is one reason why bubble talk is overblown.) But in the short run, it's a
recipe for increased volatility. So huge price swings are probably with us to
stay. Yet another good reason not to adopt a trader's mentality.
The promise of the Internet, from a business perspective, is the promise of
a frictionless economy, in which buyers and sellers are able to meet without
mediation. And since perhaps the most disliked mediators out there are car
dealers, they would seem to be natural and inevitable casualties of consumers'
migration to the Internet. Very few people like bargaining with car dealers.
cars. And the whole phenomenon of the huge dealership, with acres of cars, each
depreciating by the minute, seems like an archaic way of handling distribution
(and, since someone has to make all those cars, production).
already working hard at integrating the Internet into their operations and
communicate directly with Ford, pick out the car you want with the options you
want, and have it delivered to your door, just like a Dell PC. Ford won't have
to make cars it's not going to be able to sell, and you won't have to haggle
with some dealer. (This was what I was imagining at the end of the last
Moneybox, when I wrote about GM truly becoming an Internet company.)
The only problem with this picture of the future is that it's currently
against the law. Just about every state in the United States, in fact, has
strong franchise laws that limit the size and scope of dealerships, effectively
prevent dealers from selling across state lines. Needless to say, actually
buying a car on the Internet is therefore impossible, which is why all the
In essence, local car dealers have been able to create and maintain
geographic oligopolies through the use of franchise laws. That's one reason why
was barred from getting volume discounts from its suppliers, it would hardly be
a powerhouse retailer. Economics of scale come into play only if things get
cheaper the bigger you get. Otherwise you've just got more overhead.
But while the demise of the car superstore should probably be lamented, the
really nefarious impact of the state franchise laws is unquestionably on the
about vertical integration, so that they served the function of keeping the
keep a tight grip on the tax revenue from auto sales. But they are almost
textbook examples of bad regulation, which accomplish nothing but putting lots
Even if Congress, say, were to pass a law permitting the direct sale of
it was afraid that would lead to direct sales, which would alienate dealers
(and break the law). And it's plausible that a car is such a big purchase that
many people are going to be uncomfortable buying one online, sight unseen. But
as an alternative, one can easily imagine something like what Gateway does now
immediately online. There will, of course, be auto manufacturers that even a
decade from now are still working through the traditional dealer system. But if
you look at the PC industry, and the difference between the success of
Of course, first all those laws have to be changed.
saying much the same thing about campaign finance reform. Both see the present
said before: that reform is required in order to "give the government of this
described big money a "plague," an acid "eating away at the core of our
democracy" and as "a great stone wall that comes between the people and their
taped before their "handshake," they both support an outright ban on soft
of their differences are subtle ones grounded in their respective political
money works primarily to prevent the government from passing useful new laws,
unnecessary programs and prevents it from cutting ones it should get rid
Other distinctions visible today point up temperamental differences between
money that he has promised not to accept it should he become the nominee no
categorical about his moral indictment, saying at the press conference
politics, himself included. Money, he said, buys access, and "access is
actually have big disagreements that they didn't illuminate today. Basically it
overhauled. To do this, he thinks, will require not only banning soft money and
politics is similar to the ants in your kitchen," he writes. "Just when you
think you've got them blocked, they find another way to get in. Only
hermetically sealing the kitchen off will work." We need to amend the
Constitution and provide full public financing, he writes, because "anything
to eliminate the influence of private money from politics, or that doing so
enormous contributions by corporations, labor unions, and wealthy individuals.
And he hopes to level the playing field for challengers and incumbents by
financing for congressional campaigns and doesn't think it's necessary to amend
this complex problem and make it into a major issue in the campaign. But I
and for all is understandable, but his approach is dangerous. Amending the
Constitution should always be a last resort. And in this case, the alternatives
is severe enough to warrant tinkering with the Bill of Rights. And in practical
problem. Political reform in this country has never taken the form of systemic
process, one in which rising expectations and public outrage lead to
of campaign finance reform is so similar to that of tax reform, which was his
lobbyists opened loopholes. The loopholes expanded, and eventually got to the
point where a fresh set of reforms was needed. Just like campaign finance
and the Revelation of Saint John, anything else is going to be a bit of an
family, and maybe even the Breakfast Table, not with a last word, but with a
forward his famous thesis about how we were at the End of History, only to see
History seem to resume with a vengeance, as you put it the other day. But he
was obviously onto something. I would call it the end of revolution. It was
that is, the idea that society, and perhaps even human nature, could be rapidly
altered and improved through concerted political action. It has its origin, as
civil society," he wrote, "produces a remarkable change in man; it puts justice
as a rule of conduct in the place of instinct, and gives his actions the moral
quality they previously lacked." Here, in these remarkable words, is the seed
of modern radical politics, the promise that brute human nature and selfish
instinct can be overcome, given the proper political system. The French
Revolutionaries believed in it, and talked of the "new man" (nu?). So did the
This promise, that people can be suddenly and purposefully redeemed and
lifted above their sinful natures, is a profoundly Christian one. And it is no
accident that the idea of revolution arose at a moment when the terrible fires
largely concluded that forcibly imposing possible Christian salvation on
doctrinal enemies was not worth the enormous cost in blood and toil that two
centuries of religious warfare had taken (the Thirty Years' War alone reduced
purely terrestrial one. There would still be Final Things, and a direction to
But now, after two centuries that have seen far greater suffering than the
human nature, or even suddenly and drastically to improve society. In that
But will new enthusiasms arise once again, and if so, from where? Will there
be new promises of liberation, human fulfillment, and Final Things? Or are we,
to change jobs. Gore wants to attract bright and talented people in both
them isn't the insufficient pay, the low social status, or the emotionally
taxing work. It's the teachers' unions, which maintain powerful barriers to
entry in the form of certification requirements. This means that if you're a
who wants to teach in a public school, you can't do so without obtaining
credits in education. And because education courses are a colossal waste of
time, many people who would make wonderful teachers never get the
odd in any case. If Gore really wants to attract more talented people to
careers in teaching, he needs to do two things he's not doing. He needs to
appeal to the idealism of those he wants to recruit by telling them that they
can make more money elsewhere but that they can do more for society by becoming
teachers. And he needs to prevent his allies in the teachers' unions from
continuing to serve as gatekeepers to the profession.
good teacher shouldn't be paid less than a bad senator. But his plan for
rewarding good teachers is wackier than Gore's and much more foolish. According
Merit pay, like alternate certification, is a sound idea that has been
blocked by the teachers' unions, which instead want more pay for everybody. But
that's awful for so many reasons one almost doesn't know where to begin
criticizing it. The biggest problem is that once you start trying to shape
teachers but not social workers? Why social workers but not nurses? Why nurses
and not police? And indeed, why teachers at public schools and not teachers at
entirely new form of favoritism for special interests to pursue.
Here's my worry with your [campaign reform] plan: It's going to
hurt the Republican party, John. The Democratic Party is really the Democratic
about what's called "paycheck protection." We do nothing about saying to labor,
you can't take a laboring man's money and spend it in the way you see
As Bush made clearer than, perhaps, he meant to, his primary concern about
political spending by unions isn't that it rips off union members; it's that it
usually goes to Democrats. But let's assume Bush had made a principled argument
rather than a partisan one: Is it wrong for unions to spend union dues on
politics without first getting the consent of each member?
course not. "What people don't understand in this country," he explained, is
that "unions exist for political action." When workers can't get
benefits from their bosses, he said, they try to get them from Congress. Social
Security, for example, was "collectively bargained at the national level." The
alike. You might call it paycheck protection in reverse. (To read a
But what if a union member happens to be a Republican, and doesn't
like seeing his dues spent to help elect Democrats or to expand government?
ruled that union members could demand a refund when their dues were used for
political purposes against their wishes. But the decision didn't make it easy
in any practical sense for union members to get their money back, and the
National Labor Relations Board dragged its heels for several years on the
matter. In practice, usually the only way a union member could really get his
union to stop using his dues for political purposes was by quitting the
election, because labor's unexpectedly strong clout scared Republicans to
death. Now some form of paycheck protection has been adopted in five
It's instructive to examine one reason why paycheck protection failed in
sponsor a similar measure requiring corporations to get
with the corporate community to lie low. Conservatives, naturally, have tried
to argue that stockholders don't merit the same rights bestowed on
much more conservatives care about working people than they do about Wall
Street speculators?) Here is John Fund of the Wall Street Journal 's
Opponents of Paycheck Protection argue that it is not balanced unless
stockholders are also given the right to vote on whether or not a corporation
can make political expenditures. Once again, the Supreme Court has spoken
'compelled' to contribute anything. The shareholder invests in a corporation of
his own volition and is free to withdraw his investment at any time and for any
reason." In most of the country, workers can be required to join a union or pay
But the point isn't whether people who own stocks live more comfortable and
independent lives than people who belong to unions; clearly, they do. The point
is whether the same inconvenient principles of direct democracy that are used
not by the Supreme Court, then by the legislative branch, which (rightly) has a
bit more leeway to decide how to achieve social justice.
for Tax Reform, a conservative group that's pushing paycheck protection
decision, and wouldn't put much more burden on unions to prove they've got
that purported to require unions and corporations to get members
and stockholders to sign off on political spending. But corporations
enjoyed a huge loophole: The stockholders had to do so only if they were
assessed special "dues or fees." (If the loophole hadn't been there, you can be
The amendment failed, as did the overall bill; and when the bill came up for a
vote again this year, no similar amendment was offered. This suggests that
paycheck protection will likely live on more as a rhetorical excuse for
Republican opponents of campaign reform than as an actual cause.
for ideal moviegoers like herself. She wouldn't praise a film she found
offensively treacly or that trafficked in positive stereotypes because
To Kill a Mockingbird that arguably have done humanity good,
especially if they've been seen by kids at an impressionable age. (The words
fun of some seeming weirdo on the block.) She could be a gleeful provocateur,
"the damned, compact majority." And she loved to throw her own disciples off
balance by praising both the rare piece of populist entertainment she thought
audience you've built for film criticism, you've saddled yourself with what
seem like political responsibilities. I don't mean to suggest that your
response to The Green Mile (or that damn Jar picture) isn't
the unsophisticated moviegoer who will be better off seeing a movie in which a
black man is a mystical healer wrongly executed than one in which a black man
is, say, a drug pusher gorily dispatched by some action hero. You might be
right, but you're grading on a different curve than I am.
capable of responding to works of complexity as I am. Maybe A Taste of
Cherry --although I was scratching my head over that one for a long time.
Green Mile and be moved and impressed by parts of it (as I
was) and still be able to say, when it's over: "There's something really creepy
symbolic enthrallment of the planet from east to west and mercifully, the sheer
wonder now if most of the spending was ever really necessary. The LAT
So taken are the papers with millennial matters and the other pressing
stories, that none makes room on their front for the news that all the major
after the presidential elections that must take place within three months.
transition ceremony that centered on the handover of the suitcase that is used
The other big story, which everybody fronts, is the peaceful resolution of
There is some surprisingly wonderful stuff in the millennial coverage. The
getting "belted" twice in a minute by a reveler and then hit again by another.
Of course, in Times speak this means the reporter writing the story. The
The mistake, the Times tells us, was discovered yesterday. By a
wounds and that the man who inflicted them was charged with attempted murder
There's no sign yet of what the papers are going to call the decade just
writer to the Times proposes another idea that merits consideration:
greatly enhanced by an accurate record of boldly optimistic financial forecasts
through the 1990s. (Never mind that he wrongly predicted a recession following
financial press and appeared regularly on the tube predicting that computer
recession" to a "very intense recession" of six months that would bring the Dow
to have gone as badly as he'd planned. If a few additional days go by and no
again? Computer experts can argue they raised awareness and thereby
prevented problems, but financial experts can't; they just predict
you already know, just kind of regurgitate the consensus view.
Chatterbox doesn't mean to kick a prominent Wall Street analyst when he's
down. Rather, he recites these details to raise a larger question: Do purveyors
of extreme predictions ever pay a price when their predictions prove wrong?
protagonist's artistry? Better than a mute, I might add: She is a mute who does
Yes, we can all agree, Roger demonstrates unparalleled "consideration for
readers" and "habitual fairness." Roger, you have evolved into the conscience
You treat The Green Mile as if it's a humanist milestone on the order of
since Mockingbird 's Great White Father and that shambling, saintly black
violently at odds with reality that it threatens to do more harm than good?
me. I could broadcast my views over the PA system and no one would much care,
whereas word of your likes or dislikes would promptly make its way through the
what I think after most movies not because I want to tantalize people but
because I reserve the right to change my mind in the course of writing a
celebrating. But there have still been a ton of great female
plays a woman who's a, well, tumbleweed who gravitates to men she shouldn't
suppose you'd say these are soft roles, victims' roles, but both actresses give
mothers and caregivers should behave. She can't forgive herself for a tragic
doesn't modulate her craziness enough. But by the end, the performance makes
sense: It's as if she's scything her way home through a thicket of her own
As for Hanks, let me say that I think he's still a wonderful actor but am
sorry that such a heavy spirit has descended upon him. He was once the
other goofball. A few weeks back I was reminiscing about the old Hanks with
At the end of this series, and of the century, is the Millennium. It can
either be prosaic or dramatic. If it is just the spasm of sex or the
drunkenness of drink, and then the drab morning after, there is no meaning to
whir of the airplanes, the lights in all the houses go out, because we have
emerge, and the computers will go whirring on endlessly. But what if beyond the
The curtain rises. We call it eschatology --the transforming moment,
the end of days. That has been one of the most enduring and powerful themes in
We see it first in the frightening pages of the Book of Revelation, the last
pages of the New Testament. The trumpets sound. The seven seals are broken. The
beasts come up from the seas. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse begin their
grim ride, the last being the pale horse and pale rider, Death, with a mantle
dyed in blood. And behind it the word of God. (As the fundamentalist preacher
thundered: In the fiery furnaces of Hell, there is wailing and gnashing of
teeth. But I don't have any teeth, cried an old man. Teeth will be provided,
the preacher answered.) And, then, a new heaven and a new earth. The new
the Son, and the age of the Holy Spirit, a new age of spirituality in which the
church hierarchy would be abolished and the infidels brought back into the
Poetry also came into eschatology in the movies, as many persons found a
burning gold/ Bring me my Arrows of Desire!/ Bring me my Spear! O clouds
unfold!/ Bring me my Chariot of fire!" And ending, of course, that he will not
new political eschatology, the "leap," as he said, from "the Kingdom of
Necessity to the Kingdom of Freedom." The drama is spelled out in that
capitalism, and the sharpening knives of the class struggle, the end of days
capitalist "integument" bursts asunder, and the new society, nurtured in the
womb of the old, steps forth as social labor, cooperative labor, communal
to the Soviet Union and marveled: I have seen the future, and it works. It was
detritus, one could find a scrawled phrase by a character in an earlier novel
the new technology (nu, nu), all insured by comprehensive health
insurance with prescription drugs, spectacles, and false teeth for the aged (as
But, hey, where is the millennium? Oh. That. That was the spasm of sex and
the drunkenness of drink. That was the night before. And this is the morning
during World War II (he was separated from his parents and traveled alone
Have you noticed people in the news with confusingly similar names? Send
for businessmen who want to lie, cheat, and scheme their way to the top. (The
and you realize that the cheerfully successful king bears little resemblance to
sacrifice his own life for the pleasure of destroying thousands of other
lives." At worst, he was a cold and cunning strategist without a glimmer of
moral doubt, a man as happy to humiliate his friends, even execute them, as he
keeps the company of a band of merry thieves led by the obese drunkard
of play; he also teaches him a commoner's skepticism of power and its
however, he pretends not to know his old and embarrassing mentor:
hostile takeover; simply having the means to do so will suffice. Why does
church officials offer to underwrite an invasion as a bribe to keep Henry from
bishops several times to give him a clear justification for the invasion, which
will necessarily entail the deaths of thousands of men. The bishops give him
again, confused: "May I with right and conscience make this claim?" More
incomprehensible replies ensue. The scene ends without good reasons having ever
been offered, after which he goes ahead and invades anyway.
receives the maximum punishment in order to make an example of him. Just
pardon the poor fool, Henry has him killed in order to show the French that his
history offers any justification for this gross violation of the laws of war:
"Was there, as it was later claimed, some sudden movement on the part of French
cavalry which lead Henry to fear an attack from the rear? It is possible,
relatives he has just laid waste to, Henry, having never met the girl, calls
her an angel and claims to be in love with her. When, reasonably enough, she
No; it is not possible you should love the enemy of
I will not part with a village of it; I will have it
interesting, morally questionable dramatizations of the effects of power?
probably pushed the story off the Post 's front page). As proof of this
prior scheduling, the Post notes that the engravings on the souvenir
minister" but not "president." With not much else to report about the
presidential visit, the three stories wander in different directions: The
announcement and analyzes the legality of his immunity deal; the LAT
Right?" The answer: Good preparation in the developed world and a low reliance
argue this. However, the LAT does lay out some plausible reasons why
imperative to simply upgrade software rather than fix it. The only major
"Style" section to the lighter side of millennial madness. There is an
begins, "We realize that you are almost certainly reading
blaming the city's lack of a geographic center, of signature iconography, and
without runway lights and with only a minute and a half of fuel left. Although
the hijackers slit the throat of one passenger in private, they did not
disclose this murder to the other passengers, who at times joked and conversed
every passenger would be shot. One hijacker, who called himself "Burger,"
ordered all passengers to say they had forgiven him.
juvenile delinquents. Launched in the early '90s with much fanfare, these
are routinely beaten and suffer recidivism rates higher than those of juveniles
Question: Why does the Times repeatedly call the man a "mass murderer"
when he has yet to be tried? Are accusations against a defendant qualified with
words like "allegedly" only when the crime is prosecuted in the United
poached from that renowned repository of writing talent,
companies started laying telegraph cables beneath the ocean, blasting railroad
tunnels through mountains, and linking the seas with canals. A combination of
jingoism among political elites and insularity among the business elites who
against free trade and global communications. "The big economic question for
is really political: Can the Second Global Economy build a constituency that
COLORADO SPRINGS, Dec. 31--The new decade arrived well before dawn here
First things first: What's a "snow day"? Yes, I did spend all my life in
which, my television viewing (aided by a big satellite dish that allows me to
by a country mile. I still don't understand all those dancers in diaphanous
approximations of no national costume that cavorted through Times Square all
it may just have been investors' reaction to the tech industry's
magazine on the opening of the new arena and split the magazine's profits with
These were people who paid good money to get special commemorative editions of
supposed to keep you from getting promoted to the next grade. Also, at the
bottom of the front page of the special section: "We regret any typographical
errors." So don't ask for your money back if they misprinted your name.
new arena. You'd think the Times could get them to pay at least a
Idealism sweet as ether boils off the pages of the book that we've been
For readers arriving late to the debate over public journalism, we should
intentions and cracked premises, that it melts at first touch.
nation's cynical politics, our public alienation, our adversarial culture, as
crime? We reporters and editors have failed to promote and enhance "democracy"
or writing the first draft of history. Instead of hiding behind objective
reporting, journalists should foster "conversation" and "dialogue" in the
community to empower citizens in the democratic process. In the past decade,
"Approach citizens as potential participants in public affairs, rather than
"Help the political community act upon, rather than just learn about, its
"Help make public life go well, so that it earns its claim on our
Wicked mush, don't you think? For one thing, a story wouldn't necessarily be
idea that a declining interest in the news can be linked to journalism as
The pundits are excited by the close presidential races, especially in the
Bush's clip, has increased substantially. Moreover, his lead in the New
the early primaries, the party establishment will never let such a maverick
their party's nominations, independent voters (that is, those not affiliated
with a single party) would have to become decisive, which is very unlikely in
Many panelists and guests muse on what the 21st century will bring. On
the globalization of society will render ideological differences obsolete in
television essay on culture and politics, pokes fun this week at the fatuous
signs off, there is a moment for station identification. That's right, the
this century: too much government. And the hope of the next century is that
the world. And the idea that government is [not responsible for] the social
that he will welcome me. But I think that he's going to say: Well done, our
good and faithful servant. Or he may say: You're in the wrong place.
SNOW: You really worry that you may be told you're in the wrong place?
the country's constitution, courts, and parliament. "I will take care of
claimed to be in charge. Meanwhile, army troops and civilians alike pillaged
seem to be after back pay, while others said they specifically wanted to topple
ambassador's residence-- no one's sure yet. The papers describe the Ivory Coast
have killed four passengers, but so far they've released only one corpse, along
but doesn't say how. The LAT mentions the possibility that the
to broadcast warnings about terrorist threats to the public. By erring "on the
side of overexposure," authorities may be encouraging mass paranoia. As
that disclosure of the threats generates intense media coverage, which in turn
with its embassies but not with the public. Many of the points in the story
projects: new sidewalks, tax cuts, boot camps, school construction. The suit,
visitors stayed away from fear of violence. Meanwhile, midnight mass St.
embedded with microchips, which visitors can swipe to reserve seats at masses,
upper left hand of the front page has been off by 500--a fact that was
appropriately be applied to the first sentence in today's lead story by the
marks the start of the new millennium and century. The 999-year millennium
who'd be affected by that is around anymore to complain.
five years earlier than the Christian calendar says.
Among the questions unexplored in the reams of news copy commemorating the
entirely to give up the habit of discoursing ironically. It is therefore
with some apprehension that Chatterbox views the coming of a new century.
of, relating to, characteristic of, or resembling the
used in reference to literature, the term essentially describes the movement
dies in office.) This speaks well for the chances of Al Gore** and Bill
hard case, being conventionally brave and forthright but also kind of a cutup;
in his body, as far as Chatterbox can see). You begin to see the cause for
shows so little of it to the public that he might as well not have one.
A snow day? It was a beautiful thing if you were a kid growing up in New
Jersey, as I did: They canceled school if there was too much snow on the
ground, leaving you a day to sled, drink cocoa, or profiteer by shoveling
have split revenues with the center. But publications do a lot with advertisers
upcoming issues and allowed to place ads in those issues. That, I realize, is a
I actually find the listing of names a perfectly fine gimmick. When I wrote
for small, weekly newspapers, one of the tricks of the trade was to get as many
local names into a story as possible. You could argue that this was shameless
merits: It gave a thrill for people who, unlike us, don't see their names in
print. Where's the harm? I admit, though, the misspelling thing is
I haven't read it for years in the papers. It was one of those things, though,
fee. However, Republic Pictures, the original copyright owner and producer of
immensely popular on television thanks to repeated showings: Stations
programmed it heavily during the holidays, paying no royalties to its
Republic regained control of the lucrative property in
copyright to a story from which a movie was made had certain property rights
over the movie itself. Since Republic still owned the copyrighted story behind
It's a Wonderful Life and had also purchased exclusive rights to the
movie's copyrighted music, it was able to essentially yank the movie out of the
public domain: It claimed that since Wonderful Life relied on these
copyrighted works, the film could no longer be shown without the studio's
blessing. (Technically, the film itself is not copyrighted. One could
hypothetically replace the music, rearrange the footage, and sell or show the
typically does so between one and three times a year.
Congress has repeatedly expanded copyright protections and made them effective
corporations. (The copyright protection for individual writers and artists
coins a wonderful name for it: "bricks and clicks."
their accumulating weapons caches towards that end. The report also criticizes
peacekeepers at the time when even more of them were most crucially needed.
to pay more than whites for rooms and kept blacks out of hotel restaurants and
lounges. The paper quotes a source saying that the chain's hotels in
stating that if they won their nominations, they would not accept their
from her own knowledge of what she had said and therefore her knowledge of it
which, it says, shows that in the two years since "zero tolerance"
have been expelled or suspended at a rate disproportionate to their numbers.
"arbitrary and capricious," resulting in wide racial disparities in discipline.
The only problem here, which the Post doesn't notice, is that mere
that the racial breakouts of punishments are disproportionate, not to the
racial composition of the student bodies, but to the racial composition of the
sit outside on cinder blocks, whiling away the hours by taking aim with their
unwarranted. The brand is a luxury recreational trailer often referred to as a
land yacht. It should not have been associated with shabby surroundings."
Whatever the Internet will become, one of the things it's been in the last
couple of years is a consumer's paradise, at least from a price perspective. In
their hunger to acquire new customers, Net retailers have engaged in good
accustomed to sizable discounts that paying anything close to retail feels like
The question, of course, has always been whether these retailers were
actually ever going to be able to make money when their business often seemed,
the past few weeks, we're starting to see signs that, in fact, a lot of these
Internet retailers are not only not going to be able to make money. They may
not even be able to stay in business for much longer.
and that it will lose significantly more than analysts had expected in the
everything from food to printers to appliances to computers. (Computers like
very nice price.) It now plans to focus on selling computers and consumer
electronics, which on the one hand is a natural strategy for targeting Web
already figured out and embraced. So the idea that the new approach is going to
represents an unusual intrusion of the things we've gotten used to about
offline business into the online world. Up to this point, with rare exceptions,
one ever gets fired, where expenses are irrelevant, and where all losses are
it's running through its capital much faster than originally planned, Value
when it would come true: Eventually, you have to earn a profit or else you'll
cautionary tale. In the first place, the site was never that popular, and even
running a business on hope, smoke, and mirrors; who have thought seriously
about their cost structures; and understand things like return on invested
capital. That doesn't mean they will succeed, but it means they have a much
better chance than most of the companies out there.
Net as a whole, especially when so many Net retailers dumped tens of millions
payoff (relative to investment). And perhaps the most important thing to think
do just that: go under and disappear. In other words, no one is going to come
along and acquire it, because ultimately there's really nothing there to
acquire. The conventional wisdom has been that eventually we'd see
consolidation in Net retailing through mergers and acquisitions. It's starting
to seem more likely that we'll see consolidation through failure.
food stamps an attempt to create an issue for the first lady to use against New
the federal Department of Health and Human Services to champion food stamps as
work supports" (rather than welfare handouts) has been pushed for years by
undoubtedly agree with Primus. But Primus hasn't won many battles with the
suddenly now agree to give him a victory by taking a "food stamps are good for
you" line? What tipped the balance? Maybe they were spooked by Primus'
statistical calculations showing some deterioration in the income of the bottom
that, you probably believe it was also just a coincidence that Housing and
national study of the homeless happened to mention an advocacy group's estimate
policy that involved police officers rousting homeless people, with some going
Gore's need for liberal primary voters. But food stamps are more clearly an
Not that there's anything wrong with losing money: Isn't the current
If you want to be, oh, a heretic and actually go out to the movies this
won't be any. Either there will be movies that have been in the theaters at
The studios have explained that they aren't releasing their movies on
what the decision to release the films a day late actually means. Since movies
when those runs start, it means that these movies will have one fewer day in
which to make money. That's not a day the studios will be able to get back at
are one day shorter than they otherwise would have been.
Now, the cost of showing those films for that extra day is negligible enough
that even if only a few people show up, you'll make some money. And it isn't as
The answer has everything to do with the astonishing importance that films'
the opening weekends of other comparable films, then you end up looking like a
operates under the conviction that if your films look like losers to the
insiders after their opening weekends, they will become losers in the mind of
This makes no sense from a business perspective, since it's analogous to
saying that Ford shouldn't sell its cars on days when it knows sales will be
The interesting part of all this is that there isn't really much evidence
the chattering classes but not true at all of the people who actually go to
movies. After last weekend, the studios releasing The Green Mile and
position in weekend gross by a slim margin, even though it was The Green
Mile 's opening weekend. The people behind The Green Mile essentially
said, "They had their turn. They should give us a break," which was odd in two
judgment. And second, it assumed that finishing first would really make a
difference to The Green Mile 's eventual performance. If only the guys at
BORED AND CONFUSED BY THE ISSUES IN THIS TIME OF PROSPERITY AND
busy holiday season to sort out what positions the Democratic
presidential candidates should take. Fortunately, there's an easy
THAT WILL BE WHAT WISE GOVERNANCE DICTATES! IT'S THAT SIMPLE!!!
ideologically different candidates vying for the Democratic
you get two candidates who are ideological twins! For all their
(formerly known as "neoliberals") who can be counted on to favor a
FUNDAMENTALLY, IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER WHICH ONE GETS THE
interchangeable, and find it deeply unsettling. So they lash out
at one another by each accusing the other of favoring politically
taxes if circumstances warrant it; to raise the retirement age for
Social Security benefits; to consider school vouchers on an experimental
basis; and so on. EACH ONE OF THESE IS A POLICY WELL WORTH
method for determining the right positions on the issues: look to
see what each accuses the other of secretly wanting! Then say, "Hey, sue
Times front the story). The car she was driving and phone she was
carrying were linked to a "primary member" of a group that sponsors terrorism
leads with the Board of Education's decision not to renew New York City's
schools chancellor's contract, citing his increasingly erratic behavior and
unwillingness to address recent allegations of widespread attendance fraud. An
expenses, including significant international travel, are met by her wealthy
and the other "mutineers" were victims of racial prejudice but did not overturn
continue to soar, but aging rock stars, another perennially overvalued
commodity, have hit the skids.  The LAT reports that fewer than half
Today's Papers offers a more charitable explanation: Maybe folks just aren't as
calculation stemming from medieval ignorance of the number zero, the new
with arbitrary adjustments and slippages; and so forth.
the day after tomorrow, she'll feel a wave of excited anxiety. She suspects
terrorism, the usual New Year's hype that makes you feel that everyone else is
downtown or eating at some ludicrously overpriced New Year's extravaganza.
She'll be at the home of friends, standing beside her loved ones, etc. And when
New Year's arrives and she experiences that brief sense of being overwhelmed by
something she can't explain, she'll be tempted to dismiss it, as she does every
But is it? What is New Year's, anyway, if not a reminder that time
has passed, which is to say that death has drawn that much closer? New Year's
It's actually not unreasonable to feel awe on this New Year's Eve, even if
our savior. The great religions are a product of the same sense of awe. They
were invented in large part to help us deal with the terrifying fact that time
future, when human time meets up with eternal time. Those are, of course,
passing of time led them inexorably to a horrible fate; their God was created
partly to guarantee that the fullness of time would be good, rather than evil.
and we are allowed perceive it differently, to grasp it more authentically.
Regarding your ideas about other avenues that The Green Mile could
have explored: Yes, yours would be a better, braver, picture. The way pop
process happening here. I have no doubt that the film's portrait of race
more than most, I think it is useful to look at The Green Mile in terms
but an enormously good black man whose fate they mourn. These viewers will be
uninformed and unsophisticated in terms of the actual conditions in the South
that your father described to you, but that is the nature of a society's
but would call him a great storyteller in the Dickens tradition (I am not using
quotation marks because I cannot claim to remember verbatim). King is scorned
by those who do not read him, he said, but is underrated and sometimes very
to every bookstore I could find, and even in stores the size of a broom closet
in back alleys (where the proprietors surely stocked no book they were not
that for a period of time they will be more entertained or interested or
happier than otherwise. Our job as critics is to encourage them to choose films
that we think will be less a waste of their time than those they might choose
on their own. This is a relative and inexact process, but worth doing. If we do
not get up to our elbows in the real mix of real movies, real audiences, and
real motives for going to the movies, what function do we serve?
whether some critics, especially newcomers on the make, don't position their
revolutionary was that she wrote for actual moviegoers like herself, and evoked
their needs and desires. No one who seriously believes Taste of Cherry
movie is necessary to make that movie great. Oh, the admirers of those movies
enjoy them, I suppose, but in a way so specialized and evolved that it has
Many of the films on our 10-best lists will play only in the larger cities.
Movies like The Green Mile are progressive compared with the movies
accurate or courageous as it could be, but more a part of the solution than a
the people who see it, it will be the best movie they see all year, even from
simply because it might do humanity some good, my argument is: All good films
do humanity some good, and no bad films do. So I will not give a movie a pass
because its heart is in the right place, and voted thumbs down on such as A
for political reasons but for personal ones. Aware although I was of the
absorbing, careful storytelling. Reports from theaters indicate audiences, by
and large, love it and are moved by it; it may emerge as the season's biggest
If I have "saddled myself with political responsibilities," it has not been
consciously, but I don't think that would be a bad thing for any critic to do,
at least when a film makes it appropriate. My intense dislike for Very Bad
Things and the second half of Fight Club reflected political or
moral outrage, among other things. And should have. Anyone who can find racism
in The Green Mile but not fascism in Fight Club is looking
But I hope you don't believe I would praise or attack a movie I didn't
have been ashamed to say they liked it. It could have been the lost footage
climate would have been shot down. It is always a little sad when critics tune
times, the New York Observer headline said (quoting from memory) "Liked
Thought his movements were too alien, or not alien enough? Aliens in movies are
routinely made understandable, likable, comprehensible. Or monsters. Can they
Are the "common man and woman" capable of responding to works of complexity?
observe that the first did disappointingly at the box office, the second only
fairly well, and while South Park made piles of money, my own guess,
having attended a public screening, is that its fans did not respond to it with
complexity but embraced its vulgarity while the irony whizzed right
Some of the reviews of that film were hilarious in the way they praised it
for accomplishments that had no remote connection, I suspect, to the way it was
seen, perceived, enjoyed, and understood by most audiences. They liked the
dirty jokes, the homophobia, and racism and the shit jokes, period. The
function of that material as liberating irony and reverse criticism, etc., was
limited to an elite minority within the audience. I believe I was too hard on
program on animation, but the notion that most audience members picked up in
South Park 's cheerfully blatant racism was praised as satirical
large majority of the audience for South Park processed the racism on
its primary level and missed the irony, and a large majority of the audience
for The Green Mile will see no racism, and if their attitudes are
influenced by the movie, it will make them less racist, not more. The critical
discussion of the racial content of those two movies has been too clever by
journalism and journalists. There is nary a mention in this thick book of any
of the leading "alternative" weeklies, which are often stuffed with material
ones. There's almost no attention paid to radio, where hundreds of excellent
development of the Internet as a news medium. Even television doesn't get much
play here, at least not compared with the audience it garners in real life. In
Two, as you indicate, "alternative" newspapers have been thriving, many for
wants: reporting with perspective; reader inclusion; making stories into
crusades; etc. Their "success" in doing so is of course debatable, but it makes
folks at Pew Charitable Trust and the other purse strings of public journalism
would scream: "We didn't cough up several million dollars so you could tell the
might once have been worse is neither reassuring nor really the point. Most
television journalism is horrendous, and some is actually harmful (by
misinforming viewers about crime, for example). Either you want that situation
to change or you don't, but denying it seems silly.
You're also arguing against straw men of your own creation: A journalist
those papers are doing the best job they can to reflect and report life in
with immigration, public education, workplace discrimination, and how to solve
As for presidential politics, we agree that poor coverage is not exclusively
to say that if the candidates don't disagree, then there's no way to cover the
issues. I don't think that some of the experiments in this book are all that
bad for that kind of coverage. That is, start with local issues; in my
neighborhood, they include AIDS, homelessness, housing prices, and the need for
a Second Avenue subway. Then look to what candidates can offer (skeptically, of
course, since the real story may be that these problems elude solutions on the
presidential level). If they don't disagree one iota, then maybe there's a
political problem, but I don't think there would be a problem producing good or
interesting journalism. I suspect, by the way, that the better New York papers
will do something like this as the primary approaches, though they won't call
think we end up in the same place. To give this dialogue the semblance of a
the mainstream press audiences have been shrinking for some time. Serious
journalism has become difficult to do in many places, and some wonder whether
Coverage of most political campaigns is poor and tends to focus on trivial
matters. Every year, there are probably dozens of exceptions to this rule, but
Journalists, as a class, seem removed from the communities they cover.
Again, there are exceptions, especially in small towns, but I think it's pretty
rare to see community board meetings overflowing with local journalists out to
poles, to the detriment of anyone's understanding. I see this especially on
slashed, and the Net was a place for wizards to swap software wands. Change
those economic facts, and the need for public journalism recedes
agree to stop all television and radio advertising until the nomination is
decided, and instead debate twice a week for the duration of the campaign.
"That can get a lot of the money out of the presidential campaign and
contemptuous response was to tell Gore, "Sounds to me like you're having
constitutional amendment, and which he trumpeted this week at a joint
himself as a candidate who sees campaign reform as a far more urgent issue than
cash as he says, then he can't refuse an offer like Gore's out of hand without
Today leads with Al Gore's charge in an interview with the paper
"blundering into another recession" because he would take the entire projected
but goes instead with a momentous Labor Department decision: Companies that
allow employees to work at home will be held responsible for federal health and
safety violations that occur at the home work site. The stance, explains the
home with him to attend to a sick child, employers are still required to make
Both Times report that the meetings hit a snag quickly when an
breaking with their past tendencies to leak at such talks, say the papers, that
only cosmetic, with the daughter and her tight little circle of Kremlin
have brought him into his present circumstance. Indeed, the LAT and
though it was probably one of the last developed countries to take the problem
seriously. But the story doesn't prove that doing nothing was the way to go;
likely to show that preparedness was a waste but rather perhaps that the
optimal strategy included a healthy dose of procrastination.
Give it to places that feed the poor. Today's Papers doesn't ask much from its
With the economy at full throttle, it would be easy to forget that not
everybody has been able to make the trip. Thank goodness the Wall Street
Journal helps remember the neediest. Today's Journal front recounts
demanding boss than he was used to and got fired before he got a chance to
exercise any stock options. To economize, he had to cancel his family's annual
vacation and his son's guitar lessons. He's now working for an internet outfit
site over the weekend, it found it had inadvertently featured something
The Best of Gay Adult Videos (got 'em) and the Couple's Guide to
discussion group of computer geeks exploring the millennium bug long before
But its creator remained unidentified until just over a year ago, when someone
performed the equivalent of a computer paternity test by searching the
discussion group's archives for the term's first use.
name!). Master, who has helped name products for clients including Sun
promptly listed six reasons why the term holds such appeal.
staple these days. Second, it's gratifyingly symmetrical, with the two
consonants hugging that number in the middle. Third, the whole tradition of
a strong connection between the term's appearance and its meaning.
the term features an elegant plosive progression, moving from soft (Y) to hard
Finally, Masters lauded the term for the way its articulation produces a
satisfying movement to the inside of the mouth. The term begins with a labial
at the middle of the mouth when the tongue touches the roof. Finally, the "K"
from its competition. In fact, Masters said, she could think of only one other
word that featured such an exquisitely pleasing articulatory progression in the
I feel a strange mix of emotions in this new millennium. Like a lot of
people, I suspect, I have a guilty secret: I wish something bad had happened.
Not the Rapture. Not even a Deadly Act of Terrorism. But a little glitch would
manic optimism of the moment. A few hours without the power, or having the ATM
jam would have been a useful cautionary note at a time when everyone feels like
price tag was worth it. I have my doubts. On New Year's Day, my wife raised a
celebration than I thought I would. Watching the rolling party across the globe
felt compelled to pull a Jerry Lewis telethon and anchor the whole thing
himself. By the end he was babbling so much, I expected him to point to the
six months in office. I imagine there are gazillions of conservatives for whom
music critic, the one where he threatens to punch out the guy for criticizing
sizable tax cut for next year. Can there be any doubt how this Kabuki ritual
pretty small stuff, but I could still use a few tips.
elections, surprising because they show that centrist and reform parties,
significantly cut into the power long wielded in the legislature by the
shake Gore's extended hand, the papers say, calling the idea "ridiculous." (The
crunch that could, in the paper's words, "make lines at ATM machines and
supermarket checkouts seem tame by comparison." People can stock up on water,
food, batteries, and cash over weeks, the story notes, but most people cannot
store gasoline except in their cars, which means any rush to pump will take
budget, a budget spent almost entirely on combating a country that no longer
recent merger that created his company, government regulators required the
into perspective while powerfully explaining the rationale of the recent spate
United States retail market and seven times all Internet sales combined.
The reason: the flight of capital from slumping economies like Japan's combined
presents a simple comparison between the cost of the federal debt per person in
The LAT weighs in with its story on the paper's Staples Center
preparation of the piece, Shaw had his own computer account that was not
accessible by even senior executives and editors at the paper. And when the
piece was completed, the negatives of it, ordinarily faxed to the printing
will have to wait for the thud in his driveway this morning before he can read
between the offline and online worlds has happened, particularly when it comes
to the media world. But the truth seems to be that for a lot of the offline
press, and for much of Wall Street, what happens on the Internet is still
either something of a mystery or, almost by definition, too sketchy to take
from its genetic databases to drug makers. Since the close of trading on Dec.
impressive and really surprising move, and it did not go unnoticed by either
the sudden spike in its stock, and the company said, sensibly enough, that it
an order imbalance at the open because there were too many buy orders and not
The odd thing, though, is that no one has actually reported what happened.
enthusiasm for genetic information companies and for incorporating genomic
research into drug development." As for why that enthusiasm suddenly hit
could offer was an article that appeared in the New York Times on Dec.
Portfolio" in the next five days. (The Fools announce all their buys in advance
all the stock's rise can't be attributed to the Fool's influence, especially
Whether you think this is a good thing or a bad thing probably depends on
argument can be made that in this case, what you're looking at is not a
speculative bubble but rather an example of potentially valuable
than would once have had access to it. But the really interesting thing is the
almost complete obliviousness of the offline media to what actually happened,
since the Fool put out a news release announcing it. Call it willful blindness,
then. Apparently the Net still has a ways to go before the offline press can
spirituality. She would like to share it with you today. The revelation
who don't follow trends in New Age healing, are the hot new form of meditation.
You march around in them, you get lost, and you find yourself on a higher
plane. They are often built by churches as a way to lure people back into the
fold, and by spas as a higher form of relaxation, sort of like water aerobics.
Many people spent their New Year's Eve walking in labyrinths, rather than
the staff insisted, and it was a truly transforming experience. She
on most portions of the test, he had scored off the charts on one: "The maze."
This was her first step toward conversion, but what really moved her was a
photograph taken of a woman who had just walked a maze for the first time.
uplifted arms. He kept telling me to look up. I kept looking up. I was engulfed
"He asked if I was committed to walking the labyrinth. I said 'yes.'
He said, 'If you are, you must leave a footprint.' When I got to the center I
left two deep footprints. As I was walking out he said, 'Now you are walking
out, you must go out in the world and leave a footprint.'
was like a roller coaster. But toward the end I was very calm, it was like a
pictures with a digital camera as they were finishing up. Flipping through the
images, she stopped, stunned, at a shot of the group. For there, in the center
of the picture, was what looked like a brilliant shaft of multicolored light,
thinks that the "brilliant shaft of multicolored light" is lens flare. But
God didn't come to you; you went to God, or else. Insofar as there was life
outside the church, it was secondary. Religious doctrine was dense and
difficult and if you misunderstood it, you could be excommunicated or jailed.
Now, though, everything is different. Religion isn't mean and threatening. It
doesn't demand all your time. You can fit it into your busy schedule. If you
as long as you can coax from it some movement of the soul. A socialite and
aromatherapy and massage, and find proof of God in newspaper photos. Interior
Gym trainers can practice yoga. Football coaches can preach the religion of
seemingly insignificant words and individual letters.
Dept. of Justice that's designed to ensure that the state's highway police stop
during nighttime and weekend sessions, he downloaded onto portable tapes the
attend public gatherings on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. The poll also
Both Times leads state that under the New Jersey profiling deal, the
state police will report to a federal monitor who will have broad powers to
investigate virtually any police function and who will track the cops' patterns
of arrests and traffic stops to make sure that minorities are not being singled
out. Neither story really gets at the nuances involved in really doing this.
specific criminal suspect, but neither story says whether an all points
bulletin saying to be on the look out for say, a fleeing black or Latino is
chief: "It's not the fault of the police when they stop minority males or put
them in jail. It's the fault of the minority males for committing the
its first new rifle in thirty years. The weapon would use the precision
guidance technology already common in planes and tanks to deliver rounds that
explode in the air above enemy soldiers, thereby lessening their ability to
survive battlefield small arms fire by taking cover. There are question marks
however: the weapon is more than twice as heavy as the M-16 it would replace,
waits until pretty deep into the story to raise another very realistic worry:
these weapons would wreak havoc in the hands of guerrillas. And hey, given the
surrounding the possibility of adding genes to human embryos. And the headline
makes the whole thing sound like science gone mad: "SCIENTISTS PLACE JELLYFISH
yesterday made his first public appearance in nearly a year. Appearing
world to "end the cycle of violence and the cycle of hatred."
prices for the big night: pet sitters and security guards.
The Wall Street Journal front returns to the arena of one of
biggest private New Year's Eve celebration, which the paper takes as indicative
of a nationwide veer away from partying and toward cocooning on the big night.
investigators to take the first step toward prosecuting former chancellor
the time report, contributions from an arms dealer and an oil company. Kohl,
the paper reminds, started off the whole controversy last month by
acknowledging that while in power he kept secret bank accounts, but thus far
records yesterday, news that the Wall Street Journal gets right into the little summary
jail without bail pending his trial on charges of unauthorized handling of
secret nuclear weapons data. The other papers put the story inside, with all
the coverage explaining the judge's reasoning: If Lee were out, he might be
able to transfer to a foreign power the seven highly sensitive data tapes he
admits making but that are currently missing. (The judge said however that if
Lee passes a polygraph test on the tapes, he could reapply for bail.) But none
of the stories mentions the real reason the prosecutors wanted no bail: their
hope that the prospect of sitting in stir for up to several years would make
Today's Papers would love to know what authority there is for this in the law,
his tireless search for the failure of welfare reform. The dateline is the usual one,
program. Today's tack: Well, even if many people there are getting off welfare
and on payrolls, their lives aren't "truly transformed." The story spends most
of its time playing out the examples of three women, who are supposed to
poster children for irresponsibility as a lifestyle: At every turn there are
unexpected pregnancies, out of wedlock fatherless children, and
Papers is guessing somebody got the Anthology of Modern Poetry for
given all the express attribution in the piece, the effect here is one of
doubt that this anecdote and that photograph also come from a book on Will's
terrorists, but negotiations have failed to resolve the standoff thus far, the
their country, have vowed to kill the hijackers if they hurt any more hostages.
two days, runs an Associated Press story inside today.
presidential primary. The governor's appearances will largely take the form of
agreed to fund the budget requests of two other religious parties, proving to
hire staff and buy technology that will pick out suspicious online prescription
drug sellers. At present, states are responsible for inspecting pharmacies
claiming, predictably, that the new regulation is unnecessary; the Post
Tobacco industry lawyers yesterday filed an 89-page document meant to halt a
billion settlement with states. They also cite Congress' decision to put
warnings on cigarettes and tax them, rather than seek legal liability. The
counts of mishandling secret documents, never acted with criminal intent. A
computer expert told the court that the files Lee removed from the system "were
open to not very sophisticated hackers on the Internet," the LAT
release a gas into the air that then ignites. The device can reach people in
wounds, doctors can now affix paper strips to either side of an incision and
gently pull them together with a polyethylene zipper. One enthusiastic patient
sounds as if he'd just leaped out of an infomercial: "I had surgery on my chest
a few years ago and it was closed with staples, and boy was it painful. With
the zipper, I had no pain at all." Today's Papers is so impressed that he will
question, is believed to be the brother of one of the hijackers. The
Post, which also fronts the story, and LAT report the identity of
the passenger stabbed to death for not obeying terrorists' orders to sit with
n capital piece by piece. This means the army learned from its mistake in
foreign correspondents from traveling to the war arena without permission, the
sources: a subhead reads "Troops Said to Advance" and the lead explains the
translated as "terrible" or "terrifying." (Although here, admittedly, he's
legislation calling for a formal presidential acknowledgment is currently bound
The Post runs its third article in a series on Vice President Gore's
life. Despite early ideological and professional tinkering, the senator's son
his precocious campaigning skills. Gore did not seek a higher student office,
paper reports him as "blessedly free of any such fears."
Magazine interviews computer engineers of the 1970s
"who is to blame," so the panelists come across as sitting ducks. They discuss
their priorities at the time and cough up reasons why the problem was never
Committee: "We could have fixed that anytime in the 1970s. The trouble is, it
would have affected all of our customers' existing programs, and that wasn't
something they would have appreciated." Fortunately, customers in the '90s,
mollified by lattes and cell phones, have been far more understanding.
why one top investor believes "these stocks have become like major land
billion. The piece does not illustrate where the papers' owners fit in. The New
their deal is so sweeping in what she can't say about the Office of Independent
Counsel that she essentially gave up her First Amendment rights. This leaves
her in a truly sad position (no jokes, please): She has to share her weight
with the world and go public to pay her legal bills for an insane case and yet
ones: I can usually win when I announce, to a stunned dinner table, that
debates this week. I predict that by week's end, a desperate Gore, with his
awkward emphasis on the wrong syllable and haltingly condescending voice will
to raise taxes or cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. But neither
over again, the point is do you learn from your mistakes, and I certainly have.
GORE: Oh, I think, um, pushing the limits, um, all this was reviewed and,
um, charges were brought. But I think it was a mistake nonetheless.
independent counsel's office as a bully pulpit, appearing on television to
has too little. There is a kind of mild metaphysic involved. In one of the
strips, one of the characters is jumping rope and says, "Suddenly it struck me
It immediately communicated a certain reverence, which is to be welcomed.
the source of goodness, the source of contemplation. So there is a formal
This was one of those weeks in the market that a couple
of decades ago, perhaps even a decade ago, would have seemed inconceivable. (I
know, every week these days probably would have seemed inconceivable.) Despite
saying that states with the lowest unemployment rates showed no added
pull money out of stocks. But at least when it came to the powerhouses of this
egg nog and give shares in some Internet highfliers as gifts. It'll be just
like when my grandmother used to give us lottery tickets for our birthdays.
reasons.' As in, they were personally appalled at the direction the company was
taking, and could no longer work there in good conscience?"
issued a report today telling tobacco farmers that their economic problems
stemmed not from antismoking efforts in the United States but from
production and supply abroad. Surprisingly, the report did not add: 'Of
course, we do want you to go out of business. But we really aren't the ones who
this week wouldn't have bought it a couple of weeks ago. Of course, maybe they
be backed up by effective actions, so that any rhetoric in the end may make us
look even more foolish. But this is not the place to deal with such complex
issues. Since I believe that "normal" Western politics is the politics of
going to pick up my theme of our democratic, domestic rhetoric and come back to
to be imprinted into the historical period of the time (New Frontier, Great
Society) or to stroke visiting journalists or to combat other intellectuals.
fashioned Carter's "malaise" speech, blaming the people for the funk we were in
The Guardian Weekly about an encounter in the White House:
was creating a world society. The new politics, the new economics, the new
technology and the new immigration were coming together to change the tired old
rules of the game. There was more in the same poetic vein.
But history was always a living presence. I think of my late lamented friend
revolution. That had been made by the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats) under
What impresses me, in fact, is that with all the blather about "the new,"
there is a hunger for history, and for many people, the old is more relevant
then still under Communist rule, where I had been invited to give a few
lectures to some Party institutes about technology. (At least the theory of
it.) After the sessions, my hosts eagerly escorted me around the city and took
a small hovel in the wall underneath.) What they wanted to talk about was not
Catholic officers had been hurled from the window by the Protestant members of
history and whose legends were written down by church scribes and canonized in
the coffin is opened for the faithful, and his brown and withered hands peek
years?) I know that these are alleged bones, and emotional sentiments are
whipped up by the prayers of the priests and the nuns. But people
But since this will be the last round before the end of the century, shall
from the room he rented across the street. A pair of binoculars and a rifle
with a single spent shell were recovered from the building in which Ray stayed.
Both the rifle and the binoculars were covered with Ray's fingerprints. Ray, a
racist and career criminal who had escaped from prison a year earlier, was
but later pleaded guilty and received a 99-year sentence. Soon afterward, he
recanted his confession, saying that he had transported the suspected murder
Office reopened its investigation, but reaffirmed Ray's conviction last year.
was a conspiracy, but simply denied that his client was knowingly a part of it.
The jurors were instructed to decide whether or not a conspiracy involving
have to determine who was involved or what role each organization played. So,
the specifics of the alleged theory remain vague. Among the arguments presented
off. The Kings also presented ballistics evidence suggesting that Ray's gun
could not have fired the fatal shot. Although government investigators did not
participate in the civil trial, they have long cited Ray's record of successful
crime. They also say that while the ballistic information is inconclusive, it
who owned the restaurant opposite King's motel (and one floor below the room
Ray rented), said he had hired the real assassin on behalf of an associate with
possible ties to the mob. He claimed the assassin shot King from his restaurant
changed his story multiple times and now denies any intentional involvement in
hotel rooms and sent his wife a tape that suggested King was having an
extramarital affair. (Indeed, King did have such affairs.) While Pepper
presented no definitive evidence establishing a government conspiracy, he did
claim to have witnesses in reserve who can prove the government's role. He has
not revealed most of their identities; one National Guard officer whom Pepper
Representatives investigation of the murder in the late 1970s found no evidence
of a government conspiracy. (It did leave open the possibility that Ray was
the behest of the King family, the Justice Department ordered an investigation
into the assassination. However, early reports indicate that it, too, is likely
objected, the network put the matter "under review." The sketch in question
female performers wear scanty clothing and make crude sexual gestures. The men
said it was a holiday celebrated by the people who own the movie studios and
to, however, the mockery is not aimed at pop stars in general. It targets a
If you want to understand who exactly is being skewered in "Spears" and
reader who insists on anonymity but who seems to be
possessed of an astonishing memory. Whether his memory is accurate cannot be
House Council on Environmental Quality to make a study of "probable changes in
the world's population, natural resources, and environment through the end of
Copies of this report, which made a huge splash at the time and sold more than
that six months earlier a research assistant he'd asked to find a copy came
Eventually, however, Chatterbox was able to procure a copy of the summary
rigorous on the facts. (Besides, nobody seemed to be around today at the World
population, resources, and environment are clearly visible ahead. Despite
greater material output, the world's people will be poorer in many ways than
desperately poor, the outlook for food and other necessities of life will be no
better. For many it will be worse. Barring revolutionary advances in
Not exactly an invitation to break out the party hats on New Year's Eve. How
overestimation of the total world fertility rate, which (his book documents)
correct, however, and believes that, with the least developed countries seeing
very little decline in total fertility rate since the early 1960s, world
world's remaining petroleum resources  per capita can be expected to decline by
Although the price of oil has spiked lately, last time
both cited an essay in an earlier edition of Bailey 's book that said tropical
attention to a chart that seemed to support this in a World Bank report called
the above sampling is hardly scientific, Chatterbox concludes that
Carter's commission was half right, which is about par for the course when it
comes to predicting the future (to test this proposition, flip a coin several
as Jimmy Carter predicted it would be. This is either good news or bad news,
Journal editorial page, Fish is the symbol of how the left is wrecking
encounter between reader and text. He advocates campus speech codes, the
Social Text and the field of "science studies," even after they were
reflect an amusing brashness. It reflects a lack of principle.
An implicit answer to these and other criticisms can be found in Fish's
discussing a friend who has betrayed them by becoming a railroad detective. Why
giving your word that's important; it's who you give your word to."
Most people would agree with Holden that a code of honor is worth at least
with principle," he writes, "is, first, it does not exist, and second, that
nowadays many bad things are done in its name." None of the ideals a liberal
agenda. If all disputes over abstract ideals are, as Fish says, attempts to
exploit an elevated moral language for partisan advantage, then to hell with
his critics and their faith in chimera such as free speech and scientific
objectivity! To hell with conservatives and their absolute values! To hell with
liberals and their cherished notion of tolerance, since the people who benefit
from it (such as fundamentalists and supremacists) would punch a liberal silly
if they found one in a dark alley. The only beliefs that matter, says Fish, are
Before you dismiss Fish as either a danger to democratic values or a
pugilistic idiot, you have to know three more things about him. First, he's a
in a stale debate over whether Paradise Lost is flawed because it
of the theological paradoxes of his day, rather than mere literary error.
and Duke University's English department. His success as an administrator
rested on two insights that are now commonplace: first, that the academic star
second, that the longing of academic couples to live in the same place
represents an administrative opportunity, not a headache. Fish built both the
Humanities Center and Duke's English department by hiring celebrity couples and
finding room for both, rather than wooing one member of the couple and
banishing the other to a lesser department, or condemning husband and wife to a
commuter marriage. That both departments are now falling apart can be chalked
up either to his considerable skill at maintaining allies or to his cynical
Third, it is not as easy as it seems to lump Fish with the progressives and
realism, demonstrates the distance between him and them. The book's best essay
by far is an attack on multiculturalism. In it, Fish argues that
multiculturalism is a logical impossibility. His brief goes like this: There
are two kinds of multiculturalism, "weak" (or "boutique") "multiculturalism"
and "strong multiculturalism." "Weak multiculturalism," says Fish, is a watery
differences between people are trivial, because there are certain central
such as polygamy or female circumcision, that offend those values. Strong
argument to its extremes, end up having to support some other culture whose
If there are no rules for living peacefully in an ethnically mixed society,
what do we do now? Why, says Fish, we do what we have always done, since we
have never really practiced multiculturalism. We improvise. We engage in
them. This, he adds, is not a recommendation. It is how we do things already,
and the sooner we admit that, the better we'll get at it.
This may be well and good for multiculturalism, but Fish has bigger targets
in mind. The most troubling essay in the book is called "Mission Impossible."
Here Fish claims that there is no such thing as liberalism, since liberalism's
only way of dealing with those who don't agree with it is forcibly to exclude
them, mostly by calling them mad. It's an old argument, but Fish makes it new
the principle of separation of church and state (the bedrock of liberal polity
or at least all religions with strong beliefs and problematic forms of public
suppress because they will be condemned "by the judgment of all mankind." Right
wouldn't have had to invent liberalism. Liberals, rather than practicing
tolerance, have by acts of intellectual (and real) violence elevated their own
ideas of what will and won't do to the status of that which is universally
The philosophy Fish is practicing here bears some resemblance to pragmatism,
that things work themselves out in the end. But Fish is not an upbeat
pragmatist. His vision of society is far darker, for instance, than that of the
as long as it leads to other ideas. "Mission Impossible" is the essay in which
Fish's scariest side emerges in clear view. The only thinker who is really
attaining of our Ends," and because each man's ends are naturally to be
preferred to his rival's, the two will inevitably "become enemies," and in the
absence of a neutral arbiter "they will endeavor to destroy or subdue one
And there Fish more or less stops. (Well, actually, he goes on to argue in a
similar fashion against the logical plausibility of free speech, academic
freedom, and blind justice.) Maddeningly, he leads us to the center of the
since he's a pragmatist, he believes that his ideas about the world are just
that, ideas without consequences. There is, he says, "no straight line from
In other words, Fish isn't the unprincipled relativist he's accused of
being. He's something worse. He's a fatalist. But then, so were the
certainly can't tell you whether Fish is right or wrong. On the other hand,
Fish never claimed to be right. In fact, he once quipped that, now that
objectivity is dead, it is no longer necessary to be right. You just have to be
Sometimes a situation seems so obviously wrong that you can't believe it's
and a host of opponents spring up to say, unbelievably, "Things are just fine
the way they are." To which the only reasonable response, of course, is to say,
This is pretty much the story of the SEC's battle against the selective
disclosure of significant financial and business information by companies to
investment bank analysts and large institutional investors, who routinely get
looks inside companies and notifications of changes in future outlooks long
essence that companies would not release any "material information" privately.
Instead of applauding the regulation, Wall Street looks ready to fight it.
From one perspective, of course, this is hardly surprising. Investment banks
and brokerage houses built their businesses around their access to information,
and their ability to get that information to their clients before it reached
the product of a phone call to a chief financial officer, or comes from a vice
president who lets slip that the fourth quarter is looking especially good. If
you give up selective disclosure, and create a truly free flow of information
between companies and all of their investors, then the possibility of making
easy profits (either by getting in before everyone hears the good news, or
getting out before everyone hears the bad) disappears.
That's hardly an argument even Wall Street could use to defend itself. So
instead what you hear is the classic "this will lead to a general chill on
information" argument, which says that since companies don't want to put out
press releases all the time, they'll stop talking to analysts at all, for fear
that they'll be breaking the law. And since markets function best when there's
The truth is, it's not clear that there would be any damage done at all if
companies stopped having private conversations with analysts. The privileged
position of the analyst, after all, is a vestige of the days when just about
all investors had accounts with the major brokerage houses. In today's world,
with the profusion of online brokerages, that's an unnecessary privilege. At
the same time, if you look at analysts' estimates for companies' quarterly
earnings, they tend to be quite similar, which suggests that they're the result
not of aggressive independent research but rather of company guidance. If
that's the case, then let the company give its guidance publicly, in a
conference call accessible to the public, broadcast on the Internet, and
transcribed on the company's Web site. The same should be the case with any
of the rules on the kinds of public statements companies can make without fear
statements. And the ability of lawyers to sue every company executive who makes
a prediction that doesn't come true obviously keeps executives from making
predictions that would be of great use to investors. Both of these phenomena
insider's game and individual investors really were at a radical disadvantage
in terms of separating truth from lies. But protecting individual investors
today has the ironic effect of perpetuating their informational disadvantage.
If we're going to have full disclosure, then we have to accept the risks that
go along with it. So let companies speak and investors listen and decide from
wondering what else can go wrong. Last year, the company's prospective merger
questions. The company's agribusiness unit, which it had once planned to make
to genetically modified seeds and crops. Even as the major stock indices
deal superfluous. There's no good reason to think that this deal will work, and
perhaps hostile, suitors. So the Street's reaction to the deal was sensible.
The one interesting element of that reaction, though, was that investors were
percent of its agribusiness unit. That unit is now generally acknowledged to be
In the long run, that may actually be a good thing. Given the ongoing uproar
over genetically modified crops, an uproar that has played an important role in
the opposition to the World Trade Organization and that has become a key trade
corn in the United States are already genetically modified varieties, and the
possibilities of using genetic modification to increase crop yields and protect
organic farmer was a haphazard and scattershot collection of charges that might
testing them sufficiently for safety, misleading farmers about these products,
and monopolizing the patents and sale of these unsafe products. In other words,
of millions of dollars. How he reached that figure remains unclear.
The suit is exactly what it appears to be: a publicity stunt. To begin with,
not certify "normal" seeds). And the company can't be accused of selling unsafe
products because there's no evidence that the products are unsafe. That's why
the suit just says they should have tested more. The fraud charge seems equally
defendants) makes the monopoly charge a bit hard to believe. Perhaps we could
that have yet to be resolved. And just as obviously, the major agribusiness
companies have hurt themselves by obstinately opposing things like labeling of
of the word "populist" to describe the suit.) They are, though, very useful
Liberal Media Bias Lives! Exhibit A: "Minority Growth Slips at Top
muttering, "Uh oh," and thinking here was another example of the project of
prices were soaring in the early 1970s, that "we have slowed the rise in the
rate of inflation." Prices were still rising. The rate at which prices were
rising was still rising. Only the rate at which that rate was rising wasn't
The Times headline wasn't quite that deceptive, but it was close. It
of growth has slowed." But should we really expect the minority share of
enrollments not just to keep growing but to keep growing at its initial
rate of increase would have to slow down sometime, wouldn't it, as minority
mostly a success story. Minority children are indeed accepted at private
schools, but even though "they can afford the steep tuition," their parents
"often choose other options, including parochial schools and a move to the
suburbs" where the public schools "have a better reputation." Isn't this
basically a heartening trend? Integrating the suburbs is arguably more
us, minority students fear cultural isolation. They also fear becoming the
"subject of speculation" as to whether they are beneficiaries of race
preferences. Yet the overall picture is positive: The private schools are
becoming more integrated while the suburbs are becoming more integrated, too.
"Private School Minority Enrollment Holds Steady Even as Qualified Students
Liberal Media Bias Lives! Exhibit B: Meanwhile, on Page B3, the
after the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the swift collapse of communism's
influence in the nooks and crannies of the city." It seems the mayor didn't
like it when the leader of a dissident group of transit workers decried "an
argued that "means taking jobs away from people," and said it reflected a
respect by recognizing that his philosophy has some meaning worth criticizing
having "expanded his horizon to foreign affairs last week." It seems the mayor
his two cents to a controversy in the news, and his position on asylum was
accordance with a political agenda. My fear, based on lifelong respect for your
writing and the early corruption of my morals by Beyond the Valley of the
you felt guilty for having laughed. By the way, I missed the racism in that
worldview being slipped in through the back door. So to speak.
Fight Club is a more difficult case. Its makers clearly thought they
were satirizing fascism; you think they ended up celebrating it. My view is
closer to yours, but it's a tricky line. Some of the greatest artists burrow so
deeply into their characters' twisted psyches that they risk making a case for
writer tried to explain to me the other day that the
point of Fight Club is that the hero spends the whole movie punching
himself in the face. To him (and many others), this ironically brutal
confession of impotence sums up the messy, unresolved feelings of his
than insightful. But I find it so much harder to dismiss than The Green
end although it cheated like mad and I could smell the greasepaint on those
lonely when the rest of you leave. I began on a note of hope for movies; I end
One happy development the new millennium is apparently about to bring is the
were specially bred in the laboratory of an evil black scientist with the
Hoping to encourage what may be a nascent trend toward rationalism,
Chatterbox hereby challenges other religions to step forward and discard
nominate religious doctrines they'd like to see jettisoned in the new year.
Please provide documentation that the objectionable practice you are citing
Chatterbox's belief that God doesn't actually exist.
has studied this, and discussed the misunderstandings that result.
You're probably too young to recall that Jimmy Carter smiled all the time,
that he knew something they didn't. The fact that Al Gore doesn't grin much is
article about smiling, but I wrote it up for a book my wife and I did
Here's my summary: Smiling appears to be a Southern custom. Ray L.
misunderstood: "In one part of the country an unsmiling individual might be
queried as to whether he was 'angry about something,' while in another, the
smiling individual might be asked, 'What's funny?'"
magnum opus, Kinesics and Context: Essays on Body Motion
thesis, as summarized by Reed. If Bush had the kind of unctuous smile
associated with many southern politicians, Chatterbox would say: Case closed.*
Bush's compulsion to smile is essentially southern, but the smile
itself is corrupted by other influences (a few possibilities were cited in
Bush's compulsion to smirk bears no relation to the southern
If the first possibility were correct, that would be good news for
observed in the Wall Street Journal piece quoted in Chatterbox's
item) the smirk was clearly passed from father to son (acquiring some
However, if the second possibility were correct, then both
into question. Chatterbox leans toward this latter interpretation, because he
can't recall ever seeing any true southerner smirk, not even Molly
Chatterbox strongly suspects he would have found lots of them on the
movies. (If you need a little help, click here.) Now try to imagine her speaking with a southern accent.
their breed as southern, or western, or anything other than Lone Star. For the
purposes of this discussion, though, Chatterbox will accept Reed's premise that
The New York thing is easy: It wasn't to my taste, but New Yorkers tended to
good strategy for an economy losing manufacturing jobs (a strategy honed for
never saw the dark side, only the Met Life commercials side. Frankly, I cross
people off my list who say It's a Wonderful Life is their favorite
The Staples Center scandal is remarkable precisely because, in defense of
teams that their sports pages have to "cover," or that even the most
distinguished papers hold conferences, seminars, and festivals that then tend
to get "covered" more than events sponsored by others. It's a practice
"happen" to tie in to the movies that preceded them. Don't get me started.
speech. The slowest anybody has ever been allowed to speak on television, like
that lovable old drunk. Now comes a guy who actually knows how to run a
government, and thinks the coolest branch thereof is the secret police.
the organ of some irritable neoconservative rebelling against the dominance of
times" for House Republicans that they are sifting through the dregs, dragging
and movie actor, and others "from the lower rungs of the celebrity food
trouble in their fight to retain control of the House. But his piece doesn't do
they were considering would be safely Democratic even in a better year for the
state representative. How are they the "bottom of the barrel"?
District? And which party was it again whose local leaders wanted to run Jerry
local politician for Congress! That's really scraping the bottom!
have been running for Congress since the beginning of the republic. That's
where Congressmen come from! Because there's no payoff in being merciful to
enough to bring any argument to a snorting, chuckling halt. Add to that the
Congress next month, ask for tax cuts and credits worth billions. But both
stories are quickly forced into speculation mode because the White House didn't
million registered voters, an accomplishment the paper says will be much easier
for any potential rival. The New York Times stuffs taxes and runs
to be a huge boon to the economy. The idea put forth is that under the rubric
they gained not just freedom from the millennial bug but also the ability to
perform a wide array of new tasks. And the productivity thus gained will pay
off for years. Or so the story says, quoting five experts in support along the
preparedness "posed an enormous distraction, soaking up time and money that
might have been plowed into projects with a more immediate payoff," and that
"much of the investment went to inoculate older technology against the computer
bug rather than to embrace the newest processes that could revolutionize the
way work is done." If the point of the piece was to say that the money spent is
now looking like a tough call, then this idea should have been brought up
higher and developed. If the point is that despite such comments the
preparedness is a boon, then they should have been brought up higher and
answered. What the LAT does instead makes for a disorienting
reporter) a free copy. The author expresses few regrets for whatever role he
played in getting companies, citizens, and government agencies to avoid
tried to open up his starched white branch to flexible thinking and minority
sailors, but who was best known for having ordered the use of Agent Orange in
inside (although it seems a bit cockeyed that the latter puts it below a
There are apparently unstated limits to what the LAT 's "Hot Property"
only too glad to tick off the actors' credits but didn't mention another
Colts' sudden death championship win. The likely explanation is worrisome even
if (like Today's Papers) you don't follow sports: boomer editors who can't seem
to shake boomer sensibilities when they come to work.
over to an essay, "The Next Century," which spends most of its time reviewing
department, the wires report the death of the world's oldest person, at age
The coverage makes it clear that beyond anything specifically tied to the
quotes one expert referring to probable "preemptive arrests," and saying that
Ho Lee case are now looking into the possibility that Lee passed nuclear
Post has local merchants telling of increased traffic in bottled water,
batteries, candles, etc., but nothing out of control. And the Times says
political freedom, economic opportunity, individual worth and equal justice."
with sprawling essays on the span's history, and on its concepts of liberty,
love, hate, ingenuity, fear, beauty, thought, and mystery. The effort on
history says, "The best invention of the millennium is widely considered to be
glass lenses, the orchestra, the clock pendulum, electrification, the birth
control pill, refrigeration, anesthesia, indoor plumbing, and antibiotics. The
most overrated invention of the millennium is the spacecraft." The section also
other holidays, where status in the organization is measured by the
plans, for tonight the most important people in the outfit are the ones who
will be working. Suddenly, Today's Papers feels very important.
The folks over at the Wall Street Journal editorial page think
they've discovered a really neat argument against campaign finance reform. New
become president," the piece contends. "Then they will help the media become
the overwhelming arbiter of what the political system spends its energies
been rigorous enough in exposing the press's hidden interests. If the media is
intentionally promoting the cause of campaign finance reform, it is doing so
stands to lose under a reformed one. There are three arguments that support
could run them even more, because mandated free airtime might preempt other
newspapers and radio broadcasters would also suffer under a reformed system,
especially one that restricted lucrative "independent expenditure" campaigns
harmony and good government. Just ask any journalist, Which would you rather
the National Performance Review? If reporters are biased in favor of campaign
finance reform, it's not because it will do us any good personally but because
editorial pages such awesome power, it's darned impressive that the
Journal alone is immune to this temptation. How admirable of them to
show this kind of selfless restraint and idealism when the rest of us are
disingenuously promoting our class interests. Unless, of course, it's the other
it clear that this soured the mood and created considerable awkwardness. Both
the clear impression that it had no eyes on the battlefield. Indeed, the
special safety seats for small children traveling in airliners. The story
doesn't mention who will pay for these seats, the parents or the airlines, but
it does say that under the new policy, the parents will probably be buying a
separate ticket for their toddlers, something they can avoid now by holding
Everybody reports inside that yesterday, for the first time, former
committee members, only five Republicans and one Democrat were present.
about settling allegations that they have illegally discouraged retailers from
man." The only real risk factor revealed is that his cholesterol is borderline
single figure has had the greatest influence on the development of your own
political thinking?" "If you had to rely upon a single person as your foremost
economic policy adviser, who would it be?" "If you had to rely upon a single
person as your foremost foreign policy adviser, who would it be?" "What
television program?" "Which book that you've read this year has been most
important?" "What book (excepting the Bible) that you've ever read has been
most important to you? Why?" "What is the best movie you've seen in the past
new Year's Eve marched flashily around the globe before finally, timidly,
York Times took out after us for our lack of excitement, resuscitating the
piece, because it vitiated his argument, was the fact that millions of Southern
by the Rose Parade, which lasts a lot longer than a fireworks show, and is
slightly less inexplicable than the diaphanously costumed dancers who cavorted
But I can't think of two more grating campaign personalities joined on a single
watch both their speeches, and in each case, after a few moments, I opted
given an hour of nationwide airtime with the King of Talk, what in hell is so
millennium coverage just as well and, at the end, just as tearfully?
One of the basic truisms about investing that's very easy to forget,
especially in the middle of the kind of bull market we're in, is that it isn't
a stock market, but rather a market of stocks. In other words, even if
investors are generally feeling bullish, that bullishness is not uniform. It
does not lead them to forget about distinctions among stocks. Even during the
Dutch tulip mania, after all, there were some bulbs that seemed priceless and
In the most general terms, we all recognize this. Last year, for instance,
with the large cyclical or commodity companies. Meanwhile, aluminum producer
investors were a little more discerning than "tech good, no tech bad." But as a
blindly rushing after stocks of a certain kind that they're not paying any
attention at all to the differences among all those stocks. This is a problem
because if it's true, it means that the market can't be doing what it is meant
to do: channel capital to those companies that will use it most productively
and away from those companies that will not. And it's a problem because if it's
In this case, that's precisely what that conclusion is. Perhaps the most
remarkable thing about this market is that even in a time of seeming universal
to go wrong as an investor if you were buying anything with a .com at the end
model, there are lots of tech stocks that are not doing especially well. More
to the point, there are lots of tech stocks that have done really well and then
been severely punished, and on any given day what you're most likely to see is
not a move upward or downward in which everyone's participating, but a
On a deeper level, there are now a host of Internet stocks that no longer
is just a case of market sentiment shifting. But it'd be more accurate to see
these companies. Which is, after all, what market sentiment ultimately
Of course, investors overreact, in both directions. And sectors do become
that kind of indistinct investing doesn't last too long, which is why the idea
that investors today "don't care about profits" is a misreading. If investors
didn't care about profits, they wouldn't distinguish as carefully as they
ultimately do between one unprofitable company and another. In the end (and
comfortable perch from which we can be unserious about the environment, not to
disparities, corporate malfeasance." When master ironists feel the need to
articles and one movie defending irony in the past three weeks. The first piece
oneself, one's values, and one's aspirations. At least irony is unlikely to be
claiming in somewhat overblown newsweekly fashion that irony and ironic
juxtapositions are "an inevitable response to the human condition. The original
ironic juxtaposition, after all, is the spirit plunked down into the material
who argues for irony on the charmingly loopy ground that it is a fin de
What unites all of these articles is a certain earnestness: Their authors
are not joking (well, Chatterbox sort of is). Irony, they say, is
good --good for foreign policy, good for the soul, even good for the
Wrestling irate women? Bashing the South, in the South? Being an inept and
that any of it was a joke. The movie has no such qualms, however. It is a
conventional celebrity biopic, lionizing its subject at every possible turn,
and congratulating itself for its insight. It winks nonstop. See? the
because they didn't get it? See how smart we are, who do get it?
doomed to fail. Does the very effort to defend irony to those impervious to its
charms require you to trick it up as something it is not? After all, irony is
not for anything. It has no higher purpose. It is a perspective on the
world, one that takes advantage of distance and some weirdly skewed point of
somehow other than what they usually seem. It's a lens that is morally
neutral, deployed for evil as easily as for good. (There are philosophers who
argue that the ironic sensibility is morally preferable, because it makes you
irony is the tragic vision of the world, not a particular trick of speech or
than the people who failed to understand him, if only because that would have
that their particular slant on life expresses the universal human condition.
The Economist gets a little closer to the heart of the matter when its
editorialist writes, "Many people, when hearing an ironic remark, may not
has been made are instantly complicit, and they can enjoy the fact that there
are others who have missed the joke." In other words, irony is how the
without it. But it's neither virtuous nor defensible.
know what Chatterbox is talking about, click here and
He didn't finish until after the sun had set. Even granting that Chatterbox had
one or two other minor tasks to complete today, it does seem that seven hours
is more time than any reasonable person should have to spend reading about the
running stories at approximately five times their logical length might suspect
scheme to hide news of its publisher's and editor's misbehavior by burying it
views the recent corruption of its editorial standards as a serious matter.
Shaw wins bravery points for all but calling his newspaper's publisher,
sacked forthwith. Downing never told Parks until very late in the game that the
opening of the Staples Center was going to share ad revenues with the new
downtown sports arena. She kept this secret, she says, because she didn't want
to corrupt editorial processes. But it's much likelier, Shaw writes, that she
vice president and chief operating officer for the paper). When the news staff
the Staples Center hadn't helped sell ads. In fact, Shaw shows, they had.
president of the Staples Center, paging through the issue with Shaw and
pointing out ads he and his staff helped to get.) Downing also told the angry
Staples Center and sending it a check instead. But the check still hasn't been
sent, Shaw reports. (Perhaps it was sent today after Downing read his
memos that were handed out, he was somehow not paying attention, or out of the
to have been weirdly muted. He didn't have the special issue canceled, even
though at that point most of the magazine hadn't yet been printed; he didn't
even consider running a disclosure statement about the deal, which would have
story of the Staples deal in the national press, that it was "an inappropriate
scrupulously fair reporter, tells Shaw he never told her anything like
Shaw also deserves kudos for documenting his newspaper's decline under Times
Staples contract was signed). The horror stories include a representative of an
Times reporter; the ad department telling advertisers of a "'Millennium
featuring people they wrote about. Although the paper's slide into ethically
Chatterbox must fault Shaw, though, for offering only the sketchiest answer
raised when the story first broke: namely, what business justification was there for the
then, the dollar value of the newspaper concession and the ad placements and
that was previous reported, but it's still a bad financial deal. Shaw reports
Times suits felt very clever for having bid Staples down. Of its annual
profits from joint ventures. This last, which has come to symbolize in most
people's minds the corruption of editorial standards implicit in the deal, was
viewed at the time (in the words of the person who negotiated the deal) as "a
way for us to be able to make this deal during a time when cash was a problem."
Times set about calculating how much it had netted off the Staples Center
issue, it found that after making extremely complex estimates regarding the use
swindling the Staples Center, it was only in the context of a larger deal in
will notice a slight change in our design, if not by the time you read this
As followers of Internet fashion are aware, portal sites are the flavor of the
site is a Web page with useful features such as a Web search engine, your local
weather, sundry links, perhaps a stock ticker, news headlines, a small button
again," and so on. The idea is that you make it your home page, or at least
come to it often, and that way the sponsoring company will get lots of traffic
conducted a scrupulously objective study of the major portal sites and
special set of pages that shield them from any special temptation to visit
resist noting, finally, that if your primary interests are news, politics, and
cultural commentary, our "Slate Links" page doesn't make a bad "portal site." There you'll
find links to all the major columnists and commentators, movie and other arts
water. Nor is there anything especially Republican or conservative about
attempted to associate Flytrap with the political and cultural values of the
feminists are betraying feminism's roots in the same period by failing to
condemn the male perpetrator. Surely the latter critique is closer to the mark.
the strong tendency of Democrats and Republicans to see Flytrap differently is
about principled ideological disagreement. "The Beast stands for strong,
mutually antagonistic governments everywhere," says the press magnate, Lord
about domestic politics. If there's anything worse than partisanship, it's
bipartisanship. This is not merely the journalist's professional preference for
disagreement over agreement. It is a suspicion that rising above partisanship
that on a series of essentially apolitical issues on which reasonable people
can differ, Democratic politicians are almost all on one side and Republicans
analysis only to whichever side you happen to disagree with. But unthinking
partisanship can strike anyone at any time. Consider the sad case of an online
the right to lie under oath if the questions are ones you should never have had
to answer. But he was strongly tempted by the notion that if you shouldn't have
mislead without falling into a perjury trap, he was not merely within his
through, though, the line of reasoning started to seem familiar. Wasn't this
affair, but was pardoned by President Bush. His defense (for which K had
contempt at the time) was that he intended to mislead but was technically
telling the truth. For example, he stagily denied that any foreign money was
differences, of course. Congress' right to question an assistant secretary of
ask the president about a sexual affair, but a few will think the opposite.
characterize his deception as an effort to subvert democracy in the United
disagreed with is either much worse or much better than
overzealous prosecutor. K has no trouble deciding which it is now that he needs
objection to hairsplitting a decade ago and his indignant sympathy for it now
of how partisan indignation can survive a total reversal of position on an
issue. The thundering Republican condemnations of the special prosecutor back
then are just like the thundering Democratic condemnations today, down to the
conceivable expression of "executive privilege" over Congress and the
"imperial presidency." When Republican officials were in the dock, the Wall
for that. Now the conservative mantras are "perjury is perjury" and "no man is
is going on right now and concerns democracy itself. In the 1980s, and as late
They thought the force was with them and always would be. Remember term limits?
The notion of representative democracy took multiple hits. Politicians were
considered inherently inferior to "the people." There was no patience for the
wishes of their constituents. Those voters' wishes expressed in polls even
trumped the voters' own wishes as expressed at the ballot box (since the
essence of term limits was to limit the voters' right to vote for whom they
we hear a lot of talk about rising above politics and ignoring the polls and
doing the right thing not the popular thing. There have even been some
frustrated musings among conservative writers and pundits that the people are
note K used to strike a lot in the 1980s, and he's glad he doesn't have to
column to defend economics and economists against their critics. It sometimes
make much effort to find out what that theory really says. Nonetheless,
economists can stand a little informed criticism. Right now, it seems to me,
the discipline is in some trouble. Specifically, the marriage between
half a century ago, which has allowed economists to combine moderately activist
not an abstract problem. It is one with urgent application to the current
global economic crisis. Conventional microeconomic analysis depends on the
presumed ability of governments to maintain more or less full employment. If
reasonable. And in the end that will be disastrous not just for the economics
Suppose, for example, that you are an advocate of free
tariffs to protect its industry and save jobs. Well, if Brazil cannot devalue
its currency for fear of speculators, cannot use fiscal or monetary policy to
reflate its economy because to do so would cause capital flight, and the
country must therefore endure a prolonged period of recession and deflation,
you cannot in good conscience make the conventional arguments in favor of free
trade. That is, you cannot tell him that protectionism only redistributes jobs,
that it cannot create them, since the truth is that, under these circumstances,
not advocating protectionism for Brazil or, for that matter, for anywhere. Nor
am I giving up on microeconomics in general or on the general presumption in
favor of free markets in particular. I still believe that macroeconomic
activism is possible: that Japan can reflate itself out of its slump, that
countries such as Brazil can find ways to deal with the threat of speculative
attack. Many people disagree with my ideas; that's fine, as long as they have
an alternative to offer. But very few of my colleagues, as far as I can tell,
are even making a serious effort to rise to the challenge.
To understand the nature of this challenge, you need to
hugely influential. It purported to see the rise of both communism and fascism
as part of the inevitable replacement of capitalism by a more efficient
regarded them as doomed, and those who thought otherwise as naive:
crucial evidence for the view that capitalism is not going to continue much
longer is the continuous presence within the capitalist nations of mass
investment funds, which waste in idleness in the account books of the banks.
but at the time they seemed quite reasonable. As far as most people who thought
about it could see, capitalist economies were indeed unable to make use of
their savings and thus of their resources. Given that massive failure, the
as the understanding that monetary and fiscal policy could be used to fight
Thanks in large part to the new understanding of governments that increasing
interest rates, raising taxes, and cutting spending in a recession is a bad
Western countries. And with the assurance that savings would be invested and
that there would be enough demand to make use of the economy's resources,
economists could return in good conscience to the microeconomic question of how
Take, for example, the debate about the effects of the
of thousands of jobs), believed that the net effect on employment would be
zero. This is basically because the overall number of jobs in the United States
economy as close to full employment as he can without creating inflation. So
any rate, offered a strong case in favor of free trade.
macroeconomic activism, in both theory and practice, has made it possible for
during the 1970s and early 1980s macroeconomics suffered a crisis. The
damaged the prestige of economists in general and macroeconomics in particular,
even though it was not that much of a theoretical surprise. Equally important
governments could do anything to mitigate macroeconomic instability. In the
reason or another apparently cannot or will not use macroeconomic policy to
restore full employment. "Emerging market" nations, terrified of capital
flight, dare not reflate their economies; on the contrary, we find the
taxes, and cutting spending even as the economy slides into a nasty recession.
available investment funds, which waste in idleness in the account books of the
rushing to solve these problems, right? Well, not exactly. You see, the
did not build a workable new structure for macroeconomic theory and policy, but
it did seriously damage the old structure. And the effect of that damage has
been to discourage economists from even thinking about the traditional
cycle research. I can't blame them, but it leaves us with a dangerous lack of
fresh thinking about how to handle recessions at a time when the usual remedies
had more of a sense that other economists understand what is at stake. The
point is not that the world is going to collapse; that could happen, but it is
not the clear and present danger. Rather, the point is that the theory and
practice of more or less free market economics depend crucially on the
availability of adequate solutions to the problem of macroeconomic
links in the text, is a reminder of how some people react to the sort of
pronouncements we economists are prone to make, and is a little more on why the
"equilibrium macroeconomics" school of thought has recruited few pupils.
crisis and said that "absolute and unconditional compliance" was necessary for
Liberty into their countries. The controversial broadcasts, in the native
index, the guiding principle of which is "the longer the advance warning to
The editorial detects "symptoms of arteriosclerosis in relations between
the home government got very testy over visiting foreign officials'
paid his first postelection foreign visit (but before he took over as
of man? Haven't we in the past raised high the standard of political and social
emancipation for which the whole planet owes us recognition?"
Monetary Union, it strongly reinforces the many good arguments for staying
with the assistance of weapons of mass destruction," and that the authority of
After a period since the first anniversary of the death of
is now open season against her with the serialization of new books in the
with her personal bodyguard early in the marriage and that she issued death
week that she had mutilated her body with a fork, wanted to run off to South
monarchy during a televised debate about its future by pressing the redial
innocence. Obviously, the president's disgraceful and probably unlawful conduct
breaking of the law irrelevant. Second, it's hilarious to hear people say about
same time that they ridicule the notion that lying under oath about sex would
tables turned by using the very press that acted like piranhas in getting the
questions proposed by Brill with the wisdom of "It depends on how you define
"Today's Papers." To say that finding a genetic link to a "Founding
Father" will bring forth a feeling of patriotic pride in alienated minorities
is absurd. How can you overlook the fact that this "link" is a result of one
race's dominion over another in the form of slavery? Where is the pride in
that? I cannot overlook the fact that this link is a result of slavery. How
two days ago, can't I get a chance to read A Man in Full before it's
returned eight articles containing the title, though you are certainly not the
only ones on the bandwagon. It seems I can't glance at the New York
the last straw was seeing that you have a "Book Club" debate on the subject. It's a pretty hefty tome, and
the New York Times Book Review titled "A Hundred Years of
(I agree with him on this point!) It is boring because many readers couldn't
heavily weighted in favor of reviews of nonfiction over fiction. Nonfiction
subject, and those people are likely to read the books regardless of what the
New York Times is perhaps more literate than other newspapers, it is,
nonetheless, a general circulation newspaper and not an academic journal. In a
general circulation newspaper I expect reviews of books that are, or
potentially are, of interest to a broad range of readers. I don't think that
Participants are invited to provide a postelection headline that, in a just
say it. I didn't say it. I was there with a member of my campaign staff. We
English teachers' union. The remark: 'From now on, I will refer to other people
possible to make a joke about an offensive remark without making an offensive
built a routine around the idea that repeating the word "nigger" over and over
and over very, very fast could strip it of its cruel power, reducing it to an
into the Cops and Firemen in Blackface Defense. When these fellows were caught
float, they pleaded satire. Here the context is the history of the New York
parodists, and the commissioners of both bodies gave these guys the boot.
(This, of course, raises First Amendment questions about odious speech, but
that's another question.) So where does that leave "News Quiz"? Just a little
uneasy. But not wallowing in a moral swamp, like those cringing thieves at
question about the ineffable deterrent value of the death penalty.
prosecutor he was so egregiously lax in protecting abortion clinics that he was
removed from a case by a Buffalo judge and replaced with a special
Disclaimer: All submissions will become the property of Slate and
will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
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about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
immediately after the ceremony. We agreed to go to both events, graduation and
had to leave early because of the baby sitter, so we got up, kissed the new
guests were supposed to pay for dinner, we didn't. Embarrassed, I gave my
about being invited to a restaurant to celebrate a big event? I paid this time,
but what to do next time? (And yes, we gave him a very, very nice graduation
if the host can't manage such a party, guests should be informed beforehand
the next time, feel free to ask if the party is a Dutch treat. If it is, and
problem is so small, but I have nobody else to ask. Where everybody sneezes
have never given it a second thought, but recently people seem to be noticing
my sneezing and commenting on it, some suggesting I see a doctor. Do you think
concern yourself with your repeater sneezes. To those nervy enough to comment,
computers a lot and know much about them, as well as about systems and
Most of the time people call on me when they have a problem with their
computers, and until now I have always helped them.
everything and come to their aid immediately. I have decided to no longer offer
this help, as it is not part of the work I was hired to do five years
question is: Can an employer ask that you use skills that are not in your job
should do what he's being paid to do and that the same goes for me.
correct, and you are a living breathing exemplar of the old saying "No good
deed goes unpunished." You've been such a good sport for so long that now it's
people hit you up to deal with their computer problems, tell them to turn to
"computer expert," explaining that it is his job to help them and that you are
remedy the situation. You might even consider broaching the subject with him
yourself. Would you perhaps enjoy being deputized "the expert" and
for your astringent wit and good advice, even if it doesn't apply to
Deadline That Has Nothing Whatsoever To Do With Politics
for the lovely compliments. It is nice to know that the Internet has uses
soul of the South. (That soul is held under lock and key at Republican Party
must. It is important because it's absolutely, positively the last stand for
the Democratic Party in Dixie. The Democrats know they can't be the majority
only three points, Democratic polls by slightly more.
The race is as nasty as it is close. The Republican Party
always been. When he enters the studio, it is as though God has arrived. He
rude, vituperative, and overbearing, but he is an utterly ingratiating
peaceful integration. As a senator, he has been an inveterate distributor of
network of technical colleges and avidly recruiting manufacturers to its
State or his cheapness). He's a term limits bore. He calls himself,
against funding pork projects in his own district. In one famous case,
build a toll road instead. He has not been forgiven.
which are among the fastest growing regions in the country. The area is
"Upcountry," as it's called, is the new voting engine of the state: If
won't "play by the old system of bringing home a little money and expecting
everyone to fall at my feet and call me Savior." He repeats his call for
to privatize Social Security (he refers to the "miracle of compounding" with
a "Contract for a Courteous Campaign" that would have required candidates to
warn opponents in advance about attacks and to minimize negative ads and race
out of this, doing a brilliant "more in sorrow than in anger" act that casts
meanwhile, looks bored with the entire event. This is his sixth Senate
campaign, and he never liked retail politics to begin with. He's slightly
frailer and less focused than he used to be, and his answers wander away from
do is remind people that he's their Fritz and that he got them that road they
years other than whine and complain and holler 'pork'?"
whisper" in the Senate, a lame duck as soon as he took office. (There is
role in this campaign. Both candidates cite him as their model. To name just
Democrat. There are no Democratic senators left in the South who command the
how Fritz wins. If he wins at all, that will be miracle enough.
the Democratic Party, there is indeed a fate worse than death.
the top bidder, but the top two bidders have to pay whatever they bid.
it's far better than that. As soon as two students are rash enough to enter the
drop out of the auction. If Mickey quits now, he loses his nickel, but by
But that's only the beginning. After a few more rounds,
runs out of money or exhausts my willingness to extend credit. If my students
were sufficiently wealthy (and sufficiently shortsighted to enter the auction
game is a crude but instructive metaphor for political campaign spending. It
might even be a reasonably accurate metaphor if we lived in a world where the
biggest spender always wins. In any contested election, candidates would
continue to spend until they had exhausted all their own and their supporters'
resources. Foreseeing that outcome, no politician would ever contest an
election. The first candidate to file would always win by default.
winning. And beyond a certain point, it doesn't increase your probability by
where one more commercial just can't justify its cost. That puts a natural
limit on what they're willing to spend. Mickey will always bid another dollar
because campaign finance reform is important, and you can't predict the effects
of campaign finance reform unless you think about the incentives it creates for
politicians. Let me offer a few potential scenarios.
reforms: The government subsidizes each of the two major candidates to the tune
encouraging the candidates to spend more. But think again: The subsidies don't
just get covered by the taxpayers instead of the fat cats. (The only exception
is if the candidate is literally out of money and never had the option of
government agrees to give a million to any candidate who meets certain
is to encourage new candidates to enter. With more candidates must there be
more total expenditure? Not clearly. Suppose, for example, that Al Gore and
chance at the presidency. With the value of the prize diminished,
least partly offset by what Gore and Bush choose to save.
example points to an important general principle: Total expenditure is
determined by the value of the prize, whether we're talking about presidential
essentially identical chances of winning, they'll keep entering the race until
only on how many tickets you hold compared with everyone else. That's what
guarantees that people will keep buying tickets as long as the odds are in
their favor. That's a good analogy to an election with many equally plausible
candidates whose odds of winning might depend only on how much they spend
compared with everyone else. But if some candidates tower over others, the
analogy breaks down. If you know that the state lottery is likely to be rigged,
you'll buy fewer tickets. And if politicians believe that an election is
"rigged," in the sense that the favorite will probably win regardless of
expenditures, they'll buy fewer campaign commercials.
means there are only two kinds of reform that have any chance of actually
reducing total expenditure on presidential elections. The first is to reduce
the value of the presidency itself, say by putting new limits on presidential
power, or installing a permanent independent counsel, or requiring the
president to sleep on a bed of nails. The second is to reduce the uncertainty
How do you reduce uncertainty? The most drastic way is to
allow only one candidate. This makes the outcome completely certain and drives
campaign expenditures to zero. Short of that, you could try to deliver
information about the candidates that might drive voters to make up their minds
not insurmountable lead in the polls. Now Gore trounces Bush in a debate,
substantially widening his lead, and making it all but certain that Gore will
win. Rational creatures that they are, both candidates reduce their
expenditures rather than try to change a foregone conclusion. But suppose, on
the other hand, that Bush wins the debate, closing the gap, and putting the
candidates into a virtual dead heat. Then expenditures will rise as each
candidate fights to resolve the new uncertainty in his own favor.
substitute for commercials, then they're equivalent to the scenario where the
government gives a certain amount of money to each candidate, and expenditures
don't change. If the debates are fundamentally different from commercials, then
they're equally liable to cause the race to tighten or to widen, and
expenditures can go either up or down. Of course, debates have civic virtues
other than their effects on spending, so this is not an argument against them.
But it is an argument for being realistic about what we can and cannot
probably never heard about any of them, but this week you've heard about
martyrdom is in part a function of timing. He received his fatal beating just
before National Coming Out Day, for which gay rights groups had already planned
rallies and media events. His death gave those events a unifying theme and
icon. Furthermore, after the beating, he lay in a coma for several days,
story is the manner of his death. "At first, the passing bicyclist thought the
crumpled form lashed to a ranch fence was a scarecrow," began the initial
New York Times dispatch. The dangling figure turned out to be "the
"compelling image" of "the black figure at the end of a lynch rope, hanging
his death by three white men in a pickup truck earlier this year.
"There is incredible symbolism about being tied to a fence," one gay activist
comparison. "His 105-pound, 5-foot-2 body" was said to be "frail and lifeless."
He was "slight of stature, gentle of demeanor and passionate about human
and full of promise." After his death, his parents insisted that he wouldn't
the midst of a battle for public opinion between gays and Christian
conservatives. The conservatives are struggling to defend two arguments. One is
that being gay is different from being black and less worthy of legal
protection. The other is that homosexuality is an affront to morality,
assembled to protest the play, which, as the Times noted, revolves
summit was "plagued by internal fighting over free trade and human rights" and
House of Lords of the government's proportional representation bill. The vote,
the fifth and final defeat of this particular bill and the most serious defeat
the system to allow voters to elect a party rather than a candidate. Some
or merely "has matured as a First Lady better than a fine wine." For this
letters, faxes, and phone calls protesting the move.
hour yesterday to protest the government's dismissal of certain faculty
used the victims' blood to scrawl "This is the end of black magic" on the
walls. The Times noted that Christian groups in the region have faced
Standard reported what it called "one of the most disgraceful
claimed the victim was part of a reactionary gang plotting to remove the city
seems like the perfect place to release them." Where? What? Says who?
order demands that we acquire a company starting with the letter 'A'
(But no, Randy, that's not fair, and you know it. You can be the birthplace of
a World War II answer, which to those of us with delicate bourgeois
sensibilities, risks trivializing the Holocaust. With sufficiently dark humor,
any topic can be fair game. But the enormity here is so daunting. From one
Holocaust as dramatic fodder for a lame and shallow drama, but Hogan's
Heroes is acceptable because its dimwitted POW humor steers clear of the
Holocaust. Needless to say, this is not a position one could defend for very
long. It's a tough call, particularly given the good will of "News Quiz"
the vanguard of setting the agenda for the corporate culture along the lines of
group, the same organization that protested the opening of Corpus
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blends, then dipped into trashiness with pure polyester. Today polyester fleece
is the uniform of hikers, climbers, backpackers, college kids, and people who
want to look like them. As in the '70s, you're nothing in the '90s if you're
write this off as a mere fashion fad. Polyester is undergoing a renaissance
because fleece is truly a miracle fabric: It's warm and durable but
lightweight, and it dries faster than natural fibers. At the same time, it
feels natural to the touch, not scratchy like the poly of yore. And while
fleece takes over the sweater and sweat shirt market, other synthetic fabrics
Polypropylene and other newer polyester blends beat out cotton for keeping your
skin dry and warm. In short, in high performance clothing, fake is great.
terry cloth. First a machine knits the fleece, leaving tiny loops on its
you're the kind of shopper who only buys premium brands. Otherwise you have to
rack! (You can test this by rubbing the fleece with your palm.) To be fair, the
fleece is something else. Despite costing more and supposedly being better,
there's some other difference between them, I don't know about it, because
Why not buy the cheapest gear you can find that uses
the designs of these and two other popular fleece tops, I went to Duke
vest performed best, keeping my torso toasty but, of course, leaving my arms
quite cold. The other fleeces would have been plenty warm during exercise, but
standing still I felt a bit chilly. The North Face did a fine job here, while
to weathering this kind of cold. An outer layer is clearly necessary in these
conditions, even when you're vigorously exercising (which I tried to do in the
freezer until I quickly became lightheaded from the icy air).
highest price tag by far. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
General conclusion: Look for designs that minimize fleece's
right through fleece with a nasty bite. Two other weaknesses of fleece to keep
intentionally, the fleece gets irreparable bald spots at the impact points.
to look for are a good fit, an attractive look, a nylon shell, and ample and
looks more like sheep's wool, with a pebbly texture. Instead of being sheared,
one I spoke with recommended it. Another option is to blend spandex with fleece
other fake fabrics have grown popular as "base layers." Synthetic long
underwear used to be made of polypropylene; some of it still is. The advantage
was that polypropylene dried much faster than cotton, spreading sweat across
the fabric to increase the sweat's surface area and speed up evaporation. But
the fabric has severe weaknesses, as I found out from testing a Wickers brand
your skin as groovy '70s polyester shirts. Sleeping in it was uncomfortable,
While it spreads your sweat across the fabric surface until it evaporates, the
has two unique surfaces: the soft inner layer rapidly wicks perspiration away
from the body, while the durable outer layer spreads moisture for maximum
only difference I could detect between them was in their feel against my skin.
because not only does it not retain odor, even when worn for two days and
author readings directly to your home, rendering bookstores yet more obsolete.
anything cuter than that? Is there anything more redolent of vulgar erotic
possibilities? If "News Quiz" were not a quiz but rather a pornographic
omnipresent vending machines on the platforms of swift, efficient commuter
adventures we chronicled, even if it made many of our fellow passengers really
eroticism shoved at you from every direction, you must make do with loudmouthed
age table with a radio link to the airline's database is currently being
down and somebody puts your hamburger in front of you, and you pick it up and
take a bite. All of a sudden, somebody grabs you by the mouth, drags you around
the store, drags you outside, pulls the hook out of your mouth, and throws you
really rich, should it pay the same income tax as a poor fish, maybe like a
values, how many children does the fish have from previous marriages?
maybe they were all out of worms or something? Do they eat worms?
chamber), and schoolchildren are harassed by school officials for privately
was time to get rid of him," said a fish who did not want to be identified,
passage, only this time pronounce "bass" with a long a, and picture opera great
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"Traditions in the West are sometimes hard to break, but we find this to be
Mountain coordinators prove their dedication by spending a night in a bedroll
of physical objects using a set of rules, instead of acknowledging the actual
bestiality (surely more generically rural than strictly Western?) and prairie
oysters (so delightfully disgusting, as are many of the odd foods of strange
why so many responses involved having sex with, and eating the sexual bits of,
question promotes an unattractive regionalism, as if it were a personal
Want To Be," in the only line I can recall, "Where the scenery is attractive,
the moral cartography of "News Quiz," urban trumps rural, and East beats West.
snack. And some sex. With two different creatures. That's the way we like it
The coyote is smart, elusive. I respect him. I don't hunt him because I hate
"Democracy confers a stamp of legitimacy that reforms must have in order to be
foes while swiftly granting permits to those whose views he endorses.
cast of Friends after watching a single episode, and it was one of the
Contents this week are inexplicable praise for this movie.)
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
that it gets pretty quiet around here, but check in throughout the long weekend
for "Today's Papers" and in case Chatterbox has a postprandial thought or
actually was a long series of questions, boiled down to: "Will you waive any
privileges you have so we can get to the bottom of whether your office has been
illegally leaking to reporters?" Brill replied that several Democrats had asked
judge had ordered the investigation of these leaks to be kept confidential.
question could have been a lot simpler. It could have been something like:
"Have you or anyone in your office leaked information from grand jury testimony
say yes because he's said variations on no for months and would be conceding a
reasons. First, he is admirably opposed to perjury traps, and therefore he
didn't want to be seen as proposing a tooth for a tooth. And in fact he did not
the truth, not forcing him to repeat the lie under solemn oath. Second, Brill,
as a media philosopher, is understandably queasy about using the law to "out"
Then he issued a mixture of lies and weasels about it, making it virtually
impossible for him to give an honest answer if asked a straightforward
question. That gave his enemies a way to trap him into an undeniably serious
crime: perjury under oath in an investigation of alleged high crimes by the
president of the United States. In both cases, the investigation itself would
the rules nor the laws are usually enforced in circumstances like these.
testimony before it's actually delivered doesn't count.
their weasels do double duty: keeping them kosher on a technicality and
violate the criminal procedure rules because he doesn't believe they apply to
publicly denied believing anything so foolish, Brill points out.
be put under seal, then publicly regretted his inability to discuss a matter
White House's various novel theories of "privilege" (exemption from testifying)
for Secret Service agents, family pets, and so on. In fact, the very raising of
flagpole, such as his claim that his leaking (if it exists, which it doesn't)
is covered by a rule that allows prosecutors to reassure the public about the
integrity of an investigation. His investigation's integrity, he notes, has
been challenged. This is a delightful example of what lawyers call a "bootstrap
argument": If anyone points out that you've broken the rules, that's a
challenge to your integrity, which requires reassuring the public, which means
pointed out at the hearing, this rule is about official statements, not
they struggled to avoid. No one thinks even oral sex, as practiced outside the
release the day Flytrap broke declaring, "Because of confidentiality
requirements, we are unable to comment on any aspect of our work." (At the
statements made by witnesses outside the grand jury." He wrote, "Let me repeat
jury material directly or indirectly, on the record or off the record." I
of wiggle room. It would be a joy to watch him perform that particular
that he didn't do any illegal leaking (he didn't add "by my definition") and
that he couldn't discuss the matter because it was "under seal" (he didn't add
don't believe anyone has leaked grand jury information." That's awfully close.
some possible defenses. But invoking such defenses publicly would destroy his
reputation. He could invoke them if called before a grand jury and hope that
short, fell into a perjury trap that no one had even set. Should we snap it
The best case that can be made for letting President
caught in a perjury trap. Consensual sex between adults is no crime, lying
about an ancillary matter in a civil suit deposition is a crime that would
just three months ago. And you don't crucify a guy for that.
serious offense. Those who make and enforce the law have a special obligation
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
knowledge of this book. That is, she has skimmed the surface by reading a few
reviews. The title suggests the author is a childless geneticist. The research,
that genes and peers play pivotal roles in development cannot be dismissed.
genetic makeup and peer influence can override some elements of the home
environment, parental attention, input, and example cannot be written off.
our second child, a boy. We have a problem concerning gift etiquette. We
and date of birth. The problem is that he was born one week earlier than the
would want to correct the error. However, if it was the friends' mistake, we
have no desire to embarrass them with their error. (Actually, being exactly one
week later, the blanket does commemorate his bris.)
suggests you be the first on your block to start the craze of bris blankets.
You are correct not to want to embarrass the gift givers, and it's a major pain
to deal with stores about replacing customized merchandise. (And luckily, the
misprinted stamps that become valuable because they are mistakes, the
have his head stuffed. The nine point buck he got with a bow, that is. We live
in a tiny cabin, and friends are asking where he is going to hang it. "Above
the bed" seems to be their general consensus. To this, proud Hubby replies, "IN
Southerners say, when he tells friends the trophy will reside in the bed with
the two of you. That, or he has mafia fantasies and is trying to tell you
thinks, especially in a tiny cabin, that the antlers would provide a wonderful
disappointed you felt it necessary to opine on this matter. (The matter being
think your answer glib, but given the attention this matter has received vs.
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
who worked in the White House were later astounded to learn the speed at which
and that they met later the same day at a staff birthday party. "At eight that
kiss her," the paper went on. "She agreed. Two hours later, he again asked her
to join him, and this time she performed a sexual act."
dollars, she deserves ten for what she's been through."
reportedly said he doesn't believe Congress will impeach the president for
impeach him if evidence comes forward from woman after woman after woman, of
private detectives scurrilously, sometimes illegally, perhaps under physical
intimidation, working on stopping these women from telling the truth. That
opposition to the agreement is much broader than he thought it would be. The
stage, a certain grace period to demonstrate to the world that it is capable
both of meeting its commitments and [of] effectively dealing with the radical
opposition would be well advised to hold off its support for elections." In an
result in prison sentences of up to seven years for people who commit acts
nut trees on the national park island for the filming," the Nation
pummel you into a stupor with it. Telling the story of a myopic adolescent girl
who's persecuted by her peers and slighted by her suburban family (which
prolonged his heroine's humiliations until I wanted to scream, "I GET IT
ALREADY!" He was a maestro, all right, but of the sadistic kind, and the
condensed it. This was the world as seen through glasses so thick they barely
however, he spreads the pain around, and he brings in sundry instruments to
share in the playing of his lone theme. The upshot defies categorization.
Happiness is an aching roundelay, a triumphantly benumbed ensemble farce
Before I go any further: You should know that I have
stupefyingly dull "tech scout" with the director and key crew, watched some
thought about recusing myself, but I have no direct financial ties to the
picture and think it's one of the most interesting of the year. Why should I
Happiness revolves around three sisters who live some distance from a
author of arty, titillating short stories and a magnet for studs and weight
latter, a compulsive obscene phone caller who longs for his sleek, chic
dismemberment, obscene talk: Happiness is about the sense of
more important, the ways in which their prodigious longings manifest themselves
in their sexual predilections. And yet these kindred spirits almost never
acknowledge a connection. Their similarities don't mitigate their aloneness,
and talking about their problems doesn't help much, either. It's no accident
get things off their chests go ahead and act on them anyway. There's no such
thing as catharsis: Come once, you'll want to come again and again and
your lap. But as his strangled monosyllables give way to lavish verbal abuse
the shots go wider, so that we take in the romantic restaurant awash in fake
Happiness right on the border between irony and empathy. The gags are
often easy, but the characters are in an authentic hell. And there isn't a
gazelle. Some directors know how to exploit their actors' vulnerabilities, and
neighbors, is encased in his flab like a tortured prisoner of war. His doleful
characters. Baker's pedophile is so furtive that he's almost immobile, but we
waits for a little boy to eat a drugged tuna sandwich, we hold our breaths the
Happiness is as consistently inspired. The scenes of Joy at work
(wanting to do good, she crosses a picket line to take a job teaching English
she has committed and, while her listener attempts to process it, appalled,
tucks into an ice cream sundae. That might have been the cheapest kind of fat
gag, but because of the way it's shot and acted, our responses don't end with a
and getting the only kind of pleasure that she knows.
certainly has foul language, as well as a (brief) shot of Joy's uncovered
too spooky, and the conversations creep into the red zone when the father
couldn't have had a more fitting launch. At the same time that the picture was
was shown outside the main competition), Universal, the studio that financed it
intoxicant is the kind of irony with which Happiness teems.
matters of incest and perversion with a tad more taste. Children, siblings,
nieces, and nephews all gather at a prosperous estate to celebrate the
turns out to have had monstrous designs on two of his own children. You've seen
this sort of picture before: People get drunk and drag skeletons out of
closets, and the tension between the formal dinner party rituals and the truths
labors, and the White House spin doctors went to work, lobbying reporters to
deserved credit for it. But this would have been futile. Instead, they
diminished his achievement in a subtler and more effective way. From a
deprive him of that payoff by binding the two stories together.
made clear that its game plan is to change the subject. In campaign
also "put [that] affair in perspective. How trivial it looked compared with the
Republicans are holding [impeachment] hearings in the House," boasted
conservative pundits and politicians graciously acknowledged it. On Fox News
for keeping all the balls in the air at once seemed to thrive," said the
situation like this, work. He can see gray. He can understand both sides of the
than celebrate the transformation of his vices into virtues, they argued that
his momentary virtues will revert to vices. "It depended on qualities that he
"And yet, like so much that he does, it was somewhat stained by this seamy
who's telling the truth, but one suspects that it may not be the president."
negotiation" were "to stay up all night" and to "throw a temper tantrum." In
signing ceremony took on ironic shadows: his "tolerance," his "flexible mind,"
by overcoming the vices he displayed in that episode. By some accounts,
because it doesn't fit the pattern. And as the public comes to believe instead
incorrigible narcissism. Hours after announcing the agreement, he said in a
speech to a conference of religious leaders, "I felt that it was a part of my
job as president, my mission as a Christian, and my personal journey of
Trial": The lesson of Flytrap is to attack the inquisition. (posted
competitive family. I don't think it's competitive with a hard edge to it, but
young and appalls the old. Babies bang wooden spoons on overturned saucepans;
grannies rock so silently you can hear the creak of floorboards and hip bones.
Rock 'n' roll is loud and young and rebellious; chamber music is soft and
loud; books are library quiet. Playgrounds are tumultuous, youthful, and
physical; churches are hushed, elderly, and spiritual. (Well, white churches;
the black church is always shown as a scene of joyful noise. Such is our racial
Silence is passive acquiescence; noise is open rebellion. Except in the
relentlessly entertaining marketplace, where the television is always on, the
radio always plays, and good consumers undergo a constant acoustic bombardment,
lest they have five minutes to quietly think their own thoughts. It has been
widely observed that prison is noisy, filled with the constant battering of
grannies are so touchy about noise, why are they always depicted as hard of
can be,' but we took the experience the Army can offer and packaged it in a
to reach their enlistment goals this year, the first time for the Navy since
military standards have shrunk the pool of potential volunteers. "Most of the
people who walk into the office have something wrong with them," said Petty
Republican leadership responds to yesterday's disappointing returns. (Final
do later in my hotel room, were I but secure enough in my sexuality to make
and we failed to get our agenda out there. And by 'failed get our agenda out
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cover editorial predicts that in next week's election
"voters will most likely stick to old habits, returning a legislature much like
the previous one." Defying all the summer punditry, Flytrap has been a
Several witchcraft panics "occurred in places where rye was widely cultivated,
million. Donors' favorite special interests were telecommunications and oil. An
accompanying story exposes how Outback Steakhouse coerced employees to
national health care and an increase in the minimum wage.
necessary to seek opportunity, like education. It should protect people from
unfair or excessive aspects of the marketplace." We lack pride in or loyalty to
our government and have no "willingness to put aside personal concerns to serve
the other beats and the beat movement, his surprising religious fervor, and a
sweet and earnest nature. A letter to his editor at Grove Press: "I cant
possibly go on as a responsible prose artist and also as a believer in the
impulses of my own heart and in the beauty of pure spontaneous language if I
let editors take my sentences, which are my phrases that I separate by dashes
when I 'draw a breath,' each of which pours out to the tune of the whole story
marry, will live in a far more racially diverse United States, and will eat
the mound and in the field as they were at bat; endowed with a bunch of superb
role players; blessed with a rare balance of speed and power; managed by a man
enthusiastically to the album at clubs. (The Wall Street Journal put
cover package says Flytrap is a nonissue so far in this fall's
agenda in his remaining two years in office. Accompanying pieces emphasize the
countered with a bit more vigilance from our intelligence groups. Instead,
deems this a dubious money grab by defense agencies.
it once was. Instead, the state is growing more conservative: Even its
editorial calling the decision "unexpected and dangerous." It said it could
published before the court's decision, said that, whatever the outcome,
instead, permitting the court decision in his favor to go to appeal. But it
also said that this decision raised "the difficult point of indefinite immunity
while reconciled to the likelihood of the general's release, said that "the
best outcome of the past two weeks of living under arrest and uncertainty is
that the general will have to ponder whether he will ever be able to travel
abroad again." The government, it added, should "announce that this man, for
editorial, whether the agreement will expedite peace in the Middle East.
it was intended to close or whether it will provide a necessary catharsis," the
they coped with the ending of white rule, they will again be an inspiration for
sham" to cover up their homosexuality. Meanwhile, the Times reported
constantly covering his body with deodorants, which resulted in a fatal cardiac
notice, seems to have started a new feature called "Dear Dr. Notebook," which
poses and answers questions that arise from the current news. We can't help
started several months earlier. There is nothing proprietary about the name
's "News Quiz" by suggesting that there is any similarity
off the onion of perception, and so on. Could this, we wondered, possibly be an
ceremony of thanksgiving and celebration of Will's achievements to which we
should do about all this. He replied, with simple eloquence, "Have them
killed." But he quickly added, "Unless, of course, that would in any way
"Dispatches" from the courtroom where government lawyers are attempting the
most brazen legal challenge to human progress since the Scopes Trial should be
magazine, its editors, or its advertisers. Especially its
editors'. In fact, we were sitting around the other day trying to recall whose
was free to express his views whatever they may be, no matter how fatuous or
uninformed by the slightest understanding of the free enterprise system, and
and that some of its staff members have young children and very little talent
compassionate company. No one admits to having said to him, "Let the microchips
fall where they may." In fact, no one can recall ever exchanging a word with
and business departments such as "Moneybox" and "Frame Game," along with
's cultural reviews and reportage. Each item in both of
these new deliveries is personally selected for you by 
to you so fresh it gleams. (No waiting around for stale, shopworn news and
Does this really elevate civil discourse in a country in which reasonable minds
appears to favor totalitarian intolerance of conservative
thought. Could you provide some basic instruction to your "journalists" on the
left about minimum civility and respect for those with whom they disagree?
less genially mediocre, we'd probably be more appreciative of your ability to
registered Republican all the years before and mainly because of the present
you sweepingly attribute to those of us who live within this portion of the
presume you have the status, to give away and to disrespect at the same time.
should spank your bottom and put a bar of Lifebuoy in your mouth), you might at
least have picked up a few admirers within these borders, given the thesis
welcome a return of their land, including that small piece of terrain that you
presumably have sufficient mass to be able to occupy. But, as it is, you come
for the pleasure of seeing his name and opinions in print, instead of being a
person who uses words to persuade rather than to malign.
not take these remarks as a reflection upon their general temperament.
the head. You should try being gay and living here. It is kinda like being a
a lawsuit in which a man is suing a woman for becoming pregnant against his
that she became pregnant accidentally. That factual issue may be settled at
trial, but it seems that there is a larger legal issue well worth addressing.
Since court findings of paternity cost the imputed fathers eighteen years'
worth of support, it seems only fair that women be held accountable for any
promises they make about attempting to remain childless. In the absence of
that, a woman's promise to take charge of birth control and then not doing so
remains the only form of monetary fraud Today's Papers can think of that is not
only not punished, but is in fact regularly rewarded.
sexual partners to become pregnant are responsible for taking steps themselves
to prevent pregnancy. Sex without a condom is not an inalienable right of
creating an unwanted pregnancy should do a bit more than whine about how "she
was taking care of it." That tone goes over better for chiding the guy who
though, great column, despite our difference of opinion in sexual politics.
boredom. Sure, the hearing and the trial may be a bit slow, but these writers
are covering something important or else they wouldn't be there. And if they
are bored silly covering such events the traditional way, they should get off
their butts and try talking to someone different and exploring something
said that the king, who has been receiving treatment for lymphatic cancer at
his last days." It added that this prognosis about the king's health had
"snobbish and loquacious by his critics, who say his sentences are often so
long that by the time they end, the listener or reader has forgotten how they
nuclear radiation levels in the Arctic region. The French newspaper described
the trial as worthy of "the good old Soviet times" and said that, because of
suffered intimidation, police harassment, and many other abuses instead of
radiation levels. "His fate ought to disturb all the capitals of the West."
old and new," but added that the political compromises it embodies will slow
should want to lift from itself blame that doesn't belong to it. But it added
nationalism" and has a duty to join in the commemoration.
result. In an editorial, the Times supported her stance.
used when posting gay officials to sexually conservative countries; and a
ambassador has been appointed, if we have any information that he is gay, we
epic The Ten Commandments has long since turned into a pillar of kitsch,
but certain moments in the movie remain improbably vivid. One is the sneering
personal pronoun before "God" signaled a clash of civilizations: The outlook of
Fortress Is Our God" takes for granted the cultural cohesiveness of the
Such locutions have become a pervasive social trope. But it's hard to pin down
just what they now signify. A new polytheism? A divinely sanctioned
ground here. Commentators routinely describe abortion as a matter "between a
in a novel twist, once called abortion a decision between "a man and his God").
contained the sentence "What goes on in this room is strictly between you, your
God, and the Internal Revenue Service." I have seen references to issues that
lie "between me, my scale, and our God" (an article about dieting); "me, my
stylist, and our God" (an article about hair care); and "me and the officer
with the radar trap and our God" (an article about highway speeding). The
about a client's guilt: "His guilt is a matter for him and his God." Echoing
Weekly World News report titled "Teen Hacks Mom to Death With Hatchet
Because She Killed the Toad He Licked to Get High."
The president taking the oath of office has historically spoken the words "so
help me God." But if the evidence of common speech is any guide, the idea of
God has been rapidly devolving from the generalized to the particular, from the
awesomely abstract to the intensely (even idiosyncratically) personal.
always been a tension between these two concepts of God. I brought the matter
Prize for nonfiction. Miles sets the situation into historical context: "What
combined two functions previously separate: on the one hand, the function of
were concentrated on one man or woman but whose powers were also limited; on
attention to any individual man or woman was slight or unpredictable but whose
powers were universal. Before this historic synthesis, you got either one or
the other. After it, you had the electrifying possibility that the top
God was also our God and even my personal God. After it, of
course, you also had the whole range of unanswerable questions of the sort 'How
undone? Even as a great deal of the "top God" discussion drifts into remote
realms of cosmology, much of the "my God" discussion becomes ever more
of a personal God, and this continues to be reflected in the heartfelt speech
begin with. She replies, "But the God I don't believe in is a good God, a just
a different sort of personalized God, the customized kind that one acquires as
one might a personal trainer, though the workouts often are not as strenuous.
This latter sort of personalized God may amount at best to a synonym for
"conscience" or "serenity." The dark analogs of the personalized God are one's
used to go by the nontechnical terms Bad Behavior or Guilt or simply Evil.
fragmentation of the concept of divinity itself. Thus, writing in The New
monotheism into "genetic polytheism," in which personal behavior is
attributable to an individualized genetic pantheon. Where once there was a God
of Anger, now there is a gene of aggression. Where once there was a God of
module, which is not so much polytheistic as polymorphous. According to
the temporal lobe the stimulation of which, sometimes manifested in the form of
seizures, can now be correlated with certain intangible mental experiences. One
team's findings late last year at the annual meeting of the Society of
Neuroscience, stated, "We like to suggest there may be neural circuits in the
temporal lobe that may be part of the machinery of the brain that is involved
in mystical experiences and God." The researchers have christened these neural
circuits the "God module." "Now this is a matter between me, the two people I
inordinately attentive to my viewing habits. As a member of the National
to stay mum, so as to keep my voting options open, but it's hard for a guy
should be awarded a rubber chicken for irradiating us with her yokel devotion
signals with her eyes her exhaustion from keeping them so fiercely in place. It
is a terrible responsibility, upholding her society's values and preventing her
her in town, mocking her sexlessness, "the gander."
character, every prop, every interjection has a precise symbolic function; on
film, those elements no longer stand out in relief. In Dancing at
to build fires, drink to even greater excess than usual, and dance
orgiastically. The rite is liberating but also frightening: Remove a cork from
a bottle so pressurized, and the contents are apt to explode.
barely remembering his English, Jack becomes a rambling (and, to the local
priest, horrific) spokesman for paganism, encouraging all his sisters to
"simple" one, who might or might not be having an affair with a man whose wife
happens on the surface only hints at the titanic plates that shift beneath, but
supreme at conveying what's at stake. They create an indelibly glowering
pictures. In the theater, the radio that crackles on and off signals a world
elsewhere; and when it's repaired and the stage is flooded with music and the
body and halting language. Few films have ever offered so inspired a blend of
has long been venerated for this and other droll '30s entertainments, among
Lately, he has also been scrutinized for being openly homosexual in an era when
Whale was penalized for his sexual preferences. If anything, the director seems
to have suffered from a surfeit of dignity, proving too proud to overcome the
loss of a powerful patron and a couple of ambitious flops. Comfortably rich, he
took to painting and traveling before a series of strokes drove him to drown
testaments, but in Gods and Monsters they're raided for murky fantasy
sequences. In one, the groundskeeper is the monster staggering around with
Whale in his arms; in another, Whale is laid out on a laboratory slab being
operated on by the groundskeeper. What's the metaphor? The script, meanwhile,
is the stuff of bad two character plays, with spurious excuses for conflict
populated his pool) and a long, climactic monologue about a (fictional) wartime
trauma that ostensibly shocked Whale into keeping his past under wraps. In
removes whatever tension the material might have had.
mouth going slack with lust. But Whale's plangent ruminations are slack as
play" ever written. "Something about your face makes me want to tell the
truth." All this mawkishness would likely have annoyed the real Whale, who
exited the world on his own terms and steered clear, in his art, of
armchair with the ticket between his fingers, the shock of his windfall having
fisherman's identity, and the pair will divide the money between
Deciding he'd like to make an eccentric regional comedy with universal themes,
issue (but funny) farcical sight gags and a score of panpipes to provide the
the man from the lottery. I see a future for elderly male actors willing to
shed their clothes for laughs, but I don't see myself in the audience.
sultry musical interludes, bridges that lead out, and bridges that lead
nowhere. The movie, one of the year's most pleasant surprises, is the
evident conviction that life is all dead ends. When her cardiologist husband
clubs, where she dances ecstatically with young women. Living Out Loud
becomes an ode to openness, to letting in everything that the world throws at
you. The movie made me remember why I like Holly Hunter. (I don't always
convincingly, so that the jabbering takes on a life of its own and leaves her
(sometimes horrified) in the dust. I might even vote for her.
trial opened this week, and it wasn't hard to figure out the theme of the
opening statement "a pointed personal attack on the credibility and integrity"
than attack the case the way it has purportedly attacked its competitors, the
company has largely ignored it, instead using its rebuttal opportunities to
proclaim itself a producer of wonderful products and a dogged servant of
Warden associated the company with "the march of progress driven by science and
opponents of my husband." This line of attack, pursued relentlessly over the
report to Congress, polls indicated half the public placed no faith in his
government lawyers know better than millions of consumers, when it comes to
information on this question.) Maybe the company feared it would sully its
image by openly slinging mud at a competitor. Maybe it wanted to deprive
antitrust case was legal rather than political and that judges were the only
antitrust fight as though it were just another marketing campaign.
invited to provide a postelection headline that, in a just universe, would run
would be great for the country but tough on "News Quiz," already perilously low
this piling on, but certainly some of it was heartfelt.) What will we do
flame, if the flame is a trash fire or maybe a pile of old tires. (Sorry,
moth.) But his fall will be swift and extremely amusing, yet brief. Whom will
and a deep contempt for our democratic institutions? Perhaps we need a retreat.
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name on its site in connection with your submission.
freely to insult his victims," but warned that there will many hurdles before
arrest has "strong symbolic weight" and that "treating the decrepit tyrant as a
common criminal and forcing him to explain his actions in the face of
international justice is a lesson not just for him but for all others of his
presidency. "If the former general decided to run the risk of traveling to a
now has found himself under arrest, the error of judgment is his and his
blame for his present predicament. If not, "the Foreign Office acted in a less
that could cause enormous difficulties to a friendly democracy."
the arrest, the conservative Daily Telegraph recalled that "throughout his time in
medical treatment, has now detained him in order to comply with a case brought
arrest reeks of hypocrisy and will "not send shivers down the spines of other
the millions of unfashionable dead in too many unquiet graves."
law, even if he has been able to negotiate immunity in his own country." A
believe that torture and murder can ever be excused for political or economic
reasons," it added. The liberal Guardian highlighted the warmth of his
when he took a party to dinner at the fashionable River Cafe restaurant in
further controversy by making another award to a man closely connected to a
both a primary peace partner and the undisputed leader of his people, the
who, it said, "in wrenching concessions from the intransigent unionists of
chance to record to his credit the political step so needed by his country," it
saying that an eventual ruling by the Supreme Court "is certain to redefine
freedom of information laws as a major challenge to the newspaper industry.
Information from government ministries and agencies will no longer be channeled
exclusively through "press clubs" but will be accessible equally to everyone
via the Internet, it said. "In order to continue serving as stewards of our
right to know, newspapers must reform themselves so that they will be able to
offer news on their pages that is distinguishable from that which can be read
tolerate the movie's saccharine overdose praise the solid performances by
"[It] doesn't make you want to deck the halls as much as deck those responsible
unmarried sisters. Some critics complain that "for all the crinkle and lilt" of
collection of sea changes and splendidly realized small moments rather than a
story of overarching action." (Visit the official site.)
Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science
teams up with another physicist to debunk what they call "postmodern
public interest group despised it. Every Democratic politician railed against
contributions were tainted. But then something funny happened on the way to the
ballot box: Democrats found themselves a new boogeyman to replace the tobacco
and efficiencies everyone agreed the system needed. But during this summer and
ad declared that Republican incumbent Kit Bond would let "insurance company
ran ads saying that incumbent Republican Gov. Jane Hull "has taken tens of
refused to impose any meaningful reforms on an industry that is clearly out of
depicted opponents as shills for the health insurance industry. The issue is
purely political matter, health insurance populism seems all upside for
and don't much like, and the industry has its share of profiteering shysters.
chemotherapy denied to a child with cancer, the accountant who proposed
permitting cataract patients to have surgery on only one eye because you need
Democrats. Republicans in the Senate, after all, did just kill a
told health insurance executives to "get off your wallets." And they did,
right to appeal denial of treatment, no gag rules for doctors, and easier
managed care went private, the Democrats get to inveigh against it, and the
ambivalent about health insurance. When your child gets sick, you naturally
We should have everything, paid for by someone else who shall remain nameless.
Democrats, by pushing regulation without acknowledging its costs, are feeding
guiding philosophy of almost all politics. There is no reason health care
percent higher premiums and that's going to price y thousand customers
out of the health insurance market." But most Republicans, who are as willing
to pander as the next guy (heck, more willing), are afraid to fight on the
merits. Instead, they are countering one boogeyman with another, claiming that
pernicious influence of Anecdotal Politics. The benefits of managed care are
unremarkable and undramatic (lower premiums, more preventive care). But its
costs are visible and awful (denial of and delays in care). The result:
Democratic candidates have terrible tales to tell, and Republicans have nothing
basically content with their own care. But they are more worried about the
a genuinely confusing issue: Should voters believe the anecdotes, which
are real and horrifying, or should they accept the evidence that people
are mostly happy with their own insurance, happy to be paying less, and as
answer to that question. The difficulty for voters is that neither answer is
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
up to the urgent need to take action in the face of the impending
lethargy." Then, "when he finally woke up," he immediately started making phone
that prevented the attack," it explained. It added that, by constantly putting
are good still dominates Western politics," it concluded.
and cancelled within hours, statements issued and promptly retracted, statesmen
announcing their arrival in capitals unprepared to greet them, and leaders
campaigns and duties thousands of miles away." Attempts to base every decision
reality by his Kremlin advisers who sent him reports making his reforms appear
having at least restored free speech to a country that had been deprived of it
whom it quoted as saying that corruption and misappropriation of Western
out of the country and either deposited in Western banks or used to buy
Department about this scandal, he was met only with silence, even though, in
children, the paper said. The proposal angered neighborhood leaders and
Evening Standard hopes the proposal will undermine a deeply
seats. Democrats, with equal chutzpah, will portray anything less as a
upper end of this range, they'll claim victory. If Republicans beat the lower
will use this alibi in nearly every close race. Republicans will claim that
many of their candidates were outspent, if you count the additional "union
will offer this excuse without acknowledging that it implies the public is
still upset with the president's behavior. Simultaneously, they will assert
that the election is a mandate for ending the investigation of the president's
well, considering the backlash against the investigation.
Republicans will offer this excuse without acknowledging that the backlash is
mainstream. Instead, they'll portray it as a surge of turnout among diehard
will point out that the president's party usually loses dozens of congressional
didn't lose those seats in his sixth year is that he lost them in his
houses, it can ignore its relative setbacks and reassert its absolute
the ultimate Democratic fallback. If Democrats lose fewer than five Senate
seats, they'll say they weathered the tide because voters decided not to
sides will use this line. "Close races" are the ones your side won. If a race
looked close but you ended up losing it, then it wasn't really close, so you
admits that his party's candidate lost because of the national party's
Democrat wins, Democrats will say it's because voters liked her positions on
candidate wins, it's because his negative ads distracted voters from the
issues. If your candidate wins, it's because voters agreed that the other
candidate ran negative ads and their candidate didn't and your candidate still
managed to lose, you can always accuse the media of attacking your candidate.
This argument comes in particularly handy when the media have criticized your
positions on taxes and family values. If he loses, it's because he was unfairly
Democratic Party recruits each candidate by telling her that her district
opposes the Republican candidate on the issues. The Democratic candidate spends
a year on the campaign trail repeating this line. Then, on election night, the
candidate and the party claim that she lost because the district was
the least bogus spin. Generally, incumbents do have enormous advantages in
clout, money, and name recognition. But when a challenger has these advantages
and still manages to lose, his party will invoke the "entrenched incumbent"
by saying it was never really a race. If your candidate wasn't blown out, you
be the trademark spin of this year's elections. Everyone knows turnout will be
low. So if you lose, you can always claim that the silent, nonvoting majority
Republicans call the Democratic candidate a liberal. After he wins, they say he
party gets creamed, you can always find comfort in the exit polls. Somewhere in
the blizzard of questions, a couple of findings will suggest that voters sort
of agreed with your party's position on something or other, even if they voted
against all your candidates. And after all, isn't that what really counts?
writer or, for that matter, your own private plane. Does that mean students who
do not get such internships or their own planes are disadvantaged enough to
need them given out by governmental or university administrative decree? Of
rich enough to give you a plane you will have an advantage in procuring these
things. That's life. For the most part, those who really want these things must
earn them. Giving them to some by decree is worse than unfair; it is ultimately
corrupting to the whole ethic of achievement. It subjects those who get these
things unfairly to widespread suspicion of their own abilities and spreads a
damaging cynicism throughout the culture. In place of a flawed value system of
about the successful minority members who go to lesser universities is that,
opportunity to earn success honestly: They are not shut out.
produces a sense of inferiority and insecurity in those it causes to be
announced criterion for admission and never varied from it, the way New York
rules to let in some group of kids who didn't meet that standard. But I have
never heard of a single college or university judging its candidates on the
basis of one simple, straightforward, and publicly stated criterion. Instead,
college admissions procedures are made up of dozens of subjective judgments. At
who are all good but not quite as great. How will the admissions office select
written; how much and what kind of volunteer work was done; notable athletic or
artistic ability; a concern for geographic diversity; recommendations; or the
most entrenched affirmative action program around, whether an applicant's
across the board to everybody except for black kids, and that just isn't
something of a crapshoot. Everyone there knows it, and they don't let it make
them insecure. They accept their luck and get on with their lives. Do the sons
and daughters of alumni feel insecure because the standards used to evaluate
their applications were significantly different (and lower) than those used for
Personally." Her recognition of the grave personal injustice done by the
to arrive at this conclusion. I hope others will follow you.
disappointed that there is no representation in your measurement for popular
sales typically lead to increased classical or jazz music sales,
due mainly to the effect of people feeling compelled to enter a music store and
the Titanic soundtrack, or whatever got them in the door the last
retailers. In the online biz we compete for "eyeballs," but retailers need
recorded music is sold at retail from readily available sources.
a couple of index "points" to compare higher or lower music sales at retail
might be deserved and appropriate to measuring the state of the arts.
Arts Index" left me a bit baffled. Why is it that in the
discussion of film the percentage of dollars allocated to independent films was
noteworthy, but the same wasn't true of music? Or, put another way, why would,
alternative to the mass of media, why let the mass of media (in low or high
not opera or jazz should be all the more reason for your paying attention.
just been reading the dialogue on public figures' private lives. I agree with
Flytrap coverage may be canny rather than hypocritical. The potential outcome
of Flytrap is the impeachment and removal of the president of the United
happening, allowing people whose views differ from mine to have more
"Knowledge is power." While I disagreed with the House Judiciary Committee's
decision to release the president's videotaped testimony before even asking the
questions "Will there be hearings?" and "What's an impeachable offense?" I
watched the tape so that I could understand the spin from both sides and make
up my own mind. I don't think that's hypocritical; I think that's good
Today's Papers made what was written the day before even
more humorous and fun for this reader. Keep up the good work.
justice system lagged in fairness behind (someplace he called) the world
community. Yes, there are problems with our system, and yes, there are some
countries that could teach us a thing or two about them. But my point was I
to be arrested, imprisoned, tried, or sentenced in most countries.
led to regulation and taxation while bypassing the democratic process. Next up:
discipline, and no food to feed its soldiers, the military is falling apart.
huge band of untrained, hungry lugs. Soldiers may soon start looting; a
military coup would be likely if the army could ever organize itself.
and rebels are our best bet for getting rid of him. "Providing military support
not much like his cold parents. The author gets a rare private interview with
Time also advises readers how they can profit from the herbal craze:
cover package ("Does Bill Ford Have a Better Idea?") says the
water. But don't expect them for a few decades. Until gas costs more, consumers
study showing that kids have less free time than ever before: They spend most
of their waking hours on school, homework, and organized sports. Good news:
Kids watch less television. Bad news: "Unstructured play encourages independent
thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their
interested. Pro wrestling used to be merely fake athletic spectacle. Now it is
fake athletic spectacle in which participants are expected to display sexism,
wrestler who "bases his character on the size of his sexual apparatus" and boo
cover story hails forthcoming vaccines. Recent insights into how
our immune system works are making vaccines more effective. Reliable AIDS
vaccines could be ready within a decade; cancer vaccines are further off but
possible. Soon vaccines will be administered by pill, mouthwash, or genetically
fill vacancies at a time of low unemployment, the armed forces are letting in
more candidates who score unacceptably low on the military's intelligence
tests. Luckily, most of these recruits will clean and cook.
personal because of the transformation of parties from fragile coalitions into
benefited little from his strenuous efforts to keep banks solvent. In fact,
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
have a dilemma about being a house guest. It is to flush or not to flush. When
I stayed with an old schoolmate on a business trip, it was in her small
apartment with only one bathroom. Her room was on one side of the loo, and mine
was on the other. I had to go to the bathroom in the early dawn and was torn
about whether to risk waking her with the noise of the flush or protecting the
silence (and trying to catch up with it in the morning, before she
not laughing, she is merely smiling with recognition, having had to consider
the same question on occasion. Decorum and politesse dictate that you opt for
the flush. An exception might be if your host or hostess has mentioned being an
extremely light sleeper who, once awakened, is unable to fall back asleep. An
alternative if you simply can't bring yourself to push the handle down in the
"Please flush." Admittedly this may call for more wakefulness than one may have
given the hour and the circumstance. If you choose silence and can't deal with
long should you date a man before deciding if he is right for you?
be no specified time after which you know if you've found the right partner.
Some people make a good selection almost immediately, just as others can take a
problem as "Dimmer." A good friend, staring at a similar blonde, asked how he
could figure this out fast. I responded with the best indicators I know. Feet,
restaurants. My question is: How much should you tip the wait staff? They don't
take your order or bring your food, but they do bring drinks, remove dishes,
and deliver the check. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
service you receive is not that of a regular restaurant, you might wish to
types of drugs is that men tend to have trouble admitting they have a problem."
many women have a more satisfying sexual experience if unconscious,' explained
naturally vary in both quality and quantity. Fill in the blank, for example,
typically sparks the most responses. Today's question generated only about half
the usual returns, and here's why: It's not very good. And here's whose fault
it is: mine. Devising the question calls for the deft and tactful art of the
matter of lobbing one over the plate for you to hit out of the park. It's
putting one over the plate that, when you clobber it, erupts in a shower of
confetti that coalesces into a single scarlet flamingo that flies over to the
admissions of inadequacy; it's like pleading guilty to a burglary so you won't
get nailed for a murder. Incidentally, the most common response was, as many of
you suspected, jokes about men's reluctance to ask for directions. However,
distinguished from medicines that relieve pain or cure illness, many drugs in
this category have failed to meet financial expectations. Drugs to promote hair
tend to abandon such remedies if they're not immediately effective.
particular target audience. It just triggers all the things they want to think
advertising strategy for Beck's beer; she does not say if this would have been
hard to think about whether that stereotype is realistic. As long as you, as a
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
take these types of drugs is that men tend to have trouble admitting they have
course, the juxtaposition of childish amusements and adult ornamentation that
makes this list so pleasingly perverse. Similarly, it is the odd juxtaposition
of references that makes "News Quiz" responses so perversely pleasing: (click
wonderfully, such as in this excerpt from "The Scrolls": "Whosoever shall not
fall by the sword or by famine shall fall by pestilence, so why bother
shaving?" Now, sadly, his personal life is itself reduced to a comic
juxtaposition. And if you enjoy that sort of thing, here's a little
juxtaposition game you can play when you spot odd pairings of the bald and the
beautiful; it's a betting game called "Date or Daughter?" Enjoy.
News, but wouldn't you be more inclined to watch if he were?)
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
sister. Well, actually, about her boyfriend. She's been seeing someone
exclusively for more than a year. It's exclusive on her part, but everybody
knows he is cheating on her. That is not the only problem. He belittles her in
public and is quite a cheapskate. I have gently tried to tell her she is too
helpless, and I worry for her. I am the older sister, if you hadn't guessed. Is
the kind of bystander you are is helpless because people in these
transcendentally horny louses, but outside observers don't get a vote.
sister, alas, does not regard Lover Boy as a problem. Yet. But have hope. The
day will come when your sib will see things clearly for herself, and her loving
sister will be there to help her pick up the pieces. Since you have gone on
be the vocal equivalent of throwing good money after bad.
teams, and my problem has to do with my traveling partner. We are in the air a
lot, and in hotels and restaurants. I am mortified much of the time because
herself to the little liquor bottles (she doesn't drink) and those plastic salt
and pepper things. In restaurants she cleans out the bread basket and transfers
when she is seen doing this people think we are a pair of nuts (and assume
she's doing it for both of us), and I also worry that this is stealing. Can you
help me come to terms with this situation? Thank you.
brown sugar packets in restaurant sugar bowls. While never having had the
there is a paper napkin for wrapping. If one was to filch a cloth napkin, that
of food put on the table, you should know, is not dishonest. The two of you
have essentially paid for everything served to you. Granted, most twosomes
would not polish off the entire contents of a bread basket, but it is
the diners'. The same is true for the airplane offerings.
your associate thinks she is engaging in petty larceny and gets her jollies
from purloined rolls, indulge her, knowing that it is a harmless habit.
with business people difficult. Example: Just the other day I called a salesman
regarding refinancing the house and left my name and number. When he called
with his clients. He then continued to call me John throughout his explanation
he finished I told him, again, I did not wish to be called John. He became
People who presume to use a first name in a business call seem thoughtless.
someone who is unknown to you is presumptuous, disrespectful, and improper.
transaction is no loss. Surely you will find someone with equal skills who will
address, "Do we know each other?" This is usually sufficient for them to swing
goes on we are becoming closer and spending more time together. The problem is
this: Most of them smoke, and I do not. When we go out to dinner we always sit
in the smoking section. When I visit their homes, they smoke constantly. When
they come to my home, they are forever going out to the balcony to smoke. I
know that breathing this smoke is harmful to me. Normally I avoid smoke, yet I
question is, should I consider my own health and the fact that when I am with
them I am inhaling probably a pack of cigarettes? Should I stop seeing them? I
don't really want this, but what else to do? Yes, I could ask them not to
smoke, but since there are five of them who do smoke, it seems like the
crowd is hazardous to your health, the deleterious effects of secondhand smoke
interesting that this clique is composed entirely of smokers. There is a slim
possibility that your chums, out of affection for you, will not smoke in your
presence and would give up the smoking section in restaurants. Failing that,
bear in mind that the concept of majority rule applies to elections and
expression: Once your head is cut off, there is no use crying about your hair.
employ racial pejoratives freely and even playfully. But the exemption has been
strained to breaking point in Flytrap, as black intellectuals struggle to
they feel historically vulnerable to invasions of privacy like those committed
came from "a broken home" with "an alcoholic mother."
muster as a parlor game, but it's lame as political analysis. The notion that
reminds them of unwed motherhood trades on noxious racial stereotypes and
decisions. It also shortchanges the White House, which conducted a brilliant
pollster worth his paycheck knows that political approval ratings are based
him as the "blackest" president of all time. This point is borne out in this
week's poll results from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in
criminals he wants as long as black economic fortunes remain good. Combine
House helped itself with a brilliant outreach campaign that went around the
sometimes surly Congressional Black Caucus and reached black voters directly
through their ministers and churches. The office that carried out this plan was
effort so well that she was later named secretary of Labor. While at the White
House, her job included bringing in powerful black ministers, who were more
among its constituents, the Congressional Black Caucus scrambled to the front
dinners. He delivered his toughest talks on welfare from church pulpits. He
realized intuitively what many Democrats and the Republicans have always failed
crime, intolerant of social pathology, and deeply scornful of the traditional
black Southerners, have endured political contempt for so long that many of
them have come to assume that any white person who treats them with respect
way of being not only goes too far but is also sociologically imprecise.
grew up close to black people, with open access to black culture, a lot of
personal style and patterns travel easily from one black community to another.
Congress is going to get out of the Flytrap mess. What's the exit strategy?
After five minutes, when the entire country has fallen into a deep slumber, the
House can drop the matter. When everyone wakes up, we can pretend it was all
Democrats and Republicans seem weirdly hopeful about today's House Judiciary
Committee meeting, the first and perhaps only major impeachment hearing.
Democrats, who are still enjoying their postelection gloat, know they have won
of the committee and who willfully refuse to learn anything from the election,
actually tells reporters that today is important because "It's finally an
spin is the Republican's only hope, that this time will be different.
a camera crew. He has special access and lurks on the dais behind Democratic
hearing opens with the kind of vitriol everyone has anticipated. As soon as
yield!" It is all very promising and becomes even more so when the ranking
at the independent counsel, who's seated below him at the witness table,
page prepared statement in a monotone. He reads excruciatingly slowly. I
pursued it as he did, how the president lied, etc. I imagine the network news
The attention of the committee members wanders. I begin to
was putting his own guys to sleep." The principal and persuasive Democratic
tic: He uses adverbs to drag everything out. He does not "dispute," he "utterly
disputes." Something is not "misleading," it is "grossly misleading.")
The interrogation by members that follows is equally
not yet taken their turns.) Each member gets five minutes, which, after a windy
introduction, turns out to be time for two questions. Republicans generally
partisan attack, then toss him softballs about whether the rule of law should
apply to everyone equally. (His surprising answer: It should.)
embarrassments. One member wants to know what leaks his office made, another
an afternoon break, he tells a crowd of reporters that the day is useless.
surrender. "The horse is dying, and the logical thing to do is shoot it. But
the right wing says 'No, no, we'll paint stripes on it and call it a zebra.'
They just won't accept defeat." And because they hold the committee majority,
"They are not going to give up without voting out an article of
something, anything, to make the scandal viable again. In the last few days
own reputation has been ruined by the news of his adultery, his committee is in
shambles, there is no way out of the Flytrap mess, but what can he do? Still
acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune should not upon
returning from his honeymoon let his wife work out at the gym with Jerry
Club. Before the newlyweds had time to unpack all their new china, the
alienation of affection suit against the comedian but finally decided to simply
perfidiously: He hadn't had "good sex" since last year when he broke up with
also tout the "shocking" resemblance between the two women but are
uncharacteristically restrained in neglecting to mention that there is one (or,
school, has recently launched her own line of lingerie.
did a possible assassin. Citing grand jury testimony, the publication describes
on the guest list, rushed up to the employee and said, "We have to find her
in exercise clothes. Since she was last seen in public, the former White House
appearance that the tabs, which luridly chronicle every celebrity chin waddle
and thigh dimple, are now expressing concern about her and other stick figure
dieting and compulsive exercising that the show's producers have cut back on
to say that she enjoys gorging on junk food. Such denials are usually a prelude
also report that two celebrity spouses couldn't quite wait until their dearly
beloved's bodies were fully cold before finding that they could learn to love
He even threatened to take the body of his dead wife home. Perhaps he could
not have won the cooperation of so many of their friends without the couple's
by the end of the year at a secret laboratory on an island off the coast of
are getting fed up with women who have become rich and famous by telling
everyone else how to be better. All three tabs have run stories about the nude
filed suit claiming that she owned the photos, and they were temporarily taken
memorable phrase, used to thrash around "like a couple of crazed weasels."
too big for your britches!" Actually, part of the problem is that fans liked
Vogue cover model. They are also sick of her constant preaching on
thinking she's been given a specific mission on Earth."
The publication says female residents wake in the middle of the night when they
and celebrity. If anyone was not in a position to give us insight into
doesn't go to big premieres or Academy Award parties, and Celebrity is
his idea of what he's missing. The movie, which was the celebrity studded
opening night attraction of the New York Film Festival and will soon arrive at
me is why it still adds up to something so anemic and coldly distasteful." It's
conflicted about the work of an artist, even one whose technical and emotional
exhilaratingly at odds with the degeneracy being portrayed. Episode after
episode has a pleasing shape, with wittily protracted takes and on the button
who's also peddling an action screenplay ("but with a strong personal crisis").
Lee comes on to virtually every beautiful woman he meets and has an amazing
amount of success for someone so otherwise unsuccessful and so thickened with
mimetic turn allows him to skip along the surface of the part while people in
wrote a brilliant short story about a man who goes to the hospital to visit a
dying acquaintance and then returns on a daily basis, portraying himself as a
to explain himself, Lee can only stammer incoherently. In Long Day's Journey
protective. The very idea of public culture seems to fill him with dread, and
it's hard to think of a single piece of meaningful social intercourse in the
vulgarians and exhibitionistic freaks. She becomes a celebrity and achieves
appearance is the highlight of the picture. He's meant to embody everything
shallow and psychotic about stardom (the conception is out of tabloid tales of
another but never comes close to wholeness. His one attempt at something
on liberals and the counterculture, before it was revealed that the young
woman's disturbed psyche had more to do with the nocturnal visits of her
ridicules plastic surgeons and the aging, wealthy women who cling and kowtow to
younger starlets, a man who argues that taking up with a girl barely out of her
"an armored car robbery, but with a strong personal crisis." That sounds a
question the meaning of their existence. Well, not really: The audience gets
heads casually blown off that it's hard to care who's doing what to whom and
shorthand syntax of a '90s thriller. It has a gritty feel and a tight,
people are blown away, cars go careening down twisty French streets, and
a point of view. (Or does he want us to think that his emotionless linearity is
sexual indiscretion but gets more than he bargained for when the distraught
husband of his mistress commits suicide and makes it look like a murder
bunch of killings he didn't commit, including those of a prolific serial
bonhomie grow more hilariously creepy with each passing corpse.
weds an epic, sometimes visionary, depiction of the afterlife to a script and
story with fewer psychological layers than the average Hallmark card. Featuring
the random deaths of young children, fatal automobile accidents, a suicide, and
a movie can be without literally emitting mustard gas.
article it said that the Ministry of Construction and Housing had published
officials say they believe they have the prime minister's commitment not do
so," the paper said. On the subject dominating most of the Middle Eastern and
the reopening of all gas mask distribution centers and the updating of chemical
warfare protection kits were merely a precaution, the paper reported. An
violence in periods between the first steps toward genuine peace and its actual
is no doubt that, in time, peace will indeed be at hand."
his enemies had called him only a few days ago, has now decided to deliver "a
"truly resumed the leadership of the world," has decided to go ahead on his
has two years to create for himself a place in the history books other than
first strike would therefore only be the prelude to a long offensive."
the United States. "It is difficult to propose mediation when one doesn't
understand the position of one of the parties," it quoted a French government
source as saying. But Libration added that, despite its
experts, unimpeded authority, and an unrestricted timetable," the paper said.
the committee could surprise everyone and accomplish something tangible in the
made against you by the judge presiding over your grand jury. As you know,
denying those leaks. You have maintained that any communications from you or
keep their sources of information confidential if they have promised
confidentiality. But news sources are free to release reporters from this
would you be willing, right here today, under oath, to tell all the reporters,
any communications between them and you confidential? And will you, right here,
how they might protect your confidentiality even if you did have to release
them publicly from any promises. This way, these reporters could be asked
you've been unfairly accused, as you insist, sir, you should want these
not tell them. And, of course, if you never leaked anything illegally to them
and never swore them to confidentiality, there is no harm in releasing them
the reporters. The questioning would not be the kind of "who were your sources"
fishing expedition that should trouble anyone who worries about a free press.
repeatedly claimed that they have nothing to worry about if these or any other
dispatch, we learn how gambling's foes seek to demonize wagering as a
euphemism: She begins referring to the "gaming industry."
panels on teen gambling, compulsive gambling, gambling regulation, gambling
marketing, and gambling credit practices. It is tough slogging, but for the
casinos, theaters, restaurants, arcades, discos, cabarets, theme parks, concert
halls, sports arenas, and museums into one giant orgy of amusement, have been
meanwhile, cry that gambling is like cigarettes: unsafe for kids, viciously
addictive, deceptively marketed, unhealthy, expensive, and unacceptable unless
conversations with most of the commissioners, the tobacco model is winning.
Today's panelists tell the commission that kids are starting to gamble too
young and are getting addicted too easily, that compulsive gambling appears to
be increasing as gambling spreads, that gambling marketing may be designed to
addict customers, and that the industry exploits problem gamblers by allowing
testimony clearly impresses the commissioners and seems especially to impress
starting to become clear what that report will say. The commission won't (and
can't) take any grand stand against gambling. Instead it will opt for small,
targeted policies, concentrating on compulsive gambling. It will probably
that casinos take much stronger measures to bar problem gamblers from wagering.
The commission may recommend that gaming taxes be used to underwrite treatment
of pathological gamblers and that insurance companies be encouraged to cover
gambling addiction. Similarly, the commission will try to reduce gamblers'
access to cash by limiting the size of ATM advances and prodding casinos to
The commission will also push the industry to do more to
gambling and will probably try to ban or severely regulate Internet gambling,
perhaps by forbidding gambling companies from running online casinos. It will
rebuke state lotteries for their deceptive marketing and will try to force them
to post odds and stop targeting the poor. In short, it will treat gambling as a
happily endorse such a report. Gamblers don't quite accept the cigarette
happy to sign on to the specific measures. The casino industry is even trying
to get ahead of the commission. It has already established a (mostly)
independent center to fund research into pathological gambling. I suspect that
the industry will not only agree to the commission's recommendations but will
become their strongest advocate. Casino owners will avidly lobby Congress and
state legislatures to enact the recommendations into law.
problem of compulsive gambling, blaming it on psychological abnormality rather
the casinos will (falsely) appear more concerned with the health of their
cigarette agenda will also distract the commission and the public from the true
states, and bought senators and representatives by the crate. What the
commission ought to be investigating is whether the gambling industry has
become so powerful that it's politically untouchable. But it can't, because the
gambling industry has become so powerful that it's politically untouchable.
The antis can call gambling "tobacco." They can call it
"vice." They can call it "a big red balloon" for all that the industry cares.
As long as the commission just nibbles around the edges, the casino operators
win credit for cooperating, without having to do anything that really hurts.
play along with this commission's timid recommendations, they'll be safe for
National Gambling Impact Study Commission has already lost. The sign reads:
"gambling" was too crude, too avaricious, to describe their fair business. So
who controls language controls ideas, and at today's commission hearing, it is
perfectly clear who controls the language. Video slot machines crammed into
if they're having trouble mastering the rules of Monopoly. And the National
Gambling Impact Study Commission is reborn as the National Gaming Impact Study
The gambling industry did everything in its power to stop
the establishment of this commission two years ago, but Congress and a fervent
impact of gambling, and it will issue a final report to Congress and the
onerous regulations and taxes the commission might recommend.
contributions and issue ads. It has never been fatter, happier, or more
goodness, no politician can withstand their resources," Focus on the Family's
"Our report won't be acted on by the president or Congress. They are too
heavily influenced by gambling money. Almost all the leaders of Congress are on
the dole." It has also become obvious that the commission has too many
has been transformed from a charged political event to a kind of victory lap
planning for these hearings for months, hoping to use them to demonstrate the
no doubt hoped, stunned some of the gambling opponents. I asked one
afford monogrammed shirt cuffs --I saw them), holds forth cheerfully
outside the ballroom, celebrating the electoral triumph of freedom over
Better Life." They are members of the major casino union, here to cheer on
their employers and their union. (Most of them, it must be said, are getting
hearing by assuring the crowd that the committee is toothless: "We're not here
you'd better leave it alone! The local government, by all appearances a wholly
owned subsidiary of the casinos, puts on a bravura performance. Gov. Miller
industry, especially its regulation (much stricter than other gambling states)
and its use of gambling taxes to fund state services. It is one of the ironies
Ensign) end up crediting their state's success to government regulation and
also a fair share of gleeful gambling regulators, bookmakers, and casino
employees among the panels of expert witnesses the commission hears from.
Critics who gripe about the perils of sports gambling and the evils of
including the gambling industry shills, agrees that Internet gambling is evil
making any money off Internet gambling. If they were, you can be sure they
regulated and taxed. One tribal chief I spoke to calls this "red baiting."
observation: I am sitting right behind the witnesses, and after a while I begin
to separate them into the Wides and the Narrows. The Wides are men in suits
with enormous backs and enormous bellies, men who eat and eat and used to play
football. They all testify to their love of gambling. The Narrows are thin and
generally disapprove of it. I begin to wonder whether fondness for gambling
correlates with general indulgence, and dislike correlates with asceticism, and
last hour of the day, the public comment period, the union sends a parade of
casino employees to the microphone to hallelujah the gaming industry.
union casino with high pay, free medical insurance, a pension, and "now I am
buying a house." The stories are intensely moving, by far the most persuasive
air, it's impossible not to be charmed by the chief gambling opponent, the Rev.
founded the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, the primary force
has just renamed it the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, tacitly
recognizing that gambling is here to stay.) He is a genial motormouth and
shameless promoter of the cause. He wears a gigantic "CasiNO" button in the
casino. He posed for People in a shepherd's robe. He says "I would do
anything short of lighting myself on fire in the Capitol rotunda to stop
gambling." He is so excitable that I have to yank him out of the way of an
oncoming car when he gets too wrapped up in one of his soliloquies.
Mirage," they call it. For two hours, we cruise the streets behind the casinos.
They show me all the evidence of gambling blight you'd never want to see, from
casinos to quickie motels. All the while, they keep up a patter about how
grim and mostly persuasive. Still, when we turn back on to the Strip, and pass
Strip, no one wants to hear about losers. In the land of gaming, not
says the film "has the soul of a guidance counselor." Read his review here.)
or an insult to the murdered millions? The critics are evenly split on
Those in favor say the film is really a fable about parental love, since
horrors of World War II. Other critics contend "turning even a small corner of
defends the film. Free registration required. Click here for
because it is not a romance but the story of a friendship. Dourer
reproduction of his studio, leaves no doubt as to Pollock's importance to
is hailed as a masterpiece by some, given mixed reviews by others. This time,
the usual cast of unappealing caricatures. Praise is tempered with complaints
still be seen less than half a mile from my house--
serious novel. His life story enhances this image of fragile purity: He's a
late bloomer who didn't publish a mature work until his 50s and didn't become
famous until his 60s. His picture in the New York Times had something to
has attracted a zealous international following. Besides, when journalists
his readers a taste of the exquisite high you get when you first fall in love
with books. No matter where you sit down with one of his novels, you feel like
you're up past bedtime, reading with a flashlight, taking a break from your
humdrum life to commune with something magic and deep and eternal. The irony is
reminder of classic literature. He's a good writer, occasionally a great
writer, but mostly he's a pop star of a writer, working the crowd into states
about people, Year of the Death and History are about writing and
obsessive, curiosity about human emotion. Conventional literary history says
English, tells the fantastic story of an epidemic that leaves the whole world
people love when disaster upsets the social norms. (The answer is atrociously,
dictatorship. Lately he's supported agrarian reform in Brazil, and last March
fair to deliver a speech on what it means to be a Communist writer today. His
party affiliation made the Wall Street Journal so apoplectic that it
Prize. But he is a most modest militant: At this point in history, he said,
communism is essentially a "spiritual state," a compassionate safeguard against
labyrinthine histories. In fact, we often know next to nothing about his
characters, except that they are lonely, bookish rolling stones who gather no
either sweetly have sex with the men or else show them how to settle down.)
when the shy proofreader hero, a bachelor in his 50s, is working at home. The
television plays silently in the background, and the proofreader looks over and
gesture as if to thank him, now he could sing, and sing he did, he sang of
things only someone who has lived can sing of, and asks himself how much and
for what, someone who has loved and asks himself who and why, and, having asked
all these questions, he can find no answer, not one, contrary to the belief
that all the answers are there and that all we have to do is to learn how to
who are lovable but archetypal and abstract. All these qualities critics have
novel usually demands a few days. At some point, ideally, the novel should go
is too impressive for that. He can get a little precious, though, and his
last weekend; I also wondered at a few points if, with his brand of cute
tune, or at least the literary equivalent, and it sure is catchy.
explicit about what he thinks a novel should be. He published essays expounding
realistic narrative can portray the world persuasively. Twentieth century
Bonfire demonstrated, the form retains great vitality and has the
commercial success of that book, no other writer has responded to the call.
Full is a white businessman who lives in sumptuous surroundings that
include a pretty wife whom he seems to need to be introduced to. The year is
Master of the Universe who has run into a heap o' trouble. Having erected a
than its liabilities. Vultures circle the hero, who is not inclined to
chug toward each other. There is the same theme of legal error and even some of
the same jokes, such as a reference to the heavy metal band "Pus Casserole."
caricature, though the minor ones, including all the women, are still cartoons.
Business is about virility, politics about manipulation, women about men's
understanding of psychology has developed a greater degree of nuance. The
work inside a frozen foods warehouse, where wheezing lugs destroy their health
bankers try to break a defaulting debtor down psychologically, is brilliantly
from the suite to the streets, you search in vain for false notes.
a finger on. I was borne along very merrily, and in fact wanted to do little
else but read the novel until I was finished. But this book didn't affect me in
sophisticated entertainment rather than literature. The problem may be writing
reportage. At moments it seems the wrong container. He has a tendency to try to
cram too many tiny figures into an overcrowded canvas. For instance, his
tiny apartments and take odious jobs in chicken processing plants that white
infusing his tale with characteristic wit, verve, and narrative propulsion. But
characterization and a tendency toward sentimentality, is his decency. Dickens
was decent in the way he wrote about people, and he recommended decency as a
But what horrifies the reader is that these sympathetic figures should sink
1950s). Fanon is a primitive grotesque, a grunting monster.
the causality running in the other direction. In his novels, prisons and
ghettos reflect the low nature of their inhabitants. It is beasts that make the
where Fanon grew up, making such a character plausible. But he gets way more
juice out of the brutality such a character embodies than from exploring how he
society that allows this to happen. Returning from his tour of hell, he tells
and status, yet at the same time, his cleverest moments come from indulging in,
not just exposing, invidious distinctions and superficial judgments. The reader
is led to despise one character because of his bad taste in neckties, but not
the potential of this kind of novel, one that takes us through unexplored
precincts of our own society while spinning a good yarn. But society awaits a
election victory last year, was "outed" last week on television, and
Agriculture Secretary Nick Brown outed himself on the weekend after a former
or fear them, or wish to pillory them," but because "the public has a right to
know how many homosexuals occupy positions of high power." It went on, "Their
Members of Parliament, even ministers, are beholden to others for reasons other
as a new public tolerance in the generally favorable response to Brown's
lagging behind the electorate whose mores reflect a more forgiving view of what
tabloids effectively to "out" a Cabinet minister and another to announce "that
homosexuality is a state of being so unremarkable that it is astonishing that
News of the World 's outing of Brown, the Guardian said in an
thinks might be useful to the promotion of his business interests. He berates
them or threatens to withdraw his affections when they do not jump with
preventing the army from taking action against at least five new hilltop
signed two weeks ago. "Other than confiscating a single tractor last
security than in the security of their country. "The new notion of personal
environment," he wrote. But he warned against this tendency, saying that
acquire better defenses against less concrete and immediate threats could be
popping up elsewhere: not just among the conservative defenders of the Old
Ball, a scion of slave owners, won a National Book Award last week for
marvels that he may possess thousands of black "blood kin" who are descended
relationship may have lasted decades, the story has taken on a romantic
teaching, as the Associated Press reported, that "most slaves were happy in
captivity and that many served as loyal Southern soldiers." According to one
Sunny Slavery Scenario is nonsense. Few slaves fought for the Confederacy,
troops arrived to liberate them. They considered it a deliverance of biblical
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. ("We would never
and, obviously, this class has done that," the college's president said.) What
question, historians have never agreed. Opinions have shifted with the
prevailing political and cultural winds, and the issue remains alive.
the left is as responsible as the right. Confederate enthusiasts have made free
use of liberal arguments for academic freedom, tolerance, and multiculturalism.
They say they are just exercising their right to teach their version of events.
("Everybody can celebrate their culture, but we can't," groused another course
course, were whites who in general believed themselves innately superior to
academic historians portrayed slavery as a benevolent, paternalistic
institution that benefited blacks by civilizing them. In this view, it was
whites who suffered under the slave system, since before the Civil War, slavery
had become far less profitable than the North's capitalist labor arrangements.
Yet slave owners selflessly bore this burden so their slaves could enjoy
appreciate the experience. He noted their rebelliousness: their efforts to rise
up and throw off their shackles, the ways they cagily resisted their work
requirements, the lengths they went to in feigning contentment to elude
their wills being broken or their psyches damaged. Liberal social scientists
the barriers that were impeding black advancement in the 1960s.
illegitimacy. He called for governmental action to undo the damage.
members were sold or assigned to different plantations, were remarkably
but as creators of a vibrant life. While obviously constrained by their
bondage, blacks nonetheless forged a culture rich with religious observances,
by making slaves, at long last, central and even powerful players in shaping
Confederate Veterans, that slaves were happy in their condition as slaves. But
they might agree that slaves were sometimes happy despite their
condition as slaves. And it's here that the New Left's scrupulous scholarship
inadvertently dovetails with the right's racist interpretations. Thanks to
"Slaves Were Happy," as the New York Times headline put it, is not
just like whites except for their subjugation reflected the tenets of postwar
liberalism. In the era of black power, New Left assertions that slaves made
their own lives resonated loudly. Today we have a therapeutic culture. The
of the Confederacy just want to tell their side of the story, school officials
worry about offending the community, and Ed Ball, inspired by the confirmation
of shared blood, wants to use his book profits to fund interracial dialogue.
Slavery has returned as little more than a failure to communicate.
invitation to testify in the impeachment inquiry, according to his
censure as a compromise because, while expedient, it's toothless and not
toothless and not specified in the Constitution, it's expedient.
ever, producing the biggest financial services company in the world in terms of
multimillion dollar bonuses to keep them in the fold. The bad news: Five
thousand five hundred employees, including administrative staff and some
Reporters who have been so desperate for political news that they have been
independent counsel to investigate whether Vice President Al Gore violated
nixed the investigation because, as she says, "The evidence fails to provide
any reasonable basis for a conclusion that the vice president may have lied."
crimes were part of his job as head of state. But the judges ruled that
"torture of his own subjects or of aliens would not be regarded by
rights activists celebrated the ruling as a breakthrough for international law
"constant, demonizing, negative campaigning" of this year's elections. Analysts
under discussion for the past month, emboldened the allies to testify against
coverage of the deal, see this "Moneybox" and this "Dispatch"
propose to add to the volume of punditry on such questions. But I can add a
footnote on the question of what it was like being an innocent in the White
mean not just "not guilty" but also "unaware" or "naive."
situation. Only a little before that I had held a press conference announcing
that the economic statistics of the first quarter were the best in recorded
next two years, up almost to the last days, I could see the cloud getting
premature end. For one thing, I had my own experience with the extent of bias
friendly relations with many reporters. I was then associated with the
Committee for Economic Development, the least conservative of the business
organizations, and we were the "good guys" to the liberal press. But these same
reporters became my enemies and, I felt, misrepresented me as soon as it became
likable boy, but I put no great stock in his professionalism or objectivity. So
I did not believe the press was giving an accurate account of what had
that everything was going to come out all right. I don't believe anyone was
had honored me by making me member and then chairman of his Council of Economic
Advisers. He had treated me with respect and offered me his friendship. I was
unwilling to believe that he had behaved in a way that a committee of Congress,
even one composed mainly of his political enemies, would consider deserving of
Garment, then the president's counsel, he said the president was in trouble and
asked whether we couldn't have some kind of economic spectacular to help
bolster his public support. Perhaps because I didn't have enough imagination, I
the wittiest words I ever heard from him: "Yes, you can, if it's frozen."
economic situation continued to deteriorate and, as I now see, so did the
economic policy. The president wanted his economic team, thus fortified, to
produce a dramatic economic policy that would improve the nation's economy and
repeatedly asked us to reconsider. After several uncomfortable weeks he
decided, without the benefit of his economists, to impose the freeze anyway. It
was an immediate flop and did not last long. Then we reverted to unspectacular,
to perform his duties in what was surely a time of great stress for him. Of
course, I was not an intimate, and I did not see him in his private moments.
But still, I had many meetings with him, and he showed no signs of distraction
or impatience. He would take notes on his yellow pad and sum up the sense of
our meetings in an orderly manner, as he had always done.
address as president before his resignation message. The speech was long and, I
impeachment extremely likely. Two weeks later my wife, my son, and I were in
is wrongfully targeted by rogue National Security Agency operatives) stretches
credibility in places, but overall the film is said to be "enormously
full of cool technology and big explosions, and there's so much creepy
(Paramount Pictures). Mixed reviews on this spinoff of
the animated Nickelodeon series featuring a pack of wisecracking toddlers. Some
complain that the film doesn't do much to entertain parents and observe that
down the pike since Buckwheat, Alfalfa, and the Our Gang gang"
warms the cockles of critics' hearts. Featuring the talents of a largely over
in a neighbor's lottery ticket after his death. Critics' favorite scene: the
charmed: "I see a future for elderly male actors willing to shed their clothes
for laughs, but I don't see myself in the audience." Read the rest of his
film of the season is said to be head and thorax above its predecessor,
obsessively detailed both the horrific deterioration of normal life as well as
writes in the New York Times Book Review that "even the reader familiar
with Holocaust material must be gripped by these pages" and that the book has a
"concrete, vivid power that is, and I think will remain, unsurpassed." (Read
more about this book in the publisher's online catalog.)
toward oversimplification of race relations and an overly nostalgic take on the
the media that you surpassed them. For the most part, that's true. But spin can
also be profound. It can address more than who's up and who's down. It can
redefine people, issues, and events by rotating their facets so that people see
them from new perspectives. For this reason, the contest of interpretation that
terms such as "liberal" and "welfare state" to caricature and marginalize his
enemies. Now the tables are turned. The word "conservative" is being
word, and conservatives could go the way of liberals.
opening another: "Why are all the Republicans except the Bush boys losing?"
took up this question and, over the next two hours, hammered out a consensus:
"Moderate" Republicans were winning, while "ideologues" were losing. The Bush
boys became Exhibits A and B. As network anchors and analysts batted around and
refined the theory, the previously sacrosanct C word began to creep into the
congressional wing that's been dominated by conservative ideologues." By
conventional wisdom that the losers were "Republican conservatives."
should spread "a broader tent." Gloomy conservative pundits, eager to finger
culprits, accused congressional Republicans of having provoked needless
a human face," which was crushed by Soviet tanks in 1968--conveyed three
corrosive messages: that conservatism lacked compassion to begin with, that
conservatives couldn't tolerate compassion, and that for this reason,
moderates," citing the Bushes and other Republican governors as leaders of the
asking whether "we're going to see a real power struggle now between moderate
and as a philosophy, is in deep trouble. This is what happened to liberalism
two decades ago: It became associated with everything on the left that seemed
immoderate. If, conversely, conservatism were to become associated with
everything on the right that seems immoderate today, the list would include the
precisely the associations pasted on conservatism in the decisive hours after
conservative ideologues with the impeachment inquiry. They portrayed the
candidates losers, and contrasted this with the success of "the centrist,
pragmatic Republican governors." They exalted the Bush brothers' outreach to
weakness, conservatism is being reduced to a synonym for meanness. Even the
pork and was endorsed by the nation's leading gay rights group, is being
celebrated by the New York Times as "a public verdict on the
in contrast to the "conciliatory style" of "moderate" Republicans. Worse yet,
conservatives' enthusiasm for the impeachment inquiry and for moral issues in
general is being framed as a distraction from material concerns such as health
there, emphasized prayer in school rather than jobs for kids who graduate from
more interested in cultural issues, in philosophy and ideology, than they are
in the pragmatic performance of Republican governors."
the maestro of demonization, recognizes this unfolding catastrophe and is
insist that the Bush brothers and other victorious Republican governors such as
these governors shared the congressional Republican agenda enshrined in the
of misrepresenting the victorious governors as moderates rather than
conservatives. And he pointed out that indisputably conservative candidates had
elections a repudiation of conservatism, the media have oversimplified some
winners as moderates and some losers as conservatives. Results that don't fit
majorities in both houses. Meanwhile, plenty of other good explanations have
in the budget negotiations. Others blame Republicans for muting substantive
conservative issues such as education reform in a misguided wager that the
to him and his conservative allies this week is just as unfair as what they've
spent their careers doing to liberals. And just as effective.
speaker and committee chairs mean members are always jockeying for their next
members encourage them to eschew working within the system in favor of making
issue about status. (It follows special issues about money and business travel:
We get the idea, already.) An essay distinguishes between class and status:
and fought for. Accompanying short pieces reveal status symbols for various
banned from the casino; for gay men, an adopted baby; for Catholic priests,
voters, women especially, in almost all the races she worked on. One reason
voting for you.' And so I asked them, 'Why are you voting for me?' And the
deadpan parodies of news stories ("Report: Drug Use Down Among Uncool Kids").
who gets high marks for his positivism and inclusiveness, may succeed in the
zealous prosecutors in search of big game use even pettier crimes to indict
friends of the true target, coercing testimony with the threat of legal
techniques that seem perfectly reasonable when they're applied to murderers or
Mafia dons may be unreasonable when they're applied to speeders, jaywalkers, or
dilemma: If they stay underground, they can't support themselves and they're
and rejected by fans. Sputnik hasn't had to face the latter problem yet.
argues that voters did not reject Republicans because of the way they handled
the scandal. In fact, Democrats won because they have seized congressional
control of issues such as Social Security, Medicare, and education, despite the
strength is its willingness directly to confront troublesome questions of
making the case for conservative principle as the animating force of a
the future of progressive politics. A postelection editorial on ballot measures
movements in local politics. The author argues that these movements, which aim
to bring higher wages and more benefits to workers, are beneficial even if they
force some companies out of the cities that support them.
shown to be "a liar and a philanderer" yet "still he comes back laughing." But
Republicans should pursue impeachment, regardless of the election results: "If
they believed that they had grounds for an inquiry, it should be a thorough
this movement. State voters don't care about parties: They just want
They eat each other." If you are going take the quiz, stop reading now. The answer is a).
war. Once accused of colluding to keep tuition high, the Ivies are now sitting
arsenal. The United Nations' insistence on peace at any cost and the United
States' insistence on containment and sanctions instead of confrontation left
inspections, backed up with an unequivocal threat of military action.
elected president from office, I can't think of it. That's the way they used to
depressing cover story follows the struggle of two parents trying to save their
Health to approve experimental gene therapy, but when the treatment comes it
dismisses charges of social irresponsibility. His latest masterpiece,
packages predicting that consumers will log on to find holiday gifts.
you want, it's often cheaper, and you don't need to find parking.
Continuing its series on the most influential people of the century,
second annual cartoon issue. (Waiter to diners: "Might I suggest the most
expensive wine and the most expensive dinner." Bum to other bum guzzling booze:
"That is not one of the seven habits of highly effective people." Slyly smiling
male brown bear to female white bear at a bar: "Polar? Or simply slow to
warm?") An article traces the evolution of gender politics in New Yorker
cartoons. Decades ago, cartoons frequently featured secretaries warding off
amorous bosses. Today, those amorous bosses are often female. Another piece
crash test dummy woman: "Ma'am, it's your husband. There's been an auto
midterm elections, the National Republican Congressional Committee began airing
Democrats pounced on the ads, calling them a clumsy rehash of old charges and
predicting that they would backfire by antagonizing voters who are sick of the
are actually far more sophisticated than the Democrats admit. But if the press
buys the Democrats' simplistic representation of the ads, they will indeed
they take into account the political reactions that have since transpired: the
process, and the scandal's decline as a news story. The ads counter or, in some
cases, exploit these common reactions, which can be summarized as follows:
attention, suspicion, and denunciation. His surrogates responded by diverting
narrator reminds viewers. The ad never mentions the scandal, nor does it
Republicans captured Congress by framing the election as a referendum on
on the word "balance." "Republicans are the balance we need," says the tag line
of one ad. "For balance, vote Republican," says another.
a textbook frame job: "In every election, there is a big question to think
punishment is in your hands. "Electing Republicans is a way [voters] can punish
think it should be prosecuted by an independent counsel or investigated by
respect this distinction by focusing entirely on morals and lying to the
public. The most striking thing about them is that they avoid any mention of
mention sex, the affair, or anything that ordinary people might deem private.
mother talking to another. "What did you tell your kids?" asks the first woman.
"I didn't know what to say," answers the second. The first woman replies: "It's
merely says they were wrong. This isn't an abstract matter of law, the ad
acknowledges and answers the public's desire to see other issues discussed.
"But aren't there other things to do?" asks the second mother in What Did
You Tell Your Kids? The first mother then explains that "the Republicans
are doing them. They cut taxes, they helped balance the budget, and they're
himself on how long it will take to balance the budget. The ad dwells entirely
on fiscal questions such as Social Security. Only at the end does it show him
and delicacy of the ads is already being overwhelmed by the Democrats'
people and their families and their future." Vice President Al Gore, House
front page. Images from the ads dominate the front page of the New York
be the first casualty of any election, but subtlety is always the last.
Trial": The lesson of Flytrap is to attack the inquisition. (posted
has wrapped up the contest to replace him. The media has already reached
House leadership positions are up for grabs, too, and the candidates for these
candidates on This Week illustrates how the House coup, far from solving
confronting the public's material concerns, they're engrossed in blaming each
other and promoting themselves. Speaking for the new "management" school,
machinery" to implement legislation. When asked about his role as
budget bill, he replied that he had said at the time, "This is ugly, but we
were right and that he "was opposed in the preliminary" votes but "ended up
voting for the final bill," since "a lot of people are going to have highways
because of that bill and a lot of people are going to have jobs because of that
what was going on." As for the election results, he blamed conservative voters
who "stayed home from the polls because they're sulking because they didn't get
that his colleagues hadn't heeded his wisdom about appealing to ethnic
four years and saying that we've got to reach out," he lamented. Rather than
address the moral implications of this oversight, Watts went on to explain how
Republicans, by electing him, could capitalize politically on new audiences. "I
"We have got to manage the House in a much different way," he said. "There were
no clear lines of responsibility in the leadership. No clear lines of
accountability." But when asked about his own responsibility for the party's
failure, he replied, "Most members of the conference really believe that with
managing the House, were mostly in the speaker's office." When pressed as to
any secret to anyone that the speaker and I had our share of disagreements over
paid attention to the Budget Act since it was enacted." And summing up his
Republican leadership are conveying a preoccupation not with solving the
nation's problems but with protecting themselves individually and devouring
each other. And if there's one thing the electorate seems to disdain more than
the violence of the cannibals, it's the narcissism of their palates.
some spectators may be concerned by your nudity in the courtroom
story about some real people. (Oh no, not another of his tedious stories!) So
you kids stop doing that to the cat and listen closely. For months after
said no animals!) A short time later, at the Late Night anniversary
lesson: When you mock them on television, you don't threaten them; you humanize
them. What sports! They can take a joke! It's the court jester lesson. And if
you want to know more about it, stop by and talk to me down at the unemployment
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
years we have been living in the Bareheaded Age, worrying intensely about our
hair. Many of us don't even remember the time when people would no more go
outdoors without a hat than they would without shoes. The exact character of
your hat mattered a lot then, much as the look of your hair does now. Your hat
confirmed your outfit, putting the final seal on whatever else you wore,
just for itself. During the summer in the country, my grandfather would put on
his hat to go down to the end of the driveway and get the letters out of the
mailbox. I would laugh at him, free of the requirement myself; but in his
youth, even kids wore hats whenever they went outdoors.
merciless torrents, sweeping away conventional hats as if they represented all
that was loathsome in civilized life. A few cute hats, most of them faintly
momentary effect. But the old hat rule was swiftly abolished. Off came the top
hat at the opera and the elegant homburg or fedora for street wear, along with
Swept away, too, were all the charming, infinitely various
feminine hats that once made women feel charming and infinitely various
themselves. Common usage once allowed hat makers to find markets for many
heterogeneous styles, for much discreetly suggestive fantasy in shape and trim.
Absurdity was the obvious risk then, given the vast scope of hat design for
lurch." But a man might still be seduced by an irresistible feminine brim,
curving and dipping to offset a meaningful glance. The desired effect appeared
much else, women's hats are no longer a normal part of the mating game. Women's
hats are out there, but they're all optional, and the range has shrunk. They
come in very few basic shapes (like dresses), and nobody gets any basic
training in hat choice or hat management, since real allure is felt to reside
in hair, not in hats. Real absurdity, too, of course.
returned in force, along with athletic footgear and down jackets, and there's
even a certain limited stylishness in recent examples. Fur is back, too, as are
delicious pile fabrics, so that luxury can be combined with utility. Meanwhile
expressive charm. In this day of virtual uniformity, it's curious that whenever
if out of subliminal nostalgia for the truly great days.
says this to men about their baseball caps, the ubiquity of which has reduced
nerve of a baseball cap, especially one worn backward.
Nevertheless, let us hope that the Return of the Hat is at
hand, inaugurated by men in their baseball caps, just as the strongest and
itself was a male invention and a male privilege until women got tired of
coifs, veils, and wimples in the Renaissance. Then they daringly adopted hats
to profit from the erotic charge male elements always add to feminine modes.
Many women have done this again in the last decade or so, usually sticking to
that kind of winter hat. It surrounds my head in a warm nimbus of fake fur, my
brow, ears, and nape encompassed by golden foxy fleece, my pate upholstered
with plushy leopard pelt, my beardless face mitigating the rabbinical flavor.
skull, leaving some wisps of my hair to curl up my cheeks and down my forehead,
silvery, streaked brown and black velvet, with a biggish mobile brim for
folding up and down at will, fore and aft or amidships.
remember that they can quickly resemble a mushroom in anything too big or a
problem and tend to look good in any kind of hat. They only have to remember to
let enough of their face show and not to let the hat flatten them on top, so
dashing impact, and the hat itself won't appear to jam a lid on the body's
expressive means. Advice to all: Study the older royals for the way they manage
fifteen dollars and drove it into a junkyard six years after. My first
instrument was a kind of kazoo and that led naturally to a French trombone. I
fifty years though I detested snare drums and tap dancing, just as I do those
singers now who hold their left fists in the air while holding the
hate short sleeved shirts when they wear them with dark neckties, skinny swine
knocking on closed doors; and I had a habit of counting bricks, a nice
of stores and trees on the sidewalk and only a short walk into the country, in
jacket with a reddish thorn in one of the pockets, which was my toothpick for
metal, and I had a spiral notebook I kept for emotions, and I folded my
only the writers could bring that one to a conclusion as well.
like your morning delivery of "Today's Papers," or even if you haven't yet
valiantly defended justice and the rule of law against a scoundrel president.
the first school. It took him a single day to disprove the second.
the performance of a villain. Through hours of hectoring, cheap shots, and
composure and courtesy. He absorbed the questions seriously, answered them in a
straightforward manner, and offered clear explanations for nearly every aspect
of his conduct that was brought into question. He seemed honest, kind,
crumples dozens of cars and injures scores of pedestrians in pursuit of a rowdy
the subtler mystery more often explored in novels: How did such a good person
his dedication to the truth, his respect for the law, and his solid moral
bookstore cough up records of her purchases. He sought to abridge the
Foster had told the lawyer before committing suicide. He compelled Secret
truth trampled privacy, loyalty, and security. At last week's hearing, he
conceded that his agents had investigated whether an unhelpful witness might be
obliged legally to give up her adopted child. "My investigators work very hard
others. He failed to see how what looked to him like a conspiracy to silence a
witness in a sexual harassment case could look to the participants like a
slapdash scheme to hush up an affair. And his report presented sexual truths
confidence that he was obeying the law insulated him from examining his
hearing. Forcing Secret Service agents to testify about the president's sex
[about] press policy as opposed to constitutional issues."
during his testimony left him equally untroubled by his own genuine errors.
Should he have quit the Whitewater investigation after temporarily accepting a
attorneys several times about constitutional aspects of their case? "It just
"professionalism." Confronted with questions about the loaded language of his
professional judgment that the president engaged in abuse of his authority" by
background because "we have the duty to engage in a proper public information
he oversimplified the scandal. If conservatives are wrong to preach that the
lesson of the year was the unraveling of a morally bankrupt president, liberals
are equally wrong to preach that the lesson was the unraveling of a morally
good. That lesson won't suit either side's assumptions. But then, that's the
honor and promote good values. That's why his views on abortion and
homosexuality emphasize religious belief and personal responsibility rather
recognizes his own worst instincts and is capable of transcending them. That's
for it was open and shut, but the moral case was dubious. To heed the better
angels of your nature, you must know the devils first.
startlingly high for a clock radio but not unreasonable if the claims are not
rhythmic, more dynamic, more tonally true picture of the music.
the percussive thwack as well as the shimmering whoosh all around it. And
differences weren't night and day. But they were of the sort that, over time,
make you want to stop and really listen or move on to something else.
compact disc player. (Both radios sport input jacks in the back for plugging in
the bowing on the basses, more of their rhythmic inflections. When a second,
On the Shank disc, when she modulates her voice, accenting
isn't exactly a technical "breakthrough," but it is clever. In the back of the
inside the radio box. The frequency of a sound wave is defined by its length:
The longer the wave, the deeper the bass. Such a long tube gives sound waves
lots of room to enlarge. Each speaker is also powered by an amplifier equipped
with circuits that boost the bass as you turn up the volume. However, once the
speakers get to the middle and upper octaves, their limitations become more
apparent; hence, the steely pianos, smeared cymbals, ungainly dynamics, and the
radio's internal space and is powered by its own amplifier. The two smaller
main speakers, each of which has its own amp, are freed up to focus their
separate volume knob for the woofer, so you can adjust the bass level, which
speakers of the 1950s and the Advents of the '60s) by figuring out how to
manipulate electronics so that a speaker sounds smooth from octave to octave.
years, have nine speaker cones, positioned all over the cabinet, so that the
sound bounces around your room "just like in a concert hall." One problem,
result, the music just sounds muddy. His methods also encourage high prices:
better) because nine cones cost more than two or three; the Wave radio costs
better devices. But he stretched too far, in his price tag and his claims, and
available on the "illegal Basement Tapes bootlegs." I personally own it on two
different collections, one a five volume collection of all known Basement Tapes
recordings titled The Genuine Basement Tapes (the history of which is
local stores. Anyone with Internet access or living in a larger metropolitan
'60s. The bootleg recording is not like the standard pop album; it is by nature
deal of dross to sort through, there are a lot of wonderful moments if you take
Furthermore (and what you should be writing about), the bootleg industry is
currently undergoing a revolution in production, thanks to the introduction of
deal of the artifact value boots used to have, the resulting availability is
ample compensation, especially since it has forced producers of traditional,
notes, more photos, and higher quality packages. Bootlegs preserve music that
otherwise would have been lost forever and allow music fans, as opposed to
consumers of pop music, access to a much fuller canon of musicians' work.
support the idea of a gay person as a symbol, but not as an equal. Would you
ever have written "Political Uses of a Dead White Woman"?
You are on target with your suggestion. Republicans should counter with
logical, informative statements that point out the costs involved in
litigation. Sadly, the average citizen doesn't seem to understand that
facing is inadequate Medicare reimbursement. Someone has to absorb the loss.
The provider? I don't think so. The patient? Not politically correct. As a
shouldn't save every premature baby regardless of the cost. Maybe we shouldn't
attempt to extend the life of every individual. We want it all and want it to
care, but mismanaged care. As soon as I can, I will be changing to some
other plan, which means I will probably have to go back to work to pay for
arrive at the theater. Across the street, Catholic protestors in white berets
pens them in, they ply you with leaflets charging that the play portrays "the
you have to run a gauntlet of burly security guards and pass through an airport
Club canceled the production. But the play was reinstated a week later amid
and encounter neither blasphemy nor artistic courage. On the first score, the
play comes up short. It is not, in fact, a work of savage (or even mild)
scene involves priests and nuns performing unspeakable acts) or the films of
is in essence a gay retelling of the Gospel. Thirteen male actors perform a
football and taunted by his peers as a "faggot." An encounter in the school
conversations with his dad, God. He performs miracles and gathers disciples.
One is a doctor, another an actor, another a male prostitute. They go to gay
uninspired. The real limitations are those of the writer, whose hallmarks are
weak sophomoric humor and a cloying sentimentality. It's a gag line in this
tells his mother. "Of course you do," she says. "Your father's a carpenter."
This is silly, and not really funny, but the intent is not to ridicule. The
apparently considers himself in sympathy with the deeper meaning of
miss the point, one of the apostles appears onstage to explain it to the
audience after the crucifixion. "If we have offended, so be it," he declares.
Though his gay characters aren't always perfect, the overall picture is of a
delightful bunch of fellas. Gay men have flair, taste, and humor. They love
as types rather than complex characters. Watch the clip from the film
around, puts on women's clothes, and continually bursts into show tunes. Watch
taciturn hairdresser, the buff male hustler, the yuppie lawyer. This may be
basking in the glow of First Amendment martyrdom, have not done much to clear
playwright or the theater wants people to know that the play is largely
inoffensive. The frisson of blasphemy has resulted in an overflowing
house. But were the Philistines at the barricades allowed inside, I fear they
whose very essence is obliqueness and indirection. (Find out more about the
movie that wasn't great to begin with, this installment in the story of a
demonic doll is getting surprisingly good reviews. Detractors are predictably
ratchets up the star power and the fun. They also praise the film's "flair,"
though a comedy about three sisters cursed with witchcraft who inadvertently
kill their boyfriends, it is also said to be unfunny. Also annoying: the
expectations, the play is neither lascivious nor particularly blasphemous. It
latest is hailed as a step forward in maturity and scope. The story of a white
detail, female voices, and critical take on colonialism. A minority of
glass case containing two outsize dishes, each a couple of feet in diameter.
White and cobalt blue, these porcelain dishes have as their decoration fanciful
view, these maps relegate the rest of the world to the truncated periphery,
playfully arrogant islander. The humiliating visit of the black ships of
little longer the illusion that their two centuries of peace and feudal harmony
shattered, and Japan began the hard work of entering the modern world.
Restoration, when Japan adopted something resembling a parliamentary monarchy
lords (the daimyo) under their tributary thumb. The daimyo were required to
hostages of sorts. This arrangement called for constant traveling, and these
circumstance. Many of the objects on display in the National Gallery derive
from these ceremonial processions. There are cases filled with elaborate and
turbo seashell or with rabbit ears appended; swords designed more to impress
than to kill; saddles decorated with such whimsical and hardly threatening
The layout of the show is neither by chronology nor by
Politically, and to some extent artistically, the impression is accurate. (A
ridiculous laid out on a similar model.) From the stunning rooms of the Style
into a bamboo and pebble grove) to the more austere world of Samurai, "Work,"
and "Religion and Festivals." All seems orderly and timeless, just as the
Toward the end of the show, though, especially in the section devoted to
entertainment, a sense of historical change enters in. In the pleasure quarter
this "floating world" gave birth to new and vigorous forms of popular
entertainment. Sumo wrestlers and Kabuki actors were the celebrities, and
start of the show, two opposing tendencies are immediately evident. One is the
retreat from materialism and the modern city into a monochromatic refuge of
meditative calm. This tendency is associated with Zen and looks back to the
image. At the other extreme is the eager embrace of urban chaos, masquerade,
were known for their eccentric and unpredictable behavior, and a kindred
conducive to frivolity, there is an element of playfulness and oddball
aesthetic daring. In the Religion and Festivals section, for example, one finds
center is a long white radish with forked roots, surrounded by melons and
his followers. And yet, this painting of mourning vegetables has a peculiar
business, seems to have taken vegetables pretty seriously. More obvious in its
again, though, there is an appealing restraint in the elegant design and muted
another reason, though, for the extraordinary pleasures this exhibition
viewers. Exotic and remote as this island world was, it had a special appeal
most popular of all Western art movements, is inconceivable without the
And which of our own mountains is more familiar to us than
visible grain of the wood reads as the ridges of the mountainside. Returning to
those playful ceramic maps of the world, one notices that the artist has dipped
For a split second it's possible to imagine that it really is the center of the
Committee, voted last week not to launch a broad impeachment inquiry against
Republicans are challenging the ethics of this transaction. House Majority Whip
lot of money for a member who sits on that committee." DeLay says that
The "jury tampering" metaphor has been circulating ever
letter protesting the dissemination of "prurient allegations" about the
White House or its allies" were engaged in "an organized campaign of slander
and intimidation" that was "no different than threatening jurors to change
the "jury tampering" issue in public appearances. Some Democrats similarly
of the Republican leadership campaigning for Republican members of the House
DeLay's objection. "I don't think it's a legitimate issue."
details various grounds on which jurors may be deemed "unable or unqualified to
perform their duties." These include "acquaintance or relationship with
would automatically be regarded more favorably). The rule cites precedents
under which the "defendants' right to be tried by impartial jury included [the]
right to examination designed to ascertain possible prejudices of prospective
jurors." Furthermore, the "trial judge" is authorized to "remove" any juror
during the trial, "whenever facts are presented which convince [the] trial
judge that [the] juror's ability to perform his duty as juror is impaired."
DeLay imagines, members of Congress were to be treated like jurors, the
presiding officer would never get around to the question of "tampering." He'd
Post piece referring to the "Bubba vote" and notes that "this is a perfect
illustration of the truism that there's still one group in this country that
'respectable' people, even (especially?) sophisticated newspaper people, are
wonder how many times the word "hick" recurred in that short piece?)
most exposed in his transcriptions. At the end of a string of them, he quotes
pronunciation of a given word was precisely the same as that of the collectors,
their desire to indicate the exotic qualities of black speech led them to
trial. It had me in stitches. What wonderful caricatures he drew of the people
involved; he brought to life the dynamics of the barely sheathed claws of the
interactions in the courtroom. It was refreshing to have coverage that pointed
your publication than the language used by spammers looking to sell me
language is a sign of low intelligence. Your writer went for a cheap, shocking
joke instead of thinking of a clever analogy. You can do better. 
Thanks for the reminder. We've now corrected our error.
the editors of magazines to voice my opinion, because I don't think it will do
any general good, but at this point I can't see what good being silent does. I
that our community is only brought into the discussion after every other angle
has been covered and, people are being pressured into the "right" opinion. I am
"Black Like Whom?" I saw at least several assumptions run through his
commentary on my community and public sentiment about us. One assumption is
for the same reasons: He is black, he is great because he comes from a single
parent home, or he has a similar background, so we can understand him
at the tail end of the blitz of political inquiry as a rallying tool to bring
to reaffirm the idea that we somehow don't know what is really going on?
comes out is that we don't understand what is happening when a political
candidate courts our community on one issue and then targets us on another
issue. Staples runs through a litany of economic gains that have brought
that is or what marker he uses to measure that stability is unclear), which
to fit his framework but to ignore it when it does not fit within his argument.
It is hard for me to believe that he would ignore the education or criminal
students in college and graduate school programs, the rising level of blacks
incarcerated, or increasing number of jails. The failure to include the
holistic view seems even more astonishing given our position in this society,
when the author reviews what is being said and who is asked.
against whomever we advocate for or in defense of, but when it comes to the job
approval rating for the president of United States, it seems like the media
attention focused on us is misplaced. If our opinion were valued throughout
this process, I think the media would have noticed a marked difference in how
we feel about this president, this administration, and the process he has gone
through in order to reach this phase in the impeachment inquiry. On this issue,
I doubt that our approval rating is going to bear on the ultimate question of
whether the entire public will rally around the Republicans as they move to try
wings given to black preachers, a few honorable mentions and awards to a couple
of black poets, or visits and speeches to commemorate historic memorials and
visionaries within the black community are enough to lead blacks to rally
behind a president who has allowed our community to lose whatever gains were
does he think we are gullible enough to buy it as a true understanding by a
Whom?" but seems to have missed its central arguments. She accuses me of
sense among blacks that the economy is doing better by them than ever before;
the black middle class is basically conservative on the issues of crime, unwed
motherhood, and welfare. Ms. Banks further accuses me of ignoring black school
dropout and incarceration rates. To this, I plead guilty. Those factors are
family. I don't think it's competitive with a hard edge to it, but if you ever
more responses than any before. Rather than ruin their poetical rhythms, all
the inviting ambiguity and delightful multiple meanings of the word
loathing waiting to be mined. But there are other possibilities:
nonvoters felt time was better spent making crude remarks at expense of fatuous
last night. Today it's a mixture of seething and dismay. It's just
how a guy looks when he's derailed a major political party: a guy like Newt
Disclaimer: All submissions will become the property of Slate and
will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
did a poor job of redacting the report before it was posted, he should say so.
university is often based on a set of subjective judgments. She goes on to list
such things as volunteer work, athletic or artistic ability, recommendations,
listing a set of criteria is neither a justification for expanding them nor an
argument against striking a few. Including race in that set of criteria and
making it coequal with qualifications such as volunteer work or ability is a
concept that I, and many other people, find disturbing.
super review. After two days of using the paste, my mouth turned into raw
about back to normal. After three days of using the gel, my mouth has returned
majors were trying hard to cover the fact that a generic will do. Two things,
hugely wasteful. They waste paste inside their complex mechanisms, and
this piece had included the idea that you will be using paste your whole life
"aesthetic" value are a bad deal for the environment.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
evidence pointing toward evolution, how can this person accept it? The
scientists usually change their position after new evidence is discovered. I
have tried various arguments to convince this person but with no luck. How can
you convince this person? You can't, and you should stop feeling this is your
job in life. Some people cannot be moved from some positions, and that's just
the way it is. All scientific advance is done in small increments. The evidence
for natural selection as the guiding force for the evolution of species has
understand scientific method and may belong to a religious group that has
updates due to your contract, an inscrutable sense of timing, or a lack of good
questions? I suppose the snarky answer would be "all of the above," but my real
woman who is somewhat capricious with her address and my heart. We are no
longer "together," but our relationship hasn't really changed except for no sex
acceptance of the way things have evolved: Your "it" girl stopped
reminder of loss, you might find it useful to let the relationship move into
in your regrets and then exit feeling stronger in the broken places.
know what wonderful feels like. Such knowledge bodes well for finding it again
counsel, she would never discourage anyone from writing to ask advice. After
conservative person, unfortunately to the point of bigotry in my view. For
another race, and she defends those who (as she puts it) "want to preserve
their traditions." She also continually complains about the services of her
maid. What puzzles me about her nattering on is this: She is well aware of my
like this? What do you think? Thanks for your time.
natter on about subjects, knowing there is disagreement, with a twofold agenda.
the close relative said the genteel version of "knock it off." There are some
subjects about which people are unlikely to be swayed, and the friendly thing
letter from Ms. Keck. She certainly could have been more polite in writing
camera, Degas explained, was "capable of both posed and instantaneous views."
With "no more than a month of practice," she would be able to send him "a few
I can have enlarged to see you better." Degas' enthusiasm for photography can't
conceal the morbid undertow of his request. He will never see her again, but
outside of religion, outside of ritual, a kind of abrupt dive into literal
Death." Degas sends no consoling words to his dying sister, just a camera, and
the hope that she has a month to learn how to use it.
Degas, all dated (with an occasional "probable" added) during the years
landscapes, and his private collection of works by other artists. The
exhibition of Degas' photographs, some of which have never before been seen in
public, raises two questions. What sort of photographer was Degas? And what do
these photographs add to our understanding of him as an artist?
You might think photography was perfectly suited to Degas.
mythological subjects behind for good. No more medieval costume dramas or
Spartan youths flirting in freeze frame. Degas spent the following decade
developing an art that reflected the jostling shocks and perpetual motion of
ballerinas above them, beheaded by the top of the frame. Horses jutting their
heads into one side of a picture, while carriages are chopped off by the other.
A disheveled dandy, his two daughters, and his dog, all facing in different
directions and wedged into one corner of a picture, while the broad expanse of
often been suggested that Degas' innovative urban perspectives were influenced
by photography. But the opposite is closer to the truth. Degas' manipulations
practice of Western painters; he merely pushed them further than anyone else
had. The peculiar pictures that resulted made the new invention of photography,
and especially the casually composed snapshots of the 1890s and after, seem
less outrageous, more "artful." Ambitious photographers followed Degas' lead.
But Degas came around to photography as a sort of afterthought.
amateur photography craze was such that fashionable hotels provided darkrooms
where the curvature of the path and the converging trees on either side of the
road give the illusion of a dead end, against a migrating wall of trees. Back
pastel and paint a daytime art of apparent spontaneity, with precisely the sort
photography was a nighttime art of stasis and meditative inwardness. "Daylight
carefully orchestrated tableaux. The major surprise of Degas' photographs is
that the theatricality and staginess so resolutely banished from his paintings
possible, Degas opted for an older approach: the pose held for two or three
minutes, the long exposure, the "atmospheric" effects of lamplight on a black
ground. A night with Degas and his camera was, according to his close friend
bends her head so far that it disappears in darkness.
phantasms and ghostly intimations, with death often lurking in the shadows. In
like a muse figure or a protective guardian. In the most complex of Degas'
center in the composition, with the vertical of the mirror frame bisecting his
head. In the mirror itself Degas' camera apparatus is visible, but his own head
his obsessive care in arranging shots, Degas the amateur photographer made
mistakes, and some of these led to further discoveries. He preserved some
vertically and horizontally and heads emerging here and there like ghosts.
Among the most striking images in the show are three negatives of a ballet
dancer assuming poses familiar from Degas' pastels (see [Arm Outstretched]).
The glass negatives were too overexposed to print, so Degas had them treated
with chemicals to produce an orange and yellow effect like stained glass,
Why did Degas give up photography so soon after being
captivated by it? Had he "passed through the sadness and grief that accompanied
the death of his sister and that helped spur his photographic activity," as the
suggest another cause. Many of those portraits, over a third of Degas' total
friends; he dined with them regularly and treated them, at a time when his own
family was dispersed and in financial trouble, as virtually his own relatives.
breakfast table. Two years later, he could no longer tolerate any association
(which sometimes changed their name to "de Gas" to suggest noble roots) came to
financiers they deplored had. When his family fell on hard times, Degas blamed
photographs might have had some association in his mind with the ambivalence he
unmentioned in the Metropolitan show and catalog. The oversight is not the
result of an effort to avoid downbeat or offensive sides of Degas, but rather a
failure to understand the seismic shift in French society caused by
is a campaign, after all, in which the challenger's slogan is "Too many lies
for too long," where each candidate blithely runs ads accusing his opponent of
coddling child pornographers, and where virtually the only intelligible
expose the candidates in all their nakedness. Newspapers and commentators
liberal record and repositioning himself as a moderate who understands suburban
Defense of Marriage Act, and signed on to every crime bill he could find. At
few days of campaign appearances, is responsible for the national drop in
crime, the protection of Social Security and Medicare, and the budget deal.
Thank you, congressman! His New York Democratic colleagues have coined the
grind. If he were a salesman, you'd buy the car just to get him to leave you
women I spoke to after the event all said the same thing: Of course they would
husband" or "the president," never "Bill." Does this have psychological
significance? Is she so angry that she won't say his name?)
struggle. Sen. Pothole is the master of the ethnic pork barrel. (He shows up at
on "We owe him" to override voters' distaste for his viciousness and basic
happily obeys Wall Street's bidding on the House Banking Committee in order to
care to discover. But there is a fundamental difference between them.
about bending the rules for cronies and campaign contributors, and he has been
clean. He doesn't cheat. He may have moderated his views to win, but he is
action thriller about terrorism in New York. They say the film cashes in on the
(Gramercy Pictures). Mixed, but mainly good, reviews
ascendance to the throne. Some love the "darkly sumptuous, hypnotically
of The Wedding Singer back to his trademark sweet, addled, violent
Critics call Bloom "a master entertainer" who has applied his formidable skills
with its scale, its spontaneity, and the intensity it radiated. I had the same
as an adult, and often bored. His paintings looked hollow and often sloppy and
garish. Did I respond to him as an adolescent because Pollock was a misbehaved,
grandiose adolescent himself? Maybe we all just had a teen crush on Pollock the
art world delinquent. Or was it entombment in museums, being surrounded by the
wall? I have been awaiting a show that would settle the issue.
that opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City this weekend ought to
of his life and work. Occupying the entire third floor of the museum, it
of its kind, covering the salient facts of Pollock's biography, artistic
development, and the critical debate about him. As an exhibition, this is one
of the best I have ever seen. And it did make up my mind.
skepticism can't but prevail. From the time Pollock arrived in New York, in
loved the idea of being an artist, but his vast ambition wasn't coupled with
much, or even any, talent. Through the first four rooms, we see him find and
stages in which the picture plane was destined to flatten, empty, and
pronouncements. But as far as I can tell, he was correct in every respect:
and right that Pollock had genius trapped inside him. What is amazing is that
practice, Pollock was void in color sense, draftsmanship, composition, and
handling of his materials. The painting is a kind of red herring. With its
suggestive title, glyphs, and symbols, it is designed to make you think it
first in three paintings known as the "Sounds in the Grass" series, the best of
which is Shimmering Substance. Pollock has said goodbye to content and
(though still interspersed with fits of unappealing blotchiness). You don't
have to read the elaborate taxonomy of his technique in the catalog to
recognize that what sometimes appears as chaos is in fact the product of great
suddenly? I think what happened is that he threw off the heavy influence of
others and stopped worrying about his lack of conventional technique. Instead,
he began to express himself in the way he could, basing his craft on his
canvas. In Full Fathom Five, the murk grows more evocative; the
enticing detail is a kind of small crossbow shape, in yellow and orange,
glimpsed through the submarine tangle of a surface encrusted with nails,
The three greatest of his monumental canvases, hung together in a single room,
have an almost overwhelming presence. Curiously, these paintings don't repay
arabesques across the canvas, but they don't lead the eye anywhere. When you
try not to follow lines, you find you can't get any purchase on the whole. This
by comparison, is a splash of cold water on the face. The power lies in being
confronted by his paintings, not in looking for meaning in them.
the distilled essence of Pollock's genius, a mysterious calligraphy stripped of
the distraction of color or the accretion of layers of paint. In the
can be mesmerized by his act of creation. The agonized expression on his face
looks like a kind of rapture. His dance around the canvas looks like its own
final two rooms of the exhibition, you see Pollock, who was suffering from
depression and had relapsed into alcoholism, struggling to regain a gift that
With its electric brightness, this huge painting, which Pollock's friends
started for him, is stunning but sad, a big smile for the camera and perhaps a
kind of requiem for his earlier work. In his final painting, Search
his talent began to emerge. In his final year he binged, painted nothing, and
with whatever theory appeals to you. In clinical terms, Pollock had a
productive manic phase, and he was overtaken by black dog in the days before
emptied it, and then had nowhere to go. You can view him as the classic case of
admittedly romantic preference is to see his career as a quest for inspiration,
and to say Pollock sought it long, found it briefly, and couldn't live without
means cutting back on your professional responsibilities. But for orchestra
conductors, figures of mythic virility and longevity, advancing age seems only
music director of the New York Philharmonic. Last week, it was announced that,
performance schedule at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere, his "Three
calendar, or his bookings as a guest symphony conductor. Perhaps the
model for conductors whose salaries often match those of star athletes and
music critic with much of an instinct for sleuthing, has unearthed some of the
hopping undeniably adds to the wealth and fame of the world's top conductors.
But is it good for music? The era of the ludicrously prodigious maestro has
coincided with a sense of unease about the state of the symphony, especially in
the United States. Many orchestras are in poor financial shape, faced with
rising costs, declining box office revenues, and a cutback in public subsidies.
At the New York Philharmonic and elsewhere, labor and administrative conflict
seems perpetual. And among people with long musical memories, there is a
general feeling that while this may be a period of high competence, it is not a
great moment for orchestras or conductors. A common complaint is that the sound
festival season, but they lived in the cities in which they played. They
auditioned musicians personally and knew them well. If a guest conductor
audience. Today, by contrast, conductors tend to have a much more tenuous
relationship with their home cities. Rather than live in some backwater, they
the late 1950s was simultaneously principal conductor of the Berlin
These conductors compete in a kind of orchestral arms race. The advent of jet
virtually simultaneously not just in several cities but on several continents.
The ambition of the conductor is abetted by the avarice of the agent, who
conductors and uses his market power to drive fees ever higher.
years, developed it into a distinguished ensemble. Despite many lucrative
offers, Rattle has been loath to even spend much time visiting elsewhere.
offers. It is expected that he will again choose to work with one orchestra
especially given that the latter is likely to come much cheaper? Partly, it's
seems doubly provincial. But the bigger issue is finance. Orchestra boards
he doesn't conduct. And even the occasional presence of a musical superstar
orchestras than there used to be and arguably fewer great conductors. The
result has been a bidding war for top talent and an opportunity to make money
that few can resist. The recent transformation of the conductor's career
parallels what has happened elsewhere in the economy. As the income of top
performers of all kinds has risen exponentially, the old patterns of indenture
free agency. In basketball, where teams are constituted by the season, each
player looking out for his own career doesn't appear to harm the overall
quality of the game. But in symphonic music, where great achievement comes from
teamwork over a much longer time frame, the moonlighting maestro is playing too
say something about the commodification of spirituality, but has no idea what"
doesn't give Murphy a chance to flex his comedic muscles, and the result is
degenerative bone disease, the latter a hulking giant who has been held back in
to outwit neighborhood bullies and to overcome personal obstacles. Although a
power of poetry wins more praise in its general release. Although critics
detect shaky spots, they find the film "stirring, powerful, and thrilling," and
is now an hour and a half of the same, which wears thin by the end. Funny
an ingenious use of men in feathers are the most praised elements of the
production. Despite radical changes to the story line, critics note that both
the score and the ballet's sense of magical fantasy remain virtually unchanged.
understand it and that "the company's good is unquestionably,
comic pantheon after a recent series of disappointing films. The titles
for goofy parody. Critics call the slim volume lighter than air but "giddy with
cover editorial argues that we should fear not a strong
is slowing down. High unemployment could lead to labor unrest and eventually to
can't tickle ourselves. Scientists theorize that our brains anticipate and
discount sensation we cause ourselves. Why? All the better to recognize
sensation caused by other objects, such as, say, poisonous insects crawling up
story is dubious about genetically altered farm crops. Biotech companies now
bugs will eventually get around this advance, just as they've got around
traditional pesticides, so why aren't we embracing more sensible methods? Short
black politics. Ford's father was a traditional liberal congressman,
cover story goes behind the scenes of the World Wrestling
himself part of the "storyline." The tyrannical president pretends to get beat
Pizza Hut, and Papa is growing faster than anyone else. Its secret? Rapid store
entire arsenal of the magazine to tell a story with power, insight and
Jobs for the Future." Among them: nanny, physical therapist, executive
recruiter, catering director, and Web site developer (no, 
is not currently hiring). An accompanying story reveals how to get what you
want in a job. Hints: Go for the big money, because no one will ever disrespect
you for it; consider trading fringe benefits for vacation time; and beware of
controls redistricting could be in power for a long time.
"Next!" issue on the future of theater, fashion, books, music, et al. A story
quest to cure his own colon cancer. The doctor implanted extracts of his tumor
in a group of mice, then ran tests on the mice. This specialized treatment
be too costly to devote a fleet of mice to each individual cancer patient.
pundit is to be sure of his or her opinions. There is no penalty for being sure
first returns came in, the analysts were certain that there would be no
galvanizing voters, nothing enormous would be decided.
victory was announced, the evening had officially become a Democratic Rout.
anchor asked him to assess the election results so far: "When these things
aren't going your way, you say, 'It's still early.' So, I guess it's still
belongs to two other parties. First, the Party of Virtue. It was a clean sweep
for the good guys. In tight race after tight race, voters have rejected the
actor politicians. Now, at last, we can have both in one package: a pro
crowing about the resurgence of the Democratic Party in the South, given Fritz
to continue Miller's policies, is winning the election to succeed him. In
have persuaded most of the media that this campaign is a pudding without a
theme, that there are no galvanizing issues, and that everything hinges
on which party does a better job getting its core voters to the polls. (The
question: Can my blacks and seniors beat your Christian conservatives?)
election hinges on turnout. Accept that the Turnout Bores are onto something.
In fact, why not take their theory a step further? The election depends on
turnout. And what, more than anything, does turnout depend on? The weather, of
offers a real Election Day forecast, predicting the
from the notorious liberal meteorological bias that afflicts the New York
The updated predictions appear in italics after the original
Republicans, who can count on fervent conservatives to get to the polls in any
weather. But a closer analysis of the weather map suggests Mother Nature
actually favors the Democrats this year. (The survey starts in the Northeast
and works its way clockwise around the country. It covers most but not all
cloudy but no rain. Democrats should turn out smartly in New York City, helping
governor's race. Her fervent Republican followers would go to the polls in a
western half of the state, which is especially conservative. The rain
could suppress Republican turnout in the west without lowering Democratic
forecast suggests it will rain across the entire state, suppressing Democratic
heavily Republican. If this forecast holds, Republicans upstate may stay home,
It stops raining in the western half of the state, perhaps raising turnout
across the state. Republicans pick up a Senate seat.
weather throughout the state keeps turnout high and aids Democratic Sen.
will be "dismal," just as bad as it is downstate. Sorry, Carol.
predictions are just as reliable as the weather forecasts
having trouble explaining "why it isn't the United States who blinked." "Which
blink critique assumes that the purpose of preparing the attack was to complete
through the weapons inspections, not through a military assault. In that case,
objects follow laws of nature. Humans follow laws of our own making. We've even
to answer a mugger who says, "Your money or your life." But do you really
to work without restrictions or conditions." The press wasn't buying it. "What
around, that he is able to provoke a crisis and then end it on his timetable?"
"capitulated" on the key issue of weapons inspections. "We have to be able to
pundits, captive to the geopolitics of machismo, think saying yes is easy. But
Neither can cruise missiles. That's why we have presidents.
cover editorial claims that recent market volatility
a recession. Instead, financial firms should keep more capital to guard against
market upheaval. If firms "all start to reduce their risks simultaneously, it
cockfighting is on its last legs. The vicious sport (razors are tied to the
feet of battling roosters) is still legal in four states but may soon be
listeners. Bell signed off this week claiming a "threatening, terrible event"
issue on the business of sports. A story frets that media giants' purchases of
sports teams will change the way games are played. Who'll stop Fox (owner of
Braves) from forcing star athletes to play when it will boost ratings on their
player clients, a rookie quarterback learning how to play the endorsements
coordinating everything from media coverage to promotional "sock
board frantically hacked at wires and sealed off the leak, just averting death.
Wright documentary by profiling the architect. The piece worships Wright's
genius and scolds him for dastardly treatment of his family, but those who know
Time 's education cover package says parents should get their kids
reading at an early age, be involved in their schools, not castigate them for
mistakes, let them find their own learning styles, and "praise hard work and
parents matter little in a child's upbringing. An accompanying piece grades the "multiple intelligences" movement. MI
traffic at stadium events. Birds both move quickly and maintain close distance
complacency. Gates claims, "All you have to do is slack off for one period and
mutant bacteria eat toxic pollution at waste dumps but are unaffected by deadly
a bloody coup, the kidnapping and murder of thousands of his enemies, and
his work with the economy and his statesmanship. Opponents aren't buying it.
the only hope of cure for some cancer patients, but the treatment itself is so
unpleasant that it may not be worth it. Radiation and chemotherapy cause
patients more discomfort (retching, chemically burned lips and skin, fungal
infections, isolation from human contact) than the cancer itself ever would.
ridiculous. A fine is unconstitutional, and censure would weaken the presidency
of offense simply does not merit the remedy of removal. That may be right. In
which case, the legislature should cease and desist and let the government go
reparation for past abuses of human rights dominated much of the world's press
would allow the general to be sent home to face trial there. "Ministers back
which reported that no deal had been reached. The Times said that the only
equivalent of the interior minister) could now refuse proceedings for
stands trial at home kills the health question: if he is well enough to stand
fortnight with the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook," it said, adding that
repatriation and the Guardian and the Independent opposing
under political pressure. "For the first time, perhaps, a juridically
incompetent tribunal has rendered a verdict of universal significance," it
said. "Since no international tribunal exists to judge such events, the English
took the place of this institution which it is now more than ever necessary to
describing it as the most important such meeting ever held. It also published a
Monde said that "war brings inhumanity with it and peace is obviously the
terrorist crimes by a currently nonexistent international tribunal. Turkey
disheartening. There are fewer similarities than this rush to analyze and spin
statement regarding the basis for his conclusion. "Chatterbox bases this on the
inaccurate presentation of history is dangerous. Slow down, take a deep breath,
votes against funding pork projects in his own district. In one famous
state to build a toll road instead. He has not been forgiven."
project that could be defined as pork, it's the Southern Connector. It's a
highway connecting two areas already well connected to the Interstate Highway
System, and will only benefit people traveling from the area southwest of
are already connected by I-85 and I-385. It seems to me an unnecessary expense
to spend many millions of dollars to reduce a few people's travel time by five
the highway contractors who will benefit financially from the project.
representative who recognizes that there is no such thing as good pork.
under the law. In a lawsuit, you are relying on established rights that the
were "familiar" with the subject and who, when shown or told what the statute
said, could make a fair decision and resolve the controversy. Chancery matters
were more like personal problems taken up before the king or his chancellor
specific, particularized kind of help (a divorce, apportionment of an estate,
etc.), and the king's ruling was more narrowly applied to you. So, for example,
rule to make the decision; rather, the judge is asked to weigh the equities and
say, "This or that doesn't seem fair to me, and so I order you to do
remedy is X." In chancery, you say, "This seems about right to me."
system operates. The appeal is not to the House of Lords, with its mixture of
swept away by New Labor). The appeal goes to the law lords who sit in the House
of Lords. They are our equivalent of the Supreme Court and are made up of the
country's most distinguished judges. Their average age is similar to the
Supreme Court justices' (which makes them relatively "aging," as you would
expect), but it is a mistake to think they are necessarily "conservative." In
presenter (recently fired for snorting coke) as a "minor celebrity." Excuse me.
A Blue Peter presenter is not a minor celebrity. Blue Peter is
part of the national psyche, and the repository of all manner of naughty
ingeniously laconic love poem sent to a Blue Peter presenter of my
plastic." (You had to have been there, I guess.) In short, I doubt many
but it really is a pity if you missed the chance to exercise that precious gift
usually fail to emphasize in their tiresome calls to moral responsibility ("How
can you leave all those referendums untouched when children are starving in
breakthrough adopted by the election board (or whoever) here in suburban
candidates and propositions (a "ballot"), you indicate your choices using a
paper through a slot in a large container called a "ballot box." What happens
thus earned our right to feel smug all day. This being the Pacific Northwest,
the ballot is undoubtedly recycled. But if the citizens who open and empty the
ballot box can suppress their eagerness to recycle these pieces of paper long
here is another chance. Nothing so trivial as control of Congress is at stake.
wish to download and print out more than that; and b) the snail mailed version
has grown, this policy has required us to exclude more and more. And some
all of it. (Actually, our reader surveys suggest that about half of
out. For these folks, presumably, size is not as much of an issue.)
a genuine quandary. We exist only to give pleasure but are unsure in this case
vote. Highly unscientific, of course, but (like all voting) fun. Readers who
have no intention of doing so, should please sit on their hands. The rest of
you: Please vote now. We have done our best to word the question in a neutral
way, giving unfair advantage to neither side. We reserve the right, of course,
to ignore the voters' wishes. Just like in a real election.
The official language of this referendum is as follows:
this rag, and I want all of it. Don't give me this crap about how the crab
Queen before she was a virgin." As the movie tells it, she was a sylvan,
throne to find the air still thick with smoke from roasted heretics, a team of
(lords, bishops, sundry old boys) who snigger openly at the prospect of taking
will mollify all factions, her advisers insist, but the pickings prove dismal.
(Her French suitor enjoys wearing dresses.) After skulls are smashed, throats
and b) entertain dissenting opinions exclusively from those whose heads are
for stratagems earlier in life (her position had been precarious since the
beheading of her mother) and came to the throne with few girlish illusions
That said, the movie's approach makes for juicy melodrama.
simply dying to have their heads sneaked off --and there's no one to
transition from hapless young woman to coolly ruthless monarch with uncommon
subtlety. Gradually expunging all empathy from her moist, pink eyes and
permitting her visage to ossify, she gives this carnival of carnage an
superstar who carries the news to all the young dudes. After that, we're in an
rockers who serve as propagandists for a repressively conformist state.
exhibitionists and gleeful poseurs? Borrowing its framework from Citizen
Velvet Goldmine (opinions have ranged from rapturous to casually
dismissive), it's like no other musical ever made. It's determinedly swirling,
discursive, elliptical. Now the story is told by an omniscient narrator, now a
other line of dialogue is a cue for one of its dazzling numbers, largely covers
keep up with, but then, great artists often invent their own syntax. In the
Carpenter served the producers with an order to cease and desist exhibition)
by the climax that the cultural forces that were eating at her (and that kept
meditation on the power of culture to crush the individual. Despite its ironic
detachment, the film draws you into its heroine's sickly state: Breathing
nothing, the modern incarnation of the Incredible Shrinking Man.
fashion themselves into anything they please. The core of the movie turns out
to the events he's now reconstructing. Bale is such an expressive performer
portray the rocker as a hollow opportunist who abandoned glam and bisexuality
for the life of a corporate superstar, throwing in his lot with the forces of
repression. That's a lot to cover. An actor of stature might have bridged these
has never shaken off his background as a semiotics major, has made a movie
picture catch its breath, that the performers would stop coming at me in
filmmaking, in the elation of watching point of view passed like a baton from
hand to hand, in the liberating force of his language and soundtrack. Velvet
Goldmine might seem like a collection of baubles, but those baubles are
wholesome yuppie and then (interminably) Death, who takes over the young man's
body when he's thumped by a couple of cars in the movie's most promising
all expression from his face and all tone from his voice. He speaks very, very
his films in the editing room. What do you suppose he "found" when he
sweet time doing it? The first adaptation of this story (originally a play) was
conceit this fragile needs to whiz along to keep our disbelief in suspension,
choice for a tour guide, since most people's condition doesn't involve personal
helicopters, sprawling mansions on Long Island Sound, or Manhattan apartments
labored on this moldy script, which features characters who ask questions that
another character to "wake up and smell the thorns." It apparently never
humanistic magnate considerable weight, so that whether or not Death takes him
before he can stop to smell the roses and make amends to his neglected children
becomes a matter of some suspense. The rest of the cast works with equal
party planning, perpetually wilting elder daughter. As the younger daughter,
on her exquisite shoulders. Her tremulous thoroughbred act wears thin, but it's
censorship has taken up residence in your neighborhood public library.
Conservatives in Congress and elsewhere are demanding that libraries apply
the cutting room floor when the budget bill was finalized this week, but it may
Liberties Union, takes the absolutist position that any restriction on library
debate became inevitable when public libraries began to get wired, a
country's future, and which Bill Gates has set up a foundation to support. But
down the road, public libraries face a bigger and more vexing question than
this rehash of old censorship debates. Why, if libraries are growing more
concerned about the provision of Internet access and less concerned about the
circulation of books, must they be housed in buildings with walls? Someone who
uses his neighborhood branch to surf the Net doesn't really depend on the
library the way that someone who went to do research or borrow out of print
books did. He merely uses an inefficient subsidy for something that is
directly at far lower expense. In other words, if the public library of the
future is mainly about free online access, it's in a mess of trouble.
Another technological advance threatens libraries. On Oct.
1.0--expensive, a bit clunky and, according to previews, not really pleasant
enough for pleasure reading. But within a few years, such devices are likely to
president for technology development, says that the technical hurdles of screen
quality and battery life have been largely surmounted. The question is how soon
large number of titles to become available. The probable answer is not long.
million books in the Library of Congress for a mere billion dollars, but much
of that material falls under copyright protection. While publishers accept
sequential borrowings a single copy of a book from a library, they can't very
well provide free universal access to everything in their catalogs. And while
devices are about to take over probably underestimate the doggedness of
question. If electronic reading supplants print as the primary means by
which people absorb written texts, what becomes of the venerable public
are doing what people in threatened professions do. They begin from the
assumption that they will always be crucially necessary and then try to figure
out what they will be necessary for. Unsurprisingly, librarians have reached a
consensus that technological progress demands an expansion, not a contraction,
no longer underpaid scriveners on index cards. In fact, they no longer want to
be called librarians at all. They're now "information specialists," who
understand search engines and retrieval systems and sort out good information
from bad on the Internet. They aspire to the rise in status and income that
probably true that we will need skillful librarians, and maybe even more
of instruction. In an unfamiliar world, we need guides all the more. What is
libraries we have now in the quantity we now have them.
necessary. Those who seek to understand the past are always going to want to
name of modernization, is certainly right about how foolish many great
libraries were to destroy their card catalogs after transferring them to
emphasizing electronic research at the expense of old books. Why must a
nonacademic library maintain, at great public expense, a vast store of volumes
institutions don't have functions beyond lending out books. A friend of mine
who used to teach in an overcrowded New York City school makes the point that
for a lot of poor kids, the library is the only place to do homework after
school. Public schools should provide an afternoon haven, but in the real
world, they don't. It would be terrible to get rid of an institution that works
without figuring out how to reproduce its effectiveness. Libraries are also
places where immigrants go to take English classes and where illiterates learn
to read. They are meeting places that cut against the isolation of modern life.
In cities, the downtown public library is the rare place where social classes
of good will public libraries have, such ancillary functions aren't enough to
keep them alive if their basic purpose fades. Our public libraries were built
so that citizens, and especially young people, could enhance their lives
through access to the written word. The day may be not so far off when we can
accomplish this function better with a subsidized Internet account and a free
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
girlfriend is intelligent, attractive, and affectionate. Maybe too
affectionate. When we're eating in public she likes to play footsie under the
ordering. She then watches me squirm to appear nonchalant in front of our
server. My question is this: How do I gently ask her to "play nice" without
does not like to be bossy, but she strongly suggests you do the following,
since she divines you are not going to change your shoes. Next time Miss
Intelligent, Attractive, and Affectionate decides to stab you with her heel,
from the other diners, but it will be worth it. (This maneuver is called
sending her neurosis back to her.) If the darling girl asks why you have never
hollered before, simply tell her you were not interested in playing her games,
a proper person handle the delicate matter of bad breath when happenstance
forces one into consulting with someone on the boss' staff? I don't mean to be
indelicate, but "retching" was very close at hand when that person talked.
through this a few times. What she has done is try to seem casual and arrange
her hand so it covers her nose. One wants to be helpful and alert the person,
more than a passing acquaintance, you might want to risk the person's
embarrassment in order to be helpful, with a remark something like "I hope you
don't take offense, but I feel sure you would want to know that, somehow, your
breath has turned sour," or "your lunch is lingering," or whatever you are
comfortable saying. Granted, it is easier to get away quickly and say
letter asking if you must use skills not in your job description
an employee of a private company, absent contractual provisions to the
contrary, the answer would be a resounding yes. Not only can employers ask,
they can require it; and if you refuse more than once to do something your
employer has asked just because nobody put it in your job description, you
might even be denied unemployment benefits when they fire you.
employers tend to be relatively uninterested in people whining about what
someone else should be doing. In the case of the fellow who wrote, I would give
priority to my own work but help out to the extent that I could without
neglecting my tasks. It is generally safe to check what the boss wants.
is not legal advice, do not rely upon it. If you have a problem seek the advice
falling on his neck seeking help. In addition to job description issues, our
law or psychological counseling. She is merely advising 
column and, generally speaking, a supporter of the "always leave 'em wanting
more" school of thought regarding product such as yours. However, while I am
consistently impressed by the high quality of your responses, I must
admit I am somewhat underwhelmed by the quantity of your output. Four
not as if you were being printed on a paper medium of limited dimension, where
you consider expanding the scope of your pleasant palaver, to the enrichment of
diminution of quality or reader interest. You are no less than they.
banquet table of offerings. We would not want to overdose on the problems of
the Supreme Electoral Headquarters at the Hotel El Dorado two hours before the
polls closed, our delegation was already working on its statement. Bob
become our chairman and was summing up the prevailing consensus that the
election was free and fair. I pointed out that at least two of us had heard
ethical sensitivity should serve the new speaker well as he presides over
congressional investigations of presidential perjury, campaign finance abuse,
antitrust trial, and they do not accept our explanation that he got bored,
he had said most of what he wanted to say, has a pressing book deadline, and so
on. They think he was canned because his reports were critical of
we're stammering a bit, that may reflect the strain of not making any jokes.
Because we wrote a jokey little item in this space two weeks ago about having
Lewis killed and whatnot, and some people have taken it seriously. We hope that
hasn't attracted the kind of readership that needs the word
(and we hope that what we publish in these genres is funny enough not to
expressed nothing but disappointment at his entirely
voluntary decision that he'd had enough. One part of the problem here may be a
misunderstanding of how journalism, especially magazine journalism, works. How
mysterious is it, really, that a writer should drop out of a project before it
is completed? Answer: Not very. Does such an occurrence justify paranoid
speculation about corrupt motives and conflicts of interest? Answer: No, not at
all. Many people might suppose that it is highly unusual for a writer to agree
to produce some piece of writing and then fail to produce it, perhaps offering
a variety of whiny and often hypochondriac excuses about hard wooden benches
and so on. That is because many people do not know writers. In fact, such
agreement to cover a trial of uncertain duration and with long periods of
him for his dispatches and invite readers to check out his
published an "interview" with himself in the second issue of the New York
section at the time of the printers' strike only make us realize it had never
sure what it means that this remark is quoted without comment in the new
the criticism. For all the effect it has had on the country's literature, the
it vanished in another strike, it is hard to think many people would miss
complaining that the section fails to capitalize on the new commercial
say he was joking, but apparently he wasn't. The Times deserves to be
congratulated, not scolded, for its determination to avoid pandering to the
its aversion to argument and controversy. Pick up just about any issue and what
distinguished authors contribute longer reviews about weightier books. But
somehow, the section still feels dutiful. It reads as if the people writing for
it and editing it aren't having any fun and don't think readers should
as interesting as possible and to make them look even more interesting than
anything too interesting and, if you happen to get it anyhow, disguise it. On
the cover, where the widely read "lead" review once began, there is now a
headline. "Artist of Adventure," says the cover of the issue that comes out on
one of the funniest writers around. But somehow, it feels as if his talent is
being withheld. You read the review and wish the author felt he could cut
advertisers in the publishing houses by providing much fertile territory for
blurb mining. But the rest of us are drowning. Inside the back page, there's
about. The reader, staggering across the finish line, can only pray that she
about how the section resists strong criticism and colorful writing. The
problem starts with the bias in favor of specialists. An assistant professor of
in the subject and focus on the significance of the book to his field. A good
intellectual journalist given the same assignment would probably focus more on
of journalists. But since good manners are the rule, the generalists often end
up sounding as obtuse as the experts. In the current issue, for instance, a
three paragraphs, summarize the book in four more, note a flaw in the
penultimate paragraph, and close with an upbeat summation on the order of
"Still, Moon Over Nova Scotia is a valuable contribution to our
this form. It spends three paragraphs pondering German history, four describing
list of accomplishments. (Click for a sample of this wacko analysis.)
discouraged. Most reviewers have figured out that raves are often played big.
But if the reviewer trashes a book, especially one that is in any way marginal,
the odds diminish that his review will be published. If it does run, it will
Bitty Book Light. Moreover, editors are likely to blunt the criticism in a
backhanded way. They may, for instance, as I heard from one contributor,
apologize for having to cut a reviewer's most clever lines "for space." How
a newspaper section avoid conflict, the mother's milk of journalism? I think
the instinct stems from the paper's not unrealistic sense of its own power and
can't help most academic specialists, for a lot of writers in between, not
getting reviewed in the Times or receiving a harsh review can nail the
coffin shut. Other publications can be cavalier without worrying about
squashing an author's budding career. The giant Times can't.
So the review has grown a large bureaucracy designed to
prevent any unfairness. Half a dozen "Preview" editors leaf through the
hundreds of books published each week to choose the lucky few that are worth
reviewing, relegating some to the "Books in Brief" section in the back. They
then look for someone qualified to write on the subject, but without any bias.
No one who is a friend, enemy, colleague, or rival of the author is supposed to
published by one's own publishing company. This near cult of fairness prevents
conflicts, but it also prevents interest. And the bureaucratic approach
issues. Are biographies too long? Does women's fiction get short shrift? Is
to the Times --"Sirs, of all the people who might have reviewed my book,
revolving around literary life than mere reviews. They contain diaries, poems,
drop the rules against conflicts of interest in favor of a simple one that says
material biases should be disclosed. Hire a regular columnist to write every
generation, springs to mind.) Lose the dismal cover illustrations and return to
have), letters from abroad, debates, and a gossip column. Encourage a feisty
letters page. Blow off the brief reviews. Take chances. Crusade. Quit being so
his fellow countrymen that they wouldn't have to give up territory in exchange
established themselves there. Are we permitted to dream?"
called for the lifting of sanctions because, "in the long run, free trade is
the piece), the Independent said it is now widely assumed that "the
of saying killing him, because it is hard to see how he might be dislodged
otherwise." But the paper said that even if it is argued that the rule of law
"The greatest threat today is the lack of a liberal anchorage in the country,"
she was quoted as saying. "The people are disoriented. There is a political
autonomy and more economic development." A military solution "is neither
workable nor stable," the paper said. "That should be the clear and repeated
firms are being investigated on suspicion of laundering profits from drug
trafficking, gun running, and contract killings by international racketeers,
"household names," the paper added that they are suspected of acting as fronts
the names of more than a dozen international organizations, both public and
private, which the government alleges hold information on Holocaust victims and
other related activities, which they are refusing to publish." Bobby Brown, the
during the State Department's Holocaust era restitution conference starting in
collateral." It concluded, "The price of artistic genius, it seems, is often a
better guide to the state of the banking market than the aesthetic spirit of
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
should resign. Nineteen percent disapprove strongly of the way he has done his
thank participants in a special program about his pontificate for their
bode any intention of sabotaging the withdrawal agreement," it said. "In
addition to the problems that his appointment might arouse, it can also be seen
be given full expression in the summit talks." The editorial added that "if the
debate in the House of Lords on the Labor government's planned abolition of the
parliamentary rights of hereditary peers. The government is committed to
excluding them from the upper house of Parliament but has yet to reveal its
proposals for further constitutional reform. The hereditary peers, nearly all
of them conservatives, did not argue with the case for their own abolition, but
repeatedly pointed out that a nonelected chamber consisting exclusively of
government nominees would be even less democratic than one dominated by people
who had arrived there by accident of birth. Even the liberal Guardian, which strongly
supports reform, insisted in an editorial that the government be held to its promise that "the
the queen has decided, by her own choice, to do away with some of the
ceremonial that has traditionally surrounded the annual State Opening of
Parliament. When this takes place next month, such officers as the Silver Stick
in Waiting will not take part. "The sight of the Great Officers of State
walking backwards ahead of the Sovereign will remain unchanged, however. It is
understood that they were offered the option of walking forwards, but
declined." All except the lord chancellor, although, the Telegraph
reassures its readers, "his request to walk forwards stems from a desire to
are more old people than ever. Many of them have word processors. Many of those
pass their free time writing. And, following the advice of all teachers of
writing, they write about what they know, which is old age. So there is a lot
of writing on that subject. Even Jimmy Carter has written a book about old
to keep up with this trend, I have just reread the classic on the subject,
a junior in high school. And I can't imagine what I learned about old age,
old. One might think that was pretty old for a Roman of that time, but Cicero
evidently didn't think it was old enough to qualify him to discourse on the
The year after writing the essay he was executed for being on the wrong side of
reasons why old age appears to be an unhappy time: First, it withdraws us from
active pursuits. Second, it makes the body weaker. Third, it deprives us of all
physical pleasures. And fourth, it is not far removed from death.
one's old age depends on the investments one made in earlier years. I don't
refer, and Cicero didn't either, to financial investments that assure one a
comfortable income in old age. (Cicero came from a wealthy family.) I am sure
that financial investments are important, and I don't suppose Cicero would have
obvious is investment in one's health and bodily strength. I don't think the
examples he gives that having a satisfactory old age depends on adequacy of
physical exercise and moderation of eating and drinking in the years
Another investment important for old age is friendships.
altogether moderate way, yet with a certain ardor appropriate to my age, which,
as time goes on, daily mitigates my zest for every pleasure."
whether, being old, he still indulged in "the delights of love." When I look
In any case, he praises the value of the intellectual and aesthetic pleasures
in which an old man can still indulge. But to fully appreciate art, science,
and nature in old age requires some prior investment in cultivating them.
things." According to my rabbi (I don't want to pretend to be a student of such
recognition that he had passed the trials of his life with valor and devotion
and could now enjoy a peaceful retirement, content in his own eyes and in the
eyes of God. He had, in today's parlance, paid his dues. That is another
investment one can make for old age: so to conduct oneself in prior years that
to invest to prepare for the proximity of death in old age, Cicero is not very
helpful. (Who is?) He offers his "philosophical" view. Death brings at least an
doesn't say what. Perhaps one could indoctrinate oneself in that attitude in
youth and so prepare for old age. But obviously Cicero did not find that
only daughter drove him into a frenzy of writing in an effort to forget his
thought that she had at least escaped all appetites. His philosophy might have
prepared him for his own death; it did not prepare him for the death of one he
which I have not read. If he was rescued from his grief, it was apparently time
grand triumph, and as Republicans spin the same numbers into an affirmation of
in recent years by advancing conservative causes: limits on gay rights,
immigration, and affirmative action. And there were certainly some initiatives
suicide. Initiatives in the deep South further restricted the rights of
Colorado abortion vote is a powerful argument against those who say that
initiatives are dangerous because they are too crude and voters are too easily
also voted to require parental notification for children seeking
abortion. The split vote on abortion suggests a subtlety among voters that
strong faith in government and a willingness to expand it. Voters gave a
ballot initiatives to expand state environmental funding and, in all but
proposed, did an environmental initiative fail. On animal rights, too, voters
cast ballots for more government regulation, choosing to ban cockfighting in
passed campaign finance reforms allowing public funding of state candidates.
afflicted with a foolish optimism may view these initiative victories as a sign
of an impending liberal majority. I suspect they represent something else: the
happy and rich. These votes reflect a generous, expansive mood. Sick people
want to smoke a joint? Let 'em, what harm does it do? More money for schools?
Sure! Clean water? You bet! These are not liberal activist votes, cast because
judgment day. How accurate was the weather forecast election forecast?
correctly), which is not much worse than the average election prognosticator
and a lot better than the average weather forecaster.
trait: Their protagonists tend to be more compelling in the throes of their
particular depravity than after they "come to their senses." In rare cases that
mainstream cinema, which insists on heroes who are both square and hip, has a
tough time exploring the paradox that virtue is a great charisma killer. It's
a racist, homicidal skinhead who's never more mythically transfixing than in
and scenes of violence at once thrillingly kinetic and revolting. But the film
has the soul of a guidance counselor, and whenever it seems poised to go where
are gummed up, where we can grasp simultaneously the horror and the allure of
demonization, and naive notions of how people change. It's a frustrating piece
stealing the family's van. Clad only in boxers and boots and with a huge, thick
swastika tattooed over his heart, he snatches a revolver and charges into the
street. The camera hugs his long torso and ropy muscles; starkly white against
the black of the sky, he seems stripped down to pure hatred.
Here, he curls his body into a sneer, and he's probably the only white man in
movies who's wiry enough to trounce a bunch of black guys on a basketball court
man whose rage has taken on a runaway life of its own.
present is in (less arresting) color, with a framing device that's
the boy with expulsion unless he delivers a substitute essay the following day:
an analysis of his brother's crime and its impact on both their family and
doctorates! Can we skew the case any more, please? Brooks, the bulwark of
note in between; and the protagonist's prison metamorphosis from one pole to
Guy who gets out of prison had more to say than "How did I buy into this shit?
I was pissed off." The struggle for his kid brother's soul turns out to be no
chums obligingly turn into hissing vampires, snarling at his expressions of
tolerance as if they've just been flashed the crucifix and sprayed with holy
himself and his brother as innocent children on the beach, staring in
the cut of the picture he turned in, and at last report was holed up in the
montage, and the script has at least one card up its sleeve: the climactic
who urged his son at the dinner table not to get too cozy with niggers or their
can even halfway connect the dots between this fundamentally sweet, brainy kid
and the magnetic, white trash monster who'll haunt our minds long after the
a game and that if the boy gets through it without crying or complaining he
to the "enchantment of fascism" being "undone" by "other spells, some recalling
leads a group of laughing tots into the death chamber. The picture reportedly
because The Day the Clown Cried was judged too obscene to be released,
black hole. Its subject isn't the power of "enchantment" but the power of
to be uneven, though, and when you add directorial missteps to the
uncomfortable subject matter, the result is pans mixed with queasily laudatory
the future who, when decommissioned, is relegated to the horrors of the slag
heap planet, where he discovers human emotion and rises to the defense of his
fellow outcasts. Soldier 's small number of fans call it a "sanctimonious
House). The editor of The New Yorker takes on one of the most
this collection of interconnected stories is hailed as generally witty, and its
"Traditions in the West are sometimes hard to break, but we find this to be
column with weekly photo of him being punched in the nose."-- Rich
'Medical Miracle for Cute Babies Is a Hot New Trend and Proof of God's
features and denaturing them into wan imitations but by being acutely attuned
a New York public school, current events assignments are traditionally
she replied, "Oh, I know, but nobody reads that. We call it Time for
should be able to buy their way out of misconduct. How trivial. Let them get
off easily without any consequences at all. They are acting in the country's
best interest. Departing from the Constitution pays dividends."
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name on its site in connection with your submission.
only recommend a play that has just closed. There are art lovers who rave about
paintings locked in the basement of the Hermitage. But to my mind, there are no
aficionados more annoying than music mavens who prattle on about bootlegs. What
a coincidence that the really great records are the ones you can't get.
with paeans to recordings you can't hear, some of which even he hasn't heard,
record company could keep up with it. Before he finished cutting an album, he'd
in the 1960s was writing at such a pitch of inspiration that even his
Hall Concert." For years, collectors have paid good money for unreliable copies
of this bootleg. Now the performance, which actually took place not at the
are legitimately fascinated with this concert, which occurred at a crucial
from nonviolence to black power, soft drugs turned to hard drugs, and so on.
"authenticity" and political dissent. (A hilarious, chilling document is the
playing amplified rock 'n' roll. During the next year he was booed at nearly
the stress by ingesting huge quantities of drugs and generally acting like a
bastard. At the end of the tour, he broke his neck in a motorcycle accident. He
wondering if things might somehow have turned out differently.
disappointing. It was a reasonably good concert, but hardly an outstanding one.
his acoustic guitar and harmonica and played electric guitar with his band in
the second half. The first half was a concession to his fans, but it bored him
silly, and you can tell. The songs themselves are beautiful. His rendition of
studio version, doing nothing to explicate the obscurities of the lyrics, such as
why "Baby Blue" has reindeer armies, or where they're going home to. He strums
released on record, and which, after you've listened to the acoustic side, is
word "behind," creating a perfect rock moment. Amazingly, half the audience
cranking into "Like a Rolling Stone." He played no encores.
showing at the Museum of Radio and Television in New York City to coincide with
unpublished fragments probably won't do any damage to his real achievement. But
of the old folkie quest for the grail of authenticity. And it's equally
instantly famous. Insisting otherwise makes him into a kind of idiot savant who
could create but not choose. It elevates the critic and diminishes the
photo, the single word "Noel," a naked babe draped in colored lights sipping
perfect place to release them." Where? What? Says who?
attacks. It is difficult to be amusing in praise of something. But risking
dry season. It's this kind of pathological attention to detail that makes
"News Quiz" such a pleasure to work on. Thank you all very much. (Especially
residual payments, that great Writers Guild health insurance, and jeez, just
the weekly paychecks would be terrific. I never should have taken that swing at
nearly as dangerous as rusty flying propellers coated with broken glass.
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
weather. Their insatiable appetite for royal gossip is cheerfully fed by a
venal press. Their factories manufacture a steady supply of ephemeral pop
groups. And they don't think much of the French and their bountiful supply of
unworthy of "News Quiz" players, who might charitably have pointed out how
graciously the English have transformed themselves from a ruthless imperial
power into a vast island museum that still believes itself to be a ruthless
"quickie" weddings, making prenuptial agreements legally binding, and improving
mediation services. The Conservative Party denounced this "unprecedented level
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
single word "Noel," a naked babe draped in colored lights sipping
illustration, just text. Its tone somehow both baleful and bemused, wistful yet
some deft responses. I can only plead holiday malaise. Or seasonal affective
train that would whisk me swiftly and economically to the countryside, where,
just groggy enough. Boy could I use a drink purchased at a cash bar.
can't eat a single dapper. Assuming it is something you eat.)
in traditional dress, demonstrating the various steps to preparing a hog for
consumption. Skills on display will be: scalding, sausage stuffing, lard
Exotic Night Club. 2-for-1 private dances. Closed Thanksgiving. Happy
Thanksgiving!" (So you're saying if I want an inexpensive private dance on
announces, "Beer Makes a Great Gift. Gift Certificates and Variety Packs."
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
et Ratio," calling on the faithful to reconcile faith and reason. Rationalists
reasonably ask: How does one do that? If faith tells you that God created
lower animals over millions of years, how do you reconcile those messages? If
reason tells you this seems highly unlikely, where do you go from there?
subdivisions of various religions have various strategies for reconciling faith
and reason. Here are a few, on a rough spectrum from faith wins to reason
reason is misguided. This philosophy is summed up in the battle cry of many a
literalist: Nothing is impossible with God. Scientific proofs that contradict
biblical stories of the great flood or creation are wrong and have been derived
through erroneous means. The debate over evolution is probably the
relentless point by point challenge of the rationalist side.
to truth as revealed through Scripture. It is this obsession and lust
for knowledge that caused the human condition (suffering, evil, painful
childbirth, etc.) in the first place: Eve's craving for enlightenment is
what led her to eat from the tree of knowledge, after which God expelled her
pope takes in his latest encyclical. Faith and reason are argued to be
logical complements. God empowered humans with reason precisely so that
humankind might come to a better understanding of God and God's creation.
between reason and faith. Each contains the other, and each has its own scope
for action. Officially, the Catholic Church gives reason the same weight as
faith. If you use your reason in the way it was intended, you will discover the
wonder and mystery in God's creation and, in turn, you will come to a greater
favor this approach often tend to see philosophy and Scripture as
sharing the key to the ultimate truth. The pursuit of knowledge is good, not
bad, because it leads closer to the actual truth: God and God's plan. Without
reconciling reason with faith, the teachings of the Bible look like magical
Enterprise Institute, sums up the basic premise of this approach, saying that
contends that faith and reason occupy two different realms of knowing.
They are so dissimilar that they cannot contradict one another. Reason
encompasses the physical, while faith deals with the metaphysical. The seen and
unseen are independent of each other: You don't read the Bible for answers to
scientific questions, and you don't read a biology textbook to find out how to
premise of this line is that the findings of faith and reason are not at
the outside world. Faith is subjective --discovered within. Faith is
about the metaphysical world, that world of events, occurrences, and mysteries
that by their very nature can never be proved objectively.
religious texts written centuries ago must be interpreted within the
were nonexistent. The writers had to make their points in terms that people of
the time would understand. For example, had the writer of the Genesis creation
have explained God's hand in the evolutionary process as opposed to the more
sanitary conditions of today, laws for keeping kosher might have been
much less stringent or possibly omitted altogether.
this approach will seem quite reasonable to rationalists, it is one of the more
controversial approaches to reconciling faith and reason. Its critics complain
that God's truths are not and cannot be relative to the time they are
written. There is a moral absolute that supersedes cultural and historical
literalist theories, this approach assumes that the Scriptures were written
these theological works are said to use myth, imagery, and symbolism to
instruct readers how to lead a good life. They are not historical or factual
documents, since all the events within were composed as literary
formidable one. Reconciling faith and reason is hard work. There are other ways
to go about it, but these five should be enough to get you started, God
now, as health maintenance organizations are suddenly pulling out of dozens of
coverage beyond the end of the year and demanding that Congress do something
to drop benefits on established contracts. And politicians, including the
but there are two reasons why casual observers should care about what's going
policy changes passed last year, Medicare has been transformed into an enormous
voucher system. It is the prototype of a still new and controversial idea:
Government should finance a generous safety net, but competing, private
organizations should do the work. The government now allocates to each senior
in Medicare a fixed amount of money that will buy coverage from either a
deficit reduction projected for the next few years--$102 billion out of a total
All signs, however, suggest that the immediate problems in
enter Medicare markets than are seeking to withdraw. The pullouts affect
be zero. Presumably, at least some of the plans are inefficient. We don't know
precisely what an optimal rate would be, but the anticipated withdrawal rate
was simple: The government was overpaying them. Before this year, under a
were derived from the traditional Medicare program, which had a much sicker
the effects of the announced withdrawals will be limited.
except for a small copayment and generally provide generous drug coverage,
those with the standard coverage and some supplemental insurance. No wonder
Medicare is now suffering is not a calamity. It is the inevitable turbulence
and messiness of introducing choice and competition to a major social program.
In a voucher system, seniors have a choice of plans, but the plans have
choices, too. They aren't breaking any promises if they decide to take their
ball and go home. The benefits, however, may still be worth this downside.
After all, regulations failed to control Medicare's costs adequately. The hope
care plans are now losing money, and a major shakeout is underway. After
several years of remarkable success, insurers are having serious trouble
controlling the costs generated by doctors like me, and not just for the senior
population. New drugs, diagnostics, and other technologies have accelerated
increases in premiums from employers, who will then cut health benefits, wages,
payments in future years. Suddenly, the current budget surplus looks
the 1980s, fail to tame health costs, we will be left with an ugly choice. Do
this could be the major domestic policy debate of the coming decade.
selection of that day's analysis and commentary from 
newsier departments, such as "Chatterbox" and "Explainer." 
coverage and reviews. Morning delivery of "Today's Papers" will, of course,
could lead us out of the Flytrap morass? That is the mournful keening you hear
an alleged era when figures of towering prestige and gravitas would swoop in
like superheroes when democracy had tied itself in one too many knots. Gently
but firmly, they would guide us to safety, then disappear back into their
(not excluding the possibility of a Wise Woman, of course), they would be able
to broker a deal between the president and the Republican Congress, sparing the
nation the prolonged agony of impeachment. (To hear the keening, check out this
undemocratic. This group includes both those who relish the prospect of
figures call for "responsible leaders on both sides" to make a deal. The
to flinch or compromise on impeachment, so we're especially delighted to have
his participation. So delighted, in fact, that we'll refrain from making any
patina of wisdom. That is no measure of relative actual wisdom, of course. But
if we had to guess, it probably means he's doing most of the work.
an anthology published by Morrow. The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide is a short prose book about
if you missed the most recent installments of this column, here they are:
city's zoo has been impregnated by another boa constrictor named Warren
objectives or the consequences of a military intervention unprecedented in
nor anywhere else," he said. "If we bomb, it won't be to impose a solution, as
that renders intolerable humanitarian tragedies shown on television at the
expense of all other ones, and in order to save what little credibility remains
some sort of agreement, it will not be able to reverse in one fell swoop the
feeling of alienation that prevails between them." It added, "After all, it is
not the absence of an agreement, but the failure to implement it, that brought
international law, reserving the right to use the death penalty against
with the complaints registered with the National Human Rights Commission
child. The principal reason cited for this reluctance: Maternity is seen as
right after the election. He told his staff, according to the New York
officials to address pocketbook issues like Social Security, health care,
think we probably underestimated the need to really aggressively push a much
stronger message about cutting taxes and saving Social Security, winning the
war on drugs, reforming education and national defense," said the speaker the
day before he realized that underestimate would cost him his job.
government to solve problems in education, the environment, child care and
articulate the message but to provide the legislative machinery that it takes
think the first thing that we have to do is develop an agenda that can unify
Social Security, get back to limited government, lower taxes and strong
evidence that the public is hot for a party that promises activist solutions to
problems that confront it and its progeny? Surely not from Election Day exit
issue that "mattered most" in deciding which House candidate to vote for.
many of those voters really had education foremost in their frontal lobes?
Remember that, in key elections, "education" was the trade name for a firm of
less reputable pursuit. Democratic candidates in the South who actively
supported legalized gambling measures (with the state's share of the take
opponents. Voters who opposed the lottery and video poker interests told
pollsters forthrightly that they were "against gambling." Voters who favored
legalizing gambling said they were "for education."
doesn't want the federal government to bother it. People expect the government
to keep the Social Security checks and highway money coming and run the courts
Medicare," for example, a goal that pols from both parties like to pop into the
their ilk limit some people's access to some kinds of care. Pick your poison
like their politicians to flatter them by pretending that they are truly
concerned about important things like making kids smarter and safer and
whatever. Never mind that the money will only pay for a fraction of that (and
that by the time it's spread by formula to every school or precinct, it might
not fully support a single hire). Or call for another tax break to subsidize
whatever. Sure, most of the subsidy will end up paying for things that would
happen anyway, but people like the idea of tax breaks and nobody ever bothers
more attractive candidates who don't scare the voters with their moralistic
message that ends up forcing a debate in which a lot of painful choices will
precisely that sort of inaction in mind. And according to the polls, Congress
has never been more popular than it was just a few months ago when what it was
be so flippant with a list of pejoratives associated with another minority
and unfunny. It is particularly annoying to read this on the anniversary of
I did not create the list of pejoratives thought to be associated in the public
list and that, given the tremendous exposure she's had this year, this
certainly reinforces the stereotype and therefore makes the group's aim more
image of black men. To notice such things is not bigotry. But wanting to ignore
interesting question now is who was the father of her first son, since he could
children because there are no male descendants, the likelihood that the
paternity was from other men is as likely as any other possible answer, now
with no record of potency for almost two decades. You jump to conclusions too
understandable way without putting in so much information that it becomes
unintelligible. He is a breath of fresh air. I also think it is commendable
that "The Breakfast Table" feature is supposed to be light,
was doing double duty this week. It is heartening to know that despite not
impeachment hearings over Flytrap, we know, hewed closely to party lines; only
leadership did purport to agree on this: The vote was supposed to be one of
"conscience." Responding to reports that he was muscling Democrats for support,
"cast a vote of principle and conscience." Likewise, Republican Speaker Newt
faces a vote with dicey political consequences. During the Gulf War, House
their conscience and their judgment on this matter." The Bush White House
agreed: "This is a vote of conscience and not something you can involve party
reverberations of people protesting too much. Most of the time, we're left to
conclude, these craven, opportunistic pols will crumple, tossing aside their
deeply held convictions at the slightest blandishments. Only on an
extraordinary occasion do principles carry the day.
conscience talk also suggests something else that's taken for granted: Voting
explaining why he supported the Democratic proposal. Voters endorse this
premise, affiliating themselves less and less with either party and splitting
a different notion of civic participation. In the early Republic, parties were
and without party affiliation, cautioned in his Farewell Address against
"the baneful effects of the spirit of the party." Everyone was expected to vote
conceit of government by peaceable consensus was soon exposed as chimerical. By
the 1790s, the young nation's leaders promptly split into warring parties: the
party had different ideas about what the common good entailed: For the
Federalists it meant a strong central government, an expanding economy, and the
stewardship of an elite ruling class. The Republicans envisioned a weaker
federal government, an agrarian society, and an infusion of democracy.
pioneered party discipline as a way to muster the strength of numbers against
victors belong the spoils," making the "spoils system" of rewarding supporters
president, crystallized his supporters into the Democratic Party, his opponents
affairs. Republicans and Democrats paraded in torchlight processions, waved
banners, sang songs. Newspapers unabashedly pitched the news from a partisan
slant. On Election Day, party leaders handed voters tickets with slates of
candidates printed upon them; the voter just dropped the ticket in the ballot
box. Turnout was never higher. Whatever its faults, democracy was bustling and
Progressive Era put a stop to all this. Appalled by the rampant corruption of
secret ballot. They crippled parties by empowering voters through the
referendum and the popular election of senators. The times celebrated
objectivity, expertise, and efficiency: Voters now had to stay informed and
engaged to make more choices independently. Since then, parties have continued
to lose both power and credibility. "Today the labels [of party] are shunned as
an offense to a thinking person's individualism, and a vast majority of
no arguing that a democracy needs representatives and voters who can think for
themselves. Perhaps one day we'll even achieve that. Still, there are some
people to compete they need to come together and to raise funds, agree upon a
platform, choose candidates, and so on. Party loyalty and discipline make that
possible, and that sometimes means both voters and representatives must
members should bind them together, even when they encounter particular
differences about their application (and despite some blurring of lines, party
century shows that our current arrangement leaves many voters feeling
been utterly baffled about how to vote on a referendum or whom to choose for
some lower position? A party line comes in handy. The notion of the informed
citizen puts too much pressure on individuals, where the cruder but more
inspiring politics of the Gilded Age mobilized voters on Election Day.
[in Congress], though they may sometimes obstruct salutary plans, yet often
promote deliberation and circumspection, and serve to check excesses in the
Republicans have united to impeach him. And if you think the Republicans are an
rallying to stop them. When it comes to extraordinary moments of political
crisis, "conscience" sometimes just gets in the way.
didn't click the sidebars in the text and would like a brief reminder of the
shown to be "a liar and a philanderer" yet "still he comes back laughing." But
Republicans should pursue impeachment, regardless of the election results: "If
they believed that they had grounds for an inquiry, it should be a thorough
this movement. State voters don't care about parties: They just want
They eat each other." If you are going take the quiz, stop reading now. The answer is a).
article in the election cover package heralds the onset of "liberal
campaign finance reform. Another piece raps Republican National Senatorial
failure and won. This year he's stubbornly producing an expensive and risky
percent of prison inmates. Out of their cells for just one hour a day, the
inmates grow slowly insane and even more violent and unstable than when they
entered prison. Many psychologists believe the treatment is inhumane. Wardens
Time 's cover package attacks corporate welfare: "In some ways, it
course, is that instead of rewarding the poor, it rewards the powerful." In
politicians claim they've created new jobs while wasting your tax money. The
package surveys hot new tech towns. New Silicon Valleys have sprouted in
tech success: nearby research institutions, an educated talent pool,
type words, they appear in a thought bubble above your avatar's head. Current
popular palaces: The South Park palace and, you guessed it, porn
mulatto) and equally unaware that they were related to a president. An
accompanying article traces the evolving debate among historians, several of
story challenges the fairness of the death penalty, noting the
significant numbers of death row inmates who have been found innocent before
death row innocent. Six of those nine were minorities accused of crimes against
requested that none of his unfinished work be posthumously published.
on the verge of being bought out for huge dough. Suddenly, the bottom dropped
out when push fell from favor and "portals" became the next big thing.
stars has become so urgent that couriers are being given terse, even
breathless, instructions to make no detours."-- John Shade
pop star excesses. Listed like that, it's clear that our rock 'n' rollers have
compiled a sadly unimaginative roster of debauchery, largely relying on sex and
disappointing. Even the president, that drab national dad, has been accused of
surgical selfishness of leaner noses and plumper bosoms. Where is the face
accomplished at embodying their own philosophy. You'd think they'd have some
her bid to sue for libel over a "vulgar and undignified" quip about her
on the way to a concert and was advised to turn sideways to release herself,
which she insists she never made, held her up to ridicule, mockery, and
contempt, and conformed to a "degrading racist stereotype of a person of
in the subject of this libel action as it would have shown that, in addition to
possessing the remarkable vocal and dramatic talents which have made her
those holiday cards, and there's a colorful, inexpensive, and sinister
the firearm ownership preservation bear wears a yellow cowboy suit and carries
a rifle. This could refer to the kosher laws that put pork chops out of bounds,
proudly shows his target to dad. Both have rifles; both wear ear protectors.
They may be gun nuts, but they're still health conscious.
Outside the window lurks a bad bear with an eye patch. Apparently the bad bear
of his cell. I don't begin to understand the ideological assumptions behind
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will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
comic books, nail polish, and jewelry. What's the connection?
from violence,' said a spokesman. 'Fours and 5s? Well they're just asking for
food, bad teeth, bad weather. No, wait, that's what we knew yesterday about
beat the stuffing out of them. You would, however, receive an affectionate
animal lovers is "date." Is bestiality, that perpetual urban smirk at rural
the sense of asking an entirely different question: Is it really a requirement
of sophistication that a place provides good bookstores, movies, plays,
museums, music, cuisines, and an opportunity for erotic and intellectual
freedom? As it turns out, yes. But be wary of feeling too proud of yourself
news too prolix), the rating system is analogous to that used for hurricanes,
at the same steering wheel with the same gas in the same car. He's a committed
conservative. Any poor folk get in the road, he's gonna run 'em
running the train on the tracks. Poor folk wander onto those tracks:
Southern party. This place will become much less cannibalistic and much less of
a snake pit. But the snake, though limbless, can drive a car or a train or
maybe a private jet or something right over any damn poor people who get in its
Disclaimer: All submissions will become the property of Slate and
will be published at Slate 's discretion. Slate may publish your
name on its site in connection with your submission.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
to write. I have lived outside the United States for quite some time now and am
Department official flossed at the table after dinner in a restaurant. Is this
now accepted hygienic behavior in the States, or is it as undiplomatic as it
that quality people in the United States have kept flossing a private ritual.
safe bet that your State Department friend is in no danger of being given an
out the little white plastic thing that holds the floss, or was he using one of
group of guys went out for a drink after work, and sitting at the bar was a
struck up a conversation with her and was greatly annoyed when one of my
friends insisted I interrupt the conversation to go have a word with
me away from the bar and told me the beauteous blonde was a guy. I felt like a
moron for not being able to figure this out myself. Of course the teasing has
not abated, and the weight of my imaginary dunce cap is giving me a headache.
wants you to immediately regain your sense of humor and be grateful that your
pal stepped in before any, uh, harm was done. It is sometimes difficult to
answer to the fishy question was imprudent, I think. In your response, you
used the word "floundered." Now if you meant that to be a pun, then I have no
problem with it, but if, instead, you meant that you failed, the better word
might have been "foundered," meaning that you a) failed completely or b) went
directly to the bottom. You will of course make the final decision, which will
be prudent in the end, or prudence at work, whatever!
wonderful wordplay just to respond to the trout letter comments. Your first
the product of perhaps too permissive parents in that they believed, being
children of the '60s, that excessive discipline and training may lead to
stunted personality development in their children. As a result, I have no solid
knowledge of basic etiquette. Can you recommend a general text that is current,
comprehensive, and for my parents' sake, progressive?
salutes you for knowing what you do not know and concurs that a world without
good bookstore, online or actual, and select the most appropriate book by
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
disagree with your opinion that nine years of living together equals marriage.
A person is either married or not, like being pregnant. While the father can be
commitment means marriage. Anything less is just dating.
difference with you. Of course you are right that not being married is not
being married, and living together does not "equal" marriage. Commitment,
relationships have all the ingredients of a really good marriage, and all
that's missing are recognition from the state and contractual obligation.
and experience of the couple may be a factor. A committed relationship between
you are the expert on all things advisory, I would like to suggest a different
some on your person, and when confronting the foul offender, produce them, pop
They're also nice because they are not quite as blatant as breath mints but get
the Brits might say, your approach is brilliant. It being only polite to offer
a companion what one is oneself ingesting, you will have spared the offender
public.) He also lost a very good paying job shortly after marriage, and now
we're in debt up to our eyeballs. How can I make him understand I want
lenient regarding divorcing, it is because she herself has lost more than one
husband who feels like a brother, makes you feel old, embarrasses you, and has
restaurant, and when the bill came, the waitress had written at the bottom,
that she had to put a suggested tip (as if I didn't know) and that she put it
higher than normal (the service certainly was not above and beyond the call of
duty) and that she further did not give the option of a lower tip.
percent above the norm, but to have it forced on me in such a forward manner
restaurant waitstaff has many jobs, but giving instructions for the amount of
caught off guard as you were. She hopes that you thought fast and lined through
the "notation" and wrote in what you wanted to leave.
action to the attention of the owner or manager, whichever one was present that
night. For future reference, should a serving person deliver substandard
service, the diner is perfectly within his or her rights to specify "no tip."
This way it is clear that the lack of a tip is neither an oversight nor
rocketed around the world as front pages celebrated the Democrats' success in
the midterm elections. "Revenge" was a very popular word in headlines. "The
Democrats," reported that "stunned Democrats woke up yesterday to find their
election victories had outstripped their loftiest predictions." Meanwhile, the
noted, however, that "the vote, which halved the Republican majority in the
performance by a president's party since the 1930s." The Independent shouted,
that "the Democrats have held their own in a remarkable fashion," while Japan's
pay more attention to the livelihood of the people." The South China Morning Post of Hong
"Republicans vow to press impeachment crusade" and that the Democrats "warn
said that the midterm elections were a victory for political moderation. It
said, "If the Republican leadership allows the religious right to dominate the
debate, the party will condemn itself to another four years outside the White
movies based on magazine stories. It will all be hot, modern, a hone to the
pizza for breakfast, and wear mostly black, the brothers don't fit the
archetype of the New Media honcho. They hark back to another, very different
They are emperors with a discerning eye. They invite the
charges of pretentiousness by calling themselves arbiters of "taste" and
making movies from scratch. (Distributed movies still constitute about half of
Video sales were cutting into box office, and big studio execs were ever more
cautious. They wedded themselves to focus groups, obsessed over demographics,
studios and bucking the car chase, machine gun boilerplate. The brothers
way they want. Most studio heads rely on vice presidents and vast development
Only in the '90s did the brothers begin to reap big
the old moguls, they cut corners and insist on staying within budget. Where
million. When producing a movie, it eschews expensive stars. Instead, it uses
strategies. They are hustlers. Their aggressive marketing machine beats any in
pioneering the practice of calling Academy Awards voters to sway their votes.
One of their standard devices to garner attention for a film is to pick
Time magazine planned to reveal the plot twist in The Crying
run the detail. Never mind that the movie had been out for months and that a
Stories of the brothers' arrogance and brutality are
him for making an error at a company softball game. (The employee was later
where the studio's former executives commiserated over wounds inflicted by the
guys? In many ways, she seems the ideal match for them, and not simply because
pretensions but feel no shame in embracing pop culture. They all love
lavishness irk the frugal duo? Will the snazzy partnership produce nothing more
fault. He may have pitched softballs, but that's what the ground rules of the
sole moderator for a reason. He has become our national icon of broadcasting
probity, and they knew that he would bring the sort of solemnity to the
occasion that would minimize the risk of things getting interesting.
to opine, in his hangdog humility, in his desire to serve as moderator rather
than interrogator. There's also a reward. From his role as the sole moderator
milestone when he won the debate assignment. "I see my selection as a tribute
retired almost two decades ago, but the chair has remained empty until now.
lack of resources to dig for stories) into strength. Presaging the
mostly speak for themselves. Each week, dozens of government officials, foreign
leaders, experts, journalists, and voluble wonks descend upon the
debates, but there is the same vacant and impassive style, and there are (for
he offers little in the way of interruption or contradiction. Like the
but I suspect that what they really find it is soothing. Friction and strife
first, for his viewers, whom he shields from the passion and fury of the news.
of war and misery, but the panel discussions that follow generally still the
mean "guests." "He looks at you with those big brown eyes," confides one
in this sort of coaching, it was considered a scandal.) And like other
questions. But he rarely does. No wonder, then, that the exchanges between
reporters seem so articulate and poised; that the guests are eager to return to
unabashed about this socializing with pols and power, and it has turned him
When his friends appear on his show, they get treated no better than some war
criminal with whom he is not acquainted. Or rather, the war criminal gets
competitive. The networks and syndicates have expanded news magazine coverage,
more slick, and three 24-hour news channels now clog cable television.
is perceived by the public as "the most credible" newscast in the country.
is not awarded on the basis of ratings. "Credibility" is a vital factor, and
"Who do you want to hear it from the next time a plane crashes or a world
grandfatherly, astonishingly handsome, his voice as magnificent as ever.
victim to Celebrity Identification Disorder, the same malady that causes people
extraordinary men for so long that they assume he must be one.
defining quality of his career is competence, not genius. He was never a
Since the late '50s, however, he has enjoyed the most workmanlike career of any
misses work because of illness. Appropriately modest, he credits his success to
his "physical equipment" rather than his talent: his height and good health, as
researches his roles assiduously, memorizing Old Testament passages to play
books and his journal (author of three memoirs, he is an excellent, funny
activism is a steady hobby rather than an obsession. He's an enthusiast, but
also a dilettante. In the early '60s, he was a staunch civil rights advocate.
funding. He has condemned the nuclear freeze movement, obscene rap music, and
monomaniacal. (His rhetoric, admittedly, is not always restrained. He denounces
if it weren't so nasty. Click for a couple of examples.)
gun rights. Until recently, he hasn't spent much time pushing the Second
comparison. Both are Democrats who converted to conservative Republicanism.
Both are actors who involved themselves in politics. Both served as president
of the Screen Actors Guild. Both are marvelous speakers.
grabbed the ring. He declined invitations from Democrats and Republicans to run
presidential race. He was an actor, is an actor, and will always be an actor.
His life is comfortable, and he sees no reason to change it.
hope to. But he has never done what his characters would have. The
extraordinary man, the man who believes he can change the world, hungers for
It's a ceremonial position, a grand title with few responsibilities attached.
to act presidential. And there's no one who acts presidential better than
proposal to lure people into the District by slashing federal income tax rates
for city residents got its second big boost in as many days yesterday when
have sinned. I confess that I harbor a belief that contradicts much that I have
theory and practice, that has earned me the understandable scorn of my Slate
cling to this heretical belief, that when one of my colleagues suggested I
grounds, I objected (devotion to a free and fair airing of contrary opinions be
political consensus on Capitol Hill that might actually produce a timely
rescue. (Yes, yes, I stole the central theme of this column from a subordinate.
Of course I know most economists believe that local tax
breaks do nothing to stimulate overall economic growth. My files are as full as
any policy wonk's with scholarly studies demonstrating that using tax lures to
well. Obviously, much of the "growth" generated by such a break is merely
an ultimately futile "race to the bottom." Less obviously, the new citizens and
businesses may be a bad deal. Meeting their needs may require, for example, new
roads and schools, without the extra tax revenues needed to pay for them.
my heresy blind me to the inefficiency of tax transfers in affecting behavior,
economic or otherwise. I will not deny that it has been shown that as much as
have taken place anyway. As for the pious hope that the Internal Revenue
are truly residents of the district and that the nation's capital has not
Congress could just give as much money directly to the district government as
rest of the country. Well, this is where I start falling off the train. We're
much less educate its children; cannot mend its roads or keep its drinking
water potable; cannot police its own police force, let alone its streets or
jails; cannot care for the sick, or elderly, or homeless. A government that
cannot resist the importuning of any special interest or union, that lacks both
the will and the talent to reform itself. What would make anyone think that
giving more money to that government would fix anything?
save the district is more residents and more businesses able not only to pay
more taxes, but to take a lively interest in how they are governed. And only
crumbling capital city. Yes, they will come initially at the expense of other,
especially neighboring, jurisdictions. But the areas around the capital have
long prospered at the expense of the capital. Their commuters benefit mightily
from the services provided by the district, yet pay no taxes to support those
services. The surrounding areas cannot ultimately flourish without a vibrant
core. Moreover, the district, unlike other cities and because of its unique
constitutional origins, cannot annex its fleeing middle class. Nor can it claim
district when they have so many problems of their own? Why should they allow
No, I do not profess that the tax breaks will pay for
themselves in no time at all. How could I, when I have so often written that
that the right incentives, ones that capitalize on the comparative advantages
of people or locations, can reap positive returns not just for the direct
government) parks, monuments, mansions, embassies, and museums can compare with
streets have a polyglot vitality they lacked only a few decades ago. Its
in the wealthy enclaves. You can have a park in your backyard (as I do) and
potholes). It would be nice if more of the newcomers were artists, artisans,
expenditure of tax revenues might just work wonders. And even if the costs were
a dead economic loss to other jurisdictions, surely there are gains in national
I am right in my belief. Costly error or painful recriminations lie on either
side of my position. The money might, after all, be wasted on windfalls. On the
other hand, it's also possible that the tax incentives would miraculously repay
year's end, and a third is in the works. At the center of the latest round of
the kind of gushy press coverage that other world leaders fantasize about.
Lama is, by all accounts, a true holy man: humble, devout, warm, funny, as
Holiness is cashing in on the West's romance with Eastern spirituality, using
it to attract international sympathy. Dressed in his maroon robes and beatific
land protected by stunning mountains, dotted with magnificent temples, ruled by
human rights movement." Other trampled nations briefly seize the world's
forced to copulate in the street; others were crucified or dragged to death by
wields it magnificently. He feeds his Western audiences a softhearted,
forgive those who abuse us, know that satisfaction does not come from material
in our therapeutic culture: a religion that's about my satisfaction, not
"always optimistic" (though if there's any person whom history should have
New Age spirituality, find his mixture of exoticism, aphorism, and optimism
to die. Then the outside pressure for a peaceful accommodation will vanish.)
never exhaust their patience, but sometimes their followers do.
space was the occasion for much sneering. Republicans mocked the space trip as
hearings. ("He can go into orbit and stay there," snapped a Republican
chink. His life proves that in politics virtue can triumph over
Earth, became the Mercury superstar anyway. His eloquence, his calm in the face
religious, patriotic, a devoted father and a loving husband.
political gain. This pact was more selfless than it sounds: It ensured that
issues. He's the Senate's technocrat. He likes reading General Accounting
pushing to cut waste and rationalize government procurement. He has been, in
short, an admirable public servant, a solid, stolid senator.
above conflict and partisanship, that does what is right for the nation. But
He makes his own decisions on principle and thinks his colleagues should do the
deserves them. He's never risen to the top ranks of the Senate because he's
scruples (as well as his dullness) also doomed his quest for the presidency.
Democratic race with enormous advantages: He had 100-percent national name
because he didn't suck up to donors. More importantly, he failed to inspire
politics. He believes that speeches should explain facts as much as excite
crowds with endless details of energy policy and SALT negotiations. After
caucuses, well behind Undecided. He also managed to lose every state in the
no exception. But here, too, he may deserve the benefit of the doubt. He still
carries a $3-million debt from his presidential campaign. His reluctance to
fund raise partly explains the nonpayment of debt. A normal politician would
have "invited" corporate allies to a few fund raisers, cleared the debt, and
seems to have been oblivious rather than sleazy: "He was simply helping a
constituent. It probably never occurred to him that he was doing anything
wrong. He was genuinely shocked that people saw venality in his behavior," says
Senate, which is a more unfriendly place than when he entered it. He's awkward
in opposition: There is too much sniping for him and not enough legislating.
his unhappiness with his job. It was the low moment of his career. He
stonewalled and disrupted the Republicans at every turn, contending that the
but his own partisanship made him uncomfortable. He seems to know that he
image. He has done it admirably. His first trip into space was work. Doesn't he
and someone is always killing them. Radio was supposed to bury them. So was
between business and editorial, cares more about the stock price than about the
that ilk. The greatest newspaper of the West is now being run by a man whose
newspaper experience totals two years (much of it spent closing papers) and who
passed the bulk of his career as an executive of General Mills, a
Virtually every newspaper in the country has married some
have each section of the Times (sports, business, etc.) operate as a
set profitability goals and consult with editors on general content (though
Wall Street Journal calls it "a revolution in the newspaper
also pushing "hero" stories and civic journalism, the kind of pandering to
readers that infuriates editors. He suggests that the Times introduce
of Times Mirror), took over as publisher. During the next two decades, Chandler
and his editors transformed the Times into one of the best papers in the
country. They hired talented writers by the score, ran the longest stories in
south, and Chandler's more conservative relatives demanded higher profits. The
conservative economist, touting "rational expectations" theory long before it
where he eventually served as president, chief operating officer, and vice
chairman. General Mills, his critics note, is a company where marketing, rather
Two years ago, the Chandler family picked him to run their
himself one of the most detested men in journalism. In a now infamous
interview, he compared newspapers to cereal. Then he shuttered the venerable
"velvet coffin" because of its high pay and cushy working conditions, had not
Street loved what the newsroom loathed. Times Mirror's costs plummeted. Profits
that Times Mirror is now one of the healthiest firms in the industry. The
Chandler family has profited from the company's rising dividends and stock
plan editorial sections is terrifying to anyone who's ever met an ad
salesman. "Heroic" and civic journalism do often degenerate into idiotic
for which the paper is famous. ("We'll just have to be famous for something
newspaper man in a long time who actually believes in newspapers. Newspaper
profits may be at record highs, but the newspaper Zeitgeist is gloomy.
Circulation has barely risen since World War II, and it's been falling for five
years. Newspaper reporters increasingly feel themselves
According to those who know him, he has learned why newspapers are a public
trust since his unfortunate cereal interview. (He has forsworn cereal
and features. Other papers fear controversy; he proposes newspaper "crusades."
pulled it off. But everyone wants him to try, because only new readers will
interested in buying it and turning it into a West Coast version of the New
terrible strengths is its power to accuse. The ability of imagery to forgive,
expression itself. Guilt will be borne; grace is fleeting.
years. It still transforms its viewers into witnesses; it still asks of them
the same fearsome question: What have you to do with this?
had been infiltrated by enemy forces. The pagoda was hit, killing, among
little of this story. It is not a picture of a military attack and its
aftermath; it is a picture of terror. We know this is war: The presence of
soldiers tells us that. And we know something has just happened, because we see
black smoke obliterating the horizon. But what? Terrified children are running
down a hellish highway that disappears behind them into a smoky vanishing
point, a highway that seems to run through a barren and burning plain.
toward? Perhaps they see something down the highway, behind us. But there is no
anticipation of sanctuary to be found in their faces. If it is succor toward
the naked girl in the middle of the highway. It isn't clear to us why she is
naked; perhaps the force of an explosion has blown away her clothes. Is she
injured? We can't quite tell. Oddly, she is the only one in the image looking
back at us. And we are the only ones looking at her. Indeed, the very act of
staring at her nakedness seems to only intensify her humiliation. There is a
dimension to her unending scream that seems to be in reaction to our very act
present; the sequence exists on film as well. Because it is more dreadful
physically, the film is less potent emotionally. (The same is true for another
They passed the camera, it followed from behind. The girl's back and arm were
seen to be completely covered with black patches of burned skin, no longer
from which most viewers must recoil. Furthermore, the filmed sequence closes
of a crowded highway winding eternally through hell, and it won't let you
credited it with confirming his opposition to the war.
themselves responsible for significant suffering both before and after they
attained power. Like all such atrocity material, it undermined the morale of
the side responsible for the pain it depicted. But the political manipulation
prisoner of this image. As she told National Public Radio, her desire to study
medicine was thwarted by officials who wanted her to remain available for media
interviews that stemmed from the photograph's worldwide fame; she herself had
pain and with burned arms outstretched, staggers toward us down the middle of a
when she finally covered that last patch of pocked road, she would offer her
at a political career. But the person who has capitalized most on the legacy is
of the King Center. He inaugurated his tenure with a call to arms: "My father
King. He hasn't let up since. In the last four months alone, the King family
alleging that the network had violated copyright laws by excerpting the "I Have
to King's assassination without trial, is dying of liver disease. He claims he
was a patsy. King family members hint at a grand and sinister conspiracy.
that anyone can make a fortune. In the '90s version, all it takes is a catalog
of marketable data, vigorous application of copyright law, the financial muscle
of a multinational media conglomerate, a few good lawyers, and frequent
demoralizing experience. Disconcerting because his voice has the same
intonation, the same accent, the same creamy richness as his father's.
Demoralizing because his message is so distant from his father's. Martin spoke
library, a nonviolence training school. It alienated sponsors and neighbors and
programmatic impact of the King Center across the last decade has been
Dexter, who had spent most of his professional career as a
music producer and promoter, was the one who realized that the family was
covers every angle a young media entrepreneur could dream of: highbrow
nonfiction (the first comprehensive collection of King's sermons); innovative
nonfiction (a King "autobiography" cobbled together from his writings);
include his thoughts on health and nutrition). Dexter and his business partner
tasteful King statuettes. (Countering a question about tackiness, Dexter says,
a Dream" speech without permission. The Kings demand stiff payments from
King speeches in a textbook, has denounced the exorbitant rates charged by the
does have copyright law on his side, a point that he makes with numbing
regularity. "It has always been our legal right [to control King's works]," he
national manifesto, but King's words belong to his estate. In fact, the words
are the family's only inheritance, since King left no material legacy. Dexter
himself copyrighted the "I Have a Dream" speech two days after he delivered it,
and he sued a record company to enforce the copyright. (Not that King
most effective way possible. Publicizing King will make him live: "His media
profit happens to be a byproduct of doing the right thing."
reach the entire world. A small university press can't. "The end result of what
Dexter is doing now will be to make King's ideas far more publicly accessible
argument that would go down easier if Dexter were promoting anything
besides commercial enterprises. After all, the King Center has
educational programs, and Dexter rarely takes public positions on subjects that
Ray has requested (and been denied) a trial seven times, and the King family
has never backed his petitions before. But this time is different, says Dexter,
because Ray is dying, and because the Ray family has asked the Kings to speak
out. (More cynical observers say this time is different because of the Kings'
the killer, and he cites "compelling new evidence" of Ray's innocence collected
for Ray, calling for ballistics tests to determine if a gun with Ray's
fingerprint fired the lethal bullet. But this decision is a long, long way from
a trial. If an appeals court sustains the ruling (which is considered
unlikely), and if subsequent ballistics tests indicate that the gun did not
fire the deadly bullet, then there could be a new trial.
deterred Dexter. He's planning to visit Ray in prison this week. And he's
brands as his enemy is instantly sympathetic. Helms says he will use his powers
nominees who have given up when Helms opposed them, Weld has girded for battle.
wants his fight with Helms to be a "battle over the soul of the Republican
Party." And where does Bill Weld think the soul of the Republican party should
law school. But his alleged libertarianism is inconsistent, and may be no more
Democratic state. Weld certainly did not advertise himself as a libertarian
Weld's popular appeal is based less on the perception that
he's a libertarian than the perception he's that even rarer animal, a moderate
Republican. With the crusty, rural, reactionary Helms as a foil, Weld seems a
moderate, cosmopolitan thinking man, above petty politics. He is even willing
to accept a job in a Democratic administration. But Weld's moderation, his
"independent spirit," like his libertarianism, may actually reflect two less
flake because he's an aristocrat. And he brilliantly fuses these two
politically disadvantageous conditions into a political plus. Weld comes from
notion that a man of wealth makes the best statesman, because he will never be
put it this way: "In the Governor's office, Weld has restored a tradition of
ascendancy seem an expression of natural law, if not of divine right." He can
that he had planned months before to leave the Justice Department. He didn't
And then there's his claim that as governor he restored the
budget deficit and threatening the state's financial solvency. To stave off
increases would ruin the state's bond rating, and result in irresponsibly large
to the great weakness in today's liberalism: its obsession with social issues
conservatism. As promised in the campaign, he slashed social spending and
welfare rolls. However, taxes remain at nearly the same levels as when he
tax increases, he and his state would be up shit creek. He has the unpopular
conditions for solid growth that have buoyed his popularity.
Three years into his term he dropped his strident opposition to gun control
when the position began hurting his poll numbers. Though he describes himself
Weld's capriciousness is key to his success. Even when it
expectation that his personal wealth will allow him to do whatever he thinks is
right. His whimsy can be downright charming. During a signing ceremony for a
pictures to reporters of himself with a giant boar he claims to have hunted
run for the ambassadorship few expect him to win should be treated like these
other nutty episodes. Even reporters who describe the move as quixotic express
admiration for his audacity. He has already demonstrated his acumen at milking
the confrontation with Helms for its maximum theatrical and political value.
becoming attorney general or secretary of state, and no doubt thinks of even
matters, ignore what he says and listen to how he says it. There are only two
Teamsters president delivers speeches and strike ultimatums in an accent best
described as a Queens Bray. Hearing him on the news this week was a shock: How
long has it been since such a broad, brassy voice has been broadcast to the
nation? Or, to pose the question another way, how long has it been since anyone
outside a union hall paid attention to a union leader?
public consciousness, and while the UPS strike is the most important and
laundered union dues into his campaign chest. (One consultant has already
because of the investigations. The New Republic and the Wall Street
strike in order to distract attention from his own troubles.
emperor and entered on a litter borne aloft by four muscled men. The union's
local bosses were no better: The "barons" padded their payrolls with family
bribes from employers in exchange for sweetheart contracts, siphoned pension
local to the pickets against UPS, and won huge concessions. When national
the union's only incorruptible bosses. But it was a surprise when he upset two
own salary by a third, sold the union's fleet of private jets, and canceled the
purged hundreds of local officials for consorting with mobsters. In just five
of the barons, may have been the final nail in the coffin of the old guard.
also fought to restore labor's national credibility: He spearheaded the
little doubt that his consultants broke election laws and no doubt that
Which brings us to the charge that the UPS strike is a
disparate pay scales, two concessions that the old, corrupt union leaders
months rallying the rank and file behind the strike and, UPS' protestations to
the contrary, he seems to enjoy overwhelming support from the picketers. (Union
strike, and the tight labor market will make it difficult for the company to
hero of New Labor, yet a certain pathos clouds his achievements. What exactly
has led a strike whose aims are embarrassingly modest by the standards of old
pension plan. But this is organized labor in the '90s, where even a hero must
delectation a rock star so base, so vile, so offensive to common decency, that
who's doing the calling, "death metal," "industrial," "gothic," "glam metal,"
high on testosterone could enjoy. What this means is huge, distorted guitar
noise, a thumping backbeat, lots of screechy fuzz, and vocals that are usually
droned, occasionally screamed or hissed. It also means ferocious lyrics:
the god of Fuck ...Cash in hand and dick on screen, who said god was ever
place. Yeah, right, great. If you're so good explain the shit stains on your
music. He and fellow band members have adopted female pop icons' first names
androgynous, ragged leather clothes. He looks like the Grim Reaper after a
nasty motorcycle accident. His concerts are frenzied: He lacerates his chest
paper. The band's videos are filled with freakish images of medical oddities.
Your Mom and Dad, Kill Yourself." Needless to say, kids eat this up. The most
ridiculous. You wouldn't think that anyone could take this kind of rock
that his music has deep social significance. He cites his intellectual
and they should be ashamed of what they have eaten. Fortunately you have
received this in time to escape the encroaching HOLOCAUST of fascist christian
rocker vs. the prudish, humorless censors. You want both sides to lose.
Earlier battles over offensive music were fought on
dog onstage, had anal and oral sex onstage, threw puppies and kittens into the
crowd to be torn apart, and led Satanic services that included a "virgin
sacrifice." The affidavits also attest that he watched friends stab a woman to
galvanized ministers and Christian Coalition members to organize protests and
band and its fans have retaliated in kind. The band is threatening to sue the
everyone wins. The decency folks get to make headlines, shock consciences, and
keep selling records. The good times won't last. The shelf life of preteen
bands is measured in months. When the censors and parents stop complaining, the
kids will stop listening, and the band will fade away.
balloons with live worms, released them above the audience, then popped them,
showering fans with night crawlers.) Cooper was condemned, reviled and, for a
brief time, incredibly popular. In recent years he's made a revival. He played
much as a cat fight between friends, and last week's spat between Supreme Court
reasonable time to confirm or reject [nominees]. Some current nominees have
been waiting a considerable time for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote or a
been spun. Editorial pages and pundits agreed: If a conservative
conservative soldier first and last, a partisan in the service of the
passionately in states' rights. (This principle has haunted him. Click to read
why.) He was appalled by the way federal courts were intervening in state and
local governance, coddling criminals, and expanding individual rights. He was
an early convert to judicial restraint, concluding that federal courts should
court's outlier, writing lonely, sclerotic dissents and preaching a
supreme rationalist, and even his critics admired the analytical force of his
conservative than its predecessors (especially on race and crime), but most of
its major decisions (on abortion, gay rights, Internet free speech) have been
has made the Supreme Court do less and do it more rationally. He has not grown
has been to pare the court's docket. The Burger court heard oral arguments in
meddling. "His great contribution as chief justice is that the role of the
every level. He may have requested more judges, but only because the courts are
clogged and slow. He has urged Congress repeatedly to stop federalizing crimes.
federal involvement in state cases and, more importantly, sped up the judicial
seventh appeal. He thinks that things should not be chewed on endlessly," says
pithiness of the victor. Two decades ago, he wrote extensively because he had
to explain his unfamiliar views to a liberal world. Now, his views are
mainstream law. He doesn't need to elaborate on them.
fellow justices to turn in draft decisions promptly and penalizes tardy
colleagues by withholding new assignments. The justices who disagree with
office. I favor the second explanation. Why would he bother to retire? Every
year he has less work to do. He's made sure of that. The efficient justice
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals forced the National Park Service to remove
New World Order. "Look, he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when
you're awake. He knows when you've been bad or good. And he's got a list with
day, he visited homes and left gifts for children by the fireplace. The Dutch
and poor families would celebrate around their fireplaces.
Store owners appropriated his picture for ads and posters.)
exist. The Sun replied with one of the most famous editorials in
But we have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical
is unappetizing, a mall pedophile or a fat buffoon.
factory. It has a package delivery system that makes Federal Express look like
to watch the climax of Flytrap than the place where it began.
who is a friend but not an ideological soul mate, has stocked the apartment
with conservative pals, and they are in high glee. This is a night of
As theater, the Map Room talk was a minor masterpiece.
would have been disastrous. The Map Room was the right choice: The Oval Office
would have been presumptuous and seamy (Where's that private study, Bill?).
culpa to show for it. He sounded angry, not sorry. He conceded an
people. He "took complete responsibility." But all those are champion weasel
expressions. What does it mean to "take complete responsibility"? Do you
actually have to do anything painful when you take it? What is an
"inappropriate" relationship? Is it sexual? What's the difference between
up, baffled. His words defy comprehension. He believes language is a weapon of
the golden rule of spin: When you're explaining, you're losing. The president,
who has always felt more comfortable attacking than defending, artfully turned
has ever expressed an opinion about Flytrap not on television tonight?
life, and the distraction of the nation from serious matters. The speech was
This raises the curious paradox about the Map Room speech.
investigations have "gone on too long, cost too much, and hurt too many
innocent people." He is absolutely correct that his personal life has been
invaded in ways that no one's should. He is absolutely correct that Flytrap has
horribly distracted politicians, journalists, and the public from critical
But tonight was not the night to make such arguments. He should have left the
abject apology, for contrition, for explanation. Tonight was the night to eat
past few weeks at regular intervals, Republican politicians have been telling
thing of beauty and a joy forever as a player, is turning out to be a fabulous
missed the playoffs, and were led by a core of aging, disgruntled players. This
Coach is not much like Bird the Player, at least not in the ways you might
players, and the media. He played the rube. He had grown up in the small, poor
of endless guile and will. Bird may have been slow, but he was an astounding
competitor. He was always busy on the court: If he didn't make the assist, he
made the basket; if he didn't make the basket, he grabbed the rebound; if he
didn't grab the rebound, he made the steal. He was also a relentless
trash talker, mocking opponents' attempts to guard him. (Once, when Magic
and buried a jumper.) Bird goaded and inspired his own teammates, and they
heeded him: If he told a teammate to do something, he did it. Thanks in large
together, retired together. One of the greatest achievements of each is that he
destroyed the stereotype about himself. Magic, the black, mouthy, "Showtime"
guard, won over basketball fogies with his sound fundamentals and court
intelligence. Bird, the solid white guy, won over Magic's fans with his
So why is Bird's coaching career taking off when Magic's
He failed as a coach for the reason that other great players have failed as
coaches: He thought about himself too much. He complained his players didn't
care about the game the way he did. He felt he still belonged on the court. But
basketball player could ever dream of. He doesn't want to play anymore, and he
result, Bird is a very effective, very unobtrusive leader. The player who used
to be involved in every play has become a coach who is hardly involved in any
and games. Bird is quiet, has short meetings, and never chews out his players
publicly. He doesn't criticize them when they make turnovers or commit fouls,
and he doesn't tell them how to play. He treats them as professionals, just as
over and over, is "It's a player's game." He laid down a few commandments: Thou
Pacers. Last year, they were spooked. This season, they sense Bird's trust.
They play confidently, hustle, and never choke in the fourth quarter. They're
the Pacers don't play beautiful or acrobatic basketball. They play something
typical canniness, Bird chose to coach a team that would listen to him. The
doesn't like its glitz and disapproves of young players' greed. And he has said
kids, but he surely could. The Pacer who has made the most improvement under
mightily, feuded with coaches, and generally demoralized himself and the
players around him. Under Bird, he has settled in happily as a Pacers role
player. He's playing a little more, scoring a little more, and cooperating a
lot more. Bird gave him respect, and Rose reciprocated.
the league. Maybe, just as he helped revive pro basketball as a player in the
early '80s, he can revive the game as a coach in the late '90s, saving it for a
id of the Republican Congress, the rage beneath its tense smiles. Republican
that he has corrupted the White House, that he's deeply sleazy, and that he
He's now preparing articles of impeachment and happily adding obstruction of
himself as the spokesman for the abandoned conservative fringes, as an
to be represented by the head of the John Birch Society, and it voted for Pat
has been igniting nasty fires over issues that Republican leaders would rather
ignore. He is more than willing to embarrass party leaders over matters of
leadership to move the bill by whipping up support among conservative
their "deviant way of life." ("The flames of hedonism, the flames of
fondness for guns exceeds the National Rifle Association's, also led the
the ban alone: There is little upside to endorsing semiautomatic weapons. But
has been Capitol Hill's hottest interview. All this has played brilliantly
conservatives who have felt abandoned by the Republican Party. He's almost the
want their leaders to be held personally accountable, then we are in pretty sad
zeal is notorious. He interrogates hostile (read "liberal") witnesses with a
chilliness that astonishes congressional staffers. He never smiles when a frown
will do, never skips a chance to seize the moral high ground. At a recent
her allies were "very hardened, very cold, very callous ...[and] have
photographed licking whipped cream off a buxom woman's breasts. It was at a
persistence and effectiveness. But part of it is personal. Even his admirers
admit he's "dour" and "humorless." (His enemies use words like "mean" and
"heartless.") House Judiciary Committee staffers can't recall a single occasion
address, every member of Congress, Republican and Democratic, rose repeatedly
introduce articles of impeachment to the committee. House Majority Leader Dick
most obsessive Democrat of the last generation. If impeachment hearings do
the timidity of Republican leaders and held himself out as the true
vicious partisan, but he is also sunny of temperament, cooperative, optimistic.
pernicious side effects of Flytrap has been the relocation of the White House
to an alternative universe, a place where up is down and down is up and
wife who acts like a lawyer, a president who acts like a criminal defendant,
and a former intern who has more power than any of them.
a spinner who can't spin, a presidential press secretary who can't talk to the
press or the president about the only issue they care about.
Here, as evidence, are the notes I managed to scrawl during
passed on any answers to us. We have passed on the questions, and they have
made it clear I have nothing to say on that subject today.
a mattress. In half an hour of questions, reporters manage to glean
any of the logistics of his testimony will be revealed, whether he will answer
president, whether "completely and truthfully" means the same thing it did at
interrupting with shouts of "Why are you denigrating us?" and "It's not a
fear of subpoenas and legal bills, the press secretary simply can't talk to the
president about Flytrap. He is in the impossible position of interpreting and
embarrassment to the press secretary and the press corps.
White House is inattentive to the media. As the New York Times and
more on the utter cynicism of this latest White House PR ploy, see FRAME GAME: White
Of course I haven't spoken to him. If I had discussed it with him I would be
pundits that Flytrap has entered what they like to call its "endgame." But I
think the scandal has moved into a very different phase: the Baroque.
what I mean. Flytrap as a journalistic enterprise is in a holding pattern.
Punditry abhors a vacuum. So, in the absence of news,
journalists and analysts are concocting ever more ornate theories to explain
what could be happening, sculpting the long available info into gaudy new
patterns. Some of these theories are based on intelligent guesswork. Some
belong to the "I have a friend who has a friend who talked to the president who
even have a tenuous relationship to an actual fact. But, at bottom, all are
founded on essentially the same knowledge base: none.
theories, tales decorated with filigree and gilded rosettes and stucco clouds.
Since these may be the final few days before real new facts about Flytrap
emerge, let's take a last chance to revel in the Baroque. Having spent the past
I offer you a few of the best (divided into appropriate categories).
about the dress, the answering machine messages, the talking points, and
would she leak? Because she still adores him, and she wants to signal him about
dress as a bargaining chip to guarantee her full immunity, even though she knew
there was nothing on it. Since she has full immunity, it doesn't hurt her if
existence of the dress as a favor to Secret Service agents. They wanted to
signal the agents that there is plenty of damning evidence of an affair, so
puts it, "instructions to orally seduce the president in order to assure
positive transfer of his semen (positive proof of sexual acts) on an article of
her clothing." Thus she kept the dress, knowing that her affair was going to be
existence was revealed to the public), a Secret Service officer warned Bob Dole
special care not to be seen or photographed with her, because it would lend
must use the media and rumor to communicate with the president, because they
are not allowed to talk to him about Flytrap directly.
much the product of an alien genius that they can't be categorized. These come
untouched from the inky void of Flytrap, both courtesy of 
implemented his entire political agenda and revived the economy, he is
Gross used to tell of a letter he got from a constituent. The writer, as I
recall, had heard that the government was paying people not to raise
hogs and, since he thought that was a trade for which he might have some
talent, he wanted the congressman's help in applying for the program. His plans
were modest, not raising a few dozen head to start. But after he got the
course, not raising hogs can be a pretty smelly business (not!). Nowadays, the
constituent could aspire to more antiseptic digs. He could enter the
he wanted to get in on the ground floor of this promising industry. And he'd
to participate in the Medicare Graduate Medical Education Demonstration Project
approved this week by the federal Health Care Financing Administration. The
residents they would otherwise have trained over the next six years. Hospitals
in other states were quick to complain that they had not been offered the same
in scope until the success of the strategy had been tested. This is, after all,
You might have thought that the proposition that when the
government hands out money someone will take it had already been amply
demonstrated. Or, you might have wondered why, if the country is faced with an
imminent glut of doctors, this is something the government should worry about.
suppliers will cut back, and things will return to equilibrium? Don't we want
lower medical prices? Isn't that what the whole nasty fight over managed care
and restraining Medicare costs is all about? Why not just let the market's
would presume that we had something like a competitive market operating in the
medical sector. Of course, we do not. In fact, we could not. Even the
but the most basic health services. Inevitably, physicians and other care
providers will dictate both the type and quantity of treatments that their
rightly regarded as a public good, a country as wealthy as ours will inevitably
provide a host of subsidies, both public and private, to encourage us to
swallow a good deal more medicine than we would if we paid for it out of our
lower wages, higher prices, and higher taxes, but it doesn't feel that way.
Markets operate on felt signals, and it is taking too long for the signal that
attracted both by the satisfying aspects of caring for their fellow citizens
receive, are still queuing up to undertake the grueling and expensive training
that the profession requires. And hospitals, encouraged by Medicare subsidies,
generous are the government subsidies for resident training (as much as
And since the longer a resident trains, the larger the total subsidy, the
system has also encouraged doctors to extend their educations and become
Cutting back on resident subsidies seems the obvious
solution. But teaching hospitals, the undisputed crown jewels of the medical
system, are already under great financial strain. (And in New York, they are
in developing an industry whose products are unmatched in quality, quantity,
has settled on a convoluted solution: continuing the subsidies for the
residents that are trained, but paying the hospitals additional amounts not to
the six years of the "demonstration." "Brilliant and bizarre" is how experts
already entertained extending the program, noting that if jealous congressmen
from other jurisdictions "think this is a good deal, they have the power to
make it more available." Really? How widely? Surely, most of us can take credit
the medical sector? Many will feel that the case for subsidizing the
lawyers by the caseload. Others may feel that the money would be better spent
weaponry, thus saving us the expense of generating still more lethal weapons
when the current crop inevitably falls into the hands of our enemies. Why not
pay poor people not to be poor? Come to think of it, that's what the welfare
parades, the House's majority leader was casting for bass on an Army Corps of
At least, that's what we've come to expect, given the
would (to quote the bumper sticker) "rather be fishing" than putting up with
Republican leadership, setting him apart from other politicians and making him
Republican incumbents don't want another headache leading the party.
would become a safe seat, he fathered one of the unlikeliest pieces of
legislation to emerge from Congress: a bill creating an apolitical process for
the White House) that he expected to be the next majority leader. He may have
can't put your finger on a problem when you've got it to the wind."
direct answers to unfriendly questions, although he's always good for a few
politically dead for so long that most folks talk about him as a quaint memory.
passed over for the job. Consider the rest of the Republican leadership:
Republicans fear DeLay and respect his political abilities, but they don't like
eyes at lobbyists, passing around campaign contributions on the House floor,
etc. But he's more comfortable behind the scenes; pencil him in as the next
getting the job, he's started to cultivate a more conciliatory image. But a
agonized over the question of human rights in China, but then reached the
out. Even Republican loyalists would agree that anybody is better than
knew that disaster had truly struck. "It's a strange feeling to see the casinos
then, I had been skeptical about media reports of natural disasters. Earlier
his state after it had been hit by a set of snowstorms (this was before warm
that a lot of people were without electricity. But somehow, it didn't feel like
Well, have we? Having lowered our standards on what
the required level of government intervention, shifting to the national
treasury responsibility for hardships that individuals and localities once
incorrigible cynic would suspect the victims of quakes, tornadoes, and
wildfires of smiling at the thought of the fat government relief check that
would enable them to pack up for sunnier climes, or at least to replace that
crummy old carpeting in the living room. And yet, the data do suggest that
billion over the previous five. Billions more were spent collectively by some
departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development,
declared a "major disaster or emergency" by the president (though federal help
had been offered in a dozen or so other "winter events" in which additional
the tendency of relief aid to gravitate toward electorally rich states, might
even conclude that the gods of mayhem conspire with incumbents to provide
calamitous occasions for the demonstration of political compassion. After all,
explanation: Disaster relief is "a unique example of political pork that
pork, but we are a wealthy country. Why shouldn't we all pitch in and help each
for five crucial days so that it could be reworked to feature pictures of, and
bipartisan taste, and when both parties dig in, the banquet never ends.
had been granted "temporary" aid after the disaster. Many, according to a
functionary could have missed the lesson: When you do battle with disaster, no
appeals that states and individuals can file if the feds decline to pick up
full costs of relocating not only families but also such expensive entities as
city halls and universities. Another idea: Eliminating help (including
officials could be heard last week bemoaning the fact that people just keep
moving back into the flood plains from which only a few years earlier they had
been rescued, even as developers destroy more of the watershed that offered
its Web site is the following: "I think that some people in my neighborhood are
trying to cheat the federal government out of disaster money. They don't seem
to have the damage they claim they have, and they're bragging about it. Who can
bending by individuals is probably penny ante stuff compared with the advantage
upgrades" requiring massive or even total reconstruction of buildings suffering
Local governments quickly learn bad lessons, too. If they
are foolish enough to set aside reserves to cover their own cleanup costs after
storms and floods, they get no help at all. On the other hand, if, having
raise enough revenues to cover all their regular spending plus the payback cost
money and collecting interest on it. And now an imaginative but severely
they, like previous reforms, were likely to be rejected by Congress because
they would "seriously affect benefits to the states and their citizens." Now
efforts to "mitigation" instead, to helping localities prepare better for the
next disaster. Handing out a new kind of grant has, after all, a great deal
more political appeal than trying to crack down on the old kind. But, it's
worth remembering when the next set of calamities hits your television
our problems, the overhead tends to get very high, very fast. And some of the
largest costs are paid in the corrosion of those personal and community
the final, ironic nail in the counterculture coffin. The establishment has
and "Masters of War" and was the role model for a generation of protestors.
ignored presidential campaigns and lefty crusades. He never preached, or much
sympathized with, hippie rhetoric. He denied, and still denies, that his songs
pretty grim song.) Neocons have always claimed that narcissism, not ideology,
looking of musicians, a selfish genius, gives that claim credence.
and rabidly loyal fans. When some pop musicians turned to psychedelia in the
their lyrics and sandblasting their melodies into strange new creations.
He plays a song you've always loved, and you can't even recognize it.
has never been a musician less concerned with nostalgia.
concerts a year, and he does occasional interviews. But he says little about
his music and nothing about his life. His marriage, his divorce, his personal
mellowed slightly since his younger days, when he took pleasure in torturing
reinvent himself again. He said recently that songs don't come to him easily
anymore: Time Out of Mind is his first album of new material in eight
hypnotic. But it sounds like a return to something old and comfortable rather
another transformation within him, his voice may not. Opera singers who take
manages to sing around his weak voice. As you can hear on this clip from
His range, already narrow, will soon be just a bleat. But better to go out
polite diplomacy revived weapons inspections (which have eliminated far more
accomplished all this in a way that brought glory to the United States: He
restraint; the United Nations gains credit for keeping the peace; the will of
States has lost nothing but time: There will be far more support for bombing if
War stymied the United Nations. Today the United States does. It is dominant in
The United States has its own ill feelings toward the United Nations.
funding for the United Nations, and many of Helms' Republican colleagues in
is smaller, better run, and more deferential to the United States.
United States and the United Nations. He is too attached to his organization,
exactly recommend him to anyone outside that bureaucracy.) He has spent
his life as an "international civil servant," a phrase that conjures an image
United Nations, rising gradually through the ranks at the World Health
Organization, the High Commission on Refugees, and the Secretariat. Eventually
Got Things Done. Thanks to his straightforward manner and overwhelming decency,
with his reputation unharmed. When the United States decided to dump
candidate to replace him. (Everyone, that is, except the French. They wanted a
the initiative but tractable enough to heed his board members (that is, the
cut enough; others say he has cut too much. In other words, he's doing it just
is tough without being vicious. The United States would never have let
thrive, it's not enough that the United States trust it. The United Nations
Nations, which gets a quarter of its $2.6-billion budget from the United
States. The organization has already curtailed essential activities, and may be
the house religion of the New York magazine world, this has been a particularly
satisfying week for glossy mag writers and editors. New Yorker Editor
loyalists to the Old New Yorker have been eagerly anticipating for six
from his position as The New Yorker 's publisher, then appointed a
president, a job she reportedly coveted. Recent articles have exposed the
are out of favor with King Si. Now New York media are speculating (without
spin war. "You live by buzz, you die by buzz," says an ex- New Yorker
editor, with malicious glee. It's not that anything has actually changed
at The New Yorker in recent weeks, but there is a perception that Brown
and the magazine are stumbling. And as Brown knows as well as anyone,
after all, is print media's greatest showman. The daughter of a film producer
and a publicist, she packages her magazines like movies and promotes them like
a flack. Her formula: She overpays star writers, gives them top billing, and
Fair simply by publishing slobbering celebrity stories. That's not fair to
her: Everyone published slobbering celebrity stories in the '80s: Brown's
genius was to combine them with superb investigative, political, and feature
writing, then wrap it all in a salacious cover that you just had to
supplemented the already prodigiously talented staff with her own snazzy hires.
Her magazine pandered to celebrities and petted moguls, but it also ran the
old days, you couldn't tell what year an issue of The New Yorker was
published; now you could tell what day it was published. The magazine, which
packaged and promoted. The chattering classes began chattering about it and
advertisers she needs but frosts underlings. Her buzz production is endless.
The old New Yorker was whimsical, often fatally so:
Writers were expected to indulge their own peculiar interest and damn public
what's hot, then you are writing about what everyone is writing about.
Brown's magazine is predictable and getting more so the longer she is there: Of
celebrity.) A magazine that was once entirely, and bizarrely, different from
for another important way in which sameness has affected The New
the bad financial news, would be an acknowledgment that he picked wrong in
no signs that she's interested. She has too much pride to surrender in the
middle of the battle. As an old friend of hers puts it, "She would only quit if
she could quit in triumph, with everyone acknowledging that it is the best
magazine in the world and that she is the best editor and with the magazine in
quirky advertisers out of the magazine in favor of big national ones. Ad
revenue increased but not enough to cover enormous new costs: Recruiting new
subscribers by direct mail, printing more magazines, and mailing more magazines
advertisers. The magazine can't compete with monthlies either. Vanity
issues save The New Yorker postage and printing costs, and their
losing money, and Brown seems trapped. She has staked her career on
profitability. The New Yorker could probably make money as a bimonthly
magazine could also break even by raising subscription prices and shrinking the
unprofitable one. And now they don't seem to know what to do with it.
read why Brown likes celebrity stories. If you missed the sidebar about The
New Yorker 's moral authority, it is. And is an anecdote about the
rack and ruin, he had overstayed his welcome, everyone wanted him to leave, and
the city on edge, and he loved it. His press conferences were packed. The
significance. Each week was supposed to be the week he announced his decision
unfathomable. How could he be ahead? (I won't begin to justify all the bad
hasn't much changed his ways: He still favors racial rhetoric and
Democratic primary also found that the vast majority of
Republican Congress installed a Control Board to oversee the city's shaky
finances. Congress and the Control Board soon stripped the mayor of authority
to issue contracts or manage budgets. Last year, they usurped his control of
the city bureaucracy, removing departments of public safety, welfare, health
care, public works, and basically everything else that matters from his
of Aging. (The transfer of power has been good news for the city, which has
like the emperor he once was. He has a limo at his beck and call. His personal
things he didn't do and announces "initiatives" that will never be initiated.
And he still takes grand foreign tours on which he behaves as if he is visiting
the actual power bothers him, but I don't think it's as big a deal as the aura
of power," says a longtime friend. "It's not just the limo, because anyone can
him by cutting his salary; eliminating the security guards who remain; and
stripping him of the few, pathetic agencies he does control.
nonentity. So why not hand the job off? Congress will be more likely to return
not a whimper: "He can go out saying, 'See, they still love me. I told you I
gracious payoff in exchange for his decision to step down. It's a good idea.
respectable retirements for its former leaders. Pols spend their dotage as
colleges about a position for him. He is also planning lecture tours and
Given his track record as the District's mayor, you might want to sell your
bad, is cheerfully toasting its star's bright future. The theme: We haven't
popular sitcom; it was also its best (except, perhaps, for The
comedy, exposed the absurdities of family life, and punctured the egos of
bosses and politicians. Like All in the Family --and no show
could take the girl out of the trailer, but you couldn't take the trailer out
notorious as the worst workplace in television). She publicly accused her
lead by dropping her last name. She married her security guard (perhaps
to reduce her breasts, smooth her wrinkles, slim her face (alarmingly, she
first). She stopped telling interviewers about anal sex and started talking
Goddess, the one idea that made the show great, "the only good idea she's ever
had," as one acquaintance puts it. She could no longer portray a convincing
show. Don't be surprised when it flops. She's spent the last nine years talking
on television. She seems to have nothing left to say.
was terribly, terribly wrong when a Fox News producer called me yesterday. She
will do a Flytrap marathon in anticipation of the president's testimony. Her
imploringly: "We're really looking for something different. Can you be
of course I can be different. My mother always told me I was "different.")
wrote about last week, is the rising popularity of preposterous conspiracy
The crisis is, at bottom, a market failure. Ratings
Crossfire must have fire. Hardball must be hard. Face the
Nation must have someone to face. But there's not enough supply to meet the
been hypothesized. Every theory theorized. Every spin spun. Each tiny nugget of
new information is chewed, swallowed, regurgitated as cud, and chewed again.
use it [in a column or on television]. If I had even one new observation, I
would not breathe a word about it until I could use it. One piece of real news
all. One compares Flytrap to World War I trench battles: "No one is getting
overrun, but steady progress is being made." In fact, he says, plenty of
fascinating new details emerge every day. (When asked for an example of such a
is their moment. No topic is so stale that it cannot be reheated: After all, it
Flytrap nothing is being spewed, think how much worse it would be if there were
no scandal at all. At least it's something to talk about.
proposes that pundits take advantage of the information vacuum to talk about
can all concur that the Punditry Crisis requires immediate action. Well,
the first lady. Everyone remembers that the first lady blamed Flytrap on a
days of the crisis. The Post reminds readers of what else she said
think that would be a very serious offense. That is not going to be proven
would be thrown back in his face again and again and again?
there is cause for pause. Sure, The God of Small Things is a cozy read.
But so are many of those books that go straight to the remainder pile. So why
incubated this book for the better part of five years and then released it to
played to that market in terms it understands and swallows whole.
family at the center of the novel belongs to a small, insular community whose
lush, richly runny: "The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes
random capitalization and italicization; numbered lists; reversed words;
adjectival clusters; acronyms; quotations from songs and poems; repeated
enhances it, forcing the reader to keep pace. (Click for a sample.)
enough to charm, similar enough not to intimidate. And the fact that she's
How glossy, therefore, is the praise, how insubstantial the contact, in the
panache, revealing the fatal confluence of jealousy, cruelty and naivete that
shapes their destinies forever." No mention of the flabby plot with its
met and raved, and timorous, tingling questions ("How deep did you have to
reach to release those wonderful twins?") were asked during the author's tours.
this woman felt things more deeply, more creatively, more spiritually. And she
responded. Asked about her language, she said it is "the skin on my thoughts,"
traceable only to private rhythms. So deeply felt, so minutely realized were
these rhythms, it seems, that she rewrote nary a word of her book (remarkable,
chaired last year's prize committee, called The God "execrable" and said
committee has confirmed the darkest suspicions of its critics: Yes, it's sold
out quality literature for pop accessibility. Also: The queen's recent visit to
spun as a compensatory gesture from the colonialists to the former colony.
said. The win brought tears to her eyes, of course, and prompted a phone call
like the twins' mother, married outside her community before returning divorced
and in disgrace. Mother and daughter were estranged for six years, if the
stories circulating here are to be believed. Kicked out of the house when she
to architecture school, supporting herself by selling empty milk bottles (some
future," says this ace of the apothegm. "I will only write another novel if I
have another novel to write. I don't believe in professions."
published on the condition that it never be optioned. Last week, the Daily
Bedroom. This is neither a trick question nor an implausible request: The
on the presidency and auctioning off our national integrity and memory in the
to the photograph, and to our search for that room. You will, by now, have
noticed that the White House interior is filled with a mesh of steel girders
holding up the exterior, and that the sorts of things that are usually said to
was taken, most of these things were probably in a landfill in northern
Service's pictures of a totally gutted White House have become a kind of
forbidden imagery, evidence of something that none of us seems to want to
glory. Some pictures are allowed to speak their thousand words because we like
what they have to say; some pictures are silenced. This is one.
hardly a secret that the White House interior became a structural replica under
The place was closed for about a year and a half. Work
there was widely reported, and thousands of pieces of the presidents'
some significant cues to remembering all this, especially the attempt on
House telling this story to anyone who hasn't heard it.
the Park Service pictures documenting the work all that rare. Our own
role in establishing it. When it was revealed a while back that Franklin
those days told reporters how he'd drilled the necessary holes in the floor
those holes were "probably still there." Of course, the many thousands of White
dumping of the White House interior represents "a needless and tragic loss."
Still, it is obviously a historic place, and not just because the famous
exterior remains (as do the mantelpieces, chandeliers, and paneling that were
years to make a sufficiently large quilt. On the other hand, the President's
Booth shot him, and no one would argue that Ford's is anything but a replica.
Beds, chairs, and pews are where history rests its aging
destroyed a good many places with real claims to historical value, places as
old as the White House, with bricks from the same brickyard. The deciding
factor in what stays and goes, apart from "charm," is often the same: Who is
associated with it? Where does it rank in the Great Man Theory of Tour Bus
History? Indeed, as the capital ages, its history is increasingly becoming
whatever associative past you can conjure up as ornament, reward, or
the idea of the room makes the room historic, even if there's not much there.
encountered him, he wrote, in the form of mysterious knocks on the door and
White House itself into a kind of clanking ghost of presidents past, its very
rooms suffused with the great spirits of those who slept there. Once conjured,
it throws its looming shadow over the unworthy and undeserving who dare
bring to the Republican ticket. And the downside? Judging from the media
gotten an amazing free pass, since Dole chose him last week, on his three
It's laughably easy to get a reputation as a thinker in
knowing that it includes the magic word "supply." Reporters are impressed. And
obvious sincerity. Even an empty enthusiasm for ideas is appealing in a party
back can be fully accounted for by the ironic fact that government
statistics, and fallacious arguments than those of most other politicians. But
ideas: It suggests that you are not subjecting your own "ideas" to even the
be lovely if a woman's freedom to choose didn't conflict with a fetus' claim on
life. But the notion that this can be arranged is a magic wish, not an
or a welcome melding of extremes into moderation, rather than as a mathematical
middle class. Quite the contrary: They almost invariably involve tax breaks for
no doubt his personal compassion for society's downtrodden is real. But as
brings us to "optimism." I, too, would be optimistic if I thought most of our
social problems could be solved by lower taxes for everyone, even lower taxes
and that the more you cut people's taxes, the more money will flood into the
federal treasury. But believing that requires more than a leap of faith: It
It's easy to be optimistic if you believe in the tooth
true that psychological predisposition, as much as reason and intellect, leads
for alchemy. But it's silly to prize optimism for its own sake in a public
figure, irrespective of whether that optimism is justified. Indeed, unjustified
optimism is more dangerous than unjustified pessimism. Unless that is just a
presidential race more interesting. And credit for that compassionate,
principal hobbies seem to be slobbering over small animals and waxing nostalgic
about their past, found a way to do both last week. They demanded the
United States to liberate the "Pooh Five" from their "glass prison" and send
the "Brits have their head in a honey jar if they think they are taking Pooh
demand. The "special relationship" between the United States and the United
two camps in the Pooh feud: nativist and internationalist. The nativist
language is universally charming ("a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness"), and his
moral lessons are universally applicable (if you visit a friend and gorge
yourself on honey, you are likely to end up stuck in his doorway for a week
But there is a third view of Pooh: that he is neither
pioneers of the Old West, Pooh is endlessly greedy, and he is cunning in
impressed by the pretentious wisdom of Owl. But when it comes to avarice, Pooh
has a native intelligence. He can't reach a beehive by climbing, so he
in Wonderland --Pooh is by far the sunniest. There is no dark side to Pooh,
democratic. He is the best friend to all. (There is also a brash
past, a wild, empty land populated by a few hardy pioneers who band together
for economic reasons as well as literary ones. Where would he be today without
produced four short animated features, one of which won an Academy Award. It
young mother I know). He wears a red jacket ("Classic Pooh" was naked) and
calendars, backpacks, and cookie jars sold to impressionable children
billion lawsuit from his jilted business partner and inviting speculation that
publishing intelligentsia by shutting down Basic Books. Even his lone May
admire him. He has done more to help the great mass of media consumers than
has modernized the world's media, forcing competition on stagnant businesses,
cracking open monopolies and oligopolies, vanquishing "traditions" that were
often an excuse for laziness, unleashing the creative destruction of capitalism
but he was right: The unions were lazy and intransigent. By sloughing
also grabbed market share from big complacent dailies and awakened the sleepy
industry analysts said he'd paid too much for them. They don't say that
anymore.) While Fox has certainly splashed its share of garbage on the screen
distort for the sake of sensationalism. They deny the very existence of good
journalism used to be competitive, sensational, overtly political, and
financially, thus chalking up another business triumph but losing much of the
cachet he sought. Last year, he championed the effort to give presidential
who cares more about his legacy than his bottom line.
become all things to all people that I may by all means win some." It is an apt
motto for Reed, a thoroughly political statement that defines a thoroughly
political man. Critics on the left blame Reed for infecting politics with
religious fanaticism. In fact, Reed's achievement is exactly the opposite: He's
fitting that Reed is embarking on a career as a political consultant, a
profession where everything is mere politics. Last week Reed announced his
The liberal view of Reed is that he's the Christian right's
zealot in chief, a devil with a cherub's face. This is a misreading. Reed's
Christian faith is undoubtedly sincere, but his real creed is Republican
undergraduate in the early '80s, he became the College Republicans' master
tactical ruthlessness has defined the Christian Coalition. "I paint my face and
travel at night," he once said of his work at the coalition. "You don't know
it's over until you're in a body bag. You don't know until election night." His
invited Reed to start an organization to expand the grassroots network from
enough principles to win religious conservatives' trust, but not enough to
scare everyone else. Reed recognized that the religious right had staggered in
established hundreds of local chapters. Slowly, that network of activists took
over school boards, county commissions, and state political parties.
abandon the clear, if ferocious, principles that defined the '80s Moral
Majority and replace them with a comforting fog of "family values." (Reed
free enterprise (God's own economic policy, apparently), opposition to
flattened the evangelical crusade of the old religious right into mainstream
week. Reed feels passionately that white evangelicals must atone for their
Reed's political tactics occasionally annoy the ideologues
platform. Some evangelicals view Reed as a compromiser who'll bend a principle
Christian conservatives have cause to complain. Thanks to Reed, the Christian
influence. The Federal Election Committee investigation of allegations of
coalition. (He's well on his way: The Associated Press reported this week that
two airplanes bought by his "Operation Blessing" to fly aid to impoverished
religious right's spokesperson. But he's much less politically savvy, much less
will see his credibility increase. He no longer has to answer for the erratic
consultants agree that conservative candidates in the South, Southwest,
future colleagues estimate that as a consultant, he'll earn at least half a
shown no aptitude for. (He quotes himself in his books, the sure sign of a
irrational exuberance for beef. Beef prices reeled, and cattlemen lost millions
club selections before it had. Three previous picks remain on the
and her personal trainer became nationwide hits. Marketing experts now
The effect is felt not only by blessed merchandise but also
daytime talk shows are deplorable. The shows parade freaks in front of the
showcasing increasingly repulsive molesters, abusers, adulterers, and
pederasts, all of them eager to tell the world about their loathsomeness. Talk
indeed the leading practitioner of confessional television. When she lost
weight, she rolled a representative wagon of pig fat onstage. She routinely
breaks down in tears, and she never hesitates to let us know when things go
guests. Their guests confess, the hosts oppress, and the audience laughs its
head off. The host and audience are judge and jury for the miserable, benighted
guests. It's the zoo theory of television: Let's make fun of these stupid
doesn't condescend to guests. She couldn't possibly: When her show featured
talked to cocaine addicts, she admitted to having tried the drug herself.
few celebrities who owes her fame not to her superhuman qualities (beauty,
who hasn't forgotten where she came from. She identifies with underdogs because
Several male family members sexually abused her. Overcoming these obstacles has
lent her street cred with guests and fans. They make her success always
show. Last week, a witness collapsed in tears while apologizing to the
to one of the most thrilling and visible disciplines around. At The New
Gates does so many things at the same time that you have to
wonder how he makes sure all of them meet the same high standard. The answer
edited two more. He also supervised doctoral dissertations, taught two
Research (raising funds, balancing budgets, recruiting professors, planning
conferences), served as director of editorial content for a publishing imprint
and hosted a Frontline documentary on the black bourgeoisie, and
continued as an editor of Transition magazine; the Black Periodical
theaters, institutes, literary prizes, and universities.
Yorker profile that would take most journalists weeks or months flows
thought the final result reflected the hasty composition.
output. He also understands a fundamental maxim of capitalism: Don't do
minions, fetching books from the library and doing grunt research. Many
scholars have figured out how to turn this somewhat feudal tradition into an
students (and a few undergraduates) who actually waded into the library and
picked out the selections. But Gates pushes the envelope. He may be the only
and deals with reporters. An assistant edits his writing. Another conducts
up quotes for New Yorker pieces. Dozens of other writers and editors are
hired to help produce his various projects. To put together one volume,
The project Gates considers his most important is also his
grow to maturity. It is designed to trounce, once and for all, the fictions
look at how Gates, et al., are putting the Encyclopedia together,
plagiarized wholesale from other reference books. (For the record: This
about Skip Gates' project. My information comes exclusively from current and
so as to avoid further anomalies. According to some who have worked on the
deadlines. He has described the Encyclopedia to his colleagues in
electronic encyclopedia, a process of constant revision may have its
contributions to Western culture. But it was too weirdly conceived and poorly
less informative than most entries for the same subjects in even the
Why would Gates allow the publication of such a book with
his byline and photo on the dust jacket? He had no idea it was so bad. After
coming up with the idea for the project and appointing an "associate editor" to
run it, he says, he was only minimally involved. According to those who edited
press, then looked closely only at items within his area of expertise, such as
Black Women Writers he edited, he appointed others to put together the
books and write their introductions. Ten other editors helped put together
or even objectionable, if Gates imposed strict quality control standards upon
them. Members of scholarly journals' editorial boards rarely edit; they are
figureheads. And if Gates didn't edit the anthologies himself, his name
nonetheless lent credibility and, therefore, enhanced funding prospects to
deserving projects. Reference books are perforce feats of organization, not
that comes out of his scholarly chop shops isn't nearly as good as it should
be. And even if it were, there is something dishonest about marketing under
Gates' signature work that is produced mainly by his assistants. At worst, he
is amassing credentials, fame, and wealth on the basis of others' uncredited
This is bound to hurt both his own reputation and that of the enterprises he
He clearly is driven by a kind of missionary zeal: "I think that these projects
canon builder," he told me. Another explanation may lie in his brilliance: He
comes up with more ideas than he can handle, and he lacks the discipline not to
overextend himself. "By impulse, I am an entrepreneur," he says. "If I weren't
appealing image for a professoriate that has long been accused of being out of
One just wishes the results looked more like scholarship.
and prostitutes, reporters and flacks, singers and groupies, interns and beauty
queens, whites and blacks, blondes and brunettes. What on earth do they all
it out: Does the president have a type? Who is his ideal woman? If the
president is a "sexual predator," as some would have us believe, who is his
the face. She has big lips; full, fleshy cheeks; and enormous, showy teeth.
talking advertisement for oral sex." I leave such speculation to experts.)
more hair incarnations, but her locks have always been shorter than those of
in her 20s. Youth may be wasted on the young, but it's not wasted on the
wears either revealing clothes or professional clothes (or perhaps both).
may be his ideal, but he doesn't always get it. Browning wrote a novel about
without shared interests, and the president's are no exception. Like
serenaded her with "Long Tall Sally." Ward sang "After You've Gone" at the Miss
controls his empire, while networks, magazines, and newspapers have put the
Dying, as living, the Chairman of the Board is right where he's always liked to
States, far more than any of his earlier recordings. The hit movie
has become the house religion at men's magazines such as Details and
promiscuity have been recast as healthy libido, his Mafia ties and thuggery as
Award), and exerted the greatest political and cultural influence. (Some
came back as a Me Generation icon, the Rat Packer reincarnated as an
individualist. His late '60s albums, dismissed as lame attempts to ape rock
experimentalism. Critics harked back to his original popularity in the '40s,
the individual star. His signature song, after all, was "My Way." (Click to
'70s as proof of his artistic integrity and a kick in the smug face of
corporate music. His brawling and boozing in the '50s presaged the punks'
"My Way," a bizarre combination of homage and scorn.
economics): classy music, machismo, bonhomie, and good times. (The right's
counterclaim by the left. The New Republic and others tried to redeem
assistance to black musicians before such help became fashionable, his
phenomenon that keeps repeating itself: dirt. In the '60s and '70s, rumors of
has been somewhat cagey, but early reports suggest that the book will be full
Street. He champions efficiency and ruthlessness, and follows no higher
principle than the value of his company's stock. If the market is controlled by
hoped the would help the company's bottom line, and not cause it embarrassment.
by touting its commercialism: Sunbeam, he declared, would eagerly advertise its
sole credo is: "How can we make our stock worth more?" Nothing that is
community, relationships with suppliers, generosity in corporate
managers, sold the corporate jet, closed the headquarters and two factories,
dumped half the headquarters staff, and laid off a bunch of other workers. The
toughness, expressing only cursory regret for having cashiered thousands of his
contributed a gleeful column about how wonderful such firings are for
that he is a brutal, heartless, arrogant bastard. According to Business
(or even pay attention to) the child from his first marriage, and refused to
is simply destruction. He prettifies struggling companies for Wall Street, but
raise quick cash, cut prices to artificially boost sales, and squeezed
to reporters and investors, winning him an adulatory profile that serves him
campaigns and advertising. What he does not do is spend time developing new
products, nurturing talent, and cultivating customers. Why? Because he never
sticks around a company long enough for that to matter.
alternative rock arose. She presented the award for best makeup, of all things,
as a marginally talented opportunist who married well and whose stock rose
precipitously after her husband committed suicide. The daughter of
relentlessly, convincing a record label that was wooing her to fly her to a
Nirvana show so she could meet him. By the early '90s, before anyone in the
mainstream knew who she was, she was already such a legendary social climber on
All this deepened the luster of her image. In an age in
which agents and publicists once again monitor a star's movements as
remarks that were too unladylike. A few years ago, she chased another rival,
made her band Hole's album Live Through This go platinum (that is, sell
which was unfortunate (she has since stopped using drugs). The backlash against
Onstage she'd prop her leg up on the monitor and wail into the microphone like
any guy. Offstage, she'd announce that she had got a nose job, lost weight, and
dyed her hair blond because she knew that was what it was going to take to
make people pay attention to her. It wasn't just idolatry we felt; it was
anxiety, memories of the times when she was so strung out at a show that she
had to be carried offstage by her manager while the crowd shouted "slut" and
"whore." Three years ago, when Hole played its first New York show after
One can understand her desire, then, to continue proving to the world that
she's no longer a loose cannon. And a girl is certainly entitled to make
rethink her style. And there may not be a lot of room for subversion at the
same old feisty cuss once the cameras are off, but that just means she's
getting good at separating her public and private personas, at being the kind
lipstick scream at me, 'I love you! I didn't kill myself because of you!' Or,
outsize, nasty personality, and women aren't offered that spectacle very often.
phonies she would formerly have laughed at. But as she herself once sang, "I
fake it so real I am beyond fake." It may be that the artificial construction
and even the New York Times has anointed him rap's savviest mogul.
Master P phenomenon is an object lesson in how far rap hasn't come as an art
and how far it has come as a business. First: how far it hasn't come. The hype
he likes to say that his music is "authentic." Namely: It celebrates the thug
life of drugs, violence, and general sociopathic idiocy.
Every man is a "nigga," every woman a "bitch," and all and
the paean to his gun. The rhymes are crude, though the beats are potent, as in
in short, promotes and produces the same socially appalling (if aurally
of civilization five years ago. Back then, Master P would have sparked public
outcry and condemnation. Why doesn't he today? Why is there no hue and cry
perversion, a sick dead end. It was supposed to have been killed by now,
fratricidal strife. But instead of dying, gangster rap has been
is, and I mean this in the best possible way, a hack. He sticks to the
conventions of the genre and produces derivative, competent music. Even his
admirers admit he breaks no new ground and is essentially a skilled imitator of
There is another reason why Master P doesn't prompt any
outrage: the glorification of the entrepreneur. No one pays attention to what
he sells because everyone is so fascinated by how he sells it. Rap has always
may not have been anyone with better business instincts than Master P.
have been getting ripped off by their record companies as long as there have
been record companies. Master P wouldn't permit that to happen to him. He is
the most independent of the independent producers. He started selling records
out of his own car, and he hasn't relinquished control of anything yet. He owns
his master recordings, his studio, his label. By paying the production costs of
he stands to make at least twice as much as he would have if he had taken
for doing all this on his own, putting the records and movies out himself and
records albums in even less time. Everything is branded and tied together: All
No Limit albums advertise coming albums by other No Limit artists. He makes
thousands of copies in their first week in record stores. No single Master P
product is phenomenally successful, but there are lots of them, and all are
profitable. It adds up. (He has taken his vast fortune and diversified: He runs
something more atavistic. He sometimes refers to his enterprise as the "No
Cleavers. Master P was a hood and a hustler, and even as a corporate man, he
behaves like a hood and a hustler. He models No Limit on the mob, not the
and friendship above all: Most of his performers are relatives or homeboys. The
Limit posse occupy a compound in Baton Rouge, La. They are well armed and wear
bulletproof vests. And they don't welcome outsiders.
This may not be the best foundation for a durable business
schmoozes bankers, fashion designers, and record executives; and cuts deals
to be following in the footsteps of Knight, founder of Death Row Records. In
the early '90s, Knight built Death Row into a phenomenally profitable rap
loyalty and insularity over all, surrounding himself with thuggish cronies.
Death Row was run more like a criminal operation than a real business, with
huge, suspicious cash payments; shoddy accounting; and management by
chaos, so far. But can he forever? If he abandons his mob pose and posse he
abandons the image and the "authenticity" that made him a millionaire. If he
doesn't he could end up like Knight. For Master P, neither is an appealing
probably not the most important reason he has returned. If news reports are
president: Harry hasn't had a hit for five years. How 'bout calling one of the
the White House no doubt negotiated endlessly about the nuts and bolts of
everything they can to tilt the arrangements in the president's favor: What
be in the background? How should he be lighted? These may not be questions
on which a presidency hangs, but they're undoubtedly ones that the White House
is obsessing about. It's political theater, and they'll treat it like
will testify in the Map Room, a private meeting chamber, where he has testified
should see only his head and shoulders. "Not to be crude, but I don't want
anything below Bill's third button showing, and I want the desk between Bill's
as tight as possible. Get those baby blues right down the throats of the people
watching in the grand jury. I want to give the grand jurors a sense that they
the grand jury totally focused on this man's face, his honesty, his sadness of
having to do this. I want the audience's total concentration on his guiltless,
guileless face. I want them to see his eyebrows go up and down. He is the only
have him be just a disembodied voice. Having another head in the picture is a
not his face. There is nothing less attractive than the back of someone's
no, no! It is too awkward. Just one quick nanosecond glance at her, just one
moment of discomfort, and the grand jury will see it. You don't want
that! Keep her out of the West Wing. Keep her out of the White House. Some time
later they can go on some benign morning talk show together and talk about
benignly. He has learned to smile sweetly to the media, because he realizes
was there. He said, "These are my heroes. This is one of the greatest moments
want, what you really want"). And you have undoubtedly heard of
the Spice Girls, who are five of the you could ever hope to meet. Their song
expected). The album's first single, "Spice Up Your Life," has already
to overstate the Spice Girls' influence on popular culture, especially in
teaching a Spice Girls course. They have spawned a dozen imitation
clothes. This is, in short, the Spice Girls moment, the apogee between launch
played drums, has ever been a professional musician. Their music, too, is
to pop music what mall food courts are to ethnic food. "Spice Up Your Life,"
for a huge percentage of profits. The Spice Girls bring the same spinoff
version of it in your mall by Thanksgiving. Look for Spice Girls backpacks,
trading cards, action figures, duvets, perfumes, potato chips, lollipops.
musicians call prostitution. Whatever it is, it pays. According to some
naturally, are appalled. The marketing juggernaut, derivative music, and
moronic lyrics annoy music writers. The Spice Girls, according to reviews, are
"awful" and "extraordinarily untalented." During their rise to fame, the girls
wisely avoided giving concerts; when they finally performed live (on
No matter how they are, no matter how pushily they are marketed, the Spice
Girls have helped vanquish the doleful grunge music that dominated the early
'90s. Spice Girls songs are derivative, but they are also catchy as hell, great
of the Spice Girls is their very crassness. They are products of this ironic,
shrugging age. They are more than happy to sell out and more than happy to make
fun of themselves for doing it. History tells us that the life of the average
reign, followed by flameout. (Just ask New Kids on the Block. All that remains
to become the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, is being treated here
few weeks back, the Daily News sardonically endorsed her as the "Mayor
of Mars," observing with a characteristically light touch that her speech had
was the universal philosophy of the city's elite until a few years ago, and
second because nobody's listening to the second thoughts she's been having
mayor, says, "I believe in epiphanies," but adds that when he looks at
intelligence, her studiousness, her belief in the fine distinction. But there's
something of the killjoy in her. She's brisk, and pinched, and a bit
"participated in everything" and were "ready to die for this freedom."
considered a staunch voice for tenants, for children, for the homeless and the
had to a Democratic Socialist candidate for mayor. She consistently argued for
more spending, even as it was becoming clear that the Wall Street boom of the
the limit of our commitments to meet the essential needs of the people of this
needs" grew exponentially, forcing New York and other cities not only to raise
taxes but to scant such traditional services as parks and sanitation in favor
of spending had made New York ungovernable. The economy was dead, the budget
Coalition. It turned out to be the last gasp of traditional liberalism.
liberalism is not as bankrupt as the election is making it appear. Reformers
independent budget monitor, have been arguing that the city could save billions
paid holidays for city workers or large amounts of down time for cops and
the city's neglected neighborhoods. They have made plausible arguments for
reformer without reforming anything except the Police Department. He has
disappointed conservatives by treating rent control as part of natural law, and
by making no serious inroads on the city's bloated labor costs. To hack away at
Hill long enough, anything can happen. And during the past few weeks, it did.
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he's become the object of
Republicans and Democrats commend Helms for his good sense, flexibility,
compiled a perfect record: He has done nothing that can be called an
achievement. His career is an unblemished half century of efforts to impede
progress, inflame race relations, and squelch good government. So what has he
rights" platform or accurately called a "segregationist" platform. He conducted
the longest filibuster in Senate history in a vain attempt to stop a
racism that became the blueprint for future Republican presidential candidates.
black staffers, and recommending a black man for appointment as a federal
a significant bill to his name. He does, however, have other things to his
even less to admire about Helms. As a campaigner, Helms has contributed as much
as any senator to the corruption of the election process. He pioneered the
of conservatives. He's notorious for massive campaign spending: He set a record
stealth campaign: He relies almost exclusively on television ads, eschewing
rallies, public appearances, press conferences, debates, and the other niceties
only to faxed questions.) He has been equally destructive as a legislator: A
him as a moderate, accommodating figure, but that image won't stick. Helms is
an absolutist, and he doesn't stop till he gets his way. He only knows the
terrifying in a leader. Helms can barely stomach the democratic process. Last
administration to consider his State Department reform package. This spring, he
attempted to prevent the Senate from voting on the Chemical Weapons Convention.
And rather than persuade colleagues that Weld doesn't deserve to be ambassador,
Helms is trying to spike the nomination by not scheduling a confirmation
to criticize his sorry record or dredge up his racist past. (Or to comment on
lost it. His staff shepherds him from meeting to meeting, writes his public
statements, and cleans up after his many gaffes, such as his attempted pass at
and reporters are tired of hearing about it. They need a new story about him.
hypocrisy as the socially useful "homage that vice pays to virtue." That, of
course, is very French. In the United States, however, it seems that virtue
pays homage to vice. Have we thought through the implications?
in large numbers tell pollsters that we disapprove of adultery, regularly
attend church, and would like to see the return of prayer to schools. We claim
also "would understand" if he had lied about it, even under oath.
Until now, it has been assumed that the leader of an
rapid rewind of the morality tape, zipping right through the age of Victoria to
peasants and bourgeoisie were expected to live lives of probity, while the king
ahead and have a good time, we'll just wait out here in the hall and say a few
prayers"? No, that's not us. Far more likely is that we still regard the
before we invest further in public activities incongruent with the new
in chief to hit on women in the office, why should we prosecute a man so much
as the century ends, let us grope our way toward a new liberalism.
Other changes in federal policy are needed urgently to
support the implicit goals of the New Awakening. For example, we must obviously
restore Welfare as We Knew It. Here, after all, was a program (Aid to Families
with Dependent Children) that, judged by current lights, must be rated one of
sure, illegitimacy is not a perfect proxy for indiscriminate
as some minority citizens manage to get ahead without affirmative action. But
an extra incentive from the government surely helps.
pushed into the work force, whence they will stagger home each night lacking
the energy for romantic exploration. Young men are being told to take
responsibility for their sexual behavior and, should they slip, pay up on child
sending the message that one should get it whenever and however one can.
got gas guzzlers to keep rolling. Anyway, by now he has surely squirreled away
all that anthrax and poison gas where we'll never find it with bombs or
inspectors. Keeping all those planes, ships, and troops on alert is expensive.
preoccupation with a balanced budget? Is paying for what we get really the
acclaimed State of the Union message. More spending! More tax cuts! This,
called the Plantation, till it was broken and bruised and lacerated. It is this
arm, this right arm, that is still stiff, still scarred, still bent. And it is
this arm, this right arm, that the avaricious barons of tobacco, who sell death
and call it commerce, think they can twist, think they can break, think they
understand that this arm has a man attached to it. And they don't understand
threats, just as he is allergic to the cozy, sleazy compromises of this dark
city, just as he is allergic to the mendacious hypocrisies of politics as it is
prisoner of war. Now he's the only senator courageous enough to tell the truth.
New York Times declared the defeat would only burnish his reputation.
hopeful. He is irresistible. In a Senate populated by grasping automatons, he
behaves like an actual human being. Probably because of his five and a half
year imprisonment, he is impatient with the euphemisms and lies of politics.
(Bob Dole once said of him, "You spend five years in a box and you're entitled
hypocrisies and failings of his colleagues (and himself). The more his
colleagues spin and position themselves, the better he looks.
bosses on campaign finance and tobacco makes great copy. (If he were a Democrat
leading the fight against tobacco and campaign corruption, no one would care.)
There is something heroic about a politician who seems to act against his
the general swoon about his history. He is an awesome man. He doesn't need to
talk about the war: Reporters, most of whom never served in the military, are
paralyzed by him. His indisputable bravery and honor inoculate him against
national reporters. He interrupts family vacations to appear on cable news and
holds conversations with his children in front of them. He asks them for
schemer, a politician, a calculating populist who has built his career on sexy,
in the tobacco fight: He had no strong feelings about the evil weed, and he
became the tobacco scourge only when Republican leaders asked him to shepherd
the bill through the Senate. He adopted campaign finance reform only after he
more pernicious about the coverage is that it confuses the qualities of a
legislator, but no one ever points out that he's a rather ineffective one. He
is unpopular in the Senate. Some of his Republican colleagues dislike him for
("His colleagues feel he's a showboat and a camera hog," says University of
He has said he has no plans to modify the tobacco bill to get it passed. (Well,
why not?) Similarly, he infuriates senators with grandstanding attacks on pork,
being a master at publicizing and eliminating other senators' sweetheart
superb advocate on campaign finance and tobacco. And there is certainly
contrarian, someone whose life is defined by lonely opposition. He was a pilot,
not a platoon leader. He resisted his captors alone and endured years in
that's what he is. He suspects authority and challenges orthodoxy. It's why
why he would make a lousy president. Being president is not about bucking
authority, it's about being authority. It's not about resisting coercion, it's
about coercing, and bargaining, and sucking up, and twisting arms, and telling
indifference to the king of sports. But it's the most popular sport in the
cooperation, the players are too small and too Euro, it looks bad on
by divine right. The United States has used dollar power to make itself the
United States stages pro competitions, those competitions are the world's
negotiates all contracts and assigns stars to teams. (In other pro leagues,
on its 20-man rosters, a move that cuts costs while guaranteeing playing time
assigning foreign players to cities where they'll be most popular.
first two seasons. This summer's World Cup will distract fans and remove the
terms of employment. Now they argue that the single entity suppresses salaries
and violates antitrust laws. The lawsuit goes to trial this fall.
doesn't pay for talent, it will certainly remain a minor league. But even if it
quitting her Crossfire job to run for office. She's about to make her
and big donors are biding their time waiting for her announcement. The
the general election. This enthusiasm is a little mystifying. After all, the
been tangled in more ethics scandals than any politician except, well, Al
the Democratic National Convention, remember her white dress, remember her
rolled into one. Her admirers stopped seeing her as a politician. She became an
icon, an unreal, idealized symbol of women's achievement.
remember her six years in Congress, and with good reason. She was a
enough principles to stand on, not enough to get in her way. Despite her
Democratic platform. Her skills as an operator served her own career: When she
of ideas, never had any consuming passion. It's notable that none of the seven
New York Democratic operatives I talked to could describe her ideology or name
her pet causes. ("She's sort of moderate, I think," said one.) When I asked
responses to ethics charges reflect her political instincts. Confronted with
deftness: Hand out a few documents, hedge, cavil, deny, admit with
All of which is to say: Of course she'll run. She's a
thrilled when she considers the prospect. "If you look at the time of my life
that was the happiest, it was the time as a prosecutor and member of Congress,"
at Al: "It's either do it now, or don't do it at all."
campaigner. Green has a loyal following among the liberals who vote in
primary. It will be a fratricidal, exhausting race.
claims are contradictory. Enemies agree, friends disagree. The Democrat in the
deficit of tax justice and, worst of all, a deficit of dollars." Writing in
a betrayal of conservative values. And so on. Who's right?
agreement is, presumably, to balance the budget. Yet the deal rests on various
assumptions, and the likelihood that all of them will work out is small.
administration. Now, unlike then, we have already enjoyed more than six years
of uninterrupted growth. Unemployment and inflation together are lower than
they've been for three decades. Some say this shows the economy has reached a
can't last much longer. The deal makers contend that the budget deal itself
will promote growth and so create additional savings. But five more years? Over
keep on rolling, the promised retreat of red ink depends on Congress and the
budget deficit will actually increase as a result of the deal.
implausibilities: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is supposed to recalculate the
the last three years of the plan. The forces of nature are supposed to avoid
Doctors and hospitals serving Medicare and Medicaid patients are supposed to
of the broadcast spectrum. And, of course, lots of fraud, waste, and abuse is
domestic spending. True? This depends on which you think is more important: the
courts, prisons, and parks to highways, housing, and the weather bureau. This
is what excites the conservative Brooks. By leaving Medicare, Social Security,
and other entitlements unreformed, he argues, when a recession hits, Congress
things liberals love." Of course, this assumes that Congress won't just forget
Deficit of Tax Justice or a Deficiency of Tax Cuts?
gains and estate taxes "even if it is not the bill I would write." It is not
yet clear how Congress and the president can squeeze all the tax goodies each
rate cut leads them to sell more assets than they otherwise would have done.)
to the poor (who pay no taxes, so can't use the credit). However it all shakes
out, those who benefit most from the tax breaks almost surely will lose least
fairly content with the tax package, since it includes their cherished
taxes the government expects to collect over the next five years. And, if the
doesn't seem unreasonable when you consider that our political and military
leaders have shown themselves increasingly reluctant to put either our troops
or our expensive weaponry at risk. On the other hand, the Pentagon feels it
that the real measure of lost resolve is to be found in the fact that military
the threats faced by the United States bears no fixed relation to the size of
measured in today's dollars. Under the budget agreement, it will spend the
That ought to save the Pentagon at least a quarter on the dollar.
important: the tax cuts and spending increases Congress is pledged to enact
this very year, or the spending cuts it vows it will embrace in years to come.
deal that passed both houses last week, Congress canceled those caps.
brash and talentless more warmly than the movie industry, and no one is better
types get the chance to create only one disastrous flop in a lifetime. After
even recycles his sex obsessions: Sliver and Basic Instinct both
anonymous. They're supposed to be heard but not seen. Actors and directors are
line and a chubby paycheck. There have been only a handful of famous
invented the celebrity screenwriter. "He's a run of the mill screenwriter who
created a myth that he was an idiosyncratic rebel," says Entertainment
caught the eye of Rolling Stone with his bold crime stories. The
stood out. At editorial meetings he would brandish a knife.
It was a sign of things to come. Ever since, he has used belligerence, bravado,
and a gift for charming the media to make himself a star. When
bullied him out of the idea. He did the same thing when the studio tried to
still presents himself as a radical tough. He has long hair and a
meetings, then smash it on the table when he's angry. He has turned his private
Vanity Fair to tell all about the sordid affair. No piece ever ran.
Moviegoers knew his name and his legendary audacity. Producers fell hard for
thanks to his bullheadedness, he exerts more control over production than
almost any other screenwriter. Directors alter his scripts at their peril.
bravest outsider, and he has written passionately about the need for
screenwriters to stand up for artistic integrity. He also honestly believes in
interview after interview about the importance of the movie, of its deep moral
They share the same exaggerated sense of importance, the same pontificating
It is a beautiful, sad little movie about betrayal. It was glowingly reviewed.
and the dark side of his celebrity. When he writes sensationalist schlock, he
gets the attention he craves. When he writes moving, interesting drama, he
well as at least four planned films of his plays and novel.
superfluity, someone complicated and challenging enough to endure the excess
art and culture of my age." He is now a man who stands in symbolic relation to
"I can resist everything except temptation." Ha ha! "There is only one thing
in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked
cool, cruel master of aphorism. His plays were produced and his quips were
especially the last few years. The revival ignores the art for the sake of the
the man suddenly so popular? One reason is that this is an age of memoirs:
But there are two more important reasons why this is a
ignored for decades, then glossed over. When he was first claimed as a gay icon
society destroyed him because it was too intolerant to accept
raises very modern questions about what homosexuality is and how much sexuality
happily married and the father of two children. He had sex with men
infrequently, and only late in life. To appreciate the complexity of his
focuses on his love affair with a man, Gross Indecency focuses on his
realism and authenticity were in vogue, his life was a stylized performance
designed to grab attention. In the early 1880s, before he had written anything
around the city carrying flowers, and threw himself at the feet of actresses.
production. He wore outrageous clothes and quipped his way across the States.
(On arrival in New York: "I have nothing to declare except my genius.") His
lectures about interior decorating were mobbed. He also milked his fame
brilliantly after he'd achieved commercial success. He is undoubtedly the only
was just developing a wide audience, whipped up public hatred toward him over
indiscretion (in the face of overwhelming evidence) rather than risk
One thing is missing from the revival: subversiveness.
in court. Today, you can throw it on the screen and no one even notices. The
universities enshrined the scientific meliorism of the Progressive Era. But the
defining philanthropist of our time is not a university builder or an art
conservative values, universities to build character, and researchers to
investigate the connections between faith and science. He believes he can
reconcile the irreconcilable contradictions of contemporary society: Christian
began investing in the early '40s and soon proved a natural. He established the
philanthropy into marketing, his own name into a brand. His earliest venture
brilliant stroke was to brag that his prize would be worth more than the
for tapping into popular culture. He has, for example, cast himself as a
guardian of Christian morals and a bulwark against political correctness. The
universities, departments, professors, and even textbooks that uphold
sidelight to his much more ambitious goal: the reunification of science and
trying to refashion the world's intellectual fabric. He is, if this is not an
oxymoron, a religious technocrat. Since the Renaissance, science has
that theologians must match science's advance with spiritual research, and
attempt to rejoin the soul and the brain. Religion should harness the tools of
science to make "progress." "Progress" is his favorite word, though no one, not
science and religion. He offers the same amount to medical schools for classes
hard science. Favorite projects include a Duke University study on the
universe reflects intelligent design. Even so, the entire enterprise reflects a
scientific, grandiose beyond imagination: "Behind this book is my belief that
the basic principles for leading a 'sublime life' can be examined and tested
just as science examines and tests natural laws of the universe." Worldwide
of the laws are biblical aphorisms: "As you give, so shall you receive." Most
are platitudes of high banality: "Every ending is a new beginning." "What the
If you send him a new law and he adds it to the next edition of Worldwide
"disprove" one of the worldwide laws, he'll fund the experiment.
and junior, are always great theater, and never more than in the past few
patting himself on the back, he has no trouble finding people to do it for him.
its top executives were sacked last week. It has released flop after flop
no relief on the horizon: Universal doesn't have a summer blockbuster to
that Universal will turn fabulous profits in the next few years, but no one is
down by Universal, is stagnating through the biggest bull market in history.
Usually a few billion dollars in the bank inoculates you
entrepreneurial and ruthless. The second generation was managerial and
real estate and oil. Sound financial practices and organized marketing
If there is a defining quality of the third generation, it
family money to open doors. The doors should not have opened: He produced a
couple of bad movies and wrote even worse songs. He also eloped with an
so simple. The father is not quite the icon he seems, and the son is not quite
did it first. He tried to take over a movie studio in the late '60s and even
movies but that he's too rational about them. To wit: Earlier this month, he
outraged the industry by proposing that theaters charge higher prices for more
million or lose it. Studio share prices are erratic because there are no
guaranteed earnings: A studio that makes a killing this year may get killed
liquor. He wants to find the secret rational formula that will connect movie
costs to movie revenues. It's an impossible task. The formula doesn't exist.
Movie audiences will always be more fickle than whiskey drinkers, and movie
will be the failure of someone much less interesting: a businessman.
shawl is still wrapped around Pol Pot's neck, but the hair is grayer and
sparser and the round face is lined with wrinkles. He needs a cane to walk and
oxygen to breathe. He is nearly blind in the left eye, and he can't stand the
mosquitoes that swarm around his hut. He is older now, and he is wiser.
introspection; with introspection has come regret. "Our movement made
mistakes," he admits softly, sincerely, in his first interview in nearly two
Once upon a time, way back in the early '70s, Pol Pot was
to abolish the twin evils of Western materialism and class privilege. Pol Pot
of course, were a difficult decade. We all did things we have come to regret,
and Pol Pot is no exception. A million or two of his countrymen lost their
lives because of his mistakes. Starvation was epidemic. Cannibalism was common.
Pol Pot abolished religion, education, medicine, commerce, money. He drove city
dwellers into the countryside, and he forced them to farm. Tens of thousands of
his subjects were tortured and murdered at his behest. Some critics said he
came to carry out the struggle, not to kill people," he says, a look of
melancholy shadowing his face. "Even now, and you can look at me, am I a savage
person?" The plaintive question echoes in the moist, warm air of the
including infant grandchildren, also were killed. Pol Pot regrets the murders.
They, too, were a "mistake," he says, his voice filled with pain. So Pol Pot
can accept his arrest. What he can't accept is his betrayal at the hands of his
friends. The men who tried and sentenced him are his oldest comrades, the
Who is Pol Pot? He is a man who has always had difficulty
press conferences than battles. But Pol Pot has never had the gift of the gab,
especially around the camera, and he has never learned how to play to the
dictators amassed. Pol Pot has never believed in greed. Not for him the
the jungle with nothing but the clothes on his back.
The new Pol Pot is about the future. He wants to make the most of his golden
years. His politics have mellowed. Today, the elder statesman advises
Pol Pot worked tirelessly on the revolution, neglecting his health, his
friends, his family. The new Pol Pot is a family man. His wife and their
Pot rests quietly during the day while his daughter goes to school and his wife
hoes the vegetable patch. In the evenings, they share a modest meal, and Pol
Pot asks his daughter about what she learned that day. In captivity, he has
fulfilled a lifelong dream. He has found the very thing he sought to give his
forgiveness ritual for sinning celebrities. After they're caught, they
that it cannot be neutered. Pol Pot is in captivity; he is sick; and he is
(mildly) apologetic. Yet not a single word has been murmured on his behalf. Any
rejection of Pol Pot. In making him a pariah, the world is legitimizing men who
captured his old mentor. He has received favorable press coverage for opening
even been given credit for putting Pol Pot on trial and sentencing him to life
Rouge's bloody image. If so, it seems to have worked.
he is unlikely to appear again in public. The remarkable interview Pol Pot gave
is very near death. Survivors of his terror can take some satisfaction in this:
Pol Pot is bound for the death that you would wish on a tyrant, the death that
impoverished, in great pain, betrayed by his friends, and unredeemed by a world
cartoon tobacco mascot, is currently facing charges by the feds that he has
knowingly and with profit aforethought enticed children to smoke cigarettes. He
is not accused of hooking kids in the manner of a playground pusher,
authorities of being way too guilty. The very president of the United States
is a charge of considerable interest. For it to stick, "cool" must be perceived
to be good, or else associating it with smoking wouldn't be so dangerous that
the life he leads, as suggested in the ads that feature him. So what does he do
in these ads? Among other things, he plays in a blues band, shoots pool with
his buddy camels, rides a big hoggish motorcycle (without a helmet), drives a
flashy convertible (without fastening his seat belt), and otherwise does a
never seen doing any productive work of any kind, is never portrayed wearing
for his own pleasure. He stays up all night in unwholesome places, indulges in
risky behavior that threatens to make decent camels' insurance premiums go up,
and surely hasn't phoned his aged mother in years. And that isn't the worst of
notorious for his lack of sensitivity to females. It is obvious that he would
be unwilling to negotiate the stages of a sexual encounter as an equal. Even
his face has a phallic quality. Indeed, given the ubiquitous social messages of
what now constitutes enlightened masculinity (a nurturing, sensitive,
Camel is not perceived by youth as a criminal rather than, as the Federal Trade
over. Let's say we subject him to behavior modification of the Clockwork
capacity for being a loving husband and a sacrificing father. And, oh yeah,
does (including to juveniles). An association with respectability has been the
central image of alcohol and tobacco advertising for much of the century. From
been portrayed as a reward for hard work, an indulgence that the achieving
years, hundreds and maybe thousands of smokers in cigarette ads have been
lighting up at picnics, on hiking trails, or on horseback. Yet the first
commercial smoker to get hauled into court is the first one to have stepped
consciously playing the prude here, there is a logic to cultural control to
"children," but it may well appeal to adolescents by exploiting their sexual
World War I along with mass cigarette smoking. In fact, in the nine years that
the campaign has been running, Camel's share of the underage smoking market has
out riding the range, perhaps roping in kids when they really are kids.
(Perhaps not: What any ads have to do with the decision to start smoking is not
the campaign's graphic style, characters, and situations are directed at an
older audience, whereas the appeal of cowboys to little kids is too well known
couldn't invent a more striking contrast of characters than exists between
popular) portrays a disciplined man of experience who seems to embody a cowboy
code of honor, a traditional regard for women, and the offer of a
it is to be a man. (Want his respect? Buy a pack.) Perhaps he's next on the
becoming more relevant every day. That figure is the protagonist of the
emphasized about himself were his bad habits: his desire to carouse the night
away, to run around with women, to sing loudly and drunkenly, and to smoke his
of his soul, the making of his poetry. "Why did we shed our blood," he asks an
uncomprehending scientific Puritan, "if I can't dance to my heart's
zoo, where curious people come to watch him do unhealthy things. "Look," says
a voice from the crowd: "Oh! How horrible!" And another cry, "The children!
wrote his drama about the interplay of freedom, pleasure, and risk. On the
motorcycle. Because he still won't be wearing a helmet.
trademark sneering speeches, windmilling arms, and devastating
He is, in fact, the very model of what a celebrity defense attorney should be.
causes. His motto could be: always righteous, often right. As an undergraduate
and brave. He fought to abolish all student deferments, figuring that the war
trying to expose grand jury abuse, and then spent five years as a Legal Aid
"rapists" and "murderers." So far, the Innocence Project has cleared more than
about the misuse of medical evidence as about murder. His devotion to his
construct an intellectually honest defense: There was reasonable doubt because
began the case on the periphery of the defense team and ended it in the center.
poring over complex evidence that other defense lawyers didn't bother with. In
surprisingly evenhanded.) But mostly, he has used his celebrity to advance his
York State Commission on Forensic Science and he lectures to police departments
and prosecutors across the country about proper use of genetic fingerprinting.
sodomized with a toilet plunger by New York City cops. The defense attorney is
even advising Colorado investigators (prosecutors!) on the medical evidence in
conviction or reduce her conviction to manslaughter. (The judge will not make
arrangements or even much difficulty in finding such care. Yet, with equal
legislation that aims to send millions of welfare mothers into the labor force,
and their kids, presumably, into surrogate care. Critics of the new law argue
that suitable care is in short supply. (For an example of the concern, see
suggests that parents who want to work can and will find child care that suits
Women's Bureau jointly issued the findings of a survey they had conducted. The
study, said the foreword, "clearly indicates how urgent is the need for
of perceptions is accounted for by the fact that most of the children in
look after themselves. These, moreover, were the days when federal planners set
utopian standards for acceptable care. When the Department of Health, Education
and Welfare decided to set up its own center for employees' kids, it found it
could not meet the requirements for windows and outlets per square foot,
nutritionists and therapists per square child, and so on.
a researcher at the Urban Institute, notes that parents may be embarrassed to
admit they leave their kids in questionable settings. And for many
findings. Last week brought disappointing news to another faction in the
Human Development found that day care does not hinder a child's intellectual
development. Nor, except for a small effect for very young children in long
hours of care, does it affect their emotional bond with their mothers.
Many more children, of course, are in licensed centers than
expensive center care than are the working poor; but, thanks to government
care is not, however, a guarantee of quality. Nor is price. Quality, the Urban
whether the caregivers talk and interact with the children frequently. A flurry
of recent research, recently reported in a Time magazine cover story, points to the importance of
early stimulation in the later development of a baby's brain. (And with a
reading tests, it seems pretty clear that some additional stimulation is
families nor competing for government subsidies, are plagued by poorly trained,
claim to care about quality, in the end they opt for "price and convenience."
of these experts, and others besides, point to a misdirection of federal
subsidies come with quality strings attached. But the largest single federal
breaks are "not good tools for ensuring good quality." (They may not even be
From this perspective, the recently passed welfare reform
could be a blessing to some kids. Advocates worry that if substantial numbers
of welfare mothers are pushed into jobs, centers might be swamped by demands to
of the Manpower Development Research Corp., which has been the prime evaluator
overestimated the amount of formal child care needed for such projects. And the
whom affordable, accessible, and suitable care cannot be found. On the plus
million a year. If states take advantage of the various incentives provided
them (though few probably will), total federal and state support could expand
Institute estimates. States will also be freed from the hodgepodge of
regulations that currently cause gaps in coverage as mothers move among home,
do find and hold jobs, their children might well benefit from the
the sort of substitute care they actually get. Still, as last week's National
Institute study points out, whatever effect day care has on kids is swamped by
mothers and secure economic circumstances tend to do fine, whether their
mothers work or not. Others not so lucky in their parents or homes often do
care centers, but we don't license parents." Perhaps we should.
Will always has a book coming out and it is usually disappearing quietly into
Restoration: Congress, Term Limits, and the Recovery of Deliberative
week's book is news, because this week's book is about baseball. When Will
journalism. His starchy tenor is certainly among its most recognizable voices.
Yet Will's views aren't news anymore. His columns don't shape national policy
Bunts because "bunts are modest and often useful things." Will himself
has become a bunt. Why this has happened has less to do with Will than it does
smaller, politics was smaller, and the power elite could be reached easily
especially) were more than just columnists; they were national actors, both
years teaching political science, Will entered journalism in the early '70s as
conservative gospel to a relatively small following. Will, syndicated in
hundreds of papers, was the first conservative columnist to reach a mainstream
priggish manner helped). The Wall Street Journal labeled him "the most
shows diluted the influence of columnists. So did other columnists. Will, who
was the mainstream conservative columnist in the '70s, found himself
institutionalized wise man of journalism, mining quotes for our edification.
the Topic of the Day to first principles, to forsake the cheap quip for a
Flytrap. His newspaper prose may not be deathless, but it's not as lifeless as
above average. That is: He is mostly, rather than entirely, forgettable. (All
"I don't want to live in a country blown about by gusts of wind raised by
is one place where Will's journalism does seem to matter, where he does toss
thunderbolts: baseball. Men at Work and the columns in Bunts are
fresher, less rococo, less pretentious, than his political columns. In Men
game. Instead of indulging in the usual teary nostalgia about baseball (that
means you, Ken Burns), Will considered it as a craft, explaining exactly why a
up his fastball, why a shortstop moves in a step for one kind of double play
and out a step for another. Not terribly analytical about his politics, Will is
Will's baseball writing is so good, in fact, that he's even
being mentioned as a candidate for baseball commissioner. His name has been
commissioner's job last week, and he gave me spin when I asked: He still likes
writing his column, he says, and "it's presumptuous to talk about accepting
something that has not been offered." Which is not exactly a "No." Commissioner
that his columns are ephemera, why shouldn't Will give them up for his true
should step aside and let someone else take over the routine. No one would care
that much. After all, he's just a newspaper columnist.
so belongs to a bygone era that he probably should have had the good sense to
he remains with us--60 years old, mumbling, shambling, drunk, stoned, and
visible casualty of '60s sybaritic excess; for rebellious kids, he's a
The implied question in most criticism of the Fear and
Loathing movie is: Why on earth did we ever think this crap mattered? The
is dated and dull, further proof that drugs are not only destructive but banal.
The two lead characters are vicious, crude, solipsistic, and adolescent. All in
it with ferocity, and ferocity is not comfortable these days.
been placid suddenly raged with race riots and assassinations, manipulated by a
idealist, was appalled. He reacted to madness by writing (and behaving) madly.
so horrified by the Kent State massacre, which occurred while he was writing,
that he was unable to make his notes into a coherent piece.
political writing from the coma of the '50s. His savage, profane descriptions
being rejected too easily, the elderly Hunter is being welcomed too kindly. In
has more than just squandered his talent (what prodigy doesn't?), he has
betrayed himself. He's a romantic who has become a cynic. He was once filled
of course, is not the only '60s vet who is disillusioned. But he gave no
quarter to anyone who disappointed him, so he certainly doesn't deserve any
delinquent who wouldn't grow up. He ignites kegs of dynamite in his Aspen,
(He once called himself, with a flash of perfect insight, a "mean, lazy
there --he befriended weirdos and freaks, made common cause with the
dregs of society, stirred trouble, listened. At some point in the '70s,
years. A shocking number of his recent articles are based on something he saw
into a fake froth; does some calculated, halfhearted gonzo writing; then
collects a fat check. He has become as repetitious, pontificating, and slothful
"speeches." His books are still, astonishingly, best sellers (even his wretched
flush of marijuana to keep Hunter in tequila and narcotics for the rest of his
letter saying that Hell's Angels had inspired him to join a motorcycle
imitate others, and warning him about what was wrong with the Angels: "The best
played that game for a while and then quit for something better. The ones who
are left are almost all the kind who can't do anything else, and they're not
much fun to talk to. They're not smart, or funny, or brave, or even original.
They're just Old Punks, and that's a lot worse than being a Young Punk. They're
not even happy; most of them hate the lives they lead, but they can't afford to
admit it because they don't know where else to go, or what else to do. That's
original. And he sure doesn't know what else to do.
myths, and there is none more powerful than this one: They don't make 'em like
they used to. Remember when they played both ways? When they didn't complain
is performing his usual miracles during his first season with the Jets. The
confuses football fans. They can't figure out why he's a great coach. Some
reputations. Other coaches piggybacked to the top on star players: Any
strategy and mentor to no great stars. Some of his teams have been strong
offensively, others defensively. Some have passed a lot, others have run.
There's no single guiding principle to his teams. Sportswriters throw up their
is a great coach for a reason that is now unfashionable in professional sports:
He's a dictator. If modern pro athletes subscribe to a political philosophy, it
have exaggerated the influence of individual stars. Once players played at the
years coaching at West Point and the Air Force Academy. He conceives of
football as a military operation. His teams are total institutions. Other
aggressively confident, has the rare ability of command.
out. Losing players have no choice. With the Patriots and the Jets, for
runs his training camps and practices with a drill sergeant's discipline: He
abuses and needles players to inspire them. Last season, for example, he
infuriated one malingering rookie by calling him "she." ("She," wide receiver
commit fewer penalties than almost any team in the league. (In last week's win
of trying to talk to every player every day. When some of his Giants players
former Giants assistants; at the Jets, he has enlisted former Giants players to
feuded with owners and general managers about running the team. He quit the
Giants partly because the owner and general manager cramped him. His battle
then, he has never managed to do anything but coach. Once he took a year off to
only outside interests are golf and his family. Both get ignored during the
"couldn't live without football." Even so, he keeps hinting that his career is
his way out the door. John Madden has long since ascended to the press box.
"computer guys." In an age where computer guys are winning everywhere else,
(Spencer has invented a literary genre, the Attack Eulogy.) You might think
(Remember when toffs were really toffee?) But the earl is a very new, very
replaced by the barbed, blabbing tongue; reticence by confession;
eulogy, which did as much to settle scores as to commemorate his sister, did
In a normal aristocratic family, Spencer would have been
just another playboy. But he was the Princess of Wales' younger brother, so his
course, the models wouldn't have been his girlfriends if it hadn't been for the
rage at the press has grown in recent years, and with much justification. In
snapped surreptitious pictures of her at a private treatment facility. When his
best friend committed jewel fraud, the Daily Express falsely accused
Spencer of abetting the criminal. Another paper falsely accused him of selling
and photographed him. Spencer has fought back, repeatedly winning damages from
has a much more ambivalent (read: "hypocritical") relationship with the press
story published, and escaped serious damage. (In the old days, this would have
earl has even practiced the very journalism he decries. For much of the last
cash flow to maintain his 121-room mansion and 13,000-acre estate, and he's
nonetheless horrified traditionalists. He has hocked heirlooms to pay taxes,
wooded acres of his estate into a housing development, and leased the grounds
immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned." He
criticism. The other is entrepreneurial, telegenic, noisy, and restrained by no
something nice to say, most reviewers have hit upon the conclusion that
which they mean it has fewer automatic weapons, fewer car chases, and more
even sadder: The Rainmaker is actually much better than most of
Despite this record of unadulterated mediocrity, a fog of
movie director. He has embedded himself in the mythology of the film industry
picture. (His Apocalypse Now lunacy is brilliantly chronicled in the
combined, and he has pioneered technology (notably video editing) that other
brilliant talker, a salesman. He is, in short, the very model of what a movie
it very easy to rationalize his failures as poor accountancy. "His career can
be summed up as the case of a man who needed a financial manager," says Roger
failure of One From the Heart and his studio's collapse. So of course he
became a hired gun: He needed to pay his debts. According to the mythology,
delivering his own movies late and over budget, earned a reputation as a
reliable director. He stuck to his budgets, and almost all his studio movies,
too buys into the notion that he would have kept making great movies if only
he'd been debt free. He's obsessed with the notion of artistic purity. The
the graphic to see the movie's emotional climax, when the young lawyer hero
confronts the old lawyer villain about selling out.) In recent interviews,
sellout. Or, to put it more kindly, the quality of his movies has never
for cheap? Because he had just bankrupted himself making a disastrous
has become a studio hack for much more banal reasons. He got older, mellower,
seems to lack the inspiration for a grand project. His last truly personal
to do something truly astounding. To show them something they haven't seen
before. I would like to do that, and I really believe I can do it."
story of fulfilled promise. He made two of the greatest, if not the two
five and a half sobering hours about alcohol and drug addiction. It was an
into liberal squish: In his hands, the book of Genesis is a story of family
(that is, all of us) tire of his lectures on our frivolity. An ordained Baptist
minister, he adores sermonizing about his seriousness of purpose. (Click for
address his audience as much as hypnotize it. His gestures are too soothing
also gets hit for making money off public television. Foundations and
corporations give him millions to produce documentaries. He brilliantly markets
real achievement: He has spent his life trying to bring moral seriousness to
watching television rather than actually reading philosophy. This seems to me
fundamentalism, and the minimum wage are much admired, too. And for all his
social welfare policy years before most Democrats acknowledged the issue.
recent spiritual documentaries have degenerated into New Age banalities. But at
languorous, even soporific. But his long, unhurried interviews crack his
subjects wide open: They talk to the camera as they would with an old friend.
shortcoming. He rejects confrontation. He opens people up by agreeing with
presidents, but he is the world champion of consensus, the patron saint in the
belief about the topic at hand. If you watched the addiction series, for
addicts should be forced to take responsibility for their actions, not coddled
kind of journalism seems designed to place this thought in the viewer's mind:
defenders say that television has enough strife elsewhere (very little of it
illuminating) and that it's important that the airwaves offer a civil forum
show, viewers nod in agreement. Which is better journalism?
globalization, the sexual revolution, or the civil rights movement. But one of
the greatest upheavals of the century is the liberation of the nerd. Many have
Gates. Few have placed these developments in context. Nerds, once defined as
this movement created its own turmoil. With the advent of the power nerd, we
can no longer say for certain what makes a nerd a nerd. Or, to put it another
its origins, the appellation rose to prominence in the 1950s, the High Age of
Conformity, when boomers employed it to condemn the most conformist of the
conformists, the squarest of the squares. And the phrase conjured up a specific
expanded to include vast new segments of the population. These new
constituencies adopted bourgeois values, among them a fixation with
stand the test of time. In particular, it doesn't survive the 1980s, an era the
New York Times deemed was characterized by "nerd chic." By the middle of
name a few. Underlying this transformation of the nerd's image was a
transformation of the nerd's economic status. With their entry into new
characteristic of nerds is that they lack a normal understanding of style and
social graces. The essential reason they get this way is that as youths they
carry their adolescent obsession into adulthood, but the scars of their
obsession remain palpable. (Note: Rare is the person who becomes a nerd later
policy in his 20s, but it never interfered with his social being.)
between the two concepts is not large, more on the order of this:
actual disdain. They are too easy a target. On the other hand, nerds evoke
envy. We hate them because they are smarter, or more studious, or more focused
nebbish liberation. A nebbish could never gain real power. More easily, one can
they are systematically discriminated against, demanding Nebbish Studies at
universities, and complaining that history textbooks treat them as losers. But
cactus spines out of his face, the latest casualty of the world's most
pointless competition. What is the great balloon race? The irrepressible
witnessed, and the next few weeks will witness, an orgy of circumnavigation
The balloonists have captured the public imagination, and
remaining aviation milestone. The expeditions make great television: They
fabulous. The balloonists seem genuinely heroic: They endure cramped quarters
charmingly antiquated about the venture. (No ballooning story is complete
(half for the balloonist, half for the charity of his choice).
Balloonists and journalists are calling the race the "Last Great Adventure."
But that phrase does violence to the notion of adventure. Once upon a time,
of global air travel. Even Voyager had a scientific aim: It vindicated
the notion of ultralight planes and proved the value of ultralight
is a nonsensical exercise. We have climbed as high as we can and sunk as deep
as we can. We've gone as far north as possible and as far south. We've broken
the sound barrier on land and in water, circled the globe by water and by air.
aviation. No one has ever bothered to break the ballooning record because
there's no reason to do it. Balloons are a uniquely terrible mode of
transportation: They are impossible to steer, slow, and dangerous. They are
balloons can contribute nothing to transportation or science. Will a successful
circumnavigation usher in an era of commercial balloon airlines?
insignificance is a shame, because today's adventurers are as brave as their
the genius behind Virgin, is as bold with his life as with his businesses. He
to complete the circumnavigation, eventually: All three have pressurized
gondolas that allow them to travel fast through the high jet stream. All have
unpressurized gondolas: Their balloons must travel slowly, at lower altitudes,
someone finishes the race soon, so the balloonists can move on to
suggested that the United States offer a $20-billion reward for the private
space. Why not the Red Planet? (Its color, after all, matches his omnipresent
And that's an adventure that mankind could actually use.
an unfortunate fate for those who cannot remember the past. What would he say
about political leaders who cannot even remember the present?
recently passed welfare rollback by giving "businesses a tax credit for every
words fairly glow: "tax credit," "businesses," "off welfare," "employed."
a the Work Opportunity Tax Credit) has been a ghastly disappointment ever since
didn't hire more or different people. Instead, they simply got their
accountants to review personnel records at year's end to see who among recent
Tighter rules have, presumably, curbed that abuse, but far
more damaging findings emerged from a couple of controlled experiments in
researchers found that when eligible job seekers (welfare recipients and other
categories of "disadvantaged" workers) were sent off to potential employers
applied on their own. And that was back when the tax credit was considerably
matter, so are all the efforts to engineer social and economic behavior through
for buying and selling homes, having a child or putting one in day care,
sending the kids to college or going back yourself, saving up for a nursing
parties in Congress agreed that tax subsidies are, at best, an inefficient way
to promote desired behavior, since most of the money goes to pay for things
would expect a politician to remember that far back. Let's return to the
week after it had passed into law. Dole has apparently not forgotten his own
understood, but primarily a canceling of corporate tax breaks not yet in place
and crackdowns on cheaters to collect taxes already owed. (He did fail to note
that the Social Security bailout of the early '80s, about which he also bragged
repeatedly, included a large tax increase.) But Dole's grasp of specifics
seemed a lot less secure when it came to defending his current plan to
The architects of Dole's tax plan argue that critics have
effects counted on to pump up tax collections by promoting growth and reducing
tax avoidance. The real guts, they contend, lie in the promised budget cuts,
attention. Congress and the president indulged in a round of mutual
congressional leaders as they finished up on their work, "You should really be
they didn't have to close down the government even once. Just one small detail
that might have given Dole and his illustrious advisers a moment's pause: The
appropriations measures, while restrained by recent standards, nonetheless
domestic discretionary spending only a year ago. The Republicans will argue the
shortfall isn't that big, because they are going to cover some of it by onetime
remind them that Dole had already reserved the spectrum sale to help pay for
when measured against the total budget, with all its sacrosanct or unavoidable
obligations. But it's a significant shortfall if you are sufficiently
"if budget balance is your prime desire and you believe that cuts in
But that, of course, is the real and present issue that
neither congressional party addressed, transfixed as they and the media are by
the fantasy budgets offered on the campaign trail by their respective
inadvertence, it's the end product of politics, the actual blueprint for
billion this year (with more to come) for weapons systems and other sundries it
doesn't want, only a few weeks after another set of committees decided to cut
most important choices were not made. Social Security's problems won't be
manifest until the next century, but it would be both easier and kinder to
start making modest reforms now. Medicare, on the other hand, is exploding
right now. So, for that matter, is the world's population. But overseas
level more than a third below that of a few years ago.
faulted for living in the past or ignoring the future.
high horse, and doing all the other unappetizing things a presidential
in a generation. There are, by my count, two dozen Republicans considered (at
competing fiercely for donors, staff, volunteers, endorsements. (A caveat: Not
Dole, for example, have carefully avoided any presidential posturing.)
deterred. Anyone who would spend three years of his life pursuing an office
pretends he isn't actually running. It's tacky to be campaigning for
a simulacrum of a career, the kind of work that is an excuse to spend every
He especially enjoys taking a bold public stand against his party: This
distinguishes him as a statesman who won't sacrifice principles for expediency.
Republican Congress for having "cut and run" rather than having tackled tough
because he actually has to live by them. There is no such check on the
elaborate on how he would balance the budget after his cuts.
literary talents. You can't turn around in a bookstore without knocking over a
book is followed by the book tour, which leads to the next fact about the
will also travel to any place where a few dozen Republicans have gathered. Last
fans tout his top finish in a straw poll of Conservative Political Action
Conference members. There have been national news stories based on straw polls
his second term (which, of course, is exactly what he'd like to do). So Bush
bottom lines instead of blood pressures; nurses who scan spreadsheets instead
to mind the memory of a holiday party a generation ago in a fashionable
in his soft Southern drawl, "A little toddy's not going to hurt you."
alcoholism was then in remission. The prescribing gentleman was her doctor, a
atypical example of the sage practitioners of yore, you say. And indeed, my
husband had joined. And our switch came not a moment too soon. My thyroid, the
by our insurance, as routine physicals were not) were advised.
visits and took the pills and ignored the occasional heart palpitations that
solicitude, he admitted, adult chicken pox being so rare.
went on, I met more and more fellow patients of my internist. A striking
number, usually women, turned out to share my low thyroid. For men, the favored
in Pall Mall, drank no brandy, squired no acres, rode to no hounds? Well, who
Of course, we, with our fine educations and scholarly
than the average practitioner in his cohort. He probably did us no lasting
harm. When I finally fled to the excellent, still younger internist who remains
my doctor, he took me off the thyroid pills immediately, and the palpitations
brings me to the "to be sure" paragraph, as they call it in our trade. Most
their patients and incredibly hardworking. And many of them, my doctor
their professional discretion that are prominent features of the new medical
consumers and their representatives in Congress, they are already being
back the clock. Remember that only one generation before my remembered holiday
party, most people didn't have health insurance at all. If they got sick, they
scrounged up the few dollars the doctor requested and received care that, while
sympathetically tendered, probably wasn't worth much more than they paid for
it. If granny needed an operation, there went the tuition for junior's college.
in with generous coverage for the elderly through Medicare and
people demanded more and more care and, thanks to science and technology, that
legislation to repeal the laws of supply and demand, medical prices soared.
Nobody minded much as long as somebody else was paying the bill (true, the
economists warned in their dreary way that costly benefits get shifted back to
workers in the form of lower wages, but who listens to them?). As companies
found themselves increasingly squeezed between the demands of workers and
stockholders, however, they started pressuring their insurers, who passed that
pressure on to hospitals, doctors, and other providers.
system. By standardizing practice, the reformers argued, wasteful care would be
plan to generate the savings that would finance universal coverage at no net
cost. Now, as the movement toward managed care has accelerated to a full
health care," warned one especially overwrought Democratic challenger in the
several variants, found no large differences in the average quality of such
preventative care (including early cancer detection) and somewhat less
satisfactory care for complicated illnesses where methods of treatment are not
in the end, the patients got the care they sought). But what about all the
carload of cases that move well beyond the shoddy into the truly horrific, he
need only have consulted the regular Medicaid Fraud Reports put out by the
National Association of Attorneys General. These I have perused with sick
theft by doctors, dentists, nursing homes, chiropractors, and the like of
thousands, often millions of dollars (or sometimes drugs) from federal and
state governments. The more colorful cases involve the infliction of torments
on helpless patients that would excite the envy of Pol Pot.
Medicaid passed into law with scant attention, a few brave analysts dared to
suggest that the poor might be better served at far lower cost if the money
Good heavens, snorted the conventional wisdom: That would be to create two
so we consigned many of the needy to care that would be flattered to be called
or to wait in long lines at hospital emergency rooms till the harried staff can
volume, it's worth remembering that much of what we like to remember never
writers sneered at the tabs for their millions of lumpen readers; their
behaved more like blackmailers than like scions of the Fourth Estate.
the tabs are pariahs no longer. Since taking over as Enquirer editor in
well as its first respected one. In the spring, Time named him one of
admiringly soon after. And until a couple of weeks ago, Coz was considered the
in the last few years that other journalists have taken the supermarket rags
seriously. Coz deserves as much credit (or blame) for this as anyone. Before
Enquirer 's investigators far outclassed other reporters. Thanks to lots
Enquirer 's "feminist" coverage, and even the New York Times
posturing as it does to his investigative reporting. Coz casts himself as the
conscience of tabloid journalism (if that's not an oxymoron). When the
Enquirer is more like People than it is like other tabloids. His
misleading headlines, and fabricated stories. Coz is more likely to appear on a
Celebrities scoff at the claim that the Enquirer is kinder and gentler.
is gunning for journalistic respectability at a time when journalistic
shows and magazines, which now cover celebrity news with as much vigor as the
miracles almost as avidly as the Enquirer does. These mainstream media
are eating the tabs' lunch. The Enquirer 's weekly circulation has fallen
this decline by taking (or at least talking about) the high road. Don't count
the Globe has become sleazier. While Coz preaches decorum, the
Globe has added more sensationalism, more gore, more nasty gossip. The
Enquirer 's circulation is stagnant. The Globe 's circulation is
having lost their jobs because of the agreement as evidence of the treaty's
dangers. They will be pointing in the wrong direction.
The Labor Department responds that it is not to blame for
that the closing of a brewery (or other plant) has to be directly attributable
extra year of unemployment benefits and other "adjustment" assistance. It
increased during the relevant period. Nor does it matter whether, as in the
workers (who have traditionally been resistant to government efforts to
workers to sign up for retraining in order to get cash, are more laxly
cautions, the low usage level doesn't mean that harm hasn't occurred. Many
companies and either unaware of the trade benefits, which unions actively
attackers, they are hardly an advertisement for the equity of the "adjustment"
it were possible to find and help every worker directly or indirectly hurt by
trade pacts, why should they have a larger claim for public help than those
whose jobs are lost to technological change? Or to shifts in consumer taste,
lousy management, an overpriced dollar, or domestic competition? Government did
not create trade. It created trade barriers. When it removes them, should it
incur a special obligation to the formerly protected?
on the basis of Labor Department certifications. They may find some comfort,
which it imports large quantities of machinery and partially processed goods
hemispheric integration. Since the pact, the total volume of trade among the
parts moving back and forth across borders before reaching consumers. In
collapse of the peso and the flight of investor capital. Since then, austerity
hope for spreading internal prosperity, in which the United States has a large
growth and lower inflation and unemployment than the prideful United States).
the opportunity to buy all these fine goods on the credit thus extended. And
trust that our foreign creditors will remain willing to invest their surplus
those investments within our borders in a kindly fashion. But should that
willingness ever falter, one thing is sure: No "worker adjustment" program will
night, and (as he didn't note) that includes the right to vacation in August.
But does anyone else find it suspicious that on what will undoubtedly be one of
the most important political days of their lives, so many of them were
Contrast this with the pundits, who set new records
minutes. Four minutes after he finished, dozens had already rendered judgment
on the various networks. But pundits are paid to be interesting, not to be
don't believe that. The Republican reticence can be partly attributed to the
ancient rule of politics: Don't kill your enemy when he's committing suicide.
for silence from congressional leaders of both parties was the modern political
practice of poll sitting. Don't express an opinion until you're sure it's
complicated issue. The most basic facts were in dispute, and a political leader
could plausibly decline to express an opinion. Now the basic facts are clear,
whole thing should go away right now. You are permitted to weave variations on
no longer permitted to say the basic question is unclear or you need more time
he had the courage to go on national television last night and argue for
continuing investigation. A few bold Democrats such as Rep. Barney Frank of
Congress' leaders, it seems, there was no reason to get ahead of the polls.
hear. But suppose that a week or a month from now it becomes clear that the
proposition. At that point you can expect to hear ringing moral judgments from
ambiguous, the assertion of timeless values by both sides will just have to
knows why the bark beetle has suddenly proliferated. Everyone agrees that the
threatened stands before the wood is pitted? The environmentalists see peril.
The young spruce trees clinging to their dying parents' skirts are seemingly
immune to the beetle's incursions. In not too many years, they, and the aspen
and other sprinkled hardwoods, will restore the forest's verdure. Lumber cut
many years ago bears witness to earlier infestations. (The door to the sauna
will destroy healthy and unhealthy trees alike, allow grass to take root, and
scarcely worth asking where the state's congressional delegation stands on the
federal resistance, would log, mine, and drill every corner of the nation's
largest land trust. They know that they can rely on their constituents'
reflexive resistance to any form of federal intervention, save one. That sole
exception to the libertarian orthodoxy is made in the case of federal
either in full or at the most favorable matching rates for roads, military
bases, parks, refuges, the Coast Guard, native affairs, and the full gamut of
the average state. So much for rugged individualism.) Meanwhile, the state can
out per capita to every person resident in the state for more than a year. (If
you have a large family, an aversion to work, and a tolerance for winter
are never cold or tired or just plain out of sorts. They would rise before
wading through 35-degree glacial muck, spending hours -looking, or exploring
tidal pools for sunflower stars and brittle stars, spiny sea urchins, mussel
worms, anemones, and blennies, as curious and brightly colored as any on a
The descendants of the sourdoughs (four of whom, early this
are, of course, less refined in their sensibilities. So, too, are many of the
adventurers, loners, and losers who have migrated to the state in their
to force oral sex on him. You may wonder why the child had been left in the
care of an uncle who was on probation for having broken the leg of another
toddler. But the child's mother had fled north, his father was in jail in
rejected by a 3-to-2 margin the "sport" of aerial wolf shooting in a
referendum, overturning a vote in the state Legislature. When only half the
in their government, many of the state's voters are relatively indifferent to
its pursuits. This leaves the political field wide open for the developers,
they oppose extending oil and gas drilling and other development in the Arctic
native population, many of whose members still subsist by hunting and fishing,
is divided according to the traditional interests and financial stakes in the
development of the Arctic coastal plain, to which the caribou migrate to breed.
their vigilant wolf escorts migrate north each spring, the grizzlies flourish
along the salmon rivers, and the moose munch in Anchorage's suburban backyards.
whales, sea lions, bald and golden eagles, tufted and horned puffins, and
myriad lesser fauna, they participate with quiet dignity in the great cycle of
than one superpower, the United States and the Soviet Union treated little
dictators as playthings, dolls to dress up and knock down. But these days the
besieged tyrant of an ailing country can make the United States look mousy.
profiles add the requisite charming details: Sure, he murdered thousands of
journalists join him for fancy meals and drinking bouts.
pragmatism. He has a sensitive political ear: If he needs to compromise, he
his concessions, the movement splintered. Later, he retracted most of his
applies this same savvy to his diplomatic dealings. Unbelievably, he has
monstrous. This is a perception that he created himself. Quietly, he bolsters
betrayal was a much better career strategy than principle. His rise to power is
top positions in the state energy corporation, the state bank, and the
majority. It was a standard apparatchik affair, ending with a predictable
yelled, "Nobody has the right to beat these people!" His remarks electrified
and he milked his accidental celebrity to the fullest. Months after his
letting corrupt cronies run state monopolies and pillage the state coffers.
Nearly every year he reorganizes his Cabinet, deposing old friends and allowing
doesn't care about the trappings of power. He doesn't put his name on airports
or collect seaside villas or bed women. Although he has a gift for oratory, he
He will hang onto power at all costs. He has a paranoid fear (well, not
paranoid, because it's true) that if he doesn't ruthlessly boost himself, a
suffers from more than a touch of depression himself. When protesters march
against him, he grows despondent and doesn't leave his office for days. It is
said that he hasn't a lick of genuine humor and rarely displays empathy. Unlike
many of the sanctions have been lifted, inflation remains sky high.
been reduced by half during his tenure. His popularity is said to be at an
To prevent any of his discontented subjects from revolting,
last year, he has temporarily closed dozens of independent newspapers and
television stations because they griped too loudly about him. He has also
third of this force is said to be specially trained to quash riots. Another
third is said to be devoted to preventing army coups.
weather it deserves. Drought and dust storms coincided with the Great
Depression. Earth's weather was unusually tranquil during the tranquil '50s,
Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are
obsessively. There is good reason to worry. The eastern Pacific has heated
States; a mild winter in the Northeast, a harsh winter in the Southeast, the
production of the Ivory Coast. It appears to spark of encephalitis, cholera,
even influence immigration patterns in the Southwestern United States. (How?
subside, there may be too little water to sustain the Sun Belt.)
in all these varied weather crimes, scientists know surprisingly little about
was identified, weather consisted of a series of little mysteries: Why is there
a thunderstorm? Why a drought? Those mysteries have been solved (sort of), but
frequently: It used to arrive every five to eight years; recently it's been
coming every three to five years. Scientists are befuddled about its
relationship (if any) to global warming: Some say global warming is making El
understand and can't control, can shift worldwide temperatures and rainfall
dramatically, we should hesitate before blaming our own carbon dioxide
the West and Gulf Coasts with nasty winters, and that it decimates the salmon
Southwest. Mild winters in the North and East will save billions on heating
imagine what the world can be, and a revolutionary has the power to make it so.
his pinwheeling, hopscotch creativity, he has changed the nation's center of
gravity, reinventing commerce, art, science, technology, and faith. His
is not yet a household name and may not be for some time. He is an unassuming
of beard at all hours of the day. In a year of spectacular emotion, his was a
is making history. When they chronicle our time, it should be his name that
will be a more dangerous place, a darker, poorer place, a world untethered from
the kind of stability we have come to cherish. And if he succeeds? "Every so
cabin. It is in this cabin, five decades ago, that his mother came, alone, a
his crucible. They grew up together, mother and son. They studied together on
correspondence. And when the lessons were over, she instilled in him the
homespun wisdom that her parents had instilled in her: "The power is the word,
not the sword." "There is no difficulty so great that it cannot be overcome, no
triumph so great that it cannot be destroyed." His mother still lives in the
same house, but electric lights are everywhere now. He phones her every day, at
noon sharp. (Once he excused himself from an audience with the pope to
time he was a boy," she confides, "I knew that destiny had reserved him a
seat." If destiny had indeed reserved him a seat, it was in the very front of
His friends mowed lawns; he climbed mountains. They took piano lessons; he
taught himself the trombone and busked for dimes on Main Street.
"is the seedling of courage." And adversity came. He headed east for college on
scholarship. His mother, alone again, fell ill. School was a struggle. Midway
through his freshman year, he gave up, hitchhiked home, and told his mother he
was back for good to take care of her. That night, they went out for a walk on
the plains. "It was," he says, "a clear, moonlit night. We walked by an old
ranch house, and I could see the barbed wire and the old brands glinting in the
moonlight. All of a sudden I thought of when the world was young and growing
and full of hope. And I wanted to make it so again." The next morning, he
burns with a bright, clear flame, and his professors soon recognized his
genius. He earned his degree in three years and went to work. He astonished.
"He could see around corners," says an old colleague. He overturned
conventional wisdom, and preached heresy. In the beginning, he was dismissed as
power and influence grew. He was not an intellectual, and he had no time for
ideas rooted themselves in society's cracks and began to sprout in all
Today, despite his fame, he remains a startlingly humble
man. Every morning, while he's in the bath, he tries to answer his dozens of
time to eat dinner with childhood friends twice a week. "When he got famous, I
was sure he'd forget us," says one old playmate, "but he hasn't." His charm is
legendary. So is his equanimity. When his aides panic over some nugget of bad
receives a letter or two urging him to run for president. He laughs the idea
off. The president is a captive. He is a free man, and in freedom is true
power. This is, he says, only the beginning of his crusade. In the third
me where to stand, and I will move the earth." It is now the cusp of the
millennium. The Man of the Year has two feet planted squarely on the ground.
benefit, loath to accept the randomly aimed slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune, ever ready to shift the blame for our own laziness or carelessness to
safety crusaders who argued in the 1970s and '80s that drivers and their
passengers could not be expected to buckle their seat belts and shoulder belts,
and that the recalcitrant car companies should be required to install "passive
The economics profession lent strength to the activists'
on average, to fasten a seat belt. (For an instructive sample of these
all these precious seconds and a few other minor costs over the life of the
car, the economists concluded that the total cost of using seat belts exceeds
labeled "liars and killers," as one company spokesperson puts it. Aware that
consumers didn't like the automated seat belts that were the only alternative
for meeting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's "passive
makes dual air bags mandatory in all new cars. The car companies had long
argued that air bags were only effective if the hated seat belts were also worn
have several years of actual experience with air bags. And what does the record
bargain. But what, then, about the value of the lives that air bags have taken?
killed by air bags in accidents that otherwise would not have been fatal.
that hits this writer close to home). Surely these lives were of infinite value
too, which means that, by the peculiar arithmetic of infinity, the costs as
well as the benefits of air bags are beyond measure. (Of course, if we truly
apart from their costs, however, there's a real question whether air bags, on
disproportionate number of crashes involving fatalities, and that, as a result,
the occupants of such cars are at considerably higher risk than those in cars
without air bags. It's not that air bags don't work. It's that when people feel
that their chances of being injured are reduced, they drive more recklessly.
that matter, could save more lives in one year than have been saved by air bags
considerable sacrifice from a substantial part of the citizenry. Which brings
seem to have wised up a lot. While consumer activists pump for another
precious seconds and buckling up. The industry now plans to strengthen warnings
that children should be kept, appropriately harnessed, in the back seat, where
they will be neither helped nor harmed by air bags. The car companies also hope
accepting controls on medical usage to limit the runaway costs of medical care.
aggressive? A test of the offsetting behavior hypothesis. Journal of Law and
an article of faith, at least within one potent sector of the Republican Party,
bad) for the economy, for the financial markets and thus, for all of us. For
two decades, as well, taxes have gone up and down, and so have the economy and
the financial markets. So how do theory and reality compare?
tax cut, by stimulating consumption and investment, can help the economy. But
many things besides taxes affect the level of economic activity. And then
there's the little problem of paying for the nice tax cut. As long as Congress
is unwilling to offset revenue losses with real spending cuts (not the vague
promises of future rectitude that have been the mainstay of every "historic
budget deficit. And that, in turn, can drain investment capital, alarm an
August scandal doldrums. Plenty of mysteries about Flytrap remain. Here's your
chance to guess their solutions. (In this test, as in the SAT, you won't know
did not technically violate the definition of "sexual relations. Well, what did
other alternative, undoubtedly too icky to be discussed here but clearly
care how apologetic he was, so he decided to take the offensive and win the PR
can you be so cynical? His poll numbers are irrelevant. They will impeach him
if he has committed impeachable offenses, no matter how popular he is.
clean it up in questionable ways (Talking Points, etc.).
suit in part because it would not distract the president from his job. Would
secret tapes of other "friends" talking about their sex lives.
Springer, the ringmaster of a lumpenproletariat circus, is enjoying a
the top spot in nationwide talk show ratings: Springer is now watched by
closed captioning, calling the show the "closest thing to pornography on
broadcast television." Activists for free speech and the deaf rose to
slobber. But the Jerry Springer Show is unrepentantly vicious. It's
dedicated to strife and misery, to the principles that human frailty should be
ridiculed, that the weak and the stupid should be humiliated, and that there is
show, men learn their girlfriends are actually boys; wives learn their husbands
fat people are poked and prodded and berated. Springer is an endless
violence. Jerry seeks out guests who are too confused and too angry to address
their problems rationally and too inarticulate to address them verbally. Other
shows excise fighting and profanity: Springer promotes it. The
on television. On the episode I watched last night, "Tell Her It's Over," there
were eight separate fights. There was also so much cursing that entire segments
were incomprehensible (they're bleeped out). Most talk shows maintain at least
often smarmy, and always condescending. He brings the dry tinder and lights the
host and his producers want them to do, exactly why they have burly bouncers at
envelope of good taste. And Springer is riveting, excruciating
television. It is unbearable to watch but impossible to turn off. You know, I
know, the audience knows, he knows: No good can come of exposing these horrible
problems to the world, yet it's impossible not to watch it happen. As New
York Times media critic Bill Carter put it, Jerry Springer does not have
question is not "Why is Springer on television?" It is "Why is Springer
child of Holocaust survivors, he earned a law degree at Northwestern
television. He delivered short commentaries at the end of local news
conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, a nihilist is a liberal who is
disenfranchised folks who would be ignored otherwise.
criticized for presenting disgusting behavior, because television doesn't
create values, it only reflects them. Click below for his unctuous commentary
create values, then lecture your audience about values).
mostly Springer doesn't bother with justifications: He smiles and admits the
all stupid. We're all idiots." "It's bubble gum." He has said that kids
shouldn't watch it and that he himself has never watched it.
time, Springer was an idealist: He hoped to change the world through politics,
himself, but it's a lost cause. He wants to be a political science professor
political theory and teen hookers. Last year Jerry attempted a return to the
station's anchor and chief correspondent chose to resign rather than share air
have invented it. And that's what freedom is all about.
where I have vacationed most summers of my life. A few things have been
loss), as did the little grocery store (much mourned when the milk supply runs
added. The farmhouse, the shingled cottages, the library, and the chapel seem
net. It stands firmly moored on the white sand beach that lies a few yards to
the west of my sister's cottage and fewer than a hundred yards from my own.
importance. I thought it was something of an eyesore. Only later, with the
I come to realize that what we had here was no less than the fulsome gift from
standards, but it stands, nevertheless, as a symbol of what the human spirit
can achieve when free from the oppression of Big Government.
the volleyball net didn't just wash in with the tide. The tiny island
government that decides such things voted money to sink the concrete pilings
that support the net's posts and to purchase the needed equipment. And the
But these are small bureaucracies, more akin to the voluntary associations that
up the nets, surely they regulate their placement on beaches and other public
a group of bureaucrats around a conference table, the chances of them coming up
with sensible rules for beach volleyball, much less the seminal concept, are
zilch. More likely they would invent a bunch of rules for keeping the players
from spraining their ankles or getting their toes cut by pieces of glass hidden
in the sand or contracting tetanus from rusty nails stuck in driftwood.
Actually, you know, there are rules sort of like that. My sister, who is
something of an amateur expert on beaches, tells me, for example, that pursuant
that these rules, whether aimed at pristine dunes or uncut feet, also advance
the beach itself might not have been able to accommodate this monument to
freedom were it not for the fact that, a few years back, my sister took it upon
herself to consult some experts, among them actual bureaucrats, about the
sidewalk, they counseled, caused the sea to erode, rather than build, the
important dune that, with its beach grass and surrounding "berm colonizers,"
protects the beach and the north end of the island. And so the sidewalk went
and the dune swells with each passing year and the beach grass slithers in the
action that, at the cost of some individual freedom, to be sure (mine, for
cart along the dirt track that is now the only access to my cottage), has
Come to think of it, it's just possible that no sport
benefits more from bureaucrats than beach volleyball. To begin with, if
governments at every level hadn't intervened, beaches everywhere might have
public beaches. And while the more aggressive types of beach maintenance
activity have fallen into disfavor among coastal geologists in recent years,
those beaches, like the East Coast's, have been the recipients of billions in
taxpayers' dollars spent collectively by local, state, and federal
bureaucracies, from the Squirrel Island Village Corp. to the Army Corps of
players got their higher education thanks to the splendid network of colleges
and universities that their home state maintains. While in college, they honed
their prizes and commercial endorsements, many of the great players of tomorrow
may even now be benefiting from government's biggest covert subsidy of sports
different moral from the saga of beach volleyball as it has evolved in our
freedom, still it may take a village to raise a volleyball net.
heart. You wouldn't feel comfortable seeing little kids begging in the streets,
or stepping over the bodies of old folks gasping in the gutters. Maybe you read
"more malnutrition and more crime, increased infant mortality, and increased
Children, and replaces it with block grants to the states. States have to
create replacement programs that set limits (five years) on how long most (four
out of five) families can get welfare, and ensure that half the families still
will keep federal regulation writers off the dole), states are basically free
to offer whatever combination of cash and services they think is best.
probably get away with it. Welfare law has long been loaded with requirements
that states must cut fraud on the rolls, move recipients into jobs, provide
necessary service, blah, blah, blah. The requirements go unmet. The governor
makes a few calls to the White House or Capitol Hill. Eyes are averted.
all its seeming toughness, allows states plenty of leeway if they want to be
generous. And welfare consultants are already showing the way. States are free,
for example, to redirect the money that they used to spend on matching federal
have lost their "temporary assistance" coverage. The new law also provides an
incentive for states to use their own money to continue grants to families that
brazened it out. But times have changed. Most states have already toughened
Some of these waivers are for more generous programs, but others are just as
get? Some were pretty mean already. People tend to forget that under the old
Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and federal aid for housing, home
heating, child care, and so forth, which will still be available.) At least in
proverbial "bus ticket North." Not likely, perhaps, but worth watching out
government would match the money states spent, according to a formula that took
account of state need and benefit levels. The new rules cap federal welfare
other contingencies). For now that's a windfall for all but a couple of states,
we had this argument (back in Jimmy Carter's day): Most jobs in this
economy are "dead end." People who work hard and build a good record move on to
in recent years makes it hard to sustain the case that only highly trained or
parents who, in practice, just cannot hold jobs (or perform other "work
activities") as the new law requires they do after two years on the rolls?
Maybe they have low mental or physical abilities. Maybe they are drug or
simply have a bad attitude. Nobody really knows how big a problem this is, and
the extent will surely differ from area to area. But we won't know till we push
(and relatively expensive) welfare reform has cut its caseload by more than
job markets surely helped, but the economy has boomed at other times with
little effect on welfare. State officials think many potential recipients
simply got the message that times have changed, and found jobs on their own.
Moreover, credible studies have shown that many families have hidden income. A
horror stories have returned with articles that are, on the whole, remarkably
are working part time can take other classes in their spare hours. But training
programs have a dismal record. Some have even been shown to impede movement
increase in job placements and big benefit savings.
aside for welfare recipients have gone unfilled, and there has been no
in food stamps has got out of hand, and it's time for another round of cleanup
and streamlining. And many of the people in question are real
stamps are the last resort, the pittance that a rich country doles out to even
its least "deserving" citizens. Of course, this new requirement, like many
years, or are veterans or in the military) lose both food stamps and benefits
the aged and disabled. Most immigrants are supposed to have sponsors who stand
especially, has soared. Putting some teeth into sponsorship requirements for
future entrants, as the new law will do, is reasonable. But pulling the rug out
from under people who may have no practical recourse is unfair. And unlike the
cutoff for childless food stampers, this requirement can't be "waived"
its line in how it carved up peacekeeping zones: The French will govern the
their recent elections than they think. The peacefulness of the process would
Congress' vast parliamentary majority will silence opposition, and votes were
cover story denounces the allies' prosecution of the
triumph without peril to our armed forces. Air power only worked when combined
humanistic and consonant with the United States' rebellious roots. Plus, the
military engagements as distant exploits. A national service requirement would
relink citizens to their country, their compatriots, and the nation's foreign
leads workshops, distributes pamphlets, and investigates complaints. Recent
legal decisions, including one by the Supreme Court, have made schools liable
for indifference to sexual harassment among students. Conclusion: Trying to
distinguish harassment from everyday schoolyard taunts is a clumsy but
faster than inflation, another piece reports. Explanations: Universities vie to
supply the most luxurious amenities; generous federal loans mean students can
afford higher tuition; and the steep fees are a way for colleges to have
wealthier students effectively subsidize poorer ones.
and letting interns staff the White House during the government shutdown.
drew a moral line against barbarism but failed in its primary aim, which was to
cover story says stress causes heart disease, memory loss,
immune deficiency, impaired cognition, and even a thick waist. Women respond to
internationalism" based on values and law. The West must start a moral crusade
industry, which is virtually ignored by law enforcement. Vehicles are picked
lauded, and completely fake memoir describing the atrocities he (never)
since birth, may be a charlatan, or he may simply be deluded. Most troubling is
the public's willingness to value the memoir's drama over its truthfulness.
and Al Gore ideologically indistinguishable. The country is so flourishing
"practice newly learned vulgarities, erupt with anger, tease and embarrass each
other, share offensive notes, flirt, push and shove in the halls, grab and
you saw what goes on in a restaurant kitchen, you'd never eat out again.
Similarly, you're advised to avert your glance from the making of sausages, and
laws, and presumably laws about the manufacture of sausages to be fried up in
some restaurant that you won't be visiting. And yet, it really would be nice if
the Supreme Court were televised. Lower courts are televised without
diminishing our respect. Charlie Rose is on television every night, without
there is no doubt some kind of case to be made against that. But if the court
could be televised discretely, in black and white, surely justice would not be
imperiled, and might even be improved. At least we'd get a more vivid idea of
And of some guy vomiting up sausage all over the waiter. And the name of that
what he terms "the real world of school discipline."
argued against the federal government's tampering with school fun, just as it,
decision, found that school districts can be liable for damages for failing to
stop a student's severe and pervasive sexual harassment of a classmate. She
classmate. Her school refused to help her, even by changing her seat. Her
harasser was eventually charged and convicted of sexual battery in juvenile
largest and only publicly traded gun manufacturer in the United States,
disturbing in this instance that Trooper Burke jeopardized the public trust and
of theaters for six weeks: Who can blame them for saying, "To hell with the
critics, we know it will be great!"? The doors will open, and they'll race to
grab the best seats and feel a surge of triumph as their butts sink down. We've
Then, their hearts pounding, they'll settle back to read the rest of the
titles: "Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade
routes to outlying star systems is in dispute." Taxation of trade routes:
they realize that what they've heard is, alas, true, that the picture really is
a stiff? Maybe they never will. Maybe they'll want to love The
invested in loving it, and in buying the books, magazines, dolls, cards,
successful hypnosis, the subject works to enter a state of heightened
susceptibility, to surrender to a higher power. Maybe they'll conclude that
common sense is the enemy of the Force and fight it to the death.
one again for a couple of hours. But the movie has a way of deflating all but
remake Plan Nine From Outer Space it might have looked like this,
although Wood's dialogue would surely have been more memorable.
who wrote and directed the movie, has forgotten how to write and direct a
concocting skeletons of screenplays that other people flesh out, and overseeing
productions that other people storyboard and stage, he has come to lack what
Wars was a box of Cracker Jacks that was all prizes, The Phantom
Menace is a box of Cracker Jacks that's all diagrams of prizes. It's there
on paper, but it's waiting to be filled in and jazzed up.
cruel to the actors, but advance word has it only half right. Yes, they're
actors, they've just been given scenes that no human could be expected to play.
universe will be added in later by computers. "I don't sense anything," he
a bit. "I do sense an unusual amount of fear for something as trivial as this
queen and the Galactic Senate have already got the grim message. For one thing,
communications have been disrupted: "A communications disruption can mean only
with curly horns, speaks in tones from which emotion has been expunged, perhaps
on the theory that subjects won't argue with a ruler who puts them to sleep: "I
showed up, I thought: At last, a character with the potential for
to stand stiffly in the dead center of the screen against matte paintings of
space or some futuristic metropolis and deliver lines alternately formal or
himself an "independent" filmmaker and an artist of integrity. Had he not been
such a pretentious overlord, a platoon of screenwriters would doubtless have
been engaged to rewrite him and make the movie halfway human. A buddy
simpering and running away from battles. Those of us who complain about the
that assembly lines can do much to make empty thrill machines more lively.
Menace didn't need to be barren of feeling, but it took a real writer,
inspiring of the Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back
audience was prepared to set aside some of its narrative expectations here to
in the middle of the damn story. The only dramatic interest comes from a young
conventionally industrious juvenile with a penchant for building droids from
movie's most impressive but irrelevant special effects set pieces, a whiplash
word that there's something wrong with the boy ("Clouded this boy's future is")
you if you "quiet your mind." In other words, the Force. So, it's not nebulous,
after all! It can be measured. It can be quantified. It can even, perhaps, be
Galactic Senate do little to distract you from parliamentary machinations that
routinely cut away from the battle just when he seems on the verge of actually
underscored by demonic chants; he might as well wear a neon beanie that flashes
never reviewed well by critics. Sometimes a basic story that rests on great
cult movie, and no critic can have an effect on the obvious outcome that this
is going to be the highest grossing movie ever. I myself stood in line for five
Phantom Menace a dozen times, or even the three for which he has paid. (I
could imagine seeing it three times only if they sold adrenaline shots at the
concession stand.) Or maybe he'll come out of the movie and say: "No, you
"Johnny has been such an effective spokesperson for us because he truly
believes in the power of our products," says the president of New Jersey's
friends, clergy, or family. 'We should be able to get all our ethical input
the lawyer. This, of course, is the least interesting approach. We all know you
shouldn't shoot the guy. It would be more entertaining to consider mixed
motives, mitigating circumstances, conflicting social pressures, complicated
histories, and then find that in this unique situation you really should shoot
the guy. It's the difference between the lawyer and the dramatist, between the
general and the particular. (That, and the fact that show people have it all
priggishness on the part of the Times (well, not entirely) but
limitations of space. While the lawyer needs only a brief summary of the case,
the dramatist needs a richly detailed scenario. Alas, the column permits only
limitations but the curious caricature that illustrates each column. This
sketch of a pensive moralist, the personification of the column, the Uncle Ben
different species, including goats, dolphins, elephants, and bonobo apes.
offspring together. Gay male trout move in with their straight female best
part of human heritage," it's inappropriate to make claims about human behavior
based on his findings. And yet, just look at that adorable picture of two boy
giraffes with their necks entwined, and tell me you're not dying to turn it
Everybody's got a jury duty story, so I won't go on
scare. You'd have thought it would discourage her but, jeez, she just kept
coming back. Of course, you'd have thought she'd discourage us, but we kept
is no impact on our culture and our children that is adverse if there is too
much violence coming out of what they see and experience," he said. In other
words, the issue is the quantity of violence that kids absorb from
television, video games, and movies. Countless academic studies frame the
violent entertainment children consume and how aggressively they behave.
Asking whether violence on screen foments violence in life is like asking
whether drinking liquids leads to car accidents. In a dumb way, the answer is
yes. But you're not going to get anywhere until you distinguish between
to address this issue at this level of generality because it lets them off the
movie, it's real." If the problem is merely the quantity of violence kids see,
slasher film. But we all know from personal experience that different sorts of
screen violence have drastically varying emotional effects. Some depictions
whet our appetites for brutality, while others do just the opposite. These
psychologists can measure very effectively, because they involve a strong
subjective element. But until we begin to distinguish among the different ways
violence is portrayed, we can't begin to understand what those portrayals may
do. Here are some categories that may be helpful in thinking about the
the adult viewer feel? In the context of the play, the most prominent emotions
and fear. We pity a tragic hero such as Hamlet because his misfortune is
undeserved, and we tremble at the realization that he is like us. Tragedy
doesn't stir violent urges but rather inhibits them. That is why war films like
All Quiet on the Western Front are often described as "pacifistic." The
tragic context of the violence sensitizes us to its horror and makes us revile
fear is righteous indignation. This is the feeling we get when we see bad
people flourish. It is stoked when we see them get their just deserts. That's
a gang of hippie terrorists who murder assorted innocents and kill his female
above.) The way you feel watching this act of violence is very different from
glee, not pity and fear. You want to exclaim "Yes!" instead of "No!" In this
become increasingly subhuman and thus deserving of more and more grotesque
forms of torture and dismemberment. In this sense, the old Hays Office
production code, which required that films teach a moral lesson by having
evildoers punished, had it backward. If you want to discourage violence, you
should show the innocent suffering, not the guilty.
realistic depiction of gore, in which someone's head is chopped off, affording
a glimpse of severed tendons and gushing arteries, worse in terms of inuring
viewers to violence than generic mayhem, in which the bad guys fall over dead?
realistic depictions may prevent violence from becoming an abstract idea. Once
again, the context is what matters. In a tragic story, graphic violence makes
horror more horrible. A retributive context makes extreme gore less horrible.
dismemberment is immaterial. The deliciousness of the violence is the whole
in the breast and dragged about her yard by a masked serial killer above.) If
you're squeamish, you may cover your eyes when seeing this in a theater. But
the horror is undeniably thrilling, in a sexual way. There's an obvious
film and snuff films is that no animals are harmed in the making of the
Critics of violent entertainment tend to hate this defense. It doesn't matter,
revenge to the man who has just raped him, above.) Adults, or at least most
adults, recognize this as a species of black comedy, albeit one that expresses
a real sadism on the part of the director. But to immature minds, the message
may be simply that brutality is cool and funny. In other words, ironic violence
may be desensitizing and stimulating to the young in the same way that
Cartoon Violence: What of films such as Lethal Weapon
unreal that it becomes a cartoon? Or, for that matter, what of cartoons
themselves, which are filled with calamities without consequences? (Watch Wile
E. Coyote blown up, reconstituted, flattened, and reinflated above.) You might
think that such portrayals teach the false lesson that violence doesn't have
real effects. Perhaps for those too young to distinguish fantasy from reality,
that's the case. But there's not much basis for thinking that this confusion
he understands that cartoons and comics don't describe the real capacities of
the Columbine killings, there's been a special focus on depictions of
adolescents committing mayhem in school. The two films cited most often are
fantasizes about gunning down his classmates and a priest
Terminator -style while his buddies cheer. (View a clip from the movie,
Of course, it is always possible that an unbalanced
insane by cutting off their sources of possible inspiration, which are
limitless. Sane adolescents seeing either of these films would understand that
violence in a school setting. The issue isn't how much violence. It's what
flimsy undergarment of professed remorse, she exposes a psyche built on
seconds: "I waited a long time to be able to express to the country how very
that I am very sorry for what happened and for what they've been through." As
affair a "mistake" but frames the mistake in terms of technical error and
emotional imbalance rather than moral failure. She refers constantly to
What lesson does she draw from her mistakes? "I have a lot of healing to do,"
she concludes. Blaming her excesses on a chemical defect allows her to feel
good about her seductive inclinations. When asked whether her behavior with
terms: "For someone like me, who's a very passionate, loving woman, I think you
she reflects on her own needs. "I was heartbroken," she recalls. "It hurts."
what it was like to be that intimate with him." As for the episode in which
confusing it would be for me to on the one hand have someone saying things to
at the outset that she's "very loyal." She says she "trusted" her friends to
apartment? Because to do otherwise would have violated her immunity agreement,
she explains, and "I needed to take care of myself and my family." Toward the
with a smile, "one of my first phrases [was], 'You are not the boss of
defiantly retorts, "I don't think so. I don't think that my relationship hurt
the job he was doing. It didn't hurt the work I was doing. It was between
learned. "There are some days that I regret that the relationship ever
started," she says, still grinning. "And there are some days that I just regret
spin, whereas he was actually a reckless, ruthless narcissist. What the
interview actually suggests, however, is that both perceptions are true. The
responsibility for his conduct. And in her, he met his match.
system; it has nothing to do with the scientific method. The scientific method
is about hypothesis testing and experimentation. Simply giving things numerical
wanting to shame the Wall Street Journal with some semblance of
mathematical rigor, but Lord knows we poor scientists have to defend ourselves
year study show us anything about bears when my cousin told me he never saw a
principal investigator for the research project on the effect of women's work
lead story was about another research finding (air pollution in Southern
disease without telling us if the reporters ever had those diseases, or if they
or any member of their immediate family is an albino lab rat, and so on.
has no explicit gender, how do you know that the handbag, tutu, and so on
insight rather than as the "cocktail chatter" it is. Like all dichotomies,
putting a filter over a camera lens: Some colors are heightened, but others are
completely obscured, and the final result may bear no resemblance to reality.
paintings really strike one as "hot" and "temperamental"?
Do the terms apply to a work's form or its content?
is simply too weird, and yes, sexual (talk about images of "ecstatic release"),
to fit comfortably into a category whose hallmarks are deemed to be "measure,
disconcerting propensity to topple into the abyss, whether prompted by union
with God, union with the beloved, or union with death. If a work is "about"
"abandon, irrationality, and ecstatic release," but its execution displays
"measure, reason, and control" --one might place any number of baroque operas
any of them, while I would never be able to make a "desert island"
plot, no engaging characters to speak of, and actors who speak in
among critics for being what critics, those curmudgeons, so rarely are: She is
upbeat and forgiving, often to a fault. As the Johnny Mercer song instructs,
she accentuates the positive and eliminates the negative. Or, as in the case of
the latest Star Wars episode, she buries her list of negatives so late
in the piece that it barely registers. This habit of combining compensatory
criticism but also packed to the gills with compliments.)
dupes who suffered through the charmless Phantom because the
paranoid explanation is that the paper's growing dependence on movie ads
compels her, in some oblique and unconscious way, to be an industry booster. Or
some detractors have charged, and afraid to hurt her friends' feelings. Or
maybe she is just, as people who know her tend to comment, exceptionally
strong voice. She started off in the '70s writing about rock 'n' roll for
It's unfair but true that a woman who started out at such a
time and place, in such an atmosphere of heady debate, pot, scant female and
who attended a small concert by a dynamic young man from New Jersey and wrote a
famously prescient piece announcing, "I saw rock and roll future last night,
she is today but more deeply felt, more confident while still refreshingly free
of the insider smugness of so much writing on rock. But, for some reason, when
to have inched away from her personal reactions. The pattern was set long
Dust distorted the novels they set out to adapt, the way they reeked of
for content. Then she turned her argument upside down, praising a trifle called
A Summer Story precisely because of its cynical, empty
even haunting experience. One senses her scrambling to fill the piece with
everything but her own analysis. More often than not she leads with a lengthy,
detailed visual description of a scene or a character. For paragraphs at a time
noncommittal reviews with small emphatic bursts and to jack up her celebrations
"stunningly pretty," "fabulously charismatic," "hilariously decadent,"
thumbs up, especially for an anticipated blockbuster, certain key words and
phrases, such as "audience appeal" and "escapist fun," suggest that she is not
writing from her own point of view so much as she's gauging in advance the
public's reaction. The lead to her review of Twister called the film "a
This sounds more like publicity copy than criticism; what it expresses is the
impression the studio hopes the film will have on an audience.
She is hardly the first good writer to be slightly stifled by the Times
nor, by any means, is she the first frustrating critic to work there. On the
immense power, but who recalls a single thing he wrote today, especially
And these are tough times for reviewers in general.
they wanted to grab readers by the hand and lead them to passionate works of
art, but no one would aim so high today. Great movies are fewer and farther
these days even the media that employ the critics measure a movie's success not
by the critics' reaction but by opening weekend gross. Critics just don't
become bitter about her shrinking influence; she's not stuck in whiny nostalgia
for the way things were. But she has developed a disembodied, ghostly way of
so. Congressional leaders from both parties are now urging the president not to
the public to push him into a ground conflict of uncertain cost and consequence
(Who knows the true meaning of "has no intention"?). But the White House may
the White House got scant comfort from the public. Polls showed the expected
"patriotic bounce" when the action started but it was relatively small and
despite the fact that the conflict had most of the hallmarks that,
humanitarian purpose, concerted allied action (usually good in itself for a
10-point boost in the polls), and an identifiable villain.
well understood. And, despite his lingering credibility problems on foreign
toughened. And that doesn't surprise the experts either. Even at the start of
even in an air campaign have ranged from the high 60s to the low 80s. Still,
support for the actual use of ground troops hovered in the lower 40s.
What accounts for the rapid shift in opinion? Apparently
think through its plans sufficiently, a finding supported by a New York
found majority support for ground troops if needed to stop ethnic cleansing or
Program on International Policy Attitudes, points to his own studies and a
intervention, high initial public approval of the humanitarian aims had faded
until you see some signs of success." What jades the public on military
solidarity in the memory of defeats past and present, but when it comes to
laser beams. She's supposed to be an undercover insurance operative who's out
a cat's cradle of red string to represent the lasers that she won't, at the
site, be able to discern. As she practices her moves, blindfolded, the
firelight casts a golden aureole around her sculpted bottom. But she's even
more alluring when she does the deed for real. She begins in the lotus
position, then unfolds and sends a long leg sideways in a neatly executed
archetypal enchantment, made even more savory by its naughty underpinnings: The
its featherweight premise, casually amoral heroes, and exotic locales, it
conjures up an era (the '60s and '70s) when twisty, romantic heist pictures
producers' model girlfriends, so that expensive vacations could be written off,
millennium fireworks explode around them. But the bad guy's dialogue remains
laughably mired in the last millennium: "They're rats in a trap!"
lip that can flare or pout with silken ease. Supple physically, she is
being one of the few male actors who actually makes a plausible heartthrob for
a female nearly half a century his junior. "You're the most beautiful crook
a paunch: "This," he seems say, "is how men of my age are supposed to look." Of
course, one way that performers assist the aging process is by playing roles
Miller into a brutal capitalist realism, wherein every encounter was reduced to
an attempt by one party to hoodwink, psych out, or otherwise overpower another.
dwarfed all others: the drama as a procession of archly formal negotiations.
elegantly acted movie. It's also a tad bloodless, but you can't have
World War I, the play (based on an actual incident) tells the story of an
adolescent boy expelled from a military academy for the theft of a
guilt or innocence is never satisfactorily resolved. What matters is that the
uses every rhetorical trick he can think of to wear down a Parliament weary of
sadness; he seems to carry on his ever shakier shoulders the knowledge that
but not unattractive, having spent much of my early manhood pursuing similarly
only be divulged after a protracted psychodrama. (The secret, of course, was
finalize their decision after consulting with advisers back home. Most
talks a failure. This is in contrast to, for instance, the New York
agreement and concludes that the talks were a "limited success."
faces no serious consequences for his unwillingness to compromise. If anything,
agrees, saying: "No one has gained from the chaotic 'peace conference.'... No
yesterday, only weariness and relief that the show had been kept on the road
phone and were brought to safety without injuries to skiers or rescuers. The
trial is attracting attention in English papers because some of the Alpine
avalanches this winter have been attributed to irresponsible off piste
skiers. (Astonishingly, the brief Times story finds room to list each
refuses to have his picture taken." The interviewer notably refrains from
"It stinks in God's nostrils, and I know it stinks in the law's
nostrils, and it stinks to me." Who said this about what?
"People magazine's 'Sexiest Murderers Alive' list, which he got off of
got good and puking drunk with him in a whore house. Or, oh yeah, helped him
narrow yet passionately held definition of manhood, and a cynical and
characteristic sensitivity, holds a ceremony to rename a city plaza for a
policeman. That's the routine part. But a few hours later, in a frivolous bit
arranged by time spent on death row; White was removed from the list by lethal
adaptation; I loved it when I saw the movie; I continue to love it. Truth is, I
have always enjoyed toilet humor. It's my curse and my triumph.
Artists, Writers, etc.," lists hundreds of names along with capsule comments,
an odd melange of minutiae, misinformation, and admiration so befuddling it's
greatest comics of the century, from Prince Valiant at the bottom to
from R. Crumb to Captain Marvel in between. There is no place in it, however,
work often shows up next to his in the pages of alternative weeklies across the
none). He is also part of the explosion of brilliant graphic work that began in
the early 1980s and has so far produced an array of permanent contributions to
using cartoons as a way of addressing reality. Life in Hell hits us
that the rise of serious comics (or "graphic novels" as some publishers chose
quicker, and his shaky masculine pride always on the line. The first bit I
salesman, and his willingness to bury his family under crushing debt in order
to look like a big shot in the salesman's eyes, and theirs. (The current Homer,
in contrast, is a creature so utterly without pride as to qualify for a kind of
(and on which it came to depend rather too heavily as time went on), The
justly celebrated for the density of its cultural allusions and the rich detail
of its visuals. The best episodes project two dimensions into three better than
its characters, a range of comic types as vivid as any in Dickens or
and Marge, a marriage that has had its tests (Remember that slinky French
The nervous breakdown on the freeway?), but has endured since the end of the
children, our little sisters, our friends, our hometowns, our bad haircuts, and
Its success resulted from the unlikely collusion between
interference, his show is still a creature of contradictions. It pokes endless
even as its characters have become among the most recognizable icons of
explained that the photographer in question signs all his pictures by holding a
marketing bonanza his creation has unleashed may have cost him his rightful
Some of the products of this boom have been unsurprisingly dreadful (Remember
its winning formulas to the point of exhaustion, has come up with The Family
puns for the eye and teasers for the brain. But the writing is slow and
stilted, and the situations already seem tired and didactic. This week's
in which it's discovered that the moon has become a vulgar tourist trap, seemed
historians want to know what life was really like in
sculpted into yellow spikes or blue pylons (well, not that often anyway). But
directorial effort, is a decrepit newspaper reporter rushing to save an
thriller." The naysayers toss spit wads. The film is "a hopelessly cliched
director's more elegiacal mode, a confusion of style and content that is not in
the film's best interests." No one comments on the movie's most notable
themes about defying class and convention don't work: "kids aren't much tuned
into that." Trying to make the story interesting, the creators ladle in wacky
animation gets mixed reviews: "The cartoon characters' faces and body language
hodgepodge of awkward human movement, tired nature effects and fine painterly
backgrounds and detail work." (Discuss the real version of the musical with other stage
"directed with a lively intelligence," the film "has several surprises in its
diverting venture," he says. The Village Voice isn't buying the
Time hates the whole thing: "Well, it had to come sometime: this is
the ending, which critics try not to give away but still bridle at. "Forces
of Nature is less about the anarchic powers of love and sex than it is
clever enough to give us the right happy ending. It gives us the wrong happy
expressed dismay at the epic, record length (four hours plus) and a dance
for masterful analysis, trenchant characterizations, and vivid storytelling. In
an almost prostrate review on the front page of the New York Times arts
office is a work whose breadth, clarity of vision and historical scope amply
Reviews agrees: "A brilliant, masterly, even seminal book." The Wall
Renewal' is an engrossing book, truly hard to put down, at least for
on the verge of a civic tax revolt. Voters, she writes, "cry out for tax
relief," and when tax breaks are given to them they "discover the puny size of
the break" and "turn angry." But the book demonstrates only that taxes have
government has rendered her incoherent, irrational, and convinced that
and homespun anecdotes to give her message a warmly populist glow.
be that for the middle class the tax burden isn't in fact rising. All credible
sources (the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, for instance) agree that
taxpayers are paying less. And opinion poll after opinion poll shows that only
a tiny minority supports using the budget surplus for tax cuts. So, like the
Journal editorial dogma it recycles, The Greedy Hand must resort
to distortion, hypocrisy, and illogic to create the illusion of incipient tax
dodgy statistics from the Tax Foundation that supposedly show a rising average
tax burden but are based on inflated estimates and miscounting (to review the
suffering, she writes, from "real bracket creep." Bracket creep used to be a
problem: Before the 1980s, tax brackets were based on fixed income thresholds
that didn't account for inflation. So when prices and wages rose quickly,
taxpayers were pushed into higher tax brackets even though their real wages
shifting into higher tax brackets as their real income climbs. This has
happened recently; the strong economy and booming stock market have produced
big gains in income and, hence, in income taxes. To dramatize this point,
was beginning to enjoy its greatest success. Their financial situation is a
albums a year, they paid higher taxes than they did when they struggled in
anonymity. And yes, some people are paying tax rates they "never expected would
apply" to them, but only because they're earning more money than they ever
expected. Tax rates are marginal. When higher income moves you into a higher
accidentally added a few extra zeroes to the end of my paycheck, I would end up
paying a higher tax rate than I had anticipated, but you wouldn't hear me
denounces the payroll tax as regressive, which it is. But she doesn't mention
that its effect is partly offset by the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax rebate
remember? Unless, of course, she is for reducing taxes on the rich but not on
entire notion of a progressive tax code is a fraud. "Progressivity," she
maintains, "doesn't do what it says it does: tax the rich." This is because the
wealthy use loopholes to avoid their nominal rates. For instance, she notes,
taxed at a lower capital gains rate. Technically, she's wrong about that. In
most circumstances, employee stock option profits are taxed as ordinary income.
But her broad point that special breaks for things such as capital gains
undermine the tax code's progressivity is true enough.
This is hardly a sincere indictment of the current system,
however. The Wall Street Journal editorial page lobbies for lower
capital gains rates on an almost daily basis and has been doing so for more
that have compromised the tax code's progressive structure. Despite the
Journal 's best efforts, though, the tax code is progressive. That
the rich are higher than those on the middle class.
and misrepresentations in this book? Is it hypocrisy? Confusion? Or just a
could honestly argue what she really believes: Making the rich pay higher tax
admitted that air power alone seems to have done the trick. The Daily
not be "bombed to the negotiating table." The settlement was "a victory for
conservative Daily Telegraph --but the paper qualified this with a claim
Alliance to consider the deployment of ground troops."
assertion or not, this is what the Independent had been saying all
along. Or had it? "This newspaper consistently called for the deployment of
the troops, sought to preserve its dignity by avoiding the issue altogether. In
potential bear trap." It said, "A 'unified control and command' should not
ended any danger of that. Instead, the paper presented the deal as a personal
insistence that the conflict be conducted from the air and only from the air,
and that an air war was winnable, was denounced in military circles, ever more
deal with it last March to start a telephone banking service in the United
States. The announcement sparked a storm of controversy over his reputed
bigotry, however, and scores of the bank's customers, including charities and
trade unions, threatened to take their business elsewhere. In a "right of
in whatever form or guise has no part in my beliefs or my life."
"technology gap" with the United States, the paper said.
one country was allowed to fall to communism, many others would follow. In the
those former enthusiasts) invoke a sort of reverse domino theory: If we save
anyone from mass murder or humanitarian disaster, we'll find ourselves doing it
Isolationist pundits give the impression that the world outside the United
slaughters are everyday occurrences. In fact, attempts at genocide are fairly
universally accepted definition: "acts committed with intent to destroy, in
liberally in the last few weeks, even though human rights groups say they
Suppose the United States, along with its allies, put the
horse before the cart again and committed itself to stopping genocide wherever
it occurred. How many military actions would that have required in, say, the
trying to feed victims and stay out of harm's way. This was a gruesome farce,
and the United States should have acted much earlier, with substantial
Unfortunately, the media have tended to explain genocides
as the spontaneous action of one group motivated by insatiable hatred of
another. But that's not how genocides work. Yes, ethnic hatred runs deep in the
and the genocide, like all genocides, was planned and executed by a relatively
salient example of this. Perhaps because Western journalists knew so little
so deeply rooted, it was unstoppable. One hears it endlessly from "experts" on
years, and there's nothing we can do about it." (Even if you know nothing about
groups have been living in peace for a long period, and something happened to
destabilize that peace. That's why it's in the news, and that's why you, you
ignorant windbag, have been invited on television to discuss it.)
the genocide for failing to join in. They used the mass media, especially
radio, to broadcast their bloody exhortations. And they used the silence of the
did not know the full extent of the killing until reports after the fact. But
another genocide was in the offing (although President Bush's real motivation
lacked the central direction of a genocide, and its victims were not murdered
on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. But it was a
massive, politically inspired slaughter, which certainly justified foreign
between situations that justify intervention and those that don't. No doubt
there would be other occasions that clearly met the standard where intervention
was unrealistic. For example, no reasonable person would expect the United
But even a fuzzy and occasionally failed standard would be
intervention that was universally accepted and regularly if not uniformly
applied might even reduce the number of occasions when intervention would be
would be prevented and punished, he might not attempt it.
genocides in the past decade, the United States and others actually did
vacationing animated space monsters. With perky breasts. And huge, adorable
eyes. Whose crazy adventures are recounted in comic books available in vending
other thing, right?) Perhaps in Japan the cute and the concupiscent do not
coincide but coexist as two distinct phenomena. Like here in the United States
with sex and the pizza. Still separate, right? Could I have that with
The suspiciously cuddly and maybe just a little too
a career of wriggling out of problems of his own making, but he may finally
announcement. Another six weeks have come and gone and still there is no
decision in sight. "The president will decide when he decides," says National
dilemma with no satisfactory political solution: The entire national security
Department to the heads of House and Senate intelligence committees, adamantly
this swamp because the dynamics of the case have vastly changed during the past
handlers. In the plea agreement, prosecutors promised not to seek a life
sentence, but the judge, after reading a secret account of the damage Pollard
by a small, vocal, paranoid, inflammatory, dishonest group of supporters,
government broke his plea agreement by asking for a life sentence.
which are made incessantly and at high volume, are false. Pollard did enormous
trial because he chose to plead guilty. He did see the evidence
Pollard they would ask for a "substantial" sentence and then didn't ask
security agencies, "quoting" top national security officials as saying they
government, which had distanced itself from Pollard, embraced him. And during
his arrest or sentencing. Their new Pollard advocacy is moderate and
credibility by avoiding the preposterous claims of his loyalists. They insist
that his behavior was loathsome. They don't question the legality of his plea
treatment. But, they say, Pollard has shown remorse for his wrongdoing. He
deserves freedom on "humanitarian" grounds: He has served far longer than
arguments, too, are wrong. Pollard does not, in fact, seem to be terribly
United States a "foreign country." He has said, "I would rather be rotting in
More important, the mainstream groups are downplaying what
information about how the United States tracked Soviet subs. He gave the
exactly what foreign (that is, Soviet) signals the United States has
intercepted. He gave away documents that could have helped the Soviets identify
assessment on the grounds that it would harm national security. The only reason
to release it now is political, and national security officials shouldn't play
reconcile the presidential and the political. Here he cannot. If Pollard is
guardians and an invitation to our allies to spy on us. But even if Pollard is
freeing him is a political win, a present to some of his dearest supporters.
"a core vision," and "fire in the belly." You must "be true to yourself," "show
that you care," and treat every voter like "a precious soul." And don't forget
needing guidance. In days of yore, aspiring pols learned their trade by sitting
in the party clubhouse. But political education has become alarmingly
tens of thousands of strategy tapes to Republican activists. Both parties now
offer seminars training candidates how to run. But Prepare To Win marks
the first time either party has tried to educate prospective
ideology, Prepare To Win is pure process. It mostly ignores Republican
positions and concentrates on campaign mechanics. Speakers urge you to pay
attention to filing deadlines, hire a lawyer, form a kitchen Cabinet of friends
who can rein you in if the campaign unhinges you, court community leaders and
seek their endorsement before you announce, choreograph your
announcement to maximize media coverage, etc. It's all sensible
about harnessing your beliefs, your honesty, and your caring heart for the
common good. The political veterans dispensing advice genuinely seem to be
preaching idealism. Speaker after speaker insists that your campaign
must be founded on your "core principles" (beliefs, vision, whatever. My
favorite workbook question is: "What are your core principles?" If you have to
celebrating "precious souls" on a tape series designed to teach candidates
exactly how to wring money from contributors and seduce skeptical
speakers spend the bulk of their time detailing how campaigns are artifice and
how candidates must learn to manipulate voters, contributors, images, and
This fundamental cynicism reveals itself in countless small
make a candidacy announcement "political theater" with the candidate as the
Sen. Collins counsels listeners to embrace a cause before they become
candidates, but not because the cause itself matters: The cause is a great way
people and not just policy. Women, she notes, "are much more responsive to a
strong positive message than they are to attacks." Then, in her final sentence,
Prepare To Win instructors had no idea how cynical they sound. Nowhere
is this more apparent than in the presentation of Sen. Kit Bond, a folksy
proudly describes how, during his first congressional campaign, he refused a
large contribution from someone who wanted him to change his position on an
am running this campaign. I am not going to be told by any contributor that I
should take a stand they want me to solely because they would give me money for
it. I told 'em, "no thanks." If they want to support me in the objectives I
have outlined, that's fine, but I don't take positions or make votes in
Bond says this as though recounting some remarkable
achievement. In fact, what his grand principle amounts to is: no vote for cash.
Sen. Bond does not take bribes! Prepare To Win is this passage writ
large. Beneath its pious talk of visions and core beliefs, it is teaching a
lesson about politics that is much shabbier and much more real than the one it
lunchtime, and the social geography is clear. High on the Hill, the Jocks and
the Poms are eating in style, elbows up on linen tablecloths. "You wouldn't
for prom queen. "Once you're in with the girls and guys on the Hill, everyone
everyone cares what we think about stuff. It may be unfair, but that just the
the hair isn't quite coiffed. Here's where you'll find the Badgers, who
identity badge nervously on the table. "But they have something
what we do, they make fun of us and call us names like 'bureaucrats' and 'paper
are realizing that our schools are fraught, filled with feuding social groups
high school anywhere in the United States. A few days' wandering its marble
kind of scared that popular groups here might get targeted."
Likely to Succeed"), mix easily with almost everyone. (Because they hang out
smoking and whistling at girls behind the school's white administration
are the Jocks and the Poms, who have a friendly rivalry about which group is
They tell everyone else about what the Jocks have done and why:
challengers to these top dogs. One is the Band, sometimes called the House
Republicans. They play and talk in unison. The leaders of the Band socialize
so tacky. Have you seen the way he hits on girls? Did you hear about
parking lot of the Four Seasons with her longtime boyfriend Ben.
Townies, and the President don't agree on much, but they all love the
the old school every day to cruise the parking lot, pick up girls, tell
They drive fabulous cars and pick up every check. "The Jocks say they rule
forbidding place. The popular kids, for example, mock the Wannabes, the mobs of
freshmen and sophomores who aspire desperately to become Jocks. The Wannabes
will do anything for the Jocks, and the Jocks exploit them mercilessly, forcing
them to write briefing papers, answer mail, field phone calls, fetch dry
cleaning, and play chauffeur. In exchange for this drudgery, the Jocks
occasionally deign to nod in their general direction. If a Wannabe gets paid a
small stipend for this work, she belongs to the Staffers. If she's not paid,
in the economics and computer classrooms, have an even more hopeless position.
about this injustice. "I mean, it's totally unfair. I spend months figuring out
all the work, and what do I get in return? They laugh at my charts, and they
keep our distance from their pointless little world." 
intercourse. "We choose not to consort with others," declares team captain Bill
campus, in a dark corner of a building known as the "Courthouse." The
think we're freaky. They harass us because they think we're
"They harass us. Well, we'll show them what harassment really is. Does
coverage you'd think that children are by nature innocent, free of violent or
sexual thoughts until corrupted by our culture. That schools have traditionally
been safe. That the recent spate of killings is unprecedented.
were considered adults. And preteens swore, drank, had sex, even dueled with
guns. If school violence wasn't a problem back then, it's only because few
taught at home. Those who attended school were just as prone to be disorderly
as today's youths. Teachers kept problem children in line with corporal
punishments that seem positively barbaric today: They tied children to whipping
"B" for blasphemy. Occasionally children were put to death.
school during the course of a week. As the principles of humanitarianism spread
young students from all walks of life. (Later, attendance become compulsory.)
In the Gilded Age, as immigrants and migrants flooded the cities, public
elementary schools proliferated. Finally, the Progressives championed the view
of adolescence as a stage of childhood, and high schools (the first of which
because of disciplinary problems. In most institutions, keeping order took
school to "the despotic government of a military camp." In the colleges, where
climate of the day. In politically charged times, students became violent in
introduced a "platoon" system to deal with an influx of pupils, students
erupted across the city, resulting in furious battles between student mobs and
brought different forms of "political" violence to places ranging from Little
More politically sedate times didn't translate into student
suburban anomie gave rise to school violence of the sorts broadly rendered by
of "gangs" (a term coined in the 1930s) caught the nation's fancy. Time
to testify about whether their drawings inspired children to violence.
surged in the 1960s. While crime grew overall, juvenile crime grew faster.
adult hall monitors and setting up bodies for hearing student grievances. Urban
cameras, metal detectors, locker searches, and other measures more commonly
If student violence has now been a major concern for
decades now, what seems to distinguish '90s violence is the suburban- or
students, armed with guns, committed multiple murders in or near the school
in fact reveals nothing, statistically speaking, about our society. Yet they
remind us that the number of children killed by guns skyrocketed in the '80s
and while tailing off in the '90s remains far higher than in decades past.
attributable "almost entirely" to the proliferation of guns among children.
are no strangers to violent impulses. There have always been, and always will
be, maladjusted or deranged students who unleash those impulses. That they do
so is inevitable. How they do so may be within our control.
producers stamped the words "ACQUITTED" and "NOT GUILTY" across the nation's
television screens. "This is a real slap at the House prosecutors," declared
pundits scavenged the battlefield, pronouncing Republicans the losers.
Senate has cast its votes, history's verdict remains in doubt. The spin war
removal. But this was only the last stage of a gradually escalating scandal.
he had done something immoral. The second question, debated throughout the
time the Republicans got to the third stage, they had lost the public. But on
the first question, the polls remain squarely on their side. In a
say it does not. These numbers show how Republicans can rewrite the scandal: by
sliding the debate back across the spectrum to the moral question and
This is why Democrats have scrambled to avoid a fight over
castigated. They denounce his conduct at every opportunity. Having failed to
The votes for conviction "confirmed the humiliation of the president," Sen.
with the failures of the president to act appropriately."
senators, assisted by the media, depicted the House prosecutors' failure to win
and that their vindication depends on his repudiation by Congress. In
as united in its denunciation of the president. "We're going to end up with
thereby resolving the impeachment issue. The political camp, led by Sen. Phil
country and keep the issue alive for the next election. The pedagogical
him and his party. They're not interested in using congressional Democrats to
Republicans' first objective was to kill the censure resolution. They argued,
decision to kill it for the same reason was no less political. First DeLay
escaped untouched. "[It] looks as though, as the Democrats put it, a reckless,
reprehensible, and irresponsible man will remain our president for the next two
"Children now have the lesson that lying, cheating, and breaking the law are
immune to this attack because they've got both ends of the spectrum covered: On
and condemned his misconduct. This is the third fallacy: Democrats have
overlooked the legal question in the middle. On that question, they have failed
Yet every Democratic senator voted "not guilty" last
have either denied that the case was proved or have dodged the question by
arguing that either way, the alleged crimes wouldn't merit the president's
removal. And while their censure resolution may immunize them against the
charge of moral indifference, it doesn't protect them from the charge of
opportunity. At their press conference after the Senate verdict, several House
prosecutors interrupted their sermons against "the polls" to point out where
"The political cleansing that did not happen through the impeachment process"
Republican strategists will make Democrats carry that
history is written by the winners. They think this maxim shows how clever and
cynical they are. Actually, it's half of a circular argument, and their failure
movement. Winners, it turns out, are written by the historians. And the contest
poorly responded to and inadequately investigated by the police, Home Secretary
government officials will now be personally and criminally liable for any
the reforms are less aggressive than those sought by the independent commission
be defined by the victim not the police (if the victim says they're racist,
procedures, practices and a culture which tend to exclude or to disadvantage
relays an embarrassing postscript to Straw's announcement:
because it contained the names and addresses of witnesses and informants who
assisted investigators. The paper calls the information "the most sensitive
that could be imagined to be involved in any police investigation" and surmises
that those mentioned could already be in danger. The Standard also
reports that hours after the report was published, a
because a security camera trained on the memorial was not loaded with
troubled eye on yet more avalanches in the Alps and the rescue attempts they
still climbing, but all agree that this is the worst avalanche season in
Alps are exacting revenge on greedy tourists for exploiting their natural
In Middle Eastern news, fresh ripples and rumors about
Walker has made his fortune by packing in all the maggoty, sadistic details
and Homicide have opted to leaven with reminders of the fundamental
region, where they view atrocity after atrocity before arriving at the source:
an evil that is pure, unrepentant, and infectious. You can lop off its head,
but the skull goes on grinning, serenely confident that it has passed on its
Seven thrust Walker's worldview into your viscera; I can still recall
that film's gun battle, set in a long corridor, with its slingshot angles and
bullets that seemed to explode beside your head, and the ghastly sight, both
riveting and repellent, of a partially flayed, obese corpse, its milky white
professionally polite private investigator summoned to the manse of a recently
millimeter film that appears to document the murder of a young woman. The
appalled widow needs to know if the killing is real or simulated and hands
in the meat market of New York City. What he sees twists Cage's hitherto poker
verges on the point of exploding into hundreds of hysterical semitones. He
stops taking calls from his wife (always clutching the baby) on his cell phone.
tour guide, delivers the film's thematic warning: "There are things that you
the devil changes you." I won't spell out where 8MM leads but, trust me,
exhibits the aesthetic of an interior decorator, his pictures boasting the most
that in 8MM he has managed to muzzle his fruitier impulses and work in a
spooked, then suffused with righteous fury. Murderous fury. It's only after the
devil, at least not by the standards of vigilante movies. He doesn't get a
sexual charge out of the brutality, nor does he develop a penchant for
torturing innocents. Apart from his stricken expressions and a couple of nasty
wounds, there's nothing even to suggest that he's damned by taking justice into
his own hands. If ever bad guys deserved to be executed, it's the bad guys in
baby daughter, they cast aspersions on his masculinity, they sneer at the
embraced the story of a vigilante who turns out to be dead wrong, driven mad by
an increasing sense of his own impotence in a world that has left him behind.
cool off. Next to these films, the moral contortions of 8MM seem
especially bogus, a sadomasochistic peep show booth pretending to be a
The test of a piece of storytelling is whether its audience
monologue has some funny, dislocating observations: the unsophisticated ways of
her folks juxtaposed against her newly acquired yuppie tastes, her need to
her dislocation when, after taking her brother to the hospital for
chemotherapy, she finds herself suddenly playing his part, as if, she says,
together; nothing builds. It's mostly one thing after another: I went here,
then I went there, then I went to a bookstore and cut a big fart and someone I
wasn't supposed to be smoking out the car window and then noticed that the back
cancer. But then why do it? What's the point of going out in front of an
audience with a tale of illness if she's not going to bring all her imaginative
relatively routine particulars and gives us something to hold onto when our
York Times account of visiting the retired New Yorker critic seemed
would wring his hands sensitively. My father (infantry, World War II) had a
that we should do it again and again. The millions died delightfully.
While cops stood idly by, mobs trashed the buildings
especially with this monotonous war propaganda on the news. My son is bored; he
can't go out, except to visit friends in their shelters, where it's boring. My
little one is bored, because all her favorite cartoons like Power Rangers have
been replaced by those interminable news programs."
"They deny everything. They essentially say to their very best customers
refers either to the ad campaign for The Mod Squad that lured hundreds
"They are important when they bring in tourists. If not, they are
attract hundreds of people to the Universal Studios Tour, or to endangered
"Man, if I can continue to do that good, who knows? The sky's the
"This is the first time in all my visits that they've given me a hopeful
Shopping Avenger, who has toiled without pause this past month (all right, I
paused) to right the wrongs inflicted on the buying masses by the dark forces
Before writing the first installment of this column
last month, the Shopping Avenger had no idea that so many people would have so
many complaints about so many different companies. The Shopping Avenger also
was hostile: "You're probably just running a scam to collect a bunch of upscale
But most of you turned to me in good faith, and for this I
am thankful. Alas, I am but one superhero, and could not come to the aid of all
concerning the operation of your personal computers, let it be known across the
land that the Shopping Avenger still writes on papyrus. And for those of you
who contributed not complaints but wacky observations, such as "I find it
Now, though, a few observations of my own, about the
complaints (the understandable ones) I did receive.
do not yet understand the true power of the Shopping Avenger.
As an example of all four phenomena, I refer you now to the
weeks hence," K. explains. "A week later, I called the local number to confirm,
problem, a fine policy. But let's supplement it with: DON'T TELL ME OTHERWISE
LETTERS TO MAKE A POINT, I believe K. earned that right here.
K. goes on to state that he canceled his rental and
policies. What I got was, in technical terms, a runaround.
way. Then she blamed the customer for misunderstanding what he heard. This, I
heard variations of "the customer didn't understand our phone prompts" three
times already, leading me to the conclusion that there's a real problem out
Then Burke yelled at me for having the temerity to even
concerning weekend rentals, but Burke said she could not cite policy, because
the state in which the rental was to occur, which I did. Then she suggested
that K. merely thought he made a reservation but actually only asked about
prices. This seemed a bit of a stretch to me, but I checked with K., who
supplied me with his actual reservation number. He also confirmed that he
in the habit of changing confirmed reservations behind the customer's back, but
Burke, even while knowing that the Shopping Avenger's deadline approached, did
should know that the Shopping Avenger will not rest, except at night and on
Our correspondent A. wrote the Shopping Avenger to complain
Everything was going fine until he clicked to confirm his order. The screen
Please wait to see a response from the system with your confirmation."
So there I was wondering what the hell had happened to my credit card
information. Even worse, the phone number they gave me to call is long
To add insult to injury, when A. finally spoke to a "live"
person (you will soon see why the word "live" is in quotation marks), he asked
"customer service" department, told him he should have called his local service
provider. Of course, no one had provided A. with the local service number. He
eventually bought the tickets anyway, paying the "convenience" charge.
All this was too much for the Shopping Avenger, who
swung into action. Actually, the Shopping Avenger swung into action even before
wanted an explanation and an apology for A., which he got, sort of.
become busy." He also explains, "Dozens of variables may determine the speed
and continuity of your Internet connection are in the hands of your local phone
accept our sincerest apologies and we hope you will continue to offer your
material amends, and get the Shopping Avenger on your side.
the evils of the pest control and airline industries. Don't ask why, it's too
million ad campaign, gospel singers, children, and evangelists poured out of a
says The Book 's promoter, televangelist and former presidential
ahead and broadcast the show's season finale, although it too is disturbingly
Press, Dropping a 1,000-Pound Weight Onto Stuff, Crashing Into Stuff With a
Locomotive. With one fleeting exception, when he shot up, and later blew up,
night's best moment (which I suspect won't travel well out of context) was when
has the lowest mortality rate in the history of the school!"
safe. And right after surgery, I take the fat I sucked out and fry up a couple
may have been killed by electrocution, gassing, neck breaking, poisoning,
carry a big stick,' we have yelled and carried a toothpick. And so I announce
my intention to undergo penile enlargement, and as long as you're down there,
was watching, and in reality no one was watching. But then again, who wants to
journalism department recently bade adieu to the millennium by picking the
consensus emerged around these eight books and authors, in this order:
What makes a book silly? Some readers selected books that
state the obvious: Bill Gates' The Road Ahead ("Computers will be
Balance was accused of both fuzzy thinking and naked political promotion.
Others nominated titles whose silliness was revealed by time, public debunking,
population explosion that would cause global shortages, raise prices, poison
entire bodies of work in one go, bypassed books and went straight for the
Others took a more literal approach to silliness. "I
readers measured it by amount of attention devoted by the chattering classes on
and whole countries based on it. Of course, only a minority believed in it
deeply, but many of them were serious people." He adds, "if any group is more
two discernible effects: It validates already popular opinions (Did you already
provide one more, far more practical, service: It should serve as grave warning
to anyone who is even remotely contemplating writing a book on the fate of the
Herewith, a sampler (and please don't send any more!):
labor lawyer and author of The Secret Lives of Citizens (click
thinks he has found a flaw in our argument that stocks are undervalued. He has
contending that the value of a company is the present value of its stream of
discounting its earnings, and all earnings are not paid out in dividends, then
saying is that we never based our theory on earnings but instead, as we
a stock will put in your pockets through the profits generated by the company
proper figure to use to measure the cash generated by a company was somewhere
between the lower bound of the dividend that a firm pays and the upper bound of
highlighted the fact that earnings are a problematic measure of cash flow
because of the potential that a firm might grow simply through retentions.
claimed that it is a "mistake" to assume that dividends per share will post
real growth, as we did in our calculations, because dividends, in theory,
that real earnings growth only reflects retentions and that real dividend
economic models, it is contradicted by the facts: Historical data on dividends
reveal significant real growth of dividends per share. For example, in the
length in our book, relating the observation to theories at the frontier of the
branch of economics known as "Industrial Organization," but here is a hint: The
simplest textbook model of the perfectly competitive firm doesn't do a great
job of describing the companies that have driven the market higher and
That is a good start. Even sticking with dividends alone, the number is pushed
considerably higher than that if one accounts for repurchases and the tax
advantage associated with them. So much for the crazy stock market bubble. Dow
dividends at all. These firms have value because, ultimately, they will deliver
techniques are out the window for firms that don't pay dividends, but they are
topic. The basic idea is simple: You can base a value measure on earnings
instead of dividends if you can identify those things that you are
earnings themselves are a reasonable measure of the dividend that you use to
construct the value of the firm if all earnings are paid out each year. Such an
example is no pipe dream. Real Estate Investment Trusts, for example, pay out
firms retain lots of earnings it gets more complicated, with the growth of
earnings increasing as more and more cash is retained in the firm. For those
valuable review articles of the some of the relevant academic work.
address every conceivable objection in a short article in the Wall Street
book. We look forward to picking up this debate in the fall when we lay all our
facts and arguments on the table. Until that time, we have a little homework
dividend today? Was the price increase over that period justified? What would a
misrepresented their argument. They do not, they say, value a stock by looking
at future earnings. They even agree that this would be a big mistake. They
claim to look instead at future cash flows to stockholders. The two authors
stock." In other words, there is no difference between my description of their
argument. My article does not say or imply that "real earnings growth only
reflects retentions and that dividend growth must be zero" or that "all
valuation techniques are out the window for firms that don't pay dividends." It
simply asserts that, in calculating a firm's potential value, you can't assume
The argument is fallacious whether all the earnings are paid out, all are
forthcoming book. I look forward to it. But I boldly predict it won't work
earnings is the core of their current one. The thesis is simply wrong and
that will have to go if they even start down Refinement Road.
our discussion must rest until this ambitious book is published. For right now,
it is worth noting that this letter is the first place where Glassman and
enemies," I thought it worth highlighting some of the absurdities in the
publicly and privately, is better than his. So why the fuss over me while other
portfolio managers write every day about their stock picks and get no heat?"
following (via his own small Web site and Silicon Investor chat rooms) is
that his unusual position as both professional money manager and professional
the energy to exploit the possibilities inherent in straddling two worlds. I
find his columns entertaining more often than not. But his situation isn't
common, so the argument of "everyone does it, why pick on me?" isn't
I don't write for the notoriety, so giving them up wouldn't hurt." If it's
remove the iconic projection of yourself from your Web site. You don't have to
stop providing the insights that only you can give to the ignorant investing
masses in order to forgo the money and fame that come along with your position.
And, frankly, you shouldn't have to. But do us all the favor of not acting like
a portfolio manager who recommends stocks in a column of his own." Say what?
Extending that logic, there's no difference between a government that promotes
its policies to an independent press and a government that runs its own
interested role of the portfolio manager with the presumably disinterested role
of the journalist. Don't tell me there aren't ethical challenges in that beyond
stop me are complicit with that ignorance and are willing tools of those that
would like the reader to have to rely on those who charge high commissions or
high fees to unknowing, worried consumers of finance." This is a low blow. The
in investing, and whatever else he is, he isn't a "tool" of the industry. Nor
are the vast majority of financial journalists. Sure, there are some hacks, but
most are intelligent folks who have the interests of their readers at the top
he will "disappear from the writing firmament." Well, isn't that what would
if you had invited the two to duke it out in a "Dialogue." Luckily, I don't
have to cancel my subscription to your zine in a fit of pique!
his brother's suspicious activities was the right choice. Nonetheless, few of
would have chosen similarly. Not all moral choices are painless. One can want a
particular practice to be rare just because it is painful, even if it is
morally required (and not just permissible). So there is no contradiction in
not rare. I would hope that the United States would defend itself every time a
for that matter, discovers that a brother of his is an environmentalist
evidence. If abortion, like defending oneself against fascists and
environmentalist murderers, is a good thing, than it should not be rare. Good
behavior should never be rare. It should be routine.
organizations I was supposed to be watching and, of course, not disclosing it
on the pages of the magazine whenever the magazine writes about that
troubled he is by it. Might they cancel future assignments if a piece in the
magazine really stings them? Might they add on assignments if a piece
celebrates them? Mightn't it all just look bad even if everyone behaves
Review is not nearly as likely to be covering, is a bigger issue.
ran for the House of Representatives, he was accused of being a carpetbagger.
His reply was that, being a military child, he had moved around his whole life,
say, the accusation did not do for the competition what they hoped it would, as
the reply was a large part of what won him his seat.
many papers today features a photo of four piglets vigorously suckling a sow's
None associated the pig with its traditional attributes, dirty or foul
smelling. None exploited "pig" as an epithet for policeman. There were no pigs
turning men into. How did we lose our rich tradition of porcine references? Did
it all go wrong when we left the farm? Many's the happy hour we spent by the
particularly rank aroma of our enemies. Well, we're city folk now, and our foes
An ecological theory of the kosher laws suggests that they're meant to
proscribe animals who'd compete with us for the foods we need. This theory is a
little hazy about lobsters. Who, by the way, can also be made into a durable
and attractive handbag. If you eat a whole lot of lobster, people will call you
a pig. But not the other way around. Lobsters: not funny. Pigs: funny. A pig
all she's done for you, doesn't mom deserve flowers for Mother's Day, and to be
compared to a barnyard animal?" except for the final phrase, which is merely
implicit. It's an ad for an online flower service. In a curious bit of marketing, the offer
mom something nice, eventually, when you get around to it.
about every tenth car has a vanity plate. People want the world to know their
it's already taken. Hence the following quiz: Which of the following plates
have been spoken for, and which are still up for grabs?
it's taken. Well, then how about UNIQUE2?"). MANLY is available for at least as
somewhere out there there's a car being driven by an unashamed incontinent
warning their readers that the current escalation of United States airstrikes
Storm except that they were conducted in slow motion so as to deflect media
most likely to be deposed suddenly in a military coup. But, in sharp contrast
The paper also quoted a Pentagon official saying that the United States has so
far been highly successful in keeping up public awareness levels. "Scale is
West's refusal five years ago to act against, or at first even acknowledge,
telephone banking service in the United States was the subject of a two page
up with a man who believes the world as we know it might be about to end." The
doesn't believe having oral sex was vulgar: "Some people like pizza for lunch;
others prefer a dessert." She also said she would never again fall in love with
("It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is") had made people
you have 'no intention' to commit ground troops to accomplish the mission in
as the probability was a year ago that he would have to admit to an
soldiers would be sent into a "permissive environment."
willingly yield. "There are other ways, however, to create a permissive
environment," she added. "What we are doing is systematically diminishing or
degrading his ability to have that kind of control over the area."
must nonetheless be allowed to return home and live safely. "That will require,
clearly, for some period of time, some sort of international force that will be
alternately described this entity as an "international peacekeeping force,"
"international security presence," "implementation force," and
in a peaceful and peacekeeping fashion, as a peacekeeping force." This may be
"enclave," anonymous senior administration officials came up with a new phrase
helicopters are more like ground weapons than like air weapons: They will fly
return. That's why they belong to the Army, not the Air Force. To protect the
are arriving in the region to help refugees. Everyone knows these troops are
trained for combat and can be quickly converted into an invading force.
Alternatively, the fuel and communications networks they will build can be used
have ended. Presumably, these are alternative euphemisms for a "peacekeeping"
the helicopters and Army soldiers are "an expansion of the air operation,"
"supporting the air campaign," and "not a ground force."
who can talk his way out of a perjury rap can talk his way into a war.
but since his indictment as a war criminal the most he can hope for is a safe
retain power even with the support of his secret police, political cronies, and
because of a complicated tax system, overgenerous welfare, and excessive labor
new government is deregulating, unions are learning accommodation, and a
cover story argues that the vice presidency is worth more
likely to focus more on his stilted campaigning than his eight years of insider
Adventure is the theme of the third installment in the magazine's millennium
Crouch rejoices that it's no longer anomalous for a black man and a white man
to share a boat; but the trip leaves Ford unsettled about his own latent
to include at least one woman, use traditional, nonpolluting modes of
transportation, and perform a social service project along the way.
cover report slams the Cox report for asserting more than it
are asked to spy for their government. The report actually documents the theft
China's military is no challenge to the United States'. China has no aircraft
cover story exults that now is the best time ever to be black
enrollment are down. Blacks aren't celebrating because they fear an economic
downturn and because equality is still elusive. Whites still outearn blacks,
office wear, the garment industry is launching a PR campaign to popularize
peaceful reign could be interrupted when the government decides soon if it
should fund research performed with scientifically valuable but politically
pilgrims produce children, but all are charmed by the enormous penises that
editorial darkly warns that China is modernizing and expanding its military in
Congressional Campaign Committee: He is an artless buffoon whose only asset is
his family name, which he uses to woo donors and to intimidate opponents.
Respect. How's that working out, by the way? Here's how: According to a New
The mayor's press secretary said everyone in New York is just wrong: "The poll
numbers seem to be driven by false perceptions." That's a kind of reform plan.
And by "dark and brooding," I, of course, mean appealing and simpatico.
some global personalities of unquestioned fame." A lovely phrase, that:
C. Amount left on contract of fired New Jersey Nets
today's Times features "intimate washing, heated seat, air dryer."
to keep the money. Of his former bosses he said, "I do believe that they care
about me." None of his players was heard to say the same about their
incidentally, does not make a personal hygiene system, but for enough money,
kill one guy and I suppose that makes you a murderer. People are so
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
pursuit of information about a girl in a snuff film. Critics' reactions are all
exploitation film with all the trappings of depravity but none of the
box office profit." Most reactions to the film are negative, but each critic
(Paramount Pictures). Critics call this piece of early '80s
"shameless in its use of mental retardation as a gimmick, a prop, and a plot
device. Anyone with any knowledge of retardation is likely to find this film
Holden of the New York Times opens his review with what sounds like a
joke ("A beautifully acted love story") but isn't; he's the film's biggest fan.
work. The story follows a young magician uncovering the details of his
wrapped herself in. The thriller side of the book is well crafted, and the
the same skill level in revealing his characters' emotional lives. (Read the first chapter, courtesy of the New York Times
murder. Not only does the book repeat and contradict itself, but the author
doesn't even try to offer an answer to the most essential question of all:
whodunit? Some reviewers speculate that the shoddiness is a result of the book
whether the work itself is amateurish or fully formed. The New York
over" and that it is "the work of a man still unsure of his voice" but still
sees enough flashes of brilliance to make the performance worthwhile. Daily
piece of juvenilia." Some critics are less generous and note a heavy reliance
that the play is no "lost masterpiece." (Find out more
compete with it in international trade. "The most urgent strategic task for the
nuclear capability. If this works, the United States might then target China to
war machine," the paper quoted an unidentified diplomat as saying. It also said
has signaled its willingness to separate politics and business by instructing
criticism of the United States should be confined to the specific issues of
Despite editorials around the world expressing alarm about the deteriorating
days to show "that things are moving in the right direction, that of peace."
The German press led on the deal struck at a stormy meeting of the Green Party,
disruption to the country's secret intelligence services by the publication on
government efforts to purge the Web of this sensitive information are "doomed
not to investigate all this "on the old principle: 'if something smells bad,
why put your nose in it?' When that something is the theft of the development
dereliction of duty of the worst kind. It must now receive the fullest and most
allegations relating to a trust fund set up to pay their daughter's defense
being helpful when he woke up crying with a soiled diaper. The
she attempts to evade an optical security system in the process of ripping off
schoolboy accused of petty theft and the legal battle that blossoms in the
out an immaculately staged, crisply paced, and elegantly acted movie. It's also
Though the premiere is still two weeks away, hype for the Star Wars
rides on this product, so much advance flogging has been necessary, that the
photos and news on upcoming commercials. The film's official site offers several trailers
it's "the kind of disk you replay when it rolls to a close, just to delight in
all that cleverness once again." (For more on the band, check out this site, which has
Times "Foreign Affairs" columnist's study of globalization: "The author
uses his skills as a reporter and analyst to conduct a breathtaking tour, one
prospects in an ever more tightly integrated world without being accused of
theories have already been disproved: His "Golden Arches" theory of
have ever gone to war. This "was proved false even before his book's
dominated by business instead of government: "The lack of skepticism toward
globalization business can constrict freedom and innovation just as governments
horror flick. Shocker: Critics say it's trite and unoriginal (it follows a boy
with a demonically possessed hand). It's also "undeniably kinetic," and
many problems with its psychological elisions to let it off the hook." (Read
Chow's rookie partner in a task force charged with controlling gangs in
hotbed of sensationalism." (Find out more about Chow on this
same (tortured telekinetic teen starts bloodbath when humiliated), but this
the film's only ally; he calls the direction "astute" and the script
the popular computer game is deemed "so cheesy it could be served on crackers"
the second trailer for the new Star Wars movie runs before it. (Find out
How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was universally hailed for
a famously uncompromising vision. It was an "amazingly varied body of work"
that was "unified not only by bizarre brilliance but also by its rare ability
shortcoming is what many critics describe as "coldness," even in his most
and complain about how his film was being shown in a particular theater); and
enough to talk about the maestro with anything less than total respect:
reviewers wish the account gave more of a sense of the historical context. But
latest opinion poll. He has never countenanced a campaign plan; and in the
retreated into the semantic ambiguities for which his presidency has become
outdated street maps for an operation of this kind beggars belief."
hardened their demands for a halt to airstrikes before they will agree to
support peace moves in the United Nations. Having consistently urged the use of
ground forces, the paper finally recognized in an editorial that "the
will, or lacks the necessary political weight, to commit the United States to
whatever the formalities of status may be." The liberal Independent 's
air bombardments. "He can, at his leisure, test the unity and determination of
the allies," it added. "One way or another, it is always he who holds the
state. He reportedly said that recent developments have made territorial
concentration camp and you didn't learn your lesson."
before impeachment proceedings against the president were due to begin in the
acting prime minister, has already been offered the job at least three times.
a man whose main political support came from Communists, who "have proclaimed
presidential election, if he decides to run, are "very high," the paper
country is running out of workers. With unemployment at a 30-year low, there
aren't many motivated people left for the labor market to absorb, it said. "As
helped productivity growth to increase. But this may well prove temporary. When
the economy runs out of workers, the laws of supply and demand take over."
major problem creating a consistent monetary policy because of growing economic
judge agreed there were extenuating circumstances because both songwriters had
firm and intensify the war. "The smell of a deal is in the air," said the
for the "listening President" to speak with a firmer voice. "The strong US
he must show that he is prepared to go in with whatever force it takes, and
getting the three servicemen released has been greeted with cynicism by the
paper claimed, that for all his "media grandstanding" and his repeated failure
to see major projects through, "he remains an inspiration for millions of
only comment on the latter event was the passive phrase, "it is regretted,"
attitude to that of a person who crosses a city street to help an innocent
the criminal's address, and to throw stones through the window of his home
has shown great talent as a chess player. By moving the war to the terrain of
attempting a final maneuver. "Having been put in check, the king can always
castle," the paper explained. "He knows he has lost the game, but he still
it is as if you haven't died." The regime is now censoring the death
announcements in order to conceal the number and the identities of the victims
been found. The announcement said, enigmatically, that she had been "a victim
of the assassins who came from the sky and of those who came from the
were being required to read a textbook describing homosexuals as "criminals."
asserted: "An honest person tends to see others as being honest as well; the
evil person sees evilness in others. The homosexual tends to blame his victim
merchants are cheats and liars. The thief will accuse everyone of thievery."
The book was listed as required reading for two courses, Criminology and
field, and has an international reputation," and that the university was
asked fruit growers to supply it with smaller melons after research indicated
that housewives subconsciously compared them to the size of their breasts.
traditional big, fleshy melons were remaining unsold."
us on the meaning of "forces," "effective," "international," "security,"
bombing. "There was a sense that the storm was occurring right in front of a
nationwide audience, and it undermined once again the persistent nave feeling
coexistence with twisters. But to watch your own tornado is a little like
sport after a bout with drug abuse in the late '80s and a weight problem last
percent of the vote in a special election to fill the seat vacated by former
Times played up Duke's showing, saying he "fell just short" of making the
runoff and suggesting that he would have made it if a rival hadn't cut into his
problem. Duke's spin: Now that everyone knows my views, the sizable vote I
received shows how many people agree with me. Duke's critics' spin: Now that
everyone knows his views, the sizable vote he received shows how many people
his car. (I am not making this up.) His teeth are very nice, but I believe this
activity should be restricted to the privacy of the bathroom only. He does not
see a problem doing this in public. Please respond.
are correct that it is not an activity meant for public viewing but, more
important, seeing to one's dental hygiene while driving a car poses a threat to
find four minutes to do his admirable oral upkeep when he is outside of his
if we actually disagree, or if my solutions just didn't occur to you.
the best solution would be for the roommate to change her ways, but leveling
with her would more than likely end the friendship. It sounds as if things are
just fine as long as your correspondent doesn't have to visit her friend's
house. So, why not just develop a convenient "cat allergy"? The white lie is a
person who wants to keep weight off but can't control what's served at dinner
indeed, meant for situations like this, but in the case of "Nauseously Yours,"
there is the chance that straight shooting would be of real help to the
Granted, one can't get into terrible trouble with an indulgence now and then,
assuming one is eating conscientiously, but to inhale a whole meal of rich food
is counterproductive. Let's say that when at a dinner party where the sky's the
your unwavering good taste and style to answer a fashion question. Does the
rule of no white clothing before Memorial Day and after Labor Day still apply?
I learned at a very young age that dressing in white clothing before Memorial
Day or after Labor Day was inappropriate. Are the standards still alive, or are
Waiting on Hat Pins and Darning Needles for Your Reply
calendar's rules regarding white are still operative for the old guard. Even
for them, however, fashion has weighed in with a wild card: winter white. To be
more individual: Wear what is flattering and what you like. (This is why no one
about, whether getting food or shopping for other goods, I seem to encounter
clerks who equate "There you go" with "Thank you." I can't tell you how many
times I have heard "There you go" as I am handed my change, or my bag, with no
thanks given. "There you go" seems to imply "Get the hell out," whereas a
retail for several years myself, and I say, "Thank you" because I realize that
if I do not act appreciatively, the customer may well go on down the
noticed how certain phrases seem to take hold? Like "Have a nice day" (which
decided that "There you go" is code for "Get the hell out." All you can do,
to fix it failed. The Daily Telegraph also considered this story worthy
scalding feet in bath." The paper's medical correspondent explained that "any
serious burn to the feet, hands, face or genitalia is considered of great
medical importance and is usually treated in hospital."
factory was about to be targeted. "The only problem officials faced was in
persuading workers that their information was genuine," he reported. The same
massacre sites, locate the hideouts of death squad leaders, and find secret
themselves to every shortage except that of cigarettes, he reported, quoting a
completely disappeared," he wrote. "Before the bombs, taxi drivers tried to
cheat their customers. Today, they charge the correct fares." He added that
nearly all theaters had stopped charging for tickets, and that those that still
did charge something were giving the proceeds to the Red Cross.
authorities have since denied his presence there. It was believed he might have
"to see them represented by a valetudinarian buffoon and exploited by a corrupt
it is also perhaps imprudent to take their bragging seriously, thus encouraging
second nuclear power, and we cannot further humiliate her with impunity in her
political scientists and sociologists refer to a society as "civil" they are
citing the many important functions that are performed by voluntary,
intermediate institutions. These institutions are intermediate between the
state and the individual. They are voluntary in that the performance of
individuals within these institutions is not dictated by the state or by the
exigencies of the market. Churches, trade unions, philanthropic bodies, and
intermediate institutions is a society in itself, and each of us spends much of
his life in them. Some of these little societies are civil and some are not. I
use the word "civil" here to mean that the participants are cooperative and
respectful of the others and their interests. That is different from "polite,"
which is a surface quality. The chairman of a congressional committee who calls
I think of two in my experience that were especially civil. One was the Center
for Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences, where I spent a year as a fellow
but we immediately became friends and enjoyed a pleasant social life together.
More important, we could consult each other and collect candid advice. There
the center had something to do with the pervasive good feelings. Also, each of
duration of the year's leave. The fellowship was not part of one's real life,
it was an interlude to be enjoyed and not spoiled by conflict. It was as if we
were on a cruise ship with passengers we had never seen before and would
My second example is the book discussion group I belong to
women as well). Book discussion groups are regularly described as scenes of
the most. Why is our group civil? I credit, in part, the physical and
But what's more important is the character of the participants. We are all
members or spouses of members of the club. We are mostly pretty old. And we
have mostly had, and may still be having, some achievement and attention
outside the book discussion group. So nobody feels the need to assert his
individuality and importance. We can relax and enjoy the pleasure of civil
cases, in which neither the gain from cooperative effort nor the possible gain
from individual assertion is very large. The key is not in the absolute
strength of these gains but in their relative strength. In the cases I have
I can give a more serious example. For many years, starting
with the end of World War II, I worked for an organization of businessmen
formulating policy statements on issues of economic policy. We were
the Depression and that may have contributed to the outbreak of war. We thought
we had some insights that would help to avert such failures in the future. At
the same time, the organization was a major scene in which we might struggle
waking hours, derived our incomes, and achieved status internally and to the
rest of the world. But the divisiveness of these interests was outweighed by
our common interest in the program on which we had embarked. So we all worked
together eagerly and happily to try to bring about a change of policy. We were
the memories of Depression and war were fading, some of what we thought were
new ideas had become conventional wisdom, and many of the most inspiring
leaders of the group had gone on to other things or had retired. Then we
Different participants in a society will have different
views of how civil it is. I thought that those of us who worked on the
feel that anyone coveted mine. I had no ambitions for more status and attention
it was a jungle out there, even though one of the predators was really a
other people with civility. The second side is interpreting the attitude and
behavior of other people toward oneself as civil. For most people I suppose the
Civility is not one of the major virtues. It is not
like courage or honesty. The friendly cooperation that characterizes civil
to participate in societies that one perceives to be civil adds much to the
(Universal Pictures). Critics' reactions cover the spectrum.
backwoods kids in the 1950s who use amateur rocketry as a steppingstone to
college scholarships and an escape from the coal mines where their fathers
work. Those who praise the film say it's "one of the most unfashionable movies
"agreeably guileless for such a manipulative genre." The
Village Voice describes this mean teen movie about a posse of cruel
popular girls who accidentally kill one of their own and try to cover it up.
a corporate cubicle, and how a few drones manage to shake things up. The only
makes you wonder if they've got so successful they've forgotten the torture a
jammed copy machine can inflict on the lowly. (The official site has a variety of
the indie scene, the band is now receiving praise everywhere from Rolling
don't find it remotely enlightening to share relentless intimacy with someone
of string theory, currently the most popular "theory of everything," cited as a
way of reconciling the otherwise incompatible theories of general relativity
comprehensible to the lay enthusiast. "He has a rare ability to explain even
the most evanescent ideas in a way that gives at least the illusion of
"cool" version of the Bible. But, says The Book 's promoter,
are invited to devise other ways to achieve that goal.
shifts in scale have always been funny, particularly when a little thing is
sit in a chicken and eat a chicken. Kind of rubbing it in.) The converse,
however, is not true: A big thing made tiny is not comic; it's cute, a
the body of some guy with a brain tumor. It's more scary than funny, especially
"The Book looks friendlier than your typical leather Bible. It's got a
now displays the slogan "The newspaper of record and small penises."
warming true story will reach teens with two powerful messages: first, save sex
graduated from high school never kissing a girl or drinking alcohol. But a
who hated what they did, resolved to change their ways by embracing SECONDARY
wait until marriage. One teen remarked, "I never understood Secondary Virginity
This Article" at the top of each article. That's all there is to it.
that was all there was to it, we would have made it something like, "Give Me a
articles to? Friends, enemies, members of Congress,
popular, successful, and psychologically secure to send themselves flowers or
any such thing. You are not the sort of folks who need to artificially inflate
's elegantly designed Web pages. (Caution: this should not
deprive your employer of your services. Solitaire is for that.)
Unless, of course, in your opinion the article is so insightful and brilliant
participants respond with particular enthusiasm to questions about the Supreme
Court. Given: The law is a particularly unhappy profession. That is, a
remarkably high percentage of lawyers are discontent with their jobs.
Therefore: Most News Quiz participants are lawyers who take out their
reactionary bastard with dubious views about race and little understanding of
error in this paragraph? Because, aside from the dubious propositions, the
unsupported assumptions, and the illogical conclusion, I can't figure out where
The court was hearing the first of three cases that
particular, whether the act applies to a person who can restore normal
functioning by, for example, taking medication or wearing glasses. And it's as
neat a Catch-22 as you're ever going to see, even through those disposable
people from more stylish countries. If the court goes with the broadest
considered disabled, but their attractiveness wouldn't be relevant. I blame the
Real White Pages." Is it a good idea nowadays for any Southern institution to
Turner's bison ranch out near Big Sky (there's an easement through the property
so you can get to a state park on the other side), I saw one of my favorite
want to ask or answer all these irrelevant questions about what someone may or
care," he told the New York Times recently. "And quite frankly, it's not
that important. What's important is who you are today, what you're going to
doing a good job, how he relaxes during his free time is not a legitimate
questions about past private peccadilloes. Exhausted by the Year of Flytrap, we
have all decided that politicians' private lives should stay private.
rape is not a peccadillo. It is, among other things, illegal. But so are pot
smoking and cocaine snorting, which are high on the list of private behavior
politicians are getting little gold stars for refusing to discuss. Is rape a
worse crime than using drugs? Well, many might think so, but you wouldn't know
it from the way most politicians talk about drugs. In declining to talk about
want to give young people today the unfortunate (though accurate) impression
that you could do whatever he did when young and still end up governor of
It is obvious why the liberal perverts and druggies of the
Democratic Party favor a curtain being drawn on politicians' private lives. But
position? One way is by repeating the mantra "it's not about sex" just once or
twice too often. They thought they had him by the legalities on perjury and
obstruction of justice, and in attempting to win converts to their cause they
may have been more dismissive than they intended about the sex thing. Too late,
Wall Street Journal editorial page, remained steadfast in their
hysterical disapproval of the president's private sexual behavior, and remained
politicians of both parties, almost all the media, and most of the
to draw public attention to the private sexual behavior of anyone else. (The
Why? If a category of information is legitimately useful in
judging an elected public official, how can it be illegitimate and outrageous
good place to stop. When your side has launched an offensive, been driven back,
and nervously awaits a counteroffensive, it's not a bad time for an armistice.
That would be hypocritical of course. But newspapers have the right to practice
hypocrisy in the privacy of their own editorial pages.
weapon was about to be delivered into their hands? Did they dig a tunnel to
Did they finally have an accusation that would shock a seemingly unshockable
least a bit of the old spirit and are puzzled that even this hasn't worked.
confirmed and denied the story, corroborators with their own reasons to
boiling water, but not if you put him in cold water and slowly heat it to
true. One or another of them might have stuck, but each one inured the public
admissions he has been forced to make, so that each new one was just a small
other things. The effect of these stories from the nether regions of the Vast
president preposterously accused of murder so often, you just yawn when he's
So now we are living in the world everyone has long
claimed to want: where we judge politicians based only on the issues and their
public records of governance. Some might feel that healthy indifference to what
politicians do in their private lives has gone too far when it covers
which means role models, and they are lay people taking on responsibilities
that in the past many congregants felt professionals had to do." What
Few things are more amusing than the national games
of other countries. Even the box scores are funny, so comical are the names of
higher purpose.) But for sheer tedium, nothing can rival our own national
inning is spent doing nothing: The pitcher is simply holding the ball. And when
your team is hitting, you spend nearly all that time sitting in the dugout.
professional basketball game take two and a half hours to televise, but at
incidentally, the only sport where players can smoke during the game; you used
to catch appealing glimpses on television of some professional athlete puffing
away. It made a welcome change from the spitting. I think a lot more people
would watch figure skating if they let the athletes smoke. And diving. And
For the first time in the 300-year history of sumo,
a foreigner became grand champion by defeating another foreigner.
with silver or something. We all have necks. The question is, do we stick it
actual publication that embodies conspicuous consumption and fatuousness better
than the following, from last week's New York Times "Home" section:
administration have "miscalculated." "The administration completely
miscalculated when it launched the air campaign," declared Sen. Frank
of one dimension of the story. In war, there are two players, and each can
miscalculate. Furthermore, war has a psychological dimension, in which each
side's morale is undermined by its mere belief that it has
miscalculated. To win the practical war, you don't have to calculate perfectly.
to lose the psychological war is to fret that you have misjudged your enemy's
resolve, while failing to entertain the possibility that he will decide he has
proved wrong so far," posing "dangers to the whole continent" and drawing the
wouldn't launch the airstrikes. But he was wrong. He may have believed they
wouldn't last after they were started. Wrong. He may have thought that some
countries would be afraid of his bluster and intimidation, they would withdraw
the use of their bases or buckle under his intimidation. He was wrong. He
thought that other countries might rush to his aid. Wrong again."
and mistreating them and humiliating them publicly would weaken our resolve.
Wrong again. He thought his air defense would be effective against our
aircraft. Wrong. He thought his troops would stay loyal. Increasingly he's
wrong about that. There are more desertions. Former generals are under arrest.
Dissent is growing louder and louder. Military press censorship has been
imposed. He thought he could hide the truth from his own people, I suppose, and
knows it. He should face up to this and he should face up to it now."
completely wrong and is further testimony to the success of the air campaign."
Absolutely. But to debate that question by itself is already a loaded
proposition, because it overlooks the corresponding question of whether
accordingly, can be humbled into reconsidering his belligerence before we
relative. He has heard enough pessimism from pundits and politicians on the
Joint Chiefs had "expressed deep reservations" in advance of the proposed
bombing. The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had warned the
These wise men who saw in their crystal ball exactly what
"Pentagon planners" and "officers who know [the Joint Chiefs'] thinking but
deposited on the doorsteps of the White House and the State Department.
Politicians, not generals, made the risky decisions, and politicians, not
generals, are getting reproached for them. But no matter. As soon as it became
clear that the mission had gone awry, Pentagon brass began leaking
profligately: In the span of a few days, anonymous quotes appeared in the
the leaks: The Joint Chiefs knew this would happen, they told the
administration this would happen, so don't blame them.
we could win if we just had a little more time and firepower. Today's armed
forces won't make the same mistake. "They don't want to be put in a hopeless
bleakly to any presidential proposal to actually deploy that force. A top
Pentagon officer from the Gulf War describes the generals' standard procedure:
"They tell the White House, 'You are going to need an overwhelming amount of
stuff. It's a bad idea. There will be terrible casualties. We recommend you
are left wondering whether to believe the generals, since they say this
If the pols overrule the generals and the mission goes
mission succeeds, the generals still harvest the credit. No one remembers their
the Joint Chiefs probably did not warn against the mission as emphatically or
to believe that he would have overruled the chiefs if they were as absolute as
the leaks suggest. Most experts also doubt the Joint Chiefs were unified in the
view that bombing wouldn't succeed: It's Air Force doctrine that bombing
will succeed in such circumstances, so Air Force advisers almost
certainly predicted a bombing triumph. Moreover, the generals' public behavior
bombed. The only public concerns the generals voiced before bombing were that
There is nothing wrong with the Joint Chiefs warning the
administration privately that bombing was folly. In fact, it would be derelict
for the generals not to warn the administration of that. But
(theoretically) a nonpolitical institution, but as soon as the operation went
So they leaked to guarantee that they would not be blamed for a quagmire or be
Crossfire for the Pentagon to stop leaking and "pull the team
The principal reason the leaks are troubling is not
that they sabotage the relationship between the administration and the
Pentagon; that relationship is always shaky. They are troubling because they
to our own troops that their commanders secretly believe their mission is
three years ago, we've joked about how you'd know when online magazines were
ready for mass consumption. It would be when you could take them, like print
These are situations in which reading is ordinarily
either awkward or impossible. They present no challenge, however, to my new
have to send my demo model back. This chunky little device, which weighs just
under a pound and a half, actually deserves that overused epithet
"revolutionary," because it has the power to change something as basic to human
I wrote about  last fall. You can now actually buy two different models.
a leather cover that gives off what someone must have imagined to be the musty
one big advantage is that you don't need a PC to use it. You buy books directly
screen is hard to read, navigating text is clumsy, and the whole device has an
unbalanced feel. The second drawback is it doesn't work. After reading a bit of
By contrast, the Rocket, which is made by a Silicon Valley
small print as well as a variety of lighting settings. You can orient the text
And because it doesn't need to be held open, you can read the Rocket
eating something greasy or shaving. All you need is one clean finger to click
the "forward" and "back" buttons that move the text a page at a time. The
getting stuff to read on the Rocket is a bit involved, it actually works
remarkably well. First, you load the Rocket software onto your PC. Second, you
to download what you've purchased into the "Rocket Library" on your PC. Fifth,
not an uncommon problem.) Instant gratification is an important part of the
There are other drawbacks of the sort you would expect from
categories. You can buy Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts
Into Sales and Life Without Stress: The Far Eastern Antidote to Tension
and Anxiety (which would seem to cancel each other out) but not
you consider that the publisher has eliminated such expenses as paper,
printing, binding, warehousing, distribution, and "returns." Another advantage
for publishers is that because a book is encrypted for a single user, it can't
sizable group of independent shops, embrace them. When you think about it,
fixed costs and by being able to keep everything in print forever. They might
even envision cutting out the middleman, namely the bookstore. If I retailed
asks. And it might be established authors who would try to do an end run around
both publishers and booksellers and get thousands of books and magazines free.
Just last week, Rocket released a beta version of software that lets anyone
transcontinental flight. Another feature I love is that you can find remembered
their screens will get more legible, and their batteries will last longer.
Soon, they may do what a related device called the Audible can do, and actually
may even be given away, or sold at a token price with content purchase
agreements or subscriptions, on the model of cell phones. But I have no doubt
that they're coming. And when they truly arrive, I predict that the Rocket will
be remembered as a landmark: The first demonstration that reading a "book"
didn't require paper, ink, or even an overhead light.
himself unattractively represented in hundreds of editorial cartoons as a
act? If it's just plain stupid to continue making rambling, drunken, late night
Well, you get your message out, shape the debate, and perhaps gain influence
campaign team (including sister Bay) is unavailable, because the field is so
crowded, and because the voters have "wised up," I add, quoting only myself, a
acquitted, and it's one of those acquittals in which the person was guilty
that was entrusted to me by a friend, and to him by a friend, and I really
can't say more than that. Please, read until the end for the shocking
face and name have been associated with the sound tracks and recordings made by
the motion picture industry. If your studio is not involved then I apologize
and am writing in error. I do not have access to the names of the studios
involved in the production of the motion pictures associated with my voice.
anything said by me was said with the permission of the United States
unfortunately lost my identity. I have come back to many incidents in my life
with friends of hers. They have entered my home wherever I have lived without
permission. They have shocked my person to the extent that I blacked out
penny for the records, tapes, or motion picture sound tracks made with my
voice. I did not give permission for anyone to record my voice. I did not at
use my voice in the production of a motion picture. I do not want my voice used
again by the motion picture industry, nor do I want any more songs
that something so frightening should be given the name of something so pure and
able to land in grandma's backyard at night, in thick fog, without hitting the
this another one of those commercials to convince women they can drive sport
sustain an erotic life. And incompetence is funny. Something falls on someone's
head. The hose doesn't work, then it does, then it squirts somebody in the
face. Someone tries to build something, and it collapses in a heap of rubble.
hill, it crushes that poor bastard's toes. Of course it all depends on whose
toe we're talking about. As Mel Brooks observed, if you break your back, that's
that's justice. I paraphrase, of course, and no doubt incompetently.
vehicles with wings bolted on top, which had to be dismantled before they could
with power fans that simply lift the car into the air.
When I need shampoo or a stereo or a piece of heavy
industrial equipment, I can read up or ask a professional, but what I really
wonder is: What sort of earthmover do celebrities recommend?
she's going to become one wealthy celebrity endorser.
really is, particularly in retirement? What if he goes nuts one day and slaps
2-by-4. That might discourage people from seeking his advice on refreshing
go to my Aunt Rose for medical advice. (Hint: She loves those new gel caps, so
easy to swallow!) If she were always available online instead of just in the
welcome to offer a sentence from an actual publication that best conveys
nation can, as long it avoids hard data and stakes its pride on cultural
Surely the milk can guy wakes up in the middle of the night and admits to
evening news and the only compelling rhythm is the beat of my heart when the
to last always intended as a love letter to both faith and God almighty." The
after it printed a cartoon showing a thug being asked to kill a woman rather
man's. (Blood money is compensation that must be paid to the family of a victim
organization more soporific than "Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities," a
"Citizens Concerned With Environmental Development. (An actual
ease community fears. In fact, they plan to take it to fairs so children can
climb on it and have their pictures taken with it. What?
plastic. Oh, you're kidding. A thimble of gum surrounded by hard candy. Oh!
"Brands of household cleaners. You know, this is the kind of thing our
newspapers are going to be just filled with if we let gay marriage go any
sure of. And I remember the first scene; the boys are playing poker.
is searing intestinal pain. I think I had a bad piece of bratwurst. But whether
sauerkraut as Dirk) or Doc's brilliant writing, something about that evening
left a lasting impression. Years later, in the middle of one of our
and smelly, he's grown tired of life, you jerk." The next morning, we flew to
shaping shredded bills into pellets and using those as an ingredient in
lightweight bricks with excellent insulating properties.
Bank, "the question is secondary. The mark will soon be history, and what
headline; all four headlines from the same edition of one newspaper.)
broke the law, lacked ethics and professionalism, and embraced a code of
York state. (The study centered on where you are likely to find women starting
program is to count the number of projects that but for that grant would not
tend to fund those happy in their work, people who simply continue what they've
been doing for years, but in more stylish clothes. Another way to judge a grant
program is to count the number of summer houses the grant recipients have
menopause emerged as a less traumatic transition than is usually reported. Dr.
menopausal woman with sweat running down her face is just not true."
largest supplier to public safety professionals." Can you match the trademark
B. Holster (also available: Tornado, Grabber, White
now, we have always depended strictly on altruism." What is he talking
playfully grabbed the other by the wrist and shouted, "Run! Run!" What was
competent) enough to keep viewers satisfied but also distinct (and flawed)
enough so that when the star returns, everyone remembers exactly why they love
him so. Similarly, when a telegenic politician with a good head of hair and who
prides himself on compassion teams up with the mayor of New York City, the
result is a comedic explosion of matter and antimatter.
"He is one of the real hopes that the Republican Party has of regaining
control of the United States," said the mayor in his characteristic military
"He's a good tough campaigner," the governor reciprocated manfully.
"I think I might have eaten a bad clam," said someone, perhaps me.
Neither man would formally endorse the other, but when a reporter asked the
mayor if he'd specifically urged the governor to run, Bush contorted his arm
behind his back and said, "He twisted my..." Well, you know what he said. Then
a) "One bomb appeared to be seduced off target at the final stages."
b) "Relax, it's not like we hit a convoy of refugees or anything."
scheduled, but administration officials acknowledged that they would have to
4-c. At least, that's the only one the New York Times reporter didn't
been "rescheduled for a later date," the postal service said. "They're
replacing the dove with an Apache helicopter, so it'll take at least a month
before it arrives," the postal service did not add.
want to pay your taxes today all you have to do is say two magic words:
government spokesman explains why the federal government is funding research on
leader, to all the other cats, to finally get those dogs. (The head cat learned
more demoralizing than an inspirational address. That sort of thing generally
entails a coach or an east regional sales manager exhorting you to do something
pointless, painful, or profitable to someone else. Physics has few
inspirational speeches: Unify that Field Theory! Writing novels, performing
rousing declamation. Sex sometimes includes a heartening oration, but usually
toward the end, urging you on to mutual victory; such remarks are rarely
delivered at halftime, when you're lurking in the locker room, glum and
battered. (The exception here is phone sex, where the inspirational speech
gladiators used to say. Not too many people today seek inspiration from the
Senate, although a surprising number do seek sex there, frequently for money.
The words in each line must originally appear adjacent to each other in a
The headlines must all come from a single edition of a single paper.
Awards broadcast yields one perfect remark. Participants are invited to predict
gap" with the Soviets and the "swimming pool and redwood deck gap" at the
summer houses of General Dynamics executives? Well, it's back, and it's called
the perfect program for a time when the best delivery system for a small
programs that might actually benefit the country, but by taking scientists and
engineers away from real work, it will skew technological progress for decades.
of happiness to come from this occurred yesterday; at the exact moment of
Transportation Department has reduced the number of these crossings from
crossings will get upgraded warning systems including, in some cases, gates
crash is suspected of veering around the gates in an attempt to beat the train
News Quiz Spring Cleaning Extra is the rug under which to sweep them.
"There's a certain value in being overly courteous, even when it's to the
officers should call men "sir," as long as it's clear they don't mean any
characters want to participate in a nurturing experience. Unfortunately, the
parents not to let their little ones hug the television. Especially the
the Lone Ranger, it had not yet determined his identity."-- A New York
Times correction, barely concealing the urge to shout, "Who was that masked
He's done it twice, and he announced on the radio that if it were legal
to do it again he would. Opponents say this desire indicates "a strange
on drums and try to get the talking stick away from a weepy Tom
Beyond a preschool visit to a local dairy, my first
factories. Fear of lawsuits has superseded pride in the product.
One delightful exception, should you like your kids
door by the end of the day. You get to see people building something that's not
idiotic, a great treat for one who's worked in television.
But if you're trying to inspire artificial amity, that's not such a bad
for calling the travelers "congressmen," omitting the women representatives.
actors and historians, will present selections from the Great Emancipator.
huge number, but it's a short month, and I use a local Internet service
Eleven involved retail sales (dental care, computers, divorce lawyers, online
auctions); four announced some sort of performance; one was an ancient chain
removed from the list, and you learn that the return address is bogus. I
opportunity, it's unconvincing. If it's a personal suggestion, it's
becoming a travel agent, but they frequently include an enormous cartoon
which word in the above phrase is the least attractive.
for addressing these questions; it's called psychotherapy.
presidential candidate by serious voters everywhere. He served two successful
and he has stopped playing the piano at campaign stops.
friends (including an old roommate, a godmother to his kids, and someone who
words, only one of them doesn't know him, and most know him extremely
well. "He's a friend and I like him, and when a friend asks for help, you give
friends and acquaintances, but he probably has enough to make a dent in that
his brains, decency, commitment to public service, and honor. They applaud his
experience governing. He has the skills to carry out what he believes in. He
nomination are 15-to-1 against. The contributors all recognize that he would be
trounced by Bush and Dole if the primaries were held today. Instead they cling
happenings only obliquely. A few mention a "Bush stumble," but most are even
more circumspect. "Other candidates could have something unfavorable in
"Other candidates may be sexier at this hour, but once we
Because they are relying on a Bush fade, the contributors
mean anything, they say. Voters are probably still reacting to "that plaid
don't think you should make fun of anyone who has a strong desire for public
service. It takes hard work, and he will outwork all the others," says Brent
The endless campaign has "tested" him in ways that novice
candidates such as Bush and Dole can't even imagine. Republicans believe in
recent days, the National Rifle Association and its allies have argued that
or incendiary device in the commission of a felony.
Setting a device designed to cause an explosion upon being triggered.
"Incredibly, we've been asked if we would support an instant check on
violence that may be prosecuted in a federal court.
commit a crime of violence prosecutable in federal court.
salient feature of these nine laws is that the killers violated them
during the massacre, not beforehand. To say that these laws were
walked into a school and brandished, aimed, and discharged firearms in a manner
calculated to alarm people, endanger the safety of others, and further a crime
of violence. It is meaningless to bring up these laws in a discussion of
prevention. Like murder laws, they are designed to prevent a killer's second
interstate transportation, sale, etc., of a stolen firearm.
rifle for him. But she was not charged because it is legal in Colorado for a
minor to own shotguns and rifles." There is no evidence that any of the guns
least one of the firearms used in the crime had an obliterated serial
possession of certain kinds of weapons, essentially duplicating other statutes
E. Formalities. So the list of relevant laws known to have
no law prohibited them from acquiring both a shotgun and a saw. So this law
handguns. If that law had been passed and effectively enforced, it would have
prevented the elder gunman from acquiring the handgun used in the massacre.
committed with guns by their kids. This law might or might not have prompted
the parents of the Colorado killers to intervene before the massacre.
institutional version of bipolar disorder. One day it shouts obscenities in
your face. The next it's calm nearly to the point of affectlessness.
for exhibitions of political and conceptual art that often took the form of
whirring installations and blurry videos. The most notorious of these was "The
Black Male in Western Art," at which patrons were handed buttons reading "I
Can't Imagine Ever Wanting to be White." This was a museum that so angered
traditionalists that one of the local weeklies used to run ads for a
survey scheduled to occupy the entire museum for the next eight months. Drawing
heavily on works in the museum's permanent collection, some of which are rarely
culture that eschews any explicit judgments at all for fear someone might
"the intellectual, scientific, and artistic capital of the world." The first
around to proposing an answer. It's as if such a massive assemblage is supposed
to speak for itself. Actually, this exhibition does make a clear statement, but
not only paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs but also sheet music,
music playing in the stairwells, clips from movies, movie posters, novels,
furniture, design objects, architectural models, and stills from dance
chronologically. After finally getting through the line and into the museum,
visitors get a brief orientation on the ground floor, take the elevator to the
Avenue. People were collapsing on benches with advanced cases of art
nearly empty, the audience having surrendered. To see this show at a brisk
in any thoughtful or even coherent way. The top floor, covering the first two
having given you much sense of how the vast distance from Point A to Point B
was covered. While the 1920s (the fourth floor) do stand as a plausibly
(second floor) don't. The various forms of politically driven realism that
end of World War II. And the New York School of abstraction, which became
predominant after the war, was near its apex, not its end, by the arbitrary
at least be tidy. And what's the sense of imposing a rigid and arbitrary
candle to what was happening overseas until after World War II. When you look
modernists in relation to their far less interesting domestic contemporaries
and a broad cultural context that seems mostly irrelevant to their work. This
The raw material for that show is all here. Walking through the galleries, you
related, bright spot was the 1920s' movement that has come to be called
school was Abstract Expressionism, which blossomed after World War II and is
same paintings she collected out of the vault for a fresh look. But such a show
would have meant the museum taking a hard look at its own, often controversial
or its conciliatory new director, is very eager to do.
The cover story foretells the possible demise of the
and the United States is wearying of its protector role. Even so, the two will
extradition and trial of two terrorists. In exchange, the West would lift its
Silicon Valley companies and historically black colleges are making in training
feature intensive mentoring and peer support, are a limited but meaningful step
candidates don't speak English well enough to teach effectively, edge their
The columnist has not actually read the book. He does, however, criticize
investors and employees a retail revolution, but Amazon's stock price and lofty
multiculturalism, but he is reluctant to be a French hero, and French racism
a family who unknowingly adopted a schizophrenic son. The son struggled to find
his birth mother's medical history, which had been withheld by the adoption
agency, and committed suicide when he learned of her terrible mental illness. A
generation ago, adoption agencies considered mental illness to be strictly a
product of poor upbringing, and too private and unpleasant to disclose to
standard criticism of the president ("a complicated man responding to the
pressures and pleasures of public life in ways I found both awesome and
National Security Adviser Tony Lake teaching the president how to salute
from his tendency to give wildly impractical orders that he never really wanted
take: Bush's greatest liability as a candidate is his air of inevitability,
which exposes him to an upset in the primaries. When asked to comment on
out feminist ideals perhaps even more consistently than women who wear feminism
mountains where he is being sought. Fundamentalist locals identify with and may
the publication of his damning report on the army's record of political
government and army authorities spun the murder as a homosexual crime of
passion, resulting in the arrest and (finally abandoned) prosecution of one of
and that the president is to blame. He has dealt a mortal blow to the women's
movement by forcing Democratic and feminist leaders to ignore his commission of
Fill in the blank. Ending her China trip yesterday, Secretary of State
Pediatrics is meant to make it happen even less. What?
"Circumlocution. From now on, boys will be obligated to get to the point.
goofy nostalgia in many of today's responses, recalling boyish sexual stirrings
in a nonexistent time without today's easy access to pornography. In those
days, a trembling boy who yearned to see a naked woman had to see her on the
radio, and that took imagination. If he lacked imagination, he'd need an older
sister whose friends slept over, plus a homemade periscope, assembled at a
scout meeting during those interludes when he wasn't being fondled by the scout
"medical indication" for the routine circumcision of infants. While the group
does not oppose the procedure for religious or cultural reasons, the new policy
calls for the use of pain reducing creams or injections.
"I am truly grateful that we are able to bestow this priceless gift on
generations to come. And so I proudly dedicate Trump's Sequoia
"There are several inaccuracies in what was printed, and that's of more
concern than what it might do to the ratings. And another thing: I can
then. And we're in a, oh, call it a haircut war now, so die, you shaggy
criticizing the former president for trampling the constitution.
"We are absolutely serious about making this a terrific place to work for a
Party's agony over abortion is that the leading Republican lights are almost
murdered babies every year? Not likely. So they must pretend to a deep moral
belief they probably don't have, then pretend to have come up with a reason
The official Republican position on abortion, as expressed
no Republican could be elected to any office except, perhaps, pope. Fortunately
who do understand it assume correctly that the party doesn't really mean
unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be
infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse
legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to
equal protection of the laws." If the fetus is a person under the
be no exceptions for rape or incest. And the woman who procures an abortion is
guilty of murder just as if she had hired a gunman to kill her born offspring.
on to say, "we have only compassion" for women who procure abortions and "our
shows that the platform does not even believe itself, since that stuff about
consistent. If full human life begins at conception, then full human rights do
too, including the right to equal protection of the laws. It is a concept that
does not easily lend itself to compromise, as the Republican presidential
contenders are demonstrating. Their search for a way out has led most of them
says about the abortion issue, "I believe we are an inclusive party and we can
be so without changing our principles." What does this mean? Does it mean that
people should feel free to vote Republican even if they disagree with what the
Republican Party stands for? A nice offer, though I wouldn't expect many
takers. Or does it mean that because there are so many people to divvy up, the
grow this party. ...We're recognizing that there are differences. This is a
are only two parties. So why wouldn't we have some differences?"
would be suicidal for a party to demand agreement on all issues from either its
candidates or its voters. The tricky question is what are the core values that
really define you and what are the fringe issues on which differences are not
crucial. Republicans would prefer not to be defined by their position on
definitive by definition. How can you make the capital gains tax a litmus test
issue but say that the slaughter of millions of innocent children is something
about which you have only a mild preference and don't care much if people
disagree? The truth is that most Republican leaders don't actually take their
alleged position on abortion seriously. But they can't admit this.
The other rhetorical way out for Republican politicians is
Last week she called on Republican women to "set an example" and "refuse to be
don't view the abortion issue as a matter of life. I do. That's one reason why
attempt to dress craven pragmatism as high principle, but it makes no sense.
The Republican and Democratic platforms are littered with proposals that are
"not going to happen." Almost nothing is going to happen if a majority must
already favor it before any political leader will speak out in its favor. If
she actually believed that millions of human lives were at stake, the former
head of the Red Cross surely wouldn't try to build a holy crusade around
refusal to discuss the matter. Nor would she blame the media for an "inordinate
and therefore "I do not support a constitutional amendment that would overturn
overturning Roe by Supreme Court decision rather than by constitutional
business, a rather leisurely approach if you honestly believe that the
jurisprudence, and advanced metaphysical speculation, you're probably wondering
constitutional amendment is not going to happen. "But that's not
profess to believe that human life begins at conception and that abortion is
murder, it's not important whether you actually do anything about it.
Republican position on abortion than any other candidate's. But it is more than
to act on them. They can actually believe what they say, for all I care. Though
I doubt, in the case of most Republican presidential candidates, that this last
has not taken responsibility for its actions in the same
notes in his apologies, he is an economist, not a journalist. Given the
accurate I have seen during the past six months. He makes clear what few have
wish the public discussion of his article had focused on solutions to the
dilemma he posed rather than on an extraneous appendage.
Congress and the president have cheerfully ignored that clear constitutional
planes in certain areas, and doesn't threaten our troops, then we will
anxieties of academic life through the eyes of a shockingly irresponsible
instructor. The way in which the author views both graduate and undergraduate
students reveals unhealthy personal insecurity. Teaching is a profoundly
to their professors, and those who command such authority must recognize their
responsibilities to their students. The stresses of an academic are truly
heavy, but why should it be different from any other profession? Does the
author think that teaching in the university involves a lighter load than
working for a corporation? Why? Furthermore, the author is fortunate enough to
have a job when so many of the author's fellow humanities scholars are without
World War II, that would cause many, many dead and even more refugees."
are now ruining the economy of rather a poor country. When Western troops cross
conflict has been squeezed off the front pages of many papers this week by
under orders not to kill, beat, or mutilate their victims and that most obeyed.
more," he said. While claiming that the cleansers generally "respected human
tougher to move than the others, "but if you push hard enough, they all go in
sorry for the children he expelled from their homes, but said that, as
anyway, I knew there would always be someone to meet those women and children,"
their families on the spot, but his orders had been to hand them over to the
number of our soldiers, it means that every one of them must have raped three
women," she said. "So when did they find the time to fight?" Referring to one
I could have cured my patients of impotence by pointing a pistol at their
magazine Private Eye had an exceptionally tasteless cover this week of
The cover story warns that cheap oil, though a boon to
consumers, could bankrupt the poor and politically unstable nations that
impasse. The United States berates China for human rights abuses and illicit
they may lead to premature and overaggressive surgery. The operations are often
heartfelt, but their politics are naive and their use of emotion is cheap.
section ("Making the Most of It") devoted to the poor, portraying
biological feminism based on new research showing that women's bodies are
"tougher, stronger, and lustier" than stereotype dictates. According to
anatomically superior to the penis, and menstruation is an expression of
"primal female power." The story is oddly competitive, keeping score between
the genders on strength, agility, and aggression, and mischievously wondering
"which sex should rule." Photographs of scantily dressed, genetically gifted
women illustrate it. A sidebar traces political attitudes toward women's bodies,
long list of women's health concerns, from familiars such as pregnancy and
the magazine is given to firsthand narratives by veterans and others. A
story explains why depression is so hard to treat effectively: Insurers
the disease is still mistaken, even by its victims, for everyday doldrums. The
cover promises new treatments, but the story inside says very little about
West's steady bombing, the dictator has been firing military brass and
firm's decision to go public was driven by unbridled individual greed and
the firm's original success. One telling detail about the firm's legendary
emphasis on teamwork: Employees have constant access to a database where they
And even those records "are gibberish as they currently stand," sighs one
president, because he's smart, principled, and destined to lose. Whereas
and uninspiring" candidate who could be vanquished quietly and nobly.
than four years and married for two and a half. He has a child with an
the "accidental" pregnancy because my husband was talking of leaving her, and
she hoped it would keep him around. I was quite disturbed by this, and now more
so since a woman friend of his ex told me she has done the same thing to
needs to put this woman in her place but don't know if it's any of my business.
the way.) It just doesn't sit well with me to see another child used in this
way, and another good man being manipulated like this. For some reason I just
buttons. It is not, however, your job in life to put people in their places.
Another reason for butting out is that you say this latest trapper is a bad
person to have mad at you. People can get knocked down, as well as up, you
know. What I mean is that by confronting this woman with something that is
really none of your business, you run the risk of incurring her enmity and
making yourself a target for social unpleasantness.
dearly held principle makes interjecting oneself acceptable: when you can
affect the outcome. In this situation, however, the man is already trapped (and
presumably committed to child support) and the woman is not about to undergo an
the end of your stay? More to the point, is it considered impolite to not make
bed in a hotel is like whipping up your own souffle in a restaurant. Other
being a guest in someone's home, where it is good manners to make your bed. The
mannerly, to ask the hosts how they wish the bed to be left. Some people want
it stripped, others left as is for their housekeepers to deal with.
thoughtfulness, however, and is sure you are one of those considerate people
who, when ending a hotel stay, leaves a tip for the maid.
years with a most remarkable person. He and I have been going through many
growth and development phases. We have realized that I am somewhat conventional
and that he is non-. The differences in our values are sometimes trivial,
sometimes important. None of the differences, however, interfere with our trust
when you are giving, expecting, or hoping for too much? Is there an answer to
"remarkable" bodes well for your future together, as does your understanding of
your differences. There are no guarantees, of course, about how differences
will play out, so all you can do is try to look ahead and imagine if you both
friends, perhaps "Aunt" or "Uncle." Most of our (yuppie) friends have their
kids call my wife and me by our first names. Not a big deal, but we think this
is a bad example for our children. What do you say?
manner in which the adults ask to be addressed or, alternatively, in the way in
which their own parents instruct them. The real example for the children ought
to be what is comfortable and polite. With luck, they are the same thing. It
the times. Perhaps you might take a social inventory of who is calling whom
what in your circle and then make a standard ruling for your children. If,
however, you are seriously unhappy with youngsters calling their elders by
address. It might make your children stand out, however.
the West's "riskiest ventures." The action sets a dangerous precedent by
attacking a sovereign state for suppressing an ethnic minority with
secessionist aspirations. Its strategy is faulty: Member countries are
because there were reservations within his own party and administration about
international airport, deepened the recession and worsened inflation. Now that
fiscal austerity and higher interest rates have been imposed a more prosperous
relaunches with articles on subjects predictable (female candidates for
president, abortion clinic violence) and less so (adultery, the benefits of
essay, "In Praise of Women," features shots of impoverished or oppressed women
apart geographically, we are all sisters in our souls.")
Policies and social custom encourage early retirement, subsidized by government
programs. As the percentage of seniors increases, these programs will dominate
the federal budget. Increasing savings and reinventing retirement as a mix of
argues that feminists and conservatives share the same misguided view of gender
relations: that women are pervasively victimized by society and need special
traditionalists recognize: Most women manage to have a "workable balance of job
increasingly common practice of impregnating women with sperm retrieved from
ruminating on politics and politically minded writers commenting on film.
lead a developed nation and do nothing to improve the status of women or
story exposes homophobia on Wall Street. Though some of Wall Street's
house complete with ritual hazing." Closeted bankers and brokers lie about
their extracurricular lives; out (and outed) peers suffer insults, wage
who was fired when he requested health benefits for his partner is now suing
capitalism." The inventors of the television, the computer, and plastics make
dominant figure of Western culture," has redefined the relationships between
withdraw from partisan politics, comparing today's Christian politicians to the
religious teetotalers who passed Prohibition in a misguided attempt to regulate
morality. "The vision of worldly power is a distraction," he warns.
enlisting the youngest, most libertarian, and most idealistic of President
Bush's former White House advisers. "The revenge of the deputies," an older
wrong decade." Her absolutist policy style, formerly lauded, is now deemed
schools readers should attend, but then asks if they should enroll at all. The
expansive job market makes young people increasingly hesitant to trade their
robust starting salaries for tuition debt and library toil. There are few
blame their boss' sorry poll numbers on the same strain of
The good news: Gore's fidelity to Tipper has never been questioned. Gore wants
his campaign team to resemble a Web site, where "each person links to many
cable is broadcasting programs on the mating rituals of lions and chimps.
under her watch and also suggests that she intentionally withheld information
had contact with people and documents telling of family members' religion and
pornography a cheap thrill. From college courses to journal articles, the newly
respectable field of porn studies evinces the ivory tower's desperate need to
town where it is located. The townspeople find the proprietors invasive and
insufferably haughty; the owners, in turn, call the locals homophobes and
partially backed by circumstantial evidence, accuses the president of having
raped her two decades ago. The president denies it but refuses to say where he
was that day. The public believes her but seems not to care. The opposition
party declines to press the issue, and the media concede it will go away. How
played a game. His enemies conspired to drive him from office. His friends
conspired to protect him. Each side did and said whatever it deemed necessary
to capture public opinion. The game ended, but the spins remain engraved in our
about politics than about truth. Together, they have ruined his accusers'
credibility. His apologists have dismissed every charge against him as the
everything possible to prove that theory right. Rather than let each woman
Spectator outed her three years later. Conservative activists financed and
investigators to her home, subpoenaed her, and dumped her name and story into
Why did she finally tell her story? Because "all of these stories are floating
around," she said, "and I was tired of everybody putting their own spin on
conservative associations to distract the public from his treatment of women.
investigation as a political "war." While Democrats discounted impeachment as a
tactics to push these into play without verification."
along a spectrum of violence, from consensual adultery (Flowers) to unwanted
destroying him with whichever scandal was at hand, lumped them together and
overplayed the lesser charges. Their latest gaffe was to spend a year
"think the allegations represent a pattern of behavior."
of violence into a pattern of sex and thereby dismiss it as immaterial.
Tribune called it another allegation of "boorish and immoral sexual
about the candidate's life." Framed this way, the story is dying.
and impeachable offenses. Not only did this weak poison fail to kill him, it
strengthened his immune system. It raised the threshold for inquiring into
offense can't be prosecuted and proved in court, it no longer matters.
about charges that can't be legally proved. "There is no way we'll ever know
unknowable. Legally, it doesn't seem to go anywhere." This notion that the
charge "doesn't go anywhere" legalizes and objectifies the investigative
process, absolving the speaker of responsibility to pursue the question.
Likewise, the word "unknowable" disguises the fact that the
merits of the charges are not only knowable; they are known by two people.
replied: "I don't think you're going to hear anything from him, nor do I think
it's going to lend any new information. Let's move on." Thus the passive
that those who dared to pursue the question would "tear people's lives apart
fatigue and fear of exasperating the public, reporters and politicians observe
that the "statute of limitations" on the rape charge has expired. A legitimate
him. "It's not that we're tired, and it's not that we're lacking in moral
independent counsel law provides additional legal cover for this exit. "The
for all inquiry lets politicians and journalists pass the buck. Upon leaving
die "because Republicans don't want to touch" it, and fellow Late
with it. There's no impeachment process. I don't see what keeps this story
Maybe what seemed coercive to her seemed merely rough to him. Maybe he lost
control and has regretted it ever since. But the bottom line is that he's
giving no answers, and a nation jaded by spin is giving him a pass. It's less
and less clear that actions have consequences. And it's more and more clear
This raised alarms throughout the world, until the speaker's office retracted
and Internet companies, which presumably would undermine China's ability to
radio station from among hundreds of contestants, to conceive the "millennium
baby" in separate rooms of the same hotel today. If any of the couples
she asked her mother, "How does it feel to have a daughter that's going to be
in the public and everybody knows that she's going to have sex tomorrow?"
concluding: "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines." The spins on the race:
weather, leaving them so well preserved that their internal organs remain
intact and the hair on their arms is still visible. Religious artifacts that
were evidently part of the sacrifice were also recovered. The anthropological
has lifted sanctions it imposed several years ago to punish
sex in exchange for providing illegal drugs to them. His sentence is part of a
deal in which he pleaded guilty to statutory rape and reckless endangerment.
he had the virus is that he didn't believe the nurse. His attorney's spin:
the concern he may not live out his sentence." The naive retributive spin: He
should have been sentenced to death. The sophisticated spin: He has been.
charges of conspiracy, theft of computer service, and interruption of public
communications. The virus jammed up the Internet by replicating itself in
Smith is an ingenious villain, and the computer security companies that pursued
him were ingenious sleuths using sophisticated technology and techniques. The
him in by letting law enforcement officials see the log that showed which phone
after a few more weeks and months or what have you of continuously pounding
them into pieces." However, he adds, "We may have one flaw in our thinking."
blame the ambiguous use of ellipses. And those damn video games. Violent
of you phoned him today?) Our failure to embrace a lackluster technical fix
blame myself. I should simply have asked: "What did it say on the back?"
as well as in form, today's question garnered a record number of responses
scorning the heartlessness of News Quiz. It also garnered a record number of
responses, or if not a record, certainly a lot. So, presumably participants
Columbine's traditional rival, welcomed their guests with banners and signs
including, "We Are One," featuring Columbine's colors, blue and white, and
each linked to shopping opportunities. Which of these are actual Yahoo Mother's
the air war to produce a political solution." If no breakthrough occurs by
beyond that, there is no clarity on who stands where on what, especially on the
Cook's "significant" statement that the troops are being prepared for
and US clash again on when to send in troops," the tabloid Daily Mail
reckless absolutism in his conduct of the war" by ruling out any "exit
be no compromise and that all options, including the use of land forces,
remained open," it said. Now he has what he wanted.
said it has made his "essential task" of putting some distance between himself
President's conduct of the conflict," it explained. "He is therefore tied to an
York Times that he is continuing with the airstrikes but not ruling out
agencies and has increased the security around her. The Daily Telegraph
she said that she too feared she would be murdered and had therefore decided to
employees (married male, unmarried female) are spending an inordinate amount of
time together during office hours. People are beginning to talk. These two
and there during the day chatting and occasionally whispering. They go out to
requires "meetings." It is at the point now where other employees are making
the bad part is that now he is telling colleagues he is too busy to do some
figure out a way to tell him (or her) that this is affecting the work
talk to him or her. My colleagues don't feel close enough to either of them to
say what needs to be said, but neither do we want to make a big thing of it by
telling his manager. He is the senior of the two people involved. How should we
reasons to get together, the whole office is chirping about their lengthy
think there is no more than a "flirtation." This is like imagining that a
dinosaur died in a standing position at the museum of natural history.
You and your colleagues must rethink your reticence
about not saying anything to anybody. The fact that you are an office of only
resources department? It is pledged to confidentiality and could intervene.
useful.) If your company is too small to have an HR unit, then a designated
be done. Please note that we are not dealing with the fact that the man is
except that my fiance doesn't always realize the extent of his mother's
manipulations or their possible effect on our relationship. Mostly she tries to
"deserting his family" in order to be with me. (She has always relied heavily
on him for emotional support following her divorce from his father.)
point out what a horror his mother is, but it's very difficult to watch him
take these unrelenting guilt trips. Plus, I worry that this ever so slightly
Oedipal situation is going to get in the way of his commitment to me. Is there
witch. He already knows. This is a wonderful opportunity to cement your
relationship as partners: Be his ally, not his attacker. In the interest of
had very unhappy consequences for her. For that is the crux of her acting out:
killing the old girl with kindness. Include her when you can, and let it be
your suggestion. It will disorient her totally. Just know that her
neurosis has nothing to do with the love you and the beloved have for each
the game and by not responding in a destructive way.
is, of course, call him whatever he wants to be called, but we are all curious
question has been preserved. She relied on the dictionary, which said, "A
subject of his posting has caused me real embarrassment and discomfort. What
forest ranger's adage: Fight fire with fire. Make your own posting on the same
to have sex even though we have only been going out for four weeks. I feel that
this will change our relationship and make it more complicated. She says that
if I were a real man I would have sex with her. Should I hold out until I feel
maneuvered into bed. Tell your shy violet that if she doesn't approve of your
timetable you're certain she can find someone who will accommodate her.
alternative to a safety net is a revolution"). Others say it's a moral
could have bought an insurance contract, then you'd probably have snapped up
some kind of "skill insurance" in which everybody pays premiums, and those who
land in the shallow end of the gene pool split the pot.
Of course, you didn't buy insurance. But that's only because
bought the insurance if you could have, and that creates a moral obligation
That's a very powerful argument, but it's incomplete. Here's why: It
offers no estimate of how much insurance your unborn self would have
contracts, but you can't enforce a contract if you don't know what it says. So,
They guess. Most of them guess that our unborn selves would all have cheerfully
signed on for a pretty substantial welfare state. Being an economist and not a
philosopher, I am inclined to think about such questions a little more
How much insurance would an unborn soul want to buy? We already know a
lot about the demand for insurance from available data on how much of it (fire,
life, disability, auto, etc.) people in the real world buy.
Some people demand more insurance than others do because they face more
might have purchased, we must first estimate how much risk you were facing when
statistical variance of the possible outcomes. In this case, that means
measuring the statistical variance of human talents. You can't measure talent
similar education and training, and measuring the variance in their earnings.
After you've controlled for education and training, earnings are at least a
Once you've measured that variance, you've measured the risk, so you can
go back to the insurance markets and observe how much insurance people choose
to buy when they're facing similar risk levels. That gives at least a rough
estimate of how much we should all be paying into the general welfare pool.
sacrificed a lunch hour and the back of an envelope to computing that rough
estimate. The bottom line turns out to be astounding: If you take the insurance
have discovered that their arguments are a lot stronger than they dared to
implicitly assumed that it would be costless to identify the people with the
fewest skills so that we can put only those people on the dole. That assumption
becomes invalid if highly skilled people can hide their abilities in an attempt
to defraud the system. Policing such fraud can make social insurance policies
considerably more expensive, and when insurance is more expensive, people want
less of it. Factor that into the equation, redo the calculations, and
you end up concluding that the fraction of the population on welfare should be
social net should be drastically expanded, and maybe it should be drastically
slashed. Not too definitive a conclusion. But it's the result of just one
afternoon's work, and it's more precise than anything the philosophers have
reasons that could fill a separate column. But the broader point is that if
your argument is based on metaphors, you should be prepared to treat those
metaphors with respect. If the safety net is really just like insurance, then
we should be buying it in quantities commensurate with our other insurance
purchases. And we should be making an honest effort to calculate what those
quantities are. The philosophers don't seem willing to meet that
with the government" and that meant I knew nothing bad was going to happen to
in his generation. As a journalist, however, he was careless, and I happened to
be his unlucky victim. His accusation is false. He did not bother checking with
was not offered any government job, not the least the central bank presidency.
I did not have access to any privileged information either. As it turned out,
invitation, which I was honored to accept. These are the facts.
written two notes on the episode, both available on his Web site. In them he
states that he does not believe that I am corrupt (thanks, but in my worst
nightmares I never dreamed my name and the word corruption would appear on the
same page) and that he did not treat me unfairly. I beg to disagree. Whether
a government post is immaterial. People should be judged by their actions and
their record, not by labels of any kind, not by rumors.
is never iconoclastic or even interesting to read the predictable
bad that the kind of thinking these two represent has led to so many dead
enthusiastic readership to the reactionary, bigoted, and sexist drivel of Midge
disguised undertone of racism: As he castigates "white liberals" for assuming
say, "Well, what can you expect? We told those white liberals years ago that
behavior is both representative of and entirely in keeping with the "character"
While we may deplore that sex has become the dominating factor in many young
people's lives, the goal should be to expand and emphasize the nonsexual means
of personal expression ("liberation") available to them, not to return to the
repressive and contaminating moral hypocrisies of a previous age.
more minutes left on them. And that the editors of 
never see fit to subject their readership to them again.
prices has led to a big jump in federal tax receipts but isn't counted as an
present value of expected future earnings; these earnings will be counted as
criticizes the Tax Foundation. The group, he says, "assumes that the average
taxpayer pays an average share of estate and capital gains taxes, which is
absurd." In fact, it isn't absurd at all. The median or modal taxpayer may not
pay the average, but the average one obviously does.
income does not go to the federal government, but he is wrong if he
thinks that we don't pay around that in taxes overall. Does he include the
in state and sales taxes on every dollar earned or spent, respectively, plus
some unknown amount in property taxes (and renters get screwed the most here,
restaurant meals, liquor, and other "sin" taxes). All told this seems to add up
total income to taxes than the rich who would have to pay estate or capital
gains taxes. This is true because the vast majority of tax revenue that is
collected in the United States is regressive: sales taxes, property taxes
(which are passed on to renters, so paid by everyone), Social Security, etc.
And poorer people are more likely to spend money on things like cigarettes,
alcohol, and so on, making their total percentage tax burden even larger.
musicians did indeed use the term to indicate being "in the zone," but it
didn't necessarily refer to the grooves of a record. It referred more to the
sense of swing derived from the rhythmic variation in their playing of eighth
notes. While classical performers tended to interpret their eighth notes
strictly and evenly, jazz musicians provided a little bounce in theirs, a
slightly uneven distribution of rhythm achieved by placing them slightly behind
second. This heightened the sense of groove, by playing against the beat rather
than on top of it. Musicians often refer to a great rhythm section with terms
and on and on. They all play eighth notes in a unique way. They all have their
substances, and this also plays into a sense of "feeling groovy."
seasons have produced a stream of books about the major figures of postwar
history, thick with policy analysis, institutional boilerplate, and unabashed
contingencies of democratic politics and imperial diplomacy. Personality is for
the most part an analytic construct, of interest only to the extent that it can
foreign correspondents. But, for all the light they shed on the substance and
greatest appeal," she declares, "is that she is just like us, only wealthier.
She has had bad hair days and skirts with spots, runs in her stockings, a dog
single mother who went back to work, prevailed, and raised good kids."
achieved it by exploiting the drama and mystique of his diplomatic
of who she is: a candid, funny, and appealing woman with a life story rich in
human interest and historical resonance. She has also received the star
treatment usually accorded pioneers of diversity. As the first woman in charge
macho bluster, she has figured out how to present herself to the public, to the
media, and to other world leaders without the benefit of role models.
She has, for the most part, succeeded brilliantly, becoming
success, against long odds, as a woman in a man's world makes her an appealing
figure. But the foreign policy of the world's superpower cannot be explained
offer an inspiring narrative of how she succeeded in becoming secretary of
state, but they offer scant grounds for evaluating what has happened since. And
legitimate," he habitually wrote "no confession" on official forms that asked
between the wars, seems to have been motivated by a combination of fear,
state of willed ignorance, declining to challenge her parents' account of the
of recommendation to the Council on Foreign Relations. A few years later, he
play well at home and to outrage the rest of the world. Since becoming
domestic front than in the international sphere, enjoying a long media
recalcitrant Congress to ratify the chemical weapons conventions, and pushing
complexity and instability of the world are hardly excuses for the muddle and
administration's leading hawk on a number of fronts, arguing for intervention
The Bush administration's approach to the unfolding
systematically set about driving them from their homes and killing them.
whose job at the time was peripheral to the making and implementing of policy.
has insisted, lies in her own life story: Her view of the world, she repeats as
rapidly diminishing use. It is likely that future secretaries of state will say
they say that, rather than how she got to be where she is, will determine
assume control of the region. The piece acknowledges that this will be
difficult "from the air alone" but doesn't directly recommend ground troops.
achievements. Because his crime crackdown has succeeded, further reductions in
lawlessness are coming at the cost of increased friction with innocent
there is no real reciprocity of access, and we find ourselves hosting such
"The Last Counterculture": the Catholic priesthood. It attributes the plummet
in the number of men entering the priesthood to pedophilia scandals,
but they are disgusted with a popular culture that celebrates contraception,
that his presidential run is all about proving he's not an idiot. The theme of
ethnic cleansing but because of outsider intervention. Time and
"This isn't a 30-second commercial. This is going to be a sustained
longing for certainties, a need to be in control." Time 
incoherence" of Republican foreign policy and urge a return to the more moral
was a paragon of virtue and praises recent efforts to spiff up his media
targets minorities. Cops are trained to pull over, interrogate, and search on
contact, and insufficient or excessive luggage. The indicators are often a
proxy for the motorist's race: One trooper admits he was trained to target
relaunches with articles on subjects predictable (female candidates for
president, abortion clinic violence) and less so (adultery, the benefits of
essay, "In Praise of Women," features shots of impoverished or oppressed women
apart geographically, we are all sisters in our souls.")
The cover story says the United States needs to realize
China, warning that separation of powers allows the legislative and executive
premised on an omnipotent central bureaucracy. In addition to being
nomination as the "the candidate of political reform and moral reawakening."
article argues that abortion is here to stay because it is "an indispensable
Cold War required the United States to make common cause with oppressive
intelligence archives so citizens may judge for themselves if the United States
"prayerful defender of life" but became an "any means necessary" fanatic. The
from Operation Rescue's nonviolent principles to the Army of God
those very qualities that make him interesting and distinctive": his "harried,
decline is attributed to the "paradigm shift" toward baggy over tight and the
retreads the story of the industry war between Creative Artists Agency and
upstart Artists Management Group. The battle started last summer when prodigal
to reinvent "the architecture of the industry." The piece explains the
is off to "a strong start," having already lured away industry "crown jewels"
Time 's cover story is Bill Gates' 12-step program for "succeeding in
boss with a digital reality check." Another suggests that Gates is making lavish "investments" in
and "the loneliest hero we have ever had." The story predictably applauds his
achievements on the field and sighs over his difficulties off it.
story sensibly points out that planning and zoning are inherently local issues
not national ones. Nevertheless, national politicians (notably Al Gore) are
feasting on the issue, which a pollster calls "startlingly on track with
currently visiting the United States in search of International Monetary Fund
technological bells and whistles, they find solace and community online.
complete a 10-point checklist detailing why the patient wants an abortion, list
the patient's method of payment, and record the total number of abortions they
counseling, personal fitness training, and free 15-minute facial massages.
A piece says the first hair dye ads of the '50s ("Does she or doesn't she?"
New hair color offered women "an immediate and affordable means of
Brothers' previously starchy marketing techniques. The original fount of
believer and his carefully phrased supplications to the Christian right.
or work out of necessity. The study will make it even more difficult for
mothers to take time off from work to raise children.
bombs, more death, more despair." The paper said the war "showed ominous signs
tabloids, though, the dominant war issue was rape. "The Rape Factory" was the
sinks to a new evil." "The rape camps" was a headline in the Daily
metal trading company which was under United Nations sanctions and remains on a
Express said the Conservative leadership should "immediately and without
opinion is swinging in favor of an invasion" and that "the launch of a ground
offensive seems likelier every day"; the Times "that it may take
campaign bring no acceptable result, but that an opportunity remains for
year's millennium celebrations is in jeopardy because lack of funding has
a picture of members of Our Lady's Choral Society in pink raincoats and
four piglets vigorously suckling a sow's teats. An ad for what?
began enrolling women in the 'Carry Your Sons to Class' program."-- Bill
'You wouldn't believe how heavy those backpacks are,' he told a reporter. 'No
it often gets the least important things right, the facts, the small "t" truth.
But the tone, the texture, the feel of the event is never correct, and that's
newspapers encourage their reporters to wield the tools of the novelist,
opening a story with an evocative detail, such as these leads, both from the
caste, changed into her prettiest sari one recent morning."
works, you get a powerful story, albeit one whose subject is not revealed until
feeling in your stomach. And when both news and coloring are avoided, you get
their daily timetable and carry only those books needed for the day besides
taking extra care to sit straight while studying. This advice is significant
taking into consideration the fact that children of today are faced with a
student carries to the school crammed with books and they end up with various
Times met with a number of experts and sought their opinion."
may instill in the child a hatred towards the school and finally have a
negative impact on his academic performance, she remarked."
an elected National Assembly. It also permits the Amir to suspend its articles
The government bans formal political parties, and women do not have the
right to vote or seek election to the National Assembly.
Domestic servants are not protected by the Labor Law, and unskilled foreign
workers suffer from the lack of a minimum wage in the private sector and from
The government restricts freedom of assembly and association.
approval, as must private gatherings of more than five persons that result in
the grain of his own cynicism, so that the movie fairly drips with irony
without ever losing its raffish energy or its sense of wonder. It feels
lefty alcoholic who regarded this new species of capitalist human with contempt
doing, he sets about trying to sabotage her candidacy.
talent and passion and deserve to rise, but many are rockets without payloads.
she has no goals beyond furthering her own career. At the same time, there's
without a father and with a mother (Colleen Camp) whose hobby was writing to
successful women and asking how they did it. In class, her legs cross primly
sets her big jaw and grits her teeth and bears down as if eliminating her
rivals with every squeeze. The cogs in her brain turn feverishly. Scanning a
rival's nominating petition, she seizes instantly on an unfamiliar name: "Who's
came to embody everything that was lightweight and fatuously noncommittal about
role, and he's perfect: He makes the teacher's anguish absurdly funny without
realizes he's grown and has nothing to show for it. Stuck in a sexless and
childless marriage (he retreats to the basement to watch porn tapes) and
bring himself to check off his own name on the ballot.
E lection is scaled small. Working from a trim novel
on crowds or parades or elaborate spoofs of ceremony, the way most political
satires tend to do. Nor do they feign an understanding of the populace, in this
case a student body that seems uninterested in which of the candidates ends up
getting a job that usually consists of planning the prom. They keep the focus
narrow, on the individuals. But each private act has rippling and tumultuous
public consequences. The geometry of the movie becomes dizzying. When the
jock, the vindictive Tammy jumps into the race as a third candidate, adopting a
nihilist "Who Cares?" platform that nearly sandbags the whole election. And
friend. His desperate attempts to bed her make him reckless and seal his doom:
Stung by a wasp outside her window, he staggers into school on Election Day
the bedroom, but the movie means to be more than a study of electoral
irreducible gesture. And when she glimpses defeat, her pain is truly
heartbreaking. She curls herself up in her mother's lap and weeps with the
agony of the empty. That's what makes Election so much more insightful
horrific metaphors that ate into the mind, and he showed signs in The
fun in the film is when he's exploring these squishy openings.) As the game's
ingenious designer, hunted by militant "realists" who want to stamp out virtual
much of what we're seeing isn't "real" or he has just forgotten how to write
floated weasel words that would let him wage a ground war while calling it
officials dutifully ruled out the idea, all the while sketching concessions by
It's how they're doing it already while pretending not to by masking it in less
polite terms. Here are the various characterizations, in ascending order of
noxious formulation, slung as an insult by hawks such as the Weekly
implication is that cutting a deal with a criminal is unethical, if not
it connotes capitulation. They've learned to deflect it by juxtaposing it with
"bombing." When asked on Face the Nation whether the United States would
negotiating right now. We're conducting an air campaign." The false,
smells of weakness. Again, administration officials deflect it by contrasting
last weekend. "Now we have force backed by diplomacy." Secretary of State
formulation. But the contrast between "diplomacy" and "force" is just as
"support for dealing with the problem in a political way." Last week, when a
with him gets harder." When asked whether "at some point" dealing with
out a timetable or what he has to do." Refusing to "spell out" demands or to
effectively obscured by repeating the word "harder" five times during the
description. Confronted recently with a coarse question as to whether the
understand these five demands that the international community is making."
the conditions are, so we're not negotiating," Ambassador Hill declared on
have to finesse the discrepancy between the "demands" they touted and the deal
Fill in the blank. Ending her China trip yesterday, Secretary
others envy? What are the crowning accomplishments of our society the world
yearns for? Cheap consumer goods, crappy fast food, and bland mass
entertainment! That's what News Quiz players cite. And, incidentally, when
slogan. Can't fit it on a bumper sticker? You can if the bumper's on a big
vote in Congress, China wants to be enshrined as a "most favored nation" with
the same economic rights as the major trading partners of the United States.
likely to urge them toward membership in the World Trade Organization. Joining
and increased adherence to international trading laws, such as copyright.
ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens: "I am a Christian. I am a
conservative. But one thing I am not is a racist." (One thing he will remain is
saying it was not racist but merely an advocate for causes such as displaying
the Confederate battle flag and playing "Dixie" at public events.
reincarnation of the racist white Citizens Councils" that battled integration
Some highlights from the table of contents on its home page:
against the Southern whites all this time: secular humanism is intent upon
on any subject, and you'll hear six opinions (nine during election season) and
could disagree about, they are managing to squabble, revealing a peculiar
anxieties of a state where a beleaguered ethnic minority seeks independence,
their right to independence. "We will ask the international community to
ambivalence is Holocaust remembrance but of a different sort. There is
were gathered a dozen elegant undergarments, each in its own glass case, and
each accompanied by at least three paragraphs of scholarly labeling about
century. They were masterpieces of delicate craftsmanship; no two were exactly
Renaissance enameled boxes. But it was also like a private showing: Nobody else
was there. In those days, "costume" was dear only to a few obsessed
antiquarians, with no connection to the mad scuffle of fashion in real life. A
show back then at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute might have
a stiffly embroidered linen nightcap looking inert and inscrutable.
No longer. The current Costume Institute show, "Our
New Clothes: Acquisitions of the 1990s," vibrates with modern energy. Under
into the past, and the modes of olden days awaken to new life next to their
modern revisions. Martin also succeeded in intermingling history and the
present day in an earlier show called "The Ceaseless Century," by which he
picking that century. Chic outfits in good condition date back only as far as
humpback. The dazzling styles of the distant past live only in pictures.
A fashion designer can put old imagery to use. But a museum
collector needs history in material form, the better to display its links with
the productions of more recent ateliers. The earliest and most magnificent item
made of silk damask brocaded in bold patterns with multicolored silk floss and
metallic thread. The strong color and buoyant presence of this ornate dress
command our attention; the dress has no mustiness at all. Another, French,
miles of applied pleated ruffles, creates a similar effect. These dramatic
dresses easily compete in intensity or sensationalism with the vivid works by
coat dated between 1787-92--which is to say, just at the Revolutionary moment.
its buttons glittering with paste diamonds. The latter was made at a time when
the king's head was still on, and refined elegance could still relax and keep
The antique menswear in this show has a clarity of line and
color that claims an affinity with the surges of invention in men's clothes
collection, displayed next to the red wool French Revolutionary coat: Its
redness, and both look timely. A brotherhood of male expression communicates
torso, complete with arms and thighs. At the groin, the two sides of the jacket
Numerous white dresses are gathered in a group. The
silky columns that cling, fall, or drape in unexpected ways. The possibilities
of feminine white turn out to be infinite, to mirror any emotional and erotic
future will be all the more liberated for seeking its sources in the liberties
of the past. But the show made me realize something else as well: that our
present clothes are already museum pieces. The largest change in fashion since
have got used to thinking about what their own outfits "say." By bringing
together old and new, this exhibition encourages that habit of looking for
significance in our own garments. While we stare with detached sociological
attention at the garb of generations who lived in complex past times, we're
invited to stare the same way at contemporary modes, to see them as the
historical artifacts of our own fraught epoch. And the gulf between Those Days
trickle of praise for The Phantom Menace after the first wave of
negative reviews. The film "offers a happy surprise: it's up to snuff," writes
was funnier and scrappier when it was new. But it simply wasn't capable of
the movie is "loaded with cool stuff" and that "in terms of visual
weak storytelling. (Click for a synopsis of last week's negative reviews and to
foray into the world of rock. The sound is equal parts glam, punk, and metal,
three stars and says "believe it or not, his album is a genuinely rocking
journalistic controversy about conflict of interest. After the Times
areas where I knew the science that, even if there were areas where she might
hard science must be boring and that feminists have no sense of humor." Other
Books). Mainly positive reviews for Homes' latest novel, which, like her other
work, is designed to outrage: A corporation man gets genital tattoos, a bored
suburban couple burn down their house on a whim, etc. Dissenters find the
novel's transgressive bent a touch stale, but the pack praises it. The
Bank (Viking). The critics love this collection of interconnected stories of a
write a screenplay of the book.) An overtly negative review in the New York
complains that the stories are plagued by a "certain generic weariness."
Bank's stories, "The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine.")
changed by the discovery of a love letter. It's plagued by "bland dialogue and
protesting loudly but aren't matching their harsh words with deeds. The naive
rights activists hail the ruling as a sign that dictators who have committed
because he has blacks and other minorities on his staff), doubts he committed
obstruction of justice, and doesn't think he should have been removed from
office. The bad news: She says that he committed perjury (by denying that he
relationship" and "could poison discussions" on arms control, which are more
spin: Canceling the visit offered both sides a graceful way to avoid a
own attorney, is arguing that it was a mercy killing. The judge has tried in
more good by pressuring Wall Street to invest in poor communities. Other spins:
first final four appearance, having choked in the tournament in recent years.
team ever to reach the final four without having qualified for the tournament
The emerging spin behind her candidacy is that she's her husband's moral
opposite: She's been his victim, she's been faithful, and now it's "her turn."
difference: her comparative liberalism on matters of policy.
hurt her. But nowadays talking about those scandals reminds people less of the
husband. But the genius of her candidacy is that she gets to ride that
backlash, too. Her "advisers" told the New York Times that she's "very
enticed by the idea of at last having an independent voice, particularly after
moralists as well as to feminists. If you're mad at the president, the argument
her candidacy "could allow her to untangle herself from the political side of
her marriage and compete for a power base that is all her own. Many women might
of campaign cheerleader and family breadwinner, even many of the couple's
prompting the media to ask not whether she's up to the job of senator but
whether she's too good for it. Meanwhile, the pedestal lifts her above the
impeachment mess and is wisely steering clear of it. "I was one who didn't
confront his likely foe on "issues" such as taxes, welfare reform, national
different from her husband, all right, says the mayor. The difference is that
initiative "emerges from the mandates of the welfare reform bill that was
we will engage you in a process of trying to find work for you as opposed to
line of attack. "Let's say she disagrees with her husband on trade policy," one
effective campaign issue by making a deal with Republicans on partial
privatization of Social Security and tax cuts? Will you take a stand or stand
could beat the extremism rap. "She can do what her husband has done over the
embraced, get a lot of pictures over there, and move from the left [toward] the
center," talking more "about getting people off welfare and balancing budgets."
might call "the end of horror movies." The horror genre lost its life's blood
it all before, and to incorporate kids' imagined responses into their
of the nameless, otherwise known as "dread." Forget about awe, too, unless it's
short for "Awesome, dude!" in response to some pricey special effect. Bring on
subgenre, which has at its heart the most ancient of scary ideas: If you
presume to violate an alien culture and make off with its sacred objects,
you're going to be visited by a monster that's beyond the power of your own
are full of stilted English actors pretending to be icily vengeful
the mummy narrative is serious business, because when other peoples'
passionately held taboos are casually flouted it is serious business.
weight and cultural resonance. In their place is a lot of sub- Raiders of the
Army of Darkness (the last of his The Evil Dead trilogy) and
Pharaoh's mistress, who kills herself in an act of feminist defiance. ("My body
wrapped in gauze and buried alive with a swarm of scabrous beetles. Legend has
world. Legend has it right, as it turns out, but it's a long hour before
from which he sprang before he can transfer the heroine's soul to the embalmed
has all manner of superpowers, turning itself into a puff of smoke, a
hurricane, and a swarm of ravenous locusts. It can appropriate pieces of its
victims' anatomies in an effort to reconstitute itself (an idea cribbed from
and send them into battle against our heroes. The Special Effect can do almost
seem genuinely invasive. The ghouls of lesser artists just bash into one
the preview I attended claimed to have been entertained. The cast is certainly
stridently the Comic Relief in a movie in which the hero and heroine are
defilement: Mummy movies don't constitute an especially glorious cinematic
tongue sucked out, his brain dashed against the side of a tomb, or to be
consumed by scarab beetles or flayed by locusts. But he has put another nail in
the horror genre's sarcophagus. He should at least lose a hand.
In some cultures, they cut off hands (and even more
sexual encounters seem emotionally momentous. They would be anyway, at this
peers, and the pressure builds. Despite its gay subject matter, Get Real
called "Get Real," and the film climaxes with a speech about wanting to be
recognized and loved for who you really are. There's nothing glib about
tightly for fear of discovery that there's no such thing as a "natural"
Except in Japan, the world economic crisis seems to
have gone into at least temporary remission, and those who have been obsessing
about the subject are turning their attention back to other matters. In my
case, that means making a big push on my introductory economics
labor of love; but it is also a commercial venture (or at least I and my
publisher hope it is!). So, the first draft was tested on a focus group: people
who are successful teachers of introductory economics at the sort of schools we
hope will adopt the book. I learned a lot from the focus group. Among other
down to earth to the ordinary college freshman, and that I had to have more
sports tickets was a good example of supply and demand in action. So, I did
some background research and found some very interesting stuff. But perhaps it
is an indicator of my state of mind that what I saw during that research made
Ticket scalping is nothing new, though it continues to pose
something of an economic puzzle. The fact is that there are a number of public
which tickets are consistently sold below the price that would limit demand to
the available supply. Exactly why the owners of stadiums and theaters do this
theater owners seem to believe that as an overall marketing strategy it is
important that access to their most popular events be available to enthusiasts
offer special preview showings of The Phantom Menace at astronomical
(galactic?) prices, when surely they could find tens or even hundreds of
thousands of people able and willing to pay? Presumably because so blatant a
statement that wealth hath its privileges would alienate the tens of millions
the precise reasoning, what is clear is that when it comes to big games and big
shows, private sector entrepreneurs themselves often feel that it is a bad idea
they can, scalpers will buy up large numbers of tickets directly from the box
office and resell them at a profit. If the box office refuses to sell in bulk,
they will offer to buy spare tickets from people who have come by them
legitimately and perhaps hire people to stand in line. What's wrong with that?
Well, the people who run the box office are attempting to pursue social
only to those who can afford to pay a lot but also to those who really care and
advance not to enthusiasts but to speculators, or if the long lines consist not
Why does scalping seem ever harder to control? One reason
is that because of the rising inequality of income and wealth, there are more
people out there able and willing to pay extraordinary sums. This is above all
true in New York, where there are thousands of people who will not blanch at
rise because of an interaction between technology and ideology.
Shady characters would hang around stadiums offering to buy tickets at a
premium or to sell them at an even larger premium. Those shady characters are
that everyone who has bought a ticket at the box office knows that the true
cost of going to the show is not the sum he actually paid but the much larger
would not be as effective as it is were it not for a favorable ideological
believe in letting the market rip and therefore allow tickets to be freely
resold at any price. And given modern communications technology, New Yorkers
need not physically visit New Jersey to do an end run around the local
And so the pressure on box offices steadily intensifies.
discovering that many of its season ticket holders were reselling them to
brokers, revoked thousands of tickets in a stroke. And the people spending
weeks in line to see The Phantom Menace are, as far as anyone knows,
genuine fanatics rather than hirelings. Still, it is hard to escape the feeling
may eventually leave everyone worse off; and yet they seem to be getting harder
resemblance between the phenomenon of ticket scalping and the problem of
case to be made in their favor. Ticket scalping does allow some people who
sometimes provide badly needed finance or liquidity. In both cases, however,
Stadium owners have judged these costs to be large enough to warrant serious
attempts to limit scalping; and given the experience of the last two years, you
makes it easier for markets to run rings around local regulations, and the
they are swimming against the tide. Indeed, as this article was being written,
market forces. Some tickets to The Phantom Menace will, indeed, be sold
how they will feel after a few more weeks and months or what have you of
continuously pounding them into pieces." However, he adds, "We may have one
of the pieces we pound them into may still be large enough to commit
sure, Randy, the war may seem funny now, but what if our killing all those
"Because when you are up in the woods shooting with kids, you just think, 'Hey,
Perhaps because today's has a clear foil, in uniform, speaking German. It
crime; it is unbecoming to chide weeping friends of the deceased for not
reacting in a more stylish way. It is appropriate, of course, to attack
discussion. Because the bombing is continuing for longer than had been
run the risk that his entire country will be bombed into rubble before he gives
altered chickens born in the shape of letters of the alphabet, or to putting
"It's not like they are just sort of randomly whacking away and knocking
"What's frightening to me about such changes is not the specific change,
authorities suspended human experimentation at the Duke University Medical Center
for four days in May. The experiments ranged from drug tests to research on
psychological reactions to illness. Among the alleged violations: "insufficient
training" of review board members, "potential financial conflicts of interest
procedures. (Federal investigators also uncovered an incident in which a
after Duke agreed to overhaul its procedures for protecting human subjects. The
procedures or face shutdowns of their federally financed human research.
opprobrium of legal scholars, other clerks, and the justices for making
Declaring that his initial enthusiasm for the book constituted a "real lapse"
expressed bafflement at the charges, concluding that the letter "amounts to an
Review 's editors concurred: "It is hard to take seriously academics who
condemn an independent scholar without making a single substantive criticism of
Union as an "evil empire" and to build popular support for a "star wars"
missile defense. Others reverse the movie's ideological lenses, arguing that
homologies between Birth of a Nation and Star Wars click beyond
darky house servants, of equally mechanical loyalty to their betters." Whatever
history, was awarded this year to two books on slavery and one on the (hostile)
action benefits not only minority students but all students. White students who
attend a "diverse" college campus are more likely to work in integrated
settings and to display ambition, confidence, and other worthy traits, the
school attests. "Diversity enhances learning," says university President Lee
once might have been admitted to the system's best schools are now finding
encouraged state universities to step up their efforts to recruit students from
years. But faculty members are concerned about conflicts of interest, not only
considering commercial partners for their own online programs.
its ethnic studies department, failing to fill positions in fields such as
board member of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, had no
she didn't want to divert attention from the students on their graduation day.
years: "Academics are no more enlightened than anyone else."
other as judged by the "readers," or basically anyone who voted for his or her
favorite book on the Modern Library Web site. Topping the "board" list is The
Philosophy and Literature has inaugurated a different kind of discussion
The list includes cameras, laptop computers, canvas bags of
Some laugh at colonic humor, some don't. I have no doubt that several entries
were particularly fine examples of rectal comedy. These I have passed along to
Scamp," the English edition of News Quiz, along with many comical pictures of
Scamp is still encouraging participants to suggest better things to do with
nor the Defense Department is discouraged by its unbroken record of failure. I
scarf. Am I the only person this unsettles? Am I just jealous?
is living through a nightmare of the greatest ethnic cleansing that has ever
been attempted. Half a million people in flight, hundreds of dead, towns and
villages completely cut out of the world without water, electricity, telephone,
or food. A humanitarian catastrophe without precedent."
rubble." He wrote, "Let's end this war. But let's be careful in future not to
promise what we are not willing to carry out, not to proclaim rights if we
don't have the strength, the will, or what might be called the recklessness to
made. "Perhaps the best we can do now is to use the resources that would be
wasted in war in an agreed humanitarian action of evacuation and assistance to
of hunger and cold would want us to do, he added. On the front page of
that "the West has embarked on one of its riskiest adventures since World War
air war had already had the opposite of its intended effect, he added. It
revealed "a terrible impotence" against ethnic cleansing that risked becoming a
more complicated and that we are now in a "thick fog."
elected representatives." It said that "the ironic outcome is a set of aircraft
[the stealth bombers] that are so dependent on extremely sophisticated computer
equipment designed to deceive the enemy that they are extraordinarily difficult
superlative weaponry meant it could destroy unseen enemies with little or no
Evening Standard said that "having come so far, and having
A dozen per program would form an interesting outline of the day, but choosing
just one is tough. Excellent topics are lost. For instance, in an effort to
counter its image as an occupying army brutalizing the people of New York City,
the police department plans to recruit more actual New Yorkers to its ranks.
The heart of the plan will be an ad campaign with a snappy slogan. Police
you, or something like that." Too militaristic? Just militaristic enough.
Participants are invited, in the privacy of their own thoughts, to devise an
among them. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that mines
that have made News Quiz so very special to me over the past year. Sadly,
the Health Department and having the joint shut down.
knowing how wise he would have been with the parking
and how he would have stopped with me always beside
"It is terrible that something so frightening should be given
"Reaching down the front of the pants of the guy standing next to you on the
subway platform just for the hell of it."-- Ken Tucker
reliever) now go by Mike, simply because of one androgynously desiccated freak.
For the past few years I have gauged the popularity
captain of the Buffalo Sabres. This may speak more to the popularity of all
roadblock on a main highway, stops every car or bus that happens along, takes
away all the passengers who seem likely to have a good job or a prominent name,
and holds them captive until a hefty ransom is paid."
game where kids reach into a barrel with a hook or with bare hands and pull out
people out there who have made all this money and don't know what the best
Human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to rise up against such
tyranny, we offer our own modest proposal: A Diners' bill of rights, one
and to make the dining experience as pleasant as it always promises to be."
property could be converted into a small destination vineyard."
Opening Up the Vineyard to Anyone Other Than the Servants Is Really Tasteless"
that long, I would be sick of it.' Now, wherever she and her boyfriend drive
"They're all items in the complimentary gift pack given to visitors at the
has proved any less useless for stopping missiles than what we're building
your autobiography on a manual typewriter in an outdoor location where New York
visually gifted old narcissist? Nominations welcome.
engineering patents went to women, many of whom won not as independents, but as
employees of corporations or members of research teams.
New York Times music review: "Holocaust Inspires New Work"
Tendency, the online outpost of the delightful humor magazine, is currently
all of the criticism is based on a false assumption: that I was paid by
unspecified. I declined. But I suggested that Time might want to make a
contribution to one of the charities of which I am an officer and director,
do so. I do not know the size of this contribution. My name will in no way be
attached to it. I certainly will not receive a tax deduction for it. I will
receive no credit for it in any way. To reiterate as emphatically as I can: I
advertisers, not paid by anybody in any way. This a key point that I should
it because Time offers a magnificent platform, because I frankly don't
mind the limelight, and because I believe that the counsel and cautions I have
to offer about personal finance may be useful to other people.
me that the payment had been made to charity and not to him personally. He now
says he does not remember whether the decision to give it to charity was made
before or after my item appeared. He also says that payment for the first two
advertorials went to his book publisher and that he also did not profit
directly or indirectly. This is something else he did not mention in our
advertorials. I think my misunderstanding on this point is understandable, but
I apologize for suggesting otherwise. I still think it is wrong from someone in
Your discussion of the winner's curse as it relates
effect that comes from the power of the Internet to reduce transaction
Let's take video games as an example. Over the last
five years I have bought one or two new video games a year, ones that seemed so
was I knew that after playing them I would generally be stuck with them. Sure,
I might be able to sell them to a used software store, but I wouldn't be able
being my personal favorite) I can do most of my game shopping online. When I
aftermarket for video games, they are more likely to go into a store and buy
one of these games for full price on the day it comes out. They know that they
can play it and auction it off right away online when its value is still quite
high. The net result is not only far more transactions at much lower costs but
also a sharp increase in market participation, thanks to the price
offset by the fact that "losing" bidders become "winning" sellers when they
products that we buy, enjoy, and resell without using up their inherent
is in large part because those items have such little inherent value, and they
can lose their public appeal overnight. Even there, though, the magic of the
able to see the target. Bombing mobile targets, such as troops performing
opportunities by bringing the two countries to "a defining moment."
providing advance warning of ballistic missile tests and the continuation of
the nations' respective unilateral moratoriums on nuclear testing. The
commented that "this modest outcome was on expected lines and while it provided
understanding "set the tone for a shared vision of peace and stability."
feeling of both apprehension and optimism." By contrast, the coverage of
Headlines throughout the world were also dominated by the
minister announced that the deadline had been extended by three days, thus
independence once the three year interim period covered by the proposed
accepting the peace package or facing airstrikes. The paper remarked that the
police have had some success in sartorial sleuthing. A computerized database of
crimes. The paper said that although the police cannot use sneaker stereotyping
to arrest people, officers are told to watch out for suspicious shoes. Readers
beware of choice of footwear when in a country without a bill of rights!
only endorsed the infallibility of the markets, they have also endorsed the
infallibility of the people who watch over those markets. Federal Reserve
For the past few years, but especially since rumors
transmuting base metals into gold, and generally doing eight impossible things
boom, leading to low interest rates, job growth, the Wall Street explosion,
war between the president and the Republican Congress would not derail the
And as a conservative Wall Street veteran in a White House
accomplishment may be, perversely, Wall Street's yawn at his resignation. The
is not simply the result of having done a good job. Who hasn't done a
good job during the past few years? His reputation depends on style as much as
ascetic, controlled, rational, quiet, and untouched by any of the zillion
sleazy pros. (He is not, of course, an amateur. Click for an example.)
quality. He does not seek press coverage, and when he is covered, he speaks
with blandness in order not to make news. This silence impresses those
as well as his praise of underlings and colleagues, has earned him an enormous,
though not fully deserved, reputation for humility. "This humility stuff is
elbow others out of the way and brag, but it's not because he's humble. It's
talking frequently about his imperfections. In interviews, he repeatedly
emphasizes the uncertainty of his job. He describes to reporters how he focuses
on weighing and reweighing percentages until he makes the best possible
decision in ambiguous circumstances. This is a fine way to make decisions, as
decision turns out well, it's because you calculated it would. If it turns out
badly, it's not your fault: You made the most rational choice you could.
glad to learn that there are two weak spots in his record. He arrived in
position as head of the National Economic Council and later as treasury
secretary to redirect federal resources toward inner cities and the underclass.
disagreed with the welfare reform bill, he didn't battle hard to prevent
of the economy has done more to help the poor than any federal grant program
The secretary has also been excessively obeisant to Wall
cut, he comes from Wall Street, and most of his closest friends and advisers
creditors above all. He insists he was not trying to help Wall Street.
an eager press hound, has surely absorbed. Be nice to Wall Street, and perhaps
detectors at airports," he declared at a White House ceremony. "We have to
redefine the national community so that we have a shared obligation to save
think of guns in new terms: bombs and kids. His strategy is threefold.
argument. Opponents of gun control have framed the debate as a choice
between blaming weapons and blaming people who abuse them. "Guns don't kill
people; people kill people," goes the famous slogan. Since conservatives tend
to oppose pornography and divorce as well as gun control, they get a twofer by
attributing tragedies such as the one in Colorado to a degenerating "culture."
prayer and religion and repeatedly charged that the "culture of violence" in
television, movies, music, video games, and the Internet "is having a profound
"We must resolve to do what we can to change that culture," she proposed. Both
filters, and mental health awareness. By suggesting that the cultural causes of
violence were being sufficiently addressed, they sought to shift attention and
who can't stand the idea of the government telling them what to do are usually
willing and often eager to have the government impose identical restrictions on
young adults. "Guns and children are two words that should never be put
off countless criticisms of guns in between her eight invocations of "our
juveniles who commit violent crimes from ever buying a gun."
them with explosives and terrorism instead. "We have a huge hunting and sport
everybody who is waiting for the next deer season in my home state to think
about this in terms of what our reasonable obligations to the larger community
feel if the headline in the morning paper right before you got on the airplane
another headline: 'Terrorist Groups Expanding Operations in the United States.'
bound guns and bombs together in their legislation and in their analysis on the
control don't recognize soon how the emerging prominence of kids and explosives
reshaping the debate and turning the political tide against guns. Advocates of
gun control agenda." Of course he is. They're missing the point. Politicians
don't ban guns. Politicians with persuasive arguments ban guns.
opposition has been revised many times since. Recently, for instance, the
political scientist Benjamin Barber described the contest as "Jihad vs.
Both, in his view, undermine the viability of participatory democracy.
anonymous, transnational, homogenizing, standardizing market forces and
technologies that make up today's globalizing economic system," as he puts it.
[are] wrestling with each other in the new system of globalization," as he puts
lives, when he's not trading Internet stocks on the Internet, communicating
avers that he respects olive trees and aspires to preserve as many as possible
but that there's no stopping, or even slowing, technological advancement,
one of his catchier coinages, an "electronic herd." Because this herd can
stampede at will, if not at whim, developing nations, now known as "emerging
markets," no longer have much discretion about which economic policies to
convertible currency, "transparency" of information, and protections for
private property, First World investment money will simply go elsewhere. As the
leader of a country, you can choose to conform to international economic norms
it, quoting others saying it, and quoting himself saying it to others. He calls
whether we should be altogether pleased that the entire world seems to be
nonissue. The integrated world market is coming, no one can do anything about
foreign policy market realism. Capitalism, not liberal democracy, emerged
triumphant from the Cold War. And though a free economy tends to open up a
society over time, growth and democracy aren't necessarily connected in the
has elected leaders or respects human rights has far less effect on its
immediate prosperity than the question of whether it listens to the
free elections, are stagnating because they refuse to liberalize their
economies. China, which has a thriving capitalist economy but doesn't have free
about economics or international relations. I think he's largely right, though
olive tree can happily coexist. The problem is that he has distilled the
describes his journalistic method as "information arbitrage." He sees himself
acquiring knowledge at wholesale from the top diplomats, hedge fund managers,
and central bankers to whom his Times column grants him access, and
selling at retail to general readers. Reporting on things seen and heard while
biweekly Times column, but a book needs to do more than endorse the
he relies on slogans and strained neologisms. Countries, he tells us, have
economic operating systems of different degrees of sophistication, which he
from what's good about other cultures without soaking up what's bad. Backward
States can destroy you by dropping bombs and the Supermarkets can destroy you
better of him in the chapter titled "The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict
each other, the golden arches hypothesis was proved false even before his
conflict that doesn't have much to do with globalization at all, the war in
intent on demonstrating that it's compatible with a respect for identity and
sensibility tells him that we can have our cake and eat it too, that technology
that globalization is likely to make life better for people in remote places.
But it won't do it while preserving their local cultures. It will do it by
partially or completely obliterating them. That's what market capitalism does.
time the foreign affairs columnist of the New York Times helicopters in
they love dogs, so maybe it's not surprising that prejudice among the pugs and
poodles is a growing national concern. Actually, the purported prejudice is
among dog owners, not dogs. But increasingly dogs are being talked about as if
they had the same civil rights as humans and that the same rules of civil
discourse apply to man and his best friend alike. The implied parallel can be
seen as either an insult to the struggle against human racism or a commentary
on its occasional excesses. Or, of course, it can be seen as perfectly
considered the bible of dog breeding, it is essentially the blue book for dog
book's "breed profiles" perpetrated pernicious stereotypes. The hottest issue
labels of any kind. (At least they are ostensibly for the kids. How many adults
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, got right to the point: "To say that all
these dogs are 'this' and all these dogs are 'that,' that's racism, canine
"Dogs are not vehicles stamped out of an assembly line," asserted Holder, "Each
cleansing. To brand dogs such as Chihuahuas as "not good" with children "is not
just an insult; it is a dangerous statement in an age when every state and many
towns have adopted or are considering laws restricting, banning or even
requiring the killing of particular suspect breeds."
Clinic charged that labeling Chihuahuas as bad with children was essentially
blaming the victim: "It's mainly the child's fault because they're doing really
pulling on their ears and poking in their eyes, and doing lots of things, and
you know, you have to have a pretty long fuse to tolerate that." The problem,
in other words, is that children are bad with Chihuahuas. Perhaps the solution
profiles had been published with "inadvertently incorrect and controversial
blacklist can accurately be labeled good or bad for children. But the idea that
stereotypes are not valid about breeds of dogs is ridiculous. While it is true
that all dogs go to heaven, there is a bowl curve when it comes to dog
abilities and personalities. Basset hounds are sweet and stubborn. Golden
dogs you want to have a beer with. Chihuahuas are snappish and
color of their skin is different than judging dogs by the texture of their
coats. It is different even if you leave aside the question (which I find easy
but some people find difficult) of whether dogs have the same moral claims as
human beings to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let's say they do.
Even if so, the analogy of dog stereotypes to human racism is mistaken.
Racism among humans is overwhelmingly based upon cultural
differences between human "races" are so infinitesimal that making sweeping
statements is rarely useful and often dangerous. Genetic differences between
human races are literally superficial. But the differences between purebred
dogs are anything but. That's why they call it breeding. For example, border
border collie in the living room during a cocktail party, and soon you'll find
differences among dog breeds are not just the result of natural selection.
Evolution among dogs has got a big push from humans. On ranches, border collie
puppies are taken from the litter and tested for their instinctual desire to
herd sheep. The most fearless and enthusiastic pups are the most likely to be
bred to pass that herding gene on to the next generation.
Doggy eugenicists sometimes disagree about what traits they
ought to be pushing. Many border collie breeders, for example, take great
exception to the dog industry's emphasis on ideal appearance rather than
behavior. They fear that if border collies are bred for the color of their
coats rather than the content of their character, eventually their herding
pointers. One need not be an expert in evolution or zoology to understand that
pointing at dinner rather than catching it is not a successful evolutionary
strategy. But the reason pointers point is not that they are responding to a
capital gains tax cut or any of the other incentives known to affect the
behavior of human beings. It is that pointing has been bred into them. Right
now, something called the Dog Genome Project is trying to isolate the various
Lovers of certain breeds readily acknowledge the positive
dog owners want pooches that can swim. Rottweiler owners want beasts that
me, want dogs that have the good sense not to do any of those things. But
naturally greedy or that laziness is a genetic trait of blacks.
most "discriminated against" dog in the country. In most breeds, a litter of
puppies will have one "alpha dog." The alpha dog is the most aggressive male in
the group, the one that instinctively wants to be leader of the pack and will
not bow out of a fight. Pit bull litters are nearly all alphas. If a child lets
into a bloodbath. The pit bull's brain chemistry is the product of selective
breeding too. Unlike, say, a German shepherd, pit bulls were not bred to
protect humans but to kill other dogs. They are more prone to become addicted
to endorphins, which often translates into a lust for pain. Thus, they don't
quit when their opponent is licked or when they are told to go to a neutral
corner. Also, most dogs have an instinctual body language. If two dogs meet on
the street and they don't want to fight, they bow their heads, exposing their
necks and demonstrating their vulnerability. It's a nice gesture, and pit bulls
bow too. But unlike any other breed, they have an instinct for attacking the
rules on pit bull ownership. He called them, "the Great White Sharks of
their disparate impact on owners of different breeds of dogs. Other cities
trying to curb pit bulls met with similar rulings. Since then, groups like the
hard that the issue isn't owners' rights but dogs' rights. In vet malpractice
determined by the "intrinsic value" of the dog. In dog attack cases, animal
behaviorists, psychiatrists, and activists try to claim that the dogs were
simply "misunderstood." But whether they're defending a dog that kills or
eulogizing a dog that was killed, the mythology that dogs are simply products
have been selectively bred for thousands of years in some cases. Even a
millennium of unnatural selection still leaves room for some environmental
particular breed. But the worst herding border collie in the world will still
A poodle will bite you for forgetting to put the accent
rope and the worst you'd get is a fierce yawn. Yes, it is possible to teach a
bloodhound to hate kids, just as it is possible to teach poodles to be sled
dogs. But this would be conditioning against the grain of the breeds'
personalities. "Canine racism" may be a convenient way to shake down courts and
corporations. But it drains the moral currency from a very real and still
unfortunately useful concept in the world of humans.
fact, some of my best friends are German shepherds.
am nuts. I am considering marrying again. (If you're thinking second marriage,
wishes to tie the knot, while I am on the fence. What say you?
to what feels right for the two people involved. Do not let the heroic numbers
stand in your way. And if you do choose to walk down the aisle one more time,
wedding ring shopping with my fiancee today. We have lived together for six
years, and we really love each other. The whole time, her parents have never
said anything about me. And they refuse to pay for the wedding, as they do not
a real strain on our relationship to have her parents and grandparents letting
her well. We split the rent right now, but when I get my degree I intend to pay
for rent and let her handle the money. Her parents want me to quit school and
likely to pay only half as much as the job I can get with a Masters, but they
off all financial aid to her and refuse to pay for her wedding unless we have
house after they got married. Now they are claiming they have no money and
doctors, she has a hunch you are a fine young man, your little firearms joke
notwithstanding. Because you state that you and your beloved are in agreement,
They sound controlling and manipulative and demonstrably unfriendly.
not want to complain about the misdated baby blanket. What is it with people
who always complain about gifts? The flowers are wilted, the can is dented, the
blouse has no sleeves, or my personal favorite, told to me when I sent special
bagels and varied cream cheeses, "I prefer margarine."
who need to vent. As for something possibly underlying seemingly trivial
complaints, there need not necessarily be a repressed anything. Some people are
way, that the recipient of the bagels and cream cheese is not also a friend of
regarding "personal responsibility." Missing from all the talk is exactly what
personal responsibility is, and what it means to "accept personal
from fallout by stating, early on, "I accept personal responsibility."
responsible for myself and thus immune from criticism? I am afraid that if I go
"responsible," then expect the subject to be closed. This is a little like
rapping oneself on the knuckles and then continuing on with business as usual.
to work, I cannot understand why she chooses to spend most of her free time
with her boyfriend, who lives an hour away. The result is that her daughter is
at my house most days after school (well into the evening) as well as most
weekends. Her mother calls to check on her, but this is no substitute for the
I feel very sorry for her friend and understand her unwillingness to be alone
so much, but I am concerned by her mother's neglect and resent the free
childcare. I have considered sending the mother a note but am convinced it
would only result in hurting the daughter and making her feel unwelcome in my
house. I do not want to be ungenerous to a child in need. How should I handle
neglectful mother, you correctly imagine, will not change the situation for the
like this child, so why don't you redo your thinking, privately, and come to
contribution to a youngster's life. Your kind approach will also serve as a
model for your own daughter. If you think it useful, discuss your new approach
with your daughter. It can only help her if she knows her own mom is
consciously trying to make a difference. It can only be a wonderful lesson, by
example, for her to see generosity put into practice.
Your answer was predictable: It's unsafe; tell him to do this in private. Well,
my wife nearly fainted to see me castigated in public, no less on the
control of the situation, he shouldn't be found guilty of not operating
your driving record while flossing is better than the beloved's with both her
hands free. Perhaps this is a tug of war where the rope is, symbolically,
After some scheduling problems we managed the meal and had, I thought, a
charming time. After that he was quite pleasant when we ran into each other.
Recently I asked him to join me again for lunch. He pleaded the press of work
definitely changed, and I know he's going to some lengths to avoid me.
certainly not planing to press my attentions on him. Unfortunately the
atmosphere now feels strained. Should I speak to him or just let matters rest?
defeat you, it's the messes. What has happened is that the object of your
found you more aggressive than was comfortable, since the first and
second invitations were yours. It could be that while he behaved politely, the
initial lunch was not as charming as you thought. It could be that he intuited
more of an interest on your part than he was prepared to deal with. He could
very well be neurotic, or you may not be aware of your own firepower. Whatever
the actuality, he is definitely ducking you, and your next move should be this:
Behave in a cordial, correct, and distant manner. When you encounter him,
simply nod, smile, and keep going. This approach is the best thing for both of
that well. I will not attend. Am I obligated to send a gift?
Do not even think of responding with a gift. What might be in order, however,
a letter to a friend I have been out of touch with for several years. He and I
were the closest of buddies. Then my friend moved away from our small hometown
couple of times over the last few years and have received no response. I would
really like to reawaken the friendship. Any suggestions?
are largely a matter of guesswork. Your letter has every indication that your
pal from the old days is uninterested in picking up the thread. One might
postulate a number of reasons. Your youthful best pal may not remember things
or, sadly, his life may have gone haywire and he just isn't up to rejuvenating
the old bond. Do leave things alone, and accept that you may never know the
understandably, have been paying more attention to the wars, tornadoes, mass
murders, and nuclear espionage that constitute the rest of the news:
the incident weeks after it happened, saying only that the president had made a
of making an aggressive, unwanted sexual overture, it still contradicted
fall in line with the official White House account, which in turn suggests that
it's not crazy, given what we already know about current White House
blew the whistle on the destruction of bank records. Detective would have been
big fuss over whether he was or was not telling the truth about his use of a
only one clear way left for him to try to find out.
single mom (and grandmother) who has had to set up a Web site to solicit
money for her "defense fund." On the other hand, her lawyers are representing
Journal )--is a question the current criminal proceeding will not
Department guidelines discouraging compelled testimony from journalists, never
and did not testify in her own defense. (Her lawyers rested their case without
presenting any evidence of their own.) Only a criminal justice system as
four charges against her. Jurors didn't say which way they were split and vowed
groundless, but whether it is or is not, it has had the effect of more or less
crisis of the past two years. This, he said, is "one of the luckiest breaks
best if businesses are simply left to their own devices or that capitalism can
Third Way faith in 'smart' government seems to have triumphed completely over
the rights of minorities, and cultural and religious freedoms." The author
but warned that the new internationalism contains paradoxes that could spell
uncertainty about its geographical extension (should its writ run outside
nationalist policies; and yet another the clash of different national values
Birthday," said the celebrations were taking place "in the wrong place at the
the profoundest question of this anniversary season can be addressed: whether
alliance that sat back, fat and happy, while atrocities were being committed on
complacency would have led to fresh calls for withdrawal."
are a lot of "chills" about this week, the greatest being the chill between
Post implied that Cox found nothing of importance that wasn't already
island by peaceful means, but will not rule out invasion as a last resort," it
added. "Under certain circumstances, the US probably would help to defend
mean that China intends to start a nuclear war. But it clearly wants a more
get back on track. However, the changing missile equation will make that more
larger guarantee of security that comes from the present policy course, of
engagement with China, through trade, diplomacy and dialogue," it added. In
Times editorial said the United States has made itself an easy target
for China's ambitious spies because of security failings that "are just the
latest symptoms of a deep muddle over the direction of US policy towards
China." "The US needs to be straight with China," the paper said. "That means
shows precious little sign of the political leadership needed for the
to security by the United States and showed "how difficult the West now finds
it to deal with an economically and politically resurgent China." With China's
States will remain the world's only superpower "can no longer be so easily
held," it said. The Independent concluded that "with China, the US must
be fair but firm if the Pacific century is not to begin with a cold snap."
the leadership of the Congress Party, which she had made when some party
said her reinstatement has given the party "a fresh lease of life" and has set
a car with two work mates on their way to an outside broadcast location in
Standard splashed the word "Cruelty" on its front page, which was how
syndicated throughout the world. The Evening Standard said in an
editorial that "having an image like this pushed in one's face makes it a bit
harder to keep the stardust sparkling in the prospect of a live televised
took up the challenge of producing a way to print out selected articles from
Word document with an Install button and simple instructions. Once it's
can call up a menu of articles with check boxes to pick the ones you want. (You
"Chatterbox" or only some of them.) Then the tool will print out your personal
with its own table of contents, containing just the stuff you want. Note: This
if, for some reason, you don't wish to consume every word of
versions of most other major word processors, or by Word Viewer, a free bit of
a version for Adobe Acrobat or a free Acrobat viewer. 
We give you the umbrella, in case that's not clear.)
archives are free. Most older stuff is for subscribers only.
features are now available in audio versions, for listening
proprietary gizmo that lets you listen on headphones or through your car radio.
delivery includes Today's Papers and other features. If you sign up for all
soon after it appears on the site. Subscribers only. Click
formatted for printing out. Subscribers only. Click
printout tool here, as well as free viewers for Word or Acrobat.) Subscribers
version for printing out. This service is free. You don't have to be a
morning. Or (if you don't want to leave your computer and printer on all night)
it will automatically connect to the Internet, fetch and print Today's Papers
when you turn your machine on in the morning. We've made it easy to get Today's
this software can also be used to fetch and print any other page on
("Keeping Tabs" reinterpreted for the dance); the Emperor's New
vials are part of a promotional campaign for the May sweeps special When
News Quiz can promise about Fox. To judge from your answers, the entire outfit
is nothing more than a dumping ground for lurid videos of anorexic lawyers
attacking pretentious investigators of paranormal cartoons, presided over by an
immoral tycoon. Which only proves that sometimes the easiest jokes really are
Guide 's report that the water was initially stored in "giant jugs."
Yorker cartoons is that they are inscrutable. The more depressing truth is
that they are often simply mundane. Try to identify which of the following
captions are from urbane New Yorker cartoons and which are from a
In the hypothetical New Yorker version, a husband is caught in bed with
beauty parlor. In the New Yorker version, a precocious child surveys her
New Yorker version, precocious children play Monopoly. Could have
television. In the New Yorker version, a cat and dog watch
Situation unclear. In the New Yorker version, the situation is also
"miraculously 'solve' the crime with a tape recorder and a lot of bad driving"
foreseeing that the studio would be desperate for advertising blurbs on this
Simultaneously inspired and contrived, clever and crude." Some critics call the
series of dates, sometimes secretly. Many reviewers identify with the one who
everything he does is fascinating and adorable." Somehow in the course of the
film he manages to find a woman who'll continue the relationship, and the two
is breathtaking." Wills calls the memoir as a whole "tiresomely moralizing" and
Economist praises the book ("impressively honest and hugely enjoyable")
debut short story collection. His stories mostly hinge on matters of faith. As
spin: Now we have a viable strategy. The cynical spin: Now we're allied with
can't be life on these planets, because they're too big, too gaseous, and too
official, but he indicated he would retire "unless a miracle happens between
States. The sad spin: He's going out on a low note because his team, the New
expenses that were caused by his lying. Pundits agreed that materially the
that symbolically it's a huge blow to his legacy, since he's the first
president to be held in contempt of court. Conservatives hailed the ruling as
the public that investigations of the government would be nonpartisan.
assertions that he and his staff had "conducted ourselves inappropriately."
drugs into a terminally ill man with the man's consent. The case was based on a
was about a flagrant challenge to the rule of law. The new liberal spin:
trial, but we'll try her again. Her lawyer's spin: Go ahead, and we'll try
spin: It's the heartwarming tale of a golfer who came back to win one of the
sport's biggest prizes after being so seriously injured three years ago that he
final round three years ago, choked away his lead again this year. The
completely unsentimental spin: It's the tournament's worst winning score in a
scenic Tidal Basin. Agents are pursuing a third beaver that is believed to be
still at large. The captured beavers were given medical checkups and were then
released in a secret location to protect them from public scrutiny. According
second beaver, but the animal did not seem to appreciate the prodding." The
second, even worse recession was underway. By late that year the unemployment
Magazine ran a long article (by Benjamin Stein) titled "A Scenario for a
Depression?" which suggested that "the nation has arrived at a new spot on the
lost their power and the economic wise men have lost their magic." Stein and
many others worried that after nearly a decade of disappointing performance,
turned out that the old remedies were just as powerful, the nostrums of the
economic wise men just as magical, as always. The Federal Reserve Board, which
opened up the monetary taps. Interest rates came down, the stock market rose,
workers and factories left idle by the slump went back to work, output soared:
Once the slack had been taken up, growth slowed again, and over the '80s as a
whole the economy actually grew a bit less than it had in the '70s. But the
expansionary monetary policy can reverse a depressed economy's fortunes.
The biggest single question now facing the world economy is
Japan today bears a strong resemblance to the United States in that frightening
problems: a slowdown in productivity growth, an ossified management culture, a
troubled financial sector (Stein's article talked at length about the looming
difficulties is a severe recession. Japan's unemployment statistics notoriously
Japan can somehow persuade its consumers and business investors to start
and Japan now. Japan can no longer use conventional monetary and fiscal
leaving little room for further cuts. And Japan's government is already deeply
in debt, already running huge deficits. The experience of the past few months
(in which the prospect that the government would have to sell vast quantities
interest rates) suggests that any attempt to stimulate the economy with even
bigger deficit spending will do more harm than good. So it might appear that
there are no easy answers, that nothing short of a total restructuring of the
growing chorus of Western economists has argued against this fatalistic view.
On one side, they have worried that unless something dramatic is done to
increase demand Japan may go into a deflationary tailspin; that the expectation
of falling prices will make consumers and businesses even less willing to
spend, worsening the slump and driving prices down all the faster. On the other
side, they have argued that radical, unconventional monetary policy can
Until very recently, these arguments seemed too outlandish
events of the last few weeks suggest that there has been a sea change of
warning about the risks of inflation and the importance of sound policy, the
been driven down literally to zero. Banks now charge each other only for the
administrative costs of making the loan. And still the expansion continues.
It's still a bit hard to believe, but it looks as if Japan's central bank has
understood that in Japan's current state adhering to conventional notions of
monetary prudence is actually dangerous folly, and only monetary policy that
would normally be regarded as irresponsible can save the economy.
There are, of course, big risks in any such radical
policy departure. My own view is that the biggest risk is that the new policy
Japan were to try to convince the public that the future will bring inflation,
not deflation. But that the target inflation rate is too low, so that even if
now Japan may be on the road to an economic recovery more dramatic than anyone
would now dare to forecast. By sometime next year, the Land of the Rising Sun
may, at least for a while, live up to its billing. You heard it here first.
like something straight out of Spark's wonderfully creepy novels, she and her
My wife and I are lucky enough to own a farmhouse in
thin and pregnant spotted white, bitch lying on the sofa in the sitting room.
obviously with a powerful strain of Dalmatian in her and with that alarming
another stray dog of a very different kind, a huge white fluffy sheepdog who
behaved like the indulgent father of unruly daughters. They accepted him,
though, and liked to tease him mercilessly until he would give in and join in
fault, it was their habit of barking all night, having made it their mission,
most unsuccessfully pursued, to keep the wild boar away from the house. For
most of the time they enjoyed a happy and carefree existence. Then one morning
a couple of years ago, there was a blast from a shotgun very near the house,
and Eddy came running home with blood pouring from his face and side. He
stiff body lying in grass behind the house, and a couple of days later the body
Who could possibly have done this awful thing? I asked the
treatment of animals. With a city practice, he treats several cases each year
the general assumption that almost all dog poisonings in the countryside are
committed by hunters. Many dogs die in bitter territorial wars between rival
squads of wild boar hunters and in the fierce competition between truffle
hunters seeking a bigger share of the lucrative truffle market by eliminating
constitutional right to walk over other people's land without permission. An
dogs on buses; other people are not. The law requires dogs to be tied up during
the game breeding and shooting seasons (a law we were guilty of breaking in the
hunters are not happy. They have practically no pheasants or partridges to
shoot at anymore, and they are fiercely protective of the birds put down in the
dues. Consider, further, that nearly all predators apart from foxes are now
protected species, and that owning a gun license is very expensive, and you
will understand why the hunter's lot is not a happy one.
Nevertheless, hunting continues to have an atavistic hold
targets may not be dogs but foxes, for which they also lay illegal traps. But
they do not hesitate to place their poisoned baits close to people's houses
where dogs, cats, and even children may find them. Together with their
addiction to killing birds, they have inherited from their ancestors a cruel
attempts to identify the poisoners are frustrated by a tradition of reluctance,
even among their victims, to tangle with authority. I called on a neighbor
whose dog was poisoned along with ours, and he said that if he found the
perpetrator, he would give him the thrashing of his life. But he wouldn't dream
old man who lives nearby, a fanatical member of the local hunting fraternity.
There is no evidence against him, but he once explained to another neighbor how
His car was seen near our house around the time of the poisoning. But there's
little point in pursuing the perpetrator, whoever he or she may be. While
poisoning dogs is strictly illegal, there have to be two witnesses who saw the
laying down of the poison, and even then the punishment is only a modest
"Until now, we have always depended strictly on altruism." What is he talking
playfully grabbed the other by the wrist and shouted,
delicate. He has to be familiar (and competent) enough to keep viewers
satisfied, but also distinct (and flawed) enough that when the star returns,
everyone remembers exactly why they love him so. Similarly, when two men hold
are harder than they look from where you're sitting.
and giggling for the press after their 90-minute meeting at the governor's
Party has of regaining control of the United States," said the mayor in his
when a reporter asked the mayor if he'd specifically urged the governor to run,
b) "Relax, it's not like we hit a convoy of refugees
will still go ahead as scheduled, but administration officials acknowledged
that they would have to "adjust the tone" to make it, in the words of the
postage stamp illustrated with a dove of peace has been "rescheduled for a
later date," the postal service said. "They're replacing the dove with an
Apache helicopter, so it'll take at least a month before it arrives," the
"Finally, a question to which I know the answer: Murderers yell at each
requires the willful suspension not of disbelief but of genuine knowledge: An
awareness of the actual answer so easily eclipses the inspiration for a comic
response. And, clearly, everyone knew the facts of the matter today. But
there's more about Colorado you might not know. To condense from (but not
conversation in the exercise yard at the federal "Super Max" prison in
7-by-12 cells, the men can not even look into the eyes of another prisoner.
They are permitted to spend one hour per day in separate cages in the exercise
yard, where they can speak to each other through mesh fences.
from his cell in a New York prison, he has been kept even more isolated, but a
said, "They talk about innocuous things like the movies. They don't talk about
have presented a challenge to the gift shop managers, but they rose to it. Some
Cockroach Earrings, part of a series that includes mice, flies, and
mosquitoes, $8--It's a formal affair: Should I go with the malaria or the
overindulgence on our immune system", $5--Remind me: What's the difference
Virus Coaster Set (includes Influenza A, Hepatitis B, Adenovirus, T4
Bacteriophage), $12--How many times must I tell you: Don't put your glass on
the table, put it on something that will give you searing abdominal
$12.50--From the people who brought you the Body Bag poncho.
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
Who said this to whom about what: "Keep on doing what you're doing, and
of you wallowed in the olfactory, particularly in the odor of corruption and
fish. (If News Quiz were played by dogs, what a merry romp that would be!
fish; it is one of the few things used to represent both male and female
flexible metaphor because the general shape of its body is phallic, while its
open mouth suggests the vagina. So, who's hungry? Anybody up for seafood?
Al Gore requires no explanation except, perhaps, for
his astonishing physical grace. The man moves like a young panther.
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
The hawkish papers of Fleet Street raised loud hurrahs, while some of the more
unanimity, however, that her decision made a peace settlement much more
The Telegraph said the indictment would put muscle into the United
would not only be "morally repellent," it was "now illegal," it said.
crimes move dims peace hope," pronounced the indictment "overwhelmingly
positive" and said it augured well "not just for the resolution of this war,
underscoring the independence of the tribunal, "suggested quite directly that
the timing of the indictment had been affected by the disclosure of
of intercepts and other secret information has always meant that the war crimes
card could be played at a moment they deemed would best serve their
welcoming the indictment as an important new step "in the fight against
influential journalists, said he hoped it wasn't so, for this would mean that
the tribunal had deliberately timed the indictment to sabotage peace
their leader showed "a deep misunderstanding of the psychology of a people
of charisma, he now appears to have the country behind him.
install their own operating systems of any type and make heavy use of help
if she has ever done the same on a Windows machine. Very few computer users
install their own operating systems these days; they buy their computers with
write to make a few points. The very first paragraph contains a stunning number
called GNU. GNU is not an operating system but a software suite that runs on
And just for your information, there is a "GNU operating system" in
freely distributable, the authors have no means of recompense for their work.
interface you can have it, if you prefer a graphical interface that's fine too.
than commercial software. I use both commercial software and free software in
computer systems), and it's pretty clear to me that it's the free
software that is rigorously tested and the commercial software that gets
released just as soon as it appears to run. Why? Because the incentive to an
author of free software is to make her package the best, so releasing
inadequately tested software will do the author's personal reputation no good
at all. The incentive to a commercial author is to get the application on the
and your article doesn't exactly encourage readers to exercise their choice and
proprietary standards for how data are exchanged. That is, technical and legal
what companies are going to focus their efforts on when writing drivers and
software; there are, after all, only limited resources for writing drivers and
related to whether network effects involving proprietary content formats are
going to exclude them from some areas of public and commercial life. Just like
don't enjoy being forced to do their work on Windows using its "WIMP"
become more sensitive to concerns about interoperability and open standards.
encouraging. Clear support for Sun Java would also be good (and would, in the
attitude toward standards and cooperation. The computer market is big enough
"elegant" in science and technology has a special meaning apart from common
use. Elegance is not synonymous with "simple." Rather, it refers to the most
terse solution to a problem. Such a solution will tend to be cryptic to
the uninitiated. Therefore, "elegant" is most often used by those after the
fact of having used a procedure successfully. For the others, I would venture
society, the person who would order suicides in place of executions was the
shogun, or military leader of Japan. Emperors, excepting the period from the
antagonized a rival to the point where this rival drew his sword. This all
occurred in front of the shogun, which meant serious trouble, because
displaying a weapon in the shogun's presence was punishable by death. Despite
the fact that he was forced into this situation, the offending adviser was
sentenced to death and committed suicide as you described in your magazine.
They coordinated an attack on the enemy adviser and murdered him. Honor called
on them to avenge their master's death, but the laws forbade murder. After
technology export policies, the renewal of China's normal trade (formerly most
favored nation) status, China's application to join the World Trade
nuclear nonproliferation, China's persecution of democrats, China's persecution
produced a kind of mass hysteria in the United States. The
Business interests insist that our economic partnership with China trumps all
else. Many conservatives, meanwhile, are screaming for a Cold War, demanding
that we confront the new Evil Empire before it grows too mighty. (This
conservative opposition continues a long and deplorable trend, described by
presidential power inevitably accuses the ruling party of being soft on China,
but then adopts the same accommodationist policies as soon as it wins the Oval
Democracy advocates judge China on its worst behavior toward dissidents and
ignore any good behavior, while business apologists applaud China's dynamism
and don't notice repression, espionage, etc. Any reasonable China policy must
separate issues of agreement and disagreement. China and the United States can
force the United States to cave on human rights just to improve economic ties.
Nor should human rights advocates be allowed to make trade agreements
criticize without offering a sensible alternative: A key reason for
without proposing their own remedy. In the New York Times last week,
carping over the Cox report: "Where exactly do you guys think you are going
about what they would do instead: They don't want a trade war, either. Other
hardly interested in keeping the communism it's got), and incredibly keen about
joining the world economy. This is not the Cold War. China is not the
implacable enemy that the Soviet Union was, and we should not treat it that
China become a superpower: China may not be the Soviet Union, but it's
help it. The United States should limit technology transfers, increase spying
raging over China's recent suppression of all democratic dissent. This
suppression is an outrage, but our policy must be more sophisticated than mere
economic freedom, sponsors competitive village elections, allows the
establishment of nongovernmental organizations, tolerates environmental and
women's rights activism, and is starting to develop a reliable legal system.
path to democracy. (Of course, taking the long view on democracy also requires
has an unblemished history of authoritarianism, five millenniums without
will require immense prudence: The United States must nurture a democratic
relations with China are messy partly because we worry too much about them. "We
are always swept up in some idealized notion of what China is or should be,"
nation like any other, with ambitions and fears, strengths and weaknesses. And
travel the world in search of scoops. My story is in the kitchen and the living
experiments were successful, and as I mop up the spills I can only hope that my
shelves sag with scores of brands in the three main paper categories. This is
not as daunting as it sounds, because the market is now dominated by four
dries from the steel cylinder on which it was formed, lowering the paper's
density. The premium wiping papers are also embossed, which creates pockets to
been given a unique, patented, gentle texture that is designed to give
consumers a clean, fresh feeling." Apparently, we hardy westerners don't
fibrous pulp. This increases their strength, and the manufacturers usually give
them more pronounced embossing for greater soaking power. Whereas little girls
and babies appear on toilet paper wrappers, paper towel packages depict beefy,
brawny guys, indicating their toughness. In this category the contestants
implied strength and security, I tested the ability of a single sheet to hold
the moisture produced when a damp tea bag was left on it for two minutes.
Unfortunately for me and my security deposit, none of my towels succeeded. I
didn't have any of the blue liquid ad agencies use in commercials to indicate
absorbency, so I gauged the soaking power of individual sheets with tap water.
towel. Not a single one could hold all the fluid, but even the cheapest towel
stayed solid as it was wrung out and used to wipe up the excess from the
that while paper towels can't perform miracles, even the lowliest
example of the species can soak up liquid and dry your hands. If you're
faced with a big, messy job, it might be worth spending the extra money for a
under normal circumstances, a budget recycled product such as the ones on offer
from Natural Value or Second Nature offer good value and provide the desired
story and instead subjected six brands of facial tissues to a "spray
sneeze to test their absorbency. To my amazement, all the subjects survived the
everything, the Envision Preference Ultra is a 3-ply "premium" product, but it
still feels like a scouring pad after touching a virgin fiber tissue.) Thicker
tissues also keep germs off your hands, which is nothing to sneeze at.
strengthening cellulose fibers they contain are biodegradable, facial tissues
don't break down as quickly as toilet tissue, so flushing is not recommended.
toilet tissue --the average family stash of eight rolls doesn't even take
price difference between the budget brands and the premium products, but are
specific enough that a trial "in the field" would tell me all I needed to know.
All contestants went through the rotation in my bathroom. For novelty value, I
more refreshed, and confident," but somehow using the adult equivalent of baby
and seems completely unsuited for contact with one's soft bits, but drape a
The latest marketing angle in toilet tissue is the double
or triple roll. There doesn't appear to be any agreement on what constitutes a
we're assured it "fits almost all standard dispensers"). The implied economies
brand (Heritage Hearth) was considerably cheaper per square foot than any of
the double or triple rolls (only half the price of the most expensive premium
can't compete on the softness front. The recycled ingredients include rough
stuff like cardboard boxes as well as office paper. Still, the case for
recycling is persuasive. The packaging for Seventh Generation toilet paper
descriptors such as "gentle," "plush," and "cottony softness," but although
the fluffy plant. Purely Cotton bathroom and facial tissues are made from
process doesn't produce dioxins as with wood pulp bleaching.
Purely Cotton, which costs no more than the premium brands, is environmentally
sound, acceptably soft, and appropriately absorbent. Even the cheapest toilet
paper gets the job done, so if you want to impress guests or if you don't want
jury that he had carried on and covered up an inappropriate relationship with
by calling his behavior "wrong" and taking "complete responsibility" for it.
"attacked the wrong target because the bombing instructions were based on an
outdated map," which "inaccurately located the embassy in a different part of
intelligence community whenever foreign embassies move." In other words, people
their colleagues who were deciding which buildings to bomb. There's nothing for
the United States to say about this except that we perpetrated a moral outrage
you have already apologized is the opposite of apologizing. The latter is a way
to China but never used the word "apologize." Two days later, he declared, "I
used weasel words and passive verbs to minimize his deceit. "While my answers
were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information," he allowed. "My public
comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression." To minimize
their lives") and offered good intentions as an excuse ("We're doing everything
that we can to avoid innocent civilian casualties").
about his adultery by confessing to "causing pain in my marriage," refusing to
expected. "This will happen if you drop this much [ordnance]," he argued
instead to their material interests, vowing incessantly to "keep working for
emphasized that "good relations are manifestly in the interest of both nations"
apology under a recitation of his enemy's wrongs. He even used the same
Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon pointed out that the other guy started
China's financial interests are best served by stifling its anger. It's true
These are all perfectly good spins. But the point of an apology is to accept
responsibility for what you did and otherwise to shut up. To apologize, in
The famously withdrawn country may finally expand its role in world affairs.
treasury secretary ("Imagine the effort required for this man to feign interest
in the idiotic ramblings of some member of Congress, next to whom the stupidest
business of meals on wheels; it should be in the business of guns and
shadow story of the millennium." (Click if you missed the first installment.)
and improved health among the major developments in the lives of females over
the last thousand years. An accompanying time line illustrates women's
during the filming of the original trilogy but says she can't even remember
what the third installment was called. Time applauds the film's splashy
special effects but deems it short on "human magic" (for more early returns, check
from charges of poor planning and incoherence, and tallies her successes
and huge potential to win centrist voters. She "is running the campaign she
hoarding chemical weapons, including nerve gas, blister agents, choking
attorneys, fresh from recent victories over Big Tobacco, are going after the
says, came straight from a Wall Street Journal editorial decrying the
disorder. A series of operations has given the baby eyes, fingers, a navel, and
about dismantling the racial and ethnic classifications that still plague
rank with one who makes a fundamental discovery in the field?"
editorial declares that the intervention "has failed catastrophically." The
project was a tough sale. "Most producers' eyes would glaze over as soon as I
when I posted this question was that two different types of responses were
stupid movies, frequently involving an abstruse philosopher, and those that
mock Showtime for making truly stupid movies, frequently involving
Showtime mockers can respect each other and work together to mock various
"Most producers' eyes would glaze over as soon as I
its phone system so you hear a movie promo when you're on hold.
prominent role with the House Republicans if he were not black is not
necessarily racist. Rather, it demonstrates a rather remarkable journalistic
sloppiness (employed, on occasion, by those on the right as well as on the
left) that permits the writer to look at a subject's basic physical traits and
ignore the many other attributes and characteristics that make the individual
worthy of being viewed, objectively, as a legitimate leader.
worked with Rep. Watts on several projects. (The comments here, however, are
solely my own and do not necessarily reflect either Watts' viewpoint or the
response to Watts' press secretary, if Rep. Watts would have been chosen to
"there's nothing racist about arguing that a member of a minority
diversity." The implicit insinuation is that Watts has been given a "pass" on
was a very vocal, visible, and aggressive group. To demonstrate how important
they were to the "revolutionary" Republican change that was happening, many
were given rather attractive leadership positions not usually afforded House
It's not too surprising that they would each assume prominent roles as public
faces of the insurgent class. They are both photogenic, both athletic, both
conservative. The post-'98 election House leadership results demonstrated that
leadership role, as well as Watts. Now, does Watts gain a slight edge because
he is black? Perhaps, but recall that the media immediately gravitated toward
affirmative action politics by promoting Watts, when part of that promotion is
a reflection of how much the media have already elevated him as a
received the same attention and promotion from the media and his peers. The
different treatment afforded those gentlemen indicates that, though both are
politically, and oratorically. The media know a good story when they see one;
this distinction between two men who are the same, isn't it presumptuous of
role at the Republican National Convention in the previous year: The man gives
a damn good speech. In fact, of all the speeches at the convention that year,
president], because he is a powerful speaker and, unlike many Republicans,
in the statement, it still clearly explains why Watts has managed to take (or
been placed in) a leadership role within the party: He articulates a
conservative Republican agenda in a style that is straightforward, uplifting,
businessman; a member of Congress; a family man (despite admitted mistakes as a
worthy of a prize than anyone's reporting on the story. Perhaps the only
adequate response to Flytrap was cynicism and pointed barbs, but you would
think a story resulting in the impeachment of the president would have had some
classic case of special pleading disguised as a violation of civil rights. Even
(or she) really guilty of? Failing to cut some slack!
correct as far as it goes, you make it sound like "special pleading" is a bad
thinking, all legislation, period) is the result of one group successfully
convincing Congress that its interests are more important than the freedom of
others. (This sounds more cynical than it is; one way to so convince Congress
is to speak to their sense of justice as well as to their pocketbook.) An
illustration: In most states, if I were your employer I could fire you just
because I don't like you, even though there's no good reason for my dislike.
However, if I also have a female employee who I dislike merely because she's a
woman, I can't fire her. In this way, current civil rights legislation requires
is legal). But what if, in order to lure someone as perspicacious as you away
from her current, stable job, I have to promise to give her the gig
permanently? (Which is complicated, but basically illegal.) In this case,
Congress has decided that your interests as an ill person should trump my
available to attract readers and the interests of your putative replacement in
are not worth the cost in freedom they will engender.
that the two great mysteries of the universe are: "Why is there something
instead of nothing?" and "Why do people put locks on their refrigerator doors?"
Long ago, I concluded that both these mysteries must remain forever
unfathomable. More recently, two remarkable works of popular science have
locks. Why would any rational creature want to erect an obstacle between itself
and a midnight snack? Midnight snacks have costs (usually measured in calories
tempt us. We snack when we believe the benefits exceed the costs. In other
words, we snack when snacking is, on net and in our best judgment, a good
thing. What could be the point of making a good thing more difficult?
But people do lock their refrigerators. They also destroy
their cigarettes, invest their savings in accounts that are designed to
discourage withdrawals, and adopt comically elaborate schemes to force
to the mast. I used to have my secretary lock my computer in a drawer every
afternoon so I couldn't spend my entire day surfing the Net.
explain such behavior in all sorts of unsatisfying ways. You can say that
choice? You can suppose that our minds house multiple "individuals" with
theory of exactly how many people we're sharing our minds with, and how their
conflicts get resolved. You can throw up your hands and say that some behavior
is rational and some isn't, and this particular behavior is in the second
The problem with that one is that once you allow yourself
to start positing "tastes" for everything under the sun, you abandon all
against hollow triumphs like, "Why did the man drink the motor oil? Because he
had a taste for drinking motor oil!" If you can explain everything,
us to posit a taste for drinking motor oil. Here's why: Unlike a taste for
midnight, you get most of the benefits, but your spouse (who cares about your
health and appearance) shares many of the costs. So a taste for locking the
selfish calculation, you ought to make yourself a giant hot fudge sundae every
that natural selection favored people with a taste for refrigerator locks.
What about people who aren't looking for mates or who are
ancestors (who must have mated successfully or they wouldn't have become
ancestors) had that taste. The bottom line is that it is intellectually
honest to explain behavior by positing surprising tastes, provided those tastes
are useful in the mating game. Presumably the sociobiologists and evolutionary
psychologists have had this idea all along, but economists have been slow to
all of which is wonderfully provocative and some of which is convincing. His
point is to take seriously the claims of those artificial intelligence
researchers who assert that consciousness can emerge from sufficiently complex
software. Pure mathematics is pure software and contains patterns of arbitrary
complexity. The universe itself, together with the conscious beings who inhabit
Or maybe not. The argument only works if you believe that
mathematics is eternal and precedes the universe. One could equally well argue
that mathematics arises from counting and measuring and so can't exist until
after there is a universe of things to count and measure. I should also
say that while I love the idea that the universe is nothing but a mathematical
But there might be a good economic reason why we're
is not a terribly useful skill. It confers no reproductive advantage, so
there's no reason we should have evolved brains capable of thinking about such
a question. Nature is too good an economist to invest in such frivolities. On
the other hand, the ability to understand human behavior has clear payoffs for
could work out a detailed and convincing theory of refrigerator locks.
journey she took when she fell in love with the leader of the free world and
like to think I would live on in a book. I like to be able to reach up on my
her, he admired the skirt but said he would like to see what was underneath it.
replied that it had been "a relationship between two adults," but that "it was
with." He added, "I respect him as a president, but I don't respect him as a
knit, which was something that has been extremely helpful" and that he had
men, including trusted lieutenants who are also wanted for the bombing of US
his disappearance earlier this month to protect him when he is at his most
police force, made by an independent judicial inquiry into a botched police
investigation into the murder of a young black man. The conservative press is
strongly critical of the proposed solutions to the problem. The Daily
racist language or behavior where such conduct can be proved to have taken
place otherwise than in a public place." The editorial also attacked the
government for adopting numerical targets for the recruitment of ethnic
forms of affirmative action can be beneficial, but once quotas are mandated by
hard hit by the collapse of oil prices and blaming Western countries for it,
have taken an unpublicized decision to "freeze" arms purchases so that their
community fears. In fact, they plan to take it to fairs so children can climb
efforts to increase minority recruitment (no kidding, this time they mean it)
or to make the many other reforms persistently resisted by both the department
not feel comfortable with a punch line that alludes to the plunger. And while I
replies. It is, of course, a matter of sensibility. No offense meant. Now
stocked up on pepper spray and smoke bombs and has given additional riot
prosecutor's decision about whether to charge a white officer who fatally shot
is preparing to suppress a riot. He does understand how these misconceptions
can occur, "I can see how people would add one and one and get four." Or
from a recent commencement speech with the fatuous blowhard who ladled it
crazy enough to think they can change the world, they do."
responsibility for the society that our children live in. We must teach them
your life will come not from leisure, not from idleness, not from
you are far more likely to regret what you did not do than what you do do."
the builders. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could be the healers."
"Shoot for the moon, shoot for the sun. Even if you miss, you will only land
absolutely spectacular. That's when I said, 'Aha!' I knew then and there it was
politicians are corrupt, venal, and incompetent: This was established by
Impeachment was supposed to affirm it once and for all. But now the unthinkable
Nowhere is this Great Awakening more alarming than in
Republican governors are especially favored. While Republicans in Congress
the happy numbers have made any Republican who lives in a governor's mansion
think he deserves a promotion to vice president. Among those touted as
is persuading Republicans that the governors have found the Holy Grail. The
governors, Republicans believe, have invented a brilliant new politics that
transcends ideology. The admirers of the governors (who include, not least, the
governors themselves) use the same phrases over and over to describe them: The
way? They combine fiscal conservatism and softer social policy. They have
turned deficits into gigantic surpluses while still cutting taxes. They have
slashed welfare rolls and unemployment. They have increased funding for popular
social policies: teacher training, health care for kids, environmental
Unlike the savage congressional Republicans, the governors
have perfected the soothing language of politics. Bush, for example, has
we recognize the treasures of your language and heritage," the governor's press
learned how to form multicultural coalitions, another feat that has eluded
Democratic Party and borrowed their best ideas. They are even willing to offend
abortion. Bush has irritated conservatives by emphasizing public education and
So, essentially, the new form of government invented by
surpluses, welfare reform, sweeteners for social programs, lots of euphemizing,
governors have done. Their accomplishments are genuine and their states are
hypocrisy. Conservatives, after all, have spent the last year crediting
course the governors and the president managed to turn deficits into surpluses.
Of course they cut welfare rolls. Of course they have delighted voters by
goosing popular social programs with extra millions. You would have to be a
moron not to have been a popular governor while tax revenue surged,
decision to go from simple requests for change to armed assault. 'Frankly,' he
"Following the designation of 'ugly' as a diagnosable sexual dysfunction,
discarded church organs with poor schools' neglected music departments. He is
foreign countries have foreigners. News Quiz has affirmed these truths time and
couple of less heroic nonfictional baseball teams. But mostly there are the
also because they are so unfathomably beneficent, at least among themselves.
perhaps less so than the one it replaces. You see, I once knew a guy who had a
morning he woke up in a bathtub full of ice with a crude surgical scar in his
side. Written in lipstick on the mirror was the message, "Welcome to the world
idea evolving with time and where is it heading now? I mean what is the
the animal characters and replace them with people, I could relate much
barely touched down after its first ever combat mission last week when two of
its most loyal allies staged a press conference to claim vindication. Standing
"We have seen this type of criticism on every major weapons system," said
"airplanes, tanks, ships and missiles have grown too complex, expensive and
delicate to be useful in warfare or credible for deterrent purposes." Fallows
argued in vain that the United States should instead spend its defense budget
based on different underlying technologies, their names conceal a
sissy, either. It carries a pair of 2,000-pound bombs into combat, but it's
slow and hard to maneuver. The 56-plane fleet only flies at night (which
capabilities. If an enemy fighter spots and engages the F-117, it's toast. Very
would penetrate deep into the Soviet Union to wage nuclear war, today it
eight 5,000-pounders) into battle. Editorial writers love to note that, ounce
for ounce, the B-2 is five times pricier than gold. Its incredible cost stems
Force defends the cost by saying that one B-2, with its heavy payload, can do
the game was nuclear deterrence grudgingly admit that nobody would ever build
With its subtle curves, smooth surface, and intimidating
bat wings, the B-2 is the cooler big brother of the two planes. But the smaller
represent different strategies for evading radar: The B-2 absorbs enemy radar
flawless. It's commonly assumed that stealth planes are invisible to radar.
those reasons, the Pentagon has abandoned its original boasts that stealth
apparent precision. The General Accounting Office, however, later downgraded by
mission success rate. Naysayers continue to heap scorn on the two stealth
news comes at a critical moment for the Pentagon, which is pushing for the
The national love affair with stealthy weapons will endure
for several reasons. Although decades old, the technology is perennially
acquire an added allure whenever they're developed in secret: The military
flying.) And then there's something perversely sexy about the vehicles'
invisibility, something magical about striking without being struck back.
weapons appeal to us because they indulge our fear of commitment. And this is
what ultimately makes them pose their own kind of stealthy threat to us. As
the genuine perils of combat in the opening days of any military engagement,
turning war into an "out of sight, out of mind" proposition. They encourage the
being shed, the seductive charms of stealth weapons ultimately evaporate into
nothingness. We are left unfulfilled by their limitations and cheated by their
later point about "gratuitous meritocracy" did not seem up to his usual level
there be art without such evaluations? (This is a philosophical, not an
rather formal, inevitably somewhat pedestrian method of evaluation. Our list
certainly has a target or two on it for everyone (including us list makers).
Still, I thought the whole thing was worth doing because journalism is rarely
compared across decades; because such comparisons make for enlightening
discussions (like the one you, all too briefly, embarked upon); because our
memory for good journalism tends to be awfully short; because most of the work
case be made in support of the Cable Ace Awards? Perhaps. But our list does
trying to maintain an indie sensibility while flirting with mainstream
from all walks of life. It seems that if a woman shows any duality in her
wants (and therefore weak), or she shouldn't be venturing out into the big, bad
between where one creative process ends and another begins. It is a universal
language, or should be in an ideal world. I am constantly amazed at the number
of people (yeah, they've been men) who have told me that my musical career
would be bolstered if I would just be willing to "work the sex angle."
particularly to anyone who's ever done something like lock his refrigerator (I
don't, but I keep it empty for a similar reason). The irrational act isn't
food, and get less sleep. The momentary pleasure isn't remotely worth the
an irrational urge to eat, doubtless a holdover from some ancient time when
eating whenever possible was a survival trait. As long as you're positing an
explanation is correct? Or that people are too stupid to realize what's bad for
anything remotely approaching the sort of behavior alleged. There was no
pattern to match the behavior and, therefore, the press did not pursue it or
demand a forceful denial. To add further injury to the premise that the
reputation for veracity is questionable at best) and People magazine.
have been misled by a poorly reported story in a local newspaper that confused
discussions about the various shorthand versions of our name.
knowledge domains of humankind and in analytic thinking skills, a bit more
choice to explore the ideas and fields introduced in students' first two years,
and a series of courses taught by full faculty in a small, focused discussion
the curriculum is under constant scrutiny by the faculty, and is revised
regularly (typically at intervals of about a decade) in a process that
satisfactions in the enthusiastic, unbridled pursuit of the life of the
writes: "Consider Brown, whose undergraduates have a higher average SAT score
precisely because it has a reputation for being a blast and lacks any real
explanation of Brown's attractiveness to prospective students is an insult to
Brown alumni and alumnae, to those who have applied to Brown, and to
readers who hate seeing arguments built on unsupported
aggression, and threatens to entangle us in commitments we will regret. To win
among opponents of the bombing. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with
level" worthy of removing a president. Now Republicans are turning the tables,
can be minimized. But this is a losing game, since risk is always more than
risks of its own. "We must weigh those risks [of bombing] against the risks of
act, the war will spread. If it spreads, we will not be able to contain it
the cost and the duration of involvement and the consequences if we do
"further atrocities." "I would hate to think that we'd have to see a lot of
thousands more people slaughtered and buried in open soccer fields before we do
something." To drive home his point that inaction, like action, requires
United States as the aggressor and protest that we shouldn't intervene unless
has not committed a security threat to the United States."
aggressors. At his press conference, he replied, "I don't think it's accurate
to say we're acting first. I think they have acted first. They have massed
their troops, they have continued to take aggressive action, they have already
leveled one village in the recent past and killed a lot of innocent people." He
reverse the aggression argument in two ways. First, they turn the immorality of
Much of the aggression debate revolves around the integrity
country that's not threatening neighboring countries, not threatening part of
deterrence, which rests on credibility in threatening the use of force, which
rests on the use of force when challenged. This argument is weakened by its
can't dispute the principle of commitment, so he turns it on its head. We've
already pledged to use force, he argues, and now we must keep our word.
Ostensibly, this commitment was made last year when the United States voted
bombing use the word "impunity" to shift the burden of the aggression argument
to their opponents, they likewise use the word "credibility" to shift the
what should happen but also about what will happen. The White
genuine debate in the United States over whether we're serious about that
inevitable. He pulls off this trick by presenting bombing as the default course
before a war are always the same: Should we fight? Can we? Must we? Will we?
Philosophers and theologians try to answer these questions, but smart
politicians rewrite them. That's not fair, you say? Neither is war.
know it stinks in the law's nostrils, and it stinks to me." Who said this about
"Candor, gossiping about Stench at the recent Abstract Concepts Potluck and
film critics and political opponents. This is a disturbing ceding of the field
about his boss (I believe that's in the Constitution) and his relatives (the
Bible). But there is a recent reluctance to fire at certain targets unless one
has impressive credentials, a professionalizing of contumely. This is
said about literary criticism: "You may scold a carpenter who has made you a
bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make
clearly did not mean you should criticize News Quiz because you're discontent
the country's largest black denomination, while serving as its president. "I
cannot shake the feeling that I have let so many people down," he added. Well,
universities have begun advertising. Can you name the schools that used the
government's survival depends, rejected a resolution demanding a permanent,
its power to "wantonly interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.''
Senate Republicans endorsed new gun restrictions. After
killing a Democratic measure that would have required background checks on all
customers at gun shows, they proposed a similar measure. They also voted to ban
sales of semiautomatic assault weapons to minors, and many of them voted for a
background checks: "They passed up this chance to save lives." The spins from
and service increases to drive away competitors in order to resume charging
high fares. It's the government's first suit over predatory pricing since
airline deregulation. The government's spin: We're busting illegal monopoly
busted at the behest of our competitors. The competitors' spin: We're doing
The House ethics committee cautioned House Majority Whip Tom DeLay,
for financial transactions with political parties. Reports depict the
action as a response to DeLay's attempts to pressure an industry lobbying group
to hire a Republican rather than a Democrat as its president. Although the
it "chastised" DeLay, and the New York Times called it a "rebuke."
power and ruthlessness. DeLay aides' spin: "The committee has disposed of this
matter." The lobbying group's spin: DeLay has "sensitized" us to the importance
return to "private life." The unofficial translation: He wants to resume making
Congressional Republicans lauded him as their ally in the Cabinet.
prison. He was acquitted on manslaughter charges but convicted of
obstruction for destroying a videotape of an earlier part of the flight. The
upbeat spin: The obstruction conviction makes up for the manslaughter acquittal
was evidently mistaken for a chemical weapons facility, the ski lift disaster
(attributed in part to government maps that failed to show the ski lift) proves
another for the quality most evident in the writing of New York Times
on its last great), is nowadays dominated by sententiousness, not satire. On
between "the mayor who cracks down on crime and the mayor whose crime was
crack." At other times, her glibness gets in the way of her insight:
she could set a welcome example for pundits everywhere if she took a solemn,
occasional lapses aside, no other regular newspaper columnist matches her
gimlet eye, her sense of phrase, or her unpredictability.
at parties. Another is that she is subject to frequent, sometimes scathing,
criticism in publications of every ideological stripe and market niche. Her
that "any journalist must be super strenuous to take the vileness award from
year that began, "He couldn't stop thinking about the thong underwear," earned
called her "a writer of relentless orthodoxy," by which of course it meant
nearly impossible to glean from her columns. Most of her colleagues on the
ideological cards close to the vest. Her published views on matters of policy
would scarcely fill a chapbook: She favors gun control, hates the tobacco
a heterodox temperament. They are as likely, these days, to be held by a
a reporter, following the presidential campaign after having covered the Bush
placing style and personality above seriousness and substance.
easily dismissed. A writer with a strong and original voice will always
influence lesser talents: Imitation is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.
complicated, especially because the trivialization of politics has long been
celebrity culture and the political culture have become indistinguishable.
herself helped broker. Or, to switch metaphors, she is simultaneously a
brilliant diagnostician of the political disease of our time and a symptom of
was an assignment and, quite rightly, that editors, not reporters, decide what
year wrote a hilarious column called "Of Frogs and Newts," which linked the
of a president Tom Hanks would make, and who calls Al Gore "the Saving
are carefully rationed and, therefore, unusually effective. She recently wrote
recalled her own humiliation, years before, by a powerful editor she had gone
struck dumb by this question has been used against her. The Phoenix 's
herself had chosen to tell us. And while perhaps an explicit admission that
some of the predictably misogynist hate mail she has received from both
her own plane and owns a supper club called The Fuzzy Slipper." "Anything," she
political and cultural moment. Other pundits beam their opinions at us as
Like the rest of his most loyal supporters and his most
baby boom generation. "Historians will record," she has written, elaborating on
contribution was to be the generation that worried about its contribution."
time before they came along and screwed everything up.
it ends. She has been practicing for this inevitable terrible event lately,
it's hard to see how her intemperate wit will find adequate targets in either a
be "decisive." The paper also reported strong speculation that German Defense
Another military blunder made the front page of the South China Morning Post of
against any escalation of the war, and the Times of
wolf," the paper said. The nuclear gap between the two countries has widened in
going to expose their own cities to needless risk."
position on the implementation of the G-8 peace plan would be "little better
"meaningless in itself, notable only as a hint of desperation," it said in an
modified (GM) crops took on aspects of a constitutional battle after Prince
the Daily Mail criticizing the regulations governing their production.
heir to the throne attacked the lack of independent scientific research and
said the regulations were not tough enough. The Times reported that
campaigners as hysterics. As a patron of the Soil Association, which campaigns
for organic food, the prince is also said to be upset by an article written by
the government's chief scientific adviser saying the Soil Association was run
said the organizers, Turner Sports, assured her they would cover all costs
cord damage. "In the end, they didn't produce a penny," she told the paper.
will expand its trading hours next fall, and the New York Stock Exchange is
likely to follow. The upbeat spin: The current hours are relics of Wall
the trading floor. The downbeat spin: Longer trading hours will require
everyone from the traders to the regulators to the press to retool their
Dolly the cloned sheep is aging prematurely. Scientists
clones assume the age of their genetic sources? Second mystery: If her cells
Third mystery: Since sheep don't get gray hair, how will researchers find
restoration. Experts scrubbed it of grime but also removed layers of
attention from the embassy bombing. The president's spin: The most damaging
spins: The evidence is thin, and there's no way to trace what really happened.
The committee chairman's spin: Only the unclassified portions of the report
were released, and the classified findings are even more damning.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors will say that there's no evidence that
reports. This does not jibe with the earlier Senate investigation, which
shakier than they had thought. The Republicans line: It's an outrageous
ruling coalition or present the plan to the parliament.
Students may sue their schools for not protecting them against sexual
officials were "deliberately indifferent" to her torment. The conservative
spin: No, they won't, because it's almost impossible to prove "severe and
million can't be disappointing, and the press is wailing about "disappointing"
explanation: Ticket sales were depressed by predictions of long queues and
buffs, and media creatures for whom the end of the scandal is likely to mean
pretty good idea who he was. "Is it someone in the president's family,
The Shearers are also the kind of people Republican
mugwumps despise most viscerally: privileged, socially and professionally
the patriarch of the clan, was for many years the editor of Parade
sensible recipes with anxious warnings about the dangers of the nuclear arms
floated to the top of the murky stew of supposition, innuendo, and sleaze that
other forms of terror. (The most disturbing instance was the appearance, a few
declined to explain why the bare possibility of Shearer's involvement in the
multiple coincidences who seems at the same time to be operating in the service
Is Shearer a private citizen unfairly sucked into the
vortex of public scandal? If so, the vortex is awfully good at finding him. In
published reports, Shearer is most often described as a journalist or a
politics and culture, which addressed such motley topics as trucking
the column dug up several embarrassing incidents of drunkenness in the past of
John Tower, whose nomination to be secretary of defense was derailed by
questions about his alcoholism and sexual irresponsibility.
might infer that in helping to sink Tower, Shearer was already acting as the
Knows Who Else matter, be accused (by Dick Morris, among others) of
coordinating efforts to smear and intimidate those women. Shearer had
administration would intervene on its behalf in a dispute over drilling rights
while he admitted that he had accepted the tribe's retainer, has denied that
have not been limited to domestic affairs. Much to the embarrassment of his
vary as to what happened next, but it appears that Shearer was either duped by
makes things happen. But he may just be a person who things happen to happen
to, a guy with a penchant for pretending to be what others want to believe that
Several errors in this piece as originally posted have been corrected. Click to
read a letter to the editor criticizing the original version.
isn't about which side is right. It's about which side is choosing the course
of the conflict, and which side is imposing the consequences. And in that war
consequences of our bombing seems to have been to unleash a bloodbath, where
the first phase of the air campaign has only intensified the alleged ethnic
"consequence" of the bombing. This is the opposite of how the United States
the one that is making it worse. And what we were trying to do is to make sure
that he pays the heaviest price for what he is doing."
defensive, insisting day after day that it was not their bombing that sparked
stopped demanding that he sign the peace plan and have started demanding merely
that he "stop his repression." "We are going to continue the bombing until we
on which side's will breaks first, which in turn depends on each side's
the media portray their morale. While the Times editorializes on Page
him escalation for escalation. Eventually, the consequences will become
unbearable to one side or the other. It's a head game. War always is.
from the old network economic model: "Our goal over time is to turn viewers
disdain television, although please do, especially that Animal Medical
pizza; it's not really good, but it's so conveniently available that we dully
consume it instead of making the effort to go out for really good pizza or some
truly magnificent water from, like, a solid gold tap. And yet, if you ask
it's stripping naked and firing out the window at passing cars with that
actress from that show, you know, the pretty one. So perhaps it's a little
own part of a home shopping channel, is expanding its efforts to sell
figuring out ways to drive sales of product through our broadcast platform is a
key ingredient we see in the overall mix," said Rogers. "And that means one
A new version of the annoying yet popular toy and a
new presidential candidate from the awkward yet enduring political family are
promises, "We're going to be laying out positions on all these issues."
quicker and stay asleep until turned completely upside down.
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
away-- Field of Dreams didn't fill this particular soul, it functioned as
Dreams would fill a book. In fact, they do fill a book-- Rocket
of the mines (where his father was the superintendent) by throwing himself into
heavens but on earthly means of getting off the ground: the mix of saltpeter
and sugar that causes a rocket to soar without exploding, the shape that keeps
it from spiraling into populated areas, the thickness of steel that prevents
its nose cone from melting, the trigonometry that's employed to track its
movie evokes that blend of thrill and terror that comes from mixing two
chemicals together without being sure that an instant later you'll still be
rough you up. The movie builds to a couple of climactic science fairs, but
they're presented almost as afterthoughts, and in moments of tragedy one's
malignant, subterranean caverns and the allure of space exploration has so much
resonance that the story doesn't need the hard sell. It opens at one of the
Cold War's cultural turning points: the appearance of the Soviet satellite
"They could be dropping bombs from up there," says someone. "Don't know why
they'd drop a bomb on this place," comes a voice of reason, "Be a waste of a
Sputnik is the spark for Homer's impulse to build rockets,
geek, but it's a measure of the movie's grace that after a couple of early
gibes the four begin to work together with a breathlessness that leaves no room
company property (the whole town is mining company property), the Rocket Boys
trudge eight miles to a flat gravel plane, on which they build a block house
deeply goofy gesture and totally consistent with its heroes' sense of
they're working toward entering the state science fair and competing for
college scholarships, but their true goal is simpler: making those rockets go
petulant dervish. There are rockets that defiantly explode before they leave
the pad and rockets that spitefully take fences and vegetation with them. There
are rockets that spin around in an escalating panic before blowing up and
rockets that somersault off their bases and make a beeline for the nearest
population center. The centerpiece of the movie is a montage of disasters to
the tune of "Ain't That a Shame," but it ain't a shame, really: It's an
era when information was precious, when a kid could get excited about the
appearance of a text called Principles of Guided Missile Design that
hardly anyone knew existed. There was a connection, however small, between a
thingamajig one could build in one's garage and the stuff that was heading for
looking at the coal dust in the air made my lungs ache and an old cough come
back. I won't spoil the coda by revealing it here, but it's the kind of coup
that only movies can bring off and, watching it, I shed my first unashamed
boy into abandoning his education and going into the mines, a perspective less
tragically shortsighted than plain moronic, given the fact that miners are
boy follow in his footsteps but to go beyond them, too, and to use his science
to make people safer. The Rocket Boys weren't as out of sync with their culture
lips specialty, gazing at the principal in wordless horror while her mouth
Sky suggests that if it weren't for the mothers and the female teachers,
malevolence of the corporate environment, it's on the verge of being really
that's making Peter seethe in his cubicle, but the relentlessly
over from a heart attack in the middle of giving him instructions on how to
relax and follow his instincts, Peter emerges with an aura of serene
indestructibility and a gonzo rebelliousness that makes him, paradoxically,
more attractive to the faceless consultants whom his company has hired to
Sadomasochism in Everyday Life: The Dynamics of Power and Powerlessness
insults of modern society: copy machines that jam, drivers who cut them off in
traffic. And you can't get away from it. As he has proven on King of the
their uniforms. The sneak preview audience laughed gratefully at this, finding
something liberating in Judge's depiction of a business world that
laughed all the way through the Office Space preview, experiencing
shocks of recognition big and small. But they still left disappointed. For a
start, the actors' faces are so much less interesting than the mythic,
long in television, and his narrative peters out without a decent payoff. It's
a testament to the rage and anxieties that he has brilliantly tapped into that
he can't get away with a subdued conflagration and a lame twist at the end.
Judge leaves us the way his bosses leave his workers: smoldering in our cells,
"We're not being motivated by what's to come, but a fear of
being left out as the train is pulling away from the station, with some exotic
continue to enjoy, you do not need to be a participant.' It sounds a lot less
attempted distinction and excellence in any way, because the effect of his
former exertions now serves only to make his insignificance more vexing to him.
slave, not animated by inclination but goaded by fear.
trade publishing, said it about electronic books. He and his colleagues have to
deal with them, but they don't yet know what to think about them. (To find out
royalty are writers entitled to? Because electronic publishing eliminates
paper, printing, warehousing, and delivery, costs are lower, say writers, so
publishers should take a smaller share of a book's price, and the writer's
share should increase. Not so, say publishers, who insist they should continue
to take a whopping chunk of the money for no particular reason. Oh, yes:
headlines. Can you determine which is the real headline and which is the
Lucky, and his insulin. Then she and the others simply walked to a nearby
visited. Later, for the second time, votive candles sparked a fire which
consumed a canopy tent, bouquets, scraps of poetry and stuffed bears."
become fashionable for restaurants to have all their servers march out singing
birthday greetings to customers. Am I the only person who finds this
avoid them. (My wife likes the food at some of these places, so compromises
must be made.) The noise makes conversation impossible, and I can't help but
wonder if that's my meal being ignored in the kitchen during the song.
Shouldn't servers be respectful of all customers? What can be done?
she, too, finds the wait staff singing the birthday song rather hokey and
believes that the only people who dislike it more than you and I are the
"honorees." It is always embarrassing, but certainly not worth the boycott of a
the times," when that he felt children should address adults in a more formal
manner than using their first names. You may be correct that they may be out of
touch with current (rude) customs of our society. In my day, children were
taught respect for their elders, and one of the methods used was form of
address. Today, the television and the mall do the job that once was the
shootings, no graffiti on the walls, etc. I, for one, am glad that I was raised
by parents who had a value system. I still get up when a woman enters the room,
open a door for her, and offer my seat on a bus. Somehow I am happy to be too
standing for women and holding doors, but must point out that calling adults by
a first name, if they wish it, is a different issue. Please be assured that
marriage, living in different states. Ten years ago she came out on a vacation
to visit us for two weeks, and has continued to correspond during the holidays.
My husband says he was ashamed of his lie and that they had promised never to
tell me. Over the past years, I have asked him if there was anyone else, and he
always lied. He said the reason for the continued correspondence was that if he
stopped writing I might get suspicious. So, I wrote her and her husband and
cannot get this out of my mind. I think I love him and want the marriage to go
on, but other days I feel so used that I can't believe I am still with him.
suspect him of other lies, but my views of reality are definitely
things. First is that you must find the way that is right for you to feel good
again. That old canard that "confession is good for the soul" usually only
seems to work for the person confessing. Lover Boy's disclosure has clearly put
snake's tail in a wagon rut. He has not only lied to you but also to the woman
he cheated with. You, however, evened the score somewhat by writing to the
woman and her husband. God only knows what's going on in their
want to try someone else. Since you suspect other lies, you might want to have
a trial separation. On the plus side, you say you love this man, and the affair
you know about ended more than a decade ago. On the minus side, feeling you're
never getting a straight story is a major impediment to the comfort one feels
and your guide will most likely be a competent therapist, perhaps of the
sympathy for what was a great example of how to live a life. I also have some
areas where I get very uncomfortable with sympathy. I am the father of three
and the other from cancer. Yes, I loved them deeply and still have a hole in my
heart for them. The problem is when, in conversation, someone asks general
questions, such as, "How many children do you have?" People are devastated if I
tell them three, but I lost two. If I say one, I am bypassing an important part
of my life. If I just say three, I am not giving a very truthful
to these tragedies. It has been hard. I don't want to put people in an
uncomfortable position. There is also a part of me that hurts, but I don't
such as yourself who, having lived through what is said to be life's cruelest
event, is trying to do the honest, philosophically correct, and thoughtful
passing social encounter, with what you would call "a stranger," say one child.
If you encounter someone with whom you feel rapport, you might say three, with
a brief explanation, and allow that person to express sympathy. Let your
history false by not informing people of the two children you lost. Let the
decision about what to say, and to whom, come from your heart, the place where
not in question." The same point was emphasized in an interview with
nevertheless go to the United States "as soon as possible" to discuss with
to be "too diplomatic" because the United States was guilty "almost of an act
court that wasn't a Marine court would either have condemned the pilot of the
homicidal plane or would have shifted the focus of the trial onto the
responsibility of his superiors," he wrote. The justice "solemnly promised" by
the United States after the tragedy had been denied, he added, with "the
arrogant contempt that the military of the empire shows toward satellite
an international community in which there would no longer be masters and
fugitive from "another kind of fatwa, a typically Western one: condemnation to
fame, photographs and interviews, television and awards ceremonies, juries and
society; because he was, after all, the most famous and celebrated living
author of the most important language of the century, the cinema."
countries were threatening to renege on a treaty with the United States to
regional trade group, said at the weekend that its members were reconsidering
Dole. "Free trade has obvious benefits," it went on, "but the rules must take
into account the needs of developing nations and the new world of multinational
said it supported the view of the International Institute for Environment and
Development that "trade disputes brought by governments that have received
financial support from likely beneficiaries should be null and void."
failure to make even a token hand over of weapons to allow a new Ulster
coverage last week, her arrival was peremptorily reported, but interest will
us who don't know whether to hit or hug, who gives herself in a heartbeat to
she's here, and be thankful that she never took that swallow dive off the roof,
Advise and Consent (Also Obstruct, Delay, and Stymie)
general for civil rights, a nomination the Senate has refused to consider for
particularly grim these days. There are different explanations for the various
Republican senators failed for months to compromise on a slate of nominees;
suggest a process that is astonishingly screwed up.
The time it takes presidents to confirm nominees has soared
inevitably slows confirmations: Republican senators are more skeptical of
nominate candidates for critical executive branch and judicial openings. The
confirmation process has become massively politicized. "Elections no longer
losing party continues to fight through the appointments process."
nominees is vanishing, too. Senators have increasingly deployed secret "holds"
to delay confirmations, often for reasons having nothing to do with a nominee's
qualifications. Helms, for example, held up numerous ambassadorial appointments
Senate to find time to consider everyone. Cumbersome ethics rules have made
simply accepting a nomination onerous: Health and Human Services Secretary
disclosure forms. Nominees usually have to give up their lucrative law
practices and businesses as they await confirmation, a sacrifice that leaves
It was not always this way. Until the late '60s, the Senate
was deferential to the (many fewer) presidential nominees. It did much more
Supreme Court, which Republicans delayed to death, marked the first sign of
grandstanding senators have freely challenged even obscure nominees.
the appointments mess is more aesthetic than substantive. The Senate, after
all, is apparently nearing a compromise on the sentencing commission, and the
president will likely nominate seven new commissioners in the next few weeks.
agrees that he will be confirmed. The administration will find a China envoy.
months. If the Senate refuses to hold a confirmation hearing, he will continue
exceptions: Most nominees are confirmed smoothly. And whether or not all the
right jobs are filled with exactly the right people, the United States still
manages to negotiate with China and the United Nations, the civil rights
division still manages to file cases, and judges still manage to impose
But the rising obstructionism does damage government.
Presidents, who are elected to remake executive policy, find themselves
hamstrung. Career civil servants act in place of unconfirmed presidential
appointees. The career folks are unwilling and unable to impose the policy
changes the president may want. The president often skirts the law by
appointing "acting" officials who "act" for years (such as Lee), depriving the
Senate of its constitutional right to approve appointments. The eternal
shortage of judges means that some cases are adjudicated peremptorily. The
the least offensive nominee rather than the most qualified in order to pacify
the Senate. The endless obstacles to confirmation deter the best candidates:
a job to its fourth or fifth choice because the top candidates don't want to
appointments by a third or more, lessening the burden on the Senate and
allowing the president to pick better candidates. They would eliminate
senatorial holds. They would simplify background investigations and financial
modest problem. Appointment and confirmation is a political process, and like
any political process it will always be messy. But it doesn't have to be
state government has decided to be the first in the country to offer
financially assisted suicide as well. Last year the state agency in charge of
determining Medicaid assistance for the poor included assisted suicide among
So, how much does it cost to kill yourself, anyway?
Phenobarbital D). It turns out to be quite hard to get a price quote for this
service over the phone. Medical academics I talked to said you would probably
more. But the two individuals for whom claims have been made so far cost the
But here's the killer. Before expanding the definition of
expanded medical benefits to cover more people but fewer ailments. A Health
Services Commission was set up to consider all illnesses and the treatments
to include this service under the category of "comfort care" for the terminally
afflicted with illnesses that have not made the funding cut (particularly a
appropriating whims of the legislature, while a free barbiturate consolation
it would be unconscionable to deny poor people a right as fundamental as
serious medical treatment. Anyone dying in a modern hospital will quickly cost
more by staying alive than by exercising the right to die, dignity and all. The
commission declined to estimate the cost impact of fatal "comfort care." It
bumped me and my suffering off the list. But my second reaction would be that
has taken the next logical step: bribing people to go early and save the system
Those who attack it will have to come up with something better.
W. Bush, anointed, refuses to campaign for president till summer arrives.
Congress, terrified of Social Security, refuses to do anything at all.
whose presidential campaign was written off just months ago, is surging, and
Vice President Al Gore, the nominee presumptive, is in deep trouble. No matter
many smaller papers, and all three newsweeklies have touted the viability of
thoughtfulness, and a good heart, and Gore can be an erratic campaigner. But
are witnessing one of the first fake battles of what the Progressive Policy
period when voters are indifferent, and when journalists, Democratic
candidates, and Republican troublemakers spin and position and jockey to write
year, less than half what Gore raised, but more than enough to make him a
man's senator. This was only reinforced by his celebrated reluctance to run for
and he will only be perceived to be strong if everyone says he is.
the president is in trouble, his approval ratings remain high, but Gore's
numbers sag. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that the vast majority
that he shares Gore's moderate, thoughtful, New Democrat politics but isn't
Republican house members, Republican senators, the Republican National
Committee, and Republican interest groups have been assaulting Gore for the
past few months, trying to turn him into a figure of fun. They have ridiculed
his "creating the Internet" comment, his claim that he and Tipper were the
is rising and Gore is falling can become true if everyone keeps declaring it
so. But what's more likely is that time and the natural course of campaigns
enough to be a real challenge to Gore, he will be subject to the same withering
few days later. But if his campaign really prospers and he has to explain what
he believes, he'll have a hard time holding that coalition together. At the
does well, he'll be battered with questions about his own aggressive fund
The progression of the campaign will also rescue Gore from
his Vice Presidential Malaise. The Democratic fretfulness about Gore's polls is
premature: Vice presidents always poll terribly in the year before their
kills Gore in poll questions about "leadership." Bush is the manly governor of
Come fall and winter, surges and stumbles will really mean something. By then
inevitable media backlash to his current rave notices; and the voters will
beasts, criminals, villains, thugs, fascist legions, and hordes of murderers.
don't expect you to believe me, but they're all thanked on that Dixie Chicks
Official Enemies. The more these authorized villains are shot at in
It is harder to rebuff a national enemies list when
bombs are falling, particularly when those enemies are implicated in appalling
deeds. It might, however, be possible to resist the grossest forms of jingoism.
at human suffering from tilting toward vile stereotyping? One guideline: The
Rather reaches for the adjectives, be careful out there.
"There is absolutely no evidence of cancer in his body. We were, however,
"I shudder at the idea they will leave this haven. They are trusting. They
don't understand danger. They could end up inside the large intestine of
"There's no scarring mark physically or mentally. Not like when we spank
mayor of New York City for too long not to realize that people will be cynical
about any good step that's made in the direction of decency. Idiots like that
on interacting with the public. He seemed upset. It could be some kind of
become so elastic in the last few years that it now extends to entertainments
farcical haplessness. Somewhere in the middle comes my ideal black comedy, in
which humans are base but their emotions have weight, and the human condition,
while irremediable, is leavened by the artist's cheery sleight of hand. A great
black comedy should be palatable but hard to digest, slipping easily down the
gullet and then sticking in the gut. The form is currently represented by an
now going to seed, she bathes Harry, controls the light in his room, and warns
collect a debt for a mobster from the proprietor of a sex club, Harry finds
himself bombarded by images of topless women and unable to keep from whaling on
a man they came only to threaten. "I hope I killed him," he says, when pulled
from the man's bloody, broken body. And then: "I hope I didn't kill him."
Seasoned criminals love to exploit such youthful intensity, and Harry is soon
money ("Having money and not flashing it is strictly for gentiles," they
and then pays not to have sex with ("Do I seem normal with girls? Sexually?" he
asks); and presenting him with a huge switchblade, which Harry is shortly
expected to plunge into the heart of a man he has never met.
stroboscopic flashes, held long enough to convey their garishness but so
fleetingly that you might giggle at your own uncertainty: Did he really do
what I think he did? I hesitate to use the word "offbeat," which has come
beat, but here the surreal touches are sprung without overture, like frogs that
just happen to be hopping across the screen. Harry is dogged by a phantom
is meant to be zonked and zombielike, a Mummy Dearest, and this bedraggled
ghost of a glamorous icon is startlingly potent. Those cheekbones seem to
which might otherwise collapse. The director underlines the tension between her
magisterial film critic as well as an exacting editor. Presented with a
dunno, the performance is funky but also kinda severe so you kinda need both."
"Choose one," he would repeat. Squirming, I would direct him to eliminate an
Where adjectives are concerned, there's no substitute for tough love.
here trying to choose one or another adjective for his newest script, The
minds about the picture. I want to say it's subtle, but I also want to say it's
lobby. The first section of the film dramatizes the apparent kidnapping and its
agonizing aftermath. Then, after nine years in which Beth and her husband, Pat
powerful all right but, given this kind of material, that isn't much of an
affectlessness that signals something roiling underneath. The family's fake
equilibrium creates a tension that's nearly unbearable, and when the front door
swung open and that boy stood there it was all I could do to keep from jumping
increasingly frustrating. The kid, we learn, was taken by a woman crazy with
his real father. But how are we to take the evident inability of Beth and Pat
even to address the subject of the boy's nine years with another couple or
their bland expectation that he'll nestle himself into the family bosom as if
he'd never left? Are they supposed to be so shallow, so uncurious, so
climactic discussion between the boy and his stepfather that triggers the
me, although here my reasons are entirely personal. As someone born to a mother
and later reclaimed before my third birthday. Hundreds of thousands of dollars
in psychiatric bills later, I can speak about this with limited objectivity;
the point is that, although very young when taken from my primary
the hellish trauma of separation more vividly than much of what happened to me
last week. I risk boring you with my autobiography to buttress my contention
that The Deep End of the Ocean is fundamentally bogus. I don't buy that
later, have no recollection of the parents and siblings with whom he'd spent
the first three, and that only the aroma of a cedar chest would rekindle faint
ever have settled into life with his new family (especially a certifiably crazy
surprising evolution, but they're not in the novel and they're certainly not in
world where household appliances are connected to the Internet and each other.
Your sprinkler will check with the weather service before it waters the lawn,
your refrigerator will order more milk when your carton expires, and your
computing tool but will be integrated with other smart devices.
Time 's cover package on troubled teens includes a poll showing that
bomb threats. A piece argues that smaller schools might be an antidote to the
gargantuan high schools where adolescents anonymously drift into deep trouble
trained to commit acts of sabotage such as cutting telephone wires, ruining gas
more organized and energized about their evangelizing.
cover story recounts the story of a black World War II hero
Communist activity. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor two years
straw poll. Underdog Republican presidential candidates are seizing it as their
attributes both his psychologically probing cinematic style and his tumultuous
cover package forecasts Al Gore's electoral strategy. One piece says the veep
though this wiring is subsidized by a "universal service charge" on everyone's
phone bill. Another article admits that Tipper Gore is a political asset but
warns darkly of her agenda. She appears to be an apolitical soccer mom, but
government intervention in the economy and does not trust Wall Street.
encouraging "speculative excesses." Since higher interest rates take months to
restrain economic expansion, postponing a hike is like waiting "to brake a
runaway car until it is a few feet from the cliff's edge." (For a dissent, see
note what the previous government did and do the opposite." First priorities:
eliminate trial by jury for several crimes including theft and weapons
possession. (The home secretary asserted that most defendants demand jury
trials "for no good reason other than to delay proceedings.")
run would harm Democrats whether she won or lost. She would "divert resources
from other candidates, politicize their races in ways that don't play well
beyond the Upper West Side, and become a rallying point for conservatives still
health care. The expenditures are worth it because the care they fund is
charges of inciting violence ("Why would I care about that?" one sniffs).
convoluted draft than coherent novel. The radical surgery performed by his
piece alleges that New York state's services for the mentally ill have
overcrowded health care facilities, recently killed a woman by pushing her
conceded, "I don't know the answer to this. Maybe it's inappropriate for me to
Republicans discuss foreign affairs these days. No doctrine binds together
policy will be hard enough. Winning it without a coherent message will be
impossible. The Republican identity crisis is fourfold.
see the spy scandal as an opportunity to revive Cold War rhetoric. They allude
espionage and warned that it might precipitate another "arms race."
threats are now diffuse rather than concentrated in one enemy. Appearing on the
debate highlights the Republican dilemma. The original Strategic Defense
Initiative was supposed to defend the United States against a massive nuclear
which kind of threat China poses, they won't be able to agree which kind of
nonmilitary nuclear technology, and killed a proposed ban on satellite sales to
legislation to relax restrictions on exports of encryption technology, despite
rights violations, espionage, and possible technology transfers suggest that
this is not the appropriate time for China to enter" the World Trade
a policy of appeasement," he declared this week. Many conservatives say
engagement has led to nuclear proliferation, deterioration in human rights, and
we stress our views on human rights. If we aren't engaged, we can't do that."
something we don't like we ought to submit a thing to the Senate and get after
of engagement by quoting the policy's Republican defenders.
the spy case on ideology or corruption. Some want to paint Democrats as soft on
technology transfer [and] all these campaign contributions that came out of
Nor have conservatives figured out whether to blame
citing objections to that policy "from Democrats and Republicans alike."
will once again be drowned by charges of partisanship. Sure enough, this week
into blaming Democrats for suppressing those findings, Cox shot him down: "It
is not a Democratic party position, because Democrats and Republicans have
world affairs has been aimless and inconsistent, assailing his China policy
from all directions is hardly the way to make that point. The opposite of
authority that it may "gamble away its standing in the democratic world in
During the Cold War era, Western countries viewed asylum as a symbolic triumph
over the Soviet empire, but refugees displaced by recent ethnic conflicts are
lot, a man who just released a penetrating movie about war and moral decay, is
now negotiating a deal to direct costume dramas and love stories for
millennium issues picks "The Best Ideas, Stories and Inventions" of the past
suggests that Vice President Al Gore may eventually pay the
strategy so vehemently that he'll suffer if the president does send ground
troops. Time prints a map of the world's ethnic and civil conflicts,
Army have been trafficking in drugs to fund weapon purchases.
Time 's cover story on the amateur genealogy trend sweeping the
believe that ancestors can be saved through posthumous baptism and have
features the findings of a psychologist who claims he can
The piece includes a handy quiz for couples who want to diagnose their
viability. (Yes or no: "My partner generally likes my personality.")
are no traffic jams (because so many people have fled), and the crime rate has
cadre of savvy East Coast friends. He didn't know any of them when sentenced,
but he cultivated epistolary friendships from his prison cell with reporters,
nastiness inside upscale restaurant kitchens: old fish, grimy meat, and rivers
make Dick Morris the national security adviser and stop the charade?")
expression of the same impulse that leads to "separate academic departments for
dictator. This cannot be allowed. To lose would be to validate and entrench
than posturing. The security of the West and the central prop of the western
the lives of the thousands of civilians whose condition is the explicit reason
both in terms of acting on the ground militarily and of relieving the refugee
being humiliated" and suggested that the only opportunity for success is the
use of ground troops. "The only way to ensure victory is for there to be
violation of what they regard as their heartland. It will be a form of peace
and justice, but it will be fragile. The West must accept that it is going to
terrified kids. But have you spared a thought as to where they'll end up? Make
no mistake, they're headed here. Soon you won't be able to move for
your direction. Of course, the majority have been through a hell we can only
found if the two sides will agree to implement the one and only model that can
China respects human rights, "we do not think that we can possibly disregard
the sovereignty of a country in the world. And if military interventionism is
to be allowed in all the internal matters like a question of human rights of
that China expects the same theory of nonintervention to apply to the situation
"At a time when the international scene offers us too many horrific images of
the intolerance and bullying that can govern relations between regions and
when applied with good will, can almost always permit the accommodation of
guaranteeing, for instance, that when federal, provincial and territorial
leaders meet, there will always be someone speaking for an aboriginal majority
somewhere in the country." Writing in the conservative 
Pediatrics is meant to make it happen even less. What?
he announced on the radio that if it were legal to do it again he would.
Opponents say this desire indicates "a strange psychological state." Who wants
involved actions that, while amusing and cruel, are not illegal but merely
unlikely (Most men would be too scared to lift it while the monkey was in the
room.), unappetizing (With a human femur? Not in my copy of Joy of
to be removed from the mailing list. This is one of the ways spammers verify
that the address is live and may result in even more spam."
reversed himself, announcing that he'd retire at the conclusion of his
you, darling, in my fashion, but sometimes a girl needs to sow some wild
"Pretend to be your favorite dictator or television
thousands of pages of drafts and notes for the book he had been working on for
wanted the legendary second novel they were sure had to be buried in the papers
the publication of anything that went beyond the author's known intentions.
Because the manuscript was nowhere near to being a coherent, finished work and
had to choose between disappointing the amateurs and infuriating the
quoted in the article complain that sections of the novel published as excerpts
any of the alternative conceptions of the work that are bound to emerge.
framework at all. It's merely a necessary starting point for an inquiry into
what were apparently intended to be three parts. The story begins in
unfolds outward in many directions at once, jumping from the hospital bed to
Emancipation Proclamation. Amid the festivities, a crazed white woman appeared
claiming to be Bliss' mother. After this incident, Bliss became obsessed with
his lost mother and eventually ran away from home. We get woozy glimpses of
straightforward narrative but instead accumulates through murky fragments. The
In place of a single narrator, there are at least three: The authorial voice;
child Bliss, in dreams, in remembered conversations, and in convoluted memories
characteristic of the book in both its lyricism and its opacity. We only find
a false accusation of rape, a lynching, and some amateur obstetrics). This
his first novel but chose to do something more difficult and complex, both
seem largely purposeful, not accidents of omission by author or editor. If
whole. It's meant to be up to the reader to assemble the shards into a vase.
For this reason, one doesn't feel cheated by not having all the pieces. In a
curious way, the unfinished state of the novel complements the inherent and
intentional incompleteness of the underlying story.
glances in the various pieces he never assembled into a single structure. For
up the reality that white Southern culture is blacker than meets the eye.
knowledge of the characters. Crucial information is delayed and denied, which
work. He had a decade of writing his novel behind him and almost three more
second novel that would meet the standard of Invisible Man while being
an entirely different kind of book. This strenuous ambition was confounded by a
himself as a writer. As he puts it, "my standards were impossibly high."
merely from calling it quits. Failing to finish doesn't mean he failed. Indeed,
a great, unfinished work can be more fascinating than a finished one because of
truly interactive novel, in which readers are not an audience but
collaborators, trying to pull together strands and elements of a story that has
separate texts may blur, but the mythic force of the buried story and the
Republicans have dallied with social conservatism, libertarianism, and
not surprising that, at this moment of low ebb, Republicans are again evoking
The tax cut notion enthralls the party's top echelon,
tax cut as the centerpiece of their legislative plan until they abandoned the
percent. (Even as I write this, a letter from the Heritage Foundation has been
commission concluded that the United States was increasingly vulnerable to
missile strikes by rogue states. The enthusiasm has mushroomed since North
too, are making missile defense a campaign priority. The Republican National
were Republican triumphs. They lowered marginal rates from ludicrously high
levels to more reasonable ones, and they spurred the economic expansion of the
'80s (as well as the deficits of the '80s). Star Wars helped win the Cold War,
fundamentalism is not ideology. It is faith: If he believed it, it must
be so. But the problem with ides fixes is that they are fixed. Tax cuts
Republicans are refurbishing bygone notions for an age that doesn't want them.
missile shield a wise investment in the battle against rogues. Terrorists are
missile. Better to spend the billions on intelligence and nonproliferation.
with a shrug. Democrats have successfully (and accurately) painted the
targeted, interest group tax cuts (child care, senior care, health care) offset
by targeted tax increases (tobacco). Republicans would spend much of the
Security or debt repayment. Polls have found that when it comes to taxes,
and the Democrats have won the tax issue so completely that congressional
are pushing marriage penalty tax relief. (The presidential candidates, of
enormous proposed increase in military spending.) The missile defense money has
pulled the rug out from under Republicans, leaving them with the flimsiest of
criticisms. The president has delayed the decision on whether to actually
national missile defenses.) Republicans have been reduced to insisting that
crime, etc. Taxes and missile defense were among the few issues he hadn't
He's the one who has set aside billions for a missile defense that won't
but in fact there are. In a former life I used to interrogate politicians on
television, and in six years there was never a subject on which they were
An easy answer, for a politician, is one that assures you will never be proved
wrong. Or at least that if you seem to have been wrong, another easy answer
will be available to explain why you weren't. "There are no easy answers" is
away with it, but you can also enhance your reputation for being "thoughtful"
(high praise that in the culture of politics means indecisive in a classy way,
rather than kindly or considerate of others or anything like that). Sometimes,
though, you have to do better, and this is when easy answers become hard
War and peace issues are the worst. A famous joke among
academics is that scholarly disputes are especially passionate because the
stakes are so low. By contrast, when the stakes are as high as they can get,
there is a special need for elected officials to avoid having a forthright
means doing nothing, as the world's only superpower, while a thug government
making either choice will leave you morally implicated in some dead bodies
on the strict understanding that we will be allowed to forget all about these
LOCATION], we should do so with the resources necessary to get the job done.
bombs' or whatever is on the menu] just aren't enough. It is immoral to put
from the beginning rather than escalate yourself into a quagmire. Or don't go
in at all. Finish quickly before the public loses patience (or ideally, as in
this is a great way to sound tough and sophisticated without actually
committing yourself. Since any actual military engagement is not going to
involve every last wing nut in the Pentagon's "miscellaneous screws" jar, you
are well positioned to say "I told you so" if things go badly. Yet you never
accuse you of wimping out if the military action doesn't take place: Hey, you
fashionable term during the Gulf War. It really sounds like you know what
you're talking about. And what does it mean? As I understand it, an exit
and prompt victory. It merely demands a certain and prompt conclusion to the
exercise that is acceptable to the United States. When invoking this concern,
conclusion short of victory a guy like you, who flings around terms like "exit
strategy," would find minimally satisfactory. And no military action (except
for actual movies) can be fully scripted in advance. So you're golden. If
things go wrong: "Ted, I pleaded with the president to make sure we had an exit
strategy." And if the action goes well or disaster occurs because we didn't
stake. The commander in chief has made a commitment on behalf of the United
States, and the United States must honor that commitment."
be patriotic and hawkish. And if things go well, you were behind the commander
in chief all the way. But if things go badly, it is the president's fault for
making the commitment. Tragically, you had no choice but to support him once
the commitment was made, but of course making it was irresponsible folly.
Please note that, like a reheated stew, this dodge works even better after a
say you're against it, you say you're "not persuaded" to be for it. Not only do
you evade the tough choice, you also evade responsibility for your decision.
It's the president's fault, even if he's right, because he didn't persuade
undecided and wanting ever more information is another great way to be
designated as "thoughtful." And with a bit of skill and a bit of luck, you can
keep taking your own temperature until it doesn't matter any more. Meanwhile,
right thing, and the president hasn't made the case." Not only is whatever
happens not your fault (unless it's good), it's not even the public's fault.
5."I don't think we should begin bombing unless and until
to kill a lot more people? Let's wait and see if he does it! And why must we
difference and save half of them." As a bonus, Nickles retains a valuable fudge
factor in the question of what qualifies as "a very significant massacre."
Depending on what happens, Nickles is in a position to accuse the president of
6."What's happening in [WHEREVER] is a tragedy and an
outrage, Wolf. Intervention to stop the bloodshed is absolutely essential. But
dictates military action, while opposing the use of the only military power you
yourself bear responsibility for. I once interviewed an especially moronic
senator, since defeated, who declared that some worthy military action was "a
job for the United Nations." I asked him why other countries should risk their
soldiers' lives if the United States wouldn't, and he replied, "I didn't say
'other nations,' I said the United Nations." When it was pointed out to
been known to happen) a stuffy editorial saying that a corrupt dictator in some
Third World country should resign. Of course he should. And the sun should
affect these matters. When an answer moves beyond difficult to completely
tough sale. "Most producers eyes would glaze over as soon as I said the words,
That got your attention. Now, back to the tariff implications of EMU
wins Royal Anagram contest for her positively bitchy entry: 'Queen wears rags
read the newspaper. Salient details are always concealed, key decisions are
always made in private, and the ink gets all over your hands. Review the
impressively false sense of the great events of the day. So why persist in
newspaper reading? For one thing, it lets you participate in the ongoing
conversation that is a nation's culture. One doesn't wish to stand silently by
in any meaningful sense, good.) For another thing, the news provides a myth
system for a secular age, giving us figures of good and evil, around whom we
beside the point. One buys them for other reasons: for powerful photographs,
now often in color, of underwear models; for a chance encounter with an
was obliged to take him back to the shop. So I have only one now, called
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
similar hype a couple of years ago about Java, which never did floss my teeth.
also different because it is based on the founding principles and software of
Source," by which they mean that any user should be able to view and change the
underlying code, be it for the operating system or for applications.
free software are at the very foundation of creating a "cooperative society." I
am a wee bit skeptical. I enjoy getting paid to write software, and I suspect
Software Foundation defines "free" as a matter of liberty, not of price. Many
But software development religions aside, what is an
fundamental operation of your computer: things like how to read documents from
a disk and send them to a printer. As you may have heard, the demarcation of
what is and isn't "in the operating system" can be a touchy question. Some
companies maintain that an operating system contains any goddamn thing they
want to put in it, thank you very much. Other folks say that an operating
system is just the core functionality (or in computer parlance, the kernel)
whistles, or windows. You just see some lines of text and then a blinking
cursor. So are we just back to DOS? Well, no: You can add a graphical interface
application software for it. But that's because so few people use it. It
To begin my experiment I had to get a machine running
software may be free, but there's big money in books on how to use it. I made a
repartitioned its hard drive into two parts. "Repartitioned" is a fancy way of
saying "divided." Thus, instead of one big hard drive I now have two little
do this (because it knows you're going to want to keep running Windows too). It
did involve some complicated thinking about disk cylinders, but it worked.
tried to get it to load directly from the CD that came with the book. Then I
acknowledge the existence of the CD drive. Finally, I copied the entire CD onto
my hard drive and started the install process. I had to create two more floppy
those keeping track I now have three partitions on my hard drive). I had to
format both drives. I then had to remember where on my hard drive I had put the
mouse and graphics card. It configured both relatively painlessly. It wasn't
complete plug and pray. I still had to select my items from lists, and it was
good that I generally knew what types of hardware I was running, but it worked.
To complete the setup, I got the browser configured and read
browsing capabilities and a word processor. I also configured and set up the
it. That makes it what techies call "robust," meaning resistant to breaking
restart your system. On my machine I can claim only a week of running without
and multitasking model, meaning that one errant program can't bring the whole
machine. For a completely unscientific example, there was little difference in
alternative to Windows, and thus it allows you to vote with your PC. If you
through your computing life, if you are willing to ignore some rough edges here
and there. For instance, you won't have much trouble importing data from word
processing and spreadsheet files. But if you crave a huge variety of software
Some experts predict that the dawning of the Web means that your operating
don't even know it, because many of the Web sites you frequent to check the
people upgrade and keep old code running? Perhaps the greatest technological
feature that Windows possesses is that it can handle programs as old as the
community, as equally creative innovators disagree on the operating system's
spend a surprising fraction of their resources testing software, not writing
it. In my experience, this is the ultimate problem with Open Source
development: not enough formal engaged testing. Developers want to write code,
they don't want to solve all the niggling little problems that users come up
But if the thought of a free operating system is so
characterized as the most serious institutional crisis in the 42-year history
fraud, corruption, and cronyism found evidence of incompetence, mismanagement,
and loss of political control. Although one commissioner, former French Prime
evasive answers" and claimed the resignations were needed because the
commission "suffers from a democracy deficit and therefore a lack of
in fact, represent a further avoidance of individual responsibility, and
worried about the possible "renomination" of the entire commission (an idea
as before, with much the same discredited cast. That would be an outrage."
said the institution had to seize this opportunity to
process and, most of all, rediscover the inspiration and drive it has lost.
This might even mean increasing its funding and staffing levels." The
the expansion of its responsibilities as it "found itself taking on ever more
grandiose tasks, largely on the demand of member states, with progressively
more limited resources. Yesterday's report shows they did not know how to
possible, while seven other countries would prefer him to remain as a
queued to withdraw their funds and striking taxi drivers and bus operators
that the capital was in a state of paralysis with schools closed and provisions
failure to discuss possible solutions to the crisis. "There has to be an
opening and communication on the part of government. If it wants to achieve a
national accord, it's logical that it must display an openness to
bound to follow in the footsteps of the 'political donations' and 'satellite
in part on the financial security provided by a chain of successful computer
stores affiliated with the group. The paper claims that the stores' prosperity
stems from their cheap prices, which are possible because believers work for
training. Their salaries are therefore zero." A "public security investigator"
categorize you, classify you, and sort you into a group that explains your
temperament, your career choices, the strength of your immune system, and your
admittedly random guide to four popular methods designed to explain who you
really are. I deliberately picked systems that purport to pinpoint something
intrinsic in our natures. I judged the ease of use and
applicability of each system, and since all of them illustrate their
points with the lives of famous people, I also gauged how successfully each one
Would your friends and family say you are more like:
defensive, incipient fascist terrorist. If you're a b), you are certainly a
familial struggle among siblings for parental attention accounts for everything
universe, firstborns are dictatorial types who just don't get it, but they're
thinks his findings should be applied to selecting corporate leaders. In a
theory to account for those rare firstborn revolutionaries. "Whenever one
encounters a firstborn radical (and family life does occasionally produce
them), such individuals are likely to have experienced substantial conflict
firstborns." This is a little like saying all men prefer dogs and all women
prefer cats. So a man with a cat is either an honorary woman, or the cat is an
You already know your own status and it's easy to ask others, "Do you have
bile, phlegm, and yellow bile. This notion lives on in our language today. We
all know people who are essentially hotblooded, or melancholy (which literally
means "black bile"), or phlegmatic, or who view the world with a jaundiced eye.
members of the state, redefined the four humors in social terms: as artisans,
that way, and you can find out which one you are by taking the temperament
site. Sample questions: When the phone rings do you: a) hurry to get it
first? or b) hope someone else will answer? Do you find visionaries and
theorists: a) somewhat annoying? or b) rather fascinating?
around in your excretions in order to determine your personality. His criteria
Probing (P) [Probing might better be defined as looking for alternatives]
writes: "A rough draft is all they need to feel confident and ready to proceed
recommend taking the Temperament Sorter II and ignoring the Character Sorter,
which I found confusing and not particularly accurate.
feel I now understand better why I keep acting that way. It's also given me the
sly sense that I know why other people are acting their way. Of course, that's
one percent of the population, which is too bad, considering their usefulness
intelligence was like the Soviet Union: It was large, permanent, and unified.
"single, general capacity" that can be measured by taking a test. He believes
an intelligence is the ability to "solve problems or create products" in a way
advantage to us, and that there is biological evidence for it. That is, an
intelligence can be destroyed due to brain injury, which could be called the
one type of intelligence, it has no bearing on whether you'll be skilled at
another. Instead of burdening people with eight ways to be inadequate instead
of one, multiple intelligence advocates says the theory liberates people to
see it in action in people who know every kind of dinosaur, or sneaker, or
automobile. He is also considering adding existential intelligence, which, he
says, refers to the inclination to ask: "Who are we? Where do we come from?
are skilled at the use of the senses of taste and smell, I lobbied him to add
for my own area of brilliance: procrastination intelligence.
the classroom, since he believes schools are designed by people excelling in
those intelligences. He also believes that while our propensity toward certain
types of intelligence is inborn, our abilities are not fixed. Understanding our
"I enjoy entertaining myself or others with tongue twisters, nonsense rhymes,
or puns" and "I find it difficult to sit still for long periods of time." The
other multiple intelligence sites, and sells multiple intelligence testing
multiple intelligences probably has most value for schoolchildren or people who
seller that asserted that our health, diet, and even our personality are
determined by our blood type? He would probably get to work on The Bile
also choose mates with "compatible" blood types and their corporations assemble
save us from the corporate bloodletting fad. Until now.
nutritional dictates that evolution laid down. He says Type O is the most
creative of the blood types. Finally, a modern quirk, is the rare AB, people
who are somewhat confused, edgy, sensitive, yet charismatic. According to
and B occur in chimpanzees. Nor is it likely that humans went from being
of their calories come from vegetable matter, because bagging game is
difficult. "People who are able to eat the most meat are agriculturists," says
practice says, "It's not a productive way for me to spend my time debating with
people who have a different belief system. We try to help sick people get
know your blood type, it is easy. If you don't, march down to the Red Cross,
following any diet that encourages me to eat a lot of snails.
followed his plan, and "lost an astounding amount of weight."
The White House persuaded the Senate, but not the House, to insert a clause
saying the system won't be deployed until it's "technologically possible,"
government spin: Bombing will be harder than we thought, so first let's try
candidacy on the Internet. He portrayed the new medium as a symbol of his
centralized government programs such as Social Security. Old platform:
groups. Old spin on his experience: He's not a politician. New spin: He can win
presented himself as the voice of practicality, saying, "My idea is you don't
says now that he's been fired as an airline clerk, he "will pursue an acting
"remorseful" and resigned with "dignity." The cautious spin: Black churches are
losing their tolerance for leaders who exploit them. The pessimistic spin, from
fallible, so structural reforms are needed to make them more accountable.
stand and confessed to getting rid of the victim's body but asserted that
in choosing his sentence. The jury chose death, and the judge agreed, calling
ruthlessness, and contempt. Headline and caption writers alluded to the irony
himself for tournaments and achieve his dream. The sunny spin: Anyone can
succeed with talent and hard work. The cynical spin: Anyone can succeed if he
president and joined him on the campaign trail. Previously, pundits had
Gore's attempt to make suburban traffic jams a presidential campaign issue is
frivolous; and that Gore shot himself in the foot last week by claiming to have
punches in Lewis' favor and the widespread perception of spectators that Lewis
be able to raise enough money to pay the exorbitant sums the boxers are
(just a part of the whole) and the United Kingdom, and are constantly sending
she was in the bathroom when other people learned these things in grade
one who would be on the receiving end of your "pestering," by all means offer
lesson one with actual value. If, however, you find yourself having to tell the
 regarding forms of address. I think your first instinct, that "children
should address adults in the manner in which the adults ask to be addressed,"
respect for their preferences, but I also don't have to choose to whom to cater
in mixed situations. It is one of those rare cases in which I can please
everyone. Best of all, though, I avoid the hubris of pushing my ideas of
appropriate formality on others, even those who agree with me.
vote of confidence, and doubly so because she was taken to task by some readers
have to give the future bride a gift for every shower given?
entertaining for them that it would seem to be constantly "raining" luncheons
giving shower presents, unless they simply feel they'd like to. Or a token gift
this: "Those who attended a shower for the bride before she was married the
first time should not be invited to a second shower unless they are very close
relatives or very dear friends who would want to be present."
while we were gone, and they were doing the cat thing for us. It was not a wine
some other way). But they took it anyway, drank it, and told us about it as
soon as we returned. It was not, in fact, a special or expensive bottle of wine
but, not to belabor the point, they didn't know that. They also didn't replace
it in a timely fashion. When we let them know we weren't happy with the whole
thing, they were offended and have since completely severed the
this from someone's home while you're doing them a favor? If it had been a Bud
or two from the fridge we wouldn't have given it a second thought. But a bottle
replace it. This suggests they view things differently than you two, and their
idea of correct behavior is different from yours. There is a chance that, by
their lights, they assumed that had you been home you would have "lent" them
behavior. It could be, though, that they just didn't know any better. Should
you feel generous and lonesome for the friendship, you might make the first
move and say you wish to let bygones be bygones because the relationship was
bespeaks their embarrassment at having made a social misstep and perhaps anger
it up if you wish the whole thing had never happened. And she is certain
days, feet do get their due. Ask any girl: Shoes matter as much as hairstyle in
all walks of life, and infinitely more than gloves and hats, despite being so
near the ground. Buying shoes demands sizable chunks of time and money, and the
eventual decision generates more existential agony about their looks than about
their fit. Pain in the feet may be negotiable, pain in the image never. Passion
or hatred can be ignited by one glance in a shoe store window. If the lust of a
shopper's eye is slaked by actual purchase, her willing feet accept the
challenge, her active spirit expands. The other night, I looked across a
restaurant at a sexy young woman who appeared to be limping. She wasn't,
though, not at all, really. She was just wearing 5-inch spike heel, 2-inch
the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City is called
"Shoes: A Lexicon of Style." It focuses on the amazing range of design in
the look, divided into categories for maximum impact. Drama is increased by the
no interruptions, no pauses for breath. You move along in one direction,
mesmerized by a single great sweep of shoes arranged in pairs on three rising
tiers under vivid lights. Emotional tension mounts, laughter and wonder
alternate with lust and disgust, no relief is offered, from the first stiletto
Apart from a few historic examples, such as some satin
three decades, even from the last three years. This show indicates that only in
the last third of this century have designers really hit their stride with
varieties of shoe material, shoe shape, shoe trim, and shoe attachment.
invisible adhesive pads to hold each shoe against the wearer's bare sole. These
shoes would look as if they had grown there, by some potent fashion
the effect is that of a perfect cloven hoof. I once saw these being worn in
Suggestive shoe artifice comes in many varieties. One
at the nethermost point of the body. Opposed to that is the lethal weapon
style, which usually involves a fierce high heel, often skinny and slanted in
that run to grim metallic buckles or very toothy zippers. Even fiercer is a
the foot and climb up around the calf. This sandal seems to attack the wearer's
tender skin and the viewer's horrified eye together, until we learn from the
label that it's really all made of soft rubber and must feel deliciously
engaged in a tense visual dialogue with her shoe, demonstrating its own shape
and flexibility against the shoe's claims, displaying its own erotic capacities
in tandem with those of the suggestive object. Here we see how high heels can
thick as beams; straps can be suave ribbons or stiff manacles. Shapes are
mostly variants of the mule and the pump, the oxford and the moccasin, the boot
and the sandal, the muffin and the hot dog. Decoration can be applied as
studded rhinestones, layered feathers, rows of silk rosebuds, festoons of
fur and fabric, rubber and vinyl, metal and wood, paper and string, maybe meat
tool, often with an ivory handle. Now we're quite willing to button a shirt or
At the end, following these ranks of erotic, dangerous,
comic, elegant, or perversely masculine female footgear, comes the "Sneaker
Chic" section. Now we enter the huge athletic universe of canvas and rubber,
irrelevant, the erotic pull comes only from the thing itself. In this world,
the watchwords are stability, traction, and support. But no one is fooled: The
look is the true issue. So potent is the element of style in active sport shoes
that great fashion designers have gone for it, producing hybrids such as
volatile in the sport shoe world. Hip insider models can die in a few months,
if the mainstream adopts them, and be quickly replaced by new cult favorites.
Much urban chic thus dwells in beautifully engineered shoes built for strain
but worn by people who would never dream of putting them to the test. Beau
of such delicate perversity. Only style is the true test. Utility is really of
no interest, but its presence is essential. It governs the beauty of the
Since that's the point, the foot retreats from the visual
game, and the enveloping shoe leads its own bright life. As we move along the
showcase, these shoes begin more and more to resemble pairs of small sports
cars and to suggest similar methods of marketing and design. Here we find the
d brand names, the poetic model names, the features invented for their
of keen insights and dazzling supplementary photos showing many of the shoes at
work. Book and show together will have you rushing out shopping yet again.
said, "You have to think in terms of corporate memories. There is probably no
one around who knows anything about this stuff." What stuff does Ford need help
broke the law, lacked ethics and professionalism, and embraced a code of
it's now broadcast on Fox. It's a different sort of coverage from the days when
Peter Puck appeared between periods to explain the game to us unsophisticated
delivered by a public inquiry last month and will undertake sweeping reforms,
The investigative commission headed by former Chief
wipe out something so many people are in favor of. Just like with
said he was disappointed too. You need the noise and the smell. It's as
very often. After lunch, I launch myself into a low Earth orbit to battle giant
almost send a beam into the system, go for a cup of coffee and return in time
to see the light come out. We can also see Jay Leno making up gags about the
announce that it will no longer include a free toy in every pack of
fine tobacco products can be comfortably smoked through a tracheotomy
distract from woe, and require playing with matches. Cigarettes promote
intimacy: What could be sexier than sharing a smoke, passing that small fire
from hand to hand? Cigarettes impose form on your day; they are a means of
demarcation: You smoke one after something and before something else. And they
hideous respiratory illness and coughing away my life in a painful and
habit as a delight of old age; my first Social Security check will just about
cover the cost of a carton. Smoking will offer a reliable indoor pleasure that
I can enjoy seated, much to be desired in my decrepitude. And malignancy
develops slowly. With a little luck, by the time I contract a fatal disease,
would produce a brand it can market to old folks. Call it Golden One Hundreds.
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
war remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: They can't win the
debate over the war as long as critics are allowed to rig it with the
have made by beginning a ground force buildup (which takes considerable time) a
unwittingly produced one of the great humanitarian catastrophes of the
putting them in a position where they're no longer able to do anything but to
it thought was a military convoy and instead hits a caravan of civilian
Today's media report news instantaneously and expect it to be made
instantaneously as well. In less than two weeks, their verdict on the bombing
media conclude that it never will. Congressional Republicans have decided it's
plan, the bombing will become more severe each week.
"gradual escalation" never works and that "bombing" can't break an enemy's
will. The trick in invoking such analogies is to ignore the differences: that
superpower is willing to prop up the targeted country; and that today's air
power and surveillance are vastly more precise than the "bombing" technology
timely reminder of the mendacity that drenches his presidency, including his
scientific philosophers invented a strict separation between talking about the
way the world is and talking about the way it ought to be. Today's media,
following this premise, separate "editorial" from "news" judgments. The only
standard by which "news" organizations feel comfortable evaluating a policy is
continue. What success can you point to that any of your strategy has worked?"
must do, that atrocities are a challenge rather than a verdict, and that
sworn off ground troops. They deride these as "political decisions" and mock
ground troops and therefore we shouldn't do what is necessary to win this war,
what is essentially an international policing consortium. This is a political
as well as military project. It entails compromising with allies who are more
cautious about applying force and authorizing targets. Otherwise, the United
States would have to police the world alone, which is unsustainable politically
(thanks in part to vociferous opposition from many of these same critics), not
should be "What is the best way to help these people and save these lives? Not
how we can bomb another oil plant or oil refinery." Minutes later, host Bob
and asking "whether what we are doing is doing any good."
Conservatives used to defend this concept (which they called "deterrence") when
administer to the current troublemaker fails to stop him, the theory goes, at
least it will make the next troublemaker think twice.
pundits' verdict is in: The war is "doomed" and "already lost." On Late
conflict wears on. "Time is not on our side," warned former National Security
others. They call it a "moral authority" and "public relations" problem, asking
"that you, personally, lack the moral authority to be commander in chief."
inspire" great "loyalty," adding, "He may have a conflict of interest if he
sends in ground troops. It would be hard to save his skin and their skin at the
way, journalists destroy what's left of his moral authority.
"lumbering and clumsy" alliance, incapable of "managing such brush fires as
alliance in history on bright new academic ideas cooked up far from the
credibility is too precious to be risked in war, you can understand their
militarized regime can stand up to a global blockade [and] the opprobrium of
its aggression, the message to every other potential aggressor and victim will
of this category, which includes other Democratic legislators who opposed the
could provoke conflict with the Soviets and tended to buttress thuggish
ends: The United States now can be the world's policeman, so it
Liberal Humanitarian pantheon belongs to New York Times columnist
share most of the concerns of the Liberal Humanitarians but are particularly
hawkish about helping groups traditionally shunned by the West, notably
intellectual leader of the Credibility Fanatics. They are conservatives who
interest because they "were at the heart of two world wars." Hence the United
believing the United States should intervene promiscuously to reverse communism
believe the United States shouldn't intervene militarily unless national
itself in civil wars. We leave sovereign nations alone. Third, and more
they are Cold War burnouts. They were ferocious Cold Warriors, but they favored
military action only to defeat the communist menace, not for any greater moral
purpose. Now that there is no menace, they have withdrawn into their shells.
an undercurrent. No one has explicitly adopted this position: The closest there
Army are morally equivalent in their brutishness. Just as the
imperial, moralistic vision when the Cold War ended. They don't believe
still strike boldly against authoritarian oppressors. The Conservative
Moralists are less concerned with the national interest than with what's right.
has written extensively against the war. A recent cover story argued that the
corporate interests. It's reassuring to know that some things, indeed, never
bombing "misjudged, miscalculated, disastrous," and conservative historian
capable of intervening [in this conflict], we are morally obligated to do so."
the Financial Times that although he would never have fought with the
emphasis on public service in the early '90s. Who could object to such
offers an internship of its own: Participating students earn their community
student who enrolled in a class called "Women in Literature" was dismayed to
discover that the class addressed gay and lesbian issues. As a result, the
need to know in advance what it is they're paying for." Some proponents of such
points out, "that might increase enrollment in some classes" with particularly
between denying the value of Holocaust scholarship and denying the Holocaust
itself? One might think so. But when Commentary Senior
obscurity of contemporary Holocaust scholarship in Commentary and in the
director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the
against a detractor, but engaging in behavior that itself undermines the cause
in shorthand as the "fall of the Berlin Wall." But should we refer instead to
dissidents, Communists, and priests to make the case. Most of the conference
conference, they defended their activities against numerous
critics: Solidarity leaders denied they made too many compromises; priests
last Communist Party prime minister, "we were helpless before that huge force."
that the university was paying to put former Communist leaders up in fine
who will study the literature and culture of perfume. Meanwhile, the New York
Public Library's brand new Center for Scholars and Writers unveiled its first class of
venerable library. Chosen under the auspices of the center's director,
has dropped three star runners from the track team for the wrongful use of
allows the athletes to regain their eligibility by reimbursing the school,
feeling here that we just say it's free speech and go the other way. The
institution has the obligation to speak out forcefully against speech that is
scientific blessing. In a foreword to Duke's latest book, a 700-page autobiography judged by hate group watchers to
campaigns, students are mobilizing in the name of labor on college campuses. On
labor issues ranging from graduate student unionization, academic stipends, and
Employees and Students Organization, which is fighting for recognition from
Employment Relations Board has ruled in favor of allowing union elections at
forced to reconsider its ban on admitting homosexual students. According to a
prohibitions on homosexual acts by men, the Conservative Committee on Law
and Standards declared a ban on gays within the rabbinate. A backlash against
sexual orientation will not be a factor in limiting their options in furthering
was suspended for all of two months. His right to drive his car for
noncommercial purposes was unaffected. Even this wrist slap only happened after
it came out that Stokes had at least nine moving violations since
because he broke the law while stone cold sober. Had Stokes been cited even
months. A second offense would have cost him a year's driving, and a third
Why the difference? Alcohol is the leading cause of
traffic fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety
percent of all fatalities on the road. But speed comes in a very respectable
rank as one notch above child molesters in the popular mind. But attitudes
about driving while intoxicated were not always so negative. Twenty years ago,
it was still widely accepted as harmless high jinks. Only in the 1980s, thanks
the vast toll of drunks on the road. As a result, we've stiffened penalties,
When it comes to speed, though, the attitude is: Party on!
(first imposed during the 1970s energy crisis), letting states set the maximum
wherever they pleased. Radar detectors, whose sole purpose is to help motorists
exception.) How long would legislators tolerate the sale of a device to foil a
for Highway Safety reports that after the repeal of 55-mph speed limits,
raised. More people driving faster means more slaughter on the roads. But the
bloodshed by speeders doesn't evoke the same emotional revulsion as the
Why not? One explanation is that most people don't ever
drive while intoxicated, while most do exceed the speed limit from time to
time. Any movement for social reform is more effective if it pillories a small
risky as excessive drink. They think it is possible for an experienced and
competent driver (such as themselves) to go fast without hurting anyone. This
is, in fact, possible. It is also possible to drive drunk without causing an
accident. Every night the vast majority of drunken drivers get home safely. But
we don't accept that as a defense. We understand that however able the driver,
the risk of this type of behavior is serious and intolerable. We treat the
culprits as potential killers who need to be restrained from endangering the
come to grips with simple reality. Car magazines and auto commercials continue
and injuring thousands more. If we were to crack down on speeding as vigorously
supposed to be a party but has turned into a grim strategy meeting, thanks to
spin: They intend to launch a ground war and are just using the "contingency
plan" shtick as cover. The completely cynical spin: It really is just a
contingency plan, showing once again how gutless and unrealistic they are.
bomb and other explosives planted by the two killers, investigators think they
had accomplices. Meanwhile, several bomb threats and trench coat pranks at
schools in Colorado and elsewhere over the last two days are being treated as
copycat incidents. Editorialists and politicians continued to debate whether to
for an analysis of the wave of PR opportunism that followed a similar slaughter
people this century. The previous world consensus was that the samples would be
destroyed this year to make sure smallpox never comes back. The new thinking is
that rogue states may already have obtained samples of the virus for developing
develop a new vaccine and to test drugs against the virus. The political
question is what happens if the rest of the world wants the virus destroyed but
found a specific genetic pattern among gay men, but a new study does not find
the same pattern. The most interesting version of the theory is that the gene,
this trait is supposed to be passed on to daughters but is sometimes passed on
to sons. The author of the old study says the new study is flawed, and
reporters agreed that the new study raises doubts but doesn't necessarily
refute the old one. The conservative spin: This proves homosexuality is a
stone tools to carve up the animals it killed and had much bigger teeth than
its apelike ancestors. The theory is that the creature's tools enabled it to
augment its diet with meat and marrow, which gave it the nutrition and energy
that eventually allowed it to develop a larger, more human brain and to spread
study concluded that some New Jersey state troopers pulled over drivers and
percent of drivers who were asked by troopers for permission to search their
cars were minorities. The ostensible reason for this racial "profiling" is that
New Jersey highways are a conduit for drugs and that the troopers think blacks
searches thrown out of court as a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The spins
coalition large enough to support a new government. The early betting is that
this will prove impossible and that new elections will have to be called. The
on its payroll but off the air for months, the network will reportedly use an
after he argued that he had played no substantive role in the report and had
won the race after finishing second in his last three marathons. The cranky
of them finished among this year's top 10--how about giving some other country
single country, winning the women's marathon for the third straight year.
subjected to extradition proceedings constitutes "an irreversible victory for
the rights of man." It represents "the birth of an effective universal
jurisdiction for dealing with crimes against humanity and, at the same time, an
unequivocal warning that the United Kingdom will not be a refuge for
arrival of "a supranational judicial structure that will be able from now on to
knock down the protective barriers that tyrants throughout the world have
conservative press took the opposite view. The Daily Telegraph called
Straw "a straw man" and ridiculed his claim to have made his decision "with an
open mind." The paper said, "The Home Secretary does not allow his open mind to
power, his former opponents are pleading for his return. Nor does the damage
million], disturb the peace of the ministerial open mind." The tabloid Daily
Mail quoted Thatcher as saying that Straw had "demeaned his office" with a
once again for the deployment of ground troops. And the liberal Guardian had an
carnage, then that has only underscored the inadequacy of air power. Forces on
suffocating the cat, one has to finish it." The German press reported broad
inordinately clumsy handling of the news when it first broke must have left
Bacon "did the credibility of the Alliance nothing but harm by alleging that
"rebel" worker bees have found ways of breeding in defiance of the convention
allowed to lay eggs, and if worker bees lay their eggs, they are destroyed in
seconds by other bees, which can identify the queen's eggs by a special
chemical she marks them with. Because of a genetic mutation, however, certain
bees are able to put a fake royal marker on their eggs, making other bees think
they are the queen's. The forgery enables a worker bee's eggs to survive,
died of complications from lung cancer surgery. News accounts recited
sports analysts compared his greatness on the field to that of Babe Ruth and
exploratory committee. Though he won't officially declare his candidacy until
scores of governors and members of Congress who are backing him. Everyone
agrees his strategy is to create an air of inevitability and suffocate his
which he portrayed human recklessness, madness, brutality, murder, and nuclear
savages. The completely cynical spin: He hated people and portrayed them as
another affair leading to an abortion. Seventy million people watched the
talk about him in the interview, she bashed him separately in her book, which
charge that he obstructed justice by ditching the plane's videotape of the
accident. Evidence in the first trial indicated that the plane was flying too
inadequate communications, and a possibly faulty altimeter may also have
that he would always be associated with his majority opinion in Roe vs.
distress over his accent was insufficient, in that you more or less dismissed
voice changes, so do his chances for assuming a "native" accent. But all is not
tape of the show as well as the exact transcript of what each person is
has notably round, melodious tones.) Then read the transcript and repeat
the statement into a tape recorder. Repeat again and again until the recording
confess that your advice is a tad more constructive than her own. And you have
wonderful Frank Rich has popularized. We must also hope that he does not weight
his conversation to talk of impeachment and partisan politics.
the topic of conversation. Since I am a very principled (and yes, opinionated)
person, I eagerly take part. Knowing that politics and religion can lead to
arguments, I try not to be the instigator. It seems that lately, however, many
people with whom I get into these conversations are not well informed. They
don't usually understand legal and ethical principles, and they don't know much
about history. Most of the time they're only going along with popular opinion
and haven't thought out their ideas. The flaws in their reasoning are easily
exposed, and I find that no matter how gently I state my case, I make
compelling arguments that frustrate and intimidate my talking partners. My
informed friends, join a study group, or forswear serious conversations where
you will not have to sit on your principles and opinions and your superior
to go back to school but who still lives in the same city as me. The chemistry
between us is palpable, and we truly enjoy many things together in what is
currently a platonic friendship. After she left I was in a dilemma, wanting to
cross the divide between friendship and a relationship.
handle) in her hometown. The message was one line, and it hit me in the solar
computer, that "mf50" was actually her grandmother.) Should I pursue the
opening someone's letter. And, yes, it's bad manners. And, oh hell, pursue the
lovely romance. But on the other hand, if it hadn't been her grandmother,
interviewed for a position as Software Development Manager at a company that
suspect in a major crime rather than an experienced professional interviewing
during the handshake and asking questions such as, "Why do you want to work
here?" and saying with a serious demeanor, "Tell us about yourself." My
response to all this was quietly but pointedly to let them know that I
considered their manner to be amateurish at best and downright insulting at
worst. I did not get an offer. Thank God for small favors. However, I am
it have been an isolated case? What happened to social skills, or maybe I am
your experience a battle in the generational war, but a skirmish, perhaps.
"Tell me about yourself" in a job interview is regrettable and somewhat
imprecise, but might have played better with someone in their age group. As for
your age, you are on the shady side of the actuarial table for new
employment. Perhaps a company with a different outlook might fill the bill.
philosophically come to terms with things the way they are.
since World War II movies, I take issue with the implication that this is
out, the ultimate villain of the story is an influential, rich, white guy.
appropriating elements from other movies his entire career. It only makes sense
entertainment value. I salute him for finding ways to do it without hurting
that I was wrong to make this claim. A smaller number told me that I was right.
Other than what I wrote in the initial article, I have nothing to add to this
longer have the power to do harm. A surprisingly large number of respondents
add that only intentional racial stereotypes are harmful (and, as I say in the
issue have been used to justify all sorts of historical barbarities.
Admittedly, there is no bright line dividing an ethnic joke that seems funny
from one that is vicious. The ingredients of humor are hard to pin down. But
uncomprehending children seems obviously vicious rather than funny. At least to
another valid concern: that the widespread transmission of racial stereotypes
might indeed be helpful to hate groups. The influence is sure to be diffuse.
Many claims about the influence of popular culture are exaggerated. But it's
hard to believe that people are not affected by the images and stereotypes they
encounter as children. I am not completely confident that racial stereotyping
in movies has a significant effect on racial politics. But neither am I
universe of The Phantom Menace ("Moneybox"). But his attempt to
characterize the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal as
ridiculously hostile to taxation forgets that the Journal people are in
albeit too sparse to test with the criteria for just wars.
run for office. Frequently, candidates announce before they have given real
consideration to the basics: Why am I running? Where will I get the money? How
to candidates who rush to announce before thoughtful consideration, the result
and potential candidates to "be true to yourself." This advice is easier said
than done, and Bond cautions the candidate that once you sell your vote, you
alive and well in the White House, and that is just one of the reasons it is
I suppose it figures that you would pick two sitcom
not shows. One exception, which they both ridiculed, is, in my opinion,
We are experiencing right now a golden age of drama
back and look at what was called "the golden age of television" in the '50s.
Sadly, most of it doesn't hold up compared to what we see now.
writers out here, and they are writing drama, not jokes.
homosexuals everywhere thank you for your vote of confidence in their style
sense. And isn't the power of television characters wonderful? Murphy Brown was
Young Entrepreneur and have had the sometimes unnerving task of interviewing
business magazines and books as to how to interview. In fact, I have used both
the "Tell me about yourself" and "Why do you want to work here?" lines verbatim
because I was following the experts' advice about what makes a good
amateurish and obnoxious could have been a combination of nervousness and
inexperience. Here was an obviously experienced man coming into this young
much more experience than I call and ask to be considered for a
writer didn't get a call back, but there still could be an opportunity there.
He could call back and offer to be a mentor. This would give both parties a
chance to learn about each other. Better yet, start a business as a
professional mentor in his area of expertise: charging a monthly retainer for
the privilege of calling him to ask questions whenever they wish. He has so
much experience and, as shown by the last interview, there are a lot of us out
suggestion to our Crank. It will no doubt lift his spirits to hear from one of
you illustrate, has different ways of being bridged.
senior who has met with fantastic failure when attempting to interact with
women. It's not that they necessarily dislike me, nor I them, it's just that
everything feels so uncomfortable. Prom is coming up, and I am currently
wondering whether or not to ask anyone. Everyone around me is telling me I HAVE
to go, but it just seems like an uncomfortable hell. Yet if I don't go, I fear
I will regret it for the rest of my life. Any suggestions?
with women" means that emotionally and developmentally you are still working
comfort. What supposedly comes naturally can take awhile to arrive.
you're more than normally shy and insecure. Or it could mean that you're more
than normally shy and insecure. Time will reveal what is comfortable. As for
the prom, there is no need to push yourself into something you would be just as
happy skipping. Plus, it sounds as if you have no one in mind.
not. Trust her that if you decide to do an end run around prom night you will
to marry. The problem is that he does things like inviting me to lunch,
in it, and it was spilling the stuff inside. Is he just a jerk? And if so, how
do I continue my friendship with his fiancee, whom I still like?
This chap, however, sounds like a clod, and certainly someone deficient in the
social graces and good sense departments. If you choose to continue with him,
you might try to fluff up his social skills by example. An instance might be if
without you because your intention was to have lunch. If he is a super boor and
tries to override you, request that he stop the car and let you out.
fiancee, may be a lost cause as a continuing friendship if you call it a day
"Johnny has been such an effective spokesperson for us
because he truly believes in the power of our products," says the president of
New Jersey's Franklin Electronics. Who is endorsing
"Perhaps someone should inform Franklin Electronics that, contrary to what they
no idea, which seems to cast doubt on the theory that he's such an effective
those who booked the act resisted; they did not think people would relate to a
computer bibles. And he's not just a pitchman; he's a user. He's also in on the
them you can just make out a portal opening up to hell, presumably for the
Prove that a computer ignoramus can install the operating system on a
resort. Originally, I intended to download the free version of the
hours and that the download doesn't come with instructions. Chickening out, I
visited the computer section of my local bookstore and grabbed a copy of the
sell it to me. "You can't get that book," he said, obviously speaking as one of
cylinder head," says the average motorcycle manual, without explaining how you
of computer terminology on the Web to decipher every third acronym (BIOS?
megs of memory. Partitioning a hard disk means corralling off some space, and
floppy. Although I had never used DOS before, I followed the straightforward
put the boot disk in the drive and turned the computer back on. Success! The
the installation program fails to detect your drive, provide very specific
As I tinkered, rebooted, and failed, and tinkered, rebooted, and failed over
Cradle. And this was only the installation program.
surprisingly helpful. As I described my trouble, the Help guy replied, "You're
me: "I don't get this. Other people get this. Why don't I get this? I think
support. (CORRECTION: After this article was posted, I learned that
The Red Hat manual offered clearer directions, and the new
the link, which led to a page of more links to lots of information on BIOS, but
the installation disk. The supplementary disk loaded an unfamiliar blue
figured I had worn out my welcome. I turned off the computer and went home.
hornswoggle a friend, a tech guy at the New York Times Web site, into
open my computer's metal box and started gabbing about 40-pin connections. My
troubles were over. Here was someone who knew the acronyms, someone who could
from there the installation was cake. The hard disk whirred away, occasionally
asking for information. I typed it in, it whirred some more, and within an hour
got two error messages, one telling me to adjust my SOCKS environment, and
didn't run. I bribed my tech guy friend to come and help me again. He went back
to the original download and started over, but he couldn't get it to run
either. So he fiddled around with my PATH and a few other things beyond my
comprehension, when a "core dump" occurred. This is some type of serious error,
downloaded again. After reinstalling and receiving increasingly mournful error
messages ("Unable to go on," "Floating point exception") and another core dump,
we called it quits. Three and a half hours of help from a guy who makes his
ready for me. Or both. I feel guilty about having used not one but two manuals
malignantly guilty about having paid cash money for a free operating system and
the marathon, but I did it by putting on roller skates and grabbing the
figures in the Pentagon are proposing that the White House consider a
failed to sway his allies in favor of deploying ground troops.
which includes "out of area" military deployment if Western interests are
role but warned in an editorial that it should not be "a euphemism for global
of the deployment are still not in place" and that there is no indication from
commentators of becoming dangerously obsessed with what politicians such as
on what is actually happening in the field. "Last week's euphoric discussion of
weeks away from performing any sort of combat mission."
Writing in the paper's "Review" section, Oxford historian
exaggerated the effectiveness of air power. "Does anyone out there want to
other than in a 'permissive' environment?" he asked. "Invoking the memory of
done when she chided President Bush for going "wobbly" during the Gulf War.
solipsism of the world in which our teenagers live." Not only do they "retreat
frameworks of reality which placed social restraints on the individual's
freedom to think, say, do, or buy whatever is desired."
human lives to those who don't. It could also have "devastating" effects on
villages, mine frontiers, bury his tanks and armored vehicles, and install
acute embarrassment to security forces by virtually surrounding the compound
sees human corruption in everything from homosexuality to rock and roll and
services alerted us to his whereabouts." The same paper carried an exclusive
interview he spoke of achieving this not through greater political autonomy, as
newspapers and generated countless pages of comment and analysis. These
damaged both its own constitution and international agreements on terrorism by
international arrest warrant out on him. The paper also warned of the influence
doesn't respect the rights of defendants and which practices the death penalty
is a state founded on the law." It added, "This is an essential condition for
the moment can only see him as a terrorist, could be decisive."
rehabilitation clinic, said that she and her fellow models drank champagne from
offering advice on an ongoing investigation. From whom; suggesting
suggesting that, in light of recent events, the investigators looking into
(something about string theory and tangles?); "investigation" means crime
railroad owners, and beat the heck out of striking workers on behalf of anyone
thank God for that, for the entire course of history might have been different
plot, a whole other thing. But I still blame them for "Raindrops Keep Falling
post a guard with a doughnut and a nightstick," said financial analyst John
the former chancellor who elicited the written appeal, said, "I suspect that
General's great contribution to protecting freedom during the Cold War."
Year. By mayoral order, fireworks and criticism are prohibited.
of us here at the News Quiz? For answers, turn to the Excite search engine,
where, when you enter a phrase, the site automatically suggests "select words
to add to your search." These are words that other people who did similar
a post that, as an abstract legal matter, you think is unconstitutional (see
upholding this "fourth branch of government." Does it really follow that a
I don't think that such punctilio is really morally
or professionally obligatory. The battle over the constitutionality of
independent agencies was fought in the courts; it was won by those who've
argued that such agencies are constitutional. For our legal system's purposes,
might say, "Given that the law as interpreted today authorizes such agencies, I
counsel. Now, if one thought that the office was not just unconstitutional but
would be a bit iffy. But I don't think people really think this (or should
confused. Inflation is an overall rise in the price of goods and services. The
only does not, but cannot, produce inflation. When the amount of money in
in another. Inflation, by definition, occurs when the government increases the
money supply faster than the real growth of the economy, because this increase
is the only way more money can become available to chase the same number of
"triggered" by increasing wages, farm prices, or health care costs. If food and
medical care tripled in cost, people would of necessity spend less on other
things to pay for the increase or cut down on the food and medical care they
things would necessarily result in falling prices for those things. Wealth
would indeed be moved around, some people enriched, and others would be
financial losers. But there would not be, nor could there have been, an
overall increase in prices. An overall increase in prices is only
possible when there has been an overall increase in the amount of money in
willing, if somewhat ironic, embrace of the marketing bonanza his creation has
unleashed may have cost him his rightful spot in the Comics
and there is: Life in Hell sucks. It hasn't been funny or insightful for
reputation is entirely dependent on two 12-episode series, Work Is Hell
fact, but the Comics Journal wasn't ranking animators.
Theater District. Current productions that have breezed down it include The
playwrights when we see them reflected back at us by the Brits. Revivals of
three New York Times drama critics discussed this phenomenon. Basically,
never has, may illustrate a somewhat different phenomenon. There is, of course,
something more interesting. Hare feeds an appetite for a theater engaged with
society, which our domestic dramatic economy isn't satisfying at the moment. He
amplify questions of politics, religion, society, and relations between the
sexes. And while I think that even Hare's best work falls short of greatness,
the combination of his seriousness and his success bode well for theater as a
later efforts, his early plays are not mere polemics. Hare's first produced
feminism, in which the attempt to run a girls' school dissolves into absurd
infighting. It is true that the author's Labor Party socialism originally took
to write memorable roles for women. Hare's first play to open at the National
Despite her craziness, we see that she has a point.
His radicalism mellowed with time and success. Where once
he proposed a debate between socialism and capitalism, between the
plays posit a subtler conflict over personal and political values. The first
time he really demonstrated this maturity was in The Secret Rapture
about two sisters who have to deal with the messy legacy of their departed
father. One is generous and impractical. The other is ruthless and
address societal issues such as these? You might start with the fact that the
literally or figuratively. What occurs on the New York stage doesn't resonate
more around issues of identity and less around national institutions.
We also have a different kind of theatrical tradition,
imperfect both as heroes and villains. The play where one sees this most
the classic Hare setup, a collision between two people who see life differently
comes down in the debate between their values. But the play does not exist for
value lost, the play needed something more than Hare's topical amendments
added. His adaptation didn't provide much food for thought, which is unusual
for him. A bit of hackwork, it suggested that he might be spreading himself too
brilliantly. But Hare is no Smith. His performance adds little to his script,
and his script adds little to the subject, arriving mostly at familiar
no less. And the work is somewhat interesting despite its inherent limitations.
We see how Hare can turn even a monologue into a kind of dialogue of
perspectives, as he pits the passionate commitment of West Bank settlers
think?" he asks at the end of the play. "What matters? Stones or Ideas?"
to show up here, is a more familiar and successful exercise. It is a play with
clear imperfections, such as an excessively shrill third act. But one forgives
such flaws because of the way Hare draws his audience into the play's issues.
the theater. Her daughter, one of Hare's ethereal women a little too good for
she describes as "sincere." We see her failings redeemed through commitment to
her craft. The same might justly be said of the man who wrote the play.
the age of frustration and humiliation is over! I am the great Shopping
Avenger, who hath descended to Earth from the planet Galleria in a
sliding door standard in most models) to save you from the dark forces of
Express Membership Rewards points (which I can apply toward, among other door
Frustration is what I get. When I went searching The
Interchangeable Power System Cordless Screwdriver, did anyone there know what a
of a refund or a copy of the book I needed? No! (Although I am now a recognized
But the Shopping Avenger digresses. Now, I understand
cosmically greedy expectations of a handful of Wall Street analysts who've
cut again. Pensions are out, job security is out, and customer service is most
address such issues as pension rights and job security (though it will refer to
pretended to be a democratic socialist, and I was for a time an actual
This column instead will seek vengeance for you, the loyal
dinner party in New York. I was seated next to a man who said he was one of the
him that, in my humble opinion, the advent of voice mail and the disappearance
of live operators meant longer waits on the telephone for help.
strongly. He again told me I was wrong: Surveys show that the waiting period
earlier in the day I had spent seven minutes pushing buttons in order to make a
perception that I spent seven minutes pushing buttons. Then I called him an
needed help battling the forces of corporate arrogance. I felt I was the one to
lead the charge. But like most selfless impulses, I thought about it for a
But the Shopping Avenger was born again. He was born again
in Toys "R" Us, where none of the employees seemed to know what a potty seat
Airport, where the reservation he had made and confirmed suddenly ceased to
exist, and where he got yelled at for his troubles.
the Shopping Avenger will use his reporting skills, which have been described
by some as "almost supernatural in scope" (and have been described by others as
"adequate" and "sort of pathetic") to extract on your behalf grudging apologies
and, be warned, the Shopping Avenger looks askance at the bearing of false
witness. Those companies that deserve praise will be praised. Onward!
bewilderment over the lack of serious gun control in the United States. In an
Standard said that even the mass murder at Columbine High School was
kinds throughout the country, that there is little prospect that even this
latest monstrosity will provoke a meaningful shift in public attitudes," the
horror and condolence," but commented that it was "hard for the rest of the
world to take these entirely seriously, when repetition seems almost
inevitable." The Evening Standard splashed the story on its front page
Rifle Association faced "the considerable embarrassment" of holding its annual
conflict but had replied that he would only do so "if and when the parties are
truly determined to seek a political solution." He said, "It doesn't seem to me
the war an "absurd" one that should never have started, but added, "One can't
deny that its purpose is fundamentally of a moral character. It is not a
political or a power game. The civilized world is simply tired of racism,
said, but "I don't know if he saw all the traps that had been set for him in
the war." The prime minister, whose coalition government is divided about
legitimate, but we must ask ourselves about its limits."
and its Orthodox hierarchy "may lead to peace and the end of aggression."
"Typically German. Two weeks ago the federal government said it would take
efficiency? Or stupidity, a continuing feeling of anticipated guilt that other
of war, with what results?" Its answer, in summary, was that the offensive has
press focused again on the prospects of a ground war, with the conservative
tabloid the Daily Mail splashing the claim that Prime Minister Tony
which has created even more refugees and resulted in widespread ecocide." The
without a word being exchanged that she is in hawkish, combative mood; the
cherub brooch betokens the spirit of innocent accommodation; and the red and
missives to the right people each day, and you'll be at the top in no time. It
Stationery has always been important, but paper's cachet as a cultural
care if you send them letters on recycled grocery bags, those who don't know
course. It's the preferred weight for writing paper, the maximum recommended
Before we discuss paper price, she informs me that the name
crisply, "and people enjoy leaving their address dies to others in their
My fingers glide across the soft paper like skates on a
Web site, and another page lets you search by ZIP code or international region for other retailers.
manager of personal products. Cotton's long fibers are what make paper soft. In
the old days, all paper was made of cotton rags, hence the name. Today, most
problem with wood pulp is that paper makers have to use acid to break it
book paper, because this stuff is strictly for letter writing. It is, they say,
the smoothest possible writing surface you can find. It would be a crime to use
anything other than a good fountain pen on it. But which pen? That's a research
The sheets are creamy white and the tissue lining in the
envelope a bluer white. The saleswoman didn't have to drop names (the pope and
are definitely the best value. Is engraved paper really worth it? I ask the
anyone use colored paper?" "Hairdressers and discos."
Luckily, there are only three sizes of fine stationery,
because there are hundreds of typefaces from which to compose your letterhead.
At stationery shops you see people agonizing over whether they're really more
Co. outlets let you test drive a sample of typefaces on a computer. The
sensible choices, so you can't go too far wrong. Most professional printers
Those three initials may look aristocratic, but that's because they were first
used by drunken, illiterate royals who couldn't write their whole names. I
shaped monogram at the top. But then, he doesn't need to observe the three note
instance, that it's the work of an old master summing up. But it sure feels
only for an ensemble comedy but also for a comedy that honors the very idea of
with the isolated treks of individuals. It's not just that he likes to tell
stories with multiple strands, or that he gets bored easily with one
consciousness, or even that he cherishes some '60s utopian fantasy of the
the universe can't be discerned in the comings and goings of lone heroes but in
the interactions among vast and disparate collections of people. This time out,
he transforms the bad vibes of his other films into a vision that's positively
serene. He celebrates a universe that has found its equilibrium and the easy
way in which it rights itself when a nasty bit of flotsam threatens to throw it
misleading, as if to make you think you're seeing The Gingerbread Man
bottle of bourbon when a police car glides ominously past. So he heads back
into the bar, steals a fifth of Wild Turkey, then ambles past the railroad
undressing. Then he climbs in the window of a big, antebellum house and takes
some guns from a glass cabinet at the foot of the main staircase.
out, is the town's gentlest spirit, loved even by those passing police, who are
The girl he was spying on is the runaway niece of the elderly widow, "Cookie"
surreptitiously slips it behind the bar of the blues joint to replace the one
which everything is in balance, in which people accept the good and the bad, in
faith that it will all even out in the end. The picture sits vaguely in the
doesn't let the audience's outrage mount. The act that kicks the movie into a
his narrative point. That's probably because he has to eliminate Cookie to do
remember her having such power in her lungs. When she sucks on her pipe and
stares at the gun cabinet and upbraids her late husband for leaving her behind,
How do you convince young directors to watch and emulate
brilliant sequences you can screen and dissect in a cinema studies class.
offhandedness, in how he conceals his own storytelling. There's always a sense
that his characters are living even when you're not watching them, maybe
officious homicide detective from a nearby city who finds Holly Springs' lazy
informality irritating, but none of the women wants to answer his queries: They
want to flirt with him, and he can't help falling into their easy rhythms.
"disgraceful" truth throws the town into an uproar. I was surprised to find
Close in the movie, since her clenched, overly controlled acting seems at odds
into otherwise relaxed settings and throwing them into chaos. ("You'd think the
police could take their stupid crime tape with them when they leave!") She
talk, the Scripture comes flowing out of her mouth like lava.
law. You might even say that the truth emerges as a consequence of chaos and
not from some misguided pursuit of order. What seems, on the surface, as
As a young movie critic, I made the wrong sort of name for
myself by swooning in print over many a nubile actress. Yes, I was often
many years now, and it's time to reassert what can never be forgotten: It is
the right, nay the duty, of a critic to fall and fall hard. I see no point in
writing about Never Been Kissed --a pleasant but annoyingly insubstantial
frump? Surprisingly so. She hits her slight speech impediment harder than usual
"cool" kids, she seems heartbreakingly defenseless. You could mistake her for
every breath, every screwy inflection, every pratfall. After an hour, I thought
own dumb, formulaic terms, and it can't make up its mind whether it wants to
of a lot worse to keep me from going back to watch Drew bite her lower lip and
that shy smile spread meltingly across that sweet, eternally girlish face and
door. You have to walk through it"). It shouldn't make a lick of sense, let
alone feel all of a piece, but The Matrix is actually one of the more
elongate like silver beads of mercury, and he's partnered by the equally hard,
around them but the sleek, geometric lines of their bodies never soften. The
noble effort to pacify the troubled region before war spills into the rest of
mission but will not seek congressional approval. The administration insists
It is probably hopeless, and certainly unfashionable, to
remind the president and Congress that they are wrong. Few passages in the
Congress sole power "to declare war [and] grant letters of marque and
reprisal." Constitutional history is fuzzy on many matters, but on this it is
pellucid: The framers intended Congress, and Congress alone, to decide whether
and when to send troops into combat. (According to scholars, "letters of marque
authorize defense and immediate retaliation in the case of a surprise attack.
Otherwise, the authority belonged to Congress. Our elected representatives were
supposed to deliberate, slowly, on this most consequential of state actions.
The framers feared, above all, that a vainglorious executive would, if
unchecked, drag the country into foolish foreign entanglements.
congressional supremacy guided the United States through World War II.
(Occasionally, Congress declared war before sending troops; mostly it didn't.)
But Congress' military influence began to wane as presidents grabbed more and
veto. Under the resolution (more commonly known as the "War Powers Act"), the
Congress does not vote aye, the troops must come home.
congressional fecklessness and presidential bullying. Every president has
called the law unconstitutional and proceeded as if it (and the Constitution)
intent" when interpreting the Constitution, were more cavalier on the subject
constitutional precedent," it is this "ample," but hardly constitutional,
record, to which they are referring.) Presidents have euphemized away the
seizure of congressional authority, minimizing their uses of force as "surgical
strikes," "police actions," or "immediate reprisals." They have cited the
didn't stop the erosion of its power. Whenever a president dispatched troops or
missiles, congressional Democrats and a few Republicans would pipe up that the
president was ignoring the War Powers Resolution. The president would argue it
didn't apply. Congress would gripe a bit more, and by that time the troops
would be on their way home. The resolution has become a convenient cover: It
allows Congress to complain that the president is breaking the law without
forcing Congress to take any real responsibility. If the operation goes awry,
Congress can load all the blame on the president. If the operation goes well,
the president takes all the credit anyway. "There's nothing in it for
a great foreign policy senator." The political adage states that politics stops
at the water's edge. In fact, politics doesn't even start. Congress just isn't
This time around, Congress isn't even bothering to invoke
been going on for two months, and the administration has not signaled any
scheduled for three years, but the administration has no intention of ever
putting it to congressional vote. (Congress has never held a War Powers
perhaps exhausted by impeachment or simply supportive of the operations, has
man and his unelected advisers. Members of Congress, who were elected to
deliberate and make these nasty decisions, have abdicated the duty the framers
intended them to have. Their abdication deprives the rest of the nation of the
war, the only recent military engagement preceded by a vigorous national
Congressional Democrats and Republicans have cooperated in
abandoning war powers. The indifference of congressional Republicans is not
and Bush were sending in the Marines. Why don't they now? The president, too,
movement, and the War Powers Resolution was a great triumph of that movement.
He will hold hearings if he can get Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
international law professor, has championed congressional war powers for years.
Last year he tried and failed to invoke the War Powers Resolution for the
to colleagues that they will send to the president next week. The letter
insists that "The Constitution compels you to obtain authority from Congress
You can see why the administration wouldn't listen.
be a fiasco. The intervention could be stopped by a block of isolationist
senators and House members. Our failure to intervene might well cause the war
to escalate and spread. But the absence of such a debate and vote may be worse.
The Constitution is most necessary when it is most inconvenient.
once uttered the phrase "Like a guy said a long time ago: 'He who hasn't
sighting the Great White Whale: "Let's all get that fish."
the English language didn't offend people who weren't "that far removed from
wrote. The mayor's abuse of power didn't bother those who had lived through far
wielding power like a club, be it a czar, emperor, king, or rural sheriff,"
immigrant experiences. So if the Machine muscle offended some, it seemed like
Reading these gems in the new posthumous selection, One
laugh and make you think, stir outrage at a heartless bureaucrat, or bring a
tear to the eye when he flashed a glimpse of the heart hidden beneath his hard
of feats with a regularity and prominence that no city columnist, or any
sometimes six. Today the columnist who writes something decent twice a week is
experience "setting bowling pins, working on a landscape crew, in a greasy
machine shop, and in a lamp factory and pushing carts around a department
easier on the feet, he half meant it. To his working class and
neighborhood populist, he celebrated the corner tavern and the weekend softball
who tried to keep a white couple that had adopted a black baby out of their
neighborhood or a funeral parlor that didn't want to bury a black soldier
wrote was facetious or fictionalized. These days, newspaper writers are no
longer allowed the kind of license he took. As journalism has become less of a
trade and more of a profession, once common vices like embellishment,
plagiarism, and binge drinking have ceased to be regarded as charming. Mike
avoid, including such terms as gorgeous, lazy, sweetie, and fried chicken.
was a useless country that should be invaded and turned over to Club Med. By
groups that took his comments literally and demanded that he be fired.
So why don't we have newspaper columnists as good as
him anymore? To summarize: We no longer have his kind of newspaper. We no
greatest dramatic poetry in the language steps outside the theater to offer
who has just been fired. The boy, it turns out, is a particular aficionado of
stage violence. The best parts of plays, he tells Will as he prepares to feed
one of his pet mice to a passing alley cat, involve dismemberment and murder.
up to write revenge tragedies such as The White Devil and The Duchess
the accidental, and wholly conjectural, collision of two historical figures.
high school, signifies a deft blend of high culture and high wit, deep thinking
and schoolboy cleverness. I keep hearing and reading the words "smart fun" in
about English landscape gardening or chaos theory; by the time the play was
over I felt as though I did. And while many theatergoers will arrive at
of the differences between English editions of the ancient Roman love poet
having learned something about these arcane matters, even if an hour later they
in his ability to excite our intellectual curiosity and, in a stroke, to
messy and diffuse complexities of history, science, philosophy, and art are
quality; they are full of easy paradoxes and diverting logical conundrums.
these writers, literature is a grand chess game of mental possibilities, an
critic, turned to play writing in the late 1950s, at a moment when, as he once
said, "the least fashionable playwright was as fashionable as the most
English silliness, a moment that produced such indelible monuments of the human
augmented his play writing with screenwriting, enhancing his highbrow
some of his most serious and demanding work for the small one: Professional
agent of political awakening or social change: "If I wanted to change the
world," he once told an interviewer, "the last thing I would do is write a
play." "The 'role' of the theater," he has written, "is much debated (by almost
nobody, of course), but the thing defines itself in practice first and foremost
as a recreation. This seems satisfactory." Since the late '70s, however,
sitcom, middlebrow pleasures dressed up in the trappings of high
of ideas, but he is more accurately a playwright of the idea of ideas, just as
Corporation, a subsidiary of the General Motors Corporation, seeking to do more
That may not seem so bad, until you consider dozens
of such sentences strung together. And take a closer look. Why the "but"?
others? "But" suggests a contradiction, but there is nothing contradictory
about the notion that an item valuable to one person would be sought by others
as well. Many investigative reporters are bad writers, and the impenetrable
prose is held to be the price you pay for the dirt they unearth. But this small
example illustrates how bad writing can actually help an investigative reporter
to paper over the holes in his case. He can imply something without saying
had helped a campaign contributor to leak important military secrets to
to launch satellites for them. They are legally prohibited from doing so
China. But the law also allows the president to waive this rule on a
satellite exploded just after takeoff. The satellite's owner, a Manhattan
The Pentagon's conclusions led the Department of Justice to begin a criminal
even treasonous. But this is an example of useful bad writing that implies more
than it delivers. After all, if you're in the business of launching satellites
take some interest in making sure the rockets work.
report was released to China by accident: An engineer's secretary faxed it off
government, precipitating the Pentagon investigation. None of this proves that
tinge of desperation, that the Pentagon "did not find grave damage but did
failed to mention that the Pentagon agency reaching this highly qualified
Bush, had approved all the waiver applications that reached his desk and that
current campaign finance law, a president is certain to make national security
decisions affecting firms to which he is beholden. If he'd presented it that
ballistic weapons secrets to China. If true, it would probably count as
The list includes beasts, criminals, villains, thugs, fascist legions,
promulgated at government expense, is "Not Me, Not Now." Not
Mass., but with unattractive people who aren't having much fun or killing
there. And they grow lobsters in the rocky soil, between the rows of blueberry
that someplace warmer. The state seal shows a farmer and a seaman and a moose,
who seems faintly disapproving of the lifestyle of the farmer and the seaman,
which strikes me as impertinent coming from a ruminant. If two people are
direct," but if you imagine Mel Brooks saying it, sounds like "Dir I Go eating
a lobster which is not even slightly kosher! Like some big dumb moose!"
"mutually faithful monogamous heterosexual relationships in the context of
marriage." The state bird is the cardinal; the state flower is dogwood; they're
money to sponsor a hockey league. "When kids are playing hockey or basketball,"
personal life, but one thing that's always given me real erotic contentment is
knowing that, while having sex, it's hard for me to get involved in playing
supplement in today's New York Times touts the lowlands as a great place
to make a buck. Match the advertised attribute with the nation.
among attractive and amusing people who find you fascinating."
dull bureaucrats have been displaced by witty, playful multinational corporate
career of the founder of Folkways Records wins polite reviews, but it's no
the book's sometimes clotted prose and odd lack of personality: "The real
remains elusive." (Click here for a dictionary of folk music terms.)
leftists, those turtlenecked worrywarts who hate welfare reform and the bond
raises questions that cannot be ignored." What worries reviewers is the
economy, you know that you're in the hands of a filmmaker who trusts in the
art the director of The Conformist and The Last Emperor can make
portentousness in the silence that's distancing and annoying, especially since
The critics agree that the movie suffers when the initially interesting
"a virtual reality thriller so caught up in its time and character confusions
that it takes the entire movie to explain it." Some don't even think the basic
am' right at the beginning, you should probably consider yourself warned,"
grisly Everglades trilogy. "This dense, mesmerizing novel will leave readers
"quirky trilogy": "a reader might conclude: brilliant, obsessive,
your study is impressive. But it cannot repeal the laws of economics. One such
law is dubbed the "winner's curse" and holds that the winner of an auction
almost always overpays. As an understanding of this law makes clear, online
Auctions are often thought of as models of economic
efficiency, uniting buyers and sellers at just the right price to maximize
their mutual satisfaction, put resources to their highest and best use, and so
on. But three petroleum engineers writing in the Journal of Petroleum
firms are bidding on the drilling rights to a piece of tundra. No firm is sure
how much oil is underneath the property, so they hire a team of engineers to
poke at the surface rocks and make a guess. The guesses will likely range from
too low to too high. Some firm's engineer will probably guess right, but that
firm won't win the auction. The winner will be the firm whose engineer was the
most overoptimistic. The winning firm won't ultimately get as much oil as their
engineers promised, meaning the firm paid too much. In short, the auction
This is a particularly clear example because the thing
being auctioned will have a definite value in the future that is unknowable at
present. But the winner's curse afflicts auction bidders whenever there is
uncertainty over the current or eventual value of the item on the block. This
is true even when bidders have no intention of reselling the item and when its
who can extract the greatest pleasure from it (just as, uncertainty aside, the
highest bidder for an oil field will be the person who can extract the most oil
But the course of love is as uncertain as the petroleum
content of a pile of rocks. Bidders must also try to guess how much they'll
out that if bidders were truly rational, they'd simply reduce their bids to
correct for the winner's curse. There is even a mathematical proof that a
perfectly rational actor can avoid the curse. But experimental evidence
suggests that even experienced bidders don't reduce their bids by enough. For
instance, a study of oil field auctions shows that even seasoned firms
typically pay far too much for drilling rights given the amount of oil they
eventually recover. The same phenomenon has been observed when corporate
words, oil firms and corporate takeover specialists keep on getting burned in
auctions but persist in bidding too high. They simply don't learn.
Irritatingly, a rational person who understands the
winner's curse can't do anything about it so long as the other bidders continue
to bid irrationally. If you bid rationally (lower), you won't win any auctions;
if you bid what it takes to win auctions (higher), you'll lose money because of
Explain the theory to your competitors. He posits that this is exactly why the
hope was to induce other firms to reduce their bids. If so, it didn't work,
the winner's curse by increasing the number of bidders. The craziest poor
bigger the winner's curse. There's no satisfactory way to buy rare or one of a
kind items, but online auctions are a particularly bad method.
On the other hand, if buyers at online auctions are
persistently disappointed, it's possible that after a while they'll stop
bidding. It's also possible that experience will lead them to approximate
"rationality," and they'll reduce their bids. Either way, sellers would find
their inflated profits eroded. But auctions have survived the winner's curse
for millenniums, and even the Internet is unlikely to change that.
there is no danger of the winner's curse if you are sure about the value
proper purpose of putting the item in the hands of whoever values it the most.
For instance, suppose you are buying a Beanie Baby for your little brother or a
idea of how much pleasure they'll get from their brother's smiles or a few days
of sand and surf. And sane consumers won't bid more than these respective
The winner's curse also doesn't apply when there are
many identical items being auctioned off. In those cases, where there is enough
quantity available to satisfy most bidders, the going price will be set by the
sensible middle of the pack rather than by the most overoptimistic extremist.
The leading example of such an auction is the stock market. So the winner's
course, when it comes to Internet shares there is no sensible middle. If
everyone's gone crazy, economic theory isn't much help.
of stocks was still way too low. By their logic, they said, the Dow should be
They admit that the "financial establishment" has reacted with guffaws. They do
central to their case, wrote to the Journal that "their analysis
contains a serious flaw [and] vastly overstates the value of stocks."
In fact, they've upped the ante. This fall they're bringing out a book titled
think tank) had discovered what the entire finance establishment had missed,
mistake, described below, which he simply refuses to admit, no matter how many
times it is pointed out to him. Here is his argument, and why it is wrong.
stock pays only $1--and even that only if the company's entire earnings are
grow over time and so do their earnings. Firms can grow for any number of
increase its earnings, expand even more, and so on. For instance, a typical
stocks are considered riskier. Even if the average return on the stocks is the
same as the certain return on the savings account, people will pay extra for
the certainty itself. Glassman thinks this is the only reason for the
are not actually riskier. And when people realize this, they'll be willing to
So where's the flaw? Assume that Glassman is right about
on anything you please. The corporate earnings are yours to spend only if they
are paid out in dividends. But if they are paid out in dividends, they aren't
simultaneously paid out in dividends and invested in future profits.
Protestant, may be best known for tormented, eloquent poems of religious fervor
and despair. Apparently, he was convinced that he was already damned to
The poem is about death and comfort, and it demonstrates the genuineness of its
humility by its careful attention to details. The straightforwardness and
smiling directness are sad, temperate, heartfelt, and moving, as well as
school. No one died, evidently because he aimed below the waist. He
had a pistol and a rifle but only used the latter. Afterward, he tried to shoot
the last day of school, and a classmate said, "he's been wanting to do this all
gun laws. The Associated Press called it "yet another school attack in a
comfortable suburban community." The reassuring spin: School shootings are
unlikely to happen in your community. The cynical spin: That's what officials
The Senate passed another gun control measure. The Democratic
amendment would require background checks for all purchases at gun shows and
for anyone who tries to buy back his gun from a pawn shop. It would also extend
some background checks from one to three days. Analysts called it another
their steam in the impeachment vote and had little interest in fighting over
received in their previous states, ostensibly to discourage people from
It's a victory for liberals who want to block states from restricting civil
new residents, states will equalize benefits by paying less to old
Charismatic is one race away from winning the Triple Crown.
being disrespected, and he strutted before and after the race to show up the
vulgarities, erupt with anger, tease and embarrass each other, share offensive
notes, flirt, push and shove in the halls, grab and offend." Where is this
have consisted largely of correcting his teacher as she called the roll.
None. Tolerate those boorish mispronunciations and look like a sap. Or say
Of course, no sophisticated person would indulge in
administration of cooperation with international bodies. Bastards!
secretary of state sought to unseat him "with determination, letting pass no
opportunity to demolish my authority and tarnish my image all the while showing
a serene face, wearing a friendly smile and repeating expressions of
Except, of course, for the part about the lips, which look though you may, you
paradox makes my head ache. And I didn't write that either. Or that last
able to land in grandma's backyard at night, in thick fog, without hitting the
which means role models, and they are lay people taking on responsibilities
that in the past many congregants felt professionals had to do." What
Late Night (oh, no, not another of his tedious stories about the old
days!), I asked the writers' assistant to scan the viewer mail pile for
was nut mail, and there wasn't enough of it to do a book. I felt like an Apache
That's just part of the "remarkable transformation"
and chanting by the congregants, and a greater interest in religious education.
Reform movement emphasized ethics over ritual, abjuring the wearing of
Principles, reviving many of these customs in what supporters call a reclaiming
otherwise sensible people hungry for the forbidden passions of the
Books on Liberty." Below, some items from its May catalog.
the chapter, "A Legal Theory From Those Screaming Voices in My Head."
description of the poster, but I smell string bikini.
invited to find a sentence in an actual publication that best conveys hideously
The cover story predicts that the disappearance of privacy
will bring about "one of the greatest social changes of modern times."
been painted over with phrases such as "Confront corruption and patronage!")
that eliminating affirmative action does not devastate equal opportunity in
are exacerbated by poor nurturing. Biological warning signs: low heart rates
recommends that high schools provide counseling to "help
Both magazines print blueprints for a ground war in
inventories the troops, time, casualties, and money necessary
reports that black athletes are shunning white agents for
black ones. Among the black agents courting rookies are Puffy Combs, Master P,
before last week's massacre. Every kid at school knew about the
techniques, sometimes "you don't know if it's some civilian driving to the
of fascism and communism to a member of the world's strongest defense
United States failed to deliver justice for the victims of last year's Alpine
said, because they were signed by all the allies, and above all it is important
a person who has offended the feelings and the religious beliefs of more than
encouraged in this way, thus perpetuating the conflict between our
explicitly stated that no action will be taken by our government to apply the
fatwa," but also emphasized that sentence has been "approved and confirmed
papers highlighted an incident at the end of their talks in which an
said in English, "Can I do something?" When the pope replied, "Of course," the
politically because he had "failed to obtain the traditional show of collective
dollar, forecast that it is destined to be a weak currency because of
interview was published before the resignation from the German government
which reported that champagne bottles had been opened in Downing Street.
offering "some hope of a saner German economic policy" but, stressing his
continuing power on the German Left, said he was likely to be "the most unquiet
the show's season finale, although it too is disturbingly reminiscent of that
'Cartoon error.' Just try this little trick to defuse the tragedy of the
situation: Missiles through window. Embassy flattened. Staccato violins pluck
time in my boyhood when the world seemed full of possibility. I and my friends
would take our fishing poles down to the pond and dip our toes in the water and
horrible suffering, which is why I pray that none of you will ever have your
divorce hearing televised. But if you do, may you be blessed with the wiliness
of a fox, the agility of a cat, and the creepy ingenuity of a defense secretary
over the top and take the anthill, the general staff arbitrarily picked three
poor, dumb bastards to be tried and executed for cowardice. In the remake, the
general staff will arbitrarily select three saps who will be tried and found
for that last one, not for the deaths themselves, but for destroying a
nobody's fault that the Marine jet severed the cable and killed those
professional knows, placement is as important as the ad itself. That is, the
way an ad in a magazine is read is affected by the other information on the
page. Below, actual phone book public service messages, the actual paid ads
that accompany them on the page, and the presumed meaning of their
Public Service Ad: "Encourage children to write and
your kids to sign lots of stuff, so years from now, when they're famous, you
everyone in your family knows what to do in the event of a fire."
Paid Ad: "Accident Victims. You Need an Experienced
big money writing books people will pay you not to publish. Start with Uncle
intangible that only culture explains them," a friend said to me many years
proclivity for port. As you can tell, his interests were limited, but he was
making a (vinous) version of an argument that has been given great credence in
the concept of national or ethnic culture routinely to answer seemingly complex
questions. Why is the United States economy bursting with growth? It's obvious:
Cultural explanations persist because intellectuals like
them. They make valuable the detailed knowledge of countries' histories, which
intellectuals have in great supply. And they add an air of mystery and
complexity to the study of societies. But beneath them usually lurks something
were given preferential tariff treatment for powerful political reasons. In the
worked tirelessly for special favors. Over time, as it always does, the
would make any K Street consultant proud. In return for support against the
interest in port were not actually the sweet wines of today but rather normal
table wines. Far from having a natural affinity for port, the English simply
The moral of this story is not that taste, let alone
they stayed with it even after most preferential treatment abated (around
But culture itself can be shaped and changed. Behind
so many cultural attitudes, tastes, and preferences lie the political and
economic forces that shaped them, even in something as intangible as wine and
food. All of which makes me glad that the two great powers that lost out in
the delights of borscht, potatoes, and sauerkraut, washed down by gallons of
political appointments in two ways: first, to demonstrate that he's still the
boss; and second, to catch people off guard. Most recently he picked, as his
style nor for foreign policy expertise but, rather, as a man of strong will,
he's a politician who has never had a clear strategy or articulated an
release of the hostages. In exchange, he allowed the terrorists to return to
later released). The incident was initially viewed as a triumph for
incident to propel themselves to power. His critics point out that
he would have been blamed for the deaths of innocent civilians.
that halted the war was negotiated by a presidential appointee who was not a
presided over the country's transition from a period of utter economic and
social desperation to one of relative stability. On the other hand, when
policies of gradual reform helped postpone the breakdown or whether his chronic
inaction led to the stagnation that ultimately destroyed the economy. Either
way, throughout his tenure he avoided making decisions, instead deferring to
the president and playing different factions within his own government off one
willing to behave as though loans were more important than a nationalist
negotiations, turned his plane around in midair, losing the money but gaining
immense popularity at home. For weeks afterward, his former aide and current
the scene, the rhetoric has become noticeably milder. In the new envoy's first
the political profile of an apparatchik, which is to say, he didn't
Central Committee of the Communist Party and, briefly, the minister of the oil
and taking no actions, which meant he could be sold as the least of all evils
presided over the company's issuance of stock. His tax returns estimate the
crisis last August: "There was a state. The state retained. The state began to
accumulate. Results began to be had." Speaking of his tenure as prime minister,
he claimed, "If one considers what could have been done, and then what we did
do over this long time, one can conclude that something was done." Finally, his
will somehow pull off a settlement without really seeming to or without raising
succeed in his new mission, and he may not even be motivated to do so. He has
folks at home, what he should probably do is take advantage of his own personal
films ever made. Random House's Modern Library chased the idea a few
Wright Brothers Announce 3-Second Meal Service on All 12-Second Flights
Shipping Magnate Declares Titanic -Iceberg Merger Successful
Panama Canal Opens New Era of Global Trade in Panama Hats
Congress Votes for Prohibition, Celebrates With First Toast in Congressional
Goes off Gold Standard, Adopts Moldy Crust of Bread Standard
National Labor Relations Act Recognizes Workers' Right To Be Fired
Millions of Women Enter Work Force for Lower Pay, Longer Hours; "It's the
Greatest Thing Since Slavery!" Say Industry Leaders
Thousands of Innocent Soviet Corpses Thrilled by Posthumous Rehabilitation
Congressional Quiz Show Investigators Stunned by Revelation That Not Everything
Thousands of Innocent Trees Die To Make Silent Spring a Best Seller
Hippies, Beatniks Sign Historic Personal Hygiene Ban
Nonproliferation Treaty Strictly Limits Nuclear Weapons to Nations That Can
Entire Consumer Product Safety Commission Dies in Pinto Explosion
God's Sake, Use a Decent Camera!" Pleads Extraterrestrial
Hair Club for Men Must Admit Women, High Court Rules
The list includes whistling, making certain hand gestures, and
carrying bottles, baseball bats, or flashlights. List of
those questions where you taunt us with the open arms of the obvious.
as we fall prey to writing "things prohibited in high schools" or "new ways to
expression. "I can understand why people would pick on it. Because they want to
deliberately misunderstand it," said the mayor. "And if anybody misunderstands
it, they're honestly doing it on purpose. To get me," he added, except for
social reformer but maybe, just maybe, the whole system should be blown up.
Metaphorically. Don't pretend not to understand me, the way those robots do
president of Cicero, Ill., wants to fight even harder; she proposes exiling
return, even to visit their families. The people of Cicero overwhelmingly
might consider gating neighborhoods and establishing police checkpoints.
think her law should apply to convicted felons like her late husband and to
punish people for what they do; you can't punish people for what that are."
"There's still a lot of old equipment out there," said Mick Mack, just
anatomy. Or perhaps he was commenting on dangerously outmoded playground
"I want to make a plea to everybody who is waiting for the next deer season
ruminants, only safer. Or perhaps he was about to announce a new gun control
describes it as "an uproarious political satire about a professional wrestler
public radio personality) I went to see his show at the Tech College, caught
him out in the corridor, and lied to him about how much I liked his show
(really, he talks so slow it makes me nervous, plus all that lip noise
indicating introspection being released into the atmosphere) and, silly boy,
launched into how I was doing a live daily radio show from a greasy spoon and
all, and he looked at me and said, "Do you know where the bathroom is?" I did,
having just been there. But I vowed on the spot that, should I ever be in a
position to be accosted by fans, or faux fans, in a hallway, wanting to tell me
about their life, I would always have something more constructive to say.
book should put him way ahead. You could probably get two or three of me for
Yeah. Either he's getting bigger or the sun is setting.
money's on Garrison, as long as it stays out of the parking lot.
he's dead, bent over the trunk of a Trans Am, face smeared against the rear
the same. Anyway, Me is kind of a comic book, very heavy on graphics
office The cogs simply do not mesh As a bear would say goodbye to a leg
Animal Farm was a political satire. "A Modest Proposal," was a political
satire. What Garrison has written is a parody. Look it up. And why do we call
laboring to write this column and make a bit of money to support my family,
that it would do wonders for my stifled creativity to drive somewhere tropical,
and women to fantasize so intensely about splitting themselves in two and
Lightness of Being to the fluffy screwball machinations of Forces of
to the bliss of domesticity. That ending satisfies no one, but you can
hurtling his lovers' pickup down an incline and crushing their bodies to a
unfold against a backdrop of totalitarian repression, whereas our own grapple
with a more confusing legacy: the counterculture of the '60s and '70s. Set in
The proximity of New World '60s hedonism puts a sort of lunar spell on Pearl
looking after kids and chopping vegetables. So, let's see: hot weather, free
script seems meticulously worked out, right down to setting the moonwalk
against Pearl in her own libidinal orbit. But if the writing is tidy, it's
best young actresses alive. Her Pearl is at an age when you can see in her skin
the last traces of girlish pliancy but also where the cares have begun to leave
a residue. Alone in her kitchen with her cutting board, she seems to be
long, her body bends toward his as if it knows, on a cellular level, that this
one of two thrusts: It either sides with the suffocated housewife who, like
demonizes a culture that tempts men and women to put their own gratification
before their responsibilities as parents. A Walk on the Moon leans to
an embodies the culture's eternal wisdom but also its antediluvian folly.
the beginning of reproductive life, while reinforcing a girl's sense of shame
over the fact that she's now "unclean." A culture so stern would drive most
and the gnawing English sense that he ought to set about structuring a life,
poky and schematic, is full of disconcertingly sharp talk between lovers
before, during, and after sex. And while it's true that you can't pack as much
most brittle encounters: The suspense is in waiting to hear how characters will
phrase what you've already read in their faces. The movie's triumph is the
minx that she makes the prospect of a life amid those metros and under those
gray skies more seductive than an endless luau. I wish I could tell you for
sure that the "happy" ending isn't meant to be ironic, but that's not how it
dwarfed and exalted, with synthesized strings to provide a touch of foggy
mysticism. Much of Among Giants affords an agreeable blend of the gritty
and the synthetic, and the two main actors are a treat. "You love it up here,
nose and receding chin and looks quite homely from one or two angles. But from
with a thud. Last time the deflation was funny and it worked; this time the bad
vibes make the whole picture wither. If any couple could have synthesized the
at the point where the husbands and wives of A Walk on the 
to a young man. "How is it that a miserably undemocratic, unenlightened culture
in his own age. Now, thanks to our modern media, he's becoming the real king of
bishops: church approval of theology department hires, majority quotas of
nonetheless concerned about the potential impact on their reputations. Members
preserve academic freedom, student body diversity, and teaching quality.
action movement is urging students to sue their schools. Determined to abolish
race preferences in higher education, the Center for Individual
students that academic affirmative action policies "violate the law." The
professors and administrators at the poor quality of their students' speech,
requirements and offering electives to help students lose speech tics such as
prevalent patois: "It's minimalist, it's reductionist, it's repetitive, it's
authority to try an official who was impeached by the previous one. Though
Tribe, they are not without their supporters, and he has now presented them in
they reach adulthood to spend as they wish. The money would be raised via taxes
deceased beneficiaries. The plan has been touted in the New York Times
the victim of a campaign by city boosters to run their most persistent critic
made a name for himself years ago with his theory of "multiple intelligences,"
more than one kind of intelligence, but those intelligences, as he calls them,
are only part of the story. He writes, "We should recognize that intelligences,
may require its own form of measurement or assessment, and some will prove far
alarm starting buzzing furiously. For something like the sixth time in a month,
a businessman I was talking to had just declared, in the tones of someone
stating a profound insight, that the modern world economy no longer has room
globalization will soon force most countries to adopt the dollar, the euro, or
solution to his region's woes, but I have heard pretty much the same line from
And you know what that means: It's time to start debunking.
seem obvious that the fewer currencies there are, the better. After all, a
proliferation of national moneys means more hassle and expense, because you
keep on having to change money and to pay the associated commissions. It also
means more uncertainty, because you are never quite sure what foreign goods are
going to cost or what foreign customers will be willing to pay. And as
There's also the matter of speculation. The financial
crises that have shaken much of the world all started, at least in the first
instance, with investors betting that the currency of the afflicted nation
would fall in value against harder currencies such as the dollar. Why not spoil
are still some very good arguments for maintaining separate national
currencies. Not only that, while globalization and technological change in some
ways are pushing the world toward fewer currencies, in other ways they actually
currencies, with fluctuating relative values, was made by none other than
undeniable observation: Sometimes changing market conditions force broad
changes in the ratios of national price levels. For example, right now the
could simply rely on supply and demand to do the job, producing inflation in
realized that this is asking a lot of markets and that it would be much easier
currency, and let the exchange rate between the two currencies do the
brilliant analogy. He likened exchange rate adjustment to the act of setting
feel like it? But in reality there is a coordination problem. It is hard for
any one business to shift its work schedule unless everyone else does the same.
As a result, it turns out to be much easier to achieve the desired time shift
by leaving the schedules unchanged but resetting the clocks. In the same way,
those abroad will find it much easier to make the necessary adjustment via a
change in the value of its currency than through thousands of changes in
case for their having separate currencies whose relative values are allowed to
fluctuate. The question, then, is whether changes in the nature of the world
of international trade and investment does, other things being the same, make
it more costly to maintain multiple currencies. But other things are not the
same, and other forces arguably make the optimal number of currencies in the
Consider, in particular, the effects of modern information
globalization. Surely that technology has made it easier, not harder, to deal
currency used to delight in pointing out that if you took a grand tour of the
marks. This was always a bit of a red herring, since the commissions that
businesses pay on foreign exchange transactions are far smaller than the fees
at foreign exchange kiosks. But anyway, who needs to change money nowadays?
also makes it easier for businesses to deal with the risks associated with
fluctuating currencies. It has always been true that such risks could in
were sometimes thin or nonexistent. Thanks to computers, however, investment
banks now offer a vast array of financial instruments, and hedging has become
I can't resist mentioning a related issue. When you talk to
euro enthusiasts, they invariably claim that one of the great benefits of the
in euros, it will be obvious to consumers when a German company is charging
prices were quoted in francs and marks and had to be converted at the going
exchange rate. This claim always puzzles me: Here we are in the information
while currency speculation may have had disastrous impacts in some countries,
in others letting the currency drop seems to have been just what the doctor
appears that fears that a drop in the currency would bring back hyperinflation
Northern Hemisphere trading partner. Economic logic suggests that in the long
run such countries, if they can put their inflationary histories behind them,
have no business adopting the currency of a faraway country which will not take
currency unification as what it is: an intellectual fad, not a deep insight. I
countries but that "if the war gets worse, I don't know what will happen." In
on our forces and our friends but also, in the long term, on Western public
agreement would have terrible consequences for the coexistence of the peoples
of the region. He also criticized proposals to strengthen the economic embargo
it's more a historical than a practical question. Now, we have to look for a
command,' they are now talking about a force directed by the United Nations
world's sole superpower, with its unique responsibilities, is increasingly
seeing violence and the use of overwhelming force as an easy option for
achieving its ends as the most violent century in human history draws to a
House of Lords split over a point of grammar in a bill to abolish its
hereditary members. The issue is whether to say "a hereditary peer" or "an
hereditary peer." The first version appears in the bill but was disputed in a
cites "an hereditary title" as a correct example. But a government spokesman
'An' was formerly usual before an unaccented syllable beginning with 'h' and is
still often seen and heard (an historian, an hereditary title). But now that
the 'h' in such words is pronounced, the distinction has become anomalous and
first black master of foxhounds. He told the Times that his appointment
the color of his skin. "We don't want to put distance between us and anyone
that wants to participate in this sport. It doesn't matter if they are a woman
or a man, gay or straight." The chairman of the hunt club said Laud was chosen
black man's veins: screeching car, needle in vein, screeching car, poison
let his sellout filmmaker play the intravenous card.
Crime are all pretty much hustles, but the good ones are stylish enough to
pokes and shoves, yet there are moments (mostly in the script) when a higher
sensibility can be glimpsed through all the galumphing crumminess. The film's
most emblematic character is a beggar who trails people outside the offices of
her car on something called Dead Man's Curve, the former New York hotshot is
the cue for what in movies is called a "conversion narrative," in which a
schematic, but much of what's outside its ramrod narrative is masterfully
perfect health to be killed), the meetings between the warden and his guards on
for classic scenes if the former had known how to rein in the latter: Woods has
own blowhard characters. Two funny, affecting sequences exploit every father's
obliged to take his little girl to the zoo, so he stuffs her into a cart and
visiting for the last time, loses a green crayon she needs to draw grass, and
her mounting hysteria conveys her grief at the loss of her daddy more
a wayward savior, "Where were you all this time?" Shrugs the journalist, by way
condemned so many killers to death with his .44-caliber Magnum gives the
to articulate something clearly beyond his range resulted in the one true
multidimensional performance of his career: the aging Secret Service agent of
acting style is based on a gunfighter's paranoia, on letting others speak (and
voice, which never had much timbre, has grown so raspy that you can practically
see the flakes of his vocal cords swirling around his head like dandruff.
as such had little say about the thrust of the script. She could not alter the
coven of frontier cannibals to, say, lapsed Catholic priests, although I bet
that the idea crossed her mind. Even so, the first half of Ravenous is
heat of battle, then awoke to find himself lodged under a messy corpse, the
create a world of blinding white peaks and deep black crevices in which demons
reaching out to other people sometimes takes the form of ingesting them. The
metaphor would be better if left suggestive, if the strange new appetites were
and "Manifest Destiny." But the second half of Ravenous is almost
literally a dumb vampire picture, in which the chief vampire woos a reluctant
having been forced to cook and eat his horses, dogs, and traveling
sort of fellow who'd think it his duty to explore things that the rest of us,
deep down, want to know about but wouldn't dream of investigating ourselves.
into the snow." The report began, "Wailing children stumbled alone out of
turn on the main road. Shoes lay scattered along the road as if their owners
had just stepped out of them, together with scraps of clothing. Fleeing
The image of monsters in masks was common to the reporting
religious conflict, the paper said that "armed mobs paraded the severed heads
of their victims through villages" and that "the bridges in one town had been
hung with the dismembered parts of the victims' bodies." It explained, "The
headline "Cannibal warriors feast on bodies of their victims." The paper's
spears, rifles and machetes displayed a severed ear and a human arm and offered
ate a piece of cooked flesh, which he claimed to have cut from the body of a
record after four attempts. It said that the Virgin boss could now perhaps
complained about people saying that the author's dream had finally been
common with this technological and commercially sponsored feat.
and the media." The volume of movie advertising has never been so high, he
said, and there is also "an unprecedented plethora of news about movies and
names in the casts and the films with big numbers in their budgets is denied by
the gatekeeper publicists." The Standard 's front page carried a photo of
beautiful and a fine actress," he said. "She's not a monster. She has many
positive qualities, but people in crises do desperate things. I wouldn't define
that he can have a bathroom to himself. He also said he is mystified by his
films' lack of success in the United States in comparison with their reception
of community" as the cause of the madness. As if! There is no public
suburban public high school. Assemblies, homecoming week festivities, car wash
in their participants the "school spirit" that persuades many alumni to return
to town every five years for reunions to celebrate high school's glory
combined a squishier communitarian criticism ("it may be too simple to say that
with little identity of their own, save the identity borrowed from mass
culture, but it may not be too far off, either") with his media monism:
would know that such high schools suffer from an overdose of community,
Columbine evidently overflowed with this sort of school
spirit, most of which revolves around student athletics. The latest consensus
meticulously prepare and then execute the killings. At Columbine and suburban
high schools elsewhere, athletics are the biggest tool in creating the sense of
basketball and football gods, and favoritism for the top jocks is
institutionalized in the name of fostering a sense of community. It's more than
curious that at institutions supposedly dedicated to academics,
values created by administrators, teachers, parents, and the media exacerbate
barely controllable gangs from the gridiron free rein to commit verbal and
physical aggro upon the castes below. Most victims of the harassment and
ostracism survive. Some drop out of school or transfer. In my day, one hassled
anticipated by popular culture. It's particularly strange that the supposedly
entertainment is the only important reality, on notice that high schools are
communities that are hardly tolerant, accepting, or even rational. Are the
public vows to rebuild Columbine also a vow to resurrect the very community
interpreted as an extreme desire to join a community whose values they had
thought that they had cast out Columbine's influence. But they absorbed
their atrocity. Yet right up to their donning black trench coats for the last
time, they would probably have preferred being honored at a Columbine pep rally
begs for resolution. It's common knowledge that many big box office stars often
There, in front of the breathless masses, it fell from her ear while she, being
the consummate professional, continued without even seeming to notice. One
might have assumed that as soon as the camera panned elsewhere, she scooped up
the errant earring. However, for the rest of the event she was photographed
Was it borrowed or her own? Ah, for the good old days when there was no doubt
herself, loves jewelry and is known to intimates as Sparkle Plenty. Alas, no
jewelers have ever offered to lend her any baubles.
when she and her husband invite me over to their apartment. It's filthy and
disgusting! Cats crawl all over you, and the noxious fumes of the litter box
with dishes that have been there for days on end. From having lived with her
over to my place as often as possible, but I can only refuse going to theirs so
much before their feelings get hurt. How can I handle this?
are feeling faint of heart about leveling with your chum, simply refuse to
that you would take a more direct approach, which might actually be doing a
kindness. Since you and this longtime pal have a history of warmth and
friendship, why not tell her the conditions in her home are way beyond the
nutty about people who are able to ignore an extreme mess and the sensibilities
of others. In the spirit of constructive advice, a word from you might focus
her attention and remedy the situation. If not, simply state that you can no
a campaign for public office. I would appreciate advice on how best to share
details of my life with voters. I grew up poor. My mother (from another
a result of poverty we were homeless a few times, and the kids spent some time
in foster care. Today we are all doing well. I have been able to achieve the
and a wonderful family. I think this is an inspiring story of what is right
people to feel sorry for me because of the deprivations of my youth. At the
same time, I do want some credit for being able to overcome some serious
challenges. How do you think I should handle this information?
your campaign speeches and literature just as you have in your letter. Your
the perfect approach. You would only elicit sympathy if the deck stacked
bulge. Everyone in my family is overweight. I, however, am determined to lose
weight and keep it off. The keeping it off is the problem. When I eat at home I
can control what's going on. When in a restaurant, I can somewhat control
things. When at dinner parties, however, I am totally at the mercy of the
ideas for people in my situation? I know we must be legion.
everything you are served, and push the unconsumed portion around on your
of more and more people having a bite or two of desert, for example, and then
eating no more. And she is sympathetic to your plight. For some reason, even
hostesses who themselves try to eat nutritiously feel that dinner party fare
requires a feast, where everything on the plate is essentially a butter
disbanded a public memorial service, and excised all mention of the anniversary
date's significance but stressed the importance of "stability above all else."
Japan legalized the Pill. Health officials approved birth
control pills after several decades of debate. Women's groups asked why it has
younger, faster, and better without him. The cynical spin: This is the first
to the presidency. The more surprising news: The election was free of the
The Federal government will investigate the marketing of violent
explore whether or not media companies intentionally lure young customers with
violent imagery. Why the study won't be useful: The First Amendment protects
marketers from being legally forced to tone down their pitches. Why the study
will be useful: It will give Al Gore a reply to Republican accusations that the
(Click here to see the hackers' mischief posted on the Senate
suspected hackers. The hacker community's reaction to the press: vigorous
denial of wrongdoing. The reaction within hacking circles: vigorous jockeying
program is broke. Set on cruise control, Mir will eventually burn up
reaction: relief that Mir won't drain financing from the international space
station, along with the usual orbital traffic worries about a large abandoned
that debuts in today's issue. I could speak volumes about our ambition to
balance white space with type, and art with copy. About our quest to create
more readable Web pages. About new navigation that makes dancing through
The "Navigation Banner," that maroon stripe that says
to see a list of the entire current content, just click the Complete button on
the Navigation Banner. If you really prefer this one, we encourage you
into four sections: "Briefing," "Features," "24/Seven," and "Utilities."
section as your quick hit on the day's and week's news. "Today's Papers,
Papers" does the same for the world press three times a week. "In Other
chart the critical consensus about books, movies, art, and music in "Summary
sessions at the water cooler). There's more good stuff in Briefing, including
rubric, we've grouped our regular articles, news commentary, and arts and
Breakfast Table" and "The Book Club" and "Dialogues" about the pressing issues
meditations on business, "Chatterbox" commentaries on politics, and
delivery and access to our archives.) Click on Utilities if you want to print
Move your cursor to the Navigation Banner at the top
of this page, and click on the Briefing section head. A "drop down" menu will
appear and reveal the contents of Briefing. Now, move your cursor to the other
section heads. Additional menus listing the contents will drop down. To select
an article in a drop down menu, click on it. Congratulations, you've mastered
Navigation Banner is that every page now contains a complete
to the big table of contents every time you find more good stuff to read. Of
course, if you fancy the big table of contents, just click New Today, Complete,
about the drop down menus is that they list the headlines of the most recent
persuade you to check out other good stuff currently on our site. These would
continue to list links to the best Internet sites and to pertinent articles in
the "Related on the Web" box. Look for both boxes at the bottom of most
out? I think not. But we're eager to hear what you think about our new look and
motivated by what's to come, but a fear of being left out as the train is
pulling away from the station, with some exotic station in mind." Who said this
college student knows this one! They are the four sentences you always insert
in plagiarized papers to throw the professor off track."-- Dale
and villains who personify the culture's values and vices. That function is now
provided by our daily papers, which offer a kind of ongoing myth, related to
but not a literal rendering of any actual events, much as the Old Testament
erotic dynamo, female; the sexless genius, male only; the sexless workaholic,
If you follow our Ongoing Epic, you become familiar
with these characters, handy for making metaphors or making conversation with
sections of many daily papers, devoted to so much that is clearly not
aspects of life provide additional character types, imps and demigods, nymphs
we'd sprinkle our conversations with references to gods and goddesses; instead
figure if that clever trickster were just a little less, well, clever. See
patient; "building a better watch" is developing new medical techniques if you
really torture the metaphor. He's a doctor, damn it, not an English speaker.
Centers runs in today's New York Times under the banner: "When it comes
some all too infrequently asked questions with answers gleaned from the ad and
but he appears to be embarrassed by his unusually small penis.
of the time and to all of the people some of the time, but not to all of the
people all of the time." And then he didn't go on to add: "Is that the
Emancipation Proclamation in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"
Q: But surely there is nothing known to medical science that could possibly
give me a lovelier scrotum, that could make a silk purse out of my, er,
A: "Yes, there is. It's possible to do a fat transfer to the scrotal sac, which
Q: How do I know where my penis fits in? No, wait, let me rephrase
shows the percentage of the population that has various sizes of erect penis
penises. We're not a country full of guys only 6-inches tall. Now that would be
funny. Little 6-inch guys. Can you imagine! Is that my phone?)
A: Indeed it does. They'll put you in mind of a rather odd fishing trip.
Q: Isn't there some way you could cash in on the insecurities of women as
Q: Isn't there some way you could use your medical training to help women
not just to women. If you can afford it, we'll happily suck the fat out of a
poodle or a peach cobbler. In accordance with medical ethics, of course.
Q: What's all this going to cost me? Not me, but one of those small penis
select. All fees include the procedures you've selected, all facility costs,
Q: So, I suppose that rules out some kind of blinking red light?
the radio, we should all be worried about "compulsive gamblers" who spend
several hours a day playing slot machines. I can't figure out what the voice
was thinking. Nobody who spends several hours a day playing slot machines can
be called a gambler. Gambling is about risk and uncertainty. Sit long enough in
front of the slots, and you'll lose your money at an entirely predictable rate.
does: He takes a large fraction of what he's got and risks it on a single spin
of the wheels. You don't see much of that in the casinos. Instead, you see
folks lugging around buckets filled with quarters, parceling those quarters out
one at a time. There's a name for that strategy: It's called diversification,
and its purpose is to eliminate risk. The more time these people spend at the
compulsive, but there are still distinctions worth maintaining. These people
aren't addicted to gambling. They're addicted to sitting in front of slot
Internet. I know this because my bidding strategy, which would appear insane to
any casual but thoughtful observer, makes sense only in the presence of a
compulsion to spend as much time as possible monitoring my auctions.
amount you'd be willing to pay; then sit back and wait to see if you've
auction, where the high bidder pays his own bid, bidders usually try to
auction, because the amount you pay is independent of the amount you bid. If
Moreover, the same reasoning says that it makes not a shred
of difference whether I bid early or late. So, why do I repeatedly find myself
bidding furiously in the last five minutes of an auction and submitting three
irrationally or my analysis of bidding strategy contains an invalid assumption.
in front of the pack, I might revise my valuation and submit a new bid.
Of course, that explanation works only if I care about the
For me, though, the resale market is irrelevant; I never resell anything,
(On the other hand, maybe I do care about resale prices, because I like knowing
simplistic "bid and wait" strategy. I bid low at first to convince my
competitors that the item isn't worth much. Then I jump in with a higher bid at
the end, hoping that at least some of those competitors are away from their
leisurely when bidders have little to learn from each other (say, when they're
bidding on a new computer that's been widely reviewed) and intense when some
bidders are far more expert than others (say, when they're bidding on a heart
defibrillator for home use). That's a nice testable hypothesis. Unfortunately,
three bidders submitted eight different bids in the first three days. Now, if
that he's well informed about its quality. So why are these people revising
Maybe they're just addicted to bidding. Maybe I am too.
cars, Beanie Babies, and underwear, all at prices that adjust instantly to the
explained only by subtler and more carefully tested theories that have not yet
those theories will be the stuff of doctoral theses for a long time to
events of Flytrap from the perspective of a reporter who in investigating the
story became a key player in it, since news that his article might appear
adviser and put many of the key figures involved in Flytrap in touch with one
dexterity of its execution. It must be difficult to type and cover one's butt
enthralling tale, one feels a "please don't hit me" cringe coming from the
author. Nonetheless, he plunges relentlessly ahead as he details his deep
editors and sucks up to his sources, who he wants the reader to believe are as
He is particularly savage to the woman the media love to
hate (a cheap and easy shot in order to provide the book with a villain).
source to provide cover for his own deep activity as a deep player in this
long before I met him. He was one of my heroes, for quitting his job at the
heard before in a book proposal she submitted to my literary agency in l996.
Subsequently, she had withdrawn the project and we parted company, a common
first phone conversation I learned that she now had far more damaging
information about the president. Would I help her get the story out through
this enthralling tale of the fact that I "secretly" taped those first calls
everything and everyone that passes through my life as a possible book. As
time: Expect to be taped. It's legal and it saves me pawing around on my night
liked him. He had no small talk, he barely smiled, his shirt was out, his tie
offered to play them for the reporter. He declined. In Uncovering
less biased observers than me. He claims he didn't want to become a part of the
story. Jeepers! I wish I had known that: I wouldn't have spent countless hours
on the phone with him after that meeting, keeping him up to speed as we worked
us and exclaim, "What do you know? It's true. It's really true."
ongoing documentation. But I should have paid closer attention. Right there on
understand how important this is. Without that, if I can't write that there is
what I was telling them. It is the way reporters operate: We threaten, we
cajole, we feign sympathy. But the truth for me was slightly different:
Whatever was on those tapes, listening to them, and quoting them, would make
squall, comes without warning. What he meant, of course, was that he could put
his hands back on the keyboard. His butt was covered.
what makes it so engrossing. He guarded the story with the ferocity of a mother
tiger hovering over the last shard of an impala's bloody haunch. Never mind
It is a riveting tale written by someone who gave it
texture as it unfolded, and I doubt that any reviewer save this one will take
of mine made during a phone call at the end of the whole ordeal. He tells me
did to me what we did to him, I would hate them too."
president and proclaim that theirs will be the most ethical administration in
history. None of us will ever take a manipulative young intern into the Oval
Office bathroom and have her perform sex acts about which we will force an
is true, I will simply bypass the agonizing mainstream media, the doubting
don't know each other. I am undecided about whether or not to get breast
implants. I have convinced myself that they are not dangerous. The issue, now,
is the correctness of having such a procedure. I do not mean political
asked before to decide about someone's chest enhancement.
reasons for considering implants. Are you built like a boy? Do you think a pair
of remarkable hooters will change your life for the better? Do you think
drawing attention to your chest is a good thing? In general, there do not seem
personal view is that implants fool very few people (they often do not feel
attribute the phrase to the proper person, but some clever soul named the
bearers of implants "the balloon smugglers." That pretty much expresses
and do his homework. By actually describing the addressee's future act of
leaving the presence of the speaker, the "off you go" indicates a request for
"there you go" has no such unpleasant connotations is that it describes, in the
retail context, the state in which the customer finds him- or herself after
"there you are.") In other words, it functions as a polite observation
your internationalist input on the issue of "there you go." She found it
enlightening and thoughtful. Whoever named your part of the world "down under"
Mother's Day, here is my problem. I am married to a lovely man with a charming
birthday, Mother's Day, etc. Although she clearly loves a fuss, her sons and
husband produce not a cake, a card, a flower, or a gift. A year ago, I realized
everyone expected me to attend to these details, which I had previously
neglected to do. I am happy to celebrate her occasions in a way she would
enjoy, but I resent being expected to handle this task for everyone just
because I am a woman. Should I put feminist principles aside and do my familial
duty because it's the nicer thing to do, or should I leave it to the men to
the plus side is "a lovely man with a charming family." On the minus side,
these male people can't seem to get it together to do anything about occasions.
you will lose the resentment factor. Do the thoughtful thing for your lovely
members, and who knows? In time you might have trained them by example, without
party? My brother brought friends of his to a brunch I gave recently. Not only
did these friends have too much to drink, but they actually stayed later than
course I will never invite these people to my home again, but was there a more
direct, yet still polite, way I could have induced them to leave?
invite these people again. My dear, you didn't invite them the first
once a hint is ignored. (Granted, people who aren't sober can be rather slow on
the uptake.) Simply say the festivities are over and you hope they had a good
time. If they wore wraps, hand them to them. If the weather is too warm, thank
them for coming and walk with them to the door. Do not take no for an answer.
prominently reported their countries' firm opposition to the use of ground
war strategy. It said a rift was opening "between the more hawkish governments
political reasons, for a diplomatic and political breakthrough." But the
strengthen the case for intensified military action. The Times said in
Apache attack helicopters, as part of a more precise and sophisticated military
widely reported refusal to rule out the use of ground troops, the Times
continued to portray him as a wimp. "Leadership, for the moment, lies with
candyfloss illusion" created by his Downing Street spin doctors. "We are now in
administration is "quietly euphoric" about the election of Labor Party leader
Welt said that his election "arouses new hope worldwide for peace." In
that the election was not "a referendum on peace." It was "a personal,
The Times said there can now be progress toward peace, "but only if all
sides are willing to subordinate rhetoric to realism." The Guardian said
him to pursue much the same policies while retaining Western support.
won the elections he would prove to be "the great savior who rids the
he finds anyone among us to sing along with him, then we can bid what remains
Security. As part of their effort to seize the Social Security issue, and in
particular their campaign for privatization, they argue that the Social
The March issue of Essence magazine invites readers to visit a
"community activist" Web site about Social Security and become involved "to
editorialized recently: "The average black male can expect to work all his life
people, then drop dead a month or two after he collects his first Social
and plausible: Everybody pays into the system during his or her working years
then gets a monthly check during retirement. Since blacks have a shorter life
expectancy than whites, they are getting a worse deal and, in effect,
So, why is this wrong? First of all, Social Security is
progressive by design. Everybody pays the same share of income into the system
people get more (not in absolute terms, but compared with their contributions),
Office confirms that this formula outweighs the effect of lower life expectancy
benefits don't go just to elderly retirees. The program pays benefits to
younger people with disabilities that prevent them from earning a living, and
also to surviving spouses and minor children of deceased participants. Blacks
of the Social Security benefits paid to surviving children.
The main source for the Social Security Screws Blacks
campaign is a study by (who else?) the Heritage Foundation. Its study has been
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. Among other
"rate of return" on Social Security is calculated by imagining that each of a
person's payments into the system over the decades is deposited in an account,
from which payments from the system are subsequently withdrawn. Then you
Even if Heritage's calculations were accurate, its choice
of year would be tendentious. Almost all current retirees are getting a
positive rate of return on the very low payments they made for most of their
working lives, even if some are getting a better return than others.
Conversely, people in their 20s and 30s today will get a negative rate of
return, though some will be more negative than others. Heritage chose a year
when, by its calculation, the general population was still just barely in
positive territory while blacks had moved into negative numbers, in order to
claim that blacks' losses were subsidizing whites' profits. That would never be
true of the system as a whole, even if it were true of people born around
is only one way to think about Social Security, and not necessarily the best.
Another is as insurance against poverty in old age or disability at any age.
When you buy auto insurance, you don't hope for a lot of accidents to improve
your rate of return on the premiums. Social Security is also a transfer
their money is going to today's retirees, rather than being invested for their
own benefit. Proposals to improve the rate of return for Gen X and after,
through privatization and what not, invariably omit the money current workers
will have to supply to current retirees one way or another from their
of return on Social Security, the only one based on records of actual workers
"Between 'principal' and 'principle.' As we know, the school principal is our
of educator who has delighted his kindergarten students with a wedding for
Sleeping Beauty, complete with limousine and cake, teaching them, I suppose,
that nothing is worthwhile unless it is entertaining. By that standard, I owe
books. At the time I agreed, but now he goes around saying he learned more from
program is sponsored by Scholastic Inc., best known among impressionable school
States. The idea that we're not going to live to see it is not one that's
electoral votes needed to be President. Scientists know it's a worthwhile
pursuit, but this makes it known to the wider public."
"Will we find intelligent life in space in my lifetime? The answer
"Now the question is, 'Can you win?' It's a very remote
from Mars. Too Eastern, too liberal, too intellectual."
exhilaration. There is a general belief that while it is a difficult
pursuit, this is so important that it is worth the time."
the conclusion that the occurrence of technological life is an extremely rare
who'll never walk his dog off the leash again. Finishing my week as guest host,
contributions over the last few days are all the gratification I require. There
York magazine says, "There's nothing much to this movie except a lot of
The film follows the trajectory of an intense friendship that develops between
(a reporter goes back to high school undercover) is trite but say the dreamy
neither to her talents nor to her fans." But this is a minority view. Most find
footloose days after a wild 'n' crazy friend from the old days comes to town.
Contrary to expectation, the film ends up celebrating his marriage; it's a
wife who manages to make humdrum domesticity appealing. "The odd aspect of the
film is that, though we quickly realize we have seen this story before, it's
she makes the prospect of a life amid those metros and under those gray skies
the New York Times Book Review is nothing more than a long plot
description with a single sentence of critical response: He calls it "exuberant
that the play "manages to entertain even at its darkest and preachiest."
writes, "On the move, he is a panther in pants; when still, a coiled cobra."
Fill in all three blanks with the same word in this remark by
Hoover in business." But in assembling News Quiz, the persistent problem is not
trivializing the great events of the day (although that is an enduring
runs but a single question, and it seldom refers to the day's most important
story. I am, perhaps, feeling a little uneasy over the question selected for
although a question ostensibly neglects a vital story, its answer may be
unrest is. There is no unrest going on in the city."
other officials, religious leaders, actors, civilians. And there are also
kill anyone, either. Well, he didn't note it, but he might have.
was a directorial decision designed only to provide the most appealing shots,
file footage reveals the network's commitment to accurate reporting.
and primal man and equate civilization with corruption tend to play as if their
those pictures always feel as if they've been honed with the help of focus
groups in suburban shopping malls to ensure that no aspect will be jarring to
But every one of those conceits is rendered toothless by a form of storytelling
that's the opposite of instinctual. The more subversive Instinct gets in
proclaiming free will an illusion fostered by a rigidly repressive society, the
more captive it seems to a rigidly repressive studio marketing department.
hectors the former about the destructive path of modern society and restates
the history of the world as a struggle between "leavers" (animals, wise nomadic
tribes) and "takers" (mostly white males). Someone must have spent a fortune to
dialogue with huge chunks of the Earth First! manifesto wouldn't burn up the
standby, the series of charged encounters between a psychiatrist and a shackled
society are the ones who are actually in need of curing. (Come to think of it,
of the shrink who concludes that a boy who blinded eight horses with a metal
spike has a passion sadly lacking in his sterile countrymen.) The ambitious
lives with the animals, takes on their behavior, becomes one of them," says
in check, smoking intensely while her eyes water and her chin quivers. Will she
has been immobilized by a senior citizen? Control? No: No one has control.
cruelty arises out of an obsession with control: What makes him scary is his
supposedly primal subject. The larger problem is that Instinct doesn't
have the courage to leave its natural subjects untamed. The gorillas are
his eyes misting up. But Instinct is the work of players.
Film Center, which was marked by uneasy throat clearing and lots of walkouts.
a white stallion and in range of a (disappointingly ordinary) snake. At the
Before that, seminal episodes of disillusionment, jealousy,
English in lingerie for a drowsing old white pervert. Cut to an English
photos of a naked woman stabbed by a lover, a corpse bloated after three weeks
in the kitchen of their country cottage while his young son, clutching a
to meet his falling body, he sees himself and his wife walk into their country
cottage and close the door. Cut to a shot of newborn twins, who are then
The twins nearly meet each other in an airport, but fate keeps them from
sexual innocence, exploitation of Third World peoples, and a tragic
retaliation. The soundtrack is melancholy classical piano.
is a point too obvious to belabor. Much of it is risible, yet I loved watching
and alive, so that even when his meanings are laughable, his images remain
allusive and mysterious. What can I say? The man gives good movie.
and recent press conference: "I think it's very important. And I think that
what young people will learn from my experience is that even presidents have to
do that, and that there are consequences when you don't."
Awards broadcast yields one perfect remark. Participants are invited to predict
"They Don't Have the Met Here, but They Do Have Back to the Future: The Ride,
awful enough to enjoy as camp. (Yes, Rocky was claptrap, but
my taste for cleavage and greed. There's a relentless evolution in this sort of
event, from genuinely interesting, to ludicrously bad, to soporifically bland.
instead or watching the Academy Awards, I rent All About Eve and heave a
smoke bomb through Democratic Party headquarters. And the best thing about my
implicit pledge to discourage erotic sonnets about Al Gore.
physiological research into fear has found it surprisingly and unfashionably
suggests the research, is learned, permanent, involuntary, and inaccessible to
polygamy has long been officially outlawed but is quietly tolerated. Now angry
former wives are organizing outreach groups, and vast polygamous clans are
the newsweeklies flirt right back with cover stories and ample advice.
will eat her alive, the Senate's a grind ("you won't fly on Air Force One or
ride in escorted motorcades"), and she'd eventually make an even better
clear she even wants to run. The White House may be floating the idea simply to
sliding, and the cost of supporting the elderly could cause a global recession.
The first casualty is Brazil, whose fat public pension program is eating up
turns to her witch handbook for spiritual advice. One popular version includes
conservatives. Even his Murphy Brown speech has aged well: "People will
see that her sitcom has been canceled and that he's back on the scene," insists
ideological and geographic support is wide, his fiscal support is deep, and his
appeals to diversity and tolerance. Instead, they're attracted by unabashed,
ideologically strict insistence on assimilation through English education.
Republicans, the first lady initially wanted to be Al Gore's running mate.
to debate: Unlike the Republican Party, it would be sober, earnestly religious,
represented the industry while in private practice and was appointed on the
Finally, if you're a little rusty on what exactly they're fighting about in
two months ago was said, even by his supporters, to be 'not taking off' until
turnout by voters opposed to him, so as to ensure his defeat. It described his
statements in the final days of the campaign as "further proof of his lack of
editorial said. "The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary must now convince
president and himself. "The vast bulk of this military operation is being
said in an interview. "Their commitment and leadership is something for which
reluctance to commit ground troops has hardened rather than softened and the
President has followed the line of least resistance."
interview that he had only signed to give his family some space, since he was
their stand, "have continued the barbaric raids on an even larger scale against
that "not a word in support of the president has been said in the three days of
spoke against the impeachment solely in the interests of preserving a semblance
of "transparency" and candor, believing this to be the best guarantee of sound
things. So what would have been the point of a secret meeting? That is
him, and he found himself boycotted by Turkey's political parties. The
added. "At this juncture in particular, what better price could there have been
"no doubt that the military alliance with Turkey is one of the most important
inherently involves targeting common enemies, or at least fosters the
sharp distinction between Turkey's war with what it defines as a terrorist
people," the editorial concluded. "In the aftermath of the tragic incident in
Berlin, this distinction must now be expressed openly and publicly in such a
which see Turkey's human rights record as a serious impediment to its ambition
The difference in this case, though, was that the photo was "propaganda
material of a government which calls itself democratic, a government of our
are outnumbered by the detractors ("hopelessly overwrought and deeply dopey,"
exciting, and marred by weak acting. Both agree that the fight scenes, an
extended desert chase sequence, and the special effects and scenery are
result of the advance hype but don't mention their own roles in generating that
(Find out the latest news on the film on this fan site.)
hilariously tacky home from being demolished for an airstrip. The film is "[a]
and Martin's poppy crossover album is just what they're looking for. (This site has photos, sound
The New Yorker attributes the Onion 's wildly popular deadpan
humor to its location. "Instead of allowing itself to be sliced, diced,
Kidder's reporting, but most find the discursive style slow going. (Listen to an interview with Kidder about how he decided to write
review, praising the narrator's "compelling voice" and calling the author
"remarkably assured." (Read an excerpt from the book here.)
now living in exile, urged the West to give cautious support to the reforming
security interests, and to entice urgently needed foreign investment. The
FT claimed that the recent municipal elections backing his reform
attempts to develop nuclear weapons, fueling the drive for more sanctions by
particular cause for dismay over the United States' "punishing tariffs" on
their products, because they have given "unquestioning and unhesitating support
citizens and interests to danger, and calling into question their true
colleagues on charges of criminal negligence and manslaughter in the deaths of
hundreds of people who contracted AIDS in the 1980s from transfusions of
ordinary accused have ever been treated with such consideration in the annals
of French justice." Special justice means that the strong always triumph, it
added, and to this there was only one solution: "The same court for everyone,
which would be a revolution in our judicial customs."
technological training for police operatives in order to combat the "nefarious
debut in cyberspace." The police, it added, must be kept "in pace with the
which could transform electronic gadgetry into burglar's tools when the
"international role" demanded "more serious behavior," it said. "Even the most
our allies and our adversaries in the past usually take more than one day,"
gathered, saying that this created "a major incident" at the summit.
taken away to kiss his children for the last time because he would never see
Western press over the apparent lack of clear war aims and the growing fear
behavior," had courted the disaster now befalling his country, the paper said,
but it added: "The world is full of beasts. It is also full of oppressed
minorities struggling to be free. Which beasts do we bomb? Which minorities do
we champion? When do we charge to the rescue and when do we shrug and look
away? What are the rules of the game? After yesterday, nobody knows."
missile attacks, far from frightening "the great ethnic purifier of the
negotiating table, but that will without doubt be only to effect the partition
failing to take responsibility for its own security. History has shown that
military campaigns are only successful if their aims are defined beforehand,
political solution, saying that if the bombing goes on for long, the alliance
not"; the Independent said that the United Nations had already agreed
achieve it; and the Times urged the expedition of an International Monetary Fund
authority of the United Nations and lead to a resumption of the Cold War, while
Nations. He called for a new international agreement of the kind that replaced
the League of Nations with the United Nations, for it was unacceptable that the
United Nations should become "merely a building where people go to complain or
engage in Byzantine debates over texts that everyone knows the big powers will
substitute for considered plans to impose peace and protect people from
military intervention in the internal conflicts of any state. "If tensions
"And if the aim of the intervention is to protect oppressed minorities, why,
Selectivity in approaching issues of human rights and
described the bombing as a step toward initiating a new, modified Cold War and
should run for president. After a parade of adulatory speeches from committee
members, he fielded questions. One reporter asked whether abortion should be
illegal in the first trimester. "That's a hypothetical question," said Bush.
What about global economic instability? "I won't have specific remedies or
specific suggestions until I start moving around the country," Bush replied.
missile treaty? "I will be glad to answer all those questions once I get out in
the course of the campaign," Bush offered, ending the press conference.
"campaign" has been underway for a year. He has plotted strategy, assembled a
campaign team, pitched to donors, courted politicians, and written letters to
by the end of March. For the next three months, his "exploratory" committee
will raise money and build a campaign staff. Yet Bush remains clueless about
many national issues and, on others, he knows he can only lose votes by being
pinned down. Moreover, the longer he postpones his candidacy, the longer he
deprives his rivals of a target, thereby starving them to death. For these
reasons, Bush is claiming immunity to policy questions. And he's getting away
conference, Bush refused to answer questions about tax cuts and other "issues"
committee, seemed deeply moved. "I think Gov. Bush's keeping his commitment to
the convenience of this excuse, Bush spun it as a sacrifice. He regretted that
he wouldn't be "able" to visit key primary states for months. "Some have said,
job to do." The press swallowed this line whole. Bush "is understandably
refusing to travel the country to raise money and court supporters."
fair trade," "local control of schools," "strong families," and "personal
responsibility." When asked about specific issues, he referred back to his
principles. "How exactly do you plan to preserve the prosperity of the United
States?" asked one reporter. "When I start to emerge out of the state after the
making decisions." On foreign policy, he said only that his "framework" would
deflect scrutiny from his own views, Bush stacked his committee with people who
cited his "principles," babbled about missile defense, and said, "I of course
will be relying upon the briefings on details from people such as Dr. Rice."
serve him particularly well on social issues. He has conspicuously courted
magic words, "He loves the Lord." Conservative pundits are particularly excited
to hear a lot from [Bush] is cultural conservatism."
lie in politics rather than policy, he steers attention to his campaign
juggernaut rather than to his platform. "The men and women on this stage
represent the best of the Republican Party," he boasted at his press
Congress who have already endorsed your candidacy," and Bush's aides
distributed a similar list to reporters. On the weekend chat shows, pundits
marveled at Bush's deluge of endorsements, his bottomless coffers, and his
godlike standing in the polls. Bush never explicitly brings up money or polls,
because he doesn't have to. But he counts on them to keep the press pining for
positions, Bush morphs the question into attack politics and attack journalism.
"I will campaign on my beliefs and my principles, and I will not engage in the
petty politics of personal destruction," he insisted. A reporter asked him
about conservative opponents who associate him with his father's moderation.
tearing down your opponent," Bush sniffed, "and I would hope others wouldn't
Bush's wife and daughters provide another handy shield. "I
had doubts and concerns about what a campaign would mean for my family," he
confided to the assembled scribes. "I convinced my wife that I love her and
committee's three front women, implored Bush's wife and daughters to endure the
campaign's "trial by fire." Bush has milked this protective anguish for months.
that Bush "take some positions" on "abortion, taxes, China, homosexual rights,"
flat tax? Or are we, as I am, for tripling the tax deduction for each child to
Are we for English for the children on the first day of school, or are we for
school where the old ideals of liberal education remained the most intact. Now
that bastion of tradition is itself under attack, not by deconstructionists and
proposal to transform the old "Common Core" curriculum, some version of which
university administration wants to reduce the number of required courses in the
longstanding foreign language requirement. Students, faculty, and alumni who
object to this change are also up in arms about a plan to expand the size of
but fun. One way this makeover is to be accomplished is by changing the
I should probably start by declaring my own hypocritical
about attending "The University" as it was known in my family, before deciding
that it was a bit too cloistered and socially claustrophobic for my taste.
both because college is partly about leaving home and because I think it would
for the reasons that its officials are worried about, I can't easily argue that
instinctive sympathies are entirely with the alumni who are withholding
around discussion in small seminars. I think it's important that the beacon of
economist who casts the need to change as a simple issue of competition.
"choice" about what to study by other colleges and universities. Opponents of
culture of the school he runs. One sign was his hiring as one of his vice
making the university more "fun" until he was driven out a few weeks ago. The
composition in the curriculum are liberal professors, students, and alumni, who
billion endowment is puny compared to the big Ivy League universities', and it
has run a small deficit in some years. The main reason its financial situation
has a much higher proportion of unprofitable graduate students. Undergraduates
are the cash cows of higher education, both because they pay tuition and
because they later contribute money when they become alumni. The unstated logic
of the changes is roughly as follows: To produce more revenue you need more
members. It's retail rather than wholesale education and requires more faculty
larger seminars and using more graduate teaching assistants. Those protesting
more smart kids by becoming an easier school that offers its students less
individual attention? This isn't necessarily as nutty at is sounds. Consider
Brown, whose undergraduates have a higher average SAT score than those at
has a reputation for being a blast and lacks any real requirements. The problem
and reputation are on the other side of this divide. Intellectual intensity is
except insofar as intellectual stimulation is a species of pleasure.
That does not, however, condemn it to an inexorable
But if it does need to woo more undergraduates, it would probably have better
curriculum. It boasts about its set menu instead of apologizing for not being a
time of confusion about the ends and means of higher education, it has the
clearest and best notion of what constitutes one. This is isn't simply reading
sequence of courses intended to develop critical thinking in a wide variety of
League rivals are, the administration should quit worrying about it. Part of
comparable elite institutions. Unconventionally gifted kids, who didn't get top
grades in high school or who don't have perfect SAT scores, stand a better
it finally give in and become more like everywhere else.
inside the News Quiz Tower (it's not yet killed as many people as that new
the observation deck) and learn what it takes to get a hefty 400-pound hog from
the farm to your table to the president's desk where it is signed into law. By
which I mean: How did we select today's question? By rejecting these three:
last week. We try for variety in form as well as in subject matter.
you know you can survive it. It's not so foreign to you.' Handle what?"
that participants would do well with, but it refers to too trivial a story,
of elements, and it's sure fun to type out "sex site Meow Media," but rejected
for both form and content. We've used this structure recently, and it's a
something with either the war or the president's contempt citation, and eager
to use "I give the headline; you give the lead," or "I give the answer; you
give the question," or "I give the caption; you describe the photo," three nice
knee riding a winner; she won two more races before going to the hospital.
Downside: Open bar means hundreds of young professionals
party on way over, get tanked on margaritas, make crude pass at Charlie
Downside: Overt use of phrase "crumbs from rich man's table"
could cause scores of diners to die of embarrassment.
which could not have condemned it more severely. It has been "an unrelieved disaster
plan to do about it? Why, bomb some more, of course." The Globe and Mail
times, the West has threatened dire consequences and then done nothing. It is
But true atonement requires sacrifice. In expiating its guilt over past
failures, the West has instead sacrificed the lives of the helpless civilians
was a world war. "The Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore, so whom would a world
war be between?" he asked. "If there is a risk, it is that the conflict will
press, which has been strongly supportive of the bombing campaign, the focus
said in an editorial that aid was now the priority. "The same concentration
of effort and the same plethora of assets lavished on the aerial war against
its entire front page with a picture of two families of refugees under the
headline: "This is the reality of the war. Two mothers, five children, seven
regarding the use of ground troops as both desirable and a distinct
will have the full moral right to say, 'I did all I could'; and if he succeeds,
the rewards would be tremendous." The paper went on, "He would not only greatly
increase his international standing, but the achievement of any peace, however
with the vast influx of refugees and the establishment of a judicial task force
"There is no justification whatsoever for constantly invoking the idea that my
made only "vague declarations condemning genocide wherever it may be" and that
versed in pogroms, cannot stand on the side, watching an institutionalized
interest, let alone outrage. But more than a quarter of a million furious
comments flooded the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to protest the "Know Your
would have required that banks determine customers' sources of funds, create
client profiles based on transaction patterns, monitor accounts for deviations,
investigate irregularities, and report unexplained activities to federal
nation's editorial writers. Also fanning the public outrage were the Eagle
Congress introduced five measures by late March to kill the initiative. Also
Federal Reserve, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of
think the public would stand for such gross intrusions into their privacy; and,
of fines and sanctions, banks must also report all transactions greater than
"relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation." This includes
unexplained transactions that are "not the sort in which the particular
customer would normally be expected to engage" or that have no "apparent lawful
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network aggregates the reports and makes them
unsubstantiated allegations can be maintained indefinitely and is routinely
accessed by law enforcement authorities, who often go fishing for financial
data. The information, however, only flows one way: Banks are prohibited from
disclosing to customers that they tattled to the government, and an act of
Congress shields financial institutions from liability suits. There is no
authorities describe these detailed reports as essential in their battle
against drug traffickers, terrorists, Medicare crooks, and embezzlers, as well
regulators for snooping, surely the fury was mock. Federal and state
legislators have passed new bank surveillance laws with an almost biennial
the House of Representatives prodded federal banking agencies to require
more bank surveillance by overwhelmingly passing a bill that would have
regulations on its own initiative last fall after two years of research. One of
verify the identities of new customers. It suggested that banks make visual
checks of businesses and corroborate phone numbers by calling new clients under
now says that it had serious reservations about the proposal, the very proposal
that it nearly shepherded into law. The agency insists that it published the
few comments from members of the financial community, the odd professor or
more expansive burden of investigating all customers to determine if anything
that elevated the subject to the national agenda. Acknowledging that they had
enforcement authorities have forged a vital partnership to fight financial
just as sensitivities about the Internet and other new technologies have
increased demands for privacy. Now that financial data are compiled and stored
digitally, it is cheap, easy, and tempting for the government to cast a wider
and wider financial dragnet to build increasingly intrusive computer profiles
of citizens. Attention must be paid lest the government further encroach on the
of financial privacy. People want to believe that checking accounts are
sacrosanct, even though they haven't been for a long time. This spring, the
hand when its regulatory methods and practices were noisily scrutinized.
was thriving in the shadows. Thanks to current banking regulations, more than
Secrecy Act Examination Manual all but requires the adoption of "Know Your
Customer" programs. Banks not heeding this "imperative" are subject to cease
and desist orders and to financial penalties of thousands or millions of
too depressed to get out of bed and find themselves dwelling instead on the
mortality, and fixating on the sad lives of people who can only be called
general the mainstream media had better sources and reported more explicit
it showed in declining circulation. But now the National Enquirer and
the Star are about to enter a new phase. Last month the sister
Like discarded lovers who keep driving past their ex's
imagining the lurid scenes that are taking place inside, the tabs can't quite
Enquirer doesn't speculate as to what these might be, but what's left?
Bestiality? Cannibalism? That's possible compared with what the publication
as to call the first lady on her private White House line but lost the nerve to
decided that it was time to tell the truth. But none of the tabs, including the
"insider" says, "She honestly believes that some day when she's a huge success
don't forget that at one time, while she was trying to get the interview with
and as a first step to get control of her compulsion "has thrown away all her
artifact, the thong of thongs, ending up in the dumpster.
tabs have entered a dark, morbid phase. This week the Enquirer has a
The Star has alleged it was a suicide bid. The Globe believes it
may have been a murder attempt. A caption on the Enquirer 's horrifying
yes, there's nothing more moving than family members "sharing" their
photographs of comatose loved ones for publication.
Both the Globe and the Enquirer now point the finger at her
mother, Patsy, the Enquirer promising, "indictments are imminent against
The conclusion the grand jury is considering is that Patsy slammed a
weighs in this week with its theory that her death was the result of an
pediatric ophthalmologist, advises other men who want, as she did, to change
right here, and use your very thoughtful link to my current Salon
obvious to anyone who can read. Just to correct the record in
posting, a man with a gun was arrested outside Shearer's house a few days after
home, not just Drudge. Those same sources also made it clear that the gun nut
wasn't arrested outside Shearer's house, but in fact arranged voluntary
beyond my competence. Sort of like journalism (or even reading) is for A. O.
pointing out my errors, and I apologize to the readers of
late for my carelessness. The article as now published
movie houses, and other mass entertainment centers would become dominated by
wealthy people? More specifically, why would letting the price of tickets rise
given commodity will become more inelastic as one's income or wealth increases.
This is odd because it collapses the distinction between willingness to pay and
and his conclusions, it would still imply that those who pay more must also be
rabid fans. Is it true that wealthy people are bigger sports fans than the
don't apply to all mass entertainment venues. A particular sporting event can
about alienating tens of millions of fans by allowing some advanced showings at
premium prices? The movie can air for as long as it keeps packing the theaters.
possible to shift our disposable income to any number of items. Why couldn't an
Menace and simply forgo doing something else he obviously valued less?
Charging below market prices to make tickets "affordable" does not appear to
is the only one that appears to make any sense. If the value of mass
entertainment is in the social experience, then guaranteeing that the venue be
packed by charging below market prices is a rational policy. Many bars and
clubs live and die by this principle, often giving the impression of being
"packed" by letting a long line of people in at a slower rate than they
been argued that the stadium contributes enormously to the baseball experience,
which is why the place is packed even if the Cubs have a bad season.
childproof cap it's legal and even customary to keep a loaded unlocked gun in a
and even customary to keep around one's house; that's twice as many as the
common than guns. (I know some people fence their swimming pools, but some
keep guns locked or unloaded even if it'll save just one child's life?
Unfortunately, the analysis can't be that simple, because such a restriction
Nobody knows what the exact count is, and how many of these uses involve saved
lives, or saved lives of kids. Nor does anyone know how many of these uses
would have been frustrated by having to fumble with unlocking the gun, often in
the dark, when one has just been waked up by an intruder breaking into the
house. It is at least possible, though, that this number of lost lifesaving
caused by having the guns loaded and unlocked. Not certain, but possible.
Certainly the answer isn't certain in the other direction.
question "Why would a reasonable gun owner believe that it should be legal and
customary to keep a loaded unlocked gun in a house with children?" (not quite
landmark: the first demonstration that reading a 'book' didn't require paper,
historical accuracy I hope that the Rocket will not be so remembered. Some of
john (and wherever) for a few years now using our palmtop computers. I use my
easy to download books and other reading materials into a palmtop computer.
(not just 'fat' people) pay more for plane tickets? After all, moving them
through the air takes more fuel. Why should this argument make sense for
Taken to the extreme, should small people pay less?
Should small people be charged more for heat since they generate less of their
own? Should smarter people pay more for school since they remember more? Should
children and older people be charged more in taxes since they require more
services? Should city people pay more in income taxes since they have more
height and weight. These "outliers" are already accounted for. Congratulations,
however: You are well on your way to being a true libertarian.
the Council of Conservative Citizens, a racist group that Senate Majority
resolution denouncing all forms of racism and bigotry without mentioning the
vote required for passage), Watts answered them from the floor:
which is a national magazine, no one ran to the floor to condemn
offensive in particular. Doubtful you would have said that about a Black
I can understand how Rep. Watts might be annoyed by
my article, and how any number of people might disagree with it for a variety
of reasons. But on what basis did he go onto the floor of the House and call
problem is that Watts would never be given a leading role in his party if he
applied most often in my experience to white Democrats.
accomplish much in the House." This is my prediction based on my assessment of
Rep. Watts' record thus far and my opinion of his abilities. I might be wrong
in this forecast. But either way, it's got nothing to do with the fact that
The final sentence in the passage you cite contends
that Rep. Watts has been elevated within the Republican Party in part because
of his race. In other words, I think that affirmative action has played a role
seriously maintain that Rep. Watts would have been chosen to give the
of these things about a black Democrat to whom they applied. In fact, I did say
bigotry. And if someone had, I would have been just as offended as I am
To date, we have received no answer from Rep. Watts
or his office. 's a link to my original article. Readers can make up their own
minds about whether it constitutes a racist attack.
woman who drags her two daughters to the ends of the earth "perfectly captures
self absorbed." (This Hideous Kinky fan site offers
stills from the film, a chat room, and information on the novel the film was
chronicles the adventures of two innocent men sent to prison for life. Despite
strains to be funny and off the wall but fails royally on both counts: It has
an "offbeat eccentricity that feels like the comic equivalent of silicone
the film's sexpot, "exudes all the erotic energy of an inflatable doll with a
"surprisingly genial and affecting comedy about the trials and tribulations of
The title refers to two Salt Lake City punks whose tentative attempts at
rebellion are more funny and halfhearted than seriously anarchistic: It's "an
could strike unbiased viewers as more grating than gratifying," and the film
"doesn't quite grasp how its slick, flashy package undermines any actual punk
to get her through. "For those who have spent years of adulthood circling
awfully long time to spend in the largely unrelieved company of one little girl
to find his hometown engulfed by a diphtheria epidemic and hemmed in at the
economically told novel." This "deeply unsettling and sophisticated horror
implicit and hollowed out, so much emptiness between the sentences, that the
reader is called upon to enter, invent and rearrange," and with "a shivery
first chapter of his last novel A World Away [requires
finance reform and against tobacco make him seem noble, rugged, and
enlightened. But the media have ignored his unsavory side, which includes
damage control for foreign policy." The administration has brushed off the
too much legalism, too little leadership, and the heavy new burden of
monitoring trade issues (such as food regulation and environmental protection)
magazine lauds a recent crop of video games that emphasize strategy
and good judgment over violent combat. Even though the games are populated by
ins and commandos, they are not excessively bloodthirsty; one even
which purports to give clients more control of their "product." The piece
sure to make tons of money and infuriate his former colleagues, but there is no
guarantee that this will satisfy his gargantuan appetite for power.
money men all his political life, but his focus on fund raising might
overshadow his campaign message. (Evidence that this is already happening:
what he's talking about." From an investment banker: He's "a very, very good
continue to write her column. She was chagrined at The Nation 's recent
liberal education reform has been an unmitigated failure. (See a previous for
worries that they will cut services to bolster profits.
them "the secret life of teens," while Time tells them
cover package ("it's Lord of the Flies on a vast scale") urges early childhood intervention for difficult toddlers and
"zero tolerance for bullies." Time 's cover instructs parents to check
the ratings listed on video game boxes, block offensive content on their
computers, and click the "history" button on their browser to see where their
results: educational software gets a "wholesome"; sex and hate sites are
health ("If we knew a child had a broken arm, we would take that child to an
litigation targets: the killers' parents and the local police. Parents of the
supported by a network of student volunteers, is winning an Internet propaganda
war. The volunteers argue politely in chat rooms, maintain a sophisticated Web
size of my desk."... A piece explains a new Republican plan to revamp Social Security,
market fund. At retirement, you choose a payout based on that fund's
prescribed so heavily that bacteria are growing resistant to them. Children,
more susceptible to microbes than adults, are in the most danger.
piece describes how the dog genome is being combed for clues about human
genetic diseases. Because dogs are deliberately inbred, genetic diseases are
convinces his patrons to use them as real cash. He claims to have "spent"
divinely ordained act, intended to inspire others to spread the gospel.
presidential candidate to deliver a compelling moral response to the shooting.
whether readers understood it bothers me. It doesn't give enough credit to
readers, for one thing, and it neglects the implicit bargain columnists strike
situation to make a broad point and the columns in which he was talking about
he didn't promote confusion about them. Whatever license he had was earned over
a long, long time by drawing a clear line between his creations and his
journalism, and by scrupulously honoring an unarticulated deal with his readers
that he wouldn't lose track of which was which, so they wouldn't, either.
television. (For the first few years all three men shared the "created by"
movies should tell their readers that the auteur theory isn't really relevant,
appearing ungrateful, I would probably rather know whether Congress also
happened to support the mission I was being asked to risk my life for.
place him in the forefront because he's black. The party is trying to appear
inclusive when it really is not. However, to say that is his position is a
result of affirmative action is offensive. Your premise that affirmative action
promotes or gives positions to people of color who don't deserve or are
unqualified for these positions is what I find racist.
comments such as yours that debases affirmative action, and misleads and
misinforms people about affirmative action policies. Affirmative action is just
opportunity to display their skills. It opens doors that might have otherwise
been left closed because of race. It promotes the inherent value of diversity
front man, or say that he's being prostituted, or whatever. But don't say he's
by kids, who, enthralled by this new technology, go up the down staircase. Then
there's the saga of the dozen crummy border villages that tried to secede and
really sic a swarm of killer bees on an enemy campaign rally?
make your newspaper's front page, it's probably because there's hardly anyone
a correspondent here. I remember one reporter identifying herself as the bureau
chief for Dance magazine as she asked a question at a press conference.
wakes up to discover that everyone else has been wiped out by killer robots
consolations. In the old days, reporters begged in vain for interviews with the
official would stand on his head and eat a bug if that would entice a foreign
reporter to do an interview. My fax machine fairly hums with offers of
briefings from Cabinet ministers who can't quite believe their country is no
longer the lead item on the White House daily briefing. They are inevitably
surprised that I don't want to drive eight hours across the country to see the
first shovel of dirt turned for a new road linking two villages that most
In part, my popularity may stem from the dread officials
freedom to ask any question they want with a disconcerting literalness.
rumors all these years are true: Do you just have one ball?"
them?" He wasn't talking about his newborn infants. As I tuned to another
Testicular journalism still isn't part of my beat. But I
vice president actually came out to dedicate it, pronouncing the occasion as
nothing less than the attainment of civilization: "When foreign investors see
that big M, they know we're not running around in loincloths.")
for a censorship policy that prevented their countrymen from being exposed to
(too occupied with the trivial problems of the petite bourgeoisie).
In the 1980s, you never traveled alone in the countryside
firefight or a minefield. Not that many of us would have known what to do in
chatted with the men amicably for an hour or so, and then got ready to leave.
"Could I ask you a question before you go?" asked the contra commander. "What
Lately, the only time reporters banded together to travel
reporters in the United States complain about having to call up families of
Happily, the memory of the hurricane is starting to
and the House will withdraw its support for sending the troops.
with ordinary people, in implicit contrast to Bush's campaign launch days
earlier. Together, their announcements sandwiched the candidacy kickoff of
used them to vastly improve its nuclear missiles. Republicans and the media
didn't recognize, admit, or aggressively investigate the problem when the first
tobacco interests and will sell its foreign cigarette business to Japan Tobacco
litigation and regulation and the gradual financial buckling of evil cigarette
escaping its "tobacco taint" but found instead that the taint simply spread to
exploratory committee. Though he won't officially declare his candidacy until
scores of governors and members of Congress who are backing him. Everyone
agrees his strategy is to create an air of inevitability and suffocate his
which he portrayed human recklessness, madness, brutality, murder, and nuclear
savages. The completely cynical spin: He hated people and portrayed them as
world's newspapers filled their front pages this weekend with what now appear
stage will be enhanced. And his commitment to the morality of the conflict will
spokesman with a Cockney accent has been forced to explain away an array of
West owes it a debt of gratitude and it stands to gain economically from
and most of the refugees are unlikely to leave for some time."); and the
Treasury ("The costs of putting peacekeepers on the ground will be a major
drain on resources. Then there is the cost of reconstruction: like the troops,
gaining time to improve its effectiveness as a guarantor of peace"; and the new
face the immense task of rebuilding the province's decimated infrastructure and
heal shattered identities. Both are crucial for preventing dependency and
as a sobering reminder of Japan's inability to play a meaningful political role
in the ethnic dispute." A foreign ministry official attempted to save face by
claiming, "There is no reason to feel belittled because I don't think, for
campaign period has been festive and relatively free of violence. And the mass
media, remarkably free to report on shortcomings in election administration,
is not obviously trying to manipulate the electoral results, and the military
actively involved in voter education and election monitoring, an unprecedented
years ago, the airline commissioned artists from around the world to provide
designs (click here for samples), which included images based on Delft
traditional image helped to underline its reputation for reliability," said a
was on the line, that the wings would stay attached to the fuselage and there
would be enough fuel to complete the journey. The ethnic tails suggested an
Would you advise him to skip orthodontia, telling him "appearances mean nothing
wants to study law? Telling people that "time will solve all problems" is a
bankrupt idea. My advice to this person is to seek help from a speech
speaking the king's English. As the English say, "Accent is
everything," she accepts your other arguments. She cannot resist pointing out,
let's just say when the original advice was given the wheel was spinning, but
thing that I have never figured out about laundry room etiquette; perhaps you
can clear things up. When a washer or dryer finishes and the owner doesn't show
up within a few minutes to collect the clothes, what am I supposed to do if I
am waiting for the machine? Leave it and hope they remember to retrieve it, or
remove the contents and place them on top of the machine or a table?
practice has always been to allow about five minutes grace, then remove it.
That always seemed fair to me, and I wouldn't expect more of others. However, a
been apoplectic! Most people either remove their laundry right away or leave it
encounter an apoplectic latecomer, just say, "Lucky you! I don't do this for
friend who lies. Your answer made sense, but I have a curve ball to throw you
in a variation on the same theme: My sister, whom I love very much, is prone to
lying. She constantly embellishes her stories and everyday conversation with
I occasionally confront her with what I know to be the truth, she gets
behavior carries over to her other relationships, as I have discussed this
problem with other members of my family who share my concern. What must I say
to not only get her to stop lying but also to see the damage she is causing in
suggests you have a tough conversation outlining the potential damage
dishonesty can create in relationships with those having less "whimsy."
sis is a congenital liar, words of warning will have little effect, and you
cannot save her from herself. You don't mention anyone's age, but if you fail
to interest her in therapeutic help, perhaps your sib could try
in a man who is involved with several organizations that I fear keep people out
due to sex, race, etc. He is quite wonderful, but it is impossible to reconcile
this with the exclusive club business. Who is having the problem here? He
You are having the problem, my dear. He is having no
difficulty at all being both a loving partner and a practitioner of prejudice.
You must weigh your democratic values against the romantic and the personal. If
you can envision a future with a man who supports bigotry without it nagging at
your principles, then by all means choose the personal over the political.
travel trousers with the zippers at thigh level? Two quick zips and you're
wearing a pair of shorts. Great idea! But there's a problem: I wear only white
the two masters of modern painting were playing a kind of chess game all their
attention by showing off, stealing from his work, and rudely parodying him.
that they traded paintings, visits, and little notes. But they were too
century. It's a scheme for dividing all art into two parts. Side by side, a
are fundamentally, radically incompatible. Although it's possible to admire
both artists, something impels you to choose sides. At the end of the day,
be like a comfortable armchair. His paintings are harmonious, luxurious, and
anything like the same effect. In his rendition, the same fruit on a pedestal
contains an element of dissonance, disturbance, and even violence. Where
Apollo, the god of light, who was associated with rationality and its
orgies in the woods at which nonparticipants were ripped to pieces. The
of abandon, irrationality, and ecstatic release. The clash between the two
the service of coming up with one of the great intellectual parlor games of all
director of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
spirit is about good taste, elegance, and beauty. The Dionysian mixes bad taste
subterranean, and with a deeper rhythm section, are more in touch with
division into two categories in a famous essay titled "Paleface and Redskin."
any natural pairing and then use that pairing to redivide the world. (Of course
contain it. Its boudoir is an entire forest, symbolizing Nature itself, where
becomes arbitrary and paramours interchangeable; and its last act is a
setting, has stupidly cut and even more stupidly embellished it, and has
intercourse between mortals and fairies is meant to be commonplace. Titania,
changeling boy has generated hurricanes, floods, and "contagious fogs." With
with scampering street urchins and matrons kneading dough. The fairies that
conventional storybook sprites, belong to a different age and culture. (The
threatened with death for not obeying her father's command to marry his choice
Amazonian spirit) is less sexually charged than an average coffee
bicycles, which are supposed to symbolize modern liberation. But once he gets
comic business is campily extraneous to the text, while the lines are blithely
discovery that would surely result in their arrest on the spot instead of the
most delightfully shameless extroverts, with a nagging wife and added bits in
which the braggart is poignantly humiliated by children. Idiocy!
framing those exquisitely suspended cheekbones. But every time she opens her
Thank heaven for the rustics and for the final act, the
he's in his element. He has devised a neat bit of business for the great Max
Wright, whose speech about impersonating "the horned moon" is now a hasty
moon. At moments like that, you can almost see the ass's head materialize on
echt misunderstood teen film Knock on Any Door was made, starring
closet shelf, or the drunk boyfriend who gets out his old service revolver and
really cool to be postmodern and hip; but you have to pick your targets a bit
for coyly sidestepping stands on significant issues. But the first primary is a
year away, and the general election a year and a half away. It's already crazy
that candidates have to run shadow campaigns for years and then form
exploratory committees before formally announcing their candidacies. I suppose
weeks) potential candidates will first announce plans to pick a committee to
determine if the potential candidates should form an exploratory committee to
potential voters is that we don't want to hear a potential candidates'
lights aren't there, the candidates will be forced to do something practical to
bide their time. And potential voters won't have to be concerned about
establishing committees to determine if they should throw out their televisions
Pollard case as if they were fact, in much the same way that these government
officials accuse my husband in the media of crimes for which he was never
with, and was not convicted of the outrageous charges now being hurled at him
in the media. There is no substance to the latest pack of lies proffered by
recent fabrications that have suddenly surfaced in the press to serve political
years. No one in the history of the United States has ever received a life
minute secret submission to the sentencing judge by then Secretary of Defense
meted out a life sentence without parole. Who plea bargains for a life
accused of in the media were, in fact, committed by a host of Soviet spies
stopped irresponsible journalists from parroting these unsubstantiated lies.
through legal channels but was thwarted every step of the way, right up to the
mediums. He deeply regrets not finding a legal means to act on his concerns for
the forefront. For that reason fearful officials hurl false charges at him in
United States for years. As a result, China is now armed with nuclear munitions
that could pose a major threat to the United States. This administration, just
like its predecessors, wants people to look the other way, so it can downplay
the story in the media and give implausible explanations for why a top level
spy who provided nuclear munitions information to a hostile country should be
fired from his job instead of being brought to trial!
case. Mindlessly they swallow whole what they read in the press and continue to
he got life. Proportional justice or political vengeance? Why is it that the
same officials who are so relentless and vociferous in their condemnation of
spy cases where the charges were far more serious and the damage was
have done a great disservice not only to the case of
the most damning allegations against her husband were never made
make bold claims about her husband's innocence and to dismiss these damning
an admitted, unapologetic spy, who told lie after lie after lie in the course
we trust the judgment of the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the
Committees, all of whom know exactly what Pollard did, and all of whom are
is based on an identity, not primarily moral but ethical, the identity of and
understanding of the person she would like to be. She clearly doesn't.
desires and adaptations that make up the ego suffice. "Be true to yourself" has
been reinterpreted to mean either "Getting what you want" or, more
aggressively, "Express yourself (don't repress yourself)."
an ongoing investigation. From whom; suggesting what?
Archives said, "You have to think in terms of corporate memories. There is
probably no one around who knows anything about this stuff." What stuff does
anniversary, in an act of incredible corporate generosity that is every bit as
is once again free. I like to think of it as my personal gift to News Quiz
participants. (And the high concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere that
sentimentality, it's the News Quiz participants that make it fun for me. We've
surprisingly affordable), and if online technology were not in its infancy,
both of whom hired prominent historians. However, the natural bias of their
ideology that corporations are unfairly maligned and that they are less
"Tom DeLay, polling the constituents, if you catch my drift."
good, and the actors are great: "Laughs battle formulas and laughs win" (Jay
the movie hilarious and calls it "a slapstick fever dream.")
Others find the idea of such young actors in this tale of sexual intrigue and
betrayal ridiculous: "The liaisons here aren't dangerous, they're incongruous"
labyrinthine and the body count high, but critics agree that the film is "dark,
and dismisses the film's combination of "the music video syntax of
Trainspotting with the jokey nihilist bloodletting of Pulp
more interested in highlighting the tasty details than debating the literary
few reviewers who delves into the book's form, as opposed to its content, is
book here courtesy of the New York Times [requires free
of bad reviews, but it also gets some good ones. Those who like the show call
sensibilities and falls flat. "Every so often, though not close to often
enough, something sharp and radiant pierces through the acrid smog that is
through, and there's something comically embarrassing about hearing people say
things like 'You got any blow?' in recitative." (Nancy Franklin, The New
lyrics, has inserted himself into the musical, strolling onstage with a guitar
is installing a new, rather large hot tub at her and her husband's secluded
to use her words. She said, "Of course, nobody will be wearing suits, so don't
bother bringing them." We feel pressured to attend and partake in the nude
socializing in and outside the tub. Some of us are completely comfortable,
have oatmeal cookies for brains as well as a complete lack of judgment.
inform Nature Girl. If you're not all in agreement, which may be the case
because you say, "Some of us are completely comfortable," then you can decline
stating your reservations, there is always the 24-hour flu.
is no need to feel "pressured." There can be no retaliation for employees who
always the big but. What's my big but? Fun, smart, beautiful, but my girlfriend
just won't give me any space. If we don't spend seven evenings a week together,
if we don't talk on the phone each day during work, if I want to spend any time
alone, my girlfriend pouts and gets angry, or cries.
I put my foot down and insisted that there are just times I need to be by
myself, and while she accepts that in principle, I often feel on my guard, as
she often gets extremely upset with little provocation if I don't give her
dependency be cured? Can I, should I, even, expect her to change? I hate the
idea that I love her "except for this one thing I want to change," but really,
she is absolutely wonderful. Except that too much of a good thing is still too
aspect of her personality. This leaves you two choices. You can accept her
possessiveness and kiss time to yourself goodby, or ring off now and preserve
hostility will build until you wind up choosing the latter. This woman's
demands suggest an underlying jealousy and immaturity that time will most
doesn't look for work, having been let go from his last job. He rarely washes,
with him long ago. He's living off unemployment, and that's going to run out
cleans up after himself, gives me my space, and doesn't eat too much of my
food, and when he does he eventually replaces it. Plus, he's great company.
We've got very similar sense of humor and we have great conversations.
me is that he's a talented, smart, able guy and he's just tossing it away
that I don't really approve of what he's doing, but I don't want to kick him
smokes and drinks while being fixated on a long gone girlfriend. He is also
give anything to redo this guy's thinking. But alas, you can't. We each get a
to kick him out and also mention that his unemployment benefits are soon to
end. Be prepared for this sad fellow to become your ward if you don't insist he
get some mental health help and leave your nest to make a life.
student majoring in psychology. I like psych but don't love it. What I really
happy as a psychologist as I would be as a singer. I have the talent but not
the moral support. I have been tempted many times to run away from home because
forget your parents' opposition and trust your instinct. Whether you make it or
not as a singer, you will not have to look back and regret that you never
That is the age, after all, when people go to college or into the military.
job. I must hate my job because I dread getting up every weekday
morning. I have used all my personal days and my sick days, which is making me
agency, the want ads, friends, anything, but find a more satisfying way to keep
interested in the political machinations that led to the cancellation of a
planned referendum on electoral reform. The French press was more interested in
for a war he could not win. "After enough of a defense to sustain his honor and
significant problem" and that it is "extremely difficult to contemplate"
grip on power. But the joyous reopening was marred by an acrimonious row over
its "banality" and its "chilly, almost antiseptic" atmosphere.
criteria for membership. The Daily Telegraph dwelt on the Pentagon's
committee. "The country that does most of the fighting and pays most of the
bills will from now on call the tune, looking to its own interests," he said.
have been camping on his doorstep or otherwise pestering him, his family, and
who include generals of the People's Liberation Army, are calling for an
"further action," the generals said "they would do their best if that 'action'
embassy strike. Only last week, it urged China to change its defense strategy
crisis will accelerate China's military modernization drive, it said. The
atrocity." Insisting that the attack on the embassy was deliberate, the
editorial said it was "too smart to be explained as a 'mistake in target
identification' or a technical error." It asked, "Then what is the reason that
said that the orchestrated protests in China are "understandable." But it also
said that claims that the bombing was no accident are "simply ludicrous," since
important thing is for the United States to make "a proper and public apology.
Not words of sadness, but a formal expression of apology."
credited it with having destroyed all hope for the peace principles agreed in
down, deciding that a land war is no longer a practical possibility. "Without
it, compromise may allow us to achieve most of what we want," it concluded
efforts to avoid civilian targets, pushing ahead with plans for the use of land
even said that "the fact that the embassy bombing has focused the attention of
"suggests that he is still looking for a settlement on the basis of bombing
wanes. In such a quandary does the fear of taking casualties land you." Unlike
presences in it were too strong. Deploring this prospect, it said the essential
there freely to reconstruct their future, the allied forces will have lost the
"total incompetents." And it said that the heads of government who appointed
them "have taken on a grave responsibility by making themselves accomplices of
intervention, but we have had the stupidest intervention imaginable," and he
questions under oath; has had every private embarrassment announced to the
world in the guise of "court documents"; and has watched helplessly as his
closest friends and aides have been barbecued and bankrupted by hostile
lawyers. Anyone who had been stretched on this legal rack for so long would do
anything to prevent the next guy from being similarly tortured.
the independent counsel statute. The administration believes that the president
and his top advisers should not be subjected to the kind of endless,
should not have to suffer through a barrage of litigation and investigation.
But he has missed the real lesson: No one should have to endure what he
endured. The president's defenders portray Flytrap as a parable of how the law,
misapplied, can undermine the president. In fact, it is a parable of how the
invasive, irrelevant discovery, with its incredible legal fees, with the way it
drew in innocent bystanders and ruined their lives, is exactly typical
Even so, the president is not advocating any legal reform
larger than protecting himself. He continues to act as though lawsuits are
favored policies that made litigation more invasive and expanded the right to
sue. And he still seems to believe that litigation is a substitute for
the Violence Against Women Act at the behest of women's groups. The act permits
much more expansive discovery into the sexual history of defendants in sexual
harassment and sex crimes cases. Judges and legal scholars warned that the new
anyway. Four years later, he found himself a victim of the sort of voyeuristic,
expanded the right to sue and the power of the plaintiff to make life miserable
Disabilities Act. Last summer, his Department of Justice successfully
a House Republican bill to penalize plaintiffs for frivolous lawsuits and to
impose "loser pays" rules. Also that year, the president delighted plaintiffs'
lawyers by vetoing a bill to limit punitive damages in product liability
administration has been no less enthusiastic about lawsuits. The administration
continues to push a "patient's bill of rights" that would guarantee the right
In his State of the Union address, he announced that the Department of
Justice would sue cigarette companies to recover Medicare costs of smokers, a
backdoor way to have the courts increase federal tobacco revenues without going
through Congress. And the administration is lending tacit support to cities
suing gun manufacturers, a backdoor way to have the courts make gun policy
politics. The president and Congress can take credit for giving people
"rights," then leave the actual work of making sense of those rights to the
better living through litigation is also based on interest group politics.
Trial lawyers courted him and his party with tons of money. Women's groups,
be a true believer in government by lawsuit. He came of age when the civil
state governments and arrogant corporations. His intentions are honorable:
deny care to patients who need it. But he never asks whether lawsuits and
rights are the only way to prevent these bad things.
shuffles expenses from government to someone else, usually the person being
shift the responsibility to the branch of government that citizens can't do
anything about." And it makes an already litigious society more so, afflicting
more and more people with onerous discovery, bottomless legal expenses, and
far laxer discovery rules than any other developed nation.)
During Flytrap, many Republicans conveniently abandoned their objections to
Democrats have trounced them, depicting them (with some justice) as shills for
big corporations that don't want to be accountable to employees and
has suffered through legal hell once and has emerged unaffected. Maybe, just
enrolled were assigned to a special section. But last fall, a male student
enlisted the support of a conservative law firm and threatened to sue under
themselves increasingly under legal scrutiny for supporting race and gender
Bunting Institute fellowships. Meanwhile, federal courts continue to debate
whether the National Collegiate Athletic Association should be subject to
for a day and presented the administration with a list of demands that included
years ago, they held a successful hunger strike on campus. It remains to be
campus parties without a staff member or approved adult in attendance; and
the biggest shift in campus social policy since the '60s student revolts
favor the trend. The Chronicle of Higher Education attributes the increase
to parents' concerns about binge drinking and other behaviors at public
District's poorest and most isolated area. The school's poor academic record
the move will demoralize a school, which, like the District itself, is just
beginning to recover from a fiscal crisis. Other critics add that the
opportunity to leave their troubled neighborhoods behind.
in six college newspapers excoriating "tenured radicals" for defending the
originally perpetrated and is still defended by your professors." A few weeks
ago, a conservative foundation placed an ad in college papers urging
undergraduates to sue their schools in order to battle affirmative action
expert on the history of the book, predicts a long life for the medium in the
"technological man." Although the book remains uniquely portable, durable, and
an aesthetically satisfying means of conveying written information, there is
scholarly publishing. The monograph, traditionally the young academic's ticket
to tenure and promotion, has become too expensive for presses to produce or for
basic information to complex analysis, from primary sources to ongoing debates.
have committed funds to the development of such books.
the spread of political battles into the academic realm.
itself. In a report posted on the Web, the country's leading institute of
science documents entrenched if subtle discrimination against women in almost
every aspect of professional academic life from salaries and promotions to
committee work and office size. The report notes that the school's tenure rate
in outside grants as men. "I believe that in no case was this discrimination
apartment. In fact, it is the same apartment, although a little shabbier. A
We are accustomed to the idea that we should convert all
dollar amounts to "real" values by adjusting with the consumer price index.
apartment, I probably won't use the proceeds to buy that month's assortment of
yield a stream of income into the future. I could, for example, buy 30-year
But Treasury bonds are not what make everyone feel richer
every day. I might want to be more venturesome in the hope of getting a
what I care about is how much future income I will get. If the future income
So am I richer than I was? The rise in the price tag of my
apartment, combined with the changes in prices of other things, changes the
and more annual income from Treasury bonds. In those terms I have become
richer. In terms of opportunity to enjoy living in my apartment, I am neither
richer nor poorer. I have become poorer in terms of my opportunity to buy the
Whether I have become richer or poorer in opportunity to earn income from the
something about who has got richer or poorer relative to others in the past two
me, and I have got richer relative to the people who produced the stuff that
cash. I guess I am richer relative to the poor fellow who wants to earn the
The wealth of the nation is its future stream of national
income. That stream is almost certainly a rising one. Year by year, and little
has little to do with, and is much less than, the surge in asset prices in the
feel richer when the price tag on the apartment I live in goes up. That may be
"Footballs, beers, and textbooks. What? Really? Well there goes my
exhausting lessons of adolescence is discovering that just because you've
of the most exhausting lessons of adulthood is discovering that just because
again. History is not a synonym for progress. No issue is ever settled. No case
have to write an essay about it on my balky computer, and that's progress. Or
precis for the next episode. Since the episode might well not have been written
Leaders for Sensible Priorities, perhaps the most boring name ever devised
for an organization. Separately, each of these words is dense with tedium, but
to create an even more torpid name for an even more lackluster
controllers, but despite the best efforts of a choice ensemble cast (John
group dynamics. (Watch the trailer and clips from the film here [requires free registration].)
makes it so haunting. The evidence is on the screen" (the New York
imagery, and near misses by the two lovers, the film has only one flaw,
according to critics, namely that all the fancy footwork verges on becoming too
years, which ditches the junkyard noise experimentation of his previous
releases for a blues approach, gets passable reviews from Rolling Sone
coolie raps often feel a little fake, like he's working at having a good time."
deep and wide into his song psyche and pulls up material rooted in blues,
gospel, and cabaret music but delivered with the utmost originality." (Listen
manuscripts and personal effects, such as his glasses and butterfly net. (Click
includes recordings of him reading his work and a series of photos [free
biography puts forth no new theories on the poet or on his times as it retells
virtual reality flick that covers the same ground as the more popular The
game of her own devising. Features a device called a "gristle gun."
and Mike D and a layout far funkier than any other women's mag, but critics
The list includes whistling, making certain hand gestures, and carrying
bottles, baseball bats, or flashlights. List of what?
concession to economy, Long Dong Silver is downsizing, but he promises to
stowed in overhead storage compartments or slipped neatly under the
mercifully most of you steered clear. The fat joke assumes that the body is a
physical manifestation of the mind, an outward sign of inward gracelessness. It
so, of course. Like most things about the human body, genetics play all too
I know the difference fatness makes to our outlook. It kind of prevents you
from taking things too hard. I doubt whether a man who's never been anything
but fat, a man who's been called Fatty ever since he could walk, even knows of
the existence of any really deep emotions. How could he? He's got no experience
of such things. He can't ever be present at a tragic scene, because a scene
where there's a fat man present isn't tragic, it's comic. Just imagine a fat
to start from scratch on something even bigger and more uncomfortable. Current
configuration and how much the pilot is distracted by pathetic whimpering akin
yesterday's Afternoon Delivery ran the wrong quiz question. Sorry. Those
interested can write in for the editor's name and a detailed map to her house.
godlike figure, "Listen, you son of a bitch, life isn't all a goddam football
game! You won't always get the girl! Life is rejection and pain and loss."
the same confused look on his face that I used to get. To me it clearly says,
The tabs recently have been offering a series of unhappy
meditations on the nature of masculinity today. For example, also walking that
according to the publication, "a renowned expert in penis and breast
manhood is no more encouraging. According to the tabs, two young idols are as
exciting in the sack as a sack of wet oatmeal. The Globe reports that a
Devastating as this revelation is, it is unlikely to appreciably affect
pledge week), were brought in as consultants. "They had a good look at Tom and
dispatched the goose with his own bare beak, did he proudly roast the bird and
serve it for dinner? No, he took to his bed. "He's still too shook up to talk,"
Let's see, he was hit in the schnoz by a goose and had to get two whole
stitches. If you cast your gaze over the world today, you'd be hard pressed to
find anything that is a starker example of tragedy.
off an extra five pounds that always seem to plague her." In turn, he promises
five pounds, he promises not to grow hair out of his ears or ever say, "Honey,
merely naughty. A few weeks ago, the Drudge Report published an
Ominously, Bush's spokeswoman has denied the story by saying, "Yeah, and green
again trying to put his marriage back together in his unique way, according to
addicted to cocaine. But even after he stopped taking drugs, he continued to be
insists, however, that there's nothing going on between them and that he is
totally focused on repairing his marriage. Toward that end, he tells the
management classes." Maybe something beautiful will come of all this. It's hard
years, fathered a child eight years ago by his personal assistant. (Note to
down to this: "If I didn't have a prostate condition that plumber would never
Now it appears that he may have been simply assuring himself she really was
Farrow is adopting yet another baby, and she plans to name this one after her
States began contemplating doing something about war and ethnic cleansing in
armies made their last stand against the invading Ottoman Empire at the Battle
nationalists had built up national myths about the heroics of Prince Lazar and
religious shrines. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, the central government in
channels violent and nonviolent, sought actual independence. Unrelenting,
against her has nothing to do with her conventional liberal views, her status
as a politician's wife, or her smarmy New Age morality. Rather, critics blast
up in New York. Still, the point is that in our highly mobile society,
carpetbagging is as common a political sin as taking soft money or committing
Where does the term come from? Southerners pinned the label
on both the opportunistic and idealistic Northerners who packed their worldly
possessions into "carpetbags" during Reconstruction and moved to Dixie to enter
politics. A term of opprobrium, the word came from the Southerners' perception
that the newcomers represented the dregs of society, seeking nothing but easy
political gain. In particular, carpetbaggers were scorned for capitalizing on
the freed slaves' newly granted right to vote. Testifying before a
carpetbagger is generally understood to be a man who comes here for office
Civil War, the South won Reconstruction. By the late 1870s, Southern
"redeemers" (as they were admiringly called) got the federal government to
withdraw the troops that were safeguarding the rights of blacks. Meanwhile,
white supremacists regained control of state governments through fraud and
violence. Confederate apologists, who wrote the first round of histories of the
South, portrayed slavery as a benign, paternalistic institution (for more on
Hardly a pack of jackals feeding off the crippled South,
the carpetbaggers came from various backgrounds and acted from a range of
motives, historians tell us. Most were well educated, and included former Union
soldiers, lawyers, businessmen, teachers, newspapermen, and agents of the
economically stagnant South direly needed Northern investors to spur the kind
of dynamic industrial and commercial growth that was transforming the rest of
the country. Others, of a religious bent, followed what one called "a Mission
with a large M" to help former slaves. Still others simply warmed to the
While the behavior of a few of the carpetbaggers is,
according to Current, "rather difficult to defend," most were not unusually
corrupt. Committed to rebuilding the South, they advocated strong public
schools, better roads and railroads, labor reform, and progressive taxation. As
to be disturbed. Few today would question their virtue on that score.
reputation has improved, but the word's negative connotations have spread to
cover all ambitious newcomers. The proliferation of railroads, then the
automobile, and later the airplane made this a country of mobile, ambitious
transience and provincialism collide, the charge of carpetbagging still
state Senate candidate went to court to try to force him off the ballot,
arguing he hadn't lived in the district long enough. (They lost.) In
mocking newspaper ad: "Congress Seat for Sale. No Experience Necessary.
New York Senate bid; even the liberal New York Times endorsed Republican
similar charges en route to winning the seat. Candidates have accused opponents
carries these days in parochial places and when it plays into other, more
living in an adopted home state doesn't seem to matter at all. The Constitution
requires only that a senator "when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for
which he shall be chosen." Having rehabilitated the carpetbaggers, we might as
and the liberal Guardian all demanded an intensification of the war.
that the best prospect for a peace worthy of the name is to give war a chance."
that the bombing campaign must continue. The Guardian continued to argue
fallen under the spell of the State Department, which believes that a
combination of diplomatic formulae and the indirect application of military
territory, and has maintained a policy of brutal pacification" there. But the
advisers and international observers into the territory. If things do go
smoothly, it said in an editorial, "it will represent a victory for
commonsense, for years of patient international diplomacy, but most of all for
government minister on this matter "because they feared that otherwise they
would be accused of being insufficiently zealous about religious matters."
"Legislators and government alike felt obliged to make a huge fuss over the
enough about God's Holy Book," he wrote. "Neither had the courage to say that
the matter was unimportant, though they all knew that what had occurred was
traditionally erect large tents in which to hold banquets for their electors.
have been expecting a summer slump in business are now looking forward to a
that line, but collapse is everywhere in the tabloid world this month, from
celebrity lives, to health, to marriages, and even to body parts.
last weekend of what is being described as an accidental overdose of
she had been sober for a decade. The tabloids had been anticipating her death
for years, the National Enquirer as recently as a few months ago. Hers
case of the tabs, they put ailing celebrities on the cover in the apparent hope
lung disease and depression, which are complicating his recovery from a recent
star who dies at the height of his beauty and fame. While filming a scene on
jump overboard and wait for yet another rescue vessel. Perhaps imagining the
tabloid coverage of the death by drowning of the star of Titanic was
danger, many celebrities seem to be having trouble staying conscious this
month. The Enquirer reports that during a food fight scene on the set of
head on a table, and was knocked senseless. Perhaps imagining the tabloid
be carried to his bedroom. In this case, it's safe to assume that the aged
playboy was able to make a quick recovery because he realized that when he
makes his final exit, he doesn't want to be carried to bed, he wants to be
does not report if these attacks were precipitated by the men reviewing the
a tranquilizer and diagnosed with sleep apnea. But the Globe also
alleges he has been distraught over rumors that he's a child molester. Perhaps
it's just a coincidence that in the preceding issue, the Globe reported
and they asked for his autograph. Since then he's attended the bar mitzvah of
the elder and taken them both to a water park. In defending the relationship
between the singer and her sons, the mother of the two offers the quote of the
month, "We're very protective parents and if we had any suspicions about his
disintegrated, it's possible to look back and see the end was coming. In
classes together. But it's the Globe that shows the marriage was doomed.
Golden Globe awards when Shields was a nominee. He wrote, "It is wonderful just
times you smile." How humiliating for Shields to know that everyone who read
that thought in unison, "or watch as you scratch your private parts." He
miscalculated even more when he added, "In all of my excitement of growing old
your husband blurts out the news of your impending divorce on Good Evening
publication reports that the two have always maintained separate residences and
it." (But, Pam, isn't having people stare at your chest the reason you get
has deflated from 36D to 34C and says the reason for the reduction was that the
giving her back pain. The Globe agrees the actress has gone from 36D to
34C but reports that the implants weighed a pound each. The publication also
'shapers.' Doctors had to do something because she had such big implants that
when they were removed, her breasts would have sagged."
respectively. They may want to consult an astrophysicist as well as a plastic
surgeon. Such a sudden collapse of so much mammary matter could possibly result
painless alternative: Take the dress to the dry cleaner and have it
wheel of a car, I would never consider parking in a spot designated for a
fellow driver with disabilities, as I don't belong to this group. However, when
shopping or recreating and in need of a public restroom, I always opt for the
bathroom stall designed for my fellow citizens with disabilities. (They are
uniformly more spacious, better stocked, and I like the handrails.) I have yet
to emerge from such a spot to find someone more deserving of such amenities
cooling their heels (so to speak), and since my caffeine intake is too high,
these pit stops are more or less regular events. Am I being callous and
a disabled person waiting, though that would not be the end of the world.
Considering the length of time one may park vs. the time needed in the
family and at work. Almost everybody I know is either coming from or going to
I should be engaging in a more formal kind of exercise? My health is
week for identifying with her correspondents, for she could not agree with you
more. Too many people are too involved with lats and pecs and excessive
getting married to a guy of whom I am not a big fan. This is my friend's second
gift (or at least an expensive one). I gave my friend a very special and
expensive gift for her first marriage, and I know the first time around she
received every gift one might give to a newly married couple. What is my
obligation here? Am I letting my feelings for her fiance influence me too
her your feelings are less about her fiance and more about your finances. And
Of course you must crash through with something, but it can be both modest and
in good taste. And for your own tranquility, when you write the card have your
wedding was beautiful. The reception was lovely, too, and when the time came
for my daughter to toss her bouquet, all the single women gathered. So did the
So, before the toss, I dashed over to whisper in her ear that there were older
ladies right behind her and to take care not to trip them. One of those ladies
who may not know her own strength. My niece did indeed catch the bouquet, and
no one was hurt. My question is this: Should children not old enough to date,
much less marry, be included in the bouquet toss? I don't think wild horses
custom is meant as symbolic fun. No one really thinks the catcher is destined
to become the next bride. And certainly no one expects an injury to result,
meaning, of course, that decorum should be maintained at all times.
knowledge of implants (whether silicone or saline) would never dream of having
them. Factual knowledge is important in making any decision, especially one
conundrum of dueling scientific findings. Without wishing to become
authoritative book Science on Trial: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the
Who said this to whom about what, "Keep on doing what you're
head of the Human Genome Project said it to the head of the Dog Genome Project
Instead of our regular class work, let's go outside
about his offer to resign as archbishop of New York.
reply. Last week, in what was seen as a sign of his impending retirement, he
invited all the priests in the archdiocese to see him celebrate the Chrism
expect that will pretty much mark the end of his term as Archbishop."
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
still amazed at the persistence of people in believing things that are unproved
or that are more complicated than they realize. My most recent example is Pay
subject of a protest? Surely Pay Equity Day's organizers don't think that
Presumably they would explain that they are more productive than my
housekeeper. But the only evidence they have of their superior productivity is
the fact that someone is willing to pay them more than anyone is willing to pay
One might think that would be the end of the matter. Men
get paid more than women because someone is willing to pay them more, just as
Pay Equity Day's organizers are paid more than my housekeeper because someone
isn't the end of the matter. If we accept productivity as a proper measure of
what people should earn, we have to consider the possibility that employers'
willingness to pay is a wrong measure of workers' productivity. It could be
wrong in either of two senses. Employers may have an incorrect estimate of the
productivity merits because they have some prejudice against women in the
In a perfect world we could compare the relative earnings
of women and men with their relative productivity. But there is no good way to
earnings, which only leads us back to where we started. So, students of the
subject approach it indirectly, comparing the earnings of men and women who are
similar in the respects that contribute to productivity: They compare the
incomes of men and women of the same age, the same years of work experience,
the same years of education, and in jobs of the same stress, riskiness, and
difficulty. When they do, they generally find that the gender gap in earnings
remains but is smaller than the gap for women and men in total. But the results
are difficult to interpret. The number of years devoted to education and the
number of years of experience, for example, do not make the same contribution
to productivity. And it is never possible to be sure that you have taken
account of all the factors that determine productivity.
against women? We would also find that all the women in this category do not
earn the same salary. There is something, some X Factor, other than the
conditions I have listed and other than gender, which explains the difference
in salaries among the women. But if this X Factor is unequally shared by men
and women, there will be a difference in the average earnings of men and women
height. A taller lawyer can reach the books on the top shelf without a ladder.
If all women were paid the same as all men of the same height, the average pay
of men would be higher than that of women because the average man is taller.
Much of what we know about the economic status of women is
men. This suggests that the relatively low earnings of many women are related
interferes with their productivity in the marketplace. But another force may be
men may decide not to have children rather than forgo those earnings. We don't
know how the earnings of these women compare with their productivity. If their
There is plenty of evidence that the first gap has been
measure the gap between women's earnings and their productivity, but it is
reasonable to say that their earnings have risen pretty much in line with their
productivity. At least, it seems clear that the earnings of the total labor
force have risen pretty much in line with productivity (output per hour of
work) when measured correctly. Women are so large a part of the labor force
that it is hard to believe that this could be true of the total if it were not
also true of women. If the gap between the earnings of women and men is
declining, and if the earnings of women are rising in line with their
productivity, it follows that the productivity of women has been rising
relative to the productivity of men. That would be consistent with what we know
about changes in the character of women's education and their distribution
is grounds for demonstrations of protest is a matter of taste.
not the one the protesters have been protesting. In an earlier age, when
incomes in the market were lower than they are now, the cost to a parent of
forgoing market employment in order to stay home and care for a child was also
was for the woman to stay home and look after the child. But given higher
market incomes, having and rearing a child is more expensive in terms of
clear how the staying home with the child should be divided between the mother
and the father. This problem of family life is not a result of incomes being
too low or the wage gap being too big. It is rather the reverse.
conservative Daily Telegraph said the alliance should "be prepared to conduct an
must now commit themselves to the long haul, ground troops and all."
resigned properly instead of taking an "illegal" temporary leave, which
logically nullified all future decisions by the Constitutional Council, "the
essential guarantor of the good functioning of our democracy."
the Soviet Union without firing a single bullet is now mobilized against the
certainly exploit this situation to strengthen his uncertain power at home.
"because the Basque problem hasn't been resolved," he said. This is a "very
crude comparison," the paper commented: The case of the Basque country, with
its advanced political autonomy, has nothing in common with "an open war and
in the "banana war," which, it said, might "do irreparable damage" to the World
dubious sources, including drug money." It said the police forces of three
officials in the socialist administration were involved," the paper added.
been found to have abused their positions for illegal financial gain. The
guilty officials worked for the ministries of public economy and privatization,
defense, justice, employment, and immigration, as well as in the courts and in
regional customs and tax offices, the paper said. It added that, according to
because the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have concluded that
its ruined economy could only be revived by the privatization of all its
The magazine's redesign brings with it a new Web site and a slick,
generally shied away from such missions because of the moral and political
But a separate editorial says that partial defeat (concessions to the
without the will to do the job properly." The West neglected to anticipate the
Government and industry are squabbling over whether to promote the country as
but not on public television, which he deems too influenced by its corporate
game") derides the White House's apparently unshaken faith in air power.
lambastes the president for "diplomatic errors and missed
opportunities": Security advisers originally told the administration to offer
airstrikes began, they urged planning for the refugee crisis sure to come. At
protests by lavishing student activists with internships and trips to countries
safari, contains some of his funniest and most complex work.
crooners. Country originated in gospel and blues, but since the civil rights
era blacks have associated country music with white prejudice. Now record
executives are hoping that black country acts will boost lagging sales.
story of a boy of mixed race who denies his black heritage and becomes a racist
United Nations, and violates the principle that foreign powers should not
It seemed too much to hope for that the list of the
the New York University journalism department, at no one's urgent
would be a really, really bad thing that should be avoided if at all possible.
He succeeded, declaring at every stage that vast resources of courage and
imagination were required to make this point. He went on to argue that
become inimical to life and must be swept away" as the only hope of avoiding
obvious and the idiotic became. Many New Yorker readers actually took up
existed, he declared, to even think about anything else was deeply immoral. And
time about nuclear war. Lately he's been expressing alarm about the office of
the independent prosecutor. Threat to liberty or something like that.
of the Earth was the last gasp of the old New Yorker buzz machine of
since it denied its own existence. Literary devices did most of the work. There
was the bullying portentous tone, which said, "This is unbelievably
the facts, which put the author on a pedestal beyond the reach of quarrel and
Actually, the last gasp of the old New Yorker may be
truth, the current New Yorker is a much better publication.) How could
exercise like this, while enjoyable, misses the point. Such quarreling buys
into the premise that there is something socially useful about inventing
reasons to decide that some people are better than others. Call it gratuitous
awards and lists of the best this or that are "inimical to life" or anything,
This is generally true of gratuitous meritocracy, whether it takes the form of
variety of hierarchical opportunities held out to children and college
students. All of these pretend to a precision that doesn't exist. But that's
not the real problem. Even if it were possible to determine scientifically
whose performance as a supporting actress last year was better than anyone
part of the condition of our species and a specific necessity of the
rewards to motivate people. Some inequality is inevitable, in other words, and
more of it is a price worth paying for a prosperity that benefits all, to one
century, most people have concluded that attempts to eliminate inequality
wholesale end in tears. But we still argue about the relationship between
greater equality and greater prosperity within a capitalist economy. Will a tax
cut have a huge productivity payoff or just line the pockets of the already
But a list of who's better than other people in some aspect
or another is not inevitable and does not make the economy any more prosperous
or society any richer in other ways. I suppose you could argue that a
hard sell, though. What actually inspires such lists is a love of
commercial considerations are also at work, as well as the Law of Award
Entropy, which holds that awards tend to subdivide and multiply until they are
ceremony is entitled to leave in a snit if he or she doesn't win one.
In principle, there is nothing tackier about an award given
to magazines. So, a couple of decades ago, the magazine industry created the
National Magazine Awards ("the prestigious Enema," as occasional
unnecessary addition to civilization. And yet by relentlessly treating them as
a big deal over the years, magazine folks have succeeded in making them a
ballpark. (And yes, we'd like one, hypocrites that we are, thank you very
Webby Awards, given by something we are asked to believe is the "International Academy of
insurgent spirit, this is a comically egregious exercise in
victims in a conspiracy of mutual hype. They hype you by giving you an award.
give a separate set of awards based on how many votes your site gets in a
reader poll they're running on their site. As a result, the Web is now littered
with links to the Webby "People's Voice" page. (Why, what a coincidence: Here's
democracy in action, the true spirit of the Web, and blah, blah, the connection
between this and any valid expression or measurement of Web popularity is about
Small type at the bottom of the home page confesses
copyrighted all the materials, so I think it's clear what's going on. But
throwing a cocktail party to celebrate the fact that its Web site was
alliance "should seize this moment to announce a new goal and new means to
commitment of ground forces, a move that senior military leaders consider
became clear that the bombing is strengthening rather than weakening
papers, both conservative and liberal, have now come out in favor of it, with
Times now support ground intervention, the Sun backs Prime
escalation. The issue, once again, is not the plausibility of the operation but
read and talk about this subject from dawn to dusk and not hear a word about
two of them," he said. "We don't ask the West to send ground troops. If our men
are given the means to fight, we will be able to defend the civilian population
States plays golf, tens of thousands of innocent people are fleeing from the
revolt against the war within his coalition government. Noting that Communist
another coalition party was calling on the government to distance itself from
precedent that would allow me to justify these initiatives and the prime
airstrikes have been (and will continue to be) more effective at destroying the
troops should be sent in. Another editorial urges the United Kingdom to donate
humanitarian supplies and eventually grant immigration visas to "our share" of
interview the incoming flood of refugees. He writes:
and boot. I heard of several hundred people hiding in a cave that once formed
accounts of the operational technique of ethnic cleansing. First the roar of
tanks coming down the valleys, then the sound of whistles being blown and the
firing of automatic weapons, as the villages and hamlets that dot southern
separate the important ones from the peasants. The peasants are forced south,
taking only what they can carry, where they must brave further "checkpoints" in
the form of armed robbers, before they reach the border. The "important ones"
international agency has bothered to set up aid stations at the border to
distribute hot porridge or first aid to the dehydrated and hypothermic
considering more decisive actions that will be recommended to the leadership if
loudly on the street. The article interviews many Westerners who feel
the article doesn't say who exactly is doing the "speculating." The news peg
Ever? "Capital Legislator Want More Facts on Daylight Savings Time" from
requested for the bombing. Democrats accused Republicans of hypocrisy and
disloyalty. Republicans accused Democrats of squandering military resources on
making itself "the sole judge of what is or is not acceptable to bomb."
another student to death in a manner similar to the Colorado tragedy. Four kids
which he evidently planned to destroy his school. A pipe bomb was found in an
classes, and kids were questioned or even arrested due to bomb threats and
Middle East peace process was supposed to conclude that day, but rocky
on Mars indicates that it had dynamic, internal heat similar to Earth's,
increasing the likelihood that Mars had a warm atmosphere, water, and
elementary life. The trumpeted spin: Mars had life! The buried spin: Earth
environmental panic over deformed frogs was deflated. For years,
scientists have been finding frogs around the United States with deformed,
missing, or extra limbs. The old theory: The frogs are a harbinger of a
"poisoned environment," possibly caused by industrial chemicals or erosion of
the ozone layer. The new theory, based on subsequent studies: The frogs'
development was screwed up by parasites that infected them. The new version of
the old theory: The parasites are a harbinger of a poisoned environment.
The local sheriff said three kids in combat fatigues who knew the killers and
waited outside the school during the shooting are "subjects of our
killers bought two of the guns they used. It is not yet clear whether she knew
that just before the massacre it rejected an application from one of the
explaining that there's "not a great atmosphere" for his music after the
semiautomatic weapons, require trigger locks, make parents criminally liable
for "knowingly or recklessly" giving their kids access to guns used to kill or
injure, and extend background checks to gun show patrons and people who try to
buy explosives. Meanwhile, Republican congressional leaders proposed a national
courageously exploiting public unease about guns in the wake of the Colorado
lawmakers have agreed to give kids in bad public school districts
first state voucher program. Some cities already have vouchers, and some states
kids out of bad schools, making these schools worse and leaving kids with
accomplished what he sought in football, and he wants to spend more time with
The sad spin: He won't get a chance to try for a third Super Bowl. The cynical
spin: He's shrewdly getting out before the Broncos collapse.
across the aisle from a woman who was probably in her 50s. She was plain
looking and plainly dressed. I guessed her to be a household worker. Her slip
was showing. That is not unusual. What struck me was that the hem of her slip
attempt at elegance!" But when I got off the bus and ruminated on it, I
realized that was a condescending and stupid reaction. She was saying
was the difference between a work uniform and private, personal dress. Wearing
the lace was a decision she had made for herself, beyond the requirements of
her working life. She was expressing her membership in a class of people who
have a life beyond work and who have some bit of "fancy" in their dress to show
first of all she was making it for herself, to make herself feel good.
that is the way people are. I imagine that people want to think of themselves
as belonging to a group that they admire or respect and dress as they think a
member of that group dresses. Their object is not to display their
individuality, except that they want to choose their group. I don't believe
did not express membership in a group that they had chosen. I understand that
The message of the clothing is first of all to the wearer.
I think of those girls in West Side Story singing "I Feel Pretty!" They
pretty, and they associated the way they dressed with the feeling of being
not the most becoming outfit they could wear. That depends on how good their
legs are. And they are surely not expressing individuality. They are expressing
their membership in a class of women who are smart, professional, liberated,
and also feminine and sexy. They are expressing it to themselves and to
At the street corner there is a group of young men with
exceedingly droopy trousers and black, high shoes. The laces flopping loosely.
you see in gray slacks and navy blue blazers with brass buttons? They are
Of course, the extreme in men's dress is the dinner jacket.
monkey suit. They curse as they struggle with the bow tie. But is there a man
with a soul so dead, or a waist so big, that he does not smile and say, "Bond,
however, when only the "responsible" people, the presidential appointees, came
to work in the White House and the Executive Office Building, casual dress was
the uniform. That was our way of showing, to ourselves especially, that we were
And what about me now? On the days I go to my office, I
wear a flannel shirt with no necktie if the weather is cool. In warm weather, I
in the club of "Old Geezers." We have paid our dues. We are free of
obligations, including the obligation to dress like everyone else. We know that
our dress is only a trivial sign of our liberation, but it is a sign we
always be elegant to yourself, as you will always be to me.
despondency" hung over the negotiations because nobody knows what the bottom
for the peace process boosted his acceptability," the paper said.
on decommissioning. It said the tripartite statement "makes clear that the
time for courage," and an editorial expressing relief that the Spice Girls had crept
his first news conference for more than a year, as "an older and wiser man,
with his extraordinary resilience lending a kind of dignity to the mere fact of
again on the edge, the White House's full attention could once again play a
tears when told that his former wife had contradicted his denials," the paper
"thoroughly disheartening," it said. "After the recent tarnishing of its image
with corruption revelations, the committee badly needs to restore its
credibility and regain respect. That can hardly be done so long as it remains
with an exclusive revelation that a raiding party of East German academics had
and his remains might deteriorate. In fact, they took the poet's body away in a
handcart and brought it back three weeks later only after cleaning the skeleton
and using plastic to reinforce the decayed laurel wreath on his skull. The
operation was carried out by stealth to avoid exposing the then Communist
has decided to impose fines on restaurants and cafes that fail to tell
customers they are serving genetically modified food. The government, which
previously declared such food absolutely safe, has caved in to a powerful media
campaign. Restaurateurs say the measure will be impossible to enforce, and
environmental groups called it "a con" that doesn't go far enough. The
killed. Since the police told her that the poisoners were "a small group of
deviants" in the hunting community, "it shouldn't be difficult to restore, at
a conservative paper, made fun of a splendid correction published in the
liberal Guardian the day before. The Guardian had apologized
"This is a time to support apartheid," it quoted her as saying. "This is a time
advocated supporting "a party," meaning the Conservative Party. "Because Miss
nation and all at the bidding of a man known as "Emperor"? Oh, right, the
by forcing the conquered nation to sign a faux treaty. They are ruthless and
nearby planet. There, they attempt to repair their broken spaceship but are
spears and rocks at the oncoming army in the climactic battle sequence. Only
racist stereotypes. But it makes the latest characters seem like a lapse in
taste rather than morals. What's especially puzzling, though, is that film
difference in the growth of military versus civilian wages since
not mean that soldiers earn less than civilians, because it does not
Bill Gates, since he was making more to begin with.
only evidence he offers for this position is that military members got a big
provide a "catch up" to bring military pay back to parity with civilian wages
after a decade of lagging pay increases. It seems to me that military and
He also cites studies from the Congressional Budget
Office and the RAND Corp. that indicate that "enlisted service members" make
civilian counterparts, senior enlisted are slightly underpaid, junior officers
there really is a pay gap, since no evidence was offered that addressed the
actual salaries of either the military or civilian population. A little more
more years, including another century of greatness, and perhaps another
"The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that after the repeal of
industry group whose members directly benefit from the imposition of a national
speed limit. Further exploration would have turned up studies by the University
either no increase or decrease in fatalities on roads where the speed limit was
increased. Looking state by state, the same lack of a pattern emerges: There
simply is no good data, counterintuitive though it may seem, to link "speeding"
with accidents. Although deaths per passenger mile did indeed decline when the
-mph limit was imposed, they have declined every year since statistics have
been kept and are continuing to decline in the wake of the revocation of the
national database in which this information is kept allows officers at the
scene to code multiple reasons for an accident; they do, indeed, tend to cite
"excessive speed for conditions" as a contributing factor quite frequently.
However, if you were to pull the number of accidents where speed was the sole
factor cited, the number declines precipitously. Keep in mind, again, that the
data are not good to begin with; this is simply the opinion of an officer who
The radar gun was invented to allow civil engineers
of drivers will maintain on a given piece of road. In more sensible times,
that's how speed limits were set: Build the road, time traffic on it, determine
the speed most people are comfortable driving at, and post that as the limit to
encourage uniform speeds, which, unsurprisingly, minimizes accidents. A
national speed limit, by being completely separated from local conditions,
actually encourages unsafe behavior, as people will vary in their speed
significantly. On many roads, driving at or below the limit puts you well below
the speed of most traffic, thereby greatly increasing the chances of an
So, no; rigid enforcement of a national speed limit
with draconian penalties for violating it will not save thousands of lives. Nor
would repealing the freedom of the airwaves act (the federal legislation that
merely to protect the various municipalities' right to collect revenues from
motorists. It may not be sexy or simple, but setting speed limits on a
accidents than any of the measures Chapman proposes. Since even the Department
might make more sense to look at why, rather than simply demanding that they
turns and angles for the bright sky of the story he wants to tell.
shouted "Peekaboo," and killed her. At close range. And they apparently enjoyed
it. "Look at this black kid's brain! Awesome, man!" is what one was reported to
have exclaimed. They stood in front of another girl, asked her if she believed
in God, and shot her in the head when she answered yes. They had no goal; no
end in mind beyond destruction. They weren't trying to restrict a rival gang,
enforce a political ideal, or overthrow authority. They appeared to revel in
lacing up the old athletic club breeches, rubbing a bit of pine tar on your
detect the differences in these situations, then he is part of the problem. I
bit farther to find truly analogous behavior. The Dark Ages should prove
fruitful. And by the way, it's misleading to place the sentence "occasionally
children were put to death" at the end of a list of the things teachers did to
occasionally executed for crimes (the crime of murder in the period to which he
refers, or perhaps for stealing hare from the king's wood in earlier times).
Not laudable, but definitely irrelevant to his argument. Just a bit later in
her performance, though, the film isn't much more than "a kind of
More negative responses: The critics are resentful about the fact that the film
quickly do we grow accustomed to wonders." The Weekly Standard 's John
and childish in a way that may displease sophisticates but will be endearing to
"It is, of course, profoundly gratifying that "The Phantom Menace" should
emerge as a work of almost unrelieved awfulness. It means, for one thing, that
the laugh is on all those dweebs who have spent the last month camped out on
as a collection of riffs, observations, and set pieces on subjects such as
trouble in terms of developing characters and maintaining any sort of pacing or
click here to read an excerpt [requires free registration].)
Cowboys, ranch hands, and the unforgiving nature of life out west are her main
subjects, and by all accounts she handles them with extraordinary skill and
control. The critics can't say enough about her tight, honed prose: She gets
the speech patterns just right ("a stunningly authentic voice," declares
Critics say this exploration of what factors affect a shopper's behavior within
a store is interesting, but several grouse that at times it reads as if the
the subject sounds familiar, it's because The New Yorker reported
won't buy something if another customer accidentally brushes her behind while
she's shopping) or how the positions of signs and chairs in a store affect a
shopper's likelihood of actually purchasing an item. (Click here to read
effort to defend the original objectives of the enterprise. Instead, the
emphasis was on "credibility": having got in for whatever reason, wise or
foolish, we couldn't just change our minds and get out. In order to preserve
credibility we needed victory, or (as time went on) "peace with honor" or (as
more time went on) a "decent interval" between our withdrawal and the other
But for most who make it, the credibility argument serves a very different
argument popped up after about five minutes, and mainly from people who say
precisely where they stand on that basic question. "Credibility," in short,
who otherwise opposed the war. As a moral argument it seemed scandalously
trivial, and as a debating point it seemed like moving the goal posts. You no
extra day we spent blood and treasure on a war we no longer believed in made
subsequent threats to use military force less credible, not more so.
(And thus, more than a decade after that war ended, an overnight victory in
Perhaps credibility would be worth dying for if it actually
deterred war. That is the argument: If the enemy believes that you're not only
willing but also certain to use enough force to defeat them, you won't
no one on the block to speak for the values and security that we hold
of credibility since World War II. There have, of course, been occasions when
the United States let its credibility founder. In the '60s, there was the Bay
case, the United States committed force and then withdrew after the situation
Did these defeats irreparably harm our credibility and
credibility. If credibility were such a fragile commodity, we wouldn't have
concessions to terrorists is widely acknowledged to have stymied the once
consistency and credibility is that consistency implies a reason. You will use
force to defend some policy or principle. This is inherently more credible than
a commitment to use force for no good reason except that you said you would.
It's more credible because it is more limited and because it's more plausible
that you'll do something if it's something you have a good reason to do,
ethnic cleansing to take place anywhere they are in a position to stop it
be credibility worth fighting for. Unfortunately, most of today's credibility
mongers invoke credibility precisely to avoid such a moral commitment.
working in theater or film is hanging out with actors and sundry showbiz
but they're less of a labor to "read" than ordinary mortals: It's their
them to skewer the vanity of models and actors and directors. What I don't
trust is their ability to convey what it's like simply to have a meal with a
loved one or to walk across a street or to wake up from a sound sleep without
increasingly less outlandish idea that a cable network might, in the face of
declining ratings, decide to have its cameras traipse around after an
suggests that the United States has no shortage of exhibitionists who'd love to
unformed. ("I have a dream, I just don't know what it is yet.")
deformed by television before he's ever on television? I don't think so.) Ed's
the illusion of watching real people than a hack actor feigning naturalness via
Before the movie even gets going (it doesn't seem to
all of which exploit in hilarious fashion the tension between just being and
performing for a camera. Where the filmmakers are most comfortable is back in
into a melodramatic revolt against a repressive corporate patriarch, here an
while holding the same attitude toward human beings that he has. As Ed's
with whom Ed has found love, you have to ask: Are The People supposed to be
he has received a sum of money from a private investor (heard cursing the
absolutely no insight into dating, love, or human chemistry. The audience,
meanwhile, ends up cringing and squirming on behalf of his dates, some of whom
are appalled to the point of violence and litigation by the revelation of a
entertainment; I found myself wanting to apologize on behalf of obnoxious
women, some of them pretty, bright, and articulate, who admirably recoiled from
logo behind him, did they think, "Wow, I really missed the boat on this one. I
Nature --a sporadically funny but uneasily revisionist screwball comedy in
Look At Me Now)" into her ear in the middle of a party. The gesture is as
floats out of the movie like a weird but beautiful balloon. I was going to
mention this scene anyway, as the picture's highlight; I dwell on it because
It's no consolation, but he has left behind an exquisite moment in film.
wary world that it will not make a habit of waging war on sovereign nations.
cigarette and black socks. The campaign is demonstrably successful, but the
need to push them into violence. The piece is full of chilling anecdotes about
sound bites, attack ads, and wedge issues to the campaign. Sadly, this has
at military food, which now includes a barbecue chicken sandwich that lasts
three years without spoiling and airdrop rations that "flutter, rather than
plummet, down to earth, lest they take anyone out in the process." Next step:
gushes over the "fresh, handsome, grand" new movie and
leaders for overestimating the effectiveness of bombing.
shoreline to the East Coast. An expert predicts that the research could
entwining, and kissing. Dissenting researchers question whether close genital
contact is really sex. The piece does not include reaction from the White House
The cover story frets about widespread hearing loss. Noisy
appliances will soon sport warning labels, and earplugs and earmuffs will
fueled an enrollment boom with deep tuition discounts and open enrollment
policies. ("It's against our Christian perspective to be elitist or
them. Conditions aren't as bad as union protests indicate, and immigrant
An author gripes about how tough it was to grow up rich. She doesn't even know
"cradle to grave" series of education businesses, from preschools to vocational
vital to social cohesion and proposes an ideological truce on the issue: If the
left will acknowledge that its efforts to reform public schools have failed,
the right will stop pushing "to turn our public schools over to ideological
used the word "chaos" to describe the situation, the paper said. Die
decision "overdue"; the liberal Guardian said the government's response to the refugee crisis
front page. "The instruments of death have been replaced by ones of survival."
terrifying aspect of the problem is that so many of us who believe this don't
domestic political crisis resulting from the jailing for the first time in
is alleged to have ordered his police force to burn down a beach restaurant as
restrictions on freedom of expression and political opposition. According to a
approved a number of "specific political and security" measures to tackle the
sanctions. These included a new law on "political pluralism," passed recently
by the National Assembly, which would allow certain "active political groups"
to hold meetings and form new political parties. Another was the decision to
apparently fearing retribution by the secret police.
the French extreme right. An opinion poll conducted for the newspaper showed
battle between the two men has "totally destabilized" their followers who have
been raised in "the cult of the leader." It has also opened the public's eyes
to "the true nature of these leaders and their methods." Other factors in their
and class in every little gesture, his nobility of spirit, and, above all, his
ability to be moved." She said in an interview with the paper that during the
wine "cellar" that is "actually more of a cupboard." But it is very close to
States as pets have become an ecological and agricultural "nightmare" in Japan.
years and have damaged corn crops, watermelon and melon farms, and rainbow
and gray herons from their natural habitats. Raccoons, particularly baby ones,
became fashionable as pets in the late 1970s because of a popular cartoon
whites and one black rejected the defense's argument that poor conditions in
good because the death penalty has been applied in a racially discriminatory
station fired him, saying it "cannot be associated with the trivialization of
offered to teach male students separately, but having them in a class with
a conservative who was just trying to score a political point. The college
pressure and depriving me of my right to teach freely and depriving [female
conspiring with the three judges and the conservative legal group to hide their
counsel law so we don't have to listen to any more of this garbage.
principle but asked for two weeks to convince its armed allies to abandon their
announced that he would publicly castigate any Republican presidential
candidate who "sowed division" in the party by attacking other candidates
spin: It's amazing how early Republicans are uniting behind tomorrow's leader.
their own. The Democratic spin: Republicans are in deep trouble and are
neglected poor people. The rosy spin: It's a victory for racial unity. The
team of lawyers to hold the New York police "accountable" for the death of
New York. The officers have been placed on administrative duty while a grand
They pledged to alert each other to nuclear weapons tests or accidents. They
nine months after both countries showed off their nuclear arsenals by
relaxed their enmity precisely because they've shown each other their nuclear
loggerheads" on the issue and insist that they can absorb no more than a
countries are heading for a showdown over which of them will accept refugees,
how many, at what cost, and on what terms, the paper said.
was condemned for its initial refusal, subsequently reversed, to accept any
subject to the suspicion that he was only worried about reopening the country's
immigration debate, if he carried his argument to its logical conclusion. This
home is a slogan empty of meaning if one continues to exclude categorically the
committal of ground troops," the editorial concluded.
of sending in ground troops seems to be gathering ever stronger support. But
can't do miracles with countries with pilots who belong to countries that have
and to guarantee that there is no collateral damage. So this is not a war in
the classic sense but a military campaign." The conservative Daily Telegraph of
alliance should keep in mind the "infamy of what is happening and hold true to
the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law which its
mean we must be indifferent today? On the contrary. What the world did not do
other disasters to the Holocaust has led to the diminution of its significance.
provoke it by its air strikes. The West's civilizing role seems to involve the
limits of law, too. There is only one step from this to the apocalypse," it
"get control" of people spreading the impression that the two of them are not
week about supposed differences between them, especially over the issue of
air war might actually be working. Preparing to eat humble pie, military
over his people may be loosening." He said the "strategic community" on both
is especially vulnerable. "Yet those who direct the war, if it comes right,
will still not have a proper reason to congratulate themselves," he wrote. "If
they have paid insufficient attention to supporting the morale of their own
electorates and have been insufficiently calculating in attacking that of their
denim jackets. A document purporting to come from the Red Brigades, a guerrilla
group thought to have been eliminated, later claimed responsibility for the
ruling class and a new president, "the country has leadership," it said.
accepted premise in the party was that they must lose elections. They lost for
lost, and in this way arrived at a victorious campaign."
apartment because they have hung a lewd picture of themselves, er, copulating
in the living room. They call it art, I am sure, but it is almost medical in
their values, but I just cannot stand to see that picture. They must know how
it can bother a father to see such a graphic representation; even if the
And if they don't know it, they should. I thought I was avoiding a
it may be, but in such poor taste that one wonders what this young couple is
thinking and where is their judgment. Since you like your children but do not
wish to see the image you describe, by all means articulate your discomfort and
suggest they throw a blanket over the "art" when you come to call, or
would not step foot in his home: "There is some little missing piece here." The
children outgrow their need to shock and that you can enjoy visits in each
dating. I am an attractive single woman, and he has spent a fair amount of time
getting to know me and taking me to nice dinners, dancing, etc. We laugh and
have great fun together and share many of the same interests. He has kissed me
and I feel that he is physically attracted to me. My concern is that he seems
to have nearly all the characteristics of most gay men that I know.
First of all, he has more clothes than any woman I know and loves to shop. He
doesn't like to watch sports. He doesn't like violent movies, just the sweet
drops names of clubs and restaurants that he likes, and a lot of them are
frequented by the gay community. (I know this because my late brother was gay.)
bisexual, why would he hide it? I don't want to come right out and ask him
about his sexuality because if he hasn't "come out," then my asking him will
not be answered honestly by him anyway. I really like this man, but my inner
Your gentleman friend could be straight or gay, but
he is definitely effeminate. He could be highly repressed, he could want to use
you as cover, he could be in denial about being one of nature's bachelors, he
could see you as a soul mate, or he could genuinely want to build a
ask him outright (which you may want to reconsider) there is a piece of
furniture that could go a long way toward answering your question. It is called
a bed. If he shows no interest in going there with you, that's a pretty strong
indicator of where things are. That you felt he was physically attracted to you
from his kiss is something to consider. Your task now is to decide if you wish
to have him in your life as any of the following: a bisexual partner, a
platonic friend, or a straight though swishy companion.
how are you?" when I meet my patients in a crowded psychotherapy office waiting
room used by many of us. I learned quickly not to reply with: "Fine, how are
you?" Some people would launch into their troubled lives no sooner than the
attractive, in good physical condition, well educated, and employed in a
challenging position that pays well. I regularly attend cultural events,
contribute to my community (both monetarily and through volunteering), and read
with similar characteristics. When I actually do meet such a person, I am not
afraid to express my interest. Unfortunately, I find my interest is almost
interest in me do not possess the qualities I seek in a partner.
comfortable as a single person, but I would prefer to develop a personal
relationship with someone who can share my interests and characteristics. My
question to you is, at what point (if ever) does it make sense for someone to
abandon, wholly or partially, his or her search for an ideal partner and settle
for someone with a less than complete set of assets?
sound extremely desirable, if not perfect, but obviously something is wrong. It
might be useful to ask a good friend, of either gender, from whence your
difficulty springs. Explain that it would be an act of helpful friendship to be
that you are comfortable as a single person. Until someone wonderful comes
alone in my complaint: weeknights and weekends, if there is any kind of game on
television, my husband is watching it. We have no children, so I can't stick it
might better spend his time reading or socializing or going to different
interested in doing other things, so your best bet is to suggest something
you'd like to go do and ask if he's inclined to go with. If not, make your own
the darling jock continues to park himself in front of the tube, get into the
spirit of things. Don't cook. Order out. In fact, you could lay this blessing
I went to high school in the late '80s we used to have this program called
together. The program thought it could do this by a) making us watch
placement; b) reinforcing the most obnoxious cliques on campus by choosing all
the "All Star" officers from a popular group of athletes and cheerleaders (on
average, B and C students who drank, smoked, and skipped class); c) doing
everything possible to conceal the fact that high school's purpose is
education; and d) giving us the opportunity to buy as much "All Star"
merchandise as our parents could afford. It was insulting and embarrassing and
emphasize exactly what they attempt to eliminate. I hope people who have kids
in high school will realize this and will not think that is enough to end
community, he was not talking about the need for more school spirit or
recognized the social divisions within the school as well (an athlete who
pep rallies or car washes, but rather from a value system and a curriculum that
people's lives. That is the "we" he is talking about, of belonging to something
and having that foundation laid prior to going to school and reaching
adolescence. Not living an anonymous life in your room or on the Internet. The
lack of these positive networks, he argues, as do others, is why many inner
city kids look for "family" in gangs. The lack of strong families in too many
young lives makes the public school's job (poorly conceived and performed as
problem, and he knows it. He is certainly not calling for more cries of "Go
bonds of history to teens while the school and the community stress athletics
as the most honored achievement. In fact, you can't teach them at all; as an
education will continue to be a miserable failure so long as the values of the
institution are so at odds with its ostensible mission. (Only the better
as good as they are because of the competition and diversity among them.)
Monkeying with a curriculum to give it the correct ideological spin is fine for
the careers of school administrators and educational consultants, but it won't
fool students. They may not know much of the world, but they certainly
high school is to get you as far away as possible from it, to the Ivy League
some of the acceptance they craved on their own merits, and secondly because
they would not have despised the school so for favoring the intellectual
achievers. Among the most fierce hatreds of teens (probably right after public
of what you say about families is true, yet irrelevant. It's a given that
strong familial relationships help keep kids on the straight path. (Note that
of forging these relationships, never easy, is made all the harder by the
usually devoutly Christian parents who increasingly pull their children out of
the system in favor of home or religious schooling are correct to fear the
moral. The religious schools, shifting their emphasis from athletics to
learning (even if a large part of it is of the Biblical variety), have
consistently delivered better results both in terms of educational and, I would
guess, communal development, than the public schools. This is true most
noticeably among minority scholarship students from weak familial backgrounds
the most famous examples of these). I am not advocating religious schooling as
a solution, but rather pointing out that educational institutions which have
their community values focused on learning rather than spectator sports will be
much more successful in education, and will be substantially happier places for
all students except, of course, the athletes, and even they will benefit from a
correct. When it comes to suburban high schools, though, I can say, as a
survivor of the experience, that it's a community almost perfectly designed to
crush, twist, and kill the spirits of those who are different, thoughtful, or
So, when I come across intellectuals peddling more community as a solution, it
has given much thought to his proposal to treat guns like we treat automobiles.
would use them." But he should put a little more thought into how we treat
automobiles. There is no license requirement to own an automobile. To
drive on a public street, one must have a tag on the car indicating that the
license to drive a car. Ostensibly, this is a safety measure to ensure that
only competent drivers are on the road. In reality, any idiot can get one, and
with minimal luck, avoid taking a driving test ever again. I ran a stop sign on
test administered by a surly, bored, bureaucrat; and carry a concealed weapon
anywhere in the country. I think most gun nuts could go along with that.
interesting and to a degree valid. However, it would be very enlightening if he
productivity is the same or higher than men's in a given industry or
in this area, many women could have told him how this is evaded. All the
employer needs to do is give male and female employees a different job
variation on the above is at a church of my acquaintance, where in the school
the pay for women teachers is lower because only the male teachers are allowed
to replace the minister in some unforeseen situation.
This requires little analysis: It plays like a slapstick fever dream. It
attacks. The introspection that this process entails flies in the face of
everything we know and cherish about gangster movies. Hotheaded crime bosses
because they don't think through the moral consequences of what they do. They
want, they take. They get mad, they get even. Most of us enjoy seeing their
however, we're shameless hypocrites: We love the gangster's vitality, his
charismatic demonstration that, with big guns and even bigger balls, everything
is permissible. So what's the point of psychoanalyzing the id?
tried to have him whacked and communicate his feelings ("I feel anger") for the
This is funny enough to be forgiven its muddling of therapeutic modes. The
a joyous blast of comic energy. The gangster's hooligans continually disrupt
Beach, where he's plucked from his suite in the middle of the night to treat
his patient's sudden impotence. They kidnap him from his wedding ceremony on
pain of death. Each impromptu session ends with the patient's exclamations of
anxiety and another forced appointment: "You did nothing for me!"
For all its comic exaggeration (almost no gangster or
efficacy of psychoanalysis more than any picture since Spellbound
of powerful fathers, giants in their fields of psychoanalysis and racketeering,
seem too sweatily transparent. Playing the straight man becomes him, and when
laughing so hard that I almost needed supplemental oxygen.
monster, his sour expression was so ingrained that you had to conclude that the
mad doctor had misaligned his intestines, resulting in a steady stream of acid
reflux. His grimacing convict in Great Expectations seemed less in need
has the dodgiest gastrointestinal tract of all. At the best of times he winces,
in repose appearing ulcerous; in the throes of a panic attack, he might be
struggling with an Alien -like parasite about to burst through his chest.
psychiatrist clumsy enough to use the words "Oedipal conflict" with a patient,
that it's going to survive comparisons to The Sopranos, the rich and
Soprano is part muscle and part flab, with no connecting sinews. He carries his
tension in his shoulders, so that even when he's sweet he suggests a man on the
traces of childlike befuddlement in his doughy face; he can't begin to figure
out why the foundations of his world have become so illusory. Analyze
the laborious title of an even more laborious Cockney action movie that some
people think is the cat's pajamas crossbred with the bee's knees. It combines
the music video syntax of Trainspotting with the jokey nihilist
amateur crooks over the platoons of murderous professional ones, and to watch
as, with farcical precision, the bad guys end up accidentally blowing one
that it's no easy feat. But the real trick isn't bringing disparate groups of
people into slapstick alignment, it's figuring out what to do with them once
with sorting them out at the end, because there's nothing left but piles of
corpses. Now, why didn't I think of such an easy way out?
for still more restrictions on the constitutional right to bear arms. Any day
foolishness that has turned our schools into killing grounds. National Rifle
presence of an armed guard might have saved the lives of Columbine High School
were on target, but they didn't go far enough. As it turns out, there was a
security guard at Columbine, but a single, lightly armed person is not
guards or even armed teachers. They need armed students. Immediately, before
another student fires another shot, Congress should pass the Right To Carry
When guns in the classroom are outlawed, only outlaws in the classroom have
juvenile delinquents, armed to the teeth, are free to roam. Why do you think
knew their victims would be unarmed! But they would not have dared to invade
Not every student has to carry a concealed weapon. It is,
special effects but are divided on the merits of the ambitious plot and the
Others criticize the convoluted story line and call it strictly genre and
strictly for "guys in their teens and 20s, for whom the script's pretentious
encompassing dialogue both inspired and juvenile." (Visit the
warm 'n' fuzzy Southern Gothic tale covers the spectrum. Most are tickled pink:
positive side, most say the acting is great, and though the film "doesn't take
balanced portrait that she provides of a man whose biographies have to date
been colored by vindictive accounts from contemporaries with axes to grind. The
which warns that "readers without an interest in business and financial history
House). Decent reviews for former New York Times executive editor Max
his days as a young correspondent. Perhaps the best backhanded compliment is
provided by another New York Times review, this one from the daily
immodesty that almost by definition infects all who venture into
aerials coming out of their spacesuit hoods, which receive programming that's
and around the strange, apocalyptic landscape where they live, periscope
speakers pop out of the ground and feed them orders. It's both cute and
reactionary hick obsessed with the sexuality of puppets. Seems like a bit of a
to be outed. More often than not it is homosexuals who claim a character as one
orientation. The program tries to recreate the world of toddlers, which does
received without being consciously sent. The first cartoon characters to be
attacked the sadistic violence and sexual deviance portrayed in comic books.
Batman and Robin, he noted, were two men living together who liked to wear
by the comic book industry, which included, among other things, an admonition
that "sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden." After
aware of the gay take on Batman and Robin. Rather than resist it, they gave a
camp tenor to the whole series. In the 1960s, even most adult viewers
interpreted the program as broad parody. But once the idea of a gay subtext has
their friends, and their enemies have all collaborated in destroying the sexual
innocence of cartoon characters by making an issue out of it. When trying to
likes other boy bunnies? Many of these antics were borrowed from vaudeville
comedy, where a man dressing up as a woman didn't necessarily imply
Bros. studio, where these cartoons were created in the 1940s and '50s, was an
mocking stereotyped homosexual behavior, not winking at homosexuals in a
friendly way. But while a man dressing up as a woman may not have "meant"
anything in the 1940s, it does mean something in the late 1990s. What has
last few decades has become not just aware of homosexuality but increasingly
When Sesame Street was created in the early 1970s, no one meant for them
to be taken as lovers. But consider two men living together, sleeping in the
goes for the Peanuts characters Peppermint Patty and her tomboy friend
intentional or even obviously intentional gay references. In The Lion
male meerkat and a male warthog who live together as a couple in the jungle. In
minces about and becomes obviously infatuated with other male characters who
conform to gay archetypes. While parents may pick up this gay semaphore, kids
sycophant in love with the boss. But lately he has taken to cruising college
magazines to sailors. The sea captain calls out to thank him: "Thank you for
the Jugs magazines. They'll keep my men from resorting to homosexuality
these hints, inferences, and references. But it is ridiculous to object to
them. There's no scientific or psychological basis for believing that children
are affected in their sexual development or eventual sexual orientation by
cartoons are intentionally or unintentionally giving children the idea that gay
people are part of the big, happy human family, that's a good thing, not a bad
one. (If it weren't for gay people, there would be no Lion King --or much
recruiting, which leads them to think that gay school teachers and Boy Scout
leaders present a hazard to the young is pure prejudice.
pointless because the war is already lost. Gay themes are everywhere.
regime's aggression and insist that it can be trusted to negotiate and honor a
administration's ability to wage the war, they argue that the war can never be
won, that the administration's claims to the contrary are lies, and that the
United States should trim its absurd demands and bug out with whatever
and then that's when the slaughtering and the massive ethnic cleansing really
started," Nickles said at a news conference after appearing on Meet the
escalated a guerrilla warfare into a real war, and the real losers are the
all of these problems to explode," DeLay charged in a House floor speech
fault. "I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning,"
very arrogant agreement" that "really caused this thing to escalate."
DeLay, meanwhile, voted not only against last week's House resolution
Forces from their positions in connection with the present operations against
colleagues to defeat the resolution authorizing the air war, as had been
reported, DeLay conceded that he had "talked to a couple of members during the
vote" but claimed not to have swayed anyone since it was "a vote of
to show some leadership and admit it, and come to some sort of negotiated
dismissed both arguments. "This war is not going well," he declared. "I heard
helpful for the president's spin machine to be out there right now saying that
DeLay called this refusal "really disappointing" and a failure of "leadership.
of diplomatic end, diplomatic agreement in order to end this failed
requirements "be met" as a condition of negotiation, DeLay twice ducked the
Democrats call Republicans who make these arguments unpatriotic. Republicans
reply that they're serving their country by debunking and thwarting a bad
policy administered by a bad president. You can be sure of only two things:
Each party is arguing exactly the opposite of what it argued the last time a
Republican president led the nation into war, and exactly the opposite of what
invited to a humble dinner party, that you ask if you can bring a date, and
pathetic reverie: having one's worth enhanced by a gorgeous celebrity. And how
actress, magazine cover girl, object of worldwide idolatry and scrutiny. The
made a specialty of teasing ordinary modesty into extraordinary adorableness.
would take a neurosurgeon to unwind its trenchant observations of our
fantasy of a commoner winning a princess, however; it's also a fantasy of a
Grant doesn't fall below too many stations, this goes down more smoothly than
downwardly mobile lifestyle; as a consequence of his integrity, he must share a
a stream of dim customers who refuse to accept that his bookshop carries
what saves him from seeming like an utter snob is his habit of drawing
amid his shelves to ask about a particular guide to Turkey, his recitation
dribbles off hopelessly: "There's also a very amusing incident with a
translated as: "Oh, God, don't I sound like a prat. Kiss me." How can she
spins such comic awkwardness into scenes of amazing charm. Summoned to the
press junket for her latest film and ends up posing as a journalist from
Horse and Hound --a bit that at once lampoons the idiocy of celebrity
interviews and forces the pair into a witty (and sexy) collusion. You also get
never funnier) shows up as her equally famous boyfriend, radiating narcissistic
unhappy, as well as happy, accidents. But the movie recovers its high spirits
blurts out when she meets Anna that the two could be best friends.
badinage was interrupted for easy pathos involving a fatal heart attack and
suppose he's nice," said my friend. "He's nice for a star. But when you're a
star and you go to restaurants, for instance, the waiters and owners fall all
over you and send you drinks and food, and eventually you take that kind of
"sometimes bestow their favors graciously, but they're never 'nice.' Being a
video: She argued that Anna would have learned not to let tabloid scandals get
attempt to communicate something about her own celebrity: to say that it has
with a supernatural amount of charisma and sometimes wobbly technique: She was
wasn't afraid to embrace the more heartlessly grasping side of her character in
her in last year's Stepmom --my raccoon had hepatitis.) She doesn't need
her Pretty Woman laughing shtick to hold your attention: She trusts her
shielded, she has never looked so exposed. Her Anna is such a cauldron of
that sets the scene and makes certain that the audience is oriented. In
intent is to keep the audience disoriented. It works, maybe to a fault. The
by soldiers for insolence toward the country's authoritarian ruler. When we
Then he sends a ring down the dumbwaiter to her basement room by way of
protagonists through "pure cinema," and has won admiration for being allusive,
elusive, elliptical, and other words that begin with "a" and "e" (enigmatic,
really mean to suggest a higher communion? (I fear the latter.) And are
or empty pretentiousness? (I fear the former.) The movie has virtuoso passages:
he means by what he shows is anybody's guess. It's possible that
said the officers had fired their weapons in the "reasonable belief" that they
were in danger. The case has triggered protests in New York, passionate
between public safety and civil liberties. The cynical spin: It's a conflict
causing significant problems throughout the Internet. Federal agents have now
author, and they have secured a court order to obtain apparently confidential
the Internet investment mania will burst any day now; and the Dow will
collapse. The optimistic spin: That's what pessimists have been saying for a
beat the consensus favorite, Duke, with outstanding defense and hot shooting.
victory to its refusal to be intimidated by Duke's reputation. The New York
Times spin: Duke's defeat demonstrates the price of arrogance. The
woman didn't get pregnant, but the white woman gave birth to two children, one
white and one black, who are now three months old. Once the black child's
parentage was ascertained, the black couple sued the clinic. This week, the
media be making such a fuss over this story if all the kids and parents were
life in prison. The shallow analysis: The case was open and shut, since
political debate over assisted suicide, but the judge and jury refused to go
conservative spin: His conviction proves that assisted suicide is murder. The
dull liberal spin: He's an embarrassment to the assisted suicide movement and
good riddance to him. The clever liberal spin: His conviction shows that if
people can't get assisted suicide legally, they'll turn to murderers such as
that recorded the accident. The interesting question now is whether the plea
deal means that the navigator will testify against the pilot (who was acquitted
of manslaughter in the incident by a military court several weeks ago) on
exceptions if the car is in "park" or if the driver keeps both hands on the
a cell phone user who wasn't paying attention to the road. This is believed to
be the first such ordinance in the nation. Similar legislation has reportedly
and also writes publicly about stocks. As we reported last week in
building a case against him for "pump and dump." That means hyping a stock he
owns so the price goes up, and then dumping his shares on the public.
move. Yet not a single newspaper, magazine, or broadcast entity picked up
judging from press accounts, is much bigger than mine. And my record of giving
good financial guidance, publicly and privately, is better than his. So why the
fuss over me while other portfolio managers write every day about their stock
Let's establish some things up front. First, there is no
difference between a portfolio manager who recommends stocks in an interview to
managers with real money on the line than it would from journalists who are
trying to talk about a market that they are actually forbidden to invest in.
take an oath never to invest can't possibly be as good about the inner workings
of the market as those who do invest. I am in the trenches every day.
Journalists aren't allowed in the trenches. If you think the trenches matter
and, believe me, they matter as much in business as they do in war and in the
On the Net there are hundreds of money managers writing
is searing. One look at the horrible press I get from other business writers
who are not portfolio managers would scare off almost anybody.
sincerely want to see me fail. They want to drive a wedge between my partners
averages and I blow it one year. But I can tell you this: They don't take your
previous years' gains away, and that is where my credibility comes from. I
wasn't the only hedge fund manager who did poorly last year, I was just the
only one who was out front about it, constantly writing about how I blew the
market as I am now? No way. I would just be another journalist scrounging info.
To these folks, the fact that I was editor in chief of my college paper more
than two decades ago might be considered a plus, but the fact that I am
actually doing this stuff is a big minus. Especially because in the third
stop writing? My wife and kids would like it. My legions of enemies would love
it because it would leave them the playing field to themselves. Ah, but there
is a problem. I don't write for the money, and I don't write for the notoriety,
Because I believe that the public needs to know more about
its own money. Because, until recently with online trading, the whole industry
I work in was predicated on the ignorance of the client. The industry wants
people to be kept in the dark so it can charge more for its services. The
journalists who would stop me are complicit with that ignorance and are willing
tools of those that would like the reader to have to rely on those who charge
high commissions or high fees to unknowing, worried consumers of finance. I
want to use my successful background as an insider to change that. In other
community wants to repeal my First Amendment rights, they are stuck with me. I
am not going away on my own accord. Ultimately, what I say in my defense is
completely meaningless. If my comments or reports from the trenches are
worthless, nobody will read them and I will disappear from the writing
it is because of their popularity that I draw such heat and it is the fear of
the marketplace that drives my journalist opponents to such distorted attacks
revelations are (surprisingly) rare, pols sometimes must settle for the next
best thing: pretending that their opponent coddles child molesters.
molestation controversies during the past few weeks. These tempests do not
arise from any actual disagreement over pedophilia. Rather, they are perfect
case studies in how politicians fabricate, then profit from, an inflammatory
issue. (See also: Democrats and Social Security, Democrats and Medicare,
surveyed as college students. They concluded that victims, especially boys,
typically do not suffer "intense psychological harm" from childhood sexual
abuse. The researchers also recommended changing the terminology of sexual
abuse: An encounter between a "willing" child and an adult should be called
revolting linguistic suggestion moldered away in the great bibliographic
legions of the Christian right: the Family Research Council, the Christian
long record of fighting pedophilia and insisting that the article does not
mitigate the illegality and immorality of pedophilia.
introduced a resolution to condemn the article and to demand that President
Supporters of the resolution say congressional condemnation will discourage
The Republican National Committee saw its opportunity on
for the permissibility of child molestation" to the Family Research Council's
activists. "There is an eerie silence from the White House. I think they are
afraid of offending their allies in the homosexual ranks, since there is a
strong element of support among homosexual activists for lowering the age of
The mainstream press has ignored the pedophilia flap, but
managed to cast themselves as the scourge of pedophiles, insinuate that the
until the Christian right uncovered it, that no one in the White House seems to
have read, and that no one remotely linked to the Democratic Party or the White
The second pedophilia scare has served a more pragmatic
purpose: legislative blackmail. During the past few weeks, the Ways and Means
Service. Federal employee unions, Democratic members, and the White House
strongly opposed a provision that would limit certain kinds of overtime pay for
customs officers. In the face of this opposition, Republicans played the
investigate Internet kiddie porn traffickers. They also added money for drug
in subcommittee because of the overtime provision. Trade Subcommittee Chairman
comfort to molesters. "This bill protects our children from drug dealers and
pedophiles, and it's unfortunate that the Democrats have put special interest
Democrats, unwilling to take another beating, folded,
A Democratic staffer gripes, "There is not a single
member of the House who objects to the funding to fight child porn, but
Republicans constructed the vote in such a way that a vote against the bill can
be framed as a vote to say Democrats favor pornography. They added on the
intriguing notion: Why aren't Republican members of Congress attaching
Now that they have conquered the House Democrats with bogus
pedophile charges, House Republicans are siccing the tactic against the White
House, which still objects to the overtime provision. "Our children are under
attack by child pornographers who prey on them over the Internet. Couple that
with the constant peddling of narcotics to our children and you have a deadly
combination that we must do everything we can to stop. This is not a time for
partisanship or special interest influence," Committee Chairman Bill Archer,
squishy on molesters, will probably cave. Once he does, perhaps the two parties
can abandon this imaginary controversy and tackle the scourge that actually
disease. "If people make decisions to do these kinds of things, other people
can make decisions to stop them," he asserted. "If the resources are properly
arrayed, it can be done." But five days later, when asked why the United States
"The military leaders will make their decisions about when and under what
is trying to have it both ways. Each school has its values, virtues, and spins.
Idealists emphasize free will; realists emphasize determinism. Idealists
believe in subjective resolve; realists believe in objective constraints.
Idealists preach responsibility and courage, which realists dismiss as hubris
and folly. Realists preach humility and prudence, which idealists dismiss as
complacency and selfishness. Idealists tell us what we can do; realists tell us
what we can't do. Idealists tend to be liberal; realists tend to be
simply incapable of civilized behavior." The president asked, "Do you think the
there something in the history of the German race that made them do this? No.
free themselves of the notion that their neighbors must be their enemies."
willing to withstand airstrikes, "there is no real end in sight," former
decide when he has had enough. And that makes it difficult for us." Sen.
to win" is something to be mustered, not dispassionately assessed. While it may
"It's because he's determined that we have to be determined as
cannot fundamentally alter human nature, but we can alter the rules by which
all of us let our nature play out, and we can call forth our better
back down. Here idealists divide into two camps. Moderate idealists claim
conflict they do not want and know they cannot win."
the war's shortcomings. When asked this weekend why the United States was
matters," "procedural matters," and the "moving parts" of a "complex
depicting this as a military "judgment" rather than a "political decision." But
to "judgment," "strategy," and "circumstances" is, as with all such realist
language, to obscure our indifference and cowardice.
atrocities? "You cannot, through air power, stop individual soldiers
sent in ground troops? "When you start with a coalition, you have to hold that
a ground force." A true idealist would lobby the coalition hard for ground
accepts the coalition's reluctance and tells us this is just the way things
not possible to avoid casualties of noncombatants in this sort of encounter,"
coercion,' in which no mistakes are made and no innocent casualties occur. But
every realist buzzword in the book. "Perfection is unattainable," they
counseled, and "it is impossible to eliminate such casualties."
it is "getting money and support and some arms from other countries, no doubt."
If our soldiers are killed, the public will turn against the war; and if the
assessment rules out idealistic scenarios: that the public might accept the
try to win back public confidence rather than bail out. Based on this
of this proves that realism is corrupt. Realism tempers the romanticism of
idealists with a sense of tragedy. It's not our job to police the whole
we could afford it, we don't have the will to do it. Even if we had the will to
do it, we couldn't stop killings everywhere. Even if we stopped killings
everywhere, we couldn't do so without killing people ourselves. Even if we
should be idealistic about intervention in general but realistic in how
why almost nobody wholly supports it. Idealists don't like the way it's being
fought; realists think we shouldn't have started it in the first place. The
force" in a conflict involving "no strategic interest of the United States."
can fault his cowardice and cynicism from an idealistic standpoint. But the
only way to combine piety, cowardice, cynicism, and recklessness is to hit him
century English history who devours mystery novels by the shopping bag load, a
this context, I am prepared to admit an entertainment vice of my own: the teen
abeyance for a number of years, and is now, I am happy to report, experiencing
But it would be wrong to think of these films as classic
plots as new ways to frame their exploration into what it's like to be an
the joys and anxieties of adolescence. To me, they are the quintessential good
bad movies, because while seldom subtle or artful, they are capable of
recreating a familiar and utterly compelling world.
were made in the 1950s, but the genre was largely codified by screenwriter,
wakes up to discover that everyone in her family has forgotten her birthday.
available at right, she faces the daily indignity of the school bus. The plot
winds and unwinds a mismatch of affections. The freshman geek with braces,
senior who is dating the feathered blond prom queen. The film has all the
house, the voyeuristic visit to the girl's locker room, the guys betting about
getting laid, and the happy comic resolution: The geek beds the prom queen,
basically vicious and unfair. Like his subsequent movies, Sixteen
Candles is essentially a fantasy about throwing out this system: The
excluded are included and the exclusionary are either enlightened or humbled.
The geeks get to be cool, the cool kids get humbled, the druggies get smart,
best films are romantic comedies informed by good values.
a sweet girl from the wrong side of the tracks who has to choose between the
his mistake, because the next year he essentially rewrote it as Some Kind of
been secretly infatuated with him for years. Check out the clip available at
what he plans to do with his life after high school.
At the end of the 1980s, teen films took a darker turn with
inclusion but detests their values (they make her ignore her old friends and
play cruel practical jokes on losers). Only this time, instead of humiliating
Slater, kill them. View the clip available at left to see them off the first
Heather. As black as it is, Heathers has the same theme as the
to spend prom night with the fat girl everyone abuses.
flicks the ideal good bad movies? The first is the familiarity of the world
everyone goes to a high school governed by a hierarchy of popularity and
cliques. Films set at college are never as universally recognizable, because
people's experiences after high school are too different to generalize about.
Universities, unlike high schools, are not unitary social structures. The
second essential quality of these films is that they are all, basically, the
same. The formula allows one to savor minor differences and adaptations.
For some reason, teen flicks died out for a while after
Heathers --perhaps because it took the conventions of the form as far as
started to trickle back. The trickle has suddenly become a torrent. The
economics are easy enough to understand, lacking major stars, these movies are
inexpensive to make and draw the ideal audiences: teens who are capable of
the late 1990s' version? Teen films no longer glorify drug use, but other than
category as manifest in the Scream movies. There's a Masterpiece
artist from a broken home whose father cleans swimming pools. The most perfect
boy in her school, who dates the most popular bitch, makes a bet with his best
friend that he can transform the ugly duckling into the prom queen. Of course,
the perfect boy ends up ditching his snobby clique and falling in love with
diabolical bet with her stepbrother that he can't corrupt the new girl at
school. The stepbrother falls for the good girl and the wicked stepsister is
but I don't think the description is fair. Instead of pandering to the
prejudices of teens, they offer a fantasy about a freer and happier
adolescence. Their message is that there's life beyond high school, kids aren't
bound by what adults want from them, how their peers think of them, or the ways
lot less insulting to teen intelligence, and to the average adult one, than
Internet access and a free maintenance contract. In return, all he wants is two
little things. Your soul and a pound of flesh? No, just your eyeballs and a bit
place ads on a small portion of the screen as you use your free computer. And
with the information you give him about your income, tastes, and so on, he will
be able to sell you to advertisers whose products and pitches are aimed at your
sort of person. The more an advertiser knows about you, the more it is willing
to pay to reach you. On the Internet, such information is even more useful
this page may be different from the one your neighbor sees when she visits this
same article. Bill Gross can send each of his free computer owners ads for
precisely what he or she is most likely to buy. In this way Gross hopes to make
Of course, Gross is not the only one with this idea. The
Web is full of sites that give away valuable stuff free in the hope of making
this practice is not unknown in other media, either. Television programming is
still mostly free to the user. And even newspapers and traditional magazines
don't begin to cover their costs from what readers pay. Those readers are
heavily subsidized by advertisers hoping to sell them stuff. What's notable
about the Web is the profusion of free offerings that go way beyond mere
editorial content filling in the space between ads. There's an online store
actually pays you to get sports scores from their site. The site counts the
downloading an application that displays ads in the corner of your screen.
It'll pay you even more if you can convince your friends to sign up as
exchange for your eyeballs and a bit of information about yourself, either
asked for explicitly or gleaned from what you reveal in using the free
Which raises the question: How much can your eyeballs
possibly be worth? Suppose I could insidiously find out enough about you to
influence every purchasing decision you make. Suppose I could promise that
every ad I sold you would go straight to your spending reflex. What could I
Internet connection and the service contract and assume the computer has a
create a series of banner ads, which, by blinking in the corner of your screen,
other words, advertisers, as a group, think that affecting the purchasing
That's for all the ads you see in every medium, from television to billboards,
in the course of a year. Bill Gross is betting that his ads alone, aimed at
just one person, will be worth almost half that amount. Maybe he will manage to
find bigger spenders. Or maybe he'll be wildly more successful in affecting
but by convincing them that it's worth spending more. That's where the
demographic information comes in. This is not a new concept, of course. John
sense of how valuable targeting is to advertisers, the New York
Times-- which makes you give demographic information in order to register
percent more. Yahoo! can tell what your interests are by the search you're
Car and Driver or Fortune is pretty well targeted at affluent
people who like fancy cars. And ads on the Internet, at least so far, lack
mph. A banner at the top of a Web page just isn't the same as a luxurious
Targeting may increase what advertisers will spend per
eyeball, but it also reduces the number of eyeballs they have to pay for.
people, his total ad spending would go down and not up. The apparent going
advertising may be as likely to reduce total ad spending as to increase it.
The Internet ad market is growing at two or three times the rate of any other
attached to wallets. And the size of the wallets is a strict limit on the value
of the eyeballs. So have I just argued myself out of a job by mathematically
don't think so. Free magazine articles are one thing, free computers are
another. Exchanging stuff for eyeballs makes sense as long as the cost of
providing the stuff is less than the value of the eyeballs to advertisers. What
propose is something clean, useful and solid." What is the subject of Dirk and
sorry. (No, wait, that's how you get out of accidentally bombing somebody's
merely to raise revenue but to encourage social policy, as in the deduction for
system should go much, much farther down this road, particularly the sales tax.
Under my plan, sales taxes would only be not eliminated on certain socially
and you get the bonus. Rent Three Ninjas and you pay a tax, but you can
check a box that allocates your money to hire a guy to beat the hell out of
is who decides which items are taxed and which earn the buyer a bonus. I do. By
within the historical context of the present system, where tax rates are set to
benefit the rich and powerful. My system would differ only in benefiting a
different self. And what's good for me would no doubt be good for the
drop stems from their fear of running afoul of the new niceness laws and
are still encouraged to attempt this far more demanding verse form:
Four lines, each with the same number of words; two, three, or four
The words in each line must originally appear adjacent to each other in a
of servicemen and their civilian counterparts. Ignoring for a moment whether a
Even though the Congressional Budget Office debunked the statistic in March,
several military representatives continue to cite it in congressional
in the growth of military versus civilian wages since 1982--that is,
soldiers earn less than civilians, because it does not take into account the
the comparison does not account for the fact that most members of the armed
forces are younger and less educated than civilian workers. This is important
would be between the wage growth of soldiers and civilians of comparable age
college graduates of the same age. By that measure, soldiers earn more than
their civilian counterparts. A RAND study has found essentially similar
as long hours, harsh discipline, isolation from loved ones, and the risk of
injury or death. It may be a good idea to attract better soldiers, sailors, and
airmen with huge salary increases, but military service is so different from
civilian work that most wage comparisons are extremely suspect.
Snobs that we are, we like to pretend that we don't
But the truth is that it does cross our radar screens from time to time. Do we
regard Salon as our competition? Yes and no. We are somewhat direct
competitors for advertising dollars, but for readership the question is more
complicated. The real competition for any publication in any medium is the
claimant for those hours is likely to be a similar publication. Print
magazines, which depend on direct mail for generating subscriptions, usually
find that their best prospects are subscribers to magazines they most closely
because someone who has already eaten a blueberry bagel is more likely to eat a
strawberry bagel than the average person is to eat a fruit bagel of any
similar publications are even more interdependent since the viability of this
sort of enterprise is unproved. The cold, hard fact is that we need
Salon to prosper and vice versa. The warm, throbbing fact, however, is
that we are only human. And rumor has it that they are as well. Human emotions
like Schadenfreude --and there must be a German word for reverse
Despite our best efforts, we couldn't help noticing lately
they pull it off (minus a few million for the midwives). And this is for less
losses." The owners of Salon are asking even more, and it's no joke. Or
less, but same ballpark. As a division of a big company, we can't go public
to ask Dad for our allowance. Also, our goal is to become profitable. If the
has been ridiculing the Internet bubble all along. (See
rational reflection of actual economic potential if all the rest are a
reflection of something closer to clinical insanity? The truth is that we
can't. The deeper human truth is that we don't especially want to. The good
fortune of other people is annoying enough (however good your own fortune may
be). At least let us cling to the belief that it is unjustified.
prospectus. We were alarmed to discover that it is riddled with typographical
inform our readers about these troublesome lapses. They are especially shocking
in a formal government filing, vetted by lawyers, in which inaccuracy can
increase for at least the foreseeable future." Of course, "profits won't come
on what you mean by "until." But Salon told a trade publication called
disgrace. How could Salon be so sloppy as to report large and growing
losses in its prospectus when it actually is already profitable?
to significantly depend on revenues from a small number" of advertisers. The
problem here is probably the classic misplaced "not." They mean to say: Our
enrolled in the Salon Members program." One or two zeros probably were dropped
were "above what our projections were." Were they projecting fewer than a
Let us, though, just for the heck of it, consider the
possibility that perhaps the prospectus is accurate and all these quotations
thing possible? Although highly unlikely, it's possible, we suppose, that all
these distinguished publications repeatedly misheard the same individual in the
same way, although he has no speech impediment that we know of. Surely, though,
it is impossible to imagine that the Salon folks themselves have been
lying, spinning, and covering up. Journalists, after all, expose these
inspiring things to say about journalists and the truth. In particular, he has
spoken of Salon 's dedication to a mission of exposing important facts.
content to sit on their fannies and analyze or summarize. Last fall
as a hypocrite. Those who go around exposing unpleasant facts about other
about perception or spin. They should be worried about the truth and concerned
about the truth, and that was Salon 's guiding principle here."
Let's not be sentimental. Let's consider this as a pure
business matter. Here is a chairman of the board, editor in chief, and director
who is marketing his company as what might be called a "truth play." Truth is
his company's Unique Selling Proposition, its market niche, its core
competency, its brand value. It would be sheer folly for such a company to
invent preposterous lies and spins and feed them to the nation's most prominent
publications. That's why the only logical explanation is typographical errors
for you. I am a transsexual woman (postoperative, many facial surgeries, voice
surgery). I am a manager and programmer. Most of the time people have no idea,
but in the work environment, everyone eventually knows. Most people are fine
with it, but a few (always men) choose to act out in spectacularly
inappropriate ways. The worst is in meetings with clients where a male manager
will refer to me repeatedly as "he." This, of course, makes no sense to the
client, who has no idea why the professional woman across the table is being
referred to as a man. Things I have tried include taking the offender aside to
pronouns. If we're not in a client meeting and I have the clout, I sometimes
with your skills, to another firm. If it is a practical impossibility to leave,
you might consider going to the person's superior and registering a formal
complaint. If you have the figurative stones for it, you might respond to the
digs made in front of clients with a remark such as, "You have to make
In other words, throw the discomfort on the other guy. The "outsiders" will not
defense is: He is my BF and stays in my room. How do you collect rent due? And
how many people may occupy the flat. Her only hope, if she is unhappy with the
psychologist who does consulting at a local psychiatric hospital. While most of
I wouldn't mind this so much in private, but it's not good in front of the
patients. Much of my work is with severely disturbed people and requires that I
testify in court to request civil commitment. For reasons of both ego and
personal safety, I would prefer to be called by my title, particularly in front
of my patients. I can't think of a way to request this without seeming overly
impressed with myself and my degrees. Keep in mind that none of them would ever
call the psychiatrists by their first names. How do I request this politely and
however, how use of your last name provides greater safety than your first. It
is the last name, after all, that is listed in a phone book. Perhaps your
concern is that some patients are hearing both names used?) In any case,
good luck. It should not be too difficult to get things your way.
friend, not my son's. I did not feel it was appropriate to invite her, due to
the limitations placed on my son and his fiancee with respect to the number of
guests invited. Two other friends who have been very much a part of my son's
life are livid that I did not insist on this woman being invited. I feel any
pressure I can take off these two kids is in their best interest. What do you
think? Also, I wondered, when having a wedding shower, if it's appropriate to
invite people who are out of state and obviously aren't going to come to a
constraints when putting on a wedding. But she also thinks there's got
to be a way to squeeze in just one more. Bear in mind that all those invited
surely will not come. And of course both the bride's and groom's side can keep
expanding the "just one more" ploy, but if it's really just one more,
with you that such invitations are really invoices.
couple and tranquil thoughts to both sets of parents.
me-- you can do better! What would happen to our sex life then, if Deb
(who participated in this story because she loves me and because she has
tenure) and I tried for the first time to make something happen to it?
behind shops like these is to make obtaining the materials of sexual
experimentation as ordinary as purchasing plumbing supplies or housewares.
for an adjustable circumference version, a little strip of vinyl with snaps for
It doesn't. Back home, I derived a certain depraved
buzz in cinching the device on, but that was soon eclipsed. The thing works on
got to thinking: Under battlefield conditions it doesn't get out anyway. And
while I should have been paying more attention to other things, this led to
A woman I know says women's magazines are the best places
or articles such as "Eight New Games for the Foreplay Challenged."
had to read three times to comprehend. The man stands, the woman remains supine
produce a pelvic tilt for better access to the G spot. Instead, we experienced
an uncomfortable pretzel feeling that stick figures must be immune to. And in
general, Cosmopolitan 's exotic sex positions require the sort of body
placement you can't remember in the moment of passion and even if you could,
Next we tried those "Better Sex" instructional videos
including shipping and handling). My wife couldn't bear to watch them; I
blue power suit, looking like she was about to explain how the sales force
euphemisms for oral sex and then the video cuts to XXX action with gratuitous
do to each other with their mouths raises this question: Do you really need a
of hotel and travel ads, the guys tend to be markedly less attractive than the
women. No way he'd be with her if this wasn't an instructional sex video! The
inanity of the experts and the dubious casting make these films about as erotic
Another approach is food. The notion that certain foods,
such as oysters or rhino horn, are aphrodisiacs has been pretty much
discounted. But it's plausible to think that cooking a meal together and then
dining on it, just the two of you, could be erotic. Especially if (like me)
your schedule frequently forces you to eat alone and you often find yourself
standing in front of the microwave, screaming, "Come on, goddammit!"
relationship there is a type of eating experience that will heighten sexual
response. (There's also a chart showing which foods are good for eating off
to the book, rosemary is sexy because of its fragrance (used in many perfumes)
and because of its texture, which, so the text assured, tickles nerve endings.
together, drinking wine and beer along the way. At one point while I was
working on the dessert, I asked my wife how long to beat the heavy cream
less than an hour, and everything came out perfectly. Eating at our dining room
table for the first time ever without guests, we were having fun by
candlelight. But the mood was romantic, not erotic.
which includes a "consultation" fee). The drug was prescribed by a doctor, whom
never been. I completed the transaction via the Internet after filling out a
glasses, and gulped. And then what? It felt awkward sitting in our bedroom,
so I had to explain the rules. I won in about six hands, auspiciously I
thought, with three aces. But we still weren't really in the mood yet.
with these words instead of dots: "lips," "above waist," "ear," "breast,"
"blow," "suck," and "eat." We took turns throwing the dice, but the activities
word from the pad that the launch sequence was initiating. It was pretty much
like all other sex, except for a slight lightheadedness. Deb said she noticed a
remote tingling sensation. On the plus side, there was no priapism and neither
of us experienced disruption of our color vision nor a fatal heart attack,
man's disobedience to God: the body's disobeying of the mind, the will, the
spirit, and even of itself. (The paradigm of this for him is the unbidden
it rather than deploring it: Essential to the erotic is the body's defiance
of design and control. (The paradigm of this for him is the jiggle.)
inherent tension between physically abandoning yourself to another on the one
hand and sexual planning on the other. The more of the one, the less of the
"You start to have a new feeling and then you realize where it came from and
If the intrusion of consciousness is the problem, then maybe the answer is to
drugs. But then you have all the traditional drawbacks, including diminished
physical attractiveness and degraded sexual performance.
saying nothing. (Of course, when you do it you'll still know, but having an
time, your partner can surprise you. And yes, this requires trust. But why
would you be having sex with someone you don't trust?) My main conclusion is
must have called the newspaper, because it pulled the ad after three days,
Institute posted an article on its Web site backing organ markets, and former
Analysis, has endorsed the idea. Its most sophisticated defense, however, comes
pursuing an honorable but difficult mission. He wants to alleviate the enormous
shortage of organs for transplantation. He also wants to bring libertarianism
into medicine, an arena in which few ideologues survive. In his book Mortal
claim: Even in health care, people should be allowed to do what they wish with
their own bodies (as long as they don't hurt anyone else). And that includes
selling their body parts. It's not just because he believes people have the
right. It's because he thinks giving people that freedom will save lives.
think. He is probably right about saving lives. The transplant waiting list
waiting. Healthy people could conceivably sell their eyes, some skin, a few
bones, a kidney, a portion of their liver, and even a lung and still survive.
would certainly bid up prices enough to attract sellers. Perhaps, as he says,
charity will even raise money for patients who can't pay the going rate. ("If
you could spare just a couple of dollars, ma'am, we'll have enough to buy
with lower quality organs? So what, he says. The market will reduce the price
for their organs, testing will weed out unacceptable risks, and the risks will
outweigh the lives saved anyway. What about the risk that some people will be
coerced or will act impulsively? He says that we can do careful screening and
require waiting periods. Aren't people who sell their organs out of desperate
financial need acting involuntarily? No more so than when they stoop to
cleaning bathrooms for minimum wage, he says. You might reply that this isn't
just cleaning out toilet bowls. But, he says, if you're really worried about
exploiting the poor then we can require a minimum income for anyone who sells
Well, I am no philosopher, and I remain unencumbered by
legal training, but I still believe the whole idea is warped. My opposition
stems from exposure to ordinary people as they make decisions about whether to
undergo surgery, to take their medicines, and so on. Libertarians have great
faith that people nearly always make rational choices and that having more
choices can't be bad. But any doctor can tell you that's not true. In medicine,
you come to recognize how unreliable the faculty of reasoning is and how
common decision faced by patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis, a
worth cutting their overall risk of having a stroke in half. It's not an easy
task. Each individual must define what's most important in his or her life,
then calculate the best course to meet these goals. I can tell you that a lot
of people fail to reason through the options very well. Even when they
understand their goals clearly, they often pick a choice that runs against
their aims. In academician's terms, they fail to maximize their
systematic faults in reasoning, especially when processing risk information
like this. For example, the order in which a doctor presents options can easily
the time can lead them in the other direction. Yet there is no right way to
frame the options. Another quirk, as gamblers and con artists know all too
well, is that the brain is not good at weighing small chances of big gains (or
losses) against large chances of small losses (or gains).
organ seller is trying to decide whether the terrible dangers from kidney
removal or the certain loss of sight from surrendering an eye is worth a sudden
cash infusion, his effort to identify his best interest will be confused by how
the question is framed, by difficulties sorting out the statistical risks, by
the vision of all that money, and many other factors. These vulnerabilities are
easily exploited. But even when not taken advantage of, plenty of people get
that people should do what they want and live with the consequences.
Some options are so terrible and irrevocable, so unlikely
example, researchers cannot pay volunteers so much that the poor could be
exploited. Rules limit how much blood you can donate or sell at one sitting.
And while we allow people to give a kidney to their child, we do not allow them
to donate their heart. Likewise, hawking an organ would be right for so few, if
any, that permitting the option makes no sense at all.
laws stopping people from selling themselves into slavery or selling a vital
organ such as their heart. People will argue about where to draw the line. Some
think seat belt laws, for example, go too far. But few would discard laws
better than living in a society that allows money to entice people to convert
their own health into a commodity. People can be weak, and money is all too
he must have been one tired chief executive. In the previous seven days he had
own Bill Gates, who was $3.8-billion richer when he fell asleep on the
Of course, neither Dell nor Gates actually saw any of these
hundreds of millions of dollars, since their gains were reaped entirely on
paper in the form of sharp increases in the stock prices of both Dell and
billions of dollars. But actually this is a relatively recent development in
people who run corporations are also the people who own them. The traditional
story of industrial capitalism's development in the United States is that it
system where the people who owned companies delegated the responsibility for
always exceptions to this reign of the managers, to be sure, including Ford,
where the Ford family kept tight control at least through the end of World War
founders dissipate as the enterprises grew larger and more ambitious in their
appetite for capital. The more money you borrow, and the more shares of stock
you issue, the more people you give a share in your business. As a result,
except for the media business, where many large companies are still owned by
model. The ownership of stock has been diffuse, and the management of the
company has been professional, in the sense that it has had no substantial
Bill Gates is that they, and their enormous personal fortunes, hearken back to
an older model, where a personal stake in a company was a guarantee of one's
managerial model is certainly still alive and well, as proved by the
part, this is a function of the enormous entrepreneurial boom in the computer
industry over the last two and a half decades. The key word in Silicon Valley
has always been "equity," and the best company leaders have clung to as much of
have been those in which the people who started the company have continued to
run it and to own much of it. Not coincidentally, these are the companies that
that a high salary and meaningful responsibility were enough to motivate
problem was that managers needed to be more like owners. That helps explain the
explosion in the use of stock options since the 1980s. Give managers a stake in
their companies, the thinking went, and they'll perform better. After all, look
it assumed that people already being paid millions of dollars will work
performance is, on its own terms, obviously a good one. But too often stock
options are just gravy, tossed in on top of a huge base salary to satisfy the
huge chunks of options that he immediately exercises so he can pocket the cash,
not so he can invest in the future of the company. More than that, the lesson
manager and has made billions of dollars, corporations have imagined that he's
been a great manager because he's made billions of dollars. But it's
more likely that Dell has been a great manager because he's been running a
company that is, in some important sense, his. Not that he's walking away from
model, successful as it has been, is not the only possible model for success.
But in Dell's case, it's clearly the ownership, not the accompanying financial
reward, that has really mattered. Most corporations, with their skyrocketing
can compete successfully only by duplicating the enormous financial gains
someone like Dell has reaped. In confusing stock options with ownership,
corporations confuse trappings with substance. Unfortunately, these are
going to start appearing in its ads again, though thankfully, the lizards and
words, it's been a typical couple of weeks in the advertising industry of the
Actually, it's tempting to say that the state of perpetual
turmoil that characterizes advertising today has characterized the industry
since the modern era of advertising began sometime in the early 1920s. After
all, the underlying theme of just about everything honest written about the ad
realizes that he's genuinely afraid of losing the big soap account. And in the
live with fear in their hearts." So it may be a mistake to think that
advertising in the 1990s is more chaotic and stressful than it's ever been.
other hand, it may not be a mistake. For while the peculiar way advertising
to take their business elsewhere has. Even in the late 1960s, the average
business stuck with its ad agency for nine years. Today, the length of tenure
accounts into review, which essentially requires their current ad agency to
compete against a host of newcomers. It's like an actor being forced to
audition over and over again in order to keep a part.
Toys "R" Us (as well as a host of others) have switched agencies. At the same
time, companies have started dividing up their advertising budgets. Instead of
and another will do the creative. The creative budget is often parceled out as
clients, in other words, are not necessarily as big as they once were.
isn't a bad thing, though you'd have a hard time convincing most ad execs of
that. The reason advertising is governed by fear, after all, is that most
agencies rely on just a few clients to bring in the lion's share of their
its profits came from two companies, you can bet GM would be constantly worried
about keeping those two companies happy. Insofar as fragmented budgets make
each individual client less important to an agency's overall financial health,
then, it's better for the agency, though it does mean that more energy has to
search is, needless to say, a difficult one at a time when there are literally
thousands of ad agencies in the United States alone and, more importantly, when
the creative differences between agencies have narrowed considerably. Perhaps
the most curious thing about advertising today, in fact, is that agencies that
spend all their time helping companies build strong brand names and distinct
corporate identities have a very difficult time building brand names for
This wasn't always the case. To take only the most famous
made them. More troubling, from the perspective of the advertisers themselves:
Watch a sneaker ad with the sound off. It will be next to impossible to discern
which company's shoes are being pushed. Advertising, in that sense, is feeling
its main asset is the imagination of its staff, something that cannot be
duplicated. As one hopeful exec told Advertising Age recently,
necessarily exist over and over again. And at a time when ad people all seem to
be drawing from the same palette of colors and styles, creativity and
industry is reluctantly moving toward a business model much closer to the
advertising budgets become more fragmented, it's easy to imagine a situation in
which ad agencies serve primarily to orchestrate production teams, bringing in
art directors and copywriters for specific ad campaigns rather than keeping a
whole staff on hand. When agencies lose major accounts, they often fire nearly
everyone involved with the account. How much longer can it be before agencies
intact, in part, is the importance of relationships to the business.
disappeared while studio execs remained important as deal makers, and the same
could happen in advertising. As clients grow increasingly less committed to
their ad agencies, the economics of the business will have to change. In his
never be fired." No doubt. But for the ad agencies, indispensability turned out
letting judges offer castration as an option for perpetrators of sex crimes.
involuntary chemical or surgical castration of these criminals.
technology for castration has evolved considerably, and there is evidence that,
in some circumstances, it can dramatically reduce the likelihood a sex offender
justice system to control rape and child molestation. Dozens of states have
released sex offenders move in nearby, but people complain that it doesn't help
much to know that your neighbor is a pedophile if you can't do anything about
it. More states are turning to doctors to solve the problem for them.
castration has been used as a punishment for crimes in all cultures dating back
dramatically scaled back, probably because of the increased awareness of
testosterone production. The drugs' primary use in men is to control prostate
cancer, but when injected daily or weekly they reduce testosterone to
castration levels. Side effects include serious allergic reactions and the
formation of blood clots that can kill patients. The drugs also appear to alter
reintroduced castration in this modern, seemingly humane form, although only
procedure done under local anesthesia. Each testicle is removed through a small
scrotal incision similar to the kind made during a vasectomy.
the four new state laws call for sentencing rapists to be castrated, but with
chemical castration on offenders who commit rape or incest after even one
appropriate, and that by controlling sex offenders' irresistible urges to rape
or molest again, the operation allows them to be released without endangering
of volunteer prisoners, with the most dramatic reductions among pedophiles.
half of the castrated men still could have erections and sex, but their desire
and expert on treating sex offenders, points out, castration works "mainly in
Castration takes the impulse away from those with an aberrant sexual
be to castration of sex offenders? Well, none, if it is carefully applied to
indiscriminately. The studies show that castration is effective in
criminals with multiple offenses, especially if they are motivated by sex. But
proponents are wrongly using the data to justify mandatory application across
sadists and pedophiles are only a small percentage of the total. Most rapists
castration after just one offense. Dr. Berlin argues that the laws impose "a
medical intervention in the absence of evidence that forced treatment is likely
the state must find doctors willing to do the job. (Heaven's Gate members had
without medical supervision, but the serious side effects, and the need to
ensure that appropriate doses are given, make this approach foolhardy. It also
raises the question of what to do with people who can't take the drug because
of the side effects. Would they have to go back to jail? Bringing in released
pedophiles turn up week after week for an unwanted, potentially lifelong
Court recognized this when it ruled that involuntary surgical castration
constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The court may be persuaded to let
chemical castration stand because it is theoretically reversible. If this line
is crossed, politicians would have little to stop them from seeking forced
treatments to control other behaviors, such as adultery (for which castration
has historically been a punishment), prostitution, or the consumption of
pornography. As medicine's arsenal expands (we already have drugs to limit
libido, hunger, and depression), it is conceivable that laws could mandate even
Many people see rapists as a special case, though, having
no objections to extreme measures to stop them from raping again. The crime is
so repugnant, they say, that it is hard to treat rapists as people deserving of
any concern. Prisoners, after all, give up their rights for having committed
United States accepts prisoners' rights to free speech, legal representation,
and health care. We still reject using prisoners for organ transplants or slave
labor. Requiring castration for rape means we have decided it is acceptable to
seems more appropriate. It does not mandate castration, instead reserving it
times. Having completed his sentence for his one conviction, he is set for
occasional Slate department based on the premise that who wins in
endorses nor condemns any of the views expressed, however laudatory or
anniversary of Roe vs. Wade has arrived, and activists on both sides are
the debate has been about persuading you what it's about. Most of us are
viewpoint we share with them. This debate revolves around three fundamental
dominated the debate in the 1970s. Several lines of argument hinge on it.
Conversely, they think that an abortion ban, even if it can't be enforced, will
have destroyed the public's faith that government can do much of anything, let
that the government always screws things up. Now we're more susceptible to the
attention on the gore and repugnance of coat hangers and back alleys. After
legal abortions. The longer abortion remains legal, the more people read about
casual abortions, the more they forget how gory and repugnant abortion was when
jeopardy and that abortion will soon be banned again. To gain the upper hand,
each side needs to convince you that the other side has the upper hand.
the party of "acid, amnesty, and abortion." As Roe took root, however,
and national stability helped persuade the Supreme Court to reaffirm Roe
woman's inability to spare the time or the money to raise a child properly is
an acceptable reason for aborting her pregnancy. Such practical logic helped
sustain life at any cost. They apply this argument to neonatal hospital care,
lifelong disabilities, and assisted suicide, as well as to abortion. Absorbing
the only effective solution. This debate began with birth control in the late
legislation) and continued through abortion in the 1970s to AIDS in the 1980s.
culture of callousness that drugs can only obscure.
focus of the abortion controversy shifted to the relative rights of the
used a photo of a woman who had gone through the procedure, surrounded by her
emerging feminist movement. In the 1980s, this combination proved doubly
vulnerable to the New Right's critique: Women's careers bore the bloodstains of
abortions. Today, feminism remains a bad word, but Republicans have adjusted
their philosophy of motherhood to accommodate women's political power (hence
measures that would make clinics give women information designed to dissuade
them from having an abortion, they call these measures "women's right to know"
right to abortion as an extension of the "civil rights" granted to blacks and
seeking abortions but to their fetuses, "the most defenseless members of the
of the debate turns on which issues are associated with abortion. Roe
decision that upheld the right to use contraceptives. By arguing for abortion
blur the distinction between birth control and abortion. This raises the
specter of a slippery slope toward regulating sex. Recognizing this trap, the
National Right to Life Committee refuses to talk about birth control.
in the context of "life" issues such as assisted suicide. This raises the
specter of a slippery slope toward decriminalizing murder.
murder, but few regard the woman who participates in the killing as a murderer.
contradiction in law. Nevertheless, each camp continues to exploit one end of
Bush portrayed the fetus as a human life but said he hadn't "sorted out the
question of the fetus's humanity and instead accused Bush of threatening to
other lines of argument continue, in recent years the question of whose
judgment should count in the abortion decision has come to the fore.
Roe struck down abortion laws in part on the grounds that they
interfered with doctors' professional judgment. This scientific veneer neatly
obscured the ethical dimension of abortion decisions. Over the years,
rigging polls to ask whether "a woman and her doctor" (as opposed to a woman
reassert the priority of morality over medicine, always describe physicians who
terminate pregnancies as "abortionists," not "doctors." They also dismiss
a federal law protecting clinics from obstruction, on the reasoning that
Families vs. government: Beginning in the late 1980s, the National
Abortion Rights Action League executed the most important framing maneuver of
candidate manuals, and other media to disseminate a new message: "Who decides?"
This message changed the focus of the abortion debate from the morality of the
argument is defensively neutral, the "who decides" question is aggressively
political. By rhetorically stacking their side of the question (to include
husbands, doctors, and clergymen, along with women) and defining the other side
big government more than they dislike abortion. Throughout the 1990s, this
ban, on which Congress will soon vote again, represents a shrewd
decides" and back toward "what's done," toward the humanity of the fetus and
designed to regain political advantage, not to prevent abortions. But is it any
that's supposed to be all about principle has become all about positioning.
of a cliff, looking down, saying to yourself: "Boy, that's a steep drop. It'll
sure hurt if I jump," and then jumping anyway. Such seems to be the curious
strategy of the world auto industry in the late 1990s, as it grapples with
prices that are actually declining, demand that's stagnant, and production
capacity that, against all good sense, just keeps getting bigger.
one respect, this anxiety about the auto industry simply reflects the fact that
it has become the poster child for a global economy in which deflation is
suddenly everyone's favorite thing to worry about. Even in today's supposedly
were taken as emblems of the United States' inability to adjust to the end of
the postwar boom. At the end of that decade, nothing made inflation more real
than the phrase "sticker shock." So today the image of assembly lines churning
out hundreds of thousands of unneeded and unwanted vehicles is an excellent
representation of the specter of global recession. This is a specter that seems
to loom larger, of course, after the series of currency crises that have beset
in the near future, there are going to be too many cars and not enough drivers.
Instead, just about everyone thinks this. What's curious is that no one is
that overcapacity concerns are at least a decade old (click for a quick review)
and that the predicted crisis of demand has not yet materialized, though
continued to expand so briskly and because the Big Three automakers have
restructured their operations to do a better job of matching supply with
demand. (In other words, they downsized.) Overcapacity is, in any case,
difficult to measure, since it's more important for car companies to be able to
meet increases in demand than it is for them to make only as many cars as
customers want. You can shut down a line for a couple of weeks without any
problems if demand falls short. You can't build that line from scratch if
demand rises unexpectedly. By some estimates, in fact, overcapacity of a
proffered by the very people building the cars for which there is supposedly no
car companies, which are anxious about the continued impact on their earnings
overexpansion thus becomes a way for the Big Three to serve their own interests
restructuring precisely around the issue of excessively free credit for capital
which needed a government bailout to save it from its creditors, will be
as they worry about their inability to raise prices, are breaking ground on new
plants and pushing their workers to take more and more overtime.
about falling prices, not to want to shake him vigorously and say, "Just say
no, damn it!" If there are going to be too many cars, then it seems sensible to
stop making cars. Except, of course, that if you do you lose all hope of
capturing what market does exist, and except, of course, that when you stop
making cars, you have to close factories and throw people out of work.
it really that individual factories are overstaffed. After all, the Big Three
than it ever was, and significantly more efficient than most people thought
automakers face now is of a macroeconomic, not microeconomic, nature, which is
what must make it so difficult for them to accept. It's about the fact that
within a given industry, supply does not ensure demand, and that what is
raised by all this is whether cars are commodities. In other words, does the
all about differentiating one product from another. But all this talk about
global overcapacity suggests that automakers see themselves as all making the
film that then becomes the No. 1-selling videotape at Blockbuster, and you get
from Paramount Studios to Blockbuster, and burdened it with a debt load worthy
casting doubt on the conglomerate model and stressing the virtues of playing to
money to cut its debt in half, the words "fiscal responsibility" suddenly
sounded less improbable than they once had. There remains a great deal of
educational and professional divisions are the largest in the world, and the
divisions have done adequately under a company for which they were but an
afterthought. In the hands of a company with a real investment in publishing,
went public with its plans before lining up a prospective buyer. As one company
hardly the best strategy if you're looking to drive a hard bargain. It's also a
advantage of the big tax savings that the law provides had the company waited a
year and then spun off the publishing assets into a separate company. But
Nickelodeon book imprints and of books tied to Paramount film releases as
evidence that the company's parts add up to a stronger whole.
what happens when that next Road Rules book tanks. Similarly, publishing
books based on your own movies is a great idea when the movies are doing well.
Real synergy, in other words, only happens when you are
sense. Now, it's possible that this is, in fact, happening behind the scenes.
in terms of profits. Many people there imagine that the trade division will be
assumes that the book industry is somehow in worse shape than the rest of the
that complex needs to take some quick lessons in management and profit growth
foreshadow the world in which we're all either symbolic analysts or hamburger
flippers. But look at the numbers. Last year, the music industry saw sales
fewer books than they did the year before. And the audience for cable
while viewership of the major networks has, of course, continued to drop. Is
None of this is to say that there aren't successful
entertainment companies, although the short list would probably include only
radio business). But these individual successes can't disguise the very curious
reality that we're living in a world that is somehow saturated by the media
companies today, success depends on selling more of your product next year than
their product next year as they did this year, they should count themselves
lucky. If you want to know what a real myth is, don't bother with synergy. Just
Car will be spun off by its parent company, personal services franchise giant
for the people who "try harder." To let shareholders know what they're in for,
true that, not long ago, this very space was filled with invective against
of a catchy lead). But in this case it's impossible to resist, for in the word
agencies were all in downtown urban areas, making taxis the only way for
business travelers and tourists to get from airports to their destinations.
parked right outside the door, and the rental agent would actually escort you
fear that he couldn't expand the company fast enough to keep up with the
really notable is that it has been shaped, in truly uncanny fashion, by the
company, the kind that could topple a democratically elected government in
assembling in the 1960s a stunning array of companies from seemingly every
the recipe for success, because diversification would allow companies to offset
losses in one sector with gains from others. Investors diversify their
portfolios, the thinking went, so why shouldn't large companies diversify their
One reason they shouldn't, it now seems, is that unless
concentrate on the industries they know something about and neglect those they
don't. Still, conglomeration as a theory lasted well into the early 1980s, and
large levels of its debt. The argument was that debt forced managements to
profit, but rather increasing company cash flow. Large interest payments were
apparently not the problem everyone had thought they were.
"entrepreneurial." And the company was no longer part of a conglomerate, which
was good because everyone was talking those days about focusing on your "core
business." But if the entrepreneurial spirit was willing, the flesh was
employees, who bought the company through what's called an Employee Stock
popular until the 1980s. Traditional thinking on employee ownership held that
ownership. Critics also suggested that, with their salaries and stock wrapped
up in the same company, employees were putting too many eggs in one basket.
one fan, "will be motivated, they will be happy, they will be competitive." I
ownership, and the company remained profitable for the next decade. But more
superiority and inevitability. These claims can't, after all, all be right.
(Though in the 1980s, Congress did jiggle the tax rules in ways that encouraged
But nothing like this ever gets said. The new moves in, with scant reference to
the old. The avatars of the new make huge sums of money, all the while
pontificating about the efficiency and rationality of the market. But the
market can be productive without being rational, and you can have change
savior of Apple Computer, tells us in Time this week. What Jobs left out
of that sentence, though, is a word that has wrecked Apple in the past and
could wreck it in the future. The word is "our" or, to be more accurate, "my,"
as in: "We started out to get my computer in the hands of everyday
never interested in having everyone own personal computers. He was interested
only in having everyone own Apples. And this is, of course, the great irony
behind Apple's apparently imperishable image as the corporation of the
journalism's more preposterous pronouncements. It was all about freedom,
As everyone knows by now, Jobs always portrayed Apple in
general, and the Mac in particular, as avatars of a new populist revolution, as
athletic woman hurling a hammer and destroying Big Brother was not so much some
everything Jobs had been saying since Apple began. What you couldn't tell from
the ad, though, was that in Jobs' imagination, what would replace Big Brother
millions upon millions of Mac users, all imagining they were pursuing "personal
really interesting about Jobs' imperial ambition, though, is that the very
immensity of its scope doomed Apple to marginality. The problem was not that
market. That's what Bill Gates has always wanted, after all, and that desire
problem, rather, was that Jobs wanted Apple to be every corner of the
that, almost from the beginning, Apple was confused about its mission. In the
simplest terms, it was a hardware company that thought it was a software
making software is analogous to the difference between making razors and making
lot higher on the blades, and you will sell a lot more of them. Now, it's
Computer is Wall Street's new darling, and all they make is razors. But it's a
tougher business. Price pressures are constant. It's hard to distinguish
yourself from the crowd, though Apple's name would have helped its case. And
most important of all, there's no romance in it. No one really talks about how
wants them. Gates doesn't care what kind of machine you run his software on. He
This, of course, is the other path Apple could have taken.
software, then, would have capitalized on what people really loved about Apple,
might very well have seen its software become the industry standard.
was an understandable one. The preposterously high margins Apple was able to
for three times cost and earning 72-percent gross profits on Macs, undoubtedly
blinded the company to the fact that consumers would not ignore price forever.
digital revolution. Jobs didn't want to make just blades. Jobs wanted to make
the razor, the blades, and the packaging. And if he'd had his way, Apple would
have forged the stainless steel, too. (According to one account, Jobs once
"fantasized about a factory in which the raw materials that came in would be
that he didn't want his machines to be able to talk to other companies'
machines. In fact, this hostility to compatibility permeated even the company's
attitude toward itself. When the Mac was introduced, hundreds of thousands of
designed at the same time. It's as if, for Jobs, the basic criterion for an
"insanely great" product was its radical difference, which is to say its
though, is that Jobs has never really let this idea go. After he left Apple, he
sell the hardware unit to Canon and the software to, yes, Apple. Upon returning
to finally allow a limited number of companies to manufacture Mac clones,
calling these firms "leeches." Somehow I doubt that Bill Gates thinks of Dell
as parasitic because its computers run only on Windows. In this respect,
Every computer Apple makes costs a lot to make. Every additional copy of
Apple's world, and it isn't because the company imagined it could be all
things. If only Apple had decided to be The Way and let someone else be The
microeconomics has demonstrated, it is that it's hard to keep your profit
wheat, no matter where it grows, and it's pretty easy to grow unless the Dust
Bowl is raging. That means that the supply of wheat rises quickly to meet
demand, which, in turn, keeps a downward pressure on prices. Wheat, in other
would be true, one might think, of salt. If anything, salt is easier to produce
than wheat. And salt is the same all around the world. It should, in theory, be
impossible for a company to charge more for its basic salt than its competitors
most mundane and undifferentiated of products can be made into something unique
with the right marketing strategy. Salt is salt is salt, except when it comes
in a blue canister with a little girl with an umbrella on it and the promise
of as the heart of our economy, namely information technology and financial
that wheat market. Luckily for them, though, we're much further from that world
of perfect competition than much recent hype would suggest.
corporations fear is the phenomenon now known, rather inelegantly, as
for a given product into a commodity market, which is characterized by
declining prices and profit margins, increasing competition, and lowered
"commodification," the word cultural critics use to decry the corruption of
in its heyday. Profits and stock prices are at record highs, and there's no
the clothing industry reveal a permanent anxiety. What companies rely on for
profits today they assume will most likely not be there tomorrow, because
tomorrow someone else will be making the very same thing for less. (Click for
one recent, emblematic account.) In this universe, even the paranoid may not
technological breakthroughs that allow a company to distinguish itself from its
competition and charge a premium for its product are more likely and fruitful
in an economy characterized by price competition than in one dominated by
the democratization of fashion and interior decoration. Whether you deplore or
difficult to square with one fact: A few large corporations dominate many, if
maintain high profit margins and market share in businesses that, in theory at
least, should be eminently susceptible to competition.
fended off by the enormous capital investment required to enter the business.
industry, a curious confluence of taste distinctions and brand identification
makes meaningful challenges difficult to imagine. Coke does taste different
cover the opportunity cost I avoid by not having to comparison shop.
name for a product that observers once believed was the very definition of a
don't even know that chip is in there. They care about the performance of
soup tastes better than its competitors', the quality differences aren't big
enough to account for these companies' ability to combine premium pricing with
their market dominance to advertising. What's going on seems to be something we
might describe as "the narcissism of small differences." In an odd way, the
more similar products become, the more telling the little differences among
them end up being. Branding successfully, in other words, can turn a small
difference between products into a huge difference in market share.
evidence suggests that they are constantly looking for competitive advantages.
stock prices) but by remaining a perpetually present threat. It's the idea that
perfect competition might be just around the corner, not the competition
itself, that keeps the paranoid prosperous. And alive.
in business is that getting outraged about it makes it easy to miss the
systemic problems that venality often disguises. And that's exactly what's
happened in the uproar over the Wall Street practice called "spinning."
"Spinning" has, apparently, been common on the Street for as long as anyone can
article in the Wall Street Journal broke the story. The mechanics of it
are simple: An investment bank that's underwriting an initial public offering
investment bank is either doing business or would like to do business. The
executives can then "spin" the shares, which is to say, sell them for a quick
assumption, of course, is that an executive who receives a gift like this will
be more likely to direct his company's business toward the investment bank that
cases the investment banks don't give the shares to the executives until the
stock has started trading well above the offering price. In other words, if an
before the first trading day ends. The conversation, one imagines, goes a
little bit like this: "Now that the stock's price has risen, I realize I didn't
mean to give them to this person's account. I meant to give them to you! Now,
it's probably not quite that crude, but spinning does seem unquestionably to
violate state laws that prohibit corporate executives from taking personal
advantage of financial opportunities that they get because of their position at
always been that the path to success isn't totally rigged, that it's not simply
about being a member of some inner circle that cuts you in on the action for
life," and that spinning threatens this strength. But though he deserves a nice
fairness doesn't really get us very far. Spinning is unfair, but then so is
life, as our parents told us. To see why spinning really should be eliminated,
bribery? If someone really wants my company's business, why shouldn't he be
Because bribery encourages people to make decisions based on the wrong
criteria, which means in the business world that it distorts the efficient
allocation of resources. Absent the bribe, I would decide to give my company's
business to Investment Bank A. But because Investment Bank B allowed me to spin
rather on what's best for me. Second, investment banks that already do a lot of
shares to spread around. The rich get richer, not because they're more
efficient but because their ability to bribe is greater.
bribes than the revenue that you generate through them. But spinning costs
investment banks nothing at all. Once an investment bank has underwritten an
get bought. Needless to say, people are anxious to buy shares when they know
they can sell them seconds later for an easy profit. So while a company that
bribes customers is typically hurt by the fact that money that could have gone
toward profitable investments instead goes toward bribes, in the case of
that some investment banks are getting more business than they otherwise might
is a good enough reason for regulators to step in. But spinning has still worse
significantly higher on the first day. That gives investment banks an incentive
to set opening prices lower than they should be. Instead of taking a company
and that they really make their best effort to match opening prices with market
demand while giving themselves reasonable insurance against getting stuck with
unsold shares. But somehow it seems unlikely that spinning would have become
such an institutionalized practice if investment banks didn't have a pretty
good sense that a stock's price was going to jump on its opening day. And that
the money raised from that very first sale of its shares was what it used to
lower than the highest price people paid for its shares on the opening day of
trading. And while it would be a mistake to say that the stock could have
done a better job of gauging demand, millions of dollars that went into
all this is that the moment when a company goes public is when the stock market
should function most efficiently. That's the only time when the money you pay
for a stock goes right to the company, rather than to another trader. The price
institutional clients to the fact that some investors are fed information
world that was blown apart by the Great Depression. But spinning is an
excellent reminder of how far toward real transparency the Street still has to
by the mystique of brands, and in a country obsessed by the possibility of
irrational are the hopes and how feeble the performance of corporations that
decide a new name is all that stands between them and fiscal nirvana.
corporate name changes are the result of mergers and acquisitions. But these
well, you get the idea. The result is straightforward, if not always
felicitous, monikers. Or the smaller company simply adopts the bigger company's
much mocked, violating as it did the precept that you don't choose words ending
although the company has gone to the dogs, its name now looks stylish in a
themselves when they seek comfort in the face of the company's falling profit
not forced by a merger or other change of circumstance. They are the corporate
corporations have tried to reinvent themselves as more sophisticated and
complex entities, they have chosen names distinguished only by their
obliqueness and lack of intuitive appeal. The desire for reinvention seems to
arise most often when companies hear the siren call of synergy and start to
expand beyond their core businesses. And they seem to be guided by one
fundamental rule: What you call yourself should have nothing to do with any
The most unforgettable example of this rule was United
stupid name, but the truth is that it seemed like a stupid choice even then.
Tribune reporter randomly surveyed shoppers at a mall soon after the name
"identities" both in terms of name recognition and in terms of the esteem
accorded to the name by people who recognized it. United Airlines, on the other
And he did it with fanfare. What's most amusing about
corporate name changes is the dubious reasoning and overwrought rhetoric that
at the time, "We are a travel company, not just a transportation company. The
name change clearly identifies us as the only corporation that can offer
service. How could we have been so blind? Even better was the explanation
meaning loyal or faithful, and aegis, meaning protection and sponsorship." That
can make it mean whatever your imagination wants it to mean." When Waste
up [and] raising our profile." One can only speculate how executives of a
company called Combined Insurance explained to themselves their decision to
certainly creative, and trashing a valuable label like International Harvester
famous definition of capitalism as a process of "creative destruction." And
seem to hurt companies is, to be sure, evidence of a sort that names matter. A
But it's clear that corporations are as faddish in their choice of names as
to the people and companies covered in previous "Motley Fool" articles in
exquisitely bad timing: Just as stock markets around the world were diving in
gone on sale, lining up before dawn outside bank branches to procure the
was true, to a lesser extent, of investors in the United States, to whom China
expandable market and more like an overvalued investment in a region plagued by
dubious financing practices and even more dubious accounting. The result was
Bowling, of all things, being just the latest company to see its share price
rallied. In fact, from a certain angle, and especially given the turmoil in
fact, that makes you wonder, "What won't investors buy?"
question is especially pertinent here in the United States, because the
combination of a booming stock market at home and the privatization of
bringing cancan girls onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for the
continues to pour into mutual funds has to go somewhere, and the rhetorical
drumbeat of globalization has made investors more comfortable with companies
becomes a lucrative and relatively painless way of raising capital.
especially painless because the vast majority of the shares of foreign
rights. In selling shares in the United States, then, foreign corporations can
raise loads of money without suffering a dilution of the control they exercise
share price is going to double over the next year, why shouldn't you buy
going to double, then you should buy. There, wasn't that easy? The problem,
are pouring billions of dollars into companies whose standards of financial
disclosure and corporate governance are dramatically different from our own and
which are, in some cases, nonexistent. That means, in turn, that it's hard to
figure out whether a company will be profitable next year, let alone whether
its stock price is going to double. And without full voting rights, there's
Needless to say, these plans had not been in the prospectus. Similarly, China
in [China's] telecommunications industry." But it's not clear whether this
really means "strategic investments" or whether it means "investments to prop
up companies run by aging members of the CP." Of course, it's possible that the
competitor, incidentally, is a joint venture run by the People's Liberation
Army, which brings new meaning to the words "price war."
fact, is likely to improve standards of disclosure and accounting in many
foreign corporations. And foreign investment is often crucial to a company's
in the late 1890s. "Even one of our own Directors in New York, when asked to
give us some information as to what had become of the English capital sent
imagine a similar message being sent home by someone investigating what
home: regular reports, corporate accountability, open books, the Securities and
Exchange Commission. After all, transparent and efficient markets are not
decade has hidden is the reality that in most places, those markets have not
the days of stagflation, skyrocketing interest rates, and high
hear much about "late capitalism" these days, except insofar as it has morphed,
start hearing about more and more is our own "late bull market," which seems
somehow simultaneously frothy and exhausted. There's no better sign of this
than the occasional fits of anxiety that have begun to grip investors who for
four years have dismissed talk of overvaluation as irrelevant. As a case in
strongest companies on the planet. It reported earnings about a month ago that
knows he's doing something wrong. And the company has even got credit for an
a few question marks in the company's results in the last quarter, arising
two weeks after the earnings report came out, all the good news drove the
immensely powerful brand, and a genius at outsourcing. What could go wrong?
happened testifies partly to the continued power of analysts on Wall
Street but also to the fact that at these heights, it's very easy to become
able to skate across the air until they look down, at which point the fall is
analogy is inexact, since investors have been more than willing to give many
companies the benefit of the doubt, but those companies tend to be either
In essence, what happened was that a few brokerage houses
immediately." (Actually, there is no "sell immediately" recommendation, though
common wisdom on the Street is that you should do so if bodies begin falling
analysts reduced their earnings estimates while also suggesting that at these
overvalued was enough to send investors streaming to the doors.
concerns the analysts raised were not new, you might see this as evidence that
investors are now in the same fragile frame of mind as little kids who have
pressuring cable systems to increase the fees they pay for the right to carry
momentum." While pandering is bad, I guess, it's hard to resist the thought
being dismantled in the early 1980s. The brand that we now think of as
irresistible seemed tired and used up, and this now seamlessly efficient
recognition that a brand has to be updated and nurtured if it's to flourish
will be much harder to solve, if only because they have much to do with network
future seems about as guaranteed as that of Coke or General Electric.
Investors' recent flight from quality, as you might call it, was not completely
irrational. But it tells us more about this edgy and anxious market than it
sleep. Yet, somehow medicine's premier journal ignored physician training, in
which residents work even longer hours without any sleep at all. If driving a
truck on five hours of sleep is dangerous, surely taking care of deathly ill
was worst during the night and among those with the least amount of sleep. On
harmed performance just as much as alcohol did. Truckers and pilots who work
drowsy, it said, are as dangerous as those who work drunk. And residents?
According to Dement, his original version did include residents, but
he suggested. A more likely explanation is that the journal found it easier to
residency, sleep deprivation, like illness and death, is a fact of life. Fresh
think these estimates understate the case). Residents routinely work 36-hour
when I stayed to take care of patients while my team went home. Pages were
none at all. Regardless, I operated through the next day like any other.
later, no rigorous research like the trucking study has been done. The limited
studies that exist bode poorly for good doctoring. Although tired residents
maintain reaction time and manual dexterity surprisingly well, they exhibit
memory deficits, difficulties thinking clearly, and decreased vigilance. They
also develop alarming levels of hostility toward patients.
at how well I can do on no sleep. When you're faced with a dying patient or a
difficult operation, adrenalin focuses your mind and marshals your energy. I
also sure that routine care suffers. Good care for sick people depends on
problems. No matter how hard I try, I know my memory and vigilance fail when
later couldn't remember giving. Backup systems do catch mistakes. The computer
won't accept my drug orders if I prescribe the wrong dose or ignore an allergy.
right. Nonetheless, many errors are not caught, and I know I have seriously
finally set to sleep or go home, nothing is more frustrating than a patient
having unexpected problems. Rest becomes a matter of personal survival, and
residents can be chillingly brusque with patients who need only time and
anything be done? Hospitals could hire more residents, but that would increase
our physician glut. In fact, Congress banned hospitals from increasing resident
hires this year. Hospitals could hire physician assistants to handle calls that
don't require doctors, but that's expensive. Physician assistants get paid
New York state, guidelines for an 80-hour maximum workweek were estimated to
quickly carved out (for example, surgical residents aren't included), and even
then many hospitals could not afford to stick to the guidelines.
Increasingly, hospitals use "cross coverage," in which a
fresh resident covers patients for several other residents at night. However, a
times more often than even fatigued residents. They had too many patients and,
with every patient new to them, didn't know important details. Tired doctors
may not provide the best care, but neither does a series of faceless doctors
examine resident safety and to test solutions, is needed. In any other
circumstance, doctors would champion thorough, dispassionate investigation and
spare no expense to improve patients' lives. But on this subject, the medical
profession is asleep at the switch. If it doesn't wake up soon, another
scandalous case will inevitably surface, and the government will take matters
lowdown, something that will tell you almost anything you want to know about
people, medical journals are where the action is. One of medicine's hidden
pleasures is that while there is a fantastic amount to learn about human
beings, most of it is already spelled out in some journal.
these journals can survive and multiply should be a clue that there's something
compelling about them. Subscribers are willing to pay dearly to keep their
As a result, while The New Yorker lost millions last year, the
To be sure, for many doctors and scientists, the interest
for a tiny field. Moreover, behind the glossy covers and stilted prose, many of
these little journals function as the gossip rags, the People magazines,
for the science niches. My pet journal is Health Affairs (circulation
It's how we keep tabs on what everyone is up to. An infectious disease
specialist friend of mine reads the Journal of Virology (circulation
away. Poke around in a few medical journals, and you're bound to find material
journals follow the standard "Annals of" or "Archives of" or "Journal of"
what you're getting. What's more, you get the impression that the editors are
proud to give it to you, that they have no second thoughts about the field they
a terrible name. It conveys embarrassment, a sense that the editors thought
"Foot" alone wasn't good enough for them. Even adding "Ankle" was still too
minor league for their ambitions, so they had to tack on that "International."
You want a journal more willing to glory in its small, arcane world.
however, the cool stuff is what's inside, and a few journals always have
the cool stuff. The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy is, not
surprisingly, reliably fascinating no matter what your profession. A recent
issue I browsed through at the library (while hiding it in a copy of
Erections: Shape, Angle, and Length." A quirkier favorite of mine is the
occurring over five weeks in which prisoners reported swallowing razor blades
and other metal objects. (Click for more details.) Not long ago, however, I
article on three suicide victims with multiple gunshot wounds to the head
(complete with photos from the death scenes; one poor guy shot himself five
times before he finally died), another on improved methods to determine the age
of an unidentified victim, and yet a third on the homicide rituals of the
familiar. International medical journals, however, can do the opposite. They
tend to share the common language of doctors everywhere and so can make the
unfamiliar reassuringly accessible, while still conveying a revealing sense of
obsessions of a modernized country: ulcers, a growing epidemic of obesity,
burgeoning middle class, is currently filled with reports on infectious
people appreciate the refined charms of medical journals. Occasionally,
frat boys do. "Have you seen the Journal of Personality and Social
instructed to put on a specific facial expression while looking in the mirror.
What the psychologists found was that participants told to do nothing more than
put on a happy face developed a significantly more positive mood than those
told to adopt a neutral expression. And those made to assume an unhappy
expression had the worst moods of all. The journal was full of strange little
studies like that. I made a mental note to check it out again. And, when I left
the library that evening, you can bet I had a smile on my face.
Unfortunately, they failed to get their message straight. Two different
exciting. And Democrats are exploiting the difference.
proposed that "the model for impeachment" should be "the one that you helped to
process, which were approved and administered by Democrats, he can force
The more zealous Substance Camp, led by House Majority Whip
federal agencies. This matter involves the concealing of a private affair."
would readily and quickly agree to that, which is why I went through a little
reminder about the enormity of the crimes committed during the period of
White House to violate the constitutional rights of citizens.' After pausing
the substance analogy, it loses its force. Yes, substantive analogies can be
sins were more personal than political. And the secret tapes and wires were
arranged not by the president but by his enemies and investigators.
impeachable on their own terms. He has plainly lied under oath, for example. If
Congress determines that this constituted perjury (which is somewhat more
that no felon should be allowed to remain president. Instead, they're holding
as it used to be now that tobacco lobbyists are admitting that nicotine is
Institute are doing their best to take up the slack. They're fighting to stop
federal legislation that would crack down harder on people who drive after
change their definition of who is drunk from a person with a minimum
case against the proposal is surprisingly persuasive. Well, almost.
Currently, everywhere in the country it is illegal to drive with a
for restaurants that serve alcohol, it offers two arguments. First, its
downed a fifth of gin." The lower standard will capture perfectly responsible
social drinkers and dramatically increase the number of drivers who would be
subject to arrest. Second, they say it's the roaring drunks who are out there
serious car crashes that come through. The paramedics wheel them in and start
rattling off information while I check their breathing and injuries: "This is
unresponsive at the scene." You don't even have to wait for the results. You
damnedest thing is, after we save them, they hardly ever get arrested for
driving while intoxicated. An injured drunken driver is far less likely to be
drunken drivers escape prosecution. There are many reasons. Police have to put
the driver's safety first and ship them off to a hospital; following after the
driver is a major hassle, and things happen so fast, the police sometimes don't
from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed otherwise. It found that
than regular beer. Wine has anywhere from two to four times as much alcohol,
single martini would have about twice as much alcohol as that.
own alcohol level apparently are ubiquitous at bars and stadiums. Still, most
people know by now that after a few beers at dinner, they've had too much to
police get even a large fraction of drunken drivers off the road, at most they
might save a few hundred lives. This is a drop in the bucket. Prosecuting the
drunken drivers who turn up in emergency rooms or offering breathalyzer checks
in bars and stadiums would probably save many more.
thinks every hazard should be eliminated. I was glad to see highway speed
crashing. But the freedom to get behind the wheel after half a bottle of wine
companies that have a good chance of going up." Again, as opposed to the
alternative, this seems wise. Finally, "Life is too fluid to predict." Unless,
apparently, you're predicting whether a company's stock will be going up enough
trenchant statements of the obvious can be found in the collected works of Wade
Cook, former real estate prophet and current stock market guru. Cook is
motivational rhetoric, complete confidence that nothing will go wrong, and an
utter lack of anything like an understanding of economics. Not coincidentally,
investing world. He's also a cardinal example of the speculative mania that
long bull markets often engender, the froth that rises to the surface in
wading through Cook's texts, you begin to understand why it seems so natural to
I know you're saying, but do his methods work? What, after all, is the label
The short answer to the first question is: Probably not. Cook insists he's been
inordinately successful with his strategies, and his later books are filled
with testimonials from people saying things like: "I just sold the calls at
offer any systematic accounting of his trading record; and we do not hear from
those people who ended up gambling away their life savings. ("I started with
work. Actually, we know the answer to that question: His "real passion is
truthfulness of his claims if his past record were more reassuring (click for a
for stock investing provided the perfect opportunity.
To seize that opportunity, Cook counsels strategies that,
despite his simplistic truisms, are both complicated and risky. He recommends
that investors leverage their existing capital, so that more than half of their
investments are purchased on margin (that is, loaned to them by their broker).
He urges investors to pay an inordinate amount of attention to companies that
announce stock splits. And, most importantly, he recommends buying and selling
not this is really the best way to make money in the market, it is certainly
materials and workshops. Of course, as Cook says more than once (actually, he
puts is the same, only in reverse. You buy the right to sell a stock, obviously
though, isn't really interested in exchanging the options for actual shares. He
just wants to buy and sell the options themselves, because options are both
cheaper and more volatile than stock, and therefore offer the prospect of much
larger gains. But Cook's entire strategy is built on the principle that it's
possible to predict, in the short term, when stocks will rise and fall. A surer
recipe for disaster has never been devised. His strategy is also built on the
assumption that, if you've got a sure thing, you should bet the house on it,
which is why you buy on margin. But he never makes clear that buying on margin
means that you stand to lose a lot more when you make a mistake. And because
you're buying options, you're left with nothing. There are no shares of a stock
that might someday come back, just piles of options as worthless as those
dream is still alive. But if so, that dream has become the feeblest of ideals.
Stock options, after all, serve no useful purpose in the real economy. Unlike
commodity futures or even currency futures that allow farmers or companies to
do a better job of projecting their future business, stock options contribute
nothing to the smooth functioning of capital markets. The stock options market
doesn't make it easier for companies to go public, or for existing companies to
raise money. It's simply a big casino. Cook might just as well be gambling on
an odd maxim for a man whose work is dedicated to the idea that the way to
on the planet, and the market doesn't even blink. In fact, investors send the
company's stock higher. What's wrong with this picture?
the picture is just fine. In fact, in a curious way, the market's reaction to
made the company stronger than just him. His superfluity, in that sense,
To be sure, "superfluity" overstates the case, since Grove
business as president and chief operating officer. As chairman, Grove plans to
including its heavy investment in companies that are pushing the technological
edge. Grove's abdication of his throne also loses some drama from the fact that
smoothly, and all indications are that he's a more than capable executive.
Still, Grove's announcement was certainly a surprise. There was no hint of it
has had a much publicized bout with cancer). But there was nary a ripple of bad
Grove's decision, precisely because he's going out at the top of his game. For
role, even as he seems to have made a conscious choice to become a more public
figure. Magazines now wanted to know his thoughts about the future of computing
and the Internet. They became oddly fond of taking pictures in which his body
was occluded by shadow while his face would be softly spotlit, pictures that
made Grove appear to be a mysterious man thinking very deep thoughts. Which he
transformation was also reflected in Grove's writing. In the late 1960s, he
published an acclaimed engineering text, Physics and Technology of
list.) In the early 1980s, he published an exceptional book on management
discussion of the way companies should be organized, with a surprisingly
convincing analysis of how to evaluate and motivate workers. Then, two years
Grove's basic idea is that there are "strategic inflection
points," moments where the entire framework in which business has been
conducted is transformed and companies must adapt or die. The arrival of
those companies that recognized the changes and adjusted to them flourished,
while those that didn't floundered and eventually went under.
be expected, Grove's description of past strategic inflection points is more
convincing than his recipe for recognizing such moments in the future. But
profitable, and acclaimed companies in the world. (It's fourth on
chairmanship, he has the advantage of stepping aside gracefully without really
irony in Grove's ascent to elder statesman, because the idea of him as shaper
company. It doesn't outsource all its production. It doesn't have a brand name
running the whole operation. It's not what management theorist Tom Peters sees
makes real things. It builds enormously expensive plants that employ
in research and development. And it is hugely productive, which is to say that
in. For what Grove has done exceptionally well is manage. What has allowed
does a much better job of making chips reliably and efficiently. And what has
to plan for change and adapt to it while holding the overall framework steady.
making it dependent upon him. He helped fashion an institution bigger than
himself. And that's why there's nothing at all wrong with this picture.
competition can be seen most obviously in the new mergers and alliances that
obvious but more telling evidence of the majors' resistance to real competition
can be found in their massive lobbying efforts to protect their current
positions. Those efforts are needed because, despite the seemingly inexorable
up to try to take away their business. The model for these startups is the
remarkable success of Southwest Airlines. It has been able to turn flights that
are low on frills but high on goofiness (flight attendants singing, dumb
contests, and all the rest) into a gold mine by keeping costs low and poaching
the majors' business on particular routes. Across the country, airlines such as
gnats is simply to acquire them, though that runs the risk of bringing the
antitrust bloodhounds snooping around. Another option is to turn them into
"feeder airlines," which allow the majors to offer service from major hubs to
smaller airports. The third choice is simply to freeze the upstarts out by
number of passengers flying to any one location relatively limited, engaging in
cutthroat competition in every city makes less sense for the majors than
parceling out the nation among themselves. And most airlines do fly to nearly
ever major city, though perhaps not exactly when you want them to.
astonishingly low, the last few years have seen a dramatic rise in the price of
tickets purchased without any advance notice (what they call business fares,
since only business travelers can afford them). By some accounts, business
not because it's become more expensive to carry business passengers, either. In
fact, since ticketing systems have become more sophisticated, airlines can do a
much better job of managing demand and filling seats. But those savings have
not been passed along to customers. Instead, since the supply of airline seats
should conjure new airlines into existence, bringing supply more in line with
demand and eventually harmonizing fares with costs. But there are a number of
things preventing that from happening. In the first place, the creation of
customers only reap the benefits of those programs if they fly the same airline
each time. More importantly, the physical universe limits the number of
takeoffs and landings any single airport can handle in a day. The majors have a
stranglehold on those slots, and they've invested a lot of energy and money in
another choice, which is that entire new airports could spring up, or smaller
airports could expand. But here, too, the majors have been vigilant. In
ads warning of "intense congestion," "lots of delays" and, more audaciously,
clear is the basic disingenuousness of the majors when it comes to
deregulation. While they have pushed hard for "open skies" policies in Japan
have been more than happy to use the legislative process to protect what amount
to sinecures. The Love Field imbroglio, in fact, has presented the curious
competition will threaten the region's economic health, an odd conclusion from
is, in a sense, inherent in the industry itself, since airlines rely on public
airspace and, for the most part, public airports for their business. And this
makes the whole question of what constitutes regulation a complicated one. One
solution being proposed, for instance, would take some landing and takeoff
slots at major airports away from the industry giants and auction them off to
The majors insist it's the latter. But insofar as dispersing the slots would
foster competition, a strong case can be made that it's the former. Either way,
limited, there's an inclination to believe that airlines are natural monopolies
or oligopolies and that flooding the market with competitors will actually make
air travel less, not more, efficient. But the vast majority of airports are a
long way from being saturated in terms of possible routes, and whenever
major airlines have been reaping large profits over the last four years, their
productivity has not risen at all, suggesting that consolidation is not
improving efficiency. It's no surprise that the majors want open skies when it
suits them and closed skies when it doesn't. But real competition should
grocery stores. Does it work? Probably not. Does it sell? Ask the big
pharmaceutical companies whose immense resources are nurturing the
nutrient found in red meat, is known to be essential to growth and
protected her from colds during treatment. While such anecdotes commonly spur
clinical trial of zinc lozenges that found the treatment cut the duration of
instructed to dissolve one lozenge in their mouths every two hours while awake,
was zinc's bitter taste. Eighty percent of patients who got zinc complained of
studies, and while three found zinc worked, four found it did not. Army
effectiveness of zinc salts lozenges in reducing the duration of common colds
is still lacking." It is also unknown whether large doses of zinc have toxic
biologically plausible that zinc could cure colds. Zinc backers propose that
the element's positive charge could a) bind it to viruses, blocking their entry
into the cells along your nasal tract or b) allow it to "clamp" nerves that
pointed out that zinc in the saliva does not reach the nasal tract, and
therefore cannot exert any of these effects. Furthermore, the zinc levels
needed to kill cold viruses in the test tube are far higher than anything the
a placebo effect may account for the sporadic positive results from zinc. It is
known that inert substances can alleviate symptoms in colds, asthma, sciatica,
and even congestive heart failure through the power of suggestion alone. This
is not to say the symptoms are just in the mind, but rather that the mind can
generate beneficial biological effects. You might think that the fact that zinc
But a dummy pill only works as much as you believe in it. Belief can be
affected by many factors, including the drug's appearance (certain pill colors
are more effective than others), form (injections often have a greater effect
than pills), or taste (bitter may seem like better).
distinctive taste helps convince you that it will. This phenomenon has long
not been demonstrated to provide benefit in colds beyond its placebo
received the options after his results had already been compiled.
acetate lozenges, which it claims have higher zinc concentrations. There is
zinc gum, zinc spray, even zinc lollipops. And now pharmaceutical giant
introduced Celestial Seasonings lozenges with echinacea, a purple flower that
herbalists promote without clinical evidence as a cold remedy and
recently announced plans for a herbal line that includes ginkgo, saw palmetto,
zinc, many of these remedies become popular solely on the basis of anecdotes,
are terrific grounds for deciding to further test substances culled from
big pharmaceutical firms is that their large marketing budgets will expand the
relieve cold symptoms and, in small print, denies making any claim to treating
colds? Drinking plenty of liquids keeps mucus flowing out of the body and
insurers to limit reimbursement for the drug. Many insurers will pay for the
erection wonder pills only for men who are tested by a urologist and proved to
Commentators on talk shows and news programs are incensed by the limits
(although no one yet complains that Medicaid programs are likely to refuse
reimbursement altogether). "Get the insurers out of our bedrooms!" is the
pose a distinct problem for insurers. True, the treatments address biologically
caused problems, but ones that are hardly incapacitating. Still, there is no
clear distinction between these disorders and such accepted medical problems as
acne or vitiligo (a disorder of skin pigmentation). If severe enough, even
wrinkling or hair loss can be considered medical problems. So these new drugs
erode accepted distinctions between worrisome abnormalities and the normal
variations of human life. While the drugs push in one direction, the insurers
contrast, is simple and offers discretion. Instead of creating erections on its
own, it amplifies the signals men's bodies already have. (The mechanics of
impotent men are better, longer lasting erections and more satisfying sex.
able men. Some are already seeking the drug in the hope that they can sustain
the impotence literature and Playboy magazines in the examining rooms
for pornography.) But the urologist didn't beat around the bush. "Are you here
seeming relieved to have the doctor raise the subject.
of difficulty getting erections, a problem almost certainly related to his
ready to accept the treatments. Sex wasn't important enough. So, insurers were
happy to let men define for themselves whether their impotence was worrisome or
think people should have to worry about cost when deciding whether to undergo
there's nothing wrong if insurers say that, at some point, cost should come
for sex, why should the insurer pay? If these expensive new drugs were free,
people would demand amounts out of all proportion to the value they actually
effects that are potentially more troubling than the cost strains. The sneaky
drugs do. In a current ad barrage, manufacturers encourage people to "ask your
drugs treat problems that most people hadn't considered medical before.
drugs to redefine abnormality upward. But the insurers are fighting an
desire for youth and immortality. As each new drug is released on a wave of
hype, insurers will fight the deluge, but patients will clamor, and doctors
start with a pill. But the physician's need for diagnosis is what drives the
the drugs need to come through physicians. But we don't give out drugs
along. A core group of kids do have a distinct attention abnormality, but
disorder didn't actually meet the definition. Nevertheless, the percentage of
giving a patient's condition a medical name, we turn it into a medical
abnormality. That creates a presumption that insurers must pay. It also creates
a presumption that it will be treated. If I write a new diagnosis in a
patient's chart, I have to indicate what I plan to do about it. It'd be
malpractice not to. More than that, once a condition is established as a
diagnosis, society practically treats it as a crime not to do something about
not just the pleasing possibility that you can do something about
impotence, baldness, blackened toenails. They create a culture in which you
In doing so, they may ultimately reduce the quality of life for the many of us
joint, and now the Psychic Friends Network is no more. Its parent company,
who's been the key spokeswoman for the network for almost five years now. You
when, on the advice of a psychic, she added an "e" to her last name and watched
in the business of getting poor and desolate people to shell out enormous
amounts of money they really shouldn't be spending for worthless advice
The economics of the psychic phone business are, in fact,
As a result, especially in the last few years, the psychic business has tried
to focus on establishing continuing relationships between individual psychics
and their customers. ("I don't want just any psychic! I want to speak to
not be such a thing as a good analyst, but you get the point.
business model is uncomplicated, its very simplicity poses a very real problem
to the dominant players in the field, since it means that the barriers to entry
of every call and provide only the line.) Since most psychics work out of their
homes, you don't even need that archetypal room with a bunch of telephones in
it. All you need is a few ads in the back of a magazine, maybe a commercial on
that cable channel that tells you what's going to be on other channels in the
next hour and a half, plus a gimmick, and you're in. In part, of course, that's
why building customer loyalty to particular psychics is so crucial. But it's
also why constantly differentiating yourself from the competition is essential.
the Psychic Friends Network really fell down on the job.
detailed his personal adventures as a telephone psychic (for the Psychic
networks, they do ads focusing on the lottery, on romance, on work. They just
with these infomercials which just pushed psychics generally."
emphasize that psychics can help you win, or at least tell you you're going to
Psychic Friends' first big mistake. A probably more telling error was getting
locked into the infomercial model of advertising. While its competitors looked
decision to stick with the infomercial model was certainly understandable.
production and distribution of infomercials. And the Psychic Friends
out half a million dollars a week to buy air time on cable stations. It was
Psychic Friends was not alone. The infomercial boom of the
late 1980s and early 1990s was a logical response to the deregulation of cable
television in 1984--which means that, like so much else, we can blame Psychic
the demand for programming. Infomercials were an ideal cash cow for the cable
networks, since they actually got paid to air them.
recent years, as relatively more substantive programming alternatives have
emerged (the Classic Sports Network or the Cooking Channel may not be high art,
but they are better than another Ab Roller ad), and as the infomercial market
became saturated. Those Psychic Friends programs had probably reached a point
case of a company not realizing that what had made it successful would not keep
it had to. And the fact that this utter failure of foresight happened to the
Psychic Friends Network takes us, needless to say, somewhere beyond irony.
want to belabor that point (though it is fun, as all the "They should have seen
it's worth recognizing that Psychic Friends was an enterprise created as a
response to people's uncertainty about the world (it's probably no accident
that it cropped up around the time of the Gulf War). And yet it ended up
Still a larger question remains: Why don't companies ever quit while they're
margins were going to decline, that in the absence of any professional
requirements more and more psychics would be entering the market, that the time
for infomercials had passed, and that the Psychic Friends brand name had hit
its peak. And imagine if, at that point, he had liquidated the company and
Today, the memory of Psychic Friends would live on in all our minds as a great
most companies have naturally short life spans and recognizing that life span
business. But much of the time, striving for longevity means ending up in
coast a railroad car is lost. Actually, somewhere along the Gulf coast many
railroad cars are lost, rolling along between freight yards, attached to
locomotives they're not supposed to be attached to, carrying goods that will
arrive at their intended destinations days or even weeks late. The cars belong
the railroad that joined the nation. In the past few months, though, it's had
its hands full trying to make the trains run on time.
meanwhile, is having a very hard time making sure that its clients' claims get
paid. Unpaid claims have been piling up in its back offices, and last month the
significantly because of all the administrative problems. Medical costs, at
unconnected stories of corporate miscalculation. But you don't have to look too
deeply beneath the surface to recognize that the problems Union Pacific and
job cutting, and that together they represent what you might call the downside
and a half, and both are therefore attempting to deal with sizable increases in
their everyday business. Union Pacific, which has spent much of the past decade
that, in the face of a larger client base and the difficult task of integrating
two separate corporate organizations, computer systems, and cultures, slashing
needless to say, applauded the decision. As one analyst put it, "Any time you
wouldn't have paid nearly as much for, it's natural that they're going to look
booming nationally, and losing Southern Pacific managers and engineers meant
that UP now had thousands of miles of new track and very few workers who had
that, in the words of its president, "We miscalculated how valuable the
experience level was, and is, in the staff that works in these service
centers." The company is now hiring back a hundred or so claims agents to speed
caused millions of dollars in damage. A month ago, Federal Railroad
cities. They found overworked crews, with engineers, brakemen, and dispatchers
turning in 80-hour weeks, working six or seven days in a row. Regulators called
step up its monitoring of crew fatigue and track safety.
long does it take to say, "Um, we think you have to hire more people right
workers, but analysts estimate that the crisis has already cost shippers more
railroad, since "it's a safety issue, not a financial issue." But one suspects
that we got something closer to the truth when, in the midst of the crisis, a
UP spokesman said, "Nobody's budget is safe when it comes to doing more with
less." Didn't anyone tell him he worked in public relations?
illuminate is the degree to which downsizing has become simply a reflex
decision for many managers. The stock market's instinctively positive reaction
to job cuts surely makes it easier for managers to justify their decisions to
themselves. But the reality is that job cuts have more to do with an
In other words, it's easier to look at the reduced labor costs from cutting
that's particularly true when the concept of the lean and mean corporation has
attained the status of dogma. In his A Passion for 
business book, Tom Peters wrote, "There is, then, a lot that can be said for
simply cutting staff. We find so many companies that do so much better with so
many fewer people." Perhaps Peters can issue a revised edition, with chapters
point is not that downsizing is in and of itself a mistake. The fact that
industries wax and wane is a reality of any economic system that wants to
remain dynamic and responsive to people's changing tastes. Jobs lost in one
place are often created in another (although there are serious questions about
whether the jobs will be as good, particularly for industrial workers). And a
number of large firms have downsized successfully, most obviously General
more overtime than they did in the 1980s, and more companies have embraced
required overtime as a way of ensuring that work gets done. In theory,
downsizing should be a way of matching the size of your work force to the size
of your business. In practice, downsizing is too often about cutting your work
force while keeping your business the same, and doing so not by investments in
bringing in temps to fill the gap. Downsizing itself is an inevitable part of
any creatively destructive economy. But overworked engineers and sleepy
dispatchers aren't creative, they're simply destructive.
just line tobacco company executives up against the wall, gun them down, and
then blow up all the cigarette factories? It'd certainly be more cathartic for
than the farcical death by a thousand cuts process that's currently underway in
pronouncement this week that the deal now being worked over in Congress is
"dead" probably signals the final collapse of tobacco industry support for a
pack, given the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate nicotine,
committed the industry to reducing teen smoking, and established a trust fund
provision, these were all voluntary agreements on the part of the industry,
which made them in exchange for protection against class action suits and
settlement was negotiated with a group of state attorneys general who were
already suing or planning to sue the tobacco companies to recoup Medicaid costs
for the treatment of dying smokers. But the national character of the
to ratify it. And after some delay, the Senate commerce committee last
punitive damages and class action suits is gone, replaced only by a cap on the
amount the industry has to pay every year. If this is a settlement, so was the
It is, of course, difficult to feel sorry for the tobacco
to be true, namely that nicotine was addictive and that smoking caused lung
cancer. But the Senate tobacco bill is nonetheless a preposterous piece of
legislation, predicated on the concept that the industry has near total control
over whether people smoke or not. It's a bill for people who want to ban
would take to do so. Moreover, parts of it are either unconstitutional or
unworkable, since the bans on advertising would have to be agreed to by the
industry, which at this point doesn't really have an incentive to agree to
anything. And yet what's really odd about the whole affair is that the tobacco
companies really have no one to blame but themselves.
mean by that is not the obvious point, which is that if these companies didn't
make products that kill people, they wouldn't be in trouble. What I mean
instead is that the commerce committee bill is, in a sense, the result of the
collision between Big Tobacco's two great obsessions: lying and shareholder
value. And it's the industry's commitment to both that's got it into this
day four years ago when seven tobacco executives went before a House committee
and said that nicotine was not addictive. This was injudicious of them,
addictive drug." As a symbol of industry arrogance and deceit, you'd have to
search far and wide to find a better example than the photo of those seven
course, they were simply doing what the industry has done ever since the late
1950s, when it became clear both that cigarettes were bad for people and that
the nicotine in them was addictive. Instead of admitting what almost everyone
believed, Big Tobacco insisted on complete denial. Initially, this strategy
made a certain amount of sense from a business angle. Until the surgeon
that cigarettes were dangerous could have opened the companies up to consumer
After their packs began carrying warnings about the hazards
of smoking, though, it was hard to see how anyone could argue that the tobacco
companies were deceiving their customers (though, certainly, lawyer after
lawyer has tried). And yet the tobacco industry persisted in its strategy.
Instead of being honest about smoking's dangers and then arguing that adults
should be allowed to choose their own poison, the industry hid. And in hiding,
it left itself with no real protection against the prohibitionist impulse. (For
decision to lie took away the industry's ability to make a plausible case for
individual choice, its obsession with shareholder value made it believe that
an enormously profitable company, its stock price has remained relatively
deflated, because investors were so concerned that the company might lose a
massive class action lawsuit somewhere down the road. Signing an agreement that
would protect the industry from such suits would boost the stock price
immediately, even if that agreement cost hundreds of billions of dollars. In
one of those dollars would be valued more highly by the stock market.
executives' obsession with their companies' stock prices, has become the prism
beneficial effects, but in the case of tobacco, it pushed the industry into a
settlement it could not control. It's possible that these companies believed
litigation, only one plaintiff had ever been awarded any damages, and those
juries have been asked whether the tobacco industry is liable for a smoker's
health problems, they've decided that the plaintiff knew what the risks were
and chose to ignore them. Given that, there's a real argument to be made that
would be the one that broke the bank couldn't have made working at these
bargain. And as time went on, the case for tobacco's liability would have grown
weaker, since public awareness of smoking's hazards has grown stronger.
possible, of course, that the cost of losing a major class action suit or one
of these state Medicaid suits was just too enormous to chance. But what seems
clear is that the desire to get a higher stock market valuation, combined with
a history of refusing to defend itself honestly, pushed the tobacco industry to
Tobacco never gave an inch. It's not really surprising that when it finally
economy we're supposedly inhabiting, competitive advantage can be eroded in an
instant, and large companies with lots of fixed assets are doomed to being
overpriced services, monopolistic market control, and unwieldy operating
suggests, the cable industry has never been healthier, despite having committed
a rather staggering array of strategic missteps in the past few years. In the
benefit: Owning those wires allows you to make a lot of mistakes without going
out of business. And in an industry dedicated to gambling on future
technologies, that's a benefit that can't be overvalued.
his company owned a lot of cable wires. On the contrary, he was as responsible
as anyone for hyping the digital economy and the transformation of the home
into a multimedia center of information, entertainment, and commerce. Without
have existed. For a man with a master's degree in electrical engineering and a
important futurist rhetoric was to the new media world. Convincing people that
cool things were just around the corner was essential to convincing them that
When he talked about the information superhighway, it was always in terms of
of cable" and "a guy who knows how to run over people" spoke to his ferocious
for ordering rate reductions, the idea that the dark side of the Force was
time dwarfed all previous mergers. The result was going to be a massive
every communication and information service they could want. Had the deal gone
through, today's media landscape would obviously look very different. But by
itself as a growth company, which meant it had to keep getting bigger in order
truth was that the technology could not live up to the hype. In retrospect, in
fact, what's most interesting about that time is how little progress we've made
is available via cable television today. Even cable modems, which would make a
qualitative difference in the experience of using the Web, have minuscule
industry was everyone's favorite selection as the industry most likely to fail.
Either the regional Bell companies were going to take away the cable companies'
business, or satellite television was going to steal it, or the companies were
of the game in the new media economy is bandwidth. Amazing leaps in digital
technology are largely irrelevant unless you can bring them inside the home.
And no industry is better positioned to provide that bandwidth than the one
cable business and why, when the company sought to make its subscriber base
more manageable, it traded subscribers for minority stakes in other cable
slashed capital spending in the past couple of years in order to keep the
interactive television, and hundreds of channels, he's found his latest
the harbinger of a truly wired future, once the struggle over which
technologies will be included in it is resolved and the cable companies figure
subscribers and minority stakes in everything from the Learning Channel to Time
built around the image of someone able to see the value inherent in a future
to the greed and disloyalty of players and owners. One writer went so far as to
suggest that before the Dodgers were sold, "there was hope baseball could pull
itself back from the brink. But now even those hopes are being dashed."
particular case of the Dodgers, of course, these lamentations were particularly
nature of team ownership is similarly misdirected. If anything, baseball needs
more corporate owners, particularly those, such as News Corp., that have major
investments in the game as a whole rather than a stake in a single
In the long run, the more corporate owners, the less likely
that baseball's current approach of limiting expansion and migration will
endure. Defending either the expansion of the number of baseball teams beyond
to get you shot. Expansion, it's argued, debases an already thin talent pool,
lowering the overall quality of play. The migration of franchises, meanwhile,
cities that already have baseball teams. The unstated premise is that people
be good both for the sport and for cherished local teams. Expansion would
called monopoly rents because they face little or no competition for the local
luxury boxes can make a sizable difference), teams in big markets are able to
reap much larger rents because the pool of fans from which they draw attendance
corporation, can't overcome by marketing their goods in New York.
the Pirates and can therefore afford to pay more for players, which means
they'll be able to lure the best players to New York. But the revenues of
baseball as a whole will be hurt if just a few teams dominate play, so the
even when players could not freely sell their services on the open market, the
richest teams still got the best players. They just did so by buying them from
answer to this dilemma is not a return to the old system nor is it a salary
cap. The real answer would require allowing teams to move where there's
unsatisfied demand for the game, whether that be in New York itself or in some
region that has no team. This might mean, in the short term, that cities such
decline, which means they wouldn't be able to pay so much for players, which
means it would be easier to run a team successfully in a small market. The
problem, in that sense, is not that there are big and small markets but that
there are too few teams in the big markets. Supply is not being allowed to
because an important chunk of their current revenue comes from national
television and licensing contracts that are divided among the teams. More
teams, fewer dollars per team (though that's actually more complicated than it
ratings have been traditionally low). Until baseball's antitrust exemption is
removed, owners don't have to worry about intruders in their current markets.
But a mechanism already exists for making expansion mutually beneficial:
large markets. Green Bay has built a Super Bowl team despite playing in the
their rhetoric about looking out for the best interests of the game, baseball
owners have been interested only in looking out for themselves. In an ordinary
baseball from antitrust law is predicated on the idea that Major League
Baseball is one company rather than an industry such as semiconductors or
computers. But owners don't act like competing vice presidents. They act like
focus than the current crop of owners. In fact, it may well be that News Corp.,
of local sports networks, is more likely to work for the best interests of the
channels, in baseball rather than just in the Dodgers. One of the realities of
corporations, after all, is that they're somewhat isolated from local concerns.
Traditionally, that's been seen as a vice. But in the case of baseball, the
The big fish eats the small fish and the small fish eats the shrimp. You buy or
Shanghai Rubber Belt Co. told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
Merger mania, you see, is sweeping the People's Republic. Soon, instead of
hundreds of small companies all making identical rubber belts there will be one
giant company making all the rubber belts. It'll be just like the market for PC
today's United States. Mergers and acquisitions are back in a big way, and the
record levels, both in terms of raw numbers and size. Telecommunications,
defense, aerospace, mass media: In all these industries the number of players
has been significantly reduced over the last three years. Emboldened by a new
approach to antitrust law at the Justice Department and Federal Trade
previously would never have imagined merging have tied the knot. This
rediscovery of the art of the deal makes it seem like the 1980s all over
Except that in some interesting and important ways, it
isn't. In the first place, a much higher percentage of these mergers and
acquisitions are taking place within, rather than across, industries, which is
why we hear a lot more about consolidation and a lot less about synergy or
is friendly. The big fish may be eating the small fish, but the small fish seem
all the more interesting, and the more telling, when they occur.
Pacific Resources is an independent oil and gas driller, which means it
specializes in getting as much out of a given field's reserves as possible. It
used to be part of Union Pacific Corp., the transportation giant that laid
railway track across the United States. As part of its desire to focus on its
little debt, but it's grown relatively slowly since the spinoff, because it
doesn't have many reserves and lacks the wherewithal for massive exploration
Pacific with an offer to merge, figuring its extensive reserves would fit well
it was more a simple failure to call back than an explicit rejection). And so
its exploration business, strengthening Jiffy Lube. Last year the company
were to gain control, it would buy up the remaining shares at market price.
Obviously, that would make any buyout attempt prohibitively expensive.
principle that those who own the company, the shareholders, should be able to
decide what to do with it. If we want shareholders to think like owners and not
speculators, taking away that power hardly seems the answer.
other hand, the way tender offers are structured almost guarantees they'll be
accepted. If you're one of the few shareholders who doesn't tender her stock,
bring about the dissolution of its target. A study in the 1980s, in fact, found
that four out of every five tender offers resulted in the target being absorbed
with this. If a company's management hasn't done right by its shareholders,
takeovers are an appropriate remedy. For these believers in the efficient
market, a company's stock price always reflects its true value. There's only
variety of reasons, very few of which have anything to do with a company's real
productivity or value. Dell Computer, for instance, would be at least five
economy today as it was a year ago. Placing the entire future of a corporation
in the hands of arbitrageurs, which is what a tender offer amounts to, is the
worship of property rights run amok. Yet how to come up with a solution that
capital gains tax on any investment held less than a year? That might work.
Most scholarly studies of hostile takeovers show they have
little or no impact on productivity, profitability, or on the acquiring
not really clear that any is created. Although bidders tend to portray
uniformly bid for profitable, healthy companies that the market, for one reason
the economy stronger, though the jury is still out on that question. But in a
hostile takeover, it seems pretty clear, one plus one generally doesn't equal
three. Often, it doesn't even equal two. Hard as it may be to remember in a
critics suffer from an ethical blindness of their own.
however, poor countries can't afford the full regimen. It's also too complex.
Sixteen studies to find simpler, cheaper methods are now
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of
comparison group, and that's where the trouble begins. For two years
Researchers giving placebos, they said, were knowingly killing children. They
To them, the only valid question is how new treatments compare to the complex
determine the natural history of syphilis. The experiment, halted only after
exposure by journalists, remains a textbook example of unethical, racist
their indignant defense the next week. In an unlikely spectacle, Republican
exploitation. But they don't. The critics' arguments seem reasonable only if
were reviewed extensively and approved by local governments and the World
Health Organization. The experimental therapies may offer great benefit. And
therapy early in pregnancy and to keep up with necessary monitoring.
regimen it's likely that the new regimens will prove less effective. But
Without a placebo group, we still won't know if any of the treatments are
example, has been studied and used to treat dehydration for diarrheal illness
Far from condemning its use as unethical, however, doctors have embraced oral
hydration as the model of locally appropriate therapy. Similarly, poor
conduct Third World studies seeking therapies cheaper and perhaps inferior to
placebo isn't useful for the West; we'd switch only if it were as effective as
Citizen, this last criterion really sticks in their craws. It offends them to
Could drug companies lower their costs? Maybe, maybe not. But this is not the
Acknowledging reality isn't unethical, but ignoring it can be.
its fortunes to the most popular film series in history. In a strange way, it's
Dollhouse, Men in Black action figures, and Micro Machines. The film
been making vehicles and action figures based on those films, and that
arrangement by itself catapulted the company into the ranks of major toy
Wars toys. And while sales this year were obviously boosted by the
perpetual revenue in the 1990s. Since the first film came out, Star Wars
been possible to buy movie posters or souvenir plates (and God knows we're
thankful for the plates), the concept of creating a toy universe replicating
isn't because Star Wars was the first movie that lent itself to action
example of a company creating a market rather than responding to an existing
one. No one knew how much kids wanted action figures until they were offered
result, of course, has been a flood of toys based on everything from comic
section of Toys "R" Us and seeing the deep discounts on toys from films that
to design and manufacture the toys for a movie without having any sense of how
tanks. On the other hand, if the movie's popular and you don't have enough
product on hand to take advantage of those few weeks when your toys are hot,
a phenomenon that could only have happened in the age of the videocassette
recorder, but even so it remains an anomaly in the world of pop culture. Where
almost everything else gets consumed and cast aside almost immediately, Star
blunders in the history of merchandising, forgoing its licensing fee to
then, is a story to warm the heart of any entrepreneur. Small company sees big
opportunity, seizes it, and reaps the rewards forever after. The only problem
line, shifting money out of internal development, staking the company, in a
sense, on this product whose existence depended utterly on staying in the good
secure a license and guarantee its future, but in exchange it mortgaged the
out of the money. (It would be cheaper to buy the stock on the open market than
economy away from one based on manufacturing toward one based on ideas. But the
contracted out. And in this new world it's not the company that owns the
assembly line that has real power. Instead, it's the company that owns the name
that dictates the terms. Anyone can make toys, apparently. But not anyone can
divesting itself of its manufacturing operations to become a company whose main
Investors' reaction to the announcement was immediate and positive,
unsurprising since the decision fit nicely with current thinking on the
combination of reasonable assumptions, misplaced analogies, and an overwhelming
risk is succumbing to nostalgia for the days when companies "actually made
something." When Henry Ford first constructed the mammoth River Rouge and
Highland Park complexes, where automobiles were essentially built from scratch,
those factories seemed to many to be symbols of the exaltation of efficiency
over all other goals. Now, with the onset of outsourcing, globalization, and
the virtual corporation, those old factories have acquired a patina of humanist
after all, was seen as replacing the "real" production of skilled
though, tends not to be very useful in understanding either the past or the
can do best is make those products more desirable by making those names more
desirable, it's hard to argue that anyone would be better off with the company
evils of vertical integration in general. Press accounts invariably suggested
knitting machines are businesses of yesterday. And they have low returns,"
and low margins if you're making products to sell to others.
doesn't run knitting machines to sell fabric to other companies. It runs them
to supply the fabric it uses in its own products. And in theory, it should be
able to make that fabric for itself for less than it would cost to buy it from
a third party, because there will be no profit margin built into the price. The
margins are higher, not lower, than they will be after the knitting machines
are sold. That was one of the crucial appeals of vertical integration: It cut
out the middleman. It's possible, of course, that a company that specializes in
making fabric will be able to do it more efficiently, so that even with the
textile producer in the United States. It seems safe to assume that, by now,
Vertical integration does mean that you need to invest
heavily in fixed assets and then keep investing in upkeep and upgrades. If you
can avoid those costs and still make the products you want at a reasonable
the ethics of outsourcing abroad bother you, read Slate's "In Praise of Cheap
benefits. It keeps you from having to haggle with suppliers over prices, gives
you total supervision over quality, and allows you to control production. One
of the key impetuses for General Motors' push for vertical integration, for
example, was its perennial struggle with Fisher Body, a major supplier who kept
holding up GM for price increases. Once GM acquired Fisher, the problems
course, it's hard to find anyone who will defend vertical integration. But
that's essentially the product of two factors, neither of which has anything to
assurance that competition is the necessary progenitor of efficiency. Since
makes the product instead of allowing others to bid for the chance to make
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since the Big Three automakers' move toward
return to profitability, it has seemed logical to pronounce vertical
industry abandoned vertical integration for one reason: labor costs. The Big
business models or a desire to focus on the brand. They did it because they
didn't want to pay union wages when they didn't have to. Outsourcing parts
still getting a bargain. But it's hard to see how this lesson applies to
blatantly to be more about gaining the favor of Wall Street than about
blunt about how much this bothered him. "It is increasingly obvious," he said,
measures designed to boost share prices. So all the money from the sales of the
which is to say that instead of being used to create new wealth, it will simply
be redistributed from the company to investors. That's not redeploying assets
that kind of maneuver should come as no surprise, since companies now seem to
spend as much time looking at the stock ticker as at their production lines.
But there is, nonetheless, something melancholic about it, and this is where
the lament about companies actually making products has real resonance. To give
up on River Rouge in order to build your brand is one thing. But to give up on
River Rouge to buy back shares? That's something else entirely.
climbing. A study in this month's Health Affairs explains why: Bosses
decide what health plan you will have, and more of them are deciding that you
will have managed care, like it or not. Besides explaining why competition and
suggest that tougher regulations are unlikely to make insurers serve patients
the most restrictive plans, only covering patients who see their specified care
payments if patients visit the plan's doctors, and with larger payments if they
Only a quarter of all workers have indemnity insurance.
difficult for patients to see specialists. (No wonder popularity polls reveal
Increasingly, patients and their allies are seeking legislative
the proposals loosen the restrictions. Already in effect are new federal laws
surgery or a stroke? And after appendectomies, prostate operations, pneumonia?
We don't really want the government directing our care any more than we want
insurers to. What's more, piecemeal regulation is bound to fail. If an
insurer's priority is cheap health care, it will find a thousand other
fomented in irrationality. The same consumers who whine about managed care
But fewer workers are given that choice today, according to
companies offer no choice of plan either. What's more, employers are
practice medicine dropped its Blue Cross indemnity plan and now offers managed
mainly pick insurers on the basis of price, and often switch plans in pursuit
of the lowest cost. So we shouldn't be surprised that patients aren't happy or
that insurers aren't bending over backward to please them. Employers are the
when your mother picked your clothes for you. The only one happy with what you
expensive plans and cover the extra costs themselves because most insurers
to the plan. Also, most employers would rather send one big check to their
insurer each month than deal with the paperwork hassle of a bunch of different
insurance in the first place? After all, they don't offer employees car
insurance. Health insurance became a standard benefit during World War II. Wage
and price controls then in effect prevented employers from giving raises, but
employers used it to fatten compensation packages for workers. If car insurance
coverage for Land Rovers and minivans. Angry consumers would complain about
cheapo car care. To appease consumers without upsetting the business lobby,
legislators would probably require overnight stays after brake and lube
The most straightforward way to put choices back into
families' hands would be to sever the connection between health insurance and
work. If health benefits were taxed as income, people would promptly demand
that the cash be paid directly to them and that they be allowed to choose their
own insurance. Insurers would then have to cater to their needs. Short of that
radical change, effective legislation should be passed to increase choices for
can join. These groups give workers a selection of plans and reduce paperwork
hassles for employers. Legislation could expand such groups. Some suggest that
of patients' rights, including the right to appeal mistreatment by insurers.
But employers on the panel scuttled all concrete measures to return choice to
consumers. The new rights are nice enough; they'll move consumers a few seats
forward on the bus. But employers are still driving, and that's all that
occasional Slate department based on the premise that who wins in
endorses nor condemns any of the views expressed, however laudatory or
isn't committing the sins monopolies are supposed to commit, Gates argues.
change of subject has earned some good press: News stories have quoted analysts
Times headline over a laudatory Associated Press story. But whereas
changing the subject usually works in politics, it's not as effective in legal
fights. The court's proceedings keep the media spotlight on the question of
but to free enterprise, consumer choice, and prosperity. Gates calls the choice
between private and government control of software "the question at the center"
the specter of a "Federal Bureau of Operating Systems." Conservative pundits
consumer choice, and government is the only institution capable of stopping it.
made their computer vendor an offer they couldn't refuse."
links Windows to software and services it wants to promote. These methods allow
expert on subtle methods by which software providers can steer consumer
more pernicious than the clumsy, overreaching state. These views bode ill for
has used the image of its competitors' political influence to portray its own
so "belatedly." Newspapers have bought both these spins, alternately praising
protect the ability of its dominant competitor to secure an exclusive." (For
the linkage is a marketing ploy, not a technical necessity. Rule concedes that
"suppliers and consumers will gravitate toward the most widely disseminated
standard, regardless of whether it is technically the best." Therefore,
interpret this kind of standardization and integration, for all their benefits
buys out potential rivals or starves them to death by stealing their
innovations and adding them to Windows. It doesn't create breakthroughs; it
debate turns on a contest of metaphors. Gates calls Windows a "stable," "open,
integrated platform" that gives software and hardware innovators "the certainty
they need to build products." The metaphor emphasizes stability's virtues
(facilitating "openness" and "innovation") over its drawbacks (stifling
would fracture the platform and pull down the whole house of cards.
memo, they accuse the company of plotting to parlay its primacy into a
a universal programming language (Java) based on the network, an alternative
Windows holds sway) becomes the platform for the network, not the other way
Windows, and battling the antitrust suit. "While the Justice Department is
claiming that Windows should not include browsing capabilities," Gates
latter against the former. If the network paradigm is as mature and superior as
incorporation of a browser "critical for Windows to stay competitive." Windows
argumentativeness has disastrously overshadowed its arguments. Its lawyers have
as proof that "poorly informed lawyers have no vocation for software design."
When instructed by the judge to give computer makers an alternative to
undesirable. This conduct has embarrassed the company's supporters and
risks losing the war for consumers' hearts and minds. The rap on nerds has
some fellow surgeons. I asked them to show me around. I was interested, I said,
in what they could do. But what I really wanted to see was what they couldn't
the sale of food and medical supplies is gathering bipartisan support, and a
Senate vote is expected this spring. Embargo defenders, however, say the harm
trading with a dictator is immoral. Here I had a chance to see the effects for
care. Later on my trip, for example, I met a woman who had no special
connections but had been sent here after she developed frightening stomach
meat on her table (what little she finds she gives to her son) was able to
parasite from the drinking water had invaded her stomach lining.
was spacious, but his bookshelf was bare except for a single textbook
heart transplants and complicated valve replacements he performed. But I
wondered how he, a surgeon, could spend an hour meeting with me at the spur of
the moment. He admitted that, for all he was capable of doing, he operated on
problem getting time in busy operating rooms? No. Rooms were free as we spoke.
Was it a lack of patients? He laughed and said that he had over a hundred
patients with failing hearts in the hospital awaiting surgery. The problem was
the constant struggle for supplies. Yes, they were costly, but that wasn't the
ventilators and heart valves. The problem, he said, was the embargo.
series of interlocking steps, each requiring specialized materials. You need
anesthetic agents, IV tubing, blades for the bone saw, and so on. Every week,
They are not that reliable, he told me, but they get the job done. Sometimes he
That week, however, he didn't have the suture he needed to sew in the valves.
And a lack of perfusion fluid to prime the heart bypass machine had held up all
people, he told me. But "maybe sometimes" it happens.
chemotherapy agents. Companies can seek a permit for medical sales, but hardly
access to the world's largest market for the sake of this tiny country. The act
suffering can be justified if it averts greater suffering or serves a larger
justify continuing to cause pain and death if the embargo fueled enough
relationship between political freedom and economic conditions seems far more
complicated than advocates of free trade or the embargo seem willing to admit.
The sickest patients are at the top. When supplies are obtained, they get
me to the intensive care unit to see these patients. He claimed he was too
busy, and by the end of our conversation, he had grown reticent. At one point
he admitted that he feared he had said too much, that I could use the
a new valve and a vigorous man recovering from a heart transplant. We finished
walking the wards and shook hands as medical colleagues. Then we parted ways,
broadside by a car on a local road, ambulance workers stabilized his neck and
they somehow overlooked the critical step of keeping him flat to protect his
treated at another center. So they transferred him to a local nonprofit
hospital where I sometimes work. He arrived sitting up in his stretcher,
probably an honest mistake. But I was disturbed that the transferring hospital
was so thorough with tests and so lax with basic care. The nurses with me
center was slick at doing billable tests but had slashed staffing to the point
that it couldn't provide good care. "I wouldn't take my cat to that hospital,"
They say they are transforming a bureaucratic industry into an efficient
provider of better quality care. But the expanding federal investigation of
company overstated costs and deliberately ordered unnecessary tests to increase
criminal fraud, and agents raided offices and hospitals in seven states. Rep.
forced to drop kickbacks for doctors who sent Medicare patients to its
Enterprises of paying "bounty hunters" to obtain patients for its psychiatric
hospitals. Its doctors then gave wrong diagnoses to increase billings and held
they point out, inspectors are investigating dozens of prestigious university
bought never had much charity care in the first place, so what's with the
quality of care, they ask, where's the beef? There are anecdotes, like mine, of
when asked to defend profit in medicine. "It may come as a surprise to you, but
will produce increased efficiency and better quality in health care, just as in
care is not like buying a car. You can shop around for a car, but the
motorcyclist I saw couldn't choose his hospital. Also, it's much harder to
judge whether your care is good than whether your car is good. Terrible things
happen to people in hospitals all the time: infections, bleeding, and other
complications of care. Studies show a quarter of these events are avoidable,
but it is rarely obvious to patients which ones are. If the motorcyclist,
delirious with pain and a severe blow to the head, had lost sensation in his
feet, he wouldn't have known if we could have prevented it. He had to trust
with his life that making money was not our priority. (He did fine, by the way.
pressure to make money the top priority. They must answer to stockholders
demanding rising profits, while nonprofit hospitals answer to a charitable
like Wall Street. One sees you once a month and tells you to do better for your
own good. The other holds a gun to your head every day.
uninsured, sticking to affluent suburbs, and avoiding obstetric, pediatric, and
have squeezed as much profit as possible out of insurers, billing for
percent annual growth in charges. They even tried to make profits on blood
charges. Some did. But the dominant professional ethic to do right by patients
making a buck. Their doctors are imbibing that spirit. That's what worries
occasional Slate department based on the premise that who wins in
endorses nor condemns any of the views expressed, however laudatory or
they say, demands that the president be held accountable to the law.
perfectly logical argument. But so what? In politics, logic is just a small
justice, honesty, and criminal behavior, the president is playing an entirely
different game. He is turning the scandal into a debate about sex, political
warfare, and the disruption of the nation's business. That's how he's going to
an air of dignity by couching their questions in terms of perjury, but they
soon tossed aside that fig leaf and pounced on the subject everyone wanted to
evening, the whole country was gossiping about the randy president and the
With that, the question of perjury vanished, trampled by the media's sexual
humiliating, but they won't get him booted from office. Polls show that the
outrage over consensual sex is unsustainable. The public soon tires of the
subject. Disgust with the sordid sex curdles into disgust with the sordid
calls "a scuzzy investigation" to dig up "some kind of sleazy sex."
has to explain or repent his sexual sins. But maybe the public doesn't need to
forgive or understand them. Maybe it just needs to get used to them, as it has
not because he was "pure" but because he had "good ideas" that are helping the
country. Who cares if he's taken another spill off the chastity wagon? All this
talk about White House sex is already losing its shock value. Pundits are
pointing out that lots of presidents fooled around, that not one of them was
impeached for it, and that citizens of many other countries don't care about
stifle the public's appetite for further investigation.
referring to the boxing tactic of shielding your head with your gloves and
making your opponent exhaust himself by uselessly pummeling you against the
times whether an extramarital physical relationship was improper. Six times,
"wiring" women in hotel bars and plying them with whiskey. Two days later,
the nature of media coverage. Investigative reporters strive for truth, but
and the right have escalated, the press has devoted a greater share of its
scandal coverage to questioning the methods and motives of those who gathered
psychology of war also causes reporters to focus less on each side's evidence
persuasive. When White House aides and congressional Democrats reflexively
Democrats of the political fight they crave, Republican leaders have kept quiet
in a civil suit is less important than getting on with the nation's business.
scandal for as long as possible, but the relentless influx of new issues works
State of the Union speech with the scandal hanging over him. He proved them
wrong and in the process pushed the issue of Social Security to center stage.
business, between his private vice and his public service. But polls show that
trains run on time. They're not going to "shut down the recovery," suggested
recall caused Burger King to run out of burgers, I started to worry. Shouldn't
somebody do something about this food poisoning thing?
rapid blanket approval of irradiation by the establishment naturally stirred my
suspicions. We are talking about radioactivity, after all. On closer
inspection, however, food irradiation turns out to work safely and effectively,
opponents' concerns notwithstanding. But questions remain about whether food
poisoning is such a big problem in the first place.
diarrhea and severe abdominal pain at first, bloody stools next. You're
least, in developed countries. But in some cases, the toxins trigger the
syndrome" can be deadly in children. The Centers for Disease Control estimate
meat when digestive contents spill where they shouldn't during slaughter. It
cooking your meat until well done will almost always remove these bacteria.
feared that it might earn a reputation for bacteria burgers, which has plagued
chicken suppliers, didn't distribute beef until Burger King talked them into
of food irradiation say that a rare burger doesn't have to be dangerous.
hamburger, apple juice, and other foods with gamma rays, killing resident
that the process is perfectly safe, leaves no funny taste or appearance, and
For gamma ray fans, food irradiation is the most logical step after heat
and Drug Administration has approved irradiation of produce, pork, poultry, and
other foods, but industry has not adopted it widely. (For unclear reasons, the
and veal.) You'd think that the poultry industry, which has suffered terrible
publicity over salmonella outbreaks, would rush to irradiation, but it fears
that the negative public reaction to irradiation would be worse. Currently,
technophobic lobbying groups that ignore the evidence and stir public fears
with outrageous claims that the process makes food radioactive. The critics I
spoke to, however, offered credible arguments. Most admit that irradiation
Interest, will even concede it's safe for consumers. But they argue that it's
expensive, harmful to workers and the environment, and unnecessary if safer
farming methods are practiced. They suggest growing livestock under cleaner,
less confined conditions to prevent contamination of feed and water;
food; and using simpler technologies, like steaming, to clean raw meat. As
Irradiation is saying we have to have fecal matter in our hamburgers."
record, gamma rays do not make food radioactive. And studies do seem to show
irradiated chicken and found no evidence of increased cancer or other toxic
effects. Other research found no signs of hazard in humans who eat irradiated
food. Also, studies showed that, at the lower, pasteurization doses, radiation
What about the other arguments against irradiation? It
halve costs. The risks to the environment and to workers seem theoretical. The
waste that must be stored under nuclear regulatory guidelines, but the current
regulations governing hospitals and sterilization companies seem to work, and
anyone, but kids die every year from food poisoning.
slaughtering practices. It's pretty hard to keep feces out of meat. Some meat
price. And even with clean practices and technologies like steaming of meat
(which hasn't been tested nearly as much), some food would still be
die from tainted food each year. Compare that with, say, car accidents, which
risk only for vulnerable populations, like the very young. For the rest of us,
it's an uncommon annoyance caused mainly by inadequately cooked chicken or
to be right. It's so good, in fact, that it's worth revising your past
positions when they suddenly look wrong. The key to success in this endeavor,
of course, is never to let on that you've changed your mind at all. For an
object lesson in how to do this, look no further than what's happened to our
systems has proven that industrial policy doesn't work, that protectionism is a
route to disaster, and state control of credit allocation encourages
that until the rest of the world becomes more like us, it's bound to
"industrial policy fostered appalling investment, banking, and monetary
Even on its own terms this analysis is startlingly cynical.
nothing but blue skies ahead for these economies. They showed their faith by
these countries' statist policies, then investors' failure to recognize this
earlier is a strike against the market, not for it. Still more perverse
recent crisis they themselves took great pains to deny that such a model
the only recipe for economic growth was open markets and nonintervention on the
economies, with their high tariffs, easy credit, and corruption. Instead, they
Within the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, similar conclusions
industrial policy in the region, while a concluded that "rapid growth in each
economy was primarily due to the application of a set of common,
well, too.) If they achieved that success through targeted subsidies and
at historically rapid rates for more than two decades is also indisputable. But
the conclusion that the one led to the other is not indisputable. It may very
rates in worker productivity have, Japan aside, been surprisingly low. In the
rapid increases in the percentage of people participating in the work force,
excellent education, and enormous investments in physical capital. In other
words, they've done a brilliant job of mobilizing resources, but not a
brilliant job of mobilizing resources efficiently. But you can mobilize
turns out to be hard to answer within the confines of an
be made for that point. What's appalling is rather that now that their heroes
have stumbled, they have disowned them so utterly. The irony is that, if
they now despise. One can only imagine the "heads I win, tails you lose"
while the comparison may be a bit facile, it helps illuminate the crucial point
that one can believe in the virtues of the market while still understanding
at the hospital just after birth. And the others expired at home, just infants,
Doctors, including some of the most respected pathologists of the time, could
find no explanation for the eight crib deaths. Indeed, the medical community
came to recognize that thousands of seemingly healthy infants inexplicably died
in their beds each year, and they coined the name Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,
unexplained deaths in one family do not sit easily. We expect more from
name we've given to one of the great medical mysteries of our time: Any sudden
baby is found dead in bed. No cry is heard from the infant prior to its death.
six months of age, older infants can die spontaneously and unexpectedly as
suggestive findings are that sleeping on soft bedding and sleeping face down
both increase a baby's risk of sudden death. A successful campaign to get
parents to put babies to bed on their backs or sides has been associated with a
be a kind of freak accident in which babies, unable to turn over, are smothered
by their own bedding. The findings raise questions about how in the world you
in which the original autopsies showed no marks of force, and the corpses are
probably now nothing but bone. Forensic pathologists and child abuse experts I
contacted confirmed that there is no distinctive autopsy finding or new test
official close to the case who requested anonymity admitted that there was no
evidence that supported the charges of homicide. The doctors involved simply
reviewed the old medical evidence. Had the previous pathologists missed
physical signs of suffocation? No, the official said. It appears that the
critical factor was the pattern. Eight deaths in one family was highly
abuse cases, science often can only provide circumstantial evidence.
Occasionally, we doctors find convincing evidence of abuse: cigarette burns,
and held down in hot liquid. However, most cases do not come with such obvious
signs. In deciding whether to sic the department of social services on a case,
we have only vague indicators to rely upon. For example, according to
laceration, or long bone fracture in an infant is considered evidence of
possible abuse. In the end, doctors look for the parents to tell us much more
in an adjacent room when suddenly, she screamed. My wife found her lying on the
ground, her right arm bent midway between the elbow and the wrist as if she had
an unnatural extra joint. As near as we could figure, it seemed she had tried
had got caught in the slats. As she fell, the bones of the forearm broke in
two. When I took her to the hospital, I was grilled by three different people
asking me over and over again, "Now, exactly how did this happen?" It was, I
doctors were looking, just as I do when I see young trauma victims, for any
inconsistencies or changes in the story. It's easy for parents to feel
as medicine has become, questions are still our main diagnostic test for
Ultimately, I must have allayed any concerns. My daughter got a pink cast, and
I took her home without incident. I couldn't help but think, however, that my
social status played a role in all this. As much as doctors may try to avoid
it, when we decide whether to involve officials in a case, social factors
inevitably play a role. For example, we know that single parents have almost
their children. (Race, by the way, is not a factor.)
deaths must mean something, right? As one coroner involved in the case said,
that science can't tell us what happened beyond reasonable doubt. Bucking his
deaths in one family do not automatically mean murder. The numbers certainly
infant deaths in a family in which homicide was ruled highly unlikely. Parents
several different diseases together in describing the syndrome. Perhaps
cannot prove even fatal child abuse, it is not without its power. Confronted
children. She apparently couldn't recall what had happened to the others. Her
lawyer, however, is questioning the reliability of the confession, obtained
undisputed champion to complete basket case in the span of two decades: The
demand that Japan ultimately get up off the canvas and retake the title.
that narrative may be accurate enough in broad outline, on the level of actual
companies it tells the wrong story. The current stock market's infatuation with
all things Internet has led to indefensible overestimation of the actual
strength of most Net companies. So too has the prevailing picture of Japan as a
Japan is dismal, though it's hard to resist the thought that if the Bank of
Japan just ran its printing presses and dumped piles of yen out onto the
subsidies and regulations is simplified, it's hard to see the country getting
the dose of creative destruction it sorely needs. The impact of domestic
peak. The same is also true, albeit to a lesser extent, of the
this the fact that, for most of this decade, the cost of capital in Japan
actually went up, as bank lending was cut back, stock prices declined, and
still occupy places in the global economy remarkably similar to those they held
if anything, more influential than ever. Its successful integration of its
the only companies that can be plausibly described as horizontally integrated.
music that play on them. Given the track record of most diversification
corporations as hidebound and conformist. The same might also be said of
what's now called the "imaging" market, thanks primarily to its aggressive
rolled over and died with the rest of the country's economy is hardly a
revelation. After all, these companies were able to export cars and televisions
as the Net stocks are prospering for precisely the opposite reason.
management," to pay more attention to quality and market share, to push
authority down to the factory floor. Of late, that whole phenomenon has been
the subject of considerable mockery, along the lines of "Remember when we
thought we should emulate Japan? How foolish we were!" Dramatic improvements in
attributed to greater emphasis on "shareholder value" and improved cost
because so many of those techniques have become part of the fabric of everyday
quality control standards. Continuous improvement, which compels workers to
simply the goal to which all manufacturing companies now aspire. It has also
spawned an entire new business model, exemplified by Dell Computer, that is
manufacturing practices was, if anything, understated.
be because everyone else has learned from them, which is of course exactly how
triumphalism, it's hard to resist the temptation to rewrite recent history as
step toward a saner appraisal of where this economy might be going.
Campaign. It marked the first time a sitting president has addressed a gay
serves three purposes. First, it subsumes an apparently radical idea, gay
rights, under a patriotic tradition: the espousal and gradual extension of
"the fundamental story of our country." Second, it minimizes the burden on
say that gays want not "civil" rights or "equal" rights but "special" rights.
next morning. Reed elaborated: Gays are demanding "a special category, based on
such as race), but it succeeds politically, by giving a fig leaf of neutrality
to what is actually a moral aversion to homosexuality.
long ago surrendered to the liberal crusade for "tolerance." Now they claim to
represent tolerance against the left's demand for "approval" of homosexuality.
It's a strong argument, because gays do want approval. One prominent gay
won't ask about your private life, but don't flaunt it." Gays see it the other
way around: If they can't be open about their orientation, said Birch, they're
effectively "banished to the closet." But that's a hard argument to sell to an
to make gays' participation in politics appear normal. His idea of normal
polyglot of special interests, of gays, of feminists, and of union
supporters compounded the damage by bragging about gay money and political
more famous. So much for those people who said that it would ruin my career."
Birch boasted that gays had made "significant investments, on par with other
per fatality on people with AIDS as [on] people with breast cancer or prostate
cancer." Conservatives gleefully connected the dots: Rich homosexuals were
just another political group, another bunch of donors that you're appealing
how gays have suffered from AIDS, teen suicide, and hate crimes. But this line
response is to help them abandon homosexuality. This is fast becoming the
signs saying "God Hates Fags," but a second group of protesters won better
discrimination against gays. Chat shows replayed his best sound bite: "Being
gay [has] nothing to do with the ability to read a balance book, fix a broken
the workplace but oppose gay marriage, probably because the latter involves
gay marriages, then bragged about it in campaign ads. (Republicans named it the
right to discriminate against gays is no longer a sure winner for them. They're
better off changing the subject to marriage, where they hold a clear advantage.
dragged her through the sordid exercise of distinguishing gay marriage from
polygamy and incest. Birch pointed out that conservatives defend serial and
childless heterosexual marriages, but the whole topic was a loser for her.
on whether homosexuality is more like the former or the latter. This is why
gays substituted the phrase "sexual orientation" for "sexual preference."
fighting back. Their usual tactic is to pepper the debate with references to
argued that being a gay man is worse than being a smoker because homosexuality
civic virtues to gays. "If they obey the law, show up for work every day or
show up for school, if they're good citizens, they ought to be treated with
conservatives argued that homosexuality involves a "choice," while liberals
behind this academic dispute is kids. If children are amenable to gay
persuasion, conservatives can argue that they should be "protected" by
also from any legal rights that confer respectability. The extreme argument,
respectable argument, leveled by Will, is that kids are susceptible to
presence advanced gay rights as a mainstream cause. No doubt it did. But words
always matter, and last week's exchange proved that opponents of gay rights
complex." Other appropriate subheadings might include "cost overruns,"
company whose history, from one angle, looks to be an almost uninterrupted
Of course, defense is an industry like no other. Barriers
to entry in terms of technology and physical plant are prohibitive, which keeps
concerns keep potential foreign competitors at bay. The Pentagon's interest in
keeping its weapons supply free from interruptions, meanwhile, means that no
major player can be allowed to go under. Defense contractors are able to reap
tremendous profits while rarely confronting the risks for which those profits
are supposed to be the reward. The fact that a small number of contracts can
determine a company's profit outlook for a decade places a premium on
regulation and competition, and few of the virtues of either.
record testifies to the power of the human imagination. (It might also testify
made historical amnesia into an art form. A short bout of traumatic remembering
Ironically, the company's roots are as deep as any in the aerospace and defense
for military contracts as well (including a failed attempt to sell bombers to
when the company built both the C-69 Constellation transport (which became the
impressively, the P-38 Lightning fighter. Both planes did what they were
supposed to do, and cost what they were supposed to cost. It's not clear
it sold fighters all over the world. It made these sales, of course, primarily
by bribing foreign officials. But that wasn't actually illegal in the United
defense budgets helped, as did an aggressive marketing plan abroad and, most
the Joint Strike fighter, the last great contracting plum of the century.
Perhaps, then, "corporate rebirth" is a fitting tag line.
instance, the company tried to get the federal government to pay for the costs
transport planes. There's always, it seems, another corner to cut. The
difference now is that the company has finally figured out how to make its more
unorthodox tactics pay off on the bottom line. The startling fact is that once
left. The past is gone. The future's bright. Only universal peace can mess
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wants to stop him. Last
surrogates, interviews, and press conferences, the two men are waging a war of
words. This war isn't bound by strict rules of logic, but it's more
and persuasion. Whichever player successfully frames the questions at stake
will capture public opinion and political support, and thereby win. So far, the
Drugs vs. "social policy." Helms has stuck doggedly to a single issue:
drugs. He points out that Weld favors legalizing marijuana for "medical
purposes" (which conservatives place on the slippery slope toward complete
legalization), favors providing addicts with clean needles (to prevent the
problem as a "war." But Weld hasn't touched the drug question. How come? One
rule of the frame game is to avoid issues on which you're guaranteed to lose.
This isn't an Ivy League debating society, where you can win by ingeniously
defending a difficult position. In politics, you're in deep trouble as soon as
you question the war on drugs. This is particularly true if you're fighting for
he called a press conference to declare: "Sen. Helms' opposition has nothing
whatsoever to do with drug policy. It has everything to do with the future of
the Republican Party. In plain language, I am not Sen. Helms' kind of
Republican. I do not pass his litmus test on social policy. Nor do I want to."
about drugs, reporters concluded. It was about Helms' distaste for Weld's
"moderate" views on social issues such as abortion. With that, the advantage
swung to Weld. While Helms has the more popular position on drugs, Weld has the
maneuver. He insisted Helms' concern was drugs, not ideology. The evidence
for secretary of defense, and has offered to confirm Weld as ambassador to a
game, such petty facts are easily overwhelmed by larger themes. Weld's spin
argument fits nicely into the context of recent Republican infighting. Having
come apart over foreign policy (trade with China) and fiscal policy (the House
leadership coup), the Republicans seem ripe for a civil war over social policy.
in connection with Weld since the confirmation fight began.
all, the press loves to personalize debates. Drug policy is boring, but a fight
between a saucy blue blood and a surly redneck is fun. Helms wasn't even the
first member of Congress to oppose Weld's nomination. Others who oppose Weld
have pleaded that Helms isn't the point. It's a futile argument. Helms and his
who support Weld's nomination don't want their party torn asunder in the
process. Their solution is to separate the question of Weld's ideology from his
and accomplished. "This is not about the heart and soul of the Republican
supporters accept this distinction, because it subverts Weld's campaign to
broaden the ideological confrontation. They argue that Weld's indifference
toward the war on drugs has affected his competence as a law enforcer and will
about the party's soul, even as Republican moderates protest it isn't. The
analytically more sophisticated but viscerally less compelling. Which means it
will probably prevail in a confirmation hearing but lose in the court of public
opinion, vanquished by Weld's campaign for libertarian martyrdom. In the frame
game, nuance is almost always a loser. Remember, the last guy to argue for a
caustic apostasy handed his enemies a persuasive argument against his fitness
parent catches you fighting with another kid, the first thing to do is accuse
the other kid of starting it. Weld should have been able to play the victim,
It wasn't the first punch thrown, but it was the first one most people saw.
This allowed Helms' spokesman to cast his boss as the victim. Senate Majority
Weld "hurt himself by attacking the chairman unfairly and with political
[Helms], before the man really knew anything about me, he said I was unfit to
be ambassador, had loose lips, and was soft on drugs. And I said, 'Where does
"ideological extortion" argument is particularly ingenious. Typically,
extortion means that you're threatening someone with harm or embarrassment to
extract a concession. Helms has no illusions that he can make Weld concede
anything. His vow to kill Weld's nomination is a promise, not a threat. It's
Weld who's trying to scare Republicans into supporting him, by threatening to
turn his fight with Helms into an ideological civil war. His charge of
"ideological extortion" is part of his ideological extortion. And it's
he get a hearing, lest his jihad against Helms ignite "civil war in the
recently. He has stopped debating the substance of his quarrel with Helms, and
insistent question: Why should there not be a hearing? Why should one man, in a
democracy, block the conduct of the people's business?"
in the Senate, because it allows Republicans to defend him without exacerbating
chairman cannot be dictatorial, ultimately, when a majority of the committee, a
the procedural argument allows the White House to challenge Helms' obstinacy
was so moved by Weld's new plea for a "fair hearing" that he repeated that
But the true beauty of the "give him a hearing" argument is
thwart the people's will by refusing to schedule a hearing. Framed this way,
Weld's apostasy becomes a virtue instead of a vice, suggesting candor instead
game? Helms' allies say the nomination is doomed. They think Weld overlooked
the game's cardinal rule: that Congress has its own rules, including the
absolute power of committee chairmen over supplicants such as Weld. Why, he's
not even a governor anymore, they scoff. He's just a lowly citizen. But maybe
not the boss in my life. I am stronger than the temptation of any food."
that? We've learned much in the last few years about the role that hunger plays
in obesity. Drug companies have capitalized on that knowledge to create
powerful new appetite suppressants. But these "cures" come with serious risks.
disease a year ago. But doctors continued to prescribe it to millions, arguing
questions about using pills for obesity before all the facts are in.
Scientists didn't always view appetite as a cause of
obesity. The dominant thinking for more than two decades was that the obese
gained weight because they burned fewer calories. In experiments, overfed or
their metabolism slowed, conserving calories and driving their weight back to
starvation and exercise, while skinny people got to feast and watch television.
In the late '60s, amphetamine, which increases metabolism, became the rage for
dieters. But it didn't keep the weight off, and proved to be addictive.
diets, they gained weight just as easily as obese people. (In fact, obese
people had to eat more to put on a given amount of weight.) The
metabolism of obese dieters never slowed enough to explain how quickly their
weight bounced back. They were also eating more. Put simply, even at their
baseline weight, obese people eat more than thin people.
this observation. Women weighed about a pound more one year after delivery than
at the start of pregnancy. Some gained more than a pound, and many returned to
they ate more total calories, especially in the form of snacks. Although
gainers ate lunch less often, their snacking increased to three or more times
increase than decrease. Experts believe that once you've put on extra weight
perhaps longer. Until recently, nothing short of has kept the seriously obese
when experiments on lab mice revealed that the hormone leptin controls the
members all lacked the gene for producing leptin. Without leptin to signal
leptin findings imply that hormones and neurotransmitters control the
instinctual desire to eat, overwhelming willpower in the process. In
evolutionary terms, this makes sense. The drive to find and eat food was
integral to the survival of our early ancestors. People who gorged themselves
survived winter famines and reproduced more than others. But this behavior
amphetamine that reduces hunger and increases metabolism. Not surprisingly,
when the obese patients stopped taking these drugs, their weights returned to
are undergoing Food and Drug Administration approval testing. Leptin analogues
(chemical cousins) are also being developed. Effective hunger control will
probably require lifelong therapy with multiple drugs like these.
The first warning that these drugs could pose health risks
Medicine downplayed the risks at the time. It simultaneously published an
findings were basically ignored: Eighteen million prescriptions were filled for
come from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease,
Even in the seriously obese, we don't know that these drugs really will save
more than they kill, because no studies have been done. (Meanwhile, the drug
In the late '80s, doctors inflated a balloon device in obese patients'
stomachs. Because patients couldn't eat nearly as much, they lost weight and
kept it off. But some of the balloons deflated and got stuck in the intestines.
Only after several people died was the device pulled off the market. The
dieters' craving for something to quiet their hunger is almost as great as
a tremendous economic success story, it's not clear that the story can be
That's not because playing the house's role in a gambling
pretty straightforward: Every day people walk through the doors, mill around
percent of their money, and in doing so effectively transfer their cash to
really about gambling at all. You do have to keep people from cheating, and you
business of casinos is not about what happens once a player sits down at a
blackjack table or in front of a slot machine. The real business is about
getting that player to sit down at your table and not the table at the
sense, a casino is like a restaurant or a movie theater, except that there's
one crucial difference: Every casino is selling the exact same product. There
are minor variations in the kinds of slot machines you'll find, and casinos are
always coming up with mindless variants on the classic table games, but in
has said, they're buying "time." Time to win and, of course, time to lose.
distinguish itself from Burger King, but the Mirage can't advertise
What the Mirage can and does advertise instead is itself.
existence depends on a service economy. In another way, though, the city has
compete on price or essential product, they competed on the basis of their
Statue of Liberty in front of the New York, New York casino makes the
experience of playing blackjack inside any different, but the statue is not the
greater percentage of their revenue from their hotel and restaurant business.
state. Difficult not to make money when you're the only game in town in a Third
It's a flippant comparison, to be sure, but it's one that
illuminates the reasons why gambling has not been an economic panacea for other
parts of the country, parts where the New Deal actually had an impact, for
example. More than that, the comparison also gets at what may be the most
to purchase the goods rather than having them shipped out of the city, but the
economics are the same. Casinos thrive not because of the business they do with
local customers, but because of the business they do with people from around
uncannily like models for the economy into which we appear to be moving. Hunter
flying trapeze artists mingle beneath a billowing canopy, that it was what
won World War II. But it might be that Circus is already a version of
certainly reacting faster than ever to the slightest hint of good or bad news.
Whether this means the stock market is more efficient than ever, though, is
another question entirely. The answer may depend on whether you think
"efficient" is a synonym for "jumpy and hysterical."
Internet stocks, trials and tribulations that said less about the actual
business of the Internet than about the manic behavior of Wall Street in a
search engines, online retailers, and Internet access providers whose listings
that move into Internet stocks is simply evidence of what happens when everyone
believes so strongly in the stock market that keeping any money in cash is
regarded as heresy. In other words, if you were a mutual fund manager, you
can find a company that seems fairly valued." If you did that, you might miss
out on the latest rally. The money had to go somewhere, and when Net stocks
became the Next Big Thing (for those few days), that's where the money
have access). This in turn means that more people will search on Yahoo!, buy
for a company being priced into its stock all at once. And then the worm
turned isn't really clear, but it definitely did. It was a very odd thing to
Just as the shift of money into Internet stocks was partly
the product of a virtuous circle created by institutions trying to keep their
portfolios invested in stocks that had "momentum," so too was the shift out
partly the product of a vicious circle created by institutions trying to dump
stocks that suddenly didn't have momentum. The rout also had something to do
with the fact that only a few Internet companies have ever reported profits and
that even those that have profits trade at valuations to which, as they say, no
traditional criteria can be applied. Everyone knows that you can't value these
companies the way you'd value General Electric (perhaps because if you did
are now). But every so often the market does look at their bottom lines, and it
finds that discretion is sometimes the better part of valor.
advance and retreat as much as it is the governing principle behind that
to something called "the Internet sector" and that it's the sector, and not the
companies, that matters. This is, of course, the principle governing most
institutional investing, which is why pharmaceutical stocks and airline stocks
Airlines' stock rises while other airline stocks fall. There is the kernel of a
also help others. But sector investing also tends to reward a successful
corporation's competitors for that corporation's success, and in that sense
seems not merely counterintuitive but downright perverse.
sector investing rests upon a basic misconception, namely that there are things
we can meaningfully call "Internet stocks." In fact, there are at least five
different types of Internet companies, each of which has very different future
still selling into a tiny market but one that's growing explosively. Search
the tools that make the Web work, but their main source of income will come
packaging content. And, finally, there are the Internet access providers, which
companies will benefit from having more people use the Internet. But not all
will benefit equally. And even within those five groups the differences among
individual companies are more important than the similarities. To put it a
brand recognition and clear business models, have more in common with each
Internet will undoubtedly be a crucial part of the economy of the next century.
companies were around in the early part of this century. Instead of mindlessly
tossing billions at or taking billions from the Net as such, investors should
be spending their time making sure that it's the future Fords and General
Motors of cyberspace that are getting the capital they need.
window of his lavish New York office and says simply, "Napalm."
makers and game players. They flourished on brinkmanship, buying companies only
to dismember them and caring only for the chance to crush their opponents.
acquiring, to create the world's largest chain of movie theaters. (Got all
that? There will be a pop quiz at the end of the story.) The new company will
build many of those giant multiplexes we've been hearing so much about, the
especially at a time when movie attendance is flat and the number of screens
But, setting that aside, what's really interesting about the Regal acquisition
buying it to sell off its assets and pocket the proceeds. On the contrary, by
platform for another, much in the way any corporation looking to expand into a
debt or stripped of their most valuable jewels. But in fact the Regal deal, far
the firm's performance in this decade sheds a new light on its performance in
the last one and makes it worth asking, once again, what the real impact of
a private partnership rather than a corporation. In essence, what the firm does
investors better returns than they could have found in the stock or bond
firm never makes a deal to buy a company without plans to sell it eventually or
to take it public or both. The investors reap their rewards not by taking out
capital gains they reap when the companies are sold or taken public.
somewhere down the line you'll want to sell it, the argument goes, you'll
else is dumb. After all, when deciding whether or not to buy a company from
powers no one knows about, it's unlikely that buyers are going to make a
In other words, if you think that markets are even relatively good at
companies' dividend payments to shareholders with debt payments to creditors.
In principle, one is no better or worse for a company's health than the other.
But there is one big difference between dividends and debts, which is that if
you fail to pay the first, your stock price gets punished, but the company
of companies that took on more debt, often in the form of junk bonds, than they
Department Stores: They all collapsed because their debt loads were too high.
meant the death of banks' willingness to lend freely to almost anyone, forced
R to refocus its business around the strongest deals possible. It also meant
that you had to look harder to find companies that investors were undervaluing
an extended period of time during which all had expanded, improved
Becoming highly leveraged has forced managers to think seriously about costs,
trim overhead, and improve productivity. The broader lesson we're supposed to
learn, then, is that it was precisely the takeover mania of the 1980s that
created the lean, efficient profit machines of the 1990s. But the truth is that
is that managers of a company perform better when they're held accountable by
debt or even the promise of untold riches. Rather, it has succeeded because it
brought a relentless focus on the bottom line to the corporations it has owned,
and established standards its managers have had to live up to. For most of this
by management and uninterested in rocking the boat. What these boards have
allowed managers to do is, simply, play with other people's money. And in some
evocative images of the 1970s, those film clips of sheiks clad in flowing robes
and luxuriant headdresses, striding confidently from hotel lobbies into waiting
world's oil reserves, they controlled the lifeblood of the industrialized
world. This was what the revenge of the Third World looked like, it seemed.
not have been sharper. Instead of a tightly disciplined cartel administering
association struggling to bring supply in line with demand even as its efforts
are sabotaged by its own members. And instead of being the sole ruler of the
dramatic technological advances in exploration and production have made new oil
output. The most recent quota increase, for instance, will raise the cartel's
is designed mainly to allow to bring its share of the world market more in sync
massive price increases of the early and then late 1970s brought huge windfall
that still handled much of their production). But those price increases
ultimately provoked two predictable responses: Demand for oil shrank, as
consumers looked for substitutable sources of energy; and, more importantly,
production costs, it made sense to develop fields that previously had been too
pint of cow's milk, you can bet supermarkets would start selling milk from
China if they could get it here at a reasonable cost.
that analogy doesn't really capture just how momentous the technological
transformation of the oil industry has been. The last decade and a half has
witnessed a steady decline in the cost of finding and producing oil.
drilling, where drill bits actually go sideways from a vertical hole in order
to extract more oil, has also helped make the exploitation of smaller and less
The infiniteness, of course, is imaginary. Although oil is
a commodity, it's still not a commodity like coffee, which, thank God, we will
have with us always. At some point the oil will run out. But that point
now seems so far in the future that oil countries are acting as if it will
never arrive, and that has had a major impact on their attitudes toward
production. If your reserves are finite, after all, you need steady price
increases over time to justify leaving any oil at all in the ground.
(Otherwise, every producer has an incentive to drain all its reserves, take the
money, and reinvest it in a more profitable enterprise.) That means restricting
supply. If your reserves are infinite, though, it makes sense to worry less
about price and more about maximizing output, since your source of cash is
never going to dry up and force you into another line of business.
maximizes output, everyone loses, because the price falls precipitously. The
oil market is especially sensitive even to a hint of expansion or contraction
heard the last time I walked by the New York Mercantile Exchange, where the
keep its members in order and maintain a public production quota. It wants to
keep prices high enough to ensure profits but low enough to deter the
development of new fields. But the instruments it has to do this with are blunt
compared with the authority it wielded two decades ago.
in oil, nor even a real spot market for crude oil. (A spot price is the price
for one cargo of oil, generally delivered within a month.) That made it
difficult for consumers to compare prices and locked them into relationships
with producers. It also meant that there was no way to hedge against future
price increases, which obviously gave producers tremendous leverage. The rise
of the futures market and the broadening of the spot market brought price
competition to the world of oil. Now, it's still rather difficult to put a rig
disproportionate impact on the market as a whole. But, for the first time in
history, there is now a relatively open market for oil. And that undoubtedly
has something to do with the dramatic expansion of the industry's
small is beautiful. If you thought the advent of the Internet, the spread of
cheap and efficient information technology, and the growing fragmentation of
the consumer market were all going to help smaller companies thrive at the
over the last two weeks, the conventional wisdom has quickly adjusted. Bigger,
activity in the United States alone. It's easy to overestimate the significance
constant as a percentage of the value of the stock market as a whole. What's
the vast majority of acquisitions do not add value to the economy as a whole.
Don't bother them with the facts. They're ready to buy.
shareholders investing in them. On the one hand, there's a general rejection of
itself of its manufacturing operations to the Big Three auto companies
actually own, the idea of doing as little real work as you have to is much
applauded by Wall Street today. On the other hand, though, there's also a
general acceptance of the corporation that promises to do everything, such as
of scale and scope had been permanently discredited. Apparently not.
that it's cheaper to produce or distribute many different products rather than
less successful than if it sells milk, eggs, cereal, bread, and so on.
not the same as saying it always matters. And even if size does have its
will now be the "largest financial institution in the world," which will make
year won't depend as much on volatile sectors, as Travelers' did on the trading
in Travelers, and vice versa. They're not any more protected now than they
itself is nonsensical. The deal is justified only if the merged entity will
grow faster, and be more profitable, than the two separate ones would have
record of financial supermarkets is dismal. Sears failed with Dean Witter,
financial services. It's not just that, at least in the United States, there's
no evidence that people prefer national banks to local ones (if anything,
there's a long history of distrust of large banks). It's also that people take
their financial decisions more seriously than they do their choice of toilet
paper, and that they are unlikely to pick up a home mortgage just because their
company. For the deal to make sense, the costs of working together in a
contractual relationship would have to be greater than the costs of merging.
But the record in this regard is not comforting. In fact, if there's one thing
dramatically underestimate how much it will cost and how long it will take to
diligence" in three days. How due, exactly, could that diligence have been?
It's true that if a company lets a potential merger candidate look too closely,
and the deal then falls through, it may have given away its secrets for
nothing. But when you realize that people take more time to decide what car
up to make mergers attractive. And it's hard work to determine the success of
mergers, because you have to compare the performance of the new company against
the projected performance of the previously independent companies. That makes
it easier just to assume success in the absence of complete disaster. But the
big because you're better. You don't get better because you're big."
downsizing was all the rage, Wall Street took a lot of flak for judging
companies too harshly and setting the bar for corporate performance so high
that executives felt their only option was to slash payrolls. Or,
alternatively, Wall Street was praised for its relentless focus on the bottom
line and its insistence that corporations become more productive and more
profitable. Either way, the point was that investors were taskmasters, Marine
true as Wall Street's critics or its supporters wanted it to be, but in any
case, it is somewhat beside the point now. A quick glance at the Street today
the highly questionable proposition that people will overpay for mediocre food
company, in other words, that should not exist, with "should" implying nothing
What's a couple of hundred million dollars among friends?
airline that owns the Pan Am trademark now, which went bankrupt last month but
now looks as if it's going to be taken over by a soccer team owner from the
put to sleep. But the odds are that it will be resurrected and chew up some
tell hundreds of similar stories about the real estate market, where a huge
construction boom in suburban office space continues, even though no one seems
to know how the space will be filled in an economy growing as moderately as
ours is. And still more about the market for initial public offerings, which,
after a mild slump last fall, is booming again. We seem to have reached the
point where any company that wants to go public can, even if it has never
reported anything remotely resembling earnings. And if it's an Internet company
pointed out, Silicon Valley now offers the curious spectacle of capitalism with
too much capital. But the same spectacle seems to be on display throughout the
foreign capital have poured into the United States, even as domestic capital
into investment capital, as opposed to savings accounts that require a
they know what to do with. With the market on a seemingly unstoppable rise,
fund managers feel the need to stay fully invested, which means that
eventually, even struggling companies will come back into favor. There's just
are, though, a couple of problems with this picture. First, the concept of "too
much capital" is a kind of macroeconomic impossibility. If the supply of
capital truly exceeds demand, the rate of return will drop until the supply
shrinks. Second, the idea that too much capital can be a bad thing makes little
sense in a world where investment is the key to economic growth. So the image
of lovelorn investors chasing standoffish borrowers can't really be right, at
least not for the economy as a whole. And, in fact, there is no shortage of
and risk their houses to get access to capital. And although government bond
rates have dropped over the past two years, the real interest rate is still
high today relative to the 1970s. There is a demand, then, to match the supply.
The only problem is that this may not be such a good thing.
enhancing productivity. In the absence of an omniscient central planner,
though, the way to get better investment is to get more investment. The Planet
cycles of undue optimism and hysterical panic. The consequences are never
pretty, which is what's so troubling about the ever rising stock market, the
all, that is doing well but not great, that is still growing slowly in
historical terms, and that has still not shown significant evidence of a real
boom in productivity (with the notable exception of the manufacturing sector).
Yet investors are acting not simply as if there were only sunny skies ahead but
also as if every company, every investment, were going to enjoy the warmth of
the sun. And this means that capital is not playing its necessary disciplining
role. You can't fuel real economic growth with indiscriminate credit. You can
principle that doesn't seem to be at work in a capital market that just can't
economics of the movie industry: Never have so many invested so much for so
to reap the benefits of the bull market; it also wants the cash as quickly as
The painful truth is that the studio is probably right
company is marketing itself as the only "pure play" movie investment, since
businesses. Unfortunately, it's not clear that the "pure play" aspect of the
when you've got hundreds of millions of dollars a year in overhead costs.
the industry's new dependence on blockbusters. This year, nine summer pictures
enough to fund an entire studio's output for six months.
explain why the $15-million thriller has become a thing of the past. If you can
may bring home enough from the two hits to stay profitable. In addition, the
lifestyle has to be more interested in the size of the studio's production
budget than in the bottom line. In other words, he lives better losing money on
Conventional wisdom has it that this embrace of the blockbuster represents the
on shows but turning out product. And you can't make films as product." But
there are a couple of rather gaping holes in this thesis. The first is that if
movies are all about making money now, they're doing a very bad job of it. One
analyst recently estimated that the return on capital in the industry is around
precisely the days when the studios were most run like factories churning out a
product. The vertical integration of the studio system mimicked the vertical
integration of the auto and steel industries, as did the hierarchical chain of
When Gone With the Wind was in production, other studios rushed to find
other antebellum epics. And as far as sequels go, the Batman series doesn't
really different is not the quality of the films but the control that the
urban theaters, which meant that they were in charge of production,
distribution, and exhibition. At the same time, the studios used their
oligopolistic power to force independent theater owners to screen B films if
they also wanted to screen A films. That ensured a reliable flow of profits
from movies that cost very little to make. But a series of antitrust decisions
after World War II ended these practices and forced the studios to divest
themselves of their theater holdings, while also encouraging the development of
independent production companies. That, in turn, made most creative people in
theoretically should have increased efficiency. Creative people were freer to
follow their hearts. The studios started to look something like publishing
experienced in the early 1970s was only possible because of these new
arrangements. But in the long run, the disappearance of steady revenue from
involved has a stake in it being as big a shot as possible. This is hardly a
planning because everyone's trying to make the next deal.
costs of both production and marketing. In one sense, this is the full
flowering of the death of the studio system and the triumph of purely
speculative capitalism. In another sense, it's part of what's been called the
and those in the middle tend to disappear. But what it isn't is a rational way
settled by the president and Congress this week was the extension of federal
health insurance to uncovered children. Although the two branches were still
about the deal is that it comes three years after the Republican defeat of
Republicans began warming to the idea of expanding health care coverage in
reason the Republicans agreed to the deal was that it appealed strongly to
But the success of the program will ride on the details,
About a third of the uninsured children hail from families with incomes below
to phase in coverage of all children below the poverty line, along with a
could have filled the gap by ordering the states to cover uninsured kids to the
higher income level. But given the current deference to states, this was never
seriously considered. Another option would have been for the federal government
to cover poor and uninsured kids with a program like Medicare, but this was way
billion in block grants to help the states insure children. But will the states
spend all the money on insurance for children? It's not clear. The Senate
wanted rules that would prevent governors from substituting the federal money
for existing state spending. But the governors convinced House Republicans to
negotiate for looser guidelines that let the states pay for unpaid emergency
nearly everyone agreed on providing health insurance at low or no cost to
contentious was what the insurance would actually cover. House Republicans
wanted skimpy coverage, while Senate Republicans and the White House wanted
insured. This, of course, is a formula for failure. If the government gives
feel cheated. Many insured families have inadequate child benefits, excessive
costs, or periods without coverage. To make matters worse, many employers
looking to save money (and please their employees) will drop dependent benefits
if states provide better coverage than the private plans now do.
What should the government do? If the primary goal is to
make certain that families with uninsured children have a fallback, then we
should keep the program cheap and cover just the services children don't get
insurance could provide good outpatient coverage and minimal hospital coverage.
This scheme is far from perfect, but uninsured kids already get the hospital
care they need when they're sick because hospitals pass unpaid costs along to
future where all children are well covered, Congress should stick with the
Senate's broad insurance benefits, but open the program to all children
negotiators essentially punted on the issue. The plan gives states some murky
coverage options and rules limiting the program to the currently uninsured.
face huge hospital bills that they will have to renege on. Other states will
choose comprehensive benefits restricted to the uninsured. To discourage
employers from simply dropping coverage, the recently uninsured cannot be
covered. Families and employers paying more for less insurance will yell and
scream. Support will wither. And states will scale back benefits.
the best child benefits may go ahead and let the poorly insured switch to the
out. States will come begging. Then Congress must either ante up or shut off a
is dead? Congress may be unwittingly creating the thin edge of the wedge that
Limbs lopped off. A general sense that everything is more than just a little
bit out of control. All in all, not an experience you'd want to go through. But
then, this is what happens when you have an accident with a chainsaw.
who has become legendary for his rapid restructuring of companies seemingly
plagued by slow sales, high overhead, and a lagging stock price. The accident
outsourced a higher percentage of the company's production; cleaned up
distribution channels; refocused product lines around higher quality items;
fired thousands of workers. Then he negotiated a sweet contract extension for
acclaim, at least from Wall Street. Sunbeam's stock price tripled immediately
after the announcement of his arrival, and in the following months it rose
billions of dollars in shareholder wealth he had created.
is famous for his short attention span. He's described himself as happiest in
the first year of a turnaround effort, when urgent decisions have to be made
and implemented and results are immediately visible. After three years, though,
he's bored and ready for a new challenge. So everyone expected that once the
acquire another company upon which he could work his magic. The smart money was
decision precisely because he wanted to show his detractors (of which
that he's ruthless in job cutting and cavalier about the relationship between
corporations and the communities in which they do business, but also that he's
financial houses in order, the argument went, but he can't actually turn a
seems to focus on selling a company after it's been cleaned up. And while
for a time, it looked as if Sunbeam actually was the marvelous turnaround story
established the kind of expectations that automatically draw money into a
stock. Instead, it was the company's turn to profitability after quarter upon
Sunbeam's household product lines and a pretty convincing reinvigoration of the
announced twice in three weeks that its sales and profit numbers in the latest
quarter will be well below Wall Street's expectations. Also, that sales will
company is shrinking, not growing. In addition, Sunbeam has acquired three
previously forecast, even as the logic behind those acquisitions now looks
wealth. In fact, Sunbeam's stock is just about where it was in the days
the market has overreacted to the bad news and is missing the real story.
workers should be adding value with their labor, and they don't get to do that
the confusion between profits and growth. For a turnaround to be real, the
company has to become not merely profitable but also positioned for steady
and eliminating layers of management can cut costs so dramatically as to make a
company profitable even if its sales shrink. But making that company grow in
left to cut, the only way to increase profits is to increase sales. In this
respect, it's striking that in the press release announcing the latest turmoil,
the first step in the process of building a powerful global business." The fact
that he felt the need to say this suggests he still doesn't fully believe
sustainability of Sunbeam, he thinks automatically about acquiring other
companies. Acquisitions are not necessarily mistakes. General Electric and
General Motors, among others, have done a brilliant job of using acquisitions
to strengthen both themselves and the acquired companies. But shuffling dollars
from one column to another is not the same as creating wealth. It's not the
same as improving productivity. It's not the same as adding real value to the
shifting the center of gravity in the computer world toward the network, the
largest part of which is the World Wide Web. Heady claims indeed. (What exactly
fundamentally one of cultural conflict, in which symbols and rhetoric have
played as important a role as underlying technological differences. The
forces." And in this struggle, Java is the rebels' supposed ace in the hole,
the "tsunami that will sweep through the economy," in Gilder's words, changing
fact, a technological transformation so important that those who do not adapt
will be left in the dust. But the intensity of Sun's evangelical effort
testifies to the overwhelming importance of marketing and name recognition in
it is, the history of technology is littered with superior products that never
attained mass appeal. Technology does not, in that sense, speak for itself. If
it did, Sun could have simply launched Java and waited for the inevitable to
occur. Whether someone announces a tidal wave is coming, after all, is
irrelevant to the wave's arrival. It crashes on the beach regardless. What we
see with Java, though, is that in the business world a tidal wave can only
already been remarkably successful in making Java into a brand name. Oddly,
struggle over Java is for the hearts and minds of developers. In that sense,
instead of focusing on the demand for Java, Sun is emphasizing its supply. It's
the "build it, and they will come" approach to business.
are its customers. But there's a more important reason for the emphasis
on getting people to program with Java, namely that it's impossible to get
computer users to abandon their current operating systems if they don't think
the alternative will be around five years from now. Apple has run into this
problem in recent years, as Mac users have defected to Windows because fewer
quickest way to assure users that your alternative is viable is to show them
the plethora of programs being written for it (or, in the case of Java, in it).
In that sense, you do have to build it before they will come.
are actually downloading Java applets. You only hear about how many companies
There are a few things to keep in mind about Sun's strategy
for Java with regard to the consumer market. The first, obviously, is that
creating a critical mass of developers turning out programs that work and that
people want is the crucial task. The second thing is that Sun makes, relatively
speaking, a minuscule amount of money from Java licensing. To be sure, it's
almost all pure profit, but in relation to the company's workstation and server
business, the revenue is nearly irrelevant. What's most relevant for Sun is the
role Java may play in eroding the desktop market and the proprietary authority
it's possible to see Sun's approach to Java as an embodiment of what's called
strategy that allows for innovation occurring elsewhere." Accordingly, the
Sun has done an impressive job of keeping pace with technological change by
refusing to remain locked into one vision of the future. Sun's genius as a
company, in fact, has always been its adaptability. And it has done best when
controlling the standards for Java, Sun is violating Joy's Law. A recent letter
international body suggested as much. But Sun has made Java's specs and the
source code freely available to developers, in the hope that a hundred flowers
will bloom. As Joy counseled, if Java works, it won't be because of Sun. It'll
else, though, is still uncertain. Programmers do seem to find it easier to work
in Java than in C++, and certainly the prospect of being able to download a
spreadsheet document and read it without having to download the spreadsheet
program is enticing. But Java programs are still considerably slower than those
written for a particular operating system, just as amphibious creatures are not
as good on land as mammals or as good in water as fish. And even the promise of
universal compatibility has not been completely realized.
course, is precisely why Java has become such fertile ground for
It builds market cap as if by magic. It raises the sun and illumines the road
ahead to a new computer architecture. Give poor Bill a break." But the really
interesting thing about Java is that Gilder isn't the only one using this kind
of language. Everyone speaks as if the stakes are monumental. Certainly, with
the relationship between cultural hegemony and business success was hinted at.
But with Java, Sun seems to be staking everything on that relationship. If you
want to know where the real culture wars are, forget the academy and think
standardized test, that mainstay of meritocracy, soon will join the manual
typewriter, vinyl records, and communism on the scrap heap of the
technology behind the new tests is remarkable. Using a simple form of
artificial intelligence, the computer selects questions tailored to the
make some people nervous, but they are nothing compared to the technology's
uses in medical care. Researchers are employing the same advances in artificial
intelligence to create a computer program that interviews patients. And,
computer for their national licensing exams. Since then, architects,
have made the leap. Aspiring graduate students can already opt to take the
hours; nursing exams, two days. They had to be that long, though, because a
paper test is dumb. It can't select which questions to ask. In order to
identify your exact level of, say, math ability, it must ask dozens of
Twenty math questions might suffice to rank you in the top or bottom half of
your cohort, but admissions committees want to know whether you're in the
question right, the computer asks a harder one, and an easier one when you get
ones and miss all the hard ones, so the computer skips most of both groups and
less than two hours, on average) and also makes tests more accurate, since the
computer can ask more questions around your level to ensure you really are in
for medicine. Using the same technology, researchers are now developing
programs to interview patients and measure, sometimes better than doctors can,
For some diseases, such as diabetes or high cholesterol,
such tests, so doctors had to rely on personal experience to evaluate
treatments. Then a new school of "outcomes researchers" suggested an answer:
Regardless of your disease, they argued, effective treatment should improve
your quality of life. So why not devise a standardized test to measure the
The test asks things like "Does your health limit you in walking a block?
Several blocks? More than a mile?" (If you're curious about your own SF-36
score, click here.) Questions cover pain, mood, physical function, and the
like. Doctors can give patients the test before and after treatment for almost
any disease. It's no substitute for a doctor's evaluation, but it can show how
you're doing in relation to your own previous condition and to others similarly
treated. Research shows, for example, that patients' SF-36 scores consistently
surgery (for trouble urinating) when they're done right.
replacement, however. Medicine often produces subtler results that may be
arthritis medication may enable a patient to button his shirt, or to play
singles tennis as opposed to doubles. To pick up these changes, a paper test
would have to ask more detailed questions, and soon would become impractically
might help. So, if a patient answers that he has trouble getting out of bed, a
computer could skip questions about vigorous activity and focus on questions
patients want, having the computer alert their doctors if the test finds their
It asks questions like: "Have you wanted to harm yourself? How often do you
feel downhearted and blue? Have you had a lot of energy?" These alone could
have valuable uses. In preliminary studies, for example, the questions can show
at recognizing problems in mentally healthy patients. For instance, the test
can catch when drugs cause slight fatigue or make it harder to enjoy life
fully, as some heart medications can. Doctors often miss these effects. The
test may make them think twice about medicines that take the fun out of
future, computers might even make up test questions and conduct personalized
interviews of job applicants, college applicants, and even patients. Will that
be good? Well, any technology can be used for good or ill. If doctors start
using computer interviews as an excuse to talk to patients less, medical care
will deteriorate. Patients could certainly get annoyed by having to take even a
intelligence has enormous potential to make care better. The question is, do we
survive outside the womb. It would hinge on the question of when the fetus
advocates offer a seductive argument: Whatever you think about abortion in
In general, obstetricians told me, their choice of abortion
method depends mainly on the fetus' size. During the first eight weeks of
pregnancy, when the fetus is very small, medications like methotrexate and
the United States, however, obstetricians usually use "vacuum aspiration,"
is less than an inch in size. They insert a suction tube through the cervix and
comfortable with this. They don't like it, they wish it had never come to this,
but they don't identify with, in antiseptic doctor argot, the "products of
viability. The fetus is now too big to fit into the suction tubing. A 20-week
abortion? Sometimes, they have no choice. Women who abort because of a fetal
abnormality don't find out about the problem until quite late: Amniocentesis to
late abortions are done for the mother's health, to save her, for example, from
possible disaster caused by an infected uterus or a newly diagnosed heart
condition. Most of the time, however, they are elective. Often, the mother
didn't know she was pregnant. "The power of human denial is unbelievable," one
obstetrician told me. It's not at all uncommon, he said, to see women go
through an entire pregnancy without realizing it, come to the ER with a
hours in the hospital, but it can take even longer. Sometimes, before delivery,
the obstetrician injects the fetus with a drug that stops its heart. If not,
the heart sometimes beats even after the fetus has been delivered. Even without
E. A couple of days ahead, small, absorbent rods are put in the pregnant
woman's cervical opening to expand it gradually. Then, for the actual
The doctor breaks her bag of water and drains out the fluid. The opening won't
let the fetus out whole. So the doctor inserts metal tongs, physically crushes
the head, and dismembers the fetus. The pieces are pulled out and counted to
anything, less grotesque. The fetus is delivered feet first. To get the large
head out, the doctor cuts open a hole at the base of the fetus's skull and
inserts tubing to suck out the brain, which collapses the skull. Often, but not
always, the fetus is injected lethally beforehand. The procedure is used for a
very small percentage of late abortions, and nothing makes it especially
necessary over D and E. In fact, none of the obstetricians I talked to had even
heard of the technique until it became a hot political topic. It seems hardly
is too gruesome to allow, however, it is hard to see how other late abortions,
especially D and Es, are any different. And that's the inevitable next target
that, even when it is a mother's life at stake and abortion is absolutely
necessary, doing the D and E feels "horrible." We imagine, as we look in the
fetus's eyes, that there is someone in there. And if there were, any elective
Is there "someone in there"? The legal debate after Roe
survive outside the womb. But knowing whether we have the technology to keep it
same question when I have a patient on life support. His heart may be beating
and his lungs may be breathing, but that doesn't tell me whether he is a living
person anymore. What I want to know is whether his brain has ceased
functioning. Likewise, in the case of a fetus, it seems that what we want to
know is whether it has a brain with the spark of consciousness. For example, we
no purpose to providing treatment. We let them die.
earliest time anatomic studies give for the first sensory fibers reaching the
when the health of the mother is not at risk and the fetus is not seriously
depiction of an angry strike and a consumer boycott that forces the company to
shut down. End with a union member standing in front of a shuttered factory,
looking blitzed, and saying, "I guess we showed them."
just two weeks ago. Not surprisingly, the workers ended up voting against
unionization, by a slim margin. After all, no one likes people who yell
in which the company faced UNITE, the newly invigorated textile workers' union
Circuit Court of Appeals eventually got around to ordering a new election. At
unlikely at best. A week after the election, union reps filed charges with the
company's point man on labor relations. "But they never do."
it comes to keeping unions out of its plants, it's a firm believer in the
things company supervisors interrogated employees about their attitudes toward
company's factories. More interestingly, although this was not held to be a
delaying a 4.5-percent raise for workers at its unionized plants. This was,
plants, the last paycheck employees received before the vote contained a note
from the company telling them that the union was planning to take their money.
workers that if they supported him by voting against the union, he would
support them by keeping the company independent. The union went down in an
had already dumped the workers' pension funds into insurance annuities run by a
company eventually seized by federal regulators.) And if you want to go way
National Guard and decorating the tops of their factories with machine guns and
Cannon workers stayed put. Seen in this context, what's a mere video
company also has benefited from the special obstacles that its Southern
location adds to those that have eroded labor's strength nationally. Every
union shops are illegal. Much of Southern industrialization took place outside
of this century, in fact, the history of unionism in the South was one of
months, when the National Textile Workers Union failed to come through with the
Dixie," an abortive attempt to organize the entire region, but it collapsed
when unions proved more interested in raiding other unions for members than in
organizing new workers. There's little evidence that an ingrained conservatism
among Southern workers has kept unions out. But it certainly seems true that
the absence of a tradition of Southern unionism has made it easier for
employers to play on fears about union corruption and greed, and to suggest
that plant closings are an inevitable consequence of unionization.
employer should be able to play on those fears. The National Labor
Relations Act embodies a rather romantic view of democracy, in which workers
coolly consider both sides of the unionization issue and then vote. The problem
by talking among themselves. The act envisioned the employer standing to one
side as the vote was held, perhaps expressing its opinion but certainly not
was designed to encourage unionization). When employers want to play that
wants to argue that unionization will raise labor costs to the point where it
will be forced to shut down operations, should it be allowed to do so? Is it
coercive for people with supervisory authority to ask workers how they plan to
these questions requires a constant redefinition of the difference between an
of course, is not to say the fears are not real. The striking thing about
workers' comments after the vote was how many of them mentioned the possibility
because textile capital migrated from the Northeast in pursuit of low wages, no
unions, and cheaper materials. It's easy for today's textile workers to imagine
moving manufacturing abroad, or outsourcing. But in this case, I guess,
technological visionary and a manager who had figured out what it took to turn
success stories of the last two decades, had been marked by dramatic
Instead, Fisher has floundered. In his first two years, he did do an excellent
during the days when conglomeration was all the rage. But unlike such figures
restructuring plan. More tellingly, perhaps, Fisher has devoted an inordinate
the last two years pressing a case before the World Trade Organization. It
financial implications of the case were not huge, the psychological investment
Instead of seeming like a minor blow, the decision was portrayed as powerful
evidence that Fisher's magic had failed him. But while dreaming of a trade
victory to solve fundamental business problems seems like a dubious recipe for
success, there's one important thing to remember: That was exactly the recipe
the third leg of the world financial order, along with the International
to rule in tariff cases and quota cases, it doesn't seem to have authority over
cases involving more subtle restraints on trade, primarily those created by
arrangements between companies rather than by governments. (Click for more on
Japan's four largest distributors of photographic film and paper, all of whom
relationships are not necessarily illegal, since they make production and
distribution more efficient. And clearly consumer companies are constantly in
exclusive relationships with designers. Nonetheless, by being frozen out of the
market as well, particularly since Japan has a law restricting the number of
of state intervention to restrict imports, but it was evidence from the 1960s
regions of Japan than in others, and that at different points in the last two
dealing with is a monopoly situation, then it's an imperfect monopoly at best.
actually a complicated one. In the 1960s and 1970s, the company altered the
how weird that sounds), and also invented film that could be developed in
be making that effort. But even as it lost focus in its sales efforts at home,
rule as it did, the decision was a blow against open markets and seems likely
to increase protectionist sentiment at home. Still, there is something about
couldn't do itself. If you're looking for reasons why, consider the
accomplished not merely through technological innovation or total quality
management, but also through the remarkably effective lobbying efforts of the
to negotiate telecommunications agreements with Japan that were then used to
side of these questions, although dumping accusations too often mean, "They're
the past two years. The past casts shadows on him that are too long.
something new was really afoot. Granted, she's only a household name in certain
has enjoyed a precipitous ascent up the fame ladder, seeing herself featured in
boom can be seen in the arrival of business news on the front pages of daily
newspapers, the rise of business coverage at mainstream publications like
about the stock market than ever before, while the uncontested authority of the
free market has placed business at the center of the culture.
whether business news really is much more popular, or whether network
ratings, which means that its audience is so small that it can't be measured.
that's still insignificant next to anything the major networks do.
because a significant number of brokers and traders supposedly keep their
televisions tuned to it as they go about their business. This may well be true,
but even if it is, it doesn't tell us very much about the broader impact of the
that the new wave of business news doesn't really illuminate the workings of
market is analogous to a football commentator worrying more about a team's
particular companies and the economy as a whole. Unfortunately, to get to the
useful information, you have to wade through reams of useless stuff, with
little guidance on how to distinguish between the two. The basic reality of an
fundamental analysis, technical analysis, macroeconomic news, trend spotters,
be the ideal expression of the supermarket approach to understanding the
the market. It offers multiple perspectives, in order to let viewers choose for
"technical" analyst who believes that if you look at the charts of a stock's
movements over the past year, you can discern coherent patterns that will guide
you in predicting when that stock's price is due to rise or fall. That analyst
is followed by another who believes that the key is to seek out and buy those
industries currently in favor with investors. She, in turn, is followed by an
advocate for a more conventional approach: looking for companies with strong
earnings growth that are currently trading at low stock prices.
problem here is not that the technical analyst is crazy, although he is. The
problem is that these analyses of the market are presented as if they're all of
understanding the market. But that sort of open conflict would run the risk of
revealing the inherently futile nature of the project these networks are
engaged in, namely, trying to make sense of the stock market's movement in the
short term. Each day, after all, there are lots of different reasons why the
more importantly, whatever reasons you find today aren't going to help you
understand what the market will do tomorrow. In the short term, investing is
is other than random, it depends upon and encourages a trader's approach to
investing. The point of having a stock market, after all, is not so that people
profit. The point is that investors are supposed to direct capital toward
companies that will make productive use of it and direct capital away from
too does trading based on anything other than an evaluation of a company's
nothing but informative pieces on publicly traded companies, with occasional
glances at the overall economic climate. Of course, its ratings would soon be
turned into hash marks. Which might suggest that real business news is
my fellow surgical residents and I went around a table divvying up nights on
be in for a long night. I laughed and dismissed the thought.
looking at my calendar a while later, I noticed that the moon would be full
then, too, I felt my skepticism slip a little. Perhaps I would be in for a
miserable night, after all. Trained scientists such as myself, however, do not
It turns out there is one reputable study that has tried to
researching this or that I could find only one such study. This is, after all,
a world that has studied even how chewing gum distributes saliva around the
some," the authors concluded. "Staying at home is recommended." How you escape
the house, calling in sick to work, or postponing flights or major
more seriously. For centuries, and in disparate civilizations around the world,
people have suspected that the cycles of the moon have a powerful influence
alters individual behavior. And mental health professionals believed it more
connection thought to exist between the full moon and madness.
effect. Scientists once dismissed daily biological cycles as preposterous, but
they now widely accept that body temperature, alertness, memory, and mood all
fluctuate according to a predictable "circadian" rhythm. Evidence also shows
or poisoning themselves with toxic substances. The researchers checked to see
whether peaks in such events occurred not just according to the phase of the
moon but also according to one's zodiac sign or numerological readings (as
less likely to overdose around the time of a full moon than around a new
of other studies. If any link between psychology and the full moon exists, it
French dies less in Full Moon, and more in New Moon period." Studies in
the full moon. These studies don't quite clinch the full moon's happy effect,
to have no effect. Researchers have reviewed logs for calls to police stations,
consultations to psychiatrists, homicides, emergency room visits, and other
measures of our daily burden of madness. They found no consistent relationship,
period. This puts the peak of ovulation at the full moon. (Could this provide
an evolutionary explanation for the romantic associations we have with the
as how tides are supposed to make women menstruate.
that neither the full moon nor the inauspicious date threatened my night.
Nonetheless, I came on duty that evening to find the resident from whom I was
taking over swamped with patients. He stayed late to help me catch up. Just
paramedics said he had been stalking his girlfriend with gun in hand. He fled
in his car when cops arrived and led them on a chase that ended in the massive
crash. The rest of the night was no better. I was, as we say, "slammed." It's
that studies showed no connection. But my pager went off before I could start.
finally crashing in Colorado. The evidence released by the Air Force this month
indicates suicide. Why he did it is baffling, however. The case violates even
psychiatrists' common notions about why people kill themselves.
leader ordered pilots to update their computers. Button confirmed the order at
run, Button did not respond. The lead plane swung around to catch sight of
Button. Despite 40-mile visibility, Button was nowhere to be found.
Ground radar, however, picked him up. Apparently, Button
didn't use any of his three radios. He didn't eject. He didn't attempt to land
identification signal to let others track him. Yet Button's difficult maneuvers
show that the plane functioned well and that he had full consciousness and
capacity. The autopilot would have been incapable of these maneuvers.
Everything indicated that Button deliberately flew into the mountain.
hardly any risk factors. True, he was male (women attempt suicide more often,
Witness parents over his abandoning the faith (organized religion lowers
victims have a history of mental illness (most often depression) or substance
abuse. Button had neither. On a recent visit to see him, his parents thought he
was his energetic, driven self. Friends said he was enthusiastic about his
finding a girl to bring home. He had girlfriends before, but after three
pickings." The night before the crash, his roommate said he'd ordered a large
pizza so he'd have leftovers for the next night. During the mission briefing on
the fateful day, Button was "cutting up and making his corny little jokes,"
showed no signs of substance abuse. No alcohol or drugs were found during the
autopsy. He was in a stressful job, but that alone does not increase suicidal
in rare cases, suicide may not be motivated by emotional pain. For someone who
doesn't attach meaning to death yet, suicide can be a sudden, rash way out of
trouble. Button seemed like such a person. It wasn't just that he was a
suggested he didn't fully comprehend death's finality. During survival training
blew a tire attempting a hotshot "short" landing, and left the authorized route
Button boarded his plane that day, Kelly suggests, suicide probably wasn't his
plan, but his impulsiveness may have steered him into trouble and then into
suicide. It's conceivable that he veered off on a whim. Perhaps he took a short
joy ride or prematurely dropped a bomb (his four 500-pound bombs are still
missing). Whatever the case, with each misstep he dug his hole deeper. As
Button flew through Colorado, he may have come to see crashing as a viable way
seem an obvious point, but it is one that we often ignore when assisted suicide
is the topic. Like Mark Twain, who said that "suicide is the only sane thing
the young or old ever do in this life," we imagine that the elderly and the ill
desire death rationally. But our prejudices are showing. Suicidal patients,
whatever their age or condition, almost always suffer from addiction or mental
disease. Even when they do not, as with Button, they usually are not thinking
suicide also shows how, even in peculiar cases, the desire to die arises from
one's individual history and psychology. Yet, in public discussion of youthful
suicide, we're often unwilling to trace it to such causes and try to place
subcommittee considering stricter restrictions on music lyrics heard an
studies show that there is no association between music and suicide. (One found
Of course, ideas do count. We know, for example, that one
adolescent suicide can trigger others, even through media reports, leading to
"suicide clusters." Had later victims not heard about the first suicide, they
may not have done it when they did. But psychiatrists insist that an idea
cannot compel even a child to commit suicide. It is only a proximate factor in
Democratic Leadership Council released a new poll purporting to show that
battling over the soul of the Democratic Party: Should it become more
content to argue on merit, each side has hired a pollster to prove its position
asking people whether they oppose "corporate welfare" or "special rights for
homosexuals," is kid stuff. The true art is to rig the question so deeply that
the deck. If you're afraid that people won't deem the benefit of your
people whether they'd like to "create" bonds to improve infrastructure. Better
yet, while ignoring the cost of your proposal, assert the cost of the
to Social Security like letting people control portions of their own retirement
policy will achieve a popular goal, force people to choose between the policy
redistribute existing wealth or to foster conditions that enable everyone to
have a chance to make a higher income?" If you favor opportunity for all, you
trade policy would limit our trade with other countries and be protectionist,
or would a better trade policy be more aggressive at opening up markets for our
goods and increasing trade among nations?" If you favor opening foreign
best argument for trade restrictions is that they're necessary to pry open
between. Guess which idea wins? This is like being asked how you want your
steak cooked: Most people take the middle option. Much of the dispute between
(left, right) or three (left, right, center). By offering three alternatives,
rejected (cuts in Medicare, education, and the environment) and overlook the
completed, the pollster can organize the results in a way that favors his
client. Since the public favors "moderation" but doesn't agree on what it
"moderate" as the opposite of "liberal," its spin prevails.
their answers into categories, defining the "moderate" group as narrowly as
welfare reform, fighting crime, or a balanced budget--31 percent of the
support for tax cuts for college"? Weren't those voters endorsing
the same trick in reverse, by inventing "Suburban Values" Democrats, who care
primarily about "better, safer schools, safer streets, and the need for
family leave, and the breakdown of community "economic" issues? And are voters
failed to win by rigging the questions and categories can be cleaned up in the
"executive summary" (the pollster's spin) and the press release and news
reasons why they did so. Thirty percent cite, among other reasons, "his support
the Democrats, and more apply the term "conservative" to the Democrats than to
are dishonest. The point is that they disguise argument as science. Which has a
the polls. Meanwhile, their pollsters skew the polls to suit their clients'
wrong, who is to blame? The traditional answer in journalism has been
unambiguous: the doctor. If the press found out a person had died from improper
care or had the wrong leg cut off, the reaction was predictable. A clamor
doctors everywhere cringed. There but for the grace of God go I, each of us
would say. For all of us make terrible mistakes. Only the unlucky few are
did it." In many cases, this is the right way to go. Bad systems are more often
at fault than bad doctors. I worry, however, that we have already begun to take
into the question of who is ultimately in charge when it comes to taking care
prohibiting workers from leaving the emergency room. (If you somehow missed or
than on individual caregivers. City, state, and national officials demanded to
know how a medical facility could maintain such an appalling policy. In an
wrong. What shocked me was not so much the hospital's policy as the fact that
doctors and nurses would stick by the rules rather than help a person in
desperate need. News organizations demanded an explanation from the hospital
not an isolated instance of medical personnel providing bad care in obeisance
epidural anesthesia during childbirth to women on Medicaid unless they anted up
patient offered credit cards, a check, and finally had her mother wire in the
money, but the epidural was denied. The cash hadn't arrived in time.
the real issue here is who, ultimately, is in charge of patient care. By
putting all the blame on the rule makers, the public is implicitly accepting
that sometimes the rule makers are in charge instead of the caregivers. That is
a very recent phenomenon, and it should be resisted.
policies, after all, are not federal laws. They do not demand slavish devotion.
In odd cases, rules adopted for the best of reasons can make for bad medicine.
And real life is full of odd cases. I remember one not long ago when, late at
night, a patient came into my hospital at death's door because of a rupturing
abdominal aneurysm. Understandably, our hospital forbids residents to start
operations without an attending surgeon present. But none was around, and this
guy would have died waiting. So we didn't hesitate to break the rules and
According to a hospital spokesman, it is an old policy maintained by most
hospitals to make clear that staff should not be expected to sacrifice the care
of sick patients in the ER to go hither and yon. But the dying boy presented a
Tribune reported that a year earlier, an emergency worker at a partner
hospital with the same policy had done just that. He ran outside to help a
in which the doctors who follow them are not ultimately culpable. To say they
were obeying an administrator's instructions is not even the slightest defense.
Patients still can (and should) insist on holding doctors responsible for
a slightly different context. The recent clamor in the press and among some
politicians to allow patients to sue insurers for medical malpractice makes it
sound as if we are going in the wrong direction here, too. But the semantics
are important. The laws under consideration would not actually make insurers
a fair chance to contest improper refusals of payment, but we should not lapse
into calling such refusals malpractice. Just because an insurer won't pay for a
treatment doesn't free a doctor from providing it. Essentially, a patient in
this position is uninsured. And doctors are still ethically obliged to offer
calling for a return to olden times, when medical decisions were nobody's
without oversight had its problems: deviance (not all doctors provided good
care) and cost (the doctors drove up the bills). Hospitals, government
insurers, and private insurers have stepped in with standard guidelines for
care, review of medical decisions, and changes in how doctors are paid. Much of
this systematization of care has clearly been to public benefit. But not all of
margin, we doctors have found ourselves being asked to do things that make us
queasy. A new guideline, for example, may tell us to send heart surgery
patients home earlier. It forces us to justify doing otherwise. It's a big pain
in the butt. But it is not a command, and we should not let it become one.
Perhaps the previous way was based on nothing more than fusty old habit, and
being forced to rethink it is good for us. However, if I know the new way is
doctors should have known that blindly following policy was bad. The buck still
picked them all up in the past year. Every time he issues a public statement,
become perhaps the most important people on Wall Street.
past three months. Go back further and you can collect many more, all
is no kook. He has been at the job for well over a decade and has been an
Street's new reality, which is that no one has as much influence as the people
who supposedly know where a company's stock price is going to go.
Securities analysts were relatively unimportant on Wall
Street before the 1960s, but their rise to power has not been sudden. As early
celebrity, called by New York Times and Wall Street Journal
analysts were pulling down salaries in the high six figures, although they were
still a long way from the Masters of the Universe terrain then reserved for
though, the dramatic upsurge in money pouring into the market and the resultant
pressure on institutional investors to improve their performance have sharply
increased the value of anyone with a clue about what's going to happen to the
time, growth in the market for financial news has made analysts public figures.
and perhaps most importantly, the sharp expansion in the market for initial
public offerings and secondary stock offerings has made it essential that
brokerage houses have analysts who are well respected in their field.
Corporations, sensibly enough, do not want their stock offerings underwritten
by houses whose recommendations will carry little weight with investors.
big deals can be the difference between a great year and a bad one. And that
has meant that analysts are now often valued as much for their rainmaking
abilities as for their predictive expertise. Top analysts now spend far more
time on the road, trying to drum up business, while much more of the actual
analytical work is being done by junior analysts back at the office. Not
surprisingly, since analysts are now crucial figures in the underwriting
business, their compensation has tripled over the last three or four years.
than half a million dollars. Though analysts are still not as highly paid as
investment bankers, the gap is much narrower than it was in the early
departments of Wall Street houses has become a fiction. While there's no
evidence that direct pressure is brought to bear on analysts to paint rosy
pictures of a company's prospects, corporations expect what's called
that they don't want to be hung out to dry by a "neutral" or "sell"
Some conflict has always been inherent in the analyst's
role. Houses that are bearish are not houses that get a lot of underwriting
business. And issuing a "sell" recommendation has a way of making a company's
management unfriendly, which in turn may limit an analyst's access to
information in the future. It's perhaps not surprising, then, that a recent
study showed that analysts issue "buy" recommendations seven times as often as
course, in a bull market, which means that analysts should have been
recommending that clients buy more often than they sell. Even so, analysts'
recommendations have manifested the Wall Street equivalent of grade inflation.
"Neutral" is generally understood to mean "sell," "outperform" to mean "your
call," and "accumulate" to mean "you might want to buy it if you have extra
money lying around." I think "buy" still means "buy," but then some houses use
analysts have become more able to move stock prices, their more
out there, it's hard to know which ones to take seriously. In the short
when analysts issue "strong buy" or "sell" recommendations. Knowing that
prospects but that his cut in the rating will drop the stock regardless.
anyone outside Wall Street? The first reason is that analysts are essentially
unaccountable for their recommendations. No one says: "We can't quote this guy.
He's been wrong four out of five times on this stock." So their ability to move
troubling. The second, more important answer is that analysts are crucial
to meet and beat earnings expectations at all costs. When you couple that
reality with an overly narrow definition of "shareholder value," you end up
with a corporate world that must privilege the next quarter over the next
decade. Which somehow doesn't seem to be the best way to prepare for the next
about jeans. Actually, let me tell you a story about two companies that sell
has to offer both in terms of ethical business practices and the way it treats
its workers. The other, Guess Inc., is about the worst, notorious for its
maltreatment of its workers and its ruthlessness in business. Now, if this were
and Guess would be punished. And if this story had an ending written by
its attempt to evade market imperatives. What makes the story interesting,
though, is that young consumers are writing it, and so it ends with two
companies doing business in polar ways but arriving at exactly the same place:
one of the few privately held large companies left in the United States, thanks
performance has been outstanding, thanks in no small part to the rebirth of the
for the invention of Dockers, but the answer has more to do with dramatic
apart routinized assembly and giving individual workers more responsibility.
receiving eight months' pay plus one week for every year of service, and
best severance settlement apparel workers have ever gotten."
end, staying ahead of the style curve is both harder and more important than
of the name, but typing it over and over is more annoying than you can
with contractors that ensured that money went to them and not to their
Guess has seen its stock price cut in half, had the only outside member of its
board of directors quit after being on the job for a few weeks, and watched its
chief financial officer resign for "personal" reasons. Meanwhile it has had a
formal complaint filed against it by the National Labor Relations Board for
union to undermine those organizing efforts, and coercing workers into
Coincidentally or not, Guess' earnings and revenue also
have slid sharply, and what's interesting is that Guess' problems seem, in
huge dividends out of the company's profits, they're not doing anything
different today from the way they did business three years ago. They've always
been crazy. It's just that now the Guess label has lost its cachet. The buzz is
fading, and the company's jeans in particular, which a Fortune writer
(which we may do still, but while wearing khakis). Without cachet, what does
that both the high road and the low road can take you into trouble if you stop
paying attention to the taste makers? Partly. But the differences between the
real choice. And our ideas of what constitutes a fair wage or a fair return on
answer them in very different ways. Unfortunately, in the face of the universal
solvent of hipness, how you answer those questions seems to matter less than
pack ignored me and resumed a boring conversation comparing how many
on. Among surgeons, it's a point of pride verging on arrogance that we work
harder than anybody else. So I ate my meal silently, looking faintly bemused at
around their necks. Surgeons, should we need anything besides our bare hands,
keep our stethoscopes coiled up in a pocket of our white coats like forgotten
but occasionally necessary detritus. Like admitting you're tired, being caught
wearing a dog collar is embarrassing. It diminishes you.
seems childish, I know. Why all this sniping along the medical front? These are
educated, professional people, right? If you pushed surgeons to explain, I
suspect the response would be that the animosity is functional, that patients
would not want surgeons accepting other specialties' softer values.
where it is commonly accepted that nature may defeat doctors' efforts. Because
surgery is so violent, surgeons generally do not undertake it unless they
expect to succeed. So surgical training inculcates the view that nothing must
be allowed to go wrong. One learns to take responsibility for almost any
applied carelessly, anything. Once, I had a patient who refused to get out of
bed after surgery and soon developed a clot in his leg. Medical residents might
have thrown up their hands and said, "What could we do?" But the chief resident
gave me hell for it. It didn't matter that the patient wouldn't cooperate. Why,
she asked, didn't I figure out a way to make the patient cooperate?
argument goes, surgical residents quite naturally disparage specialties with
central to what we do. So we seldom gripe about cardiologists, because they
share our ethic of personal responsibility and keep our long hours. But pimple
poppers (dermatologists)? Forget it. Here's a joke we tell: How do you keep a
dollar bill from a radiologist? Pin it to a patient.
doesn't quite add up, though. Why not simply accept that our group has a
certain set of skills and values that fit our needs, while others have theirs?
out, however, that to social psychologists there is nothing at all surprising
about this antagonism. In numerous studies, they have documented a deep paradox
individuals are generally positive, supportive, and rewarding, but those among
groups are ordinarily unpleasant and confrontational. What's more, they observe
something called "the minimal group effect." Even if people are randomly
divided into groups, the groups will automatically discriminate against each
the two groups were kept apart and unaware of each other. Almost instantly,
kids in each group formed bonds of loyalty and group identification. Then, when
in the sand. They spoke of "our guys" and "those guys." Each group named
first interaction. For example, the Eagles called the Rattlers the "nigger
campers," even though all the boys were white. At common meals they glowered
from separate tables. Cabin raids and fistfights ensued.
painters." Afterward, the boys were told that their choices divided them into a
groups at random. Then, each boy was taken aside and asked how he would divide
up rewards among individual boys from "your group" and "the other group."
boys gave more money to those in their own group. Furthermore, when the options
were fixed so that a boy could not give his group more without sacrificing
profits for both groups, the boys still chose to maximize the difference in
rewards between groups. Although they knew each other from school; although
their groups were defined by flimsy, irrelevant criteria; and although
reviewed all such studies and concluded that we have an instinctive "need to
belong." Given the advantages that would have come to our ancestors from
might ask why groups aren't always at war with one another. Fortunately,
it turns out that despite how easily group hostility forms, it's not that hard
fomenting competition within a group, even moral suasion. At Robbers Cave,
animosity rapidly disappeared when the "counselors" created common tasks, for
other social ties that produce bonds outside group lines.
them.) It seems that given the chance, we are legions ready to mass against one
become an unending series of massive mergers, it seems increasingly likely that
often enough that size matters, and look what happens. (Feel free to insert
problems with excess capacity, so reducing the number of players in the global
marketplace may decrease the chance of dramatic overbuilding. Finally, unlike
fundamentally different product lines in an elusive quest for super market
there are opportunities for companies to be simultaneously bigger and more
powerhouse to its already impressive collection of assets, how can it be
from the debacle of the late 1970s and from the disastrous later years of Lee
that last week's press accounts made it out to be. Last year, the company's
excellent, it doesn't make a single passenger car of note, aside from the
definitely did a brilliant job of reinventing itself in the early 1980s, taking
result, it halved the number of vehicles it had to sell every year to break
"synergy" is the word on the lips and the word processors of everyone who has
commented on the deal. But not all these commentators seem to understand what
synergy means. For instance, there's very little overlap between the product
mean synergy is automatic. All it means is that the two companies are
be able to offer cars to the full spectrum of buyers, the current lack of
overlap also means there aren't any easy cost savings to be found by
eliminating duplication. It also means the deal's effect on the overcapacity
To repeat a point made here too many times before, synergy
occurs only when two companies together can make and market products more
premium, the deal has to make an awful lot of sense.
shake up a company that is still heavy with layers of middle management.
probably be big enough to run harder bargains with suppliers, although there's
no real evidence that Ford or GM has enjoyed huge cost savings on parts because
of their size. The new company may also benefit from merging warehousing and
inventory management, and ideally there will be joint production of components
that both companies use. But size brings disadvantages as well as benefits, and
productive and profitable, making quality cars that people wanted to buy. Now
of dollars. Size matters, but sometimes for all the wrong reasons.
into turmoil again. And here we always thought they could take care of
this news without panicking. But then the events of the past week have not done
real economy. In other words, it would be a mistake to dismiss
mistake to dismiss most of their concerns as precisely that.
itself, most obviously the precipitous rise in interest rates and the
call "herding." In a strange way, it seems clear that people were looking for
an excuse to sell, not simply to lock in profits for the quarter but also
because the bull market had lasted too long and had risen too high. The odd
and sell orders were easily matched up and there were no stories, as there were
trade. Everyone was racing for the exits, but they were doing so in an orderly
bubble to burst, if only for a little while, can be seen also in the sense of
a thousand points gone from the Dow, investors could look at the market a
little more clearly and decide what they really thought. Of course, that
turned around and started racing for the entrances, but it must have been nice
cavalier to dismiss this past week as a simple illustration that humans
sometimes act like sheep? Not really. (But then I would say that, wouldn't I?)
In the first place, it's hard to see how even a 600-point drop in the Dow would
is, in that sense, almost purely a secondary market. And while it's never good
for consumer confidence to have brokers jumping out of windows, short and steep
drops in the valuation of equities have nothing to do with the production of
Now, that may seem like a dubious assertion, particularly
given the constant rhetoric about the global economy with which we are deluged
one Coke each today but will drink two Cokes each tomorrow. But consider this:
are not in recession, which means they will still be buying, even if less than
before. If anything, the combination of currency devaluation and slower growth
and assuaging the Fed's concerns about an overheating economy (however dubious
a third of corporate profit growth in the last fiscal year came from exports.
So the rhetoric of globalization is not simply rhetoric. And that's especially
companies will find it difficult to replace the business. The same may also be
true, on a smaller scale, of larger software and hardware companies like
plants in the region. And if you can pay your bills in devalued ringgit and get
currencies will continue to hurt their profit margins. But it seems telling
billion of its own shares after the company's stock dropped eight points on
there is always the chance that the company's management has simply gone
actually continuing a venerable tradition of Establishment attempts to quell
them to dip into their reserves to offer loans that would allow stockholders to
cover their margins and begin buying again. In the midst of the crisis, he sent
an emissary to the floor of the Exchange, where the man raised his hand,
be enough for everybody!" And that, at least according to the story, was
the company's shares at a time when the stock was already trailing well below
that. Like the first, this was a rather cinematic moment, but it didn't work
while Big Blue was responding to a blip. Nor does Big Blue exercise the kind of
still a welcome slap in the face to a market that was hyperventilating for no
good reason at all. Or, rather, to a market that was hyperventilating for as
real a reason as there is: Markets are made up of people, and people sometimes
United Auto Workers voted overwhelmingly to reject a new contract offer from
Caterpillar, you could have been forgiven. In an era of quality teams and
militancy. What it wasn't, though, was a throwback to an era of union power. In
of the 1990s and is also, unsurprisingly, the most bitter. The fight began with
replacement workers. In the years since, it has featured picket line violence
by both strikers and Cat security guards, scores of unfair labor practices by
fired into Cat executives' windows, even as the company has fired union members
contract since they returned to the factories more than two years ago. That
means they have been working under company imposed terms, and turning down
Caterpillar's latest offer means they will continue to work under those terms
for the foreseeable future. It's a measure of just how angry Cat workers are
that they would rather toil along without a contract than accept one that feels
reasons during the last four years. While some were reinstated, often at the
percentage of those allegations are true, the cost to the company in back pay
From one angle, the shortsightedness of the rank and file
seems extraordinary. The new contract, while hardly lavish, did provide for
seems to make no sense. But then, it's clear that what's now at stake for many
Cat workers is not so much another dollar an hour raise as an idea of how a
justify tearing up a perfectly good contract. You can understand viscerally why
it's hard for workers to vote for their own interests while their friends
remain in limbo. It's harder to understand why Cat management is so insistent
the workplace. It's overstating the case to say that Caterpillar has sought to
break the union, but it's not overstating the case by much. And in that
kept reporting record quarterly earnings, in part because so many union members
became scabs, in part because management personnel helped work the lines, and
workforce. The company has reinvented itself as an exemplar of lean production
and now dominates its major competitors. In the last two years, Caterpillar has
announced the opening of five new production plants. All of them are opening in
crucial to understand about Caterpillar, though, is that its success in
also the product of a coherent strategy for creating a more flexible,
Wall Street also saw the losses as a kind of investment.
risen steadily. Across the board, in fact, investors are willing to overlook
"extraordinary charge" and valued the company as if the losses had never
high enough, Wall Street can be very, very patient.
repent their sins, and pledge to take charge of their families and communities.
Nearby, protesters from the National Organization for Women chanted: "Racist,
How did the Promise Keepers succeed where the religious right has often failed?
responsibility. NOW's chief rap on PK is that it tells men to take
liberals and feminists. But leadership has two sides. PK plays down the power
aspect and plays up the opposite aspect: male responsibility for domestic
argues that the "biblical" (as opposed to "secular") meaning of leadership
is service and that the Bible, while instructing wives to submit to their
husbands, also instructs husbands to submit to their wives. This has led to the
for example, that a true leader recognizes his wife's talents and takes the
initiative to help them flourish. The viewer comes away persuaded that PK is
accuse PK leaders of crusading against "the feminization of man." True, they
goad men to action by accusing them of acting like sissies. But they also teach
that masculinity lies in moral strength, not in money, power, or stoicism. They
preach vulnerability, humility, contrition, intimacy, sharing, weeping,
tenderness, and surrender. They deride "machismo." Humility, they say, includes
letting your wife pay the bills if God gave her better math skills than you and
letting her pursue the professional dreams God planted in her. Which explains
racial inclusion a central project of PK, and he has stipulated that gender
segregation must be a temporary means toward integrating and reconciling the
segregation draws heavily on liberal themes. Men, he argues, have been
culturally uprooted and stripped of their identity. They need space to protect
and repair themselves. This argument combines the religious right's standard
defensive posture (we're not imposing our values; we're just protecting them
separately from boys so as to free them from cultural pressure) and
multiculturalism (men must preserve their unique masculine culture).
Christian support groups, whereas PK is men's only refuge. Men won't open up
and cry in women's presence because it's not "safe." They need the company of
buddies to assure them of their masculinity so that they can break down without
feeling like sissies. This message has induced some liberal pundits to call the
Promise Keepers pathetic, thereby undermining NOW's portrayal of them as
practical benefits usually beat principle. Most women feel less oppressed by
their husbands' pretensions to authority than by the work that falls to them
because of their husbands' neglect. PK leaders have won over many women and
assuaged feminist pundits by addressing the latter problem. "Be first to the
dryer," they tell men. "Turn off the television and empty the dishwasher." They
instruct fathers to spend more time with their kids and to forswear adultery,
abandonment, and domestic abuse. PK routinely embarrasses feminist critics by
producing testimony from women who love the way PK has transformed their
speaking at Operation Rescue rallies years ago and for promoting a Colorado
ballot measure that would have restricted laws protecting gay rights. Usually,
the media view these positions as mean, but PK leaders take a softer approach.
They never speak of gays as an organized threat. And when asked about
homosexuality, they always subsume it in a general rule against extramarital
feminists have criticized moral conservatives who blame women for untimely
pregnancies and abortions. Now along comes PK to blame men. Instead of
advocating legislation against abortion, PK instructs men to stop having sex
outside marriage and to stop pressuring their wives and girlfriends to have
defenders paraphrase the liberal slogan that NOW famously applied to abortion:
"If you don't like Promise Keepers, don't marry one."
Promise Keepers talk far less about abortion and homosexuality than their
critics and the media do. They're more interested in spiritual
alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, adultery, divorce, illegitimacy, crime, and
database. Others who have signed up for PK have subsequently turned up on
PK isn't in bed with the religious right, many liberals predict that its
commitment to restore traditional morality will inevitably draw it into
the ball." They need a "halftime" pep talk and a new "game plan." They must
defend morality "like offensive linemen protecting the quarterback." Many of
the group's speakers and supporters are prone to using Christian war metaphors:
"battleground," "army of God," "civil war of values." This kind of talk spooks
spokesmen emphatically deny a political agenda. They describe the group as a
"revival movement" aimed at changing hearts, not a "reform movement" aimed at
Christian Coalition, they don't keep a membership list, and they expect to
In this dispute, tone matters more than content. PK needs
to show less of its macho side and more of its sensitive side. So its leaders
have begun to play down the war metaphors. They have turned the other cheek to
country's political leaders instead of judging them. They have also instructed
the Promise Keepers to seek civic assignments from their local pastors, not
from the movement's elite. "We stop short of prescribing what that agenda
won the war. Many feminists, including the president of the Ms.
Foundation, have expressed sympathy for the Promise Keepers and an interest in
coaxing them toward gender equality rather than opposing them. NOW's vice
president, in retreat, says NOW was only trying to "educate" people that PK
criticism and openly contemplate changing their ways. If they were selling
the reduced threat of nuclear attack, the Pentagon is quietly recommending
105mm smile, he's finally enjoying the military lifestyle.
spokesman's claim that the deal would "blow an enormous hole in the
government's case," because it shows that MS' competitors have retained the
point too but the Journal adds that on the other hand, the government
investigated to see if she used her position to steer government business to a
promised to take birth control pills. The woman claims that she became pregnant
accidentally. That factual issue may be settled at trial, but it seems that
there is a larger legal issue well worth addressing. Since court findings of
paternity cost the imputed fathers eighteen years' worth of support, it seems
only fair that women be held accountable for any promises they make about
attempting to remain childless. In the absence of that, a woman's promise to
take charge of birth control and then not doing so remains the only form of
monetary fraud Today's Papers can think of that is not only not punished, but
attempts by companies to market their products inside schools, especially
them) to cheese companies has been finding new ways to do this, and parents
are, says the paper, finding more product solicitations coming home in their
kids' backpacks. The good deals and cut rates are often dangled as a way to
help schools get stuff they need, which is particularly attractive to school
administrators strapped for funds in an environment in which voters keep
turning down so many school bond issues. The LAT admits it
promote reading, but also to increase the paper's circulation.
square foot playroom, a bathroom with a "Roman tub," and an intercom system
connecting the various parts of the house. The story says scores of businesses
and residents contributed materials, services, money and land for the new home.
typical story about welfare recipients enumerates the monthly "giveaway" check
down to the penny. The story's lucre lacunae comport well with the locals'
Times leads with another in its series of important stories about the
investigative panel's conclusion that two dozen fatal or serious inmate
state, unlike a sitting one, has but limited immunity: he or she can be forced
into court to answer for actions that are not part of the legitimate function
lawyers to observe that their client is therefore vulnerable to prosecution
only because he stepped down in favor of a democratic government. But the
hostage taking are not legitimate government functions. Therefore, they
presses its extradition request, unless the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, decides
otherwise. The Post says the early betting is that Straw will not
intervene. On the other hand, both papers note that former Prime Minister
and the Times says it marks a potentially significant broadening of the
powers of prosecutors to pursue those charged with crimes against humanity. The
this most recent case, he directly caused death. And indeed, as the papers
point out, he openly admits he took this extra step to encourage a legal
the case, some lawyers are quoted making the following argument against a
murder verdict: Murder requires malice, the disregard for human life. Therefore
a homicide undertaken out of regard for life cannot be murder. But the
Post and LAT make it clear that it's not just murder at issue,
a human rights group, a recent crackdown by China against Protestant congregations that
do not formally accept the leadership of the government has resulted in the
arrest of seventy church members. The Times says one leader of such a
church, shot while fleeing police, is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
The Post says another was beaten with a wet rope and a nightstick, and
says the authorities are using heavy fines as a prime weapon in this campaign
of suppression. The paper also usefully points out that China recently signed a
Do you feel the need for a new government sex scandal? Relax, the Navy has
accused of improperly steering military contracts to the firm owned by the
woman he was committing adultery with. Although the admiral is named in both
domestic flight to have his life saved by a defibrillator, a device only
Health Commission, where he has promoted the installation in office buildings
LAT story), the Group of Seven industrial nations announced their
As all papers report inside, documents released yesterday show that on
testimony and documents from the independent counsel's office.
Democrats) are putting their wives on the air essentially to inform voters how
the surveillance station are intriguingly murky: It is tiny, staffed by less
from a Chain Saw Drill Team lurking outside the haunted houses to a deranged
LAT 's says the process is stalled over party differences. (Over their
newly discovered fire hazards, the insulation be replaced on almost all of the
desires, local school districts will now retain the flexibility to use the new
money not just for hiring, but also for recruitment, testing, and training of
dilapidated school buildings, and national student testing. STILL UP IN THE
Internet, whether or not to require federal health insurance to cover the cost
of contraceptives, and whether or not to keep international family planning
The LAT usefully reminds the reader of a list of items that long ago
fell off the budget bandwagon: a tax cut, new tobacco regulations, a bill of
stresses the political angles available now for each party: the coalescing
insulation can be done during regular maintenance, and that it will cost
nation's teen pregnancy rate has dropped considerably in
papers say these medications are attractive to those who only have sporadic sex
and have trouble with consistent contraceptive planning. This is a little
teenagers "because it is impossible to detect." How do you detect an ingested
about the upcoming congressional elections buried mention of its polling sample
actually a somewhat larger sample than occurs in many newspaper polls, and is
plenty large to be accurate to within a few percentage points' margin of error.
out that although his paper usually delays mentioning the sample size until the
front page, these mentions usually occur much earlier in stories than do
time explaining how nationwide elections can be reliably predicted by talking
A men's health official is quoted saying that one factor appears to be the
The House Judiciary Committee's approval of a fourth article of impeachment
appearances. However, Committee Republicans voted to limit the charges to the
reports that the House will hold a floor vote on all four articles late next
censure. The Times quotes a White House official who says, "Impeachment
hit hardest by the price drop. The true gluttons appear to be the nation's
retailers, who have done little to pass lower livestock costs on to
conducted in the past year to sniff out smugglers who likely used their access
with its cover. The masthead is printed upside down at the bottom, alerting you
catch your eye with "the shock of the familiar." The new style in Web pages is
"logical as well as luscious": more color, less confusion. In desks, it's
lead combines this with the meeting tomorrow of the G7 finance ministers and
The LAT lead says that Wall Street is concerned that the Fed's
prevent the overseas economic crisis from inducing a recession here. The paper
depicts the other dominoes it sees waiting to fall: if the stock market
continues to be unconvinced, then consumer confidence will be weakened, and
essentially the same picture. The LAT notes another down factor on the
that banks and brokerages will stampede out of lots of hedge funds, causing
All of this illustrates the basic economic problem in the world today, made
tools of policy makers. As a result, a new report showing growth in orders of
electronic equipment, as well as petroleum products and transportation
manufacturing activity in the coming months, means nothing right now. It's a
in his congressional testimony yesterday. One Congress
speeches about free enterprise and the marketplace, but a lot of folks don't
those who make risky investments only encourages more of the same. But, he's
a middle path: require hedge funds to disclose more about their activities.
the papers mentions it, but such a warning preceded by only a few days the
of manned airstrikes. The LAT figures they could happen as soon as the
was a playful desire to keep the newspapers fun. It is perhaps a sign of the
no one wrote to say he or she'd gotten a great education at the place. Time to
This is also played above the fold at the LAT, which leads with the paper's own
31st in per capita share of federal education spending.
he portrayed the agreement as his success at getting the very best possible out
predecessors. Everybody quotes him saying, "We have closed the holes of the
with conservative settlers expressing great disaffection. All this political
only on the general political situation and doesn't seem to know about
yesterday. One of the main points of today's installment is that the demand for
on or buy an adopted child, there has arisen an entire network of
thinnest line between buying adoption services and buying a child.
The story of the upstate New York abortion doctor murdered in his home
had a line drawn through it shortly after he was murdered, denies any advance
to the crime: "If an armed police officer has to be stationed outside every
prisoner who has put the same kind of energy into stockholder suits and makes a
of stockholder fraud against various corporations. All this without owning any
immediately correct this grievous social injustice, Today's Papers feels
compelled to confess that it is a black woman over fifty.
passage this year of a statewide initiative substantially restricting it.
The big peace talk development yesterday, the papers report, is that
if his country's West Bank security demands were not met. The most pressing
their bags and some of their luggage was transferred to the airport.
deal far more than the participants he's hosting do. At one point, the
A Wall Street Journal feature makes the point that the
This is a result of the INS' beefing up of its Operation Gatekeeper, which
hiring recruited heavily from southwestern border states and emphasized fluency
and failing that, special abuse, from those they detain.
libertarian former professional wrestler, bodyguard, Navy Seal and talk show
a question about his stance on gay rights: "I have two friends that have been
allowed to be at the bedside. I don't believe government should be so hostile,
"smart guns" that can only be fired when held by the
a finger ring. The guns could, the papers write, unify both sides of the gun
debate in that they promise to boost gun sales for manufacturers developing
has found that there are reliability problems, many due to limitations of
battery life, and even if perfected, the technology would make no dent in gun
suicide by rightful gun owners, or in the gun deaths lurking in the form of all
discover the legacy of fine stories he left behind, at the Journal and
Impeachment politics dominate, with the House Judiciary Committee's decision
Judiciary will probably, the papers report, vote on party lines to issue
off until halfway through the story before placing the president's subpoena
third in a list of bullets. The LAT notes that previously, separate
appear before the committee, his spokesman yesterday said he won't be coming.
appearance by his boss that "It won't add any new information and can be put in
instead of censure presents to House Republicans: Voting for impeachment will
to work with Democrats on other issues. And will make censure, which is more
likely than impeachment, look like a Democratic victory.
biggest pieces of the Standard Oil empire broken up by the government nine
decades ago, and will leave just three corporations with control of vast oil
reserves and tens of thousands of gas stations. The Post agrees with the
The LAT 's "Column One" tells of what it calls the abortion debate's
an abortion but failing to have his patient admitted to a hospital. Later that
day, during the long drive back to her home, the woman died. Given that the
may well become the newest weapon against doctors who provide abortions:
The LAT front reports that new studies show that although AIDS was
hardest hit by the disease. The infection rate there is now one new person per
minute. But AIDS denial and ignorance in the country is widespread. In a survey
The Dow had a 217-point drop yesterday, but the papers keep the story off
the front page. Are the papers getting the point that spilling a lot of ink
over a market going one way so soon after spilling an equal amount on a market
going the other way is more than a little ridiculous? Today's Papers can only
market moves in headlines. The percentage of the move is much more
The Wall Street Journal cites the doubling of Sharper Image
revenue. And this should indeed sober everybody up fast, because let's face it,
have you ever seen anybody actually buy something in a Sharper Image store?
Al Gore has gotten a lot of coverage about how he raised "soft money" for
you something about how he spends it. And it's not exactly saving the planet or
reinventing government. The Gore family holiday photo greeting card was billed
Times headline lavishes its big type on the victory of Democrat Gray
Senate. Although, as everybody notes, the Republicans do retain control of both
The press consensus is that the only real bright spots for the Republicans
Internet marketing, not really any longer because of misgivings about its
additional sales this year with the help of his automaker's Web sites, but who
also worries that GM might someday just take buyers' orders directly and get
team, often, amazingly, on the front page, it's sobering to take in the
criminality of professional football players. According to the piece, it's
Rams is quoted saying this about a linebacker charged last week with
involuntary manslaughter in a crash in which the other driver died: "I think
it'll be good for him to get back and get with his teammates and get going
again." Then there's another Ram who plays on despite having pleaded guilty to
aggravated assault in a case where the victim suffered partial paralysis and
advertising circular in which two smiling boys are depicted playing Scrabble
around a game board where the pieces clearly spell out the word "RAPE."
outdoes itself today. The Reliable Source's item about an election day
droppings] would be destroyed." Can't the Post see that whereas the
actual phrase used would go by virtually unnoticed, the paper's baroque
translation only forces the reader to dwell on the matter?
it was made but the story immediately mentions concerns about how weaknesses in
Although all the papers have, as usual, no problem finding some experts to
foresee up trends on rates and some to foresee down ones, their lines on the
interest rate future shake out this way: the LAT suggests in its third
paragraph further rate reductions of up to a full percentage point;
indication of another Fed move anytime soon; in its sixth paragraph, the
Post says the narrow language of the Fed announcement strongly indicates
Journal stresses that the Fed's action had already been anticipated by
had credible intelligence indicating that while still lacking the fissile fuel
depots. The paper says U-2 spy planes found five of them.
points out high up that he was the first black mayor of a major city and of a
LAT cites as his principal accomplishments, a downtown building boom,
labor and management, with an accompanying racial peace lasting most of his
nice scandal break folks down his way got by being clobbered by Hurricane
The congressional election aftermath produces the day's two lead stories.
for an impeachment exit strategy that won't shoot them in the other foot. And
lead, the electoral shove has come to putsch, as various Republican House
and under oath by signing an attached affidavit. The questions range from
sources whenever possible, runs the entire list of them in a separate article. Even though
or deny the details in the list, unlike the other papers, the
soon." The papers somehow keep straight faces while they pass along two of
Speaker. In addition, the Times quotes one congressman saying there are
six Republican members besides himself who have flatly decided not to vote for
Republicans, the paper explains, will cast secret ballots for Speaker on
early stages of a human embryo have, in a test tube, been grown into
undifferentiated cells that could be used to grow various kinds of human
tissue. The breakthrough is thought to pave the way for implanting cells
developed to have certain healthy properties into a patient as a way of
ethical questions the new science is sure to raise: issues of genetic
Everybody reports that the Bureau of Labor Statistics accidentally
prematurely posted on its web site its information about the number of jobs
created last month. A surfing analyst shared the inside scoop with his clients,
thereby roiling the financial markets for a few hours. The Wall Street Journal sees a trend, reminding readers that
election results. But the paper also takes note of a model of Internet
unintended consequences. The profusion of designer and customized license
plates may delight car owners, but it's frustrating police, who say the
4,800-some special plates make identifying cars much harder than it used to be.
The paper mentions a case in which a robbery victim remembered the getaway car
sported a tag with mountains on it, which would have ordinarily have been a
the license plates, meaning that any given sequence of letters and numbers
junkies who sent him their election predictions did a far better job than all
predicted Democratic gains in the House. Five of them were only off by one seat
in their total House and Senate calls. The occupations of the best guessers
included: Treasury Dept. program manager, intelligence analyst,
attempts to arrive at a budget, stressing the tentative approval by key House
if he doesn't actually do that. They also report that in the meantime, about
implemented would begin with cruise missiles and progress to a full bombing
campaign. The LAT says that each stage of the plan could be flown only
its board meetings and other major documents within three months. The paper
says that the White House and the Hill are close on a number of the remaining
new teachers. But since agreements have not yet been reached, Congress passed
Another budget story on the Post front addresses the thirty or so
oxide, which is laughing gas), known best as an air pollutant, is also produced
in the body, where it regulates blood pressure, nerve firing, and immune
responses. The Post waits until the third paragraph of its story to
mention that nitric oxide is central to the process of getting an erection and
strong consumer trend: the young children of boomers have buying habits that formerly were
associated with adolescents. The piece quotes a finding that while
for children, which features a quarterly coloring book and a savings and
international coverage at the weekend papers. All report that two bombers were
retail rival will own their main source of wholesale books.
background checks on those network journalists who protested the
pessimistic about the economy that they are "investing" in bonds with negative
interest rates. That's right, guaranteed losers. Why? The Times says that
in Government Treasury bills at a small, but guaranteed, loss.
short statements which did not always directly answer the question.
submitted a letter emphasizing that "the president did NOT commit or suborn
perjury, tamper with witnesses, obstruct justice or abuse power" and that
of their merger discussions (the LAT gives it the Business front). If
Trade Commission. The merged company would be particularly vulnerable to
All papers run the predictable "It's the day after Thanksgiving and what are
"the 1990s have transformed the holiday shopping experience into one giant
national hunt for deals." The LAT optimistically reports from Southland
retailers will have a prosperous holiday season this year."
An interesting New York Times "Living Arts" article ponders the
organizations. The Times attributes the increasing involvement of
technology and communications, and declining government involvement in the
that anyone who quits smoking or drinking (or eating) for one day
and entered a state of deep and transient sobriety. Alas, that may not be
All the major papers report that the rate cut will stimulate consumer
spending by lowering the cost of home equity and credit card loans. All papers
also report that consumer spending, however, is currently at healthy levels.
businesses are having trouble selling bonds, indicating that investors are
worried about financial crises abroad. The rate cut is meant to reassure
Most quoted experts aren't convinced by the Fed's prediction that further
appellate lawyer, others stress his lack of experience with matters political.
Readers who admire a stiff upper lip will be impressed by excerpts from the
Some yellow spot in the middle of red, and it feels like dead. Waiting for your
House Judiciary committee, to be delivered not by him but for him by fourteen
The papers say that the committee is almost certain to approve at least one
article of impeachment. Therefore, they say, the real audience for all of this
constitutional fight more properly fought by White House (not personal)
the position taken by the LAT 's lead editorial. But, reports the
will argue that articles of impeachment approved by this lame duck Congress
many in Congress feel this sort of expert and theoretical testimony will be
less effective than some sort of further personal expression of regret by
possibility. The Times says some Democrats have told the White House
less volatile lines of work in their native country.
notes that the anger about her decision coming from Congress is ironic since
minorities and women hired by the Supreme Court to be law clerks, runs as its
the entire Court, recognized the low numbers, but said they wouldn't improve
until the pool of applicant lawyers becomes more diverse.
welsh on a bet"? After all, "to pale" means "to be whiter" and if as the
headline would have it, "whiter" means "less bad," then "white" means
Times lead apparently goes as far as it can get from the presidential
to build now. Actually, according to the Times the decision does have a scandal
persuasion with the oil companies because of the scandals surrounding him.
The Post lead claims that candidates across the country feel stuck dealing
also says strategists in both parties say any Republican advantage stemming
sees a general trend toward voter uncertainty about who to blame for the
scandal, which could altogether neutralize it as a voting factor.
advisor and late in his life a figure in an international bank scandal, garners
rarely done the country much good. All this on a page long congenial to Wise
Men, even to the point in recent weeks of running scandal advice from such
wishing he was late) Mike Espy, were required to submit urine samples for drug
tests, while two white Cabinet officers revealed they were not. (The paper adds
that White House staffers are tested, but the president is not.)
reporting from the field that while perhaps racism is on the wane in South
There are no joint checking accounts, and women seem to understand that makeup
that, you would be embarrassed. In my day, a woman needed a little more meat on
The Fed's cut in two important interest rates came just two weeks after its
previous one, and Wall St. went from ticked about insufficient credit to
was the first one to come without a regularly scheduled Fed meeting in more
papers to be a sign of the seriousness of the overall economic environment.
(Although the LAT says there's no evidence that there's any orchestrated
rate cutting by central banks around the world in the offing.) One economist
bank or investment firm is about to have a big problem, but the paper says
move on his own authority but after consulting with other Fed officials. The
papers quote experts saying they expect further interest cuts soon.
with a surplus and as containing the biggest peacetime increase in military
now be required to provide contraceptive coverage for federal employees,
The paper also describes this piece of Congressional budget reasoning:
control entry into the Capitol and a tightening of security at the Capitol and
written into the budget bill that extends the duck hunting season in
The Times lead (ditto the Times lead editorial) says the
showed he can still influence Congress even while it's considering impeaching
single massive bill that takes the place of eight lesser bills they should have
passed earlier. They achieved the agreement in part by bending the budget
will eat up about a quarter of the vaunted budget surplus projected for the
fiscal year just begun." The wry headline over the editorial: "Big Deal."
about it at all." The story mentions but does not explain two things that are a
that the trial judge has implied he thinks the case is headed to the appeals
court over him, while one of the lawyers for the states in the case says it's
A short while ago, amidst all the editorial stones thrown at President
newspapers to make sure that they themselves were not failing to come clean
about any misconduct in their own glass houses. There was no
and the Democratic congressional leadership to keep House Democrats from
supporting the Republican impeachment resolution when it comes to a floor vote
members of Congress as part of this effort, and that Al Gore is also taking an
between top White House aides and the congressional Republican leadership.
Object: avoiding a government shutdown. According to the paper, bones of
senior officials in the administration have been leaving open, while the
The papers make it clear that the response of some of the senators suggests
that the task of selling a ground deployment to the Hill may be "formidable."
administration to be only a remote possibility, but still in place three years
after the cessation of fighting there. The LAT makes it seem that such
concerns were only on the minds of Republicans, while the other two papers make
it clear they were voiced from both sides of the aisle.
Such political resistance explains why some administration officials have
Buried deep in the LAT story are the numbers. To give context to the
expected to be hospitalized this year after trying to kill themselves.
the warning signs that their children are using marijuana or other drugs. These
signs include, says the pamphlet, such obvious ones as staying out all night
and unexplained needs for money. But there's also this unobvious one: Beware
your child's "excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations,
all means. The LAT bothers to tell us that to hold together the House
bailing wire," but doesn't tell us much about the ideological differences
editorial page and is also disliked by something called the Traditional Values
the Journal account, which nicely articulates the three main branches of
As for the lesser offices in the hierarchy, the papers don't even
communicate what they do. The reader has no idea what to make of learning that,
for example, the vice chair of the House Republican Conference is challenging
the Majority Leader. The one exception to this complaint is the Post 's
reporting on the job of Majority Whip, Tom DeLay. Delay, it seems, was able to
gracefully abandon impeachment, this was not in evidence at the Judiciary
hearings. The other papers see things the same way. Although it was Elbow Patch
witnesses were just foils for members' speechifying. All the experts testified
that the standards for impeachment should be kept very high, but some of the
Republican members of the committee made it clear they felt that lying about
positioned for a comeback, this time as a presidential candidate.
have, with the result that flight operations cannot be sustained at the tempo
commanders would like. The paper reports that although the Navy denies that the
carrier's recent fatal flight deck collision had anything to do with
rate. The story quotes one civilian defense expert's assessment: there's plenty
against him. But more than a year after that, the office still exists, albeit
the office had to continue operating while those investigated or required to
testify appealed for reimbursement of their legal expenses. And there's the
cost in time and money of, as the law requires, turning over all paperwork to
the government every six months, someone must be retained to preside over the
necessary to start the new fiscal year. Republicans immediately issued
held steady, while the middle class suffered a hit. This development is
surprising, the Times notes, because the economy is so robust. Among the
possible explanations for the trend: Fewer people are on welfare, which is an
automatic gateway to Medicaid coverage; small businesses, which dominate the
with health care and health insurance are increasing.
the opportunity to castigate Congress for putting "partisanship over progress,
politics over people" and dallying on important issues. Senate Majority Leader
arrogance and duplicity by this White House. To this day, they haven't told the
documents is headed to the Government Printing Office for release to the public
programs, support the introduction of the euro, and implement tax reform, the
election may come down to German voters' personal opinions of Kohl. But do the
all military Internet sites which are accessible publicly. While not catalyzed
by any particular event, the Pentagon's action reflects a variety of security
concerns, including the online availability of personal data about
The gift was returned to the university with a note of polite refusal from the
Today 's lead is that the Pentagon office responsible for the safety and
increasingly vulnerable to theft and diversion. The New York Times
leads with word that because most states are behind schedule in their attempts
where leaders of the two countries agreed to deeper economic, environmental,
and social ties, but haggled over the form and wording of Japan's official
apology for the brutal acts it committed against China during World War II.
to the contrary, the Pentagon's "Special Weapons Agency" never performed the
required tests on three of its five essential computer systems. Also, it's
nevertheless that "there's very little real mischief going on here."
slashed the salaries of nuclear plant workers and guards, which means not only
fewer people protecting the nukes but also more people prone to the temptations
for the major health, welfare and nutrition benefit programs are ready for the
responsibilities complaining that the problem is wrongly viewed as merely an
services are disrupted, you'll have more than computer problems. You could have
unsigned document that refers to some of Japan's prior expressions of remorse
about China, but stops short of actually apologizing. But the document does
"invasion" of China. The paper explains why Japan is hesitant to go further
conclude that such a merger would be good for oil and gas production worldwide,
thus benefiting consumers. The resulting company would have an increased
which it either has or intends to develop, close ties. The list includes, says
new International Monetary Fund strategy to avert further global economic
Judiciary Committee proceedings, more grounds for the impeachment of President
Times leads with the story that preoccupies everyone's front: the
details, it is hardly surprising that each paper emphasizes a different aspect.
All papers note, however, that the new evidence does more to disclose the
details we've all been wondering about than to substantively change the
seem to like each other very much.") The LAT highlights the improbable
nature of the encounters: "I had a feeling, but I had nothing to base it on
justice, and making false statements under oath (as distinguished from more
forth, one which relates to executive privilege will be dropped, because
to countries that show relative economic stability but nonetheless could
words came on the same day as the release of a Labor Department report showing
that fewer jobs were created and unemployment rose incrementally during
Approval for the payment is mired in the House, where Republicans are staunchly
reports that almost all of the country's mail service has shut down because
the post office. Predictably, the post office is owed approximately that same
Court has agreed to review the criminal statute banning a wide range of
conviction that was then overturned. At issue is what exactly must the link be
between a gift and any subsequent act by the official receiving it before it
rescue worker saying he could do nothing for the people buried in the debris he
country's entire infrastructure that was wiped out. By yesterday, the
LAT reports, the region was experiencing food shortages and price
market has made people feel more prosperous and willing to spend. The
into debt and keep spending, nothing bad is going to happen...."
yesterday of the Bill Gates deposition videotape. The LAT and
messages or recall the circumstances behind them. The Times and
seconds of silence before Gates responded. The Post notes that
court tape there was this difference: Gates was a "scowling, slouching
The papers note that much of yesterday's questioning focused on whether or
perfect club to use on them." The Post doesn't give Gates' account of
The LAT front reports that the federal government has chosen an odd
way to save some money: by eliminating the only program designed to test the
ability of the nation's commercial nuclear plants to protect themselves against
terrorists. The program was established after the Gulf War and, reports the
mock attack, an agency team was able to simulate bringing about a core
meltdown. And last March, an inspector was able to smuggle a fake pistol into
LAT suggests it's that the nuclear power industry doesn't like
shouldering the extra cost of participating in the security exercises.
reports that Gates answered, "Depends on what you mean by compete."
the main issue was whether he was in good health. Only time will tell if the
LAT 's reporting was insufficiently aggressive when, earlier in the week
after Block underwent emergency brain surgery, it ran a headline saying that
spectators and carried live on just about every television station, as a magic
unifying moment for the whole country. "Captivated Nation Cheers" is how a
publicity stunt. True, in a separate story, the Post does note that the
curmudgeonly editorial describing the mission as "a testament more to past
discussing the potentially dangerous loss during the launch of a protective
to increased West Bank security. He seems to have passed, by immediately
group implicated in the attack, under house arrest. He has also rounded up
observe that for all the press hoopla, very few voters have actually seen the
ads, because so far, they have only aired in ten states.
probably speaks for many when he sees the event as a magic opportunity to
escape a relentless political scandal. Perhaps the LAT is wryly doing
latest ripple in a story that's been percolating below the fold for a while:
but virtually guaranteed, with the field likely to pit at least two candidates
right, dominated by adamant settlers and the devoutly religious, was unhappy
pullbacks hurt him with the center and the left, which had come to accept land
limbo until the outcome of the new elections, even though, the Journal
the sentencing of two organizers, while the other two papers also mention a
never be adopted." The papers note that this crackdown comes at a time when
experienced before under Communist rule. But the LAT quotes a
always been worried about any movement that might tie people in one province
administration's policy of economic and diplomatic engagement with China has
it's tempered with concerns about the ethics of so fully unleashing
flatly that such extreme multiple births are not a victory for science and
that when patients have to pay for it out of their own pockets, instead of via
years, he will be vindicated. He is determined to find a quick way out of the
crisis, but is stumped about how to do that. His friends at the party were
been buoyed from recent personal advice not just from a longtime minister
own defense: focusing on himself rather than his job would make his approval
One of the reasons journalists are so despised by other folks is their bent
be a fine fellow, but speaker of the House?!)" Would Glassman be so quick to
Times lead is the National Institutes of Health's plans to dramatically
shorten the government approval process for drugs, which could mean much faster
indicating that in the wake of last week's vote to start an impeachment
congressional candidates has dropped considerably, most of all among likely
voters and independents. The poll also indicates that support for Democratic
percent approval rating, is currently more popular than before last week's
that air strikes could come as early as today. Meanwhile, says the paper, in a
computerized organization of the fifty databases set up by the states. The new
system holds the promise of reducing rape and other crimes by catching
issues raised by the database, which include: What types of offenders should be
required to give samples? Should mass screening be allowed? The story points
for a wide range of criminal samples as well as mass screening. It is
be used forensically, the discussion is completely generic and never mentions
would have been a violator of a bill working its way through Congress that
criminalizes making obscenities available on the Internet. The readers are
absolutely right: It's Congress that is the distributor of the obscenities of
apologizing without admitting. But isn't that what's going on in the following
expressed our strong disapproval to Nickelodeon, which produces the comic, and
Creators Syndicate, which distributes it. Our comics screening process failed
in this instance, and we apologize to our readers who were offended." Note the
strip. And what, pray tell, does the paper's "comics screening process" screen
Everybody leads with the House Judiciary vote to propose to the full House
mention that the vote to do so was along strict party lines (Republicans voting
gravity of the moment." The LAT sees a "heated session," but one that
was "filled with history lessons" and at times resembled a "law school
sees a debate that ranged "from sober constitutional discourse to bitter
As had been tipped in earlier press accounts, the papers report that the
justice and concealing knowledge of false testimony, replaced talk of perjury
with talk of making false statements, and dropped talk of abuse of power. And
short of the standards for impeachment. According to the papers, the ensuing
discussion by committee members sometimes grasped for the imprimatur of
it clear that this unrestricted resolution means any subsequent impeachment
noting that the day started with members' appearances on the morning talk
shows, and that at one point during committee debate, one congressman told
mentioned the exact number of people in prison today (over a hundred) because
they lied to a grand jury or in federal court. Why the little dots
shutdown by the end of the week. The world's top financial officials are in
town looking for money and solutions for the global economic crisis, and by the
impeachment inquiry. Jeez, just typing all those sentences makes Today's Papers
marketing and spiritual business consulting, and now comes the Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reporting that with
unemployment low, some companies are recruiting at churches. Manpower Inc. even gives churches a
from the prior practice of going out to civilian manufacturers and telling them
is stamped on the heel, the next time Marines are ordered in harm's way, they
will become the first troops ever to go into combat in designer footwear.
The papers all lead with the first day of the White House's defense before
the House Judiciary Committee. The journalism consensus is that the panels of
constituted a deepening of the scandal's heretofore ditzy discussion. One
substantive." The Post says that yesterday, the president's legal team
saying that one reason not to impeach was that it would be bad for the economy,
proved once again that there is no hearing in a congressional hearing. They
But if so, then call those folks into executive session and leave the rest of
unanimously that, absent indications of additional criminal activity, police
cannot automatically search a car after making a routine traffic stop. The
decision is a surprising exception to the Court's trend in recent years of
upholding and widening police conduct especially in the area of searches.
Neither story mentions one notorious criminal who might never have been caught
because of a gun found in his car after he was stopped for driving without
The LAT front carries a stunning medical result published in today's
eye, ear, nose and throat problems. The changes were detected less than two
months after the ban began. (Hats off to the LAT for putting the number
A congressional staffer tells the Wall Street Journal "Tax Report" he has to speak off the
Last week, former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy was acquitted of
"The Reliable Source," he's still really into legal gratuities. It seems that
budget), and Espy is quoted in the Post saying, "I surely would like a
panel's finding of no credible evidence that silicone breast implants cause
disease, a story that also makes the New York Times
yesterday, which would create the world's largest company. There is so much
that, the Times observes, both companies' stock prices dipped on the
will in his opinion definitely go up if the deal flies: gas prices.
The implant leads point out that the panel's findings could make it much
or painful breast hardening. The LAT says that the findings fit with
other recent scientific results. The paper mentions in its second paragraph
saves this information for the last paragraph. And the LAT surprises
with word that the panel members are barred from speaking to the media. Still?
The Post lead says the committee Republicans won a vote allowing
considering not presenting any defense whatsoever to any areas the committee
from the other direction, saying that the Democrats' increasing intransigence
given their reading of public sentiment shows that "polls are the crack cocaine
that yesterday's Judiciary hearing was largely given over to the testimony of
convicted perjurers, legal experts and several retired military officers, all
discoursing on the nature and significance of perjury. By contrast, the
elite instead, and moreover, that the PA's own auditors found last year that
today, men can register with the Selective Service at the agency's web site.
Not only is this a blow for convenience, but also a social control masterpiece.
The only way to symbolically protest a paperless draft would be to burn
the rest of their fronts to various aspects of the quote news unquote.
Yesterday the papers told you what he would say. Today they tell you what he
violated her right to an attorney and indeed, whether he had lied about his
treatment of her in a press release. There was also some discussion of whether
sole concession in the face of all this: that perhaps when requesting from
"truth" or "lying." Everybody prints one of the day's few carnal references:
which, a congressional source is quoted as saying, are potentially
embarrassing, in that they detail payments for consultants and outside
primarily dedicated to economic issues. The LAT says the White House did
tell if the global economic crisis is coming to a close. The list includes:
When the financial markets yawn in the face of bad news, when yields on
emerging market bonds go down, when inflation jitters return, when commodity
prices rise, when emerging nations start importing more, and when Japan's
economy starts to expand again. On the other hand, a sign of how much money is
years. Unless the country's habits change, this rate is forecast to multiply
It's not exactly perjury, but the LAT observes that during
activities will be monitored by a multinational aerial reconnaissance effort,
reportage and interviews, the LAT stresses the militant attitude of the
The LAT lead and the Journal say that the Conference Board's
The LAT quotes an expert saying that every recent recession has been
preceded by a drop in this latter measure, although, the paper adds, not every
drop has been followed by recession. But the Journal quotes an economist
where, despite the general decline in AIDS mortality, the disease remains a top
population within the next ten to fifteen years. The Times cites experts
to a fifth of their populations to AIDS in the next decade.
because the color discrimination problems sometimes associated with the drug
could make it hard to interpret cockpit gauges and runway lights.
for some of the biggest Cabinet departments, asks an interesting question: Why
committed a "monumental and calculated abuse of the public trust." How could
Times each lead with the onset today of the House Judiciary Committee's
debate about whether to initiate an impeachment investigation against President
that their country's banks are in far worse trouble than has ever been publicly
The coverage makes it clear that the Judiciary committee's discussions will
be highly partisan, but also that due to the committee's Republican
on whether or not to authorize the committee to start an impeachment inquiry.
There is more of a question about how many crossover votes this will get in the
might do so. All the papers report that the consensus is that despite all this,
there aren't sufficient impeachment votes in the Senate.
source, reported that there would be new charges of witness tampering,
obstruction of justice, and making false statements under oath, but today's
of total outstanding loans were strictly enforced, they might be banned from
requires for domestic banking. According to the paper, the situation was
The LAT front tells a disturbing tale about the current state of
submarine and took control of the vessel for twenty hours, repeatedly
threatening to destroy it, creating the potential for what one scientist quoted
sailor, who had locked himself in one of the vessel's torpedo bays, killed
submarine and the people in the vicinity were "absolutely safe."
system for "a persistent and widespread pattern of human rights violations."
saying that "it seems to me that the international community, in terms of
standards, is moving really ahead of the standards obtained in the United
University law student was unhappy about the lack of attention the school's
asking for an office appointment. Thirteen minutes later, his roommate called
Times lead with a hardy perennial: the restart of Middle East peace
Times also front the story. The Post leads with word that next
scandal at the expense of other issues. The LAT goes with what looks
paper says critics worry that the move could result in half the states and
three quarters of the voters casting ballots within eight days, "compromising
the democratic benefits of a more deliberative primary process." The LAT
could benefit his presidential bid by giving him a strong showing early on. The
sticking point in the past, the papers explain, now apparently unlocked by the
the evacuated land be declared a nature reserve and hence not occupied by the
declined to describe the session as a "breakthrough," and with the paper's
Although it's obvious that successful Middle East diplomacy could be a
The Post lead says some House Democratic staffers are worried that a
today demonstrates the shortcomings of a flagship program designed to help poor
absentee fathers earn more and pay more child support. The program, Parents'
absentee fathers via training and counseling, has been found in an independent
study not to have increased their earnings and to have only marginally
increased the amount of money they give their kids. The Post mentions in
of the men in the program have arrest records. The Times doesn't get
According to Wall Street Journal 's "Work Week" column, higher earners
about an hour a day longer than the bottom ten percent. A century ago the
situation was reversed. The curves probably crossed in the 1950s.
why, if the military now expects most of its missions to be related to
What's more, according to the story, the world is still guessing about whether
The grinding on of the House Judiciary committee's impeachment hearings
today or tomorrow and the papers flatly assume that a censure proposal will be
defeated and that at least one article of impeachment will pass. It remains
unclear whether an additional censure measure will be put before the full
House members advising them that the full House will probably begin reviewing
Republicans. The LAT lead reports that White House advisors are
entitled to know whose speculation we're talking about here) that
The papers note that the two committee lawyers used snippets from President
Conservative Citizens, which views interracial marriage as genocide against
Dole should remit millions to the government for misusing party funds for ad
dilation and extraction" abortions, procedures where the fetus is partially
delivered and then aborted. This is the procedure called by abortion opponents
"partial birth abortion." The Times avoids taking sides in the debate
simply in its choice of nomenclature by identifying the procedure as the
it's not possible to be partially born, Today's Papers prefers "partial
The big stories are about the promise of good things, foreign and domestic.
the Fed is likely to cut interest rates again next month. The paper quotes the
basically accepted. The papers also say the two parties have arrived at
still remained a sore point. The papers report that the discussions are being
on behind closed doors, right down to seating arrangements. The two papers
join the talks and that once there, the king delivered an impassioned speech
attendance. This has not been confirmed by the White House.
settlers blocked roads and held prayer rituals to drive home their demands that
The LAT 's "Column One" notes a trend among those arrested for
Internet porn: they have a disproportionate tendency to kill themselves. Of the
who've never previously been in any kind of trouble and are desperate to escape
his wrists, or the Colorado computer consultant who shot himself in the
to vote in the election next month because of a felony conviction. The
Post says this is seven times the national average. The study found that
the proportion of black males in prison has increased ten times faster than for
in the past few months." Notice that you can't defend the usage here by
perfect illustration of the truism that there's still one group in this country
that "respectable" people, even (especially?) sophisticated newspaper people,
where tens of thousands of residents have taken shelter in such locales as the
still need, note the papers, to enter into a coalition with another party in
such coalition would have to worry about radical Greens bolting. Another
development: the successor to the Communist Party gained parliamentary strength
Pentagon still can't protect itself against embezzlement and overpayment.
recent years, featuring such dodges as clerks creating fictitious contracts and
from their jobs. The LAT says Pentagon financial controls have gotten
the paper should have mentioned that this hardly counts against the idea of
government runs out of money, twelve of the thirteen spending bills remain
unsigned. The Post says that getting very little attention beneath all
defense bill, and hundreds of millions to the veterans and housing bill and to
the energy bill, to name a few. But the paper is rather stinting on details,
compared to say, its coverage of dress stains, and runs the story on page
worrisome unintended consequence of the pesticide strictures in the food safety
law passed two years ago: to ensure compliance, some top pesticide
manufacturers have resumed testing their products on people, a practice that, although legal,
volunteers are now swallowing small doses of toxic pesticides. Sometimes, the
paper reports, test subjects are told that they are ingesting a "drug" not a
The Post reports that a Democratic congressional candidate in
"he has never: committed adultery; abused his wife or children; engaged in
homosexual activity; experimented with illegal drugs; or been charged with or
convicted of a felony." Hey, where's the cigar clause?
calls that a "good sign for Republicans." (The paper waits until the tenth and
Congress seem to have instead taken to heart other recent polls suggesting an
papers observe important loose ends of the emerging deal that could unravel it.
jurisdiction in the region, and the LAT passes along the concerns of
spying of a former Army sergeant who served as a codebreaker, allegedly for
the Soviet Union started a nuclear war. The accused spy had been living in
military intelligence personnel, and the paper suggests these have been
question whether such laws further the cause of tolerance and suggest that they
Due to technical problems, last night's column erred in saying that
Secretary of the Navy, outlines possible defense strategies against
Declaring that "we ought to assume that successful attacks should occur,"
personnel, preparing responsive plans and stockpiling antibiotics." Also on
benefits caps); young people who could be promoted are dying; the supply of
agencies are downsizing because they anticipate a lack of personnel.
The House Judiciary Committee's vote to recommend impeachment for President
against impeachment for lying in a civil case. The papers all note that the
House Rose Garden, in which he expressed profound regret, asked for a censure
from Congress, and, once again, did not admit to lying under oath. The
committee will vote on the fourth article, which alleges abuse of power, on
points out that the events leading up to the House's vote next week began as "a
of suing tobacco companies: rich lawyers. An arbitration panel has awarded a
electronic transmissions around the globe and screening them for targeted
routinely intercepted by the United States National Security Agency." A subject
under the headline "Gates Singled Out in Trial." The government started its
case, all the papers report, by contrasting Bill Gates' video deposition
says "10-foot") in which he said he knew nothing more about an alleged
which he states "...there is a very powerful deal of some kind we can do with
threats and bribes to get various PC manufacturers and Internet service
email in which he claims, "Gates delivered a characteristically blunt query:
Wonder if "screw" kept that quote out of The Nation's Newspaper.
MS' top lawyer is widely quoted as calling the email evidence "snippets
that up at the hearing yesterday where he regained permission to box in
York Times leads with the Senate's narrow rejection of a patients'
Times goes with the problems associated with the last few days' sudden
have guaranteed access to emergency care and medical specialists and made it
insurance industry and of the sex scandal that has enveloped President
passage of a temporary spending bill, the government now has until midnight
approves the concept of voting oneself deadline extensions.) But even the new
deadline may not be enough time for Congress to resolve all remaining issues.
the use of statistical sampling in the upcoming census; and even whether giving
spending bills were completed yesterday, and all unfinished measures will
crash, the rise is forcing consumers across the country to pay more than they
up the committee's partisan disagreements over the witness issue. Republicans
people shortly after the sessions ended. Psychiatrists around the country are
understandably worried; the psychiatrist in question intends to appeal.
already secured the far right, the logic goes, so he can afford to yield more
"Week in Review" piece describes the debilitating fissures within
piece says that a shift in Congressional power is unlikely, though the
Republicans may well gain several Senate seats. The LAT focuses on the
new "cautiousness" of the parties as they struggle to redefine themselves. This
caution is reflected in the candidates' "modest agendas": The Democrats tend to
seek tax cuts, increased defense spending, and more state control of education
Reconciliation Commission, which has been bombarded with criticism since the
release of its final report last week. Specifically, the author supports the
and denial that so often follow periods of national atrocity." With the
symbolizes an attempt to move forward, rather than sink into the "spiral of
federalists have opened all their sluices of calumny."
some Republicans that the House impeachment inquiry will die a swift death. The
piece: complaints from some parents, mostly in the white majority, that their
The LAT front says that some Republicans believe that losing the
House impeachment vote would be much better than winning by a narrow margin and
sending the unpopular impeachment proceedings to the Senate (which would likely
increasingly butting heads with parents of rejected students over
Magnet schools, which accept top students yet also seek to preserve their
racial diversity, are particularly flummoxed by this issue. A spate of upcoming
Voting by mail was once confined to the legitimately absent or the
soft money is no longer principally funneled through national political
parties; many candidates today have established political action committees
has make no impact on the West; the United Nations' main agency for refugees
recruiting process for college seniors. In the mad scramble
for lucrative investment banking and consulting jobs, interviews can be quite
grueling. Says one unidentified student: "I walked into the interview, and
before the guy even says, 'Hi, how are you doing?' he asks me, 'What's the sum
sexual harassment suit which is now on appeal. The New York
since the release of his videotaped grand jury testimony. A backlash may be in
the works against Republicans who favored releasing the tape. (A different poll
years, has particular relevance for Silicon Valley and technology firms based
labor, worked several compromises into the bill, including a provision which
measure is expected to be passed by the Senate and signed into law.
settlement "in the range that the two sides contemplated during past
fronts the story, gets much more specific. Citing the lawyers themselves as
will vote on the measure very shortly thereafter. Amidst the developments, the
bring Coke cans and subway tokens tumbling out of vending machines just yet:
The machines must be reconfigured to accept the new bills.
The Wall Street Journal tries to decipher the baffling
marketing phenomenon of Beanie Babies. These "little stuffed critters," worth
items. As a result, some manic Beanie speculators value their collections at
on the verge of collapse either as new rival toys flood the market or, more
likely, when collectors click their heels three times and realize that their
Administration Secretary of Agriculture. The story is also the top national
hold that the not guilty verdict fuels a growing consensus that the statute
bennies from parties with interests before Agriculture and since some of those
parties pleaded guilty to making illegal gifts, it's easy for the reader to
do a good job of laying out the legal complications: both explain that the usual
rules don't apply if the gift giver has a prior personal relationship with the
(either past or promised). There could have been another factor, which the
LAT gets into far more than the others: race. The top half of the
into account in deciding the case. Which, the LAT adds, he declined to
And none of the papers mentions the oddity of a Secretary of Agriculture
the House Judiciary Committee to offer a vigorous defense of their client, who
while they were crafting their merger into the world's largest corporation: to
register their new corporate Internet address. And yesterday, the two companies
The Wall Street Journal reports that the chief economist of the
are comparable or lower. The only big question is whether the move to the euro
Everybody leads with the jockeying in the House of Representatives for the
leads also note that several other top House Republican slots are likely to be
unprecedented exercise. And an odd one, since the offices at stake are
Republicans wanted the tongue of Newt: they say he was a lousy manager. (Now
they tell us.) "There was really no clear agenda for the year. And when there's
no agenda and there's no real direction, what happens is you can't, you really
And then he drives the point home with a little too much information about
himself: "You can put lipstick on a pig all day long, but it's still a
It's not enough that this story leads all around. The papers also try to
this way shows they're a bit out of touch with what seems to be the point of
cares about. The LAT redeems itself though, by making the only valuable
its lead, isn't locking up the nomination because of his ideology, policy or
more and bigger donations than are allowed by the limits on contributions to
the prosecutor is "no longer welcome" to appear before him. The story does not
explain how a judge can control which government attorneys try cases in his
The Wall Street Journal reports that just a few months after
but no such loan has actually been consummated yet.)
electrical wiring insulation on airliners is tested for flammability with a
"Money" section package of stories covering various aspects of the problem.
It's sobering to learn that about half the world's passenger jets contain wire
insulation that could be a fire hazard. One expert quoted calls wiring the most
women in the media. The story says that what they're fighting is the
pretty much fits those pejoratives to a T and the media didn't make her up:
call for extending emergency lines of credit to emerging nations buffeted by
article on the subject highlights Japan as the G-7 meeting's focus. After
administration immediately criticized it as not addressing Japan's more
will leave Medicare early next year because they are not recovering their
country's economic turmoil. Described by the LAT as "one of the
elected him." Ford proposes the following punishment: "A harshly worded rebuke
as rendered by members of both parties," to be administered in the well of the
House chamber. "Let it be dignified, honest, and above all, cleansing," says
massacres, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our
President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters two years after losing
an election that was eventually overturned because of his opponent's corrupt
calls a "First Enthusiastic Step Towards Democracy." The voting was peaceful,
president has promised a full transition to democratic government after years
judicial independence. The unusual move was a reaction to both Congressional
Republicans who threaten to impeachment judges based on their rulings and to
campaign contributors who attempt to influence elected state judges.
National Institutes of Health to approve experimental gene therapy, but when
the treatment comes it does little. The child is still alive but slowly
political issues. He then shares this information, along with hundreds of
thousands of dollars, with politicians most sympathetic to his cause. The piece
inspections another chance. However, the Administration remains wary. As
must turn over all documentary evidence of producing weapons of mass
flagrant violation of the Security Council resolutions as well as international
overture won out. The New York Times front page ventures the comparison between
the last year. Part of the high prices can be attributed to soaring costs for
drug price regulations in place. Among those hardest hit by the rising prices
are companies whose health care plans must absorb inflated prescription drug
prices, and uninsured patients. As the boomers age, the Journal notes,
the need for more drugs will exacerbate the cost problem.
(and is) summarized in exactly one sentence: "There is simply no Constitutional
billion settlement of the health cost claims they've raised against the major
foreign leaders, and talk of Tomahawk cruise missiles as the likely weapon.
But, notes the paper, there is a new wrinkle too: the State Department has
The LAT lead explains that the proposed tobacco settlement doesn't
provide as much regulatory restraint nor as much money as the failed federal
tobacco bill would have, but also offers the industry less protection from
other lawsuits. In return for the billions and a ban on cigarette billboards,
recovery of Medicaid funds spent by the states on smokers. The deal would, says
him. The paper adds that Tenet's vehemence was a direct reflection of the
intelligence community's depth of anger towards Pollard despite his conviction
for spying for a friendly power. The paper notes that Pollard stole more
have been nice if the Times had said who had taken more), a take
measurable in cubic yards, plus it is still unknown if any of them ended up in
This mainly reflects the medical habits of baby boomers, most of whom said they
pursued the alternative therapies more to prevent future problems than to treat
treatment last year, most of it not reimbursed by insurance. What seems to
herb next to the big toe, proved safe and effective for stimulating fetal
syndrome. Ineffective: chiropractic spinal manipulations did not seem to help
with tension headaches; and acupuncture didn't do any better than placebos in
financially strapped, might have a much harder time retaining homes through any
encourages, are having second thoughts. For instance, with an eye towards the
courts, employees are now encouraged, says the paper, to say "fair competition"
about it, if this sort of testing became a trend it would be a good thing no
matter what the apparent race of the testers. If they are black, discovering a
relationship to a Founding Father would tend to replace feelings of alienation
often felt by minorities with feelings of proud connection. If they are white,
discovering a blood relationship to a slave would tend to stimulate empathy for
leads with its latest poll indicating that many races are too close to call.
voters, in a campaign that at this late date, the Times says, still
thrilled to note that the paper runs the preceding information about margin of
congressional races, the paper says at least five Senate races (New York, North
Democratic Party radio appeal targeted at blacks: "When you don't vote, you let
one of the four major candidates "publicly sought divine intervention."
paper says that medical boards in every state view the sites as illegal or at
least not meeting accepted standards of medical care. The story reports one
countermeasure the Federal Trade Commission has put into play: the
establishment of a "teaser sting site" (one of a dozen relating to various
how the national conversation has been utterly taken over by the concerns of
previously unappreciated grave national crisis: the difficulties involved in
twice has had to wait twelve weeks for furniture ordered at Pottery Barn, and a
received one of the pieces. There is no indication in the story that some
people can't afford furniture and don't have houses to put it in.
ordering stealth fighters and B-1 and B-52 bombers to the region along with
nonessential State Dept. personnel and their dependents from embassies (in
White House has prevailed over the Pentagon in insisting on a "substantial air
officials acknowledge that no bombing campaign, no matter how extensive, can be
prepared to strike with no further warning. How soon? Well, the Times
craft known as the Doomsday Plane. The same plane, the paper reminds, she used while
papers stress that the Cabinet salted its approval with enough conditions
delay if not an outright breakdown in the peace process.
television correspondent as "worse than the worst of the yids." In a speech, he
that "some proceeds go to charity." It would be nice if the Journal made
following up to see just how much of those 17K checks actually ends up going to
The three Middle East leads all quote a State Department spokesman's
various security guarantees, but there's no clear sense in the reporting of
says that failure to reach an agreement would be a "devastating blow to
hopes" for the summit, and saying there are "ominous signs that things were not
paper says when the two leaders did last meet in person, the atmosphere was
doesn't explain why if the case pits Bill Gates against the feds and twenty
states, Gates won't be present in the courtroom. A story in the paper's "Style"
section essays to compare the antagonists' cultures, claiming along the way
at Slate at least, most of the offices are small and cheery.
says is an attempt to obtain the trade secrets of its computer system for
retailer, personally named in the suit is Amazon's chief information officer,
administration. The paper describes how quite generally, liberalized trading
high tech companies but also may have allowed China to obtain a wide range of
sophisticated technology that has already been put to military use.
prison system is unique in the entire country in using deadly force to break up
fighting. This is the latest installment in the paper's repeated looks in the
"Column One" story about widespread plagiarism in political speeches. The story
election for what the paper calls "burglary." Yet the LAT never mentions
voted to begin an impeachment inquiry, the third such vote in the country's
hearings. The inquiry has no deadline and has authority to investigate
All the majors acknowledge that the outcome was largely expected. Still,
Times --a choice of words certain to send a chill down the First Spine.
vote means the next four weeks at least will be peaceful. Maybe it's because,
Constitution's most important creation by the Founding Fathers, it gets little
relatively respect from contemporary politicians and journalists. In other
news: The Wall Street Journal reports a third of Representatives were
fueled by rumors of a rate cut; the LAT waffles, reporting that most
The top international story (not on the front page of most papers) is that
includes this gem: "It's never been easier to be a Communist than now," says
she will appoint an independent counsel to investigate Al Gore's role in
whether to begin a thorough, independent investigation into possible Democratic
has expanded its investigation to include campaign finance, and could
appoint a special prosecutor over the last two years. The Times does not
contributing to the economic well being of poor rural areas and gaining new
respect in the process. The piece says that the government decision to allow
women to work outside their hometowns ten years ago has prompted an increase in
prosperity in the form of money sent home by the new class of urban
headlights. Federal regulators are concerned that the annoying glare larger
PR firm to manage his image, wooing reporters with occasional jokes, and
revival. The Brits now appreciate his many good works and his affectionate
The author gets a rare private interview with the prince and confirms that
Everybody leads with the release last night by the House Judiciary
Republican majority of four proposed articles of impeachment, to be voted on by
release was unfair. The coverage adds that Judiciary Democrats responded by
yesterday, for the first time, the White House aggressively embraced censure.
for a full House censure vote, in the hope that this will siphon some key
moderate Republican votes away from any impeachment bill.
Before the advent of the impeachment articles, the committee was busy
pardon himself or accept a pardon from his predecessor. The LAT and
about this, he did not commit perjury because he did not intend not to tell the
truth. But if he misled, then didn't he intend to have his auditors end up
believing a falsehood? And isn't that just as injurious to the legal system as
perjury? If arranging to have someone killed is as bad as killing them, why
isn't arranging to have someone believe what's false as bad as lying to
only be used once and can only open the car, not start it.
It's thrilling to have so many smart readers. In response to yesterday's
concern in this space that the Supreme Court decision banning probable
causeless car searches after routine traffic stops would prevent arrests like
enough, but the whole matter gets one to thinking: if probable cause is so
detectors you have to go through at the airport are legal? They're not just
applied to suspicious passengers. Why should travel by plane subject you to
this is due to the three Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, increased merger
and acquisition activities, and a general sense that the global economic crisis
hold on his office, and says the list of causes are "the right reasons," but
adds some more technical reasons to this list: the growth of the M-2 money
supply (what we've got in checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market
funds) and investors' closing of short positions (buying stocks now to close
out past sales of borrowed stocks that were bets the market was going south).
back from its recent twenty percent drop, the LAT saying that it was
The Times and Journal say yesterday's events are a kind of
redirects any suggestion of personal brilliance back to a cool, professional
another side: there, she is said to gush that her prediction's come true.
The LAT says that an overlooked theme of the market rebound is that
"most individual investors never lost their nerve." The same point is made on
dissuaded by the overseas financial crisis nor the losses suffered by
are "much more brave" because among other things, the Fed has cut rates and
plan. It's hard to reconcile these two points of view. Either investors care
exuberance." But it's not clear from any of these stories whether the market's
what would make it clear, which is why these daily market move stories are
different from many news stories. Daily market moves are radically
government's Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling nearly ten million
foldable playpens because their raised rivets can strangle toddlers by catching
on their clothes or pacifiers. This has already happened to eight children
it's apparent that some jurors thought the state case was an attempt to
jurors never seriously contemplated guilty verdicts on any of the nine
heralded by gay activists. But since both papers point out that the case
prompting this decision was one involving heterosexual contact and that there
are plenty of other states that still likewise ban oral and anal contact
between opposite sexes, it's not clear why this isn't a big deal to the general
population too. Perhaps because such statutes aren't often used to arrest
The last vehicle for truly unconstrained opinion in a newspaper is the
speaking their minds about other countries, you'll find a looming picture of Al
Gore, cropped so close that none of his hair is visible and you can see the
sweat that's bubbling out of every giant pore in his face. Note that the verbal
equivalent: "Gore, looking like a crazed criminal with something to hide,
said..." would never pass muster. What did Gore ever do to deserve this?
military strikes, if they occur, "will be significant." Deputy Secretary of
although it could come sooner." Possible reasons for delay include President
Garden Television, broke into the "clubby" and expensive cable programming
says that airports nationwide, in an effort to accommodate more traffic and
increase runway efficiency, are practicing "the simultaneous use of
intersecting runways." One jet could be taking off and another landing on
intersecting runways; it is presumed that the landing jet will stop well before
wants to extend the practice to flights at night and in the rain.
that they would be distributed to illegal outlets, and that the gun industry
the fight against Big Tobacco, may serve as a model for upcoming suits in
Biotechnology grows ever more bizarre: A human skin cell nestled in a gutted cow egg turned into an embryo
made public yesterday, has spawned questions not only about the legitimacy of
the results, but also about possible misuse of federal funds. If the experiment
is true, its implications are so surreal that they bear repeating: The first
leads with Republicans' waning hopes that Flytrap will mean big gains for the
elections draw near. Republican hopes of gaining more than a dozen House seats
future attempts at international prosecution of human rights violators.
in light of information recently recovered from Soviet records. Sensitive
given to the Soviets and may have accelerated the development of a Soviet
during his third term, two likely Soviet agents would have been front runners
crisis among the English, who lately find themselves better known for soccer
hooliganism and tainted beef than for bus stop queues and dead fish handshakes.
delves deeper into the historical and political background of the crumbling
The New York Times Magazine features a special issue on the business
of sports. A story frets that media giants' purchases of sports teams will
forcing star athletes to play when it will boost ratings on their own networks
baseball player clients, a rookie quarterback learning how to play the
league's image, coordinating everything from media coverage to promotional
The Republican struggle over who will be the next Speaker of the House leads
of Majority Whip Tom DeLay and has received verbal support from "100-plus
that most of the top House majority positions will be up for grabs in the
concessions and is ready to use force "sooner rather than later." The
overhaul the way insulation on commercial airliners is tested for flammability,
cover, Lewis writes, "The novel contains passages as powerful and as beautiful
on media buzz to generate private donations and government funding. As a
result, says the piece, people give more money to fight breast cancer than the
equally common prostate cancer, and it's harder for poor diabetics to get
their cells for just one hour a day, the inmates grow slowly insane and even
more violent and unstable than when they entered prison. Many psychologists
believe the treatment is inhumane. Wardens disagree.
Associated Press. Apparently, the state Supreme Court has ruled that a club
can't be called adult if they let in kids. And if a club can't be labeled
accompanied by adults. A lawyer for the club adds: "You could take your
campaign finances from the areas it will consider in its impeachment inquiry.
leads with word that the unseasonably warm weather much of the country is
experiencing has been bad for seasonal businesses like ski tourism and for
spells this out: the committee honchos think the memos contain no evidence of impeachable
offenses. Of course, there is another reason nobody mentions: while it's
likely that few committee members currently have interns working, er, under
difference, since everyone reports that a House impeachment vote will be
Those who think the drive to impeachment is simply Republican
something other than impeachment, "He was met with a chorus of nos from
shift in policy, coming just two months after these same central bankers
adamantly refused to cut because of fears of inflation. But it's clear now,
hearings, the two convicted perjurers who testified were not sworn in.
businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and manufacturers, including
are so few Holocaust survivors left who will actually benefit from
confiscation. What will mainly happen, he writes, is that lawyers will get rich
and bureaucrats will get powerful, and there will be a revival of the Shylock
but otherwise Today's Papers disagrees. People will think what they will think,
but there's nothing inherently unseemly about seeking to return money from the
of the Holocaust who were grievously injured by the profiteering banks and
correction, this admission is incomplete: the wrong titles are not mentioned.
that "Barb Wire" was erroneously translated by the Times as "Delicate
Orbs of Womanhood Bigger Than Your Head Can Hurt You."
economic reform plan, thought to be crucial for keeping the world's spreading
prosecutors are left with the sole option of appealing the decision to the
reverse the decision when it takes up the matter as early as next week. Until
medicated, reports the paper, that he is probably unaware he is under arrest.
government funds via roughly equal parts tax increases and spending cuts and
proposes reducing the expenditures of the country's lavish social security
system. The LAT says the austerity moves are "likely to produce a
punishing recession," but suggests this cure isn't as bad as the disease of a
currency devaluation, which it says, the government is determined to avoid. The
approved the ads. And the Times also reports that the Democrats are
gleeful because they think the ads will create a big backlash against
apartment building. And the real oral obscenity of the whole case may be this:
missiles were not targeting bin Laden himself, Today's Papers wondered why,
since bin Laden is not protected by this country's policy against assassinating
heads of state, since he's not one. Well, according to the LAT front,
aircraft. And companies, says the paper, are not pleased, concerned that
their activities will be exposed to everybody from stock traders, to
terrorists, to stockholders' watchdog groups (just what are all those planes
about sex. The lawyer claims he sent in information about five such cases.
"cases like the president's, of a federal prosecution of a sex lie told in a
dismissed civil case." The Post reports that the cases submitted by the
lawyer include a federal case, but involving a lie sworn to in a criminal case.
The top news is divided between the upcoming midterm election and the
and Democrats in a virtual dead heat in their contest for Congress. The
goes with the eruption of a financial squabble between Democrats campaigning
for seats in the House and Senate on the one hand and the White House and the
percent margin of error. (And the margin of error is given in the second
right direction. The paper takes this to mean voters like the balance of a
number of people think the two parties are leading the country in the same
pudding," and finds this to mean "Voter excitement has dimmed."
The Times lead details "unusually bitter" feelings expressed by
high command is instead putting money into erasing party debt and the launch of
Al Gore's presidential campaign. Candidates apparently also feel that party
officials have discouraged donations by making dire predictions of a loss of as
writers and photographers) as freelancers, wrongly denying them benefits in the
process. The Journal notes that the suit marks the first time the
contentious issue of holding down employment costs by outsourcing work to those
piece on the oddity of Bill Gates not testifying in person. Even though he is the
lawyers might have viewed him as so "prickly and combustible" as to undermine
his own case. The paper quotes one lawyer who once questioned the world's
richest man live: "At one point he just started screaming, saying that what the
Several readers found yesterday's mention of the LAT lead story about
They were right. The piece posed a number of issues that cried out for further
attention. It stated that ranking 31st in federal funds per pupil meant that
state's per pupil amount should be the same, and failing that, one should
distribution, with most of the states over time clustering around the middle of
the pack. So 31st really isn't that bad. And is it right for a paper to promote
local interests that hard anyway? Shouldn't the LAT ask first if for
All the papers report that yesterday, a computer problem halted trading at
the New York Stock Exchange for about an hour. The papers give precise accounts
of the standstill with one glaring exception: none mentions the brand of
computer that failed. Is this lazy reporting or a gentleman's agreement not to
goes with upcoming statistics from the Centers for Disease Control suggesting
traditional dogma, burglary is a good predictor of violent crime.
information: The tart letters back and forth between Judiciary and the White
will produce an impeachment bill. Both say that until last week the impeachment
revealing that the man responsible for the federal government's largest study
of diabetes, which included administration of that drug, was at that time also
paper says that according to legal experts, this seems to be a crime under
Quest. According to the paper, there's hardly been one effective habit on
display, much less seven. The company's stock is but three dollars above its
company logo. One observer quoted sums up the situation this way: "It's proof
that the great business gurus know how to run everyone's business but their
fourteenth paragraph, the Post stops to explain something: "the Y stands
but elsewhere in the paper, another reporter lucks out. Today, the
some of the usual trappings of a financial story, but most of the multiples
that the House impeachment debate begins this morning and presumably a third
day of military actions will soon follow. So at some point then, there will be
forces. He is also quoted saying that other strikes were "not as successful."
None of the papers note the Pentagon briefing technique on display here: While
whether or not the building seems to have been hit intentionally.
suggestion made previously by senior Republicans that he ordered the airstrikes
to distract from the drive to impeachment: "I don't think any serious person
would believe that any president would do such a thing." The papers also note a
matter what our debates at home, we are as a nation prepared to lead the
weapons sites in order to avoid unleashing plumes of poisons into the air that
Meanwhile, the papers report, Congress yesterday was the site of bitter
debate over whether or not the impeachment debate and vote should proceed while
first floor speech since being chosen to be the next Speaker, claimed as
of the imminent release of a Roll Call piece based on a story
his affairs were "not with employees on my staff, and I have never been asked
to testify under oath about them." Well, Congressman, just to reassure the
nation, you wouldn't mind doing that now, would you?
inspection efforts in violation of promises it made last month, a report that
previously indicated that keeping the inspection effort viable was a reason not
The Wall Street Journal has some particularly good detail on why the current action may be more
effective than the Desert Storm air war: it will involve a much higher
percentage of precision weapons, the cruise missiles now have satellite
guidance, there isn't the distraction of also trying to attack an army deployed
throughout the region, and the targeting is now being done off seven years of
they could get very far into their usual defensive practice of dispersing their
break with the tradition of congressional support for military actions once
about the president's motives in this attack is itself a powerful argument for
impeachment. After months of lies, the president has given millions of people
is as it should be. If important politicians question the timing, their
questioning should be reported, and if there is evidence of suspiciousness in
the timing that evidence should be reported as well. But absent such findings,
it's irresponsible to talk about "Wag the Dog" in a news story. All kinds of
things have been portrayed in movies, but unless their connection to real
events is shown, they're not news. But at least the Journal also raises
a legitimate question relating the domestic and international situations:
Everybody dutifully reports that one factor in the timing of the operation's
why should we? There's a further incoherence here that the papers don't get
into. Why is it a sign of respect for your religion to kill you before instead
impeachment dramatics. All three papers agree that the House will almost
makes the front pages, as the Pentagon admits that the bombing campaign has
been less successful than hoped. Administration officials have not yet decided
allegiance to the rule of law, while Democrats characterized the proceedings as
reports that Gore is entering the fray as well, saying that he's "fighting
hope that killing these loyal soldiers will pave the way for a coup
the bombings are not meant to destabilize the regime.)
interrupt the impeachment to bring you the bombing. We interrupt the bombing to
bring you the impeachment. We interrupt the interruption to bring you a
voting on the new spending bill until early next week.
although the major budgetary issues have been agreed upon, some smaller
All three weekend papers feature front page stories on the awarding of the
parties (read: Catholic and Protestant) for their efforts to end sectarian
increase in defense spending, reversing a post cold war trend. Apparently,
defense equipment and troop quality are not keeping pace with the demands being
instead with the Republicans' House leadership elections, which garner big
the House's only black Republican, ascended to one of the party's top House
prevent the dissemination of damaging information about him, but it's also
pointed out everywhere that his testimony will contain the first revelation
White House. It's apparent from the accounts that the other major area of
that document spoke of possible grounds for impeachment, whereas according to
All the papers write from advance copies of his prepared testimony made
The papers also mention that neither the White House nor committee Democrats
that the fate of the alliance may affect the future of the software industry
ticker tape parades come from? Well, today's Journal reports, in the
was a resume. No word on how the paper, er, pieced the story together.
There is a bunch of coverage today on the prospects for any internal,
akin to the Bay of Pigs. The piece also includes this ringing assessment from
demonstrated is the ability to fight each other over smuggling rights."
Democrats, who are concerned that it would cut into the surplus set aside for
social security. "I insist that we reserve the entire surplus until we have
President has previously sought to dip into the budget surplus to fund, among
the ban on music. Girls, officially forbidden to attend school, are often
covertly educated at home by their parents. The article also showcases
The LAT front page carries a long historical narrative about the
derail its development of nuclear weapons. The article's main source is newly
heading off China's nuclear capabilities, but the Soviet Union flatly ignored
by a coterie of bankers and brokerage firms. Among other details the
Times describes the tense atmosphere at the rescue board meeting in the
Fed conference room, in which rival firms were persuaded to take highly unusual
more symbolic of military partnership than effective in providing real military
is a union of democratic socialism and liberalism ("Our approach is neither
Election postmortems lead all around. In the aftermath of the first midterm
editor: Was it really necessary at this very satisfying moment for Bill
a winning agenda." And the problem, at least in the eyes of some of the more
of the Family Research Council complaining, "We just ran one of the least
ideological campaigns we've run in years...." and a similar complaint from
points out the dilemma the Republicans face if they respond by simply
congressman: "We've got to reach out and have more than Southern white males
Times version: "I mean, I totally underestimated the degree to which
then the degree to which this whole scandal became just sort of disgusting by
would never again as long as he was Speaker make a speech without commenting on
sort of chagrin that's behind the rumblings of a House coup all the papers
The papers also say that an immediate consequence of the vote is at least a
now leaning towards having his Judiciary Committee call only one
flatly asserts that the Republican majority is now so slim that "there is
about his military service. This would be a fine time to elaborate.)
man in power to lead, not a play plastic puppet like other politicians."
which has hawked the story on its front and editorial pages harder than anybody
was in the works, the Times went with something else, but leads with it
vote, but additional charges such as obstruction of justice would not. The
before, but then reopened the investigation based on new evidence of Gore's
Gore's remarks at these meetings that he was contemplating flouting the
decision. "We need to take these matters out of the hands of the Attorney
failed to follow the law. For the past two years, the attorney general has made
it clear she is committed to protecting the president." The papers agree that
to the former's pitch to the "technologically challenged" and the latter's
would be as ubiquitous as cell phones are today. However, the Times says
addition to the current warning against taking the medication if a patient is
already taking any heart drug containing nitrates, the labels will now also say
blood pressure. The LAT explains that this is based on a close look at
popping the pills. The point is that when sex itself is risky because of
underlying cardiological problems, then impotence remedies should be avoided.
vision, which could make reading cockpit instruments and runway lights
The Wall Street Journal "Tax Report" says more and more
was designed to keep the wealthy from dodging federal tax entirely through the
artful use of deductions, credits and the like. The paper cites the example of
compelling if the Journal had told the reader what the man's income was.
But absent this information, it's a little hard to get worked up about this
wonders, in light of the shows big rating and attendant advertising revenues,
"Shouldn't the profit motive end where life and death become mere commodities
justified by its prompting of honest debate on a topic now more shrouded than
convincing on this point: donate all ad revenues produced by the show to
Times gets is, "If it isn't over, it's pretty close to over." Taking
says he'd have to win over more than half. The Nation's Newspaper also carries
working with the White House to try to persuade fellow moderates to oppose
The papers describe various last minute scenarios being floated at the White
House, none of them having yet obtained presidential imprimatur: a televised
address, and various alternative punishments, including the proposal of a
aide's harsh comment about Dole: "Those who have the power make the decisions.
Those who had the power, but lost it, have no right even to kibitz." There's
fine. (Jeez, why didn't liberals ever think like this? They could have stuck
observation in the LAT seems particularly insightful: the root of the
assaults the Constitution in that it threatens what it calls "the jewel in the
avoid impeachment, say he lied under oath, because that would be a lie, has a
question: Why stop lying now, when a lie could save your Presidency? Today's
following confession to your accusers in Congress: "Everything I say about the
Palm Beach but couldn't get a husband, you could pay for one of those tiny
then you'd be getting asked out by assistant professors or public interest
outfits, your likes and dislikes and the earning power of your ideal mate. But
it's not clear how much mail you're going to get from the article. After all,
you let them quote your theory of dating: "The cost of buying a woman dinner at
in history. The House voted to impeach the president for perjury before a grand
Two other impeachment votes failed: for perjury in a civil suit (defeated
votes, a Democratic motion to bring a censure proposal to the floor also failed
All three papers note that the Senate is unlikely to convict, which requires
readers of earlier predictions this year that impeachment would never pass the
House on a partisan vote and that the Democrats would suffer losses in the
midterm elections, warns: "In the toxic politics of century's end in
next year) is attributed mainly to pleading from his wife, but also to the fury
of a small band of conservative Republican members who threatened not to
after an irresponsible impeachment vote "would itself set a harmful precedent."
The New York Times reports that many Republicans fear that white
whip, to be the likely next speaker, having quickly won the support of whip Tom
themselves lacked sufficient support to win the job. The Post emphasizes
former high school teacher and coach. Not much more is said about him.
program has been set back "by at least a year." In a New York Times
had to call it Operation Desert [something beginning with "s" or "f"]. A
spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff is quoted saying, implausibly, that
The papers are dominated by the political reactions of the White House and
impeachment to the full House. Most of the leads report that Republican
impeachment are now "quite strong." One factor that all the papers note:
a censure alternative should be kept from House consideration. This would
planning various procedural moves to try to force censure before the House
and that's why he jerks his chain all the time." And the Times has Rep.
quote a colorful array of characters on both sides of the question. Now, what
Canton has been an uncanny bellwether of presidential prospects in several
elections. But still, such pieces are utterly random and anecdotal. Polls are
bad enough, but these pieces are basically bad polls.
stunning reason why nuclear proliferation may finally have become unstoppable:
the radical availability now of the raw computing power nuclear weapons
programs require. The story convinces right off the bat, with the dean of
in order to keep his share of work on the case, would that be illegal?
levels occurred despite recent corporate announcements of upcoming job
cutbacks. Huh? Today's Papers wonders why these papers think layoffs that will
happen in the next few months would have any effect on last month's employment
statistics show a troublesome gap between manufacturers, whose production is
down due to overseas financial trouble, and service industries, which continue
Committee allows it, this move might push the House's vote on impeachment into
Congress. Congressional negotiations are stalled over a dollar amount, however,
papers report that the expanded defense would focus on the independent
counsel's misconduct and on the definition of an impeachable offense.
for burglary, has already given one kidney to his daughter and his selflessness
been referred to a university bioethics committee that must weigh factors such
cost of dialysis that the prison system would have to pay. The father and
daughter had not met before the first kidney transplant, but have stayed in
newspaper's commentator asks, "...have we turned into a wimp state?" The
situation like that, you shoot to kill." Such criticism has outraged many
haven't experienced anything of this kind don't have a right to speak."
to making the trip in private cars, not just mass transportation. All the
which the company's lawyer made his opening statement, comparing the government
The papers all note what a kludge the budget process has become. For
policy decisions that Congress never debated. And they all tick off examples of
legislation to carry out the Chemical Weapons Convention (previously passed by
the Senate, but not implemented) as well as a measure to keep the world safe
weight=40 pounds, height=16 inches, and the number of pages=3,825. This sort of
that by the conservatives' lights, the bill spends too much and cuts taxes too
a severe split in the Republican Party that may be hard to patch up.
was trying to undercut his election opponent's strong support among women
voters. This is a bit brisk for a news story: Isn't there any chance that
papers attribute the weak exports and strong imports behind the gap to the
The LAT fronts high a story about the emerging tension between the
makers of legal, medical and financial software on the one hand, and lawyers,
doctors and investment professionals on the other, as the software nibbles away
The paper notes that the power of the Internet will only expand professional
software's reach. An example the LAT gives is the recent spate of web
questionnaire. In telling this story, the paper makes an interesting choice:
free advertising. Does the LAT also intend to start publishing the phone
numbers of lawyers and doctors in stories about them?
The main thrust of the two Times leads is that the ranks of the
Republican members of Congress declaring themselves to be firmly against
that "A Congress so out of step with the people it claims to represent ...is a
particularly important, noting that Shays had long been an announced foe of
impeachment. Both report that Shays will soon have a personal meeting with
opponent of impeachment, is still solid, but the LAT says he's
reconsidering his position. The paper sums up the situation as trending against
a piece claiming that federal investigators have come across new evidence about
originally thought, designed to influence the outcomes of particular races such
contributors' political access so that they could more effectively argue for
officials, pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced to five years' probation.
doubt about Democratic officials assertions of ignorance concerning
for auto crash test dummies. They are supposed to wear matching cotton shirts
how the limbs flail in a crash. Why the shoes? Because that's what people in
crashes are usually wearing. However, socks are optional.
The Middle East peace deal, signed yesterday after nine days of intense
The agreement sidesteps the most prickly points of contention, including the
The "people" dimension of the agreement almost overshadows its substance.
peculiarly disappeared from public view after the murder, and was nabbed by
police yesterday. His name will remain on the ballot, but he will undoubtedly
with special silk ribbons and red wax seals) are headed for the market. The
leads with the financial markets' reaction to the Fed rate cut.
a single Republican vote, and the Republicans want credit for pressuring
surplus: the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union, which kept defense
spending from going higher, the moderation of health care costs, and the extra
bills required for government operations have been completed. Also, the papers
wants to reserve it for dealing with the coming Social Security crunch,
want to allocate at least some of the surplus to tax relief.
the folly of giving much newspaper space to it on full display. The story's
and say that "analysts" see these developments as a flight from international
market. Also, the concerned tone of the story takes too narrow a point of
mortgage rates are wonderful right now and off the Treasury yield dip can only
think such criticism means the defense business is headed for a correction,
states, "It's almost certain that Congress will use a good chunk of the budget
surplus for defense." Glassman goes on to note that some leading professional
week in the fed funds rate, which determines the cost of money throughout the
head off formal impeachment proceedings in favor of some quicker but lesser
minister that he would sign a nuclear test ban treaty within the next year, a
on to point out some hopeful developments in the relationship between the two
ever read, with this difference: it's about rates going down, not up. The
likely move is said to be in response to what the LAT calls a "drumbeat
of pleas" from economists (and, it could be added, from columnists). The papers
upcoming cut is but the first of many. The LAT points out however, that
there do not appear to be any similar coordinated cuts forthcoming from the
his intent to expand any impeachment inquiry into Whitewater, campaign
finance abuse and technology transfers to China. The White House immediately
responded, says the Post by accusing congressional Republicans of trying
elections. The paper describes the atmosphere around the scandal as "escalating
The Wall Street Journal has been running a good "first draft of
history" series all week on the current global economic crisis. Today's
clone." The Times says that the appearance leaves little doubt that in
would have been filled by Bill. The paper also reports that at times, the first
lady appeared "dazed and distant," especially when a reporter standing directly
against "inquisitorial harassment by a fanatical prosecutor with unlimited
"contagion." As a result, in any newspaper article about his testimony the
directly quoted material is almost always meaningless without gobs of
"We have to bring the existing instabilities to a level of stability reasonably
shortly. I think we know where we have to go. I do not think we underestimate
the severity of the problems with which we are dealing," and then says that
think there is a price to pay," should be translated as warning Congress that
"eating into the [budget] surplus with either tax cuts or spending increases
Three of the leads address a common theme: strengthening patients' rights.
Today leads with a new proposal by the federal government that would
solidify patients' protections against being refused hospital treatment on
Medicaid and Medicare to allow those with disabilities to continue receiving
Times lead states that the next Congress is well positioned to pass new
out this week would make it clear that hospitals cannot delay care while
awaiting coverage approval from a patient's insurance company. The paper says
dumping cases. The story says that hospital officials insist they already treat
all emergencies, and that the real, continuing problem not addressed by the new
guidelines is what to do about patients who present at emergency rooms for
feature of current law under which the disabled usually have to choose between
medicine that allows the person to hold a job. Currently, eight million
The LAT cites a signal reason why prospects for federal health care
reform are looking up: the new Republican House leadership looks more favorably
for damages when the plan's withholding of authorization was linked to harm he
or she suffered. Some such provision is likely to be revisited, says the
inquiry, but is relevant again now and is being augmented with additional
slave laborers, in the wake of recent similar and successful legal moves
German Army and Ford was number two. The primary issue to be litigated, says
respect to their German operations after Pearl Harbor. Virtually none, say the
companies. Still, a jury will probably be interested to learn that as late as
rearmament effort in the thirties was "much less significant" than that of the
is now joined at the balance sheet with longtime German auto colossus
testimony on public opinion, the committee will vote for impeachment. The
poignant rejection of impeachment when put to a vote on the House floor. The
opposition to impeachment. This means that if House democrats remain united,
makers, noting that the agreement apparently ends the nation's legal war on
maintain its revenue stream and receive "significant legal protection for years
enough, I say we simply couldn't afford to come away with nothing."
called the Independent Counsel an "aggressive advocate" of impeachment and
All the papers report that federal agents broke an illegal alien smuggling
organization ever dismantled in United States history."
Artist Without His Beard" is not known, but the tidy sum represents nearly
each focus on the Senate's struggle with the issue of whether or not it still
has the option of brokering some sort of resolution to the crisis besides a
accompanied by a clear exit strategy. This should have been put high in the
instead on the sparse details of what is currently known about damage to raid
government practice, foreign journalists have not been invited to view bombed
included a female Navy carrier pilot. A sign of the gradual normalization of
use of the B-1 bomber. The story's headline speaks of the very expensive and
story's body quotes a B-1 officer saying that "vindication might not be the
right word," and waits until the ninth paragraph to reveal that "the Pentagon
had not yet been able to assess the damage done by the bombers' strikes."
woman had taken fertility drugs. These drugs are creating incredibly expensive
recent dip in the national savings rate isn't necessarily bad. For one thing,
conventions such as not counting capital gains as income that make it look
world mired in recession, this may not be a good time to tighten our belts
anyway. The Times mentions something else that seems like it could in
fact be a silver lining in this supposed cloud: the big fear that the majority
of baby boomers will wind up working longer than they expected because they
didn't save enough for their retirement. But wouldn't that delay the huge
boomer claim on Social Security, thus giving that system more of a chance to
along the way actually gives him some very practical advice: under pain of a
Senate trial, sign a very tough censure deal, and pay off everybody's legal
disease is not among the nation's top ten killers for the first time since
statement that Democrats should vote their consciences, with no need to fear
White House retribution, when the full House of Representatives decides today
resurgence in Japan's stock and currency markets, spurred by evidence of a
political deal there to allow public funds to be used to rescue its crippled
banking system. The Wall Street Journal explains that the rally shows that
Japan's credit crunch is the number one issue with its investors.
The papers note that the main thrust of the AIDS results is that while the
new treatment drugs are making a huge dent in the death rate, the infection
expert who points out that there have been no new federal funds spent on
major to put the sustained infection rate in its headline. And although, for instance, the Times
mentions an upsurge of unsafe sex practices among gay men, and the problems of
mentions the words "gay" or "sex" or "intravenous drugs."
House Democratic votes will be more valuable later on than they are now, should
as some Democrats openly complained about White House pressure on them to vote
The LAT front features a big picture and accompanying story about
articles obviously comes from materials produced in discovery for the upcoming
government's air war before the ground war of the trial itself.
Representatives yesterday passed a bill designed to restrict minors' access to adult material on the Internet.
The bill, explains the paper, is designed to be narrow enough to withstand the
the Internet availability to young people of material that includes "actual or
simulated acts of sexual contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted
sexual acts, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals or female breast." And the
bill stipulates that people found making such material available to minors
many law enforcement authorities to be a criminally based society, specializing
in home repair scams generally targeting the elderly. In addition, the group
keeps their kids out of school and encourages its girls to get married off in
mention of the Gypsies, whom the Travelers seem to resemble in many
to ponder an increasingly straitened world. The Post catches the
financiers nibbling on pea pancakes topped with caviar, while at another party,
bushes. Over the last four years years, four other abortion doctors have been
wounded in the region, and just days ago authorities had warned of possible new
are unlikely to pose major objections. Nonetheless, the administration is
and the word "cool" to every spot on the planet. The article meanders into a
be mandatory viewing for half the world's population?
famed wordplay ability nudged the negotiations through tight spots. The
and weary from empty past peace accords, have greeted the latest installment
However, the resolution was softened to the point of ambiguity by the dissent
resolution "skirts an outright threat to use force." Of particular concern is
the popular, crude parody newspaper. When they're not busy painting their
verdict? "We considered dozens of qualified candidates, and it was so difficult
Today goes with the Supreme Court's decision not to consider two
campaign finance reform cases. And the LAT leads with an analysis of the
The LAT tobacco suit story notes that if the case is settled, "the
industry got off relatively cheaply in strict financial terms." Smokers
that this is not enough to seriously dampen consumption. Health advocates have
already criticized the settlement as too lax, but the state attorneys general
are eager to settle and get the money. For the settlement to take effect,
now seem remote, as Congress is generally disinclined to pass the necessary
the market can maintain its course in the face of the global economic
process. The Fed's announcements and hints on forthcoming interest rate moves
Editor," recommends the piece to the legions of you out there who sent in
of the settlement. The agreement must first be approved by the federal judge
more hour on this matter." One jubilant White House official quoted in the
In other scandal developments, carried in all papers: Independent counsel
for a prosecutor to keep indicting the same person over and over again."
marketing restrictions, including a ban on billboard advertising. Before the
with pending or contemplated suits against tobacco companies.
methodology that favors open markets and freer trade. Alarmed by the global
global economic regulation. Specific proposals have ranged from establishing a
This is sacrilege against Lady Di. Media stories also contain unpardonable
Explorer is out of beta, meaning that it is no longer considered experimental.
Explorer is a free little program that makes it easier to find your way around
Slate. It tells you what's in each day's issue; it takes you to the page you
want; and it even fires up your browser for you if you're not online at the
moment. Slate Explorer has been awarded Slate magazine's "Cool Software of the
products. "It's um, you know, really cool," explained the chairman of the
delivery right on the Today's Papers page or by clicking here.) Most of the feedback we get is positive. But we do get
several complaints a week about misspellings, grammatical errors, and so on.
these working conditions, and that the hour ought to excuse a few typos and
other minor mistakes. The reason we don't catch them is that the rest of us are
then grabs the copy from our site and mails it to our subscriber list. Except
it is every journalist's fantasy to be able to mainline prose directly into a
publication without the interference of an editor. And there aren't many
First Amendment gives weekly magazines the right to a week off every now and
two years ago, we thought we were a weekly magazine, more or less. But
a few readers) might prefer to describe it. We now post new material at all
occurred the day after we shut down for a week, we realized that a vital and
material than usual. The first of those summer weeks is now upon us. We have
interim, though, we will continue to post and update "Briefing" features such
the daily "News Quiz" will appear; and features such as "Chatterbox," "The
Breakfast Table," and "Dialogues" will be updated often but irregularly, as
always. That should be enough to satisfy most people, we hope. And if you need
more, there's two years' worth of our archive, "The Compost," to poke around
inevitable drop in our audience. We're delighted to report that it hasn't
Reach is defined as the percentage of the total World Wide Web audience in
visitors as we have subscribers? Answer: People are coming to our "front
will persuade visitors to purchase the full meal. And that appears to be
All these other sites except the Economist are free. The New
's chief political correspondent, looked around him a few
months ago and saw nothing but squalor. This is not a reference to
way, inciting no small amount of envy in those of us who labor in the bland
squalid was the subject matter he was forced to contemplate week after week:
privatization alone." And he pleaded to the editor, "Take me away from here, to
a realm of high thoughts and charmed vistas, where I may contemplate matters
more lovely than special prosecutors and nuclear proliferation. Where aesthetic
considerations are paramount and base motives are unknown."
generally, you will find nothing but wholesomeness. Beauty is in their hearts
and beauty is on their minds. Dwell among them and let their purity wash away
the filth of politics with which you are encrusted after lo! these many columns
shafts of doubt. "Are you sure," he asked the editor, "that the world of
culture is actually so wonderful and that the people who dwell therein are
not much of a column. What will I impugn, if not motives?"
replied. "You will think of something. And, come to think of it, the world of
culture may not be as pure as all that after all. There is squalor aplenty. But
at least it will be a different kind of squalor." And the editor decreed that
Bedfellow" column was posted last week. (And here's the latest.)
's Explainer is complaining about the quality of the questions he is
receiving. Explainer stands ready to explain items in the day's news that are
confusing or vague or seemingly contradictory or otherwise inadequately
explained by the conventional media. But many of the questions he receives, he
says, are "tendentious." They don't really seek information or understanding.
unanswerable. They begin from a debatable premise and go on to raise profound
metaphysical questions that are beyond the scope of this 
The answer is inherently subjective. (Many people believe, in all sincerity,
that he is a very small jerk. Nor does the question allow for the possibility,
however slight, that he is not a jerk at all.) "Why doesn't my computer work?"
is another category of questions Explainer is not prepared to answer. Questions
about life and love should go to "Dear Prudence." But if there's something that truly puzzles you
in the paper this morning, Explainer is eager to straighten you out.
Hart embarked on the Monkey Business with Donna Rice, public exposure of
Hart's adultery would get reported, but the nation would yawn. The story would
vanish quickly from the news, and all the pundits would say that Hart's
wandering eye was less important than his expertise on weapons procurement.
least, is the revised scenario suggested by the two sex scandals that broke
last week. Reputable publications reported that the president of the United
was having an affair with his communications director would have no impact on
interview in his office. But there is no sign of harm to the president's
approval rating, which continues to hover in the low 60s. Ten years ago, both
as not would have chewed up successful politicians and spat them out onto the
Now such stories don't even rate as scandals. They mainly
reporters who got scooped beating up those who broke the story. As ever before,
it was amusing to watch the prestigious media organs resist temptation as best
they could, only to yield hypocritically a few days later. When Vanity
under the guise of discussing whether the mayor was spending too much time at
the office. "When you think about it, the most interesting part of this
angle is significant. By reporting gossip about gossip, Drudge has
was utterly false, and Drudge retracted it under threat of a lawsuit. But all
this was reported in the Post and elsewhere, putting the falsehood into
wider circulation. As the supermarket tabloids have shown, the ethical standard
something is published by anyone, it becomes fair game for analysis and
repetition. Irresponsible, inaccurate postings on the Internet are now a back
door for stories that don't even meet the standards of the tabloids.
have declined, the formerly godlike power of the establishment media to decide
days, the Times and Post were inclined to withhold information
about the personal lives of politicians on the assumption that readers couldn't
handle it. While sophisticated journalists might understand that an
extramarital affair wasn't such a big deal, the public at large was too bigoted
and judgmental to put such information in proper perspective. A frequent lament
attitude was condescending and undemocratic. If voters considered all Ten
Commandments pertinent to their decision about whom to vote for, the New
York Times had no business suppressing information about one that it
credit for. While people may be extremely interested in details about any
famous person's sex life, they don't deem that information particularly useful
information that might not harm a Democratic president could still destroy a
notion of the president as an adulterer, or worse. An added datum weighs far
less than does a novel accusation against someone previously considered a good
family man. But something clearly has changed. Even conservative Republicans,
about politicians' performance in office than about the condition of their
maturity argues not for an advance, but for a retreat on the part of the press.
If voters don't deem personal lives politically relevant, there's no
justification for reporters invading people's privacy to find out about them.
the people we want in public life away from public life. And if the public
doesn't think adultery matters, the press is exploiting politicians merely for
the Vanity Fair story was defective, among other reasons, because its
evidence fell short of the photographic. But getting better evidence means even
standard of relevance, not a higher burden of proof.
mayor values for more than her spin. It was getting absurd for reporters to
analyze developments at City Hall without referring to a romantic attachment
whether the president misused government resources. But reporters can always
find pretexts of one kind or another: that the person is a hypocrite, is lying
raises questions of "character." It's time to quit fishing. When it comes to
simple adultery, journalists should listen to the voters. If they don't care,
action is usually cast as a fight between conservatives who wish to abolish the
policy and liberals who want to keep it. That is a misunderstanding. The
argument is actually between conservatives who want to remodel affirmative
Rather, they propose to base it on the principle of economic disadvantage.
This, they contend, would bring similar results in terms of diversity, without
affirmative action would be fine if it were limited to efforts at "recruitment"
and "training." They generally agree that affirmative action is acceptable as a
"remedy" for specific acts of past discrimination. Many who think that
affirmative action shouldn't be required by law favor it as a voluntary policy.
And, of course, most opponents of affirmative action practice it themselves.
Black opponents of affirmative action, for example, are heavily favored over
whites with similar views in getting promoted by the conservative propaganda
If group preferences are wrong in principle, as these
opponents maintain, none of their exceptions makes much sense. Consider the
"remedy for past discrimination" dodge. Say you're a highly qualified white man
if you got turned down because the department once discriminated against
alternative is even less of an improvement. It actually heightens the injustice
of affirmative action by punishing some people for a historical wrong that they
famous for economic opportunity and class mobility as it is for its legacy of
a real problem for an even more vexed solution to an illusory problem.
on the other hand, spend less time defending affirmative action than they do
numerical quotas are unfair and discriminatory, while "flexible" goals are not.
Race should be a factor, but it must not be the factor. What's the real
difference? In either case, members of a protected group win jobs, promotions,
This is colorblindness of a sort: No one can identify specific victims or
exist as surely as they do under a policy of explicit quotas.
"racial preferences" and "reverse discrimination" in favor of the term
says he wants to "mend" affirmative action. Opponents, it turns out, say the
same thing. So, behind the vicious argument is actually something like shared
understanding that affirmative action is a toxic medicine, sometimes necessary,
that we've been using too freely. The dosage needs to be scaled back. But how?
Any kind of affirmative action means preferring some people
over others for reasons having nothing to do with their intrinsic
private institution, should take on lightly. But it remains justified in one
society as a whole. Were this problem evaporating on its own, affirmative
action would not be necessary. The condition of blacks is improving, but there
Ordeal of Integration --that affirmative action has played an essential role
in fostering both integration and the growth of the black middle class. If
affirmative action needs to be reformed, the way to fix it is to narrow it, to
order, which first created preferences in federal contracting, applied only to
hobbled by chains, and liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race,
and then say, 'You are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly
however, the concept was stretched to cover other minorities and women, who
were less hobbled at the starting line. The greatest expansion was under
horse to slaughter Democrats. Yet Democrats continued to push to qualify new
"liberals love big government." The New Deal political model for social
deserving. A broad base of beneficiaries meant a broad base of political
"gender" before "race" in defining the policy. Though this approach didn't stop
explicit strategy for saving affirmative action is to rally women in its
defense. Thus new Small Business Administration regulations intended to make it
and so on. But the mistreatment of all groups other than blacks was far less
severe, and it has proven far more amenable to cure without radical
large following the classic patterns of immigrant and ethnic assimilation. For
In their abstract mode, conservatives argue that any group
bias is unfair. Why should whites who did not themselves discriminate against
is that it shouldn't be thought of as punishment. Whites who never practiced
discrimination are nonetheless beneficiaries of it.
discrimination if blacks had always been equal. Imagine a law school class with
if blacks had not been enslaved and discriminated against? Under the
doesn't necessarily mean that in a world with no racial discrimination, present
is to replicate a colorblind world, a world with some forms of racial
affirmative action comes closer than a world without it.
respects, too, the country is in better economic shape now than during the
homelessness and welfare, the '90s boom has been accompanied by a decline in
those same ills. Recent hints of an increase in real incomes suggest that
affluence may be more widely shared this time around. Faced with such brilliant
economic performance, Republicans tend to be as eager to deny any credit to the
incumbent president as they were to give him all the credit in the 1980s.
Republican line that presidents have less impact on the economy than most
to producing the general conditions of prosperity, presidents have little
power. The government's main economic lever, the money supply, is the province
domestic product growth has been remarkably consistent over the past couple of
policy does affect the health of the economy. Though the Fed is supposed to be
who picked him. Carter, for instance, deserves considerable credit for choosing
Carter was committing honorable suicide by picking him.
Furthermore, presidents can make it harder or easier for the Fed to do its job
trade and dollar policy, but have a less tangible impact on business and
consumer confidence. It may be ridiculous that our presidential elections are
president's hands. But if voters ignored the condition of the economy in
choosing their president, they would be even less realistic.
contends, fueled the current gush of tax revenues as well as a flourishing
revenues beyond expectations in the last couple of years are the last two tax
the economy. Government borrowing left less capital for private investment,
which meant that growth was lower and entrepreneurs were worse off than
for today's good times is limited to his sometimes equivocal support for free
consider him a major traitor. By raising taxes significantly, the budget deal
discipline to domestic spending. The same year Bush fell on his sword by
breaking his "read my lips" pledge, he impaled himself again by reappointing
fierce enemy of inflation who wouldn't prime the pump before an election to
independence than Bush did. Reluctantly, but less reluctantly than Bush,
which passed with zero Republican votes, included a tax increase that was
directly benefited the economy, bringing down interest rates and boosting the
faithful to the cause of deficit reduction. He has also aided the economy in
better. Real wages continue to grow slowly. To increase wages significantly
's "The Fray" are one of the advantages of publishing on the Web. But
they also create a weird anomaly. On the one hand, the writings of professional
get paid for it, are put through an editorial process more or less like that of
a traditional paper magazine, which can take several hours to a week or more
from manuscript to "publication." On the other hand, any stranger anywhere in
the world can have his or her words posted on our site instantaneously and with
no editing at all (except very occasionally after the fact).
contradiction, we decided not to start rigorous editing of the Fray. It remains
meddlesome editors wielding software programs such as Semicolon
we have been experimenting cautiously with the opposite approach: giving a few
To be honest, this decision was based less on philosophical insight than on the
and musings about culture, high and low). Both these departments are updated
with new material two or three times a week, very approximately, on no set
schedule and at no particular time of day or night. From the author's laptop to
features are evolving in accord with the Web imperatives of
continue our happy relationship with the Motley Fool shortly with a new
background briefing on some issue in the news, will become "Explainer." An
explained). Our Explainer (the person, not the article) will be standing by
every weekday to explain things the newspapers and television and even news Web
sites leave unclear. It might be the historical background of some current news
story. It might be a straightforward rundown of the facts and arguments in a
controversy that has been clouded by strong passions and flying sound bites. Or
it might be a snappy summary of some issue that would be clear enough if you
you're not about to do, because life is short. That's fine! Explainer will read
is fully capable of finding news stories confusing or unclear without
"Frame Game" feature: shrewd analysis of how an issue is
being framed by the contending interests and who is winning the frame game.
These essays are accessible directly from the Contents page or from the
different cities, moves outside the subscription wall for a while, beginning
published by Random House. A "personal and poignant defense of assimilation,
are for buying what you're selling, among other things. With that thought in
announces our Referral Program: Persuade a friend to
will check to make sure that people by these names have really
or if you really persuaded them to sign up. Click here for more details
and unloved? What that computer needs is a subscription to 
details. No purchase necessary. Some restrictions apply. (We've always wanted
time talking about it." Now, another senator might have noted that he was
spending a lot of time thinking about the issue, perhaps, or
listening to the arguments on both sides. But this is the Torch,
member of the upper chamber most in love with the sound of his own voice. When
he seems to have figured out in a hurry how this Senate thing works. "I didn't
amendment, which is set to fail by one vote early next week. This claim of
three other Democratic "undecideds" had the narrow defeat of the bill. But
announcement to make himself the center of media attention. He also showed how
version he now opposes, three different times. During his recent campaign, he
said in unequivocal terms that he was in favor of the amendment, donning his
fiscally irresponsible liberal. So his first order of business in the Senate
anything so dramatic as to say he might have been wrong in the past. Instead,
he reinterpreted his past position as semaphore. He wasn't really voting
to amend the Constitution at the time. He was trying to send a "message" about
fiscal irresponsibility to various presidents and to Congress. (When I conked
you over the head with that frying pan, I was merely indicating my
fiscally irresponsible as the next guy. In Congress, people send messages to
step is the fun part: agonizing in public. The national grandmaster of this
does, because with him, it's not an act. He is truly, paralytically ambivalent,
perpetually ruminating about whether he should run for president even while
he gave interviews to the New York Times and National Public Radio the
week before last saying how seriously he took the arguments on both sides, and
how impressed he was with the deep consideration of important issues that took
your vote. At this stage, you are the most popular guy in town. The president
invites you over to watch the Super Bowl. His aides respond to your smallest
can't ask for pork if you want to be seen as a deep thinker. Demanding a bridge
as your price would be tacky, especially in exchange for killing off a
all the post offices you want.) More dignified is to ask for some kind of
spread out the costs of "investment" expenditure. Presto: After a conversation
examine this important issue. Click to have Slate's editor explain what's wrong
days earlier, but that was just to bear the weight of another senator, even a
version of the amendment because it didn't contain any provision for the
provide for one, pending the report of the Torch Commission. The merits of that
issue aside, this was an absurd proposal in the context of debate about a
contradictory ideas. Being against the former because it doesn't provide for
the latter is like saying you don't like a house because it doesn't have
circumstances unforeseen will deal with renewed military hostilities, a deep
recession, or the problem of declining economic competitiveness." Nice bit of
order will get you everywhere in the Senate. After his endless speech on the
Chins were stroked. Editorials were penned, hailing the decision. A strange new
Democrats were one vote short, and wouldn't have succeeded in defeating the
on the merits, but I never questioned his sincerity on the issue. Or take
level of debt," he said, "and it's possible several members could emerge to use
maybe one new senator could just stop talking for a while.
forums and chat rooms without joining in yourself. In "The Fray," 
world and conduct energetic discussions of everything under the sun. To give
you a taste, we've started a new department called "Best of the
some of the livelier ongoing discussions. If you haven't yet entered the Fray,
start with Best of to get the general idea, then go and lurk a bit, then jump
site. But we certainly don't want to discourage sales. So let us be clear
that the book contains a few excellent essays not available on the Web and that
it is a delightful physical object in its own right.
pundits have debated how Bob Dole would exit the stage. Would he depart on a
negative note about his opponent or a positive one about himself? Would he
leave with anger or with humor? In the past several days, the issue has been
settled. Dole, it appears, will end his political career raging against the
House. "This is a disgrace," Dole insisted. "I doubt if you even read it in the
"We are not going to let the media steal this election," he told a crowd in
crowd this size, the New York Times will write not many people showed
hammer us on a daily basis. We make a major speech, they bury it back on
highhandedly quoting everything and explaining none of it, leaving its readers
baffled as to why the Republican nominee is so upset at the paper. In fact,
Dole's fury at the Times is hardly news to those who work at the paper.
protested that she had misunderstood the candidate's position on abortion. The
real bitterness, however, began in May, when the paper played what Dole aides
Since then, campaign honchos have peppered the paper's reporters and editors
with constant phone calls and letters complaining about unfair treatment.
told reporters waiting to board the campaign plane, had just come from an
reporters told about the appearance in advance? According to reporters present,
AWOL in the drug war. "Where has he been for four years? How many hundreds of
thousands of young people started drugs?" Dole said. "Three million have
started smoking while he was playing around with smoking and all this stuff
accused the President of 'playing around' while the drug war raged out of
that Dole was talking about a very different kind of 'playing
continues: "Since May, I have been pointing out to you a problem we see with
the accuracy and understanding of context revealed in Kit's reporting," going
in a manner that distorted the accuracy of her assertions and your
story, but speaking on background, a senior campaign official elaborated upon
the complaint. "They've just done a miserable job throughout this campaign,"
the official said. "The coverage of Dole has been excessively bitchy from day
one, in addition to having a number of extraordinary factual problems." With
Dole full time since the summer, "the problem is an incredible focus on the
little picture as opposed to the big picture." As an example, the official
as "a rough stretch of politicking." Other than those two episodes, the
official says, Dole actually had a great week. The campaign's complaint extends
official describes as "the softest portrait since they invented black
editorial judgments based on disposition to be tough on Bob Dole or nice to Bob
editor's note acknowledging that it shouldn't have truncated the "playing
drug dealer who visited the White House the same day Dole accused the paper of
says. This stems, however, not from any bias, she says, but from the campaign's
own internal problems. Dole's campaign has been especially "porous," with aides
Famous for going over and over her tape recordings on the campaign plane,
he had a delightful time drawing out his vowels as he described financial
Dole in another story: "They've turned the White House into something else, I
don't know what it is. It's the animal house! It's the animal house!" Most
reporters would write, Bob Dole yesterday compared the White House to an
"animal house," sparing the exclamation points, and making him sound at least
observes the rules of syntax most of the time. Something similar may be
their editorial counterparts, have a strong bias against dullness. Take, for
ran the day after the second presidential debate does make Dole look like a
same day, it captures the spirit of the event, with Dole grimly taking the
paper that broke Whitewater and the story of the first lady's commodities
on the campaign trail has been somewhat softer than the coverage of Dole, as
even other Times reporters acknowledge. But the explanation is
institutional, not ideological. The press, as many have complained,
overemphasizes the "horse race" aspect of politics. As a side effect of that
attacks on the Times have the appearance of being an exercise in
They don't like them in the South." But this pat explanation doesn't entirely
voters he would need to turn around in order to make the miraculous happen. And
in fact, according to a senior Dole aide, the attacks are heartfelt on the
candidate's part. Dole has been going after the Times over the
objections of advisers who have been telling him there's no percentage in
Times because he is truly furious and not because he thinks it will help
him get elected, what is he so angry about? The answer, I think, is that there
which feels shut out of the closed circle of the Eastern establishment. At the
the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never
suffered, and never learned." That phrase recalled an attack he made on the
Dole said then. "They belong to the same elite: They can be found living
shunted onto D19 when he ought to have been on A1. It's his feelings, as he
says goodbye to politics, about the people who get to decide.
calculation, gave the most to charity last year. No doubt the editors of
Fortune were completely unaware of a remarkably similar feature, the
of a list of the biggest givers originated with Ted Turner, vice chairman of
rodents, and so on). Still, we did get there first. If Fortune couldn't
resist ripping us off, a bit of credit might have been nice.
Fortune 's list is on the Web, but we're not even going to link to it. So
exchange we published, and it's pretty darned interesting. We're working on
persuading them to let us share the subsequent mail messages with you as
with the rap: It's uncivilized, it's just show biz, it's not serious, you all
similar complaints, apparently, about the liberal hosts). In the family of
Crossfire deserves more respect. To start, it is honest in
a way the other shows are not. Virtually all the political talk shows require
journalists to adopt one of two dishonest postures: agnosticism or omniscience.
pretend that they are neutral observers who have no opinion about the subject
at hand. This is not only dishonest, but it also limits their ability to frame
journalists) are free to have a point of view. Indeed, they are required to
have, or to pretend to have, a passionate and fully informed viewpoint on every
Crossfire 's basic fuel is the tendentious question. As a host, you
honest, and it's also more effective in getting at the truth. Or at least, that
job was "no doubt profitable and not arduous as these things go." But it's a
how to deliver a prepackaged sound bite. Guests are less likely to get away
with that on Crossfire than on any other show. Crossfire hosts
not only are freer to ask more pointed questions, but they're also free to
point out that a guest hasn't answered them, to follow up two or three or four
times, and ultimately either to extract an answer or to make vividly clear that
not nearly as much shouting on Crossfire as its reputation would
suggest. But the show does get cacophonous, sometimes to the point of making
the discussion unintelligible. That's not on purpose. It's the price of
Crossfire 's approach. The opposite approach has a price, too. Other
emphasis on maintaining a civilized atmosphere actually dulls the intellectual
rigor of the discussion. Many politicians who are regulars on the other shows
print punditry. Where else does a pundit face one or more people dedicated to
demolishing his or her arguments on the spot and making him or her look like a
immediate to fear than a distant letter to the editor or, at worst, a politely
can be aggravating. There's the strain of finding something to argue about in
every big news event, the artifice of dividing every controversy into two sides
labeled "left" and "right." There are the many points of argument and fact that
term for two, three, or four people talking at once). Like all these shows,
Crossfire often falls for spin, serves the establishment, legitimizes
phonies, and in general misses the point completely. But it's no worse than the
consumer advocate, recently announced plans for a conference called "Appraising
internal liaison officer reasoned, "Look, bud, do you know who you're dealing
terminal. (He never carries an umbrella. "Do you know how many microbes there
patterns may be acquired in the future. No "global strategy" involved! The sole
purpose is to provide weather users with a more consistent meteorological
interface. A wide variety of weather will continue to be offered free of
when their computers crash. (Every year, hundreds of computer users develop
hernias or serious back problems from attempting to lift up their machines and
inflating balloon that will pin the user to his or her seat until the computer
to enter on his knees, fall prostrate, and apologize profusely for impugning
the company's motives. He would then be taken off and melted into software. But
people to buy software? What a marketing concept! It fits in perfectly with our
entertainment) with agitprop. Beyond that, the willingness of a top news
organization to suspend all skepticism is one more sign that the drug war has
News, has redoubled these efforts. Last year, when the partnership presented
the partnership. Fighting racism and protecting the environment are good causes
Despite the worthiness of these causes, questions arise about the methods,
tactics, reliability of information, and sources of funding of any advocacy
organization. Nonprofits often provide essential help for reporters, but it's
the cigarette and liquor industries, which want to distinguish their products
from illegal drugs. The partnership no longer accepts smoking and
Foundation, whose wealth is based on pharmaceuticals.
in the March Against Drugs. Drinking by teens is arguably a bigger problem than
educational pamphlet distributed by the network in connection with the march.
month. It did, however, run an alarmist story on Good 
little exaggeration in a good cause? The air of hyperbole that surrounds the
message doesn't have to be accurate if it sells. One famous partnership ad
crude and dishonest propaganda during a real war, as opposed to a metaphorical
one like the war on drugs. But this month, it seems to be dropping all its
Time about the difficulty of talking honestly to one's kids about drugs,
partnership were edited out of the discussion before it aired. Perhaps this was
presented this month, it will probably be some stoned freak with a ponytail.
Kids" might sound like just another dumb slogan  la "Just Say No." But these
added is a new page called Pundit Links, with links to the most recent columns by
Central" page, where we give you a quick and (we hope) insightful and
entertaining roundup of what happened on the weekend talk shows. And if you
you'll never find yourself short of an opinion again.
you may have pleasure from writing, after it is over, if you have written well;
up in the '70s, was a still an esoteric sport. To find matches, we of the
the distant suburbs. On almost a weekly basis, we were humiliated by teams of
since just after birth. Their mothers, who surrounded the field, terrified our
locked their boys in the sausage shed as punishment for missing shots.
social complexion of the game has changed. No longer a mere bridge between
mainstream as Little League baseball. Indeed, the sport is now so populist that
in the opinion of all the experts, it is "soccer moms" who will determine the
outcome of next month's election. According to a lead story in the New York
candidates had tried to woo it. The idea is that while most other demographic
segments are largely committed, soccer moms make up a volatile, and hence
Who exactly, we must ask, are these soccer moms who hold
informs us, "shuttling the kids to practice in minivans, nervously pacing the
sidelines, juggling the demands of family and career." Well naturally, but what
sort of women take their kids to soccer practice? According to one South
in life is to do too much for her children. She got on a waiting list early for
stressed." Opinion is similarly divided on her employment status. In the view
woman who has "temporarily taken up child rearing." According to the
family." The consensus seems to be that soccer moms are some subset of
presumably, to urban "rap moms" who do not), and they are incredibly busy. If
you can't find a soccer mom for your story, don't worry. Part of the shtick is
journalist's friend, allows us to trace the historical evolution of the term.
that she shot her two daughters and then tried, unsuccessfully, to kill
herself. The application of the term to politics goes back only to last year,
during the primaries and now works for Bob Dole. (See a sample of his work in
Remover.) "The working soccer mom is the swing voter of this election,"
Dole campaign signed him up full time. "And she is not going to trust a guy who
argues for the need to own an assault weapon. She'll trust a guy who can feel
part of the political lexicon, it may be because it is cleverly positioned at
of the suburbs, the popularity of the Dodge Caravan, and so on. Yet there is
something intrinsically misleading about the category, and indeed about all
determined by the media's ideal voter of that year, the Angry White Male, who
loved guns and beer while hating government and liberals. What, one wonders,
happened to Angry White Male? Did he die in a hunting accident? Did he go on
election? The notion that there is a single demographic group that determines
each election, then recedes back into the anonymity of the general populace, is
useful for political consultants and reporters. But as the impermanence of such
to be meaningless or so large that differences between them are more important
wealth. As voters, these women have little in common from election to
gap has turned into a gorge this year, with women in all categories favoring
the president by a 26-point margin, according to the most recent
the election were very close, such a bulge might make a difference. But as Guy
higher up the socioeconomic ladder, women tend to vote more differently from
their husbands. So it's hardly a surprise that soccer moms are somewhat more
be true of the swing back toward the Democrats this year. Soccer moms, whoever
crucial swing voter, in other words, seems especially muddled and misleading.
have emerged, and we won't have soccer moms to kick around anymore.
commentator, is (we think) the original source of a profound insight on the
extremely talented, etc., etc., etc.) will compete in trying to produce a piece
in a hurry. Readers will vote on whose work comes closest to resembling a
fungible, the contestants will be tested in a variety of journalistic
and the name of a specific publication whose style each hack is expected to
accomplished hack put it, the essence of hackery is 'adjusting to a minimum of
information to produce the maximum journalistic effect.' Actually, he went on a
hack who collects the most votes will be declared victor and be invited to
return next year to face challengers. The cheat sheets will be published for
hacks are hacking away, we've got homework for you as well. But it will take a
lot less than two hours. We'd be grateful if you took a few minutes to fill out
our second annual online reader survey. It will be on our site for two weeks,
readers answered our survey. They seemed to enjoy it, and it was extremely
biggest and best known of the conservative think tanks. The festivities began a
of the West as our ineluctable destiny," Thatcher declared, displaying her
usual modesty and sense of fun.) The revelries are to continue for two full
who will address the people of Palm Beach on the subject of "Character."
point of the Heritage Foundation is that ideas alone have little power without
By all measures, Heritage has much to celebrate. From
across the political spectrum, opinion appears to be unanimous that the
organization has been singularly effective in accomplishing its mission of
has played a central role in setting not only the broad conservative agenda but
the New Democratic Progressive Policy Institute, says Heritage "wrote the book
others, keeps up a steady drumbeat on this theme: Why doesn't the left have an
advocacy organization as influential as Heritage? Well, why not?
able to raise much more than its liberal counterparts for the same reason that
goes to organizations that promote lower taxes and less regulation, two topics
on which Heritage is absolutely unflinching. To be sure, there is disinterested
Institution, often cast as Heritage's liberal counterpart, could never dream of
counterpart. Though it has historically exhibited a modest liberal
institution devoted to objective research into public policy. It would never
spend its money in an explicit effort to harm its political foes, because it
does not conceive of itself as taking a side and does not view politics as
ideological warfare. This is even more true of the big "liberal" foundations
hand, as exemplified by Heritage, are quite explicit about viewing politics as
Institute for in the 1970s. But even if it has settled down a bit, Heritage
still retains an insurgent mindset. It views itself as the center of a radical
Because of its combat mentality, Heritage has never been a
place with very high standards. Like other conservative outfits, it loves the
lingo of academic life. Its hallways are cluttered with endowed chairs,
visiting fellows, and distinguished scholars. The conceit here is that as a PC
Dark Age has overcome the universities, conservative think tanks have become
the refuge of thought and learning. At Heritage in particular, this is a laugh.
studies and occasionally arrive at unexpected positions. Even the more dogmatic
from a libertarian point of view. Heritage, however, is essentially a
plan. But on the whole, Heritage is focused on selling and promoting its views
rather than on developing thoughtful or nuanced ones. It spends nearly half its
colored index card summarizing a conservative position in "short, punchy
these cards have been "wildly successful" with Republicans in Congress.
501(c)(3) organization, which means it is not supposed to lobby Congress.
"Nothing written here is to be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the
passage of any bill before Congress." This is an evident absurdity. Heritage
exists to aid and hinder legislation before Congress and often boasts
its reports into the hands of members of Congress before the relevant votes.
For whatever reason, liberal groups tend to be more punctilious about this.
Many are split between two organizations, a 501(c)(3), to which contributions
are tax deductible, and a 501(c)(4), which is simply not taxable itself, and
which has more latitude in lobbying. This reduces the amount liberal groups can
temperamentally different from the likes of Heritage. They have their vices, to
feeding policy popcorn to Democrats in Congress. They'd be insulted by the
idea. It's hard to imagine the Progressive Policy Institute naming a
to the Heritage Foundation. Though Democrats have become better in recent years
at suppressing their differences in favor of their common interests, they still
learn from the most successful organization on the right. But in reality,
they're more comfortable, and probably better off, wishing the Heritage
Foundation a happy birthday and admiring it from afar.
Democrats were the perpetual losers of presidential elections, they developed a
formidable ability to psyche themselves into believing that the fault lay
healthy economy that favored Republicans. Democrats always complained of a
Republicans control of Congress, they reasoned, the people obviously liked what
Democrats stood for. The people just had a funny way of expressing it. For some
dogmatic Democrats, it seemed, any explanation would do except the obvious
politics, the traditional roles are now reversed. Today, it is the Republicans
who are on a quest to rationalize political failure. A few go so far as to
what of the stations of denial? Conservatives are now ignoring reality with the
deserves a medal for intellectual valor.) "The reason for the Republican defeat
is to be found not in the economy, not in the opponent, not in the stars, but
administration corruption seem like a valid issue, and missed his chance to
also makes this argument in his column. "Bob Dole, stranded in the thickets of
Snow, failing to extricate him from his own verbal briar patch). But to put all
the blame on Dole presumes that there was some other Republican candidate who
incumbent president is all but certain to be reelected. It's that simple."
simple? Peace and prosperity? As recently as four years ago, pundits were
try someone new. As for "prosperity," Republicans certainly didn't attribute
ancient days, they thought the president deserved some credit for the state of
the economy. They also insisted that larger ideological tides were at work.
notes that votes were much more evenly split among married women than among
divorced, widowed, or unmarried ones. "Seen in this context, what was seen as
an issue of male vs. female actually emerges as the nuclear family vs.
something else," the Journal editors write. The editorial goes on to
on welfare: "As for the famous gender gap, it appears to be merely part of the
basic political tensions that now exist between defenders of the country's
updating of the ways we ensure personal and financial security."
sympathizers supposed to find comfort in that analysis? If women are
disproportionately pro big government, for whatever reason, how does that
Are the Journal editors trying to say that Dole would have won the
margin than he did last time around, and with the help of a gender gap that
conservative, the Republicans ran as conservative, and they both won." This
his column: "As the election smoke clears we can now see the political
landscape clearly. What stretches out behind us is twenty years of an
the inexorable tidal pattern of partisan realignment."
a platform that, while certainly less liberal than those of his recent
predecessors, is best characterized as reform liberal, not conservative. His
Republican tide continues to rise, then, by the same token, it counts as a
Democratic victory that Republicans retained control of the House only by
And even by their own theory, how do these Republicans
explain the voters' preference for an ersatz Republican over the genuine
defeat of Bob Dole cannot rationally be interpreted as a victory for
brilliant one. Peace and prosperity, which were only partly the president's
tactical as well as philosophical reasons. But Dole also lost because of deep
Republican problems. Voters rejected, and will probably continue to reject,
giving total power to a party that remains a hostage to the Christian right on
abortion and that threatens to scale back government in a radical way.
facing up to these problems. Or, they can keep blaming it all on bum luck, and
to schedule an immediate debate in the Senate represents an important opening
reform. But do not suppose that the majority leader has developed any sympathy
for a bill that would ban soft money, limit independent expenditures, and
tighten disclosure requirements. Republicans have a huge stake in the current
election cycle. Incumbents have an even bigger edge over challengers. Thus, for
the boss of the incumbent Republicans, to permit the playing field to be
leveled would be to go beyond good sportsmanship. It would be an act of
dramatized the general horror of the current system more than they have the
particular excesses of the incumbent president. Simply dismissing reform as
suffices. At the same time, the Republican leadership can't be too brazen. To
power of the gavel to prevent it from coming to the floor, would be to court a
public backlash and a revolt within the Republican caucus. That kind of
disposal: the ice pick, the poisoned umbrella tip, the exploding cigar, the
hands. (Some of these weapons are, of course, too barbaric to actually use.)
Here's the best current thinking about how Republican leaders are likely to try
booby trap. You add something offensive that doesn't alter the appearance of
the bill, allowing Republicans to support it while compelling Democrats to vote
against it. The most probable amendment is one that expands on the Supreme
a right to demand a refund of the portion of their dues spent on politics.
members of this right. Nickles argues for what is known as a "hard
most Democrats. They argue that corporations may spend money on politics
without offering a rebate to dissatisfied shareholders. If Senate Republicans
tack on a Nickles amendment, Democrats might even filibuster to block
advantage of a Beck -based amendment is that it would create a version of
the vote. The fate of reform will then rest with a few Republicans from strong
such as one that would abolish the public financing of presidential campaigns
think the votes on these amendments will be decisive. If they can fend off the
limits on direct contributions. Short of that, he would like to raise the limit
to sneak in. He might try to undo the ban on direct corporate and labor
restrictions by leaving state committees free to dabble in federal races.
burden of resisting these feints will fall partly on Minority Leader Tom
contributions from domestic subsidiaries of foreign businesses, phone
But surely this wouldn't satisfy anyone. And one downside would be the implicit
admission that most of what Democrats did in the last election wasn't
could use the complex House rules to smother the bill. If some sort of
momentum carries the idea through both chambers, differences between the two
would provide additional opportunities for sabotage. Conferees appointed by
something that violates the First Amendment and would be likely to result in
the whole mess being thrown out by the Supreme Court.
improved version of our search function. In addition to a normal text search of
particular author, or get a list of all Slate authors;
particular department, or get a list of all Slate departments;
for articles that ran on or around a particular date.
(Slate Search Lite) will appear on the bottom of every new page from now on,
you no longer have an excuse not to explore the riches of Slate, past and
present, whenever the need arises for insight on any aspect of the human
development team (that is, our development team that is crack, not our team
with a particular word, or get a list of all words;
particular ideological slant or cultural preference (such as a prejudice
authors who have been divorced, have red hair, or voted Republican in at least
three but not more than five of the past six presidential elections;
sentimentality, irony (with separate options for intentional and
tool, produced by a marvelous company. Is Bill Gates a great guy, or what?
the best measure of Web readership. It is not perfect: It treats a single,
technical reasons, some visitors don't get counted; and it doesn't include the
numbers have risen dramatically in the past few months, and especially in the
past few weeks. How to explain it? We like to think, of course, that it is due
deplores the deplorable situation that forces us to discuss deplorable matters
such as alleged fellatio in the White House rather than global warming or the
misbehaving and lying about it under oath, or the government brought to a halt
by the fevered imaginings of an overexcitable young woman. Whatever happened
commentary in every medium. She also has serviced the president's political
opponents, all of whom, of course, deplore the situation as much as we in the
media deplore it. For that matter the general public, though generally
disgusted (whether by the alleged activity or the process that made it a public
issue or both), has also gained considerable pleasure and excitement from this
thank you, thank you." And if there's anything we at 
return to our regularly scheduled deploring. (This site works best using
Oral sex saves lives! We don't need a war to give the media a boost after all.
investigative sex journalist who specializes in the reverse beatification of
public, Bill consuming whole baked potatoes in a single bite), the fantasy was
blended with elements of reality in an artful way. One product of the mixture
flee the governor's hotel room as promptly as she recalls.
awaited, eagerly by the Dole camp, less so by the Democrats. The hype succeeded
in getting my hopes up, but not for long. Slate has gotten its hands on a
There are only four allegations here that even vaguely
order to steal the election, but ultimately did not.
nuggets all have the same problems. First, they are remarkably thinly sourced,
either the president or first lady in anything that is actually or even nearly
Campaigns hire detectives all the time. Profanity isn't a crime. But worst of
all, these bombshells aren't particularly juicy, and to find them, you have to
without the goods, Brock takes a new authorial tack. He casts himself as a
right. To do this, of course, he must distance himself from himself, and this
Not so, Brock assures us, gallantly fending off the rogues. "It seems fairer to
humiliation to which she was subjected on a regular basis."
several levels. At the first, Brock, under the guise of fairness, slings enough
senior thesis ("now under lock and key") was the mentor to "the socialist
movements in the Third World at the height of the renewed Cold War." She spent
Institute for Policy Studies." After the election, the first lady responded to
a congratulatory note from the National Lawyers' Guild, "which had been founded
Bacon," in which it is shown that the actor can be associated with any other
actor in the world in a series of short steps. He then makes a laughingstock
and "guilt by association." When it comes to such subjects as lesbianism,
various "suspicions," then assures us that they are "contemptuous." I think he
proprietary scandal. As he indicates, he thinks the media focused on Whitewater
without any further elaboration. She even "ministered to call girls," whatever
at least a vessel with his wife at the tiller. He has always been a parasite on
her political acumen, her intelligence, and her income.
At the same time, Brock undermines his fainthearted defense
poor is a struggle for power in which the ends always justify the means. He
disapproved of his methods and preferred to work inside the system. But to
tactical concessions in the name of the ultimate radical millennium.
with his own titular one about how a good person was "seduced" by an amoral
same time. But then, conservatives need to have it both ways about the
liberal" or a chameleon. You can make either case, but you have to make up your
time explaining why any claims about the popularity of Web sites are inherently
suspicious. With that same caveat, we offer an update. In August, we were
explained, the design of a site can drastically affect the page count. (A Web
"page" is of no fixed size, and the same material can take few or many pages.)
We think a better measure is "unique browsers": the number of individual
computers that visit a site. (Each computer is counted just once, no matter how
we'd like to attribute it to our excellent editorial product and to the
But we suspect that other forces are at work as well. There's the steady
percent of the adult population. And there's the particular boost
has been getting from our beloved distribution partners:
continues to be an experiment in magazine journalism on the
that was turned into a play and two different movies a few years ago). Our
written by an author in that city. In another throwback to earlier forms, Reply
Papers" is a worldwide version of our popular Today's Papers
column, synthesizing and commenting on what leading newspapers outside the
United States are saying about the major news stories (Al Gore was a bust in
States but loom large elsewhere. (Did you know, for example, about the
International Papers will be less structured than Today's Papers. Rather than
analyzing the same five front pages every day, it will flit around the world,
courtesy of the Internet, looking for trends and patterns. The language barrier
will be a challenge, but our author is about as well qualified as anyone to
Gist." We're looking for ways to bring readers quickly and painlessly up to
speed on issues in the news they haven't followed closely, or have found
sheet" of information the contestants could draw upon in each of four
rounds. The cheat sheets were so entertaining and informative that we thought
features, two have concluded their runs. Don't miss this week's breathtaking
he does exactly as an international political and business consultant. But
he'll be back, we hope, either with Varnish Remover or some new feature, closer
your help with another new feature that starts next week. It is an advice
column, called "Dear Prudence." Although the author stands prepared to answer
questions on any topic, she is better qualified to share wisdom about morals
and manners, what youth can learn from age, and macroeconomic policy than about
whose journalists still pride themselves on maintaining their lack of
of years yet in which to compromise her integrity. For more details and
is a collection of hilarious and informative essays by the food critic of
Fair Play: What Your Child Can Teach You About Economics, Values
writes the monthly "Everyday Economics" column for 
several of the essays in this collection first appeared here. (In fact, you can
is pleased to have supplied so many outstanding writers to
ad or two would go down well. For readers who (like the editors) found the
response). You might find it more satisfying. We did.
another guy named Bill, but he somehow or other put her off the scent. She's
stopped chasing him, but she's still chasing me! Neither of us appreciates her
attentions. What I want to know is, why does she have this vendetta against
guys named Bill? And how did the other one manage to lose her? What has he got
trip to the Far East and his return to public visibility following the
into a presidential defense fund, then the Roman model of foreign corruption
Contrary to the media hype and rumors floating around
get rid of him would require not just a few dozen defections, but a majority
vote of the House Republican caucus. There is still no fully plausible
record of catastrophe rather than mere inaction. At the same time, the
precariousness of Newt's position is making him and other Republican leaders
act in weird, unpredictable ways. The speaker's shakiness has turned the House
consisted lately of dramatic lurches, first to the left, then to the right.
plausible political calculation. If Republicans could separate their tax cuts
in the public mind from the domestic budget cuts necessary to balance the
budget, Democrats could no longer accuse them of throwing old people into the
holding the president's feet to the fire by sending him a politically popular
speaker's leadership. In a short, shocking article in the Weekly
insubordination. Faced with an episode of dissent back then, he stripped one
nonconformist freshman of a choice committee assignment.
up to his conservative critics. He apologized profusely for the
influence of unions and a demand that the Internal Revenue Service be brought
taxes on both capital gains and estates, changes that would cost the Treasury
conservative rivals are trying to establish their own credibility in the eyes
DeLay. DeLay has been taking sudden umbrage at accusations that he is a tool of
jockeying has forestalled any real Republican agenda. Compared with the
What little time it has actually been in session it has spent on issues like a
House passed a resolution banning the use of federal funds for assisted
suicide. Of course, no federal funds go to assisted suicide. In a caucus
complained he had no agenda "weren't smart enough to understand it."
deal would shore up Newt's position, he hasn't got enough power to negotiate
those on Newt's right flank are likely to portray any agreement with the
to make a centrist budget compromise stick. Now such an agreement would
probably provoke open rebellion, divide the House, and deprive the speaker of a
unpopular speaker who is nonetheless impossible to dethrone, and with no record
of accomplishment. As the Democratic National Committee sinks deeper into
unveil the latest version of our contents or home page. (Maybe even a day or
them back to their computers if they awaken by natural means before closing
time.) Where was I? Oh yes, our new contents page. We hope you like it. It's
intended to be simpler and clearer, to require less scrolling, and to draw more
attention to our "Back of the Book" culture section. This new page is not to be
browser. Users of that browser can choose the version they prefer. And those of
any browser, race, or creed who prefer our "by date" contents page, which lists
offerings will include tables of contents sorted alphabetically (by title, by
author, by opening sentence), by author's height (or religion or preference in
beers), by the editor's confidential opinion of the article's merits, by Bill
Gates' opinion of the article's merits, by the amount the author was paid, and
by the number of appearances of the phrase "irrational exuberance" or
"distinguishing characteristic." (No article has appeared in any publication
for at least six months without either of these phrases.) Have we forgotten
your preference? Just let us know. We hope ultimately to have a unique table of
's "Everyday Economics" column, has a new book out called
Fair Play: What Your Child Can Teach You About Economics, Values, and the
specializes in delightful explanations of apparent economic anomalies, so he
surely can explain why ordering this excellent volume directly from the
bookstore with vast overheads of real estate and espresso machines will sell it
said he provided a sworn statement about her behavior."
not the source of this "acknowledgement," he evidently authorized one of his
leaking better than that, why not take credit for the information directly?
But more important and more disturbing, at least from his
client's point of view, is what the leak represented in terms of defense
pushing a counterproductive tactic even further. By threatening to blackmail
rather dubious one: getting the Times to violate its own standards of
accuser, passed along by an anonymous, if easily identified, source.
as quietly as possible, keeping intact as many shreds of dignity as he has
just the opposite: dragging the president deeper into the lurid morass, while
his client before going on the air, and it's hard to imagine they didn't
blame for hiring a lawyer known for playing hardball and winning ugly. Every
convincing juries, but by waging media and lobbying battles on their behalf,
pressured his client to accept a plea bargain that would have meant time in
of a trial, he is falling back on his familiar tactics, and they aren't
working. Intimidating the plaintiff might be an effective tactic in a normal
like a dog under the wheels of a car, he sounded like the bully he is.
fill in, and so on) by which users are able to tell the software what to do.
users should do when they want to tell the software where to go.)
we've been having a, er, vigorous discussion about one
introductory page, each entry is on its own page, and (if you accept cookies)
your computer remembers which item you last read and takes you to the next item
when you return the next time. "The Breakfast Table" and "Chatterbox" employ a
simpler and (some of us think) more elegant or possibly (others of us think)
quicker for the readers, and encourages the writers to really think of the
process as a conversation rather than as a series of isolated pronunciamentos.
approach emphasize that some people enjoy constantly clicking and waiting
because they have nothing better to do; that long and boring doesn't
necessarily mean bad; that cool technology is its own justification even if
it's useless; and that, anyway, who cares what the customers want.
editor, of course, is scrupulously neutral in this controversy.
And what was their problem? Had they both lost a parent recently? Spent their
last nickel? Found out their girlfriends had been White House interns? Been
diagnosed with cancer? No. "Their problem: In writing and speaking they spend a
lot of time in linguistic contortions, trying to explain that they neither love
problem! This may well be the most boring problem anyone has ever had. (Or at
least, we would like to hear rival claims for that honor.) Still, questions
remain. Why the "linguistic contortions"? Exactly what is so difficult about
explaining that you neither love nor hate technology? Maybe the problem was
getting anyone to listen. ("Who gives a shit? Go away!") For that matter, why
their lack of passion with others? Why don't they just continue having lunch
into drinks, then dinner, and dusk slowly darkens the summer sky.
here's a little tip: If there's a subject on which you have no feelings one way
or another, try talking about something else! You'll be amazed how well that
But no. Instead of these sensible solutions to their
problem, the gentlemen have taken the paradoxically agitated step of founding a
we are so stupefied by this problem that we are unable to summon the will to
click on the link. Somebody tell us what it says. Or, on second thought,
always finding it too hot or too cold and never just right. Their linguistic
contortions turn into bodily contortions as they literally tie themselves in
knots, their desperation for attention doing battle with their determination to
say nothing worthy of it. Ultimately they die (not of boredom: of that they're
merely carriers). Their last words are, "Honest, I wish I could persuade you
that I neither love nor hate technology. I know you find that hard to accept,
but really, it's true. Technology to me has its good points and its bad points.
It's a mixed bag. I know this is a terribly iconoclastic proposition, and
or maybe even two, to work on various features we hope to add. Our program
But if the idea of being surrounded by journalists, instead of the usual
computer types, strikes you as appealing rather than appalling, we'd like to
actually sends a poetry review is automatically disqualified. Being able to
recognize when the editor is making a joke is essential, although actually
appreciating the joke is strictly optional. Faking appreciation is always, of
columnist, has retired, and her column has been taken over by her niece, also
explain the inevitable change in tone. The new Prudence is younger and of a
plug: If you haven't tried our Web linking game, "Six Degrees of
learn your way around. For the Web savvy (or even Web weary), it's a good way
are entitled to participate in our discussion forum, "The
discussion, and have themselves an electronic book group.
more euphonious, somehow.) We think it's pretty darn cool (a technical
software industry term, used to imply strong feelings of affirmation), and hope
you will as well. (Click here for instructions on how to download Slate
It's a poem, an ice cream cone on a hot summer day, the smell of Styrofoam when
small program, actually, that puts a small box on your Windows desktop. (Sorry,
Click on the little arrow, and the box expands horizontally into a list of
vertically into a list of current contents. Click on one of these listings, and
most cases, even when you're not online. When you select an article, the
program will launch your browser and initiate a Web connection. When you are
is a beta release of Slate Explorer. "Beta" is a software industry term
cause your computer to explode, or to charge large sums to your Visa card, or
to take up smoking, or to insult a police officer. But we make no
most loyal and discerning readers (who are also immune to crass flattery). If
you do happen to discover a flaw in Slate Explorer, just keep it to yourself,
we know our readers, you're full of opinions and don't mind making them known!
So how would you like to spout off a lot of opinions and have perfect strangers
participants in a second annual round of Slate reader focus groups. The
visit). It's your chance to tell us what you think about Slate and how you
last year, or if your name is Bill Gates, you're not eligible. But if you are
one of the many we didn't have room for last year (or if your name was Bill
Gates last year, but you've changed it), please feel free to try again.
published next week, the third and last of our traditional summer weeks off.
(Or at least, we hope to make this a tradition, and have got away with it for
two summers so far.) We will, of course, be hard at work throughout the week
that order. Or at least, we'll be thinking occasionally about the betterment of
on. To be perfectly honest, subscriptions will continue to be available after
you can't sleep, so you decide to turn on the old machine and check if there's
credit cards in the bedroom and don't want to wake your wife. You'd be stuck
subscribe, and do it now. Our computers are standing by to take your order.
transfusion, or any other way we can figure out. Go to our subscription page
launched two new interactive puzzles in the past week: a weekly Web maze game
"News Quiz." They offer fun, intellectual stimulation, and insight
on the Web and the news. What they don't offer is a prize. It's not that we're
cheap (or not just that we're cheap). It's that under the laws of
various states, a prize turns these innocent amusements into a form of
gambling, which creates more legal folderol than we are prepared to handle. But
some winners of these contests get a token of trivial value as a purely
symbolic gesture of thanks for their participation in a contest with no
our site at the moment are the results of another contest with no official
readers, but the law of averages suggests it's a safe
bet that you're not one of them. The prize for giving to charity is, of course,
the knowledge that you're fulfilling a moral obligation and helping to make the
world just a little bit, etc., etc. But the premise of the 
it a race. This notion was first advanced by Ted Turner, who has personally
other words, is being on the list itself. And it may even be working. Last year
conservatives this week for producing a big majority vote in favor of his
time his bill came up, and that this year's converts included Minority Leader
for more, not fewer, abortions in the United States. Here's why: As the debate
(and seems likely to be stalled there absent some huge scientific
become illegal, except in cases where there was a dire threat to the mother's
with which to beat Democrats to achieving a genuine victory. He hinted at this
symbolism to the detriment of substance. In his quest for wedge issues,
Administration Hospital. With the help of student loans, young Rick attended
sector was a brief stint as a lawyer and lobbyist (where his clients included
give up your freedoms. Don't give up your freedom." In the article in which
these comments were quoted, his tone of voice was described as an impassioned
gang's chief issue was the House Bank scandal and their goal, to force full
disclosure of the number of checks bounced by various members. Their
both the House and the Senate, he has remained firm in his doctrinaire
another candidate in my life who would stand up in front of the voters and tell
lies, absolute lies, the way he does," he fulminated.
fainthearted older members of his own party with the same boorishness and
the House. The effort was roundly defeated in the Republican Caucus.
for injecting religion into politics have led many liberals to cast him as a
in the Senate. Though he is no friend to the environmental movement, he is
replacement of strikers and voted for an increase in the minimum wage.
met a principle he wouldn't swap for a few more votes. As he cultivates the
dollars on early television advertising. This unprecedented media blitz, which
early television advertising." Morris argues that by stealthily airing the ads
an advantage that Bob Dole was never able to counter. This claim is highly
debatable. But two other results of Morris' early ad strategy are harder to
Though it is now conventional wisdom that the ads worked,
the evidence for this consists entirely of unsubstantiated assertions by the
people who made the ads. Morris, whom I spoke to this week, continues to make
extravagant claims. In the areas where they ran, Morris says, the ads boosted
the numbers with a professional eye are dubious of this boast. "There's no
where they weren't advertising pretty much to the extent that they did in
share the numbers. But independent comparisons of places where Morris says the
ads ran and places where they didn't do not appear to substantiate his claim.
there were no early ads. Of course, these numbers don't prove the ads were
useless. For one thing, the ads ran in media markets, which are generally only
parts of states and are sometimes made up of parts of more than one state. But
a fallback position, Morris argues that the ads helped because they
ads helped win the battle." What Morris conveniently forgets is that at the
purpose of the ads can hardly have been to achieve a result Morris opposed.
strategy, because he thought it was a waste of money. As one source involved in
to go back to the same corporations and ask for an even bigger percentage, or
you have to find new systems, new pockets of money." Corporations that have
budgeted for contributions of a certain size are loath to allot large amounts
of additional cash in the middle of the year. To get more soft money out of
them, the Democratic National Committee turned to new perks, like White House
indisputable consequence of the ads was that they generated a great deal of
commission. In a presidential campaign, with tens of millions being spent,
these fees can be enormous. Ordinarily, a political consultant like Morris
not subject to disclosure under federal election laws. But, according to a
"I just think he overdid it." That's some chutzpah, considering who the chief
beneficiary was. Morris' commission alone amounts to more than all the money
Democrats have had to give back to suspicious contributors.
Hatch commented, "When you have a man of this caliber, I think it's just
terrible to try and make an ideological battle out of it." When it came to
is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he's the one blocking the
assistant attorney general for civil rights. Aware that he is vulnerable to a
charge of double standards, Hatch has his defense ready. He says he's not a
hypocrite, because the Democrats changed the rules. In a hearing before the
nomination on to the full Senate without a recommendation, something Hatch had
goose is sauce for the gander. "I argued for reporting the nominations of Brad
There's no denying that Democrats changed the rules. As
appointments were relatively rare from the 1870s through the 1970s. But around
itself is ironic: Usually it is Republicans who insist on taking the words of
the Constitution literally and Democrats who argue for a broader
nominee for assistant secretary of state for human rights because he gave no
indication of caring about human rights. (It didn't help matters when family
deference could no longer be expected, at least for jobs involving civil and
these rules. "A deeply satisfying and entirely valid reason for rejecting the
years as "acting" solicitor general because Republicans wouldn't confirm
case, however, Hatch says he's opposing a qualified nominee simply to draw the
line on an administration position he disagrees with. "I think it's time for us
Furthermore, Republicans have done away with deference for
a whole range of posts that touch upon contentious social issues, not just
nomination of Henry Foster to be surgeon general because of his support for
the same reason. Hatch has also been holding up dozens of nominations for
implicit position that if the president's nominee shares the president's views,
can stop the Republicans from changing the rules of the nomination process
unilaterally, as the Democrats did in the 1980s. And there's no way to enforce
consistency. Conservatives are free to defer to the president on ambassadors
general, if they so desire. It is also egregiously unfair to charge, as Sen.
case and not in others. But ability and good sense are two different things.
that it won't work. If senators take the position that they will not accept
presidential nominees who share the president's views on important issues, many
this might not bother Republicans, many of whom don't believe in the whole
concept. But keeping an important post vacant may actually undermine the
directed more quietly from another desk. As long as it is, there won't be any
point person to answer for administration policies, or to the public. In the
case of judicial nominees, there's a more serious problem of justice delayed
(which, as we know, is justice denied) due to a shortage of judges.
second problem is less tangible. The more policy disputes are personified, the
more the confirmation process becomes a war of martyrs and dragon slayers, the
uglier and more unproductive politics becomes. On top of the many sacrifices
ripped apart by a totally politicized confirmation process. This seems too much
to ask. Already, those who aspire to confirmation must express themselves in
There's no reason why affirmative action, in particular,
needs to be fought out at this sublimated level. In recent decisions, the
Supreme Court has both circumscribed preferential policies and made clear that
they can be limited or abolished by legislation. If Hatch and his party want to
Some day, divided government will again be divided the other way. When that
happens, Democrats will be bound to escalate the confirmation battle once more,
to settle their score with Hatch. And so on, and so on. The game of payback
heard recently comes from a reporter friend of mine who went to check up on
investigation. Inside the municipal building where the office of the Recorder
of Deeds was supposed to be located, she followed the "This Way" signs for
property records up to the third floor and down a series of long corridors.
When she finally found what appeared to be the right office, she opened the
door. Inside were three city employees, standing around a Weber grill cooking
badly run that the only real defense is to laugh about it. This is a city where
politicians court convicts as an important political constituency; where one in
as the population hemorrhages; where the mayor once said that the crime rate
It is also becoming known as the city where representative
government failed. In a provision of the recently passed budget bill, Congress
used its constitutional authority to strip power from the mayor and City
This effectively suspends, for a period of at least four years, the limited
argument that democracy doesn't work when most of the voters aren't white is
big city in the United States. In other areas, like housing, it is notorious
for failing to tap federal funds for which it is eligible, through sheer
incompetence. And while amending the Constitution to give District residents
voting representation in Congress might make them feel better, it would
probably do little to address their underlying problems.
Conservatives are wrong about democracy being at fault. Liberals are wrong
about the problem being too little money and too few rights. So what is
encompass outlying areas. This isn't just a question of preserving the tax
cities, because District residents who move to the suburbs also move
government can't even require that its police and firefighters live in the
of racial and economic segregation, a virtual machine for concentrating
rebellion. Rebellion fails, or succeeds only in limited ways, which leads to
rights away a few years later because of accusations of corruption and
financial mismanagement, and also because the city had so many blacks. Sound
familiar? It took another century for home rule to arrive. But the
more regular habits of good government. Opportunistic politicians, namely
threat that even the limited ones that had been granted would be taken away.
Congressional overseers played into this paranoia by ignoring home rule
of rent control. More recently, home rule has been effectively suspended for a
the psychological quality of children "acting out." In no other city is voting
for a corrupt and incompetent mayor an expression of protest against
dysfunctional political culture, the role of newspapers becomes paramount. If
the public isn't holding its leaders accountable, the press is the only
institution that can spur it to do so. Unfortunately, for most of the period of
It endorsed him in every mayoral contest until he got arrested for smoking
crack. The Post has improved a bit in the last couple of years, but its
attitude has historically been to hold black politicians to a lower standard.
upon the social resentments of his disadvantaged constituents, doing them a
ultimately the ones at fault. What it does not mean, however, is that
intended to "define, plan and begin to organize the movement for civilization
and the effort to transform the welfare state into an opportunity society to
help people achieve productivity, responsibility and safety so they can achieve
prosperity and freedom so they can pursue happiness." Perhaps anticipating some
one of many treasures to be found in a huge, paperbound tome with the sexless
to the much shorter and duller House Ethics Committee report itself, the volume
contains notes, memos, doodles, cancelled checks, and other Newt ephemera from
the spirit of recreational renewal, then, let us delve.
some tough sledding before you get to the fun part. In working out plans for
responsibility, civilization, vision, organization, analysis, dissemination,
never asks anyone to listen; he admonishes them to Listen, Learn, Help, and
Lead. He organizes his activities according to Visions, Strategies, Projects,
and Tactics. At another point, he suggests that Republicans consider the
application of Wedges, Magnets, Shields, and Turf. Failing that, he recommends
Message, Mechanism, Method, and Team Building to advance the goals of Freedom,
In his heart, the speaker is a modules man. In developing
he suggests the need for a "Core Doctrine Module." He does not wish to neglect,
Majority Module, or the Quality Module. Modules are not to be confused with
marginal districts). Nor are they synonymous with paradigms, as in the Vision
counting. He offers two reasons why we must replace the welfare state, three
steps toward success, Four Great Truths of our Generation, five Pillars of
Freedom and Progress, seven aspects of committing ourselves to real change,
true love gave to me: five pillars of freedom and progress, four great truths
of our generation, three steps toward success, two reasons we must replace the
random capitalization, "NEWT action" is at the center, hurling arrows in every
direction. To the left lie: build up, preparAtion, and attention Focusing. On
the right: FOllOW through, diSSEMINATion, and consolidAtion then improved
EVAluAtion and improved preparation For Future action. In another picture,
perhaps the speaker's most fluid and evocative rendering, stick figures
to his colleagues who are helping to plan his college course: "Our goal is
education and not immediate profit. Together we are going to make history as
years, he will write "a SerIEs oF booKs ('The history of Freedom, prosperity
and safety')." In the second category, he will create "A body of rules and
Finally there is Newt's deep dada mode. "I keep reminding
my friends we've entered the decade of the teenage mutant ninja turtle," he
offers in one speech draft. Who are these friends? Why do they need constant
reminders? Have they suggested that he see somebody? "We are in the business of
transforming the United States from a welfare state into an opportunity
perhaps, but rich in the fruits of his own imagination. Another sheet of
grandiose, lunatic jottings ends with the demented scrawl: "This page is the
president's State of the Union address, the White House Press Office invites
political reporters in for a spin session. In keeping with the current mood in
than the others, couldn't take it any more. "About a year ago there was a
debate about whether there would be a Department of Education," he said,
jumping up from his chair. "We have covered a lot of ground here. When everyone
makes the point that the president is somewhat conceding the agenda, the fact
is his initiatives that are the center of agreement."
to catch a ride on the unstoppable conservative freight train. But history
the Republicans who are scrambling to get on board.
president brought about this transformation by reclaiming the "vital center."
familiar means of portraying Democrats as being incorrigibly leftist and
version of a balanced budget, and signing a welfare reform package very
they expected to be their three best issues. After the president got done
repositioning, Bob Dole had very little left to run on.
proposals, like expanding college opportunity and extending health insurance to
uncovered children, Republicans are openly admitting that their party has no
clue what it is in favor of. "It is clear that the faithful are paralyzed by
appealing, and philosophically coherent national agenda." One would expect
suggests focusing on such "targets of opportunity" as missile defense and
of most people, and which surely don't constitute a philosophical program.
conservatives had an unpleasant encounter with reality. They took a few steps
in the direction of a coherent philosophical program and came back looking like
his party for a dramatic attack on the role of government. This attack was
never as broad as it was made out to be in Republican rhetoric, but even so, it
scared the hell out of the country. An entire party, and not just a faction
within it, was threatening to violate the national consensus on government's
sign on again any time soon for an attack on programs that are popular with the
middle class. Nor are they ready to mount an assault on environmental and
and others would have them embrace social and cultural issues. But this plan is
even less promising than renewed attacks on the Environmental Protection
Agency. Moderate Republicans and conservative libertarians were able to find
points of agreement with more authoritarian conservatives on issues like
cutting taxes, curtailing welfare, and balancing the budget. But there's less
room for compromise on the broader agenda of social conservatives, which
includes issues like school prayer and abortion. With a slender majority,
divided Republicans can't easily move in any direction. Their only alternative
persuade voters they are worthy of continuing to share power with him.
While they play along, Republicans fantasize about a
Democratic scandal huge enough to overturn the existing political dynamic.
back to the point where his colleagues will allow him to be seen in public (he
the State of the Union), it's hard to imagine him leading a movement again. And
despite the speaker's many failings, there is no one else with imagination or
to watch the "strange new respect" phenomenon engulf Senate Majority Leader
of dominance is to act more responsibly and less politically. The president is
in a strong enough position now to take his own rhetoric on reforming
entitlements (which he added to his address at the last minute) seriously, and
to drop leftover junk ideas from the campaign like the Victims Rights Amendment
the bitter debate over rent control that now dominates social interaction in
New York, you have to begin by ignoring arguments about social justice, market
It's a battle of naked class interest. The catch is that the "classes"
glowering at each other across the barricades aren't rich and poor. They're the
New Yorkers with scandalously sweet deals vs. all those who get screwed as a
experience has done much to reinforce my own class consciousness as a member of
the latter group. My wife and I were minding our own business in an unregulated
apartment in the rapidly gentrifying East Village when we returned from work
place where rapacious brokers extract usurious commissions on glorified broom
paying a finder's fee. Absent the artificial shortage created by rent
regulation, we would either have a bigger place or pay much less for the one
The moral and economic arguments against rent control are
pretty much unassailable. Under the present system, government intervenes in
residency, but to an even larger extent by luck. This massive intrusion in the
beneficial consequences, has a number of obviously disastrous ones. It deters
young people and new immigrants from moving to New York City; it encourages
landlords to neglect their buildings; it makes them hate their tenants. But
Republican state Senate leader who has been threatening to let all the rules
pickled old codger living on gin and cigarettes: He should have started
behaving more sensibly a long time ago, but forcing him to suddenly do it now
would be an act of cruelty, more likely to kill him than to make him
happen if rent regulations were really abolished? It's a pretty safe bet that
in most parts of Manhattan, market rents would settle in somewhere between the
apartments in the same building. Using the estimates promoted by the Rent
Stabilization Association (the newspeak name for the group representing
landlords who actually wish to end rent stabilization), the typical
bargains like that being freely available, even in a totally deregulated
likely to be exempted even in the case of radical decontrol, would stay put.
What Manhattan would lose is what remains of its middle class, those earning
attends every performance of the Metropolitan Opera. Without protection for
those marginal, cosmopolitan souls who cling to it tenuously, Manhattan would
become much more the way people who don't live here imagine it, a soulless
playground for yuppies, with an alienated underclass underfoot. The city would
irony is that the yuppies who would benefit financially from the end of the
would also make New York uglier. One of the big points made by opponents of
rent control is that the present system prevents the construction of new
buildings. Because rent regulations say you can't evict people when their
leases are up (if they even have leases), one obstinate tenement dweller can
that has preserved the aesthetic as well as the social fabric of the kind of
In all likelihood, there will be a compromise on rent
the worst excesses of the system on Realpolitik grounds; they want the
rich on their side in the fight to keep the whole shebang. But given the
outrage such excesses generate, advocates would be better off cutting the rich
loose and gaining a modicum of redistributive equity for their side of the
argument. Any sane person has to be against rent control after hearing about
Upper East Side that he didn't even live in. When his landlord tried to lure
him into a smaller apartment in the same neighborhood, he insisted that it
would not befit a man of his "class and social station." This time, the
"luxury" threshold will probably be scaled back, while exempting anyone over
be to diminish unfairness and mitigate perverse side effects without giving a
shock to the city's social system. This argues for a fairly straightforward
their apartments could command on the free market. They will have to move. How
is "vacancy decontrol," which would allow landlords to charge market rent when
apartments empty. (Tenant groups argue that this gives landlords an incentive
to harass tenants. But landlords have plenty of incentive to harass tenants
now, since they're already allowed to raise the rent somewhat when an apartment
principle that no form of inherited wealth is bad, should also disappear. These
brilliant political jujitsu, turning the Republicans' favorite issue against
larger sums that go to businesses in the form of tax breaks, direct subsidies,
those who want to slash corporate welfare, but not in their own back yards.
happen to include their own friends, contributors, and constituents.
example, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee busied itself with hearings
on something called the Corporate Subsidy Reform Commission Act. This is a bill
to create a commission to propose cuts in corporate welfare. Like the
commission would produce a hit list, and Congress would then vote "yes" or "no"
on the whole package. Chairing the hearing was a fervent supporter of the idea,
Bob Dole's seat in the Senate, casts himself as the Senate's most fervid enemy
of government waste. "Pork has no place when we're so broke," he told a roomful
subsidies to be corporate welfare. Ethanol is distilled from corn, so the
in a press release. Would that include, say, federal dairy supports and
marketing orders for the milk industry, which somehow escaped being scaled back
Liberals and conservatives do tend to mean different things
when they denounce corporate welfare. To Democrats, corporate welfare usually
means indirect subsidies in the form of tax breaks, like the ethanol tax credit
or the rule that allows firms to depreciate some of their advertising costs as
hand, corporate welfare generally refers only to spending. To close any of the
tax subsidies should be addressed separately, and only in context of a
asked for this goody were lobbyists for the National Federation of Independent
tax subsidy and a payment subsidy doesn't account for all the double standards.
Republicans will support subsidies for any form of agricultural production.
purest example of corporate welfare in the federal budget. It's a direct grant
cause is the Small Business Administration, which exists to make loans to
companies that banks deem nonviable. Even a maverick like Republican Rep.
Long Island district is threatened. And then there are the Democrats like Ted
corporate welfare who don't instinctively exempt their own oxen from being
another who practices what he preaches. But even these relatively honest
regular old spending that Republicans happen not to like, such as support for
the International Monetary Fund and highway demonstration projects in
their little tiff over that consent decree. Gates' guard dogs snarled as we
approached, and so did the crack team of Justice Department arsonists who were
standing by, ready to set the whole restaurant on fire at the slightest hint of
off her flamethrowers as well, and it was the beginning of a jolly evening.
guffawed, "Maybe someone should tell him to keep his browser out of other
people's operating systems." Gates stared at her briefly, clearly annoyed
at having had his metaphor appropriated by the government. But then he relaxed
browser and the operating system seem to be one integrated product."
there was a moment for pack journalism and media overkill, this is it. For
discussing the issue of libel on the Internet to the question of Drudge's role
and "International Papers" will keep you abreast of how the major
newspapers around the world are treating the scandal. And for an elegant
the question of whether the president of the United States should be impeached
for subornation of perjury is the question of whether a 501(c)(3) charitable
organization is legally permitted to engage in lobbying of Congress. In a
right? By a fortunate coincidence, one of the world's living experts on this
correspondents are a dime a dozen. In choosing among the many candidates, it is
only reasonable to give a modest preference to those who can bring along a good
gardening writer, a gifted hack, or an expert on 501(c)(3) organizations.
for my discussion of the whys and wherefores a few weeks ago.) In the next few
or Today's Papers, and so on. If we don't have you in our records (or you're
not sure), and you'd like to receive subscription information (or you're not
Slate on Paper or Today's Papers, and you can still register free (required for
does not sell or share this information, or use it for ulterior purposes.
dresses and sweat through the Beltway summer humidity in pursuit of leaks, we
sit back in our breezy Pacific Northwest aerie, sipping a microbrew, observing,
analyzing, synthesizing, and generally thinking great thoughts. Or at any rate
thinking thoughts. But we are not above indulging in a scoop if it falls into
our lap. For a few hours this week, we thought we had one.
print journalism and draw attention to ourselves. The story would get out and
the Official Secrets Act would be exposed as a farce in the age of
situation. We consulted our lawyer. He told us it's not so simple. (The
Secrets Act. If we published this article, not only could our editors be
assets of our parent company could be seized, and so on. Imagine millions of
marvelous operating system, with its fully integrated Internet browser?
plot, comically reasoning that the government claims the story is untrue, and
something that never happened cannot be an Official Secret. Just to be safe,
though, the reference was buried deep within an article on something less
in publishing it. In short, we realized, our lawyer's efforts were futile:
There was a perfect inverse correlation between our desire to publish the
article and our legal ability to do so. Basically, if it didn't violate the
potential stand on principle, which is even more exciting. Should we ask
journalistic civil disobedience? That sounded like a lot of fun, but first we
had to figure out which principle, exactly, was at stake.
the right of the Internet to be free of all government restrictions? No. We are
that such constraints should not have to depend on every journalist in the
world acting voluntarily. The Internet makes enforcement of any restrictions on
the spread of information much more difficult. But it does not, as far as we
can see, affect the principle that society ought to have the right to prevent
Was the principle at stake here the right to be free of
claim too much secret territory. A botched assassination attempt that killed
innocents is just the kind of thing the citizens ought to know about, while the
government won't want them to know. But it makes no sense for a journalist to
say, "I don't mind being censored, but only about information I wouldn't
publish anyway." There's no need for a law to prevent you from doing what you
wouldn't do anyway. If you concede the government's (society's) right to rule
some information out of bounds, you must also concede the right to draw the
even noble, way to dramatize iniquity and create pressure for change. For
crusade to reform the excessive secrecy laws of the United Kingdom would have
been a lovely gesture. But somehow it did not seem morally mandatory. Let the
foreign governments. Although, with Internet access, you can get
should be that every Web site must follow the laws of its "home" country, and
promise of freedom on its head. Not only are we not liberated from our
particular national jurisdiction: We are simultaneously subject to
to obey the laws of the United States, even laws we don't care for. But the
he'd published it himself. In this case that would have been a happy result.
matter this may be unavoidable. And, to be clear about it, the massive
censorship necessary to avoid it is certainly not worth the cost in freedom.
But there's no point in pretending that a Web site subject to only one
both an exhilarating scoop and an invigorating stand on principle. There is an
obvious opportunity here for a bonanza of international conferences to study
the need for worldwide treaties to set up global commissions to come up with
of the good government groups like Common Cause, Public Citizen, and the League
of Women Voters have long favored a comprehensive solution based on public
financing of congressional campaigns. With varying degrees of enthusiasm,
doctrine on campaign regulation and freedom of speech. There are strong First
Amendment obstacles to various provisions in the bill. The court is unlikely to
remove these, which means that even if reform does pass, it will accomplish far
He who would wade into this swamp must first immerse
restrictions on political contributions while rejecting limits on
The court conceded that giving money to a political candidate is a way of
expressing support. But it reasoned that the message "I support candidate X"
has little relation to the amount of money you give. However, when you spend
your money directly communicating the message "I support candidate X" (or "I
am candidate X"), that spending is an exercise of free speech protected
principle between contributions and expenditures quickly gets fuzzy in
But what if I work out the text of my encomium with his campaign manager? The
court created a distinction between "independent" and "coordinated"
"independent" expenditures are not free of all restrictions if they involve
"express advocacy" of a candidate, as opposed to a discussion of the issues
that stops short of explicit endorsement. Under current law, such expenditures
must be publicly disclosed, and corporations and unions are forbidden to make
ostensibly on a voluntary basis and have their own set of financial limits).
Corporations and unions, however, have become adept at devising ways to help
their favored candidates that stop just short of "express advocacy."
crack down on the major abuses that have sprouted in the cracks of the
worst abuse of the current system. Soft money is money donated to and spent by
the political parties, ostensibly for reasons other than direct support of
candidates, but without limits on who may give or how much. Unfortunately, the
Supreme Court ruled last year that spending by a political party cannot
automatically be assumed to be "coordinated" with a senatorial campaign. The
effect of this decision was to establish that political parties have the same
rights as individuals and other kinds of groups to make independent
smart First Amendment lawyers who are doubtful about other parts of
issues: wealthy candidates who spend gargantuan sums of their own money and
phony issue ads that are barely disguised campaign ads. On the first point,
from making "coordinated" expenditures on their behalf. The device is borrowed
from the rules for presidential elections, in which candidates accept spending
parties to aid their own candidates unless the candidate "voluntarily" accepted
the personal spending limit. This might well strike the justices as being more
like a stick than a carrot, making the choice not "voluntary" at all.
spending by corporations and unions through expanding the definition of
"express advocacy." In essence, the bill states that any mention of a candidate
standard would make criminals out of the two little old ladies who, in the
at the mess of recent elections, and decide that the line it drew two decades
Last month, at the annual meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council, the
acrimony and division. "The truth is, all of us just have a little bit of time
doesn't wish to deny anyone his rightful share of grandiloquence, but there is
presidency for the past two months, will misconceive his second term. If he
weaknesses. The president has yet to utter a truly memorable line (if you don't
count "I didn't inhale"). No one looks to him for moral example. He does,
however, understand the fine points of public policy as well as any president
we've had, and is capable of putting the public welfare ahead of narrow
political considerations when it really matters. A few such painful choices
rescued what might otherwise have been a disastrous first term. The most
significant of these was his decision to press for deficit reduction instead of
new spending programs in his first budget. But there were others, too: His
not the areas where he thought he would stake his claim to greatness. Yet, by
determine whether these successful and popular programs survive into the next
century in anything resembling their present forms. But the stakes are even
greater than that. Absent significant reform, the escalating costs of these
programs will, in decades to come, crowd out what remains of the federal
discretionary programs are trimmed back to pay for mounting entitlement costs,
address national problems will become more and more remote. Not acting to
push for Medical Savings Accounts threatened to undermine Medicare by removing
the healthiest and wealthiest beneficiaries from the common insurance pool. But
at the same time that he resisted this irresponsible conservative position,
solvency. Republicans, badly burned by the issue, say the ball is now in
shows little sign of doing either. He intends to make only minor adjustments in
combine reduced payments to doctors and hospitals with a proposal to shift the
accounting gimmick, which would keep the trust fund technically solvent for a
and for Al Gore in 2000--the attraction of "defending" Medicare will reassert
This program isn't going broke now, but unless we do something about it soon,
believe in Social Security in the first place, are hard at work devising plans
to undermine it by shifting to a system of individual accounts. As more
moderate solutions are deferred, that kind of transformation becomes
avoid catastrophe later. Among the most sensible options are a slight increase
in the retirement age (in keeping with growing life expectancy), a mild
Consumer Price Index (in keeping with economic reality).
benefits of various kinds in a reasonable way, it would go a long way not just
toward fixing Social Security, but also toward bringing the federal budget into
structural balance. It's also a politically safe way to raise taxes, since tax
greatest achievement, and partly because Republicans are rightly terrified
thing that matters. In addition to all the things we can't foresee, the
manages to steer welfare reform back in the right direction; whether he avoids
being drawn into a counterproductive tax cut; and whether he overcomes his own
principle is the same. The president needs to spurn the vital center, defy the
spirit of reconciliation, and recognize he has only a little time left to tell
will catch you up on daily developments from the past week. (Earlier Papers
are, of course, accessible from the current column.) For the world's reaction,
accuracy the chance of the president not finishing his term. It is updated
daily. In "Chatterbox," we file random tidbits, insights, observations, and
factoids. Chatterbox is updated at least once a day, usually more often.
persuasive essays, in the view of her colleagues.) "The Gist" brings together all
the varying explanations for the president's alleged behavior, looking for a
both commissioned investigations into the question of whether they may have
jointly put out a false story three weeks ago. It's hard to know what there is
almost instantly and pretty spectacularly discredited.
reported the day after Time 's story appeared, the story's
former soldier subsequently explained that he had blocked the memory until it
Other alleged sources now claim to have specifically denied the allegations.
Many other sources have come forward to say the story is false. Various
soldiers were exposed to fatal nerve gas, why did none die?)
almost don't have to go beyond the story itself to strongly suspect it's false.
The signs of comic overreaching, at the very least, are right there. In these
days when making up stories is so fashionable among journalists, many younger
with the advanced journalistic tools of cynicism, suspicion, and heartlessness.
He is equally adept (as we all are in this profession, though we don't like to
brag about it) at making up stories and spotting those made up by others. Even
amateurs, though, can learn how to make up a pretty convincing story in the
comfort of their own homes, using nothing more than a mild sense of mischief
Pending the results of all these investigations, we're not
illustration of a few techniques that need to be mastered by anyone wishing to
Bootstrap sourcing. Near the top of the Time version, the story
bootstrap sourcing; sources of nothing. The secretary of defense at the
If he has no recollection of the matter, he obviously is in no position to
dispute what anyone has to say about it. His statement to that effect has no
evidentiary value, but it is cited as implicit confirmation. (Elsewhere an "Air
turns out to have been far away and says he was only "speculating.")
distract the reader's attention from gaps in logic and evidence, just as curry
and spices were once used to make bad meat palatable. "I just went 'oh, man'
and knew we were in for some really deep s___." Or, "It was a hairy situation
from the time we got there." As a bonus, those quoted seem to be endorsing the
thesis, though that doesn't logically follow (and several of those quoted have
conducted the raid in question. But how does an unnamed person, whose
qualifications to opine on the subject are not offered, gain added credibility
there is a definitive number, according to the Pentagon. That number is
two. Or two "known" defectors. Does the Pentagon believe there are unknown
available" only in the sense that the article doesn't accept the number that is
"indicated." How? By sign language? Charades? Semaphore? "Indicated" is a way
of implying he said it while indicating he must not have actually said it. (As,
one unit have any basis for knowing the total number of defectors in the entire
these eight simple techniques, you can fabricate a news story in the comfort of
extraterrestrials, people who actually believe a browser shouldn't be
readers have complained, with justification, that our
search function did not successfully retrieve items from a few recently added
departments such as "Chatterbox" and "The Breakfast Table." This is now fixed. Please try
two extra days automatically. Of course, they will also be available at
thought of the world's largest software company getting into the media
may be a good moment to tell you how we see this issue.
company has not interfered in editorial decisions in any way. Nor has any
empire) or other big media companies. The potential conflicts of interest are
far greater for a publication that is part of a traditional media company than
for one owned by a software company. Time magazine bumps up against the
various interests of its corporate parent many times in each issue, including
every time it reviews a book or a movie. By contrast, even lately with the
There is legitimate concern about the concentration of the
media in large corporations of any sort. But the special concern about
competition among the media, rather than reducing it. This makes the complaints
business especially puzzling. A journalist who objects to a new company getting
companies, of course, have decades of experience and (in the case of Time
new kid on the block, has no journalistic reputation yet, either good or bad.
management if it hopes to attract journalists and customers to its media
properties. The company would be stupidly shortsighted to destroy this
reputation before it is even established, in order to tilt the editorial
rarely accuse this company of being stupid or shortsighted.
corporate parent to interfere actively with the editorial content of media it
owns. Employees know which side their bread is buttered on. In software
give employees an especially throbbing interest in the future prosperity of
their employer. Does this affect journalists' ability to treat issues touching
the company with the same lofty detachment they bring to issues that don't?
play it pretty straight, though others inevitably will disagree. We
the company. Later, we ran a piece defending the company. More than once, in discussions of the
counterexamples. Root around the "Compost" and decide for yourself.
In theory, as well, we as journalists have an even stronger
reputation for journalistic integrity. We don't have to resist temptation
nearly as often as employees of traditional media companies. And some of those
companies, by the way, also use stock as an incentive.
slight disclaimer. Despite all the completely compelling arguments offered in
the preceding paragraphs, it would be silly and dishonest to insist that
our employer. (And the same is true for any journalist working for any company
with varied interests.) The reality of ownership affects 
is not foolproof. There is the temptation to take the company's side, and the
contrary temptation to prove one's independence with ostentatious criticism.
in that of other magazines. On the other hand, the simplest and always tempting
pretty close to neutral reporting and analysis of news developments in features
itself. The standard to insist on is that the sins be of omission, not
week, we're very pleased with that number. Thanks, and welcome to all our
members. And to those of you who are reading this on our "front porch" (free
subscribers is not the rather perfunctory sales pitch you see before you. It is
an extravaganza of witty jokes, brilliant political insights, the startling
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these documents (which are not mentioned in his book). The Vanity Fair
sexual excess, his various connections to the mob, and other sometimes
hyperbolic charges with exaggerated derision. Time tries to have it both
on a documentary it abandoned because of suspicions about the forged papers.
"Do you think you were blinded by the desire to tell a sordid tale?" was the
especially nasty in denouncing it as "a pathetic collection of wild
It comes as something of a surprise, then, to read The
of the best, sounds less pleasant than most. His book, however, is not merely a
time to time, but he still manages to present his case in roughly the way a
evidence that readers can disagree with his conclusions without doing their own
men break in via the fire escape. Tracing the license plates, they determined
contract to build a $6.5-billion jet fighter. He thinks General Dynamics
blackmailed the president into giving it the contract. Once again, though, he
readily admits that his evidence falls short of proof. "During the five years
of research for this book, I tried unsuccessfully to find out how General
unable to make contact with Billy or Bobby Hale despite repeated efforts."
suspected East German spy, or his narrow escape from being drawn into the
prurient nuggets while appearing to hold your nose. The press treats these
themselves, were something to be ashamed of. Even if true, the critics suggest,
such information is not historically "relevant." But it is obviously relevant
connecting the family attitudes toward sexual conquest, the pursuit of power,
The book has plenty of flaws. Of these, some of the most
relates one anecdote about a Secret Service agent having to prevent the first
lady from finding out for herself what she suspected was going on in the White
depth. There is more to these episodes than his monochromatic tales of a
president willing to take any risk, tell any falsehood, for the sake of
get editors to kill a story. Of course, the press no longer plays this role on
guarantee that the rate will never go up for as long as you renew. And of
signed up. In a world where a formidable institution like the Wall Street Journal has 180,000-plus
paying online subscribers more than a year after it started charging, and where
people signed up before they even had to. (Naturally, the meter on a
a penny less") has produced a flood of comments, ranging from "Drop dead, you
Remarkably, two members of the president's Cabinet have sent favorable comments
is magnificent. Your "Summary Judgment" column is nothing
these establishment white men in dark suits was that you'll never make it. The
vice president said: "This Internet thing is just a fad. Give me paper and ink
working man." Of course they wouldn't listen. Why am I always the lone
visionary? Perhaps I can find some soul mates in "The Fray."
or Solitaire, I tell you. But Solitaire's so f******
by one of your "Diary" columns this week. I sobbed-- sobbed! --with shame as I
read about what our government is doing to punish innovation and creativity in
remained silent for too long. By the way, send me that umbrella ASAP. I sure
much. They're bad with children. They shed constantly. They're hard to train.
to imagine, unaware of) this sage counsel, many families went straight from the
multiplex to the pet store and brought home a spotted darling of their own.
and urinary tract problems." (These problems are manifest, in case you were
rights activists are predicting another wave of Dalmatian refugees when a new
just because they seemed cute on the screen. People too, for that matter.
readers may have learned in Time or the Wall Street Journal this
details, check out the press release.) Just so there is no confusion about this, let us
will continue to function as an independent online service. Its customers will
be free not to read Slate if they so desire. Slate, for its part, will retain
about it and get instructions on how to download the free software by clicking
here. If you haven't yet tried voting on one of our
her refreshing readiness to be held accountable. Before long, however, the
the attorney general had no relationship with the president, and that officials
would love nothing more than an excuse to replace her after the election. More
for the White House. This is because she refuses to appoint an independent
milder form is absurd. People do play against type from time to time, but the
acquired a reputation not just for integrity but for an almost fanatical
probity. She asked the governor to appoint an independent counsel to prosecute
sentimental notions about crime, and for her general mulishness. But until a
few months ago, no one ever accused her of bending the law.
Even if she were a different sort of person, the case that
She was, by all accounts, eager to stay on as attorney general in an
administration that was not at all eager to keep her. Until some time after the
guarantee her own job security is to appoint an independent prosecutor. If she
merits is another question, which won't be settled here. But it is pretty
imprecise, and often contradictory, on the question of why they think she must
appoint an independent counsel. Under the law, the attorney general is obliged
to do so if she comes across "specific and credible" evidence of criminal
discretionary powers to appoint an independent counsel if she feels there would
be a "personal, financial, or political conflict of interest" if normal Justice
meets the "specific and credible" standard. Gore, she asserts in a lengthy
response to a request from Hatch, was raising soft money, which is not covered
by the regulation that prohibits solicitations from government buildings. The
isn't illegal. I think this last interpretation is unfortunate, because it
opens the floodgates for unlimited contributions from corporations and labor
the latest scandal. Hatch and others have made the case that she faces a
an investigation that is potentially embarrassing and damaging to the
administration. But the standard for appointing an independent counsel can't be
bring cases against enemies, associates, friends, even relatives of members of
has apparently construed this ambiguous provision in the only way one sensibly
can. It gives her a wider berth than the "specific and credible" language, but
it does not require her to appoint an independent counsel every time someone in
the opposing party detects the appearance of a political conflict.
had ordered up an independent counsel, not only would her job have been secure
but the New York Times (and maybe even Sen. Hatch) would be swooning
over her once again. Standing up to them, and doing what she evidently feels is
far rejected the perception of independence in favor of the genuine
and the three other tobacco companies that have been negotiating a global
recruit liberal heroes of a more recent vintage as cigarette lobbyists. The
advice to the companies involved in the $368-billion settlement, with the help
Democrats are doing on behalf of the tobacco companies. According to a report
of them has yet filed a lobbying disclosure form that might give additional
companies and lobbying the White House and Congress to support the deal.
recently acquired Republican bauble Bob Dole, who is still covered by
in as clients, and who participated in some of the early negotiating sessions.
together on a provision of the budget deal on behalf of Fruit of the Loom. With
these two former legislative colossi bury their ideological differences and
grotesque, depending on your perspective. But while Dole's agreement with the
ply the corridors of the Capitol for them this autumn.
tobacco settlement is not the same as working for the tobacco companies under
ordinary circumstances, something he suggests his firm would not have done. He
says the proposed deal serves the public interest by restricting cigarette
advertising and marketing, and by requiring the tobacco companies to cough up
billions if youth smoking fails to decline dramatically. "If Congress enacts it
in pretty much its current shape, I believe it will be the biggest step forward
tobacco companies have had to come forward with an inconceivably large number
tobacco clients only after being persuaded that they were ready to mend their
that he has been amazed by the billions of dollars the tobacco industry has
agreed to pony up. "The amount of money is staggering," he says. "They have
In a deal like this, it's not unusual for both sides to
suggesting that cutting a lousy deal absolves them of blame for working for
The morality of their participation doesn't depend on how badly they do.
moral distinction here. You settle a case if you believe you'll be better off
firm has been retained "to provide counsel in light of the heightened legal and
answered in lawyerly fashion that the issue of work on other matters "hasn't
because society may benefit from a compromise with an evildoer, work on behalf
clients than the clients would otherwise have got. These lawyers might make the
case that even tobacco companies have rights, and that the public interest
actually was served by getting these companies a better bargain. But they
interest lies in the worst possible deal for the tobacco companies.
like defending an indigent murderer in a death penalty appeal. It's more like
representation whether or not any particular lawyer decides to sully his hands.
or PR. If you can't find a lobbyist, the court won't appoint one for you.
involved in the settlement, and he deserves as much scorn as his Democratic
counterparts. But somehow you expect that from Republicans, whereas you don't
greedy operators on both sides have sold out to the tobacco industry, they
likely there. The horse race that's been declared is for control of Congress.
Nearly all the prognosticators failed to predict the Republican triumph in
for the Democrats to ride back into power. The Democratic National Committee is
raising millions per week on the promise to liberate the nation from the reign
could happen. But there's good reason to hope it doesn't, whether you are a
Democrat, a progressive, or even president of the United States. The reasons to
be alarmed about the return of the Democrats aren't those put forward by Bob
Democratic Congress almost certainly would not try to pass comprehensive
might say, even a dog learns not to stick its nose in the campfire a second
The real reason to worry about Democrats retaking Congress
is that after two years out of power, they have begun to reconsider their
of returning to power as spirited reform liberals, the Democrats would govern
as a devious, dispirited version of their old selves. And paradoxically, they
will have a more productive two years if they don't win than if they do.
able to accomplish more of what Democrats want than if they controlled both
deployed when he chaired the health subcommittee of Energy and Commerce, is
administrative liberalism: Try to accomplish the same social goals covertly
create universal coverage through the back door, by expanding Medicaid
eligibility and requiring states to provide ever more extensive benefits. The
system that was resented by governors of both parties as its costs escalated
acting in a direct, sensible way to create government programs where they are
deficient principally because it would cut poor people off even if they
couldn't find jobs. It could, however, be made into a reasonable scheme by
resort for those who are willing to work but are (frankly) unemployable in the
Congress might find it easier to tinker with regulations to prevent states from
cutting welfare recipients off at the end of their supposed time limits. This
would undermine reform rather than fixing it. With a nominally Republican
to pass a humane modification in the form of a jobs program.
were truculent and obstructionist. It soon dawned on them that any
blocking everything than compromising. But in the last two years, with a
candidates denying any knowledge of his existence. He and his party learned the
hard way that they were better off cooperating with Democrats on things the
If Republicans retain a majority, both parties will be
tax cut he wants, and maybe even some sort of entitlement reform. The balanced
budget will continue to get closer. If Democrats recover a majority,
Republicans will have every incentive to block everything once again. And with
would bring out the worst in the Democrats, encouraging more symbolic
"Flame Posies" column) and demagoguery intended to keep old people in a
that suffering is good for the soul, and so it has been for the Democrats. When
about how his party had been lazy and undisciplined, throwing programs at
problems without worrying about results. He was touting his "Families First"
still aren't into small stuff. They've made clear that the balanced budget will
be the first thing out the window if they get their old chairs back. The next
thing to go would be the rules restraining the power of committee chairs,
headline refers to, don't you? But how do you know?
ultimately declined this opportunity, reasoning that we could not honestly
In the past week or so, oddly, the same process has
directly has been widely reported anyhow, sort of, in part in the form of
Drudge Report and the New York Post have told it in some detail.
as on paper. Not a word, though, in the "newspaper of record," the
got widely mocked for an editorial justifying the publication of a damaging
rumor about a public official with the argument that while the rumor may not be
true, it is true there is a rumor. But actually, there's something to that
argument. On the one hand, a publication's standards of proof and taste should
not be hostage to the lesser standards of other publications. On the other
hand, a story can spread without the help of the establishment media to the
point where making no acknowledgment of its existence becomes a failure in your
seem unsatisfactory is the current netherworld where serious publications refer
to the story as if everyone knows it without ever telling it straight. Burying
about the cigar, see "Explainer." Of course, we're not saying it's true. We're just
to show that spending time on the Internet tends to make people more lonely and
apparently, the study's own disappointed authors) that people staring into
computer screens form a wonderful new type of electronic community. The authors
claim to have corrected for the possibility that lonely, depressed people are
To minimize the risk of loneliness and depression, read this nine
apologists explain away this finding? Well, try this. Perhaps Internet users
are more depressed because they are better informed. Perhaps their feelings of
increased loneliness are reflections of a deepened understanding of the human
condition. Let's face it: The world is a mess, life is basically futile, and
other people are pretty dreadful and don't like you much anyhow. And you'd
never acquire all this superior insight if you didn't spend many, many hours on
arcane and confusing subject, filled with unspoken understandings. One of these
is the distinction between rules that must be obeyed and rules that can be
safely flouted. In the Republican primaries, for instance, aides to Bob Dole
admitted that they were going to exceed legal limits on how much they could
spend, an act commentators compared at the time to running a red light.
which cannot be legally used for federal elections, was being spent on anything
other than the federal election. None of these clear violations was deemed to
be especially scandalous, even by prudes at places like Common Cause.
million fine he must pay for enlisting his employees at Aqua Leisure
media scandals and those that go unmentioned or rate only as footnotes in the
press. It is not immediately obvious why reporters are so fascinated by John
for his party, while they largely ignored the last two secretaries of commerce,
front for avoiding disclosure, the National Policy Forum, rates as a
In fact, there is no logic to any of it. What's considered
an outrage, and even what's considered a crime, are matters determined largely
public to just how seamy the whole business of campaign financing is. The last
thing they're about to do is explain away the latest revelations as just an
exotically textured version of what goes on every day. And press coverage is
any barometer of relative venality. Right now, Republicans are making an
enormous fuss about the Democrats, so the story is huge. But we must pause and
contributors whether they were legal residents of the United States and been
assuming, for purposes of argument, that most of what has been alleged by
Commerce Department. But that's a matter of personal corruption unrelated to
the Democratic Party financing, so I won't dwell on it here, even though it's
illegal because the contributors weren't legal residents (something that has
examples beyond number of simply illegal contributions that the press and
one focuses on the narrow category of contributions that are illegal because
they come from foreigners (even though it is arguably no worse than any other
Federal Election Commission files disclose many examples of money taken
Republican Party may fall into this category as well. The same goes for
contributions that are illegal by virtue of their having been made "in the name
deliberate and systematic violation of the laws regarding contributions by
noncitizens. In terms of being systematic, there isn't much of a case. Both
experience in fund raising, it is often a delicate matter to establish whether
ethnic donors are eligible to give. When someone offers to write you a check
is in the habit of investigating its donors is illustrated by various
not really an innovator; he was simply more successful than his predecessors in
had about the huge sums he was reeling in. Instead, they looked the other way.
legality. We don't know exactly why this happened, but it's a good bet that it
had something to do with the pressure coming from the White House to raise
many questions. The less you ask, the more you get. And given that there has
a lot of sleep about contributions turning out to be tainted. If the money goes
bad, you simply return it with the appropriate regretful noises.
exchanges for campaign contributions are plentiful. Consider, for instance, the
world and, often, being given ambassadorships. ("That's part of what the system
about how he could help them with exports. When he left the department shortly
with him to Commerce, and they knew who the new administration's friends were.
Business Liaison at Commerce. This was the office that selected participants
which became the focus of Brown's career at Commerce. On these trips, Brown
reporter who went along on Brown's China trip, seats on his plane were
Administration, the section of the Commerce Department that handles trade
story as something new, reflecting the uniquely severe moral failings of
So if, in fact, both parties are equally implicated in all
reporters, and Republicans. Reformers are happy to have any good example to
illustrate the evils of the system. Reporters are trying to compensate for
suggestions that they are biased in favor of the Democrats. And Republicans,
Democrats nearly caught up in the chief corporate category: soft money. With
last week. The first wave of publicity was of a familiar and negative type.
Declassified documents revealed new details about "Operation Mongoose," the
cigars and powder intended to make the dictator's beard fall out, the agency
second wave of publicity was more novel and positive. It was about a video the
conclusion that the explosion was not the result of a terrorist attack, by
explaining why eyewitnesses might have mistaken the airplane's midair
agency of old vs. the chastened, competent, and versatile one of today. The
Mir spacecraft, must be hoping for just such a contrast to form in the public
mind. But while the agency certainly has changed for the better, it would be
great seal appears and dissolves. Spooky music is heard, of the type most often
used as background for cheesy shows about paranormal phenomena. An anonymous
investigators were especially concerned with dozens of eyewitnesses who thought
eyewitnesses did not see a missile," the narration continues. "What these
airplane disintegrated. It then reconciles this scenario with the testimony of
for the inevitable discrepancies in the evidence about what happened to Flight
800--a subject with which I have no obsession. But the video is nonetheless a
analysts working on the case. There are two possibilities here. Either these
time and money documenting its own inner workings. The former alternative
suggests that old habits of deception die hard. The latter suggests that the
integrated into the investigation itself. In fact, both things are probably
strangest thing about the film is that it is supposed to dispel paranoid
buffs who do not accept the official explanation. In other words, it is
directed at the last people in the world who would ever believe anything the
agency has always had a dual function. It is half neutral analyst, providing
This split is built into the structure of the agency, which separates its
the film to look like a product of the analysts. Its slick production values,
however, suggest something of a debt to the operations directorate, which has
to say the least, if agents trained in lying abroad are now moonlighting at
specifically because Congress didn't want the government's propaganda resources
the Soviet Union fell apart, the agency has been increasingly desperate to
justify its continued existence. Though its side won the Cold War, it didn't
wildly overestimated the Soviet economy and missed the impending Communist
Morale is reportedly low, and career officials have been resigning in droves.
recently declassified) by orienting it around new international
The military may be better suited to dealing with terrorists and weapons.
investigation, indicated at a press conference last week that he had some
capabilities and a criminal record looking around for something to do. The
will begin charging for access sometime early next year.
The exact details and timetable are still being worked out, but we wanted to
let our readers know that this is coming. Yes, yes, we said we were going to do
this a year ago and blinked, but this time we really do mean it. Many things
have changed in the past year. The number of people on the Web in general, and
latest figures). We've had a chance to learn a lot about how to make
better, and our readers, we hope, have had a chance to
learn the value of what we're doing. Also, frankly, thanks to sites like
maintained from the beginning of this adventure that ultimately, we would have
to count on our readers to bear some of the cost. It is important to us to
's editorial content, for which we're grateful. But
obviously it's better not to be dependent on subsidies from any corporation or
the Web should make financial independence easier to achieve. Economy, of
course, is just one of the Web's glories. We're working hard at
technological marvels of the Internet to develop an exciting new form of
journalism. But sheer economy should not be sneered at. In fact, we believe
Unlike traditional magazines, we have no costs for printing, paper, and
postage. We intend to share those savings with our readers: 
will charge subscribers far less than weekly print magazines such as
equivalent print magazines, and unlike some other Web sites,
appeals to an audience that will never be broad enough to
sustain us on advertising alone. (Right now, of course, there is almost no Web
site that is free because it is sustained by advertising. Sites are free
because they are subsidized, a situation that won't endure.)
evidence that, as the Web matures, the resistance to paying for content is
crumbling. Still, there are people who continue to refuse, on some principle,
to even consider paying for Web content. This puzzles us. Take
is boring and of no interest to me, and I refuse to pay for it," we can
understand that, if not agree with it. But if your attitude is "I really enjoy
it's free, but refuse to contemplate paying for it," we're not just puzzled but
actually a bit hurt. Here we are, a team of a couple of dozen people, plus many
contributors, all trying to put out the best magazine we can. If you like what
we're doing, please think of our feelings before you say you won't pay a few
charity of any rich person, even one as saintly and magnificent as our
business proposition and is happy to continue doing so as a business
proposition, but has no justification for asking its shareholders to subsidize
answer your questions about Slate "going paid." The thread's already
active, so to make your own comments and ask any questions, click here.
Prudence, our new advice columnist, has supplied an answer to the question
had to do with why one guy named Bill had managed to discourage unwanted
much for her. But then she found that he was making unseemly demands upon her,
including the demand to lie on his behalf. Therefore, she was conflicted,
entirely, however, because her connection with him meant much to her
transferred her feelings, both positive and negative, to you, the
you to do? You should make her an offer she can't refuse. Make her a columnist
in one of your magazines, at your standard magnificent salary. She will soon
find that relationship excessively demanding and transfer her attentions
did the same. This year we decided that it would better
serve our readers to take advantage of the inherent flexibility of Web
publication by merely reducing the flow of articles, columns, and features over
including new stuff on most days (including "Today's Papers,"
except on the holidays themselves). And of course, a year and a half of
to the holiday spirit and fails to appear for a couple of weeks, best holiday
wishes and thanks to our readers from all of us at 
produced an extraordinary amount of it. This is partly because they have a lot
to spin about, and partly because they just seem to like spinning.
the outpouring has been especially torrential. In addition to the spin coming
president ("There is no controlling legal authority"), there has been a steady
at daily White House briefings and on television. Judged in terms of how
kinds of spin are effective and which only make matters worse.
To get a taste of the different styles, I put some generic
scandal questions to various administration flacks. Ann Lewis, the deputy
director of communications, was the first one I reached. I asked Lewis to
law prohibiting the solicitation of funds on government premises. She said only
the White House counsel's office could discuss legal issues, so I asked, on a
more general note, whether Gore was in any trouble. "Obviously I don't think
he's in trouble," she said. Why not? "Well, I think what we have so far
their own behalf. A Democratic candidate in 1995--at a time when Congress was
shutting down the government, repealing the ban on assault weapons, and trying
that were at stake. Shocking!" That was all Lewis had time for.
accepted, I said, the administration's position that there was no price on
handwritten "Ready to start overnights right away?" note clearly indicates?
to stay over. He invited friends and supporters and others. There was no ticket
"I don't believe so," she said. "Again, there was no price on it." After a
third try, I gave up trying to get her to admit the obvious.
that Gore might have broken the letter but not the spirit of the law. "If you
look at the history of the [law], it was intended to make it impossible for
federal officials to extract payments from federal workers," he said. On the
suggested that it couldn't sensibly apply to the president and vice president,
who actually live on federal property. But, he added, "this issue has not been
look a bit more closely at these approaches. Asked a direct question, Lewis
immediately changes the subject to some other issue, like gun control. She
enjoy spending time with their friends. They regularly asked people to stay at
gone over the list and having read through it this weekend, I can now see why
the president and the first family are proud of the people who came to the
White House as their personal guests." Lewis went on to explain that one of the
guests was an old friend who was dying of cancer. This unctuous display
Lewis. One prominent national reporter describes Lewis' style as commenting on
the rain outside by claiming that the sun is shining. Because she is viewed as
"Of course, people coming to the White House have access to the president by
definition, because he's there. But we regard the notion of special access
because a contribution is made as something that is contrary to our policies."
connecting them where there's no evidence to connect them. The president has
clearly said that there was absolutely no requirement, no price tag. These were
friends and supporters of his coming to his residence." This mirrored the
president acknowledges that a wide variety of meteorological conditions,
including precipitation, are common this time of year. You might call that
reporters, who proceed to turn the hapless flack into a human punching bag.
approach. Rather than sticking to a line that is obviously absurd, he admits
problems. He then goes into impressive detail about what the law is, and how it
might or might not have been broken. Having proved that he is a sentient human
practices similar to this one actually common under previous presidents?
press themselves, seem not to have learned the obvious lesson. Instead of
credibility, they have looked for the quality of ultimate loyalty in their
spinner who was liked and trusted by reporters and who managed, almost
own. As their relations with the press deteriorate to levels of hostility not
of loyalty is not their biggest problem. A lack of credibility is.
scandal, sounded pretty sordid. It reported that White House officials had
promptly uninvited. The reason this is troublesome is that the news about
thus recipients of an unauthorized leak of highly classified information.
played this revelation all day, and the other networks reported it on the
evening news. "If this allegation proves true, and this disclosure actually
the White House and the apparent misuse of intelligence information for
In this furor, a few significant details were overlooked,
beaten up in the press for not having communicated similar information
the hot new revelation in the scandal was that officials at the National
Security Council had neglected to pass on to their superiors the contents of a
might have told White House officials, some of whom were supervising fund
this warning to be effective, those White House officials would have had to tip
episode, the administration has been pilloried for failing to heed exactly such
really are damned if you do and damned if you don't," says one anonymous source
in. "This was top secret, and it further demonstrates the total politicization
of all intelligence and White House operations. Anything and everything was
vociferous journalistic critics of the president preach it round or preach it
flat when it comes to these kinds of contacts. The Wall Street
Journal 's editorials now oscillate between accusations that the
administration abused sensitive information on the one hand, and allegations
president alone, "warned him unequivocally of the penetration, enlisted his aid
if the attorney general had asked for a private meeting to warn the
corrupt politicization of the Justice Department, reminded us again of the
has done plenty to fuel suspicion of all kinds. But at some point, the skeptics
Heritage Foundation to the shooting ranges of the National Rifle Association,
of high paranoid alert. The Christian Coalition is struggling with the
asking too many questions about how the magazine spent grants from the
It's now nearly impossible to find a conservative institution not in some sort
conflicts aren't all ideological. They're about power, money, status, and
various admixtures of these factors with politics. But all are symptoms of the
revolution went sour in 1995--and in a larger sense, since the party began
tribe lost in the wilderness. With no common program and no forceful or even
universally acceptable leader, factions assert themselves with growing
nastiness. As the many sides scuffle, their only shared sentiments are contempt
These days, it is Democrats who seem to have absorbed
victory. Republicans, meanwhile, seem to have studied under the querulous
gouging each other than in taking on the enemy. Look at what should have been
their crowning achievement. This year, the Republican Congress finally won an
ostensibly balanced budget. But it failed to get much credit for it, in part
because of bitter denunciations of the deal from the House radicals who like to
his party in a mad quest for conservative purity. Without elevating these often
petty struggles into a war of "ideas," it may be worth asking: What are these
essence, they are fighting about what has been their most fundamental internal
federal government. The good news is that conservatives are debating the
greater degree of realism, than they have for some time. The bad news is that
are willing to question the party dogma that a big and powerful federal
government is inherently oppressive and evil. This glasnost was first
publication, argue that the government bashing that carried Republicans to
of this synthesis are not surprising when you consider where the National
Greatness cons come from. They represent a merger of the shrunken remnants of
neoconservatives. Both groups have long wished for conservatives to do what
two other kinds of conservatives who were always hostile to the
the only valid goal of Republicans. Populists, who see the greatness cons as an
elitist menace and as a moderate one, have different objections. Though
they themselves support government regulation in the moral sphere, populists
hate the idea of national power, because to them, national means federal and
federal means liberal. Libertarians and populists do share a political argument
conservatism's most effective organizing tool and rallying cry.
some other conservative strains at large, such as the now totally mystifying
association. He danced away from that view in a failed attempt to make it to
greatness cons and their libertarian critics for being insufficiently gloomy.
Both sides, he wrote, failed to focus on moral decay as evidenced by such
problems as relativism and the "disastrous feminization of education," whatever
criticism of liquor companies. Some conservatives now seem to have no ideology
more rigorous and intellectually serious than they really are. In practice, all
renew national purpose are things like privatizing Social Security and
Medicare, and pushing for a voucher system of school choice. In other words,
most of the activity they want their activist federal government to engage in
involves dismantling the federal government. The greatness cons do want more
federal government in the form of an interventionist foreign policy. But they
disingenuously assume that we can have more for less than we're spending now. A
bigger defense and more tax cuts. No sacrifice is ever asked of the public.
consistent philosophical position, but they offer the reverse hypocrisy in
been bombed, but make no assault on the federal leviathan. Republicans like
pork projects to their constituents. Conservatives may look as though they're
finally debating the real issue. But unfortunately, the debate is mainly about
adviser Dick Morris was about to resign over reports that he had been
prostitute." Things have changed since then. Morris has raised his prices.
each shocking thing he does tops the shocking thing he did last year, or last
month, or even last week." Morris' career has developed the curious quality of
a plea bargain in reverse. If you say he's guilty of a misdemeanor, he will try
In reality, he's not fit to stand trial. Morris discusses
right and wrong as if those concepts were as remote from his own experience as
lunar geology. "I wanted to address the values agenda three or four times a
week," he writes at one point in the book. "First, though, we had to identify
have highly developed powers of hearing and smell, but in Morris' case, he does
not seem to have compensated for an attenuated moral sense with any other
literary acumen. Despite being rotten to the core, Dick Morris demonstrates in
But Morris' own account undermines the myth. By claiming credit for absolutely
everything, Morris leaves you wondering whether he deserves credit for anything
at all. To call his recollections "unreliable" would be a massive
understatement. There is hardly anything he says in the book that he does not
contradict at some other point in the book. Usually, the mutually contradictory
statements fall within a few pages of each other. Here are just a few subjects
where Morris leaves the reader absolutely mystified about his views and his
brought me inner peace for the first time in my life, I decided to abandon
Morris brags about his script for an ad in the general election of that year.
mean an air strike that continues until they give up."
"Throughout my tenure at the White House, I never leaked information unless I
biggest weapon against the Republicans. They are hated by the public, old and
young." Three pages later, he writes: "I argued that as long as we lined up
with the congressional Democrats and just sniped at cuts in school lunches and
This last contradiction is central, because it goes to the
fiercely resisting Republican cuts in social spending, while Morris was telling
According to my sources at the time, Morris was desperately pushing for a
budget deal and making the kind of hilariously precise electoral promises for
against Republican cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment.
resisting domestic budget cuts, while his centrist "values" agenda helped to
him move to the center. Morris tries to take credit for both strategies. But if
there was a great political mind behind this synthesis, it was that of the
channels to other political consultants, Morris tells us that he managed
Morris: "Without those words of the president's that you passed to me, I would
never have been able to get it done.") And it was Morris' ideas that kept
basically following your game plan. It's working well.")
as he emulates the rooster that thinks the sun rises because it crows, Morris
quite make it were a 33-cent postage stamp, with a penny going to your favorite
Through it all, Morris maintains that what he was doing was
substance and ideas before the voters." Even as we see him fighting to reduce
principle. "Some reporters seem to think that the real story is never the
candidate's idea, but always the motivation to improve his or her political
of his book, Morris has cast himself as a modest egomaniac, a shy publicity
hound, a principled manipulator, a loyal traitor, and a truthful liar. He isn't
just confused, he's the dialectic incarnate. He aims for evil, but only manages
considering a job with the special prosecutor. "A massive conflict,"
objectivity that I now think is fraudulent." The White House had not previously
maw of a journalistic ethics controversy. This is a simultaneously terrifying,
infuriating, and boring place to be. (While there, perhaps, he may even bond
offer and writing about the case. Furthermore, what he considered seriously was
question is: So what? What if he had considered an actual job? What if he had
conflict causes some kind of personal advantage to distort either your
perception of the truth or your willingness to honestly state what you
previously hidden incentive or tendency to misperceive or misstate the
zealot for the truth and driven to distraction by lying. That's what got him
of the United States in dozens of perjuries [and] efforts to obstruct
justice and cover up" matters both sexual and financial. And he sincerely
believes it would be a tragedy for the country if a president was allowed to
get away with "mendacity" on this scale, if proved. You may find this a bit
overwrought (I do), you may question the facts or take a more worldly view of
what should be done about them. But these are his views, and he has made no
can to prevent this tragedy? In other words, he feels an ethical obligation to
of "conflict of interest," it seems there is an ethical obligation not
to act on your publicly expressed beliefs. To act on your beliefs discredits
your expression of them and taints any beliefs you might express in the
But how? Was the job offer, in effect, a bribe? Hardly.
months, he would have made far less than he makes now. It would have meant
appearances, and the prospect, in just half a year, of unemployment lethally
combined with extreme unpopularity. No doubt the frisson of history was
to express it. Anyone who can study and write about controversial topics
without ever developing an opinion is an idiot, not an independent thinker. An
independent thinker is someone whose views are based on an honest assessment of
consistent with his expressed views casts no light at all on the question of
general, sure: Disclosure is a good idea. How can a journalist be against
disclosure? Keep in mind a couple of things, though. First, if there is no
actual conflict of interest involved, all you are protecting with disclosure is
your readers' right to reach the wrong conclusion. That's his or her right, all
right, but it's surely one of the lesser rights around. Second, a journalist
public facts. These arguments stand or fall on their own, and readers don't
need to trust the author in order to evaluate them. Original reporting can't be
evaluated by the lay reader sitting in his or her armchair. But even here, an
ethical evaluation of the author isn't crucial. Especially on a big,
competitive story like this one, no one need be imprisoned in some biased
reporter's web of falsehoods unless the reporter's biases are comfortably
says the job discussions provided valuable information and insights that helped
milking him for information while only pretending to be interested in the job.
And then he published a triumphal scoop. Would the ethics cops have complained?
Unlikely. He'd be a hero of the profession. It's only the sincere consideration
of a job doing something you truly believe in that can wreck your career in
been much heard from since, and his actual responsibilities have been something
the White House came to support the unconstitutional, unpopular law known as
trying to figure out how to expand international opportunities for online
business. I hold in my hands, a few days in advance of its release, the task
force's draft report. It contains one remarkable passage. Along with their
countries, including the United States, are considering or have adopted laws to
multiple interests may result in barriers for US providers attempting to enter
rating systems, and technical solutions to empower parents and other users to
violence)." (The latest version removes the word "pornography" from this
This white paper is notable for two reasons: The first is
that the chief author, who is known (fairly or otherwise) for his fondness for
heavy regulation, seems to be leaning in a more libertarian direction.
position on the Communications Decency Act, which was signed by the president
regulate content through criminal penalties for those who violate standards of
decency (standards drawn so broadly that they might prohibit, for instance,
proposal, image, or other communication that, in context, depicts or describes,
in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary standards, sexual or
been a bit of a mystery. It turns out to have been a bit of an accident. Last
other problems, the proposal was an attempt to "impose criminal sanctions on
the transmission of constitutionally protected speech." Inside the White House,
bill headed toward overwhelming passage in the Senate, however, political
reality began to assert itself. With an election coming up, the last thing the
issue dealing with children and pornography. "No way are you going to get
yourself in a position where the president isn't willing to go as far as a
Democratic senator in restricting child pornography on the Internet," one
senior administration official explained. Child pornography and obscenity are
illegal anyway, but that was a fine point the administration wasn't willing to
the nation's economy. It was a bill in which the administration had many
The White House could not afford to antagonize Exon by opposing his pet
provision. Those inside the administration who were troubled by the
those rare occasions. In its Court of Appeals brief, the Justice Department
the dissemination of information about abortion, was unconstitutional and would
not be enforced. Gore, in particular, wanted to avoid an appeal by finding a
way to settle with the various plaintiffs in the suit. According to
the bill to the Supreme Court was over Gore's objections." Morris says he had
two discussions with Gore about whether there might be an alternative way to
stop children from gaining access to inappropriate material on the Internet.
"We couldn't really find a technical way of doing it," Morris says. Others in
the White House believe it was Morris himself who prevailed against Gore and
In any case, political logic prevailed. Officially, the
his own reasons for pursuing the case. In the early days of the administration,
Days made a legally sound but politically disastrous decision to appeal the
general in public. Days, who previously was thought to have a good shot at a
nomination and confirmation by the Senate, wasn't about to risk premature
termination of his career. He wouldn't comment. But privately, he may believe
what many in the administration offer in defense of their indefensible
position: that a resounding Supreme Court decision against them will do more to
advance the cause of free expression than would leaving the Court of Appeals
administration's strategy, it is foolhardy. The Supreme Court might not
cooperate in rejecting the administration's public position and embracing its
to work out a minimally consistent position on the Internet. The basic problem,
exacerbated in this instance by a lack of understanding beyond the vice
president's office of what is at stake in the development of the Internet. But
a simple solution might be at hand. It can be expressed in four words I thought
You would be too, would you not? Anyway, this speech was especially interesting
old ways are still the best. He prefers magazines the way they come in the
quite a shock to those of us who have spent the past year and a half trying to
characteristic is that it does not come in the mail. Although we
sometimes the old way is still the best. For example, we generally prefer
online magazines might find it discouraging to learn that their own proprietor
prefers magazines that come in the mail. And there were tears, of course, even
prevent Bill Gates from finding out that his company publishes an online
magazine. The second challenge was to misrepresent (or "spin," to use the
reads them on his specially designed computer screen that can display a
Slate is a tiny division of a large company, it is frequently mentioned in the
junior staff member to lurk near the Gates family mailbox and, when no one is
looking, to go through the contents and Magic Marker out all references to the
peek at our new Table of Contents, designed especially to take advantage of the
smallest standard computer screen to display the entire contents of an issue of
look. This is still a "beta," meaning that we're still tinkering with it, but
forewarned that the download takes quite a while via modem. You can also order
a CD. Or you can while away the time reading magazines on paper.
implausibly that the press doesn't pay enough attention to itself. The enormous
attention devoted to the premiere of his magazine of press criticism,
That subtlety shouldn't cause him too much distress, because the press's
publicity attending the arrival of a new magazine. We've been there too. And
we're embarrassed to say that the current issue of 
summarized, analyzed, criticized. We feel this has been a useful trial run for
him of cleverly obeying those rules while offending journalistic ethical values
overall "take" of all our coverage is fairly negative. That is not intentional.
leading press critic do his job of ensuring the highest standards of honesty,
genre of article that might be called the puff piece in the form of a hatchet
mean, nasty, unscrupulous son of a bitch who'll do anything to win a case.
editorials about overlavish summer intern programs (accompanying complex charts
that compared the number of opera tickets and restaurant dinners offered by
the huge photos of men in suits standing in front of shelves of
we already suspect we might be glamorous). He will flatter us by the very
standards he accuses us of failing to meet, by turning our peccadilloes into
moral crises, by the very gloss on his publication that's all about us, and
above all by giving us an excuse once a month to write about ourselves.
perhaps? Fresh salmon? Straight cash? Nothing's too good for the guy who's
gonna make us journalists take a long look in the mirror.
by contrast, seems to think he can mislead us about truths that are right in
not be appropriate to comment on the possibility that it would provide a
in advance if you have a steadily maintained position that you don't even
concede the "possibility" that such a report exists.
That was on Page A18 of the national edition. Meanwhile, on
this information could come from only one of two places: someone's imagination
and fired. So it's obvious that his "Office" did not have a steadily maintained
reason for rejecting the request was transparently false.
created a special page listing and linking to all the Flytrap stories in
they may wish to avoid. They may wish to make an exception
report is not yet out on the Web. As soon as it is, though, we plan to run it
links to various locations where you can read the whole thing.
have wrestled with his conscience before opting to launch bitter attacks on
later, they're in the White House. This must be the most disciplined set of
addicts in the world, because none of them has ever used drugs once since they
joined the White House staff." The accusation that the White House is filled
understandable, of course, that conservative frustration levels should be
running high these days. For a party that thought it was leading an unstoppable
revolution less than two years ago, it can't be much fun to be saddled with an
old gray mare of a presidential candidate like Dole, or to be faced with the
possibility of losing control of Congress to an opposition they believe to be
not just wrong, but on the wrong side of history. That said, many Republicans
biased and hypocritical way that they risk sacrificing both their credibility
from transparent falsehood (by leaving it meaningless). But the implicit
last week, Dole and his surrogates have focused on two new issues that purport
to embody the flawed ethics of the administration. What these lines of attack
have in common is that for all the hysteria with which they are being
expressed, they have yielded little evidence of presidential misbehavior, let
language when he issued a statement attacking the "administration's potentially
from a foreigner?" Dole himself then scored the administration for failing to
reporters who have been trying very hard to unearth evidence that the
course, it would be nice if we lived in a country where the political parties
merely and sadly typical. As recently as the last presidential election,
big a deal about it. Since contributions from foreign nationals residing here
The Democratic Party did accept, and subsequently return, an apparently illegal
a green card. But then, returning funny money is par for the course in
presidential campaigns. Back during the primaries, Dole accepted and returned
chief has since pleaded guilty to two felony charges in the case.
The real difference between foreign and domestic soft money
explicit and valuable favors for both companies, sponsoring the notorious
and regulatory fixes. For some reason, no one considers these to be Dole
being the underdog, Dole is so immune to such assaults that he can send out
campaign contributions are at least in the realm of the troublesome. The pardon
fuss, on other hand, is simply absurd. "Here's how to succeed in obstructing
the matter up publicly, and there's no evidence he's done so in private. When
asked, he's said he hasn't thought about it and won't discuss it.
did business with who may be in jail," Dole said on the eve of the final
obviated his "no comment" with an answer (a couple of weeks earlier) on the
said: "My position would be that their cases should be handled like others,
meetings on that, and I review those cases as they come up after there's an
evaluation done by the Justice Department." In no significant way does that
his character is as bad as some Republicans contend, there's no reason for them
to think he would hesitate to do so. It might also be pointed out that Dole
the chant: "It's Our Money, It's Our Money, It's Our Money"). It's hard to say
campaign, it stands as an apt description of his faltering Republican
curious thing. It is capable of focusing on certain kinds of misbehavior with
selective, often preoccupying itself with one modish ethical issue to the
exclusion of others that are equally serious. Since the election, everyone has
political fund raising. But no one seems to care any more about influence
peddling, a category of sleaze that is equally pervasive, arguably more venal,
policy advice just a few months ago. And among Democrats, it isn't considered
either surprising or scandalous that the president would nominate as secretary
mules. She grew up on the other side of the Old South's racial divide, and
speaks flavorless corporate English. He likes to be in front of the cameras.
She likes to work behind the scenes. But they're basically in the same
intersection of public policy and private interests.
success as chairman of the Republican National Committee, a job he held until
explicit than ever before about the connection between big contributions and
support, he threatened, Republicans might not prove so effective a conduit for
the promise of being a very effective conduit himself. As soon as his term as
the implementation of the Telecommunications Act, which involves issues
companies in their dispute with the regional ones. But whatever the merits of
in a propaganda war after letting everybody know he was available to work for
Bureau in the Labor Department during the Carter administration, she helped to
write regulations requiring federal contractors to comply with goals and
timetables for hiring minorities. After she left the Labor Department, she set
up a firm to advise companies on how to comply with those regulations. But
practices he deemed inadequate. In most cases, he negotiated settlements with
Republicans, ethical standards are, if anything, lower. During the last
adviser in good standing, while the Dole campaign brought such notorious
politics. The difference is that whereas campaign finance is an immensely
stables of K Street could be cleaned up pretty easily if anyone cared. All it
would take is for a few prominent politicians to stop elevating lobbyists to
high office, and to quit taking their calls. It's a cheap, easy, and effective
solution that unfortunately doesn't fit in with this season's spasm of
spin has spun out of control. What everybody thinks, and nobody can print, is
unfairness of the accusations he flings around with such abandon in his column.
I can't prove that he is motivated by the quest for fame and power rather than
the desire to get at the truth. I don't even truly believe that he sticks up
rather than genuine conviction. But I could pass off all that malicious
intermittent efforts at "Reading Bill's Mind." In the latest of these, which
the president of the United States. "Just when I should feel terrific about my
economic boom making possible my budget deal, I can feel the damn prosecutors
kind of evidence, the reporters on the national staff who have been covering
fellow opinion columnists wouldn't dare leap to his conclusion. They might
accusing someone, even the president, of a crime without evidence crosses a
use-- how shall we say it? --strong incentives to encourage highly placed
officials to leak to him. What he writes carries the implication that he knows,
thanks to his inside tipsters, that which will soon come to light. But, with
The welter of innuendo here is so thick that one can hardly
of crimes that would, if they had been brought to light, have prevented his
Only Whitewater buffs will have any idea in this paragraph. But those who
that ruined the careers of almost everyone he worked with. But after he joined
no worse than what previous presidents had done. In fact, he has been trying,
Though he is a graceful writer and a skilled reporter and
telling. The weight of the Times is such that unfairness anywhere in the
paper casts a shadow over legitimate stories that appear elsewhere.
confess to a moment of doubt about our genteel policy of a week off every now
and then when Princess Di was killed the day after our most recent skipped week
began. When The New Yorker (which also skips an issue or three each
year) chose to rush out a special Princess Di issue several days early, we felt
especially heartsick. Were we the only media outlet that squandered this
opportunity to exploit the public's revulsion at media exploitation of the dead
Could we not have profitably run a few symposiums on privacy vs. press freedom,
personal reflections on the celebrity culture, editorials condemning the
satisfactory response to complaints about media exploitation. Now that the week
sides in all Slate's current "Dialogues." Each Dialogue will feature buttons
with which you can record your support for one side or the other. The page will
display a running vote count, expressed in percentage terms. And the polls
never close: The tally will continue indefinitely, even after the Dialogue has
been Composted. You can only vote once (you have to register), but you can
change your vote as often as you like as the Dialogue proceeds. This reflects
our hope that these Dialogues will be exercises in reasoned persuasion, and not
repeated fusillades from fixed positions. The test of a successful argument
will be less a matter of who gets the most votes than of who changes the
note, if you haven't already, the arrival of Slate Explorer, a new way to
explore and navigate Slate's contents. It's a cute little box that sits on your
old story. The Daily Newsprint reviewer writes that Titanic II: The
Kitchen Sink is "a spectacular failure," and the producer buys ads
happens the other way. In a recent Slate review of Web filtering software (intended to help
Patrol's Web site does some creative filtering and declares, "Slate says that
Weekly Standard opened with the kind of editorial one is used to reading
in conservative magazines. Titled "It's Time to Take on the Judges," it heaped
usurpation." Growing more indignant by the paragraph, the editors declared it
"time to ignite a popular outcry against unelected officials and their efforts
initiative this year, which legalized the use of marijuana for medical
drug czar during the Bush administration, argued that the will of the people
must be overridden. The authors recommended that the federal government
Enforcement Administration ignore state authorities and "use its power" to
We have all endured screeds from conservatives on how terrible it is for
wants, the issue will end up in the courts, where conservatives will,
presumably, favor unelected federal judges backing the decision of unelected
federal bureaucrats to overturn the popular will. In defending this scenario,
initiative: that disingenuous wording misled voters about the measure's real
Conservatives have often expressed the view that affirmative action is
unconstitutional. In other words, when democratically elected governments act
pro affirmative action, judges should overrule them; when democracy acts
anti affirmative action, the people's will must be sacrosanct.
to acknowledge that liberals aren't always paragons of intellectual
And let's give conservatives a bit of credit. On one significant issue, the
handing a Democratic president a knife to gore Republican oxen (though they did
Republicans are still the biggest offenders when it comes to inconsistency. On
principles and their practice have gone completely out of control.
um, tensions is that many "principles" of modern conservatives were developed
a Democratic Congress, and a liberal federal bench. Conservatives don't seem to
have anticipated that this might change. They guessed that they would do better
with a "strong executive," a weaker legislative branch, and a restrained
whole institution of the special prosecutor (a k a independent counsel) in
election, congressional Republicans caused the law authorizing special
minds and decided to reauthorize the law. Today, the shoe having switched feet,
one no longer hears conservative worries about abuse of the independent
scandalously inappropriate undermining of an essential institution of public
this point at least, Democrats have been much more consistent, supporting the
independent counsel's office throughout, despite their own partisan objections
refusal to categorically rule out pardons for former associates caught up in
Whitewater. Several Republicans in Congress said they would consider such
Republicans have also evolved a bit on the issue of "executive privilege," the
doctrine that protects communications between the president and his top
criticizing his drug policies, Bob Dole asserted that the president had no
president's powers as commander in chief. In the 1980s, Democrats could be
counted upon to argue that Republican presidents needed congressional
authorization for military action. Republicans, on the other hand, invariably
constitutional power to declare war, was unconstitutional, and that military
Democrat has occupied the White House, it has been a different story. When
must "obtain clear and unambiguous congressional backing" before sending troops
Or, consider the issue of informing Congress about "covert
actions." In the 1980s, Democrats on the Intelligence Committee were always
Congress was trying to "micromanage" foreign policy, couldn't be trusted not to
leak vital secrets, and so on. Now, it is Republicans who are apoplectic about
wasn't behind them. And the Intelligence Committee has concluded that the
no comparable gestures of contrition were forthcoming from Republicans. And in
awful as people say it is won't hurt its sales too much. Meanwhile, the
question: Could a president get away with it today? And the even more
we have been posting quietly, in primitive form, a new 
feature that emerges fully this week. Called "Pundit
was moved as a result on various issues. It will also treat the print pundits,
though less comprehensively. Like our other Briefing features, Pundit Central
can be used either as a guide for what to read and watch or as an efficient
(and, we hope, entertaining) substitute for reading and watching.
your appetite instead of sating it, the page includes an extensive set of links
to Web sites where the pundits and panjandrums can be found in their full
glory. Come to Pundit Central, and you'll never want for an opinion again.
is the best collective noun for people who make their living spouting opinions
in one medium or another (or, as is increasingly the case, in all of them)?
"talking heads," but sometimes, in a hurry, does refer to the breed, with
contest among four journalists for the title (to be awarded by
actual evidence of the woman (or man) who made this remark, we'd be grateful,
responded to our online reader survey. Last year we were pretty thrilled to get
3,000-plus responses in a month. Thanks to all who've spent a few minutes
telling us about themselves. If you haven't filled it out yet, click here for
that liberals were all for tough laws against sexual harassment and
conservatives complained that such laws create a sexual reign of terror.
Likewise, liberals were great enthusiasts for the appointment of independent
counsels or special prosecutors while conservatives condemned these
of political differences." Now those roles are usually reversed.
assume that these conversions are a sincere response to the scandals
president could be. And liberals, until one of their own got caught up in them,
didn't appreciate how onerous and unfair these laws are. Certainly my friend
opinion on two moderately important points of law is far less painful than
compatible president of your lifetime. But will it wash? Unfortunately, I don't
and the special prosecutor, but there are many other ways it might have done
for a particular bus, you wouldn't be at work today. Other buses come along. If
misbehavior, false accusations of misbehavior, or accurate public revelation of
a state orders state troopers to summon a lowly state employee to a hotel room,
abusive invasion of privacy for the law to insist that a governor not do
institution is: An administration should not be trusted to investigate itself.
Nothing in our experience since the office was institutionalized two decades
some) or fair and honest Justice Department investigations of administration
officials (of which there also have been some) undermines this basic logic. An
independent prosecutor is the only realistic way criminal behavior by those in
sundry complaints about the independent counsel as that institution has
evolved. One is that the very appointment of a special prosecutor is a
politically traumatic affair and implies guilt. Another is that independent
prosecutors', is to pursue a particular person rather than a particular crime.
Their every incentive is to prosecute, since failure to prosecute suggests that
the whole enterprise was needless. Their pursuit is not hampered by many of the
budget and policy restraints that cool the zeal of normal prosecutors. (These
editorial page almost any random day in the late 1980s, although not during the
solution is not to give up on special prosecutors. The solution is to make the
independent prosecutor a permanent office, rather than appointing a new one
every time a scandal or alleged scandal comes along. Unless the political
culture changes drastically, there will always be one or more independent
administrations, anyway. Referring some matter to a permanent independent
prosecutor's office would be far less fraught than appointing a new independent
prosecutor and would carry less of a stigma. A permanent independent
prosecutor's office could be held more easily to reasonable financial and
procedural guidelines. A permanent independent prosecutor's office would not
need to feel that its reputation depended on prosecuting and convicting
close enough for the rest of us. If White House aides have to keep glancing
is no bad thing. It might even be a nice tradition for the permanent
independent prosecutor's office always to be run by someone from the opposing
We all have learned recently, for example, that even
outright lying under oath in a deposition for a civil case is the kind of thing
that an ordinary citizen apparently does not often get prosecuted for (though
Even under a reformed independent prosecutor law, a president would be more at
transgression than the ordinary citizen. Is that such a terrible thing?
will rediscover all its objections to independent prosecutors. Democrats,
meanwhile, will be glad the law is still around. And who knows? Sexual
pollster or consultant these days, and you're likely to hear a lament about the
shortage of politically potent ideas. Looking toward the midterm election in
Republican promise of sweeping tax overhaul. Sure, they can point out that the
the middle class. But you can't beat a horse with no horse. Republicans have on
reform: good tax reform. The shared idea of both kinds of tax reform is
and you get lower rates by getting rid of loopholes and making the law neutral
among different kinds of income; you promote economic efficiency. Resources go
where the invisible hand directs them, not where they can get the most
shelter), and figuring out your taxes is more complicated than ever. Yet
for some reason, the only major politician who has tried to latch onto the
again. He points out that higher tax rates for higher incomes aren't what make
State of the Union address. Unfortunately, the reports trickling out suggest
for by possible future budget surpluses, or more "targeted" incentives to
Al Gore don't want to be accused of copyright infringement. Under the most
persuaded everyone to let well enough alone. With the economy swimming along so
nicely, why meddle? The last theory, the most malignant, is that the Democrats
None of these explanations fully adds up. In politics,
more substance. Tinkering with the tax code is always hazardous. When lobbyists
know what may get "fixed." But that's a better argument against the grab bag of
pleading) than it is against sweeping reform. The power of moneyed interests
doesn't explain much, either. All the industries that benefit most from tax
explanation for the failure to jump aboard tax reform is the wider political
predicament of liberals. In the present climate, it is nearly impossible to
spend money on new spending programs. But it is sometimes possible to disguise
spending programs as tax breaks. Of course, a dollar of government revenue lost
to an investment tax credit is a dollar added to the national debt as surely as
a dollar spent on food stamps. In fact, the cost is usually higher, since
indirect incentives tend to be less efficient than direct expenditures. But
recognized the tax code as an excellent hiding place for social policy. If he
has any appreciation of the economic value of tax neutrality, or of the
support worker training, but also augmented research and development credits, a
indisputably strengthened the economy by reducing the budget deficit, it truly
undid tax reform. It turned four rates into six and created a powerful bias in
initiatives, pushed by the very politicians out there denouncing the complex
isn't an economic purist. But you still have to wonder how such a smart policy
beneficiaries will be impressed with your cleverness and sophistication (which
is, after all, the whole point of giving), and they will never suspect that so
magazine as two separate products. The umbrella is fully integrated into
umbrella. One or the other.) To bar us, as some have suggested, from including
paid apologists for our rivals) that by including a free umbrella with each
thereby stifling innovation in this crucial field. Simple mathematics disposes
nobody in his right mind would put at risk a monopoly as lucrative as the one
As a matter of fact, a ham sandwich goes very well with some of
's features. What could be nicer than sitting under an
Our own view, if you're wondering, is that the analogy is brilliantly acute and
Magazines." The result, as the Justice Department would have predicted, is
pages, and profitability are a few of the dimensions in which, quite frankly,
we are somewhat behind, although we lead in other important measures such as
At last report he was more or less trapped in his house, so he's had plenty of
turmoil in distant lands are a great potential market for
computer and modem. They won't need umbrellas, of course. Circulation
send him a message of support. The thread is called "The
women were women, conservatives were conservative on the subject of child
abuse. That is, they were in favor of it. "We all got the belt that night," Pat
who acquainted her children with the salubrious effects of the strap on
days, it appears, are gone. With Shine and Sling Blade --films
conservatives want to tell you: We were abused too. As adult children of
victims of every sort of paddling and walloping and thwacking, Republicans are
in the middle of the night and hit him for wetting his bed if he didn't get up
to go. When Burton was an infant, his father beat him black and blue for crying
her. Charged with kidnapping, he was convicted and spent two years in prison.
first raised the subject of his experiences to underscore his support for a
bill to aid battered wives. Now he is deploying his pain in a legislatively
less specific way, to try to show that he is not the reactionary bogeyman most
people think he is. One doesn't wish to indicate any lack of sympathy for what
sounds like a truly wretched and brutal childhood. But if we are to draw a
because of his experiences, but rather that he is working out an inherited
disposition to abuse children on a more ambitious level. It was Burton who
of fellow who wears his heart on his sleeve, so it came as something of a shock
when, several weeks ago, he revealed his own wretched childhood to a reporter
between your mother and your father. It makes you grow up maybe a little
late at the pool hall one night soon after marrying Newt's mom. When
abusive, but he was cold and uncommunicative toward his stepchildren. Newt has
anybody else go through it." On his side in support of the measure was another
abandoning his family, forcing Ensign's mother to support three children by
Republicans start talking about being neglected and abused, you can bet that
they're about to violate some sacrosanct conservative principle like states'
about states' rights, I say, 'Hold it, guys, there is a duty here for the
willingness to intervene against domestic violence, despite the otherwise
get the job done." The exceptions to conservative orthodoxy that these
says it's fine to smack the kids (the phrase used is "reasonable corporal
Movement. A decade ago, politicians didn't boast about being abused. They all
stood up to that same daddy for slapping his mom around. Republicans, a little
behind in the game, are trying to say, "We feel your pain too." They're finally
cottoning on to the political value of the confessional culture. With their
explanation. These guys need professional help, but are afraid to be seen near
a psychiatrist's office. Pouring their hearts out to reporters is the only
is to provide what we call "intelligent synthesis" of the
news of the week. Through features such as "Frame Game" (see
hope to provide a deeper understanding than a conventional news summary would
that clogs the typical newspaper or magazine story.
small way, we're having some influence on the conventional media, too. For
remarkably few words, the Times gets to the essence of a complicated
story. Altitude problems caused the crash! What more, after all, does one need
to know? Pedants may quibble that the problem was, more precisely, a lack of
altitude, but that is a small point. The larger conceptual breakthrough is the
problem, and no one need fear boarding an airplane ever again.
contribution we make to human betterment. We are ordinarily happy to labor in
anonymity: No one ever gets a byline for a headline, however brilliant. But
this is a special case. Some toiler on the Times copy desk has completed
the great work begun by the Wright Brothers. They lifted humankind up; he or
she has figured out how to keep us there. It all depends on having the right
trying a few new editorial features next week. Watch out for them:
tortured us by saying it sounded like a good conversation over the breakfast
views to her own breakfast table. Damn. But that did give us a name for this
offended at the notion that they are what used to be called "moral
updated column of gossip, speculation, scuttlebutt, and philosophical
a similar feature on, well, culture. We define culture broadly to include
most diabolically effective tactician. On the issue of crime, in which he
Order of Police on the day Bob Dole was set to launch a major attack on the
the origin of the president's latest "little things" proposal: to require drug
presiding over an increase in drug use by young people had the potential to
useless, and offensive to notions of privacy and constitutional rights. But the
pandering beyond the call of victory. It should also put us on our guard about
a man who, if he is a liberal at all, is a liberal of an odd sort: One with no
instinctive regard for civil liberties or the Bill of Rights.
reversed himself and opposed amending the Constitution to ban flag burning. But
that stance turned out to be a false positive for the president on civil
liberties. Since then he has consistently insulted both the First and the
Fourth amendments. (Some would say he has disregarded the Second Amendment,
a foolish bill which would have criminalized the transmission of "indecent" or
"patently offensive" material via the Internet, the administration backed
oddity of this political moment is that while our Democratic president has no
special love of civil liberties, civil libertarian sentiment is growing in the
Union has been campaign boilerplate, at least until recently. This surprising
recently signed an immigration bill giving the government the power to exclude
anyone who advocates "terrorist activity." This threatens to become a modern
writ by which state prisoners, including those on death row, can get their
the Immigration and Naturalization Service to deport asylum seekers without
giving them any opportunity to appear before a tribunal. And in his most recent
competing public purposes, like the protection of children. In the case of drug
only a symbolic value. A scheduled drug test is easily beaten; you just need to
stay clean for a short time before the test. Then you can celebrate your
license by getting high. In answer to the objection that urine tests reveal
reveal chemical traces for up to a year. But here the insult to civil liberties
becomes staggering. The explicit purpose becomes finding out who among the
young has ever indulged in the kind of experiment that both members of
where he said the reason for the tests was to "to find those kids and help them
such an intrusion might be worrisome was evident from that speech, as it was
from his radio address, in which he compared his proposal to the requirement
that parolees take drug tests. Parolees are convicted criminals. People
applying for driver's licenses aren't even suspects of anything. It has been
people who cannot vote. The more likely reason, however, is that if the idea is
applies to those who do not have the full legal rights of adults.
there is something to the argument that his cavalier attitude about individual
rights helped to create an atmosphere in which thuggish members of his
administration could regard invasions of privacy very lightly. Dole is hardly
standard, the day may not be far off when some Democratic candidate accuses a
offered a considerable challenge to magazine editors everywhere by posing nude
content to expose other people. Is it not time for them to start exposing
eschew grandiose titles like "editor in chief," let alone "founder." At the
special staff meeting called to discuss the issue of who should bare all for
the good of the magazine, there was a groundswell of support for calling upon
editor, who delegated it to an associate editor, who delegated it to an
Weed, whose title is Special Issue of the Publisher.
making clever use of light and shadow to hide the aspects of the story that
vent some controversial opinions about his relatives. His mother and father, he
reveals, are "just terrible parents. They're driving me crazy with their 'eat
tart views about his relatives' relations with the baby sitter. "They just use
her for their own pleasure," he says. "I get stuck with her, while they go out
do anything for Slate," he adds. "I just love that magazine."
a dialogue on the subject (to continue the theme of the previous item, he and
and take this opportunity to draw special attention to it.
Slate gets from writers through editors to you. Publishing on the Web is still
logical mind and wonderful laugh, among other gifts, made it all happen (well,
"program manager"? Bill liked to explain that on normal software projects, the
program manager is just that: in charge of the program. On Slate, the program
Bill took amiably and skillfully to his ambassadorial function, and is more
responsible than any other person for designing the actual technology behind
when chasing some alleged miscreant, the press has brushed aside the question
of what exactly is wrong with the explanation that the situation creates the
perception of impropriety. We thereby avoid the tiresome issue of whether
anything improper actually has occurred. (The trick works both ways: Actual
miscreants confess to having created an appearance of impropriety, thus
sidestepping the little matter of impropriety itself.) Since the press itself
largely creates the perception with its coverage, justifying the coverage on
the basis of the perception is a convenient form of circular reasoning.
knowledge), has a public figure been found guilty of committing a perception
when the perception is demonstrably untrue. Until now there had to be at least
a possibility that the perception of impropriety might some day molt into hard
evidence of actual impropriety. In this case, that possibility doesn't exist.
Undoubtedly there are folks who will continue to insist, against all evidence,
think it's typical, they accept that it isn't true. Apparently that doesn't
any faintly plausible bit of poison his critics may be dispensing.
have longed for the day when "might be true" is accepted as
the standard for our trade. Never in our most idealistic moments did we dare
national monuments! (Q: Who is buried in Grant's Tomb? A: If you have to ask,
you can't afford it.) Could be true. After all, it would be typical of someone
the kind of thing that gets you accused of doing that kind of thing.
something like that. We don't remember the details, exactly, but they certainly
created the perception that he did something like that, and anyone who could be
perceived to do something like that has created an atmosphere that makes
possible the perception that he could do something worse. So he has no one to
magazine reported some preliminary results from a poll it has been conducting
Turkey, which is no mean accomplishment (what have you done with your life?),
think, was its stinting view of history. If you're going in for shameless
promotional gimmicks, why limit yourself to a century? 
fulfilling life, and even use the Internet contentedly, without understanding
in peace and consider yourself fortunate. But if you have ventured into the
wonderful world of cookies, you may be one of those folks who is alarmed about
them. This is completely unnecessary. Cookies are merely special messages a Web
"Have a nice day," or, "End child abuse now," or, "Wipe out this person's hard
paranoiacs have set their browsers to alert them when a cookie is heading their
way. And some of them have complained that this notice pops up a lot when
they're reading Slate. Slate actually uses very few cookies. For example, we
tell your browser to remember the date of your visit. When you come back the
next time, your computer sends that date back to ours. If it's still the same
day, we don't feed you the cover again but take you straight to the Table of
Contents. Similarly, we use cookies to remember whether you prefer your
contents listed by page number or by date of posting, and to remember which
entry in a "Dispatch" or "Dialogue" you last read. All perfectly innocent.
did investigate these complaints, and it turned out that our server computers
were sending jars and jars of cookies we didn't need. To emphasize: This was
information from us going into your computer, not information
from you going into ours. And it really was harmless stuff. Nevertheless, we
have turned off these superfluous cookies. If you don't believe us, or if that
Internet Explorer, just click on "View," then "Options," and choose the
of course, is determined to bring the same degree of objectivity and hype
resistance to this event that we legendarily brought to our coverage of the
author's name a short bio pops up (instead of the click taking you to the bio
moment. But there's lots more coming. Just so you're prepared.
presidential election, a major scandal breaks. A young girl accuses the
conference. The flack mouths the words (PC, Mac) injected into his head. But despite being a satire, Wag
better class of political movie. The view is conspiratorial, not in the
ironic way. That a secret government runs the show is just a fact of
paranoia is an equally jaded belief that politics is merely the art of media
manipulation. Fed a compelling diet of music and images, the consultant and the
producer agree, a docile and credulous public will go for just about
president after the real president has a stroke atop a bimbo. In this
plotters to fool his own Cabinet. The film takes its biggest wink in the scene
stroke. ("Do you think you're a little paranoid?" King asks him.) In Bob
hire an outside lobbyist, might have been based on an article from the
falls prey to paranoia because it's easy. If you don't have the patience to try
to understand politics or aren't really interested, conspiracy allows you to
seem sophisticated. It's a dumb person's way of seeming smart. My colleague
is attributable to conspiracies of a kind. The fact that Producer X is
sleeping with Starlet Y really does explain why she gets a big part in Director
the movie business are depicting their political culture, not ours.
he was accused of confusing art and life, remembering scenes from the movies as
The argument was that he'd brainwashed the country with smoke and mirrors,
artifice and stagecraft. The problem with the view that politics is merely the
effective manipulation of images is that it inflates a minor consideration into
the whole ballgame. It makes democracy irrelevant, while discounting the single
most important motivation in politics, which is conviction. But once again, you
politics the entertainment business understands. There's also a projection
factor. Belief plays a negligible part in what people in the movie industry do,
President is a widowed president dating an environmental lobbyist. They
fall in love, and the president is emboldened to do the right thing on crime
and global warming. The "right thing," of course, is to replace phony toughness
with gun control and demand a larger reduction in greenhouse gases. In
who declares that politics is about reality, not illusion.
incoherence. Wag the Dog is the exception among these films in that
there's no voice of democratic decency attempting to shine through. Thanks
executive who described his nightmarish battle with the agency in this way:
realize that the only good advertising the Internal Revenue Service gets is
when they bring a big one down. And your name is a household word to hundreds
of people." I said, "Do you mean to tell me you can take me to a court of law
and convict me of some wrongdoing on the basis of what you had?" He said, "No,
I don't believe I can do that." He said, "I can get your name in the paper.
does the victim's account of his own actions ring true. Why would a powerful
businessman succumb to extortion, plead guilty to a criminal charge of tax
plead guilty on the condition that his identity be kept secret. But criminal
interested in a big PR score, why would it then make a promise of
such a waiver. (The program deceptively implied that the judgment was based on
oversight investigation. Disgruntled current and former agents testified
anonymously from behind a screen. There was no real effort to ascertain their
motives or the truth of the generalizations they offered. Republican senators
seeking a quick populist fix have spent the past several weeks vilifying the
political hazard, have piled on with their own expressions of outrage and calls
finance committee heard testimony from four victims. These people were culled,
committee. There is no way of knowing how many of them have legitimate gripes.
concluded that there was no systematic abuse of taxpayers. "The agency spends
significant resources educating personnel to treat taxpayers fairly, and the
culture, mindless of the fact that they are servants of the people," he said.
unresponsiveness, disregard of one's rights, and the very kinds of things that
was one of the supporters of a statute that demanded "performance measures"
passed a budget bill that included a "compliance initiative" authorizing the
a categorical accounting of revenue received as a result of these
the poor and ignores wealthy people "because those people can bring in an
statistics, there has been a sharp decline in audits of taxpayers with incomes
over the same period. Sounds ominous. But this accusation contradicts the
It's pretty obvious what conservative politicians are
rhetoric, but they still don't like the people who collect taxes.
with the theme. "If you file a paper tax return, the odds are better than one
warned in a speech playing off the hearings. This is, of course, nonsense. Only
submerging internal differences for the sake of victory. Can this be true?
Democrats are doing less infighting, it isn't because they've reached some sort
of ideological consensus. On the main issues of domestic and economic policy,
and the Republicans in Congress. Traditional Democrats think balancing the
proudest accomplishment. Liberals are still smarting over the fact that he
forward. Labor unions are intent on stopping trade liberalization. Globalizing
In the House, the trade fight is getting pretty nasty. The
the party's left manifest an even more striking change in attitude. Take a look
populists. As recently as a couple of years ago, many of these left Democrats
couldn't go a paragraph without denouncing the moderating tendencies of the
Democratic Leadership Council. These days, most offer only a gentle tug in the
a harsh critic of the New Democrats, writes that "the party won't fly without
chairman, used to call "the big tent") rather than any genuine ideological
is that the most divisive issues of the 1970s and '80s have faded. There's no
Democratic fratricide on defense and foreign policy because after the Cold War
there's little to get fratricidal about. On cultural issues, many of the scabs
wonderful example of how Democrats used to act. After the bruising
today, largely because the issue of women's rights no longer divides either the
Democrats or the larger society. (And that is because on this issue, among
shrewd job of abandoning the losing issues while turning the rest to the
party's advantage. He surrendered on the death penalty, welfare, and civil
liberties while sticking with abortion, gun control, and affirmative action.
This solution offers something to centrist reformers and something to the
But the chief reason for relative harmony is the object
lesson of the last few elections. Democrats have seen the fruit of their
the illusion that he loved it alone. After the Inauguration, each awoke to the
realization that the president was a policy polygamist. Disappointed by
election taught all of them that there are things worse than partial victory.
unifying force of a common enemy. Whether you wanted charter schools and
didn't want the federal government to abdicate all responsibility for education
and the environment. And with the president defending against an
agenda. The question of what new programs to support would be a largely
differences are becoming clearer. The first thing the party disagrees about is
The New Majority think Democrats can win future elections by identifying
with the concerns of working people. Those in the bottom half are threatened by
new economy's negative consequences. The party should thus support, and not in
programs like Medicare and Social Security that made it popular with downscale
voters in the first place. Beyond that, the Democratic agenda should be to
extend new benefits like universal health care and child care.
think the Democrats must identify with the moral and economic concerns of a
largely suburban middle class. For these people, the New Economy offers more
promise than hazard. New Democrats don't want any expensive new federal
rhetoric and a series of positions that span this divide. He supports
"families" and the "future" without specifying which families or what future.
Initiatives like community policing and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit
serious challenger to Gore. The election could just as easily be a contest
stumble out of bed, pour a cup of coffee, and go to your printer. There, fresh
to boot up or log on. No need to read onscreen or wait for a printout. Why,
there's no need even to go outside and collect the newspaper. True home
occurred to us a while ago: Why can't people leave their computers and their
printers on overnight, or whenever, and have their printouts waiting for them,
automatically. But none of them takes the next step of printing the pages out.
Why not? Could it be that computer types don't appreciate the widespread
aversion to reading things on a screen? Whatever the reason, how hard would it
As we do with all deep philosophical questions, we took
this one to the nearest software developer, who happened to be
Would require many a moon. Need new staff, much wampum. Accused of
paradox. Some people can't tell the difference." And he added, "If you think
The process gave us new respect for software developers. We deeply regret any
harsh or impatient words we may have uttered to them (or even behind their
that we cannot supply support or advice on it. It's just a whimsy of
's journalistic element. It hasn't been tested. It doesn't
other than those on the editor's home machine. Nevertheless, we think it's
implies the software is intended only for HP printers, it actually plays well
as many hours horsing around with it as we have. But for our purposes, it does
three things. First, at a time and frequency you determine (just once, once a
week, every day, or every weekday), it dials your Internet service provider (if
necessary), makes a connection, downloads the Web pages you have selected,
pages to look good and save paper when printed out. Third, it does print them
instruct the program to search in various ways for pages linked to other pages.
By setting these parameters correctly, you can schedule an overnight printout
(You can add other Web sites, too.) And in the morning, if you wish, you can go
for a simpler process, and you can expect to see some developments over the
or three columns a page, thus saving even more paper. But it doesn't have a
was also a necessity, since we didn't have a way to screen submissions. Now,
with a screening system in place, we are pleased to announce that we are
please.) Manuscripts should have the author's name and address on each page and
publishes one poem every week. You can read it and also listen to it in the
week's poem, and here for a complete list of and links to poems published in
importance of this week's events involving oral sex in the White House. This
we also are closing a full week's issue today, but to be
why be honest? We're not under oath or anything. And heck, even if we were
Slate Special Issue: Oral Sex and Beyond: A Historic Week in
Breakfast Table," "The Book Club," "Diary," and "News Quiz" will appear as
development in the news (war, for example, or a new semen stain) may well drag
objected to the amount of attention the media in general and
in particular are devoting to the scandal we call Flytrap.
As a service to these readers, we have set up a special page
of the journalists who has embarked on the experiment of working for a software
company. I probably speak for all of us when I say that it has been
interesting. Recently, it's been especially interesting. A few months ago,
big political problems. My bluff has been called. With my own prosperity
possibly at stake, would I urge my employer to remain aloof from the Beltway
No one else seems to share my disquiet. Ironically, one of
the analysis goes, is Bill G. realizing his mistake in neglecting to hire
lobbyists, dole out huge campaign contributions, and so on. The theme of a
flex political muscle demonstrates an arrogance and stubbornness for which
plausible suggestion that hiring more lobbyists, etc., would be a smart thing
just cheap, or lazy, or out of your depth on the other coast. But whatever the
be proud of. You haven't tried to corrupt the democratic process by handing out
wads of cash. You have done less than any company approaching your size to
looking for favors from the federal government, it resists paying a fee to
The practical issue is much harder than the ethical one.
Sure, the world would be a better place if there was no corporate money in
others, Bob Dole (who couldn't even give his own Internet address correctly on
good conscience argue that you shouldn't field a team. Modern legislation and
regulation are technical and complex. Any big company needs skilled people who
can process the implications of proposed changes and argue for its interests. I
regretfully acknowledge that it may even make practical sense to have a few
their connections to power, not for any knowledge or talent.
people do for a living is slimy. They're not all equally bad, but I have
contributions for the Republican National Committee (he is contemptuous
quandary: Is it worse for lobbyists to exploit their personal relationships
with government officials, or to sell the illusion that they are doing so?
After years of covering lobbying, my impression is that the business is about
peddlers generates good will on Capitol Hill. In Congress, where people think
of themselves as underpaid, there's hostility toward Bill Gates based on the
fact that he's got a lot of dough and doesn't share it with people like them.
company that is never going to hire them when they're ready to go through the
revolving door. This is a pretty venal outlook, but it's built into the
There are, however, advantages to not being heavy hitters
inside the Beltway. Refusing to pay an unjustified toll may be contemptuous of
a great deal of personal growth during his community service, but he's not the
guy to organize a PR blitz around the theme of restraint in playing the
Republican trots onto the stage and declares himself mortally offended by some
bit of raunchiness connected to the National Endowment for the Arts. (This year
the agency. The battle rages; the agency eludes destruction. The curtain falls
successfully walked a tightrope in the censorship debates, using her
administrative power to block grants that would have spelled trouble while
sticking up for those that came under attack after they were awarded. Neither
Her shrewdness and star appeal may have kept the endowment alive through
been to slosh a thin gruel of artistic mediocrity around the country. The
strategy has worked, and may have been necessary, and of course it's easy to
carp from the outside. But I think she has carried it a bit too far.
regional arts agencies. Most of what's left goes to arts administration and
arts education. The little direct support remaining is geared to sound
inoffensive. In fact, much of it is political, but in a mushy
alike may die of boredom before they turn up anything either offensive or
the development of a model study unit, utilizing concerts, study guides,
teacher training and residences, to celebrate the cultural contributions made
does still support some elitist high culture, including the Metropolitan Museum
away from art for art's sake is clear. In part this reflects trends in the art
legislators to rethink their philosophical objections to arts spending through
the crude but effective device of putting money in their districts. In recent
The endowment's supporters in the entertainment industry
run the Republican Party in this country are really rotten, nasty, horrible
human beings." Such comments can hardly make life easier for the civilized
someone a government grant doesn't violate the right to free speech. Hardly
for not growing things, why can't artists be subsidized for producing?"
Republicans are quick to point out that they're phasing out farm subsidies. But
even if they weren't, arts subsidies can't be justified on the basis that they
that we as a nation want a more robust cultural and intellectual life than the
conference that government funding for the arts is censorship. Others at
the same event made the facile case that federal funding produces bad art.
"This is about an elite group who want the government to define what art is
will get better art once the government gets out of the way."
Tom DeLay's idea of "better art." Maybe fewer pictures of whips in rectums and
the government must make more forceful moral judgments take the relativistic
position that it's incapable of ever making aesthetic ones. And their
decisions. They supported a lot of great and good art. Now, in an environment
responsible for a new strain of flu that could produce a global pandemic on the
Compost." Cluck here, we mean, click here, to review the story before it's too late.
know almost nothing about how to behave in virtually any social or ethical
situation, so it is fortunate that Prudence has arrived to enlighten us. But
up space that could otherwise be devoted to solving additional problems of the
world. Second, it would tarnish the sheen of infallibility to which any advice
Our solution? A new thread in "The Fray" devoted to discussion of Prudence
and her advice. The Fray is, of course, a very cauldron of moral relativism. It
indefinitely. Dear Prudence, by contrast, must radiate moral absolutism and be
"bundling" its Back of the Book with the rest of the magazine. We take this
opportunity to inform our readers that they are under no obligation to read the
music or movie reviews, or to follow the gardening column, or to listen to the
poem, in order to consume the news and political analysis. Subscribers to 
Department's position in this controversy that a magazine of news analysis and
a review of culture are two fundamentally different products, and that
's merging of the two was a subtle effort to foist culture
publisher Rogers Weed. "And everybody knows you can't get
down the hall, so the easy thing would have been to go and ask her. But the
easy thing is not always the right thing. And our decades of
combined experience as newspaper and magazine journalists tell us that the
definitive account of the 1980s on Wall Street. His most recent book, Trail
together, but take our word for it. Or, better yet, buy
business culture of the 1950s. He will be filing dispatches weekly, from his
base in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, and we hope they will add up to an
entire election in terms of a single lesson or message is usually worth
to make driving cheaper at the center of his campaign. Taking a page from his
the wheel than in any other state and consequently pay the most for auto
insurance (though few recognize any connection), this was an offer almost too
good to refuse. It very nearly turned a previously popular incumbent out of
said the insurance issue was an important factor in their vote.
capitalist economic system, you might wonder at the idea of a governor simply
ordering a statewide price reduction. But in New Jersey, nearly everyone takes
it for granted that you can't have a free market in anything as important as
deregulating the system under which insurers must petition a state board to
can't try to recover damages for pain and suffering. She saved her job by
cheaper driving issue and drove it to victory. The state derives much of its
promised to abolish this tax and coasted to victory by a 13-point margin.
capitalize on this issue himself. In addition to being the former lieutenant
only. While slightly more realistic, this lacked the simplistic appeal of
In the only congressional race of this election, the
that he would work to eliminate the toll on the bridge completely.
to pay for the system, and argued that public transportation is a violation of
team frequently bores those of us in the provinces). The mayor's race this year
was fought in part over alternative approaches to preventing further
development and congestion. Even in New York City, a place where sane people do
balanced, crime in free fall, and the economy booming, politics is so free of
important content that elections can hinge on who will be nicer to cars. It is
a bit stupid to spend time debating who is more likely to accede to a toll
freeways are now clogged at rush hour. What makes this more than a problem of
traffic engineering is that you can't reduce congestion without raising issues
like air pollution, the greenhouse effect, and the harm that metropolitan
politics is that the new pandering about driving is as bad as the old pandering
about tax cuts. One difference is that this time around, Democrats are less
from the two major parties debated the relative merits of alternative
is a perfectly sound idea. But so too would it be a good idea to discourage
driving through higher tolls, pricier gas, and better public transportation. A
program like this would mitigate environmental and congestion problems as well
platform probably won't get you very far. The last politician to propose making
driving more expensive was Al Gore, who fought to include a small energy
economic plan. It almost sank the whole deal. Since then, there's been no
of conservatives is the notion that they are enemies of an established
orthodoxy, insurgents against the dogmatic political correctness that
predominates on the left. Some recent gleanings, however, suggest that the
opposite is true. The party where humorless thought police work to enforce a
rigid ideological discipline isn't made up of Democrats. It comprises
commissar who has misplaced his principles to the extent of accepting money to
and conservative journalists who are deemed loyal, from places like the
The second article, which appears in the current issue of
the author, tied to a stake with his chest bared, it describes how Brock became
revealing. Brock portrays a political subculture in which loyalty to the cause
conferences and parties and denounced by his old allies as a turncoat.
position on abortion. But there is no liberal "movement" like today's
the sense that Brock functioned as a conservative one. It is instructive to
by his former colleagues when it was announced that he was joining the staff of
for having compromised his journalistic independence by being too kind to
to prove her independence to media outlets more than her loyalty to the
she was trying to accomplish by criticizing fellow conservatives in the
Conservative journalists don't just have the inside track
roles of John Fund, one of the editors of the Wall Street Journal
editorial page. Fund has doubled as a member of the Speaker's Advisory Group, a
After accepting the job initially, Fund changed his mind, perhaps because he is
more helpful where he is. (He declined comment.) Fund's denunciations of
notes to errant conservative journalists describing their work as
editorial supporting his clients, no matter how obscure the subject. The paper
includes a few liberal points of view for window dressing, but hardly any
syndicated column, she has been censored when she has tried to write critically
issues where conservatives disagree with liberals and more about conservatives
selling out fellow conservatives. A month ago, the word emanating from all the
Nation status for China. These attempts to stamp out free thinking suggest what
Republican leadership, almost always for departing from the True Faith. (For a
related article on conservative cultural correctness, see "But Is It Art
Standard 's editor, recognizes such attacks for the great publicity
aide, who told him, "No one who believes what we believe should be attacking
Much of this kind of behavior can be traced back to what
secret cells and front groups modeled on the Communist foe. Contemporary
are part of a liberal conspiracy. They feel this gives them license to create
of liberal bias have become an excuse for poor journalistic standards, and for
shoddy intellectual ones as well. But the worst of it isn't the propaganda that
passes for conservative thought these days. It's the deadly sense of enforced
conformity, the stale air that blows in from the stagnant ponds of the
civic pride and civic hypocrisy, the mingled air of awe and contempt toward
what we say, what we know we mean and what we don't know we mean.
coming today.   What's the point of senators making laws now?   Once the
coming today   and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader.   He's even
got a scroll to give him,   loaded with titles, with imposing names.
coming today   and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
coming today   and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
and the barbarians haven't come.   And some of our men just in from the border
this morning and more coming: a flotation medium rising in the
just a bit of electricity firing off joints and nets: off,
was a shy, lonely widower. In Independence Day his wife went down in a
helicopter and he got upstaged by the more manly Will Smith. In Absolute
But at long last, in Air Force One the president gets to be something
actually alive, and he's still in love with her. The only problem is that he's
come to power at the dawn of a confusing new era, when globalization is
blurring national boundaries and the world is more vulnerable than ever before
Force One takes less than five minutes to demonstrate the drawbacks of
hypocritical concerns as the national interest. Out with wimpy measures like
be afraid." This is a depressing, scary, reckless announcement, and as Ford
delivers it you think how disturbing it would be to have someone like him as
president. For all his popularity, Ford has built his career on an
inarticulate, uncomfortable, and somewhat angry persona. What's saved him from
grimness is his status as an outsider, his flippant sense of humor, and his
Playing a powerful public figure, Ford looks as miserable
Following his speech the president boards Air Force One to return home, and for
five minutes, in a scene so idyllic it borders on the bizarre, he's able to let
down his guard and relax in the bosom of his family. He kisses his wife. Their
camp and minister to poor, helpless wounded people. Daddy worries that she's
not old enough, but Mommy laughs tenderly and says, "She couldn't stay your
through this chaotic period of realignment, when all he really wants to do is
help his daughter with her homework and smooch with his wife.
Global Village meets Family Values, and once this slick high concept is
president has gone missing. Everyone assumes he's left the plane in an "escape
pod" and is floating safely to earth; only the audience knows that he's stuck
instead on the scary ordeal of being stuck on a plane piloted by crazies. With
geeky charm, it patiently explored the plane's engineering; it literally walked
you down into the underbelly, a beautiful abstract maze of crisscrossing
Force One rips off half the adventures from Executive
Decision --there's a blatantly similar scene involving the cutting of
around the astoundingly dull theme of cellular communication. Here are two
that he's still alive and hiding on board the plane. He desperately rummages
through some luggage. He finds someone's cell phone and calls the White House.
alert the Air Force to his scheme. This time it's harder, because he's lost the
cell phone and the terrorists have shut down the regular phones, but a
presidential aide reminds him that faxes go out on an auxiliary line. Solemnly,
she leads him over to the fax station, where he scribbles out a message and
dials. Will the fax go through? Tension mounts. After a few moments, we hear
the telltale squeak of a successful transmission, accompanied by triumphal
to help by looking anguished as he hits, kicks, and shoots his way to the final
about five words per minute. And his cause seems so pathetically weak compared
to the raging progress of capitalism around the world that watching him strut
is like watching someone shoot a gun you know is filled with blanks.
about Air Force One to recommend, except perhaps the controlled
several phone calls from the sky. But there is something strangely comforting
about how bad this movie is. For a while there, all those stories about
should be able to breathe easier. It is just too boring to reflect our actual
fantasy life, and so brazenly concerned with exploiting the Zeitgeist
discourse, literacy and culture sometimes tend to be associated with the visual
ear is the avenue of the spirit, while the eye is duped by mere seeming. What
he means about the ear he demonstrates in sentences that skim and dance across
arrived in theaters on waves of critical admiration, and moviegoers
from these experiences deeply perplexed: wondering, perhaps, how the reviewers
review of Boogie Nights prepared me for what a patchy, tedious film it
group is tied together by a desire to resist the strictures of studio
filmmaking and to advertise that resistance to a discerning audience. So
instead of uplifting stories we get studiously downbeat ones; instead of good
vs. evil we get calculated ambiguity; instead of violence as plot device we get
violence as happenstance; and instead of a corporate worldview we get
that these movies are destructive, that they enjoy degradation. I think he's
death. No less offensive, however, is the automatic presumption of quality in
work that defines itself merely by its choice of subject matter and mannerism.
celebrated as a poetic chronicler of subcultures. Meanwhile,
Advocate --are picked apart by highbrow critics, even by those who admitted
poseurs. But what does that species have in common with the almost universally
in the best sense, avoiding both mainstream studio practices and the indie
mentality that mindlessly reacts against them. And yet something is not
tremendous gift for character. They can write a role, and find an actor for it,
amiable stoner who is drawn into a Big Sleep -inspired kidnap scheme.
What these characters have in common is an instantly plausible blend of
kind, but he also shows pleasing eccentricities, such as an eye for interior
decor. ("That rug really tied the room together," he says, after one of the bad
long as they are simply chatting together at the bowling alley, the film is
owed to a porn impresario. I won't describe it in more detail because it
crumbles to nothing long before the end. Careless plotting first cropped up in
lose track not only of plot devices but of whole characters, who come and go
convicted pedophile in Spandex. He is an amazing creation, but he has no
over, they have imposed an artificial resolution on a sequence of brilliant
seemingly ordinary insurance salesman (Goodman again) who makes strange noises
climax only by having one thug kill another in a giant geyser of blood. In
inability to wrap things up. Anyone who's tried to write a screenplay knows the
difficulty of writing a climax. The process is always artificial. The art is in
enormously talented filmmakers show a moral failing in the sense that
have reached a stage where they no longer question their ideas or flesh them
out. You can catch them in the act, as it were, by comparing a shooting script
with the final product. I have such a script for Barton 
(The "shooting script" is the script as it stands before filming begins; the
script that you can buy in book form is a "continuity script," which has been
edited to match the film.) The degree to which the shooting script matches the
film is astonishing. Page after page has been shot word for word. This,
needless to say, is unusual; even directors who write their own scripts very
hesitations ("uh," "er"). If the script were airtight, such faithfulness to
able to make further artistic advances if they shackled themselves to the evil
are too many marginal characters. They might also profit from filming others'
scripts. But the hype that greeted Blood Simple appears to have
convinced them that they are sufficient unto themselves. They've reserved an
story about your childhood, the horses in the river.
thoughts, the flashes of what's going through my life, the whole family history
about real life, that's more important than writing something fanciful.
writer, from early poems like "Mowing" and on through the disturbances of "The
Hill Wife." The sensuality of "To Earthward" is acted out by its reaching,
lingering, abrupt, or stretched sentences as they tease and cavort with rhyme
and line ending. The poem is the best lesson I know in what a line of verse is:
Read it aloud, letting your voice continue past the line ending, when that is
thought would take the casualness out of killing. He lingered on it, slowed it
Nothing in the movie's melodramatic narrative can diminish the shocking
opening battle might be the most visceral ever put on film. After a solemn but
the surf, pitching, as young men pray and vomit. They've barely beached before
blown through. We don't see the enemy machine guns or rifles, but we hear the
pops and the ceaseless whine of bullets, and we watch the men as their chests
and heads explode. Some drop underwater, but still the bullets come in near
silence, producing squalls of blood; above the water, the din resumes with a
wildly left, then right. Color has been drained from the frame: The greens of
uniforms and browns of earth are muted, the sky rendered a neutral gray.
Against this monochromatic palette, the brackish blood leaps out of the screen.
That blood is everywhere. A helmet full of seawater turns out to be full of
sloshing gore; a soldier with a gushing arm socket picks up his severed limb
and staggers aimlessly; a man with his intestines on the outside wails through
a last, protracted hemorrhage. A soldier's helmet stops a bullet with a clank;
he removes it in wonder; his brains are then blown out.
half an hour, the horrors come one upon another, unaccompanied by music and
unrelieved by any point of view except that of the soldiers in the middle of
the slaughter. There are no objective, "establishing" shots and no possibility
for emotional distance. Nauseated, I fixed on Hanks because I knew the star
would survive until at least the last reel. But even that reassurance seemed
any direction. For the rest of the film's running time (nearly three hours,
disorientation. He shoots battles so that we can't always see what's happening,
our vantage is frighteningly restricted, and the world of combat is reduced to
pure sensation. This isn't about "bravery" or "heroism" but getting from Point
abstract as its imagery, but at its best, early on, it feels
have been killed on the same day in separate battles. The seven men under
Miller's command are furious with what they see as a PR mission and a
misallocation of military resources; they can't believe they're risking their
lives to rescue one anonymous private. But we in the audience know that the
ripped apart by war. Freighted with such symbolism, the odyssey cannot help but
mounting drizzle, the life of a wounded, exposed soldier streaming out of his
body with the rainwater. The next assault is different, an attack on a concrete
squadron mates hysterically pressing the dying man for instructions on how to
stop his bleeding. It's no wonder that, later, the men go through piles of dog
personality dovetails movingly with his character's struggle to keep his
aura of futility, and the scenes between the skirmishes are similarly modern,
is insane. Here, orders from on high bring meaning, a glimpse of a more divine
not the war's heart of darkness but its heart of light.
"No one who experiences this scene will ever cheer for a war again." But when
off, I wrote "YES!!!!" And when a pair of Allied soldiers, fresh from
rather than take them prisoner, I didn't applaud the act, but I didn't feel
German must be taken prisoner or freed. It would be wrong to give away what
predictable and, morally speaking, takes the picture down a peg. Too bad.
mines amid the terrors of war. This is not, after all, where they live. It's
hard to recall a more chilling stretch in modern movies than the one before the
each man alone in the shared knowledge that this foreign music will likely be
by capture. The groom, aided by his warrior friend (the "best man"), kidnapped
the bride, holding her in his left hand, and fought off other prospective
mates, using his right hand. This is why the bride stands on the left in modern
civilizing force of this ancient ritual, transforming its anachronistic
fingertips, from the history of marriage to methods for entertaining your
guests at a shower and software that writes pithy wedding toasts. Once
your laptop to plan, pay for, or execute the Big Day.
of hyperlinks to timeless matrimony begins with Cupid's Network, which
will direct you to the perfect match (please specify ethnicity and religion).
Weddings are ideally suited to the Internet, since a Web
site can provide the unconditional love and attention that print media can't.
not just peddler but also town crier. There is no need to climb the bridge with
a bottle of spray paint to announce your matrimony, or to petition the society
interactive technology in broadcasting your undying love to the world. The
Weddings site links to the best pages, which include heartwarming stories
and statistical details, along with music and video.
consultants: "Beware of the use of the word 'I.' This means that she could
already be fantasizing that it is she who is the bride, not you." It also
Emergency Kit," whose 30-plus items include smelling salts, a small
flashlight, directions to the reception, and masking tape.
entertainment director of Central Park's most famous restaurant, Tavern on the
Green. ("Unlike the Eighties, everyone is getting back down to the real meaning
offers theme packages such as "Intergalactic," which "includes the use of the
Identity politics can sometimes substitute for geography
when it comes to breaking down the Web wedding industry into usable chunks.
ceremonies. Each urges you to shake free of the tired mainstream and embrace a
more spirited tradition. For those who wish to pursue this strategy to its
extreme, the Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Information site, a favorite of
entertainment (jousting, minstrels, etc.) to how to get hesitant guests into
the spirit ("the fathers discovered how much fun tights can be").
who tire of the entire process before the ceremony even takes place, wedding
Videos -type pages devoted to accounts of actual wedding mishaps
(the comatose bride, Grandpa and the topless dancer, and so on). Best of all is
fashions. "This bride has been hermetically sealed for your protection" and "Run! Run! It
landed on your butt!" should conjure up some of the images.
For arcane legal reasons, the actual ceremony must take
place offline. Still, when problems crop up after the wedding, you can go to
not very happy.") There remains the possibility that these methods will not
yield lifelong bliss. Should such a fate befall you, there's always Divorce Online.
misdirected us, and so we came By a long route, which took us through a
Primary Colors is the most massive cinematic harpoon ever buried in the
novel's more scandalous episodes (such as the future first lady jumping into
bumptious clown show and the voters into gullible dummies. The film is an
outrage is how smug and empty of insight it is, and how rhapsodic its reviews
may be fast, but it ain't cheap. It's actually a crackerjack piece of work, its
first half sweeping you up in the momentum of a national campaign, its prose
imparting a buzz. Then, as the sordidness and opportunism of the candidate and
scene, in which the ingenuous black narrator, Henry Burton, marvels at the way
listens intently to the members of an urban literacy group, grasps their hands,
recounts the experiences of his own poor family, and leaves them feeling heard,
librarian who runs the program is troublesome but almost fitting: The tryst is
another kind of conquest, another way to make his audience feel special.
sincerely lying. I think that he has fully justified to himself what
he's saying, and his certainty radiates out and envelops his listeners. After
president of my lifetime. A master at projecting mastery, he's even physically
sake of moving its audience. Previous administrations have featured mostly
he's an unbelievable human being. Sprawled on his motel bed watching the end of
whole character: He's always staring into the distance, scanning the horizon
instinctive actors in movies today, but no one who has met him would describe
him as a "brain." Not being an intellectual is not necessarily a hindrance to
give a credible account of a person thinking. (Thinking in character is more
brow, but he's not thinking. He does a surprisingly skillful nightclub
phrase has ever caught as hilariously that combination of prodigious
a man who hungers for minutiae, who can toss off reams of data like some
Star Trek techie officer and make it even more theatrically compelling.
would never carry on in public in front of perfect strangers.) The performance
familiar rancid hick act. He's fun to watch, but he's not the performer
as a titanic operator, a barker whose appetite for politics is mesmerizing to
man is too slick, too in control of what he does to let real life bleed
as these actors are, they never transcend the limited conception of their
candidate's wife, the way you'd take off your hat for a lady; it doesn't matter
rotten I think Primary Colors is. Adjectives like "glib," "coarse," and
"sour" don't fully do it. I found it so oppressively smug that I had to get up
duty bound to stick it out. It's hard to believe that this movie has received
already got rave reviews, and audiences could conceivably respond to it, too:
a Tangled Web We Weave"), was spotted last week by several reporters. It linked
News reported, "Web page gives insight to intern." The paper quoted lines
before acknowledging that it "could have been a hoax. Of course, the whole
from reality she becomes. She's been transformed into a prototypical lovesick
betrayed friend and, most recently, a deranged hussy. Each "identity" is fully
accounts and reflect upon them in a deeply silly manner.
she hasn't been, she wants to start. Notice the chick to the right with the
expression as he moves off through the crowd: "The girl is obviously out of her
young and were taken advantage of as far as I see it. I know you will do the
right thing. I know you fear for your safety but be brave and do the right
Slightly Clueless Betrayed Friend: The fan club, whose support is
records a "friend" without them knowing it? What if this "friend" then uses
these tapes to put you in the international spotlight, facing federal criminal
charges, as well as ensuring your place in the history books as the penultimate
traipsing through New York right now, enjoying many misadventures, like a
of good links about the affair and a message board, too, though on last visit,
it was no longer available. It will no doubt return soon.
Deranged Hussy: Messages posted to the "Fan Club" span
bit BIMBO. She's a liar, has lied her whole life and will lie to her grave.
on the scandal can be found in any number of newsgroups and sites. Zipper Gate is one
place to go for some even cruder entries. At the "I Love
nude layout for Penthouse. See, it's all I have. IT'S ALL I HAVE!!!! I have
and the Internet. None of us would want judgments formed about our character on
papers, personal letters, or other artifacts put on the Web by "friends" or
foes, but don't dismiss this possibility. Meanwhile, the site that has claimed
"naked photos." Oh, and if you inadvertently type ".com" after White House
instead of ".gov," you'll find a very different sort of establishment. It's not
we hereby invite you to use City Auction." "Need money to pay for your lawyer? We
hotly contested. The Ate My Balls "joke," however, is not an original concept.
premise that a famous person or character has eaten balls or likes to eat them.
Generally, there are photos and captions to this effect. Yahoo has helpfully
manipulates her mouth. It also lets you stimulate the "president's
penis" with your mouse, producing predictable results.
reflect a grassroots campaign of unwavering support. There's something about
raising of serious expectations. But we might have hoped for a little
turn to the Web in the middle of the night and find herself becoming a hip
cultural icon. At latest search, though, her generation has let her down.
that snakes down corridors, winds around corners, slithers up and down stairs,
device. Kaboom? No. Out comes a tiny flag with a sign reading, "Bang!" So goes
way up to that dud of a climax. The preview audience left muttering darkly, and
breathlessly on a chalkboard in Good Will Hunting --that's the way De
doesn't always give an audience that ultimate, explosive charge.
heavyweight championship fight. Sporting a loud orange rayon jacket with a
blood begins to gush from the secretary of Defense's throat.
sequence he provides in the next hour: the fight, which a video replay suggests
was "thrown"; the secretary's barely heard conversation with a blond
the comings and goings of a mysterious woman with red hair and lots of cleavage
and a wild man with a radio earpiece who shouts at the champ that he's going
unhinged he becomes at the prospect of having to be a hero.
The arena is attached to a hotel and casino, and outside rages a hurricane
(Jezebel) that keeps the cast of characters indoors. This gives the movie an
oppressive, the images shot a little too close, the camera angles skewed to
table, and disappeared with him into his room. The villain knows she's on the
as he moves from door to door, listening for her voice. The director cuts to
Cage, riding up in an elevator, talking to a buddy in security. The buddy is
screening a videotape of the fat man at the gaming table and zeroing in on the
guy's wallet, trying to read his name, so that he can call the desk and find
out the man's room number and tell Cage so that Cage can get there before the
villain gets there. Now it's back to the villain, who stands outside another
camera begins to move, gazing down at the bad guy in the corridor and then the
inside of the room he's in front of (a couple is fooling around) and then the
time bomb: The fat man expects sex, the girl doesn't want to give it to him,
and he's trying to throw her out despite her protests that her life is in
corridor, converging on the room where the increasingly frantic girl is being
the screen and present you with two tumultuous frames instead of one. The
then some, humanizing the film with his trademark goofy exuberance. Betrayed,
humiliated, beaten to a pulp, he limps along a snakelike corridor toward that
membranes you [could] clearly discern the already perfect reptile." In other
Tramp. After Sly became a superstar, he seized creative control of his films
musculature loomed large. (In interviews, he said that his father remarked on
so casually because the film virtually brands it on his forehead. He is
discovered in a bar, playing a desultory game of pinball beside half a dozen
outside, unlocks a parking meter, and spills the coins all over the sidewalk.
where he once dreamed of being a cop, and then, swerving to avoid a deer,
plunges off the road into a tree, totaling his car and putting a huge gash on
telegraphs his impotence. It isn't just the paunch. It's the bleary, hangdog
demeanor; the watery eyes; the shambling gait; the passiveness that borders on
has done since Rocky --and is close, I suspect, to how the actor really
tries hard. It's formulaic, but it sticks to a classic Western formula instead
stops setting the scene. At the start, the camera glides over Manhattan into
always dreamed of living outside the metropolis itself, "where the shit
with a large population of cops, no minorities, and almost no crime.
of corruption, a pile of lies as high as the Palisades. Everything emanates
the car.) For some reason, Ray fears that his nephew will spill his guts to
Internal Affairs, so he takes radical (and, quite frankly, moronic) measures to
car went off the bridge, in the process mangling one ear and leaving himself
himself from spewing exposition. ("You saved the town beauty from drowning and
made yourself deaf in one ear so that you couldn't be a New York cop, and then
In the labyrinthine plot, everyone has something to hide.
Judgment Day --let the sheriff know he'd better turn his deaf ear on Ray's
stared down by everyone in the large cast, while we wait for him to awaken from
would never have accepted the role. Of course, the formula dictates that all
his allies must abandon him so he can march down the street, wielding a
shotgun, bleeding but with the iron back in his spine, to prove to those city
cops what he's really made of. "Everybody in this town," he says, "is gonna
film moves in such a leisurely fashion, with lots of talk, there's plenty of
doing their damnedest to legitimize the movie and its wayward star. Under a
weird performance. "I look at you, sheriff," he says, "and I see a man who's
could take you blindfolded, both hands tied behind my back," he seems to say,
didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about, but was charmed by his
fervor. The scrambled space opera The Fifth Element has all the fervor
"When the three planets are in eclipse, the black hole opens and Evil comes,"
Suddenly, an enormous black shadow passes over the desert, and large rubber
tortoises with small bird heads emerge from a spaceship shaped like a large
rubber tortoise foot and kill the archaeologist. Then it appears that the large
rubber tortoises are good guys, and perhaps didn't mean to kill him. One of
cave, an event of great, if puzzling, significance. Three hundred years later,
a big black ball spitting fire heads for Earth. Dispatched to do a thermal
Holm) who happens to be in the room announces that the ball is the Evil
a ship full of large rubber hippos. Fortunately, someone has the sense to clone
may or may not be the worst movie ever made, but it is one of the most
unhinged. Much of its running time revolves around Retrieving the Stones. I had
no idea what the Stones were, but it eventually turned out that they represent
the Four Elements, and that the rubber tortoises, before being shot down, had
for his billet to be stamped before he could fly off to destroy the
notions of logic, coherence, or consistency. The Fifth Element
alternates between high solemnity and low buffoonery, without for a second
finding the ideal middle ground. One moment, creatures are blowing one another
away in gun battles that have all the suspense and emotional weight of
over whether this vicious world is really worth preserving. At such times, that
urchin's face atop a willowy body, that's a strange fusion of both. As a
Supreme Being, one of the most powerful forces in the universe, she spends much
awesome responsibility falls to convince her that humans are capable of giving
study his performance, which is neither serious nor facetious but
in major cities around the country. In it, an aging, exhausted New Wave
to him a bit later than it does to his savvy cast and crew.
off into cinematic flights that leave The Fifth Element (which cost
coiling around her like a boa and hovering breathlessly over her shoulder as
she snatches a necklace from another guest's room, then regards it on the
like a clear pool next to their rather pinched visages. The ingenue, the
straight man, she is lithe and funny in her own right. She listens politely to
and does her job with a minimum of fuss. You wouldn't spend hours discussing
complains, "have too much decoration, too much money"; French films are
should turn out to be a kind of cultural touchstone for many people is likely
to be mysterious to the many people for whom it is not a cultural touchstone.
It's tempting to assume that its appeal, like the appeal of most popular
entertainment, is simply a function of how old you were when you were first
exposed to it. Fourteen seems to be the age of prime vulnerability for these
effects, so that even people who know the story by heart are happy to plunk
characters, basic elements of universal human nature, etc. This argument
probably needs to be parsed into two elements. The original Star Wars
of them best sellers), and a number of other licensed products, to the total
occupies a substantial amount of turf in the popular culture. Everyone in
elements, so to speak, of mythic material. The movie reminds you of dozens of
and so on. The basic template seems to be an amalgam of The Wizard of Oz
is dismembered by the Sand People is completely appropriated from the scene in
which the Scarecrow is dismembered by flying monkeys in The Wizard of
in almost every conceivable outlet. And when you start seeing, even before the
movie opens, detailed press accounts of the process by which the new
that the publicity wheels have already been turning on this one for a very long
phenomenon usually isn't the what or the how. It's the when. Before everything
probably soulless species, just as apes once became humans by the invention of
have to be like. It was all in keeping with the general pop imagery of computer
is what popular entertainment becomes when people have made too much money from
it). And it associated technology with fun and adventure. The movie didn't just
suggest that people who fly around in spaceships will be just as swashbuckling,
The movie coincided with a complete makeover in the late 1970s of the imagery
of advanced technology, the most notable examples of which were the emergence
technocratic efficiency, these images said. They're interactive and fun; anyone
can use them (even the Tramp); and they should be associated not with the idea
of labor, but with the idea of play. The computer is the toy that will keep us
The digital age that has now arrived is almost exactly in the image that
Star Wars prophesied, so that celebrating the movie is a way of honoring
its prescience. (If the digital age seemed soulless and technocratic, we would
homes when they stopped being thought of as needlessly expensive and vaguely
inhuman ways to balance your checkbook, and started being sold as devices for
your kids to play "educational" games on. And a computer network devised on the
become a play land for ordinary citizens with modems. High tech is now
associated with creativity, democracy, and spending more time with your kids.
Wars that the movies changed, and not for the better. In making the digital
eruptions. The sensual essence of the movies used to be the human face; now
it's just light and sound. The real world has become a blue screen, and the
virtual noise of the amazing virtual tornadoes was so deafening that there were
long stretches in which, although the characters were apparently shouting at
one another at the top of their lungs, no dialogue was audible. If you listened
very carefully, though, you realized that there actually was no dialogue; the
actors were obviously aware that their voices were not going to be heard. So
they were just repeating the same line over and over in every tornado scene.
"Come on!" they kept yelling. "Let's get out of here!" The impulse was
Here, amid the seemingly aimless hubbub, the muddy narrative, the loose
featured in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has never been
precise moment that I was declaring (really revisiting) my reverence for the
great director, the elderly couple sitting next to me was grumbling:
framing is the least insistent of any major director, which is especially
radical in a genre where audiences are accustomed to having their gaze
directed. The actors seem caught on the fly; they give performances that don't
doffs her duds at the first opportunity and promptly has the hapless attorney
sensibly reticent demeanor. In one stroke, this underrated actress takes
into an open manhole and our lives would not be appreciably poorer. But
filmmakers alive. Through his camera, the external world becomes transfigured
art world of the '80s and given a rock 'n' roll backbeat, is fluid and lyrical
seen all the previous adaptations, yet I didn't for an instant yearn for
erupts from the water and forces him to bring food and drink and a tool for
terror, with its cocked frames, its sharp reeds standing out from the deep
as ever, is inhumanly gorgeous, like some Close Encounters of the Third
Kind creature, with that elongated neck and those stringy limbs, that big
face with its faintly mocking beatitude. I can't decide if the woman is an
actress, since she's able to get by so easily without doing all that much.
stature. When an anonymous benefactor provides him with the means to travel to
it thoroughly obviates the dramatic arc that's the whole point of Dickens'
comes to an end, suddenly smaller than the sum of its parts.
their weapons on the producers. On the evidence of The Replacement
nothing of the rock 'n' roll bad boy that put him on the map. He's likable, but
he only comes alive with a gun in each hand, spinning round and round, firing
before it or more likely he didn't care, opening up with his pistol,
that voice I was always afraid existed within us, the voice that knows
irrevocability of death, beyond any dream of being not mortally injured--
asleep, someone will save you, you'll wake again, loved ones beside you.
by the flaws in the tape it was a voice that knew it was dying,
pleading, such overwhelmed, untempered pity for the self dying;
for justice, only woe, woe, woe, as he felt himself falling,
already he was dead, and how much I pray to myself I want not, ever,
want to ask again why I must, with such perfect, detailed precision,
this agony for a departing self wishing only to stay, to endure,
that, having known, I always will know this torn, singular voice
as it sinks back through the darkness it came from, cancelled, annulled.
want to orient you. I want you to see the film as I did, with no expectations
Confidential is that rare mainstream cop thriller that refuses to telegraph
you how to feel about its protagonists. So log off, see the movie, and come
labyrinthine crime novel, one of the few from the last decade that doesn't feel
as if it was written expressly to be filmed. The story isn't entirely fresh.
In part, he does it with casting: Of the triptych of
but he has almost no scruples; he's an unabashed fame whore.
Spacey is disconcertingly breezy. The actor has been chewing the scenery for so
him. Better yet, he brings off the burgeoning of Jack's conscience with
exceptional subtlety, beginning with the man's embarrassment at shaking hands
at a party with a dupe he once collared and ending with his horror at a slaying
he has inadvertently abetted. Still, he's too opaque to serve as a moral
off with gun cocked the instant he hears of a damsel in distress. He doesn't
think twice about blasting a crater in an ostensibly guilty suspect, planting a
takes no bribes, vows never to plant evidence or to shoot hardened criminals
silence" when police are caught beating the hell out of a group of Latino
snooty righteousness is tinged with opportunism: He's willing to make deals
the fun comes from finally learning which piece fits where.
have to absorb you with the force of their storytelling. The film opens with
them, too. The detectives pose for flashbulb pictures beside handcuffed
and women dreaming of fame arrive on the bus to be instantly victimized by the
resemble Veronica Lake, is a tad moist, but the actors' physical rapport is
sensational. You can believe that White would open himself up to this
picture is too long, and not exactly winged. But just when you start to get
there's a shocker that blows you into the movie's last act, and then a scene in
which a couple of former antagonists figure out what stinks and join forces in
an abandoned motel to stave off an army of bad guys. It's a virtuoso shootout,
of body parts. Bullets explode in shards of glass and light, bringing death in
minutes. Bob's brow was furrowed; his jaw was tense. A cold front, he warned,
"building in the Southeast" and would shoot a "blast of warm air" up the
weather forecasters like to say that the United States has the most exciting
floods, and the occasional plague of locusts for good measure. I don't know if
the United States does have the most exciting weather, but it certainly has the
is still an epic, a story of God's war with man. Hot and cold air masses
"clash," storms "strike," and sweeping "fronts" ravage the nation. The forecast
malevolent Arctic god were coming to exact revenge for the sins of
Weather, in short, is a crackling good story, infused with
conversations, and an entire cable channel. So imagine my excitement when I
stumbled upon the Web weather industry. Here was a world of
about all this Web weather: The Web doesn't have any weather (unless you count
the hot air that envelops most newsgroups). In fact, you could argue that the
entire point of cyberspace is to have no weather, to liberate us from
the mundane and inconvenient physical world. But the Web will have
Web weather technology is as sophisticated as it gets. The sites make
television's Weather Channel look amateurish (or rather, even more amateurish
than it already looks). All the sites are constantly updated. You never have to
wait for a forecast. The sites are both easy to navigate and comprehensive. On
animations. You like satellite photos? The Web lets you download current
satellite images of any corner of the earth. (On several sites, you can string
together the last few hours of satellite photos into a cloud movie.) Are you
Many will let you monitor earthquake activity, ozone levels, humidity, and
reminiscent of sports Web sites, which also draw from a single well of data.)
important weather in the world: mine. When the password works (which is
my current weather conditions (actually National Airport's); and a radar
exactly the same information available on all the other Web weather sites, but
point, I am supposed to pause to pay homage to the miraculous Internet. Web
weather, I should say, displays all the medium's virtues: Efficiency!
thought was impossible: They make weather boring. Following weather on the Web
is like following baseball by reading scorecards. The weather forecast is more
than "rain." You must also hear the story of the rain. Where is it coming from?
rain is it? When it will arrive? Will the Jet Stream protect us from it? Is it
depressing. We no longer make common cause against the weather god. Now I have
Fortunately, not all Web weather is such a drag. Commercial
sites comprise only a fraction of online meteorology. Just as it has for New
also given birth to a community of weather fanatics. Granted, theirs is a most
shop at even more specialized groups, such as one on Northeastern weather
meteorological gizmos. (Favorite gizmo: the weather
radio, which is tuned permanently to National Weather Service broadcasts.)
You can plan a weather holiday on the Web: At least two outfits, including
watched Twister too many times, these "vacations" consist of spending
filming the skies in other cities. Weather games, weather videos, weather
identity politics: "Women in Weather" profiles female meteorologists and hosts
discussions about topics female and meteorological ("We're both meteorologists
It may be the disaster sites that best capture the spirit
of the weather Web. Dozens and dozens of sites, such as Eye on the
ships, downed trees, and shattered houses. These sites are, I think, the
meteorological equivalent of snuff films. They prove that even when all you
care about is weather, the Web still has plenty of dirty pictures to show
and my father was reading The New Republic --concentrating, with his
for more living, as my father went on reading for truth in his shirt dark pink
actually, yes, about a million things (car chases, ocean liners taking on
transcendentally beautiful cinema I have ever seen.
to one of the dozen greatest novels written after World War I. It's almost
with point of view slipped like a baton from one character to the next. How do
musical in its ebb and flow that it might lend itself best to a chamber opera,
Line (1995)--doesn't get all the notes right, but at least she gets that
there ought to be notes: that the work is fundamentally musical, and that the
that evening, exchanging formal pleasantries with various aristocrats, and
moving in and out of her memories. We move with her, back before the war, as
where she will be safest. The very title of the work is tinged with regret,
not stronger, weight to her inchoate romantic feelings for the vivacious
the misfortune of witnessing a buddy being blown to bits in front of his eyes.
more impressionistic, even if such doodling had come at the expense of a
done almost too smooth a job of translating its characters'
to have left some bleeding fragments. If ever a project called for a
unwritten, secure in the knowledge that he or she would, as director, fill it
back and forth several times in a single scene, she aims for a melting
view come off as fancy but not especially resonant. When the camera lingers on
Graves who suffers most from the lack of imagination. The traumatized,
so much for what he remembers as for how his remembrances color the present and
literary conceit, and only in his fleeting moments of sanity does Graves
too forceful. All of which means, of course, diddly squat. It barely matters
that the book's characters have been aged from their 40s to their 60s to
accommodate her, because what else do you do when you have a shot at casting
quivering string. Pity the poor actress who has to embody her earlier self.
so much unformed as opaque. There's a thin line between period acting and
about the young man whose tragic fate she heard tell of from one of her
housing projects by the troubled shores of Coney Island, where otherwise
The young gods swivel, unwind, suspend themselves in air, the orange orb that
spins from their fingers as splendid for an instant as the sun, until it
on the soundtrack of a Spike Lee movie! The opening montage of He Got
enterprising director: Basketball, not baseball, is the pastime of the nation
Lee inhabits. And He Got Game is poised to be Lee's Great
turbulence of the present, the messianic longings of the future.
ambition, dynamism, visual energy, bullshit. I confess: I come to a Spike Lee
"joint" with suspicion, prepared to fight off the propaganda, to sort through
the messages and scrutinize the codes. The hope is always there, though, that
Lee will transcend his anger and egotism and paranoia and make a film that
content and the auteur upstages his own work. It's a testament to Lee's talent
that, hobbled as he is by a chip on his shoulder the size of a planet and
The picture has one of the oldest pulp plots in the
business, last used to rousing effect in John Carpenter's Escape From New
untrustworthy government in return for accomplishing a morally ambiguous task
that no one else can do, given a strict deadline, and ruthlessly monitored by
a letter of intent that he'll enroll in Big State University, the state
currently under siege by coaches, agents, and their unsavory minions, all of
whom proffer money, cars, sex, and sundry other illegal inducements to sign
with their colleges or professional teams. More of an obstacle still is the
relationship between father and son, which has been poisoned by the death of
the young man's mother under circumstances that Lee keeps cunningly under wraps
cinematic placards, exhortations, lectures about staying in school (in the form
depicting the evils of drugs and alcohol. The characters are photographed
example. Lee, who has started his own advertising firm and is noted for his
built in all kinds of protections against charges of racism and misogyny. A
mob ties and that he resents being stereotyped, shortly before delivering a
the young star, gets a monologue near the end in which she justifies her
actions on socioeconomic grounds. And, as a counterpoint to all the luscious,
casting, made to look like a near albino) who's exploited and knocked around by
been made by a white director he'd have been cited (most likely by Lee) as a
flagrant racist outrage. As on a basketball, the seams of the movie show.
Crouch (who gleefully refers to Lee as "the diminutive director") has pointed
a lightweight who strives to make an unwieldy epic called O Brother, Where
Spring," and "Fanfare for the Common Man" too transparently pump up the
sport and his intimacy with its nuances. Spike knows basketball. He filmed in
panoramic but more grounded portrait of the game's meaning to the denizens of
gum up the realities of the game. On the contrary, the metaphor intensifies the
action on the court, which can seem kinetic to the point of spontaneous
combustion, as pressure to perform tears families up and turns black man
against black man. If, on occasion, Lee's serpentine camera seems more active
than the players he's shooting, he knows just when to speed the play up, when
to slow it down, and when to let it unfold in real time. And he gets a charming
grace and diffidence. The "diminutive director" never evinces more stature than
earlier screening was ending, and out came one woman after another with tears
streaming down her face or eyes bloodshot from weeping. "I cried during the
first scene and never stopped crying," said one to another, then joined the
long line for the ladies' room. Later, watching the movie, I found myself
nearly sobbing, too, except from boredom. One True Thing isn't a
much inert. But my benumbed responses don't account for all those weepers
leaving the theater or for the snuffling and nose blowing I heard during my own
screening. No, the movie's themes are enormously resonant, which makes its
middling college who maintains that he's too busy to tend to his wife. In the
mother's mercy killing and only then manages to remove herself, with
touches, and Franklin goes for cheap laughs with shots of burning chicken
her expertise. That could have been the core of the picture, right there, and
only for mothers and daughters instead of fathers and sons. That earlier work,
impossibly fraudulent on every level, dramatized the ways in which baby
boomers, who came of age with the counterculture, rejected their daddies along
with their daddies' conservative values, only to be left with an emptiness
filled only by, gulp, a supernatural baseball game. One True Thing
doesn't employ fantasy (at least not overtly) but tries to stir similar regrets
about the feminist dismissal of housewives: You moved to New York and the
heartless magazine world, you dressed in black, you rejected Mom. But look how
you barely knew her! How she held your home together! Look at how it was
doing things but never really registering. Employing an accent that's straight
ostentatiously industrious that it's hard to imagine anyone not noticing (or
scrutinize for hints of a larger awareness, but I found it hard to look at
paradoxically easier to watch (she does less), and she hits some convincing
notes of pain. But when she finds her tongue and protests the injustices of
literature, in which "clever" girls are always depicted as superior to merely
"good" ones, she's pathetically unconvincing. The dots remain unconnected. As
thoughts, but the character's groggy pretentiousness and the actor's merge
from the start that it's a wonder he could ever have fooled anyone.
leisurely pacing and attention to place, especially in the lovingly coordinated
(flowers, flowered wallpaper, chintz) family homestead. What he doesn't provide
district attorney about the circumstances of her mother's death, but the
framing device doesn't generate any suspense, and the linking scenes are so
clumsily overwritten that the woman might be talking to her therapist.
because of anything she does but because she's the only major player who seems
and in the same year's superb, largely overlooked drama The Whole Wide
disparate characters not through epidemic tics but in how she reacts to the
time to look back on our own lives and loved ones and to think about the people
whose labors we didn't register until they were gone. One True Thing
commercials do that, too, and they get the same point across in under a
aloud if you can ever go home again, especially when your success, like his
own, has transformed that home from something authentically tacky into
collectors, Pecker finds his haunts suddenly withering under the attention, his
something disappointing about a John Waters film that's so evenhanded and
everyone's in on the joke, but he doesn't seem to want (or to be able) to step
outside the camp aesthetic and play anything "straight." There's nothing in
can be trying when the script isn't good, but he's a great foil for
their way. Of course, the pair ends up in the middle of every conflagration.
they tumble from their pedestals. As he demonstrates in picture after picture,
features, the kind that mold and remold themselves according to their
eyes that give away little; then, swamped by feeling, those features wiggle and
in the film audience such disparate responses: He's magnificent, he's
dangerously crazy, he's magnificent and he's dangerously crazy.
to distract people from the fact that he has also written and directed a
briefly at the end of last year to qualify for various awards; it goes into
for letting events play out at their own sweet speed. And if, as an actor,
soberly in focus, so that we're simultaneously swept up in Sonny's good while
recoiling from his evil, agog at his purity while giggling at the
where the restless child is mesmerized by a gospel preacher. In no time, the
into the window, places his hand on the shoulder of a young man with gelid eyes
He says that there are angels in the car, that the young man has nothing to
manages to thank him. We never learn if he or the woman in the car with him
survive (We see her stir), but we know that Sonny's prayers have got through to
them. And we believe Sonny when he says, almost laughing in amazement at his
frequently the news that Sonny makes is of the tabloid variety. Thanks in part
out of the Fort Worth church that they founded together, something ruptures:
Unable to comprehend his banishment, Sonny spends days and nights in his mama's
retired black preacher whose fervor once generated several heart attacks and
he trusts that the former will soon make that plain; in the meantime, he sets
do some shouting in here." He checks out the space the way a jazz musician
checks out a nightclub in which he's about to perform. The Apostle's preachings
(one can hardly call them "sermons") are marvelous production numbers,
couldn't take my eyes off him or stop myself from nodding when his congregants
belief can reinforce and even galvanize each other, the former driving the
arrow pointing skyward and the words "One Way Road to Heaven.") "Holy Ghost
dramatic tradition (which can be discerned in works as various as The Iceman
one based on uncertain premises and fueled by an impure source, can give life,
the way a placebo can be an authentic remedy if it empowers the body to heal
spirits soar this high? And who's to say he's a villain if he doesn't violate
the trust that his parishioners have placed in him?
doesn't seem to have nefarious political aims; he simply wants to create a warm
and nurturing community with himself at the center. He spearheads food drives,
shows a hint of remorse for the crime he committed. And when he courts the
ways" and the concomitant jealousy that drove him to become a fugitive. He's
movie, I found myself simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by the
seemed to be sentimentalizing the gypsies; at others, he seemed to be rubbing
performances, down to the smallest congregant, could not be richer. And
infantile and of amazing stature. We wish we could be like him, and we thank
the genre: Can there be a middle ground between fiction and fact? Can a
documentary use scripted scenes and yet remain ontologically authentic? How
much can you stylize material before you alter the reality that you're
"directed" documentary of single life in the big city, employing, in the face
openings in the massive apartment houses in which they reside.
director selected his four subjects from many hundreds of potential candidates,
followed them around for months, and then scripted their monologues and
dialogues to reflect what he says he saw. Calling his own film "an exercise in
weeks ago in a small screening room in downtown Manhattan, where it proceeded
to set box office records and generate lots of (largely favorable) press. In
commentary ("I have to tell you that this film upset me so much that I really
near you. It's always nice to see distributors proved wrong about the merits of
"difficult" films, but in this case I think they did the decent thing.
show for the empathetically challenged. The outrage it has prompted isn't the
Puritan kind; it's more like legitimate revulsion at watching a blowhard
pervert people's lives in the name of "larger dramatic truths."
lonely guy who has been looking for a wife for almost two decades. If you were
to walk past him on the street, you might think that a man of his small stature
might have some trouble getting dates and be rather bitter about it. The larger
very bitter about it. Just in case you feel too sorry for him, however,
about young women who waste their lives hanging out with effeminate males.
dates, because the women he gets fixed up with are "mutts." Sounding like one
the '70s when he managed to sleep with three different beautiful women, whose
pictures he shows off. These days, all he meets are mutts. He comes off as a
bags of groceries and assorted junk foods. She cries about her situation to her
is followed by more talk about how you attract men. Will they respect you if
you call them back? If you express too much interest? "Or," the viewer thinks,
and is willing to charge for her sexual services. It shouldn't be too
a day"). They meet her and, a few minutes later, they show her their dicks.
Weird, huh? What Barker leaves out (it's in a New York Observer article)
for Barker's camera, jabbering about her body while she doffs her clothes and
might have crafted his subjects' monologues from their own words, but he has
thinking or trying to come to grips with their situations in front of your
eyes, because they already know what they're going to say: They've been fixed
like butterflies on the ends of pins and held up for voyeuristic inspection.
The scenes with friends and confidantes have a crude, programmatic purpose. You
can imagine the director composing a shot (the shots are tightly composed and
elaborately lighted) and reminding them, "In this scene she points out that you
go through with a marriage to an immigrant in search of a green card for
following her up the steps of City Hall in her wedding dress because it was
"true to her character." But what separates documentary from fiction is that
real people are often more complicated, and more conflicted, than finished
her parts. That's the kind of truth that reveals itself to documentary
filmmakers after the fact, when they go over footage and discover unexpected
patterns, dissonances, glimmers of a universe that's richer and messier than
dramatic truths"? Single people in big cities can be desperate. Single people
in turn, judge others by how they look. Big news. One could argue, charitably,
that the movie is meant to be prescriptive, that Barker intends for us to
regard the ways in which his subjects delude themselves and thereby learn to
dramatic structure that would hold those larger dramatic truths together
and help us comprehend where these people went wrong. He dramatizes right up to
Beds might make a good date movie. There's little to argue about in its
the picture the film paints of single life in the big city is so bleak that
you'll probably want to jump into bed with whoever is sitting next to you.
Anything to keep from turning into one of those people.
juxtapositions that was obviously sharpened by the pain of her nomadic
to be educated in the best schools. ("Furniture's temporary; education is
permanent.") It's a major omission, then, that we never see those schools or
We can't tell if the father is, on some weird level, justified in his fervor,
figured out how to shape her narrative, which is full of episodes that are
there because they actually happened but that don't have a payoff. I almost
that, as a filmmaker, she hasn't learned to bring out.
exceedingly easy on the eye, with lots of pretty girls and wry evocations of
'70s fashions and decor. The father, to obtain financial support from his
proceedings get too sentimental: The whimsy is always cut with an acidic
children, hopefully, before another crisis sends them back into their van,
summer blockbuster seasons past, these have turned out to be a pretty good few
for people woozy from all the warm weather escapism. Out of Sight was
And there's something reassuring about the fact that The Avengers is so
rotten: proof yet again that people with piles of money can hire wizard
private parts. The series was erotic in a way only prim English humor can be:
The Old Boy Steed was capable of throwing a punch and bonking someone with his
her attempts at insouciance are embarrassingly arch. As the eccentric master
beneath him! When he sputters lines like "Time to die!" one imagines Dr. No,
closest thing to a fetus is the adult woman who's tracking the aliens down.
go wrong, hugs her knees to her chest. She's been searching for signs of
extraterrestrial life ever since she was a little girl. Why? Because her mother
died in childbirth, and a few years later her father died of a heart attack.
Now, in her loneliness, she spends day and night listening for signals from
little green men. She knows that when she finds them, they'll be sweet and
loving and helpful, like the parents she never had.
Contact opens in much the same vein, with a series of calm, loving,
outer space, and one day, as she's sitting in the desert, her headphones pick
up a noise. Instantly, she knows it's aliens (the audience could be excused for
thinking it sounds like a garbage truck backing up). With remarkable speed, she
and her team figure out that the noise is actually a code, a blueprint for a
government casually comes up with half a trillion dollars to build it, and in
what seems like a weekend, a launching pad as big as a mountain is ready to
There's also a contest to see who'll get to fly the machine. Of course, by now
impatient to get to the magic; throughout the middle of this movie he simply
checks out, like the directorial equivalent of a deadbeat dad. This is
unfortunate, because in his negligence he has allowed into his film dialogue
falls far beneath the standards of your average corporate memo. Tearfully,
ridiculously named Palmer Joss, a former priest who is now the respected author
and fictional footage, he makes truly shameless use of two long clips from
strapped into a metal ball and hurtles through a tunnel of space. Instead of
down, and she has no idea why. She reaches out to touch the wall of the machine
and it ripples, the way the highway seems to flutter on a hot day. The scene is
grave, scary, and beautiful. It dawns on us that she's heading into something
completely unknown, something she can't even fully perceive. Also, that for the
lands on the alien planet, and the pat speechifying takes up where it left off.
I won't reveal the details of her encounter with the aliens except to say that
market research be to blame? Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out
adulthood and play. Contact comes out at a time when we're obsessed with
role models, and nurturing, and making sure our children grow up to be healthy,
responsible adults. Alas, this is not the premise of a great movie. When
Contact finally comes alive, it leaves you frightened and thrilled and
emotionally overwrought, as only a child can be. The rest is pandering.
dance lessons. Haven't we had enough of dance as therapy? Besides, it's stocked
surprises have little to do with the plot. They occur at random, whenever one
character discovers that another character has feelings. The accountant starts
dancing because he has a crush on his frail, beautiful teacher, and for much of
the movie we watch her through his longing eyes. But quite late in the day, she
emotionally accurate. Shall We Dance? isn't quite art, and it doesn't
qualify as mass entertainment either. But it's alert to its characters'
are consistently willing to pay for online (sports and stocks are among the
You may be able to find the same stuff as what's online at any decently stocked
porn shop, but to do so you have to go to that neighborhood, physically enter
that store, and then worry about what the clerk thinks of your interest in
dominant transvestites. Browsing at home, it's just you and your modem, and
"Nerve intends to be more graphic, forthright, and topical than
pornography encompasses all those hot 'n' hunky sites out there, and erotica is
that safe and boring territory of romance novels and scented candles, then
Nerve wants it both ways: rough sex and soft lighting, meaningful talk
You wonder why no one has ever tried this before. Go to
the high end. More typical are sites such as Pussy Vision and Blow Job of the
Day. Search for "erotica" (thousands of matches) and get sites such as Yellow
Reader called a "tasteful celebration of the sensuality of every day life."
editors of Nerve feel no need to be tasteful, God bless 'em. What you
find here are actual writers holding forth on subjects near and dear to their
hearts, and other organs; writing that generally seems to know the difference
between the precious and the precise. And they do it without sacrificing lust
especially revolutionary: There are seven distinct sections within the site,
gender, and relationships; "Pedantry" presents pieces by public figures such as
"Skin" is photos of flesh; "Threads" is occasionally interactive erotic
simply because it's Mailer) that he draws the line at child porn. (Everyone has
his limits.) Though the author of Advertisements for Myself has always
never the hippest cat in the pack (witness "The White Negro," his attempt to
grapple with the Beats, which proved the adage that those who had to ask what
remember reading it and thinking, I can't believe I just read those words,"
recalls Mailer. "I can't tell you the number of taboos it violated. First of
all, you weren't supposed to connect God with sex. Second of all, you never
spoke of the asshole, certainly not in relation to sex. If you did, you were
the lowest form of pervert. Third of all, there was obvious homosexuality in
the remark. In those days nobody was accustomed to seeing that in print. And
site does betray some expectations. "Skin," the photography area, is doubtless
heavily trafficked. The pictures are quick to download-- Nerve is very
user friendly: good navigation, great design, and an intelligent use of icons.
slightly disturbing: New Yorkers (who answered an ad in the Village
by dildos of towering dimensions; an actress being eaten out while the director
casually talks to her about the scene. "Once I got focused on their underlying
sex. The attitude seems more carnivorous and unapologetic: We need sex, let's
Had One? (surprise! most women would have sex with themselves), has a
Whether getting laid consistently or not, people need hugs.) For the most part,
see if Nerve can keep it up. The editors seem to know good writing when
Carver's hilarious essay on the differences between "sensualists" and
"Sensualists have sex without orgasm on purpose," she writes of all those
name his favorite political party and you might be surprised. Instead of Labor,
official party with candidates and a Web site. The only problem is that, just
because the Loony Webmaster fell ill. In recent days, all you'd find at The
promise the site will be "back online very shortly."
political eyes of the world turn to watch whether the heavily favored, Bill
Conservatives and their stiff Prime Minister John Major, some snazzy Web sites
While the proportion of Brits with Internet access is much
voters. They are eager to participate in online forums, such as the one on
"was more revealing for what it left out. It didn't say that in six weeks they
their approach to the questions." (Perhaps, suggested another, that's because
are cast for the individual candidate, not the party. Perhaps as a result, the
sites maintained by the United Kingdom's major parties tend to be far more
rundowns of the players, backgrounders on salient issues, events calendars,
chat groups, and a wrap up of current betting odds, allows you to build your
own "party manifesto." The site will then compare your choices on the issues
with those of the various parties (also displayed) and tell you which comes
closest to what you want. Or you can play the games of "Trivial Politics" and
spread throughout the country and where the critical districts lie. It also
provides an extensive set of links to other political sites, including those
night, these were a relatively small part of their Web sites, let alone their
heavily to make their election sites the main focus of their overall Web sites.
is adding five people to its 10-person Web operation, plans to provide live
presidential election in which the Internet would make a significant
showed one in nine voters claimed the Internet "influenced" the way they voted.
And on election night, television networks saw their ratings drop while
pundits, experts, and consultants have been predicting that the Internet will
tools and techniques, many might think so. There is, however, one thing for
enthusiastic users. Some sites will crash. There will be delays in getting
her unborn child. It wasn't that either of the two plot strands (the end of
baby) broke new ground, only that the mixture raised modern and entertaining
questions: Why would this woman feel more comfortable raising a child with a
homosexual man than with a heterosexual one? Could two adults who love each
other but aren't in love with each other stay together under such
gropes honestly for some new design for living. He wins the reader over as much
crinkle up in fatuous happiness, and look moistly maternal. But that's about
throw out the old ways and invent some new ones, the scene has no urgency; she
risk enough to be phony. Actresses get attention for their hair when they don't
they hit each other with pillows (a common cinematic sign of a couple's
closeness but not necessarily accurate; as an experiment, I hit my wife with a
collection of stereotypes. Still, her stereotypes (in that play) brood
engagingly over whether their behavior is too stereotypical. For The Object
characters, but they add little that anyone other than a development executive
in the world." These two are intended as a foil for the nonjudgmental main
of his own affection drift into the arms of a younger man and delivering
an audience bond with a movie, however. Compare The Object of My
Brooks doesn't worry much about composing a frame or giving you a sense of
swell that takes a higher number, small and medium ships may be lost to view
wasn't 'painfully shy' but just the same I wouldn't be surprised if there had
he looked like a human filament: all dark, burning eyes that never seemed to
blink. His intensity was startling, but you couldn't be sure how to take him.
Always an actor of moods, his timing had become even more capricious. He didn't
speak his lines, he distended them: He never seemed to want to let them out of
Scent of a Woman (1992)--well, as the gangsters in his new film,
is always passed over for promotions within the "family." With his gold chains
uses all his blowhard insecurities, along with his patented air of electrified
stupor, to elicit from us an astounding degree of sympathy. Nothing Lefty says
The miracle of the film, which is based on a memoir by the
Partly this comes from the tension between the snappy, driving screenplay by
heartbreakingly vulnerable, even while he's blowing people's heads off. It's
sometimes hilarious, yet suffused with a sense of loss and riddled with the
kind of violence that makes you recoil and lean forward simultaneously.
relief from all the gore and gravitas, the scene made even more explicit the
movie's theme of "family," both real and extended. As nightmarish as the
taken under the wings of expansive father figures with few uncertainties about
knows that he's exploiting the older man's best, most fatherly instincts, and
it tears him up. Later, there's a tiny but significant moment when Lefty
revolves around families, except that they're now the source of guilt instead
resemblance to the gangster's own son, a junkie who keeps his distance. So
to convey to her husband what she's going through. She can't share his work or
know his daily (sometimes weekly) whereabouts, and you can see how the
about having abandoned his family for the years it took him to infiltrate the
mob, but he didn't lose as much sleep over what he was doing to his Mafia
family. That's the screenwriter's conceit. And the actual Lefty seems to have
social club, waiting for the boss, who emerges from a black sedan with a fat
cigar in his mouth. Most of the time, these shabby "soldiers" just sit around
and rack their (small) brains for new schemes, worried that if profits fall too
low, they're going to find themselves "clipped" or "whacked." They're like
like the ones in the social club and in the gangsters' homes have a real comic
chair in a red sweat suit, watching videotapes of gazelles being pounced on and
devoured by lions. (He longs to be the lion, but he ends up as the gazelle.) He
finally giving up with the stereo in a shambles and offering to buy another
signal fatalistic acceptance, doomed resignation, murderous rage, enthusiastic
agreement, or nothing in particular) in a speech that will live long in the
which is moving but also way too pat, there isn't a single element on which
his characters almost never have more than a single dimension at a time.
link between us and The Godfather --a gangster movie for a mingier, more
cynical era, when even doing good comes with a terrible cost, and where every
family tie is a snap of the wrist away from a garrote.
is how they hyped this new network and yet, I wonder: Surely, Bill Gates did
not want me going to a chiropractor. My eyes flicker between screens close and
this novice anyway) the intensity of operating a computer. "It's time to get
me is to write a question to the president, who is being interviewed by Tom
way, so I wasn't really going to get in on the action.) There are glitches.
Every time my browser goes to the page, it hits some sound file that belts out
vacation, and who occasionally tries to fall asleep by counting senators
come to love about the Web in the couple of months since I got on it. For me,
I would have gone anyway, only much more quickly. As a journalist often on the
the paper appears, the better to find out what my competitors have that I
came to my magazine the other day for an editorial lunch, I was able to prep up
Unfortunately, much of what is on the Web is diatribe or propaganda, foaming
with hate or boosterism, irrelevant either way. "There's this explosion of
especially valuable because they become, basically, reliable brand names in a
political news and know that it's quality journalism, as opposed to some guy
campaign opened their Web site earlier this summer, they treated it like a
major event, even bringing the vice president over to headquarters to tout the
site. "The mouse proves the elephant wrong," Gore said, sounding like
Web sites are rich in position papers and press releases and sound clips and
where you can pick up brochures. They are too biased to help you think clearly
about which candidate is better. Perhaps this will change. For the moment,
visceral thrill surfing over to various political organizations. A home page
may be a group's face to the world, but opening it still feels like getting to
an odd universal cheeriness to political Web sites, many of which I was guided
There is a strange moral equivalence to the sites, too. Each one pops up and
makes its claim, regardless of any relation to the truth. One can call up the
political sites can't replicate is the smell of politics, the feeling of being
from public service ads, standing behind Dole. I loved leafleting when I was in
a rally. But there are political meetings and activities in every neighborhood.
dead, but for the living. From the lonely widower who makes a weekly pilgrimage
which, with their rolling lawns and rows of stone slabs, offer a tangible
connection to souls departed. But now that the virtual seems tangible and
Virtual cemeteries are already here. They are neither
schlep over to Shady Acres. Like real cemeteries, most sites charge (starting
photo, a bio, and reminiscences about the person. Most also let you limit
access to those friends and family who know a private password. So you end up
after all, seems like the last place to fashion an intimate, solemn space, but
plots are more than a quick alternative to the graveside visit or a way to
introduce your dead friend to the rest of the world. They're a hotlink to
heaven, complete with interactive features: For example, some offer you the
ability to post messages to your dearly deceased. The Cemetery Gate,
"a peaceful, serene place where people come to remember their loved ones,"
hopes that "when you leave this place, you will be refreshed, have a new vigor
and be resolute in your desire to live your life with full measure." Some sites
appear on the screen in your beloved's honor. And when you visit a site on
That their patrons seem oblivious to outside Web traffic is
what makes the pages seem especially creepy. In contrast to the frenetic,
animated antics of most commercial sites, many virtual cemeteries front
willow tree or a sunset. Click on a name, and (chances are) you will encounter
messages addressed directly to a dead person, often remarkably
things, or providing updates on mutual friends. You feel as if you are
sites seem focused on higher purposes, like supernatural communication. People
are especially unabashed about reaching out to dead pets. The Virtual Pet Cemetery,
remember the telephone cords you used to eat, The funny way that you walked (so
characteristic of you, Would touch upon my heart as you meowed.
Memorial Garden (which doesn't charge to post a memorial) predicts that
virtual cemeteries will revolutionize our relationships with the dead. "Perhaps
electronic crypts as pages devoted to whole families are assembled." There is
already quite a community of the deceased developing on the Web. Many sites
cordon off special areas for victims of drunken driving, AIDS, or war. The
Cemetery also sorts out those who committed suicide or donated organs.
features a "Pantheon." Virtual cemeteries seem eager to play the role of
promoting private, spiritual reflection; and assuring immortality to
end, the Internet turns out to be a great resting place. Dead people don't seem
any more dead than anyone else in cyberspace, where everyone we connect
with is disembodied. Anonymous, infinite in its variety, and located somewhere
that appears both real and yet not quite of this world, cyberspace is not too
different from the places we imagine people go when they die. And with its easy
access and defiance of time and space, it is the perfect place for us to visit
Two of them return to the United States, leaving behind their idealistic
poachers. Two years later, the men who went home are informed of what happened
after they boarded the plane: Police discovered their leftover hashish
garbage as they were leaving) and imprisoned the remaining Yank. The quantity
of drugs dictated that he be tried as a dealer; the punishment for dealing in
at least three years under barbaric conditions, or let a good and decent man be
hanged. If only one of them returns, the sentence jumps to six years.
that revolve around moral choices often have an aura of sanctimoniousness built
into them: The audience is presented with the issue in the starkest blacks and
whites and waits for the blinkered protagonist to "do the right thing." The
approach is certainly dramatic, but it can also be too comfy, allowing you to
pat yourself on the back for being nobler than the people you're observing.
submit to an imprisonment that will be at best harrowing and at worst fatal. If
he doesn't have it in him, there's no drama. If he does, there's no drama,
either. So he sort of doesn't but maybe sort of does, and the picture hinges on
whether he'll come to his (moral) senses before his buddy gets the chop.
Return to Paradise doesn't boast many surprises. It's
his way in the '90s with flagrantly commercial junk such as Sleeping With
Strick, who made his fortune and lost his good name with the abominable Cape
but it's melodrama with heart, bones, sinews, and tear ducts.
prime time soap, but the performance deepens and becomes extraordinary. He's
tall, and he uses his muscular body and good looks to show how his character,
Sheriff, keeps the world at bay; he's so handsome that he doesn't have to
him a roving mind that seems to circle around its own hollow core with
the film his every gesture and step seems weighted, as if he has put on a
superficially responsible and more inwardly aquiver. It's a thankless part, but
Return to Paradise its soul. The lawyer, Beth Eastern, is clearly more
than a hired gun: She seems to be pleading as much for her own life as for her
her, and you can read how high the stakes are in her taut body and hungrily
she could animate anything. She was astonishingly intense as the backwoods
sister of a suicidal boy in the otherwise mediocre thriller I Know What You
dealing. The system is presented as a given and its government's intransigence
as something that no amount of diplomacy will soften. The real outrage is
reflection on the times that officials of a lunatic system look like capricious
gods, whereas righteous journalists are parasites from hell.
Pi until the other day. If you haven't seen it either, hie thee hence.
This is very much a first feature, with all the hyperbolic, sometimes
indiscriminate cinematic energy of a student film. But it's also sensational, a
root of all life. Tortured by headaches and nosebleeds, he lives a life of
fractions and spinning tangents, and the metaphors are right there in the
filmmaking, captured in the furious montage and in flurries of talismanic
installment of the gory Alien "franchise," has made a career out of
putting herself into ridiculous situations and managing never to look
ridiculous. Her immersion in her roles commands respect and awe: She surges
past embarrassment, past fear, and even when she makes a misstep, she lands
Alien films into what is possibly the collective unconscious of
molten lead with a bewildered baby alien erupting from her chest. That kind of
back for a sequel, and when he pointed out that his character had been
incinerated (in a pit of molten lead, coincidentally), they said he could greet
line: "Did my brother make it?" Now, thanks to the rise of cloning in the
convinced that they can harness the aliens for the good of mankind. ("Once
in a futuristic gothic cage and proceed with their hopeful experiments, while
punks who momentarily have the upper hand but who he knows will be a bloody
last two, and the giant space station in which it takes place is both steely
themselves have never been animated with more virtuosity. You get to see one
swim: It whips itself forward with its tail at about a hundred miles an hour.
There's also a scene in which an alien gets slowly sucked out of a hole into
space, a process that makes a meat grinder look merciful. The movie's other
on the experience of a friend of mine who worked on the soap opera Days of
character got killed in a plane crash, and the guy playing Roman decamped, too,
work with my Roman again?" And they said, "Er, there's another guy here
now, and he's really popular." And the diva said, "Work it out." So in wanders
Roman I to announce that he has been held prisoner on an island for the last
Because once you immolate your leading lady, you have to execute some mighty
violent narrative contortions to bring her back, and by the time you've
explained what she's doing there and why, half the movie is gone. And what's
watery space station to reach their little ship, with one after another getting
gets worse the harder she tries to act. Her scenes with Weaver are sad: She
doesn't have the older actress's histrionic resources, plastic physique, or
energy. And she's playing a role that would likely confound the most able minds
has a pretty good ear. (One character actually snarls, "I am not a man with
whom to fuck.") But even with her stinko lines, Weaver has never been as
and you can almost believe there's really acid in her blood, and that no alien
in its right mind would mess with her. Her skin has an unearthly glow, which
exactly? He's been around for years, yet it's still hard to know. In arty
circles, he's famous as the highbrow exhibitionist who wrote and starred in
angst. Millions of small children around the country could pick him out in a
like The Princess Bride and Clueless --a guy who, unlike the
seriously, least of all himself. On the contrary, he hams up his resemblance to
a clown and wheezes for laughs (and, presumably, a paycheck).
doesn't appear in this film based on his latest play, but his schizoid spirit
haunts it all the same. The Designated Mourner is one of those sobering
The actors deliver lots of brooding speeches, and the plot is a downer. On the
with a sneering comic timing that has somehow improved in the 30-odd years
leading intellectuals. He was a great man but also a jerk; he surrounded
apparently rare in this bleak hypothetical future, to understand the poetry of
John Donne. But one day Jack admitted to himself that he didn't give a damn
of intellectuals?) The play unfolds in monologues, with Jack making a witty
Jack, and so on; the three of them sit at a long table and talk into the
camera, occasionally pouring themselves glasses of water as panelists at a
new government had begun to crack down on her and her father. Then, slowly, it
becomes clear that the government is going to do worse than harass the
Mourner for condemning the vulgarian times we live in, a larger group will
think it's just more intolerable hooey from that highbrow exhibitionist. It's
actually better than hooey, but it's also a hopelessly conflicted piece of
work. The whole conception of "the intellectual life" feels dated: The film is
traded back and forth by the men. Later, when Jack casts off the brainy
not being an intellectual would appear to be an issue only for men, as if the
only thing that kept them from humping everything like craven dogs was a
fondness for sonnets. Then there's the problem of what's killing the
intellectuals off. They are themselves partly to blame, because they're such
his belief that theater should be more political, but this government of
philistine meanies seems more like a cheap device designed to give his play
some tension. All he's really telling us is: Beware of people with bad
being anachronisms, the intellectuals are underwritten and deliberately
specializes in 100-proof irony, is the clown's ideal front man. With his
and monstrous. In what must be one of the greatest nasal performances of all
time, he rasps and chuckles and seduces us into thinking that he's a detached
And yet, before he turns completely sour, Jack makes a
peace. He realizes how noisy and restless his mind has always been, "an endless
tinkling of reportage and commentary." He sees how he's always trying to
taking in life as it is. He experiences silence for the first time, and finds
of the movie in which Jack begins testing what it would be like to live in the
present is funny and original. Up to this point, the audience has been watching
off his high horse, and the movie breathes. Then the moment passes, and it
The last intellectuals die off, and Jack heads directly for the gutter. Toward
even for poor, harmless John Donne. But it's tempting to say "good
little poem about a wet dream. In contrast to contemporary writing about sex,
fantasy of domination. The reality sunnily undermines the preposterous
to call Boogie Nights yet another drama of family values. The film
shy away from recounting his lewder adventures. It even invites us to love him
home with his awful parents; a wimpy father and a drunken mother, who runs
around the house calling him stupid. He dreams vaguely of stardom, but for the
time being works as a dishwasher in a nightclub. One night, a customer, Jack
into the business. We know we should be horrified, but we're not. We've seen
instincts, we think, "Go with this nice older man."
before playing his cards. The early scenes unfold with a patience that's rare
turns out to be sex on Jack's couch with a pretty but inappropriately cheerful
the logistics of the shoot involve the cleansing of vaginas and polite
whispered negotiations about where to ejaculate. The atmosphere is supportive,
a simultaneously lighthearted and sinister mood, as if this were a thriller set
He seems to be saying that there are two sides to every
cries out to be protected, like a puppy whose paws and ears are still
disproportionately large. He's vulnerable without the narcissism that has
central to his appeal that his looks even shift from macho to feminine: At
acceptable and porn actors still dreamed of being recognized as legitimate
an ambitiously wide time span to take on, especially since the audience is
are scratches on the veneer of authenticity, though. The soundtrack is less
usually heard several years later than people in real life would have listened
indiscriminateness to these lapses, an overconfidence. In the press kit,
a good job of looking beautiful in one scene and puffy in the next), and a
shield and indulge each other; they snort coke together the way a regular
family might grill hot dogs. And as a shrink might say, they lack boundaries.
Amber is sad because she has a little son she's no longer allowed to see. So
she tells Dirk that she loves him as if he were her baby, and then she seduces
him. Their strong feelings for each other are real, but they are also
are, we need a family, is interesting, up to a point. It was the main conceit
But like any idea, it gets simplistic when carried too far, and late in
Boogie Nights it explodes into cheap melodrama. Without a good role
model to guide him, Dirk snorts so much coke that his one real talent poops
gone too far with this fantasy family and having lost his grip on reality. And
out of her passive bubble and brutalize one jerk for all the abuse men have
subjected her to over the years. Without guidance, she's lost all morals and
turned into a cauldron of rage. These late scenes are over the top, as mean and
reductive as editorials in a tabloid, and they nearly extinguish the moral
subtlety of what's gone before. One even hopes they are insincere, an attempt
Promise Keepers. It would be a shame if someone this talented meant them in
what journalists pretentiously call an "alternative weekly" and what everyone
else calls a "rag." It's a free paper, full of listings and reviews, that can
listings, which were comprehensive and quirky. But after a few weeks I realized
controversies. Like any decent local paper, it views the city as the place of
man's highest achievement, of clashing ideas, power struggles, great ambitions.
City Paper 's staffers are obsessed with their city. Whenever there was a
readers are both fiercely loyal and fierce: Every week the letters column fills
with complaints from people who have been mortally offended. Almost every city
I thought about this recently as I was surfing through
online city guides, the Web's latest Next Big Thing. Internet tycoons have a
new model for urban journalism, and it's an ambitious one. Online city guides
are meant to be category killers, a challenge to daily newspapers, alternative
papers, city magazines, the Yellow Pages, and even ticket brokers. Online
and food reviews, find the closest theater and show times, book reservations,
buy tickets, and even print a map to the restaurant. During the past two years
areas. Daily and alternative newspapers are striking deals with the Internet
services. (New York Sidewalk, for example, buys listings from the Village
mentioned Sidewalk. Pause for full disclosure. I have embarrassingly large
Slate, and pays my salary. Sidewalk and Slate are headquartered in the same
for Sidewalk in New York. Oh, and I interviewed for the editor's job at
reviewed, competently, by the hundreds. Essentially all movies, plays,
concerts, exhibits, readings, performances, and sports contests in the New York
area are listed. All events get the basics (time, cost, location), most are
Maps and directions are plentiful. The search engines are a breeze. You want to
times, and a review. The most obscure events are found easily: Two minutes of
load without street names. The greatest annoyance: Neither site enables you to
buy tickets or make reservations online. But these technical glitches will be
(Sidewalk, on the other hand, is engaged in a nasty legal battle with
personalization software will improve. And as computers get faster and smaller,
the online guides will be as convenient as magazines and newspapers.
they are infected with an inoffensive corporate blandness. They ignore
politics. The editorial content is limited to capsule reviews and short,
and idiosyncrasy that define urban living. (Sidewalk's movie reviews are pablum
city that is deeply depressing. Alternative and daily newspapers conceive of
the city as a place of controversy and passion. The online guides see it
strictly as a place of consumption. What is a city? The receptacle for your
disposable income. The only urban problem to which the online guides have the
and no love affair at all. She chooses the calamity. The material is like that
somehow elevate both the locale and that heroic figure. Story becomes myth in
Would he play or wouldn't he? Would he or wouldn't he?
the court? All day, I combed sports Web sites for a rumor, a hint, a tea leaf
compulsive gambler who'd pawned his fiancee's engagement ring to wager against
this madness come from? I could try to justify my tournament obsession as the
natural extension of my romance with college basketball. I could sing hymns to
trumpeting out the tuneful college song; the slap of leather against pine
junkies hoard trivia for the same reason political junkies lock their remotes
show: Power. Trivia allows the junkie to master a small (by definition trivial)
corner of the universe. We can explain the tournament, you can't.
you don't. The junkie watches a tournament game entirely differently than the
casual fan. For the casual fan, the game is art, an aesthetic delight. For the
sports junkies bore their friends with stories of their astounding predictions.
competition was weak. What I rarely mention is that I failed to guess the
so much as it requires the pretense of knowledge. To really understand
college ball, you would need to spend most of the fall and winter watching Big
Sky conference games on satellite television and reading back issues of
videotape the highlights on the local news, and fill out an entry for the pool.
discovered this innocently on the opening day of the tournament. I logged on to
the Sports Network, and Yahoo! itself were covering March Madness. (This is not to
and I must report it is magnificent. Sports Web sites are one of the Web's few
overwhelms traditional media. Newspapers satisfy themselves with 10-inch
sports Web brings order to the anarchy. Unrestricted by space, the sites run
more articles and statistics than any newspaper and deliver more audio and
any office pool ever could, and their fantasy sports leagues outshine any
had ended too late to make the morning paper. I immediately found a wire story
report on both teams, and an online chat room where Bruins fans were whooping
it up. And every tournament game receives this treatment. Nothing
disappointing online. It prints too little original content and relies heavily
Network probably attracts more attention than it deserves. It's slow, ugly,
a German online bookmaker. In the spirit of unfettered investigative
sites are entertaining enough. Fantasy basketball, baseball, and football
password. I signed up for all of them. But instead of achieving power and
domination, I suffered a mammoth blow to my junkie ego. Entering Final Four
annoyance must be somehow necessary to his pleasure, the rising of it
seems only what she shows as she bends over, reaching between her splayed
the frat boys hoard how her fingertips have eased the hidden lips back to the
rarely hold moderate opinions, and there is hardly a singer who elicits more
is more than a singer: She is a marvel of marketing. She sells out any house
back to God about the mysterious joys and sorrows of human existence." Another
technician who never sacrifices passion to precision. Listen to her
note as a distinct link in a long, twirling chain and each word being accorded
complain silently"). It is a jovial anthology of trills, runs, grace notes,
finesses the tension between glum words and sprightly notes right up to the
critics have argued that her voice is too petite to reach the outer spaces of
obscure. She has sung no more than a handful of operatic roles onstage, mostly
whose gifts have been eroded in recent years by an uncontrollable tendency to
out, her dimples deepen, her chin recedes unflatteringly against her neck, her
head springs forward and back from her shoulders as if she were doing the Funky
naughtiness, such as a habit of canceling appearances, including a
sings than to the colossal operas that today's colossal houses were built for.
domestic comedies inevitably seem dwarfed by a stage ample enough to contain
has barely dabbled in bel canto, the finespun singer vehicles of the early
repertoire that would otherwise seem destined for the remainder bin. She has
she is a dazzlingly expressive singer, guiding the listener through the
emotional landscape of a piece with every small push of her voice. She colors
she cries ("Unhappy me!") in a voice full of pain. "A thousand dismal
chesty holler when she needs to, but in quiet passages she tends to produce a
gentle haze of breath around each focused note. This hiss, the noise level in
today, when most singers are trained in the discipline of steely perfection and
disc, surrounded by undiluted digital silence. It is as if, by this deliberate
scandalized, but more were charmed, when she made her Met debut two seasons ago
immediately clear that she was carrying the whole production.
singer of relatively unpopular music, a singer who could probably fill
stadiums, but prefers to keep her audiences at close quarters. Last year, she
leaning on the Met to find a more intimate venue for her projects. She has
foolish in the cause of his art; having tackled his parts with demented,
hyperbolic integrity, letting the madness of his roles infuse him and carry him
this was no easy feat. It took months of labor with a personal trainer to
of the practiced bodybuilder. And it took a project of rare slickness and
vacuity to help him blot out all traces of his hitherto peculiar but attractive
film that disdains prosaic time and space. The action is hooked to a backbeat.
The actors float, abstractly, in the frame, lit so that their muscles have a
luster. None of the images breathe; the details are fixed as in cement. In this
swollen pectorals pumping as he runs from an exploding airplane hangar in slow
sociopaths while electric guitars squeal their hosannas.
prisoners stage their inevitable coup, blow away a few guards, and install
unfriendly skies. Really, their ambitions are shockingly limited for a
seems to have a psychic bond with Cage, perhaps because he's playing the part
Cage doesn't side with the escaped prisoners, as you wouldn't if you had a wife
insufficiently concerned that Cage's prison bud needs a shot of insulin bad.
(except for those amusing occasions when his characters were striking
heartthrob poses). Is there any death more conclusive for an actor than putting
on a muscle shirt and walking around in slow motion?
Movies as synthetic as Con Air make me wonder if my
time wouldn't be more enjoyably spent watching a duck. Let me explain. The
carry far less information about the way the world works than the
the temporal aspects of film, convinced that even, say, a successful formula
thriller like Breakdown derives much of its power from its simulation of
natural world. "The bees and I have an understanding," he announces, stoic in
his denims. "I take care of them, they take care of me."
real time. There always seems to be plenty of it, along with the chance to
study the faces of his characters, even when there's not a great deal going on
places, but with no acceleration, like the duck on the pond.
enormous amount of audience indulgence. Nonetheless, there are compensations.
press his point and yet unwilling to let his listener off the hook, persisting
in the pleasantries well past the point of pleasantness. The seconds crawl,
that the principal job of a modern mainstream movie critic is to distinguish
subdivision of the above: smart formula crap that makes the viewer dumb.
is one killer climax after another. Will New York City survive the shower of
there? Will his team make it off the ramshackle Mir space station in one piece?
Will both shuttles manage to land on the asteroid through a shower of (3-D,
ratcheted up. Where there's a cliff, there's a hanger.
electrodes were cannily placed, the jolts administered at regular intervals.
Along with the rest of the audience, I jumped when I was meant to jump, laughed
when I was meant to laugh, and swallowed a lump in my throat when I was meant
to feel moved. It's true, little irritants kept creeping in. It gets harder and
starlet, buy the product. A few trident missiles in this lefty's side:
to "Chew this iron bitch up!" Still, there are few villains as apolitical as a
giant asteroid. We can all agree that it would indeed be a good thing to chew
do spectacle: The opening bombardment of Manhattan is riotously well edited,
and Bay compensates by turning every frame into a blur of motion. You can't
all seems lost, the hero turns to the Mission Control camera and says, "Prepare
finding just the right (and most noncommittal) combination of facetiousness and
sincerity. He can deliver zingers, and he can also invoke the Almighty. He can
it's an art," and not be laughed off the screen. He's the perfect mascot for a
Stuff machismo and wants you to buy into it at the same time (which is
true, come to think of it, of The Right Stuff itself). The yucks come
the line of duty, and then it's time to get patriotic.
team, he has the funniest lines, and his wormy, dyspeptic grin sits on the
splotch on the screen. As streakers go, he makes more of an impact than the
Out of Sight is slick in all the right ways. It starts with
tie, marches through traffic into a bank and, without a weapon or a plan, pulls
off a charmingly effortless robbery foiled only by a bad starter on his wreck
with the eerie foreboding of violence about to erupt. He has evolved into a
up with him in the trunk of a getaway car and is hostage to his chatter about
movies, a life of crime, and how he wishes he had met her in a bar so he could
ripely beautiful actress who projects a disarmingly high opinion of herself. No
phony demureness here: She acts as if she came of age telling an endless parade
opportunism. Like this terrific confection, he never melts.
lowlifes on weed about breasts. But not completely. Further up the yak food
concerns of family and work, and enjoy a little innuendo now and then.
disproportionately own foreign cars. They carry dental insurance."
broadcasts, the show, syndicated by Public Radio International, now reaches a
attended college and now lives with his wife and two young daughters). But
("One thing you gotta say about Congress: They can't run the government, but
they've made it a federal offense to fire your travel agent.") and then segues
to an interview with a guest or two (recent visitors included novelist Jane
Quiz, which pairs a member of the studio audience with a caller. Quiz
categories include "People," "Science," "Odds and Ends," and "Things You Should
Have Learned in School (Had You Been Paying Attention)." (Sample question: Are
more people injured by clothing or by razors? Answer: Clothing.) Kitschy
to an inhabitant of the "Town of the Week." The town is selected by a dart
chats with him (the feature ran eight years before he lighted upon an
MEMBER: How can I wean myself from sleeping with a fan?
spontaneous public events are in fact preceded by stacks of memos and weeks of
meetings, extemporaneous entertainment like this is no mean feat. And it's no
mother had to name me after a relative whose name started with an "H" and she
of stuff, so she got this name from a cartoon show, as a matter of fact.
is, "What famous cartoon horse is your son named after?"
listens skeptically to a guy in the studio audience who describes himself as a
"community planner" busy "coordinating a community's relationships with the
gladly play the butt of a joke if it'll help him figure out the locals.
Acclimating himself to the online world in one show, he required callers to tap
their words into a keyboard as they spoke. Meanwhile, he did the same with his
sighs, summing up his of life on public radio, "I don't see any way out of
smell a hustler. But I can't catch him faking the way I can his buddy Ben
unquestionably a movie star. Already, he has staked out his own chunk of
dramatic territory: He's the intellectual who's also a prole, who's arrested
between the worlds of privilege and the street, who thinks and gets high on
thinking but who also wrestles with earthier instincts. Are those instincts
base or noble? A sign of corruption or purity? The conflict is as old as
spot. It's seductive, the way the wheels are always turning behind those small
eyes, the way he licks his lips to suppress his emotions and then cagily
examines his options. I can't recall another actor who seems at once so earnest
and so cunning, so ingenuous yet with something so clearly up his sleeve.
then you are the sucker." Losing his life savings to a menacingly fey
he can off anyone dumb enough to sit across a card table from him, accepting
the rightness of the line "It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."
makes distinctions among rounders. Mike is supposed to be an honest connoisseur
of card playing nature, a master whose expertise derives from spotting "tells,"
from "watching the player, not the cards." On the other hand, his buddy Worm
cheat who gets off on perpetually putting one impudent twinkle toe over the
hole to play the snake and lure his old chum back into the game.
Rounders is an unusually talky movie, but the talk is slick and fast and
sleeves. In fact, the script is a model of research and construction, a real
aforementioned four page glossary is a bounty for urban anthropologists.
("Alligator Blood: A compliment given to an outstanding player who proves
a bluffer, and usually with a not especially powerful hand.")
not a movie made by gamblers. It's a studied, deliberate, calculating piece of
Rounders was one of those spec scripts that has become legend in
stars who boasted that they "didn't have to change a word." Actually, they
ought to have changed a couple. They might have given the Golden Girl more to
say than her handful of wet blanket reproaches, and Worm deserved a bigger last
act. Only my abiding affection for Landau kept me from snickering out loud at
his rabbinical monologues, in which he explains why he defied his yeshiva more
than half a century ago and followed his dream by going to law school. (He says
the one thing he took from yeshiva was to be true to oneself. What tripe! In
yeshiva, being true to yourself is possible only if you recognize that your
true self longs to submit to the rule of Torah. It doesn't mean that God is in
scrutinize their cards and each other and throw around their poker lingo; and
his hand. The script is good at making you think that it has better cards than
his mouth into a yokel sneer and is wholly impossible to dislike, even when his
character keeps crazily upping the ante. In the schematic role of a sober,
need to chew the scenery: Mumbling, hovering, shuffling in the margins, he
makes you watch him closely to discern his real, complicated feelings.
one. Start with an accent unlike any heard anywhere on the planet, with
syllables drawn out so audaciously that you want to applaud every line. He
and slides his teeth along the cream while raking his opponent with invisible
kind of Academy Award. Sequences that once were run together by a studio bent
late, Touch of Evil has arrived, and it's all of a piece.
Part of recognizing that Touch of Evil is a masterpiece means also
attract. His compositions are teeming, unbalanced, with a center of gravity
that lurches left then right. The overlapping dialogue and squealing
and our own sense of space is continually violated. The images in Touch of
with chortling messages like "Don't Look Up." Those fake marquees first
sort that some literate people consider big and dumb. I thought the first
invented a huge movie world in which the eyes could go dreaming. It also had
performance. I was also lucky to see Batman Forever in more pleasant
sophistical argument could be made that his films, while meretricious, are
always at least mildly entertaining. If your next dinner party threatens to
turn dull, you might try antagonizing sophisticates with a Revisionist
shallowness of the Brat Pack, notable for the discovery of the brooding
vampire spoof, notable for the discovery of the brooding dramatic craft of
like Batman so he could afford 'idea' pictures like A Time to
best he offers an empty but internally consistent flamboyance. He is skilled at
looks like on a vicious summer day. He is also good with faces, particularly
different facial expressions. The acting is not always an embarrassment; in
Hypothesis for the time being. (I will have to return to my old contrarian
for the eye to catch up, poor staging of fast action. The first few minutes are
committee of prepubescent speed freaks. And while this kind of movie doesn't
much wrong on every front, it's hard to single out a basic flaw. But
Batman world. Each of the previous Batman films had a sly, spry
through reams of cardboard zingers. "Winter has come!" "Everyone chill!" "The
One of the movie's few redeeming features is partially
composer now working, has written typically imaginative music, rich in jagged
harmony and deft scoring. That eerie wailing at the end of the title theme is a
in A Time to Kill --is one sign of latent tastefulness. In movies like
blotted out by the sound effects that erupt in tandem with every move or twitch
your ear. This indiscriminate racket, more than anything, sent me out into
Times Square with the feeling of having been roughed up. The area hasn't
expense of such trifles as variety and intelligibility. Her work can be
unleavened by imagination. Compare her turn as a government agent in
vulnerability: She was such a radiant mess that no superior in his right mind
work without a net, to throw herself headlong into a part even if it meant
falling a great distance onto her face. But a weird, masochistic streak has
emerged in her performances. She now makes a fetish of falling on her face. She
might even want to be loved for falling on her face.
projecting her plainness and artlessness that she neglects, for most of the
doesn't walk when she can lurch, weave, or collide with objects, her balance
shifting precariously. Her responses, meanwhile, are queerly private, as if she
were unsure of how to act out her own emotions. All this is by design, of
course, and in an era when "You like me! You really like me!" is the mantra of
most actors, that design can seem brave and original. What isn't by design is
the point of having no discernible point of view. She seems to have confused
Smith), who wishes to weave out of her niece's life a breathlessly melodramatic
modest inheritance and now seeks salvation in the form of this unloved,
unlovely, and affluent young woman. Each of these characters comes with the
trappings of civilization and high society, but it is the natural, untutored
whereas her father, clearly, could not. The performance is complex, shaded,
to the door. "I have the most fortuitous headache.")
sour and grave man in whom all feeling has been deadened since his wife died
intends to, but because he feels that unhappiness is her due. It might be,
however, that his contempt is too much on the surface, so that his bitterly
than earthshaking. There is so little intimacy between father and daughter that
keep something up her sleeve, however. Upon hearing the contents of her
father's sadistic will, she lets out a musical laugh that is probably the
from. It's the sound of genuine catharsis, of poison being expelled into the
much out of guile as instinct. Stone doesn't have a political ax to grind this
maggoty carcass across the desert from miles away. The only surprise about
sports what appear to be false front choppers, and masticates his dumb, satanic
works along the principle best defined by Chevy Chase when he opened
classical music or jazz, performers are engaged in a conversation with one
another, and with their predecessors. The rest of us are listening in, although
there have always been some who don't like feeling forced into silence. Poet
entirely/ isolated soul/ yelling at Joy from the tunnel of the ego/ music
musical soul to an end. In this he is partly influenced by the Media Lab, which
champions the idea that a seamless global web of information will soon blur the
an hour long, it was presented seven times a day over the course of several
music is not sounds chosen by a composer, but a quality of awareness about what
you're hearing. The vehicle for all this is the expensive, complicated, and
instruments and asks that they play around with them. We not only get to
explore a cool new technology; we get to collaborate with the composer. We move
toward being the artist, our lives, the art. In theory, anyway.
been transformed into a thicket of plastics molded into shapes suggestive of
fruits or plants, or maybe cells. We mill around in the dark among the
a video arcade. The games, though, are more interesting.
"Gesture Wall," for instance, puts a little zip of electricity through you,
which makes you intelligible to some sensors in front of you, which means you
can "play" snippets of music and sound by gesticulating. (My fillings vibrated
a little; though that could have been caused by the ambient noise.) There are
hard you hit the nubby pads that stick out of them, cause nearby speakers to
spit out percussive clicks and bops. Another device is called "The Speaking
Tree"; it engages you in conversation about music. You can have any type of
favorite piece of music?" asks the Tree. "I don't know," say you. "When you
somebody's brain while a piece of music is being created," because, as the name
suggests, Brain Opera is about the nature of mind. It is based on the
that consciousness is built up of loosely connected separate processes. What I
components of my brain go about their business of seeing or hearing or eating
actions of a lot of drivers, or an opera performance out of the actions of
musicians, singers, a conductor, and a stage manager. Brain Opera both
noodling around with the gizmos right before we go in to hear it.
Wall." He ignites Brain Opera with a sequence of chopping hand motions
and vigorous leanings in his chair (picture the Enterprise under attack); this
brings forth a sonic crash from the computer. We hear a lot of musical
on album covers fly by on big screens --the moon, a baby, the great red spot of
do with the electrons in the air"; "music changes your mood very definitely").
The words of the libretto zip past on the screens. Prerecorded voices sing it
to New Age melodies. A red square appears, signifying, apparently, that people
logged on to the Brain Opera Web page who are participating in the piece
on "virtual instruments" are now being sampled and folded into the work.
lively, and far from dull. But by the end I feel a little glazed and tired,
much as I might feel after too much time spent on the Web or reading somebody's
and absence at the core. I missed the individual voice, the unique and
compelling emotional timbre, of the sort that characterizes less interactive
into it. Also performed at the festival, for example, were his works for
invented himself. Each of these compositions suggested the powerful currents of
one soul's anguish, jauntiness, fragile serenity. But Brain 
is swamped by the sound of Whatever, of Nothing in Particular.
maneuvered along paths laid down for us. We are no more collaborating than a
lab mouse collaborates with a medical researcher. Brain Opera is an
by Ted Turner. The rumors started even before the movie went into production,
finally undertook it seems to have dispatched most of the run directly to the
concerns, of course, the eroticism of automobile accidents. Could you conceive
their essence is speed, consummation can be achieved only through impact. Every
places and done things that today's gutless independents could never imagine.
His adaptation is extremely faithful to the novel. Its
Hunter), stares in shock. During their respective hospital sojourns, both
obsessed with the erotic possibilities of highway crashes.
preoccupation leads him to not only ponder the sexually charged road deaths of
accident sites, photographing them and later replicating the contorted postures
thereafter consists of an increasingly intense spiral of couplings among these
parties, punctuated by tearing metal and shattering glass and inevitably
patented transformation of cold into hot, turning medical and automotive jargon
into spectacularly baroque metaphors: "Thinking of the extensor rictus of her
the stylized manufacturer's medallion visible in the photographs, the contoured
flanks of the window pillars." A movie can't really do that sort of thing.
course, comparisons don't get any more invidious than those between movies and
their source novels, and critics should abjure the temptation. I purposely
hadn't reread the book before seeing the film, and furthermore resolved to
keenest pleasure came from imagining the potential reactions of others. I
out on the wavelength of a devotional network. Although the frissons
were all present and accounted for, there was something missing.
This isn't the fault of the cast. Spader is a bit too
crudity and sophistication. The cinematography is surgically precise, the
editing crisp, the music moody and unobtrusive. The dialogue, much of it
straight from the book, is full of terse humor (when a cop comes by to
isn't interested in pedestrians"). Nevertheless, the movie seems all too
traffic on the arterial roadways that make up the entire landscape around the
the quarter century since the book was written. Many people who wouldn't dream
of seeing Crash derive the very same thrills covertly, from an
inexhaustible supply of PG titles ranging from The French Connection to
picture that is all surface. For purposes of comparison, rent the video of
rococo horror: A young woman sees herself being anointed and bedecked with
jewels, but we then see that she is in an emergency ward, and that her jewels
some kind of ultimate transgression; he was also responding to the arguments
drawings of rearranged car parts could hardly be more explicitly sexual (a
exhibited the actual voluptuous hulks of wrecks. It is tempting to imagine
is not just a job, it's a histrionic quest. You can picture his actors clearing
their calendars for the next six months, ritually cleansing themselves, and
kissing their spouses and children goodbye. Renowned for his means as much as
his ends, the director sends his performers out into the world to unearth data
about their characters, then leads them through weeks of improvisation and
systematic or penetrating thinkers, but they come back with nuggets of gold.
They also tend to truck in loads of dung in the form of earnest psychobabble. I
suppose when you compel actors to draw on their own resources, you have to take
spiky prole to uneasy denizen of the middle class, she's the sort of woman
who's underrepresented in movies: smart and aggressive and desperately unhappy
to contact with other human beings. She can't tamp her anger or her need to be
just what their relationship is or was. The two are guarded with each other,
present. It also adds another layer of confusion: The performances are so
extreme and the milieu so scuzzy you might think they're not in college but a
a Star Trek android whose circuits keep misfiring. But she is awfully
dressed up, their old emotions there but determinedly buried. And as the women
become more comfortable with each other, opening themselves up to their
memories and feelings, the meter of the film shifts from jerky to
Tucker), does better with both girls. In flashback, he has his way with one
don't gel, in others they harden into cement. The heroines of Career
Girls crack jokes about the people turning up from their past as if on cue:
What are the chances of that?! The chances of that are good indeed if you're a
women lay out their points of view too neatly, psychoanalyzing the life out of
turned out if they'd let go, if they hadn't overcome their bitterness or
helplessness to scale the socioeconomic ladder. But he seems emblematic of
said, Career Girls is hard not to treasure. I wasn't crying at the end,
the way some in the audience were, but I wasn't eager for the credits to roll.
and the results are like a richer kind of oxygen. I suspect he works the way he
meaning in the material world, in backyard barbecues and cars and fax machines.
Class might be central, but it isn't destiny. And yuppies are too ripe for
satire to be branded as evil. The only thing that's certain is that when actors
are given their heads, they have a whale of a time, and the audience does too.
Which is the opposite in every way of In the Company of
on all the females who've ever hurt them, they both pursue and then dump the
their scheme not a trashy bitch but a shy, good, hauntingly lovely woman
which has been widely acclaimed, is immaculately of a piece, even if that piece
compositions are rigid and airless: they call attention to their own wit, and
to the fact that the characters' destinies are fixed. As it turns out, In
about male corporate culture, in which the players find it endlessly exciting
to screw one another. But that won't stop some women from fearing that this, at
and the other, a spineless dweeb. Most men don't have the sophistication to
hurt women for sport. They do it because they're selfish creeps. And the angel
Someone who likes to watch people victimized while feeling morally superior to
film akin to being smeared with excrement. It worries me that before I thought
too hard about it, I was having a pretty good time.
is to say that it waddles when it ought to whiz, clanks when it strives for
cornball poetry, and transforms its august stars into something akin to a manic
it better than the other, more artful pictures I saw this week. Here's an
against my heart." To love a line like that is a treason against my high
birth by a father fearful of internecine struggles and subsequently locked in
the bowels of the Bastille, his features concealed by the eponymous iron
That would have been all, folks, were Louis not a complete
schmuck who capriciously drains the kingdom's coffers with foreign wars,
starves a lot of smudgy faced extras (who hurl rotten fruit at his guards), and
falls on whatever beauteous wench strikes his royal fancy. When he royally
prove once again that they're more than the stuff of chocolate bars.
who die with their boots on. ("This is the death I have always wanted," gasps
one fellow in this picture's lachrymose climax.) He also digs resplendent
like: "Then God be with you. For we shall not." He apparently has no taste for
is like leaving our president to police his libidinous ones.
compatriots, has the most complicated role and carries it off with real dignity
and discernment (which means, of course, that he's just a teeny bit
king, his performance begins badly, and the long hair doesn't flatter his wide,
doughy face and compressed brow. But once the nice twin enters the movie,
It isn't nice to beat up on senior citizens, which must be
shamus (Art Carney) wrestles with both a brutal murder and the innumerable
humiliations of aging (they're connected), happily assisted by a New Age flake
The Late Show without the spitfire, and it succumbs to the paralysis it
English novelist poignantly out of touch with modern society, goes on another
collision of high and low culture, and he does elegant work. But his mistake is
himself enough from his protagonist to generate a comic perspective,
flakes and embalming fluid. But if Hurt has the kind of visage we normally
associate with dissipation, few actors are able to combine such bleariness with
such (oxymoronic) concentration. This is a gentle tour de force by one of our
for possessing both a politician's promiscuity and a politician's wariness of
genuine commitment. People are lured into developing projects with him for
formidable obstacles. It's said that one director was driven nearly to homicide
after being forced to spend six hours lighting each shot (and, allegedly, to
employ a technician whose sole job it was to hold a cardboard triangle next to
a light so that the star's jowls would be covered by a shadow).
Affair to Remember --a listless vanity production with the impact of
begins to babble the truth on the stump, the film has a kamikaze comic spirit
that's spectacularly disarming, particularly coming from its hitherto
newspapers have suggested that Fox, which was contractually obligated to make
enough bird in this country for a sighting to be cause for joy.
film is fun, but it's also thin, repetitive, and intoxicated with its own
loveless marriage, he takes out a contract on his own life.
his stunned audience that he hasn't returned to their neighborhood since the
riots because the photo op has passed and that no Democrat will ever pay
attention to them because they don't give any money to campaigns. Charged up by
the rhythms of the crowd, his newfound candor, and the sight of a dishy,
and the lousiness of their movies; and a visit to the bowels of the inner city,
standing up to the white cops who stop to harass them. Along the way, he dons
blown away at the height of his prowess by an intolerant society. Variations
young buck enters the body of a square old white guy, who wins over skeptics
and then is cruelly cut down. This time, the square old white guy becomes the
White Negro and a champion for the homies, who stare at him in amazement and
nod their heads as if to say: "Yes, this man is a brother. This man gets it."
mystical ending. What's striking, though, is how superbly he maintains the
movie's comic momentum even when he runs out of ideas. The normally tentative
takes on an exhilarating life of its own. "Everybody's gotta fuck everybody
seducing us with language overrides the movie's shaky construction and
tacky crudeness harnessed to a real vision can have more brute power than all
scientists, the military, and the French secret service (don't ask). The movie,
entirely lame. The way the beast is finally snared has a certain architectural
piquancy. And sequences of the great lizard winding among skyscrapers as if
that this tedious, underpopulated beanbag of an epic has going for it. Its
that feels as if it was made by people who'd actually lived through some kind
of horrific devastation. And even after countless sequels of escalating
in the rubber suit is more fun. For my money, he's also scarier. I don't
dark forces of this world who can't be destroyed by any of this world's
slowly crushing cars and knocking over buildings, robotically training his
radioactive breath on anything and everything he sees, is a mythical vision of
when people say, "Whew! I think I lost him!" he pops out from some cunning
hiding place and gobbles them down. So why does he still strike me as a less
than formidable opponent? Well, any forefather (and, given his reproductive
the globe to lay his eggs in the middle of Manhattan doesn't seem built to
uniquely his own is the way the havoc periodically grinds to a halt to make
an expert in radioactive genetic mutations. He stays heroically credible even
as the film grows insanely incredible, as when he has to pretend to outrun the
yellow cab. The other performances are as crude as the writing, although Hank
the brilliant Harry Shearer doesn't entirely disgrace himself as a pompous
Lewis could have walked off with the picture if she hadn't been brushed aside
sitcom actress who can't utter a line without the left side of her mouth
curling up in Valley Girl incredulity or down in Valley Girl petulance.
spectacle the medium's least important component. It's true that cinema is a
night out would make us commit suicide out of boredom. But if, as a filmmaker,
you're going to make spectacle the top priority, you'd better show us stuff
we've never seen before. You'd better keep those miracles coming, or we're apt
to grow nostalgic rather quickly for the days of spaceships on wires and
unappetizing medical terms such as "morbidly obese," because obsession with
food is by no means a dull subject. How much could be said that has nothing to
do with olestra or the bad example set by supermodels about a person absorbed
in strange, hostile negotiations with her own body! There is no end to the
it (employing a rather eccentric definition of postmodern, which seems roughly
to amount to "counterintuitive"): an encomium to corpulence and an excoriation
transform an uncontrolled and miserable hatred of fat (his and yours) into a
becoming thin. His idea is that you can dissipate an obsession by
deconstructive variety, has done this kind of thing before: A couple of years
Cigarettes had succeeded in mastering his obsession (by the time he'd
of recovering from the throes of diet. Consequently, he has written an
extremely strange book: In reading it, you are subjected to changes in
personality as abrupt and jarring as nasty little electric shocks administered
critic who delights in a clever, lyrical celebration of creamy fleshiness. His
feel bad about himself all his life and perpetuating evil, unattainable images
of thinness to get him addicted to its demonic diet drugs and make him sick and
written an elegant, seductive book that sets you to musing how nice it might be
that suggest that Hamlet's indecision may be due more to the lymphatic
paralysis. The interpretation certainly makes the play funnier. Is not this
line of Hamlet's, for example, lent a certain zing when read as a diet
fantasy?: "Oh, that this too solid flesh would melt,/ Thaw, and resolve
manufactured, sustained, and promoted by a vast industrial, ideological system,
in order to obscure the reality of our bodies." (Why is it, one wonders, that
the Beauty Myth is oppressive, while the Superbly Rendered Sonata Myth or the
throws around the silly word "vast" in order to convey a sense of imminent diet
apocalypse (as in, "vast unknown consequences," "administration of these drugs
safety with perfect assurance? Surely "safety" is the product of an ad
industries are supposedly determined to quench our pleasure in fat.
in this case, by the way words look and sound, as opposed to what they mean.
This fascination crops up in the book in a number of ways, which will seem
seasoned with wordplay and typographical experiments (the words "eat fat" are
always in capitals, with "FAT" printed directly under "EAT," so you can see how
similar the two words are) and rhymes ("why this should be so at this moment in
history is a mystery. A mystery of history."). The book's first sentence is:
beleaguered dieter struggling to curb his cravings in a spirit of misguided
pleasure: the pleasure of doing, and the pleasure of not doing; the pleasure of
indulging, and the pleasure of abstinence. Control can be fun. And it is a
cultivation of personal elegance is more important than health (and who is,
appreciate the stricter kinds of pleasures. Because while the dandy stands for
Painter of Modern Life": "All the complicated material conditions to which
perilous feats of the sporting field, are no more than a system of gymnastics
cultivating a taste for such ascetic modes of enjoyment would be at least as
this possibility. Alas, all he writes about, all he thinks about, all he wants
It tends to be drier, less passionate, and less accurate than other forms of
journalism. Business writers are generally outsiders looking in: They lack the
access granted to political, sports, or even entertainment reporters, since few
companies seek the kind of publicity the press wants to bestow upon them.
Sometimes, practitioners of the genre can rise above its limitations; but you
can count on two fingers the number of books that have migrated from the
financial engineering. They called a moron a moron, and damned the whole lot of
them. Den of Thieves required even more intelligence work, as well as
an inside look at the software giant that publishes this magazine, will not
succumbs to all the usual pitfalls of business writing. It shouldn't have.
stroll through the campus without an apparatchik at his side. And the tale of
successes of one of the world's greatest companies.
meritocracy that makes rich those who contribute to it; Bill Gates' prediction
that consumers, not just large businesses, would jump at the chance to own
pretentious foreword that postulates the similarities between Henry Ford and
production, and in bringing down the cost of the product so that the consumer
gasoline engines serve as the operating system of cars, and to be the dominant
writer drawn the obvious parallels, he would have run the risk of endorsing the
Way is a benign, friendly company that succeeded in spite of itself. It
dominated the software industry because its rivals were such lightweights and
buffoons, and because it hired the smartest and brightest software writers.
When it came up against serious competition, in the form of Intuit, it was just
another bumbling competitor, hardly worth the Antitrust Division's time. (To
company does not dominate, it can't even shoot straight.
perfect monopoly, out of sheer grit and the love bestowed upon its team of
program, to hold on to its best, most talented players). He could have written
about how severely that monopoly was soon to be tested by the Internet, and by
which is only anecdotally interesting. (Intriguing, though, to learn that
his systems' standards out to everyone while his competitors kept their
Justice Department's suit for one minute. I don't want a company to be punished
simply because it dominates. Were it not for the monopolistic traits of both
not able to translate its dominance in personal computers to the Internet. This
couldn't incorporate it cogently. Somehow I got the feeling, when reading
if he bothered to sleep), and is working on a devastating counterattack this
my editors at Slate, certainly don't seem to know. Whether that's by design or
of company when it comes to those who are clueless about this huge capitalist
to organize his life into zones and areas, but he was a biased cartographer of
greatest poet. Critics and biographers have too often collaborated in this
"phases." The result is a fairly schematic narrative: The young hothead of the
In this superb biography, Foster unscrambles destiny and
exegesis than in historical accident; indeed, his criticism of the poems is a
shuffle during which he was at the mercy of his improvident peripatetic father,
singular silliness, which is what makes his early poetry so patchy. Bounced
mysticism, occult optimism, and universal brotherhood. He never really escaped.
lamented the loss of "the mesmeric force that collects in a beard."
vive. But he seemed to swallow far too much tainted water. He believed almost
all of it. He confessed that he saw no reason not to believe in the actual
"mechanistic" vision (he once had a dream in which Shaw appeared, clicking like
one of the early poems that established his renown.
perfumed hermeticism produced early verse that is easy to love and hard to
like. It is poetry to which one swooned as an adolescent. Looking again at the
familiar flowers, the secondhand imagery, the automatic despondency (far too
much "ancient sorrow"), the druids, fairies, hermits, and witches. Goodness,
intellectual sap. One longs for Browning to clear the mist.
used the earlier romanticism of the verse as a wainscot against which he might
his own earlier verse into a nation at the very moment of its abandonment. It
the early poetry is tougher than it seems. There are realities, homely details,
three hermits meet on a beach, one of them is not concerned with being a seer,
poet, a dreamer who never strayed very far from reality. Above all, Foster is
was energetically shameless in this regard. He wrote kind reviews of books on
print, rivals and competitors. He was especially harsh with his former friend
toured villages and towns asking peasants for their folk memories.
occasionally, one wishes that Foster would look up from his table of details
in point. Foster might have attended to the poems and shown how willfully they
he will write as a historian. No one is going to better him in this area. He
goes behind the wrestled solemnities of the poetry to reveal the effort, the
the peasants. The incomprehension was mutual. The subjects of this anthropology
Protestant in a Catholic country, which, Foster suggests, might have led him to
one of his very last poems. This struggle between "the marvelous and the
features and gestures with such brilliant blood relations as Memento
course, not every member of a distinguished family is equally appealing.
passion for controlling things. He has trouble distinguishing between his
fictions and his real life, doing his best to manipulate both, and he's hard to
Spark brings complicated families to mind partly because of
the familial structure she gives her novels. She favors a huge cast bound
sometimes by blood and marriage, sometimes by more casual connections, such as
geography or religious beliefs. As in a real family, some characters struggle
crane where he liked to sit and "shout orders through the amplifier and like
two top stars and the upstart minor stars, with far too much money, thinking
unfrocked priest of a woman"; his beautiful daughter by his first marriage,
characters squabble like siblings, jealous regardless of whether they have
cause to be. Perhaps rightly, few of them believe there's enough money,
security, fame, power, and love to go around. The menace of deprivation haunts
the book like a bourgeois anxiety dream. Character after character, although
redundant." The characters respond tellingly, either gloating, helping, or
lover of truth: the man has always been superfluous." Later, Johnny comes to
see him: "Tom said, 'If you think I am a stone that you shouldn't leave
artificial and suspenseful as a mystery thriller, full of clues and malice, yet
elusively allegorical. Its apparent center is Marigold's mysterious
has recovered from his fall and finished his movie. Is Marigold dead, or just
trying to get attention? Leave it to a Spark character to try to seize center
stage by vanishing. Marigold's parents, who never noticed her much except to
deplore her, are forced to think about her, and her father discovers that she
appearances (and disappearances) are deceiving. Sometimes what seems to be
central is really peripheral, and a throwaway plot point turns out to be the
story's symbolic heart. As the book opens, Tom is working on a movie about a
rich man who sees a girl flipping burgers at a campsite and decides to leave
her a vast fortune. It's based on his own experience, a moment when he caught
sight of such a girl and had an impulse to give her all his money (or rather,
focus of his movie, however, winds up being not the hamburger girl, but the
with Rose, the actress who plays the hamburger girl becomes jealous. "I was
about a sort of half death: being made redundant, being half blotted out. Spark
mortality (may it be many novels away!), she has taken up the question from the
perspective of the artist. Is it possible, she asks, to become famous while
disappearing? What happens to an artist whose characters refuse to cooperate?
Just who is in charge, anyway? And (as Tom wonders in the book's opening line)
of course, whose dreams Tom is a character in. By putting the question in his
mouth, Spark is implicitly comparing herself to God. Similarly, her title
teases her readers, inviting us to draw parallels between her personal history
and the story she tells in the novel, though she declines to supply the
published a few years ago, politely fends off the curious.) Such
dwell on them generally belong in a category that one friend of mine calls "art
about art supplies." Unfortunately, Reality and Dreams doesn't transcend
this category. The main characters are too mean to care about, and it's painful
deserves it. Still, for barbed wisdom, surprises, and technique, there's no one
like Spark. If she wants to write a sketch of her pencil box, I for one will
A month later, the event already seems forgotten. The death of colonialism
should be ranked among humanity's greatest accomplishments of the waning
novel is an unabashed attempt to capitalize on the hype surrounding the
handover, but it succeeds by steadfastly refusing to indulge in majesty.
from mainland China. It is a tonic for the cloying coverage of the event
rather than responding to it. The publishing world is fond of anniversaries,
but the notion of creating a novel to commemorate an event before it happens
seems especially fishy. Great novels are topical only in a subtler and grander
works because the match of author and subject is so good. Though born in
indulging in the rituals of empire ("dark comedy and absurdity," he calls it).
relishing opportunities to see what indignities a subject of the queen can
unrelentingly peeved with others that one wonders why he bothered to write
peoples, and a shrewd understanding of the irrational annoyance those
politics are exacerbated by the emotional intensity of a deadline that everyone
with those who fled Communist China but are being denied a chance to rule
owners of a stitching plant, on the eve of the handover. Bunt's brand of
capitalism is played by the outdated rules of imperialism. He spends his days
on the factory floor in order to encourage productivity. Bunt is unprepared for
appears in Bunt's club to make him an offer for the factory he simply cannot
neatness was the proof that a bloody crime had been committed. The same was
true of China. The look of the apartment was the spare look of China, a place
like this are few, and the politics serve more as a backdrop than as a
Imperial Stitching might have seemed a victimless crime. The otherwise
repellent Bunt is redeemed by his somewhat ridiculous infatuation with
memorable pair. Bunt is named for an elder brother who died in infancy, and
her son, aware of his vain attempts to create a secret life for himself with
doorway, she always seemed to swell, filling the doorframe, to obstruct and
delay him, so that she could bulk against his approaching face and scold him.
to allow Bunt's concern about the future of the business or his burgeoning
live in comfortable solitude with him. This chilling story of a mother's
child. "I was always doing things over again in my life," she reiterates, as if
to reassure readers that she knows the territory looks familiar. It does. Like
the daughter seeking to rectify the situation, announcing, "I knew I hadn't
Anywhere But Here was its obsession with obsessives. Upon her emergence
in a compensatory fantasy of escape and renewal. This pair of romantic
precincts of mythic caricature. An intense realist and a fierce satirist,
claustrophobic 1950s, fought and clung to each other and never found their man.
that the time has come to be witheringly ironic, rather than comic, about the
to be profound. So it is a famous West Coast entrepreneur, rather than obscure
wanderer pursued by driven furies. He's the multimillionaire founder of a
drifters, who whimper for their chance at legitimacy and reliable love where
cripple working slowly in comparative obscurity, trying to map a gene and
beauty who enthralls him by night in the ramshackle mansion he's never bothered
to fix up and disappoints him by day in her modest desire for a career no
to get an abortion and has since done his best to forget. They've been living
truly on the fringe, in a succession of communes and finally alone in a tiny
who never acknowledges it. As the novel begins, she's preparing to send Jane by
herself in their rusty truck, having laboriously and implausibly taught the
Commenting on that nighttime drive over the mountains, with the child perched
before she'd truly mastered the art of riding a bicycle." That's not what you
plays omniscient narrator for the first time, and the poetic intensity and sure
rhythms that drove the monologues of her first novel and still echoed in her
typical of the flaccid style she now favors, and what it says proves true: The
accomplishments of state, and, in a way he couldn't explain, proud." So we know
he's riding for a fall, professionally and personally (just as we know that
happens to overconfident egotists even (or especially) when they flaunt a
genius in endless narcissistic agonizing about who will be his wife, and gives
point. Still, he's also supposed to have charisma and fascinating
idiosyncrasies. (He drives fast, regularly runs out of gas, forgets
however, a motto that all too accurately applies to this novel itself.
open the jaws of academic convention. He claimed to have "only one goal in life
trust fund until he himself became the fashion, both among wealthy
industrialists (who treasured his visions of the very rural serenity they were
threatening) and among the rising young stars of the impressionist
paintings, where the air is crisp and even the bodies of water have a solidity
appears above them, a sort of cosmic bartender bringing a drink. (One thinks of
changes on a variety of more secular riparian subjects: ferrymen, fishermen,
women washing laundry or tossing each other playfully into the current.
as though that revolutionary year had shaken his certainties as well. He moved,
than indignant. Rather, the change is stylistic. All that was solid in his art
sketches, is increasingly blurred in the great "souvenirs" of the 1850s,
other than the emperor Napoleon III himself snatched up the glorious
of the central tree, and the standing woman's posture echoed in another, barer
confirmed his lasting fame as a landscapist. After the gloomy events of the
monastic life (he painted a peculiar series devoted to monks reading, playing
the cello, and praying), he was by no means immune to feminine charm. He
of which were painted during the final years of his life. In the ravishing
The painting was owned by Degas' good friend, the industrialist and amateur
perhaps it will be of the Met retrospective. But the Lady in Blue is
hardly representative of the more austere figure studies that line the walls in
sheer profusion of these two exhibitions, with their welcome mix of the
Chambers is the most formidable and fascinating of all the Cold Warriors.
"Their panic is my peace," Chambers wrote, speaking through the persona of "The
group of high government officials as fellow spies, he was certainly the
family on Long Island. As a young man, the brilliant and tormented Chambers, a
dozens of books from the New York Public Library, and bummed his way to New
Republican, becoming in the 1940s a top editor and writer at Time
in the national headlines, he successfully brought explicit charges of perjury,
Chambers, in other words, is one of the most controversial
wonderfully low is transmuted to the dismally high, and vitality is traded for
expected a biographer of Chambers to elucidate. We know little about Chambers'
break from the party. I wanted to learn more about his marriage and his
of his time after his marriage); with his unhappy, aloof, bisexual father Jay;
Chambers ally, always believed the two men had been lovers. Hiss' family
background was as lurid as Chambers'. His mother was cold and controlling; his
be. But I had also hoped that a biographer of Chambers would analyze the
historical controversies over the Cold War to which Chambers' views are
central. One can believe, as I do, Chambers' testimony against Hiss without
however, though he points to some of Chambers' blind spots and ideological
excesses, does not doubt the Soviets' more or less total culpability for the
two nations were allies). None of the important revisionist work by historians
intimate friends as they collaborated in stealing government documents and
transmitting them to their Soviet bosses. At their last meeting, as Chambers
was preparing to flee the party, he begged Hiss to join him, but the supercool
circumstances early in the investigations. Henry Dexter White, once a top
start, Hiss, impeccably groomed and eerily calm ("It might be someone else who
was on trial," one journalist marveled), relied on his patrician credentials.
the testimony of a man like Chambers, Hiss asked with icy contempt, visibly
with no style and little personal status, a man who had lived, in Hiss' words,
"in the sewers, plotting against his native land," possibly outweigh the simple
one of the architects of the United Nations? It was a drama of politics and
would eventually donate euphemistic doublespeak terms like "dual hegemony,"
that it was "inconceivable" that he, a highly public figure, could have fooled
for so long the journalists and statesmen who saw "my every facial expression,"
"heard the tones in which I spoke," and "knew my every act." It was, as
Chambers saw it, a crisis of faith. Whom, and what, could you believe?
headline succinctly put it, "Who's the Psycho Now?" If a "psychopath," a term
that enjoyed its greatest vogue in the Cold War years, is someone who meets no
inner resistance in the act of uttering and maintaining what the world holds to
be untruth, the honors must go to Hiss. The evidence that has accumulated over
the years, mostly from Soviet archives, has overwhelmingly favored Chambers'
version of the facts. Tellingly, Hiss thought the Mafia men he met in prison
the "healthiest" people there, because they "had no sense of guilt." But
martyrdom, his homosexuality (the sin of sins in the Cold War era, routinely
treated as a synonym for treason), and his undoubted obsession with Hiss. He,
altogether the story of Chambers' friendship with Hiss, though he never doubts
its authenticity. He identifies unavoidable references to Hiss only in
footnotes, and finally presents their relationship in a brief flashback in the
course of detailing the trials. By this awkward, deflationary reordering and
of Hiss, to give him the dignity that comes with autonomy. But this is to
desert, even betray, his subject. It was Chambers' peculiar fate, and choice,
joined forever in an intimacy deeper and more complex than that of blood or
developed increasing reservations in his later years about the direction the
But Chambers' importance lies, finally, not in his politics but in his romantic
penchant for the extremes of the psychic and political undergrounds. With his
susceptibility to ridicule and parody, his air of furtive portentousness, his
displays of the uncanny intuitive skills that sometimes accompany obsession, he
champion of high art, melodrama was Chambers' medium. The roles he picked for
break what he saw as the "invincible ignorance" of a nation blinded to the
room. He has not been adequately served by a biographer unwilling or unable to
understand the nightmare of Cold War epistemology, the place where politics and
voice, pull it back into your throat so that it's breathy, verging on a rasp
and yet smooth, almost plangent, then expel the line from The Outlaw
handsome killer with his long Magnum pistol. Submit, in many cases, by going
for his gun and getting blown into orgasmic nonexistence.
has one of the great movie voices of our era, but it's also kind of ridiculous.
Probably no star could get away with it if he weren't such an image of cool, as
he's a fine, lightweight comic presence at times (his scowl is a psychotic
entirely discrediting the tradition that makes him bid that effort."
to make the tall man's Magnum shrivel). The book has the breathless indulgence
seems happiest simply basking in the star's aura, preferring the company of
and interviewing anyone with a different version of events or a contrasting
doesn't surprise me, since contrasting points of view don't make it into
character inevitably clobbers or blows away, or in the fact that he is of
acknowledge the faint absurdity of these heroes, but none is ever ultimately
Unforgiven (1992)--who does, admittedly, shoot a rather nice young
antagonists, his analyses can be trenchant. He's especially evocative on the
developed a style that alternated cunningly between extreme wide shots and
the story of one particular police officer in a frustrating situation on one
"It is as a rule absurd, and utterly unrealistic, to see ideological motives,
let alone ideological malevolence" in action pictures; he is conveniently
retract [the movie's] casual contempt for homosexuals, admittedly a feature of
his early action films." That would be mighty white of him! And for this
biographer, "one of the most tasteful campaigns in the history of modern
a sort of sad befuddlement in his tone, 'always want to know what you're
penetrate the deepest reserves of his privacy. It is equally a mystery to him
why anyone would think that bringing things up out of this murk and discussing
them would profit either party. At our cores, he believes, for whatever reason,
what we are, and there is nothing much to be done about that" doesn't make for
"their directness of address, their plainspoken psychological realism") bear
the stamp of this shrunken worldview. A psychiatrist could make the case that
the star's legendary promiscuity, with its attendant insulation and fear of
a profound desire not to make what he does look costly to him, emotionally or
his inadequacies as artistic choices. But I wouldn't want to go too far. I
frequently enjoy his movies, and there's no arguing with the fact that his
stardom has endured for more than three decades. There might be a kind of
he so manifestly cultivates. But the seduction also occurs in unexpected ways.
Reading the book, I found myself conscious of, and moved by, the ways in which
moody spaces. The author doesn't simply idolize his subject, he feels he needs
absent or inadequate father. Above all, he wants us to see the star as
something more than his sexual favors, the liberal media with its shrill
as they're laid off their factory jobs and symbolically robbed of potency, it
Field of Dreams --a shrine to the Dad whom so many elements of the
stereotype, a glimpse of the human caught in the pose. But does the film
the bureaucratic fools. He outwits the psychotic assassin. He beds the young,
everything he's got and everything he's ever gonna have," was hailed by some
many anonymous thugs so offhandedly for so many years. Brave, but hypocritical.
appropriated motifs that swim in and out of the later work of Jasper Johns,
instance of the image that becomes synonymous with its creator. It is the
emblem of painterly emblems, the imprint on the ultimate tote bag of Western
a view to purging himself of influence and beginning afresh with a blank
canvas. It was a sacrifice the gods seems to have found satisfactory (which is,
of course, why we know about it: If they hadn't found it satisfactory, the
story would have acquired a different beginning). For they sent Johns a dream,
with which his name will always be associated, an image he would produce many
works. Flag was among them, but the possibility that the Museum's
with the promise that he would donate it to the Museum later on (which he did,
thought that Johns' Flag, which seems so sweet and inoffensive in
comparison with the art that causes controversy today, would give anyone
political jitters seems a commentary on the oppressiveness of early Cold War
two mannequins displaying the latest in ladies' suits, and no one seems to have
friction between the agitators of appetite and the guardians of taste that gave
truth to this version, but not enough. Johns must have been happy to have
displaced, in his understated way, the cultural dominance of the big action
Two Balls (1960)--and there they are, squeezed forlornly between two big
accompanies it, to exemplify what has become a leading theme of his work as
chief curator of painting and sculpture at the museum. This is the idea that
continually being renewed and revisited in Western culture. There may be no
better illustration of this thesis than the work of Jasper Johns.
From one point of view, Johns' flags and targets derive
which is, if this is a work of art, then what is not? But from another point of
rest are, like the haystacks, simply subject matter for painterly treatment.
They are, as Johns himself put it, "things the mind already knows," forms which
can be remade, over and over, and seen anew. This puts them about as squarely
combines) lose exactly half their point in reproduction. They retain their
intellectual aspect, but lose their sensual aspect. In reproduction, the flag
picture is a familiar dadaist conundrum: something that is neither a flag nor a
picture. On the wall, though, Flag is a magnificently variegated
surface, an intensely made thing, a dense amalgam of newspaper,
encaustic, and paint. It does not occur to you, when you encounter it in the
in the flesh inspires reflections on the nature of modern fame. You are too
object. Do something to it. Do something else to it. Ditto." The recipe is from
an early notebook of Johns', and it is the best explanation of his procedure.
career includes beeswax, lighter fluid, oil stain, plaster casts, crayon,
charcoal, chalk, cardboard, ink on plastic, and the impress of his own body.
One painting features his teeth marks. He doesn't want to represent or to
painting, and who derives his subject matter from a dream, is, in some sense, a
increasing absorption in a personal vocabulary composed of body parts;
crosshatching patterns (an overworked motif of the 1970s); vases; clocks;
heads; and, in the most recent work, the image of a spiral galaxy.
though if the right combinations were found, the rebus might be decoded
(though, of course, it never is). There are periods in which the work fades
into hermeticism; there are periods when it aspires to a lyric summing up, as
spectacle of technique brought to bear on form; and although this is a minimal
definition of art, there is nothing minimal about the results.
writing his incandescent essays on high culture for nearly four decades now,
steadily deepening his insights and widening his topical reach, but carrying on
the same essential errand. In earlier times, he would have been one of
Enlightenment's missionaries; in our own, he has come to be seen more as a
traditions and verities, the world around him has been mutating.
the latest of the critic's many studies and collections, sends its root threads
back to nearly every phase of his complex endeavor. There are essays on all the
writes in "Real Presences," the second essay: "Where we read truly, where the
reader, in his solitary bearing, his grave demeanor, honors this most freighted
obligation, which can be construed as an obligation to being itself. But "the
introduction, has all but brought this particular sense of presence to
extinction. He lets himself dream that there might arise "schools of creative
reading," but he also knows that his dreams will remain just that.
lack a polemicist's instinct for the intellectual or ideological "hot spot." He
begins his attack with smaller provocations: In "A Reading Against
the Bard to test some of our dearest assumptions about this mythic figure.
suggests an alternative requirement for true greatness, that comprehended in
expense of ethics or higher spiritual aspiration. The conclusion, cagey,
persuasive when he compares various fields and finds that only architecture and
argument still feels more like animadversion than rigorous reflection.
rank." For the rest of us, a translation: What those tired and huddled masses
elite culture and eruptions of barbarism. He notes that "the correlations
He ends by questioning whether the threat to thought and
creation of the first rank lies in the "apparatus of political repression" or
'Holocaust' is interrupted every fourteen minutes by commercials, in which
venturing hard queries and unpopular responses. His views are calculatedly
divisive. Indeed, it is hard to square one's indignation at being patronized
with the nettlesome suspicion that he may be right. Ours is not now, nor is it
precisely. We long ago decided to ignore the poet's counsel and took the road
more traveled. We narrowed our intellectual horizons and flattened our
what a difference that choice has made. Those who feel no sense of crisis about
thump. The rest of us will be piqued, shamed, outraged, instructed, and maybe
stage. Under his military exterior he was a pure aesthete, a devotee of
esoteric literature and musty medieval romanticism, a kind of tactical
chance of success, but he drove ahead regardless. He was determined to commit
times unexpectedly passionate. It is the first book to do justice to the
brothers were the most ardent disciples of his last years. The poet took them
in first of all because he liked to have handsome youngsters around him.
Symbolists his principal poetic model. His love of the Romance languages
incited a highly subversive orthographic innovation: the elimination of capital
his conservative phase), he saw authoritarian rulers ushering in a kingdom of
insufficiently fascist by the monument committee. He criticized the vulgarity
Standard theories about German officers and their disillusionment with the
went only so far in his devotion to the military; he was not acting simply to
building will, so to speak, represent a temple dedicated to the German nation
and fatherland." One observer noted in him "a streak of demonic will to power
descriptions of the man's essential sensitivity to others. His military career
shows him repeatedly choosing human values over material gains. His specialty
sensed in this inscrutable sentence from a resistance manifesto: "We want a New
and justice, but we scorn the lie of equality and we bow before the hierarchies
resistance movement and gave it at least the appearance of purpose. He set up
Despite his injuries, he also insisted on arming the bomb himself. He was
interrupted by a phone call and succeeded in activating only one of two
packages of explosives; had he left the second package in the briefcase, it too
would have exploded, greatly increasing the force of the bomb and killing
and nudged it as close to the target as he could, then left on a mumbled
excuse, drove off the compound, and flew to Berlin. He struggled for several
hours to keep the rebellion together, but innumerable weak links were revealed
in his improvised chain of command. Since he had probably resigned himself to
failure from the beginning, he kept up a confident exterior to the end. As he
faced a firing squad at the end of the day, he shouted out a phrase that was
with a Holy Roman emperor and found reality in the musings of a visionary
notes in blue or black ink, as she prescribed. It was a hoot, and it was
polite, too. Miss Manners was wittily practical with the "Gentle Readers" who
wrote in for advice on cleaning up their acts. Ministering to their sense of
irony and their sense of insecurity at the same time, she was the perfect campy
The risk, of course, lay in taking Miss Manners too
Will, who was born wearing a bow tie, to give her cause a pedigree. Anointing
behalf of the same neat, elite Western standards that he with his fountain pen
style, Will compared Miss Manners on the civilizing power of social convention
"She insists, wrongly, that she deals with manners rather than with morals,"
Will informed his readers. As the conservative, acquisitive 1980s took off,
Miss Manners was conscripted for the conservative values crusade.
doubtless blushed at such treatment, has been trying to live up to the
philosophical flattery and live down the ideological company ever since.
Miss Manners Rescues Civilization From Sexual Harassment, Frivolous
represents her most sweeping effort so far. The etiquette expert doesn't want
crusader in the civility wars herself. This 500-page book, in which Miss
Manners does a lot of recycling, isn't likely to raise an eyebrow, a hackle, or
Manners underrates the popularity of etiquette in the 1990s, and overrates its
power. According to her, only she, along with "theologians and philosophers, in
the correct belief that manners are a virtue akin to morality." Everyone else,
incivility, spurns "the gentler, freer, extralegal system of etiquette." Yet
her current book, to say nothing of life itself during the decade and a half
since her first book, offers ample proof of a mania for manners. (Three more
but that doesn't mean people shudder at the concept, as Miss Manners claims.
"unnecessarily tiring" in practice) are in; so are forks. The service economy
Service trains employees in cheerful civility. "Teach Your Toddler Manners" is
listen to Miss Manners herself, who has to admit there has been progress: "When
the nostalgic moan about the decline of etiquette, Miss Manners turns contrary
and points out that it is only recently that frank expressions of prejudice
have become socially unacceptable." She gushes that "netiquette," the rules
being codified for computer behavior, proves the younger generation understands
the "legitimacy of etiquette as an essential factor in community life." Miss
Manners, when it comes right down to it, acknowledges that most citizens aren't
at sea about standards of politeness at all, heterogeneous though our nation's
standards may be. Even "allowing for the unawareness of newcomers and for
In short, Miss Manners is in danger of being out of a job.
What's more, it becomes clear that the job, as she stakes out her
"Here's what strikes Miss Manners as a fair division of labor," she writes on
her favorite subject, child rearing: "She will nag adults to teach manners to
children, and everyone else will find them the time in which to do this." Now
there's an undertaking: "Just restructure society so that a reasonable person
can manage both a job and a private life." (Presumably the same goes for her
cure for sexual harassment: She insists that a firm distinction between working
and socializing will clear everything right up.) And where greater zealots
might enlist "etiquette's weapon of disapproval" to try to restructure society
pressure to encourage stable family life. She only insists that it take a less
It sounds suspiciously like National Secretaries Week: penance that allows
complaining to her about their disgusting fellow citizens." Boorishness is good
Pastoral arrived in the bookstores a few weeks ago, and I have been hearing
radicalism of the 1960s, generational warfare, and the intricacies of
society will go to hell. The mailman, it's true, has not yet read the novel,
only the reviews, and our lively conversation (many skyward hand gestures)
the theological detour to show what is going on these days every time I pick up
the phone or loll about on the springtime sidewalk.
serene, handsome, athletic, bland, shallow, a man who seems to have been
The Swede is a great character. I can't say that I entirely
motive factor remains elusive. "All that rose to the surface was more surface."
wandering around the New Jersey wilds. But the peculiar virtue of this
Swede's benign imagination, produces a fine, sugary lyricism that is not more
the innocence any longer, and whose drumbeat imprecations achieve a kind of
are you? Do you know? What you are is you're always trying to smooth things
over. What you are is always trying to be moderate. What you are is never
Decorum. Decorum is what you spit in the face of. Well, your daughter
Or this, even louder (an ability to turn up the volume is
man is? You have no idea what a man is. You think you know what a
daughter is? You have no idea what a daughter is. You think you know
what this country is? You have no idea what this country is. You have a
these tones are, how vividly they conjure up the Swede's reality. In any case,
The details do pile up, though, until you begin to think
Then he compounds his error by investing these background details with
compound by overheating the plot (you will have to discover the details for
yourself). By the end, he is delivering verdicts like this: "The outlaws are
everywhere. They're inside the gates." Or: He tells us that "the real subject"
is one of "wantonness and betrayal and deception, of treachery and disunity
among neighbors and friends, the subject of cruelty. The mockery of human
not only about the '60s but exudes a distinctly '60s fume of windy prophetic
fascinating without being exactly moving. A terrific book, halfway undermined.
But I don't want to make too much of my complaints, given that, in my little
section. Mayhem, family collapse, the occasional terrorist bomb, mad
hear the term "Socialist Realism," you probably see in your mind's eye a large,
detailed canvas: A sweating laborer, goggles pushed back on his forehead,
smirks under his mustache. Behind them is a chorus line of muscular women in
babushkas; behind them, in turn, a rising sun. Or something like that. Nine
years after the collapse of the Soviet empire, the genre is now referred to
primarily in vodka ads, as stock imagery of a comfortably camp sort. It is a
grotesque relic of a defused threat, and we can feel good knowing that we have
norm. The next thing that makes an impression on leafing through it is the
for, but very few of the many pictures fit the conventional mold. The paintings
chosen as illustrations tend to be darker, less academic, more complicated. The
tone is very different from, for example, that of the show of Socialist Realist
looked like a parody, and any of them could have been hung very nicely next to
grave and dignified and often eager to claim descent from the likes of
encounter with the book, my next thought was that it must surely represent a
perverse but fascinating phenomenon: a defense of Socialist Realism from the
position of aesthetic conservatism. After all, there exists a tendency these
the Modernist canon often seems to be paired with a disillusionment with
communist teleology, wouldn't championing the essential conservatism of all
that do not fit the bill, that refer neither to old masters nor to magazine
that we in the West have ignored, if not actually betrayed, the great body of
painting made in this century in the former Soviet republics. We have chosen to
represent Socialist Realism in terms of its most moronic and craven examples,
and we have instead upheld the banner of the "left" artists, the Futurists and
Constructivists, who were marginal at best in their time and place.
He does not dismiss the latter, recognizing the originality
colleagues, but he wants us to pay attention to those other artists, many more
in number, who do not fall seamlessly into the Modernist continuum but who
materials as an independent scholar, has absorbed a vast history largely
unreported outside the Soviet republics. It is seldom easy going. Acronyms
bristle on the page as he records internecine warfare in various Soviet
artists' leagues. The reader's mind throbs as he dissects minute shifts in
official thinking and individual temper, and conducts tours of the diverse art
fascinating, for example, to note the many swings of the official pendulum
between the two cardinal sins of "naturalism" (meaning grim subject matter) and
"formalism" (denoting any sort of aesthetic deviation). At various times in
various cities, war or peace ruled as themes, women were seen as strong or as
fragile, colors were to be bright or dun. Small revolutions took place when,
say, failure was accepted as a subject or national costume permitted. There was
For that matter, Socialist Realism was no monolithic
had its roots both in classic Western art and in much older local traditions,
largely from private collections, that defy all our notions of what Soviet art
something that looks simultaneously back to rural primitivism and forward to
1950s despite intermittent castigation for "aestheticism," represents a missing
link, connecting Socialist Realism with the collages of the Constructivists and
neglect in the West is just one indication of the giant iceberg of unknown art
Committee examining issues of public morality. He had seen "boys and girls
Q: Do you ask us to believe that the downfall of these women was due to
Power (a more detailed look at sugar and its meaning), also explores other
topics, ranging from the broader relationship between political power and food
to more idiosyncratic excursions such as the chapter entitled "Color, Taste,
and Purity: Some Speculations on the Meanings of Marzipan."
telling historical surprises. In the sweetener competition, for example, sugar
abolished the monasteries, the decline in demand for candle wax slowed the
honey output and opened a window for sugar. Detective Young was able to indulge
in his cheap moralizing four centuries later because back then, everything
our first foods (dating to the Paleolithic Era). It was comparatively mild in
first imported luxury to become a cheap daily necessity of the masses," and,
in history of the mass consumption of imported food staples." As
class yearned for it, creating a demand that would underlie the expansion of
politicians, sugar became "an eminently taxable commodity," and "acquired many
champions in the press, in the medical journals, in the Foreign Office, and in
producers, before whom elected officials would need to bow and scrape.
astonishing speeches by Abolitionists who easily equated cane sugar with
considered as consuming two ounces of blood." Sugar's aura of evil endures to
Valentine's Day candy. No one who reads these chapters will scoop up another
spoonful of sugar without reflecting on the history of ambivalence, global
turmoil, and centuries of suffering needed to put it on the table.
the three devoted to sugar. Still, this is a book whose bibliography includes
monographs entitled Private Tooth Decay as Public Economic Virtue and
tomes such as The History and Social Influence of the Potato --so the
rest of it is still loaded with nuggets worth finding. The dominance of Coke,
"authentic" because they use "local ingredients" and involve "a community of
people who eat it, cook it, have opinions about it, and engage in dialogue
involving those opinions." On the other hand, "national cuisines" are largely
concludes: "I don't think anyone wants to call that array a cuisine." (That's
environmental impact of overfishing local stocks, and by ferocious marketing
that dilutes their "authenticity" and ends in "bowdlerization." But this is
food, which means that it's not easy for all "irrepressible enthusiasts" to sit
what's nettlesome is not his answer but the question. If cuisines emerge
organically over time from rooted people, then why pose the question about a
and strip malls one year, tear them down the next, and build something else. So
cuisine. They're scouting out new food fads, scarfing them down, and then
rooting about for the next one. Had a blackened redfish lately? Probably not.
bathos of ending his book on such a weak note. So he tacks on different ending
by turning, in his own words, to "an unbelievably grim scenario." He cites one
prompt another Operation Desert Storm, but this time for meat. "Its effects on
"we might let our obsessive notions of individual freedom destroy our
democracy." Oh, for the restraint of Detective Young.
sent to a gulag, and he wasn't shot. Rather, he lived on to see his ideals
thoroughly rubbished and himself marginalized to the point of nonexistence. But
his life and art appear inseparable from the trajectory of the Communist
was the epitome of Constructivism, which, of all the "isms" of early
out to remake the world beginning with the appearance of material objects, but
unlike him they did not feel the burden of responsibility toward a society in
groupings of the left wing of Soviet art in the 1920s saw themselves as
embattled representatives of the true spirit of the Revolution, in the face of
graphic design, stage design, photography, and a few other things besides.
Theirs was a revolution of the imagination, and many of their works continue to
pastiches and secondhand derivations, but at the same time they present an
unhappy example of wishful thinking. These artists believed that if they built
their respective corners of the new world, the rest would fill itself in and
the people would flock to inhabit it. Instead, few of them had much of a
process of relentless stripping down, jettisoning first figuration, then
ambiguity, then volume, and finally color. After his ritual immolation of the
the bottom, initially by way of collage. The family resemblance among his
even the United States provides a bracing example of what is meant by a
Zeitgeist --in a time of shaky and sluggish telecommunications, several
dozen widely separated artists all hit at once on the idea of chopping up
whatever printed ephemera lay at hand and reassembling the fragments into
dynamic compositions that reassigned their meaning. It was a scavenger's
revolution that held large promise for a time: finding potential in the most
random litter, making a new world out of the debris of the old.
from practical application and was driving down every useful avenue, designing
clothing (the factory uniform by way of Buck Rogers), printed fabrics,
newspaper kiosks, logotypes, magazine covers and book jackets, and printed
1921--which permitted a limited amount of capitalist competition in order to
advertising agency for many of the state's manufacturing and retail operations,
strong competition from abroad, he virtually came to own the rakish angle on
perpendicular view of the street from above. The show includes some lesser
with their static figures and shifting traffic backdrops are like little movies
faces of the Young Pioneers were denounced as "grotesque" by members of
felt the shifting winds and bent himself to various acts of public
street photography. He diligently applied himself to the kind of work allotted
the hinterlands. His private pictures from the time include some classics, but
austere, but equally odd, architectural spaces. These are smallish, intense
the appetite of the general public." Viewed together, they reveal surprising
affinities between two versatile and ambitious artists whose early childhood
traumas inspired them to try to redesign the world.
hallucinations that she was being overwhelmed by proliferating dots and nets.
Obsessive, repetitive patterns entered her work early on. Determined to take
flowers in vibrant colors. Looking down from the top of the Empire State
extended the net patterns of the flowers across huge canvases, creating the
creations and, along with color variants, were favorably compared at the time
These monochrome "accumulations," as repetitively patterned as the infinity
theatrical hamburgers and lipsticks, with which they were sometimes shown in
early Pop Art exhibitions. Like the polka dots, the proliferating penises were,
of all the food a person consumes in a lifetime passing by on a conveyor belt.
suggests) with eating disorders, which were barely discussed at the time. But
insert her own image into her work. She had herself photographed, nude except
from these ambiguous engagements with the male gaze to more attention grabbing
in a kimono, dabs paint on her nude models, who begin to dance in comic
pieces always ended the same way, with the arrival of the cops. They got her on
the cover of the New York tabloids, but they didn't pay the rent. Her paintings
and sculptures, with their use of body parts and food, anticipate the work of
fables of sexual violence set in New York, with titles like The Hustler's
designer of the standard fire hydrant and grew up among engineers such as his
alone in a little prefabricated house in the backyard, so the rest of the
family would be protected from contagion. The previous year, during a family
hours fashioning "pueblos" out of medicine boxes and covering them with
suited, when he was groping for a profession, to the "organic" architecture of
depressed him. An ambitious plan for a hexagonally based church, raised above
along and took his sketchbooks. There he hit on a pattern based on circles in a
as the first successful attempt to "systematize the 'allover' painting"
different impetus in these buoyant pictures, labeling the peanut shaped forms
a sort of triumphal entryway to the southeast corner of Central Park,
demonstrates the unsettling possibilities of tetrahedral shapes, where the
structures. (The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has helpfully
added a note that the work "is not intended to promote cigarette smoking.")
autodidact with no degree beyond high school, Smith had too many ideas. The
Smith's political ideas are more elusive. He adopted an
There's nothing on record, as far as I know, to link him to his mentor Wright's
symbol, the "spiral cross," which is really nothing but a relaxed swastika.
art and architecture, Smith's sculptures and buildings were insistently built
schemes for redesigning society inevitably flirt with repressive politics. Or
seems locked into its time. The inflexible architect leaves behind a whiff of
Walking through Smith's fantasy world of black steel, I found myself drawn to
some of his softer, more tentative objects, like the handmade plaster web
of confused sperm, tangled up (in a traffic jam?) with the caption: "Will
number of books written about a political movement would have some rough
connection with its ultimate importance. The noisy crusades that became
historical footnotes would all be literary footnotes as well.
different sort of world, one in which it is possible, for example, to fill up
the better part of a library with volumes written by, and about, the leftists
in Manhattan in the 1930s. Anything you want to know about the sectarian
the time. Nor is it because of their impact on the decades that followed. I
their subsequent recreations on Riverside Drive. The truth is that 1930s
leftism became a literary genre because those who indulged in it enjoyed
It would be a mistake to conclude that, as those leftists
depart from the scene, the tradition of political verbosity will die out.
emerging, and off to an appropriately windy start. If you happen to be
subject is that his is an entertaining book, readable and unpretentious, a
little softhearted toward his old comrades, but more than willing to take them
absurdities, one stands out in high relief, and also links the leftists of the
1960s to those of the Depression years. It is their consistent overestimation
believed a political revolution to be within their grasp may seem a little
when he describes what it felt like to be in the vanguard of something new and
swept across the student universe," he writes on the first page. "Almost
Partly it was a belief, hard to remember today, that a superior new society was
legacy, a generation later? A Tale of Two Utopias is a lucid,
the other leftist political organizations of 1968--is not a pretty one. By the
goofiness had it not resulted in the loss of innocent lives on both sides of
democracies is a conclusion that a simple electoral history of the ensuing
at the Stonewall bar in Manhattan. The students who the year before had marched
and chanted and proclaimed "it is forbidden to forbid" had been arguing for
liberation of the oppressed of virtually every kind, and when it comes to the
"There is reason to think that on the matter of homosexuality," he writes,
"some small but important aspect of human personality has begun to change."
may be true, but the connection between the gay awakening and the student
to the whole individualist ethos of the last two decades. But it doesn't
exactly count as a trophy from the barricades. The world would have conceded
the claims of both gays and women without the student occupation of a single
the leading theorist of the Solidarity protest movement of the 1980s, and
forces of illegitimate authority. That they were the incarnation of the dreams
civilization is moving gradually, if fitfully, toward greater individual
the utopian enthusiasm of those years simply did not take sufficient account of
the fundamental reality of evil in the human psyche.
presents almost no evidence about the way the world is feeling. What he tells
us is how the student rebels of his own generation are feeling, and that they
are not feeling very well. In magnifying the global significance of their
the answer to a game of Twenty Questions, and you'll probably stump your
a lasting notoriety and a venom so pure it was almost guileless. But though she
turned out a couple of plays after that, they never achieved the same kind of
critical or commercial success. Even The Women lives on primarily in
wear are half the joke. Was she a journalist? In the early 1930s, she served
magazine gleaming with smart chat. When World War II broke out, she filed
husband, Henry, based on an idea she'd whispered in his ear. But reporting soon
the Soviet threat that wasn't already being said, to a wider audience, in her
lasting value of any of these accomplishments. What made her famous is that she
did all these things in one lifetime, like a paper doll that comes with
different costumes for different vocations (the girl about town, the war
correspondent, the ambassador); that she did them all and was beautiful; that
she did them all in a perfumed cloud of scandal and glamour, trailed by many
lovers and by gossip that she herself stoked with her acerbic tongue and her
In a way Luce is the ideal subject for this particular
moment in the art of biography. The relative slightness of her work is part of
the attraction. It forms the latticework through which we can peer at the
this century, biography was the art of inspiring readers with the spectacle of
an exemplary life, or of offering insights into an exemplary body of work. This
narrowed the range of subjects to the conventionally eminent, mainly men.
history, and an even more general interest in the details of sexually
to care about their canonical status. Bohemian types whose lives beckon with an
Luce. The life's work matters less than the lifestyle. And, frankly, it helps
happens, this premium on the juicy stuff has emerged in unlikely tandem with a
new professionalization of the biographer's trade. Biographies these days are
long. And so arrives a peculiar hybrid, the dishy biography that is also a
Rage for Fame and mostly enjoying myself, I was astonished to flip to
forwarding address. And in churlish retrospect, I began to wonder how much we
yearnings for a brilliant destiny. Her parents were poor, and her mother, Ann
career as a salesman had devolved into an impecunious one as a roving
He kept her and her two children in grand style, even after she married a third
man. But none of that prevented Ann from rejecting a New York hotel because it
was very, very rich and not terribly bright. He wrote her love letters in baby
mother soothed. "He'll fall down those marble stairs soon enough." But after
six long years of marriage and one child, he wasn't yet in "dying condition,"
in it." The divorce left her a wealthy young woman indeed.
diaries, she has unearthed one after another. The stories she tells about
editors, Morris writes, "she put on a gray dress with white collar and cuffs,
new employee. She took a seat at an empty desk in the editorial department and
waited for some work to arrive. After a while it did." When the editor in chief
her. By the time he died, in a car accident that may have been an act of
into his job with assurance and fill it with panache.
Rage for Fame makes abundantly clear is how essential the patronage of
career women of her generation as well. A female editor or correspondent was
still something of a novelty act in the '30s and '40s, a luxury that male
employers could forgo without compunction or a lawsuit. It was harder to forgo
handmaiden to ambition, motherhood was not. Luce packed her young daughter off
to distant boarding schools and summer camps every chance she got. "It's a
there were moments when, in the consciousness of her own power to look and be
so exactly what the occasion required, she almost felt that other girls were
peerless in portraying the feel of the modern city.
choice to muscle French painting out of the cafe and the artist's studio and
into the world of steel girders and factory smoke. He took elements from the
closest to capturing the dynamism and rhythm of our headlong century.
nostalgia for the countryside, reminders of which appear in some of his most
where he first trained as an architect, then studied at a couple of traditional
It was a democratizing experience by his own account, making him feel, as he
put it in an often quoted remark, "on a level with the whole of the French
single most famous painting. Some grimly monochromatic figures mount the
otherwise the city seems a cheerful, colorful refuge, decked with tasteful
advertising posters. "Never has the poetry of the first machine age been so
abrupt embrace of urban life. It's as though after wrestling long and hard with
and pistons that dominate his paintings of the early 1920s remain unusually
pronounced sympathy for the working man, his experience of factory conditions
soldiers. (His Social Realist Construction Workers was displayed in the
painter's resolutely optimistic vision. Even New York City, where he waited out
Times Square stall. The stray fences and tree limbs, from the upstate
he painted stilted idylls in the countryside, utopias no one would want to live
in. The most sophisticated machinery here is the bicycle.
escape into abstraction, his flirtation with competing schools of Modernism,
development. As the machinery shrank in his pictures, his women grew in
prominence and size. So many Modernist breakthroughs involved the visual
the question of what women are, exactly. Are they companions in the human realm
vegetable, or mineral? The metallic moving parts of Woman in Blue yield
as though the nude woman is a botanical exhibit. A decade later, in his
inert, but there's blood in their veins. The painting suggests an equation
between two forms of wildlife: the clothed boy holds a parrot, his companion
inseparable from his ideas about machinery. His clever Ballet
claimed, was to prove "that machines and fragments of them, that ordinary
manufactured objects, have plastic possibilities." In other words, detached
from their familiar uses and manipulated on film, such objects could be
parts. But the blinking eyes in his mechanical ballet are heavy with mascara,
wanted his machines to be as sexy and intimate as beautiful women, and his
women to be as available and predictable as household appliances.
with somnambulant knights and maidens? Who are these anorexic figures with
once quipped)? The Metropolitan Museum of Art, never much of a showplace for
and liberally [since] he offers an entertainment which is for us to take or to
he was doing, and he did it exceedingly well. "I mean by a picture," he wrote,
remember, only desire." It is the piling on of negatives that is significant
trained our eyes to see the modern world of work and leisure in a certain way
traditions predated the Industrial Revolution. His mother died within a week of
as a founding member. The two close friends form an interesting contrast.
visual arts and especially to drawing. The overweight Morris, caricatured in
capacious mind to every aspect of culture and society: literature and art,
economics and politics, architecture and city planning. He was one of the
Morris wanted to work out the nuts and bolts of an actual socialist society to
replace the capitalist, industrial society he so hated.
social critic in his temperament. He was content to accept commissions and to
leave the arguments to Morris. He was the brilliant medieval craftsman
envisioned by Morris, turning out extraordinary designs for just about
furniture, and book illustrations but also jewelry, fans, and embroidered
shoes. All but the shoes are on view at the Met. The Morris emphasis on the
redesign the world, however, it left a lasting and positive imprint on
in a caricature of Morris, his fat ass as wide as the loom at which he works).
His languid figures lined up across the canvas do almost nothing; they can
sometimes work up the energy to idly pluck a lute, or to roll the dice on a
activity; he likes to paint people asleep, turned into stone or trees, or
there first). In the story of Briar Rose (or Sleeping Beauty) he found a
perfect theme, with knights and maidens and kings and queens all asleep amid
When his women unexpectedly wake up, like Galatea in his
they should have let sleeping maidens lie. The culminating image in this vein
mind a threat as great as modern machinery. In a bizarre late painting called
oversize phallic anchors looms in a harbor, the banks of which are lined with
ritualized occasions. The Prince of Wales arranged a memorial service in
social scientist and core member of the group known as the New York
Intellectuals, appears to be haunted by second thoughts. This may be a sign of
accuses the author of "cowardice," of mollycoddling the multicultural left in
gentleman, always ready to concede, at least rhetorically, the sincerity of his
misgivings, and his new book, painful and awkward and sometimes confused, is
resisted the categories he has tried to impose on it throughout his career.
however, did not last long. In the afterglow of the war and the recovery from
the Depression, Glazer and most of the other New York Intellectuals came to see
immigrants like themselves, and that the immigrants had in turn embraced the
democratic values, the secular rituals, and the faith in individual achievement
faith of the '50s, mass culture was not eradicating ancient distinctions of
religion and ethnicity. Its unspoken premise was that every ethnic group until
then had found its own distinctive path to success. Blacks had, in effect,
recently arrived at the head of the line; they had problems, but so had the
the authors admitted they had assumed that blacks would behave as, and see
themselves as, one ethnic group among many. They hadn't imagined that blacks
would want to be treated as something wholly new, a "racial" group. The authors
wrote that they were "saddened and frightened" by the implications of this
choice, and they blamed the white intelligentsia for legitimizing it.
race, along with revolt on campus, that pushed Glazer and his crowd to the
action and decisively broke with contemporary liberalism. Affirmative action,
with its promise of government intervention to overcome the effects of
discrimination, represented a willful refusal by blacks to accept "the main
reflections. It was becoming clear, he wrote, that blacks weren't being
assimilated as others had been. Perhaps affirmative action wasn't so very
willful after all. "The underlying force that keeps the system of numerical
quotas and goals strong is the actual condition of blacks," he wrote. Glazer
didn't think affirmative action was the answer, but he cautioned against an
person one would expect to applaud the kind of ethnic chauvinism and
school textbooks," he writes. But Glazer concludes that his side has
the schools and the blithe acceptance of it even by teachers and administrators
with no ethnic or ideological ax to grind. Multiculturalism, he finds, though
with only the most anecdotal evidence, has been institutionalized. Glazer
appears to be conceding that the postwar liberal faith was misguided, and that
the pluralistic community he envisioned in Beyond the Melting Pot has
that's not quite so. Glazer observes that while the multicultural curriculum is
being propagated in the name of the new wave of immigrants, the immigrants
subject; it almost seems hidden from Glazer himself. Toward the end of this
short book, Glazer observes that it is blacks, not immigrants, who have pushed
hardest for the multicultural curriculum. And when Glazer asks why this is so,
This is, for Glazer, an almost subversive conclusion.
Conservatives, including Glazer himself, have routinely called on blacks to
behave like immigrants. Now he is saying that blacks want to follow the ethnic
frustration. It is this recognition that accounts for the strange air of
He's no more comfortable condemning multiculturalism than he is condemning
affirmative action, though he believes in neither. He is forced to say,
instead, that multiculturalism isn't the end of the world. That's certainly
true, and it's a useful corrective to all the apocalyptic literature on the
subject. But it puts Glazer in the bizarre position of accepting the teaching
significantly influenced the framers of the Constitution. Glazer is right to
think that even a steady diet of ethnic special pleading won't lead to
effects of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is guilty of plenty of midsize
students locked in their own form of isolation, and the reduction of history to
is that abolishing the multicultural curriculum, even were it possible,
wouldn't do much to diminish racial isolation; the dynamic works the other way
around. This is not, for Glazer, a "problem" with a "solution." It is a
tragedy. Glazer is still the neoconservative who wrote The Limits of Social
residential or educational integration, or raise the low level of racial
intermarriage. He doesn't believe that racism is the cause of black isolation,
so he doesn't suggest that enlightenment is the answer. It's not easy to argue
Melting Pot --a putatively neutral book with a profoundly discouraging
subtext. And in the arc that connects the two one can read the downfall of what
picked up on the even more considerable chat about intellectuals in general and
the "public intellectual" in particular. Many of us got our first sense of that
Review crowd of the 1940s and 1950s in the United States. Given the
whiteness of those images and the long history of denying intellectual aptitude
reason for this is obvious. There's a longer list now than ever before of
prestige, producing scholarly works, and discussing with a popular audience
this activity lay in the social sciences. Now, the rise of black studies has
whom share the engagement with the work of contemporary artists that
both serious scholars and substantial artists. So, it might seem that the time
historical survey of its subject, from the colonial period to the present.
the stricter sense of the word. Like the Left Bankers, they had elite
educations; like them, they address questions about our public life. And they
leery of this desire to extend the category of "intellectual" in all sorts of
directions away from those with a vocation to scholarship or writing. Banks'
choice of a starting point seems to invoke an expansive notion of the
intellectual that includes some (but not all) academics, novelists,
have been characterized as intellectuals, apparently on the theory that the
term is apt when celebrating anyone who ever had and expressed an idea some
other intellectuals liked. The problem here isn't that rappers don't
would suppose that calling people "intellectuals" is the best way to take them
seriously. Some scholars nowadays use the term "intellectual" as an honorific,
important, all the different ways of using your intellect in different
institutions, for different audiences, in different social circles, with
kind of person you can shoehorn into a single group. There are societies, like
word "intellectual" was first used in its modern sense). But the United States
about intellectuals will leave some readers to expect a few clear definitions
In fact, Banks' concession to this academic vogue is almost
entirely limited to the medicine men and priests of his first chapter. The
decision is a reflection, I think, not of his catering to fashion, but of the
problem facing anyone whose aim is to write the first full history of
were slaves introduced largely for manual labor, intellectual activity is
naturally not a large part of their record. Other societies had used slaves as
slaves were brought to the New World to use their muscles, not their minds.
the cultivation of knowledge. Does it matter that Banks omits them from his
story? That depends on whether your interest is in the past or in the present.
power.) Banks' heart, it seems to me, is in the present: He is tracing the
ancestry of contemporary black intellectuals to claim for them the title to a
with an intellectual vocation were deprived of the chance to make a living
places to which those thwarted thinkers diverted their energies. But as black
colleges developed after the Civil War, and increasingly since the
now professors. It is not surprising, then, that as Black Intellectuals
Banks does not, in the end, succumb to the desire to include everyone who ever
the ways in which they have worked throughout the history of the republic. His
central themes are debates over the meaning of race and how black intellectuals
(whoever they may be) have negotiated their relationship with "ordinary" black
government during World War II, it draws a sharp picture of the fate of blacks
with brains, forced, whatever their real interests, to deal with the question
of race. His later chapters ask whether, in a new world where blacks are
present (if still in small numbers) in our society's most powerful intellectual
institutions, black thinkers might be free to spend less time thinking about
The book ends with a reflection on the argument between
"those intellectuals who advocate an organic relationship with the black
community and those who aspire to transcend ethnic considerations," suggesting,
affably, that the choice must be left, in our individualist culture, for each
of us to make for ourselves. This is a little too simple. These are not, after
all, the only options: Some of us who don't want to be the organic
intellectuals of the inner city (or of anywhere else) are not disposed simply
to "transcend" our racial identities either. And, even if the choice were up to
each of us, it would be a choice we make in a community that still places
strong constraints on what a black thinker can do. The individualist ideal in
little time for mining the substantial debates among black intellectuals, but
the main ones get at least a mention. Only one general issue is curiously
academic who has an engagement with the fate of the race is part of the story,
doesn't merit discussion. I suspect Banks' choice reflects his own commitment
to a sensibly conventional vision of the intellectual life, one that casts more
reputation were inseparable from the beginning, no doubt because his
The Big Novel was promised and promised, but it seemed as if it would never
fiction appeared in The New Yorker throughout the '60s and '70s, but
they eventually amounted not to a novel but to a second collection, Stories
that this new diversion proved he would never finish the novel.
partisans admitted, perhaps too long, too repetitive, too fragmentary. Literary
fashion is elusive; what in the 1960s might have seemed like an apotheosis of
modernism had, by the decidedly postmodern 1990s, come to seem old hat.
with AIDS. He promptly published a declaration of his illness in The New
This Wild Darkness: The Story of My Death is his final book, a series of
account takes us from his discovery that he was ill with AIDS through his
prolonged hospital stay with pneumonia, his decision to return home, and the
though we know the end, the story is filled with suspense, and we turn the
pages intently. He was too great a writer not to milk the drama of his own
demise. Running parallel to the story of the author's dying is that of his
understated valentine that colors the entire book with almost inadvertent
trying to decide if, for instance, this story's narrator from a St.
Louis suburb was the same as that story's narrator from a St. Louis
suburb. Although the various narrators might sound exactly the same, they would
have different names, and one, a sister. And then there were the confusions
among the many Venetian lovers, male and female, and the mystery of the alter
always seemed to be deliberately provoking the puzzlement, coyly playing
the horrors of death, great death, amused me in a quiet way. Amused? Well, what
broken, yet not entirely. And there is a cartoon aspect: the curses people
hurled at you have come true. What do you suggest I do? Be unamused?
crack in, writing, "I do think about suicide a lot because it is so boring to
writer," to the conviction that his "work will live" after he is gone. He chews
over his past, counts up his debtors, enumerates his aches and pains, and
worries the issue of subjectivity to the bone. "[A friend] says that I am a
my own will and of individual will in anyone," he writes. Or, again, "I believe
that the world is dying, not just me." Is all this his special megalomania, or
extreme that it succeeds, paradoxically, in turning him into an Everyman:
crippled rabbit that I don't want to pet, that I forget to feed on time, that I
haven't time to play with and get to know, a useless rabbit kept in a cage that
underplays the untying of an old psychological knot when he reveals details of
his childhood. His mother died when he was young, and he was adopted by the
psychological torture of their son (so much one could have gathered already
several years of unwanted fondling, "I said he could not touch me anymore, not
moment, to his illness as "the wages of sin." While it is easy to see how
infuriating such a pose must be to others, offensiveness in the service of
obliged to be a poster boy for AIDS. Besides, in another mood, he writes, "It
that I would, so to speak, die in the company of such people."
one is both stimulated and frustrated, longing to get a word in edgewise.
Perhaps that's why he has always seemed to want to preclude critical judgment
silencing us. He does that here, too, but with a somewhat milder air: "I think
what I think, and the hell with the rest of it, the rest of you; you don't
It turns out to be surprisingly easy to get past the
observation and language, in the teeth of death, more than repay the
time I couldn't really see it, because I had no formal arrangement, no sense of
and my own sense of order arranged the image, and made it clearer to me, and I
afternoon when the wind has scrubbed the sky over Manhattan to a blue
translucency, and the whole city looks as though it has just finished an
shower, and is now sitting on a shady porch with a tall glass of mint iced tea
in its hand and absolutely nothing on its mind. This summer, that afternoon
turned up last weekend. It was not an afternoon you wanted to spend in a
of Ambition and find out what this place is all about.
buildings, is the answer. Also: dead gangsters and ladies' hats. The show,
models and comic strips and film clips and photographs and a few items of
women's clothing, all made by artists and designers in and of New York between
you'll have seen most of this stuff already, but you'll like this show anyway.
The photographs steal it. A lot of the power of the
seems quaint. New York no longer exactly leads the world in big department
stores; big department stores are the sort of thing you go to New Jersey for.
believed their luck at finding hundreds of brick and steel towers jammed
together for them on a little island, with new ones blasting up out of the
ground like constructivist flowers every day. The compositional possibilities
must have seemed endless, every change in the light disclosing a fresh set of
visual effects waiting to be captured. It was better than a haystack. They knew
represented not just by his homicide victims and his famous shot of The
bag lady appraises their fashion sense), but by a 20-minute film, called
shots on Coney Island, followed by a long segment of drunks at a cocktail
luridness, but his photographs of men grinning at a dead body on the sidewalk
are like those photographs of Southerners milling around after a lynching: They
are undeniably riveting, but you don't really want to stop to think about what
the photographer was doing there in the first place.
one is said to have been completely redesigned and to include many more
is almost never a single subject in the frame, and as soon as the eye picks out
a face or an object as the thematic center of the composition, another face, or
another object, suddenly displaces it, and the center moves off someplace else.
The key to the effect is that the various "centers" are nearly always
incongruous. The boy with the pompadour staring with a smile of lighthearted
menace straight at the camera is in a different visual world from the lady in
the demurely checked kerchief with her eyes somewhere else and her mind on
Most of us look at a midtown sidewalk and see a crowd. For
inscrutable, but differently inscrutable. His pictures are advent calendars on
sensation you sometimes get in the subway, when you suddenly awaken to the fact
that the dozen faces you've been staring vacantly at across the aisle from you
we all see the world differently, but in the distinctly nontrivial sense that
that you'll never know a single one. Sometimes this sensation is moving, and
sometimes it's just creepy. But it's a New York sensation.
reflecting on the phenomenology of the subway, you have had enough art for the
day. Outside, the city had all gone home, but there was still a summer sky, and
to help children handle the "inner conflicts" that confront us all on the road
out to prove that he practiced what he preached to a degree no one dreamed.
compulsive teller of tall tales about his own life.
of the untruthful therapist itself all but begs to be told as a didactic
carefully gathers up the pebbles, she explains how the trail of fabrications
from his intuitive genius and his great empathetic powers.
shorter. He was inspired to write his book by troubled curiosity about his
experience that came to an end when the boy died from a fall during summer
several girls at the school. (Where the brutality was overt, as it often was,
memories of being fondled under the covers, who knows what to think?)
ambiguity of a man whose life and work refuse to add up to a simple object
task of "inner integration" was a developmental ordeal that could be mastered
with great struggle, and with the support of good stories. Yet, a "unified
personality," whether admirable or despicable, is precisely what eluded him. As
nothing to be said that one could be certain has not been said by him."
bogus psychology degree neither did much to ingratiate him with the established
psychoanalytic community, nor was it meant to secure him the Orthogenic School
directorship, which he at first refused. And the dubious account given by the
In "Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations,"
of behavior which are characteristic of infancy or early youth," playing into
the hands of the SS rather than standing up to them. It was a sweeping
generalization, based on much less scientific observation than he claimed to
prisoners as he said he had, and judges his anecdotes to be selective and
willfully misinterpreted.) Yet, even before the factual distortions were
message about a regressive human impulse to act childlike seemed to undermine
witness gave way to cloudier repute as a blamer of victims.
psychoanalyst for wholesale abuse of power and implies a facile symmetry: This
camp victim identified with the aggressors, and went on to become a Gestapo
parallel in mind, which he outlined in "Schizophrenia as a Reaction to Extreme
proposed, echoing his earlier article; they were immured in "mortal anxiety"
and overwhelmed by hostile circumstances, above all by their rejecting mothers.
a portrait of an intense therapeutic milieu in which superhumanly dedicated
counselors used compassion and empathy to help such children rejoin the world.
proves on the basis of school records, reality didn't measure up. There were
that his insistence on blaming mothers and claiming miracles also invited
skepticism from parents and psychiatrists. As one of the counselors at the
school commented, "I felt like saying, 'You don't have to exaggerate, Dr. B, it
seems to have contributed to a loss of control. The man who had been the
charismatically firm "superego" of the school (as he called himself) during its
despite (or because of) his fictions. But making sense of his active, prolific
reductive psychoanalytic thinking and applauded for his resistance to
psychoanalytic dogma. He was accused of lacking "a social psychology that
recognized the powerful influence of the social environment in changing the
Psychoanalytic Review devoted to him; and he was celebrated for
introducing just such a perspective. He was attacked for being uniquely
mankind's destructive impulses. In his insistent quest for "meaning in life,"
and this lack of definitiveness seems fitting in summing up a man whose own
most interesting verdicts resisted definitiveness about human dilemmas.
authority and the ambivalence it inspires. His humanistic intuitions about the
difficulties and possibilities inherent in therapists' struggles with their
patients, parents' struggles with their children, a mass society's struggle
with its citizens, and the self's struggle with itself were perhaps not
profoundly original. But they spoke to widespread social concerns, and during
an era marked by its unthinking reliance on experts, he made a point of
fundamentally humble guidance to offer: that in the end, as in the beginning
(one of his favorite phrases), one can hope to grow only by endeavoring to be
handsome brothers, who mean to vie for the princess's hand. He is the least
likely of the suitors, but the odd fragments he has assembled serve as answers
art consists of useless found objects that, when arranged in boxes and placed
behind glass, seem like answers to forgotten riddles set long ago by brilliant
kind of beauty, since they convey a sense of meaningfulness while resisting the
assignment of any specific meaning. The boxed objects, of little intrinsic
worth, are transformed into the components of a revelation we can only guess
bins and boxes in dusty secondhand shops in the less glittering precincts of
Manhattan. He fitted them together late at night, over the kitchen table in an
undistinguished house on Utopia Parkway in Flushing, Queens, after his
handicapped brother and a tiresome, widowed mother, with whom he shared the
have been the one to put your money on in a contest with a princess for a
from. A stamp, a photograph, a rubber band, a butterfly, marbles that had
different objects were somehow tied together and interrelated to one another
life was in certain respects very like his art. A meaningless job, which anyone
could have done, an undistinguished education, a home like any other in a
crushingly ordinary neighborhood, a daily commute, no particular vices, and
unmarried sons answerable to family responsibilities, and marked by the lonely
longings of a protracted virginity probably not all that unusual at the time,
overcome his natural shyness and unprepossessing looks. His art came out of his
hobbies, and from celibate crushes on women marked, as a general rule, by an a
such adoration that defined his hobby, which consisted in rummaging expeditions
in search of memorabilia in which the ballerinas and actresses of his distant
and ribbons, snapshots and locks of hair, faded clippings and yellowing dance
cards. The miracle is that he found a way to make art out of the substance of
his affective life, and to turn his ephemera into visual poetry that no one
The life and art are reciprocal in that it is hard to
This makes biography unusually relevant to critical appreciation in his case,
one of the rare examples in which someone's art is almost a transcription of
would have no way of accounting for. More than in any of the recent handsome
with an enhanced understanding of the art. Remarkable as those other artists
are, they all went to art schools and learned to paint and draw, and in
consequence, their lives are, in most essential respects, not unlike those
secondhand shops and the feelings that provoked them as the only preparation he
needed. He had the historical genius to recognize that media such as collage
enabled him to be an artist, and even an admired one. Had it not been for those
encounters, he might have lived out a reclusive life in Queens, filling
hit upon the device of the box, with which his vision is inextricably bound up,
surrealist art world was like an opening onto a plane of reality that a
solitary hobbies and an autodidact's knowledge of the history of theater, of
opera, and of dance, might otherwise have never entered. There he met actresses
and ballet stars who inspired real art, even if he interposed between himself
and them the internal distance which always separates the fantasist from his
objects. The story of his life and of his art from that point forward is the
story of these attenuated relationships, lived out on two planes at once, like
waking dreams. The boxes and the collages are monuments to abstract affairs
into paper effigies so that his imagination could go to work. He even sustained
believed he wanted, the way he might have thought he ought to learn to draw in
order to be a real artist. His art was made up of outward embodiments of inward
unsatisfying visits, letters, and diary entries, gifts of art, and the frugal
kind of biography licensed by our decade's disregard of privacy could hope to
possible in our cynical and deconstructive age. But biography has its limits,
fascinating book that she has not sought to explain how an array of the most
that overcomes the personal and the biographical to attain universality,
profundity, beauty, and truth. Facing that riddle, we all stammer.
better or worse this decade's representative feminist voice, has written a
that women were cheating themselves by blaming all their problems on men. But
her suggestions for fixing these crises have never gone very deep. Her point,
that women should stop letting men set the agenda and start attending to our
own desires, sounds reasonable, even obvious. But it's also vague. And it
doesn't help that her prose races along like a press release from Utopia.
new book, like her pet theme of "desire," is extremely hard to pin down and,
childhood friends to cough up their key moments). There are also some scattered
superiority of the vulva required men to don huge wooden penises) but feel as
if they were cribbed in a 45-minute visit to the library. And she sprinkles in
half a dozen policy ideas. Wolf seems to think that everyone would get along
So why is this book interesting? It does contain some
elegantly rendered anecdotes, and several small but shrewd insights. But,
mostly, it's a window on a problem in current feminism. Wolf's fixation on
desire isn't so much an idea as a good intention, an attempt to make feminism
ecstasy. But desire is a tricky, multifaceted thing. It can refer to a purely
physical arousal, or to a heartfelt experience of love. It can also refer to a
pop star evokes, for instance, when he wails, "I want you."
up all these types of desire but, too often, her recollections fall under the
dances where she rubbed up against a boy's crotch. Her own education appears to
gets groped by a menacing stranger, and a jealous boyfriend hits her. Otherwise
For someone writing on desire, Wolf, curiously, has a good
deal of trouble describing the actual experience of letting loose. In the
whoredom, then the weight of these clashing systems of control and expectation
around female sexuality was just too much. In my mind, under the burden of all
those dictates competing to stereotype rather than support me, the legitimacy
tricked. One minute Wolf is supposed to be revealing her most intimate
of entitlement. Wolf seems to think that because her goal is worthy,
incoherent because her approach is feminine and therefore soft and gooey. In
fact, if she would just pick an approach, any approach, it would be a relief.
Nor am I arguing that she exaggerates the problems girls face as they grow up.
As a critic Wolf usually hits the target, or at least gets near it.
right, for example, that sex education now is a bad compromise between
puritanical shame and a cold, clinical detachment. Most girls get some sort of
instruction, but dangerous concepts like pleasure and love are scrupulously
avoided; we're taught to think of ourselves as scary coils of tubing that are
hard to keep clean, and which periodically leak. Wolf the complaining
prunes. One of her more comical tics is to repeat a concept over and over,
uncritically, until it takes on an almost physical presence, like a parody of a
girl in the eighth grade who sprouted breasts early, fooled around with too
many boys, and got slammed with a bad reputation. According to Wolf she
embodies the nascent sexuality that pubescent girls are trained to fear and
loathe, so we turn her into a scapegoat. It's a reasonable if not original
observation, based on a friend of Wolf's who got pregnant and eventually
dropped out of school. But Wolf builds it up into a timeless international
archetype. Soon she's writing "A Short History of the Slut." (It's short
pages.) And in the next chapter we're asked to take it as an established fact
that all women, everywhere, since the beginning of time, have lived in fear of
The Slut every few pages. On the one hand, she's the pitiful victim of our
hypocrisy and our unnecessary shame. On the other hand, we're also supposed to
envy her, because she violates the restraints we've imposed on ourselves.
moralizing that are corrupt. She's right, of course. And yet, after a while,
all this going on about how girls are not allowed to feel desire begins to feel
like a kind of nostalgic fantasy. "As adult women, those of us who are
sexuality available to women bore down on me, the forest would function the way
longing for longing. I suppose it's only fair that girls win equal rights to
as everyone knows by now, has an image problem. What better solution than to
export some of their most prestigious but rarely seen images, the drawings of
successors that betray his influence. Fanned out in six rooms arranged like a
beehive, with the lights turned low to protect the fragile treasures (and lend
a mood of reverence to the occasion), the enthralling show is called
need to see anything else by any other sculptor, living or dead," gushed his
Alone on the high scaffold, paint dripping into his upturned eyes, he pushes
who, while Cupid sleeps in the foreground, send their errant arrows toward the
realize, aren't holding bows. No one knows the meaning of this enigmatic,
dreams, the grotesque mask situated among the Ideal Heads in the first
earthbound world where the human and animal realms are not easily
distinguished. Is this a man disguised as a lion, or a lion turning into a man?
The bared teeth are clearly human, but the feral eyes, looking sharply to the
back, as though he can't throw off his animal identity so easily. Across the
those serpentine heads, one of which is biting him brazenly in the rear. But as
though he's drawing from this encounter some of the writhing, erotic energy of
his splendid body toward us one last time. "An image of the consequences of
its own headlong ecstasy. His three anxious sisters, watching from the ground
ripped out each day by a vulture, only to have it grow back each night.
muscular body seems to have been sculpted. His punishment looks like another
rape, with the vulture having its way with the bound and lustful (and
contemporaries were in awe of him and tried to follow his intimidating
"and his influence" are sometimes excuses for including inferior art to fill
out an occasion. While there are a few too many drawings by various
down and sharply focused. Some of these drawings have their own distinctive
different, but no less intense, pleasure to be derived from these miracles
worked up from the meager materials of paper and chalk. Never designed for
public exhibition, these experimental sketches and gifts for intimate friends
have a distinctive power, like secrets revealed, or conversations
start of his own Southern tour. "Is it still distinctive or is it now just
fresh take on the region should disabuse anyone who still imagines the South as
In his earnest efforts to give the South a fair shake,
puncturing Northern stereotypes and sanctimony about the South. He points out
Conference, "I love you. Black and white people love you." And we see how the
South has become the nation's new industrial heartland, creating half the new
used to illustrate the confluence of Southern and national trends. Race,
the South has tried harder to overcome the region's harsh racial legacy than
residents' love of their neighbors. A calculated civic boosterism (so exuberant
Make Money") has spurred the city's desire to appear enlightened. And
white parishioners fled, and blacks retreated to the borderline separatist
cautionary blueprint for the nation when it comes to economic development.
calls "the South's most respectable prejudice." (As one labor leader says of
climate has also led to gross neglect of workers' safety. To cite just one
due to "locked exit doors that were blocked off so workers wouldn't steal
Rising 's account of the South's political rise covers more
familiar ground: massive population shifts toward the Sun Belt that have tipped
the electoral balance; the adoption by the Republican Party of Southern
political stances, most of them rooted in a visceral hatred of government; and
the ascent to power of a Southern president, vice president, House speaker,
the South and the nation may still be moving rightward, Newt's current
unpopularity, as well as Southern Democrats' ability to hold their own this
It's true that the cult of the Lost Cause is resurgent in the South, albeit
which not only enshrined states' rights but also included term limits, budget
helicopters and the genetic inferiority of the black race.
Garth Brooks having outsold every recording artist in the United States except
visits to the state's tacky casinos. Throughout, he displays a deft and lively
grasp of Southern history and letters, popular culture and cuisine. ("Pickled
pigs' feet are the opposite of an acquired taste," he writes. "Unless you're
born eating [them], you never will.") The narrative is laced throughout with
colorful, distinctly Southern characters, including a Delta store owner who
affirmative action, when gays stayed in the closet where they belonged, where
looking backward through a pale mist and seeing only the soft focus outlines of
what it wants to see." It exalts states' rights while ignoring the doctrine's
ugly racial legacy, and rants against the federal government while conveniently
interracial South that "has gone through the fire of change and come out
redeemed." The problem is, little else in his book suggests that this dream
"The same things over and over. It requires a load of patience and I am
principled against showing any impatience to little folks lest it should lessen
rearing: She neither romanticized her mission nor vented her frustration on her
by historians and social reformers. During the Progressive era, experts
extolled parenthood as an ennobling profession set apart from the workaday
grind. By the postwar years, child rearing was being touted as enriching fun.
At least nowadays parents are allowed to complain about the burdens their
transformation of the workplace in the intervening period, and looks at how
parents and their children are coping now. More provisions have become
is no. Parents are working ever longer hours, and are startlingly frank about
why: Staying home with the kids is "tedious work," especially when you could be
Work --telegraphs her basic argument. "A cultural reversal of workplace and
job has been "feminized," thanks to efforts to engineer a homelike, caring
culture for employees, complete with solicitous "climate surveys" and
It runs like the soulless assembly line of old. Ruthless efficiency,
compartmentalized schedules, too little autonomy, too much anomie: No wonder
problem out of the air that ordinary people groan about a great deal and
scholars and cultural critics generalize about equally ineffectually. She gives
clerical and factory workers. She shadowed six families as they did, and
shorter workdays. She followed the parents home from work, met their children,
became attuned to the tone of their anxieties. And she spoke with the
business that had lately converted to the "Total Quality" philosophy. That
company's family friendly policies, works inflexibly long hours herself and
juggles her kids' lives like a bustling administrator. She looks back on her
maternity leave without any nostalgia: "Gee, guys, that was six weeks I didn't
have anybody to talk to. My friends are at work. The things that interest me
but can't wait for his shift with them to end: "It's very stressful mentally,
care: "At work I can do more of what I want. At home, I have to do what the
psychological reversal accompanying the cultural reversal: We used to feel
immature at work and independent at home. Now it's the other way around.
emphasis on worker autonomy and a joint "conversation" about the company's
goals revises the much stricter model of "scientific management" championed by
functions that used to be part of their responsibility (baby sitters, tutors,
evidence of parents "fleeing a world of unresolved quarrels and unwashed
laundry for the reliable orderliness, harmony, and managed cheer of work"
points to a diagnosis that is, if anything, more disconcerting. Perhaps parents
are eager to go to work not because it gives them autonomy but because it lets
them be safely and comfortably childlike. At home, they face the daunting
not, pace his critics, a permissive advocate of giving the child real
power or of giving parents an easy break. He envisioned the parent as the
"friendly boss," vigilantly and solicitously manipulating a naturally docile
want, only to enjoy what they have to do. They have been given satisfyingly
Their needs are defined and ministered to; support is constantly made available
in the form of organized workshops and counseling sessions. The goal is not
keep control while dispersing power and to ensure not just the health but the
happiness, not just the productivity but the loyalty, of our charges. What's
motherhood," as she calls this ambitious mission, despite its increasing
impracticality and despite how guilty it can make us feel.
same things over and over." No "recognition ceremonies" for tasks well done,
romanticizing that work, as experts and parents have tried to do throughout the
her idea of a solution ends up sounding like the ultimate triumph of the
learn from "public debate about the need for 'emotional investment' in family
might be more in order. More fathers need to buckle down on the home front,
which would improve the attitude and motivation of mothers too. And parents of
reason to slow down a bit at work and hang out more at home. The kids will be
battles as a senior official in the State Department during World War II, the
daunting challenge: his father. All around the family's headquarters at
master of the world's biggest fortune, and his children were not. Nelson's
response to powerlessness was architectural: He transformed part of the fusty
when he showed his father the redesigned offices, "isn't this all
influence that it's hard to understand how he could have been so perennially
beginning he felt compelled to flatter, cajole, and even engage in abject
puritanical and disapproving father. His efforts to insinuate himself were so
Republican." Among other things, this book helps explain what the term actually
creation of an outstanding state university system, a vast network of
hospitals, housing projects, mental health facilities, water treatment plants,
parks, and highways. To enemies, it refers to a legacy of bankrupt state
government and failed social programs. What is most striking about The Life
to a penchant for flamboyant failure; the ability to win a passionate following
to be established in New York, persuading his father to buy and donate the East
pushed for foreign aid and investment throughout the developing world and
helped pioneer the idea of national health insurance. As overseer of Cold War
linking inspections to the cause of nuclear arms control. But in almost every
make so many enemies he ended up being ousted from power.
emerge, all of them reflecting the same degree of urgent vitality and,
separate living quarters) with his first wife, who could be seen weeping
but not, unfortunately, in a way that explains what his philandering might
second of Nelson's passions was for art, especially the abstract expressionists
Nelson then asked the artist if, while he was at it, he could stay and do
One reason for Nelson's enthusiasm for art and sculpture,
noting that dyslexia is often accompanied by hyperactivity, which seemed to
privileged business." He was the third child in the family, but from his
earliest years he was determined to be the leader of his generation of
powerful unit, organizing his brothers and sister to confront their father with
a demand that the family assets be turned over (gradually) to the next
Nelson got into the habit of tapping his own financial resources to surround
which throughout his life elicited resentment from colleagues less flush with
of how he would mobilize resources to get something done, then go to such
would raise people's standard of living; using his own resources, he set up
companies to raise cattle, grow crops, market food, develop natural resources,
and build housing. Before long, however, many of these projects went bust, and
Nelson had to turn to his family for financial assistance to ward off
bankruptcy. Eventually, he decided that only the United States government could
urge to enter the public arena was partly the legacy of his father, whose
its underlying purpose was to expunge the malevolent connotations attached to
about government spending, which would eventually make him an easy target.)
got wind one day of a scheme to get the president to eliminate his
never developed the resilience to stay in power. Eventually, his forced
turn to elective office as the one way of establishing an independent base.
He even let Nelson head up a commission on the state constitution, though
surprised everyone was that he turned out to be a most charismatic campaigner,
them." It didn't matter that he was naive. People wanted somebody they knew
presidency beckoning in the background. By then, we already know what being a
ambition, scheming, and pragmatism; a belief in expertise and big projects;
and, above all, excitement about the sheer adventure of governing. For all his
virtuous, but was virtuousness altogether a good thing? This entirely
would prefer by a hundred times the elegant manners of a corrupt heart."
thousand pages of letters and documents of every sort, which allows us to judge
documents in pristine form, has adopted the rather extreme policy of publishing
its volumes without any sort of introductory guide, which is probably just as
well in the case of literary authors whose work is easily approached.
heap of private letters and peculiar jottings intermixed with an occasional
a book writer, or any kind of writer at all, professionally speaking, but took
quill in hand merely to address particular situations as they arose. His
military records, presidential orations, ringing statements, and random
insignificant scribblings, all of them put into chronological order by the
writings seems a little dubious, given that (as the assiduous reader will
with your Spittle, by approaching too near him when you Speak," or this, from
beard, thrust out the lips, or bite them or keep the Lips too open or too
your Nose except there's a Necessity for it." And, at once, from the opening
what makes the unhappy discovery truly appalling is the further incredible
experts to be the key to his entire career, and therefore, in some respect, a
throughout his momentous life, conducted himself correctly in all the Little
Ways (no bedewing of others with Spittle, Hats properly Doffed, and so forth),
which led to right conduct in the Big Ways, too, thus to political and military
edition of the rules, throws in some jocularity of his own, with the sure
lightness of touch you would expect from an author who has based his biography
Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body not usually Discovered." To
Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with
Writings contains an endless supply of additional material. There are
and complaints to Congress (during the Revolutionary War), which are
funny bit of teasing, followed abruptly by a rueful reassurance, worthy of
instance can be produced where a Woman from real inclination has
preferred an old man." It is interesting to see how warm he grew toward
congratulate him about something or other (unspecified by the notes), and
mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of
imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of
citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by
the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of
their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States,
which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only
that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good
will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his
about republican revolution, and nothing at all to what could be learned from a
a tunnel that keeps getting darker only to find that the light at the end is an
oncoming train. The show opens amid New York subway platforms, a favorite
this twilit realm, hemmed in by a geometric cage of bars and pillars (Entrance to
groping for an appropriate medium to convey his intense inner life. He studied
at the Art Students League, taught sporadically, and exhibited with various
was far more successful in her business of designing jewelry than he was in
went from painting realistic New York scenes to concocting mythological motifs
underground subjects, the subway, for another, the "depth psychology" strata of
tails and eyes is meant to convey the tangle of the psyche, while the three
made the background of paintings such as Hierarchical Birds --the richly
episode of the periodic despondency he would continue to suffer.
During the 1950s, the paintings just kept getting better.
magenta hovers atop a larger rectangle of black. Once you've registered that
relationship, you realize that a layer of orange smolders underneath and
flickers at the seam of the two colors. No paintings in the show are more
layers of paint laid on with big brushes purchased at a hardware store, give
to soak his paint into the canvas to get a dyer's effect and avoid the
"like an impressionist work, because of the kind of touch involved." These
he hated it. At least, he distrusted the grounds of his success. Ever since the
mythological paintings, he had aimed somehow to go beyond painting, to plug
into the inner recesses of the soul. He refused to talk about technique,
angrily denied that he was a colorist, and challenged his viewers to find the
his favorite book). "I have imprisoned the most utter violence in every inch of
his palette. Several of the resulting paintings are on view in the National
backed out of the project, returning the cash advance.
project, and the paintings become so dark that some of them are virtually black
"greatest sources of consolation were calories and alcohol." He has a heart
songs"), the succession of wives, the acclaim, and the descent into alcohol,
darkness left behind a shimmering trail of canvases that mark for many people
the strange fate of many artists who aim for the sublime, then find their work
came the successful New York run (last winter) of Pam Gems' intense
restore it. "I wish all my life I could have been tied to my mother's apron
support by giving piano lessons and playing the church organ.
recognized early, and he joined an extraordinary generation of students at the
with its red, patterned skirt and luminous china knobs, dominates the picture.
"Mentally," Spencer later observed, "I have been bedridden all my life."
World War I interrupted this cozy idyll. The undersized
Ostensibly concerned with the yearly ritual of tagging the swans along the
The artist, Spencer once claimed, commits "a kind of spiritual rape on every
convey. The erotic edge of this stylized composition is confirmed in a little
scene on the iron bridge above, where two lovers look yearningly at each
curiously at the surgical operation in progress, one of the strange and
Spencer came late to sexual maturity, and he tried, after
man raises a woman's dress with the same passionate admiration and love for the
then refused to consummate it, making clear that she expected to live instead
many years afterward longing for a reconciliation. Their eldest daughter,
nightmarish black holes that substitute for the dolls'.
poet of sexual gloom, especially in the two pitiless double portraits of naked
foreground of one of the paintings matches the couple's tired flesh while a
pictures, which seem to prefigure our own sexually anxious age, to such comical
baby in his wife's arms, while neighborhood children offer gifts of empty cans
something of this wish and need I feel for things to be restored. That is the
feeling that makes the children take out the broken tea pot and empty jam
redecorated. The producers particularly wanted to impress the studio's new
marketing products that consumers never knew they wanted, shelled out what
fears that a cultural treasure was being gobbled up. In the end, though, it was
debacle. Their steady stream of malicious, if clumsily written, anecdotes is
uncircumcised penis, Peters ordered the couple's driver to come over and drop
his pants. Peters also sent the corporate jet, laden with flowers, to a model
he was courting, and ordered his driver to call ahead to the studio so someone
could be poised to open his car door when he arrived.
across even worse than Peters. Most damaging for his future job prospects is
movies and sybaritic lifestyle, never caring much about the parent company's
"They're only renting me for five years." The reader may be most amused by
Run is told. It relies too heavily on anonymous sources, and the trade
press has begun complaining that some of its stories are bogus. The editor of
Pictures. The book's tone also is relentlessly caustic. Can there ever have
less in the anecdotes than in what it has to tell us about how one of the
biggest entertainment deals went awry at a time when the industry was
consolidating everywhere, heading toward domination by a mere six or eight
faith in "synergy," since the search for that elusive ideal has run so
spectacularly aground in other media deals. It was especially disastrous in the
it could tap into a bottomless well of capital with which to buy television
their digital televisions, compact discs, and other new products. They counted
know about what they were getting into? We never find out. But we do get
snapshots of the mindset that allowed them to get sucked into the vortex of
the studio's more successful television shows. All they did was look at the
cameras and ask who made the video tape and what kind of lead density it
their interests seem frankly guilty of misleading them. If anything, Griffin
Artists Agency, would seem to have been more interested in making money out of
authors are too polite to come right out and say so. Also treated kindly is
accountable. They do not ask what changes he had in mind, other than getting
what management success in the movie business might have entailed. The only
antique furniture, yachts, slumber parties at Aspen, and the like, and a
pretty good movies, like Wolf and Remains of the Day, while others, like the
contributing editor for Time and Vanity Fair --the authors should
Instead, they have written the story of a failure, albeit one with important
consequences for the industry today. Hopefully, people who read the story of
communications business. They will have less patience for optimistic talk about
as the prison memoir. Some of this interest must undoubtedly be attributed to
sweaty Chained Heat -style sex fantasies. But mostly the fascination
the psychological limit? What happens when you go to hell?
could describe the sickening plunge from respectability to degradation (and if
state's chief judge and a rising star in the Republican party, famed for his
charged with extortion, interstate racketeering, and blackmail, among other
alter ego, and mailed a condom to her young daughter. The judge claimed mental
has published the story of his time inside, After the Madness: A Judge's Own
The best modern prison memoirs-- The Autobiography of
Shanghai --are stories about an agony that yields redemption. Each book
tells roughly the same tale: A corrupt society imprisons the narrator for a
minor offense (marijuana possession in Cleaver's case, juvenile delinquency in
neither hero nor villain; he's not even a compelling character. His description
unbearable, the stench is unimaginable, the "bend and spread 'em" searches are
unendurable. He supplies the requisite glut of cockroaches and the necessary
ignore the rich ironies of his situation. After the Madness is sprinkled
with his awkward encounters. On one occasion he meets a fellow con whose appeal
the legal profession. It may be a problem of judicial restraint. Great prison
his knees, and with my knife at his throat, made him perform fellatio on my
done. If you are a man, you must either kill or turn the tables on anyone who
that my depression, manic behavior, and causal toxicity (caused by the drugs I
was taking) have been evaluated and confirmed by the government's own medical
will always be those who will refuse to accept the fact that a person can
function in what appears to be a normal fashion in his or her job, and still
then chastises his fellow judges for not considering solitary confinement a
"cruel and unusual" punishment. He befriends a cocaine user doing hard time,
then sermonizes about the idiocies of mandatory minimum sentences. His
nonviolent criminals, scrap drug laws, fund prison education and training
programs, and more. The old joke is true: "What do you call a Republican who's
and dull book, a distressing thought came to me: Its banality might be the
jail was as alien as Mars. A month in the hole, a cockroach infestation, the
After the Madness is perhaps that prison has lost its capacity to shock.
In some communities (though not the rich Long Island ones where judges live), a
prison term has become almost a rite of passage, something that young men do.
producers, and writers who have gone up the river and returned with tales of
reactions. The first reaction is that it is not really a book. It doesn't have
a theme or an argument or even a coherent story line. Books are supposed to
context, though in recent books he has made feeble efforts to stipulate some.
His narrative is more like a series of scenes from a pulpy novel, only they
is sometimes breathtaking. Every time I begin to feel a bit guilty about my
books, often on the cover) I reflect on my paltry powers to find out what
happened at an unimportant Oval Office meeting, much less a solarium seance.
tell him stuff that is only supposed to come out under truth serum.
would eventually take him to a new level (make that a first level) of real
political analysis. In the same way that he knows to unearth the outtakes of
history seriously, so as to be able to mine it for historical perspective. If
on his own mechanical terms. By that standard, he does fine. About half the
because it is there, gettable by him, even if it tells us nothing. But the
don't always reveal the character of the subject of the anecdotes, they are
invariably telling about the character of the source, and about the eternal
question of why people say things they shouldn't. Click here for one possible
online, but it's on the frontier of publishing. No need to worry about
completed (a remarkably short lead time for a hardcover), was not written to
last much beyond the length of the ballyhoo book tour. By next year, no one
blockbuster syndrome taken to its natural conclusion.
talking meant that they would take more of a beating. But their cooperation
the juiciest parts of the book are the accounts, partly from him, of the
acrimonious budget meetings in the White House. "You have a chickenshit
"You've been calling me an extremist," he roared at Gore.
All in all, everyone in the budget talks looks petty and political, except for
formal interviews and lots more time informally, in part because, as his press
discuss whether he should run or not, and that she wasn't informed that Dole
Dole say, 'Here's what we're doing.' He never would come right out and say it,"
completely what was on his mind. He held things so close. He didn't
systematically vet things with her or even regularly delegate to her."
who had originally planned a book about the primaries, mostly left the Phil
run. In every case, family members, who in an earlier age would have been
long run, but they're delicious in a campaign season. The conventional wisdom
among the wise guys of the press has been that there are now so many reporters
to prove that a little shoe leather still works. He fails to make us understand
more, just when we thought it had disintegrated. Who can resist a peek?
enough. There's a new fashion in museum exhibitions: Accessorize. We're seeing
merely assemble great pictures, unembellished by catchy themes, related
objects, documentary materials, or voluminous explanatory texts. Today's
curators increasingly feel the itch to interpret, not only with words but with
objects and illustrations that "explain" the art and give it "context."
the visitor with the magnificence of the temple." To add an authentic desert
touch, real sand was dumped on the floor along one wall.
museums to look at art. Great paintings on the walls, superb sculptures on
on the art's significance or the artist's life and times was best slaked before
or after. Outside intervention just interfered with the intimate communication
there's a growing sense that art can't communicate on its own. A new
text and context. Curators divert us from art with an array of related
artifacts or documents from the period, as if too much aesthetic concentration
might tax our attention span. The creative process itself is demystified
through displays of artists' working tools and illustrations of artistic
Is there a problem here? Not if you think an art museum
should be like a history museum, treating art as a cultural artifact that
illustrates the story of a particular person, period, and place. But for those
of us who cherish art for art's sake, gussying it up with photos, paint
samples, and teapots merely trivializes and distracts.
toward interpretive installation, aimed at broadening art's appeal by expanding
serious cultural pursuit to highbrow entertainment. Efforts to make information
about art (as well as art itself) more accessible were strongly encouraged by
is not to illustrate history but to allow an art work to be understood and
filling our heads with instructions on what to see and think, while inhibiting
personal response. This also suppressed civilized conversation with our
companions, who were similarly encased in electronic earmuffs. The latest audio
based systems on which visitors can punch in the numbers on wall labels,
also enjoy shows that make them feel they are not just gazing at the products
of a distant culture but, for a brief time, are actually a part of that milieu,
solely to imbue foreign masterpieces with glitz and mystique. In addition to
of the czars, fitted out with authentic paintings and furnishings.
fear of damaging the fragile artwork." This cartoonish cultural video game can
Networks, plans to work with major museums to produce a "Great Civilizations"
series, which will display "the finest archaeological works of art, together
with reconstructions and virtual reality visits to ancient sites."
the curious hoards, a benefit that few museums can ignore given the
unreliability of outside funding sources. Museums must rely increasingly on
restaurants, and shops. But as the seductive trappings gain prominence,
the computer industry will develop an unrealistically charitable view of their
change the world!" Easy to say, when you happen to be getting rich. Why don't
they work in pure research? "Research is an ivory tower," they respond.
"Shipping products is the way you change the world." And so they find
themselves in the cozy position of believing they're beyond materialism while
Hardest have it much harder. The fictional nonprofit research laboratory La
designing products for other companies to sell. They may be changing the world,
but they're also underpaid. They have their reasons for being there: For
hard to figure out why his company would fund an external research laboratory
into this book it starts to smell a whole lot like a plot device. Only in such
a place would the motives of the engineers, designers, reporters, and
businessmen in this novel combine in the convenient way they do. Fortunately,
ignore the conventional wisdom that every new computer must be faster than the
last and do more. What's better, their simplified software will run on any
computer, uniting the world in a new technological brotherhood. Needless to
say, these mavericks have an uphill battle to sell their idea.
something about the psychology of the place. The misanthropic engineers, the
nontechnical but talented girlfriend all strike painfully home. I know these
nerds at play (which is to say, at work), nerds in love, and of course some
accept everything that happens, even when the technology and events veer away
from a world I recognize. It's only when the plot forces him to hide the cards
of certain players, which it does periodically, that my disbelief is
happened. Suddenly they are characters in a novel, not in my life.
on their own, they are doing it because it's the only way to get things done.
They hardly seem to care about the money. They give away rights for a song.
They are totally focused on delivering technology to the masses. I concede that
pretty certain that they were also in it for the financial upside. It's almost
Otherwise, this book is pretty convincing, and one of the
reasons it is, even (or especially) to those in the know, is that its plot is
programming language well suited to the Internet. Using Java, you can create
programs that are downloaded directly off the Internet and run on almost any
computer. In theory, this makes it possible to create a simple computer that
runs directly off the network and doesn't even need a hard drive.
language. They were ignored for over a year, until someone finally realized
this was the perfect language for the World Wide Web. Sun's marketers and top
management fought it out with the engineers for control of the language, and
won. Java is now Sun's core technology asset, and most of its designers have
today's heterogeneous computer systems is highly controversial, and not just
wins out) say so. Java works because it lets everyone run the same program, but
it is not clear that everyone wants to run the same program. For
Windows programs. Java threatens us with a world where every program feels
a good read even if you know nothing about computers, but it's an even better
read if you do, since it delves intriguingly in and out of the psychoses and
oddball situations rife in this industry. Just don't ask any hard questions of
of the classical genres, traces its origins to a legendary painting contest.
and lost the contest. Teasingly realistic grapes and drapes have figured in
up the paradox even more acutely. If the Dutch "banquet pieces" suggest endless
personal effects in their tombs, images that were to accompany the dead on
Still life, then, is caught between the timeless vision and
the ticking clock. When you enter the current show at the Museum of Modern Art,
titled "Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life," you find yourself in a small
is that of a hushed chapel, and on the altar is this gorgeous riddle of a
painting, with its tilted plate of ripe pears, its pendulous eggplants, its
finds an echo elsewhere in the painting, and none of the depicted objects calls
Then you turn a corner and enter a different world, where
the immediacy of modern life, of the ticking clock, is everywhere palpable.
creature, used, according to the dictionary, as "a dietary supplement for caged
birds." Such objects, with their elliptical wit, return us to the dark side of
still life; these bones and cages and tacks and thermometers offer a deadpan
real or is it art? Instead of birds pecking at painted grapes, we have objects
tradition has flourished, more in tune with pop culture, advertising, and the
There was space in that little white chapel at the start of
One aim of "Objects of Desire" is to show how the same
"golden age of advertising." The razor crossed with the fountain pen,
surmounted by a box of matches, reminds those in the know that Murphy, the
painting to run the family business, Mark Cross pens. When a trompe
figured for centuries as reminders of mortality can take on new urgency under
through the final rooms of the show, one feels the pressure of an argument
beginning to emerge. Painting gives way increasingly to 3-D sculpted still
glass table with an array of fresh vegetables and fruit, changed daily by a New
We're meant to feel that we're coming to the end of the
toward the end of the show and chosen for the cover of the catalog. The
a cost. The final rooms feel like classrooms, with lessons hammered home. The
show ends as it began, in a small white room holding one object. This time the
covers the top of the marble, so that a "living substance" (milk) has been
"stilled," thus "embodying the quintessential definition of the still life."
an excellent literary education grounded in the heavily accented rhythms of
native Creole dialect. His early poems register both geographical distances and
that stands/ for hot, rutted lanes far from the disease of power." Second,
its upbeat title, The Bounty is a book of elegies, a response to the
his seventh decade. As he improvises on themes from the Western elegiac
that certain notes don't sound in the tropics, where there is "no climate, no
calendar except for this bountiful day." And he is surprised, as elegists
always are, "that earth rejoices/ in the middle of our agony."
appearance of God in the desert, a promise confirmed, in the Christian view, by
am moved like you, mad Tom, by a line of ants;/ I behold their industry and
they are giants." This couplet sends us back to an already famous passage in
trees that "serenely rust when they are in flower," the firefly that "keeps
imperial intimacies, its echo of privilege,/ the other like the orange words of
landscape, and faced with its beauty, the sigh of History dissolves." Well,
painter's faith, that the poet's job is "to write of the light's bounty on
is his most painterly book, in method and theme. If The Bounty is low on
autobiographical detail, or the dailiness of this poet's life and travels, it
complementary blues and oranges of his native landscape: "there, against the
orange/ blossoms, however briefly, while the incredible blue is/ as indifferent
poems in the book, the that begins "I cannot remember the name of that seacoast
it. Like his 799-page tome on the Federal Reserve, Secrets of the Temple
Entire arguments and quotations are repeated from chapter to chapter. Most of
castles inherited from colonial eras, were splashed with wild, magical colors
would also bet that anyone who gets through this book (except, perhaps, for a
few economists and Treasury officials) will feel a pang of regret for not
book to date on the perils of the new world economic order. It does for the
transfers what his earlier book did for the Fed. It makes a daunting subject
The book contains a core argument about industry and labor,
than the world's consumers can buy. Such overcapacity in autos, for instance,
worse, for a couple of reasons. Advances in technology allow industries to
produce more goods with fewer people (in effect, creating more supply but less
mercantilist trade strategies: that is, they have sought, through barriers or
government subsidies, to guarantee surpluses. By definition, such a strategy
expands the supply of goods without proportionately boosting demand.
Overcapacity reduces the incentive for businesses to invest and leads to slower
world growth, as supply continually threatens to outrun demand. Put this
ingredients for an international race to the bottom in wages and social
benefits, as companies seek to cut costs in the face of this overcapacity and
encourages corporate managers to destroy unions. It's the class war all over
"revolutionary capitalism has circled back to its original fight with socialism
a century ago and reopened the ideological argument, but from a much stronger
political position. Labor and the left are in retreat almost everywhere;
commerce and finance predominate in politics and have adapted centralized
also undertakes an ambitious analysis of global finance. In this area, I am
arguments are provocative and address seeming anomalies that conventional
the previous year. In explaining why economic growth has lagged over the last
argues, has made businesses' projections of profits from trade increasingly
unreliable, thereby discouraging productive investments and growth.
of advanced nations' financial assets grow faster than their actual economies.
were growing. That has led to a worldwide situation comparable to Japan's
bubble economy, where, with assets systematically overvalued, a crash became
inevitable. But while Japan's Ministry of Finance has ably managed that
country's crisis, there is no comparable global body to police the world
of traders and private bankers has grown, government economic policy has become
hostage to the financiers' and speculators' fears that economic growth will
spur inflation, which will reduce the value of their holdings. So governments
through a balanced budget and higher interest rates. They end up doing all they
close the gap between finance and industry. "This commitment to slow growth,"
is like a noose thrown around the advanced economies, sure to deepen their
be a repeat of the 1920s. During that decade, industry and finance were also
strangely out of step with each other, and nations also faced a conflict
of balanced budgets and wage and benefit cuts on the one hand and a "hard,
reactionary politics that can shut down the system" on the other. The latter
would probably call for shutting off immigration, erecting permanent,
national controls over global capital. Tax wealth more, labor less. Stimulate
global growth by boosting consumer demand from the bottom up. Compel trading
nations to accept more balanced trade relations and absorb more surplus
production. Forgive the debtors, especially the hopeless cases among the very
poorest nations. Reorganize monetary policy to confront the realities of a
globalized money supply, both to achieve greater stability and open the way to
Some of his more specific suggestions strike me as less
private enterprise by rewarding firms that fostered greater employment and
penalizing those that did the opposite." That would, in effect, penalize
companies for efficiency and productivity. But other suggestions make sense. He
wants the United States to join with other financial centers in adopting a
"transactions tax" on currency exchanges to stanch speculation and inhibit wide
endorsed this idea.) He wants the United States to adopt an "emergency tariff"
abandon their mercantile trading strategies. And he wants the World Trade
Organization to adopt binding standards for international labor rights to slow
suggestions are unlikely to be adopted. The same trends in the world economy
that cry out for reform are themselves weakening the hand of the reformers. For
instance, as the mobility of capital reduces the power of unions, the chance
their production overseas, the likelihood of getting business to support an
nature" seems well within the realm of plausibility.
principle of brute strength in one case, of sensuous delicacy in another, of
appears to be metaphysical. The entire town seems to have been laid out
stride the pavements down below while, three or four stories above, on the
dualistic character of all existence: mortals below, immortals above, flesh
men, enslaved Titans bearing the weight of entire lofty buildings on their
sinewy backs, bearded philosophers, heroic Communist proletarians, and famous
cornices and see, of all creatures, the Three Musketeers, direct from the pages
on the roof of a theater, a chariot and team of wild horses are frozen in
eternal petrifaction on the brink of hurtling suicidally off the roof, quite as
if the immortals, too, have their traffic problems. But what is the meaning of
English literature, then in German cinema, and reached an apogee of acceptance
installation of Chuck Close's big portraits at the Museum of Modern Art in New
York City begins where any artist wants the narrative of his career to begin:
with fully achieved art. No juvenilia, no hesitant casting about, no "finding
glories in its sheer seediness. A trickle of cigarette smoke takes a detour
around the caterpillar mustache before negotiating some nose hairs. The stubble
During his early 20s, Close experimented with a variety of
photographic images as the basis for his cooler, less openly expressive
the campus police at U. Mass dismantled Close's first solo exhibition, which
included drawings loosely based on photographs of album covers. One showed Bob
reclining woman with a bikini suntan, based on photographs he'd taken in
show (though Big Nude is reproduced in the exhibition catalog); nor, for
nowhere. One is left with the somewhat misleading impression of an
establishment figure: the artist who plays an artist in Six Degrees of
Separation (as Close did), who paints pictures of his celebrity friends,
formal innovations to the exclusion of his subject matter. The paintings and
drawings are grouped in such a way that we follow Close's progression from the
make color images. Instead of mixing his colors on the palette, Close built up
his images by applying thin layers of primary colors directly onto the canvas.
Many of these color portraits have a faded pallor, like old snapshots, but the
capillaries. While moving into color, Close found ways to engage the crisscross
grid that had always been part of his procedure for enlarging photographic
images. First, he made the grid an explicit element of his compositions. Then,
he experimented with different ways to fill that grid: pointillist colored
All this focus on technique, while fascinating in itself,
is a distraction from the emotional impact of the paintings. (And the most
subjects of the portraits (wall panels give title, date, and medium) suggests
of this coyness is the pair of paintings hanging side by side in the first
teeth; the asymmetrical eyes; the squashed nose that looks as if it's been
mug shot hanging to her right, could be the guy she's just caught sight of.
Nor are Close's experiments with filling his grids as
portraits, Close fills his grids with his own fingerprints inked on a stamp
might expect (though two of them portray Close's young daughters). Rather, with
their clearly indicated whorls, they look like police fingerprints used for
identification. Is it an accident that two of Close's favorite media are mug
discourages any such speculation about the buried themes of criminality and
radiating circular grid. But most of the other recent paintings are jeweled,
unconscious, Close's doodles depict doughnuts, hot dogs, and lozenges. The
vengeance, but they seem more frivolous than emotionally charged. These
aged artist couldn't identify friends or participate in conversation. He
drifted away from his guests to the television, where Close found him channel
surfing, staring at the procession of silent images as they blinked past, his
place. He straightened up. His eyes brightened. He began speaking articulately
about each of the paintings in turn. He modeled the air with his hands, making
the beautiful, precise gestures that earlier visitors had described. He was
the man had long since disintegrated. Asked a factual question, he was
was still healthy. He would continue to paint for nearly a decade, long after
an old man still young in his art. The paintings themselves have rarely been
Modern Art, now make it possible to judge the case for oneself. Whatever one's
opinion of the paintings' success, they tell a poignant story of resilience and
frailty, and of an artist who was passionately unwilling to put away his
looked as if his most recent works would be his last. Those works were large,
oceanic abstractions that incorporated a kaleidoscopic range of color. Like
the first painting in this show, is a transitional work, a preamble to the new
style. Using masonry knives and pieces of cardboard instead of brushes, de
swaths of color, like beach towels rippling on a laundry line, create a planar
kind of abstraction, with large areas of smooth, erased whiteness. His palette,
that refer to nothing but paint. Both changes signal a stripping down, an old
uses them in an uncharacteristic way. The strokes are isolated and tentative,
For many people, such calmness amounted to a betrayal. De
first coined. Explosive splashes and drips were supposed to be integral to his
art, proof of the painting's volcanic authenticity. I remember, in art school,
that the 1980s paintings lacked the "messy viscous slathers of pigment, the
years before, similar complaints had been leveled. His grotesque, sardonic
"Woman" paintings were seen as a betrayal of his earlier abstract phase. Today
this controversy is a dead issue. The abstractions and the "Woman" paintings
hang side by side in museums. My bet is that the current objections will prove
a new, amended sense of continuity will emerge. Our eyes will focus not on
and buckle, never quite settling into the seat belt of a single compositional
well as the early '80s, flirt with refinement and turbulence. They avoid the
Delicacy doesn't undermine this balancing act. A greater sense of control
seems, on the contrary, to highlight it. One of my favorites among these
a dark letter "S." But "repeated" isn't an accurate description here, since the
shape is never the same twice. It bends, tilts, swells, enlarges, and shrinks
in each new appearance, like a vacuum chamber full of snakes. In the center of
the picture, two asymmetrical oxbows form a configuration like a grappling
iron, anchoring the composition. The sense of order here is slight, but it's
enough to give the picture a momentary, precarious unity. To my eye, this is
of equilibrium that is always mobile, always about to tilt off to one side and
understand, painted at an unprecedented pace, completing nearly a picture a
other, arriving at exuberant new combinations that sometimes echoed his old
final work was similarly buoyant. This brief period may have been the most
be able to juggle fewer elements. Stretching his paint strokes into long,
narrow ribbons, he retreated toward a kind of linear drawing in three colors.
The paintings became sinuous lattices, like the web of a deranged and brilliant
spider. Within them, an endless inventory of shapes and rhythms appears. The
compositions become ever more undulating and graceful. But at this point the
difference between supporters' and detractors' views begins to narrow. The
exhibit a restriction in emotional range as well. They take on a cartoonish,
standard in writing about economics for the general reader. It was so bad, and
bad in so many ways, that it demanded a kind of respect. To mention only its
most salient defect, here was a book announcing the failure of market economics
at a time when anybody with the slightest curiosity about the world was
transfixed by the sudden collapse of the main alternative to it: socialist
confirmed his thesis. Then, with no more time for distractions, he resumed his
Note the subtitle, "The Virtues and Limits of Markets." Is
there something to be said for markets after all? Not too much, it turns out.
recognizes them, it's usually with reluctance. "Consumption is doubtless
pleasurable," he concedes, doubtfully, "and nobody minds a high material
all right, he's sensitive to the drawbacks. Supermarkets work well on the
whole, he reckons, but what a burden on the economy that there should be so
many different kinds of breakfast cereal: "At my local supermarket, I counted
with increased respect for the power of markets and the complexity of the
story, yet with renewed conviction that the good society requires a mixed
though this sets him apart. But almost all economists take the case for a mixed
for many years. Faith in the virtues of markets rests on a theory whose
assumptions are not just untenable but patently absurd: People are rational and
have failed to spot. It follows that markets do not work as well as they're
supposed to, and that governments must play a large and active role in the
economy. The properly functioning market economy exists only in the pages of
economics textbooks. In the real world, a heavy dose of government is
wrong with this? To begin with, the purported contrast between the blinkered
sense is a fraud. Economists spend much of their time working out the
implications of "market failure" caused by departures from the assumptions of
so he exaggerates what governments in the real world can achieve. In theory,
governments may be selfless, competent, and adequately informed. In practice,
governments, thus evading the issue. He does not entirely ignore the branch of
government failure. He caricatures it briefly, calls it "banal" and
"tautological," and cites its influence on mainstream economics as further
evidence of the corruption of the academy. Be that as it may, the real choice
is not between imperfect markets and perfect governments, but between markets
is addressed to this question. Certainly, many pages are devoted to case
studies of various kinds of regulation and deregulation: telecommunications,
airlines, finance, health and safety, and more. As the cases pile up, a pattern
his view that more regulation is usually better than less? Not at all. These
findings only strengthen his conviction that economics is bunk. Again and
Studies that come to the opposite conclusion only demonstrate the bankruptcy of
could offer some other coherent way to think about these issues, or even if his
critique were arresting or persuasive. But he offers no alternative apart from
his own privileged sense of what is obvious, and his attacks on economic method
When he attempts to lampoon what he sees as a silly
orthodoxy, he often just gets it wrong. Satirizing the efficiency of financial
markets, he writes: "The market, again by definition, had to be right. If loans
higher return than loans to a local small business or housing complex, then
they had to be the more deserving use of capital." As any semiconscious
economics student could tell you, a higher rate would not signal that the loan
in question is more deserving than another, but rather, the opposite: that
investors are being compensated for extra risk, leaving the marginal lender
account is just as stupid as the one he mocks. But if he expects to have any
credibility, he should understand the difference between the two versions.
he is attacking. Someone who writes book after book to refute what he doesn't
those strangely positioned writers whose fans rank her near the top of the
literary ladder but who remains, to the rest of the world, not much more than a
name. A quick rundown, then, of her long and impressive career: It begins in
fiction or find another line of work. You might expect a painful drama to
follow, a piling up of drafts and rejections. Instead, she was instantly
mature, prolific, and publishable. Her first submission to The New
Yorker was returned with a friendly letter, but on the second try she got
arithmetic is the measure, Gallant must be the quintessential New Yorker
wry, mildly gloomy sensibility, and her knack for perfect detail were a
Protestant, yes, but with a strong current of French and Catholic. My young
parents sent me off on that current by placing me in a French convent school,
for reasons never made plain. I remember my grandmother's saying, "Well, I give
up." It was a singular thing to do and in those days unheard of. It left me
with two systems of behavior, divided by syntax and tradition; two environments
two codes of social behavior; much practical experience of the difference
this hemisphere with excessive propriety and then thrust, unprotected, into old
between a rule and a moral point" but commits neither to one nor the other.
she sometimes sketched her expatriates with the quicker, more economical
poverty and rubble, one century after rich New World travelers made their first
an acquaintance with such petty facts as train schedules and plumbing. She
cultivates decadent aristocratic airs or tries too hard to hold on to Puritan
these pieces, Gallant has arranged them chronologically in her collection, by
decade from the '30s through the '90s. The stories weren't necessarily written
Jack run a small hotel; Jack is a philanderer and eventually leaves, and
Gallant traces them through separation and World War II and a pragmatic
offers someone else his or her love and is let down, but still manages to get
up in the morning for the next several decades. These stories are the tightest
and the best designed, and they yield her most memorable lines, dark, ironic
granted, now she was married, that Jack felt as she did about light, dark,
death, and love," and from that we understand that separation is inevitable. Or
I was young I thought that men had small lives of their own creation. I could
not see why, born enfranchised, without the obstacles and constraints attendant
on women, they set such close limits for themselves and why, once the limits
Elsewhere, the wandering observer predominates, and the
stories gain weight in the quest for clinical accuracy. Besides the English in
visiting her characters several times over a span of years. The young grow up,
and we learn about French school exams and then the petty hierarchies in the
civil service. The elderly are defined by their memory of past events. From the
speculating on the meaning of her stories. Character is everything; facts make
the man. If Gallant sometimes achieves the same high notes that great reporting
neurotic habits, and random memories are woven into a pattering portrait.
Consider the opening to "The End of the World," which introduces an angry son
they arrived there, they met some neighbors from home who told them about a
hearing about others who did, or whose friends had seen it, always in different
places, and it spoiled their trip for them. Many people, like them, have never
come across it but have heard about it, so it must be there somewhere. Another
the concrete in this kind of story, and a democratic interest in human nature.
But there's also a cool complacency, an indifferent shrug. By Gallant's own
admission in the introduction, she composes with an eye to craft, not the
deeper heart of a story. Each local ironic effect has to be placed precisely;
each street name has to be gotten right the first time. "I could not move on to
the second sentence until the first sentence sounded true," she writes somewhat
first flash of fiction arrives without words. It consists of a fixed image,
complete in themselves but like disconnected parts of the film." But a film and
a slide show are not the same thing as fully imagined fiction. These stories
make up a time capsule assembled by a skilled social historian, a rich gallery
of plausible lives. They are well observed, well written, and remote, and no
as he insisted on being called), got the top job at an obscure government
agency known as the Command and Control Research Division, a division of the
agency specialized in the sort of esoteric Department of Defense research that
could only be called "asinine" (his word, in fact). Air Force intelligence, for
instance, wanted to use the agency's huge mainframe computers to detect
the computers bits of information like, "The Soviet Air Force chief drank two
from which the computer was to deduce that the Soviets were building a new
got rid of the fanciful war games, substituting something that must have
scientists, of whom some would go on to invent video games, the mouse, the
metaphor of "windows" and "icons" and, of course, the Internet itself.
added benefit of letting people get their hands on keyboards, which few of them
had ever done. Computer science up to that point had been dominated by
programmers wrote code at their desks, copied it onto stacks of cards with
holes punched into them, and handed them over to technicians who had a
the Internet), was solved. But the larger intellectual revolution undergirding
computers, which turned impersonal calculating machines into intimate tools for
interviews with the scientists involved, culled material from archives and
private collections, and revised the historical record where necessary.
test to see if computer networks could be designed to survive a nuclear war.
government needed a way for all the incompatible computers being used for
government research to communicate with each other. In a sense, the Internet
connecting any sort of computer with another computer.
scientists to create connections between dozens, let alone hundreds, of
computers without running up a fortune in telephone bills? The answer, which
occupies three chapters of the book, is "packet switching," and it remains the
core of today's Internet. Instead of opening a direct connection with the
packets that are reassembled when they get to their destination.
They trace the web of conversations that brought their ideas to the office of
graduate students from universities around the country, then gave them the
right to do more or less whatever they wanted. Perhaps the greatest mystery in
students huge sums of money, without insisting on oversight. Whatever the
reason, it worked: The crucial design decisions were made at a series of
developed interactive games, created the first online discussion groups, fought
over what technical standards to adopt, and ran headfirst into issues still
software, how to govern the Internet. Once again, though, the authors don't
interpret the picture they're painting in such studious detail. The Internet,
barely in the government's hands in the first place, was hijacked by the
students, who seemed to be more interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons than
the Internet reflect the strange counterculture these students conjured up out
of Pentagon funds? Readers who want a more complete picture should read two
designed computer games based on science fiction and used the Internet to
fashion a universe of their own. Building the Internet was not simply about
building a better mousetrap; it was, for its creators, also about building a
better and smarter, and wildly utopian, world. That story remains to be
intellectual rests on this work, which whites felt brought black writing of
other collections of fiction in his lifetime. Some of the fugitive pieces of
fiction he did publish in magazines and journals are collected in Flying
Home and Other Stories, along with some very early unpublished work. The
also seen the publication of a volume of his collected essays and one of his
advent that produced only excerpts here and there. The adulatory reception of
an even greater book, that is. He might have especially felt this pressure as
the years went by and public expectation grew with the wait. Perhaps he said
Whatever the case, the payoff from Invisible Man was
welcome partly because he was the first black writer to win a National Book
the major literary prizes. In the age of integration, this endorsement of
reception also had much to do with his attitude toward writing and toward race.
engagement, in the primacy of aesthetics over the political and sociological
dimensions of literature. These beliefs are reasonable enough, even liberating
for black artists burdened by the political demands of their race. But they
were also in concord with the dogma of the white literary establishment (a
dogma that persists to this day): that art should transcend the social
didn't drag the bugaboo of race into the literary act. "I wasn't, and am not,"
from the late 1930s to the middle 1940s. Thus, the tendency is to see the
stories not in their own right, judging them strictly on the basis of their own
some unknown writer had written them? Are they worthy of our attention when
not easy to answer. These are obviously apprentice works, the equivalent of
how to write fiction. And while it is true that no author, no matter how
accomplished, ever ceases to struggle with the craft of writing, there is
surely a difference between that stage when one is fumbling around, trying to
discover if one can even be a writer, and the stage where one is fully
confident of addressing the world as nothing but a writer, because one is as
compelled to write as to breathe. Isn't the entire premise of this collection
based on the idea that they suggest a culmination, an arrival, in Invisible
hard to spot. The old man who tells of his dream of flying around heaven in
literary game does not address the significance of these stories. What is of
story about a lynching and an airplane crash told from the point of view of a
reader an ironic, ambiguous tale of a white boy, a moral innocent, coming of
abandoned a career in music for one in literature. He was reading a great deal,
trying to establish his literary ancestry and ascertain precisely the kind of
writer he could be. The struggle with influences and the experiments with
points of view, narrative mode, characterization, realism, surrealism,
thus, baldly apparent here. There are several stories about "riding the rods,"
replicate what was done in the earlier novel. Buster and the narrator are
process of becoming an artist with that of becoming a man. Throughout the
meanings relating to sexual desire (the horny young boys), artistic creation
(the instrument of jazz), and masculinity (the symbol of a bull). But the
its characters but with its intention of being larger than itself.
The two most successful stories here, "That I Had the
stories further illustrate the unease, even hostility, that blacks have tended
to feel about their folklore, and about black history generally: In "That I Had
the black pilot who seeks escape hates the black farmer who rescued him after
not only the various ideologies that are presented to him as masks or
leadership his own race wishes him to fulfill. Similarly, in these two stories,
the pilot and the two boys are, in effect, fighting against the power of race
consciousness as a form of conformity, even as they are trying to find their
society and his group, and the way they assign him roles and identities.
But he was among the first to explore them with a level of intellectual verve
and artistic sophistication that suggested to blacks and the world that there
and immediate political protest but the broad and rich possibilities of the
human condition itself. Whatever the merit of these stories, it is certainly
This restlessness helps explain his obsessive and often hallucinatory
depictions, from his first pictures to his last, of houses and rooms. "Looking
at the picture ought to rest the brain," he told his younger brother and
The gorgeous golden bed with its heavy white pillow squeezed right from the
paintings, scattered far and wide, gathered here for once in a lifetime. Van
firmly in his time and place and acknowledges his spirited engagement with
surveys the artist's chronological development as a painter, grouping the
seek to synthesize recent thinking on him, of which, it should be said, there
now.) The modest aim of the exhibition and the catalog is to refocus our
attention on the paintings as paintings, directing our attention to how van
artist's "defense against disintegration" painted a few days before his death.
The oncoming zigzag crows, swarming like the black choppers in Apocalypse
classic and deeply felt essay, it's hard to see this picture as anything other
as a celebration of the love for 'art and life' professed by the painter in one
black from his palette. Those crows have escaped from an earlier phase of his
putting into the dish." And yet, what a weird painting. Seeing the picture in
figures, especially the young man to the left wearing what appears to be a
he is still mulling over the book, in which "the most beautiful passage" is
where "the poor slave, knowing that he must die, and sitting for the last time
with his wife, remembers the words 'Let Cares like a wild deluge come/ And
storms of sorrow fall,/ May I but safely reach my home,/ My God, my Heaven, my
moments of emotion and inspiration which give him a feeling of an eternal home
For this painter who once claimed to be "daffy with piety,"
our earthly habitation, slave cabin, or peasant hovel is merely temporary.
illuminating the darkness and its loaded juxtaposition on the background wall
of ticking clock and Crucifixion, time and eternity. The early A Pair of
holed up in his thatched cottage in the Black Forest after the war, thinking
about "The Origin of the Work of Art." "From the dark opening of the worn
shoes vibrates the silent call of the earth, its quiet gift of the ripening
too has a secret strangeness, which has to do with scale. The background of the
painting suggests a clearing in a landscape, with trees in the distance. One
suddenly has the illusion that the shoes are huge, monumental. They reach out
to each other like a couple lost in the wilderness, one upright and confident,
the other one slouched down in despair. A whole poetry of the ordinary came out
paintings suggests what this show might have been, in the hands of curators
more interested in social context. There are only two works on paper in the
enlarged the traced image, replaced the subdued blacks and grays of the kimono
available women; and flat, shadowless color. It is no exaggeration to say that
little town surrounded by fields all covered with yellow and purple flowers;
catalog, has no obvious center. The gnarled and wonderfully drawn branches
toward the bottom break into the allover blossoms, with their red detail and
subject of this short book is the present direction of the law governing the
to not merely because of his prominence in the field but because his argument
is planted in the common assumptive ground of a lot of contemporary academic
has an idea about how we might improve it. The short way to put his argument
(though it is not quite the way he puts it) is to say that our approach to
speech has become increasingly permissive. Courts have become more and more
reluctant to allow the state to interfere with the rights of individual
speakers to say what they wish, and it is time to roll back that permissiveness
and to embark on a new approach that would permit the state to silence some
true freedom of speech for all requires suppressing the speech of some. This is
not, technically, an irony. It is a paradox. An irony would be the observation
that an attempt to increase freedom for all often entails, despite our best
free speech in this spirit, as an irony, he would undoubtedly have had some
interesting things to say, for he is a learned and temperate writer. But he
has, instead, chosen to address the issue as an advocate for specific groups he
groups to enlist the state in efforts either to suppress speech they dislike or
to subsidize speech they do like, without running afoul of the First Amendment.
Embarked on this task, the most learned and temperate writer in the world would
Irony of Free Speech is a discussion of several speech issues:
and equal time. These discussions are not doctrinaire, but their general
inclination is to favor state intervention, on political grounds, in each of
presented against a lightly sketched historical argument. Light though the
sketching is, the historical argument is almost the most objectionable thing
about the book, since it involves a distortion of the history of First
Amendment law that is fairly plain even to someone who is not a professor at
nineteenth century was defined by the claims of individual liberty and resulted
in an unequivocal demand for liberal government, [while] the liberalism of
today embraces the value of equality as well as liberty." The constitutional
of the newer liberal value, equality. Contemporary liberals, inheriting both
these traditions, find themselves in a bind. They want, let's say, black
students to be free from harassment at institutions where they are, racially,
in a minority, since liberals worry that black students cannot be "equal" if
they feel intimidated. But those same liberals get upset at the thought of
outlawing hate speech, since that would mean infringing upon the right of
liberals should stop thinking about this as a conflict between liberty and
equality and start thinking about it as a conflict between two kinds of
liberty: social vs. individual. The First Amendment, he says, was intended to
in society as a whole; speech that inhibits or monopolizes that debate should
therefore fall outside the protection of the law. We can maximize the total
they utter racial epithets, represent women in degrading ways, use their wealth
to dominate the press and the political process, or block the funding of
The historical part of this analysis rests on a canard,
which is the assertion that the constitutional law of free speech emerged from
emerged at the time of World War I, and the principal figures in its
classical liberals; they were progressives. They abhorred the doctrine of
natural rights because, in their time, that doctrine was construed to cover not
courts did not display a libertarian attitude toward civil rights; they
displayed a libertarian attitude toward economic rights, tending to throw out
legislation aimed at regulating industry and protecting workers on the grounds
that people had a constitutional right to enter into contracts and to use their
health and safety regulations, the protection of unions, the imposition of
are, in fact, almost entirely different political philosophies.
of the donkey to drool") but on a democratic need for full and open political
debate. First Amendment law since their time has performed its balancing acts
insert into First Amendment jurisprudence. We don't need to insert it, because
Amendment jurisprudence in this perverted way? Because he wants to line up his
problems are mostly the consequences of an antiquated and discreditable
ideology of liberal individualism, and that they can mostly be solved by
of human nature instead. The merits of liberal individualism vs.
communitarianism can await another occasion to be debated. For since the law
governing the freedom of speech does not emerge out of libertarianism, the
it does. What it boils down to is whether we need to replace the
democratic society, which tries to push the state as far out of the picture as
possible, with a different way, which tries to get the state farther into the
assuming we want to try the interventionist approach, it is hard to see how a
different. The ideological impetus behind judicial developments in the last two
except as a kind of constitutional cover, than to a revival of the old "right
administrative efforts to require broadcasters to carry "opposing viewpoints"
on the grounds that since it's their property, owners of television stations
light of the proliferation of media outlets. But the state does arguably have
an interest, compatible with the First Amendment, in stipulating the way those
Still, that discussion, like his discussions of the other
would wish it to be concerning matters such as feminism, the rights of
homosexuals, and regulation of industry is that people are denied access to the
opinions and information that would enlighten them. The public is denied this
access because the state, in thrall to the ideology of individualism, refuses
interventionist approach. Arts policy is, unquestionably, a mess. The solution
usually proposed is divorce: Either get the state out of the business
altogether or invent some ironclad process for distributing the money using
enhance the "robustness" of the debate and should therefore prefer unorthodox
considers, by virtue of social need and a prior history of exclusion, worthy of
qualify under these guidelines, since, he says, "in the late 1980s the AIDS
regarding the scope and direction of publicly funded medical research. To
community, so long hidden from view." This seems completely wrongheaded. People
photographs objectionable because they depicted homosexuality. They found them
objectionable because they depicted sadomasochism. The notion that it was what
have homosexuality associated with snarling guys prancing around in leather
a time when AIDS had become a national health problem and the issue of gays in
to the pictures. Now that is what we call an irony of free speech.
effort at cultural engineering, and the problem with cultural engineering is
the problem with social engineering raised to a higher power. We have a hard
enough time calculating the effects of the redistribution of wealth in our
society. How can we possibly calculate the effects of redistributing the right
enough and mandating it for people he feels have not been adequately heard? One
thing that is plain from the brief unhappy history of campus speech codes is
that you automatically raise the value of the speech you punish and depress the
value of the speech you sponsor. There are indeed many ironies here. Maybe
ago, reporting a general puzzlement among reviewers. Some reviewers were said
prose style. Someone else was said to have deplored a lack of moral firmness in
reactions, as summarized in Slate, don't do justice to the book.
field is journalism, not fiction, which may surprise readers, but shouldn't.
he has written journalism from time to time ever since. Kidnapping is an old
theme of his. Years ago he composed a screenplay described as a
injustice; the United States hovering in the distance; a hostage situation. But
The author says very little about the United States, apart from noting that, at
unsettling and dangerous aspect of his personality was his total inability to
direct commentaries on his own cast of characters. He shows us the consequences
for a complicating factor. We meet the young hit men who guarded the kidnap
victims, and odors of fatalism, superstition, and barbarism waft upward from
the page, in an unmistakable indication that we are in the presence of the
still more brutality of his own, and we can see that, in a perverse way, he did
feel something of a righteous indignation. He managed even to demand that the
wonderfully bizarre demand for a crime chief to make. And with details like
victims in their different safe houses, the efforts by the husband of one of
out a bit less leafy, due to the traumas of translation.
doubtless better than most. Still, there are passages that, while perfectly
translation, "In the bloom of her early thirties, she had married in the
Catholic Church at the age of nineteen, and had given her husband five
in the flower of her thirties, she had been married by the Catholic Church at
nineteen, and she had given her husband five children." And of mangled passages
which is exactly what the author never meant to have happen.
original), in which the quaintness has somehow blossomed into something
monstrosity. A primitive among provincials. A man whose defective moral sense
included a grotesquely exaggerated loyalty to a limited number of people in his
still could not figure out how to live outside his own country, away from the
people trying to hunt him down. A cornered beast, terrorized and
the start of the book that writing News of a Kidnapping was "the saddest
and most difficult" task of his life. But apart from that and a playful wave at
write a book!"), nothing in the narrative draws attention to the author or to
his way of telling the story. This, too, must disappoint readers looking for
the pleasures of an intricately constructed novel. News of a Kidnapping
Bug. Works like "Shoot" made Burden famous within art circles, after a
the 1960s and 1970s. Like pop and minimalism, it was provocatively easy to
make. Aside from the hours spent documenting such feats, and recovering from
"Pizza City" is one of the highlights of the show. There are no guns or glass
shards here, however; Burden has abandoned drama for a childlike laboriousness.
Composed of thousands of miniature parts, "Pizza City" is a scale model of a
minus the trains. Some of the houses, shrubs, trees, and cars actually come
become skyscrapers, factories, freeways. The result is likable, but not much
more. It's a kid's toy, albeit one that an established artist devoted seven
Such cottage industriousness is the ruling spirit of the
solemn, not whimsical: stretches of miniature Western highway so realistic that
photographs of them are indistinguishable from photos of real highways.
called "Self Portrait with Homemade Clothes," Ray learned how to sew his own
make a watch from scratch. Obsession is the name of the game. Devote three
months to a project, and you're a hobbyist. Devote seven years, and you're in
has always been a buzzword in the art world, a less corny, more
is measured against. Obsession, after all, is what connects increasingly
15,000-page fantasy about little girls with penises, to insider artists such as
their hands. This is ridiculous. For most artists, fewer sales means
less time to work, more time spent paying the rent. The explanation for
the artist's personal commitment. Even the worst work demands from you the
admission that at least the artists are authentic. They've put in too much
curators call Burden one of the two role models for the mostly younger artists
names for its idiosyncratic imagery and writing detailed, incomprehensible
to visual art as such. He disparaged painting as "retinal stupidity."
the works on display here could be seen as personal variations on the "Large
Glass." They vary enormously in appearance, since appearances are not
inkblot drawings. The only visual quality they have in common is a dogged
intricacy. This intricacy isn't just unlike minimalism; it is its ideological
opposite. Minimalist art was simple, serious, and totally public. It sat on the
wall and left us to make up our own minds about what it was all about.
bizarre idiolect. Both, however, leave us out in the cold.
like this might have at least had a polemical feminist edge. Now it just comes
the fortress of the self is a permanent one. Art history has flickered out, he
says, and though art will continue to be made, each artist will follow his or
her bliss, without any larger motive or connective scheme. It's "Pizza City"
forever. Walking around this Biennial, which happens to be the last of the
way of being wrong. There are reasons to be optimistic about the future of art,
about the Old South, full of sex, cannibalism, chivalry, folklore, and humor.
It isn't always easy to figure out what she is talking about. Her stories, too,
can seem hermetic, like pictures from a private universe. But most of the time,
to their shared national past. Walker makes History painting, that musty
patriarchal fossil, seem like the most seditious and vital new idea of the
enacted by our own legislators, chosen by the people for that purpose.
law is a mass of opinions and decisions which courts and
judicial philosophy are now usefully collated in this volume, which consists of
few of these students befriend their senators, or find some other way to become
statute or regulation, these judges, reared on the common law, too often treat
the enacted text as just one more precedent to circumvent. In other words, they
observed." The only democratically binding feature of a statute is its literal
language, because that language alone has been ratified by both houses of
constitutional interpretation. Its adherents tether their interpretations to
plain meanings as they were understood when the text was first penned.
reprise of the traditional jeremiad against judicial usurpation concludes with
unelected judge determined to impose the values of an elite few upon the
majority of the moment will begin to insist ever more stridently on judges of
its particular ideological stripe. Once on the bench, these judicial
about encoding the popular will into law, to the detriment of unpopular
her response, this is an odd coda, especially given the majoritarian premises
judges, but hers is the more traditional anxiety, rooted in a fear of elites.)
democracy too far, contends that the individual rights favored by judges tend
vehicles for implementing a popular will that changes from moment to moment.
Besides, judges can't be relied on: Supreme Court justices, for instance, are
prescriptions have long drawn fire from legal academics. Some of their
between what the Constitution says and what its framers expected it to
He justifiably laments the virtual disregard of statutory interpretation in
predominates despite the fact that most law nowadays takes the form of statutes
also rightly rejects the use of "legislative history" (committee reports and
floor debates) as a guide to divining lawmakers' intent. Committee reports are
worthless, not only because they lack a democratic pedigree, but because they
legislative history is like looking over the heads at a cocktail party until
all, can be plenty wooden and unimaginative themselves.
certainly become more popular among his bench mates. The simplest proof of this
is the remarkable increase in citations to dictionaries in Supreme Court
reputation for stiltedness; reading some of these opinions is like listening to
devotees of the "Living Constitution" like Tribe now declare their fidelity to
text. It's surprising that Tribe's essay doesn't discuss his textualist
Citing almost no cases, Tribe told the Supreme Court that the Colorado
initiative violated the letter of the Equal Protection Clause because it denied
convince a majority of the court to strike down the amendment, despite a lack
Equal Protection Clause, grounding his arch dissent firmly in
More, and the Roper poll. Its decision, which Tribe defended before the court
earlier this month, is almost certain to be reversed, probably on textualist
grounds. Most of the current textual infidelity, though, occurs because the
today's judges to live with adventurous Supreme Court decisions from earlier in
his dissents, he often calls upon the court to scour away layers of encrusted
precedent in order to get at the original meaning of the underlying text.
asking since the colonial era, fitting the answer to the needs of the moment.
resentment of the overweening powers of royal judges. As early as the 1780s,
judicial power responds to the demands of the time merely proves that "there
have always been willful judges who bend the law to their wishes."
arguments have shaped the debate in our time; he has gone a long way toward
not yet succeeded in building a durable majority on the court. Does this mean
that unpopular individual rights are in peril? More likely, it simply goes to
appointment as an independent counsel. In that case, a lawyer is free to
investigate more or less whatever catches his fancy, for as long as he likes,
spending as much of the public's money as he deems necessary. The passing of a
petty scandal, the resignation of a target, even a change in administrations is
is the least of them. One special prosecutor is still deciding whether to
tickets from a poultry company. There's even a counsel, holed up somewhere in
Urban Development scandal, which dates from two administrations and more than
prosecutor may decide to forgo charges so that he can devote his energies to a
case that is more important and easier to win. But, for the independent
counsel, there is no other case. Were he to announce that his scandal didn't
justify criminal proceedings after all, he would be declaring himself a failure
who had wasted the public's time and money. After he returned to his law
practice in the sticks, no one would ever hear from him again. Much better to
keep digging, declare that indictments are just around the corner, and hold off
on releasing that final report just a few months longer.
In retrospect, it seems obvious that combining these
chance, and it appeared at first to be a bit of brilliant casting. In his
plodder and a stickler for detail, with no ability to play politics or work the
of the foibles that afflicted his investigation. As a piece of writing, it is
repetitive, unfocused, and confusing. It feels like it goes on for seven years.
sight of the question of why anyone should still care.
from the immunized testimony, the unavoidable tainting of the prosecution's
pitching a fit to try to prevent Congress from granting immunity to the chief
protagonists. His second mistake, which he does not acknowledge, was failing to
admit defeat after the grants of immunity predictably ruined his case. Once the
trying to lock up other officials whose behavior, while far from exemplary, was
neither venal nor as outrageous as that of the ringleaders going free.
seems to lose touch with his judiciousness, if not his deliberateness. Instead
of conceding, he redoubles his efforts. As he keeps missing his targets, he
takes aim at less and less compelling ones, desperate to convict someone,
instead for concealing the existence of some of his personal notes. But
flailing after targets large and small in his attempt to vindicate his
because he chose to persist with the policy of arms for hostages, even though
on; he was clearly obsessed with the hostages, and clung to any hope of setting
them free. And indeed, three of seven were released in apparent conjunction
with the arms sales, which does not constitute an overwhelming failure, however
the information in his head in any meaningful way. Interviewed on videotape as
inconsistencies in the former president's answers as if they actually meant
both pathetically weak and astonishingly powerful. Alone on the parched plains
precious grain. But one blink of a starving boy's hollow eyes, captured on
emotions, finances, and armies of the greatest nations on earth.
demonstrating the good will of Western governments and charitable
has come to view aid and charity "as an industry, as religion, as a
corruption that gave rise to famine and anarchy in the first place. If
international humanitarianism is to preserve its legitimacy, both governments
and private humanitarian organizations must confront critiques such as
humanitarian intervention as an instance of what economists call "moral
hazard." The classic example of moral hazard comes from insurance: Because you
have it, you feel protected against your own mistakes and behave in a riskier
manner, increasing the chances that you will suffer a loss. Fire insurance
increases the chance your house will burn down; for those inclined toward
fraud, it even raises the incentive to burn the house down. In the sphere of international aid, it is pretty clear that
the infusion of Western food and cash has often undermined the determination
and capacity of developing states to pull themselves up by their own
there and dig if they get more food than they can eat free from CARE?"
help also cushions venal Third World governments from the consequences of their
clinch the case for abolishing international assistance entirely. The
appropriate response to his horror stories is, "Yes, but." Yes,
insurance. Yes, domestic welfare programs are riddled with perverse incentives,
but we still need a social safety net. Yes, international aid is frequently
intervention can ameliorate or prevent some humanitarian disasters.
coming up with guidelines that preserve the moral purpose of humanitarian aid
to define the components of what we consider "good causes" and then to set up
"a hierarchy of concerns" to deal with the often contradictory demands of
individual rights." What he comes up with is specific and nuanced in its
economic assistance to the democratic inclinations of a recipient government.
Aid to a democratic government facing a rebellion is also acceptable. So is
may not really be organic "nations" after all. It also fails to recognize that sometimes, the only
criteria would rule out much of a role for leadership by the United States (or,
the United States, on its own, had dispatched a few warships to stop the
And, I might add, hasn't the United States' noninterference in its colonial
policy "maxims" reads less like an antidote to the current confusion than an
has trouble fitting sovereignty into his analysis. On the one hand, he is
particularly good at documenting the phenomenon of the aid worker who mutters
scornfully about his household servants. In almost every frustrated development
of those who "do development" tend to blur the distinction between assisting
the village leaders taking money from the farmers who worked so hard to pay
"Yet the only thing I could have done would have been to get involved
politically, to take power, to lead, ultimately to rule." He suggests the
consequences of that impulse are always dangerous. Just look at what happened
the other hand, he writes at another point, "Humanitarianism is political. It
takes commitment. And it comes with risks." But this formulation would suggest
love" sent abroad. All financial assistance to the developing world should be
contingent not only on economic reform in recipient countries but on political
freedom as well. When military intervention proves unavoidable, we should be
less fastidious about national sovereignty, and all the more determined to set
right the underlying political conditions that led to disaster.
United States might not have been drawn into bigger factional problems later
on. The overly respectful way the United States and its allies handled the
ostensible reluctance to involve ourselves in costly overseas conflicts, and
our ostensible respect for the national sovereignty of the foreign countries.
But once we're in, we're in. Better, perhaps, to sort things out thoroughly in
the short run, and to prevent even greater devastation for all concerned down
Library on International Development is another source for material on
these issues. To approach humanitarian aid from the perspective of a few of its
organization dedicated to helping humanitarian organizations raise global
awareness and encourage support for relief efforts via the Internet." The
Humanitarian Reporting notes that the media often only report on the
"crisis of the moment," and aims to "encourage better reporting of
humanitarian, development and related issues." Meanwhile, a site established
which took place last fall, gives you a firsthand glimpse of the frequently
crass world of the relief business (note the long list of commercial exhibitors
naming of autobiographies is a minor art. A great title can be nobly direct
dispute between Random House and a West German publisher, with huge libel
problems looming; it was withdrawn shortly after publication, and became one of
the books most often stolen from public libraries. Now, five years after its
unfortunate change of name, this ghastly and hypnotic memoir lives up to its
hair (yellow? orange? rotting gold?), the sandpaper voice, the glint of a sharp
intellect beneath a brutish exterior. He emitted a strange kind of electricity;
before he even said a word on screen, he put everything and everyone on edge.
playfulness, his sense of being slyly amused by a mad world and his own mad
self. He will live into posterity on the strength of the five films he made
nihilistic martinet who leads an Amazon expedition toward nothingness, is one
of the great human monsters in movie history. But for the most part, his
the part. He began acting in Berlin and regional theaters, developing a
reputation for savagely accented classical performances and electrifying
English thrillers and war flicks. Addicted to quick work and upfront salaries,
he quickly gravitated toward the lower road: countless crime serials,
young and old, in a grotesque pornographic idiom that excludes sensual
producers, writers, actors, journalists, and generally, all individuals who are
actively sets out to make himself appear the biggest creep who ever walked the
when I was asleep I pissed on my sister because I dreamed she was a tree,"
tormenting helpless creatures and, if necessary, torturing them to death or
been described as unwatchable by the few people who have watched it.)
On and on it goes, sickening and tedious by turns. But this
book is weirdly enjoyable for what is not in it: conventional film gossip,
long stretches, you'll be wondering, "What year are we in?" or even, "What
decade?" There are no dates, and few hard facts; movies are referred to as
"some piece of crap," directors, as "some idiot." (The "New York actress slut"
attached.) He doesn't even give the full names of his various wives. You also
wonder whether certain things actually happened. Some of the sexual escapades
sound curiously like unfulfilled fantasies. Phrases recur in them like literary
Eventually, a genre crisis sets in. Is this autobiography, or an
autobiographical novel? It becomes an interesting game to guess at the real
whose fits of rage come and go like squalls, whose childish enthusiasm for
more arch, cold, stylish. Also, there are strange discontinuities between the
two versions: each has material omitted from the other, and the new "uncut"
edition is actually much more cautious naming names. All this will have to be
only to certain tastes. Amateur psychologists may enjoy it as a sort of
misery can savor its underlying sadness and futility. And as always with
laughter. As I put this wretched book down, I thought I heard a cackle from
confirmed by the ongoing opening of the archives and the sterling work
this, however, changes the old consensus that the grand strategy of the Cold
similar containment on the eastern front, where the Pentagon was building
direct war, and by learning to avoid entanglement in local struggles, the West
eventually won the peace. The West prevailed because nuclear weapons imposed a
brittle truce, shifting the conflict to the economic rivalry in which the
West's greater resources and adaptability could produce both guns and butter,
for markets and raw materials was at least as responsible for the Cold War. Now
pivotal issue of who was to blame, his conclusion is "authoritarianism in
Evil in general: the Soviet system. To prove his point, he cites figures
though such awful spoils of war hardly address the moral argument of good and
evil in the Cold War itself. And even though it was widely known that many of
taken prisoner by the Allies, abandoning the women to pay for the dreadfulness
been difficult to argue. Its advocates must grapple with the ugly facts of
racial segregation in the United States; of the latter's hardheaded if
spasmodic support of its allies' futile efforts to cling to their colonial
empires; and of the West's readiness to support loathsome regimes in the name
becomes subordination of state to Commie purposes." Normally the most
Foreign Ministry and party archives have so far yielded little that is
illuminating, and the Soviet military and intelligence archives are still
country with his own partisan resources, was far too prickly to knuckle under.
combining executive leadership with a careful acknowledgment of individual
essence, that this managerial style went beyond the difference between Western
allies and Soviet satellites, even beyond the distinction between the United
authoritarians were products of a more benign political heritage than the
"crushing economic pressure" on their currencies was hardly a collegial way to
brought their own historic baggage to the task of creating a new world order
capitalist and Communist systems that long predated both men.
while the Cold War still raged. It took a little more courage for a Western
historian to say that then than it does to say it now, with the long
it did make one serious point: that the United States had clear national and
economic interests and found the Cold War an unusually congenial way to pursue
epitaph of the Cold War was written at its birth, by Soviet Foreign Minister
in your own country, on switching on the radio, you would be hearing not so
applications of the principles of 'equal opportunity' would in practice mean
the veritable economic enslavement of the small states and their subjugation to
the rule and arbitrary will of strong and enriched foreign firms, banks, and
industrial corporations? Was this what we fought for when we battled the
glitzy glamour of rumbustious capitalism were exactly what people wanted. The
West prevailed because it was rich, rather than because it was good. It would
be nice to say that we were rich because we were good, but the randomness of
the market and the casual ethics of the hidden hand allow no such theocratic
spooky resemblance between these two memoirs? Both were written by actresses
famous for playing ethereal, damaged, or somehow incomplete souls. Both
actresses chronicle restless, unstable childhoods, capped, in each case, by a
quick rise to fame. Both regretfully conclude that they were unprepared for
this early acclaim, and that missing out on the trial and error of adolescence
caused them permanent damage. Considering how successful these women have been,
each of them spends surprisingly little time talking about her work and quite a
woman's life was a difficult genius known for his neurotic, darkly comic
leads us to another intriguing similarity between Leaving a Doll's House
Critics have asked tough questions about the writers' judgment and motives: How
could these women just sit by and let this happen? Why should we believe either
one when she says that her book is an attempt to understand what happened, and
complained that Bloom asks for more sympathy than she deserves. In a pitiless
wrote that Farrow exaggerates the emotional damage wrought by an early bout
"One can discern, through the pious gloss Bloom puts on the events of her life,
her celebrity and touting her famous friends ("the glitterati chorus"), and
Why the discomfort? One suspects, in part, a generational
women assigned to write about women for the elite media, many of them a decade
women to stop harping about men and start taking care of their own lives. Most
of all, they think that women control what they do with their bodies. As long
as they consent to something, they can't be victims. This last idea is, in
the reaction points to a new, jaded distrust of celebrity. The days when we
confusion, insecurity, and no common sense. While this sounds reasonable
enough, it overlooks the most gruesome similarity of all: that in the case of
Bloom and of Farrow both, it is crippling passivity that brought them to the
public eye in the first place and crippling passivity that kept them there.
ambition, she writes, "to become an actress as young as I did was to enter a
facts of life, I was always ill at ease in the company of men." Farrow's entry
into the cloister was even less thought out. She was born into it. Her father
as a child, Farrow planned to escape the narrow, competitive world of acting,
forced her to start earning money. Thereafter she never left the fishbowl, and
when she says she never enjoyed it, you believe her. She bounced from one
actress knew what she wanted, and each was rewarded for her ignorance. When
inexperience and eagerness to please made her the perfect actress to star
relationship with Bloom for material. At one point, he even planned to name a
character in his novel Deception --a hideous, dowdy actress and an
beauty, and her pained, abstracted stare. (She accurately describes herself as
uncanny. Each courtship begins with the great man sending charming but oddly
formal notes to his beloved or having his secretary call to determine the time,
are less interested in the women's recommendations. Both loathe their lovers'
children and strive to avoid them. Each acts as if everything is all right,
opera, having to make arrangements for Bloom's mother's funeral, and (less
unreasonably) having to deal with Bloom's nervousness in the face of illness.
her the year before. There were explosions, too, writes Farrow, "when I didn't
know the name of a certain kind of pasta; and again when I was off in my
sort of selflessness, the kind that results from the failure to develop a self.
Their celebrity didn't shield them from the consequences of their passivity. In
fact, we have watched them be passive on screen for years, and we have
applauded. The Passive Woman has long been one of the most cherished staples of
our culture, high and low. Who better to play her on screen?
justifies the truly rotten choices both Bloom and Farrow have made. And you
can't help but be glad that women these days are at least being told to take
care of themselves. But it is curious that these actresses should be attacked
instead of encouraged in their efforts to change. (Or maybe it isn't so
Observer last week with a little temper tantrum at his mom.) Leaving a
Doll's House and What Falls Away seem less like vindictive,
manipulative performances than like baby steps in the right direction. They're
every bit as awkward as their critics accuse them of being. It's unnerving to
hear the muse speak at last, as if a character had escaped from fiction to tell
her story for the first time. Her voice is unsteady, and her conclusions
sometimes seem canned, evasive, not yet complete. Bloom glides over her
motives. Farrow is humorless and steeped in a bottomless melancholy. Still,
better late than never. The Passive Woman deserves a little more of our
support. It'll be a good thing for all of us if she finally gets into the habit
works too well to have been produced by chance alone. Life must have been
designed by some intelligent being, possibly one that was divine. Reading the
an evolutionary biologist at the Oxford University, is "the most brilliant and
is also an adamant atheist. His work is basically one long argument that
natural selection, and natural selection alone, is sufficient to explain the
seemingly miraculous variety, beauty, and ingenuity of living things. The
persuade his peers and charm the public. He excels at coining pithy phrases and
reductionist view that all organisms are vehicles created by genes seeking to
asks us to imagine the myriad forms of life inhabiting a vast mountain. At its
bacteria and algae. On the peaks are species that seem least likely to have
been produced by happenstance, such as spiders, whose webs are marvels of
reminds us that natural selection produces such creatures through a series of
incremental steps that "smear out" their improbability over long periods of
time. To reinforce this point, he tells us how he constructed a computer
program that, with only a few rules for guidance, could "learn" to construct
webs remarkably similar to those built by real spiders.
didacticism is more than counterbalanced by the transparency of his prose and
his genuine delight in the intricacies of nature. His description toward the
power struggles with fig trees is a model of nature writing, at once lyrical
intelligent design is also bracing. He openly loathes those who discern divine
flowers were put on earth to "make the world pretty." "I was touched by this,"
selection alone, just does not seem inevitable enough.
winning the big one is easy. He allows that at first glance, it seems almost
tendency of all physical systems to drift toward disorder. This force
"altruistic" individuals, who sacrifice their own selfish interests for those
of their herd, or their species, or even the entire ecosystem in which they are
embedded. The most extreme version of this concept, called "group selection,"
that the phenomena they attempt to explain can all be accounted for with
lend it more power than it really has. In one passage, for example, he likens
it to a force or "pressure" that "drives evolution up the slopes of Mount
Improbable." This image offers a grossly distorted view of evolution. For
triceratops, and other multicellular creatures commenced. Viewed this way, the
ascent from the foothills of Mount Improbable to its multicellular aeries
brings up the origin of life. "My guess is that life probably isn't all that
remarks. "But there are arguments to the contrary." There certainly are.
conclusive evidence that life exists elsewhere in the universe. (The discovery
of organic matter in a meteorite, reported in early August, represents at best
an extremely circumstantial piece of evidence for life on Mars.)
as far as we know, life emerged here on earth only once. In spite of the
immensely powerful tools of modern biotechnology, scientists still cannot make
matter animate in the laboratory. They really have no idea how exactly life
began, or whether its emergence was in some sense inevitable or simply a
began, it was able to persist for so long and to proliferate into such an
possible variants of a given species, the vast majority never reproduce; they
are failures, dead ends. There are many more ways to be a loser in the game of
life, he asserts, than to be a success. Surely that holds true for all of life,
itself? But life has managed, nonetheless, not only to endure but also to
utterly improbable we are, because I have discussed the matter with him. Yet he
truth too directly, we will succumb to creationism or mysticism or theories
of the great paradoxes of our era before we slip into darkness: The more that
science explains our existence, the more implausible we seem.
On the contrary: The facts that she juggles have sat in the public domain for
nicknames like "Ape" and "Marmot," and not a moment of privacy.
spent her teens getting over a nervous breakdown (the recovery was delayed by
libido at this stage was, according to Lee, dribbled away on childish crushes
brutal workload of reviews, dreaming of delicate but radical new ways to tell a
For lack of a better word, this is the most lifelike
story, and this frees her up to tease it into all kinds of subtle themes in
much the same way you or I might retrospectively organize our lives under such
tells us what sensory data the little girl would have absorbed: the constant
smell of cigars, the pale yellow shade covering the window that overlooked the
sea. Later chapters calmly walk us through some of the more hotly debated
friendships supplied critical nurturing, Lee says, and the famous affair with
by stoically caring for her during her breakdowns, but he comes across as
stiff, humorless, and inclined to unconsciously pull male rank.
quixotic brain chemistry, she took notes on her moods, observing when her head
felt "cool and quiet" or "sizzling." She was precociously attuned to the
interplay of mind and body, far more so than her peers. One also wonders
abandoning fiction for the memoir. Probably not: Her ambition, love of
Yet she felt the impulse to tell her story directly. Lee guesses that it was
literary competitors) that she kept herself from doing so. Here is her
despairing diary entry after she visited a memoir club and read a chapter
aloud: "I couldn't help figuring a kind of uncomfortable boredom on the part of
the males; to whose genial cheerful sense my revelations were at once mawkish
and distasteful. What ever possessed me to lay bare my soul!"
left no room for her childhood catastrophes, her anger at getting a girl's
paltry education, her palpable delight in reading. To discuss such experiences
would become a hallmark of modernism. But she was afraid to go too far, to
alienate all the "genial cheerful" men whose standards she continued to
revealing and concealing. To be perfectly honest, I think the tension hurt her
them frustratingly indirect, circular, dissociative. Now I begin to understand
wiser and more realistic than just about everything else on the subject. In
writer's duty to explain this change to readers. Note the humble attention to
for her peers, but she also understood if people found her overweeningly
undergraduate." She knew that modernism was a work in progress, not a new
more flexible than one might think. She was no dogmatist. She even thought
"feminist" was a "dead and corrupt word" now that women had the right to earn a
living. But later in life she argued that it was not enough for women to get
rooms of their own in which to become towering, dominant writers like men. She
challenged the ugly human desire to be towering and dominant. She went, as
always, to the question of human character, wondering if there might be a moral
advantage in the centuries women had spent as anonymous people of no status.
She played with the notion of a Society of Outsiders "without office, meetings,
leaders, or any hierarchy, without so much as a form to be filled up, or a
might seem to have worn pretty well. But in the partisan 1930s, it was
dismissed as dotty and vague. She sank into depression. It didn't help that
fiction writing was becoming harder, and that war was approaching. Given that
brave one. But it cast a shadow over her life. It made her story too readily
available to people who wanted to see her as a victim, or a crusader, or a
devoted herself to literature and believed in the rights of women, but both
down to "the essential thing" is how she put it when talking about literature.
"Freedom from unreal loyalties" is the striking phrase in her late feminist
everything nontechnical I could get my hands on concerning topology, which my
dictionary defines as "a branch of mathematics that deals with the properties
of a geometric figure which do not vary when the figure is transformed in
certain ways." However arcane, it was the most anecdotally fascinating area of
qualities of the torus, or doughnut. That I couldn't have begun to understand
the theory didn't trouble me, although I did feel that I was misappropriating
back into its body, making inner and outer a single surface and the whole a
on a little psychedelic journey contemplating the paradox.
charge obtainable from his descriptions of anomalies of memory and perception;
lack of knowledge of the exact workings of the cerebral cortex is hardly a
can see ourselves reflected variously, with one element out of whack,
reader to reflect upon those delicate and unaccountable features of the brain,
ordinarily taken for granted, with appropriate wonder.
The lure of the case study as a literary genre has been
insufficiently examined. It can take a number of forms: the prurient (as in
imaginable even as it brings him torment. He cannot forget anything, and if he
needs to put something out of mind, he has to take a mental walk down his
mental road and dig a mental hole in which to bury it; he is also afflicted (if
"afflicted" is the word) with synesthesia, as well as with an uncertain grasp
can be said of Sacks, who clearly loves his subjects. In An Anthropologist
the world of his subjects, seeing their daily lives, traveling with them (most
of his earlier cases were observed in hospital settings), and consequently his
accounts become the more affecting even as they involve more hard science. But
the lay reader can bypass the technical data embedded in the story of the
painter who became totally colorblind following an accident (and a possible
formerly dependent on color who came to forget what color was, and to value his
all are acutely recognizable in human terms. The reader might be forgiven for
that one possesses every symptom; rather, it is a measure of Sacks' imaginative
capacity for feeling empathy, and for transmitting the same. We come to see
that the varieties of human behavior are not fenced off into plots. My tics and
different kind of book, even if it could be superficially described as
affected by them are described by Sacks with his habitual sympathy and
writing has many charms, among them an avuncular presence, an unaffected
storyteller's voice not often found in popularized science writing these days.
In this book Sacks makes it clear how much this owes to the works he read as a
road not taken, and here he indulges his continuing interest. But it is not his
ostensible subject, so he relegates much of what he has to say about
appear in the back of the volume, making it necessary to read the thing with
two bookmarks. While this might sound unwieldy, it soon establishes its own
In any case, the diseases in question and the flora in the
margins are intrinsically connected, the tissue being the nature of the islands
that decimated the island's population and enforced inbreeding, causing a
been afflicted); there are many theories afloat, one of them involving the
about the causes of the disease (which might hold a clue to the unsolved
mysteries surrounding its Western relatives) is hardly separable from his
affection for the plant. At one point, he is so taken by a large cycad cone
impulsively, and almost vanished in a large cloud of pollen." This is comical,
and he knows it, but it is also characteristic of the love and wonder he feels
for the myriad adaptations of life, especially its most wayward forms.
Colorblind is an odd book, part case study, part travelogue, part weave of
digressions, but this oddness is a measure of the personality that unifies it.
It also reflects the fact that the islands are the subject here, in both the
literary and the clinical sense of the word, and that disease, flora, and
topography are all essential and inseparable constituents of their dossier.
his mind. This openness is what makes him such a sympathetic observer of
others, and also what can best persuade the apprehensive lay reader that
distrusting them. In her essays, she has confidently found narrative
the jitters at the mere thought of spinning out a tale. The anxious narrators
of her disjointedly elliptical novels are always interrupting, challenging,
undercutting themselves. By fits and starts: that is how they write, a stylized
mold of her predecessors, sensitive yet impassive females proficient at
forgetting and at never looking far ahead. She has learned how to evade her
of radiation treatments for breast cancer behind her, has distanced herself
"capacity for passive detachment." In fact, on the day when the action of the
novel begins, she walks off the campaign, without a clue as to what she plans
and then "a montage, music over." The quest to assemble the shards of
In short, The Last Thing He Wanted looks like proof
of what you may have suspected for some time: that for all its restlessness
exhilarating surprise of her new novel is that in it, she masters one of the
anticlimactic, fragmented fiction will find it hard to believe, but her fifth
novel has perfect pitch and pace, and is hauntingly hard to put down.
is that suspense and plot, though never before part of the technique of
about narrative, its possibilities and deceptions. Her protagonists are
mysterious men who hover at the edge of their lives, in love with them. These
what end they maneuver has never been clear, and the women, who in their remote
way are drawn to them, can't bring themselves to care. The point has been that
to the bottom of the mystery for once, and a parable that had long since begun
of one of those male dealers in dangerous merchandise, her father, Dick
barely knows what she is doing when she buys a ticket to see her father in
arrival, the daughter who missed her mother's funeral has a chance to make
amends for a lifelong habit of aloofness. (Finally, a narrator who makes a
motive clear!) Filling in for her father on his latest deal, she accompanies a
the time you've pieced this much together, the plot has deepened to involve
where, as the narrator puts it in a knowing pastiche of official jargon, those
"trying to create a context for democracy" are "maybe getting [their] hands a
little dirty in the process or just opting out, letting the other guy call it."
this history is not as random as it might seem. It's an eerie blend of careful
plays out the process of converting "humanitarian resupply" into "lethal
shadier men with terrorist friends and lots of experience in international
subterfuge are busy plotting with "the other guy" to make such an "effort"
narrator explains: "Every moment could be seen to connect to every other
moment, every act to have logical if obscure consequences, an unbroken
narrative of vivid complexity." It is not overarching moral or political
has long since declined into corruption and cynicism. It is emotional meaning
that she registers, with a vivid simplicity and in the unlikeliest of places.
on has always been an expert on coolness, numbness, in hot climates. This
time, at the heart of a carefully constructed thriller is a romance, which is
heroines did their best to deny. She has exchanged a hollow life for a
"heightened life," and has tried to "comprehend all its turns, get its
possibilities." People who do that, the narrator observes, "are at heart
appreciation of his work can give you a pain in the neck. In churches and
make for a believable scene in the heavens: the figures foreshortened as if
the eye toward the infinite. Perched so often on scaffolding as he painted,
and to that of his associates. Since ceilings and wall frescoes don't travel
well, the curators have had to rely on portable paintings and works on paper.
as a trade like any other, surrounding himself with a workshop of assistants,
said to prefer the company of his fellow workmen to that of the wealthy patrons
Venetian Republic and died before the revolutionary upheavals of the last
his compositions, especially when high and low come unexpectedly into contact.
Paintings that seem at first sight to be sober treatments of an enduring order
turn out on closer inspection to have pockets of deep pathos or subtle
pictures of saints are particularly moving, especially when their attention is
above him: a round sun with a human face and four pairs of wings that shoots
involvement in Venetian theater, suggests sex for pay, with the crone in the
cue from a contemporary retelling of the myth and updated the murderous missile
to a tennis ball. In the foreground of the huge painting, next to Hyacinth's
slackly in the background. The appalled Apollo makes an operatic gesture of
horror over his muscular lover, while a satyr and a parrot (symbols of
forbidden lust) stare sardonically down at the proceedings. Even if the picture
had a private meaning for its patron (who had just lost his male lover), it's
audiences, one's social position was no more secure than those tumbling
no one could complain of the variety of the objects on view. I would like to
contemplating autumn leaves, was of a world where everything is falling: "And
yet, there is One who holds this falling with infinite softness in his hands."
expecting the sky to fill up momentarily with things that flutter and fly.
greeted at the door by the page boy from Maxim's, his hand extended for a
looks almost cute in his fire engine red suit, but is that a roll of bills in
his left hand or is he making an obscene gesture? And those hollow black eyes,
death, was in one sense perfect and in another highly problematic. It coincided
exactly with the extraordinary rise of Abstract Expressionism and the seismic
community of nations, no one felt like asking tough questions about French
immigrants like him for three decades, the French essentially abandoned them to
their French functionaries, hiding and constantly on the move. He returned to
manner to do just that, though with a resulting wrenching of chronology and
three sections, each corresponding to one of the three ways critics have viewed
Abstract Expressionism, which is what critics thought in the 1940s, when they
"rediscovered" him. It is this third phase that leads to the biggest
dislocation in the show, since visitors see the "abstract" paintings of the
to buy his first colored pencil, and his early portrait of a local rabbi. The
deprivation: three anorexic herrings on a plate with two forks (why two?)
tipped upward, almost meeting the picture plane. Such paintings, along with the
his work up to that point and tried to destroy as much of it as he could get
French critics of the '30s tended to do, they seemed like the next step in the
demanded. He acquired a skate from the fishmonger and painted a loose
from the decaying meat. To keep the colors fresh, he dabbed the carcass with
blood from a pail, then grabbed his paintbrushes to capture those lurid reds on
canvas. This was the kind of scene that an action painter could relish. De
would paint nudes, but no; he painted only one in his whole career, and it's a
minor painting. But at the same time he was painting his carcasses of cattle
probably the best known. This parallel obsession elicited the interesting
sacrificed animals) and uniformed domestics were scapegoats of sorts. While
chicken was whirled around a rabbi's head in a ritual of absolution. It may
also be worth noting that with their red or white uniforms, these servants
fatalistic. Perhaps he had so thoroughly identified his art at this point with
hardly imagined himself to be a potential victim. One of his mistresses
recalled him reading with admiration editorials by the collaborationist
approved of social inequality "because it presented magnificent opportunities
for everyone." One day she said to him, "You have had great unhappiness in your
children hold hands fearfully as storm clouds hover ominously above them. The
two vulnerable figures are literally molded of paint; the girl's left hand juts
Impressionist breakthrough into color and light has sometimes been dimmed in
the frequent telling and retailing. As you walk through the early rooms of the
friend stands in a darkened room in black hat and full bushy black beard, but
there's a wet blob of vermilion on the tip of his paintbrush, and more of that
associates in the Impressionist circle were beginning to find ways to leave
associated with a rural world now lost to modern experience.
next room, and all that was gray turns into gold; the heavy, leaden shapes
anything since the great paintings of the Renaissance."
execute with great skill, dancers and performers and picnics in the country,
painter can be viewed as his effort to prove the factory wrong. As the art
(which, according to one hostile critic, left light "like grease spots on the
clothing of his figures") was meant to show the mark of the hand rather than
sworn enemies of mechanical perfection as "painters, decorators, architects,
complex weave of frames within frames, is a veritable catalog of the
were consciously slumming. They could afford to disdain commissions for
class. In the background one can just make out the binoculars of an eager male
viewer and the stripe on the trousers of an erect soldier, but all our
attention gravitates toward the innocent isolation of these two performers, one
of whom has gathered as many oranges, thrown as tokens from the appreciative
badly in recent years, particularly at the hands of such leftist critics as
worried about the "sugar content" of his paintings.
which blur the distinction between portrait and genre painting, are in the
red mouths." That androgynous tenderness is evident in Lunch at the
the quintessence of cute. To his contemporaries, however, such paintings as
portrait of his daughter, with its unorthodox coloring and swirling purple
has been the victim of his own success. He banished the sentimental,
portrait painters he competed with. His children too have emerged from the
tunnel, and they stare frankly out at us, uncompromising and alone.
handy for purposes of comparison, but if this isn't the largest retrospective
five or six side galleries devoted to items from the permanent collection. Part
length. If the task of viewing all this isn't a sufficient workout, there are
nearly always risked aesthetic trespass, producing work deliberately just one
degree or two from being merely ugly, banal, kitschy, gimmicky, showy, facile
or, of course, excessive. Those possibilities were what he was pitting himself
against while his contemporaries in the 1950s, for example, were battling the
picture plane. When he has won, he has won spectacularly. He hasn't, however,
another, some of them iconic by now, others seldom shown and vitally fresh.
predates it, you might say that the show symbolically begins with his Erased
enlargement.) It is exactly that: a few smudged traces of pencil on an
elaborately matted and framed piece of paper. This work has always been cited
dogma of Abstract Expressionism. It is both those things, but it is also a
declaration of independence from drawing. He did a bit of it early on, but soon
realized that he had two stronger suits, junk assemblage and photography.
might actually be considered a great neglected photographer, although this
neglect is only a consequence of the fame of his combine paintings and prints
and objects on canvas). The photographs in the museum show are primarily tough,
such objects, attaching them to canvas, smearing them with paint, and combining
them with all manner of other substances. The wall captions in this show are
fabric, photographs, printed reproductions, miniature blueprint, metal,
newspaper, glass, dried grass, and steel wool, with pillow, wood post, electric
up to the loft, and then figuring out the most perversely elegant ways to put
it together. There are a few studio pictures in the vast catalog, but none,
unfortunately, shows the rat's nest of tennis balls, old newspapers, stuffed
birds, cheesy bedspreads, and construction debris that must have filled the
discretion regarding his sex life, with critics zeroing in on Bed
mirror, a pillow in a noose, and a stuffed bald eagle in full wingspread. Those
works are presumably meant to be Realist and Symbolist (respectively) allusions
affirming the same. And such allusions they may well be, although you do wonder
with its stuffed angora goat wearing a car tire around its midriff.
professor's game, looks pretty pale amid the panache and humor of
eye for chance and juxtaposition in the streets, a sensualist's feeling for the
images, all kinds, right now, from industrial logos to comic strips to postage
writers.) Meaning has actually tended to be a pitfall for him, as is shown by
his topical posters, only one of which is displayed here, a dully literal item
occasionally, more than that. Upstairs, and on the very highest tiers of the
most artistic careers; the distinction here is that he has repeated himself in
fresco), which just gild the funk, sapping its life. When employing his
habitual paper and canvas and burlap bags he has tended to go for discordantly
smooth finishes. The Ace Gallery installation, a work in progress that will
eventually reach a quarter mile in length, is a recapitulation of themes that
winds up being reductive in its very gigantism. Meanwhile, the best of the
he should just limit himself to materials that cost no more than five bucks a
to write a work of nonfiction that reconstructed the life of the historical
attempting, since human curiosity can never satisfy itself about the identity
and character of a man whose destiny it was to be hailed, three centuries after
his birth, as Light of Light, God of God, Very God of Very God.
Discussing the purely technical problem of how such a book could be written,
fiction. As the discussion wore on during a long evening, we decided that it
true. Then, with a great deal of laughter, we recollected that four such books
difficulty that Mailer has made for himself is that he has decided to tell the
not where, but in some eternal realm where he has been dwelling since his
forth as much love as He can offer, but His love is not without limit."
evangelists' incomprehension of his message. But in spite of telling us that
accounts of his own life, death, and teaching. It is obvious that, in the
heavenly places, he has not had access to any of the modern works of
scholarship that have urged caution on those who accept too readily the Gospel
been the delight of modern fantasists to reconstruct. Like the Gospel writers,
fiction that has had an incomparably damaging historical effect, and which is
adds: "Where there is truth, there will be no peace. Where peace abides, you
have decided that peace was a precondition for the pursuit of truth.)
stupid, but also a very bad writer. "They drove a spike into each of my wrists
and another spike through each of my feet. I did not cry out. But I saw the
heavens divide. Within my skull, light glared at me until I knew the colors of
the rainbow: my soul was luminous with pain." Perhaps it sounds better in the
been through so much. "There are many churches in my name and in the name of my
apostles. The greatest and holiest is named after Peter; it is a place of great
the continued success of the devil, but he modestly hopes that he is himself
still of some use to the poor old human race. "It is even by way of my blessing
that the Lord sends what love He can muster down to that creature who is man
and that other creature who is woman, and I try to remain the source of that
would learn how to improve on awful sentences like that. No doubt he will do
better in his next book. Perhaps the most surprising revelations are left to
basement galleries. The puzzling decision to relegate the painter of
thinks these bathroom pictures raise most insistently the problems of
essay is filled with such insights as the following: "While the global rhythms
have a pulsatile aspect owing to the regular bounce provided by the edge, which
rebounds the gaze, the chasing rhythms have a more spasmodic aspect owing to
visually complex artist, whose constant experimenting with peculiar
paintings; we're looking at a couple, and a mighty strange one.
bourgeoisie (his father served in the upper echelons of the War Ministry), and
like those painters he had a taste for the demimonde. He attended the posh
law career. Two nearly simultaneous events sealed his fate. He flunked the
firm. In his winning design, a waitress tips a champagne glass forward, and the
cascading foam obscures pretty much everything but her cleavage.
which confirmed his interest in bold colors and strongly delineated design. He
himself as an artist, his effervescent brilliance in one medium spilled (like
the glimpse of/ your flesh, which my delirious mouth/ races across") became the
basis for a suite of paintings of models in black stockings. Perhaps to give
He had affairs with other models before, but seven years earlier he had
viewer's attention. (The optical mechanisms arising from such tensions between
central figures and partially hidden peripheral figures are a major subject of
herself in despair. By some reports she shot herself; others, perhaps
hydropathy was a popular treatment for such ailments as tubercular laryngitis,
embalmed in formaldehyde, her features dissolving before our eyes.
looks like the very last fighter you'd bet on. His face looks bruised and
battered, and his small, sunken eyes show the marks where glasses were just
removed. But he holds up his hands gamely, as though to say that with these
hands, bloodied and unprotected, he painted some of the most extraordinary
to be labeled "provisional" or "tentative." The text of the book was released
two weeks ago as of this writing. And because it will take any normal human
every page, but only by foregoing food and rest, meaning his impressions are
just as worthy as those of the thousands of other literate folk who will buy
it either another masterpiece or a disappointing falling off, though somewhat
the latter view bandied about at New York cocktail parties
foregone: Maybe, just maybe, minimalist fiction wasn't such a bad thing after
As I said, it should take any normal human being at least
pursuit of linguistic complexity for its own sake. As such, they're intended
for literary monastics, for the tenured priesthood of paid interpreters that
sprang up in colleges after World War II with the help of massive public
and modest, so much so that the typical first novel isn't called a first novel
anymore; it's called a memoir, just one step from journalism, and it's
immunized from conventional criticism by its traumatized sincerity. Even the
stories with math and science, myth and metafiction, can't really hold a candle
because they no longer have a church behind them, merely chains of secular
for example, and the predominant punctuation marks are the dash and the
apostrophe), it tells the picaresque tale of two astronomers best known for
You'll learn a lot about shipping in this novel, and the main thing you'll
learn is how important it was to find a reliable way of measuring longitude.
National fortunes depended on the feat, making it the Age of Reason's
drink. Carouse. While staying in Cape Town with a family of Dutch colonists,
to the point where he'll want to mate with their black slave, thereby producing
greets the travelers by lighting up a hemp pipe and getting them roundly
the humorist is lame indeed and reminds one of a brainy college sophomore who
studies joke books to make himself amusing. Worse, he's very big on language
humor, on purposely mismatching tone and topic and veering abruptly between
surveyors pass the pipe, intrigues and conspiracies involving all sorts of
survey, and it becomes clear that the pair are really pawns in some obscure
will lick their chops. Playful, ingenious revisions of orthodox history based
on complex, covert affiliations and strange secret weapons are the master's
detective stories that resolve themselves not in simple sums but in hip new
intellectual logarithms. And he pays his readers the ultimate compliment of
writing as though he knows they're capable of getting his erudite cosmic
in search of a paradoxical Eureka! The low part of the higher mind that
the experts whose academic labs gave birth to him. They're the ones whose love
he seems to want, the ones who seem best equipped to give it to him. May their
understand and cure it. The two of them, who met in college, have been living
together in New York for six months when the novel opens. Ruth has been
improve their sex life). But suddenly he has reason to suspect her of bingeing,
and the solicitous lover turns sleuth. A "binge reader," he makes it his hidden
vocation to amass clues to the secret of anorexia. His sources range from
anatomy. (He peruses her teeth for signs of decay from recurrent vomiting; he
malnutrition.) Six months later, when the novel ends, Ruth has become a wraith
and checked into the same private hospital she was sent to as a starving
conclusion: "The body wasn't a book. The body was simply the body. I had been
book were a body, it would be an anorexic one. From the outset, the contours of
and a mother whose ambitions (intellectual and sexual) have left Ruth feeling
overshadowed and neglected. She struggles daily with a grossly distorted
departure from male stereotype, yet the key to his anomalous solicitude and
observes. ("Even with its turtleneck top doubled over, I could see, could
the riddle of female sadness itself. You're trying to solve the
body. Take it from someone who once tried to do these things for a living: it
isn't possible. You've been hunting the white whale and it isn't going to end
appeal when you can see every muscle of the story move. There are moments (like
artless refusal to pad out the psychological drama, coupled with a fastidious
attention to the most mundane physical details, that give Eve's Apple
truths about anorexia: that its peculiar logic is not just tragic but comic,
and that despite the fascination it holds for those who suffer from it, and for
those who seek to make sense of it, anorexia is in fact quite boring.
is bingeing. A kiss becomes a pretext for checking out her dental enamel, a
the irritated victim herself to a joke, an unusual display of wit at her and
offered it to me, a wildflower from a forbidden field. 'For you,' she said."
The quirky physical moments are easier to convey than the psychological
of is her anorexia. The rest of her life is dwarfed by her fixation, which only
wanted you to admire my fasting," said the hunger artist.
relentless visits to the bathroom scale and, in her mind's eye, to the meals
dinnertime." A parrot "perched suddenly on the windowsill and shuffled himself
like a pack of cards." Waking up to the sound of Ruth jumping rope late at
like the beating of a giant heart." There's surprisingly ripe flesh to be found
especially if they arrive in one of the museum's pastel shuttle buses decked
with water lilies as if it had been dredged from a swamp. There are
the painter of weekend pleasures, puttering around in his aqueous garden and
experimentalist way ahead of his time. A huge blowup of a of the man in his
show, which includes some paintings never before exhibited, could hardly be
by the end of his long life. As these late canvases wash over you with their
points out in an interesting catalog essay, there's little evidence that
longer viewed as merely a safe painter of pretty suburban sights.
into a family of modest means, he lacked the financial security net of
making multiple versions of it. He pretended that he did all his work outside
and on the spot, when actually he sketched rapidly in paint, then carefully
finished his canvases in his studio. He even used photographs on occasion,
respectful of his audience (and potential buyers), never indulged in the harsh
jokes of his urbane contemporaries. He was happy to disguise his first wife as
a geisha (in a painting hanging elsewhere at the Museum of Fine Arts), but
there are no prostitutes dressed up as odalisques in his work, no probings into
way, as unyielding and uncompromising as any of his contemporaries. Never much
interested in the human figure, he kept the Impressionist faith of showing the
effects of changing light on landscape. One of his early pictures, his
he was finally his own man. Building on the huge success of his series
alone. He still kept track of the market, though. In the opening rooms,
announced a bold new shift in his work, toward huge decorative panels. During
these enormous canvases, he turned out paintings by turns ominous, terrifying,
a few hundred feet below the surface, into a midnight realm of Medusas and
colorful anemones. A strange human skull seems entangled in the reflected
never intended for exhibition, prefigure to a remarkable degree the work of the
century, and his work in relation to the various Modernist movements of the
the French nation: her land, her agriculture, her religion, and her
the French landscape and discovered it in the multiple layers of his own water
weeping willows and tangled lilies. During World War I, as he conveyed
war's end, he arranged to contribute some of his panels as a sort of victory
survivor of the group," he sighed. He was the last Impressionist, but he also
traveled the farthest, pushing the limits of landscape until he broke right
academics, judges, and legislators, maintains that the object of criminal
trials must be the truth. To reach this goal, its advocates argue, the barriers
that stand in the way of convicting the truly guilty should be lowered. This
can be done by reinterpreting the relevant sections of the Constitution in
accordance with their original historical meaning. Among the barriers targeted
the introduction into trial of evidence obtained in violation of that
argument is hard to disagree with. Who can be against the truth? The problem is
what his Truth School would look like. It is a beautiful blueprint, but the
plans would not pass a safety inspection in the real world of cops, robbers,
offers several radical recommendations. Besides his proposals to abolish
virtually all exclusionary rules and require criminal defendants to testify
against themselves in pretrial depositions, he would limit search warrants to
the point of virtual disuse and, with them, the requirement of probable cause.
He would instead substitute a blanket rule decreeing that all searches that are
himself but to the framers of our Bill of Rights. Historians differ, however,
as to the original meaning of the Fourth and Fifth amendments. Not only can the
and often ambiguous history of these hastily drafted amendments almost anything
prescription for a wholesale reinterpretation of established doctrine will soon
prevail. Nonetheless, his writings are too influential to be ignored, even if
the provocative issues he raises are more usefully (and honestly) argued on the
level of the policies they point to than on the level of what the Constitution
interpretations of the Fourth and Fifth amendments to bring them more in line
with the "search for truth"? These proposals should be evaluated on two bases:
Will they, in fact, produce more truth? And if so, will they undercut other
both ways. He rightfully criticizes the current exclusionary rule for not
serving as an effective to police misconduct. His "better way" is to let
citizens sue the government for making mistakes in its quest for evidence. But
if this kind of tort remedy were to work effectively, it would, of necessity,
deter some searches that are today conducted by errant cops who do not fear the
occasional exclusion of illegally obtained evidence. The upshot might be fewer
reason to believe his way will be more selective in searching for "true" rather
than "false" evidence. It may prove to be a more effective deterrent to
unreasonable searches, but unless reasonableness is tautologically defined to
include only searches that turn up evidence of guilt, the more effective the
advocates that all criminal defendants be compelled to give pretrial
depositions, but his book is vague about whether these depositions would
substitute for or supplement police interrogation. In a recent public debate
at the truth, since jailhouse interrogation in the absence of a lawyer is more
likely to "break" a guilty defendant than a courtroom deposition conducted with
the assistance of counsel is. That is why I believe that few police
interrogation in exchange for compelled pretrial depositions. They might accept
police interrogations. But "street" criminal defendants do, and many waive
getting confessions might also produce less truth than the current approach
On the question of whether the proposals of the truth
school will denigrate other values more important than truth, we have a long
history from which to learn. If truth were the only goal of the criminal trial,
that goal would not be difficult to reach. First, we would reintroduce the
police. They knew how to get at the truth without any interference from civil
privacy, bodily integrity, fairness, and civility. Throughout our history,
those who have sought the Holy Grail of truth have shown impatience with
process. The first victim in the search for truth has too often been
to maximize truth, we would lower the burden of proof in criminal cases from
"beyond a reasonable doubt" to "a preponderance of the evidence." Why would
wrongly convicted"? Indeed, under our present rule a jury is told that if it
believes that a defendant "probably" did it, it must acquit him, because
"probably" is not enough. A system that sought a greater quantity of truth
would instruct the fact finder to accept a disputed fact if it were more likely
major qualification is that they know nothing about the matter in dispute. Nor
would we allocate it to judges, who are also not scientific experts. We would
democratic system of fact finding is already a compromise between the search
for truth and the search for fairness. The real question is how to strike an
appropriate balance among the often conflicting values of truth on the one hand
and considerations such as privacy and equality on the other.
exquisitely delicate balance. Nonetheless, his book is a valuable contribution
to the debate, because it gives those with experience an abstract
architectural plan against which to evaluate today's imperfect reality of
and a prince. Dominated by their overbearing literary mother and ignored by
their dismissive multimillionaire father, these virtual orphans are raised by
descends: Worn out by his labors on Wall Street, the Federal Reserve Board, the
and then kills himself. The cruel queen's lights finally expire. Only then does
The story is irresistible, as is the telling. Just when
about concealing than telling, but Graham ropes off relatively little. Her
abuser, but only the biographer writes that as Phil lost his mind, he taunted
"Mother set impossibly high standards for us." At the same time, Graham
complains, she was taught little about "the practical aspects of life," like
"how to dress, sew, cook, shop, and, rather more important, relate to people of
organize a meal." Just when you think that the ugly duckling has snorkeled to
deeper: "I ignored the fact that [Phil] was frequently using [his] wit at my
expense. [He] was often critical or cutting in his remarks when things weren't
party, she panics that she'll bore him to death. (She does fine.) Society
parents had introduced her to high society while she was still in diapers, and
cook, can't sew, can't run a household, can't stand up to her imperious mom and
husband, can't make small talk with celebrities or notables, can't run a
humility is no exception. If you apologize for your shortcomings, you can count
on harvesting sympathy. If you apologize for your nonexistent shortcomings, you
harvest sympathy and blind folks to your genuine shortcomings. Graham
plays both games, perhaps because there's truth, of a sort, to her claims of
inadequacy. At critical points in her life, she chose brilliant and charismatic
two households and birthed four kids, rubbed political shoulders with everyone
talented child run a newspaper. But if he sinned against his daughter and her
the Post (no man should have to work for his wife, the old man said),
Personal History's false modesty begins to evaporate after
a partnership with her, just as he did with Phil, even though she doesn't
really grasp business. She does understand editorial, though, and better than
threatens to revoke the company's lucrative broadcast licenses. She battles and
who has seen Graham run a stockholders' meeting knows, she is an agile,
arrogant, and gracious beast, and the paper is as much a product of her
personality, talents, and priorities as it is of his. I refer doubters to the
to be asked about the German resistance is: Did it exist? A good case can be
made that it did not. To frame the question less contentiously: Did the
scattered theologians, bureaucrats, army officers, and (in one case) ordinary
concerted movement? On the large stage of history, do these brave individuals
therefore a kind of optical illusion, generated by a need to find some shred of
about the resistance seem to greatly outnumber the resisters themselves. The
strange man who has to be considered as a phenomenon unto himself (and will be,
begins his book with a chapter titled "The Resistance That Never Was," which
stratagems, and force. Fest states that the army was the only organization able
to keep its structure intact, and therefore the only one in a position to mount
physically disabled. There were also protests against domestic austerities
door. Another attempt fell through when a scheduled presentation of military
military conspirators tended to defeat themselves at every turn. To begin with,
meditations. (Reading Fest's book, I was often reminded of the scene in
calls for immediate discussion!") As Fest notes, the plans were always
contingent; they were also needlessly intricate. One bomb plot fell apart when
a newfangled detonating mechanism proved too complicated for anyone in the high
Should the plotters receive credit for their intentions,
More than a few were Christian and monarchist conservatives who deplored
there was also a moral strain to their deliberations. Several of these men
understood the genocidal implications of the orders accompanying plans for the
Departing dramatically from the cautious analysis that guides the main body of
group that spent most of its time imagining an ideal future German society. But
sometimes tells simple stories. The fact that none of the various attempts,
was an easy target; he liked to show himself in public and did not always
travel in conditions of airtight security. The resistance literature often
but the failures of the resistance might be better ascribed to the calculated
psychoanalysts that is currently fashionable creates an interesting dilemma for
their biographers. The biographer of a great analyst is always tempted to prove
treatment is itself about the possibility and, indeed, the value of
genre. We want to know whether these people should have been trusted, and why
biographies of psychoanalysts make us wonder what it is that makes a person
trustworthy to us, and what, if anything, this has to do with the significance
was a heretic. His notoriety was based on his shortening of the psychoanalytic
There is a tension in any biography between what the
biographer wants the subject to be. In this sober, incisive, and riveting book,
behaved, more temperate in his appetites, less baroque in his provocations. She
believed there was something fundamentally unintelligible about the vagaries of
themselves. But by the same token these are also the most inexhaustibly
hero: a triumph of appetite over class. This is a story of a man with an
amazing talent for finding what and whom he needed to make himself what he
is no obvious reason why this particular family should have produced that
adored youngest brother became a priest, and his sister spent most of her
otherwise a typical French family of a certain type. Very early, as one might
especially talented boy. He had a precocious intellectual curiosity. He tended
prism of his writings, whereas he was living it prospectively (we have to
himself never knew what was going to happen next). If one of the dominant
account, then it can seem virtually inevitable that his early work was about
the terrible cultural consequences of the "weakening of the father imago"
(there were no strong fathers anymore), and that much of his later work should
casual accounts of how people become who they are. Indeed, what distinguishes
psychoanalysis is that it can show us the ways in which a life is not
merely the effect of its causes (biology, parents, etc.).
apparently a magnet for everything intellectually interesting happening in
knack for finding useful fathers. His friendships with the likes of writer and
by what he could make of what he found in the work of these remarkable people.
however, was really a tale of two families. A first marriage, in his 20s, to
some of the most callous follies of this extraordinary life, the "so what?"
knowledge, and he flourished by creating havoc, both publicly (in a famous
break with the International Psychoanalytic Institute) and privately (among
some of his colleagues). He wanted psychoanalysis to be a science of
that he were more lovable, or honest, or familiar. His life is exemplary in the
modern sense, not as a picture of virtue, or even as a struggle to live out
some kind of personal truth, but rather as a question: How complicated can we
though he looked a little anxious when a paparazzo took his picture.
("How am I going to explain this to the archbishop?" he might have been
thinking.) Later that week, my mother came to visit me in New York. We were
watching a local newscast in her hotel room, and there was a story about the
It's hard to convey how much more interesting New York was
in the late '70s than it is now. There was a sense of unlimited possibility in
comparison. John Sparrow, the late warden of All Souls College, put it nicely:
"My impression is that in New York anything might happen at any moment. In
after I arrived in the city, an unknown from the sticks come to learn
fabulous, by osmosis; at some unhappy point, you have to work.)
postwar period to the present. The chief cultural innovation of the period was,
disco? It is the perfection of voyeurism. Playing recorded music allows the
club to get rid of the performers, so that the people have nothing to look at
but one another. They are the spectacle. But you have to have the right people,
Entertainment," Life magazine claimed that "there are now more than
It solved, for a brief shining moment, what in game theory is known as the
did all these "competing elites" blend together so ecstatically? One reason, I
think, was a giddy feeling in the late '70s that the End was Nigh, so
everything was permitted and there was no reason to compete. The rest of the
And if there was a bit of buggery and whatnot going on up
in the balcony, what of it? "You would look around and you'd see somebody's
toes twinkling behind their ears." In the warren of grungy rooms beneath the
found handcuffed to a water pipe, getting squired from the rear by one of the
the vetting committee at the door kept the great unwashed in their horrible
disco regalia from getting past the velvet ropes. Attempts at dramatic
entrances were not always successful. On one occasion recounted by the author,
a woman rented a horse, stripped naked, and arrived at the door, Lady
but you have to stay outside." Another guy, desperate after repeated rejection,
tried to climb into the club through a vent but got stuck. He was found a few
was all but invisible). It seemed it would never end. But all the while the
shadow of doom was creeping nearer and nearer, till came a day when it pulled
who had been denied entrance when they came to boogie, returned in a more
was there the night of the raid, and the party was exceptionally good. It was
That I invent the names. I do not. These were nightclubs of the highest
standing and chic. Hundreds of thousands of aspiring fabulous people sought the
entree to them. All are defunct, or moribund. Today's "club kids" take boring
drugs for days on end, until they find themselves sawing the legs off their
a bibliographer's idea of nostalgia: Everything has been downhill since the
distinction. Three novels later, it is still his best, a marvel of achieved
restraint. Unhappily, the subsequent novels have been unwitting examples of the
new book which explores the dwindling years of a morose retired lawyer, a man
who calls himself "the last of the Wasps," offers some of his most delicate
Wartime Lies, which is largely autobiographical, recounts the adventures
ghetto. Nonetheless, they are in great peril, and are hiding from that peril.
disappeared, from one book to the next, is a sense of the perilous. It is as if
view); in the process, he uncovers his own hurts. His only daughter, Charlotte,
family rather than to her sad father. He kicks old memories around his lovely
an affair with a dangerously young waitress at a local restaurant will not warm
his elegant, stately report. There is something impressive about a writer so
undaunted by a character's trivial unpleasantness, by his daily acts of
not merely ungrateful but implausibly hostile. In a climactic scene, she
than your kind of Episcopalian," she sneers. Since she has not, until this
moment, shown interest one way or another in her inherited religion, her sudden
interestingly dull at the beginning of the book, begins to curdle into
of an aged patriarch quarreling with a daughter. But what's interesting about
become its victims. It is difficult not to detect an autobiographical note in
his heroes' struggle to control inner distress and bury forgotten memories.
introduced by a man who "has no childhood that he can bear to remember." In the
because it is a struggle he can no longer win. Instead, he shuts it down, and
tableau of German military glory; the idealized soldier had her landlord's face
Berlin Dada group, which came to appear the more aesthetic one, as
years made works that are at least superficially very similar: explosions of
newspaper photographs and lines of type across a white field. They were angry
restrict themselves to the materials of the print media that served and
long been best known for one of her first works, Cut with a Kitchen Knife
You can see all the anger and exhilaration of the period in this large piece
replaced by other things, its yellowed newsprint color jazzed by a patch of
blue in the upper left, its improvisatorial speed of execution shown by how the
glued surfaces have rippled. Its drift is apparent right away: Dada versus the
emancipated women are significantly portrayed, and at the lower right is a map
Most surveys of photomontage reproduce this work and
became more playful. At the same time that she was engaging in her blistering
 stuff, for example, she was making delicate work based on embroidery
patterns that is both unashamedly feminine and the perfect riposte to the
dynamism. It is also more purely abstract than anything anyone else was doing.
cavalierly toyed with this concept and eventually dispensed with it altogether.
While others parodied, she invented. She flung scale, gravity, continuity, and
up faces and bodies and fits together parts mismatched in size, color, and
of beauty culture. In her "Ethnographic Museum" series she arranges mergers of
primitive now?" Her politics are always present but always lowercase, even her
angriest works apparently suffused with insouciant fun. So you might get the
instead of brains, and a cute little topknot like a pinhead's.
was plunging into a world of pure form and color. As the decades pass it
becomes harder and harder to figure out what a given shape or texture in her
montages might originally have represented. During the 1940s she shed the last
plant forms. But the following decade, even this gave way to works of pure
nonrepresentational electricity, so bursting and swooping they make you want to
kind of Abstract Expressionism built from little, carefully scissored bits of
magazine photographs. They can sometimes appear unfocused in their intensity,
like too many sounds turning into white noise. But then she could still turn
and reassembled with dramatic spaces. The source is completely present and made
greater; the violence done to it is in the service of its original intent: an
this is a big show for a "minor" artist. It is true that if you were editing
true that montage is often considered a minor form, lacking the heroism of
painting and sculpture and even photography. After all, what is it but
an exhibition so thoroughly documents the artist's changes and leaps over the
grandeur. Photomontage thumbs its nose at the pretension of the artist playing
God, the blank canvas his world. It is the art of making do, of fashioning
something personal from the incessant bombardment of images to which we are
as a juvenile beauty queen, that makes her so uncannily resemble a girl in a
fairy tale? For while a pageant princess is merely tacky, a murdered
pageant princess takes her place in the illustrious line of pretty young girls
meet, or at least be threatened with, a gruesome end. Little Red Riding Hood,
would seem, between being a sweet young miss and getting garroted.
Folk Art in New York: an exhibition of eccentrically magnificent watercolors by
subject of little girls, murdered and otherwise, and went on to write and
prepubescent sisters being tortured by brutish men who like to capture little
girls in order to enslave them and torture them and take their clothes off. In
to say that he didn't receive any formal art training; was not, during his
lifetime, part of the art world; and was exposed very little, if at all, to
traditional art in general. As such, he is presumed to have produced his work
out of some unusually pure sort of inner compulsion, rather than in response to
Mass frequently, and coming home at night to work on his paintings and his
placed in an institution for the feebleminded, from which he escaped at the age
home, his landlord opened up his room and discovered, amid piles of presumably
artistic debris (hundreds of pairs of smashed eyeglasses, balls of string, old
watercolors on exhibit include both peacetime tableaux of tiny lassies, some
naked, some in dresses, disporting themselves among butterflies and enormous
tiny lassies are strangled naked (distorted faces, tongues stuck out) and
version.) Some paintings combine the two types of scenes, with comic
nonchalance. In one, a group of placid girls jump rope while immediately behind
them lie the severed heads of three men, horrified expressions on their faces,
and pairs of disembodied hands (their own? their murderers?) still clenched
around their necks. In all paintings, the colors are extraordinary and
pictures by tracing comic strips or magazine illustrations (on occasion he cut
pictures out and stuck them on the paintings directly). In some works he
transposed the illustrations more or less intact; in others he stripped off the
girls' clothes and added penises (all his naked girls have penises). Several
running fearfully away from something, her school bag flying out behind her.
Often these repeated images are rendered identically (same colors, no
alterations in the pose), and sometimes they even appear next to each other in
subtler, less programmatic. It's reminiscent, if anything, of those groups of
angels or monks or soldiers in medieval manuscripts in which some of the
the repetition seems to be employed for the purpose of visual economy, in order
not to divert attention from the picture's central theme, rather than to draw
extend for hundreds of pages. Take this excerpt, for instance (don't read this
pleads of the victims could not be described, and thousands of mothers went
children were literally cut up like a butcher does a calf, after being
strangled or slain, in all ways, indeed the sights of the bloody windrows
could bear to witness without losing their reason. Hearts of children were hung
up by strings to the walls of houses, so many of the bleeding bodies had been
cut up that they looked as if they had gone through a machine of
softest grandpa porn. For instance, "The little girls were even glad to leave
the building, which they hastily did after looking for their clothes which they
could not find, having to leave in their nighties."
niche of the art world that has come into its own in this country in the past
decade or so: The fifth annual Outsider Art Fair took place a couple of weeks
ago in New York; there is a new federally funded museum devoted to outsider art
the notion of outsider art has proved an effective marketing concept, it is
to produce all that crazy stuff; how he couldn't distinguish between fantasy
and reality; how he was a potential serial killer; how he got sexually excited
obsessive, unable to separate his life from his created fantasy world, since in
a contemporary insider artist would be read as a rather ordinary example of
depictions of framed pictures whose images are indistinguishable from the
draws attention to the fact that the epic takes place "in What is Known as the
number of amusing references to the strange task of drawing and writing about
and her sisters. The standards they followed were the heads and even gashed
bodies of six beautiful little children, with their intestines protruding from
their bellies, and every one of these were on pikes dripping with blood.
Violet and her sisters appeared] they thrust up on to their windows the heads
them. Then, bursting into the doors, they thrust the heads into their laps,
it seems to them that they would die of horror, [Violet and her sisters]
heads, being good at drawing pictures in the most perfect form.
outsider confusing himself with his characters. Or you might see him as a
parts of life as a little girl. On either interpretation, though, the paintings
remain extraordinary, and extraordinarily beautiful.
in recent years has earned a reputation for expansionist sprawl, has mounted a
surprisingly intimate exhibition in its New York headquarters. The show has a
Arts," and the temptation must have been great to fill every corner of New York
year. The China show has two venues, but one is really a footnote to the other.
China. Many of these objects, including those culled from recent archaeological
finds, have never been shown in the United States before. Lee tried to choose
objects that demonstrated innovation and experimentation; he has a particular
on social and historical context and high in the pleasures of simply looking.
slow walk up his spiraling ramp, stopping here and there to admire the stunning
objects in generously spaced glass cases. The objects are grouped according to
and metallurgy become clear, but the viewer must grope for what links an
austere, octagonal Tang vase to a theatrically rearing, gilded bronze dragon
absence of an overarching narrative of dynastic progression or decline, one's
attention shifts to small marvels. Several objects in the show reflect a dry
sense of humor. The ancient bronzes are covered with metamorphosing animal
wrote of himself). Then there's a little toy cart with moving wheels supporting
one hand, a crutch in the other. Why one leg? So he can't run away with the
education in the origins of porcelain. The perfection of that translucent and
acoustically resonant pottery, a thousand years before the West discovered its
putting on weight? It is not: "In the latter Tang dynasty," says the wall
ornate, completely departing from the slender and ethereal beauty
paintings are hidden down discreetly marked passageways in darkened galleries.
spent the next few centuries developing Expressionist departures from it. In
the West, a comparable moment occurs with the advent of modernism early in this
explodes the myth of the artist's peaceful retreat in the hills. These hills
have a cascading fury to them, and the dwelling seems to be under siege.
Indeed, two factions striving to succeed the Mongol rulers were warring nearby
six gaunt trees by the riverside and calls the picture Six Gentlemen
conventions can survive a century of alien occupation must be as flexible and
If the din of history is held at bay in the uptown section
traumatic. The woodcut revival of the 1920s occurred just in time to record the
rule. Upstairs are a couple of rooms of Socialist Realism, with ubiquitous
art, and you end up staring at a painting of a cluster of peasants grinning in
seems well, notwithstanding the recent Great Famine, perhaps the most severe in
nourishing even now, albeit by marginalized artists who were given no place in
experiment in opening China to the West. But it's hard not to see in these
smiling peasants a warning of what such openings can bring in their wake.
syphilis (his parents, in addition, were first cousins). He was treated with
laudanum, which initiated a lifelong drug addiction. Although in nearly
caused him to be confined in a psychiatric hospital. He suffered from what was
described as "incurable paranoid delirium," and left that asylum only to enter
French edition. He was trained as an actor, and went on to direct, found his
own theater, and write a set of visionary theoretical essays, collected as
practitioners to this day. He also acted in films; his performances are few but
discussion by getting down on all fours and barking like a dog. He was an early
member of the surrealists and director of the group's Central Research Bureau.
prodigies" and perhaps the truest surrealist of all.
work in his many fields is consistent and interwoven, but it is not easy to
define. It is, above all, a monument to frustration, one long scream of protest
at the inadequacy of language, of human society, of the body and the mind.
constraints that define consciousness. It is as if he could just make out the
penumbra of some spiritual essence on the far edge of his perception, and was
maddened by his inability to seize it. He described all his work as
certainly not "art," but mere records of his flailing attempts to reach the
The drawings currently on exhibit at the Museum of Modern
not well known, and have never before been shown in this country. They are
singular and powerful works; gathered together, they possess a clobbering
force. They seem to come out of nowhere while prefiguring all sorts of later
tendencies in art. It seems absurd to think that the evolution they present
earliest works are described as "spells." These are blessings and curses he
wrote on charred or otherwise manipulated bits of paper and sent to friends,
(These spells are nowhere translated or transcribed, and the handwriting is
often indecipherable. One of the few I could make out, addressed to the actor
human figures, symbolic objects, and words, many of them in invented languages.
Some of these drawings, in precise pencil with hints of color, have a
indeed, divorced from context, some might at first be mistaken as whimsical.
the pencil work became heavier and more insistent, the colors more assertive,
the nightmare aspects harder to miss. A work entitled The 
encased in glass coffins; an exceedingly cryptic stew of geometric and
so heavily scored that it looks nearly sculptural, and it is covered with dots
skin as if it were pierced with an infinite number of little holes." A
Head made around the same time is even scarier, caught in
banana neck. It is, convincingly, a face from hell.
and was able to receive visitors. These he drew, in a series of penetrating and
was clearly an excellent draftsman but, as he notes, "you must look at [the
an empty force, a field of death," and that the alignment of form and content
has never been farther off than in the contrast between facial features and
death from rectal cancer (a grimly appropriate fate for the author of "The
to the void), he was beginning to draw complex, heavily laden constructions
stacked, as in so many totem poles. They are anything but morbid, though; they
possess a vivid, throbbing life. These drawings appear to synthesize all the
preoccupations of the phases of his previous three years; they fluidly combine
ferocity, anguish, and hallucinatory paranoia are matched and joined by his
his art is hardly confined to madness. The portraits, in which he used calm
observation and academic skill to depict external reality while representing
visions, for example. His work can no more be dispatched into some rubric like
penetration of what we know is so acute, its lucidity so much the equal of its
delusion, that deciding where the one leaves off and the other begins can seem
century ago. Hunched forward in a coarse painter's smock, he peers forlornly at
us, his tired and damaged eyes rimmed with vermilion. What appears, at first
glance, to be a genie rising from his soft brown cap turns out, on closer
inspection, to be the sinuous arm and towel, in white chalk, of one of Degas'
own bathers, a pastel within a pastel. For Degas, who had forsworn
The aging and celibate artist has purchased a score of creative years at the
portrait captures a fraught moment in Degas' career, when he had lost interest
had made him famous. The last of the impressionist exhibitions, in which Degas
increasingly isolated as well. "I am quickly sliding downhill," he confided to
an acquaintance at the time, "rolling I know not where, wrapped up in lots of
most challenging and inventive work dates from the 1890s and the first years of
this century. Printed in bold letters at the entrance of the show is a
the dozen or so early works, culled from the Art Institute's own spectacular
exhibition), the show makes a convincing case for the vitality of Degas' late
the dust, but Degas believed that sweeping just moved the dust around), Degas
remarkable range of techniques and media (photography, tracing paper, lurid
color combinations). Many of his forays "beyond impressionism," as the curators
portraits. Draped over an empty chair, the subject's expressive hands could be
playing the piano or summoning up the ghost of her recently deceased father,
film. And indeed, there's something almost cinematic in the similar poses of
of bodies in motion, with which Degas was familiar.
presage Degas' growing interest in bright color in his later work. Always
curious about technological innovation, Degas may have been excited by the new
colors made available by the chemical industry at century's end. Alternatively,
the bold hues might have resulted from Degas' wretched eyesight (those oranges
case, little that has come before prepares the viewer for the visual shock of
women, an attendant combing the long coil of her mistress's hair, have a
ritualized simplicity. A single brushstroke enlarges the reclining woman's
stomach, indicating her pregnancy. The whole composition is rendered in
pulsating shades of red. It seems fitting that this remarkable painting was
harmonies. Those amniotic reds recur in the wrenched body of the nude figure in
composition, so suggestive of pain and isolation, on one of his own
Degas was drawn to other methods besides photography for
recycling his images, using tracing paper to multiply a drawing, then
overlaying the copies with different colors to produce a range of emotional
variants. A particularly bizarre transformation occurred when he made a
charcoal copy of one of his women having her hair combed. He rotated the image
cascading hair becomes a cliff plummeting to the ocean below, while her breasts
focusing the show almost entirely on technique, the organizers of "Degas:
Beyond Impressionism" have followed the lead of Degas himself, who steadily
eliminated from his work any reference to contemporary life, preferring an
artificial world of studio props and pliable models. "There is something
sewn it into a pink satin bag, a slightly faded satin, like their ballet
slippers." One is lulled into thinking that these contorted bathers are mere
responds that the unusual poses and aggressive use of pastel are further
from the printed "exhibition guide" that replaces the usual wall panels.
mention of the most important public event for Degas during the 1890s, the
accused of treason. One must turn to the informative catalog, by guest curator
Degas' very retreat from contemporary life owes something to his disgust with
shy away from social context and controversy. They can afford to risk a bit
The preceding images are not from "Degas: Beyond Impressionism" (online
a political constituency; factor in the collapse of communism; and quote Bill
sounds like a compelling case. There are other signs as well: the rise of the
there is an equally strong argument to be made that the United States is only
the Christian right, whose aims are antithetical to those of libertarians, make
the plausible claim that it is they who are winning converts and influence by
The appearance of these two books counts as an entry in the
plus side of the ledger. Each attempts to make libertarianism more respectable
is a conservative trying to persuade other conservatives that the absence of
restraint will in fact make people more moral. He rather reluctantly defends
the legalization of drugs, prostitution, and pornography, and concedes that
classical liberal argument: Force is bad; cooperation is good; government is
force; ergo, the only legitimate functions of government are to enforce
that there also exist limited "public goods." The two he names are
environmental protection and education. These exceptions to the rule of the
minimal state are probably necessary to make libertarianism palatable to
within the boundaries of a constitution are not merely "force" but also
"cooperation," albeit with a certain degree of legitimate coercion.
attempt to distinguish those public purposes that are tolerable from those that
to counter "externalities," costs passed on to others that, in practical terms,
cannot be compensated, as in the case of the chemical incinerator that pollutes
the air. What this scheme leaves unclear is why education and the environment
Education and the environment are not purely nonexclusive goods. Some people
reasonably qualify. Anyone may fall upon hard times, and most people anticipate
being around long enough to benefit from nationalized health care for the
arguments against government action. To show how little sense regulations make,
he proposes a thought experiment. Why not give consumers a choice, he asks,
about whether to use regulated or unregulated products (unregulated products,
he stipulates, would have to be labeled as such). This merely demonstrates that
for public goods. The point of regulation is not merely to protect consumers,
but to protect innocent third parties. Of course consumers would be better off
if the government gave them the right to buy appliances built by polluting
the pollution and child labor are foreign and not domestic.) These regulations
exist for the benefit of those who live downstream from the factory and the
themselves. But speed limits don't just prevent people who willingly take the
risk of driving faster and more dangerously from hurting themselves. They
improve the odds for the children in the back seat, and for the safe driver in
the opposite lane, whom the reckless driver might plow into. With this example,
onerous over time. But the national speed limit is an example of precisely the
position of ascribing historical inevitability to a trend that is actually in
contradictions by drawing in arguments from his earlier books, each of which
presents a different case against public action to fight poverty. In Losing
inferior, a condition that government could do nothing about. In What It
be mutually reinforcing: Government social programs don't work; they can't work
on account of human nature; and if by chance they do work, they're morally
unjustified anyhow. But this triple argument in the triple alternative actually
can't really help people. In the version of that argument given in What It
because "modern society has the inertia of a ponderous freight train." But if
government can't reroute the freight train in a better direction, it's hard to
see how it can derail it. The metaphor undermines the Losing Ground
social costs created by large numbers of fatherless children, civilized
communities everywhere stigmatized illegitimacy." The "futility"
how can it do so strongly the opposite of what it intends?
his underlying bias, which casts doubt on the critiques of government in both
for everyone. This would seem to violate all the aforementioned principles. It
would create a powerful incentive (of the kind attacked in Losing
The Bell Curve says can't be helped anyway; and it would certainly
violate What It Means to Be a Libertarian 's admonition against forcing
that it would finally discharge society's obligation to members of the
underclass. They might not be better off, but they would have to quit
says bad, prejudicial discrimination is inseparable from good, economically
sensible discrimination), this passage leaves one with the sense that in
and more dogmatic book. After a long history of libertarian ideas, he proposes
reality by accepting large expenditures for national defense, environmental
regulation, or publicly funded education. He does not believe in national parks
("private stewards" will exercise "proper stewardship"). Nor does he believe in
worried about disarray. In the absence of malign government intervention, there
Internet. He neglects, of course, the fact that the Internet began life as a
Constitution, count as "spontaneous" and good while everything else is defined
as coercion. Capitalism may arise spontaneously, but the Bill of Rights is as
utterly comprehensive and slightly mad way. He takes pains to say he is not
offering a plan for a perfect society, merely a "framework for utopia" (the
should have become is for many libertarians, including me, the source of our
deepest anger about what big government has done to this country," he writes at
one point. He offers instead "a society that is prosperous and virtuous, but
one that is exciting and fun as well." I was reminded of the famous passage
believed that the state would wither away. Libertarians believe men must wither
it. But really, their utopias are not so different. They share a wishful vision
of human perfectibility dressed up as an idea of justice.
Finally, after a solid week, some of the big dailies lead with monographs
highest approval rating ever--67 percent. The paper also reports that former
address. "She thought he did a good job with it," he says. "She thinks he's
done a good job as president. She still considers him a friend."
White House were to see his secretary, and that he suggested that she could
avoid testifying altogether by being in New York City. The paper goes on to
it would be "ethically questionable" for a defendant in a civil lawsuit merely
to discuss the case with a potential witness already subpoenaed by the
The Times says this meeting was confirmed by a White House aide,
while the Post says the White House declined to comment about it and has
last year would have a chilling effect on minority applications.
talk to Morris, "I doubt that will ever happen again."
A big color shot of the president greeting an exuberant crowd of young
glance, it's hard to say which story the picture goes with. In a way, it goes
bodyguards, just a few tables over from the unguarded prosecutors who had been
suppressing competition, by some of the business rivals he appeared with, as
well as by some senators. Gates' response that government intervention, not his
company, is the big threat to technological innovation, is widely quoted. But
The Post points out that the Senate doesn't even allow laptop
computers in its chamber, but that nonetheless some of the questioning of Gates
The Gates appearance certainly brings out criticism of his Slate
that had the effect of making his state eligible for the funds for the first
Great Salt Lake, are far better claimants. The editorial runs under the header,
It's a shame federal monies are used up this way when they could be better
used for things like the government's program to provide close captioning for
television shows. But then we learn in today's Post that the program
Papers" didn't even realize those shows have soundtracks.)
may mean that actually making the loans becomes unnecessary. This is, says the
include pretending also to be on the phone with another client who just placed
a big order with the broker or who just made half a million dollars with him.
The big flaw with the story: it never says whether or not such ruses are
The LAT front points out a rather sticky dilemma now arising for the
imposed on both countries and could provoke international complaints that
analysts" think such a course of action is probably under consideration.
A topic of immeasurable social and intellectual importance is very unwisely
these have been accepted by auto dealers and service shops. The reason? These
facilities are worried about legal liability, but this doesn't add up, since
the story goes on to explain that the automakers have agreed to indemnify those
findings: There was twice as much gold seized in this fashion as previously
levels at the movies. The paper reports that a recent New York City showing of
horn. "Today's Papers" has been employing an effective countermeasure for
nearly twenty years: earplugs. These not only offer excellent protection from
hearing loss, but also from noisy theatergoers and inane movie dates.
According to the coverage, the newly brokered agreement lacks something the
from various countries who would accompany the weapons inspectors. Even if the
insisted on the right of inspectors to make repeat visits to the presidential
Times national edition reports that "some diplomats say" that in only a
matter of weeks inspectors could run into access problems at other sites. The
apparently does not address the issue of other presidential properties not
"absolutely" stands by her affidavit in which she denied having sex with
The Wall Street Journal waited until the day after Desert Storm
presidential candidates do. (How many column inches, for instance, did the
cartoonists, who he discovered, had inordinate influence on the largely
withholding this, since a Web search of that handle will quickly turn up a
reject a casino application opposed by major Democratic party contributors had
any connection to subsequent donations they made. The New York Times
sophisticated equipment that could be used to develop biological weapons. This
designed, not to head off a war, but to keep such mass destruction fingerprints
Our grandchildren may look back at this as the year when the branch of the
Cabinet known as Special Prosecutions started on its way to becoming the
largest single entity in the federal government (Motto: "The Purpose of
out, the agents are law enforcement officers and so shouldn't be any more
president physically distances himself from his protective detail out of fears
unable to continue. She's expected back today. Her daughter will nestle into
local water systems to issue reports on the chemical contents of their water to
is key: without the ability to know what's in tap water alternatives, knowing
A Wall Street Journal "Politics and Policy" piece on
something odd in the recent Times charge in an editorial that President
leaked grand jury testimony. The writer notes that the Times could help
in this regard, since it has run stories apparently benefiting from leaked
information relating to grand jury testimony. But although the topic is
news stories to really dig into such leaks, as they are the lifeblood of the
Readers are asked at this point to observe a moment of silence. After
efforts at a settlement leads everywhere. The industry promises to immediately
leaves out the most important part of his quote: "We're going to get this
The tobacco stance became official with a speech against the tough and
as "aggressive" and "defiant." Goldstone is widely quoted as saying,
specter of a thriving black market in cigarettes if the Senate bill were to
areas of the proposed legislation, this is problematic with the provisions that
touch on the curtailment of free speech, such as advertising restrictions.
Goldstone is quoted in the Times saying that if Congress imposes these
anyway, the companies "will fight in court." Feelings are running just as high
that all this tobacco manufacturer stridency is a stratagem designed to get the
current deal accepted without the addition of any harsher conditions.
whether cigarettes cause diseases, about whether nicotine is addictive, about
to make of the companies' pronouncements." Now, if only the Times had
The Wall Street Journal seems a little less surprised by all
this, claiming that "the reality is that tobacco companies for weeks have been
closed out of the legislative process." The Journal also sends along
summer's original tobacco deal, says he understands the industry position and
purporting to show that the differences between black and white investors are
1970s. According to the paper, the opportunity presents itself because the
tens of thousands of permanent residency permits for immigrants because a new
it was installed last summer. Few immigrants, says the paper, will suffer dire
consequences but the delay is making many of them panicky.
Four students and a teacher, all female, died, and ten others were injured
classmates pouring out of the school in response to the false fire alarm the
nationwide in five months. In recent similar incidents, students have killed
too often resulted in mistakenly supporting ruthless dictators just because
tasks of racial healing and could alienate white centrist voters. And indeed,
The papers note this vibe but inexplicably internalize it, and generally try
Perhaps what underlies the presidential staff's concern is that the episode
things that in cooler moments he very publicly says he wouldn't do. Hoping not
to remind folks about this was one of the reasons handlers were glad to get him
out of town in the first place. And indeed, such concerns explicitly followed
called after them to make sure they heard the question.
In light of the slavery speech, "Today's Papers" wonders how long it will be
didn't do, instead of apologizing for things he did.
enlarged to pick up the slack. The arrangement nearly doubles the company's
leads with two new major financial company mergers, with the bigger of the two
Times goes with the paper's poll results indicating that nearly
leads with concerns that Protestant and Catholic extremists could derail last
the standard for how big financial companies feel they need to be.
welfare reform, "it is becoming clear that the mass of data the government
requires states to collect is in such disarray that it is impossible to
determine whether the law is working." The paper says the feds can't tell
whether or not states are meeting the reform law's targets for gainfully
employing former welfare recipients. State officials respond that they are
stopped cooperating with its requests for information). Yesterday's series
earlier poll had found the level of Latino support then to be much higher.) The
over expertise to China that significantly improved the reliability of that
country's nuclear missiles. The piece is a thorough and fascinating history of
notes with a straight face, was the largest personal donor to the Democratic
a much better return on their contributions than these groups now enjoy. Blacks
are disadvantaged because of their comparatively short life expectancies,
married women workers because Social Security payouts are presently based
solely on a household's higher earner's contributions. The latter point is also
explains the writer, "may spur a debate relating to how an officer can have a
file containing numerous complaints of misconduct against minorities and still
be promoted through the ranks." The proposal comes from a man with a proven
files that you have thus far suppressed. You know, like your lie
declined in the past five years, reversing the trend of the previous twenty.
The coverage of the transportation bill, which includes an LAT
for instance, of subway tokens and bus passes). This could, says the
to changes in behavior, most notably a drop in smoking, and the decline in
deaths to increased screening and better therapies, but the paper also observes
LAT cancer lead doesn't mention it before the "jump" to the inside.
increase seen in the most recent data is for melanoma of the skin, yet this
type of cancer isn't mentioned at all in the Times story proper.
bend, his organization will urge colleges and school systems not to buy its
race, doesn't complicate the story with the inconvenient but true observation
has become a common phrase of salutation and even endearment among blacks, a
high proportion of its current usage is in fact as a synonym for "black
There's a lot of Al Gore's quote brilliance unquote suspiciously on display
of making a live video image of the Earth as seen from space continuously
available on the Internet, and that after conducting twenty minutes of
the deal will create the third largest car company, to be known as
The papers see the deal as the beginning of a wave of consolidation in the
gives the lay of that land: Companies ready to go shopping include, besides
There's much talk in the merger stories of the challenges presented by the
different corporate cultures of the two companies. A perhaps more interesting
group, "I want you to forget the word 'scandals' and start using the word
Times --and pictures of it are on everybody's front. The looming
lower what counts as obesity, thereby instantly classifying millions of
country either: the new rules are more in line with those wielded elsewhere.
who worries that it will discourage people from trying to lose weight.
LAT lead reports that in the wake of the passage of Prop.
school districts applied for waivers, but that the state school board will
rights groups opposing the measure has filed a federal lawsuit. And according
system will not comply with the new law while waiting for the lawsuit to be
say they may commit the "equivalent of educational civil disobedience" by not
teaching in English. The story offers a quotation from one teacher saying just
that, but the reader is left mystified as to where the paper came up with the
teachers union election voted for ending bilingual instruction. Statistics
appearing elsewhere on the paper's front also make it clear that this is a more
candidates "may cause multimillionaires to rethink their plans for midlife
that with the economy on the rise, the electorate's distaste for professional
participants over the next four years. All the pieces mention that such a study
has an inherent conflict: science says don't do anything to cloud the role of
the vaccine, while ethics says do everything. But none give the reader any idea
how this problem can be resolved, and so it's hard to see how the proposed
The Wall Street Journal continues to pass along good news for
percent in May. Special incentive deals have been driving things, so the trend
could cool soon, but in the meantime it's producing some tremendous numbers: GM
that he will ask for yet another year of Most Favored Nation status for China,
meaning that China will continue to enjoy the tariff and trade treatment
out that with the recent ethical and national security controversies
tired excoriation of the press: "To my detractors and the naysayers out there,
otherwise known as "talking heads," or "kibitzers," I say, bah humbug!" And
forward and represent her as they know best how to do." All this prose does
common with his former client: he probably blew it.
Times 's top national story is that despite three years of contrary
warning to Congress that failure to approve an emergency spending bill and a
new round of base closings will mean big layoffs of Pentagon civilians and
reports, only one actual flight trial of the entire system is planned before
the administration must decide whether or not to place it in operation.
labeled or packaged hazardous materials on their flights. For the story,
to be catching more violators, the paper quotes one of the agency's top
officials saying, "We wouldn't know whether hazardous materials are inside if a
The Wall Street Journal 's main "Politics and Policy" piece says
out, hasn't met in almost two years. Why? Convictions and indictments of top
mobsters have created chronic uncertainty about who can speak for the various
families as well as increased concerns about exposure at meetings to informers
administration or figures in the Democratic Party. Not to mention all the
way, is termed "the White House scandal spokesman."
remember which year he was the dinner's featured entertainer."
announced that none of a new batch of Border Patrol agents is being assigned to
but nobody predicted this soon. The papers seize on various indications that in
truth, they tell the truth. It doesn't matter who drove you there." But the
deportation, in a ruling so secret that their lawyers aren't allowed to read
made high school guidance counselors much more hesitant to pass
along information about applicants to college admissions personnel. "They'll
write that Johnny took these courses and was a great student," remarks one
expert in the field, "but they won't tell you that Johnny burned down the
The Wall Street Journal "Tax Report" says that the number of
tax cases referred to the Justice Department in which taxpayers have simply
refused to recognize the basic legality of the income tax has doubled over the
treated as libel." And what exactly would that rewrite say? You know, that
Times is stumped by this, but the Post gets it: he's quoting a
financial machinations of the Democratic National Committee. And the New York Times
leads with the biggest increase in the cost to employers of health care
parochial school tuition, blocking national testing and allowing states to
spend federal education funds virtually any way they choose. The story also
Airways to do the same. Continental and Northwest airlines announced a similar
sparks these actions by their competitors. These new links, explains
flier mileage earned by passengers of the other airline and letting them into
its airport clubs. More importantly, they could mean the consolidation of
flight schedules, resulting in fewer and more expensive choices for consumers
and fewer jobs for employees. The mileage and club arrangements do not require
government approval, says the paper, but the schedule changes do.
million from labor unions, corporations and fat cats in "soft money" that
cannot be used directly for congressional or presidential campaigns and handed
it over to at least a dozen state Democratic parties, which then sent back to
percent commission for their part in these swaps. The paper says campaign
reform advocates conclude that the scheme, "while legal, renders meaningless"
review of the case, based on information recently submitted by King's family,
which had come to support Ray's drive for a new trial, will continue.
a notable drop in new infections, but rather to improved medical treatment of
in fact remained quite stable. Despite considerable public education efforts
targeting them, young people and intravenous drug users continue to contract
important aspect of the recent proliferation of federal investigations:
prosecutors are pressing reporters more and more for their
notes and other source materials and to a surprising degree, getting them. And
much media coverage. According to the piece (which credits earlier
The Wall Street Journal reports that its latest poll
for her lawsuit, notes the column, she testified, "Every time I look at this
passenger jets. The national edition of the New York
withdrawal from the West Bank. But the later metro edition of the Times
sparking in one location inside its main tank and bare wire in another. This is
of concern because electrical sparking inside a fuel tank is now suspected of
the nation's largest local phone company and recreating much of the old Bell
your copy of this list, odds are you are not scoring at home.) The lengthy
Wall Street Journal account points out that unlike many of
The deep thoughts of television's top executives as they existentially
life of the tube titans is very complicated, struggling as they do with such
conundrums as the erosion of network share of the total viewing audience, age
demographic nuances, and the thinning of the talent and writing pools. Thank
be known as the Unified Field Theory: "We'd do ourselves a world of good if we
took out the bottom third of our schedule, which is not only performing in
mediocre fashion but which is often mediocre in quality, and replaced it with a
advocate for the disabled who, among other accomplishments, helped write the
the Pentagon accidentally shot and killed a homeless man. A little story, yes,
false positive mammogram results are quite common. This is also the top
new government's harassment and obstruction of their work.
undergo annual breast checkups for a decade can expect to get at least one false mammogram indication of a tumor. That's if some
cost of breast cancer screening. Some doctors quoted in the Post say
and mental consequences are not depicted, the kind considered most harmful to
increases the risk of learning aggressive attitudes."
rate, Slate might just break even while there are still papers for
"Today's Papers" to be about.) Both papers mention that Net technology has
paper costs via making personnel policies and payroll forms available online.
trend: Internet stockholder voting. Corporations that allow it include Bell and
confidence what the paper's earlier national edition was only able to treat as
intention to bring Pot to international justice: "This is certainly a
with an alleged "sexual aversion injury." The Post notes that not too
leads with the reform pledges made by China's new prime minister. And the
by White House attempts to discredit her. Regarding the release of admiring
is quoted saying, "We don't pretend we can compete with the White House spin
follow up on the story broken yesterday by the New York Daily News that
press conference in which he laid down ambitious goals for sweeping social
change in his country, including pledges to redesign the government and cut its
solvent, all within the next three years. But he also flatly ruled out, reports
national elections with a quip about pictures of him in Time and
major league teams. And this is the aspect of the deal that is really
almost double the going rate in baseball, is "so far out of the ballpark that
it's highly unlikely the team will make money," but, the paper explains,
ruled that the nation's largest cigarette makers shouldn't be held liable in
weren't a defective product and that the manufacturers weren't negligent for
Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing a surprising rise in
the suicide rate among black teenagers. The study's authors suggest that the
surge reflects the strain black families feel in transitioning to the middle
class. One odd detail: black teenagers are much more likely than white
teenagers to kill themselves in the presence of somebody else.
does to the most important person in the room." Isn't that the opposite of
Having already completed an 18-month civil contempt sentence for refusing to
conviction, she could get ten years if convicted on these new charges. The
The indictment contains some new information. At one point in the grand jury
And the evidence she was questioned about there but did not explain includes a
The Post quotes some legal experts saying it's highly unusual to
prosecute someone for criminal contempt who has already served a civil sentence
suggestion to the court makes everybody's story: "Lock him so far down that
customers who suffered significant losses. Three senior executives at the bank
"Today's Papers" guesses these fines don't represent as much of a dent to the
bankers as the uninsured losses did to the elderly investors. After all, they
development and a concomitant rise in the hope market as well.
five million workplace drug tests administered last year by one major lab came
danger of unprovoked attacks. Other embassies have done the same. Foreign
only one story today. And it has legs. And pants. And a zipper.
Today calls a "rapidly escalating inquiry" into allegations that
castigated by numerous readers for having poor news judgment, or worse, a
held out of the early editions of the papers this column is written from.)
up a monitored rendezvous between the two women a little over a week ago at,
his net to its current gaping dimensions. (And further investigation is
what was said to her are hearsay and probably inadmissible.)
the tapes. It quotes that source as saying the recordings include "graphic
people about telephone answering machine messages containing a voice sounding
two of the tapes, which the agent describes as "shocking beyond belief."
Not surprisingly, given its historical squeamishness and the fact that it
writes that he can't believe the charges, and hopes we can get past them
quickly to the country's real business: making peace in the Middle East,
confronted with a serious "Wag the Dog" problem: any strong action taken
This scandal makes blatant the degree to which the mainstream media holds a
Drudge Grudge. None of the stories in the papers today credit him for anything,
After all, he still takes questions from Time --you know, the guys who
about it: why should you have to tell the truth about anything a
delivery guy have to go to jail if he doesn't want to answer that one? It's a
only sex organ that has the constitutional right to privacy is the uterus.
lead with the decision by a coalition of some of the world's top oil exporters
fall, the State Department shut down some of its worldwide computer systems
because of a suspected penetration by hackers. The systems contain unclassified
the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates at a state party
supply about a fifth of the world's oil, issued a joint statement saying that
been predicting the economic pain of low oil revenues would force the producers
to rein in production. Clear enough, but then the paper goes on to "illustrate"
that idea with the following passage from the joint statement, which is
anything but: ".[A] drop in oil prices could lead to a reduction in the
investments needed to secure international supplies, which would destabilize
Wall Street Journal says the movie has already raked
Curiously, the LAT lead puts in the second paragraph the information
that "it is time for a sober reassessment of the power we have concentrated in
the hands of prosecutors and the alarming absence of effective checks and
balances to prevent the widespread abuse of that power."
doubt available, the paper opts for a shot of him with a crazed smile and hands
not quite in front his face, making him look like a spastic Mafia don.
procedure in question. How can someone be partially born? And doesn't
team in place to pull it out of its social and economic crises. The biggest
through the capital like a cyclone." But give the Times credit for
stunning announcement in a "surprisingly folksy and conciliatory speech," while
The Post has some excellent detail on the mechanics of the firings.
farewell award for "Services to the Fatherland," while the other big names got
it in the neck on the phone. The Post account makes it clear that there
abortion, decided to punt, prompting an angry dissent from conservative
federal government has indeed, as it first hinted over a week ago, decided to
attempting to use its recently announced claim of executive privilege to cover
how actively involved she has been in the White House response to the scandal.
in the controversy "an alarming attempt to extend presidential power."
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reports that
Journal wasn't curious enough to find out the average age of those
movement towards a radical overhaul of the tax code.
not. In the end, there was no mention of automatic military moves, but merely a
inclusion of an automatic attack. Despite this difference, everybody reports
destruction have been eliminated. This news seems too important to leave to the
reckless and irresponsible," warning that it could imperil the economy. "No one
concerned about fighting crime would even think about saying, 'Well, three
years from now we're going to throw out the criminal code and we'll figure out
exactly what some people in Congress are proposing to do."
A Wall Street Journal editorial on Internet taxation
business infrastructure of the future," and hence its growth shouldn't be
"stifled" by taxes. Along the way, the editorial asks a fun tax question: "If a
reviews such basics as that the lawyers of those summoned have to wait outside
and that grand jurors can pose questions. There are also the nuggets that
their own lawyer as a counterbalance to the prosecutor. And there's this grand
believe the public should be fully informed about the character of the
to the Justice Department's lawsuit, "If we can't innovate in our products,
then you know we will be replaced." The paper is struck by how far Gates'
behavior is from "the usual cautious demeanor of business leaders visiting
One of the key causes of press overkill of the sort we're now witnessing in
anything that has to do with Topic A, even if it would otherwise merit
"the poet of democracy, the poet of the body and soul," commands a loyal and
point. The real reason for the piece isn't revealed until the fifth paragraph:
(the earlier, national edition goes with the tax evasion indictment of
of organized foes "unable to counter his ideas or record," but acknowledged
that seven years of their attacks have diminished his personal standing with
anymore. The paper observes that nearly half of the questions posed by the
current members of the alliance must approve the change in order for it to take
The Times piece also includes a workmanlike exposition of the politics
defense industry, which stands to "reap huge profits" from increased weapons
among every racial and ethnic group. Oddly, neither story includes any data on
while still the most prolific, have experienced a rate drop for the first time.
whispers the story the same way. Which, is, of course, the way the defense
The Wall Street Journal front features an excellent story
the rug, as well as numerous specific findings of illegal denials of loans, the
farmers are still waiting to be made whole. Scandalous.
The LAT front covers a sensational, disturbing story likely to be much discussed in the
intersections, a distraught man killed himself with a shotgun blast to the
live broadcasts. Afterwards, most of the stations expressed regret for the
The episode could have a number of important consequences: Before taking his
Live Free. Love Safe or Die." So perhaps the suicide will further crystallize
the discussion of the impersonality of managed care. (Why, by the way, didn't
(invariably highly rated) live broadcasts of potentially violent freeway
quote. "The office of independent counsel could indict my dog. They can indict
with him, must have been thrilled with this disclosure of the true family
Today leads with an unprecedented court decision reinstalling in the
accident investigators that the crew of a Marine jet was at fault in the deaths
of twenty civilians in the Alps last month. The New York Times
came just days after the courts said such a move would be legal.
a (nautical) mile per hour.) As a result, says the paper, they recommend that
the aviators' chain of command are also likely to be subject to further
administrative action. Everybody notes that authorities hope the tough stance
None of the papers are very clear on why not only the pilot but also the
other officers in the plane's crew could plausibly be held accountable. None
the three electronic warfare officers on board cannot control the plane's
speed, altitude or course. The Post barely brushes this topic,
speculating that the investigators may have concluded the tragedy resulted from
a decision by the entire crew. But for all the papers say, the finding makes as
much sense as holding a stewardess responsible for a commercial pilot's flight
relevant stock markets and the differences in mechanics and culture among them.
But inexcusably, the piece delays until the ninth paragraph any hint of why the
possible merger could be of interest to the general public: it could mean
episodes audible in the background would enable the particular calls to be
exactly half a year's worth of median family income. That sounds high, so the
Responsive Politics survey on lobbying, which show that interest groups are
astronomer making the announcement is quoted saying there is "no immediate
We have, he says, plenty of time "to improve our knowledge of this thing and
nuclear bomb near the asteroid. The Times also mentions that two movies
coming out later this year deal with the scenario of threatened interstellar
The surprise congressional resurgence of campaign reform leads at the
legislation to come to floor votes next month because reform advocates were
close to getting enough signatures on a special petition to force a vote
not a conversion. The Republican leadership still opposes reform that reduces
the role of money in politics." And indeed the coverage points out that the
Senate has already defeated a ban on "soft money" once this session.
in the fourth and final sexual harassment case the Supreme Court is
hearing this term. The issue in this one is whether a supervisor's single
threat saying a female subordinate's sexual compliance will ease her working
Court's decision here might affect her appeal. Both papers note that many of
the justices seemed genuinely perplexed during yesterday's arguments.
presumed that there is a closer connection between a mother and her child than
generational differences seem to be at play in this decision, with the older
No wonder the Administration's announcement the other day that needle
exchange programs do work but won't be getting federal funds seemed so lame:
responding have hastened patients' deaths with lethal injections or
that this was a diversion which, says the paper, has in turn spurred some talk
charities are having banner years. For instance, the Journal notes
geography and history. And it explains the agency's purpose: "Intelligence is
information needed by our nation's leaders, also known as policy makers, to
keep our country safe. Policy makers, like the president, do not have time to
read all the other countries' newspapers. There are just too many of them."
leads with the endorsement by House Republican leaders of new tax breaks to
Times goes with the general split inside Republican ranks over whether
or not tax cuts should be part of this year's budget. The story notes that the
states and the leading tobacco manufacturers. Like that settlement, the Senate
bill aims to reduce underage smoking, regulate nicotine as a drug and alter the
tone and reach of tobacco advertising. It also includes a payout to tobacco
'unrealistic and onerous' while public health advocates said it was too weak on
industry spokesmen declined public comment." Also, it's very odd to talk about
the reaction of the "industry" and "public health advocates" so broadly.
prices enough to significantly reduce cigarette purchases. By the way, the
initiative with revenue raised from higher cigarette taxes, with or without the
The Wall Street Journal presents the "Award for Environmental
The Journal 's main "Politics and Policy" piece notes a
sex scandals: the further empowerment of his Cabinet officers. Especially true,
indictment last week of two former Northwestern basketball players. The
Times takes note of the latest developments in professional wrestling:
more sexual content, coarser language, and no more Good Guys. This apparently
produced an existential crisis on 43rd St.: "Now, there is no obvious moral
exercising the perks of his new office by writing a piece in the LAT in
which he tried to fire the paper's lead film critic, author of two scathing
White House and Congress were being guided in this by overnight polling
if you intimidate a witness, if you seek otherwise to obstruct the process of
justice, it doesn't matter who wins and loses in the civil case."
ebullient, and was quoted by everyone as saying, "Both Bill and I have felt
"It's a convergence that could only be planned by God."
coverage. While the island was owned at various times by each of the major
sending them across the ocean to an unknown future." What's left out is that
They ended their lives as free people before they fell into white hands.
The LAT front reports that teen smoking is on the rise, jumping by nearly a third in the past
six years. Especially alarming is the news of a big increase among black
teenagers, a group once believed to be curiously resistant to the teen smoking
who bid on the book says the excerpt he saw brought tears to his eyes.
"Today's Papers" appreciates the dozens and dozens of responses to the
request for a better term for the procedure often described in the papers as a
"partial birth abortion." (Incidentally, there was no political agenda behind
will essay to use the phrase and commends it to the dailies.
And thanks to the many readers who rushed forward with considerable
expertise to answer this column's somewhat inept question about the
infinite number of trials. But in an actual experiment, which involves a finite
define what would still count as random results. This is the margin of error
this: the Times story, like all statistical stories, should have
least four women, including one woman escorted by a state trooper to a
instance, the Post also has the story about the woman meeting with
all the encounters were innocent. And the Post emphasizes that how much
of the collateral sexual material gets into the actual trial is up to the trial
putting up posters advertising the pontiff's visit.
memory, inside.) One is that Al Gore will announce today, at King's church in
laws and police misconduct investigations. The other is the bizarre news that
the beginning of the twentieth century, when more than a dozen auto companies
airplane fuselages, televisions and hairnets, but there isn't one current
up until a few years ago, Case wasn't able to get his parents to understand
least four women, including one woman escorted by a state trooper to a
instance, the Post also has the story about the woman meeting with
all the encounters were innocent. And the Post emphasizes that how much
of the collateral sexual material gets into the actual trial is up to the trial
goes with drawing the basic Capitol Hill battle lines regarding the upcoming
surplus budget. The Times says a rift has opened between House
Republicans, who continue to aggressively opt for tax cuts, and Senate
section profile) mention that the White House statement notably lacked any
The LAT lead states that on the eve of a six nation conference in
Hedges says there were clear indications the town saw heavy combat, indicating
crisis, by a man in a brown tweed jacket, of top secret documents from a secure
The Wall Street Journal 's main "Politics and Policy" piece
presidency, even times when I was there, the White House has created the
appearance of wrongdoing by being slow to come forward with the facts."
had a sort of natural, youthful, exuberant smile that anybody, even a
prosecutors show that correct procedures were used.
nuclear tests. The papers all note the widespread fear that the tests could
race between the two countries. Neither country, the papers note, has signed
the treaties that constrain nuclear tests. Most of the papers observe that many
spoke instead of measured yields and expected values and offered his warm
Post observe that one of the three tests was of a thermonuclear device.
The Post reminds the reader that is a hydrogen bomb. The Times
involved in an illegal campaign contribution scheme. This is the seventh time
brief item reporting that a defense contractor was sentenced in a procurement
case. What did he do? He sold defective parts for the cable system used to
fail, aircrews plunge to watery graves and flight deck personnel quite
literally get cut in half. What was the executive's sentence? Three months in
federal prison (Club Fed, no doubt) and three months of house arrest. Do you
think that punishment fits that crime? Another question: It's bad enough that
the law tends to downplay these cases, but why don't the papers make more of
being willing to kill service members to make a profit? Maybe it's because
they're too into profit and not enough into service members.
possible to wave all this away as partisan tit for tat. Problem is, serious
Democrats know that this scandal is about a lot more than tat."
insurers for making it too difficult for people who switch or lose their jobs
goes with the Senate Republicans' proposed budget and its rejection of
as great as scientists had been saying, and it's very unlikely that the region
their health coverage. The main problem, says the paper, is that the law
doesn't control how much companies can charge for such gap coverage, so they
the lowest price since the energy crisis in the 1970s. The reasons given are
the same ones offered in the papers last week: a mild winter here and in
below in the story is the reason for that: they are trying to gain market share
The Senate Budget Committee proposed a Republican fiscal blueprint that,
increased spending in such areas as education, child care and health care,
choosing instead to put the proceeds of any tobacco settlement into Medicare.
But on the other hand, the budget plan provides smaller tax cuts than were
use budget surpluses to first shore up Social Security. The Times says
the proposal is likely to be adopted more or less intact.
The Wall Street Journal runs a piece inside reporting that it
became media darlings a few years back, have been overstating the annualized
ps, math error, say the Ladies. (The audit was prompted by earlier stories in
tactics, intimidation, false imprisonment, jury tampering and other illegal
methods to fight civil rights activities in the state. The files are believed
to provide material for lawsuits against the state and also for the reopening
was prompted by Continental Airlines' discovery in one plane of fuel leaking
directors and to create new limits on the agency's ability to impose penalties
billion over the next decade, say the papers. But the Senate discussion utterly
failed to put such figures in the larger context, which is that already
in legally owed taxes and is already auditing less than one percent of
all returns. What's worse, the dailies don't mention this either.
under a new state law that allows removal of students who threaten violence.
What makes the case unusual is that what precipitated this were the two papers
he turned in for an English class writing assignment: "The Riot," in which
students set fire to the school library, blow up the science labs, and beat the
boy and his parents are suing his school's principal and the school
the 1st Cavalry Division had this assessment for acquisition officers of the
about it by an interviewer, but it has long been assumed that this problem was
addressed by conducting surveys via paper and pencil questionnaires. However,
the new study shows that's not true. Which means that many accepted
admit they were often or always drunk or high when having sex with women, and
In the modern age, and especially in the modern newspaper, the pursuit of
money takes on the full aura that was, in a bygone time, reserved for the
merger. You have to wade pretty far down to get to "revenues," "earnings
hotel meetings, the furtive use of code names, the artful deflection of an
outsider's nosy question about the relationship. There's even, according to the
take. "It was a very emotional issue at the end, emotional on both sides,"
bill, which would have barred the national political parties from trafficking
connection with various improprieties concerning inmates, including a
bill's fate last fall. The repetitive outcome, showed, says the paper, that a
opposed the reform bill. The three: the National Rifle Association, the
Christian Coalition, and the National Right to Life Committee. The Times
goes on to point out that while for the past year, Senate Republicans had put
Democrats intend to run on the issue in the fall congressional elections.
public pressure for change will increase: "There will be more scandals, more
Sheriff's department is investigating the possibility that beatings of accused
child molesters were allegedly encouraged by deputies working in the men's
central jail and resulted in at least one homicide.
formally took over the prosecution of police officers implicated in the brutal
civil rights charges could mean sentences of up to life in prison. The five
officers charged pleaded not guilty and remain free on bond.
finding of no liability in her mad cow trial runs on the fronts of each of the
four dailies that use photos. The caption and headline writers join the fun:
power," and points out that a tonic for that idea is found in the recently
dictators can be toppled by small acts of insurrection.
leads with the Supreme Court's ruling that even a white defendant can challenge
a grand jury indictment on the grounds that jury selection discriminated
to dissolve Parliament and hold national elections if the nomination is again
campaigns that prey on the insecurities and dreams of our children." The
context for all this jockeying is the fate of the tobacco bill, with its
restrictions on teen marketing, now awaiting consideration by the full
story is itself a perfect example of the problem. Although the remark by
There's real calumny in another Post story inside, which reports that
goes on to note that Burton is planning to release tapes made by authorities of
reveal incriminating conversations with White House officials. Federal law
sales networks" headed up by "charismatic leaders," has issued an immediate ban
there are already indications that huge numbers of men who are not impotent,
Times lead with the balanced budget proposed yesterday by President
substantial new spending until Social Security is fixed. The paper notes that
in contrast to most past years, this proposed budget is not arriving on
Capitol Hill dead on arrival. The coverage also features various negative
quoted, "This is a budget only a liberal could love." The biggest criticism is
the budget's use of a proposed tobacco settlement to partially offset new
polls, these priorities generally conform to what the voters want.
sensitive to the political angle, saying the budget presents the president with
"another opportunity to portray himself as absorbed in governing, and to
deflect accusations that he had an affair.." The LAT also highlights
political considerations, saying that the budget was "designed to give
The main Wall Street Journal "Politics and Policy" piece says that
despite opening Republican potshots, there is likely to be agreement about the
provisions dealing with child care, transportation, and tobacco taxes. The
Journal sees the big conflicts coming over the expansion of Medicare to
let their bases be used for support aircraft, but not bombers. While seeking
nationally. The trend also makes the LAT front, and is inside at the
White House, not ten times as has been variously reported, but "about three dozen times" after leaving her White House job. She
was, says the paper, usually cleared by the president's personal secretary. The
paper's sources are officials who have either seen or been briefed about the
weren't for them. A White House spokesman wouldn't confirm the number of visits
members of the Post editorial staff are apparently suffering the
cerebral ill effects of too much exposure to brightly colored polyester.
The LAT front reports that, in an attempt to highlight Southern
chosen for the region that will figure in an aggressive marketing campaign. The
paper says it will probably be "Tech Coast." "Today's Papers" is still partial
to press the issue has meant that it has amassed much striking power elsewhere.
The Post gives this order of battle: "F-117 stealth aircraft and A-10
carriers, cruise missiles on a number of other ships and B-52 bombers on the
Guard bases, military command centers and suspected weapons factories and
matter into Congress' lap as a potential impeachment case, thus plunging the
country into a "wrenching political dilemma" given the president's surging
rather loose interpretation of what counts as an impeachable offense, reporting
that he once argued before the Supreme Court that poisoning the neighbor's cat might be impeachable.
regarding cigars. Apparently, the agency is moving towards requiring stogie
makers to report their ad and promotion budgets. And is considering further
steps such as: requiring cigar ads to carry a Surgeon General's health
of executions of political prisoners and common criminals in the latter part of
The piece convinces the reader that Tucker's pickax is not an anomaly: "Among
the ways condemned women have killed in this country are shooting with an
a baseball bat. One drowned her paralyzed son by pushing him off a canoe on a
Kind of amazing those exams didn't eventually turn up in the private quarters
"dangerous new instability" the blasts have created in the region. To head it
explosions was just as much a surprise to the world as the first. The
were scheduled a month ago and were not intended as a rebuff to international
spies, the policy folks at State and the White House fell down on the job too,
interest in nuclear weapons. There is a real problem here, but the newspapers
aren't exempt. Yes, the intelligence agencies and the national security staffs
are too readily distracted by the current crisis, whatever it is, but the
easily overlooked aspect of the world's tensest nuclear crisis since the end of
are wearing out so badly that their continued deployment threatens "hundreds of
Despite official reassurances, when the sub was brought back to its base there
failing to report it. But the paper doesn't claim to know how things turn out.
Is it just "Today's Papers" that wonders how it can be that witness testimony
hours and yet a sitcom plot remains a state secret?
has accumulated evidence of an impeachable offense. The national edition of the
goes with the conclusion by a panel of educational experts that both
for teaching reading. The metro edition of the Times leads with the
unanimous decision by the New York City Board of Education to require
elementary school kids to wear uniforms. The top national story in the metro
Times lead continues the close look the paper has been taking lately at
local and state prisons. On the heels of indictments of prison officials in
federal investigators are now looking into assaults and slayings of inmates at
The judge in the Espy aide case ignored the sentencing guideline
recommendation of probation to hand down a 27-month sentence for lying, and
"send a message to key players in the White House intern scandal." The sentence
to avoid the leaky consequences of the House of Representatives rule making
material in the files of any standing committee available to any member.
in knocking the Republican budget before a cheering,
nation's future," by eliminating his new initiatives on education, job training
Senate Budget Committee approved the Republican tax and spending plan on a
The Wall Street Journal "Business Bulletin" reports that it
takes about six years for a new consumer product to take off. That probably
and other government agencies to release every classified document in the
work, editing out sensitive information line by line. And it's a lot of
about the [White House] intern program in which she was employed." Here at last
investigators, who especially want to clarify whether or not there were any
reflect his confidence in what he's getting from these witnesses.) Recent
Service personnel that he'd found and disposed of tissues with lipstick and
The Journal 's story represents a first because it was released on the
represents an occurrence you'll be seeing again: newspapers and magazines using
didn't wait for the morning paper because it was hearing footsteps from at
response, says the paper, the administration is prepared to invoke the sweeping
Podesta, a deputy White House chief of staff, goes before the grand jury.
regarding any possible military response. Top Republicans are calling for the
leads with a bit of a bombshell about the grand jury testimony of President
knew and when did he know her may have gotten a big boost from the grand jury
were sometimes alone together in the White House. Additionally, says the paper,
wouldn't have to turn them over. And soon after that conversation, says the
The Post lead nails down the scandal's earliest known
The Wall Street Journal reports that during his Middle East
general says the plane was following a standard training route, and thus far
alleging that the plane was equipped with a flight data recorder but that the
claimed that they were pressured for sex by company officials and urged to wear
tobacco industry giants make it clearer than ever just how hard the companies
led to calls from minority lawmakers and health authorities that some proceeds
from any global tobacco settlement be earmarked for minorities.
What with all the headlines about Democratic Party fundraising, you might
"While most people seem to believe the United States should take action against
planners. The Journal says that even with a new wavelet of improved
weapons, the top brass doubts that the air attacks they're planning can
aren't really sure where the special weapons plants are, and don't know what to
do about "dual use" targets like hospitals that are also used to produce
biological weapons. The Post reports, based on several unnamed
for example, secret police headquarters. The paper says the administration
The LAT lead about managed care reform covers ground
the news is that legislation drafted by Democrats that requires federal
standards for health insurance plans and an appeals process to enforce them
will be taken up when Congress returns from recess next week. The managed care
industry and the nation's largest employers will fight this vehemently, the
investigation, the LAT front reports that the president has been using
"one of the best tools available" for frustrating a criminal
investigated in the case. Such agreements, says the paper, have allowed the
president's defense team to learn what questions are being posed and what
answers given during grand jury sessions. The paper suggests that both
All too often the contemporary newspaper correction resembles one of those
killed in a bombing raid. The headline on the story incorrectly characterized
either the original headline or an explanation of the way in which it was
incorrect in its characterization. It's only when the reader digs out the
War "goal." By hiding the ball this way, the Post misses the chance to
explore the intelligence community sophistry at work here. Ordinarily, if you
hope for something and do things that ordinarily could be expected to bring it
government operates under a presidential executive order forbidding the
the same time being genuinely surprised if he were to die as a result.
decides a simmering conflict between those organizations and banks in favor of
consumer advocates complain that this portends bad news for customers, who've
benefited from the downward fee pressures credit unions provide.
Bankers Assn. and four other banking groups." Not to a spokesman for those
organizations, but to the groups themselves. "Today's Papers" guesses this is a
telltale sign of writing the reaction part of the story from a press release.
It would be far better to interview an actual person instead, if only because
"avalanche of lies" spread about his staff and defended his decision to
potential wrangle over the possible invoking of executive privilege by certain
significant resources to a long court battle, or don't fight it and forgo some
conversations" she had with his client. The paper doesn't say whether the
a legal defense fund by a benefactor whose foundation promotes the view that
women need to "use their sexuality" in the workplace to attract mentors.
enough of a break from sabotaging campaign reform to try sabotaging the new
made enough deadly microbes to kill all the people on earth several times
over." There's also the revelation of a crash military program intended to
days, computer hackers have broken into unclassified Pentagon networks to
examine and possibly alter payroll and personnel data.
Sure, the school bus is crawling with safety violations and doesn't contain
seat belts and will be taking the kids to classrooms run by teachers who never
actually had to take the subjects they're teaching, but at least according to
campuses to generate admissions statistics since the system abandoned
affirmative action have seen their black and Latino acceptance rates
expressing their animosity towards their abusers or physically separating from
treatment or counseling for risky and reckless behavior.
had "no specific recollection" of meeting with her, but that his current denial
counteroffensive yesterday with an appearance on the "Today" show, was a
Such apparently effortless shifting by some women is called to task
pointedly in the Wall Street Journal 's main "Politics and Policy" piece via
a quotation from a Democratic consultant, who says, "What gets to the heart of
it is that feminism is no longer a principle, it's a political tool."
leaders. Everybody carries the repentance story on the front page.
send the former sergeant major of the Army to jail, but did bust him down one
rejected an advisory commission's recommendation that male and female recruits
have led to improper naturalized citizenship of more than six thousand
supposed to work, since the paper also states there is no intention to use
"We're all a little itchy. We'd kind of like to do something.''
adjacent piece suggests that the report's finding concerning alleged
word of her alleged affair with the president began seeping out on an Internet
while providing little if any additional protection for their own occupants."
with the lack of protective features in small cars.
the time: wear sunglasses. The picture helps drive home the basis for the
pol the Godfather has to eventually help out of some little unpleasantness in
killed a teenage motorist...." was caught driving again. And atop the story
sits the headline: "Driver of Truck That Killed Teen is Cited with New
the driver precipitated the fatality by running a red light. So, it may seem a
that makes lies sound truthful and murder respectable, "Today's Papers" would
after he crashed into a car, killing a teenage motorist...." And to put it
under a headline like: "Driver of Truck Who Killed Teen is Cited With New
Today leads with promising new cancer drugs soon to be tested on
blood supply to tumors, making it impossible for them to grow. Used together,
they have eradicated tumors in mice. Which is why they are scheduled for human
trials. But, says the paper, the leap from mouse to man is a huge one.
some chance that the day after Election Day they will make a move that moots
congressional investigators took the "Election Day" comment to signify pardon
The LAT front story on Japan's current economic woes runs under: "Tax
Cut May Not Spur Yen to Spend in Japan." Do we really need to see this "clever"
for the entire personal computer industry if they cause that new software to be
The Journal 's "The Outlook" piece takes note of recent claims that
military bases supports the cause with some simple observations: While the
keep total military spending flat, the paper notes that not closing bases is
equivalent to passing cuts on readiness, weapons procurement and research.
Sometimes the narrative in economic flash stories is a little brisk. What
to their rubles rather than selling them for dollars. Still, the reader can't
"Contrary to what markets and commentators are imagining, this is not a
to her of secret grand jury evidence, she decided the privileges are trumped by
to the contrary, was seriously affecting his ability to focus on his job. The
would argue that the resulting uproar could impair his legislative program,
distract him from his duties, affect his dealings with foreign heads of state,
Federal Trade Commission investigators are recommending civil antitrust charges
business section calls "a glimpse of the future the government is seeking" in
highway bill, but what about tobacco legislation, campaign finance reform, a
student loan bill, health care, food stamps for needy immigrants, child care
charge. In hearings last week, a House committee heard from various Platters,
Drifters, Coasters, and Vogues all requesting that federal law be amended to
protect oldies groups from other performers using the their
and our campaign financing, but this country takes a backseat to no one when it
claim that executive privilege protects two of his aides from testifying to the
and leaked to the papers by lawyers involved in the case (who thereby continue
LAT point out that a White House bid to have some protections extended
White House claim that Secret Service agents are also cloaked in a special
really decided what to do about it. As the Journal points out, that's
understandable: on the one hand, although political moderation is on the
most active sponsor of state terrorism," but on the other, making nice would
Correction: "Today's Papers" was mistaken yesterday in saying that the
passionate defender of the Bill of Rights, "that foundation stone of our
republic." But she also draws a clear, important conclusion: "On the question
chillingly easy for crazies and criminals and children to get guns."
missiles. The LAT quotes an expert saying that this missile claim may be
more a statement of intent than fact. And the LAT is likewise consoling
keep money from fleeing the country, it froze all foreign currency accounts.
newest open nuclear power is also one of its ten poorest countries. The
foreign policy approach of the nineties, and returning security and moral
Supreme Court for a definitive ruling on executive privilege as it applies to
caught the White House by surprise. But, the papers note, it was used
Well, if smoking can reduce breast cancer, it's only fair that, according to
political expenditures can be drawn from his or her dues. What's wrong, says
the Times is open to a bilateral version in which labor unions must get
permission for political spending from individual workers and corporations must
do so from individual shareholders. Such an "evenhanded approach," says the
both parties and help diminish the corroding influence of big
Proposition 209's mandate to abandon affirmative action in admissions, the new
leads with news that might be heartening for many users of the now withdrawn
not associated with an increase in heart valve problems. But the paper goes on
percentages of the total admitted pool, an illuminating datum. Both the
university's decision to give extra consideration to poor applicants, thus
One university official is quoted by the LAT as seeing in the shift
admissions must be put back on black and Latino families and the students
will finally and conclusively put to rest the lie that we've heard for so long
from these campuses that race is only one factor in how they choose
changed the present tense in that last sentence to the past, which was clearly
The Wall Street Journal spills a lot of ink on tobacco, with
the pending Senate bill. The "Capitol Journal" column paints a picture of a
bill in "deep peril," and of a sharply divided Senate besieged by an "enraged"
tobacco industry. In the end, says the paper, it may fall to one man to bring
that showed "therapeutic touch" practitioners don't have a special ability to
hand they couldn't see at a rate "no better than chance" would have predicted,
over substance: there isn't a word about those international family planning
organizations (none are even identified) and to what extent they facilitate
Senate will consider before it's through. Yesterday's debate focused mainly on
Times notes that expansion cost issues seem paramount to the Senate.
This means many members don't really trust the official estimates, because
And the Times explains that some senators are concerned that more and
"Today's Papers" though, that here may lie the true solution: Let any country
booming economy has delayed the insolvency of Social Security for three
book sales must have slipped and Newt is back on red meat. The paper quotes
has come to say to the president, 'Quit undermining the law in the United
as many as twenty confiscated luxury vehicles and another wrote an anonymous
threatening letter to a tax attorney who had testified against the agency at
proposal for ushering in a simplified tax code: require all members of Congress
and the president to prepare their own returns without professional help.
teach economics to Democrats than compassion to Republicans."
"Today's Papers" is more than a little mystified by the sudden journalistic
interest in the reality of the Jerry Springer show. Pretty soon, the papers
is a good one: just put a cop on the Springer set. Real fights would meet with
arrests and fake ones wouldn't and hence would be quickly unmasked. Either way,
Times goes with a state court decision that gives New York City the
right to kick topless joints and sex shops out of Times Square). The LAT lead
he believes they have spread false information about his staff. The stance,
The big unresolved issues, says the paper: the role of the diplomats who would
now accompany weapons inspectors on their rounds, the inspectors' chain of
the new inspection organization will be more susceptible than its predecessor
point, apparently, Al Gore suggested that the administration consider
have his closest aides cite executive privilege to keep from testifying to the
matter. The notion could be put to a test before a federal judge as early as
efforts to obtain testimony from presidential bodyguards. The decision was
that efficient protection requires agent proximity and hence agent
Some editorial writers weigh in today on the escalating battle between
strategy of "looking for dirt on prosecutors and trying to discredit
an "attack on press freedom and the unrestricted flow of information."
more." The piece goes on to quote various breathless university officials about
how the money is rolling in, but nowhere is the question raised as to why if
financial times are so good, tuition has risen at a ferocious rate, often
escalating cost of donor eggs for various infertility procedures. One New
month's worth of eggs. The paper notes that sperm donors typically get less
Times leads with news that must strike terror deep within the hearts of
leased tens of thousands of unlisted phone numbers to telemarketers.
report (and from others as well). Apparently, inspectors found some of the
buildings on their list to have been stripped of all equipment and even
documents or computers. And some inspectors were stunned by the opulence of the
presidential palaces. Some rooms in them must have, according to some on the
The Post reports that Pol Pot died quietly on a flowered mattress. The story goes
on to describe televised footage of the death scene: Pot's body stretched out
The emotional scars left by Pol Pot's terror reign are crystallized in a
position that Pol Pot's death should not end efforts to bring to justice other
editorial states that eight to ten members of Pot's extermination committee are
Al Gore's disclosure of his tax return the other day was to label him "Vice
The Wall Street Journal reports that in the months leading up
Different" ads featuring pictures of famous independent movers and shakers, has
line is, "In China, he may not get across the message that Apple is trying to
Internet. The racial divide is particularly pronounced on the lower end of
were six times as likely as blacks to have used the Web. By the way, the
explain that this is "a popular Internet graphical network, encompassing some
Times lead describes those efforts too, but emphasizes the nature of
Despite the Likely Costs." But the text is anything but. High up, the reader is
"sick and tired of hearing you give me a pile full of complaints about the
story sources the comment the same way. (Gee, given that the scoldings were
private, and that the knowledge was direct, who could that be?)
to congressional approval of the national tobacco settlement. And if Congress
fails to enact the tobacco deal thereby killing these programs, says the paper,
Democrats come away with a potent political issue: the Republicans favored the
sort of tobacco legislation this year. Congress, he says, is moving towards
enacting the parts of the settlement the tobacco companies don't like while
The most newsy development in what "Today's Papers" had decided to call the
grand jury room today after being compelled to answer questions yesterday about
according to some people in the know, Lewis was "aware of a relationship
grand jury later this week. And the dailies all quote her lawyer's comment that
she will testify if his attempts to quash the grand jury subpoena are
conceal it from outsiders was, "What's the big deal? So she lied and convinced
someone else to lie." The paper effortlessly ticks off several of the scandal's
But the Post goes a bit overboard with 120-plus words on an alleged
reveal nothing about the conversation except that it lasted less than five
None of the papers' accounts addresses a natural question: If spouses can't
be compelled to testify against each other, how come a mother (especially one
who's apparently her child's "closest confidante") can be compelled to testify
against a daughter? Why, in the law, is water thicker than blood?
The Wall Street Journal recently caught a lot of hell for its
front, a retired Secret Service agent is saying the same thing.
is particularly odd given the frequency with which Times readers are
left seriously confused about many of the paper's more significant alleged
laws by conspiring to close abortion clinics through violence, and hence could
be subject to damage claims. The national edition of the New York Times
demonstrators would violate their free speech rights. But the paper carries
protect extortion: someone saying they'll break your windows every day or
someone stationing a thug outside your business." The story also makes the
disagree about whether it's enough to make a nuclear bomb, says the paper) were
The LAT front brings word that NOW, after staying on the sidelines
for drug users, even while acknowledging that such programs reduce the spread
the inside politics of the decision, reporting not only that the
were afraid Republicans might push through legislation taking federal money
away from organizations providing free needles. Health and Human Services
that the best programs are designed locally. So why not design them locally and
The Wall Street Journal reports that child labor is flourishing
adult cheap labor. It is estimated, says the paper, that there are more than
students at her school were also urged to apply by a black student at the
college, and was interested in another much lesser school because she
mistakenly thought it was free. And in the course of the story she learns that
There's been a lot of reason lately to question the overall economic
goodbye to the boss, but opted not to. And a good thing, he writes, because "at
that moment a faithless aide was in there talking about a cancer on the
Presidency" and "had I gone in, I would have been taped and perhaps later
Dean as a traitor, so much so that he can't bring himself to type his name in
this story, and he still seems to think that a lot of innocent people got
all lead with the latest developments in the White House sex scandal. The
federal judge, but in both regards it leaves important details out. You have to
deposition leak as "reckless, reprehensible and unethical" but also that he
scoop: "the court has made it absolutely clear it is illegal to leak and
discuss" his deposition. Both papers report that all players in the
who once compared the White House to a subway, where you need coins to open the
doors, will plead guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud and election law violations
The Wall Street Journal reports that military planners of
traveling at "high speed" when it struck sand barrel obstacles, hit a wall and
Perhaps the Highway Patrol fears another arbitrator in the wings. It didn't
accept a federal judge's ruling that executive privilege does not protect his
however, the papers report, still pursue an effort in the courts to invoke
cartels are, via a new far more potent strain of heroin, gaining a growing
him to fight on, but on much less controversial grounds, and yet still perhaps
a legitimate criminal inquiry." What's more, argues the Times the claim
The Wall Street Journal 's political reporting continues to be
votes for a commission that would study and recommend further changes in the
system. (A big clue to how lightly Congress takes the issue. When Pearl Harbor
accurate, newsworthy news reports are protected by the First Amendment from
lawsuits merely alleging illegal disclosure of private facts, but the Court
offensive or intrusive methods to get the story. The case prompting the
decision involved a woman car accident victim ministered to by a nurse wearing
struggling group to give aid to: poverty lawyers. Today, says the paper, with
for young law school grads, supporting their legal efforts on behalf of such
initiative to have the federal government write its
millions of forms, directive and letters in "plain language." An example he
which they lead shall be so designed and arranged as to be clearly recognizable
as such" as "An exit door must be free of signs or decorations that obscure its
visibility." The Post waggishly provides another example, effectively
this was in violation of the law" should be recast as "There's no law against
governing transplant organ availability. The New York Times
global settlement with Holocaust victims by setting up a compensation fund. The
state college system: an overwhelming number of its incoming students lack the
basic math and English skills they should have acquired in high school. The
sickest candidates first regardless of where they live, as opposed to the
current ones, which were conceived when organs couldn't be maintained outside
the body for nearly as long as they can now, and hence emphasize getting them
to the closest candidates. The private network that coordinates most organ
distribution opposes the shift, because of a fear that this change will atrophy
local transplant centers by diverting organs to a handful of large regional
ones, and also deny organs to people who can't travel. The papers all point out
attempting to fix the outcome of games for the benefit of bettors during the
paper, because Northwestern has the reputation of placing academics above
percent said they had gambled on a game they had played in.
captions pointing to stories inside. This judgment is especially hard to
delegation were in effect sold to mega donors to Democratic Party coffers,
paper. Almost every editor questioned says the crucial fact pushing
disclosure was that the names were already out there, in the local paper and on
mainstream press, where the dwarfs have ended up controlling the giants.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Senate Judiciary Committee
partners to speak with Senate investigators despite nondisclosure rules in MS
uninvited sexual gesture by a man is met with noncompliance by a woman and then
counters with a family secret. Many years ago, his older sister was walking in
the park when a man exposed himself to her. She screamed and ran home, where
she came down with a cold and then pneumonia and then a few days later, died.
think otherwise is to opt for making coming up behind someone and saying "Boo"
a crime, because yes, it just might possibly scare him to death.
The actual details of the deal are still somewhat unclear, but it has
also reports that the president's senior advisors expressed relief at the
of whom is quoted, "We had a tough time seeing where this was going to take
The Times has the most reporting on the domestic political reaction
about any role he might have had in disseminating negative information about
and signals "an escalation in the battle between the White House and the
produced the arrest of two men for trying to sell organs from the bodies of
story inside, pointing out that one of the arrested men said that he could
guarantee skin from young prisoners and lungs from ones who didn't smoke.
Provided that the "donors" in question are legitimately tried and executed,
neither piece, it seems, really makes it clear exactly why this practice is
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reports that a
researcher has found that despite worker assumptions to the contrary, childless
employees do not work longer hours than their colleagues raising kids.
husband's congressional seat. Does the prospect of even lengthier absences,
where I could be [with the children in Palm Springs] for weeks at a time."
is quoted as saying, "is going to stand for somebody being indicted for having
she may be somebody who is not being indicted because she's having a
unnamed "person with knowledge of the decision." The Post cites
"individuals familiar with the case." The LAT refers to "sources close
own sources, saying they are "lawyers," which leaves them quite vulnerable to
punishment by the judge, who warned the lawyers in the case against disclosing
the tobacco industry, seeking billions in damages to compensate for the expense
successfully brought by several state governments in recent years, constitute,
history's costliest collection of cases. A similar ratcheting up is afoot in
planning a joint antitrust action, separate from the pending federal case
followed included postings comforting the man by telling him that the crime was
long past, but three of the people participating went to authorities, and a few
after only seven months makes it "plain that his appointment was a
knocked on his door recently, he came out pretending to stab her several times
the same way any other innocent citizen would: he leaned out of the window and
shouted "an anatomical obscenity" at her. (By the way, why the code phrase? If
congressman thinks the president is a "scumbag," then surely it can come dirty
papers quote Tucker's last words to the families of her victims: "I am so
sorry. I hope God will give you peace with this." The papers point out that the
death by lethal injection came despite pleas for mercy from the Pope, Pat
the perennial question: Do they swab the prisoner's arm with alcohol to prevent
infection before giving the needle or not? (If so, why?) But the piece does
tube leading into the condemned man's arm burst, spewing lethal fluids towards
one stating, "Forget Injection, Use a Pickax." Both papers note that a cheer
return was voluntary, but the Post says no final understanding has been
he must provide inspectors with unfettered, unconditional access to all sites.
sustained air war, but no substantial number of ground troops. According to the
paper, this is commensurate with congressional thinking, which has little room
for reprising the Gulf War. On the Hill they have the stomach to contain
has in hand the justification for any new military strikes: the Congressional
latest corporate thinking on office romances. The piece points out that up to
just a few years ago, at most companies office relationships were grounds for
the view that such relationships cannot be banned but can be managed. Usually
Such thinking has no doubt fostered an environment in which, reports the
the independent counsel law or media ethics. It's about sex. After all, Rich
coverage of the scandal, that same public has made the porn business twice as
leads with the recommendation by the nation's air safety board that thousands
of airliners currently in service be rewired as a precaution against the sort
Security, to fix the system. This is also the top national story at the
The rewiring recommendation from the National Transportation Safety
Board, accompanied by the further suggestion that surge suppressors be put on
board has an advisory role only, and implementation must be carried out by the
applies to the planes of at least one other company, Airbus, as well.
but also the unsafe ones observed in three retired 747s.
Representatives (on the grounds that it describes potentially impeachable
offenses) has already been written, and that it pertains not only to President
fought hard against the administration's contention that executive privilege
revenue for the program by increasing the limit on wages subject to the payroll
meeting was ruling out a conversion of Social Security to a private pension
individual accounts provided the overall plan they're a part of continues to
been "boorish and offensive," it was brief, and isolated and didn't result in
physical harm. Therefore, it wasn't, she concluded, under even the most
charitable reading of the record, a sexual assault or workplace harassment. The
car phone and pulled over and cried. The Post says officials at the
cigar in his mouth and a drum in his hands (to be replaced moments later with a
presidency appear to have been diminished in important and lasting ways." A
And the LAT lead editorial sees the development as a "bittersweet
victory for the president." Perhaps, the editorial continues, "it is possible
to envision a time when Social Security reform and other urgent issues might
capture the attention of the nation and be at the top of the congressional
agenda. When the debate over health care returns to the spotlight. When the
details of the tobacco settlement become a matter of wide public discussion.
place in history." The scandal, says the LAT has made the president seem
the rich have, somewhat surprisingly, not been able to shelter their income
with those from a monkey, ape or other animal. His goal: to set off a
hybrids is unsettled, because patent law has not addressed "how human" an
animal would have to be before it fell under the ban.
administration support for its efforts to sell communications technology to
way linked to his firm's increased access to China. Of course, when lobbying is
Times --but not the Post --makes the point, but not until after the
and the episode marks the first time in nearly thirty years that a National
Guard combat unit has been shipped overseas. Unfortunately, the piece focuses
The LAT 's "Column One" brings out another overlooked consequence of
military downsizing. Seems that budget cuts have forced the Pentagon to stop
supplying honor guards to most military funerals, and this role is now often
satellite recorded bulldozers appearing near the test site, but that this
didn't set off any alarm bells. But the piece doesn't say why. Surely this is
some sort of human breakdown, because the current generation of spy satellites
the morning of the test explosions, "one lonely analyst" saw a photo of fences
being removed, but it took four or five hours before more experienced officers
arrived to review the evidence. The Times doesn't say why they weren't
experienced officers have rank, and insist that rank has its privileges, like
working during the daytime. Isn't that dumb? And isn't it lucky it was only a
professor that promises "How to Stop Mass Public Shootings." The prof's
suggestion? Let citizens (without criminal records) carry concealed weapons.
Now, do you think if the teachers (and the other students, for that matter) at
situation safer? After all, the boy pulled a knife on the cops in the police
station after he was arrested, and presumably he knew they were armed.
The professor adduces some statistics for his side purporting to show that the
availability of concealed weapons lessens the occurrence of what he calls
irrelevance: it doesn't include gang shootings or shootings that are the
byproducts of another crime. (which means he couldn't even include the
year. Thank God for tenure, or this guy might be running a police department
by reducing engine explosions and episodes of flying unaware into the ground.
lead is the decision by a federal court voiding the government rule requiring
affirmative action because it's the first time that a federal appeals court
has evaluated an affirmative action program that used not quotas but goals. In
effect, the court said it didn't see the difference, holding that goals still
tended to promote numerical targets and hence hiring on purely racial grounds.
target women, this decision does not address those, although experts say the
decision will probably lead to eventual challenges of them as well. The
affirmative action program has been overturned: three years ago Congress did
away with tax breaks for companies selling broadcast stations to
magazine received. So far, it appears, says the paper, much of it went to the
opportunity to say nice things about themselves in straight news stories (the
Papers" however, that plays and books (and string quartets) can win
have caused some blurring of the lines and confusion about his role with us."
It's far from clear to "Today's Papers" why this is any kind of a firing
place. More importantly, talking with a news subject about a possible job is
If you've just now finished your tax return, you'll be glad to know that
Congress is springing into action with a fundamental tax law change. The
passed by the House and awaiting Senate approval calls for taxpayers to start
where their money goes." Why not go all the way and let us start writing tax
checks to say, "Bob Dole's Condo Payments," "White House Lawyers' Salaries," or
are offered when they cannot find work on their own. The feds say pay minimum
The election pledge is one of several reforms announced yesterday in
puts this in a separate piece deep inside.) The country's justice minister said
that the release of other political prisoners will follow soon. Also,
of the fourteen soldiers suspected in the killings of six demonstrators during
announced it will review its business dealings with companies owned by former
"severing" the government's close links with those companies. The LAT
says that already under the new policy some small public works contracts have
came just one day before the International Monetary Fund is due to begin
The Post says that the military is strongly supporting reform. The
moves appear to ensure that he will be an "interim figure."
Japan. Using rooftops and truck convoys, the group conducted, concludes the
permission from individual members to make any political use of dues, is,
despite a commanding early lead in the polls, now sinking fast. The main
power of union spending pretty much drive home 226's point?
The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to Manpower
intend to increase staffing in the third quarter. The paper quotes the gloss
provided by Manpower's chairman: "There has never been a job market even close
good luck finding any. In a world of lurid myopia, it's refreshing to see that
a paper is still willing to put seven staffers on an overseas story.
news of a major bribery scheme involving food contracts for the county
schedule for this week. It would be interesting to see how many fundraisers and
adding that he is "totally out of control." The paper reports that over the
a big challenge to the balanced budget because it provides goodies to every
congressional district in the country. The piece points out that among those
who want to make sure the bill doesn't eat into any budget surplus is Newt
side issues that could lead to a confrontation with the White House, namely,
proposals to delay new clean air regulations, scale back affirmative action
hiring on highway projects, and lower wage levels for transportation project
The Wall Street Journal front page tells the story of how four
allowing commercial aircraft to use military Global Positioning satellites for
navigation, the system is nowhere near in place. In fact, says the
have to keep paying for the current, conventional system until every airline
The Journal also reports on the trend of professional sports teams
offering player education programs in an attempt to keep their new
millionaires out of trouble. The programs typically cover how to handle
euphemistically called the "Career Development Program."
with the Ventures, a band he helped form in the late 1950s.
shootings, which also gets a lot of coverage on the other fronts.
recollections of massacre survivors. Given the prior day's discussion of the
episode that occurred during his own administration. The paper points out that
a lack of credible information about what was actually going on. The paper also
notes that some human rights activists responded that there was ample reliable
ethnic killing was too slow. The Times does a good job of supplying
conviction might result in sentences of just a few years. The LAT front
young people have to guns. (They were apparently stolen from one of the boys'
may have found his niche. Some in the foreign policy community, says the
suspects' names from school sources, opt to use them rather than invoking the
usual juvenile court practice of anonymity. "Today's Papers" would be
interested in finding out the general policy of the papers on such matters: Do
they print the names of juveniles whenever they learn them? Or only when the
which led with the mergers yesterday, goes with the looming high costs of the
multinational companies to handle such tasks as central database access and
Northwest Airlines and travel agencies' difficulties getting credit card
services from being offered by a single company, this bank merger is within the
legislation that would raise the hurdles to Fed approval of big bank
the LAT identified more with customers and employees than shareholders,
doesn't get to that latter bit of unpleasantness until the fifteenth paragraph
quoted from others like "bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to the
accounts of individual customers" and "bigger banks do tend to charge higher
mergers, the government should reconsider the consequences if one of the new
monsters fails. Current law allows the government to completely protect
depositors and creditors of banks considered too big to let fail. This policy
imbroglio: the promise of complete protection contributes to bank failures by
encouraging risky bank ventures. So, the piece argues, big account holders
should have to personally bear some of the loss that comes from a failure. That
would encourage them to monitor their banks more closely.
to break spending records because candidates are buying television time far
decision to mount an early and intense television campaign. Another influence
obvious that politicians fear not having the campaign money far more than they
buying television ads just before last Thanksgiving for the primary vote this
National Association of Manufacturers that could encourage high school students
government and brokerage firms monitor the offers and promises made by brokers
in communications with (potential) clients. The idea is that the program that
once could pick out the needle of a phrase like "covert operative" in a
"opportunity of a lifetime" and "so safe even my mother has it." Forgive
sworn in as his replacement. The army's commander pledged the loyalty of his
forces and while serving as the government's science and technology minister,
is known to have antagonized some of the top brass by forcing them to make
difficult for me to continue the leadership of this country." Then he employed
expressing his "deepest sorrow if there were any mistakes, failures or
was a measure banning all further satellite exports to China, including current
story does not. But the Times does add something incendiary to the China
over the metro section editor's recent remark that it would be unfair for
female journalists who take time off to have children to be as far along in
their careers as men, and that the LAT newsroom is up in arms over the
publisher's claim that women readers are more drawn to emotional stories than
men are, and his proposal of a system that would financially reward senior
editors who ensure stories include more quotations from minority group members
The catastrophic breakdown of the nation's paging system and the panic it
has inspired draws both news and feature coverage all around. But leave it to a
wrong way to go. The wise course, he (or she) says, would have been to spend
yesterday at the ballpark. Yesterday, was, if we'd only noticed, "a snow day from outer space."
for perjury and obstruction of justice, adding that her lawyer says he hasn't
especially those just out of college with hardly any prior work experience, are
on Al Gore's first statement about the scandal (he believes his boss), a
The Times says the White House appears to have settled on a "strategy
tension inside the White House between political advisors, who feel it's
meetings held yesterday between the two groups as marked by heated debate. The
only denying the precise descriptions of the affair that Flowers had publicly
Amidst all this, Jack Lord and his hair died. The obits fail to clear up an
even more transparent in its attempt to appear above pack journalism, goes
all the governors' slots of the old Confederacy. This is particularly odd in
president's supporters say that if proved true, the accusations of perjury and
slapping him but decided not to because "I don't think you can slap the
allegations, and that there is as yet unreleased information that will undercut
has this too, but in addition notes the significance of the remark: it's a
break with the generally complacent attitude most feminists have maintained
on her breast; he put her hand on his erection. That is a pretty serious charge
In a wise departure from standard newspaper practice, the Post
of the emotion of the televised interview: "And then he, then he, then he
kissed me on, on my mouth and, and pulled me closer to him. And I remember
breasts with his hand and I, I, I, I was, I, I was just startled."
There is a dangling thread from the interview that none of the papers tugs
said he has engaged in similar displays of affection with 'scores and scores of
men and women who have worked for me or been my friends over the years.'" Maybe
goes with the Group of Eight's struggle to devise a nuclear strategy.
report that others in the government say the decision has not been made yet.
situation with its announcement that its nuclear missile program is all but
ready. The Times explains this means the country now has a nuke that can
be delivered from a plane, or launched from the ground or the sea. According to
being able to explode bigger ones is quite believable. The Times says
week, the Times captures the national pride they have inspired, a
feeling the paper likens to the way we felt about our original astronauts.
approval of the export of satellite technology to China. In today's
export the technology strengthened China's satellite and missile technology,
Times goes with the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling that police are
generally shielded from liability for deaths or injuries caused by their
Today leads with the disparate treatments various tobacco products
receive under the bill now pending in the Senate. For instance, it restricts
the advertising and marketing of cigarettes, but not that of cigars or pipe
tobacco. As a result, some health advocates are concerned, says the paper, that
the bill won't discourage overall tobacco use, but would only redirect it.
could detonate an underground nuke at any time.) The threat of more sanctions
improve military readiness and morale. Another factor: domestic political
The LAT reports that the Court decision even protects police who act
recklessly in conducting pursuits. Because, say the Justices, the decision to
constitutional rights. The story observes that about the same number of
which of course makes "Today's Papers" wonder why the law should treat reckless
police driving differently than reckless police shooting. After all, the
provide fingerprints and a handwriting sample to investigators
Post says he is looking to expand his office space.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in a phone campaign
cops by leading to the disclosure of their home addresses, with the result that
they would become targets for gang members. The Journal observes that
approval of union dues for political purposes, not an address.
planning to disrupt the World Cup soccer matches, scheduled to start next month
in ten French cities. The story is carried inside elsewhere.
of reluctance are that nobody knows how many shots are needed nor if the
appearing in the later, metro edition of the paper omits this.) And the
Times says severe cases can result in arthritis, and nervous system and
heart damage. But the paper doesn't say how many cases turn out like this. And
the Times that the disease is "a cause of great concern each summer for
parents and those who spend a lot of time outdoors." In short, nothing in the
stories alleviates a creeping suspicion that this disease, while of great
out how much the scandal has affected his standing with the public. The
Independent polls mentioned in the dailies also indicate slippage. The
Post paints a backstage picture in which anxious aides fear that the
president is not widely believed. And, the paper says, several administration
may not be telling the truth. Some Democratic congressional staff members tell
the State of the Union speech is "totally surreal."
coming out of church yesterday morning sharing a big ole laugh with the
minister. (They must have really enjoyed the sermon, "The Eight Commandments.")
The Journal editorial "Bonfire of the Presidency" counters the suggestion coming
often being prosecuted in civil cases?" The Journal finds all the
growing disparity between the health of blacks and whites. Some examples: The
to widen his investigation. Shouldn't the permission to widen have
to ease political tensions, because he described a gradual and vague transition
to a successor, and the thousands of student protesters want him out now. "If
The papers say that the nation's top opposition leader had called for a
its next bailout payment. The World Bank has already done this.
control pills reveals a bias towards men. The second paragraph of the story says
plans, and the sixth paragraph says that slightly more than half of all birth
control pills are. Where's the bias? Why do we need this story?
A shocking episode reported in a buried wire story in
situation by a police officer, but citing hospital policy, they refused to
to lend the cop a gurney. Ninety minutes later, the boy was dead. "I will be
The editorials continue to weigh in on the lawsuits brought against
dessert." (It seems that the law of beverage monopoly is wondrously
Dodger Stadium and not being able to get a Coke at a Taco Bell.) In any case,
being broken up by the Justice Department into "Baby Bills."
Remember that scene in "Sleeper" where it's revealed that in the future
everybody knows the only really healthy substances are red meat and cigarettes?
from Breast Cancer." Seems that for two types of breast cancer that comprise
for hundreds of candidates. New phone technology allows them to do this from
chore of actually meeting the candidates. One of these elite announcers,
The LAT lead cites experts who argue that the decision has a big
advocates in condemning the action. Investigators are looking to see if the
killed for the safety of his own people and of the Middle East."
least, the former outsold the latter. The sandwiches are identical concoctions
a further plunging stock market and food riots in outlying towns. The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal states that the plaintiffs' lawyers
the pollsters also detected an increasingly acute sensitivity to abortion
percent in the third. (The piece notes that this last stat helps explain why a
mean even steeper cable bills in the near future. Some local cable
usually part of basic cable service. (Which raises the question: Hasn't
provides an interesting snapshot of the life of the modern Cabinet officer:
as likely to back a tax increase going toward the search for extraterrestrials
describe an experiment in which people's biological clocks were reset three
hours by shining a bright light on the back of their knees. The finding, if it
was all about the various looks she's had since stepping on the public stage.
The piece concluded that she's finally graduated to an image that's
opposite of substance, remember) picks up that ball and runs with it, with a
apparently has "smoothed the frizzy mane of curls that once reached to such
dazzling heights. Her makeup is now subtle and based on natural, not neon,
hues. Her clothing is inspired by the boardroom instead of the secretarial
pool. She has embraced the markers of dignity, refinement and power." In true
The placement of these two pieces is a PR triumph, but one carrying the
seeds of its own destruction: If people know all this work is going into making
front goes with looters carrying their plunder by a blazing overturned car.
and called out tanks and thousands of troops in an attempt to restore order and
observations that some army troops were greeted with applause by rioters, and
that the soldiers, unlike the cops, mingled with the crowds. The military might
Despite some strong descriptions of events, all the papers could have done a
of its fifteen paragraph story to inform the reader that the unrest was about
phone companies deny it, says the paper, the protesters believe their cell
calls are sometimes blocked to obstruct their planning.
was at the time China's top military commander and a member of the Communist
that government officials feel they're in the driver's seat now: one tells the
her plea appearance in a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs. Television footage
shows that the cuffs were manacled to a belly chain as well. "Today's Papers"
nor a documented flight risk, must be trussed about like this. Some paper
should find out: Is this really be an inflexible policy, or is it blatant
system in her office that she has forsaken it for paper and pencil. "Today's
Papers" is astounded that not one reporter in attendance ventured to ask if the
Attorney General had tried installing a different browser.
The nuances of the administration's thinking about sanctions are on display
meeting of Christian evangelical leaders, unaware that a Times reporter
aiming to reduce religious persecution overseas by imposing sanctions because
he said such bills put enormous pressure on whoever is in the executive branch
to fudge an evaluation of the facts of what is going on." The president needs
flexibility, he said, including the ability to impose sanctions.
important issue that wasn't receiving its due in the Senate until yesterday,
when "after four hours of dueling monologues, however, something novel
happened: Debate broke out." But judging by the Times examples, it
time to enlarge an alliance is at a moment of threat. This is the time and the
moment, nine years after the wall has come down, to end once and for all the
The LAT lead editorial sees the Senate in a "reckless rush" to
lead gets schooled on what it means to be a clean Teamster. That's where it
accurately" about his personal involvement in the preparation of campaign
story, broaches this point in the first paragraph, and observes in the fourth
in the upcoming Teamsters election can run as an untainted reform
rifle. Wait till the postal workers union hears about this.
sanctions also includes his confession that late at night he often gets a call
never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never."
that she and the president engaged in an act other than intercourse. "What's
a dress as a gift from him: "There is no dress." But the New York Times
White House late last month. The visit is alleged to have come two weeks after
prospective budget surpluses to shore up Social Security couldn't make it above
the fold. By the way, the paper reports that several White House aides will
visit the Hill today to encourage lawmakers to applaud.
to respond to the scandal includes the doubly qualified Dick
from nowhere and that Digital has pretty much gone in the opposite direction.
computer guys replaced hard drives containing records of the country's entire
weapons program with ones running only computer games. Butler confirms earlier
Right now, no one is paying the least little attention to military
managed to keep its hot new airplane program rolling along despite a continuing
dalliance until after he left the White House. But he broke the bargain. I knew
he was a charming rogue with an appealing agenda, but I didn't think he was a
topless shots show up, don't look for them in Congressional
by raising unproven salacious charges, such as, in its most recent filings, an
The LAT says that prospects for enacting comprehensive campaign reform this year are
This is the third time in recent months that campaign reform legislation has
getting to be right up there with "Extremist Group Claims Credit for Bombing"
unveiled the comprehensive tobacco bill he'd been putting together, it was seen
to place no restrictions on private lawsuits against the tobacco companies,
excess of that amount would be owed in full, but could be carried forward to
meet targets for reducing underage smoking and cut back on outdoor and cartoon
advertising. The Journal says the absence of a restriction on lawsuits
was a surprise to all sides. A tobacco industry lawyer is quoted in the
and would "almost certainly drive companies into bankruptcy." In the
one of the Senate's chief advocates of banning "soft money." All in all,
the passage of the Fair Housing Act, whites are still far more likely to own
homes, even controlling for wealth and income. The piece goes on to note that
testers who were matched in income contacted local lenders, they encountered
up as clearly discriminatory in records. Instead, lenders didn't return phone
calls, didn't keep appointments, offered more expensive or inferior products or
made greater demands for credit information." The editorial endorses President
discrimination. A large chunk of that money will, says the paper, go towards
the first place was probably that she was a woman. If a man has to meet with
someone to accomplish a given task he'd just as soon that the someone have
breasts and smell nice. Women know this and take full advantage. (And why
billion highway bill, congressional negotiators dropped the provision that
The papers all have the same basic lawsuit details: The government and state
lawyers argue that after an abortive attempt at an "illegal conspiracy" deal
virtual lock with Windows to dominate the Internet browser market. Although
judge to issue a quick preliminary injunction requiring the company to either
that would restrict the providers from also offering their customers
negotiations broke down over the weekend.) The state suit additionally asks for
computer manufacturers so that they would be freer to license competitors'
instance a memo that says it would "be very hard to increase browser share on
the merits" of the company's product, and hence that the company should
"leverage Windows to make people use" it. But none of the dailies explain how
these internal documents came to be possessed by the government nor wonder
the states suing, there is no explanation anywhere about what point there is
for the states to file their own suit, or why the other thirty states are
Most of the coverage is steeped in the particulars of the memos, etc. The
LAT however, takes a somewhat broader view. It calls the
this century," and accompanies its lead with an interesting graphic depicting
computer and fewer still surf the Internet, the suit could throw the computer
film manufacturer counteract inroads on its business being made by computerized
everybody's lead. Associated business and policy and personality stories take
The resulting insurance, banking and securities company will be called
figure apparently doesn't take into account the increase in the companies'
The papers report that the new financial services company will offer
says it's not at all clear that consumers want this, noting that previous
The dailies emphasize that the most striking part of the deal is that
remarkable "brashness," and the LAT says it is its "most remarkable
aspect." Another pressure factor is that it's widely believed this merger will
Another unusual aspect of the deal drawing lots of comment is that
relationship runs under the header, "The Odd Couple."
As has become common in merger reporting, some of the papers attempt to
try to summon atmosphere with their descriptions of early meetings where the
"the arrival of movie stars at the Academy Awards." But the excitement is not
infectious: after all, what you have here basically is suits writing checks to
Indeed, the only real corrective to all the day's money euphoria comes in
with a women who is married to someone else may be denied all legal parental
rights. As the paper points out, this is significant in a state where a third
of the children are born to couples who are not married to each other.
embarrassment it would have caused him by my saying, please sit down."
the Army with one of these weapons long before you're ever allowed to fire it,
and then only under the supervision of an expert marksman, with the situation
semiautomatic assault weapon without a moment of safety instruction, training
ideological reasons and he's sorry. Incidentally, Brock writes that he didn't
says now it was "an oversight" to have left that name in.
suit to block it. The LAT says the news surprised the company and shocked
government is concerned that consolidation among military suppliers may have
gone too far to maintain competition. (Although, the Journal notes that
company would be virtually the only supplier to the Pentagon of certain radar
and electronic warfare systems, and would leave the country with only two
manufacturers of warplanes. The papers all point out that the government's
reaction is of a piece with its recent tougher antitrust policy with respect to
marks the first time one sitting member of Congress has sued another in his
use, expects to have half of its home phone traffic be PC rather than voice by
and two months of home confinement, to be implemented by an electronic
monitoring device. Since, as the papers point out, the federal program allows
meetings from early morning till late at night. Many of them in fine
study indicating that a drug previously used to prevent a recurrence of breast
leads with the Department of Transportation's decision to crack down on
The news about the breast cancer drug, tamoxifen, comes, says
powers of cancer prevention. However, tamoxifen is also known, says the paper,
to treble the risk for uterine cancer, and to increase one's chance of
likely therefore, that the drug will only be recommended for women at high risk
these modifications are superficial and hence that the ban sticks. The
shootings, even though none of the types of weapons used there are affected by
and the courts. The LAT says a White House official cites as one reason
for the move the paper's series last year about how weapons companies were
The Wall Street Journal runs a "Rule of Law" feature detailing
the recent trend of the solidification of the rights of dogs, even vicious
bans because they "deny pit bull lovers equal protection and due process."
Plus, Congress is considering "boneheaded" legislation that would force cities
concerned about the proliferation of companies on the Internet posing as banks.
In the past two years, the government has issued ten alerts about such
percent of all violent crimes. Victims of spousal abuse report that fully
dilutes the effect of this story by not mentioning any of the dirty dozen by
class seats for his trips, at a cost to taxpayers of six times the basic
A related story "Today's Papers" would love to see: How do the major
he pay the extra cost or does the Gray Lady go to the hip?
The decision sets the stage, says the paper, for a ruling on the matter by the
nearly the amount of international support for military action. And it's
and biological warfare is far more nebulous than 1991's objective of throwing
there will be a lot more of them now. And now almost every plane in the
This story has a surprising, even disconcerting amount of order of battle
Also, the piece makes the point that still seven years after Desert Storm,
weapons plants while keeping poisons from getting into the atmosphere, which
means that true precision will be needed to avoid large numbers of civilian
casualties. Another obstacle noted is that it is impossible to destroy all the
computer disks holding "cookbooks" for making chemical and biological
A couple of questions about the story however: The paper says that the B-2
stealth bomber is a "stealth design like the F-117" stealth fighter, just much
bigger. But actually, the former employs smooth curves to bend radar waves
missing from the roster being formed over there. But doesn't explain why. The
invariably has all the answers, and its weapons perform as required. So maybe
the questions he proliferates here (here, unlike in his books, he questions the
notion of a "surgical" strike, and here he wonders, "Who has told us that it is
clarity concerning ultimate goals and acceptable means, forgetting in the
internally disagreed about war issues that had never been articulated for the
suspected anthrax for use as a weapon. Allegedly, the men were plotting to
if it doesn't stop interfering with weapons inspectors. The poll's fine points
balanced budget, but not higher taxes or reduced Social Security or Medicare
ago. I don't think you've done too bad being a protester."
course, what counts as pertinent to Whitewater has already been loosened
The Wall Street Journal main "Politics and Policy" piece has a
to deploy quickly; and air power is more effective now than in the past. And
victim, not the bully, and don't slug it out, but "shoot and scoot." The paper
bodies of executed political prisoners in cold storage, to be blown up and
"new" lawyers for a possible impeachment inquiry. For the sake of the republic,
"Today's Papers" hopes the Journal means "additional."
Supreme Court bypass the ordinary appeals court process and directly decide on
the one calling for an end to the state's bilingual education program passed
approve political uses of their dues will probably be defeated, albeit in a
measure will pave the way for similar "assaults" on other such programs around
edited newspaper in the country, editorial tendencies can creep into a news
story. Would the Times describe an attempt to get more money for
unskilled laborers as an "assault" on the minimum wage?)
The Post goes into the most detail on the new team's legal
connections in town, its dispatch chockablock with law firm names. Everybody
looks down on lawyers who pay to advertise in the back of the paper. The goal,
apparently, is to be the kind of lawyer paid to be advertised in the front of
what spectator shoes are? "Today's Papers" can only guess they are shoes so
expensive that most folks can only look at them in the store window, or on
the additional movement of goods the treaty sanctions. As a result, billions of
dollars of goods customarily sit for hours at the three borders involved, a
"All truths begin as hearsay," Drudge said at one point. "Some of the best news
stories start as gossip. At what point does it become news? This is the
undefinable thing." When a questioner wondered how Drudge would fare at a news
countering his country's sliding economy by offering tax cuts.
destruction. "A ragged line of storms ripped through one little town after
schools, burying hundreds in rubble, even sucking people out of their damaged
the National Weather Service gave the twister the most powerful rating on its
storm scale, but all its victims knew was that it "was off the scale of their
devastation. Oddly though, the LAT puts the story itself deep
estimating budget surpluses. The paper reports that the Federal Reserve now
business leaders" and swapped his trademark fiscal austerity policies for an
consumers to do some spending. The tax cuts are also on the front pages at the
of the risk that Japan might try to save itself instead by not only reducing
imports but also by dramatically increasing its exports.
administration was likewise attempting to address a sluggish economy. Within
factions. But the deficit cutters got the upper hand and it is now widely
believed that their course of action has been the key to the current good times
planning a massive media campaign that, the paper says, was designed
"creating the appearance of a groundswell of public support" for the company.
The plan included "the planting of articles, letters to the editor and opinion
company documents in the LAT 's possession and he later acknowledged the
trouble "Today's Papers," but the idea of planting stories disguised as
previous sentence is not thought by readers to in fact be part of a coordinated
The Wall Street Journal "Legal Beat" column reports that for
issue here, one that occurs not infrequently in the case of foreign national
criminal suspects, is that the cops forgot to tell the man about his right to
editors on the trend of luxury compensation packages being used to lure tenured
faculty stars from one elite university to another. But the piece is anchored
help getting their son admission to a tony prep school.
apparently set off a special conference with a judge about whether or not aides
calls a "raucous, emotional debate that showed a nation far from convinced of
for a seminar, but "ran into a rumble." The Post reports that during
aides fanned out into the noisy parts of the arena to calm those (numbering
Some of the most aggressive hecklers were carried outside.
The Post serves up an acute description of what transpired: the
administration reps found themselves caught between opposing passions (about
largely passionless argument. The paper notes a simple example of the
The pieces make it clear that the ordinary folks in the auditorium were
highly attuned to an issue that has gotten hardly any attention in the press:
squishy or downright wrong in all those polls showing extensive public support
on Medicaid would like to be sterilized, but because of their own paperwork
errors and stiff bureaucratic requirements, they aren't and keep having kids.
An additional factor is that the doctors who deliver these babies are scared of
conservatively oriented talk radio. This doesn't just mean, notes the
Opponents of affirmative action often observe that it doesn't exist in
via his access to tremendous firepower. According to the dailies, the boy,
Afterwards, some parents charged that the school had ample warning that
suspended from school and arrested for bringing a gun to school, and he was
released to his parents. And he had, the papers say, frequently written and
been voted by classmates "most likely to start World War III.''
trend of school shootings has accelerated from single specific victims to
The LAT is the only paper putting merger over murder today. Its account of
sites pristine in the relatively short time before the inspectors finally
administration's decision to allow high technology to be exported to China as
issue of illegal campaign contributions with China's leaders. (That's what
twenty lawmakers who voted this week to restrict satellite exports to China had
Ever wonder if congressional staffers help their bosses write their
that as the global economy goes into high gear, there is a globally consistent
standard for intellectual property. [Copyright] Term extension represents one
aspect of the harmonization of the intellectual property regimes." Signed, Rep.
the Pentagon yesterday. Speaking to an auditorium full of military and civilian
Defense employees, and from a platform he shared with his Secretary of Defense
with an implicit reference to the failures of appeasement in the period just
certainty." The administration's old line was, says the paper, "weeks not
argument that strikes the lay person as bizarrely permissive: Even on the
threats and she was able to leave when she decided to.
extraordinary in this age of lawyers restraining editors restraining reporters:
"I know it's not the most traditional way to balance the budget, but it just
is that if it were to fail it would be a colossal embarrassment for the Air
Force, while if it were to succeed it might siphon money away from newer hot
desire to use any budget surpluses to "Save Social Security First" generally
leads the lists of the speech's proposals, which included calls to raise the
deny him the ability to use weapons of mass destruction again.
description: "We have a smaller government, but a stronger nation." The
clarification here: "While federal spending has declined as a share of the
total economy, the drop has come mostly in defense spending. Meanwhile, social
spending has grown relative to the gross domestic product, particularly for the
intern no longer worked there. They are also, says the paper, trying to
to some sort of deal under which she would testify about whether she had a
White House." One chapter was titled, "The President's Women."
Looking for a college campus that actually doesn't have enough
Media predictions: At one time feared to be old hat, "Primary Colors" should
cabinet," was going to make things smoother at the White House, you don't know
recorded the conversations surreptitiously and reportedly turned the tapes over
matters, they made an attempt to clear the air about their own troubled
The LAT reports that the two leaders met again last night but also
states that the long talks have thus far failed to restart the deadlocked
trial, the papers also pass along indications that she found him to be mentally
resort to violence against those individuals and organizations that he believes
are hurting him." Most of the dailies hint at the possibility of renewed plea
five or six times a month, one is forced at gunpoint by dealers to use coke or
have recently doubled and that the government has come up with such extras as a
suppliers, alleging that the car company concealed ignition switch defects that
led to car fires and millions in insurance claims. (This story is also on the
on the matter says it all, though: "Very few people tour [the museum] and come
exceptions. But what would be lost by taking that chance?"
should be curtailed, pointing out that such enriching experiences are probably
foundation report concluding that many undergraduates at research institutions
graduate "without knowing how to think logically, write clearly or speak
release was "one of the last steps in an extensive package deal secretly
talk to him and see if we could have no further damaging articles, but I don't
The Wall Street Journal 's "The Outlook" column zeroes in on the
closest thing to a storm cloud in the current economic forecast: the stunning
erosion of lending standards. The column reports that last year banks raised
years. And that more financial outfits loosened lending rules than raised them.
What's more, outstanding home and auto loans to borrowers with lousy credit
funding effort was first reported on by The New York Observer and
makes an incredibly important point: Pol Pot wasn't the last big war criminal
Constant, accused of complicity in the murder and torture of thousands of
miniature device worn on a cap or as jewelry that, whenever a photographer
had this to say in defense of his daughter: "She's a very smart, intelligent,
beautiful girl who's going to go places, and unfortunately she's taking her
Court decision that the law barring sexual discrimination in the workplace
took to keep the workplace safe from sexual harassment.
It's just common sense that same sex doesn't automatically mean no
harassment, but the reporting on the decision makes it clear that the
Court creation, and broadening its application has met with hostility in lower
the workplace "so objectively offensive as to alter the conditions of the
abrogate all "genuine but innocuous differences in the ways men and women
routinely interact with members of the same sex and of the opposite sex," and
all the papers give his example: a football coach slapping a player's rear on
the way to the field would be lawful, while the same gesture directed at the
coach's (female or male) secretary might not be. All the dailies note that the
decision drew praise from civil rights and gay rights advocates.
"High Court Widens Workplace Claims of Sex Harassment." This is much less clear
editors in effect put an opinion on the front page. The accompanying picture of
that she visited him in his office perhaps five times, and that they may have
been alone together. The president denied having sexual relations with
denied having sex with three other women he was asked about. He did, however,
The Post reports that often during the proceeding's five hours,
points, he reacted to something that was said in a "frustrated outburst." It's
The story gives a good picture of the personal degradation involved for
Obviously, at least one of them was the source for this story. Place your money
Senate yesterday rejected a proposal to compensate relatives of those killed in
are cooperating in the drug war in favor of setting up an international
insurers now view them as in the same claim risk echelon as grocery cashiers
and bank tellers, and even riskier than shipping clerks and traveling salesmen.
Not to mention far below lawyers, accountants and engineers. The most likely
explanation: stress and unhappiness brought on by the widespread advent of
"began" is a little unfair, isn't it? The paper goes on to point out that
authorizing force. Isn't this a rather telling demonstration of Congress'
phases (stealth aircraft are easier to eyeball under a full moon), Parents'
international convention that nations refrain from war during the Games).
paper, preserve the right to photograph celebrities in public, but would crack
down on actions that could jeopardize safety. This is a fine example of what
accomplishes nothing, except perhaps to make us feel good via the illusion of
accomplishing something. Really, how many examples are there of paparazzi
endangering (as opposed to merely inconveniencing) celebrities? Princess
that just gets at the redundancy of the law: reckless driving is already
against the law, as is trespassing on somebody's doorstep. "Today's Papers"
however, was this passage: "A pie in the face, it's Soupy Sales stuff," said
adultery, and so on. Perhaps interest in that subject has now abated
sufficiently to allow us to turn our attention to the budget. I propose here to
comment not on the policy it contains but on the rhetoric with which it is
most striking to a person who has been reading budgets for a long time is how
far the cult of presidential personality has progressed. In the past the budget
(I refer here to the main book titled Budget and not the other five
volumes that come with it) typically had two parts. One was the budget message
of the president, written in the first person and signed by the president.
in that section. But most of the book consisted of chapters about the functions
of government, with such prosaic titles as "National Defense" or "Agriculture."
These were written in the third person, had lots of probably boring facts, and
one could learn a lot from them. Of course, they reflected the point of view of
the administration, but the reader didn't have the feeling that he was
The budget still has the president's message and a section
organized according to the functions of government. But now, inserted between
the brow of the president. The section has inspirational chapter heads such as
chapter and subchapter in this section starts with a quotation from previous
quotations are of a banality that is hard to believe. For example, we have
for our children. We want them to live out their dreams, empowered with the
tools they need to make the most of their lives and to build a future where
uses of the word "president." (I include nine cases of the word "his" used in
close proximity to and referring to the president.) And what is the president
doing on these occasions? Of course, he is working and proposing and having
visions and making commitments. But he is not only working, he is, in some
nation's health, to improve education and the lives of working families, to
eliminate fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, and to crack down on violent youth
Depending on your mood, this is either irritating or
laughable. But I cannot believe that it is helpful to the president. The
incredibility infects and pollutes everything else in the budget.
pages are filled to overflowing with the names of programs to be created or
increased. Each of these has to have a name with Capital Letters, and every
knows what that is should win money on Ben Stein's quiz show. Actually, it
stands for National Economic Crossroads Transportation Efficiency Act.) The
mind reels reading about all these good things that are being done for us.
programs that are being reduced or not being introduced. After all, to govern
is to choose, and to budget is especially to choose. We cannot appreciate the
reason for the things that are to be done unless we can compare them with
things that are not to be done. Why do we have a Seat Belt Initiative and not a
Smoke Detector Initiative? (Maybe there is a Smoke Detector Initiative, and I
missed it.) True, there are some cuts in expenditures and personnel. They are
all the result of what we used to call minimizing waste, fraud, and abuse and
what is now called the Vice President's Reinventing Government Program. There
are no identifiable places where anyone is asked to give up anything.
accounting maneuvers not worth describing here, this abstinence will enable the
federal government to increase spending on a variety of programs, through an
The second exception is that we are to forgo using the
prospective budget surplus for tax cuts or expenditure increases (other than
financing challenge facing Social Security." It is here that we have the
formulation offered gives rise to the ridiculous table showing, for years
item called Reserve Pending Social Security Reform, and a resulting
number of ambiguities. Some have interpreted it as meaning that the surplus
would be used to solve the financial problems of Social Security. That
has now been denied by the Office of Management and Budget. Which leaves open
the question of the president's intention for the use of the surplus after some
other solution, such as cutting Social Security benefits or raising payroll
taxes, has been found. Would we then be free to spend whatever surplus there is
in the unified budget? Or would we still want to apply some of that surplus to
start spending it even if the discovered solution for Social Security's
program or only a carrot to be used to induce a solution to Social Security,
to disagree with what may be the president's program but to illustrate the
problems with the budget as an explanatory document, he replied, "But you're
newspaper's controversial series of last August, "Dark Alliance,"
this story to gain so much stature. Despite being dissed and then shot down by
spread like cocaine had in the 1980s, causing national leaders to scurry around
Alliance" to bypass the mainstream media and enter the forefront of national
debate. The Mercury News began touting its upcoming series on Internet
newsgroups weeks before it was completed. The electronic version was published
simultaneously with the print version, with the added features of hypertext
links to cited documents, audio tracks from wiretaps and hearings, and an image
engaged in drug trafficking, is now the editor of an online news magazine, the
and has been promoting the story. Although the Consortium charges for
filled with stinging indictments of the government and the mainstream media as
well as gleeful cheers for the Web. One reader in the Mercury
Center's Reader Forum (the original responses to the series are all still
accept the premise of "Dark Alliance," and to spend their time arguing over the
tip: "If you enjoy this conspiracy, you may want to visit the Squirrel
contagious hyperbole of the Internet clearly had an impact on the life of "Dark
Alliance." As one Web surfer noted: "The outrage of the freshly exposed readers
Center's Reader Forum, and was clearly energized by his online fans. His first
The feedback on the Web and on radio talk shows fed each
other, creating an alternative media alliance that shouted down the objections
of the mainstream press and catapulted the series to national prominence. Anger
at the mainstream media overwhelms anger at the government in many of these
Mercury News Web site in their broadcasts, and it became, in the words
Has Life Of Its Own." Other news sites and respected political organizations
widespread attention merely fueled the "us vs. them" sentiment of most Internet
merely saying what "they" had been saying all along. "Granted, there may be
inconsistencies, there may be fallacies, but why not take up the banner of
twofold: Not only has it allowed the series to leapfrog the mainstream press,
polemical, attention. For more than three decades, social scientists have been
studying the costs and benefits of child care, and their work has yielded only
one consistent result: Their research is seized upon, waved about, politicized,
and in the end, nothing much gets done. But the polarized stalemate can't
continue much longer, for two reasons. Child care has become an inescapable
public issue, and social scientists themselves have been expressing a new
bill provide enough money to take care of the kids whose single parents are now
forced to work? The lines that get drawn on that central question are fairly
almost surely insufficient to offer the poor a true choice of quality day care.
Inc. puts the standard position, is that "the quality of child care matters for
Conservatives are content to assume that a majority of
women who leave the rolls will rely on free (or cheap) unregulated child care
Committee, has been outspoken in invoking social science to defend this
position. The latest research, he argues, has been unable to demonstrate with
any certainty that the quality of day care has much of an impact on a child's
future. Why invest more money if it won't make a difference in the long
that, as far as the science is concerned, conservatives are right, and liberals
lag a wishful step behind when they cite sure proof that early day care
decisively influences a child's development. To make sense of the shakier
research through three unsettling waves during the past quarter century.
in the 1970s, when researchers faced the question: What happens when mothers
being done to babies whose mothers leave them in the care of others?
"Strange Situation" test, in which they observed the partings and reunions of
and risked displaying uncooperative behavior later in life.
promptly construed as political propaganda. They were part of a "backlash
always been to get out of the work force. This is just another way of saying
followed in the 1980s. They were more textured and hopeful, the question behind
skills, school achievement, cognitive gains, social and emotional adjustment,
liberals and child advocates trumpeted them. Meanwhile, conservatives seized on
the early 1990s has been characterized by what the experts call a more
"ecological" approach. Studies have lately aimed to take into account
from under two decades of work. Taken together, these studies seem to show
Nor can good day care be solidly proven to give a dramatic or lasting boost to
kids whose home lives are a mess. Sometimes it can help, but a child's family
made too much of small effects on development that were derived from very small
choices. They can either rely on outmoded studies to argue with conservative
politicians, who, for the moment, have the more authoritative pretext for
still champions quality, but now on more immediate, less quantitative grounds.
Her approach points the way for liberals to gain credibility by shedding the
onus of being "social engineers," and take their turn at playing the populist
as conservatives have before them, that social policy isn't about enforcing
officially approved "choices." They can say that, regardless of what the
experts tell us, it's perfectly obvious that cheap care by relatives and
neighbors shouldn't become the only feasible alternative for struggling
mothers. Parents can make the best decisions for their kids, and if they are
looking for quality day care, it isn't likely to be because someone in a lab
because they hope it may mean a happier, more secure week for their kid and a
less anxious one for themselves. What's more, the chance to take an active
choice in the matter as a parent may itself be a step toward the more
show no inclination to exploit research that says, in effect, Why care about
quality child care" as welfare mothers head to work--$20 million to ensure that
million to increase the supply and quality of overall care. Of course, this
other financial incentives to improve quality? On some of everything? The
political debate over those questions will be more practical and less
journalists on the Flytrap beat, have any doubts about the answer. So why has
explanation is that "did they have sex" is a question of fact, whereas other
Flytrap questions are matters of judgment or policy or values. The social
as boys collect postage stamps, treating them, in short, as objects of
accumulation of data had become an unsatisfactory substitute for formulating
example of empiricism's limits was the (apocryphal) story of how, at the dawn
of the Enlightenment, a scientist tried to establish the existence of the human
soul "not by speculating on the Vital Principle and the Intrinsic Substance of
adultery and perjury disqualify a man to be president by chasing a cocktail
dress allegedly stained with the commander in chief's semen. This fact hunt,
the context of what's broadly understood to be the press's mandate to gather
information with rigorous impartiality. As press critics never tire of saying,
in instances such as Flytrap, where Hypothesis and Conclusion seem separated by
poorly sourced and that two respected news organizations, the Wall Street
have lacerated the press for getting the facts wrong. But now that Flytrap is
president, of course, is one of those few people who still claim there is a
factual issue at stake. Before the grand jury, he may admit to having had sex
(The general view is that perjury in civil suits isn't easy to prosecute,
stick to his story and perjure himself before the grand jury (a much more
Dress's existence was first speculated upon in the Drudge Report (where
said she'd saved such a dress. Then a few news organizations got the
said the agency will first establish whether there is any semen on the dress
(easy to do) and then spend "several weeks" finding out whose semen it is
twin), scientific empiricism, in collaboration with the more untidy empiricism
only new fact in Flytrap that would qualify as genuine news would be one
fictitious scientist, it is uncomfortable with abstractions. Flytrap is a case
of journalists doing precisely what press critics are always hectoring them to
the inadequacy of that journalistic ideal. Some might say the inadequacies of
sense unless reporters and editors believed the accusations. They're just not
permitted to express this belief.) At the very least, Flytrap
illustrates the need for less fact chasing and more analysis and illumination
the need for more humility about how useful journalism is in addressing matters
his beliefs too lightly. But somewhere along the way, he may have absorbed
of a political puzzle. Fit them together, and you may solve the great mystery
questions at his recent press conference, even to have noted his comfort in
keeping silent. High approval ratings cushion even a stonewall.
of the scandalous allegations against him are true. How can two such opinions
snapshot of him with Donna Rice on his lap surfaced, promptly crushing his
candidacy. Hart was already reeling from allegations of womanizing; the
the case against him. The consensus was that, as we could see with our own
eyes, Hart lacked the discipline and character for the presidency. He was
This image has occasioned almost no comment. What does it reveal about
the electorate cares to be bothered with. The apparent consensus is that,
If there's any visual difference between these two images,
posing for a camera; you could frame the shot and display it on the coffee
table (as long as you had the right sort of postmodern family living in the
result would have a peeping Tom quality if their encounter had any personal
intimacy, which it does not. There's a third person present, a man with whom
the disparity between the political effects of these two images? Because
political significance it had throughout the postwar era, as least as far as
year tradition of global competition over ideas and issues. Potential
to appear as forthright champions in a historic contest, disciplined leaders
would have a tough time competing for national office today. Yet in his own era
he could parlay "leadership" symbolism into a pair of landslide victories.
changing dramatically. The Soviets were gone, and the Gulf War had seemingly
asked, she can characterize their relationship as she pleases precisely because
being another Hart turn out to have been anachronistic, as the limited impact
running for office, a different presidential model was already asserting
We've seen this model before. Whenever the country emerges
from a national trauma and focuses on its piggy bank, presidential expectations
Feelings. The presidents after Reconstruction were the political ciphers of
"approval" represents something new and immoral in the country is historically
rattling, and his largely ignored dialogue on race, the care of business is
again. Southern Baptists explain how marriage ought to work and Cardinal
candidates will be going to hell, wants no Major League Baseball games on Good
the midst of a renaissance of rectitude. This time, though, faith is not enough
for the really, really faithful. They wear their devotion on their shirts now,
also on their baseball caps and their lapels. Piety is a commodity for these
truest of true believers, touted with a zeal that would make the most
Park gift shop. I was unpleasantly surprised to find little woven bracelets
to the authorities about the separation of church and state park. A week or so
offers "fine apparel for witnessing," while Cross Wear
head shop, glowing beneath the black light. And for that devout motorcycle thug
front and, on the back, a spiky, harsh drawing of the Crucifixion, captioned
disagreement to make me want a particular point of view erased from the face of
the earth, or at least legally required to keep away from me. So why does a
"Fishers of Men" baseball hat make me want to spit bile? Two reasons:
cheesy, commercialized imitation of the real thing. For a bracing look at
provide a means for individuals, churches and organizations to express their
our products we strive to provide the Christian community with wearable
messages that motivate people [to] consider their own religious
supporting a Christian Ministry led by the hand of God."
products by claiming God is on its side. You don't have to be religious to be
nauseated by entrepreneurs professing sanctity for their products.
to donate a portion of profits to charity, none are charitable organizations.
Haven't these jokers heard about not taking the Lord's name in vain? This is
advertising presented as evangelism, and that brings me to the second reason
reassured the nation, skittish about a Catholic in the White House, when he
flies. Now representatives of both realms mix, mingle, and meddle in each
weighing in with their views on sin, it's harder to swallow when the folks at
realm to which it's supposed to provide a detached alternative. It's not
opinion is not God's law, as a great many angry Little League parents were
flock instead of the world at large and suggest Catholic ballplayers sit out
however, suggest that everybody follow his example. He knew where to draw the
sportswear industry does its best to fudge, boasting that its wares are
expressions of faith, when they are in fact crass, occasionally intimidating
succeeded in pushing him out. Unfortunately, it is not yet time to celebrate a
triumph for democracy. The "smart money" in the international community is
opposition wants a much more representative government, partly to protect
itself against the international community's neoliberal economic agenda. The
resulting conflict between economic liberalization and political
understand this next phase of the struggle, start with the positions taken by
implemented the sharp price increases and subsidy cuts demanded by the
International Monetary Fund, these partners were primarily concerned with
and the mass movement threatened to seize power, did they rediscover the need
This focus on economic performance has been consistent. One
organizing. But until this March, the United States spent more than that each
to its ample minerals, oil, cheap labor, and market for foreign capital; and
foreign debts were serviced. No one in official circles questioned the way the
fruits of growth were distributed or the extreme corruption and environmental
sustaining social and political development in the long run. His global
supporters turned against him only when his unpopular administration had become
a threat to the region's stability and just plain bad for business.
a strong government that can implement the program quickly. A genuine national
election that gave the opposition time to organize and prepare an alternative
agenda might mean yet another change of government and costly delays,
Far better to have it implemented unilaterally. The basic creditor country
One basic requirement of this agenda is an alliance with
spending cuts, increased prices, more unemployment, and renewed debt service,
now on life support, and the West controls the breathing apparatus. Last
corporations are technically bankrupt, and most of the money they owe is to
foreign banks. The country has been very dependent for management skills on
the last three months, and the country's foreign reserves could be completely
to be united, in charge, and armed for bear. Just this week it succeeded in
resistance led by ordinary students, workers, the unemployed, and the
mobilize mass protests and shock the world with violence. Many had hoped that
perhaps, for those who favor tolerance and democracy, there is also no
agenda, it is precisely the inverse of the international community's. It seeks
genuine direct elections after a period that is sufficient to organize
alternative parties and prepare a campaign based on freedom of speech and other
political prisoners, debt relief, stronger penalties for corruption and
poor from the hardest edges of "economic reform." But aside from primitive
prescriptions such as "cut prices" and "nationalize the banks," the opposition
the real battle lines between economic and political liberalization are just
unaccountable generals, rapacious investors, massive foreign debts, or the
its 331-page report, "The Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce."
(These two outfits are especially intrigued by White House Deputy Counsel
murdered; that his suicide note was forged; and that he died in a White House
parking lot.) These stories are "bounced all over the world" on the Internet
by their appearance prompts congressional investigations; congressional
conspiracy theories; now the Journal counters with a conspiracy theory
poses a tricky question about the Web: Is the free flow of information always a
good thing? The Internet is a marvelous instrument for educating large numbers
of people very quickly, but it is also a marvelous instrument for deceiving
theory? That particular unsubstantiated rumor is still circulating on the
experts held a news conference to announce that the note was a forgery. The
Telegraph also promoted the forgery theory, with a story headlined,
suicide. All of them are stored on the Telegraph 's snazzy Web site.
"Whitewater, Etc." update, as well as flashbacks to Whitewater coverage from a
year and two years ago. It also maintains a link to the Telegraph in its
Telegraph to the rest of the Whitewater Web. Soon, the Western
forgery theory as well, wondering why big media skipped the story ("Experts Say
stored in its "Whitewater Scandal Page," but you must subscribe to view
forgery controversy eventually reached the Web's noncommercial fringes. Almost
every story about the forgery resides on Nick's Whitewater Archives, an encyclopedic compendium of
alleges that the Foster suicide note was forged, and includes a picture of the note plus links to the full
text of the handwriting analysts' study. Yet another offers a
festers to this day. But this Rivulet of Conspiracy has never merged into the
amenities, the water, the mountains, the clear, fresh, cool air, the blue
skies. But they also come, I think, in search of their roots. They want not
to sit on the porch of the local country store and drink coffee and eat
blueberry muffins. They want to browse through the flea market searching for
they want to eat lobsters by the peck. Some of the men will grow little beards,
the summer people have been coming to the same small town for so many years,
even for more than one generation, that they are part of the local scene and do
have roots there. I am thinking of the more occasional visitors. Very few have
and New Jersey roots. And most have roots two or three generations back in
the political, economic, and social world we all live in. But so are
towns are not tourists looking for a civics lesson. They are, it seems to me,
seeking and imagining a more personal, familial connection. That is what I mean
deride this at all. On the contrary, I think it is wonderful that people here
seek to identify with a history in which their families had no part. It is a
connection and succeed in achieving it. I don't know this, but I doubt that
this absorption occurs elsewhere in the world. Would a person whose family had
part of it? I don't think so, unless the person was exceptionally rich or
distinguished and so transcended national boundaries.
People want to see where they came from in order to understand and appreciate
conditions in which their grandparents lived and perhaps meet relatives they
people seek ersatz roots to identify with? Perhaps because the world changes so
rapidly that for many people, the real roots no longer exist. Once on a trip to
remained that had any possible connection with me. The scene of my mother's
their families lived and worked there. But that was a long, long time ago, and
resent them. But they are courteous. For one thing, they are all in the
business of selling roots. And maybe in the long winter nights the "natives"
may realize that they are not really natives either, that there were Native
Rich hail from opposite ends of the political spectrum, but on the subject of
his immovable conviction "that casino operators are predators; that
are on the take from gambling interests are wallowing in the occasion of sin."
economic boon but sometimes suck local retail businesses dry. Statistics
suggest that crime, domestic abuse and alcoholism rise in gambling's
gambling because it promises something for nothing. The left hates it because
it enriches corporations by emptying the pockets of the gullible lower classes.
except the public. Once regarded as a low habit, gambling is now generally
spend on movies, plays, operas, and spectator sports combined.
gambling's place at the table is threatened by the puritans, who've used their
political muscle to help establish a National Gambling Impact Study Commission.
lives, stimulates crime, saps local economies, mercilessly exploits human
weakness, and sustains itself through bribery and corruption. A review, then,
critics warn of an exploding epidemic of addicted gamblers, but a recent study
year claimed that the legalization of casinos causes an increase in suicide
the city's huge influx of tourists, who on any given day outnumber residents by
assaults rose only about as fast as the average daily population. The real
increases have come in robbery and aggravated assaults. Elsewhere, though, it's
impossible to detect any consistent relationship between the existence of
Economy: Economists normally extol anything that allows consumers to
satisfy their preferences, but several members of the profession depict casinos
excoriates them as "a shell game, attracting dollars from one person's pocket
to another and from one region to another." Another view holds that life for
the casinos means death for restaurants, car dealers, hardware stores, and
other wholesome businesses unless legal gambling attracts massive numbers of
are the wrong measures of the economic value of gambling establishments.
Existing businesses are threatened when a new business comes to town, whether
would dream of dismissing a business as a "shell game" merely because its
as we're talking about corruption and exploitation, we should not forget that
capitals, where the lotteries are headquartered. The lotteries' pitiful
in remedying the lotteries, they'd have the states repeal their monopolies on
these games and let the market compete away the excess profits.
opponents never tire of reciting statistics and anecdotes to suggest that the
costs of legalized gambling dwarf any possible benefits. But they fail to count
them with its feet. The overwhelming majority of these patrons gamble
responsibly and impose no burden on their fellow citizens. They treat games of
portraying gamblers as a pitiable class of suckers, enslaved by fantasies of
unearned wealth. It's hard to see why. No one accuses movie theaters or
people who patronize the lottery, the track, or the slot machines end up
who eat in restaurants and attend concerts. To incurable bluenoses, gambling is
an infuriating scam. But why assume gamblers are being fooled? It's more
reasonable to assume that they know they will probably lose but are happy to
they ought to be free to make, unimpeded by moralists and social reformers who
think ordinary people cannot be trusted to look after their own interests. If
gambling were the grim scourge portrayed by its opponents, it would not have
gone from a contemptible vice to an innocent diversion in a single generation.
People who have visited casinos and played the lottery have seen that misery
and damnation don't necessarily follow, either for themselves or for
surrounding communities. Gambling has become a widespread pastime for the
simple and unassailable reason that it adds to the sum of human happiness.
suicide promises to be the first great Internet mystery. When the members of
site and most others described below have been overwhelmed with traffic since
news of the suicide broke. Don't be surprised if you're denied access.)
the imminent arrival of an alien spacecraft "from the Evolutionary Level Above
transport "us" (whoever "us" might be) back to the "Kingdom of Heaven." This
are happily prepared to leave 'this world' and go with Ti's crew."
chronicles, if opaquely, the purported history of the group. A message from the
and his female partner ("Do" and "Ti") are actually genderless aliens from the
Kingdom of Heaven. They and their "crew of students" arrived on earth "in
becoming human, they presumably looked like this "member of the
explicitly that the authors and their associates are considering suicide.
Position Against Suicide," which ought to be titled "Our Position in Favor
of Suicide," hints darkly that "the powers that control the world" could
method of escape. "We have thoroughly discussed this topic (of the willful exit
of the body under such conditions), and have mentally prepared ourselves for
this possibility." Not that suicide is anything to worry about: The spacecraft
would still transport them to the Kingdom of Heaven. When they leave, the rest
of us are in big trouble: According to the transcript
of a video called Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It's
attempt to enlist new members for the voyage to the Kingdom of Heaven. The
introductory page invites readers to study the Heaven's Gate site and tells
other news services have reported that Heaven's Gate members trolled Internet
sinister in the Higher Source site. It is decorated with the same astral images
that appear on the Heaven's Gate site, including several prominent pictures of
that the "individuals at the core of our group have worked closely together for
that what the Higher Source designers did is no different from what other Web
designers do. They programmed in Java, C++, and Visual Basic, used Shockwave,
choice of customers was more ecumenical than cultish. They designed Christian
Higher Source's clients, but the firm has certainly delivered on one promise it
made them: to promote "Strategies to Increase Web Traffic." As strategies for
increasing Web traffic go, a mass suicide can't be beat.
aunt, although I sometimes fantasize that she was. The notion that I am her
And I have recently discovered another affinity. We are both Republicans.
that this revolutionary in literary style, this patron of bohemians and
celebrating the artists she was among the first to recognize. She was more like
like GS when he said, "When people are out of work there is unemployment." The
natural rulers" in the United States. What was special about the United States
was that its individuals were free and its government was small, something
very large country around which anybody can wander and so although a government
is there it is not always anywhere near but they feel it to be a little country
party that might have happened anyway." She saved her real dislike for Franklin
not half as seductive as his predecessors, so I don't think he will be elected
existence that it ceases to be a thing that anybody could count, so that nobody
can any longer believe in it or is it all electioneering," she asked. If his
goal was ridding people of the belief in money so that they would no longer
she believed, was a lot of money at his disposal so that he could control
the most extensive view of her thoughts on economics in a series of articles
Street Republicanism. Her basic theme was that governments spend too much.
According to GS, the unemployed do not want to work, and if there were fewer
name in her pieces, it's evident that he is the main culprit.
The first article, "Money," starts with this simple
make up their mind. Is money or isn't money money. Everybody who earns it
and spends it every day in order to live knows that money is money, everybody
who votes it to be gathered in as taxes knows money is not money. That is what
government officials who tax and spend do not realize what money is to the
people who earn it. But because money really is money, those who tax and
are different kinds of money, and the different kinds need to be regarded and
managed differently. Each soldier in an army division is someone's son, but we
do not expect the commanding general to manage all of them the way their
Governments may be wasteful in managing money, but the only evidence GS
provides is in the story of Louis XV, who, when accused of spending too much,
said, "After me, the deluge." The story was singularly inappropriate in
was an effort to stem the deluge, or at least to keep some people from drowning
who said that the king came to the throne with high taxes and departed with low
stump reminding people, "It's your money! It's your money! It's your money!"
And when GS asks, "who is to stop congress from spending too much money. They
will not stop themselves, that is certain," I imagine her testifying before
woman arrive at these conventional ideas? I never spoke to my aunt, and I am
not a student of the large literature by and about her. But if she could write
about fiscal policy, perhaps I can speculate a little about her.
either terribly ignorant about economic affairs or terribly foresighted. She
lecture tour and then departed, never to return. She missed the worst part of
the despair of the Depression, she might have been more understanding of
One might say that GS had such great understanding of human
nature that she could see beyond the Depression, beyond World War II, beyond
but I don't believe it. She was not a woman of great foresight about public
ignorant of economics she may have been, there is one economic fact that all
intellectual who was an enemy of capitalism. She always had a comfortable
was not an intellectual, having little interest in general ideas about
economics or politics. "The real ideas," she said, "are not the relation of
human beings as groups but a human being to himself inside him and that is an
idea that is more interesting than humanity in groups."
of society was "cubist," like the paintings she was early to appreciate and the
literature she wrote. A cubist painter tried to decompose an object into the
atoms that were its real essence. He could paint a violin as a number of
superimposed geometrical shapes of varying shades of brown. GS tried to reveal
the essence of communication by stringing together heavy words without the
punctuation, connectives, adjectives, adverbs, and allusions we are accustomed
to. She understood society, or was interested in society, only as a collection
of individual human beings not bound together by any political or economic
merits, but it also has its drawbacks. No one can play music with the cubist's
view of society nourished her assignment of a high value to individual freedom,
but it limited her ability to understand much that was going on in the
question to which this essay is the answer? Perhaps there is none. Every answer
doesn't have a question. But one lesson of this essay is that the Stein family,
first two articles listed here are factual and correctly quoted. The others are
Transportation Department has informed airlines that under new disability
"Growing Number of Schools Ban Peanut Butter as Allergy Threat"
by parents warning of lethal allergies, by the contentions of some researchers
that peanut allergies are on the rise and, not least, by a fear of litigation,
growing numbers of public and private schools across the country, including
many of New York City's most selective independent schools, have banned peanut
epinephrine syringes throughout the building to protect members of Congress and
their staffs against peanut allergy symptoms such as throat constriction and
sauce may no longer contain actual peanuts. Restaurant owners who had opposed
the ban agreed to support it and to accept random enforcement inspections in
exchange for the right to retain the phrase "peanut sauce" in carryout
their sons and daughters, their mothers and fathers. These people never had a
are the days of innocently cracking salted shells at the ballpark or spreading
move immediately to prohibit the cultivation, sale, and use of peanuts and
peanut abuse by the end of the century. Responding to a proposal backed by
to peanut abusers on a transitional basis, Republican leaders in both houses
demanded an aggressive interdiction program to "fight peanuts at their source."
administration officials said last night that the White House will appoint a
"Peanut Czar" to oversee the president's campaign against peanut production and
consumption. Aides commended the decision and cited progress on several fronts.
and the former president and peanut farmer Jimmy Carter has been stripped of
punishment but through the "reinforcement of desirable behavior by rewards" and
feelings of individual men, women and children." In the novel everyone has free
happiness. People are constantly brainwashed with the thought that they deserve
to be happy. Sex is readily available without complications. Babies are
produced in vats. There is no love between individuals, no families, no
devotion to anyone or anything to compete with devotion to the State.
bombardment of product advertising, and the political imposition of "spin" on
every issue. Hence the question "Are we there already?"
thought that we were getting there much sooner than he had earlier imagined,
century. He advised his readers to read that book "against a background of
population and technology. He foresaw that the world's population would
increase enormously by the end of this century. He thought that the great
increase in population would cause economic misery around the world, creating
the need for a dictatorship to maintain order and control future population
growth. Technological change would require the concentration of production in
the hands of huge institutions, controlled either by Big Business or by Big
Government. Within these institutions, the technology would require workers to
perform more and more as robots. But the main contribution of "advancing"
minds of the population. Television would greatly enhance the ability of the
authorities to bring their message constantly into every home. Little
newspapers and magazines with dissenting opinions could not survive
economically. The population would be constantly immersed in soap operas and
sports on television, effectively diverted from any thinking about society.
or just around the corner. What he would say today we cannot know. He died in
right about the growth of population. But that growth did not produce an
economic crisis, with incomes declining and government control needed to
maintain order. World per capita income is higher than ever and still rising.
improvement in the economic conditions of life has been especially noticeable.
This improvement of economic conditions was not brought about by an increase of
centralized control. Government control of economies is diminishing everywhere.
state, the Soviet Union, and led to the dismantling of controls.
centralization of production in a few giant institutions. The trend has been
the reverse. Improved information technology has facilitated the efficient
interaction of independent units through the market without central control.
And technology has not changed workers into robots. On the contrary, technology
has created mechanical robots and calls upon human beings to do what robots
predicted and feared is not happening either. He did not foresee cable
television, let alone the Internet. People have access to more varied sources
of information than ever before. Moreover, television is turning out to be an
person in moonlight in an amphitheater. If he had delivered the same speeches
on television to millions of people sitting at home in groups of two or
exposure of our great authorities has not increased respect for them or our
willingness to follow their lead. And the effect of advertising, which
out to be trivial. We may buy red or black cars rather than green or brown ones
because of television, but we don't buy cars because of television.
foresaw. He thought that the use of these drugs would make the population
indifferent and willing to accept control by political leaders. But first there
would have to be seizure of control by some group that was not indifferent.
Today, we neither have such a group nor the atmosphere for its emergence. Of
course, we do have people who want to be in office, but once in office they
don't want to be in control. Anyway, what causes indifference to politics today
is not drugs but politics, which seems less and less relevant to our lives.
know they are not free. They have been drugged and brainwashed into thinking
that they are doing exactly what they want, not what some dictator wants them
to do. So, if we say that we are free, how can we prove that we have not been
programmed to say that by a Master who is manipulating us into thinking that?
There is, however, an answer to that. The masters of the
Brave New World would not allow a movie version of Brave New World to be
shown on television. The movie reveals what such a society could be like and
what a horror it would be. The heroes of the movie are a man and woman who
escape the system with their baby and are going to live like a traditional
family. As long as Brave New World is shown on television we will know
warning, not a prescription. There may be people who do not look upon it as
horrible. It is a society in which every want is fulfilled. But, as Professor
Frank H. Knight used to say, what people want is not only to have their wants
fulfilled but also to have better wants. People in the Brave New World
satisfy the wants they have but are prevented from having some good wants, like
want for love and family, and deprived of the opportunity to reach for new and
policy of the Roman Catholic Church is that except in extreme circumstances,
characteristically grabbed something to which he was not entitled. Cardinal
"legally and doctrinally wrong" and added this grace note: "Some undoubtedly
believe that if one has enough prestige or money, anything goes."
to have been warned he would never eat Communion in this church again. Several
complied with a request that he no longer receive Communion at his wife's
Catholic parish. The Catholic Church's scruples about intercommunion cut both
generation ago, a Protestant president of the United States who took Communion
Protestant participating in the "popish superstition" of the Mass. It's a
Catholic churches and the logical outcome of the ecumenical movement energized
ago, I was struck by the thought that the service (a term never applied to
Catholic worship in my altar boy days in the early 1960s) would have
scandalized past pastors. Not only was the Mass in English, celebrated by a
priest facing the congregation, but at Communion time, the sacrament was
distributed in both "species" (wine as well as bread) by ministers of both
from priestly hands, avoided the female eucharistic minister (a laywoman)
clerical vestments (the "rags of popery" of Protestant polemic) discarded
during the Reformation. The result is a consensus Communion ceremony that might
commentators ritualistically recited the theological boilerplate I learned in
the bread and wine, while maintaining their ordinary physical qualities, are
sacrifice offered for the forgiveness of sins. Reformers objected to the latter
"The word transubstantiation is commonly used in the Roman Catholic Church to
presence, but not as explaining "how the change takes place." (Despite this
fudge, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church retains the term.)
Catholic academic theology but also popular teaching and practice. These days
really present in the Communion distributed at Catholic Masses. And they reject
the notion that they are ineligible to partake of a gift that ultimately comes
attendance that day. I was edified by the hospitality extended to tourists at
explained, "This is God's altar; this isn't the Episcopal Church's altar." If
Communion is a meal, it is rude not to reciprocate.
much anymore. But the other day it seemed to me that if I wanted to participate
greatly impressed by the volume of the reporting, the diligence of the
reporters, the number of new facts recounted every day, and the number of
experts who had been interviewed and quoted. But when I had read it all, I was
left unsatisfied. I felt I didn't know what was going on, and I thought that
many readers would have the same feeling, perhaps even more so than I did.
Perhaps I was expecting more than should have been expected or could have been
happened unless one knows the rules of baseball and something about what is
ordinary and what extraordinary in any particular game. One has to have a
mental model of the sport into which one places the facts of a particular game
if one is to create a comprehensible story. Probably most people who read the
sports pages have such a model in mind, and the sports reporter can assume that
equally probable that few people who read the daily paper, even those who read
the financial pages, have a model of the international financial system in
mind. Without that, they cannot be expected to understand the connection
general is suffering, why unemployment should rise, or why the trade deficit
should decline. Most importantly, they will not understand the function of the
external funds being provided by the International Monetary Fund and some
countries, or where the whole process is heading. What would the end of the
papers. But I would like to illustrate what I mean by the missing model by
with the proposition that in any country, the excess of domestic investment
(mainly expenditure on new plants, equipment, and housing) over domestic saving
(the part of the national income not spent on consumption, private or public)
is equal to the inflow of capital from abroad. This excess, in turn, is equal
to the excess of imports of goods and services over exports of
deficit," a term that reporters use but rarely define.
These equalities are maintained by variations of the
exchange rate, interest rates, inflation rates, and real incomes. Thus, if
there are insufficient domestic savings to satisfy all highly profitable
investment opportunities, foreign capital will be attracted into the country.
Foreign investors will want to buy the local currency, in order to invest in
the country, and that will raise that currency's exchange value. With a higher
value of the local currency, exports from the country will be less competitive
government may try to keep the value of the local currency from rising by
buying foreign currencies with it. To do that, the government will increase the
domestic money supply (in simple parlance, it will print more money). This, in
production increases to meet the increased buying power of citizens), or raise
the price level (if more money ends up chasing the same amount of goods).
Either of these effects will attract imports and discourage exports, increasing
imports and more of the domestic product that would have been exported, or
attract domestic resources into producing for the home market rather than for
export. A rising price level will make the country's exports less
even higher rate of internal investment, thanks to an inflow of foreign
this deficit was made possible by a high exchange rate for the won. The
exchange rate would have been higher, and the deficit larger, if the government
had not been buying dollars with won, and in the process accumulating a reserve
world markets for some products, like automobiles, had been overestimated.
money out. The effort to convert won into dollars and other foreign currencies
sustain it by using its reserves. The decline in the won caused further
bankruptcies. Companies that could pay their foreign debts when a dollar cost
The decline in the won, by making imports more expensive
and exports more competitive, would help bring about the decline in the
investment was smaller; the capital inflow was smaller or negative; and the won
would reach an equilibrium level, lower than it had been before the crisis.
transition to that situation would be painful. The decline in the won would not
immediately raise exports or limit imports. The cut in output and employment in
the investment sector would not be immediately offset by a rise in output and
employment in industries that produce for export or that compete with imports.
investors' efforts to get out of won assets into other currencies, and force
the won down further. So there could be a cumulative, speculative process in
thereby to prevent unnecessary bankruptcies and unnecessary depression of
enterprises but to keep enterprises from failing only because of a panicky
flight from the won and the fall in its value. The assumption is that private
investors who buy and sell won are depressing its value below its equilibrium
economic analysis, is coherent and understandable, and reveals the interaction
language of the Millennium, and the logo (until we hear otherwise), is for
infrastructure of the millennium project [for it to remain distinct] from our
House communications office to speechwriters and other officials, banning the
Transportation speechwriters implored me to write in protest of yesterday's
directive. We're putting together congressional testimony on next year's budget
and having a devil of a time finding substitutes for the prohibited words.
Specifically, we had trouble dancing around the ban of the words "bridge,"
"road," and "highway." We appreciate their metaphorical importance for
welcoming the millennium, but could you suggest alternatives?
have a synonym for "future"? It seems this word has been banned, along with all
references to specific dates (day, month, or year) beyond two weeks hence. The
standard phraseology I am leaning toward for discussing future events is "an
event to occur on a day subsequent to the several other days that shall proceed
duly in the natural course of time forward from the present moment, eventually
accruing into units characterized as months and, much later, years." Too
their next Windows release (though we're working on that).
House Counsel's Office endorses Communications' effort to control rhetoric.
Let's use this occasion to remind ourselves of other verboten words. In
speeches and official communications, please refrain from using the
judgment. Avoid potentially evocative terms. For an example of careful word
choice, take note of the Pentagon Public Affairs Office's suggestion that all
references to "seamen" be changed to "sailors." As always, we appreciate your
the past presidents and their speech writers there was only one literary
your eyes and chills your blood. None of the other inaugural addresses are in
that league. But by and large they are dignified and intelligent speeches given
by articulate men, each in touch with his times and aware that his inauguration
The stance and style of the inaugurals seem to have gone
the prosaic government executive. The third, in which we are still, is the
first inaugural, one is immediately struck by the modesty. He had just been
elected unanimously by the Electoral College. He was more respected than any
subsequent president has been at the time of his inauguration. And what does he
difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being
sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a
distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with
despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed
in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his
forcefully as that. But echoes are to be found in almost every president for
inaugurals routinely contain protestations of humility, but they are
antebellum modesty, while in part a reflection of the conventional etiquette of
the time, may also have served a political objective: to alleviate the concerns
into a monarchy, and the president into a king. A little later, perhaps after
interfere with the "peculiar domestic institution" of the Southern states? The
presidents' assurance of the limitation of their powers may have been intended
seceding, he could only "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" by
asserting the power of the federal government and his own power as chief
war, and they had less motivation to belittle themselves and their powers.
Inaugural Address metamorphosed from describing the government's policy to
manage by using the instruments of government alone. Thus, in his first
life as a whole. We see the bad with the good, the debased and decadent with
the sound and the vital. With this vision we approach new affairs."
country is debased and decadent, the cure has to come from uplifting the
people, not from acts of government. Similar diagnoses and prescriptions appear
bully pulpit," a remark that did not appear in his Inaugural Address. The
metaphor of the pulpit suggests not reading but oral and visual contact between
appears occasionally throughout the history of inaugurals, but it has hit its
change in literary style from classical to colloquial can be demonstrated by
change in the size and character of the audience and in the means of
Presidents and their speech writers have mined their
predecessors for memorable words and repeated them without attribution.
expect too little of government, and at the same time do for it too little."
the great fulfillment we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the
government can do for it and more anxious about what it can do for the
issue frets its hour on the inaugural stage and then is heard no more. That
and it always appears as part of the phrase "men and women," never as referring
chosen in an election in which women voted nationally, does not remark on the
they produce little or no revenue, because they are bad for the country, and,
disturbing aspect of the whole series of inaugurals is what is said and unsaid
Union? Who has been deprived of any right of person or property?" These were
Before the Civil War the word "slavery" appears only in the
as something that, pursuant to the Constitution and in order to preserve the
Union, should not be interfered with. But although generally unmentionable, the
that we find the most explicit and positive discussion of the need to convert
into reality the rights and freedom granted to the "freedmen" on paper by the
in a great and civilized country like the United States," but he said it
express satisfaction at the progress that had been made. And then the subject
subject came back to inaugural addresses, but in a weak and abstract form. That
is true even of the presidents we think of as being most concerned with race
Perhaps each thought he had made a sufficient statement by having a black
is in this sentence: "From our revolution, the Civil War, to the Great
Depression to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the
determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history." I
recall this not to suggest that their concern was not deep and sincere, but
only to indicate what is acceptable to say in a speech intended to appeal to
much more to ponder in these speeches than I have suggested here. There is much
to be proud of, in what we have endured and achieved, in the peaceful
transference of power, and in the reasonableness and moderation of the
presidents we have elected. But there is also much humility to be learned. We
look back with amazement at the ignorance and moral obtuseness revealed by what
our past leaders have said and our past citizens believed. We should recognize
inaugurates a new monthly column about developments on the Internet. The author
happens to be Slate 's chief computer guy, but the column is intended for
an audience as innocent of technology as he is about a lot of the stuff they
"push" is the latest Big Thing for the Web. "Push" refers to the way that
information gets delivered. Do you have to go to it (pull)? Or does it come to
you (push)? The conventional way to read your favorite Internet content is to
navigate to items of interest, wait for them to download, and so forth. That's
technology, by contrast, is supposed to do all this for you. It dials up,
connects to selected sites, downloads certain information, and arranges it in
life). The advantage to you is that it's all there waiting to be read, at fast
provider is that information "pushed" at customers is more likely to find them
metaphor commonly applied here is a newspaper being delivered to your door
unreliability, a more appropriate metaphor might be sending a highly trained
dog to the newsstand to pick up the paper. Most of the time you'd get the
Weekly --and occasionally, your dog would just wander off looking for a
The company provides a free piece of software (downloadable from its site) that
allows you to select from a handful of "channels" (sports, business, arts and
entertainment, etc.). At set intervals, the software instructs your computer to
connect to the Internet, go to the company's site, and download the latest news
in those categories. It also downloads some ads. Then, whenever your computer
has been idle for a few minutes, this news and these ads pop up on the custom
screen saver the software has installed on your machine. Because the material
is presented after the download is complete, the display is fast. And because
the process uses the company's own software and not a standard Web browser, the
display is customized to the task at hand, making it attractive and
newspaper delivered. This is a lot more like watching television. That helps to
one. The first automatically connects to the Internet and downloads things so
you can read them offline. The second finds and collects things that interest
you. The third presents them effectively. Other companies offer Web
work pretty much the same way: You tell the software which sites you want
downloaded, and the software tells your computer to do it at prearranged
does it mean to "download a site"? A site is a collection of pages, linked
together as well as to other pages on other sites. How many pages should the
software download? Too few, and you're missing out on something. Too many, and
you might overflow your hard drive. These companies solve this problem by
making relationships with specific sites that agree to tailor a version to that
company's software. That's why some sites (like Slate) sport FreeLoader logos,
trying to make online browsing more satisfying. Peak
promises to remember that I like that page, and to download it all for me ahead
of time while I surf elsewhere. When I go back, I find that it has already
downloaded the last two weeks' cartoons, making my experience fast and
Unfortunately for these companies, the technology to download sites ahead of
time is simple. In the past, small companies have innovated with features like
disk compression and virus checking, only to find themselves squeezed out when
those features were incorporated into basic operating systems like Windows and
similar product in development called "Constellation."
themselves by the content they gather and how they present it if they are to
proliferating rapidly, a very good filter will be needed to sort out what
approach to corporate intranets (internal networks), hoping that "push"
technology will be even more useful in distributing the right information to
"push" technology to watch is Marimba's Castanet, which attempts to generalize the technique.
clones, which download only Web pages, Castanet can download Java applications
download content whether you actually read it or not. Since not everyone will
read everything they order up at no charge, an enormous amount of pointless net
traffic is being generated. As if the Web wasn't slow enough already. In fact,
companies' central computers designed to minimize its own impact. And this
one's not free. It's almost a protection racket. You give away your software
free to a company's employees. A few weeks later, you saunter over and say,
our software and we'll keep it running smoothly." Once a company buys that
software, it is less likely to switch content providers. So maybe it's more
like dealing drugs. Either way, everybody wins: The employees read their news,
believe, is the result of my tendency to write buggy code. So it was no
thing you do when a tester brings you a bug is reproduce it. In this case,
shipped buggy software? That you deliberately added to the torment of millions
of computer users who can't get their software to work? Why shouldn't
of which are fasteners such as rivets. Fasteners are wonderful, but they don't
interact much with one another. The difficult thing about writing software is
insidious than a few blown rivets? Bugs are errors, somewhat analogous to typos
or factual errors in newspaper articles, but the difference is that a typo is
almost never enough to spoil an entire edition of a newspaper, whereas a tiny
express dates can bring a whole program to a screeching halt.
into two major categories: crashing and functional. Crashing bugs are so
naughty that they cause programs to stop functioning. Usually, this results in
programs to fail or to give erroneous results. The number of either kind of bug
simple, short programs, like one designed to find a single word in a sentence.
Actually, it's not that simple an operation. You must write perfectly logical
statements in a language that the computer can understand. If you were to write
this program in C, a popular programming language, it would take three lines of
code to tell the program to look at the beginning of the word and the beginning
of each sentence. Next, you'd instruct the computer to match each character in
the word you are searching for to the corresponding characters in the sentence.
If the letters are the same, you continue. This would take five lines of code.
Then you would have to confirm you have gone through all the letters in the
word successfully. Chalk up two more lines. Then you'd need to see if there are
any letters in the sentence left to compare. Two lines of code. Lastly, you
would have to inform the user of your program what happened. Another three
about it, and he hasn't even started creating bugs! Dropping one essential
instruction or writing the lines of code in the wrong order could spell
destruction for my little program. (For all the gory details on how I actually
assume software companies spend most of their time writing software. Wrong!
They spend most of their time testing software! After developers write a
few lines of code, we test it for bugs and sit down with our testers to imagine
all the ways the program will be used. Good testers make gnarly demands on the
routinely yanked the power cord out of the computer during Outlook operations
to see how the program handled loss of power.) Testers run the software on
Bell? They print with old printers. They enter thousands of lines of text into
choked at this point, demanding a day of rest. God was watching. Here at
we rarely tug on the power cord to test our code, but we do
buggy, because we're still getting different parts of the program to cooperate.
A line of code that tells the program how to print may clash with the code that
tells the program how to draw the screen. As testers hunt bugs, developers
conspire with the marketing department to add features to the product, which
breeds more potential bugs. Adding new features to a stable program can be
dangerous. Developers can create bugs faster than testers can capture them, and
testers can capture them faster than developers can kill them, so the only way
to finish a product is to stop adding features and start paying attention to
Preventing developers from adding features is not as easy as it sounds. They
their arms with a baseball bat. Given infinite time, developers would prefer to
add feature upon feature and never release their product. But marketing people
are the worst offenders when it comes to wanting to add new features,
generating loud choruses of "NO" even from otherwise enthusiastic
ensnaring them. "Look what I caught!" the tester meows as he drops the vermin
on the developer's doorstep. Testers are as vain about finding bugs as I am
about squashing them, hence the excessive pride of my tester who uncovered the
found a bug, it's not easy to find what caused it. Where is the bad assumption
that got us into trouble? Some bugs are hell to track down. One crashing bug in
card. Eventually, we tracked the bug down to one single line of code that
failed because it assumed all graphics cards are created equal. They are
review every line of code, one at a time. They often deploy programs called
"debuggers," which allow them to peer into the innards of the software as it
runs. As developers kill the bugs, they incorporate the solutions into a daily
"build" of the program and test the build to make certain the solutions don't
it was released, each build bringing us infinitesimally closer to
approach perfection, though, the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Are the
existing bugs fatal defects, or can we live with them? We developers have a
software companies have already been noted and prioritized for fixing by some
The worst bug is a "show stopper" bug, the bug that will
croak the entire program. When a show stopper is discovered, we drop everything
and find a fix. But we make the absolutely smallest necessary change to kill
the bug so that the other parts of the system can continue to work, oblivious
seek a balance between "it's done" and "it's perfect" when writing software.
But it's difficult to know when to stop. You are always only a few late nights
software writing is powered on caffeine and little more. In fact, one
enterprising young developer strung out on Mountain Dew eventually fixed the
missed our links in the article, click to read about why programmers created
have? Like other Web sites, we get asked this question all the time. Our usual
reply is: "Thank you for asking. That's a complicated question." But here is
our best effort to answer it, along with an explanation of why counting readers
Traditional print magazines know exactly how many copies they sell, though they
have no idea how many people actually read a particular article or see a
viewers were watching which channel at any hour of the day. (See Slate's recent
or click on a link or a "favorites" or "bookmark" button, you are telling your
Web site's server. Your browser then assembles these data and displays them as
a page. Each of these requests for information is a hit.
they are deceptive. A single Web page can be one hit or many, depending on how
the more hits it will require. That's why Slate, and some other sites, prefer
your server has sent out in response to requests from browsers. In recent
misleading measure in some ways. A "page" is not a standard unit on the Web the
way it is in print. Depending on a Web site's design, the same amount of
content can take up a very different number of pages. Slate is designed so that
every article or feature takes up a single page. Other sites break up articles
into many pages. (We're not suggesting that people are padding their page
counts. It's a judgment call about whether readers will find having to scroll
sometimes a site will feed you two pages when you've only asked for one. Slate
report. We cannot guarantee that every site is so scrupulous.
Your computer requests a page from the proxy server, which then requests it
from the Web site. But proxy servers are often programmed to save, or cache,
frequently requested pages, rather than retrieving them from the Web each time
your own computer is probably set up to cache some pages you've visited
recently. (That's why, when reading Slate, it's quicker to go back to the
contents page than it was to call it up at the start.) All this caching means
pages are served more quickly, but it does become harder for a Web site to know
how often its pages have actually appeared on someone's screen.
participant in "The Fray." What we really want to know is how many
individual readers Slate has. And we can find out, sort of. Each request
to Slate from your browser carries with it an assortment of useful information.
Your computer tells us what operating system and browser software you are
using, so that our server can return a page appropriate to your setup. We also
are told about the referring page --that is, the page you were reading
when you requested this one. (Marketers love that information.) More important,
each page request is accompanied by a return address. How else would the server
know where to send the data? Every computer connected to the Internet has an
Depending on how you access the Internet, your computer has either a permanent
stamps your hand when you leave the premises temporarily, so as to identify you
when you return. The first time you visit Slate, our computer sends yours a
piece of data, which your computer sends back every time you return, so we know
it's you. Cookies aren't perfect. They don't account for multiple people
accessing the site from one computer, or one person using different computers
(or browser software). Also, some older browsers don't understand cookies, and
newer ones allow privacy freaks to turn them off. But, using cookies, we can
get a pretty good idea of how many unique browsers are visiting our
problematic concept. Do you measure browsers per day? Per week? Per month? The
longer the time period you choose, the more individual visitors you can claim,
which is nice. On the other hand, because of repeat visitors, the number of
unique browsers in a given month is less than the total of unique browsers per
week for those four weeks, which is less than the total of unique browsers per
generally less exact than measuring traditional magazine circulation. In one
probability not more than one). Print publications have no clear idea of how
many people read each copy of their publication and, conversely, how many
individual pages of any given copy go unread. In practice, they tend to make
wild claims about the former and ignore the latter.
automatically goes to the Web to retrieve material, and stores it on your own
Slate have? Taking all these complications into effect, and being as honest as
in his apartment waiting to go out on a date to which he was looking forward
with pleasure. Unexpectedly it began to rain. For a moment this depressed him.
But soon these words came tripping through his brain: "Isn't it a lovely day to
another time, a man, perhaps not the same man, was expecting someone for whom
he cared to return from a brief trip. When he saw her he spontaneously began to
sing softly: "Well, hello, Dolly! Hello, Dolly! It's so nice to have you back
where you belong." He felt warmth and joy. He experienced the joy that shone
At an earlier time, a man who was lonely used to find
running through his head a song that went: "Sometimes I wonder why I spend each
lonely night, dreaming of a song." Those words consoled him. As the song said,
he found his consolation in the stardust of a song. The song reminded him that
he was not alone in his loneliness, and that made it seem not so bad.
example, of a different type. There was a man who had frequent occasion to
the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and he would begin to sing to himself,
"The mountains, the mountains, we greet them with a song," his college anthem.
Recalling that song gave him a sweet, sad nostalgic feeling of youth gone
association of certain songs with certain emotions. They raise the same
question. What was causing what? To concentrate on the first story, did the man
in question think of "Isn't it a lovely day" because he was happy, or was he
happy because he thought of that song? He didn't have to think of that song
when the rain began. He could have thought of: "Stormy weather, can't go on,
everything I had is gone." He didn't have to think of any song at all.
be my answer to most questions.) The man recalled the song because he was happy
and he was happy because he recalled the song. Many factors led to his being
happy in the rain. One of them was the song. He might have been happy without
it. But retrieving that song from his memory bank helped to articulate his
course, there was something about this man that led him to store that song in
his memory bank so it could be recalled when appropriate, years after he first
encountered it. It was something about how this man was in his late teens and
his 20s, before the business of daily life crowded out room for taking in new
impressions from songs. But, still, if that song had not been written or if he
had not heard it at an impressionable age, his reaction would have been
For people of my generation the key years were the '30s and
Cole Porter. Ah, Wilderness! I do not share the songs that are in the memory
little. I do not understand the songs of my grandchildren at all.
will react to particular circumstances is not ordained at birth. It is learned
in part by experience, and the songs that people absorb are part of the
experience that guides their reactions. Not only songs have that effect. Among
other things, snatches of poetry do too. Sometimes when it is very cold I find
think until they hear what they say. So there are people who don't know what
they feel until they listen to the songs or poetry that are in their heart. I
don't suppose that everyone is like that. I suppose that there are people who
feel happiness or sorrow or jealousy or triumph directly, without any
combination of words, either remembered or made up for the purpose.
there; and maybe there's no real you in your emotions either.
prepared to report on my venture into this brave new world that has so many
probably seen ads telling of the marvels we can bring into our homes by
convenience I am going to round everything off.) You and I were not born
yesterday, and we know that no one is going to give us such a valuable and
sophisticated product so cheaply. We have read the fine print and know that we
get the dish at such a low price only if we subscribe to the service providing
in my special case, for reasons that may not be so special, the installation
first time, and though you are well covered by warranties you are going to
spend many hours on the telephone while "our entertainment providers are
serving other customers." Valuing my time at the minimum wage, I calculate my
In order to get started I had to sign up for a package of
were many other more expensive options. In fact, to get fairly representative
think the satellite dish is worthwhile, and the number is growing. A larger
number are paying nearly that much a month for cable, with fewer channels than
are available on satellite. There are great economies of scale. For a household
get for this? That is hard to tell. The system provides minimum guidance to
what can be seen. One can scroll through a guide on the screen that tells what
is showing on each channel, but the information given is minimal. The names of
movies are shown, but not what they are about, who is in them, when they were
produced, or any indication of their quality such as one would get in a
newspaper listing. One click on the name of any currently running movie will
bring it up on the screen, but without any additional information except for
its rating (G, PG, etc.). Unless one is exceedingly well informed about movies,
or quite indifferent, one can surf around for quite a while and only reach a
movie one wants to watch after it has already begun. These problems can be
or at least what was available during prime time in one evening.
events, eight channels of broadcast stations generally available free without a
satellite dish but requiring payment with the satellite dish, and seven
channels airing music without any picture. These channels were very finely
varieties of country, and so on. I consider that to be essentially similar to
movies suggests that their quality is about what you would find in your local
surprise, because almost all the movies have been in your local theater. The
pay movies were no better than the free movies, only somewhat newer. A person
who wants to stay home to see a movie on any night, or even on every night,
should find something amusing. For oldies like me the most intriguing channel
were a surprise to me. I hadn't expected so much space to be devoted to rugby
but I suppose there are those who love these activities. More access to
standard events is available in deluxe packages beyond what I paid for.
news channels all have pretty much the same news. I generously classify nine
Channel, a health channel, and a few others. Then there is a smattering of
I confess a special interest. One channel described in the brochure as
"tasteful adult programming for mature audiences" I can vouch for as being very
clean. All the girls look as if they just stepped out of the shower.
wonderful. But still, I can't complain about what is there. I do, however,
wonder about what is not there. When there are so many channels available, why
is so little space devoted to education and art? My own little corner of the
channel devoted to such talk could well interest as many people as want to see
scratches the surface of possible educational programming. On the arts side,
there are videotapes of great performances of great operas. Could they take the
Arts). I can imagine a channel devoted to such productions. My economist
friends will certainly tell me that if such programming would pay off it would
last musings raise in my mind another question, a long way from the cute
18-inch dish on my deck. Many estimable people are devoting themselves to
ridding our popular culture of obscenity, sex, and violence. Who is devoting
himself to enriching our popular culture with high art?
my appreciation of it. I have learned to find my way around better, although
that is still a problem and I think that a technology that can deliver so much
information should be able to provide better guidance on the screen and not
require reference to a printed magazine. I have found that when the incoming
music is routed through my stereo, I get excellent sound. Just accidentally,
while surfing and without any prior notice, I came upon a broadcast of Don
broadcast, although I came in at the beginning of the last act. There were no
casts like that any more. I remain of the opinion, however, that the content is
be a telephone? The moguls who control the computer, television, and telephone
businesses think so, and they are populating your future with Internet
for consumers who fear personal computers. These appliances are as simple to
run as a microwave or a toaster oven. Just plug them in, and before you know
way to sell new boxes to a world supersaturated with phones and televisions:
television into your telephone line to provide access to the Web. (Full
essentially tiny, simple computers. The new model boasts a 1.1-gigabyte hard
they're cheap and they work. But they also suck because they're slow and their
home, plug you in, and explain all the machine's wonders to you.
Not content with being your spreadsheet program, word
processor." (Gateway hasn't attached a phone to it. Yet.)
industry may believe in convergence, but the broadcasters don't. Broadcasters
like their televisions dumb, mostly because they're afraid that the PC industry
will steal their business if computers and televisions merge. (They're probably
right.) So, the two groups have gone to war over the technical standards for
wants your television to stay as dumb as an eggbeater, because it's found a way
channel, to send the bitmap. Click for a tidy explanation of the vertical
cable companies, who have such enormous bandwidth at their disposal that they
states that wherever computer chips go, the Internet will follow: Everything
that's powered by electricity will eventually become studded with computer
chips. And as these dumb devices become smarter, manufacturers will explore
them to the Internet so they can share their wisdom with other devices. Take
automobile is laden with microchips, which control fuel intake, cruise control,
will be "outfitted with voice recognition, transparent displays, global
positioning systems, and Internet access." The Network Vehicle designers left
car phones off the list, I guess, because they assume that car phones are
electronic devices are converging at a wicked rate. But they're also diverging.
Our powerful, multipurpose computers will continue to become even more
will be limited by their price. Meanwhile their simpler brethren, assigned
monitors, and security devices), will occupy the price niche of clock radios
and bread makers. In the future, the way to tell a real computer from an
and she lives in the South building. It is said that she lives, with her
across the plaza, less than a hundred yards, at the Dole apartment. So, I
Dole's presence is manifest. A picture of him getting a
swimming pool, I have seen the senator on his terrace and exchanged a word with
him. Two years ago, before the presidential election campaign, I met him coming
out of the drugstore and used the occasion to advise him that cutting taxes was
not a winning issue. He did not take my advice, and now he is known chiefly as
of course, I would not have singled her out for attention before the publicity.
In fact, I don't think I could pick her out in a group of girls even
folding chairs. They seem in no hurry. On rainy days they sit under umbrellas
and wrap their cameras in plastic. I saw one photographer whom I knew slightly
and asked if he had sighted her. He had been there for three days and had not.
will exceed the cost of keeping the photographers on guard. And who will pay
But residential proximity is not my only connection to
limousine. There was no serious damage, however; reporters are a hardy lot.
club by tapping a connection with a friend who is a member, but he was refused
admission on the reasonable grounds that he wasn't wearing a necktie.
ago, to allow women to become members. One member who had voted no on that
occasion was heard to say, "See, you admit women and the next thing you know
on the whole, the members took the excitement with good humor and were amused
by the irony of the difference in culture between the Cosmos Club and the Oval
the first place, we don't know the truth; in the second place, the presidency
is not a person but a team. Presumably some members of the team, such as the
secretary of the treasury and the secretary of state, were not that distracted.
required more analysis. One had to separate the relationship, whatever it was,
was distracted from the business of his office because he was out playing golf
so much. But we were told, and I think most people accepted the explanation,
better. A similar explanation was offered, but privately, to some in the press
relationships can be justified in the same way. That would assume, of course,
that the president did not feel any psychological stress from realizing he was
behaving in what many people regard as an immoral way. That apparently was no
relationship became public property, the situation was different. Certainly
there was much distraction at that point. What we have to ask, however, is
whether that was a bad thing. Would it be better for the president, and the
first lady too, for that matter, to be able to give their undivided attention
image is unwittingly apt, linking two upstart heroes in the baby boomer
pantheon. A mother's helper with a bag of tricks that promised new fun for the
immensely popular and has remained so. What is perhaps less obvious is that,
purported iconoclasm is twofold. First, he is typically hailed (or, rarely now,
condemned) as a revolutionary who emboldened postwar parents to rebel against
the stern behaviorist style that had prevailed in the 1920s and 1930s. The
truth is somewhat different. Like most wildly popular figures, he was riding a
reigning sociological wisdom, which championed the democratic, "affectionate"
family as the welcome successor to the hierarchical home of the past. Reviewers
of the first edition of Baby and Child Care praised its don't rock the
Health marveled, "has succeeded to an amazing degree in striking a middle
departure from rigidity in schedules and training."
do," he told his readers. Instead of struggling to "do everything
flexible. Children, trust them, have "a deep desire to grow up to be like the
parents they admire and love." Yet the message of simple reassurance turned out
to say, "Don't be overawed by what the experts say," became an expert of
discover just how dependent on his advice his fans had become. Was parental
voiced by critics of his antiwar activism. In fact, as early as in the second
They weren't friendly yet firm, as he had recommended. They were confused and
matriarch himself, he was surprised at how wobbly modern mothers seemed.
realize that when you always emphasize that a child basically wants to behave
well, and will behave well if he is handled wisely, you make the parent
symptom of a "fascinating and somewhat mysterious phenomenon, this one of the
about their authority over younger ones. But now the swift pace of
technological change left parents less equipped than ever to prepare their
children for the future, even as children needed the preparation more
the rare expert who acknowledged their bewilderment. From then on, ministering
its first edition, his manual was more encyclopedic than others, packed with
saw to it that, over the years, it remained so. Just as important, he became
even more solicitously therapeutic. In a field intent on claiming objective,
"scientific" status, he didn't hesitate to admit that doctrinaire ideas
dramas and the wonders of sublimation, sounds more quaint every year. It's his
handling of the ambiguities of parenthood that is timeless. Called a
delivering mixed messages to his insecure audience.
process stirring up their anxiety. He urged them to rely on their instincts,
resilience, and was quick to suggest that problems require a specialist's
all, he prescribed spontaneity, an oxymoronic endeavor if ever there was
were not evasions. On the contrary, they call attention to a truth less honest
advisers have preferred to obscure and parents only half want to hear: that
child rearing is a messy art of compromise and contradictions, full of
mothers and fathers of their impossible dream of being "professional" parents
equipped with the developmentally correct answers. But he played an important
part in bringing realism to child rearing by being an unapologetic improviser
child rearing wisdom. He let broad intuitions and motley experience guide him.
"I never looked at my records," he admitted about the writing of his classic.
"It really all came out of my head." All along, he treated his book as a
not science, to update his expertise for an era of feminism and family
disarray. His classic has thickened gracelessly over the years, but as the
forthcoming eighth edition once again shows, it has remained true to the
media got cold feet and spiked the story. Television dipped its pinkie toe in,
tale unfolded in all its seamy glory on the Web, where everyone went to read
the big dailies finally report what everyone was talking about: the president's
intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the United States!"
don't trust Drudge ("Gosh, that Drudge, such a pillar of journalistic
integrity. Snicker!"). But the story's out there. Soon enough, talk turns to
cold feet. Drudge's page is referred to as a "gossip report."
brings more postings on various Web sites: The Drudge Report updates the
night, Drudge writes that federal investigators possess taped phone
conversations that substantiate the rumors of a presidential affair.
if not for the Web? Probably. Did the Web give the story additional velocity?
Definitely. The ethics cops who patrol newspaper and magazine newsrooms can't
control the rumors and unsubstantiated stories that people post to the Web. And
for taking things very personally, for blowing them way out of proportion. But
they could be forgiven for feeling that they were given an unusually tough time
juvenile crime, school uniforms, drug tests to get a driver's license: Both
entertainment complex" in the country, announced a curfew and chaperone policy
aren't having sex or committing prosecutable crimes. (Sure, they sometimes
fight, but "let's be clear," a police chief said, "we're talking about
hanging out and engaging in that national pastime, spending money on junk.
to portray adolescents as incipient juvenile delinquents, when not idealizing
them as "the future of our society." But it doesn't take a pollster to see why
alarm has suddenly intensified, as it did in the late 1950s when another bulge
of kids began to hit puberty. (Publicity about urban gang violence aroused a
was forged in the crucible of adolescence, now have adolescents of their own.
That's not an easy stage to live through, even in the most orderly family or
relax, on the grounds that they lived to tell (or not tell) the tale? They
get a nicotine fix by just opening the door of any decent student lounge in
alcoholic beverages. Dress codes were dumped. Drug panic and AIDS fears didn't
comes back to haunt one. As a newly affluent "youth market," it was baby
boomers who helped usher in a commercialized popular culture that has become
more powerful and awful than they could have imagined. You don't have to be Bob
discipline are getting harder to sell, and ever more socially desirable.
Adolescent drift and empty hedonism can't be brushed off merely as a phase,
rhetoric, though they also succumb to distortions of their own. Mike Males, the
to be overzealous when he argues that adults attack kids as a way of coping
chronic runaway who has done every drug imaginable, been molested, and
assaulted members of his family, grew up with two alcoholic parents who
violently beat him and a mother who was herself battered and raped. Even the
Lewis and Males go overboard, he by playing loose with statistics that demonize
in sadistic adults (just as the implausible Justice Department discovery that
survey that year, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out). And where
them all struggling victors in spite of adults. Her interviews routinely end
of the world end up "straightening out," as Lewis titles the section about the
that adults are just as confused and ambivalent about their rights and their
of teens that they behave like obedient children. They want laws that punish
act like authority figures. They want laws that punish them as delinquent
babysitters. On the one hand, many of the curfews cracking down on teens also
"parental responsibility" laws passed by states and communities over the last
couple of years give judges the power to make parents pay for juvenile
detention or undergo counseling with their kids. Parents can even be threatened
states have passed new laws that treat juvenile criminals as responsible
adults. Of the People, a conservative lobbying group, has launched a nationwide
campaign to add a "parental rights amendment" to state constitutions declaring
it "the inalienable right" of parents to "direct and control the upbringing,
education, values and discipline of their children." An initiative to introduce
it is on the ballot in Colorado. The obvious targets of the sweepingly vague
amendment are clinics offering confidential medical services, and schools
amendment could also be used against judges who come down hard on lax
contradictions are blithely overlooked, as is any spirit of practicality. Who
demonstrated their parallel parking skills is a reasonable way "to demand
present themselves at the Motor Vehicles Bureau, and then speed recklessly the
day after. They're also savvy enough to show up for the road test clean (or
much about the child in the adult know so much less about the fate of the
adults might look in the mirror and think to themselves, "Look at the person
about the prospects of individual kids. Politicians should also take
providing lots of extracurricular activities for the adolescents in direst
shape. It doesn't mean blowing the problems out of all proportion.
played. In many quarters of the globe, there seemed to be a sense of relief:
Whew! At least here was one genuinely level playing field on which the United
States was just another contender, not a superpower.
international sport as soccer itself. Lately, an old word has resurfaced: The
"dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony")?
plenty of room for legitimate debate about where the line is between advancing
universal values and imposing our own values on others; or when our country
goes beyond the merits and motivations of this or that particular
enjoying a new boom. That's in part because of the end of the Cold War.
Other nations tended to muffle or modulate their occasional annoyance with the
country that was their shield against the Soviet threat. Now they feel less
sometimes easier for other governments to complain about what they depict as a
local politics: Blaming a faraway caricature of the United States can deflect
attention from shortcomings, or worse, closer to home.
when we assert ourselves and of failure of nerve or vision when we encourage
those same officials and pundits have griped about our determination to apply
tough and, if necessary, military measures in response to the dangerous and
There is a similar schizoid aspect to the reaction of some
to be able to address alone, yet both require us to play a central role in
orchestrating an effective international defense of common interests. That
means we must combine coalition building with direct approaches to the parties.
We have supported efforts by international financial institutions to stop the
But the United States has also conducted quiet diplomacy with the two countries
diplomatic jargon, multilaterally and unilaterally). In an increasingly
addressed only through cooperation with other countries. The spread of nuclear
and biological weapons, the growth of international organized crime, and global
voluntarily. Coercion isn't appropriate and won't work. The United States has
got to be careful not to strut its stuff in ways that might disincline other
countries from cooperating with it. We should lead by example and suasion.
the history of Great Powers, the United States defines its greatness not as an
ability to dominate others but as an ability to work with others in the
"international community" is not abstract or cynical or euphemistic; and we try
that when democracy and prosperity and security advance anywhere around the
globe, it enhances the freedom, prosperity, and security of the United States
as well. After World War II the United States led the world in the design and
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the World Bank, and the International
Monetary Fund. These institutions helped bring bitter adversaries into a
framework of mutual support and benefit. Now these organizations that served
what we used to think of as "the West" and "the North" are opening up to the
developing and democratizing nations of the East and the South. And the United
States is also leading the creation of new international institutions: the
There is no need to apologize for our leadership role. But
United States to make a conscious effort not to sound smug, patronizing, or
hectoring. That includes talking about foreign policy here in the United
against a domestic temptation in the opposite direction. Today some
hegemonism, but from a different perspective. They warn that in the name of
exercising international leadership, we are foolishly risking our country's
blood and treasure in faraway lands of which we know little. This
opposition to Fast Track, and it is present again today in opposition to paying
the United States can handle complaints about the style and even the substance
of our engagement with the world. Better that than disengagement or a return to
If you are as long in years and short in energy as I am, watching television is
television, but some kinds I don't watch. I don't watch cop shows. If I wanted
sitcoms. They seem to me to consist entirely of juvenile leering about sex. I
am weaning myself from the talk shows about public policy that I used to think
it was my duty to watch. I have concluded that they are all games of Pin the
because it comes on at dinner time and serves as background music to which
afternoon professional football. I love seeing something done extremely well,
where the receiver catches it amid a forest of defenders is doing something
extremely well. I like to watch with the sound off, because the sports pundits
are no better than the policy pundits, and if I fall asleep during the game,
the occasional symphony concert broadcast on television. I can hear better
performance that is connected with doing something extremely well. When I only
all those notes come out right. I look at the second clarinet player. He's no
genius. He probably makes his living by giving lessons. But he always comes in
with his "duh" at the right time. As the former second clarinet in the
on the couch while gales of canned laughter blow over me or waves of fake blood
wash over me. I am doing something. I am helping the detective find or prove
seen him several times, he elicited giggles rather than puzzlement.
too obscure for the occasional one to be recognized by the viewer. But there
the reruns, I have the feeling that his shiny mustache is getting shinier and
them, but we are not entirely happy with them. Their stories run for two to
four hours, in two installments separated by a week. That is too long for even
understated. I don't feel that I am coming closer to the solution, even after
but they are not too hard to get either, especially after a second or third
accurately. (Having seen so many episodes and observed the formula, I have
thought it would be amusing to write an episode set in a think tank. But I have
says the right thing, does the right thing, wears the right clothes. She is an
example of doing something extremely well. She does not rely on eccentricities
to create a recognizable character, and that is why you can watch her over and
over again. Time cannot wither, nor custom stale, her infinite normalcy.
new episodes of Murder, She Wrote have been made for several years. We
are living on reruns. That is all right for now. True fans can enjoy seeing the
same episode four or five times. They will discover something new each time.
But that cannot go on much longer. I fear that when we reach the sixth or
seventh repeat, it will have become boring. And what shall we do then?
Fletcher are too old to be a good market for advertisers. It is not because we
are old that we like the polite, civilized detective story. My generation liked
television. We are of the generation that likes to have its intellect teased.
Later generations like to have their emotions aroused. But it is true that we
are not a good market for advertisers. We have money, and spend it or invest
it. But we have been around too long, and have had too much experience, to buy
something or invest in something just because we see it advertised on
detective stories. But for many fans of that genre, time is running out. For
we have to nurse the supply of old Murder, She Wrote s, rationing
ourselves to not more than one viewing a week, hoping to preserve the
fascination until the need for such entertainment has passed.
letter began to circulate on the Internet detailing the dangers of a vicious,
languages and it appeared around the world. It was read over a radio broadcast
chain has circled the globe at least nine times. Prayer chains also thrive on
the telephone, as callers dial friends and acquaintances and ask them to pray
these information parasites seek to infect host brains. The most "fit" mind
Less fit letters are not forwarded, and so die. Some potential hosts are
expensive photocopying or the price of postage. But thanks to virtually free
chains now billow into huge, tumorous entities in a matter of weeks.
letter and threw it away. Nine days later he died." By invoking fear and
almost as good a parasitic strategy as fear. The ubiquitous "Make Money Fast"
the list, add your own name to the bottom, and reap your windfall later. The
origins and lists addresses and phones of the alleged originators, requesting
SEVEN YEARS OLD AND IS SUFFERING FROM AN ACUTE AND VERY
CARCINOMA. THIS CONDITION CAUSES SEVERE MALIGNANT BRAIN
ILLNESS. THE DOCTORS HAVE GIVEN HER SIX MONTHS TO LIVE.
SHE WANTED TO START A CHAIN LETTER TO INFORM PEOPLE
SEND PEOPLE THE MESSAGE TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND
CONTINUING CANCER RESEARCH FOR EVERY NEW PERSON THAT GETS
beautiful vision. A dying girl spreads a noble message across the world. All
public broadcasting is in peril. Its modest request is that recipients put
their names at the bottom of the list and forward it to friends. Eventually,
Congress and the president. Never mind, of course, that public broadcasting
bandwidth, reduces productivity, and exploits human emotions. But let's not
forget the upside to the chains. They make you feel as if the click of your
that the impulse to do good on the Net could be harnessed.
staff to handle the mail, which it simply recycled.
technologically! And how true it is, psychologically!
hears the postman's knock any more. I can't remember that I ever heard it. At
home, I get my mail from a clerk at the desk six floors below my apartment. At
my office, I either find my mail on a shelf or have it placed on my desk by my
helper. In either case I don't hear the postman's knock or ever see him.
the primary means of mediated communication; that is, communication at a
generally equipped with "voice mail," which allows you to retrieve messages
this technological change have come some changes of attitude. We no longer are
outside world through the postman. Now we increasingly seek the connection. We
go to a clerk and ask for our mail; we call our answering service to see if
there have been any phone calls; we log on to our computer to search for
communication has come a degradation of the messages. In my youth, ordinary
mail was the standard means of communication among people who knew each other,
even those who knew each other very well, such as parents and children.
Today, I send or receive hardly any personal post office mail, except when
printed matter, such as a newspaper clipping, is enclosed. There is one person
with whom I have a fairly regular postal mail correspondence, and that is
because we are both trying to make a literary exercise of our writing to each
personal communication there is in the mail I receive at home is buried in a
mountain of solicitations for contributions from people or institutions I
"quickening of the heart." It is more likely to be "ugh!" At my office, my mail
consists almost exclusively of policy memorandums and pamphlets from
institutions to whom I am but one name on an enormous mailing list. This mail
makes me confront the feeling that I ought to study it all and the realistic
knowledge that I ought to throw it out. Not much "quickening of the heart"
the morning, I am sure to find a couple of messages offering me pornographic
videos with one click of the mouse, and at least one message from someone ready
of personal communication to garbage is higher than for snail mail.
communication is highest on the telephone. But even there, when the bell rings
and I pick up the receiver I am likely to hear someone asking, "How are you
against getting a "quickening of the heart" by any of these media are high. But
despite the odds, I find it worthwhile to try to make the connection. We have
been warned at the apartment building where I live not to disturb the desk
In my office, two or three times a day I look into the room where the mail is
shelved. I call my home phone from the office at least once a day to see if any
messages have been left. From home, I call my office three or four times a day.
Stein, no new messages.") Even more frequently than that I log on to one of my
three computers, hoping to see the little message on the screen, "You have
that I expect anything "practical." I am not going to get a letter offering me
a six figure advance for the publication of a volume of my personal essays. No,
contents of the communication don't matter. It can be a postcard saying, "I am
not being forgotten. Even if the message comes from someone you are sure has
reminded. It is also a comfort if the message comes from a total stranger, as
long as the message is for you specifically and personally and not for a name
Possibly, I am more avid in pursuit of such connections
than the average person. I know people who don't go down for their mail until
afternoon, who have no telephone answering service, and who, even if they have
to be forgotten, must be nearly universal. Whole industries rest on that
dead live on in the memory of their survivors. Something like that is true for
the living also. The living are most alive when they feel that they are
remembered. That is why I go for my snail mail, call for my telephone messages,
often take the bus to my office. I suppose that is partly because the bus trip
the bus. I like to observe the other passengers. And I get a better view of the
city and the people on the sidewalk from my seat on the bus than I do from the
back seat of a taxi, especially during one of those wild rides where I am
has become an abstraction, a symbol for something bad a president did. But
there are fewer and fewer people who remember just what the president did.
How accommodating it is of history to have located the
glad to see her. She has overcome centuries of race and gender prejudice to get
where she is. I am pleased to see the competence with which she wrestles that
big bus around corners, hands out transfers, and answers passengers' questions
about stops and connections. Not long ago, such competence would not have been
the buildings of the Federal Reserve and the State Department. What a
concentration of worldwide power! But more impressive than the power is the
concentration of homeless men lounging on the grates and the grass.
of the bus window one day, I saw a tall, graceful fountain in the garden behind
a building that fronted on Constitution Avenue. I had passed it dozens of times
without noticing it, perhaps because the water had not been playing before. I
the guide would have called our attention to that fountain and explained its
history, and we would all have marveled at it. From that moment, at least for a
Revolution. I wondered how many other buildings are famous for something that
she was "colored," as we used to say. I don't know the truth of that, but it
bureaucrat who was found with his head down on his desk, sobbing because his
president of the United States, who should have realized that the historic
Often I am the only "white" person on the bus. In my new stance as a tourist, I
destination over the same potholes. (And we have reached a degree of liberation
The word "fundamentally" in the previous paragraph carries
a lot of weight, but it is important to think of what is fundamental. I mean
having the experience of love and loneliness, illness and health, the joy of
children, the satisfaction of work, and the inevitability of death. Those are
the respects in which we are all alike. That is the sense in which we are all
these are the overwhelmingly important and overwhelmingly common aspects of
life. But many people much wiser than I am have thought that at a much earlier
realize that my observations have been largely about race. That is not
the handle to open the door for me. I say, "Thank you." She says, "Have a nice
by the attorney general with the grave responsibility of determining if there
has been any criminal wrongdoing by the president of the United States or those
office and the laws of this nation, including perjury, subornation of perjury,
of the relevant criminal violations is in order for a proper judgment to be
jury, despite the president's claims that his statements were "legally
accurate." Herein are highlights of our findings (see Appendix XX for a
complete list and descriptions of sexual acts, including oral copulation,
mutual masturbation, and lewd and lascivious conduct with a cylindrical smoking
testified that as an intern in the West Wing she was summoned to deliver food
members of the uniformed Secret Service detail (Officer Lewis Fox testimony,
president drawled, his eyes widening with desire, "but let me finish up here
gave her a wide, rakish smile that lit her soul with excitement. She was alone
shapely body and a powerful intelligence that would make her an asset in any
the most powerful man on Earth! Now he put down the phone and looked at
guided her into an adjoining study, holding a slice of pizza in his free hand,
and said, in the warm, caring way she'd always admired, "I need someone like
that took her breath away, he suddenly grabbed, through her sheer dress, the
breathless whisper. "A chief of state has needs, sweetie pie, just like any
dark hair, guiding her down to his fiery loins. Her face beamed with adoration
as she explored his body, her tongue licking him slowly as she moved ever
manhood, and the muscles in his thighs contracted while he moaned softly with
of the United States exploded in shuddering bursts of joy. After they hugged
wondering if he really loved her, she was lounging in her black silk pajamas,
wearing a sexy blue cocktail dress when she was ushered into the Oval Office
secluded study, she wriggled her luscious hips, and slowly began peeling off
all their alabaster glory. She trembled as he caressed her, and she moved with
new, intense passion as she saw him arouse himself, his face distorted in a
groaned in ecstasy and release, leaving traces of his love on her dress, a
the dress she treasured would someday be used to help convince publishers that
her exclusive story of their steamy love affair, complete with shocking new
deposition, the president said he couldn't recall the specifics of most gifts
he would ever be willing to declare their romance to the world. In response,
the president handed her a velvet box with a silver ring inside. "Our love is
important to me," he told her. Her heart filled with an overpowering love for
him, but she was puzzled when he leered, "It matches the silver of the cigar
and gave her a big grin. "You can't commit adultery with a cigar, right?"
cared for her as a person, or just as a sex object to service his sickest
desires. She was shocked to realize that it didn't matter, really, as long as
that cigar, big boy," she said, hoisting up her skirt, wallowing in all the
depravity he taught her, "and let's see if we can light your fire!" Soon she
crazed maelstrom of feverish ecstasy, and afterward he asked her a special
just don't volunteer any extra information!" He was so brazen sometimes, she
criminal pattern of subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice (see
Sections II and III, below) was built on this bedrock of lies and sexual
misconduct. We hope your committee will take appropriate action in response to
don't see the chain of causation by which the specific acts of specific
politicians are supposed to have led to the results noted today. If I don't
like to offer some musings on another kind of "golden" condition. I refer to
the golden days of private individuals. Between the golden days of individuals
and those of nations, the connection is, I believe, quite loose. In saying
that, I mean to exclude the Holocaust, the Great Depression, and total war, as
well as people who are exceptionally vulnerable. But within the usual range of
variation of the national condition, the difference between a golden national
If I had to describe the salient characteristic of a
personal golden day in one word I would say "peace." That is the ultimate
keep you, may He lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you
peace." I understand peace in this context to mean not the absence of
international violence, or not only that, but a person's peace with himself,
with his idea of how he should behave. It includes loving and being loved, and
accepting and appreciating the universe and what man has created in it.
give a general prescription for achieving golden days, but I can give two
examples from my own experience to suggest what some of the ingredients in such
escorted a girl or young woman (I couldn't tell which) across the street and
seated her next to me. She was obviously blind, carrying a long white cane and
keeping her eyes screwed shut. She could hear the buses coming up to the stop
but didn't know which buses they were, so I began telling her their numbers. It
Since she was so anxious about the coming of our bus, I asked her whether she
University and the professor had warned the students not to come in late.
a taxi, or taking her to her class in a taxi. It would not have cost much. But
I was afraid that she would think I was trying to kidnap or molest her.
our bus came and I helped her up the steps. She indicated that I should sit
next to her and tell her when we came to her stop. At the stop I helped her
down the steps, and the driver kept the door open for me to get back on the
bus. But it was clear that once she was on the sidewalk she had no idea of
where to go. I motioned to the bus driver to close the doors, took her by the
hand, and led her along G Street to the university building she sought. Along
the way she told me that she had just graduated from Smith College and was
doing postgraduate work in international relations. When I left her at her
building she thanked me, but I said that it was I who had to thank her, because
she had given me the great feeling of being needed.
That little incident made my day, and several days to
giver. "Sow according to your charity, but reap according to your
institutions does not make my day golden the way holding that young girl's hand
other example of a golden day, I was out for a walk in the sunshine, and a
stranger on the street complimented me on an article of mine that had been
published in the morning paper. Returning home, a little tired but pleased that
I had been able to do the walk, I lay down and turned on the radio, which just
and knew that there were a few people whom I could tell of this feeling with
confidence that they would understand and share my joy. That was a golden day,
brought about by the beauty of nature and of art, the feeling of achievement
extraordinary events. They can result from ordinary events happening to people
who are receptive, appreciative, attuned to what is happening around them. A
person's psychological and emotional stance, not external events, is what
mainly determines his possibility of enjoying a golden day.
three years ago I would not have experienced the golden days I have described
here. I would have been too shy, or "buttoned down," to take that young girl's
hand, and I would have been too absorbed with trivia to appreciate the things
that made me so happy a few weeks ago. I suppose it is aging that has changed
my attitude. To resume my economist's hat, scarcity confers value, and the
realization that one's days are few increases one's appreciation of their
value. But one doesn't have to be old to appreciate that. Even for the young
place in our hearts, and we are delighted that you are planning to spend this
weekend with us as we celebrate our love for you and one another.
comfortable as possible, so there are a few things you should know about Lake
fast. There were so many days when we thought we wouldn't make it, either
psychologically or financially, so the fact that we are getting married after
assigned on a first come, first served basis. Everyone else will be
don't own your own tent, you will be able to lease one from the inn, but in
that case, please bring your own mosquito netting, as many of the inn's tents
people out, it's about inviting people in. In other words, we want to invite
if you believe in the domestication of animals as "pets," that's a personal
nondenominational sunset ceremony (optional, but we hope you'll come!) in front
sobriety is something that is really important to us as a couple, so please
you may want to consider embarking on a moderate program of weight training,
The earlier departure time is for anyone desiring to scale the north face
before the hand of Man came to destroy) on the side of the trail. RESPECT
recitation in the oral response part of the ceremony we ask that you have
virgins, teetotalers, and registered Democrats. Please do not take any of his
directed at you. Don't let him get to you! If you find yourself trapped in a
position and someone will come to your assistance as quickly as possible.
hike in four miles. When you come to the quarry, ford it. On a clear day, inn
and lake should be visible from far side; otherwise, follow compass heading
with the Web for as long as there's been one to play with. (For the record,
certain amount of motion would bring a lot more people online. They have.
watching live feeds from cameras positioned in all sorts of strange
places, including a satellite in outer space, a microscope, and the producer's
computer art are not new. The work of art has been dissolving into reproducible
old. There are a few things Web art can do that other kinds of art can't,
however. It can enter the homes of people who might otherwise never have sought
people logging on from any number of places at exactly the same time. It can
be a place where artists try things out and people respond to them. Jenny
she's been testing out different media ever since she put her oddball "Truisms"
into bus stops in the 1970s. SLATE Gallery will host a new artist more or less
every two weeks. At first, we won't be able to show you every unusual feature
Web artists have at their disposal. But we'll be getting better at this as we
go along, and whatever we can't do ourselves, we can link you to. (For example,
essays about the artist or about the ideas behind the art. We hope you find it
alone, many people recommended that I get a microwave oven. That, I was told,
would make it easy for me to prepare a meal for myself, and save me a lot of
is for my kitchen appliances, not for me. If I use the conventional oven, I am
pizza in the conventional oven and only four minutes to do it in the microwave.
The eight extra minutes that I spend waiting for the conventional oven to
finish are too few for me to use outside the kitchen. If I use the conventional
method, I am likely to spend eight more minutes in the kitchen than if I use
the microwave. So, by using the microwave, I gain eight minutes outside the
the value to me of those eight minutes? I suppose the conventional answer is to
divide my annual earned income by the number of minutes I spend working and so
arrive at the income I could gain by having another minute at my disposal. In
my case this would be a difficult calculation. The time I spend "working" is
not only the time I spend sitting at my word processor and writing these
essays. It also includes all the time I spend musing about these essays, while
in the shower, or on the bus, or trying to fall asleep, and I have no idea how
much time that is in a year. Anyway, the eight minutes I don't spend in the
kitchen will probably not be used to earn more income. It will probably be used
have had to spend in the kitchen if I didn't have a microwave need not have
an essay like this one or about something else. The basic fact is that at my
advanced age, the best use of time is staying alive. Still, the time spent
outside the kitchen is probably more valuable than the time spent in the
benefit of the microwave is the excess of the value of the time spent outside
the kitchen over the value of the time spent in the kitchen. If I bake two
pizzas a week and "save" eight minutes per pizza, that adds up to an excess
There is, for me at least, another benefit. That is the
pleasure is independent of any service delivered; it is the pure enjoyment of
the miracle of technology. I first observed this with television. It fascinated
me, like it did many others of my generation, even though almost everything we
saw on it was terrible. We were fascinated by the fact that it worked at all.
To a large extent, the Internet is like that. We enjoy surfing the Net just
because it is so amazing, not because what we learn on it is so valuable. There
is some of the same satisfaction in watching a microwave at work.
microwave, the cost of keeping it is much less. One of the basic lessons of
economics is "Bygones are forever bygones." What I paid for it is a bygone. Now
the cost of keeping it depends on what I could sell it for. The nuisance of
trying to sell it would probably make that not worth my while. The best
alternative would be to give it to some charitable organization, such as the
Salvation Army. Suppose I give it to them and can take a charitable deduction
plus the sacrifice of the good feeling of having performed a charitable act.
complication of the cost of electricity for the microwave compared with the
cost of gas for the oven. I live in an apartment building where most of these
Nevertheless, despite all these imponderables, I do make a decision. I decide
to keep and use the microwave. In the end, if you ask me why I bought a
microwave, why I keep it and why I use it, I can't give a better answer than "I
government life. Perhaps it is most like that in government. We cannot compare
insist that economics has its value. There are cases, especially in business,
directly compared. Even where that is not true, the differences between costs
and benefits may be so large that fine calculations are unnecessary. Anyway,
the habit of trying to compare costs and benefits is useful, if one does not
insist on trying to apply it where it doesn't work. After all, it was an
misunderstanding, the warning: Alcohol, when abused, is vicious, dangerous
contraindicated medications, pregnant women, and those who have trouble
and beyond, one drink a day helps prevent heart disease and makes you less
likely to die prematurely. After one or (for men) two drinks, bad effects swamp
effect of moderate drinking is not small, and it is not in dispute.
medication) and, but for the rare social occasion, doesn't drink. He has read
some news reports suggesting moderate alcohol use may yield benefits, but his
doctor has never mentioned such benefits, and my father has never given a
thought to changing his drinking habits. And, in the standard view of public
health officialdom, that is as it should be: People should not be encouraged to
drink, even in moderation, and alcohol should not be linked with better
drinking is linked with better health. We don't know exactly why; some
help prevent blood clotting. But we do know the effects: On average, if you're
the association between smoking and lung cancer, I think this is the most
epidemiologist. Research has shown heart benefits consistently since the 1970s
increase chances of breast cancer, cirrhosis, accidents, and so on. Heart
disease, however, is an enormous cause of death; improve those odds, and the
Journal of Medicine reported the results of the biggest and probably best
mortality study yet conducted, one that followed almost half a million people
over nine years. It found that, after netting out all causes of death, moderate
there are a lot of people like my father out there: uninformed or vaguely
the Competitive Enterprise Institute commissioned a survey asking people
whether they believed "that scientific evidence exists showing that moderate
consumption of alcohol, approximately one or two drinks per day, may reduce the
said they did, and a majority of those believed, wrongly, that the potential
word out, but one of them, the alcohol industry, is effectively forbidden to do
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has never permitted ads or labels to carry any
health claims, even mild ones. (For more on rejected health claims, click here.)
restricts health claims even for innocuous foods such as orange juice and eggs,
it's reasonable to decide that booze merchants are the wrong people to entrust
with public education about drinking. That leaves only one other constituency
for getting the word out: the public health community. Its approach, however,
of epidemiology. "It's a sizable benefit in terms of prolonged survival," he
said. Why not say so? "Messages about alcohol don't come out the way you say
them when they're broadcast," he replied. "There's been a very long history in
guidelines ("Sensible Drinking"), say that people who drink very little or not
at all and are in an age group at high risk for heart disease should "consider
benefits: "Current evidence suggests that moderate drinking is associated with
a lower risk for coronary heart disease in some individuals." They then go on
to recite a litany of risks (for the text, click here). Similarly,
drink, do so in moderation." It goes on to say heart disease is lower in
moderate drinkers but then warns of other dangers and cautions against
"guidelines to the general public" that encourage drinking (for the full text,
click here). See for yourself, but I think the message most people
would get from both sources is "Drinking isn't all bad, but eschew it
what isn't known is whether encouraging moderate drinking will also encourage
public health people understandably dread creating more drunks, more broken
marriages, more crime, more car wrecks. "When somebody calls you up saying,
'You're putting out a message to people to drink, and my daughter just got
killed last night because of some drunk,' that's the other side of the
are looking for justification to drink more than they should."
both sides of the equation. The question, then, is what would happen if the
public health folks ran a campaign saying, for example, "Just One Drink" or
surprising, given the public health community's usual eagerness to save lives,
is that no one is trying to find out. It is simply assumed that too many people
people do. But is it really so hard to understand that a glass a day may help
save your life if you're of middle age or beyond, but that more than that is
dangerous? Presumably an avoidable heart attack is equally tragic whether the
cause is too much alcohol or too little. To continue today's policy of
muttering and changing the subject verges perilously on saying not just that
too much alcohol is bad for you but that ignorance is good for you.
According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages
alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery,
and therapeutic claims" in alcohol marketing "if such statement is untrue in
any particular or tends to create a misleading impression." In practice, the
says it "considers it extremely unlikely that such a balanced claim would fit
on a normal alcoholic beverage label." The only health statement the bureau has
footnotes. (You can read that report by clicking here.)
obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in its lawsuit to have the
current policy overturned, the statements that the bureau has barred include
the following: "Several medical authorities say that a glass or two of wine
enjoyed daily is not only a pleasant experience but can be beneficial to an
adult's health." "Having reviewed modern research on the benefits of modest
wine consumption, we believe that our wine, when enjoyed with wholesome food,
will promote health and enhance the pleasure of life."
wine labels that read "To learn the health effects of moderate wine
consumption, send for the federal government's Dietary Guidelines for
suggests that moderate drinking is associated with a lower risk for coronary
heart disease in some individuals. However, higher levels of alcohol intake
raise the risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, certain cancers,
accidents, violence, suicides, birth defects, and overall mortality (deaths).
Too much alcohol may cause cirrhosis of the liver, inflammation of the
pancreas, and damage to the brain and heart. Heavy drinkers also are at risk of
malnutrition because alcohol contains calories that may substitute for those in
beverages, do so in moderation, with meals, and when consumption does not put
is defined as no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two
moderation. The incidence of heart disease in those who consume moderate
amounts of alcohol (an average of one to two drinks per day for men and one
drink per day for women) is lower than in nondrinkers. However, with increased
intake of alcohol, there are increased public health dangers, such as
alcoholism, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, suicide, and accidents. In
light of these and other risks, the AHA believes it is not advisable to issue
guidelines to the general public that may lead some to increase their intake of
alcohol or start drinking if they do not already do so. It is best to consult
Fourteen years ago, I said in a review of one of his books:
elements: a description of the terrible present state and future prospects of
prescription for rescuing us. The description of our condition is grossly
exaggerated. The theory of the causes of the alleged condition is inadequately
supported. The prescription is, with some exceptions, unpersuasive.
account, as an amiable man, a good politician, and a great preacher, who is
nonetheless unprincipled, indecisive, and overwhelmed by the responsibilities
that come with the presidency. He is the kind of person least qualified to be
president and most likely to become one. There are plenty of people other than
think that I have gone off my rocker when I say I enjoyed much of Locked in
inadequate and unconvincing. The life part I find fascinating. The story in the
included stronger unions, corporate responsibility, a higher minimum wage and,
this policy adopted was largely defeated by the opposition of Wall Street, Big
government. The main instrument they used for defeating him was a call for
obeisance to a false god, Balancing the Budget. So our hero leaves the
battlefield with his head bloody but only slightly bowed.
its defeat is a tragic drama. If the policy was mistaken and would have been
ineffective anyway, there is no drama, no tragedy, no hero, and no villains. In
that case, his endless kvetching about training and the rest of it is a bore to
the reader, as I suspect it sometimes was to the president.
makes no effort to demonstrate the validity of his prescription. He could
hardly do so in a book like this one. The issues are complicated and difficult.
Job training is an example. That the federal government should support job
has been spent on research to evaluate these programs, trying to measure their
benefits and costs. My understanding of the conclusion of all this research is
that for male workers, there was no net benefit and for female workers, very
and convince the reader of it would require sophisticated analysis of a mass of
data and would be an entirely different book from the collection of personal
readers bypass all that, however, and remind themselves not to enter into
like to be a Cabinet secretary. What does he do all day? What, if anything,
goes on at a Cabinet meeting? How can the administration's economic officials,
all presumably on the same team, meet for hours to talk about the budget
without getting one step forward? How does one prepare for and behave at a
receptions and dinners? How does it feel to address a meeting of hostile
lobbyists, or to meet the press, or to appear on television with Jay Leno? And
government. But I observed such life enough to say that his picture is
administration.) He tells this story with a vividness that I did not expect of
him, with insight, some irony, and touches of gallows humor. There are much
effect on future elections or public policy. But that is not the important test
of a book. This one can give readers pleasure and amusement, and also help them
understand a little better the world we live in. I have learned, mainly from
talking with taxi drivers, that everyone's life is interesting if you know
enough about it. That is true of Cabinet secretaries as well as of taxi
certainly not because he failed to get most of his policy proposals adopted. It
the most exciting part of his whole life and could have been the happiest part
of his professional one. But he got no pleasure from it. He was so determined
the most fascinating and rewarding I could ever hope for." But in the preceding
simplification, both the Republican Congress and the Democratic president have
been enthusiastic about creating disparities among taxpayers of similar
than wages. But now many in Congress are making a great cause of one particular
differential: the one between married and unmarried couples. So strong is the
stalled tobacco bill gained momentum in the Senate this week from the inclusion
of a provision to give an income tax break to low and moderate income married
comes from the fact that the standard deduction for a married couple is less
than the standard deduction for two unmarried individuals--$1,400 less for
they are married than if they are not. (Click if you're interested in another
marriage penalty on the working poor that no one seems upset about.)
Higher income couples typically itemize, so they are not
affected by the standard deduction. But they face rate schedules that are
kinds of calculations vastly overstate the marriage penalty. Totally
Congress wants to reduce or eliminate this penalty, it must either do without
the revenue or make up the difference in some other way. Since married couples
revenue will place most of the burden right back on married couples.
penalty" figures floating around the media and divide them by at least four
logical to measure the marriage penalty by comparing what married couples pay
now with what they'd pay if overall federal taxes were a lot lower. Saying that
taxes would be lower if taxes were lower is true, but not edifying. The correct
comparison is with a revised tax system that raises as much as current law.
option of not making up the revenue and just passing a big tax cut for married
couples. But that necessarily entails reducing government services from what
they'd otherwise be, and the losses from that would probably be borne by
marrieds and singles in roughly similar proportions to the benefits they'd get
another example. Blind taxpayers are allowed a larger standard deduction than
per sighted taxpayer. But if we thought of it as a "sight penalty" and
calculated it as the added tax a person pays now for the privilege of
tax code's treatment of married and single taxpayers was straightforward. Each
member of a married couple was considered to enjoy exactly half its total
income, and each was taxed on that income at the same rates as single people.
two married people with the same total income (because more of the married
favorable singles rate table was adopted in response to protests that the
earns all the income is still better off married than never married, at least
for tax purposes. A couple whose earnings are roughly equal is better off
unmarried than married. A married couple that divorces with a separation
agreement to split their combined incomes, including investment income, down
the middle gets the best tax deal of all. Under a progressive tax system, the
only way to eliminate the marriage penalty is to go back to relatively higher
taxes on singles. However you fiddle with the rates, there will always be a
perceived "penalty" on somebody. But calculated honestly, the penalty is a lot
target. Every minute, thousands of Web pages are updated or abandoned. Messages
conversations and digital images that streak across the Net vanish after
collect and store all the disparate bits of the Internet. From offices in the
the Internet Archive's powerful computer the Internet at high speeds.
Consulting intelligent algorithms about what information to store and how
often, the archive's computer copies data to tape cassettes on a Quantum
it in a carousel, and replaces it with a blank one.
The Internet may seem impossibly vast to users, but in fact
it's quite finite. The entire World Wide Web is currently estimated to contain
bytes), archiving the Internet is practically economical. Already, the
the Internet once is only the beginning. As experienced Web surfers
know, things change rapidly on the Net. The archive doesn't have the computer
muscle to store the publicly available Internet every week, but even if it did,
every minute, which means pages disappear faster than they can currently be
squirreled away. Slate is updated daily. Shifting faster still are Web sites
information these sites produce is specific to a user's experience, they can
generate a literally infinite number of different pages. Finally, much of the
phone conversations. To archive the Internet with absolute fidelity would
require cloning not only every computer on the Internet, but also every person
newspaper and connects them to a good search engine. And other sites like
Internet Archive trumps these archives, of course, is in its sheer
comprehensiveness. While it isn't a replica of the Internet, it's a start. And
it's not useful just to historians. Suppose your Web browser allowed you to
specify not only an address but also a date. Remember that headline you saw on
have been unable to find since? The headline was posted for only a day, and you
haven't had much luck using the site's search tool to locate the piece. But
using the Internet Archive to turn back the hands of time will uncover it for
gone. But an intelligent browser could catch the "no such site" error and look
last year's campaign Web site with today's. These are just a few of the many
valuable services that promise to keep the nonprofit Internet Archive richly
Useful though it might be, the idea of archiving the
documentation of our world threatens to box us into a corner. The recent
Age" conference gathered experts from the computing, telecommunication, and
archiving worlds to explore these issues. Corporate executives complained that
because their archives are routinely subpoenaed by plaintiffs' attorneys, they
have every incentive to shred their data instead of preserving them. Lawyers
worried aloud about privacy and copyright concerns. Should you have the right
to exclude your public page from the archive? (Consensus opinion: Yes.) Should
we be saving usage logs, which detail every page a person sees? (Probably not.)
Doesn't this whole thing violate current copyright laws left and right? (Almost
certainly.) Should those laws be amended to allow such an archive?
that it's a waste of time to store the Internet without providing a proper
about the Web at our disposal will be as bad as not having enough. They add
that finding things promptly on the Web with a search engine is hard enough,
that using it as a historical research tool would be incredibly painful. They
advocate an orderly weeding, assembling, and categorizing of digital records.
whose "Save the Web" memo last year helped start the archive movement, counters
that we don't know now what will be important later. Your cousin might grow up
start saving today's Internet now, even if it is badly collected and organized,
Internet Archive, and not introducing lots of new ones.
without a report of some new virus or other security risk on the Internet.
Internet is as safe as a walk in the park, or as dangerous as a walk alone at
data being read by prying eyes? Intercepted by third parties? Altered or
obliterated by crooks or pranksters? How concerned should you be, and what
Data can be compromised while it resides on your computer
or during transmission from one place to another. (To see why transmission is
others from accessing it or, as a last resort, preventing them from reading it
or tampering with it if they do succeed in accessing it. Encryption
works on the principle of a lock and key. The lock is the encrypted data; the
key is a number. The number can't be derived from the encrypted data, so the
The author puts his data in a box, locks it, and sends it to an audience that
situations such as a military command sending orders to its units, but not so
gets an individual lock with two keys. One key locks it, the other key unlocks
and Bill can know the contents. Unfortunately, there is currently no standard
denoted by the size of the numeric key. The bigger the key, the harder it is to
break the encryption (pick the lock). Since encryption inhibits the ability of
(Secure Sockets Layer), an Internet standard for encrypting data, is built into
instance, the government publishes a crop report that a commodity broker then
passes on to a client. How can the client know that the broker hasn't altered
the report? Digital signatures solve this problem. Mathematics can
original data in any way results in a different signature. This signature is
then encrypted with a private key. Using a public key, anyone can confirm that
the signature matches the document. The document can't have changed because the
signature is the same, and the signature can't be forged because only the
creator has access to the private key that encrypted it.
certain users. Ideally, users would carry around giant numeric keys to identify
themselves, but computer marketers could never sell that solution. In the end,
most systems identify users by passwords. Users enter their names and
passwords. The name is public, but the password is private. The simplicity of
the system is its power. While an encrypted document gives a code breaker
something to analyze, an empty password prompt is simply empty.
Unfortunately, computer users betray themselves. Anecdotal evidence shows that
most passwords are birth dates of family members, maiden names, favorite sports
words, but combinations of letters, numbers, and punctuation. The best password
contains enough nonsense so that no one can guess it, but not so much nonsense
that you can't remember it. And therein lies the other problem with passwords:
People forget them. This is so common that, for every network, there is someone
(the system administrator) who has the power to retrieve or change your
password. The world's best password is useless if the system administrator's
password is easy to guess, or if someone can get her drunk or blackmail her.
But the alternative is frightening, which is why we don't encrypt our hard
drives with the password as our key. If we lost the key, that would be
the programs you've installed on your computer. Who hasn't accidentally told a
computer to delete the wrong file or stood by helplessly while the operating
claim to be one thing but are really another, such as a program that is
supposed to be a calendar but secretly erases your hard drive or copies its
contents somewhere else. Then there are the legitimate programs that have been
are cleverly (if perversely) designed to replicate themselves whenever their
host program is run. Once replicated, they might then do harm to your data,
just like biological viruses can do harm to their hosts.
perils to your data are programs like operating systems and browsers, which are
supposed to protect you from harm. Like a brick wall, they resist any frontal
attack. But like a brick wall, some of these programs have holes. The most
(like letting in the dog) that can be exploited for nefarious ends (like
letting in a trained monkey to steal your wallet). The recent Internet Explorer
How can you be sure your programs are safe? Either obtain
your programs from trustworthy sources, or ensure that the programs behave.
models for an important shoot, you could hire from a reputable modeling agency
that guaranteed its clients, or you could hire children off the street and also
hire an authoritarian nanny to watch them every second. The agency can't really
ensure their client's behavior, but you would know that it had done its very
trusted to control the children, but her constant presence irritates the
children and slows down the shoot. Either way, you're paying someone (the
agency or the nanny). The best case of the agency is best (everyone behaves and
is happy), but the worst case of the agency is worst overall (all the children
go into hysterics at once). With the nanny, you know what to expect. Your shoot
will never go as well as the best case of the agency, but then neither will it
software, the "agency" is an independent, trusted body verifying that software
comes from where it claims. A digital signature ensures it came straight from
artificial constraints on their behavior. They allow for the highest possible
performance and functionality, but also the highest potential for damage. If
you download a control that has not been signed by a trusted agency, you're
a special programming language available in both Internet Explorer and
Navigator that restricts the behavior of its programs. Because the abilities of
these programs are restricted, they can't harm your data. But because they are
restricted, they are slower and can do less. For example, Java programs cannot
safety, but rotten for functionality if you're trying to write a program to
help people analyze their personal finances. Another Java advantage is that
because its programs do less, they can run on almost any computer, no matter
performance penalty of Java, but if you trust the manufacturer, digital
performance, so a Java version that can run on almost any computer might be
desirable. In fact, a hybrid approach may yield the best results: for example,
concern over Internet security is somewhat overblown. There isn't a mob of data
villains waiting on the other side of the wire to steal your money, read your
number being stolen over the Internet. Sure, viruses do spread and data are
occasionally lost, but the main reason you hear so much about security is that
it's a great marketing tactic. "Don't buy their browser; ours is safer." Or,
others compete to make sure their products are as secure as possible. So maybe
are considered worse than paying sources. Media institutions that pay for
The sources and their information are regarded as being highly unreliable. In
the Flytrap scandal, those who have sold their stories or tried to include
is not the whole list of people who've cashed in on private knowledge of
million from Little, Brown and Co. for his forthcoming White House memoir.
comes out, nobody will impugn his motives or question his reliability simply
because he sold his story to the highest bidder. Nobody will call him a
toward people who talk to the Star that parallels the "trailer trash"
that the respectable media covering Flytrap have not been serving their readers
it wasn't until this year that we learned his denial was a lie: During his
"Still More Tawdry Tales," because she didn't tell this version of the story to
unpaid, but the press raised doubts about her by reporting that she had
approached a book publisher in the hope of turning the breast grab into a money
grab. The New York Times and Time magazine reported this and
changed her hairstyle.) Oddly, neither the Times nor Time
oversight, or was it a recognition that applying the say and pay standards
More tainted meat, disdained by the respectable media.
revelation: "From Day One I always thought this was politically motivated and
had politics written all over it; after five years, it is nice to have the
truth catch up with the president's political opponents." The "truth"? What on
don't endorse the practice of paying sources. And I certainly don't endorse the
practice of giving money to witnesses in a criminal investigation (rich
condemn the practice of paying journalists to tell their sources'
stories. In fact, as long as sources can be persuaded to supply the information
for free, there's more money for those of us who repackage it for public
difficult duties of being president responsibly and respectably. I was not a
whole tenure of office, when I was a member and then chairman of his Council of
Economic Advisers. On all these occasions he impressed me as a civil, serious,
dedicated, judicious, and highly intelligent man. I believe that others who
worked with him in a professional way had the same impression.
Republican. He was about to assume the most powerful office in the world. I was
genuine interest in what I had to say about the matters on which I was assumed
to be well informed, and he was unreserved about expressing his own
meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy, shortly after the
had to say. He also made it clear that he did not expect his economic advisers
to engage in political activity, although we might make speeches on economic
policy to groups of economists and others interested in a professional way. I
thought he showed courtesy, consideration, and a desire to learn. (Later, after
been too political. If so, it was because I enjoyed being in the political
with the president. He usually listened to the interchange quietly. When the
order could be extracted from it and indicating what he thought were the main
the limitations of economics. He understood that it had something to contribute
and should be heard, but he also understood that economics is an uncertain
science. There were no complaints or recriminations when the economic forecasts
that it was a streetcar ride across the neighborhood. That realistic attitude
recall him ever using an obscenity, unless you want to count the time he said
not be the best policy, but it is worth trying once in a while." But that was
showed an appreciation of, and capacity for, good writing and wit. He had
probably the best staff of writers of any president since the time when
"You can't step in the same river twice." He immediately responded, "Yes, you
options urged upon him by respected economists, mainly Democrats. The control
system gave the administration extraordinary power over individual businesses.
I do not believe there was any case in which this power was improperly
professor, whom he had never met before he invited him to be secretary of
labor, a man of extraordinary intelligence, management ability, and integrity.
He quickly elevated him to director of the Office of Management and Budget and
then secretary of the Treasury. There must have been few administrations that
respected him. I am not inclined to judge him. I do not feel I have the wisdom
and moral elevation to do that. Anyway, what would be the point? He is now
that those who feel the need and ability to judge him should try to look beyond
variety of activities, in addition to walking, that I observe taking place on
the sidewalks in my neighborhood. These activities seem to have increased a lot
more people walking around, or jogging, with earphones on. They were listening
the smoking. There were always people smoking on the sidewalk, but now there
are clusters of people around the entrance to every office building, standing,
talking to each other, and smoking cigarettes. Then came the cell
apparently talking to someone. Finally, to this has been added the
proliferation of sidewalk drinking. I don't mean drinking in the sense of
taking in alcoholic beverages. These people are drinking coffee, soft drinks,
or bottled water. Water, water, everywhere, being carried if not being
The smoking is easy to explain. Increasingly offices, even
whole office buildings, ban smoking. So those who feel a great need to smoke go
down to the sidewalk. What is harder for me to explain is the great number of
women in these smoking groups. Do women have more of a need to smoke or less of
a need to be in their offices, or are there just more women than men working in
these buildings? Studies show that addiction to smoking is inversely related to
income; low income people are more likely to smoke than high income people.
Probably the women working in those buildings have lower incomes, on the
explain the listening to music on the sidewalk, the talking on the telephone,
the drinking of water? Of course, technology has a lot to do with it. Even in
the case of water, the technology is important. If there weren't lightweight,
unbreakable plastic bottles, there wouldn't be so much water drinking.
have spread so far if they did not meet a demand. There must have been a strong
desire to listen to music while walking or jogging on the sidewalk. Yet the
reason for this desire is not clear. The people I see with their headphones on
don't seem to be very happy about what they are hearing. Instead of listening
to music, they could be looking at the other people on the sidewalk or mulling
those people talking about on their cell phones? I have a cell phone that I
take with me in my car, when I remember, in case I need roadside help. I have
used it only a few times, to see if it was working. I have never walked along
rich they are or, more recently, how poor they are. I suppose the cell phone is
part of the information revolution that holds great promise for us, but no one
has ever demonstrated any addition to productivity resulting from the
to do with the cult of physical fitness. Physical fitness requires the intake
of lots of fluids. But those fluids could be taken at home, from the kitchen
faucet. Anyway, many of the people I observe do not look as if they were
devoted to physical fitness. And still they hold on to their bottle.
nursing bottle. They want to remain in, or return to, their infancy, when the
nursing bottle was the cure for all discomfort and anxiety. The water bottle is
a surrogate for the nursing bottle, which was a surrogate for Mommy.
phone fits into the same story. It is the way of keeping contact with someone,
anyone, who will reassure you that you are not alone. You may think you are
checking on your portfolio, but deep down you are checking on your existence. I
rarely see people using cell phones on the sidewalk when they are in the
company of other people. It is being alone that they cannot stand. And for many
people, being alone really means being without Mommy. We are raising a
generation that had radio transmitters in its nurseries, keeping Mommy
constantly informed of every movement of the baby in his crib. We will soon be
walking around with transmitters in our lapels or pocketbooks, constantly
connected via satellite with Mommy. And for those whose mothers are no longer
available there will be constant contact with the Bureau of Mommy Surrogates in
much like the lullabies that comforted them as infants.
the warmth and comfort of infancy and find relief from the loneliness of
to deal with this old feeling. There are probably worse ways.
with my son, pretty young girls nudge each other and whisper, "It's him! It's
him!" They don't mean me. My function in this street scene is to hold the
girls' camera and take their picture with the Star.
surely not the most objective observer of the Ben Stein phenomenon, but I am
probably the best informed. So let me explore the question: How did my son,
Ben, become a Star? It wasn't by being the world's most devoted son, making the
which he does. It wasn't by being the world's most devoted father, spending
recognizable way by millions of people. That means being in the movies or,
much; what matters is having been seen. Even after my occasional appearances on
whether they liked my performance or agreed with what I had to say. The
the word "starlet" for such cases; it is reserved for something else.) What
suggests, the show would not be the same without him.
explaining the game and asking the questions. But he then becomes a contestant,
competing with the more successful guests. There is a witty, sometimes rude,
winners in other quiz shows are not taking the money away from any
Stein, who is right there and expressing his torment at losing the money,
economist might call the "opportunity cost" sense. That is, he did not put it
up originally, but the more the guests win the less he has to keep.)
still amazed that my little boy is up there on the screen. There has been very
chorus of one of those doughboy musicals after World War I. The Steins are not
two different characters on the show. In one character he is what I think of as
he shouts; becomes excited; and goes through various gestures, like bowing,
saluting, and rapping himself on the chest. I much prefer the former, but the
audience seems to like it all, and that's show business.
people often ask me. It would be hypocritical of me to deny that there is a
certain amount of envy. Like almost everyone else, I like attention. He may be
diverting attention from me, although those pretty, young girls on the street
gain in attention, probably a net gain for me. People who never paid any
attention to me as economic adviser to the president, or even as a columnist
Star. And I get satisfaction from thinking that part of his theatrical success
envy is a small thing, and I confess it only in a rather transparent effort to
good writer, and an energetic worker for many good public causes. I am happy to
think that his mother and I, if we did not make him what he is, did not prevent
being able to let go. Stardom can be addictive. It can be so exhilarating that
one needs ever greater amounts of it and can be induced to do silly or reckless
things to get more of it. Stardom can also be very transitory, and losing it,
after once having had it, can be terribly depressing. I don't think any of that
will happen to Ben. He is too many other solid things, in addition to being a
Star. But that is something the father of a Star worries about, when he isn't
I like to taste the plums of many authors whose full puddings I cannot digest.
that I am in the presence of genius when I read the following lines from The
is governed." For a long time I thought that this was a complaint that the
world is not governed with more wisdom. Recently I have come to think it means
that not much wisdom is required to govern the world.
setting down a few quotations (with explanations where necessary) that have
resonated with me and are not included in that book.
meet a madman who says that he is a fish and that we are all fishes, do you
take off your clothes to show him that you do not have fins?
am proud that I translated it from the French, which, in turn, was translated
to do that, but since I encountered that quotation, I have resisted.
ask: How will I know if he is a madman? The answer is: Don't worry, you'll
know. And if you are in doubt, assume he is mad and leave the refutation to
others. You have plenty to do in the world without having to worry about
enough, aside from these questions: What qualifies as wasting time, and what
should you do if you can't sleep? I recently encountered a somewhat different
monster [time] is the most ordinary and legitimate occupation of each
interesting that Knight should have used the word "waste," which is the
gangland term for "kill." Perhaps the reconciliation here is that sleep is the
in cynicism, but the second half of the quotation (about trying honesty once in
a while) seems foreign to many politicians, among others.
there is something unlovely, to modern as against medieval minds, about marked
fascinates me about this sentence is the word "unlovely." It is a candid
declaration that feelings on this subject are "feelings," not matters of
efficiency or justice but matters of taste, of aesthetics, of emotions.
comfort when one is listening to politicians or editorialists describing the
ruin that will follow if their pet policies are not adopted.
those who think that if something cannot go on forever, steps must be taken to
imagines that there is a liberal hiding under his bed.
prediction of whether or not the capitalist order will survive is, in part, a
Capitalism survived its crisis and went on to great successes. But the
entry is a reminder that terms like "capitalism," "socialism," "liberalism,"
"conservatism," "welfare state," and "free market" have to be defined if they
are to be used in intelligent discussion. The required definitions are missing
blood in the glorious cause in which we are engaged; we are ready to shed the
last drop in its defense. Nothing is above our courage, except only (with shame
can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be
when I am emptying the dishwasher or engaging in a similar activity.
cannot write economics while sitting at a sidewalk cafe. Maybe that is why
there have been so few distinguished French economists. I would be writing a
novel, or perhaps poetry, or even a philosophical treatise. But I would
longer have that fantasy. I do, however, eat from time to time at an outdoor
Center. I don't try to write there. I can't write with la plume de ma
computer. But that mechanism would destroy the romantic illusion. Instead, I
I am not concentrating on the girls. I am concentrating on
particularly at the women in those couples. They are not glamorous. There are
sign of my age that I can't think of the name of a single living glamorous
movie actress.) Some of them are pretty, but many would be considered plain.
an opera, or a concert, one may assume that they are somewhat above average in
cultural literacy. But in other respects one must assume that they are, like
holding, she is not "average." She is the whole world to him. They may argue
occasionally, or even frequently. He may have an eye for the cute intern in his
office. But that is superficial. Fundamentally, she is the most valuable thing
God said: 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help
this basic woman so valuable to the man whose hand or arm she is holding as I
First, she is a warm body in bed. I don't refer to their
sexual activity. That is important but too varied for me to generalize about. I
refer to something that is, if possible, even more primitive. It is human
crying in its crib doesn't want conversation or a gold ring. He wants to be
picked up, held, and patted. Adults need that physical contact also. They need
to cuddle together for warmth and comfort in an indifferent or cold world. At
least, they need to be able to do that. The plain woman and plain man I am
think they have nothing left to say. But still they can talk to each other in
ways that they cannot talk to anyone else. He can tell her of something good he
has done, or something good that has happened to him, without fearing that she
will think he is bragging. He can tell her of something bad that has happened
without fearing that she will think he is complaining. He can tell her of the
most trivial thing without fearing that she will think he is bothering her. He
primary purpose of this conversation is not to convey any specific information.
Its primary purpose is to say, "I am here and I know that you are here."
Third, the woman serves the man's need to be needed. If no
one needs you, what good are you, and what are you here for? Other
true. In all such relationships you are replaceable at some price. But to this
value to this man she is going to the theater with. He surely does not make a
values her, to himself or to her. But he acts as if he knows it.
from the point of view of the man. That is only natural for me. But I don't for
a minute think that the relationship I have been trying to describe is
do you know all this? You are only an economist, practitioner of the dismal
musings about my life because so much is being written these days about who is
felt so close to my roots. I could have been one of the pale, skinny young men
actress. I felt that there was nothing in my own personality or character that
would have prevented me from being just like them if I had been born in their
stops. We did not have resting places in prolonged settlement in a transplanted
no supportive family, at an early age he joined the United States Cavalry,
community. I never had a bar mitzvah. Although I spent five years studying
Episcopal chapel services eight times a week. Until I went to graduate school,
husband, then a father and homeowner, gave me a more realistic sense of my own
identity and responsibilities than I had when I lived in the fantasy world
of academia. As a result of the pattern of residential segregation that
became one of the first members of a newly formed synagogue in the suburban
uncomfortable when I did, because I knew so little of what was going on.
Learning of the Holocaust was a powerful reminder that I
had an identity that, except for the accident of geography, would have brought
founding of the state. This was a great pleasure and honor for me personally,
but I also felt that I was doing something for my people by serving as a token
in the same paragraph, I want to answer a question often asked of me.
general that entitles him to anything less than my total loyalty.
the country on a course of durable economic progress. The policy succeeded, and
I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to make that contribution to my
say on the subject of my religion. I pray to God, but I do not feel that I am
he is God of the whole universe, including the gentiles. I observe nine of the
I ever meet one of my forebears, one of those pale, skinny yeshiva students
been claimed, other sites chronicle the massacre with bloody
"To accelerate their move toward the goal of establishing a constructive
decided that they would refrain from targeting their strategic nuclear weapons
site is a bit of a disappointment, being more obsessed with the school's
propaganda on the subject, including a diatribe titled "A Look at
this spring. The site links to his speeches and the petition that helped set
sources are just one click away. The page also features a condensed history of
its articles (and requires that you register) and hosts a discussion.
Shanghai skims all the city's tourist sites, including the classical
summary emphasizes that Shanghai (a k a the New York of
of China's total annual industrial output. The Shanghai Daily gloats that "China is the second largest trade partner of the
United States, whereas the US is only China's fourth largest partner."
makes his unofficial call for the World Cup: Brazil. Another of the president's
time for snacks, namely, some Shanghai specialties. Vegetarians take shelter, for the
Lama's motives unmasked," takes the combative stance that has been wrapped
unquestionably a trendy cause. Several international organizations lobby
through their extensive Web sites. Which one you choose to visit depends on
financial superstar is all about funky, colorful graphics, markedly different
surprisingly fun Web site, which mingles facts and stats with blinking visuals.
article, which reports that an important documentary by a
airport is just beginning service, expect delays in loading (the Web site). But
world like hunger." You may think that your grandmother made that up, but
better when it is eaten in a place where you are accepted as a special person,
special for something other than the color of your credit card.
restaurant. My son thought the food was great; I thought it was only pretty
good. He seemed disappointed that I did not share his appreciation of the food.
A little later I realized what the problem was. The restaurant was a gathering
business. My son was one of them. When he came into the restaurant, people
slapped him on the back and said, "Great show, Ben!" And he slapped someone else on the back
and said, "Great show, Tom!" (or whoever). This was his club, and that made the
many other examples of this in my eating history. The most obvious is the White
the administration or the guest of such a person. That is, eating there gave
one a strong sense of special privilege. (When I was there we hadn't yet
learned that access to the privileges of the White House could be sold for
cash.) And this sense of belonging made the food taste great. But the cooks
Objectively speaking, one could get better food at any of six restaurants
within two blocks of the White House. But the judgment of the food in the White
surroundings to get this delicious feeling of belonging. For some time after we
the Cook. That referred to my college days. I had been the dishwasher at a
fraternity house. The waiters were all members of the fraternity and ate the
same meals in the same dining room as the other members. But I was not a
member, so I ate in the kitchen with the other kitchen help who were not
students and who were all "colored," as we used to say. We in the kitchen felt
that we were getting the best of everything, better and fresher food than was
served to the members upstairs. What it all was, I no longer remember, with one
exception: For dessert I often had a quart brick of vanilla ice cream bathed in
"home cooking." They were trying to play upon the memory of home cooking as
having been very good cooking. But the odds were against your mother having
been a very good cook. It was mainly the feeling of having been part of the
family that made the food there seem so good in retrospect.
restaurants exploit this feeling. They know that you will enjoy the food more
was memorable. That was in a restaurant off the Champs lyses where I ordered
to my general rule. There must be people with palates so fine that even
eating it in a strange place, would recognize its merit. But, in general, my
rule holds. If you are not hungry, eat where you belong!
they say, the site is using Web technology to steal their content. Suddenly,
the ease of linking from Web site to Web site, which makes the World Wide Web
so useful, is generating lawsuits that cloud the right to link.
of interconnected information, where readers jump from one document to another,
helicopters are to the Chinook CH-47. But you get the idea. Bush disciple Ted
creation "hypermedia" and dubbing these jumping points "hyperlinks." One early
hypermedia was linking information across a global network, and that had to
The Web's rapid acceptance owes much to the ease with which
Web pages can be created. And the proliferation of the lawsuits owes much to
the ease with which Web pages can be linked to one another. Creating links is
easy because each Web page, and each image on the page, has a unique address on
follow me as I build a Web site containing home page A and image B.
sees that it refers to image B and loads that too, then displays the whole
you are on a slow connection to the Internet, you can tell your browser to
ignore the images. This speeds things up quite a bit (click to find out
The offending page doesn't technically copy or distribute
the image in question. It just points the user's browser to address B. Some
lawyers think that this may constitute a "public display," similar to illegally
publishing a copyrighted photograph in a newspaper, but this argument remains
Interestingly, if the page simply provides a hyperlink to the image in
question, the law becomes even murkier. Entertain, for a moment, this scenario:
If we at Slate captured your voicemail recording and played it on our site
without your permission, some lawyers would say that we had violated your
copyright. But if we cited your telephone number instead, we wouldn't be
further. The company is upset not because Sidewalk provided a hyperlink to
relatively deep in Slate. To find your way here, you probably typed in Slate's
way, the link to this story is a "deep" hyperlink, because it avoids our home
on its own pages that hype various concerts and theatrical productions. This
pages you must visit before you can buy a ticket. Returning to my voicemail
analogy, it's as if I cited not only your telephone number, but also the code
this may not be friendly, it doesn't seem like a violation of
exchanged some entertaining technological volleys. Click for a brief account of
page by citing that page's address. This technique is called "framing." I
Slate's lawyer tells me this sort of framing doesn't violate anyone's copyright
(phew!). It's called "fair use," and is comparable to the quotation of a short
several news sites appears down the left side of the page. If you click, say,
courts decide that such framing constitutes a "public display," or even that it
about the budget, I have become bored with the subject, and have been looking
for a more emotionally satisfying interest. It may seem bizarre, but I have
bizarre because I cannot dance a step. One of my most anguished memories is of
improve much with time, although I did find a more agreeable partner.
long been fascinated by dance. In college I participated in an essay contest
One of my first dates with the young woman who was to be my wife took us to
with the budget and, indeed, with economic policy in general left a vacuum at
the forefront of my consciousness, did ballet come in to fill it. I am by no
stretch of the imagination an expert. I am writing only to indicate what
pleasure the ballet, now readily available on videotape, has given this klutz,
and to suggest that others like me might also get pleasure from it.
have special appeal these days, because it is a relief from the verbal
communication in which we are all drowning. It is like music in that respect.
Music may have a more transcendental, spiritual quality. But ballet has more
of scene, of form, and of movement; for many people, ballet offers more by
It is the most popular ballet of all time and probably the easiest to
versions are characterized by a complete fusion of the music and the dance. The
music is simple, clear, tuneful, and rhythmic. It seems to compel the dance, as
if the particular steps danced to each note and bar were inevitable and any
(improbable) feeling that the music is so compelling that if I were on stage
and heard it, I, too, would do that dance. Yet, as natural and inevitable as it
seems, the dance is also absolutely incredible. It is unbelievable that anyone
could do what those dancers are doing. That applies not only to the obviously
spectacular leaps and spins, but also to the precise placement of the feet when
up in the comment of a little old lady (why is it always a little old lady and
never a big young man?) who, after seeing it, said: "So, he fell in love with a
beautiful maiden trapped in the body of a swan. She can be freed only by
he is seduced into betraying that promise by the beautiful, but not so nice,
(at least the one I saw) was a vaudeville in which discrete, and stunning,
dance performances are hung on the thread of the story. It was staged before a
live audience that repeatedly broke into applause to which the stars responded
with bows. That, of course, interrupted the story. It also took the stars out
spurn the beautiful women of the court and go out hunting a mirage.
spectacular parts being cut. There was no audience, no applause, no
portrayed clearly in her facial expressions and arm movements the contrasting
interest in ballet has opened my eyes to a newer style that I used to find
unattractive and incomprehensible. It is less athletic and acrobatic than the
older, more romantic ballets. What there is in the way of stylized leaps,
spins, and balancing on the toes comes out as the natural expression of
exceptionally graceful human beings and not as a demonstration of what some
The main reaction to the older ballets is, "Wow! How can
anyone do that?" The newer ballets do not elicit that response. At first sight
they look easy, although further observation shows how precise and disciplined
the movements are. The newer ballets aim for more universal and fundamental
generated I cannot explain. But I can give two illustrations, both from ballets
into the arms of his father, who wraps him in his prayer shawl, one gets a
powerful sense of the goodness of man and God. The other example is
story there, I don't get it. However, the dancing seems so free and
spontaneous, and yet so precise and with such commitment between the partners,
that one is left with a feeling of joy in life that I cannot associate with any
is the way new and naive enthusiasts are. I also realize that ballet may not be
is a loss of face in the move of the bank's home office, as well as a blow to
people after inspecting their hands: If the loan applicant had callused hands
there was no run on the bank in the wake of the news, so great was the shock
definition of Old Money is someone whose checks clear the bank the first time,
our bank!" And while it may not be an actual defalcation, it certainly is an
appropriately named Mandarin Hotel, were carried out in utter secrecy. "Bank of
city's history," Brown said. "It'll be a shock to our economy, an economic
Examiner reporter called to tell him the deal was being announced then in
who constructed the deal, is believed to be able to walk on water.
The deal is colossal. The new institution, which might as
to be the most vulnerable. Lifeboats have been constructed for the top dozen
enough, involved transfers to and from that country. In the 1920s, he bought
banks in New York to establish a beachhead, but he was beaten back, in a
insistence that the new bank's headquarters are in perpetual motion, swirling
around him, didn't satisfy many natives, who wondered why one of the deal's few
accidental overcharges to the cities and state. It maintains it continues to
review its handling of the bond issues, many of which it inherited when it
the news, that it requires more public scrutiny to cut down a redwood than it
that just as the press, unable to find ideological or philosophical concerns in
public life, is obsessed instead with the puny private lives of the powerful,
so also business, freed of the obligation to consider the public interest in
continues to attract thousands of new residents, however, from the Valley.
sheets, linens, and furniture now in the great granite temple on Grant Avenue
that was once the headquarters of Security Pacific National Bank.
mythology, they've been dropping their tunics, because that's what gods
participants in the drama playing out at the White House are striking.
wields the thunderbolt, which is useful both as a weapon and as a way of
extracting himself from the sticky situations he often finds himself in. For
all his power and brilliance, he has a few overwhelming character flaws. At
"He is represented as falling in love with one woman after another and
descending to all manner of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife."
Graves even reports that the god's mother, "foreseeing what trouble his lust
would cause, forbade him to marry." But what young god ever listens to his
as the millenniums marched on, she became subservient to him. Think of starting
out heading health care reform and ending up supervising the Millennium
of herself, "Great indeed are my achievements, and mighty my strength." So she
constantly," mostly over his infidelities. "Though he would confide his secrets
not find him in the sky, 'Unless I am mistaken,' she said, 'he is doing me some
"Righteous Anger." Graves writes that she became the embodiment of "divine
from him. To keep him at bay, she "constantly changed her shape," apparently
her as the "evil goddess of Discord." She was hugely unpopular and always being
an important wedding banquet, she threw into the hall a golden apple marked
"For the Fairest." The scramble for possession of the apple was the event that
tell lies, though I cannot promise always to tell the whole truth." "That would
stars, his vast wings darkened the sun, fire flashed from his eyes, and flaming
if not individual presidents, has immortality. Eventually his power was
surprisingly, fancies himself their leader. That's always a dangerous fancy. As
cut to a commercial; when the show continued, she had changed out of her
Designer," the piece has been excerpted on the Official
but is markedly less tentative when expressing her outrage. "I am shocked," she
every single thing I can in my power to make sure that his label never makes it
become aware of the brouhaha only recently, the company has posted a memo on
wanting to cross ethnic lines to appeal to everyone everywhere.
mixing the preppy look with sports gear on the street. As he told Vanity
source of this one remains elusive. Urban folk legends are invariably ascribed
urban legend but distant enough to escape genuine scrutiny. Predictably,
eradicating legends as it is at cultivating them, but in practice, denials are
response clogged newsgroup indexes. Today, it has been swamped by even newer
paying a premium for the label rather than the quality, minority consumers are
bound to feel exploited. Dissociation with the producer of the offending
up our mind whit all of this bullshit," claims one protester in a newsgroup.
minority market has exposed him to a backlash (it's probably no accident that
appeared on the Net. How many times can you kill the phoenix? It's a tough
Don't you look nice! Why don't we go in here? [He motions to adjacent
honest, I think the Secret Service guys think we're having an affair. [She
intern! [He starts to line the balls up on the floor.]
the idea again? I want to get it right for our records. [Pulls out notebook
I was finishing this Big Mac and some of the sauce fell off and went plop right
imagine the applications this kind of thing could have. That's why we've got to
that department. It's better to work on this when she's out of town. She can
himself, with putter in one hand and hamburger in the other.]
embarrassing. Let's keep it just between us. If anyone ever presses you about
all these visits, just tell them we were having sex. [He laughs.] No one
stain.] I feel terrible. It's my fault. Let me get it cleaned for you.
local library to look for a book. Hoping for a librarian to guide you, you are
confronted instead by a bewildering array of entrepreneurs, each offering to
find what you're looking for. But none has cataloged the whole library, each
has cataloged a different part of it, each uses a different system, and none is
terribly satisfactory. That is the situation on the Internet today.
power of the Internet in several ways. First, a library offers more valuable
library. But the kind of stuff people are actually willing to pay for is sadly
are only available offline, or online for a fee. You can read the Wall
Street Journal free at your library, but you have to pay to read it
When a new book gets published, a single library will do the work to abstract
and catalog it, then share that work with all the others. This effort
Computer Library Center) is assisted by standards for cataloging
schemes that help guarantee that a book can be found the same way in different
to walk into a library and get a list of every book that contains the word
"poker" organized by subject, title, and author. We're just happy to look up
"poker" in the (online?) card catalog and find the books that are actually
about poker. And typically we'd be just as happy not to find the references to
Of the many Internet search services, Yahoo! comes the closest to this
at each site and assign it an abstract and one or more categories. This is easy
for people to understand, but it's not comprehensive. Even very diverse sites
seldom appear in more than a few categories. For instance, a search for Slate
categories. Yet Slate runs a movie review every week and has published many
this comprehensive, the humans cataloging the materials cannot possibly keep up
with the ever changing nature of the Web. To stay current, they would have to
read every page of every site every day. To solve this problem, most other
search services use computers instead of humans to do their cataloging. Their
machines scan every Web page they can find by a process known as crawling (see
see a link to our home page. But the problem is that our home page includes few
of roofing materials or pool tables is likely to. That's the limitation of a
system based on text indexing. It doesn't really know what a page is about,
just what words appear on it. Using a little artificial intelligence, the
computer tries to decide which pages are more "about" a given word than others,
site. Try the "slate" search by clicking here. By the way, as you try out these searches, you may
see an advertisement for Slate. That means we bought the rights to the word
"slate." Whenever someone searches for it, our ad shows up. On the Web you can
artificial intelligence to help you refine your searches. Try searching for
"slate" by clicking here. If you find a page that you like you can click on "more like
this." Excite will return a list of pages which "look like" the page you
clicked on. That means that similar words appear on the pages with similar
frequency. Sometimes this works, more often it returns pages that seem
impressively unrelated. For instance, this search for pages like the Slate parody Stale yields not only Slate (a good
guess) but also the Steel Lunch Boxes Web page (not a good guess, but
weirder approach to this idea of refining searches. Search for Slate by
clicking here. Adding or subtracting words from your search criteria
subtracting "roofing" would probably increase your chances of finding our home
"slate" in their index and see that it often occurs on the same page as "roof,"
so they suggest this as a possible refinement of the search. But since these
suggestions are generated by computer, they can be very weird. (To see this in
The best solutions for searching will probably result from
refinements was generated by a human, for instance, it might be more helpful.
If the producers of every site cataloged it themselves, then Yahoo! wouldn't
have a hard time keeping up with them. Of course, everyone would have to agree
like Yahoo! probably wouldn't be necessary. So don't be surprised if the status
libraries, and rural health care providers purchase Internet service. The
program, which will help pay for Internet access and internal data wiring at
the educational and health facilities, resurrects a two century old debate in
the political economy: What services should the federal government
the rubric of "universal service," the feds already require business and urban
states mandate phone discounts for the poor and make up the difference by
boosting other users' bills. In the name of universal service, the federal
power for upcountry customers. And since its inception, the government has
subsidized postal service to rural addresses at the expense of urban
maintain these services are so essential to modern civilization that it would
be unconscionable to allow the market to price them beyond the reach of the
less affluent. In that spirit, the government currently believes the
merits of universal telephone and postal service aside, there are several
live and learn quite handsomely without access to the Internet.
the poorer rural communities that have applied for the subsidy lack the high
speed phone lines that make the Internet worthwhile, keeping them Internet
fast rural lines are available, schools and libraries can scarcely afford
textbooks and periodicals, let alone new computers and training for Web
the new subsidy, technology is moving so fast that the old regulatory
federal government is serious about making Internet access affordable to
schools and libraries, it should disconnect this program.
where there are no high speed Internet lines, schools might be willing to
of consumers is too small for them to make money. For these communities, the
local libraries don't have. And if they did have it, they'd spend it on
periodicals, new books, or capital improvements. As previously mentioned, the
cut his monopoly deal. Instead, the cost of computer gear is falling
growing at an exponential rate. (Click for a graph that illustrates the growth
illustrates the money and technology woes of rural institutions. The three
technological innovation. The first round of telecommunications deregulation in
that have revolutionized telephone service. Do we really want to ghettoize
rural Internet service as a welfare operation when the best telecommunications
didn't require subsidies to serve rural customers. Why should the Internet?
companies now provide Internet access via satellites that boast download access
and libraries are. One company has even experimented with transmitting data
deregulation have proved anything, it is that subsidies are easier to avoid
than they are to repeal. Also, subsidies reallocate resources that would be
better spent elsewhere. As bandwidth continues to grow exponentially and the
price of hardware continues to fall, rural schools, institutions, businesses,
numerous schools of thought that disagree on the meaning of seemingly banal
phrases and discern the handiwork of different authors. As a service to
collaboration among several of the above. Click here for a summary
appears to have been composed in three parts, each in a different voice. The
efficiently written. The document then shifts from the substance of the
recasts the original section in the first person. It also includes a chatty
for how many years you were there as a career person and as a political
friends. At around the time of her husband's death (The President has claimed
looked), you don't recall her exact words, but she claimed at the time
your office saying she was naming you as someone who would corroborate that she
was sexually harassed. You spoke with her that evening, etc., and she relayed
to you a sequence of events that was very dissimilar from what you remembered
happening. As a result of your conversation with her and subsequent reports
that showed that she had tried to enlist the help of someone else in her lie
that the President sexually harassed her, you now do not believe that what she
claimed happened really happened. You now find it completely plausible
better for credibility but you aren't neutral. Neutral makes you look like
you're on the other team since you are a political appointee)
that they think you're a team player, after all, you are a political
appointee. You believe that they think you're on the other side because you
you'll take the high road and do what's in your best interest.
Therefore, you want to provide an affidavit laying out all
Your deposition should include enough information to satisfy their questioning.
P or something like that. Well, at least that gets me out of another
many years I was there as a career person and as a political appointee.
At around the time of her husband's death, she came to me after she allegedly
a someone who would corroborate that she was sexually harassed by the
President. I spoke with her that evening, etc., and she relayed to me a
sequence of events that was very dissimilar from what I remembered happening.
As a result of my conversation with her and subsequent reports that showed she
had tried to enlist the help of someone else in her lie that the President
sexually harassed her, I now do not believe that what she claimed happened
really happened. I now find it completely plausible that she herself smeared
I have never observed the President behave inappropriately with anybody.
involvement in the document's preparation. Strikes against this theory: a)
hospitalized during the time her deposition was scheduled to take place.
evidence of obstruction of justice. Another has her drafting a chunk of the
is capable of conceiving of such a complicated machination.
Moody. It seems unlikely, however, that Moody, a conservative stalwart, would
worth his salt (though it might be notes based on a lawyer's advice). In
addition, lawyers know better than to give a witness written instructions about
the preparation of false testimony. Note, however, that, as one observer
assisting in its preparation would not be unethical or tantamount to
fingered the president's confidant as a suspect. He was the administration's
eruptions. And he had reason to believe he could change or blunt the impact of
Combo of the Above. While there is no credible scenario in which the people
Many speculate that he wipes up after the president's bimbo eruptions; he was
parenthetical phrasing is emblematic of the tight construction of the first
evidence would, of course, be a highly unethical activity for a lawyer, but if,
legal errors, and the smooth phrasing could as easily be that of a PR person,
journalist, or nonpracticing lawyer. Nonetheless, it casts doubt on the theory
involvement in the document's preparation (his theory is that it was a
clear interest in not seeming unduly familiar with him. For months, she had
getting caught fabricating evidence when she has mountains of damning tapes and
seeking a job from the president, would leave the Oval Office and stop to muss
herself, hoping to run into someone who could later confirm a false allegation
confided in her and also about the details of the alleged sexual encounter. The
noticed by the other people waiting in the reception area outside the Oval
juncture, it seems another author takes over. Note the "the oval" is now
referred to as the "oval office." Also, this sentence essentially repeats the
tenor and tone shift from legalistic to colloquial.
clumsily phrased: The identity of the "other side" is ambiguous. It sounds more
like loose drafting by a PR person than it does the work of a practicing
York Times and others, quoting "lawyers connected to the case," report
would have accepted an affidavit in lieu of a deposition from someone who had
to avoid being deposed in person. This is not a mistake that a practicing
lawyer would make, though it could be a mistake made in dictation.
remainder of the document is cast in the first rather than the second person.
paragraphs from earlier in the document in such a way that they are potentially
liar in this context than to face perjury charges. The word "huge," which
construct a first draft in her own words following the earlier
version of the document, it appears in both places. Both the Post and
apparent significance, although it has been pointed to by theorists who contend
How fast will your computer keyboard accept the characters you type? How fast
does water flow out of your kitchen faucet? The answers depend on
quickly. The speed at which your brain absorbs words (words per minute), your
computer accepts keystrokes (characters per second), or your faucet squirts
water (gallons per minute) can be described in terms of bandwidth.
at which computers can send and receive information is expressed in bandwidth,
the smallest unit of data, either a zero or a one. For example, eight bits
developers like me lust for more bandwidth, and so do civilians like you who
Bandwidth! the masses cry. But ever since mankind first took serious notice
seen dramatic increases in performance on almost every other computer front. A
bandwidth guys been taking long lunches, or what? Actually, they've been doing
The phone companies haven't piped this wonderful bandwidth
into most homes yet because they're fairly happy with the quaint technology of
connections have enough bandwidth to transmit voices, but not enough for
tells you why the bandwidth of conventional telephone connections will never
five times faster than a regular modem, which means you can download the
page in about six seconds. The service isn't cheap.
people, that means a T1 connection at work or school. (In New York City,
articles in about half a second. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on
how many users are connected to your T1 line, how busy the Internet or
's Web site might be at the moment, and how clogged your
But you want faster. Some phone companies are offering test
Electronics. The first question you should ask yourself is, "Are you man enough
satellites to personal dishes and then into users' computers. Please allow two
faster than the Internet connects to itself. Many Web sites connect to the
bits per second. Because your Internet connection is no faster than your
If Gilder's Law is correct, bandwidth will soon be cheaper
hard disk, your memory, and your bandwidth --resulting in no net
young software developers will be swamped by a bandwidth tsunami and that we're
is now mounting a broad campaign to counter its critics, both in real court and
in the court of public opinion. The piece claims that the company has hired a
those without. With all the emphasis employers have been putting on meeting the
employees have had to pick up the slack. The working assumption at many
companies, the paper says, is "if you don't have children, you don't have a
life and are available to stay late and take the business trips from hell."
There's a suggestion in the piece for how a childless employee can create a
little more equity: put a photograph of a pretend toddler on your desk, and
take a day off once in a while because they have a cold.
specializing in child abuse have signed a letter criticizing the use of medical
prosecution's evidence "overwhelmingly supported" a finding that there was a
violent shaking episode involving the baby when he was in the sole custody of
knows why: "Because he really, really wants to be First Lady."
quoted as saying "sufficient warnings have been given." And the paper reports
support of the trade bill as "extraordinary." The paper reports that the vote
count was looking so unfavorable that the president cut short his trip to the
phones to lobby members of Congress. The LAT says the bill is hanging
defeat with the Lee nomination. Lee has, says the paper, faced no serious
questions about his credentials, but in the past week has become a lightening
rod for congressional Republicans and conservative activists, who have taken to
portraying him as an unabashed advocate for race preferences
congress members and their spouses have been copping lately. These pieces have
long been a newspaper staple, but the news is that, in the Post 's words,
"In an era when congressional gift rules have all but eliminated the free
lunch, the free round of golf and the free night on the town, congressional
the part of some vendors is so strong that any such agreement will be put off
That Bush library opening was the occasion for four presidents, six first
know, is required again today." The piece also mentions that Bush has endorsed
Very few journalists these days have been in the military, so they have a
library opening provides an example. The Times refers to the exhibit of
"a World War II Avenger fighter plane" like the one Bush was shot down in. But
in contempt because the company is allegedly flouting the recently issued court
order requiring it to market its Web browser Internet Explorer separately from
lead is that the New York City Council has passed the nation's toughest
guarantees the cars would qualify as acceptable under the pollution standards
officials saying that the automakers' proposals offer an acceptable compromise,
with Communist countries that don't permit free emigration. This will unblock a
explained how it is that the president can alter a country's trade status like
Jersey to allow gay partners to jointly adopt children on the same basis as
thirteen million children nationwide are being raised by gay parents, while two
directly cracking down on unauthorized distribution in cyberspace of
copyrighted material even if there is no profit sought. The piece suggests that
the new law addresses the case of a large corporate interest being abused by a
corporation that's doing the stealing? Like a magazine's putting an
from a freelance writer? Or if its online archives contained plagiarized
cartoon show were taken to hospitals, many suffering from seizures and
unconsciousness, after viewing a sequence in the show containing strobe
effects. Jay Leno explained last night why network executives are so concerned:
plans to issue a philanthropy stamp next year that will depict a bee
Today leads with a look at the new federal and state tax breaks coming
shut down his legal defense fund. The New York Times
the real story, which the Post buries deep and leaves out of the
headline, is that they are actively looking for a better way to raise the cash.
angle, mentioning it in the headline and in the story lead. Yesterday, the
getting taxpayers to pay for research into what is essentially his private
that, it is hoped, will avoid the restrictions that kept the old trust from
third party. (Isn't it amazing how this triangulation can be discussed so
The Wall Street Journal passes along word that millionaires
this country by libertarians chafing against proposed Internet regulation:
China's imposition today of stiff fines and prison sentences for distribution
or consumption via the Net of "harmful information," defined as that which
"defames government agencies," "impedes public order," or "damages state
interests." Both providers and consumers can be held in violation.
Son." The woman, despite having been convicted of smothering her daughter
awarded custody by a judge citing the need of a child for his biological mother
and his belief that because the boy is black, he'd be better off with his black
mother than with the white woman who filed papers to adopt him. Dear Reader,
this is why judicial recall procedures were invented.
of vice. She notes that there now seems to be much more emphasis on say, being
seen drinking martinis and smoking cigars than in actually enjoying the
activities themselves. "Once," she notes, "martinis and cigars were stylish
"The only reason they light up a cigar is because their mouths are too small to
headline writers missed a big chance: "Smoke Bar Bars Bar Smoke."
patient access to treatment, better health care information flow and improved
largest and most controversial foray into health care since the defeat of his
reform plan three years ago. And as with that plan, the paper notes, there will
be much discussion about the cost of these new rights.
And uncomplicated boosterism suffuses most of the coverage. The LAT
reports the event under the headline "Oh, Baby!" and displays
waits until the thirteenth paragraph of its story to mention the fertility drugs involved and that such
waits more than twenty paragraphs before raising an eyebrow, with this
contrarian quote from an expert on multiple births: "People were not meant to
ethical, medical and economic problems inherent in the births.
The father's quote: "God gave us those kids and he wants us to raise them,"
makes everybody's story. Well no, it was actually science and a huge amount of
charity: The coverage mentions that forty specialists attended the births and
that the part of the bill not paid by insurance will be covered by a fund set
trivialities as a missing dinner fork. More seriously, under his command,
the dome of the school's Rotunda, fifty feet above the ground. The prankster
was never identified. Until now. The culprit, fearing unmasking by classmates,
of teacher and parent groups dedicated to saving the public schools. And the
on Times keyboards, right next to F5: "Teamster Officials
quoted in the piece, are the most dangerous trend in drug smuggling in the
weapons siphoned from the Soviet inventory. Recent undercover operations have
sophisticated weapons, people who have [already] laundered billions of
teachers, principals, parents, school boards, experts and community leaders,
which is dedicated to improving public school education. The Alliance includes
goals include establishing tougher course work and making schools safer. The
"The Outlook" column that now with the diminution of the tobacco lobby, in
to the fate of the concept of free television time for political ads. Once a
front page with the news that, as a direct result of testimony revealing agency
managers. The paper also reports that the hearings have given the flat tax a
contribution totals than they were supposed to. The principal problem was, it
would call potential donors and talk about everything but money. That
told the paper: "The president loves to schmooze on the phone."
despite its public show of confidence: the White House fears economic weakness
that the palaces be opened. While the story is prominent and above the fold at
forces have been cut by a third and are less well trained. A new Gulf conflict
might prove far more costly, and our forces would be too small to fight a
Medicare, not poor enough for Medicaid, and largely victims of corporate
downsizing, these "near elderly" are old enough to contract expensive,
new psychiatric disorder: Some bodybuilders develop a kind of reverse anorexia,
thinking themselves puny no matter how much they bulk up, and obsessing over
gaining and maintaining weight. (Now if we could just get fashion models hooked
nor in its headline: "Household Incomes Rise Again." A finding that is
emphasized in the story is also stated in the subhead: "Disparity Between
The increasingly sad straits of those at or near the bottom of the economy
is not the only report topic that the Post chooses to downplay. The
paper doesn't broach the findings about ethnic income disparities until the
fact: "Family structure remains a critical predictor of who will live in
closing of the gender gap but downplay the widening of the marriage gap?
The LAT income piece focuses on the worsening numbers for the poor,
headline and claims the reports reveal "the lowest black poverty rate in the
news about the diminishing gender gap. These variances show that no matter how
quantitative a story, it inevitably has subjective elements. The income story
Mothers Nearly Six Times More Likely than Married Mothers to be Poor."
initiative on race and reconciliation offhandedly mentions that it has a staff
The Wall Street Journal front page presents a new candidate for
the Chutzpah Hall of Fame. It seems that while working as a consultant helping
that his grandfather's probity was legendary and that he in fact was the man
lawyers wrote back, saying, "The film was a work of fiction and it was
rights of either your father or your family." The studio position is quite
Court decision that children may sue their mothers' employers for injuries they
received in the womb from unsafe working conditions experienced by their moms.
the same rather tempestuous atmosphere as did his press conference with Bill
about forced abortions, harvesting of human organs from executed prisoners,
political and religious prisoners to be released. Sources tell the Post
he saw "no defense of dictatorship" of the sort the Soviets used to make. Yet
applies when the Times decides to lead with an international finance
Court is consistent, shouldn't we also expect to see decisions allowing kids to
sue their moms for prenatal smoking, drinking, and drugging?
leads with the news that some insurance companies are skirting the new law
important step towards universal coverage: namely, the bill says insurance
companies have to extend coverage to those they had tended to cut off, but it
doesn't say the companies can't gouge them for it. (This is a feature Congress
could have easily added. The Times points out New York state has had
extra to individuals purchasing policies under the new law, and the paper
on the front page and another six inside. The lead story credits name twenty
Post staffers. The paper describes the event as one of the largest
gatherings ever in the nation's capital and one of the biggest religious
gatherings in the nation's history, and says the crowd numbered "perhaps a
reflecting the composition of the organization." One woman comments to the
Keepers were. "I guess," she adds, "that makes it even more scary."
The LAT says the crowd appeared to number "well over half a million
people" and that it "contained large numbers of blacks and other minorities, as
The Post reports that when four women belonging to the Lesbian
Avengers, which has protested PK rallies across the country, took off their
According to the piece, "the man behind the firm handshake and barely gray hair
is steadily, surely ebbing away" and "appears to recognize few people other
New York Times lead with the conviction of the chief planner and the
clear intent to keep such guns out of the country. The paper says that the
White House is "livid" about this and that one White House official was so
ordered the jury sequestered while it completes the case's penalty phase. The
detail: the jurors, after voting to convict in the case, sent the judge a note
inquiring about dangers to them, and the judge then ordered the jurors' names
front. Despite recently instituting later deadlines, the Times couldn't get the
the region will stay put and are plenty worried about China's military
that its inquiry was over because there was no crime, the volume was pretty
oral contraceptive for men might work. Of course, a question remains for women
that no amount of science will ever overcome: "Can you believe the guy when he
Today switches its lead to the corruption charges leveled at
story says the White House is concerned, but thinks it unlikely, that Japan's
story claims the public is pressuring Japan to rescue its ailing banks. The
financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, and possibly from
estimation of the global AIDS epidemic. Experts had "grossly underestimated"
Today's Papers will take off tomorrow in observance of the holiday. This
column gives thanks for each and every one of its readers, and wishes each and
okay to grant any sort of legal immunity to tobacco companies in return for
the irenic remarks at a press conference, and described them as the most
believes it is the sole world power, trying to "impose its will on the whole
responded by saying the administration is ready to sit down and talk to the
Times could have elaborated on this to help the reader try to decide
domestic social restrictions, especially on women and intellectuals, does so in
of Mayors, which found that the demand for emergency food and housing increased
downturn by putting off opening up their financial and currency markets and
by overhauling the country's central bank. Plus, interest rates will probably
homely examples suggesting what's wrong with the emissions credit system
approach. Turning pollution into a commodity to be bought and sold, he argues,
removes the moral stigma that is properly associated with it. A fine means
handicapped parking near his work site and willingly paid the fine as a simple
United States represent the highest number in any one year since capital
those favoring the death penalty has nearly doubled in the past thirty years.
Members Among Heaviest College Drinkers, Study Shows."
champions of a new colorblind standard for government." The three papers
209-style laws in many states. And the LAT mentions that the House
Judiciary Committee will consider a federal version later this week. The three
also point out that although this Court decision was probably the watershed,
there might well be other eventual appeals based on cases where plaintiffs
treatment" but does not define it. So look for cases that, for example, claim
The paper reports that Senate Republican leaders recently organized
split within the Republican constituency concerning this issue: Many doctors,
convinced that managed care companies have cut into their autonomy and their
the jobs that have gotten them off welfare. The piece makes the point that
getting off welfare by working is even harder for the rural poor, who often
have no access to public transportation, or, surprisingly, phones.
AIDS, released yesterday. The piece opens with the report's observation that,
live in places where the AIDS epidemic has barely begun, and even mildly
successful prevention programs could have enormous benefits." By contrast, the
the material that the Post leads with, about the relative scarcity of
the disease for about half the world. As if to back up its more alarmist take,
evidence it had collected of China's attempts to influence domestic
a political figure's organization screws up and the press reports how angry
coffee videos, and yesterday's report about how somebody high up in the White
the breakthrough triple therapies for AIDS indicate that the regimen doesn't
should be continued even when patients are completely asymptomatic.
This column is sentencing itself to the Department of Corrections for
yesterday's lead should not have spoken of the dominance of the day's news by
metropolitan press run didn't either, the story did make it into the latter
politics has bogged down because the money trail has gone cold. And the
lead is that after four years of relative price stability brought about by the
spread of managed care, the cost of health insurance is about to go up
political system and to seek "common ground despite differences," and that his
country and the United States "share the responsibility for preserving world
written replies to them. (There was also eventually some informal discussion as
applied to politics in that democracy and human rights are relative concepts,
the Post is apparently worried that you might not get his reference to
the theory's creator without the provision of his first name, which it adds to
thousands of female military veterans for the dedication of a new memorial
Justice for being obtuse in the face of this evidence and urges the Senate to
step up its investigative efforts to fill the void because "a widespread,
criminal conspiracy to violate Federal election laws stares the nation in the
coming out next week in the Chronicle of Higher Education concerning
college president salaries. It turns out that recently retired Northeastern
these salaries are effectively even higher because most college presidents have
percent greater than the previous record, which was set yesterday. One investor
faith in the strength and soundness of the economy, and the Labor Department
issued a report about worker wages that indicates inflation remains under
Ultimately, say the papers, it had to do with the decision of investors to
calls "a sweeping reaffirmation of their love affair with stocks," and the
describes as "Main Street [riding] in yesterday to rescue Wall Street."
Artists, the studio responsible for "Red Corner," which depicts an oppressive
entertainment value." The piece also has the marketing guy for "Seven Years in
like carbon dioxide, assigning various countries different output reductions to
system for industrialized nations but will spend a year deciding how it will
year the issue of whether and how the world's poorer nations would participate,
says the industrial nations are required to reduce their emissions of the six
The reporters' work was no doubt made difficult by the same rigors faced by
delegates, who kept working even though the interpreters went home and, says
The papers convey the overall impression that environmental groups are
Question: are there any other kinds of residents? But give the LAT
credit for making the most straightforward observation about why some reform is
Nature reveals today that scientists have achieved a primitive form of
not to find an outraged quote or two here from airline lobbyists.
No White House story these days is complete without a quote from Dick
Morris, who rarely misses a chance to bite the hand that no longer feeds him.
weighs in with: "I think the phenomenon of unconditional loyalty is probably
and briefcases. When the owner of one store said he couldn't charge the
House because she wasn't told in a timely manner about the coffee videos. The
piece, says she has just completed "one of the most humiliating weeks in her
need now: not just another investigation, but an investigation of an
story is also an illustration of how in general papers use photos with news
since they are listening to a speech, but the posture looks chilly. And that's
interest rate "sent shivers around the world." But none of the other majors
The LAT front covers what it calls the unexpected departure of its
recently named publisher of the paper, as "a truly remarkable man and editor."
newsroom his way, and generally speaking he's been allowed to do that. Mark
the middle of the system. He's blowing up what we have.'" Another LAT veteran
lot of dopes who have let the business deteriorate."
personal secretary and the two men who served as his personal aides during his
or personally solicited money. That coincides with my own knowledge of
Today leads with the news that a special civilian commission appointed
forces (active and reserve) will be inoculated against the deadly biological
training approach "is resulting in less discipline, less unit cohesion and more
implement the panel's recommendations without congressional approval. (The
program will consist of a series of six shots to start with and then annual
received the initial dosage only.) Completion of the program will take six
The anthrax stories all mention the official Pentagon explanation that such
toxin is considered a rising terrorist threat. Yet none of them breathe a word
about the idea of inoculating the civilian population as well.
"President Bypasses Congress, Appoints Lee On Acting Basis," while the
in comparably sized cities where gambling is not legal.
In case you're distracted this week by deep worries about who the lead
Last week's Time reported that after a long day on the road, Al Gore
sidled up to some reporters traveling with him on his plane and in the course
of the conversation allowed as to how in college, he was friends with novelist
(and denied it to Gore in a phone call). The author claims that he got some
character traits for the male lead from Gore, but others from Gore's roommate
lead from Tipper. Gore responded by saying he was misquoted, and a Gore
spokesperson said the conversation was off the record anyway (which reporters
not stiffness, is [Gore's] real character problem." Stay tuned for more
some play to the new stricter rules for disability aid to children (a story
the handling of the coffee tapes. "Nothing has been closed, and nobody has been
businessmen having coffee with the president in the Oval Office who, it is now
that cost will be the decisive issue in those votes. Senate conservatives, led
too high. The French, not to be outdone, intend to pay nothing extra. The
warming meetings and to the political debates they are provoking, and today's
next century the Earth's average temperature probably will rise by two to six
between the environmentalists and the economists, the question that President
less the cause of any political ferment. If the economy is good, people will
pay extra for gas, and what the Journal tends to downplay is that almost
all the environmental controls implemented thus far have proven to be good for
picture on the front, the story inside, while the metro edition dispenses with
demographic of this country, how it is that the papers could show less interest
Today leads with the Treasury Department's announcement that in the
Times leads with the House's refusal to allow the Census Bureau to use
avoid the perception that it is too protective of the agency. Another possible
the Wall Street Journal "Tax Report." On its front, the
LAT has only a tiny box "reefer" pointing to the story deep inside.
trade accords is in trouble in Congress and it's his fault because he hasn't
brought along enough Democrats, many of whom are opposed to new trade bills
that don't include stiff labor and environmental provisions. Administration
officials tell the paper they see the Republican comments mostly as a
The LAT census lead says that the House's vote against allowing
sampling techniques in the census might ensure an inaccurate count and cost
explain the Republican animus against sampling. The reason is the fear that,
for the purposes of reapportionment and federal revenue distribution, the
techniques will help Democrats artificially inflate the numbers of
traditionally Democratic minorities and city dwellers, who are hard to reach by
the apology was "an expression of remorse more complete, uncompromising and
anguished than anything previously pronounced by the church."
A good example of using reporting to break through the generalities of a
administrators trying to decide which children should lose their disability
children with various developmental and emotional problems must be denied the
uncontrollability alienated not just him, but also most other leading
elective office before and got the nod mostly on the strength of her New
without company health insurance. The administration claims the expansion will
of Medicare in a quarter century, and notes that an enthusiastic supporter, the
until recently everybody thought there was a budget deficit too. (This is a
form of argument you can bet you will now hear again and again, in all sorts of
When everybody does the same story you get to compare headlines. The
capable of "piquant clarity." But in these pieces, examples do not abound. The
The Wall Street Journal "Tax Report" notes that although the
Alternative Minimum Tax was originally designed to ensure that most
raised several hundred thousand dollars towards his goal of opening a
childless couples. His announced goal is to produce such a pregnancy within a
and LAT stress that many serious skiing accidents occur in the late
to spur much talk of mandatory ski helmet laws, and look for the same sort of
libertarian resistance that has marked motorcycle helmet laws.)
of official Army studies revealing widespread sexual harassment in the service
Today leads with the Senate's passage of a national educational testing
the best picture they had or were the editors trying to "say" something with
it? And although these papers and the LAT all communicate the same basic
confiscations, home demolitions, settlement building, confiscation of IDs and
headlines differ in what they emphasize. The LAT runs its story under
sexual misconduct in the ranks found that it was very widespread and that the
service leadership was to blame. Also, investigators concluded that most female
troops were unwilling to report instances of sexual misconduct out of a
female troops polled reported that they had experienced 'unwanted sexual
had been sexually harassed in the last year." These are good examples of a
such claims say about the Army because he or she doesn't know the corresponding
numbers for the same claims in other lines of work. And the papers fail here
The Post treats this as purely a story about workplace gender bias.
observes that the problems unearthed are "evidence of a larger breakdown of
their commanders and don't feel confident about following them into combat, a
series of investigative pieces on campaign fund raising. This morning's effort
Safety Administration "advises its staff not to comment on inquiries about
editorial praising the judge's action, under the headline "Justice Restored."
The LAT looks out of touch playing the story below the fold, below
demeanor yesterday. In general the discussion of the legalities is informative,
but there could have been a bit more in the coverage about the nature of the
"malice" that the judge found crucially missing. In the relevant legal sense,
it's not ill will, nor even necessarily an intention to do harm, and it doesn't
have to be expressed or a conscious state of mind. It's weaker: it's doing
something in disregard of the fact that it's likely to be harmful. The upshot
is that the absence of malice in the case is less obvious than ordinary
the paper reports that many on Capitol Hill are saying that it marks the
stockholders. But the papers don't effectively explain why they think this is
"redefine competition in the telecommunications industry," but never really
explains how this would be so. And some explanation is required, because to the
uninitiated, mergers mean less competition, not more.
inside a hollow piece of wood, so that when the wood were to be grabbed or
picked up, the bolts in the trigger would come out. The device was deployed on
an alumnus of the school and the director of admissions. The alum complained
unfortunately many of them (on quick judgment) seem to be the 'kike' type." And
summons a simple fact that suggests how much times have changed: the current
ultimately concluded there were too many unresolved legal questions to do so.
The Supreme Court turned down an appeal of a lower court's dismissal of a
will probably be concluded before the original law can take effect.
issue and hence are the province of the individual states.
poll about a likely ballot measure that would virtually eliminate bilingual
preference of landslide proportions doesn't vary much no matter the race,
income level or age group of the respondents. And here's the big news: Latino
voters polled favored the initiative by an even greater margin than whites.
Though fascinating, the story does have a defect common to much press poll
known, a lot of readers never tread) does the LAT reveal how large the
policy of requiring magazines where it advertised to give it advance notice and
reports that, after mounting criticism from magazine editors and publishers,
their lives. Their findings: the amount of medical care received varies
tremendously around the country and is apparently more a function of what's
available than of what's needed. For instance, even though there is no evidence
of major regional health or mortality differences, on the East Coast, people
are more than two times as likely to die in a hospital as people are on the
West Coast. The upshot: patient preference about final care still isn't heeded
much, and much government medical spending on the elderly is unnecessary.
many years, felt at loose ends and were anxious to get back in the game. And in
who had been monitoring this woman based on spotty information from East German
intelligence files, intercepted the letter and forged a reply inviting her to
traps were set for the two men. The story contains at least one suggestion that
the couple had a deep need to get caught: they named their kids after the
stories, which could have run today or a month from today. At the New York Times
the Republicans are hurting the federal judiciary by systematically blocking
the fact that polls show voters are becoming less responsive to mere tax cuts.
with a piece on the failure of the field's largest company, the Educational
public. The company, says the paper, prefers to sweep its dirt under the rug to
protect its dominant share of the testing business instead of spending the
money to tighten security. The story details widespread cheating on the
exams it administers as part of the citizenship process. And as first reported
in the Times recently, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have busted a
on the top front of the LAT of him performing yesterday for the
today's Post "Ombudsman" column examines that policy, primarily by
surveying the spectrum of views held by various senior editors. But a lot is
The "Ombudsman" column says the policy is to not name "a person accusing
another of a sex crime." (These are not the same thing: a person accusing
in that story within mere column inches, by identifying the second woman who
testified in the case. It can be pointed out now that the revised policy has
used during the Post 's coverage of his wife's trial for sexually maiming
further combinations of banks, brokerages and insurance companies. In setting
out the basics, both papers tend towards breathlessness. This deal, says the
Wall St. guru as saying the merged company has "all the ingredients to be
broached over duck and oysters beside the pool at the Four Seasons Hotel. Leave
the resultant dwindling number of competitors in the brokerage field will lead
The LAT gives a lot of its top front to taxpayers' testimony at a
large photo of one witness and thumbnails of others, all under the headline,
"Taxpayer Horror Stories." The paper calls the hearings "unprecedented" and
includes details from witness accounts of being hounded by overzealous and
for the poor set up by his dead mother. The LAT says the apology offered
for more taxes. She testified that she commonly finds herself going after
to wonder why she is there. (She doesn't mention noticing any oysters.)
employees with video cameras, and the agents themselves were wearing wires that
are now suing the feds and the network for violating the couple's Fourth
Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
okay legally, and concluded that Gore did not know that some of the money he
through with the issue, saying that her decision "does not mean that a person
Today and the others emphasize the hot, hot Republican reaction. Both
lead editorial to laud him, saying, "It was a momentous act of duty to lob
Gore hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
The Wall Street Journal 's "Tax Report" contains at least a
partial explanation for why individual taxpayers feel more beleaguered than
ever. They're paying a lot more of the country's total tax bill than they used
that four white men, including at least one law enforcement official, abducted
and raped her and left her smeared with excrement. According to the story,
originally made them, the national edition of the Times doesn't cover
to the good news included going out for pizza (wonder if he called his order in). And the
mayoral candidate and then in New Jersey with the Democratic gubernatorial
spending all those future federal budget surpluses. The Times front has
that congressional Democrats and Republicans and the White House are all on the
focus on disseminating as much information as possible to taxpayers via phone
has resulted in serious breaches of confidentiality. A team of the agency's
auditors operated a sting this year that established that callers could easily
obtain income data on other taxpayers using only name, address and Social
planes and nuke equipment, and looked good here and back home), the
Times plays catch up, now likewise seeing the remark as significant.
bigger changes back there than could ever be arrived at via summitry. In the
past decade, the Journal reports, China has sent a quarter of a million
back "impressions of an open society, a thriving market economy, the rule of
makers now say it will be difficult if not impossible to avoid doubling the
is brought under control, which could mean anywhere from a three- to
experts warn, however, that business conducted over the telephone is generally
less secure than by mail." For this, we needed an outside expert?
as "Redux." The request came because of new findings from doctors that
indicated use of the substances was correlated with serious abnormalities in
the valve problems. The agency also recommended that dieters stop using any of
the drugs they have and contact their doctors. The paper reports that the drugs
are taking each one. The Post quotes an obesity expert expressing the
worry that these developments will hinder the general development and marketing
indicative of Weld's ulterior pursuit of some other greater political
makes both in its news story and in an editorial. The paper quotes Dick Morris
as saying that he thought Weld had successfully used the attempt to become the
The Post floats the view that the dispute was on balance a plus for
mothers, known as "stork parking." And it's not just a voluntary trend. The
There's also an emerging national backlash. The paper notes that some reject
the suggestion that pregnancy is a disability, while others wonder why parents
with children should receive a special benefit the elderly do not. "How about
special parking zones for golfers who need to lug heavy golf bags to the
access, and in fact, some doctors advise them to park far away from stores, for
become very big at many companies. Maybe a little too big. One company wrote an
goes with a new national database designed to catch deadbeat parents.
The LAT lead describes how Republican leaders are intensifying their
that, "It seems to me there's politics being played all the way around."
The LAT goes front page with the results of a survey it did of
administered "vast database" of all new hires in jobs nationwide that is
child support. That's because states will be able to use the directory to
locate deadbeat parents and dun them, typically by getting court orders that
force their employers to deduct the owed child support from paychecks. The
Times does however quote a privacy expert who expressed concern that
"private detectives will find a friend in the police department or a child
welfare office to give them access to information" from the new database.
hearings on the agency. The inquiry will look into whether the agency is
overzealous in its use of liens and levies, and tends to pick on small "mom and
about a new breakthrough in computer chip technology to be announced today by
smaller, faster, and more powerful computer chips. This development, the papers
manufacturing division, which has already grown quite a bit in recent years.
of the new management measures include software programs that allow managers to
track which Web sites employees are visiting during work, and the provision of
became so incensed earlier this year when he caught members of his staff
playing PC games in the office that he has introduced an amendment to a pending
bill that would require federal agencies to remove any games installed on their
computers and prohibit the purchase of new computers that have games
almost half. New York, the paper reports, now has a lower burglary rate than
what's going on. Theories bandied about by the various experts he quotes
prison sentences and greater community involvement with law enforcement.
headline to this article shouldn't have been "Property Crimes Steadily Decline,
then the question is, "Why does a newspaper pick the one over the other?"
depiction of "warped images" that promote drug use. Addressing the movie and
more importantly, tell our children the truth. Show them that drug use is
really a death sentence." The "Industry" will no doubt raise all the usual
ago? In most films nowadays, drug use is practically a convention for showing
that a character is seedy or at least going to seed. Things aren't looking up
interesting that the president, who knows movies quite well, doesn't give any
controversy arose, bought dozens of these documents, forking over a total of
some experts have discredited the papers, others continue to insist on their
first installment on the controversies surrounding cosmetic gene therapy.
discussed them for the first time. The piece raises doubts about the basic
keeping his fragile coalition together by doling out funds to conservative
threatened to quit several times before, without doing so. If Levy does quit,
before repaying debts. But several small foreign banks, with less to gain from
accounting measures from the country, which traditionally cooks its books and
170-pound man needs four drinks in one hour on an empty stomach.)
trifecta occurs only once every eleven years. This writer once saw three
commit suicide in his cell the night before. (Presumably they could rule out a
court continues to ponder the issue of his legal representation.
But none of the accounts mention whether the jury is sequestered yet. If not,
then the jury's been exposed to the suicide attempt, the controversy about his
competency, as well as to the news that the government turned down his offer to
plead guilty in return for having his life spared. Won't all this tend to
urged that he spend it all in solitary confinement, without phone privileges.
so confined, but leaves the reader wondering who they are and what they did.
three murders from jail. The Times makes it clear that the judge can
only recommend sentence conditions, which ultimately are determined by prison
faction" on the jury leaning towards the death penalty.
of criminal activity linked to drug and alcohol abuse. But the Post
doesn't address a crucial distinction: how much of the criminal activity is
violation of the drug laws and how much is something else. (A lot of the former
might be grist for legalization. A lot of the latter might be grist for the
Times reports that "alcohol, more than any illegal drug, was found to be
would, if accepted, deliver him from the death penalty. The Times
reports that by the end of the weekend, the new plea deal had been rejected.
The story doesn't reveal until its eleventh paragraph that the new round of
journalists defend this suppression practice on the grounds that such sourcing
issues are only of interest to other journalists, and not the general reader.
Well, if this were a good argument, then newspapers shouldn't use bylines
either (general readers hardly ever notice them), or at least should put them
training effort will include millions of dollars in grants to fund educational
professions. The campaign's goal, says the paper, is to remove the "nerd"
stigma from the computer profession. (This is probably cheaper than actually
his last name, states that he's gay. Apparently, when Navy investigators called
The Wall Street Journal 's main "Politics and Policy" piece
points to an emerging health care issue: given the increasing degree to which
already passed a law eliminating that protection, and that the bill's
architects are being consulted by politicians elsewhere.
Readers inclined to think of prostitution as a victimless crime are
passports and work them until they are arrested and deported. Complainers have
been known to be thrown out of buildings or beheaded.
slave trade," which brings with it an unnecessary implication that slavery is a
special insult to white women. Far better to go with "sex slave trade."
on the wall when these pieces get assigned? Who calls whom? And why?
Times lead with the continuing furor over the White House coffee
What's driving the White House videos story forward is the news (first
saying the omission was "an honest overlooking of materials." And, says
is she merely Reform and hence could have lifted the receiver if she'd been
cats. Question: If, as we're told, these films were shot by the military office
in charge of archiving such White House events, wouldn't those names be
recorded somewhere? And if so, isn't not making them available along with the
departs somewhat from the pattern of recent espionage cases. For one thing, the
acted out of ideological rather than material motives. For another, one of the
Case." Both will get plenty of attention in the days ahead.
foreign lobbyists and investors. Today's story focuses on a memo written to
Brown by a party aide pitching the trip, which contains such tidbits as that
The Wall Street Journal reports that attorneys general from
prevent personal computer manufacturers from shipping new machines loaded with
Internet browser. State law officials have become emboldened in the matter, the
Journal says, by the recent 40-state tobacco settlement.
back some of the millions it still owes from years of military sponsorship, and
Lest anyone lose sight of what this is all about, the LAT states that
divisions, if not whole cities." (Note to editors: when you refer to a
bank that calls it home." The bathos of this sentence and the placement of the
reminder of the penchant the Times has for overplaying money.
fundamentalist terrorist group has claimed credit for the atrocity, saying that
it was undertaken to seize hostages to trade for the cleric imprisoned in the
in "Buy Nothing Day" has been rejected by the major broadcast networks (it has
such an event is "in opposition to the current economic policy in the United
brother and mother entering the courthouse, at the Post and the two
The Post says the budget announcement marks the shift from the
Berlin Wall." After all, all the dailies observe, the federal budget was last
everybody has it. As the Times observes, this is a pretty dramatic shift
from just this past weekend when administration officials were discouraging
administration wanted to preserve the momentum that comes with a big
The Post totes up the political causes, but says the development arose
"mostly because of six years of relentless economic growth."
order of business for any surplus is balancing the budget, not cutting taxes or
attorneys, apparently referring to his desire to jettison them because they
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column gives some insight
into the concept of going postal. Postal workers, it explains, can't strike and
so their grievances accumulate unresolved in much greater numbers than in other
lines of work. The Journal quotes a government report stating that the
biz. Among its products will be a lightweight clamshell baseball glove,
with plastic and wire instead of laces. (The company is considering lining the
glove with leather, because right now, "it smells like glue.") Entrenched
baseball containing a microchip that enables it to calculate the speed at which
House is, in the LAT 's words, "fuming," about that
former Bush staffer) who assigned the photographers says that if the president
didn't want them there, "the Secret Service could have made it happen." In
short, the White House faces a dilemma: either it is being less than straight
about whether the pictures were staged or the Secret Service suffered a major
It remained vague on how much territory to cede, and when to cede it. The
fund education and filtering devices to help parents keep kids safe from Web
"uncertain." Sales figures are not overwhelming, but analysts think shoppers
wedding, after repeated demands from the White House. (This column assures you
A party official is quoted as saying that such open primaries are like "letting
and engaging in various laundering schemes to funnel money from his union's
ruling is a major blow to organized labor's recent resurgence, and runs a
companion piece elaborating this point. Oddly, the main piece doesn't mention
to loosen the current constraints on what he can buy with his oil proceeds if
militants, who have for five years been trying to overthrow the moderate
suggesting that there were at least ten gunmen and that several might have
victims. Presumably, that's the reason the story isn't everybody's lead? Is
promoting any agenda more daring than a wine list."
of the world's online population. The company handles its phone traffic with
scheduled for breast reduction ("Today's Papers" missed that one, being too
reporters to the story. They come back with interviews about the impending
largest single capital investment ever, in the form of a new computer chip
health plan, including hundreds of thousands who reported denials or delays in
getting treatment, which often made their medical conditions worse.
blueprint for research into disease and urban violence.
public spending, open its market up to more foreign goods and investors and put
growth constraints on its conglomerate industries. All of which, says the
The Wall Street Journal "Business Bulletin" reports that
University Microfilms, long the nation's main repository for doctoral
dissertations, has now made them available on the Web. Which means, says the
million. A little perspective on that sum: it could pay the salaries of every
agreement, no to this one because it doesn't include steep enough penalties on
cigarette makers for failing to meet targets for reducing teen smoking, and
propose a bill with these features. Instead, aides say, he will wait for bills
sinusitis, and pneumonia are twice as common as they were a year ago. And the
paper points to the most likely cause of the trend with its citation of a new
often prescribe antibiotics for colds and bronchitis caused by viruses even
though antibiotics are ineffective against viruses. The story is also on the
antibiotics [was] prescribed for conditions that they don't even help." Could
teach government officials how to avoid, override, and even take advantage of
that bureaucrats should strongly consider spending "taxpayer money" to
Report," "as many financial advisers apparently aren't aware that the new tax
questions with answers from a recent medical ethics exam given to interns and
residents. A sample: "You receive regular surgical referrals from a colleague
who is fellowship trained in nonsurgical sports medicine. He suggests that he
should receive some reimbursement for these procedures. Which of the following
you might tell a colleague that a patient has a right to expect that a doctor
will send him to the best surgeon, and that the doctor's decision will not be
based on whether he has a financial stake in the referral, is not even an
ratification of a comprehensive nuclear test ban. The New York Times
look at them that might lead to an independent counsel.
in the world to sign the treaty a year ago, and says his position sets the
stage for a confrontation with congressional Republicans. Additionally, the
United Nations, and supported a special international court to prosecute crimes
one is the fear that the United States cannot maintain its nuclear deterrent
research program will adequately maintain the nation's nuke stockpile. The
countries believed to have some sort of nuclear capability would have to
approve it first. It's amazing to live in a world where that number doesn't
Gore "believed we were acting within the letter of the law" when raising funds
earlier this year. One main reason for the softening, says the paper, is that
finds an infraction did occur, the issue may well shift to the question of
explanatory quote from him, but juxtaposes this with an interview with Sen.
national tobacco settlement, concluding that the cigarette makers could reap
A hearty "No Duh!" goes out to the LAT for its headline over today's
installment of the paper's series on political fund raising: "Where Big Donors
themselves paid stiff fines for violating state and federal election laws.
semen in her underwear. One thing that is not mentioned, however, is the
Today 's top story is that a presidential commission is warning that the
nation's public and private computer systems are gravely vulnerable to
collecting information about all computer security breaches and creating a
White House office to coordinate all the government's computer security
with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons security.
tapes mandated the appointment of an outside counsel and repeats that the
failure to turn over the tapes in a more timely manner was a "simple mistake,
not deliberate defiance." The president also says that Republicans are using
be returned because they proved questionable. Meanwhile says the Times
officials involved state that they had no reason to believe that the purported
increases in productivity enable companies to absorb cost increases they would
employment leads to higher wages, which leads to higher prices.
for the team." The leading causes of worker reticence seem to be fear of
getting the flu from the shots and fear of needles.
years, actually increase. Look for this study to be used by tobacco
manufacturers in an attempt to whittle the cost of any state or national
tobacco deal, even though it merely illustrates the truism that dying of old
age is the most expensive way to go. After all, issuing handguns to all
How have recent meat health scares affected the restaurant business? Well,
Today leads with Jimmy Carter going public with his thoughts on the
lead is that the top Republican tax writer in the House will introduce
to put forward a legislative evergreen suddenly considered to have a good shot
at passage: a plan to shift the burden of proof in tax disputes from the
administration and many tax experts on the ground that adopting it would clog
more aggressive. The paper points out that the number of people likely to be
appear often arbitrary and highly vulnerable to politics." The paper says the
reports that New York State inmates are able to get home addresses of parties
connected to crimes they were convicted of, as well as crime scene photos of
victims via the state Freedom of Information Act. Civil liberties groups, says
example given of the kinds of cases the revision would apply to, and it speaks
reporters and editors most naturally think of: "...cases where the taxpayer and
elsewhere. The New York Times leads with the guilty pleas entered
by three Teamsters officials in connection with a scheme to launder
goes with the record surpluses accumulating in state coffers.
showed up without a lawyer and smiled and laughed throughout the day, his brand
of it was enthusiastically received by the powers that be, including the
black, primarily because the economy's surge has boosted tax revenues and
reports that in general, the states are reacting conservatively, plowing most
of the found money into tax cuts, schools, and contingency funds.
The LAT front page gives an early picture of a stratagem sure to
become popular among advocates of affirmative action in college admissions. The
administrators from all nine of its campuses, warns that continued use of the
selective campuses. But the committee has a solution: eliminate the SAT as a
piece for Playboy called "Stacked Like Me" describing her recent
A question for Post copy editors: Shouldn't that be "Three"?
noncompliance. (The metro edition of the Times leads with a proposed
this detail in their pieces, which they run inside. Moreover, both these papers
would talk of his near sinking, which he did at his Senate confirmation
documents quote one presidential assistant observing that the Federal
Election Commission would not be able to finish its investigation of foreign
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reports on the
advent of Web sites that offer employees a chance to vent about their troubles
posts anecdotes sent in by readers about their bosses' antics and features a
satirical advice column. Another offers tips on how to relax before job interviews (have a
Bill Archer to the effect that expanding Medicare coverage to include younger
In what is no doubt the payoff for concerted auto industry press lobbying,
for when the car companies howl the next time the federal government tries to
on the front in the national edition, inside in the metro edition), the point
is made that the case's story of "a brother fighting to save the life of the
brother he turned in" is "a tale of literary dimensions." But the Times
apparently doesn't feel such an observation can stand without expert testimony,
Because it couldn't find them. How many alumni spooks didn't get to come in
meal be given to a homeless person. Request denied.
They're both clad only in bathing suits, alone on the beach. He clutches
her in to him with his hand on the small of her back while she's looking up at
a blurry branch being parted. And nary a toe being sucked anywhere. And do you
think the Secret Service would let a paparazzo get even telephoto close to the
First Couple in seclusion on their vacation? No, this is a genre that hasn't
be an intimate family moment purely for gain, in this case, political.
Inflicting privacy is as unseemly as invading privacy.
With the Di saga receding ever so slightly, news diversity makes a small
airlines put into place last week. But by last night, only two airlines still
mistakenly rolled back United Airline's increase in all markets and when
says his call for fourth grade reading tests and eighth grade math tests should
other Republicans in the House and Senate see it as a federal intrusion into
that the tests would be voluntary and ultimately under the control of local
school authorities. He has also said the tests could be designed by a
bipartisan board. Some critics have said the problem is that the tests divert
million to develop. (To me, that's the only part that's hard to swallow. Why
didn't include a full apology from the president. The paper cites as a factor
show that she's about more than money or does it show that she's about more
family offered to restore the title of Her Royal Highness posthumously (and was
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reports, "In a
development. This will be the first time that oil and gas drilling will be
the applause he received during his speech. The "applause" and "laughter"
goes without saying that naturally we may have shortcomings and even make some
mistakes in our work, however we've been working on a constant basis to improve
isn't it more likely that the crowd was applauding the power of raucous
prisoners when he used the phrase, why couldn't it be taken to be no more than
other words merely a simulated apology, not a real one? After all, within
the professor moderating all this "was almost apologetic" when repeating
Isn't it amazing that they all waited to retire before telling us how they
first time ever the validity of polygraph evidence. The argument isn't coming
from prosecutors, but from a defendant who claims a polygraph result would have
cleared him and hence the current prohibition violates his right to present
new revenue streams by staging, for an admissions fee, demonstrations of
various farm activities, from branding cattle to making cane syrup. The
charge and wants to do something about it. The International Nanny Association,
Times and the national edition of the New York Times
companies that had been inserted with little fanfare into the budget bill under
tobacco state senators against, and no senator spoke in favor of the
eight to nine weeks, with the extra time being used for lessons on values and
Tougher screening of drill sergeants will also be implemented.
dividing all solicited funds into hard (targeted to specific campaigns, highly
regulated) and soft (not for specific campaigns, not highly regulated) money
accounts regardless of the nature of the actual solicitation. These papers all
calls he made from the White House were at least in part to raise hard money,
apparently raised in those calls exceeded legal limits for hard money.
A further sign of fallout from the fundraising morass comes with the
White House clearances were initially prevented from entering the grounds
the halls are full of people of the opposite gender in various stages of
students to accommodate their personal values, and we would happily explore
you ask for a clearer example of backwards campus values than that?
The showdown congressional vote today on fast track trade authority is the
have "hit a brick wall in their attempts to muster the votes." The Times
his comment earlier this week suggesting that they were putting personal needs
before the country's (and the paper implies that eventual presidential
candidate Al Gore may ultimately pay the price for all this bad feeling). And
yet much of the reportage describes how, at the eleventh hour, the White House
is striving to meet those needs. Votes are being promised to the administration
in return for pledges of campaign funds, and for assurances about vintners' and
tobacco farmers' and peanut and citrus growers' rights, and those of cattle
ranchers too. The Post notes a signal drawback of all this attention
"I should have held out for $1billion for wetlands restoration," says one such
today, the story fits a recent LAT trend that's worth noting: on
it's apparently still plenty lurid without them. Details the papers mention
in years, and that he seems to be responding with a real austerity pledge,
including the postponement of several major government investments in the
failing health would impair his ability to lead his country out of the current
crisis, neither of today's Times stories emphasize this.
World War II in special camps, sometimes behind barbed wire and at gunpoint.
even forced to pay special taxes to defray the expenses of their
The Wall Street Journal quotes fresh government research
The study cites the 90's explosive growth of managed care as a major factor.
But, the Journal points out, with spending in the public health care
sector (primarily Medicare and Medicaid) coming under firmer budgetary control,
Health Crisis has just endorsed the practice. (But prefers tracking via a code
pension system, Social Security, be used to draw down the deficit. Figured this
nations are suddenly unable to go through with planned weapons purchases. Just
but most of the other deals will probably only be delayed. Here's an idea: why
not require these countries to swear off such weapons deals as a condition of
Soviet Union. While information is comparatively fresh and large numbers of the
survivors are still around, why not institute similar reparations to be paid by
in the national tobacco deal, a story that the other papers handled yesterday
on the basis of White House background leaks about what he would say. At the
was "greeted with jubilation and relief by humanitarian groups and countries
that support the ban" because they feared the United States would dilute the
will probably become international law within two years.
conventional weapon." But the Post is mistaken, and give credit to the
The overall mining coverage is fairly steeped in the arcana of international
treaties and weapons systems, giving it a rather remote flavor. One wonders if
almost alone against the world in clinging to a maiming technology.
The other story that gets most everybody's attention is the testimony
described being called a "Girl Scout" when she resisted what she saw as
The Wall Street Journal brings word today of an Internet
posted defamatory and inaccurate statements about the company in various online
chat groups in an attempt to drive down the stock price.
Internet has come to the various countries of the Middle East. One of the
goes with the latest target of Senate and Justice Department investigators: the
last election as part of an elaborate plan to spend more money than federal
election law appeared to allow on a massive advertising campaign that
the strategy was directed not independently by the state parties but centrally
by the campaign. Dick Morris is among those quoted in support: "It was a
The story also notes that the Republican Party used similar strategies
during the last election, and that the Justice Department is reviewing its
paragraph. And it's not mentioned at all in either the story's headline or
The Times story has this juicy detail indicating that there were some
worries inside the campaign about the scheme's propriety: During the campaign,
media consultants' contract that would have forced the consultants to pay any
fines levied if the plan was found to be illegal. The consultants refused.
how the deal might lead to more competition in local phone service.
With negotiations on an international global warming treaty coming up in
strongest ally because Al Gore, normally in that position, is distracted by his
weather forecasters to the White House for briefings on climate change in hopes
of rallying public support for new measures restricting greenhouse gases. Mike
administration officials on behalf of large party donors. Perhaps the most
recall, but which documents revealed for the first time yesterday strongly
international financier "with a questionable reputation" (says the
meeting with or access to any government official or agency in connection with
a donation, or ever imply that such contact or access can be arranged, or ever
contact an administration official on behalf of a donor for any reason." When
response was: "I am not a staff member of the Democratic National Committee. I
was a chair of the Democratic National Committee, and there is a clear
Both of the Times run strong companion pieces to their hearing
use by the party that, in violation of election laws, it then spent directly on
creating jobs and increasing pay due to increased export sales. In fact, the
Journal accompanies the piece with a chart showing that only three
than half its fair price (his roommate, another officer, told the landlord they
statements that Japan must stabilize its economy to keep the whole region out
collapse. The emotional display, especially rare in Japan, underscored the
to Japan: He suggests deregulation, avoiding cheap exports as a solution, and
of Ford, General Motors, Xerox, and Kraft. (No comment is offered on why women
who had recently staked his political reputation on reducing his country's
and that of the region by dithering. The Times also notes that the
nation, for instance, it is expected to be able to provide, for example, the
against the dollar, a move that has, the paper reports, resulted in a marked
still has not met his international obligations regarding weapons inspection.
conference seemed "designed to counter a spate of recent news stories that have
goes on to say it was "the longest presidential news conference in the
Times dwells quite a bit on aides' various unsuccessful attempts to get
The Wall Street Journal "Tax Report" notes that a bill passing
the House recently would grant accountants and other tax advisers the privilege
of client confidentiality that is currently only enjoyed in tax matters by
lawyers. The change would give new privacy to taxpayers who can afford to pay a
tax preparer but not hire a lawyer. The Journal also notes that some
accountants see the new provision as a powerful marketing tool.
opts for doing an interview with the woman who claims to be the real model for
Jenny. Continuing the theme of getting to the bottom of books published in
recall, wrote "The Sensuous Woman." Maybe it'll be Tipper.
appeared to be bucking up his countrymen to continue the impasse.
to persuade enough House Democrats to vote his way and so the emphasis has
turned towards the hunt for Republican votes. The LAT says Republican
You have to sympathize a bit with the situation the dailies are in with
and convinced that a dramatic vote was imminent, the papers started hitching
their leads to the vote in the middle of last week, which meant that as the
vote kept not materializing, the papers were stuck in bed with a story that
wouldn't undress and was ugly anyway. But the majors didn't help themselves out
stories? The whole episode is a good example of the press's weakness for
covering the how of a political story over the why or the what.
to cut thousands of administrative jobs at the Pentagon under pressure from
Congress to reduce the Pentagon's own bureaucracy before ordering cuts in
proposed base closings, which the Times notes, require congressional
approval and may not get it. And shades of the balanced budget deal, none of
federal affirmative action program for female highway contractors (the only one
that cites women as a disadvantaged class) and the backlash it has created
among black, male construction workers, who feel squeezed out of the trade by
highway funds has tripled. But meanwhile, the share going to blacks, the
program's original beneficiaries, plummeted. "The white women--95% of them are
there's a move afoot in Congress to end the program, which the paper reports,
might well mean a lot of female subcontractors will go bankrupt.
Used Unaudited Funds For Gift, Parties and Travel." That's F6 on Post
lead with new prospects for a campaign finance reform bill.
unregulated "soft money" donations, and which has been languishing in the
the presidential power to keep Congress in session, and points out that it
quoting his warning: "The president has lots of conferences, legislation,
was one of several moves "trying to deflect attention from the president's own
Republicans who want to cut off spending for the mission, and to calm the fears
that such moves help insulate the companies from currency fluctuations, exempt
expand their security alliance, resulting in Japan's highest military profile
time since the Pacific war, engage in military activities outside its borders
who called for an independent police monitoring board to investigate police
wrongdoing and "create an atmosphere where the crooked cop fears the honest
The Times emphasizes the larger geopolitical context. Given that the
ambushed, with twelve deaths the result. Perhaps the most striking indicator of
a change of mood inside the government reported by the paper is the news that
Several papers have word that H and R Block has finally wriggled out of its
market, the balance of power is shifting to employees from employers," and
states that "the retention frenzy was triggered in part by previous waves of
corporate downsizing," which left behind survivors who took stock of career
options and used Internet job listings and intensified recruiting to land
and a bonus point for including some criticism of her in the story. "Not
nun, whose organization was able to raise millions of dollars worldwide but
made virtually no significant changes in the social structure of this
as many others understand it, she said." It's odd, however, that in repeating
this charge, the Times didn't interview the man most closely associated
parents are rather protective of her and that she is a black in a still
all lead with the latest developments in the investigation of President
decision yet. (She could, besides ending the investigation, also continue
conversation with her about this or, frankly, anything else." In their lead
not sure is so good." The additional observation seems right and newsworthy.
coffee tapes: "You should have been there when I heard about it." (The
The Post story includes this explanation for why the White House
Communications Agency, "a military unit that provides the president with secure
of staff got the full memo requesting any such videos, but when he put it into
office responsible for providing the president with "secure communications"
can't email a memo without losing the first two pages?
The LAT leads with a "gesture of peace so fraught with controversy
that it was made behind closed doors," namely, the handshake yesterday in
would not confirm that the handshake occurred, and that he had arranged that no
pictures were taken of it. The history of such handshakes suggests that such
protease inhibitors that promise to transform AIDS from a fatal to a merely
a result, poor people with AIDS often simply go without.
The Wall Street Journal 's "Work Week" column notes that for
"panic button" for use when the boss shows up. Press it and the screen suddenly
switches to a nominating form for "Boss of the Year." Through much arduous
persistently attempted to market cigarettes to teens. This is also the top
The new tobacco documents (many of them marked "Secret"), released as part
of a lawsuit settlement, show a company strategy of attracting teenagers
before Congress that the company does not market to children, these new
documents have prompted congressional interest in perjury charges. They also
gun" that shows why Congress shouldn't approve the proposed national tobacco
The company responded by repeating its denial of youth targeting and stating
documents reflect the social attitudes of the times in which they were
The paper also states that China was wavering on the Security Council action,
rather than "condemn" it. (No telling how many votes could have been garnered
he played a bit of "Ode to Joy," and then asked lawmakers, "Now, don't you feel
all like the work of a madman. The language is clear, precise and calm. The
argument is subtle and carefully developed, lacking anything even faintly
resembling the wild claims or irrational speculation that a lunatic might
"skill in manufacturing bombs and the clever ways in which he concealed his
identity suggest to me that he was clearly sane." Of course, the legal
usefulness of these observations is somewhat dubious, because this attempt to
requires showing that he is fit to stand trial, and so on.
the next big domestic policy issue will be controlling television health
All three majors working the weekend agree on today's lead: the decision by
campaign fund solicitation calls from the White House, and reports that the
such calls, and there is no clear legal precedent to show that they would be
investigation buffeting the administration had swirled around the Oval Office
The new evidence apparently includes solicitation call sheets that were
The natural assumption that all the papers had access to the same call sheets
of a special prosecutor for three years. (Remember Whitewater?)
guilty pleas. Worth doing, because the case could well lead to deeper trouble
has the understandable problem of trying to be clear about describing schemes
that were designed to be murky, but it doesn't help that the story doesn't even
in question were illegal, and even then none too clearly. Isn't the relevant
law that the union can't donate money to either candidate, and hence can't
create schemes that do that while appearing to be donations from somebody else?
assistance information, saying that the trend arises from increased competition
They used to freely share numbers, but now they charge each other through the
attempting to compile their own data bases from other sources, like credit card
arrive on her own "attended perhaps by a handful of Secret Service agents
rather than arriving in a Presidential motorcade and trailed by hundreds of
middle of the month before deciding whether or not to expand her inquiry into
investigation into White House fund raising. The core problem apparently was
officials, but the Justice Department attorneys wanted a "bottom up"
case against naming a special prosecutor is "pretty strong.") As a result, says
the paper, the task force didn't even interview senior officials for eight
months, and the information that may eventually result in the appointment of an
independent counsel came not from the task force but from a "newspaper
The LAT 's story about China's nuke trade opening says that the new
the LAT says, criticizes the deal, saying it would stand as a "testament
story's details suggest he has a point, inasmuch as it relates that China is
edition state that the Defense Department has given the green light to
The State Department had been against the idea, particularly because of concern
acronym came first, followed by the billions required to make a weapon that
is the world's biggest CO2 emitter, producing almost twice as much as China,
(A thought: Maybe there's a solution here to the cloud of graft and
to make the biggest impression on the dailies was the extraordinary
forthright regarding China's trade policies, noting that he said right to
goods and services should be able to compete freely and fairly in China."
the two countries have agreed not to let their continuing rights differences
stand in the way of strategic and economic ties. The New York Times
sees things a little more starkly, saying that the public disagreement
"appeared to broaden the gulf between the two powers on human rights."
members of Congress. Yet neither paper explains what Congress can do about the
deal. The Journal does a little better, saying that Congress can
"challenge" it within thirty days, but doesn't elaborate what form that
challenge can take. Also, the Post says that the deal calls for China to
first asked about human rights, he checked his watch. And in search of clues to
handshake, but the leader of the free world did cop some elbow and back.
campaign contributions, and various schemes to interfere with the Democratic
What's new is his reason: to rail at many of his fellow conservatives for
ethnic category questions on federal forms to, for the first time ever, check
more than one block (the alternative of having a separate "multiracial" box was
rejected). If you feel the proliferation of such questions promotes
seems that in recent years, on average, three people a month between the ages
up, a rate that appears, the Post says, to be the highest in the
country. The paper lays much of the blame for this on the inadequacies of the
Republican proposals for the flat tax or a national sales tax, is considering
various other simplification proposals, including one that would exempt as many
calculate their taxes for them, which would then be withheld by employers.
they want a change in the system, and yet a majority of them do not support
for home mortgage interest and charitable contributions.
the first place. The changes are due, says the paper, to rising drug costs and
a brake on the system's problems, but rather arenas that readily reproduce
them. What we're learning it seems, is that regardless of the setting, the
market will tend to punish coverage of those, like the elderly, with the most
On its front, the LAT continues the comprehensive look it began
story is illustrated by a shot of the presidential daybook for the week of
story, this was hardly the first sign of trouble. Prior to that, the man had
was the time he shot and killed a man during an argument. The shooting was
him at the time. So what was his posting at the time of this last shooting? The
prisoners to work building homes for the elderly and disabled in the state's
of practice and discourage reliance on calculators.
components, explains the paper, would have benefited at the expense of smaller
companies that do not. (The automobile, textile, wool and fur industries are
subject to separate requirements and are not covered by the decision.) The
victory for, and the result of political pressure from, organized labor. The
international greenhouse gas agreement. The thumbnail explanation of global
warming the Post provides in its lead coverage is odd: the only
dangerous effect of warming it mentions by name is the possible spread of
malaria to colder climates, nothing about another Ice Age.
word from the LAT about why the wide stat parameters here).
The above story sits without comment right next to one slugged "Student
But at least the LAT puts that school shooting on the front page. (As
the Internet: "Children need Internet access the way they need subsidized bus
insurers plan to raise rates for sports utility vehicles.
most tense situation between the two countries in ten years. The decision was
to switch to a different pension system, boosting their annuities but costing
employees' union in New York filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality
crash tests show sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks are inflicting very
high levels of harm to cars and their occupants in collisions, and today the
Times brings word that in response, some big insurance companies are
raising their liability rates on the oversize vehicles. The move might be, says
the paper, the largest overhaul of liability insurance since the advent of
The Times wonders whether the adjustments will hurt oversize vehicle
sales, but goes on to observe that their owners are perhaps too prosperous to
fertility breakthrough: the first successful pregnancy in this country using a
frozen egg. Although the egg in this case came from another woman, this
development sets up the possibility that young women will be able to freeze
their own eggs (which are less biologically problematic) and then much later,
when the women are ready to have children, have them fertilized. The technique
would also allow women undergoing chemotherapy to save some eggs for later use.
headlines at the Times if not the president? Well on the same page, over
a story about yesterday's speeches and ceremonies at the Times marking
ceremonies. More heartening was the revelation in both papers that a white
wondering: Couldn't they also have found one of the paratroopers who escorted
nine original black students and what they're doing today. The list includes an
investment banker, a writer, a lawyer, a college professor, and an unemployed
woman. Two of the nine live overseas. The LAT has a nice photo on its
leads describing yesterday's testimony, in which a number of current agents,
speaking from behind a screen, their voices electronically altered, blew the
whistle on the agency's shady practices; and in which the acting commissioner,
in the appointment of yet another independent counsel.
dealt with it deep inside and at arm's length. (Yesterday's Times edit
resolution of the case, the Gray Lady hikes her skirts, putting the story on
the front page and deigning to mention all the tawdry details. The story is
piece, the accuser is never mentioned by name, a practice the paper explains
attacks." But it turns out that the paper isn't able to stick to that policy
for more than a few paragraphs. A little further down, the paper identifies by
name the second woman who testified that she, too, was bitten and sexually
When a story dominates a day like this one does, it's the differences that
stand out. Everybody makes it clear that the central bone of contention is
some accounts of what could be legally suspect about that are more successful
section adds: 'provided, however, that this provision in and of itself shall
The Justice Department argues that Internet Explorer constitutes a separate
permission either to remove the Internet Explorer browser entirely or just the
computer makers if it didn't include Internet Explorer.
the grounds that such provisions have a chilling effect on those wishing to
military development: a submarine arms race among Third World countries. Some
submarines seemingly as fast as their treasuries will allow." Most of the subs
effort over a story about a woman suing a man she says promised marriage to her
only as a way to cultivate her brother as an organ donor for him: "Woman
leads with a Social Security internal audit revealing that too many workers at
says he would judge any proposed tax cut by whether it was fair to average
taxpayers, good for the economy, and conducive to a simpler tax code.
The president also tells the Times that he is prepared to flout
based on her reading of the law. And everybody knows that she is an
Al Gore also sits down with a Times reporter today, but his interview is all access, no content. Gore refuses to concede any
mistakes in either his campaign activities or in his defense of them. He says
it's unfair to dwell on the months of controversy. "A snapshot," he bromides,
would surely say, with Gore, a moving picture is a snapshot.)
and LAT run a shot of her embracing the mother of a boy she is widely
liberationist reformer decked out in all the major jewelry groups, including
even the most minor allegations against her and offered no reconciliation until
wrong, but she gave utterly no explanation of that remark. The LAT
apparently was at a different hearing. It emphasizes that last bit of vacuity
asking when the capital gains tax cut takes effect.
(or cans) of beer in six months to win a pool table.
paper did, the writers of the series sent him a pig's head in a box.
on his sentence, which under the federal rules, means he won't get the death
penalty. The judge will decide instead and the dailies say that he'll probably
hundreds of state murder charges that could result in the death penalty.
Today calls the "sharply critical press conference" held by the jury
forewoman afterwards. She is quoted as saying that "the government dropped the
Times say the "dropping the ball" comment was about her belief that the
power and you don't." Indeed, in its lead paragraph, the LAT attributes
the upcoming State of the Union speech ahead of time, all of the front pages
and tax breaks to help working families pay for child care. The plan would also
include tax credits for businesses that build or expand employee child care
The news that the Department of Justice has brought its first criminal
charges in its investigation of the tobacco industry makes the fronts of
questioned under oath by her lawyers at an upcoming deposition. But the piece
waits until the tenth paragraph to note that this was reported yesterday in the
the ways in which privacy is imperiled, from your dealings with banks and
employers and stores, to airline security and deadbeat dad tracking. It's
trafficking, but it's interesting that his proposed reforms still smack of the
leads with a House committee's condemnation of the Pentagon's handling of Gulf
in "allowing black communities to be flooded with crack cocaine," programs to
help women prisoners make the transition back to society, the establishment of
black independent schools, and the release of political prisoners. In
discussing crowd size, the Post uses as a reference the size of the
Million Man March, but, curiously, doesn't refer to the Promise Keepers rally
The rally coverage signifies an odd new journalism trend. In their extensive
dutifully report the size of the rally as "hundreds of thousands," yet they
each persist in referring to the event as the "Million Woman March," apparently
because that's what the organizers called it. So look for the Pentagon to call
committee's report to be released this coming week that says the Defense
Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs should be stripped of their
authority over Gulf soldiers' sickness because of their mishandling of the
issue. The report states that Congress should either create or designate an
agency to take over. The paper also reveals that a separate forthcoming study
has had two babies in rapid succession. The story was accompanied by a
television while holding one of her kids. That picture has drawn a firestorm of
protest from readers, many of them black women. Now, the Post
distinguishes itself by being the only paper covered here that has an ombudsman
who writes a regular column, and today she takes up the issue and concludes
that "deciding not to put that picture where we did would have better served
the following precis of China's recent human rights record: "After the
to an end. Hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators died. Hundreds were
tortured. All have seen family members harassed, even persecuted to death."
groups are free to give human rights absolute and unqualified priority,
governments are not," and which reports that "the number of political prisoners
into song and play the piano and recite poetry, all of which, says the paper,
"points to an unpredictable, wacky side." (Homework assignment: find a single
another, "stop with the wacky stunts, with the piano, with the poetry. You're
"spectacular display of bipartisanship" created by last month's Senate hearings
which includes such taxpayer protections as shifting the burden of proof to the
government in tax disputes and the creation of a civilian oversight board, will
stream of ingenious and complicated new tax dodges.
The Post concludes that yesterday's Republican victories were mostly
due to lavish financing, widespread social conservatism among voters, and an
unwillingness, bred of the healthy economy, to dump incumbents. In light of all
this, says the paper, Democrats are viewing the goals of recapturing the House
and gaining parity in governorships as more difficult than ever. And according
says he still believes the government was behind the disaster, but he has told
acupuncture is an effective treatment for some kinds of pain and nausea and
shows promise as a treatment for a variety of other conditions. Health experts
say the decision will almost certainly lead to more patients opting for the
technique and more private and government insurance paying for them to do
of a Little Rock junkyard have made an interesting discovery in the trunk of an
calls the conviction on conspiracy and manslaughter counts but acquittal on
Times and the Wall Street Journal emphasize that the decision
relentless in their programmatic use of "balancing" language to describe family
family members saying the verdicts are just. Instead, when it comes to
particulars, we have everybody quoting the comment of a woman whose Secret
The reactions noted are often incisive as well as anguished. A woman who
When the papers strive to make sense of the verdict, they tend to look that
way too. The Times says that the manslaughter verdicts mean that the
jury held that the deaths were foreseeable results of a lawful act. But what
guilty of conspiring in the bombing, a crime that seems to have required
premeditated, murder. Involuntary manslaughter usually involves recklessness
but not premeditation." But then the paper trots out a dubious answer: "Still,
the bomb be set off with the purpose of killing these agents." But what
alternative purpose did he have? Not one word in all the coverage about
But neither the Journal nor the other papers pass along any information
The Post makes a rookie mistake in referring to the jury's "innocent"
likely to be injured on the job. The paper also reports that today's issue of
anesthesia when they are circumcised, they should get it because "study of
infant heart rates and crying patterns during circumcision clearly showed there
was pain." So, to sum up today's scientific breakthroughs: a) If you're blind
lead is a presidential advisory commission's recommendation of numerous new
to sympathetic outside groups such as the National Right to Life Committee. And
international conference on the problem, sets up a pollution credits market
under which companies profit from getting below emissions standards, promises
the paper, the proposal is considered not stringent enough by many
investment in global warming control: "enough to give every citizen an annual
to spend on their pet causes without being identified (unlike political
parties, interest groups don't have to disclose their money sources).
patients' rights should include the right to an external review of denials of
often and how successfully a doctor has performed a procedure. President
nobody has explained how these new rights would be enforced.
story?) says that the company shocked Wall St. yesterday with its surprise
in, but the company can't keep up because of part shortages and the hiring of
More detail comes to light today about the Justice Department's case against
their machines. Also, the Post says the government's evidence includes
some email from Bill Gates to his company's executive committee.
of life in prison, referring only to "published accounts." The paper should
and his son John were granted immunity from prosecution. The Post
doesn't make the point, but this is all too typical: Something abstract called
the "corporation" is fined while the actual executives (think what that word
means: people who get things done) go merrily along.
"Today's Papers" received a number of sage emails from readers pointing out
worthwhile for papers like the LAT to study and report on its
In anticipation of congressional debate on the topic early next year, the
would if they each were single. The Journal explains that it's actually
a fairly nuanced topic. For one thing, more married couples enjoy a marriage
even worse inequities: for instance, eliminating the marriage penalty
The Journal quotes an academic who says that while not a primary
living with her boyfriend despite their desire to marry because she doesn't
other, they're not thinking enough. The odds are very good that if that woman
and her beau got married, they would buy a house together and have at least one
kid, thereby putting a huge dent in their tax bill.
is nine times more valuable by weight than cocaine, and hence needn't be
A Wall Street Journal editorial makes the point that
the press consistently overlooks that some of the most thoughtful reassessments
of affirmative action come from blacks. The Journal notes, for instance,
numbers of those who bought cell phones for their cars primarily as an
leads with the national tobacco accord's plummeting prospects. The Mother
promised to revolutionize the marketing and regulation of cigarettes when it
was proposed three months ago, "all but dead." Congress has been less than
enthusiastic because many members view the prepackaged deal as trespassing on
their turf of working out bills. Other big factors: the tobacco lobby's
must be able to afford more. The paper reports that although the White House
a national tobacco policy rather than a detailed piece of legislation.
Their headline for the tobacco deal story? "Tobacco Accord, Once Applauded, Is
emphasizes something that the others missed, namely that the crowds in
attendance were far smaller than expected. The main reason, says the paper, is
cheating scheme recently broken up by federal investigators. It had been
operating from coast to coast for three years and before it was discovered had
enabled several hundred students to gain acceptance into graduate schools with
and the distribution of pencils with answer keys on them to the cheating
consequence of the Army sex scandals: the service is planning to put into
effect very soon new physical training standards for women that are much closer
The Times also covers the fundraising scandal in its lead editorial,
failure to call for an special counsel "looks like a political blocking
call for a special counsel and says it would be a political subterfuge to limit
leads with the changing role of the International Monetary Fund. And the
independence for the District, remarks criticized by many local politicians for
not including a call for voting rights for the city.
will ask Justice to consider perjury charges against at least six witnesses who
operations of the economies it aids. Chastened by compliance difficulties
The Wall Street Journal 's lead feature notes that the latest global economic
(where, unlike here, banks and not financial markets are the primary source of
other major legs of the economy, like consumer confidence, business profits and
hearing aids, his love of golf, his empty nest. Today's installment concerns
domestic policy, specifically the series of modest initiatives he has put
together since failing to sell wholesale health care reform. Among the
piecemeal efforts the Times lauds are insuring overnight hospital stays
for new mothers, school uniforms, cell phones for citizen neighborhood patrols,
keeping liquor ads off the airwaves, restricting tobacco sales, creating a
national registry for sex offenders, and suspending the driver's licenses of
had a real job, he'd be looking at permanent unemployment and criminal
which causes him to ask exactly the right question: "Just how big was that last
government is willing to sacrifice its equity market to the currency peg." And
offers this "clarification": "But analysts say the peg won't be easy to defend,
of China to support the market in the face of selling by currency
fears that higher rates would mean shriveling profits for the financial and
property companies that are the market's backbone. But still, nobody explains
never says.), and that this might please the Fed, which of course, would please
"could lead to a broad regional economic slowdown that would dampen the sales
and earnings not just of local companies, but of major corporations from the
many market analysts believe that lower stock prices are a good buying
Stock prices could go up, or they could go down. Either could be good. So, the
question about such "day after" stock market stories remains: "Why give them so
general has determined that a set of chemical weapons logs, that veterans'
groups say could provide valuable information about Desert Storm exposure, was
mistakenly destroyed after the war. And a second set is still missing. It's
records indicating what happened to the thousands and thousands of nuclear
of the rich, revealing that in a survey, members of the nation's wealthiest
satellite fell out of orbit, and there is some chance that parts could impact
row. Retailers thought the strong economy would mean a big buying season, but
(only half of the expected gain). Analysts see a paradigm shift: People no
to use the money to cut taxes, looking for points with voters in next fall's
elections. The surplus could also lead to a renegotiation of the budget deal,
Everyone leads with yesterday's action on Wall St. Nobody calls it a
the Fed isn't tightening, interest rates aren't rising and there isn't a
is no sense of urgency like in 1987..It seemed far too quiet for a day with
Journal tries to take the temperature of people off the Street, but in
doing so, demonstrates a bit of a tin ear about the typical investor, since the
an extent never seen before, the world's stock markets are interconnected and
Despite the generally evenhanded reporting, there are still some hyper
just tired. Unless they're carrying their own long positions, they make money
after experiments showing that the substance either promoted hair growth or at
despite recognition that the pills carry a slight risk of impotence and reduced
sex drive. (That there is expected to be a strong market for the medication
on the inspirational story of teammates and opponents praying for him on the
field while doctors worked on him feverishly, but treads lightly around the
increases in the size, strength, and speed of the players, serious spinal and
head injuries are becoming more common all the time. So much so that pro
football is now far more dangerous than those "ultimate fighting championships"
new trend: telecommunications companies paying churches for the right to put
wireless transmission equipment in their steeples. It's a match made in heaven:
churches get an income stream far more reliable than the collection plate.
says, it is compiled from official sources, it is not a photograph of
the president's daybook, but rather a representation of his schedule concocted
by the LAT 's editors made to look like one. And not a very accurate one
either: for instance, in a trick that's repeated throughout the graphic, the
Spelling's company when it was revealed she was pregnant. Spelling officials
had claimed that a visibly pregnant woman couldn't be credible in the sexy
"looked unbelievably sexy and terrific" as she came to court in short, tight
skirts. Spelling's attorney says there will be an appeal. But the main way
airshow (the first Redskins game at the new stadium dominates the front page),
and that accident and two others involving military aircraft are the lead at
dominated by a backstage picture and the accompanying headline "'3rd Rock,'
The immigration study, prepared by the Rand Corp. warns that the
flows of poorly educated immigrants and calls on Congress to: reduce new legal
immigrant admissions to "a moderate range," allow the rate of immigration to
fluctuate with general economic conditions, and add education levels and
English proficiency as admission criteria. One immigrant advocate is quoted in
the paper denouncing the study as "think tank poppycock."
administration told allies over the weekend that it could sign a land mine ban
campaign to advertise hard liquor on television by preparing ads including a
caveat about responsible drinking. But the Journal reports that three of
the four major networks said that this latest move will have no impact on their
together and a Marine one where they are sexually segregated. The reporter even
found a female Marine who had previously gone through the basic training at the
two headlines chosen emphasize opposite sides of the dispute. The Post 's
investigators are using online resources to dig ever deeper into private
information. The piece explains that certain Web sites specialize in selling
such personal data as unlisted telephone numbers, bank account numbers, beeper
numbers, and even annual salary and investment portfolio information, but in
effect serves as wonderful free advertising for them by mentioning their names
and quoting their rates for these particular services.
There's an odd lacuna in the piece, where it describes the formidable
Investigative Group International. It identifies the company's chairman by name
firm's New York operations, but does not elaborate on the following fascinating
tidbit: "The promotion brochure features veteran investigative reporters who
pony up some cash that has been promised in the recently concluded bailout only
as a last resort (yet another case of the Times leading with a financial
no immediate reaction from Japan. There's politics on both sides of the matter,
are widely viewed in their country as the bailout's regulatory intrusions,
there's a chance it would never actually be needed.
extensive public comments concerning the investigation and his disagreement
the leaking: publicizing the dispute served to demonstrate his political
The context for the LAT lead is that the boom in light trucks and sport utility
vehicles has accelerated pollution because they aren't subject to the same
emission and fuel economy controls as passenger cars. An editorial in the
Although even the United Farm Workers considers the strike against table
The Journal 's "Tax Report" brings word that some rock stars have been tangling
reports that a tentative settlement between Nicks and the feds is in the
apologized, but his main goal was image repair: he was accompanied, says the
address any specifics of the two incidents in which he punched and choked his
dealing as indicative of the telecommunications industry's trend towards
Justice will "give this thing a very, very hard look" precisely because the
report the open hostility from the panel's Republicans. But they vary in what
revelation to the committee that she has agreed not to close out any line of
stresses this, calling it an "extraordinary arrangement," but then goes on to
More White House fundraising tapes were released yesterday and several of
in this batch of videos, the President can be seen in friendly banter, not just
Times leads with a Supreme Court decision that could lead to cheaper
over a strong challenger would seem to enhance her prospects. The paper says
shape. Senate Republican leaders are feeling their oats over yesterday's
Lee and any other future nominees to the post will face a tough new standard on
important antitrust decisions in years," the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling
antitrust statutes by placing a ceiling on the retail price that may be charged
for its products. The paper, which filed a brief in the case supporting price
caps, notes that it's widely believed the decision will lead to lower consumer
The LAT lead story on this decision includes the provenance of a
common ad phrase: "offer good at participating stores only." Prior to
yesterday, the paper explains, this rider was required because independent
papers, never really that engaged, have dropped it down a couple of notches.
Defense department officials wouldn't say what the purchase price was, but,
reduction" program established to help dismantle the Soviet arsenal.
The latest circulation audit shows that nine of the nation's fifteen largest
that Internal Revenue says these are only allowed for agents who fear being
because those planes were made and sold for a nice piece of change by
back in, and, the papers report, a 77-member team including an unspecified
we will wait and see whether he does, in fact, comply with the will of the
had guaranteed it easier inspection procedures, such as changing the
officials adamantly deny this, saying there were absolutely no concessions.
And, true to recent convention, there is a "livid spotting" about this: The
germs, capable of killing up to a million people. This weapons program, reports
their warnings about promiscuous use of fertility treatments, which produce
extreme medical risks for women and their offspring, at growing public expense.
There's an intriguing headline today over an LAT front pager: "Major
though his merchant marine service ordinarily wouldn't have gotten him in.
If the aforementioned qualms about multiple births don't seem decisive, the
cable rates are rising at four times the rate of inflation and
households have answering machines and that fully half of those use them to
saying that the currency collapse had in effect doubled the cost of tuition. In
say their parents have pleaded with them to tighten their belts or even sell
seriously considered at the agency. The paper says the answer will be no unless
quoted in the story seem puzzled by the new level of interference from the
sailor. The reason for the error was the Post 's shabby sourcing.
Although the Post didn't mention it, the story had already appeared in
scoop. (Thanks to the many readers who helped fill out this backstory.)
"Study Finds Highly Educated Have Less Sex." But the results, based on a survey
out that there's sort of a sexual bubble: while people who've been to grad
Note: If most people live another fifty years after college and if college
House is aware of the infiltration, but unconcerned.
Originally prescribed for morning sickness, the drug was banned in the 1960s
when it caused thousands of birth defects. Now, it has proved successful in
treating AIDS and some other diseases. Problem: Doctors are terrified (and
sometimes unwilling) to prescribe it for fertile women, who, if on the drug,
are required to be also on two forms of birth control.
Overcrowded cabins are unsafe, so some carriers now limit passengers to one
this past weekend the White House gave congressional and Department of Justice
or actual campaign contributors met with the president. The tapes could shed
light on a question investigators have been looking into for some time: Did
inside the White House? The tapes have already set off a political firestorm
the White House "may have crossed the line of obstruction of justice" is quoted
were ostensibly covered by congressional committee subpoenas going back to last
checks by an unidentified attendee. Also drawing wide attention: the only
more than the other papers, pointing out that the Senate investigations
The LAT coffee tapes story has the same basics as everybody else,
signed last week. The White House claims that these projects were not requested
been gravely damaged politically by the failure both domestically and
the antidote to the poison they used in the mission and in the release from
It's a staple of the assassination attempt coverage to call this operation
In case you weren't sure, a "reefer" headline (that is, one referring to an
Times goes with a questionable loan to the Democrats. The New York Times
visit, too late for seeing any of her son's stellar pitching, was the fruit of
observe that the summit won't produce as many substantive agreements as was
and far below any other major industrialized nation. So low, says the
paper says most of the credit goes not to government planning but to a healthy
The Wall Street Journal says that a look at the current economy
also shows that the alleged bad consequence of raising the minimum
happen, turning the minimum wage increase into "one of the nonevents of
A good test of the coherence of a news story is how much sense could you
make of it if you could only read the first few paragraphs or at most only to
telegraph lines.) Today's LAT lead is a good example. The story is
makes an appearance until after the "jump," a full ten paragraphs in. Ditto for
story rather than the couple's. (And "Today's Paper's" can't answer those
questions because, as of filing time, this column doesn't have access to the
The LAT front page has news sure to add to the medical marijuana
controversy: the discovery by researchers of chemicals in marijuana that could
at Cal Tech have created silicon chips that interface directly with brain
story ever. And fraught with trouble: imagine what will happen when rich people
can pay to instantly smarten themselves but poor people can't.
government that kidnapped and jailed him and repeatedly tried to kill him, once
in the election outcome was an electorate enraged by the country's financial
crisis and furious at economic mismanagement by the ruling party. The
frank admission that he was wrong to have set a definite timetable for getting
peace but that it was still fragile and so, in the administration's exit
benchmarks did not include the return of refugees or the arrest of those
The Wall Street Journal 's lead feature focuses on a group of
reform into the workplace for the very first time. The piece shows how the women have become rather harsh in
their attitudes towards welfare mothers. "It makes me mad," says one, "Taking
money out of my check and giving it to those ho's." The story also shows that
even a steady job doesn't automatically translate into financial security: One
goes with government investigators saying that the nation's stockpile of
nuclear weapons has become increasingly vulnerable to theft and sabotage.
over the physical security at Department of Energy nuke storage facilities and
House Republicans turned the groundswell of emotion loosed by abused
taxpayers at hearings last month into votes for such ideas as putting the
burden of proof on the agency in tax disputes and establishing an independent,
largely civilian, control and review board. And ever since, report the papers,
saying that the reform bill is "going to be the taxpayer's worst nightmare"
in the capital gains tax rate, the Schedule D form for next year's returns will
The LAT says the global warming plan to be announced today by the
the form of pollution credits, tax breaks, and subsidies) for companies that
achieve greater emission cuts than its standards require.
It's open, it's transparent...." Definitely transparent.
Today leads with the scores of injuries and one death on board a United
program giving visas to immigrant investors. The New York Times
this year: sign up millions of children eligible for Medicaid health insurance
after the president was dismayed to discover that most states had made little
progress on this since he first started talking about it early last year. The
it will be interesting to see how the Times handles any subsequent
wife is the administration's Medicaid expansion point person.
Jimmy Carter was president. The paper cites a number of factors that might
sentencing laws, improved police tactics, periodic gang truces, and a decrease
period and background check for any handgun purchase, also get a mention?
kind of soup will folks there drink when they get the flu?)
here. Both pieces run through the arguments, with the Journal coming
down on the side of optimism and the Times piece, while avoiding a flat
gone, "we have lost a foundation stone." (Did you ever believe that myth?)
Taken together, the two columns prove nothing so much as that the world economy
Today's installment in the series about women in the military that the
women officers trying to rise to top command jobs: a key route for getting them
four days after the sinkings and hence are shot through with searing details.
on board and, despite the inadequate number of lifeboats and the
"Today's Papers" heard from many readers countering last week's
main point they expressed was that, while not legally precise, "innocent" was
preferable because it doesn't run the risk of libel that "not guilty" does if
of view. So perhaps this column erred in calling this a "rookie mistake." It is
apparently a very experienced mistake. But it should be noted that, especially
if this were a coherent policy, then newspapers should ban the use of "not"
altogether, since dropping it always carries this same risk.
its Windows operating system. This is also the top national story at the
applies to current versions of the software programs but could also hinder the
development and marketing of new versions set to roll out early next year. The
judge also made another ruling that gets less attention: he refused to order
government. His reason: there is no evidence that MS is using the provision to
prevent signatories from speaking to government investigators.
would not submit the proposed global warming treaty for Senate ratification
until developing countries agree to participate in its restrictions, something
In politics, what could be worse than having your cold, dead ass dug up from
background investigation, saying that he had stopped paying money to an
silence and the payments continued. The papers all mention that some
clear why: the charge is that they also lied to investigators about the
For those who persist in arguing that our politicians need salary increases,
scrape together a quarter of a million dollars for his girlfriend.
troubled countries, but sell mostly to other, healthier regions. The worst is
the reverse: companies like Applied Materials and LAM Research, which make
says it might have been because she was talking on a cell phone and because she
and the First Lady were spritzing each other with her new perfume. (How it must
phoning and the spritzing, which makes the whole episode utterly
In case you were wondering if it was wise for Gore to spend all that money on
news respectability, he's quoted saying, "I would debate with anyone, on any of
happen to be one of the most educated men in television. Not only am I lawyer,
show where he had some of his butt cells transplanted into his face.
states regarding pollution. Northeastern states are now reluctantly considering
much smaller reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions than they had proposed. All
dismissal: She falsified bank records, refused to cooperate with an internal
these violations might be: She used the bank's name in dealings unrelated to
her job and she endorsed her husband's application for several accounts without
company with alleged mob ties. The papers delightedly mention the topic of a
central bank in the past. The House Banking Committee plans to hold hearings on
devaluation was imminent. He also supports the conventional investigation
multinational space station. A crew will be sent to knock the station out of
no money has yet been earmarked for this elimination mission.
northeastern states to consider smaller levels of nitrogen oxide emission
reductions. Nitrogen oxides, a cause of acid rain, blow into the Northeast from
in the region to comply with the air quality standards of the Clean Air Act.
Congress, which consists mainly of an old guard of political and social elites.
After the assembly passed orders to prevent the Congress from making new laws,
the Congress attempted yesterday to enter the locked Capitol building in
defiance of the order. A scuffle ensued, injuring several of the 200-odd
defusing the situation, which ended with the Congress retreating. Everyone
notes that the White House is "deeply concerned" about the assembly's efforts
area's recent droughts. With flora everywhere withering and browning, carefully
law enforcement officials, using low flying planes to detect the devil weed,
have seized twice as many plants this year as they had at this time last year.
But the heat has taken its toll on the crop's quality: "This isn't good weed,"
conversation is only just getting started. Though we turn out to agree about a
Take preferences, for example. I don't think that's just a trick of the
tongue. There's a real difference between affirmative action as it was
initially defined (an effort to expand the recruitment pool and make sure that
there is no discrimination in the hiring process) and what is generally
admissions offices and corporate personnel departments do literally prefer to
admit and hire people of color for certain slots. In fact, it's stronger than
in average black and white SAT scores at many colleges. And here, once again, I
go back to the question of means and ends. Of course, as you say, "some racial
mixture is socially desirable." I couldn't be more eager to see a thoroughly
diverse student population and an integrated workforce, from top to bottom. But
I don't think preferences are the right way to get there. And I believe it's
very helpful to have terms to distinguish the tools that you find useful from
the ones you feel are counterproductive or downright pernicious.
(But by the way, I thought from one of your earlier messages that you too
underlying point: that, like them or not in the short term, preferences must
not sure it's a simple as you think. I agree it's unclear what to do about bad
parenting. But I think that what happens at home in the years before school is
a critical part of the problem. (So, increasingly, by the way, do a number of
to find ways to reach and interest and discipline the least prepared, least
the nation would muster the political will. Unlike you, I don't believe that
people are mostly focused on getting an education for their kids, but if they
think about it, they understand that the country needs to make the most of all
Maybe this is what it comes down to: Even when you and I agree, my take
I see a shift in the national mood; you see tactical maneuvering. I see
fundamental difference here that I feel has been dogging us even when we seem
So, Brent, that's my stab at closure. Now you have the last word. It's been
Planet writer, and recommend seeing the Falls the "authentic way," by
travel guide full of panned restaurants is useless. If a book doesn't like a
place, they shouldn't list it. The exception, of course, is in small towns or
might be the only option. Another factor that discourages negative reviews is
The real problem is that none of the guides sift through all the stuff and
tell you what's right for whom. Even in a general guidebook there's room for
specialization: the best green spots, the best museums and galleries, etc.
but it still seems that you've got to read the entire book to make sure you're
not missing something that you'd enjoy, and that can be wearisome no matter how
When I worked for Let's Go, editors cobbled together a list of restaurants,
hostels, and hotels and sent them complimentary service vouchers, which they
would sign and return. Researchers could then visit the establishments
anonymously, and present the voucher when the bill arrived. This method does
prevent preferential treatment, but I do think that a free lunch can compromise
an integral part of the dining experience, and it's harder, if only slightly,
travel writers to be honorable folk. And even the unscrupulous are more
interested in eating for free in restaurants they have no intention of listing
inclusion. One way or another, the interests of the readership are served.
It's wrong to say that these guides don't take reader feedback into account.
Lonely Planet (and Let's Go) usually acknowledge the readers who wrote them
helpful letters in the back pages of the book. This feature is strangely absent
sure thing, but you'll have to stand on line with the rest of New York (or in
an absolute measure of restaurant quality. Locals have different interests,
attitudes, and palates than tourists, and would be accordingly harsher on theme
chops, admit it: You've got to look pretty hard to find a bad steak in
As for theme restaurants in general, they're merely indicative of the fact
that a lot of people travel with their children. The theme restaurant, as a
attention plenty to gawk at. The food is bland enough for even the most finicky
adolescent palate. And celebrity sponsorship is a behavioral modification
Mediocre food at inflated prices is (I imagine) a small price to pay for the
respite these restaurants provide for the harried parent, and guidebook writers
We'll toast your safe return to New York with a "Sloe gin (That's the way it)
transaction, resulting, if approved by shareholders and the federal government,
major Kremlin contracts paid tens of thousands of dollars in bills on credit
exemplifies the virtues of vertical integration, nicely defined by the
distribute it." The LAT notes that this feature of the deal, tying up as
it does many production and distribution entities, could stimulate other
similar mergers among companies now needing more than ever to tie up their
The deal coverage is shot through with the usual attempts at dramatizing the
essentially undramatic activity of guys in suits writing themselves checks. The
involving some television stations. Then he started talking about cable
networks. Then I could see it coming. He is a master salesman, and he began to
turn me on." Just about the only relief from all this breathlessness comes from
is, by any definition, an undemocratic development. The media system in a
democracy should not be inordinately dominated by a few very powerful
violence or its advocacy. Two prisoners offered the deal declined it.
jail. The case had been developed by an independent counsel under the
ability in recent years of China to miniaturize nuclear weapons was a result of
spying on the United States or just hard, independent work. The effort,
says high up that the congressional report issued late last year asserting that
espionage was the main explanation "went beyond the evidence," and that his
thorough review shows that perhaps "thousands" of individuals had access to the
information that the report and the federal investigation suggest came from one
dismissed scientist, Wen Ho Lee. Now, given that the Times ran hard and
often with the congressional report and the line it took, does this piece
by the paper to revise its history of coverage on the subject? Today's Papers
doesn't think so. The paper's coverage has generally been clear in attributing
government sources. And anyway, a paper should be encouraged to revisit a topic
as more information becomes available and better understood. Today's Papers'
clothing, cosmetics, hair styling, physical and speech training, health care,
expenses for a state official whose job it is to be a professional celebrity.
spiritualists (including a clairvoyant who put her in touch with her
grandmother), a tarot card reader, an energy healer, a hypnotherapist, an
an episode in which she slashed her arms and smeared the blood all over the
invited tabloid reporters so she could drop by their tables and leak whatever
she wanted to appear in their publications the next day.
from what Smith dubiously diagnoses as a borderline personality disorder.
Yet she was also the century's most popular royal personage, a fact that now
our attention because she was cute, but she held it because she gave the
needing her privacy. Tabloid editors put her on the cover day in and day out
because eating disorders and fainting fits made good copy, not out of sympathy
with her charities. And since by the ironclad laws of yellow journalism the
individual suffering, the victim of unfeeling institutions everywhere. Others
to find in the public eye the unflagging concern, pity, and sense of drama
its favor, cultivating tabloid reporters while complaining about their
impertinences, figuring out more often than not what to wear and say and how to
It was strangely easy for her to outfox the palace. No rational being, no
one concerned about shoring up a marriage or maintaining a position in society,
put her in a questionable light. She collaborated with a tabloid reporter,
option. She defied everyone she knew, including her own press secretary, to go
about being a princess. She cared about being a celebrity, and her public
to be mad to court such a fate, but luckily, she was.
run down at the heels. Just something I thought you'd like to know. We are back
children. Not all "tactics" are evil. This a worthy goal, one that will save us
the discontent was eclipsed by public anger about the impeachment drama.
The brilliance of the conservative movement (take a bow, you crafty
politics. "Liberal" became a pejorative, synonymous with weakness, taxation,
all this and is betting that there will be some daylight to the left of Gore.
will utter sweet nothings even as he pulls the switch on the electric chair.
It's gonna take a miracle, yes, it's gonna take a miracle."
Speaking of loaded terminology. The big conservative coup was transforming
hijacking. The two terms are not interchangeable. "Affirmative action"
connotes reaching out to underrepresented minorities on the grounds that some
racial mixture is socially desirable. When I go out to find and hire people I
do not "prefer" someone nonwhite. But I do in fact "prefer" to have a staff
that reflects something of the population that my business is meant to
willing to ensure at the minimum that the kids have a qualified teacher at the
front of the room, a set of books, and a safe school. When the schools are
vouchers, not penny ante ones proposed by some in Congress last year but real
ones that would send at least a few kids out of the city to the very best
a culture, we have tended to believe that good education is wasted on the black
Chatterbox is grateful to the many people who wrote in to share personal
stories and their views about methodological challenges as a way to help
Chatterbox figure out whether vacations are more dangerous than work life and
hanging around the house. (To view most of the comments, scroll down to the
forum, "The Fray." Be warned that, as is the case with most chat rooms, you
that's genuinely thoughtful or informative; but a recent 
redesign makes it easier to zoom through to the good stuff.)
As several people noted, the percentages Chatterbox cited in his previous
Do Vacations Kill?") overstate some vacation dangers in the sense
deaths reflects the much greater number of people who
swim as compared with the number who climb mountains. (Similarly, the recent
increase in the number of amusement park deaths may show not that
amusement parks are more dangerous than they used to be, but that more people
go to them; though if more people are spending vacation time at amusement
be making their vacations more dangerous in the aggregate.) On the other hand,
several other people noted, given that people spend a lot more
vacation dangers may be understated by the data in the previous
Given these difficulties, Chatterbox still feels unequal to the task of
proving that vacations either are or aren't more dangerous than ordinary life.
(Perhaps inspiration will strike later this week.) But that doesn't mean
Chatterbox is done with the topic of vacation dangers. Today, he turns his
someone died from falling off a boat rather than dying during a
deliberately planned swim or scuba dive; though if, during a deliberately
planned swim or scuba dive, someone were struck by a boat propeller and killed,
doesn't have data on every single boat in the United States). During the
operating it. Open motor boats were responsible for the vast majority of
motorboats ranking a distant second and canoes and kayaks
accident on a kayak or canoe, it's more difficult to get yourself
such things and the difficulty of administering breathalyzer tests under such
circumstances, this statistic surely understates the problem. According to the
a boat operator with a blood alcohol concentration of zero. According to
Health's Center for Injury, Research, and Policy, an unbelievably high
not only by the high correlation between accidents and alcohol consumption, but
careless or reckless operation, inattention to what's looming up ahead,
inexperience. (By comparison, "equipment failure" registers hardly at all.)
These are guys who get drunk and behave in stupid ways that are
characteristically (though of course not exclusively) male.
puzzled by its erroneous assertion that the number of boats in the United
been told, its ability to bring like minds together, then I must compliment
concern here is the two recent books about the town, The Celebration Chronicles: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Property
I wonder if you shared my spooky feeling reading both
of these books, a feeling totally unconnected with literary merit or effect.
You and I were both early visitors and pioneer critics of Celebration, you for
and, at least when I was there, no habitable houses. My experience with the
veritably complete downtown had sprung up, but it was yet vacant, its
storefronts without signs, its windows without glass, not a solitary pedestrian
along its streets. Witnessing that kind of progression, the field giving way to
the skeletal, empty, immaculate ruin, is the common experience of the
archaeologist, but not of the urbanologist. What complete city was ever all at
one time empty? But the poor archaeologist can only wonder about the lives of
the people who lived in the city's bones, hard as one might work to get those
bones to speak. And that's the spookiness: We saw the ruins and wondered about
the lives, and now, with these two books, the ruins are speaking and the place
Both these books follow a similar trajectory: Their
town unfold during the first year of its infancy, seeking, like some anxious
parent, the significance behind every diaper change and wobbly step. They
record many of the same events: The conflicts over school quality, shoddy home
in their wistful conclusion that if Celebration is a bit of a corporate harlot,
it yet has a heart of gold, or at least of honest brass, and does not deserve
Now we, who once critiqued the town, are invited to
critique the town's critics. The town, we can surmise from this, has come a
apartment without a mortgage or children, and thus had no "real stake"
But it opens up an interesting question: What is the purpose of Celebration? It
insufficiency, implied that the town's purpose was focused on child rearing and
real estate accumulation. And surely education and innovative housing were big
draws for many residents. But most of those residents, it is clear from these
accounts, also were animated by enthusiasm for the larger experiment,
of suburban sprawl and employing virtuous design and bedrock community
principles to reinvigorate the nation's civic life. Far from innocent,
spectators. In an experimental town whose residents pull it up by the roots
death: Is democracy the best way to run a town? These books, and perhaps our
all have a stake in Celebration, and I look forward immensely to talking with
company see what books are selling well among customers in other Zip codes or
respectively. This strangely satisfying form of literary eavesdropping,
addresses, and purchases, is not limited to the continental United States.
Purchase circles are a simple but brilliant conceptual coup. Whoever thought
them up understood a fundamental principle of salesmanship, or rather, herd
psychology: People want to know what everyone else in their peer group is
doing, so they can do it too. Statistically speaking, the data are meaningless,
since the company doesn't reveal the sample size behind each list. There could
its best seller. But no one's claiming that these lists represent some larger
truth about the book market (such truths are elusive, anyway, since publishers
are notoriously secretive about sales figures). They're a hint of the regional
and cultural differences among us, no more, as well as the mildly galling
at least one city in almost every state in the Union). Plus they're fun. Who
starters. They consider Amazon's purchase circles an invasion of privacy, yours
company's secret strategies or level of workplace satisfaction from their
slippery slope: If Amazon will do this, what else will it do? The answer, of
course, is as much as it can get away with. If you don't already know that
Amazon is keeping a file on you, you ought to be forbidden to shop on the
Internet. The company's business strategy has been widely publicized: Amazon
believes that if it ever turns a profit, it will do so by exploiting
information gained from its customers to sell them other products. Since the
integrity of its customer database is of tremendous importance to Amazon, we
can probably take its executives at their word when they say (in a policy page that appears to have gone up yesterday) that
they won't give out any information that could identify you personally. For
people. Amazon has no reason to want to piss you off.
present or future, depend on its ability to compile and deploy information on
its customer. There are just too many ways for shoppers to undermine the
Companies can keep themselves out of purchase circles by faxing in a request.
If consumers get mad enough, they can bail out of Amazon altogether and buy
circles. If enough Amazon customers "opt out," it might be reduced to offering
Obviously, sometimes the privacy advocates are right. This week they're also
appeal its lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, and they have
companies who became party to the suit) from exploiting a customer's personal
services and products. (The ruling did not give the companies the right to sell
this data to third parties.) The judge ruled that keeping a company from using
its customer databases to inform its sales pitches infringed on its free
that she's not convinced that that's what's really causing the general public
to wax wroth. She suspects it's more what Amazon's invention reveals about
shopping nowadays: that it takes place inside an endless hall of mirrors. After
all, what's better than shopping? Watching ourselves shop. Watching ourselves
being watched as we shop. Watching the watchers who watch us as we shop. Ad
anything in my life as a journalist, it's to advocating what I call
written in the past decade: It's all about figuring out how to make what you
call "the browning of the nation" a smoother, happier process. But paying
respect and pandering are not the same thing, and what the presidential
candidates are doing is pandering, pure and simple.
The hard questions on all these issues are about means, in my view, not
ends. I know there are still plenty of bigots out there: lots of people who
convinced, have come around by now to accepting the goal of racial equality.
Just about everybody thinks there should be a healthy share of blacks at top
colleges. Most whites know there must be black politicians, black judges, black
generals, and black corporate chiefs. And I don't think most whites want to
is figuring out how best to achieve these ends, and that's where I think the
even I saw that as a throwaway gesture. This is what I mean when I say the
fault's not in the candidates but in ourselves. We've got to ask more of these
we need some leadership that can face up to the tough questions. Surely, you
another direction for my last Breakfast Table entry. (Or is it the Dinner Table
by this time of day?) Did you see the story buried (alas) in the "Circuits"
thoughtful, beautifully written meditation on the differences between a
"But what did stay in sharp focus were the faces and voices of the people who
came to the door or stopped me on the street to tell me they had known my
father. They knew his comings and goings, his eccentricities. They had been to
meetings and read the letters he sent to the local paper."
She goes on to compare this community to the virtual communities, such as
written admiringly. "In the course of writing about the Well," she says, "I saw
people there grieve for their fellow members when they died and marshal support
virtual communities are fundamentally different." Ultimately, she concludes,
the real community is more cohesive. It works better.
On some level, I feel the same way about the exercise we've just concluded.
it's not completely satisfying. Wouldn't it be more fun, and more
other about? Wouldn't you prefer to see the face and hear the voice? I
Unless you're a hardcore gamer, you may not know that today saw the debut of
it's really fast) and the last hope for a corporation that has gone from having
one of the strongest brands in the world to having the words "laggard" and
spending tens of millions of dollars on an elaborate marketing campaign that
in particular is the most amazing sports video game ever created. But what with
campaign, with edgy graphics and oblique slogans. It's a good campaign, but
That's not surprising, since at this point in the history of marketing, it
seems impossible that you might actually come across something new. The irony,
The ads star an actual senior managing director of the company, a man named
drunk, and on his way home scuffles with some thugs, who beat him up. The
commercial ends with him collapsed in the doorway of his house, as an offscreen
he wakes up on the floor of his office to realize that his secretary has caught
him daydreaming. The ad ends with him reflecting on his nightmare.
The later ads are slightly more hopeful, but the overriding tone, which one
accountability." As such, they throw into sharp relief the differences between
company, trying to target a market different from the one in which its parents
have arranged to surprise him with a special gift in Phoenix. Please click on
Unable to resist the invitation, Chatterbox clicked the designated link and
campaigning, "I doubt if John has given any thought to the fact that he will
wishes as well as those of so many of his most ardent friends and supporters. I
know I can count on you to participate in this project."
John's campaign and guarantee that he will have the financial resources needed
to get his positive, conservative, and independent reform message out to the
special way to thank John for all he's done for our state and nation. And if we
accompany our special card, it will give him the added financial boost that's
so necessary to carry his campaign forward. But right now, time is of the
included in the special birthday album we will present to John, I must hear
from you soon. That is why I urge you to contribute $63--or whatever amount you
Chatterbox, whose passion is to be in on secrets, felt deeply honored to be
Tear gas is a basic tool of law enforcement. It causes extreme, disabling,
but usually temporary discomfort, and therefore is considered a humane
alternative to using guns. There are three common ways to disperse tear gas.
Aerosol hoses work like an insecticide spray. They cause the least
amount of physical damage, but can only be used up close. Powder
grenades can be thrown from a distance and send up a mist of powder.
Pyrotechnic devices also launch tear gas from afar, in combination with
a heat source. The result is an explosion, releasing a cloud of tear gas
particles mixed with smoke. Pyrotechnic tear gas has tactical advantages.
First, the smoke cloud obscures the movement of agents as they approach a
building or crowd. Second, because the metal casing becomes quite hot, it is
difficult for the device to be thrown back at police (a common problem with
insists, however, that the timing and location make it impossible to blame
compound. The Pentagon stated that it could not discuss any aspect of the Delta
abroad. The thinking was that a small, secret, specially trained cadre of
soldiers would be able to respond more effectively to terrorist threats,
particularly those involving hostages. However, Delta did not stay secret for
this resulted in a strict division between the military and civilian law
enforcement. But the restrictions were amended in the 1980s to allow military
involvement in the drug war. The Army may train law enforcement officials and
lend them equipment for use in drug raids. But military troops are still
later turned out to be false), use of Delta Force troops as advisers in the
raid may be legally justifiable. In fact, it is already public record that
other parts of the military assisted in planning the raid and providing
equipment. But the level of Delta Force participation remains unknown. If Delta
commandos are found to have played an active role in the raid, their
The Explainer wishes to thank the Organization for the Prohibition of
chunk of its front to its hometown professional sport: show business awards.
force. (The Wall Street Journal mentions that perhaps the force will
in which they, or their spouses or trusts they managed held stock in one of the
says the paper, attributed their participation to innocent mistakes or memory
lapses about their finances. One case cited gives a feel for the amount of
lapse required: The husband of a judge who participated in a ruling favorable
offending judges are quoted saying that they are "chagrined" and promise "to
try to be more careful." The story doesn't call the practice "illegal" (a
related editorial does, though) and doesn't explain to the reader why the
judges aren't looking at criminal charges, civil suits, or at least discipline
decision not to answer questions about alleged youthful drug use. A suggestion:
If the press is looking for embarrassing questions to ask presidential
relevant to presidential performance than ancient drug use: What were your SAT
scores? The real issue isn't who used dope; it's who is a dope.
But she added, "In general, I do not agree with spying against one's country."
law firm to recognize that all three branches of government could serve as
listen to me. I never discussed clemency for terrorists with that woman, Ms.
question: If federal employees can't even accept a lunch from an outsider, what
recounted a wacky trend in shady political campaign contributions: maximum
money added by Congress to appropriations bills favoring specific universities
year's total for such funds. Now reading that, wouldn't you think the original
story said something about that source? Well, it didn't. That figure was
calculated by The Chronicle of Higher Education in its own story on the
unattributed in the second paragraph, and the Chronicle shows up in the
fourteenth, and without being connected to the figure. Hence today's newspaper
deconstruction: "referred incompletely to the source" means "referred to the
source, without mentioning that it was the source." These baroque newspaper
years. What exactly is money laundering and how does it work?
In short, money laundering is the conversion of illegally obtained profits
used by drugs traffickers, arms smugglers, and anyone else who needs to spend
political leaders also frequently launder funds to avoid taxes or conceal
The simplest form of money laundering is combining criminal profits with
revenue. Although his drug income is now taxable, it is worth that price to
Laundering big sums generally involves three steps:
bills) enter the legitimate banking system. Many countries require that large
authorities. So, launderers often deposit proceeds piece by piece or export the
money to countries with relaxed banking regulations.
complex financial transactions. Often, funds will be transferred dozens of
times through multiple accounts, companies, and countries, making the paper
There are countless variations on this pattern. One of the most common is
himself. First, he sets up a lending company in a country with few financial
regulations. Then he fills its coffers with illegal profits, layered through
multiple accounts. When the launderer wants to make a purchase in his home
country, he simply "borrows" the money from the overseas lender. This money,
it both ways: breakfast of chickens, maybe, and lunch on their eggs. But
somehow the farmer foils the little predator's scheme, and he ends up with
have accepted Bill's clemency offer, and she ends up with nothing but egg on
her face. Downstate liberals and ethnic activists will never forgive her for
opposing the commutation deal, but she has nothing to show to more conservative
only is she proven utterly powerless to stop them, but most people suspect that
she was responsible for the clemency offer in the first place.
days is all these gutless candidates trying to have it both ways. The moral of
neither. But all this brings me back to where I started yesterday: I know I
could be gloating, but somehow in the end, the whole thing is just depressing.
But the truth is, when I think about it, I wonder if that's so. Maybe we get
ones who pander to us or try to have it both ways. And those who take on thorny
principled middle ground are usually only punished for their trouble.
themselves into a shameless arms race, each one trying to outdo the other in
flattering and cajoling minority voters. They've trooped around to the
would get absolutely nothing for staking out more thoughtful positions.
Surely, to take the most obvious example, there are better ways to open up
just wouldn't pay off with black or white voters. There's more to be
But in the end, I think, we get the politicians we deserve. It's easy to
criticize them, but really we ought to be looking inward.
will develop into the framework for a peace treaty early next year. The
tough deadline to meet. The new agreement also addresses a water dispute and
does not reach the Sea of Galilee. This point, bumped to an inside story for
government has not made any guarantees to foreign authorities that it will act.
The LAT emphasizes that the campaign has "no logical political
for four months, and it will be several months more before he is
violence. Her criticism, and that of legislators, prominent New York
president's gesture, which includes restrictions on their travel and political
really about the developing fissure between White House business and the first
lady's need to maintain political independence for her Senate bid.
illegally trading government securities that were suspicious to begin with.
punishable offense), yanked cash out of treasury bills before the ruble's
collapse last August and then sent it abroad. A sure sign that something is
In recent weeks, this criticism has already led the company to drop the part of
in by products and services sold through the site. Critics also charge that the
site sometimes fails to distinguish between its advertising and the products
Readers have requested explanations of some of the terms used in
even before the newspaper is unfolded). Signifies one of the most important
stories of the day, according to that paper's editors.
Front (as a verb): To place a story on the front page. The five
national newspapers often reach different decisions on which stories to front
Jump (verb or noun): For a story that begins on one (usually the
front) page, to continue on another page. Or the place in the story where it
breaks between pages. Or the entire part of the story after the first page.
Because studies consistently show that few readers follow an article beyond the
jump, many papers attempt to lay out the crucial elements of the story before
stories that almost never jump). Thus, the organization of facts around the
Today --which often runs a feature story across the top of the front
Street Journal has not adopted these conventions for leads. Instead, the
(Note: The opening sentence or paragraph of a news story is also known as
written by the paper's editorial board appear. It originally stood for
"opposite the editorial page." It also refers to the individual articles on the
columnists, and others are submitted to the newspaper unsolicited.
Journal's "What's News" are essentially multiple reefers. The New York
The term originally referred to the pieces of lead which held the type in place
Stuff (as a verb): To place a story inside the paper.
stances taken by past Republican leaders and still followed by grassroots
teaching of evolution was sensible because it allowed for a "diversity of
he makes of Al Gore's refusal to come out in favor of the mandatory teaching of
mean, this is politics. I mean, this is what I guess Gore feels like he has to
do. I mean, it's another sign of the fact that his campaign is thrashing about
instead discussing his own idiosyncratic topics. He devoted this week's show
entirely to the social, political, and economic direction of the new
millennium. (He even assembled a panel of three academic "experts" on
millennial issues.) This is a fine subject to discuss, but it renders his
queries from this week's show: "Over the upcoming millennium, will science and
week's cover, and inside ran a lengthy excerpt with no fewer than four sidebars (to read them, click
here and here) and, to top it all off, an extremely sympathetic interview with the author. Perhaps Chatterbox wouldn't have been
culture as a whole, and (to quote its subtitle) its "undeclared war against
the news media, which (if you read the book quickly) comes off as uniformly
hostile toward feminism. But if you take a closer look, you'll notice that some
this, presumably because she never really intended Backlash to be a
critique of particular news organizations so much as, well, a broadside against
lifetimes. The findings became famous when they landed on the cover of 
preparation later explains how the terrorist analogy wound up in the magazine:
"What happened is, one of the bureau reporters was going around saying it as a
next thing we knew, one of the writers in New York took it seriously and it
emotional fallout of feminism"; for hyping "cocooning," a trend pretty much
invented by Faith Popcorn; for attacking the "myth of Supermom"; for running
two covers on the "trend of childlessness"; and for exaggerating the problem of
drug addiction among pregnant mothers, among other sins. In many instances,
between women's traditional motherhood role and their increased participation
in the workplace isn't just something dreamed up by newsmagazine writers.) But
that isn't the point. The point is that an implicit theme running throughout
Backlash is that in a world plagued by stupid, superficial journalism,
in the 1980s, she probably figures she'll help it improve. But look at this
heaping laurels onto someone who's called them a bunch of sexist ninnies! Is
state's required curriculum. The decision was a victory for those who favor at
Frame Game on the controversy, note that while there
is basically only one theory of evolution, there are many different theories of
story. There is, instead, an endless cycle of creation, destruction, and
rebirth. At the beginning of each kalpa (or era), there is nothing but water
and darkness. As time passes, land slowly forms on the water's surface. The
only living creatures are spiritual beings who were reborn at the end of the
previous kalpa. Eventually, one of these being is tempted by the pleasures of
follow, they begin to experience the jealousy, desire, and misery of a physical
existence (this is the period in which we are living). In time, the world
animals. Deciding that it needed a ruler, he made Fam, the first man. But Fam
made a new, more humble man. Needing a family, the man created a woman from a
was sacrificed, his upper three quarters became the immortal heavens, and the
arms became the warrior, his legs the commoner, and his feet the serf. Another
voice resonating created the earth, the sky, and the seasons.
hovered. Over the next five days, God improved His creation, adding day and
night, the sun and moon, the land and seas, and the plants and animals. On the
people slowly evolved from primitive creatures as they journeyed upward from
People began as insects who inhabited the dark, watery first world. The insect
people did not recognize sexual taboos, which angered the gods and led to their
expulsion from each of the first three worlds. In the fourth world, the insects
became (or, according to some versions of the story, helped create) First Man
and First Woman. The couple had five sets of twins whom the gods taught the
skills they would need to survive in the fifth world. The family then climbed a
reed that brought them to the present earth. They created the mountains,
weather, plants and animals they had known below. And they brought the gods up
leads instead with the apparent readiness of the White House and Senate
invasion until five paragraphs from the end.) The Post is also alone in
paper squanders a bit of this edge when it writes that the situation in East
journalists, and the scene of some of the world's worst reported human rights
abuses," thus falsely suggesting that poor coverage of the topic was somehow
mostly caused by something other than press inattention.
scientists and military leaders, the Democrats are threatening to bring the
Senate to a standstill unless Republicans agree to hold hearings on the
area of nuclear weaponry is not traditional arms control, but enhanced
The overriding explanation for devastation is bad building practices, soft and
loose soil (as opposed to rocky soil) amplifies a quake's effects, as do
valleys. Biggest new puzzle: Previously, it was thought that a quake couldn't
jump a large body of water to activate a fault line on the other side, but in
these calls come right after Congress let the independent counsel law
pay gap between average workers and top corporate executives has exploded
Why didn't the Post assign this at least the same priority as such
Another Post mystery: A brief inside item says that in defiance of
the paper identify the staffers, or more importantly, their bosses?
Even though handgun deaths are actually down a bit from the early '90s, says
shootings tend to stimulate lawful gun purchases for household protection,
which may be bad news for those households, since according to one quoted
expert, "the odds that a home will be the scene of a homicide are substantially
interesting reason why established large corporations haven't exactly reaped
in on Fox's proposal to devise a television special of an airplane purposely
crashed into the desert with a resounding, "NO WAY!" But in a separate story
the paper also notes that a recent study shows that surviving a plane crash can
dots and pitch his show as psychiatric social work.
injuries were the fault of the riders or the amusement parks. But Chatterbox is
more interested in the broader question: Is leisure time more dangerous than
The answer, of course, varies depending on what type of work you happen to
do. "In my world, anyway, people, sitting in offices, are obviously not at risk
miner, on the other hand, subjects himself to a lot of risk on the job. The
type of leisure you tend to prefer is also a factor. "Some people go on
are more exciting, like skiing and rock climbing." Presumably the folks who
seek physical thrills in their leisure activity tend not to get them on the
job, and people who get them on the job don't seek them out while on vacation.
But probably there are a few coal miners out there who go hang gliding in
year are associated with sports and recreation, not including the many
thousands that occur in connection with recreational use of motor vehicles in
"result from water recreation." (The most dangerous water sports, in declining
order, are swimming, boating, and scuba diving.) But are vacations more
dangerous, in the aggregate, than normal life? Chatterbox, alas, couldn't pose
But her book includes a chart that sheds a little light on the subject by
comparing the percentage of "unintentional injury deaths" in various categories
(drowning, falling object, etc.) in homes, "public buildings" such as offices,
industrial settings, and places where people engage in recreational activities.
than any other recreational activity except swimming.)
However, lightning is more likely to kill you while you're engaged in
Collision with an object or person (apparently not one that's falling
It's important to remember, of course, that not engaging in certain
kinds of leisure activity (read: exercise) will also kill you; heart
"Are vacations more dangerous than work?" (which, on reflection, should really
be "Are vacations more dangerous than work or hanging around the house?") is a
complex one. Chatterbox will continue to collect data on this subject in hopes
But how would you write an introduction to such a vast topic for such
What really irks me about the writing is its relentlessly upbeat tone. My
books coat every museum, park, and hotel with a sticky layer of enthusiasm,
making the entire city uniformly and unrecognizably wonderful. Flipping through
my seven guidebooks, I found not a single negative restaurant review. I just
Which brings us to a dirty industry secret: Guidebook writers, unlike travel
journalists, are allowed to accept free meals and lodging. Actually, since
their publishing houses generally don't provide food and hotel costs, they must
rely on complimentary dinners and stays, which means that they notify the
establishment ahead of time that they're coming to write a review. Can you
imagine the succulent steak, the impeccable service, the free pair of Air
Even Lonely Planet, the least fawning of my books, coughs that its "writers do
not accept discounts or payments in exchange for positive coverage." Ah, so
they can't auction off good reviews to the highest bidder! But writers can
Discounts or no, Lonely Planet is proving to be my most trusted guide. This
destination, and I probably would have chosen Lonely Planet to wander real
jungles instead of urban ones. But the book is far more practical than any
other, dishing out such goodies as city bus routes, the best food stands at
Midway airport, names and programs of favorite local radio personalities, and
Democratic Convention, or to explain how redlining segregated the city by race.
Lonely Planet is also the only guide with a discernible sense of humor. (On
is a substance sent by God to ruin political careers, and because of that, each
and every delicate little flake that falls on the city is seen as an invader to
methods of construction (the balloon frame and the skyscraper), fostered two
to a set formula, regardless of what is unique about its subject destinations.
Travel is all about distinctiveness, but I bet that the table of contents for
I second your call for New Yorkers to appreciate our tourists (not to
mention the riches they bring the city). Of course, we are defending ourselves
or cruder than those from other countries. Rather, it's that international
was the first nation wealthy enough to export our middle class.
Now the middle class has been traveling for decades. Air travel is an
everyday activity, entire cable channels are devoted to travel, and we buy
that tourists are simply getting better at going places, and that it's time to
the president wouldn't even take Carter's phone calls, so it's absurd to think
you explain to me how a president who wants you to go to jail if you don't have
a trigger lock is going to say that these [prisoners] should be released, even
despite all this, several pundits note that Gore is still the candidate to
surplus and Democrats wanting to pay down the debt.
genuinely believe I could win the presidency of the United States. I think the
whatsoever, or acts of violence, to further any goals of the independence
Well, it's as if last week never happened, as all the gains that the stock
and in the space of five or six days we went from being convinced that the Fed
was done raising rates for the year to being almost certain that it would be
wrongheaded. Bond prices have been oscillating as wildly in the past few weeks
as Internet prices, and for reasons that are often even less obvious than those
moving the stock market. Everyone, in other words, is looking forward to
heavily), and wonder, as we all will, where the summer went. On to the
White House correspondent 'out of respect to him and his position.' Has this
million in sales. Yesterday, it announced that it was already going back to the
the drastic devaluation of its currency and the collapse of its economy last
summer. Surprisingly, massive capital flight from the country is not
courtesy on its subways. One ad, for instance, reads, 'If you don't put
anything on the seat next to you, someone else will be able to sit down.' I can
launched until next spring at the earliest because the vibration of the
trains will be made noisier, so that it seems like they're going faster."
country, bringing teachers back onto payrolls, and the Labor Department has
apparently not made the necessary seasonal adjustment yet. So now bond traders
have as much reason to dread the end of summer as little children do."
the restarting of negotiations over China's entry into the World Trade
to accept an "accelerated deployment" of peacekeeping troops. Hours later
but the LAT makes clear that no coherent message is emanating from
acknowledged that some of his troops might be allying themselves with violent
cowered in fear of the next paramilitary onslaught. The Post reviews
tangible progress." The paper cautions that it remains unclear whether China
sector of the province. A senior French commander acknowledged that
industry, even though the program was approved a year ago. The piece is
National Committee sent news organizations two press releases highlighting the
Globe story. The releases are the latest in a series of "World According
For months there have been news stories suggesting that Wen Ho
development. There have been further suggestions that the Lee case exposes the
there have been stories suggesting that Lee may not have been a spy after all.
on for four years. It is clearly established that China somehow obtained design
early '90s. But these secrets could have leaked from many places, including
other government research labs and private defense contractors.
What is the evidence implicating Wen Ho Lee? Mainly, it seems,
He was even once seen hugging one of them. But these exchange visits and
rules. But there is no evidence the information ever went any further. Lee says
The thinness of the evidence against him has led some to
that it is unlikely Lee will ever face charges of spying. At most, he may be
his job in March. However, even this charge may never end up in court. Last
would likely find it difficult to justify a different standard being applied to
security by mishandling the investigation of Lee. How? Separate investigations
security and to revoke Lee's access to sensitive information. The president and
Cabinet officials were not fully informed of the security issues until late in
the investigation. But there is no evidence of actual damage to national
security due to these lapses. And there is no evidence tying any of this to
Before we get to this week's Cocktail Chatter, I have a correction to make.
interest rates in the right direction, I wrote that the Fed's adoption of a
neutral bias was a shift from its earlier stance. In fact, the Fed had already
adopted a neutral bias at its previous meeting, shifting from a bias toward
tightening. What threw me was that it's relatively unusual for the Fed to raise
interest rates off a neutral bias, but that is in fact what happened this week.
The bond market, meanwhile, seemed so concerned about inflation that it felt as
if the Fed was leaning toward tightening. (Which it did do.) So when the Fed
announced that it was staying neutral, it felt like a change.
All of the above is true, but I still shouldn't have made the mistake.
stocks, since the idea behind the hike is that it will slow down the economy
and, presumably, profits. But this economy seems so strong that the danger of
the stock market welcomes them. Who knows how long this will last, but right
now, investors seem to feel that if things are stable, the only answer is to
buy. You can't keep a buoyant market down. Which is, I suppose, why you would
discernible results, maybe making one or two phone calls wouldn't be
is still around? Really? Well, a kickback here and a payoff there do add up.
not defaulting, just deferring to a later date. 'Does anybody really know what
time it is? Does anybody really care?' the finance minister reportedly
kind of line do you have to use to get Apollo to come home with you,
with those of most other analysts who follow the company. The definition of
morning. Never mind the "aw shucks" stuff: We expected that. Also the now de
driven by polls, etc., etc. What interested me was his unabashed,
more claim to be a liberal than he would try a tell a story about himself
without spin: Remember all that stuff about "triangulating" and the Democrats
declared liberal Democrat in my lifetime (outside of New York City, of course).
the comfortable middle class so comfortable now that people feel they can
sees a new mood dawning. With "compassionate conservatism," he, too, is banking
on a sense that the public wants to think of itself as generous again now:
poor and the left out? And Bush's ostensibly conservative ideas could turn out
says about both men's readings of the national mood.
Which brings us back to where we were yesterday: Are there other means of
achieving equal opportunity than with preferences? It sounds as if you and I
agree completely on that: The answer is education and what I call
need to put your thumb on the scale of college admissions or hiring or
seems to me, is precisely how do you do it. How do we make the schools really
work for poor kids? What do we do about the parenting that doesn't prepare them
for school? How do we counteract the peer pressure that tells them not to
bother in class because it's "acting white"? And who exactly should be doing
compassionate now. But that's only the beginning of the conversation, not the
again now, but what exactly are we going to do about it?
thumbnail sketch of the subjects of our little experiment.
The Insight Guides are "softer," emphasizing glossy photos and punchy
associate, is stylistically a synthesis of these two models.
didn't originate in the United States, and are still largely targeted at
Guides seek to better the guidebook's always rocky marriage of maps and text.
and the spine, lending credence to the idea that one need be neither much of a
traveler nor much of a writer to be a travel writer.
was a worthy site, and they all had the same advice on how best to see it: Get
there for the earliest ferry and beat the crowds in the race to Lady Liberty's
crown, where spectacular views of Manhattan await. The guidebooks disagreed on
(or simply didn't mention) when the first ferry actually left, but none quoted
would be admitted to the crown. Here I learned (or rather, relearned) a
valuable travel lesson: Never trust a travel guide. If a guidebook fact is
yourself. The disclaimers in the books tell you as much themselves.
Which begs the question: Why do people (myself included) continue to rely on
(and delight in) products that so frequently prove unreliable? And how can so
fierce brand loyalty, when they all say approximately the same thing? The
Statue of Liberty is just the beginning: From Wall Street to the Met, there is
against this ghetto safari mentality, chastising, "If you're too scared to go
yesterday, by subway, without incident), the haughty tone is a bit troubling.
Have you noticed that travelers are always quick to ridicule other travelers?
Budget guides can be particularly harsh: Is this a considered reaction to the
Should travel guides educate their readers, or simply pander to their
who bought them were unfamiliar with the places they described. But mass media
has made armchair travel experts out of all of us, at least in the cases of
know, what these cities are about, and what we want to see when we're there. In
theory, it's thrilling that people can travel farther from home, and that they
know more before they arrive, but is the end result simply longer lines at the
Statue of Liberty and the Hard Rock Cafe? Can travel guides still gently
educate their readers, or have they merely become handmaidens, shuttling
differences in the way your guides cover the city? Are they at least getting
Take it easy there. I did not intend to cast aspersion. But you seemed to be
awkward for you, how do you think they feel for me. But the fawning often stems
candidate's failure to understand that black and brown voters have pretty much
the same interests as white voters. They want: the schools to work; the jobs to
are opinion makers, many of them. What they do and say could end up being
crucial as the wheels of this campaign grind forward. In short, when things get
what it would take to win. He said, "Give the same speech everywhere. Shake
hands (meaning 'touch') as many as people as possible." I thought, "Boy, this
stuff that the trade is made of and Bill did it better than anybody. The issues
I apologize for not having read your book. But there is still time.
As for the "hard" issues, I take it that you mean affirmative action. We
will in fact get to that in the campaign, but you cannot blame people for not
rushing to an issue that has been so heavily contaminated with ill will in the
than optimal but will have to do until we can summon the political will to
improve the quality of schools that serve black and Latino populations. I wrote
"hard question" and made an honorable choice, don't you think?
Chatterbox (who finally reached her today by phone): "I did not stonewall you
or the issue." She hadn't returned Chatterbox's earlier queries because she was
on vacation, she said; and she'd already explained herself to Felicity
Commentary-- will note that Chatterbox had already allowed for the
earlier item to assess the extremely damaging evidence.) It isn't
got wind of the similarities, it published an editor's note saying it wouldn't
have not read") that the Times attributed to her. Her mantra to
be imagined that two people would independently arrive at the (erroneous)
would independently arrive at the same words to express this idea.
"I understand that there are clear similarities in some of the language use,
but I arrived at my conclusions independently and I expressed them that way,"
publication without attribution, without citing it properly."
But that's not possible! Chatterbox said. Lengthy passages are repeated
Oh, come on, Chatterbox said. Why not come clean and at least admit that you
Chatterbox briefly considered dedicating the rest of his life to finding out
plagiarism but say it was inadvertent and trivial), which Chatterbox previously
It's working. Aside from Chatterbox's rants on the subject, there continues
Better Off Lying"), but the archival link doesn't seem to be working just now,
Time magazine has a cover story this week, called "Why We Take Risks," that bears some superficial resemblance to
Idiots and Their Boats.") Essentially it's a story about "extreme sports,"
whose rise in popularity Time links, somewhat unconvincingly, to day
trading and "unprotected sex" and heroin use. Time reports that while
baseball, touch football, and aerobics are declining in popularity, riskier
sports like snowboarding and scuba diving are becoming more popular. "By every
in and injuring themselves through adventure sports at an unprecedented
News cover story on the same subject a couple of years back.
problem, though, is that Time's story is apt to leave readers with the
population are not active at all." Kids are particularly sedentary: "Nearly
physical activity sharply declines during adolescence." This is typically
characterized as a national decline in physical fitness, attributable to
another section of the Surgeon General's report, President
ago, the rise of "extreme sports" underscores a trend that's a bit different
and more interesting than the one Time is promoting: Namely, that a
small elite is engaging in pathologically daring leisure activities requiring
unprecedented physical fitness, while the rest of us are getting fat on chips
perspective, the danger of extreme sports is an inadvertent equalizer. These
unbelievably fit people may be as likely to die young as the physically unfit
masses are, if not more so (though not, of course, of the same cardiovascular
causes). A better way to achieve equality would be a redistribution of physical
fitness in which everybody engages in sensible, moderate exercise, and
nobody engages in BASE (an acronym for "building, antenna, span,
earth"), which, according to Time, involves hurtling off a cliff or a
is over. Let me depart with some personal history that readers who wish to can
recruited to college off of a street corner in a dying factory town where black
being startled when a college professor visiting our town told me after an
hour's conversation, mainly on the street, that I was college material and
intelligent?") and a far better writer. Which amazed the faculty to no end,
gave the honors commencement speech a few years ago and what an interesting
He'd begin a lecture showing two photographs: one of a white man holding a
especially in the role of preconception in human performance.
these stories about genetically enhanced smartness in mice are hilariously
superficial. We do not yet know what intelligence even is. When we find
out, its visual representation will be something like a very complex, perhaps
On affirmative action. Am I ambivalent? No. It's the only thing that kept us
from collapsing into racial factionalism and civil war. I really think that.
But I am most determined to speak loudly on equal access to education.
On politics, I disagree with your assessment of my view. Tactical strategies
do not preclude core values. But as you have said yourself, very few
politicians have anything that even approaches the latter. I am sure that our
paths will cross again, perhaps at luncheon, perhaps in Grand Central, where we
height of his popularity immediately following the Gulf War, whining to his
rubber, you're glue, bounce off me and stick to you!
remind yourself why, click on "Flashbacks," and when the little box with the
search engine appears, enter "Bush." Chatterbox is especially fond of the
second installment of "President and First Lady Deal With a Rat," dated Sept.
fiddling with that infernal liberal comic strip. Apparently, the rumor is not
many people were calling his comic strip "liberal" during its early years:
is one my roommate tells: Bush approached him and warned him that the
itself as being in the vanguard of the counterculture.
To be fair (not usually my strong suit), a different roommate says he
was about. My own impression of him was formed almost entirely from our joint
which I was elected my freshman year under the mistaken impression it had
something to do with student government. In fact, it was the social committee,
and our chief responsibilities were to arrange for bands and kegs of beer. All
I can tell you about Bush was that he showed a lot of command presence during
Convention, stuck his finger in my face and told me he had only two words for
didn't like it at all"? A possible future president roughs you up and you don't
answered, "because I have a notoriously bad memory."
anything I was subjected to a charm offensive. That was back when the Bushes
were still trying to woo me over from the Dark Side. Early on, Bar even
purchased an original, making a nice contribution to the Coalition for the
The newest statistics on the spread and lethality of AIDS lead at the
The multiple AIDS stories are prompted by the government's release of
takeaway is the same: The steep decline in new AIDs cases and in AIDS deaths
that began three years ago, and which is associated with the emergence of the
to be more important for controlling the spread of the disease than
flattening out: There is a saturation effect in which most people who know
strict regimen that optimizes their effectiveness is hard to stick to. Another
is that excessive confidence in the therapies may be prompting people to
now say that Bank of New York records that would have served as evidence of the
presidential hopefuls, seeing in it an efficient way to flash distance from the
seems to have unwritten rules: It's apparently a political plus for Protestants
atheist, no matter how earnest, would, says a historian quoted in the piece,
"don't ask, don't tell" rules in the military governing the service of gays
"aren't working the way they were intended to work," and that he would work
with military leaders to bring about an implementation strategy that's
administration in its earliest days. And that until now, Republican candidates
responded to Gore's interview by taking a position "aggressively to Gore's
left," expressing grave doubts about the current policy, and saying that we
ought to move toward a time "when gays can serve openly in the military."
indicating that low paternal involvement with a teen is a key determinant of
single mom, the study says, has a far better chance of avoiding drug abuse than
idea is to incorporate certain sociological background factors-- such as
range for him or her, and if the person's actual score exceeds the likely one
identification of talented minority students in a way that will survive the
recent negative rulings about affirmative action in admissions. But the piece
isn't too clear on why this would work. Doesn't it just transfer the legally
own lipstick line and recently tested the staying power of various lipsticks.
giving lip service to stopping the violence. The striking picture on the
to stop the photographer from taking a shot of refugees preparing to board a
noting that apparently many victims had been shot by military assault rifles
militia members if they attacked and that what they are doing is good for the
The LAT notes concern before last week's vote about possible civil
strife afterward, but says that "what is happening is not civil war but simply
the killing and intimidation of unarmed civilians." The paper goes on to
characterize international reaction thus far as "public condemnations and much
story inside. The explosions, the papers note, came on the heels of a promising
that on the chat shows yesterday, several Republican pols charged that
concerned about a range of matters before Congress, including an antitrust bill
and workers' compensation laws and tax issues. (Maybe they should concentrate a
too revealing and was creating a stir in the office.
Tigers, Dodgers and Padres. What Bean was up against in the aggressively hetero
Is there a better racket than travel journalism? At least if you write a
travel book you actually have to come up with a couple of hundred pages' worth
of information. But even for a couple of thousand words that could have come
from a brochure, the airfare still gets picked up by somebody else. Witness
"the exoticism of the island state is palpable and omnipresent." Who knew?
pyrotechnic gas grenades were indeed fired at a bunker within the Branch
creation of significantly smarter mice through a minor genetic alteration.
that the nation's public water systems are stricken by tens of thousands of
cases of previously undocumented unsafe drinking water. The story refers to an
infrared video made from an aircraft when the tear gas canisters were launched
at the bunker. This suggests an orchestrated use of the gas, although the
LAT quotes a law enforcement source saying that its deployment was "spur
of the moment." One issue relevant here, which the press hasn't gotten to yet:
the tape supports their account that the canisters bounced harmlessly off the
bunker's roof and hence could not have started the subsequent lethal fire, and
research coming out in Nature today. In the experiment, extra copies of
a gene associated with recognizing something or remembering where something is
were inserted into mouse embryos. The result: The enhanced mice grew up better
than control mice at remembering say, that a tone was associated with a shock
or where a resting platform was in a tank of opaque water. The Post
quotes the research's lead scientist as saying that the experiment raises
issues of equal access to perfecting technology and that it's an example of
biology outpacing the culture's capacity to deal with ethics.
conclusions: Judges are more likely than juries to rule for the plaintiff, but
Today's Papers urges readers to always note the credit line accompanying an
point. The piece claims that China has successfully devised a new espionage
strategy that can "consistently defeat our ability to investigate or prosecute
spying offenses." The key elements are, says the author, that China doesn't
normally pay an agent for information, request the provision of classified
documents, use intelligence officers to elicit information, or engage in
clandestine activity in the United States. All this, he says, usually means no
smoking guns of the sorts found in other espionage cases. Interesting, but the
arguments if he didn't desperately need them to try to save face?
versions of the guidebooks in the "...For Dummies" series. Today's Papers
international peacekeeping force might be necessary to control the violence
continued violence could lead to charges of crimes against humanity. The
reporting he said that outside peacekeepers would not be welcome before the
army could "calm down the situation" (no word on when or if), and that
international peacekeeping forces," should they arrive prematurely. The
for the violence, including charges that the foreign press was "exaggerating
fault for playing a role in the independence elections in the first place.
Both papers report that in addition to the routing of the general
who were seen to have supported independence for the country, continues. The
voters are predicted to approve the amendment in March. The LAT quotes
respect and dignity they deserve. That sad chapter in our history ends today."
segregation. The ruling represents the end of an era, and will have countrywide
"assigning children to schools or allocating educational opportunities and
that deny students an equal footing based on race." Both papers point out that
Charlotte to desegregate (fifteen years after Brown vs. the Board of
compelled to talk. "This is what happens when you can't keep your mouth shut.
Bush failed to show up, because of bad weather, and Gore took the opportunity
to show him up: "The Gore campaign, better known for playing defense most of
the year, quickly seized the offensive. Moving with uncharacteristic swiftness,
the vice president's campaign wangled an invitation to meet with the students
that in the 1970s played host to a number of men who pioneered the Internet and
the personal computer industry, yesterday cooked his last meal. Reasons given
hackers are driven to figure them out); and plain old good taste.
have recently dropped by a third and that convicted criminals are serving less
of their total supply. The loss, which adds up to millions of dollars each
year, is brought to light as area residents are being asked to conserve,
combination of fixed federal grants and shrinking welfare rolls have left
areas to prevent interference in tomorrow's referendum, according to a
supervise the vote and announce the results in no less than a week. The
cities have industrialized and expanded over the past few decades, despite a
string of predictions that an earthquake would hit. The paper points out that
vulnerable to a quake. Other details of the government's role are emerging: The
state never set up a communications network that would link them to local
provide people with new homes for free; costs to be met with international
families who must rebuild their lives from scratch. 
that investigators have been less than successful targeting the nation's
biggest illegal weapons dealers. Opponents of gun control blame federal
Times that the survey did not take enough into account, like
LAT devotes its entire editorial space to a plea for stricter gun
control. The paper calls on lawmakers to ban assault weapons, require that guns
be registered and owners licensed, impose background checks at gun shows, and
International health specialists concerned with preventing malaria are
Times that such a provision is likely, but not without a fierce struggle
by unlikely adversaries: public health experts and environmentalists.
carousel, inflation, and social disintegration) have only encouraged a broad
range of people with money to find ways to send it westward. The article
mentions a couple of recent, highly visible financial scandals but does not
have sexual relations with that woman.  Why wouldn't the President also put the
grants itself a mulligan.  Earlier in the week, the paper (and others) ran a
least twice the size of first, which had hooked left, straight onto the back
West Bank and calls on both sides to refrain from taking unilateral action,
plan to achieve permanent settlement between the two sides in one year.
in the negotiations, had been reluctant to interfere but plunged into the fray
anxious to stress that her role was minimal, insisting she was neither a
and journalists have left the country or have plans to leave. Only the
lives, could flee the country, too. The LAT draws a connection between
imminent refugee crisis: It was the army that trained, paid, and supported the
videotape, released yesterday, supports the government's claim that the tear
accuses former managers of misleading workers about the whereabouts of
radioactive material stored at the plant, thereby exposing them to illegally
a computer with dangerously high radiation readings was almost donated to a
August, which represented the smallest increase since May but drove
influenced most strongly by physical distress and can fluctuate wildly in the
have found ways to embrace the study. An opponent points out that if the desire
to die can be controlled with treatment, it should not be taken at face value;
a proponent points out that if the desire to die is caused by reasons other
I didn't watch the Open, if by "Open" you mean this big tennis thing in
her age. I got over it, more or less, so trust that she will, too. The
conventional wisdom is correct: The Sopranos deserved to win pretty much
every award, and the fact that it got only two is a travesty, to the degree
learned from the Times this morning, that the voters are volunteers,
disproportionately elderly, and unemployed) is that most shows on television
bad ritual. Of course, this is also the problem with the National Magazine
Awards lunch, which has the additional problem of being, along with the White
malathion, neighborhood by neighborhood, from trucks and from the air, as
Speaking of charmingly quaint, and speaking of (literally) Soviet things,
same thing again," she said, as people outside her house shouted "Traitor!
of pop culture: Fine, I wish people read books more, too, but didn't it read
A gray morning looking north from my office windows over Manhattan.
favorite composition, the smarty pants "So What," written by Miles. A genius
cops. Now she can reasonably say to the police unions: That was my husband;
that it was Bill not her who pardoned these people. Meanwhile, the
community'' will make her pay dearly for this, we will make her walk the
is telling them through that razor smile that they have no choice except to
someone fired from his campaign for issuing that initial "no"?) Bush was right
to come; in a segmented market like this one, you need every vote you can get.
It was healthy for his party, too; which is too white by far. Don't be so hard
on the pols for making the rounds in the colored neighborhoods. It's good for
Bush called "the little brown ones"; quite an asset on the hustings. How do you
but whose true expertise lies in the field of music (when Chatterbox worked at
this column's assertion that baby boomers were not the first large
mainstream audience to embrace rock 'n' roll (which previously, of course, had
I agree that it's absurd to make some sharp delineation between
generations in the late 1950s and early '60s. Clearly there were boomers who
didn't get rock music, and some members of the prior generation of teens who
But let me tell you why I think you may have been too dismissive when you
wrote, "Were the consumers who turned 'Rock Around the Clock' and 'Heartbreak
allowances, and we bought rock records. It was during those years in the late
'50s, in fact, and not the '60s, that many of us older boomers were first
older teens, with more money and freedom, probably did play a big role in all
of that. But there were significant differences between most people in these
Unlike our predecessors, I knew of nobody in my group in the late '50s who
was our parents' music, we thought. The prior generation of teens thought folk
or syrupy ballads or "pop" tunes, which made them transitional artists able to
appeal to both generations. Early rock was crossover music that allowed the
older teens to support it, until the transition stopped and it got too loud and
unruly for many of them. By then, it was the '60s, and we boomers were the
Chatterbox is intrigued, but not surprised, to learn that his friend
records? Surely not many. But Chatterbox concedes he may be wrong about this,
art form known as rock 'n' roll. When people talk about rock 'n' roll's
crossover into mainstream white culture, the decade they're usually talking
exhibit.) But the groundwork for the youth culture that supported rock 'n'
The important role played by big government in creating teen culture is
explained this month in a magazine largely owned by, of all people, the
article is the sketchiest and least convincing part; perhaps he fleshes out his
argument more convincingly in the book. But the "rise" portion is fascinating,
people were thrown out of work, as part of a public policy to reserve jobs for
a similar impetus to throw old people out of work would later lead to
the creation of Social Security.] Businesses could actually be fined if they
kept childless young people on their payrolls. Also, for the first two years of
the youths it had turned out of work, except in the effort of the Civilian
What did these unwanted youths do? They went to high school. Although public
perhaps more important, there was a new expectation that nearly everyone would
go, and even graduate." When the United States entered World War II the
who didn't enter those golden years--15, 16--until the early 1960s.
it was the baby boom that first absorbed rock 'n' roll into the mass
"Heartbreak Hotel." You can also make a decent case that the Year Zero was
the first rock 'n' roll record ever to climb to the top of the charts. Were the
consumers who turned "Rock Around the Clock" and "Heartbreak Hotel" into hit
been born during and shortly before World War II. And they wouldn't have
to use the power of the executive branch to help her bid for the Senate in New
York at every opportunity. But as this episode shows, the New York road show
will have at least three elements. First, she will recommend from time to time
(She did this recently in the case of the young Yeshiva student who was shot to
administration now and then to show that she is independent of Bill and
nobody's person but her own. Third, the candidate will tack left, then right in
an attempt to gather votes from both downstate liberals and upstate
distancing herself the next. This is vintage "New Democrat" stuff, pioneered by
Bill himself. The message to Latino voters and politicians, by the way, is:
"Take it or leave it. Its the New Democrats or the Republicans; take your
New York Daily News suggests that those being considered in the clemency
bonanza were convicted not of bombings but of "lesser offenses.") In the
absence of the nitty gritty, however, I will take a flier and say that the
York, home of a great many Latino voters. If this had been a serious, closely
reasoned plan, the White House would have some point person out there, making
This opens onto a broader political question of how the two parties can
appeal to minority voters without constantly insulting their intellects. My own
mount a campaign less insulting that what the Democrats dish up. A penny for
'80s or early '90s. I do not think I met a Democrat at all until I was about to
graduate high school. I have often written about Democratic malfeasance and
person. If you have to call me something, call me, well, libertarian.
But alas, we may have reached a time when believing anything openly
death. What we have now is a beauty contest, I think, in which the candidates
will say as little as possible and wait for the rival or rivals to crack under
the camera lights. As you say, let's pick this up tomorrow.
out of bed early and headed to the Maxwell Street Market, the city's famous
for the day out of tarps and folding chairs. I wandered for two hours, sampling
coated in a green mole sauce that tasted differently with every second it
so I can try the cold shrimp soup, the goat tacos, and the
and Access (the cover of which claims to make "the world your neighborhood")
don't mention the market even once. Insight Guide describes its past
watches. My Compass Guide dismisses the current market a "sanitized successor"
to the old. And Lonely Planet, with its orthodox adherence to alternative
mentioning the food vendors, if not their offerings. Even better, it lists the
market's Web site. The other books contain a smattering of travel sites,
and attraction that has one. This is an easy and obvious solution to one of the
biggest weaknesses of guidebooks, which is that they're out of date from the
moment they're printed. Yesterday, for example, you could have theoretically
logged on to the Statue of Liberty's Web site to find the correct departure
four pages. Most buildings are dismissed in two or three sentences. Dates and
architects for some buildings are listed, but others are mysteriously omitted.
postcards on the walls." Meanwhile, the Rookery Building and its famous Frank
Public Library's timeline or the other guidebooks, which list the correct
What fun it was to write that last paragraph. Did I detect a similar note of
triumph in your voice when you caught the guidebooks flubbing the Statue of
Liberty schedules? Maybe this is the answer to your (excellent) question about
why we buy and tote around guides we know are flawed, outdated, and out of
style. My trips often become contests between myself and my guidebooks: Can I
do them one better, finding more inside information, local color, novel tastes,
and great prices than the experts? When I saw the paltry descriptions of the
quick these books are to ridicule other voyagers. Rather than showing real
superior to the next guy on the museum ticket line. Traveling has become subtly
competitive, with all of us vying for maximum independence, authenticity, and
Time Out and Wallpaper have recently been taking a camp approach
the meantime, if you had to take one guidebook to New York, which would it be?
Both the Republicans and Democratic supporters of Al Gore have been laying
raised an objection to vouchers based on the separation of church and
potential efficacy and about whether they can pass constitutional muster. The
argument is that since no one knows for certain what kind of education reform
will ultimately be most effective, we should try a lot of different ideas on a
was in the Senate. Here's what he said about vouchers at a National Press Club
I think the jury is out as to whether it actually would lead to
an improvement of education. I think that choice should be considered. I have
some reservations about it, but in the course of an education bill that moves
through the Congress I think we can look at it thoroughly, and it is a
possibility. As I say, I have some reservations about it, and I think that you
have to confront some of the basic questions about who will receive the
vouchers. And if you receive a voucher, are you allowed to go to any school in
the state? Are you allowed to go to only certain schools? Are you allowed to go
questions that are raised by the issue of choice and education vouchers.
legislation that included funding for voucher experiments. In endorsing that
education reform, even imperfect notions are worth trying. "Choice may not be
the panacea for all our nation's education ills," he said in a speech on the
Senate floor, "but we cannot afford not to take an honest look at whether more
options would help kids who today are trapped in the worst schools in our
categorical statement that he no longer supports any experiments with vouchers.
who is interested in vying for their endorsements, may cave and contradict his
earlier statements on the subject. But he hasn't done so yet.
paper also detects the first outside military stirrings, however faint: a
noting for instance that the Department of Defense is taking the lead there,
personally taking firm control of the situation. (The Times notes that
it has promised, but not yet delivered, tens of billions in emergency financial
warehouse turned back when it was attacked by militia members with M-16 assault
It's the LAT lead that writes the story from the most basic
humanitarian point of view. Its very first sentence throws down the moral
president said the corruption charges against him are politically inspired.
Once source tells the Times that in response to a direct question from
example of the fine old political art of deceiving without lying: When Ford was
The Wall Street Journal's "Business Bulletin" reports that a
will have to be competitive on products and rates and offer more than lip
and four inches of rain fell during the morning rush hour, effectively shutting
affair. Technically, the military is barred from participating in domestic
standoff. The Army claims they were there as observers. The investigation, to
incendiary canisters of tear gas were used wasn't made public earlier.
prosecutor who participated in the Treasury Department's investigation of the
and redundant: "If they don't reopen the whole thing now and actually use
loans, may have been laundered through the Bank of New York into accounts held
mafioso (currently missing). The man suspected of laundering the money for
Another bank executive (currently under suspension) who handled the bank's
contraceptive that could be injected into women to prevent pregnancy for up to
effects. Plaintiffs' attorneys were disappointed by the amount of the
Congress. Many organizations protested, claiming that the information the site
made it possible for customers and corporations to opt out of these "Purchase
Circles," which Amazon creates by "data mining" its extensive customer
scrutinized by both the financial press and investors anxious to figure out
whether the Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates anytime soon.
bankers want to have a handle on what may drive inflation in the future.
even central bankers have a hard time figuring out when markets are overvalued.
exuberance" speech of three years ago was precisely what it was, one person's
attempt to outthink a market that it is very difficult to outthink. What's
especially curious about this is that one would have thought this was a
conclusion a supposedly ardent devotee of the free market would have reached a
level of wisdom and farsightedness that the media have come to grant him. His
remarks are typically shrouded and hedged, and though it is of course the job
of the Fed to restrain inflation and promote economic growth, which requires
does seem well aware of the limits of his own knowledge.
economy is that the market knows more than any individual within it. But
and oddly certain that something like a bubble was in place. In his speech on
"millions of investors, many of whom are highly knowledgeable about the
prospects for the specific companies" that make up the market indices.
Even more important, perhaps, he suggested that the unprecedented rise in
stock prices over the past five years in particular was due to a substantive
change in the way the market discounted the future. Obviously, we don't know
today think stocks are less risky than they once did, believe that inflation is
extended for a long period of time. Put those things together, and you end up
with a strong case for higher stock prices. Any or all of those assumptions may
be wrong, of course, but in pointing to the discounting process in particular
"irrationality" and move toward a more rigorous analysis of what's been
or not. In emphasizing that the best, and clearest, use of monetary policy is
to revive an economy in the wake of a deflationary crash by cutting
the business of figuring out what stock prices should be. The point of watching
asset prices for the Fed is to understand whether the wealth effect is helping
rev the economy beyond sustainable growth. It's not to scold investors. We may
be heading for a crash (though I don't think so). But if we are, we'll get
But the Post and especially the LAT focus instead on wringing significance from the
the team members to use incendiary military tear gas cartridges against an
underground shelter near the main compound building. The Post notes that
incendiary rounds. The LAT adds that when in an appearance before
videotape existed covering the phase of the operation when, it turns out,
Rogers' directive was issued. Rogers, the LAT reminds, was later removed
that day, as saying that he does not recall hearing it.
There is much discussion in the stories about how these revelations have
credibility takes a hit too: the media's. It's a little hard to believe that if
circumstances, the mainstream media would have left the story to a documentary
elected president, he would strip federal funding from failing public schools
and give the money to parents for tutors or to help them transfer their kids to
story inside. The coverage notes that Bush never used the word "voucher."
The Wall Street Journal reports a new finding in the unraveling
dozens of banks around the world are now suspected of receiving parts of the
reports that the angel was supposed to be former White House chief of staff
first time technically available. So, the paper explains, no
obvious answer, which we've gestured toward in various ways this week, is just
that the books are a lot of fun to read. Your analysis of their narrative
structure, by the way, was incisive. The sonnet sequence analogy is inspired:
With each book you become newly aware of the tight structural constraints
But as we know, a book's quality and its success are two different things.
Some of the hype about Harry Potter seems a bit wild: You'd think, reading
parent or teacher saying something to the effect of "My kid never showed any
interest in reading until Harry Potter came along," with the implication that
Adults who have children partake of a great deal of kid culture, voluntarily
fiction quite independent of the professional requirements of keeping up with
what her students are reading, finding new texts to assign, and so forth. Part
of the fun of having (or teaching) children is the vicarious reliving of one's
renting videotapes of the movies that enchanted you or gave you nightmares,
commonsensical), have resonated with parents is no surprise. She quite cannily
In an earlier posting you speculated that our enthusiasm for Harry Potter
may arise from our anxiety about technology, and it's striking (this is
something my wife called to my attention after she read the first two books)
how technologically underdeveloped the muggle world is in these books, in
really any television or movies. And of course the wizard world is a world of
practice spells. (They do, however, collect famous wizard trading cards, which
move, just as all wizard photographs do. But, curiously, wizard photography
for one's own childhood and nostalgia for the timeless realm of classic
corporal punishment has fallen from favor. (The death penalty seems to be
Of course, none of this explains why these books have crossed over not only
from children to their parents but also to adults who don't have children. This
seems genuinely unprecedented, and it may be one of those inexplicable
phenomena the culture likes to toss our way every now and then. (Our seeker
is I haven't had such a purely escapist reading experience in a long time.
As much fun as it was to read these books, it's been even more fun
I know what you mean about being a journalist. Almost every assignment is a
challenge in a different way and it never seems to get easier. I often feel as
if I only get half the story sometimes, so I typically do a massive amount of
reporting that is most often much more than I will ever need. I think that is
left on the cutting room floor of daily journalism.
Think of all the good stuff we all collect daily in our reporting that we
never add to stories. Most often reporters recount these tales with each other
and with their sources rather than share them with the general public. Much of
it, of course, using the standards of top newspapers, cannot be used since it
is largely gossip we are repeating, although it certainly could make for some
very good stories. I often wonder when a really great fictional book will be
written about this era (probably decades and decades hence as it is too close).
In any case, there certainly is no lack of information available about the
moguls of technology now as they all become our current pop icons. I would
current age of stock market mania and celebration of the entrepreneur.
So the shift in the image of Gates has been an interesting one for me to
"characters," for lack of a better word. So there, while you think of Case, you
amusing and informative dispatches, several of which made me spit up my lunch
think it was just that insularity that helped them, much in the same way that
since its employees would have been mocked into obscurity by the digerati. Out
obvious turning point between the computer era and the digital age. I think it
almost does not matter what the judge does since it's clear that the balance of
power is shifting again, although it not clear where it will land. Will the
companies? Or will it be none of them because the Internet allows and
encourages a plethora of strong companies and a complex interconnection of
was. That incredible empire dominated the world and I imagine it did not seem
possible to people living then that anyone could loosen that empire's grip on
humanity. But we all know how that story turned out.
Now I am getting way too philosophical, but this is my final missive, so why
not? Perhaps you could hasten a prediction of where this is all going. As for
substantially with Hill. The book marshaled mountains of evidence to show that
contrasts their behavior during the confirmation hearings. Hill is a
cipher, a man who lets himself be used as a pawn until he erupts in an
unconvincing fit of rage before the Senate Confirmation Committee.
A triumph for Democrats and feminists everywhere? Not exactly. Consider the
puzzling way the movie depicts the sexual lives of its characters. The
Machiavellian strategist who shepherded the candidate through the nomination
process. A charismatic if not particularly sympathetic man, he gets most of the
of time at their respective homes, where they enjoy the fruits of
when he collapses in their bathroom; she calls him a warrior for God. In
There are two intriguing cracks in this portrait of happy female
kisses her as he takes his leave and calls her "sweetheart." She is
would have come forward if she weren't telling the truth. He sighs. Once these
moments pass, it is as if they never happened. The women never mention them
again, nor do they break ranks with their boss or husband over Hill.
On the other side of the fence are Hill and her supporters, a coven of
female law professors and senatorial aides. All of them seem to be single women
(some of them may have husbands, but we never see them); all of them dress in
power suits. None is shown at home. They congregate in Hill's hotel room or
maneuver behind the scenes of the confirmation hearing. They have neither
spouse or a lonely Democratic loser, a feminist with no life? The writers and
producers of Strange Justice seem to have made their preferences
It's a nasty, muggy morning where I am, the worst of both seasons: dark as
only fall mornings can be, but still as humid as summer. Even so, I couldn't
help but gloat a little as I read the papers. What could be more delicious than
the third he's offered. But we're supposed to believe it has nothing to do with
that election? Sure. If you buy that, you must still be living in the '50s, or
whenever it was that we last took what politicians said at face value. Of
interesting, in my view, than catching him with any woman. This is what's
ends justify just about any means, no matter how unprincipled.
pandering to an ethnic constituency. Sure, that's the oldest form of "diversity
they've never rallied around opposition politics, let alone the use of
them six years ago. They wrap themselves in the flag of ethnicity, but on this
and many, many other issues, they don't represent anyone but other political
activists like themselves. Of course, this is hardly a new discovery, and it
isn't really delicious at all. But it's nice to see it exposed so clearly for a
it all depresses me. This is what we call political debate? This is what passes
for democracy? The only thing worse going on in the news now in my view is
what's passing for a discussion of race among the presidential candidates. But
sales, since now the flagging Beanie Baby market will be enlivened by the
desire to get in while you can. (Along the same lines, a friend of mine thinks
it represents a very rare thing in the business world: a recognition that
things actually come to an end. (A similarly smart decision was made, oddly
writing this sentence). More to the point, like any fad it's fading out,
reaching the point of diminishing returns. Cashing out now would be an
What makes such a move difficult is that although Beanie Babies may have
reached the point of diminishing returns, they probably have not reached the
point of nonexistent returns. In other words, there's still money to be made
selling Beanie Babies. It's just not enough money to justify future investment.
And the fundamental problem is that if you don't move on early enough, you find
yourself caught, believing that the only way to recoup the money you've put
within the odd industry of collectible pop culture. In the late 1980s and early
too many cards that were too expensive. When the bubble burst, entire companies
vanished, and the major players have barely struggled to stay afloat. The same
was true of comic books, which saw a proliferation of titles and of publishers
when they were hot and a dramatic downsizing when demand faded. Unfortunately,
when the smoke clears, prices for these goods remain surprisingly high (an
ago), which may have something to do with why sales growth is so slow.
All of this is almost textbook economics, of course, since any time you have
a business that is reaping sizeable profits, competitors are going to enter the
market and successful businesses are going to expand rapidly in an attempt to
sell more goods. But in textbook economics, any competitive marketplace ends
with everyone reaping no profits. That's why the discipline to move on when the
where militias closely associated with the military and police forces of
inside, although it fronts a report that at the United Nations, there is
gathering sentiment favoring sending in a multinational military force, most
control, forcing the United Nations to evacuate half its staff, running off the
ambassador's residence, burning homes, and shooting and terrorizing the general
have been actively and directly involved in the terror. What is less clear is
government or rather was the more spontaneous expression of officers' personal
deserted their units and joined the militias, and even cites some unconfirmed
the deployment of such a force is being viewed by diplomats as possible only in
billions of dollars in outside aid to recover from its economic collapse.
to give the paper any of the details. Gore shows a similar gift for
analysis now underway that will be presented to the White House later this week
lifetime job security against outsourcing or job streamlining.
publicize his pitch to Congress to fund school construction and modernization,
before. Oddly, the paper doesn't remind the reader of a similar episode during
and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible." His Republican presidential
Academy, went to visit his latest girlfriend in a classy suburb of
collapsed drunk through the screen door of her parents house. Or the time
friends and their wives by pulling a switchblade out of her purse and cleaning
her nails. Or, in a far more serious vein, the time when, as a prisoner of war
In a culture where most politicians scurry to minimize any hint of behavior
youthful indiscretions in detail and without feigned regret. He's proud of the
purpose in sharing all this isn't, or isn't merely, to boast. It's to paint a
truthful portrait of his earlier life, before he was transformed by his
honesty isn't a calculated strategy for winning over the press. It has that
effect, of course, but it's the authentic expression of a remarkable
and swore like, well, sailors. But both understood what being an officer meant.
his duties no matter how difficult or dangerous they are. His life is ransomed
to his duty. An officer must trust his fellow officers, and expect their trust
in return. He must not expect others to bear what he will not."
and father's rascally steps by performing poorly as a student and chafing under
the hazing that "plebes" were expected to accept. "I resisted not by refusing
the hazing but by letting my resentment show, and by failing to conform fully
lords of the first and second class to know my compliance was grudging and in
no way implied respect for them." Constantly breaking the rules and provoking
consciousness on impact. But he came to underwater and surfaced unharmed. He
was at ground zero of a catastrophic explosion and fire aboard the aircraft
injuries. You might say he was unlucky to be shot down over the center of
breaking three of four limbs, and to avoid being finished off by an angry mob.
occupies the second half of his book, is wonderful: vivid, unsentimental, and
drawing beatings and time in solitary confinement for communicating with other
prisoners and taunting his jailers. "Resisting, being uncooperative and a
general pain in the ass, proved, as it had in the past, to be a morale booster
for me," he writes. His most heroic act of insubordination was declining to be
extraordinary as his decision to remain a prisoner seems, it was entirely in
person throughout his life. The unwillingness to bend to hazing as a
book is that insubordination is a way of establishing moral independence. By
resist and prepared to sign a confession saying he was a "black criminal" and
sense: It was the moment he realized that he was beyond his own control. "I
felt it blemished my record permanently, and even today I find it hard to
suppress feelings of remorse," he writes. "In truth, I don't even bother to try
to suppress them anymore. My remorse shows me the limits of my zealously
guarded autonomy." He couldn't hold out alone, and wouldn't have held up at all
mistake. Two pages later, he describes it as a worthy cause. At another point
didn't support the war sufficiently. This is perfectly circular reasoning: The
States should have fought the war harder or not at all. This is the approved
study of the impact of economic incentives on the decision to die). First to
explicate the implicit logic in the Republican Congress' push to eliminate all
distaste for the tax collector, high estate taxes are positively correlated
however, satisfactorily explained (or, indeed, even attempted to explicate) the
manifestations of piety. But with regard to the timing of a meeting with the
Great Maker, they have been firmly on the side of later rather than sooner. So
"death tax," as they routinely denote it, that has such a proven record of
encouraging longevity? The answer may be found in a recent
study emanating from the Urban Institute. In exploring the ramifications of
alternatives will recommend itself to a Congress whose desire to placate
cuts. Thus the genius of the death tax repeal proposal: Why not cloak a sharp
poetically named garbage dump in the world). I don't think the Web will make
marvelous things about our books is the way they organize a major metropolis
is host to some excellent travel sites, but you'd have to visit several of them
in order to produce a commensurately comprehensive guide. You wouldn't have a
table of contents or an index. And you'd have to traipse around with a thick
sheaf of computer printouts instead of a slim paperback.
That said, if electronic books ever replace printed ones, travel guidebooks
will surely be first among the wired. Our kids will probably hit the road with
Noble and scribbling down the best of each, as I usually do) they'll simply
contain constantly updated train schedules, hotel prices, and restaurant menus.
They'll enjoy the coherence and organization of our guidebooks, but also the
To finish off the book reviews, let me predict that the Access Guides may be
impresario who created the series, started off in the telephone book business
his illustrious bio), and his guides work very much like your local White
Pages. Each site, restaurant, and hotel has its own entry. If you know what you
want to look up and what it's called, you'll be fine. If not, you'll have to
read the whole damned book. There's no narrative to tie the entries together
and little indication that some are more special than others (the Carbide and
Carbon Building, a "deco masterpiece," gets the same amount of space as the
beaches, volleyball and tennis courts, mini golf, and even an outdoor gym with
a full set of Nautilus machines, all accessible to the public. In short, the
lakefront is one of the city's most defining, enviable, and enjoyable
to describe many of the park's offerings, or more important, its central role
in city life. There's no mention of the park in the table of contents or the
I disagree with your suggestion that a guidebook contain only endorsements.
overrated and the overpriced. Then again, perhaps you're just a more chipper
traveler than I am; you seemed to enjoy all your guidebooks equally. Or did
you? I know our dialogue is over, but I still wish I could ask you where you're
When you think about whether it should have been done, you end up
confronting again a central paradox of the media business today: The more
fragmented audiences and consumer markets become, the more important scale
appears to be. That's true both because the larger you are, the easier it is
many different places. In the end, the ability to distribute content (and
advertising) is probably as important as the ability to produce content, and
even though in the age of the Internet and 95-channel cable systems you'd think
anyone can get a message out there, successful distribution is still basically
that it can use all those different outlets is essential.
down debt, and generally focusing the company on its core operations. But it's
that no matter what you make, if people don't see it or hear it, it doesn't
money to make questionable acquisitions and engage in hostile takeover battles.
feeling you're listening to someone who thinks that media companies should be
judged by the same economic and business standards as other companies, as
opposed to someone who thinks that media companies should be valued by the
grandiosity of their dreams. Needless to say, this is a good thing.
("mogul" being a word that doesn't fit), one of his greatest strengths is his
ability to recognize the value of the seemingly mundane. Radio and outdoor
stations are similarly boring, but while they are not the cash cows they once
should, given the historical record, be greeted with skepticism. But in
may have made the best decision of his business career.
interesting still, on this at least, we don't seem to disagree all that much.
Maybe we should dine together more often? (As you can see, even though I write
about politics, I don't really relish or even like the battle part of it. It's
people are unhappy that she didn't come to them to kiss their rings and inquire
before she took a stand on any issues they claim to care about. But more than
So I should be pleased, right? Well, not so fast. Because I don't think
is indeed trying to do, and her husband has been doing for years now. Unlike
these two opportunists and others like them, politicians who truly occupy
what's sometimes called "the vital center" find a way to go beyond ideology
appeal to voters across the spectrum. When it's done right, it's not about
hedging. It's about real political creativity and the much needed balancing of
conflicting political interests. (And it usually ends up alienating political
regulars on both sides of the aisle.) True enough (I concede in advance), there
give the vital center a bad name by pretending that it's no more than dishonest
have respected her more for that than for the unprincipled hedging that you so
rightly point out is apparently going to be her hallmark. All these years, I
out she's the one who's been arguing all along that the administration should
the public wants to hear it." It's going to be a great campaign to watch and
breakfast. Let's talk tomorrow about the two parties' appeal for minority
Times leads with what it claims is alarm among "education advocates"
(as opposed to the rest of us?) about continuing SAT disparities between whites
the money already lent there. This, notes the paper, puts the United States at
lead cites an "ethnic gap" and refers to the worry that schools are failing
to prepare "nonwhites." But the story itself never mentions the SAT performance
demographics and that lends false credibility to the stark picture the paper
Also, the stories fail to establish any sense of context that would justify
concerns over the differences in scores they report. For instance, the
LAT notes that nationally, scores for whites "rose" one point from the
math, but there is no discussion of what a standard deviation would be on
samples of SAT scores. Since test scores are known by college counselors and
admissions officials to often vary dozens and dozens of points from one
stuff of crisis. Or if it is, at least the papers need to argue the point.
Similarly, the LAT says the national verbal score "remained mired at
hardly mentions the ethnic angle at all, dwelling much more on differences
between boys' and girls' scores, and (in the online version at least), sits
under a refreshingly calm headline: "College Board Scores Vary Little From
own investigation is said to be interested in what role the Army's Delta Force
may have played in the operation. It would have been nice if the story had said
something about what the law is on military involvement in domestic law
enforcement. It's not an absolute firewall anymore, is it?
downturn in production and the flight of movie business to foreign locations,
Interestingly, the politicians mirror this partisan divide. President
dollars in collateral to a politician, even for private use, amounts to
the Reform Party, which eschews social issues. Conservative pundits note with
Portrait of a Humanitarian: Still on vacation, John
to peg the topic to Labor Day.) Unlike last week's entertaining but airy show
on the millennium, this week's smart program is grounded in specific policy
When a panelist remarks that many immigrants are valedictorians, Stein sneers,
interjects, "Why don't you move there if you like it so much?" Stein also
weapon, "what he's [really] saying is, 'We're redistributing income to the
generation. The question is, How do we cut the losses, and how do we keep a
process going where we continue to destroy nuclear weapons?"
Well, if people were expecting the end of summer to bring a return to
disappointed. The languor of the late summer carried over into this week, as
The Dow is now just about where it was in early May. Interest rates are higher,
but inflation looks just as dead, and corporate earnings are booming, and when
you mix all that together, what you end up with is a market that looks to be
a story that got written four or five hundred times without anything really
it snaps up or is snapped up by a movie studio or something. It's almost like
its gold stash to finance debt relief for poor countries, but has given up
on that plan because the gold industry was worried that the sale would force
that's valuable only because other people think it's valuable and then find out
that other people think it's so valuable that if you sell it, the value will
Apparently, concerns about just this kind of situation spurred Congress to pass
like to work on making Amazon's stock price 'more stable.' It's lovely
Market, I could sense your inner travel writer clamoring to run free. But the
guidebook might be extinct before you have a chance to bring your gifts to the
tourist masses. Accurate contact information (Web sites, phone numbers), it
seems, is only a stopgap measure in the battle against obsolescence. If you've
got to get online anyway, what's to stop the reader from eliminating the middle
man by using an online content site? Very little, when you're visiting an
Even if the city guide is endangered, I have high hopes for the real wonder
of the species, the regional guide. A book that can point you from the bus
after day, is amazing. And the sympathetic voice of a paperback travel
train rides when no one else in your compartment speaks your language.
But which guides do I like specifically? I find myself agreeing with the
up in literary savvy what it lacks in maps and practical information. The
Lonely Planet earns its keep, particularly with its clear, compact maps. It's
overlooked by the new "tourist chic" elite. I love that the drive for
another chance to be hot. Solitude is all well and good, but no one comes to
than New Yorkers to say something shocking, enlightening, or both. And you may
as well learn to love them. No matter when you visit, it's impossible to
happily tell you. Still, I find your architectural critique unduly harsh. The
either as a comprehensive guide to Loop architecture is sacrilege. Ideally, a
guidebook should give you just enough information to get you in the door, and
But not even recommendations are sacred anymore. Another pet peeve of mine
guides contain a list of "recommended" films and books, including travel
titles, invariably recommend several or all of their other guides. Credibility
is the bread and butter of a travel guide; why would one sabotage it with such
away an honest opinion when there's a buck to be made passing someone on to a
On a lighter note, do you have any favorite travel writing banalities yet?
newspapers, and movies before I came, I expected a bland expanse of people and
places largely indistinguishable from one other. Imagine my surprise when
informed me that I was entering "a city of contrasts." Access refined this to
New York wasn't a city at all, but a "mosaic of grand contradictions." And you,
Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will answer questions
submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions should be sent to
letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
me?" question, what other questions are there that deal with "love, etiquette,
as you can find many questions that meet the standard you have read into our
people who read our instructions were not deterred by the defect you discovered
and have sent us heartfelt questions on a number of subjects. Unrelenting
attention to syntax can be an obstacle to communication.
year, my wife is dragging me to the home of some friends of hers to celebrate
the new year. The problem is that they are total teetotalers, and to me, a day
(much less New Year's Eve) without a drink is no day at all! Would it be rude
their house, their party, and their rules. If they say no, which would be quite
within the bounds of propriety, you should either restrain yourself at the
that every editor these days is trying to copy the tone of the wonderful advice
think this is? It can't be because they have no brilliant ideas of their own,
(not her real name) used to write an advice column. Readers would write her
with their questions on life, love, and (usually) microeconomics, and she would
never to leave a dead fish alone in a car on a hot day with the windows rolled
people, such as Tipper Gore! They're human too, you know!" And Prudence, she
represent the next evolutionary step in journalism? Or are you nothing more
questions, and I hope you won't mind if I answer them both at once. "Dear
Prudence" did not originate with an editor searching for a new idea. It was a
response to the overwhelming public demand for advice. People seek answers to
their real problems, and other people enjoy and profit from reading the
more interested in those problems than in the questions that pundits make up
just so they will have something to write about, questions selected so that the
lenders.) Thus, I consider myself part of the constants of history, not part of
it's a free country and a free market. If no problems are submitted, there will
be no answers. And if there are problems and answers but no one reads them,
boyfriend broke up with her via a note. That she was pregnant at the time makes
the situation with respect to his morality quite clear: He had and has the
morals of a banana slug. (That he cringes at salt shakers only bolsters this
conclusion.) The question that I find interesting concerns the etiquette of
breaking up. I contend that the only way one person should kiss off another is
reasoning is moral (as morality is the basis of so much mannerly behavior): In
other way (by telephone, by note) smacks of cowardice. Further, it seems to me
that my preferred mode serves a useful societal function as well, by making
romantic relationships somewhat more stable since somewhat more difficult to
dissolve during temporary difficulties. This last point, of course, presumes
that society has an interest in stable romantic relationships; if you accept
that society has an interest in marriage, and that stable romantic
relationships both include and lead to marriage, you must conclude that society
does indeed have such an interest. Have you any thoughts on this? A nation
holds its breath (well, except for those holding others at gunpoint).
encounter is required for a breakup depends on the reason for the breakup. If A
splits from B because B has been obviously offensive and fraudulent, the
she learns that he is. B then deserves nothing. In the case to which you refer,
can be offered. Probably the general rule is that a party who is seriously
to start our relations by pointing out little details, but both you and
the door for your loved one. The other point is you don't leave her standing
by the nearest purse snatcher or other criminal element who can often appear
for your addition to the reasons for helping your beloved get into the car.
Unfortunately, it is a necessary addition. Sentimental Prudence prefers to
focus on the romantic side of life, but she cannot deny there is a darker side
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
this too personal or indelicate a subject for public consumption, but I am in a
department. Do you think this is a legitimate consideration, or am I being
define what you mean by "iffy." Do you mean he is putting off going to bed, so
you wonder if he has declared his major? Or do you mean you've already been to
bed and are thinking you could put up with this if he were a
would probably be the same for either situation: You must determine the
importance of sex in your life. You are still young, so you can afford some
more looking time. On the other hand, you may already have run through a number
confusion surrounds the use of "mister" when addressing more than one
of mister) only when addressing two men with the same surname residing at the
find it often used for two men with different surnames who do sometimes reside
complication in modern feminine address. Did I miss a change in the
mister, even for the unrelated and separately domiciled. The origin, of course,
those gentlemen have to do with oil or guns. In any case, she rejoices that
often should one thank a waiter for service rendered during the course of a
meal? Several of my friends think it is appropriate to specifically thank the
waiter for each task he or she performs. I am of the opinion that one should
always be polite to waiters, but it is best to allow them to fulfill simple
operations like filling a water glass or removing plates with a minimum of
interruption. Repeatedly saying thank you forces the waiter to engage in
conversation, when they just want to finish a small task in a hurry. Who's
case she pretends not to have noticed. It is perfectly correct to parcel out
Naturally, there is less need to acknowledge service when one is enjoying
Regarding a letter from your column about a young woman's boyfriend being
afraid her "pedigree" isn't good enough for his mother, I have some suggestions
Pretentious boob: "Do you come from an old family?"
for a fun column. And by the way, thanks for your wise answer to Libertarian a
while back. You knew something I took years to learn.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
me for advice about his neighbors, who call the police to complain about his
playing a radio too loudly. He owns a radio; he just never plays it, he says.
Once he dropped a weight while exercising, and the neighbor called the police
to complain about the excessive noise. The police were nonplussed and said the
neighbors were overly fussy, but the complaints and the police visits
drafted a longish letter of apology for giving the neighbors offense. I offered
to write a more appropriate letter for him. He accepted my offer and will
opinion of my note. I had him declare in the note that he was really perplexed
about why he was being singled out for complaint. Was it not possible that the
(white) neighbors didn't like him for things he has no control over (being
black)? If that should be the case, perhaps counseling by a state agency might
be appropriate, and he would be willing to participate.
nice guy. I couldn't bear to see him apologizing for things that never
happened. He's always cheerful, never swears, dresses neatly, works quietly. I
don't know what your office is like, but the rest of us cannot be described
not a social agitator, but I am in favor of justice. Did I do the right thing
voluntarily go into counseling with a state agency.
call the race card is appropriate, seeing that the deck is obviously stacked
because of your friend's color. It is always a last resort to play hardball,
office, by the way, is populated by cheerful people who are neatly dressed and
(and those of all the others out there) voicing concern that it is "becoming a
who, for the past several years, had a very mediocre sex life. I was the guy in
the joke: "Call him oatmeal. Three minutes and he's done." I was also in denial
for three weeks and my wife and I are both much happier. She has since confided
that sex was the one part of our relationship she was not happy with.
the unfortunate misconception that everyone is hyperventilating about is that
this drug does something other than help those that need it. It's not an
aphrodisiac, it's not going to turn wannabes into young studs. The only people
it's going to do anything for are those with erectile dysfunction. Besides,
those looking for a recreational sexual drug aren't going to go to a doctor and
claim they can't get it up; their egos wouldn't let them. If they do obtain it
on the black market they are going to find that it doesn't do anything for them
they can't already do without it. It only helps those who need it. To quote
which you refer, "People of good will cannot begrudge those in genuine need."
reference suggests another difficulty altogether, but we'll leave that alone
for now.) Alas, you are mistaken about men and women not trying to use
got their hands on it, and a close friend who's a physician reports that all
kinds of men without impotence problems are requesting prescriptions. (You
homosexuality is not only "a sin, but just another problem like alcoholism, sex
is, of course, entitled to apply his own interpretation of the Bible to his
personal life. But when it comes to dictating to others, it always amazes me
interpretation of the Bible for medical and psychiatric findings.
gardeners really want from winter is assurance that it won't be back. But
hope to plant, scarfing up little wonders at nurseries because we simply
often assume that the winter garden, its flowers having died back, is devoid,
misimpression but only makes things worse. Solace is offered: story after story
on how to supply your garden with what is ubiquitously referred to as "winter
berries and mottled, peeling bark designed to cure whatever ails your
One problem with the term winter interest is that it
implies that winter is not very interesting. Another is the notion that we seek
something as mealy and undistinguished as interest, rather than beauty, which
defense, these articles do make us aware of these woody winter plants and of
the increasing diversity of cultivars available for winter gardening. Few
things bring me as much joy as the sight of my own swampy backyard, all
clinging to their branches. To see the monochromatic splendor of a wintry
craze for winter interest, on the other hand, has really become a fetish for
winter, and it can teach us a lot about what makes a garden beautiful in
perhaps, or a garden known mainly for its flower borders, but public gardens,
they're more likely to reveal their secrets, their pasts, and their intentions.
is created more through gestures than by any one plant. Structure, often
referred to as "bones," is created through architectural elements such as
evergreen hedges, arrangements of trees and shrubs, walls, terraces, and
flights of stairs. The placement of these things affects the spatial perception
of the ground, the sides, and the roof plane of the garden. Once you have
created such a garden "room," you can furnish it with any seasonal delights you
like. The bones of the garden are not put in place merely to console you when
you peer from the window in winter; they are the garden.
would do well to consider our own garden beds, no matter how small, not just as
holes where the flowers go but as things in themselves. Careful placement of
our beds would ensure that they did not appear unsightly in winter, and more
importantly, that they create a satisfying grounding for the flowers to
flower bed or border is almost always more attractive with a backdrop or
enclosure, such as a hedge or fence, to set it off. Even when empty, an
Another large rectangle, a reflecting pool, is set into the lawn, level with
the grass. Pool, grass, and hedge form a rectangle in a rectangle in a
environment will appear to you as a scene of sublime calmness. The woods are
brought into the garden through their reflection on the water. You're forced to
see the wild more clearly; you are made more aware of the trees than when you
were walking under them. The simple gesture, strongly articulated, is more
powerful than any number of smaller ones. Come summer, this garden will hardly
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
leadership position where I meet a lot of different people a few times a year.
tried several ways to compensate. The one that works best for me is to review
the list of names I should know and visualize their faces. But I still
question to you is: What is the best way to handle the introduction of somebody
whose name you should know but don't when they join a small conversational
the wrong fork is stumbling around with an introduction. But take heart, you
have a lot of company falling into this particular social pothole.
recommend an association technique. For example, years ago a certain woman's
that your elevated position gives you something of a pass. Many individuals
will assume that you meet so many people that name recollection would be tough,
however, in direct address, and is no help with introductions.
her cover and offer you her trick: When stuck, just say, "Tell me your
whole name," implying (alas, fraudulently) that she remembers one name, but not
most people pick up on someone's difficulty and introduce themselves. When
long wanted to ask your advice concerning a problem that is certainly not new
to me. I have been in a committed relationship with a man for four years. We
have everything going for us, and I feel it's time to marry. It seems to be the
next logical step. We've been talking about this for over a year, so this is
not a new subject. Last week we had a huge fight about our relationship and
getting married. It ended with him storming out and me crying. My question is:
never marry you"? In other words, should I just move on?
having trouble with his feet. They're cold. It's the old commitment problem,
like a cross between psychodrama and dating, never good for the nerves. You
decision; you can coast along and see if he starts to feel more "ready"; or you
men. This is sometimes effective in extracting a proposal, but it is also a
little like lassoing a calf, and who wants a groom one is dragging to the
altar? The dilemma on whose horns you ride is that sometimes "not ready" means
just that, and at other times it really does mean "not you." The hell of it is
that often the real meaning is unknown to the gentleman himself. As one of the
buttons" is the government's failure to provide clean needles to addicts?
May I suggest you take your finger off the button, calm down, and review the
results are not encouraging. The number of addicts has risen, and the
memory serves. Compassionate sounding ideas do not always pan out; it's good to
look at the evidence and be willing to change your mind if necessary.
needle, pardon the expression, is understandable. As with all studies, there
are opposite findings to be offered. Alas, it is the nature of the statistical
of users would have gone up without a needle exchange. Some experts have also
with the low limits on exchanges per addict, and poor timing. That is, the
impaired judgment, a guaranteed result with injected drugs, one would not know
thinks it best we agree to disagree, and err on the side of humane
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
feel we both might sleep better in two double beds. (I would for sure.) I am
same bedroom but in separate beds. We both move around a lot in our sleep, and
I really don't like it when a toenail pokes me somewhere unpleasant just as I
am drifting off. I hesitate to bring it up with my wife, because I don't want
to hurt her feelings and have her think I don't want to be near her, and I
don't want friends and family to think we are even weirder than they already
been socked a time or two by the beloved when he's dead to the world. A good
night's sleep, however, should be your paramount concern, and not everyone is a
not friends and family) that you are as crazy about her as ever but
think two beds might improve sleep for both of you. And don't forget to point
out that "visiting" can certainly spice up the nighttime situation.
up in the middle of the night with a terrible thought that leaves me so ashamed
active at the meanest level in riling a sizable portion of the public with
stonewalling tactics. Truly, I believe the country is in the best of hands, but
confess. If you are a Democrat, you simply hope the president comes to terms
is golden, it is also sometimes the best way to maintain decorum. And really,
union we do not need to hear the state of. And regarding the stonewalling
staff, just think of them as the collective Bad Cop. As for feeling ashamed and
embarrassed, you have much of the country for company. Try to get a good
to a guy, basically because I want him to think highly of me. It's not that I
been lying because I had this bitterness toward a former boyfriend, who made me
point is, I think this new guy has fallen for me, and I want to be truthful. I
think he ought to know, not because I have fallen for him as well, but simply
tangled web we weave when first we fib to act out against old boyfriends.
reason and want to set the record straight. Make just a short explanation. He
petals splayed like the rays of the sun, these unabashed bloomers give of
themselves freely and ask little in return. Even the hardest among us feel like
slightly, beckoning you to lift it with a finger to get a better look. It has a
short, straight snub nose with the tiniest unevenness along the rim. Its
a little, so that the flower looks as if it's being blown by a gentle wind. A
flowers on a single stem and blooming for weeks. Content almost anywhere, it
multiplies freely. It has a sweet, delicate fragrance, unlike the heady odor
planted along the foundation of a stone house in long drifts interspersed with
was the first to suggest pairing ferns with daffodils, pointing out that just
as the daffodil foliage begins to brown and die back, the fern hits its stride
and covers the mess. This particular fern was fine and lacy and looked fetching
coming up in a pleasing manner from between the stones of a garden path.
potting them to bring indoors to bloom in winter. Although slow to appear,
was glorious when it finally arrived. It ruined for me two varieties of
vulgar fashion with a trumpet too long for its small face. The other,
Plus, it was a splotchy yellow with white leaching through it. Once the elegant
varieties of narcissus have been opening daily in my New York garden, there is
of flowers, and you may actually get them. When it gets cold in spring, as it
invariably does, people worry for their daffodils. But daffodils are
they'll stick around. The thing to worry about now is what bulbs to order for
next spring. (Click for a quick review of daffodils.)
Gardeners who really have it together place their orders
fall. By then, who can even remember what the garden looked like in spring?
spring's display, deciding what I need, and how many, and where it will all go.
The thing to do is to take notes now on what you want and snap pictures of your
garden to remind yourself where to plant in the fall. If you don't trust
yourself even to do this, you can order now, using last fall's catalog. Most
nurseries will send you their latest one if you don't have it. Regardless of
when you place your order, the nursery will ship the bulbs at the proper time
for planting in your area, so if you do it now, you can forget about it until
excellent descriptions. Either find yourself a reference book such as
quality, good selection, and cheaper prices. (The nicer the pictures, the
catalogs, because they work well together, and you can order from either or
lower prices because it deals in larger quantities.) This year Daffodil Mart
aren't really that many. You can also get a group of friends to order together.
Both of these companies will have lower prices on many items this year because
the dollar is strong against the guilder, and most bulbs are grown in
be hard for a beginning gardener to go wrong with daffodils. They are
downside and are a quiet force for good in the world.
didn't click through to the internal links, click for a daffodil review and for
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
smoke. What's with our space program people, anyway? Are they inept, can these
things not be helped, or have we no business trying this stuff in the first
know the right answer to your question, but she can't help but be reminded of
my plastic surgeon friend is going to notice the changes when we get together
and will likely feel hurt that I chose a competitor. How can I have my new face
truthful and say your own version of "I was overcome by curiosity about this
much talked about doc, and now I know his work is as good as yours."
doctors understand these things and do not take affront.
writing to an online lady for advice, but things are rotten with my marriage.
My wife, who has the more important job, is almost disdainful of me in front of
friends and anything but friendly in private. She is the master of the
withering remark and is hypercritical of nearly everything I do or say.
fair, I want to pass on to you a complaint that I do find valid, so you can
better judge the situation. She objects to a habit that is really part of my
even when we're not in a car. My instinct is to give her directions, which way
to turn, how to get places, etc. Her directional sense is average, not
terrible. I fear where this is heading. Have you any ideas?
married to a shepherd. Gut instinct tells me there are underlying problems
often than not, and coming from a loving partner they would cause no
irritation.) Your herding her around suggests that you are compensating, in the
need to get to the bottom of the serious troubles undermining your marriage.
Whether or not you two can do it alone or with a counselor is your call. But do
to all the blue nail polish, body piercings, spiky hair, and nose rings?
Sometimes the young salespeople are so strange looking it is distracting. Am I
the young people, frequently wondering how it is possible that they think they
look appealing. There is hope, though. When they grow a little older and get
serious about becoming employed, the green hair and atavistic piercings
have expressed regret that Prudence has abandoned her advice column in favor of
her needlework. Sensitive to the continuing need for guidance among
Slate readers, however, Prudence has prevailed upon her niece and
she is known to friends) will begin to respond to some of the unanswered
experience of life in responding to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, and other subjects. Unlike her aunt, she does not do
my favorite aunts proposed to visit the White House along with two young nieces
in the Oval Office, I think maybe they should skip the White House and spend
more time in the Capitol instead. Mostly I am concerned that my nieces'
reputations will suffer when they return home to the inevitable questions from
curious friends. Please help me: White House or no White House?
alleged scandalous behavior. You do not say how old your nieces are, so just a
small caveat: If they are in the intern age bracket, simply advise them that
identified a problem for the '90s. I don't think an etiquette has yet been
reply. Something like "in haste" or "gotta run, but I got your message."
hair and body, resulting in hair that stands out unattractively, and makes
sparks fly whenever my body touches another. What can one do?
do remember that a few nights ago at a party, a woman confided that her dress
was clingy and electric, so she wore a light flannel nightgown underneath. She
went on to say that this approach had the added benefit that should someone ask
boxers are sexy" and "boxers really turn me on," but they just seem to go over
his head. I even bought him a pair of boxers, but he just wears them to sleep
are going over his head, try under his nose. Write him a short love note saying
and only wore boxers. Alas, the alternative is to forget it. Would you think
initial stages of dating, it is usual to assume that both parties are probably
dating others. I prefer to describe my other dates as "having plans." I also
take pains so that the people I date remain clueless about others I may be
dating. One of the men I am currently seeing has asked me to dinner at a
particular restaurant that he's been eager to try. I accepted, but when I
looked up the address, I found it was located in the same (very small) building
as the office of another man I am seeing. I am on the verge of suggesting
another restaurant, lest I "collide" with the other man. Should I change the
thinks it would be wonderful to be seen by another swain and cannot
imagine why you would want to pretend to be otherwise dateless in what you
describe as "the initial stages of dating" this new person.
Aunt Prudence has entrusted me to continue her service to the lorn of all
stripes. I feel as though I am stepping into the family business, as it
I have no feeling that I am trying to fill her shoes. (Truth to tell, Auntie
wears a rather large size.) Being of a younger generation, I may be a little
less delicate in my approach but I hope of no less use to you.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
trying to figure out how satisfying revenge would be. I want the satisfaction
but not the guilt that might come with it. Two years ago, my lover of three
years and I broke up. It was messy and I got shafted. But I moved on and
rebuilt my life and my heart. One nagging part of me says that I still have one
see, I have information about a tax fraud he pulled off and until now has
successfully hidden. Do I tell the authorities and let the chips fall where
they may, or hold it in and not risk the guilt that would come from watching
him lose his job and possibly face a criminal charge? He would not know it was
I who sent him up the river, because he thought he hid the fraud from me,
desire to get even. Though it is said that "revenge is sweet," it can also be,
"on the other hand," but a complex piece of your puzzle is that tax fraud is a
duty has not been part of your equation, leading perhaps to your doing the
bottom line is to evaluate the extent of his bad behavior toward you and your
threshold for a guilty conscience. Only you know whether a potential
remorseful. If you choose not to act, know that, at some point, he will get
curious about your thoughts on the coming millennium change and the notion that
the world, due to its reliance on computers in things like tax collection and
banking, will see an implosion and complete breakdown of society because the
working on this problem. It will be costly, to be sure. Sorting data by date is
problems. Being an optimist, however, she feels certain that success will be
the outcome, and the only one who might be disappointed with the advancement of
husband and I are members of our local church and part of a smaller group of
is a personal one, and we enjoy the more traditional approach to personal
worship. Our good friends have asked us if we would care to join them at a
weekend Christian fellowship event. From what we know, it may well be too
feel we need to give them a response very soon. Can you suggest a way we can
kindly refuse the offer without creating awkwardness between us?
can, indeed. Try this: "We wish we were free to go with you, but we have a
that God forgives little white lies when they are intended to spare someone's
a slight problem with my boyfriend. He has a bad habit of putting his feet on
my coffee table, with or without his shoes on. I have wanted to be polite about
it, but his habit is beginning to ruin the finish on my coffee table. Another
thing he does is place his drinks on the table with nothing under them. I don't
"Here, dear, a coaster for your drink," then hand it to him. As for the
he cannot honor your request to keep his feet on the floor, cover the coffee
half the books in bookstores have the word "best seller" or some variant on the
that mean? About as much as the phrase "original recipe" does on a jar of
spaghetti sauce. Neither the government nor the publishing industry regulates
lists published every week in the United States. There are the major national
lists that compare sales at chain stores with sales at independent stores.
tell us not which books sell the most, in absolute terms, but which fiction,
nonfiction, or advice books sell the fastest at the bookstores list makers
will never appear on the lists, because each week it will be beaten by
the most convincing form of publicity around, which gives them the quality of
be more likely to put it in the front of the store and readers to buy it.
companies are privately held and keep this information secret; even when the
companies are publicly traded, it is nearly impossible to find out the unit
onto the New York Times list. (Click to read about the legal tricks book
editors employ to try to place their books on the Times list.)
likely to reflect is the amount of money spent to publicize the books that wind
up on them. Superstores now allow publishers to pay to place a book up front or
in the window or to display advertising. That, plus an author tour or
lists gather sales figures from more stores than others do. The New York
Times boasts the most stores reporting--4,000, plus wholesalers. The
Voice Literary Supplement list, which tells you what the serious
extrapolation to provide an estimation of what is selling at the stores that do
not report; some don't. Some lists, such as the Wall Street Journal 's,
include online booksellers. Some follow only independent stores.
This may seem haphazard compared with the way the music
compiled: It tracks every single album sold at every single music store in the
compilation of what's really selling best throughout the country; they want a
variety of lists that break down sales figures in ways beneficial to them.
some of the most closely watched lists in the publishing industry:
list is the industry standard. It's the most prestigious, appearing as it does
on data from the largest number of stores. Many bookstores sell New York
Times best sellers at a discount, thereby generating even more sales for
New York Times best sellers. Publishers regularly write bonuses into
contracts to factor in the possibility that a book will makes the Times
Times divides its best sellers into hardcover and paperback lists and
then divides each of these into fiction, nonfiction, and a third category
accuse the straight nonfiction list of being a "useful fiction," designed to
published each year. Instead, the Times sends a list to bookstores
indicating which books they are "tracking" as potential future best sellers and
asks for sales information on those books (and any others the bookstores want
to report on). The Times says this tracking list is drawn up from
information from bookstores, but publishers say they routinely call up the
Times to tip them off to books selling with increasing momentum so that
Times Web site publishes another list: "Chains vs. Independents," which
compares how books in all three categories are selling in these two different
types of outlets. This list was a concession to independent bookstores, many of
which were outraged when the Times created hot links between every
independent bookstores were so angry about this that they boycotted the list
report their sales to the New York Times list. The Times claimed
that the number boycotting never reached a "critical mass" that would have
gathering data from a larger percentage of independent stores than the New
York Times list does. This doesn't mean the Chronicle list doesn't
books too esoteric for the chains and books that people are willing to pay full
pop up on this list, and many less flashy books that are quality reads start
Chronicle list is most valued by publishers for what is considered its
predictive value. Recent national best sellers such as Snow Falling on
Sisterhood appeared on the Chronicle list long before they made it
Chronicle list for six weeks before it appeared on the Times
mixes all categories: fiction, nonfiction, hardcover, trade, and mass market
paperbacks. Its authors gather data in a straightforward fashion: They record
booksellers, which many other lists don't. This results in an unusual list that
The God of Small Things against hardcover celebrity health books such as
Today 's list shows how different types of books that are separated on other
literary books such as The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a
designed for people in the book industry: booksellers, libraries, literary
lists are divided into subcategories relevant only to people in the publishing
world. Fiction and nonfiction are kept separate for hardcover books but mixed
a way to give publishers information on the different types of books they
specialize in. But she also admits the plethora of lists gives more books
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
restaurants is frequently outrageously overpriced. The alternative is to bring
your own and expect to pay corkage. I have noted, however, that even corkage
charges are rising to an unacceptable level. Aside from this, the charge is
included in the bottom line bill. My question is: What might be considered an
appropriate tip on the total, given that the corkage charge is for service as
expansive, they let the grand total determine the tip. (And sometimes the total
can be quite grand.) Other times, when overtaken by the enough is enough
gremlin, they compute the gratuity based on the food, adding a modest increment
to acknowledge that wine was served. As anyone who can read a wine list knows,
about all the showers at offices these days? My husband says they have two or
three each week at his place of business (woman pregnant, just gave birth,
for every "celebration." If he were someone who was an assistant, with an
ailing mother to support, well, it would be impossible. Luckily, he is highly
placed, but I mean, how does one gracefully NOT contribute?
in your husband's corner. The institutionalized begging of which you speak is
annoying and also can make hash of a budget. Perhaps people who work in group
settings where some hand is always out can start a reverse trend: Limit
present allowance is all gone." He or she may be called cheap, but they will
your country six years. Forgive my bad English if it occurs. I have been
I knew, younger than me, pursued me with ardor and convinced me to marry him.
There was not too much married activity, if you can know what I mean. Then he
He left his children with me, and he uses one of my credit cards.
no idea about what he plans, but I have the awful feeling that he may have used
to tell him I want to divorce, because husbands are not easy to find. There is
a chance that he is better than I think. What do you think?
and denial. Cancel that credit card and arrange to return his children to him
unease is based on how quickly public discourse has switched from the medical
lengths to get something they don't medically need. It allows Those of Us Who
Would Never Do Such a Thing to wring our hands and complain while feeling
impotence or depression and our society's feelings toward these conditions and
have been used as a starting point to discuss why impotence and depression are
specter of perpetually peppy sales reps and (erroneous) reports that it causes
still labors under public misconceptions about its prevalence and
worthy subject for public discourse but does nothing for the individual
that said, let her thank you for a heartfelt and thoughtful letter from someone
that the civil rights leader's murder was part of a larger conspiracy.
black militants were responsible. Before Ray was arrested, a group called the
that one insignificant lowlife could topple a hero and alter history. More
powers imagine secret plots to undermine them, and the dispossessed worry about
persecution. With their grand designs in which everything has its place,
conspiracy as the motive force in historical events. History is a
adopt the trappings of scholarship, touting irrelevant titles and credentials.
They burrow into the arcana of their topics and inundate potential acolytes
with a barrage of pedantic details. Rather than build a case from evidence,
deceive. Rather than admit to inconvenient facts, they dismiss them as lies,
to justify the eradication of a weak and numerically insignificant group? The
times, masons had devised confidential phrases and handshakes to recognize
fellow craftsmen and protect their trade secrets from outsiders. During the
Enlightenment, their guilds became clubs for discussing the new liberal ideas
Religious authorities feared that, within their lodges, the Masons, too, were
years, giving rise to various fantasies of global schemes. Typically, these
I and his ministers were actually just blundering their way through the
states were allowing all white men to vote (before that, they had to own land),
In this climate popular hostility was trained against powerful private
after crisis. The Civil War arose because Northerners feared that a small
convinced the North was determined to destroy their way of life. In the depths
and were about to subvert our democracy. (Some of these folks are still writing
challenged laws regulating speech, sex, and drug use; the right fought busing,
before his assassination for a march in support of striking sanitation workers
there. During the march, a black gang called the Invaders began looting, the
to trigger violent conflict between white and Negro citizens."
the civil rights leader, thought he was a Communist, and waged a relentless
as noted in this review of his book.) Hoover never contemplated murder, but you
didn't have to be crazy to think powerful figures had it in for King.
government claimed it was just protecting the public from radicals, but people
vigilance by the press, Congress, and the courts, covert government activities
were, if not eradicated, at least no longer the rule. Hatred of the government
gave way to a jaded contempt. Outrage settled into anomie. It was no longer
news that the state might resort to such activities. The seeds of paranoia that
were planted in the hothouse of the late '60s and early '70s germinated, and in
determining grounds for impeachment, the Constitution just isn't much help.
him of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." But how high
is high? "Clearly, high crimes was referring to serious, serious crimes like
leaves history as our only guide. Unfortunately for scholars (if fortunately
for presidents), Congress has undertaken impeachment proceedings against only
resigned). That doesn't yield much in the way of precedent. Then again, the
rarity of impeachment proceedings may itself be a sort of precedent. If so,
Republicans in Congress. The Radicals, who favored the abolition of slavery and
thought blacks inferior to whites, wanted to give Southern states wide latitude
in shaping their own laws and governments, regardless of the consequences for
the freed slaves. He vetoed key pieces of Reconstruction legislation, including
guys in the Reconstruction fight. Changing attitudes toward race in the last
generation have helped overhaul the old interpretation of Reconstruction as a
bad idea gone wrong. Except, that is, on the impeachment episode. Here, even
the acknowledged wisdom of the Republicans' Reconstruction plans hasn't changed
the consensus that they acted from partisan motives.
Act, prohibited presidents from firing their own Cabinet members; another
offered a somewhat contradictory defense. On the one hand, his lawyers said,
flouted the law to test it in the Supreme Court. Still, the case against
and when he passed word that he'd stop obstructing the Republicans'
Reconstruction plans, his survival seemed assured. In the end, the Radicals
voted to convict, while the Democrats and seven moderate Republicans voted to
In resting their case on an alleged violation of the law
and not on policy differences, the Republicans conceded that impeachment had to
Radicals' defeat suggested that successful impeachment charges against the
president would have to allege substantial crimes on his part. Allegations of
criminal wrongdoing that essentially served to cover for political differences
impeachment bills, including one introduced by a Republican. After months of
new disclosures, including the release of transcripts of damning White House
conversations, the House Judiciary Committee began impeachment deliberations in
investigators, and otherwise covering up crimes. Two days later, it passed a
enemies, spying on private citizens, setting up the "Plumbers" unit that broke
seems like a legitimate weapon, a way to settle the score. The principle of
Mutually Assured Destruction, after all, dictated that once nukes are launched,
threshold for impeachable offenses and shouldn't be the standard for judging
transgressions, and for the full text of the articles of impeachment against
Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will answer questions
submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions should be sent to
letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
had lunch at a local Internet cafe. I brought my own laptop and wireless modem,
the better to read Slate in its full framed glory. I was (slowly)
downloading full images while everyone else was using Lynx. I did order a
cheese sandwich, and nobody gave me any dirty looks, but even so, I felt a
little guilty about not spending any money for my online experience. Is it rude
to bring your own digital device to an Internet cafe? What about bringing food
an Internet cafe until she received your letter. Apparently such things do not
consulted the Web site to which you refer, and now have a clue as to the
provides computers and modems for the use of its patrons for a fee and also
sells food. Your question is whether it is improper for you to bring your own
laptop and wireless modem, thus bypassing the fee, and to buy only a cheese
has established the rules for the use of their facility. Since they have let
you in and have not kicked you out, it appears that you have not violated any
of those rules. You are not being rude. But if there are many people like you,
and especially if you are occupying space that might be occupied by a paying
customer, the management will change the rules. They will establish a cover
charge or require a minimum food purchase for the use of a table. The situation
will be like that in a cabaret, where you cannot sit down at a table and watch
meantime, until the rules are changed, it would be wise of you to leave a tip
or spend more on food. Otherwise you will not get a good table or will have
crumbs brushed into your laptop, even though, strictly speaking, you are
interest in me pretty clear; and I like him a lot. In view of this quite
I don't know how to ask. I know this sounds dumb. But our earlier professional
friendliness did not extend to swapping details of our private lives, although
he does mention the kids. Is this some kind of guy code for "wife"??
you suggest a polite way to raise this, preferably using some kind of Southeast
older than you. There can be lots of life left in an old macroeconomist.
matter what happens. Do you think such a commitment is wise? How about such
commitments between individuals, even between husbands and wives?"
are hoping that Congress will do something about the marriage penalty in the
income tax this year. Would it make much difference to you?"
for wedding gifts this way, but I am curious to know what others think,
persons you know and care about should be individually handwritten and sent by
snail mail. That is a way to show the depth of your gratitude and affection.
Even on occasions where use of a printed acknowledgment is appropriate, as in
acknowledging the receipt of letters of condolence upon bereavement, the
printed card should be signed by hand with a personal word added.
it ignores any potential need for needlepoint items you might have, but all I
can offer is the assurance that it is an honest sentiment: Having been born a
century too late, this admirer of yours is pleased to see that not everyone has
your needlepoint suffer from years and years of utter neglect!
has been and done so many things to end the relationship forever, she is so
has not been seen for four days now. He moved here from another state and his
surroundings are new, but we as family have tried to bring him into the fold.
Now he's gone. My friend's heart is broken and I can't help. I think he was
can play only a secondary role. Only she can salvage her life. If she is
determined to do that, you can help her; otherwise, you can't.
gone from her and can no longer be a part of her life. She also has to
recognize that she has behaved very unwisely. As you say, she was "too" in
appreciation of nature, volunteer activity, church, or whatever is closest to
her. She has to want these as a new life, not as stopgaps while she waits for
him to return. These new interests will be more valuable to her if she can
share them with someone. That is where you may come in. It would be better
still if she could share those interests with someone she loves. That cannot be
ordered up. But love is more likely to come if she is an interested and
to get from the official United States Hang Gliding Association site to this page, which
may publish your name on its site in connection with your
also invited to submit their own puzzles (along with a solution path).
president and the first lady. Then they drew jeers for closing part of
cool. Though always at the center of things, the agent cherishes his anonymity;
he's expected to sacrifice not just life but also ego to protect the
these guys, anyway? And how did they develop such importance and mystique?
From the beginning, Secret Service operatives have been
conceived of the organization during the Civil War as an espionage agency.
Under the control of the Department of War, its first head was the legendary
abolished the organization, and Baker wound up testifying against the president
counterfeiters. It didn't occur to them, unfortunately, to have this new
though, has always remained fighting counterfeiting and other forms of fraud:
check, credit card, postage stamp, food stamp, and the like. Which is to say,
if you cash your neighbor's Social Security check, it's the Secret Service that
Conspicuously absent from the agency's duties was the job of presidential
pugnacious president simply charged at the assailant, brandishing his cane. To
later, Congress passed the Sundry Civil Expenses Act, which made the service's
agents trade on when they publicize their anguish over having to betray the
1975--and the Secret Service's custodial duties expanded accordingly.
field offices around the world. This massive growth has periodically elicited
resent the privilege that serves to insulate a somewhat random
and about how they were pressed into providing cover. Less well known, if less
then a recent widower, used agents to run interference for him in his amorous
friends." Soon, Starling was conscripted into following the couple on their
engagement were announced." Starling and his colleagues held their tongues, at
first in an occasional series assessing the narrative logic of movies.)
important cultural divide: Movies now make less sense than rock lyrics. Once it
Name" (with the immortal lines "The heat was hot" and "In the desert/ You can't
remember your name/ 'Cause there ain't no one/ For to give you no pain") could
never be challenged by any rival in any other art form. But that was before
movies like this happen? It's hard to say. The Saint may be one of those
rare cases in which the inanity is deliberate. The fact that nothing in
earthly life suggests a conscious stupidity on the part of the filmmakers that
With the average film, though, nothing of the sort is
intended. Those of us who write screenplays for a living are always perplexed
at what leaky logic vessels most movies turn out to be, given the endless
development process that takes place before production begins. In draft after
draft, in script meeting after script meeting, every narrative line is examined
for signs of warp, every motivation of every character is finely adjusted,
precision of development gives way to velocity and chaos. Perhaps a big star
comes aboard, declares the script a disaster for reasons of his own, and
shooting script is nothing but a pastiche of scenes from a dozen different
drafts. Perhaps a director has a "vision" of a big boat slamming into something
(a feature, by the way, of at least four recent films) and uses up so much of
the budget to bring it to reality that key scenes explaining who was on the
boat and why it was out of control are never shot. Or perhaps the scenes are
shot and never used because the first cut of the movie is an hour too long.
course, there's the simpler observation that some movies are just badly
imagined and badly written, and nobody cares enough to do anything about
to be a festival of incoherence. It has brought us not only The Saint
World seems at first glance to be a seamless web of logic. Nowhere in
The Lost World 's bestiary is there a creature that behaves with the
characters with accuracy and blinding velocity in one scene, hovering and
hissing and generally dithering around in the next, so that the heroine has
and dying in a puddle of digestive slime, you are witnessing one of those
Here is a movie that has no trouble making us believe its presiding
contract on relatively minor reality issues like torque, animal behavior, and
of handy parallel bars? Is it likely that she could, by twirling around and
snaps at the air, and though it does manage to stomp one victim (who, in a nice
touch, sticks to the bottom of its foot like a piece of gum), in general it
moves with such a lumbering gait that we might as well be back in the '60s
cargo hold, eats everybody on board, then cleverly scurries back into hiding.
World arise from the conventionality at the heart of the movie. Neither
the movie is based, have shown any interest in challenging the moralistic
assumption at the heart of almost every creature feature: That good intentions,
predators but avengers, nibbling a prissy little rich girl here, chomping an
followed by smarmy flacks, followed by twisted visionaries in expensive suits.
Among the heroes, we don't have to worry about the principled male scientist,
the dynamic female animal behaviorist, or the stowaway children. But even among
the good guys, a marginal physiognomy or a receding hairline can spell doom.
Holes" is an occasional series assessing the narrative logic of movies.
all the major releases, had true lunacy at its heart.
as everybody said, it did display a riotous disdain for common sense. It wasn't
premise. The Postman is about a drifter in the bleak and fractured
the unlikeliest line of dialogue of 1997--"Ride, postman, ride!"
wishful thinking on par with cold fusion. The fundamental implausibility of
evolves from a toxic slime ball to an adorably vulnerable neurotic, can be
character entrusted with the care of his neighbor's beloved dog after he has
amply demonstrated his hatred of the animal by tossing it down a laundry chute?
not immune to the occasional glitch. In one crucial scene, the vagabond artist
room, where he makes a nude sketch of her sitting on a divan as the languorous
hours tick by. Meanwhile, her suspicious fiance has apparently been furiously
searching for her for much of the night. "There are only so many places she can
be!" he rants in frustration to his evil manservant. Hey, guys, did you ever
start to pick up, when the release of Firestorm heralded a return to the
bad movie, at least had the integrity of its own screwy internal logic.
from a helicopter into the path of a forest fire to rescue a group of killers
from the killers on a motorcycle that they appropriate from a remote wilderness
trading post. In the pursuit that follows, the hero rummages around in the
motorcycle's saddlebag, produces a chain saw, starts it with one hand, and
tosses it over his shoulder into the windshield of the villains' truck.
parachute from out of nowhere and straps it on just as the bike sails out over
the deepest gorge in the world. After a leisurely free fall, the smoke jumper
and the ornithologist land safely, though minor damage to the hero's kneecap
serves as an occasion for the new year's most unforgettable line thus far: "I
odds here. Fallen is essentially a variant of the vampire genre, and
there has never been a vampire movie that made any sense at all. In this case,
"Time Is on My Side" as he heads for the gas chamber.
the killer's body had been possessed by the spirit of a dark angel named
has the ability to flit from one human host to another simply through touch.
What happens if the body he's occupying dies? That's covered in the cobwebbed
him from one body to the next, and tries to outwit him so that he can lethally
follow in the first place? Wouldn't you just as soon go undetected, as you have
since the beginning of time? I can't remember a movie with more style and less
motivation. Fallen works feverishly to keep you distracted from its
is based on a site that someone linked to in "The Fray" for a joke. The idea is
may publish your name on its site in connection with your
also encouraged to submit their own puzzles (with a solution path).
surprisingly easy! We start with the fine review of a shockingly funny comedy about eye disease. From here,
we follow the left column down and click Pop Encyclopedia in the
Congratulations to all our winners. I believe that your hearts will go on.
your name on its site in connection with your submission.)
also invited to submit their own puzzles (along with a solution path).
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
remember of your college days, but I would like some advice pertaining to the
dreaded topic of roommates. My roommate, just in the last two weeks, has
note from the roommate saying maybe we should not proceed as planned due to our
different sleeping habits. Since then she has either not been in the room or
has come and gone so quickly as to leave no time for discussion of this matter.
I might add that our housing papers are due in five days, and it's disturbing
college days: There were curfews making it impossible for students to keep
vampire hours. (A few stealth roommates evaded the rules, but even this was
you describe, not to mention the sleep disturbance, prudence (the virtue, not
assigned a stranger. It couldn't be much worse. Well, actually it could, in
which case you are within your rights to pester the proper authorities for a
traveling to places I never had time for, fancy eats out, and so forth. But
something happened on the way home from work. My wife and daughter are the ones
with cruises, flying trips, etc., leaving me home to feed the cats and empty
suspicion either that you are joshing her or are tucked away at some prep
school. The situation you describe does not have the ring of truth. Rather than
hard to imagine a tycoon emeritus at the mercy of a wife and daughter who park
him at home while they travel the globe. Giving you the benefit of the doubt,
signed everything over to the women, that you stop being a wimp and take
broke up after we dated on and off for five years. I ended the relationship
because of his alcohol problem. I find myself having to fight off the urge to
him mean I unconsciously want to get back with my ex?
sympathizes, having herself, once or twice, become attached to the
for only a couple of reasons: food and defense. Is it not insane for people to
murder? If the murderer did not eat the victim, he or she did not need to kill
issue: What do you think of the people who want to take the word "man" out of
common words? Thank you for your time. I just needed to get these two issues
don't get me wrong, I love kissing, but there is such a thing as the
appropriate kiss for the appropriate occasion. My problem is the
by this? Have mores changed when I wasn't looking? And the big question: How do
the gentleman nearly well enough to be familiar with his health history.
perfectly correct to pull back and make a show of surprise and displeasure. As
for making an enemy, is a person who would do this worth having as a
pleased at the confidence so many of you have shown in her by asking her
advice. Sadly she must, however, return to her needlework now.
in a very few instances, Prudence is neither better informed nor wiser than the
persons who write to her. She is able to offer helpful advice only because the
problems described are not hers; she is not emotionally involved in them and
can consider them objectively. So her advice has two parts: First, when you are
greatly troubled with a problem you should write it down in the form of a
the problem into written words, rather than brooding over it endlessly and
incoherently, will itself be helpful. It will enable you to see the problem in
its true dimensions. Second, you should not mail the letter but should read it
received, she often felt that the writer knew the answer but only wanted some
(relatively) good friend who ridicules my Libertarian attitudes? Or to other
people who are misinformed about the Libertarian Party?
friend does. I try to change the subject, as I am tired of defending my
political views to him and to other people. Many people don't understand
Libertarian philosophies, nor do they seem to want to. And, when people do want
Party (he's a registered Democrat, for God's sake!) or just reject out of hand
You have no obligation to participate in a discussion that you find fruitless
and irritating. Your friend cannot be a very good friend if he persists on this
subject despite your obviously unhappy reaction. Also, you have no obligation
to the Libertarian Party to fight on every street corner in its defense.
should tell your friend candidly that you do not want to discuss this subject.
If he persists, or takes offense, you should find a more congenial friend.
There are people who are not members of the Libertarian Party but who are
convert them. If you are receptive to the ideas of other people about politics
and policy, you will find some people receptive to yours.
when dining at a restaurant buffet? On the one hand, since the server is not
taking and filling meal orders, a tip seems unnecessary. Yet on the other hand,
the server is not less likely to be underpaid merely because the restaurant
offers a buffet, and so a tip may still be expected. And if the restaurant
offers menus in addition to its buffet, then the diners are occupying a table
that might otherwise be filled by customers who order from the menu, who would
server brings drinks, should one tip based on the cost of the drinks? What if
waiter gets is adjusted by the market to the probability of getting tips. If a
waiter works in conditions where tips are unlikely, he will get a higher wage
than if he works where tips are customary, other things being equal. If you go
through a buffet line and there is no personal service offered to you except
handing dishes over a counter, you are not expected to tip. If you go through a
buffet line and the waiter seats you; gives you a drink, even if water; and one
waiter is assigned to you, you should give a tip. But the tip need not be as
large as it would be if you got full table service.
don't know your ego, I don't know whether I am your alter ego. Anyway, the
probably will think this is from a Democratic nut, but it is a serious
question. Why does a responsible political party have a goal of reducing taxes
on the rich? It seems only logical that those with high incomes should pay more
than those with lower incomes! A concern that most rational people should have
is how to equitably distribute the great wealth of this country. Taxation of
the wealthy and assistance to the less fortunate is one simple way. Also money
is needed for many, many good purposes! What is the Republican Party's rebuttal
Republican Party (who can?), but she can give you some thoughts on the
exceptions, but in general rich people do pay more taxes than poor people.
Generally Republicans agree that rich people should pay more taxes than poor
people. The issue that divides people and parties is how much more the
as B, should A pay twice as much tax, or three times as much, or four times as
much? That is partly a question of fairness, to which simply saying that the
rich should pay more provides no answer. It is also a question of economic
efficiency. Beyond some point, taxation of the rich probably reduces incentives
to save, invest, innovate, and work, to a degree that is harmful to people who
are not rich. But just where that point is no one seems to know.
answer these questions in the direction of lower taxes on the rich more than
Democrats generally do? That is one of the main reasons they are
question also raises the issue of attitudes toward taxation in general. Since
tax cut for everyone is the sure road to electoral success. That idea now seems
years ago I dated a guy, but he moved and it was hard to keep together, so we
broke up. About four months later, he died in a fire. Problem is, his younger
brother also liked me. A few days ago I saw him for the first time since his
brother died, and he still likes me. I kind of like him now, too; he's grown up
a lot since the last time I saw him. I just don't know if it would be rude to
no problem. Four months would be long enough to mourn this man even if you had
been married to him, which you weren't. Preserving and honoring the memory of a
deceased loved one does not require you to give up ordinary activities. There
is room in the human heart for remembering the dead and living with the living.
If you were deeply attached to the older brother, or now think you were, you
will not forget him. Your present attraction to the younger brother may be a
sign of your appreciation of the characteristics of the older brother, many of
its nether regions, and even learned a little on the way. But all good things
must come to an end. As a parting challenge, we dare you to link from this page
where you should click Links to Other Sites of Interest (the last of the
Publications and Directories (on the bar below the opening graphic), and
Beginning this week, Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will
answer questions submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about
manners, personal relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions
Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably including
escorting a young woman to my automobile after, say, coming out of a
around to the driver's side. On modern cars with power locks, however,
innovation makes first unlocking her door a superfluous and illogical
do you come down on this question of chivalry vs. logic? Is it insulting to
unlock her door first when we both know it's unnecessary?
between chivalry and logic. Chivalry requires not only that you unlock the door
but also that you open the door for her, hold her arm to help her enter, see
that the edge of her skirt has been removed from the door frame, and then close
the door. Helping her enter can also be the occasion for sweetly kissing her on
the cheek. Modern gadgets will not do all that, and real men don't want them
the idea of a conflict between chivalry and logic is mistaken. Chivalrous
gestures, even though not utilitarian at one level, have a utilitarian logic at
another level. Chivalrous gestures are a means of communication, and that is
useful. When you hold the door for the girl, even though she is quite capable
of doing it for herself, you are communicating the fact that you care about her
and want to be her helper. Unless you are a great poet, it may be the best way
you have of communicating those sentiments to her. Which gestures communicate
what changes over time, as does other language. In my time, at least, holding
the door communicated respect or affection or some other favorable
your girlfriend communicates is different from what holding it for your
few precedents anywhere in the world for eternal flames to honor individuals,
there are even fewer precedents for turning them off once ignited. I don't
if anything, can be done that doesn't come across as overtly partisan or
the flame in the cemetery will not matter. No one will go to it except to roast
become president of the United States, save the Union, free the slaves, and
write some of the most profound and moving words in the English language. If
Thousands of people pass it every day, but no one stops to look at it. It will
placed lights around their homes and fully decorated their trees. I like to
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
Post 's words, "too vicious to print." In my experience, vicious things
reflect more harshly on the person who says them. To that end, I tend to think
each other any number of times before her father leaves office. How, in your
but to treat the senator with respect and courtesy. But is there a good way to
make a boorish person squirm without being boorish yourself?
others as well as from themselves. The mirror image consideration, however, is
that it is unappetizing to give the offending remark wider
Reality, though, must come into play, and in cases such as this there will
the senator's joke. In any case, thoughtful people will surely wonder about the
judgment and heart of a man who could publicly denigrate the looks of a young
to that one years ago. Kill 'em with kindness, and they don't know where to
and daughter are spending a few weeks with us. We love them all. Trouble is,
her talk back to her mom. I have bitten my tongue all week, but I finally said
realize that criticizing the kid is criticizing the parent (or at least the
parenting), but somebody should say something to somebody. I muttered my
apologies to keep the peace, but I felt sullied having done so. What do you
also a comment on the parenting, but inappropriate outbursts by any youngster
inspire most sensitive people to try to interject a little decorum. Then, too,
are not great, but sometimes an outsider's rebuke can serve to wake up the
continue the discussion with the tyrant tyke's folks, pointing out that
discipline bespeaks love and that the kid will have hell's own time if she
continues speaking to people in such a manner. If your one stab at being the
kiddie kaiser causes your sister and her husband to invite you to mind your own
friend, colleague, or loved one stumbles, it seems inelegant to ask, "Are you
all right?" How would you suggest I more properly offer sympathy? My best
suggests you go back to "Are you all right?" There is something peculiar about
asking, "Is your dignity intact?" unless, perhaps, "dignity" is code for
response to the query about the Zone Diet was rich in common sense and went halfway
toward torpedoing the trendy, useless diet industry. The other half is to
working out is the better part of weight loss; she just plum forgot to mention
it. And walking is wonderful exercise. It requires no special equipment
eating with no physical exertion would be like putting lipstick on a
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
feel comfortable writing this. I am a male in my 60s. Five years ago I had a
radical prostate operation that left me impotent. During this time my wife used
chosen not to participate. I now face the following problem: My sexual desires
have been restored, but to act on them will require my involvement with women
other than my wife, who does not see things this way. I think I should do as
Let's see if she has understood this: When you were impotent your wife was on
the town, as it were. Now that you are operative she is not a willing partner
or a bank. Her stepping out then forbidding you to do so, even though
she is an unwilling sex partner, makes her sound like a perfect candidate for
divorce lawyer and after that find a nice woman who genuinely cares about
years old and face a serious problem. I am addicted to thinking about sex.
the book, read a little, then whoosh, all these thoughts about having sex start
have never had a girlfriend. Actually, I don't even want one, because I am not
very open and friendly toward girls. Thus, I have never even touched a girl,
means that I belong to a culture in which the only way to have sex is to get
please don't advise me to get a girlfriend or get married early, because that
is out of the question. Please don't print my name because I want
get a girlfriend, but rather, a therapist. You can accomplish this either
through your university health service or getting recommendations from friends.
thoughts about sex, they make it clear you need a professional's counsel.
fixated on an activity that you feel is verboten but which, in fact, is
normal. But do not feel that your wheels are coming off. You are, after all,
a stopgap measure, you might try to make friends with a few girls so they will
Whether the Department of Justice thinks it is legal or not, do you think
opposite: Are they being polite by offering people another option without
having to be told? Like giving a person cream for his coffee and letting him
continuum, how could you think someone rude who is trying to enhance your
of the "race card," suggesting that the reason the friend's neighbors were
complaining so frequently about his behavior was because the friend was black.
The letter writer asked you whether you thought playing the race card was
appropriate. Expecting you to reply "No," I was most surprised to read your
opinion, raising race as the motivation behind the neighbors' complaints, in
the absence of evidence to support the charge, is quite reckless. Even if we
accept the friend's protestations that he does nothing to offend, we still have
no basis for charging that they are acting out of racist hatred. It could be
Perhaps the neighbors are simply bored busybodies with nothing better to do
than complain about every little thing that annoys them. Charging that the
serious business. Based on the information the letter writer provided, there is
no reason to conclude that the neighbors are racist.
does not agree with you that there is no basis to conclude that the neighbors
Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will answer questions
submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions should be sent to
letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
questions of etiquette attached to wearing a wire and recording conversations
with one's supposed friends and colleagues for the benefit of, say, a special
Incidentally, at a time when it is suggested that the president is living
it's a ticklish question depends on where one wears the wire. He'd better not
a problem that often leaves me frustrated and angry at myself: I am very bad at
small talk. It's amazing to me how people can slip in and out of frivolous talk
(though I know it serves a socially useful purpose) with seeming ease. No
matter how hard I try, I feel that I say the wrong thing or something
the work world, and the ability to make light conversation is paramount in
business relationships. Do you have any suggestions?
this. What everyone wants in a conversationalist is not a good talker but a
at the right points, and occasionally saying: "Right on!" or "How true!" In
business it is not the glib talker who gets the most respect. It is the person
who can sit quietly through a meeting and then cogently synthesize the
worry about what other people are thinking about you. Mostly they are not
thinking about you at all. Don't worry about saying the wrong thing. Most
people don't know what the right thing is. If what you say is bizarre enough,
bought something using cash in a retail store, the clerk would return our
change by first placing the coins safely in the palm of our hand, followed by
any bills. The receipt, of course, would have already been tucked inside, or
stapled to, the bag. This way, we could easily grip the coins while putting the
extra bills away into our wallets, and then drop the coins into our pockets or
days, it seems the standard procedure is to hand out the bills first, followed
by the receipt, and then the coins, perched precariously on top. We are then
left standing there to sort out this unwieldy stack. When and why did this
practice start, and who could we contact to try to get it changed?
It is not universal, however. Prudence has just been through a cafeteria line
where the cashier gave change in coins first and then in bills. But the
practice of which you complain is very common, especially in supermarkets. The
reason for it is to speed up the checkout process. If the cashier is to give
you coins first, he must either make two passes at you, first with the coins
and then with the bills, or he must hold the coins in his hand while he fishes
the bills out of the cash register. In the latter case the risk that he will
drop the coins is increased. By doing it his way the risk that you will drop
the coins is increased. That is what we mean by "the service economy." The
in the bottle near the cash register, where they will be collected to help the
card, irritating the hell out of everyone in line behind you.
coins, bills, and receipts in your pocket or purse to be sorted out at home
want to get the practice changed, I have two suggestions for you: You can write
a silly little problem that I want to share with you. The problem is that I am
my whole life, since it is not a norm in the country I come from. So now that I
about the possibility of having to kiss a girl, or even having to ask for a
you'll like it. You ask what you should do if you ever "have" to kiss a girl.
If that situation arises, you will have no problem. Perhaps you will "have" to
reaction will be to kiss her back. Your problem will not be hesitancy about
the hots for a pretty waitress at a restaurant where I eat. She is so
beautiful, and I would love to ask her out, but I am shy, and she is always
working when I see her. I want to know how to approach her and pop the
and without disturbing her at work. If you have any ideas, they would be
correction for shyness is to summon up your courage and do it. If your
attraction to her is very strong it will overcome your shyness. Women are
seldom offended by an expression of a man's interest in them if it is expressed
in a respectful manner. You should, however, drop the word "hots" from your
Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will answer questions
submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions should be sent to
letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
what point, and how, should one tell one's new boyfriend about one's medical
history? (And it's not the history you may think.) Bluntly put, when does he
needed for a more continuous relationship? Or should I just assume he'll find
the bottle in the medicine cabinet when he gets a headache?
depends on what you mean by a "more continuous relationship." If you mean that
you will be with this man daily, or almost daily, for a significant period,
with the possibility that it will be for the rest of your lives, you should
certainly tell him. You will both be more free with each other if he knows. You
will not have to try to hide your condition or make up false explanations of
it. He will understand you better if he knows. He will know to try to avoid
exacerbating your condition and may be able to help alleviate it by sympathetic
and understanding behavior. If he can't accept that, you should consider
whether you want a "more continuous relationship" with him.
play right now. Play is activity engaged in for the enjoyment of it without
regard to the financial remuneration. My remuneration is so trivial that what I
be my daughter. When we divorced, I knew her mom was pregnant, but through the
lawyers I was told the unborn baby belonged to her first husband. In fact, out
met in person over Thanksgiving, is undoubtedly my child. But, she's a very
troubled and angry young woman. She has been abused sexually, emotionally; was
hospitalized for psychiatric problems for three months; was arrested for
assault and is currently on probation; and the list goes on.
she needed to deal with her anger and learn to love herself before she could
even begin to think about loving me, her half brother, and half sister. She
said some pretty mean things to me while she was here. I requested that we not
have a relationship unless and until she gets herself some help.
financial, and physical capabilities. Did I do the right thing?
think you are shortchanging your daughter and yourself. I accept what you say
about having limited financial and physical capabilities. I don't think you are
right about having limited emotional capabilities. You should not cut off your
relationship with her but rather should offer her sympathy, understanding,
love, and companionship. It will be hard. Obviously, after the life she has led
she is going to say some mean things. She may feel that the absence of her
contributed to her present condition. Treating her lovingly will not only be
helpful to her. It will also be helpful to you. The emotional capabilities you
not be able to sustain this attitude, but it will be worth a very hard try.
to music the words of great poets, but does the music give us any better
extravaganza, as a mass entertainment for children, and more arcanely, as
with these sundry renditions, would take particular exception to the idea of a
adaptations of his writings, and as for children, he wrote a volume of poetry,
Hunchback 's "A Guy Like You," sung by stone gargoyles, which you can
millions of theatergoers have discovered before me, turns out to be an
intelligent and moving show. Technically speaking, it is an opera, all singing
Click to see what I mean) intended to display the jewels, which are the lyrics.
These lyrics have been composed by a committee consisting of, in the French
outward from the stage in a ceaseless gush, until you feel you have been
original writings, the wordy rhymed couplets conjure a feeling of endless
heels, and you have this feeling of a hidden stage director crying, "Next!
intelligence is its ability to speak French." They are written in the light,
his verse structures varying with perfect control, as if every possible
soundboard of a composer's music? I find it enjoyable to listen to the musical
contains its own music, even if the music is only hinted at, and if some
composer comes along and fills in the hints with imaginings of his own, the
that, when composers set a poet's work to music, the best thing to do is, in
other hand, the best thing is to savor the musical settings and the words,
by himself on the printed page, with piano accompaniment and vocal sonorities
pleased at the confidence so many of you have shown in her by asking her
advice. Sadly she must, however, return to her needlework now. Some answers to
questions previously posed to her will be posted here in the next few weeks,
but she will be unable to answer any questions received after this
in a very few instances, Prudence is neither better informed nor wiser than the
persons who write to her. She is able to offer helpful advice only because the
problems described are not hers; she is not emotionally involved in them and
can consider them objectively. So her advice has two parts: First, when you are
greatly troubled with a problem you should write it down in the form of a
the problem into written words, rather than brooding over it endlessly and
incoherently, will itself be helpful. It will enable you to see the problem in
its true dimensions. Second, you should not mail the letter but should read it
received, she often felt that the writer knew the answer but only wanted some
never be foolish enough to say to anyone in my workplace that he is a simp (and
a mental shrimp), but I think that I somehow broadcast these kinds of
it back a notch. I want to seem less threatening. When I announced my goal to
up in arms. "You can't change who you are!" was the most common line.
Prudence, I have no intention of changing who I am. I just want to change the
window dressing. Can I pull it back a notch, or am I doomed to come off as a
change who you are, but it would be helpful to recognize who you
in the world and probably not even in your own circle. Moreover, to whatever
extent you are superior, it is probably the result of genes and attitudes
inherited from your parents and not something you created for yourself.
Accepting these realities will help you to behave in a more accommodating way
if you do feel yourself superior, you can still learn to behave in a way that
is not offensive. People who are attractively slim do not talk about the
ugliness of obesity in the presence of people who are grossly overweight. Good
manners can be cultivated. You may even find pleasure in realizing that you
have acted with noblesse oblige in not flaunting your superiority. There is
satisfaction in feeling that you are better than other people not only in
a pal who was actually a very good friend of mine until she started going out
with a certain guy. Now I hardly ever see her. Plus, she has changed a lot,
although she doesn't see it. She is still in high school but has already slept
with him a few times, and I believe she is pregnant. This is something that we
until we were married. Now, she sees everything differently, and in some way,
doesn't see that she has done anything wrong. I feel as though she has
committed a terrible crime, almost. How should I treat her now since I can
friend does not seem to want help or comfort from you at this time and
certainly would not welcome a lecture. I think it natural and appropriate that
your relations with her should cool. That is one way she would learn the
consequences of her actions, which may or may not bother her. But you should
not be hostile, and you should be open to help her if she should turn to you
have begun to notice people greeting each other with a kiss on the lips. I was
rather appalled because I assumed that kissing, especially on the lips, was
two people who are only social acquaintances kiss each other? Is this even
sanitary? How "socially acceptable" is kissing in public even for two people
is with you. If casual acquaintances kiss each other on the lips, what method
think of you as one who would attempt to disrupt sisterly relations, and so
wanted to make sure you understood the possible ramifications of what you
printed. Thanks for your good words each week, and be well.
great respect for both. Judging by the volume of my mail, I think there is
enough unmet demand for advice to keep all of us busy. I suppose there are
subjects on which they know more than I do, but I suppose there are also
your name on its site in connection with your submission.)
also encouraged to submit their own puzzles (along with a solution path).
we challenged you to get from this page on hang gliding to this page featuring hoary marmots in six
I went down endless dead ends before hitting the right link, although I suppose
glory to small and hoary in a victorious six links.
about that, I neglected this, I left that out in the rain, that should have
one of the few garden writers to admit that misery is a major operating
principle in the life of the gardener, which is one "of unexpected failures and
sorrows, somewhat redeemed by unexpected and utterly accidental triumphs."
Devastating winds, early frosts, late frosts, killing storms, bad luck, bad
timing, and general human stupidity are the norm. Over the years, I learned
many things from Henry, such as the lesson of dividing up a small space to make
it seem bigger; the importance of small bodies of water in a garden; and how to
nurture tender plants through the winter. But mostly I learned to get over
It is surely unfair to Henry, who is probably the smartest,
for how to do this or that in the garden as for how to be a better gardening
person. He provides a sense of comfort, much like the feeling you get from a
cookbook when you have no intention of making any of the dishes. He had scores
of devoted readers with little or no interest in gardening.
the remarkable ability to delight in a single flower in bloom, however many
weeds and catastrophes surrounded it. Because when he wrote "my garden is a
never bothered to sink into the ground. The photo on the cover of One
Garden shows him in front of his green, murky pond. A big
piece of tape seems to hold up some vine, dead stems of which obscure his
continuum, on one side you'd find Henry, the cynical optimist, and on the other
no weeds and no storms. Plans are made, schedules followed, and order kept.
finger at you saying now is the time to do such or other. How could he? He was
bringing in his tender plants for winter, and lugging them out again in spring.
(He was never sure how someone who hated houseplants as much as he did could
end up with a living room so full of plants each winter that it was impossible
plans often fail and that the surest way to make a plant thrive was to plant it
where it didn't belong. Sometimes even his beloved irises refused to bloom. His
garden was plagued with bindweed. He didn't let it get him down.
the garden seemed the ideal place to witness the charms and vagaries of the
natural world. He was coyly gleeful about how lucky we are to toil in this
chaos: to see the early snowdrops pushing up from the snow year after year or
some flower graciously volunteering where you never would have been clever
enough to plant it; or just to watch a couple of dragonflies having sex on a
hot summer day. (He rigged up a landing strip for the dragonflies at the edge
In print and in life, Henry was as amusing as he was easily
amused. He would entertain the Post newsroom (where I worked) with his
affair with the language; his cigarette ash building up until it rolled,
unnoticed by him, down the front of his shirt. He always acted as if he were
getting away with something or sneaking around like a mischievous child where
on things. On the contrary, he could be quite cantankerous. He reproached the
early spring flowering shrub that others consider a bold sweep of color. He had
little patience for people who want their flowers to be foolproof and in
squeal." He loved his bearded irises, old roses, and peonies. He thought they
bloomed for just the right length of time, smartly disappearing before you can
tire of them. If you bemoaned that a particular rose only flowered once a year
and for such a short period, he would advise you to take a vacation from work
in order to stay at home and watch it bloom. He did.
her life, goes out into the garden, as she has done every year before, to plant
the spring bulbs she knew she would never live to see rise. I had always
thought she did this for her husband, so that flowers would come up for him
she simply loved the feel of the bulbs in her hand, the textures and colors of
their little tunics. He would know. A week before Henry died from cancer, he
directed his wife, from his bedroom window, on the planting of a new bed of
irises. On the morning of his death, he left his bed and insisted on going out
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
should never wipe up anything he accidentally spills in a lady's lap. This
suggests to me that our president IS a perfect gentleman, but should this point
of etiquette always be followed in cases of possibly impeachable
would be applicable to so few teens that the lap etiquette will remain
scene you fantasize. It would no doubt make the roller derby look demure.
contribute to various (and numerous) causes. However, I am currently limiting
my donations to a select few organizations. Despite the tax benefits that are
available from deducting such contributions, I am ambivalent about giving. The
to be put on mailing lists that are shared among other charitable groups. This
ways to contribute anonymously, but can't think of a good way. Can you?
check to the charity of your choice can go a note asking that your name not be
shared or put on a list and that any donor list show your gift as having come
from "Anonymous." You can make these requests a condition of your continued
support. If you want to remain really unknown, your bank can issue a
draft, akin to a cashier's check, or you can arrange a money order.
a sex thing. It's a "lying thing," and we need to take it seriously. A leader
has lost that. Instead, every decision out of the White House will now be
viewed by the world with a Wag the Dog cynicism. Do we really want to be
the laughingstock of the world? Let's get him out so we can maintain what
moderately festive occasion. A going away gift and cards would be presented,
people are often hustled out of the office in the dead of night, and we learn
of their departure by accident. Of course many employers have legitimate
concerns about security and trade secrets and the like. And perhaps there is a
human resources professional somewhere who says that cutting the cord quickly
the question remains: Should a group organize and bid adieu to someone who has
"downsizing" as commonplace as it is, the country would be engaged in one
you, though, to want to organize a proper farewell. If a special friend has
been found redundant, as the Brits say, by all means take that person to lunch
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
fiance and I attend different universities. He is a scholarship athlete, and
academics are not his forte. Lately, I have taken it upon myself to write a few
of his papers. Now he has come to expect it. How can I tell him that I am not
his tutor or his slave without causing a fight? I don't mind doing the work, I
your idea initially, tell the athlete something like "I have made a
great mistake." Explain that you were not thinking ahead, imagined it to be a
need to go into the national scandal of schools going academically easy on
foresees a potential fight, and then you will have to evaluate the young man's
my acquaintance recently announced that she has a "boyfriend" and wants
everyone to introduce the fellow by that title. It seems to me that when you've
Web sites, you should find a term other than boyfriend for the guy with whom
you're hooking up, hanging out, going steady, or whatever.
social occasions such as my son's upcoming bar mitzvah, I would be reluctant to
but the terms "beau," "lady friend," or "beloved" seem about right for
grandmother referring to her boyfriend is rather sweet, considering
overly stressed by finals, and the question haunts me: When will the insanity
stop? Teachers are asking more of students every year, and it's coming to the
point where the average kid has to go to college for four years just to flip
square your complaints with all the news stories about grade inflation and
possible you are not in a college suited to your needs. If it's any comfort,
sympathizes about the increasing need for degrees just to get a foot in any
government. Anything beyond that is not voluntary. A Reader's Digest
poll indicates that the most anyone (at least anyone in a family of four)
level of taxation is illegitimate because it is done without the consent of the
where noncooperation is a virtue, won't you admit that at some level of
taxation, "noncooperation" with the Internal Revenue Service would become a
some conscientious objectors believed they were acting for the good of the
country and did so at great personal risk. Perhaps tax resisters should be
viewed with the same mix of emotions that we viewed conscientious
can I get you to withdraw your blanket statement that we have a civic duty to
correspondent did not say that tax evaders must always be reported, but she
wonders why you wish the Reader's Digest respondents made up Congress.
While no one really likes forking over taxes, that money pays for a
multitude of government services and functions. Which ones should be
eliminated? (Whatever their true merits, widely unpopular items such as foreign
aid make up only a tiny percentage of the federal budget.)
of course, a complicated issue. What is proper, and what is enough? The concept
of a fiscal citizen's arrest (tattling on tax fraud) is subject to many
evasion" by the feds and is punishable by jail time. Just as those who
consult about civil disobedience as it pertains to taxes but, alas, it is
also invited to submit their own puzzles (along with a solution path).
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
coinage commensurate with the services their owners provide. They're cabbies,
half inch he shears with such aesthetic sensibility from my scalp but also a
tip. And bartenders have their own ideas about what it's worth to me to have
them put a lime sliver and a tiny straw in my martini.
you may have guessed, is: How much dough should I be shelling out? If I make
the bartender mad, the vodka tonics start tasting less like vodka and more like
also a reminder that whereas the Hands Out Brigade used to be an issue mostly
tipping taxi drivers tack on a couple of bucks, no matter what the meter. As
grease their palms once every several encounters, or else you'll go crazy and
than others. In other words, pick your spots, while at the same time
remembering that many service people rely on tips to get by.
'Ms.' ridiculous and crosses it out whenever possible, believing that single
that then you get to choose between the two forms of address.)"
What sort of ancient sexist claptrap is this? I, my mother, my grandmothers,
years just to have this dubious woman sweep our work under the rug. I do
support a woman who likes to take her husband's name and who likes hearing a
keeping the stoic, inscrutable "Ms." in front of mine.
pained by your opinion, as well as by your wish to have her sacked. As for a
however, that "insulting" and "inane" were what you meant to say. Please know
that I meant no assault on you, your mother, your grandmothers, and your
my fellow members to the wedding. What should we wear?
prank. Since no rational person would wish to have her name attached to
admitted membership in such a shameful group, however, I will answer the
question you pose in the spirit in which it is asked.
should wear whatever attire is appropriate for the time of the wedding. Whether
or not it is black tie is indicated on the invitation.
edition, in your answer to "Hope," you discuss the meaning of the relationship
between "trout in the milk" and circumstantial evidence. You explain the
relationship by saying that if you find a trout in your milk, it is evidence
that it was put there deliberately. Either I am dense and missing some
subtlety, or you don't understand the origin of the quip.
unscrupulous farmers (or merchants) back then made a practice of diluting the
milk they sold with water, thus being able to sell water at the price of milk.
"Finding a trout in the milk," thus, refers to the inference that this is good
circumstantial evidence that water was added to the milk, since the water
presumably came from a stream, not that someone deliberately put a fish in the
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
no problem of a personal nature at the moment. What I do have is a societal
irritation. Not only the young but also adults who are professional
broadcasters have taken to ending declarative sentences as though they were
questions. Have you heard this irritating "modernization"? How did experienced
relieved that you are not in distress of a personal nature and hopes it is some
comfort to you that she herself regards this way of speaking as revolting? It
his question mark until it hurt. This raising of the voice at the end of a
declarative sentence is the unfortunate result of trying to fluff up something
is sick of the subject, and to distract herself from the pharmacological drama
of good will cannot begrudge those in genuine need, but the V pill is on its
way to becoming a recreational drug, thereby creating ersatz libido, and
to know how to ask if someone is pregnant without giving offense if they're
not. A casual (married) acquaintance of mine appears to be showing but not in a
manner in which one can be certain. I suppose I could wait her out, but I want
of asking the question you have in mind. My unfortunate query elicited this
response: "I have a problem with my weight, and you have just ruined my
certain that you should ask no questions and put the gossip on hold.
having this problem in this day and age. I am in my late 20s and in a serious
relationship. We are discussing marriage, but he has one concern: his mother's,
in ancestors, social pedigree, and similarly irrelevant issues. My boyfriend is
afraid she will not welcome me with open arms out of fear her son will wind up
this kind of thinking and, as a matter of fact, has always considered the
immediate determination is whether your beau shares his mother's views. If he
is afraid of her disapproval, he will surely be substandard husband material.
If he is not wholeheartedly in your corner on this one, say adios and look for
someone who will not regard you as the little match girl.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
things rendered unto Gates. What is your opinion of the antitrust suit?
guy with wonderful qualities and think he has real possibilities for the long
haul. There is only one glitch. (Isn't there always?)
pathologically cheap when it comes to eating out. To make this less of an
issue, I have taken to cooking dinner for us at my place or drumming up
however, about his choice of restaurants leaning heavily to pizzerias and
joints specializing in burgers. What do you think of all this?
allied yourself with the kind of man who will always opt for the Road Kill
approach this. You can try to get to the bottom of his aversion to better
off if he is in all other ways wonderful. You can let him know you would love a
are not reform schools. There is an old saying, "A woman hooks up with a man
expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A man hooks up with a woman expecting
thinks, overall, that if this is the young lad's only negative, you should
learn to roll with the punches (or burgers, in your case) and hope that his
that I am moving in with my significant other, I don't know what to do with the
other and I became involved but before we were very serious. I don't want her
to find about the affair. I also don't want to get rid of the notes yet. What
thinks you are wise not to stash the mash notes in your sock drawer. Discovery
would not be healthy for your current relationship. Since you don't wish to
discard the sizzlers, you have the option of storing them in a safety deposit
housed the jewelry of a divorcing friend and was very uncomfortable.
letter from the man whose wife insisted on writing notes rather than talking,
seen by some as your good fortune. A more common question might surely be 'How
dear. While claiming to "pass up the chance," you take it. Is that
does not think the quote you mention is polite or impolite, but simply a
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
do when suspected of having been unfaithful to his wife? Is the answer to lie,
wife, and protect the reputation of the lady in question? Or is it as the Bible
and some of our laws say: Do not bear false witness?
illicit partner, she must point out that all are jeopardized by the
of the phrase "having been unfaithful" suggests the affair may be over. If this
is the case, the gentleman might take his wife for a drive and ask, "Will you
forgive me, or should I drive right to a jewelry store?"
a bad credit history, and some failed personal and professional relationships.
Recently, however, I have settled down and become decidedly less
problem is this: I am extremely bright and possess an advanced degree in
philosophy. Now I wish to go to medical school, law school, or apply for a
government job. What do I say at the interview about my previous experimental
behavior, "We are not born with maps inside us," but somehow I think an
interviewer will want a more comprehensive answer. Can you suggest a metaphor
for rationalizing my past? I need to be my own spin doctor.
come up. You might, however, have a problem with the conviction and the credit
history. I wish I could come through for you in the metaphor department, but I
am feeling metaphorically challenged today. Just try to act reformed.
and during the warmer months I have a habit of not wearing shoes. I feel more
as dirty soles), and that's why I do it. Checking on the Internet, I have found
there to be no health laws in any state that force people to wear shoes in
indecent by simply not wearing shoes? Also, why do most major fast food chains
post a sign saying, "No shirt, no shoes, no service, by order of health
department"? Do you find a person who is shoeless in public to be dressed
would substitute "unappetizing." The idea of entering a place of food service
people come in all manner of shapes and degrees of cleanliness, a decorous
person would support even a fraudulent health code advisory.
gossip now the preferred method of office communication? If so, has gossip
replaced the memo? Will my supervisor whisper my work assignments to my
the topic is of a private, personal nature? I guess my question is: How do I
distinguish "sanctioned" gossip from regular old slander?
is a false report meant to do harm and is legally actionable. "I think Sally
has replaced the memo, but it is somehow delivered faster.
your advice on the following. I received gifts from my parents (delivered by my
mom). There were three gifts in the bag but none for my wife. Friends have told
me this was a slight to my wife. My problem is what to do about the gifts. I
could return one or all of them and use the credit to buy a gift for my wife,
or I could return the gifts to my mother, explaining that I take the presents
not sure your problem is what to do about the gifts, but perhaps what to do
about your mother. Subtle she is not. The solution for you may be to do both
you take umbrage at her acting out, and I would return the gifts for credit,
of the Soviet Union and the descent into anarchy of much of the former Soviet
sturgeon fishery, the leaders of the free world have also become the primary
still observe the old rules originally imposed by the czars, faithfully honored
palate (he was profiled last week in the New York Times as the prime
a master craftsman. He claims he can taste the difference between caviar from
one sturgeon and another. One reason to give him the benefit of the doubt is
Spoonful after spoonful plays across the palate like an ocean breeze. If money
can distinguish in a sip of Burgundy the intensity of autumn sunshine that
cabinetmakers I have heard of who can diagnose the health of the tree (when it
was alive) by the feel of its grain in a length of seasoned lumber. But Rod
eat much caviar. What they didn't carelessly discard they packed in salt and
outgrew their democratic origins, local sturgeon had become scarce. Now the
side, which means it can't be sold in the United States.
to harvest sturgeon is at the appropriate moment during their seasonal journey
plants still strictly control the catch along the spawning grounds, but
their eggs are firm. It is caviar from these fish that is clumsily processed
buyers. Wary buyers, however, can spot such caviar instantly. The aroma is
likely to be fishy or stale. The eggs will seem shapeless and gummy or oily and
filmed with a whitish glaze. The flavor will be strong or dull or salty. The
eggs may be of various colors and sizes or have turned to jelly.
experts, he would be the least likely choice. When we met for lunch the other
yachtsman offered him a job selling wine in a shop he had just opened in a
been selling caviar, fish, and other seafood from the mouth of the
lottery or taken your Internet company public, you can probably afford to treat
comes from a much smaller species of sturgeon whose eggs are about a third the
chopped egg or onion or capers, and use lemon sparingly if at all. These are
relics of a time when fresh caviar of the best quality was hard to find in the
the tin. If you have some left over, it will keep in the refrigerator for a
week or so, as long as you stir it from time to time so that the surface
doesn't dry out. Caviar in tins that have never been opened can be kept for
the caviar from freezing. Home freezers, which are much colder, are not
oysters, the intensely flavored French variety that has been transplanted to
afternoon, you might remove the upper third of an eggshell, deposit the raw egg
in a small pitcher or juice glass, and scramble it under the steam nozzle of an
espresso machine. Then return the cooked egg to the lower portion of the
hand with which to repeat the process until satiated. If you accompany each egg
with a shot of triple distilled, ice cold vodka, your afternoon will soon
grateful to Art, not for the pleasure it affords the consumer, but for the
"paces around and around like a hound in search of game."
is that he could never have been anything other than what he was. But if you
The life and the work are bound together by this single
character trait: not so much the instinct to create as the compulsion to erase.
settles into a new style of painting (or a new home, or a new mistress), he is
the bad behavior of the artist as use it to explain the career: The art was
great at least in part because the artist was flawed.
is not exactly a new line of art criticism, but it's rare to find it taking
root at such altitudes. (The piece recently won a National Magazine Award.)
And, given the violently mixed reaction to the National Gallery exhibition
be remembered as a second tier Symbolist."), you can't help but wonder if
day, uncommon biographer's loyalty, too large a benefit of the doubt on the
Here the reviewer needs to drop all pretense of magisterial loft, jump down
It was only a matter of time before family values entered
art criticism. But who would have thought it would be imported by The New
attitudes are once again in vogue, this time with a new twist. The modern
moralist lacks the courage of his convictions. He is reluctant to attack the
artist's morality directly. Instead, he attacks his morality in the guise of
attacking his art. The critic is using the life as a weapon against the
character, to err on the side of the prosecution. In making the case against
coward, who sat out two world wars while his friends were suffering and dying,"
adding that "he may have been right to do this in the First War, but he did it
strikes me as a complete novelty, and it would have been a novelty to those
caused him to run off "to a nearby bar to drink my very first vodka on the
has put his academic past behind him. He is able to see the world as it is. He
is able to see that scholars have been covering up the crimes of the artist to
artist and an honorable man (instead of the inspired poetic rascal he actually
point nicely. His is exactly the approach of every celebrity journalist to his
subject. Why bother with the art on its terms when you can have it on your
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
citizen I could never have believed that I would become embroiled in the
presidential scandal. Not publicly, of course, but among my circle of
wagering sort, I foolishly made a bet with a friend before the president's
citizen, and I stand by my responsibilities and my debts. But the question is:
cheap, but if one parsed that speech, perhaps one might settle on it being
there any way at all that you can help me do the right, honorable, and
parlor, but she sympathizes with you, having had her own doubts about that
speech. Since there is disputation about what exactly got said, and your bet
devote some of the luncheon conversation to the sad and shabby affair.
master's. He is a popular trumpet player with his own band.
business. I keep my mouth shut. But when it comes to occasions such as his
that you don't care for the young man but that you wish the children were
young man with a horn is your daughter's spouse equivalent, by all means treat
difficulty meeting women. One might wonder how that's possible, given the
plethora of meeting places most big cities offer my age group, but my troubles
are twofold. First, I don't drink (don't like the taste or the
at the local dance studio is about twice mine. Churches and the like are out,
too, since my atheism probably wouldn't go over too well at such functions. Do
you have any ideas for me? Do I have to start drinking, believing, and packing
favorite: cranberry juice and soda, in a wine glass. Also hang in there with
anyway, are those whose musical taste would clash with your own.
need not find religion, or feign it, to meet women. Simply get out and about.
Try affinity groups, classes, volunteer groups of interest to you, singles'
nights at the supermarket, etc. And don't neglect to put out the word to
teetotaler and appreciator of good music sounds very desirable for a young
woman of taste. And don't dismiss the fact that the numbers are in your favor:
on wondering about the president's current situation. Why would anyone be
interested if the president had an affair? I could not care less what he does
in his personal life. I know he has plunged himself in deep waters for
they knew what they were doing, it was certainly not harassment. Please help me
of the famous. Maybe this is none of our business, but that's probably why we
situation became wildly interesting for the following reasons: She was near the
interest to the president for a relatively long time. And you are right. It
too, that one of this president's defining characteristics is his Hot Springs
gene, the one that impels him to chase skirts. A fitting coat of arms for
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
residents sans country house, spent this past weekend with friends at their
note is starting to seem like the whalebone corset, given the modern
possibilities. Because snail mail is not always reliable, many people with
social graces have substituted the fax, ensuring both timeliness and actual
means feel at ease being electronically grateful. It is, after all, the thought
test for you to figure out your comfort level about this matter is to imagine
is married to his father. I get along famously with both of them, and they get
On two occasions these were said just to me, and on one occasion they were said
in front of others. Both times I quickly changed the subject but felt as though
the need to express my intolerance of this type of behavior, but it is
imperative that it be done in the nicest way possible. How do you suggest I
approach the topic? I want to be understood perfectly but also don't want to
family. Why don't you try something like this: "I know you and (insert name)
unfriendly remarks are coming from. Perhaps I am misunderstanding you. It has
relationship was cordial. It would be a shame to change the balance and make
approach you will not be attacking her, you will be offering her a benign
directional signal, and she will get the message. If she does not take the
says he's "not ready" for marriage)? If so, it's this: Ultimatums and head
games are a terrible way to start a marriage. What you need instead is a
where each of you is going individually and what each wishes to achieve. This
kind of conversation will give you more information about your place in his
for security? Children? Or maybe you just think it's time to get married? Then
the idea, run for the hills. But if he passionately agrees, start in on forever
and shut up about a wedding. More than likely it will pop up before you know
words for our friend in romantic turmoil! It was good of you to take the time
there. It was a secret affair for three weeks until I found out. Then he said
they were "just friends." He said he could talk to her on subjects he can't
desires on a cerebral level. Was I jealous? Hell yes, and hurt!
few years ago he had an impotence problem and couldn't manage on a physical
level, so I got into cybersex. I considered it enhanced masturbation and think
I agreed to let him have his "intellectual friend." Now he wants to meet her
girlfriend is fine with me, but going out for coffee without me is a major
problem. I checked his mailbox and found he had deleted many messages to her.
He is also being secretive and in denial that this situation is unfair. My
yet. I don't have a degree, but I know it is wrong when a man goes outside his
marriage to fill a need, whether it be intellectual or sexual. I am feeling
relationship sounds like a dog's breakfast. It is full of all kinds of things
are just symptoms of a marriage that is not working. The writing is on the
understands that you guys are between a rock and a hard drive but recommends
that you sign off with as little rancor as you can manage.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
and like most Southern girls, I have looked forward to being addressed as
Smith." Since I always thought that form of address was reserved for divorced
assuming this is some misguided attempt to preserve my individuality, but if
that were my goal I would have kept my maiden name. Am I completely
misinformed? If not, how can I correct the problem?
finds the appellation "Ms." ridiculous and crosses it out whenever possible,
thing about divorce is that then you get to choose between the two forms of
problem, when a response is called for, cross out the offending form of your
name and write in what you would prefer. Some mailings, often from charities,
mailings from entities such as Publishers Clearing House that frequently send
material to dogs and toddlers, there is no recourse.
good jobs, are reasonably attractive and intelligent. Each day together (it's
is hard to foresee a future with a person whose philosophy is akin to that of a
disagreement about character evaluation is bound, in the long run, to sink your
love boat. Sex may come and sex may go, but Tom DeLay is liable to be around
letter about the bald black man being confused with another black man. He was
more than annoyed and thought it was the old "all black people look alike."
Well, I have a close friend, Pat, who is bald and wears a full beard and horn
rim glasses. He tells me he is forever being mistaken for other bald, bearded
men who wear glasses. Pat even once mistook such a man in a photograph for
and we had a very interesting conversation about this topic. He tells me that
our brains store only a few visual traits about people with whom we are
casually acquainted. Pat is "the bald, bearded, spectacle wearing guy." Sally
is "the redheaded, long nosed, thin girl," etc. My wife changed her hairstyle
from curly to straight and reported that while attending her annual
professional association convention, she was shocked at the number of people
who didn't recognize her. People who lose a lot of weight tell similar
those racial groups, so their brains will use race as the most distinctive
characteristic about that person. They know so many white people that they
will discontinue using race as an identifying visual characteristic.
good of you (and Pat) to share an enlightened explanation for a widespread
situation. It no doubt will smooth the ruffled feathers of many a person who's
but was too embarrassed to admit that I didn't get it. Exactly what is this
it is an encouragement to pay attention to circumstantial evidence. In this
case, the evidence is strong that the trout didn't get there by
Though, perhaps, a deed is unobserved, its execution can sometimes be safely
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
know anything about the Zone diet? I seem to recall there was some controversy
surrounding it, but I can't remember what. My friend is seeing a nutritionist
who has him following the basic premise of the Zone. I am curious as well as
is that they are demanding, boring, and most often do not offer lasting
results. The trick is to retrain oneself in terms of how one eats and to reach
does approve of diets, however trendy, and spas where the right foods are
chosen for you. This is just to permit shedding a few initial pounds to provide
motivation and hope, along with the feeling that one is able to achieve
knows people who swear by the Zone, and others who swear at it. The real
problem with any prescribed diet is lack of balance, and the fact that feeling
deprived leads to chocolate cake. Perhaps a reliable approach is the one the
a problem, but I thought perhaps you could offer me a palliative.
behind people telling you they are going to "the best doctor," sometimes
"the best doctor in the world," in such and such a field? I know there are many
fine physicians around, but this seems to me to be a form of bragging. How do
these people decide that their doctor is the best? These pronouncements on
subjective issues annoy me no end. I have yet to hear someone say they are
though she has made her peace with this manifestation of human nature. People
just need to feel that their care is top of the line.
the same weight as "I just had the best cheese Danish."
the writer who wondered how he should introduce his grandmother's beau. I have
found a good term for women to use: "gentleman caller." It's very handy in the
provides an opportunity to poke fun at oneself and modern dating
things move in a more serious direction, the gentleman can be upgraded to "my
the appropriate name is). This allows others to join in the fun by referring to
does away with the confusion created by the term "my friend," I think you'd
agree that one should put off using the possessive endearment until it is truly
called for, or it will come across as treacly baby talk.
heartily approves of your suggestions for the relationship upgrade
struggling with proper designation for the beloved and is grateful for the
Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League get to drop an initial from its
and mystery if it went by "M" rather than the prissy, feminine "MS."
as though you have time on your hands. You might want to consider volunteering
have expressed regret that Prudence has abandoned her advice column in favor of
her needlework. Sensitive to the continuing need for guidance among
Slate readers, however, Prudence has prevailed upon her niece and
she is known to friends) will begin to respond to some of the unanswered
experience of life in responding to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, and other subjects. Unlike her aunt, she does not do
Recently Bill Gates received a pie in the face from what I assume were
one could see in the news photos was a picture of him mopping up.
say, "This is not quite as good as my mother used to make."
your unwillingness to advise on issues of macroeconomics, but one assumes you
are aware of all this "tragedy of the commons" talk that's going around about
the Web. (It's mostly loose talk about the incentives that individuals have to
use the resources of the Web, regardless of the consequences to others in terms
of slower response now and eventually even strangulation of the Web
assume (since you don't do macro) that these prognosticators of doom are
correct, what's a body to do? If my actions won't, in the big scheme of things,
make a teeny, tiny spot of difference, and the Web as we know it is doomed
eventually whatever I do, is it moral of me to download those huge
them without even opening them just to get back the local disk space? More
importantly, is it good manners? As the teeming millions flock to the Web, is
it devil take the hindmost in the scramble for resources? Or is bandwidth abuse
a real moral question? Should we be boycotting multimedia sites that make even
my fractional T3 connection choke? We need your help and advice on this issue,
she thinks it would take an economist to do it justice. Fortunately, she has
needlework and help out her niece. Auntie Prudence offers the following
question, you obviously feel uneasy about your frivolous use of the Web. You
would feel better, and the world would be infinitesimally better, if you
restrained yourself. But in the end the solution will have to come from
technology, policy, and economics. That is, a way will be found to charge for
the use of the Web. Someone will have a great incentive to sell speedy access,
as free access becomes slower, and find a way to do it.
developed an Internet monitoring program that tracks a user's actions on the
Net. The program is called Scout. Surely there will be others. If the private
sector does not devise ways to sell, and so limit, use of the Net, the
single wise guy or wise doll in business or the media fails to note that he,
she, or the subject under discussion is part of a "process."
"system." Don't give us the guff that everyone is part of the food chain,
only things "processed" were cheese and applications for licenses and
passports. The only thing you can do to counteract this unwelcome addition to
girlfriend and I recently returned from a holiday. I left the vacation photos
on my desk, and when I was gone, she went through them and removed the ones she
blushes to say it, but she would do the same. It may be a girl thing. Some of
us are not always photogenic, and who needs to have rotten pictures recorded
clinical depression. Three years later my dad and I were really close, and my
life was getting back on track. He then found another woman and asked my
permission to marry her. Not knowing what I was getting into, I had no reason
to say no. Since then we've moved to another house, and my dad and I have grown
apart. I miss my old house so much that I dream about it. I just feel so alone,
father. You might try to discuss your loneliness with your dad, for he may be
unaware of what is transpiring. You might also ask to see a counselor. Your age
"Plot Holes" is an occasional series assessing the narrative logic of
Logic Squad. The assaults on plausibility began in the first frames of Con
broke out in a crosshatched design that made him look like a slab of grilled
this should be surprising. Summer is the season of action movies, and in
most damning things that can be said about a script is that it is "episodic,"
meaning that it dawdles when it should accelerate, that the writer is less
interested in the ruthless propulsion of the story than in leisurely details of
tone and character. As long as a movie is kept at a high enough idle, the
thinking goes, the viewer won't mind an engine knock or two when it comes to
Though the movie asked us to believe that the president of the United States
was a superhuman jungle warrior of unyielding principle, it didn't
significantly insult our intelligence further. And it's probably unsporting to
Woo, its director, has long demonstrated a rousing indifference to mere
with his ability to hang from firetruck ladders or leap from speeding boats.
historians may one day deem the improbability trilogy of all time. Though there
is not enough room in cyberspace to catalog all the ways in which these films
befuddlement. When he steps onto a cruise ship carrying a set of explosive golf
clubs and a jar of leeches, when he murmurs to the leeches in the bathtub as he
ship"), we know we have entered a world that the light of reason will never
summer nonsense, a passionate think piece about the possibility of alien life
and the existence of God. It is to be applauded for trying to make us think
instead of just react, but sometimes too many brain waves are just as bad as
too few. I first suspected that Contact 's logic circuits might be fried
box of Cracker Jack. While it is certainly possible that a box of Cracker Jack
Contact 's central premise is intriguing: A radio astronomer, played by
civilization in distant space. The task of decrypting these data stymies the
most brilliant minds on earth, but when the puzzle is finally solved the
scientists behold a set of blueprints for building a highly unconventional
space transport. For all its earnest credibility about radio astronomy,
Contact is breezy in the extreme when it comes to almost everything
the filmmakers into a notorious cameo) could inspire the nation to spend
put the finishing touches on it; and that after he sabotages the whole project
Even more troubling are the cryptic motives of the aliens.
thoughtfully provided by the aliens to cushion her culture shock. The aliens
themselves take the form of her beloved dead father, who holds the weeping
earthling in his arms and tells her she'll never walk alone. Incredibly, the
aliens don't have much more to say than that, and she can't seem to think of
much more to ask. She's traveled halfway across the universe to be patted on
the head and told to run on home. And another thing: If these aliens are so
adept at replicating the many moods of our planet, if they can speak
through a byzantine binary code? That's like God deciding to communicate to us
Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will answer questions
submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions should be sent to
letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
there a cure for unrequited love? Also, could you fully explain the law of
diminishing returns? And, while you're at it, please share your opinion of the
is requited love. There are other cures also, such as devotion to the study of
unrequited love is not fatal. As someone said, "Men have died from time to
time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." This applies to women
returns says that if the amount of one input applied to a production process is
increased, the yield will not increase proportionately. For example, if your
boyfriend sends you a 2-pound box of candy, he will get more return than if he
sent you a 1-pound box, but not twice as much return.
was young I felt it necessary to pretend that I understood and liked the plays
have wisdom. Please tell me: Do you see an end to human suffering? If not, why?
kind of wisdom, I don't claim to have. My judgment, for which I make no serious
claims, is that there will not be an end to human suffering. You can look at it
in an evolutionist kind of way and say that suffering is the stimulus to
adaptation and there is no reason to foresee an end to adaptation, or if the
adaptation of humans is complete, they will have ceased to be humans. You can
look at it in a religious way and say that humans were destined to suffer for
prospect of an end to suffering, either for individuals or for the species,
suffering is a definition of "human." But adaptation and hope are also
definitions of human. Suffering need not overwhelm. To go to the mundane, I
are so opposed to poverty programs in this country so in favor of bailouts for
crippled economies all over the globe? Especially at a time when welfare
recipients are being forced off the rolls and told that the government will no
longer subsidize those who refuse to help themselves. And at a time when
their elected officials are accused of being poor public servants and bad
financial management, and people living above their means on borrowed dollars.
Am I missing something here? If not, why are all these politicians and
financial types, who've turned a cold shoulder to our own poor and the District
their loans? After all, the "lazy," "poor," and "inept" District officials are
guys who built those glorious houses of cards, and the bankers whose reckless
Prudence is not sure that even she can answer them to your satisfaction.
in the welfare system, federal, state, and local governments will still be
but also through Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, and the
Earned Income Tax Credit. The reason given for the recent changes in the
welfare program for families was that the program as it was, promoted
force, and having children with no father present. New conditions were imposed
on the receipt of welfare in the belief that these conditions would lead to
behavior that was better for many of the people who would have received
that belief is, but there is sufficient evidence to support the view that it is
valid for some people. Probably the best guess is that under the new system
some people will be better off and some worse off, and no one knows the
relative numbers. We shall see. Prudence hopes and believes that if the number
of people significantly worse off turns out to be large, adjustments will be
foreign governments: You should recognize that despite all the attention
"foreign aid" receives, expenditures for it in the whole postwar period have
been tiny relative to the size of the federal budget. Only a small part of the
is being provided in the form of a loan and in the expectation that it will be
provided on the basis of certain beliefs that may or may not turn out to be
down to a level far below its true potential. The thought is that if the panic
international investors who lent money there were forced to make their own
adjustment. Prudence doesn't know which of these views is correct, but she
understands the thinking of those who conclude that the risks of not giving
invested there will share in those losses. But the hope is that the aid will
avoid losses that are caused only by irrational panic.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
Whenever I attend a quarterly sales meeting, there are inevitably several
love Mad magazine's "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," I can never
bring myself to snap at these retards. In the end, the frustration is mine,
when it's they who should be apologizing. Can you offer me some wit to help
come from unfamiliarity, perhaps thoughtlessness, but not bigotry.
suggests is, granted, an old standby, but it defuses the situation and
everybody gets the message. It is what a prominent black academic said when
never again be careless in her address, which is, after all, what you're
girl, and both of us share a similar interest, namely politics. However, we are
on completely opposite ends of the political spectrum: She's a liberal Democrat
into a fiery political debate. We disagree on every issue from gun control to
we would fare as a couple, considering the area of political tension. Is it
doesn't see how you can turn a switch and change your views. Your voter
relationship with someone with wildly divergent politics, it is like walking
with oatmeal in your shoe: It's not easy, but it's possible. The deciding
factor is how the rest of the relationship functions. You might simply agree to
some couples thrive on volatility and friction. Now you must figure out if you
my pet peeves when dining with family or friends is the constant thanking that
goes on. When the waiter brings cocktails for a table of eight there is a
ridiculous rhapsody of "thank you" and "you're welcome." Then there are
appetizers, salads, main courses, beverage refills, desserts, and coffee. A
thousand thanks for doing one's job? I choose to thank once at the end of the
meal and to provide a generous tip. I have been a waiter and preferred the
artistry of being both attentive and discreet. The trick is to clear the salad
plate and place the dinner plate without being noticed.
had no idea about the depth of feeling on the subject of when and how much
thanking of waitpersons is appropriate. Your letter is just one example. The
fact that you yourself have experienced both positions relative to the dining
tables, concurs that an appreciative gratuity is, indeed, preferable to
repeated thank yous and now considers the problem solved.
racy minx business, don't you hope it will never end?
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
college, just dumped me. I know I am the laughingstock of the whole campus and
considering changing schools and telling new friends that my boyfriend was
killed in a car wreck. That way they won't feel sorry for me. Can you think of
being cut loose from a relationship. It happens all the time.
strongly recommends that you not bop out of your college or change your
friends. Your romance, after all, was not as important to your colleagues as it
was to you. If you feel you must say something, state that you mutually decided
to explore a wider world. And a small PS: Some people choose to be
August. I have a friend I used to work with, and we still keep in touch. He
invited me to his wedding, though I was unable to attend.
invite him to mine. I think he perceives our friendship as being stronger than
it is. Normally, I simply wouldn't invite him and would explain that it was a
obligated to invite him? If I don't, how should I handle it, given that we'll
you're in a bind: your wishes vs. his feelings. If yours were to have been a
one's wedding. Meaningful occasions are not meant to be tit for tat. That way,
views on needle exchanges: It's fine if the government wants to give out
clean needles to intravenous drug users to reduce the spread of AIDS, but I
would then expect a full refund on my tax return for my share of the cost,
because that's not why I pay taxes. It's bad enough that I have to pay more in
whose need for attention drove him to illicit drug use. Until then, how dare
that the cost of needle exchange is hugely less than the care of AIDS
pay taxes for any one reason, nor do we have veto power over particular
expenditures. It would, of course, be an impossibility to get the citizenry to
agree on expenditures. Pacifists would object to defense budgets, childless
elected representatives come in, and over them we do have veto
Prudence, drawing on her rich experience of life, will answer questions
submitted by readers. She will respond to questions about manners, personal
relations, politics, economics, and other subjects. Questions should be sent to
letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
in a crash, it would make the list of tragedies longer. Is this an example of
that the word "tragedy" is used without discrimination in reference to the
the subsequent "problems" were the result of their own recklessness or worse.
Since they are so prominent and have been blessed with so much wealth and
public adulation, they have a responsibility to be role models of sensible
behavior. It is unfortunate that they do not see it that way.
met a woman whom I am attracted to. She is attracted to me and we would like to
see more of each other. The problem is we are both married. The attraction is
more than plutonic, it is also physical. What would you recommend?
ambiguous. You say that the attraction between this woman and you is "more than
plutonic, it is also physical." In my old dictionary, "plutonic" means "of
whether you mean that the attraction is physical or that the consummated
like to have sexual relations but have not done so. My advice is not to do it
is that your wife will probably learn of it, and when she does there will be
the devil to pay. A second reason is that even if she doesn't find out, you
will know, and you will probably go around with a burden of guilt that will
sour your life and your relations with both women. But there is a third, most
important, reason. The relationship you are longing for is wrong. The one of
the Ten Commandments that everyone knows is "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
It may be often violated, but hardly anyone in our culture denies that it is a
calculations, and not by moral standards, we are in pretty bad shape.
you should leave your present wife I cannot tell without knowing much more than
you have revealed. I urge you to be very cautious about it. It is easy to be
attracted to a new woman, whose faults you do not know, who does not know your
faults, and who has never asked you to take out the garbage or mow the lawn.
But you have to think of what the new woman will be like after she has become
the old woman. Also, you haven't said whether you and your wife have any
must be something more here than meets the eye. On the facts presented, you
have no problem. Don't send him a gift. Send his gift back.
that the verbal thank you satisfies my obligation. What do you think?
an "oral" expression of gratitude, which was, of course, also "verbal." That is
read a few of your comments, and you do indeed sound like a thoroughly
courteous and sensible person. I just have an idea I should like to broadcast
kind and gentle way of referring to people in the teen years? I thought it
would gently help those young people to begin to accept the idea that they are
hate the idea that the word "adult" so often refers to pornographic things.
There goes another perfectly good word, unless we can recapture it with
becoming adults, and that they are not in some playground where they have full
impress that upon them. The signs you observe in the library are a small step
of the word "adult" to rate some movies and, I suppose, other forms of
entertainment, is, I agree, often inappropriate. I think we should have two
world's cultures. He was a record producer, an adept of black magic, and an
collecting 78-rpm recordings in the early 1940s, acquiring thousands of "race"
and "hillbilly" works from the junk shops of the Pacific Northwest before they
could be melted down, their shellac recuperated for the war effort.
these songs in an anthology that was at once systematic and intuitive. In three
Depression halted folk music sales"; otherwise, he was guided only by
serendipity and his own ears. Yet he succeeded in making a collection that was
definitive in its selections and mysteriously cohesive, the diverse offerings
falling together like strands of a single design. You have to remember that, at
the time, no one had an overview on this stuff. Few people knew any of it,
and invisibly, the Anthology captivated and influenced a generation. It
the spirit of the original works, among which lines and verses migrate freely,
that he forcefully inserted himself into the tradition. After that, though, the
it, despite its remaining in print until Folkways Records dissolved when its
It has finally been reissued, in a lavish package (full
disclosure: I contributed a small reminiscence of Smith to the liner notes).
original recordings had been imperfectly documented if at all, the artists were
paid small flat fees and sent in most cases back to obscurity, but the
splendid (and including helpful and sometimes inspiring essays, complete
documentation, and an enhanced CD containing films and recordings of and by
Smith), is maybe too lavish by half, since its price tag will put it far beyond
the means of young people. It is to be hoped that its volumes will be issued
Nevertheless, it is available again, and its importance cannot be overstated.
might make you suspicious, but they are not hyperbole. Consider that Smith, who
said he searched for records that sounded "odd" or "exotic," managed to include
an array of composers and performers who, rather than being typical or
artists. Some were truly weird, others major innovators whose stature would
Consider also that Smith deliberately avoided identifying the performers by
wasn't a hillbilly," he said, and it is just as surprising to find out that
songs and ideas could only be transmitted by live performance and by rumor and
yet circulated far and fast, among musicians isolated by race or poverty or
and whole verses traveled from this song to that one, from blues to mountain
native Surrealism, a collage by accretion. It also shows how profoundly linked
through each other like closely planted trees. Tradition, for that matter,
coexisted with experimentation, so that it is not always immediately obvious
was an innovator who transformed the blues and influenced every subsequent
represents a late vestige of a style that may have reached its acme of
sings, "Sometimes I think that you're too sweet to die, but other times I think
dog on a silver chain as with every link he calls his name. Murder, deception,
native culture as you'll find anywhere, is no museum piece; as well as being
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
five words men fear most are: "Honey, we need to talk." Well, my wife is the
one who refuses to talk. Instead of leaving normal notes, such as "Please take
out the garbage" or "Don't forget to pick up milk on the way home," she leaves
feelings, sharing chores, etc. When I ask her if it wouldn't be easier to sit
chance to point out what would be seen by some as your good fortune. A more
common question might surely be "How can I get her to stop talking?"
address the problem at hand: Your wife, for whatever reason, is committed to an
epistolary marriage. Perhaps she's a frustrated writer, unable to get
published? Perhaps she feels you tune her out? If you've really made an effort
appropriate color, considering the occasion. Fashion, however, has made black
dresses for bridesmaids all the vogue. It could be that people just got sick of
also slenderizing, so perhaps the heavier bridesmaids lobby made itself
requests, my neighbors' friends continually pull up in front of my house at all
hours and blast their car horns rather than park, get out, and ring the bell of
the person they've come to pick up. This happens as late as midnight.
drivers to stop this, they use profanity, ignore me, or threaten violence. My
neighbors say they'll speak to their friends about this behavior, but if they
have done so it hasn't worked. Getting the police to respond has been useless
times these horns have awakened me from sleep. I have used up my patience. What
knows the men in blue are not going to come for people blowing horns, since
they ignored her calls regarding people blowing leaves.
you are getting nowhere with the drivers or the neighbors, mental health
would seem to dictate that you handle the situation with the best
cannot change and have the wisdom to know what those things are. Or think like
a Zen master: There is no solution. Seek it lovingly.
carrying the child of the man she has been with for about a year. They don't
live together, they rarely go out on dates, and when they see each other it
when they don't hear from each other for several days. There is nothing here
that resembles commitment. The father still has not decided what his role is
short, he's being a real jerk and it makes me damned angry to see my friend
suffering and stressing out because of this caveman, given her delicate
describe are like, well, third wheels. If it will calm you any, it sounds as if
thinks there's a slim chance that you are your own friend, if you get my drift.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
lecture and give me an unbiased opinion and your best advice. For the past
three years I have been the girlfriend of a married man. We work together. His
wife really does not understand him, and he swears that if it weren't for his
young children he would bail out in a heartbeat. Without actually promising,
he's made me feel that, in time, we will formally and legally be
Strangely enough, his marital status is not my problem. What is disturbing
computer systems have infinite possibilities if you know what you're doing.)
Sooner or later I have to deal with this new wrinkle.
not so new. There is, in fact, a wonderful country and western song about this:
to the chase. A man for whom a wife and a girlfriend are insufficient is
a louse and a tomcat. This romance will ultimately bring grief, because you
will come to feel jealous and betrayed. So why don't you pole vault out of the
relationship sooner rather than later, and save yourself some time?
braces for years and just got them off. She was unable to chew gum while the
braces were on, so now she is going "cow wild," so to speak. I find the gum
habit objectionable. Could you please speak to this issue, with regard to the
something tacky about being seen chewing gum. Your use of the term "cow wild,"
there with green spiked hair and nose rings, so at least you have one blessing
mention of the words "in public" suggests a compromise that will keep you from
seeming like a completely snobbish ogre. Hand down the edict that the newly
communicate that the jaw's constant movement up and down is not attractive and
sends the wrong message. If she feels in need of something to occupy her mouth,
suggest breath mints. Sugarless, of course, since you do not need more expenses
around advertising this to everyone I meet. I prefer to lay back a bit,
been stabilized and feel as though you are living a new life.
report, you do not owe this information to casual acquaintances. It would, in
relationship feels as though it is deepening. Do know, however, that your
recently inquired about proper footwear in public. You observed, "The idea
of entering a place of food service without shoes (or a shirt) seems vaguely
substituting a different ethnic group in her admonition), would you please
contrite and apologizes profusely for the slur. As penance, she promises to
retire the hillbilly stereotype from this day forward.
about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
version of the bridal registry. They offered to fax me information. I told them
digerati and have the expectation of electronic invitations with embedded links
impolite, but I do want them to understand the lucrativeness of this burgeoning
an expensive lamp as a wedding gift, and the embarrassed groom inquired why she
had sent an embroidered footstool bearing the wrong initials.
Net effort because the results were next to nil. This, the store believed, was
due to the fact that catalogs show the merchandise more clearly and that
selecting "things" is a touching and feeling exercise.
Web links to stores. This makes the invitation seem a little more like an
and have been on my own for five years. My situation is something of a good
woman. The problem, though, is that not one of them has ever fixed me up with a
in this context because to them I was the other half of a couple with "Rob,"
and it would somehow be disloyal on their part to introduce me to other
not wish to seem aggressive, but my friends are well connected, and I don't
know how to tell them that I am ready for introductions. Any ideas?
as if your friends are keeping you in widow's weeds longer than is necessary.
Ideally, you would be able to include a gentleman you've met independently in a
function involving all the old friends, thereby making a statement. If no one
someone. In other words, spread the word. And the reason to tell the women, not
the men, is that it's been observed that women cannot accept the idea of any
man being on his own. So once you've "deputized" the women in your group,
paid at least twice what I am (and is well aware of that fact) and dips into
his salary only when he runs short of trust fund money. He's obviously made a
killing in the latest stock market boom. Yet when we go out we split
this man and I first started seeing one another I would offer to split the
check, not being of the persuasion that the man should automatically pay. But
it's been almost a year now, and we've grown close, if you get my drift. What's
politically correct in the beginning, you suggested going Dutch. Now that you
have become "close" (drift received), and your significant other is way better
might be "I can no longer afford our romance." Explain that when you started
dating you didn't know it would lead to something serious and wished to be
correct. Now, however, you think it would be appropriate for him to assume the
moral for the government to refuse to provide sterile needles to groups of
intravenous drug users in order to prevent the spread of AIDS? Does the excuse
that needle exchange encourages and condones drug use seem reasonable?
exchange programs, among other benefits, are a way of getting people into
rehab. The government is being both foolish and cowardly, afraid of being
attacked by conservatives for doing anything that might be labeled "immoral."
The real immorality, of course, is failing to do whatever is possible to lessen
illness and disease. To imagine that withholding clean needles from addicts
will keep them away from drugs is like telling the tides to stay still.
her charitable works. But this was refuted by today's coverage, in which Di
The papers generally agree on what was most noteworthy about the day's
matched since the end of World War II, that, with its engaged participation in
the ceremonies, the royal family seemed to bounce back into public favor, and
Some of the reporting on the service is quite a nice throwback to the days
when people everywhere depended on newspapers to know what such events were
like. However, this one was seen by perhaps half the people on the planet, so
it's hard to justify the lengthy descriptive articles that are so prominent
And it's definitely hard for a paper to justify two of these
people who were watching the service on giant television screens." Apple:
death, relayed by loudspeaker to those outside the Abbey, brought applause."
'Mummy' written on it." Apple: "People threw blossoms at the princess' casket
as it rolled by on a gun carriage, draped in a royal standard with sprays of
But the Post doesn't bother to explain whether these glitterati were
she died a horrible death, and one that seemed portentously linked to her
On a typical news day, the felony conviction of a sitting governor is news
leader stuff, as is the Department of Justice's decision to look into the Vice
day, and under the pall of the sudden death of a princess who was probably one
of the most famous people on the planet, everything changes.
a real estate developer. The paper explains that the verdict means that
eleven governors have been indicted while in office and six have been convicted
in the 1990s to be forced from office because of a conviction.
raised in those phone calls from his White House office ended up in an account
for "hard money" subject to federal election laws, and today's Post
special prosecutor being named in the matter. The Gore phone call controversy
(which placed it prominently: front page, column six, above the fold) could
bring themselves to acknowledge this. The former states that the cause of
affection for Di and the papers worry that, as a result, the royals may never
The LAT reports that a growing number of members of Congress are
big and too complicated to be enacted by Congress this year. Nobody's saying so
yet, but there are four little words that should come to mind with this news:
followed by earnest pronouncements that more time was needed, followed by a
slow legislative death. The only difference would be that this time, it's the
forces of reform that might well harness the traditional mechanisms for gumming
almost the entire right side of its front page to it. And the top of the
Stocks Surge." As of press time, it remains unclear exactly what the balance of
power in the legislative branch or in the various states will be between the
three major political parties, but the news is that for the first time in the
one political scientist as saying, "This was a revolution, the beginning of a
new country." The Times has another saying, "If votes begin to count in
position: "I think the origin of the fighting is sufficiently murky so that we
don't want to shoot arrows at one side or another today." If nothing else, the
episode allows the Post to trot out this foreign correspondent's staple
phrase (found, I believe, on key F7): "the capital appeared calm but tense
tonight." By the way, what does that actually mean?
The Journal 's front page "Work Week" column has two rather
ruled that a woman demoted while on maternity leave wasn't a victim of
discrimination based on "pregnancy, giving birth or a related medical
condition," but that the court ruled that it didn't apply to her case because
numerologist and astrologer, and a dozen of his colleagues, have asked the
network where they dispensed visions of the future to callers had stopped
paying their salaries. The county is investigating. But the Journal
wonders why the employees didn't see trouble coming.
Times --the conflict between, on the one hand, the Senate fundraising
across the political spectrum that have been subpoenaed by that panel. The
"problems on Earth. It's connected with the economy, with our affairs in
general. Even the equipment needed to live aboard the station and that we
miss an important point: namely, that this latest development shows that their
to say such things! You'll have to, because it's never happened, even when
things went as awry as they did with the Challenger.
million a year, three times the costs of just a few years ago.
pronounced the deal 'fabulous.'" And, the paper says, for House Budget
Presumably, he was even more thrilled, since this deal will save him
abandoned proposals to charge wealthier senior citizens higher Medicare
videotape was made available to the media). The LAT headline states that
Pot was "Near Tears." Pot received a sentence of life imprisonment. The
discussion we want to have with Hun Sen is to say he can work his way back into
Deep inside the Post there's word that despite earlier denials,
shredder room by a night watchman who then disseminated them may in fact have
been related to dormant accounts of Holocaust victims. The bank's initial
to reveal a disgraceful truth fancy people with day jobs knew all about.
leads with the resumption of talks in the UPS strike.
The Times and the Post stories report that in the wake of last
recent months on Middle East matters and is ready to revive an upgraded pace of
president's news conference yesterday about things fiscal. The LAT and
presidential first) on the budget and tax bills he just signed.
bolster its position in Internet products (the LAT and Wall Street Journal observe.) All the majors report that
intriguing singularity that otherwise went unnoticed: that as part of the deal,
made this choice, do you think they were at all aware how much this looks like
missing is the babe running up the aisle flinging a hammer at the screen.
provide a little more in the way of explanation? Sure. Will he? Chatterbox
seriously doubts it. Given this harsh reality, how about a little textual
hidden meaning, Chatterbox fed the phrase "absolutely false" to his new
favorite Web site, Anagram Genius. Here are some of the more suggestive anagrams it
Possible meaning: "The president is too narcissistic to remember what
on some provisions of the budget and tax legislation just enacted, but by
today's accounts, several days of scrutiny revealed that this was easier said
because they had been agreed to during the budget negotiations with Congress.
which provisions will get the knife, but they agree that the choices will be
Perhaps the most worrying detail of the attempt to get negotiations between
to avoid going into a hot conflict, and right now I fear it's headed in that
safety. The story notes that some types of accidents that used to plague
airlines just ten years ago, such as wind shear and midair collisions, have
become much less common, but accident rates for approach and landing remain
twice the previous year's pace. "The most noteworthy aspect of welfare reform
so far is," the piece explains, "what hasn't happened. Poor people threatened
by the new law, the most sweeping changes since federal welfare was created in
the soaring economy and no one knows what will happen when it falters.
fundraising scandals has been a boon to lawyers. (The only lawyers who haven't
work on the Senate or White House staffs. They've taken pay cuts.) For
instance, the bills from the Democratic National Committee's outside law firm
contributions the party has returned to donors." The Democrats' legal costs
investigating committee, he was accompanied by seven attorneys billing at an
lead is a fairly mundane account of how the various spending bills are faring
in Congress, which does however contain the news that in contrast to the
dilatory rancor of the past few years, the House has already approved eight of
the thirteen necessary authorizing bills, and the Senate, ten.
one white, who are at the center of the reverse discrimination in hiring case
chose to retain the black because she was the only black faculty member in her
department. Since then, the Times reports, due to a staff retirement,
the fired teacher is back at the school, so that now the two women teach in
adjoining classrooms and share an office and a telephone. They do not, however,
administration has made one very direct commitment to moving people from
welfare to work: It seems that last May, the White House mail room hired a
column in which on libertarian grounds, he defends the right of
federal officials said they have yet to find any link between Middle East
policy nuances tend to get lost amidst all the funerals and severed limbs, the
about something else. It turns out the spooks knew that a lot of those
Congress were crucial lobbyists on the budget bills. Including, it seems,
The UPS strike settlement is everybody's lead. The coverage generally has
two components: describing the deal and then saying who won. The press
was crushed in 1981--gone to the mat for its membership and gotten up a clear
winner. Showing a bias towards politics and power figures, the New York Times
has probably deflected membership dissent and has become emboldened to
immediately set his sights on unionizing Federal Express.
A big difference between the newspapers of today and those of a generation
ago is a concerted effort now to explain events. Accordingly, the papers
says the result is widely viewed as a "psychological victory for the labor
with the latter saying that virtually every labor leader in the country hailed
unabated. The Wall Street Journal is a more firm dissenter. It's
penetrating the service sector, where jobs are transient and workers scared.
And those who aren't scared because their special skills put them at the top of
the labor market already have too much bargaining power to need a union.
Two other observations about the significance of the strike bear repeating.
LAT makes the point that the strike demonstrated just how dependent
properly emphasizes that the sort of illegal shipments that caused the crash
After "The Nation's Newspaper" runs a piece like this, do you think those stats
make a dent in the budget deficit, there was much internal administration
debate about whether to use the veto, and its use yesterday is almost sure to
new veto powers simply means the old game will now require a bit more skill."
individuals, and the paper notes, it shouldn't be hard to make sure special
contested provision together with one the president favors within a single line
exorbitant surcharges to rent cars for business travel, or take the bus even.
The solution: their companies set up corporate rental car accounts for
Organization has settled for an undisclosed sum a lawsuit brought by the
the Times says is "strange." What is just as strange is that the
guys with the burnooses and bazookas have watched car and drug manufacturers in
spousal abuse past that has been effectively covered up." Drudge retracted the
forced her to have sex with him in the early '50s. According to the book,
it was the battle of the couch. I was fighting him. I didn't want him to make
love to me. He's a very big man, and he just had his way. Date rape? No, God,
as he entered church. "I don't think a church would be the proper place to use
the word I would have to use in discussing that," he said. Not exactly a
partisan bias for refusing to confront the accused? Not exactly. A quick shake
up everything that's unfavorable, use all of it, whether it's rumor, fact,
innuendo, hearsay, use all it, and don't let a kind word get in the whole
reveals that "the government overpaid hospitals, doctors and other health care
billion dollar state tax cut. The LAT says the benefits would extend up
But there's a lot of agreement about what belongs on the front page. Dow
that serial killers are hard to catch, mainly because they traipse through a
lot of jurisdictions that can't or don't communicate with each other, and
because they're smart. Their downfall is often, says the piece, that they like
The majors putting yesterday's session at the fundraising hearings on the
closer look at the investment advisors who have spent most of the nineties
Theorist" newsletter, who has been claiming for some time that the Dow is
called someone he knew for help getting a passport. That person did not notify
the authorities at the time, but did offer the information sometime later when
time of the suicide, the trail was turning cold, and case investigators had
never even considered suicide as a possibility. The LAT runs its
"Found Dead" running across the suspected murderer's face.
of rulings that expanded rights of racial minorities and women; led to
reapportionment of voting districts guaranteeing the ideal of "one person, one
vote;" and enhanced First Amendment freedom for newspapers and other media."
claimed that the transaction was completely legal and just like those made by
The Democrats suggest it was a scheme for channeling foreign money into
'burping, spitting, hookers in hotel, chopsticks, gifts, etc.'"
recovery from his knee injury "was the result of his using a new hot tub on the
West Lawn out by the swimming pool." The device was donated to the White House
make you so mellow that it's advisable not to enter budget talks for at least
two hours afterward, lest you agree to scrap capital gains taxes
employees who are discriminated against on the basis of age have the same legal
rights as victims of race and gender bias. (Given the nation's rising median
The 39-count indictment handed down against Espy charged that the former
gifts, trips, game tickets and other gratuities from seven companies doing
outcome, this is political death for a man once thought to be destined to be
as the others, but breaks out with its observation that the indictments mean
charged with a crime." Also, Espy can't have enjoyed reading in the
The LAT reports on its front page that federal authorities in New
York have charged three people and the news bulletin service they work for, an
outfit called Breaking News Network, with mail fraud, conspiracy and electronic
privacy violations in connection with the interception of pagers' display
messages. Included among the victims of the news gatherers were police who, in
recent years have taken to using the pagers to protect some of their more
argues that the solution to last week's huge tainted meat scare and other
similar problems with the food supply has been sitting on the shelf ready to go
eschew the technique's use because it involves radioactivity is the sort of
fanatic thinking that plagued the introduction of vaccination, water
That's true. But readers will be forgiven for wondering whether the firing has
The Times story's impact was mentioned in yesterday's accounts of Lee's
Newspapers hate to credit other newspapers. They will do it when they have
Times piece was surely a precipitating event, perhaps the
precipitating event, in the firing of Wen Ho Lee. It had a big impact. It was
Whether the disproportionate attention given to the front page of the New
York Times ought to be a major factor in government decisions is, of
course, another question. One can argue, as the Post has more or less
On a less lofty plane, it does seem a bit unfair that the Times gets
to cover itself with glory over exposing Wen Ho Lee when the Wall Street
This fact seems to have eluded the media, as do many facts that appear in the
basic details: the top four cigarette manufacturers and the largest seller of
aimed at children. The companies will also cease most outdoor advertising. And
national tobacco settlement, although none of the papers gives the most obvious
Everybody also notes that if approved, the national settlement would
aspects of the state agreement would still remain in force. And it's the
a purely financial settlement with the major tobacco companies, but also
secured the benefit of any additional public health concessions made in other
deals with other states. And it's the Times that reveals that, according
to the deal, the tobacco firms will be paying the plaintiffs' legal fees.
the Times emphasized the elaborate support system the state has erected,
tendency to cut people off who've demonstrated the most minimal ability to hold
a job, regardless of whether they currently have one.
The Wall Street Journal 's "Work Week" column reveals a new and
that the need of business to change mainframe computers so that they don't
completing a six week training course, with others in the field making twice
space. If you've been up nights worrying about the disenfranchisement of
thinking that the current economic boom is nearly over. While playing on a
after a round. When you see excess like that, writes Glassman, a downturn isn't
thought the same thing when they heard that their swanky verdant club was
What's news today? Depends on which of the majors you pick up. They each
have a different top story and they each ignore or bury inside what their
Department of Justice has granted immunity from prosecution to a top research
especially high level of nicotine. The move means that despite the proposed
criminal probe into the tobacco industry. The paper reports that grand juries
wrongdoing by cigarette companies and their trade associations, and that the
know some of those agents are taking breaks from sifting through company
leads with the news that eight months after vowing to overhaul its citizenship
program, the INS is "still struggling to put new procedures in place to prevent
immigrants with criminal records from becoming citizens." Meanwhile,
applications for citizenship are on the rise, so the waiting time for
immigrants to hear back has doubled to more than a year. It doesn't help that
over a third of the agency's field offices are not linked to its computer
to avoid dwelling on the tragedy via such measures as removing from circulation
any textbooks with their signatures in them. But school authorities eventually
accommodated the desires of surviving students to be protected less and used a
Yesterday's decision by Republican budget negotiators to give up on
this doesn't even make the front page. The lead there is the report being
released today by the State Department which sharply criticizes China for its
Yesterday's Medicare move shows that premiums are still a political third
premiums, they would rekindle Democratic charges that they were 'cutting
In a "Style" section piece about how conservatives have taken to turning on
sent every member of the editorial board a letter saying he was disappointed in
lot of the Republicans have grown up with this liberal media culture and are
suspicious of journalists, so they have an exaggerated expectation of the few
allies they have. They don't understand the distinctions. They don't get it."
How are hospitals handling the problem of delivering health care to a
population that increasingly has difficulty paying for it or getting insurance
one thing they're doing is delivering it to more foreigners. "More precisely,
aggressive marketing and service moves in this direction. For instance,
invoked the spousal privilege, which protects her from being questioned about
death. And the Dept. of Agriculture doesn't have the legal power to close a
suspect food plant or unilaterally recall its product, but gets its way on
these matters by threatening to pull out its inspectors. It is widely reported
that because of this episode, the Secretary of Agriculture now intends to ask
regulatory system, pointing out that, concerned by problems of contamination,
Agriculture officials have recently approved a new more stringent system of
controls, but adding that the new system is not scheduled to be in place
survived. On the other hand, the Times puts the relevant consumer
experience, most readers will never see it. The Post mentions the
including the Pentagon food system, but is mum on whether any got near the
burger lover in the White House. (But don't bet against an eventual
a political payoff or Rose Law Firm connection be far behind?)
Today's papers provide vivid examples of how much headlines and placement
can vary, leading to widely different impressions about what's important. Why
impact story in a generation, the upholding by a federal court of the
proposition that overturns virtually all of the state's affirmative action
programs, in a tiny box nearly at the bottom of the front page? (Especially
decisions concerning this proposition huge splashes.) And why is it that no one
And why does the Post headline its inside story about what he said,
though the Ruby Ridge development involves the highly unusual event of homicide
all unnecessarily off, kind of like running "Man Bites Something" without
the headline, and so should the fact that a second man, a survivalist, was also
insurance companies from discriminating against people because of their genes.
Away from the lead story positions (top right, that is) there is more
treatment advances, deaths from AIDS continue to drop in the United States. The
point is made though, that worldwide, AIDS deaths are still increasing, and
will probably continue to do so, because of the difficulties involved in
"Contact" about the manipulated use of footage of the president in the film.
first before passing judgment. The LAT reveals that it was former
less worrisome than a slumping yen would have been, several economists said
the trade balance with Japan. But it doesn't explain why their other
Mars is still the biggest story, but shares the spotlight today with some
story, but moves over to top center front in the New York Times, which
The Mars coverage is dominated by depictions of the excitement inside
mission headquarters and of the various features of the planet that are about
to be investigated. The Post describes a "geological cornucopia" there,
which the paper says, includes a topographical feature resembling "the backside
of a bear." (How would the scientists or the reporter know?) Just in case you
of its function, but is actually named for the black abolitionist Sojourner
that the mission team had been "coached on how to respond to possible questions
from reporters about little green men or the 'face on Mars' (neither of which
came up). They were instructed how to avoid using acronyms and [about] what
years and because the winner is a longtime opponent of the party that has
dominated the country's corrupt politics for generations. The vote is being
widely viewed as the cleanest in the nation's history. And political reformers
an election law that bars the publication here of any election polls for one
relations between the country's two prime ministers worsen. The headline
Drug Boss?" The operation was for extensive facial reconstruction to change the
wanted man's appearance, and also for liposuction. Were his hip measurements on
also has Mir on the front below the fold, but leads with the looming trouble
The papers give the general impression of a Mir crew that is getting more
stressed out by the minute. Yesterday an astronaut mistakenly unplugged a
critical cable, thereby disabling the craft's guidance system and causing a
the revelations were prior stories in the newsletter The Hill and The
breakdown, which played havoc with email and Web site access. It seems the
trouble was a software glitch at Network Solutions, the company that manages
email addresses, which was then ignored by the company's system administrator.
A Network Solutions manager tells the Times that the company employee
who dropped the ball "is being dealt with very appropriately." Executed in the
Pentagon's subscription budget." Wouldn't you love to see those lists?
clothiers, farriers, blacksmiths and riding schools would go down the tubes.").
positioned to lead this fight, having fathered "five children by four women in
Lonely? Depressed? Overweight? Given up hope that babes would give a
"I saw you in the hall today. You looked really skinny."
"You have no idea what a gift it is to me to get to spend time with you
and talk to you. I cherish the time we spend together. It's very lonely here
The only catch is that first you have to get elected
(which was uneventfully passed yesterday by the House). Its coverage includes
according to the government. 'You have to completely change what you are saying
"The bodies of the two presumed suicide bombers, young men in black suits, were
the last to be taken away. They were said to have carried their deadly charges
in attach, cases, with the result that the lower parts of their bodies were
torn away but their faces were curiously intact. The faces were shown later on
recognized, giving the police a lead." And the Times is aware of how
sadly routine such events have become, referring to the episode's "familiar
stalling the Senate's investigation into campaign finance abuses and announced
that his committee will subpoena the administration for all outstanding
The Wall Street Journal reports that the National Federation of
The strangeness of the Mir mission continues as the LAT reports that
then a few hours later said never mind because she was too small for the space
Chatterbox feels a little dense for not realizing sooner that the subtext
by all accounts, has a sham marriage), the first lady could exact symbolic
revenge on her philandering husband while advancing the fortunes of the
Democratic party at the same time! That's almost enough for Chatterbox
patsy," cried Time this week. But, er, wouldn't that be kind of a risky
strategy, given his own problematic union? Many have already opined that the
mayor is too vituperative, too much of a loner to practice the congenial,
hardhearted, uncaring social policies. The last thing he needs is to draw more
for Senate, or whether she would campaign for him if he did. But she did say in
the interview, which was conducted before the recent frenzy of speculation
last night, turned up an additional three witnesses who recall being told by
sister, whose motives can be similarly questioned; the other two heard
every other responsible news organization that's covered this story, reported
tends to support the UPS strikers. The New York Times
in front of the precinct station where the abuse allegedly occurred, looking
the convicted bomber appeared "animated and jovial" until right before he was
formally sentenced. When given the opportunity to address the court, he cited a
is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole
into office promising tougher law enforcement, a promise his administration is
mayor to distance himself from the cops on this one was made paramount by the
news that during the rampage one of the abusers in blue shouted at the suspect,
With cops sodomizing suspects making big news, you'd think that in the city
use the occasion of his first policy announcement to address the serious
the front page of the LAT debuting a new departmental program that will
use medals and financial incentives to get officers to drop those ugly excess
about the report. He tells the paper he never saw it, and that he repeatedly
received assurances that there was no hazard of this sort. The article goes on
first Internet libel suit, with a White House connection, no less.
Because that way, you don't have to lead with a proposed youth health insurance
breaking as it did just about at closing time. At about the time the cops were
been substantially rewritten between editions and the final versions still
feature a lot of sourcing to television broadcasts. Only the LAT could
apparently be at least one more meeting among House Republicans to discuss the
Post why he's looking forward to the session: "The entertainment
The middle top of the Times front page is dominated by details from
memos turned over to congressional investigators, apparently from the files of
fundraising. The story is topped by a large picture of portions of two of the
during the Gulf War. The story itself is on page A12.
returned from a year there. He'll be going back. (Was there some good reason,
by the way, why the Post couldn't bring itself to mention that the
strike along with some signs of progress in the negotiations is today's news
leader. The only difference between the papers is emphasis. The New York Times
Today headlines focus on the increased presidential pressure while the
Near in UPS Strike." Only the Wall Street Journal gives much high exposure to strike
that "both sides indicated they are prepared to escalate the conflict if a deal
they'll settle," and called on both sides to "redouble their efforts." And
was a calculated gambit to give negotiators a push and was also conceived as a
signal that he is not neglecting the situation even though he's on
Details in the UPS coverage include this comment made by the head of UPS on
has made many aware for the first time just how central UPS has been to the
is true and not just tactical posturing, then that economy is in for a
noting that the because of the strike, "Blood banks have complained of being
forced to destroy blood" they couldn't ship and that "dozens of school systems
are worried that they will not receive shipments of books before the school
year begins." Does that depiction of the strike's impact function as implicit
support for the company's position? And if so, is that okay in a news
a little heavier than when they arrived. Commonly appropriated items include
silverware, plates, and even drapery tassels. The piece tantalizes with the
you've become maybe." Today, the Times corrections page says this "was
incorrectly transcribed, compounding the misimpression." What they're trying to
just barely admit is this: It seems that in fact, the New Republic had
about himself, and only via a character in a work of fiction that he wrote and
that actually that character didn't use the word "slut" but the word "slot." So
to review the bidding from yesterday's "paper of record": A single sentence
with the wrong subject, the wrong source, and the wrong quote.
former writer and editor on the Wall Street Journal 's news staff,
loud to a few close friends that she might find it impossible to become
pregnant because of a medical condition." Although that sentence seems to imply
doesn't really say. If it was Bill who was thought sterile, conceivably
the couple wouldn't have wanted to admit that even to close friends, because he
was running for governor at the time in a campaign that emphasized his youth
their ability to have children, and the following year even considered visiting
Chatterbox is ready to concede that there is a little more evidence
page broke it. In addition to the sterility business, there are, as previously
pessimistic that he will ever be able to draw a truly responsible
remain in office, should resign, he doesn't really know how his political world
Meanwhile, Chatterbox is wondering when the news staff of the Wall Street
there," the news staff is in an awkward position. Clearly, the best way for the
evidence concerning a widely publicized accusation, and partly examining the
ethics and motives of the Journal 's editorial page for printing it in
the first place. But while the Journal 's news staff remains free to
causes its devastating effects, which could quickly lead to successful
appearance of key fundraising files that the Senate investigating committee
that the files include paperwork on such controversial Democratic contributors
home health care company. The Post quotes one law enforcement official
as saying, "We have not found one patient who actually received home health
care services from this organization." The Post also runs a separate
Helms' tobacco interests in upcoming Agriculture committee hearings if Helms
The Post runs a piece inside about the newest humor trend in
offers him anything he wants. The man says he wants to pay no import tax, he
wants oil fields, he wants tax breaks, etc. The Devil says his wish is granted
provided the man turn over his soul. "So," says the man, "what's the catch?" I
think I have heard these very jokes told about yuppies, lawyers, and
of a joke genre get to a newspaper's readership before the paper won't actually
repeat the jokes? And should that matter, or should the Post 's editors
members of Congress can start their August vacations right on time.
another day are the specifics of which domestic programs will be cut to meet
that it won't take much incremental change to balance the budget for that
target year, which of course won't mean much if the bill's tax cuts then
anything but tax simplification. The Post calls the bill's tax
fought so hard to get into the deal was the "crown jewel of the Republicans'
college subsidies, Republicans were referring to the same feature they "had
derided a few months ago as a device for little more than tuition inflation."
none of the Republicans pushing for easing inheritance taxes and capital gains
cuts is a millionaire (if you don't count their homes), while the Democrats who
piece on the page in the past two months based on the Bogus Fast Forward
heart drug is extremely effective in saving the lives of angioplasty
could limit its availability to only the very sickest people. But it's hard to
announced yesterday that the unions affiliated with his organization would lend
fight, we are making this strike our strike." The loan shows how high the
stakes are, not just for UPS, and for the Teamsters, but also for the entire
the LAT says the dispute "is on its way to becoming the biggest and
The Post welfare piece includes this statement made yesterday by
over. We now know that welfare reform works." There's also mention of a White
the first time ever to allow its name to be used in paid endorsements of
The Wall Street Journal 's "Tax Report" reports that corporate
puts it across all six columns of the top of its front page and puts two more
story" on it as well. The Wall Street Journal dedicates its "World Wide News" front page
banner headline across its top front and just underneath that, two big
the handover ceremonies and the open political questions that remain. There's
some pretty efficient limning of the historical context, but some linguistic
and reporting overkill too. The LAT for instance, tells its readers
keep to itself about the police band members at the ceremonies in their "snow
white tunics" and the attendance there "of representatives of each of the
territory's services, from the Correctional Services Department to the
open political system for fifty years. But none of today's accounts really
actions in the ring." The paper then goes on to relieve whatever anxieties are
currently being suffered by libertarian fight fans: "The president, however,
stopped short of suggesting federal intervention in boxing."
after the president and Congress return from their summer vacations. Meanwhile,
the LAT relegates a far more important story to the second banana
five years later, "today, thousands of assault weapons are changing hands
because of gaping holes in the laws." What happened, the story explains, is
that the gun manufacturers got around the intent of the laws by flooding the
market with copycat weapons that differ from the particular banned ones only
cosmetically, and by substantially increasing the volume of assault weapons
strong chance that war will resume. (In short the situation is much like the
federal budget agreement that will pay teaching hospitals across the country to
reduce the number of residents they train in various specialties. This is in
effect, an example of stealth heath care reform, as reducing the number of
then, that the Republicans signed on. But some conservatives are less than
thrilled. "I don't know where the hell a Republican Congress gets off doing
The Times "Arts and Leisure" section points out just what a big
comeback smoking has made on the big screen. "Half the movies released between
news. But there is sort of a crime theme. The New York Times
has made it a personal cause (he's already visited with them) and because, the
the featherbedding that seems to be a feature of almost all city departments.
is now warning people who knew the fugitive that his murder spree may be a
matter of seeking revenge against those he thinks crossed him. Also, that the
he was killed. Additionally, authorities are also considering the possibility
making the point that it is so overwhelmed by the increase in juvenile crime
and the breakdown of the family that almost no one believes it still serves a
useful purpose. But there is also something quite interesting that the article
the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University" as saying
that high rates of prosecution of juveniles overwhelm the courts, "and when you
do this wholesale, you drive kids into the system who don't belong there, and
you don't find the kids who aren't in school and are getting into serious
trouble. They are able to pass through for a long time without being stopped."
of young people in serious trouble being able to slip through the system like
because of her activities as a leader of the Weather Underground.
Think that the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill is mainly just an
inconvenience to those who use the parks, the subways and the public library?
today with the demise of the federal welfare state, and yes, today's Wall Street Journal gives the top spot (that's column six, top of
the page) to a forecast of growth in elderly care companies. And both the
Under Review." (Which admittedly falls far short of yesterday's LAT
of the fight and its riotous aftermath, and goes on to report that "a portion
rushed to Valley Hospital on ice, 'but by the time it came in, it was not
his novel The Harder They Fall inspired the movie "On The Waterfront."
Actually, it inspired the movie "The Harder They Fall."
trip which has yet to draw the scrutiny of investigators, may have provided the
the new welfare programs breaks the news that they're marked by an "emphasis on
work." Interestingly, the piece belies its own headline proclaiming that the
despite many ongoing attempts at reform around the country, "the states with
On the front page above the fold, the Post reports that after two
taxes or regulations on business conducted over the Internet. The piece dwells
on such issues as the problem of lost sales tax revenue and the export of
encryption technologies, and waits until the last paragraph to reveal that this
in its (inside) story on the development, which it runs under the headline,
"Man Behind Doomed Health Plan Wants Minimal Regulation of Net."
news. The older, cooling, stories of the budget bill and the robust economy
The Post reports that "New York police and federal agents arrested
three men and seized five powerful bombs yesterday after a tense shootout in a
determine whether the suspects had ties to any Middle East terrorist
organizations." (Editors take note: there is never a calm shootout.) According
the past four years that New York City has experienced a terrorist threat with
that investigators working the case believe that the plot was an intended
suicide bombing. One of the plotters had second thoughts and last night flagged
way of communicating imminent disaster to the cops was to repeatedly cup and
later told an interpreter, "My roommates are going to follow up on
favoring extremely small numbers of beneficiaries in the tax bill now on the
president's desk are listed there quite explicitly. So it took no real sleuth
work for the Times to point out that the bill bestows special favors on
"arrows," "owners of marginal oil wells and skydiving planes." The tax bill,
National Association of Business Economists says his or her firm plans on a
"financial markets cheered the report, which bolstered signs that the Federal
Reserve..." when it interrupts itself with an insert box headlined, "DOW RALLY
proposal to allow early retirement for public school teachers, the latter with
accounts of the precise number of survivors vary, as do reports of how many
Yesterday's signing at the White House of the budget bills also gets big
reform the Medicare system is duly reported without any of the papers observing
report released yesterday by Common Cause stating that, despite this year's
many fundraising scandals, both parties have raised record amounts of soft
money, with the Republicans bringing in twice as much as the Democrats.
The Wall Street Journal 's "Tax Report" notes that the new tax
trend, Congress ought to try to raise money for the Federal treasury by
installed communists as the bad guys of choice. One reason is that communists
don't have a lobby capable of making producers nervous, and another is summed
Health and social issues make the biggest impression today. The New York Times leads
with the news that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the health
care bills passed last week by the House and Senate will fall far short of
their announced goal of guaranteeing health coverage to the ten million
colossal failure, he has actually in the past two years gotten Congress to pass
many provisions congenial to its concepts, one bill at a time. The piece calls
independent pathologist (she reached him by dialing 1-800-AUTOPSY) to perform a
"I really felt like the doctor was listening to me and my concerns. Every time
I paged him, he returned my call. My doctor doesn't do that. Not even my pool
to be included with every handgun sale. The Post also fronts a piece
underlining the intractability of the problem of single motherhood. A
course of her protest, she takes her second swipe in recent weeks at feminist
they will reach an agreement this year to admit China to the World Trade
meaningfully open his country's markets to foreign competition. The LAT
leads with the most ambitious plan yet to use court ordered injunctions against
ordinarily legal behavior (such as using cell phones, and gathering in groups
the National Institutes of Medicine is going to try to determine whether
must make a choice" about whether he wants his country to "behave like a
networks, and that the broadcasters will fight back hard. Already, notes the
really understand why a poor, defenseless little organization like the National
Association of Broadcasters would feel threatened by a big powerful academic
those taxpayers who will, under the new provisions about to be signed into law,
pay more tax when they sell their homes. The article even takes several
paragraphs to explain how to legally beat this new tax. Who are these, as the
Times puts it, "losers"? Struggling single working mothers? Young,
sell homes for millions of dollars" and their downmarket cousins, "those who
have spent many years trading up from one home to another and now have homes
every New York reporter believes but few have dared to hint at in print,"
stopped being first lady or making appearances with her husband."
piece runs under a banner headline: "From the Top, a City That Doesn't
campaign that has included bombings, the killings of two policemen and the
disruption of public services in recent months." Which is why it's surprising
two people," without mentioning that the explosion was attributed to the
delivered. The paper reveals that despite having the highest rates of new AIDS
infection, tuberculosis, and infant mortality in the nation, the city's
targeted to just these areas. Additionally, in a city with "acres of abandoned
and decrepit housing," local officials failed to spend millions in federal
block grant money intended to rehabilitate housing for the poor. Meanwhile,
favored landlords. In fact, "The city's Department of Housing and Community
illegally, and hence that "there is so far no cause for taking punitive steps
tracking system that helps cops catch illegal gun traffickers by tracing guns
Guess what's one of the hottest shows on German cable television. According
Heroes." Touchy plot lines have been softened with creative dubbing, and the
Instead what they say is, "This is how high the cornflowers grow!" Meanwhile,
Today the top story is that some safety experts are concerned that a
into effect, and it's accompanied by a big picture of a protest march organized
A cardinal sin of news reporting is downplaying the real news of a
considered an even bigger disaster for a journalist than having a kid not get
front, near the lead, in column six, just a little lower down. Yet its
story at the bottom of the front page, omitting mention of them in its
them in the piece until the seventh paragraph. (Headline writers, please note:
provision in the new budget bill that allows tobacco companies to reduce their
companies. "The industry wrote it and submitted it, and we just used their
excoriating the INS. He tells the story of a German women who falls in love
bad advice from the INS leaves the country while her application for a
permanent visa is still pending. The result? She ends up in prison for eight
fees over this, and the husband had to abandon his business here to rejoin his
that the poultry and processing workers Espy was once supposed to be looking
over being subpoenaed by the Senate committee investigating political
a big revelation about the Pentagon's knowledge of the battlefield dangers
report was prepared for the Air Force three months before the outbreak
troops. Noting that Congress and the media have been seeking such information
for half a decade, the paper reveals that it was finally released to a former
Senate investigator in response to his repeated Freedom of Information Act
pitting his UPS members, many of whom are attracted to the apparently more
lavish company proposal, against Teamsters working elsewhere, who fear that a
the union tends to downplay the pension debate, saying instead that it's the
article suggests that ultimately, the union will give on pensions and the
Fox News, is that for the first time in years, the general public seems to be
siding with strikers. The main reason for the sympathy vote, says the
about religious expression at government jobs will be rather specific, stating
for instance, that federal workers "are allowed to wear religious medallions
over their clothes, conduct lunchtime prayer sessions in unused conference
rooms, distribute proselytizing brochures to colleagues and keep the Bible or
Federal prisoners can once again purchase Playboy and
the First Amendment rights of both inmates and publishers. The judge also
stated that there is no reason to believe that these two magazines "are any
more or less rehabilitative" than the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or the
labor. A Boss spokeswoman is quoted as saying, "...We're currently trying to
The Senate's political fundraising hearings continue to play big. The
Wall Street Journal puts this same story at the top
also leads with the hearings, but prefers to stress that members of the
at the White House, even though these are barred by law from being conducted on
us motivate and energize the people that we needed to motivate and energize to
championship fight last week. The papers indulge in much speculation about
There's also a lot of coverage of yesterday's change at the top at Apple
he quit, but its text says he was ousted. The LAT headline says he was
television network's audio system picked up his comments. "Take the quarrel
about how the Mars probe discovers kittens there that are just like earth
kittens except that they remain kittens forever and can parse sentences in the
sums up discussions among alliance members concerning what to do about the
presidential campaign, as well as congressional and state elections, and that
proposed tobacco industry settlement have concluded it puts too great a
with two very rare kinds of heart damage. The drug combination was never
Bureau task force has proposed a modification in the racial categories it will
origin." The change would be to allow people to check more than one race block.
action hiring goals or the boundaries of congressional districts. The paper
goes on to report that "civil rights groups were generally pleased with the
"changes absolutely nothing" and that it was an "ambience of harassment" of
feature answering a question no one is asking: Could the accident give rise to
tries to rise above the vulgus by giving its lead space to a piece about the
coming session of Congress. Mistake! First of all, the Congress piece is
photo agency saying, "Holding the photographers responsible when the cause was
clearly excessive speed is absurd." (Do you think there's a chance that now
instead of, or in addition to, inspiring a campaign against tabloids, this
tragedy might spur a renewed campaign against drunk driving?) There's a French
photojournalist saying, "Those who denounce the paparazzi today will be the
the revelation that although at least one photo agency is said to be offering
blood, the National Enquirer turned down the deal and urged other
publications to do the same. (Of course, those pictures will surface, and don't
be surprised if they also eventually make their way into a "mainstream" paper,
probably over a caption like, "Media experts debate: Was the Star wrong
of oral sex with a man advises women to look into condoms and dental dams.
Di still dominates, but other stories get their due. For instance, the
goes with a piece about how private hospitals, with the advent of managed care
and lower doctor's fees, are now courting Medicaid patients because of the
guaranteed government dollars they represent, while shunning uninsured patients
more than ever. The nightmare scenario, says the piece, is that "desirable"
patients will altogether abandon public hospitals, with the "desirable" doctors
decision by French authorities to investigate six photographers to see if they
now ascended to: "As they were released and their handcuffs removed, the
suspects slipped out side entrances to the huge courthouse building, avoiding
the waiting banks of television and still cameras. French photographers said
they would not have taken pictures of them anyway, out of 'solidarity.' The
seven also were said by other journalists to have avoided the spotlight because
they had sold their stories of detention to tabloid newspapers and wanted to
emanating from the station and to provide political opponents access to it. And
bounty hunters to realize that this field is preposterously
In the LAT 's coverage of the big stock market move, there's the usual
dueling experts explaining that this is either the sign of bigger things to
message is clear: still one of the best ways to avoid taxes is to avoid
the heart problems that can be routinely diagnosed via the instrument. Doctors
that would for the first time ever subject state recipients to strict time
limits and work requirements, along with a companion measure that would ban
from the rolls for life anyone convicted of a drug felony. The New York Times leads with word that "a federal
advisory panel has decided to recommend abolishing the troubled Immigration and
Naturalization Service and assigning its duties to other government agencies."
sign an executive order later this week dramatically broadening the ban on
policy across the government and extend existing prohibitions to places
currently exempt, such as military officers' clubs." Some exceptions would
remain, such as military barracks and "undercover, military or diplomatic
situations that are essential to accomplish agency missions." (Spies, thank
oil company, announced that "there is now enough scientific evidence to warrant
from oil and gas companies' monolithic denial of a global warming problem and
thus may have policy ripples akin to the separate catalytic course taken in
negotiations leading to the budget deal. Top revelations include that at one
another, he successfully smoothed over ruffled Democratic feathers by sending
over inscribed copies of his two books. Also, in one phone call, Rep. John
out that the ice is still being distributed, and the Journal wonders how
any savings have been accomplished since the delivery work is now done, not by
enough to satisfy the judge, therapeutic enough to satisfy the psychiatrists
saying, "I tell him he can be a king, he can go to West Point, he can do
anything he wants if we can get through this problem we have now." But the
The editorial page of the Wall Street Journal today enters
rape allegations that a key corroborating witness has a serious potential
"You will note that my piece reported four witnesses," the Journal
right. (Previously Chatterbox had suggested that the existence of the
diminish, somewhat, the significance of any potential grudge that may be held
by one of them. (Or, actually, two of them; Chatterbox will get to that in a
bit.) Still, the Journal editorial page should have mentioned the
(This might be a good moment to review Chatterbox's scoring procedure. The
Journal 's editorial page scored one point for the original
nothing to gain [italics mine] and possibly much to lose by going
what we know, then, only two of these citizens can really be said to
whose own name sounds like an anagram for something else) informs Chatterbox
that the author of the anagram praised in this space last week (see "Beyond
In the papers, as in life, new deaths crowd in on the old. So we have
the global village funeral to come, and anchored by a huge head shot of the
This time it was three scumbags, a record number apparently, killing
themselves and others in a popular public place with bombs spewing nuts and
identical bright robes, glasses, and shaved heads, and were each less than five
feet tall, so the papers go more for laughs than they otherwise might. But it's
the temple treasurer said that when she oversaw the collection from nuns of
for Gore, namely, that of his White House rainmaking phone calls, sees the
story a bit more gravely than the others. Its headline reads, "Nuns Tell of
the evening's financial tracks by altering and destroying documents right into
in stores, even one by her astrologer (if he didn't tell her not to get in the
study as proof that conservatives were overstating the problem of illegal
It's refreshing to be reminded every so often that there is still at least
weekend. So what's news today is whatever could get done with reporters and
million settlement with them, one that goes into effect even if the proposed
big national tobacco deal falls through. The Post reports that
precedent' that is 'about big bucks and big publicity.'"
The Times describes the acquisition as part of a consolidation trend in
also leads with the story, and as might be expected, bemoans the likely closure
layoffs. The Post reviews the virtues of the various airplanes produced
on the news, but none delves into the question of whether any of the major
unemployment figures, is dutifully reported by the majors. According to the
report these jobs numbers as if it were perfectly obvious that the chief cause
doesn't even put it on the front. Think how this story would have been played
just ten years ago! Does the current relaxed treatment say something about Bill
It's nearly unanimous today: the big story is an imminent budget deal. The
As even the headlines suggest, there is some variance from paper to paper
and the Wall Street Journal cautions that "Those involved in the
collapse," the general view in the papers is that substantial progress has been
made and that an actual deal could be struck between the President, the House
And the broad shape of the likely deal is widely described. The LAT
be heading toward a capital gains compromise that would reduce the tax rate but
agreed on extending disability benefits to legal immigrants left out by last
year's welfare reform law. Both sides also are resigned to an increase in
cigarette taxes to offset costs of health care for uninsured children."
What's a little alarming about the budget deal reporting is how
within five years. This was the claim made, if memory serves, for the budget
Indeed, wouldn't it be instructive to see a list of all the budgets of recent
City has a glut of empty hospital beds and that allowing some of the underused
facilities to close would cut costs just as well without forcing so many people
into managed care. But the piece also observes that if the free market is
allowed to determine which New York hospitals close, poor patients are the
trotted out by Democrats just over a week ago as a specimen of the kind of
covering it. And yet, neither network did the story, which came out only in the
open, a mission to Mars is grabbing the headlines? All three of the majors
working the weekend are leading with the story of how yesterday, the Mars
There being no way into this story other than through the briefings and
access provided by the mission's organizer, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the
are relentlessly similar. Still, here and there individual touches emerge. The
LAT has the news that the engineers were able to solve Pathfinder's
initial problems in part because they had, before the landing, replicated them
apparently goes for rocket scientist humor. The paper mentions a mysterious
object in the landing area that scientists are anxious to investigate with the
rover, and quotes mission team member Dr. Peter Smith as saying that it
"appeared to be something long, dark and shaped a little like a couch. 'Someone
suggested that was a homeless person out there,' the scientist joked." I guess
destitute people are pretty funny when you're federally subsidized.
Meanwhile, back on earth, the Post fronts an interesting piece
bent on winning a stake in the bonanza for themselves or their companies." The
it's bad to be prominent in articles like this. After all, being certified by
the Post as working on something big could be great for business.
with it. He tells the Post he's on the case "because the United States
he is a director holding shares and options worth more than a quarter of a
mothers were impregnated by adult men? It prompted much discussion of a
section brings the news that the study was wrong. Seems that the investigators
years old and, therefore, like the fathers of their babies, adults." Never
brutality case, which, the paper reports, produced the arrests of two more cops
yesterday and which will now include a federal civil rights investigation. The
suit to date that Dow Chemical Co. knew that silicone was potentially harmful
to humans and conspired to withhold relevant safety data from women gets a lot
showing that actual harm resulted.) But it leads the home paper of the Silicone
In a sort of law of conservation of implants, the LAT front also
hands that is said to allow quadriplegics to grasp and release objects.
workers, who have been handling UPS strike logistics, had been in difficult
negotiations with the Teamsters over wages. The paper says relations remain
six months to spend three or four hours meeting with community critics to
Times coverage seems particularly well wired inside the
denied involvement and moreover originally seemed to cooperate in implicating
puppy elsewhere in the station house when the attack allegedly took place.
ejected from a game or suspended for engaging in the practice.
A bit of a health and safety theme today. The New York Times
now cover more than half the state's population, face a state government review
and many possible legislative reforms, all arising from widespread patient
lobbying blitz this week against current congressional proposals for deep cuts
in the payments they receive for Medicare patients. Their big message: if any
of these are passed, plan members will have to start paying for their
The Wall Street Journal 's main front page feature examines the
pretty far from their original charge of using their assets for such charitable
their speed limits, traffic fatalities actually fell slightly. The paper
reminds readers that opponents of higher speed limits had claimed they would
The LAT 's top story is that the leader of the recent coup in
the first time, she saw the names of her paternal grandparents in an inscribed
was his job to locate homosexuals" for administration jobs.
Guess which major newspaper isn't reading Slate carefully enough?
This very issue of this very magazine contains a piece by ace foreign
But is Gates happy? Chatterbox suspects he is, and he suspects at least in
this rash conclusion flies in the face of social science research. We turn now
throughout the book, argues that money doesn't buy happiness. "It's
Opinion Research Center. The numbers are a few years old, but the 1990s haven't
While it's true that, overall, these data show that money doesn't
dramatically affect the distribution of happiness, let's examine some of the
nuances. One is that you're nearly four times as likely to be miserable if you
happy" or "very happy." But what if you don't happen to belong to this
Chatterbox is also intrigued by what happens when your income rises above
Money may not buy happiness, but if you're already happy there's
Does the likelihood of such a "happiness boost" increase when you graduate
Also, there really ought to be a category for "ecstatically happy," which
Chatterbox would appreciate hearing from any readers who have research to back
police facilities, all thought to be centers of support for war criminal
with no resistance and resulted in the confiscation of truckloads of weapons
adds a few more warts to the presidential portrait with its revelation that
Smith's company millions. And, the paper reports, less than three weeks after
to call Smith personally to solicit a contribution. One memo, reports the
billion in annual revenue not to make the requested contributions. 'Sure,
you're darn right, you better be responsive,' Smith said. 'Whether you use the
language of the street and call it a shakedown or whether you just call it our
A common press syndrome is immense interest in the politics of a bill, but
almost no interest in the workings of the law it becomes. So it's refreshing to
see articles like the Wall Street Journal lead, which looks at what happened when
one company tried to hire welfare recipients to gain tax credits under a bill
passed last year as part of welfare reform. Great in theory, says the
meaningful numbers of eligible employees and even harder to retain them for the
just narrowly surviving a collision, a total power failure and a heart problem,
Chatterbox feels that the Wall Street Journal editorial page's
Scientific Method into the usually mushy business of assessing press
responsibility. With that in mind, Chatterbox hereby inaugurates the
(even if to refute the importance of) highly significant but inconvenient facts
in their news or opinion coverage of controversial events will score one
point for the initial offense. They will then score one point for
every subsequent issue or broadcast or Internet posting after the first offense
is noted by Chatterbox if they continue not to report said inconvenient
"intellectual dishonesty," because it's pompous and falsely suggests that only
intellectuals can be intellectually dishonest. But Chatterbox doesn't know any
other easily understandable phrase that describes this particular kind of
For the purposes of this survey, the Wall Street Journal will be
counted as a separate and distinct publication from the Journal 's
had nothing to do with her corroboration.) The Journal editorial page
initial omission, it scores an additional three points. And because it
means that if the Journal editorial page continues to take no action it
the New York Times (as the Times reports in today's story). But
newspapers' intense rivalry. When Chatterbox asked the Journal 's DC
he replied: "I don't really have any comment on what the edit page did. They do
their thing, we do ours." Which is what Journal news employees are
instructed to say whenever the editorial page causes them cringing
of the Times were more indifferent than the Times made them
After a lot of consensus lately, the majors go their separate ways today.
leads with a Senate bill that would significantly cut into the legal rights and
Times leads with the governor's proposal for providing health care
his wife and brother were "daring, synchronized" and that the couple's son
pointing out that the ambassador was familiar with his government's sales of
House telemarketing, Gore's press conference in response was a salute to
based on documents possessed by Senate investigators, reveals that between
calls that Gore apparently made but which do not appear on his credit card
would strip tribes of their current immunity from most lawsuits and would also
driving all this is the perception that tribes are getting rich off casino
saying, "that says they must be continuously supported by the federal
as saying the bills would only be passed "over my dead body."
today. The lawyer representing Morrow describes the breadth of the subpoena
By now the drum beat of welfare reform stories has no doubt made it clear
percent. The Post says it's because of a stagnant state economy and a
welfare system still needing an overhaul. Maybe another reason is that when the
weather is perfect and you're five minutes from the beach, you don't feel like
According to the Wall Street Journal 's "Tax Report," the "Schedule D that
Democrats at Universal have come up with a way to justify trying to make a
killing with the upcoming movie "Primary Colors" while still staying
so nicely that the Federal Reserve won't be raising interest rates any time
plays that story above the fold, but reserves its top right spot for the news
supply will have to be tightened "at some point to foster sustainable growth
and low inflation." Such comments prompted some committee members to criticize
is that the nation does not have enough people who don't have jobs...."
negotiators, fearing the election consequences of raising anybody's premiums,
political courage: "I would be happy to defend the vote of any member of
Congress, Democrat or Republican, who votes for this."
detail of who gets to collect the extra premiums. According to the
increases would look like tax increases, also proposed that the Treasury
Department, rather than the Internal Revenue Service, collect the payments for
higher premiums from elderly taxpayers, who would make the checks out to the
skeptical response of Rep. Bill Archer, the Republican chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee: "The only collection arm I know at Treasury is the
heard about this case I said, 'Okay, good. We're gonna get that little
The Wall Street Journal 's "Tax Report" states that according to
Corruption and cigarettes dominate today. There's even corruption involving
allowed to expand into other countries. The New York Times
goes with a lengthy expose charging that the world's largest tobacco companies
are selling billions of dollars' worth of cigarettes each year to traders and
Times lead is that according to Census Bureau projections, a steady
Although the tobacco companies deny doing anything to abet the smuggling of
directly connected to the WHO director's remarks. If governments can't regulate
the illegal inflow of cigarettes into their countries, they can't generate
effective health programs for discouraging smoking, especially, notes the
temperature about the ease with which potential donors of dubious backgrounds
resulting photo in their promotional literature to snare more investors.
opportunity to look carefully at some of the city messes that need cleaning up.
disability claims. The article reveals that the government allows people to
file false claims with virtual impunity, because of generous rules and a lack
of investigators. Often workers never have to go any further to get the money
rolling in than getting a note from their own doctor.
A letter to the editor in the Post provides a picturesque example of
The writer happened to be in a city water department office to discuss a water
bill when she noticed what the employees were drinking from a large commercial
with the push for new ways to keep sex offenders away from the rest of us even
performance, emphasizing the many ways in which its decisions stymied positions
on the political, but the personal, noting that in considering medically
brushes with cancer, and that for the decision overturning suppression of
that by the time the last of the Court's decisions was announced, Chief Justice
Social Security, and credits those who worked on the bill with "political
nerve" while finding the budget process this year marked by a "notable
credibility." This is just what the Post doesn't find. It sees the bills
as a triumph of "small interests," noting that they contain special provisions
And by the way, exactly what point is today's Post making about new
pushed numerous policies on to the president's agenda before being banished
indicators indicate the cause was instead a patch of flooded track.
himself out of circulation voluntarily." The Post account emphasizes
attracts far more administration attention and effort than the public realizes.
Judging by the president's speeches and his directions to his staff, says the
administration foreign policy achievement, one that is in great danger of
proclaimed that "the words 'market economy' have been writ large on the flag of
socialism for the first time" and denounced party members favoring a slowdown
members. Some police there even think civil war could break out again, now over
Think the rapid growth of area codes is the inexorable result of the
increasing need for more and more data lines? Well, a Times "Week in
Review" piece points out that another factor is that under current
arrangements, many numbers assigned to "saturated" area codes go unused. Fixing
this could considerably extend the length of time between new area codes for a
He dropped out of school and now just five years later, he's an unmarried
Three big Supreme Court decisions yesterday. Which to lead with? The New
headlined, somewhat tastelessly, "An Issue that Won't Die.") The unanimous
ruling that the Communications Decency Act (banning smut on the Internet) is
news, noting that moments after the Court announced the Internet ruling, "a
staffer for groups opposing the law popped a disk containing the opinion into
his laptop computer outside the court and transmitted it by cellular modem to
affirmative action in admissions, its incoming law school class is likely to
canceling completed books, including some already advertised in its catalogs.
enforcement officials announced that the top suspect is a homosexual prostitute
experiencing a heart irregularity, and therefore may not be able to undertake
the space walk needed to repair the damage suffered by the vehicle last week.
repairs. The paper doesn't put too fine a point on what's at stake for the
the Senate campaign funding hearings. Yesterday, the committee learned that in
to the Democratic National Committee. The senators also heard expert testimony
a figure that included the book value of the company car he was allowed to
Is another government recovery strategy against the tobacco companies being
quietly hatched? The Wall Street Journal reports today that "the Veterans
Affairs Department has begun processing the first in a potential tidal wave of
government billions of dollars a year over the next decade."
Today leads today with a report that the Department of Transportation
sent letters to nine major airlines yesterday asking them to explain the
procedures they use for making seats available for frequent flier awards. The
request was a response to increasing complaints by frequent fliers who say they
are too often told they can't redeem their miles to go where they want..
This is one of those days where what the papers are telling us is most
newsworthy via their use of the traditional tools of placement and headline
prominent play to an oil tanker called the Diamond Grace making a big mess in
Close in on Tax Deal." The majors also dutifully tell us that today's New
that is, where naturally, it leads). The editors front the story as high as
they can because they know there really was a loss here, of a combination of
talent and a larger sense of purpose that is utterly absent from entertainment
And the obit staffs do some good reporting. (Although there is a discrepancy
about the cause of death. Most of the papers say it was cardiac arrest. The
with an enlisted person and lying about it to superiors. Who did he fraternize
with? His wife. The Times story illustrates the sense in which the
military has lost perspective on personal relations (if it ever had it). It
reports that the investigation that led to the charges against Kite was
even the date of her last menstrual cycle have been entered into evidence. Keep
of the Joint Chiefs with no sexual baggage: "Would you choose your doctor on
Times leads instead with yesterday's revelation from the Senate's
via separate wire transfers from banks in China and Japan within days of making
saying, "Wire transfers of the kind described are Exhibit A of
The LAT is also above the fold with the news that, despite initial
states this stance could set off a rift within Democratic ranks.
cover." But you have to read the LAT to find out that the Brits were
"posing as Red Cross workers on a humanitarian aid mission." Hey, wouldn't we
the tobacco settlement. For instance, the breakthrough notion of states suing
cigarette manufacturers for the recovery of public funds spent on
LAT runs a graphic box featuring the new content guidelines that will be
they leave out Fantasy Sexual Situations?) And then illustrates the new ratings
White House line is that this event did not violate federal law because the
refused to cooperate with investigators unless granted immunity from
after he was told that he could help defray some bills relating to White House
released a report uncovering widespread fraud, overcharges, and poor care in
lobbied on behalf of various petroleum industry interests for just such an
millionaire black businessman who has emerged from the campus politics of the
preferences. The story describes a racially mixed and fractured family, "whose
reporter about an SAT study that shows that blacks from families earning more
It's hard to believe that an explosion that vented plutonium into the
atmosphere at the country's largest nuclear weapons storage facility doesn't
make anybody's front page, but in fact you have to go inside the LAT and
"exposing workers to a toxic plume and leaving outside authorities unaware of
instead assigned to "hot" stories regardless of their real import. Today's
boy is charged with sexual harassment and suspended from the second grade for
kissing a female classmate; within a week, his picture is on the front page of
cluck delightedly over the latest little victims of
Meanwhile, the story of two girls suspended from junior high school for
been slower to build, and has crested at a lower level of media frenzy. The
suspension occurred Sept. 20--a week before the notorious episode in
"political correctness." The story about the girls plays against an
concept of harassment remains controversial. The idiocies of drug policies are
to subject hysteria about drugs to a little reality testing. Their descent into
mistake of exchanging notes during this transaction that were later discovered
drug policy that does not distinguish between legal and illegal, prescription
officials were unrepentant, defending their policy as a part of an effort to
politicians lie about their own past experiences. The campaign against
it is addictive and will lead them down the path to heroin and cocaine
dependencies, while many parents who inhaled regularly throughout their college
years remain uncomfortably silent. Meanwhile, the testimony of politicians like
Penal laws regulating the possession and distribution of
marijuana are as difficult to justify as school policies expelling eighth
at home, you may be sentenced to five years in prison under federal law.
Federal drug laws, in general, are excessively harsh, as the press occasionally
the gross inequities and disastrous inefficiencies of imposing long, mandatory
virtually everyone familiar with the criminal justice system who isn't running
for office. (Ninety percent of federal judges, Republican and Democratic,
consider mandatory minimums for drug offenses "a bad idea.") At the very least,
use, the actions of a few overzealous school officials intent on keeping their
of decreasing drug use, it has increased the violence connected with illicit
drug trafficking, greatly exacerbating the problem of gun violence. The black
market in drugs creates a need for weapons and probably the cash with which to
schools, we ignore the damage wrought by laws prohibiting selectively demonized
the legalization or decriminalization of drugs; it is a plea for dispassionate
consideration of the respective costs and benefits. We don't have rational drug
policies in the streets or public schools because we don't have rational
discussions about drug use. It is popularly considered a moral failing, not a
practical or medical problem for some people. The war against drugs is not a
Elders discovered as much when she suggested that we might study the effects of
legalization, which was a bit like her other absurdly controversial suggestion
that masturbation was normal. Dr. Elders might have gleaned from the reaction
to her remarks that no one in Congress has ever masturbated or used drugs. Most
is a solution in search of a problem. Oh, the problem with Social Security is
doesn't address the problem. It's as if you were crawling across the desert,
desperately thirsty, and you meet a fellow who says, "What you need is some
lemonade." You say water would suffice. He says, "Oh, but lemonade is much
week's report by a government commission on Social Security, a majority
supported various forms of partial privatization. And lemonade (privatization)
influence of conservatives these days that, on Social Security, we're debating
the merits of lemonade, when the real issue is: Where do you get the
Social Security privatization was ably discussed several
weeks ago in our "Committee of Correspondence." But in this case, at least, that
discussion seems not to have provided the dialectical pathway toward ultimate
no graphs, and not a single use of the word "actuarial."
Security. Of course, those who delight in this factoid never tell you how many
willing than older folks to grasp the essential truth about Social Security,
payouts to earlier customers. The ratio of retirees taking money out to workers
often confuse three different problems. First, with baby boomers in their peak
earning years, Social Security currently brings in more revenue than it pays
out in benefits. The surplus is invested in government bonds. These are special
Security surplus as revenue, and don't count these bonds as debt. But within a
couple of decades, the annual surplus will evaporate, and Social Security will
have to start drawing on this nest egg. For the government to honor these bonds
point will be reached, well into the next century, when the Social Security
"trust fund" is exhausted, and not enough money is coming in to pay the
problem is that even if today's benefit promises can somehow be kept, Social
Security represents a much worse return on "investment" (taxes paid in) for
future retirees than past and present retirees have enjoyed. This is partly
because some minor benefit reductions are scheduled already (raising the
retirement age slightly and gradually). It is mainly because younger people
will have paid much higher Social Security taxes throughout their working
certainly be worse than they could have done by investing in the stock
Whether all this adds up to a crisis is a matter of
horribly tragic to me. Even after this transfer we will still, on average, be
Security will run dry many decades from now, depends on essentially impossible
predictions about the distant future and, in any case, can be solved by very
three problems there are only three solutions: cut benefits, raise revenues, or
borrow. Privatization is not a solution. Privatization means allowing
individuals to invest for themselves all or part of what they and their
saves for its own retirement. But you can't get there from here without someone
this as a transitional problem. But it is not a transitional problem. It
"Committee" discussion, if you could pour in enough money to pay for the
"transition" to privatization, the system would no longer be out of balance.
The problem, or crisis, would be solved. Privatization would not be needed.
of the Social Security tax and convert it into a mandatory savings
contribution; take today's benefit and divide it into two parts; give everybody
this new account and that minimum guarantee; take this shell and put it there
up, the same money can't be used twice. That is the problem with Social
Security now, and it is the problem with privatization. All you've said when
you endorse privatization is that if there were water, it should be used
to make lemonade. Not obviously wrong, but not terribly helpful.
Privatization is a shell game in a second way. It is supposed to bring more
money into the system because returns on private securities are generally
higher than returns on government bonds. Even members of the recent commission
who oppose full privatization supported investing part of Social Security's
accumulated surplus in the private marketplace. But (as Stein pointed out in
the "Committee"), every dollar Social Security invests privately, instead of
lending to the Treasury (as happens now), is an extra dollar the government
must borrow from private capital markets to finance the national debt. The net
effect on national savings, and therefore on overall economic growth, is zilch.
Every dollar more for Social Security is a dollar less for someone else.
If Social Security manages to achieve a higher return, by
investing some or all of its assets privately, the rest of the economy will
achieve a lower return, by having more of its assets in government bonds. In
essence, the gain to Social Security will be like a tax on private
about. Also, the arrival of this huge pot of money looking for a home will
depress returns in the private economy, while the need to attract an equally
huge pot of money into the Treasury to replace the lost revenue will increase
the returns on government bonds. Result? The diversion will be at least partly
future retirement benefits ultimately depend on the country's general
don't make today. The most direct way for Social Security to affect future
savings, of which the Social Security reserve is part, by trimming benefits
to China to make my fortune. I am not alone, of course: Hardly a week goes by
without a reminder that China is the business opportunity of the century. But
the siren song that beckons me is not just the ring of a thousand cash
into baseball: like someone who squandered an inheritance, who failed to
capitalize on a rare alignment of circumstance and skill.
Why such regret? I have, after all, no particular knack for
That I should feel this way testifies, I think, to the magnetic pull of
suspect that if I were ever to do business in China, I might change my tune. I
insider's knowledge of China. The second insider claim is much less true than
the first. It is perhaps even false. Still, the possibility of having my
call Diaspora Chic. Everywhere we turn today, it seems fashionable to conceive
fealty to their racial kinfolk, wherever they might live, than to their own
shared view, the locus of cultural and economic sovereignty is now the
country. And on our campuses, kente cloths, ancient tea ceremonies, and
native dance performances signify not only a resistance to whiteness but also a
yearning, among even the most assimilated, to be abroad at home.
connections across borders, they are illuminating. To the extent they are
driven by the ever easier migration of people and capital, they are inevitable.
white --the dispersed are far better off, at least materially, than those "back
Besides, once you remove the mystic overtones of blood ties
choice: on consent rather than descent. Which means that in the diaspora,
only the citizens of a liberal state could indulge. Those who have a tribe but
Diaspora Chic suffers from this irony: Though it is partly a protest against
It is tragic because it is so fundamentally at odds with
tempted to reconfigure our affiliations, to reinvent our identities. We would
that mandated students take a course on human rights violations "with
particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery and
bills are pending in other states, and a bill pending in Congress would require
the Department of Education to include the potato famine in all the model
parade in New York have made the famine the "theme" for this year's march,
face virtually no discrimination, some have embraced a politics modeled after
tradition, the idea now reverberates in political symbols and pop culture. In
"Famine," released two years ago. Its lyrics argue that labeling the calamity
These arguments draw on an interpretation of the famine
amendment in New York assumes a variation of this interpretation. Natural
disasters don't violate human rights. As in the case of slavery and the
Holocaust, alongside which the famine will be taught, there must be a culprit.
signing ceremony: "History teaches us that the Great Hunger was not the result
partisan line; most recent historical evidence doesn't support it. In the
1960s, a revisionist school of economic historians proved that limiting wheat
starving assumes a more contemporary idea of the state's responsibilities that
hardest by the famine, it was because it depended more heavily on the potato
questioned the hyperbolic rhetoric of the amendment's supporters in the state
Yet New York state senators and legislators privately admit
they assented to the legislation because they were impressed with the ferocity
of the support for the bill. "It's pork," concedes one assemblyman from upstate
threatening phone calls that accused him of selling out his people. Other
sectarian sort of reaction: Either you are for us or against us. And it's
take a harder line on nationalistic issues than the folks still living back in
minorities to think of themselves as communities in exile, a component of the
greater national obsession with finding one's roots. It is evident in
calls them "pilgrimages"); the burgeoning membership of fraternal organizations
like Grace Kelly proved that the WASP establishment, which long impeded access
movies worked to eliminate the differences among ethnic groups. Also,
suburbanization shattered the old urban institutions, the pubs and fraternal
contrived or reconstructed in exile after a long fallow period of
radical than the real thing, like the religious convert who becomes more
zealous than those born into a religion. The emotional connection to the
motherland becomes more intense than the connection to reality. The result is
on a desert island successively amputates each of his limbs in order to
has been selling off tiny portions of her life, and successfully enough to make
York Times Magazine cover story that set a generation's teeth on edge,
"Looking Back: An Eighteen Year Old Reflects on Life." (Horrid topic sentence:
"My generation is special because of what we missed rather than what we got,
because in a certain sense we are the first and the last.")
articulate writing style; a weather eye for Zeitgeist shifts; and a
narcissistic obsession with herself. Enthralled by celebrity culture, enthroned
reporter on my life's beat." From "The Embarrassment of Virginity"
literary high ground, a museum piece of integrity not included in the ongoing
fire sale of her life experiences. It was a story she had promised repeatedly
not to tell. "I will always respect his privacy," she told an interviewer in
approached her earlier this year, she hung up on him.
last item on the shelf. Everything else has already been shipped out. The late
teens went to "Looking Back," which was expanded into a book. She told the
syndicated newspaper column. Her divorce, which was not amicable, proved to be
edgy fodder for copy. Several newspapers canceled her column, which later
subscribe, who send me extraordinarily moving letters about their own
merchandising ghoulish, oddball dating stories, some of them prompted by this
slender, talented, and passionate. My academic credentials and creative
a pair of headlights." So what does a girl journalist do? Whip out the
notebook! Declaring herself to be a "researcher investigating the world of
captioned, "The nostalgic author holds on to her old implants."
Oddly, none of these adventures crops up in the recent
poster girl for youth literacy. Nor are they to be found on her astonishing
past books, a package of the famous divorce columns and, of course, subscribe
posting tales of her recent move to the Bay Area and commenting upon the dating
protected her investment. The literary marketplace has assigned a huge premium
who quit the publicity mainstream decades ago. A friend who has seen her book
pursuits. (But we do learn that he is into homeopathy.) Small matter that one
looking to score a twofer. Not only will her book generate interest among lit
and asked her to forswear all else to come and live with him," blah blah.
that just say everything about the times we live in? I think there's a piece
academic degree heads up the local United Way campaign. What other acquisition
might serve your high economic and social status? How about having some more
long been a demographic truism that richer means fewer, not more, kids. And as
far as it goes, census data seem to bear this out. As the average incomes of
height of the baby boom in the 1950s, the number of children born to an
phenomenon is not confined to the United States. The average number of children
People have lots of reasons for choosing to have fewer
children, including the expansion of opportunities for women in the workplace,
but it is an undeniable fact that rearing children in the modern world is an
toiled in the fields, mucked out the barn, and cared for their parents in old
age. But modern parents don't really expect much of a return from the resources
they spend on their children. Sure, Johnny may mow the lawn and Jenny might run
the dishwasher, but in general kids today do little to contribute directly to a
still think that children are a reasonable investment. In a poor rural family,
children still do chores on the farm. And before welfare reform, at least, an
additional child usually meant an increase in a poor urban family's
French, piano, and dance lessons. Of course, these parents are spending this
money in an attempt to assure the future success of their children. But even
three or four kids. Some intriguing, if sketchy, data suggest that at the
highest levels of wealth and income, the trend is toward larger, not smaller,
One other interesting figure comes from the very tiptop of
opportunities for status signaling. Wealthy parents can talk endlessly at the
regularly. And of course, there are schools and universities. Did they prep at
Being able to provide lavishly for a large number of children shows that you've
people don't love their kids. Rather, kids today are not only little bundles of
joy but also are perhaps the ultimate symbols of worldly success and status.
Currently, election law permits national party committees
such as the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee
party committees. The Democrats and Republicans have state party committees in
every state. Created as separate entities from their national counterparts,
they are in large part regulated by state law. Generally, state law is more
permissive than federal law. For example, more than half the states allow
corporate contributions and labor contributions, while federal law prohibits
such contributions. Many states have no limits on the amount that may be
contributed. Usually, a national party committee does not use its soft money to
directly support state or local candidates. Instead, a national party committee
transfers those funds to state party committees, which in turn support state
make their donations directly to the state party committee. Although
committees from coordinating in other ways. For example, a national party
parties and exchange information, as long as it did not solicit or direct
state party from coordinating and directing contributions with others. Because
the law doesn't require state party committees to be located within their
state party committees set up a single office representing all of the
business as usual with the slight inconvenience of rearranging lease agreements
ads that don't expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate by
prohibition on corporate contributions and the limits on individual
contributions. (The exemption does not apply if the person behind the ad
coordinated it with a campaign.) An ad that identifies a candidate and
prohibitions and limits unless words of express advocacy are used.
But any politician worth his salt could evade this restriction. First, he'd
create and air all of his issue advertisements outside the 60-day period.
Second, he'd be creative about the contents of the ads he broadcast inside the
discuss important issues in an election without identifying a candidate. Once
again, it's easy to imagine party committees and advocacy groups making
inventive and persuasive ads that don't depict or refer to a candidate, but
strike the same themes as the campaign's ads established outside the 60-day
laws only inconvenience campaigns as the lawyers figure out how to circumvent
them and the courts dismantle them as threats to First Amendment rights to free
speech. The heap of rules and prohibitions that survive these challenges are
subject to the law of unintended consequences, usually causing an effect that
Times Magazine profile. "If there is a crack water will find it. Same way
and, what's most unusual for wonk kiss and tells, easy to read, partly because
Whatever is between them, in nonfiction, is supposed to reflect accurately
words that some real person actually said. Now, "accurately" leaves room for
quibbling, and a memoir will be understood by most readers to be offered on an
to himself, "usually late at night," and then consolidated them to make the
expectations accordingly. Fair enough. Maybe he has a good memory.
accuracy, at least some checking of his memory, especially when public
crisp conversation, especially when the same remark issues from two different
destroy anything that gets in their way, using whatever tactics are available."
chairman, told him this about congressional Democrats: "We're owned by them.
that, in any case, he neither said nor believes that Democrats are owned by
saying: "You're either a genius or you're nuts. If I were you, I wouldn't share
that theory with anyone else." Obey says, through an aide, that he's sure he
the words that you attribute to me in various places, in direct quotation
marks, as though you were repeating my words verbatim."
dialogues are checkable, and turn out, when checked, to be inaccurate in ways
invite the players and owners to the White House in the first place?"
"If you can't even get these parties to agree, what hope do you have in
it was the minimum wage and now it's baseball. Why do you and your labor
administration. But none of the questions, nor any like them, was ever asked.
with the players and the owners. In your opinion, who is more to blame for this
impasse? And why won't they simply accept voluntarily binding arbitration?"
the office and the Oval Office for labor disputes?" There was a question about
replacement players, would you throw out the first ball?"
Economic Committee. That much his memoir gets right. "The Republican attack
"There was a time not long ago when congressional hearings were designed to
elicit information for members in order to help them draft legislation,"
hammers a decent Democrat. Don't take my word for it. I invite you to compare
at him so loudly that he has to yell to be heard. "They plan to carve me up
into small pieces," he writes. "There isn't a lady in the room. All men, in
dark suits. They've finished lunch. Some are smoking cigars. Others are quietly
anyone can hear me." The cigar smoke, he says, "is making my eyes water. I feel
dizzy." He says, "We're in a boxing arena, John's the champ, and the crowd is
loving every minute." Finally, the meeting over, he races "out the back exit
list shows that a third or more of the people present were women (including the
rule, according to an association representative (who, like another witness I
talked to, saw no cigars). Most important, a transcript of the meeting shows a
respectful Q and A session, in which none of the comments attributed to
One would hardly expect a roomful of corporate reps to
the transcript shows nothing nastier than sprinkled applause and laughter. I
session, whether his transcript might have omitted hisses, boos, and
Note to the Reader: "I claim no higher truth than my own perceptions. This is
how I lived it." He said that his notes accurately reflected how he felt and
what he perceived. In the three cases cited above, he felt varying degrees of
hostility. "I am not representing the book to be anything other than it is,
which is my account of my experiences, my perceptions, what I saw and heard
distinction between history and myth, memoir and novel, reality and perception.
The problem is that those are real people he misquotes, real history he
for history than newspapers, but newspapers, which are generally much more
careful than the average publishing house about such niceties as checking
proper word for it, is now ensconced between hard covers and will be read for
years to come as part of the historical record. That is a shame. Quote me.
operating system, and Internet Explorer, the Web browser, are two separate
Can you take a computer with both Internet Explorer and Windows, eliminate
the sort. Well, you're probably sitting in front of a computer right now.
You're probably using Windows, and there's a good chance you're also using, or
at least have installed, Internet Explorer. So here's your chance to duplicate
yourself who's got the better of the argument. Can you remove Internet Explorer
follow along, be sure to print this story now and save these instructions.
a machine running Windows 95--and in all likelihood, this is what he did.
you're using Internet Explorer now, you'll have to quit. After a few minutes,
rebooting you'll find that the Internet Explorer icon is gone from your desktop
and Windows works fine. (To restore Internet Explorer, you'll need to have it
procedure leaves "components" of Internet Explorer on the machine. Later, if
components belong to Internet Explorer, read two key documents, both written by
components that are allegedly part of Internet Explorer.
first, back to our experiment. A couple of serious warnings: Before removing
any components, you must save copies onto a floppy disk. Make sure you have
megabytes. Later, you'll use this disk to copy the components back onto your
hard drive. Final warning: If your computer fails to work the way it used to
even after returning the components, I can't help you.
files are small chunks of computer code that are intended to be shared by more
affidavit that these files are included with Internet Explorer when it is
these files and see what happens. (You do have copies on disk, right?) Before
proceeding, write down or remember the directories where these files are found.
example, and hit Enter.) Then delete the three files (type del
familiar desktop environment. However, your Internet applications (other than
Lotus Notes. You might try them too and see what happens, if you're feeling
In fact, most of my other Internet programs appeared to be functioning
my version of Windows would be severely crippled. Try running Internet Explorer
without these three components, though, and it really will be seriously
crippled. On my computer, Internet Explorer turned into a clear window, with a
view of the desktop where a Web page ought to be and failed to load any pages
that you can't truly remove Internet Explorer without crippling Windows. More
than anything, though, it casts doubt on whether a government policy decision
(divining the essential natures of things as inanimate as software programs)
Windows, and reinstalling Internet Explorer, the experiment is over and your
computer should be back in its original condition. At least mine was.
transparent. If politicians and their mouthpieces gave it to us straight, we'd
have nothing to interpret and write. So we swoon when important people return
our calls. (We've been asked to dance!) We thrill at the telephone game of
question and evasion, thinking our guile and cunning will ultimately yield
truth. We play the tortuous game of spin and leak because we must feed the
recounts how the diplomat would summon reporters for supposedly intimate
discussions and solicit their opinions. Then he'd feed them junk, which they'd
off the record, knowing that they'd view that information as more credible and
purchased appetizers, and conjured the crowd. (At least it was a cash bar.)
declines to talk about the party, citing Journal policy. He was anything
but speechless at the party itself, serving as master of ceremonies and
delivering what many thought was a hilarious speech.
fete are all wrong. "We were treating it almost as a birthday party," the
reporter said, asking for anonymity. "We all wrote a big card and signed it and
you can get a story leaked to you, not how well you can develop a story on your
own and connect the dots," she said. "You get stuff leaked to you in the caste
is a false, overvalued currency. You claw your way into a position to get your
calls returned by actually breaking stories, but that reward is empty. It means
that you're the seventh or eighth on the call list to be lied to, instead of
game, he's still mixing sense and nonsense for public consumption. Just two
come to know the president, through proximity and through being around that
matter of fact, I would agree that it is unusual to have that kind of access
and relationship with the president's personal secretary and the president
comment out of all the interns that work in the White House," he said. "I can't
should know that I have no personal knowledge whatsoever about anything."
includes two live spreadsheets where you can plug in your own numbers. Click to
subject.) But one form of investment this new law undoubtedly will stimulate is
tax shelters. Shelters are financial arrangements designed primarily or
which ended the special break for capital gains. Now they are back, as the
shelters? Leave aside critical questions of fairness and revenue lost to the
Treasury (which must be made up by borrowing or by increasing taxes on other
people). Consider only the effect of tax shelters on the overall economy.
Shelters hurt the economy in two ways. At best they waste resources on lawyers
and accountants designing complicated but economically meaningless
arrangements. At worst they redirect investment capital from uses that make
economic sense to those that don't. In the early 1980s, for example, the tax
system made it profitable to build office buildings even if you had no hope of
beginning of the end of the War on Drugs? To some drug warriors, the reform
for the social norms that keep kids away from drugs are very serious," says
that advocates of drug reform are enjoying unprecedented success in setting the
concerns about drug use by funding the steady expansion of federal and state
the civic credos of "getting tough" and "just saying no" carried the weight of
common sense and enjoyed sway in schools, print, and on the airwaves.
marijuana roughly doubled, a phenomenon that received wide attention during the
the perception of a leadership vacuum around the time of the election, it's not
Though lumped together in articles like this, the two laws
sentence; and, almost as an afterthought, allows doctors to prescribe
prosecution persons who use marijuana under an oral or written "recommendation"
defining deviancy down, as cultural conservatives would have it? Judge for
is virtual: "All buyers must send copy of medical report and birth
certificate." A return address in given. Is this a brazen hoax? Street dealing
on the information highway? Proceed, with a caveat emptor, to:
Network chat room, a posting on marijuana proved to be the most popular ever,
mental health, addiction, mind expansion, and above all, children.
the home page, angrily yanked the site with this statement: "Mail distribution
[of marijuana] is an avenue of diversion for abuse!"
In the nation's capital, the sound you hear is of paper
clear he regards the two laws as the work of deceptive and mischievous drug
metropolitan Phoenix), was perhaps the most incisive of those who testified
before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing early this month. While four other
go after doctors, federalize marijuana enforcement, go to court, and get a
Medical Association reject the notion of medical marijuana, but caregiver
staff director of the drug czar's office, want the feds to step in.
federalization of state marijuana prohibitions would also impose some real
say in court that they are handling medical marijuana. That would not be a
permissible defense in federal court, but federal prosecutors don't pursue
traffickers unless they are handling substantial quantities. For example, in
keep their operations under the federal threshold," observed Orange County
entrepreneurs posing as medical suppliers? A spokesman for the office declined
and, the police charged, to many others who just wanted to get stoned. For his
realize voters meant that marijuana should be used only as an occasional
exception for someone who is seriously suffering and under the direct
start this state down the slippery slope toward the legalization of
But the "just say no" party can't seem to get traction on
that slippery slope. The public now seems unswayed by its message. Leading
against the propositions. Public opinion didn't change much.
cabal is also growing less plausible. A civic cause that includes
talk radio stations and had to issue a clarification.
reformers have not shown that they can consistently win the confidence of the
won a very small victory that is not readily convertible to any other area of
seeking to shape the future of personal computing, Internet publishing, and
electronic commerce. It has achieved a dominant position in the computer
industry already and is poised to extend its reach. Is what is good for
desktop market after another, there have been fewer and fewer new entrants or
challenge in selecting a word processor, relational database, or other desktop
application is finding a product that can perform adequately without crashing
only company that really knows how its operating system works and the only
company that can arbitrarily change how that operating system works. (For
successful new platform for publishing and sharing information. It developed in
developed a computer programming language named Java, designed so that programs
written in it would run on any computer, regardless of the operating system.
to exercise the same type of proprietary control over MS Java applications that
which it gives away. Why? By monopolizing the browser market, and by destroying
position itself to own the software used by consumers to operate a new
will be used to connect to the information superhighway. This would extend the
enormous advantages in positioning its own products in electronic commerce and
concerned, there are some fundamental questions: What can be done? What should
not be allowed too much control over something as important as the way we
Road Ahead about the need for a dialogue on the information highway. Next
month a group of industry leaders, academic specialists, consumer activists,
Technology, prepared additional material for this article.
sectarians. The most brutal internecine spats took place in New York City in
these were personality cults, led by charismatic trade unionists and brainy
that rather than give out leaflets for the revolution, he prefers to study for
political activists of the right have generally eschewed minuscule parties and
bloody breaks. Recently, however, conservatives have become enthusiastic
libertarians and Christian conservatives over issues like the regulation of the
Internet. The New Republic carried a piece last month about how
neoconservative intellectuals have also started to condemn the
Council, the Christian Coalition, the Christian Action Network, and so on.
Communist Party's attempt in the late 1930s to pool leftists into a grand
others put aside significant doctrinal disagreements.
have particular ideological agendas. They fall into different camps. Some
social traditionalists, but who are also economic nationalists) can join the
own party and organizations promoting the rollback of government, like the
actually have an obligation to undermine other leftist groups. They follow
their namesake's aphorism that revolutions are like birth: The forceps
shouldn't be applied too early. Only a vanguard party (their own, of course),
using the correct tactics at the correct moment, can instigate a revolution.
Christian conservatives have a similar sort of fixation on the purity of their
movement's strategy. Consequently, the religious right is riddled with tiny
monopoly on midwifery techniques for bringing a Christian society into the
society using Mosaic law as a blueprint. A truly Christian polis, they believe,
would deny nonbelievers citizenship and publicly stone or kill disobedient
children. Though they can't claim much of a following, their coterie is well
preach such an extreme vision for their ideal society, but they similarly abhor
compromise. Take Focus on the Family, a "parental rights" activist group with a
leftist tune "Which Side Are You On?" Here, they describe their mission in
pretty stark terms: "Nothing short of a great Civil War of Values rages today
worldviews are locked in a bitter conflict." So if you give an inch in battle,
other groups with a fairly similar take. Many claim to have several hundred
thousand members: the Christian Action Network, Eagle Forum, Concerned Women
Coalition, the most powerful organization on the right and the one most
explained the Christian Coalition's strategy last spring in his manifesto,
argued that the religious right needs to retreat from the shrill language used
for backpedaling on abortion. And, more recently, Christian conservative
leaders have blamed Reed for the debacle of the Bob Dole campaign. Reed, they
argue, quieted brawls between Christian conservatives and Dole that would have
forced Dole to pay more attention to the Christian movement and its issues. In
incessantly about new groups. In a series of letters, some of which were
constitutional convention, she argues, would be required to enact an amendment,
him for not being tough enough on the abortion issue.
right since the 1960s. Groups like the Separation of School and State Alliance
and the Home School Legal Defense Association hate the more recent conservative
Separation of School and State Alliance calls voucher supporters both
"fascists" and "socialists." Vouchers, they argue, are simply a guise for the
Educational Liberator is peppered with references to their libertarian
over detail. But to people who believe the welfare state and abortion are
absolute evils, they are of the utmost importance. And, without the old
Echo," taken to a new extreme. There's too much choice and not enough echo.
all sorts of irritating habits. If offered a perfectly good
fact, many of them prefer beer, while others refrain from even coffee, as
League showoffs, they are quietly proud of their state colleges, however
Unfortunately, much good has also been lost along the way,
including that easy familiarity that comes from an early acquaintance with
foreign ways. It is one thing to read up on, say, current French policy for the
airliner industry, and to start from scratch. It is quite another if the new
information is layered over personal experiences with things French going back
deficiency might be what Tony Lake had in mind when, in the course of his
particularly in languages and cultural knowledge, is getting very thin." The
which affects its quality as an intelligence organization far more than the
difficult to strike just the right tone with a foreign diplomat or functionary
like. But even with these folks, the challenge is to interpret and manipulate
motivations, urges, obsessions, and priorities that drastically diverge from
sure, there is plenty of talent all over the United States and in every level
officials. One reason is simply that applicants are much more likely to be
all their lives, with no prior foreign travel or foreign contacts (each of
which must be reported in detail, no matter how routine the travel or how
casual the contact). Moreover, there seems to be a distinct preference for
universities. But those days are long past. The Ivy League graduates who used
to fill its ranks now mostly want to become investment bankers: It is there
sexual partners eager to connect with Westerners. At present, most such
graduation, surviving on odd jobs instead of starting a career back home. When
he jokingly responded with "girls," the investigators did not conceal their
so interested in the area's ongoing struggle and the local culture that she
decided to study it systematically, exiting from her marriage to return there.
She made a great number of friends, from village women to guerrilla leaders,
multiplying the number of "foreign contacts" she faithfully reported on the
much better if she had remained celibate in Salt Lake City.
vices of either their more adventurous contemporaries or their flamboyant Ivy
League predecessors, but it is really unfair to expect them to cope with all
didn't, you will. Well in advance of the mobs of reporters, editors, film
crews, radio disc jockeys, news anchors, and photographers now descending on
example, not only availed itself of much of the government bumph in its
They are now complaining about negative coverage that focuses on disputes over
rights. That is only to be expected, inasmuch as most of the aforementioned
should consider themselves fortunate. Because if the press ever did decide to
move seriously past politics, it would discover that the real threat to Hong
increased social spending in his budgets, the business community thundered
(rightly, I happen to think) that the proposals had been introduced with scant
low government spending have been curiously silent in response to the new
signal by declaring that "a noninterference policy would not meet the needs and
in favor of a "new industrial direction" that would look more kindly upon state
business as they do his politics, moreover, they might discover that he is
where routes and quotas are routinely carved out, but it was bailed out, as he
him up on his new offer. Just recently, the International Herald Tribune
carried an alarming piece in which Henry Tang, a prominent local industrialist
special fund from land sales) to develop southern China. Given that there is no
genuine infrastructure need for which China could not easily find private
Cabinet member to raid the reserves is a virtual invitation for scam and graft.
"It's why I always told the democrats to oppose the Provident Fund [a
government pension scheme]," says a director of one of the territory's oldest
raiding of the reserves is only one worry. Although hailed by no less than the
retained many notable exceptions to the rule, exceptions that may prove more
everything from legal and medical services to airlines and utilities is almost
immune from market competition thought good for everyone else. About a year ago
that "unfettered competition" would destroy the "stability" of the market.
interests have been buying into these companies, usually at a substantial
get a substantial chunk of that growth. But the market has clearly signaled a
traditional pluck and enterprise. Such an outcome invites an irony that would
whose investments have done so much to undermine communism in China may be
got sentenced the other day to four months in prison for having consensual sex
the midst of all the rumors about their liaison, they both got promoted.
on the subject of workplace romance, the media and the Army operate by
different rules. And the rules in the (civilian) government are different
and nearly inseparable from his former deputy, had that relationship hanging
chief. Other appointments are never proposed and political campaigns are never
opposite sex is. There are good reasons for strict rules in the military, where
under immense stress combined with stretches of boredom and laced with
women must be punished. But for consensual sex, has the Army ever considered a
policy of "ask and tell," with direct reports being reassigned and the others
companies have instituted the policy that when a subordinate and a boss get
frailties. A network representative says the matter "doesn't deserve the
when the lifestyles of the rich and famous, including politicians, go astray.
The Army is proceeding against other soldiers under a draconian code that can
transform consensual sex into constructive rape, if it happens across ranks.
newspapers, Staples and Office Depot assure the public that their proposed
office supplies. Their "larger operations and greater buying ability," they
say, will produce lower costs, and that will "mean bigger savings for you." How
you suspect that when the two top competitors in a market stop competing and
merge, the result will be higher prices, not lower. This kind of thinking goes
chattering with amateur antitrust sleuths. (To read the discussion, or to join
in yourself, check out some of the newsgroups addressing the topic.)
For some people, office supplies are a subject that
bodyguards because of threats, apparently from his employees. A few of these
employees, at least, seem to buy their executives' argument that the merger
will (probably) lead to price cuts because it will (definitely) lead to job
cuts. Other believers include investors who have bid up the stock prices of
possible that Staples and Office Depot have a case? That their merger would be
mergers and acquisitions, partly on the grounds that increasing international
buy their office supplies in foreign countries. But the agency has also become
more sensitive to the details of particular products and markets. "Bigness" per
many economists have long argued, of the greater operating efficiencies and,
hence, presumed lower costs produced by concentration. Moreover, if a company
hoards its savings from size, instead of passing them on to consumers in lower
inherently more suspicious than a company that comes to dominate the market
through its own growth. And appreciation of the competitive market's marvelous
advice of battling experts. These experts will run regression analyses and
market. And in the end, the regulators will have to consult their own
the question of what constitutes the market in which Staples and Office Depot
compete. The companies want to define the market as broadly as possible. They
City, which sell some office supplies. By this measure, the companies' analysts
of the products that Staples and Office Depot sell in other places. But their
where all these products are brought together in one (often bewildering)
Office Depot, and a third rival, Office Max. A merger of the first two would
has some telling facts to back up its theory. The agency has sales data showing
that prices are lower in markets where two of the three superstores
with Office Depot was that it feared an Office Depot invasion of its home turf,
cost efficiencies of a merger will outweigh the lost discipline provided by
competition. (It is ironic to see, for example, the Wall Street Journal
fulminating against government interference with this merger, since the notion
that the efficiencies of bigness outweigh the discipline of competition used to
go by the name socialism, or even the name communism.)
command concessions from Paper Clip Inc. But surely these two superstore chains
are already big enough to squeeze suppliers quite effectively. What's to gain?
More likely, any cost savings would come from eliminating stores in shared
remaining competitor, Office Max. The stores would be sold at bargain prices,
and many are located in communities where there would otherwise be no
claimed benefits of the merger, while hedging its bets on the competition issue
by shoring up Office Max and seeding healthy retail conflict in scores of
example, notes that if Office Max now supports the merger, which it does, that
how reassured would we be if they offered the palliative of selling a few
franchises to Taco Bell? Do you take comfort that, in some sense, Red Lobster
merger frames the issue as: Which is worse, Big Business or Big Regulator? In
competitive innovation in retailing (new kinds of superstores, discount
seems to have picked an issue to take a stand on that really matters to people
with real consequences to our everyday lives. That could be trust building, if
overlooked in the frenzy of speculation about Dolly, the sheep cloned by
into being, and why, from a biologist's point of view, she matters.)
each time, it replicates our sheep gene.) We've been cloning cells for longer.
Certain cells can be "cultured," reproducing themselves like bacteria in a
accomplishments, but neither comes close to reconstituting an organism. That is
insurmountable one. As every gardener knows, you can regenerate entire plants
from the smallest cutting. But animals are not so straightforward. The only
hours old. Any older, and no new frog developed. That is because cells in very
until now, the conventional wisdom in biology has had it
of tissue, once cells have differentiated into a particular tissue type they
as an irreversible process. If we cloned muscle cells, we got more muscle
cells. Muscle cells were not going to generate liver cells.
differentiation work? We don't really know. We do know that every cell contains
an identical and complete set of genetic instructions, the genome. As cells
mature, however, they switch on some parts of those instructions, and switch
off others. The cells in your muscle tissue switch on muscle genes. The cells
some cells express some genes, and not others. The process of development (or
differentiation) is one of the least understood in biology. At one end of the
black box you put in a simple cell, the fertilized egg, and out of the other
backward. Dolly is derived from a single mammary cell. Conventional wisdom
would have dictated that mammary cells, which are highly differentiated and
full range of different cell types that make up a sheep.
in its simplicity. In Dolly's case, they took a mammary cell and grew it on a
essentially starved the cells so that they shut down normal metabolic function,
entering a "quiescent" state, in which dedifferentiation apparently occurs. The
only the mother's half of genes; by adding the genes from an adult mammary
One question that inevitably comes up is whether there is
something peculiar about the way sheep mammary tissues differentiate. A second
fibroblast is as highly specialized and fully differentiated as a mammary cell.
because she came from adult tissue. Biologically, though, the two experiments
development. Cells in mature animal tissues are not, as we had thought,
irreversibly differentiated. Understanding differentiation is the key to
understanding development, and Dolly embodies the extraordinary possibility of
construction rules used in putting animals together.
flimsy "galley proofs." These are sent out to people who might generate buzz
may about the sending out of galleys: Now the book will begin to receive
the galleys of my own last book, and wrote me heatedly denying that he was
working on a book about black genetic intellectual inferiority, as I had
The Bell Curve was not circulated in galleys before
publication. The effect was, first, to increase the allure of the book (There
must be something really hot in there!), and second, to ensure that no one
inclined to be skeptical would be able to weigh in at the moment of
publisher. The ordinary routine of neutral reviewers having a month or two to
go over the book with care did not occur. Another handpicked group was flown to
what you'd expect: The first wave of publicity was either credulous or angry,
but short on evidence, because nobody had time to digest and evaluate the
typical work of trade nonfiction. It is gotten up as a work of original
scholarly research. Most works containing fresh regression analysis and
historical argument from primary sources would be published in academic
quarterlies that send manuscripts out for elaborate, lengthy evaluation before
wasn't until a full year or more after The Bell Curve was published that
the leading experts on its subject had a chance to go through the underlying
Curve discussion grew, but the attention paid to that discussion inevitably
on publication day was conducted in the mass media by people with no
independent ability to assess the book. Over the next few months, intellectuals
took some pretty good shots at it in smaller publications like the New
that the most damaging criticism of The Bell Curve began to appear, in
tiny academic journals. What follows is a brief summary of that last body of
Unsurprisingly, all the mistakes are in the direction of supporting the
century, this quality has risen to supreme importance, because society has
become increasingly complex. The intelligent have therefore gone through an
"invisible migration," from points of origin all over the class system to a
concentration at the top of business, government, and the professions. They are
likely to become ever more dominant and prosperous. The unintelligent are
falling further and further behind. Because intelligence is substantially
inherited, nothing is likely to reverse this process. Blacks are
overrepresented among the unintelligent. Any efforts government might make to
improve the economic opportunities of poor people, especially poor black
people, are likely to fail, because their poverty is so much the result of
inherited low intelligence. About the best that can be done for these people is
an effort to create a world of simple, decent, honorable toil for them.
that "a scholarly consensus has been reached" around their position. This
consensus is "beyond significant technical dispute." Thus, by the end of their
introduction, they have arranged matters so that if intelligence has any
meaning at all, the idiotic liberals stand discredited; and meanwhile,
extremely broad claims for intelligence have the cover of "consensus."
say. A more accurate rendering of the liberal position would be that rather
obviate the role of family background and education; and that native ability
(and economic success independent of native ability) can be enhanced by
improving education, training, and public health. The Bell Curve refers
problem with The Bell Curve 's thesis is in the idea of the rise to
dominance of the cognitive elite. To the book's initial audience of Ivy
universities, law firms, hospitals, investment banks, and the State Department
used to be run by preppies whose main virtue was fortunate birth, and are now
used to be scattered throughout the class structure, and are now concentrated
administration of mental tests is such a recent phenomenon. High scorers on
on the basis of scores on mental tests will be composed disproportionately of
people who score high on mental tests. Proving The Bell Curve 's thesis
life where mental tests are not the explicit gatekeepers. To see how
The Bell Curve tries and fails to get around these inherent problems,
The basic tool of statistical social science in general,
and of The Bell Curve in particular, is regression analysis, a technique
used to assign weights to various factors (called "independent variables") in
determining a final outcome (called the "dependent variable"). The original
statistical work in The Bell Curve consists of regression analyses on a
database called the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. The authors claim to
Virtually all the early commentators on The Bell Curve were unable to
assess the merits of the regression analysis. "I am not a scientist. I know
have been gone over by professionals, who have come up with different results.
The key points of their critique of The Bell Curve are as follows:
All the people tracked in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth took the
measure of intelligence. Because the material covered in the test includes
subjects like trigonometry, many academic critics of The Bell Curve have
magnitude of this rise, as shows. And they resist the obvious inference that
the test scores are measuring something other than intelligence.
their discussion of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth data by announcing
that they aren't going to analyze the effect of education, because education is
somehow, that doesn't stop them.) Therefore, what you'd most want to know from
with in the book, except in two obscure footnotes. Both would seem to support
work, now amounting to hundreds of empirical and theoretical studies, permits a
between broad and narrow is too technical to explain in this limited space.]
exercise is to figure out what our social policies should be, then, "Which is
chapter of The Bell Curve on policies that might be able to overcome the
cost effectiveness of the intervention." (As an example of where the kind of
much higher place in the pantheon of human virtues than it deserves." And they
road." They end by expressing the hope that we can "be a society that makes
everyone, not just the lucky ones, to live a satisfying life." Throughout,
liberal-) minded technicians who have, with great caution, followed the
unpleasant scientific truths that it is their reluctant duty to report.
Curve is a relentless brief for the conservative position in psychometrics
and social policy. For all its talk of reflecting a consensus, the sources it
in The Bell Curve are consistently massaged to produce conservative
conclusions; not once is a finding that contradicts the main thesis reported in
than it actually is.) The Bell Curve 's air of strict scientism doesn't
"intermarriage among people in the top few percentiles of intelligence may be
increasing far more rapidly than suspected" (no footnote). Though they piously
where people are held prisoner in chains, unable to see anything but the
shadows cast by figures passing outside; they mistake the shadows for reality.
The Republic is probably the first place in history where an idea like
through education, people could leave the cave and be able to see the truth
instead of the shadows, thus fitting themselves to become the wise rulers of
society. But he was quick to insert a cautionary note: Those who have left the
cave might be tempted to think they can see perfectly clearly, while actually
they would be "dazzled by excess of light." The image applies to The Bell
the shadows of political correctness, it actually reflects the blinkered vision
are naturally superior, and offers lurid descriptions of aspects of national
life that they know about only by rumor. Readers who accept The Bell
away millions every year in the District and elsewhere.
gratitude, and frisson of generosity that comes from giving away the
government subsidy, and its charitable contributions are part of a vital
became his wife, was the campaign's press secretary. Considered likable and
in a ".com." Basically what it does is buy home mortgages from banks and
to investors. The banks then can use their own money for more mortgages. By
giving home buyers indirect access to the world's capital markets, this device
function. These days, however, that function is served by many private
securities need not be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It is exempt from state and local taxes, so it escapes having to pay an
are backed by the federal government. This allows it to raise money at an
interest rate that is lower than what a normal private corporation has to
to say in so many words that they are not backed by the full faith and
credit of the United States government. But nobody believes it. Why? As a
report last year from the Congressional Budget Office explains, "What the
government appears to withhold with one requirement, it provides with a host of
exists, fights to preserve the arrangement that makes it possible.
The company also notes that, since it has never missed a
payment, the taxpayers have not yet had to shell out a penny. But that is like
saying that fire insurance is worthless if you've never had a fire. Just ask
other private companies if they would like to have a free federal guarantee of
their debts! The government, if it wanted to, could sell its backing to private
power. The fact that no money changes hands doesn't mean it has no cost.
of a real private company of its size, even though its size is largely a
function of the federal guarantee and its business is not as complex as size
last year as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Other politicos
feeding at the trough include Senior Vice President for Public Affairs John
are a crucial part. The foundation sprinkles contributions on everything:
tanks like the Heritage Foundation (which, to its credit, has issued reports
175-page tract that pleads for still more subsidies while cloaking itself in
conveniently draped in the background. The back jacket is crammed with
thanked for his "considerable editing skills." Alas, the text could have done
the Republican Congress may enact. The truth about government subsidies for
that they do very little to make housing more affordable. Part gets siphoned
person who owns the property at the time the subsidy is instituted, not the
which creates a similar secondary market in subsidized student loans.
Organizations combining public and private functions appeal to the woolly ideal
healthy distrust of government and the market, levelheadedness leavened by a
wizardry: It must convince the nation at large that organized labor is not
the weekend chewing over the tactical innovations that have made the union's
reputation: "card check" campaigns that bypass the National Labor Relations
Board's sclerotic certification process; aggressive scrutiny of employers'
financial profiles; blitzkrieg drives that take on entire sectors at once.
every evening," she reports with a smile, "we all stood in a circle and sang
honorable careers tightening labor markets and kicking the shit out of
then, for uplift and inspiration, a chance to sing "Solidarity Forever" and
is, bear in mind, one of the most vigorous and progressive corners of the labor
labor movement is alone like no other in the advanced industrial world.
its ensuing case law have erected absurd barriers to workers' freedom of
employers can comfortably fire workers simply because they seek to organize.
tactics alone won't rescue labor from its peculiar weakness and insularity. To
ails us. They need to sell the case that our colossal wage inequality is not a
fact of nature; that a progressive labor movement can make our workplaces more
decent and more productive; and that strong unions can leverage gains not only
this case won't be easy, but it's unavoidable. Without such a framework, even
"The labor movement is eternally in danger of becoming a Contracts 'R' Us
operation that only services its existing members. You've got to look in the
better embedded in a larger reform movement, it might be more motivated to
God bless the day when no one's Uncle Ed will be able to lean across the
Thanksgiving table and say, "So I hear you're working for the labor movement.
movement might be less likely to cut shortsighted political deals that undercut
vote, which was narrow to begin with, was later rescinded after an outcry.
Several weeks ago I spoke with a New York City organizer
Harass them when they go shopping. That's how you defeat corporate
much in the Organizing Institute's spirit. Its training materials stress
"finding the person who can give you what you want" and making his or her life
routinely do things just as nasty. (Did you catch the story a few weeks ago
Isn't there something amiss when a movement based on solidarity and cooperation
won't do much to help win a contract. But without a steady drumbeat of public
muscles. Now let's work on the heart and the voice.
become national pariahs, endlessly reviled as heartless merchants of death and
disease. But amid the chorus of demands for punishment of the industry, one
group of profiteers continues to enjoy public sympathy and the favor of
expect that any financial settlement would require compensation not only from
those who packaged and marketed cigarettes but also from those who made a
living growing and selling tobacco to those manufacturers. But the farmers have
succeeded in portraying themselves as innocent victims deserving to be made
and his fellow tobacco farmers would like not only to preserve the current
tobacco program, perhaps the most lucrative of federal agriculture subsidies,
but also to get a share of the loot from the proposed tobacco deal. "We deserve
to share equitably in any proceeds distributed as a result of a settlement,"
and the president appear ready to accede to their demands. House Commerce
that he will not go along with any deal that includes the dismantling of the
when he finally took a (vague) position on the proposed settlement was greater
protection for farmers and their communities: "We have a responsibility to
these people. They haven't done anything wrong. They haven't done anything
caused this problem." The proposals being discussed on Capitol Hill include
paying billions in aid to help growers switch to other crops and compelling
cigarette makers to use more domestic leaf in their products.
even more notable, considering that last year Congress enacted legislation
putting most other farm subsidies on the path to extinction. Tobacco farmers
are especially loath to relinquish the embrace of the Department of Agriculture
because they have been treated with unusual generosity. Defenders insist the
program shouldn't be called a subsidy because it costs taxpayers virtually
nothing. But the only reason taxpayers get off easy is that consumers don't.
The program works by requiring either a federal acreage allotment to grow
tobacco, a marketing quota to sell it, or both. By thus restricting output, the
Department of Agriculture keeps prices artificially high. If the price drops
too low, the government will effectively buy it at a floor price. To prevent
The federal government is often accused of gross hypocrisy
for discouraging smoking while rewarding farmers for growing the weed. In fact,
there is a weird and wholly accidental consistency in these policies. By
raising prices, the tobacco program reduces smoking, though to only a modest
didn't want to have to raise other crops because an acre of tobacco can yield a
question is why the rest of us should be prepared to give them what they want.
same thing could be said for the managers, employees, suppliers, and
shareholders of the cigarette companies, and no one has given any thought to
getting big and corporate. But that's been done only by rewarding inefficiency.
Corn farmers could make a living off 100-acre spreads, too, if the Department
of Agriculture was willing to tightly limit output and mandate high prices.
Besides, the specter of agribusiness concerns taking over farms is largely a
bystanders blindsided by an unfair change in government policy. If the
cigarette makers are guilty of an assault on public health, those who grew
tobacco certainly deserve to be charged as accomplices. Paying them a share of
any settlement to make up for the loss of sales due to expected reductions in
smoking borders on the absurd. When a builder gets socked with a damage award
because one of his houses falls down, we don't allot a share of the money to
the subcontractors on the theory that they will lose work if business falls
off. Any help should come from the taxpayers at large, not from the purported
victims of smoking that the settlement is supposed to compensate. But the help
should be modest. Like everyone else, tobacco farmers have known for years that
the future of the cigarette business was not bright. If they failed to prepare
for a decline in demand or the dismantling of the tobacco program, that's their
fault. The rest of us shouldn't feel the obligation to keep supporting them in
nor less than they would deserve even if there were no cigarette deal (which
proposes to buy them out over a few years and then leave tobacco to the market.
His model is last year's farm bill, which phased out most other commodity
programs while providing transitional assistance during the changeover. Tobacco
growers managed to avoid that fate last year. If they're not willing to settle
proved anything. It's not yet ready, in my opinion, to win a big contest."
that his coaching had been bad ("my biggest mistake was following the advice of
computer advisers who recommended I play this way").
version of "wait till next year." "It [had] nothing to do [with] science," he
with unlimited resources would like to do so, there are many ways to achieve
personally guarantee if the machine plays me again, I would tear it to
Blue team, recognized with his overwrought For the Ages rhetoric ("historically
for mankind, this is like landing on the moon"), the match will go down in the
churlish, bratty, and just plain bad. We humans deserved a better spokesman at
this epochal point in our ongoing voyage of humility; a half century from now,
tactful words like, "You de man!" or, "You de machine!"
seek role models in the world of checkers, a supremely challenging game (there
talk from the other side probably warranted retaliation. ("The computer
the tie with the same sort of aplomb that, it's safe to say, he would have
me," he admitted, making Chinook sound not like a machine but like a grizzled
counterpart who deserved respect, even affection. "It's nearly got human
subject. At the time, the speaker's remarks were "off the record." That he has
now agreed to let them be reported may be due in part to the cover provided by
more radical and less socially conscious than what the speaker seems to have in
into private sector investments. He would do it by setting up "Social
"broad based" portfolio of private securities with low risk but a higher rate
members of the Social Security Advisory Council agreed that some part of the
trust funds should be invested in the private market (though they didn't agree
on how). The reason is simple: The Social Security system is missing out on its
possible both to keep paying benefits to current retirees and to make prudent
because, over the last several years and for several to come, Social Security
payroll taxes have far exceeded, and will continue to far exceed, the benefits
decade, are supposed to be "invested" against the rainy day when the baby
boomers retire. Instead, they are simply transferred to the Treasury in
used to help cover the costs of everything from Black Hawk helicopters to White
huge favor since, without its loans, the much touted budget surplus would be a
then congratulating yourself on your financial prudence. But in the case of
Social Security there's an added problem: A payroll tax is a lousy way to pay
for most of what government buys. It's fair enough to use such a tax to pay for
a social insurance program that provides coverage in rough proportion to
contributions. This is especially so since Social Security's retirement and
disability benefit formulas are heavily weighted to favor low earners. But
there's no justification for paying for defense or environmental protection or
the weather bureau with a regressive tax that hits only the lower part of
earnings and hits investment income not at all. (Well, there is one
justification: Otherwise, Congress and the president would have to cut
spending, raise taxes, or just admit they can't come close to balancing the
surplus. To keep the deficit in the rest of the budget from being laid bare for
all to ogle, they propose both tax hikes and benefit cuts. (Click for a
summary.) Some savings would come from higher income and payroll taxes,
among tax cut advocates against the plan's provisions calling for smaller
inflation adjustments in the income tax code.) But much would come in the form
of reduced Social Security benefits, notably accelerated increases in the
adjustments. Most economists do agree that the Consumer Price Index
significantly overstates inflation, and the system currently adjusts retirees'
initial benefits for real economic growth as well as for inflation. But the
senators' cut is toward the high end of the consensus, especially if sustained
How plausible are these proposals? A truly honest reform
would force the general budget to pay for itself and let Social Security
needs. But the senators would soften the benefit cuts by offering workers a
employer share, and invest the money in personal savings accounts. (Otherwise
workers can pocket their own half of the payroll tax cut.) That would make
Social Security look much like the current government employee retirement
supplemented by a savings plan in which worker contributions are matched by
workers will surely choose not to participate. Moreover, if workers are allowed
retirement will disadvantage some workers. In case you've forgotten, the stock
term "privatization." A basic social insurance system is a hallmark of a
Otherwise, for reasons laudable or frivolous, many people won't save the money
needed to provide for their old age or unexpected disability, and society will
end up paying to keep them on welfare. Nor should any current retirees fear for
their benefits, especially at a time when the system is generating huge
surpluses that ought to be reserved for the system's future needs. "No one has
National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that stocks outpace Treasury
of that differential compounds to a hefty sum over time. Moreover, redirecting
to redeem the securities, the money should really be there.
And that's the key point. The incremental reforms that
that the current trust fund balances, held in the form of Treasury bonds, are
really being compounded and preserved. But when the time comes to redeem the
bonds (or even when the annual payroll tax surpluses begin to taper off several
years from now), the government will be forced to choose among ugly
alternatives. It will have to cut other spending, raise other taxes or, more
workers paying payroll taxes (and if there aren't, we'll have many far bigger
problems), these can cover at least partial benefits. But the pressure to cut
benefits or sharply raise payroll taxes would be enormous.
has long been a stalwart advocate of traditional social insurance. By his
abrupt switch to the side of relatively radical reform, the senator has opened
longer, mind you. Just a few hours. Just long enough for me to get
reinforcements. (A militia offensive of some sort was widely rumored on the
negotiator's bait of surrender "with honor." The lawmen treated him like the
head of a brave conquered nation. He would be allowed to press in court his
but he obviously preferred it to Plan B: getting shot.
official said these fugitives were not experienced in the back country, so they
would be easy pickings. For my part, I knew there would be little left to see.
would live on. (The republic, as you probably know, contains three competing
backward, but they do expend insane amounts of energy on ridiculous "politics,"
dissipating most of it through meaningless infighting and petty posturing. Are
they evil, hateful nuts? No. I kind of liked most of them. They would be fun
Unfortunately, they have this other hobby: seceding from the union. And, being
of renegade militias, raising the question: At what point does nutty end and
follower who actually carried out the kidnapping and shooting that started the
him, I called a county police detective there who tracks the far right. He'd
republic's separatist fantasies will live on. A few hundred boisterous
The meeting itself was extremely hard to follow. After
New World Epsilons who lined up behind a floor microphone and took turns
a gross injustice, of course. Yes, he and four ROT colleagues were traveling
with full packs, semiautomatic weapons, pistols, radios, and plenty of ammo,
later: Why was he there? "I was curious about what was going on," he said. "On
prepared with some kind of leg irons in 'em to fasten you into place to ship
and I just hope his nuttiness stays "funny," but I have to wonder. When we met
close some came," he said eerily. "I can tell you that the militias have
interpretation would be terrorism. There is no one that can control that. There
sounded quite sparky on the radio. Early that morning, reports said that
someone fired at the bloodhounds, and that lawmen were closing in. I arrived
resort itself was miles and miles away. Whatever was happening, we wouldn't be
department. I asked him if it would be hard for runaways to hide in treeless
authorities scaled back the search for him, making vague noises about the
amount of food and water," said Mike Cox, who has been the state's spokesman
the violence; he never gave up; and he went out ready to blast away and die.
They better hope something gets him, because if he does stagger out of those
building and came upon Dick Morris clutching a book by the late Cardinal
evangelical humor magazine, in which he traced the arc of this sort of
work, and money making has declined significantly as part of my life. They're
not the things that I think about constantly," Morris said with beguiling
innocence. "At some point I would very much like to be able to have a national
talk radio show and a national television show and a national column to be able
believe that I should really do this until I am further along my own personal
months, Morris has emerged from his long weeks in the wilderness and come to
the point at which he can stop thinking about his career and start thinking
careerist mentality, Morris now spends more time in the studios of our
a deal with Fox. And he is writing a provocative column for the New York
stages to the television age and he's got them all figured out, the Republicans
these positions have great substantive thought behind them, but nobody gets
punished in the pundit games for being too ephemeral.
great sorrow of Morris' second life is that the corrupt world wants to drag him
back into the arena of politics. Morris' real focus, as he lets you know before
you have a chance to ask, is the Higher Realms. Morris has been doing some
polling on spiritual issues, and he has discovered that morality is big. For
example, a few months ago, he had his pollsters read the following statement to
bodies, with billions of cells which must work together or we die. When a cell
does its own thing, that's called cancer. So it is with people of the earth.
Unless we work for our planet, we will die of the global cancer of pollution,
Hill column, "Idealism is, I believe, the new force in our politics.
airplane audio system. When Morris talks about his spiritual platform, his eyes
lower. He reiterates he is not qualified to speak on these issues. He is to
house his own unworthiness, and if you talk to him, he takes you on an extended
tour to show off all his rooms. But he can't not talk about these
things, he implies, because he has come up with a unique message that simply
organized religion. "Those who fear hell are religious; those who've been there
not entirely unworthy. Morris wants to set up a series of redemption centers
employable. He would like to see a private association create a certification
symbol that clothing manufacturers could put on their labels to show the
products were made by well treated workers. He says he has dozens of ideas like
of this stuff. There's lots of noble praise for the civil society movement
Morris' whole approach to spirituality, is how much it is a continuation of his
political style. Morris is still manipulating images and spinning, but now he
is spinning for souls, not votes. He seems genuinely repentant of his personal
of the political consultant and his new vocation. He recently recalled a
problem he faced a few years ago, when a congressional candidate he was working
for was caught with a series of transsexual prostitutes. Morris proudly noted
that he solved the problem and got the guy elected. When asked if the guy was
guilty, Morris seemed taken aback by the question. He said he guessed the guy
was guilty, since a few years later he was caught again and had to resign in
business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world," reads
a typical Barton sentence. But in truth, the yuppie spiritualism of the moment
is the perfect breeding ground for Morris' style of rebirth. It takes religion,
After a meeting with Morris, I mentioned his new vocation to a
editor, who suggested I do a piece. I called Morris to set
up an interview about his ideas and left a message. Then I ran into him at a
party. I had a pleasant conversation with him and his wife. Morris was excited
time to talk more. But then he called back and said that since he was now a
pundit, he should write the piece about his ideas, rather than have me write
about him. Morris' ambitions are all on the surface, and you could see that he
never had the subject of a piece try to replace me as author, but I figured it
never called, and now he has stopped returning my messages. I figure he made
three or four false promises to me during our preliminary conversations as he
tried to figure out how to play this to his advantage. None was serious,
obviously, and one suspects the new Morris wouldn't lie about a big thing. But
called The Idiot about a guy who is unprepossessing and naturally holy.
Morris is more of an idiot savant. He seems sincerely interested in
understanding holiness. But he can't stop spinning ideas, images, and sound
bites, can't stop playing everything to his advantage. Watching him, you can
see why some of those monks felt it necessary to take vows of silence.
tremendous practical impact on the world of finance. Yet their own lives call
few equations on a blackboard, and eureka! They had discovered a method for
with this extremely valuable information? They gave it to the rest of us for
assumption that appears to be in jeopardy is profit maximization. In markets,
particularly financial markets, when profit opportunities arise, it is assumed
that savvy individuals will take advantage of them in order to capture profits.
equilibrium to another. (Equilibrium being the place where nothing really
Modern financial theory is highly dependent on such strange
of their utility function. For example, the creatures assumed in the Capital
Asset Pricing Model, the keystone of most academic finance, are assumed to care
greedy, the theory falls apart, as would most other economic theories.
of times in classrooms, academic conferences, and cocktail parties. The
question at hand is whether our generous academics were greedy enough to be
surely knew that they had discovered something of great value. Why didn't they
take their solution and their measly academic salaries and start trading
options? With the formula programmed into only their calculators, they
money of the hapless traders who were still pricing based on history, rules of
thumb, or their guts (a potentially substantial source of wisdom here in
key equation that now drives hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars
of annual trading volume in stock options, futures options, mortgages,
sure, these guys have made a lot of money working for Wall Street firms in
recent years. They surely have been adequately greedy in the rest of their
careers to satisfy their own assumptions. But their youthful charitable lapse
kept the formula to themselves, the budding options market would have been
stunted. They would have quickly taken all the money from the suckers trading
against them, and no one would have been foolish enough to take them on.
Perhaps they actually have maximized their income by settling for a tiny piece
of the huge pie that their formula created? This explanation ignores the
underlying premise of the financial markets: There's a sucker born every
minute. The market might not have grown as big if they had hoarded their
secret, but they would have been able to dominate it.
they may have feared some other finance professor would ruin their monopoly.
There usually is a pathetic close second for any theoretical breakthrough in
academia. That's the nature of the idea market. Someone else eventually would
have stumbled onto the same formula. In which case they would have had to cut
the spoiler in for half. Or even worse, the spoiler might have given the
formula away, leaving our laureates with neither fame nor fortune. Any claims
that they actually discovered it first, but kept it to themselves, would have
This leads us to a third possibility: They couldn't trust
in this regard, because nobody can ever pinpoint which of the other two might
have cheated. Thus, they may have opted for full, public disclosure because
they knew that was the only way to ensure that they shared equally in the
good, and the giveaway was strictly for the betterment of humanity! Before the
guffaws start, we should at least consider this alternative. The formula was
most directly a gift to the options traders around the world, which is not a
group that usually inspires charitable acts. So these three weren't in the same
they appear on the floor of the options exchange, which shows that options
traders are at least appreciative, if not deserving, of the rare charities that
they receive. However, the benefits of this formula do extend beyond the pits.
The efficient and accurate pricing of options has helped to make the economy
more efficient. So we all have benefited indirectly.
in the bag for these fellows after coming up with the formula, though it
probably was likely for them anyway. Or, if not tenure, their goal might have
been the eternal fame associated with having your name on an important piece of
human wisdom. Economists are as guilty of this hubris as are members of any
all rely on various forms of greed or other base human motivations that are
close enough to greed to be easily worked into economic theory. The last three
assumptions of economics. It is possible to fit them in by the economist's
magic trick of defining any behavior as maximizing something called "utility,"
utility being defined as whatever you choose to maximize. But plain old greed
should be adequate to explain nearly everything in finance, because finance is
about making money. If the behavior of people who are in the profession of
making money isn't well explained by the motivation of making money, then it
go to theoreticians in behavioral finance who will be able to build a model
that explains their own behavior as well as it does that of others.
nuclear war is imminent. He'll know that time is up when his brother, working
calamitous as a nuclear war. But, like many others who've gloried in owning
healthy chunk of its stock with me. Now I have far more of my family's savings
invested in a single firm, for which I no longer even work, than any sane
signals that will warn me the unthinkable may be happening.
strategic position at the center of the computer industry is paramount. Chances
software. In particular, there's a that you're running some variety of the
corporations, which will occasionally throw money at bizarre nonstandard
computing solutions like NeXT, OS/2, or Java, normal people only get one shot
at it. So they are conservative. They ask around. They buy what their friends
buy or (more likely) what their kids' friends buy. When Java invades the home,
of course, it will be too late. I will have missed my chance. I believe the
much of my life setting up computers for friends and family and answering dumb
too common; and software is too difficult to use. People aren't getting a
seems backward to judge a company's success directly by its stock price. A
sense, one of the fundamentals. Options are how the company attracts and
retains smart young college graduates with no money and (most important) no
closing price the month after he or she joins. And most employees get more
every year. In essence, options give the employee any future increase in stock
price. If the price doesn't increase, the options are worthless.
gradually over several years. At any time, therefore, valued employees have a
it. Psychologically, it doesn't work to have the stock stay at the same price,
then shoot up after four years. By that time, the employee is long gone, lost
the stock stays at a high price, because the employee knows (or at least
worries) that there isn't much upside. I don't mind a little volatility,
because this makes it more likely that a new employee's options will hit a
momentarily low price during that crucial first month (when new employees,
paradoxically, have an incentive to want the price to go down). And I don't
mind periodic declines, even steep ones, because it's a chance to scoop up some
more good employees at (to them) an attractively low price. Over the long term,
though, what I want to see is a steady upward progression.
made enough money, or because they've burnt out, or because they just want to
try something new. That, in and of itself, is not necessarily a warning
back after a while. In any case, most of these friends remain in the software
business. They love it, they live it, and they can't stop talking about it.
They talk about the important things: the key technologies, the good people,
the big deals. And they do it all the time: while feeding babies, hiking up
up, the end of the world has come, and it's time to sell my very last share of
and children in developing countries. They should hang their heads instead. The
bill, which passed the House earlier this month, authorizes far less than was
appropriated two years ago, proving again that, on both sides of the debate,
support for family planning takes second place to the controversy over
year's congressional debate might seem like progress since both sides in the
abortion debate agreed on the fundamentals of family planning. Birth control
can improve health for women and children worldwide. Many women die each year
as the result of unsafe abortion, and women who have babies too close together
have a sharply increased chance of dying from postpartum hemorrhage. Babies
born too closely spaced or into large families are less likely to survive their
developing countries. Even in the sharper House debate, there was no
substantial dispute that overpopulation strains natural resources, contributing
will sometimes go hungry, and eight mouths starve."
relationship of birth control to abortion, an observer from the House gallery
remains high in countries where abortion is outlawed, contraception may be the
funding to organizations that perform abortions or give abortion counseling.
birth control will let them divert other resources to providing abortions.
appropriations. Rather than cave, the president took the cut.
levels. Furthermore, in both years, funds were embargoed until late in the
despite Congress' action to lift this year's spending embargo, and the seeming
likely to be seized hostage again in the abortion battle, for neither side
Would Smith ever accept an unconditional release of money
should not compartmentalize our view and say, 'If they do this with our money
president asked might seem like progress. In one respect his bill was more
generous than the alternative that passed the Senate, in that it would release
the embargoed funds at a faster rate. But his opponents suspect that Smith's
was a cheap generosity, since he could count on the restrictions he demanded to
branches in the developing world. She says that in some countries where birth
control has been unavailable, almost all indigenous groups they can work with
have some abortion ties. Furthermore, even if complying with abortion
restrictions were feasible, "You just can't compromise on a principle." Not
would lead to an increase in unwanted pregnancies, maternal deaths, and infant
authorizing bills, we will be back on the appropriations bills when the fiscal
the angry battle going on around him and reflects, "In our effort to legislate
around here, sometimes we become purists, and we hurt the people we are trying
world that admits that its goal is to expand. And what better place to locate
to come: swathed in red tape and pomp, paralyzed by constituency politics,
politics enjoy none of the rowdy intellectual contention of the United Kingdom,
national identity. The primary issue in public debate is who gets what
benefits, and while commerce and money are gods, neither is served particularly
Where there's no such thing as takeout coffee with lids. Anyone who wants
coffee must sit languidly in a cafe, gradually feeling overcome with lethargy
lobster bisque for sale from sidewalk vendors; excellent public transportation;
monumental traffic jams of expensive cars crowding small streets; bare breasts
common in advertisements and at beaches, miniskirts being considered acceptable
attire for professional women (when, oh when will these enlightened
attitudes reach the United States?); notably more pollution than in the United
States; notably more government, running higher deficits; lots of
stone markers; and ubiquitous fresh bread and great chocolates.
tongues are spoken here, but multilingualism serves mainly to delineate
is entirely bilingual, down to abbreviations: Buses and trams are brightly
parts of town, most people would rather hear English than French, and in the
were dominated by an aging Francophone aristocracy, whose wealth was secured by
dominant position in politics. The result is an uneasy compromise giving
traffic and commerce, are a regular event here, making it somewhat of a mystery
students, firefighters, civil servants, airline workers, and others have closed
airport, smashing the terminal's glass walls and doing millions of francs worth
of damage, then demanding more money from the very government that was going to
essentially unlimited sick days. Much more than high wages (which a profitable
enterprise can bear), such work rules are what stymie the continent's
sympathy is usually with strikers, and cowed politicians give in to almost all
demands from almost all quarters. Polls repeatedly show that majorities think
on no useful contribution to society. And a residue of estates reminds voters
of the landed gentry's historic role as parasites. But the link between
government giving the workers more, and taxes and public debt rising, does not
Kingdom, where, perhaps not coincidentally, unemployment is relatively low.
is that Internet use remains a luxury here. The phone monopolies have priced
Internet service provider, making the connection more expensive than the
on blocking innovation and searching for ways to monopolize a new enterprise
services. Once registered, you dial a number in the United States, where a
stateside dial tone so you can dial as if you were in the United States.
angling to shift the blame for financial reality onto someone else via the
euro. In theory, national currencies such as the pound, mark, and lira will all
disappear, replaced by one universal tender. A unified currency makes economic
sense, but trade efficiency is only one motive for many governments.
Participation in the new currency requires nations to cut their national debt
their deficits, but none of them wants the heat for cutting featherbedding or
Police recently arrested two other top politicians and raided the headquarters
of the French Socialist Party in connection with bribes from another defense
persuading the continent's governments to agree on harmonious environmental and
immigration policies. But the real overriding goal of the union and its
"competence," or jurisdiction, away from national governments and vest it in
union's command center is a cathedral to bureaucratic power, the only
depicts diplomatic life. At State Department headquarters in Foggy Bottom,
paint is peeling in the halls and people with titles like "deputy director"
air pumps running around the clock to prevent any fibers from wafting out. A
mountain of scientific studies has shown that asbestos in walls is almost never
dangerous: The only dangerous thing is trying to rip it out because that causes
isn't in my neighborhood, but a patisserie is. Bakeries are easier to find than
window often calls out to me the way signs for cocktail lounges once called out
have a girlfriend?" That was the perplexed comment that greeted my first
promptly began quoting the profundity to my friends and reflecting indignantly,
an unnerving revelation: The evasive man in the White House is a great role
are under siege. With children who are literate but not large, and omnipresent
scandal breaks, I snatch up the newspaper hurriedly at breakfast. When the
older child makes a grab for it, I say, a nervous twitch in my jaw and a
certain tightness in my voice, "There is no interesting news." I go to work
weekend. I emphasize the lying part, and search for the formulation that will
permit me to avoid anything that directly links the president to sex (a concept
I am not even sure my audience is able to define). Hence my choice of the term
quickly steer the discussion in another direction. That's easy, since they find
the friend with the secret tape recorder fascinating.
done what he is accused of, he should definitely step down. That seems to
kids plead from their beds to be allowed to come out and watch a little. Some
to do: talk and talk and talk about nothing interesting. I give a little civics
lesson, and go on about the beauties of the House chamber. Their eyes glaze
over, and they don't protest when they are sent back to bed.
and see, the evidence isn't in yet, we just aren't in a position to explain
anything more. Luckily, it's a classmate, not one of my own kids, who asks his
might be safe to turn on the television, since the day's news has featured, of
prosecutors and a media conspiracy to drag out this unpleasant business for
much too long. It's like "indoor" and "outdoor" voices, I sputter: Some things
should not be endlessly discussed in public; they're private matters. I believe
can distract the kids from their many questions about you know what. They look
at me calmly and figure it's a good moment to bargain for another cookie.
arrives, and I conclude that it's time to deal with my audience on a less ad
strategy (it turns out my friend fielded the dread question with the old
deafness routine). I want something more organized to rely on, some material at
touching parts of "your changing body" feels so good. I have no idea what to
buy and suppose the best course is probably to get a little bit of everything.
they're not getting the full version of events. I have the feeling they're
going to let me get away with it, and I think, on balance, that is all for the
really considered, but pondering it now, I find the answer unsettling: It
friends with few, never once the victim of blatant discrimination, husband now
our idea of whiteness, though, is for all of us to contemplate. In the
complex of myth and rumor that pulls us, invisibly and irresistibly, into its
hold. We move according to its properties, yet we know not why we move.
diversity and affirmative action. The idea is simple: Given "the end of
racism," or at least the end of "irrational" discrimination, minority
bellyaching only upsets what would otherwise be the proper social
And to be sure, we've stockpiled so much "difference" over the years that a
round of identity disarmament would be welcome. But we should first acknowledge
surrendered before we can ever hope to transcend race.
two forms: as blessing and as burden. In both cases, it exists mainly by
negation; it nourishes itself upon all that it excludes. Thus it is that whites
don't generally think of themselves as having a race at all. To be white,
both security and standing from the absence of the stigma.
literature, in politics, and in a hundred other realms, "a regular person" is,
by default, a white person. Our vocabulary for assimilation makes the point.
How do we describe the method by which nonwhites enter the mainstream and climb
the class ladder? We say, or at least think, that they're "becoming white."
It used to be, of course, that "becoming white" was an
ordained by conservatives wary of black militancy. By striving and succeeding
Some are born white, others achieve whiteness, still others have whiteness
thrust upon them. This is sheer narcissism, the notion that "making it" means
whitening. And when it comes from the white right, it's narcissism in the
who reflexively rebuke blacks for any show of ethnocentrism.
the Black Power movement, felt it necessary to dust off and revive the ways of
the Angry White Male, the forgotten victim of minority preferences and "reverse
discrimination." A decade later, he has entered the scene again, dressed now in
but doesn't want to get left behind in the parade of affirming identities.
many whites who complain about black obsessions with blackness are themselves
obsessed with whiteness. What they are obsessed with in this case, though, is
the cultural emptiness of whiteness. In a cruel reversal, it is the white guy,
with no tradition to call his own, no history but one laden with guilt and
equality of cultural recognition was as good as equality of actual power: Now
whites want to play the same game, recounting to us the sufferings of the
now: the question of white power. No one, really, wants to talk about that.
Perhaps it's because "white power" sounds too much like an accusation. Perhaps
truly, aren't like most white folks. But whatever the reason, we have an
almost allergic reaction to any serious consideration of the ideology of
to explain the reaction to "whiteness studies," an academic discipline that has
emerged in the last few years? Sure, whiteness studies, which might include
dominant class, or a crusade by the oppressed to demonize The Man. It is simply
an attempt to identify the ways that whites remain blind to, and blinded by, an
it be like to be white? One day, perhaps, there will be a better way to measure
centuries back. In the courtyard outside I bumped into several parishioners,
all politely curious about where I was from and what I thought of China.
forward. At the first Mass I attended in this very church almost a decade ago,
Christian leaders calling for restrictions on trade with China would do well to
itself in large measure to China's economic opening to the world.
circumstances today? Or with some romantic abstraction about what we would like
less a snapshot of China in the late 1990s than a caricature drawn from the
demands. The immoderate language employed, moreover, is often both intolerant
of those who would achieve human rights by other means and out of touch with
current realities. For example, an open letter to Vice President Al Gore on the
rights are being sold out "in order to sell a few more Big Macs."
of us who have seen firsthand the dramatic improvement in the lives of ordinary
such as me, it is the height of irony to now find ourselves attacked as being
encouraged to continue to document and publicize these abuses, such as the
decades put it to me, "Almost everything that is said about the church in China
is true for some part of China. But it no longer comes from the center
the United States to whom I mention this have little patience for such fine
distinctions. But in China they can make a world of difference. Just last
fast eroding the government's control over people's daily lives, in this case
government simply cannot exert the control it could when everyone stayed put
and depended on the work unit for everything. At an even more basic level, as
will tell you, you can do a lot more than the rules suggest as long as you
and palpable. Surely it is no coincidence that the countries most cut off from
trade and business (and embargoed by the United States) have been among the
States, and they will not talk about linking trade with human rights. It is
more likely they will talk about help in building churches and developing
ranks on some abstract scale of good and bad. What matters is how to make a bad
situation better, how to widen the cracks in the Communist concrete. Instead of
to be successful. The are designed to complement, not displace, market forces.
The laws do not prevent market winners from enjoying the fruits of their
success or protect losers from the consequences of their failure.
the company has monopoly power. However, no court has ever reached that
court could be persuaded that personal computer operating systems constitute a
success. We don't need to speculate about the answer, because government
antitrust enforcers have spent the better part of seven years putting
computer operating systems. After one of the most extensive antitrust
failed to issue a complaint), the government found only a single, rather
According to the government itself, that practice did not account for
couldn't blow his nose without starting a new investigation. The Justice
decree. Whatever the technical merits of the government's interpretation of the
decree, you have to wonder what important public interest will be served if the
not prevent computer manufacturers from installing competing browsers or
putting those browsers on the desktop. Indeed, the computer companies that
government has gone against a company with a smaller share of sales in order to
protect the ability of its dominant competitor to secure an exclusive.
licensees, and suppliers are too scared to tell the government what they know?
Unlikely. Has the government not tried hard enough? Hardly. All the incentives
biggest game." We taxpayers are employing an army of lawyers and economists who
The ongoing government scrutiny itself may help to explain
swarm of government enforcers peering over a company's shoulder is a strong
not a mystery requiring any criminal explanation. The real and obvious source
to as "network externalities" (a k a "positive economic feedback" or
"increasing returns to scale"). In the market for personal computers, the value
of a machine is directly proportional to the number of applications that run on
it is technically the best. Once such a standard becomes predominant, it will
round is no guarantee it will emerge the winner of the next paradigm shift. In
However frightening Bill Gates may seem or however unfair and imperfect the
market phenomenon of network externalities may appear, do we really want
antitrust lawyers and economists determining Internet standards? It's difficult
isn't the very first name that comes to mind these days when you think about
political figures in trouble over twisting the truth. But if there ever was a
moment that showed the importance of finding the fine line between spinning the
facts and dispensing with them, this is it. For an object lesson in the
quotations and distorted events. Moreover, the changes appear to have been
journalists, politicians, lobbyists, and other Beltway vermin. (Click here to read
the original story.) The real people for whom nasty lines had been constructed
as he remembered it, that the media were unfairly attacking him yet again, that
the discrepancies were minor, and that he would correct them in a future
edition. Now the new edition is here, in the form of a paperback with revisions
memory slips. "Memory is fallible," he writes. "Where I have subsequently
learned of errors or misinterpretations I have made changes in this edition. In
no instance, however, are the changes of material importance to the story I
"You are duly warned, had you not assumed it already, that most of the quotes
in this book should be considered paraphrases rather than verbatim accounts, as
substance as well as the precise wording of the quotations ascribed them. Rep.
Democrats: "We're owned by them. Business." Former House Republican leader
"out to destroy. They'll try to destroy anything that gets in their way." And
wrote a bitter letter complaining about it. He especially objected to an
version makes some small but revealing changes in the party scene. Some
a solicitous hostess rather than a tactless snob: She is "apparently concerned
"appalled like the rest." Now, "I imagine he is appalled like the rest."
Before, various people "stare at me silently." Now, "I feel as if everyone is
felt and imagined. But the moral is the same: "I might as well have farted 'The
to decide for themselves how likely it is that a Cabinet officer would bring a
discrepancy involves public events where official records exist and flatly
none of which appears in the White House transcript (the actual questions were
was dully decorous and, as far as I could tell from the videotapes, the
not to listen and learn but to talk and score points. In real hearings,
In the original book, one of the most striking incidents
executives and lobbyists, allegedly all male and smoking cigars (straight from
ambushed by a hostile questioner named John, and when he tries to answer with
out with boos and hisses. At one point, the room erupts in cries of "Bullshit!"
would treat a sitting labor secretary this way is preposterous. And they
again substitutes actual words, while trying to preserve what he can of a sense
of hostility. John's pedantic speech is quoted accurately but characterized as
actually was ("John, I will get back to you with all the information on it.
That was the information I have. You have different information"). Instead of
boos and shouts, we have only "I hear hisses from several locations." Well, we
and the transcriber remembers, only scattered applause and laughter.
than fabricated. The level of hostility has been exaggerated, but through it
perennially beset paragon of decency. But the issues are of interpretation, not
falsification. Locked in the Cabinet itself makes some shrewd and
fact, both as labor secretary and as memoirist, he plays the game as well as
attentively. For the president, however, it may be too late to revise.
on the minimum wage and the with National Association of Manufacturers
revelations have focused on the vast and unregulated sums of soft money that
sleazy, most of it was legal. But there is another category of sleazy giving
increasingly, many parents who have "maxed out" seem to be using their
actually directed the gift and controls the money in question, such
giving money in another person's name is also a violation. Fines range up to
twice the size of the gift. If a campaign could be shown to have orchestrated
warned of the peril: "Reporting a contribution from someone in the name of
The law notwithstanding, candidates in both parties have
from persons listed as "students" in Federal Election Commission records have
opponent almost 6-to-1 (Bob Dole, who raised similar amounts of hard money,
freely admits he had nothing to do with the donations. "Dad makes those
all the money came from trust funds set up in the names of the children,
Yet the FEC has ruled in the past that donations from a source over which the
grandchildren, from preteens to grad students, in giving to their favorite
candidates. These earned four White House sleepovers, eight White House
coffees, two trade missions, and four memberships to the Republican Party's
company as well. Among the somewhat less generous parents and other relatives
donors with persons who left the "occupation" spot in other FEC filings blank
is listed as a "housewife" in another filing. The group of "student" donors who
there is no way to tell how many kids and how much money may be involved, since
Hundreds of politicians attract small numbers of student
contributions. But some campaigns seem to specialize in their receipt. More
campaigns orchestrate such donations? Some evidence from public records is
relationship, minors gave to exactly the same campaigns as their parents,
almost always on the same day. Many are strategically timed. Ninety percent of
when his need for hard money was greatest and his donor base was smallest.
political activists who know the rules. Some were sophisticated campaign
contributions in their names). Just recently, the commission, in negotiating a
apparently illegal donations made in the name of the Huntsman chemical company
children, one of whom was a severely retarded minor. (The contributions were
returned after the FEC opened its investigation.) In other cases, the FEC
donation money, without ever interviewing the child. Even the lamest story does
not seem to stir the commission's suspicion. One father informed the FEC that
"Absolutely true," the radio announcer replies. "Except it wasn't a lottery but
administrator with an administrative deputy or associate?
said to have one assistant to edit my writing and another whose job it is to
conduct journalistic research. Who are these people? And why haven't they ever
reported to work? In fact, I have one research assistant, who is working on the
discovered that a third of the early entries written by staff researchers had
ripped off other reference works. Needless to say, one such entry would be
unacceptable, and we've adopted strict safeguards to prevent any such problems.
But even in that early batch, the proportion of tainted entries wasn't a third;
case, offering an assessment of an encyclopedia without having read it is like
and it depends upon the skills and competencies of a community of learning.
Global Culture represented the combined efforts of many people, and they
are all acknowledged by name in the book. (By contrast, 
assessment relies entirely upon sources who are not identified by name.) I can
be justly reproached for any careless errors that made it into print, but not
similarly displeased that I invited fellow scholars to write individual
served as general editor. Their names appear on the title pages.
deal of time and energy over a decade. Ten section editors helped put the
that appeared on the cover." Yes, my name appears on the cover. So does that of
advisory boards and committees. Some include termination dates; most do not.
Professor Gates may not have intended to give the impression that he still
serves on boards in the second category, but that is hardly an unreasonable
conclusion to have reached. Obviously, when his vitae says he no longer
serves on a board, I didn't include it in my tally.
of no other academic whose assistant assumes this title.
full time on the projects I described in my article, but I don't think Gates
not to be quoted about the Encyclopedia because of a nondisclosure
figure on the percentage of plagiarized entries. (I wish he had provided this
plagiarized had been "substantial." Three others I spoke with who were
intimately involved in producing the first batch of entries confirmed the
says that he credits others' labor on many projects. Clearly, he is right. But
because of his celebrity and organizational acumen, he is the one who always
in these collaborative efforts. This is merely an observation, not an
the opportunity to confirm or deny nearly every matter of fact in this article.
Magazine put on its current profile of him ("Head Negro in Charge"). Yet he
only was it admiring in many ways, but many of the specific points to which he
responds don't even amount to criticism. Nevertheless, we want to get things
right and be as fair as possible. So here (after a phone conversation) are some
no one could possibly suppose he was trying to imply he is currently on those
boards: We accept that he was not trying to imply this, but you wouldn't be
way. Gates objects that the article describes him as "an academic" with a chief
are happy to note that distinction, which readers may weigh for themselves.
assistants: Gates says no assistant edits his work. Someone who works with
Gates claims to regularly "tweak" his writings. Whether "tweaking" equals
utterly uncontroversial. And indeed, the piece did not suggest there was
denial that he ever uses others to dig up quotes for his articles: Someone says
that he has served Gates in this way. The editor of 
often asked others to track down a quote, sees nothing wrong with it (as long
as you ask politely), and doesn't believe the article suggested there was
third of the early entries were plagiarized. He said others had said so.
Naturally these others insisted on not being identified, but there are three of
anonymous sources with unknown biases outweigh one obviously interested but
named party? This is the classic news consumer's dilemma, and we leave you to
others: Gates objects most strongly to the assertion that "there is something
dishonest about marketing under Gates' signature work that is produced mainly
by his assistants." Whether that is a fair conclusion to draw from the evidence
is something the reader, once again, can decide. We merely note that a) the
article does present evidence, not just the naked assertion quoted here; b) the
piece also has many positive things to say, not just about Skip Gates and his
in context, the complaint is about general academic practice, with Gates as a
prime example, as much as it is a specific criticism of Gates himself.
there are specific points in the piece he failed to give Gates the opportunity
to legalize gay marriage, both sides are missing the point. Why should the
government be in the business of decreeing who can and cannot be married?
another example of minority "rights" being imposed on the majority culture. But
relationship? As governments around the world contemplate the privatization of
everything from electricity to Social Security, why not privatize that most
"Privatizing" marriage can mean two slightly different things. One is to take
the state completely out of it. If couples want to cement their relationship
with a ceremony or ritual, they are free to do so. Religious institutions are
free to sanction such relationships under any rules they choose. A second
meaning of "privatizing" marriage is to treat it like any other contract: The
state may be called upon to enforce it, but the parties define the terms. When
children or large sums of money are involved, an enforceable contract spelling
out the parties' respective rights and obligations is probably advisable. But
the existence and details of such an agreement should be up to the parties.
And privatizing marriage would, incidentally, solve the
straight ones, without implying official government sanction. No one's private
formal, public institution that only the government can grant." But the history
of marriage and the state is more complicated than modern debaters imagine, as
marriage implied in the eyes of the laity seems to have been a private contract
between two individuals, enforced by the community sense of what was right." By
"spousals," was usually followed by the proclamation of the banns three times
in church, but the spousals itself was a legally binding contract.
colonies, marriages were performed by justices of the peace or other
contract, among many others. Each state has tended to promulgate a standard,
courts have started unilaterally changing the terms of the marriage contract.
arrangements applied not just to couples embarking on matrimony but also to
couples who had married under an earlier set of rules. Many people felt a sense
of liberation; the changes allowed them to get out of unpleasant marriages
without the often contrived allegations of fault previously required for
divorce. But some people were hurt by the new rules, especially women who had
understood marriage as a partnership in which one partner would earn money and
the other would forsake a career in order to specialize in homemaking.
religious views at the level of private proselytizing and don't fight to impose
one religion by force of law. Other social conflicts can likewise be
depoliticized and somewhat defused if we keep them out of the realm of
privatize marriage? Make it a private contract between two individuals. If they
specified rules for property and alimony in the event of divorce, they could do
so. Less traditional couples could keep their assets separate and agree to
share specified expenses. Those with assets to protect could sign prenuptial
agreements that courts would respect. Marriage contracts could be as
individually tailored as other contracts are in our diverse capitalist world.
standard rental forms. Couples would then be spared the surprise discovery that
outsiders had changed their contract without warning. Individual churches,
synagogues, and temples could make their own rules about which marriages they
institution would allow gay people to marry the way other people do:
individually, privately, contractually, with whatever ceremony they might
choose in the presence of family, friends, or God. Gay people are already
holding such ceremonies, of course, but their contracts are not always
the General Accounting Office says recognize marital status. Under a privatized
system of marriage, courts and government agencies would recognize any couple's
institution. The modern mistake is to think that important things must be
planned, sponsored, reviewed, or licensed by the government. The two sides in
the debate over gay marriage share an assumption that is essentially
collectivist. Instead of accepting either view, let's get the government out of
marriage and allow individuals to make their own marriage contracts, as befits
a secular, individualist republic at the dawn of the information age.
forget everything he knows about the 1980s tax cuts. Here's a reminder.
has stood for fiscal conservatism and balanced budgets. Most famously, he was
almost alone among Republican leaders in his caustic skepticism about the
urging the Republican presidential candidate to take off his green eyeshade,
push aside that unappetizing bowl of budget cuts, and scarf down a tasty dose
better. But like Dole, they are tempted, too. A persistent majority of
election results tend to support the fact that they are lying. When they
there urging tax cuts instead of deficit reduction. And certainly no
hand, few (outside the Wall Street Journal editorial page) are still
brash enough to claim that tax cuts could actually raise tax revenues. Many
tax cuts. How they are to be paid for is unclear. The promise of painless
contradictory notions of cutting tax rates and balancing the budget?" he asked
in (where else?) a Wall Street Journal article last month. "The answer
is yes," the senator revealed, if only we ignore the claims of "conventional
the pit of that recession to the beginning of the next one. If you believe that
choice may be fair enough. If you doubt it, you might prefer the traditional
2.1-percent rate. What boosted federal revenues most was the 4.3-percent
average growth in payroll taxes. This was mainly the result of rate
corporations to pay for tax breaks for individuals.
"conventional thinker" might be forgiven for concluding from this record that
what raises revenues is raising taxes, not cutting them.
The campaign to convert Bob Dole, and to prepare the public
are what determine "whether a worker works overtime or goes home for the day
taxes can affect behavior. Reducing very high tax rates can, at the very least,
encourage less tax evasion and avoidance. And restructuring taxes should, at
least in theory, encourage desirable types of economic behavior such as hard
not taxes or other government policies, tend to swamp all other explanatory
variables in international comparisons of savings and investment. This is
especially so in the United States, where tax rates are low by international
doesn't acknowledge sufficiently the explosive power of tax cuts.) What didn't
people working harder because of lower tax rates, the record of the 1980s is
response to lower taxes. The group whose work effort increased most
the poorly paid, whose marginal tax rates, thanks to Social Security tax hikes,
actually went up. For these workers, higher taxes prompted harder work to make
provided numerous inducements: not just marginal rate cuts on income but
money policies which, along with financial deregulation, sent the interest
that even if the tax cuts didn't pay for themselves, the increased savings they
generated would make the resulting deficits easy to finance. (Even today,
cuts can, "in some cases," raise saving by more than they raise the budget
the 1980s. The swelling government deficit, which amounts to national
dis saving, did much to drag down the 1980s figure. But even private
savings in the 1980s ran well below their 1970s level.
the behavior of business investment. During the eight years of the
totally accounted for by the shrinking government. While government spending
notes: With unemployment well below the 1980s average and considerably lower
least the Federal Reserve thinks it is, which is what counts." Any
supply, curbing economic growth or even prompting a recession.
he could propose to cut spending even more than his party has already
appetite for even the healthy serving it has promised to serve up over the next
could resist temptation. After all, he really does know better.
civilization. Long before the Information Age, man struggled to digest the
mounds of words contained in his religious, cultural, and legal canons. Fame
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," he announced. "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
persists but multiplies as new volumes enter the marketplace of ideas. Besieged
with information and short on time, what is a person to do? Luckily, whole
search engines, executive summaries, cheat sheets, and the Reader's
processor (which is made by the same company that brings you Slate). Last week,
words in the document (barring "a" and "the" and the like) and assigns a
Then, it "averages" each sentence by adding the scores of its words and
average, the higher the rank of the sentence. "It's like the ratio of wheat to
the best? Better than those made by First Alert, Nighthawk, or others? Not
Reports last year. Three of its models were deemed "not acceptable" by the
are exclusive, but they're not endorsements. The charities don't test the
Charities say they need the money. Competition from
surveys show that the public supports such contracts, so long as they raise
plenty of money for the charity and don't conflict with its basic mission.
of independent information. And in some cases they seem to be skating close to
charities benefiting from what appears to be false advertising. Companies
wouldn't pony up the bucks for a charity's logo if they didn't think it gave
them a competitive edge. Why would they think that it would? "Because at least
some consumers are going to be misled into thinking this is a special thing. I
Professional Ethics at Case Western Reserve University.
fallen through because government officials concluded the same thing.
regulatory agencies complained it would mislead consumers. The program, started
product after the attorneys general complained, even though a company spokesman
Companies admit that the logos help sales, thanks to the
appearance of an endorsement where none exists. "It definitely helps us sell
try to make clear on the label that it reflects a "partnership," not a product
endorsement. But they admit that at least some consumers are being misled by
endorsement? The answer to that has to be 'yes.' There is no way around it,"
buy the product with the logo as opposed to the one that doesn't have any.'
Another land mine: Can charities that cut lucrative deals
with product makers be counted on to provide accurate information about health
and safety issues related to those products? Heightened fear about CO
die this way, according to the National Safety Council. Nearly five times as
many die of suffocation each year at home. And CO deaths were falling steadily
long before home detectors hit the market. Is the ALA going to tell you about
effective way to quit is to save your money and go cold turkey. Are the health
least giving the appearance of lobbying on behalf of corporate interests that
permits to burn toxic waste. The ALA complained that the practice was hazardous
to people's health. Fair enough. But it happens that at the same time, the
Responsible Thermal Treatment, which represented the kiln industry's direct
officials from the Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition asked about this at a
meeting, ALA officials said that state chapters, which are relatively
autonomous, ran the campaigns. But one ALA official added that the charity
would be happy to take money from the kiln industry, too, provided the grants
complaint with the Internal Revenue Service, charging that the ALA was being
paid to lobby on behalf of a commercial interest, a violation of its nonprofit
had also been a generous donor to the national ALA, giving a total of more than
these relationships? Some charities plead poverty. "You've got something like
they're all competing for the same dollar." But budgets for the big charities
on the part of companies to part with money without seeing any direct benefit.
"Nonprofits can't count on corporations to give millions of dollars just
"Now everything has to be linked to a stronger benefit."
Franklin, the venerable Duke University historian and chair of the president's
advisory board on race, told reporters that his panel would refuse to hear from
opponents of affirmative action in higher education. This policy seems both
wrong in principle and politically foolish. Why on earth have a panel dedicated
to racial reconciliation and exclude one of the two views that need to be
reconciled on the most divisive racial issue? What harm could come from letting
critics have their say, compared with the harm of seeming to censor them?
official working with the panel is a bit less opaque. "The point of the
committee is to help formulate White House policy. So why should we appoint
people who disagree with the President? Why hear testimony from people who
vehemently disagree with him?" Another member of the panel's staff said, "This
great and unprecedented conversation about race." But apparently the main
purpose of convening the committee's monthly meetings is to provide an occasion
for the administration to unveil installments of the President's Race
House concocts these policies, without say from committee members. Behind the
inflated rhetoric, the Franklin panel has only a slim mandate and little power.
It is not legally allowed to meet in private and cannot even write its own
people running the panel. In theory, John Hope Franklin is the perfect chair
for an anodyne exercise in racial reconciliation. His public image is that of
the first black chair of an integrated history department and the first black
Reconstruction. (The black carpetbaggers, who ruled parts of the South
following the Civil War, were sincere democrats, he proved, not venal
pessimistic, angry edge. He laments the permanence of racism, which he feels is
only marginal improvement and enduring black urban poverty, job discrimination,
racism are not only mistaken but also racist. They "have no interest in
Franklin is old. The real power in the panel rests with
and will write the final report on race relations. As a White House aide in
"mend it, don't end it" policy for affirmative action. But since leaving the
affirmative action "counterrevolutionaries." He says, "Though their opposition
to these measures is framed as principle, certainly their real goal is to
protect the current distribution of privilege and opportunity that has produced
entitled to their views, which may even be correct. But should people with such
strident opinions be responsible for a panel on racial reconciliation? It seems
especially stupid for the administration to spew platitudes about the panel's
mission of healing if its intention was to push one side of a contentious
been devoted to Causes all her adult life. Apart from her family, improving the
most famous woman couldn't attach itself to this country's most famous woman.
prospect that must make her feel at least a small fraction as weary as everyone
It is hard to remember while in the grip of posthumous
dysfunctions, her penchant for New Age cures. The National Enquirer
pulled its "Di Was Sex Mad" cover off newsstands as soon as it could after the
suffered the indignity of a press obsession with their thighs. Photos from the
of institutional power. It could only slow her down. When she successfully put
land mines on the world's agenda, she didn't do it by going to the United
and went after executive authority like the boys. She got bogged down in
leading a 500-member Health Care Task Force and fighting with subcommittee
something to be done about conditions in the mines, she went to (and posed at)
to the royal family: Flex that upper lip. There was a great deal more sympathy
interview. Her private secretary was so appalled over it that he quit, and the
media's assessment was summed up in one paper's headline, "Has She Gone Mad?"
But politicians in trouble should pore over that tape for guidance in spin
control. With that unfiltered performance, her triumph over the House of
once made a similar appearance, one that has become known as the "press
conference in pink." During the simultaneous controversies over the health care
task force, her killing in cattle futures, and her alleged meddling in the
White House travel office, she invited reporters into the East Room to hear her
explain herself. But by giving absolutely no ground, she gained no sympathy:
Everyone thought she was smart, but no one was reminded she was human. Bill
there, using only the cameras and good will at her disposal. Meanwhile, in
headlines. The danger is not that the public has been needlessly alarmed, but
The only thing is, such outbreaks are not rare events. In fact, they are
relatively common, and have been happening at least a few times a year for more
than a decade (the further back Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
next year. And yes, problems with paperwork made it difficult to trace the
contaminated meat to its source. But that was not because the paperwork was
shoddy. Rather, it was because the reworked, old meat was being added into new
product throughout the day instead of to a single easily traceable lot at the
inspectors supervised its implementation at the plant every day.
takes a certain level of contamination to pose a threat. Even if a whole day's
production were contaminated and a small amount of leftover contaminated beef
diluted that it wouldn't pose a threat to anyone. Even leaving wide margins for
hamburgers that caused the Colorado outbreak were practically designed to
the shape of the burgers was such that the outside would have had to be burned
ruckus was topped by the media coverage. "Can This Meat Kill You?" screamed
fact, you are a hundred times more likely to die of a newly contracted
infection when you spend a night in a hospital than you are when you eat a
outbreaks are increasing and their sources are growing more and more diverse,
pastures goes into lakes, where swimmers get infected. Cattle manure is used to
fertilize fields, and the produce infects those who eat it.
election cycle. And the ranchers are mighty resistant to any changes that could
cost them money. Still, some changes could be made quite easily. Industry
less likely to rupture, thus making contamination less likely. (The problem
is more enforcement power, and to that end, it is advancing a bill designed to
expand its authority. The bill is irrelevant, though. No company has refused to
taking a hard look at the meat industry, maybe it should look for inspiration
to the battle between the Food and Drug Administration and the tobacco
companies. It is common practice to add fat back into hamburger to reach the
is a good bet that more people died last year from the extra fat they consumed
may be similarly afflicted. This creates an interesting moral dilemma for
connection between mania and artistic achievement has been known since ancient
is an essential driving force for many artists. "The fiery aspects of thought
mood, and quick intelligence; a sense of the visionary and the grand; a
depression. The disease fueled their artistic achievements even as it led to
There may well be a similar relationship, for similar
psychiatrist who has worked with athletes, says there are many other cases.
television audience that he had a psychiatric illness all his life, that
he'd discussed manic depression with his psychiatrist, and that this illness
childhood trauma. It's a genetically determined, chronic, and incurable disease
in their 30s. The symptoms often can be contained by medication. Without
medication, people suffering from manic depression face poor outcomes. Some
untreated manic depression as lethal as many forms of cancer and heart disease.
The disease also worsens over time, with both mania and depression becoming
more pronounced and less responsive to medication. Victims are especially prone
to drug and alcohol abuse, with all the attendant complications.
champ, but were suffering from an often fatal disease that can be effectively
could diminish his boxing skills or avoid treatment and become sicker.
his game, including feelings of increased energy, invulnerability, elation,
tremors and reacted more slowly physically and mentally, while others improved
their performance under drug maintenance. Going off lithium to prepare for a
bout is not a way out of this dilemma, since in many cases lithium is not as
athletes are required to pass physicals to ensure that they do not place
themselves or other participants at risk. A boxer cannot fight with a heart
train wrecks. We anticipate accidents at stock car races. We go to the "fights"
rants. The press and public love it. Meanwhile, the adulation feeds a sense of
depression. After a crash, the crowd's silence feeds an athlete's paranoia,
save his life or save his career. The choice for others is whether to force him
to make the right choice, or to continue deriving profit and entertainment from
practitioner of therapeutic politics, has always flirted with dysfunction. Six
years ago, during his first successful presidential campaign, he discussed his
dysfunctional family history during a televised interview. He acknowledged that
growing up with an alcoholic parent may have made him particularly eager to
please and placate. Veterans of the recovery movement, which remained popular
child of an alcoholic). Considering his abusive, alcoholic stepfather, his
substance abusing brother, his mother's penchant for gambling, and his own
weakness or a strength depended on your relationship with the therapeutic
culture. "Real men don't get on the couch," a spokesperson for President Bush
themselves survivors of dysfunction and abuse and believed fervently in the
of his "feeling reality" was much more appealing than any display of machismo.
Being "in recovery" is no weakness to people who consider being "in denial" the
elect a dysfunctional president?) Instead, his moments of apparent
introspection humanized him and made him seem approachable. They helped him
codependency, but those who recognized it as such probably felt closer to him
when he acknowledged it. People who were not conversant in the language of
codependency with the image of a leader in control of policy and the political
intelligence, his ability to master the details of complicated policy matters,
and his skills at communicating made him someone voters could also admire.
charismatics are those who simultaneously invite identification and awe. (And
Charismatic personalities combine transcendent beauty, glamour, or talent with
accessibility, providing a way in for people eager to identify with a higher
being. They seem both ineffable and utterly familiar.
delicate balance of minor, private, victimless dysfunction and the ability to
master public issues and events has been endangered by the current scandals.
therapeutic culture at risk. The president who ran on a platform of compassion
story is true, he didn't feel her pain. He used it.
him with her suspicions that he was a sex addict, "just like her." According to
Browning, Time reports, the president broke down and cried. Whether or
defeated by the therapeutic culture that helped get him elected.
recovery movement gave us the concept of sex addiction, which is a form of
codependency. In the 1980s, the movement popularized the notion that behaviors
could be as addictive as substances such as cocaine or alcohol, and it founded
To people who are most familiar with the term and most
recovery. Therefore he is in denial. To recovery aficionados, that probably
means he is not sufficiently evolved, spiritually or psychically, to lead the
nation. They would not expect the president to be devoid of dysfunction, but
would expect him to have recognized and vanquished his own abusive behaviors.
To support him would be to support his denials, thereby making them
patient in addition to healer. The personal development tradition greatly
addictions in order to bolster their credibility. But they marketed themselves
as people who had been through the "process" of recovery, surrendered their
will to their higher powers, and freed themselves of addictive behaviors. From
are receptive to the notion of sex addiction, the president's dysfunction
of control president. Meanwhile, people hostile to popular notions of addiction
personal responsibility. (And, indeed, some of his supporters may prefer seeing
him as the victim of a disease rather than as an intentional sexual
the diagnosis of sex addiction make sense? Outside the world of pop psychology,
not formally recognize sex addiction as a mental disorder. Among experts who
treat and study compulsive behaviors and chemical dependencies, there is
controversy over the meaning of the term "addiction" and the efficacy of the
disease model for a range of supposed addictions, from alcoholism to compulsive
after a drug conviction by declaring his powerlessness over drugs and sex,
repenting, and entering a program. "Most people are recovering from something,"
difference between "time flies like an arrow" and "fruit flies like honey." Add
to this mix "she unzipped their flies like there was no tomorrow," and you get
some idea of the challenge faced by software manufacturers hawking filters to
protect children from the nastiness on the Web. The filters are supposed to
block access to sites parents wouldn't want their children to see.
community has insisted that government regulation of pornographic Web
unconstitutional, that bluff has been called. Do filters work? And which ones
In essence, all filter programs work like search engines in
reverse, keeping out anything with certain words or combinations of letters.
companies have two different approaches to marketing the filter programs. One
Patrol (motto: "To Surf and Protect"), which operates from a screen that looks
is in one way the strictest of the programs: It's a tattletale. The software
keeps a log of the sites the child has attempted to access, "including attempts
to access blocked material." Net Nanny's more liberal approach is indicated by
On The Net." It provides parents with a suggested list of sites to exclude, but
nothing is excluded without being specifically designated by the parents. As a
with explicitly sexual text or pictures, and most also screen out sites dealing
with drugs, alcohol, hate speech, and gambling. Filters fail in two ways:
to have sophisticated algorithms to avoid these pitfalls. The challenge is in
that it does not exclude "opinion or educational material, such as the
historical use of marijuana or the circumstances surrounding 1940's
effort. Filters may prevent access to certain sites, but blocked sites can show
up when kids use search engines, and there is nothing to prevent kids from
reading the raunchy descriptions of the sites or writing down the Web addresses
intentionally) visiting a Web site that includes material deemed inappropriate
by their parents, but they are limited to what we might term the "pull" side.
The bigger problem is on the "push" side, and there the filters are helpless.
two men having sex. It was sent as a joke by an older boy he knew. My son, then
exceptionally kind and protective, except for one participant, who was cut off
by the discussion leader for general obnoxiousness. He retaliated by using a
ever participated in the Prodigy discussion, including my son.
soon are filters based on criteria developed by particular groups. Parents will
be able to select from filters endorsed by anyone from the Christian Coalition
the international World Wide Web Consortium, will provide standard ratings, to
be assigned to each page by its developer. Parents will be able to set their
browsers to deny access to pages without ratings. And so they can breathe
easier, knowing that their children will only be able to see pages certified as
filter software to find the one you like best. That decision will be based more
on your technical facility than on your notions of what material you want your
kids to see, because the programs vary much more in their dependence on
parental tweaking than on their approaches to excluding material. Parents who
are less adept than their kids at using the Internet will probably prefer
on the side of exclusion, and was especially thorough at preventing even the
willing to devote the time to setting their own parameters will be better off
allows separate settings for separate users, important for families with older
children or children of different ages. It also makes it possible for parents
to block outgoing information, to prevent kids from revealing their last names,
phone numbers, addresses, and passwords in an online chat. Ultimately, though,
even the best filters are a limited and temporary solution. None are as
effective as good communication and (maybe even more important) keeping the
family computer in a central location so that all surfing is done within
concerned parents. The cover story in the last issue of the business magazine
serious problem at the office. Among the most frequent visitors to
literature is happy to point out, filters can help protect management from
liability for permitting sexually explicit material in the workplace. The real
relatively small reduction could push the budget several hundred billion
footing for the long term. But Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, who
the personal exemption and standard deduction have been inflated along with the
Inflation exaggeration should have special appeal to
people's incomes have to outpace actual inflation substantially for them to
reach the income levels at which higher tax rates cut in. Already, most
household income was $34,076--a married couple would have to make more than
and tax brackets and indexed deductions will be pushed so out of whack with
things stand, if Democrats want to combat the steady erosion of the tax base
and the pressure it puts on their favorite programs, they'll have to vote
eventually to raise taxes and face the electoral consequences. Republicans, by
contrast, can count on their program being implemented without ever putting
subversive as it may seem of both the democratic process and deficit reduction,
may strike Republicans as irresponsible. But sober reflection should quiet
their qualms. Republicans, after all, do not want to balance the budget just
the budget because it is an excuse to cut the federal government, which, if you
are a Republican, is the definition of "responsible."
boon to the Democrats. If the last few elections have shown anything, it is
that voters don't like cuts; if the deficit evaporates, the demand for
plan to adjust the index will push Social Security's financing problems another
decade or more into the murky future, upon which voters and politicians never
focus. That would surely be a disaster for Republican dreams of privatizing all
one of his plants have the same financial interest, Republicans have it made.
lunches," says Dean Baker of the Economic Policy Institute, "but in the long
a tax hike or not depends on whether you count not getting previously
percent overestimation number is a guess. If they have overestimated how far
button, of the habitual references to "the killer," of the righteous
the lifetime appointment of federal judges. "Being active is a way to focus
some of that frustration, anger, etc., into something positive," says
appearance at the National Press Club, and then touring the Holocaust Museum.
"moral force" for justice. "God is working through him right now," says Rabbi
passed along to White House aides the family's desire to meet President
The Secret Service intercepted him, but a backstage meeting
macabre celebrity," says a journalist who was there. "And they were right."
them a night on the town and a little stargazing. What is cause for some
concern, though, is the peculiar public pedestal upon which they've been
Most Wanted fame, the father of another kidnap victim; and New York Rep.
by a crazed gunman on a Long Island commuter train. Those voices deserve to be
heard, but the risk is that the national crime debate will be shrouded in the
said shortly before the civil trial commenced. "I think there's something
findings suggest that this branch of humanoids is much more distantly related
human ancestors. Now you must apply these findings, and examine their
implications for the world around you. Specifically, you must weigh their
effect on certain theories in circulation, among them that Neanderthals still
through the ages and still constitute a group apart. And, most importantly,
laugh? That may be a mistake. At least two theorists working separately have
ideas suggests you believe them to be absurd. But the validity of such
theorizing is beside the point. What matters is the existence of such a
premise, because it validates the question it seeks to answer: What explains
Along and extraordinary history of speculation concerns the
announced they have stumbled on a Big Secret, a hidden truth that explains
to be: This line of thought provides for a certain macabre entertainment, but
it is also a lesson in how the most inane ideas can have the most appalling
consequences. Here is a whirlwind tour of the field, in approximately
settle together, who were eventually chased out of the country by patriots. The
existence of such a story is not necessarily evidence of general antipathy
league with the devil. That they are themselves actually devils, complete with
horns, is a folk belief that arises in the centuries following the Crusades,
different peoples in different acts of creation, blossomed during the
Enlightenment. It was in part a "solution" to the "mystery" of Native
whose status as humans awaited papal resolution. It was also an attempt by
early humanists to challenge clerical authority. They pointed to ambiguous
the period saw the hope of popular redemption by supporting such notions.
attempted to provide a "scientific" rationale for hatred at a time when legal
support of the thesis, from relatively tiny cranial capacity to the idea of
was part of the flood of Ancient Astronaut books inspired by the huge success
visitations in the Bible, especially in such passages as the description of
prehistoric psychosexual tensions of some sort. Chosen People is an
injunction against portraying God is that Neanderthals cannot draw. However,
so. News that Neanderthals have little in common with modern humankind should
We're all out here just looking for the Truth. And no matter where we look for
it, over our shoulders among the hominids of prehistory, or out on the
interplanetary horizon, we can find whatever Truths we're looking for: Those
that set us free, and those that prove us mad, too.
journalists for their ignorance of economics, particularly his economics, but
on this occasion, I fear, his logic is more addled than usual. I am reluctant
to dignify his hatchet job with a lengthy reply, but some of his claims are so
defamatory that they should be addressed, if only for the record.
Department grew out of an economics seminar that took place thirteen years ago,
economist who has most influenced his thinking about the way in which
knowledge, claimed any such thing. The notion of increasing returns has been
ignored by mainstream economists for much of the postwar era, a claim that
technical, not ideological. Allowing for the possibility of increasing returns
tends to rob economic models of two properties that economists cherish:
founders of modern economics, noted that increasing returns, if tolerated,
could lead to the "wreckage" of a large part of economic theory.)
rediscovery of increasing returns by economists in the 1970s and 1980s. As
fields of game theory and international trade published articles incorporating
mentioned several other economists who did influential work, and I cited three
suggest that I made up some quotes, a charge that, if it came from a more
objective source, I would consider to be a serious matter. In effect, he is
earlier writing that he does not like mainstream economists, and he may have
been overly eager to accept a story that puts them in a bad light," he
about the direction that economic research, principally macroeconomic research,
has taken over the past two decades. In response to that article, I received
dozens of messages of appreciation from mainstream economists, including from
out to denigrate their work is malicious hogwash. The fact of the matter is
that I spend much of my life reading the work of mainstream economists,
speaking to them, and trying to find something they have written that might
interest the general public. In my experience, most economists appreciate the
chapter to the rediscovery of increasing returns by contemporary economists.
asked that question, and quickly realized that it led them into surprisingly
economists began to realize in the late seventies and early eighties was that
stories like that of the typewriter keyboard are, in fact, pervasive in the
important enough to merit a prominent mention in his book. Now, he dismisses
the same work, saying it "didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know."
professor, whose early academic work received widespread media attention, is
far too generous a scholar to succumb to such pettiness.
do as much homework as he did, I wouldn't have had to write that article.
his lament about credulous reporters who refuse to let facts stand in the way
how he came to champion a principle known as "increasing returns." The recent
New Yorker article explains how that principle has since become the
story, which he summarizes nicely in the final paragraph:
out, I wrote him as politely as I could, asking exactly how he had managed to
come up with his version of events. He did, to his credit, write back. He
explained that while he had become aware of some other people working on
increasing returns, trying to put them in would have pulled his story line out
journalists like a good story too much to find out whether it is really
collisions at relativistic energies. However, I am not so ignorant of the
canons of journalism (and of common sense) that I would take a plausible fellow
for Complexity I spoke to a number of economists about his work,
them warned me that he was usurping credit where credit was not due.
they be given due credit in anything I wrote. So was I.
I tried to make it clear that the concept of increasing returns was already
published text, I was chagrined to discover that the critical passage
the rush to get Complexity to press, however, that passage somehow wound
New Yorker has not yet established a Web presence so that we could include
of what the piece said by reading the summary of it presented in "Tasty Bits
among many who worked on increasing returns. On the contrary: He presented a
morality play in which a lonely hero struggled to make his ideas heard against
a pure (and malicious) fantasy that has nonetheless become part of the story
line people tell about increasing returns and its relationship to mainstream
documented, is that during the years that, according to the legend, increasing
returns was unacceptable in mainstream economics, papers about increasing
returns were in fact being cheerfully published by all the major journals. And
as I pointed out in the chronology I provided with the article, even standard
reference volumes like the Handbook of International Economics
have long contained chapters on increasing returns. Whatever the reason that
be so widely believed? I am glad to hear that you tried to tell a more balanced
wide responsibilities and much on their mind, are not necessarily on top of
what has been going on in research outside their usual field. I happen to know
about increasing returns in either growth or trade. Did you try talking to
over the unwillingness of economists to think the unthinkable. Did you call
not you too." And let me say that I simply cannot believe that you could have
talked about increasing returns with any significant number of economists
And oh, by the way, there are such things as libraries, where you can browse
actual economics journals and see what they contain.
of the economics profession, its intellectual bigotry and prejudice, which
happens to be a complete fabrication (with some real, named people cast as
villains) that somehow someone managed to sell you. I wonder who?
about economists being unwilling to consider the possibility of imperfect
cleared up by someone at some point." Yet up to now there was nothing anyone
could do about the situation. The trouble was that while "heroic rebel defies
orthodoxy" is a story so good that nobody even tries to check it out, "guy
far and away the best reporting on the subject, did include a sympathetic but
influence in the field of industrial organization and in particular public
wrote the article because he was "just pissed off," not a very good state for a
preposterous claim at any other time. On the contrary, his papers have fully
cited the history of the field and made references to the previous papers,
Increasing Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy, especially his preface
emphasized and which is influential in the current debates about antitrust
policy is the dynamic implication of increasing returns. It is the concept of
strategic choice, may have large consequences because of increasing returns of
various kinds. Initial small advantages become magnified, for example, by
creating a large installed base, and direct the future, possibly in an
inefficient direction. Techniques of production may be locked in at an early
stage. Similar considerations apply to regional development and learning.
long interviews with me a year ago (for Worth magazine), I tried, vainly, to
the biologists, physicists, and fellow economists who have helped advance his
of telling other economists to pay better attention to the facts, yet as a
small cities into big metropolitan areas. But within metropolitan areas the
movement has been outward, from the cities to the suburbs. The next census, in
is the biggest city in the country by a wide margin, and it is the most urban
The suburbs dominate popular culture. The default setting
for movies, television shows, and even rock music is the suburbs. Anything with
first suburban speaker of the House. Every presidential campaign is now
conceived of by strategists as a battle for the soul of the suburbs. (The
whole did.) The dominant political machine in New York is a suburban one, Al
trend story you've ever read about gentrification, or about harried
to the 'hood. Those are statistical blips, or anecdotes, or fantasies. Urban
Black people are suburbanizing faster than white people. The suburbs are
still possible to hear the suburbs described, especially by professional city
planners and other urbanologists, as a kind of temporary and revocable
aberration. You know the argument: They were subsidized by the federal
prejudice. Millions of people, especially New Yorkers, are poised, ready,
city people would move to the suburbs if they could. Mass commitment to
more urban than it really is because it annexed most of its suburbs (that is,
University City, Mo., have far more of a patina of sophistication than any New
enormous malls and "totally planned communities" with spindly little trees and
stapled to the telephone poles and vegetarian restaurants and rave clubs, is
is still a total overlap between "downtown" and "bohemian." It's the only city
where the actual city is still the center not just of the metropolis's official
old undemocratic kind, not the new kind that are essentially outdoor health
clubs. The expensive restaurants still serve "continental cuisine." The
brick buildings: just what brave suburban reformers in the Sun Belt are
revolves around children. If you lead any kind of "alternative lifestyle," you
will be left blessedly alone, rather than being ostracized, but you won't find
much in the way of an affinity culture. At dinner parties, people argue whether
colony, but I have never been to a single social event here where a hothouse
conversation about the Industry could be sustained for more than about half an
hour before it slowly flutters back to home ground: the town and the kids.
era, and is now out of date. But nothing has replaced it. Martinis, barbecues,
Since then at least one monumental social change has swept across
aside and saying, helpfully, that my life would be completely ruined if I chose
to live in the suburbs (or the city). All my friends who had grown up in the
never ever to live in the suburbs as adults. People who did move to the suburbs
had to obey an unwritten conversational rule that you had to justify it in
stagy and fake terms, either by exaggerating the hellishness of the city for
children or by pretending that the suburbs were really not that far away and
realize that what all this was really about was, first, the extreme difference
in New York between suburban and urban culture (which doesn't exist in most
parents any more); and, second, status. The status point is a tricky one. In
the minor leagues of status, where most people play, the city is for the poor
and the suburbs are for the rich, so to move out to the suburbs is to move up
as well. But in the major leagues of status, the city outranks the suburbs. The
city is where the real players live. The city is for the aristocracy, and the
suburbs, it means that you haven't made it enough to afford the basic setup of
Or it means that you're not artful enough to be able to live charmingly as a
city, you're better off moving out past the suburban Zone of Shame and living
and summers. At least then you're plausibly rustic and creative.
person standing on a train platform listening to a humanoid voice announce over
contains links to images that many will find distasteful.
grief would have any lasting results, she suggested that it might affect the
public approach to celebrity and predicted that the paparazzi accident
photos then known to exist would "never see the light of day." She'd barely
finished her prediction when the other panel members broke in. Those pictures
had already been published, they noted glumly: The German tabloid
photographers, displaying or even looking at pictures of this kind was
now; the Internet soon kicked in with even more pictures, overwhelming the new
technology, according to this view, is a tool of cheap voyeurism, capable of
smashing public decency with unprecedented speed and efficiency. But even if
more likely, not less so. Photography's relationship with grief is an intimate
documentary images of violence and death. Whatever our level of
images intellectually and emotionally, transforming appalling scenes into
objects of sentiment, pieces of evidence, and even works of art. Indeed, the
cathartic opportunities presented by such images, whether sentimental or
aesthetic, have a long history of overwhelming any questions of documentary
death imagery commonly becomes art, especially in the case of war photography.
some time ago that the same corpses seem to show up in different places on the
battlefield, and they concluded that the photographer had "arranged" the dead
soldier as he is shot, capturing what usually is interpreted as an instant of
examines this picture and its history at length. Paying homage to the great war
photographer's courage and talent, he nonetheless notes the conflicting stories
photograph "turns out not to be the clear and simple statement of fact that it
otherwise appears." Yet, assume that this famous still was not portraying an
act of slaughter: Would it be a relief or a disappointment? People see what
information, we readily grant ourselves permission to look at such images.
Terrible scenes of massacres, bombings, and the like are displayed almost
provides constant updates on such atrocities.) To the degree that we regard
showing them is a purported moral good. But it is easy to take this idea of
death imagery as important evidence and to expand it into an excuse that
happened with a number of shocking images involving famous and beloved persons.
family's feelings. It is regarded as a valid news image, but what does it
gallery of such images, many of them reproduced to illustrate conspiracy
People find the excuse they need to see a photo. Even the wrong excuse.
It's easy to interpret this as popular depravity, but the
matter is not so simple. Autopsy pictures, common enough on the Internet, are
not a popular genre; nor are the death photos of just any famous people.
little stir. The death images that have received the greatest attention have
something important in common: All of them are of people who have been subject
to popular hagiography, people who are the public's most beloved figures. The
between grief and photography dates to the very birth of the camera in the
photographs of dead family members posed in their coffins, a practice so
widespread as to be an important source of income for photographers. Such
cool: They subscribed to a veritable cult of grief. "No home ever reaches its
highest blessedness and sweetness of love and its richest fullness of joy till
sorrow enters its life in some way," wrote one minister quite typically in an
images would develop, refused to allow any to be taken. Given the intensity of
it is unclear whether they were posed, misrepresented, or innocently
misidentified. But the result is the same in any event: At some point, they
were accepted as authentic by people who esteemed the dead president, and they
notorious Internet picture, but there's nothing new about such spurious images
and nothing false about the emotions that have led so many people to look at
States had a problem: His pants didn't quite fit. That was by no means his only
president for nine months. Already, he had signed the Civil Rights Act,
clothing company, from the Oval Office. "If you don't want me running around
pants. "Now, another thing, the crotch, down where your nuts hang, it's always
where I can let it out there, because they cut me. They're just like riding a
pondering; click for an audio excerpt.) Yet it floats up from the sea of
reputed to be one of the most persuasive politicians of the age. The private
and remember how it sounded when I was a kid growing up in a forlorn little
was the last of the really big hicks. Yet, as you eavesdrop on him in
Wizard, you find not a giant but a fearful and uncertain man with a very big
president sounds like a tyrant one moment, a confused child the next. "Don't
horse. "I want to know where I can reach you on a minute's notice." Then his
to let the War on Poverty go too far, and to keep it out of the hands of
students who were about to drop out, and put them to work picking rocks off
highways or sweeping the floors of government buildings. "Now I never heard of
tell how baffled he is by the enormity of what he had earlier promised the
had agreed to follow the law and desegregate schools; but he doesn't really
because he was worried about whether Communists had infiltrated the civil
rights movement. On this particular day, he just sounds tired, all worn out.
suitors (click to listen in on the courtship). "Did you have a good day?"
her he has been on his new ski boat all day and has become a little sunburned.
"You'll look marvelous with a sunburn," she tells him, sounding all airy and
breathless. It is a mesmerizing moment, one that shattered my childhood
Office and told him face to face that he didn't want him as a running mate. In
tells him. "I have said that I highly regard you and that you have a bright
future, and that the things about our relationship were without foundation. You
know New York better than I do. It might be desirable for me to say nothing."
was a man who whispered terrible, dark things about himself under his
don't think a white Southerner is the man to unite this nation in this hour,"
union people." He worried that he might be going crazy, and fretted over
physically and mentally carry the responsibilities of the bomb, and the world,
tearfully. "They think I want great power. What I want is great solace and a
little love, that's all I want." He presses down hard on the word "love," too
moment, then throws them to the floor with a shriek. She goes to the bar, puts
three ice cubes in a glass, pours a drink, lights a cigarette. She walks to the
window and pulls back the drawn curtain to peek out. The door opens, and
let me leave. There were eight of them. The only call they let me make was to
off with this scandal, you're mistaken. I made this thing. I wiggled my
buns for a year to get those pizzas into the Oval, and she thinks she can waltz
seen how many times they've played that clip today? I told you we'd strung them
those presidential trinkets when he comes back from trips.
turn to when Newt shuts down the government; the next, you're bucking him up
perjury time [looks at his watch]. Why don't you refresh your
kiddo? Those are the breaks. But a one hour special ain't bad for a kid who got
door, humming "I Got the World on a String." He pauses to fix his bow tie in
phone was used to solicit contributions. The phone rule asks not how
much money was promised over the line. It asks what kind of phone
was used in the solicitation. Was a cellular phone used? That's kosher. Car
made headlines, the Republicans delivered a $50-billion tax break to the
Don't expect congressional hearings on that giveaway while the Republicans have
current phone obsession illustrates our declining standard of behavior for
improprieties. Then we started punishing them for the appearance of
impropriety. Today, we'll tolerate almost any outrage as long as its
perpetrators maintain the appearance of propriety. Genuine propriety would
still be nicer. But in its absence, we settle for politicians who abide by the
rules (like the phones rules), which are devised to cloak impropriety in
Most scholars and the Congressional Research Service
to the president and vice president. What's more, the act, which was passed
envision phones. The legislation was designed to keep elected officials from
using the majesty of their surroundings to shake down visitors or employees.
Today's potential donor doesn't know if a politician is calling from the
House and Senate have spelled out very specific rules for members to
excess of zeal in using the right phones at the right time lets members of
Congress pretend they're cleaning up the system without actually stemming the
Building, on the second floor of the annex to the offices of the Republican
dividers of the type you see separating the operators who take your call for
up a sweat dialing as many donors as they can. Like most of us, they rarely
call, but usually by that time the importuning politician is back in his
Capitol office. Does he put up his feet and take the call from Moneybags when
Moneybags is ready to talk? Or does he race down the stairs and cross the
street to his padded cell and call his benefactor back? You be the judge.
the House investigation into finance abuses, had to equivocate when asked two
candidate's best friend) bragged in an interview about raising money from his
office using a credit card. When challenged on the legality of that, he pointed
out correctly that the Justice Department had never prosecuted anyone under the
law, so the Ethics Committee stood down. There were calls to hold an inquiry at
so many other senators were probably guilty of the same thing. A former staff
keep his parents from overhearing his conversation. A consultant to Sen. Don
witnessed Nickles taking calls from potential donors in his office. Sen. Bob
Smith, considering running for the Republican nomination for president, left
may have agreed that calls should be made from an annex, but the executive
branch never did. In the immortal words of Vice President Al Gore, there is no
controlling legal authority that says elected officials can't make calls from
federal property. Putting aside the fact that both he and the president live on
federal property, the Congressional Research Service and a host of other legal
scholars said that the law does not apply to phoning from either office.
Of course, officeholders shouldn't dial for dollars from
their official digs. Not because dialing is evil, but because they shouldn't be
hustling money at all. As long as members of Congress continue to divert
attention from the fact that money flows in at the same rate that favors flow
China is vital: It exposes that country's executives and entrepreneurs to the
democratic civilizations of the industrial West. It also instructs them about
power resides in the bloody hands of a narrow oligarchy and a broader party of
"engage" China so that its government has a stake in the good opinion of the
lieutenants a powerful boost. Prosperity from trade would strengthen the regime
and delay democratization. The best way to nurture civil society and dissent in
president is eager for "engagement" with China and happy to sign the
by confrontation with the United States) have brought us to this point, where
agreements they have signed, and to authorize sanctions against countries that
break the trade rules they had agreed on. It keeps other countries from
breaking trade commitments that benefit the United States in exchange for
keeping the United States from breaking trade commitments that benefit those
of trade sanction and retaliation. If we in the United States are the good guys
visas to executives of companies that use buildings or equipment seized by
sanctions against the United States. This is exactly the kind of messy dispute
Now this is a strange position for the president to take.
its first big case, all will observe that its rules are only binding when the
And a chance to remove trade disputes from the cycle of unilateral sanction and
subsequent retaliation would be lost as well. If the administration "wins" the
other two being the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) they had
It's not that he has changed his mind and is now pursuing a general policy of
China's economy is more vulnerable to coordinated sanctions that would cut off
its exports to industrial countries than ever before, yet it seems less open to
democracy than ever before. China's leaders have drawn conclusions from the
collapse of the Soviet Union: that if they allow dissent or take steps toward
democracy, they will be dead or jailed in a decade; and that no amount of
economic benefit is worth the destruction of their regime. If increasing
China has flunked. Yet, sanctions against China are not in the cards.
if the White House thinks that the end of every story is a signing ceremony on
the White House lawn: that the sole point is to sign documents and then
distribute the pens as party favors. But useful, functioning institutions are
anthropologist. As we rounded a turn, a pair of big metal gates appeared before
us. Behind them, set on the crest of a hill, was a large white house in the
for a moment that they were a brass band, but they turned out to be the valet
again. The front door was opened by yet more valets, and we were bidden
she was wearing high heels, velvet trousers, and a black cardigan that my
escort helpfully described as a "peekaboo top." As I struggled manfully to
avoid staring at her cleavage, she explained that the house had been built four
years ago, and that she had redecorated it throughout.
didn't say, understandably, was that the house had been built for her husband's
here, where the locals are used to ups and downs of a personal and business
suitably named Phoenix Pictures, he is once more making films, including one
has a new wife who, while she might not have his ex's political clout, has just
leather jacket. I was thinking what a good job he was doing of playing up to
his image as a brooding misfit when a bathroom door opened next to him and a
fatherly nothings into his daughter's ear, and carried her upstairs.
Moving further into the house, I felt the same sense of
surprise that I always feel in the presence of movie celebrities: surprise that
angular and geeky, looking like he had just stepped out of that helicopter in
asked, casually, as if I had known him all my life.
airy rooms and white walls covered with modern art. On virtually every surface
roughly the size of a baseball diamond, and it seemed to overlook the whole of
myself next to two nondescript youths who were chugging down a couple of
interrupted by a loud cry from inside the house. When I got there, I found
somebody ran down the stairs on their hands in my house," she shrieked, clearly
realized that a lot of people in the house were foreigners. My date explained
that this is always the case at awards parties these days. She said the
academy have never heard of a lot of these foreign movies, so there is an event
appeals to people so much," he told me. "I really don't know." I asked Hicks
repeating the experiences of other young foreign directors who have tried it,
leave," Hicks said. For now, he added, he was "determined to enjoy the
hear that slur. I asked him how much money it took to produce Secrets and
By this stage, the belle of the ball had finally arrived:
appeared to have changed shape, her blond hair was curled, and she was wearing
a beautiful white maxi with a flowered pattern on it. I vaguely recalled
something about her appearing in Vogue recently, but this was less a
of the evening is something of a blur to me. At some point, my date appeared
and said it was time to go. It was almost midnight, which is considered late in
although he has transferred his main allegiance to a place called Patroon.
Filling out the room are other editors, publicists, and writers from these
who probably isn't there himself, picks up every tab. Some of the lesser fry
It's a closed economy where almost all human needs and desires can be gratified
with a miraculous, unlimited currency called the Si.
an hour, is written into your contract. First stop, breakfast with a writer at
pills, or her boss's pet from the vet, or presents for her boss's
forgotten to return the video your kids watched yesterday, so you have a
an editor who had just been promoted to an extremely senior job. His office was
snack time. Your assistant joins the mob in the lobby newsstand. She bills your
candy bar, juice, and cigarettes (as well as her own candy bar, juice, and
researching a Vanity Fair story that will never run. About the
Vogue editor who has furnished her summer house from items purchased for
Vogue assistants have nicknamed the house "Petty Cash Junction."
sources insist it did, hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes on behalf
of an editor who didn't bother to file tax forms? Did an editor really expense
talking. But every example of excess cited here was told to me by at least one
source (and usually more than one) in a position to know.
facial? Treat yourself and bill it to Si. This is what is called "scouting." It
is also a great way to get free haircuts. To be fair, Si doesn't pay for all
took a $2-million boost to buy a $3.7-million Manhattan house.
prepare for trips by Federal Expressing their luggage to their destination.
Why? "So you don't have to carry your bags. No one would be caught dead
journalists, writers who live much better than they ever could if they wrote
of course, are nowhere near as profligate as photographers. Stories of wasteful
and his huge entourage wined and dined to the tune of "hundreds of thousands of
with a special issue on the same theme. In order to get Vice President Gore,
New Yorker once shipped silverware from New York to
New Yorker staffer.) Vanity Fair toted food from New York to
Vanity Fair is enjoying banner years, and while it probably hasn't made
other golden handcuffs. He runs a lifestyle prison. Top editors stay because
prestige. To uphold that image, magazine editors need to circulate at the top
of New York society. But the top of New York society consists of people who
female rump in tight velvet pants, shifting around slightly somewhere north of
jacket a charcoal that certainly qualified as the same. I had absorbed the
eyes from the behind ahead of me.) I had balanced my budget following the
reading Harry Shearer. The Gist of my Spin was that I was above The Fray. My
gear and a bold display of Timberland boots, I had been distracted by a drab
blot to the right of the aisle. There stood a table covered with stacks of
folded men's slacks, uninspiring in color, dubious in cut. I slowed to browse:
hallmark of criminal regimes and successful ad campaigns everywhere ("Coke is
stack of gabardines would have made a fine cover for a motel love seat, but
they seemed out of place on my person. And then there was the rack of bottoms
when the label in the waistband reveals that "Microfiber" is another way of
was assuming? What if it wasn't cool at all? For all I knew, "Slate" was
know their way around a search engine but, what with the wife and the child
with one of the recurring nightmares of bourgeois life. I was caught in one of
those waking dreams in which you understand full well that your individual
tastes, carefully nurtured and developed over the decades, have in fact been
anticipated, designed, and shaped by others every step of the way. My search
for Slates, apparently an act of free will, was but a pawn's move in the great
Slate mind pierces the false consciousness of late capitalism. Your vaunted
individuality is exposed as nothing but a pixel in the big picture of the money
Bitterly, I toted three pairs of Slates to the dressing
room, vowing never again to subscribe to an online magazine, even one that
doesn't charge. There in the privacy of the changing room I understood that the
subtext. While much of men's and women's clothing is designed to send out a
complex code of sexual and social signals, Slates, true to their name, are
blank. You mean you want to slip into something that might attract the
attention and admiration of a fellow mammal? These are not those
concession that Slates make to male vanity is pleats. Now, I like pleats, and I
was consoled briefly in the changing room by the thought that this subtlest of
fashion statements was all that a Slate guy needed. I tried on the gray
ask the salesman if he thought the pleats were pulling too much. He was amused
playful questions. Instead I turned right, toward the men's department, still
admit that Slates, although perhaps overpriced and ugly, were not altogether
inappropriate for a guy like me. My pleats do pull. My prosperous ass is
salesgirl in the men's department and inquired if she had any Slates.
that caramel treat into my mouth and looked into her pretty eyes. Such
exquisitely miniaturized and stylized sexual situations (it occurred to me)
The salesgirl directed me (still sucking gratefully on her
were brighter, the music a wee bit louder, and the tease of pleasurable
consumption a bit less subtle and a bit more fetishistic, though no less
girl and a pink girl and a brown girl crowding around the eyeliner counter,
avidly seeking their "one true color" amid the promiscuous riot of magenta,
indulgence, I went to the men's department and found another salesclerk. She
had a mustache, the cultural significance of which completely confounded the
But no Slates. Maybe you should look down there." She helpfully pointed to a
was again, an island of Slates, dull as dirt but not as cheap: two pairs for
could get close to me, and headed toward the changing room.
mirror, I realized that in these pants, I would never again be fearful of that
other nightmare of bourgeois life, the moment in which you sense that your
advertising industry all give you license to slough off your work ethic, relax
your discipline, and lower your guard. The Slate man knows the cultural
contradictions of capitalism. He lives them, wears them, and so is proofed
I would do none of those things, and I would be no less delighted and content
be that big, I thought, picking up the pants. (Thus the man of Slate corrects
the error of his ways.) I tried them on. Tucked in a wee bit at the waist, they
God exists? A miraculous recovery from a fatal illness? Or would that prove
only the astonishing resilience of the body? An atheist friend struck by
lightning? Could be mere coincidence. But how about scientific
the Bible prophesies events that occurred thousands of years after it was
conducted a computer experiment to test the existence of "Torah
events. When the statisticians crunched their data, they reached an astonishing
conclusion: The hidden messages exist, and their presence "is not due to
published their paper. Now, three years later, the results still stand,
and has undermined our notion of free will. Either the experiment is flawed, or
Back when the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology
were one great intellectual hodgepodge, proving the existence of God was a
relatively commonplace exercise. To the modern mind, however, science and
spout drivel about "creation science," most of us now scoff at the notion of
Social Security number to the names of all the people you've ever slept with,
as well as what you ate for breakfast the next morning.
contains encrypted messages dates to the medieval practitioners of the
in Exodus, and you'll find it again. (This ELS doesn't appear, however, in the
counting out ciphers, then trying to puzzle out the significance of the
regard the codes as a kind of parlor trick that is irrelevant to the essence of
there are real codes embedded in the Torah. They programmed computers to scour
rabbis on the list were all born long after Genesis was written, so no human
author could have deliberately encoded them into the text. Moreover, the rabbis
were chosen according to an arbitrary criterion, so the scientists were not
looking for names they already knew to be present. As a control, the authors
performed exactly the same experiment on a few scrambled versions of Genesis,
If the phenomenon were due to chance, the authors reasoned,
they would be as likely to find an ELS naming Rabbi X near one identifying the
birthday of Rabbi Y as they would be to find Rabbi X near his own birthday.
And, indeed, this is what they found in the control texts. But it wasn't true
generally appeared closer to their own dates than to the dates of other rabbis.
When the scientists analyzed their data, they found a 1-in-50,000 possibility
that such a coding scheme could have occurred as a result of chance.
surprisingly little public attention, considering its potentially mammoth
significance. The Associated Press ran a wire story and the magazine Bible
Review published a longer piece, and that was about it for media coverage.
But the paper did not escape the attention of the faithful. The Internet is
frothing with missionaries bent on using the codes to woo unbelievers. One
evidence the Bible is God's word." Another site claims, somewhat more gently,
According to Mechanic, the codes cannot be read as any sort of window on the
Torah's inner meaning: "They have nothing to do with the religion, nothing to
do with spirituality. All they can do is validate the hypothesis that the
Acquaintances of mine have become Orthodox because of the codes. I also know of
one man who waited until Statistical Science agreed to publish the
suggests that the authors may have subconsciously biased their results by
selectively reporting their findings. "Every statistician I know has reacted
that the most likely explanation is that some kind of selection or 'tuning' of
the method did take place, though the authors may not be conscious of it," he
Genesis does not appear to exist in the other four books of the Torah. He also
identifies a number of highly technical problems with the experiment that, he
not yet undergone the rigorous peer review that the original paper withstood.
Still, his report raises potent questions about the Torah codes methodology,
questions even Rips acknowledges to be "serious." But Rips appears eager to
critique and agreed that "more prosaic explanations" needed to be examined
before the Torah codes phenomenon could be ascribed to God.
shakes out, the Torah codes paper seems fundamentally unlike any previous
attempt to use science to prove a metaphysical point. No similar claim has ever
withstood scientific examination as robustly as the Torah codes have.
doubt remains, a floating question mark: What if God did write the Torah? Then
His administration would have collapsed under the relentless reporting of his
has become a journalistic truism that the club has been disbanded, that today
history, reckless philandering in the White House would be a story."
that has engulfed the administration, right? Yet something nags about the story
been slaked but simply changed venue? During this time the press has surely had
so desperate for evidence that for a time he was duped by forged documents
past have thrust themselves upon the media, journalists have needed a different
justification for turning them aside other than the 1960s doctrine that it was
none of the public's business. That justification was the widely held
infidelities, however obliquely, and that by electing him twice the public had
shenanigans as long as they didn't continue in the White House. Let's call it
had voted on it." It's debatable, however, how fully the public was informed of
information." One reporter I spoke to who covered the race said he came to
Spectator published similar versions of the story almost simultaneously.
There was a small flurry of attention among the networks, but according to the
financier to create a fund for the troopers before publication, in case they
just a few dozen national reporters could define what is news, and they were
Today, unfortunately, the rationalists have lost the power to set standards of
the troopers escort a woman to the basement of the governor's mansion to meet
responded that "there was no improper relationship." Another woman confronted
plenty of media attention, her story was widely dismissed as irrelevant under
couldn't pin down was whether the advance was welcome or not. Among media
the only person who took the account seriously was the president himself.
followed such public disclosure." In other words, the careless only stay lucky
Why You Should Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Market
very large excess returns over bonds? Or, to put it another way, were investors
whining during the recent downswing about the exact reason they get such
possibilities are raised by an article in the latest Journal of Economic
The article, titled "The Equity Premium Puzzle," asks a
time, the excess return of stocks over bonds yields staggering differences in
fraction of one percentage point. This period included many start points when
pundits opined about the excessively high price of stocks. Another example that
market was considered too high and too speculative), and held them until the
is the premium in the form of a lower rate of return that investors are willing
to pay to own bonds or notes rather than stocks, supposedly because stocks are
(as have other academics whom they cite) that the risk premium over the past
two centuries has been almost insanely high. In fact, even for any 20-year
give up to own bonds or bills with definite coupons and payment on maturity.
Or, to put it another way, looked at from the perspective of time, stocks are
simply nowhere near as risky as their rate of return compared with bonds would
seem to indicate, at least so far in finance history.
The authors find, moreover, that this is a worldwide
phenomenon. Even in nations where stock exchanges disappeared or were curtailed
stocks exceeded returns to bonds over long periods.
fluctuations do not appear to compel as large a risk premium as exists, unless
second question is even more beguiling. Why should there be any risk premium at
bonds and buy stocks to the point that bond prices are so low and stock prices
so high that the returns on bonds over time approximate the return on
most investors to get wise to the fact that the equity premium is just too
damned high? They assure the readers that they, like most economists and
finance people, have their retirement savings in stocks. They say they know
turbulence. (Indeed, they point out, over 20-year periods, bond returns
adds a major point. If all (or most) holdings were for only a year, one could
risk premium. But if the composition of the market has changed considerably, so
prices, and lower the equity premium? Especially now, when any investor can
thus get the exact return of the market as a whole.
it puts the market's recent, quickly overturned correction in quite a different
returns. If we didn't have this kind of upsetting move occasionally, we would
not get the risk premium at all, because then everyone would only want to hold
stocks. Maybe we should stop worrying and learn to love this roller coaster,
of weeks ago, observers may have been surprised by reports that I had been
were operating on the same wavelength. They were quoting from the Bible, while
I was beginning to think seriously about the need to save my immortal soul.
felt so inclined, I might well attack what I saw. His reply: "You would have
over the last few days, my boast of independence was an empty one. It's very
hard, in practice, to take money as a compensation consultant and then be
openly critical of the outcome without either violating confidentiality or
underscores my original notion that if you want to be a corporate critic, you
shouldn't get involved in corporate decisions, no matter how flattering the
my criticism of executive pay is centered around the fact that there is no real
its members well versed in the arcana of executive compensation, but I was
along for the ride to point out the shortcuts and pitfalls. Second, you had an
that the deal almost collapsed several times (and, in light of more recent
deal was reached. And, in fact, there was virtually no criticism at the time.
suggesting that the investment community was well pleased that a person almost
executives negotiating from outside the company they are considering joining
usually have a great deal of leverage. After all, the company wants them badly.
Companies use a variety of goodies to lure a senior
executive from the outside. Often, they will give the executive a large
of company stock. In still other cases, the company might guarantee that the
executive will receive big bonuses in future years, poor profits
deal, however, contained none of these goodies. They seemed too expensive. For
happening was deemed to be exceedingly low. After all, if you think the person
in the cold. That brought to life those sleeper in his contract.
precisely nothing in the way of severance. Only if he were fired would the
which cost a lot of money, and some of which have the capacity to turn out
severance packages are the dirty little secret of executive compensation, not
unparalleled severance package (assuming it is paid in full) has done is to
shine a huge spotlight on that dirty little secret. Perhaps now, boards of
directors will toughen up: If you get fired, they'll tell their top executives,
you get two weeks' pay, or whatever else it is that we give to ordinary workers
join the company. And then the board might have had to entice him by offering a
for coming to the company. That's something positive. But a huge severance
package is for failing. And that's incomprehensible." I couldn't have put it
"Earth's Biggest Bookstore," and the media, online and off, have accepted that
claim uncritically. "The toast of cyberspace" is the Economist 's
Any other book must be obtained from a wholesale distributor or the publisher.
This is exactly what any traditional bookstore does when it doesn't have a book
in stock. The difference is that traditional bookstores start out with a lot
How does Amazon get the books it doesn't have in its
in certain cases, it has even called the authors. And how do less advanced
booksellers do it? At Politics and Prose, a small local bookstore in northwest
shop at Amazon? Cast gives four reasons: "One, we have a lower price. Two, we
have a better selection. Three, we're probably much faster. And we're
definitely more convenient." We conducted an experiment to test these claims.
The other was an obscure psychology text even Borders wouldn't carry, chosen
from the catalog of the State University of New York Press, called The Ego
We've covered that. If you define "inventory" as any book a store can
computer. At a conventional bookstore, you can pick up and leaf through actual
phone on the first ring. She was chatty, but professional. The store had "many,
"right away, tomorrow morning at the very, very latest." When asked about the
to order it. Estimated time of arrival: four weeks. She took a name, address,
lowbrow taste, but quickly said he'd send it the next day. The second
book." When pressed, he said it could be ordered, but would probably take two
weeks. Borders' system is that when the book arrives, you are sent a postcard
asking you to come to the store and pick it up. Can't they just send the book?
"We prefer people do it this way," Drew said, but then he gave in and agreed to
After calling the stores, we connected to Amazon using
unenlightening amateur commentaries from other Amazon users. The psychology
text, not surprisingly, was listed with no description and no commentaries.
Amazon said it would take one to two weeks to order.
"Finalizing Your Order Is Easy." Nothing could be further from the truth. Lower
down in the verbiage, Amazon concedes, "Though we have tried hard to make this
form easy to use, we know that it can be quite confusing the first time."
Amazon users have to page through screen after screen of details about shipping
charges, refund rules, and disclaimers about availability and pricing. Then you
are told to allow between three and seven days for delivery after your book
leaves Amazon's warehouse. "Upgrading to Next Day Air does NOT [their emphasis]
online time from when we accessed Amazon's home page to when we completed the
days from both Borders and Politics and Prose, in plenty of time before
until Dec. 27--more than a week after the conventional stores. Furthermore, the
wrapping looked as if it had been done by a fourth grader. However, it came
bundled with the obscure psych book (which still hadn't arrived from the
conventional stores as of New Year's Day). Eleven days for that one is pretty
books. Finally, stores with local outlets must charge sales tax on shipped
sent separately, the psych text would cost more at Amazon than at the other
There is a third category of books (besides those that
everyone has in stock and those that no one has in stock). These are books that
greatest weakness. It includes hardly obscure current books that aren't best
Women's Heath Book Collective. Borders' had three copies on the premises.
Amazon needs two to three days to obtain this one, plus between three and seven
days to send it to you. Likewise for a classic like the Penguin paperback of
At Amazon it is listed as a "special order," which means it might be available
to be shipped in four to six weeks, but, our computer informs us: "PLEASE NOTE
that it might not be available at all. Publishers do not always notify the book
community about changes in the availability of their titles." Not
makes it "Earth's Biggest Bookstore" in even a metaphorical sense.
adult and juvenile criminals than me. No one has written more over the years
the search for rational, workable crime policies, it's time to admit that the
parole, sharply curtailing probation, imprisoning every adult felon for his or
her entire term, and warehousing juvenile offenders in adult jails. The prudent
response, however, is not to abolish probation and parole, but to reinvent
let's get crystal clear on the grim facts about crime, prisons, probation, and
parole. Be giddy about recent drops in national crime rates if you wish, but
results in anyone getting caught, convicted, and sentenced to prison. Most
felony defendants are repeat offenders; yet, most felony defendants are
reasonable doubt what every veteran policeman knows: Most prisoners are
offenders. Yet, most of these hardened criminals are still paroled well before
they have served out their latest sentence behind bars. On any given day in
their violent and repeat criminal histories) from those who remain in prison.
dozens of careful studies document that probation and parole are, to put it
mildly, failing to protect the public. Nearly half of all state prisoners in
formally "under supervision" in the community, their "violations" included more
cities, for example, most cases involving violent older teen thugs who get
referred to adult court result in probation. Kids plea bargain, too.
systems so poor, and what, realistically, can be done to improve
that we spend next to nothing on the systems, and get about what we pay for.
victim restitution, or meet other requirements. But about half do not comply
with the terms of their probation. Probation sanctions, he concludes, "are not
could they be properly supervised by overworked, underpaid probation officers
oversight. If "probationers are growing in number and are increasingly more
serious offenders," she advises, "then they are in need of more supervision,
not less. But less is exactly what they have been getting over the past
probation caseload of serious and violent juvenile cases has increased rapidly.
In a national survey, probation officers admitted that their average urban
reinvent probation, we will need to reinvest in it. More money, more agents,
and closer supervision are just the first phase. Equally important is the type
officers with local police officers. Patrolling the streets together, they have
clergy on a wide range of crime control and prevention initiatives.
where the juveniles committed their crimes hear the cases, set terms, and
monitor compliance. Run for the district attorney's office by veteran probation
costs little to administer, and holds kids (including hundreds of juvenile
that it separates the minnows from the sharks, then holds the minnows
accountable and hence less likely to become sharks, let alone become the
two major and highly successful programs in New Jersey. One is the state's
Enforcement Court, which goes after people who remain on probation because they
failed to pay fines and restitution, collects the money, restores the trust of
crime victims, and brings literally millions of dollars into state coffers that
can be used to beef up other justice programs. The other is the Sheriffs Labor
cleaning up parks, painting public buildings, helping out in nursing homes, and
Admittedly, parole is a tougher reinvention nut to crack. In the late 1980s, I
recidivism nor costs. So for the last several years I have argued in favor of
some types of "three strikes and you're out" laws. And I continue to strongly
encountered to date comes from Martin Horn, formerly head of New York State's
argues, in most cases there is relatively little that parole agents can do to
keep an offender who is determined to commit new crimes from committing them.
The flip side is that parolees who want to go straight often can make it if
they are literate, civil, and can stay off drugs, remain sober, and get a job.
But parole agents often waste time chasing the bad guys rather than helping the
good. And in many states, the laws perversely limit a parole agent's
the parole of guys who failed a drug test but who were not, in the agent's best
judgment, doing anything more than getting high. As one agent confided: "A
up dirty, and I have to send him back inside. But a real predator I know is
using, selling, and almost certainly doing other crimes. He stays on the
reinvent parole on the basis of a "personal responsibility" model. A released
prisoner would be given the equivalent of a parole services voucher. For a
providers. If he wants to help himself, he can. If not, he's on his own. Do a
serious efforts to reinvent probation and parole, and time to debate fresh
ideas. After all, we are not going to put every convicted adult and juvenile
$10-million pledge, "because it feels strongly that there never has been a
greater need for management education based on values and ethics." The gift
$2-million scholarship fund that will assist minorities and students attending
a Spirituality of Management seminar at the university.
the United States. "The donor required us to sign an agreement on the part of
the hospital to keep the donor's identity anonymous," she said. "But it's fair
to say the money came from someone who identified with our values and
unrestricted but must be matched by other donors over the next three to five
stipulations to the gift. First: The school must stick to its goal of providing
the donor has required the university to seek additional donations to match the
to invite additional donations to the capital campaign. "Thus we intend to
gift is unusual not only in its size but also in its purpose, which is to fund
college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of the United States.
science. The pledge is the largest single gift in the college's history. The
to make the pledge primarily on the quality of leadership now at the college.
"We are deeply humbled by the generosity of these wonderful people," said
his house at one of the local girls' schools (Cathedral i think) recently. To
the surprise of the buyers, present at the small gathering was no other than
matched only by her understanding of the historical tensions underlying the
her, she apologized for her slightly glazed eyes, having spent the last
hands, she has decided to read Homer in the original. She also said she was at
artist of far more restraint and maturity than one might expect of someone her
since she suffers, of course, from dyslexia (hence her failure on the writing
that I saw an application of hers for a job here at MS. She was applying for a
stop picking on this sweet young woman. You're all being sexist. If a man had
venture, therefore, to propose that a small bell be procured, and attached by a
of scandal wafting through the corridors of the White House will not for a
single moment distract them from fulsome support for the commander in chief as
leadership (unsurprising from a chicken who dodged the draft). And if he
boys' lives (unsurprising from a guy who let others die for him in
Of course, the Republicans hasten to make it clear that
That could make for really lousy television. Having echoed the recommendations
leaders beat a rhetorical retreat at the end of last week. He still wouldn't
"The United States," he wrote, "should encourage, recognize, help finance, arm
and protect with air power a new provisional government broadly representative
airstrikes that "number in the thousands, not hundreds" and lasting over
"weeks, not days." I wonder what the pope would say about that.
after all, immortal. And the administration has made clear that it's not above
bombing a palace or two no matter who's inside. And this time, it says, its
likely, though, the limited warfare proposed by the administration will come to
suffering of his people, except to display their torn bodies on television as
wonder why no one thought of it before. Perhaps they didn't, because they had
decided to protect themselves from their "sly and treacherous" enemy, the cat,
fabulist, "met with general applause, until an old mouse got up and said: 'That
is all very well, but who is to bell the Cat?' The mice looked at one another
and nobody spoke. Then the old mouse said: 'It is easy to propose impossible
ain't what it should be. Too often it coughs up the long newspaper story that
the average intelligent reader, having read it carefully, puts down and says,
detail that's barely placed within a conceptual framework.
The story tracks the wheeling and dealing of Peter Knight,
an influential corporate lobbyist who used to work for Al Gore and is now a
executive, coincidentally or not, was a large donor to various Gore causes.
newspaper approach, with the nub of the story on top and an expanding base of
in which time and space loop around and tie each other in knots. The piece is a
surprise coming from someone who has produced many readable scoops.
a dinner for contributors at the vice president's mansion. Now government
investigators are looking into this. Into what, exactly? In the eighth
paragraph we learn that this is "a stark picture of how business and politics
often overlap, demonstrating the advantage of having friends in high places."
Anyone previously unaware that business and politics "overlap" (whatever that
means) and that it's good to have friends in high places has now had that
cleared up. But without any more guidance about why readers who weren't born
Two days later, the Department of Energy boosted an existing contract with the
rewarded with another significant item: On the day the company's expanded DOE
for both the Gore campaign and the university chair. At that time, a DOE
official involved in the contract was a former Gore staffer.
Believe me, you now have a better grasp of this story than
also have maybe half an hour of your life back. What you don't have is
traditional journalistic concept (like pyramid style) is that the news ought to
Post 's Oct.17 story added little to a report posted two days earlier by
expanded at the time the company and its chief were making large,
in the movies, works this way: The intrepid reporter, through gumption and
legwork, exposes the evildoer; then the government takes over to flesh out the
case and administer punishment. These days, all too frequently, this chronology
runs backward. Specifically, the government process predates the journalistic
investigators. Many reporters, including me, make deals with congressional
investigators to get material by promising not to reveal the source. Such deals
are sometimes necessary to get a good story. But readers deserve to know that
some of the big, important stories thrust in front of them are actually the
long story on Peter Knight that disclosed Knight's connection to Molten,
vice president is now the power axis for a circle of his friends and clients,
the Democratic Party. In return, the vice president occasionally helps them.
lays the groundwork for his anticipated presidential bid four years from now,
my confessions, O Lord. They are a sacrifice offered by my tongue, for Yours
was the hand that formed it and Yours was the spirit that stirred it to confess
question the veracity of my reporting until my most recent confession, in which
I write on my "pangs of doubt: Is it possible [the troopers] took me for a
ride, embellishing their account for fame and fortune?"
Now I realize my newest confession (on newsstands now!)
apologize for my apology. The White House issued a statement this week saying
him to embark on sexual adventures? I must also apologize for all that nasty
much do they want?" I quoted him as saying. This was the same man whom I had
bleak conservative landscape." That was while I was still on his payroll. Now
the Four Seasons Hotel several years ago, he tried to help me by passing along
some sex allegations that the Post wouldn't print. He had every reason
too. And I didn't even pick up the check! Sorry about that.
The Seduction played no role in your departure from The Free Press. And
investigative journalism, yet I did not share the wealth with other
conservative publications like the National Review and the Weekly
say they'd been martyred at a campus once renowned for its leftism? They were
denied my entree into the world of conservative journalism. And what of the kid
unborn children will never appear on the Today show.
introspection, I realize that all of creation would have been better off if I
others in ways of which they are hardly aware. But what of the lives of
humility, generally considered a crucial component of any sincere apologia. I
like to apologize to the sperm that were unfairly defeated in the race to
slides out the top drawer. There they are: six human skulls. Keepsakes from the
war that refuses to go away quietly. A cardboard divider, no different from
what's normally used to ship grapefruit, keeps the skulls from banging together
among those who added their names, as if they were giddy college teammates
autographing a football after a big homecoming win.
home, apparently oblivious to the fact that body parts aren't considered
Three of the four remaining skulls (one belonging to a woman, all believed to
decorative treatment." For example, the eye cavities of skull No.
back to the Civil War. Thus, visitors can find on display a swatch of diseased
colon removed from a Union soldier plagued by terminal diarrhea, and pieces of
several times, but learned about the skulls only recently from a friend. They
franchise, why not give 'em back? For the sake of symbolic closure. For sappy
sentimental reasons. By rights, it seems to me, a person's head ought to rest
in peace, if not near his or her body, then at least on the same continent.
proud, history. In the latter category, the practice probably reached its nadir
rare museum piece: a perfectly preserved head no larger than a tennis ball.
heads of those who crossed the throne were regularly stuck on pikes and mounted
moved on to bigger things in World War II. The archives of the College of
Japan as trophies to be displayed. This number was exceeded by another officer
soldiers indulged in noggin nabbing. Marines amassed piles of heads during the
head is known to be "above ground," as they say in the business. Napoleon's
sounds," he says, "they would even be a good investment" (though not as good as
showing the Angel of Death that they're not afraid," he explains.
Desecration of the dead serves the dual purpose of steeling one's own courage
and intimidating the enemy. But, the collector adds, "There is a difference
inside the National Museum of Health and Medicine holding the bright blue
as I know, they've never been offered," he replies. "We can't say for sure
It's not part of the culture. It's a different way of viewing death."
She's right, of course. But forensic specialists are
for better or worse, a creature of Western sensibilities, in which crude lines
are customarily drawn between the murderous imperatives of battle and the
in the annual rituals of war and remembrance, when flags bloom like
are they employing these days to stave off the Angel of Death?
about six lives and six ignominious ends. Something tells me those hapless
This explains the growing interest in Internet voting, which promises to do for
convenient, say its supporters, click 'n' pick elections could theoretically
eliminate fraud, allow instant recounts, and save pots of money.
by these hopes, election boards across the country have begun to take tentative
Democracy is collecting digital petitions for a ballot initiative that would
a pilot project run by the Department of Defense's Federal Voting Assistance
abolished polling places entirely and now conducts elections exclusively by
too. While online elections would use fancier technology, they're based on the
voting by computer for years. Most polling places use one of three
voters start using Internet terminals at polling places, it's a short step to
for this to happen, software makers will have to devise voting systems that are
demonstrably secure. All of those currently being developed employ digital
that identifies a document's origin and verifies that it hasn't been altered
while being transmitted (click here for a primer). Banks and insurance companies already use
digital signatures to transfer large sums of money online.
how it might work: A few weeks before the election, you visit your county's Web
site and print out a form declaring that you'd like to vote online. You sign it
authorities verify that your signature matches the one on your original
registration form at the county courthouse and also record the digital identity
of the computer from which you've downloaded the form. You're then sent a PIN
that will work only from that computer. On Election Day, you log onto the site
transmission. When it arrives, a central computer records both that your ballot
was cast and the contents of the ballot, but in two separate places. Keeping
this information separate means that election officials can verify that you
voted without seeing how you voted. Another copy of the data is burned into a
individual level, the system is about as secure as an absentee ballot. Just as
you could sign an absentee ballot but let someone else fill it out, there's
to stop someone else from forcing you to turn yours over. But an interloper
would have to obtain thousands of PINs and computers to influence any election.
And one day online voting may be far more secure than absentee voting. Software
Election officials are far more worried about mass cheating. Since regular
polling places are scattered in thousands of locations around the country,
a central server, hackers could flood it with activity or jam phone lines,
preventing people from logging on to vote. Software makers say they'll address
that problem by using multiple servers and telephone lines. But the Voting Integrity
state that implements online voting may also have to contend with legal issues
against blacks, prohibits several (mostly Southern) states and counties from
making any change in voting procedures without federal approval. This clause
applies to even minor changes that could reduce minority participation. Given
could be seen as an infringement on voting rights. (For more on Internet use
obstacle to online voting may be entrenched interests threatened by change. In
candidate?' There's clearly a strain of people who hope for low turnout."
"Even if racism were to disappear overnight, this would do nothing to
improve black test scores, increase black entrepreneurship, strengthen black
cultural existence of their own and need to be confronted in their own terms."
"the unspoken domestic crisis of the next millennium": White criminals preying
often prey on people of their own race, citing the Columbine High School
are suffering disproportionately yet no white politicians want to talk about
generation of kids is growing up in fear and the traditional white leadership
Pepper's arguments, while controversial, are based on a
mixture of sociological data and political calculation that even his critics do
whites. And while crime has been decreasing, Pepper notes that it is falling
the Columbine High shootings, all but one of them white," the genial, bearded
academic said in a recent interview. "Liberals want to blame guns. Traditional
conservatives blame a decline in moral standards, which is more on the mark.
But guns and bad values don't kill white people. White people kill white
wrote in a recent article for the Wall Street Journal editorial page.
existence of its own. It must be confronted in its own terms. But virtually no
one in the political class will admit it. That vacuum creates an opportunity
sources on the campaign. While a Bush spokesman declined to comment, Pepper
said that he and his colleague used the meetings to advance two ideas.
people have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps," Pepper said.
"Government is not the solution. For example, the idea of putting the Ten
Commandments in every classroom is attractive but, in the long run, federally
funded stone tablets will only breed dependency on the nanny state.
government does have a limited role in addressing the problem. Maybe there
should be block grants to the states that would enable them to give a tax break
really deter the predators in the school corridors. At the same time it would
"Talking candidly about white crime is a way to break that perception."
in the Republican Party might be offended, the broader electorate would get the
compassion," he said. "After all, the vast majority of white people aren't
deranged gunmen. They are hard working and pay their taxes too. They're the
Already some Republican strategists are objecting. The
editors of the conservative journal Always Right wrote last week that
sharing responsibility for getting at the root causes of what is really a
listening to country music lyrics that mock the sanctity of marital vows. The
intellectual elites who once defended standards have proved all too willing to
staffer. Sophisticates will sneer but these things have an effect."
Coefficient has triggered a fierce debate in academic circles. Writing for
response to the Columbine tragedy would be for the federal government to fund a
based explanation for the tendency of white males to slaughter strangers in
the author's views, "while offensive to some, deserve the utmost in thoughtful
discussion" and announced that the next nine issues of the publication would be
think he goes too far with the notion that white people are biologically
disposed toward crime and violence. I mean, some of my best friends are white
columnists speak of themselves in the third person? There is an air of Bob
company (the only kind to be in) follow the above suggestion, and speak as
condo loft in a historic downtown area. The unit immediately below us has been
thing: They are both heavy smokers and have managed in three months to smell up
the rest of the building. Recently the ashtray smell has begun to permeate our
allergic to cigarette smoke. Entreaties to the apartment's owner have gone
nowhere. I am not an intolerant person, having grown up in New York City, where
just as long as I can stay away from it. What can I do? I don't feel it's
appropriate to try and dictate someone's behavior in their own apartment, but
You do, indeed, have a problem. It sounds as though
home, unless body parts are sailing by your window.
the owner is unwilling to support you, you have limited options. Short of
sympathetic, because she has marveled that cigar smokers can stink up the
York state of mind: In apartments everywhere in the world, one man's ceiling is
affects my ability to be honest. Really tired of the LEFT jokes, insults,
yet another way to be politically incorrect. How's this for making amends?
same thing recently. She just isn't attracted to nice guys but can't really
eloquent and mature woman yourself, do you think you could explain "Immature
Woman Syndrome" to me so that I can understand the many wonderful, but immature
young women I know? Or, if you think it would be easier, you could just elope
with me so that I wouldn't have to face the thankless but highly entertaining
this is the numerous older women who picked guys who were nice and who
idea that they can "fix" a guy or tame him. It gives them a feeling of power
niece will  spend a weekend with me. My problem is with how my sister treats
sake.) Our mother certainly never treated us this way, and it makes cringe to
think of what these comments might be doing to the girls. Can I say something
can be a special strain, trust me. You don't say what your relationship is with
you can tell her that you are aware of her short fuse with her adorable girls,
you understand the many demands on her, and that there is help for the
situation. Pass on the name of a group for parents like her: It is Parents
Anonymous, and it helps stressed out parents who fear they might escalate from
she's near one. Even the knowledge of such a group will reassure her that her
problem is by no means unique to her family and that she's definitely not
that harping at the older child about her weight is psychologically
counterproductive. Suggest that she choose the household food with nutrition in
children, however, can find ways of filching chocolate, etc., when they're out
of the house.) You could also say, more importantly, that some unhappiness may
be making the child cling to food. Good luck in your mission to help your
Gore has an Internet problem. No, it's not that silly remark about him having
invented it. Gore's real problem is that Net surfers apparently think his site
no one searching the Web for information about Gore actually made their way to
Gore's official Web site. By a large margin, Web surfers preferred going to a
good news for Gore is that more Web surfers were looking for his name than
bad news is that when the search results came up, there was no indication that
Gore's name, according to a Direct Hit executive. Instead, Web surfers
presented with a variety of options were more likely to visit a joke or parody
president is much better known than his opponent, and so it makes sense that
his campaign is focused on making Gore's site "as comprehensive and informative
as it can be" and estimates that the site attracts several thousand unique
Hit says that while it cannot detect the identity of individual Web users, it
can track their movements with unprecedented precision. "We process the data
consideration the amount of time that visitors spend on a given site.
searching for Gore material are out of date and thinly visited. The
Direct Hit found to be most visited (a common problem with search engines). Now
course, the Direct Hit study doesn't mean that no one is going to the Gore
their Web browsers. And it's possible (though statistically unlikely) that
large numbers of Web surfers using search engines not measured by Direct Hit
were flocking to the Gore site. Most important, with the first primaries still
months away, the Gore campaign hasn't advertised much to bring newcomers to the
Although Direct Hit has yet to produce a similar traffic study for the
destination for those who've entered his name into a search engine.
A friend recently pointed out that Keeping Tabs has
beauty queen's murder has been anything less than scintillating. (A recent
highlight was the National Enquirer 's astonishingly detailed painting of
the poor child's lifeless body, bloodied garrote and all.) But following the
it's been hard to find the proper moment to pause and reflect. The grand jury's
recent failure to return any indictments in the case seems an appropriate
juncture, although any hopes that the story might fade away were dashed by this
magazine tried to make sure it would be on record as having outguessed the
grand jury. (Although after nearly three years on the case, it's probably safe
to assume that they've all accused the correct murderer at some point.) The
Globe and the Enquirer forecast grand jury "bombshells" and
the Globe 's report on Patsy's grooming habits: With her marriage
spa, where, because she "is always concerned about her upper lip getting
the profound ("I realized how much Patsy's frilly, feminine decorative taste
clashed with that of the young college students") to the truly anguished ("I
passed a spiral staircase on my right, shuddering as I realized these were the
same stairs where Patsy claimed to have found the ransom note that fateful
already zeroed in on the "real killer," claiming that the Boulder police had
short of actually naming anyone, a teaser assured us that the following week
although he accused them of lying and hiding information that would solve the
crime. And what of the promised revelation? A breathless Keeping Tabs made it
good company. In fact, we'd be hard pressed to find a celebrity marriage that
didn't go under this month. Wandering eyes seem to be behind the lion's share
woman on board his luxury sailboat for steamy lovemaking sessions while his
"increasingly out of control partying," including "wild nights with strippers."
The Enquirer confidently sums it all up in "one word: obsession."
The Gores' marriage has apparently withstood the challenge, however; the
Star claims that they are planning to have another child. (The couple
shot.") But other problems seem to be looming for the vice president. The
him down" and "impacted his thought processes": The avowed environmentalist is
eating steak and recently approved a resumption of whaling.
Perhaps the only celebrity divorce where stepping out was
that even the tabloids had a hard time trying to instill with the slightest
hint of dramatic tension. The Globe actually trumpeted: "Exposed!
nuts" about him, even though she's seriously involved with musician John
to check out the Globe 's computer simulation of what her ex might look
like today without plastic surgery. Which leads us to the only real bombshell
in this month's tabloids: The king of pop, it turns out, is actually an
treatise on how the beauty industry thwarts female progress, with a bitter
salvo against image consultants. As proof that women's employers value looks
women to polish their professional appeal. Wolf ends the book with a call to
reject "the insistence that a woman's appearance is her speech" and "political
consultant herself. As Time reported earlier this week, Vice President
Al Gore paid Wolf thousands of dollars a month for advice on presentation, from
Post relayed that Wolf "has long contended that earth tones are more
even stranger. She coached each to emphasize his manly strengths, relying on
hoary, tired gender stereotypes. She reportedly told Gore that he is the "beta
will not let anyone or anything touch the bedrock," Wolf wrote in one memo for
institute's programs don't cover political, economic, or legal issues. Instead,
the short retreats teach participants "how to be financially literate; how to
elective office; how to write a book or magazine article proposal; how to
mentor and be mentored; how to start a community organization; and how to be a
instructions she's been giving to women for years. For Wolf has never been a
wonk or an ideologue. While she's dabbled in journalism and teaching, she isn't
really a reporter or an academic either. She began her career by being a
how to succeed ever since. Wolf is a master cheerleader, and she acts like one:
upbeat, entertaining, sweetly sexy, sharply aware of image, and endlessly
Wolf's three books are breathless, hyperbolic tracts on
Oxford, is an angry protest at how the cosmetics, plastic surgery, and magazine
fear of aging, sexual unhappiness, rape, and eating disorders. But she doesn't
suggest abandoning the visuals; she wants them to be more attainable and
depend now on what we decide to see when we look in the mirror," she writes. No
wonder she has spent so much time thinking about what color Al Gore's suits
playing second fiddle, and use romantic archetypes to visualize the path to
consciousness," she writes. Because "history moves in response to narratives,
dream images, heroes, heroines, and myths," women need to think of themselves
out of feminism and emerging with a vaguely uplifting, centrist message. If
[feminism] addresses their concerns, or don't like images of it that they see,"
she announces. In order to accommodate them, the women's movement should
wants to expand the size of the feminist tent, and she wants to do so by
redefining its ideology as the simple pursuit of success for women.
When the president's woman troubles started, Wolf hit the spin circuit. The
between protesting sexual harassment and supporting the president they had
elected. Wolf did both, by turning the issue into an object lesson on women's
professional success. "The people who should be looking into these allegations
circuit. "What is clear is that when there is a situation where a worker is
copy machine, nights and weekends, trying to raise their kids and move up to
Wolf sees the telling of her own personal experiences as a
narrating her own sexual coming of age. "By telling my story and asking other
women to tell theirs, I wanted to elucidate the emotional truths that emerge
from a particular generation's erotic memory," she explains. She bills her
as a spiritual person, she testifies that "it's taken me nine years to build up
some expectation of being heard to a certain degree. It's been a long haul, and
very much a gendered haul." This from a woman whose first book was a best
television because I am a role model, and I am a role model because I am on
television. And a great marketing strategy: Buy my books, because they're good
political consultant. Who better to help a candidate extract weighty lessons
from his personal history, to teach him to tell voters that their own successes
depend on his own? At last, it seems, Wolf has found a forum where the personal
However shaky its methodology, online polling is already a reality. Online
voting, too, is being debated in a variety of communities.
plans to hold a nationwide primary, designed to gauge the way women will vote
portal for presidential politics," the site is a joint project between Good
will be the culmination of several months of online surveys designed both to
provide information about which political issues are important to women and to
largely because of the 11-point gender split in his favor among women voters.
"In the same year that women are poised to take over the Net, we'll also choose
trend of powerful voting blocs using the Internet to flex their political
a traditional Internet service provider, plus added facilities to make it easy
for members to contact elected officials and corporations. Other efforts
variety of subjects from consumer tastes to public affairs. That project uses
course, the political impact of such Net initiatives has yet to be proved. But
paid her dues politically and proved to be an asset in any position she has
one of the instruments that can help give women the sense that their vote
that a bomb might be placed aboard an airliner departing from either New York
the paper asked. "It is a mystery within a mystery."
in the same stretch of sky and sea seems to have been beating its wings and to
prosaically that the flight paths up the East Coast of the United States are in
fact neither "bewitched nor cursed, but simply the busiest in the world."
that "the parties have yet to deal with the heart of the conflict."
an important reminder of decisions yet to be made, without which the summit
will remain only a ceremony, without any of the requisite diplomatic content to
future. "With the kind of wise and democratic leadership that now exists in
expressing the hope that it might eventually lead to the Association of South
may be the very irrelevance of royalty which has helped protect us from
percent that it should keep the queen as its head of state. The Guardian
campaigners, who have been running slightly behind the monarchists in the
so helpless before a natural disaster?" it asked. "Our achievements are
obviously world class in many spheres, science and technology and computers
being among them. We have the almighty nuclear bomb and, yet, we despair when
it comes to floods, droughts, cyclones and communicable diseases, many of them
seem to be affected by the same disregard for the smaller details, which, for
all their apparent insignificance, matter the most in the end."
"the biggest upset in the history of the Rugby World Cup." The Independent called it
finishes, here was the most unexpected of victories for the most enchanting of
underdogs over the most intimidating of favorites. And what, now, will they do
people believe again, feel free again." Who's pitching what?
Many respondents conflated feeling free and feeling
eloquent and moving, "I Have a Dream" speech, which would have been much less
effective had he concluded, "Fresh at last, fresh at last, thank God almighty,
ridding the nation of an oppressive monarch, a view expressed in the
ridding oneself of vaginal odor, a view expressed by a fashion model clad in
white who has plucked every hair from her body and then painted in some
as political expression: "We have nothing to fear but  is there a funny smell
Real Beef Aroma." Somebody stop me. Was it "Scents and Fiscal Sensibility"?
mayor is particularly popular with those who've never lived where he
not say is that one fourth of all New Yorkers live below the poverty line, a
number that has not improved under this mayor, even after nine years of
economic expansion. But maybe that will be on the bumper stickers.
various New York City branches of the chain. Can you identify each book and
that will give you the most comfortable shave ever"
was much more rewarding than being president of the United States.
last week that rejection of a republic in the referendum would provoke a
political backlash against the country's monarchist prime minister, John
a republic, the debate will continue. "But it will remain confused, bitter and
divisive until another leader steps forward to bring the country together. 
of the referendum, in which the monarchy's supporters came mainly from
government and generated "serious fears for its chances at the next election."
the rugby World Cup championship trophy to the staunchly republican captain of
referendum, believing the monarchy would prevail. But in an editorial, the
that, eventually, a monarchy can exist as part of a democracy," it said.
"Anyone who has spent a few years living in the United States has experienced
at first hand what it is like to be in a TRULY free country.  There is no us
in an editorial that "democracy seems to like monarchy" and that the queen "is,
more than ever, head of the antipodean state not by grace of God but thanks to
a popular vote." The Independent sounded a similar note. "The tempering of the
hereditary principle by democracy has produced a curious constitutional
hereditary principle, but if it happens to coincide with the popular will, then
inside pages to it. In its editorial, the FT praised the judge for his
"sophisticated grasp of the workings of the computer industry" and said he had
successfully demolished most of Bill Gates' arguments. Gates "must know that
are no longer negligible," the paper said. "Though this would probably not be
the best outcome, the judge's findings demonstrate that, if it were to happen,
which assure the vitality and dynamism of the United States economy: the
struggle against monopoly situations and respect for competition." The judge in
effect told Gates, "You may represent the industry of the future, but you are
no less a monopolist than those who came into being at the beginning of the
It said Gates has made his fortune primarily through his own ingenuity and that
successful firms and keep more complacent alternatives in business." The paper
added, "The fundamental concern must be whether or not it is actually true that
technologies, evidently considers that there is no difference between the good
judges became convinced that the interests of the citizen "had been violated,
waters after last week's cyclone disaster have revealed mounds of corpses in
that "the corrosive tawdriness of political populism" was delaying relief
efforts, with government and opposition politicians arguing about money and
whether there should be a formal declaration of a national calamity. In the
"astronomical" amounts it sent to Turkey following the earthquake there.
snowballing into a major political threat to the Republican Party as their top
candidate, who has raised millions of dollars, appears increasingly like a dumb
duffer who cannot make out whether a 'military coup' is a good thing or
close to pure farce, yet its laughs are grounded in loneliness, impotence,
action is surreal, the emotions are violently real. The screenwriter, Charlie
with a more absurdly perfect metaphor for our longing to be
ambitious work is ignored while his gimmicky rivals thrive. When he reports for
a drudge job as a file clerk, the office is between the seventh and eighth
people walk stooped and make feeble jokes about the "low overhead." That low
of the movie's comic astuteness, of its knack for devising sight gags with a
cue, he discovers a passageway behind a file cabinet that whooshes him into the
the New Jersey Turnpike. The poor sap can't keep his secret. He tells the girl,
sums up the thrill for the rest of the characters. "Being inside did something
videos, but the movie isn't a digitized bag of tricks like Fight
hyping gags this outlandish would turn the picture into camp. He keeps the
action slightly remote and the jokes deadpan, and the upshot is that the
audience almost never stops giggling. The first hour and change has a magical
becomes a transsexual (and transcendental) screwball comedy. The script has a
protagonist would stumble on that portal, or what he'd find when he went
is anybody's guess. Evidently quite the heterosexual, he still courts sexual
ambiguity: He speaks in querulous tones and bats the most insolently feminine
lashes this side of Bugs Bunny. Weird or not, though, he's a celebrity: He
preening aloofness, and he has never been more emotionally exposed than when it
loses his stature (and the audience's good will), and the climax has too many
collective consciousness in a way I found creepy: Do they mean to be retelling
(If so, the film is even darker than I think it is.)
the movie, but not enough to wreck it: It's still an amazing piece of work.
as a nerd? The actress retains her essential sweetness, but the transformation
dazzling is Keener, an actress who has lately been stuck playing nice, sensible
unwieldy piece of storytelling, but the story it has to tell is so vital that
it cuts through all the dramaturgical muddiness. It's a terrific muckraking
in a society where the mainstream media are also in the hands of corporations.
revelations about how cigarette manufacturers manipulate the chemicals in their
impact of a major lawsuit on its value. (Oddly unmentioned in the film is that
by the agents who approached and exploited them. What gives this version its
a segment that they knew to be true, the film implicitly asks, how much chance
do others have of breaking stories about corporate wrongdoing? And what about
news personnel with a financial stake in their companies? Even journalists and
editors known for their integrity tend to look the other way at their own
by temperament, he seems more vulnerable than a conventionally nice martyr.
before the bullets start appearing in the family's mailbox and the death
doesn't want to have this role, didn't ask for it, and has no support system to
financially ruined, threatened with death, minus his wife and daughters;
early. I admire their consideration for their subject, but in its wake come all
kinds of narrative fuzziness. The movie isn't clear on where the secret report
would have been otherwise. And in the "Where are they now?" titles at the end,
Is there a less savory subgenre than the hardcore forensics
thriller? A corpse is discovered in a grotesque state of mutilation, then the
scene shifts to an autopsy room where skulls are popped off and innards held up
for inspection. A short time later, detectives pore over glossies of fatal
solves the puzzle fast enough, he has a shot at saving the latest manacled and
clues to the next murder. Yummy yummy. One fact quickly becomes apparent: "The
to a good pair of legs. As luck would have it, they're attached to a very good
purring into her headphones and demanding to know what she sees. Better than
phone sex! He says, "I want to know what you feel in the deepest recesses of
above such adolescent spasms. Well, almost. She's a thoughtful actress, but she
cinematographer, cook up some eerily muzzy images inside the brackish tunnels
film is still a piece of exploitive schlock. A mediocre mystery, too: It never
(does he mean to? Or does the hammy framing give it away by accident?), but
mad, don't you?") The only aspect of The Bone Collector that can't
available to him, he doesn't sleep through it either: Every muscle in this
man's ruined body seems to strain against his fate while the wheels in his
A study by the Department of Health and Human Services shows
barely able to leave the couch, let alone the house, sedated by the television,
programs in many urban schools. And bicycles, once the vigorous instruments of
suburban freedom, are rarely spotted in the playground; parents fear for their
kids in heavy suburban traffic. Most bicycles are now sold to adults, all too
the immobilizing effect of the car. A report on the increased rate of obesity
their cars for hours, encouraging them to eat fatty fast food and run down kids
staggering along on foot, slowed by 35-pound backpacks, make easy targets and a
sickening sort of "squish" sound. It's like dodge ball, but with an actual
four times as likely to be fatally struck by a car. Trick? Treat? The study is
Stern Pinball as the last manufacturer of the beloved game. (But go ahead and
activist, is dismayed at his country's rigged presidential elections. (Note to
to the New York Times who's having trouble with his organic carrots.
(Probable cause: The "wonderful world of the carrot rust fly." Prognosis:
too darned big. (And on a personal note, it's just so sad when any lump is
automatically raise the price of a Coke on hot days. (But he wasn't so snippy
statecraft: Never pass up an opportunity to make everyone happier at the same
useless in practice as it is compelling in theory. But if you want to talk
about the difference between good and bad policy, it helps to have an
point has proved useful enough to earn a proper name. Economists call it the
to make everyone happier, we're behind you all the way.
right of individuals to make free choices. Here's a stylized example: Suppose
some people (call them the "prudes") cherish their freedom of religion, but not
half so much as they would cherish a general ban on pornography. Others (call
but not half so much as they would cherish a general ban on religion. Then if
you outlawed both pornography and religion, you'd make everyone happier,
demands that we embrace such a law while the fundamental precepts of liberalism
That's no problem in practice, because in practice there
everyone happier, including the liberals.) But in practice, nobody is
benefits exceed its costs, with benefits (or costs) measured by what the
proponents (or opponents) would be willing to pay to see the policy enacted (or
Under quite general circumstances, it can be proved
(though not in the space of a single magazine column) that free markets yield
easy to reconcile a taste for economic welfare with a taste for individual
That's a conclusion we liberals find repugnant, and it
would be nice to avoid it. One way out is simply to declare that "psychic costs
don't count." If you don't like getting your nose punched, your aversion goes
position might sound, it's also suspiciously incoherent. If my habit of reading
should public policy discourage one and not the other?
One answer is that psychic costs shouldn't count because
worth of emotional distress, but we have no way of knowing which claims are
simply fabricated. Amazingly, though, this seemingly insurmountable problem can
be surmounted. A sufficiently clever system of taxes and subsidies can induce
people to make accurate reports of their own emotional distress. (I look
forward to explaining how such systems work in a forthcoming column.)
is that once you start counting it, people train themselves to start feeling
psychic cost is a psychic benefit. The New York Times reports that
economists with the Army Corps of Engineers, charged with executing a
benefit people get from knowing the river is running wild.
In principle, existence value makes perfect sense. If your
anguish is a real cost of maintaining the dam. Of course, it's also true that
we're intellectually consistent, we'll cater either to both those preferences
Times as an environmentalist who is skeptical of the concept of
existence value. The source of his skepticism: "What if you add up all these
numbers and they don't come out in our favor?" So much for statecraft as a
dispassionate attempt to balance competing interests. If the goal is simply to
make the numbers come out the way you want them to, you're not a policy
commercial debuting this week, the spokesperson says, "It made people believe
their taste alone should ultimately dictate what television shows, movies,
they shouldn't have sex, except on television, where we can keep an eye on
other countries, the slutty girls get beaten to death."-- Molly Shearer
quiz response; he wasn't actually in the movie) in Bye Birdie 's
was not based on the song. It wasn't even a musical. Or a remake. And the teens
But that's what happens when you suppress the powerful erotic and aggressive
perhaps that was our way of dealing with nuclear waste. But either way, things
in other countries, but the United States and its five confreres all enjoy
ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
treaty explicitly stating that here in the United States we love to execute
presumably, before young Bush concocted that whole "compassionate conservative"
Live may be in the doldrums, Mad magazine may have outlived its
my blood, This is my body, This is my body with almonds.
sounds a lot like "Peanut Butter Cup" if you say it in a frenzy of religious
is God's Way"-- Plays off the Subway logo. If I read this correctly, the
lunch meat is salvation, the shredded lettuce represents the apostles, the
Coke ad (picture the ALL and the WAYS really big.) These shirts tend to parody
sweet or fatty foods, perhaps explaining why we are a very religious and very
Freshens Lives"-- A skillful parody of the Crest toothpaste logo. I guess to
make up for all the sugary foods. There will be no cavities in heaven.
another mess that has forced the resignation of French Finance Minister
forgery allegations led the front pages of both French and German newspapers
public sector." But the International Herald Tribune reported, with apparent
has hardly moved on the foreign exchange markets. "Perhaps as a reflection of
create little concern and have much less impact internationally than the
resignation in March for political reasons of his German Social Democratic
excrement in its cattle feed, should lift its unilateral ban on it, the papers
and indiscriminate artillery and air bombardment of towns and villages" in
military intervention is neither necessary nor practicable. Tough diplomacy and
economic threats are, however, essential if the lunacy is to be reversed."
"And wherever one looks, there is the illusion of victory. President Bill
world's grave statesmen, and their governments sacrifice civilians to the
greater good. But the horrors are not exorcised, only deferred to future
way of the former Soviet Union when the Berlin Wall collapsed ten years ago. It
world in gains in productivity and a higher living standard."
finally demonstrated how he plans to unite these two indictments. He will tell
universal health insurance. Conservatives thwarted them and captured Congress
by convincing voters that the plan threatened existing health benefits,
of government to liberate the economy and to let taxpayers keep more of their
that Republican budget cuts threatened Medicare. To cynics, the lesson of these
wars is that most voters don't care about liberal or conservative principles.
What they care about is losing the benefits they have.
librarian asked him how much the plan would cost and how he would pay for it.
would be funded either "from the surplus" or "through the enormous savings that
we can get through the application of technology to the medical system," such
turned back to the cost issue. He said his own health insurance plan, which
ahead and save some of that surplus for Medicare. If we wipe out Medicaid and
next questioner asked about campaign reform, but Gore refused to let go of the
interview that he would speak to this issue later on, but if you spend the
entire surplus on the first campaign proposal, then that does not leave money
that should be allocated for Medicare." A few minutes later, Gore steered a
surplus is spent, then there is no money left over for new initiatives on
one perspective, Gore's attack is conservative. Liberals habitually champion
new programs and entitlements without explaining what they would cost.
Conservatives habitually expose and exaggerate the cost of these programs,
another perspective, Gore's attack is liberal. Conservatives habitually
champion smaller government and tax cuts without explaining which programs
would be reduced and which beneficiaries would suffer. Liberals habitually
expose and exaggerate the suffering caused by these reductions. Gore isn't
advantage of this critique is that because it is conservative as well as
liberal, Gore can use it in the Democratic primary and then build on it in the
health insurance plan would suck up all the oxygen in the budget, thereby
suffocating the left's favorite programs. If Gore were to complain that
general election, Gore can hold the same ground against the Republican nominee.
Medicaid, education, and the environment." And now that the government is in
sufficiently good shape to stop borrowing from Social Security, Gore can tell
voters that he would protect that trust fund, whereas the Republican tax cuts
would force the government to "raid" it again. Gore also gets the benefit of
triangulation. When the Republican nominee portrays Gore as an arrogant
government, Gore can remind voters that he defended "fiscal responsibility"
accuse Gore of overestimating the cost of their tax cut and underestimating the
projected budget surplus. And reporters can question Gore's inference that any
putting the program "at risk" and "wiping out" the chance to "save" it.
and went down in flames. Democrats offered more spending and lost the House.
Republicans offered tax cuts and nearly lost it back. The only thing still
alive by clinging to those entitlements. Al Gore could do worse.
a sense of humor: His pranks include ordering a hotel to remove all furniture
his backslapping bonhomie" without revealing his lack of "basic knowledge and
administration won't intervene because it "does not defend human rights in big
which would encourage innovation without harming interoperability.
cover story questions whether the conglomeration of media
outlets will corrupt journalism. Corporate honchos are "cultural strangers" to
that media conglomerates will be covered aggressively.  An article
special issue about what clothing reveals. A chronicle of one woman's
flirtation with a personal shopper laments the decline of posse shopping.
becomes a solo sport. Personal shoppers are a poor substitute for the communal
telling designers what sells and demanding practical adjustments to runway
designs.  The magazine solves some enduring fashion
mammals with anesthetizing darts. Conservationists collect big licensing fees
are "hawking this year's hottest commodity: the aura of authenticity." To sell
Cemetery, in violation of federal regulations forbidding partisan activities at
"compelling litany of misdeeds will be difficult to refute."
months later, but by then anger toward the president had receded.
her as a feminist icon. Most appallingly indicative of its age, the forthcoming
cover story claims that Al Gore is maniacally depressed.
Earth in the Balance demonstrates that its author has a dangerously
An article worries that conservatives are caving in to
sister Bay uses direct mail to haul in millions for her brother's presidential
runs. In between elections, she converts the campaign into a nonprofit so she
can keep dunning the same list of donors. She routinely sells their mailing
An article praises the wisdom of the right. Conservative think
fulmination on campaign finance reform. The candidate's tantrums crystallize
door in an office building. The critics trip over themselves with praise:
master of anime. The complicated plot deals with conflict between man and
about as different from The Little Mermaid as you can get, and it "makes
teacher. The critics are evenly divided. Some declare the film "a sugary paean
hamster and feels no sadness at her mother's death. Critics slam her voice as
that her diary is tainted by ideas and language that sound awkwardly mature.
Among a scattering of positive reviews, Publishers Weekly calls the book
"a compelling novel in its own right." (Click here to read the first chapter.)
this is real; not even comically real." Defenders call it a "largely episodic
collection of great moments that aren't all causally linked in that comforting
negative review for his own book: "I consider it my duty as the author of this
neutralizing, from the start, a potentially harmful literary contagion." (Click
Early one shiny autumn morning, I got in my car and
Antichrist. You know: the Beast, the Worthless Shepherd, the Little Horn, the
Abomination, the linchpin of the Diabolical Trinity. That Antichrist.
had about my pivotal role in Christian eschatology grew from the fact that I am
didn't really feel bad for saying what he said. In fact, he was more convinced
Let me pause for a moment to give three concise reasons why
notion that I am to play a major role in world history, so why not a role in
the lip of the millennium, much of the evangelical Christian world is in the
ins is the sixth book in the "Left Behind" series, "left behind"
forced to contend with the Antichrist's evil reign on Earth. The "Left Behind"
is a lot of books for one guy to write, is a phenomenon. Ten million copies of
are both active participants in the absurd and feverish campaign by some
here) find this sort of Christian imperialism just a wee bit offensive. Just
But evangelical leaders, who are, in my experience,
uniformly kind and generous in their personal relations, can also be terribly
forced to accept the idolatry of the Antichrist or be beheaded," he said. This
utterances, which is troublesome, because he is also the most popular author in
"where the sensitivity comes from," though he shows no understanding of the
same statement a dozen times last year, but there was no comment about that,"
the Antichrist. No, he said. "People might say, it's a certain person, it's
almost amusing, that question. Of course not. I know that you're not."
Most evangelical leaders, in fact, refuse to publicly guess
perennial favorite, at least among those evangelicals who believe the
that the Antichrist will have 'no regard for women,' and so many evangelicals
There's no way to know for sure. But if you wake up
to negotiate with the United States in a multilateral framework than to let the
United States exercise its power in bilateral deals with other countries.
proclamations keeping foreign investors out of China's Internet and
telecommunications industries. He also failed to soften his positions on
"Instead, the opposite happened. In the past few days, harsh sentences were
prisoners to smooth relations and give his hosts some face so they could claim
credit for improving China's record. This time China was confident that such
gestures, which border on the insulting, were not necessary for the banquets at
pope visiting the territory. China called the speech meddlesome and
hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which Helms is
chairman, by stating that human rights will be at the heart of his mission
Already criticized for its tough crackdown on protestors during President
president of the Human Rights League, said it was a sad time for French
put out of commission for some time, the paper said.
that it has abused its monopoly power, and that this abuse has harmed
like the company itself, seem crippled by a failure of imagination. Things can
business practices, or it hasn't. Among other things, the Justice Department
accused the company of stifling competition by requiring business partners to
market, and eventually bundling Internet Explorer with Windows to wrest control
denied that any of its practices were illegal. The company chose the latter
its business as usual, and at worst, rather than surrender prematurely, the
company would be ordered by the judge to change some of its practices. What the
none of its practices are illegal. The Justice Department says
rather than technical ingenuity has been a fringe view. But that view gained
practice to pressure other firms to halt software development that either shows
the potential to weaken the applications barrier to entry or competes directly
mighty powerful story about consumer harm and predatory practices."
distinction. They want to convince the public, politicians, and the financial
markets that the "corporate practice" cited in the judge's opinion isn't just
who heads the Computer and Communications Industry Association, told reporters
which the judge seems to be finding in fact that they did, is not behavior off
to the side of their business. It reflects a fundamental approach of the core
business strategy of the company, which is to leverage and utilize their
monopoly to expand into neighboring markets, and to use that monopoly as a
critical tool of leverage with all of their business partners, customers, and
competitors. Because it is so central to the way they do business  it will be
very hard for this company to make slight adjustments to their behavior and in
any way comply with the spirit of the antitrust law." Minutes later, Black told
the antitrust case, however, it threatens mortal injury. The combined message
the mainstream media. "In Courtroom and Beyond, Software King Is at Risk,"
rivals to absorb their technology no longer works as well as it has in the
past, in part because of the greater likelihood of firmer antitrust scrutiny of
widely viewed as a business genius, his company is seen as technologically
its political image. At every opportunity, its spokesmen have reiterated their
commitment to quality and innovation. But they have failed to foresee a
collision between this message and their defiance in the antitrust case. By
possibility that the public, if it accepts the judge's finding to the contrary,
exploit its monopoly power, doesn't know how to "compete."
have been entirely normal competitive behavior." At the end of a conference
claiming that it has done nothing wrong. Even if it isn't, it may succeed in
selling that argument to the public. But if it fails, the stakes are enormous.
merits." In the stock market, however, the damage can get much worse. Investors
power, and not only that the courts will strip the company of this ability, but
adopted the policy in response to the city's ban on ATM surcharges. Banks are
equipment, and training for a "major regional war." The evaluations, based on
new, stricter standards, resulted in the lowest ratings in seven years.
countered that the Army underrated itself in order to get more money.
longer need prior authorization for hospital admissions, tests, or minor
surgeries. The company will monitor and issue "report cards" on individual
The government won the first round of its antitrust suit against
ruled that the company is a monopoly, has abused its monopoly power, and has
church. The filmmaker's spin: It's a comic ode to religious faith. Critics'
Information from the flight data recorder shows that the plane's fall began as
a "controlled descent" with the pilots still in command. The new data
reverser induced the crash, but investigators say that they must recover the
cockpit voice recorder to determine the cause. They continue to consider as
Outlook Express can get it simply by highlighting the message's subject line.
The Director of the International Monetary Fund is resigning.
the multinational lending agency charged with ensuring global economic
spin: Criticism from both sides means he did his job just right.
inequities and the "wall in the head" that still divides the country.
But the New York Times observed that despite unification's difficulties,
to answer with regards to poets and poetry, you, or your poems, but for the
sake of obtaining a reply from you, here's a groupie's question: What poem of
memory my little poem "Exile." That was a satisfying moment. Entering another
person's memory with your words, perhaps a person quite different from
yourself, is in certain ways more glorious than any prize or title.
writing a new poem? Do you start with an interesting title and then write
around it? Or an interesting first line? Or the kernel of a core
that makes me want to go on, extend and refine it, as it comes to dredge
sustenance from the great pool of feelings and ideas that accumulates in a
completely disagree that this film substitutes intensity for emotion. The point
about Raging Bull being difficult to watch many times is well made but
The film is the most beautiful thing I can remember
breathtaking, with three moments standing out for me: the bursts of color
showing it seemingly in the middle of nowhere and saying more in a single shot
about her social exclusion than other directors could achieve in three pages of
dialogue. If you have not seem this gem recently I urge you to revisit it, it's
a distraction. A critic at the time described the movie admiringly as
can make a "women's picture" in a robust manner that he loses touch with his
supposed themes. And he doesn't begin to get inside his impotent male
even remembers what the film is supposed to be about.
take on it. It does indeed have virtuosic moments, but the central love
does male friendship. I think that Age is a case, like Raging
visceral effects rather than emotional responses. (This is true of
discipline and formal panache, but that in too many cases the vision seems
films more closely, and to contextualize them to everyone's satisfaction, but
Several Civil War buffs have written to the Fray to
point out that in my Rev. Lee's memoir snippet can't possibly be true because
[the book] was written when Rev. Lee was an old man and is obviously faulty on
this point. It's also possible that the error lay with the reporter whose
article Rev. Lee was quoting from in his book. (None of the above,
The confluence of Gore's attempt to become an alpha
source of friction. Despite the growing pains of economic reform, including
Republican debate. His congeniality made him look presidential next to the
inevitable cost of joining the West" and advocates reconciliation with former
are pessimistic, despite plummeting crime and unemployment rates, because the
ideologically entrenched will not accept that the country can thrive without
liberal policy magazine switches from a quarterly to a glossy biweekly. An
dramatically alter constitutional law. The Republican jurists who are on deck
essay argues that television has reversed childhood and adulthood. Shows such
and environment in the future. An item speculates that sex "will be more for recreation than
procreation," because parents will choose to clone themselves or genetically
toilets to toothbrushes will provide "automated checkups" and enable physicians
and Amazon, featuring former model Carol Alt as a babe in the
federal intervention. A patients' bill of rights might soothe them, though it
dreams expressing unconscious desires. Neurological studies find that areas of
the brain associated with visual imagery and emotion are particularly active
cover story forecasts a space arms race. The availability of
because hormones predispose adolescent girls toward weight gain and women store
endangers an infant and makes it more difficult for a baby to learn
independence. The author argues, based on his own experience as a dad, that
mullahs to allow more democracy, and the men sport goatees to identify
interviewing style is a pleasant contrast to cable's screaming matches.
convicted of murdering a police officer: "ennobles the rest of us to deepen,
The cover story condemns suppression of minority voting through
predominantly black counties. Numerous blacks have been prosecuted, but only
out with my neighbor. The problem is that my neighbor knows about my
number of things seem less than optimal here. You have barely reached your
being unfaithful to the woman to whom you've presumably made a commitment. It
would really be lovely, for all concerned, if you were having a goof with
the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others. If you do
call it a day with the mother of your children, you will be spared a divorce
being so horizontally accessible. Given your age, you could very well populate
hate my brother's wife. She has been cheating on him for the past year. (They
have only been married a year.) She treats him terribly, and she tells me she
hates my family. I have been trying to ignore her comments, but it's
impossible. Do I tell my brother how I feel or continue to hold my
timetable, your brother's wife started the marriage with no intention of being
faithful. Chances are that if you know she's running around, it's likely
your brother does, too. The fact that she treats him terribly, however, is
nothing. He is either masochistically neurotic or is figuring out how to
extricate himself. The only mechanistic thing you can do is make yourself
scarce. And should your brother ask your opinion, give it to him.
confide in, not as a potential boyfriend. He's a serious bodybuilder and says
he's looking for muscular guys only. While I do have a toned bod, I am
doesn't seem interested in meeting. The only thing he does seem interested in
is pouring his heart out to me about how difficult it is to find a muscular
face the facts. You are interested in a partner, this chap is interested in
not be perfect together. Where is the commonality of interests? You
might try to figure out why you are attracted, even electronically, to someone
who is whining to you about his inability to find another bodybuilder. For
consider yourself lucky, and move on to another chat room. Or better yet, start
relocated to another city, which is away from my grown children. The new job
has been fantastic, and I felt I made the right decision in moving. Until a few
weeks ago, anyway. My manager was moved laterally within the department, and
old company! He totally disrespects women and anyone not in his field. The
management knows that I cannot and will not work for him. I have requested an
forced to keep this position. What do you think I should do?
superior that you will be given a different job where you're not reporting to
the chauvinist pig, er, former manager. Don't be shy about mentioning the other
offer. You say that your current management understands your aversion to this
man. If you can get an ironclad guarantee of another position, sign the lease
where your children live would make one more move merely a temporary
by all means go to the company that still wants you. If that happens, and if
Out the Dead are the latest evidence of the director's status as a critical
directors, an embodiment of the beleaguered idea that filmmaking, and therefore
To look at Bringing Out the Dead --to look, indeed, at almost
goes for broke; to watch his films is to see a man risking his talent, not
simply exercising it. He makes movies as well as they can be made.
be reminded of the power of film as a medium is not quite the same as being
moved by a particular film, and Bringing Out the Dead is, for all its
hectic pacing and breakneck intensity, an oddly unmoving experience. Yes, you
think, movies can touch us urgently and deeply. Why doesn't this one? If
movies feature a disturbed outsider cruising the nightmarish,
The mood here is a good deal softer: The scabrous nihilism of Taxi
movie's best, most understated scene), it's an act of mercy.
Aside from these parallels and variations, there's plenty
think of an active director who has produced such an emphatically
he does some of that) as to make movies by recombining a recognizable and
fairly stable set of narrative, thematic, and stylistic elements. In other
the 1950s by a group of French critics, many of whom went on to become, as
an individual artist, almost always the director. The artists who populated the
the constraints of the studio system. But even their lesser films, according to
reiteration of a unique cinematic vocabulary and by an implicit but
unmistakable sense of solitary genius in conflict with bureaucratic
The auteur theory was quickly challenged, most notably by
collapse of the old studios, an unprecedented degree of creative autonomy, and
they were, to a man, men) who shared a fervid, almost religious devotion to
a route to world domination but as a priestly avocation, a set of spiritual
and power. Watching it, you feel that you are seeing real life on the screen,
of things or with common experience. Rather, it puts us in closer touch with
the ordinary, the common, by turning a different light on them."
killed all these people. One or two films, the magazines told them they were
geniuses, that they could do anything. They went completely bananas. They
Of these three, Raging Bull has been singled out for
masterpiece. But it remains exceedingly hard to watch, not so much because of
bloated with the ambition to achieve greatness that it can barely move. If it
convinces you it's a masterpiece, it does so by sheer brute force.
undone by its own perfectionism. New York, New York and The King of
Comedy stand up rather better, in my opinion, in spite of their obvious
cocaine.) For one thing, New York, New York is virtually the only
Mean Streets is an unparalleled demonstration of the power of film to
convey reality, "Happy Endings" is a celebration of film's magical ability to
create it. A moviegoer's dream, but good luck seeing it on the big screen.
excruciating arguments about the difference between fantasy and reality.
scarred survivor. After the failures of the early '80s, he picked himself up
periodic attempts to defy the expectation that he would defy expectations.
were allowed to run things without interference. Of course, they got too
greedy, screwed everything up, and the big corporations turned their playground
feel cold and mechanical. They substitute intensity for emotion and give us
say it was to be caught up, swept away, surfeited by sensation, and confronted
believe in that, and we leave wondering whether he still does.
this point, both churches believe the same thing. What?
let her duck out of the house without its diaper on. Apparently that's another
an effort to appear to be earning her money, Wolf called this "being an alpha
Wolf also counseled Gore to "speak from the heart,"
creating tension with campaign staffers who were pressing him to "lie your fool
strap he was said (by me) to be considering. Wolf had the guts to support the
role, funneling her payments through other consulting firms so that her name
would not appear on financial reports filed with the Federal Election
who tried to present Helms with a letter in favor of an international treaty
opposing discrimination against women. Helms has blocked a Senate vote on this
them. Helms had Capitol police throw the congresswomen out.
several nations. Which of the following is an actual bit of Trump fatuity, and
which is an attempt to mock his hubris through amusing hyperbole?
than the next guy. What? We're the world's biggest arms dealer? Really? Bigger
when it looked like this was going to be the most substantive presidential
Time reported that Al Gore's campaign has been paying Wolf, a feminist
weak "beta" male into a strong "alpha" male. The media seized on the story
titters. Pundits agree that by hiring such a "controversial feminist," Gore has
embarrassed himself and exposed his personal and political "confusion." The
real confusion, however, seems to be over why Wolf is controversial or
She's too radical. The prevailing complaint against Wolf is that she's a
is written in "the first person sexual"), in which she reportedly "urges the
how to masturbate and perform oral sex." (Wolf's idea was to let teens satisfy
themselves without resorting to intercourse, but never mind.) Critics also
lost her job in part for advocating similar ideas about masturbation.
Republicans are having a field day with naughty quotes from Wolf's book,
favorite quote from Wolf is, "I want to explore the shadow slut who walks
alongside us as we grow up, sometimes jeopardizing us and sometimes presenting
us with a new sense of authentic identity." The Republican National Committee
has issued a press release playing up the "shadow slut" quote and suggesting
that Gore should "run like crazy" from Wolf because he's "married." Pundits
She's too retro. Having branded Wolf a "controversial feminist," the media
turn around and deride her hierarchy of "alpha" and "beta" males as a macho
throwback. Time snickers that she has counseled Gore to "bare his teeth"
Other reports say Wolf is trying to make Gore "aggressive" and "dominating."
She's too powerful. While poking fun at Wolf's obsession with male power,
critics insinuate that she's accumulating undue influence in the campaign. In a
sources who say "Wolf's tentacles stretch far beyond" the project to which Gore
assigned her. Pundits call her Gore's "guru" and "mastermind." "FEMINIST WEARS
She's overpaid. According to the critics, Wolf is somehow wielding all this
undue power without earning her consulting fee. The Post quotes a Gore
"spends money" on Wolf "like a drunken sailor in port." Conservative satirist
She's dangerous. Wolf may not be doing anything for her paycheck, the
skeptics conclude, but she's planting plenty of crazy ideas in Gore's head.
She's frivolous. When they're not fretting that Wolf has too many
pernicious ideas, the critics scoff that she has none. They dismiss her as a
instructed him to wear "brown, olive, and tan," and told him "to wear different
observes, "polls have yet to record the difference."
She's a crutch. Having declared Wolf insubstantial and impotent, her
detractors again reverse course, accusing Gore of relying too heavily on her
for guidance and a definition of himself. "An alpha candidate would not need
jokes that "Real Alpha Males" don't have to hire consultants "to learn how to
She's a dirty little secret. Unable to agree on why Wolf should be
embarrassing, pundits have fallen back on the implication that she must
be embarrassing, since Gore has been employing her "secretly," "funneling her
payments through other consulting firms," and conspiring to "conceal her from
Dick Morris" and suggests that Gore may have been keeping her under "deep
great lengths to conceal Wolf's role." And what exactly is the scandal about
Wolf that Gore is covering up? The media have no answer. Evidently, it's their
Note: Because of demands from a meddlesome attorney general,
ago. It turns out that, on this point, both churches believe the same thing.
whole thing about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to get into heaven? The rich guy could buy his own
But of course we live in a country where religious belief is not merely
tolerated, it is required of anyone seeking high office. Where do they get this
It's amazing our rockets get off the ground. Well, maybe not so amazing: We've
justification, declaring that salvation could be achieved by faith alone; no
teachings of that time, helped kick off the Reformation.
today's scouting encourages kids to learn many useful skills through its system
of merit badges. Which of the following are actual Boy Scout merit badges?
troop actually exist. Note: Safety and Sports have been dropped from the list
of merit badges required to become an Eagle Scout. They have been replaced by
organization of men who strip down and beat each other to pulp, has provoked
iota of interest in a real organization of men who strip down and beat each
Contestants would fight till "knockout, submission, doctor's intervention, or
were sent into the Octagon to maul guys half their size. Only biting and
The gimmick entranced thousands of people (well, men). What
emerging from the gimmicks and carnage. My passion for ultimate fighting (which
punctured this. Boxers floundered. Experts in striking martial arts such as
ended on the ground, one man mounting the other in missionary position, the
grapple. (The karate experts learned to stay home.) They became, without doubt,
up all over the country, replacing the stylized gestures of the Eastern martial
head butts. It was "barbaric," he said. It was "not a sport." He sent letters
"human cockfighting" became a crusade, and like many crusades, it was founded
boxing or wrestling or ultimate fighting. It is impossible to draw a bright
line between ultimate fighting and boxing. If anything, ultimate fighting is
ultimate fighting because competitors fought with bare knuckles: To a nation
accustomed to boxing gloves, this seemed revolting, an invitation to brain
damage. But it's just the reverse: The purpose of boxing gloves is not to
cushion the head but to shield the knuckles. Without gloves, a boxer would
break his hands after a couple of punches to the skull. That's why ultimate
fighters won't throw multiple skull punches. As a result, they avoid the
invariably respond: "Don't people get killed all the time doing that?" But no
bout has ended with a bloody knockout, the loser has always walked out of the
sat ringside at a boxing match where a fighter was killed. When I asked him to
explain the moral distinction between boxing and ultimate fighting, he exploded
at me, "If you can't see the moral distinction, then we have nothing to talk
about!" Then he cut our interview short and stormed out of his office.
Association recommended a ban. New York state outlawed ultimate fighting, as
The ultimate fighting industry did little to help its own
campaign contributors. Extreme fighting was tarnished when fighters from the
competition, which had been gradually adding safety rules since the first
system. It banned head butts and groin strikes. You can no longer kick a downed
man or elbow someone in the back of the head. Fighters are required to wear
Others, notably Ken Shamrock (Frank's brother), have become pro wrestlers.
was, the fighters are not the same, the rules are not the same. The fans have
fighting is returning to its roots. Away from the scrutiny of the major media,
boxing. Instead it has gone underground. It has become Fight Club.
Nine people were killed in two workplace shootings. In
nation's strictest firearm regulations. The gun lobby's spin: See, gun laws
don't stop bullets. The gun controllers' spin: That's because the laws
attributes violent acts to an unconscious reaction to homosexual advances.
Officials located Flight 990's "black boxes," but high winds will delay
recovery until the weekend. New radar data indicate that the plane did not fall
directly to the ocean, but dived and recovered, eventually breaking up at
campaign. Wolf, whose controversial work has focused on women as sex
adviser" who helps him connect with women and youth. Skeptics' spin: She's
another. The two scientists, who are married to each other, performed
the experiment on themselves. They took follicles from the husband's head and
grafted them to the wife's forearm. She grew four hairs and did not experience
last week's Republican presidential forum, Bush made numerous appearances and
delivered key policy speeches in the state. Although Bush retains his lead in
less confident  and more desperate for votes. The rosy spin:
the museum opened its "Sensation" show, which included a depiction of the
decision, which held that the mayor's actions violated the First Amendment. The
spin: They're using the First Amendment to "put money
in the pockets of multimillionaires." The museum's spin: No, we're
remembered as one of football's funniest and most generous players, and his
nickname, Sweetness, "was a tribute to his personality more than his running
fraud. Five of the eight models have already dropped out, and
journalists who tried to place bids received no response. The proprietors'
explanation: We're inundated with responses and will be up and running shortly.
The journalists' explanation: The site is a sham, intended only to drive
upstanding guy (even though I sell advertising for 
was a bit of a shock yesterday to find myself detained as a suspect during a
the night before, and nobody had seen or heard from him since. This is unlike
someone know if we think we're going to be late for work, much less out on an
acts of violence, and I assumed he was referring to the shootings in
from the marina where my brother keeps his boat (and where I dock my
scene of the crime. As we pulled up, I saw that the police had blocked off the
road near the marinas. An officer told me that we couldn't drive any farther,
although pedestrians were allowed in the area, and I was free to walk home. It
did strike me as strange that the police would grant public access to the area
where a lunatic shooter was still on the loose. But the place looked pretty
Not far down the street, an officer stopped me and, to my
amazement, got ready to draw his pistol. "You've got the wrong guy," I said.
again. "For your protection and mine, stop talking and let me finish my job,"
license, the policeman realized that my story made sense. He let me go and
suggested I proceed with caution: "You fit the description of the suspect."
When I told him I was trying to get home to find my brother, who'd gone
missing, we started all over again. "What does he look like?" he asked,
like me," I said, "but he's probably drowning if I can't get him some help."
The police started asking questions about Josh: Does he do drugs? No. Is he
attended the Merchant Marine Academy and was in the Naval Reserves, which (as
one officer pointed out) meant he had experience with guns. But apparently I
been rescued by a branch of the Coast Guard, and that he was sailing his boat
in instead of letting the Coast Guard tow him. Several hours later we watched
with relief as he sailed into the marina. Not a bad alibi.
clear, steady gaze, like a Zen hang glider. The images have none of the
the outside in: to begin with the curve of the earth, then the mossy hills, the
watercolor foliage, the nubby stones, the whorls on the wood, the meticulous
carvings on a teacup. He captures the texture of light and the currents of air.
You could almost settle down in this landscape. A view of nature that some
inside and outside the action: He knows when to rock your world and when to
induce a state of sorrowful detachment. According to the New 
imaginations flagged, and writers for Star Trek named an alien species
worms) by an iron ball lodged in its body. Infected, destined to be consumed
over a warmly matriarchal society; on the other, she wants to destroy the
Spirit of the Forest, a magnificent deer god whose touch brings instant life or
death, and who transforms at dusk into the towering Night Walker.
father's cartoon critters. In fact, the boars and apes have little patience
first seen sucking a wound of her huge wolf mother, then, as the gore drips
takes your breath away: the determined tap of the wolf princess's shoes as she
they stare at this tiny yet formidable tomboy against the black sky. Their
humans out of my forest," she sounds like a Valley Girl peeved over lack of
They cock their trapezoidal dice heads and emit a series of clicks; then their
heads pop back with a conclusive rattle. Something about them seems just right;
understand intuitively that the world they have been born into is not a blessed
schools have become a beacon for such programs nationwide? A fabled taskmaster
features in all the major dailies and ending up along with her best students at
set learning the violin (she doesn't play any instruments) that she didn't
why the performance seems so natural. Let her always learn an instrument on the
niceness. Instead of a monument to an individual's iron will, Music of the
Heart becomes the story of a woman so helpless that she arouses the
genre pieces like Craven (who got this mainstream gig in return for doing the
neuter themselves. Bending over backward to show how sensitive they can be,
"ordinary" dramas, too. Craven does good work with the young actors in the
classroom scenes, but the film has a reticence common to most biopics and a
her posture and discovers that the girl is wearing a leg brace. But how much
we'd seen them rehearsing first and struggling to keep up. There's too
much music of the heart and not enough music of the callused fingers.
on '60s counterculture easiness while his lackeys do the dirty work. ("Oh,
man," he says, the fear finally seeping through the ether. "This is getting all
But the picture's glory is its layered and intricate
daughter's acting teacher, simply gazing at each other; or to Stamp sitting on
a plane, remembering his daughter as a girl on the beach, the lens of his home
over her face. The film's most violent act happens well off screen. (You hear
justifies the technique. It says the point of this odyssey isn't revenge but
on the job. Working within a tight genre structure, he's discovering hundreds
of ways of editing a given scene that can give it the richness of a novel. Is
he totally successful? No; he misses now and then, which is why the technique
sticks out. But what a fantastic effort. See it and weep for what's missing in
Television" thread until talk moved to science fiction and Star
an innate ability to generate language? Do or simply recognize patterns? Check
geopolitics as usual; others find the subcontinental tests a frightening
the Media" thread saw much of the interpersonal squabbling it has become
on interminably. The forum's conservatives agreed to pity its leading liberal
accomplishments and his administration's sale of missile technology to
"hypocrisy," their (large) role in denying gays equal civil and legal rights,
the fight against homophobia to the fights against racism and sexism: "Like
those fights, opposition is rooted in bigotry and prejudice and ignorance.
'Religious doctrines' were also invoked to deny women the right to vote and to
Castle deserves congratulations for her prodigious compendium
national media was censored by a small handful of gatekeepers. Any news outside
the established national news held relatively little credibility in comparison,
and therefore held little influence. Since the '60s, the number of national
news distributors has grown tremendously. National print magazines, cable and
satellite news, and of course Internet distribution put the news into the
nation's living rooms too quickly to be entirely monitored by the old guard.
There was never a better demonstration of this shift in media distribution than
raised, I must confess to a visceral appreciation for petty jabs at
easily such "harmless" prejudices collapse into crude stereotypes.
"hoping for a violent accident." Some fans may harbor such wishes. For all I
reasons. First, wrecks usually knock the victims out of the race, itself a
dramatic event. Second, it is exciting and even encouraging to watch one's hero
smack a concrete wall at such high speeds and walk away unscathed. Most fans
prefer that such wrecks not occur, but when they do, fans pay justifiably close
attention to the driver's fate. The flashy team apparel, etc., send a relevant
violence is his own business; he should not presume the same of others. Did
familiar? Virtually all the fans with whom I have spoken over the years (quite
a friendly bunch, actually) consider the absence of big wrecks,
content to rely on a mix of his own admitted bloodthirstiness and good
and I used to point it out to friends who were new to the
Internet as an example of the best of the best. I used to read everything and
really enjoyed doing so. Now I am disgusted. In fairness, I am disgusted with
other media outlets, too. It's just that I thought you guys would not run with
on. Some of it is pretty darn interesting. We are probably going to have Gulf
War II, and it has every promise of being a hell of a lot nastier, with more
civilian and more military casualties than ever before. We have problems in
pope standing on an island and coming out against birth control (again).
news, I just do not care about anyone's sex life this much. If there are other
crimes, they will surely come out in the form of sound evidence, and then there
outlet, for people who have a life and need not read such junk. Get back to
work. You are going to get hair on your palms if you keep this up!
the ultimate personal betrayal: It is the breaking of a vow of permanent sexual
is moreover a betrayal of one's community of faith and one's God. Secretly
taping a friend is bad, but friendship is less serious a relationship than
begin to see in the public's indifference to the myriad accusations of
and the qualities they share, he may have omitted something. Many of the
brunette with a fleshy face, full lips, and large teeth. Her clothes were
perhaps not exactly revealing, but flashy nonetheless. She enjoyed music, too,
bomb will be set off in a civilian area." That's bloody nice of them, isn't it?
States set off a bomb in a "civilian" area in Glen Oaks. Would you condone such
an action, provided that the group had given prior notification?
reduce our natural, profound revulsion at the thought of the procedures used in
abortion to an aesthetic response: All abortions are "grotesque," or "gross."
policy, either. What distinguishes his unconscious fetus from someone under
abortion by comparing it to other unpleasant surgical procedures. There is an
obvious difference, however, between amputating a leg and aborting a fetus: The
former will not, left to grow in its normal course, become an independent human
admits that "knowing whether we have the technology to keep [the fetus] alive
doesn't answer" the more fundamental question of when a fetus becomes a
conscious being. Medical science cannot now, and perhaps never will be able to,
answer that question. Still less is science competent to pronounce on the
existence of the human soul. It is for these reasons that the rights of the
fetus must be defended as strongly as those of any other person.
issues (at two weeks per issue) and three special issues (one week each) total
talented staff with her own snazzy hires." She also lost a prodigious lot of
talent, either by firing people, forcing them out, or forcing them first to
throw up and then to give up. You're right about the magazine's sameness,
however; it's the same damn thing each week, and it's the same as the other
classes, they chatter almost exclusively to one another, and they are very dull
bartenders and hookers go on vacation during that one.
even better than the people that it's just a bunch of pinheads nattering about
nothing. Well, these little nothings called neutrinos have a lot to say, if
only we could find a press willing to pass on the message. I applaud the New
York Times for trying to convey some of that excitement and say woe to you
for dipping to such cynicism. Uncharacteristic, I might add.
healthy young people) every year in an effort to get them to agree to a
utilitarian plan making it mandatory to remove one kidney from each of them to
be made available for donation. Every year they reject this plan. Something
about personal autonomy being more important than utilitarian calculus in
not be the highest virtue when dealing with organ procurement (one murder could
illnesses, it should be possible to do it with organ transplants." The point
being that access to good information fosters legal markets. The Web example
proves just the opposite: Much of the information people get about illness on
the Web is incomplete, imprecise, or just plain wrong. There is absolutely no
guarantee that good information will create legitimate markets for organ sales.
will be disseminated to entice people to sell their organs and ignore the very
real risks that people incur when they give up their organs. (Donating organs
would such markets ever be regulated? No regulation? Without some screening
(who will the brokers and middlemen be?), not only will donors suffer (see
argue that this happens currently, consider what wholesale expansion of an
unregulated market would bring in terms of the number of complications. In
fact, there are reports that in some countries where organs may be sold and the
process is not monitored closely, the numbers and types of infections in
argues mainly that including the Internet Explorer browser as a free part of
rival browser would be sold as a separate profit center.
predominant browser architecture would ultimately benefit the consumer, but for
resources would continue to be dedicated to innovation in this arena until the
technologies had matured to the point where they were clearly superior and
its source code) for free in perpetuity. But even if Navigator were to be sold
at some point, the ultimate cost to the consumer would come not from the cost
emerging desktop software interface to the internet. The focus in the browser
wars and legal wranglings has already begun to move away from browser choice
and toward the more important issues of gateways and the branded services they
configuration of computers when sold will determine to a large degree which
services a consumer encounters. Note how the cable companies have profited from
control of the channels that they carry, some of which they own fully or in
part. Note also how the Baby Bells have profited from charging for advertising
in their Yellow Pages. Consider then the value of a gateway when it contains
broadband multimedia marketplace only a few years away. Do we want to allow
understanding of the economies of scale suggests the Windows iterations being
produced today should be costing less to produce than the first ones that
indication she thinks the film is a masterwork of any kind.
its contributors before posting them. I share the general disdain for lengthy
indeed begins in much the same vein as mine. In fact, her review and mine were
I referred was by columnist Frank Rich; it came more than a week before the
film opened. I saw no reason to name Rich, whose work I respect, but his
perpetuates a few misconceptions about Standard Oil's business practices.
myth that Standard pursued a "predatory pricing" strategy (though that was
Though Standard did indeed buy out many of its early competitors, that was due
mothballing most of the refineries it bought, while expanding output from its
own, efficient facilities. Furthermore, if Standard did pursue a predatory
pricing strategy, it sure didn't work. Standard faced constant competition both
much of an exaggeration to say that the antitrust cases brought against the
trust in the early 1900s were not just belated but were fast becoming
superfluous." In other words, the marketplace was already bringing Standard to
monopolies are bad is that, in theory, they lead to high prices and less
product. Staples points out, though, that Standard Oil provided a product which
as a theoretical monopoly should not. While Standard's practices may have led
improved product they brought to the refining industry meant nothing but good
Executioners," his review of my A Nation on Trial [hereafter
specific criticisms, I want to remind readers of the approach I adopted in my
against the sources he cites or compare his claims to the standard, mainstream
scholarly record. Indeed, his vehement criticisms of my essay notwithstanding,
with its popular legitimation and basis of plebiscitary acclamation. At the
its threats but linked to the condoning of lawful, "rational" action, not the
certainly an acceptable component of his popular image, even if it was an
element "taken on board" rather than forming a centrally motivating factor for
right to question these findings. But he ought to have directed his ire not at
power. Citing a raft of scholarly studies, I report the consensus that
"the bulk," "sizable parts") found "the form of persecution abhorrent,"
expressed "misgivings about the brutal methods employed," "remained on the
laws" not only because they "identified with the racialist policy" but
"especially" because "a permanent framework of discrimination had been created
that would end the reign of terror and set precise limits to antisemitic
the same disapproval as in the past." "The overwhelming majority approved
produced such a widespread wave of revulsion," reaching "deep into the ranks"
Some recoiled from the sheer brutality of the violence (which also defaced
to me are simply the scholarly consensus. Significantly, he adduces not a jot
"doppelganger." It would seem that this honorific more properly belongs to
behind authority, he distorts the points I made in my review. He insinuates
are backing a party known for its racist program. It's a wonder that
condemnation? Were there such protests as later surrounded the euthanasia
past or future, can ever change that fact." One does not have to accept
were able to execute the Final Solution because they could count on the
allegiance, and sometimes even the love, of the German people. To be sure,
wouldn't be. They are an input. The output will be a shot on television of
just an input into the provision of advertising services that corporations are
services are not an output, but an input. Businesses pay for advertising
services as a way of moving their products. Advertising services are an input
to the cost of production of whatever is being advertised.
productive and popular novelists of all time all the stranger. (Did that other
collaborators and thus diluting the value of his name. His work appears to have
much miss the quirkiness you speak of regarding The New Yorker
without the big perfume ads and photo layouts. It's too bad. Now where do I go
turn a company around in seven months when others need years, eschewing
only instead of cars, he's been selling his own qualifications in his
you how hard it can be to write about business leaders, who are generally
careful, scripted, and pretty dull. Perhaps Sunbeam isn't much in revenues, but
Sunbeam board's eagerness to get rid of Chainsaw Al is a marked contrast to the
never have made such an ignorant statement. What I did say is that "the glitter
of instant wealth" being made on Wall Street is overshadowing the steadier
call themselves "producers." That's a cultural critique, not an economic
whatever economic report he did or did not make. In pointing to the way Wall
Street now values industrial companies and other traditional businesses, I was
trying to show that in fact investors, at least, have a great deal of respect
for "the manufacture of useful goods and vital services" and not the "glitter
of instant wealth" (Internet fever aside). Unlike the 1980s, when the economy's
people who get the most attention and respect today are almost all businessmen
who spend their time making things, not playing with other people's money: Bill
Marriage Penalty?" Of course it is true that for a given level of spending,
lowering one tax will require raising another. And if many taxpayers are
married, any new tax will be levied in part on them. However, the real question
is whether under the current tax code, all other things being equal, you are
married nearly always results in a higher tax bill. You can consider that a
penalty or their just reward, but that's a different debate.
this episode. The negative stereotypes defining labor in the mainstream press
are easily invoked, but rarely is the positive rationale behind organization
defined beyond "worker dissatisfaction." Labor in the United States is by no
means perfect, and dealing with intransigent unions can be a byzantine,
harrowing, and expensive process. In many ways labor can be characterized as
decadent in its victory over the truly horrible conditions of the early
worker has been given too much and should be slapped back into line with the
not end there, reminding us that the control we have over our workplaces and
subversives). Compliments also for his reminder that those efforts are personal
and carry consequences for those who are willing to take the risk of
research of his roles, a consistent and committed work ethic, politeness to
have resulted in a prolific string of performances and superstar popularity.
wife, an extremely close relationship to his children, and a preference for
The examples of his rhetoric provided are labeled as "nasty," while
family life in shambles, and political and social views to the left of
Papers": at the risk that the author was "just kidding," I can't believe
that a serious journalist would think factual mistakes in a publication's
articles are comparable to factual mistakes in letters to the editor. Regular
readers tend to be the best editors of the factual mistakes in letters.
However, those same readers need to be confident that a publication's own staff
are held to a higher standard of accuracy. If not, we can rely on the
the unfair, as well as poorly researched, article about my
article that even mentions my father. This one caught my eye, not only because
of the ridiculous picture of him on the front, but also the numerous pages of
grown to know my father's faults over the years, and yes, in many cases people
are blind to them. I, for one, think they should be. Never in my life have I
seen a man so dedicated. I do not mention only one thing he is particularly
a job that only he could ever do. He never ever leaves the house before
him. Part of the routine includes bringing coffee to my mother every morning to
start her day, making sure the house is in order, kissing us all goodbye, and
then taking care of himself. Although I don't think any of our
home life is even any of your business, I had to comment on the fact that you
quoted him as saying he was a bad father and husband. If in fact he said that,
I am sorry. He is a wonderful father. My sister and I would be the only
people to ever know if that is true. Printing it in your little article
was, for lack of better words, stupid. I also know my father loves to do a
million things at once. That fact holds true wherever we go. Even on slow,
recognition can follow us. When he reaches the last thing on the list, it may
not be done to the best of his unsurpassable ability, but it wasn't due to any
fault of his own. He is an amazing man, it is true, but he gets tired like the
best of them do. You can understand that, can't you? You seem to have slept a
little bit while you were writing this article. And you can quote me when I say
why conflict of interest is a bad thing for journalists:
some kind of personal advantage to distort either your perception of the truth
or your willingness to honestly state what you perceive. In other words, it
think he misses an important reason: Though the conflict may not reveal a
journalist's aim before the conflict may have been to present the truth as
But the conflict itself might create such a tendency or incentive. I
certainly could have been instilled with a tendency to misrepresent in order to
please a possible employer. Lastly, his incentive need not be financial (a
"bribe"). It could be any one or combination of a number of things, including
power, prestige, or even misplaced ethical values (values that he thought were
right, even if they were, in fact, not). Again, all this is not to say that
Prudence" disparaged this ethnic group with a statement that would be
latest. I have observed these slurs on television, radio, and print sources. I
marvel at how supposedly sophisticated journalists can speak, write, or edit
errors. First, he gets the Immaculate Conception wrong, which refers to the
Immaculate Conception, which refers to the fact (or belief, if you will) that
publication and tried to amend his copy, but his editors failed to make the
change in time (though we have now rectified our slip). Slate thanks the
dozens (yes, there were dozens) of readers who pointed out the mistake, as well
as the nuns, priests, and lay theologians who gave them such excellent Catholic
instance of the relentless creep of affirmative action. Might I suggest another
whom there are one or two among us, I hear tell, might bear this in mind when
targeting malt liquor, fast food, and sneaker commercials.
misplaced guilty liberalism and soggy altruism to the same folks who bring us
action for lousy actors and worse writers (most of whom, it must be noted, are
not about oppressing the beleaguered white man. Just a thought.
people in Silicon Valley are capable of understanding things like quantum
specific predictions were pretty good, but his most insightful observation was
about the business of futurology and the reason people usually can't see the
change that will happen in the short term and underestimate how much change
will happen in the long term. Our own achievements seem to loom so large that
we can't imagine what our grandchildren might achieve. Silicon Valley is the
not sure why you waited a week. So much for the Web's unique potential for
typical that the piece was not something more educational. You could have given
us a piece on the roots of the conflict, a discussion of how previous wars
be considered outside the spin than that your magazine be informative. By
pursuing spin over context, you join much of the rest of the print media in
especially foolish considering the Web's capacity for instantaneous
"payouts" to be considered when valuing a stock. An investor can receive
stocks uses dividends for the future cash flows. That is not because everyone
"implicitly assumes" companies pay out all their earnings. It is because
everyone assumes that the value of the company, and hence the stock price,
rises with earnings and that investors can capture this increase in value by
selling. Crook mentions "capital appreciation," saying that his method will
reflect it because "dividends are themselves growing along with the worth of
the company." But companies take any number of different approaches to
dividends, and their relationship to a company's worth is very inconsistent.
year. Would its stock be worthless? Of course not. This is all elementary, the
financial equivalent of saying that two plus two equals four.
drugs." Would it be as unbearably sad if he drank espresso or enjoyed a good
bottle of wine? The worst part of the war on drugs is its hypocrisy. I was
clicking on "Enter the Fray" at the end of any article. Conventional
this magazine represents the views of the respective authors and does not
"the driving force" between various independent movies, among them
Hunting was not spurred by his own finely tuned aesthetic sensibilities but
person and insisted that it be made. The moral here is to remember the
difference between the ability to recognize quality and the ability to create
opponent. My, my, aren't we sensitive. What part isn't true? And what is wrong
for the 1990s"? Chatterbox is equating the pairing of one's political opponent
with a violent criminal to the pairing of one's political opponent with a
mayor? I hope he will be similarly concerned the next time a Republican is
and clamping down on the international prostitution trade. So what does it say
about the First Lady that for this article she not only declined to be
interviewed but even declined to answer written questions?"
it says that the first lady feels that she can accomplish more in the real
world by doing rather than talking, or perhaps she feels that the public has
had its fill of interviews and answers to written questions from such female
response: It says that she and her husband have been under such a barrage of
unfair criticism for so long that she is keeping her head down. A low profile
Vanity Fair pap and chased a lot of solid literary and artistic talent
out of the building and kept the door locked lest taste, God forbid, get
the zine, and don't get me wrong about this, but go easy on "The
A lot of us read the papers, too (I do as part of my job), but why let
the trivia of urban life, I can talk with my own wife; and you can fill the
otherwise entertaining, informative, urbane, and whimsical pages of
but women tell me they find him doting and caring (me, I just see the whiny,
portrayed on television. Mad About You is not all that useful as
strikes me as almost racist, and definitely xenophobic. Although he did not
offer any reasons for his stance, the only plausible ones would run along the
etc. It is patently offensive on almost all levels. I cannot imagine anything
you a potential subscriber. And even if that were not an issue, I am still
disappointed with the editorial staff for allowing this sort of manure to
newspaper about his summer job on Wall Street and then found himself instantly
blackballed from job interviews by every Wall Street firm.
have both the better case and the more reasonable tone. Nonetheless, there is
point out that sprawl is to a large extent the fault of our current local tax
system? If we replaced the current property tax on land and buildings with a
tax falling solely on the value of land, vacant lots in cities and along the
roads leading out of them would be built upon, instead of held for speculation.
Then people could live closer to where they work and shop, burn less gasoline
when they commute by car, and more often be able to walk. A denser population
such a strange idea that a suicidally depressed person might benefit from
was somehow ordained, and has something to do with her status as a poet. This
Slate received several letters mourning the retirement of "Dear
dismayed to hear of Prudence's return to her needlework. It is not that I am
against needlework. I frequently engage in it myself when stumped by the
complexity of an algorithm. It is just that Prudence's advice is
course, this document is historic and groundbreaking, but it is not a bull.
from The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman
is used to imprint the reigning pope's insignia, or seal, on the document. The
most solemn of the papal documents, the bull creates a prelate a cardinal
about the Catholic Church and is quite authoritative.)
that many people commonly use the term papal bull to describe almost any
But since he appears to be talking about lawyers functioning in the United
annually. But don't take my word for it. Ask any current teacher of legal
differences between the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the
Model Code of Professional Responsibility --a subject that I am sure
application of the code (or rules) in the real world.
to the rules of professional responsibility much as they do to any other text.
That people want zealous advocates to defend their interests, and as a
consequence, zealousness tends to gain the upper hand in the battle between
aggressive advocacy and restrained, dignified legal conduct. Lawyers will
interpret the rules to maximize their ability to do what they believe is in the
best interests of their clients, and this is made easier by the porous
good thing is a subject worth discussing; whether it happens is obvious. And
municipal court to federal court, in Code states and Rule states
rather than something about which I have ants in the pants.
somewhat cynical and worldly about the political process he covers. In recent
columns, however, I have greatly enjoyed seeing his intelligent skepticism
pointed as much toward the media as toward the politicians. What's most
critique. It's a critique that takes on the cultural attitude and assumptions
of the press and how those assumptions slant their journalism, and it's
subtly condescending nature of traditional journalism's attitude toward
successful blacks (a column in the future might explore the press' similar
attitude toward the Southern population of the country). From the article about
entries and the column about why the press feels the need to take
calm legal heads of my acquaintance advised him that neither I nor my name were
laughter subsided, that is. The Internal Revenue Service's doings provoked some
thread showcased the international flavor of the Fray this week. A missionary
marriage? Some choices proffered in the new "Marriage and Family"
thread: friendship, mutual respect, honesty, humor, and variety. Where does
point": "I don't think it's realistic to expect most relationships to be
sexually monogamous and to last a lifetime." A third offered a reason why
that arrangement?" Most contributors agree that sex and children are desirable
but not necessary within the relationship; all agreed children should be the
television, and whether parents who leave children to suffocate in a hot car
Sound and the Fury remains the focus in the "Reading" thread. This
week's subject: the second of the book's four chapters, which is written from
chapter. Jump in, and examine the mind of a misanthrope.
Century" thread hosted a humorous and articulate exchange on the importance
influence" on mass movements everywhere? In addition to this series of posts
interesting exchange in the new "Marriage and Family" thread on what a marriage
the browser to log me on, I thought maybe, this once, from a publication like
illogical conclusions plus the tired rhetoric of veil equals oppression, blah,
blah, blah. I laughed out loud when I got to the part where the author insisted
too) "claimed" they weren't oppressed by the veil, they, like, really were.
Question: Did the author actually interview any of these "girls"?
I feel compelled to clarify has to do with this statement: "It seems suitable
the way, I happily and quite comfortably wear my veil when I go shopping
don't mean to brag, just trying to break that ridiculous stereotype). And my
upright man who never told a lie or looked twice at a woman, they wouldn't have
interesting, even if he didn't see naked interns running up and down the West
much greater incentive to spice up the truth or to invent a story out of whole
writer had been really incisive, she might have raised questions in the
as easily in tabloids as in traditional publishing outlets; a less determinedly
shallow analyst might wonder if the dominant role of money is suffocating the
may well be, but Internet Explorer is very likely on his computer, and he
certainly paid for it even if he subsequently removed it. The idea that
Internet Explorer is free is silly. It cost millions to develop, and that cost
all that much which browser people use as long as they have to pay for Internet
Explorer. In the fullness of time, there will be enough sites only viewable
to indulge his personal preferences. Perhaps he'll utter a little grumble of
dissatisfaction, like all those grumbles coming from Mac users being forced to
switch to Windows to be compatible. In the meantime, he has probably paid for
for this, of course. Software companies could make their file formats public,
for government action in his column "Let My Data Go!"
about computer software is that it leads to "natural monopolies." In fact, the
software incompatibilities that tend to create monopolies are carefully
nurtured, precisely because they do create monopolies.
businesses to create and exploit monopolies whenever they have the opportunity,
but that is why we have, and need to enforce, antitrust legislation. The
software industry, if anything, has a greater need for protection of market
recall reporters so viciously going after one of their own. One answer is that
Brill has gone a long way toward turning off the golden spigot of leaks from
to breach the inky wall of silence that largely protects reporters from being
subject to the same rules of exposure they expect everyone else to live by.
enough to disclose the sources of the information in a story; Brill also should
whose input, he chose to focus on Brill. What are his hidden motives? The other
Circuit Court of Appeals about the scope of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure
Supreme Court takes up this issue, it is that court's rulings that bind him,
regardless what the rulings may be in other circuits. Brill, who trained as a
that they are collectively above criticism and that Brill has violated a taboo.
their egos were punctured by even an intimation that the press was in the wrong
aren't we? Two separate, exhaustive shots posted simultaneously?
accountability, the establishment media have the biggest glass jaw in the
proves it. Brill (or Drudge) tootles along and everyone in the
prove the "professionals" deserve all the scrutiny anyone else can muster.
part of the revolution, not the establishment. If you join the Old Guard aboard
the "torpedo Content before anyone's even read the piece in question"
years of public criticism of the press could not. Now someone has done unto you
writer took a look at a few recent issues before typing. We call this
we're surprised the false description got past your editors.
readers to come to their own conclusions. Check out the
to congratulate you on your fine sense of humor. In "Getting Buggy Wit It,"
values the offline stores at next to nothing. There's an alternative
explanation. My wife and I have been regular customers of Amazon, but we
telephone calls that we had to exchange before finally obtaining a book, the
experience left us more determined to shop with Amazon. More importantly, my
offline version, thereby rationalizing the Street's valuation.
was not leaking to me; he was not telling me what to write or say on
had asked if we could get together for a private and personal conversation to
we should find a spot where he would run no risk of catching flak by being seen
she would seize the chance to misrepresent our conversation as something
embarrassed, for having concocted a fantasy to serve her partisan agenda.
thing happened in dentistry in the late 1960s and 1970s. With increased
government funding for training dentists, the nation got more dentists just in
time for the full effect of fluoridated water to kick in. The result: thousands
of unemployed or underemployed dentists through the late 1970s and early
with uses the term "nigger" to describe each other or any other black person
determine that "since it has become a common phrase of salutation and even
endearment among blacks, a high proportion of its current usage is in fact as a
comment sounds like amusing irony, it is in reality a dangerous assumption
based on very little (if any) actual experience with people who have had the
offensive term used to describe them. It is a propagation of the myth that if
black people would just respect themselves, they would receive respect from
meets my approval as an appropriate word to use to describe a human being.
better or for worse, grow into their appearance, coming to look on the outside
as someone who is "not to be believed." It would be very easy for me to say,
piously, that I would have sacrificed my job rather than make the recordings,
her ability to support them. What would people think of a mother who sacrificed
conversation and hold it in reserve for that dark moment when her veracity was
gratuitously, to get the ball, which wasn't moving much, rolling."
Bedfellow," I can tell you that he has been a distant and ineffective
economic development of our district. While I admire his championship of the
arts and the environment, these do little concrete for the vast majority of
physically infirm. He misses more votes than all but a handful of
contact with his district and made only token campaign appearances. He refused
to oppose him as traitors and thought of himself as congressman by divine
personally enriched himself at the expense of his constituents and his
couch his ideas, he was nonetheless a member in good standing in the wine
table." When he was writing his Phenomenology of Spirit, despite his very
reaction in the 1820s, he surprised his students sitting at the table with him
of the students quite understanding just what called for such a lavish outlay
on the old fellow's part, he astonished them even more by raising his glass and
facts just plain wrong. Usually it's in the last paragraph, and it's usually
some flippant remark that would be witty if it were only true.
there that home ownership is an investment in society, the bedrock of
was dashed when he greeted her return with the news that he had purchased a
admiring the balls of a publication that ran the headline "Who gives a f***
about the yen?" last week and had already used the phrase "holy shit" upward of
five times in the opening paragraphs, when I happened upon this sentence:
ass" and "bites X in the ass" because they are colorful, evocative phrases;
hilarious and because they don't evoke particularly vivid mental images of
asses any longer. Or at least, less than they used to.
to get at is: I don't think the phrase "spread its legs" has quite entered the
for the average reader. (Then again, we have seen the rise of "suck" in its
legs," that's exactly what I think of, and for me, there is something
inherently unpleasant in having my gender's chief sexual activity thrown up on
the electronic page as an analogy for submissiveness. Human reproduction pretty
as an example of how the phrase "spread its legs" has become so prevalent as to
have mostly lost its primary meaning; I think sex deserves better than to be
role during sex interpreted as one of whorish submission.
politics taken to an extreme." If only one couple does it, it will have little
choice because you should be able to rise above principle to send your kids to
Many of the opponents of school choice send their kids to private school, even
then telling everyone we are running out of resources and everyone
were only one white, affluent couple sending its child to private schools while
decrying school choice for others, that would be one thing. For an entire
political class to engage in this behavior is a national disaster. Perhaps that
entire analysis. Exactly what is "soft focus" about the bank teller who gets
Godfather pictures as a "daydream of limitless wealth and power" is even
is right that in many ways the Godfather pictures (especially Part
wrong in his reasons why. In fact, it's the older gangster pictures that
al. There's nothing romantic about the criminal violence depicted in the
"But I have now seen many hundreds of these boards, bearing the remnants of
some recent group meeting, and I cannot recall ever seeing anything on them
been part of a team developing a OO plan for a software project? Have you ever
the white boards you've seen were spied while you were escorted about by PR
flacks or techs and suits on a PR mission. They were all sort of nervous
because you're a celebrity writer. They gave you free meals. Am I right so
never seen a white board used in real technical development, have you? You
don't really know what you're talking about, do you? The fact that what you've
you because it's all in fun, right? And not really important, true? Just to
personal opinion would be that people give so many technical presentations in
formal and informal settings, where every other sentence or clause starts with
forced labor without hope for education, decent child care, or a better future.
been deregulated. Subscribers engage one another in debate, discussing news and
cultural happenings and even trading gardening tips. To wit, a selection of
last week's hottest topics. And of course, you can always jump right into the
possibly tainted testimony. The possibility that outside forces (notably
naturally, chafed at the notion that they might be sidetracked in their dogged
most intense debate ever. The topic: Does language influence culture? By week's
end, the lines had been drawn, with two opposing camps staking out their turf
believe that language influences culture even as culture influences language;
the other side avers it doesn't. The debate should segue nicely into next
first to apologize to him for slavery. Affirmative action was debated, as was
divisions or just lead to even more problems? But the biggest firestorm erupted
slow start, the "Higher Education" thread got a shot in the arm when one
high schools: Are high schools the best place for them? Should some programs be
emerged: the issue of exit exams in higher education. Which states use them,
and in what fields are students tested? The focus has now shifted to The
Bell Curve and its discussion of the needs of gifted students.
best Christian of the century. This question tapped an ongoing battle between
interesting posts in the "Movies and Television" thread. To illustrate their
from the familiar to the obscure. This led to some on just what belongs on a
list of favorite films. Other topics this week: What makes a sex symbol sexy,
reply to my recent letter to the editor. Responding to my suggestions that
would have learned that the "Flick of the Week" is not an endorsement and can
be a positive or a negative review; the current "Flick of the Week" gets only
two stars. We have not appeared on a program named Sneak Previews since
does not reply to my observation that most of the critics he mentions have
given negative reviews to most of the films he says we praised.
cheek, that we allow the president of the United States, after he leaves
president] keeps us out of war through policies that make the world more
president makes the world (including the United States) a more dangerous place,
but the United States remains a safer place relative to the rest of the
world? Even though the United States would be safer than other places, and thus
him in history. Presidents who do a good job are remembered favorably; those
who do not are not. This is not always true, of course. Sometimes when a
president does a terrible job we just name an airport after him.
The plan I proposed not only gives the president an incentive to make the
United States better, it also gives him an incentive to make the rest of the
world worse. So I should not have proposed it. After all, we wouldn't want to
deter future presidents from emulating great achievements like, say, freeing
substantive and interesting article posted. How about stopping publishing so
much of this drivel and hiring people to write intelligent, interesting work on
continues in anything like its present form, I certainly
won't be renewing my subscription. You'll continue to have an audience of
not the only one obsessed with presidential sex. In its latest edition,
physical evidence that may confirm he had consensual sex with former White
the national press, you seek to elevate what you call this "Flytrap" flap to
nothing but a flyspeck when compared with presidential scandals of the past.
press, it has become a "major story" that threatens to undermine the valuable
woman's right to choose, making improvements in our education system a top
By then, maybe the editors will have had time for a few cold showers, and
rather than dwelling on sex you'll be ready again to write about national and
international political issues of greater significance.
dispatches are just great. However, his suggestion in "Give It Away,
dozen different ways, but the fact remains that because of the financial
liability to your parent company you decided not to publish a story that your
training and experience as journalists indicated was important and ought to be
several of her comments about my work, I am nevertheless indebted to her for
taking up some of the questions I raised about Holocaust scholarship in the
consider some of the things being written about the Holocaust by feminist
scholars to be offensive, even shocking, I have never suggested answering them
with censorship or anything of the sort. I am only in favor of subjecting them
beyond discussion. I made it quite clear in Commentary that I favor
serious research and teaching about the Holocaust in a university setting, and
I have never suggested otherwise. I do, however, oppose the propagation of
want to see how memory of the Holocaust is being twisted in the service of a
contemporary political cause should turn to the August issue of
Commentary and examine some of the passages I quote from the writings of
She is hardly a marginal academic in a fringe institution; in fact, she
occupies one of the most important positions in the field.
little troubled and perplexed by the charge that I engage in distortion. In the
obscure feminist source and repeating it "throughout" my piece for rhetorical
effect. She also suggests, without elaborating, that I have committed other
And I hardly drew it from a hard to find source. I was citing a basic text, a
the Holocaust referenced in virtually every book on this subject. I hope I am
not being "shrill" in pointing out that this journal is readily available in
welcome credibility in its rulings if she were also to make a habit of being
to censor anybody and was only exercising his right as a critic to damn entire
should think about the language he uses when he does damn entire fields of
ghetto from his criticisms) "execrable," "one of the worst excesses" of
Holocaust studies, and "nakedly ideological"? It is true that he only uses
genocide, we are being told on every side, is not so much mainstream as
really mean to compare women writing about women who died in the camps with "a
narrow cult living somewhere on a commune and insisting on a macabre sisterhood
as it may seem to a journalist writing outside the academy, attacks as
the funding, tenuring, and acceptance of scholars under attack. Just ask any
literature professor how quickly English, French, and German departments
flushed out their theory mavens once deconstruction became a dirty word. Or try
has made a laughingstock of the field. Not that these particular movements
and Slate behind them, to pause for a deep breath before we relegate
entire categories of scholarship to the dustbin of intellectual
weekend because, prior to reading your review of Snake Eyes in "Trigonometry,"
I had planned to see the actual movie version, and now I needn't bother. Your
review not only told me I would hate the ending but gave such detailed
descriptions of half the shots in the film that I was left with the feeling I
had already seen the entire thing. All I need now is a CD of the music and a
bag of popcorn. Your writing has the power to evoke strong visual images in the
mind's eye and for that very reason I feel you should show restraint when
reviewing a film early in its release. I found myself thanking the celluloid
syntax better than the usual dumb adjectives. I didn't give away any plot
surprises; read the review in the New York Times if you want to know
otherwise friendly audience pissed off. See Snake Eyes next weekend and
convicting one innocent person. He is right to try to quantify the costs, but
system that allows a significant probability of convicting innocent people is
that it allows unscrupulous prosecutors to become petty tyrants. Will you stand
up to an official who can put you at significant risk of conviction with a
do if your neighbor threatens to frame you for some crime, and you know the
only the cost to innocent people of going to jail but also the cost in liberty
when they must cave in to threats of slander or malicious prosecution.
system, where innocent parties routinely cave in to threats of lawsuits.
magazine in general has been from people in the mainstream media who were
clearly part of the system I was writing about and, thus, responded
fall into that category and deserve to be taken seriously, I thought I should
for themselves if the magazine is "boring," a knock that reminds me of lawyers'
ours. We blast faxed the piece to every major (and minor, I think) press
leaked grand jury information depends on one's definition of grand jury
disagrees with that. No mistakes? How about the stained dress? Or the president
that quote. That happens with reporters a lot. But, interestingly, she didn't
first story. My notes have her saying exactly that and then saying it again
the course of narrating that first weekend of the "scandal." When I later asked
when I talked with him about the tapes. And it's a big part of why
with its first story. In retrospect, though, it would have been fairer and
all clear that the president had instructed her to lie. Nonetheless, I think
point) could have heard those tapes or briefed reporters about them. So I don't
think it's "intellectually dishonest" to say that this information must have
reports, and the crux of the reports was what was supposedly on these
is kind of refreshing in the sense that it's so different from the "everyone
wrong. There are no court decisions in the relevant jurisdiction that support
"sources" that don't say how many sources or what ax they might have to grind.
be named, enough identification should be supplied so that the reader knows the
a Times person as the source and correctly identifies the potential
bias. Now, go back and read my description of all the truly blind "sources" in
the article, and see if you can tell the difference.
knew would cover political stuff and politicians), I haven't made any
contributions to anyone, let alone the president (to whom, again, I made one
of our magazine and proud of this piece. Prouder, in fact, now than when we
published it, because nearly two weeks later everyone who could take a shot at
sequence (the Journal decided not to wait for comment from the White
gratuitous adjectives that I now wouldn't. There may be more, and if there is I
will be the first to concede it. But I hope my willingness to admit mistakes
than my piece was. Several of his points, however, demand a reply.
The only thing that's clearly illegal is leaking out of the grand jury room.
were "no mistakes." I wrote that Brill didn't document any significant error of
declined comment on her sources except for the one she revealed.
But there's at least a plausible alternative explanation for where much of this
information could have come from. As I say, it would have been only fair to
question of what's illegal is likely to be settled by the Supreme Court, which
will consider lower court precedents from various jurisdictions.
right "that doesn't exist on the left today." Actually, similar machinery has
existed on the left for years. It runs from the liberals in Congress to the
liberals in the statehouse to the liberals on the bench to the liberals on the
universal use of accepted terms such as "extreme right" to describe any given
idea that emanates from the conservative end of the spectrum. It includes broad
opposition to the slightest bit of reform that might impact the access of trial
lawyers to the money machine of our tort system. It includes attack dog
opposition to any and all school reform that does not result in massive amounts
of additional money for the teachers' unions. And so on and so on.
has for years started opposing things in tandem the moment the handwriting
appeared on the wall. Their opposition has always included near uniformity,
conservatives employing this often successful tool perfected by the left.
the United States is the most powerful country in the world. It is also true
that its erstwhile rival has collapsed rather utterly. However, even the merest
scenario has been played out over hundreds of years: The wars were always the
exceptions. It is also worth pointing out that the United States has actually
declined in relative economic importance since World War II.
was responsible for nearly half the gross world product. However, today, even
to me that the world as a whole is an awful lot more interdependent than it
further. Based on the available evidence so far, this abortion of a
intellectual dishonesty and reporting at its shabbiest.
cents per minute, day or night. In real terms, average airline coach fares are
once was, and the service may or may not be better, but to me, this is easily
"Manning the Hospital Barricades" with interest. I understand his
generally work very hard. (The question of whether a lot of what they do is
really necessary or appropriate is debatable, as it is for all specialties.)
The "virtue" and responsibility aspect are more problematic. There is the
blesses the operation and is allowed to share responsibility, despite the fact
that the note is rarely read and the recommendations are often ignored.
that is not unheard of is to hustle the patient of a failing operation out of
for your medical jokes (not original). How do you hide something from an
some exposure to a segment of society of which few people are aware. Across the
nation (and, to a lesser extent, around the world) are a handful of people
whose passion for birds in particular, and the magnificence of living things in
general, holds them apart from the rest of society. They surrender to years of
poverty. They don't watch much television. And the study of animals demands
that they go where the animals live and put up with what the animals put up
thorns; poisonous plants; days or weeks without showers; steep, rugged terrain;
a natural cause. But the big bang could not have been caused by prior
which, according to relativity theory, is not a "thing" but a boundary or an
edge in time. Since no causal lines can be extended through it, the cause of
center of any black hole, according to modern physics, is also a
singularity. So, does each and every black hole in the universe also
it, "prior physical processes" could not have created them either?
should probably know better than to publish an essay aimed
starts out that way, though he ultimately contents himself with the existence
explanation is rather convoluted. Let me see if I can find a simpler way to
present his view. Suppose that our position in time is represented by a
first moment: if we're at time t, then time t/2, which is unequal to t, lies in
our past. There you go: a universe with no beginning but a finite age.
Great War (or World War I). He was placed in a zoo for safekeeping when the
jelly is not a sauce but a jelly. You spread jelly on bread, like that piece of
with beef and put gravy on it, so I don't know what bread you spread your mint
I should have provided: The book's a fine read, if not a rollicking one. The
of a book called Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in
more knowledgeable friends to be a substantial contribution to the history of
lots of things you hadn't known, you'll think about makeup in a new way, and
you'll be spared the ranting about the evils of consumerism that so often
accompanies social histories of women, beauty, and fashion.
married because their federal taxes would skyrocket. He might want to check his
arithmetic and reconsider. However lamentable the "marriage penalty" may be,
ineligible for that credit.) But one suspects this is not the example that
day care." He must have found a bargain rate. The actual penalties in this case
Football Caucus"). The last thing we need is unrealistic and idealistic
people voting their consciences. We need people who can play the game and get
that he has been revealed as a "traitor" by selling satellite technology to
wondered what was so wrong with the society in Brave New World and
materialism, but others took exception to such a pessimistic view of life: "We
return of the "Music" thread. It began with a request for participants to list
their favorite rock or world music albums of the past five years. Discussions
covered the merits of dance as a social and recreational activity ("facile" or
"spiritual"?), and of rhythm in music ("fascist"?), as well as commentary on
economic and philosophical arguments supporting rewards for results vs. rewards
innate ability and inherited wealth should not be determinants of future
economic opportunity. The week ended with a discussion of the economic
rationale for employers paying people for both effort and performance
(outcomes) in an environment of imperfect information and joint production.
at the hands of the "Reading" thread, which was so civilized that participants
the day's big issues. To wit, a selection of some of the forum's liveliest
News interview as essentially truthful; defenders wondered if Burton was
merely projecting. Meanwhile, the discussion over who's really in
Constitution and definitions of personal and religious freedom. Also debated:
were right, after all." Will the social sciences fall under the combined weight
Sound and the Fury was the subject of the new "Reading" thread this
discussion ranged from novices to experts; they included a teacher who shared
her experience of introducing the novel to students and an author who has
Walking Out on the Boys kicked off debate in the new "Sexual Harassment"
thread: Is a single pass by a superior sexual harassment, or is a pattern of
with someone who was honestly attracted to me and took 'no' for an answer than
someone who may or may not be honestly attracted to me but wants to cow me in
thread was on a roll. The discussion on language and culture moved to the need
took the prescriptivist position: People must be told how to use the language
Tosh, said the opposition. All language needs to do is communicate one's
meaning clearly. The mavens are fools to fight the "tide of language
underway in the "Person of the Century" thread, which, created before the recent
Time magazine survey, aims to identify, once and for all, the person who
has most influenced the century. Visit the voting site to register
to post a statement on what is appropriate in the workplace. inspired reactions
from both sides of the table, ranging from "Yes, that's exactly it" to
incompatible with the decorum and harmony cultivated by the true sage."
would agree that if there ever was a disputatious intellectual culture, it was
volumes ("What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate").
library's books are perfect, their typeface is elegant and eminently readable
are of a thickness that affords pliability and easy separation while
maintaining economy in bulk and weight. One of the many marvels of the series
is that vast collections of authors' works are assembled in volumes so
moral statements can be reduced to psychology, as if the disapproval of murder
were just another human taste like the preference for sweet over bitter foods.
logic of morality that is outside our minds in the same sense that our number
sense evolved to grasp mathematical truths that are outside our minds.)
mathematical truths and moral truths is that grasping the former provides an
obvious survival advantage. We should expect an evolved number sense to discern
mathematical truths fairly well; we should not be so optimistic about the
evolutionary process will favor those moral intuitions that best spread the
is high flattery for one of us, but it is inaccurate. I usually come up with my
Security?" takes at face value claims that if retirement insurance funds
are invested in private securities, a continuing rate of return well above that
true in the past, and should continue to be for some years yet, the argument
almost certainly will break down precisely when the money would be required.
The rise in the stock market in recent years has been in no small part due to
baby boomers' accelerating investment of their retirement funds there (see, for
Syndrome" on the effects of excess money on Wall Street). However, when
occur as the supply of people who must sell begins to outstrip the number of
people wishing to buy at a historically high cost. The first to retire might
enjoy considerable returns on their investments, but those at the trailing end
of the baby boom might see their gains disappear while the market
Social Security funds in the market only makes these effects worse, as that
money must at some point be withdrawn, no matter what, to meet obligations
(similar arguments might be applied to bonds, real estate, or anything else
Social Security money might be invested in). Some form of privatization might
behind. Any prudent plan to invest Social Security funds in private markets
must have some way to address these risks; none that I know of do.
inner workings of my heart as it relates to tax rates for married couples, Rob
latter. I do know, however, that my numbers have a source that has nothing to
knowledgeably characterizes without ever having been introduced.
tripe over and over from the pen of a writer who once appeared on her way to
being a great poet and gave it all up to write a single column, over and over,
explain the fact that no hush money was raised or paid as a result of the March
comments about raising money were the operative (as they used to say) part of
library, of course am one) stress that the president said it would be wrong and
that (if memory serves) "the White House can't do it." Seems that the only way
to resolve such ambiguity is to see what actually happened as a result of the
former track wannabe and somebody with several postgraduate degrees, I took
only one criterion on which to judge road racing: time posted. You
cannot argue about home field advantage, equipment differences, or help from
teammates. You are arguing there is only one criterion (because it is
precisely analogous) for determining a good college student: SAT scores. In a
road race you look to see who finished first, and in determining who is
eligible for race entry, you go by the unbiased clock.
subsidized by health plans, and the sixth paragraph says that slightly more
than half of all birth control pills are," there isn't really any bias, and
to you that you are overlooking a key fact in this statistic and that is the
amount of time it took to get each of those plans to subsidize the drug in
that in that short space of time, it has already reached approximately the same
politics than about legal history. He states, "The question whether regulation
of commerce is a state or national affair was supposed to have been settled in
assumed the states would govern the economy. Nineteenth century common law
antitrust cases. Federal antitrust suits could not exist until Congress enacted
remained. Since the Constitution only permitted the national government to
regulate "commerce," whole areas of economic life were outside federal
Supreme Court did not enable wholesale federal intervention by defining
course, the fact that state prosecutions have a long history does not mean they
certain why he finds diverse legal climates so disturbing. Are we to discount
such antitrust prosecutions because the attorneys general are ambitious? This
seems a mighty high standard for any policy. Though it may be inefficient, I
think it reasonable that each locality can set the legal conditions of its own
"The International Scene" was the hottest thread in "The Fray" this
role in the unrest: Does the fund and its "economic groupies have something big
"She certainly has a right to speak without being accused of wearing the pants
sexual encounter for a bonobo a) occurs with a member of the same sex and b)
Life" thread, which has discussed everything from genetics to friendships
to prejudice. Is homophobia innate or a repressive cultural construct? Should
gays be accorded equal rights by law in all respects, including social
sociobiological and historical realities are irrelevant to gay rights.") Should
into of their writing? Is it reasonable to assume a person is straight until
inspired a new "Conspiracies" thread, with testimonials from "basement wackos"
questioning why secret societies remain secret, what constitutes conspiratorial
thought, and what differentiates the aforementioned wackos from legitimate
raised questions on Abstract Expressionism and nonrepresentational art in
general in the "Arts" thread. about art and art history to be able to
bad; just that there is more bullshit attached to such paintings than others."
's work to be analytically sound and faithful to the facts.
dead wrong. Heroin is criminal because it is deadly, not vice versa. The vast
majority of heroin addicts, criminality aside, cannot adequately sustain
themselves in society. For this reason, heroin maintenance programs in
salary, housing, medical care, and in many cases even a dog and money to
support the dog. Why? Because these addicts cannot hold down a job, and for
won't use this deadly drug. To this end, one of the other ads in the National
begins to strip away her makeup. She ages before your eyes, becoming
increasingly haggard and ill looking. Finally, she removes her artificial
just how glamorous heroin use is not. This is real life.
references to marijuana are medically inaccurate. Take a look at recent medical
regular marijuana user shows that marijuana changes the chemistry of the brain
to render vast sections of the brain less active. Moreover, marijuana smoke
contains countless known carcinogens, and the lung smoking of marijuana to
into your body. (Smoking just five or more joints a day produces the same lung
there. Babies born to mothers who smoke marijuana during pregnancy have an
from the literature on employee marijuana use is its association with increased
absenteeism. It is also associated with increased accidents, higher turnover,
low job satisfaction, counterproductive behavior, withdrawal and antagonistic
behaviors, and higher use of employee assistance programs and medical
misunderstands the current ad campaign. The author says the campaign targets
children, and he is right. However, the campaign is also largely focused on
adults. One of the core messages of the campaign is that parents and other
adult mentors need to talk to children about the real dangers of drug use.
young people about the real dangers of drug use. Unfortunately, for all his
couching language ("Drugs can be awful") and care, the author is part of the
problem, not the solution. Inaccuracies like those discussed above, which
downplay the dangers in drug use, send our young people mixed messages and
increase distrust. Against this backdrop it is easy for young people to not buy
the facts about drugs. The bottom line is: We can disagree about policies in a
democracy; however, our disagreements should be based on facts. This article
not facts, and his assumptions are misleading. While his claims of increased
child cancer rates have been refuted (see the excellent Marijuana Myths,
Marijuana Facts for a debunking of the study that produced this figure and
"employee marijuana use," each of those effects (increased absenteeism,
increased accidents, higher turnover, low job satisfaction, etc.) will show up
tenfold in relation to employee alcohol use. Without doubt, constant
intoxication of any form will hurt one's work capacity. And then this: "Smoking
just five or more joints a day produces the same lung diseases as smoking a
sure, there are "real dangers" of drug use, just as there are real dangers of
alcohol and tobacco use. Let's be honest with our kids about all of them,
instead of terrorizing them with exaggerations and lies.
Mighty," many other less fortunate persons are either dead or not in a
position within our society to be heard. Your attitude makes me sick!
practically endorses legalization of heroin and the free use of marijuana among
their diatribes against illegal drugs and their resistance to slamming "Big
Tobacco." From a perspective you have a point, but I would rather be busy
jumping on the bandwagon to tax the crap out of my fellow citizens who smoke a
than use marijuana or heroin. Marijuana alters the brain's chemistry to produce
hallucinogenic effects, while nicotine only satisfies the addiction the
smoker's body feels. Would you want the person driving behind you to be high on
the influence of nicotine are far less than being high on marijuana.
a drug that can kill you on the very first try, and most heroin addicts didn't
girlfriend's brother was found dead only a few weeks ago of what has since been
determined to have been an overdose of heroin. This was someone who no one
would have ever thought to have been a drug user. Personally, I don't give a
flip what kind of action anyone takes to warn people against the use of drugs,
stupidity in the absoluteness of the "Just Say No" campaign, which insists that
drugs and alcohol are completely intolerable in a society where both,
especially the latter, are so prevalent. How can we preach such an absolute
message to kids all day at school or on television and expect them to ignore
our social behaviors every evening? It has become uncomfortable for mom and dad
to enjoy a beer or cocktail at the end of the day, lest junior regale them with
the evils of drug and alcohol use. What's wrong with a society where supposedly
rational adults have to "sneak around" to enjoy a drink within the walls of
and Mighty" on the current drug ad campaign. There is no topic today that
drug use, while dicey, is an established and unavoidable part of human culture
and that dishonesty on this point does no one any good.
DO! As a new reader, I have to tell you that I was disappointed in this opener.
the big papers use to sell their stuff. But for days now, all you can talk
something more interesting to discuss? This can't be the only story.
Secret Service's Real Secret," about the extent to which presidential
important question: What makes the president's life so valuable? In a
democracy, after all, citizens' lives are supposed to be equally valuable.
During the Cold War, it was feared that a presidential assassination might set
off a nuclear exchange, so by protecting the president, the Secret Service was,
at least arguably, protecting us all. But nobody worries about that sort of
thing nowadays, and yet the president is more tightly protected than at the
height of the Cold War. Perhaps the Secret Service is really protecting its own
that he is simply ignorant of the facts of rural life.
have a Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund for schools and libraries
(dreamed up by a Republican state senator, among others) that antedates the
rather expensive databases that few libraries can afford to purchase on their
own. The smaller, poorer libraries benefit most, as their communities would
deliver this service to our libraries is via the Internet.
the past several weeks trying to get any kind of non-800 Internet access
local calling area. (Ironically, thanks to the heavy hand of big bad state
for these libraries), I asked several times for pricing and conditions back in
probably will work quite well in providing good telecommunications in dense
urban areas, very little has changed over the past few years in the rural areas
circumstances of which he obviously has little firsthand knowledge. His "let
them eat cake" attitude is insulting and offensive.
it upsetting that someone could so quickly lose faith in the possibility of
technological innovation in an industry that has been around for less than six
years. While it seems as if all our technological problems would be solved if
we simply regulated the industry, let me remind you that it took at least six
would frown on the idea of ghettoizing an industry that is only in its
produce, the Internet connection cost will remain exorbitant, even with the
but ignore the needs of the rural population is absurd. The latest census
which these commentators fully agree is that I am a village atheist. They are,
recovered memory movement in the New York Review of Books --articles that
challenge the empirical credentials of psychoanalysis. See the concluding
psychotherapeutic involvement. Nor it is helpful to lump psychoanalysis and
by which I mean the general enterprise of helping people talk through their
anxieties and face the difficulties in their immediate circumstances. The
patient's manifestly perceived problems, beliefs, and feelings are treated as
mere "compromise formations" tossed to the surface by deep turmoil that can
only be resolved by dredging for repressed memories, Oedipal cravings, and the
like. If I am to be deemed a maniac, let's at least try to state correctly what
alike deem me insensitive to the depth and complexity of the psyche, and
simplifying the mind by presuming sexual and aggressive motives to be
invariably primary and by invoking deterministic "mechanisms" that always lead
to a few banal and arbitrary causative factors. As my introduction points out,
devious and supersubtle mind. Only when we have grasped the full extent of the
(1997)--will we be able to talk about motives with an adequate respect for
was attained with or without the benefit of accurate clinical
observation, defensible drawing of inferences, and encouraging therapeutic
results. The answer is: without them. Once that fact has sunk in, a cultural
historian can assess the true magnitude of the problem that Unauthorized
intellectuals, not excepting journalists in therapy, could have been so
"all drug use leads to disaster." Our advertising is based on a breadth of
research from which we develop specific campaigns depending on the drug and the
demographic we're targeting. There's a huge difference, for example, between
fundamental lack of understanding about what our campaign entails. Had he
contacted us, we would have been happy to discuss our advertising as well as
our research. We would still be open to such a discussion.
scrutiny into our advertising campaign and our organization, but here's one
suggestion: How about waiting for some results before deciding this can't
possibly work, and how about reading the existing research that shows it can
Advertising will not solve the drug problem, but done right it can vastly
improve the chances for children and teens to stay off drugs.
on uncritical movie critics is wrong, I think, to suggest that mainstream
critics should ignore blockbusters or dismiss them in a paragraph. Most readers
of mass circulation newspapers and magazines are intensely interested in such
stupidities being retailed by the filmmakers. He is wrong, too, to say of my
favorable review of The Negotiator that I overpraised it in a
sentence of an opening paragraph which, if he had quoted it all, would have
generalizing from an exception to the rule is an effective but not honorable
and that I review more foreign, art, documentary, and indeed films (like
that illustrate his point, while remaining deliberately oblivious to reviews by
the same critic that would weaken it. The article works only if
information that I, for example, disliked it, because that would not help his
mentions would also not serve his thesis. If you are going to criticize
critics, you have to be a better critic than he is in this essentially
their differences from everyone else transcend gender.
I have made a couple of OPEN signs. As an artist, though, with a thing for
language and how it is transformed by how it is represented, I had been
thinking about the power that the blazing OPEN sign has in our culture. To that
end, I made an OPEN sign sculpture in which the letter "N" swings from one end
of "OPE" to the other, alternately spelling OPEN or NOPE. I only made one
small microprocessor designed and programmed to control the swing over when a
gear motor turns on and switches the letter position.
idea comes from the OPEN sign phenomenon where one might be rushing to the
store just before closing time, or maybe during imagined weekend hours, only to
find, upon arrival, that one is too late or too early. NOPE!
that indie films have been overpraised by critics. Deconstructing Harry
that didn't echo a similar, usually superior, shot or sequence in another
amazing trio of performances, it's true that the film itself was little more
Sweet Hereafter does not, I feel, belong in this group. Though it has flaws
of the ending), The Sweet Hereafter has none of the insufferable
this case is necessary, and the fact that we are never given a final solution
they are reliable entertainers. Sometimes that's enough.
of lambasting studios for abandoning artistic principles in favor of the
in favor of their own. He doesn't quite have the courage to say The Big
poetic homage, for sure, since the two writers exemplify the stylistic divide
of his dead wife, he writes under her stylistic regime. And that makes
use sexist anecdotes these days? Surely you can find alternatives to being too
young writers who make things up. It does, just as it protects magazines from
old writers who get things wrong, no matter how many years they've been at it.
When someone reports a complicated story for many weeks or even months, stuff
the job of the editor to try to separate what is clearly not true from what may
or may not be. Beyond that, the fact checker is a safety net. Anything the
editor doesn't catch, the checker does, from misspelled names to lapses in
fact checking "department" that Jack describes did not exist. In fact, having
come from a magazine that rigorously fact checks every word of every story, I
had several conversations with fellow editors about why such a system wasn't in
late '80s, and it mocked the very notion of fact checking as unnecessary and
writer following last week's revelations. It's a small, small world.)
Heaven" story if the subject of the story wasn't called and the company he
worked for wasn't contacted. Simply consulting the writer's notes ain't fact
has become clear that almost everything about it was inexcusably wrong: suspect
data, mistakes in statistical procedures that would have flunked a
is true, it misses the most interesting aspect of that very bad book: Viewed
solely on the technical merits, The Bell Curve is no worse than many
more reputable examples of social science research. Many of the mistakes made
spectrum. The public policy literature is filled with confused causal modeling
and the use of flimsy, though grandly named, variables such as "socioeconomic
are hardly alone in presenting sweeping policy conclusions based on the narrow
correlations found in one limited data set. It is only the largeness of the
employed. This book masquerades as reputable social science, which it is not.
However, the ease with which The Bell Curve assumes this guise may be as
The author's claim that she "backed down" from that number in later interviews
preliminary investigation of her charges, to refer them to the Justice
have referred the matter to the Justice Department.
Post that the estimates she gave Salon were imprecise and
last point: My brief piece made it amply clear that Hale was thick with the
enjoys reading this stuff, I would like to see an expansion of this area. I
which is sort of similar, but couldn't you have both?
should take a breath. Who doesn't go through everyday life and see things that
disturb one's aesthetic sense? Our culture is a sloganeering one. Why should
learned to desensitize ourselves to the crass underbelly of organized religion.
My daughter comes home from school and tells me that other kids have come up
and others who get to make fun of them. Fair trade.
offended by the article "Onward, Christian Clothiers," even though I am not religious. The
idea that someone wearing their religion on their sleeve is someone to be
finally coming out of the closet, so to speak. Articles like this one invite
basketball," "bitch on wheels," etc.) but finds it necessary to tee off on
evangelical Christian apparel. Why do overtly Christian messages bother him so
that the only time liberals get excited about censorship is when it comes to
Clothiers": I often wonder if the peddlers of religious schlock have
actually read any Scripture beyond the gory "here's hell in your face"
Land has been a tad, shall we say, excessive. It was bad enough that the
is. But I suspect many agree with me that Brown's job change is essentially an
motives matter in the context of either the investigation of the president or
president's accuser. She has passed along tape recordings that (allegedly)
she's bad. Maybe you or I would not tape a friend, or maybe we think that
making the tapes are irrelevant to the charges against the president. While I
into our debate over whether the president perjured himself or encouraged
others to do so shows the effectiveness of the White House spin doctors.
debate over the limits of friendship when confronted with (potentially)
(the pronunciation was the same) was simply "drunk" spelled backward.
enough time socializing. This was in sharp contrast to the stereotypical frat
boys, who, in a time when the word "party" was exclusively a noun, would
consume excessive amounts of alcohol as part of their recreational activities.
The two campus archetypes were considered to be such polar opposites that the
rule on his belt. The stereotype was so pervasive and pejorative that even at
seen evidence of this usage and spelling in old campus humor magazines dating
back to the '40s and '50s. I don't have any explanation for the current
to miss the roots, so to speak, of the not quite blond bombshell phenomenon!
stories and labels them "new." While it's true that recycling generally means
finding a new use for something previously used, to slap a "new" label on a
story written a year or more ago takes a certain bending of reality. Is this a
Century Military" that "Reserve ground combat units at the brigade level
and above cannot be maintained at any reasonable level of readiness on a
He also implies that it would be impossible to maintain combat readiness in
guard units typically conduct their training one weekend each month and two
weeks each year. For combat and combat support units, the weekend training is
military intelligence battalion in the 1980s, we did useful field training on
occasions, most of the time was spent traveling to and from the training areas.
The two weeks' annual training was much more useful, but even that gave us at
most a week of field training, since there were several days of preparations
for the move to the training site and several more days of equipment cleanup
guard combat and combat support units should eliminate the weekend drills and
instead have a single, one month annual training (AT). The benefits of this
preparation and cleanup days could be kept the same.
personnel turnover. In a 12-man unit, about every four months we lost a person
(due to enlistment expiration) and gained a person. There was no way to set up
a stable team to build skills because we constantly had to train someone new in
the basic tasks. During AT, the teams could be restructured once, at the
beginning, and then remain stable through the remaining portion of
dependence of units. Since unit members must go to weekend drills every month,
they must be close enough to the reserve center. With a single AT, even
personnel from across the state or country could be flown out and back once a
note that I am not advocating a change to the training for combat service
support (maintenance, personnel, and logistics) units. Many of these units are
able to conduct meaningful training on weekend drills, since their training
the Internet and its links to depression: Maybe people who use the Internet a
lot get depressed because the Internet is just more interesting than their
regular lives. They meet people who share their preoccupations, quirks, sense
of humor, and sexual fantasies, people who like to argue about politics and
in fascinating subjects, and who like to explain them. They can take on a
pseudonym and express parts of themselves that they have to repress in their
ordinary lives. They can play bridge and chess and mental footsie with people
may already have been anxious, bored, dissatisfied with their lives. But they
thought that was just the way life was, so when social scientists asked if they
were happy, they said, "Sure." After a year on the Net, they know it doesn't
this: Despite the apparent oddity of the home run ball case, not one of these
horrified public servants has shown why it isn't a perfectly straightforward
application of the gift tax. So shouldn't they rethink the whole idea?
is a straightforward application of the tax code not to tax the gift of
the ball, since there is no income to the person giving the ball away. Since
the person who caught the ball gave nothing to receive the ball and received
there is no "realizing event" that would trigger taxation. People are only
taxed on income that is actually received, otherwise you would pay income tax
on the increased value of your home every year (you only pay when you
returned it, and received nothing in return, I have nothing to tax. If I fill
in my name and cash it, I pay tax. If I fill in the name of my best friend and
he cashes it, he pays income tax, and the person who signed the check (not me,
since I am simply the conduit and never received any benefit) pays gift
expect and am paying for serious attempts to assess what happened and what the
consequences might be. Leave the idiotic romance novel accounts to others.
Romance," should get a grip. Adultery by one's parents, even
necessarily the public disclosure of the adultery, it is the fact of the
generally a good sign that all is not well in the homestead; ergo, the fact of
adultery tells us the family is suffering. Therefore, the child is probably
healthy shame, sound a lot like the greatest hits from a sophomore philosophy
seminar. Clever? Sure. But of any real value or connection to real people in
manipulate our emotions. These are potentially dangerous times. This country
in a few articles (such as "An Innocent Romance") I have noticed the use of the
term "bonk" to refer to the act of sexual intercourse, especially in reference
terminology. As a college student familiar with all the latest urban lingo, I
believe the proper term to be used in these contexts is "boink." Not only does
the word itself sound more fluid, but I also think the connotation it has is
Trashy Books") brought back fond memories of The Report of the
administration, Supreme Court decisions permitted some "obscene" materials to
be distributed only if they were combined with other matters that had
"redeeming social value." The publication of a government document called
like that, presented an opportunity to sell the smut under an appropriate
cover. The illustrated edition included the full government report and garden
quality was poor, with a mimeographed text and low quality photographic
reproductions as well, which didn't match the text very closely. With modern
technology, so much more can be done. The video of the president's testimony
will also lend itself to interstitial illustration.
copy of the "illustrated edition" was lost in a college dorm long ago and far
away. Perhaps one could be found at the Library of Congress?
to questions so as to better agree with what they perceive to be the majority
ensure that his job approval remains high. This phenomenon could unravel in a
similar way to that described in the article: As the polls drop a little, the
pressure to agree with the majority decreases, and the numbers have the
potential to drop precipitously. It would be difficult to determine which of
Is Nice" misses the point. Legal gambling is a good idea, since
people will gamble in any case. The state should regulate gambling as it
regulates other businesses, seeing that the odds are posted, that the games
who want to do so free to waste their money gambling if they please. But
lotteries, or sponsors them and takes a large cut of the take, as in casino
gambling. By running the games, the state endorses the dubious value of
"something for nothing." Worse still, it deceives the people: Instead of
unrealistic chance of winning big. (The ads for every state lottery prove that
point.) The state treats people not as citizens it serves and protects but as
partners of the gambling interests, they would apply the same consumer
protection standards to legal gambling that they do to other businesses. As it
is, they connive in the deception of the public, because they share the
like to know if Chapman would favor privatizing gambling, so that anyone
who put up proof of the ability to pay off the pot could run a lottery, casino,
or whatever. That would take the government out of the gambling business
both ways. And I am sure that in that case, the government would make
sure not only that the games are honest but also that the people knew how long
lottery business, repealing special gambling taxes, and leaving the whole
business to the free market. But I would not let the best be the enemy of the
inns today provide clothes to travelers. All patrons are offered light cotton
robes, which can be worn around the hotel and in the surrounding neighborhood.
Heavier robes are provided in winter. Traditionally, the wearer would wear his
own traveling clothes to the inn. The clothes would be given over to be
cleaned, and the traveler would use the inn's clothes during his stay. When the
traveler left, he would again wear his own traveling clothes, which have been
with just one set of clothes, which would be washed regularly.
that hotels are interested in having customers walk off with their clothes, as
customer with a set of clothes while he's staying at the hotel. For example, a
business traveler could arrive at the hotel wearing a suit. The hotel would
provide casual clothes, and also underwear, socks, dress shirts, undershirts,
ties, etc. The business traveler would wear his own suit to business events,
perhaps paired with the hotel's shirts, socks, and ties. At the end of the
trip, the traveler would receive his own clothes back, now laundered, for the
trip home or to the next destination. Admittedly, providing women's clothes,
which are more complex, presents a slightly greater challenge. But this method
would make it possible to travel indefinitely carrying nothing more than a
paperback and a credit card. The hotel, which is assured of getting its own
(erratic spelling, shaky grammar, much exposure of genitalia), I feel strongly
obsessed, like the rest of you media types, with pubic matters, or perhaps we
as a nation have finally entered adolescence, with a concomitant increase in
sentence that contains the word "pubic" must also contain either the word
my subscription until I realized that to do so would mean that I would not have
Agency!") would like us to believe that the reason clients are jettisoning
their advertising agencies is because the agencies don't know how to market
themselves. In fact, much more has changed than meets the eye.
his ad agency, corporations looked at ad agencies as marketing consultants.
They would approach an agency and basically say: "Here's our product. How do we
sell it?" Consequently, agencies were able to attract the top marketing talent
And, because clients expected elite services from their agencies, they were
willing to pay the high salaries such professionals demand.
consulting firms realized that ad agencies had tapped a lucrative market in
schools. Suddenly, ad agencies were faced with substantial competition for one
of their basic services. Eventually, they were no longer able to compete for
fair to characterize this shift as a "marketing problem." I think it was a
fundamental shift in thinking on the client side. Agencies had been seen as
marketing partners. Now they're seen as service vendors, not unlike any other
have the sad situation where most marketing decisions are made long before ad
agencies get involved. Typically, the client calls an agency and says: "Here's
the strategy. Execute it as cheaply as possible." That's a big change.
highest levels and must prove themselves to one another by being bright,
competent, and able to handle lesser people in their circle. Having done so,
they finally agree to marry but with stipulations: She has privacy, freedom to
pursue her own life and friends, control over money, etc. The deal is struck
her peers for landing the rake and he wins by landing the filly who was known
but kinda warmed over and unsatisfying. I count on you guys for instant
quicker when you were free. After anteing up last month to subscribe I still
the use of the airplanes' autopilots. What exactly do autopilots
The autopilot is an electronic system that manipulates the
three "control surfaces" that determine an airplane's course: the movable
panels, called ailerons, on the back of each wing that
allow the plane to bank right or left; the tail rudder, which turns the
aircraft's nose; and the elevators, which point the plane up or down. The
instrument readings and radio signals from fixed points on the ground to figure
out what adjustments are needed to meet the flight plan. If a human is in
command, he or she must make the changes by hand; with the autopilot engaged,
Autopilots have several advantages. Primarily, they help keep
the crew from getting tired, leaving them free to alter the flight plan, scout
for traffic, and monitor the plane's other systems (like hydraulics and air
pressurization). Autopilots also improve fuel efficiency and passenger comfort,
since the adjustments made by an autopilot are more subtle and accurate than
That's why autopilots are typically engaged on commercial
aircraft throughout nearly the entire flight. When human pilots take
cues, to land the plane.) Pilots also take command in turbulence since an
autopilot would waste fuel and possibly exacerbate the bumps by making many
adjustments to keep the plane on a steady course. If a pilot doesn't disengage
outside forces and instructs the autopilot to work against them.
have to read a 25-page analysis of my various journalistic indiscretions in
bathroom without washing their hands, etc. Instead, we get pots calling kettles
black; and not just pots but rich and powerful pots with rich and powerful
conflicts of interests that drive Brill nuts are inevitable. Media mergers and
we're obligated to disqualify ourselves from covering companies or people a) we
do business with, b) we have a personal relationship or history with, or c) are
Where Brill goes wrong is in failing to distinguish between the most innocuous
have and should have been avoided. In the former category, I put, say,
And I won't even mention the sort of logrolling that routinely goes on in the
weekly political magazine that shall remain nameless. But not shameless.
Into the latter category, alas, I must also put at least one of your current
employers (which each seem to be piece of a big, honking conglomerate, as is
minefield, she's charging down the middle, ignoring the explosions to her left
and right. What I don't admire is her pretending, however energetically, that
[insert blonde starlet here] appears on the cover because she's got a movie
because it was a cute idea and not because she starred in My Favorite
Before I sign off, I must point out my favorite wire story of the week,
Wow. I think I might finally be getting the hang of this
whatsoever. Just a short note to get the ball rolling this morning: I know this
is a national forum and all, but since the other Breakfast Table participants
I didn't mention the biggest local news of the week (all right, who am I trying
Everybody here is soiling themselves over this development. Actually,
all drink out of the backs of their pickups for like six hours, and then the
team runs out to like kettle drums and blaring brass bands, and the crowd
stomps on the bleachers and they chant fascist propaganda really loud in
unison, and paint themselves and scream like apes and dislocate each others
knees and people get crushed and everybody pees on each other and throws their
feces like in Gorillas In the Mist and then they all go home and get
introduction today of safety rules designed to counter repetitive stress
billion they'll receive in settlements with the tobacco industry. Most of the
will also be spent on completely unrelated areas, such as roads, jails, farm
aid, schools, and senior centers. The story quotes the architect of state legal
Times leads with a snapshot of the nation's current political
Democrats controlling Congress and a Republican in the White House (the
stance the paper summarizes as "Times are good, so throw the bums out."
sentence, "The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will take the
first step today to require many employers to provide work spaces and equipment
to support the physical makeup of each individual doing his job."? And the
resistance to the rules as the chief cause in their delay, while the
somebody from something called Food Distributors International as its source
Business Administration, which the paper explains, is an independent government
Moreover, the Times has the clearest statement of the dimension of
year. (A puzzle arising from reading the stories together: Although the
makes the point that the falling crime rate helps police fight crime: lighter
says that this sort of lawsuit could ultimately be more of a threat to the
company than suits brought by competitors, potentially costing it millions,
the "Supreme Court's two most consistently conservative and antiabortion
abortions but then immediately cites his remark that in his presidency an
his commitment to an overhaul of the Social Security system. The Journal
soliciting readers' opinions about the most evil people of all time: Bill
Evidence of just how overpaid college coaches are at even "legitimate"
Good morning again. It's embarrassing to admit this, but while I was walking
coffee all over myself, the characters in excruciatingly unoriginal sitcoms and
lame romantic comedies often do. It was pure, unadulterated bad physical comedy
at its finest, complete with pinwheeling, flailing arms, and shouts of
driven a golf cart into a pool. Passing motorists openly mocked me as they sped
by. What's more, after later discovering an unfamiliar set of keys in my
pocket, I subsequently realized that apparently, while stumbling around in a
So what I want to know is: If time and space are now obsolete (my theory is
even more radical, by the way: I think that they always were obsolete)
then why do I still have to get up this early to file my copy for
movie. I guess by this point I shouldn't have been surprised when the end
star with a heart of gold and the wisdom to put his millions where they can do
a lot of good. Stipe ought to be picked up and carried around on the shoulders
of a crowd of cheering moviegoers in the streets. (On second thought, let's can
that idea: He'd probably just get depressed over all the attention.)
As regards the daily news: I toweled off my copy of the Times enough
at what point exactly do negotiations for reparation payments to
veranda and enjoying a nice game of croquet in the garden before the polite
conversation suddenly came to an awkward halt? Gee, I hope nobody got
figure (voice supplied by Tom Hanks), turns out to be a valuable relic of the
to rescue Woody before he's shipped overseas. But Woody is by then uncertain
whether he prefers a necessarily short shelf life as a child's toy to
your troubles end up being outgrown and cast aside. Existentially, though, it's
group identity. That's because Woody would be joined in Japan by various Woody
meant to be gazed at behind glass? In the end, the filmmakers fudge on the
Woody accessories to come with him), but reject unequivocally the creepy
that made both Toy Story movies, is quite obviously very fond of computers. Still,
what force in our culture is driving the growing obsession with collectibles?
United States? The Web! (Pedants will observe that in the movie, the evil toy
thief Al actually conducts his communications with the foreign buyers via cell
phone and fax machine, but that's just because the filmmakers don't want to be
too overt in challenging the mightiest phenomenon in capitalism today.)
In a sprightly New York Times essay last year about collecting,
Wonderment came to be perceived as a kind of middle state between
ignorance and knowledge, and wonder cabinets were theaters of the marvelous,
museums of accumulated curiosities, proving God's ingenuity. They contained
whatever was the biggest, the smallest, the rarest, the most exquisite, the
within a cherry pit, an armband made of elks' hoofs, mummies and various rare
in paperback. But Chatterbox is always surprised to see the wares presented in
offense that it has "writing on front fly." Why would Chatterbox care about a
little writing on the front flyleaf? Pappy Chatterbox's second novel,
because it's a first edition and wrapped in plastic. But Jeez, Chatterbox can
all, is to read the thing, not hang it on the wall. Indeed, first
editions in pristine condition ought to be less valuable than most
books, because it's almost impossible to use them for their intended
Sheriff Woody would understand. The Internet doesn't.
This book comes with a triumphant blaring of publishers' trumpets, and one
studies (take your pick of names). The field has arrived to such an extent that
a publisher thinks that it can make money, significant money, publishing such a
liturgical occasions we now have on the calendar that beg for special
schoolchild reports of one sort or another: the King holiday, Black History
not every school does all of this, most schools must do some of this. (And
this, of course, has nothing to do with the occasional racial killing or major
protest that took place or may be taking place somewhere that require a report
cannot be left out of Women's History Month or Veteran's Day or, for the truly
a great deal of use, to be sold to virtually every school, public, and
university library in the country, as well as to a number of churches, to say
nothing of the private homes that will have a copy right next to the
Those of us who have labored in the field of black studies (politically
incorrectly such as the present author or very much politically correctly like
a good many very good scholars) are heartened by this commercial venture.
Indeed, it would be disheartening, as well as entirely untrue, if one were to
think that this book was published as an act of philanthropy, as something that
ought to be done. (It is so tiresome as a black person to be the recipient of
charity all the time, to be the object of the moral imperative.)
It is good to know that, partly through the energetic offices of Henry Louis
Gates, black studies can, as it were, pay its way these days and not be
alas, a business of an entirely good sort or needful sort, justifying itself in
partly heartened by this; for this rather triumphalist book (and Gates is
important in black studies, in part, for the promotion of a triumphalist view
"the coming of the white man") is nothing less than the middlebrow arrival of
bourgeois books that tend, in the end, not to promote intellectual inquiry on
the part of the people who use them but rather to stifle it. Children tend to
copy verbatim from such books without ever reading what they are copying.
Adults, with far too much deference for the printed word, tend to consult such
a book in much the way they consult the dictionary or the Bible (or in the way
baseball fanatics consult the official record books): as the final arbiter, as
that which settles all arguments. Why, for goodness' sake, would anyone
actually read a book like this? Knowledge, in the instance of the definitive
reference book, becomes entombed and sanctified, very much serving the
and to wrestle with it but to store it as an authority on the bookshelf.
But I suppose it is something of a triumph, which the publication of this
book is meant to acknowledge, that black studies has achieved middlebrow status
in the United States, that bourgeois people, both white and black, feel bad if
people, in much the same way they feel bad, inadequate, if they don't know
something about opera or a bit about Impressionist painting or if they have
on the blues.) What most thinking people in black studies find dangerous about
the middlebrow apotheosis of the field is that it usually leads to the
love them because they relieve them of the very thing they do not wish to do in
any case, that is, think, think hard, and think critically and against the
grain of their own beliefs or psychological needs or neurotic fantasy
work, to find them and be comforted by them. No intellectual or scholar can,
therefore, be fully at ease with a work of this sort, no matter his or her
practitioners in the field in a sea of ambivalence, with a sense of lost faith,
seems to have cornered the market on black reference books that shape the canon
of black studies, that define the field and its major players. Building a canon
is very important to Gates, and it is, without question, an important
pedagogical pursuit. A field must have order and it must have pioneers and
heroes. It is also a power pursuit. He who defines the field controls it, in a
manner of speaking. Some are jealous that Gates wants this sort of power.
Others find it unseemly. I think Gates is wasting his considerable talents in
the pursuit of it, but that is another issue for another type of review. It is
amazing that Gates has done this volume so successfully and so quickly, that he
with modern technology, that is an astonishing feat, so astonishing that some
will dismiss the book (I have heard some comments of this sort even before the
this is an incredibly polished work. This is a beautiful book, one of the most
field marshals to have hustled together this army of academics and to have
gotten the work from them on time or nearly so. They deserve much credit for
this. Most academics would have felt lucky to have finished this enterprise in
intellectual knights who have given us the Holy Grail. (The editors called the
quest for producing a black encyclopedia "a Holy Grail." More triumphalist
encountered, the racism that sometimes thwarted his efforts. It should be read
But the history of the publication of this book is only incompletely told by
college campus, a number of reference books about the black experience were
published and continue to be published. The editors make no attempt to place
their book within that particular context, a more accurate historical context
for understanding the appearance of this book, as it was made possible not by
increasing professionalization of black studies made this book possible, more
scholarship being produced. This book was also made possible by the rise of
middle class that has demanded more artifacts and objects, more "education"
about its experience (more institutionalization of it, in other words, and more
orthodoxy about its significance), that are all meant to reinforce its sense of
important reasons for the existence of black studies, but all clearly
critical importance to the book's audience as a kind of typology about the
never tire of reciting, even today with a plethora of black bookshops and
publishers grinding out books on black subjects or with a black point of view
years and the dramatic change in its status. This book is the product of both a
strong movement toward the intellectualization of black experience among an
large (earnest and respectful of black experience as it has now generally
become) and those who cater to the public's access to intellectual material by
designing and evoking certain emotional markers about "struggle" and
I shall begin my next entry with a discussion of a set of entries in
Chatterbox, a citizen of the United States who has a somewhat limited
understanding of how they do things in the United Kingdom, is baffled by the
appointed life peers ("day boys"), whose title and membership dies with them. A
lively discussion has now begun about how to complete the reform of the House
of Lords, which for most of this century has had the power only to delay
legislation. The scenarios under consideration tend to emphasize making
membership entirely or partially elective, which would make the House of Lords
more democratic, and then giving the upper chamber greater power than it
currently enjoys. If nothing is done, the House of Lords will persist as a
patronage tool for whichever party happens to control the House of Commons.
be ruled by an essentially unicameral parliament. Making it unequivocally
embraced throughout the 1970s and 1980s. (Click here to read the House of Lords' own compendium of major
the talk is drifting in the direction of turning the House of Lords into an
streamlined than what it enjoys today? Chatterbox can't imagine why any country
that didn't already have a Senate could possibly want one. (Click here to read an excellent recent column by the
successful attempt to use his power to filibuster to promote the decapitation
The Secret Lives of Citizens [click here to buy the book], which makes an excellent case for
First ought to come the point of principle: do you want a hereditary head
of state or inherited seats in legislatures? Then and only then does one have a
constitutional discussion about which alternative to adopt. Brilliant as they
second chamber with almost a hundred "chosen" hereditary peers, and the
remainder a bunch of party appointees. Nobody could conceivably have designed
such an outcome if they were writing a Constitution. And so of course this
ought to have a written document with an appended Bill of Rights. It also
was "fine by me, but most big decisions in modern history have been taken
without reference to Parliament and so I suppose that one chamber is as easy to
which scaled the Lords' power down from being able to kill legislation outright
to being able to delay it for two years (reduced to one year in, I think,
Several things have happened since then. For one, the relatively
toothless post-1911 House of Lords lulled people into thinking it was a good
idea to have a delaying or amending chamber as a safeguard against overhasty
legislation. For another, a certain amount of bicameral delusion has seeped
democratic, but the more democratic legitimacy a second chamber has, the
stronger the possibility of gridlock. An appointed second chamber would have
less legitimacy, therefore less power, therefore less likelihood of gumming up
acknowledge the basic insincerity of the adman's project and which presumably
phenomenally aware we are of advertising's attempts to ensnare us. Sprite's
"Thirst Is Everything" campaign, with its faux pop songs touting the drink's
magical powers, is the most obvious example, and some days it feels as if we're
while those he talks to react with a mix of befuddlement and incredulity,
peppering him with questions that show that they just don't get what
understand what this whole newfangled approach is going to mean, like the guy
who tells his broker how much he'll miss her, even as she assures him that
the whole brokerage business was to begin with and how potentially
damaging the new pricing structure (which includes much lower commissions) will
same: The company is offering something incredibly simple and straightforward,
I think it makes sense to ask whether people really like being told how
obtuse they are, because even if the ads work on some level to inculcate a
don't. So this aspect of the ads is genuinely perplexing. Usually, aspirational
advertising doesn't include not being stupid as one of the aspirations it's
But there is something else going on in these ads, which is that they're
essentially a kind of reaction against data smog. The people in these ads have
been confused by complicated pricing plans and service agreements with strange
restrictions. They've been trained to think that everything will be difficult
it's right in front of them. And in some way the ads are saying that simplicity
is disorienting because we're too comfortable with complexity. It's like
The problem is that this message is so simple that you can only hear it a
"It's so simple it's baffling" ads cleverly, because the whole point of the ads
being a person who normally thinks of breakfast as something you get at a
just how awful it must be for a person to greet each new dawn with the
meetings, the way is finally paved for China to enter the World Trade
Organization. Everybody seems really happy about this, since it came through at
the last minute despite longtime stumbling blocks in the way of such an
agreement. Perhaps China threatened to electrocute their testicles and beat
their families black and blue if they couldn't push the agreement through?
You mentioned yesterday about being filled with repellent hatred and
loathing? Yesterday the Journal and today again the Times had
Umpteenth Gazillion Straight Week." I realize this is hardly an insightful
observation on my part; after all, the same point has been made by any number
of commentators before me, including my mother, the guy who works at the liquor
store down the street, and virtually every human being who lives in an even
swing sets always seem to make an appearance) while muted piano music plays and
done with it? Who are they fooling, do they think? It's like the spots were
mobilizing the relatives of all those elderly black grandmothers to start
down or something. Oh, and regarding your last letter's comment about Gore
somehow I don't think it'd work, because that's obviously what Tipper's been
has finally made Time magazine." My first impulse was to write back,
which lead me to assume that he had to be either a famous sports guy (pick a
sport, any sport) or someone connected to the opera or the ballet. Then, for a
second I thought there was a typo involved and you were actually speaking of
out why he mattered to you so much that you were gleefully remarking on his
this morning. Instead, I quietly typed his name into a search engine and found
out everything I needed to know. And I only mention this because I now realize
that no way was I the only person who had no idea to whom you were referring
surgery would put such a completely different spin on what might have been the
psychological issues behind the writing of those scary twisted stories that it
just might be impossible to ever really enjoy them again. It's almost like
Although, now that I think about it more, I would do almost anything for a
is to their world, the less they want anything to do with it. This is something
I have long suspected, as I have found there is no more effective way to get
lot more time online. The article reports that "hundreds of homeless shelters
across the country have installed computer labs that would be the envy of most
high schools." I guess just because a person doesn't have a permanent address
is no reason they shouldn't be allowed to give themselves a wacky pseudonym and
log on to a chat room full of adult men in diapers like everyone else. But I
have friends who keep telling me that online dating is the answer. And as far
as I am concerned this is the final nail in the coffin of online dating for me
because I am not meeting anyone for coffee at a homeless shelter. Period. I
don't care how single and sensitive they otherwise appear to be.
ad in the front section of the New York Times that says "Meet Designer
dress--$255." What I conclude from this is that apparently surviving a
controversial and highly publicized affair with a famous male public figure
also a functioning set of designer skills and abilities equivalent to a
control over the life span of mice? This is considered a milestone in research
gene in humans, it will still make us all feel younger at heart to be around so
It may not be the greatest comeback in business history, but the
incarnation of this column, in fact, I argued that the combination of new
that no one ever suggested that transformations in the oil industry were going
to have the effect of repealing the laws of supply and demand. Oil prices have
humming along nicely, Japan has crawled out of recession (at least for the
prospective, the markets do not anticipate a global slowdown any time soon. And
the more oil consumers want, the more expensive it will become.
Until, that is, more oil becomes available, either through expanded
existing reserves by the giant oil multinationals. And here's where the
has been one of massive cheating on the part of its members, who have regularly
violated their production quotas in order to reap as much profit as possible.
Prices have also stayed high because the major oil companies, having been
burned in the past, have been temperate in expanding their exploration and
production budgets. Although most of the majors will do more capital spending
Still, there's another way to look at the relatively tempered way the oil
giants are expanding those budgets, and that is that they do not see prices
that while filling up your tank is going to be more expensive than it was nine
months ago, any inflationary impact from oil prices will be seriously
There's no guarantee that the oil companies are right. But there's an
excellent chance that they are, because the structural transformations in the
world oil market are real, and so too is the fact that running a cartel has not
quite well in the short term. But over the long run the incentive to cheat is
simply too high, and the measures of coercion and punishment simply too weak,
to keep everyone in line. At the moment, the memories of what low oil prices
pumping oil as fast as it can. But memories fade, and cash in the bank can
Whew. Calm down, bunny. I want you drink a cup of herbal tea and take a
While we're waiting for it to drop back to human levels, let's talk for a
minute about our friend, the brand new planet. Apparently they took the
Times as "a bloated gas giant." Only one photograph in and already the
reads "Time, Space Obsolete in New View of Universe." Time and Space. Gone.
thousands of years," it goes on to say, "and it's clearly something we're going
to have to give up." Another fine old premise right down the dumper, tossed
exhibited much skill at organizing either space or time. But I am a little
concerned over the new talk among the string theorists, who are at the
forefront of revolutionizing our thinking about these things, that the universe
already have piles of papers and unopened mail cluttering up the surfaces of at
There's a lot of revolutionary thinking going on. In the health and fitness
sorry. This is going too far. Not just anthropomorphizing tampons but also
characterizing them as cheerful willing participants. It disturbs me the same
way I am always disturbed when my dinner entree is depicted on a menu as a
smiling cartoon sailor dancing the hornpipe. It's just more emotional stress
than I need to have to see my food having a great time on shore leave just
minutes before its death. When I was an adolescent girl, I had a book by that
single thing it said, but I do know this much: He never once mentioned vaginal
discharge. In those days there were no cartoon tampons, but if there were, they
There's a lot going on in the book world. How about the fact that the new
The idea of matching a book with an accessory or item of furniture that is
essential to its enjoyment could be the breakthrough in publishing that
everyone has been looking for. Lengthy fiction can come with a reclining chair.
Textbooks with a pillow and a cot. Books that the publishers know are
impossible to make sense of could come with another book that you'll like
better when you get fed up that you wasted your money. I don't know.
members when they left their "earthly vehicles" and went into the sky to join
would pay a pretty penny for that one. I never know where to sit.
Fuck You, Pope if he wanted." I don't know if this could have been a big
Silver. In my experience, by the time his movie got through all the rewrite
not be seen? It's like some misbegotten bastard stepchild of the civil rights
movement, I guess, but for some reason, everybody's forgetting that just
fun of you as much as he damn well pleases. As in, he could've made a movie
called Fuck You, Pope if he wanted. But since I was recently called a
readers (I didn't mind the adjectives, but "bunny" kind of hurt), I guess I
Not To Respect a Woman's Right To Choose, when it comes to global
overpopulation, it's not a matter of some domestic political disagreement, for
underdeveloped and uneducated native populace under heaven. As a genuine
belief and tradition and you want to stick to it out of devotion to your faith,
breed like rabbits, but also b) actively stopping, I mean, going out of your
way to directly oppose, the efforts of those courageous souls who are trying to
make sure those people can get a handful or two of grain and maybe a few ounces
of clean water to wash the parasites out of their underwear every day. Then
it's no longer a question of how Every Little Baby Is a Miracle Straight From
God. And if your spiritual traditions can't handle such an obvious fact (note:
not religious opinion, but science fact, like as in, you know, math), then you
must be stopped. And, yeah, that goes for the pope, too.
sure, but I worry that it may conflict with the biblical account of
Today leads with the angry reaction from many in business to the
while also explaining the difference between the new rules and current
corrective actions at the first sign of injury, will cost companies an
largest Pentagon study ever of racial attitudes within the uniformed military.
The results are somewhat bracing for an institution that portrays itself as
responding say they've experienced racism, and more than half doubted that
discrimination complaints are thoroughly investigated. And the survey shows
that military whites have a drastically more positive view. The paper quotes
one defense official as saying the study was actually concluded two years ago,
but release was delayed while the brass debated how to portray the results. The
University of New York has approved a plan that would bar remedial
every reporter something unique. He tells the former that trying to implement
"marshmallow," and he tells the latter it will be like getting your arms around
subject matter. The number of relevant workplace injuries mentioned (by the
Wall Street Journal (in an inside story) up the ante
quickly caved in to the protesting business world, whereas the story itself
offending many Democrats in that he is mirroring Republican criticisms raised
years, creating concern that the government should establish public health
standards for the field, like it has already for funeral parlors.
answer is d). This kind of drivel is the direct result of a presidential
campaign that started about a year too early. Candidates aren't saying much of
substance yet but are still out there working the rooms and the press feels
speaker because lecturing better suits his idealistic temperament and doesn't
doesn't own up to the statement, but he doesn't deny it either. Mark Shields
of voters are undecided, an unusually low number with nearly a year until
leads with an agreement between the White House and Congress on a
article on the deal says that no oil has yet been found; the pipeline is more
The Journal reports that the National Transportation Safety Board
not zealous enough to believe in extreme political causes. And while he had
never been promoted to captain, as he had wanted, he was still quite
polls as a result, but he was acquitted in court. The acquittal disillusioned
the future vice president with the power of the pen, and he decided to change
careers. He entered law school and shortly thereafter ran for Congress when a
The LAT highlights some unlikely beneficiaries of the Internet: the
interact with potential employers in ways they could not before. But since
computer time in shelters in highly structured, most of the truly dedicated
homeless). The homeless, it turns out, make money on the Web in much the same
homeless man set up a site to sell bicycle parts that he bought cheap from a shop that
went out of business. Another made a few thousand dollars by selling obscure
videos; he simply found the videos elsewhere on the Web and sold them at a
has his missing front tooth replaced with a gold one in tribute to her. There
Old Lady is a lifelong spinster. Others (my wife) disagree, so let's not even
when she becomes lost on a family picnic. The two live together in a
yoga. They wear turtlenecks. One of them may even have a trim mustache.
(Unfortunately, the book is in my daughter's room and she's asleep, so I can't
check.) They look like elephant versions of the Village People. They're very,
I suspect they'd be ever gayer in a television version, but I wouldn't know
admit that (which isn't very often), people give me the "Oh, so you're a Branch
point some nasty little kid at school is going to mock them for not knowing
the consumer culture. That will mean they're getting older. And that makes me
develop the same distorted attitudes about television that everyone else seems
rights hero, a friend of Daisy Bates' perhaps. Then I read the story.
was captured on film. For years after, she could be seen every week looking
she was seen in the background of the opening scene of a television show
life was significant only to the extent it had been televised. "She never got a
It's official: Over the past week, in rapid succession, the editorial pages
the Post called a "disarmingly simple alternative to traditional
affirmative action" when it comes to college admissions. The solution?
Guaranteed admission to college for a fixed percentage of the top students in
admits the top students at predominantly black high schools even if those
students score lower than white students who aren't at the top of other
though last year it dismissed the idea as "tinkering"). The Post
So, hey, everybody's happy! But has anyone really thought through the full
affirmative action really been defused by a clever policy gimmick? It's not
impossible. But there's at least one obvious problem: The gimmick depends on
admitting the top X Percent of each school wouldn't have the effect of
admitting so many blacks. Indeed, if schools were perfectly integrated by race,
school probably wouldn't make much difference in admissions at all (when
compared with a straight policy of simply admitting "top" students regardless
The Post seems to think this contradiction is really a delicious
irony. ("The residential segregation that persists in so much of the nation
becomes an instrument for desegregating higher education.") But it's more than
in education becoming an instrument for furthering residential segregation, as
This dilemma is particularly acute for supporters of school choice (mostly
on the right) who hope that vouchers, or other choice mechanisms such as
charter schools, will encourage motivated black students to leave bad schools
and attend better ones. But why would a black student who is near the top of
school where he's apt to rank in the middle of the class? Indeed, why would any
good student, black or white, leave a bad school for a good school if he ranks
much higher at the former than at the latter? The X Percent Solution seems to
subvert the basic mechanism that is supposed to make school choice work. What's
There are other problems with the X Percent Solution: Even if there's no
school choice, won't it remove a major incentive for poor schools to improve?
diminish? Do you want to be the politician who tries to take away a
neighborhood high school's traditional X percent quota? The
these complications. It may turn out that the X Percent gimmick is just that,
Imagine the hilarity in Premiere 's legal department when the magazine
was false, and that his willy was not, in fact, wee? Would he submit to a
wouldn't be stupid enough to let himself become known as the man who brought
article was "pretty vicious" and "not accurate," and offered his side of the
to stay away. But will he sue? "I have no plans. I just don't want to comment
police response to them, while the others split their attention between that
and the actual issues confronting the organization.
stayed in effect last night, all the papers report that the police now believe
their initial handling of the situation was too permissive. The New York Times reveals some of the
cops' most effective techniques after they decided to get tougher: confiscating
are still using cell phones, as well as laptop computers and Palm Pilots to
regroup and alert journalists about their activities.) What a difference from
mayhem. The piece has an unidentified person in black saying that anarchists
Times passes along unconfirmed reports of violent altercations on
are actually trying to do: forging an agreement on what should be on the table
for the next round of trade liberalization talks. Everybody reports that
condemned the violent protests but welcomed the peaceful ones, in effect
distribution controls that kept prices high. (But there is no mention of Al
Aviation Administration's revelation yesterday that investigators who set out
them, say the papers, even managed to get themselves comfortably seated aboard
airliners at departure time. The testers used such techniques as piggybacking
through locked doors behind properly credentialed personnel, and driving
decade of work, scientists have decoded the information in a human chromosome.
undertaken by the government's Human Genome Project as well as by a competing
required background checks on people trying to pawn guns, the gun inventory of
plaintiff's lawyers, who are not elected officials after all, seek to take in
their own hands significant public policy questions." Excuse, but couldn't
segregationists have said the same thing about Brown vs. Board of
The Wall Street Journal "Business Bulletin" has a fact that
big boob been mistaken for a celebrity. For me, the problem is only partly his
it looks? If I left the house looking like that, my wife would change the
effect in the Rose Garden; I don't need to see another. Both problems, of
course, pale by comparison to the Her Issue, as in: What the hell is a girl
like her doing with a guy like him? How does he get supermodels to spend more
that the old Pat is buried beneath all that. I just saw an early cut of a great
unmistakable. You walk away just plain liking the guy.
Apropos of not liking someone and not having any authority to speak of: Do
There was a bit of fuss a few months back about who was going to write this
the text in less than a month. There hasn't been any pretense, as there often
is with these kinds of books, that the nominal author actually wielded the pen.
book reads as if it were written by someone who barely knows him. Much of it is
boilerplate that could appear under the byline of any of the candidates in the
I always want to know about people's backgrounds and families. I like people
and I am interested in learning more about them, plus I believe people's values
I enjoy meeting people and shaking their hands and listening to their
Politics, like life, is a strange endeavor. Things are sometimes not what
they seem. I try to get facts and weigh both sides. And I remain confident that
most people, most of the time, can see beyond the sound bites to appreciate
leaders who try to do the right things for the right reasons.
We are a close family. I love my brothers and sister and count them among
No discussion of our family would be complete without mentioning our
If Bush wrote any of this, it must have been as part of his application to
I suppose it's an accomplishment, in a way, to have achieved a tone so
speeches ghostwritten by others. In other places, she describes events by
occur at random, she repeats the familiar stories, though in a highly sanitized
form. Here, for instance, is "Bush" on his college career:
parts of the country. Within months, I knew many of them.
Bush himself couldn't utter these words with a straight face. It is well
also that he did poorly there in academic terms. But rather than explore any of
removing any possible blemish from the face of the leader.
In the very few places where the book goes into any detail about anything,
pilots, but hadn't logged enough flying time to qualify for the program. Bush
spends a full chapter attempting to defuse a potential Democratic issue by
crisis of conscience. But by quoting Tucker's eloquent letter to him, he
actually makes himself seem even more heartless. Bush believed that Tucker was
sincerely penitent and that she wanted to escape execution in order to help set
other prisoners straight. Then he killed her anyway.
Autobiography can't help revealing something about a person, and even this
worthless placeholder of a book is telling in its way. What it indicates is
fundamentally cavalier and unserious person. He has no policy views, only vague
aspirations for a better country. He believes that reading is important, but
fails to mention anything he has ever read other than the Bible. Personal
His faith is sincere but shallow. Bush describes his surrender to forces
greater than himself as something that makes it possible for him to do his job
Compare this with the books written by the three other serious contenders
book, the best of the bunch, is not only personally revealing and
Gore's books are dull but commendable efforts to explain themselves and
personal effort into their respective books, being the type of people who could
not really do otherwise. They are politicians who take themselves seriously.
They have respect for people who might take the trouble to read what they
write. Bush, by contrast, sees a book as a campaign poster with words. His
tells you a lot about him, even as it tells you nothing at all.
I think what you are describing are those free concerts they hold outside of
We have switched places today. I am groggy and having a hard time waking up.
Movie last night, which is a funny documentary about an obsessed young
are saying he was burdened by a lot of medical bills from a sick kid. That he
made a few ominous "in case anything might happen to me" remarks to family
members. You know, the last few years I keep reading reports about all the
controversial "profiling" they are doing at airports, trying to predict the
behavior of suspicious ticket holders. Now it turns out it was the crews they
It's been fun reading the New York Post this week. But it's so weird
accepted as the less sophisticated of the two cities, yet there are no parallel
publications here. The other morning there was a lengthy item in either the
last few years, aside from their steadily shrinking share of the audience, is
which was pioneered by Fox and exemplified by When Animals Attack and
Funniest Home Videos is no longer provoking belly laughs across the
country, variants thereof air regularly as specials.
inexpensive to produce, since very little of the material needs to be paid for.
fighting a long illness, driving the wrong way on a freeway, or getting upended
off a ladder by an overly friendly springer spaniel. (Wasn't that a great
now being used as a label to cover shows that are, well, not real, like the
huge hit game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and its recent
left off this summer, dominating its time slot and actually casting a slight
that prompted a recent headline in Variety proclaiming "Nets Reap
of the artificial structure of their formats. We don't, it's true, know how any
given episode of Millionaire is going to turn out, and even though one
theory no one knows how the Millionaire episode is going to turn
semblance of uncertainty (and, therefore, reality) instead of the actual thing,
whatever that might be. In part, the actual thing is just the possibility that
directions. You know it'll be exciting but not too surprising, and you know it
counts as real, too, since the people saying their lines on the show are actual
That's my desperate hope, anyway. One of the problems with a presidential
myself blowing past the political stories in the morning paper and heading for
not clear precisely what was inappropriate or offensive about them. But there
are a couple of incredibly creepy quotes from Times executives. "If you
in your business unit. We will take prompt action to address the situation."
Translation: Rat out your peers and we'll fire them.
Or some of them. As a friend of mine pointed out this morning, if a
Under most circumstances, I wouldn't have a problem with this. Generally, I
think private employers ought to be able to hire and fire whomever they want at
time for any reason. And I accept that there is a meaningful difference between
way to protect the Little Guy from the abuses of the powerful. And yet here we
have the Little Guy getting shafted for an offense that a) in all likelihood
hurt no one, and b) that the powerful could almost certainly commit without
the Fed, which cited tightening labor markets. Analysts do not expect another
All the papers report that the National Transportation Safety Board will not
both in emergencies and before meals, and thus not necessarily an indication of
Meanwhile, "officials close to the investigation" continue to leak details
of the plane's last moments. After the captain briefly leaves the cockpit, the
autopilot. The plane goes into a dive, at which point the captain returns and
says, roughly, "What's going on?" As the plane continues to dive, two flaps on
Journal notes that the flap in the "climb" position was controlled
also says that near the end of the dive the pilot orders, "Cut the
Center for about a year, although she has been improving lately. According to
over the ocean." The Journal and the LAT report that the
Journal says that he had been scheduled to take over much later in the
representative to an international disarmament commission. This concession came
probably the youngest murderer convicted as an adult this century.
"He tore off his clothes and went running through the office shrieking, 'I
started listing all the heads of state of Third World countries. The usual, in
If I lean back in my chair ever so slightly and look out my window, I can
years? By and large, Republicans and independents, not Democrats. The same poll
Bush up to this point. I can't explain the shift in thinking other than to
speculate that the media establishment is finally giving up and accepting his
inevitability the way the political establishment long ago did. (By the way,
But I have a theory about what came before: More than just Bush, the
smoothies, and the odd computer geek, but no one sneers with more relish than
Ulster Unionists) vote to join the region's local coalition government. This
merely fuel the hopes of naysayers of all faiths who want the peace to
Telegraph editorial calls the vote "the equivalent of the fall of the
Berlin Wall," but some opponents claim the measure was "akin to turkeys voting
around it, will help shape the debate over the nature and aims of
globalization, with many protestors decrying the secretive, undemocratic nature
welfare roles claim they were sexually abused as children, compared with around
live in dangerous neighborhoods and in single mother families, which expose
them to greater risk of abuse. Sexual abuse victims are then more likely to
have to go on welfare, and making it harder to get off the rolls once they
An LAT story reports that even while Holocaust museums and monuments
increase public awareness of the event, the survivors themselves are being
forgotten. Pride, the pain of their memories, and red tape are making it
money and services to which they're entitled. For example, to obtain a share of
they must fill out forms asking them to: "Please describe, in as much detail as
responsible for policing the site. In the past few months, he's intervened to
prevent people from selling human organs, tombstones, and even their virginity
of auctions being halted each day. The chief problem from an enforcement
Ever watch him on the stump? He can't give a speech. He has precisely no
sense of humor. A lot of his ideas about policy sound like they were thought up
in the shower this morning. At appearances, he often looks like he's about to
fall asleep. He answers questions like he'd rather be having hemorrhoid
surgery. Worst of all, he has total disdain for everything about politics, down
to and including voters. (Watch carefully and you can actually see him exuding
contempt, like the oily haze that rises off airplane engines on a hot day.)
mistake ineptitude for integrity, but how do you think it'll play in the rest
between your state and the World's Most Important Newspaper. On the other hand,
acutely aware that the rest of the world is laughing at them. I remember being
backward, etc.). They were genuinely wounded. In other words, they half
your reply you can answer the most pressing question about his candidacy:
tragically, never broached the Hair Issue. I don't think we ought to elect him
career must not be pulling in as much as revenue as expected. This is
surprising to me, because when I saw it at three in the morning the other
night, she looked like she was doing a great job: looked directly into the
camera, smiled broadly and evenly, even turned her head to make eye contact
with the spokesperson when delivering the line "You're right, it really does
tone the calves!" The plight of the former model in this country is an
moved on to weightier matters, like running for president or opening tacky
casinos or dating the next supermodel in line? Christie at least has her
married. Not that I had the record; I saw a segment about it on Hour
Magazine or something. If I remember right, it had some sort of watercolor
waterfall or river or something, and she explained that the idea "came to [her]
And while we're on the topic of people who really know how to work it for
one and everything, and I don't want to go on and on about this simply because
the good reverend's noted skills at making love to the camera have been
exhaustively remarked upon elsewhere, but it sounds like this incident was
notable even by his standards. Get this: "Dozens of [photographers and
reporters] jockeyed for position so frantically that they almost knocked over
an elderly woman in a wheelchair who had come to watch." It goes on to say that
the crowd of press was so voluminous that the police had to actually come to
really a deliberate suicide thing or what, but it gives me an idea. Plane
crashes are one of those terrible things, like that "I Like Girls Who Wear
exciting drama or justification to explain them away. So, maybe we'd all feel a
little better if every time a jetliner went down, the press concocted a big
after a newer, different disaster had occupied the national attention afresh,
they could announce that subsequent investigations had ruled out the theory.
Meanwhile, everyone would have the comfort of pretending that, in this sad
life, all the tragedy and death wasn't simply meaningless. What do you think?
that he'd been here, and I didn't find out why he was on the West Coast, or
rather one of the reasons he was supposed to be on the West Coast, until I
picked up the morning papers. Riots? What decade is this? (And over trade
the coverage back east, but it's quite something out here. If you covered the
(is there no escaping the guy?), which I gather he'll detail today in that
Republican establishment will fall right in line. Here's my favorite part of
the article: "Response to the Bush tax plan was swift. Even before knowing the
details, Vice President Al Gore criticized it yesterday." Even before knowing
Tipper Gore is the sexiest woman alive. Even before knowing the details, Vice
will publicly nod at her in assent but privately want the streets free of
material to me: smart and pompous and possessed with a regal bearing totally
political candidate of the millennium, Dollar Bill, gets the Democratic
polling place. But she's shown absolutely no traction so far, and if the next
Or a joint. For a fleeting moment late last night, I thought I saw a
pot. (Oh, do you think?) Sadly, it did not carry the typical
puts inside. The Times goes instead with word that Federal Trade
commanders are threatening a counterattack. The LAT reminds readers
from ones employed previously, and the paper doesn't seem to know either.
largest divestiture the agency has ever seen. The companies will have to sell
merger might deflate competition and raise prices in the area. The story notes
robust these days, which is why the companies are being allowed to rejoin.
project called Inner Change that aims to convert inmates into better
Bush claims that overtly religious programs work better than their more secular
counterparts because they use "the transforming power of faith." The program is
too young for a verdict on its effectiveness, but its participants are notably
sport in the South that borders on being a religion is football," another
analyst points out. As the story admits, it's impossible to isolate the source
chase. Five news helicopters hovered overhead and broadcast the shooting live.
The stations defended themselves by arguing that they could have showed
show graphic violence. We have to be cautious," said one producer.
those that came before it look sane. (Those two sentences sound so much alike,
and yet mean such different things.) Of course, the fact that the United States
than they were a decade ago. The world, at least in the economic sense, is just
a much bigger and more profitable place. Which doesn't mean you need to eat,
drink, and be merry tonight. But at the very least, Chat.
deal ensured that neither Message in a Bottle nor Random Hearts
they'll still be competing for the exact same tiny group of customers."
its bonds when it asked current investors to swap their old bonds for
new ones. The world's markets returned a unanimous verdict of 'Who
he hadn't been at the meeting. 'I have now had an opportunity to
groups can get along). The tops of both Times feature pictures of
Times shot evokes the more intimate feeling of a leader with his
troops: It's good to be the commander in chief. The LAT can only find a
numbers, says the paper: By the end of the year, the cumulative toll from the
percent of the world's population. But, the paper continues, the region where
the disease is growing the fastest is the former Soviet Union, largely due to
house as soon as the Secret Service said she could and that after the first of
on an even more remarkable fact: For the first time ever, a president's wife is
domestic implications of the first lady's announcement. Although it is reported
that she said yesterday she had not told her husband or daughter of her
decision, nobody notes how this contrasts with the nearly universal tradition
of a candidate announcing with spouse and offspring in tow. And there is no
speculation in the leads about whether the coming physical distance between the
might even be mistaken for good taste, can't possibly last.
reports, were filed by one of the leading attorneys in the cases against the
tobacco companies that led to that industry's lavish financial settlement with
many states. The plaintiffs claim that the health plans have violated their
obligations to members, and even allege that they've engaged in
contrary, the frequency of sexual activity and the pleasure derived from it
remain the same or even increase after having a hysterectomy.
and inventory management to find a simpler reason why discount retailers
consistently outperform traditional department stores: The former, but not the
response, but since this is the Breakfast Table and not the Bar Stool, I won't
thing about Brill is that he's a genuinely smart guy who has destroyed his
reputation, become a joke among his peers, and wasted a ton of cash, all for
noises on cable once in a while? I don't understand it.
A few years ago I went out to lunch with Brill and came away impressed. He
spent the entire meal explaining why we ought to put television cameras in
and I remember thinking that it took pretty hefty stones to contend that anyone
a televised trial. But Brill did. Ludicrous, I said. He came back at me with
such force and with what seemed like such a tight argument that by the end I
was almost ready to agree that what the Supreme Court really needs is more
But my impression of Brill as a vigorous, capable guy remained. Until he put
his own name in the title of his magazine, and in a thousand other ways made an
ass of himself. What a waste. It still depresses me to see him on
me for taking a huge, cringing pass on that story. Media conglomerates and the
use of actors to sell magazines are two topics that make me pretty
It did leave me wondering, and not for the first time, who these people are
who buy magazines based on the celebrity cover photo. Here's my thinking on the
subject: Magazine buyers are people who've chosen reading over watching
television or going to the mall or playing video games as a form of
entertainment. This is a relatively small group of people, presumably more
person. Yet these are also people who will buy a magazine simply because it has
Chatterbox is willing to believe that the deliberate changes made to
the tobacco story in The Insider were done in the interest of making it
a better movie. (Whether fictional characters should be permitted to keep the
that has been amply discussed elsewhere.) Still, there's one change to
the story that left Chatterbox wondering whether the pressures were more
manufacturers were spiking their products with additional nicotine, the stuff
Three things ought to be remembered about the Day One broadcast:
to break the important story that tobacco companies were manipulating the
degree to which cigarettes pumped nicotine into smokers' bloodstreams. In
addition to making Big Tobacco look even more corrupt than was previously
believed, this made it more difficult for Big Tobacco to say that it wasn't in
the nicotine put into the cigarettes had been taken out earlier in the
manufacturing process; the way tobacco companies were boosting the nicotine hit
was actually more complicated than that and involved the addition of ammonia.
never conceded that his broadcast was in error at all about "spiking,"
agonize over whether to cave in to corporate pressure not to broadcast their
the pressure to surrender seemed linked to a pending sale of the network.) And
It's certainly possible these omissions were made because including them
would have made the plot less tidy. But The Insider is a movie that asks
you to think hard about how corporate interests affect what media
companies do. As it happens, The Insider was made by Touchstone, which
script did allude to the Day One broadcast, but it was cut out.
published letters in the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Post touting
perfectly good piece of journalism is not so great a sin as preventing that
piece of journalism from coming to light in the first place. But the question
on the tobacco beat, and could gripe about how The Insider didn't even
but for which we accept responsibility and which requires correction. We
Senate primary? After all, a sizable chunk of the electorate, even the
Democratic electorate, can't stand the first lady, and that number is growing
thought she wasn't.) There is a swarming press corps ready to give an
woman who does it with some wit and humor will become the repository of
You wouldn't even have to raise money for campaign ads: The media will do
most of the work for free. You could even make a point of running a shoestring
herself appears to have no sense of humor, plus an intense sense of
ballot unless you have the blessing of the party establishment. But that issue
want to keep poor candidate X off the ballot," etc. It's also true that whoever
knows of at least one Democratic elected official who was thinking of running
but was then "leaned on by powerful people within the Democratic party."
Maybe a career Democratic pol would not want to risk angering party leaders,
not to mention the first lady's husband (though he'll be out of office in a
year). But if there's no Democratic congressman, assemblyman, or mayor ready to
become an instant household name, what about everyone else? Businessmen,
entirely if she doesn't have a clear field (something she may do anyway). That
The worst that happens is you get a ton of name recognition. This is, as
exempt from the cuts. This includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
unemployment benefits, government pensions, the earned income tax credit, and
other programs that the government is obligated to fund. Although it is not
considered a mandatory expense, Congress also exempted military salaries from
that amount from their departments' total discretionary spending.
Congressional Republicans had originally proposed that the reduction be applied
allows the cabinet secretaries to allocate the cut as they see fit. They will
while leaving other programs' budgets alone. The only department not granted
this flexibility is the Pentagon, which is required to distribute the reduction
proportionally among operations, procurement, and research programs.
Ruined Military Sites." As we used to say in the third grade, back when I was
playground because the other kids were all pelting me with dodge balls, "well,
else? I mean, that's literally all they do, they've got all their eggs in one
basket, so to speak. Amass weapons, subjugate the populace into obeisance with
weapons, and when somebody comes along and blows up his weapons, well, one just
has to keep one's chin up, look on the bright side, and start over again from
decided long ago to sort of put the various other subtle, more nuanced aspects
of running a country on the back burner, if you will, and just kind of focus on
one specific area of approach. Do what you're good at (kind of like the way the
at it? Because, like many evil dictators, he learned from the absolute best:
Again, hardly a brilliant observation on my part, but then again, how smart do
you really need to be to get the general gist of this sort of thing? After all,
this is chemical weapons of mass destruction, not rocket science.
Of course gay weddings should be legal. After all, gay luxury tropical
tropical cruises must be at least as difficult to endure as the institution of
be many things that you are not, but pretty isn't one of them. So stop taking
the diet pills. I want to propose something (all the people freaking out about
gay marriage in the "Fray" section should particularly consider redirecting
indeed pretty enough. Here's a suggested sample wording:
I think you are pretty. So does everybody else. In fact, you are an
whole world, doesn't think you are pretty. Therefore, please never think that
What do you say? Think we can get Gates to bankroll this? It's for a good
I guess the lesson that is to be learned from the Times article you
mention on Page A12 is that if you're going to get involved negotiating with
remotely as dramatic happened here with the exception of a particular moment
that takes place many times a week during the dog breakfast period, usually at
about the halfway point. Suddenly all four of them seem overcome with the idea
that someone else got a better breakfast, even though they all get the same
thing. So they freeze. And then, in a move not totally dissimilar to musical
Ballet moment and it's very, very beautiful, as you can imagine. Particularly
defrocked for officiating at the wedding of two men. I can not for the life of
me understand why so many people are so upset at the idea of gay marriages.
It's not as if the heterosexuals have been doing such a great job as keepers of
the flame. I mean, the heterosexuals could not have made a bigger mess of the
whole marriage thing if they had intentionally set out to do so. In fact, it
often occurs to me that it would be a very good idea to just give the
let them refurbish it, like they do with rundown neighborhoods. Then, once
they've fixed it all up and made it cute and appealing again, we can have it
The Post is reporting that the Enquirer is reporting (and now
pills. I suspected as much from the start. I thought to myself "Aha! I bet
she's taking diuretics." But I didn't say anything because I didn't want to
upset that she "had put on weight in her bust and thighs"; she also revealed
that she did indeed have a very tenuous grasp on reality when, according to the
insult to injury, she then went on to drop to the floor screaming, "I just
can't do it anymore." Can you imagine? Apparently those diet pills affected the
way her brain was working because, as I certainly don't have to remind you,
among other things, his spatula, his ice scraper, his gray leather couch
him") in order to raise money "to be able to pay my rent, electricity, car
insurance and water bill" I went snooping around to see if there was something
leading vehicle, in terms of quality and performance, in practically every
leading Democratic candidate for president hired the architect of the
on the bottom of a toilet bowl) was like nothing on the road, and nothing many
consumers wanted to buy. The J30 was a car desperately trying to make a
pretentious fashion statement, but it galumphed awkwardly in the real world of
from the front, it looks good from the back, it looks good from the top and the
performed weakly in the marketplace. "Every time I see somebody driving one of
those," says a friend of mine, "I feel sorry for them." The current
Times. How will he (to quote his book) "break through the stereotypes and
conceived their target customer as "the perfect asshole!" Times readers
revival of the "Z" sports car was a shapeless blob.
years, many of its best cars were available only with those annoying motorized
the car tended to become unstable at very high speeds.
I love the airplane mystery idea. Almost as much as I hate that song about
deal cuter to get away with such horrible lyric writing.
which she confessed that her biggest beauty secret was water: drink it, bathe
in it, use it to moisturize midday. It's just that simple. But she apparently
today. They could certainly print the same ones verbatim every year, but
instead they assign some poor beleaguered writer to dress them up by adding a
few expressions from rap records. Of course, my favorite Thanksgiving media
Thanksgiving. It is called "The Busiest Shopping Day of the Year" and is the
one where they send lifestyle reporters to the local malls to coerce
unsuspecting randomly selected shoppers into speaking the exact same seasonal
cliches that the people came up with the last time they did the report. They
could definitely run this same report verbatim year after year were it not for
the slight difference in haircuts from decade to decade. Of course, now with
all the sophisticated computer graphics and so forth, maybe they will finally
motives aside, here is what I picked up today. As you may recall from my
incisive analysis yesterday, the string theorists have gone ahead and thrown
to know that they have replaced it with the infinitely hipper and more
contemporary 11-dimensional strings. Yes, I realize it is a little hard to warm
get to know the strings on a more personal basis. Which is all well and good.
There's only just so many times that can eat in the same restaurant, so to
speak. Space and time have had more than their share of the spotlight. Move
over and let a new kid have a chance. But I wonder if the scientists behind
this important philosophical shift have really considered all the consequences
of their actions. Because, as the article points out, if there is no clear
we say if the gunshot caused the death or if the death caused the gunshot?" And
you thought lawyers were incomprehensible morally compromised bullshit artists
today's letter: Apparently they held "Take a Kid Pheasant Hunting Day"
lifeless corpses. At last, a state government steps in to help provide a
anywhere in their homes to make firsthand contact with the pleasures of gun
violence. There really aren't enough opportunities for kids to come in to
contact with guns or to kill helpless creatures nowadays, especially during the
the National Rifle Association. Their goal is "to shore up hunting's
is also quoted as saying, "The shooting sports are like any other endeavor.
Youth is our future." Yeah. Like any other endeavor where helpless animals are
placed at a disadvantage (in this case, they spin the pheasants first to make
them dizzy) in order to provide adorable little children with the joy of
inflicting pain and causing death. There really aren't enough other forms of
recreation and entertainment available to the kids today. Of course, I guess
help out with the household expenses by bringing home enough of that family
dinner favorite, pheasant, to keep everyone in pheasant sandwiches for
Now I need to go check my blood pressure. Talk to you tomorrow.
federal campaign finance regulations," the New York Times estimates.
Gore's bills are par for the course for candidates who participate in the
To qualify for matching funds, campaigns must verify the addresses, phone
trail can be costly. For example, if a campaign requests matching funds for a
that each person contributed half; otherwise the campaign will receive only
exhaustively documented to demonstrate that they comply with the campaign
Monster accounting and legal bills like Gore's are so common that the
Federal Election Commission allows presidential campaigns to automatically
bills, but they must document that fact to the satisfaction of the FEC.
Because the FEC adds new rules after each election cycle, the complexity and
costs of reporting continue to mushroom. Most large campaigns outsource their
regulatory accounting, and since there are only a handful of firms that
specialize in this area, these services can be quite expensive. Are they worth
approval by the participating governments) eliminate most trade barriers
various aspects of the boom. The Post notes that spectacular
productivity growth has more than offset companies' increases in labor costs
productivity gains have meant better compensation for workers than they
anticipated, leaving them feeling more satisfied, which in turn encourages them
The LAT fronts a story that only deepens the sense of national
charges that Operation Smile, a charity that sends plastic surgeons to poor
shoddy medical practices due to an emphasis on volume and publicity. Today's
installment focuses on the group's activities in China, which have resulted in
"complications," "faulty operations," and "some angry families." Although cleft
not just for the reference he made to God shortly before the plane went down,
before the catastrophe. The Times relies on the interpretation of three
anonymity. It's a mistake for the paper not to mention that just such nameless
officially confirmed that the F-117 stealth fighter shot down last March over
loss (the pilot was rescued), the Pentagon suggested that the cause was
column covers use their considerable resources to also pursue this
(he was sent up the river on a misdemeanor). Today's Papers apologizes to
The Thanksgiving holiday clearly inspires the papers. There is for instance,
encouragement of "scrupulous memory" of all "the sources of our pleasures,
privileges and obligations." But by Today's Papers' lights, there's a more
prosaic truth communicated by the practice of the holiday. This after all, is
when the president enters the White House Rose Garden and in a public ceremony
breakthrough accord, which effectively lets China into the World Trade
now shepherd the pact through Congress; passage is likely but not certain. (To
autopilot is turned off, the cockpit door apparently opens and shuts several
an expression of alarm or of suicide is unknown. Seconds later the plane goes
first. Eventually, someone apparently shuts off the engines. (The Post
story implies that this sequence of events is certain rather than merely
not notice the religious utterance at first, but the Post says that
quote anonymous sources predicting that the transfer will happen today. The
inspections. The proposal would require the Security Council to reaffirm the
churches, and even the smallest bank accounts. It would force the sale of
trillions of dollars of stock, as owners either paid the tax or hid their
billion in annual interest payments with new spending.
headquarters. Peppered with hostile questions, Gore defended the Justice
Department's lawsuit and insisted that the nation's antitrust laws represent a
"Gore attempted to defuse tension by making jokes, mentioning obscure
scientific theories and repeatedly announcing his Web site address." Only the
LAT and Journal report that Gore nonetheless received a
standing ovation when he left. Afterwards, Gore dropped in on Today's Papers.
Well, that's not entirely correct, but he did stop by the offices of
(The vice president, it should be noted, missed his deadline.)
Transportation investigators also stressed that they had not yet
synchronized the voice tape with the flight data recorder tape, which would
record events occurring on the airplane and could put the statements in
context. For instance, a prayer being said after the plane began plummeting so
fast that passengers were rendered weightless would not be suspicious.
The key to understanding the sequence of events was that the safety board
laboratory was able to correlate the exact timing on the cockpit voice recorder
and the flight data recorder. They therefore knew exactly when the troubling
words were uttered and when the door was opened, in relation to the plane's
to view the effects of plant closings. With two other films, two television
ban sodomy, and presenting an executive with a giant 80-cent check to pay for
state lawsuit charging that cigarette manufacturers were liable for the health
Have you noticed people in the news with confusingly similar names? The
I feel like we are really starting to bond now. I, too, have never seen an
However, I think you will be impressed when you learn that I was actually
nephews. But then it began to occur to me that if I showed up alone at a public
children hugging their young ones close to them as they eyed me with horror and
suspicion. I began to rehearse excuses about where my absent kid might be."
there could well be some kind of a city ordinance against a lone adult
never went. However I could not fail to notice that in today's paper we learn
This whole tradition of being really, really specific in the details of the
honor you are bestowing is a trend I applaud and would like to see expand. I
during a World Series playoff game was? And what would be wrong with a category
Before I get off the topic of show business, I also noticed a lot of items
about the questionable ratings of the new Martin Short talk show. King World
that once the executives start lightening things up with a new backdrop, it is
only a matter of weeks until the launch of a segment called "Send us your home
Moving right along, are these darn guys running for president now more
world hot spots. (Although I loved his answer regarding the prime minister of
apparently was thinking that if he got up a head of steam and energetically
repeated the question, the answer might come to him from nowhere.) But I just
attraction to him with thoughts like "Don't ask me what draws me to him. I was
terribly fond of his parents, so he has a place in my heart." This makes me
think that more of the candidates should be using a "get to know my parents"
speeches while he's figuring out who to be. By the way, I think he got the
proper route to appearing more alpha is not earth tones, as suggested,
but would be for him to wear a leather jacket, suck on a cigarette butt, and
make a bunch of appointments to meet with women's groups that he suddenly
cancels at the very last second without offering an explanation. Now
that's an alpha male as I have come to know and love them. (His other
you to do is to pin him down and lie on top of him. If Gore tried that on
Security, and sex education, among other issues. On foreign policy, he says
intervention, W. simply reasserts that he will not intervene on humanitarian
grounds, except in rare circumstances. W. goes out of his way to emphasize the
He downplays the importance of arms control, stressing instead the need for
independent review board has decided that she has a reasonable dispute. (This
Social Security, W. indicates a willingness to raise the current
"personal savings accounts," which would allow recipients to choose their own
education instructors promote fondling and mutual masturbation as an
alternative to sex, Bush says Wolf's advice is "pathetic," says condom
promotion hasn't decreased teen pregnancy rates, and advocates teaching
year's budget has grown at twice the rate of inflation since last year. But
funds intact, and prevented the subsidization of international abortion
drop out of the race and wonders how she'll ever be able to run for president
if she can't win New York. But several shows flash the results of a New York Post poll
Both This Week and Late Edition review a new Bush campaign
commercial in which W. pledges to "restore dignity" to the presidency. Bill
correspondent shouting into the camera from underneath swaying trees during a
hurricane, the sober reporter standing in front of a coastline after a plane
Oh, probably not, [because] it would create a huge political scene. I am
lifting it violates the instructions my orthopedist gave me last week
three other encyclopedias of black history and culture that sit in storage
while I wait for my shoulder to heal enough so I can build bookshelves.
because it's all we have right now is too much like how some older folk I know
feel about Ebony and BET (which, one wag I know quips, stands for the
Brothers' Excuse for Television). In their heart of hearts, they know neither
is really very good, but they nonetheless can't resist claiming pride of
Still, in the spirit of fairness, before I get back to beating the boy, I
deserves wider recognition. She was also a playwright and a novelist, but I
published a special issue about her. I didn't know her well, of course, but I
often think about the two hours we spent talking that afternoon so long
another one of those glaring omissions that make you wonder whether the editors
"ready references" summarizing demographic and economic data about those
provides so much information in such a truncated form. Like you, I wish Gates
you must have monuments to validate your worth as a people, then build lasting
At the heart of my criticism, though, is my conviction that our experience
summarized. More and more, since I quit reviewing books, I think that's the job
a far more moving evocation of the Holocaust than any account in any reference
places where things intersect, then reports on what he finds.
at a West Coast conference took each other to task over the role of the Buffalo
humane" and so "every possible, every imaginable combination of human
original.] Where is that kind of insightful and original thinking in
Which isn't at all to excuse or make apologies for slavery, of course, but
storage). He was freed by his father, then became wealthy enough to lend money
haven't even gotten round to responding to your points about the responsibility
of the black intellectual. Like you, I wish Gates and Cornel West would take
sabbaticals and embark on the kind of lasting work they're both capable of. And
published. The work itself, alas!, is solid and workmanlike, nothing like what
You might have thought the biggest winner on Wall Street in the wake of the
United States and China's agreement on terms for China to enter the World Trade
Organization would have been the company that's been loudest in its support for
today was prompted by one of China's key concessions to the United States, to
telecommunications companies and Internet companies. This was a pretty
Internet industry, and that many thought that the government would draw a line
country of more than a billion people, calling its foothold "key" seems rather
dubious. But the truth is that it's next to impossible to think about business
competition. But in a market in which political connections remain essential
as it seems to reflect state sanction, if not support, appears to be rather
The paradox inherent in all of this, of course, is that the Internet really
is an incredibly destabilizing technology, both economically and politically,
holding it fixed (if that's possible) is the best way to destroy its value. The
viral spread of information on the Internet, the incredibly rapid and
inexpensive growth of user communities and businesses, the facilitation of
the minds of the digerati but also in the minds of investors. They're the only
The romantic idea is that the combination of real free trade, the Internet,
and modern telecommunications will eventually bring down the hidebound
political and economic structures that still rule China. Now, the romantic idea
may be right, and greater access to the Net and greater free trade are
certainly good things. But the truth, banal as it may seem, is that we still
don't really know very much about how the potentially democratizing Internet
really functions in a thoroughly undemocratic society, just as we don't really
mere drop in the bucket. But in a way the company's name is the perfect
those who frankly think him fraudulent, some of whom are very prominent people.
I think this might be a bit unfair. What I find fascinating about him is not
the work, which may or may not be remembered in years to come, but rather the
driving ambition so directed at what seems to me to be small causes writ large
by advertising and the sheer claims he can make for them. In this regard, he is
an incredible intellectual figure and an incredible public presence. I think it
is a waste of time for a major scholar to create an encyclopedia, despite the
major scholar to do such hack work today, even if one could make a great deal
of money doing it. It is this obsession, which far exceeds anything I have ever
encountered in any scholar (and scholars and intellectuals have no little ego
and no little ambition), this need to have his fingerprints everywhere, that I
find curious but that I also think, ultimately for Gates, is destructive of the
very end he probably wants to achieve. He wants, I assume, to be taken
Yes, I do agree that he has taken advantage of the practice that whites have
of wanting one prominent Negro at a time in a field. He is a very shrewd man,
and I cannot blame him for taking the world as it has been given to him. Whites
find him agreeable for the two reasons that they find any black intellectual
threatening; he knows a great deal of white intellectual stuff, which whites
always find amusing and entertaining in a Negro. But while he is a singular
black intellectual figure, his position is simply, to some large degree, that
of any hustling black intellectual who knows that the rewards worth having in
this culture for his professional pursuits are all controlled by whites.
are right and point up one of the serious flaws with this book. It is far too
trendy, almost whimsically so, to be of great value to any reader, say, five or
six years from now. This book aspires to be not only an encyclopedia but also
an almanac, a biographical dictionary, a historical monument in and of itself.
forces of compelling strength: the need to give emphasis to homosexuality all
out of proportion to its importance in black life, the need to mention people
such people remain to be proved worthy of attention, the need for personalities
It is this sort of pandering to the popular and to notions that many black
people hold dear even though they are wrong that works against this book and
against black intellectual efforts generally. That is because, in the end, the
the race, instead of a true, objective exploration of the meaning of the race's
experience, good, bad, and indifferent. This makes the black intellectual not
only a propagandist but also an apologist, at times, of the most hypocritical
sort, blowing up trivialities while ignoring profundities because of their
ambiguous nature, all the while operating with the urges of a philanthropist,
discarding merit in the name of equality of space or for "educating" the public
in favor of a good cause. This, more than anything, makes the public
intellectual, black or white, fraudulent, dangerous in both his or her snobbery
and strength of the black intellectual, his or her incisiveness swallowed in a
sea of bathetic race promoting. It is telling, indeed, about the
from intellectuals or scholars at all but from popular black personalities and
partisans for causes. Nothing corrupts good intellectual work more thoroughly
I do not particularly like to engage what is not in a book, but, of course,
it cannot be avoided in this sort of work, as its scheme is meant to make a
statement about what is important about the black experience and what isn't. To
objectively presented whether one agrees with their positions or not. But there
black culture and "world music," (whatever that is), their omission is just
bewildering. There is no entry for Curt Flood. How can the man who challenged
book and all black political correctness greatly prizes, be ignored!? Curt
This brings me to the entries that are connected in some way or another to
important in several ways, but not to have him in the book was understandable.
of the Human Relations Commission, a city organization that was started when
changed the city charter. The Human Relations Commission was very important in
the history of race relations in the city in the 1950s and 1960s, although it
was a group without strong enforcement abilities. It was not mentioned in
parade to stop using blackface makeup (he failed there, too). In the entry on
dramatically. No mention in the Chubby Checker entry that his marriage to a
written as hack work by writers who are not terribly familiar with the subject.
The writers try to emphasize what makes the person a national figure without
concentrating very much on the local context of the person's importance, which
is often far more valuable and meaningful to understanding the person's
historical standing than what can be said about the person as a national
This is why I am puzzled that a man of Gates' abilities wants to do such
bet" for Republicans to pick up. Republican leaders once "confidently
"had been steadily nibbling away at [Brown's] winning margins as the district
like a stunning upset that foreshadows a possible Republican House collapse. If
"steadily nibbling away" at Brown's margins. They came within a few hundred
Thanks so much for the compliments. Although since I was only one of many
guess my sadness will be offset by the celebration being thrown by our
explains it: "Drew is such a special amazing magical person" she says," that I
decided to put some of her things up on the Web site to allow people to be a
part of her life." And you know, if there is a better way to become a part of
the life of a complete stranger than to own their baby clothing, it can only be
yourself some eggs and sit by the mailbox. Better cooking is on it's way.
If you figure out who buys which magazines for what reason, I will pay you
cash money to tell me. This is a question I mull over and over because it's
way we spin a story about her (icon in repose) works, but another way
Martin of presidential politics, is a guaranteed winner. When he was running
Bush"). When he was first exploring the possibility of a White House bid in the
the year's best sellers. Most of those extra copies were probably sold to
of me wants to believe that one of every two viewers tuned in hoping to see a
genial, an advocate of broad principles instead of specific policies, and
always going to be hard to prove, but the burden got damn near impossible when
Fortunate Son 's thoroughly implausible afterword withered under the
media that W. stands for Wasted is going to have to invent a time machine, take
congressional right, his compassion rap. And then he goes to refuses to meet
yesterday in despair, dumbstruck by the decision. If Bush's good friend Bob
allowing for the fact that companies trying to resist hostile takeovers will
the nakedness of its nationalism. Political leaders, union leaders, and
corporate leaders alike have all publicly attacked the deal as effectively
This is not, on some level, exactly surprising. Until this year, after all,
States has no experience with this sort of thing, as evidenced by the hysteria
since only huge inflows of foreign capital now allow us to fund our
place, German companies have been among the most aggressive of global acquirers
the bluster, you probably won't see the German government actually taking any
The other factor that should be at play here, but doesn't seem to be, is the
recognition that foreign competition, whether in the direct form of competition
for consumers or the more indirect form of competition for corporate control,
most acquisitions fail. The pressure created by those acquisitions, though, was
a good thing (as, in retrospect, the pressure created by the corporate raiders
whether those managers really understand what shareholder value means. And it
also makes you think that they may be looking after their own interests more
than the company's. The impulse to rally to the flag may be understandable in
"ideologue" here as a euphemism for "people of principle," rather than
presidency with a terrible hangover. Bush is considerably less conservative
than many of his fans believe, not that he's ever made any secret of it. He's
bipartisan compromise, or the appearance of it anyway. He brags about his
particularly evangelicals. He rewarded them by giving them jobs and access, and
in many cases real power. It was the ideological conservatives who worked for
conservatives. Congressional Republicans squandered their leverage over him
almost immediately. They threw their endorsements to Bush at the very beginning
of the cycle, and without demanding anything in return. They shouldn't have
But they were. And wounded, too. But by that point there was nothing they
could do. My guess is, they'll be every bit as shocked when President W.
Though I must say they've been pretty good about the drug thing. Bush has
all but admitted cocaine use (or admitted that it would be a bad idea to admit
president who'd never done a line? A dork, in other words. Not me.
else I know thinks it's odd, even "troubling" to see a serious presidential
candidate run around punching people in the arm and giving nicknames to
something hideous about being mildly boorish with your male friends.
allowed his body to be used in various experiments testing the effects of
on different parts of the body. There were exactly two ways each sensor could
eyes and bleeding sores, all the sensors registered zero. He had been
A distraught Murphy proclaimed the original version of the famous maxim: "If
there are two or more ways to do something and one of those results in a
One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he cursed the
technician responsible and said, "If there is any way to do it wrong, he'll
Both versions of the story have the same basic theme, which is that it's
always good to be prepared for lots of things going wrong. But in the
all things to get screwed up. It's the engineering equivalent of the
familiar political dodge, "mistakes were made." By contrast, in Bear's version,
calling the technician said to be responsible (we never get the
stating any broad philosophical principle of any kind. If this is the
To make matters even more confusing, there's a third version of the
"There are several reputable people in the aeronautic industry who claim to
anyway when they finally got to the segment, they actually rebroadcast the
whole show, not just clips or highlights, but the whole thing in its
entirety! I mean, what the hell is that? Afterwards, they cut back to the
anchorwoman and she's trading quips with the other newscaster and fanning
indicate that they have become sexually aroused. The noble fourth estate!
An equivalent would be when papers run giant articles reporting the content
that her baby was born before the bill was ratified, but the explanation
offered was that the bill's postpartum passage gave her the confidence she
cells require regular fluid intake to survive. Yet, somehow I don't see myself
installed my city's water system, I am alive today," although technically I
lunch, I can tell you what's in his toilet bowl even as we speak: water that
nature, in her wisdom, intended to be thousands of miles away from him. Since
are comedy writers, and there is an unwritten law saying anyone who writes
stretching hundreds of miles in every direction), and besides, any city that
well, her whole existence), quite possibly the greatest movie ever made,
I want to move away from all this witty banter about politics and media
you, but I love television. Some people have sports; other people have
every episode, every frame, every line. It's all we talked about then, and
again all we talked about when the series was rerun for the first time over the
summer. What makes it so good? All the usual things: wonderful writing, great
contemporary story line that has already been copied to ill effect by other
One reason I think The Sopranos is so far superior to everything else
on the tube is that everything else on the tube is dreadful. Even The West
inner workings of government (which are themselves shabby versions of the real
thing, which is itself a shabby version of what the real thing should be), is a
hit; it ought to be canceled, if only to send a message to the dentist who
capped Martin Sheen's teeth. Only a little while ago, it seems, everyone was
an exodus of film folks for the friendlier confines of the blue glow. This
season, I think, the tide has turned back. It's been a banner year for the
and even exceeded my expectations in the past few months. Whereas, except for
watching regularly anymore. This is probably the reason for the rise of the
more optimistic about the future of television than I am. Not a day goes by
cast is as diverse ethnically and, for all I know, in its sexual orientation as
attempts to change the subject ("Senator, on guns and violence" and "Can we get
But Chatterbox was too beguiled by this little operetta to notice at the
we should have system of registration and licensing, just like we do for
automobiles. If we can do it for automobiles, we ought to be able to do it to
handguns. We ought to take gun dealers out of residential neighborhoods. We
ought to make it a felony, not a misdemeanor, if you sell a gun to somebody who
is underage or who is a felon himself. And I think that we ought to put trigger
locks on guns. And I think, finally, that we ought to have background checks
Despite the saturation coverage of the China trade deal in today's New
one sidebar could be found examining its implications for human rights. It
partisan) noises about human rights when the deal was announced yesterday. The
Times reported that Human Rights Watch endorsed the
China deal, but failed to point out that the organization is conditioning
hope Congress will insist on limited, meaningful steps to improve human rights.
This may or may not be an ineffectual gesture on Human Rights Watch's part;
what's significant is that the news coverage of the China deal presented the
answered. (Presumably they will in the coming days, as editors scramble for
fresh angles.) As Human Rights Watch observed in a statement last month to the
for the United States and China's other major trading partners "even as the
tighter." (Click here to read the whole thing.) It may be that, contrary to
recent experience, greater trade ties will now foster greater freedom in China.
Or it may be that they won't. There seems a growing consensus that attempting
to withhold admission to the World Trade Organization as a means to advance
lack of interest in examining whether this premise is correct.
prestigious independent medical organization's call for a new federal agency
dedicated to minimizing medical mistakes, which, says the organization, are now
which could mean the true end of "The Troubles" in that country.
The papers explain the basic point of the medical error recommendations:
similar to the right one. Systematically noting and disseminating such possible
confusions to physicians would reduce risk. All three leads make the point that
medicine could benefit from following the tracking and notification procedures
get to see the results of the proposed systematic error tracking. Just doctors,
to be made known to the public but keep less serious ones confidential. But
there's no discussion of whether this makes sense from the patient's point of
view. A related point: There's already a data bank for sharing information
about incompetent doctors. Surely it would be relevant to know if it functions
similarly to what's being proposed now and to know if it has indeed helped make
The other significant wiggle room in the stories relates to the dimension of
start a thorough safety inspection of the company's manufacturing plants,
focusing on quality control procedures. The Journal says the field audit
comes after months of increasing tension between the agency and company.
language, and less sexuality. The biggest advertiser to pull out over content
The New York Times leads with how business lobbyists view the
story running under a brutal headline: "CONGRESS LEAVES BUSINESS LOBBIES ALMOST
reform, and no ban on agribusiness mergers. The paper says business's
(the government's accident investigation body) remain for the time being in
authorities, who therefore have been more cooperative in sharing flight and
evidence. Also, shades of the dog who didn't bark, the Post reveals
didn't say: "There was no shocked expletive or puzzled comment, as pilots
typically make in an emergency or when highly computerized aircraft suddenly
ago to escape the daily fighting between warlords there. The papers report that
needs foreign cash if it is to actually become an independent nation. This at a
time when the developed world is spending less and less on foreign aid.
ad making the rounds, the two women chatting about health care are not the
ordinary folks they seem to be, but are actresses reading from a script. Why is
The Wall Street Journal features a Desert Storm memoir by
at the Air Force Academy. The talk contains the following compelling and
reassuring passage, about a transport helicopter pilot, who came up on the
radio volunteering to go pick up a fighter pilot shot down over a heavy
around a lot about interservice rivalries, but I guarantee that I would follow
died from a blood reaction caused during a gene therapy experiment administered
restructure Medicare and Social Security and pass gun control legislation or
Social Security revenues to finance other parts of government." The Democrats
out that "Despite their minority status, Democrats have largely set the agenda
tough time resolving unfinished business as it heads into an election year.
Senate ethics investigation that ended with his exoneration." (Today's Papers
four other senators, of having attempted to improperly influence federal
which "gained him admirers in the news media, if not among his Senate
suicide attempts, drove him cuckoo." He says his years spent in solitary gave
notes that wannabe presidents are now getting "questioned for serving, not
dodging" and thinks that some candidates might be worried about how they'll
Inside, the Post runs news that the "Republican Governors' Association
symbolizing their willingness "to use their muscle and prestige to help him win
promise to play a chivalrous campaign game; the Democratic hopeful has taken
platforms around focus group research, he seems to be increasingly relying on
An LAT poll shows Gore up only one percentage point over
care only after actual or near catastrophes. One example: A paranoid
New York Post would even dream of running an item like the one in "Page
tomorrow they'll tell us what some of those bargains were. (The smart money is
on giant containers of cheese fish.) But the bottom line is that it is nice
just to realize, in a kind of "We Are the World" sense, as we come upon another
that is sure to hit all the big newscasts and the radio talk shows by this
evening. The female half of a 25-year marriage, "a relationship so close that
they shared an electric toothbrush" (Yuck. I hope they only mean the handle
husband, who had no clue as to her motives for leaving the marriage so hastily
(but if he had asked me I would have said "Give a little thought to the area of
dental hygiene"), accidentally intercepted a piece of her mail that mentioned a
few of the lottery details. The upshot is that he took her to court and now a
judge has ruled that because she "acted out of fraud and malice" when she
"violated state asset disclosure laws" during the divorce proceedings, she must
turn the entire lottery win over to her ex. Ouch, that must sting. She is
claiming the only reason she never mentioned the big lotto win to her once
beloved was due to an "ignorance of the law." You're probably scoffing now, but
I, for one, believe her. There are so many painful emotional and logistical
publicly about the ways in which people are often forced to part with a lot of
enterprise. It gave the Web site address, so I couldn't resist spending a little time
there examining photos of her "purses and totes," each one "adorned with the
(Wear it with pride!) Come with me now as we revel in the "Garden Patch": "a
maroon chenille tapestry that is reminiscent of an earlier century" (I wonder
breathing life into these masterpieces as she underwent a "reawakening of my
wish for us. "I hope that you recognize the importance of being free spirited
with your creativity," she writes. Making me think that she may have learned
angle has really worked all that well for her so far.
Actually my favorite part of the Web site is where she writes (under Product
Description), "Today's woman needs both practicality and durability en vogue."
En vogue? Who talks like that? I think what we have here is a rare glimpse of
recall whether those more enlightened policy discussions took place before or
"practicality," from a practicality standpoint alone it surprised me that all
of her purses are "Dry Clean Only." She of all people should be endorsing a
line of fully washable products. If ever there was a person who has learned
firsthand about the difficulties of having to drag things to the dry cleaners,
it would certainly be she. In fact, the least she could do is throw in a bottle
fronts all feature photos of the cops firing tear gas and pepper spray on
protesters, reminding the reader of the authorities' central PR problem in such
situations: Regardless of the merits, there's no way to look good when you're
armored from head to toe and shooting stuff at folks who are unarmored and
the convention center where the meetings were supposed to be held. Stores and
restaurants then shut down and then protesters filled the streets. The papers
say that most of the protest was nonviolent noncompliance, but also pass along
shows a moronic dirtball doing just that.) It's reported that much of the
violence was committed by people in black clothes and ski masks.
The papers grapple with the sheer diversity of the protesters: people
dressed as pigs, turtles, clowns, Superman, vegetables, fish, and butterflies,
themselves together and women calling themselves "Vegan Dykes" marching
event, but the LAT overshoots when it states: "Not since the days of the
research uncovering brain damage in Gulf War veterans complaining of the myriad
symptoms collectively known as "Gulf War Syndrome." The finding means,
complaints are not the result of battlefield stress, the conclusion of a
cigarette smoke may be more dangerous than previously believed: A new study
And the paper says some auto industry types think the new car market has
broadened permanently. Reasons? The enormous wealth caused by the boom means
kill and turn it into venison for the hungry. The paper reports that in the
the poor. The man's business card reads "You Whack 'Em, I Pack 'Em." Now, if he
So now the Fed has taken all the rate cuts back. Last summer and fall, when
it sometimes felt as if the global economy were on the verge of a massive
nervous breakdown, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates three consecutive
result, didn't even hiccup, while the stock market, which had plummeted in the
to shrink, and inflation at the consumer level remains in check. There are
Wall Street and that the continued rise in stock prices is entirely the product
of the Fed's distribution of easy money. But that case has been weakened not
only by the Fed's own rate hikes but also by the powerful rally in the bond
Fed was letting us all live high on the hog by printing lots of greenbacks.
important things to keep in mind about this most recent hike. The first is that
even if the Fed's performance over the past year and a half looks perfect, we
don't actually know if it was. By this I mean something more than just the
obvious point, which is that history has no control group. I also mean that the
quarter, though the rate of that growth has slowed slightly (very slightly).
And it seems increasingly clear that the effects on productivity of
computerization and the Internet are real and not temporary blips. But why
those effects are being felt now, how long they will last, how much of
productivity growth is being driven by businesses running leaner than they once
did: These questions don't have firm answers. Nor, for that matter, do we
really understand why productivity growth slowed so rapidly in the 1970s. So
while the Fed deserves credit for its performance, most of what's going on in
The second thing worth noticing is that the popular understanding of the
role of the Fed seems to have shifted in the past year and a half, arguably as
a result of its quick action last year. The conventional wisdom was that it
took six months to a year for a Fed rate hike to work its way into the economy,
which makes sense since raising or lowering interest rates generally isn't like
slamming a door open or shut. It's more like easing it open or closed. But what
we've seen more recently is the idea that one of the Fed's key roles is
psychological. It wasn't the literal opening of the taps last fall that
mattered but rather the symbolic message the Fed sent lenders, which was that
send the right message to lenders and borrowers. To be sure, ultimately the
message carries weight because it's backed by the Fed's actions. But in
concrete terms, the Fed's actions probably won't have an effect for six
months to a year. The Fed's message, though, is already at work right now.
The way you describe your life is starting to sound glamorous to me. We
don't even have 24-hour waffle places out here. If we want waffles, we have
about a 12-hour window of opportunity, and after that, tough luck, you're on
may be all the reason I need to start planning a trip. The last time I visited
your general part of the country, I learned a different but equally interesting
regional dietary lesson: Apparently, restaurants around there do not feel that
a salad is really a salad unless it has first been deep fried and then soaked
in a heavy cream sauce. I went to one "salad bar" where not only did I not see
going to skip the reflexive but pointlessly callous joke I could make about the
people), but among the "salad ingredients" being offered was a dish of
chocolate pudding. I thought to myself, "God bless the dietician behind this
show is back in production in time for it to be considered as a possible export
hit our stores will be? If things work the way they usually do in commerce,
guess is that they will begin to make and export enchiladas. According to the
'disgustingly hypocritical' of the administration to claim to be keeping the
interests of working people in mind as it negotiates with a regime that
routinely violates human rights." Which got me to thinking about how the
controlling your body's energy centers that would make it not only a beloved
eventually the rest of the country). Maybe when they realize that their social
irritants might well be their most profitable exports, it will be the kick in
ties? It's good of him to be putting energy into making sure that the unwanted
children of the future will be born into to a world without a functioning
as having looked the other candidates over and come up with this incisive
statement: "Let me ask you, did they make billions of dollars in a very short
time? I don't think so." Since that is his criterion for excellence in
lotto winners, sitcom stars, and successful contestants from Who Wants To Be
a Millionaire? when he is picking out his cabinet. I also love the way he
brings his girlfriend to press conferences to dress things up. I hope in the
future he will also bring a blowup of his bank statement and a wheelbarrow full
loved the discussion. There was obviously tension in the air, because my
independent decisions in such matters without input from the White House, its
For that reason, I couldn't comment on the decision that was clearly on many
nor unfair business practices stamp out competition.
But then the meeting moved on to other topics, and I
in technology and the Internet, they are also interested in the same issues as
education; how we can make our schools and streets safer; and how we can reach
across our divisions to bring this nation together.
And even though national security policy didn't come up,
I suggested that one crucial issue for voters to ponder is this: whose finger
feeling that no inappropriate compromise on the issue of choice should be
accepted), but no other foreign policy issues arose. So I obviously spent too
from all other crimes. That is why we need tougher laws to prevent and punish
Another person asked me how we can make our schools
safer in the aftermath of tragedies such as Columbine. I said that I believe
the solutions range from tough measures to get guns away from kids and
in the use of gratuitous violence in the entertainment media, to more parental
working parents more help in balancing work and family.  
I was certainly impressed by the discussion, and the
home to a great deal of talent and creative drive. That may be why, according
to certain projections, Bill Gates may be worth a trillion dollars some day. Of
had not dropped out of college, he'd have a chance at being worth two
journalism for the first time in almost a quarter of a century.
Instead of my trusty old typewriter from my days at the
campus is just bubbling with energy and ideas. I certainly hope to spend even
be included here? Gracious, that's as bad as not having Curt Flood.
statement about what the editors and the advisory board feel is important.
Those who have been consigned to the dustbin of irrelevancy, where the evidence
The role of the black intellectual is difficult to discern. Clearly, I do
not think the role of the black intellectual is to churn out books of this
sort. First, I have never had the occasion of seeing a reference book marketed
on the strength of the celebrity of its editors. I have no idea who edited the
reference books I used. I couldn't tell you who edited my dictionaries or my
other source books. I think this is true with most people. It is not especially
important to know this. Already, the idea of the black reference book with
glamorous editors is something of a real problem and should make the public a
bit suspicious because it seems so much like a marketing ploy. It is, perhaps,
this sense of opportunism, and of blowing up ordinary jobs like creating a
black reference book of this sort as if one were announcing the return of the
intellectuals. They are talented, but are they principled? They are
portrayed as courageous, but how much courage does it take to pocket fat fees
for giving lectures spiked with Christian socialist bromides to audiences who
given to this generation of black scholars, far more than any earlier
generation ever dreamed of having. And is the product that has been generated
the best that can be done with all that this generation has at its disposal?
This is a fair question. I feel deeply inadequate myself when I think about it
position, they would have produced so much more and so much better. (I must
admit that I did not aspire to be any of those guys when I was in graduate
school and I do aspire to be them now. In graduate school, I aspired to be
Brooks. I still aspire to be them, and their work has most influenced me. But
can a black intellectual ever get to talk about something like that when white
literary and intellectual establishment would rather have him or her write
Most black intellectuals, if they are truly reflective, with a few exceptions
admire, cannot help but think they might be a bit fraudulent.
black intellectuals, or a suggestion of its possibility, then we must ask the
question, How has this come to pass? What set of conditions exist that keep
black intellectuals from being incisive and as honest and as courageous and as
productive as they should be? Some of the compromises from the realm of
political correctness I have already discussed. Some of the compromises spring
from the need of racial solidarity, either as opportunism or misplaced loyalty.
I do not speak and never have spoken for black people and do not want to. Some
of the compromises are the normal sorts of difficulties that all intellectuals
need for excessive conflict in order to make the work "interesting." Some are
the result of whites who box blacks into a certain corner as public
You raise a good question about who is reviewing this book. (I have been
asked to review every book Gates has written. I feel as if I am his personal
reviewer.) Blacks go into black studies for a number of complex reasons, some
good, some not so good; and whites respond with opportunities and enticements
that are bound to keep them there. The niche becomes a trap. The various white
intellectual establishments, moreover, tend to buy the kind of black that best
suits them ideologically, which means they buy the kind of representative black
person they themselves think they would be if they were black. And most of the
reduced, funneled, constrained, and strained, either in its liberal or its
conservative manifestations, in ways that are not especially useful either to
blacks or black intellectuals but are very useful to the white intellectual
establishments as they distribute their spoils. I don't say this to suggest
anything sinister or racist about whites. (Although racism and conspiracy
cannot entirely be discounted, either.) The pressures of commercialism and
prestige combine to make this rather unpleasant situation, both of
result, highly distorted, and black intellectual publications do not help as
they are even more restrictive about the kind of commentary and judgments they
that the black experience must have an orthodoxy and that all intellectual
All of this, I think, explains why black public intellectuals are the way
they are and why so few have said much that really matters in intellectual
circles. Moreover, even more so than whites, black intellectuals tend to give
indulge in a bit of racial hectoring and demagogic posturing to remind the
I know that Gates and West get your dander up. I like them and admire them
to some degree, although I do not think they have worked up to their capacity.
I think Gates particularly is a very smart guy and a good writer, if he were to
years to do but would have been far more intensive, and far more usefully
selective, might have been much more worth the effort. For you, I know, Gates
is a hustler and West, worse still, is a sanctimonious hustler, which means,
dangerously, he actually takes what he says seriously and takes himself very
little to say. I think your impatience stems from that. There is far too much
Gates and West and there is far too little in what they are saying to justify
their demand for your attention or for the culture's attention. This is a fair
enough criticism, if I read you rightly, and one I would agree with. I think
both men need to stop churning out work and think about a kind of settled
obscurity in working long and hard on some project that would absorb them
completely and passionately, and simply quit producing for public consumption a
But even when I find myself frustrated by their work, I find that I would
rather have them doing what they do than doing nothing at all, and if it is
not, in the end, greatly advancing black intellectualism or not advancing it as
much as they think it is, it is probably not doing the cause of black
intellectualism any harm, either, or any more harm than I or any of the rest
insistence on judging a historical figure by current moral standards, I find
fatuous, just poor scholarship. I agree with you that Lewis should have done
discuss something more on the order of the impact of pragmatism on black
philosophers or an essay on the whole black philosophy movement.
Don't throw the book at your television. Televisions are expensive these
a lot of good information in it. My bottom line is that I would recommend the
book to students and colleagues and I hope it does well, despite its
Probably this book could be done better, but no one is going to get an
opportunity to do that, so you might as well live with what you've got, warts
opening the door. Maybe black stuff is still so suspect that we need
celebrities to get reference books. I hope things aren't that bad!
someone has to do it. Besides, when I was boy, I dreamed, as all boys do, of
running off to the circus. One of the things that stopped me was that I was
afraid I would wind up shoveling dung. The task has caught up with me anyway
literature as cleaning up after the elephants does to being in the circus,
except that you're more likely to be useful pushing a broom behind the
elephants. Who, after all, really wants to step in elephant dung?
This question has been implicit in our conversation: Just what, as we
cohort of the rappers, I wonder whether black academia has been hijacked by a
important. The truth, though, is that this fascination (by people who really
the street nigger," and he's absolutely right. It crosses the color line, of
integrationist experience, to the complexities (and confusions) of inhabiting
an environment where, say, white people valued aspects of black culture, like
(That last isn't all that unreasonable, given the unremittingly cheerful
Perhaps he's a genuinely nice man. But so much of his writing is smug and
listen and follow his advice, the world would be a better place.
rights of women, homosexuals, and other oppressed minorities and doesn't seem
immerse himself fully in the rich cultural currents of black everyday life." As
at his insufferable, pontificating worst. In my last message, I observed that
leadership or we fail." And that, to return to the question I posed earlier, is
of obligation or responsibility to the black community.
they've never made it clear (like Gates) or, like West, because they stand for
so much, appealing to, and appeasing, so many constituencies. West, after all,
Post leads with a report that cocaine and marijuana seizures in the
in the past two years. The story states that the increase reflects more
before they demobilize. The move is stirring up fears in and out of government
should not be a weapon. The story makes it clear that there is heartfelt
disagreement about this within the administration by quoting by name government
providing health care to the poor. The scam involved phony storefront medical
supply businesses being reimbursed by the state for providing supplies that
never were purchased for patients who didn't exist. The paper says the false
leads with a bullish report on retail sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. The
Internet sales figures the paper passes along for the period include:
voices, because it never really comes to grip with the seeming indeterminism of
its data. In other words, the piece suggests that more seizures equals more
production. But it's just as easy to imagine that more seizures equals better
we to understand that these aid packages didn't include food? And is it really
military, but look at the topic differently. The LAT emphasizes that
and admiral. The closest the LAT comes to mentioning the latter is its
It seems that the LAT has got hold of a national problem, while the
problems. It waits till its seventh paragraph to notice that across the
out of the service with an honorable discharge, and even then never pauses to
wonder how closing this loophole might change the situation.
Challenge to all papers doing stories about trends in the military: Try
Northwestern University. This is apparently impossible.
The editorial wraps up thus: "Now that they control most of the national
territory and are responsible for affairs of state, the Afghan authorities have
to take more seriously their responsibility to rein in terrorism. The new
as part of its military's longtime reach for an active regional foreign policy.
for lifting a paragraph from a music reference book. Today's Papers recalls
that the Sun also fired an obituary writer last summer for making up
obituaries of the same man? Why are these two papers willing to let the
"Open a little wider, Honey," Dr. Spritzer said. He looked even better
than he had at the cake sale. His good face seemed to pop out of the
"So, how did you survive your cake?" he asked my mother over my head.
"Let's see here." He moved something suspiciously like a pliers in my mouth.
Three decades after enduring one of the more agonizing rituals of
Anywhere But Here is, of course, a novel (and a very good one; the
people who create works of the imagination, has been suspected now and then of
story's being appropriated in the latter work, click here.)
Not even the tiniest of the small literary magazines, however, has likely
"Oh, honey, it's something adults do in bed. But not many people ever do it.
It means you really, really like the woman. You'll know when you're older. It
just means they're really, really serious about you. They wouldn't do it with
But a few chapters later, Ann overhears her mother talking on the phone to
two." A few chapters after that, Ann observes, "Josh Spritzer seemed to be
dropping my mother." And a few chapters after that, he does. (In the movie, Dr.
Spritzer is a little bit of a jerk. Since first encountering the novel a dozen
years ago, Chatterbox has assumed the sexual relationship in the book was
entirely made up, but nevertheless has wondered how Dr. Seltzer felt about
Dr. Seltzer would be flattered to be described in the book as handsome, and
even more flattered by the hunky portrayal of him in the movie by an actor
consider the moral dimension of the Dr. Spritzer character somewhat wanting.
Here was a man who'd devoted his life to making crooked things
The morning after seeing the movie, Chatterbox excitedly rang up Dr.
Seltzer's office, where, according to the phone book, Dr. Seltzer was still
"I was to make sure he didn't get into a situation he could not get out of.
They didn't want him to get into trouble. So we went into the field after the
fact after combat actions, and that limited his exposure to any hazards."
This quote leaves the impression that Gore was treated specially by not
being sent into combat situations, and possibly that he or his politically
request to Gore himself, and that he does not believe Gore was ever aware of
interesting things. He told me that the flap was "much ado about nothing" and
that he thinks the use of the term "bodyguard" is inaccurate. For Army
journalists in the unit, not visiting a battlefield until the battle was over
mixed feelings about being asked to serve as Gore's "security escort." On the
one hand, he resented Gore's special treatment. On the other hand, he felt
honored to be chosen. And while he at first thought Gore was privileged and out
Gore. But whether or not the conversation occurred, Gore clearly was not
reporting assignments that were in practice largely voluntary.
Gore went on many such trips, where he and other Army journalists caught a
no reason to believe these other journalists got the request he did to keep
explained to him that he would have to choose between hanging around the base
telling him. Gore's decision was to go and see the war for himself, often in
known it. If you're not pulling your weight, you're an outcast. [Gore] was one
clearly did expose Gore to hazards he wouldn't have faced had he stayed back at
the base writing up press releases. Riding on helicopters, sleeping in foxholes
villages near the base were all things Gore did that involved a degree of
Gore has alleged in the past that he was protected in a different way at an
earlier stage, but not out of a benign motive. Gore enlisted in the Army in the
delayed for more than a year, until after his father had lost the election in
wanted to make sure that Little Al didn't create good publicity for Big Al from
the suspicion that politics was what kept Gore stateside for so long.
The worst Gore can be accused of on the basis of existing evidence is being
protected to a minor degree without his own knowledge or consent. Even that
much may not be true. But even if someone in the military did give an order to
protect Gore, this should hardly count as a mark against him. It doesn't
diminish the credit Gore deserves for volunteering to participate in a war that
is a court order that would force the company to reveal the "source code" for
part or all of its Windows operating system. What exactly does this mean?
that make up a program. It is the letters and symbols that software engineers
type into their computers when they create an application or operating system.
For example, if a C++ programmer wrote a program to make his computer display
the words, "Hello, World," the source code might look like this:
Although these commands are intelligible to engineers, they are useless to
computers, which understand only ones and zeros. So, to make the source code
into a functioning program, translation software (called a "compiler") must
convert it into the binary "object code" that computers can process.
object code and the source code freely available so that any programmer can
figure out how the program is constructed and then alter it to his
satisfaction. But closed source software, such as Windows and most commercial
programs, is shipped with the object code only. Software companies argue that
source code contains valuable intellectual property that must be protected. One
Co. ships only bottles of Coke to its customers, not the formula for the drink,
theoretically convert object code back into source code. But their inaccuracies
render them largely ineffective. (Think of one person translating a sentence
are slim that the sentence would end up in its original form.) Additionally,
attempting to reverse engineer software is illegal: Like most commercial
source code public, competitors could use this information to market Windows
computer languages. To use the source code effectively, a competitor would need
to figure out which commands affect which functions and how changes to one part
for even the most experienced programmers. For this reason, releasing the
operating systems unless a great number of software engineers applied
be bad for consumers because it would result in many incompatible versions of
So far, the results of releasing source code to the public are mixed. It can
Navigator browser a year an a half ago, and most estimate that it will take at
least another six months for programmers to create a new product with it. And a
browser's source code is only a fraction of the size of that of an operating
were too easy on Gates. Years ago, before blackness became really marketable,
it used to be said that the publishing industry would admit only one black
simultaneously on the bestseller list. Then along came Henry Louis "Skip" Gates
guys are in an unenviable place. Gates must seem like he's everywhere. Still
and all, I wonder how much of his work will survive, and whether, in a hundred
years, say, anyone will read anything by Gates, in the same way we still read
Oh, well. At least Gates had the decency not to include himself in his own
I wish he'd left out bell hooks and Cornel West, though, two prominent
public intellectuals (that's what they call people who get paid hundreds of
thousands of dollars to lecture the rest of us about what we're doing wrong).
There are biographies of both, though, thankfully, we only have to read
about hooks. Not so with West. He writes a 15-page "interpretation" of
and though only one volume has been published, his is already the standard
reward your friends and ignore everyone else. Which would explain why there's
so slavishly politically correct and populist? There are at least three
Interpretation" (there's that word again!), and the popularization begins on
There's an entry on rap music (what an oxymoron!). I suppose you could make
an argument that it's a significant enough phenomenon, so that it deserves to
be here. But what's the rationale for separate biographical entries on Queen
that many whites feel bad when they don't know something about black history
and culture. Years ago, a white woman told me about how her son's teacher let
honor Twain shortly before the latter's death, and for the monument in
allowed senators to adjourn for the year. All three papers report that although
both parties had to make significant compromises to pass the bill, both
Democrats and Republicans are touting their local victories within the bill:
funding, and the Republicans are assured of more money for medical
The LAT highlights the Republican claim that passage of the bill
could mean that the Social Security trust fund will remain untouched for the
skepticism. In addressing the individual parts of the spending package, the
provisions of the bill in terms of the dollar amount assigned to them, the
wheeling and dealing that took place in the final hours. The second paragraph
prominently. A sense of grateful relief that the filibuster never materialized
and that the budget was finally sent to the president pervades all three
was reached, members of both parties emptied silently out of the chamber.
status of the suit and whether a mediator can help bring about a settlement.
proclivities, and that neither side in the case should feel as though it's been
limits on conventional armaments, and simplifications of the procedures for
advertising. But such bans have been upheld in other regions of the country.
Policy; President Shielded from Violence," and the article develops more fully
that juxtaposition between the fury in the streets and the tranquility in which
the president was able to conduct his visit. In its live coverage of the day's
airport and images of marauding protesters hurling rocks and firebombs.
story, the LAT also contrasts the violence of the protests with the
All three papers front Gov. Bush's speech in which he outlined his foreign
speech to answer critics of his foreign policy abilities, but each paper draws
story with "Bush Urges Engagement; Opposes Test Ban Treaty," suggesting a
upcoming debates with his Republican opponents. The LAT stands alone in
reporting that the speech received endorsements from some prominent
reefer on the safety board chairman's statement that media leaks have "clouded"
If you're looking for signs of irrationality in the current stock market,
and you're not one of those people who think that every Internet stock out
there is necessarily overvalued, the best place to look is probably the
investor craze for companies that announce stock splits. When a company splits
its stock, it does so by offering its current shareholders one (or sometimes
two or three) shares for every one they currently own. The value of the company
as a whole stays unchanged, although its stock price is cut in half (or in
thirds or fourths). In essence, a stock split divides up the company's pie into
more slices, without changing the size of the pie at all.
Stock splits are a legacy of the time when it was difficult for individual
investors to buy shares in anything other than round (that is, multiples of
investors to buy it, but if you split your stock, you could bring those
investors would rather own more shares at a lower price rather than fewer
shares at a higher price, even though the value of each holding is the same
of investors who will never consider buying the stock and, in the case of the
Class A shares, probably couldn't buy the stock. And, since stock prices
have been had it rejected stock splits (in which case its stock price would be
So, all other things being equal, stock splits do exert a slight upward pull
on a company's stock price. But slight is the key word here. Academic
studies suggest that the shares of companies that announce stock splits don't
do significantly better than the market, which makes sense, since in the long
run a stock's price is determined far more by the underlying value of the
company than by any other factor. And a stock split has nothing to do with
You often hear that splits are important because they're a way for
management to signal that it's confident in the company, but this is a non
sequitur, unless not splitting the stock is a way of saying, "We don't believe
in our future, so we don't want small investors to be hurt." And in any case,
splits have become so routine, and in some sense so expected, that any
signaling function they might have had has been vaporized.
Despite all this, the announcement of a split now regularly drives up a
company's stock price. A week and a half ago, for instance, Juniper, one of the
other news. This was it. The company's future prospects were no better at the
end of the day than they had been at the beginning. But the market thought the
What we're seeing here is a classic recursive loop, in which meaningless
news becomes meaningful because the market has established a pattern of
treating similarly meaningless news as meaningful. More than that, an entire
cottage industry has sprung up around stock splits, since investors are now
split. And the existence of that industry itself conveys the message that
Any time you have a phenomenon like this one, it's better to look for the
underlying economic rationality rather than just write it off as hysteria. But
in this case, the market really isn't recognizing hidden value by rewarding
stock splits. It's just shuffling money from one pocket to another. And the
really weird thing is this: When Juniper announced its stock split, its shares
don't seem to be deterred anymore by high stock prices. They're happy to pile
then, investors demonstrated that splitting isn't really necessary to bring
$20,000--and decreased the minimum enlistment period needed to receive a bonus
The Senate continued to bicker over pork, and both houses renewed an
high up that spending will increase by tens of billions of dollars from last
At a 54-member meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
"I would hope that every leader of every country around this table would have
conference a day early, but the news summary in the Journal 's
(the corresponding Associated Press story on the Journal 's Web site
makes no such characterization). The papers do not mention a possible political
than previously thought. Although it continued to stress the likelihood of a
"I have made my decision now," before uttering the widely reported phrase, "I
put my faith in God's hands." (The first phrase has been mentioned by some, but
not all, of the newspapers for several days now. Suspecting that this first
phrase was spurious, Today's Papers now regrets not having mentioned this
anomaly.) This is not, the Journal notes, a petty detail: If the
repeats both phrases in an inside story today. Meanwhile, an
with no hint of mechanical failure, before its fatal dive.
appropriation that, unlike the rest of the sitcom, is not fictional.
don't think I can. You've said it all: He is the single most repulsive person
on the planet. What a wonderfully pithy, accurate sentence.
able to help it. Horrible as he is (or perhaps because he is so horrible),
And there's no reason to feed the ego of every rich guy who decides to inflict
Trump around would likely be amusing as hell. I plan to start the interview by
sneezing repeatedly into my palm, then trying to shake his hand. Guaranteed
cooties.") For another, Trump's candidacy, and the Reform Party generally,
reflects a larger, important trend in politics, and may be the surest sign yet
that ideology as a force in national elections is dead.
Wow. Did I just write that last sentence? Pardon me. Let me take that back:
The Reform Party isn't a reflection of anything. They're just a bunch of wackos
with a Web site and federal matching funds. But that doesn't mean we can't have
bit torn here. I don't think Drudge is obsessed with accuracy, and I never
thought that giving him a television show sounded like a great idea. On the
other hand, if there's one thing that annoys me more than a reckless Internet
about reckless Internet gossip merchants. As if people need to be protected
and haven't filed a story since the Ford Administration think of the State of
Stunned by this new revelation, Chatterbox ran to the nearest bookstore and
pounds of pulsing hormones. Their relationship was a tempestuous one.
remedy here, but a fear of getting pregnant did not deter us in our
almost forgot to look up the business about smoking dope. Here it is (Page
weekend, and she could be playful. He vaguely remembers them joining a march on
previous statements that she has never taken illegal drugs." Surprisingly,
nobody pitched a question about this to the president this morning when
he gave some remarks about a new proposed Labor Department rule allowing
states to use unemployment insurance to fund parental work leave.
In case Chatterbox isn't being snide enough to get his point across:
her college boyfriend, even if she's lying about it now. He brings the matter
false, that could possibly be leveled. What's left? A loutish college boyfriend
In response, the creaking White House press office shudders and throws off a
spark or two and issues one more unconvincing denial. Can't anybody make it
in his will. The catch: To receive his inheritance, the grandson must be
And are there any limits on the conditions one can place on a gift?
Grandpa is well within his rights; conditional gifts to people and
institutions are not uncommon. Although the laws vary from state to state,
judges have generally reasoned that since the beneficiary is free to decline
the gift, such conditions don't violate anyone's rights.
So, wealthy parents are free to put virtually any restriction on their
estates. Inherited money is most frequently contingent upon the recipient's
getting a college education or staying out of legal trouble. But courts have
even upheld parents' right to condition gifts on the heir's abstaining from
smoking or marrying someone of a certain religion or ethnicity. And conditional
The condition cannot require a violation of the law. This
principle has been used most frequently to prevent beneficiaries from having to
uphold illegal racial restrictions in order to receive property. For instance,
courts have overturned the proviso that donated parkland be available only to
The condition cannot run counter to "public policy."
Courts vary in their interpretation of this principle but have generally used
it to strike down requirements that prohibit marriage or encourage divorce.
(Most commonly, a man will attempt to leave property to his wife as long as she
never remarries.) It has also been used to repeal requirements that would cause
by one side of the family. And it has prevented beneficiaries from being
The condition cannot last forever. Courts consider it
undesirable for someone to control property or land for hundreds of years after
his death. So in most states, restrictions on private inheritances are limited
to charities can often last longer). After this time, the property and decision
rights must be transferred to an individual or group.
computers constantly have to tell us more about their own internal activities
impression I might be inadvertently launching a nuclear missile: "Dialing",
ending up in an inscrutable "Status" box with graphs and blinking lights and
various pronouncements whose urgent meanings no human could ever know.
This is our last exchange for the week, right? From this distance, our
discussions seem to have started out on a suitably high and somber note with
great effort of will that I now refrain from referring you to my new favorite
pencil ("styptic," proclaims the editors, "is such an excellent word"). If you
can top that for meaninglessness, you are welcome to try. In the meantime, it
should be stated for the record that your own book on the history of the
abortion wars is a marvel of substance and you should not necessarily be judged
by the lowbrow online company you've been keeping all week.
will stretch to thousands of pages. Its worldview is cranky and at times
irresponsible. Its subject is a busybody. And yet these books are a real
just long enough to inculcate in her (unjustifiably) a sense of her own
slanders him in public, fleeces him out of his money, turns his family against
him, and seeks to get him institutionalized. That brother, Teddy, becomes
poetry, and blossoms. No room for that back in the States, once she marries her
uses the family finances to stay Top Woman in her son's life.
unpacking his trunk, she offers him his "freedom." If that's a euphemism for
So does she. And in a strange way, after an initial frost, their marriage
grows more tender as it grows more distant. (Let's talk more about this.) He
to change. But she adapts so skillfully that no one quite realizes it. She
the Poor of all sexes. The White House has two social circles, two policy
Since Cook's first allegiance is to feminism (more specifically, to gay
rights), she is not dug in on most of the political and economic questions that
more in common with him than it appears.) It also brings weaknesses: This is
Sorry to run on. These are excellent books to be read with extreme caution.
bothered that Cook uses the old leftist trick of praising her subject's
visionary radicalism, and then condemning as alarmist fabricators those who
recently passed and a similar one the Senate's considering.
business. Among those designated for tax breaks: Multinationals, small business
the seventh paragraph to mention the bills need to be "sharply scaled down"
not allow a risky plan to become law." Environmental and consumer groups are
irked by the bills' concessions to oil, gas, and nuclear utilities, though
The New York Stock Exchange confirmed yesterday that it plans to go public
could result says the piece without explaining how, but the rush to go public
"leaves unanswered for now some key questions about how to regulate these
instant messaging. It allows users to send notes that pop up in a box on the
screen of a recipient with the necessary software as they are being typed.
about. However, others existed, like one put out by Prodigy, developed with the
technical details of its Instant Messenger to allow other firms to develop
analog. First, it more clearly explains the technology and does so earlier in
the piece. Second, it reports three more important facts. Yahoo also introduced
competition based on open standards," which is "exactly the complaint from
was reported missing yesterday. "It was the first reported disappearance of
Teddy and gloat.' I loved that. It was so like his father."
that she helped establish the modern social compact under which citizens trade
gets complicated if you think, as I do, that a lot of her most noble goals
(such as racial integration) would have happened anyway, and consider that a
lot of her least noble ones (such as disarmament on the verge of World War II)
urged that we "treat the jobless man like a patient in hospital." Cook says
lamented that the nation lacked a benevolent dictator to force through
ruling in good times, which makes a lot of her rhetoric, as you say,
instincts were aristocratic. She ushered in (or, more accurately, restored) an
era in which political power was seized not through backroom deals and
she gave to charity the millions she made as a radio star does not, to my mind,
connections, fame, not to mention having a husband who's president. The
hardly, pace Cook, dragged kicking and screaming), the government and
with her! But the moment she berates the "privilege" of those who couldn't
afford to make a down payment on her carriage house, or invokes the "greed" of
governmental power that is not really your property. Maybe that's a problem,
philanthropists (hence, buy political support) doesn't change the ethics of it.
curiously narrow definition of privilege, a definition that left her lifestyle
discovery for which Cook deserves great credit) was worth keeping an eye on.
Court in 1937--is made the worse by his almost insane assertion that the
Supreme Court was one of the "three horses" pulling the New Deal "plow."
Without calling him undemocratic, one can wonder what his idea of democracy
division of labor between presidents and their wives. You asked,
providing a model for later administrations, in which poor folks and children
and the lame and the halt were insidiously sentimentalized as women's
Because sentimental politics can be a way to fob off rhetorical
solutions on people demanding practical ones. Sometimes this is a good way to
defuse radicalism which would otherwise be hard to answer. When the Bonus
couldn't cave in to them, either, without unleashing similar protests across
But sometimes sentimental politics is merely a way to salve one's conscience
provide him with cover for his inaction. (One note: If I left the impression
You're right that it's race where the interplay between rhetorical and
programmatic politics was most complex. Cook snorts throughout at the demands
etiquette" be respected. But at some level she understands that it was
the White House into a place where black people were routinely seen coming in
against racism at a time of severely limited options. (Of course, it alone
than the first, but I think you're right. I never quite figured out, for
civil rights) would have happened just fine without her, but she must take a
What she did get was a chance to rally and embolden the men and women inside
the New Deal who shared her belief that its benefits ought to extend to
civil rights movement. Symbolic weight isn't nothing in this case: No one can
say how much it ultimately meant that ER had lunch on the patio of the White
country's first hostess to say that there was no reason a black man shouldn't
eat with her, in the White House, as her equal. If she hadn't broken that bar,
her fair share of bricks from the edifice of respectable racism. And she did
it, as Cook makes clear, in spite of her class and upbringing, which she saw
her place among the black delegates. When the police ask her to move, she
going to tell me that the Southern Conference on Human Welfare was full of
nanny state. I still can't grant you that this is a bad thing. I know we don't
want to get lured into this old argument, but still, which part of the New Deal
to work in the Civilian Conservation Corps? I know, I know (or at least I think
I know): We're talking about a spectrum here, in which some freedom is
traded for some security, and reasonable liberals like me and reasonable
conservatives like you simply differ on where the appropriate balance is
conservative to explain whether and why the New Deal should have halted short
isn't it better to make a lot of money you give to charity than to make a lot
hypocritical in preaching against the greed and privilege of others, but it
strikes me as unfair to seize on this as a reason to disqualify her as having
been more virtuous of her to while away the Depression polishing the White
House china? May only the poor object to the treatment of the poor?
counterpart is a hopeful lift in what has been a difficult patch with China,
from the "one China" policy. The only real difference between the two accounts
is that the LAT stresses remaining strains in the relationship a bit
more, noting this in the big type of its headline, and also mentions the
vessels and for resuming talks regarding the nonproliferation of weapons of
and Senate now have personal experience with the difficulties posed by aging,
infirm parents and other relatives, the issue of how to help alleviate the cost
Congress' agenda. "Until you've gone through something, you don't really
politicians to have family members who can't get drug rehabilitation treatment
or day care or who end up on the wrong end of a handgun.
business group that certifies minority ownership of corporations is likely to
Corporations are slashing their suppliers down to a handful of giants, which
would, under the present rules, automatically exclude virtually all
like becoming more attractive to investors by weakening the definition of
that the vote the other day to deny money to the F-22 doesn't, despite many
headlines, actually kill the plane. That's because, he explains, the money that
was turned down was only for producing the first block of aircraft next year.
this sort of pot has been used in the past to resuscitate killed or virtually
killed aircraft such as the B-1 and B-2 bombers and the Osprey tilt rotor
The LAT 's recent addition of a reader's representative is starting to
of the protest's organizers called, he was transferred three times and then
reporter at the paper, an intern, knew in advance of the demonstration, but
assumed the city desk would already know about it. Just getting the snafu story
out there will make both the paper and its readers more aware of what needs to
be done to avoid this sort of mistake in the future.
cases. His crucial misstep appears to have been a profound failure to blend in.
were doing so well. (If inflation and interest rates are on the way up, that's
usually a bad thing for banks.) On the other hand, maybe it's not so
perplexing, just an indication that bond traders and stock traders aren't
hearing the same news, believing the same things, or expecting the same future.
Of course, most stock traders apparently were hearing the same news
What an odd week. The earnings numbers could not have been better. With the
rare exception, just about every tech bellwether that's reported has come in
ahead of expectations, and those were expectations that were about as high as
any reasonable person could put them. But, again with the rare exception, all
these bellwethers have seen their stock prices get crunched. This only goes to
show you one thing, which happens to be the most important thing to know about
foolishness. Dump your money into an index fund, and you won't have to worry
about any of these anxieties disrupting your weekend barbecues. And so, chat
on. (By the way, this will be the last weekend chatter for a couple of weeks,
behind people's backs. But he doesn't own any property, so at least he's got
cut almost in half on their first day. Ain't the Net wonderful?"
UPS workers go on strike, management will have another club to bludgeon them
propping up for most of this decade, the government continues to insist that no
public official did anything wrong and that no one should be punished. 'Not
Finance Ministry said. Apparently the pesos that taxpayers are sending to the
hostile takeover attempt on Elf. 'You see, the problem isn't the merging part,'
you can almost hear the Elf executives saying. 'The problem is the
dwindling middle class, and a despoiled natural habitat.' Wow. Who knew that
news and commentary, it does tend to neglect an important aspect of life: the
and uses it every year. How would anyone know the difference?)
These thoughts are inspired by the current miserable heat wave. It's a
and in parts of the southeast and southwest. (Click here
continental United States.) As the century draws to a close, "hottest summer"
records are being broken left and right, making it harder and harder to
Chatterbox isn't really interested today in expounding on the terrifying menace
of global warming. (It's too hot.) Instead, Chatterbox finds himself wondering:
How hot can it get? As is usually the case when interesting questions are
Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Chatterbox has always felt that the usual way temperature records are
weather records pretty frequently. No doubt there are serious scientific
reason may be that it makes it easier for weather authorities to soothe an
aggrieved public: There, there. You're right. Nobody's ever had to endure
records would seem to support the theory that global warming is making the
planet, or at least the United States, much hotter.
Probably the data isn't perfect. Can it really be true that the hottest
climate. Chatterbox would also like to take this opportunity to implore pedants
not to write in and point out that during earlier geological eras the worldwide
climate was vastly different from what it's been during the last century (which
seem to show that, hot as it is, we should all stop bitching and get back to
reported by the latter paper yesterday. The New York Times
fronts the story as well. Each of the papers marks this as the worst attack yet
stresses the proximity of Western forces and their inability to suppress this
money contributions. The Democrats' Plan A is to raise as much soft money as
possible; if they come up short, Plan B is to adopt a folksy,
sourced to Bush and some of his closest consorts, describes his former drinking
habit in explicit terms ("if not clinically an alcoholic, Bush sometimes came
remain hopelessly fuzzy on the issues, be resented for his vast campaign (and
inherited) resources, get cocky, fall apart in an early primary, or be felled
by a scandalous skeleton rattling in his closet. Meanwhile, a piece inside the
but never considers that it might be the other way around.
does an excellent job of describing the potential burden of China's size: "With
parents will select their baby's gender. An experimental process dubbed
those carrying Y chromosomes, so that doctors can impregnate women with embryos
It seems that the experts will have to revise their casualty numbers for
that seems to show that insurance company procedures are inimical to efficient
provisions (a k a "pork") that the House Republican leadership has attached to
the spending bills currently under consideration in order to gain members'
Indeed, the weapons turnover program they are administering is almost
are the order of the day, and he describes the confiscation of one furniture
provisions calling for denying illegals access to social services and public
schools, and those requiring police, school administrators, and public health
officials to turn them in. All that will remain are two laws aimed at stopping
the false document market in the state. All this for an initiative that, notes
but their attitudes are nuanced. For instance, respondents noted that they are
frequently able to reverse an insurer's initial decision to deny a course of
treatment, and they admit that the rise of managed care has probably led to an
online edition at least) mentions that nurses were surveyed too.
percent over that time span. Top influence spender? The insurance industry.
stop the pharmaceutical industry from encouraging doctors to prescribe
otherwise would be to violate the constitutional protection of commercial
the record by name to say that they saw or saw evidence of rapes, some of them
gang rapes. The paper adds that one of these witnesses also described a woman
pit. An experienced concert safety official expresses the bottom line: "What
would not be allowed on public streets is allowed at concerts."
analysis. Interestingly, both firms declined, out of fear about the business
about military compensation that are routinely overlooked by the papers. The
writer notes that his cousin, an 18-year Army officer, attended college and
graduate school for free, and that given the tax advantages of a military
never in the papers: Military members can usually avoid paying state taxes.
To begin with the end of your last entry, I find I have to give you some
with opposition to "all public improvements," and Cook does tend to caricature
"freedom" in quotes as anything but a perfectly respectable rhetorical device,
because it seems to speak to the question of why I come down on the side of
miserable childhood, I don't buy it as the complete explanation for her empathy
more about circumstance: When ER talked about the excitement of forming a new
social order, well, she had a point. Her husband's administration was in the
midst of saving capitalism from itself. And ER was talking about the redress of
total segregation, pervasive poverty. What's not to reorder?
talking to a generation of contented fellow boomers, in an era of prosperity,
progressive direction. No, the heaven of racial harmony has not been achieved,
always seemed to chide us, as if we were all mossback fat cats of the '30s who
That note in her voice, of the unreconstructed left, is the same one I
pretty much tuned out in reading Cook's bio. I suspect the world is divided
between people who tune it out and people who are driven crazy by it, with a
small remaining percentage who agree with it. (These are the same people who
is what's made her so darned successful at attracting the right enemies, at
A bright, intense young woman marries a profligately charming man who takes her
home to his disapproving mother. She is dashed by his flirtations (and more?)
with other women, but flowers when he runs for office and she discovers her own
skills as a political wife. The higher he rises, the more she uses the role of
spouse (and some apparent sense, within the marriage, that he owes her) to
bring her own agenda to the fore. He needs her to organize him (he's always
late and always talks too long to any gathering) and also to bring in money for
the family (the few years he spends out of office, the practice of law bores
him silly). She gradually finds that her marriage to him allows her to exercise
power in his name that she was never able to claim in her own right.
But of course the other circumstance that makes the two women different is
(Not, as indicated above, that ER was innocent of personal ambition. "How I
was not a force for good? Do you think she was the opposite, or not a force of
the mark. Cook is persuasive that their love affair was rich and rewarding over
snotty refusal to let White House elevator operators practice their trade ("I
know how to run an elevator!"), her firing of all the white kitchen help on the
objects of her "solicitude" and everything to do with the greater glory of
her political ambitions did not arise purely from such a project of
thwarted person tacking out in search of love and eminence. I can't agree that
she was a force for good, but she seems to have been a good person.
her own patrician way, had behind her the authority of what our grandparents
called the School of Hard Knocks. (And our grandparents had far more awareness
than we grant them that such Knocks could be emotional ones.) Her ambitions are
contrast, is a cosseted suburbanite with a project for getting famous. Her
ambitions come undiluted from her own fantasy life.
cartoons from The New Yorker of the 1930s that would make you laugh till
getting her clothes dirty in a dangerous place. They're stunts, but courageous
us because she feels no need to do any of that earning.
for diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union were rustic lunkheads to a man.
in passing a constitutional amendment to ban child labor:
blocked by shrieks of Bolshevism: Various church groups and opponents of public
health, public education, and all public improvements protested the amendment
as a government intrusion into the "freedom" of family
freedom take the cake. None of this sinks the book. An author's ideology is
kind of like the weather in a foreign country: After a few days you learn to
dress for it, and you can enjoy the sights without paying it much mind. Still,
received via snail mail an intriguing bundle of news clippings from Jack
Deep Throat Revealed [One Last Time].") To recap: Chatterbox last month
established, mainly by passing along private conversations he'd had with Bob
Felt was Deep Throat, Chatterbox thinks that hypothesis is worth very serious
but I had the feeling that Deep Throat doesn't smoke."
Not knowing who the Post editor in question was, it's hard to assess
whether that editor's "feeling" that Deep Throat didn't smoke was based on
piece is a reprinted snippet from the transcripts of the White House tapes
Dean: Now, about White House staff and reporters and the like, and, now,
Felt comes out and unwraps the whole thing. What does it do to him?
course, he couldn't do it unless he had a guarantee from somebody like
Time magazine saying, "Look, we'll give you a job for life." Then what
do they do? They put him in a job for life, and everybody would treat him like
society. Either way, that's the one thing people do sort of line up against.
There's a lot going on in this exchange. As we now know, before the year was
even dragging in Chambers and all but saying the man was a fool to turn in
done: be an informer, but a secret informer, exacting the promise not of
lifetime employment but of lifetime confidentiality that he was
I don't think it will ever be resolved whether it was an actual person or
It's very tempting to read this comment as deliberate misdirection on Felt's
read a transcript), Chatterbox was struck by the chief executive's comfort and
W. Bush to come forward and give specifics on the issues that you mentioned,
could you tell us what you find objectionable about his trying to present a new
moderate face for his party just like you did for the Democrats? And could you
tell us whether you're worried whether he will figure out how the Republicans
the characterization you gave of my first answer. When I ran for president in
going on in our country and what I would do. And if you remember, the late
we both put out these very detailed plans of what we would do. If you go back
and get one of those plans now, you'll see that virtually everything we said
we'd do, we did do, except for the things we tried to do and were defeated
the sad aftermath of his son's death. Chatterbox, who's had trouble looking at
because congressional Republicans were overplaying their hand), the public gave
broke. In that instance, the public was probably expressing disapproval of the
As the impeachment drama dissipated, though, and Congress and the press
Interestingly, this was a period when Chatterbox felt more enthusiastic
conference, which seemed a bit of a reach, was: "People think things are going
things are changing, you should want continued change."
thinking: Chatterbox is a reporter. Reporters always like to take popular
people down, and they're trained to sympathize with underdogs ("afflict the
comfortable, comfort the afflicted"). Chatterbox will grant that some of this
it's not clear that even the House Republicans have a majority to do
that. But for the first time since Flytrap, Chatterbox felt himself thinking,
as primitive as others. Remember Tom DeLay's recent tirade against the teaching
the bill passed by the House last month mandating the posting of the Ten
Commandments in public schools. The House recently defeated a resolution
You can dismiss someone like DeLay as an extremist, but, in the wake of
him in decrying the nihilism supposedly engendered by our secular culture. You
and I disagree about the alleged skepticism of the chattering classes. From my
perspective, most professional chatterers today tend to be almost as
deferential to religion as politicians. They may occasionally ponder the
appropriate place of religion in public life, but they rarely, if ever, express
any irreverence toward established religions (although they feel free to mock
We do agree that the pandering and preaching of politicians is especially
comrades on the far right aren't playing to the variegated denominations you
mention; they're playing to their base. People such as Al Gore who aim to
please all of us, or as many as possible, traffic mostly in ecumenical
banalities about the virtue and values of Godliness: Gore talks nonsensically
about parents who "struggle to pass on the right values" to their children. And
he confirms his own religiosity, deploring the "hollow secularism" that
supposedly afflicts the unenlightened. That's probably about the most fire and
brimstone that we'll hear from him. And while it may be foolish to deride
You don't need a crystal ball to know that we are likely to see more
successfully embraced a Republican agenda on crime control, Democrats are
presented by both parties as an antidote to crime. Al Gore has recently
likely to see an unprecedented diversion of tax dollars to churches, mosques,
establish a religious school seeking voucher students or apply for government
funds under a charitable choice provision. Do you think an organization like
only so long as they support the particular faith delivering the service.
The challenge for the dwindling ranks of secularists is to convince people
that the separation of church and state is not hostile to religion; it serves
religion, or rather it serves religions. Religious leaders who enjoy tax
exemptions should surely understand that. (And I should make clear that
withdraw from the political sphere; it requires government to withhold support
from sectarian activities and keeps government free of sectarian structures.)
Anyway, it should be obvious that secularism makes pluralism possible. That
prohibitions on establishing religion ensure free exercise is such a simple
Sometimes I put my faith in sectarian rivalries, which helped derail the
demanded state funding for special Christian schools). The group reconsidered
"I asked God, 'Do you want me to change the law to put prayer in the schools?'
He said no. If you do that, kids would have the right to pray to other Gods
adjective, "irresponsible." I did think you unfair in characterizing it as
suggesting that her bio is given to "sweeping generalizations about emotional
ways rich, in other ways frustrating. She's definitely broken new ground in
in the air, while also raising five children and sharing the presidency of the
United States, is just another big reminder that any one marriage is a stranger
and more mysterious land than an outsider can possibly know.
That it wasn't easy is suggested by the jealousies that bordered their
abyss they considered neutrality." But this leads me to what I found a bit
marriage, but I think she minimizes it, or rather that her awareness of it
seems to come and go. On the one hand, she writes that
in relation to Franklin, ER still occupied a lonely sphere which
echoed the isolation of her childhood. Beyond the First Family's jolly facade,
ER endured a lifelong sense of exclusion that represented for her an ongoing
present their domestic life as a settled, deeply fond, mutually beneficial
never all amity or all its opposite. But somehow I thought that Cook didn't
from being married to an impossible (in the marital sense) man? Cook did a
husband; how he relinquished all control to his mother and absented himself
great woman mostly by making the best of a bad business, is it?
conflict of interest posed by her personal ties to ER) was pining away over
having given up the career that had lifted her out of poverty and brought her
marriage, she couldn't begin to imagine what Hick had sacrificed for her.
I didn't find it paradoxical that Cook insists on the centrality of
does is assume the centrality of it, for the most part, and leave the
convertible with her lesbian lover? And she got away with it? Isn't that kind
administrations, in which poor folks and children and the lame and the halt
digital alterations during a ritualized orgy. Yippee: another occasion for
bashing the ratings board. I saw the picture before the fig leaves were applied
My point is that the film critics are blaming the wrong party. The villains
board but the sanctimonious hypocrites who preside over some of the country's
largest video and media chains. These are the people who treat any film rated
stigma that came with the earlier X rating. But the very same chains that
Take Blockbuster, which prides itself on being a "family video store." A
stroll through the aisles will take you past displays of such wholesome fare as
righteousness while trafficking in the same kind of sleaze as every other
cuts of movies such as Eyes Wide Shut and would "provide a category for
adult films that would be acceptable to theater owners and advertising
outlets." He goes on: "Theaters would not shun them. Everybody understands the
Uncut (a title whose second meaning allegedly passed straight over the
chains announce that they won't be carrying ads for A films?
example, opens with a 'humorous' decapitation, and the PG rated movie, Star
rating because of a scene in which Brooks' protagonist babbles to his wife
unacceptable, said the ratings board, because "fuck" is used in a "sexual
context." Brooks pointed out that if the character, instead of saying, "I want
to fuck you over this desk" had said, "I want to fuck you over with this
notions of "acceptable" violence. A director who frequently tangled with the
ratings board told me an instructive story. He did some research on fistfights
and discovered that a lot of them last one punch: In real life, one person's
nose gets broken and the other person's hand gets broken. There's a lot of
blood. I once watched a friend get his nose broken in a (brief) fistfight and
want to film such a fight for the purposes of making violence realistically
fight. I put in the sound of cartilage being crunched and show the bright red
blood pouring out of someone's nose, and I give you a close up of the other
folks. The lesson for kids is that violence is funny and bloodless and without
people, though, fly often in commercial planes and are familiar with
instructions on what to do in case of what is euphemistically called a "water
landing." Is there such a thing as a water landing, and what are your chances
unplanned, descent onto water, as opposed to a simple crash, this is what
is one ditching every day in United States waters. This includes helicopters
says that in an attempted water landing, a wide body jet would "shatter like a
raw egg dropped on pavement, killing most if not all passengers on impact, even
the Federal Aviation Administration does not require commercial pilots to train
for them. Instead, it has various rules about how close planes must be to an
Any benefit from the procedures and precautions associated
with the phrase, "in the event of a water landing" are, at this point, purely
You're right, we began somber and became silly, which is a fair
trajectory from stumbling glumly downstairs to fighting over the comics, except
that around my table the only audible dialogue is generally, "You done with
those yet?" punctuated by the clank of spoon against cereal bowl. There was a
phase a while back when I filled with resolve, for reasons then unclear to
myself but transparent to any female who has ever cracked the pages of a
in mind the sort that appeared in magazines, with the little wisps of steam
visible as the plates were lowered to the table. I made muffins, or scrambled
pretty good). There was a lot of bacon, too. Something elemental about bacon:
the smell, I think. Also good sound effects. My kids looked startled at first,
Then my daughter got up the nerve to say: Um, this is nice but you know I
parents a few years earlier by requesting a bar mitzvah (for which, to our
astonishment, he studied intently for two years, delivering himself of a
father's family had let lapse), told me kindly one day that he had stopped
eating pork so maybe I could cut back on the bacon. My husband, in the
back in force; in fact, the last time I was at the supermarket, the checker
gazed at my overflowing cart and said: "Lot of cereal eaters in your house, are
I do have one more somber thought, though, because I really am troubled
about this, even though I can see no way to let off even a tiny rant without
personally contributing to the very problem of which I speak: I do believe the
press, and in particular the broadcast press, took leave of its collective
time such a thing has happened, but I am afraid that the net result, following
publicly shared tragedy into something venomous. I think people are just
furious at the coverage. I think fury at the coverage has in some measure
replaced what might have been a brief period of honorable,
be hearing about this for quite a while, and that the demonstrably low public
regard for reporters and commentators will dip still lower in the wake of this
which we felt unable to extricate ourselves, the same blind terror of losing
audience share could have overtaken assignment editors again.
for interest factor can be rated anywhere near your Journal of Inconspicuous
become quite fascinated by this magazine and was going to dig out the latest
Exactly how spontaneous was the spontaneous shrine erected last week on John
hearing so much about on television. There wasn't much to see: a gaggle of
onlookers milled around the block and a few dozen floral bouquets rested on the
of the building. What was most unusual about the scene was the phalanx of
reporters aiming microphones and cameras at the onlookers.
When Chatterbox arrived home, the news shows were still broadcasting from
the scene. Reporters described the "outpouring" of emotion at the makeshift
memorial candles and the droplets of water clinging to the flower petals. What
had appeared in person to be a loose gathering now looked like the altar of a
onlookers to "say a prayer and move it along, please." The hill of bouquets had
hospital and the candles so many that they started a small fire.
constitutes Internet fever. But that's in no small part due to one crucial
been inflated by the fact that there are just too few shares out there to meet
the pop on the first day of trading is larger than it otherwise would be. And
operation, it's probably smaller than most. But in the offering yesterday it
million is still just a fifth of all the shares outstanding. But the fact that
almost certainly kept the stock from rising even more sharply when it first
opened. (Of course, that's kind of scary when you consider how audacious the
In the long run, the size of the float doesn't determine anything. If demand
for shares remains strong, companies eventually offer more shares for sale in
secondary offerings. And if the company is a dog, then not even having a small
float can save it. When it comes to stocks, rarity doesn't mean value in the
long run. Given that, more Net companies should think about forgoing the
pleasure of getting big headlines after their first day of trading and choose
instead to get a real sense of what the market thinks of them. On the other
hand, I suppose that finding out what the market really thinks of them is the
Other issues: various Gore campaign blunders and the Reform Party leadership
a "celebrity, not a public figure," and from Late Edition 's Tucker
pundits' time. Almost all agree that it was a crucial victory for House Speaker
issue. Both Shields and Gigot agree that tax cuts are less popular in an age of
Discussion of the Reform Party focuses less on the party itself than on
local authorities dumped seven million gallons of water into a
switched parties just to get media attention, Mark Shields says, "Let's not
pretend that altruism is an operative principle in politics all of a sudden,
know that when the sun comes up you get up, when it's straight overhead you eat
additive, a possible carcinogen, while promoting cleaner combustion, is
up, were sick and elderly, but the story's very last sentence reveals that two
the budget caps while proposing both a tax cut and more money for key domestic
programs is to declare monies actually going for routine annual expenses to be
"emergency" funding, which the caps don't constrain. Some recent examples of
such "emergencies": medical services for veterans and the census. The paper
additives against those fearing health risks. But, the paper adds, newer car engines can
control carbon monoxide emissions without oxygenates. The paper says substances
One break: The most dangerous additive smells so bad when it's present in
previously questioned by the authorities and then dropped, gave a full account
from investigators but had also written them an anonymous letter leading them
could be heard." The LAT story gives one of those heckling legislators
several paragraphs and quotes one of his heckles, leaving the reader with an
in income taxes. In other words, the folks who have benefited least from the
upswing in salaries or the stock market also benefit least from the Republican
discussion of the total dollar amount of the damage. This is not the standard
do with the festival's virtually all white attendance?
the space craft. Although the letter writer was being critical of the paper's
reporters, the episode probably left him with an improved appreciation of their
the House of Representatives. The bill would pare personal income tax rates by
on health insurance and large inheritances. The papers concur that the plan has
if the government's interest rate on the national debt climbs (the papers call
this stipulation a sham; no one understands how it would actually work, and it
traded shares a private foundation can own in a single company, while Rep.
incentives to build in shopping malls wouldn't be taxed heavily.
and meditation," but they are organized enough to engineer what the
the mystics: Similar groups destabilized the last imperial dynasty, and China
The other unanimously fronted story is the House's denial of funding for the
cost worries, as well as tension between the White House and Capitol Hill on
Bush's first significant policy speech, which laid out a scheme to fund social
incentives designed to stimulate contributions to nonprofits and religious
of "compassionate conservatism" and an unmistakable rejection of Republican
citizens are as generous as his supporters: Despite his speaking in ground zero
esoterica and support for free trade. Meanwhile, Gore's stock suffers from his
tight associations with tort lawyers, who often bring stockholder suits against
complete with descriptions like "Looking for a playmate?" "full of energy and
spunk," and "a real ladies man." But don't respond unless you're ready to get
down on four legs; the ads feature dogs in need of a home.
and overly bureaucratic organization, as well as a welcome emphasis on Internet
that she'll get a shot at running a major corporation years before she could
have expected to get the top job at her old company. And for the rest of us, at
the last fact. It's understandable that she doesn't want it to look as if she
was hired because she was a woman (although the fact that she'd be worried
corporations are run by women is somewhat astonishing). So we'll stipulate that
she was not hired because she was a woman. She was hired because she's a
ceiling anymore," she's simultaneously making too much and too little of her
own accomplishment. She's making too much of it because of her implicit
argument that her ascension has smashed the ceiling. But the reality is that
most doors into the executive suite are still not open to women, and those that
top executive positions are still held by men. There are lots of reasons for
that, of course, and most of them have to do with broader social realities and
still takes a conscious effort on the part of boards of directors and hiring
committees to promote women. (It may be telling, in fact, that New Economy
companies have done a much better job in this regard.) It's hardly a
positions of real authority, was the first Dow company ever to hire a female
an institutional environment that allowed that choice to be made.
because she's downplaying just how talented she had to be to rise as fast as
she has and to overcome all the lingering prejudices against women executives,
good player wouldn't have been able to convince people of what they didn't want
to be convinced of, namely, that black players could play. In some ways, in
fact, you could say that major league baseball wasn't really integrated until
Of course, in theory the market should already have taken care of this.
Discrimination is economically irrational, which means that companies which
discriminate against women should feel the pain in reduced competitiveness. But
we know that companies do discriminate even when it costs them. As my friend
most industrial companies fired the women workers in their plants, even though
to decide what constitutes "rationality" because the selection process is so
counterparts of twenty years ago demonstrates, the insular nature of boards of
directors means that purely economic considerations do not always prevail. And
What's important is that she was hired and that if she's successful she'll make
it easier for those after her. Even, or rather especially, those who are more
system for protecting government computers and those in the private sector from
hackers. (The extensive story is virtually an exclusive, with the Wall Street Journal running a brief dispatch on the same
the public's right to attend civil trials. The ruling came in connection with
about the case, banned the public and the media from case proceedings in which
the jury was not present. Several media companies pursued an appeal, arguing
among other things, that some of the legal battles that have had the most
to criminal trials many times, no high court in the country has ever, before
percent, and significantly reduce the chances of escalation into a severe
scoop when a civil liberties group (not identified by the paper), concerned
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs but had to step aside "because of a blemish in
his personal life." The Gray Lady won't show any more leg than that though,
deigning not to remind the reader just what the zit was.
here, he's never lived here. Today, he will be announcing his candidacy for
likely to pass a bill the would prevent writers, filmmakers, and songwriters
from making unauthorized use of the images of dead people. The bill would
The Journal 's "Tax Report" runs a nugget that says a lot about the
millionaires who make less than a million annually.)
announced its intent to conduct a yearlong boycott of the four major networks
complaints about their sparse television presence, runs the story on Page
Doesn't Deserve It," says that while the party's ideas are "no longer
policies. An editorial and article say that next month's French election could determine the
partnership" concludes that it's nothing to worry about. For the moment, China
article doubts whether online media can attract the loyal "communities" of
all welfare mothers cheat, but only because they have to. Welfare and
moms need outside income to survive. The other striking fact: Women who work at
menial jobs are poorer than women on welfare. The cover story reprints an
tried to save him from the Holocaust. A sportswriter plays a pickup basketball
Also, a column about "Slaves 'R' Us," a business that recruits submissive men
to clean the apartments of dominant women. (It's even weirder than it
volunteers aren't doing much good. (For example: Singing in a church choir
counts as "volunteering"; so does making cookies for a school bake sale.) Only
a tiny fraction of volunteers assist needy children and seniors, and most
forthcoming biography of Tiger Woods. The passage recounts Woods' first trip to
piece congratulates GM on its makeover: The troubled car maker is
faster: Unlike humans, horses are such superb athletes that training doesn't
cover story, Time says that strong opiates such as morphine are a godsend for people in chronic pain.
facing the truth about their World War II misdeeds, and their icy
file and confronts a "friend" who informed on him: She says she had to do it.
the White House of valuing profit above ideology or strategy. The result: We
event that will only reinforce the (wrong) idea that government should
that congressmen solicit contributions from their offices all the time and
China backlash begins. Countering weeks of editorializing by the
as an enemy, it is likely to become one." China has no worldwide ambitions, is
not a regional bully, trails the United States by decades militarily, and isn't
so terrible on human rights. A related article advises the United States to maintain its military
appointing an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund raising.
An article condemns the devolution of power to state governments, arguing that
confidence. Higher unemployment may follow. Remedies: The Federal Reserve Board
must drastically cut interest rates, the International Monetary Fund must
continue to aid foreign countries, and Japan must reform its banking system.
Time 's cover package: a week in the life of a hospital. Following
doctors, nurses, and administrators around the Duke Medical Center, Time
offers vignettes of modern hospital life. General theme: It's hard to balance
are losing readers. Why? "Mainstream" media have taken over their turf by
now more prudish than network television, refusing to discuss the specifics of
cover story says humans have been in the New World for much
women who migrate to bigger cities for work are often shanghaied at the train
station. Sold to "husbands" for a few hundred dollars, the women spend years as
conscienceless, ideologically vindictive use of the investigative privilege can
an ignoble voyeurism so pervasive that we have never permitted a candidate like
culture. Older sports fans hated the brash, loudmouthed Clay; younger ones knew
further catastrophe in the global economy. Among proposals: close banks for one
failed leadership; and place emergency controls on capital flows. A related
article says that all nations can't emulate the United States, so
it was a given that capitalism as a single global paradigm would fail. Thus,
elections, which are more expensive than any nation's but Japan's. The United
Commission teeth to enforce campaign laws, the Economist writes. The
accompanying editorial scoffs at the First Amendment claim that
campaign spending is speech ("ridiculous") and suggests that the United States
socially and residentially integrated than the United States, minorities have
month, the Standard wondered whether women belong in the military. Now
Standard 's article, but agrees that women are too weak for many military
argues that the military is overdoing gender integration in order to placate
president courted black mayors, refused a budget deal with the Republicans, and
police. A profile of a rookie cop says police work is improving because street
bizarre photo essay depicts a husband and wife who have worn matching outfits
Wars hype on the cover. "The Force Is Back" rehashes recent articles in The
extensive evidence that casts doubt on their claims. And a gruesome story about
sexual molestation of boys in Welsh reform schools.
Renaissance" predicts an economic comeback for the New York neighborhood:
weeklies both criticize appeasement of China. But the Standard 's target
business. A Standard editorial urges the Senate not to ratify an
burnish China's image on Capitol Hill, mostly in hopes of winning it permanent
charismatic than his father. Also, an article endorses the reigning view that
proving that free elections and the rule of law are not destabilizing. A
decisions. A story on the world environmental summit says that developed
nations are breaking their promises to curtail emissions of greenhouse gases.
Worse Trouble Than You Think," warns that the colony's "triad" gangsters have
smuggle drugs and arms, pander, and counterfeit. The triads, in turn, will
Freedom, tolerance, and respect for individual rights are integral to the
writer's fear that she won't be able to have children, anxiety about the
appearance of her breast, and gratitude toward her husband and her cancer
support group. After a lumpectomy and radiation, she has an excellent
prognosis. A story sings the praises of the federal Legal Services Corp.,
helps consumers choose and buy online, may be the Net's next killer
knockoff first. Also, an elderly widow writes about rekindling a sexual affair
segment of the population. A "Longevity Test" lets you calculate your life
three if you don't exercise), while a sidebar explains the many benefits and
cigarette deal on the cover. It describes the negotiations (extremely civil) and
evade regulation. Industry folks fear they have given too much away. Cigarette
cautions that Congress may spike the agreement: Liberals think it's too soft on
the industry, while conservatives think it's too harsh.
residents are optimistic; corruption and crime will seep in from China; no one
knows whether China will quash political freedom. Accompanying articles
movie critic pans the summer blockbusters for their similarly idiotic
corrupt, lawless, and scarred by Pol Pot's genocide.
sports are on the cover. Kayaking, sky diving, radical skiing, street lugeing, etc.,
hike the Grand Canyon in high heels, run at midday in Death Valley, dip their
the rich too much, but that the Republican plan is much worse.
"constructive engagement" policy, which holds that China will become more
democratic as it becomes more capitalistic: By gutting the Joint Declaration,
China proves that it will never allow democracy to flourish, even if it
liberal populism, but frets that he's a political chameleon who has adopted
also criticizes him for being a follower. An article warns that the growing
cover editorial blames the world's economic problems on
economists. They waste too much time on minutiae and too many of them have
promising new medical procedure: "downsizing" failing hearts and lungs by
trimming tissue. The smaller organs work better. Also, the magazine says
graphite rackets (power over technique) and charmless players are ruining
New Republic to end all New Republic s. The 25-page cover package
and modernity over ideology and nostalgia. Seventeen other writers contribute
The state's new mandatory work policies, while more expensive than welfare
checks, have pushed more people into the job market and fewer into poverty than
had been expected. Critics doubt that the new workers will keep their jobs in a
to persuade the mainstream medical establishment to accept alternative health
care. Doctors are dubious. An article notes the resurgence in the Western
reduced disease immunity, and entomologists now warn that new epidemics of
malaria, dengue fever, and encephalitis are likely. Alarming statistic:
ironic entertainment in the classroom. Raised on the cool medium of television,
undergrads are skeptical about passionate ideas, doubtful of genius, and
challenge this complacency because they can't afford to offend their paying
customers. The other piece glorifies an experimental humanities class for
literature are empowering, because they teach the disenfranchised how to
story explains a movement within the Catholic Church to elevate the status of
the Holy Trinity a Holy Quartet. A report highlights the potential effects of
may finally be subscribing to the view that the economy has whupped
privacy in the information age. The solution isn't to keep them from knowing
everything about you, but to allow you to know everything about them. An
billion a year. And an upbeat story claims that, in the wake of last year's welfare bill,
(Revolting detail: He masturbated by sticking pipe cleaners into his urethra
and tying rope around his scrotum. He filmed this.) A piece depicts royal
is too consumed by sex scandals: Sexual privacy would be preferable. Also, love
its history of socialism. Recent economic liberalization has started to improve
living standards, but the editors urge the government to privatize and
bluntness" and her belief that the United States must act as the world's moral
(and actual) policeman. But even she may not be able to force peace on the
describes, lovingly, the many medical benefits of pot smoking.
cooperate on everything, are encouraged to think creatively, and learn
responsibility from chores. (They clean the school building because there are
week leading up to the fateful speech. Funniest moment: When Gates asks Jobs
what he should wear during the announcement, Jobs answers, a white shirt.
applauding its falling crime rate, cleanliness, swinging nightlife, and
privatized services, challenged employee unions, and supported school vouchers.
death. One recalls the earliest days of his career, when he toured the South in
carbon dioxide by grasses lowers temperatures; to process memories; not the
foggiest idea.) A sidebar examines a handful of less pressing scientific puzzles,
mechanic is charged with giving lingerie dipped in invisible ink to an
inflamed already tense relations between the two countries.
two generals who bucked his authority, but hasn't won (and will never win, the
the National Football League's effort to regain the fans it has lost to the
the music edition is a chart of corporate conglomeration: Six companies
music journalists for ignoring black artists, praise the embryonic feminism of
camps have gone soft, concludes the cover story. Back in the good old days,
helped make kids courageous. Regrettably, '90s campers are protected from all
risk. A piece mocks the military's diversity training program for its squishy,
mandarins are using their authority to erode individual liberty. Evidence
mostly closeted gay men called Gamma Mu, dealt drugs to support his lavish
investigators. Also, a pair of articles on celebrity marriage. One piece mocks
been conducting an affair with his communications director for the past three
chastises New York media for ignoring the story, saying they fear alienating
accounts of the night of the accident, the week of mourning, and the funeral;
photos will overcome its revulsion for photographers' methods.
Di in a piece exploiting her own relationship with Di, complete with private
editorial and article on China's economic future recommend wholesale
toward capitalism, but China's looming bank crisis requires far more rapid
there's cause for worry: Ozone depletion is no longer a trendy political cause,
observes that online services increasingly resemble television networks: Their
core business is information and entertainment, not modems and servers.
traditions of this journal: political independence, intellectual seriousness,
good writing and decency toward those with whom one disagrees." Lane also
policy. The United States has failed to improve living conditions or uphold the
article argues that liberals should oppose the National Endowment for the Arts
on the grounds that art does not need federal subsidies. Also, why Princess Di
they did turn over secrets to the other side.) A recently released Soviet
unapologetic about his spying, but the lack of living witnesses makes
want to be princesses, too. They also know what it's like to fall in love with
critic. His conclusion: Journalists can't help hurting the people they cover,
voice mail, and credit records. Employers say they need to protect themselves
news. The cover story both mocks and admires "latte towns," progressive,
praise? The hippies who populate latte towns have finally embraced capitalism,
and they are using private enterprise to build livable, prosperous cities. An
speed limit have not come true, a piece reports. Fatalities have not increased,
but the mainstream media have ignored this good news.
who used to worship him. An article rejects the CW that the Supreme Court will
strike down the Communications Decency Act. The reason: New filtering software
makes it possible to restrict access to Internet porn without excessively
National Health Service needs an overhaul: It's underfunded, and
New Yorkers expected. Its answer: He's bullied and prodded the Legislature to
cut taxes and spending. In the process, he's become more popular than his
Time 's cover story tries to explain "How Colleges Are Gouging U."
parents are willing to pay, but also because universities hoard their
for the next month, as "the best celestial show in decades." Also, Time
young blacks are marginalized and angry. Gangsta rap is blamed for feeding the
abusing its female combat pilots: Their fellow pilots and commanding officers
gave them the silent treatment instead of helping them.
Quality of Mercy" indicts doctors for not prescribing effective painkillers
morphine and codeine) are fantastic pain relievers and almost never addictive.
But doctors are afraid to prescribe high doses for fear of lawsuits and
licensing investigations. A sidebar profiles a pain doctor who lost his license for
Internet "filtering" software, which allows parents and corporations to block
hired by clueless clothing and shoe manufacturers to find the next big thing.
slogans, weird lists, and incomprehensible diagrams. The editorial, which is
shown that the procedure is much more common than its defenders claimed. (For
standards. It accuses industry of fudging data to minimize the dangers of air
pollution, blames Republicans for kowtowing to corporate demands, and fingers
Capitol Hill. A long article describes the service unions' fight to organize in
bookkeeping. Nevertheless, the article predicts that an inclusive euro will be
launched on schedule, through fudging the original criteria. The editorial laments that the treaty's "misguided" fiscal targets
have harmed the "great opportunity that the single currency might have been"
and argues that they should be revised immediately. A killjoy article on the
because the proceedings were biased and conspiracy theories were not aired. An
First Amendment. Courts have equated discriminatory speech with discriminatory
Apply First Amendment protection to workplace speech, even though there will be
some unrestrained bigotry. The editorial celebrates the "obtuse and suicidal"
choice of the French electorate, particularly because it will kill hope for a
forged a "new Constitution" based on "nationhood, equality and democracy"). And
issue on "How the World Sees Us" asserts that the United States has reached a
new level of cultural domination and asks whether the world is enjoying it.
imitate them (because they are relentlessly innovative). Some other responses:
column frets that we are embarrassing ourselves by dumping the worst of
him to settle the case, because no matter what the outcome, pretrial discovery
Time 's feature argues that settling is trickier than it sounds: Can
materialistic, ambitious, and entrepreneurial. The piece is accompanied by the
cosmetics manufacturer, and a hip young environmental activist.
skeptically about the "Torah codes" phenomenon, which claims that the Bible
contains encrypted messages prophesying events. (See Slate's "Cracking God's Code.")
company received a lucrative Department of Energy contract after making large
favor tasty food over fast food. Also, Time publishes a special issue
annual retirement guide offers the usual advice: Buy better mutual funds and
pay attention to your 401(k). One piece declares that anyone can become a millionaire by investing
its findings: People don't get crankier as they get older, at least half
of senior citizens have no heart problems at all, and senility is not
A story notes that biologists have discovered dozens of new mammal
species in the past few years, including a new whale and a "giant barking
distorting (or misunderstanding) Centers for Disease Control statistics. Love
risk. In fact, estrogen therapy vastly reduces the risk of heart disease and
bone disabilities, while increasing that of cancer only minimally. Also, The
"what's wrong with conservatives" cover package blames the conservative
replaced their old firmness with vague, pandering rhetoric. A piece criticizes
lead editorial embraces evolutionary biology's new insights
into human behavior, but warns against eugenics. A companion piece elucidates two of these new insights:
Bodily symmetry largely determines physical attractiveness, and humans may use
smell to assess the quality of a potential sex partner's immune system. An
Problems: It lacks a safe, effective drug, and is challenged by the
promoting higher standards citywide, rather than focusing on a few flagship
schools. His efforts have not boosted test scores as much as had been promised,
but modest improvements and Crew's political clout make him the beleaguered
States to promote medical marijuana, rights for legal immigrants, alternatives
to incarceration, and better care for the dying. These donations are intended
argues that New York City's recent police brutality belies general reform in
messages and better training on the use of force. An article by a baby boomer
contamination is more common than is reported and won't be eradicated with
standards will help, but "no one predicts a day in which all food will be
perfectly free of disease." A companion piece advocates destroying food
industry, hindering Japan's ability to compete in the global market. An article
middle class and booming night life are revitalizing the city.
Colleges" rankings. Duke cracks the Ivy monopoly by sharing third place
accompanying article says that students who apply for early admission have
a better chance of being accepted. Another reports that fraternities and sororities are cracking down
bad beef article is a revolting description of what really goes
sewage, among other things. The feed is safe when treated properly, but many
farmers aren't careful, raising the risk of beef contamination. And a piece
donate blood regularly to rid their body of excess iron, but blood banks refuse
ironic entertainment in the classroom. Raised on the cool medium of television,
undergrads are skeptical about passionate ideas, doubtful of genius, and
challenge this complacency because they can't afford to offend their paying
customers. The other piece glorifies an experimental humanities class for
literature are empowering, because they teach the disenfranchised how to
says, suppress studies showing that it doesn't work and harass academics and
entitlement crisis with "rosy scenarios." An article asserts that the Republicans are supporting the budget in
who's presiding over a weakening German economy. An article suggests that the German economy's troubles might
praise. And a long article summarizes research on circadian
to seasons. They don't sleep longer in winter than they do in summer, but they
elsewhere, populations of snakes, primates, and turtles are being destroyed by
multiculturalism, not conservatism, is fueling the revival of classical
literature. "The ancient texts have become eerily modern in what they have to
say about power relationships between men and women, gay men and war, superiors
case did not divide blacks and whites; it merely revealed a breach that already
latest reiteration of his "I was a patsy in a government conspiracy"
headquarters. Also, an article demystifies love (just in time for Valentine's
makes mothers love their kids and mates. (To learn more about familial love
volcano is threatening to erupt. If it does, it will probably bury the island
(and the few thousand inhabitants who remain) in lava and ash. Also, an article
brave enough to offend big business for the sake of a balanced budget.
her naked. Also, a Standard article defends Marine hazing rituals as
which has recaptured its 1960s hipness: Oasis and Blur are much admired; so is
cover editorial welcomes the idea of a tobacco settlement because
it would protect children and compensate victims without crippling a legitimate
improve tobacco companies' finances by cutting legal fees and
notes the growth of the private police industry: Security guards and
broadcasters lobbied their way to a freebie. The massive cover book review
decides cases based on his own political views. Also, a piece discusses the
as young prisoners (extra medical expenses, mostly), and their recidivism rates
are incredibly low. Even so, prison officials rarely parole the older
story argues that work has become like home and home has become like work.
Thanks largely to total quality management, employees now feel appreciated and
relaxed at the office. They find home (that is, child care) exhausting. The
upshot: Workers don't care much about parental leave and flex time. "Everybody
story on fat argues that being fit is more important than being thin. Fat
people who exercise regularly are healthier than thin people who don't. Not all
fat is equal: A paunch is more dangerous than chubby hips and thighs. A
are falling. And an article describes the peculiar National Liberation Army,
story, "Born Bad?," argues against genetic determinism. Genes are
important, but a child's environment largely determines how those genes are
expressed: Nature and nurture can't be separated. The article warns that belief
in genetic determinism could lead to a revived, dangerous eugenics movement.
courts with liens, refusing to pay taxes, and "seceding" from the United
fight, bemoans the influence of Wall Street on the federal budget, and
government banned his works. A funny essay on sex books finds them too
Also, an essay criticizes libertarians for their unwillingness to censure bad
divorce backlash continues. Two weeks after the New Republic 's
author, a man on the verge of divorce, describes how separation has rescued him
from a loveless, oppressive marriage and supplied him with freedom. Divorce is
contributes an opposing view: She writes that she's lonelier and more regretful
than she ever imagined she could be. Also, a writer joins a blackjack ring that
agent (who was nearly murdered by her husband). An appreciation of art critic
Also, Vanity Fair hypes its own: A long excerpt from a biography of
story. Studios ought to reap huge profits, but don't because they overpay
damage the country even more. (For a backgrounder on Zaire, see Slate's
personal weakness, not his policies. Also, a 24-page survey on management
consulting finds the industry vigorous, profitable, and a bit too
package takes Congress to task, noting that congressional fund raising is as
slimy as White House fund raising. Among the outrages cited: Legislators
selling bills and lobbyists writing bills. Another article rips Congress for
ask the Federal Election Commission to pass regulations restricting "soft
money," accomplishing by executive action what Hill Republicans refuse to do
emotions in favor of the common good, and this serene rationalism has allowed
but still know how to win. Also, the technology columnist dismisses Internet
immensely long article condemns the Drug Enforcement Administration's war on
bagels, for instance), the feds are paranoid that gardeners will harvest them
for opium. The author grows his own opium poppies, and wonders if he's going to
obsessed with describing heaven, but now "heaven is AWOL." Most Christian
clerics have stopped talking about it, because it's too controversial and too
magazines cover the Biggie Smalls murder and assert that gangsta rap has gone
Warriors" describes the travails of the International Committee of the Red
its filming in intricate detail. Also, a writer proposes a grand unified theory
on sports has diverted blacks from educational achievement. The Standard
deplores black and white obsession with "white racism," arguing that it turns
blacks into permanent victims. A related article savages the black newsmagazine
among black professionals is an alarming indication of how alienated the black
Ten budding starlets adorn the cover. Zillions of celebrity photographs by
patients, but is optimistic that good laws and strict enforcement can prevent
such abuses. An article and editorial pegged to the G-7 caution that the
be increasing, but imminent inflation, a low savings rate, and an aging
and destroy Christian shrines. The piece credits Christian conservatives
"pathologically duplicitous," "craven," and phenomenally corrupt. Also, a story
Agency. Then, when disasters happen, it gives extra cash and takes credit for
women in the military. The ambivalent cover story wonders whether the military
slow to accept the idea of women dying in combat, as well. (For the
evolutionary angle on a sexually integrated military, see Slate's "The Earthling.")
needed in combat. An article contends that the United States can painlessly
resolve its entitlement crisis by admitting more immigrants and using a huge
increasingly torn between her principles and political expediency.
crash landing in vivid detail (right down to an alien giving first aid to a
wounded colleague), then concedes that the downed spacecraft was undoubtedly a
family has vanished. A sidebar notes the political dynasties taking shape in
Biggest revelation: Contrary to press reports, it's possible that someone
melting snow could have obscured footprints. (For a backgrounder, see Slate's
Republican star) who's leading the fight against affirmative action in
cover story advises workers to exploit the best job market in
history by milking their employers for higher pay, flex time, continuing
education, shorter hours, gym memberships, etc. (Computer experts, not
risk endorsing affirmative action or criticizing police racism. Also, a
minefield: Does the egg donor have any claim on the child? Should the child be
told that it has two mothers? Should human eggs be bought and sold?
no patience for the nanny state. Today, such a "limited but energetic"
crime: Churchgoing seems to prevent backsliding by recovering drug addicts and
consensus for a deep investigation. But so far, the Democrats aren't
Princess of Wales. And she still wears great clothes.
prosperity. Thanks to free markets and (of course) high technology,
productivity will increase, environmental degradation will decrease, genetic
diseases will be eradicated, and a worldwide, multicultural civilization will
telephone) bolster her reputation as a visionary. Also, Vanity Fair
group that botched the assassination.) A report from the Promise Keepers rally
cripples the right wing. An article says the pendulum is swinging back in
article follows a squad of West Point cadets through the revamped basic
the program's new softness (more gender equality, less hazing), while the
he created a camel to be a camel." Also, an essay criticizes the double
standard for adultery: "When men cheat, they're pigs. When women do it, they're
Time story says young male elephants are murdering rhinos in
handle it all." (To hear excerpts from the newly released tapes, see Slate's
pink negligee; Capote identified with murderer Perry Smith; female writer
large campaign contributions corrupt politicians not by influencing them to
change votes, but by immersing them in the world of rich people. An essay
classes. Smaller classes alone won't improve education, but they work wonders
when led by good teachers. Also, an article examines the booming business of naming corporations.
excretory canal. (To see Slate's take on the name game, read "You Name
deterioration of the Episcopal Church. Increasing moral lassitude (read: gay
alarmist The Boys From Brazil theories about cloning, declaring that
"careful application of biotechnology" can be enormously beneficial: "The fact
that new technologies feel scary or strange should not be enough to rule them
out." A related article praises the utility of genetically engineered
shape, despite recent drops in their growth rates. And the Economist
Newt's Republican "revolutionaries" are abandoning him; his advisers are
recriminating over who's to blame for his collapse; and potential successors
congressman to quip that "a good dose of antidepressants might help, if he
computers and too few books: "Unique, anomalous, unconventional knowledge" is
being lost. (And the worst part: Libraries aren't even silent anymore!) Another
beautiful, modest houses once stood. Also, a writer spends a sunless winter in
spread nasty diseases (malaria, cholera, AIDS, etc.) around the world. On the
of Western investment could stabilize these promising countries. Also, an
English professor writes about getting fired and becoming a carpenter. And the
pragmatist and marvel at China's economic growth, but caution that the country
conventional roles, yet still scores at the box office.
"Global Business Report" profiles a dozen titans of
Jam" surveys the burgeoning satellite industry. The 1,000-plus
telecommunications and make television, telephone, and Internet service
affordable to billions of people in undeveloped nations. The package of
stories echoes the CW that he liberated China's economy while imprisoning
pregnancies are unplanned, then slams doctors for downplaying effective
story calls for "A Return to National Greatness." After blaming liberals for
destroying the United States' expansive optimism and conservatives for
country can revive its spirit with a grand national mission. It's vague on what
that mission would be: "It almost doesn't matter what great task government
sets for itself, as long as it does some tangible thing with energy and
explains why the Constitution should be amended to restrict judicial power. And
paper would report the real news about economic inequality, farm workers, and
health care, zealously investigate corporate executives, and open its editorial
Treasury secretary for his social liberalism. Now The Nation lambastes
Also, the National Review continues its coverage of the Bob
enough evidence of fraud (voting by illegal aliens, double voting) to merit new
special issue on "Crime and Punishment" contains more of the former than the
latter. An article on the roots of violence argues that nearly all violent
incapable of controlling their rage, and reprises liberal ideas about crime's
environmental causes. An article lionizes Jack Maple, the eccentric cop who
city's crime drop. A story explores a new phenomenon of urban juries: Black
women jurors are causing mistrials by refusing to convict black men despite
about kids and the Internet. The Net is no longer the vast electronic library
hardly suitable for classrooms. A story debunks the alleged links between
racism and black illness (the Standard published a similar story more
paeans to Al Gore, tops himself, calling the veep "a man rooted in the oldest idea
Graham owns, excerpts her autobiography at length, covering her major
editorial, "Why Government Should Not Be Salesmen," opposes export
boosterism, calling it bad economics. When politicians sell a product overseas,
they almost inevitably subsidize the domestic producer; this subsidy subtracts
from the national economy. A long, related story lists the ways that
missions, etc.), and bemoans their proliferation. The Economist
majority leader, while conservative, cares more about passing bills than about
ideology. This willingness to accommodate will alienate the Senate's
an article describes two families' experience of home schooling. Its
on the cover. "Fertile Minds" is sure to reinforce parental anxiety. Babies form
permanent synaptic connections very early, so children who are not properly
stimulated during their first year can be scarred forever. A related article concludes that the United States must
his regular pension checks, and most of his future earnings.
stories contrasts the inauguration's pomp with the urban decay of
prospering, Major will lose the next election because he can't resolve the
Union, and Major has alienated them with his ambivalence toward it. Henry Louis
make money and draw huge black audiences (highbrow black theater does neither).
An article details how the White House "marketed the prestige and glamour of
million pondered, proofread, printed words I must have done my best, sung my
the United States for standing by while China demolishes democracy and free
hired to keep order in Sierra Leone. The author is ambivalent. On the one hand,
for greedy diamond corporations, supports a brutal military regime, and employs
his own investments in global mutual funds: His money helps repressive
governments and exploitative foreign companies (But you can't beat the profits,
The cover editorial and a 48-page survey of the world economy
reject the conventional wisdom that the era of big government is over. The
share of government spending in the gross domestic product of industrial
("now in his fifth rumbustious term") but the Senate itself. Archaic rules let
one passionate senator win out over reasoned argument. Also, an article says
China's new military cuts are in troop size, not spending. China, like most of
Gore," is not as harsh as it seems. It argues that an independent counsel lets
both sides hide behind legal technicalities. Impeachment hearings would never
subservient to the White House and the Democratic National Committee. To remain
relevant, labor must take risks and build its membership (current growth rate:
boycotting products. Cheerios are out: General Mills gives to Planned
get too much attention. Schools that are looking for places to save money are
assigned the rote drills they need if they are to learn how to read.
posthumously performed miracle. (She'd better get cracking.) Time 's
news continues as both mags chronicle the life and final drunken hours of Di
abandoned, even in a palace with a million citizens wailing at the gates." And
poses a health hazard. The radioactive fuel is safely encased, and will not
respectable, empowered housewives, and legitimized public television. And she's
integration and finds a new kind of segregation: White students take honors
classes, black students take regular classes. The reason: White parents press
Worms are a cheap, environmentally sound way of turning garbage into
to sanitize Vicious' image by finding him a "librarian" girlfriend. An article
her parents killed her. But the district attorney's office has botched the case
by cooperating with the parents' attorneys, so it's unlikely that charges will
editorial and article rip Al Gore. The editorial calls him a sleazeball based
rattled by the allegations, he should be. Even his allies are anxious. The
Standard accuses the United Way of political correctness (a capital
training to programs that are supposed to support "ethnic communities." Also,
pleasure, and leisure, but not the obligations that came with her title.
public schools are as lousy as ever, and the unemployment rate is one of the
Earth's atmosphere would spread toxic particles, endangering millions. An essay
Both used the poor and sick as "accessories" in "the service and the pursuit of
minister for being too permissive. A related story raises questions about an energy deal between
communism, the country is witnessing a revival of the religion. But tension
community. An article looks at one of the remaining '60s communes, which has
survived by making hammocks. No longer a refuge for idealistic and transient
the article warns that the laws of financial gravity have not been repealed and
country's economy and culture are booming. For the first time, the standard of
living for the nation's poor (although not the very poor) is rising. A piece in
care, the piece blames lobbyists who have blocked government oversight. Also, a
you don't buy new hair, you rent it. Consumers of hair ointments, "systems,"
and surgeries must continue to pay to maintain their new growth. An article reports on the states' increasing dependence on gambling
lawyers, and spin doctors deflects the various White House scandals
story uses Justice Department data released after Freedom of Information
concentrates its energies on convicting thousands of drug dealers and bank
robbers (who should be chased by local authorities), but mostly ignores
Street for New York City's comeback. Notable stat: The city's welfare rolls are
facility." Intended to counter economic shakiness in the Far East, it would
damage the world's monetary markets by weakening the International Monetary
Fund. Also, a story examines the extreme incidence of lesbianism in
lesbian pair poses as a male, thereby discouraging smaller males who are
divided over race: "In fact, we are one nation, with blacks and whites much
calls the ban on land mines the "politics of sentiment" and advocates clearing
overtures to Bill Weld. Democrats ignore Weld's fiscally Republican views, but
embrace precisely the socially progressive streak in Weld (gay rights,
issue offers a dozen articles about technology and modern culture. Among the
highlights: An article deplores the way computers disconnect users from the
physical world. (We spend too much time hunched over keyboards thinking, not
enough experiencing the real world.) Another story rejects the popular notion
that technology discourages socializing. (In fact, Internet chat rooms and
newsgroups are excellent places for social interaction.) Yet another argues
that recent software upgrades are actually downgrades. (They add useless
for blurring the role of writer and reader. (To minimize confusion in Slate's
(high serotonin levels damage heart valves). (See Slate's take
the drugs "in the war against fat." (Hmm. One year ago this week, Time
political power by ousting two Politburo rivals at the Communist Party
Congress, but his dictatorial style won't mesh with his push for a modern
a model for other downtrodden cities. Reducing crime was the crucial first
step: It sparked a return of industry, tourism, and permanent residents. (The
Gulf War the Air Force felt it was the most important of the four services, but
cuts in funding and troop strength, as well as a move toward unmanned aircraft,
market, and claim (dubiously) that China won't make military use of the
10-story cover package on the "Politics of Travel" complains that mass
The funniest piece: A Nation writer takes the National Review 's
incredibly nice. Other highlight: A visit to the "most poisonous place on
article makes the case that Turkey's secular military has gone too far in its
The cover editorial argues that economically and politically stable nations of
have drawn controversy by challenging the moral basis of their country's early
views on pot because they now view it as a beneficial medicine, not as a wicked
street drug. This sea change has infuriated the government, which battled the
reports that many of the country's schools have integrated since the end of
apartheid, but that they still harbor white racism. And a serious look at
making airplanes safer proposes, among other ideas, a scheme in which drill
sergeants would bark out preflight safety instructions.
sidebar on Jewel marvels at her unpretentiousness, the result of a rugged
The article denounces cigars as expensive, repulsive, and unhealthy. (Though
not as dangerous as cigarettes, they still raise the risk of cancer, stroke,
but they are not as skeptical about capitalism as the leftist candidates they
voted for. Also, a pair of articles on juvenile crime: One criticizes the
recent trend to charge kids as adults and confine them with adult prisoners,
saying that such Draconian treatment hardens rather than reforms young
white teen by a gang of black men, a crime that has inflamed that state's
ruined by overcrowding, underfunding, invasion by exotic plant and animal
species, and commercial development. The solution? Lots more federal funding
for the National Park Service and stricter regulations for development on park
and perhaps twice as much as it needs. A long piece
Management doesn't want to address the issue, and many of his fellow factory
writing. Also, a book review makes the case that cosmetic surgery can be
exec., as a monster who terrorizes her Wall Street Journal underlings. A
cover editorial and article confront the problem of "the disappearing taxpayer." Tax
revenues will fall worldwide because companies can move to avoid levies, and
because electronic commerce is virtually impossible to tax. The remedy: Raise
taxes on consumption and property, which are easy to track, while cutting
forward as planned with currency union, the organization should take a respite
until popular trust returns. An alarming article warns that
continent, has nothing to offer the modern world: Its labor is unnecessary, its
commodities are expensive, and its government is monstrous. Henry Louis Gates
is the most exciting city in the world, "brasher than New York, faster than
impossible task: Unable to indict the president or the first lady, he'll find
it difficult to close the investigation. The case demonstrates the shortfalls
look the same, and that all are ugly: He proposes six alternative designs,
computers, medical equipment, and the like. Even so, the "Millennium Bug" may
excerpt warns that Internet security is dangerously lax. It recounts the
obvious, easily cracked passwords and chastises system administrators for
pilot, but emphasizes that her superior officers treated her clumsily, and that
still believes in the Air Force. A book excerpt chronicles the military's
history of mistreating female soldiers. Female recruits have been routinely
raped, humiliated, and harassed, but they rarely complain, because the military
as an excuse to skip work. The "stress management" industry is a "racket." The
scholarship. Instead of pursuing traditional objectivity, professors now
incorporate their own experiences into their work. It's yet another sign that
the academy has gone soft, grumps the author. The Danish mother who left her
child paradise the media has portrayed it to be: Child pornography is rampant,
social scientists, notably anthropologists, foolishly claim that humans are
shaped only by culture, not by genes. These "secular creationists" wrongly
ignore scientific evidence. An article warns that a Middle East war may be
shares that he sold to buy the entertainment conglomerate have since gained
of the infected would slow the spread of AIDS, argues the cover essay. Gay and
AIDS activists have resisted such measures as stigmatizing. An article debunks
environmentalists' belief that we consume too much: Raw materials, energy, and
food are more plentiful than ever. But we should worry that our materialism is
making us lose our reverence for nature. A short piece says there is a "child
cover story and editorial conclude, albeit unenthusiastically, that morality and
human rights have a place in foreign policy. Outside pressure often civilizes
the Economist is uncertain whether Western pressure can persuade China
would be worse, argues the cover story, "The Men Who Would Be Newt." Each of the heirs apparent is
too treacherous. All are too conservative. An article about Labor
confirmation because Republicans prefer an ineffective labor secretary to a
agent (who was nearly murdered by her husband). An appreciation of art critic
Also, Vanity Fair hypes its own: A long excerpt from a biography of
the "harvesting" of her new heart to the operation itself. (The highlight is a
photo of the old and new hearts sitting side by side in metal basins.) The
piece notes that the 10-year survival rate for heart transplants is an
baseball writer expounds his theory about what makes a great manager: Cunning,
intensity, and ego are useful, and almost all managers perform best in their
won admirers (and enemies) by insisting that the university not adjust its
standards to favor black students. Also, the semiannual "Home Design"
("Now I feel comfortable with myself and I don't have to be fearful about
details about the cult. Among them: For several months members consumed nothing
but a concoction of lemonade, cayenne, and maple syrup; they communicated with
the cult leader only in writing; they were not allowed to have their own
thoughts. Ford, who still considers himself a member, refers frequently to his
own body as his "vehicle." Time tracks down other former cult members, who state that the group considered
Web page containing messages from the "Away Team" (the suicides). Time
then offers tips: High grades and low test scores are better than low grades
officers; being an alum's kid does not guarantee admission. Also, an article illustrates the influence that political donations can
The conclusion: All this was sleazy but probably legal. A warm profile of
her as an establishment figure who still thinks of herself as an outsider.
Also, a parent complains about how much time he must spend helping out at his
ineffectual pawn of the White House and that the Immigration and Naturalization
gay men must build a new culture that is not founded on sex: Gay community
The act has benefited media conglomerates and reduced competition, and the
merit, welcome new ideas, and abhor government regulation. Interesting detail:
story compares various international education test scores and concludes
performance. The story also favors national and international education
standards: They give countries targets to shoot for. An editorial and article
cover, given over to a long review of two books about divorce, deplores the
'60s because of women's economic independence, not because of selfish '60s
values; and the United States, where marriage has always been for love, is
"Dialogue" on divorce.) An article ridicules the Recovery Channel ridicules the Recovery
donor and a lobbyist who exploits his insider ties.
Turns Yellow.") The cover story chronicles the making of a documentary film
exploiting their naive, vulnerable subjects. Also, an article about the
answers their entreaties. Theologians agree that prayer reinforces faith even
people who almost die report experiencing a spiritual vision. Skeptical doctors
gravity also have visions of bright lights and a God figure). A sidebar argues that black holes and quarks are evidence of God's
rescue the magazine from its current irrelevance. The answer: probably not.
Fallows is depicted as too righteous for his own good, lacking the
former inspector general of the Department of Transportation who had warned
Democratic National Committee instructed donors to funnel contributions through
state parties. Also, kids and AIDS: Doctors don't know what medicines (and
the National Endowment for the Arts. Also, the Standard editorializes
against needle exchange, saying there isn't sufficient evidence that it stops
AIDS transmission. "Government should not make itself a technician of cocaine
defendants are adequately represented. Most vivid detail: The attorney for one
immensely long article condemns the Drug Enforcement Administration's war on
bagels, for instance), the feds are paranoid that gardeners will harvest them
for opium. The author grows his own opium poppies, and wonders if he's going to
"hijacked and brutalized" by conservatives. The second story recounts the
that the Internet is "a monument to idleness and wasted time," then explains
concedes that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and other drugs.
Time then cops out by concluding that kids should not use a "dulling"
drug: "The young don't need to have their pain dulled. They need to learn from
school where pot is epidemic and parents are confused; one girl moved into her
own apartment "after her parents forbade her to smoke marijuana at home." Also,
up family mortuaries and gouging customers. And a peculiar, rambling excerpt
raising a responsible child prodigy, the article gives much credit to Woods'
parents, who made him finish his homework before he could play golf. A sidebar
muckraking cover story investigates how the Pentagon disposes of
encryption systems, attack helicopters, stealth fighter parts, etc., that
should have been destroyed. China is the most eager customer, buying surplus
investment guide does not quite predict a bear market, but does suggest
that investors "redeploy" out of stocks (in other words, "Sell!"). Also,
Both blast the president for coddling China and ignoring its grotesque
during the campaign, and reaches familiar conclusions: White House pressure
silenced criticism; journalists are liberal; press coverage is driven by
candidates; and so on. An article argues that "corporate welfare" is a lot
versa. (For Slate's take, see Harry Shearer's latest "Dispatch.") Also, an appreciation of planets: Thanks to the Mars
Economist worries that a backlash against economic and political
increased trade, and lowered deficits, but they have yet to deliver tangible
benefits to average citizens. Also, the Economist inaugurates a series that
shares that he sold to buy the entertainment conglomerate have since gained
relentless PR by him, his wife, and former aides. The article derides Bush's
essay bemoans the rise of ghostwritten celebrity books, which dominate
with dust mites, cigarette smoke, cockroach remains, and pet dander.
(Surprisingly, outdoor air pollution is not to blame: It's better for kids to
play outside than inside.) The good news: New drugs and treatments make it easy
and pressure from foreign suppliers are keeping wages and inflation in check;
unskilled workers still face tough times. A related
they don't know what numbers to trust. A piece concludes that immigration both benefits and harms
Standard 's cover article, "Be Afraid," contends that Deep Blue is the
demonstrated a subtle complexity of thought that even its human programmers
could not comprehend. Why be afraid of the silicon brain? It lacks emotion and,
hence, compassion. (For more on the match, see Slate's special edition of
nature's laws as much as cloning would. It does propose limiting cloning to
married couples. Also, a conservative economist makes the case for inheritance
opportunist. He began his career as a socially and economically conservative
liberal. Dick Morris writes an article praising the budget deal. A piece by
of the infected would slow the spread of AIDS, argues the cover essay. Gay and
AIDS activists have resisted such measures as stigmatizing. An article debunks
environmentalists' belief that we consume too much: Raw materials, energy, and
food are more plentiful than ever. But we should worry that our materialism is
making us lose our reverence for nature. A short piece says there is a "child
Helmsman is still widely revered; his crimes have been forgotten; and his
might leave him if he uses their savings to clear the debt. If, on the other
hand, he pays the fine with campaign funds, the political backlash would almost
sympathetically about the cult's theology: "What is a cult but a collection of
cover editorial regrets the collapse of the Republican revolution.
opening feature in a special issue devoted to "The Store" asserts that the
retail business is thriving because shopping has become an event: Places like
complex." A story bemoans the success of the Gap and Pottery Barn, saying they
have afflicted the United States with an excess of bland good taste. A piece
contributors write short sketches about their favorite store.
reconstruct the Heaven's Gate suicide, trace the cult's history, and link it to
News column describes the attractions of cults, and compares the
because its ancient computer system is too crude to catch frauds.
billion in legal sports wagering). Cops have all but stopped enforcing
Catholic Church must own up to its Holocaust guilt, argues "The Silence." While
the doctrine of papal infallibility, which shackles the church to its sordid
past. Also, a story chronicles the discovery of rock's Next Big Thing, a
brief hiatus, the Standard returns to China bashing. The editorial
condemns Gore's China trip for its "idiotic good cheer," and asserts that the
Nation inaugurates a series that will outline a set of "first principles"
for progressives. Judging by the opening article ("A Progressive Compact"),
these principles will combine liberalism and communitarianism: "a right to a
describes how the House subcommittee on economic growth gave special access to
in modern history," but concludes that China's prosperity depends on
establishing democratic freedom and the rule of law. The magazine also warns
that China's economic reforms might stall if it doesn't dismantle its
Also, the magazine issues its semiannual "Women's Fashions of the Times." As in
recent editions, "Fashions" depicts no models, only "real" women. Most of the
death for their China cover packages (what timing!) and take a hard line toward
the Middle Kingdom, warning that the United States must discipline China now or
politics of communism was joined to the economics of fascism." Echoing a recent
companies doing business in China. A long piece describes China's suppression
as appeasement: They favor economic sanctions instead. An article says the
United States must not sacrifice its democratic ideals "in order to sell a few
denied responsibility for its actions. An article pegged to the three current
people (including everyone at Slate headquarters!). Also, an article on the
Institutes of Health advisory panel's findings: Mammograms don't really protect
long article contends that family secrets usually do more harm than good ("lies
family history, but vehemently denies having known about it. (For Slate's take,
Also, a photo essay on ultimate fighting, the popular, savage spectator
special issue on "Crime and Punishment" contains more of the former than the
latter. An article on the roots of violence argues that nearly all violent
incapable of controlling their rage, and reprises liberal ideas about crime's
environmental causes. An article lionizes Jack Maple, the eccentric cop who
city's crime drop. A story explores a new phenomenon of urban juries: Black
women jurors are causing mistrials by refusing to convict black men despite
cover story and editorial on "The Future of Warfare" predict that satellites,
unmanned planes, and computers will replace soldiers. The Economist says
rivals will counter with biological weapons and terrorism. A long feature frets
will be extraordinarily expensive and, in many cases, futile. (For another
citizens live longer, more vigorously, and more comfortably today than ever
before. An economist argues that we shouldn't worry about rising medical costs,
since the money buys good health and happiness. An advertising executive
New York City is touted as a wonderful retirement community: You can walk
everywhere, there's plenty of culture, and the hospitals are excellent. Also,
eight elderly celebs talk about how great it is to get old.
shock jocks. The New Yorker puzzles over Stern's psyche: His program is
levels are almost certainly causing the weird weather of the 1990s, and that
they will cause unimaginable devastation if the world does not slash
cloning process, predicting that the technology will be used on humans in
human clones would be normal. On the business side, Time is bearish on
story, emphasizing the president's intimate involvement in fund raising. A
the White House fund raising "unpleasant but necessary": The president needed
piece just two months ago. The "cowering," "brain dead" party must revive
the theme of last year's "National Entertainment State" special issue. The
rise of gigantic publishing houses, the demise of independent bookstores, the
unholy marriage of publishing and television, and the abysmal quality of
on the ABA Journal 's board of editors, gave the legal magazine
computers and too few books: "Unique, anomalous, unconventional knowledge" is
being lost. (And the worst part: Libraries aren't even silent anymore!) Another
beautiful, modest houses once stood. Also, a writer spends a sunless winter in
editorial predict the automobile industry's collapse. Overcapacity will
benefit consumers as prices fall, but the world economy will shake as auto
makers go broke. Another editorial argues that the United States should repeal laws
prohibiting foreign ownership of broadcast companies. The reason: The Internet
without physical illness commit suicide, but compliant journalists haven't
Reed picked the right time to ditch the Christian Coalition: An FEC
investigation, falling membership, and disillusionment with Reed's pragmatism
for not cutting entitlements. It "postpones [the] day of reckoning."
been widowed, lost a lung to illness, married an unpopular actress, engaged in
reconstructed remains, which have been pieced together in a New York airplane
accuse parents of shortchanging their children by working too hard. (Both
changed places: Home is now stressful; work is now relaxing. See Slate's
sustained, structured attention than workaholic parents give them. It notes
that few parents take advantage of "family friendly" corporate policies.
Parents Tell Themselves About Why They Work" is harsher, berating parents
for sacrificing their kids to their jobs. It argues that most families don't
need two incomes, and that day care is a lousy substitute for parental care.
Parents, especially fathers, ignore family friendly policies because they don't
"company provocateur," is profiled. A paleontologist, chef, physicist, and
departments (notably the Justice Department) seem to be paralyzed.
Deal" cover package condemns the budget agreement because it raises spending on
domestic programs. The editorial urges Republicans in Congress to "rebel"
against the deal. An article condemns the budget as soft on defense: It cuts
Cold War level. A piece argues that the Communications Decency Act should be
upheld even though it's an ineffective mess. The reason? It sends the right
coarseness of this culture." An article mocks the Volunteerism Summit as an
event designed to make politicians and celebrities feel good about
aggressive tactics. Also, a surprisingly favorable article about the Christian Coalition's campaign to recruit blacks
and help rebuild burned black churches: This seems to be a truly sincere effort
story argues that manned space travel has been largely useless because
governments have treated space as an adventure, not a business. Space tourism
story rejects the notion that globalization will pacify China. Evidence from
sacrificing intellectual integrity to appease critics: Curators tone down
controversial exhibits when they offend Congress or industry groups. An essay
calls Bill Gates' new fantasy house a symbol of baby boomers' obsession with
your every need and protects you not only from danger, but from serendipity as
Promise Keepers week in the magazines. Time 's cover story questions the intent of the movement's leaders.
forgiveness. NOW doesn't like the way Promise Keepers urges men to "reclaim"
piece on the Promise Keepers says the group's wives generally welcome
their husbands' newfound religiosity and devotion to family. Only rarely do
Promise Keeper men become domineering; mostly they become more attentive. (In
cover, the magazine seconds the popular wisdom that this year's El
Standard traces the history of the Promise Keepers in a long article.
The group really does seek male spiritual renewal, not, as its critics claim,
political power or male supremacy. The group is commended for its ability to
issue. A story says that publishing really is in crisis. Sales are flat,
profits are meager, advances are too generous, and returns are too frequent.
the diary to make it an uplifting, universal story, omitting her references to
column suggests that the Freedom From Religious Persecution Act,
which would cut foreign aid and impose limited trade sanctions on nations that
persecute on the basis of religion, could force the United States to punish
making billionaires more powerful than governments.
trained and entertained in equestrian sport by a groom and an assistant, making
who came and stayed with us three days of every week, giving us each a lesson
Economist says that it is "emerging." The cheerful cover story and
and their low soil fertility. An 18-page survey predicts the globalization of
notes that China's defense industry is more primitive than recent publicity
consensus for a deep investigation. But so far, the Democrats aren't
Princess of Wales. And she still wears great clothes.
enterprise while opposing identity politics and income redistribution. These
"new Progressives," who are simultaneously liberal and conservative,
Food and jobs are scarce, travel is impossible, and internal security is
story credits hospitals with improving their response to medical errors.
Instead of finding scapegoats, they now encourage doctors and nurses to admit
mistakes (no punishment attached) in order to prevent future ones. Problem:
Malpractice lawyers profit when hospitals confess error. The magazine profiles
them obnoxious, passionate, smart, and fabulously successful. Also, a pair of
be the ideology of the future. Too bad no one's watching them.
prosperity. Thanks to free markets and (of course) high technology,
productivity will increase, environmental degradation will decrease, genetic
diseases will be eradicated, and a worldwide, multicultural civilization will
execution. Time argues that the death penalty doesn't seem to deter crime,
doesn't comfort victims' families, and is racially skewed. Time also has a
Time derides John Gray, the author of Men Are From Mars,
the skeleton be reburied. The federal government has seized the bones and
forbidden further scientific examination. An article discusses the popular idea
proselytize, they may violate the First Amendment. If they don't proselytize,
Budget Committee chairman is an eager beaver and a wonderful speaker, but he's
too narcissistic, too populist, and too willing to compromise with Democrats.
New York Times Magazine story, the independent counsel is not to
blame for the sluggish pace of the Whitewater investigation: Stonewalling by
databases make too much data available too easily, so the government must
intervene to protect Internet privacy, argues the cover
story. A piece defends New York City rent control. (For more on rent
Deal" and the "Dialogue" it sparked.) Press reports wrongly suggest that
most beneficiaries of rent control are rich. In fact, it is mostly
violent revolution. The Economist anoints a populist economic reformer
crops fail, there could be a wave of farm failures.
failure is blamed on immaturity. The magazine profiles hot young physicist Lee
alternate universes, and that our universe itself was created in the black hole
of another universe. If true, the theory could unify relativity and quantum
mechanics. Also, a photo essay about aging prison inmates.
exec., as a monster who terrorizes her Wall Street Journal underlings. A
Pathfinder was built and launched for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction
of the time required for earlier Mars missions. The stories applaud the
upcoming flurry of Mars expeditions (eight launches in eight years), with
start this week, predicting much partisan bickering and few revelations. In
reform. Most notable step: immediate electronic reporting of all contributions.
copycats. And an article says that boxing's reputation is so bad that not even
article investigates "attachment disorder," a psychological malady that
growing too fast. It's opening a store every other day, but has been accused of
predatory practices and mistreatment of coffee pickers, and may have
thoroughly confused by the world around him. Highlights: the description of
the great economic boon its advocates claim, because virtually all economic
multicultural and young, the other white, older, and resentful. A writer
catalogs the six phyla of screen aliens, which include "the small, gray,
over and streamline stodgy companies). Deregulation, globalization, and
productivity increases make it likely that the good times will last, but world
events may not cooperate. An article mocks "cosmic capitalists," the geeky
liberalism clashes with its libertarianism: The cover package wonders if the
First Amendment needs to be revised to limit commercial speech (campaign
contributions, cigarette ads, etc.). Ten writers opine, and there's no
noncommercial speech must be given special protection by the state. Also,
cover editorial cheers the ascendancy of democracy and the free
rules for scientific research on humans: There are too many cases where
mammoth cover essay denounces human cloning as morally repugnant. Among the
rejects the technological determinists who say that because human cloning is
legislative proposals (to adopt a bill of rights, abolish hereditary rights in
Square. Actors, neon signs, and hotel rooms are much depicted. A few short
articles accompany the images. One celebrates the trend toward "true" fashion
photography (pictures that show models warts and all). Another describes
the market for digital images is growing so slowly.
Will China preserve the rule of law and free speech, which are essential for
incomplete penises into vaginas, then treated the patients with female
inflicts vast physical and psychological damage. A story chronicles Fidelity
Investments' continuing troubles. Fidelity's funds are lagging and the best
fund managers are leaving, but the firm is thriving as a manager of corporate
country is in better shape than it's been in decades: The economy is humming,
losing control of its nuclear weapons: Its early warning system is
disintegrating and the soldiers who man the missiles aren't being paid, raising
agreement, she'd be entitled to a huge chunk of his fortune if they stayed
married another year. An article argues that blacks may be better athletes than
whites because they have more genetic variability: According to statistical
laws, more variability means that blacks are disproportionately represented
blamed parents for caring more about their careers than their kids. This week's
cover deplores adult premarital sex, saying that it leads to
too much money into higher education while ignoring the primary and secondary
president is "shifty and disingenuous" and "the biggest phony in the White
House," argues the cover story. The veep avoids taking stands on tough issues,
shamelessly seeks press coverage. An article claims that liberals are the new
market. In order to justify today's stratospheric share prices, profits and
productivity must grow at improbably high rates for an impossibly long time.
thanks to low interest rates. The Economist celebrates the
still one of the best. Latest bit of good news: Aspirin now seems to prevent
bowel cancer, in addition to relieving pain, quelling inflammation, and
students claim impairment to extract special treatment from schools (extra
tutoring, extra time on tests, etc.). The disabilities include such dubious
Also check out the "Frame Game" on Weld vs. Helms.)
mostly closeted gay men called Gamma Mu, dealt drugs to support his lavish
investigators. Also, a pair of articles on celebrity marriage. One piece mocks
been conducting an affair with his communications director for the past three
chastises New York media for ignoring the story, saying they fear alienating
acceptance for his unconventional theories on heart disease, and suggests that
new ideas in medicine are often slighted when they don't stand to make money
being challenged by a new, faceless breed of property investors, but they're
eighth medical cover story of the year. "The Hidden Causes of Heart Attacks"
advises a prevention regimen of multivitamins, especially vitamins B-6 and
factors for heart disease include low birth weight and infections like
delicacy) and cartilage (mistakenly thought to prevent cancer) has brought
budget would have balanced itself quicker if Congress had done nothing new.
story offers a News You Can Use analysis of the budget deal's tax cuts: You
benefit if you are middle class and have kids, or are rich and own stock. A
floods. An earnest analysis of women in the military advocates that the Pentagon use
the techniques that helped integrate blacks into the services.
executive," "the easiest boss in Congress," and "a kindly, courtly gentleman
policies. And an article opposes the use of statistical sampling for the next
census, arguing that the samplers will favor Democrats.
examines the struggle of moving from sainthood to practical politics. An
both sides granted each other all the spending and tax cuts they wanted, and
Valley venture capitalist in search of the next big technological
slow economic growth with higher interest rates, and strike boldly on
government reform, but worries that the new prime minister is more concerned
Union. An article says that the Labor landslide does not signify the
death of the Conservative Party: Just five years ago, after all, pundits were
the Poor" condemns state lotteries. They sucker the poor with false
spent on lotteries goes to state treasuries), and are magnets for corruption. A
Republican attack on federal judges "intellectually incoherent and
constitutionally subversive," maintaining that the nominees opposed by
story endorses the state Legislature's plan to scrap New York City's
that rent control reduces the number of apartments, encourages landlord
developers from building new apartments. Economists agree. A story advises
risks and benefits of research findings, and it's only in rare cases (notably
cigarette smoking) that science discovers clear evidence that changing behavior
substances are said to raise dopamine levels in the brain, inducing euphoria.
triumph, but humans shouldn't fret. A victory by Deep Blue would indicate its
superior computational skills, but not a capacity for conscious thought.
marriage is increasing, and express the hope that multiracial kids will bridge
kids don't need much help: They read better, take fewer drugs, score better on
tests, and have fewer health problems than their parents did. A story
start acting like the majority party, principally by uniting around a tax cut.
The editorial endorses a tobacco settlement as a way to reduce both smoking and
aggressive tactics. Also, a surprisingly favorable article about the Christian Coalition's campaign to recruit blacks
and help rebuild burned black churches: This seems to be a truly sincere effort
feminist who doesn't think men are the cause of all women's problems. Jeers to
genders are treated equally in the workplace, take equal responsibility in
matters of sex, and treat each other socially with equal respect and dignity,
the only practical approach is to start doing it. But to act as though wrongs
only matter when they happen to women, or to assume that women are never in the
wrong when they have conflicts with men, is to retard progress toward a goal
positive book reviews usually have some caveats.) I had to sympathize with
Fallows when he wrote that he felt he was walking out on a limb criticizing
time, to avoid the sense that professional concerns are not hampering the
conversation in The Book Club, it might make sense to choose two discussants
interview. If so, would he make it generally available?
love and compassion from my Dalmatian. As the director of the Dalmatian
a nation of Dalmatian owners who are the happiest people I have ever
"Many of them are deaf, and all of them are dumb. They are, in short, lousy
pets." Excuse me, but have you ever had a Dalmatian as a part of your family
for more than two weeks? True, Dalmatians are more hyper than most dogs, but
talk too much and always seem to get into things and is harder than heck to
potty train? Dalmatians are the least vocal of any dog. They only bark when
they need to get their point across. Kind of like me. I am a quiet person until
public word. Not long ago, she toured an art exhibition at a private gallery on
who is a friend of mine. "It was a complete surprise."
because, as with all incredibly famous people, we feel we know her. But we
actually know very little. All that may change next week when she gives her
deposition in the impeachment trial, even though her testimony will be behind
irksomely closed doors. Afterward, perhaps she'll grant us a public word or two
on the Capitol steps. It would be the first time we will have heard her
injustice in regarding her as a vacuous vixen. "I could not live with myself if
immortal. "That is just not my nature. I am a good person."
case that in seducing the president, she was serving the public interest.
have ever had has always had lovers because the pressure of the job is too
Avenue bakery. But fat chance she's on a diet." A few nights later, Jay Leno
was right to perceive that this is how you get fancy jobs in New York, with or
Whatever your beliefs about the formal obstruction of justice case against
maturity to balk at the magazine's tasteless choice of props. And maybe, after
Like many impressionable young women through the ages,
pulls the strings on her immunity agreement, but it is difficult to see how and
when she can resume a normal life. I have it on good authority that the main
image is a cruel caricature. She was smart enough to object initially to the
transcripts that she captivated many members of the grand jury. She also
any small company famous by wearing its logo on a baseball cap.
keep the conversation going and to steer it in a certain direction.)
administration said to me recently, "If the world knew about my messy love life
Clearance from the vice squad, permission from a male relative, a
congressional condemnation would be pretty bad, but "there is no greater agony"
than something he's suffered already. No greater agony than what?
"Finding that little note in the playbill that said, 'Due to illness, the role
about what you did, and don't come out until you're really sorry. But how is
true remorse displayed? Many jailed Republicans demonstrated reformation by
little by going to prison to prove how sorry he is as a way of avoiding prison.
voluntarily giving up a desired pleasure, most often tickets to The Rock
Concert forsworn by a chastened teen. (After packing the Supreme Court,
had learned his lesson when, at the end of an episode of The Honeymooners, he'd
they'd hug and kiss (but no tongues!) and our long national nightmare would be
over. But of course, by next week he'd have landed in the soup again, the
would be, it would pale in comparison to the consequences of the pain I have
joy ride. You know, the nonsexual but pointless kind.
Education's "Citywide Standards of Conduct and Uniform Disciplinary Measures,"
ascending order of seriousness. Can you rank these infractions?
unsafe or materially disruptive to the educative process"
race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or
B-7, C-9, D-10, E-12, F-13, G-14, H-16, I-36, J-37.
laws they feel they need. With that in mind, which of the following are listed
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
the recently released White House budget: It unwisely sacrifices
women. But by basing its authority on public acceptance of extreme gender
restrictions, his regime "has become far more dependent on women for its
survival than women are on the regime." Most surreal act of censorship: Western
chronicles the bittersweet process of reuniting parents and children separated
the military that terrorized their parents. Now villagers are trying to find
and form relationships with children adopted by their former enemies. These
reunions can give rare substance and progress to the notoriously difficult
wages. The merchant marine has become "the sweatshop of the high seas."
models in glittery frocks, readers should consult an annotated guide to the
models' dye jobs, the "artichoke" haircut, and the new way to wear leg warmers
Gun -style machismo. The ship is a clammy and morbid universe of its own,
holding great masses of bombs and personnel, all tightly organized. The pilots
are dutiful but terrified. They quietly suppress the reality of killing other
humans and the possibility of being killed themselves. Instead, they put their
politics and society. The magazine's less than revelatory insights: The
president won't accomplish much this term, the Constitution will survive, and
"consensual sex will continue to be tolerated." A conservative critic
manual on how to update and revive your losing party. They should "pull a
right, and start oozing compassion (one way to do this: "heartwarming stories
authenticity, capitalism, and humor have caused nothing less than "a
Time chronicles the emerging partnership between Vice
adversaries have formed "a pact of mutually assured ambition," with Gore
of life, food production, investment, and infrastructure are all bottoming out,
and inflation, pollution, and crime are soaring. The two greatest blunders of
rubles, and the sale of government utilities at bargain prices in rigged
to women. This distorts social life on campus ("the women develop eating
disorders, and the men develop huge egos," complains one undergrad). Colleges
are turning to quiet, informal affirmative action on behalf of male
are steamrollering special protections for juvenile suspects. The legal
doctor debunks the notion that toxic substances cause "cancer clusters." (Such
apparent concentration of certain cancers in certain places is just coincidence
defeat on impeachment and beatifies the House Republicans for their willingness
to pursue an unpopular but noble path. The one workable exit strategy is to
his seat in defense of the unborn, the nation's security, and the
doesn't drag the whole stock market down, could be useful for the economy
because it will "restore sanity" to the venture capital industry. Some of the
women are deliberately promiscuous in order to win more male protectors for
their child. Men, not knowing if they're the biological father or not, assume
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
while talented and charming when in the mood, turned out to be very abusive
instead of concentrating on the marriage or seeking treatment for him, she
talking about the "abuse" we were subjected to as children. Our parents were
not perfect, but about average, or maybe a drop below. I believe that dwelling
on the past is just an excuse and easier than dealing with the present. What
can be done to convince her that, despite all the psychobabble we are exposed
to, the past is not as important as the present? I want her to get on with her
life, get help for her husband, and stop driving my parents and everybody in
receptive to your suggestions, so save your breath to cool your soup. Your
sister's life has not turned out as she had hoped, and her way of coping is to
apportion blame. Unfortunately, in her game of emotional Tag, your parents are
disengage from the marital psychodrama and be as supportive as possible to your
sister's version of her difficulties. Simply say that you, for whatever reason,
did not experience any parental abuse, and you wish her well in what is,
the homeless and their food supplies! Feral cats in poor neighborhoods like
mine spread diseases, and their large number can make you feel you're living in
for animals, but she cannot disagree with any of the points you make. She had
always been aware of feral dogs but not the cats. Goodness, if the city
authorities don't get a hold of this situation, there's going to be Rigor
badger the proper agency in your community to do something about all the
meaning of the word is "stupid, foolish, ignorant." If you think about this,
this explains a lot. "Have a nice day" is a subtle insult, and instinctively we
to say, "It's good to see you" (when it is). Otherwise I just say,
better knowing the subversive underpinning of that goofy greeting. Bless
relationship that is good for her is due to her willingness to settle for
of the current crew, get herself into insight psychotherapy, and get rid of
anyone in her life who tells her all the good ones are married or gay. If she
is overweight, she needs to get rid of that, as well. Men do not go for fat
"insight psychotherapy"? And just for the record, there are, in fact,
much having lots of good points, as knowing which are your good points and
which are your bad. It's not always obvious. Consider safe and clean. Do people
really want that? Put that pair in your personal ad, and you'll be dating my
gay man) or my uncle Herb (if you're a straight woman and his mother, my
of person who attracts the sort of person who wants dangerous and dirty. (But
let's not bring up my cousins.) When enlistment rates are down, Army recruiters
panic and misconstrue their points. You don't attract ferocious soldiers by
promising above average pay and, some day, a fine pension. Warriors want
would have done at the Concord Hotel if they just could have hung on one more
announced that his first act will be to change the name of the organization to
Who Am I? Can you identify someone from very little
samples from newborns, to help with prompt identification if the child is
eventually murdered. The hospitals recommend that the blood sample, dripped
lists these three warning signs but cautions that exorcists "must not consider
people to be vexed by demons who are suffering from some psychic illness."
underwear probably isn't true, but how can we be sure?
course by "merge" I mean form a single organization able to more efficiently
indeed a foreign country; they dress differently there. The clothes on women,
particularly, create foreignness in different ways. Depending on what era the
movie is set in, clothes can conjure a unfamiliarity that is soothingly
adorable or uneasily alien. Twenty years back, and the gaze is nostalgic. But
skirts also confirm our sense of the foreignness then, when painful situations
could be resolutely ignored and awkward facts kept under wraps while in
exaggerations, show us a country now alien indeed. They remind us that there
was a time when the line between the personal and the public was
ridiculous and unnatural devices invented to dishonor female life and liberty.
The actual clothes of the '50s are now almost half a century gone, most of them
vanished. We only see them in old films, old television, and old magazines,
1880s to the 1920s was severe. By the second half of the 1920s, female fashion
and female life had been totally transformed. Women had adopted short hair and
modern female citizens, who by that time had acquired effective means of
contraception, gainful employment, and the vote. Too young to remember the
ordinary clothes of the previous era, they regarded huge bustles, sweeping
trains, lofty coiffures, and tightly laced waists with a ferocious derision
Now, at the end of the 1990s, with the evidence drawn
mainly from old movies and old sitcoms, '50s fashion is similarly ripe for
reductive contempt. Those big, pointy breasts; useless hats; and lampshade
what the great range of real clothing was like at the time.
years, and all our social perceptions become romantically transformed. Clothes
in historical movies can show the really distant past as a friendly foreign
land, perhaps even a lot like the here and now. All Ancient Historical Drag is
morally and visually neutral, apt for inventive play with the styles of a
redeemed, is often treated with great respect in movies such as The Portrait
Historical films are usually kind to the olden days,
updating the principal women's clothes so the actresses look attractive by
herself, as if no other woman at the time ever wore a rigid farthingale and
stuffed sleeves, a tightly frizzed wig and a bushel of pearls, or painted her
run to becomingly mobile and flowing silk dresses with smoothly boned bodices.
there's a good deal of extra emphasis on the way the period corsets flatten the
flattening was permitted and certainly no exposure.
films because they're modish once more. Modern designers such as Christian
ideology to reinstate the corset, using them as sexy accents in the early '90s.
emblem of female oppression back into the erotic device it always was.
Corseting has stopped looking dishonorable and started looking chic again, both
as a feature of recent ball gowns and wedding gowns and as a costume component
that can give a modern frisson to movies set in ancient days.
The '50s aren't quite ancient yet, but they're getting more
years, and many remembered when. The movie was beautifully restrained and
time before spandex were all deliciously heartbreaking, never exaggerated for
laughs. The film's evocation of the style of the time was marred only by
'70s failed to walk in the correct '50s style while wearing long narrow skirts.
(The secret: Knees together, and don't try to stride.)
right on schedule, fashions of the '70s are being given a nostalgic,
will be in for its share of cinematic contempt (once the square toes are truly
gone) just as the '50s finally achieve true antiquity.
The modes of any period can easily be made to look stupid.
Even in its own day, fashion needs a lot of enhancement to make it look great.
for new goods, the clothes in '50s movies were so thoroughly surreal as to look
quite unfit for normal wear, even if they were waitresses' uniforms or
specially for the stars and uniquely worn by them. In Cat on a Hot Tin
the costume department. Real '50s slips had no relation to it at all. They were
and unreliable straps that slid around on the shoulders, uneasily contending
with the bra straps. In the '50s, nobody wanted the movies to show all that
and had hairy armpits, too. That was really foreign.
she was supposed to be working in an office or teaching in a journalism school.
Nobody ever wanted to emulate this effect; it was hers alone.
Today we cede our vision of '50s female fashion to the
blatantly cleansed of error, willfully idealized into unreality, odorless,
cinematic female bodies can seem to suggest a world unwilling to acknowledge
the existence of adultery, homosexuality, racial strife, female lust and rage,
political and cultural revolution, family dysfunction, or messy passion of any
kind, not to mention irreparable loss, unbearable pain, and death.
things and more, the most intractable aspects of human life. But they were
conventions for the cinematic female wardrobe. Those conventions had an
important meaning at the time. They stood for the notion that private life was
modern political leaders, he seems the least likely as a character. A Henry
might depict his climb from provincial obscurity. But who could concoct the
juxtapositions of the president's personality? It is hard to think of a figure
scripted him? Let us consider the writers whose inventions capture aspects of
ambition and disloyalty to his old friends (without his heroism or rhetorical
lacks the grandeur of the Bard's tragic heroes and the absurdity of his comic
on the first page of the novel of that name as "A disorder in which
concern for the poor and the oppressed. Meanwhile, however, he is shacked up
with a girlfriend he calls the Monkey, who fulfills his sexual fantasies but
him for the right to do his chore. Tom Sawyer does capture rather nicely, I
driven to distraction by Tom's deceptions but always forgives him in the
Dickens: The great artist of character types is Dickens, but he seems
a fawning fellow who worms his way up through oozing manipulation. He does have
smarminess, and his flattering blather. There's a scene in the novel where
of its own in which a punishment is completely incommensurate with the nature
of the crime that comes from a sort of sexual madness that I believe is at the
noted. This is a clever nomination, but it doesn't transcend the immediate
punished unfairly for an accidental murder he is provoked into committing by
be unjust, but as a character he lacks Billy's innocence and forthrightness.
Billy steps up to take his undeserved punishment, declining to let others risk
They were 'careless' people. They smashed up lives and didn't notice." There
World War I and is a reckless adulterer. But as a personality, he's all
him. And Tom and Daisy are aristocrats; their miserable behavior is the
sentence, for at this moment a heavy crash shook the forest from end to
Herald points out, because "the crimes he is accused of were committed
leaders and bring them before an international tribunal for crimes against
international tribunal, particularly at a time when war criminals from the
Pessimism pervades papers' seasonal stories around the
recognizing that residents of the capital were better off than the rest of
thousands of people have lost their savings in the collapse of the country's
banking system. Still more have become unemployed or had their salaries slashed
way to take that annual break." The decline can be explained in part by workers
year, decreased alarmingly, apparently due to the alleged Western propaganda
that, at peak flow, the ocean surrounding the reefs becomes toxic. That wasn't
the kanji chosen by the public to symbolize the year now drawing to an end. In
added arsenic to food that was served at a summer festival, and media stories
20-to-1 that the controversial "Millennium Dome" would be scrapped, 100-to-1
prepared with accommodations for the reception of the House of
that there is no nice hotel. Not the right kind of nice hotel. If we live in an
age of rampant infidelity (generally the most popular kind, by the way), it is
in spite of the failure of the free market to provide seductive accommodations.
comfort. It's like bad pornography expressed as architecture.
apartments are small, there are "love hotels" in a goofy and playful variety of
why is there no hotel toothpaste? In their restless effort to offer the guest
simulated luxury, hotels provide a sewing kit, soap, shampoo, body gel, a
Bible, a robe, and a shower cap, but no toothpaste. Why not? Just say you were
a dentist seeking a stolen hour of bliss; where would you go? Just say you were
a congressman who looked like Piggy and cared about the Constitution, sensual
delights, and good oral hygiene; what kind of accommodations would you
real memo we once read, written by a secretary at Paramount, describing the
BUSINESS: Now that the money is a different color, foreigners will be
able to buy a lot more things, or perhaps a lot fewer.
YOU FEEL: Buying stuff is making everyone happy, even when it turns
insisting that poor people not be made to feel good at the expense of rich
YOUR BOAT: A lot of people are sailing those huge factory trawlers up
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
been chosen "to bring this man to light." She explained, "I was the strong one
that did not say no." The unnamed author of the interview, which was spread
posing variously in black leather, fake leopard skin, and white shirt and
jeans, wrote that, although she was "heavily made up," there wasn't "even the
safe after he leaves office "because then he's not the President, and he may
have died since her case started, she feels she is being watched over by God,
she said it left her feeling "like he raped me, without physically raping me."
"intellectual brilliance" and lamented that "this exceptionally human man
should have his place in history distorted because he couldn't find a secluded
President only wanted to do what the common man has done behind his wife's back
since the world began. Puritan stupidity didn't only refuse him that, it
urgent steps to stimulate domestic demand and bring down trade barriers to
ideal, make the mistake of overlooking the cultural and infrastructural
differences between different economies," it said. "But they are more right
had "little substance" and that he was effectively "telling emerging
economies that it is up to them to avoid becoming ill and, should they succumb,
unfortunately, lived up once again to its reputation as a country which has
failed to build capitalism and does not pay its debts." Referring to Prime
with Al Gore and the International Monetary Fund's Deputy Managing Director
appointment following the paper's disclosure that Lauder had provided financial
unauthorized access to the Internet. "The proposed legislation would punish
those who connect to the Internet by using other people's codes or by hacking
into the system," it explained. "Official regulation should be kept to a
acts, such as shopping with other users' accounts or rewriting and destroying
magazine that "for the first time in my life on a film set I was thinking, 'I
wish I wasn't here.' There were even days when I would wake up and think,
see all these people, and do the thing you love most." At least she does not
you without any clothes on, this question no doubt has popped into your head:
Why are the poor so fat? That obesity is a characteristic problem of affluent
countries surprises no one. But why is it also characteristic that obesity
increases so dramatically as you go down the social scale?
emigrated from, being overweight is directly related to wealth and status and
is regarded as attractive. Thus, my father's rural family of farmers is thin
and wiry, while the elders in my mother's urban clan of higher caste and
wealthier stock are as plump as can be. When my sister and I, two scrawny
The first report I found to document the effect class has
found obesity was six times more common among women in the bottom third of the
nations, low income is a more powerful predictor of obesity than any single
factor except age, though this relationship is weaker in men than in women. In
men, height is associated more strongly with status. On average, in developed
and undeveloped countries alike, richer men are taller.
You'd think weight would be like height. More money
means more food. So more food should mean more fat, just as it means more
epidemiologist friends point out to me, when two things correlate, there are
always three possible explanations. One leads to the other. The other leads to
possibility is that obesity leads to lower income. Certainly the obese,
particularly obese women, face severe disadvantages in both the job and
marriage markets. And the evidence that this produces downward mobility is
belonged to a different social class than their parents, and those who had
moved down were significantly fatter than those who had moved up. More
become impoverished as others. Obesity affected a woman's economic prospects
more than even chronic illness. In men, however, shortness led to downward
mobility. One foot less of height doubled a man's likelihood of poverty. But as
observed relationship of income to obesity. That makes sense. After all, the
study" lent some credence to the idea, finding that the obesity and social
parents but also of their biological parents. The study inferred that parents
can give their offspring genetic traits that tip the scales toward both heavier
weight and lower status. Even so, inheritance accounted for at most a small
mobility and genes matter somewhat but, ultimately, we're left with the obvious
explanation that in affluent societies the lower the income, the more people
eat unhealthily, sit around, or both. Unfortunately, measuring this directly is
exercise and, when observed, tend to change their behavior. The differences
is linked to eating more and exercising less, and rises substantially as income
lowers. Given the weakness of other explanations, few experts doubt that
free, and eating less junk food and meat and more produce saves money. Rather,
just horrendously difficult. Being motivated is vital, and motivation is what
women. They even weighed themselves less often (three times a month vs. seven
and young women. Since obese men are less stigmatized, it may also explain why
wealthier men are not that much less obese than poorer men.
distinguish themselves from the poor? Or does richness breed an instinct for
World status when I go back to visit my relatives and the first few words they
closing arguments, but everyone agrees that neither impeachment article will
rejected a bone marrow transplant (to stave off cancer) and his organs began to
fail. Now that everyone realizes how ill the king was when he recently dumped
marveling in retrospect at the king's decisiveness, resolve, and composure.
resigned for using the word "niggardly." The word means "stingy" and is
unrelated to the "N word," but some people had misunderstood it. The aide,
ordeal"). The White House reportedly tried to spike the story on security
They're hypocrites, since they've used People and other popular
hike, offset by an even greater revenue hike (thanks to economic growth),
should be applauded for spending less and saving more than the "big government"
adjusting Social Security taxes and benefits so the program will remain
running a Web site that tracks the murders of abortion providers. The site,
format of a "most wanted" list, along with their home addresses, license plate
numbers, and the names of their spouses and children. The doctors' names are
crossed out as they are murdered. The plaintiffs' spin: The site is "a hit list
for terrorists" and is also intended to scare doctors out of the business. The
defendants' spin: The site doesn't explicitly advocate violence against
doctors, and the damage award violates the First Amendment. Legal analysts look
Instead, he will campaign for Democratic House candidates in the hope that
Democrats will recapture the House and he will become speaker. This leaves
The unofficial spin: He smells blood on House Republicans who have antagonized
judgment in making a statement that served no purpose whatsoever." The spins:
chimpanzee subspecies. They theorize that humans contracted the virus by
chimps' genes or immune system defeat the related virus, we can learn how to
we can learn how to recognize dangerous viruses earlier and prevent another
allegedly trying to buy oral sex from a prostitute. Sports writers mercilessly
yard touchdown pass) and partly blamed the Falcons' sloppy performance (several
campaign), but he will have plenty of diehard donors, volunteers, and
was taking a leave of absence from his job, then set up an "announcement"
set up the committee that would set up his eventual campaign.) The New York
has emerged to cater to affluent baby boomers who think of themselves as
practical, but who are easily gulled into buying things for which they have no
obvious practical need. It is a store that knows yuppie materialism is a kind
tend to confuse their restless pursuit of Authenticity when purchasing retail
goods with an indifference to material things. It is a store that takes
everyday items and buffs them up just enough that they seem like luxury items
and yet (usually) keeps prices relatively low. It is a store that, if you
happen to be an affluent baby boomer, understands more about you and the things
that give you pleasure than you understand yourself.
stores, "more than a store." It is a community. You may wander into Borders
bookstore without a thought in the world of buying anything, except perhaps a
cup of coffee. Should you happen, amid your browsing, to find something you
want to purchase, the store will labor to treat it as an unexpected windfall.
At the more aggressive (and youthful) end of the spectrum, Urban Outfitters
so far as to make its products seem incidental to the spirit they're meant to
her book shows her in jeans and blazer, standing at the edge of a deep canyon
(inherited from her father). The book itself is "serious, perceptive, skirting
the edges of hilarity and terror." You'd never guess she's a lethal player of
As this passage suggests, a common theme in these stores is
camp nostalgia. Another is the soullessness of retail as practiced by the
themselves if the things they make are really, I mean really, better than the
Hardware. Although they position themselves as "practicality" stores, you'd
warehouse lamp. Rather, they invite you to question the underlying assumptions
behind your everyday needs and to reorder those needs.
Both stores are somewhat difficult to classify. Trader
gourmet shop, because it's bigger and less pricey than most gourmet shops.
(When the prices are high, the store is quick to make a joke of it, as it does
Hardware calls itself a hardware store and stocks a few items that might
pliers, flashlights with old metallic ribbing, etc. But these items, along with
a sprinkling of kitchen ware, gardening supplies, and whimsical doodads such as
up before the main course, which is a sleigh bed, a leather and cherry bentwood
recliner, or some other hunk of massive retro furniture. Restoration Hardware
is a home furnishings store for people who think of themselves as too austere
Both chains present themselves as bucking the aesthetic and
Eventually, the store ceased to carry "lines" of goods at all, instead selling
elsewhere, it will stop carrying it. "We like to suggest that some of our best
to Quality and Value would be easier to commend wholeheartedly if it didn't
reek quite so much of snob appeal. One has to remind oneself that this is an
counterculture rebellion. The company, which is now traded publicly, was
retailing, one who "did not set out to found a retail group, but did so as a
result of one of his passions, the discovery of fine craftsmanship and
Restoration Hardware does not carry "lines" but rather selects individual items
that seem to capture the store's "spirit," many of which are made exclusively
beside each item display an impressive mastery of the manipulative arts. "FOUR
card beside four sizes of woven metal baskets in Restoration Hardware's
covet recliners," purrs the card beside a 1952-style Metro Finer Recliner,
psychological profile to allow ourselves or even imagine ourselves purchasing a
big cushy wonder boy or girl reclining chair." Let's pause for a moment to map
Sympathy: And yet you secretly desire one so you can capture some magical
You may be buying your dad's chair, but you are not going to play that gender
dominance game that he played. It's your wife's chair too! Wonder boy
cultural criticism, have coined an extremely handy term to describe the spirit
In a book of essays with that title, the process of turning counterculture
with a longing for simpler times. But in both stores, one is similarly invited
to live out vain fantasies about who one is, or should be. The spell is broken
merchandise, and understand you're just another schmuck consumer.
former head of the New York City Art Commission, "it seems as though wherever
denigrated for a lack of ability to find other countries on a map and a lack of
interest in trying. But here's what News Quiz respondents know about one other
country, based on a count of all submitted answers:
don't know all that much. But in a hypothetical reverse version of the News
a big, busty blonde on the seat beside him; and firing a pistol out the window,
well above the limit. Many of them believed they could drive safely at high
direct broadcast satellite providers, has signed a deal with Internet
objects and drool copiously, and perhaps you defecate or urinate on the
Naturally we resist. Not for us the cheap swipes at Sen. Blowhard and Rep.
politicians who won't let a guy serve and protect. And while we're at it, let's
also admit that today's question drifted into "Smelly, Lethargic, Incoherent"
You are a dog suffering from separation anxiety. You
suffering from mental deterioration. Both drugs, under different names, are
with fear of crowds or thunderstorms. "You can buy that dog some time," he said
insubstantial, but they are like cannonballs to a giant galaxy."
Producers Council hopes people buy the other white meat because it's good, not
disdain Reform and Conservative conversions as little more than circumcision
for the men and immersion in a ritual bath for the women.
large galaxies. Dark matter constitutes most of the universe.
by an editorial asking that God might show him mercy "equal to the size of our
report on the possible repercussions of his likely death because of
to panic despite efforts by palace officials to convey the impression of a
been increased by "a clumsy purge of the local media" that had involved the
unofficial accounts of the succession crisis, Walker wrote. The new English
"bad news" has "opened the door to rumors, inflicting a higher toll on the
The king's health crisis led the front pages of many
has the experience to face the current dangers in the Middle East and concluded
adding that far from achieving its purpose of extricating the peace process
because he is not implementing it, nor can he attribute the current quiet to an
unimplemented agreement. It is not yet too late to carry out the agreement, but
there is no reason to expect that the prime minister will respect even his own
removed, he would be replaced by a "puppet regime," which would "spark bitter
over beyond the border into neighboring states," it concluded.
states he visited earlier in the week. Their refusal to support the toppling of
unilaterally in defiance of its allies and international law, the paper
reported a thaw in relations between their two countries.
the country has changed from being an isolated backwater into the chief
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
business requires us to entertain at home quite a bit. His company (which pays
the bills) uses a particular caterer with whom I do not get along. The woman in
charge seems to resent my suggestions, though I am always polite, and it has
and New Year's coming up, we will be seeing more of her than ever. I do not
people helping in the house are always in a position to carry tales outside.
suggestions. And to close down the catering lady, make it a point to tell her
appropriate person in your husband's company if you might have the leeway of
remember this: Using caterers may have a few attendant problems, but it beats
be a nut job. (No, not your software billionaire.) The one who has my dander
lovers are a fiercely loyal lot (and vociferous too), there is no recourse from
you used the word "empathetic." Please see the attached letter previously sent
"empathetic" should not be used. Despite my letter I see that
are the highlights of your (unpublished) letter for the edification of those
the language. It seems that only psychologists know that the word is
years after I predicted it, I notice that some dictionaries offer "reluctant"
as a meaning for "reticent." And of course "disinterested" has come to mean
for me, though it is actually my daughter's problem. She is married to a
womanizing louse who takes no particular pains to cover his tracks. They have
married. My daughter is torn about whether to cut the creep loose or to hope
against hope that he will change. There are children. You are experienced, and
said, in another context, "That condition can be cured only with embalming
discussed this, but the next time it comes up you might point out that tomcat
habits are not likely to change and, further, that children are not benefited
by having tense and angry parents. Additionally, through some kind of family
osmosis, children pick up that a parent is a philanderer, and this, in turn,
situation and that you can achieve some peace of mind knowing that adults get
to make their own decisions about their lives. Be a shoulder for your daughter,
and let's hope she decides the best course for herself and the children.
no apparent reason. Exposing his lies on television has no effect on his
negotiate a new date with the United States, with the most likely one being
pragmatic and dedicated exclusively to the promotion of its own interests, the
find them in the government, the Security Council, the Federal Security
Service, or the Foreign Ministry. Neither could the State Department and the US
intelligence official interviewed by the newspaper blamed them on "the current
political situation in the US." The official added, "Some faction probably used
hemorrhaging ulcer of the stomach" was bad news for several reasons. "First, a
hemorrhaging ulcer is a serious and painful disease, which even younger
patients find it difficult to combat. Second, this reveals the full extent of
the incompetence of the president's doctors," the paper said. "Too many cooks
spoil the broth, as the saying goes. The best doctors in the country either
didn't notice the development of ulcer in the case of their important patient,
or they themselves produced it by filling the president up with pills before
saying that the massacre had been wholly predictable because the West "didn't
understanding on security matters, since the United States is unlikely to be
willing to contribute more than a token number of ground troops."
also argued for a tough line, saying that "the atrocity cannot
As for stopping the killing, only drastic measures are likely to work, such as
that only a confession by the president that he had lied under
continue to rely on public opinion to keep his jurors from convicting him, and
in his State of the Union message will "propose scores of popular
measures designed to secure poll ratings, even if they have no chance of
entering law." The editorial continued, "He is rightly confident that by
such means he can maintain himself in power. But he should also be concerned
today, once asserted: 'On truth there can be no ambiguity, on justice no
the story, noting the proliferation of multiple births due to fertility drugs.
problems, and society can't afford to spend millions of dollars on every
abort the extras (as this woman refused to do on religious grounds), she
power." These are the latest steps in a crackdown on activists who have
China's economic liberalization will eventually lead to political
voted against it, but the media largely agreed with Democrats that it was a
Republicans ruled that it wasn't germane. Democrats temporarily walked out to
protest the "unfairness" of the proceedings and later staged a rally at the
they couldn't save him. The sunny spin: Senate moderates are ready to end this
spin: That's what House moderates were ready to do a month ago.
reports that Hustler magazine was preparing to expose his extramarital
lamented the loss of a great statesman, and blamed the ouster on White House
dirty tricks. The resignation was also provoked by House Republicans angry at
Democrats, too, lamented his downfall, even as they milked it to illustrate why
protecting the world and backing diplomacy with necessary force. The
lack the stamina for four days of bombing, how will we find the stamina for the
ban a practice quite common in the United States. What?
complete inventory of items destroyed in the bombing raid on the Republican
outside of his marriage. (Please note, his wife has forgiven all but the
where it all began. That's why, at our house, I read aloud from that holiday
political freedom to the modern freedom to shop in the mall of your choice.
degree possible. It means a maximum range of choice for the consumer when he
spends his dollar." Here was an idea intellectuals might also embrace.
but the compensation was the greater range of 'alternatives in goods and
land, and it's not on any map: You must find it in your heart or on your
television. But who are the people who live there? Answer these questions based
shown to be involved in crime or violence (three times the actual rate)."
turn to crime. "Women age faster than men, and as they age, they become more
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
never tires of publishing judicious editorials about Flytrap, drew its
"technically legal," it had failed the crucial test set by the founding fathers
that such a process must inspire public confidence. This is because the
as an unacceptable constraint on executive power." The obvious lesson was that
the independent counsel law should be "redesigned" when it comes up for review
both independent of party politics and yet seen to be democratic." The
FT said, "Selection by a panel appointed by the judiciary would be an
at the same time as some of its members suggested that censure, rather than
impeachment trial should be a way of protecting the office of president, not
the process. But the ultimate victims could be the pursuers, not the pursued.
but it may have prompted "a neat political reversal, helping to put Democrats
demented stalker is hailed as the winner. The world knows that he is guilty,
but he is the one enjoying a victory cigar. What a way to end the
decree which, it said, could generate xenophobia and racism. "Such a crucial
problem as immigration can only be confronted in a spirit of bipartisanship, in
which the government and the opposition undertake not to treat it as an
country with a declining birth rate and an aging population.
and the Guardian with "Trial of the century begins."
committing a strategic error by falling into "the temptation of picking at the
these witnesses be called to testify, so that disputes on points of fact can be
effort to prevent any live witnesses being called."
"These are little vignettes of caddishness that could start to damn the
who said that the impeachment crisis had "lacerated the women's rights
us to positions of power." She added, in reference to the throwing out of the
mismanagement was condemned as a "surrender" in another Daily Telegraph
are now thoroughly discredited," it said. "They have shown themselves to be
ready to tolerate serious malpractice rather than allow the unification of
took a different view. The Financial Times said that the commission, despite its
victory, had got "a bloody nose" and that the vote had been "an important round
"to become more than a terrier snapping at the heels of policymakers: it can
"justified its existence." Nothing will ever be the same again, it said.
by power workers because they received no wages and a general slackening of
labor discipline in the industry caused a rise in accidents, the paper said.
two the year before. "Still, this doesn't give any grounds for optimism since
cardinal principle of its policy which is characterized by transparency and
interference in a state's affairs whatever regime it may have, especially when
that intervention lacks any international cover or consensus."
crisis in Brazil, which it said had not merely brought a premature end to
international financial system which was just beginning to recover from the
traumatic devaluation. "Don't loosen your safety belts yet," it said.
blow job and he gives you a soft job: high pay, no qualifications, no heavy
Republican impeachment drive is not too different. Although the alleged quid
impeachment nevertheless assume that Flytrap is about an exchange of
understands bureaucracies should know that the way to get a cushy job isn't to
make yourself desirable but to make yourself undesirable. That's why, while
the Bush administration. When she began to look like trouble, she was
transferred to the Pentagon. The choice of the Pentagon is no surprise.
bureaucrats probably have in mind the Department of Health and Human Services,
if your urgent need is a government job in general, rather than anything in
particular that job might accomplish, apparently the Pentagon is your best
characterized this as a politically motivated "demotion." It will strike many
at the Pentagon was confidential assistant to the assistant secretary for
public affairs. Her job was writing press releases, for which she was paid
presidential aide, not for being desirable to the president.
program called the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, an arguably
responsibility for the paperwork involved in the selection process, for making
travel and hotel arrangements, as well as for other logistic odds and ends such
is, it turns out, no official description of the job. Writing one is among the
descriptions of other GS-15 public affairs specialist positions. For instance,
in the reviews and analysis of numerous requests for speeches; to develop,
clear, release, and distribute a wide range of information and data concerning
the nature and objective of the Commission's programs; [and to] prepare press
releases, fact sheets, etc. and arrange press conferences." Translation: PR
To try to get some sort of independent measure of what
these jobs are worth, I called Kelly Services, the nationwide temp agency.
job. The employee, a problem in one place, was simply moved to another. There's
a name for this personnel technique: It's called "Pass the Trash." Federal
civilian employees who don't commit felonies and don't cuss out their
supervisors pretty much have a guaranteed job with guaranteed wages for life.
handsome pension, based on the average of her three highest consecutive years
Will her job description be done by then? How long could it
take? "She's still working on it," a Pentagon source tells me. What's the
staggering compared with those of the men and women in those hard jobs now.
military's most senior officers. She earns more than a ballistic missile
submarine commander and is on a par with aircraft carrier skippers in the
of communication, including a satellite phone, and that restrictions had been
would be reconsidered if he breached the restrictions, the statement added.
bin Laden over to the United States, however much it came under pressure to do
last week were less interested in securing the extradition of bin Laden than in
hands on the missiles' technology, had offered to buy them "at a huge price,"
step up financial and military assistance to the Afghan opposition if the
whose family is one of the wealthiest and most prominent in the kingdom, was
"communications revolution," which enabled him to transfer money undetected
around the world and to reach every corner of the "information village."
are suffering an accountability famine. Their legislature can hardly muster
more than a pip or a squeak at present. The can hardly cast stones over the
food scandal about the effects of genetically modified foods on human health. A
had been forced to retire early after publishing research showing that rats fed
on genetically modified potatoes suffered a weakened immune system and damage
The Guardian also revealed that the rats' brain size had decreased. The
supreme court that a woman cannot be raped if she is wearing tight denim jeans.
overturned the conviction of a driving instructor for raping one of his pupils,
was "simply not true that two consenting people are needed to take off a pair
of jeans" and that he couldn't imagine how the judges had reached such a
conclusion. "Perhaps it is inexperience, which may be understandable since
washing machines in which to conduct my tests. I don't have a radiation
spectrometer for measuring the whiteness of whites the way Consumer
Reports does. But I do have tools formidable in their own right at my
service in my search for the best laundry detergent.
right across the street from my apartment. I have skin sensitive to the
faintest of soapy residues and an equally sensitive nose. But my biggest asset
is New York City at my doorstep. The dirt, grime, spit, and fouler substances
that regularly adhere to one's clothing here make this fine metropolis a
But first let me rule out a few of the myths and scams of
ions, or an undefined substance called "structured water." An apparently bogus
that they wash clothes no better than plain water, and one manufacturer was
detergent came in huge boxes? Don't they seem small these days? This was no
technological advance. Under pressure from environmentalists, detergent
manufacturers simply removed the fillers with which they'd been bulking up
detergents to give an illusion of value. (The same thing happened with
showed that powders outperformed liquids on all fronts. (The one exception:
Tide With Bleach Alternative.) Conventional wisdom (as doled out on laundry Web
sites and detergent hotlines) has it that powders are better in hard water and
ingredients: surfactants and builders. Surfactants reduce the surface tension
of the water and increase its ability to rinse and wash. Whimsical chemists say
elements in the water that would reduce the effectiveness of surfactants.
Detergents differ in the way they balance these two elements, and in their
varying use of added ingredients such as bleach, enzymes, fluorescent
whiteners, perfumes, foam control products, or fabric softeners.
brand merely offers the same basic ingredients in different proportions, plus
or minus a few bells and whistles, how was I to determine which was the best? I
boasted of keeping colors bright, removing stains, eliminating odors, and being
arrival of detergents with bleach and bleach alternatives, color fading has
been a concern of many launderers; various brands have accordingly begun to
claim "color hold" bleaching or even that they "brighten brights while
whitening whites." Normal chlorine bleach removes color indiscriminately: It
attacks stains and dyes alike and converts them into particles that your
detergent can easily wash away. It can also damage fabrics (especially
just means oxygen bleach, which is much milder than chlorine bleach. It works
by releasing hydrogen peroxide to break up or remove the color from organic
materials but is gentle enough that it won't affect most fabric dyes. That
stuff about brightening brights generally just means the detergent has some
clothes. There's nothing in detergent that can make your clothes brighter,
other that its inherent ability to get dirt out of them.
Bleach Alternative, which was rated the most effective detergent overall by
each, in hot water, with each of the fine household products I mentioned
washed sets of clothing had lost significant amounts of color as compared with
the unwashed control set. The socks that started out a deep royal purple were
and Tide were not great, but they were noticeable and surprising. Tide, which
made no claims to color holding, actually resulted in the least fading. All
general irrelevance of the claims on detergent labels. One way to prevent this
type of color loss is to wash clothes in colder water, but all detergents work
poorly in cold water, and many bleaching agents are completely ineffective in
cold temperatures. So while the colors may fade less, your detergent is also
removal I needed a way of getting the clothes to be tested as dirty as
the test subjects in the street and let cars run over them. But this presented
a new testing challenge, namely that anything in the street in New York City is
fair game. I was faced with either standing guard over the clothing and shooing
natural people repellent. I picked underwear, both men's and women's, in the
pairs into Second Avenue under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, while no one
wanted the clothing, the act of tossing it into the street drew no little
attention. Questions from the crowd that gathered included "What the hell are
called 'Bag of Panties.' Will you take a picture of us with the underwear for
diverting, but it wasn't getting our underwear any dirtier. So we dragged each
pair through the gutter (which was still full of street runoff from a rainstorm
earlier in the day). This combined with the occasional big rig and regular
they were gray and covered with skid marks and street custard.
But they still weren't dirty enough. So into a plastic sack
they went, and into a cab we hopped, headed for the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, a
enough to donate a large platter and a vat of spicy barbecue sauce, but balked
thoroughly sauced, the briefs still looked like they needed one more good
squirt all over them. With that final abuse, we called it a night, and I sealed
the subjects in a large plastic bag and left them to fester in the corner of my
into four equally soiled piles, I washed one set in Cheer, one in Tide, one in
spin in the dryer, I compared the results. Cheer worked the best overall: It
removed the road grime the best, and there was little trace of the orange
grease left in the waistband by the barbecue sauce. There was no visible
raspberry jelly doughnut filling remaining at all. Tide did a good job on the
grease but was not quite as effective as Cheer on the road grime, which was
still visible in patches. It also completely removed the jelly stains. Third
place went to Dynamo, which did a poor job on the jelly, and whose heavy scent
brand: When I opened the dryer, the spicy smell of barbecue sauce almost
knocked me over, and the briefs were still covered in splotches of orange
enlisted the help of a friend who is a fitness instructor. She was kind enough
to donate three loads of sweaty, crusty clothes to my cause. Using my
incredibly sensitive nose, I divided her clothing into three piles of equal
load). I then washed each in a detergent marketed as odor removing: Gain, Surf,
and Fab. Aside from just having more fragrance than other varieties (which the
companies admit), could they actually remove serious stink from clothing?
great job and removed the odors completely. There was no difference in
perfume was a cloying grape scent. Worst of all, the toxic underwear from the
My conclusions? Tide faded colors a bit less, but it was
not enough to make me want to switch brands. Cheer did a great job removing
dirt and grease, but how often are my clothes run over by cars and slathered in
negligible. The various claims on the packaging are not so much false as true
of all the detergents: With the exception of the cheap store brands, they all
remove odors, stains, and dirt well. You're better off picking your detergent
by its scent (or, if you ask me, lack thereof) than you are judging it by
which one you choose: It'll all come out in the wash.
in "His Excuse for Loving"? In couplets and the "beheaded" (first syllable
he speaks his mind directly and eloquently about feeling love ardently when no
longer a youth. The closing lines of the poem, with the sentence dancing
during the months when they shared a cottage in the country.
devilishly pouty lower lip, soulful hooded eyes, and a genetic fingerprint that
alleged several years ago in the Globe that while state attorney
has denied ever having met the woman, but perhaps the Star can get Miss
Manners to rule on whether purchasing sex from someone qualifies as a formal
the couple "wrote a whole chapter in one of the most remarkable love stories of
this: "I know you're going through hell right now. But I want you to know one
"The furious First Lady attacked the President, hitting him so hard she left a
excellent aim, having also winged him with books and an ashtray. The
"It was like his touch was revolting to her!" an "insider" reports. The
"the change in her diet to Middle Eastern food had caused the first lady to
The president isn't the only recipient of the first lady's
right hook. The Star reports that "on nearly a dozen occasions in the
officers for getting in her way." It reports that as she was leaving the White
dilemma of having nothing to wear for that special occasion by deciding to wear
sexual advances." More stories like this and someone at the White House is
Enquirer 's ear this week in court, seeking to block its competitor from
The Enquirer "scoop" that the Globe wanted spiked reveals the
issue in this epic struggle were questions of First Amendment rights and the
specter of prior restraint, making this battle call to mind nothing so much as
and whose nose is considerably smaller and lips substantially larger than the
genital to genital contact that our president has grown unfamiliar with in
convincingly natural as her nose, her lips, and her breasts. After she and a
reports. After transcripts and video stills of her encounter were made public,
been set up and paid to have sex with Frank." If she had any doubts,
never cheat again. How do we know this? Because she said so. The Globe
"We stayed home. We stayed in the word of God. And we stayed in bed. You want a
recipe for healing? That's what you do." It also helps if you can send your
Unfortunately, groveling before the nation does not work to strengthen the
of her husband, Sonny, she tossed "piles of irreplaceable mementos" of the late
former restaurant employees. The Enquirer reports that war has broken
out among Sonny's survivors because he died without signing the will that would
"After wrapping up his work on the Middle East's problems, President
caption sure to appear on the front of any paper the day after the House votes
Clearance from the vice squad, permission from a male relative, a
"University degree. The other two are prerequisites to coach under Jerry
"University degree. So very nonessential to a happy relationship with a
"University degree. It's the only item that couldn't also serve as the title of
cultural superiority. So in lieu of swaggering, I should concede that in my
uncle to protect his privacy and exaggerated the fabric for comedic purposes.
pass a literacy test, and be a male relative. Or to put it another way, voting
to recommend impeachment in our advanced democracy was that noted historian and
longer need vice squad clearance to apply for a passport, previously required
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It's about lying under oath, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. If the
impeached too. The fact that they weren't owes less to any lack of evidence
about the affair, and so on. All this was demonstrably false. The only reason
he might not be guilty of perjury is that his mind pretty clearly was
under oath as president illustrates the double standard that has trapped Bill
comparison. (The nearest equivalent involves the mysterious
had no idea the deal involved paying ransom for hostages.
House logs indicated that Bush was at the meeting, he emended his story to say
policy Bush claimed to be both ignorant of and disturbed by.
justice" or "abuse of presidential power" in Flytrap comes close.
the shame of impeachment, and why does he face premature removal from office,
not about sex. The only sensible distinction is that lies about some things
thwart the workings of democracy on an important public policy issue seem to me
to be a lot worse than lies about an embarrassing personal mess. But perhaps we
during that same impeachment hearing opening statement. "When I appeared in
this committee room a little over two months ago," he said (mournful as the
come to a point that frankly I prayed I would never reach. It is my sorrowful
months of effort to nail the president would be in vain; c) was being frank; d)
report, until "our investigation" (whatever that consisted of). And while your
hand is up, would you care to swear an oath that you believe these unbelievable
lies, that witness chips a stone from the foundation of our entire legal
did not suspect any connection with the impeachment process, and had not meant
to imply otherwise merely by uttering words whose plain meaning and universal
that Republicans all rallied round the obvious meaning of his original
But how could a conservative Republican senator and major flag waver for the
own lies and hypocrisies but also for those of his enemies. No doubt he is
"use of the word 'jurors' when referring to the Senate." Reporters scrambled
for their notebooks and senators stirred from their slumber at this deviation
Regular jurors do not decide what evidence should be heard, the standards of
evidence, nor do they decide what witnesses shall be called. Not so here.
think the framers of the Constitution meant us, the Senate, to be something
juror, I can't take that into account.' We have to take everything into
their case for bringing any witnesses, because obviously we are not jurors."
justice really means that we can be expansive, that we can decide on a much
broader set of findings than just the findings of fact or law."
said, however, was narrower. "The Senate is not simply a jury. It is a court in
this case," he ruled. The word "court," consisting of judges and jurors, is
"what evidence should be heard" and "when a trial is to be ended," which are
the province of judges, not jurors. But judges, like jurors, are bound by facts
senators could reach beyond the facts and the law to consider "the public
Republican strategy to frame the debate. (Click for more analysis of that
strategy.) "I believe that the continual use of the word 'juror' by the House
he said. "They were trying to put us in a box" in which "all we could do was to
was equally strategic: to break out of that box, dispense with witnesses, set
facts as a cowardly ruse to "hide behind the curtain" of jury scruple.
consideration, the court metaphor doesn't square with it, and the Democrats
A year ago she wore an orange jumpsuit and brandished a torch, now she
wears a look of remorse. Who is she, and what went wrong?
former head of the New York City Art Commission, "it seems as though wherever
their own personal ad on a penguin at the Central Park Zoo."-- Bill
ghost of Boss Tweed) is anyone jabbering into a cell phone. But why is it
annoying? True loathing requires real understanding. So what underlies this
the prattler isn't cutting his nails or worse. And I don't mind seeing someone
Who wants to hear that inane chitchat? Nobody. But would I prefer those
conversations to occur in person? This way, I only hear half. And how
This heedless yammering adds to the clamor and prevents me from thinking my
own thoughts? In a restaurant or on a commuter train, perhaps. But how quiet
it. Unless, of course, someone can give me a reason to hate with a clear
wherever there is a vacant spot, anybody can put up a telephone booth
relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send your questions for
length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably
I genuinely like is a woman who was hired about eight months ago. We have
become quite friendly, verging on affectionate. I sense a mutual attraction
and find her desirable, I am considering pursuing a relationship. However, my
track record isn't great: The last two lasted six and eight months,
respectively (though I have remained friends with both women). If this current
attraction were to blossom into a relationship, I could foresee some happy and
it's worth going into an office relationship that probably won't last? We don't
work closely together but, then again, I wouldn't want to hurt or alienate the
only person in my office whom I really like. And how much disclosure about my
wonderfully thoughtful about looking ahead, but try not to plan things that
tell the young woman in question of your interest, as well as of your concerns,
her response will be the guide you are seeking. As for revealing your strikeout
record, that kind of information always gets out during the course of what
faulty reasoning. You are pessimistically assuming that because no one has
interested you on a permanent basis so far, no one will.
possibilities. You can't not try to find out. And do keep us all posted.
am I to be a happy idiot or a miserable one? Recently I went on a press junket
fell in with another trapped journalist. In the way of such things, we now say
we are in love. On the bright side, she is a beautiful, terrifyingly honest
Cupid, because like the chap who wrote the previous letter, you sound as though
you have serendipitously found someone terrific. Take a chance. The worst
scenario is that you will be dropped on your head; in which case you will pick
faced a few years ago and may face again. I was going regularly to a New York
hair salon and getting my hair cut by the salon's owner. Was I supposed to tip
the owner of the salon. To me he was "the master," and tips only seemed
appropriate in the case of employees. I therefore refrained from handing him a
potentially demeaning tip but was still left with the feeling that I should do
(and no clear advice from my usually sage friends) I resolved to give him a
copy of a book I had written. As a personal gift with no measurable value, it
moved from New York, but if I had stayed I am not sure what I would have given
York, your question is hypothetical, unless, of course, you wind up in the same
colleagues and I have noticed that our new supervisor repeatedly interrupts us
when we are talking on the phone with our clients. She can see the phone, she
can hear us talking, yet she bursts in, unwilling to wait. This leaves us in
the awkward position of wanting, but not being able, to tell her to go away (or
at least to cool her jets) or being inexcusably rude to others. Granted, we all
have quirks, but this is highly unnerving to many of us. Your thoughts,
would suggest that you and your colleagues go to this person's superior and
spell out the problem. If for some reason this is not feasible, write a memo
signed "Everyone in the department" saying you don't wish to be disrespectful,
but her habit is counterproductive, annoying, and unnecessary. Feel free to
Loosely translated, what would that be in idiomatic
A year ago she wore an orange jumpsuit and brandished a torch; now she
wears a look of remorse. Who is she, and what went wrong?
That's what many of you wondered when you read the question. Unless you were
technically accurate that torches were not brandished, isn't there a deeper
brandishing, a rich symbolic brandishing? (Not to some. Click for judge, jury,
and executioner.) I suppose witnesses will have to be called to decide this.
All I can do is calmly and modestly get on with News Quiz's business. Please
career, announcing she would not seek a third term. A member of the Salt Lake
do with the bribery scandal: "I want you to know this is a purely personal
one must hate with clarity and understanding. Below, some reasons to loathe
the same as seeing someone walk past you on the street busily shaving himself
with a cordless electric razor, an action that implies not that this is an
especially busy person but rather that this is a person who's very interested
"They're status objects and umbilical cords for people so insecure that they
need constant and instant connection and constant and instant interruption in
their life in order to feel powerful and worthy. Getting a call in public on
immodest and a sign of insecurity. People who don't have real jobs and real
lives tend to pack cell phones in order to appear occupied and loved, when in
fact the reverse is true. They should, like the proverbial quarter in your
someone talking at a pay phone, or two people talking to each other in person
or, indeed, one person talking to herself, cell phone users always seem to give
the impression that they enjoy having strangers listen to their conversations.
mundane performance art. They exploit themselves, by depriving themselves of
that private life so essential to a modern liberal society, and at the same
time they exploit the casual passerby by forcing that person to eavesdrop and
act as audience. A cell phone user simultaneously withdraws from public life to
discuss his taxes or what's wrong with the cat or whatever, and insists that
the public intrude into his private life. It's that combination of zombielike
on this explanation while reluctantly overhearing the inane chatter of a man
haircut! It is that hubris, that 'this conversation is SO important it cannot
wait for a less bothersome venue' characteristic of public cellular
impeachment scandal, with two conclusions: "First, what has happened over the
past year should never have happened at all; second, there is no guarantee that
it will not happen again." The editorial attributes the president's escape to sheer
more time to cleanse itself of terrorist associations, both real and symbolic.
the primacy of the individual over the group ("[My work] tries to reveal the
extent to which each of us is responsible for his own fate") and his intense,
the hateful aspects of this country, and too possessed by the things I love
here to be too long away"). A separate piece reviews a new collection of
vicious civil war. Both the rebel and government armies have conscripted
thousands of boys and girls, who make cheap and loyal (and especially vicious)
recounts, "should be unpleasant, memorable, and inflicted at a time that is
Committee for shoddy drug testing, a bigger scandal, the story says, than the
tarnishes the games, kills athletes, and encourages drug use among
cover profiles "the committee to save the world": Treasury
entertainment, and academic trends. Time recounts the debate about who
The cover story calls the nation's home renovation boom a
"historic trend" arising from "ancient" and "fundamentally human" impulses.
and counterfeiting both to line their pockets and possibly even to prop up the
the "black elite" justifies the group's snobbery and separatism. Descended from
hierarchy, the "black elite" continues to hoard access to its boarding schools,
social events, and churches: "Why," asks one pedigreed lady, "would I be
Polish newspaper is enjoying a second act as a communications empire in the
might be a safe alternative to the more dangerous substances (nicotine,
cocaine) that people previously used to increase their powers of concentration
kill themselves. He never finds out, but the notes are succinct, lyrical, and
scandal now, the argument goes, they certainly won't care in two years time.
the girls coo over clothing at Old Navy, the boys follow sneaker fashion
avidly, and everyone listens to country music. This all means that "parents
have returned to adolescent upbringing in ways that have rendered their
become the first man to circumnavigate the globe riding on the back of an
many people have said this, giving too little thought to how their families
would survive without them should fate intervene. And that's why I wanted to
own personal joy. It's a word that seldom appears in public unaccompanied by
Review" stories, particularly that classic slab of reheated journalistic hash,
the Internet. Wait, sorry: Someone's filled with something, but it's not me and
I don't) but what's excluded. Make up your own list; find your own bottle of
The once powerful news organization, whose principal
four videocassettes filmed on location at the actual sites of all the Old and
holiday delight, you'd probably reply if online technology were not in its
viewers? Did they find the experience similarly disorienting?
Rooster coloring book, and learn that sometimes it's good to be a
get too jaded by living in the city, I always find it refreshing to visit John
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publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
"It did the Vice President and me a lot of good to pick up those
"This is a horrible thing that's going on," says Franklin Spinney. "All
it's going to do is reward the pathological behavior that created the problem."
horrible thing that's going on is going on in Congress. Of course, if we had a
parliamentary system, the president would simply call for a vote of confidence
could easily calculate how far we'd moved on. If we had a decent system of
public education, filled with healthy children enjoying universal access to
we'd all learn that metric system and reward ourselves by zipping off on our
these are just some of the visionary ideas the president will be propose in
tonight's State of the Union address. Along with school uniforms.
increase in military spending, the biggest in two decades, is a dreadful way to
has emerged since the collapse of the Soviet Union. A swollen military budget
robs the nation of resources for education and other actual needs. It subverts
reforms in the Pentagon's culture of waste and inefficiency. Spinney also
argues that the increasingly complex weapons under consideration are too
expensive to be purchased and maintained in adequate numbers. "Spending more
money the same way isn't going to fix anything," he says, criticizing what he
"We believe that killing is not an acceptable management tool for
just not trying at the National Book Awards, or there's a new kind of giveaway
death story attributed to someone was actually submitted by someone else.
in the previous correction rendered it ineffectual. The story was actually
deposition intrigued the Senate over the weekend, but it seems not to have
to connect the dots of circumstantial evidence in the prosecution's case. Two
had agreed to offer if asked about their relationship. So in his question about
on the witness list, he also suggested that you could sign an affidavit and use
separate necessarily signing affidavit and using misleading cover stories," she
muddles the inference. "I believe that might have been mentioned briefly," she
replies, "but not as a reason to go to New York, but as a possible outcome of
explains. "It was part of the pattern of the relationship." Later, he tries to
She throws other explanations at him: "First of all, I thought it was nobody's
would have been against his interest in that lawsuit for you to have told the
scandal's behavioral dots is bad enough for the prosecutors. What's worse is
that she offers the defense an alternative explanation, by using her own
understand in the context of the telephone conversation with the president that
inference. "I don't know," she answers. "But from what I learned in that
conversation, I thought to myself I knew I would deny the relationship."
"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is"), the prosecutors
"Did you appreciate the implications of filing a false affidavit with the
it would have to be false." She insists that her affidavit, her cover story for
the relationship, and even her statement that "there were other people present"
was never alone with her") were "incomplete" and "misleading" but "literally
affidavit, she objects, "I denied a sexual relationship." And when
that's a fair answer," and stumbles to his next query.
Revelation, the New Testament text that causes all this prophecy hubbub. Isn't
of an Antichrist in Revelation, though there is mention of a Beast whose number
mankind is living in a time prior to the millennium, a thousand year period of
refers to two separate but intertwined beliefs that were popularized in the
close to the Scripture pages and decided that history, past and future, was a
series of "dispensations": divinely ordained historical epochs in which the
Chosen People had been and would be tested and found wanting by God, always
and spread the Word. Next up is the Millennium, followed by the Eternal State.
exceedingly complex timetable that is pieced together with help from
Tribulation, a seven year period when the Antichrist will bring wrack and ruin
individuals by "meeting them in the air." (Rapture isn't mentioned in
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and so on. The action starts when Revelation's
elders. The throned figure, God, holds a book with seven seals that are
forth visions of terrors to come. When the seventh seal is broken, John learns
with great multitudes who "came out of the great tribulation," will ultimately
it out with the Antichrist and his gruesome legions. Above all, they must not
accept the "mark of the Beast," or they'll be damned for eternity.
enough. Many, many of everybody will be killed. Hey, it's the End of the World.
Otherwise, who'll be duped? But throughout history, others haven't seen it that
sure, but he's also a man who was produced in a lab by misguided scientists
acclaimed State of the Union address, Senate Democrats press Republicans
to scrap their plans for witnesses. Chance of removal from
jury, no interrogation of witnesses in court, and the judge admitted there was
no "direct proof." The supposed evidence was hearsay from biased witnesses.
the prosecutor previously assigned to the case had tried to plant a corpse on
and signing period in order to begin the season quickly. This has produced a
mad scramble for players over a period of hours rather than weeks, with stars
included using the federal surplus to bolster Social Security, raising the
minimum wage, and suing tobacco companies. Newspapers noted congressional
Republicans' tepid reactions and carried obligatory references to the "surreal"
prowess. The New York Times played up remarks from televangelist Pat
the Senate "might as well dismiss this impeachment hearing and get on with
shot down the second, on the grounds that making the government a shareholder
in companies would create dangerous conflicts of interest both ways. Other
from squandering the money on tax cuts and spending, respectively.
study is flawed because it assumes the participants correctly recalled their
Medical Association fired the editor of its journal for publishing a study
students think oral sex doesn't constitute "having sex." This coincides
editor accused him of "interjecting [the journal] into a major political
debate" by "publishing that article in the middle of the congressional
chief counsel to the governor; she was the governor's secretary. The trial had
claimed he had dumped the victim's body after his other mistress accidentally
"Smelly, Lethargic, Incoherent." Ads in many papers caution that
"After wrapping up his work on the Middle East's problems,
to submit a caption sure to appear on the front of any paper the day after the
satisfaction that his sudden switch in party affiliation resulted in a swift
of the president. Although authorities have no suspects, they describe the
president's injuries as 'small puncture wounds in the head and chest, roughly
the carpet bombing of Capitol Hill. 'For us to initiate military action during
"Following the vote to impeach, Vice President Gore jumps up and down and pumps
Read the directions. The question called for a photo caption, not a headline.
actions came without warning but not without repeated provocation. Indeed, as
Eleventh and a half. Undoubtedly my timing will be questioned. So let me assure
you that this is in no way intended to deter any proceedings under way in the
House of Representatives, no matter how idiotic. May God bless the brave men
The breakup of the Soviet Union has generated waves
of affection for the good old days. Can you match the scary anachronism with
by reintroduction of hard labor camps that contributed so much to population
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publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
in a small city survive without money: They skip rent payments, grow food in
garden plots, and go without butter and meat. (The local shoe factory employs
believes the "world will soon be engulfed in a sticky white substance."
his gruffness, and his refusal to compromise his artistic principles for
Time 's view of both is dim: "One man's loss of control inspired the
"Woman of the Year" by the successful impeachment.) "The Better Half" says that
impeachment cover chronicles the terrible week. Curious scoop: Despite
claims that they were voting only on evidence in the Judiciary Committee
decline, argues the magazine. Salaries are too high, attendance is
annual "Perspectives" roundup recalls the year's best cartoons and quotes: "If I ever
want to have an affair with a married man again, especially if he's president,
first lady, support the president because they have no choice, and the
States produces the best new ideas because it charges little for patents,
doesn't punish business failure, and superbly transfers technology from the
public sector to the private. The innovators saluted include: the creator of
"talking books" for the blind, an architect who designs friendly houses, a
been pushing impeachment for months, celebrates the House's "Finest Hour." The
editorial declares that "History will smile on these Republicans; they may
been better." Crime, accidents, fires, drinking, smoking, drugging, air
pollution, water pollution, racism, and divorce are declining. We live longer,
spent a long time at the group's conference, never denounced its views, and
middle of the greatest political excruciation in its modern history, the United
pan it: "The film is utterly devoid of narrative ingenuity and visual and
violence is over the top: "Watching it is like riding a roller coaster through
trouble. Critics blast the sappy romance as well as the "dismayingly formulaic
second time in three months) defends the movie as fun fluff: "The movie is as
critics' awards for his performance, but now that the film is in general
"spend a lot of time patting themselves on the back for being aggressively
unconventional." (Watch a clip from the movie here and read
remarkably tame and wonder if an industry known for its cheerful sex romps has
cleaning business whose lives are turned upside down after a young drag
performer they meet in a club ends up moving in with them. This sounds like
racy stuff, but critics say the story has the "structure and implacable
more interested in dissecting the slow tragedy of the couple's disintegrating
either live up to it or it waves a hankie, receding forever," and many
reviewers seem to see the hankie waving here at the boy wonder who a decade ago
that adjective has to seem a disappointment." Critics say that despite a few
ties them all up too neatly at the end. (Read an excerpt courtesy of the New
several of the actors aren't up to portraying children but that those who
succeed make the whole show worthwhile. (Find out about show times and ticket
prices here; you can get Shockwave animations of various
the hourly fee that he is charging the government. The column asks whether this
reduction of his fee constitutes unfair competition. Of course, if he'd left
his fee unchanged, that would be collusion, though in this case he'd be
colluding with himself and would eventually go blind.
subject. Give the man a retainer or the proper ideological cause and he readily
fairness, been badly distorted. Never mind. In our conversation, he spoke very
forcefully against the special prosecutor (now independent counsel) statute.
"You cannot bag a case in the Justice Department," he told me. "Too many
lawyers, who like to talk to too many reporters." He was absolutely right, of
cast member in those situation comedies that pass as "talk shows" every night,
the intellectual honesty of a hired gun. Which he has truly become.
lawyer expected to actually possess the views he espouses on behalf of his
and he does it in such a calculating way that I wonder whether everything he
has done till now has been pure performance. As the final speaker on the final
conduct from a moral point of view the fact that he either orchestrated or
knowingly permitted the resources of his position and office to be used in an
attempt to destroy the reputations of those who have accused him of
given the power imbalances between the participants, but the story is a tawdry
it, especially since the "victim" is not making any complaint.
The lying can be viewed as a natural human failing,
which most people, it appears, are ready to forgive.
Lying under oath is a more serious matter, but it is
more serious for institutional reasons rather than purely moral ones. As the
head of state and a living symbol of a system, which, in the name of justice,
imposes laws upon and claims the right to exercise coercive power over all
important rules for the whole justice system is the penalty against perjury. It
is only right that Congress should take that issue seriously.
point of view, is it not utterly despicable for the president of the United
States to use the power of his office to destroy the reputation of a person for
the sole purpose of ensuring that person will not be believed when she
tells the truth? Such conduct may not be a "high crime or misdemeanor." It may
not even be illegal. But it is surely a moral abuse of the powers of the
World, Unite! You Have Nothing To Lose but Your Scholarships!
trees. He complains that a few powerful schools are aligning themselves to take
bemoans the small colleges whose athletic programs will be destroyed by
system is corrupt, making millions of dollars off student athletes who can't
even accept plane fare from alumni to visit family.
of college sports. Arguing which schools should keep the huge revenues
(Paramount Pictures). Critics say this film is pretty fun
for a formula sports flick: "brisk and wholehearted and smarter than you
benefits that come with the new position (free beer, cheerleaders slathered in
football and drinking"), saying it "pretends to moralize about the very
great, reviews for the final novel in the trilogy that began with The Last
an "intuitionist," one of a minority of inspectors who judges elevators by
intuition, as opposed to the empiricists, who inspect in the traditional
fashion. The twisting plot explores race relations, with elevators serving as
than it excites." (Listen to the author reading a passage from the book
an inevitable hit, a galvanizing eruption of energy, panache and arrogantly
"Numbers that, in the context of their original shows, sparkled with wit and
vitality often register as repetitive examples of virtuosic proficiency." Some
Message in a Bottle will be from its opening montage. A shimmery orange
sunset over water. Waves in slow motion, crashing. Rain on the ocean. Floating
the holy touch: She pats the sand on the beach back down. Good sand. Blessed
a prayer, except she's too busy reading the missive in the bottle, which has
sums it up, "Every woman in the world wants to be loved like that."
Who is this supremely sensitive and poetically pining
shows up pretending that she's interested in boats. The one he's shining up now
is a beauty, but it wasn't always that way. Garret: "She was neglected,
doubt it." The last is said in a courtly fashion, because Garret is no lech.
extraordinarily beautiful, literate, soulful, kindly, lonely people of roughly
impediments enough to keep them apart for two hours or so. Issues must be left
that she first came poking around his boat because she'd found his letter and
already knew the depth of his heart? When he stumbles on the truth, will he
feel violated? Will he storm out into a pouring rain? Will she pursue him,
pleading, weeping, trying to explain that it was God who threw that bottle out
Whether you attend Message in a Bottle with a hankie
or a vomit bag depends, of course, on your own predilections. Mine run less
toward schlock romances than schlock thrillers but, hey, I can recognize an
expertly engineered, inspirational soap opera when I see one. The movie, based
in us all; were it to satisfy any of them too quickly its spell would evaporate
in a second. It's probably just as well for the film's commercial prospects
appear to have a mind with multiple tracks. He and his great cinematographer,
meant to be elemental in their attractiveness, but they also demonstrate that
Harlequin romance, Payback plays like an inflated Pocket Books pulp.
more or less linear fashion, it tells the story of a violent thief, Porter (Mel
in his script for Conspiracy Theory (1997)--which the actor hit out of
the park, striking a note of authentic paranoia that put him leagues ahead of
that he has no choice but to bust someone's head, he prefaces the brutal act
with a look of weariness, even sorrow, for the blood he's about to draw.
debased my taste has become after decades of sitting through crap thrillers."
the film in a metropolis of uncertain period (the '50s? the '60s?) and has kept
Val but continues up the ladder of the Outfit as he clamors to collect his
lives in pursuit of such a paltry sum. The problem with the movie is that
brings far more glee to the task of beating people up than the picture's star
or director. If the audience could have half as much fun as Pearl is having,
to this Dutch master, is that de Hooch is the supreme painter of Dutch
domesticity. "Most of his art expresses a clear moral point of view," writes
authority on de Hooch, "above all of the values of patriarchal Dutch society
"flood" of domestic conduct books of the period, including some rhymed couplets
man obeys the law of the land; a woman obeys the will of her man." Pictures
practicing for the nurturing rituals of motherhood. The birdcage above the
De Hooch's paintings can be easily divided in subject and
style among his three geographical locales, as his own life ascended from
lowlife scenes of soldiers and barmaids carousing in vaguely rendered brothels
and dives. In Delft, his art snapped suddenly into focus, with a few figures
deployed in sunlit interiors or courtyards, their architectural surroundings
palette darkened; marble floors replaced earthenware tiles, satin supplanted
show. It was in Delft that de Hooch mastered the expressive balance of
architectural setting and human character, as in his ambitious A Family in
details: the ubiquitous dogs, the bewilderingly complex perspective and, above
all, the recession down a corridor, often with a door ajar in the distance. In
painters still elude scholars. No document links them, but shared motifs (a
values, it's hard to explain the peculiar hold that his paintings have, or
Here's another way to look at de Hooch's pictures: Where
from window or door evokes an otherworldly reality. De Hooch deploys several
sources of light casting shadows every which way. His windows and doors relieve
the claustrophobia of his interiors, but they imply no other realm. The
enigmatic figure with his back turned to us that we see down so many of de
Hooch's recessions may suggest an escape route, but there's no promise that
unsettling frequency in de Hooch's work, we notice how many hints of
confinement and escape there are in his work. All those birdcages may imply
something less comforting than love's "sweet slavery." The dogs prowling
family gatherings. Affectionately painted servants in de Hooch's paintings,
handing a mug of beer to an elegantly clad little boy, suggest an affinity with
of his sympathy for people on the margins of society.
De Hooch is at his most appealing when he is poking fun at
the Dutch mania for cleanliness. In the wonderful A Woman Drinking with Two
pictures have entered the finely nuanced space of his Delft interiors. A
a fiddle with two pipes. Another lovingly rendered serving woman stands by the
mantle, above which hangs a painting of the traditional theme of the education
smashed pipe and rolling paper, that immaculate expanse of floor.
more luxurious interiors, probably as bait for wealthy patrons. He set several
the town gates, and the Town Hall may have been the only swanky interior he had
sonnets that turn out to be apt commentary on the tabloids continuing
tour of the White House private quarters, the tabs have no trouble penetrating
moments. The National Enquirer reports, for example, "[The president]
both sobbing and screaming. It was a scene like none other in the history of
"Meals with the First Lady have been silent, ominous affairs. Servants said
they hardly look at each other." All this, and the pain he's inflicted on his
daughter, has driven the president to a "secret collapse," the publication
needs acute psychiatric help, therapy and probably antidepressant
guardian angel pin but which instead looks suspiciously like a guardian eagle.
told to sit quietly, close her eyes and imagine that her and Bill's positions
were reversed." The Globe does not report whether this method resulted
mind when he wrote of his "dark lady," he does offer some commentary on
quivering in fear that a steward might bust in on one of his inappropriate
the colder the president got, the more desperate she became until she
finally backed down after she reduced him to tears. One can only imagine that
lobotomy kit to make sure any readers who come upon this passage have a way to
Enquirer alleges, to become pregnant, because with a baby "for the first
time in my life I will have true, unconditional love." After all she's been
through, she might want to work up to that level of love by starting with, say,
a goldfish. But the Enquirer reports she's committed to her plan and is
"Handsome, preferably a six footer, college educated, athletic and schooled in
Charlie is as excited as I am." They needn't invest in a Diaper Genie just yet,
she does all the ordering for him, and she was even recently seen feeding
by being both an incorrigible flirt and an old bore. According to the
needs to expand his interests to include such masculine pursuits as lying on
the couch with the remote control. The Globe also ran a photo of the
towers over the sheepish singer, who looks like nothing so much as a boy who
trailer for quickies." Over the holidays they confronted each other with their
her a crash course in architecture and collectible furniture," because Brad
leather bra, erotic videos, and edible panties at a store called the Pleasure
Over the past year and a half, several pieces have appeared in Slate
that delve into the cultural and political dimensions of race in the United
States. In honor of Black History Month, Slate is proud to present a few
of these pieces, most of which have only been available to
weekend, is an exercise in cheap talk. Liberal and conservative pundits
disagree about affirmative action and welfare reform, but concur that a series
of town meetings, an advisory panel, and an eloquent report are sorry
about Social Security reform, the critics might have a point. There, endless
calls for more study postpone necessary but unpopular changes in policy. But
when it comes to race, the power of words should not be so lightly dismissed.
sides of the divide, he will be accomplishing something of great significance.
It's also all he can really hope to do right now. The public's current
skepticism about activist government stymies new initiatives. Having screwed up
his first term by misjudging the public demand for reform in the far less
difficult area of health care, the president would be foolish to present a
about race relations? A few years of peace, prosperity, and balanced
a climate where such a program could succeed. When that moment arrives,
exists throughout society. But the essence of the problem is the condition of
are distorted into broader stereotypes about blacks as a whole, which poison
their concerns about crime and gangs, declining schools, and falling home
prices. In reality, schools, safety, even the property values haven't declined.
But fear that these things will happen is not purely irrational. If the whites
they are now largely denied: that of assimilating into the mainstream of an
Perhaps the most important difference between people who
live in the ghetto and those who live outside it is that most of the former
aren't employed. Breaking down the underclass will require finding new ways to
draw unemployed ghetto residents into the culture of work. The jury will remain
year. But even with the jobs provisions included in that bill, it's evident
that there still aren't sufficient jobs in the inner cities, especially when
you consider the prospects of unemployed men, who aren't eligible for welfare.
that there is a "spatial mismatch" between workers in the cities and jobs in
strategy that shifts more decisively in the direction it has been inching under
kinds of architecture, lower density, and income mixing, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development should redefine its purpose: to help its tenants
under its control and instead provide vouchers. But these vouchers can't be the
kind conservatives prefer, which are sharply limited in value so as to
Vouchers need to be worth enough to afford real avenues of escape. They should
also steer beneficiaries away from other beneficiaries, to keep pockets of
to do this would be to enforce strict limits on the percentage of voucher
A less obvious factor fostering residential segregation is
the boundary between city and suburb. When whites flee the central cities, they
take with them most of the tax revenue, and leave behind a downward spiral of
and the city are joined tend to be more racially integrated, and better off in
but it can encourage metropolitan government via tax incentives and
stands to diminish black political representation in the short run. But this is
together will not cause the ghettos to disappear. Providing escape routes from
the inner city may make the ghettos worse by depriving them of their most
competent residents. What's needed, alongside an evacuation plan, is a
realistic program to stabilize conditions for those left behind. The goal
shouldn't be to make the desert bloom. It should be to create zones where
people can raise children in safety even if they must travel elsewhere to work.
To accomplish this, a strategy would need to focus on crime and schools.
Of course, neither law enforcement nor education is
principally a federal responsibility. But in both cases, the feds can help. On
initiative. Cops walking the street create a sense of order and provide good
role models for young boys. This program should be expanded, perhaps with
incentives for police to live in the neighborhoods they patrol full time.
unionized bureaucracy of the central system. The federal government should do
more to spur the creation of such institutions, by providing resources, and by
helping to equalize the shameful disparity in funding between rich and poor
have demonstrated their success at an experimental level and are ripe for
expansion. Others are just promising ideas that ought to be tried. All,
unfortunately, are expensive and sure to be controversial. They can't simply be
foisted on a reluctant public. To lay the groundwork for useful action on race
from Slate in honor of Black History Month, check out:
been in favor of affirmative action, despite his request that people being
judged by the content of character rather than the color of their skin.
uniformly high marks from critics. As a tragically repressed and alcoholic
shaped, paced, painted, and edited production, a new, deep level of artistry"
and some reviewers mark it as the work of a jealous sibling out to tarnish her
Street Journal attempts to refute many of the film's claims and says it
"accurate or not, it makes a great story." (Visit the
(Gramercy Pictures). The "chaps and Stetsons here prove
United States from the 1930s to the early '50s. Critics say reading it is
"rather like looking into the new edition of a book from which half the pages
others thought by many to be the victims of the Red hunts of the '40s and '50s
are confirmed as spies. "The importance of this book cannot be overstated"
who has been masticating the corpse of her dead, successful father for fun and
profit." A few pipe up to defend her: Publishers Weekly calls it "a
repetitious tale." While never resorting to praise, The New Yorker 's
Rules of Attraction and describes the prose style as "mysteriously
name serial killer phenomenon in a column included in his book Why Things
sweethearts, and potential employers to be murderers (and to minimize possible
some interesting hypotheses about the link between obesity and poverty in his
than to poor people. Every time someone eats a piece of cake (or smokes a
cigarette), they are implicitly trading "future life minutes" for current
sensual pleasures. If we assume that almost everyone derives the same amount of
pleasure from a given piece of cake, then the amount of cake you will eat
depends upon how much "utility" you assign to your life in the future. Rich
people may be happier overall and may therefore attribute more value to the
"future life minutes" that they would be giving up by eating that cake. This
would cause millionaires to eat less cake (and to quit smoking and to exercise
Fifteen minutes in a grocery store tells the tale. Healthy eating is
political glossary that might be helpful in interpreting future lies.
article "Lies, Damned Lies, and Impeachment": If you want a starker example of
House believes that felony perjury is impeachable, aren't they obliged to
Impeachment" seems to argue that if one criminal "gets away with it," then all
criminals should be able to do likewise. That hardly seems defensible.
he broke the law, then he must be held accountable. Whether that's now or after
his term is over I suppose could be up for discussion, although it's hard for
me to believe that any rational person could believe that in the current
compare him to people who might be worse. This usually means members of the
opposing party. Isn't there any argument to be made that originates in some
laughing [the] audience intended to say 'we don't believe you,' it is hearsay
and therefore inadmissible." This is wrong both as a statement of the hearsay
rule and as a prediction of the likely outcome in this case.
hearsay is admissible. That's because the Federal Rules of Evidence (which
permits hearsay to be admitted if it is the best available evidence of a
material fact and "the interests of justice will best be served by [its]
to facts: If the question posed ever came up, I am sure the evidence would be
statement is a lie (the primary danger against which the hearsay rule protects)
is negligible when it is the simultaneous statement of hundreds of people. This
after Brazil devalued its currency and investors pulled out of the country.
package to Brazil two months ago saved its economy and stopped the global
workers. This comes after the tobacco industry killed last year's legislation,
billions of dollars. Now that the states have struck their own settlement deal
underestimated the tobacco industry's savvy, resolve, and ruthlessness. New
presidential race was shuffled again. On the Republican side, House Budget
have bowed out. The big Democratic story is that House Minority Leader Dick
retired. He said he was physically fit but mentally "exhausted." The
media responded with worshipful saturation coverage, reciting his records (six
final shot, which won last year's championship. The spins, in order of
Without him, we're left with players who kick photographers and choke coaches.
also says he knew of her plans to have an abortion and didn't try to dissuade
replaced her with somebody he trusted it would look like an attempt to shield
for points scored in a regular season, but the Broncos are the defending champs
(sentimental) tournament, the Falcons and Jets have more appealing story lines.
their coaches have been to the Super Bowl with other teams.
the federal budget surplus to finance a tax cut. They argue that the tax burden
other reasons, but the notion of a growing tax burden rests on two highly
The number derives from a study conducted by the Tax
Foundation, a conservative research group. The study found that "typical"
brought to light by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a moderately
Foundation assumes that the average taxpayer pays an average share of estate
and capital gains taxes, which is absurd. Most people do not have any capital
(and actually a lot more than that unless you're exceptionally stupid about
estate planning). The "typical" taxpayer paid estate taxes last year in the
same sense that the "typical" golfer scored some fraction of a hole in one.
Even more bizarrely, the Tax Foundation study counts
as part of the tax burden things that aren't taxes, such as private pension
contributions by government workers or rental fees on property owned by the
interpretation do exist. But the Tax Foundation's calculation of the federal
tax burden, which is nearly a quarter larger than the Congressional Budget
Office's, and half again larger than the Joint Tax Committee's, is beyond the
A more sophisticated statistical salvo, which conservative
pundits have shot off recently, is that federal tax revenues now consume the
highest percentage of the gross domestic product since World War II. This
profits from stocks. This means that during a strong stock market, the
conservatives maintained, quite logically, that the important statistic was not
how much the government took in but how much it spent: Big government financed
through borrowing was no better than big government financed through taxing.
the "free lunch" logic in reverse: If a tax cut will increase revenues, a tax
increase will reduce them.) That prediction failed spectacularly: Tax revenues
have boomed with the economy. Now the boom they denied could even happen has
on Wheels now delivering not just to the elderly and infirm but also to the
synonymous with portly. It can also mean frail, although it is tougher to mock
across barriers of age, class, and hairstyle. This is not merely the triumph of
individual over team sports. Figure skating and gymnastics remain square; just
It's easy to overstate the new athletics as a force
for social change, but don't count on surfers opposing the president's
into progressive politics, at least it has been demilitarized, rejecting the
boot camp model of recreation, and that means more fun for more people. Not so
studies (noncontroversial, nonpolitical, and in no way intended to affect the
impeachment process) found that while moderate exercise does not burn many
children or other New Yorkers from being maimed, disfigured, or killed, it will
parrot, the only animal ever stolen (and just recovered) from the Central Park
value," the cover article advises companies how to make successful marriages.
Suggestions: Don't merge because you're bored with your own company, don't
merge because you're scared, watch out for antitrust law, and make sure your
implosion of Sierra Leone, where an "incoherent," horrible guerrilla movement
is sweeping through the countryside, destroying what little remains of civil
society. Many of the soldiers are kidnapped children; some practice
tiny cameras, they will spy on enemy positions. The prototypes fly like insects
have already been released and the three that precede them. He has no plans for
straying and blames enemies when he wanders. She doesn't talk about intimate
personal matters with anyone, even her mom. She has always been his goad and
be withdrawing from him, an abandonment that is leaving him passive and
"just don't get it," where "it" refers to the correct definitions of virtue and
dictator will either sabotage the plan or turn it to his own uses.
playing field in college admissions. The SAT has little predictive value for
undergraduate performance, and colleges claim they are decreasing the
importance of the test in admissions, but it is still a critical factor in who
lasting Middle East solution. Such a state, with a constitution and identical
China could practice financial terrorism by selling Treasury bills and buying
genes to prolong the lives of healthy humans rather than just treat sick
Genome Project, new gene therapies, and designer pharmaceuticals and raises the
expected ethical concerns about manipulating embryonic genes and genetically
headaches. They are caused by extremely sensitive nerves, not by misbehaving
blood vessels, as had been believed. New drugs are effective.
plumbing, the printing press, numbers, erasers, and clocks, but not
story describes the difficult path to Catholic sainthood, "the world's
most complex legal process." Consideration can't start till five years after
death, the candidate's life is exhaustively scrutinized, and two miracles must
be proved. The miracles must pass a five doctor panel, who seek any possible
gave her vast fortune to charity while ministering to poor blacks and Native
long story argues that the Food and Drug Administration
describes the societal importance of people who bring other people together. By
connecting people to jobs, to friends, and to activities such people build
defense to introduce a remarkably large amount of evidence.
through "a time of trouble" and that disagreements between the two countries
had been "snowballing." He said that their opinions differed on practically
initiative, that it is vital that the two countries "spring no more surprises
professional," "biased," and "provocative," the paper said. Butler had
continue to insist on Butler's resignation because he didn't have the
"shocking that not even a whimper has been heard in protest against these
Should the US be allowed to get away with this sort of bullying and
and, by failing to condemn Operation Desert Fox, had made it possible for the
meeting of foreign ministers held, followed by a summit, in order to get the
embargo against it lifted, the paper said. "That being the case, one would have
St. Louis there is a widening gulf between a pope who represents the voice of
mankind's conscience and a leader who hasn't failed to deliver on his material
promises, but who has violated his spiritual ones." It added that the pope must
a potential partner in the reconstruction of a just and peaceful world after a
earthquake disaster. "Just when you think things couldn't be worse, it turns
National Seismological Network, having no money to maintain its equipment. All
opinion, particularly among Holocaust survivors. The responses ran the
shall not be put to death for children, neither shall children be put to death
for fathers." "Going by that verse of the Torah," said the rabbi, "I cannot
is inaccurate: Under the law, a corporation lives forever. The entity that
But it would be wrong to view an essentially moral question
from a strictly legal perspective. A corporation is not a moral entity; it's
the corporation's flesh and blood owners who are moral entities. From that
perspective, the rabbi's analogy fails in a different way: The current owners
of their fathers, then surely we should not punish children for the sins of
their fathers' countrymen. But that analysis can be definitive only to those
When is it permissible to punish one person for the wrongs
of another? The question is a tangle of moral and economic issues. Morally,
we're concerned with things such as justice, fairness, and individual rights.
Economically, we're concerned with creating good incentives.
it can be when economic and moral issues brush up against each other, consider
the revision of accident law that's been proposed by the
That way, anyone who sees an accident about to happen will take all
as fair, but at least it gets the incentives right.
even by its own strictly economic criteria, because it creates an incentive for
the roads. Enforcement, of course, would be a nightmare.
Corporations can be punished for misdeeds in at least two
ways. One is a consumer boycott and another is a (voluntary or involuntary)
arguably at levels that are small compared with the underlying offenses). In
that expectation. Without the discount, nobody would buy the stock. So given
punished at all, because the discount compensates them for the fine.
Therefore, if all companies are permanently on notice that
bad behavior will eventually be punished, they have an incentive to behave well
at all times. That's an outcome that seems both fair and economically
efficient: The punishment falls on the sinners and thereby deters the sin. But
not on the owners at the time when the sin is committed, but on the owners at
the time when the sin is discovered. After all, it's not till the discovery
that the stock price falls. So punishing past corporate sins is not like fining
everyone who was present when an accident occurred, but when it was reported,
prospect of future punishments gives you an incentive to investigate the
corporation's history before you buy, which improves the chance that bad
behavior can be uncovered while the actual perpetrators can still be
maintain a consumer boycott, especially when the goal is to punish the past
rather than to influence the future. Consumers can quite reasonably argue that
history can't be changed and so is best forgotten. As a result, corporations
have little to fear from boycotts unless consumers commit themselves to
maintaining the boycotts even when they serve no purpose. It's hard to imagine
how such commitments might be maintained, which suggests that fines are more
effective than boycotts, especially if they are written into law rather than
If you're looking for a firm conclusion to all this, you'll
situations that are superficially similar. (Click for an example.)
from punishing evil governments. In the first case, we punish stockholders who
invested voluntarily, while in the second we punish taxpayers who might have
bitterly opposed their government's policies. But that is a topic for another
preceding a lady into a public place. When exiting a building it is very easy
for a gent to both precede the lady and hold the door for her because outside
doors swing out. However, when entering a building, the outward swinging door
experience. Is there a technique to gracefully precede a lady and hold the door
not really care, finding this bit of politesse rather inconsequential. Just do
her situation way off base. While shifting to a position of no sex may well be
continues to think that the problem is with the men she is attracted to then
going to have to investigate the "whys" within herself for her attraction to
them. What will eventually arise is a confrontation of her own availability for
intimacy, which she never has to examine as long as these men are
"unavailable." They are not the problem, just symptoms.
expanding on her answer, as she is always deferential to physicians.
weeks ago, we were informed that they were going to eat dinner at a restaurant
ACROSS THE STREET from our apartment. When we invited them to come over for a
light of their unwillingness to extend themselves, is it appropriate to just
relationship is apparently good enough for the beloved's parents to invite you
forehead wondering what's the deal. You (or your spouse, their offspring) might
flat out ask what is their aversion to being visitors. You might even add that
you are developing hurt feelings about this. If the answer is evasive, or a
going to alternate visits. Seems like it's your turn to pay us a call." If they
still won't cross your threshold, you have a problem that likely will be
of throwing good after bad?). But the one antidote I will swear by is club
my light tan carpet, and both times I accessed an unopened bottle of club soda
millionaire, but since it's already on the market, the advice is free.
perhaps most effectively at the time of the calamity. Our last friend, with the
the journalistic farrago of year end summaries and photo spreads, with world
updated "Vintage Chart," the key to ordering well at a restaurant.
business card, the Wine Spectator vintage chart unfolds like an
note to "drink or hold" (in other words, enjoy it now or bank it and let it
mainly because it is the most comprehensive. Even a wine expert who tracks
these things might not remember, as he scans a wine list, what conditions were
in its very best year of the decade. (Actually, be careful because some
great idea because they isolate the most important variable in the making of
excellent year (click here for an annotated list of grapes and varieties).
Even if you have never heard of the producer, the chances are it's pretty good.
In general, prices follow name brands not years, so you will find bargains as
well. And if the winemaker is half decent, in a great year he will have done
in a shop that stocks selectively. (Note re buying wine in restaurants: You're
also relying on the restaurant's screening system. There are truly awful
winemakers who could make plonk even in the best year. But few restaurants
Obviously, year isn't the only determinant. The region, the
grape variety, and the winemaker's skill have an enormous effect on wine
winemakers instead, turning them into celebrities. But by concentrating on
nature rather than nurture, the French are probably closer to the truth than
as the year to year quality of oranges, potatoes, and tomatoes is determined
perfect because wine is not simply an agricultural product. Grapes must be
pressed, fermented, blended, and aged to make wine, so it's better described as
winemaker cannot interfere as much with the process. Consequently, a bad year,
Chardonnay is a hardy grape, which is why it is so widely produced all over the
world. You're unlikely to get something really "off" when you order a glass of
Chardonnay, which explains its ubiquity on wine lists.
Just as in a good year you can do well easily, in a bad year almost nothing can
What makes a good year is a very complicated matter,
since different grapes and regions are best served by different weather
ripen at a reasonable pace, and be plucked when fully ripe. The great enemies
just written are actually the subject of intense controversy.) It's a complex
grid, too complicated for the average imbiber to chart for himself, which is
why you should celebrate every new year with a nice bottle and the Wine
"Bombing the crap out of Third World countries and aspirin factories when you
random public gunplay or regular bathing. It depends on the civilization you'd
the French. Giving this disdain a richer historical context so appropriate for
popular engravings, the French were portrayed as mangy, corrupt, effeminate,
ignorant, indolent, immoral and lecherous, as well as vain and
wrote: 'National hatred must sound forth. Young republicans should suck a
will dilute that continent's rich heritage of multinational scorn. You can say
shots at New Jersey from right across the river, on the dubious moral high
course, for the truly nostalgic nationalist, there's always the former
Taxi and Who's the Boss? has been offered the role of Rocky the
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
written over a period of only eight years, Miller is frequently referred to as
prolifically, in fact, than he did back then. Yet despite the immense national
and international interest in his four famous postwar plays, the dozen or so he
that this neglect is warranted. These works are labored, didactic, and
humorless, with weak characters and weaker ideas. Even if you think, as I do,
that Miller's "classic" plays are somewhat overrated, the gap between his early
work and everything since is mysteriously wide. What happened to this man?
dramatic asset. Just carrying his own weight seems a terrific burden for his
production is equally strong. The design and staging are clever but not too
arty. Sliding screens and rotating platforms convey effectively the chaos of
vigor and intensity of the text, without adding any heavy interpretive overlay
provides a window into the merits and flaws of the play itself. The chief
strength of Death of a Salesman is its psychological acuity and its
his sons to succeed and his unwillingness to accept their failures develop into
delusion and insanity. In catching this phenomenon, Miller created a great role
But Miller's weaknesses as a dramatist are also latent in
this play. I hope I never have to sit through Death of a Salesman again,
not because it's depressing and bleak but because it's unrelieved and
fails to grasp how changes in tone and texture can be used to make tragedy
tolerable. Here, as in his other plays, he seems terrified that someone might
accuse him of entertainment. Nor is there much loveliness to his language.
the peel away." But more often, when he reaches for poetry, he achieves only
stilted quality of Miller's writing makes Salesman feel like a dental
that while Miller at his best is fierce and brutal, he is seldom intricate or
subtle. Death of a Salesman is of a piece with powerful but
uncomplicated works of literature from the same era such as The Grapes of
of this point by hearing it made again and again. Miller is a preachy
playwright who lets you know what you're supposed to think about everything
that happens in his moral universe. In his didacticism he denies his characters
energy and the fact that Miller's arguments were fresh when he wrote it. But in
remains fixed to the same set of concerns: corruption and the worship of
material success; loyalty and betrayal; fathers and sons; public responsibility
and personal conscience. That list is surely rich enough to support a lifetime
of playwriting, but Miller handles these themes in the same way again and
again. That way identifies him as a playwright of the immediate postwar era, a
period characterized by the anxiety of affluence, the worry that rising
material status was being purchased at the expense of decency and mutual
responsibility. His plays have a message, and it's always similar, if not the
It isn't just themes and arguments that recur in Miller's
work. Plots and characters do too. His plays most often involve the devastating
consciences, but his women never do. They're either saintly, maternal figures
another thing that dates Miller and makes even his more recent plays seem like
serious social drama has shriveled. The theater has ceased to be the place
familiar and then stale, he found no way to complicate them, develop them, or
about the devastating effects of professional failure. But Miller's career is a
testament to the opposite problem: creative paralysis brought on by early
story is enlivened by some witty writing: "not a great movie, but it has its
earnest, morose art nerd, into prom queen material. Critics take note of both
it "puts a priority on intelligence" and is a "special delight for anyone for
whom high school was something less than nirvana." (Visit the official site.)
through this drama of a woman torn between her career and new baby. Most
critics call it flat: "a homey compendium of feminist talking points laced with
who says it's "a tour de force of barely controlled hysteria that's as funny as
comparisons to This Is Spinal Tap are inevitable, critics say this is
making fun of aging rockers as much as it is about rekindling old friendships:
Mothers Didn't Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman
commentator offers a solution to the modern woman's problems: Marry young, put
career after kids, get comfortable with the idea of being supported by hubby.
The critics don't buy all of it. The Weekly Standard predictably doles
out praise: "This wonderful, breezy book reads as easily as all the women's
magazines the author uses for her evidence. But it bravely faces what those
women," it "does not seem to have failed the author, a married mother of two
women's choices. (Read the first chapter here, courtesy of the New York Times [free registration
sexuality and questionable relationship with a teacher upset the careful
rare, invigorating books that take an apparently familiar world and peer into
it with ruthless intimacy, revealing a strange and startling place." (Read an excerpt from the book.)
of the most talented writers of his generation; they disagree as to whether
write stories that "seem to have been written on a dare, or as entries in a
contest to see who could get the best results from the worst ideas" (the New
case of a skilled writer lazily using his sleight of hand to toss off what
(with two or three exceptions) are pure exercises in craft" (the New York
of them are not going to work, and they will cause significant problems."
everyone listens because we have money riding on his remarks. Whether through a
mutual fund, mortgage, or credit card, we've each placed a bet on the economy,
and it's a lot more exciting to watch the game when you have a little something
at any dramatic production. And that's the basis of my election reform plan.
would work. When you vote, you get a ticket that allows you to legally bet on
While some will undoubtedly fail, he said, there will be no bailouts using
public money. Asked if he was concerned about the increased concentration of
but if you still need handcuffs, evidence kits, radar guns, battering rams, and
largest supplier to public safety professionals." I use the print version, but
college and prison catering) are online. A few highlights:
a dangerous business. That's why Gall's is proud to introduce the ultimate
armor for your hands. $36.99."--Every day is Valentine's Day when you slip on
inside the front of your trousers. $42.99."--No fancy symbolism, no easy irony,
friend, that is a pistol in my pants and I am glad to see
in the yard, in cell extraction or transporting prisoners. Suddenly, they
swing chair legs, pipes and mop handles. And when nothing's left, they use
their fists and their feet. Because what are you going to do? Toss them in
vehicle interior. Blood stains on the carpet and seats, torn headliners, marred
door panels, not to mention broken windows all add to your frustration.
$699.99."--Hey, you kids! Don't make me stop this car and come back there!
"Polycarbonate Riot Batons. This virtually indestructible baton is great
warranty. Impact strength is greater than wood or aluminum batons. Will not
with "In the Line of Duty: true life experiences from our customers." The
Democratic plan for the rest of the trial (skip the witnesses and forbid
videotaping of their testimony) and passes a Republican plan (witnesses,
The conventional media spin: It's a partisan meltdown. The conspiratorial spin:
Both sides are faking a partisan meltdown so they can each look good to their
respective constituencies.. Chance of removal from office:
suffered a relapse of lymphatic cancer. Everyone expects him to die soon. A few
shouldn't have to censor their own speech to accommodate their listeners'
sentence to life in prison but said he still supports the death penalty and
there" and "making a personal request that I chose to respond to." Analysts
pondered why the pope's request worked this time, whereas similar pontifical
includes abortion, assisted suicide, and capital punishment. The latter issue
before the pope arrived in St. Louis. Oddest moment: The pope's comparison of
the United States would pursue "justice," virtues," and "goodness." The pope
ability to change the subject, milk world icons for their moral stature, and
Court ruled that the Census Bureau could not use statistical
sampling to adjust the population count for congressional
reapportionment. Critics of the traditional method (counting each household)
theorize as to how many people the head count missed in various locations.
Republicans vehemently oppose this idea. The superficial analysis is that the
court struck down sampling and hurt the Democrats. The sophisticated analysis
is that the court nixed sampling only for the apportionment of congressional
votes among states, not for drawing district lines. Therefore, within states,
representation at Republican expense. The Democratic spin is that "every
rapidly descended from humanitarian anguish to material cynicism to petty
afternoon's headline: "Quake Won't Hurt Coffee Production." The afternoon story
accepting cash and other gifts as part of Salt Lake City's successful lobbying
documents, predict the expanding investigation will show that corruption has
corruption by taking away delegates' voting rights and halting their visits to
hand transplant in the United States was performed. This follows a hand
1960s had failed because the patient's body rejected the new hand as foreign
drugs can cause infection and cancer, and since a hand isn't an essential
in your head to register with maximum sensitivity any new encounter with a
particular word or phrase? I put the dials on high alert a few weeks ago for
of Web sites for kids that it had found to be "full of groovy games." A
Conservative Party and its forlorn attempts at image enhancement observed,
just told me it was "groovy" that I would call him back later about something.
Well, close. Briefly, the word dates back to jazz circles
in the 1930s and ultimately derives from the phrase "in the groove," meaning
"performing or doing exceptionally well." What the "groove" in that phrase
originally referred to is hard to establish definitively, because several
meanings current in the 1930s all permit plausible theories. Many dictionaries
do link the groove of in the groove to the groove of a record.
But groove could also refer to the path between a pitcher and the strike
zone (and had done so since the turn of the century); a pitcher who was
throwing "in the groove" was throwing very well. Groove also had a
vulgar sexual connotation, which could likewise give in the groove the
connotation of high performance and pleasure. And groove could simply
mean a "style," a sense associated with the parallel between being in a
groovy actually meant "to be in a rut" or to be "of settled habits" or
"conventional"; the first Oxford English Dictionary citation for this
groovy went dormant for a time; reference books begin to refer to it as
future generations would associate with the youth culture of the 1960s. (During
that the future may not always appreciate, though, is how ironic or playfully
ingenuous minority used it innocently in its hippie heyday; but most often one
heard it uttered with a bit of wonderment, as if the speaker couldn't believe
ambivalence attached to it. The experts disagree only about the full extent of
these days mostly in speech, "especially in sardonic and sarcastic replies to
as an interjectional reply parallels similar use of standard terms like
in reference to something from, or reminiscent of, the 1960s (clothing,
spiritualism, things that glow in black light), but just as often (actually,
more often) the word appears to be used in reference to the contemporary scene.
being described as groovy and all without hint of irony." The examples come
It lives on, but its evolution seems to be taking different
forms in captivity and in the wild. Such, at any rate, is slang specialist
of spoken language-- groovy thrives in a largely ironic state; the use
of the word requires a context of wavelength synchrony between speaker and
robustness, and even the relative antiquity, of much of what seems like
"extraordinary," is as current as ever; it goes back not to the '60s but to the
stupidity or obviousness, emerged from 1940s animated cartoons, but its period
of greatest efflorescence is probably occurring right now. It enjoys life not
only as an interjection but also as a noun ("The movie's real duh of a
1960s word that really did get its start in the '60s drug culture, is also
proving its hardiness, a testament both to the term's euphony and to the
generation insists on having its own new words for the most aggressively
that the archives of sound and image constitute a continuous retro loop that
retro in a rut restores grooviness to its original meaning.
a densely populated island nation, which, despite its lack of natural
resources, had managed through hard work and ingenuity to build itself into one
of the world's major industrial powers. But there came a time when the magic
stopped working. A brief, overheated boom was followed by a slump that lingered
for most of a decade. A country whose name had once been a byword for economic
raged over the causes of and cures for the nation's malaise. Many observers
failed to adapt to a changing world, missed opportunities to capitalize on new
technologies, and general rigidity and lack of flexibility. But a few
dissented. While conceding these factors were at work, they insisted that much
an excessively conservative monetary policy, one preoccupied with conventional
standards of soundness when what the economy really needed was to roll the
mainstream opinion. Adopting their proposals, argued central bankers and
finance ministry officials, would undermine confidence and hence worsen the
slump. And even if inflationary policies were to give the economy a false flush
of artificial health, they would be counterproductive in the long run because
they would relax the pressure for fundamental reform. Better to take the bitter
writing trick before. The previous paragraphs could describe the current debate
about Japan. (I myself am, of course, the most notorious advocate of inflation
way he managed to change the world without having to visit quite so much of it.
(Imagine being a prominent economist without once experiencing jet lag, or
never taking a business trip where you spent more time getting to and from your
destination than you spent at it.) And anyone with an interest in the history
particular, immediately following World War I. In both countries this boom was
followed by a nasty recession. But whereas the United States soon recovered and
experienced a decade of roaring prosperity before the coming of the Great
percent. There is an obvious parallel with modern Japan, whose "bubble economy"
of the late 1980s burst eight years ago and has never bounced back.
than engineers and managers, a business culture that had failed to make the
wealth and the control of business is the reason why the leadership of the
Capitalist cause is weak and stupid. It is too much dominated by
modern Japan has deep structural problems: a failure to move out of traditional
heavy industry, an educational system that stresses obedience rather than
initiative, a business system that insulates big company managers from market
problems of this kind lead to high unemployment, as opposed to slow growth? Is
us who think along related lines don't think so now. Recessions, we claim, can
our structural problems, but meanwhile let us also keep the work force employed
by printing enough money to keep consumers and investors spending.
One objection to that proposal is that it will directly do
more harm than good. In the 1920s the great and the good believed that an
believed that this goal was worth achieving even if it required a substantial
course, it would, on the contrary, seem irresponsible to advocate deflation in
prevail against the logic of economic analysis. In the case of Japan, there is
a compelling intellectual case for a recovery strategy based on the deliberate
creation of "managed inflation." But the great and the good know that
price stability is essential and that inflation is always a bad thing.
the extent to which conventional opinion in the 1920s viewed high unemployment
as a good thing, a sign that excesses were being corrected and
would be a mistake. And one hears exactly the same argument now. As one
allow those guys to keep on doing the same old things, just when the recession
way out of a recession lies the belief that pain is good, that it builds a
of our way of managing our economic affairs, that this should seem to anyone
senators applauded as the president touted his record on family values. How did
merely "an effort to preserve the dignity of the office" in the wake of the
stipulated that senators were free "to find his personal conduct
shame when he entered the House chamber later that evening. Nor did the
Democratic lawmakers who cheered and embraced him. The president sprinkled the
marriage, illegitimacy, or any of the other conventional moral topics that
however, uses the word "family" to describe issues in which the goal is
uncontroversial and the only challenge is to provide the means. In the "family"
portion of his speech, he bragged about the "Family Medical Leave Act" and
urged lawmakers to provide subsidies and tax credits for "quality child care"
individuals. Republican family issues are about relations among family
them as members of families. In his "family" discussion, he challenged Congress
and help public hospitals treat "working families who don't have any
insurance." Democrats used to embrace "working people" while Republicans
discriminate between family configurations (straight vs. gay, married vs.
discriminate by other demographic criteria that are equally politically useful.
keep health insurance when they go to work" and to "give people between the
speaking to you as a special interest. He's speaking to you as a family.
liberalism. Republicans use the F word to affirm conservative
renovate or even reverse those principles. "Let's make sure that women and men
get equal pay for equal work by strengthening enforcement of equal pay laws,"
he proposed at the outset of his discussion of "family." Equal pay began as a
who work outside the home. Likewise, in his speech, he avoided the phrase
"birth control," which connotes hostility to kids and families. Instead, he
spoke up for "family planning," which connotes the opposite.
family matters while defending freedom of choice in economic matters. Liberal
hybrid issue is tobacco legislation. This began as a public health crusade, but
from tobacco pushers. "Our children are targets of a massive media campaign to
hook them on cigarettes," he charged in his remarks on the family. "I ask this
responsibility to strengthen our families." Of course, honoring your marriage
damper on the general festivities: He says the film starts out muddled, though
(Paramount Pictures). Critics say the ninth installment in
takes place on a planet whose fountain of youth properties make it the envy of
malicious neighbors. Critics say insiders will laugh at the inside jokes and
lags, and New York 's Peter Rainier criticizes it for "callowness."
deterioration of the characters is hard to watch, and the inevitability of the
plot's outcome can be stifling. But the overall verdict is that the director
calls some of the plot devices "a bit cheap." Read the rest of his review
voice) looks like a "large, wisecracking marshmallow man" (the New York
the history of special effects." ("Never have I disliked a movie character
the film's only fan, praises its "sweet spirit and astute humor." (Visit the official site.)
La Ronde was banned at the turn of the century, nowadays its account of
anticlimax of proportions inevitably commensurate with its avalanche of advance
poll numbers are high and Republicans have botched impeachment. The delusion:
partisanship over any meaningful ideological principle. Another proposes that
impeachment trial continues (he can come back after he wins in the Senate).
Capital. Lewis, a Wall Street convert himself, interviews media hermit and
Lewis explains, "things people did with money when they were frightened was an
opportunity for more reasonable people to exploit"). What sequence of events
of media and finance market rumors, plus Wall Street sharks out to plunder
virtually dropped out of sight after hobnobbing with the literati elite during
out with a group of older, Southern black men, who call him "Jumper" and "Black
Cat." They reveal that he swears a lot, drives like a terror, quizzes his
friends on state capitals (he was a geography major), and viciously holds a
Time 's cover warns that kids have "Too Much Homework." The article
stop the flow of arms to criminals. The company could have monitored
story on the Internet stock bubble states the obvious warnings:
Internet stocks are wildly overvalued, and the traditional rules of investing
haven't changed. But it can't quite bring itself to tell investors to sell:
After all, day traders and amateur stock pickers are making a fortune on
the stocks. The only Internet stock that may not be overvalued, according to
piece warns people receiving monthly disability payments not
to sell them. Some companies pay lump sums of cash to accident victims (and
others receiving annuities) in exchange for their regular payments. This may
seem attractive, but it's almost always a bad deal.
more have been displaced, and thousands have been enslaved, without any end in
campaign against Christian and animist rebels in the south. The government
forces kill prisoners, bomb hospitals and churches, and enslave women. The
The store promotes the notion that its yuppie customers are making the world
powers of a normal parliament, while the commission, which it was planning to
censure for fraud and other irregularities, isn't a real government but rather
education, who is alleged, among other things, to have appointed her dentist to
exactly the opposite a few days later." She went on, "Perhaps we are more
We are different, and the world needs that for its balance." In a separate
the international organization take a firm stance by which to prevent any of
its organizations being used for purposes other than those mandated." The paper
cannot endorse interference in other countries' internal affairs," it
year in certain sectors, such as steel, but that the good performance of the
underground nuclear development programs, the ambassador said that "the US
government apparently understands the serious consequences of military strikes
overvalued and unlikely to meet profit projections. He was also quoted as
saying that his company, News Corp, would "certainly not be making takeovers of
more businesses than it created by "wiping out the middlemen," he said.
have still not decided whether to implement a plan to stop smiling at
flight attendants to "have second thoughts." The paper declared, "A smile costs
nothing, but it brightens up the moment for the one who flashes it, and the one
impeachment trial. When asked about polls showing dissatisfaction with the
chimed in. "You can find almost anything you want in polls. Look, we wouldn't
tune. In recent days they've proposed a "findings of fact" resolution under
testimony" and schemed "to alter, delay, impede, cover up and conceal the
findings of fact would certify that despite the Senate's failure to remove him,
the House prosecutors had proved his guilt. But in practice, the findings
proposal isn't about facts. It's about spin and public opinion.
The obvious rationale for the findings resolution is what
lying and covering up aren't willing to declare him guilty of "high crimes" and
remove him from office, the resolution is designed to let them affirm the
"Were the Senate to adjourn and make these findings [affirming the House's
for his own historic legitimacy. The Senate would also make clear that the
all, Hatch stressed the importance of "avoiding a historic vote on the merits,
echoed Hatch's remarks: "The significance of finding of facts is it would be
are not about facts. They are about what really galls and worries Republicans
as they approach the trial's certain demise: They have lost the struggle to
give the facts meaning and authority, which are ultimately decided by public
opinion. Their arguments in the trial's final days are replete with desperate,
says the Senate must call witnesses "if they're going to have a verdict that
White House will stage another "pep rally" and will spin the vote not just as
an "acquittal" but as an "exoneration." This fear is well justified, but its
naked expression betrays the Republicans' tragic knowledge that they have
failed to engender enough public faith in the impeachment process to withstand
dismissive words from the president they have supposedly disgraced. On
spin the vote against removal as a repudiation of Republican partisanship and
spokesman for an impeached president offering terms under which the president's
judges could surrender with honor, having lost in the nation's ultimate
votes. But to achieve the credibility these findings are supposed to bestow on
five Democrats. Thanks to the inquiry's partisan meltdown, that seems unlikely.
Fearful that Republicans will unilaterally dictate the resolution's language,
Democrats refuse to consider it, preferring to end the trial and then debate a
censure resolution under normal Senate rules, which would give Democrats the
protective power of the filibuster. And fearful that Independent Counsel
Democratic senators called it an unconstitutional Republican scheme to "save
face," "embarrass the president," and appease "an element of their constituency
that wants conviction." The more "Republicans persist in demanding live
witnesses and demanding more depositions and demanding extralegal devices, like
removal, end the trial, and censure him. This would achieve most of the
objectives of the findings of fact resolution. Instead, Senate Republicans
repeated White House statements that he would not do so. They told the press
that censure wasn't "strong" enough and that Democrats were trying to turn the
findings proposal into "a partisan issue" because "they're scared to death of
it." But when you're the majority party and your task is to convince the public
that a president of the opposing party has been legitimately impeached,
"partisanship" should be the last word out of your mouth. That's worse than
argued that he had committed high crimes worthy of removal from office. Last
argue that the Senate should call witnesses and complete the trial not
the House a full hearing. This marks a new phase in the trial's disintegration.
The prosecutors' case is no longer about us. It's about them.
trial." Several Republican senators agreed that "fairness" required the Senate
to let the House managers "make their case" by calling witnesses. On This
trial should be dismissed or saying that the House managers don't get a chance
to present their case" through witnesses, Senate Republicans would "discredit"
the House's impeachment vote and make it appear "illegitimate."
to dismiss the case: "I looked at this motion to dismiss, and I was astounded,
really. If the Senate had sent something similar to the House, it would
the thesaurus about 'dismiss' and I came up with 'disregard,' 'ignore,' 'brush
House managers' plea for respect has rallied Senate Republicans to their side.
For public consumption, the senators have dressed up the respect argument in
two guises. One is precedent: "Never in the history of impeachment in the
United States Senate has a trial been dismissed." The other is equality: "If
the president's lawyers needed witnesses, we would surely oblige them. We
than equally thorough. They're not interested in what the House is "owed." They
don't care whether House Republicans feel "ignored," "brushed off," or
"discredited." In most households, the suggestion that members of Congress are
likely to elicit contempt and derision than sympathy.
Sensing their isolation, the House prosecutors have
turned inward. They have narrowed their appeals first to the Senate, and then,
fully tried for the sake of the nation, the House managers are framing the case
We've risked our careers to prosecute a popular president. Don't abandon us.
Don't humiliate us. Don't repudiate everything we've stood for.
dissertation topic for students of abnormal psychology to ponder.
has succeeded in psyching out critics and audiences as fully as the powerful,
responses, which run from awe to mockery and back. Like Saving Private
sundry characters philosophize about their experiences in drowsy, runic
"This great evil: Where's it come from? What seed, what root did it grow from?
get walloped with viscera, then you get beaned by blather.
speculations don't derive from the screenplay's source, an archetypal but
specious. In the combat genre, the phrase "war is hell" usually means nothing
more than that it's a bummer to lose a limb or two, or to see your buddy get
his head blown off. A true work of art owes us more than literal horrors, and
He tells the story solemnly, in three parts, with a
on the island, introduces the principal characters (none of whom amounts to a
genuine protagonist), and lays out the movie's geographical and philosophical
the most frantic and harrowing sequences, chiefly the company's initially
soldiers pack their gear and motor off to another South Pacific battle. In the
final shot, a twisted tree grows on the waterline of the beach, the cycle of
viewed in deliriously sensual flashbacks. ("Love: Where does it come from? Who
one too many times for promotion and itching to win a battle no matter what the
poses folksy questions about whether we're all a part of one big soul. If the
absent God. He speaks the movie's epitaph, "Darkness and light, strife and
love: Are they the workings of one mind, the feature of the same face? O my
soul, let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things
of consciousness distributes it among the animate and inanimate alike; almost
every object is held up for rapturous contemplation. I could cite hundreds of
images: A soldier in a rocking boat hovers over a letter he's writing, which is
crammed from top to bottom and side to side with script. (You don't know the
man, but you can feel in an instant his need to cram everything in.) A small,
trudging grunts who can't believe they're encountering this instead of a
advance on the hill; a second later, the sun plays mystically over the tall,
yellow grass that has swallowed their bodies. John Toll's camera rushes in on a
soldier encased in earth speaks from the dead, "Are you righteous? Know that I
his startling juxtapositions, he never dramatizes it with anything approaching
Individual acts of conscience can and do save lives, and heroism can win a war
In fact, the entire battle seems to take place in a crazed void. Tall quotes
themselves in half with their own mishandled grenades, stab themselves
frantically with morphine needles, shove cigarettes up their noses to keep the
stench of the dying and the dead at bay. A tiny bird, mortally wounded,
order that he gets gummed up, retreating to one of his gaseous multiple
mouthpieces: "Where is it that we were together? Who is it that I lived with?
nature as viewed through the prism of war. Couldn't it be that the German and
cause was part of a violent but natural correction? You don't have to buy into
killed, they leave) but in the larger context of a war that was among the most
rational (in its aims, if not its methods) fought in the last several
side of the angels, too proud and arrogant to change tactics when all is
(stopping just short of libel) the poison of the civil courts, where platoons
of overpaid corporate lawyers can drive opponents with pockets less deep and
of good journalism: It dramatizes and comments simultaneously. Plus, it gives
more surface approach, sticking to legal minutiae and rarely digging for the
knows that when you're playing a woman who has lost a child you don't need to
real climax of this story isn't the downbeat ending of the book or the sleight
of hand, "let's call the Environmental Protection Agency," upbeat ending of the
movie. The climax is the publication of a book that takes the plaintiffs' side
legally, but some of us will never use their products again without thinking
to be independent. The conspiracy theory is that the weapons inspectors were
officials admit they supplied spying equipment to the inspectors but offer
last person to see Foster before his alleged suicide, she was pressured to
independent counsel investigations, the little fish get caught and the big fish
travel fatality in three decades. This achievement was ignored by most major
representing the owners, and union chief Billy Hunter, representing the
players, struck a deal one day before the league was expected to cancel the
rest of the season. The standoff had already wiped out three months of the
subtle theories: Dole is running because the country is ready for a woman,
heroism and moderates like his positions on tobacco and campaign reform. The
City woman was pushed in front of a subway train and killed. The mentally
this was an exceptional incident, and you're more likely to be struck by
lightning. The thousands of New Yorkers who are avoiding the subways since the
edges of subway platforms reading newspaper stories about the incident are
ago. Nevertheless, they were trumpeted throughout the nation, because the media
countries adopted a common currency, the euro. The member countries
have more people and exports than the United States but a somewhat smaller
promote fiscal responsibility by limiting countries' authority to run deficits
is back. The congressional seat in Duke's district, which
raise money for the race. He told the audience he would "stand up openly" for
(New Line Cinema). Blah reviews for this cutesy comedy
notions (at one point he exclaims, "Oh my lucky stars, it's a Negro!") and his
film has "the warm glow of a hazelnut coffee commercial" (the New York
eruptions of bathroom humor." (This site has information on the original television show.)
of being and faith puts him squarely in the footsteps of Dickens and Graham
hidden truths." (Read the first chapter, courtesy of the New York Times
especially the parting of the Red Sea and a neat sequence with dancing
hieroglyphics. Biggest minus: the clunky musical numbers, which "hang like
partly because "it tries to do too much" and be all things to all audiences
two meet in cyberspace; the rest is thumb twiddling until they "solve their
an emotional grabber. But on its own terms it's nearly perfect." Read the rest
full of firsthand accounts from the men who served on the underwater spying
inflated claims to heroism. But the book is full of gems, such as the story of
a massive wiretapping device placed on a Soviet underwater communication cable
Government" printed on it. (Read the first chapter here, courtesy of the New York Times [free registration
lecture, but more important, it features a wide selection of his poems,
the kind of imaginative eclecticism that characterizes writers of the first
Most notable is the revelation that a financial scandal involving close family
"that was sweet rather than violent, that lingered for two weeks, and that
sensibilities. How can you gain the moral high ground, that lofty crag from
The best tactic for a situation tainted by your own
imperfection is to define yourself as the happy medium, superior to those on
both your left and right. Thus, cleaner than we are and they're prigs (like the
half of it will be added to the cleaning products used throughout the subway
Fill in the blank by matching each problem with its
said, "They are in our chicken houses, killing our chickens, killing our barn
cats. A lot of the sportsmen consider them a target. That puts the wolf in a
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
evidence, including the fact that pig bones were found alongside the skeletons
and the site itself was probably a center of political administration rather
in which he argues that time as we understand it does not exist. Even before
the book's publication, the claim has stirred up controversy among theoretical
literally the implications of the fact that a synonym for "infinite" is
"timeless." The practical implications for things such as train schedules,
magazine deadlines, and the minimum wage have not even begun to be
they are unable to perform a courtship dance that relies on the display of
bright feathers. Worse, toxins from the plant have greatly reduced the
availability of a staple of the tits' diet: green caterpillars. Without
caterpillars, the tits cannot produce the bright yellow breast feathers they
need to do the dance and thus cannot attract mates.
hypothesized that "each point of normal space is actually a loop in [the] fifth
dimension." They thought the fifth dimension also accounted for forces such as
Supplement reported that, thanks to advances in supercollider technology
that enable the precise calibration of subatomic quantum energy and computer
programs that are able to model the behavior of this energy with previously
"Some physicists," the paper reports, "have suggested that we might one day
unroll such a dimension [and] travel along it." But others are skeptical.
"Traveling along [the fifth dimension]," says one, "wouldn't get you
pressure of all the water they swim under? According to a law of physics called
should, at the pressures a thousand fathoms down, decrease its volume to the
collapse on a long dive, but the viscera move into the space. In short, most of
Island School of Design have unveiled the "kitchen of the future." The utopian
prototype, called the Universal Kitchen, is designed for maximum efficiency in
functions of a microwave, a broiler, and a conventional oven, as well as
project, "water and heat come together and create a totally new appliance." The
Museum in New York City. If it's ever built, the kitchen will come in two
documentary on the history of oral performance, from Homer to poetry
of audience response. Some critics find the popularity of the events an
work of some contest winners, declared them "of a badness not to be
been better." Crime, accidents, fires, drinking, smoking, drugging, air
pollution, water pollution, racism, and divorce are declining. We live longer,
spent a long time at the group's conference, never denounced its views, and
middle of the greatest political excruciation in its modern history, the United
those who've left welfare are in better shape than they were when they received
belong to the group or know who its members are, but he preaches their
Baker have been asked to mediate between the White House and congressional
Republicans but have not accepted. The White House is also hoping for a last
strike. Black players feel that white owners don't respect them and are
treating them as ghetto thugs who don't deserve their high salaries.
package also chronicles last week's furor and lists the undecideds. Two
United States more than China. These satellite launches are at the heart of the
Hope depicts him as the first corporate comic. He employed armies of comedians
to write his jokes, made early promotional deals with networks and advertisers,
and worked assiduously to build the Hope brand. His great comic gifts: natural
argues what Republicans have been hinting: Impeachment by the House is censure.
action to harness the talents of retiring baby boomers. The boomers should be
urged to be active volunteers, teachers, caregivers, etc., and the federal
government should correspondingly raise Social Security payments.
address broader future challenges, such as ethnic conflict and germ warfare.
story yet. In addition to the usual list of catastrophes (power outages, plane
shortages and accidental nuclear missile launches. It also berates everyone,
says she's manipulative and awful beneath her sweet front. She refuses to
because she's afraid of being charged with perjury herself.
"This is a horrible thing that's going on," says Franklin Spinney. "All
it's going to do is reward the pathological behavior that created the problem."
people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy.
Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the
"Descriptions are not permitted because they would violate the sacred oath of
padded, and one biblical quote away from declaring itself a sovereign
with people who stand up for what they believe in no matter the cost, and so
who in protest last week reluctantly canceled their subscriptions to all
Devoted to metaphors of field and stream, News Quiz
won't shoot sitting fish or ducks in a barrel. Good jokes surprise you, and
what's an unpredictable comment about racism: that it's bad? Perhaps the task
is not to shoot the sitting duck but to sneak up on it, loop a rope around its
webbed feet, hang it upside down, and hit it with a stick until it bursts
Southern culture? Would the grits be ducks, or are they fair game for News Quiz
scorn? Fire away, but only if you wrote your reply between acts at the
time to reconsider your sense of regional superiority and just go fishing.
place. So he has developed little routines, one of which is this: When he
arrives home from work each evening, he drops his briefcase, heads upstairs to
his bedroom, and changes into his cotton pajamas. Then he bounds back down the
the Capable and Attractive Attorney inquires: Why does every black leader who
to illegal or unethical working conditions." Good enough for me.
"Music is my strongest inspiration, and I feel that it encompasses the true
style of fashion. The Rolling Stones are the greatest rock band in the world,
and I cannot think of another group of artists who have made such an impact on
the world of fashion. Departing from my past ad campaigns, the rock pictorials
energy, and modern environment." This may refer to a slightly different aspect
contemptible, the cell phone inspires stories, sneers, and songs, except for
lecture I was giving, a student in the front row got a call on his cell phone,
and took the call, letting the entire class wait and stare at him while he
section of my local market, I listened to a woman call someone in the meat
red. Why have a face to face conversation when you can exist as a disembodied
voice on their remote answering service? The only plus about cell phones is the
way they make their owners look like the rest of the folks who shuffle around
who think that the public use of a cell phone is a status symbol. Rather, a
cell phone is a device of convenience, clear and simple. Folks who ascribe more
importance to it than that are the same folks who think that cars are for more
than driving, vacations are for more than relaxing, and clothes are for more
than wearing. What I find interesting is this: Those who think that cell phones
are more than two cans with an invisible string are those who want others to
leather of their Range Rover on the way to that Vail getaway. Give it a rest,
president today, the real obstacle they face is not the absence of witnesses or
the dismal poll numbers. It is redundancy. Today's exhibition marks, by my
ninth in less than three months, the ninth recounting of the same story, same
the three day opening argument. The guidelines for senatorial conduct
distributed yesterday make it very clear that perfect attendance and good
chaplain thank God for guiding senators to unity "in matters of
Senate. Senators have criticized the House managers for being too pushy, but
believe in you. I have faith in the United States Senate."
sanctity of the judicial oath, a favorite subject of his. He recounts the story
introduces his fellow managers and recites their legal credentials. The most
remarkable fact here is that four of the managers served in the judge advocate
tougher on adulterers than are civil courts, making me wonder whether the
than flee from it. Instead of trying to dazzle the Senate with something
to be one law for judges and one for the president? Perjury is a high crime
because it is as bad as bribery. The judicial oath is the foundation of
and a tiny, pinched voice that sounds silly in such a beefy man, does not
obstruction of justice. Congressional Democrats considered and rejected the
Flytrap with his reputation polished, is superb. He has a warm voice,
Senate to hear witnesses to confirm his obstruction of justice claims, and
after a presentation this good, I can't imagine that too many Republicans will
the Capitol I am accosted by a woman: "Tell everyone you know to face
God this year. It's the end times." Unfortunately, she's wrong. The House
cleverly and deliberately put together to confuse people by meaning nothing."
cute as a button too. And being the woman, she did give it the woman's touch."
hit with a restraining order prohibiting me from finishing the
hurt when he did? Perhaps a few malcontents given to phrases like "incoherent
nasal honking." But, fortunately, this was a rhetorical question meant only to
remind us that we can't judge the praise of the past by the praise of five
minutes ago. On the other hand, those who encourage us to forget the past are
compliment in question? Is it churlish to rebuff praise? Not if it's
didn't recognize you!" Our quoted compliment employs the implicit tokenism of
virtue of "talented," suggesting that her abilities were something she was born
with, not something she earned. So perhaps it's not a matter of changing mores
idiot! There was a male phalanx, and then there was me. But when we were
dreaming about being president when I was a kid, nor did I dream about being
forms of abuse. There must be an end to the unnecessary recourse to the death
Leach quells the unruly crowd at the Cool Site of the Year Awards
people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy.
Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the
Loosely translated, what would that be in idiomatic
"Danger! Fish are not working up to their full potential."-- Beth
hundreds of them, if memory serves, and I can assure you that it doesn't. In
slide show, and hand out brochures. The source of the dioxin is unclear. Legal
"I detect two things. First, a mild feeling of envy
along with irritation, as if someone had noticed something one can get away
impressions together and you find the missing element that explains my own
irritation: the public display of advantage. Maybe that's why listening to a
cellulite strikes me as identical to watching the beautiful people in
each other in the back seat of a convertible on their way to THE LIFE YOU WILL
NEVER HAVE. All this shall pass when there are so many cell phones that no one
is this big, and only God can repay it." He was wrong: Brazil eventually
worked its way out of the debt crisis and even became a favorite of foreign
investors. As late as last summer, things still seemed to be going pretty well.
miracle" of the 1960s, the country has repeatedly seemed on the verge of an
economic takeoff, only to slide back again into stagnation. Or as an old local
But what has happened to Brazil over the last six months is
perhaps the saddest story of all, because this time the punishment seems so
situation: "Brazil has never had such a responsible government; the environment
for business has never been so good; why is this happening to us?" Good
time Brazil has tried very hard to play by the rules. Five years ago it
introduced a new currency, the real, and promised to avoid the inflationary
excesses of the past. Thus far it has delivered, with prices basically stable
free up its markets, privatizing inefficient companies, eliminating import
quotas, lowering tariffs, and so on. While the process of reform has by no
means been completed, the progress is real and substantial.
Well, to a certain extent both were attracting money from the same
meant the funds had to sell off assets, which meant pulling money out of
which also has large budget deficits, might be risky too. And so capital began
fleeing the country. Initially Brazil tried to support the value of the real by
selling dollars at the official exchange rate; but as its reserves of dollars
declined it supplemented this strategy by raising interest rates to punitive
levels in order to persuade people to keep their money in Brazil. Of course,
these high interest rates also made a recession inevitable.
this only shows that countries should not run big budget deficits, that Brazil
needed to get its government accounts under control to restore market
confidence. And that has indeed been the thrust of the government's policy,
agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund. But there is something a bit
count the interest on outstanding debt, tax receipts are larger than spending.
The primary surplus would be even larger than it is if the economy were not
So the problem must be all that debt Brazil ran up in years
past, right? Well, not exactly: It turns out that Brazil isn't particularly
deep in debt, by the usual measures. The government debt is less than half the
size of its debt but the very high interest rates it must pay on that
And why do investors lack confidence? Because of those big deficits.
missed the absurdity of the situation, let me say it again: Investors lack
confidence in Brazil because it has a large budget deficit, which is the result
of high interest rates and a depressed economy, which are the result of
investors' lack of confidence. It's completely circular. If markets were
So what's the answer? Conventional wisdom, embodied in the
vicious circle was for Brazil to demonstrate its resolve. And the way to do
that was to make that primary surplus even larger and defend the value of the
supposed to convince the market that all was well, so eventually interest rates
could come down. The trouble was that all that austerity was a hard sell
politicians: How well would our own Congress perform if told that taxes must be
raised and spending slashed in the midst of a recession, with no clear reward
except a possible reduction in speculative pressure, maybe, sometime in the
simply let the real fall without raising interest rates, maybe even cutting
that inflation would surge, and argued (in the wilderness) for temporary
program fell apart, predictably, though earlier than most people expected.
too bad. The currency didn't fall as much as some feared, and the stock market
When the interest rate increase was announced, panic set in and the currency
plunged. Instead of helping, in other words, the interest rate increase
After firing two central bank heads in close succession, Brazil appointed an
And perhaps the new man can somehow say the magic words, find the formula that
lose, the story is, let us say, not exactly a wonderful advertisement for
along predictably partisan lines. Following the Senate votes, the conservative
Telegraph said, "a decent man would have resigned when his public lying
mixture of brazenness, legal equivocation and personal charm would see him
through." But the paper pronounced him "the lamest of ducks," which, it said,
its front page and said in an editorial ("Suspended Sentence") that a "revival
will require a huge investment of his time for uncertain returns. "Some
[foreign policy initiatives] would invite internal opposition and risk damaging
his precious poll numbers," the Times said. "That should not be an
In an editorial it called "The end of the Zipper," the
liberal Guardian said one of the losers in the scandal was the
president, when none was there. "They also compromised some of their own most
cherished ethical standards, a mistake they may live to regret," the editorial
said. It acknowledged, however, that three "stars" of the affair had emerged
throughout and "were able to distinguish between the President and the man,
accepting one even as they acknowledged the flaws in the other."
anyone sane it was always obvious that impeachment was a hideously
survival, it cannot be pleasant for him to contemplate how his presidency will
Senate impeachment trial "the first serious setback for the crusade led by the
other: that of humanist good sense has beaten that of the fundamentalist
preachers, that which wants to preserve certain achievements of the 1960s has
information that invaded his privacy and subjected him and his family to
heroine. Of all the people involved, she is the one who apparently never lied
or knowingly broke a confidence. She never sought publicity about her affair
has behaved with admirable restraint and dignity throughout the piece, the only
preoccupied with a moral scandal that could have cost him his seat at the Oval
Office, would be paralyzed and disabled once the episode is over."
said the most important question remained what would happen if an agreement
brandishing a fly swatter and saying, "Make peace or shit!" But it said she had
years after his death, the theaters had been destroyed, the actors dismissed
and breakfast coverage from outside the chairman's house.
meeting, phone call, coffee, and bathroom schedule for the day. Immediate
Historical impact of the chairman's choice of cuffs on the discount rate.
Aware his hair is debonair, he wears it with a rare, square flair. Later: Tony
president's policy and its probable effect on finance and the economy.
coughs for several consecutive seconds, effectively splitting an infinitive;
distraction is now over, and the media can return to discussing education
evicted from office. But that doesn't mean our long national nightmare is over.
smack in the middle of the impeachment process. And on the eve of his acquittal
in the Senate, he allegedly let slip that his next major policy initiative is
retaliating against impeachment foes. The White House strongly denies the last
Despite the indignant denials of the president's pursuers,
we're about to discover that Flytrap is indeed about sex. Or at least that the
talk about such matters, some big questions arise: With whom is the president
sexual relations.") When was the last time? Is he getting any at all?
The president, a k a "the most powerful man in the world," (and this one is
known for his large appetite, to boot) has been collared. Charismatic, suffused
president nevertheless faces odds of scoring that have to be slimmer than
return to the crime scene any time soon? Doubtful. Out of respect for the first
lady, enough said. Any other candidates? Equally doubtful. With all eyes on the
president, both inside and outside the White House, where is there even a
trysting place, now that the Oval Office has been discovered? And would
channels with the Secret Service to bring in concupiscent conscripts while
particular president ever learns from experience on this particular subject,
knowing what's at stake. Well, I guess the most we can say is: probably
phone sex, it's a reasonable bet to conclude that the most powerful man in the
world has to be, well, testy. And if so, that sure explains a lot. Missile
id, declaring war on political foes. This isn't rational behavior. It's more
befitting a hormonally unbalanced teenager who is acting out.
hypothesis. The president isn't engaging in military action to distract public
attention from his sexual activity. He's engaging in military action to
leader, with the world's most powerful arsenal and fighting forces at his
nation, we must accept that our very human and virile president has very human
and virile needs that aren't being met. Denial is not an option. Believe me,
environment, improve public schooling, and help elect Al Gore but, at the end
Third, we need to cut the president some slack. If the
first lady's job description no longer includes being first, then let's lobby
how about more conventional remedies? Road trips. Prostitution is legal in
the troops, or salute their memory, whatever, as long as there's time for
ministered to (to borrow another terrific Flytrap euphemism). We will all sleep
better at night knowing that our commander in chief's libido is
"that was sweet rather than violent, that lingered for two weeks, and that
"Smelly, Lethargic, Incoherent." Ads in many papers
newborn baby. Mine's a full week old, and he's still acting like a
difficult to distinguish the smelly from the lethargic, the lethargic from the
government officials as their role models (particularly those in the Federal
out of work basketball players. And of course You've got Mail opened,
too late, because we don't recommend the other means of detection. It's called
actual holiday movies and their putative sequels. Can you tell which of the
House Without Adequate Wiring or a Reliable Smoke Detector
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
historically black colleges may be about half of that at elite colleges because
the black students prefer to spend their money on "hot cars and loud stereos."
supremacist. But I do mean he shows some symptoms that are still common among
doesn't seem to have enough experience with black folks in or out of college to
know that he can't extrapolate black college student behavior from the black
a small subset of college students. He doesn't assume that serious students can
assume that, as with whites, black students with enough money for expensive
stereos usually also have computers, and that black students without money for
computers usually don't have expensive car stereos or even cars. In short, he
overlooks systematic, statistically verifiable inequalities between black and
favorite "culture of poverty" anecdote. It's not so different from the old way
of discrediting evidence of black poverty or segregation by saying, "look,
direct proportion to family income, that whites party more in college than any
other racial group, and that students who had to "sacrifice" to attend college
spend the most time on their academics (see the Chronicle of Higher
colleges. Don't you realize that these are mostly private institutions!
Many of them are quite elite in their own right. Think of Spike Lee at
them in high school. We do provide access to them here, but there is initial
assumptions about poverty and race before making any more statements of the
column is an unfortunate illustration of how race clouds the mind. Contrary to
readers' complaints, I didn't assert anything about any group. The
New York Times item at issue reported that a survey showed a great
colleges and those attending traditionally black public institutions, and went
on to suggest, via quoting two academics, that this was because of a great
economic gap. My comment was that there was another possibility besides
economics: namely, that black college students might disproportionately prefer
spending their disposable income on items besides computers, such as sound
systems and cars. I didn't say I know this to be true. I merely suggested that
it would make sense to add some questions about this to the next survey. If it
turns out that there's nothing to this, then so be it. What are readers so
journalists of publishing his work unedited, partly because he is talented and
trustworthy, but mainly because his "Today's Papers" column is posted at around
from an affluent slice of black students that is smaller than, and included in,
imply that X is suggestive of Y. Twice the percentage of whites than blacks
blacks probably also drive fancy cars. Should we study whether whites who don't
have Internet access are buying fancy cars instead?
mean or ignorant. The man is in a wheelchair, for crying out loud.
off the mark. It's best to let viewers and readers decide for themselves
whether what they are seeing and reading is genuine or not.
according to standard propagandist lore) and the intellectual honesty to point
economy, though he consistently points at himself as the author of our current
prosperity. As neither a Democrat nor a Republican, I am amazed at the
mantle of glory as he balances precariously on the shoulders of those who came
young basketball players eschew team play in favor of taking on defenders
want to "be like Mike," as the advertisements say. All this is the legacy of
taking over sports and his flashy style of play could be successfully marketed.
have been offered without using the senator's name because the remark was
apparently intended to be off the record. The senator was complaining about the
In his otherwise useful and accurate analysis of the
has won four Golden Globes, three New York Film Critics Circle Awards and two
was a brilliant director, but he's already been saluted for that, so why give
amusing guy, to judge by the terrific "Today's Papers") to join the ranks of
himself a few simple questions before launching his attack-- questions such as,
salary for her current position? If the job were held by someone other than
rarely disagree about art and never disagree about politics.
good, if maddeningly redundant. He left his wife, and he's kind to Polish
with him, although it's kind of hard to tell. But it doesn't matter. Ford is
the cold sins. They're real bad. It's better to lie and be nice than to tell
Sometimes she wishes they were dead. That's bad. It's bad to wish people were
perjury and five on obstruction. Censure fails on a procedural motion, so
Democrats and several Republicans sign an unofficial censure statement instead.
these events." Reporters sniff for signs of celebration at the White House but
come up empty. Senators congratulate themselves for conscience, bipartisanship,
will get majority support in the Senate, both sides gear up for the aftermath.
"advisers" who leaked that story before the Senate vote and is determined to
Republicans turn against censure, accusing its Democratic backers of "seeking
close the deliberations to outsiders. The idealistic spin: Kicking out the
media will allow senators to reach their verdict based on reason and
conscience. The cynical spin: Democrats voted to open the deliberations and
Republicans voted to close them because both sides know Democrats are on the
acquittal, a few more Senate Republicans concede they could vote for censure.
Democrats could blow up the impeachment process by crying "coup."
opinion mafia holds forth on the president's predicament.
window went centuries of snobbery, mystique, and pretension. Up, up went
harbinger of the dramatic transformation that's about to sweep the entire
business of buying and selling rare and precious things. The market for art,
which has long behaved very differently from markets for other kinds of goods,
is about to be transformed by the irresistible force of the Internet. The
The trade in art has always been anomalous in economic
terms. What's unusual about the business is its secretiveness. Vendors of most
costs. Transparency benefits consumers, who can compare prices, features, and
checking the newspaper for advertised prices. In markets where price
conspicuous disadvantage. The buying experience is unpleasant because consumers
suspect they're being fleeced. Market secrecy tends to break down, because
sellers have to reveal their prices if their competitors do. In recent years,
however, secrecy has survived. Art dealers seldom advertise prices and
sometimes won't even quote them if they're not convinced a buyer is on the
hook. There was an outcry among gallery owners a few years ago, when New York
passed a law requiring them to post prices for works that are actually on
display. Most follow it, but grudgingly. "We're sheepish about posting prices,"
information?" And don't even bother asking what they have for sale. At
Master and Impressionist paintings, not even employees are allowed to know
snobbery. The art dealer cultivates his aura (and the more mystical aura of the
art object) by casting himself as a connoisseur rather than as a merchant. He
flatters his buyer as a person of taste and distinction rather than a mere
customer. As a consequence, buyers tend not to behave the way consumers do in
other fields. But the most potent factor is the economic logic of selling rare
or unique goods. Comparison shopping is hard. Even in the case of
exist, you're not likely to find them competitively priced in adjoining
storefronts. And virtually everything else is subjective. Which is better: a
dealers augment their power over the market. In other words, they can get
prices higher than what they would get if everything were laid on the table
power of dealers has always been auctions, where individuals can buy and sell,
bidding is public, and prices are published. Selling more art at auctions and
expanding the number of people who can participate in auctions, which is what
(if less drama) to the art market. But the real way the Internet stands to
revolutionize the economics of the art business is simply by breaking down the
how much they want for it will put themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
They'll be denying themselves access to the fastest expanding sector of the
who started the first international art fair, in Cologne in 1967--the first
auction results. Now he has turned it into a consortium of galleries offering
directly. "This tendency to keep everything secret, to take little advantages
of information, has resulted in a suffocation of the market," he says. "If you
wanted to set up a system to keep people away from buying art, it would be very
spreading information but also by making art into a more liquid asset. Web
should significantly reduce the transaction costs associated with selling
shipping, and insurance costs as the work goes from gallery to auction house to
whole exhibitions online. They encourage the kind of comparison shopping that
was previously impossible in the art world. Not all galleries give prices, but
enough do to allow the buyer the upper hand occasionally. For example, looking
up the artist Chuck Close, I found nine different lithographs for sale online,
Woodcut." The galleries offering this print advertised it at shockingly
all three galleries, asking them to explain the disparity in their prices. Pace
also claimed a misunderstanding, saying that his price, curiously enough, was
really the same as Pace's--$18,000. He subsequently offered to sell it to me
Chuck Close lithographs. But you can see why dealers are reluctant to give out
prices: It makes it harder for them to raise them at a moment's notice when an
artist's stock rises, as Close's did when he had a big retrospective at the
Museum of Modern Art a few months ago. In any case, if I had actually been
interested in buying the print, with the help of the Web, I would have been in
a far better position to negotiate a favorable price.
making information available online if it merely gives leverage to their
customers? The answer is that the Internet stands to expand the market as a
whole more than enough to compensate them for having to compete with each
other. A gallery in Geneva or Berlin can now sell artwork to someone who never
prices down initially, prices will rise as sellers are matched with buyers and
from "In the Line of Duty: true life experiences from our customers," a
film also failed to turn up the elusive missile. Where could it be? There was
nothing that could be construed as even a fragment of a bullet. Certainly,
nothing was evident over the pubic bone. Nor was the bone fractured. Bullets
"While pondering this, his wife remembered that the
paramedics had a lot of difficulty getting his zipper down. She looked at his
pants more closely, noting that the zipper was deformed. Behind the zipper and
in front of the protective cloth panel overlying the zipper, she found the
world's parliaments, professors of law or history, former laureates, and
members of the Peace Prize Committee may make nominations. The five member
International scholars will be chosen to report on those candidates. The winner
a treat. They run right over your face when you're in a sleeping bag," says
crowd. When they were told to come, even if they did not really understand this
contributing to the latest New Yorker theme issue or to demonstrating
Association as it contemplates the massive task of retrofitting his country's
would we be better off fighting it together or separately?" said President
tree in the town square, you need a menorah as well. We festoon offices with
fusion of these two otherwise unrelated holidays into one big seasonal
the miracle in which, according to lore, a day's worth of oil fueled the
crime to celebrate the holiday (punishment: five shillings). Only with the
arrival of German immigrants after the Civil War did it emerge as the major
visited the East Side last night," the New York Tribune noted on
challenged this embrace of a festival that, despite its secular trappings, was
fundamentally Christian. But parents couldn't very well deprive their kids of
presents, so as not to fall short of their Christian neighbors. Prominent
alternative to adorning a tree with colorful lights.
which gathered converts in the years before World War II, also boosted
in the face of persecution dovetailed with the themes of nationalists seeking
organizations used the holiday as an excuse to prod individuals to donate coins
no longer reverence to God for performing a miracle but rather the triumph over
composition of cream cheese and fruit that, when molded, resembled a menorah."
decorations, greeting cards, napkins, wrapping paper, ribbons, chocolates,
cultural institutions. Except among the Orthodox, it has been thoroughly
transformed into a major festival. Accordingly, religious leaders lament this
a Christian society then into a secular, commercial one.
Libel Manual on all matters secular and spiritual. Hence our use of
"perhaps the greatest pitcher of his era" and described the trade as the
down forcibly and bit her lips," leaving them "swollen to double their size,"
harassed her or subjected her to other pressures aimed at keeping the story
wearing briefs with a visible bulge. Conservative Christian activists called
the ads pornographic, psychologists called them attractive to pedophiles, and
our children are not infected," conservatives "need some sort of quarantine."
The conservative spin: He's a quitter. The moderate spin: He's gone nuts. The
liberal spin: Hurray, the nuts are quitting! (Click to read Chatterbox's take
Republicans will brutalize her, particularly over Whitewater and her failed
senator, she couldn't rake in book and lecture fees to pay off her legal bills.
The argument pro or con: If she doesn't decide soon, other Democrats will wait
had forced thousands of flight cancellations and stranded hundreds of thousands
of passengers by staging a sickout over a labor dispute. After a judge ruled
the sickout illegal, the pilots still didn't go back to work, and the judge
fined the union's executives several thousand dollars and ordered the union to
pilots back on the job. The pilots' spin: Somebody had to teach this arrogant
airline that it can't always get its way. Cynics' spin: Somebody had to teach
these arrogant pilots that they can't always get their way. (See"," for why
Now Turner Sports is hiring him to broadcast pro basketball and other sports on
welcomed me back, and if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
Cynics' spin on forgiveness of sexual violence in sports: Celebrity 738-Justice
most lucrative prize, for the second time in three years. He edged out his
us, to intimidate us, to get us to abandon our foreign policy."
if it was now wrong to mock the charred remains of the dead, surely it was
airline ridicule. And if it were in fact an honorable joke, then why not tell
Another scenario. When the rabbi drops by for dinner
because there's anything discreditable about eating sea and sty, but as a
matter of tact. You're not having it both ways; you're being considerate.
you announce over the PA? (Express in French in the form of a maxim.)
disappointed supporters that he will execute other people: "I continue to
support capital punishment, but after careful consideration of [the pope's]
direct and personal appeal and because of a deep and abiding respect for the
pontiff and all that he represents, I decided last night to grant his
COWBOY MAGIC. Instantly breaks down dirt and unwanted matter without
MUCK MASTER. $6.25--If it's half the Valentine's Day it could be, you'd
Various saddles are available, including PRAIRIE ROPER, THE RAMBLER, GOLDEN
PLEASURE, and COUNTRY PLEASURE. $289-$569--I believe "Country Pleasure" was
CABLE TRAINING NOSEBAND WITH HEADSTALL. This effective device is designed
square, but I think paying for nipping and clinching degrades everyone
LEATHER BREEDING HOBBLE. This professional hobble is designed for the
serious breeder. Fully adjustable and comes with panic snaps and pulley system.
$84.95--And you'd be nuts to mess around with a pulley system without the panic
cribbing, weaving, and chewing. $12.90--You order that leather breeding hobble,
anorexia in the top ranks of the House Republican Caucus. The Republicans are
so strapped for talent that they had to recruit a politician no one outside
personal destruction" (to use the day's catch phrase). The sexual puritanism of
There is another, less talked about, reason why the
transparent. By this I mean that those who hold nominally powerful jobs
ought to exercise correspondingly real power. Title and authority should
be directly related. The president should be the most powerful person in the
executive branch, the chief justice of the Supreme Court the most powerful in
the judicial branch, the speaker of the House the most powerful in the House,
etc. This transparency serves democracy, because it enables voters to hold the
politics has not always been transparent. In the golden age of political
machines, for example, bosses often occupied ostensibly unimportant jobs and
casualty of last week. If Democrats or Republicans fear that their leaders will
has a history of modest service to his party and his district, delivering pork,
deputy whip to DeLay, helping "The Hammer" count votes in the service of the
conservative cause. DeLay mobilized his whip organization to ensure his
deputy's election as speaker, and Democratic members are already wondering if
true power base in the House Republican Caucus: a 60-odd member whip
organization, the best access to corporate campaign contributions, and a
fearsome personality. The whip, who knows he lacks the charm and cooperative
behind closed doors. DeLay's job will be secure, and he himself will remain
entered an era of puppetry. (A sample size of one does not an era make.) Still,
on the part of one's rivals is a hallowed tradition of politics, and Flytrap
has honored it. Democrats have tended to assume that Republicans are pursuing
the president simply out of loathing. Republicans have tended to assume that
Democrats are defending him simply out of political expediency. The House, by
Senate trial is already confusing those assumptions. Some conservatives are
behaving like moderates, some moderates like conservatives, Democrats like
What follows is a taxonomy of the Senate, an attempt to
classify senators and explain why they're doing what they're doing.
efforts to broker a deal were that the majority leader is too conservative, too
plan to cut short the trial by holding an early test vote on whether the
with the other two defining elements of his personality: political pragmatism
that a long trial will unhinge his Senate, disrupt this year's business, and
accomplished more than most expected, a fact that even Democratic Senate
staffers admit privately. He has assuaged conservatives by giving up on
and crimes. They sincerely believe he is unfit to hold office and that the
The Unbowed can afford their principles because of their other notable quality:
The ranks of Unbowed Conservatives would be thicker
they agree with everything the Unbowed Conservatives say. But political
disastrous for their prospects. The Campaigning Conservatives walk a delicate
the Senate hold a trial. But he also says the trial should be quick and no
are as annoyed by the president as the next guy. But they're sick of the whole
business, want it to end, don't want the Senate or the party damaged by it, and
for president and has his own shaky marital history, has assiduously ducked
conviction but will also cooperate with any compromise that shortens the
procedural agreement collapses and the Senate faces a long, ugly trial, the
Mods are the Republicans most likely to support a Democratic motion to
themselves as the Senate's champions of The Law. They tend to favor a trial
with as much procedural baggage as can be attached. Specter, for example,
impeached, became an adamant supporter of a trial. He even favors having
censure unconstitutional. They are also alarmingly prone to say things like
trial probably benefits Democrats, but they are so sick of Flytrap and so
concerned about the comity of the Senate that they will do almost anything to
end this quickly. The other salient characteristic of the Disgruntled
Pragmatists is that they speak out. Most Senate Democrats have ducked the
spotlight during Flytrap because they don't want to get stuck defending the
attacking the president, have filled that void. Those who criticize the
The Disgruntled Pragmatists provide cover for two other
Republican counterparts, are sick of Flytrap and will do anything to end the
trial with as little damage to the Senate as possible. The Anxious face
his own sex scandal and represents a generally conservative state, has made it
through a year of Flytrap with barely a public utterance. (When quizzed, his
press secretary gave me the most innocuous three sentences I have ever heard.
their colleagues do the work of negotiating a deal and selling it to the
public, keep their mouths shut, and vote to acquit.
a Democratic political victory. A few Democrats believe that a full trial can
serve the nation and the party. A trial would prove, once and for all,
trial: "I think the Republicans are reeling from this," he told the New York
At the far end of the Democratic caucus from the Partisans
health of the Democratic party. They aren't worried about their poll numbers,
order to "protect the presidency as an institution." Impeachment could
"destabilize the presidency" and "degrade the Republic quickly."
censure resolution, has made it his mission to guard the Senate's prerogatives.
He has warned the White House not to lobby senators for their vote. According
aphorism for political influence peddlers who defended their shady methods on
the grounds that they didn't violate the law. The scandal, he observed, isn't
what's illegal, but what's legal. Since then, politics has stagnated, science
has exploded, and the art of moral rationalization has mutated to suit the new
environment. In this world, the game is redesigning human beings, the stakes
are ownership of the fountain of youth, and the scandal is what passes as
hearing to examine the moral implications of two recent experiments.
cells" from human embryos and fetuses and had grown them into neurons, muscle
Technology, testified that by putting the nucleus of an adult human cell into a
cow's gutted egg cell, his researchers had converted it into an embryonic human
cell, which presumably could be manipulated in the same way. "As we learn to
control the pathways that take stem cells down the road to neurons, blood
quantities of these cells can be grown for transplant applications." Old folks'
"degenerating organs" would be repaired "with young, healthy, and fully
functional cells." And one of the first organs to be repaired in this way, the
immortalize cells, and theoretically live forever without the nasty old moral
problem of "harvesting" fetuses. But the prospect of a human spare parts
industry modeled on cooking, farming, and car repair raises a new moral
politicians and biotech firms can't comprehend the gravity of this step. Like
lawyers, they dwell on details instead of the big picture. While taking care
never to cross the line, they ignore anything short of crossing it, and they
don't notice that the line is gradually receding. They look for moral problems
in costs but never in benefits. And they quarrel over yesterday's issues while
biotechnology ethics has been mired in the politics of abortion. Since federal
law restricts research on fetal tissue and human embryos, the debate over stem
cells has focused on whether they are embryos and, if not, whether scientists
are killing embryos to get them. The token biotech critic at last week's
ignored the novel implications of the latest experiments, complaining instead
that the researchers had destroyed embryos in the process. Conversely,
forming an entire body), and therefore weren't organisms or embryos. "The issue
Institutes of Health, "is complying with the law, knowing the legal definition
into cells that are "committed" to become specific tissues. The differences in
experiment, like the previous cloning of a sheep, proved that the cycle is
reversible: "Committed" adult cells can be restored to embryonic
executive director of the National Bioethics Advisory Committee confessed that
the new moral questions raised by stem cell technologies, the witnesses praised
observed, would reduce the need for "fetal donors." (The biotech executives'
comments on "ethics" were even more diversionary. Click for an example.)
said he was "deeply troubled by this news of experiments involving the mingling
had supervised the experiment, in debunking this "misinformation" (the cow's
explained that he had used the cow egg only to "reprogram" the human cell,
making it "young again" and restoring its ability to "become any cell type."
The fake issue of mixing species thus obscured the genuine issue of
The notion of replicating whole human beings transfixes biotech alarmists. This
concern, like species mixing, is easily dispelled. "We are not cloning human
beings," West testified at the hearing. Indeed, why manufacture whole people
when there's more money in the parts business? The horror movie
"banking" your stem cells and growing them into new organs, including brain
the hearing. Instead, as with abortion, the panelists praised the new
demonstrating other ways of deriving stem cells, the new experiments had proved
that the cloning of whole embryos could be banned, as Catholic scholars have
recognizing the new issues because they're trained to look for moral problems
ethicist at the hearing who betrayed any awareness of the new issues, focused
good or benefit, with the least harm and destruction of things that we value,"
philosophers ought to ponder. Where are we going? What are we becoming?
immediate threat posed by the unraveling of the old physical and moral
companies were claiming licenses and patents to human stem cells. He said this
concern had to do with the law, "not with ethical and moral implications." But
if ethics is relegated to peripheral and obsolete questions while industry
deconstructs, redesigns, and manufactures human components just like any other
commodity, laws that exempt these components from patenting, licensing, and
other property rights will lose their moral basis. And critics who object that
qualities that make weasels (along with stoats and ferrets) such satisfying
half so much contempt could be squeezed from "record industry squirrels.") That
toothy, ruthless carnivore shows up in this familiar exchange:
Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?
says, "They fool me to the top of my bent." Indeed they do, those weasels. It
makes you wonder why anyone could name a product the "Garden Weasel" or why
for a muscular substantive agenda," then he took a swing at a poor person
bequeathed to him in his father's will. Or maybe he didn't.
Pros and cons of trying to wangle a blind date with
Uncanny ability to keep a straight face while saying
No visible wedding ring could imply availability for
dating or recklessness at the poker table or that it's time to break down and
delicate cameo, membership pin in pernicious organization, or perhaps a dab of
defense team. After a little tiff, she might get some guy to kill you. In the
approve "findings of fact" that he lied under oath and interfered with the
"speaks frequently" and "has discussed" the issue directly, have been
past six months, the media and key congressional Democrats have turned on
his enemies forced Congress and the press to confront his shameful conduct.
once again engaged in illegal and partisan leaking." Hours after the
the Senate's management of the trial. White House aides lost no time turning
people in his office are trying to impact this trial. They've tried to impact
it before in a number of ways, wrongfully, irresponsibly." The suspicion that
argued for months that the Senate need not punish him because he can be
punished instead by an ordinary prosecutor and jury after he leaves office.
several moderate Republican and Democratic senators cited the Times
prosecutor is still free to subject him to the normal criminal law, and it
fact. Republicans have been floating a proposal under which the
the judicial system. Some Democrats have indicated they might support such a
resolution, depending on its language. But the specter of a criminal indictment
invoking her immunity agreement, thereby implicitly threatening her with
The resulting deposition seems legally and politically
but the events were less the stuff of great drama than of a farcical musical
have taken a bold option: They will just refuse to pass a budget, and they'll
functions with efficiency. We can't afford the tiniest error.
when they said they needed an intern to answer the phones, I said,
White House staff become worried about the prudence of continuing the
relationship with so much potential for scandal. This song is a conversation
to his wife, to his loyalists, and to the public about the
[Months of investigation, legal wrangling, and public relations campaigning
to the nation, admits doing wrong, and apologizes, though grudgingly.]
Representatives begins the long process of impeachment. NEWT
[The House votes to hold impeachment hearings. But just a few weeks later,
have repudiated racism but used issues such as crime and welfare as veils for
argues that the president's popular support should not prevent impeachment,
because it is merely a "momentary delusion" achieved through "effective
intended impeachment as a way to remove an unworthy if popular leader. As for
censure, it would be useless, "a gob of spit attached to the presidency's
lawyers will now a) bankroll the Democratic Party; b) fund their own political
advocates the establishment of a conservative arts weekly (suggested title:
scene," which is full of dissatisfied souls seeking only "a place to speak and
interview that disabled people were disabled because of things they had done
wrong in previous lives. This created political uproar and sharply divided the
Football Association, soccer's ruling body, fired him after he refused to sever
separate his rights of free speech from his duties as one of the most
excluded homosexuals for security reasons, no longer see them as a risk if they
of defending itself against any threat regardless of its source or
personnel in emergency situations around Japan." This cleared a major hurdle in
sentenced to death again until all citizens are guaranteed the right to trial
by jury. But the paper commented that legislators might decide that, in
to all the country's courts and that therefore capital punishment should be
headlines as "the trial of the century," the impeachment proceedings against
journalists clearly under strain to find anything new to say about the
president's troubles. The angles varied widely from paper to paper. An editorial
frustrated with political systems that have become obsessed with themselves,
and wish that what they see as unseemly distractions will be quickly over."
the man who talked best about it cannot be feeling very well in his heaven.
obsession with truth and purity has turned morbid and demanding of
psychoanalysis. It is even endangering the whole political system."
"sordid and embarrassing, lending itself to the worst sort of moralistic
posturing and inevitable charges of hypocrisy and opportunism." It went on, "It
apartheid," the paper said. But it concluded that "the sobering fact remains
White House was in reality "on the edge of panic." This was because this
not obstruct justice; second, that even if he did, perjury and obstruction are
not grounds for impeachment if they are committed in the context of sex." The
like him much, to go on repeating these unconvincing lines week after week,
vicious game." The papers said, "It is like a parody of an
team might have been secretly passed to the United States. "The idea that
somehow products of our work could be diverted to other purposes is
theoretically tenable," he said, "but I have no knowledge of that."
course of researching and writing this article I suffered crippling bouts of
my colleagues by using the microwave in the communal kitchen area to nuke a
my desk still get funny looks. I have poisoned myself in so many ways. But I
frozen dinner aisle in your local supermarket with flair and ease.
their limitations. Remember that they work by agitating (and thus heating) the
water and fat molecules in food, which means that whatever you cook is pretty
much steamed. This is great for heating up leftovers and coffee, not so great
better than a full dinner, including dessert, that goes from freezer to table
The scores of offerings at your average supermarket divide
down to about four basic categories: traditional, healthy, budget, and
vegetarian. I used the same standards in judging all of them: taste, nutrition,
presentation, and ease of preparation. Here's a list of best and worst by
separate sauce packets that you heat and add to the dinner when you serve it.
The results are great. The Breaded Chicken Parmigiana, for example, comes out
Worse, they require a lot of work. You puncture the sauce pouch, toss the
dinner in, pull it out, peel back parts of the film cover, toss the sauce pouch
your calorie intake be derived from fat. It couldn't be simpler to prepare and
is surprisingly tasty. The chicken's not exactly crispy, but it is remarkably
texture.) The meat has a grain to it, so you know it's not compressed, and the
potatoes. The veggies are flavorful with a bit of crunch to them, and the
mashed potatoes are buttery and smooth. Best of all, the dessert is a darn good
dinner's punched metal tray, making for a heady mix of convenience and
home the prize for worst traditional dinner. The Boneless Pork Rib Shaped Patty
label), and it sits in a pool of orange grease. (The label calls it barbecue
sauce.) The beans, too sweet and without a hint of tanginess, were also
disappointing. The dessert was billed as "apple crumb," but it looked like
them from fat. All in all, a heart attack on a cardboard plate.
low calorie and fat contents. For example, Weight Watchers' Smart Ones Fiesta
Choice's Country Breaded Chicken With Scalloped Potatoes, Garden Vegetables in
tempted to eat more than one, with a corresponding doubling of the fat and
caloric intake. The category winner, Lean Cuisine's Oriental Beef With
Vegetables and Long Grain Rice, had combination of great taste and solid
University. The portions are controlled and the nutritional information clear.
Yep, that's the one that stank when cooking. Surprisingly, the steak itself
your studio apartment, huddling in front of the space heater, and reading
hopelessly damp and chewy stuffing. The gravy formed strings as I lifted the
fork to my mouth. But at least it came on a nice paper plate.
Gourmet. It is the cuisine equivalent of the landlord banging at your door. You
box. The portion is tiny, the chicken is in rubbery cubes so uniform they
barely look like food, and the noodles are all clumped together on one side.
Cheese Enchilada With Beans and Corn was bound for the winner's circle until
overtaken at the wire by a dark horse: Green Guru, a brand I was able to find
enchanted my palate. The rice was light and cooked to perfection, and the
vegetables were nicely steamed in a complex sauce that blended the subtle
flavors of curry, coconut milk, and basil. There was enough hot pepper to be
interesting, but not so much that this tenderfoot was scared off. The
textures, and the tofu chunks seemed like a stroke of genius. At its best, tofu
is supposed to be springy, and this dish proved how ideally suited it is
the whole concept of it seemed misguided: What vegetarian wants to eat
something labeled as "steak," even if it is molded soy protein? The "steak" was
like the worst hamburger you've ever eaten: sticky, tasteless, and just plain
slapping a metal tray in front of a sullen husband at the dinner table. But
notes that because the vegetables in microwave dinners are frozen, they may
retain more nutrients than those you'd buy fresh. The oxidation of
nutrients is much greater in fresh foods than in foods that are frozen quickly
after harvest. Your fresh supermarket broccoli probably had a long journey from
the place it was grown, losing vitamins all the way. Boiling the veggies at
home compounds the problem, as the soluble vitamins get poured down the drain.
to your supermarket and confidently fill your shopping cart. Once home, you can
peel back the plastic film covers of our winners with a steady hand, sure that
insight into the minutiae of human interaction. She's the opposite of a detail
homogeneity that seems part commercial cunning (her movies go down easy, like
Muzak) and part the result of being rich and snobbishly insulated on the Upper
West Side of New York City, that magic kingdom where people parade their
enchanting comedies ever made. It's a classic setup: Two people work side by
Friend") who pour out their hearts in prose. When I went online in the early
'90s, the first thing I thought (and posted in a chat group) was: "Oh, now
cybercafe who seemed to have a wonderful, funny, flirtatious personality online
(I was in a position to read some of what she was typing) but who logged off
and buttoned up her coat without looking left or right and hurried into the
street as if afraid that someone might actually speak to her.
The story works better when set in a society with a clear
relishes the process of opening "superstores" and driving the local mom and pop
conceals real economic desperation, and there are serious consequences when the
two lovers clash and one of them gets fired. In the world of You've Got
employees are happily hired by the competition. The movie, without seeming to
realize it, turns into a romantic parable about the joys of being absorbed by a
conglomerate. Why, its lovers never even get a busy signal when they dial
close! But where The Shop Around the Corner had a matrix of
who can be discarded at the narrative's convenience without muss or fuss. The
other characters are just friends to be talked at. (You don't even get a sense
nervously thinking them up on the spot, and he's better than anyone at saying
something he doesn't mean and then wincing in horror, as if longing to hit the
flamboyant movie tradition of movie mobsters who smile at the bullets that end
all sorts of grounds, from contempt for the repressive, hypocritical police
force to contempt for the repressive, hypocritical church. He might even have
himself and his family, and that his thieving put a lot of poor people out of
work. Call him a roguish tribal chieftain or an ornery sociopath, he is what he
is. And, for much of the movie, I had no moral reaction to his sometimes brutal
exploits; I just watched. How radical! There are different kinds of artistic
neutrality: the nihilist kind that signals "Nothing matters, so who cares?
subject is too big to reduce to a thesis. Let's lay it out and study it."
photographed with his hand blocking his face), he has a thick neck and eyes
that, while small, suggest watchful calculation. The General begins with
his murder and the cheers that go up when word reaches the police station, then
flashes back: As a boy, he steals pastries, which he gallantly shares with his
with mulishness. Refusing to budge from a condemned housing project, the adult
building is razed and the trailer he has moved to the spot has been firebombed.
When a city delegation marches on his tent and offers to set his family up in a
new house, the inveterate burglar asks for a place in a wealthier neighborhood
monitor his movements, the authorities appoint an inspector (an amusingly sober
fence and on the street in front of his house, and to follow him and his gang
and suffocating sense of the universe closing in. Hunted by both the cops and
his neutrality: The General isn't an emotional grabber. But on its own
terms it's nearly perfect. All I missed was something more than winks and hints
been more psychologically compelling if it had set up a rivalry between the
hardly figures here and, of course, psychology isn't the point. What wows 'em
whose work has become less tuneful and more pretentious since the heady days of
variety, and the big inspirational number, in which hope is conceded sometimes
to "fly away, like silver birds," asks: "Who knows what miracles you can
achieve/ When you believe?" The miracle here is the animation and production
design, which has less to do with belief than with talent and millions of
the Exodus in stiff, horizontal processions. The dream exalts the primitive art
that is the movie's visual inspiration in a way that seems truly religious.
us, to intimidate us, to get us to abandon our foreign policy."
black college students play their big, expensive stereos so loud around
C. Police throw tear gas grenades, pound nightsticks
For the past year, he and his surrogates have deployed nearly every argument to
halt this process. They have won over the public, according to polls, but they
haven't persuaded enough members of the Republican congressional majority. The
impeachment vote, the Republicans' message is that they're putting principle
above politics. "A thermometer is not a terribly useful thing on matters of
conscience and matters of principle," argued House Judiciary Committee Chairman
"We congressmen were sent there to protect our Constitution, protect our rule
something. The rule of law means something. We're a government of laws and not
Moreover, the Republicans hold out hope that they can
parlay these principles into good politics by persuading the public that
attention as to why this is very serious, what this is all about, namely
to take care that the laws are faithfully executed."
reverses this logic. It parlays good politics into principle, by framing the
ouster of a politically popular president as an affront to democracy, the
surrogates have been making for months. The first is that the public opposes
wrongly, as a popular verdict against impeachment, and today's New York
resolution, which Republicans refuse to let the House vote on.
The second point is that the impeachment juggernaut has
four impeachment articles approved by the House Judiciary Committee, and only a
handful of Democrats are expected to vote for impeachment on the House floor.
impeachment votes based on "partisan politics" rather than "the facts of the
many of the legislators who will vote on impeachment are "lame ducks." Some
Congress chosen by the voters will have five fewer Republicans. But the old
Congress, including the old Republicans, will decide whether to impeach the
congressional Democrats have been escalating their rhetoric along these lines.
They have accused Republicans of trying to "defy the will of the people,"
been fair. Nothing about this process has been bipartisan. Nothing about this
impeachment process "does sometimes, to some people, begin to take on the
appearance of a coup." In that explosive word, the Democrats' three criticisms
thermonuclear reaction. Republicans reacted with anger. "This is the orderly
process of the Constitution, not troops in the streets," said one member of the
another, "so there's not going to be an abrupt change in the policies that the
reason to worry. Imagine the uproar when televisions across the country show
the first Democrat rising on the House floor, in a thundering crescendo, to
denounce the Republican "coup" against the president. Imagine the barrage of
drama being hounded by reporters as to whether a "coup" is in progress. Yes,
the rebuttals are subtle, complicated, and technical. It's too bad Republicans
have spent the past year mocking legal distinctions. That's all they'll have
"Plot Holes" is an occasional column about logical inconsistencies in
in the daylight? Does he explode into flame, as in John Carpenter's
vampires are all over the place. Not only do they differ morphologically from
movie to movie, but they behave with stunning inconsistency even within their
his ability to disembowel and decapitate humans with a single swipe of his
The vampire is a species of the undead. Like any other
species, it should manifest a certain behavioral logic that moviegoers can rely
upon. What if I wanted to make a movie about, say, bears? And what if I found
it more "interesting" creatively if the bears in my movie had fish scales
instead of fur? Would audiences placidly accept such a frivolous reordering of
nature? I think not! Yet when it comes to vampires, filmmakers feel free to
problem in our society that I hereby propose a Uniform Code of Vampire
tend to regenerate." Fair enough, but it's past time for a meeting of the minds
on this crucial issue. How, exactly, do you kill a vampire? It was easy enough
woman "pure in heart" manages to keep the vampire by her side all night until
"after the cock has crowed," he is guaranteed to suffer what looks like a
strange little disappointed groan that remains a benchmark of decorum when
compared with the hissing and writhing deaths of modern screen vampires.
throat, is eaten by an alligator, and then what is left of his body is consumed
in a fire. But only a few centuries later he bounces right back. In
in chopping off heads than impaling hearts. In John Carpenter's
sunlight, though he can be considerably slowed down if his heart is pierced by
walk around in the daytime if they have prudent ultraviolet protection, but
disintegrate on the spot when they are hit in either the head or the heart with
of the only contemporary vampire movies that bothers to regard garlic as a
Standard: crucifixes and garlic to be regarded as nonlethal irritants.
Vampire death to be assured by penetration of heart muscle by any foreign
object or by prolonged exposure to sunlight. Decapitation alone not sufficient
to secure desired death effect. A deceased vampire should not explode,
disintegrate, burst, morph, or molder but should serenely resume countenance
less sophisticated movies, everybody who is bitten by a vampire turns into one,
usually after an unspecified incubation period. The artsier the film, the more
elaborate the distinction between the merely dead and the truly undead. To the
it seemed to be that the average victim dies a straightforward bloodsucking
death. But every millennium or so a vampire meets that special someone. In
order to "turn" this person, it is necessary for the vampire to drain the
victim's tank and top it off at the crucial moment with a quart or so of his
new recruit must also drink the vampire's blood, but the transformation is far
pokier, requiring weeks and weeks, and if the vampire happens to get stuck with
vampirism as an infectious blood disease. "Look at the polys," a beautiful
young hematologist says to her colleague as she's performing an autopsy on a
victim's own blood and its subsequent replacement by blood of donor vampire. If
longer qualifies for living death designation and will be considered
vampires fly? In the early days of the movies, before special effects, they had
around his castle, and when he rises from his coffin he's as stiff as an
fruit bat. (He also turns into a hyena and an armadillo, species that are
in Interview With the Vampire and soars with him high into the night
Vampires can fly down the road fast enough to catch a speeding car and can
stick to the ceiling of a motel room. But at crucial moments in these movies
the vampire always seems to forget he has these powers and ends up wrestling
around on the floor of a dusty convent or abandoned factory with the
ground. Sustained flight permissible if vampire takes the form of a bat, owl,
or other authentic nocturnal species. Vampire is specifically prohibited from
demonstrated in a motion picture, they must be used consistently and logically
throughout, without regard to the convenience of the filmmakers.
"protruded over the lips" almost at once. In his baroque homage to the book,
so much gaping mouth movement that the count looks like he's coughing up a
in a constant state of dental arousal. They're the exception, however. Almost
every other vampire movie accepts the patently unnatural convention that a
vampire's fangs are capable of receding into his gums. But since vampires are
fangs as default characteristic. Strongly recommend, when appropriate,
character in Blade observes an "odd muscle structure around the
in these warm thanks. He is waiting for you with a soldier's handshake."
different, these two, yet they were very close. An introvert and impatient
general and a noble and generous monarch, whose objectives and souls joined."
He imagined them "up there" together, lighting cigarettes for each other and
government urgently tackles unemployment, the stability of the currency, and
the trade balance. Another urgent problem is the country's water shortage, he
added, "If they do not solve it immediately, a drought in the summer will lead
he said the new king will have to focus a lot of attention on preserving calm
with his absolute authority and "almost obsessive" concern for the maintenance
other problems first. "All those with the welfare of the king and his kingdom,
as well as ours, at heart would do well not to force him to confront these
complex and sensitive issues at this time," he wrote.
from office? My answer, after months of indecision, is a strong "Yes!"
party having a sufficient majority in Congress to get rid of any president,
which would convert us into a parliamentary democracy. At one time I had
provides for the removal of a president found unable to perform the duties of
his office. But that required the concurrence of the vice president, which
I thought that censure or rebuke might do as punishment and expression of
I can say exactly when I came to the conclusion that
days before the House of Representatives was to start action on impeaching him.
was decided, and not only decided, but decided with a heat that I rarely feel
to represent us anywhere. Do we want him laying the wreath at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier, comforting our mourners, saluting our heroes? Do I want to see
his "sincere" face on television every day? No, decidedly no!
order to divert us from the forthcoming impeachment debate. That is the point:
I don't know, and most of the world doesn't know. He has generated the belief
that he is capable of taking such grave action to save his own skin.
after the House voted for impeachment strengthened that belief. He had started
the bombing just in time to give his supporters the refuge of arguing that to
impeach the commander in chief while our troops were in harm's way would be
unpatriotic. He had stopped the bombing as soon as that argument became
useless. That is an abuse of power! The whole episode shows how unfit he is to
be president. He has polluted the atmosphere within which policy decisions are
presidency. I don't want to punish him or have a national catharsis. I want
something more practical. I want him off our screen.
in my opinion. The performance of the economy during his administration has
been good, and although I don't attribute very much of that to him, at least he
has not been an obstacle. I don't expect any improvement, or any change, in
serious deficiency as a president. He is prone to foolish mistakes. Every
president, like everyone else, makes mistakes. Foolish mistakes are ones that
could reliably have been known in advance to be mistakes. There is something in
his foolish mistakes, and beyond foolish mistakes, and I am no longer "cool"
People who are legally fastidious say it's not the sex,
it's the perjury. For me it is partly the sex. If he had lied under oath about
parking illegally I wouldn't be so disgusted. But for a married man to have
oral sex with a woman employee less than half his age in the Oval
Office --I can't claim not to be offended by that. I have been told that is
the right as citizens to protest the behavior of their president. And it is not
only the perjury. It is the sophomoric deviousness of the perjury that is an
question remains. Does his behavior add up to grounds for removal from office?
The words in the Constitution, "high crimes and misdemeanors," give us much
latitude. If the framers had wanted to limit us more they could have been more
even to our political representatives who are closest to the people but to our
most senior political representatives, the Senate. My opinion is that not every
perjury is a "high" crime, as grounds for removing a president from office. But
universally generated such a response of disapproval, ranging from cynicism to
disgust, as to degrade the ability of the presidency to serve its function.
president of the United States to lead the nation and the world. That is a high
I am still concerned about the risk of setting a precedent
for opposition majorities in Congress to remove presidents for purely political
reasons. Future generations will have to deal with that. For now we have to set
the precedent that presidents of the United States should so behave themselves
as to merit the confidence of the world. This is a big country, and surely we
against the president should be strong enough to justify some members of his
own party voting against him. In the case of this president, it is.
Several readers complained about the length of last
goodies nicely formatted for printout on standard size
contributions to charity. But even in a normal week, 
Online readers have complained about not getting their 
favorite stuff. So, a few weeks ago, we asked readers whether they would prefer
answer was "yes." Even though it will take longer to download? Yes. Even though
it will require more pages to print out? Yes. You're absolutely sure, are you?
Oh yes. Because Mommy and Daddy don't want to send you a great big file if
and not be so conspicuous. Keep quiet and work hard. Consider marrying an
Many readers did raise a good question: Why doesn't the
to print out instead of all or nothing at all? The answer, as to so much in
development team puts it, in the strange argot of their tribe: "Yeah, yeah,
some quick and dirty solution to this dilemma. Although we say so as a sister
knows about them. No one knows about them primarily because software
instruction manuals get thinner and thinner. Even Word's online Help (in recent
versions an annoying talking paper clip that many people quite rightly refuse
to interact with) doesn't seem to know about some things the program can do.
What other industry besides software goes to the trouble of improving its
Adobe Acrobat version) a couple of Word's features can help you to print out
just the articles you want. They're a bit clumsy for this purpose, but they do
Outline toolbar that will have appeared (with any luck), you
through "The Fray." At the left of each item is a plus sign. If you click once
on the plus sign, you have selected that department. You can then print the
selection (an option on the Word Print menu). Or you can select and
delete all the articles you don't want and print the whole remaining
document. Or, if you want to get fancy, you can create a blank document in a
new window, and then drag and drop the articles you want into it.
on the Outline toolbar to affect the whole file and expose various
Papers, "Moneybox," etc.) that consist of multiple items, you can hit the plus
sign and do your stuff for just the items you want.
variation on Outline view, also available on the View menu. It
allows you to turn various subdivisions of a file into separate files, which
you can then move around or otherwise submit to your will. Try this: Select a
department you want to print (it can't be the first one, Today's Papers, for
features such as macros, templates, fields, styles, and so on to make a simple
file or could be offered as a downloadable tool. What about
using "hidden text"? (Hidden from screen view but printed? Or visible on screen
but not printed?) Or the automatic table of contents generator? (Could the
whole text be turned into a table of contents? What on earth for?) Strictly as
an amateur, the editor has tried them all and admits defeat.
readers who would like to pick up the challenge? If you beat the pros to a
solution, we will name it after you, and you'll be immortalized in this little
priorities that prevailed in different countries during the period. In China,
which, more than any other, united all the papers of the world in a common
obsession. However, there was widespread reluctance around the world this week
But the biggest story around the world as the week began
as a force for "tranquility and stability" and "a challenge to the economic and
experiment." It said that the euro could benefit developing countries by
mounting an effective challenge to the dollar. "The global preference for the
inexpensive funds but also that the rest of the world effectively finances its
its infant currency need you." It continued, "Your country's participation in
euro. With you present, the euro is more likely to become one of the great
international currencies. As an ancient superpower, you know the advantages we
I give the caption, you briefly describe the Associated Press photo:
lunchroom slot machines that the gambling industry had such high hopes
feeble, and everyone is in a constant state of sexual arousal. Life aboard ship
is tough; no wonder Navy recruiters have trouble meeting their staffing goals.
Coincidentally, this is also the state of our schools, according to News Quiz
predominant attack is directed at unimaginative teachers, stuffy
administrators, and private companies exploiting a captive audience of
classes and go to the lunchroom, and we're promoting candy and soda sales. We
The kids can still buy cookies, chips, and ice cream
at the school snack bar; federal law does not ban their lunch hour sale at
short of revenue, have made deals with soft drink companies. Average
giant's thumb and forefinger so that his tiny eyes are squashed together and
his big nose and teeth pop out. With his thick black glasses, he looks as if
he's being photographed through a fishbowl, an effect that the director
intensifies by shooting much of the movie with a fishbowl lens. A student at a
a cartoon flatness of perspective and is painted in near luminous primary
colors, with some added deep brown, green, crimson, and gold leaf to convey the
Awards, and begins a nationwide run this week. My first impression was that Max
is supposed to be vaguely repulsive, but after spending some time with him (and
and a hustler; on the other, they collude with him in myriad ways, to the point
have it both ways. Like their hero, they spend a lot of time patting themselves
school's worst students. The movie merrily relates the ways in which he
compensates for poverty and academic disgrace. He tells people that his father
is a neurosurgeon. He is shown leading the debate society, the fencing club,
undiscriminating audiences. He has, we are told, spent the previous year
speech to the privileged student body, Max recognizes a kindred spirit and
aggressively befriends the tycoon, eventually enlisting him in his extravagant
supposed to take Max? Are we to cheer his ludicrous efforts to bed a woman
twice his age? Is it supposed to be cute when he sites the aquarium in the
middle of the school's baseball diamond and brings in the bulldozers without
Max's obnoxiousness might be meant as a state of grace.
few movies come near: It often unfolds in a narcissistic trance. That's not a
negligible feat. What I wanted, however, was a larger perspective, something
Bottle Rocket such a trial. In one scene, ripped off from My Left
insults the teacher's date: "I have a hit play. What did you ever do?" His
churlishness isn't compelling, it's just an embarrassment, a callow cry for
attention. "Notice me!" says the character, and you say, "Why?"
has the right combination of standoffishness and warmth, but she's more
lowers the volume on his wiseacre act, confining his trademark irony to an
occasional glint in the eye and, in the face of crisis, an escalating air of
gonzo dissolution. He's fine, but the raves (and the awards) for this
ecstatic reaction from this most vital of critics, he found instead an old
up the encounter, in a way designed both to deflate his own persona and to make
than, for instance, me. The memory lapses over the summer were caused by
the talk of various Web sites devoted to the disease. The consensus is that the
medication mitigates crippling tremors but that users need to have their levels
monitored carefully because too much can leave you muddled. It was in this
he did anything unseemly. "What do you expect?" said a friend. "He's like the
can differ, but let's make the assumption for the sake of argument.) According
"civil, serious, dedicated, judicious, and highly intelligent man," Stein said.
Stein also did "not feel I have the wisdom and moral elevation to [judge
willingness to cover it up in statements about the rule of law and the
States. I actually did and do want this man to represent the United
question the technique of electing presidents was designed to answer.
wish to divert the nation. I am sorry that Stein is distressed by the sight of
unable to lead the nation and the world. Leadership ability is an issue for the
speak again in two years (through votes, not polls).
focus on the Constitution and not on such amorphous standards as
"embarrassment," "reckless personal behavior," or "inability to lead." Thank
goodness Stein didn't include "setting a bad example for our children" among
the high crimes and misdemeanors that would warrant the removal of an elected
rich guys who were ballooning around the world. Not fretting because they were
rescued, but fretting because they are rich. Also, those who tilt a bit to the
every day of the year. Why not concern yourself with that startling number
rather than worry about three guys in a hot air balloon or one guy full of hot
the controversial "Millennium Dome" would be scrapped, 100-to-1 that Prince
individual betting on the end of the world go about collecting their
of the House managers, I believe) told North that he had "served your country
and the country was "grateful." These statements were made, of course, after
North (under a grant of immunity) proclaimed that he had previously misled and
lied to Congress. And, as you point out in your piece, these were issues
the lives of the artists provide little (or no) illumination of their artistic
production is entirely accurate. To understand the work, look at the work and
understand its aesthetic context. Literary insights are to be found in other
writing. Visual creativity is driven by a variety of elements (social,
political, cultural, intellectual, theoretical, aesthetic); an artist's
physiology, by virtue of idiosyncrasies of the mechanics of vision, has more
effect than the artist's psychology on his or her work.
and providing the reader with an appropriate perspective!
suggests that while a certain amount of privilege is acceptable, too much
privilege is wrong and should be taken away. This seems to me a wholly
it's easy for kids to grip. It makes no noise when they whack things with it
(unlike a wooden spoon), and the blade gives them something to gnaw on, which
they find very satisfying, and there's no risk of splinters. It's also quiet
toys or a set of car keys. I suppose the only hazard is the noxious chemicals
they use to make the blade rubbery, but if you post this in
harvested tropical hardwood (grown by a women's cooperative) handle available
squirts. The only other valuable child raising hint I have is to dress the kids
in orange shirts when they get mobile, because then they're easy to spot in a
crowd (nobody wears orange voluntarily), although if you put this in
about something. The trial of the president in the Senate will not really be a
trial, or at least not a trial that any of us recognize. First, let's set aside
any pondering about what the chief justice will or will not do. He can't really
relevancy, or objections to testimony that the justice may make, the jury (the
ordinary trial, meetings, conversations, or even deals are not made between the
prosecutors and the jury. Here the House team is the prosecution team and the
senators the jury. The House team and various senators have been in constant
contact, making deals and arrangements. That would be considered jury tampering
and would get any other case thrown out of court. In any ordinary trial, the
judge sets the rules and the time frame. In this trial, the senators can change
senators have made it plain, to anyone who is listening closely to their
penetrating poet. Of all the many pieces of writing spurred by the Cold War and
century apocalyptic writing, his poem "The Horses" may be the most effective,
perhaps because it is the most calm and gentle. The plainness of the writing,
the persuasive speech rhythms under the almost hidden iambic pulse, manifest
immense art, culminating in a last line that could be incised in stone.
On the third day a warship passed us, headed north,
That old bad world that swallowed its children quick
And then the thought confounds us with its strangeness.
Since then they have pulled our plows and borne our loads,
But that free servitude still can pierce our hearts.
the subject is particularly sensitive because of the doubtful means by which
more unpleasant it looks," the Herald said. "That is no reason, though,
contrary, the sooner the air is cleared the better. The Games themselves must
be able to proceed unclouded by unresolved scandal." The paper added that
In an editorial titled "Honesty is still the best policy," the
transparency. While it is entirely appropriate that international delegates
should be treated to a high standard of accommodation and dining and receive
some token gifts, it said, "the test, surely, is whether those giving or
receiving the gifts would want it publicly known." It added, "The possibility
that it might become public is a great deterrent to bribery, which is why the
disappointing, but the number probably does not stop there." It went on, "With
came to doubt how the medals were awarded, the Games would be deservedly
justified" and went on to propose that the choice of the host city should in
future be entrusted to "professional consultants." It said, "Let a reputable
minister. In the first round of voting, the poll predicted the following
with granting the United States a monopoly of the production and marketing of
it is charged with interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries; no
longer does it care if it violates the Charter of the United Nations." It
flagrantly compromised, and where illegitimate methods are used to achieve the
not be dismissed but that the Senate should now vote on the articles of
impeachment without calling witnesses. "If the Republicans use their majority
to drag the trial on, they will inflict further political damage on themselves,
regardless of any damage they hope to do to the President," it explained.
than the supreme law of the land. It's the supreme political weapon. If you
meant when it was adopted. Few thought it unassailable, and not even its
authors claimed that their views should be fixed for eternity. So how did the
Constitution become sacred? And when did judges decide they must recover its
decided that the nation's founding document, the Articles of Confederation, was
that those who gathered agreed on most key questions. Contrary to myth, the men
who would become known as the Founding Fathers spoke for no cross section of
Constitution on shaky ground. The Articles of Confederation explicitly stated
conventioneers, doubtful they'd achieve unanimity, lowered the threshold to
To placate skeptics, supporters emphasized not the glory of
the new Constitution but its imperfections, promising it would be improved over
those who raise so many objections against the new Constitution, should never
call to mind the defects of that which is to be exchanged for it. It is not
necessary that the former should be perfect; it is sufficient that the latter
it to perfection." Far from sacrosanct, the Constitution was billed as a work
flaws. Their first government had failed, and it remained uncertain whether the
fragile new one could withstand challenges to its legitimacy. Historians began
inevitable climax rather than as the sharp turn in the road it really
practice of using religious language to describe the document, as he shared his
aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation." He went
on to deliver a veritable paean to the piece of parchment.
The framers' opinions, now widely considered the keystone
to interpreting the Constitution, traveled a similar path to legitimacy.
Ironically, the doctrine of original intent was itself not part of the
framers' original intent. "As a guide in expounding and applying the provisions
debates and incidental decisions of the Convention can have no authoritative
arguments he made, whether as congressman, secretary of state, or president.
referring to the convention proceedings because, it was felt, each generation
had to make sense of the Constitution for itself. Similar practices favored by
justices and other constitutional interpreters began appealing to the framers'
induce the Court to give the words of the Constitution a more liberal
slave or free, couldn't be citizens, came to be condemned not just as racist
but as a quintessential example of tortured reasoning in the service of a
any historical reason. As Levy notes, when judges use history, it's typically
after they've made up their minds on how they want to rule. "The Court resorts
to history for a quick fix, a substantiation, a confirmation, an illustration,
or a grace note," he writes, "it does not really look for the historical
rather than another. The Court, moreover, cannot engage in the sort of
sustained historical analysis that takes professional historians some years to
doctrine without first deciding the case on political grounds. And it would
newspapers. We take it not as funny but as something very serious." Who said
killed by a former pro athlete simply because you decided to return some
"Greased up, shiny little Sushi Boy, in his shiny little sequined
old? Are we English? Are we meat and potatoes men who never get near fresh
fruits or vegetables? No, we're not. We're constantly frolicking about in all
meals and enjoy sex and drugs with our film business colleagues, all of whom
look fabulous courtesy of the surgeon's art. And if technically cilantro is
neither fruit nor vegetable, that's the least of my classification problems. Is
president the one who makes the biggest increase in defense spending in a
With cancer likely to pass cardiovascular disease as
offering treatments still aloof from the financial restraints of managed care.
response exploited the suffering of anyone afflicted with a dreadful disease;
statement with the speaker who managed to get the words out without
[the president] is subject to political machinery of rare democratic
Republican argument that the President's impeachment is based on the issue of
affairs and demands from the Republican's [sic] religious right for
That is, when the personal really is political, not merely a feminist
power, we should not be too surprised to see a US President on the brink of
serial adultery might be overlooked more easily but for his serial mendacity,"
debate as "a disgraceful partisan spectacle, an act of vengeance rather than
justice, a triumph for the fundamentalist Christian Right that will haunt
hiatus in hostilities, a backhanded concession to the victim: a hearty
now seems likely that the strikes will have to be suspended for about a month
providing the most naked of presidents with his only international fig
said, "I think some of them are not going to work, and they will cause
don't really have an answer for this, but I did want to tell everyone that WHAT
shipping, which kind of wipes out the discount, but what the heck.) If you like
Federal Reserve Board likes the roller coaster allusion. Plus, 'Hey, you never
Make them take it back."), and no slogan. Unable to afford a professional
must make do with the public domain. Under consideration:
in a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed."
human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope."
extraordinary example of the effects of a bad education."
dominant soda pop in the "heavy citrus" category. Or, in the delightfully
previous ads: "The campaign was grounded in the two core teen values of action
and sociability, but was initially focused on the intensity more than the
"And with urban kids today, there's more of a melding of the races." The new
with the photo it retouched to remove an offensive cigarette.
man's mouth, and the adulterous gleam from Pollock's eye.
women smoking so she had the cigarette airbrushed out. Presumably, she did
approve of the murderers photographed in other issues.
order, they retouched a photo of him on the reviewing stand in Red Square for
the Environmental Protection Agency has landed in a certain amount of trouble"
film "smart, tough, yet curiously moving." (Visit the official
spectacular cinematography, even positive critics concede the film is "too dark
and cluttered and mysterious to ever achieve the popular acceptance of
are about the film's lack of plot and dialogue (almost all the speaking in the
site has photographs from the film and message boards; or you can read
Southern roots and, with the help of a supportive extended family, puts her
critics find the story emotionally powerful and refreshingly upbeat. (Check out
lowlifes more an actors' showcase than a drama: It's "a tedious circus of
Flight and buy a ticket for a film that goes someplace more unexpected and
Times dissents, praising the film's "steady grace" and "blithe spirit."
biography ever written. It must be ranked among the most ambitious and crucial
bloated, and painful, and writing about it in an interesting fashion is more
difficult than charting the star's dazzling rise was. Nevertheless, reviewers
Photographer comic strip is praised as "not only something to read but to
"She was quite a talented girl, and she was cute as a button too. And
being the woman, she did give it the woman's touch." Who said this, about whom,
Bush said, "We should celebrate them in festivals, we should enjoy their
traditions in our homes, we should share them with friends."
"Pornographers in wheelchairs. And if that doesn't sound like kissing up to
Why is it hard to swallow a plea for tolerance from
metropolitan prejudice, the Southern thing but with cattle?
on high." But I just can't believe they'll enjoy his traditions in their homes
Has a proud heritage of union busting. "As a professional football player,
he'd been physically threatened by other players for refusing to join a
Is pleased with traditional male incompetence. "Shares a dingy Capitol Hill
World War II generation. (I have no problem at all with it being used to
book then rush to get one out first?) The World War II people won a war (two
wars, one on each side of the world) then felt they had earned riches, comfort,
right to never being questioned with the corresponding right to never being
wrong, etc. You did a good job of starting the dialogue. There's a ton of good,
commercial stories to be had in mining that way of thinking.
planned and managed conflict without the support of their country.
refreshing to have candor in a review instead of the usual (and predictable)
from a trial to a regular subscription. I want more of this type of intelligent
points out the difference between the two quoted numbers--$2.7 million in the
difference is: The first is the amount that the lucky fan is going to get
the auctioneer's fee. This is the amount on the check the new owner writes. So
was about the bonanza to the fan, the first number is accurate.
history, they have in common a fashionable theme: the nobility of those who
evince a powerful sense of nostalgia for the world of their fathers. As his
his book, he repeats a claim he first made on television when he was swept up
another boomer critic of his own generation, often drew this contrast during
of those who want to remove the president are conservative boomers who believe
those who experienced the Great Depression and fought in World War II.
because of the instinct that motivates it but because of a romanticizing
somehow better people than those born after them remains, like most facile
generalizations about generations, a matter of prejudice, not analysis.
"faith." Putting aside the question of whether more faith is a good thing, was
support for this claim, and one might well make the opposite case. The United
States has probably become more religious as boomers have become the dominant
legacy of the World War II generation, the strong commitment to family values
returning veterans didn't get divorced in large numbers. But that doesn't prove
that our grandparents and parents had a deeper commitment to family values. It
because they found the virtual prohibition on divorce an intolerable
had them too. The baby boomers who inherited the divorce laws the World War II
generation loosened have in recent years begun to contemplate tightening them
includes a number of moving stories about wartime heroism that can be
appreciated without reference to its argument, which is pretty much
"They came to understand the need for federal civil rights legislation," he
Medicare. But others, such as GI Dole, voted against it. Let's not forget that
they never boast, and they're reluctant to talk about their wartime
inclined to relive the battlefield horrors they experienced. But this may have
less to do with the unique stoicism of a generation than with the natural
been tempted to make more of a meal of their experiences, it's partly due to
the fact that those experiences weren't widely shared. The therapeutic culture
of the present era also probably plays a role, teaching us that it's not
healthy to keep one's pain bottled up inside. But who created that therapeutic
culture? You could argue, once again, that it was a bequest from members of the
that the baby boomers lack the moral character they themselves had. "They faced
question men of draft age faced after Pearl Harbor was whether they would serve
their country in an unambiguously good cause. The challenge faced by the
generation also had little choice. Everyone was needed in the war effort, and
military needed only a small percentage of those who were eligible, and there
were many options for evasion, legal and illegal. Some served and didn't
answered this quandary in the best way. The GI envy felt by members of the
pivotal generational experiences. No one would deny that the Great Depression
attempts to explain history in terms of common traits already possessed by the
peer groups that confronted these events are seldom illuminating. Just as we
cannot know how the baby boomers would have responded to the moral challenge of
World War II, we cannot know how the World War II generation would have
the "greatest" doesn't say anything meaningful about that generation. It does,
however, reveal something of what the speaker finds lacking in his own.
revive a worthwhile if unpopular idea: stronger federal control over the
the press, but his plan to penalize states with the loss of federal education
dollars if they fail to enforce strict academic standards was by far the most
to his rhetorical guns (and hangs onto his job), it could become one of the
most important initiatives of his presidency. If he doesn't, or if the bill
fails to clear a Congress that's sure to be hostile to it, it will rank with
the health care bill as one of the more significant policy disappointments of
The proposal reaches the table at a time when education
reform has all but disappeared from the national political agenda. Remember
legislated reforms such as merit pay to boost teacher performance. The cry for
down by congressional Republicans who perceived it as a liberal plot to create
a national board of education, and by some congressional Democrats who saw
(A special place in hell should be reserved for perpetual Republican
Bush administration promoted national standards only to oppose them when they
education has receded as a subject of national concern. A large part of the
schools. Education Week recently pronounced the chances were
surveyed continued not to meet the goals panel's math performance standard.
bit vague. They will be sketched in later this year, when the White House
drafts reauthorization language for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
But at least as conceived at the moment, the plan is to empower the federal
annually on public elementary, junior high, and high schools through this
practices. (If the feds got really mad, they could also withhold the actual
funds that go to schools, although that is an unlikely "last resort," according
Among these practices are "social promotion," whereby unqualified students are
kicked up to the next grade level; persistent low academic performance; poor
discipline; and the assignment of teachers to subjects for which they are
unqualified. (This last, aimed mainly at eliminating the issuing of "emergency"
teaching certificates, appears to be a concession to the teachers' unions, but
it will be accompanied by stricter requirements for testing new teachers.) The
plan also requires schools to issue, in addition to report cards on individual
students' performance, report cards on the school's overall academic
goals, insists, "The states are the constitutional authorities in education."
reporters briefing on the plan earlier this week, White House Domestic Policy
local control." Actually, the Times headline, one hopes, got it right:
percent of all money spent on public education from kindergarten through
responsibility to make sure the money is well spent? Any state bent on
keeping its "constitutional authority" unmolested is always free to buy back
In fact, the whole notion that education should be purely a
standardized tests, national teachers' unions, national textbook publishers,
and national laws, regulations, and funding programs for schools." And also, he
might well have pointed out, a national economy: Jobs are not parceled out
says, "There has been too great a difference between school districts and
never been used; although some states have received warnings, none has lost
funds, as is permitted under the law. There's some real danger that cosmetic
off penalties under the new law. Like most major education reforms in recent
years, this one eschews testing of teachers who are already on the job as the
argues that "to say we're only going to deal with the new ones is to say we'll
curriculum, which, regrettably, remains beyond the pale in any practical
discussion about education reform because of the ongoing culture wars among
Christian fundamentalists, mainstream educators, and multicultural
to inhabit the Oval Office for two more years, this is no time to play it
murderer, "I have commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment, so you will
something as weak as one man's voice to affect the governor's decision, and he
penalty will be induced to reflect on the words and the reasoning of the pope."
alive in St. Louis and that the governor's act of clemency was "the flower that
pushes up through the snow, the sign of a new spring after the long winter of
would not wish to upstage the bride and groom, and it is probable that they
will make a number of appearances together, so that by the time of the wedding
they will appear perfectly natural as a couple," the Times said. But, as
several papers observed, they don't look very natural in public yet.
change should come about from within and can only be undertaken by the people
themselves. Such action would not be helpful or worthwhile or have effective
tangible results if it were organized from abroad."
could spill over into other countries in the region," he wrote.
run the affairs of state with his father's help," he said. "Now he leaves him
recovered. "The mistake could not only cost the king dearly, but his kingdom
leadership, he wrote. Although the king had rebuked his brother Crown Prince
have no agenda other than service of the homeland."
of law and the lawlessness of its tribal past. "Certain outside powers" that do
the country to sabotage its modernization drive, the paper said.
terrifically untroubled if anyone thinks I am strange,
in fact everything about this day will be a ratification
of how I am not them; and my manner, though courteous,
will tend to make them suspect that they are boring.
They will wonder why they have no purple sneakers. Cool
years ago and the sacred tears in my eyes at that time.
though I might not meet a lonely marvelous slim woman
began charging a subscription fee for access to most of our
contents and services. Effective today, all current editorial content will be
subscribers only, and we will be adding new subscriber benefits. Current
subscribers will get a special offer for continuing under the new arrangement.
If you're not satisfied with it, we will happily refund the balance of your
subscription. Well, happily is an exaggeration. But we do appreciate the
Who are you trying to kid? You're obviously backing down.
looks as if it's going to be easier to sell ads but harder to sell
every month for each one paying subscriber. (That's counting a reader just once
no matter how often he or she visits.) It's painful to think of turning away so
the potential readers who don't come in the first place. The spreadsheet
wizards figure that ad revenue from the increased traffic will more than
can't charge for content on the Internet. Information wants to be free! Unless
it's about sex or stocks. But oh no, you knew better. You'd show the world.
You'd charge for news digests, for political analysis, for cultural
one true path. We tried one thing, now we're trying something else, and we'll
keep trying until we figure it out. Although we are owned by a rich company,
breaking even cast the first stone. (And "going to break even next year"
Clearly, yes. It may just have been that we were too
early. There is too much free stuff out there, the process of paying and
accessing what you paid for is too clumsy and unfamiliar, and so on. Some of
this may change. But we also may have missed a couple of more fundamental
truths about the Web. One concerns readers and one concerns advertisers.
to site. If they really like a particular site, they may visit it often, but
way you might read a traditional paper magazine in one sitting. This appears to
be in the nature of the Web and not something that is likely to change. And it
makes paying for access to any particular site a bigger practical and
Web advertisers, meanwhile, don't seem to place any
special value on reaching paying subscribers. That was a bit surprising, since
traditional magazine advertisers usually require paying subscribers.
Even profitable magazines often spend more money finding and signing up
subscribers than those subscribers will ever pay. But if they just gave the
the Web? Probably because Web advertisers pay on the basis of ads served. If
of knowing how many of those readers actually saw your ad. But if they paid for
the magazine, you at least have some assurance that they picked it up. On the
radically changes the economics of charging for subscriptions.
fold, that the end is nigh, strange and dreadful diseases are about to ravage
you made the same sort of dire predictions when we started charging for
content a year ago. We have had nothing but support from the company, both in
general and for every stage of our ongoing experiment. One benefit of making
trepidation, and his initial reaction was not encouraging. He turned to his
She'll get many new readers, we explained. "And 'Dear Prudence,' and
wistfully in a recent Wall Street Journal column that for his "selfless
coin of politics. With a federal government that was tiny compared with
today's, a senator's power lay largely in deciding who would receive plum jobs
made out to be. At least four other senators were prepared to oppose conviction
states, and there's little evidence to suggest the impeachment votes turned the
elections in any of these cases. All "seven martyrs," as they've been lionized,
fortunes in the years that followed are most plausibly chalked up to the
way. Stung by charges that his vote was bought, he turned the tables on his
accusers and charged them with orchestrating the whole impeachment
campaign so as to get their hands on the controls of patronage. He got the
version of events into the historical record. In a passage later quoted by
open grave. Friendships, position, fortune, everything that makes life
desirable to an ambitious man were about to be swept away by the breath of my
mouth, perhaps forever." This grandiose account was adopted almost uncritically
wrote to his wife: "This storm of passion will soon pass away, and the people,
the whole people, will thank and bless me for having saved the country by my
single vote from the greatest peril through which it has ever passed, though
none but God can ever know the struggle it has cost me." Of course, in a funny
was distorted by the Telegraph 's sensationalistic presentation. His
life with a respectful consideration of the man's achievements as a writer and
documents numerous inaccuracies, fabrications, and shadings of the truth in
literary scholars over the reliability of individual testimony and the proper
relationship between autobiographical narrative and literal truth.
figure to represent the profession in years. The Nation hailed his
inauguration as a victory for the left, a sentiment not shared by some inside
radical postcolonial scholars who have followed in his footsteps. Meanwhile,
ballot initiative. Officials worried about falling minority enrollments and
applications are proposing to guarantee admission to the University of
described the conference as the most visible manifestation of a rapprochement
between religion and environmentalism. Religious leaders, especially
links between its exaltation of nature and pagan traditions. And
environmentalists have on occasion attacked religion for promoting human
Southern Baptists. "Creation was not provided to us by God to consume it into
model of social scientific method and a source of broad insights into the way
people live, the discipline had become directionless, intellectually moribund,
and hopelessly overspecialized, with departments across the country scaling
that covers politics and ideas, asserts that "sociology is back." The evidence? A renaissance of
sociological research in the United Kingdom, as well as the fact that Prime
research is coming from independent think tanks and corporations, not from
investigate the suppression of academic freedom in that country. Those denied
rising young stars in the economics profession found that this decade's hot
why so few junior members of the field have crossed over into the public
sphere. The answer seems to be that the very youngest generation is doing work
that is too technical and too mathematical to attract much attention or be
agreement being reached. The students, affiliated with the United Auto Workers union, have
last year in favor of their right to organize. The university appealed the
decision, insisting that graduate students, even if they work as instructors,
are students first and foremost. Union organizers have not yet said when the
grimly that he has refused to offer the necessary confession or contrition,
that his impeachment by the House has put him within one step of expulsion, and
how he will get out of his latest predicament, consider how he got into it.
got cocky after the election. Emboldened by what he perceived as a popular
mandate to end the impeachment inquiry, he infuriated ambivalent lawmakers by
refusing to admit that he had lied. He answered the House Judiciary Committee's
his public lies, as opposed to his private sexual misconduct.
unrepentant president must be punished. "We must draw a line between right and
But if delivering that message was the motive for impeachment, then there's no
media in portraying his impeachment as a devastating, permanent scar on his
presidency. In so doing, they have vented the outrage against him and have
relieved the pressure to convict him. Already, Republican senators have
is that the elections didn't change the congressional math. There were still
impeachment, the more Democrats resisted. A Democratic congressional aide
Republicans' majority became, the more they resorted to behavior that was
suppression of a resolution of censure. White House aides promptly went on the
failed to trigger the kind of bipartisan collapse necessary to bring down a
the Senate, where Democrats have more than enough votes to save him.
polls conveyed two opposite threats. House Republicans faced a backlash from
they also faced a backlash from conservative voters if they voted not to
impeach him. (Several Republican consultants pointed out that the greater
the Senate to spare them the second backlash by refusing to convict him.
Republicans aren't stupid. They know that if they go all the way and depose
they shot to wound, not to kill. Already, four House Republicans who voted for
that the only other way to extinguish him was to make him commit suicide. They
have pursued this strategy in two ways. The clever, premeditated way was to
the quickest way out. The bizarre, unpremeditated way was to oust their own
impeachment makes it less likely than ever that he will resign. The point of
resignation was to escape the humiliation of impeachment. Now that he has been
humiliated, his only hope is to seek redemption in the Senate.
successfully dismissed the scandal as being "just about sex." After the
lied about the affair. The more he lied about his lies, the more people focused
on his lying and forgot what the original lies were about.
sins were about sex, not perjury, his assertion that he was setting an
they don't think his adultery should have ended his career, they agreed on the
shouldn't be judged by their past indiscretions. Both these conclusions play to
fantasizing that in order to win forgiveness, he first had to find a way to
forgive his enemies. Now they have made that fantasy come true.
moll whose heart gets melted by a youngster who falls into her charge: "Easily
unhappy couples. The surfeit of mildly interesting plots surrounding each duo
results in a film that is "the cinematic answer to one of those parties where
negative side, critics say it "rolls in sleaze and squalor like a mangy dog on
taken seriously in the old boys' club of network news in the '70s and '80s.
presidents and too little on exactly what it took for her to get where she is.
such as herself might have contributed to the decline" of network news, which
she bemoans. Robin Toner in the New York Times Book Review is less
insider scoop it promises. This Primary Colors -type story of a president
"What makes the novel riveting is its almost anthropological description of the
best intentions. The glimpse it gives into the manic highs and lows of female
adolescent friendship as seen through a tortured trio of friends in the
a near miss. Some blame a shaky translation from the original Polish; others
say the author's use of so many varying literary devices and styles squelches
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
wineglass on the floor. We were both apologetic, and the hostess seems to have
have told you something she just happens to know: Pouring white wine on red
wine is the antidote. But this only works immediately after the calamity.
the air as you. Do offer to pay for the rug to be cleaned at the finest rug
flowers. If she tells you everything's fine and only a faint hint of color
married two years ago, and I was his best man. I was somewhat lazy in procuring
a gift, and in the intervening time my friend has got a divorce and is soon to
be remarried. He tells me that I need to "double up" on his gift. What do you
sputtering she hopes she can type! Your friend, the groom, is way out of line.
Double up, indeed. Why don't you respond that, in the infinite wisdom of your
procrastination, you somehow divined the marriage would be a dud, and you think
you will give this one a similar two year trial period?
cousin. Her son has three children. The girl has just finished college and
of it for her tuition. The older of the two boys is now in college, and the
that amount plus what he estimates will be his tax liability on the gift. It
will amount to about a third of my remaining nest egg (most went to my
university as a "planned gift," for which I get a quarterly dividend).
care after Social Security and employers' insurance coverage are exhausted. I
inheritance taxes. My friends say don't do it, and I am of the same opinion.
adage: No good deed goes unpunished. You were most generous to your cousin's
your life certainly comes before anything else. Discussion closed.
coffee shop near my home. This establishment provides four bistro tables, which
woman came over to me and said, "Would you mind if three of us joined you at
rather read your paper?" I asserted that I would rather, indeed, but added that
would agree that most of us linger over coffee, within reason. Lately, though,
a young man has also begun to frequent the shop, so singles occupy two of the
suggest sharing a table, though this issue is not under my control, as he comes
in shortly after I do. If you were I, what would be your policy here?
time a bit (or hide behind a lamppost), allowing the single gentleman to enter
first. Then you come in, "notice" he's by himself, and ask if he is inclined to
have you at his table so that two singles will not occupy half of the available
tables. If he is welcoming, that means you guessed wrong about his
approachability. If he declines your overture, you will have definitive
The slogan "Feed the rush" is being replaced with "Life's a scream."
Morris magazine. Either way, it was his editorial policy that the essential
thing about smoking was not selling a toxic product that kills half a million
people a year; it was freedom of choice. He was always in the market for
cultural magazine, but not in the gray sense, not in the review sense." says
complicated ideas that make your head hurt sense, not in the having to think
about stuff so hard that it distracts you from shopping and later that night
you have that little sexual problem again, not me personally but some other
But when my auxiliary daughter appeared on the scene last month, I learned not
A sort of shopping psychosis overtakes the mind of a father
fresh from the delivery room. It might be rooted in some sort of primal
they're going to stop making it"). Conquer this urge, and you may graduate the
security officer worried about "unusual activity" on your card.
to what you need and what you don't. This is, obviously, a subjective guide
written by the kind of flawed individual who actually considered buying an
however, necessary, and I would suggest as a first step the purchase of Price
the equivalent number of Pampers. Warehouse club diapers aren't as handsome or
today can absorb the contents of a camel's hump without leaking. Avoid
the baby's skin. The only diaper worth paying a premium price for is one that
unintended) to Price Club baby wipes, whose very inferiority make them a better
absurd degree with whatever strange chemical cleansers all wipes are soaked in.
Price Club wipes, however, are packaged with more modest amounts of cleansing
liquid, presumably to save the manufacturer money. Which is fine, because wipes
can irritate the skin. As for electric baby wipe warmers, one of which, in my
sheltered from the cruelties of life on earth, I think they should get used to
leave the diaper department: An indispensable purchase is a Diaper Genie, a
brilliant little contraption that is a vast improvement over the open diaper
diapers through a hole on top, and with a few twists of a canister, seals the
diapers in plastic and eliminates most of the smell. It does not provide Level
popular and come from a modestly sized family, you will receive, on the birth
that a gift of Gap stock, rather than Gap clothing, should be far more
welcome.) There are those who decry the style hegemony of Baby Gap, but I am
not one of them. The clothing is relatively inexpensive, durable, and
pair of awfully cute baby overalls that will be worn exactly three times, but
much defense spending. Hence the Ford Explorer parked outside, which I would
upgrade to an Expedition except that I live in a neighborhood filled with
made of material so hard it would crack your knee if you walked into it, and
its belting system is far more encompassing and elaborate than the average car
features a section that could be called the Wall of Death. At Buy Baby, the
covered with child safety products, some of which are absolutely useless and
most of which I have bought. (I haven't got around to installing the toilet lid
locks yet.) Obviously, outlet guards and rubber padding for low furniture (the
"Coffee Tables of Death," with which most parents are familiar) are necessary,
but the Wall of Death preys on parental fear. Hence, a product called
"fireplace gas valve safety covers," whose purpose was too obscure for me to
child from inserting objects into cassette opening." Another way to prevent a
way to keep a child from drowning in the toilet is to keep an eye on the child
necessity if you live in a big house and can't hear the baby crying in her
really necessary? You can't even use it to spy on a nanny, since it has no
stand there. All cribs sold in reputable stores meet current safety standards,
she outgrew in a month and wore so rarely in that month that, amortized, the
hesitant to tackle, and my children aren't old enough for me to comment on
suggestion would be a cardboard box wrapped in bright red paper and filled with
my house, because it is on toys that I am a serial spender. An example: Four
days after my second daughter was born, I was dispatched to Buy Baby to
grow up healthy and secure if they just had a stuffed, mounted rhino head in
banned from toy stores until such time as I regain my bearings. It was a
secure a censure agreement and avert a Senate trial? That's the question
ways, he'd be better off sabotaging the censure movement and polarizing the
being convicted. But is he the only one who fears that outcome? Although
one reason why Senate Republicans have expressed far less enthusiasm for
censure serve his legacy better than a trial would? Arguably, impeachment has
resolution, he'll be humiliated, broken, and unable to pass any part of his
agenda in his final two years. Could conviction and removal be much worse than
much to gain. Trial and acquittal might be his only hope of erasing the stain
defense and avoid calling witnesses in order to shorten the trial and end his
"ordeal." But whose ordeal is it? Republican senators have been saying for days
that they don't want to antagonize the public by calling witnesses and dragging
out the trial for months. Why not give them what they don't want? The House
call witnesses, inflame these incendiary accusers, and help them ignite the
proceedings, perhaps torching their own party in the process?
disrupt the movement toward a censure deal. It's hard enough to work out a deal
already, pundits observe, given that Democrats want to soften the censure
resolution while Republicans want to stiffen it. But why is this partisan rift
extinguish the threat of conviction. All he needs is a censure proposal that
confess to perjury before the grand jury (Republicans insist on it; Democrats
warn that it may kill the deal) and whether he should be fined (many
Republicans demand it; many Democrats say it's unfair or unconstitutional). The
sabotage. His best way to navigate this dilemma is by subtly encouraging
Democrats to hold out for terms so soft that Republicans can't abide them.
Republicans, they might vote to convict him. But what if the two options are
considered in reverse order? Already, several conservative Republican senators
are demanding that the Senate complete the trial and vote on conviction before
"negotiating" a censure deal. But once conviction has been voted down, why
movement in order to persuade Democrats to vote against conviction, then
sabotage censure by encouraging liberal and conservative zealots in the Senate
ignore what's best for the country and that his enemies save him through
reckless excess. But that has been the story of the year.
senators appeared on television to explain why witnesses should or should not
Republicans frame the question leads to calling witnesses, and every way in
which the Democrats frame the question leads to not calling witnesses.
focus attention on the facts of the case, which are strong. Democrats want to
divert attention to the significance of the case, which is weak. So Republicans
want witnesses, and Democrats don't. Republicans also want to focus scrutiny on
costs of his acquittal. Here is a taxonomy of this week's frames and
frame. Its purpose is to keep witnesses out. The argument is that they will
talk about sex, besmirch the Senate, and offend the viewing public. Example: "I
don't understand why the House feels they have to sully the floor of the United
Law. This is the Republican rebuttal to the "sex" frame. Its purposes
breaks the law in not upholding and not telling the truth under oath and
someone who obstructs justice does, in fact, threaten the republic" (Sen. Rick
Democratic rebuttal to the "rule of law" frame. Its purposes are to shortcut
the trial, change the subject from the facts of the case to their
is that even if all the facts are granted, they don't "rise to the level" that
would justify his removal. Example: "We're willing to accept the facts, because
the threshold question is this: Even if it's all true exactly as the House
managers have put it forward, does this rise to the level of impeachment? Does
it rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors? That's the threshold
Censure. This is the advanced rebuttal to the "rule of law" frame. Its
on mitigating circumstances. The argument is that a resolution censuring
justice. Example: "I came to the conclusion that the appropriate punishment for
this kind of wrongdoing, lying about an extramarital relationship, was censure.
Republican response to the "censure" frame. Its purpose is to abort the censure
movement before the censure movement aborts the trial. The argument is that the
Constitution authorizes the Senate to vote only on conviction, not on censure.
president should be removed only for crimes that imperil the nation. Example:
lying under oath, if you will, about an extramarital relationship does not
accomplishes several objectives. First, it makes the strongest case for calling
witnesses. Example: "I have never seen a trial before where you had factual
disputes where you didn't have witnesses where you could watch their demeanor
Second, it neutralizes the "summary judgment" frame, since summary judgments
are up to the judge, not the jury. Example: "We have an obligation to sit back
"summary judgment" and "censure" frames by organizing the trial's issues in
temporal sequence rather than as a decision tree. Example: "We're prejudging
this thing [when we say] it doesn't meet the standard of the high crimes and
Democratic rebuttal shatters the "jury" frame and diverts scrutiny from the
defendant to the prosecution. The argument is that the Senate should reject the
case not because it's unproven but because it's politically motivated. Example:
"One of the reasons why we feel that this impeachment trial is really not what
rejoinder grants that the House impeachment process was politicized but argues
regain public confidence is to transcend partisan rancor and skepticism by
reverting to the innocence of a jury. Example: "We're sort of like the petit
jury. How we got there, that's up for somebody else to determine. What we have
combines the jury nullification and constitutional duty arguments, suggesting
The purpose of this rhetorical bomb is to annihilate any discussion of the
facts. Example: "Do I think he answered that question honestly? No. Do I think
what he did was reprehensible? Absolutely. But the question is, this alone,
its purpose is to strip Republicans of their appeals to the Constitution, jury
guidelines, and the rule of law. The argument is that members of Congress have
day they're not spending on Social Security, education, and other issues. When
Boxer raised this concern, her Republican colleagues explained that they were
discussion away from the trial. It grants the distinction between the trial and
administrations did the same thing. The nonpartisan spin: Congratulations to
the committee's Democrats and Republicans for reporting the ugly truth on both
exchange for protection from trial. The defectors, who played key roles in the
prisons and handcuffs." The cynical spin: Hun Sen is protecting them to
consolidate the power he won through a coup. The idealistic spin: They should
The bombing campaign failed, and the United States is slinking away with its
the end of the year in order to steal the "first candidate" title from other
Republican primaries by leading the fights for tobacco regulation and campaign
lung failure. The other seven remain in critical condition, though four are now
breathing without ventilators. Each one who survives will require two months
preparing to attempt the same feat and, sooner or later, one of them will
same exciting way they won three other games down the stretch: on a field goal
disillusionment that somehow rises to heights of sublimity. (Who'd have thought
around her head, her skirts hiked up, her thighs tightly gripping her
So it was probably inevitable that her life and music would turn into fodder
for a cautionary parable about the counterculture, complete with the kind of
lingering death that lends itself readily to familiar depictions of classical
(who gets all but lost in the transfer to film). As the title implies, all was
as a flutist, her little sister eventually left her in the dust, and the
family's life came to revolve around the needs of its increasingly demanding
sisters equal status, telling the story of each in a separate strands, first
who, denied a proper childhood and family life, pines away in foreign capitals,
behaves with increasing waywardness and vulgarity (she adopts a bogus
Continental accent), and expires in near solitude, with only her loyal sister
It's difficult to believe that serious critics have
that insight consists largely of the notion that People Like That Are Different
distance, fixating largely on her freakishness. She seems never to rehearse or
to hold opinions about the composers whose works she serves, and her rapport
considerations of libel) is chiefly the upshot of their comparable celebrity.
The centerpiece of the movie is when the two narratives come together and
in her furs and miniskirts and drinking heavily, she uses emotional blackmail
her own, evidently unsatisfying, marriage. The illness that strikes her down
could be viewed as vengeance for a profoundly unnatural existence.
I frankly don't care if the picture is accurate or not. The larger point is
that's it's all dashes and ellipses, skipping lightly along the surface of both
of a troubled soul; it's probably not her fault that this lonely fruitcake
manages to be both willful and restrained in equal measure. Many talented
musicians are unstable; the wonder is how they also manage to be so
sophomore busy congratulating himself for having more insight into love than
all the incoming freshmen. In college, where this sort of material is usually
performed (before the script is stashed away in mom and dad's basement
alongside the beanbag chairs and weathered bongs), the older couple is played
by a matronly senior and a skinny guy with white shoe polish in his hair. Here
jumped at the chance to stand around a kitchen and argue about events that
"Talking about love is like dancing about architecture."
Architecture" was meant to be the movie's title, but the more generic
Playing by Heart comes closer to conveying its deep banality. The only
difference between this and a conventional soap opera (or, for that matter, an
interrelationship among the couples until the final scene, a symbolic
remarriage in which the characters realize that talking about love might be as
futile as dancing about architecture, but you have to do it anyway if your life
sentiment most clearly, the glimpse of his own mortality having given him a
tart and likable performance, but she, along with the rest of the cast, has to
struggle with dialogue that has the tackiness of flypaper. When she announces,
"I don't want any more calculated artificiality," it's a wonder the house
belong in the same sentence. Stone does best when playing creamy glamour girls
family has been wiped out by mobsters. So Stone gets to stride around in short
to resent him for melodramatic devices that slicker directors get away with. He
makes a fatal miscalculation: The initial murders are so horrifying in their
plainness that when the movie takes the gentlemanly way out and refuses to
provide a cathartic bloodbath, the audience feels burned. A real gentleman,
meanwhile, might have protected Stone from showing so much flesh to so little
effect. In one scene, in a coffee shop, the kid she's protecting hides under
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
myself in evaluation mode and have felt ever increasingly blue and
I also have not been gathering moss till the right one comes along. The result
sex and nothing more. All these gents are unavailable for reasons of geography,
pressure for me to make any of these relationships permanent, none of these
worthwhile. It will be a new beginning. How insightful you are to use the word
"unavailable." And how wise to want to bag relationships in which the other
person is far away, married, or a filbert. The time has definitely come to say
vanguard, and follows her upon exiting. Is this behavior still appropriate
Post, however, she might suggest that you also precede the lady upon leaving an
establishment, if only to push or hold the door open.
at social pleasantries? And why are you encouraging them? Salutations such as
"How are you?" and "Have a nice day" are obviously free of malicious intent and
have virtually no semantic content, thus providing no basis for umbrage. Such
pleasantries are clearly intended to be both polite and friendly, and
responding to proffered congeniality with disdain, reproof, or sarcasm is
nothing short of boorish. Rudeness needs dissuasion rather than promotion, as
sincere wish, expressing my hope that the reproving tone of my missive will not
appears are you, that it pains her to hear empty phrases bruited about.
acquaintance I haven't seen in a while I often say, "Nice to see you" (which is
true). The reply, "Nice to see you, too," can be completed quickly, sparing
team's Super Bowl loss. "Instead of getting mentally ready for the Broncos, we
"Praying. Which just goes to show you how much power that has, let me
Here's the sketch on the place mat in the coffee shop: Sitting in the lobby of
tatty deco hotel on their way to enjoy an early bird special, my grandparents
"Instead of getting mentally ready for the Broncos,
the New York Times shows how waiter or waitress behavior affects the
size of the tip. Will the following increase or decrease it?
(Universal Pictures). Critics pan this inspirational "based
head and squeaky balloon animals in his hands. The film is sappy and grating:
more watchable than it has any right to be." (Watch an interview with the two
unseemly") with beautiful girl, bad guys want to poach big ape, big ape gets
stunner, and the giant gorilla is stunningly realistic, but critics say the
only a few mention that Hundred Dollar Holiday recycles ideas from the
combination of arrogance and sincerity, narcissism and asceticism, is riveting
States. This story of a long and stormy love affair between a fallen angel and
critics agree on the flashes of brilliance in her writing; the disagreement is
miss our retiring publisher, Rogers Weed, if for no other reason than his name.
Where could we possibly find a better named publisher than Rogers Weed? (Now
and a half years, in other words almost since the beginning. With business
mastered the horrors of magazine economics, learned to tolerate the
don't blame him. We're not bitter. The appliances may be small, but the
business is large. At least potentially. And we at 
ones to sneer at potential. We do like to think that small appliances lack the
glamour and social importance of magazine journalism, but then small appliances
themselves probably feel otherwise. And Rogers will be hanging out with small
appliances from now on, so he can give us a report. Maybe we'll even sign him
pretending that we can conduct business as usual during an impeachment trial.
offenses so heinous that he should be the first president ever forcibly evicted
shouldn't sit there respectfully and applaud the items they approve of on his
endless wish list. Most Republicans, though, did precisely that, reflecting the
official party line that you can impeach the president and reform Social
Security (and, no doubt, walk and chew gum) at the same time. This may be a
wise strategy for minimizing public annoyance at the whole impeachment thing.
But it makes a mockery of the whole thing too. If congressional Republicans
aren't going to act as if Flytrap is as serious as the result they seek, why
"Debunker," noting interesting errors of fact, logic, or mathematics in the
suggested we call it "CrapShoot") isn't up and running now, because there were
proposal to invest part of Social Security revenues in the stock market.
Characteristically splitting the difference with conservative Social Security
privatization enthusiasts, he does not propose to let people invest the money
for themselves or to make benefits contingent on how well the investment
There's a pile of money called the Social Security Trust
Fund. (Is there really a pile of money? Well, leave that aside.) Money comes in
benefits. Someday, when boomers retire in hordes, more will go out than will
come in. Right now, though, more comes in than goes out, and the excess is
invested in government bonds. The stock market historically has a higher rate
of return than government bonds do. So the argument is that putting some of the
money in stocks will make the trust fund more profitable and avoid, or at least
return question for a moment, consider the whole transaction. When the trust
national debt, which is still here although the annual deficit is not), the
you believe that the trust fund is an accounting fiction (the government
borrowing from itself, paying itself interest, and writing checks that are
government commitments irrespective of the fund), then the transaction is a
total wash. If you believe that the trust fund exists, then the transaction
How does the higher rate of return on private stocks change
things? Well, the government is now supposedly borrowing each of these dollars
so simple and foolproof, why shouldn't we invest the whole trust fund in
private stocks? And why stop there? Why not issue hundreds of billions in
what is wrong with all these people who own government bonds? Don't they
realize that selling a bond is just like issuing one? You get cash, which you
invest in stocks for a higher return. Why aren't the Heritage Foundation, et
al., advocating this? It's the ultimate: privatizing privatization.
Obviously, there's a catch. Government bonds have a lower
for figuring out how to minimize the risk of investing in stocks. But even
these geniuses aren't alchemists: They can't make something out of nothing, and
government gets more money as a result of investing billions in the private
sector, where does that money come from? Not from higher capital investment:
from any management improvement because the government owns large chunks of
private companies. Indeed, to ease fears of government meddling, the plan is to
investors, who are constantly acquiring, processing, and acting on information,
So the government's windfall, if it exists, would have to
come at the expense of rival private investors. For this to happen, the
government would not merely have to match the average return on stocks but
windfall would not come from private investors and would not come from economic
expansion. It also wouldn't come from foreigners or the moon. Conclusion: This
demand. When the government wants to borrow an extra dollar and put it in the
stock market, someone else must be enticed to sell a dollar's worth of stock to
buy government bonds. The interest the government must pay on its borrowing
goes up, and the return it can expect on the stocks it buys goes down (because
it must pay more for the same shares). Since these changes would affect all
government borrowing and investment, not just this particular program, the gap
would not have to close completely for the whole exercise to end up a wash. The
tax credit for "stay at home parents." Family values enthusiasts have long
claimed that the tax credit for day care unfairly discriminates against stay at
home moms. Some even maintain that the credit is an exercise in liberal social
engineering, intended to pry women away from their children and into the
workplace. If all it takes is another tax credit to pacify critics of the
that even with the current credit, the tax code discriminates in favor
of women who stay home with the kids and against those who get a
paying job and pay in turn for day care. That's because there's no tax on the
Now wait, now wait. I told you it was hard to believe. But
example. Suppose I am taking care of my kids and you are taking care of your
kids. No tax on that. But suppose I pay you to take care of my kids and you pay
troublesome and we pay each other the same amount. It's a wash, in terms of
work for pay and to buy services she might otherwise provide for herself, she
is bringing those services into the money economy, where they are subject to
the same rules as other economic activity. Day care is just one example;
restaurants and prepared food are another. An analogous principle applies to
how you put your money to work. (You'll really hate this one.) If you buy a
have to pay income tax on the interest. (You pay property tax as an owner, of
course, but you pay it implicitly as a renter too.)
Don't worry, no one is proposing to make you pay a tax on
toast two pieces of bread rather than buying a sandwich from the local deli.
And no one is going to tax you on the salary you're not paying yourself for
child care. The purpose of the child care credit is to correct, only partially,
If you want to give yet another tax break to stay at
home parents because you want to encourage women to stay at home with the kids
or just because you love tax breaks for anything at all, fine. But it's not a
matter of fairness or government neutrality. The opposite, in fact.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it would award an
unanimous. Reporters looking to reprise the old conflict had a hard time
suddenly dropped their complaint? Several articles on the subject have ritually
invoked "the end of the Cold War" as an explanation. But it's not clear why the
collapse of Communism should smooth matters over. Many wars end in a reckoning
rather than in forgiveness and forgetting. A more plausible explanation is
troubled to remember or sort out the morality of his actions.
the Group. He quit after members of the cell received orders to take over the
theater and turn it into an "actors collective." Despite his
own involvement in the party but not the others who had been in it with him. So
committee already knew the names it wanted, "naming names" was a loyalty test
and humiliation ritual, not part of a real investigation. There is a chilling,
reopen your hearing, and give you an opportunity to explain fully the
participation of others known to you at the time to have been members of the
That is correct. I want to make a full and complete statement. I want to tell
eight others who were members of his Group Theater cell. The names included
forgotten, in part, perhaps, because they were blacklisted.
ostensible protest, or later castigated themselves publicly for crawling before
out an ad in the New York Times to defend himself. "I believe that any
known, either to the public or to the appropriate Government agency," he wrote.
inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it."
to "rat" on the murderous and corrupt leadership of his union. His decision to
episode. "I don't think there's anything in my life toward which I have more
ambivalence, because, obviously, there's something disgusting about giving
to apologize and defended his choice. In his fascinating autobiography,
the committee any names it didn't know; as an immigrant, he was eager to
demonstrate his patriotism; he was faced with a choice of two evils.
stood by his original policy, asserting that while he hated Communism, he would
answer questions. Miller claimed the First Amendment (right to freedom of
speech and association) rather than taking the Fifth (right against
implied agreeing that simply being a Communist was a crime. Also, there is no
Fifth Amendment right against incriminating others. Unfortunately, the Supreme
Court had never ruled that the First Amendment could be used in this way.
lesser artists, or more precisely in a quixotic attempt to protect those
rights, would have been heroic. But failing to be a hero did not make him a
casting an evil he couldn't avoid as a good. His statement that the "facts"
people, did not possess. But this bit of gratuitous groveling pales next to the
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which actually enforced the blacklist, to
Some historians have argued recently that new information
overpaid hacks, not dangerous revolutionaries. The examples of "propaganda"
best human being. Who in the movie industry qualifies for that second one
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
he comes to my city on business it's understood that I am delighted to take him
city. As we're both computer geeks, when we happen to be going to the same
trade show or conference, night life plans and party invites for me
week. If he gets wind of our plans, he'll turn up to meet us. If he hasn't
overheard anything, he'll simply tag along with one of us all day until lunch
these gatherings to catch up, and a third party simply changes the dynamic. (It
despots, lest you find yourself manipulated by someone with the hide of a
rhinoceros. Gird your loins, make your statement, and brook no further
some really splendid homes owned by wealthy acquaintances and clients of both
comparatively humble, small home? They know we are not in their league
financially, but we feel a little sheepish inviting them to view our worn
upholstery and carpets. We wonder if they, too, would feel uncomfortable with
a restaurant? Would this seem impersonal and contrived?
to a simple home, she has often been impressed. The hosts in such a situation
usually are genuine, confident, and wise people: genuine because they are who
they are, confident because they know where the real values lie, and wise
because they understand that putting on the dog is pointless. People of quality
do not choose friends on the basis of their possessions.
that choice would not come from shame, and if you would have a better evening
who has made the unfortunate mistake of falling in love with my friend. I say
"unfortunate" because he happens to be gay. We both graduated together with the
same major: art history. I have admired his intelligence and sensitivity for a
long time. If it was not for him, I am sure I wouldn't have done nearly as well
in my studies. But I did not expect to become romantically involved! He has
tell him how I really feel, I fear he will want to end everything. And yet, the
longer I am with him the worse it gets and the harder it becomes to hide my
Ah yes, the old story of a woman falling for one of
nature's bachelors. If it's any consolation to you, this occurrence is not all
(when ice covered the earth). It is a truism that, straight or gay, certain
people are going to have electricity for certain other people.
important to point out that when you write you are "romantically involved," it
interest of your mental health that you confess your feelings, thereby
relieving yourself of the stress and pain of a fantasy love affair. When you
'fess up (and your friend may already have figured things out), you might ask
if there is any reciprocal inclination. If not, your cards will be on the table
and together you can decide if the friendship continues, platonically, or if it
seems best to put things on ice. You need a resolution, and better sooner than
preparing to leave, I wrote him a letter explaining my unease about his
departure, because I felt we had somehow missed our chance at what could have
been a real relationship. I wrote it in the summer, and I still have it. (Never
mailed it.) Without my explaining how or why I feel the "loss" more now than
complicated question of the mystical power of love.
different one, a new one. Write to say that you've become aware of missing his
presence and wonder how things are going on the left coast. If he answers, and
if the answer is at all responsive, keep the correspondence going. If things
regional currency," it said. According to the conservative French paper,
still the richest country in the world, if judged by its investments and
balance of payments surpluses, it wouldn't have dared address the United States
so frankly about its ambitions for the yen if the euro hadn't been born. But
euro, a currency which has only just been born." But the editorial warned,
recently rediscovered their old complicity. In relation to the yen and the
dollar, the euro is going to have to find its place, remembering that a
his country was in ruins and he was worried about being prosecuted by the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East. The newly found private diary
out the possibility of giving up the throne because he had considered it a
"sacred duty to pass this nation, which I inherited from my ancestors, on to
that the emperor had at least contemplated abdication.
paper came out in favor of an abbreviated hearing ending with a "test" vote,
which would probably be followed by a motion of censure. "An early vote would
see the Senate address from the outset the core issue in this sorry saga," the
Of much greater interest to the world's press was the
battle for the White House. "Both are hugely attractive assets to their
service straight from the heart," were threatening to stop smiling at
passengers if their pay demands weren't met. "Our contracts do not say we have
to smile," a union official said. The China Daily reported
newspaper ads to apologize for running out of Big Macs after an unexpected
running out of Big Macs? It's like Brazil running out of coffee," the editorial
where consumer demand is frozen, it said, "and where better than in Japan where
simply refuse to spend their own money (of which they have huge quantities)."
The Guardian concluded, "They too look ripe for a topical dose of
spark a global financial meltdown? The optimistic view: The real was overvalued
confidence, and the "souring" of international sentiments toward emerging
markets could bring Brazil crashing down, dragging the International Monetary
from the recent battle between the game's "short billionaires and tall
career bureaucrat who "succeeds at little things and fails at big things."
smaller while restoring trust in government. His welfare reform and balanced
it could work. He also replaced the heroic presidency with the competent one,
asking to be judged by what he accomplished, not by how he behaved. Even so,
of those still there are chastened. They have assimilated to the institution
the chaos in comfort. The dehydrated food industry is booming, Time
notes. (The magazine's own take is more reassuring: There will be minor
sense of the absurd and his ability to bully the famous into speaking
murder women who have been raped or have had sexual affairs because their honor
has been sullied. The men are punished lightly, if at all.
cities. Parents should look for schools with demanding standards, a rigorous
core curriculum, qualified teachers, high attendance rates, small classes, and
Catholic schools, because independent private schools refused to participate.
He also gave away National Security Agency planning documents that allowed the
Releasing him from prison, even to further Middle East peace, would be a huge
to document his nation's gene pool. With its isolated and homogeneous
The scientist believes that his database, which will be marketed to drug
companies, will be an essential tool for locating and curing genetic disease. A
punished by prohibiting him from giving the State of the Union address.
He would enjoy it too much and would take "too much credit for things he had
will get majority support in the Senate, both sides gear up for the aftermath.
"advisers" who leaked that story before the Senate vote and is determined to
drive them from office. Chance of removal from office:
found gun makers liable for several deaths and injuries inflicted with
illegally obtained weapons. The jury concluded that negligent marketing and
distribution of handguns by nine companies was a "proximate cause" of three
recent shootings, despite the absence of proof that any particular company's
product was involved in any of the shootings. However, the jury awarded damages
in only one case. Gun control advocates hailed the verdict as the first in a
wave of lawsuits against gun manufacturers, likening their movement to the one
against tobacco companies. Libertarians and gun industry lawyers condemned it
Salt Lake City's. The cynical spin: Japan's investigation is less honest than
within one of the record. Critics agreed that the big theme is World War II:
Is Beautiful (about the Holocaust) were nominated for best picture.
List helped Holocaust survivors: "I feel privileged to be in the driver's
assertion concealed a conflict of interest. The Times also reports that
National Liberty Journal notes that one of the ostensibly male
these "subtle depictions" are deliberate and that "role modeling the gay
him as a great statesman, "man of peace," and friend of the United States. The
had made unwanted "sexual advances." House prosecutors urged the Senate to
Association voted overwhelmingly to oppose the renewal of the independent
counsel statute, concluding that it forces prosecutors to spend too much time
and money examining "minor matters" in pursuit of a single target.
prepared with accommodations for the reception of the House of
"Scaring the guests with those fake hippos that popped out of the water in
reassuring and so rare. It's not often you meet a cow that says "moo," a bird
says "drug lords" and "terrorists," and "I want that stat, you dirt bag!" to
some poor production assistant who's doing the best he can. No, wait, it was
the cow who said that; she's so much crankier in real life than in the cartoon
Love that part about the sense of national purpose and the black market tires
anyway? Probably that damn cartoon bird, if by "tweet, tweet," she meant
just meant "Sleep tight, you morons!" Happy New Year, everyone.
calls are hoaxes, "You always have to treat a threat as real," says Mark
quarterbacking will eat us alive if we make a mistake."
targeted, because we're already bringing in the adults."
year of major significance to the market, you can make sure you are visibly
marketing chief, on the ads for the ponderous and lackluster Prince of
showcasing your commitment or are you just glad to see me?)
submissions will become the property of Slate and will be
publish your name on its site in connection with your submission.
describe the Associated Press photo: "Protesting the export of trash by New
question is too hard. Send back something that lets me take a cheap shot at the
television never look right. All the signs are painted the same color, as if
they were done the night before, presumably by that kid who did the prom
exhilaration nor the fear, conveying instead the smug fatuity of some
winners. And by the way, The Man can't bust our music, but it turns out that he
dressed like Ben Franklin holds a clear plastic bag (of garbage?) bearing an "I
holds a Sierra Club placard: "Protect our Kids' Health and Heritage."
countries. Below, some highlights as described by the Toy Manufacturers of
Play the Mutual Mania board game and make the most money by balancing the
risk and reward of buying and selling the nine mutual funds offered, and learn
vibrates when he speaks, and has a bright yellow squishy nose that tells you
closes her eyes, lowers her ears and gradually fades off to sleep and starts to
livelier lives than novelists do. Where a writer basically sits alone at a
desk, an artist does his thing amid a supporting cast of patrons, models,
dealers, and assistants. While the novelist hones his private style, the
painter joins and repudiates group movements. In the misbehavior category,
century, pretty good entertainment. Yet it's not immediately obvious how such
stories help you to appreciate what's hanging on the wall. If you want to grasp
good bio. You can't exactly go to a museum to view "containment policy."
Artists, by contrast, endeavor to reach us without words. A critic or art
historian may direct our attention to things we would otherwise miss. But does
the intimate biographer bring us any closer to the experience of art?
You might derive very different answers to that question
without backgrounds in art, represent alternative approaches to the problem of
is a breezy life and times, a raucous and gossipy tale that is only secondarily
puts forward an irritating psychological argument about its subject. But though
the first two of these biographies are excellent and the third one dreadful,
they all butt up against the same generic problem. Artists' lives are often
two, is a subtle account of a great painter's unfolding. The obvious question
industrial north became both an inventor of modernism and a master of
of why, after moving several increments toward his mature style, the painter
discovered, was drawn into the scandal arising from a huge financial fraud in
which his wife's parents were implicated. This took up all his time, strained
integrity. For the better part of two decades, this reserved man of regular
habits fought poverty, illness, incomprehension, and rejection to make
revolutionary painting. His father considered him a shame to the family and
greeted each of his milestone paintings as more ridiculous than the last. Works
he wants to make a woman, let him make a woman. If he wants to make a design,
the pattern on the wallpaper and tablecloth comes from a bolt of blue cotton
painting he changed the background from blue to red. This is interesting
trivia, but it does nothing, really, to enhance enjoyment of this masterpiece
countless lovers, famous scandals, and a soap opera of a marriage (actually two
spinning incredible yarns about his days as a student cannibal or a fighter
The true stories are nearly as good as the imagined
wife has become so depressed that he can't even cheer her up by telling her
too, we learn the salient facts of an artist's development without really
saw the chance to express his political ideas to the masses. But where did this
purpose in a way that works by his contemporaries don't? The mystery at the
by his feelings of shame. This hardly amounts to a surprising idea about the
treats it as a bolt from the blue. He does not, however, come close to giving
hard to dispute the virtuosity of a painting such as The Birth of Liquid
experiment by going to the Museum of Modern Art and testing my reactions
examples of his early works reminded me that he was not completely worthless
certainly deepened my respect for him. I could have delivered a short lecture
on his early years. But did the book add anything to my appreciation of his
scant media coverage and no outcries in Congress or at the United Nations,
covered the onslaught live. Governments around the world cringed, many
weapons to provoke allied pilots. The conventional wisdom, distilled last week
allies and that they're taking the bait, engaging in a "war of attrition" that
But over the past month and a half, the United States has
air defense system any time there's a threat. And it's not particularly geared
bombing made Page A5 of the New York Times and Page A33 of the
officials are playing down the recent assaults, justifying them in terms of
anonymously concede that the piecemeal retaliatory strategy is designed to
"It's a way of pursuing an objective in a way that everyone's comfortable with.
You get things done without rocking any boats. If we started a broad bombing
that the bombing raids are unjustified. There is broad international agreement
too dumb and stubborn to restrain himself. Meanwhile, a White House that
couldn't resist staging a pep rally for its impeached president has remained
strayed from my marriage," he said. Roll Call broke the story (there are
defenders, who are leaking nasty stories about Republicans.
weapons sites. The international debate is over whether the attack was
about the attack to make a serious effort to stop it. The prevailing view is
the impeachment debate. Democrats blame Republicans for beginning the
patriotism while calling the other party shamelessly cynical for impugning its
own integrity and patriotism. For a roundup of the spins, see
must take further steps against terrorism and renounce their aspirations to
policies by next week, he will call new elections. The opposition Labor Party,
exercise bike, just three weeks before he was to turn over his office to
behalf of the environment, fiscal responsibility, and public accountability.
Commentators applauded his "liberal conscience" in the face of conservative
He was one of the country's most accomplished black jurists. Commentators spoke
approvingly of his "unambiguous liberalism," his stalwart defense of the
impeachment juggernaut is good because it has scared the White House into
and to be singled out for destruction, death, and extermination?"
devastation and pain to people who have suffered a lot as a result of unjust
logical" justifications of the attack had unfortunately been undermined by the
coincidences of the postponement of the House impeachment vote and of "the
of them. The Times said they were "a grim necessity" forced on the allies
over his country. For that, a prolonged air campaign is the bare minimum."
Evening Standard said that even those who wholeheartedly
supported the offensive were "deeply dismayed by the fact that it is President
.This President's personal position is far too deeply compromised for the
daily Libration called the pretext for the offensive "dramatically
thin" and linked it to the postponement of the impeachment process. The
returning to the issue of its president. It added: "To us impotent spectators,
there is left the sad privilege of realizing how weak in reality our principal
has been paying Republican moderates a lot of attention lately, and the
moderates are finding it all a bit disorienting. "We're just so popular now,"
Society, when I paid a visit earlier this week to the group's tiny office,
itself an emblem of how wispy is the movement to which Republican moderates
the '70s (it even sued the Republican National Committee over minority
representation at political conventions!) and has been drifting a little bit to
the right ever since. Today, according to Executive Director Mike Gill, a
moderates during the 1980s are apparently forgotten) but tends to part company
with the party on social issues such as abortion. Membership, Gill says with a
The heyday for moderate Republicans was probably the late
Republicanism was the prevailing conservative orthodoxy. The WASP aristocracy
still controlled Wall Street, the Ivy League, and much of the press. The
Republican Party's liberal wing (as moderates were then called) was filled with
noble purpose about civil rights and women's rights, two issues on which
Democrats would not achieve dominance until the 1960s. The remarkable work on
into an angry crowd and yelling, "Anybody around here knows that I stand for
issues have become mired in complexity and uncertainty about affirmative
action, the grand sense of purpose in being a moderate Republican doesn't seem
Even regionally, moderate Republicans have lost their identity. For years they
were a bloc of Easterners perpetually at war for control of the party with
together in opposition to more conservative Southern Republicans (a subspecies
that didn't exist before) and conservative Westerners on Rust Belt issues such
Since the districts of moderate Republicans, especially in
the East, tend to be heavily Democratic, and the ideological differences
between moderate Republicans and New Democrats are now microscopic (or perhaps
nonexistent), it's a bit baffling that moderate Republicans don't switch party
affiliation and become Democrats. There are a few Democrats around who began
switch was made at least two decades ago. That's when former New York City
known Republican politicians to defect to the Democrats in recent years are New
the Republican moderate as a subspecies? One explanation is simple mislabeling.
because he bucks his party on a few issues (campaign finance, tobacco) and is
found to be personally likable by the press. Sometimes all it takes in terms of
simply because they maintain some vestigial sensitivity about race.
Another explanation is opportunism. The liberal views of
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, always identified himself as a
Republican; he dropped the pretense only when he ran for the House last fall as
Republicans, though, the principal reasons not to switch party are nostalgia
had a Web site, she answered: "It's really pathetic. Don't bother." About the
only thing a Republican moderate is likely to get worked up about these days is
in a shabby building on Capitol Hill a few doors down from the palatial
headquarters of the Heritage Foundation. The elevator groans, and brown paint
with that of the corporate titans who supposedly rule the party: Get government
out of the bedrooms and concentrate on lowering taxes. Yet the group's budget
is dwarfed by that of Heritage, which rakes in corporate contributions while
scattering its attention between economic and social issues.
Broadly speaking, they provided their party with its last two presidential
courted this week by Republican leaders and the White House, their ranks seem
in no danger of expanding. For all their good manners, common sense, and
solicitude toward voters, they just don't command much respect.
tell the truth at once, instead of listening to the advice of his
beginning about the bad influence of that man, who cares only about opinion
polls, bends with the wind of the moment, and doesn't give a damn about moral
in a state of enormous anxiety because "he knows he has damaged the historical
inheritance, which he valued more than anything else." His mental equilibrium
is preserved by his powers of work and concentration, and his ability "to
inner strength that it was unthinkable to imagine that she could abandon him
just at this most crucial moment." He added, "Nobody knows how the crisis may
have affected their marriage: but those who know the first lady well know that
she is a woman of great strength, with very broad shoulders."
phone numbers that allow readers to offer a "Yes" or "No" response. "Robin Cook
the secret of his pulling power." But in an editorial, the Sun said he
doing with politicians, but for the poisoning of public life across the globe."
as novels, and ask what is the core of the plot," he wrote. "A mature woman is
married to a man who is a perpetual adolescent; he is clever and good with
'Journalist of the Year' Award," it wrote that the prime minister had
"presented himself with the award for writing the greatest number of articles
in newspapers in the last year." The trend continued this week, not only in
Party and as its candidate for prime minister in the May elections. He made the
She wants to overturn the sport's new scoring system.
explanation of how the old scoring system worked, and how it caused the Great
decreed after the championship that the scoring system must be revised to
rejoiced that the problem was solved, so that henceforth "if you are in front
several cogent objections to the new system. First, it is more complicated than
problem five decades ago with his "Arrow Impossibility Theorem," which proves
the order in which the judges have ranked the contestants rather than on their
disagree about whether a Star Wars defense system is better than a tax cut. In
opinions into a single ranking. In order to take political action, the United
States needs a social choice mechanism to amalgamate voters' many preferences
It might appear that the United States can afford more
endorsing multiple conflicting goals and declaring them all "top priorities,"
the silver, and who gets the bronze. But the fact is that at the end of the
day, political decisions do get made, as surely as skating medalists get
chosen. The government either cuts taxes or it doesn't. Although the political
Arrow set forth two desiderata for any social choice
mechanism. First, unanimity, when it occurs, should be respected. If all the
Dole should not be president. This criterion is the easy one. I doubt that any
third candidate, C, should not overturn that ranking. Simple majority voting,
With a bit of elementary mathematics and a lot of keen
insight, Arrow was forced to a sobering conclusion: If a "reasonable" voting
judge. (Actually, you could have as many judges as you wanted, as long as you
ignored all but one of them.) In politics, it means that if you can't tolerate
Is there any way around Arrow's dire conclusion? Well, his
proof does leave one loophole. If the number of voters is literally infinite,
then the conclusion can be overturned. In that case, there are
systems exist, none of them can be explicitly described. This observation seems
unlikely to be applicable either to figure skating or to constitutional
and get on with designing a voting system that meets other reasonable
criteria. But the people who get excited about this kind of project tend to get
slate of four officers from a list of eight candidates. The rules for counting
definitions, rules, interpretations, and examples." Having supplied members
with a summary of those rules, the secretary felt compelled to append this
note: "Please do NOT correspond with the writer about the ambiguities that are
unresolved in the above abbreviated description. Instead, refer to Appendices
IV and V, where eleven pages of rules appear to leave no ambiguities."
have become a "disingenuous cynic" and have endangered, if not lost, my
scholarly reputation. Though he reveals his own conflict of interest, which
said I thought I was on the other side. All I knew then came from newspaper
conversation and by letter, tried to convince me that the company's practices
created efficiency. He offered me a retainer. I have no idea how large that
might have been because I did not ask or try to negotiate with him. I said that
if he convinced me, I would simply stay out of the case. He did not persuade
clients, no more, no less. There was no reason why I should make that choice
personal attack. The key question is whether predation, including price
question of reserves, is likely to be decisive in the success of the tactic,
usually not be a successful technique, I wrote, because it requires the
predator to expand his rate of output in order to drive prices down. In the
case I posited, an expansion of output imposes increasing costs upon the
predator because his marginal costs will rise and the victim's will not. That
will be true in almost all industries. It follows from the argument that price
cutting can be a successful predatory tactic if marginal costs are not rising.
I did not make the point explicit because it seemed obvious and a rare
development costs, the production and distribution of software displays a flat
marginal cost. The predator is at no disadvantage. If his financial reserves
are larger than the victim's (in proportion to their market shares), the
predator can destroy the victim's business. This is especially true where the
predator is spending only a small fraction of its monopoly profits while the
victim has no such profits. Nor will outsiders put up the capital to resist the
predator, for they will know the victim is at a disadvantage in the fight.
to defend its monopoly in operating systems. I trust the matter is now clear to
know I was writing it until it appeared. I did read a document or two off the
company's publicly available antitrust suit propaganda
page, as well as a similar page sponsored by the Justice
his general view that "predation" (misuse of market power) is largely a myth.
hire him, he gave the company's lawyer a hearing, with the understanding that
seems to think this arrangement allowed him to choose sides with complete
recalls my review of his book as "one of the less comprehending assessments."
It was, as I said, a favorable review. Maybe that's why.
case. I guess it depends on what you mean by the word "much." All he cites in
this reply is one additional passage from the book, which, he concedes, "does
not make the point explicit." Indeed it does not. The discussion of predation
about is "misuse of government process." He writes, "Misuse of courts and
government agencies is a particularly effective means of delaying or stifling
where marginal costs are rising. He says his current argument is implied,
though not "explicit," in the book (and therefore, by further implication, he's
not a hypocrite). It's true the book assumes rising marginal costs, but it does
not "follow," as he claims, that predation by cost cutting depends on rising
marginal costs. (If you assume you're holding an apple and conclude from that
you're holding a fruit, it doesn't "follow" that if you're holding an orange
wrong, but it's certainly not derived from his book.
rising marginal costs (in any but the shortest of short terms) is widely
regarded as the weak link in the logic of neoclassical economics. Software may
be an extreme example of marginal costs that plunge immediately to near zero
and stay there, but learning curves and economies of scale are more
characteristic of most modern industries than rising marginal costs. Yet in
point. His life's great intellectual achievement, he says in effect, doesn't
to call me uncomprehending. His original argument that predatory price cutting
can't work (and therefore needn't be illegal) was that it will always cost the
predator more than the intended victim, because the predator is selling more
units during the price war in which both parties are losing money. I do not
comprehend why that depends on rising marginal costs. It's true that rising
costs, the predator's losses get bigger and bigger until the victim surrenders.
Zero marginal costs, if anything, ought to make it even harder to drive a
competitor from the field with devastating losses. Am I missing something?
original argument about relative losses doesn't depend on rising marginal
costs, neither does its corollary that capital markets should be willing to
bankroll a price war that the victim could win with an adequate war chest.
State of the Union address was greeted around the world this week as
so much adversity, it was also because he had facts and figures to back his
claim that the United States was not only strong but also brimming with
the White House had been transferred to the nation itself." Those still
wondering whether to impeach him "might well think carefully now before
committing themselves to an obviously unpopular cause."
lives of working men and women," over whom impeachment appears to cast no
shadow. "His effort to regain prestige and recover the cohesion of an
administration damaged by the impeachment process must have been at least
temporarily successful," the paper said, adding that it is likely that he will
'the State of the Union is in excellent health' he certainly wasn't committing
effectively rejected the key point of his State of the Union address.
challenging the Republicans to work with a president they want to topple, or
party" that abandoned a popular program to satisfy its rancor.
difficult to find on maps, the paper said, but it has created considerable
search for a compromise solution to this problem." On the other hand, the paper
said that recognition of the importance of compromise was better than open
confrontation, especially in a region regarded by both sides as vital to their
interests and where troops were kept in a state of high combat readiness.
trying to block his rehabilitation, he will make life hard for them by
officials cannot contain their outrage and let fly with a few statements
United States was celebrated with the slaughter of sheep and camels along
friendly king. We hope his recovery will put paid to the struggle for his
peace, but also as one who believes in that peace and, who is prepared to come
and visit the parents of schoolchildren killed by his border guards, as a
person who has really had enough of war and bloodshed."
peace process but is also "a person of vast experience."
doesn't intend to surrender its international standing for the sake of its
said. It added that the new ambassador seems determined to fight to make the
United Nations become the main guarantor of international stability and
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
other subjects. Please send your questions for publication to
indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably including your
married and wonder if there's a "correct" answer to the following question: How
should our address labels read? I think it should be husband's name first,
labels printed? They are inexpensive, after all, and that way you can each
affix what you consider the "right" label to a letter.
winning the suit because restaurants are allowed to add a service charge for
perhaps you wish to hear about my problems, but I don't think so. I find such
though on the question of what is required by the question "How are you?" she
is more forgiving. Perhaps because her mother taught her years ago that "How
spared. And do let us all know how many seconds elapse before your
people talking into their fists and mumbling up their sleeves. All these calls
on the hoof can't be that important. Plus, they interrupt innocent bystanders.
Is there an accepted etiquette for the mobile phone people and anything the
announcements requiring their restriction, as well. Little by little, various
of disapproval is always worth a try. The best hope of integrating this
technological "advance" into society is to hope that those so important they
cannot be out of telephonic touch will themselves arrive at some feeling of
seen some cell phonies remove themselves to the sidelines, as it were, at the
ring of the bell. She has even seen an apologetic smile or two as these people
Joining a national trend, the superintendent of schools in West
proposed new attraction but, after consulting church authorities, head of
of a one joke question, and the joke is cheap and easy blasphemy. Well, maybe
Cool! I learned that in religious physics at my Christian academy. Just before
catalogue, by luring me into this kind of complacently by lying to me. I closed
the business down in the shambles that it was, swept everything clean, moved to
sit at the other. Every now and then, when things got a little tense, I would
friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and
make a long story short, she has lied about multiple things since I became
friends with her. The other night she asked my opinion about something, and
once I told her she seemed fine. The next day, however, she proceeded to call
appreciate her telling everyone something untrue. My question is: Should I wait
for her to respond or go ahead and call to initiate the conversation?
who doesn't seem to know the truth from third base? When you say she has "lied
supposes, continue with this "friend" whose word you have no faith in, but the
question remains: Whatever for? Bail out and clear your head.
family.) People who really care about people usually care about animals, too.
who complain about people who are helping animals are usually not helping
country is practically swimming in abandoned pets. These innocent creatures are
at someone using his own private money to do something helpful when there are
vapid rich people doing nothing whatever to help anyone is strange,
Up," that animal lovers were a fiercely loyal and vociferous lot, and said so.
While she does like many of her friends' pets, she also goes to the zoo and
only caring about a public issue but also doing something about it. For you,
your column. Not only do you seem to invariably draw interesting and pertinent
questions, but also your advice is, more often than not, that which I would
put this? I am in a committed, monogamous relationship with another woman, whom
I plan to marry sometime in the near future. We've been together a little less
than three years. My parents have voiced an interest in "getting to know" her
parents, and while I am all for it, I sense some reluctance on my partner's
address, so they could send them a holiday card. (My parents are nominally
way to go about this? Should I let the "adults" work this out among themselves,
or should I try to mediate? I would appreciate any help you can provide on this
It is ironic that your letter asks about initiating
a correspondence, while your quotation from Ms. Bailey pleads for less
daughters marrying other women. One assumes your partner's understanding of her
parents' outlook comes from knowledge. You might want to wait until she feels
compliment your own parents on their wish to promote the larger family
something to think about, look on the bright side of not yet having a
problem, and I am not sure if even you would know the answer to this question.
and comprehension were so good that I won the district essay contest. I have
accent. In fact, I am still speaking like I did when I stepped off the plane. I
Please help, because now that I am in college it is very frustrating when
sterling. The key to your success is what you say, not the accent with which
objects and drool copiously, and perhaps you defecate or urinate on the
in the newspapers. We take it not as funny but as something very serious." Who
recent bad press. 'Although we may have fired a Cabinet minister without
congressional approval, we never had sexual relations with that woman, Ms.
King of Queens and comic strips such as Dumb Bastards From
the butt of a joke, a recurring punch line on Johnny, it really was serious:
comic equivalent of scandal journalism, focusing on crime rather than policy.
But it's not their missteps that are the problem, it's their steps. Or as a
mouse nibbling a doughnut in the window of one of the franchise's midtown
"Anytime someone laughs at your trademark and what's
powerful Democrats joining rich and powerful Republicans to help rich and
commemorative quarters. One of them shows somebody on a horse.
As part of our continuing efforts to make it easier
weeks ago. What makes it simpler is that we do most of the work. ("We" meaning
printer every morning. Your computer will automatically dial up (if necessary),
connect to the Web, download Today's Papers (in a specially formatted edition
for printing out), and send it to your printer. We plan to make other
Delivery, you can use it to schedule automatic printouts of any page on the
be formatted for printing out, you'll have to do the scheduling yourself, and
complexity. But do give that one a try, too, if you're feeling ambitious. My
installing, using Instant Delivery, and a technical support phone number. The
button that schedules Today's Papers. But we know you can handle that. So
Lesser magazines in lesser media are known to take a
We will publish complete issues for the next two weeks. Well, when we say
understand, who will be busy roasting turkeys, fighting with relatives,
The cover story and editorial say deflation threatens the global economy.
Deflation caused by overcapacity and flaccid demand could send the world into a
separation, only limited autonomy, and Turkey ought to grant that to keep the
could be turned into advanced drugs. The lesson: Advanced screening technology,
which allows companies to speedily test lots of plants for medicinal
stop her from injecting her politics into her husband's job. "We're far from
certain that her brand of righteous liberalism is what the people of New York
want or need," say the editors, "but we are sure that it would be healthy for
have concocted progressive and equitable ways to spend the state's budget
calls on Congress to let the independent counsel statute (a "constitutional
privilege with a comprehensive bill on presidential legal liability. (For more
magazine introduces a redesigned front section, which grandly aims to chronicle
"The Way We Live Now." Included is a new ethics column (written by
Time 's cover story toasts the sunny side of the impeachment scandal.
It sparked a vigorous debate about morality, introduced role models who defied
stereotypes (powerful attorneys in wheelchairs, patrician female lawmakers),
and demonstrated that the political process is "sturdy and forgiving." The
Senate's closed deliberations on impeachment were a bonding experience, and
their frankness and intimacy will encourage more teamwork in the future.
story is darker, emphasizing the trial's lingering stink in the White
story conveys the isolation felt by many religious conservatives in the
a peculiar development in medical research: fake operations. Researchers are
and sew them back up without doing anything. Afterward, the doctors compare the
communities of Queens, says a profile of an imaginative young woman reluctantly
steeling herself to accept her appointed betrothed. She uses her real name in
the hope that a suitable bachelor might pick her out of the magazine instead.
scandalous, and gritty as the tabloids' front pages. A highlight: After
passage about the mayor's dictatorial, brutal style, the text calls him
pundits to opine about the president's acquittal. One calls Flytrap the
wins the Democratic nomination for president. Another argues that the
independent counsel distorted the impeachment process: The House should have
been allowed to conduct a more direct and aggressive investigation of the
("the greatest poet of the twentieth century"), urging the House managers to
doesn't drag the whole stock market down, could be useful for the economy
because it will "restore sanity" to the venture capital industry. Some of the
women are deliberately promiscuous in order to win more male protectors for
their child. Men, not knowing if they're the biological father or not, assume
that feminists and evangelicals are to blame for the increasingly blurry line
between private morality and public life. Both these newly enfranchised groups
management meeting. The word has no etymological connection to the racial slur,
using a private company to carry his campaign loans, DeLay had trouble
affirming or denying his connection to the business, answering with
particular. The wiser of the wise guys have gone legit; the dumber ones (such
car (a minivan), his attire (mock turtlenecks), and choice of repast
different bilingual education classrooms of a New York City public school. The
describes his training at "hostile environment school," where journalists learn
guy who makes funny movies. No, he's a fiercely independent artiste with a
math on the State of the Union address. Time 's cover story details the president's soaring poll numbers and
the various boosts they've given to his lawyers' confidence, his relationships
calculates the bottom line on the president's plan to save Social Security: It
or following. The piece features what is sure to be a major element of any
cover story says the labor shortage is emboldening and transforming the
independent gang of "free agents," "new nomads," and "globalists," who write
their own job descriptions, schedules, and rules. But Time 
commiserate around the water cooler. It profiles a new kind of office
genre. Competitors disdain its lowbrow tone but nurse a bad case of circulation
Funds issue congratulates the aggressive and chastises those cowed by
federal government as the primary engine of domestic policy. In contrast to
invective with sweet nothings ("there is a type of honey that never
cashmere is sold by weight, some suppliers turn to dirty tricks, like plugging
article describes why the potential for surgical error is so high. Surgeons are
such as flying an airplane. Demonizing errors, the author argues, dangerously
hinders constructive discussion about those errors.
own diagnosis of the state of the union. It must be awful, they
argue, if the president's lawyers have succeeded in feeding a dubious and
other stories, however, are premised on the nation's general success and
contentedness. The cover story explains that morality is no longer about a
stocks, rising and falling according to the practical results they yield.
popularity in a future economic downturn. A slump will expose his "disgusting
betrayal of Democratic principles" and finally cause his supporters to jump
The tragedy is the protagonist's inability to transcend his terrible
flunky, who's constitutionally unequipped to survive a succession of personal
and professional crises. Wade can't get on his preadolescent daughter's
then beating him senseless when he tries to fight back.
union leader is killed in an apparent hunting accident, Wade has a hunch that
the man was murdered. Who done it? Either the only witness, Wade's buddy Jack
protracted shots of people walking in and out of buildings that seem to have
turned themselves inward to escape the cold. Nothing expresses anything. For
much of the film, you can't decide whether the murder plot is a product of
design. The film is uncompromising, all of a piece, its desolateness unleavened
western, the parable of an unruly patriarch driven to madness by a long line of
unruly patriarchs before him; an impotent vigilante in search of
helpful in clarifying people's motives but ultimately annoying, since only an
inexpert storyteller needs that much pompous clarification. It doesn't help
troupe. He ends up embodying only the movie's numbing obviousness.
Affliction off life support. Like Wade, he's a heavyweight too big and
too unstable for the room. The sagging flesh on that square head encases small,
babyish features, and the belching sounds that come out of that barrel chest
hopeless prospect that only leads to rage and despair. At one point, he grabs
lethargic and vicious, he is roused from his decrepitude only by the prospect
confronts him about a crude remark, he fixes her with a leer while licking salt
could say. We know why she packs her bags after that and could have done
their fathers whose capacity for love and hope has been destroyed at birth.
it struck me as both arid and pretentious; the second, arriving with no
narrative expectations, I found myself more tolerant of the pacing and more
drawn in by the performances. If you don't have the luxury of seeing the movie
twice, you'd do well to leave your hopes for a good thriller at the
spell of an embodiment of the Old West, here a character called Big Boy. He
of woman who sends men into spasms of uncontrollable lust, such that they'd
kill their good buddies or drink themselves into an early grave. When Big Boy
directions, neither especially interesting. Mixed in with this is a lot of
the center of the frame, so that the movie's point of view seems static even
when the images are gorgeously evocative. It's pretty, but it's all at arm's
length, with an aura of doom that palls our enjoyment of even the picture's
might once have had are long gone; the only thing mysterious about her is those
plagued by dreams of little girls being lured away by a big, bad wolf in human
form. No student of the genre will be surprised to learn that she's established
to her visions, which are both lyrical and ghastly, and so frightening that
it's hard to imagine how the movie can deliver a demon worthy of them. It
can't, of course, which is the problem with mainstream horror pictures: The
more deliriously abstract and unhinged their imagery, the more of a clunk there
is when the evil actually materializes and the genre conventions kick in.
scene. In despair, she slashes her wrists and ends up in a hospital, where she
with an incongruous New York accent). Both haggard and elfin, she moves in and
out of sanity, now distraught with grief, now giddy with superior insight.
Someone else made her trash her house and scrawl imprecations on the walls, but
scene on a cascade of emotion, so that she really seems to be speaking from a
different world. In Dreams betrays her supernatural brilliance. The last
still trying to get worked up, but the spell has been irreparably broken.
catch the commercial flop Babe: Pig in the City before the movie ended
because you'd have to go back to the silents to find its like visually, and no
Miller, the movie is in a different league from its unassuming predecessor. The
a half. This is my candidate for the most overlooked big budget film of the
decade, maybe of the century. Pearls before swine, indeed.
on the eve of the House impeachment debate? Politicians and pundits launched
the rhetorical war over that question even before the first missiles fell in
politics to new depths. Here's a glossary of the debaters' latest tactics, in
charge obliquely so that he can deny having made it. Example: "We have had
either hostilities or threatened hostilities at interesting times throughout
assured him it's not so. Example: "While I have been assured by administration
the timing and the policy are subject to question" (Senate Majority Leader
unprincipled, any seemingly principled behavior on his part is fishy. Example:
explain the sudden appearance of a backbone that has been invisible up to now?"
accuser doesn't allege a causal relationship between the impeachment process
cynicism. Rather than stand behind his cynicism, the accuser
launch a military strike, however justified, at a time when many will conclude
cynicism. The accuser says other people's cynicism makes it impossible
president must have credibility when he makes decisions about peace or war"
patriotism about cynicism. Democrats say Republicans who accuse
enemy. Example: "Shame on you [Republicans] for playing into the hands of
remarks were "as close to a betrayal of the interests of the United States as
cynicism. Having accused Republicans of cynicism for suggesting that
Democrats use the conflict to delay the vote. Example: The House should "not
take up impeachment until the hostilities have ended. It shouldn't come up as
cynicism. While publicly accusing Republicans of tactics aimed at
gaining political advantage, Democrats privately gloat that the tactics will
that politics stop at the shore," one senior White House official said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity. 'Somebody changed the rules and it
the impeachment vote. Example: "I don't see any reason to postpone the vote.
that impeachment would undermine the war effort, Republicans argue that
impeachment is the best way to honor the war effort. Example: "As those troops
have a right to know that the work of the nation goes forward. And in
impeachment. Examples: "The suspicion some people have about the president's
consequences than in taking any action that will enable him to hold onto power
[are] a further demonstration that he has dangerously compromised himself in
should celebrate them in festivals, we should enjoy their traditions in our
"It did the Vice President and me a lot of good to pick up
chains that bind the workers of the world. The president was speaking
metaphorically, of course, about his achievements in estate tax
Habitat for Humanity house. 'Sometimes he just doesn't listen,' apologized
convincingly wield hand tools. Republicans tend to be better at this sort of
Bush was befuddled by a supermarket scanner, which isn't even a real hand tool,
and besides, no one expected him to operate it, just carry the bags of
out to the woods and pound a moose into the ground up to its antlers. He said
meant the conquest of nature. Carter's was a more modest Christian carpentry.
Maybe someday we'll have a true liberal Democrat in the White House, secure
enough in her ideology to put down the tools, pick up the phone, and call a
retirement home, the president helped demolish a wall to make room for a health
clinic, an activity meant, in some weirdly elliptical way, to commemorate the
turned off the set right after the president's speech, then stumbled toward the
liquor cabinet, clutching their head and moaning, they missed these highlights
from the opposition. If you read between the lines, you can infer what new
intrusive, but apparently the Republicans want to deploy some sort of shrinking
machine that can inject a tiny congresswoman right into your digestive
"I got to live every boy's dream: playing in the National Football
thermos of Manhattans, but that's not an actual government policy. Not
"It wasn't until after I was elected that I attended a Republican function
to each other in the bathtub and then slip into attractive robes and then the
hands when news organizations are caught being brutal or irresponsible. But the
Newspapers that once policed corporations have been absorbed by the same
stories that might threaten advertisers no longer see the light of day.
Standard Oil monopoly, patron saint of the modern corporation and, in his time,
corporate flacks to counteract the blistering hostility generated by the
a yeoman's job of placing warm stories about this scourge of the corporate high
department too late to help himself. After three years of fire from
By the time the flack was in place, hordes of attorneys general and
octopus, Standard Oil. The second and most illuminating reason is that he
thought God was on his side. If you've got God, why on earth would you need a
every fat book is a slender one struggling to get out. The fat book here
fat one is a fascinating meditation on the monopoly capitalist's moral
harsh Baptist upbringing made him the perfect instrument of the marketplace,
but it also set up a tortured cycle inside him. He coveted cash as his
compelled to give it to charity, which he did with anguish. In wealth, as
sanction for making money, earning profits, and engaging in commerce.
spying, bribery, and extortion. Simply put, rivals were told that if they did
created specifically to dismember the Standard system of interlocking
when the Supreme Court approved the government's plan.
subsidiaries appeared on the market, making the richest man in the world that
The Titan saw nothing wrong with bankrupting companies that
resisted his advances. He viewed the process of smothering the weakest
companies and swallowing those that remained as a thoroughly Christian
himself as a saver of corporate souls who consolidated an unruly business and
did away with redundancy. This was true of the kerosene market, where
practices to maintain its monopoly on computer operating systems and to push
its own Internet browser. The government's questions are legitimate, but the
products that they thought up and that could eventually be eclipsed by others.
The two men are similar, however, in that both severely misjudged public
with a pugnacious, imperial style that irritated government lawyers who needed
for his tyrannies, he sang the monopolist's equivalent of "Onward Christian
flimflam man and a bigamist who left his wife and children alone for months at
in her threadbare children, whom she marched to church with unfailing
and obsessed with the twin themes of frugality and organization. He kept a
paid for his wife's engagement ring, which he listed under "Sundry Expenses."
He wanted mightily to accumulate money, but he worried constantly about
breaking the moral code against covetous behavior. Worth billions, he reviewed
every grocery bill and prowled the hallways turning out lights. He bit the head
off a streetcar conductor who once charged him two fares thinking the
distinguished gentleman was paying for his traveling partner as well.
He recognized a Christian duty to charity but was gripped by a fear that his
charity would be wasted, thereby incriminating him in sin. He overcame this
foundation. But giving drove him near to nervous collapse. This story is told
Gates. The pressure of these appeals for gifts has become too great for
satisfaction until I have made the most careful inquiry as to the worthiness of
the cause. These investigations are now taking more of my time and energy than
But what we see is a man caught between the Christian imperative to give
to the fact that the college president was a spendthrift. But building a
on the issue of money, eventually forbidding Harper to even discuss it in his
liberally unnerved him deeply, even when it flowed to something he valued.
different way. Her 19-part series was an enormous undertaking that still stands
as the signal work on the Standard monopoly. The series maintained an even,
ambushed him at church. She found him leprous and reptilian and saw in him
"concentration, craftiness, cruelty and something indefinably repulsive."
throughout this book, crediting her work and pointing out her mistakes and
us always. But with journalism fixated on gossip and entertainment, there may
at the Democratic Party's Progressive Policy Institute, has written a scathing
services, and failing public schools. It is not New Deal liberalism that is at
just the urban but also the national agenda. Politics and policy in these
Deal liberalism by expanding welfare and creating multicultural schools; New
and it is in the name of "the riot ideology" and of righting the wrongs of
racism that liberals went on to justify the violence of the 1960s and its
criminal aftermath. The power to disrupt became a way of "extracting money from
I share, with a general failure to face up to the shortcomings of the policies
respected books, is too good a historian not to know that he has produced an
urban liberalism an unconvincing degree of importance in accounting for this
decline; second, a methodology that picks out three cities that are not really
representative; and third, an oddly unbalanced account of urban history that
places ideologically motivated mayors, liberal intellectuals, and radical black
cities began to degenerate, and suburbs to boom, as early as the 1920s, when
programs developed during the New Deal led to policies of "redlining": the
the white middle class to buy new homes in the suburbs than to rent (or even
modernize) older homes. Meanwhile, many areas in the aging central cities were
declared ineligible for loan guarantees. Add to these disastrous policies a
have exacerbated these trends, it certainly could not have been held
responsible for them. The decline in urban economies occurred in almost every
grew in the 1960s and 1970s before falling off in the '80s.
also fails to grasp certain key political facts of urban life. Simply put,
mayors can't afford to be raving ideologues. They are practically the lowest
governments can mandate programmatic spending without providing the funds.
States limit the city's legal authority to raise revenue through taxes and
debt, while the federal system forces cities to compete with one another for
makes local governments dependent on their local tax base to fund basic
services, infrastructure, and education. Wealthier jurisdictions will always do
better than cities with high concentrations of poverty.
don't offer the opportunity to "test the null hypothesis." He stacks the deck.
are invoked only insofar as they can support his claims about riot ideology.
inform local policies should have had different outcomes in terms of fiscal
policy, the quality of the public schools, and the condition of the local
governance, and economy are understood to be unique.
patronage networks. This was supposed to have been particularly true in New
distributed them to black neighborhoods through his Democratic machine. In New
liberal reformer. No doubt, the mayors who took these funds did try to use them
to consolidate their political bases. They were operating in the
down a notch or two, [cities] will remain, by virtue of their concentrations of
These great cities will continue to shape our future.
cities should be bleak. It isn't, of course. Across the country, immigrant
cities. In New York, for example, where more than half the city's current
of these stories is more important to New York City's future than those that
current renaissance is happening because there is something to come back to.
decries, may be contributing to the current rebirth of the city's economy,
which centers on tourism, culture, financial services, and information
technology. In New York there is, at least, an infrastructure to rebuild,
cultural institutions that draw tourists, and a wealth of human capital with
public hospitals, colleges, parks, public transportation, and affordable
even comically, out of proportion with their lives. In The Innocent
love, only to discover that there is an intruder asleep in their wardrobe.
woman is smoking a cigarette, and she accidentally sets herself on fire. The
intruder wakes up. A terrible fight breaks out. Bones are broken, testicles are
crushed, one man bites through another man's cheek. And then things get a whole
with which it unfolds. But perhaps its most emblematic characteristic is its
ability to provoke a flustered and ambivalent response in the reader, a
horrified sympathy that alternates with a deep desire to distance oneself from
the nightmare at hand. Could this grisly encounter have been prevented? Was it
unsettling examination of both one's unconscious and one's conscience. He's
also fascinated by the infectious nature of calamity: The success with which he
simultaneously analyzes and communicates its uneasy intimacy is his genius.
make sense of misfortune is an explicit enterprise, a contentious necessity for
the novel's three main characters. The worst, one senses, has already happened,
who has made a successful career of elucidating complex phenomena (black holes,
afternoon, during a celebratory picnic in the countryside near Oxford, they
child, is unsuccessfully attempting to escape from the basket.
instinctively sprints to the balloonist's aid, as do four other men who happen
actions signals the undertow of bewildered culpability that will run throughout
the novel: "We turned to look across the field and saw the danger. Next thing,
I was running toward it." As it turns out, this altruistic instinct proves
fatal not for the narrator but for one of the other rescuers. After a
of wind lifts the men into the air; the others drop away, but Logan, a local
doctor and father of two, holds on as the unburdened balloon shoots suddenly
skyward. A few moments later, he falls to his death as the others look on,
causing the rest to follow suit? How could they have managed it
remembers, "running at the walls, beating them back with our heads. Slowly our
prison grew larger." They sit at the kitchen table for hours, "grinding the
jagged edge of memories, hammering the unspeakable into forms of words." By the
time they turn in for the night they have already forgotten Parry, the awkward
has been relegated to an anecdote and dismissed. But Parry, as it turns out,
know, I understand what you're feeling. I feel it too.") Rattled and
from that moment on, their interpretations of events diverge, and their
encourage Parry's attentions, and yet, even before he realizes that Parry is
on the answering machine, instead of saving them as evidence? Before long, the
our way among these versions of the truth, straining for a synthesis that would
gun from some aging hippies. And there is an expensive birthday lunch with
One of the initial frustrations of Enduring Love is
the eclipse of the balloon accident. Parry's fixation feels like a blunt
instrument in comparison, and one begins to long for the delicate moral
complexity of the tragedy that produced him in the first place: Five strangers
converging in the center of a field to save a child, and killing a man instead.
electrodynamics was slow to gain acceptance because it was aesthetically
could well serve as the novel's ironic motto, for its plot is littered with
examples of this prejudice. When the balloonist yells perfectly reasonable
adulterous because, after his death, she finds a woman's scarf in his car. But
But real life, lived in real time, requires us to push a lot harder for the
foresee. Ingeniously rewarding and unusually contingent on the intellectual
curiosity of the reader, it offers a playful reprimand to anyone who assumes
that they know where the "real" story of this novel begins and ends.
wrong to conclude that his publishers are cynically raking their way through a
height of his literary powers. He had emigrated to the United States from
acquiring a following, he was a long way from becoming the puckish purveyor of
refugees linked by blood, friendship, sexual intrigue, and Old World ties. Many
physical exhaustion, in Manhattan. They gather in the spacious Central Park
and reclaimed the religious piety that his associates have mostly
These are men and women who have lost homes, hopes, wives,
husbands, children, illusions. They sit and argue, between mouthfuls of
family in the Holocaust, speaks incessantly of torture and the dead, until
Anna, his second wife, cries out: "You're starting with the horrors again! Why
should anyone want to come up to our apartment when you speak about such
devotes himself to psychic research, desperate to contact her.
these wounded souls are in some sense ghosts themselves, as we are meant to
think, they are nevertheless carnal ghosts. The plot is set in motion when
with whom he has two grown children whom he regards with a kind of detached
disgust. Having raised his family without the religious principles he long ago
is the natural state of Singer's characters, shaped as they are by multiple
the palimpsest imprints of his characters' layered lives in a way that gives
them more modernist complexity than his rather conventional conception of
character and plot might otherwise have allowed for.
also good at making their highly personal adventures seem the outgrowth of
historical and metaphysical circumstances. Singer's decision to set his novel
Holocaust, for instance, does not simply inspire the characters' large,
despairing gestures; it filters into their casual foreplay: "Do you remember
One of the bracing elements in the novel is the casual
darkness with which his characters discuss the world. Mickey Sabbath, the
new lover, Anna. "The tragedy is that they destroyed the good ones and left
this trash behind." Asked what became of her first husband, a profligate actor,
what's the saying? Scum floats to the top." The actor, when he does
destroyed his first wife's happiness as if it were the most natural thing in
came on the scene and I ruined her. In those days, I wanted to ruin everything.
It was a sort of an ambition with me." This is a man who, seeing a full moon
rise beautifully in the sky, feels moved to announce, "Oh, if only I could piss
all this merely the warping effects of the Holocaust; Singer is chronicling
something larger and more complicated than that. Most of his characters,
despite Orthodox childhoods, began their rebellion against God before World War
for the first time in a thousand years. This was true of Singer himself, who
famously observed that Hamlet, wishing his father dead, was unable to survive
his father's actual murder because he was so crippled by guilt. In other words,
the prince's real tragedy was that somebody fulfilled his fantasy for him. One
might say something similar about Singer's characters. Having rebelled in their
destruction they inwardly willed. No wonder so many of them feel implicated in
fallen Orthodox: He sees only the faith of his father or a full embrace of sin.
He cannot believe in a middle way. Ultimately, he becomes a penitent, fleeing
his sexual entanglements, his family, his responsibilities, and taking up
resemble, in his selfish flight from the past, from responsibility, from moral
embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his
power to change sublunary nature, and clear the world at once from folly,
vanity, and affectation." Few people today know what he meant by the lovely
division between the cosmos, thought to be pristine, lawful, and unchanging,
and our grubby, chaotic Earth below. The division was already obsolete by
toward the ground and kept the moon in its orbit around Earth.
means the linking of facts and theory across disciplines into a single coherent
system of explanation. That sounds innocuous, but it has a radical implication:
that the divisions between nature and society, matter and mind, biology and
culture, and the sciences and the humanities, arts, and social sciences are as
For centuries, the progress of science has been a story of
celestial was followed by a collapse of the once equally firm (and now equally
forgotten) wall between the past, when divine cataclysms were supposed to have
shaped the earth, and the present, with its seemingly permanent mountains and
showed that today's Earth could have been sculpted by everyday erosion,
earthquakes, and volcanoes acting in the past over immense spans of time. The
living and nonliving, too, no longer occupy different realms. Two centuries
stuff of life is not a magical gel but ordinary compounds following the laws of
ubiquitous signs of design could arise from the physical process of the natural
Crick, showed how replication itself could be understood in physical terms.
bridged by an understanding of human nature that comes from neuroscience,
psychology, and evolutionary biology. Human thoughts and feelings are patterns
of activity of the brain, whose design is a product of natural selection. The
brain was "engineered" as a dynamic neural computer that calculated the
strategies of survival and reproduction needed by our evolutionary ancestors.
As humans discovered things about their world and each other and shared these
discoveries, and as they instituted conventions and rules to coordinate their
forces but products of minds interacting with one another, and culture evolved
along with the brain. Sociology and anthropology are the study of the products
of the human tendency to form clans, partnerships, and coalitions. Economics
(rather than the idealized "rational agent" assumed by economists today).
such as kinship, danger, and rivalry. Art depends on an innate eye for optimal
habitats and forms, and on the biases of our visual systems. Morality comes
from the sense of empathy and the internalized standards that allow people to
students often experience the exhilarating realization that the laws of the
enchantment he experienced in the 1970s, when he was already an esteemed
human nature.) Evolutionary biologists had recently worked out the implications
animal behavior such as cooperation, sexuality, aggression, pacifism, and
communication were being increasingly understood in terms of the natural
Not everyone was enchanted. Angry critics charged that if
the mind had an innate structure, different people (or classes, sexes, and
races) could have different innate structures, justifying discrimination. They
said that if obnoxious behaviors such as aggression and clannishness were
innate, that would make them "natural" and hence good; or, even if bad, they
would be "in the genes" and hence unchangeable, subverting hopes for social
reform. They said that if behavior were caused mainly by the genes, individuals
could not be held responsible for their actions. Some of these scholars
scientific convention, yelling for his dismissal over bullhorns, urging people
Innate similarities do not imply innate differences. Genetically influenced
behavior is not necessarily good and not necessarily unchangeable. Explanations
of bad behavior that appeal to genes do not absolve a person any more than do
to good guy. His insights on sociobiology, minus the inflammatory connotations,
have become widely accepted in new fields such as behavioral ecology and
fuss about the unity of knowledge. I can confirm he does, for I have tried to
foibles (such as irrational spiritual beliefs) as evolutionarily adaptive. I
was not persuaded that moral statements can be reduced to psychology, as if the
disapproval of murder were just another human taste like the preference for
sense evolved to grasp a logic of morality that is outside our minds in the
same sense that our number sense evolved to grasp mathematical truths that are
outside our minds.) I was unconvinced that a case for preserving species
environment. I fear that, if it meant avoiding widespread economic
dislocations, most people would be happy to consummate their desire to commune
with plants and animals with a visit to a golf course stocked with a few pandas
and eagles. For this reason, the concluding chapter, which urges urgent
the most thoughtful and persuasive such argument I have seen.
intellectual history and of the current state of understanding in many academic
disciplines. Though he forcefully presses his case toward a conclusion many
will find radical, the tone is calm and respectful and the writing style gentle
beatified because he died dramatically with his sins unknown and the civil
rights movement still seen as an epic gathering of heroes. Hero worship
establishment had just as many fakers as saints. The inner workings of King's
organization have yet to be fully revealed. But enough has been said to show
that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a cult of personality in
which King's lieutenants covered up his sexual peccadilloes and vied obscenely
for his attention and the chance to succeed him in the public eye.
of the selfless prophets is giving way to a more realistic but no less amazing
story of how egoists, hustlers, and sensualists rose above their failings to
competitor and the principal operator in the dangerous voting rights campaigns
did not worship them. A decade younger than King and substantially more
aggressive, he regularly dismissed the advice of bigwigs like King and the
South. But what is freshest about Walking With the Wind is that Lewis is
equally candid about the class conflicts that afflicted the modern civil rights
movements from the very beginning. Tensions between the uneducated rural poor
largely invisible to the white press and the historians who succeeded them.
Thirty years is less than the blink of an eye in human
were arrested, beaten, fired from their jobs, and even lynched for trying to
theater, in which demonstrators embraced the opportunity to be shot, gassed,
and thrashed in order to generate outrage against Southern racism. The most
harrowing parts of this book tell of Lewis and the integrated teams of Freedom
Riders who rode on buses through the South to test federal laws that forbade
The bus was surrounded by a mob that had lynching on its mind until an
undercover policeman got off the bus brandishing his pistol. A Freedom Riders
Ala. The mob that came to savage them bore a striking resemblance to the
then, out of nowhere, from every direction, came people. White people. Men,
women and children. Dozens of them. Hundreds of them. Out of alleys, out of
makeshift weapon imaginable. Baseball bats, wooden boards, bricks, chains, tire
front, their faces twisted in anger, screaming, "Git them niggers, GIT them
three hundred of them, shouting and screaming, men swinging fists and weapons,
women swinging heavy purses, little children clawing with their fingernails at
horribly beaten. Someone picked up his suitcase, which he had dropped, and
my head. I could feel my knees collapse and then nothing.
fractured skulls for press attention and moral outrage. This seems
dangerous confrontations. Lewis' admirers called it bravery. Lewis called it
others. But what it amounted to was putting yourself forward to be beaten,
possibly to death, day after day, week after week, month after month. What
would drive someone to do this is still an enigma to me.
the movement. The civil rights coalition was tearing itself apart in disputes
over tactics, money, and who would get the most exposure in the press.
Egos were clearly at issue. But so were the antagonisms
cousins. A blatant elitism infested the movement for racial uplift from the
outset. The first civil rights leaders were from the mulatto elite, which
same ideas about them that whites did. These antipathies mellowed into
affairs is more often a pull than a push, a surging forward of the exceptional
man, and the lifting of his duller brethren slowly and painfully to his
view him as much less than he was. Lewis describes the civil rights elite as
"tended to look down through a telescope at the little people." Meeting with
the affluent set. The official line is that Lewis and Bond were fast friends
the same congressional seat. Walking With the Wind tells a different
story. Lewis hints at secret annoyance with Bond from the first mention, in
rejected this advice. But a quarter of a century later, the two faced off in a
behind Bond. Late in the book, Lewis remarks bitterly on press coverage that
Influential blacks from around the country advised him to quit the race and
leave the seat to the man many of them viewed as its rightful heir. Still
campaign the same intensity he had trained upon redneck troopers and sheriffs.
When he defeated Bond, it was more than just a victory for himself. It was a
be nearsighted. This is not because they read a lot or stare at computer
research. Rather, it is a matter of genetics. The same genes that tend to
something he had discovered as a graduate student. (He is now about to turn
have been certifiably insane during parts of their lives.
figures in the foundations of mathematics have landed in mental asylums or have
death in the belief that his colleagues were putting poison in his food. Of the
Or maybe it isn't so accidental. Mathematicians are, after all, people who
spend their days piecing together complicated, scrupulously logical tales about
these hallucinatory entities, which they believe are vastly more important than
anything in the actual world. Is this not a kind of a folie  n (where
n equals the number of pure mathematicians worldwide)?
psychic continuum leading from mathematical genius to madness. It is also a
very peculiar redemption story: how three decades of raging schizophrenia,
building homemade bombs with two other unpopular youngsters, one of whom was
and his later penchant for sending odd packages to prominent strangers through
In sheer appearance, this cold and aloof Southerner stood
tapered waist, and "rather limp and beautiful hands" accentuated by long
the most important proposition in the theory of games.
Mathematically, this was no big deal. Game theory was a somewhat fashionable
pursuit for mathematicians in those postwar days, when it looked as if it might
do for military science and economics what Newton's calculus had done for
physics. But they were bored with it by the early 1950s. Economists, after a
few decades of hesitation, picked it up in the '80s and made it a cornerstone
competing to corner a market, or nuclear powers trying to dominate each other.
a set of strategies, one for each player, such that no player can improve his
situation by switching to a different strategy. His proof was elegant but
same reason that in a cup of coffee that is being stirred, at least one coffee
molecule must remain absolutely still. Both are direct consequences of a
theorem says that for any continuous rearrangement of a domain of things, there
will necessarily exist at least one thing in that domain that will remain
of all game strategies so that the guaranteed fixed point was the equilibrium
Still, for an economics theorem, that counts as profound. Economists have been
breakthrough in game theory got him recruited by the Rand Corp., which was then
"research and development"). However, the achievement did not greatly impress
can be embedded in Euclidean space. Manifolds, one must understand, are fairly
its outside. Euclidean space, by contrast, is orderly and bourgeois. To
demonstrate that "impossible" manifolds could be coaxed into living in
constructing a bizarre set of inequalities that left his fellow mathematicians
mathematical genius. The next year, he was expelled from Rand as a security
risk after local police caught him engaging in a lewd act in a public men's
hardly bothered with undergraduates and humiliated graduate students by solving
their thesis problems. He carried on affairs with several men and a mistress,
who bore him a son he refused to lift a finger to support. His cruel streak
was awed by this "genius with a penis." Once, at a math department picnic, he
threw her to the ground and put his foot on her throat.
madness also tend to disrobe in public (I learned this from a volume on chess
decided he would solve the most important unresolved problem in mathematics:
most basic of entities, the natural numbers. Before an eager audience of
inconsistent. He felt himself simultaneously to be the epicenter of the
him partly through computer programming, partly on welfare). He haunted the
campus, where students began to call him "the Phantom." They would come to
class in the morning to find runic messages he had written on the blackboard at
gives an interesting account of just how rare such remissions are among those
game theory. Dare they make a known madman into a laureate? What might he say
terrible effect on the productivity of many recipients, paralyzing them with
mathematical promise and his madness. (His older son, the one born out of
menage. (When Vanity Fair published an excerpt of A Beautiful
working there, but psychiatric aides pick up so many mannerisms of the
patients that it's hard to tell the difference after a while. A few years after
breadth reflects Branch's enthusiasm for his subject and his appreciation of
segregationist whites instead. Fissures widened within and among the leading
magisterial storyteller, Branch ranges confidently over these peaks and
valleys, but he also stops along the way to explore a slew of seemingly less
significant tales. The great strength of this book is the way Branch zooms in
campaigns. He returns again and again to these chosen locales, lingering over
them, patiently narrating their miniature dramas: a march by schoolchildren to
get library cards, a black man's fatal decision to attend a white theater. At
breaks in the action, he will inconspicuously cut away to the White House, or
story: farmers and teachers, sharecroppers and dentists, prying their freedom
descriptions of the horrors endured by hundreds of activists, from the
riveted, but often these individual sacrifices went unnoticed by reporters
briefly mistook the commotion downtown as a welcoming ceremony for them.
Unfamiliar reporters prowled with clipboards and camera equipment, wrote
anyone who wasn't rushing around looking for King, cooking for King, talking of
King as if they couldn't find him, and thinking of him as if there was no one
Branch does place King at the center of his history, but
Pillar of Fire is far too broad to be labeled a biography of one man.
Nor is King here the mythic figure who has become our only undisputed
contemporary hero. Branch restores to the man his human dimensions.
was fallible was almost forgotten in the mad rush to immortalize him during his
turned out to be a mixed blessing. Whipsawed between the need, on the one hand,
to preserve good relations with the White House as it cautiously pushed the
activists of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, King "clung to
methods suited to his stature as a prince of the Negro church." He backed away
he led them. He frequently emerges from Branch's narrative as indecisive,
feckless, even weak. At one point he states that his own leadership was
genuinely believed to be a Communist and further resented for assailing the
bureau's sometimes laggard enforcement of justice in the lawless South.
King. Worse, the bureau tapped King's phones and shadowed his every move,
and turned on the tape recorder. According to officials who heard the tapes,
'highlight' recording of bugged sex groans and party jokes" along with a letter
warning him: "You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take
it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation." They
attention with his calls for retribution, tempting blacks weary of King's
political canon now, but in the despair of the early '60s, they could appear
day another plane falls out of the sky," King could only reply, feebly, "I
contrast between violence and gentleness, but as a contest between democracy
he "pulled up hope in paired phrases of secular and religious faith,"
underscored its betrayal. "It was people who advocate democracy who sold us
like cotton and cows from one plantation to another," he told a gasping crowd
people have ever caught in this country, they have caught in the name of
democracy." As Branch notes, "King and the movement's established leaders
munificence looked noble and whose radicalism looked moderate in contrast.
isn't a study of two charismatic leaders any more than it is a biography. Its
lasting impression is of a portrait gallery of inspiring individuals, King just
means to be a democracy, achieving with their deeds what King so brilliantly
recognizably German? You'd think that photography, the most transparent of
arts, would defy those pesky national stereotypes. It would stand to reason
would all be equally naked behind the lens. For the longest time, photography
didn't have enough of a history to promote any fixed notions of what a picture
should be or should show. But as you flip through the present volume, the
received notion of what that is. There's a precision, a prevailing cleanliness,
a crispness of focus, a strong use of light and shadow. The pictures tend not
to be pale, fluffy, indecisive or, for that matter, funky, gonzo, over the
when you go back and look systematically, it seems that the most "German" of
vertical stack as they pull guy lines across the dirigible's silvery skin. The
image is forceful and brooding, celebrates heroic labor, elides the
soon to remove himself and his talent to the safety of New York City and
German photography took its time getting started. As one of
years. The most striking of the early works in the book are overwhelmingly
does seem to have begun where one might have thought it did, with the great
embarked on a study of human types that was so evenhanded, unprejudiced, and
simplicity. His work is more influential today than ever; recent German
in photography was less a national than an international phenomenon, but the
German work was perhaps the most striking. Very loosely speaking, photographic
modernism in its grandest period consisted of finding and framing the most
discovering the graphic power of the shadow as seen from a perpendicular
perspective. A lot of people all over the world stumbled pretty much
simultaneously upon the smokestack, the double exposure, the multiple shadow,
his work on the last, and this book doesn't even reproduce my favorite picture
by him, a large scattering of schoolchildren lying on the grass, seen from
adapted by the modernists' natural enemies, the National Socialists. In place
mostly unremarkable portraits, some jazzy fashion shots that culminate in
and '60s has the slightly desperate air of much continental art from that time,
unsure whether to please or to shock, failing to remember how to do either one,
of fashion devised elsewhere, its dull portraits of statesmen unknown outside
death and its aftermath were flooding the airwaves. Newscasters spoke of the
to ancient protocol and allow its citizens to display the normal range of human
reserve hasn't been the sole enemy of emotionally demonstrative English
closely observes insect droppings and the stinking evacuations of cows, while
the horrible Yahoos pelt him with their dung. These passages are funny, but
also deadly serious. Shit is made to stand for man's essential viciousness, his
brotherhood with base animals. And man's brotherhood with base animals would
takes unholy quantities of drugs and sneaks off to have sex with his hot,
vacant girlfriend; this is as sickening to him as "two skeletons copulating in
that, while talking to them, he disassociates, turning one woman's "anatomy
It's a convincingly icky portrait, so we're relieved when
wakes up to find that his girlfriend, a petite blonde, has turned into a beast
interpreted as insanity. He's hospitalized by chimp paramedics, and held for
Slowly, via grunting and sign language, his furry new caretakers explain that
picture these tony chimps, Self's publisher has helpfully supplied cover art
Burns. It's a mesmerizingly gross notion and, for a while, Self dazzles us with
the ramifications. Self's cleverest invention is probably the chimps' language:
monogamy has flown out the window. When a female goes into heat she thrusts out
her "swelling," and any male in sight, from the sweet old local minister to
Dad, is invited to partake. As for the males, they all want to be the alpha,
imagination begins to sputter. He gives us dexterous word painting, like this
description of a decrepit hospital in which "the ghosts of patients long
few sizes smaller. Self, it's surprising to discover, is a painstaking realist.
does occasionally gesture in this direction. He inverts intellectual history,
biologists, who so confidently ascribe all our behavior to genetic programming.
But these ideas aren't developed; they remain on the level of rhetoric. As for
the novel tend to be dumb and nymphomaniac, and one is an especially miserable,
creatures who excel at sports and love to have sex and to dance.
if it's that Swift, for all his pessimism, was deeply engaged in the events of
from a righteous Christian sense of sin. Self strains to carry on the
without his certainty. His attacks seem less illuminating than pointless;
they're out of it, and unnecessarily cruel. A little like the Royal Family, it
occurred to me the other day. It will be interesting to see what happens if the
readers tend to know only the two easiest of her 20-odd books, the experimental
rose is a rose" and "there's no there there." Her celebrity image is both
mingling in a woman who looked like an ancient statue, with a huge, flat face
course, that image underestimates what an amazingly innovative writer Stein
rescue with a gigantic new edition to tout her worth. The editors, New York
done a perfectly fresh job assembling both canonical and neglected pieces to
trace the evolution of this oddest of minds. Most of Stein's phases are here:
the abstract sketches of friends; the barely performable plays that she
compared to landscapes; the difficult holistic theory of literature that made
Twain usually get their stuff sorted into early period and late period and
released in dribbles. The way the library has handled Stein may make a
statement about her importance, but it certainly doesn't help in the
There are some neat things here, starting with the novella
subject of her thesis, still relevant as ever, was how undergraduates
experience fatigue during final exams). The style is naturalistic; the plot is
painfully autobiographical book (Stein was hurt by a failed love affair the
summer she wrote it) has generally been dismissed as wooden, of interest only
proof that Stein started out writing with perfect clarity, which means that her
later bizarre style was a choice, not the natural expression of a loon. Also,
notwithstanding, she was as capable of misogyny as any man. (Biographies tell
has the upper hand and why, turns out to be one of Stein's favorite themes. "In
friendship, power always has its downward curve," she writes in Three
conditioned to study this groundbreaking work for its pioneering
also a cool study of leaders and weak, grasping followers in love. (Click for
an excerpt.) Stein is shamelessly fascinated by power, and in Three
Lives she begins to dictate the terms by which we read her, even today.
Since two of the three portraits in Three Lives were based on women she
(brilliant, daring, but a rehash nevertheless) of the same love affair that
imagination she had was almost entirely theoretical. Watching young Cubists
bring the techniques of painting to the forefront, she assigned herself to
write "portraits" of her friends that did the same thing for literature. Soon
she'd forgotten all about her subjects and begun inquiring into the very nature
of composition. Deciding that the normal rules of punctuation and grammar
adjectives dangerous; adverbs excellent, because they're about nothing more
than the relationship between words). She believed you could repeat the same
word over and over without risking boredom, because each time it appeared it
was like new. She even tried to work out a literature without fake beginnings,
experience. (From an alleged essay, "Acquaintance With Description": "If it and
this is wild from this to the neatness of there being larger left and with it
could it might if it not if it as lead it lead it there and incorrectly which
All this exploration makes for some heavy going, and I
certainly wouldn't recommend that anyone read these volumes straight through,
as I had to for review. Taking in too much Stein too fast can provoke a numb
food and, just when the sugar coma hit, entered a long line at the department
of motor vehicles. Stein is far more amusing when she forgets her rules and
gets drunk on the music of words. (Click for an excerpt from "Lifting Belly," a
stimulating when she remembers that she's first and foremost a thinker. (Click
for her arbitrary, brilliant take on literary history.) In fact, much of her
imaginative writing seems to me a mere preparatory sketch for her real work of
over and over again doesn't mean you've entered the flow of experience. It
devices to hold the reader's attention. Stein's attempt to show otherwise is a
landmark in literature, a unique episode in the history of thought. Whether
you'll want a keep a copy by your bedside to thumb through lovingly year after
year is a choice best left to the individual. My guess is a regretful no.
which some of the girls, at adolescence, magically turn into men. Think of the
scientific possibilities! Finally, we could tease apart nature and nurture and
see whether men and women differed because of how they were brought up as
children. As the twig is bent, we say, so grows the branch; we expect these
teens to have girls' minds in boys' bodies and to suffer from a painful
stunted penis resembling a clitoris. They are raised as girls until puberty,
begins to date, and turns into a normal man, without fuss or trauma. So much
for bending the twig. Gender identity comes either from the effects of hormones
on the brain or from the way people are treated as adults, or both; childhood
You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (or The Sexes). Why are there sexes? To
change our biochemical locks every generation and keep a step ahead of the
rapidly evolving pathogens that try to pick them. How different are men's and
women's brain structures? Not very. Do raging hormones turn men into
cerebrally lopsided, more violent, better at some spatial abilities, worse at
verbal abilities, more competitive but more forgiving of their competitors,
more sexually jealous, more socially obtuse, and more promiscuous (at least,
are we learning more about sex differences, but we also have an elegant theory
major differences between the sexes in the animal kingdom flow from a
difference in the size of their investment in offspring. The female begins with
herself to even more, such as yolk; or, in mammals, blood and milk. The male
contributes a few seconds of copulation and a teaspoon of semen. The number of
offspring in each generation is limited by the female's contribution: one for
Males must compete for access to females by beating each other up, cornering
the resources necessary to mate, or persuading a female to choose them. Second,
a male's reproductive success depends on how many females he mates with, but
not vice versa; for a female, one mating per pregnancy is enough. That makes
females more discriminating in their choice of sexual partners.
have added some twists to the mammalian pattern. Men generally invest in their
children by providing food, protection, and care. So females also compete for
mates, though they look for the ones most willing and able to invest, not the
ones most willing to copulate (those are never in short supply). Females, like
males, may be tempted by infidelity, though their genetic motive is quality
rather than quantity. A discreet adulteress can get the genes of the fittest
male and the investment of the most generous male. An easily cuckolded male
right amount of complexity, tries to explain findings rather than just report
them, and writes in a consistently clear and pleasant style. Sex on the
Brain is such a good window on the state of the art that its only flaws are
biology, but rather lets the laboratory scientists speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, many good bench scientists are mediocre theorists, often by
choice. "Why" questions are thought to be an indulgence, appropriate only for
some sloppy evolutionary "explanations," including casual analogies between
arbitrary species and Homo sapiens, the equation of evolution with progress,
the idea that contemporary changes in Western society are the vanguard of
future evolution, and repeatedly, the error that our adaptations are for the
benefit the species, they would not waste half the available food on sons, who
can't directly replenish the species with babies. Any necessary genetic
variation could easily be supplied by a few studs. Organisms pump out sons
because whenever females are more plentiful, the genes of mothers and fathers
only fails to share these explanations, but also sometimes repeats ones that
less. A better explanation is that males' reproductive fate depends more
strongly than females' on competing when they are young. So any gene that
builds a man with a strong young body at the cost of a weak old body will
explains why the effects of hormones are more complicated than pop science
would have us think. They are produced by several organs in both sexes, may be
converted into one another, and can have varying effects in different species,
sexes, and individuals. The moral is that it is not hormones themselves but the
neural circuitry, shaped by natural selection and modulated by the hormones,
that explains our thoughts and feelings. The role of particular hormones may be
like the role of green wires in an electronic device. The answer to the
question "How does the device work?" depends on which wires connect which
undermines explanations that assume ironclad effects of hormones. Take the idea
that men became less competitive because women insisted on monogamy, which
lowers testosterone. Natural selection is a resourceful tinkerer and could have
rewired men's brains to respond to lowered testosterone in any number of ways,
not necessarily by becoming less competitive. A better answer would appeal to
competing with other males to sire new offspring with other females.
Between Men and Women" are fighting words. It seems a short step from saying
that men and women are biologically different to saying that women are
inferior. Moreover, if obnoxious behavior like aggression, rape, and
at least in the genes, where they cannot be changed by social reform. The
occasionally hilarious (as when scientists were obsessed with testosterone,
which they treated as the essence of masculinity) and sometimes tragic (as when
dismisses bad research with the right touch of scorn, but does not feel a need
to neutralize it with politically palatable agitprop. She believes that science
can approach the truth, and that we are best off if we know it and deal with it
to invidious stereotypes, are not a guideline for what is right, do not apply
to every individual, and never justify the restriction of opportunity. The
ignoble impulses of both sexes are part of a complex mind that can often
override them; and social arrangements, from individual marriages to entire
career developed smack in middle of the literary mainstream, in The New
elevating journalism from journeyman's status to something like literature.
Journalists, he rarely stoops to the first person. Where his peers wrote
remains the ultimate writer's writer. In creative writing programs, his focused
prose and reverence for facts are touted as the great model for literary
This month his fans should be moved to even greater awe by
first time into a unified whole. All the craftsman's flourishes are on view.
read in ages. (Click for an excerpt.) Which is, as it turns out, its main
shortcoming. Things written sentence by sentence often lack a larger energy.
recorded in prose are balanced by a level of stability almost unheard of for a
permission from his editor to do whatever he wanted. This is freedom the likes
magazine profile. What stands out about them today is how positive they are
refreshing to read a journalist who doesn't snoop around for hints that his
subject ever did anything sordid. Yet the pieces are also suffused with a
own. Then, moving in to eat his cake, he asks us to applaud their modesty.
article, he believes, has an organic shape. He finds it by sorting his ample
research into subtopics, writing the name of each subtopic on an index card,
and playing around with the cards till he finds the right order. To an
outsider, the results of this search can seem specific to the point of
absurdity. An introduction to the collection The Literary Journalists
"the descending branches finally joined at a moment of an epiphany during
in a single line." In some sense that I struggled to understand but eventually
His sense of shape may explain why he was drawn to geology,
a science that interprets rocks and gashes in the earth and weaves these
interpretations into a story of how the world grew. Annals of the Former
World began in the '70s with a piece for The New Yorker 's "Talk of
something bigger. Again, the form preceded the content: He imagined a book that
around the world interviewing geologists, journeying with them to outcrops,
looking and learning. The result is a majestic book, filled with fascinating
facts, memorable profiles of scientists, and a profound grasp of the fact that
Former World numbs the brain. It makes you feel as if you'd been plucked
This family's weird habits include, for example, assuming that when you see
not to decide how you feel about what you see but to think of tautly composed
school of communication. Its members hint at what they're thinking and expect
principle that guided The New Yorker through its glory days under
narrative, it feels unnecessarily bloated; for all his famous humility, there's
a mild vanity in its fussy perfectionism. Above all, there's a sense of
this, and worry that technology is about to replace fine writing. I say bring
always been a retail business, the product of commercial enterprise rather than
Empire, from the empress to the great cocottes. Branches were soon opened in
a distinct artistic style on any of them. The client was invited to participate
in the creation of a given piece; his or her sketches were considered; his or
her stones might be used. But to establish a solid worldwide reputation among
principle: the highest quality of materials and workmanship, and a single
Which means that the stuff risked being stuffy, if you can
period, which the firm's designers seem to have anticipated by two decades and
recognizable art deco forms, but clearly not as signs of revolutionary
modernity. The simple shapes and lines were being offered rather as extensions
jewels. Take tiaras, for example. The tiara (that is, a woman's ornamental
crown of a more or less crescent shape) is not at all modern, but it is
match the royals and nobles who had inherited theirs.
required the effect that made Napoleon's upstart court look imperial and
emperors and their descendants and emulators in the succeeding two generations.
women never appear in diamond tiaras. Figure skaters and ballet dancers are the
an hour would suffice to check out the show at the Metropolitan Museum. I
the first three cases were diamond brooches made to adorn the spacious dresses
ornaments festooned with graceful diamond swags and dripping with pendant
diamond drops. Each piece was an entire show, dazzling under the lights. But
diamond in each leaf and petal was surrounded by a tiny wall of platinum
hold up these stones, but rather, a precise silvery tracing that sets off the
diamond and emphasizes the interlaced design of the brooch while hiding its
construction. Out of sight at the back, the grainy tracing around the stones is
held up on a continuous gallery of supports rising from another tracery that
lies against the body. The diamonds are lifted up on an airy cage, and light
jewelry. Today, the seriousness is missing. When it comes to style in jewels,
on casual fakes and mixtures of vivid barbaric ornaments along with real
minerals, something undertaken almost for their sake. Modern vanity is more
personal; we no longer want to wear ornaments with that detached eternal look.
never expressions of wild genius, like the beating heart made of rubies that
always wins out over daring visual invention, but a staggering technical
imagination has also been summoned. That, if anywhere, is where the modernity
learned, for example, how a diadem, brooch, or bracelet could be invisibly
hinged so as to be completely flexible in all directions, not a rigid little
beast of unyielding metal and stone, but supple, tender toward the body,
changeable in mood. I saw in the catalog how the lengthy diamond necklaces with
complex pendants were often made to be disassembled by the client, so she could
have four bracelets, two brooches, and a shorter necklace whenever she got
tired of the one big thing. Meanwhile her tiara, just right for attending the
coronation of a monarch, could be dismounted from its frame and reversed into a
necklace suitable for the opening of the opera season. The jewels would be
the relevant alternative mounts and fastenings, and a tiny screwdriver in its
As I stared into the cases, I often heard "Oh my God!" next
to me or behind me, uttered in an undertone with a note of awe. I was tempted
him in the heady presence of treasures laid up on the earth, material wealth in
its most concentrated and enduring form. A diamond bracelet mocks all the
sables that wither and rot, the cars that rust, the champagne gone flat, and
the claret turned vinegar, even the crumbling great houses and the faded great
Lifeless from the start, jewels sneer at death, and they require zero
its jewels on the move. The client might lose at cards, and the gold cigarette
make it into two tiaras and a brooch for three other clients, maybe preserving
some elements and using them upside down or sideways. Each piece was
photographed for the archives, against just such a fate.
cigarettes. These were meant to be carried in the palm of the hand at the ball
or the restaurant, and deployed in front of everybody, their gold interiors
with their clever little hinges flashing while the nose was dusted, the mouth
the lipstick refilled, and you held onto it with a little ring or chain that
notwithstanding. Of things we would like, whole categories are oddly
pairs of earrings, all very drippy ones from the '20s. Where are the little
diamond floral clusters for the lobe, the neat ruby circles? And there are
home drained and exhausted from thinking about how to adjust my diadem and
sapphires. The next day, fully recovered, I saw the photo in the paper of the
is the realm of fashion, fashion is the realm of artifice, and both are the
giddy hats and stark painted faces, sporting fitted tops, transparent tops,
cutout tops, tight skirts slit to here, full skirts trailing to there, floppy
pants or skinny pants, trimmings that glitter or flutter, colors that dazzle or
puzzle, curled feathers and dyed fur, boiled wool and frosted leather, crushed
velvet, shot silk, frayed hemp, and distressed plastic. Such displays are to be
the right to cut and shape her fig leaf, edge it with spangled lace, and
crimson velvet for men all over the Western world, and that was that, right
down to all the Similar Sober Suits at summit meetings.
men, apparently, are getting tired of being inconspicuous. With no loss of
beauty and status (men's suits are just as becoming as they ever were), perfect
male tailoring has lost some of its virile edge. No wonder, since the strongest
theme in modern women's fashion has been the creative theft of the male
wardrobe, with all its components translated into terms of conspicuous
offering men's fashion shows of unexpected glamour, color, and sexuality,
founding a new theater that could someday rival its feminine equivalent,
for men were using the same trousers and shorts, shirts and sweaters, coats and
distorted for themselves. The menswear shows deployed a similar
hue, a daring sweep of cuff, collar, and coattail, all totally forbidden by
there's a fur scarf or some extra drapery added to the neck of a man's suit;
there there's a man's raincoat in metallic fabric that moves in a million
exhilarating to see this stuff back on men, and not just in the movies. The
wore a blue Louis XV wig with a blue denim ensemble, his face a charming study
portrait, with flowing locks and tender throats exposed above their soft suede
whole display vividly depicts what men have envied for so long. For
generations, they had to look tough, modest, honest, and restrained under plain
suits or plain sportswear. Masculinity was allowed no erotic range in dress;
the phallic necktie, licensed to reflect light and glow with color, was
famously men's only hope. Every expressive shape or shiny streak in a coat and
suit bore the dread suggestion of effeminacy, connoting both a lack of
integrity and an unbridled vanity felt to be unavoidable in women, but
criminal, even thuggish, in men. And so the free play of fantasy died out of
men's clothes. Revived fantasy has tended in one direction only, which means
that lately, there's been more than enough black leather, harsh metal, and
shaved hair. Maybe now that sexual ambiguity is recognized as a potent force,
we can begin to see men in gold embroidery and sweeping folds of silk.
Long habits die hard, though. Most men's fashion shows
still concentrate on exquisite variations of the formal and sporty classics,
with plenty of subtle colors, beautiful cravats and very discreet historical
references. Male models still can't carry off the gaudy stuff. They lurch
uncomfortably along the catwalk, imprisoned in a tradition of artlessness.
has been promoting them for years. His most recent catwalk version was a sari
wrapped around the waist under a jacket, falling to the instep and swinging
with the wearer's manly stride. Very nice, but not likely to catch on until men
finally remember the comfortable tunics of the very distant past.
the masculine long hair, jewelry, and purses of medieval times. Skirts may
appear some day (that's a prediction) but probably with a military flavor, the
Meanwhile, lovers of spectacle will have to content themselves with drag, which
gives intermittent delight to its watchers and wearers, even if so far, it
lion and the face of a man. Why is this no good? Simple: Because in order to
have a face, you need a pair of hands. Paws won't do. Animals with paws must
have big, furry, jutting muzzles, which rule out a face. They need muzzles for
biting, to defend themselves, and to attack prey, whereas possessors of hands
can fashion and chuck a spear or throw a punch. Animals need muzzles to carry
things and to gnaw on their food, whereas possessors of hands can make a fire
jeopardizes your survival. So faces presuppose hands. Sphinxes and centaurs and
other countenanced but handless creatures not only do not exist, they could
two books that otherwise brought me unremitting boredom. Well, almost
head. His prose oozes a kind of rotten poetry, and no observation is too banal
caress each other, dance about the teeth and inner cheeks, bathe in each
relevance of lateralization of function will be ascertained only by careful
research that acknowledges that aspects of this function develop throughout the
might, I can detect no lambent flicker of humor in these pages.
however. Someone ought to extract and put them in a concise form, to save
human facial feature, one that even the Neanderthals lacked. The chin seems to
do know, however, is that men's chins have been getting larger over the last
puberty in response to testosterone. Testosterone weakens the immune system.
So, paradoxically, a big chin on a healthy man is an advertisement of
robustness: It means that, despite an excess of testosterone, his immune system
is still powerful enough to fight off disease. Therefore women should fancy a
big chin on a mate, and the trait is sexually selected. (Insert Jay Leno joke
here.) I do not know whether this theory is true. I do know that in good
society, chins are very important. Style largely depends on the way the chin is
face has been getting longer at the bottom over the generations, it has been
some arcane reason, is one of the few places on Earth where humans are still
evolving. (Anthropologists discovered this by examining skeletons from the
flattened the heads of babies by placing bags of sand on their brows and
seems to have had her cranium artificially stretched for beauty's sake.
Did this really make her beautiful? What renders a face
facial beauty. This conclusion is supported by a wealth of studies over the
aesthetically, the most extraordinary. If you use a computer to merge a lot of
create an average criminal face by making a photographic composite of lots of
mug shots. The "prototypical criminal" turned out to be way too handsome.
looking average. One is that potential mates can be sure you're a human and,
hence, biologically worth mating with. (Remember, Homo sapiens lived side by
side with Neanderthals for many thousands of years, and we differed from them
chiefly in the face.) Second, average facial features are a sign of good genes,
of being close to the optimal design favored by natural selection.
faces are even more pleasing than the average face. Women are judged to be
babyish features suggest that most of their childbearing years are still ahead.
Full lips are a plus, probably because they reflect high estrogen levels and
they can be read. Cheaters and liars imperil the cooperative enterprises
necessary for survival, but they give themselves away by their skewed facial
expressions. The most important facial muscles are not under the control of the
around the eyes. Even at the corners of the mouth, the phony smile betrays
itself by being subtly lopsided: Involuntary expressions, arising in the lower,
unitary brain, affect both sides of the mouth equally, but willed expressions
are governed by the cerebral hemispheres, the dominant of which sends a
rose from being just another digit to being opposable. For our simian ancestors
in the trees, falling from branch to branch was a normal mode of locomotion,
but you had better have a prehensile paw for grabbing the crucial limb at the
last moment. When we landed on the ground, hands were first employed in
interesting thing about the human hand is the phenomenon of "hand dominance,"
which, like speech and toolmaking, is unknown among apes. Why are we either
hemispheres (each controlling a different hand) are similarly specialized?
It may well be that the hands molded the brain, not vice
missiles at prey. One amusing (but untestable) hypothesis has it that females
threw with their right arms, because they were carrying their babies in their
left arms up against their hearts, the beating of which soothed and quieted the
infant. In any case, the secret of manual dexterity is all in the
instant. And it is in the analytical left hemisphere of the brain, which
controls the right side of the body, where these sorts of timing decisions are
"higher" selves, at least (our lower ones reposing in some oafish organs in the
directly behind the face, just above the eyes. The self that engages the world
alienating experiences. Staring at our face in the mirror, as The Face
author points out, "we become first and third person at once, viewer and
viewed. Even when the face is utterly impassive, we can know what it's
reading." (For some reason, this works best at the end of a cocktail party,
when you have ducked into the bathroom and are feeling slightly squiffy.) Or,
wiggling your fingers by letting the motive force propagate directly from your
will to the digits, you suddenly notice the real cause of the action is quite
mechanical trumpery that gives the lie to the self. I would recommend these
metaphysical exercises as a cheap alternative to reading The Face and
by aliens. Like most items in the music department of the same phenomenon, it
sociology. But Night Train is light on plot and nearly Martian in its
undertaken professionally but stops a bit short of conviction. They are both
smart enough to notice you noticing this, and their answers are identical: more
Night Train is a monologue, delivered by one Detective Mike
also a woman, as she reminds the reader no more than once per paragraph. Police
salaries being what they are, she lives in a comically tilted slum flat down by
the railroad tracks, where deep in the night the titular conveyance roars by
day, Mike has got her worst job yet. She has to notify next of kin in a
one not to wear the blue herself. All her brothers are cops, and her dad is
such an overwhelming cop of a cop they made him a colonel. "Colonel Tom," as he
is called throughout, has taken Mike under his capacious wing and seen her
through detox and depression and all the rest of it, as if she were another
police, as she likes to put it. She takes a quick look at the situation and her
analytical mind snaps to. In addition to beauty and brains, the deceased had
with leather patches on the elbows. Does that sound like a recipe for
field of potential murderers is as thin as the motive directory. At length her
researches lead her into terrain that is nearly spiritual or something. Could
virtuosos, the story itself is little more than a structural excuse for a show
of wizard dexterousness. Mike is the only character. Background noise is
supplied by other members of her department, but they are cut and pasted from a
in her previous existence for a minute. She joins the parade of other scarily
experience them in this form anyway, since here, as elsewhere in his
delivered in clipped cadences by a broad, especially one under emotional
strain. Sometimes you don't know whether he did his research by letting himself
be washed by television for endless stretches, or whether he went so deep he
knows expressions you've never heard (or haven't heard since fifth grade: Do
shit s and excuse me s. This doesn't prevent him from dishing out
the fine writing, though; he has Mike get pretty fancy, to the point of
for this book. Perhaps foreigners will thrill to the exotica, as a sort of
reason, has no friction and no ending. A pint of the "fortified wine" that
shares the book's name would make a better investment.
religious beliefs may be, the whole murky lot of them playfully slither
for those particular creeds induces him, at moments of crisis in one plot after
always guilty males) down on a hardwood pew and to subject him to a vigorous
in which nuclear war has leveled half of civilization, strange new metallic
animals are threatening to gobble mankind, government has collapsed, and a
establishing a government network of its own. Yet even in this most bizarre of
goes on a search for God (to thus label the object of his desires) directly, by
means of an intimate, unblinking examination of the world in front of his own
He becomes a maniac of miniature observation. Atomic
particles dance in his eyesight. The world shimmers at him and, after a while,
encouraged by what he sees, he shimmers back, ecstatic. He is something very
literary tradition, agog at the indescribable radiance of the lawn at his feet,
lunatic in an asylum, he has spent a lifetime in the mistaken belief that he is
the End of Time might seem different from his other novels because of the
begins an affair with a young call girl who on some other plane of existence
may be a deer, and then a new affair with a girl so young as still to be a
of a theory about how time can branch off in different directions and perform
different operations, like a computer program. Alternatively, you could regard
some of those strange doings as the addled fantasies of the aging suburban
hero, whose journal of a year, filled with rants against his wife and
pornographic musings and notations about his deteriorating health, constitutes
Toward the End of Time tells a story exactly like that in any number of
figure out what to do, except by attending closely to the radiant surface of
children wild on the streets, clogging the doorway to the convenience store,
raucously scraping their skateboards and roller blades along the sidewalks,
have they been all winter, these children? They are spontaneously, repulsively
hatched, like the flies that now buzz and bump on the inside of the kitchen
tree, no less spectacular for being familiar, making its annual splash of
have devised a few blossoms, at one of which I saw a sleepy bee bumbling, my
quite rise to ecstatic levels, though. Ben remembers how, as a child, the pulp
exploding facts," used to relieve the pressure of everyday bleakness for him.
new shifts in foliage slips ever deeper into sadness. At the beginning of the
cannot imagine being loved by any human being at all and comforts himself with
ground is offering him, in some spongy vegetable manner of its own, the
acceptance he craves. "At times, curled beneath its soft beige gills of thallic
matter, a kind of breath hints of love." And it becomes poignantly clear that
deteriorating, but because he has a soul, which is shrinking.
get around to raking them up again, which is disappointing. I don't entirely
mischievous pen. I fear that too many people will throw up their hands in
ever more odious or cantankerous, and too many other people will celebrate the
But there is a primary virtue to this book, subtler than its other traits, and
this primary virtue is to be, ever so quietly, heartbreaking.
about his failed attempt to become an Internet multimillionaire, the author
pauses to ask himself a set of questions I had been wanting him to address for
lies had I told? How many moral lapses had I committed? How many ethical
indiscretions he commits in his pursuit of Internet riches and, after this
Burn Rate, currently all the rage in Silicon Valley and on
public offerings bomb? Aren't the existing Internet stocks depressed? Isn't the
Internet really about technology and not content? Isn't the Internet like cable
publishing entrepreneur in his 40s, attracts the interest of several
what's on the Internet) into the next Yahoo! As the investors and the
public company worth several hundred million dollars. Meanwhile, his company's
meetings, industry conventions, threatening phone calls, and transcontinental
and venture capital and legal disputes as competitors overtake his flimsy
He's a writer (with this book in him). And the Internet is a big joke.
only to excavate the psychopathology that runs through it like a sewer. But
his eventual escape. (In fact, beware of the flattering blurb by Lewis on
Burn Rate 's dust jacket.) Charm, not malice, guides Lewis' odyssey
acumen of a confidence man. "They know nothing about this. And you know next to
how many stupid people there are in this world we can take advantage of." To
couple of years later, after having dropped tens of millions on it.
an ugly man, sweating like crazy." He labels his most dependable source of
seemed that no one ever told the truth. Sometimes it seemed that there was no
was smart enough to leave the new media division early.
scheming little shit he is, he seeks to inflate his credibility. A real liar
down bits of dialogue on his legal pads during meetings while others composed
becomes the journal of a loser. And, like most losers, he fails to give the
winners their due. No Web startup except for Yahoo! appears to be making much
massage the medium, attract serious investors, and lay the substructure for the
inevitable: an Internet economy. What's more, these companies believe in their
a miracle he got as far in the Internet business as he did.
millions at the Web out of the conviction that it will subsume the other media,
yourself fortunate if you've never invested a penny in this market. Any sure
Nor, judging from this book, was its primary salesman.
remains mysterious. What does he represent? Nominally, his genre is legal
associates in their late 20s. He can do brilliant, crusty octogenarian senior
versions of his novels than in the novels themselves, which is remarkable
considering that the movie versions aren't terribly memorable to begin
that his books proceed from a perspective radically different from that of his
competitors. Most legal fiction begins with the criminal and derives the law:
legal world. It is the legal world and its attendant institutions that shape
the felonious mind. (Of course, lots of other people see the world this way
achievement is to use this inverted narrative to create a sense of purpose in
was a wonderful novel. But it was also an incisive and brilliant argument
was an intelligent and compelling indictment of the tobacco industry that,
because it was sold in the fiction aisle, probably reached a thousand times
devoting his celebrity to the articulation of a passionate and decidedly
unfashionable liberalism. This has never been more true, though, than in
lingering attachments he may have had to the frivolity of his genre and emerges
make partner when a homeless man carrying a gun takes him hostage in the firm's
plush conference room. He escapes, but the incident jars him. He begins a
has a lean, linear feel to it. Things happen to Brock, and he does not stop to
ask why. He becomes involved with a woman, a fellow activist, but she appears
only fleetingly. ("She lifted the blanket and tucked herself next to me,"
she would've fallen onto the porch. She was easy to hold.") The moment when
legal clinic he is about to join. This may be the most abbreviated epiphany in
swallow up competitors so they could add more zeros to the bottom line, and for
this I would become rich. He helped his clients eat and find a warm bed.
defend the homeless is a hero. To have Brock agonize, to have him spend the
bulk of the book desperately weighing the pros and cons of his decision, would
be to have him act as people normally act in novels. And The Street
he manages to present politically unpalatable ideas with grace and
and compelling observation that as a society we fail to treat the homeless with
family of five whom Brock had befriended dies on a bitter winter night, after
being turfed out of their apartment. He visits their bodies in the morgue,
pulling back the sheet: "I closed my eyes," Brock says, "and said a short
prayer, one of mercy and forgiveness. Don't let it happen again, the Lord said
something said over and over again. And these are things that, in this day and
insults, few attacks, an unvarying tone of stern politesse. The candidates'
jackets on the body; no cowboy hats or tank helmets on the head. Just the
careful hair of each (unconvincingly dark for Dole, unconvincingly gray for
lapsed. Bob and Bill have each momentarily given in to the populist urge and
appeared in leisure wear or rough gear; but that's always been a mistake.
Clothes like that are supposed to show the public man in private, the regular
guy with his guard down, but they usually just make him look childish.
of the paradoxical effects of suits that, instead of concealing character under
a bland exterior, they enhance it. Bill, Bob, Al, and Jack are more visible in
their smooth, dark envelopes than they are in the multicolored, bunchy stuff
required for golf or hiking, picnics or beaches. Such exposure may not always
be flattering, but it does let the voter sense the man behind the slogan. Dole
is youthful and beefy, but he takes his coat off to jump around, which, like
plump, bouncy, and optimistic. Gore is solid, but sedate. And for once, the
candidates look like heads of state before they've even taken office, clad in
spread or pointed collar, and a tie with a generous but disciplined
This is the costume, not of "power," as people woozily say,
nor of rigid conformity and unimaginative conservatism, but of classic and
flexible modernity. Suits are the dress of civility itself. They aim to avoid
nicely symmetrical ensemble of youthful gaffers and aging youngsters, each team
starring one white head and one brown, one thick body and one thin, one mobile
frame and one stiff. But what this civilized sartorial theater underscores more
clearly than anything else is that the president is sexy and the others are
not. In breathing, tailored life, they are stiffs, except for Bill. He's the
only one you want to hug, the one carrying his flesh with obvious pleasure,
ready to share it with others. Images of him with his tailored arms across the
shoulders of other leaders seem reflections of genuine impulse, all the more
poignant in the context of sober modern dress. No wonder he's ahead in the
instructive to contrast the candidates with politicos who don't obey the
fashion rules. Dick Morris, for one, can't hide his unpalatable stump of a body
behind the trappings of genial sensuality. He may wear a soft collar, a suit
with wide lapels, and a brilliant yellow tie covered with yellow sunflowers, or
a costume generated out of modern man's honorable and heroic past, particularly
his political past. When it comes to suits, we are all, Republicans and
Democrats, still in thrall to the Great Emancipator, the Ultimate Public
such a forceful image of physical appeal and high principle. Candidates might
country clothes. His presidential suit alone created his special blend of
personal attractiveness and public statesmanship, a blend our leaders are
always being urged to emulate. There were, moreover, no attempts to carve
monument, his marble words glowing high up on the walls behind him and beside
him. His marble sleeves and pants legs break into noble tailored folds around
his endless arms and legs, his marble lapels lie gravely along his chest, his
marble buttons, watch chain, necktie, and collar points create small episodes
along the front of his lean body, over a marble shirt and waistcoat that create
and his tailoring along with him, a suited beacon for all future political
the grand old man of the Cold War bellowed his recommendation at a meeting of
"That's when we hope," the magisterial wise man said, "that cooler heads will
Mercifully, the end of the Cold War has brought an end to this type of
the pleasure and thrills of a spy novel, but that's not exactly the case. Spy
novels induce a frisson of tension that's enjoyable because the reader
will leave readers' knuckles white, is no fun at all to read, because the
Their impressive account is one of the best of a flood of
new books about the Cold War, triggered by the end of the superpowers' long
research speak for them. It has quite a bit to say, little of it soothing.
much to what we know about the coldest days of the Cold War from careful
the loss of his model for a new path of socialist development, got mischievous.
president doggedly bent on the avoidance of nuclear war." Actually, it shows
that mixed politics send mixed signals. True, the planet was not destroyed, for
create the conditions for the crisis. The world was brought to the verge of
missiles that were not supposed to be there, and an invasion that was not
compunction about retreating in the face of superior force. And being under the
compulsion of no timetable, it does not get panicky under the necessity for
these philosophically and accommodates itself to them." Sure enough, confronted
philosophically as he could, although he described his reaction to the setback
in rather less elegant language. There was no need for the Kremlin, he said, to
"act like the czarist officer who farted at the ball and then shot
gripping new detail, including the book's biggest, scariest revelation. The
Kremlin, we learn, had decided to use tactical battlefield nuclear weapons
blockade, it's clear that the first combat use of nuclear weapons since
missile crisis, it seems, may have been even worse than we had thought.
some diplomats and conservative scholars seem to long nostalgically for the era
of Mutual Assured Destruction. "One Hell of a Gamble" comes as a welcome
corrective. Bad as today's global uncertainties may seem, the Cold War system
always had an even more dangerous potential for getting out of control. Even
only if one's opponent didn't know exactly where the brink was. "One Hell of
a Gamble" reminds us just how terrifying that game could be. "Any fool
with the West. All too often, he finds, they have failed to do so, preferring
accused previous generations of scholars of peddling a view of an exotic,
backward, savage Orient, the intellectual justification for colonizing or
once put it, in a stroke Said changed "Orientalist" from a legitimate academic
of World War I fame, and they will accuse him of imperialist sympathies. But
a dream palace of their own, "an intellectual edifice" influenced by the West
with a complicated legacy of attraction and repulsion.
come to detest the willingness of his fellow thinkers to become rented
cruel realities of the Middle East today: the gap between petrodollar wealth in
the Gulf and uninspiring economic growth elsewhere; the persistence of
autocracy and the failure to develop accountable governments; the debilitating
political ideas and the sheer power of the United States. And so they have fled
artificial borders drawn by the Western empires, hearkening back to the
cling to his legacy and excoriate those who dare doubt its ultimate triumph.
confident spirit" of cosmopolitanism and an openness to the Western ideas that
nationalism reserved its approval for those who led ruinous campaigns in
black velvet, with the idea of finally getting rid of them. After two decades
when they are brought together. Given the movie's period flavor, this means
that the modes of the late 1940s and early 1950s are in for a determined
Man of the Hour in the late 1940s, inventor of the "New Look" and savior of the
years had been stamped with a certain gallant jauntiness and comic quirkiness,
for women was an inspired move toward a whole world of pleasure and languor
shaped by exquisitely cut and fitted jackets that curved over flaring hips,
while sleek coils of hair supported delicately feathered hats. Crisply
radiating pleats and sumptuously layered folds of fabric were deftly
precious textiles, often embroidered or sequined, to spread out from the
hourglass torso. When skirts did not sweep, they molded the figure to well
below the knee; dashing cuffs, collars, and stoles did the sweeping. Feet
emerged at the bottom, delicately shod. Coats swung out like the mantles of
effect evoked the French Second Empire of a century earlier, the lush, moneyed
with its fussily constructed garments, cumbersome skirts, cinched waists, and
rigid hairstyles, crippling their feet in high heels and imprisoning their
hands in white gloves. It looks as though we're now meant to forget that quaint
line of thought, and to regard such fancy trappings as appropriate to the
ruthless fight for political ascendancy. Call it the Dictatorial Mode.
statesman, courting the populace, negotiating treaties, or ordering executions,
those formidable rulers never failed to appear ostentatiously clad in vast
glued into smooth rolls upholding pearls and plumes.
dazzling feminine armor, which not only fails to hamper but actively enlarges
female power. Modern women, weary of expressing strength of mind and body via
could enhance theirs. The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
certainly thinks that we're ready, at least in New York. The institute is
visible muscles and strong shoulders. The postwar Romantic look involved
sloping shoulders, a very straight spine, delicate bones, and no muscles
the fashions became her. Her dominating will was all the fiercer, her grip on
the people, too. The whole point of the fashion was the tension between the
force of female personality and the delicacy of the feminine body.
since we gave up posture for fitness, big square shoulders with a tendency to
hunch are no longer a disgrace but the appropriate sign of strength, especially
if worn with strong biceps. A hint of hulk is apparently not unwelcome in the
modern woman's image, and a slightly humped back, spinal curve, and
thin, but they also want their strength to look physical, not just emotional or
force that is masked like a ballerina's. In classical ballet, a woman's
greatest feats of bodily discipline and endurance must look effortless, and her
spiritual range. Her body's mechanical power is just as great or greater, but
it's there to support the interpretation, not to show itself off. That's for
combination may generate only token changes in fashion, with small details
making the period allusions (hairstyles and makeup, hats and gloves, collars
and cuffs) on top of the present basic shapes. We may not be ready to hide the
female body's true strength, to celebrate feminine charm with luxury and high
artifice. Women may have to get more used to their real power in the world
before they can afford to look as if they practiced the discipline of elegance,
boosters' whitewashing of city history, the absurd and isolating layout driven
postmodernist. Instead, he got angry. Sometimes too angry, seeming to argue
that all reformers were elitists, all whites closet racists.
Over the past eight years, that anger has mushroomed into
it's a diatribe shot through with millennial overtones, so that its reach is
or something like that. And then there are whole chapters that smell like old
ecological system is more likely than any place on earth to suffer earthquakes,
volcanoes, floods, fires, grizzlies, rabid squirrels, and killer bees. Even
denial, are ignoring the situation. The fools assume that the aberrant
guiding legend, muse, and inspiration, as well as a great way to avoid thinking
tell about themselves, "linked together by strange ironies." Attempts to put
moment city authorities rejected the idea of zoning to avoid floods. Instead
they went with the notion of flood control, which gave them a nice pork barrel
budget for public works and allowed rich people build a house wherever they
damn well felt like it. A rather heartbreaking section argues that similar
their usual firefighting techniques for fear of endangering the property next
a surrounding fence is rigged to zap human beings but welcome cute little
a. It isn't clear what this fact proves, but it's alarming and
this to happen. Maybe a good fire will shake things up, his thinking seems to
of the way through and turns into an armchair academic. The last few chapters
critic, and his emphasis on the fairy tale aspect of natural disaster
undermines the facts that have gone before. His argument appears to be that
fictional disasters stand in for racism. He appears to have missed the Will
Smith phenomenon, whereby a masculine and not deracinated black man repeatedly
funereal decade, interring many of the hopes and fantasies of the earlier
should stop complaining and suck it up, but this decade has seen the birth of
new fantasies, and he fails to take them on. There's no mention of the Internet
here, though surely it must have some effect on the way people define their
loyalties and civic duties. Ecology of Fear reads like a book written in
increased optimism (whether justified or not) about technology.
sincerely plausible. It is a solemn fake. You will not hear this from the
probably the most popular novel about that period since Gone With the
is so professionally archaeological, so competently dug, that one can mistake
its surfaces for depth. But it's like a cemetery with no bodies in it. All the
records of life are there, the facts and figures and pocket histories, pointing
up out of the ground, but what's buried there was never alive.
people don't want novels to be, in the deepest sense, unreal. They want them to
that it is "utterly convincing down to the last detail." And he's right. But
Cold Mountain is utterly convincing in an unreal way.
and epic power. As a storyteller, he hardly ever errs. This is a remarkably
where he had grown up. There, near Cold Mountain, waits his sweetheart, a woman
who has died just before the book begins, she is struggling to make her old
metaphysically alone, as the conventions of adventure dictate: "He wished not
to be smirched with the mess of other people." But messes just keep on
smirching him. He goes through a shower of picaresque trials: Three men set on
and another woman from a band of renegade federal soldiers; various men try to
recapture him; he is seduced by a woman whose husband, discovering the couple,
me if I did the right thing, letting you live"), and his inner life is
down at the last minute. But the tragic couple was permitted a night of
passion, and a moist epilogue shows a happy little girl, the product of this
union, frolicking with her mother some years later: the happy end of a happy
is a good writer: calm, for the most part unsentimental, often rich. But the
until recently, a professor of English, although the jacket copy omits this
fact, preferring us to believe that he and his family merely "raise horses" in
not moonlight nor the prick of lantern light from some welcoming home. The town
Such prose, if not quite antiquarian's dust, is the carbon
its roots. Linguistically, he is not in search of the historically rejuvenating
would not have occurred to him to write in anything but the living language of
his own age (which, admittedly, was closer to the earlier period's than
idea perhaps being that in simpler times, a homely, rustic simile would have
catfish "the size of a boar hog"; a man who gets ready to take a blow "like a
of blood: "He hopped like a schoolboy in a game." A corpse is seen, and Crane
describes the dead man's beard moving in the wind "as if a hand were stroking
historical life. The result is that while one continues to believe Cold
Mountain on the surface, one stops believing it at any deeper level. There
extraordinarily fascinating though it was but a mere slot in flesh." The reader
he would never use these upholstered words. The private language of a man like
himself. One sees that Cold Mountain is condemned to be a literary
approximation of an already literary idea of reality.
cheapness." Although the novelist might be able to render well all sorts of
facts and dates and general furniture, she could never truthfully render the
"old consciousness." The great historical novels are always about contemporary
consciousness. This inability to convey the "old consciousness" was not a
matter of inaccuracy but of bad faith. It would always be the new consciousness
East Village the other day to see what people were wearing at the center of
the clothed population; there seemed to be a large consensual flight from the
color black, that famous hue of communal refusal. Instead, everybody was
offhandedly wearing an assortment of garments in pale colors, as if
gives to modern urban life. It seems that the bohemian spirit has gone beyond
the old war against palatable daylight hypocrisy waged in the costume of stark
dark truth. Once upon a time, colorful clothing was the sign of unspeakable
properly bemused and detached critics of society. Now, it's clearly lost its
was a bohemian college student in New York, only black was acutely cool,
because it was so hard to find. Standard inexpensive clothes in
maybe brown or maroon, the traditional colors of country sportswear favored by
the Ivy League, and in tweedy mixtures or pale versions of the same. Socks,
too. All this was excruciatingly uncool, hopelessly demeaning. You could get a
black dress or black suit for lots of money, but that was only occasionally
permissible and mostly not possible; and there were no thrift shops full of
interesting castoffs. Satisfactory rebel black had to be tracked down in places
that specialized in dancers' gear, for example (where you could find black
tights and turtlenecks), or made at home during vacations. I remember
concocting many a funereal top and bottom and the occasional black cape on my
sympathetic mother's sewing machine. On a tight budget, it required real effort
to oppose the multicolored, tacky assumptions of ordinary life in those
dull black. Black was worn by mourners and the clergy, by civil and domestic
textiles, until then associated with widows' weeds and maids' uniforms, for
plain but costly little dresses that made the contrived, bright, or pallid garb
Fashionable women discovered that simply cut garments in plain black fabric
were as flattering to them as evening clothes were to men. Women's fashion
hasn't been the same since, and the feminine appeal of muted black clothes,
later extended to menswear for women, has kept its mainstream power. That power
was echoed in the rebellious bohemian version, which inevitably became a
sizable fashion market itself and took over a large part of expensive chic. For
that very reason, perhaps, current urban opposition to the whole
gone for good, because its prestige is so great. Suggesting, as it did, the
remote look of both the unworldly priesthood and the potent monastic orders,
austere, afflicted critic. Black was also chosen by women who took their cues
solitary, and impassioned heroines of fiction and history, wearing black
dresses in illustrative art, helped set the tone for hosts of modern
temptresses in black. Intelligent, unquiet black and sexy black have come
together in modern women's fashion; a black dress feels both safe and
personal distinction and a certain noble reticence. He offered this advice to
both sexes at a time when elaborate clothes in rich colors were prevalent among
the mighty; and many of them took it. Much Renaissance and Baroque portraiture
displays its successful effect, which has repeatedly inspired high and low
practical elegance ever since. Modern black sweaters and black leather jackets,
Now everybody can do it, and the fashion business has
apparently concluded that everybody will want to do it forever. Designers'
attempts to eradicate the public's devotion to black clothes, whether by
fashion folk around the globe, have succeeded only in fixing it more.
Transparent black and rugged black, fitted or flowing or bunchy black, black
velvet and satin, black spandex and plastic, never seem to go away. Striking
green, yellow, and purple may appear, and sober brown and navy, too, giving the
accumulated cultural force of its myriad uses in history, you might predict
that the future of black clothing would be at least as long as its past. Since
modern black can be both high and low or right and left, it seems too versatile
to lose. But all that might fall away. Up to now, the black printed type on the
page has also looked as indispensable as the adaptable dress of modern thought,
the new dawn they assume will flood the future and ultimately wash away the
or financial capitals, but in the mining and logging camps of the West. Lacking
a sizable middle class of farmers and shopkeepers (who would arrive only after
World War I), and undergoing intense and rapid capitalist development, large
government a football between the two," according to the final volume of John
R. Commons and associates' venerable History of Labor in the United
miners and loggers defended themselves and their jobs with rifles and dynamite.
They also created some of the most incendiary labor organizations ever seen,
above all the Western Federation of Miners. Their employers were no less
strikebreakers as if they were baronial armies. When private force failed,
employers persuaded local and state governments to suspend due process of law,
arrest suspected troublemakers, initiate mass deportations, and crush strikes
have sensed that readers in the conservative 1990s would resist being reminded
States, after all, has been blessed (we are constantly told) with a dynamic,
egalitarian sort of capitalism, one that has always rewarded individual
conventional wisdom in two ways: first, by describing a world (as Woody West
complains in a dismissive review of Big Trouble for the Weekly
slaves; and second, by appearing to ignore what West contends is "the most
remarkable fact of the capital consolidation of those years, especially in the
the air is scarce respirable. By the dim light of their lanterns, a dingy rock
surface, braced by rotting props, is visible. The stenches of decaying
vegetable matter, hot foul water and human excretions intensify the effects of
deployment of black troops and the use of preventive detention "bull pens" to
miners who called himself Harry Orchard. In Orchard's hotel room, police
discovered materials for rigging up a bomb. After prolonged coaxing by
impression that he could save his own neck by naming others, he went on to
notorious organization, the Industrial Workers of the World.
brought an outraged response from such relatively conservative labor leaders as
year and a half of legal wrangling and nationwide protest demonstrations,
the grounds that Orchard's testimony was unreliable. A few months later,
were then dropped. Only the wretched Orchard wound up getting convicted, and
(following the commutation of his death sentence) he spent the rest of his life
details that he sometimes seems to have lost his bearings, trying to read
significance into every little shard of information that his research had
Big Trouble is bigger than it had to be. It includes long digressions on
characters receive ample biographical treatments, but so do dozens of other
mastery of historical events and contexts, and his ability to dramatize them,
editors either did not or could not prevail upon him to lighten up, on himself
his obvious sympathies with the workers, was scrupulous in assessing the events
surrounding the murder. (In his epilogue, he offered compelling, albeit
subtitle implies they were. In fact, the immediate result of the trials was to
injustices of modern life, along with his stubborn reportorial integrity about
getting to the very bottom of any story as best he could. Its flaws aside,
Big Trouble is a brave book that exhibits those qualities bounteously.
act of channel surfing itself. Of course, video vaudeville wasn't the goal of
Foundation who dreamed that an infusion of federal funding would make the "vast
wasteland" of television bloom. How their dream cracked up, resulting in the
telecommunications litter. But it was planned that way. Commercial broadcasters
had been loitering in the vicinity of educational broadcasting years before the
the public broadcasting handoff from the Ford Foundation, which, along with the
underwrite it thereafter (just as cities routinely assume responsibility for
museums and libraries once philanthropists found them). In the expansionist
to education, culture, and politics wasn't that wild. Looking back, one
of government funding that didn't require the scrutiny of annual congressional
appropriations. All this would have required was that its founding bureaucrats
the provocative programming they thought was their mission. These unflinching
funding and his power to appoint board members to the Corporation for Public
programming course into the '70s. But to remind its masters that it can still
love: centrist news programs, conservative talk shows, Wall Street advice
corporate money and aggressively gathers data on how poor, uneducated, and
runs advertisements for its supporters at the top of shows and strikes business
And when it stumbles onto a good subject for a series, like Ken Burns' history
of baseball, it turns the show into a seminar on racism and labor relations,
public broadcasting. His policy prescription includes reducing corporate
influence, liberating the system from presidential control, democratizing local
spark. Commercial channels pour programs down from the heavens that match or
surpass the products of the public broadcasters, who are too cowed to produce
sallies against public broadcasting, which consume many pages of Made
to liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. The Army Corps of Engineers,
mystery but a loving biography of Ruth Graham, the Rev. Billy's wife. She's an
who prefer their women dutiful and demure, she herself has a macho side. She
flies a helicopter and makes statements about women surviving in a men's world
that could be confused with feminism. Her novels argue that criminals must pay
bulimia, and bipolar mood swings, and she has asked that people who suffer such
may explain why she's so popular and so queasily interesting. At a time when
rarity: a writer with a vivid, at times even freakishly messy, personality. She
office, and now she specializes in clinical descriptions of autopsies,
explaining in graphic detail how to analyze the vaginal swab of a raped corpse
or how to test skin ripped off a tortured child's buttock. As if that weren't
crime detection and the challenges faced by a woman entering this mostly male
nightmares. The details are now more rigorous and even more clinically
that's crucial to a really good writer, she projects ugly fixations onto
Noun. That's when she drops the article before some harmless inanimate object,
So why do we all keep reading? Voyeuristic slumming, in
the form of a rich, power hungry, sexually overactive but ultimately humane
black activist and publisher. Point of Origin also further develops
hilariously confused but not without insight. The increasing abstraction of her
plots allows her to do what she does best: write about the job. The most
executive who's responsible for the welfare of her subordinates but under
ruthless pressure to deliver results; the impossibility of sorting through
overwhelming floods of information and straining for an educated guess; the
sadness of a life lived in helicopters and planes rather than in hotels; the
inadequacy of colleagues who function like family but aren't. So what if
unadulterated, almost supernatural evil? She conveys, somehow, a genuine grief.
giggle. It was also sad enough to remember for a while.
beach to see other people in an unusual state of near nakedness, especially
girls, and stare at them in perfect freedom. It was impossible to do this
anywhere else. Magazines showed girls in sleek, revealing swimsuits (guys,
too), but that wasn't the same as real ones moving around, some of them people
you actually knew. It used to be the national pastime, after baseball, a summer
thrill for everybody. And then, after admiring all the pretty girls on local
the prettiest girls in the whole country, parading around in their bathing
the pageant has got itself into trouble by implicitly acknowledging this truth
terminology so as to avoid calling the event a beauty contest, or the girls
gorgeous. The word is out to call the girls talented and confident, and the
event a scholarship program. It is, I suspect, this bit of doublespeak that has
Excluding beauty is a ridiculous development for the Miss
Sweetheart, the girl whose earnest desire to do good in the world and do well
in her work is most purely embodied in her lovely face and perfect figure. It's
part of the wholesome old tradition equating Goodness and Truth with Beauty,
particularly the beauty of women. It's opposed to the wicked old tradition
daughters have been wearing them for decades, and navels of all ages are a
customary have they become, in fact, that the pageant's decision comes at the
time when bathing suits are no longer even considered particularly explosive.
long clinging evening dresses instead of bathing suits. A current issue of
Only one girl is wearing nothing but a bathing suit, and it seemed to be made
suits. Of course, something started happening to bathing suits as soon as they
invented in the revolutionary 1840s to permit mixed bathing on public beaches.
Before that, men and women bathed separately in the nude.) In due course we
wound up with the modern swimsuit and the respectable nearly naked nude,
business and no pleasure. The advanced 1890s permitted bathing suits to catch
the eye, but only with nautical touches and a less engulfing shape, under which
corseting might be applied to sharpen the outline. No skin could appear.
change in bathing suits began during World War I. Even before that, a radical
exposure in female clothing was underway; skirts rose up and permanently
unveiled the shoes, necklines showing the collarbone began to be worn before
sundown. Wartime excitement fostered the sense that the Brave Boys deserved a
thrill before they marched away, and the truly patriotic bathing suit had to
Beauties of the silver screen: naked arms, shoulders, backs, and armpits topped
off skimpy costumes baring knees and an inch or two of thigh. The tight corset
had vanished and dieting had yet to be invented, so the jiggly female form
showed amply through the bathing suit. And soon such daring beach wear could,
should, and indeed had to be worn, not just by actresses with doubtful morals
and a professional stake in their physical looks, but by the girl next door. It
was all a matter of keeping the home fires burning and preserving the values
since, it has been a part of every good girl's duty, heaven help her, to adorn
with every decade. A girl's respectability was forever sundered from the
display. Consequently, keeping the body fit for the task has been built into
female basic training for four generations, despite new shifts in the direction
of female ambition and the foundation of new codes of female honor. And that
occasional minor agitation that vainly urges it to stop the swimsuit
attacked this ancient female habit of body and mind. For one thing, as the Miss
now be everywhere exposed: in the public parks, in the buses and subways, in
Grand Central Terminal. Who needs the beach for the ritual summer thrill?
Further degrees of exposure became impossible after the string and the thong
came in, went out, and returned. And so what's happened to bathing suits is
that folks have lost interest in them, except, perhaps, for the organizers of
Extra daring nakedness has gone back to being the domain of
professionals, the models who pose for nude photos or who wear runway couture
that bares the breasts, buttocks, and navel under transparent spangled veiling
photographed on a perfect body in a manner suggesting the serene elegance of
antique sculpture. We could easily follow along in that vein, in our less
groundbreaking nowadays is to stroll on the sand or romp in the waves in a
Notes is one of those books that gets pushed on you by crazy people. I was
pushed on me. An aging beatnik with a ragged knapsack plunked down next to me
out a tattered paperback and thrust it at me, insisting that the volume was too
important not to be passed on. When I asked the man what A Fan's Notes
was about, I expected an answer profound and mystical; instead, he fixed his
and is only incidentally about the former New York Giants halfback Frank
the memoirist, the ploy that teams reader and writer against the world, and
story opens. While watching a televised Giants game, indulging his overweening
passion for football, he collapses from alcoholic exhaustion. The breakdown
occasions a jigsaw of memories: of an upstate New York boyhood dominated by a
Manhattan advertising; of romantic humiliations at the hands of perky
centerfold blondes; and, finally, of dreamlike interludes in sadistic mental
committed. "It was a difficult admission to make, but I am glad that I made it;
later I came to believe that this admission about oneself may be the only
family seated next to him at a football game makes him want to "cut my
flecked with butter" complexion renders him impotent.
pretty girls suffocating in their softness, young executives crucifying in
the smallest doses only, and any extended period of consciousness forces him
back to the bar, the hospital. In one chapter, "Journey on a Davenport," he
tucks himself in on his mother's couch and goes on a sort of existential
the page is a rummy baritone, fat and resonant but capable of a cruel
came a point when Bunny had a kind of terrifyingly loose and constant
moistness, the kind of totally loose submission one detects in a woman he has
impregnated, the moist eyes, the warm moist hands, the loose moist breasts
and verbose. "Thus it was that the days of my youth flew by like violently
unpublished novelist tuning up to write his magnum opus just as soon as
work inspired a great work about postponement, a portrait of the artist as
procrastinator. The drunken bore of A Fan's Notes is never boring. He's
vibrant with resentment, alive with failure, a sad sack superman. When he gazes
among them an awe of physical transcendence. His talent for disgust and mockery
life of splendid indigence didn't change when his book met with wide acclaim.
somewhat famous, though this was enough to turn his alienation into an act, a
seedy admirers who kept him in cold beer and pocket change in return for
wandering. He hectored friends and publishers for money, repaid people's love
for him with cold neglect, and followed up on A Fan's Notes with two
affectionate yet dubious portrait of a man he knew only through rambling
rarely lived long at one address, and wasn't given to intimate conversation.
dragged from an athletic state of grace into the oily tabloid muck), he left
behind no significant paper trail other than the memoirs that made his name.
strangely obsessed with oral sex. On even less evidence he speculates that
add up to much in any conventional biographical sense, and he admits as much in
enigmatic certain writers' lives can be once you've subtracted their work from
talent, was shockingly little: a troubled heart, a bottle, an affection for the
home team, and a cacophony of chemical imbalances. It's no wonder that crazy
So, it seems, have many other women we see in the subway or office. Is this an
improvement in personal grooming (a thesis communitarian philosophers might
advance) or yet another imposition on busy professionals by the beauty industry
(as feminist pundits might argue)? Well, here's why I do it: Manicures look and
minutes tops. You used to have to go to a beauty salon, wait twice as long, and
putting ethnic credit unions to good use, opened discount nail salons in every
goal of feminism is greater economic and social independence for women, then
storefront manicure parlors are a feminist success story for the 1990s: They've
cosmetics and personal care have always been a way for marginalized women to
transformed from a matter of folk recipes whispered from woman to woman to a
beauty industry may be the only business, at least until recent decades, in
For the past three decades, feminists have been accusing
the beauty industry of fiendishly sophisticated campaigns to undercut women's
anything as faceless as an industry, let alone one capable of a broad social
individual service and the laying on of hands, was considered a trade too
an excellent opportunity for immigrants and blacks. There were men in the
field, but women had the edge. They could claim to use the products themselves
and other women trusted them. The women who rose to the top invented flamboyant
education to ship her out of reach of an unsuitable boyfriend. But she claimed
orphaned as children, who began as purveyors of black women's hair potions.
generously to black causes, and refusing to sell skin bleach, a popular item
hussies. The solution was to tie makeup to the freedoms women were beginning to
enjoy: The "New Woman" who worked in the city or went to college or just
thought of herself as modern needed and deserved a new face for the world, just
as she needed and deserved the right to work and vote.
eagerly embraced the idea that changing their faces would change their social
status. The new consumers of beauty products wrote to manufacturers that they
applied rouge, lipstick, and mascara for their own pleasure, not that of their
men. Men were more likely to oppose makeup than demand it, and often forbade
The second problem was access to capital and to store
shelves. Bankers and distributors were generally loath to do business with the
gentler sex. The cosmetics queens solved this problem by exploiting their
intimacy with their customers. During the first quarter of the century, the
beauty industry advanced new sales techniques emphasizing personal contact:
adept at what is known today as "multilevel marketing": They traveled around
the country recruiting black women as sales representatives.
her upscale products, she bought her company back.) But female founders were
kept on as spokeswomen, or new front women were hired. Advertising agencies
hired their first women to write beauty copy, then promoted them to higher
positions. Beauty magazines, with scores of editorial jobs for women, emerged
unified standards of feminine beauty. Suddenly, there was a look, and everyone
had to have it. Whereas once beauty practices had an appealingly informal
in offices and schools. Women went from being active to passive participants in
the rites of beautification. No longer was putting on one's face seen as a
matter of individuality, dignity, or even racial advancement (moving to
Northern cities in the Great Migration of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, many
former sharecroppers saw applying cosmetics as a step toward participating in
and, by the time the women's movement began to address it, of oppression.
of beauty isn't all big corporations and victimized customers. Even during the
mothers, sisters, and friends as more likely to drive their buying decisions
than advertising. Nowadays, lefty female academics dress as "white trash" as a
statement of class protest. Lipstick lesbians wear heavier makeup than straight
women. Black professionals braid their hair to display their ethnic pride. In
other words, using makeup is as complicated an act as it has ever been.
know that two weeks earlier the incumbent had detained a friend in the Oval
contributions solicited from the dairy lobby in exchange for federal price
Journalists, senators, and special prosecutors have made sure that even the
just printed proof, leaked by a disgruntled Department of Defense analyst named
his overweening paranoia and narcissism, deemed a risk to "national security."
The most infamous escapade of these "plumbers" was their last: a failed
Immediately the president and his Oval Office confidants began scheming to
protect what they portentously referred to as "the presidency" (meaning
themselves) from revelations that would surely issue from any serious
investigation of their administration: where they got their milk money, how
directly responsible for these enormities. They were pressured into leaving the
country, testifying that they had done nothing, swearing they had never before
way of a grim paradox: His lieutenants were soon suspected of conducting
illicit operations of such high stakes and complexity that only a senior
official would have supervised them. But the more senior the official who was
suborned into taking responsibility, the farther he stood to fall; and the
better he knew the error of trusting this president to protect him. It was only
a matter of time before someone who had seen how things worked inside of the
was the first to break. For months Dean's claims that the president was (like
himself) guilty of obstruction of justice simply pitted his own word against
his Oval Office conversations. Sixty hours worth of reels, subpoenaed by the
Supreme Court and carried to the courtroom in a single lockbox, yielded a
The story of the tapes, meanwhile, was only beginning.
Congress whisked them immediately to the National Archives for safekeeping. But
conversations classified by the National Archives as touching "abuse of power."
It's been a flush autumn for political voyeurs, what with the publication of
Charge, cusses a damning newspaper editorial (a favorite pastime), a
footnote tracks down the article and quotes from the offending passages. To
read these books is to plant oneself firmly in their worlds.
this book, on the other hand, is to hold on for dear life while a tornado of
entwined financially in a way embarrassing to all concerned.
suspicions. It would have required a minimum of effort, and would been useful
public. Already, newspapers and magazines have been filled with careful
limitations has run out on these crimes. It may be that the best way to read
this text in the years ahead will not be with a magnifying glass, but through
despite the paranoia and dread that runs through this book but, in some
ways, because of it. What was his appeal to the "silent majority" but a
the Republican National Committee while it stood by its man until the last,
performer, not just from the sound but (so it seems) from the performer's
personality, from the shake of a head or the expressive curl of a wrist? I
realize that, of all the grand effects that music can produce, charisma is one
not too high. Years ago, in the days before I became a journalist, I played
trombone with a group called the Uptown Horns, backing up blues and rock bands,
and I savor the memory of how our jaded little group used to mock the rock
world's cult of the charismatic. To hold one's fist stiffly in the air in a
gesture of ridiculous defiance while the bass amplifier thundered and the
guitar shrieked and our man on tenor sax honked deliriously, and to see a
barroom audience respond with shouts and their own idiotic fists in the beery
looking for charismatic qualities in places where, in theory, they might be
genuine touch of the charismatic is never where you expect it to be. A given
soloist might be wonderfully talented, and might choose to perform the kind of
so, the indefinable strength that counts as charismatic might fail to appear.
seen at the New York Philharmonic debut, a couple of months ago, of a violinist
pronounced itself content. Yet what can I say? It may have been the doughy look
of earnest concentration on the young man's ample cheeks, or it may have been
of spectacular and forceful effects, due to the humble nature of his
instrument. The viola tends to be plaintively melancholic, or else to squawk,
by its helpless neck, like a dead rabbit, you feel, even before he starts to
play, a vibration in the air, ever so slightly, as if gusting from the air
told (by virtually every journalist who has written about him), began his
viola out of the despairing recognition that, on the guitar, he would never
from the stage, and the audience, mulling over the biographical background with
at other times the speedy wobble of a swallowed scream. But characteristically,
he uses very little vibrato at all, and the tones that emerge are round and
affectless, like a man singing falsetto. His emotional peaks are almost always
achieved at the lowest volume. He whispers. You expect him to sink beneath the
level of audibility. But those falsetto timbres of his make a searing tone,
even in a middle register, where tones are usually not searing, and the sound
The of his performances that I have heard do not capture
can hear only in the concert hall. And in the concert hall you become aware,
ago, he reached for that sound and, at one excruciating moment, lost control of
his bowing and sent out a wild overtone, double the volume of his normal
Philharmonic appearance during his most recent visit, he performed a viola
wandering the earth. Unspeakable horrors deploy across the background. Tartar
The violence is shocking. The starry sky is gorgeous.
moments you have the feeling that he is drunkenly singing sardonic songs of woe
the foreground, a lonely man with an eerie and haunting sound, sometimes
inhumanity in ferocious battle, waging every grand and noble struggle that we
we feel when a strong personality comes up against a demonic power and refuses
intelligent reader or theatergoer and his eye turns inward, though not away,
letters addressed to him). These materials had not been thoroughly examined
amplifies much that we have known and adds much in color and facet that has
its load of information sturdily but not with much grace. Like many biographers
of our day, empowered by new research technologies, he is reluctant to discard
any of what he has been able to harvest. He includes minor stuff merely because
man squeezing drop by drop the slave out of himself and waking one morning
feeling that real human blood, not a slave's, is flowing through his
The origins of some writers explain to a degree their subjects and styles.
that one of his brothers called "crushing anguish," ranged the full field of
society, and always with a delicacy that still makes the world gasp.
already moved, to study medicine. To help pay his way through medical school,
physician, and he never completely gave up medicine as his short life raced to
stories ascended breathtakingly in quality and varied greatly in length, though
his preface, "Biography is not criticism," and he assuredly keeps his word.
Each of the major stories gets only a small identification tag from him, of not
much critical value. Possibly he deals more helpfully with them in his critical
books, unread by me. But this critical tagging becomes even less helpful when
clarifies these connections. But he does not come near conveying that, in the
whole of Western drama, there is no precedent for the style and texture of
these quietly towering plays. (For an exquisite illumination of these matters,
frequent patron of brothels.) Involved though he was with a literary life, he
never abandoned medicine as long as his health permitted. He worked heroically
three months there studying the health conditions, about which he wrote a very
assists us with these contradictions by saying that, "by the standards of his
his attitude toward it. By his middle 20s, he knew that he suffered from
tuberculosis, and he coughed blood increasingly as the years went on. When he
directly from the ceremony to a honeymoon in a sanitarium. Why did this man,
himself a physician, pay so relatively little attention to his disease? The
only comprehensible explanation is that the vocation that had burrowed in next
friend: "Not for a minute am I free of the thought that I must, am obliged to
phrase maker, with many of the phrases scattered in his letters. ("All
when he began to cough blood profusely. He sent a note to a doctor he knew:
artists still believed in progress, two revolutionary young composers named
instruments, a brutal piece commemorating an act of violence.
performance of Threnody and gave the New York premiere of a recent
everywhere, they belong to a generation that has fallen into disrepute. Many
along with the rest of their generation, are often charged with having reduced
music to a set of games, making it schematic and emotionally barren. The
audiences came to believe that the compositions of their time were mechanical,
it is largely because they listened less to the music than to what the artists
once said. "I don't really care much about emotions." The music preceded the
clangor of bows being bounced and scraped on the strings, of fingers tapping on
wood, or of the siren wails produced by floods of sliding glissandi. Wrong,
perhaps, but inevitable. Threnody is expressive in spite of itself.
my eyes filling with tears. So, to hide them, I dropped a spoon on the floor.
wind, brass, and percussion; two boy choirs; female voice; and computer; is a
shrouded in drapery and darkness at the foot of the podium, slowly rising and
writhing only for the keening solo that ends the piece, a recitative redolent
of Middle Eastern rites. An earlier trombone cadenza was a modernist echo of
were plenty of "emotional excitements." The music rolled like a wave through a
furious churning from the instruments, then abated to quiet intonations and
still chords, filigreed by a solo clarinet. It may just have been heat or
hunger that caused one boy chorister to faint as if on cue as soon as the last
chord faded during a rehearsal that morning, but it was easy to believe he had
The real problem with the most innovative music of the
postwar era is not so much that it is dry as that it can sound dated.
composed, orchestras have been asked to make noises that sound much worse than
blasts of brass; a fugue built on a long, solid cable of a theme; climaxes that
follow each other with the deafening regularity of an artillery barrage; horns
that blare from the balconies: Nearly every moment seems calculated to matter.
Bach. He has come a long way from the man who once proudly claimed to have
has combined his search for new technologies with a reverence for rituals and
ancient theater: Microphones picked up sounds from the stage and computers
tossed them to speakers in the balconies and back again, letting chords and
have been largely reluctant to acknowledge his political talents. Thus have
more historiographical approach, examining, comparing, and correcting the
fusion of aggressive nationalism and populist rhetoric. An early practitioner
dismissed as a poor military strategist intoxicated by quixotic ambitions,
understood acutely the "supreme importance of land power" with the
"motorization of military movement." As a result, he succeeded, in less than a
not make a wrong move. His victories emboldened him and his National Socialist
Holocaust as an anxious, reactive measure sparked by "the previous practices
German historians were obliged to "identify" with the German soldiers on the
historians," he concludes that "their explanations amounted to a kind of
history are idiosyncratic and often wrong. For instance, we are told that
baleful age that wrested authority from responsible elites and enshrined
industry. Despite his penchant for revolutionary rhetoric, his inspired use of
modern techniques of collective mobilization, and his willingness to strike up
"During the twentieth century the compound of nationalism with socialism has
passing into the hands of the masses, he ignores an important distinction
between mass societies: those ruled by charismatic dictators, unchecked by
popular representation; and those governed by democratic institutions. With
admits to having a bad clothes day, for example. Fashion in coiffure naturally
relates to what's cool below the neck, but since we mostly grow our hair
ourselves, its visual life has a stronger meaning than that of pants and
shirts. A man I know, a distinguished professor of philosophy at a
like a gay weight lifter. So he does, sort of. His new hair produces a fine
with several wayward forms of nonacademic company. It also gives just the
slightest salutary fright to colleagues and students.
everybody pinpoints his own wishes as accurately as my friend, but since the
death of compulsory hats, men and women have allowed their personal fantasies
to focus on hair even more than on clothes. Clothes are public husks, they
shift on and off your body and in and out of fashion and your life; you can
hide your alternate selves, or your mistakes, in the back of the closet. But
hair is only partially public. Since it stays with you continuously, even while
you're naked, your hair adorns your most intimate identity, just as your face
does, and only secondarily supports the roles you play in life. What you do
The hard thing is that the comforting fantasy you realize
on your head may seem like quite another thing to the world. You cut your hair
very short to feel young and free; your audience sees the look of a plucked
turkey. Your haircut imitates a movie star's; in it you resemble a
schoolteacher. In fact, hair fantasy is mostly unconscious and so is the
response to it. Our personal failures count as such only if we feel that our
hidden hair agenda fails us. Most others don't notice anything.
publicity of private hair is a long story; it figures in the willingly shaven
heads of ancient priests and modern skinheads, in the punitive shearing of male
convicts and female French collaborators, in huge powdered wigs and elaborately
extended curls or braids. Politically charged hair doubtless dates straight
back to humanity's first racial conflicts, perhaps preceded by its earliest
social conflicts. It's the hair of the enemy that marks him as such, as with
the flowing tresses of royalist Cavaliers (effete tyrants) and the cropped hair
universally erotic and has no function except as a vehicle of pleasure and
meaning. The idea that men and women must wear differing coiffures goes very
deep, since visible hair is what should reveal the invisible difference between
his hair is always rather short and hers is always very long and noticeable, as
if God had personally styled them that way from the beginning.
new stages in the old rebellion against religious strictures, which once
covered up lest it incite lust. In the modern West, progressive slackening of
those rules came to permit naked hair for women, but only under visible
eventually acceptable for women, too, but visibly careful grooming was still
then we've been having the mop and the shag and the mane and the haystack, with
straight and curled, long and short versions of each, sometimes untidily caught
up in clamps and clasps and elastic bands. Hair in historical movies is often
the same, never mind the elaborately coiled and oiled evidence of history. It
would seem that the more powerful modern women feel, the less they want their
systems of braids worn by many black women seem like elegant reincarnations of
precise care taken, beauty manifestly pursued and achieved in the most august
This idea is even fashionably acceptable for the chic face
and body and for certain clothes, but not for modish hair. Heaven forbid that
haystacks do actually need a constant attention that braids don't; and
elaborate processes for streaking and tinting and correctly disarranging them
can rack up a very noticeable tab. But the overall impression must remain that
of no trouble taken whatsoever, even to make a straight part, so that the hair
looks as if sun and wind and some tumbling in bed were all it ever got.
Anything too processed might smack of oppression or repression, pretension or
candidates, as a proper concession to masculine convention, but not when
harder time with their hair. Censure for hairstyles has mostly fallen on men,
since male appearance has forever mattered so much at war and work. Detailed
rules have much more often been applied to male rather than to female
arrangements. As a result men are much more afraid of looking ridiculous than
women are, since female fashion has risk built into it. For men's hair, the
cosmic risk is the possible baldness haunting them all, and that only adds to
the skinhead aesthetic. The visual keynote is sharp clarity, so that the
overall norm is neat, short hair, give or take a few inches. Long and flowing
is occasional, really messy is exceptional. But dreadlocks aside, modern
ornamental curling and braiding and powdering and adorning of hair. That mostly
leaves creative topiary, with shearing and partial shearing included, for the
mainstream, out of which my academic friend is so eager to keep. At an earlier
margins, except in military school. When he did that, I said, how could you?
why did you? wailing at the loss of his fine thatch and simultaneously unable
chip. This little morality play contrasts a ragtag group of aging flower
children with a gathering of young, glamorously dressed executives. When the
'60s veterans try to play some pitiful music, they are quickly drowned out by
the frantic brainstorming of their corporate descendants. The words "Make
corporate lexicon. Politicians might fault the decade for its legacy of
permissiveness and the pursuit of too much happiness, but Apple blithely urges
indignant explanation of this state of affairs. According to Frank, the '60s
people were, he would never have been so confused about his future.) The world
has been made safe for stylish nonconformity, and the prospect of genuine
Frank says he aims to illuminate the entire world of "business culture," his
in the '50s had been a timid, stifling business. Admen populated their
creations with lab coats and graphs and prided themselves on the scientific
precision of their work. Detailed rule books expounded the doctrine of the
superiority of a given product over its competitors. (Wonder bread "helps build
strong bodies twelve ways.") The results were humorless and hectoring, a
tedious, nonstop barrage that was better suited to a Mad magazine satire
than to the subtle task of infiltrating the wary consumer's mind.
were eager to shake up their industry and address the public's alienation. If
this was something that advertisers needed to know, and to act upon. The trick
was to make the middle class's pervasive dissatisfaction with commercialism,
cheap goods, and planned obsolescence into an instrument of consumerism
style caught on: Perhaps the most memorable example of commercial diffidence
suspicions would be disarmed with light humor and quiet sophistication. But the
message was plain and clear: Individualism and nonconformity could sell a
magic cultural formula by which the life of consumerism could be extended
indefinitely, running forever on the discontent that it had itself produced."
When the counterculture burst on the scene, advertisers simply found a new,
much brighter "palette" for the presentation of already established messages.
Before long, a sea of psychedelic ads flooded the nation, urging consumers to
The marriage of counterculture and capitalism is hardly a
new subject, but Frank does provide a refreshingly unsentimental look at it. He
does not believe that sinister advertisers were simply trying to capture or
them into the world at large. Ads with aggressively youthful themes were just
as likely to appear in Ladies' Home Journal or Look as in the
underground press. And those ads often hawked products that only the prosperous
it was to create a vague but attractive image of rebellion for all to
young academic who is best known as the founder of a lively cultural criticism
jargon. There isn't a dull page in the book. Unfortunately, Frank's frequent
less convincing than the particular stories he has to tell. The advertising and
capitalism." If there were any businessmen who didn't welcome youth culture,
they don't appear here. (We are told that the sales of men's hats fell
also ignores a more sober aspect of '60s revolt: the consumer movement.
Responding to public pressure, the Federal Trade Commission banned cigarette
particularly broad strokes. At his best, he deftly skewers the inanities of
asking himself, "How is a man rebelling today?") But the antinomian antics of
youth culture" is "the cultural mode of the corporate moment." It may be fun to
the happy homilies of the new corporate faith." But what does it mean? Chances
there is no dominant style to contemporary consumerism. Advertisers frequently
urge us to rebel, and they frequently urge us to conform. They encourage us to
indulge ourselves, and they exhort us to worry about our competence at work.
identify a lucrative market of rugged individualists in one study will turn
next. Marketers will do anything that seems to promise a momentary fit with the
Rather than distinguish these varieties of consumer
experience, Frank stuffs everything into the boxes of "square" and
hardly the first to note that the tastes of a "hip" bohemian elite have spread
to the masses, or to argue that the results of this cultural migration are
deleterious. Both the observation and the complaint are virtually as old as
Wherever the image of nonconformity appears, Frank spies the ascendant force of
rebel consumerism. Is there really a common sensibility that unites the
promises to be "ready when you are," is that an instance of untrammeled
Delta merely trying to soothe the nerves of the anxious business traveler who
hopes to arrive at the next meeting with his clothes unwrinkled? Frank's
categories are too crude to answer these questions. All these advertisements
may be insulting to one's intelligence or taste; but they don't add up to a
formula" that can explain capitalism's survival and success.
accelerated grimace. In his short flurry, he tasted what he called a "thousand
brother, and two uncles. At Guy's Hospital, where he trained as a surgeon, he
became responsible, as the eldest son, for his siblings. He struggled between
trapped a little death. "While we are laughing, the seed of some trouble is put
most of them written in that same year, are elegies wrapped as odes. They
disguise mourning as celebration; they celebrate whatever is going, or gone.
poetry, but the sound of death, a siren call to suicide.
textures. That puffy lyricism, that gorgeous hysteria of escape ("From silken
harder shape. The imagination has political responsibilities, goes the lecture,
revelatory, is a product of this apology for the lyric. Using recent
scholarship (in particular, historicism and cultural materialism), Motion
humble origin (his father managed an inn and a stable). He did not go to one of
the great boarding schools but to a quirky, dissenting establishment in
disapproved of the company he kept. It is difficult to leap from this to
mission," or that "he is always engaged with the 'Liberal side of the
Question,' even when sinking most deeply into the imagination." This belief
leads Motion into many forced readings. The essential difficulty is the
perspective, a poem is seen as a criminal whose alibi is too convincing to be
believable. A poem, says historicist criticism, will always be riven by the
historical contradictions that surround it. Being a poem, it will want to
resolution or otherwise to smother the scandal of its roots in real history.
The critic's task is to interrogate the poem, to bully it into confession. The
critic then praises the poem not only for confessing but also for having had,
all along, that confession as its real (if buried) subject. The critic
lyric poet of considerable power, and this book's style bears the impress of
that talent. But the historicist grid is unrelenting. One quickly wearies of
manuscript shows that he wrote the poem straight out, with one alteration. That
hot consanguinity. But the critique that follows is icy: We are warned that the
poem admits to a sense of being "challenged or even edged aside by history" (it
does no such thing), and that the title ("On First Looking Into
But that word "first" stamps the poem with a lovely air of aroused virginity,
resented the Pacific for existing before he discovered it? Motion's zeal as a
historicist makes him neglect his duty as a biographer, which is to remind us
Too often, one has to pick one's way through this book like
readings of poems. These readings climax in Motion's discussion of "To Autumn."
fooled into thinking it is still summer: "Until they think warm days will never
historicism this is a poem that, in Motion's words, is "ambitious to transmute
secretly acknowledges that no such ideal exists. Those bees, for instance:
been persuaded into working overtime)"? A page later, this has hardened into a
certainty that the bees "are a reminder of the miserable facts of labor that
describes the bees' labor as a gentle delusion ("they think warm days will
never cease"). In Motion's reading, "To Autumn" is really about the inequities
of agricultural labor. The shame is not so much the obvious absurdity as that
such a reading, clutching at alien abstractions, finds no place to observe the
perfect specificity of describing honeycombs as "clammy cells."
but it is a metaphysical toughness rather than a political one. Historicism
works on a moral hierarchy, in which political suffering is more important than
metaphysical suffering or simply incorporates it, and in which "history" is
not the burden: "And if he improves by degrees his bodily accommodations and
his head." After politics, there are the gods to deal with.
planted in the "wide arable land of events" might be the seed of death, not
will never fade, because they are art, and thus permanent; he is happy that
they have never had to live, that they are not suffering: "Ah, happy, happy
Autumn" is not just disturbed by a sense that autumn will inevitably pass into
winter; it is an elegy for lost summer. Even the "small gnats mourn" this
passing. And "Ode to a Nightingale," which meditates on suicide, is an elegy
for himself: "Now more than ever seems it rich to die,/ To cease upon the
that somewhere, out of sight, we have already lived our actual lives, and that
the life we are forced to feel through now is a posthumous remembrance of that
end of "Ode to a Nightingale." It is one of the most cherished questions in
Romantic poetry. But there is nothing benign in this question; it is an echo of
asked just the same question in one of his last letters: "Is there another
life? Shall I awake and find all this a dream? There must be, we cannot be
baby in her arms. She was wearing a flattering skintight jumpsuit, swinging her
long hair, and easily hefting her precious burden, and she sauntered with total
feminine assurance along that stony, hilly little street in a pair of
feet, that is. While upper proportions have shifted uneasily from big shoulders
and wayward hair to neater hair and narrower shoulders, there has been a steady
trend down below toward gigantic shoes for both sexes and all
those who remember that decade may recall the platform footgear then current.
Back then, they suggested a '40s Revival, but this time something else is going
one thing, perhaps. Shoe fetishism is certainly nothing new, though for women
shoes used to be a male privilege, from the aristocratic pointed
high scarlet heels and great butterfly shapes over the instep. During most of
that time, women's feet "like little mice stole in and out" (as Sir John
modern women went overboard once their skirts rose off the ground and pants
became an option. Again and again, feminine fashion in this century has
exploited the powerful erotic character of footgear, just when modern men's
shoes had begun to retreat into simplicity along with the rest of the male
want to mask our deep love of bondage and ferocity with the rhetoric of
comfort, fitness, and athletic glory. Men can play that game too, and anybody's
shoes can now combine madness and badness with gestures toward utility. The
flabby man on the bus wears wrinkled pants, shirt, and windbreaker in
nondescript shades of gray, but on his feet are enormous shoes sculpted out of
life. The tiny black dress of a scrawny girl at a party exposes thin whittled
pumps would never set off her frame as well as these monsters do.
erotic charge comes from the shoes being crippling and enabling at the same
time, the effect traditionally produced by very high heels. They lift the lady
up, seductively tighten her leg muscles, and thrust her forward as if to launch
her into the air and into her future, even as they shorten her stride and
increase her risk of tripping. High heels look elegant and dangerous, like
those endless pointed shoes on the medieval princes, but they are also
thrilling, like roller blades, figure skates, or toe shoes. They are fierce
engines of art, designed to demonstrate that an authoritative grace can
transcend all danger, inconvenience, and absurdity.
All this is possible because feet themselves are so banally
utilitarian and infinitely sexy, with sensitive nerve endings and suggestive
shapes clothing the tough muscle and articulated bone that carry us around.
Feet can kick and stomp and trample, or receive and give refined caresses; they
can make us dance like angels or march like brutes. But they're also acutely
helpless, with skin that's much too touchy and toes that aren't so clever. They
need help in a way hands don't. Like ears, feet are natural jewels that cry out
for visual emphasis. From my high window, I can see faraway people walking on
Sixth Avenue, their little white sneakers giving a pearly edge to each
of female feet emphasized their tenderness by reducing them to living
lover's mouth. We are now perversely disposed to do the same thing with clumpy
boots that box feet in or puffy shoes that muffle them up with blobs or
clogs with dainty straps, the lofty heels with splayed bottoms. These are
endless new treats for the shoe fetishist who seems to lurk in every modern
with a real genius for evoking the cosmic and the transcendent; but reading his
Complete Stories makes me think that transcendence has its limits.
kind of immigrant environment in which little children, because they are the
vulnerable elders from the contempt of the outside world. It was a background,
is a veil, behind which can be glimpsed, by means of sympathetic insight, a
heroes of his early stories, from the 1940s and '50s, tend to be poor,
inarticulate shopkeepers and workers (tailors, grocers, shoemakers,
outer appearances suddenly fall away to reveal inner souls of the purest
inexplicable wind and blown around the world until they attach themselves
randomly to the first unlucky person who comes their way. Sometimes the author
himself seems to float upward on a gust of wind, into the airy zones of fable,
sad nuisance of a talking bird, fleeing God knows what tragedies (the bird
entertain circus audiences with pathetic jokes. The fabulist images are
perfectly believable, an effortless demonstration that the grotesqueries of
sketches his stories usually with a few bold colors and fewer details, as in a
a man that he has guests, to spoil him his supper?" But you come away from
than ethnic, that the weird little events in his tales correspond to unseen
he elevated into an ideal. He devoted a number of his later stories to an
of theorizing about art and its meaning. But the effect is gassy:
love and tried to put a little flesh on his spiritual creations, in an effort
these stories, especially the later ones, he seems to have been unable to get
beyond his own commonplace fantasies about prostitutes and 1960s miniskirts.
her hooker past in "A Choice of Profession," a father trails after his
streetwalker daughter in "God's Wrath," a doctor imagines his neighbor as a
The writing leers, for want of any better way to conjure a sexual attraction.
that, coming across a sexual scene in one of her father's novels, she put the
could feel that way. I reached a point in reading The Complete Stories
where the arrival of a new young woman in any given story made me roll my
One of his first stories of love, "The First Seven Years,"
master shoemaker's daughter to grow old enough to marry. The assistant
who knows why, to devote himself to a hopeless love; still wincing from the
bursting with passion, if only his boss, the master shoemaker, will deign to
says to him about his love for the girl. "She will never marry a man so old and
ugly like you." But she will, of course, which is going to be too bad. The
always a virtue, though. The lesser stories in the Complete edition cast
and the name of that slightly different volume ought to be, more cautiously,
possibly reveal what prompted the creation of such an exquisite work. Green
infer? This was, after all, a man renowned for his retiring propriety, a man
wonder. "He longed for the earthiest and wildest kinds of sexual adventures,"
favorite thing to watch on television was "people dancing uninhibitedly"
fingers" remark out of prudery. He blushed because it had hit too close to
important business of sorting out precisely how he or she feels about The
other with a fine, pure love, a love that was more than love, a love coveted by
the winged seraphs of heaven. "We had indeed become one," she tells us, freely
consummated. Thereafter, the couple set up housekeeping together in an
seems like a nice lady, and I certainly have nothing against adultery, which I
hear is being carried on in the best circles these days. But the public
balm for the soul: unfailingly clear, precise, logical, and quietly stylish. So
what if the articles were occasionally boring? It was a sweet sort of boredom,
serene and restorative, not at all like the kind induced by magazines today,
which is more akin to nervous exhaustion. Besides, the moral tone of the
grieved over all living creatures" is forgivable hyperbole; but later to add
very next page that "if he suffered a paper cut on a finger and saw blood, he
would come into my office, looking pale." She declares that "Bill was incapable
point of pure light that will reach into eternity." (File that under Romantic
repetition? "Whatever reporting Bill asked me to do turned out to be both
his skill as an editor, she betrays the presence of its absence. "All writers,
of course, have needed the one called the 'editor,' who singularly, almost
Yorker in the late '70s and early '80s, they would make fun of such things
the pages of the magazine that was mounting up to millions of words over the
years, and the very idea of it seemed to bore people silly. After the
during the fall of the Raj and the Partition, a boy who had been blinded by
his love was not requited in the same way. He likens the revered editor to the
of not hurting anyone's feelings that he often listened to utterly fatuous
to calm him down. At times I wondered whether the author, in his ecstasies of
I am not sure I have made it sound this way so far, but
ever reviewed. It oozes affection and conviction, crackles with anger, and is
always shut, but I could hear him through the wall that separated his cubicle
typewriter seemed somehow to be incorporated into the rhythmic
without a word from his typewriter appearing in the magazine.
"Mac," his nickname, an alarm might have gone off in his head.)
for relating the little scandals that worried The New Yorker in the late
'70s (plagiarism, frozen turbot), the drama of finding a worthy candidate to
cheerful view of the Brown dispensation. Indeed, the new editor even coaxed
had long since stopped reading his beloved magazine, in sorrow and relief.
Brown's New Yorker "with new interest" in the weeks prior to his
weighty questions, and one is of course loath to compromise one's life chances
by hazarding unripe opinions in a public forum such as this.
camera crews, designers, clients, and others present. A novelist and feminist,
new?" And another: "If I can stick to information, I won't have to say I hate
journalists feel they must sneer at the "same old" character of the handsome
wearable designs, clients and buyers greet them with applause.
profession of fashion journalism: Since writers don't feel allowed to come
really praiseworthy but not new enough, their writing tends to develop an
oblique, distorted character. It's often clear they hate something, if only the
horrid jostle and pressure of covering the shows; or, maybe, it's dislike of
their own contorted rhetoric that's rubbing off on what they say about the
quality that only adds absurdity to an art already taking big aesthetic risks.
symmetrical slashes in silver, lending an Eastern flavor to his minimalist
is compounded by the steady pressure on the public consciousness of ad copy,
which consistently overpraises fashion goods and so debases their real
aesthetic value. Of course, hysterical praise has always been lavished on
finery by folk in the business ("It looks terrific, it's fabulous, it's
thought I would never have chosen a silk, for they produced so many, I knew not
which to fix upon, and they recommended them all so strongly, that I fancy they
thought I only wanted persuasion to buy everything they showed me. And indeed
they took so much trouble, that I was almost ashamed I could not.
At the accessory shop, the country girl is surprised to be
finical, so affected! They seemed to understand every part of a woman's dress
better than we do ourselves: and they recommended caps and ribands with an air
of so much importance, that I wished to ask them how long they had left off
buying lovely new things; it's the invasive verbal hype that interferes with
personal judgment and turns the happy effort into an embarrassing burden.
generated by a rustle, a ribbon, the drawing on of a pair of gloves.
however, there is less and less of this in literature. Fashion journalists and
writers are scared off. Fashion now seems like a club with a private jargon
that leaves no room for the play of sensitive literary exposition. And good
critical writing about clothing hardly exists at all. There is no tradition of
clothes criticism that includes serious analysis, or even of costume criticism
painful sense that real work cannot be done in this genre, that it would be
better, more honorable, to be writing about something else.
apology, deploying a quick imagination and an interest in detail that give her
noticeable respect for fashion has been a standard common attitude since the
actually did a bit of fashion reporting in the 1870s, some under the name of
but not with ordinary seriousness. When we are not in raptures, or disapproving
in the name of female realities, we are likely to wax sociological and
stake in the success or failure of its collections. These clothes are designed
Journalists feel responsible for protecting a serious financial investment each
season. Trying to summon and express good judgment may be next to
an enterprise frequently announced as dead but repeatedly revived as a
serve private clients privately. The press was only grudgingly allowed into its
couturiers first began holding sway over the clothing of the world's
restaurants and theaters, or crash chic garden parties to see what was being
worn by whom. They could sketch or describe new fashions as accurately as their
news media, made only for models who exist only to be transmuted into media
projections (verbal and pictorial), cooked up to be consumed by a public who
not only won't wear the clothes but will never see them being actually worn.
The prose and the images form the entire experience.
fact, still private. The show is only partly for the distant world served by
the camera and the commentator; the rest is for her and her like, seated in the
front row. For the private client, there are still masterpieces of rare
delicacy and breathtaking beauty or exquisitely simple practicality, all made
conceived by designers modifying their ideas to suit each client's taste and
figure. For the media, however, the designer uses the same resources for
prestige is. Writers could find true scope for their interpretive talents if
they could gain true prestige from meeting the challenge.
on fashion, said, "All art must be useless." Couture demands writers who will
with which he occasionally ornamented his stories, which appeared so much
wilder than my received notion of what that magazine was like, and the stories
turned out to be even wilder than the pictures. His surrealistic short fiction
and Comment," at that time the first section of "The Talk of the Town." There's
nothing earthshaking about those pieces, falling as they do into the
rubric. Still, it's hard to feature them appearing in today's version of the
same magazine. "I remember exactly where I was when I realized that
good. But who can make the leap to greatness while dragging behind him the
essays and interviews, and it comes as a surprise to find it applied a
species of what used to be called bricolage, but what came to my mind,
was a master ventriloquist with a dish antenna in his subconscious. From "A
showroom on Fifth Avenue, I found a recipe for Ten Ingredient Soup that
Meat Street and my mother shoved me in a closet to get me out of the line of
childhood was pastoral and energetic and rich in experiences which developed my
imagine the voice successively issuing from a pulpit, a bullhorn, an onionskin
plainly as himself, "I suggest that art is always a meditation upon external
reality rather than a representation of external reality or a jackleg attempt
consists of leavings, marginalia, occasional pieces that do not show him at his
best. There are some book reviews, which are acceptable but not much more; some
movie reviews, which are pretty feeble, with that literalism that bedevils many
literary writers when they come to dabble in the form (viz., the collected film
although many of the pieces originated as catalog essays and thus sometimes
interviews that vary greatly in quality and insight.
scholarly wish to preserve the entirety of a given writer's work is
understandable and even endearing to a point, but one of the frustrations of
this collection is its repetitiveness. Anecdotes are retailed in pieces and
retold in interviews; the same citations crop up again and again; I lost count
selected academic libraries. Don't get me wrong: This collection has its
pleasures, not least of which is the reminder of how strong and unique a
finally clamped down. The impulse is partly commercial, partly sentimental,
this kind of packaging seems oddly timed, since his influence on current
fiction is if anything at a low ebb. But maybe, just maybe, in some circuitous
something remarkable. He has written a book about the Civil War that will
interest not only war enthusiasts but also people who find the subject a
made me confront my aversion in a way that was both troubling and revealing.
born in the South of two Southern parents but raised mainly on Army posts,
brats looked at the civilian world with a wary eye, particularly in the South,
where we were doubly different: not just outsiders and transients but also
folkways, standing at football games for the "national anthem," as "Dixie" was
called, even though we knew that our anthem was the one heard at the
and civil rights, I had it spelled out for me: The South, at least the white
South before integration, was one big kinship lodge. And it was precisely
because the public realm was taken to be an extension of family that white
Southerners took any effort to bring blacks into it as a direct attack on their
touched by these kindnesses, but also suspicious: Why were they doing this?
What did I owe them? Beyond the suspicion lay a Puritan sense that this was all
It takes him back to memories that lie uneasily at the base of his identity. I
Side of New York, one of his first purchases was a book about the Civil War.
late at night reading from the 10-volume Photographic History of the Civil
childish things. As a Wall Street Journal reporter, he covered both the
Confederates, and one in four Southern men of military age died in [it]." But
there was a greater prod to Southern memory: defeat. Losers don't forget. Nor
do their children. The only Southerners who want to blot it out are black
Southerners, who wish that all the noise and symbolism would go away.
rendered encounters with Southerners of all walks and all colors, united only
by the common Southern compulsion to answer a question with a story. Such
the Old Confederacy, with stops at battlefields, museums, redneck bars,
and the jocularly aggrieved way in which he made it.
What comes through repeatedly is not just grievance but
also the pride, vulnerability, and sometimes desperation of people who see
their lives and daily predicaments as having been shaped by a cataclysm that
Southern alibi that it wasn't slavery's defense but honor and loyalty to place
that made most Confederates take up arms to fight the Northern "aggressors."
farmers who seldom saw, much less owned, a slave. For such people, then and
now, a sense of place and community is not merely the most sustaining fact of
there. He's neither immune to the professor's charm nor untroubled by what the
imposed their imperialist and capitalist will on the agrarian South, just as
nothing but tragedy in the trial of a young black man who has killed a white
flag flying on his truck, an incident that has thoroughly riven the once fairly
can lead both to such impasses and to bleak comedy. What more need be said
journalism, artfully constructed and unfailingly vivid, as good a rendering as
of the conflict over abortion could serve as an advertisement for an imperiled
form of journalism: the long, meticulously researched narrative of ideas in
worthy even to devotees of serious nonfiction, then too bad for us. Some of the
harder to do for the very reasons it is worth doing: It can require years of
publishing culture. It demands of its practitioners a quality of
this is to say that narrative nonfiction is some sort of selfless or inherently
democratic form. It's not oral history; the author is there on every page, as
of journalism that aspires most nakedly to the status of literature. But at
least these writers confer a kind of dignity on their subjects, if only by
attending so closely to people's own explanations of what they believe. And
when it comes to showing us the means by which everyday people are taken up by
history, how they shape it and are in turn shaped by it, there is no genre more
In this tradition and with scrupulous fairness, Articles
of Faith brings to life the arguments and experiences of sympathetic
to it over the last three decades, is an arbitrary choice; she seems to have
hotline and can't help noticing how many of the women calling in are
opinionated woman" with two young sons, a sweet, shy husband who runs a
newspaper delivery route, and a modest little pea green house in a nice
women where they can find somebody relatively clean and relatively safe to
terminate their pregnancies and sometimes smuggling them into her own spare
bedroom afterward to suffer the aftereffects of the operations in
them have the baby or not have the baby, they came to you in crisis, and you
eased them to the next place. Either way, it was a kind of delivery."
seminarian with a ragged beard and the look of "an Old Testament prophet or a
logical time for "the moment of an individual person's beginning" than the
joining of egg and sperm for the simple reason that there is no more logical
time. He compares his moral duty to rail against abortion to his moral duty to
intervene if he saw a man on the street beating his child with a club. He is a
purpose as well. Articles of Faith makes it abundantly clear that even
Lee who will occasionally talk to each other instead of merely hurling
should be, as the slogan goes, "safe, legal, and rare." Call it muddled or call
pretty much unrestricted, in the first three months, and to allow states to
limit it sharply thereafter. They want abortion to be legal, but they think too
discussion circles and makes mediators available to help resolve their
differences, has succeeded mainly in inflaming partisans on both sides while
The other advantage of this sort of textured narrative is
that it inevitably turns up bits of the past that more ideological accounts
involvement of the clergy in helping women obtain illegal abortions in the late
decided it was their pastoral duty to shepherd unhappily pregnant women to
underground doctors willing to perform abortions. (They took their lead from
moral, as well as a political, dimension to abortion rights. The idea that some
men of God might regard their commitment to a woman housing a fetus as more
important than their commitment to the fetus itself is anathema to people like
because their own history of the movement puts feminist activists more or less
journalistic genre that requires the writer to stick to one or two main story
marginalized him in a movement that had become increasingly dominated by
right and the new militancy of organizations such as Operation Rescue, readers
justify since the decision marked neither the culmination of the court's
influential) nor an obvious turning point in the abortion wars. It caps her
praised for having drawn unusually nuanced portraits of abortion activists on
her real accomplishment is something like the opposite. The more
compassionately and conscientiously she reconstructs Lee's views and
that only this sort of journalism, with its sympathetic attention to the
intricacies of its characters' thoughts, could do justice to these
and the sexual harassment debate wearing thin, a new crisis looms on the
employment horizon demanding our urgent attention. According to a recent called
Diversity in the Power Elite: Have Women and Minorities Reached the
Are they worried that these new arrivals will take away their jobs? No.
According to the study, what they fear is that women and minorities won't be
accusing a man of golf anxiety isn't quite the same as alleging that he lowered
his pants in front of a subordinate and requested service. But far from making
about gender in the workplace may not always be helpful. During the past few
to wonder if we've let the battle against sexual harassment turn into a witch
hunt. I agree that courts aren't equipped to resolve many issues of gender on
How could the courts possibly deal with golf anxiety?
Surely a person has every right to converse with colleagues who play golf.
Surely he also has a right to assume that a new employee doesn't play golf.
Likewise, he's entitled to appear shy or unfriendly around her, and perhaps
unintentionally hamper her ability to network inside the company, and even then
assume she lacks initiative and give her a mediocre job evaluation. But such
obtuse behavior, even if legal, causes suffering, and it's worth talking about
and miss the attention it deserves. It's a treasure trove of messy, not always
the first tenured woman professor of neurosurgery in the country, tells how she
contented teaching and research. Traditionally, of course, neurosurgery has
order to concentrate on work. She recalled how in years past, during training,
he made a juvenile habit of propositioning her in front of other male
saying how much she'd like it. In recent years, he'd interrupted her during
complex brain surgery and shouted, laughing, "How's it going, hon?" All in all,
his insensitivity. When she was a med student, all but a couple of generous
male advisers had told her, paternalistically, to give up her neurosurgery
dreams and stick with a nice female discipline like obstetrics. (One day she
finally got the courage to knock on the door of the department chair and ask if
and a glance at the couch indicated he'd been screwing his secretary.) As a
young faculty member she attended weekly lunches because that's where the
networking action was. They were gross, childish stag affairs: In plain sight
of everyone, one colleague would caress her thigh, daring her to make him stop
and inviting all the men in the room to giggle. Then the urologists at the
table would speculate about who among their colleagues could get it up.
with men. "Wrapped and totally immersed within the competitive cocoon of
academic medicine, living every day at a great distance from the 'real' world,
I was all but oblivious to the fact that a woman's movement had started, and,
writing voice even has something of a macho swagger, and once in a while it
hits a false note, as if she were building her broad case against the medical
(cool expertise vs. righteousness, wit vs. no sense of humor) become almost too
right away. Instead a reporter called, wheedled an interview out of her, and
hoped to spark a general discussion of sexism in the medical academic
profession. Instead the media claim of sexual harassment reorganized the debate
see through what she had unleashed, returned to work in a Cold War atmosphere.
both male and female: Scapegoat men were singled out for behavior their
profession had never before discouraged; women who told of being pressured for
sex found themselves alone, laughed at, or forced by the hostile environment to
kind of national clearinghouse for complaints about sexism in medical schools,
traveled the college circuit to discuss flaws in both theory and practice of
medical instruction. But often, she says, the resulting reforms have been
forum to do anything about them. Which isn't surprising. Who would want to go
through this kind of divisive battle every time an allegation came up?
That's one problem with our current approach to sexual
Everyone gets tired of the ransacking of private lives, the cynical search for
ulterior motives, the weighing of imperfect evidence; after a while, people are
likely to say, "Just let it go." There's another problem, too. The focus on
legalistic descriptions of punishable human behavior ignores unconscious
behavior, the habits many men are accustomed to that don't call for punishment
institutional resistance to change: the way that otherwise admirable male
female health problems; the way training in elite specialties like neurosurgery
still promotes a specific kind of cowboy bravado, which encourages women to
questions. Unfortunately, crude history will more likely reduce her to another
that they are taking on the evil of the century. But it's difficult at this
the trouble that this man still causes in the mind.
and, thorniest of all, the question of his sincerity, the degree to which he
believed what he said and believed in what he did. It soon becomes apparent
other people answer them. At some point his search became, to quote from his
unforeseen aftereffects of a hypnosis session that restored his eyesight after
have gone to the printers too late to take account of a loony new book by the
Studies one by one. He has a way of coming up with a quick summary of complex
proposals that clarifies and nullifies them in one stroke. For example, he
and then became extreme. The fact that this "radicalization" is seen to have
after the almost supernatural ease of the first victories on the Western front,
film to be shown (his own word), called it an "obscenity" (because it showed
procedural matters, and was told that the investigation of the Holocaust had
become superfluous because "it has been done. I did it." (Click for more
the outset, a man aware of the enormity of what he intended, a man who
consciously disguised his responsibility and, finally, a man who thrilled to
the deceptions he devised. This is more or less the picture advanced by the
calls the "great and grave abstraction," the systemic rather than biographical
that period are among the most violent of his life. On several occasions he
the basic jargon of "removal," annihilation," and "destruction" in place.
makes even more of these viscerally chilling sentences, which are buried in a
simply illustrate his insane consistency, his brutal economy of language. He
over again. This is the methodology not of the pliable
politician but of the monomaniacal artist. The baroque rhetorical tricks buried
What happened to the earnest, apolitical, cultural youth described by his
and filled his days sketching and writing? Why and how did hatred swamp him? We
have to face the possibility that his love of art and his hatred of humanity
Esquire essay, "This Man Is My Brother," the most convincing picture of
all there: the difficulty, the laziness, the pathetic formlessness in youth,
the round peg in the square hole, the "whatever do you want?" The lazy,
fundamental arrogance which thinks itself too good for any sensible and
honorable activity, on the ground of its vague intuition that it is reserved
tells of a strange young man raging in disgust and envy at pornographic art in
a gallery window and resolving to bring down a fiery sword on a rotten
missed the links in the article, click to read about an amateur historian's
among a handful of academics to have achieved the widely held and rarely
admitted to dream of the professoriate: reaching a popular audience with work
that also passes muster technically. Success as a pop academic requires
stuff we don't need. Her academic argument is: For complicated sociological
culture. Bashing it is a tradition that begins with the advent of a national
Babbitt if you don't believe me). The idea that a country founded upon
stuff than about the principles has long been galling to those who hold the
environmentally destructive," it doesn't feel like a fresh thought. Even if you
accept that lawns and cars and credit card debt and designer logos are
pernicious, to attack them seems, as a writing project, a little easy. The main
adduced from the title), was less familiar than her main point here.
compare yourself in order to appraise how you're doing. Your level of
aspiration and contentment varies not according to some absolute standard but
according to your choice of reference group. Change your reference group, and
you'll find that you're suddenly feeling much better (or worse) about your
used concepts in social science and also in market research. The first person
reference group is made up of neighbors. Hence "keeping up with the
believes that for most consumers, neighbors have been replaced as the primary
full of supposedly ordinary, typical families who live in fancier circumstances
than anyone at the median income could afford. The entry of mothers into the
work force has exposed them to people across a much wider income range than
(sounds as if it is Southwestern Bell, although in keeping with academic
responding said neighbors were their primary reference group.
theory leads inescapably to one answer: Find another reference group for the
laid off. Another is living on unemployment insurance. Another "found herself
perilously close to the rock bottom." Another is "trusting that, somehow, it is
going to work." Is this the reference group that launched a thousand ships?
consumerism as evil. To her way of thinking no nonessential spending, no desire
to possess things, can ever be innocent or morally neutral. Instead, all taste,
all aesthetic judgment, all pleasure taken in things, must be a matter of what
if we've deluded ourselves into thinking it's not. There isn't much room in
siding on your house or garb yourself in polyester, the only possible reason is
that you don't want people to think you're a Bubba.
especially if it's stuff they can't afford. It is also the case that
newspapers, magazines, radio, and television are so financially dependent on
consumer advertising that they're unlikely to lead the charge against this
itself. Why can't buying things be a pleasurable sideshow to the main events of
life? Why does it have to screw everything else up?
happily functioning people. Membership in this group would be defined in a
loved and believed in, and by being enmeshed in a web of community, family, and
the richness of relationships and the satisfactions of accomplishments, rather
than the cataloging of possessions. Buying a new tie would be fun, not an
tradition of treating higher incomes and more spending as the royal road to the
offers the promise of marrying the cherished liberal goal of income
redistribution to overall economic prosperity. Put money in ordinary people's
pockets, and as they spend it the assembly lines will hum and unemployment will
she hasn't resolved the problem. "I have always believed there is great merit
economist's point of view, is pretty close to the ultimate horror. A great book
on her subject, rather than a good one, might have found a way to propose an
economic ideal that would not lead as inexorably into a social nightmare as
encompass commentary about race relations in the United States. One is
that blacks and whites "can never live in a state of equal freedom under the
same Government, so insurmountable are the barriers which nature, habit, and
opinion have established between them." Despite the Civil War, the
Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Revolution, an appreciable number of
observers continue to assert that the United States is, and will remain, a
permanence of racism," "the myth of black progress," and "the coming race
even before the destruction of slavery, averred that one day "the white and
colored people [would] be blended into a common nationality, and enjoy together
pursuit of happiness, as neighborly citizens of a common country." A century
transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of
conversation on race relations that is, in certain respects, squarely within
programs, electoral politics, criminal justice); and prescribes a framework
is "no longer separate, much less unequal than it once was, and by many
measures, less hostile." The authors are critical of those who, in their view,
exaggerate the significance of white racism, the significance of the black
underclass, and the extent to which blacks remain outsiders. Instead, the
whites, "the rise of the black middle class," and the extent to which blacks
took a wrong turn when the imperative simply to end discrimination ceased to
govern our policies. That bare obligation, they argue, was superseded by a
destructive insistence that racial minorities be included in substantial
numbers (ideally, in rough proportionality) in all spheres of social life,
black examinees and white examinees are ranked and judged separately),
array of topics, and convey their findings and prescriptions in a vivid,
the levels of insight and carefulness that its subject demands and the
expressed ambitions of its authors lead one to expect. I say this
notwithstanding my affinity for their optimism. Indeed, perhaps it is partly
because I share this optimism that I am particularly disappointed by this
The authors try to place themselves at the vital center of
but rarely challenge the settled understandings of conservative or
discrimination, though dramatically diminished, continues to pose an obstacle
which is intended to help blacks and disadvantages certain whites in the
override of several Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed, in a number of
disapprove; the "one small bit of arguably good news" about the act, they
Congress rectified this problem, explicitly outlawing such racial harassment by
preoccupied with criticizing the legal system as overindulgent toward blacks
they fervently oppose affirmative action. I disapprove of most forms of public
affirmative action myself, on the premise that public authorities shouldn't be
permitted to allocate burdens and benefits on racial grounds in the absence of
an absolute emergency. But there is something dreadfully wrong with a study of
race relations in the United States that places affirmative action at the
center of the drama. The imbalance is especially notable given that other
"rational" racial discrimination (by which people, without malevolent intent,
attack passionately and in detail the privileging of whiteness is when such
equivocate. They do not clearly condemn as racist the actions, sometimes
to liberals who criticized these actions but didn't themselves live in the
contested neighborhoods. I do not object to their empathy for the white
ethnics, or to their point that affluent folk often have been able to escape
the harsh dilemmas posed by racial conflicts. After the explaining is done,
however, judgments must still be made. It is striking, and troubling, how
their clear, consistent, and negative assessment of black bigotry.
stance of racial pessimism because they fear that making concessions to the
optimists will breed complacency and inhibit the efforts needed for still
little to end the harms wrought by past injustices, or even to fight latent
passive a stance. Affirmative action in its current guises is unlikely to be
the best or even a good way forward; but the consequences of simply eliminating
such programs are sure to be mixed. What's more, such reforms will leave
untouched injustices that seed legitimate aggrievement on the part of blacks.
for the better in race relations. But much remains to be done to create what
politeness spread thin over human relations like a layer of marmalade over
thin over all human relations, painting a general theory of discord. The whole
is less perceptive than its parts and more pernicious.
the comparative study of male and female conversational patterns from a
her movement one step further, peddling the elixir of mutual understanding as a
remedy for the whole damned dysfunctional country. This is necessary, she
argues, because "contentious public discourse" not only poisons the political
atmosphere, it also risks infecting our most intimate relationships.
fable, admonishes us to recognize what is good in the work of others, and it is
only fair to extend her the same courtesy. Here's what's worth gleaning from
debates, not on strategy, theater, or the opponents' personal flaws.
portray everything as a scandal, no one will care when something really is
families, for bosses and employees, maybe even for book reviewers. But when she
She conflates belligerence, divisiveness, polarization, titillation, jealousy,
incivility, aloofness, ruthlessness, cruelty, savagery, contempt, glibness,
cynicism, anomie, partisanship, obstructionism, and gridlock. She makes
culprits out of answering machines, electronic mail, campaign money,
to oversimplify" and to "seize upon the weakest examples, ignore facts that
support your opponent's views, and focus only on those that support yours." In
her need to make the "argument culture" wrong, she succumbs to these
compares to the propaganda of "totalitarian countries" (because falsehoods are
spread) and to the dehumanization involved in "ethnically motivated assaults"
(because reporters hound politicians). She blames communications technology for
difference between two distinct social spheres: the sphere of snuggle and the
toward antagonism makes sense in the former case but not in the latter. Among
up" philosophy of journalism and the media's use of war metaphors to describe
inflation and the press corps' scrutiny of powerful people safeguard the
country. Some things are worth fighting for, and some things are worth
and combat are particularly essential to law enforcement and foreign policy,
laments that cops and soldiers have been "trained to overcome their resistance
to kill" by trying "not to think of their opponents as human beings." She
neglects to mention that our safety depends on the ability of these officers to
strictly on the soldiers' social experience. In World War II, she observes,
tours of duty." She ignores the more important difference: In World War II,
argumentation to keep society honest, much less correct itself, because she
makes it too easy to forward messages, too easy to reply before your temper
cools, too easy to broadcast messages to large numbers of people without
an equally unwelcome troublemaker: "Technology also exacerbates the culture of
critique by making it much easier for politicians or journalists to ferret out
inconsistencies in a public person's statements over time."
this oddly paternalistic (or maternalistic) diagnosis, it's not surprising that
debate. She assures us that all reasonable people can agree that disseminating
birth control and sex education is the best way to reduce the abortion rate;
that stiff sentences for small drug offenses don't reduce drug abuse; that
is "surely not" a "very important" issue, and Congress should not have let the
desperately needed." The "view of government as the enemy" isn't worth
debating; it's just "another troubling aspect of the argument culture." Indeed,
independent counsels treat the nation's ultimate father figure with such
immediately by a Republican response," which "weakens the public's ability to
Court, thereby injuring citizens' "sense of connection" to "our judicial
system." The investigation of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was
itself evidence of the culture of critique," she writes.
views that make for the most entertaining fights." As an alternative, she
Similarly, "the minimal human unit in Japan is not the individual but the
features a single guest." (Click to learn how she puts this into practice.)
even wants to protect us from the possibility of unpleasant confrontations in
facts but to discredit the witness," she asserts, as though the two objectives
of the trial): that the witness is a victim. Conversely, she assumes
alleged rape victims because "it is easy to distort events so that a rape can
evidence." Did the dispute not have two sides? Should Hill not have been
consideration of the French and German systems. Under French law, after
held for two days without charges being filed and without being allowed to
intimate belief, or deeply held sense, of what happened.
defendant's lawyer interrogated concentration camp survivors, asking whether
they had seen their parents gassed. The adversarial system permitted such
survivors but one that does entail an airing of the facts of the Holocaust.
of accusers? If so, she'd be wrong. But hey, so far, it's still a free
the agreement would block the feds' right to regulate nicotine levels in
plaintiffs' lawyers and the attorneys general proved indefatigable;
incriminating documents were leaked from inside the big tobacco companies; an
important industry scientist defected; and, most importantly, Wall Street,
fearing a bottomless payout, signaled the industry to submit.
reports, the trial attorneys filed their class action suits in the early '90s
after having tapped out the conventional product liability market: asbestos,
settlements, joined in with a new legal argument that held the industry liable
finally ordered the industry to pay damages to a smoker for ruining his health.
sensed the power shifting and cut a separate deal. What may have caught
that revealed the magnitude of Big Tobacco's deceit about tobacco's role in
settle for a few million and some marketing restrictions, and launched a
Street initially recoiled at the idea of a settlement but then bid Big
Tobacco's stocks up at nearly every mention of an impending deal. What sweet
irony: The specter of unlimited legal liability was a bigger threat to the
deal was affordable for the companies, especially considering the tax benefits
of a payout and the time value of money. These economic truths reunited Big
Tobacco behind a settlement on the industry's terms. Having won the public
relations war by agreeing to a settlement, the industry continues to use its
of Public Health surveys five centuries of tobacco abolitionism and
concludes what tobacco's foes want more than money: They want to see the last
for the idea that more "education" will deter tobacco use.
nicotine's addictive powers explain it all. But when the industry attempted to
evil because it would encourage smokers to continue their habit. As it turns
exposed the industry to an uncomfortable double bind: Making a "safer"
cigarette is tantamount to confessing that regular cigarettes are dangerous
when taken as directed, something the industry had spent billions denying.
endgame approaches for Big Tobacco and Congress, one is tempted to sympathize
addictive properties of nicotine and the causal link between tobacco tar and
cancer. A wealth of circumstantial evidence indicates that they've threatened
witnesses and committed criminal fraud by illegally withholding subpoenaed
But consider the evil done to the truth by the "good"
their accomplices in the press, the beyond recognition. And they've distorted
statistics showing that the cost of smoking probably more or less equals the
benefits, if you factor in the exorbitant taxes smokers pay and recognize that
by dying early they save us a bundle on Social Security.
state with powers to force us into wellness even if we prefer risk? Now that
didn't click through to all the internal links, fire up a menthol and read at
your leisure about behind the litigation and the for why the settlement deal
as informs us. Proving that they knew tobacco tars caused lung cancer, the
Protection Agency's own estimate of how dangerous secondhand smoke really
no sacred closure. To theologize the Holocaust is meaningless even to the
the horror is still just another episode, though the worst, in the unending
event in many people's lives that has become a metaphor for our century. There
Holocaust, for he has no need to describe it directly. He has put his own
artfully simple and repetitious, deceptively compressed in feeling, that the
reader, aware of the horror about to descend on these people, feels like
that remind him of the train on which he was once deported. His purpose is to
the end of the war, I have been on this line, as they say: a long, twisted line
carriages. The seasons shift before my eyes like an illusion. I have learned
this route with my body. Now I know every hostel and every inn, every
restaurant and buffet, the vehicles that bring you to the remotest corners.
of constant renewal." One can live on trains. The officials now know him so
well that they drop the loud, jangling popular music he detests on the
loudspeaker and put on chamber music. Shaving on a train gives him a new start
in life. There is one station where he is met by a regular driver, now a sort
of friend. There are two stations on his route for which he has "love,"
stations he can return to knowing he will be able to refresh himself with a
solid meal and a cup of really good coffee. But for the most part "I live by
signs, by codes whose meaning I alone know." There was even a terrible moment
when he spent two weeks in bed "because it seemed to me that a new war had
confess, I have no faith in anyone outside the train." He is so frozen inside
that he remains completely detached from the occasional woman on board who
is nothing like love on a train. Sometimes it lasts only a station or two. The
main thing is that you'll never see the woman again. Of course, sometimes you
get entangled, and you suddenly have, aside from your valise, a sluggish
creature who keeps demanding coffee and cigarettes. Thus I repeat to myself:
orators and organizers such as his Communist parents. They were always moving
It is a sealed well that doesn't lose a drop, to use an old expression. Nothing
can deplete it. My memory is a powerful machine that stores and constantly
discharges lost years and faces. In the past I believed that travel would blunt
my memory; I was wrong. Over the years, I must admit, it has only grown
in recent years I have learned to overcome this. A glass of cognac, for
he find the funds for this endless life on trains? This is one of the subtlest
issues in the book. He lives by buying up old ceremonial objects retrieved from
searching for these objects, and what is more, they too are looking for
encounters think favorably of the war. An innkeeper who lost his hearing at
didn't answer, he added in big letters: "It was a great mission, and it
still exist," I couldn't refrain from writing to him.
man for revealing his hidden desire. "I ought to have killed him. There is
nothing simpler than killing a man, and yet for some reason, I cannot do it."
to find an answer to the Holocaust is not forthcoming. It would have to be as
can't I pray?" he cannot find an answer within himself. His "melancholy" is a
that central human emotion in the face of overwhelming odds of which tragedy is
made. There are no accommodating solutions after the fact. There is no
forgiveness for so much pain, and no one to reconcile with. But a story as
piercing as this goes to the heart of the matter, for it embodies the terrible
event in such a way that it steals up on us and will haunt us in our sleep.
splendor of the voice. I am not sure if this edition is the ideal packaging of
meaning, then from modernist meaninglessness. His world is separate,
herself sometimes fails to meet that standard. She offers ingenious paraphrases
and elaborations, but she imposes a false order on a genially chaotic world.
She looks for process and argument in a poet who excels at sudden revelations
in miniature. She and others have also promoted the idea that the greatest
than try to launch a new exegesis, I want to name a few simple technical
writes in iambic pentameter, the antiquated base rhythm of English poetry. Take
the famous opening line of "The Idea of Order at Key West": "She sang beyond
the genius of the sea." (Click for a longer sample.) He chooses the sounds with
extremes the old schoolhouse rule that short words work better than long ones.
its own word. (A lot of classic oratory also relies on monosyllables: "The only
thing we have to fear is fear itself"; "Ask not what your country can do for
highly monosyllabic line: "And when she sang, the sea,/ Whatever self it had,
became the self/ that was her song, for she was the maker." But as the language
grows ever more chiseled and incisive, the picture grows more vague. That woman
singing on the beach is dissolving into abstraction. It seems as though some
principle is being preached. At this point, if you read the poem in high school
or college, you may remember deadly questions intruding from the poetry
anthologies: "Does the sea represent language? Is the woman the poet?" Any
trance. His words are a dream melody of language, bells from nowhere. You can
even, magisterial tone that he occasionally loses himself in the convoluted
away from absurdity, if not in the thick of it. This is by intention. He liked
to deflate solemnity with silliness. His humor is his least noticed attribute,
joke he played on literature. He comes close in some of the offbeat writings
such nonsense aphorisms as "A poem is a cafe," "A poem is a pheasant," and "All
could afford to laugh aloud at the pretensions of the poetry business.
closeness of the sublime and the ridiculous, of the daft and the grand, is
Dump," in which he writes: "One sits and beats an old tin can, lard pail./ One
beats and beats for that which one believes." The monosyllables are the meaning
manifesto in questions, as if uncertain. I think he's pointing up a
intention, it's a bit ridiculous. The sublimity comes in the way those
fragments of a Romantic vision glide together with artifacts of
Collected Poems (which, to be sure, omits great ones early and late);
they are also unencumbered by comparison with the "uncollected poems," which
include a lot of mystifying mediocrity. It's good to have all the poems in one
place, and also the published prose and a smattering of letters. But it's also
voice in the early poems, but you can find it in early letters not printed
that beat and rattle, the crescendo of cracked trombones." Eight years later,
the young man writes flamboyantly to his fiancee, "I believe that with a bucket
of sand and a wishing lamp I could create a world in half a second that would
make this one look like a hunk of mud." For all its omissions, Collected
ridiculous man, but in an interesting way. He is not, in the conventional
sense, a good writer. His prose lacks even the hasty, spasmodic felicities to
which we are resigned in the age of word processing. Here is a sentence from
great deal of notoriety at the time of its publication, resulting in the
reopening of the murder case by the police." Have we lost you? In this
sentence, "its" cries out for its parental noun like a little duckling left on
the wrong side of the road. "That book" is the referent, but other nouns rush
this sentence begins to go haywire with the words "the miniseries of
be ridiculed not merely for his aimless, dribbling style. What he calls a novel
is hardly deserving of the name. Another City, Not My Own reads like a
parties and talks up each day's events with an air of tragic foreknowledge.
is nothing if not charming. The flair for gossip that got him into thousands of
dinner parties also wears down the resistance of the reader. He is seductively
forthright about the failures in his life, about the fiasco of his career and
stern judgments of a male socialite. One has to smile at the role played in
ultimately compromised and rendered stupid by the obliviousness of the author.
years, and he produced a weak, chatty book rather than a good, vicious one. He
this exemplary passage from a Vanity Fair piece: "Sometimes you have to
shoddy, daffy piece of work, but it provides four or five fine vignettes of
called "the kind of nothing this culture has been moving toward for decades," a
unprecedented and decidedly unwelcome in this kind of grave proceeding." The
diatribe goes on and on and on, and it's funny precisely because it won't let
nothing back, burns all bridges, settles scores with those who have merely
Resentment also sends up urban gay novels and unravels the tangle of
reality and fantasy surrounding child abuse. But it's the precision of his take
simultaneously to reproduce and cut to pieces the bad faith and false
consciousness surrounding these trials. He serves up in full the swiftly
meaning of events in relation to his own life and can end only with a scene of
activity." My God, someone has finally summed up the whole shebang.
cope with rotten childhoods, loveless families, hideous disfigurements, and
There is plenty of humor in his books, some of it sharp and much of it just
plain funny; and bizarre bits of magic that, though not always comprehensible,
linear narrative and flashback to tell a story that spans several decades. In
also partly a reflection on how Dickens' novel came to be written. There are
quite a few correspondences between the two novels, of which the play on names
"Mesmerism." Their terrible sessions (click for a sample) anchor the tale and
Dickens, he manages to separate his story from its archetype quite easily.
into its pages, then slowly exposing their vulnerabilities. What we end up with
insider's chuckle. If not, you still get a good yarn.
back and missing fingers, his tragic isolation from those around him, however,
to use castaways to dramatize a world gone wrong. If anything, he makes a
just what is called for to correct Dickens' lugubriousness. Suffice it to say
novel are given outs. They are allowed to transcend their particular
just a convenient dumping ground for convicts, he tells us, with the ticklish
burgeoning dignity and the choices he makes at novel's end give
novel, allowing the country to become a place of hope rather than of exile. By
moment to which its author lays proud claim, restoring the
show at the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute concentrates on
clothes date mostly from the middle to the end of this century. Nevertheless
"a" in flashing red neon above the first "o." Right away we're meant to think
decoration on everyday clothing was entirely unacceptable.
or was until very recently. Why is that? Words, letters, and numbers on
garments seem riskier than kittens, clouds, and flowers on garments, just as
those seem less natural than stripes, plaids, or checks. But what, exactly, is
profaned by putting words on clothes? Is it the garment, the person, or the
words? I believe it is the writing. The written word was accumulating its own
sacred aura even before Homer and the Bible. Ever since priests, scholars, and
poets used writing to record Scripture, prayer law, and history both exalted
and prosaic, reverence for canonical writings has lent an august power to
written words themselves. And with all the weight of such a past, a certain
dread can still attach to the sight of them being frivolously used.
In the middle of this century, turning words into fashion
seemed like just such a use. Some of the designs shown at the Met reflect a
serious daring; they are examples not just of amusing invention but also of
knitting the preamble to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence
around the museum to see if I could find any paintings representing people with
didn't seem to have the privilege. Words or letters or numbers on your clothes
old football jersey in this show, with a big number on it. But it's mainly
a sequined traffic sign emblazoned across the chest, a big, shiny yellow
salient corners. This stretches the theme a little, since there are no words
and it isn't the reproduction of a real bill. But it works, like so much else
in the exhibition, to show how practical signs can become erotic adornments on
the human surface, depending on texture and placement. This skintight,
transparent garment turns its pattern into a tattoo, a practice alluded to by
the noble used to put them on personal effects to imitate the ancient royal
habit of stamping (or embroidering or incising) the king's property with his
personal cipher. Artisans would discreetly stamp precious creations with their
the client's. There are plenty of surviving cigar cases, purses, boxes,
lockets, brooches, penknives, and all kinds of tableware with small
household linen with embroidered domestic monograms.
clothing. Putting monograms on display on garments is very recent. I know my
bracelets or guest towels; from which I gather that vivid personal monograms on
clothes were new in the '30s. Once everybody got used to them in the next
in the following one. And those have acquired a lot more prestige than our own
reduced to abstract motifs by our inability to recognize what they say. (It
does seem unfair to love them only for their looks, as if we despised their
Japan, didn't forget that the immortal soul of the word is its sense; nor that
appear next to watercolor images similar to those that often appear on clothes.
fashion to make that happen. Brocade or chiffon dresses covered in
wittily made of paper printed with the New York Yellow Pages, all express a
joyful relish in the decay of the written word, a forthright pleasure in the
way its meaning has been draining away. Indeed, you could view this show as a
display of her A was prophetic. For with the proliferation of shifting public
signage, slogans, logos, and the lava flow of printout, the words on your
clothes are now what certify your physical existence. They put you in harmony
with the rest of the material world, as well as with the electronically written
universe on the Internet. Words are now rarely carved in stone; printed books
are quickly pulped; but endless messages flicker momentarily on screens or on
or sacred truth, the written word may be losing ground, but that as a source of
Event sounds less invidious than obvious. Isn't that what all journalism is, by
definition, and what even serious activism aspires to nowadays? Most
intermittently on its cover-- Ms. was just the promotional vehicle the
staff veteran, who arrived as a researcher at the very start and went on to
pioneering endeavor that, in her opinion, transcended the ordinary boundaries
circumstances, and heroic goals, all of which she does her best to supply.
devoted to the uphill battles on the business end. Unsurprisingly, bold
determination prevailed, and a new kind of magazine was born. "Ms. seems
were both "a publishing enterprise and a center for activism." Ms.
Funds flowed out from the coffers of the Ms. Foundation for Women,
giving fledgling feminist projects the boost they needed.
soon enough she settles down into the blander form of the press release. Hers
is not the book to read for a serious assessment of the ideas in the many
articles she makes sure to mention by author. (Her former colleagues, she is
well aware, will head straight for the index.) She rehearses the main
criticisms leveled against the magazine: that it was politically conventional,
was sentimental about sisterhood, forever holding up individual women as
inspirational role models. But her reply to the critics consists of providing
an exception or two to each of the complaints and then moving swiftly on. She
today, feminism was not an ideology set in stone, but rather an adaptable set
to subvert the women's magazine but to give it a makeover, to translate
feminism into something familiar to the middle class. Go back and reread the
changed from advice to mothers on, say, avoiding "martyr complexes," to advice
on lobbying for child care and avoiding gender stereotypes with sons and
tribute to Ms. that most of the issues it raised over the years are
still around. Ms. was among the first women's magazines to run pieces
about sexual harassment, spousal abuse, breast implants, the economic impact of
prescriptions for action. It was service journalism, and its depth and quality
were uneven, as it generally is with service journalism. Ms. also relied
a great deal on book excerpts, hardly a sign of bold editorial
conference). If the magazine followed electoral politics a little doggedly, it
participated in gestural politics a little overenthusiastically. In "Cracking
Ms.' radical critics were right. It was not in the business
of making sustained ideological arguments or issuing eccentric polemics. Few
distinctive writers emerged from the magazine, though over the years many
television show, a promotional tour. This was the true Ms. "state of
mind," and there were many such events to boast about. The premier issue in the
and others appeared. Then there was a big party at the New York Public Library
of larger gatherings, several of them aboard a chartered Circle Line boat."
"Everything we did," one member of the staff recalled, "got a tremendous amount
of attention." It would all sound narcissistically frivolous were it not so
earnest. And so ineffective financially; the magazine was all but broke from
editorial energy to the magazine, and it showed. (You can sense a magazine's
Ms. lost its spark, but it still carries on. Its covers are as flashy as
ever, though an arid cleanliness reigns within; it resembles nothing so much as
nothing grows. The second is the city of Cape Town, where his family returned
after a stint in the hinterland and where dead babies rot in brown paper
an autobiographical trilogy, Boyhood is the story of a boy forced to
endure and imagine his way out of that barrenness. It is a writer's memoir,
airs these larger happenings through the muggy lives of its young protagonist
nonpracticing attorney whom he despises; his mother, who is too close to him
and to whom he is too close; and a younger brother, who he suspects may, at
This last, you understand, is not a good thing. Normalcy,
his own last bastion, must be avoided at all costs. On young John's rejection
of "normal," that twee, tired word, turns the action of this book. He can
isolate his every sensation, indulge his every impulse, in the untested space
swords in their hands, crested helmets on their heads, indomitable courage in
but there's a larger reality that will not be ignored: the fact that he,
who are, like him, in a despised religious minority.
mastered and feet remain shod. Ugliness and sloth thin the nostrils and raise
the gorge. Appearances must be maintained and the desperately unhappy worlds of
home and school kept separate, and they almost are. Above all is the yearning
for greatness, for acts of wondrous heroism. But shy, brainy, and unpopular,
mouthful at a time. He is proud of how little he drinks. It will stand him in
good stead, he hopes, if he is ever lost in the veld. He wants to be a creature
has been accused of avoiding politics when he writes. That's a mystifying
traceable to the traumas of political change and the individual's need to find
of life"), his description of beloved train rides ("sleeping snug and tight
brings"). There are scenes from provincial life that derive from absolute
fix a broken gadget or a leaky faucet. The Natives, rightful owners of the
but the sea is stronger") deserving of the utmost reverence ("You must remember
John, is the only time he has heard his mother use the word "wise"). Atop this
heap are the English, the fascinating, remote English, "people who have not
fallen into a rage because they live behind walls and guard their hearts well."
The stereotyping is powerful, the more so because it appears deceptively
There is explicit racism, too. What, for example, does one
it? (One bleaches it.) It is among these careful calibrations that John must
come into his own. Painfully aware of the limitations of class, occasionally
able to peer outside the prison house of race, he strains to exceed his
inheritance. He despairs of his father the failed lawyer, the gunner who can't
squelches his cigarettes in his own excrement. The son copes, as any kid would,
by leaving out the details that most offend him. When he tells his friends
instance, he drops the "lance" before "corporal." But the father remains
another matter. She has tragic potential. She lives in fear of breast cancer;
son. Her tolerance feeds his tantrums, her servitude his warped sense of self.
She, like him, is denied wholeness by her downwardly mobile lot and remains
fluttery and distracted almost to the last, when she has the moment of clarity
her son has dreaded. Unlike the mother, however, the son can and did flee into
principle. Frosty of tone, flinty of edge, he doesn't tell you what to feel or
describing rage. Her fictional heroines can name every indignity they've been
subjected to since birth, and because they are usually bright young women from
list of injuries is long. They've seen corrupt governments, sadistic
schoolmasters, domineering mothers who spoil their sons but train their
for living is to seduce women and then disappear. Sometimes, as in the case of
finds more fuel for her anger in the pitying stares of unconsciously racist
One senses it above all in her amazing control over words, which, while
extremely satisfying on the level of literary technique, also comes across as a
refusal to be vulnerable and a reply to anyone who would try to keep her
The story she has to tell is sadly simple: Her brother
unique, of course. Many thousands of young men have died a similarly
frightening, needless death, and not a few memoirs have chronicled their last
youngest of three younger brothers, all of whom shared a father different from
talents and made a fatal decision to glide through life on charm alone. After
himself the stage name "Sugar." But one of the themes of My
yours is so sick and infuriating and doomed that you left the country to escape
often praise nonfiction by saying that it reads like fiction, when all they
really mean is that it is absorbing and well written. In this case, the
lyrical mystery novel: It's clear from the very first sentence that Drew is
such a waste of a life. She picks through childhood memories for a
foreshadowing of what was to come. There was, for instance, the ghastly
incident shortly after Drew was born, when he was lying in the arms of their
mother, who was asleep, and red ants crawled in through the window and nearly
ate him alive. And she adds a plot to her unfolding understanding of what
cataloging of subtly different emotional states in clear, looping, musical
and wonders how she actually feels about her brother: "Love always feels much
that is why everybody always wants to have love: because it feels much better,
so much better." With a scary honesty typical of one of her heroines, she
decides that her feelings for him are intense but probably smaller than love,
it's a handy reference point for anyone who wants to argue that the recent
ascendance of the memoir hasn't wiped out artful, ambitious writing. Far from
selfish and prejudiced and quite possibly evil but once in a while capable of
recollection of a childhood incident that remained buried in her memory until
hanging around with her mother while Drew died suddenly shook it loose.)
differently, from a less narrow point of view, perhaps, and that the
discoveries this book relates might eventually spill over into her fiction.
that absolutely fails to value them. Her heroines have been fierce and
admirable, but their struggle to be acknowledged has necessarily entailed a
"I wanted to have a powerful odor and would not care if it gave offense." How
wonder what his life must be like for him, and to wonder what my own life would
have been like if I had not been so cold and ruthless in regard to my own
family, acting only in favor of myself when I was a young woman." After all
these years, she's still writing about survival. But as of this book, it looks
General Motors asked a team of industrial engineers from outside the company to
survey its business and recommend strategies for the future. After careful
study, these pioneer management consultants advised GM to rid itself of
recommendation in the 1960s that gasoline companies not sell food in their
stations for fear of annoying local restaurant owners. In fact, the history of
consulting is full of tales like these, showcasing the hubris,
you feel "a growing sense of unease" about the authority consultants enjoy in
today's business world, finding evidence to feed your anxiety won't be a
The history of management consulting, though, is more
complex than these horror stories would suggest. The profession originated in
the early years of this century with the application of the principles of
scientific management to production lines. The first consulting firms sprang up
after World War I, when consultants were regarded primarily as "efficiency
experts." In the late 1950s, consulting came into its own. The corporate need
to understand the burgeoning consumer market, a more general faith in the value
of expert advice, and the demands of an unprecedentedly strong economy created
consultants have benefited from anxieties about profitability and foreign
competition. Corporations looking to reinvent and downsize themselves have made
Unfortunately, little of this history makes its way into Dangerous
ground. Each chapter is meant to illuminate a larger truth about consulting in
thinking. But while the picture is bleak, it isn't sharp or convincing. Instead
of a serious analysis of the evolution of consulting or a discussion of the
differences and similarities between consulting and traditional corporate
ultimately, because they have no thesis to offer. To be sure, they want to
persuade us that the work consultants do is too often not in the best interests
of their clients, and they do reveal how often hubris and open checkbooks have
been recipes for disaster in the past. But they have remarkably little to say
continue to enjoy the authority they do in the business world. For the
given way since the 1980s to the idea that people with vested interests in a
example, have become a preferred form of executive compensation.) So why have
consultants, who are asked to help companies in which they have no financial
serious questions, and answering them would tell us important things about the
the last two decades. Instead, Dangerous Company often reads like a
10-point checklist of things to keep in mind when dealing with consultants.
"Never give up control," we're told. "Value your employees," and, "Beware of
In a way, though, the sheer banality of this advice points
one would need to be told to "never give up control" unless there were
executives all too willing to cede authority in a crisis. Nor would "value your
employees" be necessary counsel unless companies were routinely putting more
stock in outsiders' analyses than in the intelligence of their own people. One
thing Dangerous Company does show convincingly is how quick companies
are to look outside for solutions, especially when these come with the
isn't necessarily a mistake. Executives are often too close to problems or too
fact, has a long history of bringing in outsiders to transform companies,
fallen apart listening only to those inside as have collapsed from bad advice
for companies' failures seems, in the end, to be beside the point. No one
Ma Bell is the one responsible for its woes. It also suggests that the real
companies call in management consultants to begin with. The answer probably has
responsibility, the need to appear to be on the cutting edge, the need to
levies a powerful indictment against management consulting, but in doing so it
confuses a symptom with the disease. Consultants aren't the real problem. The
needs they're asked to fulfill almost certainly are.
make a mistake in supposing "hip" to mean "stylish." Hip is a
it easy to laugh at himself, but his laughter is not sincere if it is thorough.
If I could be Hamlet, or even a clown with a breaking heart 'neath his jester's
motley, the role would be tolerable. But I always find it necessary to
burlesque the mystery of feeling at its source; I must laugh at myself, and if
that's not all. He also laughed at the laugh at the laugh, and so on, unto
means that hip is a tragic condition. From this point of view, life must have
West wrote only four novels before dying in an auto crash
today. But the key to understanding him lies in the first of his novels, The
intestines, having adventures. He meets a little boy, who shows him his
his own dream life, and that each new, ridiculous scene represents a further
unfolding of an altogether real and plausible personality. The personality is
nervous, fearful, sexually frustrated to the point of hysteria, terrified of
women, and perhaps mildly homosexual. But it is also too rigidly imprisoned in
his screenplays), might not have appreciated the ethnic emphasis.
him the rudiments of literary form, and in his next two novels, Miss
life of a cynical Christian advice columnist, and in the case of A Cool
"He buried his triangular face like the blade of a hatchet in her neck."
Cool Million is, in its modest way, the most perfect of his books. The
young hero sets out to earn his fortune and save his aged mother from eviction.
He passes through every station of the uplift narratives: He meets a beneficent
banker and patron, falls in love with the girl next door, traverses the United
States. Every word in the novel plunks the tinkly piano keys of a dime novel.
hero loses his thumb, his teeth, his leg, his scalp, and his nose; and the
creepier his sufferings become, the funnier is the book, sad to say.
It's hard to imagine that West could ever have written a
conventional novel with any success. He tried in The Day of the Locust
over his manias about women and sex, which makes him seem just as crazy as in
his other books, but less aware of it, therefore less entertaining. The Library
spirit of thoroughness, random essays and stories that the author never
show us everything that is appealing about West. He had the kind of neurotic,
think of anyone), only to become mandatory today. So he was prophetic, too. The
test of time has never been an accurate gauge of literary genius. Greater
writers than West have been doomed to fade with the years. Time does tell us
we have dismissed corsets as ridiculous instruments of torture, we can safely
undergone a bodily ordeal gives incalculable force to your erotic attractions.
Tattooing and piercing are among the most ancient of such practices; piercing,
Tender nipples stuck through with gold rings, sensitive
tongues punched through with barbells that make a noise against the teeth,
lips. But more and more nostrils and eyebrows are joining earlobes as handy
flaps to carry holes for an array of public adornments. The other day, I felt
obscurely pained to see a pretty girl on the subway with a big silver ring in
the middle of her face, hanging from a hole in the central partition of her
stud in one nostril or a row of thin rings edging the flange of an ear. Those
things all seem part of fashion's usual piquancy. This wasn't. Somehow this
Bodily ornament originally was undertaken to create the
self, to deck the outward being with the inward knowledge that trouble must be
taken and nature distorted in careful ways and at personal cost, so as to make
forever clear the gulf between a responsible adult and an infant or a beast.
ways of completing the human body that were called "barbaric" by restless
people bent on scientific understanding, political and intellectual
enlightenment, or plain old empire, holy and profane.
those restless people who eventually invented fashion around the
obscured and rediscovered, that all advance could be reversed and recommenced,
that any empire, including God's, could collapse and reform. And that effort
should be made, and money spent, to keep this idea in plain sight on the
dread; it reflects our modern devotion to the fragile trajectory of an
individual life. The one thing it must never do is look safe. Outrageousness
has always been provided by the young, but hitherto most commonly with hair.
Hair seems suited for nothing else: Its variable thickness of growth has
apparently no reference to climate, and its practical value seems to be its
malleability for purposes of erotic appeal. Hair revolutions are no longer as
outrageous as they have been in recent decades, though; nor are skimpy
garments. So we have turned to objects that make holes in faces and
central nose ring goes beyond outrage. It comes from somewhere else, from the
bodily sculpture is applied with finality to signal a fixed social and sexual
identity. During the past seven centuries of Western modernity, the most
extreme bodily modishness always was reversible. Shaved hair could grow back,
pinched waists fill out, flattened breasts swell up. But a great big hole
through the septum does not close up without leaving a disfiguring scar.
Western fashion has always included earlobe piercing for
both sexes, a small talismanic reminder of what has been called the "folk
order." But earlobe tissue heals very easily, and mainstream male fashion
during the progressive first quarter of this century, pierced ears for women
whalebone corsets and the double marital bed. Almost two generations of
ear piercing became almost universal for both men and women in the 1960s, just
Perhaps the era of fashion is over, or soon to be. These holes now mark a
generation of which the parents cannot confidently say, "They'll grow out of
horror. Punches and needles carry a lethal threat; an injury that rips the
flesh is real injury. The pierced generation may simply be acknowledging the
deadliness of the times we live in, suggestive as they are of earlier epochs in
human history. Perhaps, like the girl on the subway, they're just waiting to be
she went to a few balls. She flirted with one dashing boy, but she had no dowry
to speak of and his parents got worried and made him move away. Later she
agreed to marry a very tall, very ugly younger man, but she changed her mind
the next morning. Beginning in her late 20s, while packed into a snug cottage
with her mother, her sister, and a pockmarked spinster friend, she revised some
juvenilia and wrote a series of freakishly perfect novels. Then she got sick,
literature's beloved old maid: modest, retiring, more comfortable darning socks
by the fire than out in the big bad world, something of a gossip but basically
pretty much what we thought, posterity has colored it in all wrong, and
to go over the changing fashions in bonnets, they're dealing with this cleaned
If these two books got together, their offspring would be a
declares in the introduction, which unfolds "as it was experienced at the time,
realized, these books reminded me of a pair of recent literary appreciations:
life sight by sight and smell by smell. So we learn that baby Jane drank from
contemporary name of Movie); that, while growing up, she may have tasted spicy
managed to win independence from it. Little information survives about her
as crucial as parents in determining a person's development, and the brilliant,
argues that Jane was traumatized by a separation from two of her six brothers.
mentioned again. On a brighter but no less arbitrary note, childless
a snobbish landowner, kind to his less glamorous siblings but also
condescending. The brothers left behind were the cleverest, which was just as
wanted to be a writer (he ended up a curate) and spurred Jane to compete.
to Jane from the West Indies and China and other places that the quaint fantasy
author has been assumed to know nothing about. And how's this for exoticism:
people Jane depended on for survival once it became clear she wouldn't marry.
she had a roof overhead. But they had total power over her, deciding where she
lived, how big an allowance she got, and when and where she could travel.
Meanwhile, for companionship and reaction to her work she was utterly dependent
Review of Books that it was more than sisterly. This is a cheap, ludicrous
something of an underminer, constantly urging Jane to hide her identity as an
author. Her "plump, dumpy" watercolor portrait of Jane shows an unremarkable
goodness more than her wit or her bitter eye for human failings. With perfectly
good intentions, she ended up stifling "the restless spirit of the woman who
said of herself: 'If I am a wild beast, I cannot help it. It is not my own
responsible for destroying the letters that would fill us in on the crucial
town of Bath. Family legend has it that Jane fainted away when she heard of the
move, terrified of leaving all that was dear to her for such a den of iniquity.
novel that she never returned to. Her silence has always been attributed to a
unreliable--70 years later, a niece who wasn't alive at the time thought she
remembered hearing something to that effect. What if Jane was tougher than
this? What if she had found Bath stimulating? What if she had failed to write
there not because she was desolate and dried up but because, for a few active
equilibrium and happiness over suffering. She was a born writer, but she wasn't
pretentious enough to regard writing as her only possible destiny. It's sad to
imagine her returning to her manuscripts a few years later in a state of
irritable, impoverished resignation. It's especially sad to think that we might
not have these happiest of novels if it weren't for her lowered hopes.
media. The left conjures up a heartland full of racists, misogynists, and
religious maniacs. Both pit a morally hidebound middle against a culturally
overwrought images of fierce division captures today's more complex reality.
The truth of the matter is that the liberals have won the culture wars. Maybe
not as thoroughly as they would have liked and maybe with much of the looniness
removed, but they won them, and we are a more tolerant, egalitarian, and
that completes the title is wry, not just as in "surprise, surprise" but also
"after all the cultural upheavals of the last decades.")
center and distrust ideological thinking." They're hardly heroic in their
virtues; there's none of the grandeur of, say, the Protestant Ethic here. But
"reluctant to pass judgment on how other people act and think." They don't
hanker for the old family order or want to put women back in ancient
strictures, but neither do they endorse the left's "anything goes" morality.
don't think is quite right, since it suggests they're unsure of their own
brought by women working, sexual enlightenment, and feminism, even as they also
worry about the fragility of family life and the dangers their children
between the deserving and undeserving poor. When they think about riven
families and social pathology in the inner city, they generally blame "people's
lack of personal responsibility." But such sentiments aren't necessarily
giving people a second chance, and know that the safety net is a moral, not
just a practical, necessity. And if they don't like feeling swamped by
subjects') for the middle way. Against hotter images of a churning id of rabid
claims of reason and morality. We do not have to fear them.
to focus on the more educated, affluent segments of the middle class, segments
that may more easily slip into genteel euphemisms and present themselves as
keep at bay deeper and darker sentiments. Moreover, by contrasting his central
makes his own position seem moderate and attractive. Were he not constantly
playing off a notion of a fiercely divided society, one might discover other
questions and thus other important qualities of the middle class.
a grand exception to his larger thesis: Only a small percentage of his
interviewees are willing to admit its legitimacy as a lifestyle. But the vast
majority of them have come to accept homosexuals as worthy of rights and even
of respect, if not of admiration. Measured against the historical baseline of
truth. Despite the huffing and puffing, divisions have been closing in gender,
in notions of patriotism, and even in some dimensions of race. Religious
fundamentalists, who once declaimed against fornication, now seek simply to
hold the line at gay marriage. Meanwhile, liberals in the Democratic party have
been publicly embracing the idiom of hard work and personal responsibility.
plaint: "By dismissing our fears about declining morality out of hand, you fail
values of inclusion and equality that you currently profess." Liberals have
lower orders wanted to seize property rather than acquire it. Rebuffing these
middle" doesn't have to mean craven opportunism or a betrayal of its beliefs.
Rather, it can simply mean rediscovering the common ground that liberals have
long shared with the middle class without even realizing it.
dogmatic crew of ideologues. But that's the virtue of this calm and sensible
book. It doesn't aim to dazzle with flashy but misleading rubrics like
"backlash." One Nation, After All is full of the very qualities its
author imputes to the people: ordinary virtue, mature patriotism, and quiet
as I did, it's nearly impossible to watch the rise of the Internet without
thinking back to the rise of television, way back when. A powerful new
technology occasioned an enormous amount of hyperventilation about the new
saying) that would demonstrably improve the society. Television would be the
greatest educational force ever created. It would not just entertain but also
decades have passed, and we know all about television now. We know, for
instance, that while television's effect on society has been large, it hasn't
week than about uplifting the culture. It seems fair to say that, in part as a
result of our experience with television, we tend to shy away from making
grandiose claims for new technologies anymore. We've become warier. It's been a
long time since we've fallen for the grand promise of a new technological
Which is why the hoopla surrounding the Internet is so
character? It vanishes as soon as the subject turns to the Internet and its
alleged power to transform our lives. Suddenly, we are innocents again, just as
promise. Not only can the Internet help free citizens from the tyranny of
oppressive governments, not only can it make investors wealthier and citizens
more active and students more eager to learn, but it can also enhance the
experience of watching a ballgame by allowing you to interact with a
surprising yet, Internet proselytizing is often led by actual smart
the computer moguls. (In her acknowledgments she coyly thanks "all the Bills I
have known.") Her industry confabs drip with cachet. And her newsletter,
best sense of the word. Her profile is high enough that the publisher felt
justified in putting her face on the cover of her new book, which is titled
her newsletter is nowhere to be found in her book. "I live on the Net," writes
appears to have caused her to forget how to write more than four consecutive
paragraphs at a time. More crucially, her "design for living in the digital
age," as the subtitle puts it, comes across as a cross between New Age
philosophy and 1950s hyperbole. Critical thinking has been replaced by wishful
make the world a better place. Really. For instance, the Net will help create
she's involved in. This will happen because people will gravitate toward
communities where they share interests and respect the views of others in the
who tend to disrupt those nurturing Net communities.) She believes the Net will
allow "those who want freedom [to] be able to work on their own terms without
sacrificing as much as they must today." In other words, the Net will free
people from the need to work for large organizations in order to make a decent
"People who aren't much fun to work with will be able to become more
disclosure in all sorts of areas. It will allow people to be anonymous when it
suits them and to be themselves when that suits them. If people's secrets are
somehow revealed on the Net, well, that could be good too. ("At the same time,
we may all become more tolerant if everyone's flaws are more visible.") And, my
somehow "bring back new respect for people, for personal attention, for
all her prognostications on work, security, privacy, and so on is one central,
and rather circular, idea. If the Internet is going to live up to its
purpose of this book is to encourage people to make the mainstream of
cyberspace nice enough that people will want to live their social lives there."
But she also seems to believe that if we would start spending more of our
social lives on the Net, that would help make us nicer, since the culture of
true even when she's conceding that not everyone in cyberspace is as nice as
she is. "It may not be nice to say it," she writes at one point, "but people
are not all always nice, and therefore a little social pressure can be a good
two problems with this emphasis on niceness, one small and one large. The small
problem is that as virtues go, niceness is wildly overrated. Nice books, for
people who are trying to get something done, too much niceness is likely to get
The larger problem is that the Internet is simply not going
to see the Internet reach its full potential. The notion is ludicrous on the
face of it. No matter how much information gets loaded into it, the Internet is
never going to transform the dynamics of human behavior. At least not for the
better. In fact, the evidence thus far is quite depressing in this regard. As
anyone who has spent any time in a chat room knows, the bad tends to drive out
the good. Which, when you think about it, is pretty much the way it happens in
like artifacts from a more gullible age. We won't be making extravagant claims
extremely useful, sometimes not. Some of what is on it will be very good, a lot
of it will be junk. It'll be just like television. And no one will be
about Jane Smiley, no matter what you think of her fiction: She puts her money
where her mouth is. Two years ago, Smiley published an essay in
it's actually a mess and a moral disaster. Among her charges was the claim that
and the novel a precursor to the kinds of buddy movies in which a sweet black
more, Smiley wrote, readers have always sensed that the happy ending is slapped
believed that its great theme was the struggle of the individual wandering
blanching. One hates to use a sexist's favorite word, but she came off as
shrill. On the other hand, if you set aside her excessive loathing of Twain,
recently, men who wrote about alienation stood a decent chance of being taken
seriously by critics, while a whole genre of social novels written by women got
he's running guns for abolitionists (blond, effeminate, and brave, he's the
unprepared for the hardscrabble life she's chosen. The first few chapters are
building a cabin from scratch while drunken strangers jeer at you and threaten
angelic children, and neat distinctions between good and evil. Wrong. At every
point, Smiley upsets the usual expectations. Coming from the no man's land of
intoxicated by their own abstract words. Instead of love at first sight,
through the book, just as she's prepared to investigate the possibility that
they're in love, he's suddenly murdered. (I might not have revealed this plot
takes her in. Unwilling to give up the notion that she has a mission, she
At which point, it becomes obvious that Smiley isn't
felt the cool, firm sensation of her hand on my neck as a promise."
Newton is quite stunning as parody. But for someone so bent on unmasking
way, this novel is a sermon. It attacks sentimentality, ideology, and piggish
male heroism, preaching ambiguity in their place. "No one could describe what
a building block to a better Smiley novel in the future, one in which her
brilliant lessons of disillusionment fly faster, because they're spurred on by
a bigger, warmer imagination. This would be the real coup: to unite Smiley's
missed the links within this review, click for the of how critics dismissed a
consulting, the domination of world financial markets, and particle physics.
One field in which it is believed we do poorly, however, is beating people up.
We are, the stereotype has it, lousy fighters, and this rankles. Some of us
respond to this slander by embracing, in the words of the cultural critic
are those who steel themselves with memories of our gangster past. Men with
me. This reaction is easy to understand: I was, at the time, facing the
more nuanced. Great nicknames and fists aside, I began to recognize these
his eyes as mirrors, reflecting not what he is looking at, but what he will
see: mountains, rivers, wars. I imagine him tall and slender, wearing a hood,
gangsters. He does this by striking a tough guy pose throughout, a pose that
fails to hide his sense of physical inadequacy, which he blames on his
His father is different, he maintains, by dint of his
King, and these passages are charming only if you believe that being in a room
believes his book is revolutionary, a violation of a taboo against speaking
purported tendency to suppress the gangster past and is even more angered by
attempts to make light of it. "I once heard a comedian refer jokingly to the
history, he rewrites other people's research, sometimes mangling quotes during
Ben," he writes. "The same restless energy drove both men toward invention. Ben
worked in a diner and was tired of clunky sugar dispensers and so converted an
existing piece of machinery, a tea bagger, creating the first sugar packet.
Tolly worked in narcotics and knew there was a Southern market for drugs and so
I would like to say Tolly was working for evil, my grandfather for good, but I
book that he undoubtedly believes extols heroes and explains a suppressed bit
pathology. He wants desperately to be a thug, because that is the only way he
are a tough people. At most, it means we are simply a people like any
for being optional. Thirty years ago, many items once necessary to female
have all come back, licensed frivolities rather than slavish concessions to the
male beholder. Since they are subject to women's freedom of choice, many women
never make use of them, and that, too, has its own excitement.
the old appurtenances, the bra was the only one that never really disappeared,
since some women can't do without it. In fact, developments in bra construction
instead of a questionable perversion and wearing them became a sensual
experience instead of a social duty. Now there are tough sports bras for active
women, cleverly minimizing bras for the very abundant, and scores of
confections with no function but to delight, whether on bodies or in pictures.
clear that breasts well emphasized by artfully designed bras are thrilling to
of what used to be called a "training bra" and is now being worn as part of the
dress. Designers are enclosing nearly nonexistent breasts in the familiar
it (so it shows through), or below it (sewn on, sometimes in a different
material). The more the bra seems like underwear, the sexier it is; when it's
more like a bikini top, the effect is simple modishness. In any case, though,
the idea is never to thrust actual breasts into actual prominence. It's a
reference only, a delicate allusion to that deeply satisfying modern icon, the
fetishism of female underwear dates, in its current incarnation, to the second
half of the last century, before bras existed and when the prevailing
excitement was all about underpants. For hundreds of years, women had worn only
petticoats. The arrival of white, frilly panties caused a stir, especially
underwear from outerwear, so a glimpse of petticoat frill was a thrill. But
even more so were the lines of the figure created by the invisible corset
female body newly engaged in sports and gainful employment. This ideal had two
elements, one forthrightly celebrating female anatomy in all its strength and
elasticity, the other more covertly emphasizing a woman's sensual pleasure in
her physical self and in being touched by others. The corseted shapeliness of
earlier decades had been a treat for the eye and the mind, but not for the
hand. The new, flexible shape, covered by a few thin layers of fabric, was
enjoyable to its owner and accessible to the male grasp. Fur coats came into
vogue, the dance craze erupted, and the diaphragm was invented, all well before
Breasts, however, presented a problem. They don't have
muscles that can govern their own movements, and if they're sizable, they swing
and bounce with the slightest motion of the body. In the brisk new
arrangement was required that would inhibit neither the tennis arm nor the
bras simply flattened the bosom with a band, to help create a radically
while new cylindrical girdles flattened the hips, tum, and bum. But when ripe
feminine curves came back into fashion in the '30s, there appeared the
sweater was her bra, lifting up, holding out, and separating and steadying her
breasts with firm insistence. Before long, breasts in visible or invisible
added perfection to individual outlines, and still later, the molded, seamless
outside an art museum, and the vision was indelibly imprinted on the collective
mind. A rage for that shape persists; breast augmentation and reduction
procedures are popular, and the bra business is bigger than ever.
have it both ways. Women who never really need bras can ignore them or wear
them at will. Modern feminism, modern habits, and modern fashion have
familiarized the eye with mobile and visible breasts of different shapes and
sizes, even with the harsh truths of breast cancer. Breasts have lost much of
their mythological aura and acquired some needed reality. But the delicious
look of breasts in bras, to say nothing of the delicious feel of them for the
wearer, taps into a very ancient human joy. Emphasizing breasts is too great a
the national debt, getting foreigners to invest again, and in general becoming
an international darling (this was four years before he would be unmasked as a
The commercial advertised an exhibit at the contemporary art museum. The show
create a giant image of the great man's head as he discoursed on this and that.
The whole thing looked like a homage to some ancient emperor. It was a creepy,
temptations up close, and many times he had resisted. His grandfather, a
publisher, was allied with the turn of the century dictator whose highhanded
deepening his sense that a writer's job is to reveal what society tries to
cushy work that supplied living expenses and food for the imagination:
the book he'll be remembered by. In The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and
mask, a defensive camouflage worn to hide the country's unresolved past. "The
as a search for our own selves, which have been deformed or disguised by alien
institutions," he wrote. The Revolutionary Institutional Party that took power
it was a touchy compromise that preserved backward attitudes toward power
father who has left, who has abandoned a wife and children. The image of
still palpable today. Never academic, it proceeds from a simple, urgent
question: "What are we, and how can we fulfill our obligations to ourselves as
we are?" This is a poet's or a philosopher's approach to history that could
fruitfully be applied to any country in the world. (Click to see, for example,
how he applies it, with not very flattering results, to the United States.)
to suffer a mild case of the very power sickness he had diagnosed. He set up a
left's more overblown rhetoric. The magazine was and is serious and fresh and
written either in argument with him or to court his favor.
inner compass and an unholy supply of curiosity saved him from becoming a relic
of the past or an embattled opponent of the present. I won't argue for his
poetry, which, while frequently beautiful, is never quite as beautiful to me as
his prose. That is gentle and clear, yet so packed with suggestive ideas that
kept his eyes, ears, and heart open. "A writer should be a guerrilla fighter,
should bear solitude and know that he is a marginal being," he once told an
interviewer. He never gave up this ideal of marginality, even as he climbed to
the top of the pyramid. He was a singular case, both admirable and disturbing:
the perennial guerrilla fighter who also became king.
kill with a bayonet (thrust deep under ribs, drag in slow, deep circle to
houses and unwaveringly plastic characters named Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Hanging
the select few who hear it. Stripped of their powers of volition, they become
"no more than dolls set on tabletops, the springs in their backs wound up
tight, dolls set to move in ways they could not choose, moving in directions
describes a nation bored and isolated by its successes and its failures alike.
a health magazine, whose strange hours screen her infidelities from an
improbably credulous spouse. Leaving as if for work one morning, she does not
return. She picks up her dry cleaning the following day, however, and
several plot lines and, both consummate miniaturist and committed pessimist,
appears to develop each carefully while keeping the mix unstable. And so the
(as it turns out, to little result beyond a few crepuscular couplings that may
or may not be real). He meets a veteran whose wartime experiences allow
yield an enduring image: a dry well, whose dark silences facilitate thought and
up the excitement and terror, the white hots and the blue colds, of childhood
repeatedly, it is simultaneously prison and release. It makes him face his
deepest fears (which puddle up in a stigmatic stain on his right cheek), then
allows him osmotic and healing passage to other worlds and narratives.
hotel, he taps into a labyrinth of stories that eventually reconnects him with
less ambitious in scale and makes a compelling case for his return to a smaller
this makes for good documentary and great short stories: His book about the
cult sticks with the conventions of storytelling and delivers emotion,
narrative lines, so carefully laid, snap; you're suspended midair, your tender
attentions scattered to the winds. You gulp, tell yourself you can transcend
bows tied in tweet, tidy trills. "Cinnamon's grandfather, the nameless
lieutenant who appeared in Cinnamon's story: he reminded me of Lieutenant
not necessarily fact and fact not necessarily truth."
little too late, his impulse to tidy resolution testifies more to his
usually found it easier to earn money than respect. In the rarefied world of
concert music, film composers were always thought of as versatile and skilled,
but with nothing crucial to say. Those who had started out writing for the
concert stage, as most in the studio heyday had, were assumed to have
the concert hall, bitter at the unwritten dictum, "No movie hacks need
has changed in recent years, and the first four releases of the Nonesuch Film
Series amount to a certificate of intellectual chic. The scores of East of
host of other classic films, whose music we have heard mostly squeezed stingily
out of tinny television speakers, have been sumptuously rerecorded. To hear
watching the movie characters walk off the screen and into the "real" world in
Uncharacteristically, the generally visionary Nonesuch is
scrambling to catch a trend with this one. More typically, the label has
music with a stronger bite than the bloated tone poems full of sopping strings
that had become the studio standard by the 1940s. For his first film, A
even dipped into the 12-tone techniques revered by the very high priests of
was the only one of the four to have been a member in good standing of the
movies, and partly because his film music was so abstract and his concert works
concert pieces (which have titles like "Rain Tree Sketch" and "Towards the
project comes into focus: the contradiction of championing film music by
battle scene from a cue written for a battle scene, and you get not mere
descriptive battle music but an abstract shard of symphony. The tension between
descriptive and abstract forms of music goes back to controversies of
that music's highest aspiration should be internal perfection and
These recordings would like it both ways. The cream of film
scorers, they imply, are consummate collaborators, able to fuse notes and
images so that each inflames the other. But the very act of issuing them on CD
of their own, why can't the soundtrack jettison its celluloid ballast and
doesn't work that way. Take North's celebrated score for A Streetcar Named
jazz, redolent of sin, plumes out of the dive up the street from the
watch, we can never be sure whether the characters are hearing the same music
it does what jazz and the movies have always done best: It makes the squalid
glamorous. But surround the soundtrack with silence and mount it in a frame of
like the Cloisters, the hodgepodge of medieval sculpture rescued from crumbling
that the essential quality of a work of art remain intact, even when it is
dropped into an alien habitat. Like the Cloisters, these discs contain
ravishingly crafted bits and pieces extracted from their intended setting;
restored, reassembled, and asked to keep right on glowing exactly as they did
fast you can hardly hear the words, and who, at the end of his films, gets
slow fade is especially surprising when you consider how much the genre he
's boy, a loner who liked to read, tough guys in the neighborhood gave him
nicknames like Red, Runt, and Short Shit, and forced him to learn how to fight.
throughout his life for insults. He called his main career nemesis, studio head
fatherless family, not vain hopes of becoming a star, is what drove him.
distinctive style of dance in which he stiffened his legs and stuck out his
drivers, warring taxi unions and, of course, gangsters. These films claimed to
played Tom Powers, a street punk who gets rich running booze during
Prohibition, grows too big for his britches, and winds up being shot. Other
was the role that let audiences admit they'd take a stinking lowlife over a
that followed is a good example of how shrewd the old studio system was at
figuring out exactly what a star is supposed to do, and an even better example
of how the system locked stars into an increasingly stultifying caricature of
electric chair. (The audience is left to guess if Rocky is spineless or if he's
just trying to convince all the kids who worship him that crime doesn't pay.)
To keep his fans from getting bored, he improvised what he called "goodies,"
directors and predictable scripts. Relief came when he got to play the great
to be recognized as a wholesome patriot, instead of a rat. He thought he'd
Unfortunately, in his rush to change his image he picked a string of sappy,
sentimental side. When he started out in show business, he was something of a
idealist, and as he got older his views shifted to the right. In fact, beneath
struggling to get out. In his spare time he wrote naive mystical verse about
God's presence in nature: "All space is filled with wondrous things/ Unseen by
human eye./ Before us hover kings and queens,/ With realms that float and fly."
number of farms and apparently loved to sit in the pasture and meditate on his
well into middle age, still dotes on her with an infant's fierce love. White
finds out that his mother is dead and moans like a maniac; and at a chemical
refinery, where he screams, "Top of the world, Ma!" and then gets shot by the
not responding to other people in a scene, he's hearing voices in his head. The
the right winking theatricality. Also, a few years ago, when left to choose his
decades later, like the most enduring film style of all. He's been sucked into
the cultural ether. His skepticism and short fuse, which once seemed so
radical, are taught at the Actors Studio. His name may be vanishing, but more
off chance that you haven't followed every twist and turn of the case, there
are two ways to reassure yourself that former Deputy White House Counsel
briskly efficient 114-page document that makes an already overwhelming case for
suicide about as close to airtight as you can get. The other is to read
if bumbling, former New York Post reporter who has virtually
republished in newspaper ads across the country; his sheer persistence has led
some casual observers to conclude he might be on to something. The Strange
an alternative scenario that makes the least bit of sense.
incontrovertible (you would think) facts. Foster left his White House office
River, a bullet wound through his mouth, his right thumb trapped in the trigger
zing from the back of his head. There were no signs of a struggle; his sports
nearby parking lot. In the days that followed, friends and family members
described Foster as distraught over the demands of his job and suffering from
death, he reports, Foster broke down in tears over dinner with his wife and
talked of resigning. On the day before he died he phoned his family doctor in
Little Rock, Ark. According to the doctor's typewritten notes, published in
doctor, the widow, the friends, the Park Police officers that found the body,
concealing the fact that they failed to follow proper police procedures by
group of secret conspirators. The argument begs certain questions, such as: Who
were these conspirators? What possible motive would they have had? Why deposit
rivers.) And most curious of all, how exactly could this dastardly crime have
and have nobody notice would have been quite an achievement. Wouldn't they have
Ruddy makes no stab at guessing who the criminals are. But
as he plows his way through hundreds of pages of witness statements, he thinks
he has discovered what they were wearing: orange vests! This is actually not a
have seen someone in an orange or red vest in the woods. Hall later conceded it
may have been nothing more than a car or truck in the distance. Still, Ruddy
smells a rat. He speculates darkly that Hall's possible sighting was evidence
wrong. Like his fellow conspiracy nuts, Ruddy argues that there was too little
reported a pool of blood underneath his head and new, wet blood pouring out of
home. Ruddy and other critics have questioned where the .38-caliber revolver
sister, and two of his children recall that Foster inherited a similar handgun
the night of her husband's death, the weapon was missing. Are they all
firings. That almost certainly helps to account for White House stonewalling
suspicions about what secrets Foster might have known. But that the man killed
continually updated Web site, the indomitable Ruddy charges on, picking away at
the men with orange vests won't soon be coming for him?
as the ultimate expos of the contemporary male psyche. What I do know is that
he realizes that it's just a stack of plastic discs, not a fulfilling life
writes with awesome fluidity. His musings on the destructive beauty of pop
times achieve something like philosophical depth. (Click for an example.) The
book's unapologetic concern with personal happiness even lent it a classical
before the Novel got confused with Art and the novelist's job was to write
clean prose, trot out a few moral guidelines, and make the reader laugh. My
only complaints with High Fidelity were with a few cloying Growth
character in the novel appears to issue a happy farewell. The finale is
such as when Donna gets out of the hospital after an attempted rape, and the
of High Fidelity would probably be about 4-to-1. Maybe it was inevitable
but his desperate clinging to youth placed him inside a world of rock trivia
see in magazine ads for khakis. He's inherited a nest egg, so instead of
working he sits at home and watches daytime television. All signs to the
contrary, he thinks this shallow bachelorhood is glamorous. His joys in life
to sleep with women, but he doesn't want to get involved, so he comes up with a
plan. He'll pursue beautiful single mothers and pretend he has a child, too.
This will trick his girlfriends into thinking he's capable of depth and caring.
Then, before things get too heavy, the woman will realize her child comes first
and break up with him. "Great sex, a lot of ego massage, temporary parenthood
his ruse, he finally embarks on a challenging relationship. It's not with a
when the woman Will is currently attempting to date drags the boy along on a
weird, but when he drops him off at home, they find the mother passed out in a
failed suicide attempt, and Will's sympathy is engaged. Sort of. Actually,
house uninvited. Will feels guilty, lets him in to watch television and slowly,
touching creation, and his growth arc easily beats out Will's for interest. A
victim of the modern parental tyranny of hippie idealism, he doesn't watch
throw around at school. The bullies in his class sense this and pounce, like
mother mopes around the house, so his only example of adult behavior is
how to do? Buy records and clothes, be selfish, and not take anything
seriously. In all the obvious ways, About a Boy feels like a
Fidelity argued against too much coolness, the new novel is about the
defense of conformity. It certainly defies the standard tropes of writing about
different. Brave or not, though, it's still shallow. One of the great things
about High Fidelity was the way it made emotional epiphanies function as
through the motions of growing up without conducting the necessary internal
search. Will's maturity simply arrives one day, like a piece of mail: "Will
couldn't recall ever having been caught up in this sort of messy, sprawling,
chaotic web before; it was almost as if he had been given a glimpse of what it
was like to be human. It wasn't too bad, really; he wouldn't even mind being
other marginal people would make life easier for themselves if they'd just get
warmth and charm. In fact he renders his message in such appealing, facile
strokes that one wants to believe he just panicked after the success of High
Fidelity and turned out a callow rush job. More depressing is the
deep South saw Brown vs. Board of Education in a favorable light. But
those who had thrived in functional black communities with strong schools and
ambivalent about desegregation. Their misgivings rarely reached the mainstream
eating well and sharpening her oyster knife to feel victimized by racism. Black
liberals attacked her bitterly when she described the Brown decision as
an insult to black communities like hers, which had educated their own just
with this heritage, filled with descendants of blacks who felt themselves equal
Communities like this one faded with desegregation, which
she returns accompanied by a plague of robins who coat the town in shit and
fall dead from the skies. The novel strikes a creative balance between
novels since then have revealed a growing tension between the two.
Paradise finds that tension more pronounced than ever. The novel has a
inspired the novel remain submerged and inaccessible, except to those of us who
first black lawyer, and would have been a familiar figure in the local history
dramatically when the proud Negro residents had exhausted their savings with no
way of making a living. With prospects dwindling, the founders themselves
Paradise recounts a similar move for the people who eventually founded
Ruby, but attributes the migration to the fact that an earlier settlement had
become too worldly and corrupt. In Ruby, founding families control the local
bank and mete out justice as they see fit. The town is lavishly prosperous,
sharing food and resources and money such that need is unknown. The nearest
family that happens through town ends up trapped in a blizzard and is eaten by
families evaluate prospective spouses on the basis of skin color, and only the
blackest of the black are welcome. Mulattoes are despised as mongrels.
The isolation pays off in immortality, for no one dies in
Ruby. But inbreeding brings sterility and spiritual rot. The town's first
family reaches the end of the line when neither of its scions produces an heir.
Such children as there are grow troublesome during the '60s, when they rebel
against tradition. Vexed by discord, the founding families find a convenient
scapegoat in a colony of single women that springs up at a ruined Catholic home
has always regarded the impulse to murder as part and parcel of love,
example, an escaped slave slits her infant's throat to prevent its capture by
him alive after he becomes a heroin addict and petty thief. Through murder, the
smother to death in the family car. Mavis believes the deaths are accidental,
but circumstances suggest that the act was at least unconsciously volitional.
frightened to death of her remaining children, whom she suspects of plotting to
Convent's other residents are refugees from bad marriages or abuse of one kind
or another. The place also serves as a haven for Ruby citizens who need a break
from the town's claustrophobic sameness. An influential townsman takes a lover
there. A mother driven mad by caring for a disabled child recovers there. The
her powers to bring a dying townsman back to life. But the stallions who run
Ruby see the place as purely evil. To them, the women represent the danger and
disorder that must be expunged if the town is to survive. The men attack,
murdering some women and scattering others to the winds. The women do not go
critique the utopian ideal as dangerous, stultifying, and illusory. The moral
of the story, simply put, is: Till your garden where you are; good and evil
simplification of a complex book that tells its stories from several
avoiding literal references to history and even physical descriptions that
might fix characters in time and space. These omissions blur the characters and
allow them to operate at the level of myth. But the absence of workaday and
are impenetrable to the mind's eye. The lack of literal historical context also
allows us to leave Paradise without learning about the black Western
who left the South to seek their fortunes on the frontier. The history is so
point of departure, or the spine of a novel all its own.
history of the eras and places she treats so compellingly in her novels. She
has recaptured those communities beautifully in fiction. It would be even more
audible, the winds biting through the string sound, the timpani crisp yet
viscerally forceful. Then, the soloist begins his famous heroic surge up the
keyboard. Except that he doesn't sound heroic; he sounds tinkly. His finger
work is impeccable, his phrasing elegant, his stance as swaggering as one could
original instrument movement is several decades old, and has moved so far
beyond mere novelty that in some repertoires, it might even be considered the
new orthodoxy. Bach performance in the style of those old Grand
original instruments is still controversial. Do they reveal the composer's
intentions, or merely demonstrate the practical limitations against which he
struggled? Keyboard music poses the question in its starkest terms: Was the
more fully, or was the Romantic style of keyboard writing itself a response to
not unreasonable to assume that he considered it a superior medium for the
performance of his music, even music composed before he received the gift.
recording and a respected musical scholar, assumes otherwise. As he makes his
instruments for the different pieces, determining the compass of each
instrument he employs by the range of notes each piece demands. He believes, as
he put it in a conversation with me recently, that "no matter the size of the
his toe on the floor." This is elegantly put and close to inarguable: If
wrote for it probably would demand the highest and the lowest notes of that
available to him on any given occasion produced the ideal sound he heard in his
its predecessors. Although not the first grandly heroic piano
in so doing, became the model for concertos of the Romantic era. The drama
That said, it must also be said that no other performance
could have offered a better opportunity to decide whether Levin is right.
playing is so dexterous, intelligent, and ardent; and the recording is so
technically splendid (there are felicities of scoring, such as a solo cello
peculiarities, this release at least qualifies as best of breed.
lyrical sections, it works superbly (most of the second movement, say, and the
projected with supple delicacy by Levin). In the filigree figures accompanying
transitional passages in the first movement, or the dialogue with the French
horns near the end of the same movement, it's close to a revelation. This, I
heroic passages that define the work, it doesn't succeed for me at all. The
cadenza that opens the concerto sounds wan and unassertive; its even more
extravagant recapitulation tries harder while achieving less. The great
execution. And in the battle of block chords toward the end of the development
section, the piano comes off as strident rather than imperial as it attempts to
works. In his liner notes, and more elaborately in our conversation, Levin
point. His argument is persuasive, but the conclusion is so
recording, the Fantasy for Pianoforte, Chorus, and Orchestra 
advocates for a work whose position in the repertory has historically been
any general conclusions about what sorts of instruments are right for
hunting. Bobby, a Navy vet who never saw action in World War II, fixed a deer
to handle a gun like a man." He went on to break his word by giving Jack
entertaining, original, and exceptionally researched book, it certainly makes
It is hard to imagine two politicians more opposed in
transcripts into one of the most intimate portraits of the inner life of a
one senses that nothing less than the deepest matters of personal identity
runt." It is not surprising that they didn't care to be in the same place at
which he knew he wasn't the first choice (here was Bobby's East Coast
arrogance, or maybe his idealism). Thither to the White House, where Attorney
Senate committees, earned from journalists the label "assistant president" for
his ubiquity at the highest levels of executive influence; while Vice President
1950s, found himself so insignificant that he was only informed of Cabinet
only intensified as the martyr's shadow loomed ever larger. In his grief, each
man blamed the other for the tragedy. Bobby had been point man for the
insisted privately, had certainly brought on the assassination as an act of
it loses a little of its aplomb. This is the period when a single
forces larger than either man could discern. By the time they faced each other
more abiding division in contemporary politics than those that divide today's
Democrats. Like so much that polarizes us these days, it is more cultural than
who reviled the young senator to such a degree is not broken down further. But
gravely hurt the party's chances in the South and border states, among
called the emerging Republican majority: the crowd whose voting habits were
never worked a day in their lives, who were eager (so the perception went) to
oppress the plain folk with burdensome taxes in order to fatten the undeserving
contempt, hinted at but not developed in this valuable book, that haunts us
explore the past in large sweeps. More opinionated than academic historians
tend to be, he is also skilled at offering character sketches and at spinning
gets bogged down here and there, it manages, for the most part, to move ahead
also encounter a host of superficial and slanted judgments. Some of these
conservative political and cultural agenda. He is better when he keeps things
settled by extraordinarily adventurous and idealistic people and that the North
honorable loyalty to each other." The founding fathers were "the most
union leaders, and minority groups receive far less attention than in most
whatever they think, presidents of the United States should not publicly
proclaim their detestation of democracy and equality. That leaves only
the great general, turned out a political and administrative booby. He wished
controlled her diminutive husband and "launched the White House's first
or blue coat with vest, black breeches and black stockings,' the ladies 'not
remarkable for anything so much as for the exposure of their swelling breasts
liaison, which led in time to a bit of genteel blackmail." Readers can guess
revealed in a lengthy section lauding the minimalist economic and political
conclude that "the whole of the Great Society program was unconstitutional."
seems to agree that it was an "unprincipled decision" that "turned out to be a
action programs, he adds, are "based on illegality."
media, which are described as having abused enormous power in recent years.
sport. All too often, however, such statements are zingers, as if whipped out
conservative newspaper. Popular history need not come at the expense of
substitutes for those qualities. This is a pity, for his caustic tone and
shallow glosses undermine what is a bold and worthy effort: to write a readable
men with syphilis and, without their knowledge or consent, withheld treatment
so as to observe the natural progress of the disease. In this new biography,
homosexual and a masochist." Everything else about him seems to follow. "The
vitality" was the product not of a naturally energetic constitution, or a
who spent his every waking hour attempting to change the sexual mores and sex
researching gall wasps and was a serious gardener, hiker, and record
may have had an inkling of his secret agenda but only now can the truth be
"if only he could get the facts to people life would be a lot happier and less
guilt ridden." And moreover, "he was a great champion of tolerance and
irony, of course," is that many distinguished scientists who knew his work
intimately "were not able to see beneath the surface." "Incredible as it may
seem," the vice president and senior editor of the premier medical publishing
The perpetrator of all these deceptions may not have been
the paradigmatic social scientist of his generation, a man who more than any
other made the study of human sexuality a respectable and legitimate field of
inquiry. The author of the groundbreaking best sellers Sexual Behavior in
graduate students is certain. He was into group sex and he masturbated. His
sexual life unquestionably extended beyond the missionary position within
homosexual contact." But he also had a long, loving, and complex sexual
pornography. Whether he was a homosexual, readers can decide for
relentlessly hostile readings of the evidence, however, make this difficult.
"shriveled balls," and worried lest he himself "be castrated for biting a
sexually despised to experience much pain and suffering, precisely as he had
intended." (Forget the mocking tone; it pervades the book. Any reformer is
threatened his "fragile sense of masculinity.") A footnote reveals that the one
and, of course, corroborate the incident. But back in the main text he says
public "cover story" (that a strep throat caused the problem) far likelier.
seem to have little bearing either on his commitment to tolerance or on his
never did anything for innocent reasons. Even when he tried to write
weapons." He can't win. On one page he is charged with listening to music
analytically, in keeping with his general penchant to dominate, and on the next
meaty thumb upon the scales" so that he was "virtually guaranteed" that he
the sexual response of the human female nonetheless contained all sorts of
majority of women experienced not vaginal but clitoral orgasm.
and it's not clear exactly what population it represents. That said, a
the interviews themselves were remarkably probing and that, under the
circumstances, a random sample was impossible. Most of us would respond to the
phone call or knock on the door from a total stranger announcing that we had
been randomly selected to tell them when we started to masturbate or how often
we had been unfaithful to our partners with a polite "no thank you, not
of his statistical work were merely cosmetic. The remarkable fact is that his
shading of variation, a continuum of practices, seems to have had more to do
with his training as an entomologist than with the nature of his own desires.
against the ontological reality of established taxonomic categories.
for a lay audience in the 1940s and 1950s was an openly revolutionary act. It
other social scientist since the Enlightenment, was simply obeying the central
tenet of his discipline: that the scientific study of society is possible; that
the results of such study are a better basis for policy than, say, the Mosaic
life, however nonstandard it was, would not render him incapable of objectivity
practitioners have no values. It means that they gather and interpret their
material fairly and argue about its interpretations rationally. By these
deal with love, and perhaps overextended the protective umbrella of tolerance
It is distressing that in this time of AIDS it could still
product of perversion. The book's cynicism is even more distressing,
symptomatic as it is of a larger cynicism that seems to have gripped our public
culture. We seem to believe that all human action is motivated not by the
desire to know or improve the lot of humankind, but only by the basest motives
liberation, the broad and generous desire for others not to be harshly
midst of something called "telecommunications reform." What is it, and how is
cable, or the airwaves. Telecommunications reform is supposed to break down
existing barriers between these media so that, for example, phone companies
will sell television hookups and cable companies will offer telephone service.
The early results have been poor to middling. Competition
(particularly in local residential telephone service) has been slow to bloom.
not arrived. Some critics say the problem is that deregulation didn't go
maintaining or even adding new regulations in others. Other critics say the
problem is too much deregulation. They point especially to a series of giant
mergers --most notably those reassembling the old Ma Bell telephone monopoly
communications industry: telephone service, cable, and broadcasting.
the latter can compete without running wires to every house. It also requires
the Baby Bells to resell their entire bundle of services wholesale to companies
that might wish to compete on the retail level. Customers who want to switch
phone companies must be able to keep their old phone numbers and can't be
expected these provisions to leave the Baby Bells facing a variety of
cable and utility companies (who own valuable rights of way), other Baby
own local phone markets. The act also explicitly requires the Federal
Communications Commission, for the first time, to ensure "universal
rolled out a universal service plan, which included discounted Internet hookups
for schools and libraries, to be funded by charges on all interstate
Congress passed a law deregulating cable prices (even forbidding local
will be able to set their own rates, except on "basic tier" service (the
service, the statute allows cable companies to begin charging market rates as
soon as they face competition from another local provider. The act allows local
phone companies to provide video programming to homes (whether via cable,
wireless, or through telephone lines), and it lets phone and cable companies in
Critics call this a giveaway of a public resource worth billions of dollars.
The broadcasters are supposed to use the extra spectrum space for the new
digital signals. They are also supposed to give their current spectrum space
broadcasters are now pushing to hold on to the additional spectrum space.
the nation's households. The new law also makes it easier for broadcasters to
was struck down this week by the Supreme Court. Has deregulation worked? During
up, too, though some of this rise may be attributable to a reduction in
Competitors have not rushed in. The Baby Bells still monopolize the
The cable companies are facing some increased competition from
the cable market.) Ironically, price competition has emerged most robustly
plans to get into the local phone business. Likewise the Baby Bells, who,
facing economic and technical obstacles, have abandoned plans to branch out
"local loop" is the most expensive part of the entire system to build and
offer local phone service has been widely dismissed as unconvincing. It would
agreements with foreign countries. Most of the opposition comes from the
president's own party, though some Republicans are also opposed (and others
eliminating barriers to free trade such as tariffs, import quotas, and
of both houses of Congress. Fast track is a congressional procedure limiting
debate over these agreements. When the president invokes fast track,
Fast track is intended to thwart filibusters and to prevent
members of Congress from adding special protections for businesses in their
districts. The rationale for fast track is that trade agreements are
countries. If Congress makes changes, the whole agreement must be renegotiated.
Furthermore, negotiations involve swapping concessions with the other side.
Other countries will not make the necessary concessions in the first place if
country gives its chief executive a power similar to fast track. But few other
countries have a legislative branch so independent of the executive branch.
multilateral agreements. These other agreements, like the recent Chemical
Weapons Convention, are often subjected to prolonged debate and can be altered
to reduce tariffs and implement multilateral trade agreements without its
a series of popular export subsidies, Congress resumed its complaints about the
congressional allies inserted fast track into a relatively obscure section of
decades, Congress repeatedly voted to renew fast track, and by large margins.
Presidents have only invoked fast track on a handful of
say that with fast track, Congress is abandoning its responsibilities under the
the process of hashing out agreements tends to be secretive --without
public hearings or any opportunity for public input. But despite fast track,
classic example. Congressional Democrats refused to support the agreement until
president doesn't keep Congress up to speed on negotiations, Congress can
revoke fast track. Other provisions in the original legislation give Congress
contentious. Labor and environmental groups have announced that they
House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of the legislation. The chairman
the bill before the full House until next year, rather than risk defeat.
considered the continent's most brutal and corrupt living dictator. Since
forest that divides Zaire. East of the rain forest is a hodgepodge.
out of Zaire. They routed both forces, causing them to flee into the country's
of the richest men in the world. He pays his civil service virtually no salary,
requiring them to earn their income through bribes.
through his identification with the leopard, which signifies omnipotence in
jockeyed for power, creating serious harm to the war effort. This week, the
parliament voted to oust the prime minister. The army is in shambles, and large
sections of the country have been running themselves, without oversight from
mercenaries to fight the rebels. In addition, the army relies on assistance
to assist the rebels. Their intentions are unclear: Do they hope to grab land
their countries? Some experts predict that their involvement in the war could
escalate the conflict, drawing these countries into battle with one
has not officially taken a position on the civil war. However, it has tacitly
that the Republicans have no right to talk. "They raise more money. They raise
more foreign money. They raise more money in big contributions. And we take all
Party (the Republican National Committee, the Republican Senate Campaign
donations that can be spent directly on candidates. Under the Federal Election
parties can accept unlimited contributions to pay for activities ambiguously
building referred literally to the cost of building and maintaining a party
headquarters, as well as general promotional activities for the party. But
recent court decisions and creative interpretations by the parties themselves
have led to a much broader definition. Parties now spend the soft money on
distinctions remain between the application of hard and soft money. The soft
money can't be transferred directly into candidates' coffers, and the ads can't
explicitly promote or denigrate a candidate, which in practice just means no
use of the words "vote for" or "vote against." In the last campaign, the
Republicans' edge in soft money reflects their greater success in raising
exclude donations to state parties that are transferred to both federal and
legal limits on such spending, as long as it is truly independent of the
campaign alone. In addition, the unions sponsored voter guides and a
contributions by foreign companies and individuals, which are flatly
either type of foreign money. However, there are currently no federal laws
"raise more foreign money"? If the statement refers to illegal foreign money,
then his claim lacks evidence. In the last campaign cycle, Democrats returned
receipts. But the data are incomplete. A study by Common Cause of contributions
Democrats' new prohibition on such contributions is a definitional nightmare.
Republicans argue that even though they receive more big contributions, the
engagements with the president when they controlled the White House, and have
repaired major infrastructural damage --to roads, industry, and
Economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations have been
each month from malnutrition and disease. The middle class has been hit
$2-billion worth of oil every six months on the condition that the profits go
the '70s. Three major domestic intelligence agencies report directly to him,
and each reports on the other two as well as on civilians. Assassination,
torture, and a network of informers keep the masses in line. Families left
approximately $300-million worth of oil the United Nations lets him sell to
the impression that the United Nations is about to lift the sanctions in reward
power, could also challenge him. There are rumors that a cousin attempted to
promises of forgiveness, but then had him assassinated.
punished it by bombing military targets in the south.
snuffs out unrest. Last summer the unit, which watches for signs of a military
inspections and surveillance cameras to do their work. During the recent
of the one that went into the Gulf War, but it is better trained. Since the
traditionally a state and local responsibility in the United States. Yet many
people feel that poor public schools are a national problem. President Bush
proposed national standards for primary and secondary education, and so has
designed to compare student performance across states and school districts.
Participation by school districts is voluntary. A bipartisan, independent
federal agency will supervise the drafting and administration of the tests. By
making reliable comparisons possible, the new national tests are supposed to
create healthy competition among schools, giving them an incentive to
Senate has approved the spending of federal money for this purpose, but the
conservative remedy that would allow parents to choose among schools. Without
reliable testing, they believe, parents cannot be good "consumers."
as the Educational Testing Service, these critics see the hand of liberal
Department of Education administrators. Early versions, they say, reward
subjects like history in the hope of avoiding arguments over politicization.)
The Bush proposal, which was never prepared as legislation, would also have
recently modified his proposal to give control to an independent board, he
allowed the Department of Education to participate in the early stages
independent board will have ample opportunity to amend the tests if they are
way for liberals to establish a national curriculum and usurp local control of
schools. At the very least, they say, schools are forced to tailor curricula to
the test. They believe that all attempts at establishing national curricula
will be riddled with ideology and partisan politics, and cite the controversial
category of opponents comprises liberals, including members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, who argue that low test scores stigmatize
minority students as "inferior," when in fact poor schooling and other
disadvantages are to blame for their performance. The test scores, they say,
will be used as an excuse to pour resources into a few select schools, harming
However, many liberals who opposed the Bush testing plan
National Education Association --the largest and most powerful teachers'
for their reluctance: A national test could be embarrassing and disprove claims
Colorado school administrators like to brag that their state's average SAT
students take a different college entrance exam, making the SAT an unreliable
a single question: "How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly
query, made during a speech at a conservative think tank, to imply that he
believed the stock market was overvalued, and that the Federal Reserve might be
about to increase interest rates in order to lower stock prices. So investors
Federal Reserve officials then hastened to assure the press that a rise in
about it? The stakes for investors are enormous. The current value of
define in theory than in practice. It refers to the prices stocks ought to sell
for based on businesses' real economic value, apart from speculation. The
assumption is that stock prices will ultimately (whenever that is) return to
their fundamental values, however much extraneous factors may be influencing
merely a claim on a corporation's future earnings. And the ratio of stock price
to earnings is twice what it traditionally has been. In the past, whenever
general stock prices have gotten as high relative to fundamentals as they are
today, the next decade has been an extremely bad one in which to invest in the
economic and profit growth will continue in the future at roughly the pace it
did in the past. But (the argument goes), because we are on the threshold of
the rate of return that the average investor expects to receive on
stocks has fallen. That would mean that any given level of profit can sustain a
higher stock price. In the past, demand for stocks was limited by fear of
decent return with total safety. But (the argument goes) the 1970s inflation
taught investors the brutal lesson that there is no safety in bonds: Your
investment can evaporate if interest rates rise, or if inflation devalues the
bonds' purchasing power. Investors today also have less fear of the business
cycle and other risks associated with stocks. So investors are willing to pay
Over the past generation, corporations have learned better how to avoid paying
investors) that used to be called "dividends" into "interest." Dividends are
business expense. Other companies have decided to buy back shares with
money that would otherwise have been paid out in dividends. The money
shareholders receive in this way is taxed as a capital gain, usually at a lower
rate, whereas dividends are taxed as ordinary income. Furthermore, investors
can choose whether to participate in the buyback or to hold onto their shares
and defer taxes completely. All these various tax techniques make shares of
stock more valuable, per dollar of corporate earnings, than previously.
The only correct answer to the question, "Is the stock
financier, had a stock answer for people who asked him what the stock market
would do: "It will fluctuate." At the peak of every previous bull market, there
have been experts and prognosticators declaring that the old rules of thumb are
no longer valid. The most famous of these predictions came just before the
investors that stock prices had attained a "permanently high plateau." But
calls "irrational exuberance"? This is a bad thing because the exuberance may
inevitable. The decline in prices to their "fundamental" level may be gradual,
and even a crash may not turn into a larger economic disaster. When stock
bank attempts to deflate overvalued stock prices is not encouraging. The Fed's
it did start the depression it had hoped to avoid. The Fed's principal
stocks and into bonds. But raising interest rates now (which would depress the
economy now) to avoid a possible financial crisis (which would depress the
economy later) is a lot like destroying the village in order to save it.
shift market psychology and begin the gradual deflation. The risk is that the
shift in market psychology might not be subtle, and the deflation might not be
that he was worried because the stock market was overvalued: He asked how he
could figure out whether the stock market was overvalued. He did not say that
he would take any action in response to overvaluation: He asked if monetary
policy should be any different if there were overvaluation.
to the conventional wisdom, last week's murders were the latest chapter in a
affairs and by restoring jobs. This satisfied no one: It was not enough to dent
established a shadow government and sent envoys abroad to make the case for
believes he cannot afford the loss of prestige that would accompany a
Liberation comes from armed struggle, not nonviolence. Support grows for the
war to boost his popularity. Another says he ordered last week's crackdown only
position was roundly dismissed as a scholastic contortion of logic, performed
feminist's hypocrisy on sexual harassment, the movement's sacred cow. No less
descending order of sternness, are the five major groups (for a refresher on
position, is trumpeted primarily by academics who take their cues from law
laws are a necessary corrective to the oppressive patriarchy of the workplace,
and she wants current laws stiffened. For instance, she would prohibit men from
disparities of power in these relationships render them exploitative by
she formulated the theory behind the current practice of sexual harassment
Act could be used to regulate workplace behavior such as dirty jokes and
accusers always deserve the presumption of veracity in sexual harassment cases.
Women, they claimed, "don't make these things up." And feminists have an
obligation to counter the prevailing tendency to dismiss accusers as "nutty and
the press chiding them for their "double standard" did the groups begin to
sexual harassment law as a pretext for preserving "women's virtue." And in
harassment if there is no sex involved. This, she argues, has led these judges
focuses on an alleged sexual act but makes no convincing showing of damage to
proposition that with sexual advances, "no means no; yes means yes." And when
position goes a step beyond the strict constructionist position. Articulated by
that we've become paranoid about sexual harassment, criminalizing consensual
the critique echoes conservative complaints about multiculturalism (harassment
law makes women helpless victims), it also incorporates a libertarian strain
(government should not pry into consensual sexual relations) and an Epicurean
one (we shouldn't penalize people with active libidos; so long as nobody gets
missed the link to the refresher on harassment law and its history, click
come from, and what is the political impact of this rapidly growing
together blacks, whites, and those of mixed race, has provoked a heated debate.
Some complain that the categorization falsely homogenizes a diverse people
fell out of vogue, many of its supporters joined forces with the "Latino" camp,
debate boils down to personal preference, shown by clear regional patterns: In
median age, higher poverty levels, and enduring cultural values that place a
premium on large families. The Census Bureau estimates annual net
of the electorate, they are significant voting blocks in key states and, most
traditionally voted solidly Republican. But in the last election, roughly half
votes also delivered the margin of victory to Democrats in several close
official language of the United States. Dole also opposed public funding of
Republican platform advocated that citizenship be denied to children born in
be socially conservative, and these instincts could eventually propel many of
realize anything near their political potential. Currently, voter turnout among
population surges in the next century, both political parties are likely to
Did the president know about such an initiative and was he or his staff
upcoming election. Campaign contributions from foreigners, let alone foreign
addition, China has grown increasingly concerned over the disparity between
clearest. On his resume he even boasts about his friendship with senior
government officials. His major business partner in China is a government
government money, there is nothing more than highly circumstantial evidence to
suggest they actually participated in a government scheme. But they also could
have raised such large sums by laundering money from their foreign business
the least, he was hired in an attempt to influence administration China policy.
That would not be unusual. But skeptics suggest a darker scenario: that the
International Relations Committee. Their conversations took place at precisely
intended to illegally contribute money to their campaigns. (The six were Sens.
others not yet identified.) Apparently, none of these members received
misconstrued the agents' instructions to treat the matter delicately.
president's assertion that he was kept in the dark, critics speculate that the
depicts Mafiosi ruling a sprawling business empire in the 1940s. More recent
What is the Mafia's role in real life, and how has it changed over the
evolved into the island's unofficial government. It retained its paramilitary
tactics and insularity (Mafiosi called their organization a "family," and
turned criminal. It terrorized businesses and landowners who didn't regularly
payments continued to be its primary function. Only during Prohibition
did it branch out of ethnic neighborhoods and into bootlegging, gambling, and
disputes and plan schemes. The Mafia played only a minor role.
Godfather 's depiction of Mafia strength in the late '40s is largely
accurate. Because of its committed, disciplined rank and file and economic base
relationships with urban political machines (New York City politicians openly
the existence of the Mafia and refused to investigate it). City governments
helped rig government contracts and turned a blind eye to other rackets. Many
of the scams depended on the Mafia's increasing control of unions, especially
Mafia's other activities have radically changed. For instance, its biggest
extortion schemes in the New York area have been broken up: It no longer
investigate the Mafia. In addition, starting in the early '80s federal
prosecutors have used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Restaurant Employees union, the Teamsters union, and the Laborers'
International Union. However, subsequent government supervision of these unions
urban politics destroyed the big city machines the Mafia once depended upon
Turncoats have provided the decisive evidence in recent cases against John
efficiently import cheaper drugs and eschew partnerships with the Mafia. In
Postal Service is a national pastime. Consumers gripe about rotten service and
international shipments. Stamp collectors moan that the Postal Service issues
too many stamps, often commemorating frivolous subjects such as Bugs Bunny,
hoping that customers will buy and hold these stamps rather than use them.
the rate increase, when profits are high? Does the Postal Service compete
Postal Service was not conceived with profit, or even efficiency, in mind. The
Postal Service's mandate is not to make money but rather "to bind the nation
agency since the passage of 1970's Postal Reorganization Act. Direct
invest in new equipment and further automation. By law, the rates for each
class of mail must cover direct and indirect costs attributable to that class,
Rate Commission, which adjudicates the Postal Service's applications for rate
federal taxes; it's exempt from Occupational Safety and Health Administration
laws, zoning regulations, and antitrust accountability; and it enjoys cheap
transporting and delivering letters or packets in competition with the Postal
Service. There are some exemptions, such as those for delivering newspapers,
magazines, and urgent letters, but where competition is allowed, as in the case
that the firewall between the Postal Service's monopoly and competitive
political action committees, but since every congressional district contains
numerous post offices and politically active postal workers, it is
extremely unlikely that Congress will enact radical reforms any time soon.
cashing in on its enormous cache of detailed demographic data on
customers by selling it to direct mailers. This rankles the newspaper industry,
which wants to protect the income it receives for delivering advertising
Congress and seems particularly aggrieved by the Postal Service's plans to
than underwriting advertising mail most of them never asked for and don't
made electronically, removing benefit checks, tax refunds, etc., from the mail
to cut, mail, and handle paper checks, according to the Social Security
billions of dollars spent on automation. Negotiations with the powerful postal
health of the service. As federal employees, postal workers are not allowed to
strike and, if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached, contractual disputes
endorsed giving the Postal Service to its employees, there don't
the next six nations combined. While service standards differ (many countries
separated from politics, but the political uses of the presidency by the
special prosecutor. What behavior would he or she prosecute? What exactly is
bureaucracy, and was aimed at the civil service. But by its terms, it applies
president, and appointees requiring Senate confirmation (such as Cabinet
secretaries) are exempt. The original Hatch Act forbade government employees to
raise funds, give partisan public speeches, or volunteer for any candidate or
all these things, so long as they are done outside the workplace and government
employees don't exploit their positions for political purposes.
Enforcement of the Hatch Act was always erratic, and there
was no serious attempt to apply its general ban on politicking to the White
of the president to engage in "political activity." The law defines political
prohibits. These same limits apply to Cabinet secretaries and all other
presidential appointees approved by the Senate. The president's campaign or
party must reimburse the government for the use of its offices and
White House employees can work on their "political" projects only if they put
White House installed separate phone and fax lines for political work. But
these rules are not legally binding. And in practice, such distinctions between
"official" and "political" White House work are almost meaningless.
now under investigation for violation of the Hatch Act. Her nomination to be
that planned strategies for hyping the president to different ethnic groups.
She did wrong, the argument goes, by using government computers to draw up
activity under investigation is simply part of the job description of public
liaison, which is supposed to "outreach" with "different constituencies" to
contributions, despite Hatch's prohibition on fund raising. And a White House
raised by allegations that the administration granted access to the White House
big donors being invited to the White House tennis court and movie theater. The
attracted donors with promises of invitations to the White House, including
sorts of perks are potentially illegal for two reasons. First, election laws
federal office buildings --the White House included. In these cases,
Republicans argue, donors received White House invitations to entice them to
give more money. Even if the attendees were never explicitly asked to open
their checkbooks on these visits, the administration's intention was obvious.
The language of these laws, however, only forbids explicit appeals for
but there is no evidence so far that anyone else solicited funds in a federal
prohibit granting government favors in exchange for political donations. The
law specifically forbids favoritism in awarding government jobs and contracts.
More ambiguously, it proscribes "special access" to government
officials. Like the Hatch Act, however, these laws have never been enforced
Republican National Committee received ambassadorships from the Bush
from administration officials and invitations to White House dinners. Many of
the members had matters pending before the administration.
and he has the right to have conversations with his friends and invite them to
bounty hunters forced their way into a Phoenix home, shooting and killing two
the wrong home and put three bullets in an innocent man. These stories portray
bounty hunters as thugs who are beyond the law. What is a bounty hunter? What
legal powers do bounty hunters have? Whence do they derive those powers?
that is forfeited to the court if the defendant fails to appear before the
judge as promised. Defendants who can't afford bail often hire the services of
percent of the bail, with defendants putting up collateral for the
states, a bondsman must return the skip within a year of the missed
payroll for liability reasons, choosing instead to pay the bounty hunters the
themselves "recovery agents") are paid only after the skip is returned to
hand, are licensed and regulated by all states, and in many jurisdictions must
skip, even a hotel room. Nor are they required to announce themselves before
entering private property, as police officers must. Evidence obtained illegally
by bounty hunters can be submitted in court. Like police officers, bounty
This means they can shoot to kill if shot at. Also, they can transport skips
across state lines without enduring extradition proceedings. (Bounty hunter
hunter, when he signs the bail contract. The court decided that bondsmen and
bounty hunters are proxies for the state, and therefore deserve police powers
when taking "custody" of the accused. However, the usual constitutional
protections enjoyed by suspects don't apply to skips pursued by bounty hunters
because, the court decided, the bounty hunters work for the bondsmen, not the
fetters than bounty hunters. They can't use violence or search private property
without the owners' consent. And unlike bounty hunters, they can be arrested
defendants awaiting trial. Usually, the custodian was the defendant's friend.
defendants' punishments in their stead when their wards skipped, even if this
hunters are more efficient at returning criminals than police are. The
bail jumpers are returned to authorities by bounty hunters. Law enforcement
Criminal justice experts credit bounty hunters' success rates to two things:
They face less red tape than do police and, unlike police, bounty hunters have
World Report proclaimed bounty hunting one of the hottest job tracks in its
"Best Jobs for the Future" issue. No persuasive evidence substantiates this
hunters in the United States, and they earn an average income of about
courses that cover only basic legal constraints. Several states have bills
pending that would require bounty hunters to register with police, take more
extensive training courses, and obey procedural constraints that apply to
police, such as announcing themselves before entering a private home.
hunters abusing their power abound. In the Phoenix case, the bounty hunters
claimed that they were pursuing a skip but accidentally raided the wrong
address. The authorities believe that the bounty hunters used their profession
as a cover for armed robbery. Increasingly, civil courts hold bounty hunters
international treaty banning chemical weapons will take effect. So far, the
United States isn't committed to taking part. Thanks mainly to the efforts of
Senate has delayed ratification of the treaty and may ultimately vote it down.
Helms claims that despite the ban's best intentions, it will actually encourage
administration, worry that Helms' delaying tactics will shut the United States
out of critical decisions about chemical arms control. What's really at
administration to complete negotiations of the Chemical Weapons Convention
possession, and use of all nerve and mustard gases. Production of other
chemicals, such as chlorine and certain pesticides, which have commercial as
This distinction between military and commercial production
is itself controversial. Several chemicals exempted from the ban have only
esoteric civilian applications, but obvious military uses. For instance,
phosgene and hydrogen cyanide, gases ubiquitously used in World War I, will
continue to be readily accessible to terrorists and armies.
weapons, and prevent the recurrence of chemical attacks against civilian
countries that the United States would like to check have yet to sign up. One
nonparticipants is ominous, including most of the United States' current
for the Senate to ratify the treaty before doing so themselves. Even then, some
essential deterrent against such attacks by these nonparticipating
weapons, the critics argue, because they have feared the United States would
retaliate with its own chemical attack. Proponents of this argument point to
the chemical arms race during the 1920s and 1930s, which they say prevented a
weapons in any case and is already moving to destroy its stockpiles. The
could blow the chemicals back on your own troops. And with the exception of
used chemical weapons in battle since World War I. To allay concerns about any
will respond to any use of chemical weapons with an "overwhelming and
(chemical weapons can be produced from everyday products without elaborate
suspects of producing illicit chemicals in another member country. This means
Snooping foreign agents, critics fear, will exploit their visits for industrial
espionage, stealing company secrets for firms in their homelands.
a warrant to search private facilities. However, the treaty requires all
inspections to accord with the constitution of the country where the inspection
inspectors will be forced to obtain warrants. Also, the routine random
and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are almost
Domestic manufacturers of chemicals are pushing hard
it also imposes stiff penalties against countries that fail to ratify the ban,
to encourage nonparticipants to sign up. Signatory countries will be prohibited
will suffer a fatal loss of credibility if the United States opts not to join.
concocting the treaty and stewarding it to its conclusion. Failure to ratify
from the member states can sit on the committee that finalizes the treaty's
logistics, and the United Nations won't hire verification inspectors from
proponents concede that in the short run, the agreement will do little to
reduce the threat of a chemical attack. But the analogy, they say, is the
only after the United States used sanctions to force the hand of reluctant
hounds perpetuate this fad, rudely disturbing the dead. How do exhumations
work? What do religion and law have to say about them? Why do we now have so
flesh eventually dehydrates and crumbles and is devoured by bacteria. (One
alleged origin of "ghost stories": Several breeds of bacteria, especially wood
fungi, which feast on corpses, are luminous in the dark.) The longevity of a
cadaver's flesh and innards depends largely on the embalming, the casket
(hermetic ones preserve better), the decedent's diet (certain bacteria thrive
on fat), and the warmth of the ground (a good freeze kills off bacteria).
extractions to settle paternity suits; criminal investigations; relocation to
spirit lives on and that to disturb a corpse is to disturb the spirit's life.
of death, with members of the community keeping vigil over the body until it
goes in the ground. Exhumation is allowed only when a body is to be reburied
Catholic and Protestant churches say bodies shouldn't be disturbed, if
possible. However, upon canonization, saints have frequently been disinterred
so their remains can be dismembered and turned into relics. And in the past,
from English common law. Oddly, the common law prohibits the theft of items
bodies themselves. This was a matter left to the church. (Only in the
became endemic, did states pass laws prohibiting cadaver theft.) Generally,
citizens can apply to their state's attorney general for permission to exhume
family members for any reason, and requests for reburial are usually
automatically granted. And the state can exhume a body when it deems a death
Pathologists say the number of exhumations skyrocketed in the 1980s and
then increased even more in the '90s. Click for a list of recent and proposed
pathology, the use of science to solve crime, has improved dramatically,
required a sample from the nucleus of a cell, the new tests work off sturdier
techniques include the use of computer animation to construct images of faces,
about hair color. Previously, dental records had been the primary means of
they represented a "great savings of cemetery space." Similar exhumations of
instance, liberal reform parties have disinterred Communist leaders from their
exhumations have sought to prove that elites and historians have conspired to
suicide, as historians claim? It's conceivable that some of these allegations
are true, and there's no harm in checking them out, as long as the decedent's
family agrees to participate. But these sorts of exhumations have a track
technology is new but the impulse is old. We are heirs to the inexplicable
missed the sidebar on embalming techniques and their cultural significance
complain that Major League Baseball's greedy owners are corrupting the game.
The owners gripe that players are destroying it from within by demanding too
decline or, as some claim, in the midst of a golden era? How are the economics
of baseball changing? Are fans tuning out the televised game? How is the game
itself changing? And is the current crop of players as good as those who played
games, and the more telegenic games of basketball and football. Although
The perception of declining fan interest causes owners to
tinker with baseball traditions from time to time, mostly in the hopes
each league was further divided into three divisions, creating six pennant
Of course, pandering to fans is in the baseball tradition. Examples: night
games, fireworks displays, giveaways, ladies' nights, mascots, etc.
propose the realignment of the two leagues. Under his plan, baseball's
six divisions would be reduced to four divisions in two different leagues. The
Proponents of realignment argue that it exploits natural regional rivalries and
decreases travel time for players. Opponents complain that it upends tradition.
pro football and pro basketball (it collects about half as much from the sale
teams aggressively recruiting stars from reliable talent pools south of the
teams they were traded to) for life. Today, players can shop their talents to
the highest bidder one year after their contract expires. Salaries have
salaries don't necessarily correlate to competitiveness. Drawing on their
distributed to teams who spend less, usually teams in smaller markets like
cable deal.) Once again, it's the teams playing in small markets that suffer,
Because baseball is an entertainment industry, media
media moguls to pay as little as possible for broadcast rights, some critics
owners complain about annual losses, there is no shortage of bidders willing to
pay record sums for existing teams or new franchises. One reason for the high
major profits from these new facilities, built at little or no cost to the
lucrative amenity at the new parks are the sky boxes, luxury suites rented to
corporations at exorbitant prices. Also filling team coffers are fancy food
courts and merchandise concession areas. Team owners have also boosted ticket
have gained the economic upper hand, there is a widespread consensus that the
Improvements in hitting have been matched by craftier pitching (by such hurlers
strikeouts in every year of this decade. The exorbitant salaries have inspired
competitive today than it was in the dynasty decades of the New York
have had consistent success in this decade, making them the first team since
started climbing during the last year of the Bush presidency, after a dozen
increases began during the third or fourth year of the Bush administration.
Many drug experts believe that teen drug use today portends a higher rate of
reported having used an illegal drug during the previous year, up a tick from
crime has neither surged nor receded during the past three years. Federal,
departments and dozens of agencies. The drug czar's office, officially known as
the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is supposed to coordinate this
spending. State and local governments disburse another $15-odd billion to fight
barely differed from Bush drug policy in either scope or action. Total federal
budget, about the same percentage as they did under Bush. The Bush
administration cut spending for interdiction and international supply
administration has had the same success (or lack of it) interdicting drugs as
are seizing more heroin and marijuana than they did under
nearly as often as his two predecessors did. The drug issue hasn't figured high
on the president's domestic agenda until this year.
that social and cultural factors are driving up teen drug use. A decade
relentlessly publicized the horrors of crack addiction and drug violence; the
drug prevention, but the frenzy of the 1980s dissipated, and the culture
drugs. Television, radio, and print outlets are donating less time and space to
marijuana users themselves, may be reluctant to warn their kids about
president can and should keep the drug issue at a roiling boil in society at
disagree, saying Dole himself is responsible for the biggest tax increase in
history: a massive tax bill he engineered as Senate Finance Committee chairman
be nearly meaningless. Nevertheless, the issue will be central to the fall
exactly the same amounts of revenue. The Dole measure was estimated by the
Joint Committee on Taxation to increase the Treasury's take over the next five
On the other hand, most of Dole's tax increase was actually
billion in tax cuts over the following three years. (This did not deter
delivered a tax increase instead. That is not quite right. A promise to
increase taxes on the affluent was, in fact, a central feature of
rate and new limits on the deduction for entertainment expenses. These also
were campaign promises made and kept, not broken. (By interesting contrast, a
introduced a variety of special business preferences.)
benefit check that the government reclaims in taxes amounts to a payment
reduction or a tax increase is another metaphysical question. So is the issue
is supposed to help relieve the burden of payroll taxes (Social Security,
Medicare), and is "refundable" (paid in cash) to workers who owe less in income
tax than the tax credit is worth. Whether a government check intended to
mitigate a tax burden amounts to a tax cut or a spending increase is yet
withhold interest and dividends the way employers withhold wages. (This
provision was repealed the next year, before it could take effect.) Is getting
people to pay taxes they already owe but would otherwise escape a "tax
be regarded with suspicion. (a) Averages obscure the fact that most of
family paid only the new gas tax. (b) Most of the increased tax revenue from
individuals reflects higher income, not higher tax rates. (c) As a share of
figure in her Republican Convention keynote address to illustrate the burden of
speculation about whether or not it is breaking up. When pop music makes
headlines, many people are forced to admit that they have lost track of it.
Herewith, a guide. Although pop music has grown more complicated, most current
performers continue to recombine elements from the '50s, '60s, and
pop genres, involves lifting passages from older recordings and using them in
decade, songwriters like Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly established
its song forms and subject matter: the lives, loves, and modest rebellions of
and Jerry Lee Lewis supplied sexual charisma, abandon, and even menace.
include the poetic and the political, while Eastern influences and psychedelic
drugs changed the music and the culture. The '60s also saw the invention of
the florid romanticism of Yes. Such music was meant for albums, not singles,
nurtured by the underground infrastructure (indie labels, college radio
punk choruses. The recipe has been adopted by scores of bands; most notable:
mostly party music, but it developed a political message through groups like
the pistol smoke," but musically, it's relaxed and sauntering. The big hit of
music that is little more than rhythm to quietly rippling music that's only
of reggae. The array of electronic styles pioneered or embraced in the United
with an experienced collaborator), draw on the styles and attitudes of folkie
the rough edges to create music that will energize but not alienate her young,
that resonates as deeply with its listeners as any poetry.
pop hybrids now being cultivated, there is, of course, a reaction. Musicians
return to folk and blues roots, and reject studio techniques with a
(real or imagined). When Iris DeMent, the most striking of these singers,
But the song also gives notice that pop music, cycling and recycling again and
court ruled that White House lawyers must hand over notes of their
conversations between doctor and patient or priest and penitent,
confidential communications between a client and his lawyer are legally
communications, and only in rare exceptions will the lawyer be forced to
deliver documents to a lawyer simply to elude a legal obligation to turn them
this privilege. Lawyers who betray it risk disbarment and can be sued for
law. The rationale is that it is in society's interest for people to seek
advice from lawyers in order to make sense of complicated regulations and
laws. Clients will only receive useful advice if they speak candidly with their
lawyers without having to fear that their conversations could later incriminate
extended the privilege to corporations and even affirmed its
advice is used to plan crimes. Conversations between a Mafia boss and his
protected. But the distinction is not always so clear. There is a fine line
between abetting a client's fraudulent testimony, which is not protected, and
lawyer becomes a defendant, the privilege evaporates. This applies to
malpractice suits filed against lawyers, and in cases where the lawyer is
implicated in a client's crime (this was the exemption under which White House
second had to do with her testimony before a grand jury investigating the
for two years before inexplicably reappearing in the first family's private
Last week, however, a federal appeals court in St. Louis
privilege does not protect conversations between government officials and
government lawyers during the course of a federal prosecutor's investigation.
Government lawyers are obliged to enforce laws, not to protect an official. If
an official desires a confidential discussion about a potentially criminal act,
decision has nasty ramifications for the entire government. From now on,
officials will be reluctant to discuss tricky legal issues with government
attorneys, fearing that their conversations will come back to haunt them, and
documents until the Supreme Court adjudicates the case. The ruling, which is
where the White House has an official interest (the meeting related to the
Foster suicide) and reject it in private matters (the billing records).
to prevent future incursions on the privacy of conversations between the first
family and its lawyers. They say it does not amount to an admission that the
began laying the groundwork for a greater sense of national identity. The
world economy in the 1880s. Urban commerce drew some peasants from their
family farms. Other subsistence farmers found themselves competing with
sovereignty and ownership were established the way these things usually are: by
decree did not have the power of civil law behind it. Nevertheless, the
incentives to sell at the market price are substantial, and if the threats
create new scarcities, higher prices will probably encourage sellers to unload
of all the adultery stories in the news, here is the list:
with the woman. Special angle: A tabloid paid her to seduce him.
candidate Mike Bowers admitted to a 10-year extramarital affair. Special
angle: When Bowers was attorney general, he prosecuted a gay man in what became
derailed because he had a relationship with another woman while separated
an affair he had five years ago became public knowledge.
the prohibition's genesis. One is evolutionary: Men must determine which
children they sire, something only strict monogamy can ensure. Another is
economic: Prohibiting adultery preserves monogamous relationships and thence
States inherited English common law, which made adultery, as well as
fornication (sex between unmarried people) and sodomy (oral and anal sex),
These laws vary considerably. Some define adultery as any intercourse outside
marriage. According to others, it occurs when a married person lives with
simply "to lewdly and lasciviously associate" with anyone other than one's
adulterous relationship guilty of adultery? All but seven states punish both
married man sleeps with an unmarried woman, only the man is guilty, but when a
married woman sleeps with an unmarried man, they're both guilty. Most laws make
no exceptions for couples who are separated or in the process of obtaining a
Before the 1970s, when every state passed a "no fault
adultery also can be used to get a more favorable divorce settlement.
military criminal code, bars married servicemen from having extramarital sex
and unmarried servicemen from sleeping with married people. However, the rules
come with qualifications. They say that the military will only prosecute when a
case harms "good order and discipline" and when the adultery is "of a nature to
bring discredit upon the armed forces." The ambiguity is intentional: Visits to
affairs between soldiers are considered dangerous and deserving of
military rules are sometimes enforced. Last year the Air Force alone prosecuted
ordered a Pentagon commission to clarify the guidelines in an effort to
still does not consider divorces legitimate: Marriage, it says, is a sacrament
and insoluble. A church considers a divorced person who remarries to be living
legitimate to begin with. Adultery is grounds for annulment, on the theory that
if a person knew that his or her spouse had a predilection toward infidelity,
the marriage would not have occurred in the first place. Until recently the
claims that the church hurts children of annulled marriages when it claims that
cheated on their wives. More accurate, more recent research shows that the
prevalence of adultery is not as high. A survey taken two years ago by the
Bob Dole has made a campaign issue of the tax collector. And along with taxes,
complications, and some people can fill them out in a few minutes. The regular
dependents, and live at the same address as you did last year, you can file
percent filed a 1040PC form, meaning that they worked out their taxes using a
special compliance programs, including a crackdown on widespread abuse of the
Owing the government money is not like owing anyone else.
penalties and interest). These weapons include a tax lien on the
tax liens. The government can also levy property held by third parties,
levy actually takes it.) Finally, the government can seize property and
officers charged with collecting unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties. The
recently passed a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" that makes it easier for taxpayers
it is going to conduct enforcement action and creates other new procedural
a war crime? Where does the United Nations derive its authority to arrest and
try accused war criminals from? Why has the United States resisted the
concept of a war crime dates at least as far back as biblical times. In the
the Roman Empire's militarism with the ideal of "loving thy neighbor." Killing
he added, war must be only a last resort, efforts must be made to avoid hurting
noncombatants, and the reasons for fighting must be "just." Ideas about the
ethics of warfare have also been absorbed into secular doctrines of warfare,
like the medieval code of chivalry. Similarly, in Japan the unwritten martial
code, Bushido, required warriors to treat their enemies with honor, even
providing prisoners of war with medical care. Modern military
casualties were unprecedentedly high and civilian casualties were increasingly
considered inevitable. In response to the new brutality, some declared all war
sought to "end all war," or at least make warfare more "humane," through new
top German officials for "unjustly" instigating the war. The allies never
sentences. The newly created League of Nations debated, but failed to
pass, treaties prohibiting the torture of prisoners and attacks on civilians.
Only after World War II did the United Nations oversee the creation of the
(1948)--treaties ratified by nearly every country in the world. The former
outlawed all "intentional" attacks on civilian populations and created new
rules to protect prisoners of war. The latter declared it a crime to kill
members of a racial, religious, or national group of people when the intention
conventions are vague on enforcement. If a country is unable to mete out
justice, it is expected to extradite suspects to countries that can. Stringent
United States has no such laws, but its military courts punish servicemen who
idea because it worried that the country's leaders would be tried for the
crimes included the "deliberate instigation of aggressive wars," the
extermination of racial and religious groups, and the murder and mistreatment
of prisoners of war. Three were acquitted, two committed suicide before the
trial, including the heads of concentration camps, organizers of medical
experiments on concentration camp prisoners, and industrialists who used
prisoners for slave labor. (Ordinary citizens complicit in war crimes were not
called the trials "victor's justice" that unfairly applied new laws
soldiers and instigating unjustified aggression. Many historians also deem
the United Nations used a previously obscure section of its charter to convene
that he be tried for the murder of the millions killed by his regime.
that the current tribunals, having no police force to back them up, are too
trials, attempting to make political points and failing to adequately protect
something called "welfare as we know it." What is welfare as we know it?
to Families with Dependent Children is the safety net for the poorest
recipients at any given time are in the midst of welfare spells that eventually
will last nine or more years. Many mothers, mainly divorced ones, spend a
job. But many others, especially unwed mothers who had their first baby as
teens and either dropped out of high school or have little work experience,
find it much more difficult to work their way off welfare. Thus, the increasing
length of time the average welfare mother stays on the rolls. (See chart.)
immigrants are receiving welfare benefits. Illegal immigrants are not
eligible, but during their first three years in the country they are presumed
to receive some assistance from their sponsor if they have one. Immigration has
federal spending for the indigent elderly and disabled under the Supplemental
administration. The most common provisions allow recipients who go to work or
get married to keep more of their earnings or stay on Medicaid longer. Other
common reforms reduce benefits if welfare mothers don't send their children to
pending. About half completely terminate cash benefits and about half trigger a
months. Three others terminate benefits after a period of mandatory work.
States making these fundamental changes include some with the largest welfare
submitted by states initially proposed an absolute termination of
for this decline. He may be right, but the bite of these new rules will not be
felt for many years. Have recipients really changed their behavior in
anticipation of future penalties? Another explanation is the stronger labor
assets passed on to heirs when someone dies. It is the only federal tax on
wealth --as opposed to income or consumption. Congress imposed it in
estate tax is progressive --that is, the tax rate is higher on larger
charitable gifts, are ample. The tax is based on property's "fair market
market value are routine and often protracted. Trusts and other
complicated devices are also used to reduce the tax on large estates, although
possess highly valued land, but little cash. Consequently, they say, inheritors
Much of the value of inherited land is offset by the deduction of debt. Farmers
and owners of small businesses also enjoy special exemptions. For
earned, then when it is invested, and finally when it's transferred to heirs.
increases in value only since the property was inherited. Thus, billions of
themselves a nation, they share neither a common language nor a common
century has been one of almost constant warfare and disappointment, as they
permitted them limited cultural expression, though no political autonomy. In
been told this." Many people find that hard to believe. No one criticizes
Communism), for how they chose to put their lives back together. But there is
grandparents, along with almost all her other relatives, died in German death
these omissions? The skeptics say her parents' story begs obvious
almost immediately afterward, including her own parents' deaths in
almost entirely assimilated into secular life, hardly practicing, and lacking
secretary of state. But less tendentious media outlets have also reported on
letters in recent years. The letters included recollections of her family and
that she received several other similar letters as well. But she says they
contained too many factual errors and inconsistencies for her to take them
Over the years, other people have come across the facts
they have encountered people who recall reading press reports from the late
deaths in the Holocaust were reported in the city's papers.
Democratic campaign coffers. It appears likely that an independent counsel will
accounts for the explosion in the number and size of such operations? Who
controls the gambling spigot: the tribes, the states within whose boundaries
nations; they were "domestic dependent nations," "wards" to the union's
"guardian." Since the reservations were federal protectorates, state law had no
from state law is not absolute. Tribes have, on occasion, opted for a blurring
of boundaries (asking that state cops patrol reservation land, for example).
governing tribes if Congress delegates authority to that state.
has used its delegation power to transfer its authority to states on several
reservations. Even without the specific delegation of authority, state law may
still be considered valid if it doesn't flout federal goals. Click for an
bingo as a means of alleviating poverty on the reservation. The tribe's
nonprofit organizations were exempt. Therefore, the state had no right to
to regulate reservation gambling as long as the gambling activity in question
good faith, failing which a tribe could sue in federal court. But when the
under fire from all directions. Incensed tribes have pointed out that the
court's ruling stripped them of their safety net, making their sovereignty
moot. The Department of the Interior is exploring alternative procedures that
would let tribes negotiate compacts directly with the secretary, cutting the
federal regulatory standards for reservation gambling.
the bulk of the gambling prize: The General Accounting Office reports that of
Priority funds, as federal payments to tribal governments are known, are
divvied up based on tribe size and population density rather than income,
meaning that tribes with big gambling incomes often get federal subsidies as
major contributor to Democratic causes, and also has had extensive social
mob have been studied often, most recently in a Justice Department
that probe charged, among many other specifics, that the union's presidents,
His father was also a top union official who, according to federal
White House, receptions, bill signings, breakfasts, dinners, gift exchanges (an
to give a satellite address to top Laborers' union officials. The chief of the
organized crime family" and was under confidential investigation. The
to clean up the union under government supervision rather than placing the
ultimately took over control of the union. Defenders of the Laborers'
arrangement argue that it will clean up the union just as effectively, and at
opposing a federal takeover of four unions including the Laborers, and
protesting the use of federal racketeering laws against the unions.
local unions under a central trusteeship, and overturned four tainted local
elections. Federal field agents and prosecutors nevertheless have been quoted
(anonymously) saying that the union is still mobbed up. They say the government
the key Justice Department officials testified that the White House was not
involved in the settlement with the Laborers in any way. No direct evidence to
the contrary was produced. Democrats note that the Republican Party has
took endorsements from the Longshoremen and the Teamsters, two unions that were
down with it. To head off this scenario, the International Monetary Fund is
transition from communism to capitalism been nearly as successful as the
transformation of some of the former Soviet satellites? What's behind the
economics learned from smuggled copies of Western journals. These reformers
destroy the Soviet state, Communist Party bosses spouting populist rhetoric
ownership. Now the state owns only a few major military manufacturers and an
however, the economy began to look up, benefiting from Western investors'
manufacturing sector. Instead, it relies for exports on natural resources,
primarily oil. With oil prices plummeting, thanks to new technologies for
high rates that discourage enterprise, the government brings in ridiculously
low revenue. The problem: Nearly everyone bribes tax collectors or simply
declarations last year). With little tax revenue, the government can't provide
even the rudiments of a social safety net or pay its bills. The shortfall also
Credit crunch. Several of the biggest, most corrupt banks collapsed in
has hiked interest rates continuously to check inflation and allay the fears of
Western investors, thus discouraging needed business borrowing. The credit
crunch, along with low faith in the stability of the ruble, has fostered
eight months coal miners in the east, who haven't received a paycheck for
nearly a year, have stopped working and blocked railroads. According to
The threat of further strikes and labor disruptions is another deterrent for
ruble. The government worries that foreign investors, anxious to unload
their rubles, will force a devaluation of the currency. This would drive up the
price of imported goods and reignite the hyperinflation of two years ago. To
check this, the central bank has tripled interest rates and used hard currency
this: Workers and managers decided the value of their firms and were given the
first chance to buy a controlling share in the companies, using government
vouchers. The idea of a nation of stockholders is appealing but, in practice,
for lacking experience, competence, and the desire to adapt their companies to
also undermined the transition. Businessmen used the patronage of politicians
to buy companies at fire sale prices. For instance, the government auctioned
billion. The biggest beneficiaries of the patronage have been the seven
failing health, has lost the confidence of foreign investors. Like an old party
Organized crime. Organized crime remains rampant, though less widespread
has been undercut by the oligopolies, each of which has a private army. One of
deepening the credit crunch and cooling growth. The critics argue that left to
itself the market will correct, leaving only a few currency speculators to bear
federal district courts broad authority to impose remedies for segregation,
the authority of the lower courts by virtually forbidding desegregation across
district lines, and by requiring lower courts to give greater leeway to local
eased the way for schools to be released altogether from desegregation decrees.
worked? The Department of Education reported recently that the share of
tracked racial balance in the schools over recent decades; reporting
great, no subsequent court ruling has ever invalidated mandatory busing.
Hundreds of districts still operate mandatory busing programs. (Only one large
have purposely acted to keep the schools segregated. As a practical matter,
though, the main reason schools remain heavily segregated is that
There could be no remedies across district lines for racial imbalance
within district lines, without proof that the lines themselves were
from urban centers was beyond the power of the courts to remedy.
popular way to desegregate school systems without resorting to mandatory
schools, when the suburbs had done nothing unlawful.
school authorities would be under federal supervision until they had discharged
the "affirmative duty" to eliminate the "vestiges" of segregation, "root and
once a school district has made a "good faith" effort and taken all
"practicable" steps to end segregation, it should be released from its court
terminated before the schools have achieved full compliance with a
desegregation order. In both opinions, the court placed a premium on returning
As the federal judiciary has backed off desegregation,
constitutions have provisions relating specifically to education. The
provisions of the state constitution. The ruling was significant for two
reasons. First, the court found no intentional discrimination, but ruled that
the district's segregation was in itself unconstitutional. Second, the
court declared that the cause of the segregation was the practice of basing
has turned away from integration and toward the issue of inequalities in
(largely white) districts can spend more per student than poorer (largely
declined opportunities to find this disparity unconstitutional, but several
States to help defend them against Soviet aggression, and wanted German
militarism to be merged into joint security arrangements.
both policy and operations. (The treaty specifies that the commander in chief
said that "ambivalence has produced an inconsistency between the
administration's statements of its objectives and the leisurely way it pursues
War victory by locking in the allegiance of newly democratic nations and
expansion believe this is a valuable role that expanded membership would
commitment? At present levels of military spending, can the United States
credibly make such a promise? And what would it cost to make the promise
membership as the answer to their greatest fears: internal instability and
military cooperation, but no defense guarantee. It has been mocked as a
The space race was once regarded as a metaphor for the Cold War, and the
symbolized by the space station Mir. What happened?
Sputnik seemed to represent a system superior to capitalism, and proved useful
in wooing developing nations that had yet to choose sides in the Cold War. Sen.
satellite in orbit exploded on the launch pad. It was instantly dubbed
orbit; the first impact on the moon; and the first photographs of the moon from
a lunar orbit, which allowed them to map and triumphantly name geological
claimed, "While in outer space, I was thinking about our party and our
advisers and asked, "Is there any place we can catch them?" Consensus held the
Soviets were so far ahead that only a manned lunar landing could win the space
announcement, the United States had launched its first manned flight: a
spacewalk came that summer. But the Soviet Union racked up a series of unmanned
the Soviet program boasted constant space habitation and scientific
first international space rendezvous. The Soviet Union put the first man of
from the Challenger disaster, the Soviet Union briefly enjoyed a return to its
dominant reputation. But as Mir floated in orbit, the Soviet Union fell apart.
journalist to Mir for eight days as a ratings booster.
failed repeatedly (forcing its crew to burn chemical candles to
survive), its commander has developed heartbeat irregularities (caused by
stress), and a cosmonaut has accidentally unplugged its main computer (which is
replacement crew reported that the situation was "normal."
upward creep of stars' salaries, and producers' complaints that
it was wrecking the movies, have both been going on since the film industry
wages and a promise to make her a star. Until then, there were no movie stars.
Feature films carried no acting credits, and producers forbade movie magazines
to print cast lists. The reason was precisely the fear that actors and
actresses known to the public by name would exploit that recognition to demand
higher wages. They did, especially during the late 1910s and the 1920s, when a
During the studio era of the 1930s and '40s, talent
costs were kept artificially low by a code negotiated between producers
survived). The code gave the five major and three minor studios draconian power
right to cancel their contracts every six months (the stars had no such right
in return), the right to dock them for turning down a role in any movie of the
studio's choice, the right to predetermine salary increases, and so on.
an antitrust suit brought by the federal government forced the studios
to give up ownership of movie theaters. Without a guaranteed outlet for their
product, the studios no longer could afford to keep stars on permanent
retainer. At that point, stars seized control of their own careers, and
was not complete, however, until the late 1980s and early 1990s, after all the
studios had been bought by larger, mostly international corporations, and
though, the triumph of the agent and the package deal is, perhaps, the main
reason that stars' salaries are as high as they are. But it is also true that
told Variety recently that they would not produce any new shows unless
stars are benefiting from the larger economic trend of growing inequality. Not
only is the gap between executives and janitors growing; so is the gap among
have found no better way to bring in audiences than through the lure of popular
stars, who often command followings in specific age groups and can therefore
is an increasingly difficult task. Audiences are shrinking, partly as a result
forms of new technology. Films stay in theaters for less time than ever before;
therefore, more films have to be made; and therefore, more money has to be
spent distinguishing one film from another. The cost of marketing a movie is up
to kick in and hurts more films than it helps, and no one knows the names of
Adding to the demand for stars with recognizable names is
expected to turn a profit abroad. But selling a blockbuster overseas requires
followed suit. Studios will also try to substitute for expensive star vehicles
are using their cachet to become directors and producers, often of smaller,
artier movies that might not otherwise attract either funding or an audience.
company meant to compete with the larger film companies, which were churning
out formula films and treating most actors and actresses as hired hands. United
Artists, however, was plagued by inept management and a lack of resources, and
over a barrel, and they may just succeed in becoming the next generation of
over the antidote, which they did. Bemused reporters wondered how the
prime minister and has little civilian oversight; even the size of its budget
governments who fed them information. Other newly recruited agents were
revelations about the agency's Cold War malfeasance have damaged its prestige.
the agency's request not to probe its workings, splashed these stories across
exclusive club. But most current agents are career military men, and the
conventional wisdom is that they're less intelligent and creative than their
is all too easy to lose track of where things stand.
daughter her confidante and "best friend." Patsy had undergone chemotherapy,
police in a panic about a ransom note she says she found on a staircase
hours later, and returned with a warrant to search the house for evidence of a
room. According to the coroner's report, the cause of death was
marriage of suspicion. Police found no evidence of forced entry into the house;
found a legal pad on which they believe the note was written. They also found a
from the note leaked to the press indicate an intimate knowledge of the
them four days after the murder, even though they had not been named as
suspects. These lawyers advised them not to submit to formal, videotaped police
they had made to police the day of the murder. The police agreed to the terms,
John's and Patsy's interviews, which may have given them time to coordinate
people (caterers, housekeepers, and contractors) had keys to the house.
press, the police have also withheld important pieces of evidence from
public view, saying that full disclosure would jeopardize the investigation.
underneath her fingernails also remain confidential. Police have taken five
ransom note, the complete contents of which have not been made public. Police
say Patsy's handwriting samples are inconclusive because her manual dexterity
office, which says it is moving cautiously and waiting to amass more evidence,
district attorney predicts that an arrest will be made in the next two months.
Critics say the district attorney's office has bungled the case because it has
year we hear more and more about this holiday. What is it, and where did it
openly with other black leaders, and some of his followers were convicted in a
himself was imprisoned for ordering and directing the torture of a young woman.
in Long Beach. Last year, apparently rehabilitated in the eyes of many
early attempts to popularize the holiday were directed at a relatively small
modified his rhetoric to appeal to a broader audience, and as interest in
collective work, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each of
the holiday's seven days is meant to symbolize one of these principles.
three on the left are green, symbolizing the hope of new life; and the black
the appropriate candle, and the principle for that day is discussed. The
celebrates creativity, and is "an opportunity for a confetti storm of cultural
States, has taken on a different shape and gained importance here. Although
they had only one day's supply of oil to light the flame, which was supposed to
burn constantly. Miraculously, the flame burned for eight days and nights,
until the oil supply was replenished. Following the rebellion, the kingdom of
candelabra known as the "menorah." Oily foods, particularly latkes (potato
pancakes), are served during dinner to symbolize the Temple miracle. By
opening consonant, which is like the "ch" in "Bach." The spelling employed in
lying to some degree. Is a lawyer free to tell, with as much passion as he
cares to muster, something he believes to be a lie?
responsibility forbids a lawyer to "knowingly make a false statement of law or
fact." The code forbids lawyers from making any statement, true or
false, outside the courtroom that has a "substantial likelihood" of "materially
prejudicing" a trial. In practice, however, these restrictions melt
under no obligation to know the truth or to draw logical inferences from what
he or she does know. Since the lawyer was rarely at the scene of the crime, she
therefore free to argue whatever version of events best suits her
ethical obligation of "zealous advocacy" virtually requires a lawyer to
certainty, some lawyers take the precaution of not asking their clients to say
really only arises as an issue in the absurd warhorse of law school ethics
exams: a client who simultaneously confesses to a crime and insists on
testifying that he is innocent. The ethical issue, even here, is not whether
the lawyer is allowed to participate in the client's lie but
whether he is actually required to do so. The answer is: not quite. If a
lawyer knows with ontological certitude that a client is planning to lie on the
stand, she is not allowed to report this to the court. She is allowed to quit
client on the stand and let him testify without asking him specific questions
If a lawyer finds that his client has "perpetrated a fraud
inform the court, unless the information was told to him in confidence or
secret. But, of course, just about everything that a client ever tells a lawyer
severe rules forbidding "extrajudicial" remarks, such as lawyers' statements to
the press about a pending case. But the reality is better characterized by the
trouble for giving interviews when a case is pretrial. The rule requires a
"substantial" chance of "material" impact on the case, both of which are nearly
make sure they are not violating the rules against lying, lawyers can choose
technical definition of harassment. To say that allegations are "scurrilous" is
not necessarily to say that they are false. And so on.
potential defendant provides the prosecution with a preview of the
evidence he or she could provide or the testimony they would give. The
prosecution is invited to buy this information with leniency.
are increasingly common in the criminal justice system, especially since the
restricted a judge's discretion in sentencing. One of the few remaining ways to
Normally, these discussions are kept secret. Not because
discussing them in public might violate the rules but because making proffers
in the future for the right deal. This doesn't look good.
procedure prohibit the government from using any statements made in furtherance
form of plea bargaining. Additionally, most proffer sessions involve what is
known as a "queen for a day" agreement, under which both sides agree that
information discussed at such a session will not be admissible against the
defendant at a trial. These protections, enacted to encourage truth before
appear crazy, mendacious, guilty, or some combination thereof.
getting hauled off by police, he ran naked through the hotel's halls screaming,
to teen flicks (though he won acclaim for his supporting role in The Usual
lived longer, many speculate, the brothers wouldn't have taken up
lawyers, and his objections would have stymied their careers. However,
spotted by a talent scout and offered a spot on the soap opera The
regional theater and singing with the Long Island Philharmonic. But his acting
career took off only when an agent spotted him working in a Manhattan pizza
sinuous, full lips; dimpled chins; and "intense eyes." Profiles also dwell on
back their hair with vast amounts of gel and mousse. (Famous story: It once
to have been schooled in Method acting, studying under teachers with
comedian.) Several studio executives have jokingly responded that if their
outspoken politically. Touted as a potential Democratic senatorial candidate in
New York, he was the main attraction of a bus tour in the Northeast, promoting
on the photographer's car windows. On the set, he is known for his temper,
smashing cell phones and lobbing insults at colleagues. He once called studio
major movies include shots of his rear, and frontal nudity scenes from his
movie Sliver were trimmed at the last minute. In Threesome
know the answer than think they do. To newcomers, the economics of the Internet
is among its greatest mysteries. Herewith, a primer.
pork. The Defense Department created the Internet in the late '60s, and
the government supported the Internet heavily from the '70s till the early
small, shrinking, and unnecessary federal grants, the Internet is a commercial
concern. Telecommunications companies, computer companies, and Internet service
telephone system and the Net. (A note: The rest of this article applies to the
United States. The same basic rules apply to Internet users elsewhere, except
that they probably pay more for Internet service, and lots more for
Now, consider the Internet. In one very important way,
got the gear, the Internet beats telephone costs for three significant
exploits low local phone rates. Unless you live somewhere remote, you reach
the Internet by making a local call to your Internet Service Provider.
Internet traffic around the country, delivering it to "Network Access Points,"
which link different networks like highway interchanges. When your data reach a
Network Access Point, they hop on a line owned by another company and travel to
their destination. But because the Internet travels on leased lines, the data
reasons. First, it saves them billing costs; telephone companies, by contrast,
spend billions every year calculating who used what line and when. Second,
Internet data transmission is remarkably efficient. When you make a 10-minute
to end. You pay for every second, even if you're on hold. When you go online to
the time it takes to send your request to the page's Web server and for the
would need to be occupied full time by a telephone call.
You can be almost certain that you can complete a call immediately to anyone
else with a phone. Internet service is a shrug: You can be reasonably sure, but
no more, that you can send your data to another Internet user pretty
packets. Each packet seeks the cheapest route, at the instant it is sent, to
the destination. When all the packets arrive at that destination, a computer
reassembles them. Packet switching is a frugal, efficient way to send data from
point a to point b (albeit via points c, d, q, and k). But packet switching is
not terribly reliable: Packets routinely get lost or delayed, crippling
Internet telephony, one of the coolest new online applications, illustrates
they can talk by telephone over the Net. It is miraculously cheap: Speech is
online access. But because the Net gets clogged and packets are waylaid, the
applications swallow enormous chunks of bandwidth for long periods of time,
eliminating one of the Net's chief economies. There are three principal
between heavy and light users. Customers will pay a premium to use streaming
already taking place. The third is coming soon. All of them will make the
Internet easier to use. And in the short term, all of them will make the
Economists, pundits, politicians, and investment gurus have had almost two
Here is the assortment in descending order of optimism.
the "New Paradigm." Old laws of economics have been eclipsed by recent
breakthroughs in technology and productivity. Now there is no limit to upward
growth, only momentary breaks for the market to catch its breath. The bulls
have a "salutary effect" of reducing consumer confidence, which in turn will
cause the economy to grow at a slower, more sustainable rate with little
of Wall Street traders, not the economy's weakness. Reams of studies by
psychologists show that emotions, not economic calculations, determine investor
during the week after the crash, with fueling the recovery. The typical
their wave of stories about a) how the market had topped and b) the
traders jittery because they're afraid that everybody else is
Breakers.") Instead of calming jittery investors, the two mandated breaks
induced more panic, and were portrayed by the electronic press as evidence of a
major crash. Traders unloaded stock for whatever they could get between the
breaks, fearing a shutdown would prevent them from executing sell orders. Under
points. That yardstick is too conservative, say critics, because it was
Rumors about the Fed's intentions swept Wall Street the week prior to the drop.
unhealthy fixation on expected earnings led many executives to exaggerate
balance sheets through accounting tricks, distorting true stock worth. The
market recognized this and adjusted. Also, disappointing earnings reports from
caused investors to question the value of entire portfolios.
governments were forced to devalue their currencies, making their exports
Conditions are said to resemble those in the months prior to the early '90s
despite Justice Department opposition. Even if there is no actual evidence of a
missiles are fundamentally the same, why would the United States authorize
cooperation with China's national aerospace company, which has clear links to
administration, however, granted waivers to the sanctions that soon put most of
of satellites to any country has always required government approval.)
Christian Science Monitor that they hoped that the administration would
soon eliminate these sanctions altogether. (Click for a rundown of the specific
third largest) do not rely on China for most of their launches. In the same
massive government subsidies given to Great Wall, China's national aerospace
company. More important, to restore business that China lost after a spate of
The proliferation of cell phones, digital television, etc., has caused the
demand for launches to outstrip the supply of rockets. This shortage forces
neglected development of the cheap, disposable, reliable rockets that other
collaborated on massive government projects, weren't equipped to build entire
rockets for commercial use. The companies are still catching up and are not
commercial satellites is largely indistinguishable from the technology used to
commercial space capabilities from its weapons program. China's commercial
rocket, the Long March, and its intercontinental ballistic missiles use
precisely the same rocket boosters and guidance systems. Great Wall is partly
manufacturers, moreover, inevitably acquire a vested interest in improving the
substantially rewire and reprogram the rocket. The law, however, requires that
Defense Department officials supervise these procedures. At least one official
remains with the satellite from the time it leaves the country until its
risks of technology transfers negligible. Defense Department officials
Pentagon (though China's difficulty in commercial launches casts doubt on the
Hill's feminist supporters, who once claimed that women "don't make these
things up," have rallied to the president's defense or are silent about the
other of hypocrisy. What are the similarities and the differences between the
Hill's accusations. Their credibility depends on corroboration by people who
claim they were told of the harassment soon after it occurred. Six affidavits
it allegedly happened. Four witnesses testified under oath that Hill told them
because Hill's corroborators didn't testify until eight years after she had
have allied with opportunistic ideological zealots. And they are right. Hill
testified only after liberal Senate aides had tracked her down and leaked her
story; feminist groups such as the Women's Legal Defense Fund advised her.
groups have helped trumpet the two women's causes, nobody has shown
convincingly that either side trumped up the accusations.
intolerable boss, why did Hill leave a secure job to follow him from the
Department of Education to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission? Why did
interested only in clearing her name, why did she decide to make such a public
asked Hill out on patently unwelcome dates, bragged about his sexual prowess,
flashed his genitals, touched her sexually, or propositioned her
always flags his lascivious intentions before expressing them. He flirted with
on Hill's lack of interest, her repeated assertions that she didn't want to
law? If "the law" is the one against sexual harassment, the answer in both
to the Supreme Court's interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
instance of harassment "severe and pervasive." c) Title VII doesn't prohibit
propositioning colleagues or exposing one's genitals to them.
House in search of a job when he allegedly pawed her.
it describes may strike many as exploitative or ugly for other reasons, but it
had created an "abusive working environment," because she never complained
about his harassment and maintained her friendship with him even after she left
didn't get the chance.) There are at least three public accusations against
walls of his apartment with nude centerfolds and meticulously maintained a
argued that, even if true, the behavior they stand accused of is harmless.
crass remarks reflects the excesses of political correctness. But neither man
has attempted to defend the behavior he is accused of. Rather, both insist it
if true, was repugnant and would disqualify him to sit on the Supreme
proponents contrast his categorical denials of Hill's allegations with
critics say he cynically played the race card by accusing his opponents of
conspiring to bring down an uppity black man. Even if he had done Hill no
wrong, they say, his response bespeaks a character unfit for his job.
Hill came forward at a time when nobody believed victims of sexual harassment.
Because they advocated Hill's cause, they say, victims of harassment now have
would have had to vote even if Hill had not come forward with her tale.
voters knew about the president's alleged proclivities, if they didn't know the
details of any particular case, and implicitly accepted them when they elected
presidential impeachment would be far more disruptive and costly to the nation
than a Senate committee's rejection of a Supreme Court nominee; they say it
commerce in the United States is subject to some form of taxation at the
federal, state, or local level. The Internet industry (made up of Internet
service providers and online service providers along with companies that do
business over the Internet) is no exception. Yet the fast growth of
federal government worries that the Internet could become a global haven for
increasing use of the Internet will erode their tax bases as consumers and
businesses shop and do business outside of their taxing jurisdictions. While
they are anxious to develop more sources of revenue and expand their tax bases,
they also realize that unilateral efforts to collect from the industry may
simply drive the easily moved online operations over the state line. Not
surprisingly, the Internet industry opposes any new taxes on its burgeoning
commerce. Major online retailers and service providers, however, recognize that
there is no case for exempting Internet sales and, perhaps, services from the
same tax laws that apply to offline commerce. But they are especially concerned
with developing uniform, consistent, and fair tax treatment by state and local
authorities. Multiple taxation is seen as a particular threat.
Who has responsibility for taxing Internet commerce?
As the Internet grows and changes, how is existing tax law being applied? What
they're going are very big. According to industry research, subscription and
sales. But as more consumers become familiar with online commerce, they may
very well begin to shop for products over the Internet precisely to avoid
online sales of mailed products is one obvious revenue opportunity under
existing tax law. The easy analogy here is to catalog sales (although these,
too, have posed problems for state and local authorities). If you buy a pair of
Establishing nexus can be a tricky issue, for example, when it's a case of
location, and hence whether sales tax is due (though new software packages
being developed for online commerce may help remedy this). But the location of
above, a seller must collect sales tax from a buyer if the seller has a
takes delivery. Suppose, for example, that the content in question is being
or any of a myriad of smaller services. Where does that service do business?
allow subscribers to log on to the Internet using a local phone number. These
typically consist of a leased room with modems and routing equipment. Already,
some states have argued that POPs constitute sufficient physical presence for
sellers of tangible personal property from state taxation if their contacts
separate vendor through an online service? Some states argue that
taxable nexus can be established if a vendor operates over an online or
Internet service with substantial physical presence within the state. This
opens up a whole new basis for taxation opposed by the industry and unlikely to
Bean uses UPS to deliver its boots, that doesn't expose the sale to taxation in
every state where UPS operates. And even if states can win the nexus argument
providers were subject to a city sales tax on telephone service and that
access fee. The industry argues that it is not comparable to the (heavily
taxed) telecommunications industry, and that such efforts result in double
well as for Internet vendors. Again, as in the case of wine sales, states have
taxing jurisdiction over transactions only if the seller has sufficient
Tax authorities are further threatened by the growing use
businesses, including drug transactions, thereby eliminating the need for
people use it to pay for services, facilitating the avoidance of federal income
confronting Treasury Department enforcement officials is Internet
States, and most authorities interpret that to mean that Internet gambling is
Recognizing that the Internet effectively wipes out national borders, and
fearing that the development of new technologies may be impeded by inconsistent
tax policies, the federal government has been studying the issue of
international tariffs on Internet transactions. At this point, no
countries have imposed tariffs or other taxes on online commerce, but at least
a dozen are considering them. This is a big area of concern for the
annually, including software, entertainment and information products, and
absolutely reject the idea that the Internet is some sort of golden goose whose
feathers should be taxed. The key message of the report is no Internet taxes."
This does not mean, however, that the federal government supports abolition of
any taxes on Internet commerce, only that it plans no new taxes at this
time. The Treasury report itself stresses that, in principle, the tax code
should treat Internet transactions exactly like other channels of commerce.
local taxes on electronic commerce, though it would exempt certain taxes,
including most sales taxes, that are already in place. The bill also calls on
the administration to develop a comprehensive plan to address the issue, and to
seek bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that make all Internet
activity internationally free of taxes, tariffs, and trade barriers.
already working with the World Trade Organization and other
international trade groups on uniform rules for taxation of electronic
commerce. Meanwhile, there are tricky aspects to assessing taxes under current
transactions, and verifying records. In addition, some countries impose
quotas on content such as books, movies, music, and software from
abroad, but the origin of that content can be tough to trace in the thin air of
of memoirs and biographies argued that the arrogance of her macho husband Ted
he finally published his side of their story in Birthday Letters --an
predicted the book would exculpate him and silence his critics. But the debate
her: "I was a fly outside on the window pane/ Of my own domestic drama."
suicide attempt and chalk her problems up to obsession with her dead
their marriage and "misplacing" other journals. He also edited her poetry to
remembered had she not committed suicide. Any good poems she did write were
focus of the abortion debate. Last week, the Senate rejected Majority Leader
already restrict the abortion of viable fetuses. What is a viable fetus? How is
the concept of viability relevant to the moral and legal issues of
the interests of a fetus ahead of the interests of the pregnant woman until the
fetus is "viable." The court defined viable to mean capable of prolonged life
outside the mother's womb. It said this included fetuses that doctors expected
to be sustained by respirators. The court accepted the conventional medical
wisdom that a fetus becomes viable at the start of the last third of a
viability varies, the court ruled, it could only be determined case by case and
by the woman's own doctor. Even if the fetus is viable, the court said, states
could not outlaw an abortion if the woman's life or health was at stake.
Roe was on a "collision course with itself." She said that
improvements in technology would continually push the point of fetal
viability closer to the beginning of the pregnancy, allowing states greater
opportunity to regulate the right to an abortion. And this seems to be the
baby has ever been successfully delivered before the middle of the
formed and their airways are not developed enough to inhale. Circulation
depends on the use of ventilators and injections of hormones. A baby born
poor initial respiration) or too much oxygen (from the ventilator).
premature babies depend on technology, survival rates vary based on access
assess a fetus's viability by attempting to guess whether its lungs have
formed. Sonograms allow doctors to estimate the fetus's weight, which
coincide with the onset of a functioning respiratory system. None of the
important. The court said that state laws could require a woman and her doctor
to perform tests to prove that a fetus is not viable before she obtains an
to decide for themselves if the fetus is viable. Some require doctors to
certify the findings. Eleven states have banned the procedure called intact
delivery is induced, the fetus's skull is crushed, and its brains are
and constitutional scholars say that the Supreme Court was wrong to create
does the fact that a fetus can survive outside the womb with the help of vast
medical technology change either of the interests at war in the abortion
her body? Even if viability is an important moral line, is it drawn in the
several hundred thousand dollars and usually fails, regardless of the
Less than one percent of all abortions performed take place after the
million). These television events are part of the hype that is sweeps. During
pack their prime time lineups with the shows they are convinced will reap the
highest ratings of the year. Inflated sweep months ratings are, in turn, used
big a scam as they seem? And what exactly are ratings?
viewership, networks (both broadcast and cable) regularly keep tabs on three
viewers. Cable networks receive another set of figures based on the number of
demographics), numbers breaking out the age and sex of viewers.
shares, and demos for the previous night's programs, extrapolated from results
computer linked to a modem, register whether a set is turned on and, if so, the
device with buttons that viewers push to register their age and sex each time
requires that your home get wired-- another ugly box in your living room,
selected households provide data each night. Worried about viewer fatigue,
minutes for what they watch. The affiliates use these numbers to set ad rates.
(National networks sell ads based on averages of the overnight numbers.)
cable and the proliferation of networks, networks lost their leverage to
negotiations with ad agencies. In addition, advertising has grown more
sophisticated, targeting specific demographic groups. This can create
networks' sweeps tactics, however, take even more heat. Critics say that sweeps
cause networks to expend the bulk of their resources pulling out all the
stops for these three months rather than spreading them around the year.
that during sweeps, local affiliates compete by injecting even more
course, complain that sweep months artificially inflate the amounts they pay
the integrationist ideal now abound. Even the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, once integration's most stalwart advocate, is
reconsidering its goal of racial integration. Who are integration's critics?
What is their position? Who advocates separatism for blacks? Why are critics of
integrationist ideal holds that blacks and whites should live, work, and
study together. Government policies designed to accomplish these goals include
school busing, affirmative action in public schools and in the workplace,
forced integration of public housing, and laws barring discrimination in
Christian Leadership Conference. Although the organizations still support
integration, their dissident members are dissatisfied with the outcomes
Divine led the movement in the '20s. Separatism fades in
and out of media attention: Separatists of the '30s and '40s received little
leaders in the '60s sought control over their local public schools, which
separatists have new academic allies, the critical race
theorists, led by New York University's Derrick Bell and University of
people. Some critical race theorists argue that black jurors should acquit
guilty black defendants in protest of the unjust system.
vogue? Some attribute the new separatism to black demagogues in politics
and the academy who deliberately exploit black anxieties to further their
says that separatism appeals to unqualified students admitted to college under
the protection of affirmative action. These students compensate for their
shortcomings by clinging to one another and striking the defensive pose of
explanation holds that integration is out of favor because the Democratic
Party has retreated from the goal. In hopes of attracting more white votes,
supporters have embraced separatist politicians and positions.
later recanted this view, and even the most conservative Southern politicians
prevented blacks from living and working where they wished. Many conservatives
still endorse the segregationist line that government shouldn't
to endorse the ideal of integration, they say affirmative action, busing, and
population, creating feelings of dependency and entitlement. Black
is wrong, he writes, because any endorsement of racial preferences is
faith are black liberals like Professors Henry Louis Gates and
conservative who broke ranks to endorse affirmative action as a necessary
been leveled in spite of government programs. The black middle class benefited
cultural mainstream, but the programs can't be expected to further expand the
flow chart to help you track the alleged money trail.
payments to Hale. First, she told Salon that though she didn't have an
accurate fix on the amount paid, it was substantial. (Click here to read the Salon story touting her testimony.) In an
article that appeared six days later, she recovered her memory and fixed the
she backed down from this number, admitting that she doesn't recall seeing
using tarot cards and (allegedly) boasting about transporting soldiers
telepathically. They also say she's a former Democratic operative and still
on the story has been able to track down these sources.
the payments to Hale were conclusively proved, they don't necessarily undermine
covering the story posit another scenario: Financially ruined --Hale was
explicitly claim that the Spectator money swayed Hale. They let others
tease out the implications of their story for them, connecting the dots
had sex with is like asking why a hungry man would want to eat. How many
Every indiscretion puts his presidency at stake. Here's a roundup of the top
that he's lost his sense of shame and can't comprehend his culture's mores.
embrace this argument. His rampant infidelity is caused by his idiocy. "Anyone
who is that dumb should obviously not be President of the United States"
servicing him. Thus, goes this theory, he sexually harasses women who work for
Association doesn't classify sex addiction as a medical condition, but that
addictive personalities experience from the release of the neurotransmitter
claim that the president boasted of bedding hundreds of women over the course
would also explain why he (allegedly) falls back on phone sex when he can't
have the real thing. The president's family tends toward addictive behavior.
Hot Springs, Ark., childhood. Many of his neighbors were devout Baptists
South. His mother also admitted to habitually blocking out problems by denying
attitudes about sex from his mother, who dressed provocatively in short shorts
and tube tops, and his biological father, allegedly a bigamist.
craves the affection that his abusive, alcoholic stepfather and abused,
his many girlfriends. An Oedipal permutation of this theory blames his affairs
specifically on an early deficit of motherly attention and notes that many of
store, without control over his appetites for sex and food. Time 's Lance
by servile sycophants who convince them they are invincible and forgive their
sins, and this paves the way for sexual affairs. Men of presidential quality
tend to be arrogant, with a sense of "entitlement and lordly expectation"
responded, "God damn it, I had more women by accident than he ever had by
psychologists explain presidential philandering as an atavistic impulse left
over from the early days of the human race. Natural selection rewarded men who
many chances to reproduce their genes). Proponents of this theory recall
themselves at powerful men, and powerful men are too weak to resist. The
According to her friends, she had long fantasized about sleeping with the
the most pleasant spin on the whole affair, which ascribes no deviant
bonded over their shared experience of abusive parents. This theory initially
price for his dalliances, thereby convincing him that the risk is worth it.
disparate political parties has crumbled. The largest white party bolted, and
disenfranchising and officially segregating the country's black majority.
Millions of blacks were transported to "homelands," small tracts of land
funding from the Soviet Union and employing terrorist tactics.
government's liberal policies, including affirmative action, legalization of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission impaneled by the government to
amnesty to all who confess to political crimes, as long as the crimes are not
"disproportionately" heinous. By the time the commission stopped accepting
torture. Tutu, however, protests that he reported cases of illegal government
National Party repudiated the Truth Commission, calling it a politically driven
violence where none existed. Blacks have also criticized the commission,
also admitted that he commissioned acts of terrorism when he was a
The National Party's obstreperousness could bode ill for
Also, the National Party's "witch hunt" allegations could undermine the
spirit of reconciliation that the Truth Commission and coalition government
moving the National Party toward the center, campaigning on a platform of
Christian values intended to appeal to black conservatives as well. But
campaigning for a separate white state. These local alliances could presage a
its tactics, the National Party is slipping in opinion polls. Meanwhile, the
redistribution have not been met. Unions protest that the government has not
backlash is also possible. After the collapse of the apartheid
to be inept and corrupt. The classic example: An automatic teller machine was
telecommunications, and cut taxes. Corporations have responded by funneling
ROT members have declared war on both the federal government and the state of
them on the grounds of the ROT "embassy," an attached trailer and shed outside
avoided violence by exchanging a jailed ROT member for the hostages.
international law, a treaty must be struck between sovereign nations prior to
other secessionist states rejoined the union after their defeat in the Civil
to the liberal watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of armed
condemning taxation and lax protection of property rights.
days, the ROT has filed scores of liens on property owned by their foes, a
tactic members call "paper warfare." A blizzard of liens has fallen on state
property, which the ROT considers illegally confiscated. Other bogus liens have
been filed across the state on private property targeted at random. By clogging
Internal dissension has reduced the group's numbers in
recent months. From the start, the sect purged members, including its founding
president, who failed to toe a militant line. In March, the ROT split into two
confrontation with law enforcement has been months in the making. After a judge
ordered him to cease filing bogus liens, he continued and was found in contempt
who had long clamored for the leader's arrest. After the hostage exchange,
secession in a nonbinding referendum last year, but few expect the movement to
bill has already been introduced in the House. When have governments apologized
in the past? Which wrongs do or do not warrant apologies? Must apologies be
regrets disingenuous, saying that his groveling was more about avoiding a
are more transparent when the stakes are higher. The first national apology of
damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have
agreement, but the apology that came with the money was even less heartfelt
but this time the expression was genuine. The nation's leaders, who repeatedly
describe their nation's past aggressions as "the worst crimes against
recently offered words of conciliation and established a reparations fund, but
unwilling to admit wrongdoing. It has made no official payments to China or
fund" for restitution, but most surviving comfort women have refused the money,
demanding a public apology and public compensation.
from their fear of blaming ancestors and dishonoring war heroes. The government
after qualified his statement, stressing that it was a personal apology, not a
slaves, he says he opposes material reparations. Almost no slaves were
official recognition of their holocaust, arguing that any apology to slaves
have long sought acknowledgment of the atrocities inflicted upon them. (This
Wall's collapse, how meaningful are the political and economic differences that
to democracy and capitalism in the old Soviet bloc and former Soviet
change since communism's collapse are deceptive. All countries initially
economic activity, have most of them grown. However, even post-1993 averages
elections; successful transfer of power; free media.) Despite economic
has suffered a recent setback. In the last six months, several of the nation's
biggest banks collapsed because of loose lending and fraud. To reassure foreign
position is largely ceremonial, he helps give credibility to the widely
free elections; successful transfer of power; constitutional protection for the
media and minorities.) Because it privatized early and aggressively,
percent private. Democracy strong: free elections; successful transfer of
countries at ousting corrupt Communist bosses from its bureaucracy.
scheme that collapsed this winter. When the government failed to fulfill
government has relied on repression to survive the crisis.
(No economic data. Democracy weak: elections held last
protests this winter that forced the ruling socialists to hand power over to a
caretaker government. A centrist coalition won elections this month.
questionable: allegations of electoral fraud; authoritarian but popular
much longer). Despite rampant war profiteering and a large state presence in
percent private. Democracy relatively strong: free elections, though minority
ethnic tensions and instability are a problem. Last year, the country's
of street protests this winter were said to presage his ouster. His concession
of the opposition's demands (recognition of local election results and
elections; constitutional protection for the media and minorities.) The
of its reluctance to privatize, foreign investment is scant, and growth has
against police abuse and state interference in the media.) Thanks to
elections; successful transfer of power.) Economists predict the country
successful transfer of power.) After flirting with a return to communism,
year. The economy has foundered since the Soviet Union's collapse.
the country's media and secret police. He has enhanced the country's ties to
hostility toward minorities; government interference with press.) Initially
organized crime.) Fifty percent of the economy is invested in the black
fraud; arbitrary arrests; restrictions on freedom of press.) Alienated by
has banned opposition parties and controls the media.
corruption; no free elections; repression of minorities.) A recent
of a Christian enclave in the northeast part of the country. Afterward, oil
companies scrambled to tap its prodigious reserves. Before the Soviets took
year did the country begin to emerge from a severe depression, but it still
the expense of serious literature. Publishers carp back that they can't turn a
profit, no matter what they do. The latest industry tumult is over the
imprints have either been scaled back or sold off. Is publishing really in
crisis? Is the serious book dead? How has the industry changed? What are the
say the conglomerates have damaged book publishing with their obsessive pursuit
copies, establishing a new record. The conglomerates pay huge advances and
spend outrageous sums marketing these titles in the hope that they will top the
writers, now spend more time marketing books than editing them, which results
in the production of longer, sloppier, less interesting books that
conglomerates don't break out figures on their book divisions. News Corp.,
since the '50s and well below their 12-percent to 15-percent projections.
reveal that time devoted to reading books continues to expand, with the average
figures indicate that publishing isn't so much in crisis as it is in flux, and
that the conglomerates' financial expectations are unrealistic.
publishers award record advances. (Click to see a list of big ones.) Even
houses complain that big advances hurt profits. The New Yorker reported
exaggerate the impact of advances, hoping thereby to drive the demand
golden age of publishing was the '30s and '40s, when gentleman
Book retailing was a genteel and polite profession, too, with few booksellers
owning more than one store. All that changed in the postwar era. The
chains. Thanks to the superstore chains, retail space devoted to books
percent; and book clubs account for most of the remainder.
their expanding floor space, but sell a lower percentage of the books ordered
than independent stores do. Publishers must then absorb the high costs of huge
leverage their influence to persuade the big publishers to produce more
determine what is commercial, and have seen their profits and sales rise.
to gamble on potentially lucrative blockbusters. Imprints that concentrate on
downsized, sold, or repositioned by their conglomerate fathers in recent
plans to publish more literature and fewer celebrity memoirs, because the
week that the state's constitutional prohibition against sex discrimination
officials plan to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court, the judge's
decision has revived the controversy that prompted Congress to pass (and
defines marriage for the purposes of federal law as the union of a man and a
the moral and religious issues, marriage is also a legal condition with
systems, favors marriages in which one spouse earns most of or all the income,
and penalizes those in which income is equally or nearly equally split between
married will raise their taxes. But a working person who is the sole or main
were legally sanctioned. This is especially so if they are approaching
fully insured worker retires, the spouse receives half of the worker's
partners the edge over their unwed counterparts. (However, if each partner had
higher rate of return on that partner's Social Security taxes than they would
Security survivor benefits --and spousal benefits under other federal
programs such as veterans' pensions --apply only to a legal spouse, not
Benefits often cover employees' families, and some companies now are extending
recognized as spouses, the benefits would no longer be taxed.
also grants a spouse automatic "medical power of attorney "--the legal
authority to make medical decisions for an incapacitated person. Unmarried
partners, of the same or opposite sex, must hire a lawyer to obtain this
authority. Hospitals also generally bar those who are not members of a
contract confers numerous rights to a surviving spouse upon the death of
the other spouse. This includes deciding how to dispose of the deceased's
states, a spouse automatically inherits from a deceased partner. In the case of
unmarried couples, on the other hand, the survivor is entitled to nothing
unless the deceased specifically wills it to him or her. When unmarried people
Because married people are considered to be an economic unit, moreover, the
federal estate tax exempts all assets inherited by a spouse. Unmarried
partners receive no such exemption. And where a surviving spouse may sue for
the most important legal consequences of marriage involve getting out of it
(even though it is true that one spouse generally cannot be required to
testify against the other in court as long as they're still married).
Divorce laws divide property and dictate the financial support of
spouses who did little work outside the home. These laws vary by state. But in
general, when a marriage dissolves, each partner is considered to own
the marriage (except by inheritance) are considered joint property. What
happens to joint property? Most states have "equitable distribution" laws,
under which it is supposed to be divided fairly, though not necessarily in
half. Only eight states have "community property" laws requiring that all
assets acquired during a marriage be divided equally.
1970s, courts have rarely made such awards in cases involving the dissolution
of marriage. Instead, courts give the financially dependent spouse
"maintenance" payments, which provide support while she or he gains a footing
in the work force. In practical terms, maintenance usually lasts only five to
seven years, and rarely longer than the marriage did.
citizens with only a few exceptions, such as sham marriages undertaken for the
purpose of obtaining citizenship. Although there are still some legal hoops to
avoid the very lengthy (and frequently unsuccessful) application process for
marriage is an institution for the raising of children. But laws pertaining to
obligations to support their children regardless of whether they are, or ever
were, married to each other. (And marriage benefits go to all married people
direct effect on the rights and obligations of parenthood. It might well,
however, facilitate gay couples' efforts to adopt children.
sea of benefits and obligations into a single "I do." As a generic set of laws
for an extraordinarily diverse group of marriages, marriage law burdens some
couples some of the time and benefits most couples most of the time. Symbolism
the PA? Why does everybody agree that it is in crisis? What is the future of
remainder of the two territories. Under the plan, an interim government
Bank, as well as for what is ambiguously called the "final status" of security
The first two stages of the withdrawal were completed
future will probably be decided by the "final status" negotiations.
coalition of disparate guerrilla groups, labor unions, and political parties
the PA's comptroller concluded that millions of PA dollars had been siphoned
off for private use by officials. Several ministers have been blamed for
resignation of the entire Cabinet. Last week all but two ministers agreed to
step down, though many say it is unlikely they will ever actually do so.
and he has not been accused of personal wrongdoing. However, his undemocratic
He has much to gain from the peace process: more power and land for his
organization. It controls mosques, schools, and a political party, all of which
predate the organization of its terrorist arm in the late '80s. Most
criticizing the group's political leaders, as doing so would be considered
support the argument that the peace process is a failed experiment that should
death in the last three years while in police custody.
action, observers say, because he believes that the threat of terrorism
they say were caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during that conflict. And
they charge that the government has not taken their complaints seriously, or is
even covering up evidence of a Gulf War Syndrome. This past week, the Pentagon
revelation that some troops were, in fact, exposed to toxic gases does not
settle the case. The controversy rests on two remaining issues: finding a
Allied casualties far lower than feared, but overall rates of illness were low
experienced unexplained blistering, which could have been caused by mustard
Common complaints are fatigue, joint pain, headache, difficulty sleeping,
diarrhea, or nausea. The Department of Veterans Affairs registered and
clearly defined what the syndrome really is. No characteristic symptoms or
laboratory abnormalities have been found. Veterans quoted in New York
share any of the top dozen symptoms. Other studies of Gulf War vets show no
higher rates of hospitalization, birth defects, or death than among control
groups that did not serve. Thus far, five different independent panels have
evaluated the known evidence. None could find any new disease or define a
evidence that troops encountered many different chemical agents which,
they believe, made thousands ill after coming home. Troops received multiple
The military used over a dozen pesticides in the Gulf, including
rocket propellant and, some claim, mustard gas --a weapon used to rapidly
computer model of the gas cloud's drift. The number could be increased yet more
quickly triggers paralysis; death by asphyxiation or cardiac rhythm
subway attacks. But exposure levels in the Gulf were not high enough to cause
Congress has already authorized disability payments
within two years after the war. The newest revelations about soldiers' exposure
will add to pressure for more generous compensation.
find it plausible that the chemicals could have failed to produce major ill
effects at the time of exposure, yet could still cause chronic illness later.
No known toxic illness has ever followed such a pattern. In medical circles,
the argument over Gulf War Syndrome is actually part of a larger debate over
the existence of other nebulous syndromes --including chronic fatigue and
Gulf War Syndrome with consistent symptoms has yet to be defined. Gulf
veterans suggest that the syndrome is a constellation of symptoms; which ones a
particular vet gets will vary with the individual. The syndrome may even be
several illnesses, they say, but the common thread is exposure to toxins in the
however, say none of the proposed chemical agents are known to cause disease at
the low levels which troops faced. Moreover, they have not found any increase
in illness among Gulf veterans as a whole or among those exposed to the
showed no higher illness rates than others. Some vets believe, however, that
there is countervailing evidence which the government is covering
that going the rest of the way will be easy. The Republican leadership also
easier partly because of legislative successes over the past two years.
Agriculture and welfare programs have been reformed in ways that will save
of the errors are not yet well understood. Much of the revenue surge may have
of Medicaid spending. But Medicaid spending has begun to surge again in recent
Congress has no choice but to accept that projection as gospel. In any event,
president and Congress, although we do not know how much easier.
intense budget struggles of the past, why does balancing the budget now look
easier? First, as noted earlier, we have been nibbling away at the deficit. The
low birth rate during the Great Depression. Over half of the civilian,
assume the continuation of full employment. There is no recession in sight, and
it would be foolish to try to forecast the timing of one more than a year in
these favorable factors, it might be possible to devise a credible
president and the Republicans. The tax cuts may force them to put some
implausible spending cuts on paper. If the final plan involves significant,
all be suspicious. It will be very difficult to cut discretionary spending much
further. Defense spending will soon be flattening out, and domestic
discretionary spending proved highly resilient at the end of the last Congress,
also would add greatly to the difficulty. In fact, an economic downturn of any
the near future will be bad news for the long run if it leads the president and
dramatic Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security reforms that are required to
At that time, without reform, the deficit will soar to unimaginable levels. The
private savings necessary to finance the deficit will plummet, because there
will be net withdrawals from private pension funds. The two forces will cause
us to eat away at our capital, and the economy will head rapidly downward.
month, Republicans and journalists have questioned foreign contributions to the
Democratic Party. Both parties, interest groups, political action committees,
and businesses have spent record sums this year. According to one
of campaign finance? What rules, if any, have the campaigns broken?
state, or local. Foreign nationals include foreign governments, political
parties, corporations, and citizens. The ban does not apply to foreigners who
are legal residents of the United States. A domestic subsidiary of a foreign
corporation may make political contributions, but only if the foreign parent
Republican National Committee this campaign, as well as thousands in direct
against the law for corporations and labor unions to contribute money to
candidates for federal office. However, they may sponsor political action
committees which raise money from employees, stockholders, and members, and
Qualified presidential candidates and political parties
receive money from the federal government for primary- and
accept private donations during the primary season.
price tag for this year's election? The cost of primaries is one reason. But
efforts that do not directly endorse specific candidates. Without violating the
First Amendment, individuals and organizations can also spend unlimited amounts
advocacy from campaign advocacy. They include: "vote for" and "vote against."
As long as your ads do not include the magic words, you can spend as much as
and the Christian Action Network have also raised and spent millions on "issue"
ads, as have the political parties. It is often difficult to distinguish issue
organizations can spend as much as they want on a candidate's behalf as long as
individuals) can make unlimited independent expenditures on behalf of
candidates. This decision produced an explosion of spending by political
parties, although it is not yet clear what constitutes an "independent"
expenditure. According to Common Cause, the political parties are spending
millions of dollars as "independent expenditures" on ads that were designed and
produced by the candidates' own campaign organizations.
fitting end to what doctors call the worst century for allergies ever. The
percentage of the population suffering from allergies has more than doubled
dizzying parade of allergy remedies, the Food and Drug Administration has
trumpeted as the most effective nonprescription allergy combatant.
are allergies? Who gets them? Is there any way to conquer them? Are they
really more prevalent than they used to be? Why hasn't natural selection
consigned this miserable condition to the dustbin of evolutionary history?
overreacts to the presence of harmless proteins normally
not found in the body. During the first few encounters with a foreign protein
(or allergen), the immune system catalogs its characteristics and tailors an
antibody called immunoglobulin to purge it. Thereafter when the allergen enters
the body, the immunoglobulins send signals to trigger the release of a set of
nasty chemicals, most notably histamines, that destroy it. Side effects of
histamines include the tightening of airways, constriction of nasal passages,
release of mucus, and redness of eyes. Nobody knows how much of an allergen it
from adverse reactions to poison ivy, chemicals, and lactose, none of which
involves the immune system. Allergies are also distinguishable from colds,
during which the immune system combats viruses that can actually do harm.
contained in pollen, tiny airborne particles released as part of the
reproductive cycle of trees, weeds, and grasses. ("Hay fever" comes down from
ragweed allergies on the hay reaped during the fall harvest.) Other common
the myth of the nonallergenic dog.) Reactions to food afflict relatively few
and, except for shellfish and peanut allergies, are most common among small
consequences of allergies are usually no greater than sneezing, a stuffy nose,
and itchy eyes. But if you suffer from asthma, allergies can cause an attack.
toxic levels of histamines and other chemicals are released, causing
asphyxiation, vomiting, and death. More common are infections triggered by
stuffy noses. The scenario: Allergies inflame and clog a nose, precluding it
from draining mucus and fluids from sinuses and ears. The fluids become a
have correlated them with a single mutant gene inherited from the mother. But
statistics also point to the importance of other genes that come via the
are spread evenly across ethnicity and gender. Individuals, however, tend to
for another decade. But allergies can start at any time. And nobody has a clue
"civic improvement" projects. The lowest counts occur in coastal areas and
mountains, where wind tends to blow pollen away, although pollen has been
to be touted by the media as being the worst one on the books. (Click for a
will cause plants to be more fecund and produce more pollen. Also, lack of
winter freezes means that mites normally killed off by the cold will
treatment. New drugs debut almost every year. (Recently, there has been a rush
symptoms in a vast majority of patients. Unlike the pills, immunotherapy shots
attack the underlying problem, not just the symptoms. Each week patients are
injected with a small dose of allergens to build their immunity. Studies show
immune system's misguided response? Why do allergies afflict an increasing
number of victims if they serve no useful purpose? A few theories:
Victorious Immune System: Evolutionary biologists speculate that a
hypersensitive immune system was needed back when parasites were ubiquitous and
deadly. Hay fever was the small cost of survival. And since allergies rarely
shorten life spans or discourage mates, it is unlikely natural selection will
of the Leisure System: Modern medicine and hygiene have licked most of the
major problems that used to preoccupy our immune system. Now, with nothing to
regularly contend with, this theory argues, the system is set off by the most
popularity of domestic pets. In addition, there is the onset of pollution,
people are allergic today because more people are diagnosed as allergic rather
than as suffering from colds. The cynical spin is that pharmaceutical companies
have duped the public into believing that they have allergies and need drugs to
"day of atonement," and to stay home from work or school to fast and repent.
His appeal was largely ignored, in contrast to his call to the Million Man
membership would burgeon after the march. Has this happened? What sort of
closely guards the scale of its operations. Estimates fix membership between
grown in the last two years. And according to the best guesses, the nation runs
sure how much real estate or how many corporations it owns. Court papers
college campuses, grabbing headlines and sparking confrontations between black
in the nation seems to correlate with the negative media it generates.
that the nation will begin fielding its own candidates.
frustration with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Yet the nation
Million Man March --into greater influence and membership. The march is
meandering speech at the march alienated potential followers. Especially
disconcerting was said to be his lengthy disquisition on numerology. Many
accounts of the march downplayed the nation's presence. For evidence, see
he continues to tour regularly, his speeches are said to have become less
charismatic and less appealing. Rally attendance is much scantier today
the months following the march also discredited him. Especially damning is
nation has recently considered leaning toward the mainstream right to
black capitalism has not translated into financial success. Many of its
companies are deep in debt and owe the Internal Revenue Service
undermined their claim that black businesses are less exploitative than white
ones. Meanwhile, many members gripe that while the nation's businesses founder,
average drops dramatically, are mixed. Most traders say that the pauses
pauses with calming jittery investors. What are circuit breakers? Why were they
force was convened to investigate the crash's causes and suggest remedies that
would prevent a repeat performance. The task force blamed "faulty market
accommodate the trading volume that the drop occasioned: Phone lines clogged,
computers crashed, and printers jammed. Many orders simply weren't received.
Deluged traders couldn't match the buy and sell orders they had. The task force
assimilate incoming information and arrange transactions. Circuit breakers
afford investors and traders the time to sell stock calmly, rather than dump it
year so that brokers could handle a massive backlog of unfilled orders. In
restore temporary imbalances between supply and demand. Bad weather,
presidential assassinations, and power outages all have resulted in the closing
elsewhere prohibited the trading of specific stocks. No other country
automatically closes volatile markets for a breather.
investors and traders even more inclined to sell, instead of cooling them off.
breaker and reported it as a sign of an impending crash. During the first lull,
traders who had orders to sell by the end of the day were already anticipating
a second circuit breaker. Fearing that a second circuit breaker would close the
market for the day and prevent them from executing their orders on advantageous
terms, they sold their stocks as soon as possible instead of waiting to find
market from working itself out of a crash. Extreme volatility, they say, is a
natural part of the market's quest for equilibrium between supply and demand.
transaction infrastructure to accommodate the enormous swells in trading. The
transactions a second. On both days, traders had no difficulty matching buyers
market's value. Adjusting for the quadrupling of the market over the last seven
circuit breakers to flip at levels that don't warrant a stoppage of trade. They
that the circuit breakers should be reformed so that they are triggered by a
force and working group conducted their proceedings in secret. Soon after the
designed to check the power and proliferation of presidential commissions,
requires that the meetings of working groups appointed by the executive branch
of the task force and working group were not federal employees, the meetings
should be open. (Later, the courts ruled the first lady should be treated as a
does not specify what constitutes "membership" on an advisory board. Responding
nominees for the government, the National Academy of Science, and other
"Only federal government employees serve as members of the interdepartmental
evidence that private citizens attended the working groups, and that some of
them played supervisory roles. The judge was especially irritated by the
Holder chided government lawyers for formulating a "sloppy," "overly
Foster, he concluded his investigation by declining to prosecute
affidavit, and no evidence that he had intended to willfully mislead the court.
consultants who were clearly not government employees played a prominent role
in the working group. Charges of criminal contempt hinge upon proving beyond a
reasonable doubt that there was an intention to deceive, and even
investigations of the White House, Holder's earned near universal acclaim. Even
deliberately misled the court and that government lawyers acted in "bad
faith," and he maintains that the appeals court might have issued an injunction
the government in this case is what happened when it never corrected or updated
affidavit but the government attorneys' hardball tactics and unwillingness to
civil libertarians, and the computer industry are enmeshed in a controversy
over cryptography policy. What is cryptography? How and why does the government
want to restrict it, and why are some people opposed?
Cryptography has two parts: encryption and decryption. Encryption
uses complicated mathematical formulas to make information indecipherable.
Decryption decodes the information. The strength of a computer
encryption algorithm depends largely on "key length," essentially the number of
The longer the key, the harder the code is to crack.
burgeoning market for cryptography to protect electronic transactions and
sensitive data from hackers. But the government is concerned that foreign
powers (as well as terrorists and criminal cartels) might obtain cryptography
conversations impregnable to wiretap and financial records invulnerable to
domestically, it has imposed export restrictions on technology stronger
restrictions have angered the computer industry. Because hackers have broken
40-bit technology, and because foreign companies already sell superstrong
rest from lost sales of associated hardware and software.
Critics argue that unbreakable encryption already is marketed by foreign
Currently, there is no international encryption standard in place; but the
encrypted data. (The 128-bit encryption currently sold by foreign companies
But the administration's efforts to establish a standard
administration said it would lift export restrictions on companies that use the
Clipper Chip. However, the government would keep a "key," which it could use to
tap a phone or decrypt data. Current rules requiring court orders for such
invasions of privacy would, presumably, continue to apply. Nevertheless, civil
libertarians denounced the Clipper Chip as a Big Brother intrusion, and the
key escrow (dubbed "Clipper II" by opponents), companies could export strong
agent, such as a bank. But key escrow flopped, too. The computer industry said
introduced a bill to all but eliminate export restrictions. The legislation did
not go to a vote, but it has an excellent chance of passing next year. Bob Dole
President Gore offered an executive order that would ease export restrictions
military office, which almost always refuses applications, to the more friendly
key escrow, except there is no single key and the government holds nothing. In
key recovery, a key is broken into several separate pieces of information and
the pieces are stored separately, perhaps by the users themselves, perhaps by
outside agents. Reconstructing the key requires the cooperation of each
terrorists are likely to eschew it in favor of unbreakable technology. But if
banks, airlines, and communications companies accept key recovery, the
terrorists will risk potential exposure every time they do business with those
institutions. Key recovery has barely been tested, much less perfected. And
much control the government demands over recovered keys. In fact, many experts
believe that the key recovery scheme is so vague and tentative as to be
irrelevant. They say the encryption issue will only be resolved when Congress
plot: The devil has come to Earth to mate at the stroke of midnight (Eastern
world will end. Critics call it preposterous and filled with baffling
compendium of involuntary crucifixions, grim messages carved into human flesh,
animation has improved noticeably in the four years since the first one came
plot is a winner: A toy must chose between eternal life in a collectibles
museum and the more dangerous life at home with his beloved owner, who may
guilt that a child feels for a favorite toy" that many adults have probably not
exasperates the critics. "Flawless is so awful it just might put an end
could catch viewers by surprise" and adds that "though formulaic, [it] plays
how Brownie Wise, a struggling single mother, turned the languishing line of
handed over control of sales to Wise (the first woman ever to appear on the
these parties helped women isolated in 1950s suburbs gain a social network, as
well as providing them with an acceptable way of earning income. When critics
do get around to talking about the quality of the book, they praise its "wit
critics as both slickly commercial and annoyingly didactic. The idea of the
departs from the critical pack, declaring that "this mesmerizing book shows
is now complete: A documentary on his life and works has aired on public
irony of a sentimental illustrator, so long contemptuously dismissed by
Web page lists future dates and locations for the traveling exhibit.)
Journalists who write for the Internet frequently ask: Does politician X get
find their answers by looking at candidate Web sites, testing their familiarity
Election, though, we have an additional question: Does the Net get
Election has documented, there are a large and growing number of Web sites
let's say you come to the Internet without knowing precisely where you want to
Click on the word "Elections" under that, and you're two clicks away from a
page that contains a slew of info, including breaking news, links to all the
Curiously, not all the portals we examined make it this easy. At the
for example, no words such as government, politics, or elections appear on the
you delve more deeply into the issues, the major portals quickly get muddy. Say
system. Will it harm minorities disproportionately because it eliminates
health care" into Yahoo, the engine will actually serve up some relevant sites,
heaven forbid you make an error. If, like us, you initially forget to enter
that provides "training, consultation and treatment services for compulsive
the sort of non sequitur experience that's all too familiar to Web users. We're
supposed to think: "Well, these are just dumb machines, after all. They can't
really judge linguistic niceties like context." That's sort of true, but not
entirely. Most search engines don't actually search the Net every time a user
enters words. Rather, they sift through a collection of Web pages that have
been examined and approved for use by the individual company's database.
Getting a site approved by a big search engine can take up to six weeks. Not
surprisingly, the premium real estate on the page that shows you the search
results often goes to those who are willing to pay for it.
Another way of saying this is that much of the Web is not really wired to think
guidance on every issue from animal rights to women's liberation. And there
resources available, they've yet to combine the Net's strongest
sophistication. Moreover, typical viewers aren't apt to stumble upon these
sites. Rather, they would need to know the specific Web addresses already.
while we await the arrival of a truly intelligent political Web agent, we are
fact, it often exhibits a grasp of reality that falls somewhere between a
much money for advice which, presumably, he could've gotten for free?" Two of
Online as an Internet Service Provider?" and "What should I know about
though, we're not sure anyone has a good answer to that question.
Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization. They argued that the
are mandatory, threatens to dissolve human rights, labor laws, and health and
are beginning to counter the principal spins against the organization.
to ask first what political terms of trade are being offered, and then to
decide, based on how good or bad those terms are, whether or not to trade. By
in its trade rules (thereby undermining such regulations in many countries,
addresses these important issues, there will be no support for a major new
protesters chanted in the streets. In a New York Times ad, a coalition
going to have to listen to people who have legitimate economic concerns,
decide: Do you think we are better off or worse off with an increasingly
their goods and services and skills around the world? I think we're better off.
That's the number one core decision we ought to make up our mind as a country
global capitalism with enlightened national laws. According to the
destroying "standards for safety, health and the environment" in "nations 
that try to protect the safety of their food, their jobs, small businesses or
rights" and to "protect the ability of governments, at all levels, to use their
purchasing power to reinforce their values and standards."
by "local companies  interlocked with local political elites in a web of
cronyism and corruption. Globalization in the form of foreign direct investment
by multinational corporations not only creates employment but directly
threatens these local elites by exposing them to competition."
Free trade "tore down the walls of economic and political oppression," said
lethal by rising trade barriers from which came the twin tyrannies of our age,
destructive practices and, by liberating greed, promotes these practices. By
these practices. "It is not wrong for the United States to say we don't believe
in child labor, or forced labor, or the oppression of our brothers and sisters
But to make those arguments and resolve those issues with other nations
made trade decisions more accountable and more universally beneficial than they
and worry that unfettered trade will demolish it. Thanks to world capital flow,
in which "everybody can do what they do best." To mitigate that instability, he
promises to give people "time and support and investment to make the
keep what they have than risk it for a hypothetical payoff. And while the costs
of unrestricted trade tend to be visible because they're nearby and
always be somewhat uncertain of their gain, whereas the people who will lose
embracing free trade "will require  imagination and trust and humility and
constitution and police powers will protect poor countries, not exploit them.
"Developing countries need a secure and stable world trading system," he says.
threat to our sovereignty. I see interdependence as a guarantor of our
in the United States than abroad. Others are produced more cheaply abroad than
first category, while the protesters talk about the second. Two weeks ago,
more than that. The national industries that will lose under global capitalism
partner is the most detested woman on television, and whose claims to fame are
nowhere. He has come from everywhere. Until he hit big with Live in the
grad and Navy veteran, he got his start in the early '60s hosting a talk show
question. Watch it once, and it seems pathetic. Watch it twice, and you begin
evident talent. He does not interview guests well. He does not tell jokes. He
lacks empathy. He displays no particular intelligence. He speaks in a bizarre
So why is he the most watchable person on television? In
"I started small and learned to keep it small. Small is friendlier and more
but captivating comic persona. He is the master of umbrage. Walloped by a
of the aggrieved little guy. His hyperactivity has mellowed, but not too much.
and her tedious stories about her son. She punches right back. It is an
reinforces his second gift: a perfect relationship with the camera. No one
he has revealed everything on the show (his latest squabble with his wife,
sensationalistic, confessional talk shows, he divulges everything about
himself. He just doesn't have anything salacious to tell.
the contestants sweat, but he's no good at it. He's too light to play the
heavy. The dark suits he wears make him look like a lounge singer, not an
enforcer. His voice cannot convey menace. His attempts to daunt contestants are
more genial than ominous (although "Is that your final answer?" has become a
you'd expect from the host. He often seems more surprised to learn the answer
this ironic age: He allows the show to be both deadly serious and parody.
Millionaire is portentously heavy, yet run by a man with no gravitas. It
presence makes it frivolous. With a somber host, Millionaire would be
inches tall--2 inches taller than the old ones. New what?
conditions: "unrelenting crowding, lack of privacy, infrequent communications
with family and the outside world, no ability even to go  for fresh air and a
matter how much you whine, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has no
hate these Observer stories about how tough a supermodel's life really
bear in mind: It is not the squeaky wheel that gets the grease; it is the wheel
so many congressmen fly so frequently, the aviation industry gets much federal
executives crashed frequently, they'd be dead and hence unable to demand such
boring programs. And those few who've not yet plummeted to a fiery death
possess so vivid a sense of their own mortality, that they'd instantly cancel
executives rode the New York City subway, then trains, not planes, would suffer
from unrelenting crowding, lack of privacy, infrequent communications with
continued exclusion of women from serving on submarines.
regarded as the most hidebound branch of the military (and the one most
resistant to ending racial segregation), found a compelling need, in the
national interest and for essential military purposes that you wouldn't
understand, to sustain a reactionary social policy. What is unexpected is that
the debate on submarine duty has been reopened. One reason: money. The Navy is
building a new class of submarines, and it would be less expensive to include
separate quarters for men and women in the initial construction than to make
changes later, should women at some point be granted the vote.
"a shrinking violet in her purple tunic"-- an unnecessarily catty comment
have some innovative ideas on the trade pact. (Said by me. Based on no evidence
again, although his actual remarks end with the word "sleep," after which I
Protests continued at the World Trade Organization meeting in
disperse demonstrators, hundreds of people gathered peacefully outside the city
were stuck in a "Catch-22." The gloomy spin: Sensational demonstrations are
obscuring substantive issues and embarrassing the United States. The rosy spin:
era of cooperation in international law enforcement. The dismal spin:
Poor law enforcement is what allowed these crimes to happen
airports. Department of Transportation officials posed as airport
the concerns and that passengers "[do] not need to be alarmed."
agreement reached last weekend, a 12-member Cabinet with equal representation
for Protestant and Catholic constituencies received governing authority from
could be formed. Two of the Cabinet's members did not attend the first meeting.
The pessimistic spin: This experiment in compromise faces "a bumpy ride." The
Some Gulf War veterans exhibit signs of brain damage. Researchers found
narrowing in on chemical exposure --from pesticides 
veterans better coverage for treatment. But skeptics cautioned that the
research was inconclusive and was based on a very small sample.
reduce tax rates at every income level, double the credit for children, and
eliminate estate taxes. The Bush camp said the cuts' focus on middle- and
underscored the compassion in Bush's conservatism. But Democrats said the
plan was the same old hat, benefiting the rich, threatening to worsen the
national debt, and jeopardizing Social Security and Medicare. Republican
agonizing pain. He was the surviving male of the pair of pandas that was given
declared that they were mourning the death of an old
personality should lessen the "sense of apartness that causes us to treat so
The National Academy of Sciences recommended formation of a federal
government program that tracked and disseminated information on these errors
would reduce patient risk. The medical community emphasized that "the number
one cause of medical mistakes is not incompetence but confusion." The virtually
There's no controversy here.  It's an ideal opportunity to increase
three people who survived the sinking of a 17-foot aluminum boat that was
perished in the shipwreck, had kidnapped him. The United States says the boy
with "empty nests." Newspapers said the statistics signaled the decline of
increasingly recognizing that these "modern" households can work.
decide by mid-2000 whether or not to begin deployment of a limited defense
missile system protect the United States? Which nations pose the greatest
threat to this country? And what are the diplomatic repercussions of building
"Safeguard" system to defend the United States' missile silos. As permitted by
a few months later as a waste of money. China, meanwhile, did not produce a
the "end of the Star Wars era." Missile defense spending puttered along in
upgraded to service this site, which could eventually be bolstered by other
Strategically, few dispute the merits of perfecting
"theater" defenses, such as the upgraded Patriot missile to swat down
current dollars has been spent on missile defense since the early '60s, but the
task of hitting a hypersonic bullet with a bullet remains a ticklish one. Even
attackers would load their missiles with decoy warheads to foil or complicate
interdiction. Critics insist that relatively cheap countermeasures will always
After numerous highly publicized failures, the Pentagon
to deploy next year. An independent study funded by the Pentagon warned in
current technical and procedural safeguards are in place."
United States and is working to supplement that force with more survivable,
send in retaliation against any atomic attack, though the country would be
deterrence and coercive diplomacy than as weapons of war.
controversy is whether an imperfect homeland defense could eliminate the
deterrent and coercive impact of small rogue missile forces. Any nation
address to the weapon before firing. Detonating a smuggled warhead in the hold
of a ship docked in, say, New York harbor would make much more sense, while
avoiding the huge expense and trouble of building complex intercontinental
Yet the prospect of an atomic apocalypse is so terrible
that few can argue against spending tens of billions of dollars for insurance
against remote possibilities. Here's where the debate enters the diplomatic
toward intransigence seems unlikely to give the United States a free pass on
faith and ideological fervor as about logic and rational calculation. If the
Treasury bonds instead of lottery tickets. You might be tempted to conclude
that criminals and lottery players are often the same people. That's probably
basket, which suggests they should pursue either crime or the lottery, but not
people to crime, it pays to understand what attracts people to risky activities
more generally, so it pays to understand what attracts people to the
Lotteries are attractive when they offer big prizes
or (relatively) good odds. If you're running a lottery and you're going to pay
former. For the most part, lottery players prefer a small chance of a big
payout to a bigger chance of a smaller payout. That's because the people who
prefer a bigger chance of a smaller payout are buying certificates of deposit,
not lottery tickets. So if you want to make the lottery more attractive, it's
better to double the size of the jackpot than to double the number of
doubling the number of winners makes the lottery more attractive to the sort of
person who never buys lottery tickets anyway, while doubling the jackpot makes
it more attractive to the sort of person who might actually be tempted to
Now let's apply the same reasoning to criminal deterrence.
For the most part, criminals prefer a small chance of a big punishment to a big
chance of a small punishment. That's because the people who prefer a big chance
of a small punishment go into punishing careers like construction work or coal
mining instead of crime. So if you want to make crime less attractive to
criminals, it's better to double the odds of conviction than to double the
criminals are out to beat the odds, so they get particularly demoralized when
So much for the theory; now to the facts. What's true of
way to generate the most action per dollar's worth of prize money (and hence
the most profit for the track) is to offer very large prizes at very long odds.
Why, then, do the tracks continue to offer bets with much smaller payoffs?
while small prize winners plow their winnings back into the next race. That
profit on the current race, while several small prizes maximize the action on
the main point, which is that players like big prizes and long odds. (On
inherently corrupt about a system where the proceeds from state lotteries are
used to fund school systems that then have an incentive to produce the kind of
let's consider the most spectacular of all crimes, murder. Here the expert is
sophisticated statistical techniques to measure deterrent effects of conviction
revisited the subject, refuting his most vocal critics and offering new
evidence in support of his original conclusion: Increase the number of
amounts to increasing the severity of the average punishment) and (again to a
very rough approximation) the murder rate falls by about half a percent. (These
numbers are based on evidence from the 1940s and 1950s. Capital punishment
studies tend to focus on decades with more executions and hence more data.) As
the theory predicts, convictions matter more than punishments.
That's not to say that punishments don't matter. Executions
drive home to my students. First, incentives matter, even to murderers. Second,
economic theory predicts that some incentives matter more than others, and the
data confirm the theory: Executions prevent murders, but convictions prevent
even more murders. And finally, if you want to give policy advice, it's not
that capital punishment works, is a passionate opponent of capital
Appeals and the most prominent legal philosopher currently on the federal
that derives legal principles from economic analysis, typically pointing at
some established legal doctrine and declaring it nonsense. No area of the law
that "predatory pricing" (the monopolist's act of cutting prices to kill
Explorer browser) can almost never exist. He has argued for only the narrowest
kinds of antitrust remedies in only the narrowest kinds of antitrust cases.
he teaches two seemingly irreconcilable courses: "Law and Economics," and "Law
Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President
sometimes vegetarians" on the academic left. He has little time for those who
"pity murderers (and penguins, and sea otters, and harp seals) more than
his change in perspective is disappointingly conventional: He says he was put
teaching there in the late '60s. In the spirit of law and economics, we should
any of these subjects makes it difficult to shake off the mental image of the
article suggested making it legal for parents to auction off their unwanted
babies to the highest bidders. An essay on rape reads almost like a parody of
to heavy expenditures on protecting women, as well as expenditures on
overcoming those protections. The expenditures would be offsetting, and to that
"guesses" and personal ideology, while hiding behind a veil of precedent. He
not to feel anyone's pain, he has quite literally found safety in numbers
because they are, in his view, morally neutral where pain is not.
opinions contain long expository "asides" when he disagrees with the law as
current position, though not one that is easy to defend in terms of economic
choice, but possibly an inspired one as well. After all, the rights and wrongs
sociological arguments against large and powerful corporations that are
consumers economically by taking too much of their money or slowing the pace of
innovation? Is there a remedy that will do more good than harm?
matter of law. But who better to rationally and coldly lay out the costs and
tortures it has in mind will do more harm than good, the government will have
moralizing of both sides in this case than the man who really can distill
Justice can choose to listen to his advice or disregard it. But they won't be
able to say they weren't helped with their math homework by the very best.
planted inside the State Department. Though diplomatic immunity prevents him
in on behalf of many others. The King family's attorneys argued that the
was convicted of the assassination, or implicated him in a larger plot. The
King family's spin: This is the first step toward correcting the history books. Law enforcement's spin: The
missions. Congressional critics' spin: If they can't do it right, let's cut the
The White House is threatening more lawsuits against
demand reimbursement for security and other costs of handgun violence. The
spin: Since Congress wouldn't act, a lawsuit is the next best thing. The gun
lobby's spin: The lawsuits are baseless and won't hold up in court. Newspapers'
administration now says it will follow the wishes of the father.
Republican presidential candidates held their second debate in a
"courteous" and "chummy" affair, with "policy agreements  much more conspicuous than disputes." Analysts differed as to
whether Bush's subdued performance was or tepid and formulaic; but they agreed
needs to be more aggressive in differentiating himself from Bush; others said
A maintenance company was convicted of mishandling hazardous material
people. Two employees were acquitted of lying on repair records. The company,
tragedy. It wasn't a crime." Victims' families debated whether the convictions
failed to agree on how to reduce trade barriers further. The meetings were
embarrassment" and accused the administration of failing to make a clear
case for free trade. Protesters hailed it as a victory
for their movement, which they claimed had turned public opinion against
of the issues, [which] strained the capacity of delegations to make decisions."
football championship. For the second year, a computer ranking system,
instead of coaches' and sportswriters' polls, determined the matchup. Both
apparently used a gun purchased by his father to open fire on students outside
student with no disciplinary record. When asked why he did it, he reportedly
"a momentous agreement that will vastly improve [China's] economic landscape."
The cover story explains the deal: China will open its
manufacturers. Ensuing competitive pressures will reshape China's domestic
Ill.: The expulsion of six black students (for fighting at a football game)
education today  the crisis of violence." An article explains the "constitutional etiquette" of the vice
presidency. Veeps should never malign or crudely distance themselves from their
presidents. In case of assassination or impeachment, the republic needs a
she stood them up or sent photos of a blonde model. Some of the relationships
article exposes the National Enquirer 's mob origins. The newspaper was
bankrolled by Mafia loans in the '50s, and gangsters leaned on newsstand
dealers who refused to sell it. When the publisher realized real news wasn't
profitable, he turned it into a scandal sheet.  An item pokes
"conscience management," helping their celebrity clients pick philanthropic
great cover story stunt exposes the impossibility of electronic
five minutes. Within a week the snoop had discovered his unlisted phone
numbers, bank balances, stock holdings, and salary, as well as the phone
numbers of everyone he calls. To protect your privacy, ask your bank to
restrict access to your records and beg your member of Congress for legislative
cover story profiles a day trader who learns his financial fundamentals from
the Web and trusts his "feel" for stocks. If his luck holds (as it doesn't for
"looks like a man hugging a slot machine."  An article
an "Interstate Sky Way" to ease traffic jams. A pair of inventing brothers is
giant parachute for safer crash landings.  An essay explains
why journalists always view politicians "through a dehumanizing prism."
passengers. Icons such as Hello Kitty adorn ATM cards, cell phones, and even
condoms. The omnipresence of cute is a symptom of Japan's fetish for childhood.
An article explains why Al Gore lost the allegiance of Silicon
Valley. Gore promoted the growth of the Internet more than any other figure in
soaring price of prescription drugs. Seniors are mobilizing, Al Gore is
advertising his opposition to "price gouging," and drug companies are filling
the airways with attacks on Democratic plans to extend Medicare coverage to
difficulty reading because they are unable to break words into their
constituent parts. Research indicates that dyslexia is an inherited
neurological problem. Early intervention and phonics can help dyslexics catch
policy vision: "[The United States] should not retreat" but should "be humble
intelligence (or lack of it)? A picture of him reading his own recently
(sending answers by pager) make cheating easier than ever. Character education
could help.  An article follows the Wild Yak Brigade, a vigilante group that
cartoon issue. A piece explains that the primary purpose of New Yorker
cartoons is to caricature the human condition. Proof: The magazine's archives
argues that Al Gore is his own worst enemy. Gore's best argument for his
Suckling details his successful environmental extremism, founded oddly on
relativism," Suckling believes in undoing man's dominion over the Earth. Using
the Endangered Species Act, Suckling has sued to halt logging, ranching, cattle
grazing, and construction throughout wide swaths of the Southwest.
cover story decries the concentration in media ownership.
Deregulation, privatization, and new technologies allow nine transnational
Conglomeration encourages cultural homogenization and consumerism.  An
pluralism is vital to democracy. Using the Web, alternative outlets can
when the college learned that he had been having an affair with his
values, and courage can still triumph in a corrupt world." The college refuses
caved to corporate pressure. "The Insider shouldn't be the
(Lions Gate Films Inc.). Despite protests from the Catholic
more, this "obviously devout, enlightened parable" about a pair of rebellious
apostle, a muse, and a messenger from God. (Click here to check out the film's
official site and here to see what the Catholic League has to say about
surprisingly good chemistry. (Visit the official site.)
that the band's lyrics "make a case that there are still some things worth
contributions to the band's otherwise excellent music to "rodent droppings at a
gourmet dinner." (Click here to read Rolling Stone 's cover story on the
disturbing question one of her granddaughters recently asked. "This was kind of
chilling, because it wasn't even like I could say, 'No, no, it's not going to
discovered that two buns and a piece of string make an excellent gas
frustration and hassle and, though it is in no way connected with
or its parent company, the outcome of yesterday's voting in
convention hall where the World Trade Organization meeting was scheduled,
to eat any more of that kind of food," he declared. "Except for the fries,
The protests forced the postponement of the opening
undermine health, labor and environmental protections around the world."
emergency, put the city under a curfew, and called in the National Guard. A
small group of masked protesters did damage property, but the vast majority of
the demonstrators were peaceful. Police in riot gear responded with what the
Times called "tear gas, pepper spray and rubber pellets."
this year when Hello Kitty collectible toys were made available to the public.
Young women (who are, for some reason they are unable to articulate, the
primary consumers of Hello Kitty products) would line up around the block in
order to get their hands on the dolls. I, however, am partial to Hello Kitty's
herbs in a pamphlet touting the Woman's Book of Healing Herbs
sauce, "the usual accompaniment to roast lamb." If only the lamb had been a
little more mentally alert, of course, all this unpleasantness could have been
mentioned, but ask yourself this, is a family vacation really something you
hell is going on over there? Should someone call the cops? Now I can't even
invited to submit the title of a much needed but as yet unwritten autobiography
enough responses to allow for our usual scientific survey. (Curiously, it did
forward several promising invitations to make big money at home with hot teen
catch a glimpse of the tremendously creepy sets, visit the film's official
and the plot irrelevant (something about oil pipelines). Critics say that this
Journal calls the plot "schematic" and "synthetic" and says the film "loses
boy's father and in the process encounters women from all walks of
sort of quantum 3-D fax machine with the ability to digitize people and send
interested in people and their inner workings as he is in things and their
inner workings," but that doesn't stop the book from being fun to read: "It's
insubstantial shadows on a screen and Timeline is not a novel, but a
two brothers, both professors of English, who become obsessed with gambling
after their parents' deaths: "superb and horrifying" (Tom De Haven,
doozy: They are charged with conspiring to cheat at blackjack, even though they
(The charges have since been dropped.) "What Double Down teaches that
attacks" and "scare tactics." Everyone is accusing everyone else of negative
campaigning, but nobody's answering the question that ought to come first:
What's wrong with negative campaigning? Politicians and journalists pretend to
explain this through a series of platitudes, none of which are convincing.
taught "If he doesn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
him of forsaking his "pledge of chivalry" by criticizing Gore's modest
proposals for health care and gun control. But what's so great about being nice
Bush. If they're right, the worst thing they can do for the country is to
misrepresentations. But that would have been impolite.)
But where's the virtue in such aloofness? Why should Bush get credit for
instead of a "positive vision," based on the calculation that it's "easier to
campaign against your opponent than for yourself." Last week, former Labor
negative about Gore. Since elections are comparative, the difference between
campaigning "against your opponent" and campaigning "for yourself" is semantic.
awful, until you remember that nobody has been attacked, bashed, slashed,
travel schedules and public announcements so the vice president can finance his
political campaign with taxpayer dollars when his funds run out." Rather than
campaign." But isn't a campaign exactly the place where Gore should be
confronted if he has indeed abused his position and violated the spirit of the
agrees that a candidate who has been criticized is uniquely entitled to respond
stand like this forever and let someone slap my face." But why does it matter
challenging the ad. "I am appalled that people would attack a woman who
obviously lived through tremendous trauma, has her views, and expressed them,"
"wrong" that Gore is "using race or ethnicity to try to scare people." But if
Gore's assertion is true, what's wrong with conveying it to the ethnic groups
charge, which implies that Gore is using fear and rhetoric to bypass rational
atmosphere" with "divisiveness." "I believe the public wants solutions that
What's wrong with informing certain segments of the electorate that your
their expense? If you're lying, shame on you. But if you're telling the truth,
"blow the whistle on candidates" who "tear down other Republicans." Meanwhile,
conservatism? Does loyalty to party supersede loyalty to country?
kind of negative spots that he did against Dole," because "four years ago he
was a message candidate. Now he believes he can be president." But what's wrong
with "alienating" voters from bad programs and bad candidates? And isn't it
nobler to deliver a depressingly true "message" than to shade the truth so you
launching negative attacks on Al Gore," a Gore spokesman crowed last week. How
does the fact that such attacks are "typical" clarify whether Gore is right
campaigning is the oldest trick in the book. And the next oldest trick, if you
can't answer the charge, is to whine about negative campaigning.
transplanted the nuclei of human white blood cells into the egg cells of cows
and applied electric shocks to fuse them. The cells began segmenting but
stopped after three cycles. Had the cells continued segmenting, as normal cells
do, they could have (theoretically) been implanted into a human uterus and
the experiment may have violated a government policy that forbids university
distribution of human organs and look into urban legends, such as the one in
join the archive (all slightly abridged for the protection of privacy, that
that it won't be available until after he "has exhausted his appeals
College went shopping for a new president, its advertising copy quipped,
"We need someone who is prepared to lead us through a process that questions
the necessity of a president in the first place." Questioning the necessity of
the current president is the newly unionized faculty, which recently filed a
as "labor negotiations tactics" and described the call for a new president
students beat back the law with a referendum that won by a 46-vote margin
extravagant personal items at the expense of the federal government.
government wants to bust the drug policy professor. The Department of Health
heroin use in New York City's toughest neighborhoods. But a federal complaint,
from all major religious traditions as well as novels, essay collections,
might be surprised that The Lord of the Rings made the list. "I do think
it's the quintessential tale of good and evil, a deeply moral tale. And that
College mathematicians are overhauling the undergraduate math curriculum now
understand the concepts and theories underlying their number crunching. "I want
curriculum, which will be voluntary, is due in two years.
over" a spouse's affair? How long does it take for the hurt to lessen?
healing takes different amounts of time for different people. Alas, some people
yourself some time to see how things play out and see how you're feeling about
six years to my present husband, and he insists that my daughter should refer
husband by his first name, which infuriates him because he believes it is
disrespectful. My daughter insists he doesn't deserve to be called "Dad" and
now only makes reference to "him" when mentioning her stepfather to friends or
relatives. Please advise about what would be the most appropriate way to handle
a real beaut. The form of address, you understand, is merely the battleground
for the simmering war between them. Your daughter won't call him "Dad," which
never heard of anyone saying, "Stepdad, please pass the salt," so forget that
one. Someone, maybe a family counselor, needs to deal with the alienation the
youngster feels and the hostility harbored by your husband. If you can find a
way to deal with and improve their relationship, what she calls him will become
a moot point. Reading between the lines, it may be that the child's biological
office where she pulled out this "book of friends." In it she had a page for
each of her friends, and on my page was listed what I gave her and the date she
accountant's mind has gone too far. I mean, you can't measure everything, and
keeping a ledger on your friends is odd. I told her this, and she said that in
is one sandwich shy of a picnic. What she is referring to is God's accounting,
not hers. The poor dear must have been reading Marvel comics in school when
the substance of one's life is created by good deeds, but a ledger toting up
the policeman who asked a driver what gear she was in at the moment her car hit
months now, and we seem to be more like roommates than a married couple. I
don't know if he's cheating on me, but he has been acting strangely. He's been
me it's because he goes to have coffee with his boss after they close the store
where he works. I don't know whether my marriage is over and whether to talk to
him about all this and ask if we can work things out. One thing I do know is
that if my husband is cheating, I wouldn't be able to stay with him.
man and ask. He may, however, not level with you. In any case, girlfriend or
pool parlor, you must get the problem out in the open.
territory. If this is not a typo, you are far too young to be dealing with all
the factors you mention. Confront your husband with both your suspicions and
your awareness that things have gone off track. See where the conversation
goes. If he has a million complaints, consider counseling (if he's willing) or
separate maintenance. You cannot live like this and needn't tolerate his
crowding, lack of privacy, infrequent communications with family and the
outside world, no ability even to go  for fresh air and a view." Who is
providing sullen and resentful counterexamples), but from time to time
organization offers a variety of reproductive options and defends a woman's
obvious that some of you haven't seen the new hominid penis.
there's a flaw in this, but I can't think of it now.
New York City public school students, K-12, thanks to the filtering program
After initially lying, insisting it had received no
complaints, the board shifted to the more reliable techniques of equivocating
and trivializing its critics, insisting that there was no problem, and if there
was it was small, and temporary, and that those who complained were just a
bunch of complainers whose purpose is just to make some complaints.
plans to remove or modify this software, although individual schools may phone
Church from distributing condoms in city parks as part of AIDS education
City of New York vs. Jerks Who Cross Against the Light --attempt to
impose corporal punishment on those who impede any car any time with their damn
magazine from making fun of the mayor in ads on the sides of buses. 
"article" and could not fathom how (or why) a supposed intelligent adult could
possibly say those things. It upset her greatly. She has never seen a panda in
person, and while they are not the liveliest animals, I know her eyes would
light up and her smile would be from ear to ear at being able to view one for
herself. I believe you need to grow up and start looking at the positive things
in the world. You have got to be the saddest thing I have ever encountered.
tendency to ascribe cutesy attributes to wild creatures. Animals, even the
fluffy ones, really don't care if the whole human race lives or dies. They'd
press the nuclear launch button if it got them a chunk of meat or a herring for
a reward. They're not good or evil, they are just mindless slaves to instinct
and the food chain. By all means enjoy them, just stop once in a while to
explain to your kids that the Care Bears and Flipper aren't the real thing.
lives who need your attention a whole lot more than pandas do. And the
when your mommy threw your teddy bear out, at age16.
it lie with the developing countries who tolerate less than ideal environmental
take advantage of those conditions, or the consumers who happily buy the
to enable slavery in return for economic development. The country would allow
corporations to buy citizens for labor as long as they provided decent housing,
food and medical treatment. In return, the country would enforce the property
rights with the nation's police power. Since famine was endemic in this
country, it is probable that the slaves would have a higher standard of living
than would be available to them in the "free" sector. The corporation would
have the advantage of a stable workforce that could be trained and experienced
with no threat of the employee jumping to the competitor.
And I both serve on the Board of the Corporation on National Service and have
to remember. So, what side should I take in this interesting dialogue?
of their revenues (on average) now come from the US Treasury (or its state
equivalents), along with lots of strings that significantly compromise their
independence. And I have not run across any of them that would prefer an end to
these arrangements. One now even finds conservatives and libertarians proposing
to expand them under the headings of "charitable choice" and "school
somehow violates the integrity of the nation's voluntary associations, but
whether it offers any advantages over our current ways of doing so. I think it
bidding than grants to do government's bidding. That's probably cheaper
their "accomplishments," which the Corporation scrupulously collects, since
such studies do not usually reveal if these results might have occurred anyway
tries to be the "junior partner" in its relationship with its grantees, long
intensive period of their lives to giving something back to their society and
learning the civic skills upon which our voluntary tradition relies. Even with
that the spirit upon which it (and much else that's worthwhile) depends is
as an "honorable gentleman" would be considered flattery but, where I come
count. For the past six years I have lived next door to his zoo, and hardly a
week passes when I don't jog or stroll through its grounds. I watched
million people had visited him during his life sentence at the National Zoo.
visitors. He was a wonderful "diplomat" between China and the United States. He
world needs all the teddy bears it can get," mourned one Post
leading panda biologist, describes giant pandas as perfectly symbolic animals.
With their lovely fur, clumsy movements, and goofy faces, they seem the
embodiment of innocence, childishness, and vulnerability. This is also the
But behind the pretty face lurks, well, a bore. If we're going to
anthropomorphize pandas, let's be realistic about it. The idea that pandas are
treks to the pandas' cell and yard, I never once saw them be playful or
affectionate or active or even violent. Compared to almost any other animal in
They led a life of unparalleled tedium. Pandas are Mother Nature's couch
potatoes. They are staggeringly lazy, so slothful they avoid climbing trees
because it's too tiring. Their entire lives are spent eating bamboo and
were also unpleasant. Confinement depresses zoo animals, and the pandas were no
attempt to mate was played as comic opera, but it was much darker. At first
ear and her arm. (He may have been inept because he never learned about mating
Another seems to have been killed by a urinary tract infection acquired from
carrots up her urinary tract, surely neurotic behavior.
the pandas in the wild, and buy a few more seals instead. After all, the
could just stick some bamboo in his paws, return him to his old cage, and claim
they had received a new panda. No one would notice the difference.
cards we still have to play. Beyond that, I think that, frankly, the likelihood
of success is quite small." Who said this about what desperate effort to save
National Institutes of Health, "I don't often pick up a scientific paper and
lab animals copulating frenziedly, unaware of the death that awaited
participants (thoughtful in the sense of "acutely thinking," not in the sense
fear and joy, particularly erotic joy. That the first sort of chill is easily
entertainment: To be scared is a short step from being sexually aroused. (Hold
me!) This theory goes a long way to explain vampire movies, which are both; and
may also be that any intense emotion can be transformed into any other, which
passionate quarrel can culminate in a yet more passionate reconciliation. It
may also explain the expression "scared stiff" (in the sense of tumescent, not
in the sense of immobilized by drunken overindulgence in a gift bottle of
myself getting chills, as I did when I saw this whole chromosomal
Dr. Collins was reacting to an account of the first
Last week, participants were asked for the title of
responses about President Carter and that attack rabbit are just now trickling
in, so look for those tomorrow. In the meantime, a few more campaign bios:
long last, there's a cure for the intractable problem of the "undecided" voter.
actually tell you who you should vote for. Simply type in your opinions on a
range of issues, and the site tells you which candidate agrees with you
that produces Web sites to help with all sorts of complicated decisions (its
slogan is, "Before You Decide"). In addition to the Presidential Candidate
Selector, the company offers a Lawn Grass Selector, a Pet Selector, a Hair
from abortion to defense spending to free trade, and also asks you to choose
whether you feel "strongly" or "somewhat strongly" about each of those stands.
You can also answer "no preference" to any of the questions. When you're done,
the program spits out a list of all the presidential candidates, ranked and
scored in order of how closely their platforms match your views.
users found that the candidate for whom they intend to vote appeared at the top
The poll doesn't ask the far more interesting question of how many users might
crafted some sloppy questions. One asks users about whether they advocate
teaching evolution or creationism in schools. This is not exactly an issue for
the next president, but in any case, giving it the same weight as such topics
phrasing is without nuance and sometimes without sense. For example, the
Selector asks, "Would you prefer your candidate promise to protect or reform
(or even abolish) Social Security?" This question is impossible to answer from
the choices provided. The distinction between protecting and reforming Social
things, from minor tweaks (the addition of individual savings accounts) to more
radical fixes (replacing Social Security taxes with privately managed
options for answers are just as clumsy as the questions. The "somewhat" button
less urgent issue for me than others. Indeed, the site doesn't allow you to
designate which issues are most important to you. You may care about gun
control far more than you do about anything else, but unless you leave the
biggest problem with the Presidential Selector, though, is that it reflects an
utterly unrealistic sense of how people choose candidates. It undermines itself
superficial factors such as advertising, hype, and image, and allows voters to
base their choices solely on the issues. But few people make up their minds on
the basis of positions alone. The site does not try to measure intangibles like
now, the site is most helpful to the minor candidates, whom it gives the same
number of people who found themselves matched to him have become followers.
answers were formulated more precisely, the site could make for a fascinating
exercise. It would allow you to see how closely you line up with the candidate
for whom you intend to vote, and thereby tell you whether your attraction is
based on a congruence of views or a more ephemeral sense of goodwill. The
technology might usefully be applied in local races, in which it's hard to sort
out the platform of every potential state senator, judge, school board
official, and city council member. But for now, the Candidate Selector is no
Jersey, volunteers opened crates and pulled out pheasants, then, holding them
by the legs, spun the birds around to make them dizzy; this is one feature of a
program whose uneasy combination of private and state funding is drawing
increasing criticism nationwide. What is the program called?
In part to accommodate older people, federal standards now mandate that
"Curbs. Oh, the fun we'll have watching geezers struggle to get out of the
old 4-inch magic elves were completely useless for anything except making
peoples, the elderly are cherished and respected for their funny smell. That's
like an actual large intestine. Who can blame him for lying to the gullible
young? He had every reason to be angry: Old age is an unforgivable insult.
disturbing vividness.) The elderly are damned if they do and damned if they
don't; damned and mocked if they can't; and damned, mocked, and pointed out by
the neighbors if they can but only with pharmacological aids or an elaborate
arrangement of winches and pulleys. The sad fact of an extended life span is
that you get those extra years tacked on at the end, extending your frailty and
neglect, not added to your 20s, extending your time in ersatz anthropology
classes. The other horrifying consequence of a greatly extended life
Administration predicts that by 2020--and I know a cheap joke when I see it,
Every commercial enterprise makes assumptions about
science has taken the drudgery out of playing with your kitty and reduced the
HANDY GIFT FOR A HANDYMAN: "a collection of reproduction nails and the
history behind them."-- The energy you save by not playing with your cat, you
BASS FISHING MONOPOLY; GOLF MONOPOLY-- coming soon, Substandard Nursing
Home Monopoly, Constant Joint Pain Monopoly, Gradual Loss of Memory
SHIRTS WITH FUNNY SLOGANS-- the greatest affront of all to the dignity of
The spaceship comes down in your backyard, crushing
a bed of petunias, and out steps the alien. This is always an awkward social
moment. What, exactly, do you say to someone who may hold the secrets to the
universe? After, that is, you finish quivering and quaking and wondering if he
(she? it?) is going to suck you down like a raw oyster?
and abduct people are notoriously stingy with information. They never solve any
When aliens do communicate with humans, they're always a
beach, face to face with an alien. The alien, annoyingly, doesn't seem to know
what is no doubt her most urgent question: "I want to know what you think of
Wow. That's really the wrong question there. That's blowing
it big time. This gal crosses half the galaxy and is tossed and rattled
around to within an inch of her life, and when it's over she starts fishing for
are you made of? Are you based on carbon and liquid water? Do you have
precede the biological ones. They might, for example, choose a political
question, asking who, exactly, is in charge of this universe. Or they may skew
theological, and ask if there's a God and what exactly he's got on his
made that a physicist should pose the first batch of questions to an alien,
asking whether it's possible to go faster than the speed of light and whether
there are other universes outside our own. The physicist and the alien would no
doubt get embroiled in a discussion of string theory, and soon they'd be
jotting down incomprehensible equations about 10-dimensional vibrating loops.
Maybe at the end of the encounter we'd figure out how to yank free energy out
of the quantum vacuum. We'd have a new trick for cooking a hot dog.
My feeling is that the biology questions trump everything
else. We know essentially nothing about life beyond Earth. Because we are
ignorant of other biological systems, we have no context for understanding
Earth life, for knowing to what extent the life we see around us is, on the
cosmic scale, relatively ordinary or totally freakish.
and what appears to be common are planets that have no life whatsoever. We also
hundreds of millions of years became inhospitable. Bad stuff happens to good
planets. It'd be nice to know more about that trend.
We also don't know how life originates and to what extent
evolution misses the real debates within the field. There are those who argue
passionately that life originated with a single replicated molecule. Another
camp favors the notion that it began with a kind of garbage bag of molecules
may be to what extent evolution is divergent or convergent. Divergence gives us
a bewildering variety of life; convergence gives rise, repeatedly, to certain
anatomical features, like wings and eyeballs. You can make an argument that
intelligence is an extremely unlikely, random, quirky event in terrestrial
coming down the pike from many millions of years in advance. On that issue
hinges the abundance of intelligent life in the universe.
through the same evolutionary leaps as life on Earth? To take one obscure but
years. For at least half of that time, those cells didn't have a nucleus. They
couldn't use oxygen in their metabolism. They were pitiful even by microbial
standards. So, how lucky was the evolutionary leap from prokaryotes
life, in general, figure out the trick of using oxygen and growing big and
really know what we're talking about when we talk about "intelligence." We tend
to think of creatures that use technology and language. But that could be
swimming in an alien ocean with little interest in building spaceships.
Imagine for a moment that we could see the universe through
the eyes of an alien creature. Would the universe look more or less the same?
Or would we be confused, dazzled, and feel as though we were hallucinating?
interest us? Could we carry on a meaningful conversation?
ourselves for finding something out there that's totally unexpected. And we
have to prepare for bad news, or at least bad news in the context of our
Star Trek fantasy. We may have wildly overestimated the abundance of
civilizations in existence right now in our own galaxy. The actual number may
argued, "functionally alone." Not literally alone, just so isolated that
there's no practical way to make contact of any kind with another intelligent
Whatever we do, we shouldn't take ourselves for granted.
There may be something extremely rare and wonderful about a world in which
years, where it has the leisure to evolve and, through natural selection,
back to our own existence. Why are we this way? How did we come about? How
special is it to be a thinking organism? This is the kind of stuff you'd want
to discuss with the aliens. And remember, they like it when you compliment them
young team, we're not feeling any pressure to outperform last year, we have
great chemistry, and our shortstop bakes the best lemon bars in Major League
Oxford Street today was the scene of 'Pedophiles on Parade,' a joyous
no number is less evocative than six. Consider movie titles. Run up to seven
and you'll find that every other number has better films-- One Flew Over the
It's not that six is too big a number; climb one more and you get to Seven
left rivals floundering yesterday when we broke the news that the Premier and
that you're getting your train perceptions from old movies. Or you do ride
drawing of a girl on her front porch shouting something about the man in the
suit struggling up the path with a huge globe on his shoulders. (For readers
who have never seen a cartoon and don't know how a caption works, the editors
explain that "Mom, Dad forgot the pizza!" would be one possibility.)
Mom, a homeless guy threw a huge globe at Dad's head!
Mom, Dad replaced the continents with poorly rendered squiggly shapes.
Mom, why is The New Yorker stealing contest ideas from
the Berlin Wall, former President Bush reminisced about some bad advice he
received a decade ago: "In my view, that would have been an open provocation,
tantamount to sticking our fingers in the eyes of the Soviet military." Who
wanted to flash her black sports bra as she went through Checkpoint
institution reduced to a tattered geriatric remnant of its former self. But
enough about me. Let's consider President Bush's nostalgic invocation of the
indomitable men and women of that mighty force to stop the German army outside
times, they're over so quickly. Today, alas, what comes to mind is a couple of
bad baritones from the Red Army Chorus, drunk on antifreeze, trying to convince
Capitol Hill suggested that I come over here to the Berlin Wall and dance on
the wall," said President Bush. "Without wearing underwear," he did not add.
"As if I ever wear underwear!" he then went on not to conclude.
dismissed as a troublemaker for asking seditiously, "What's with all those
footballs, basketballs, tetherballs, and volleyballs, why do we have to play
mail server have meant that many responses arrived too late
to appear in the quiz. These were, without a doubt, the funniest answers each
of you has ever written, and they would certainly have run on the first page.
It may be some comfort to you, as it is for me, that this is something we can,
clearly touched a nerve. Trounced a nerve, even. He has responded the way his
his or her autobiographical alter egos. On the basis of the family depicted in
that a more complicated relationship to the world began.
neighborhood and when desegregation is starting to bring together disparate
party on the WASP side of town, where Van goes gaga for a chill blonde goddess
a dying burlesque house whose side business, the illegal numbers racket, has
work simply anymore. He wants to make an epic. So he spreads the narrative
thin, and the script plays like a first draft. It's full of wonderful bits that
don't mesh (some of them could be spun off into their own movies) and with
Chambers), a glamorous, rich WASP who's fond of crashing cars and who takes
bones? No clue from the actors, who look uniformly marooned.
The crosscutting among the movie's various strands is even
weirder. While Van and his buddies comb wealthy neighborhoods for a glimpse of
up doffing her conservative street clothes on stage to wild acclaim. Is
"gentile" theme. The director has backed away from what appears to be his real,
generation between a compulsion to embrace other cultures and a feeling of
superiority toward them. That idea is hilariously embodied by his best
the "other kind" is often wryly funny, and when they show up at the familiar
chance to get something unique and audacious on screen: the story of a
Critics have been falling all over themselves to announce
years ago, when his silly, campy, and impassioned melodramas were like joyous
side of All About Eve (1950)--as a tale of women not bitchily at one
senseless tragedies. (The definition of women here is broad enough to include
transvestites and transsexuals.) Things that might once have been screamingly
campy are now played "straight": People dramatize their emotions but rarely
overdramatize them. And even though the film is full of laughs, the jokes hover
on the edge of the abyss: This is a world in which lurid colors and extravagant
equivalent fantasies, but we'd be ashamed to expose ourselves by putting them
upshot of his refusal to be bested by social or sexual inferiors. The actor is
still sleek, but the touch of crepe paper around his face has eliminated the
wrinkled, because fine tailoring appears to be all this man has. He even winces
in pain a couple of times, and in the climax lets out a grunt that takes the
you've heard, although that's not saying a lot. I confess I always want to like
human touch to the series. There's only so much a director can do with the most
previous kidnapping attempt. Plus, she has a long, rounded chin that I find
guy comes shambling on and turns out to be such a soulful twit, the movie loses
It's not so bad that the blows aren't heavily amplified, but when the bad guys
get it there isn't that extra sadistic beat to let you know how surprised they
are that their aura of invincibility has been punctured. I kept thinking, "Kill
years ago, Al Gore and his fellow Democrats had great sport with the gaffes of
botched the United Negro College Fund slogan ("What a waste it is to lose one's
mind"), etc. A few months ago, Republicans turned this tactic on Gore, mocking
his suggestion that he had helped "create the Internet." Now Gore is applying
principle of negative campaigning: If you don't have something nice to say
States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." A day later,
"cracked up" over Gore's claim: "If the vice president created the Internet,
then I created the interstate highway system." In a satirical press release,
Gore's Internet claim to similar assertions that he "lived on a farm" and
"undertook the task to reinvent the Federal government." The ad accused Gore of
malice. They seized on a single misstatement, exaggerated it, and inflated it
into a comprehensive critique of the candidate. In each case, the statement was
security, and the weakness was stupidity. In Gore's case, the rationale is
economic progress, and the weakness is taking undue credit.
way to slip the accusation past this barrier of incredulity is to pose the idea
planted in the voter's head this way, the voter thinks it was his idea to begin
has gradually applied this lesson to his criticism of Gore. In his campaign
administration think they invented [prosperity]. But they did not invent
reinventing government, it makes you wonder how this administration was ever
skilled enough and efficient enough to create the Internet."
asked Gore whether Bush should "have been able to identify the leaders of
countries a week ago. In the quiz, Bush had failed to name three of those
overthrown the country's elected government, recently "took over office  is
going to bring stability to the country, and I think that's good news for the
sympathize with those who say that that's not really a fair test. I think that
it is troubling that he didn't know [that] it's important to stand up for
democracy, and that a military coup overthrowing a democracy is not good news.
And I think it's important  and troubling that he didn't know it's in our
interests to stop the spread of nuclear weapons with the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty. I mean, this is a part of the world where it's probably most likely
that you're going to see serious problems in the future unless something's
went on: "But not knowing the names  I think that's kind of understandable. I
ribbed Gore over the joke, and the media have been playing with it ever since.
joke may look funny, but as a political kidney punch, it's dead serious. Bush's
etc.) and has a track record as a bad and indifferent student. By criticizing
Bush's answers to the world affairs quiz, Gore is trying to inflate Bush's
weakness and discredit Bush's rationale. And by following up his serious
ignorance of the region's nuclear importance) with a lighthearted recitation of
the leaders of obscure countries, Gore is sugarcoating his indictment of Bush
so that listeners will laugh, swallow, and absorb it.
cynically oversimplified Gore's statement about the Internet. And it's true
that Gore is now doing the same to Bush. But it's also true that in every case,
last lifting the burden of terror and violence and shaping the future of the
which has always been skeptical about the peace process, led with the headline
noted in its lead story that the signs that things have changed "for ever" with
and culture" during the past two decades. Cursed by emigration since the potato
with the English invariably cast as the villain of the piece. The complete
reconciliation with the north, and an outreach to the wider world," the paper
the new executive. The tabloid Daily Mirror surrounded this with the smiling faces of the
leading participants in the peace settlement under the headline
for a huge headline: "Peace: Let's All Pray It Lasts." "In one way or another,
certainty, it is the people who are sovereign. We have, all of us,
nationalists, unionists, republicans and loyalists, gained from this
certainty." Praising the contributions of "some extraordinary people, including
we have shown in recent weeks and months, we can overcome all of the obstacles
to achieving a lasting peace." The prime minister was pictured on the paper's
and the whole place became brightened the way the sky does when heaven's candle
said in an editorial that it would be hard to exaggerate the significance of
beyond its mandate by proposing a compromise that would allow discussion of
next round of negotiations. "In theory the Guardian is now an official
delegate to the talks, can deliver speeches, introduce policies, and make
minister could well be in love with his adviser. Her eyes flash. They lean
denied that the president has any foreign accounts or property.
leaders, issued separate statements committing themselves to pursuing their
conflicting objectives by "exclusively peaceful and democratic" means. The
Guardian said the statements transformed the political landscape and
"extraordinary gamble" and demanded he come clean about what, if anything, the
of the well, it said. "Only the city engineers didn't know about it and have
continued to deny its existence even after the collapse."
"diplomatic achievement." He said the United States now says that its recent
"It's a typical reaction," he said. "In the 1980s we had deep ties with China,
and we also had meetings with diplomats and everybody knew about it, but they
erect "roadblocks" to slow the influx of goods, services, and ideas after it
among State Council ministries and most regional administrations," wrote Willy
government control of major enterprises, enshrined by the Central Committee
and extreme views seldom win," it said. "And a careful consideration of the
States to do its own private deal with China. "More aggressive economic
in the Oval Office. "He grasped my hands firmly," she writes. "He has beautiful
spellbound. The man has palpable sex appeal, and is much taller and slimmer
"It rains here almost every day. The day it does not, it is overcast. But
politically embarrassed. The world is watching. What do they see? A major city
certainly there in huge numbers and upset about something. That, rather than
anything specific, they said, was the message." He described them "in their
he argued that what they were really doing was protesting against the
are, any monopoly of political thought, however valid it may seem, becomes
people are beginning, however uncertainly and inarticulately, to look for an
the aircraft permission to land despite the fact that it was out of fuel. In
air force. The inspection by Li Peng, chairman of China's National People's
Congress, was added to his timetable at the last moment, the paper said. It
likely to increase at an exponential rate if adequate national response is not
mounted to stem its spread. While there is a window of opportunity, this window
generation rests on whether governments and companies can join forces to
countries, the number of new cases in Japan is on the rise.
father, apparently injuring his head. The incident was alleged to have taken
Gore is "top of the class, very cultivated, and well up on everything," while
Bush's "total lack of political culture is obvious and is frightening," she
Gore adviser, Brown said: "The savage fury against Wolf is the most sinister
Talk Media Inc., about reports that Talk is in crisis and is about to be
Health, "I don't often pick up a scientific paper and find myself getting
granddaughters recently asked. "This was kind of chilling, because it wasn't
rampaging anarchists ever going to ransack our neighborhood
Arts and Sciences is going to come to your home and demand the return of the
reader responses to today's quiz, except a few that slipped through enemy
say that my neighbors are pretty annoyed at the pebbles inadvertently flung at
their windows.) However, I have been given the usual meaningless reassurances
that this problem will be corrected shortly. Complaints can be sent directly to
possibilities of gun violence and not a request for the sweet release that
course he didn't. That's just the rum cake talking. If there was rum cake. How
for the title of a much needed but unwritten autobiography of any national
which the will of God comes apocalyptically into conflict with Catholic
ruin this review, since there are nearly as many convolutions in the narrative
as there are in Scripture. I first wrote about Dogma (and Smith's edgy
New York Film Festival amid demonstrations by the Catholic League and other
first. The angels' wings are cool. They look like genuine flesh, blood, and
cartilage, especially when they're clipped, and they literally add texture to
effects that might have seemed, well, featherweight. Dogma is the first
On reflection, however, I think that Smith was being a tad
disingenuous when he said at his press conference that he wasn't expecting an
angry reaction. Yes, he's a good Catholic boy, but he's also schooled in the
works of that very bad Catholic boy, John Waters. Yes, he wanted to affirm his
Let's go further and admit that Smith is not merely
organized religion needs a better tread. He's blaming the indifferent status of
fundamental religious impulse. In the film, there is no counterweight to Rock's
humans need so many rules and regulations to keep from following their animal
natures into despair and anarchy. The tone of Dogma might be searching,
set off a similar firestorm, Smith has earned the wrath. He should just say: "I
meant to piss you off, just don't start any pogroms or shoot me."
Dogma that rattles peoples' cages. Most millennial apocalypse fantasies
have been promulgated by the religious right, which wants to frighten people
into repenting their liberal attitudes toward the Scripture. Outside of weird
rhetoric and their symbols for his own, decidedly less Moral Majoritarian ends.
You can imagine the doomsayers storming out of theaters and fuming, "Whose
fired her. It swerves left then right as she pulls on locked doors in a vain
attempt to evade the plant's security. It's sickeningly in the thick of things
as she claws at her pursuers and shrieks that it's unfair, she's a good worker,
she doesn't deserve to be let go. Throughout this terse, entertaining parable
through the woods to reach the trailer park where she lives with her alcoholic
mother (she's too ashamed to go through the front entrance); her frustrating
treks to find employment, however menial; and, most of all, her countless rages
at a society that refuses to grant her a "normal" (her word) existence.
people lose the big picture and so have no insight into their own corruption.
with just a trace of prettiness, especially when she opens her eyes and lets
the world see in. She mostly doesn't, though, which is the point. She tromps
capitalism is fundamentally at odds with human decency. People are good, but
they're driven to victimize others by the fear that what they have will be
taken away. At best, they turn into machines; at worst (most of the bosses),
they become casual exploiters. You can't land a job without being raked by the
angry gaze of the person you've unfairly replaced, and once you have it there
are no guarantees that tomorrow you won't be raking someone else with your own
angry gaze. Change the way things work and you will change mankind, is the
consciousness begins. The next step is anyone's guess.
plucking a waffle from the iron, grabbing a beer from the shelf, counting
money, making change, saying thank you, taking another order  It's easy to
dismiss films that make grandiose statements about how people ought to live but
never convincingly portray how they do. The utterly believable capitalist
becomes clear that her young man has caddishly given her the slip. The girl is
a naive, but her mixture of optimism and spooky prescience gives her
at odds with his pleasantries: He might well be a psychopath who has preyed
"The goodness is in the warmth, they say," and I half expected maggots to swarm
best films have tricky textures: They double and triple back on themselves in
ways that play against the characters' bland visages and the often sterile
political dominance, are now battling for Web supremacy. Who's winning?
countered just days later. The early sites were little more than electronic
brochures, posting propaganda but not soliciting much information in return.
Soon after launching, both began seeking online donations and sending
experiment in providing Web access to party adherents.
detail the Democratic stance on every issue from affirmative action to welfare.
though it doesn't actually post clips to watch. The Democrats also recently
Internet technology, opening an online store that allows Democratic
recently remodeled site has an "Online Activist" section that enables surfers
pioneered but eventually abandoned). Users can purchase elephant paperweights
enterprise. The video and audio clips load slowly. When I tried to view the
successive days. The Republican policy info offered in the "Key Issues" section
page is replete with unflattering photos of Al Gore, while the national
report. (The presidential contenders, seeking swing surfers, neglect to mention
party affiliation on their Web sites. The parties don't return that neglect.
"affinity service provider" and portal. The customized Internet entryway will
provide traditional news along with plenty of party propaganda. Subscribers
together. The party will pocket a portion of the monthly service fee.
Democrats are planning to launch their own Internet access business, too.
discover which religious denominations have the best sex, they learned that the
faithful don't do all their shouting in church. Conservative Protestant women,
they achieve orgasm every time they make love. Mainline Protestants and
agnostics and unbelievers are not? Education may explain some of their sexual
satisfaction. (Click for how.) But they also may be getting better sex advice.
golden age for Christian sex manuals. Evangelicals may not want their children
to study sex ed in school, but they are not afraid of studying a little sex ed
Christian perspective). Scores of books have followed, selling millions of
book aimed chiefly to comfort and instruct the wife on holding the attention of
lovemaking, marital relations and, of course, sexual orientation. Today, the
genre has even subdivided into niche markets. Teens can buy I Kissed Dating
for You assures black women that their single status, which demographics
may brutally enforce, can be "a celebration rather than a burden." Numerous
the six apocalyptic novels in his "Left Behind" series, which have sold nearly
for his works on sexual and family life. His most famous book, the wonderfully
about vaginal vs. clitoral orgasms, and he views male sexuality as essentially
dangerous. "The sex drive in a man is almost volcanic in its latent ability to
look unto a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in
not look at men with lust. Thus man "should be the initiator because of [his]
stronger sex drive," while "the role of the woman is to respond."
their share of quackery and pseudoscience, but that does not preclude some
wonderfully clear and clinical about the mechanics of sex. Here is part of his
description of female sexual arousal, for example: "When a woman is sexually
aroused, several of her glands begin to secrete a lubrication that bathes the
vulva area with a slippery mucous, easing the entrance of the penis into the
vagina." For young marrieds who have grown up shielded from the universal sex
talk of the secular world, these details are surely useful.
Perhaps the most notable quality of the Christian sex
of Intended for Pleasure: Sex Technique and Sexual Fulfillment in Christian
before intercourse" to select the sex of one's baby (they don't say which
douche is for which sex), but their overall tone is both practical and sensual.
the tube in warm, running water." They advise that newlyweds should "not get a
exhortations to married couples to communicate, reminders to "observe daily
hygiene habits," and constant refrains about making sure to satisfy your
souring couples on intercourse. The writers do not invoke the language of
are most alienating to worldly audiences when they talk about masculinity and
homosexuality. They are obsessed with manliness and have a narrow idea of what
Happily Ever After: How To Stay Married and Be Happy Too! that "a
husband has more of a chance to keep his marriage together if he is rough and
abusive but assertive than if he is kind and considerate but submissive."
atypically harsh, but his message is shared by other counselors. Noted preacher
shows, wants to "heal" not just homosexuals, but all "men who are feminine in
their mannerisms." These Christian sex writers contend unequivocally that gays
can simply turn straight through faith and willpower. They generally describe
gays with crude stereotypes. In What Everyone Should Know About
The Christian love doctors believe, against all evidence,
Still, for the tens of millions of married couples who just need a little
sold, he's one evangelist who is spreading the good news.
that the bustle of the holiday season is officially underway, it appears that
mean. There's been a serious explosion of ardor in the pages of the tabs, with
celebrities of all stripes doing their very best bunny rabbit imitations.
includes spending time "puttering around the kitchen because it makes her feel
to spend all our free time in bed!" she's quoted as saying.
woman who grew up in a convent school to have someone suck your toes is an
convent school, but we'll take her word for it.) And the picture of domestic
bliss she paints? Positively charming. "When we get home, exhausted from
there something in the water? The National Enquirer reports that as
interests managed to extend even to the great beyond. They report that the late
only tabloid types not scoring this week, it seems, are those on higher
Lonely Life," the Globe reports that the flamboyant exercise guru
they're not having constant sex or actively refraining from it, celebs seem to
be busy entertaining flirtatious, schoolgirl crushes on one another. We're not
to ply him with "provocative photos showing off her famous curves." (But then
again, she really is a schoolgirl, so maybe that's all right.)
Perhaps the strangest mutual admiration society is that between President Bill
says that the two traded saucy mash notes behind the scenes at this year's
her husband's "fixation" on Franklin and once had to elbow him in the stomach
"to get him to stop staring at her unbelievable cleavage" during a White House
pronouncement about the state of her marriage: That revealing new wardrobe and
snazzy haircut are a dead giveaway that "it's just a matter of time" before she
divorces the president. "Whenever women really change their hairstyle
dramatically," the Globe explains, "they're maybe looking to change
his smile." Meanwhile the Star --which also labels Martin
all the meticulousness of a Supreme Court proceeding. On one hand, there is the
government's decision to authorize the construction of the mosque opposite the
deliberately to overthrow the sacred order that everyone has respected for
lowest level for generations." The paper said, "Tensions have been stirred by
by the decision of the Christian clergy to make a stand as a way of recapturing
dwindling influence. The result is an unholy and distinctly unseemly row that
that the inaugural ceremony, which was attended by no representative of the
guarding the Christian sites in the Holy Land, said the land on which the
mosque is to be built was previously earmarked as a parking lot for buses
divergences over agriculture and implementation of existing agreements finally
scuppered all chances of accord on a draft text, which would only have laid out
a set of choices for ministers to make on the scope and objectives of the
and that "uniform teaching would lead to a uniform world."
rather than going for quick political gains by demonizing the country in their
quest for votes. "Perhaps a stable realism will emerge once the elections are
over, permitting relations which lack the damaging mood swings of recent
elephants have a right to be happy. The case was brought by an animal lover
enough food, proper health care, and plenty of love. Keeping elephants as pets
retailing. On the Net, the next hot online business is politics. Consider: On
codes to search Federal Election Commission filings to see who their neighbors
other sites are arming voters with tools that they have never had before to
find information and express views. As a host of entrepreneurs chase the
Internet gravy train, the question is whether politics can form the basis of a
real company. Can a political Web site go public and raise millions?
which proposes to make revenue via personalization and advertising. "This is
other people have made a business out of providing these messages and providing
the medium. We don't see any reason why it won't be the same for the
Already, there are political content sites sponsored by major news outlets,
search for information via their ZIP code. There are party sites. And there are
nonprofit sites that have made names for themselves by providing quality
political information. One such site is the Democracy Network, which won a
recent FEC ruling lifting the ban on nonprofits hosting online candidate
thought at a time when you're introducing a new technology, it is probably wise
to do so in a way that encourages public trust rather than public distrust,"
as any other site on the Internet: What is the motive behind the people
providing the information? That begs the next question: What do they do with
says that since politics is already a huge business in the physical world,
there's no reason it shouldn't be in the online world. The business model for
affluent people who vote, and they also have higher Internet use," notes
manufacturers are all going to want to speak to this audience."
with candidates, is also seeking ad revenues. The company contends that
candidates and campaigns will be a source of this advertising, once the site
starts to build traffic. "There's been a constant argument on the Web since the
beginning. There's always been a push to do things for free for the good of the
observers are skeptical about the business models being proposed by the new
political sites. "There is no money to be made billing for sending messages to
help citizens express their views to elected officials. But the site has been
guy is pork. Roast pork unless he changes his point of view."
scarily precise and mysteriously deep. It's a portrait of the artist as a
lover: "Rarely has a performer mined such complex and potent emotion from such
wartime affair that runs aground on one party's religious faith is
documentary we all want to have made about ourselves, in which it is revealed
that we are funny, smart, beloved, the trusted confidant of famous people, the
power behind the scenes at great events and the apple of our mother's eye"
produced "an extraordinary account of one of the most significant public health
the various groups of scientists and the divergent paths they traveled as they
unraveled the virus' secrets. (Click here to read the first chapter.)
promised. But that seems to be the only thing they're skeptical about.
main characters as old friends. What exactly is the appeal? Some say the books
different way. As Emmet Ray, the fictional 1940s jazz guitarist in Woody
lifts his voice about an octave and wears a small waxed mustache as if it were
some cases, unconsciousness. The rest of the time he's a preening cock, fond of
he plays, he folds himself intimately over his guitar and silently moves his
mix of limpidness and bite. The idea of a jazz guitarist who's also a textbook
comedy and the poetry. It's the way he blends them, though, that is uncanny:
titan. The conceit works better here than in Deconstructing Harry
own and other people's lives but was let off the hook because he brought so
scene for hilarious anecdotes about the guitarist's unreliability, profligacy,
indifference to everyone and everything except his own needs. To women who fall
Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but Sweet and
how jazz is meant to be heard? The way he shoots the music here is tender and
Emmet and his wonderfully pickled look of concentration. The note of satire in
gorgeousness of the playing is a hedge against the satire.
moralistic turn: Emmet pays both an artistic and a personal price for not
risking more of himself emotionally. But the film doesn't bog down in loathing
the music itself seems to smooth over class distinctions. Early on, Emmet picks
home with them to drink and jam. He stumbles back to his hotel via the dump,
where he shoots the breeze with hobos and indulges in his favorite form of
wanted to freshen his approach this time out. Why else would this famously
that don't seem so fresh when you're out from under its spell. The conception
sucking swamps of neurosis and infidelity. The purity here is embodied by
and edgy sophisticate who has affairs with lowlifes as research for novels.
it into a delicious tease, always seeming on the verge of speech, of
saying something naughty or funny or caustic. She appears not to talk because
right through him, and a part that might have seemed a sentimental contrivance
same climactic scene (it varies according to the historian), and the effect of
where you don't give a damn what actually happened. Each variation is more
performance that is so gorgeously modulated you'll think she has been in movies
she dances around the kitchen and sticks her tongue out at her lover, as if
memoirs.") Beat by dramatic beat, these are some of the most nuanced scenes in
The actors appear to be entertaining themselves so much that some of the
tension dissipates, and the ease with which the movie goes down ends up working
for instance, on this family's finances. They don't want for food or a roof
About a million of them have something in common. What?
"These are the big cards we still have to play. Beyond that, I think
that, frankly, the likelihood of success is quite small." Who said this about
what desperate effort to save what precarious venture?
"Network executives, re their encouraging the remaining cast members of
Jobs, discussing the future of Apple and 'Operation Critical Path,' his final
political campaign. Wait a second! What if a foundering political campaign were
be sponsored by big car companies and breweries, major corporations, just like
reticent Mars Polar Lander, says his team will see if the probe is unable to
align its antenna toward Earth because of its landing position. If not, the
party's over, making this the second failed Mars mission in three months,
each involving a team of highly trained scientists focused on a single launch,
many public figures, including all the major presidential candidates, persist
launched by "enemies" too dumb to have the warheads shipped over by UPS. "Sure
it won't work, sure it will set off an unimaginably costly arms race, sure it
will undermine efforts at arms control, but if it brings a smile to a single
"There were just too many bad shows that people were forced to watch. You
mildly amusing anymore. We will, however, tolerate enough inane teen swill to
"Every game show on the air means another hundred people out of work. And,
for reasons too complicated to explain, every cop show means another hundred
"In all the qualitative research we do, people talk about the state of
comedy. Then we clip the electrodes to their balls, and they shut the hell up
"I do think you'd have to say the form is a little tired. And there's not a
Internet. "The Net is playing a big role in mobilizing our delegates around the
campaign has been organizing New York supporters for several months via the
also an "interactive" site. The latter features five targeted states,
Residents of those states can sign up with the campaign based on a map of
congressional districts, as well as get daily information about campaign
Allowing potential supporters to register by congressional district gives the
because the campaign is focusing the bulk of its advertising dollars on the
"The Internet has been a tremendous asset to us, the overwhelming majority of
the time allotted by the state for gathering petition signatures runs between
angry at the dominant role played by politicians in the commemoration of what
her spokesman as saying that she hadn't been "officially approached." German
organizers of the event told the paper that Thatcher had repeatedly been
mistrusted, and which he may well have feared, but which he also knew to be
wrongly, has traditionally provoked in its neighbors." But the editorial went
neighbors and even, in many areas, is an example to them." Curiously, given
mistakenly feared "that the first victim of the fall of the Berlin Wall would
said he asked Bush about his famously understated response to the first news of
such a similar pattern of destruction that aid workers and observers are having
difficulty keeping track of them. As an example, it cited the confusion of a
was the same one," the paper said. "In fact, there were two separate assaults
immediate peace negotiations, despite the overwhelming support for the war from
risen dramatically because of the war. The papers claim that the West is
that he must either resign or end the war and fire the army chief of staff.
"The President and the Kremlin have made a decision to cease military
celebs' shrinking waistlines, Keeping Tabs almost skipped right over the
leading ladies that she's forced to eat 'more than I want' in restaurants
Weekend just before the Star hit the newsstands. Queried about the
afraid that somebody's watching me, which is ridiculous." (Click here to read the rest of the interview.)
one of the tabs with its hand in the proverbial cookie jar. While their most
compelling assets are those memorable pieces of journalism that certainly won't
their pages, the tabs are ruthless recyclers. Of course, mainstream
publications have been known to borrow a quotation or two, but they usually
give a nod to the original source. The tabs, on the other hand, have managed to
turn the brazen, uncredited filch into an art form unto itself.
frequently written in a breezily intimate manner that could fool the
fashion, and health secrets. But the only person it would appear the
walker, says she has "big, huge, happy endorphins" flowing through her
doing "to make herself perfect," including using a skin ointment meant for
softening cows' udders. It didn't take long to trace the sudden interest in
the interview Twain gave to the Telegraph that she tried to replicate it
exactly: The first five quotes from Twain in her piece are identical to those
separating her insights from one another. Recent entries have begun "What's
with all this millennium hysteria?" and "How about those new Target ads?"
Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of flattery.
a great imaginative departure and a creative compromise between traditionally
foreseeable future and if it comes, it will only happen with the consent of a
to be repealed and the people of this State have agreed to relinquish the
"It was, by any standards, a testing weekend for Unionists and nationalists,
and many difficulties still lie ahead, but the political process and a better
that the peace process had reached "first base" but that "whether it advances
or a feeble political fudge, would leave the global trade system dangerously
entry, suggest he has a strong personal commitment to the global trade system,"
the FT said in an editorial. "This week, he has an exceptional opportunity
an editorial headed "Chance in a Millennium," said the thousands of people
the negotiators inside excuses to shirk the tough decisions." The paper said,
"The real fear of the protestors is not that the trade talks will fail but that
they will succeed, for protectionism is a powerful force behind which shelter
not only state monopolies, inefficient industries and cossetted farmers but
reported the development on its front page, said the magazine Nature is
first time that the hugely complex chemical structure of a complete human
chromosome has been revealed. "The genetic code in the chromosome is thought to
contain vital information on several hereditary conditions, including
major parties and with its first elected female prime minister." Nevertheless,
responsible for the country's worst ever nuclear accident, which took place
plant illegally mixed a large quantity of uranium solution in a stainless steel
container. The mixture triggered a nuclear chain reaction at the plant.
blood from his intestines, and his skin has been failing to reproduce
ideals, such as freedom and respect for the individual," the paper said. As a
piqued, and I decided to find out more about the real thing. Which martial art
workout? How daunting would it be to jump into a class as a complete beginner?
in several areas: how intimidating the class would be to a novice; how much the
exercises worked my muscles; how much of an I got; whether it would develop
coordination and balance; how much physical contact with other people was
of one to five, with five being the hardest, most intimidating, or most
look like a hopelessly biased and superficial inquiry. It is. But to beginners,
it is one step toward figuring out which martial art might be right for you. Do
want to improve your sense of balance? Take karate. Do you want to know what to
do if someone tries to choke you? Take jujitsu. Just remember that if you're
attacker collapse into uncontrollable fits of laughter.
which made me sit for an interview before they'd even reveal any information on
their classes. There seemed to be an active screening process to keep out those
few minutes, students launched into traditional strengthening exercises
held by the other. It looked to be decent strength training. Their arms got a
lower body, from the kicking. It was not extreme, and nobody seemed
and partner work, the class broke into a few groups (according to skill level)
series of punches, kicks, and blocks with an imaginary foe. The class had
broken into a light sweat, but was not gasping for air.
look at, but they did not seem practical. And without sparring practice, it
would be difficult to apply the drills in real life.
Overall: Kicking, punching, and an aura of mystery.
sport; lots of kicking; the martial art of the 1990s.
into the beginners class at Lee's Martial Arts. People called each other by
their first name; there was laughing, joking, and none of the aloofness or
body. We used our arms only for balance and blocking kicks.
standing in lines and kicking into the air. Then we did a long series of
running drills up and down the mats. Then there was more kicking: Turning
kicks, straight kicks, low kicks, kicks with punching bags, kicks with partners
contact with the pad (and not, say, the face of the person holding it) was
a session of sparring (which I, alas, was not allowed to participate in). The
students strapped on protective chest pads and helmets and began kicking the
sparring and gets students accustomed to dealing with an assault.
Overall: More a sport than an art; will make short work of
the Feminist Karate Union, I asked some of the students how their class was
downstairs do." This class was approachable and open. And karate's so familiar
punching made for decent exercise, but I wasn't aching the next day.
punches, blocking, and kicking) provided some aerobic workout, but were not
the paired kicking drills with a partner and pads, but most of the physical
sparring: They weren't clocking each other, just repeating the motions of
Overall: Kicks and punches galore, with a dash of moral and
but pulling and yanking on other people looked like it would build muscle, and
exercises, you had to grab your partner, spin him this way and that, and
neutralize a threat was the main goal of the class.
Overall: You don't get to land any punches and it's
noncompetitive, but you'll learn how to knock people over.
pumping, the slow, controlled movements did give my arms, legs, back, and
stomach a good resistance workout. You may just be working against gravity, but
holding your arms up in the air for several minutes will give you a new
your body slowly in circular patterns, shifting weight from foot to foot, and
lifting your arms in rounded gestures, all at a pace slower than you ever
thought possible. The motions had names like "parting the wild horse's mane"
and "repulsing the monkey." I did not break a sweat, but I was bored to
door said "Northwest Fight Club." Inside the club, huge holes had been punched
purple one by his left eye. When I asked to try the class, he shrugged and lent
me a gi (the white outfit most martial artists wear), on the back of which was
a drawing of massive snarling pit bull and the slogan "PIT PULLING PURE POWER."
I wondered if I was going to need an ambulance to take me home.
leg lifts, and scissor kicks. I was quickly panting and my face turned a deep
fuchsia. We did forward and backward rolls, learned to escape from various
doing in movies about basic training. After an hour and a half I felt close to
important, but since you're tussling on a mat most of the time, balance
soon after meeting her, but she didn't seem to mind. I learned how to go from
sitting on top of her with a knee in her stomach to a position where her arm
was between my legs and I could break it over my stomach. The end of the class
first presidential Internet chat, an event intended to showcase another
He resisted the urge to say what must have been on the mind of nearly everyone
present at the 90-minute demonstration: Why don't we turn this damn thing off
demonstrate how the Net enables new forms of democratic communication. Here's
video of the event, listen to an audio simulcast, or watch a scrolling text
practice, the technology was pretty clunky. Due to "network congestion," the
voices of two of the officials didn't come through at all, and others were
the technology did work as intended, it merely made you wonder what good it is
anyhow. Having a meeting over the Internet is still like walking to the mailbox
given that the quality of the interaction is so poor? As in all Internet
the basic structure sucked any spontaneity and most of the oxygen from the
of the fault was not technical but human and political. In theory, the Internet
allows for a vast range of queries from far and wide. In practice, questions
for the president were so carefully vetted as to be far narrower in range than
trade and health care. One of the few sparks of interest was a question about
more difficult ones. The event might have worked slightly better if he had been
given a mouse to flag questions he wanted to answer or a keyboard to send
messages back to the control room. But this too would have risked
type. Nonetheless, he does appear to have gained a sense of how the Internet
point about how isolated a president can become from the public despite his
best intentions to keep in touch and how the new technology might help. Then he
thanked everyone for coming to his "press conference."
learned how to use a computer, of course, but I don't think electronic politics
intent gaze, the fleck of spittle in the eye. Even on television, he can
provide a simulacrum of this human experience. But on the Internet,
interesting part of last night's event was what happened after it ended, when
Excite. "I know this may have cost you arm and a leg, but I think you may have
think history will remember them as fumbling experiments that pointed in a
different direction. At this point, they testify mainly to the capacity of the
advances in technology may get us to the point where an Internet Town Meeting
is almost as interesting as a Town Meeting without the Internet.
just love it! Shameless flattery aside, we do have an issue and hope you can
I actually introduced them at my wedding. The problem is that my friend treats
him, tells him what to do, what to wear, where to go, and how to spend his free
time. She is moody and extremely unpleasant to everyone. Needless to say, I
don't see much of her anymore. Anyway, we are afraid that my poor
husband's family, and our friends cannot stand her and dread having her at
to him because we know that there are women out there who will treat him with
respect, courtesy, and affection. How can we tell him how we feel without
slapped around as foreplay? The woman you describe sounds like a cross between
a harridan and a dominatrix. However, even an inexperienced man knows when he
this is all right. The loose thread here is that you say you don't see much of
her anymore, but she was a friend. Did her behavior change?
decide on a designated yenta (which is how it may be perceived) and that person
must tell him flat out that people who care about him do not like the way he is
being treated, and they see dark days ahead. He will either respond with a
relationship. Either way, he will be made aware of the concern, which is really
all that outsiders can do. If he chooses to stay in the relationship and the
next gathering is a nightmare, simply tell him the woman makes for too much
discomfort and, although you will miss his presence, the greater good of the
scenario is that he will feel alienated, and his relationship with all
neither do friends watch in silence as friends hook up with bitches.
all other respects, appears to have a grave problem staying employed. There is
a definite pattern afoot here: At first, the new job is wonderful, the people
scintillating and fabulous, the work enticing and exciting. After a few months,
slide down a slippery slope than a professional avalanche that results in
either a dismissal or a narrow escape to the next "dream job," where, of
and loves her that the trouble lies with my mother and not, as she would have
it, with the parade of horrible bosses fate has saddled her with. Needles to
hours on the telephone listening to every sordid detail of every office slight,
all to no avail. I have even considered appealing to her current employer (with
whom I have a warm acquaintance) to overlook her nuttiness and keep her on
children to provide for, I fear if she loses this job, it will be her last,
a welfare hotel. But her chances for finding a replacement gig dwindle with
every lost job and every looming birthday. I would prefer to be my mother's
daughter than my mother's mother, but my resentment is building every day.
What a thoughtful, insightful letter. While at some
their parents, your situation is complicated by, at best, a personality
disorder, and at worst, mental illness. Your mother's repeated manic initial
response to a job, then making a mess of it, is legitimate cause for concern.
What you must do now is confront your mother with the truth as tactfully and
forcefully as possible. Make clear that you are willing to be emotionally
supportive if she makes efforts to help herself but that financially you are
if she will not acknowledge her problem. If she winds up "in the system,"
getting city or state supervised housing and therapy that may not be a bad
bottom. You should also know that your evaluation of the situation is humane
and loving, and that, however things play out, you will have been a good and
restaurants, people like me with sensitive noses appreciate the result. It took
years for me to work up the courage to ask someone not to smoke near me, and
now I don't have to do that anymore. But a new terror has arisen. Recently, in
a crowded but fancy restaurant in the middle of the delicious main course, the
empty table next to ours was occupied by a group of people including a woman
wearing far too much perfume. It was overwhelming and made it literally
impossible to taste the food: Everything tasted like perfume. And then my nose
started to run. The expensive meal was ruined, but I didn't say a word. Should
available. In the big picture, however, overpowering scents are a burgeoning
strange woman to please hightail it to the ladies' room and wash off all that
are basically stuck. Moving one's location or leaving an establishment is about
as far as an offended party can go. Some places, however, have designated
perfumes and colognes is that the wearer, for some strange reason, is not able
to smell when she or he has overdone it. And, surprise, men can be as guilty as
women. Also some ethnic groups tend to go in for excessive eau de whatever,
which one is overcome by potpourri, incense, scented candles, and sachet. Being
assaulted by smells unfortunately is an issue we can often do little about.
advice given them about raising their children. Sitting down and having a frank
discussion is asking to start World War III in the family. Better your
correspondent should be the aunt these girls can go to for advice, support,
kind words, etc. Better she should do everything in her power to be a role
opportunity. If they spend time alone with her, so much the better. As for her
sister, mm could express her understanding of how difficult it must be to raise
these children, give her sister a chance to vent, mention classes or books that
superior attitudes, please. It never has a happy ending.
immeasurably to the discussion. You have firsthand knowledge of a situation
reported to be planning to impose new rules proscribing all sexual displays,
will restrict "sex, not sexuality" by forbidding touching and other displays of
affection across all ranks. The Daily Telegraph reported fears by senior
officers that the new code of conduct would damage recruitment and lead to a
civilian life is perfectly acceptable behavior. In an editorial, the paper
toyed with the idea of putting homosexuals into separate units "like the Sacred
Band of Thebes," but said that "a company comprised wholly of homosexuals could
easily become a target for the rest of the Army." "Perhaps, on reflection, the
simplest solution is for homosexual soldiers to keep their mouths shut and get
been handed over. Until now Unionists have insisted that there could be no
illegal weapons were decommissioned. A new critical round of talks resumed
millions of people around the world who go hungry." The paper said today there
is to invest in peace in the Middle East"; "I belong to a generation that has
been educated in the West, which has chosen what is best in both cultures and
the Middle East. There should be an international conference to regulate it";
disastrous earthquakes in northwestern Turkey were "a prelude to a cataclysmic
activated, and that it was only a question of when, not if, the metropolis
a time when we are going through some very hard days, having to cope with the
hardships suffered by our masses because of economic crises."
head of state and source of satisfaction and pride for all of us." It urged the
United States to encourage greater democracy in Turkey as part of its efforts
to promote stability in the country. "In the past we have had bad experiences
of how US administrations have pretended to condemn coups in Turkey while they
have actively supported them and the juntas," the paper said. "We are aware
guarantees to the democrats of Turkey that this will never be the case
case, warning about the dangers of official intervention to stop aggressive
designed to protect consumers could prove counterproductive." The paper
significance because they point to the shape of antitrust policy in the age of
created millions of new jobs in the United States. "No doubt much of the credit
facilitating market access for newcomers and of respecting consumer
national borders blocked free movement of goods and services and when
traditional smokestack industries provided the main thrust of industrial
acquisitions are picking up momentum in a broad spectrum of industries, such as
financial services, communications, automobiles and petroleum. Of course, the
situation in these industries is different from that in the developing computer
software industry. But they all face a common question: how to balance the
demands of oligopoly and the interests of the consumer."
horror picture. He has always borrowed from the genre, but his scary motifs
frighten a child. In his new movie, a ghost not only frightens a child, it
is one of the great nightmare images in movies. Our first glimpse is over his
shoulder as he hurtles through the woods after a fleeing servant. We hear the
scrape of a sword as it's unsheathed and barely see it sweep across the frame
been shocked off its torso. The carnage ends before we can exhale.
pathology and deduction. The idea is that Crane clings to scientific principle
killer is human and appalls them by performing an autopsy on a female victim.
but there's no dodging them these days.) It soon becomes apparent that solving
stretch for a young man whose life is pledged to rationalism and whose
riches; you go because no one else packs this kind of emotion into a movie's
in death throes. In the haunted western woods, Crane and his juvenile assistant
above them the bare trees bend together at their tops like Gothic arches.
the Hessian who lopped the heads off revolutionaries for sheer love of
Burton has learned a lot about staging and editing action
horseman is like a samurai Terminator; dismounted, he comes at his victims
sans head; if he doesn't, someone has done a hilarious job of recreating
passing horseman skewers it like a marshmallow. As he thunders off, he knocks a
latest theory to locals who regard him with a mixture of awe and embarrassment.
Gothic melodramas. In all of them, scenes of repressive formality (hoary
English actors sipping sherry in drawing rooms) would be shattered by scenes of
lecture the frightened villagers and pound a stake through the heaving bosom of
compositions and has gotten the tone of those old pictures just right. Like
Burton, I was weaned on Hammer horror; I raise a goblet of blood to him for
Coven (which he mispronounces throughout, with a long "o"), turns into
work even as he struggles to get it on screen. In debt and with a couple of
kids to support, juggling jobs as a cemetery custodian and a paper boy,
hauls the abandoned Coven out of mothballs in spite of its "stilted"
performances and sets about the seemingly impossible task of raising money to
uncle, Bill, who lives in a ramshackle trailer but has evidently managed to
sock away hundreds of thousands of dollars. The attempt to wheedle money out of
credit as an "executive producer," buys him booze, and promises big profits and
glory down the road ("I see great cinema in this." "Cinnamon?"), their
relationship becomes a bleak, absurdist parody of all artists and their
and his cohorts a measure of celebrity, which removes the sting of
mood he'll pick up." Ain't the Internet grand?) The vision may also seem less
process. Without seeing his work all the way through, it's hard for me to say
essay on "the decline of the black intellectual" wasn't really the "devastating
the great plays and found in the lack of a central consciousness (the
protagonists are not mouthpieces for the playwright) and refusal to demonize
forgiveness. I confess I don't know as much as I should about Christian
(albeit a saint with a rarely acute bullshit detector). It's not risible; I
that Al Gore had little interest in campaign finance reform because the current
insurgent movement fighting for campaign finance reform. But he's more closely
Gore is backed by numerous corporate titans, especially those from Wall
contributions come more often from humble folks like my own family. As the
the democratic process, and thought, taking into account the caveats in your
article, this sort of thing could work well in my job as communications manager
really is taking over the world and I can now expect my Congressperson to come
wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
even agonized, rather than complacently sweet. As part of that gift, he went
beyond conventional forms and images of expression. In this poem, he sees
divine grandeur not simply in a trite vision of "nature," but in nature as
human nature affects it, too: industrial images such as shaking metal foil or
crushed oil embody the grandeur. And in the poem's final image of the Holy
Ghost at the "brown brink eastward" appears as the sun rises in a spectacular
godhead as sunrise in smog. Our smudge and blear and soil, he proposes, do not
It faces opposition in the Senate because of changes to dairy protections and
investigation. The agency had planned to relinquish the probe to the
rate banks charge each other on loans. Despite evidence of slowing growth, the
Fed said the move was necessary to prevent future inflation as unemployment
face life in prison, but prosecutors will likely ask that he be detained in a
advocates said the case revealed the inhumanity of trying ever younger defendants as
juveniles, hailed it as a victory for justice and safety.
abortion restrictions. Congressional Republicans agreed to approve
organizations from performing abortions or promoting abortion rights. If
huge win for House Republicans, "who walked away with a disturbingly large
share of what they wanted." But the administration said the concessions were
symbolic" and would "not interfere with family planning programs around the
spin: We're winning in the courts. Consumer advocates' spin: But you've
access to its markets. China, which must negotiate separate agreements with
rights activists, who may have lost their best bargaining chip.
federal judge declared the company a monopoly, Gore was aggressively questioned
about his administration's antitrust suit. Although he did not take sides, Gore
expressed support for the principles underlying antitrust law, saying they
most "technologically savvy candidate ever to run for president," he has the
officially in a draw but was widely believed to have been won by Lewis.
"something less than a definitive way of judging a bout."
anticipated speech because she has made so many gaffes lately and that her
decision to sit in on the conference as a nonparticipant resulted in a special
program for the leaders' wives being canceled "at the last moment with zero
triumph, her consecration as the superstar of the first ladies, her takeoff
point for the New York seat in the United States Senate," the paper said.
Third Way conference, and second in the New York electoral college where a
bought three purses and a candle before arriving at the jewelry stand. "They
gave her a discount, but the most powerful woman in the world knows how to
value the weight and the worth of things," the paper said. "Before signing for
the purchase of a choker, she weighed it against the bracelet she was wearing
on her wrist: It is three times as heavy as the choker."
irreproachable in raising the problem of human rights in developing countries
would like to see the death penalty disappear in all democracies."
summer vacation? Fending off questions about this in an interview with La
baby." Fevered study of the diaries of the prime minister and his wife led most
newspaper the Daily Star after it alleged that he had consorted with a
prostitute. Archer now faces possible criminal charges after admitting to
getting a friend to lie that they had dined together in a restaurant on one of
candidacy and praising his probity despite the novelist's controversial past
and warnings that he had further skeletons in his closet.
expert told the China Business Times that the test had major military
used to adjust a spacecraft's orbit in flight could also be used to alter the
the bubble burst and we finally realized there could never be a heaven on
pheasants, then, holding them by the legs, spun the birds around to make them
dizzy; this is one feature of a program whose uneasy combination of private and
state funding is drawing increasing criticism nationwide. What is the program
would carry the crates. Papa, he was a big man, and I not so large, so I would
curse and sweat in the tropical island heat, and Papa would laugh and stop from
pull at his brown bottle. Then we would open the crates and
believed that in their confused flight you could see the hand of God. He was a
straight up and dive down into the ground, embedding their beaks like the Daffy
Duck of the gringo cartoon features. Then we would laugh and laugh and laugh,
workers at the Triangle shirtwaist factory could have just gotten other jobs
that was in the Times the next day, not actually a part of the series,
the mercantile and the urban, what would one day be the New York City we know.
eventually twirl pheasants in New Jersey. You can catch the final nine hours
This annual event run by the New Jersey Division of
Fish, Game, and Wildlife is partly financed by the National Rifle Association
Foundation. The state supplies wardens and land; the foundation pays for birds
and ammo; volunteers from New Jersey gun clubs supply dogs and doughnuts. To
fly away and will stay in the grass until the dogs can flush them out for the
on the ground; don't shoot cripples. The dogs will get them. Have a fun day,
but be safe and responsible." A life lesson for us all from a respected role
more kids get to kill a bird. "We can't pull the trigger for them, but we can
children rested on the grass, their guns around them, drinking from cartons of
someone catches fire, and there was a lot of blood running down a guy's
to decide if the electric chair constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
ways for the states to kill poor black people. Below, I give the method of
just the Medicaid nursing home where we dumped my Uncle Milt.
"vote" yes or no on questions such as "Protect Gays from Hate Crimes?" and
"Increase the Minimum Wage?" Each time a user clicks a box taking one side or
vote to your congressional representative, your Senators and the President,"
Morris promises on the site's home page. This, he asserts, is "direct
direct democracy. He's building a rather different political system, which
choose and craft questions is more profound than the power to choose and craft
questions to politicians on any topic. Morris knows that the first rule of
ago. Well, not quite. What you get are the pros and cons Morris chooses to
arguments on each side about economics and human rights, but there's nothing
about how "engagement" (as one side sees it) or "appeasement" (as the other
have changed your mind. Morris never links you to sites that offer more
detailed arguments than his. He wants you to stay on his site, read his
and "gives us a chance to speak out and to be heard. When you vote  we'll send
feel." But while you can explain the nuances of your position on a bulletin
only thing Morris lets you communicate to your government is yes or no. On
improve schools," because I favor pilot voucher programs and public school
question, Republicans will no doubt cite these "votes," including mine, as a
mandate for nationwide private school vouchers. Morris hasn't conveyed my
doesn't represent the whole population (since the average Internet user is
wealthier and more educated than the average person, for example), but he
argues that it faithfully simulates an election because it expresses the votes
way for voters to speak out" because "I trust the voters." Of course, voters
and thought that went into those letters helped politicians understand how many
voters really cared about an issue and exactly what those voters thought. If
Morris truly "trusted the voters," he would have left this system alone.
Instead, by simplifying the "voting" process and flooding politicians with
between members of Congress and their constituents to a new level," writes
Morris. "When your congressional representative votes on the issue, we will
send you a report card listing how they voted on all the topics you voted on."
Morris says the report card will show each voter "what percentage of the time
Christian Coalition and other interest groups to reduce complicated issues so
cards don't transfer power from politicians to voters. They transfer power to
the intermediary that gets to characterize how politicians have voted. If
all a chance to be heard so our voice gets loud enough to drown out the special
interests that run Congress." Meanwhile, he predicts that "money won't work in
politics anymore, because you won't be able to reach people by buying
television ads," since "the Internet is taking the place of television in
politics." So if you're a special interest, where can you take your money to
because "we get our money from advertisers." And who's going to advertise on a
site where people vote on political issues? Why, special interests, naturally.
summarizes for voters. The more influential these summaries become, the more
each interest group will be willing to pay to get its views and quotes into
journalism the Fourth Estate during the French Revolution," recalls Morris. "We
think the Internet is replacing the media, so we call it the Fifth Estate." But
rather than relinquish this catchy title to the whole Internet, Morris claims
power center of the future, and he wants to dominate it. When critics ignore or
dismiss Morris, he accuses them of ignoring or dismissing the Internet. The
"discriminating simply because this is over the Internet." Morris, it seems,
Morris controls the voting process. Morris constantly describes his
advises them when the "polls" will "close" on each referendum and assures them
afterward that "your vote really counted." Meanwhile, Morris warns the White
House against "censoring" the "views of those who vote" through his site, and
through which the public delivers mandates to its leaders, Morris is trying to
as Morris envisions it, the nation's "town meeting." And Morris would run the
point of view." What a brilliantly innocuous metaphor, devised by a master
manipulator to obscure his manipulations. This, it turns out, is the most
than a cacophony of special interests plastering their views all over the
nation's airwaves and legislation is a single special interest that owns the
cover story argues that it pays to play dumb in politics.
While Al Gore "has the appearance of a man who prepared for a spelling bee and
with the details of governance" is a political asset. Voters are seeking "a
daddy's allies, outspent their opponents, and sought to avenge their fathers'
against such minor matters as genetically modified food demonstrate that the
how the World Trade Organization became a boogeyman.)
The cover editorial applauds the establishment of a
Union membership, affluence, and secularization could defuse ancient
piece explains how the "open content movement" will
last of the magazine's special millennium issues chronicles the making of a
stuff. A piece describes the contending capsule designs. One entrant proposed
the contents in a metal earring for the Statue of Liberty. The winner is a
readers of the future. A field guide to deceased species informs
"Encyclopedia of Lost Practices" explains that smoking was "the most popular
form of recreational suicide ever devised" and "reproductive sex" was "the
union of male and female genitalia resulting (with often stunning rapidity) in
millenniums. In the weirdest bit, a novelist recreates the Gospels' most
dramatic moments and recounts his own meeting with the son of God: He was
sins.  An article examines the glamorization of mathematics. Good
Mars cover package says that if the probes landing this week find
frozen surface water, it could indicate that liquid water remains in the
planet's warmer interior and that life could exist there. A sidebar notes that controversy remains over the Mars meteorite
demolished most of the evidence that the meteorite contained living creatures,
they cannot explain why the meteorite contains a molecule that on Earth is only
produced by biological processes.  An excerpt of a new Al Gore biography points out that by enlisting
rejects the claim that Gore received special treatment or protection. 
fighters are brought to the United States by unscrupulous promoters to serve as
the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of seven mobsters by Al
issue devoted to the digital age. An article argues that digital encryption has
neutered the National Security Agency by making it virtually impossible for the
brain drain, and shortsighted management.  A piece applauds the
piece argues that there is no evidence of a Republican smear campaign against
autobiography as perhaps the worst campaign book ever. A Charge to Keep
is banal, disorganized, and packed with platitudes, revealing Bush as both
a question at a teachers' union meeting in Manhattan, she said she would make
an official announcement early next year. Everyone has assumed that she's
running since this summer. She also confirmed that she will move to the house
not confirm that he will). She said the announcement came in response to
public "excitement" about her candidacy and her need to
from recent public missteps and to prevent further erosion of
The Labor Department proposed new workplace ergonomic
and benefits during recuperation. Labor's spin: The protections are long
with "empty nests." Newspapers said the statistics signaled the decline of
has long opposed aggressive government intervention in antitrust cases, was
credentials would increase the chances of settlement and decrease the
likelihood that a resolution would be overturned on appeal. (Click to read an
pile. The collapse of the 40-foot pyramid, which was being set up for
the pile-- contrary to safety procedures --but officials don't yet know
too important to abandon. Outsiders said the mishap was predictable and the tradition should be scrapped.
showed declines in every category in cities of every size. Crime has now
declined for seven and a half years. The reduction was variously attributed to:
sustained economic growth. The optimistic take: The drop is "astounding  enormous and
spin: There's still no evidence of any other cause.
vastly improve marketing, telecasts, and the level of play
Security surplus. Optimists hailed it as a restrained and
spin: We're winning in the courts. Consumer advocates' spin: But you've already
Ninja Turtles, might as well have. They are premised on the notion that some
mysterious force can alter the ordinary into the extraordinary. Kids,
imagining themselves as suddenly potent Transformers, Turtles, or Power
proxies) defeat evil, and adults are essentially absent. These entertainments,
in short, serve as practice for growing up, preparation for the trek through
games and show arrived in the United States a year ago and became wildly
stamps, preteens are collectors by nature: They are learning to recognize
collecting to pop cultural obsession, catering to the interests of preteen
also darling. "They are cute fuzzy things, but they are also really violent.
game. Transformers, Turtles, and Rangers were largely confined to action
against rivals, a fiendishly complicated task that requires mastering and
attacks rather than electrical ones.) Many adults, delighted by the game's
and educators. Its emphasis on acquisitiveness annoys parents who find
countless schools because kids won't stop trading cards. Parents find
themselves intervening to stop their kids from making bad deals with
like lottery tickets. Kids buy again and again in hopes of finding that rare
usual fundamentalist protests: One Colorado preacher made kids in his
ones on the way from Japan. Sure as the Backstreet Boys will meet a bad end,
with the opportunity to create the replacement phenom and cash in on it. What
Today's Papers quotes, refers to the protesters' "sentiments"; the smug
you want to stretch the definition of "democratic" to absurd proportions)
symptomatic of the decay of accountability and legitimacy in ostensibly
play if a few loud activists don't make noise and force corporate media to at
global economy is both inevitable and the best of all possible worlds, so get
used to it, take your medicine, shut up and get back to work. Guys in black
actually look beneath the surface and think through the present and potential
West at the head of the smirking line) and politically correct. Yes, its
choices are trendy and will date it badly and quickly. In this, it is very much
"objectionable" three times as many words as any other dictionary, damning
every word that any small political group anywhere has ever criticized. (The
style guide suggests not using "homosexual," although it gives no usable
alternative; it labels "cancer patient" as offensive, and recommends "patient
Gates is, in my opinion, overdone. Gates wants to, and has, succeeded in his
profession. That isn't a bad thing. He has done so by hard work, by doing a lot
of worthy editing and literary criticism. He wants to read and know everything,
Times obituaries of the same person containing an identical paragraph:
Doesn't that probably just mean that the paragraph came from a wire service
that both papers subscribe to (probably the Associated Press)? If so, that's
Sun music critic, on the other hand, does sound more like plagiarism, so I
hitting the nails on the head, until the last sentence: "And a browser's source
code is only a fraction of the size of that of an operating system."
not universally accepted by the computer programming community at large.
Most of the "size" of the Windows basic installation software are details for
when their coding is intertwined. The size of the OS, in the context of code
(source or object), is the size essential to execute files. For Windows, that
amounts to a DOS layer (the minimum required for complete, if not pretty,
enough support to maintain a command console, something around 120k. (Remember:
crew, already caught in the middle (twixt truth and
least credit the vehemence with which the computer software community argues
this issue? The article's closing sentence manages to gloss it right over.
I would appreciate your views about an experience I had recently. I
was at the supermarket buying bulk candy (a confection called "Hokey Pokey").
and pay for it by the pound at the checkout. As I was writing the bin number on
the tie, I noticed a woman politely waiting for me to finish. I moved out of
Pokey and popped it in her mouth. I didn't say or do anything, and now I wish I
her and others. But I have recently become a parent and wonder how I should
react to this type of situation if I were with an inquisitive child. Do you
think I should have said something to the woman? Should I have told the
seems minor, but the collective price is significant. It is of course, as you
were correct not to say anything because that would have undoubtedly led to a
probably have been disinclined to approach her and say, "I was informed you've
been eating the Hokey Pokey." Arrests at candy bins are probably rare.
in lieu of saying anything, she might have made eye contact with the woman and
then raised an eyebrow, the message being "My dear, what behavior!" If your
child was old enough to witness the candy bin caper and wondered why the woman
was eating from the bin, you would have been perfectly within the bounds of
propriety to say, "You are quite right. What the lady is doing is dishonest,
but we are not in charge of other people." If the transgressor were to hear
and she would be just as embarrassed as if you had been. In sum, what you
witnessed was petty thievery, not someone poisoning the city water supply, and
no person was being harmed. You did the correct thing by not trying to be a
policeman. The key to the question: To intervene or not to intervene, is
Although he was initially attracted to me, the feeling wasn't mutual, so we
became platonic friends. He even got married recently. The thing is, we've
type, we are not hanging out again until this goes away. His friendship is
important to me, and I take those duties seriously. Do you think we can go back
to being really good friends sans frolic? Or does my wish to be a good friend
frolic is! The image it suggests to your steadfast adviser is of two children
when you say the friendship is on hold "until this goes away," what, exactly,
is "this"? The wife? The marriage? The attraction? Perhaps what needs to go
about being a friend, you will save him from himself by keeping your distance.
Not entirely unmarried men are seldom worth the trouble.
tricky situations very adeptly, I am hoping you can help me do the same with
mine. I have known a good friend for several years now (we are both graduate
students within a small department), and we've always gotten along very well.
However, I have noticed that there is a great turnover in her circle of friends
each year as people inevitably get dropped. To compensate, she always seems to
turn to a new crowd (usually new arrivals in the department) about whom she is
wild for a while, until the ardor cools. Several people have noticed that she
pursues people to add to her collection of friends, and she takes great pride
in bragging about all the people she knows. She is intelligent, attractive, and
friendly, but it seems to me she turns on the extroversion to hide
friend for years and watched this happen again and again, I had thought I was
immune. But alas, in the last months I seem to have been increasingly
blacklisted. She still refers to me as a friend, but I feel I am treated quite
"friend" sounds like the kind of person we used to call "a user" in junior
that is of value? Since it's easier to change one's own behavior than that of
another, you might want to consider why this person is important to you. There
marvelous that even a notoriously picky person could not discard you. This is
narcissistic people are often attractive. The problem is that they're not worth
habit of having "the worst case the doctor ever saw," or "the worst (whatever)
the mechanic ever dealt with." No matter what difficulties anyone else present
of pathologists, each trying to dredge up more horrific experiences. How can I
keep this from happening at our upcoming family reunion? (I am hosting it.) I
am aware that this woman is very emotionally needy, but it's all getting to be
it, so must everyone else be. Actually, it sounds like a nice change from the
more common, "My neurologist is the best in the country." Those who truck in
superlatives are recognized by thinking people as loose talkers and are not
Hurry! Don't miss your big chance to lose your wife
and car in a game of craps. Bills are afoot in the House and Senate to
online gambling before it really takes root. Though rapidly changing
technology and the freebooters who run offshore casinos will likely stymie any
new legislation, that won't stop the feds from trying. So, if you're interested
soft spot for a challenging game of poker. I also imagine that I know a lot
of money in four easy steps, without leaving my desk chair or deriving any sort
ones launching every day, it's tough to decide where to burn your cash. (Online
before taking the plunge.) No comprehensive guide to online gaming exists, and
the sites that publish casino reviews take ads from those same casinos.
difference from a real casino. Pros: No destitute hustlers lurking about
(unless you count my friends), and I didn't have to leave the house. Cons: No
cocktail waitresses, and a Java applet is no competition for a blackjack
here as the deck reshuffles after every hand). After an hour, I staunch the
if they think you're too good or if they figure out that you gamble for a
living. (Many online sites just plain stiff their clients for no reason.)
promised, and a week later I get a check for my winnings. Quite straightforward
deck of cards. The more poker skill you acquire, the better your odds. At a
percentage rake from each poker pot, or renting the seats by the hour. There
aren't a lot of live poker games on the Web, but unhappily, I found one.
play I get an error message about being unable to link up with the Planet Poker
server. This error message appears on a few different computers hooked up to a
few different corporate networks that I try, making me think that the network
administrators have configured their "firewalls" to disable these games. I
Once in the poker room, you scan the virtual tables
for empty seats, and click to sit down or to join the waiting list. After a
players and take my money in a hurry. The playing interface is smooth and
simple, popping up your options to fold, call, or raise when it's your turn.
But not only does my Web connection fail in the middle of one hand (if this
happens, the game assumes you have called the bet, then kicks you off the table
when the hand ends), I flat get beat when I risk any chips. Players with
games, this is the one I could get frighteningly into. (Though in the future
guaranteed way to get a bead on players is to watch for betting patterns to
emerge. Another thing about these games that makes me nervous is that two
players in cahoots at adjacent computers could rig the table, playing in tandem
and driving up the bets when they know they've got the hand won. Finally, it's
hard to gauge the competition. With the online anonymity, for all I know I was
Online gambling is here, probably to stay, and it's
away, giving your credit card number to a distant and foreign Internet
breaking away "from the fickle embrace of western economic and political
stronger, prouder, better future," the Guardian added. "It is the
start peace talks after the military campaign has reached its "logical
conclusion," but that the country will be at a loss about whom to conduct them
with, having branded the republic's present leaders as bandits and
and hatred he injected reason and calm. He was studiously neutral, utterly
unflappable and unfailingly optimistic as bombs, killings and expulsions
threatened to derail the peace process. Nobody else could have done what he
been the key to the new rapprochement between the Catholic republicans and the
Protestant Unionists. The talks were "very tough" until the venue moved to the
living room. We shared meals together.  I insisted that there not be any
discussion of issues at the meals, that we just talk about other things so that
they could come to view each other not as adversaries but as human beings and
as people living in the same place and the same society and wanting the same
of refusing to let the military coup plotters land as their plane was running
the leaders of the country's two main political movements, but also "almost the
asked her country's president to commute a death sentence of one of four people
because she was the mother of a small child. The convicted woman, identified
refuses to take another Middle Eastern state off its list of countries that
identity within the increasingly inviting outside world."
and I will do my best to see it never happens again."
by that girl with leukemia who the Backstreet Boys wouldn't visit."-- Mark
those 'Bible Codes' guys again! They've found the names of
president lied to the entire country about this minister (a man of God!) who
turns out to have had sex with a dog, like maybe a golden retriever (unless
things turn around and I get to do it at Fox in which case the dog will be a
chimp, but that makes sense dramatically) who can't keep a secret (see, it's a
talking dog), but it takes this big check from some tabloid where they JUST
married, and yet he betrayed his vows? The scales have fallen from my eyes,
boy: All those networks care about is ratings. Bastards.
Nelson specializes in books with religious themes, although it occasionally
is a line of description from the current Toys "R" Us catalog, and which is
from the Good Vibrations catalog of adult erotic toys?
"Reinvented for more wild stunts! Super action, two sided"
"Get ready for a crazy ride inside this inflatable toy"
Echo Toys Fast Lane Attack Force, $32.99--toy helicopter, toy tank.
Moose Mountain Teeter Totter Ball Maze, $21.99--kind of an inflatable
seesaw. No use of the word "action," but it really does look like a crazy ride.
Just nuts. Pure madness, but a ride. Insane. Psycho.
carefully hidden around the country during his eight years as vice president.
womanizer, able to exploit his transient sexual partners on his own merits, but
boasting, while delightfully buffoonish, is a minor crime. Rigorous
bull market can sustain itself for one more year, right up until the
presidential election, at which time, if Trump wins, prosperity continues, but
if he loses, the bottom drops out. In making this prediction to New York
the economic theory or the satanic pact that would make this scenario
digs at a debased editorial philosophy built around fawning over celebrity?
of an article, which is what I have been doing, which has been my dilemma."
those dictionary things and then get someone to look up 'dilemma' for me."
was a crazy wonderful thing, but I knew our staff was too small."
but as yet unwritten autobiography of any national political figure lacking
simplest way the Internet can enhance democracy is by making buried information
easily available to citizens. By putting documents of all kinds online,
agencies let in disinfecting sunlight and make themselves accountable to the
public. By and large, the federal government has made impressive strides toward
participate in an Internet caucus. Yet, when it comes to posting basic
information about its inner workings, Congress has been shamefully slow. The
result is that it protects the privileged status of corporate lobbyists and
say you want to find out something about the latest draft of a bill. You might
home pages. But these sites provide scattershot coverage of legislation
revisions. Nor are the pages of the legislation's sponsors likely to help. Most
of these are filled with promotional dross. Biographical information, press
releases, and lengthy legislative accomplishment lists are complemented by
Government Printing Office site where citizens can download legislation and
search Congressional Record archives. The clumsy and confusing
understand how a bill is working its way through the legislative process.
is much more information online about Congress than at any time in history,"
That is undoubtedly true, but it's hardly a meaningful statement. There is far
less information about Congress online than there should and easily could be.
Working Drafts of Bills and Amendments. Citizens can access
bills, but working drafts are rarely posted. That's because under current
Government Printing Office. The delay guarantees that lobbyists have time to
get drafts and influence the process before the general public knows what's
says that "the messy nature of the legislative process makes it difficult to
committee chairmen squelch the posting of drafts because, "If citizens figured
out what was in some of these bills, there would be public outcry against
Hearing Transcripts and Statements. To find out about
congressional hearings, the curious must locate the appropriate committee site.
Some committees post opening remarks and transcripts, but the coverage is
before the transcripts are "processed." While the public waits, lobbyists
counsels patience and claims that all committees will offer video archives of
hearings someday. In the meantime, Congress could make all its committees'
Congressional Research Service Reports. Congress spends over
them away in response to specific constituent requests. Still, citizens often
have to wait weeks for research that a congressional staffer can download in
seconds. As a result, commercial services are able to make money selling
to give reports as a favor to constituents." A congressional task force is
Voting Records. To find out how a member voted on a particular
Lobbyist Disclosure Reports. These reports detail how much
lobbyists are paid to work on a particular issue and in theory what, who, and
how they lobby. They can make for very interesting reading, but to get them you
posting the reports would allow citizens to trace patterns of influence.
Citizens are not able to access these reports online, even though they are
House, Senate, and Personal Financial Disclosure Reports.
Members must report how they spend their "representational allowances" and have
to file personal financial disclosure reports. The disclosures can be used to
ferret out wrongdoing and conflicts of interest. The data are computerized, but
for "policy reasons" the reports are not available online. Congress is
keeps a special place in his heart for the downtrodden and the outcast,
including, but not limited to, the poor, the indigent, the day traders, and the
blind. When the Shopping Avenger sees the forces of rampant capitalism
manhandling an unfortunate soul, he will fly to the rescue straightaway, unless
instantaneously get the Shopping Avenger into superhero mode, and that is:
Shopping Avenger loves all animals, but he especially loves animals that have
rest of her family, the Shopping Avenger donned his codpiece and cape and
event,' hence they were able to charge any damn price they wanted to. Our
the third night. Nothing like the feeling of being homeless and being screwed
in the process." The Shopping Avenger endorses the previous statement
animals are allowed. We have a wiener dog, a corgi, and a cat. Somehow the
"they never gave us any maid service for three days."
and learned that her wiener dog, whose name is Rusty, was traumatized by these
sort of unfeeling monopoly that would rob people fleeing a hurricane. Except
that the executive who was assigned the difficult task of dealing with the
heard that some of our franchises were doing this sort of thing, and we get
'Thanks for letting us bring Fluffy,' that sort of thing."
Fluffy? Who ever heard of a wiener dog named Fluffy?
investigate the motel in question. She promised to apologize, on behalf of
no doubt have received thousands of complaints about this company and I
thought, 'Why pile on?' But after reading the other complaints you've received
When we picked the truck up (they did honor the reservation) a man brought the
vehicle out, parked it out front, and then reached behind the front seat and
brought out a bottle of fluid. He opened the hood, poured some of it somewhere
in the engine, closed the hood, put the bottle back, and handed me the keys. I
asked him what he'd done, and he said, 'Oh, just topping up some stuff.'"
driver's seat and she literally couldn't move the wheel six inches in either
fluid that had been topped off was power steering fluid. There was a pool of it
gathering on the street. I went behind the seat to find five empty bottles of
service," which, in the Shopping Avenger's estimation, is probably a guy named
mechanic showed up, taped up a leaky hose, and left. "It's dark, but we still
drastically stiffens. It's now so hard to steer this huge truck that I have to
put my foot up on the dash or on the door to tug the wheel in the direction I
to stop from smashing into oncoming traffic in the tunnel. If my
Horrible, yes? It gets still worse. "I bought power
steering fluid like it was cheap beer, topped off, and away we went." He topped
"Upon arrival, they keep us waiting for an hour and a half because 'the
mechanic's not in yet like we told him.' When he finally arrives, he proceeds
to tell us incessant stories about how drunk he got the night before and how
[the second mechanic] couldn't believe a fellow mechanic would pull such a
In the previous episode, the Shopping Avenger promised to
explain to the reader why Southwest Airlines is the Shopping Avenger's favorite
company, and now the Shopping Avenger will keep his promise:
keep its customers happy. This is in marked contrast to every other airline
ever flown by Shopping Avenger, but particularly Northwest Airlines, for which
Shopping Avenger has very hard feelings at the moment, for reasons that will be
Avenger, when he was just a boy Avenger, worked one summer at a Bob's Big Boy.
The Shopping Avenger learned very quickly that Bob's Big Boy is a restaurant
for people who don't know how to eat in restaurants. The same holds true for
Southwest: It is an airline for people who don't know proper airline etiquette.
Shopping Avenger was filled by a gentleman whose first words were, "Bring on
not Southwest's fault, except insofar as Southwest makes its seats so cheap
that even drunken assholes can fly across this great country of ours.
Recently, the Shopping Avenger went to bat for one of his
loyal readers, a certain Miss M., who had an actual, valid complaint about
tarmac. When she got to her destination, she discovered that her clothing was
ruined. She got very little satisfaction when she approached Southwest through
the normal channels, so she turned to the Shopping Avenger for justice.
Southwest made noises that sounded very much like the noises made by such
airlines as Northwest when they do something wrong, Southwest came around and
resolution, and thus so did the Shopping Avenger, who is nothing if not loyal
to the wishes of his readers. Southwest knows how to make people happy, which
tight to show the complex emotions and various facial tics playing across
shoot. And, for all I know, didn't write. But the one that actually ended the
I, for one, breathe easier knowing that a favorable
investment climate prevails in our Middle Eastern ally.
to Families of Convicts" and "Campaign Against Drugs to Continue," is the only
'Urgent' Replacement Bill, Women's Decree Fails, 'Rights' Remain Alive."
marks around "urgent" or the snide quotation marks around "rights"? Either way,
the emir granting women the right to vote and run for office. Some lawmakers
who say they support women's rights say they voted no out of principle: the
emir's decree undermined the house's authority. Interesting principle.
of women attended yesterday's session, sitting in a reserved section of the
gallery. Hundreds of men applauded when the result of the vote was announced.
hiding behind the constitutional excuse, while in their hearts they wanted "to
integrity to the White House" is another man's lying. (In his defense, it must
as yet unwritten but badly needed autobiography of any other national political
execution night, do you ever pick up a six pack and head down to the pen, to
you ever, just for fun, say, 'No New Taxes' in front of a mirror?"-- Marc
you had to cheat to win, and presidential candidates all spoke in full
fancy hats and several layers of underwear with fastenings so elaborate you had
to be like a genius just to undress for one of your Naked Fireside Chats from
stupid people are the same all over the world. And if they're not, why hasn't
invitation to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans, the homosexual political
rather meet with the least tolerant, most reactionary wing of the party  and
I believe that society ought to aim for the ideal. And the ideal is for a man
and woman to adopt a child. They should beat it regularly with a stick, educate
it in a Christian academy so it won't get confused by, you know, learning, then
throw it on the barbecue and eat it, and then we can all get high again, like
of a weary suburban Atlas arriving home with the world on his shoulders:
I had been a fan of the book before they made the movie, and, while
Thanksgiving while we recover from the effects of that drug in the turkey that
makes you so sleepy. What do you call it? Heroin. Bless Mom and her
of the usual order on date night. (This "common denominator" sponsored by the
'Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line.' Then we put you
disasters occur, there is an investigation to determine the cause, much as, at
the end of a relationship, we try to understand why it failed, but without the
advantage of voice recording, so we're left to squabble endlessly over who said
what. There is a theory that this search for a cause is an essentially
superstitious act, an almost mystical hope that to name the cause is to ensure
that disaster won't recur. But in anything as complicated as aviation or
romance, there are infinite possibilities for debacle. That's why there is much
to be said for rail travel. Not even the most depressed engineer can steer a
locomotive off the rails. You can get on and off right in the middle of the
city, avoiding the hassles of that trip to the airport. Railroads provide the
happy erotic metaphor of the train going into the tunnel; air travel offers the
grim symbolism of "crash and burn." On a train you're not trapped in your seat;
you can stroll the aisles or amble to the bar car and meet an attractive
stranger with whom to initiate what is certain to be a disastrous relationship.
shut off and the flaps adjusted to send the plane into a dive.
deliberately plunged the plane into the sea. And then again, it might be just
professor of religion at Duke University, "It's typically used to initiate
something, if you're embarking on a situation where you don't know the
kitchen and when I arrive at work and start my assignments."
Tipsy Pheasant Fantasia. The birds are tagged for later tracking, and each tag
Geek, wears unstylish clothing, seldom bathes, curses a blue streak
task lay between me and blessed sleep: threading a central venous catheter from
(not his real name) was suffering from liver failure, caused by the hepatitis C
virus he'd contracted from shooting heroin with contaminated needles. In most
cases, an ordinary IV does the job ferrying fluids and medications. But Bob was
was all too familiar with the risks of infection, thanks to me, an
inexperienced, haggard medical intern. A day earlier, Bob had been the
potentially deadly complication for Bob because liver damage weakens the immune
nestled under muscle, where I would pierce the skin and hit the internal
jugular vein. My fourth jab with a "finder" needle filled the syringe with a
reassuring flashback of blood. After making certain I hadn't nicked an artery,
I inserted a larger needle into the skin just above the first needle. After the
large needle's flashback, I threaded a long coil into the blood vessel and into
the catheter placement. I had punctured his thoracic duct, a collection of the
ago, most interns had, as medical students, practiced catheter placement and
surgery on dogs for months in a vivisection laboratory. Today, thanks to
required vivisection in physiology courses and just eight required it on
living thing most medical interns stick with a needle, cut open, or sew back
up. Studies have found that rookie doctors' patients suffer no more
complications than the experienced doctors' patients. But these studies are
most prestigious teaching hospitals or were too small to be statistically
significant. Also, some of these studies don't account for "near miss"
complications such as Bob's infection and punctured thoracic duct. Although
stress. I know that Bob would have benefited if I had performed more line
task. Such teams work well, but most hospitals can't afford them. Doctors
should learn the technique themselves, especially in case of emergencies.
who refuse to operate on animals. Manufactured by Medical Education
which doctors practice resuscitation. But despite all the sophisticated medical
Doctors take their practice where they can find it. Last
bodies of dead soldiers to teach complex medical procedures to
father, himself a doctor, noticed an incision on his son's neck. His son had
been killed in the line of duty, and no resuscitation attempt could explain the
surgical wound. Evidently, the army doctors had long condoned an unwritten rule
allowing medical practice on soldiers whose families had given permission for
autopsies. (But this soldier's family hadn't given autopsy permission.)
of a patient who moments before he had unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate.
Next he shoves a breathing tube down the dead patient's throat. Neither
Cook wrote in the journal the Pharos about his own experience
observing as medical students and doctors practiced placing a breathing tube
that it's better than letting interns fumble on live patients. The practice is
common enough that a medical ethicist didn't raise eyebrows at the hospital
where I completed my internship when he surveyed residents about how many had
said that if authorities ban his doctors from practicing on fallen soldiers, it
So what's worse: defiling cadavers or practicing on
reintroduce vivisection on a limited basis to all medical schools and to allow
surgical practice on the recently dead donated bodies.
school in the United States. One animal for every four students would mean the
Might they be used for this purpose before meeting their ends if we make their
deaths as humane as possible? Students who object to animal experimentation
system akin to organ donation: Individuals could give consent on their drivers'
licenses or when they're admitted to the hospital. We could easily convince
folks of the similarities between donating your body to medical schools for
dissection and donating it to hospitals for practice. Still, there won't be
enough dead bodies to go around. If we won't sacrifice a few dogs, we'll have
to sacrifice our own comfort and safety, a sacrifice most patients or hospitals
intern. I know how he feels. I rue the day when they strap me down for my
inevitable bypass operation. As I drift off into unconsciousness, the last
thing I want to hear the senior surgeon say to a junior associate is "So this
is your first bypass? Well, the very first step is the incision. Cut him there.
novel I wrote because she had a friend who knows an agent who was looking for
works by women about women. I sent the manuscript and waited for a response.
Jane reported to me that her friend loved the book. Months passed without
further information. This week, Jane told me that the woman she gave my book to
turns out to be a psycho, and she doubts whether this woman even had an agent
in mind when she requested my manuscript. She apparently had a crush on Jane,
who says she has since cut off all contact with her.
want my manuscript back, and while Jane apologized profusely for the way things
went, she refuses to retrieve it for me, saying that the woman would
misconstrue this as an overture. I hesitate to contact the woman myself,
because I don't want to get in the middle of a weird situation. I also get the
impression that Jane thinks that her being upset supersedes any responsibility
had. Ditto for Jane. As for getting your manuscript back, it's pretty clear
standby: a lawyer letter. Surely you have a friend who is an attorney who would
write a formal letter to Psycho With a Crush requesting the return of the
reach you, merely the address of a law firm. Even nut cases (usually) pay
attention to letters from lawyers. This is your best shot. Whether you choose
wonders why you would let your one and only copy of a manuscript out of your
hands. Let's hope this experience has advanced your education from Psycho to
the male executives are married to, shall we say, plain women. The girl I am
major pair of hooters. You might say this is my "type." She is very well
spoken, has a good job, and is not a bimbo by any stretch of the imagination.
the process of seeking your advice, reveals rather personal foibles, should you
not be alerted to the probability that such a person is quite apt to be a
I guess my question really is: How can you tell whether a letter is sincere or
some things have the ring of truth, and others don't. Let's call it instinct.
the store manager about the stealing. We are trained to handle cases of this
sort in the following way: We would put a person within sight of the customer
who's stealing without actually confronting her. If she hesitates for anything,
being watched without accusing her of anything. Also, the security cameras
would be "watching" the whole time, as well. This procedure would be repeated
whenever she is in the store. This is designed to make her a little
uncomfortable about stealing from us while at the same time keeping a paying
customer in the store. We cannot take any action without seeing the stealing
ourselves. If we didn't do it this way, we would have more lawsuits than we
readers who had something to say about this thank you for the information about
how store people want to deal with this problem. Many people wrote to say they
believe the woman should have been reported, and a few pointed out the hygiene
customers become familiar with the way stores deal with grocery grazers,
perhaps these pilferers can be "encouraged" to cut it out.
former President Bush reminisced about some bad advice he received a decade
ago: "In my view, that would have been an open provocation, tantamount to
sticking our fingers in the eyes of the Soviet military." Who advised him to do
Baptist Convention, responds to critics: "Show me a single case where a
and can be three and one at the same time and lives forever."-- Dale
built on the assumption that Southern Baptists are bad in bed. Certainly, some
religious groups associate sex with sin, which can either be inhibiting or
inspiring, depending on your point of view (and whether or not you own your own
vestments). Still other faiths forbid specific erotic acts, such as getting
undressed or smiling. Of course, sexual pleasure is not experienced in groups
(unless you are very lucky), but between two individuals (at least one of whom
should be awake at the time, praying for forgiveness). And so there is no proof
that any particular religion is sexier than any other. There is, however, some
evidence that sexual satisfaction correlates with educational attainment; for
instance, those who completed graduate school express greater sexual happiness
than those who dropped out of high school. You'd think this sort of thing would
"Show me a single case where a Southern Baptist has
organizations, protesting his denomination's use of "deceptive" tactics to
very different conversion tactic than the straightforward hot lead enema used
mentally ill do things that harm others; he proposes to change the state's
policy on forced deinstitutionalization. Sincerity check: In his first four
homeless mentally ill people in New York City alone. Honesty check: I added the
Theological Health: "A legislator has introduced a bill to prevent
medical devices being cleaned and reused. He does not refer to foreskins.
efforts to preach nonviolence while exploiting it are both patronizing and
influence the target audience and predict (correctly) that the film will be a
pursue the life she has always wanted. It's a "touching but melancholy
reviewers seem a bit tired of the tune. The film is "simpatico enough to make
stars: "The movie is a mess: a gassy costume epic with nobody at the center"
hostage after an accidental shooting; they end up becoming heroes when they
the cast goes largely unnoticed. The film achieves "not much more than the
just three years ago. (Click here to read the first chapter.)
Point Project, a coalition of activists opposed to globalization in general and
the World Trade Organization in particular, said more than any merely verbal
exposition about what really motivates those activists could. Indeed, it
revealed quite a bit more than its sponsors intended.
movement: the center of a global conspiracy against all that is good and
multinational corporations. It destroys local cultures, the headline on the ad
read "Global Monoculture"; it despoils the environment; and it rides roughshod
over democracy, forcing governments to remove laws that conflict with its
Like most successful urban legends, this one is based on a
sliver of truth. The gradual global progress toward free trade that began in
reduce yours. But there has always been the problem of governments that give
with one hand and take away with the other, that dutifully remove tariffs and
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, this process was slow and cumbersome.
It has now become swifter and more decisive. Inevitably, some of its decisions
laws is strictly limited to enforcement of the spirit of existing agreements.
It cannot in any important way force countries that are skeptical about the
benefits of globalization to open themselves further to foreign trade and
investment. If most countries nonetheless are eager or at least willing to
participate in globalization, it is because they are convinced that it is in
right. The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development
place via globalization; that is, by producing for the world market rather than
global market are very badly paid by First World standards. But to claim that
they have been impoverished by globalization, you have to carefully ignore
workers were even poorer before the new exporting jobs became available and
ignore the fact that those who do not have access to the global market are far
is bad for workers everywhere a bit of ammunition, but the crisis did not go on
forever, and anyway the solution to future crises surely involves some policing
What about the environment? Certainly some forests have
been cut down to feed global markets. But nations that are heedless of the
environment are quite capable of doing immense damage without the help of
worth, the most conspicuous examples of environmental pillage in the Third
economy, which puts national actions under international scrutiny, is probably
on balance a force toward better, not worse, environmental policies.
do with wages or the environment. After all, leaving aside a photo of tree
stumps and another of an outfall pipe, here are the horrors of globalization
cars, a traffic jam, suburban tract housing, an apartment building with
numerous satellite dishes, an office with many computer screens, office workers
What is so horrible about these scenes? Here's what the ad
says, "A few decades ago, it was still possible to leave home and go somewhere
else: The architecture was different, the landscape was different, the
language, dress, and values were different. That was a time when we could speak
of cultural diversity. But with economic globalization, diversity is fast
way they are? But the world is not run for the edification of tourists. It is
or should be run for the benefit of ordinary people in their daily lives. And
that is where the indignation of the Turning Point people starts to seem rather
striking thing about the horrors of globalization illustrated in those photos
is that for most of the world's people they represent aspirations, things they
wish they had, rather than ominous threats. Traffic jams and ugly interchanges
are annoying, but most people would gladly accept that annoyance in exchange
for the freedom that comes with owning a car (and more to the point, being
wealthy enough to afford one). Tract housing and apartment buildings may be
ugly, but they are paradise compared with village huts or urban shanties.
Wearing a suit and working at a computer in an office tower are, believe it or
not, preferable to backbreaking work in a rice paddy.
Now, of course what is good for the individual is not
always good if everyone else does it too. Having a big house with a garden is
nice, but seeing the countryside covered by suburban sprawl is not, and we
might all be better off if we could all agree (or be convinced by tax
incentives) to take up a bit less space. The same goes for cultural choices:
local radio stations had some kind of cultural content rule. But there is a
very fine line between such arguments for collective action and supercilious
paternalism, especially when cultural matters are concerned; are we warning
societies about unintended consequences or are we simply disagreeing with
freedom and democracy, their key demand is that individuals be prevented from
individuals the right to drive cars, work in offices, eat cheeseburgers, and
planters still sipped mint juleps, wore white suits, and accepted traditional
modernity. And you know what? I think the rest of the world has the right to
technology. The paper said the deal, which the United States is trying quash,
radar system for the China. They speculated that pressure has levied on the
Industries in foreign sales of intelligence aircraft. "Those firms could argue
complexities, and is perhaps getting some bad advice."
visit, said that she "did not pass the test" at the Western Wall because
the Wall as they left (you're supposed to back away from it). One of them told
year. "She came here for political reasons, not to pray. It's in bad taste," he
head of state, the controversy about her constitutional role continued in the
saying he would do the job himself. But he has since bowed out and said that,
to ensure that the Games would be "a great unifying national occasion," he will
the head of state of the host country." Logically, therefore, the queen should
do the honors, but "political practicalities" dictated otherwise. "If, for
whatever reason, the Queen is not considered to be the appropriate person to
open the Games, and thus to represent the nation on such an important occasion
to the world, what is she doing as head of state in the first place?" the paper
gold, silver, pepper, rubber, and timber. "What will a sudden break do to
to stabilize before taking a decision on a referendum."
celebrating the occasion "under the present stringent economic circumstances."
and "deeply grateful for the good wishes extended to me." Asked what events
have made the deepest impression on him since his accession, the emperor
mentioned the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. He
moment, but added: "As I recall the history of Japan and how in its past so
much hardship and distress have been overcome, I firmly believe that the wisdom
popular entertainment. Barney, a "false killer whale," died of a bacterial
infection last month in a concrete tank at the theme park. His jumps through
hoops had been one of the park's main attractions. In an editorial, the
such creatures in captivity did not work any more, it said: "Children are not
educated by watching a dolphin walking on its tail or a whale carrying human
rickshaw to China after a 40-year ban. "Nothing can be a greater symbol of
exploitative, smacks of the 'coolie culture,' and is a terrible affront to
human dignity. It should evoke a sense of revulsion in any sensitive human
great leader," "a great listener," and "a good person." They applauded his
"honesty," "integrity," "respect," and "quiet strength." They recalled that he
"played very hard," "played by the rules," and "was always interested in the
needs of people." They asserted that he "loves his country" and seeks "the good
platitudes are probably true. But why did they dominate the three major
celebrities have to say about a man that they all respect and have known very
story: "My wife and I jumped on board the minute the senator called.  I didn't
accomplished in politics. Nevertheless, they praised his political career.
agreed: "He's a leader. He was when he first came into the political scene. 
"He's had some experience in national politics. And then he got away for a
while  which is sometimes very helpful." Again, how do the assertions of
former basketball players clarify this question? Unable to produce evidence,
"That's what Bill's about, and what he'd do in his politics: getting everybody
jocks were plainly ignorant of the issues. "Old jocks don't know a lot about
Dr. J, since you're the doctor here, I guess I ought to ask you about health
him for "caring and going out and saying things and doing things about" race
relations. Reed called for racial "enlightenment" and predicted, "Bill will try
color is an immediate reaction to people, and this is something that we have to
rights a cornerstone, really, in terms of his priorities  All those problems
focusing on, you know, just getting people to get along together on a domestic
"concerned about issues" and unencumbered by the "baggage" of immorality that
all pretty good guys and we've lived our lives properly, then, hey, why don't
lived his life properly. So have my neighbors. And they don't get on Meet
that their opinions are important simply because they're celebrities. "Look at
Because they think their association with him helps their image as well as his.
"personifies" the virtues of team sports. "Thirty years ago, everybody was a
that a basketball player, baseball player, football player are very intelligent
people and that type of stigma attached to you is not worthy."
superficial, elitist politics he claims to be campaigning against. That's what
for much of the show, explained the absence of a Gore representative by
reporting, "We asked the Al Gore campaign to provide celebrities who would
with basketball stars. They can score, but they can't play D.
Organization conference was that, perhaps for the first time, developing
countries insisted on being heard. It also noted "an incredibly sloppy
which it said "bordered on the ludicrous. Ministers of some of the smaller
developing countries were denied entry to halls where closed talks between the
larger countries were on. When they did manage to get past security they found
no chairs for them. And senior government delegates complained that as the
available either." The ambassador of one small developing country told the
to modernity with great gusto, we have made this otherwise terrifying monster
fumble with such ideas as the timeless and ethereal qualities of a woman's
beauty, our beginnings attest to these ideals from time immemorial.  The
gap between the highbrow and the middlebrow, and rediscovering for itself the
inextricable link between the body, mind and soul." The paper contains much
in an editorial. "They must now save it from the consequences of their
cowardice and folly." Otherwise, the rule of law in world trade would be
replaced by the law of the jungle. Papers around the world struggled to
editorial, were pleading for "a new world order, one of an open world but of a
world which isn't, under any circumstances, reduced to mere merchandise."
Unionists and Nationalists entering into government together in Northern
the street demonstrations, that caused the collapse of the conference. "To
representatives) over the forces of darkness (that is, proponents of free
trade) is to create a false, misleading, and ultimately harmful dichotomy," the
the twentieth century may have culminated over the past decade with the
unquestionable triumph of capitalism over socialism, but that has not meant
said it is clear that one of the organization's greatest challenges is to
convince the public of the advantages of freer trade but that the conference
career intelligence man as the replacement. What's different this time, the
inauguration today of a new digitized fingerprint system that will allow police
lab from their patrol cars in the field and get a definitive comparison with
the bureau's prints on file, not in months as can sometimes be the case now,
"speaking as if the words on the teleprompter were moving one at a time."
to completing the country's democratization. The three leads all observe that
friendly replacement because he's worried about prosecution for corruption
state securities regulators concerning many day trading firms. The outfits, they say, use deceptive
will probably cause them to lose money, and then often arrange for them to
receive illegal loans (sometimes directly profiting from those loans). The
regulators had been working on their report for seven months, long before last
the regulators noted that if people are bent on speculative investments, the
futures and options markets present ample opportunity, at lower cost and
greater leverage. The Wall Street Journal also runs a story on the report, noting
comprehensive, but will "not engage in characterization." (In other words the
raising unanswered questions about her behavior in Whitewater matters.
upswing. The concept is now blessed by the federal government and many states,
knows if there's a causal connection too), sexual activity rates among
Let him who is without sin fire the first shellfish toxin round: The
believe: The paper had already broken even and in today's economy would
probably be adding millions of dollars a year to shareholders' profits.) On the
other side, I correctly predicted five out of the last zero deaths of the
As you've indicated, newspaper competition is often better in theory than in
a front page of the Chronicle reproduced on her office bulletin board.
One story was about marijuana consumption; another about chocolate. She had
written: "Slowest news day of all time" on her copy, but from what you say it
weaknesses, it seems unlikely that eliminating competition will make them
for the putative inability of magazines to engage in real debate. This fuels my
theory that the Internet is becoming to the late '90s what crack was to the
particular sector. Crime up? Must be crack. Circulation down? Must be the
Internet. Magazine editors don't have a clue about what readers really want?
I admire Granger for turning his magazine around somewhat when everyone else
and so it's much easier just to blame the Net. (To be fair, the Times
piece does mention other forces, but I still find it an unambitious
Not that the Net doesn't change things. Just turn the page to find the story
consulting business. The New Economy taking over the Old: Now, there's a
As a fellow remote worker, I empathize with your rage against the machine,
although I am still not willing to concede that "workplace rage" is a phenom
Black Rock Desert, I saw computer programmers gleefully blowing up old hard
drives and monitors just for fun. How's that for evidence of dependence on
visceral pleasure of detonating expensive equipment that so quickly becomes
Today's media offer a nice corollary to your rage against the machine, in
space? And the chilling implications of none of us ever really being logged
off? Technology is making the boundaries between work and play evaporate,
expanding to fill all available time, now with the help of these handy
fantasizes about restaurants of the future with cell phone and no cell phone
establishment with signs explicitly forbidding the use of cell phones, but have
another excuse to add one more new rage to our list, which is growing seemingly
"More and more I find myself reacting to people with cell phones the same
I would like to discourse further on the changing nature of the relationship
rash of new rages in our midst. Am I suffering from rage rage?
differs slightly from a counterpart House bill passed earlier this week, and
Notes left by Barton in the apartment where his second wife and two children
were found dead shed light on the motives behind his killing spree:
estrangement from his wife, recent massive day trading losses, and a strange
allusion to a "fear" passed from his father, to him, and ultimately to his son.
wife and her mother (he had been the prime suspect in the case), saying
"there's no reason for me to lie now." And though he pledges to destroy "those
who greedily sought his destruction," the only connection between him and his
victims runs under the subtle headline: Victims were Drawn to their Deaths by
day trading regulation, including a closer screening of aspiring traders, is on
Momentum, a day trading firm used by Barton, would ply its clients Circus
An expert in online addictions tells the LAT that day trading is
Anticipating increased public pressure in the wake of the shootings, the
House voted to appoint negotiators to reach a compromise with the Senate on new
mandating background checks on gun show weapons buyers, implementation of child
The Senate tax cut bill differs slightly from that passed in the House
more people eligible for this rate. It also includes more measures to reduce
the marriage penalty and fewer to reduce the estate tax. It's similar to the
using the bills mostly to define issues for the coming elections.
unauthorized taping of calls. She (or, at least, her tapes and grand jury
testimony) may also be protected from state indictment under the broad federal
takes aim at journalists and other commentators trying to bask in the glow of
the many reprimanded for using the tragedy to boast of their own intimate meals
growing. Mounting evidence suggests that the massacre was premeditated and
centrally orchestrated. The German government believes it has obtained the
United Nations probably won't meet its goal of one warm, dry room for every
Democrat nor Republican candidates have come up with a workable solution to
plant unwittingly exposed the workers and the environment to small amounts of
plutonium, and greatly underestimated the health risks posed by exposure to
uranium. One anecdote describes plant managers who would salt their lunchtime
bread with uranium dust to prove to their workers that it was harmless. The
suit alleges that workers were misled about their risk of exposure well into
be the haven for dissidents and terrorists it once was. Many of the groups in
as white women to die in childbirth, a statistic that hasn't changed since the
persistent disparity is cause for concern. Not only are black women
statistically more susceptible to conditions (such as hypertension) that create
complications in pregnancy, they also tend to seek medical attention later and
only after more serious complications, further increasing their risk of
fatality. Attempts to address the issue are uniting politicians across party
target date for eliminating racial disparities in health care.
revealed vinyl sheeting, magnets, large nails, and the like in the animals'
stomachs, and call the gift "a despicable trick in a bid to hinder and
frustrate nongovernmental cooperation between the North and South." South
New Yorker covers? "Cheap and hollow." His role as the chosen cartoonist
of the intellectual elite? A result of living "in a media town where people are
too busy to keep track of more than one name per area of expertise." His
probably ever opened," not to mention that because it was a special citation
(and not in the cartooning category), he had no direct competition. For his
In the Voice's letters column this week, cartoonists
personal and full of cheap shots from unnamed sources. Is Rall right, or is
this a case of sour grapes from a less successful artist?
a hand. In other respects, though, Rall and his supporters are right on.
and other publications of note. Maybe now that Rall has stirred up the pot, the
New York media elite will choose somebody a little more interesting the next
they? Read the Voice article, check out the work of Ted Rall and
was already dismaying. The Department of Labor reported that nonfarm business
of whom are still seeing only slight increases in their real income. But a rise
in labor costs without a concomitant rise in labor productivity is generally
taken as a sign that inflationary pressures are in the offing. (If they're not,
then corporate profits are going to take a serious hit.) Today's numbers were
not disastrous. But assuming that the jobs report is as good (or, rather, bad)
as is expected, meaning that hundreds of thousands of new jobs were created in
Productivity is the key economic statistic, because only increases in
productivity can increase the ability of the economy to grow without the
income per hour each worker can earn. If productivity were to remain stagnant,
then the economy could grow only as fast as the size of the work force grew.
annual rate, the limits of the economy are extended.
Output per worker hour may seem slightly esoteric, but in fact it's the
ideal measure of productivity because it makes explicit the heart of all
economic growth: the conversion of time, through labor, into value. The only
way an economy can become something more than a bunch of people taking in each
standards and increase the collective wealth, is when one of two things
happens: Either people work more hours, changing empty time into a product or
service, or people create more value with those same hours. In a booming
The slowdown in productivity, then, doesn't bode well for those who assumed
inflation. And yet it was striking that, confronted with this news, the bond
market, which is usually hypersensitive to the possibility of inflation, did
You could say that this was just irrational. But when you look a little
deeper at the productivity numbers, the evidence for real inflationary
(Again, what's important is that increases in productivity outpace increases in
labor costs. Though not by too much.) So, from that perspective the economy
Still, the combination of this report and last week's Employment Cost Index
should throw at least a hint of caution into the New Economy advocates, those
who are convinced that inflation is permanently dead and that the computer has
forever revolutionized the productivity equation. We're still in the middle of
a remarkable run. But a boom built on productivity improvements is real. A boom
There's very little consensus on what the tax debate holds. For example, on
would be best to just forget cutting taxes and go home. Then Senator Phil
ought to scuttle tax cuts, pay off the national debt, and hike military
Most pundits agree that the fate of a tax cut this year will not be known
until after a summer recess. For now, both parties are digging in rather than
entitlement reform, and (c) the eagerness of some Senate Democrats to be seen
On the campaign front, pundits continue to express pity for the bumbling
contributions and seemingly without improper influence. The opinion mafia
mistakes don't negate his other accomplishments. This Week even opens
"the epitome of modern liberal psychobabble," a sentiment shared by Will. Most
[also] people standing around [under a hot sun], there were long lines for
I will graciously forgive your East Coast obsessions if you will indulge me
block is just a cynical move to assuage the concerns of the Justice Department
The Good Housekeeping et al. takeover of the Chronicle and the
retrospectives in both papers, complete with fond remembrances of the way
coverage, sort of like listening to an elderly relative talk obsessively about
editors feel that fibrous school lunch menu innovations, as promoted by local
fiber) is enough to make a West Coast reader reach first for the New York
Lost." The Internet is predictably trotted out as one of the myriad of causes
of the glossies' decline. Ironic for the two of us, since as magazine writers,
Overall, it's a nicely argued and sourced piece, but it makes me wonder: Is
it worse to be a magazine writer if magazines have lost clout or a newspaper
reporter who writes about magazines if magazines have lost clout?
It's enough to make you want to write your own obituary and go back to
constituents to the slammer for griping about lost Social Security checks.
in my quick scan of "Style." What I think is going on here with this obsession
face a major membership crisis. Remember, this is an organization that loses
members with the sureness of mortality tables. If they don't figure out a way
to quickly appeal to aging boomers, they will cease to be a potent lobbying
spokesman for one of the companies said that these firms did a good job of
warning prospective clients of the risks day trading entails and added that if
clients followed the rules the company laid out, day trading was both easy and
profitable. Now, easy it may be, although spending six and a half hours staring
writer.) But profitable day trading certainly isn't, and the current mania for
it is less a reflection of the moneymaking opportunities it offers than of the
allure of easy credit and the seemingly unstoppable conviction of all gamblers
The numbers are by this point well known, but they're no less staggering for
money. And that's in absolute terms: These people leave their day trading
careers with less money than they had when they started. Those statistics say
nothing about how many day traders lose money in relative terms, which is to
effectively losing money, because you can invest in an index fund with no labor
of day traders are successful, even without considering the opportunity cost of
all the time and energy they have to put into their trading.
This is not, needless to say, surprising. Day trading is predicated on a
fundamental misconception about the nature of stock prices, namely that they
are somehow persistent and predictable. Now, some interesting academic studies
in recent years have called into question the idea that stock prices move only
moment). But the walk is effectively random, in the sense that patterns are
incredibly hard to discern and basically impossible to take advantage of with
any regularity. In order to succeed as a day trader over time, you have to be
The media sort of gets this. But the attacks on day trading have gotten too
mixed up with concerns about the impact of online brokerages, the rise of
individual investing, and the mania for Net stocks. These are distinct
phenomena, and have nothing to do with what's wrong with day trading. In the
long run, the impact of day trading on stock prices is negligible, and although
the rise of the Net has facilitated day trading, in fact day trading as it's
new investing, in this sense: The people who profit from day trading are not
the day traders, but the firms that reap huge commissions from all the trading,
The thing that is most remarkable about day trading, though, is the almost
complete absence of a coherent investment theory that could justify the
get a clear sense of the principles that guide their investing. But if you talk
to day traders and try to figure out why they believe they can beat the market,
you don't get any real ideas. You just get a host of anecdotes about great
trades. The press has exacerbated this problem by including in every article
about day trading at least one character who says he's made hundreds of
thousands of dollars. How he did it and why he doesn't get up from the table
and walk away always remain unexplained. Let's face it. If you go into any
casino, there's going to be someone there who's up many thousands of dollars.
That may help us understand why people keep gambling. It doesn't help explain
Finally, it's crucial to remember that day traders have the dubious
advantage of playing with the house's money, since most firms will lend them up
consequences: It increases risk, and it makes day traders' performance even
profits when you succeed will be greater than otherwise. But so will be your
my money in an index fund, what would my returns have been? But if they could
ask themselves that question, they wouldn't be day traders.
effective at noon tomorrow," click here. You can hear it
Earlier today, when Chatterbox first attempted to phone Felt (now an
Throat," it said, "you may do so after the beep." Naturally, Chatterbox got a
little excited when he heard this. But when Chatterbox phoned back a little
night after having a bottle of wine with some friends, and that this morning
whether her father is Deep Throat, but that he's told her he isn't. "He hasn't
revealed it to anybody if it's true," she said. Hmm, Chatterbox
Then Mark Felt came on the line. Chatterbox schmoozed Felt a bit. Does he
get asked a lot by reporters whether he's Deep Throat?
talking about. [Chatterbox was initially tantalized by this, but quickly
disclosure, leaking it to the press, or anything like that.
the information that the paper was printing would have to have come from more
Chatterbox, trying not to plead, asked Felt if there were any other reason,
The conversation seemed to be winding down. Chatterbox asked Felt whether it
was annoying to be asked over and over again by various people whether he was
Deep Throat. "It gets to be very provoking," he said. Does he find it
Did he want the top job? "I certainly wouldn't have objected" to getting the
House interference is now a matter of public record), or perhaps displaying a
here, and scroll down to the boldface type, to read it.) Chatterbox asked
"No." Felt indicated he was starting to lose his patience with
In talking with you and in talking with various people on the
Let's just say you were Deep Throat. Would that really be so
It would be terrible. This would completely undermine the
But a lot of people think Deep Throat is a hero for getting the truth out
That's not my view at all. It would be contrary to my
In other words, there is a potential reason, other than not
being Deep Throat, that might impel Felt to say he wasn't Deep
Throat: the perceived dishonor such a revelation might bring Felt as a "loyal
to violate the civil rights of members of the Weather Underground when they
on Felt and Miller's behalf, even though he hadn't been subpoenaed. Having
volunteered to walk into a courtroom and testify to help someone he
believed had triggered his own downfall. Felt and Miller's lawyers had turned
and Miller with the largely black jury. The prosecution, however, "had been
shouted, "Thief!" and "Liar!" called him a "war criminal," and were expelled by
federal marshals from the courtroom. (This according to the third volume of
perfectly legal. (Although he wasn't asked under oath whether he'd known of or
[here the judge interrupted and told the prosecutor to ask his next question,
people whose sons have been killed in war." Possibly in part because of the
president a few days later, assumed the presidency, he pardoned the two
testimony because he knew it would alienate the jury and give Deep
revenge buff who was capable of extraordinarily Machiavellian behavior. We also
authorized were a necessary line of defense against radicals and troublemakers
come to pass?" is freighted in all sorts of subtle ways. Looking over your own
look like, one would say that they were, by and large, pretty prescient. But
Bell himself disclaimed the role of futurologist. "I am writing," he said, "an
'as if,' a fiction, a logical construction of what could be, against
which the future social reality can be compared in order to see what intervened
to change society in the direction it did take." And what was his original
Though he is often (wrongly) lumped with the neocons today, Bell is in his
bones an Old Left intellectual. (He joined the youth of the Socialist Party in
scenario for the collapse of capitalism (as presented in Volume I of
explaining structural changes in society as a consequence of increasing
conflict between two classes, the capitalists and the proletariat, whose
identities were determined by the industrial mode of production?
The answer, it is generally thought, has something to do with the emergence
because of the alienating division of office labor and the depreciation of
their value through free public education. He was wrong.
unified. According to Bell, changes in the one do not determine changes in the
other (for example, the United States is capitalist and the Soviet Union was
collectivist, but both were industrial). So in Bell's sociology they are
I think that is why I find Bell so much less interesting a theorist than
powerful premise: The material mode of production determines everything else in
society. History has falsified that premise. Bell wants to salvage the theory
by introducing distinctions and complications. He insists that we talk about a
I find it very hard to see how Bell's forecasts about the future, prescient
as they may be, flow from this rather inert theory obtained by weakening that
(like his prediction that inflation would become a permanent feature of the
theory of social change. It has too many degrees of freedom, as it were. It
complains that the headline on the front page of the New York Times
story had some news in it, though. Pediatricians are now supposed to take
"media histories" along with medical histories when they see their young
patients. Doctors are to teach parents to teach their children "media
the two of you interviewed about her ability to deconstruct a Gap
Everyone knows television is bad for kids. The time they spend in front of
real world. The child who doesn't develop his inner resources is left with no
other source of entertainment than television. The unformed mind can't be
causality that holds that shooting a criminal has roughly the same consequences
as bopping a bunny to the seeming ubiquity of rape, murder, and mayhem.
But just because we know all this (and will dutifully recite some version of
do anything about it. Television is like air conditioning: You can't imagine
how we ever survived without it. Chilled air made the South prosperous;
returning from a day at work or rushing through all the errands crammed into a
weekend can imagine coping with a child's demands for distraction without
recourse to the boob tube. We could never get away with paying neighborhood
break. The pediatricians would do better founding a national nanny service.
Pleasure to share the pages with you. I warmed up this morning at my usual
Breakfast Table, the F train, whose passengers are the most literate and
convivial of any New York subway line I have ever ridden. On average, every
third person is reading a newspaper: There are the contortionists who fold the
papers are enviably scaled for reading in motion), and a scattering of people
mind sharing. Today I saw a woman's eyes well up at the Times story on
live liver donations. I also saw three people contorting themselves to read the
I was not one of them. My appetite for Talk has been weakened by
these "revelations," which seem as banal as they are carefully meted out. If we
I suppose we'll have to reserve judgment until tomorrow, when the actual
buzz (of which she's already got plenty), can you think of any other reason why
I also want to ask you for help in reading the Wall Street Journal's
a token caveat that "his actions can't be blamed just on day trading," but then
recounts exactly how his deep losses led to the massacre. How are we supposed
the cosmic meaning of day trading. It may be a reflection of our amnesiac media
As I prepare to pack up my newspapers, I can't resist passing on one more
Post played this story? Page A-15, beneath the fold.
cell phones to be more relevant to its readers. In fairness, the paper of
Journal arrives with its special "Weekend" section, which frankly I find
electronic gizmos for the bored executive. (Last week, the Journal found
a business titan who admitted that he had fired someone over his cell phone
And here's hoping that you enjoy the summer weekend without thinking for a
single New York minute about the upcoming Senate race.
good times, it seems they strain to do exactly the same thing. Probably the
most distinct theme to emerge thus far among the leading challengers to
Purpose," which W. explains by pointing out that "prosperity alone is simple
elaborated a bit more. "The invisible hand works many miracles," Bush said.
lack of meaning. "There is something that's going on in the country that is
widely felt, and that is people searching for some meaning in their life that
is deeper than the material," he said. "I think that is a profound
reaction to the materialism of our time and to the hollowness of life if you're
It's hard to disagree with such sentiments, but it's even harder to
campaigns. Don't they remember Jimmy Carter's malaise speech? Don't they
allergic to politicians' dabbling in vague spiritual criticism, and for good
reason. We're electing someone to run the government, not minister to the
You also have to wonder just whose feelings these guys are trying to voice.
Even in flush times like these, it's hard to imagine that a large segment of
the electorate feels burdened by the spiritual side effects of excessive
wealth. While presidential candidates spend a good deal of time among people
with too much money on their hands (they're called thousand dollar
contributors), this is surely not a significant voting block.
But perhaps such comments are intended less for those who feel afflicted by
this particular form of ennui than for the larger group capable of resenting
the rich. On this reading, denouncing the spiritual fallout of excess wealth is
a sophisticated variety of economic populism tailored to an audience of people
who fully hope to get rich themselves. Like greed, materialism is a vice that
tends to afflict those with more money than oneself. The problem isn't money.
and Bush may have stumbled upon something rather clever: a kind of rich
candidate's class warfare. Shunning shallow materialism is a way to express
contempt for the upper class while being a member of the upper class.
Still, the candidates are going to have trouble pulling this off. The last
do this not just because of his sense of noblesse oblige but because he had
any practical suggestions. Instead of taxing and regulating the "malefactors of
great wealth" into submission, they merely suggest we feel sorry for them.
Al Gore hasn't said anything about empty materialism yet, so he still may
next president should see to it that it afflicts as many of us as possible.
shows up to a psychiatric hospital apparently for treatment and then threatens
to stab the staff. Arrested following this assault, he confesses racist
fantasies to the police, telling them: "Sometimes I feel like I could just lose
after his release, he loses it and goes on a racist shooting spree.
further evaluation of this man's marbles? And if so, where's the evidence of
hospital's records of this fine moment of community policing and mental health
care. The New York Times just cites the spokesperson for the
up in the average clink claiming they have fantasies of killing people, and
it's impossible to know whom to take seriously. But it's incredible to think
that a man who is so out of control when he brings himself to a mental hospital
that he's arrested doesn't go right back into a mental hospital or some kind of
whacked cultural and political climate of our country that allows a man with
mental health profession step in, if at all, when cops hear this kind of
violent fantasy from an obviously violent man? How does the whole process work?
Then, I want to read an article about exactly how many cabs there are in
Sometimes you find yourself having to say the obvious. So here goes: There
passed by the Republican Senate and House of Representatives. The justification
for the cuts rests upon a misapprehension of the lessons of the 1980s, a
foolishly optimistic view of the certainty of economic forecasts, a confusion
of public and private goods, and an almost willful averting of the eyes from
it's still amazing that the Republicans passed them.
economy. But the economy is already running at or near its productive capacity.
conclusion. In this environment, tax cuts serve only to overheat an already
racing economy. And increased consumption is hardly what the economy needs. An
argument can be made that spending on education and infrastructure would help
boost the economy's productivity in the long run. Certainly spending down the
debt, reducing government borrowing, would have that effect by encouraging more
productive uses of capital. It's hard to imagine that a cut in today's hardly
confiscatory tax rates would do the same, especially when the major
beneficiaries of both bills would be the wealthy, who have already reaped
But perhaps, as we've been told time and again by Bill Archer and Phil
consumers consume. But the people should also be able to spend their money on
public goods such as public schools, highways, and stealth fighters, and they
can't do that if the share of the federal budget devoted to discretionary
can't get together with my neighbors and pay for road improvements on the
staggering, but so too is the disingenuousness of the rhetoric surrounding tax
cuts. The money's going to be spent in one place or another. It's just a
question of where, not a question of trusting the people or not.
is on the rise and companies are having absolutely no trouble raising capital.
Here again, the benefits of this cut will flow almost entirely to the
wealthiest, and will solve a problem that currently does not exist (that is,
capital scarcity). And although any capital tax distorts capital allocation,
global economy suggest might not be such a bad thing?
Most important, it's essential to remember that all of these tax cuts and
make meaningful predictions about economic growth, tax revenues, and budget
forecasting is an abysmal one, not because the forecasters are stupid or biased
but because the economy is just too complex to predict with any accuracy. Phil
could just raise taxes to make up the difference. He also said that he had some
be a strong Republican campaign against the probable Democratic contender,
spelled out in the story, declared mandatory restrictions on water usage
fining violators, and authorizing police and county workers "to confront
these things. PG officials note the "water authority serving both counties
(All of which begs the question, not addressed in the piece, what does the term
were added, wages roses at the fastest rate this year and unemployment was
news increases the possibility that the Federal Reserve will raise interest
heart valve damage in some patients and lung problems in others." The larger
significance of the case: Defendants "usually win the initial cases in such
product liability law suits" so that this loss "could lead to thousands of new
knowledge of their contents. Both Times report that the colonel
voluntarily stepped aside last week in light of the allegations, though he
However, says the source, it's customary to leave such mail unsealed to show
The Post fronts a piece analyzing the budget shenanigans. Congress
against his fellow Republicans in Congress. And the surpluses projected for the
defense spending, run the Government in a way that would be satisfactory to
The Post profiles Vice President Gore's presidential campaign
I don't know anything about your reading habits, but these days a lot of my
newspaper consumption is online. There are a number of reasons for this: a
nomadic office life over the last year, which left me without a reliable
thrives on Web links; and the sheer amount of time I spend staring at my laptop
also first to acknowledge that there are things you miss when not touching the
resignation. The piece itself is tame and perfunctory, but when you open the
paper to Page A12 where it continues, your eye travels immediately to the
million dollars of hush money to the plumbers: "We could get that." I love that
inevitably reoccur. A facile assumption of the left? Sure. But at least that
My fascination here is not that one must take any particular meaning from
the play of the two stories, but that, as with a work of art, one can. The
which the Web theoretically does not have. But working around those
the great moments of the newspaper craft. (Headline writing in a narrow space
the historian in me applauds the widespread availability of primary documents,
and the media critic in me notes that the New York Times has no interest
in calling attention to the way that it covered (or rather didn't cover) the
Inspired by your accolades, I am going to tell the truth. I was wrong last
pretentious and empty, like a photo spread of male stars and their ponderous
the camera his trademark weary stare. Some others have been amply reported
(she does, however, have the good grace to acknowledge it). And the magazine's
dictates of Talk's "Hip List," I am not prepared to believe that scabby
Talk because of its "unpretentious brevity." But this is a whale of a
book reviews, an astrology page, and more. This doesn't feel like editorial
sticks. I kept looking for a unifying sensibility, for flashes of brilliant
You wouldn't have won. The piece contained no new revelations at all-- unless
And now staffers, clearly upset at his departure, have blurted out a goodbye
speech. This strikes me as just as much a testament to the campaign's poor
one spoke to the press. The policy was overly suspicious and vituperative,
but it also cultivated a sense of common purpose and team loyalty. Even though
agree not to let Mark Barton represent the perils of the Internet economy. I
enjoyed today's Journal story quite a bit more than yesterday's. With
scale the world's highest mountains." Is this really all part of one big Trend?
Lynch office manager and seriously injured a stockbroker.
having dedicated much front space earlier in the week to the emerging cut, runs
a front page "news analysis" piece on the politics of the vote but leads
federal counterintelligence officials badly bungled their investigation into
squanders an historic opportunity to retire a substantial portion of the
quality of the economic analysis evident in the floor debate with its
observation that at one point during a discussion of the bill's tax credit for
that a likely result of the ruling is that the networks will quickly try to
snatch up available stations in the cities where they already own one. Both the
if the two papers had spent a sentence or two explaining how such a momentous
market decision gets to be made, not by Congress, but by four people.
found the evidence for doing so less than compelling. The Senate report says
possible spies and other possible sites for their espionage. The coverage notes
however that the report discloses for the first time that Lee was fired last
passed computer information on miniaturized nukes to unauthorized people.
seems that some folks just can't abide by such rules but that their neighbors
it.) And yes, police were actually sent out on some calls. The story sallies
forth under a truly wonderful headline: PUT THE SPRINKLER DOWN SLOWLY.
to him in addition to his factory job salary were decreed by the Communist
previously released tidbit revealing that on at least one hunting trip while
The Wall Street Journal reports some numbers indicating that
The Journal also files what could be the first mention of a
producing finished cars within five days of receiving a customer order.
vocations involved (plumbing and hospital supplies)? Or that since it happened
last week already, it isn't really "news" now? And the answer is (envelope,
companies would be able to purchase shares before any public offering. The
remaining shares would be issued to the public. Money from the initial sale
would go into the new companies' treasuries. The exchanges say they need the
normal companies, the exchanges can issue more stock or bonds at any time; it
distribute shares to its listed companies, as a reward and incentive for
reduce the current owners' share of the new company.
Nevertheless, their ownership interest in the exchanges may turn out to be
salivating for a piece of the New York Stock Exchange. But even in the current
permanently to charitable purposes. The trustees of the Metropolitan Museum
have to give away all its artwork, building, and endowment. Unlike the stock
exchange members, they would not get any of the shares themselves. And if the
new company made a profit, it would have to pay taxes.
understand it correctly, this "study" was issued by a marketing company whose
"research" consisted largely, or maybe entirely, of reading the results of a
Internet, but I would argue that technology is a major factor. It's not just
the increasing complexity of technology, but our increased reliance on it. As
someone whose work life is largely "remote," I can testify to the frustration
of my filing a timely story for the Standard's Web site can get
amazingly clogged. Editors and other managers get in the habit of thinking that
scenario. Take their high expectations against shoddy machine or network
it's uneven. But my favorite scene is where three disgruntled software
technicians take a constantly malfunctioning printer out to a field, and
proceed to kick the living toner out of the thing. It's all shot in slow
But needless to say, only the prosperous are bored with prosperity. What
dissatisfied me about today's otherwise excellent Journal piece was the
that riskiness is attractive to each group for very different reasons. Risks
such as adventure travel may be entertaining for the rich; but for the rest of
us, risks (such as day trading) are mostly a way to try and become rich. Just
because both activities involve some sort of danger doesn't make them a unified
trend. That's something I find consistently annoying about newspaper and
to be conflated into Something Larger or a movement that is Sweeping the
be by Al Gore? Bush is such a flirt, all mystery and anecdote. His personality
moments in his profile in Talk (apparently he once grabbed a rival by
the collar, drew him close, and yelled, "If you want to fuck me you'll have to
into a guessing game about his actual beliefs. Someone should keep a tally of
read into one of three categories: Conservative, Moderate, and Empty
tomorrow," said the only news vendor who had even heard of it.
been as weary if he reversed his word order and intoned, "Success is the pox of
celebrity." Or maybe, "Celebrity interviews are the pox of glossy magazine
adventure" exploits with scabby knees? A full body cast seems more probable,
but that's one way to combine today's Wall Street Journal with
Seriously, I think the dirty secret that helps explain the upsurge in
with prosperity. Where is the grand adventure in politics when the only choices
away for baby boomers' golden years? What's the point of getting rich and
flaunting your wealth through conspicuous consumption if everybody on your
block is collecting vintage wines and building oversize vacation homes?
parvenus who are tearing down historic houses and replacing them with soulless
mansions because of loopholes in the local zoning laws.
In short, who wouldn't crave a little adventure in their lives at a time
when the political leaders of both parties are hellbent on giving us a
with armchair generals who want to retain their credibility with the press in
Happily yielding to you for the final word, I am already salivating over
go on being a noteworthy role. The truth is that almost all writing about first
Because the first lady is obviously something of a freak in this day and
whose life has been hideously warped by the fact that her spouse chose a career
in politics. Such a life has very little to offer other women in the way of
exemplary lessons, and we're right to feel a bit queasy over a first lady who
promises (or threatens) to accomplish anything very substantive on the strength
of who she's sleeping with. (Note: The major exception to the boredom rule was
But thanks for taking me up on that question of how first ladies have
sometimes served their husbands as useful camouflage. You chose great examples
of the refugees. I agree that the problem isn't gender stereotyping; it's the
the Bush White House, when everyone was writing mistily about how deeply "Bar"
He seemed, over time, not to bother having much of a domestic policy himself,
you say, but to some degree it is her doing. All you've got to say to promote
Bush's "compassionate conservatism" is going to consist, in very large part, of
husband; I do think it's a symptom of the way that Cook's focus on the marriage
sort of wavers in this volume. However, I can't let our last day of discussion
pass without praising Cook for one of her neatest insights into ER and her
Franklin and others. ER apparently avoided confrontation, but kept two nasty
dogs, who snapped at journalists and senators; the larger of them actually bit
House, ER carefully employed as cook and housekeeper the dreadful,
foreign dignitaries and made sure the White House served the worst food in
"The drink, being the President's department, was not actively repellent,"
The salads were especially deplorable; for they tended to be
complicated and decorative, and might even conceal bits of marshmallow in their
moreover. Scrambled eggs are not an easy dish to cook in such a way that hungry
was never against quiet revenges with a moral excuse. She equated
plain living with high thinking, so it was moral to eat badly. And if her
husband did not like eating badly, why there were passages in their joint past
Deal, I can admit to having found Cook's prose clear and readable but not
especially memorable. I guess there's not much hope that she can kick up her
heels a bit in Volume III, what with World War II just over the horizon.
As a proud resident of a Manhattan neighborhood that I pray will always be
called the Upper West Side and as a Times reader who has never deigned
The story in today's papers that caused me to mentally brake to a halt was a
Since we have all marveled (maybe grumbled might be a better word) at the way
bottlenecks appear and disappear with no apparent cause, I sped through the
story in hopes of discovering a telling insight. Alas, all that the scientists
metaphors to describe traffic jams. Are they like "water molecules freezing
into ice"? Or is traffic movement akin to "the remarkable darting motion of a
school of fish"? The article, though, did have one memorable bit of deadpan
cover the fact that when the shrinks go on vacation, there is virtually no real
I realize that yesterday in my haste to wrap up our correspondence in a
trek yet again through that tiresome swamp. Maybe the first lady wants
vindication, but as a New Yorker I simply crave relief from this entire
me in ways that go beyond legalistic questions of whether White House funds are
used for her travel and campaign expenses. The law, for example, does not
require reimbursement for the extensive costs of Secret Service protection when
she campaigns. Nor is there a way to wall her White House staff off from all
political concerns. Al Gore, of course, has the same problem. But, at least,
the vice president was elected to his current post.
No woman in New York history has ever been elected to a statewide post more
to her husband's political career. New York will never develop its own cadre of
discussion with the first lady about baseball. In all her rhapsodies about the
found dead in the park," the New York Times reports this morning. (I did
not know that grackles were native to Central Park; I don't think I could pick
cause of death, but everyone agrees that fowl play is likely. Evidently there
the information that "Killing the ducks, sparrows and grackle would be a
violation of the Federal Migratory Bird Act." Reading between the lines, one
If the pigeon killer is still at large, thank heavens there's a real culprit
having a suspect in custody, and having him be an avowed racist to boot. So
many of these shootings end up with the guy killing himself, which makes the
and mass murder and who eventually tips over from theory into practice.
About the only part of it I don't get are the peculiar reports about his
traced a crucial piece of Furrow's AR-15 assault rifle to Bushmaster Firearms
like to see this shooting become an issue in the Republican primaries. Which of
that movement is unwelcome in the Republican Party? Which ones are willing to
these groups or isolate them so completely that they can't try to kill more
I came back from lunch in such a merry mood (and, no, the lunch wasn't the
the first lady will bless the lucky voters of New York with her divine
Maybe I should have sensed the warning signs yesterday when you partially
based on the premise that the drastic improvement of life in New York
in a legislative body, especially since he would be required to work and play
You also find me jaded because I fail to grasp the "promise" of a
What politically would interest me? How about a presidential race between
prefabricated political dictates of the campaign consultants.
correspondence is that you find things in the papers that I had missed, like
someone who, alas, had to compose one of those formulaic Times death
notices, let me provide a bit of explanation. The problem is not the
libelous in these paid notices, but the bereaved themselves. As you look at
million a day on maintaining unnecessary and underpopulated facilities. The
number of veterans is shrinking and the popularity of outpatient treatment is
enhanced care for veterans. Veterans' groups view the facilities as "a national
asset that must be preserved" and insist that they "have earned the right to
The LAT offers a sneak preview of Wen Ho Lee's defense against
Justice Department will decide in the coming weeks if and on what counts to
files to an unprotected local area network, he was merely making backups in
case the originals crashed. They also call the potential prosecution a result
Republicans in Congress are unusually adverse to compromise. The Republicans
chose to risk a veto on their tax cut rather than settle for a smaller one, and
the Democrats refused to support light restrictions on gun control when their
stricter package was defeated. Potential causes for the inflexibility include
prefer to let issues such as Medicare and gun control stall, in the hope that
they will later fuel the election of his wife and his vice president.
powerful trade group lobbyists, who usually wait to lavish their money and
support until a party's nominee is chosen. Specifically, Bush has used the
lobbyists as a conduit to their bosses. He has already registered donations
The piece implies that the Bush campaign is hypocritical: although it "aspires
for the Democratic presidential nomination. In addition to conserving his
Gore camp. "The Vice President's office asked me, 'Why are you saying all these
sharp businessman, if not a savvy candidate. Despite his regular evisceration
sun's emergence from lunar shadow could damage or even eradicate their vision.
But Druids have other reasons for averting their eyes when the sun and the moon
Deep Throat Revealed [One Last Time].") Knowing that Felt had denied being
Chatterbox wondered aloud earlier this week whether Felt would still deny
I would have done better. I would have been more effective. Deep Throat
didn't exactly bring the White House crashing down, did he?
Chatterbox doesn't know what to make of Felt's claim that Deep Throat was
information came straight from his dad," who of course is one of the three
Chatterbox, who is increasingly drawn to the hypothesis that Deep Throat was
indeed Felt, finds much to like in this story. As a father, Chatterbox knows
authorship of Primary Colors came to light partly as a result of some
has stated publicly in the past her suspicions about Felt. ("I always thought
Deep Throat was, which was very smart because I would have told the whole world
from the White House tapes that Chatterbox didn't know about. As in the White
Chatterbox previously cited, Felt is discussed as a probable leaker. This
Gray tell us what the hell is left? You know what I mean?...
who knows about this and he feels strongly that we better not do anything
figure that if you stay in as president there's a possibility or probability
heat wave, used the data to point out that it's been a lot hotter, which it
clearly addled by the heat (it's much cooler now) misinterpreted the
temperatures. Chatterbox thanks the many readers who wrote in to inform him of
declining order. Therefore, it's rash to conclude (as Chatterbox did) that the
rankings for third hottest, fourth hottest, etc., are, of course, similarly
None of these qualifications negates Chatterbox's message that it can get a
wave. But Chatterbox finds himself wondering why this heat wave, which
Click here for links to the Tribune's coverage of the heat
Authority buildings for senior citizens have air conditioning in every room,
Interestingly, the city's deaths and power outages came "despite a citywide
Still, Chatterbox doesn't remember hearing before a few years ago about
of old folks stay put, and are therefore cut off from family support networks.
they're continuing to come in." In other words, the young Latino folks are
situated near the old Latino folks, and can help them escape the heat. (To read
has changed the nature of the "good life," and point out that your description
of Bell as a "conservative in culture" clarifies some of what seemed so cloudy
1973--is somewhat startling with hindsight. After all, the '60s was the decade
standing between the last hurrah of an industrial age (the '50s), and the
ability to thrive on building services rather than things). As an early
the '60s would have been a good decade for Bell to examine in this book. Yet
than what was happening on some upstate New York farm. Your description of
Bell's cultural conservatism makes me wonder whether his decision to ignore the
It's an unfortunate omission because it's precisely this cultural
"information revolution" that has changed our world and defined our
the system) to produce a psychedelic experience. Or the information embedded on
plastic films that allowed 8-track tapes to alter the way one experienced a day
on the beach. The entire '60s thing was a product of an information
media diet, eroding the principle of mass experiences through media, and
enhancing tribal impulses to identify with your clique. By not discussing these
book. It's been lovely corresponding with you. I hope you've been writing your
the information revolution may have "changed the nature of the good life," as
The Wall Street Journal's Mayor Pothole profile really was one great
issue, making very similar points, but with a somewhat more forgiving tone, in
"Jerry Brown Gets Real." One highlight: When peace activists took over Mayor
"There seems to be serious problems on the left with finding ways to express
themselves." Oh, those goofy wackos on the left. Why don't they find some
constructive way to express themselves? Meditation, perhaps?
humor is both mandated and frowned upon in the workplace: A survey found that
career moves of young guns to teach us old dogs a thing or two. But while this
article tells us that our talented tyke's precocious success is "partly due to
his talents and partly due to the abundance of opportunities in high tech
Only the Journal could find in the above events an uplifting story
about a plucky kid's "first lesson in the power of connections."
angry at work." The story advises us to add "workplace rage" to the culprits
(read: Internet, Internet, Internet) that made Mark Barton pull the trigger in
seeing a shrink, that struck Chatterbox as big news. (Clearly, he should
didn't really establish whether he was or he wasn't seeing a shrink, and seemed
own about the source of husband Bill's sexual compulsions. The possibility that
anthology of neoliberal writings in the early 1980s that never got published;
1980s; h) Chatterbox has probably neglected to cite five or six additional
conflicts of interest, but figures he has to leave something for
why her husband is a womanizer, let's look at what Franks writes about whether
Public office has prevented the president from seeking therapy, but
friends told me they expect him to after leaving the Oval Office.
Presidency." As you can see, the statement is Franks' own, based on what the
president's friends "told me," a point that seemed to be fully grasped by a
the ministers that he talked about at the outset. I can't tell you about the
details of that because they are private. But he has sought to work with
ministers who he is close with and friendly with, and that's the extent of
Q: Some of these ministers have degrees in other areas, like
A: I don't have the slightest idea. I know who the ministers are. I don't
one of them has not made a secret of the fact that he's talked to the
is in psychotherapy under the guise of seeking "ministry" from a
My heartfelt condolences at the passing of one of your beloved two fat
rise here, of course, that makes this careless effort at a cookbook so
Excuse the expression: This is a fine example of the Times' having
the ill effects of celebrity run amok, namely unleashing bad recipes on the
masses, while simultaneously celebrating that celebrity in the form of a
prominent obituary complete with a photo of both ladies with their motorcycle
Still, you can't find that much fault in an appreciation of a life that ends
with this quote from the surviving fat lady about her deceased partner in
cuisine: "She didn't see the point of flowers. She'd rather have caviar."
As a coda to our conversation yesterday about the perils of technology run
in which "A Technology Junkie Learns To Live Life a Little Less Plugged in." We
hear the tale of a project manager for US West, who's spent his career finding
ways for businesses to use technology but in the process found himself a slave
In the emergency room for chest pains, this tech junkie panics about his
lost cell phone, not the about state of his health. The piece is about how one
man learned to "find the 'off' button" without quitting his job. Here's a hero
and listens to voicemail on the weekend and on vacation, he sometimes doesn't
even respond to it. Can you imagine? To be fair, the profile subject says of
As for your ruminations on the effects of competitive jealousy on news
papers, just because the Post broke it. Readers don't really care who
But I ask the business question: Can you see any way that papers might
competition with serving readers? After all, no one wins awards for putting out
For the moment, the carnage in the Internet and technology sector seems to
have ended. Although today belonged almost entirely to real technology
forever), the days of forced margin calls and panic selling seem to be
over the past couple of weeks, I haven't written anything about it, because I
didn't think there was anything interesting to add. When you combine rising
interest rates, concerns about inflation, and a market that had priced in a lot
As for Net stocks in particular, they offer no solace to the scared investor
months there's even been talk that Net usage is seasonal (slow in the summer).
The fundamental irony about Net stocks, after all, is that investing in them is
an investment in the future, and a future that's really still years away. But
most of the people investing in them appear to have time horizons that extend
no further than the end of the week, if they're lucky. That's an incredibly
the more interesting question is why a company would want to go public right
closing the first day of trading below where they were initially sold), and all
August, traditionally the worst month to go public and a bad month to do
anything in the market, since so many traders are on vacation. So why rush?
Now the press is starting to administer this public shaming in advance. The
his car to work! The collective message: What a pathetic loser!
like the way he sold out his own legacy of decent, moderate Republicanism for
has been espousing the kinds of centrist positions he took when he served as a
spending more on National Parks. On education, he has backed away from the
conservative panacea of vouchers and focused on the more realistic reform of
must ask why it never got off the ground. I think the reason is fairly obvious.
Another moderate Republican with a famous name and far more money squashed him
to despise a candidate who tried hard, played fair, and will surely make a
A personal confession is in order after your vivid portrayal of your normal
Breakfast Table routines aboard the F train. (I trust that you don't actually
that's a "quality of life" offense that makes you eligible for an
discuss the purported real reasons that she plays "Stand By Your Man."
Bill's "abuse" as a child is the kind of psychological claptrap that gives
liberalism a bad name. About the only mystery left is the psychological roots
As for your bet that the actual Talk interview will prove a
trading. (Will "going day trader" replace the already dated "going postal" in
today's paper was the Journal's first chance to weigh in with a
comprehensive Barton piece. I loved the small authoritative details like Barton
fries." (Writing for news magazines is where I learned the trick of detailing
what was eaten during noteworthy meals. Back in the 1980s, there was an
expression on Capitol Hill, "Get out your menus, here comes
after all, a guy who had apparently already murdered his prior wife and family.
The sentence in the Journal story that spoke volumes to me was the one
What was sorely missing from the Journal recap was the aggressive
thing points out, it's that there is a dire need for regulators to clearly
world gone mad. So with my fingers black with newsprint, this seems like the
meant that the Journal was far too offhand about the
me. As you suggest, his killing spree may turn out to have a spray of policy
and business consequences: for gun control, regulation of day trading, the
online sector of the financial industry. So before we are asked to digest
proposals and reforms, I am hungry to know more about the other causes of
trading "on margin," or borrowing funds against the securities he already
owned, which he was required to back up with additional funds when the value of
those securities dropped. But the story doesn't tell us if trading on margin is
bet as riskily at a more established firm or away from a computer.
of us are abandoning steady salaries for a home office, a modem, and a bunch of
solid analysis of the scope and specific dangers of day trading, and how it
compares to more conventional forms of extracurricular investing.
because it's a sympathetic forum. But so are lots of magazines (remember the
Senate candidacy is a direct reward for the crosses she's had to bear; before
about the interview is that she seems to be trying to nourish her candidacy
wronged first wives. But if you won't share with me, then at least my fellow F
by alleged misinterpretations of the First Lady's interview in Talk --was
with his childhood." Is a promise like that legally enforceable?
A promise is only legally binding if it is part of a contract. But a
contract needn't be a written document or even an oral agreement. If a
reasonable person would conclude that a serious offer was being made, and
fulfills the terms, it can be considered a binding contract. If you put up
spend hours searching before finding and delivering your beloved tabby, the
courts will make you pay up. If you have gained no benefit and I have incurred
benefits both commercially and politically from his stagy promise itself, so
case where a person was convicted of perjury for lying about sex.
intent to make an offer. (Since he said he intended to publish an offer, no
reasonable person could believe he intended his statement itself to be a
binding offer.) And on the Today show the next morning, he announced
that he had decided not to publish the offer after all. He also said that the
University alumni fund, not to the journalist who proved him wrong. That means
even if he had made a legally binding promise, it would be hard for anyone but
Brown's Talk raise the question: What are a new magazine's chances for
answer is: not good. The total number of magazines published in the United
Among general interest magazines, the only newcomer to survive and thrive is
actual financial data are not available. But it is widely assumed that
losses. Even ultimately successful magazines spend many years and many millions
before reaching profitability. Unsuccessful magazines spend the money and never
Why? Partly for the same sorts of reasons that any new business must spend
year. Then you are thrilled if half of those renew at the end of a year.
Even an unsuccessful magazine can have a large circulation if it is willing
to pay enough for subscribers. Success comes when you have a high renewal rate
and new customers are easy to entice to replace dropouts. Then your
more to acquire than he or she ever pays. But meanwhile your large and loyal
audience entices lots of advertisers. At best this takes years.
and other older magazines in the tradition of magazines subsidized for
political reasons. But there is another, more amorphous and less acknowledged
And then there's the Internet, where there are no postage, printing, or
paper costs. And there are no subscriber acquisition costs either, since
Internet magazines are given away free (though Internet magazines do spend some
left over for profit. So far, this remains a theory.
I had a similar reaction to the quotes from the guy's neighbors and
virulent racist." I don't count among any of my acquaintances people who openly
think I would try to change his or her mind, and if that didn't work, they'd be
the urban media elite, I live in a kind of protected bubble. I also know that
intrinsic inferiority of the lower orders, but he's a really fun guy"? This
more fascinated by the process through which people explain these things to
One more tidbit for the day: The supermarket tabloid the Star is
blonde, was not responsible for the breakup. 'His marriage was a mess
Assuming this stuff is true, can you fathom the chutzpah of a guy who led
Before you do anything else today, grab the Wall Street Journal and
says: "I don't talk about sustainable development. I talk about downtown
development." I confess to harboring some soft sentiments for Brown, though my
And now for a rant, combining my old energy as Village Voice press
critic with my new Industry Standard obsessions. The New York
fierce battle to control both the data pipes that come into our homes and the
they combine an Internet company (Excite) with a broadband service (@Home).
didn't bring this story up yesterday in part out of modesty: a Standard
saying that the companies will honor their exclusive agreements through
markets, and forced denials from two major communications companies. But in
never happened. Even though these are huge companies, there seems to be the
of course we know that institutional jealousy is never a factor, it's
Senate leaders on a tax cut bill. (The Democrats weren't invited to the
nobody else fronts. The plea bargain describes phony paperwork designed to
billion, provides for a reduction of one percentage point in all income tax
estates. The tax rate reductions are conditioned on continued success at
putting this much of the budget surplus toward tax relief. The LAT and
The only real departure from the reporting template comes with the
for months to incorporate into the bill its R and D tax credit, a feature the
paper calls a "particularly glittering prize." The paper notes that the Silicon
the tax code allows many corporations to legally pay little or no federal income tax. More
bracket. (This story is a dramatic reminder of the difference between the
1990s. One possible explanation of the disconnect that the stories don't
calculates that the cost of treating the nation's gunshot wounds for a recent
borne by the government. The average cost of a gunshot wound that requires a
word that an arbitration panel has ruled that the government must pay the heirs
will be licensing Barbie and Hot Wheels to a computer manufacturer. The Barbie
computers will be silver with pink and purple floral accents and will come with
a Barbie Digital Camera and a flowered Barbie mouse. The Hot Wheels model will
The lead editorial at the LAT reminds that it's been almost six years
Internet and almost four since the passage of the Electronic Freedom of
access to relevant information in their databases. The paper observes that most
I love evergreen headlines, those perpetually blooming stories that could
run in any newspaper, any year (an example: "New Jersey Official Indicted, Mob
Ties Alleged"). Well, the front page of today's New York Times provides
Stop the presses! No, on second thought, didn't I read that same story in the
the repository of the conventional wisdom written in a uniquely ponderous style
so often, the Times goes completely retro with a return to
with a special daily page called: "News We Disapprove Of.") But the
Times editorial concluded with a sentence so pompous and so
Republican nominee, every citizen will have to reach a decision that balances
all aspects of a candidate's abilities, issue positions and personal
This morning I was overjoyed to snag the last copy of the New York
necessarily dim with age. (At last year's Time magazine anniversary
Maturity" spread leave me so uncomfortable? Would I feel different if this sexy
calling children "annoying little buggers." Your most common reaction: "This is
precisely the defeatist type of attitude that could eventually bring the
'annoying little buggers' should think about sterilization." Those who didn't
advocate voluntary tubal ligation (I hope that was what you were advocating)
television seems a pretty harmless way to distract children, at least when you
compare it to the alternatives. Here are a few of the methods of
patriotic, religious, and of high moral character: swaddling their children,
depriving them of food (it was thought to keep babies quiet), tying them to
chairs, and beating them severely. If infants persisted in bawling or shitting
routinely told horrifying tales about gruesome creatures lurking nearby, ready
to devour them if they so much as left their beds. A popular technique for
moral edification was taking a child to a public execution.
exorcism may be excessive, but there is plenty of evidence that children are
hardier than previously thought (see, for instance, this essay
too. Without that acknowledgement, we may all be doomed to live life in the
pillow every night. Your kid should not understand how hard you work or the
sacrifices you make for her. You gave up your entitlement to these things when
for her livelihood and education. If you're put out by bringing up kids, it's
because you're selfish, or lazy, or immature, or made a big mistake when you
weren't prepared to handle the consequences. Go spend every waking hour with
your kids, and bitch about your hectic life in eighteen years.
blessed with an enviably cheerful temperament. Not for him the excesses of
Gothic supernaturalism or ridiculous stories of ghosts, stick figures, and
are strange beings; at times you do not know exactly how to take them. At first
utmost serenity; content with his own companionship; always equal to himself.
Surely this was a touch of fine philosophy; though no doubt he had never heard
presidency, are ingratiating themselves with his campaign for the sake of
future access. They're also genuinely curious about the phenomenon of Bush's
A fine example of how Bush gets the benefit of the doubt not available to,
This isn't actually a bad article. Reading it, you get a better sense of Bush
as a character than from the tens of thousands of words lavished upon him by
classic puffer, which sets out to depict Bush's decency and compassion rather
W. as the kind of guy who cries when talking about his father and loves telling
He is also, apparently, the kind of guy who thinks that a condemned woman
Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."
think a different spin might have suggested itself: If this is compassionate
conservatism, what on earth is the heartless kind like?
I loved the traffic story: for its winning characters (a "poet of
thermodynamics" and a "Jam professor"), its clear explication of competing
scientific theories, and the satisfaction of knowing that our nation's best
physicists are even more annoyed by traffic than are the rest of us.
I noticed that the story didn't use the word "sprawl." It didn't reference
seaboard 'sprawling,' but that's it). Instead, the story was nicely focused on
I wonder if this indicates that sprawl has ebbed back into the realm of the
Speaking of local issues, the carpetbagger issue rankles me, too, but for
different reasons. I keep hearing New Yorkers described as transient drifters
whose own roots are so ephemeral that we are willing to let any politician rent
a hotel room and represent us. As someone who's lived in four of the five
boroughs, whose family (on both sides) has lived in the city since arriving in
because my local pride has been injured, but also because I think that New
particular as any other district in the country. And even if New York City's
State are not. So even if we elect an adopted Senator rather than a homegrown
for capitalizing on her husband's fame and power. Yet today you wrote that
to their fathers. If sons can create political careers based on the successes
of their fathers, why can't wives do so based on those of their husbands? If
you're going to prevent one political dynasty from being created, you're going
sharing your breakfast thoughts, especially with someone with far fewer years
The rise of new technical elites and the advent of new principles of
theory and the codification of theoretical knowledge "for directing innovation
A change in reality from "nature" (during agrarian times) and "technics"
"Society itself becomes a web of consciousness, a form of imagination to be
else read this book? I can't say I recommend it. Heading to the beach with Bell
(women's rights, black power, hippies, labor, etc.). His vision of a
The rated power of a country no longer rests on its steel capacity but on
the quality of its science and application, through research and development,
to new technology. For these obvious reasons the new relation of science to
community" and as "occupational society." What becomes central, therefore, is
the question, Who speaks for science and for what ends?
That's a telling section, both stylistically (pretty dense) and
scientific method become the dominant model. Science and scientists through
"helmsman"), which postulated that society would be increasingly governed by
one where Big Government, Big Corporations, and Big Thinkers, do Big Things.
It's Top Down. And looking back at the 1980s and 1990s, we see how very off
"tribal marketing," niches, fragmentation, heterogeneous globalization, the
describe the future, but you can compare Bell to authors who had a far better
symbolized by the Whole Earth Catalog, the Sex Pistols, and the Apple II) and
economic trends (the rise of the entrepreneur as hero, the "brand of me," and
and read their work, from around the same time as Bell's, and you have a
totally different response: At least these authors' arguments fall somewhere on
Bell's inability to see a world beyond the context of military and economic
Big Stuff is what dates this book most of all. Big, centralized models are out.
Democrats want to see the tax issue off the table, and that at least
House Republicans are willing to pass a bill, if not Senate ones.
please campaign contributors, not to campaign for. A few other
Talk magazine. Some say her probable New York senate campaign is a
that the comments were unfortunate. Fox's Dick Morris proposes that
senate campaign; the comments may hurt her politically, Morris reasons, but
defending the president helps her curry favor with her husband's campaign
psychoanalysis were enthusiastically probing the roots of the president's "sex
think it genuinely tests a candidate's grassroots organizing ability. Others,
weekday, the candidates who can afford to bus and subsidize the most people
chink in the armor." Will notes that in Bush's Talk magazine interview
"This wasn't an accident, as some of the Democratic operatives are
Dick Morris, when another Fox panelist doubts his theory that
she technically broke the law. She began recording her conversations with
the White House, told her that such recordings were illegal and ordered her to
stop. Because the state requires that you know about the wiretapping law in
order to break it, she was still in the clear at that point.
is a Democrat, and many Democrats in the state legislature reportedly
magazine. The LAT leads with a story on increasing reuse of disposable
medical equipment. Such reuse, though potentially disastrous, is largely
recommend declaring a state of emergency. Nonetheless, given the rainfall the
heartland has had, yields there should be sufficient to prevent nationwide food
husband's infidelities on psychological "abuse" he suffered as a child,
particularly the fallout from a conflict between his mother and grandmother.
grandmother deemed unsuitable. (He turned out to be an abusive alcoholic.)
involves viewing his lies as "sins of weakness" designed to protect his loved
readers that Talk is "powered in part by corporate synergy."
To cut costs, the LAT reports, many hospitals process items like
angioplasty balloons or biopsy needles for reuse. A growing number farm out the
cardiac catheter, for example, broke off in a patient's heart during treatment.
ban won't fix: manufacturers changing the status of formerly reusable items to
Christian Coalition kept thousands of dead persons, duplicate names, and wrong
addresses on its lists of supporters. They also hired temporary workers to
provide the press with images of bustling offices. Even their current claims of
a political action committee that would endorse candidates and donate to
could unite the technocratic and populist factions of the party, polls show
the military's use of an anthrax vaccine. Her letter to the military newspaper
ask the questions" about the vaccine's possible side effects, was viewed by her
superiors as a possible incitement to insurrection. The vaccine is the first
Don't get Chatterbox wrong. Chatterbox believes there are legitimate
found Chatterbox's curiosity about the racial covenant on Bush's former
residence to be prurient and irresponsible, Chatterbox continues to desire a
Mister Bush's Neighborhood.") Chatterbox has also been brooding a bit about
to say whether he's ever used cocaine is ridiculous and irresponsible. As
Chatterbox wrote recently in the New Republic (tragically, the article
isn't online), Chatterbox believes the sensible reportorial response to Bush's
asking whether they'd used cocaine. (Why didn't they just send a questionnaire
Chatterbox decided the time had come to conduct a poll of his own, asking
various political writers and commentators who had written about this question,
or (more typically) had written or commented publicly about writing or
commenting publicly about this question, whether they'd ever used cocaine. Here
Chatterbox concludes: Almost certain no. (Full disclosure: Chatterbox
Chatterbox concludes: Probable yes. (Full disclosure: Chatterbox used to
appointment cratered after he admitted to having used marijuana long
Chatterbox concludes: Probable yes. (Full disclosure: Chatterbox has
Chatterbox concludes: Almost certain no. (This admission dents his
to work at the White House, and if he were lying now he'd have to fear being
Chatterbox concludes: As the daughter of a House leader and a nice
Chatterbox concludes: No idea. None of them appear to have been at their
ago. It was so wonderful that Chatterbox resolved never to try it again, and he
never has. The jurisdiction is none of your business.
Photograph of cocaine user on the Slate Table of Contents by
I, too, am enjoying the "We Are the World" eclipse coverage. This from
excuse to stop working. They probably all went right home and took naps
afterwards, too. If the eclipse had happened here, of course, we would have
just taken our cell phones and other gadgets outside and kept right on
But since you're tired of all this technology talk, nature boy, back to my
watch. Here's one more reason to frown at the prospect of losing the city's
city contracting abuses, involving real estate development. At the center of
the action is Charlie Walker, a local truck driver and longtime friend and
Incidentally, in a troubling sign of the times for journalism, Charlie
Walker refuses to be interviewed by the Examiner unless they agree to
What's so hysterical about this piece of gritty city reporting, the kind of
the very same day, the Wall Street Journal carries a puff piece about
hearing about one of Charlie Walker's crony's development projects, which is
the newly renovated Ferry Building, because the real estate is just too
waterfront, the Wall Street Journal finds in the same waterfront a tale
decision to stop requiring the teaching of evolution as part of the state's
science curriculum. The decision also deletes most classroom references to the
students will be unprepared for college admissions tests and college science
the tornado that hit Salt Lake City yesterday, killing one person (as far as
papers, he confessed to murdering children at the center, but none of those
shot there have died) and that his purpose in committing the crime was to issue
with attempted murder in the community center shootings and first degree murder
The papers report that Furrow is speaking freely to the cops, particularly
helpful to them in the murder case for which there are no witnesses. The
after his prior arrest for pulling a knife on staffers at a mental hospital in
himself with a knife, once, says the Post almost severing a finger.
LAT says the police won't confirm this. (One wonders how a rabid
LAT runs a separate story inside reporting that one of Furrow's weapons
was an AR-15 assault rifle, apparently purchased piecemeal and
AR-15 possession wasn't legal, because Furrow is a convicted felon, but easier
told authorities when arrested previously that in his glove compartment, he
to do something serious about gun control. The LAT lead editorial says
that the event shows that hate crime laws are justified, that the criminal
justice system should keep better tabs on people like Furrow, and they should
be getting better access to psychiatric help. One mystery the coverage doesn't
make much progress on is: How did Furrow come to target the day care center?
attracted the attention of security personnel  but disappeared before he could
died in hot cars. Papers should avoid inflicting this sort of information
on the reader sans context. For instance, how many children have been killed in
car crashes this year, or shot? The story doesn't say.
saw a poorly wired fuse box and said, "It looks as though it was put in by an
heinous criminals. That's a convention from Wanted posters that you should
longtime liberal Democrat, is unhappy about the failure of campaign finance
reform and tells the Times he's talked to people instrumental in
movie studios responded by commissioning studies to explain to them why this
hope that at the top of their list, the authors of these studies say: "Lesson
mind that there really is no simple formula by which hits happen, and that
attempts to reduce popular success to that kind of formula are bound to lead
beginning of World War II: ceaselessly preparing to fight the last war, and
how malleable the supposed truths of marketing and distribution are. For
didn't have these movies playing on multiple screens, and these movies were
supported with multimedia marketing campaigns that drilled themselves into your
is that the massive opening guarantees an impressive first weekend gross (even
films with sketchy word of mouth to make a lot of money off the initial buzz.
Add to that the idea that a massive opening is a kind of PR event in itself,
and you've got an argument for ensuring that consumers won't be able to go
That release schedule helped build the buzz for the movie, made it seem like
of people who can't get in" principle), and ensured that the distributors
didn't overreach themselves in terms of their advertising. Now this kind of
sense. Though surprisingly few people in marketing will admit this, hits are
and look at the advance buzz on Titanic to see how the massive success
of that film came completely out of left field.) And catering to that
grassroots mentality by allowing word of mouth to do its work can be an
excellent approach, especially when you combine it with a brilliant use of the
Giving that film time to build would not have worked.
The banal point is that marketing and distribution campaigns really do need
to be specific to the films they're intended to promote. The more complicated
point is that studios need to recognize just how much of what happens to their
Line of marketing, they should worry about the stuff that is in their control:
salaries, overhead, and quality. Remember what happens when you build a better
Witch Project yesterday and, despite trying very, very hard to be
scared, wasn't. What's puzzling is that Chatterbox scares very easily. Loud,
sudden noises make him jump. The sight of blood makes him blanch. A staircase
This raises the troubling question: Is Chatterbox too much of a philistine to
This possibility occurred to Chatterbox a few months ago when he rented the
premise the transport by truck of highly explosive material through bumpy
with the extremely tedious exposition leading up to the Big Event and shut it
events occurring in broad daylight somewhat resembles the
he read them in college. But Chatterbox doesn't particularly recall being
improvisational style. The three student filmmakers depicted in the movie, who
"documentary," seemed like real people. (The college they go to, according to
Chatterbox's house.) "Aha!" Chatterbox told himself. "Ever so gradually, the
ordinariness of the film's events will give way to terror, making everyday life
seem absolutely terrifying!" Chatterbox looked forward to being spooked by what
pool of light." Chatterbox was still looking forward to this thrill an hour
of twigs. Ten minutes before the movie ended, Chatterbox realized that the
terror just wasn't going to happen, and his feelings of pleasurable
anticipation quickly gave way to feelings of inadequacy.
Perhaps, Chatterbox thought, he was probing the wrong medium. He logged onto
Hill," where ghosts supposedly help push your car to the summit, and one about
Confederate soldiers dumped in a well, and one about a mythical beast called
"razor sharp teeth." These didn't scare Chatterbox either.
nine people in two office buildings and then shot himself in the head as police
Besides the nine office building shooting victims, the papers report that
after the shooter's suicide, authorities found the bodies of his wife and two
children in his apartment. Also, the coverage notes that he was the prime
suspect, although never charged, in the beating deaths of his first wife and
big losses, although the coverage points out that the murders of his wife and
LAT points out that the rampage combines two of the year's biggest
quotation it got earlier in the year from the head of one of the investment
and bring down nice buck. But if you don't know what you're doing, you'll
This play, given the story's unprecedented content, signifies that editors have
just plain had it with the whole topic and are sure that readers feel
Gong, charging him with the deaths of hundreds of his followers. The papers
The nation's heat wave continues to get coverage, with for instance, a
cities seem uniquely prone to heatstroke deaths? Is it something about building
there was no air conditioning? That is, have people become less tolerant of
legacy of the rise of air power over ground forces. Incidentally, it turns out
he'd been forced to own up to. In the Times story in question, Gen.
Papers just didn't see it. The whole episode has left Today's Papers feeling,
twilight of monopoly capitalism and the dawn of socialism! You are right that
You are, of course, bang right about stock options muddying the old
told me that they can feel quite proletarian when their options are under
let me take a breather and say a few more words about Bell the man.
He marks himself off from his fellow New York intellectuals by describing
himself as "a social democrat in economics, a liberal in politics, and a
City of Heaven must be an "empirical one," based on hardheaded
Although it is not always apparent in his writing, Bell can be witty,
An index of Bell's stature abroad: An international jury has just honored
Now back to the book. The more I think about Bell's farsightedness, the less
impressed I am by it. Most of the trends he wrote about were well established
by the early '70s. The United States had already become the first nation in the
world in which services had come to dominate manufacturing (both in employment
Information technology had been playing an increasing role in industrial
production since after the Second World War, when the field of "operations
manage its massive war effort. When Bell peers into the future, toward the year
For instance, he predicted that more and more public outcomes would be
determined by government technocrats rather than the market (the way things
So what is Bell's achievement in this book? He was the first to identify the
dreamed up a conceptual scheme, full of ideal types and whatnot, that tied
everything together. I don't think that conceptual scheme has a whole lot of
whole, and as something qualitatively different from the industrial society
that it superseded. By naming the thing, Bell ushered it into existence. Thanks
One thing still bothers me, though. Bell often writes about information as
though it is something we consume directly, something that makes us happy. In
fact, our "utility functions," as economists call them, have not really
changed. The final goods from which we derive satisfaction are food and
Information has transformed the mode of production, rationalized it, made
production and markets more efficient, and so on. But the information
system; some fear the agent may affect the nervous systems of children,
different angle: the Journal notes that the announcement will
Post puts the missile test in the ninth paragraph of a larger story on
against the beleaguered Christian Coalition. The judge ruled that, in all but
two cases, the Christian Coalition's distribution of voting guides did not
illegal campaign contribution. The decision is expected to allow more citizen
The Post and Journal both run articles on the risks and
rewards of day trading, which apparently contributed to the recent massacre in
Most traders sit at home alone, get unreliable tips through chat rooms, and
lose their own money rather than that of a client. The Journal
acknowledges these risks but argues that day trading makes financial markets
more efficient and provides greater odds than (other) legalized forms of
of unexpectedly high labor costs in the second quarter does not necessarily
mean the economy is overheating. As if in divine confirmation of her argument,
boom. And the Post reports that economic growth and price increases in
makes the provocative argument that the quickest way to halt China's
belligerence is to simply hand over all our nuclear warhead and ballistics
inferiority complex about its relatively primitive nuclear arsenal. Once China
the need to taunt its neighbors after every tiny technological advance.
projected budget surpluses by buying back some government bonds before their
individual rights to water from the Colorado River, but the paper's top
reaction to the drought there, new regulations that will shut off lawn
package for farmers, which is a response not only to drought conditions but
also to falling commodities prices. The paper points out that this bill would
spend more than half of next year's projected budget surplus and comes on the
goes with the New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling that the Boy Scouts' ouster of
a gay scout leader constituted illegal discrimination. In four previous cases
in other states, the paper informs, the high courts sided with the scouts. The
Times front the scout story, while the Post runs it inside.
securities. The plan probably won't take place until next year. The paper
does not require congressional approval. Both Times note that it also is
a vehicle for reducing the government's reliance on foreign lenders, who
reduced government borrowing will also lessen competition with private
companies for funds, thereby lowering interest rates. The Wall Street Journal notes that the announcement spurred a
population explosion offers a mixed demographic bag: increased life expectancy
percent of airline tickets, but increased Internet purchases are a clear
why she agreed to discuss in an interview such a personal subject, she said,
percent of a recent sample say they are tired of all the problems of the
If you know so much about the New York Senate race, then please tell me who
"more complex and appealing guy" than your cartoonish description dictated. And
loyalty that Al Gore so desperately needs; I duly noted that it's "overly
vs. female, local politician vs. national figure, technocrat vs. idealist. Both
manager. Does the idea of a first lady winning elected office not intrigue you
It sounds like you've already imagined this campaign down to the suits the
candidates will wear in their commercials. But no one really knows how these
two will perform, or how voters will receive them. They're both familiar
anything but mayor). Sure, this suspense may evaporate with the first round of
candidacy in the next, on the grounds that she is cynically leveraging her
ethical lapse to discuss (and a lapse of common sense. Given her history of
financial scandal, she'd be a fool to do anything improper). Nepotism is unfair
by definition, but it's even less fair to level those charges selectively.
disconsolate to write meaningful prose. But plenty of eulogies contain good
copy. So I still don't see why death announcements can't honor the departed in
Your theory that the Internet is the crack of the '90s is a keeper, if not a
shootings, the Internet did it. Or, if it didn't exactly pull the trigger, it
sure didn't tackle the gunman and restrain him. So goes the conventional
That culture holds up a frightening mirror. Reflected there is an image of a
into a computer screen on which he seeks a disembodied fortune or, if that
piece online), isolated from my fellows, maybe I should be grateful that I have
the Breakfast Table for a little human connection (or that I have two X
contributing to the demise of magazines also includes an intriguing piece of
the book is banned. (In my edition, this story coincidentally appears right
which, as we've seen above, is suspiciously connected to murderous mayhem in
its own way, even though we're not sure exactly how.)
photographed with two children and various commemorative stamps. You have to
love shopping bots, always thinking ahead to your next purchase. "Gee, I didn't
Could it be that since there are so many other news sources (Internet, cable
week's Times business section's lead media article should be about
whether newspapers have become more like magazines in their struggle to
maintain and build readership in these trying digital times.
landscape. Although he is generally considered to be the greatest living
school of sociological thought. He has been called "a sage without a
following." In the '70s, when the book we are discussing was originally
published, he had a higher profile. One survey placed him among the "ten most
untold mindless repetitions. That, of course, is not Bell's fault. Indeed, it
was with some excitement that I opened this new edition of The Coming of
of his theorizing and the accuracy of his predictions.
unleavened prose, the endless morphological distinctions ("systems," "orders,"
evident. The further one reaches ahead in time with a set of forecasts, the
Bell may have been one of the more sparkling of the New York intellectuals
grand, sterile, abstract schematics to describe society.
which was allegedly a revision of an earlier scheme titled "The Configurative
Patterning of Social Movements." The parody is not all that funny. What is
hilarious is that a couple of sociological colleagues to whom he sent it
mistook it for the real thing. One of them, he writes, "sent me back a serious
letter about some of the categories, while the other, not knowing whether it
was a spoof or not, wrote: 'You are too good a sociologist not to have created
something which itself is quite useful.' And a third asked me for a copy of my
goes: The media are right to hype this movie, but they're hyping it for the
history of culture: scaring and delighting audiences and making oneself rich
and famous by pushing back the boundaries of what is commonly thought of as
This would be a fairly obvious thought to have if you saw the movie, as I
itself. He had it framed by heavy curtains, surrounded by semicircular benches,
and lit by gaslight, so people could sit and stare at it at night, as if in
attendance at a play. He charged a quarter per visitor and handed out opera
glasses or special metal tubes, so viewers could pick out this detail and that
one. This was a whole new way to exhibit art, and it made him not only the most
the first mere artist who could afford to build a mansion on what was then the
The painting that makes Church worth remembering, though, came two years
retrospect, Church's style doesn't seem realistic at all, at least as we tend
to mean the word today. He left out the factories and hotels that lined the
banks of the tourist trap, as well as the thousands of visitors who
rubbernecked there every year. But his painting felt more real than what had
come before it, because it was bigger and wider and more maniacally detailed,
and because every brushstroke contributed to the general sense of the water's
ferocious power as it rushed to the edge. Coming as it did not long after the
even though, being a work of  supernaturalism, it breaks all the rules of
moment (the reason most music video makers employ the technique) but because
it's the best way to get across the filmmakers' Gothic vision of the world just
of light. Oddly, as visions go, it's not depressing in the least. What's
depressing is critics who celebrate a movie like this for its commercial,
Chatterbox jumped to an unfair conclusion last week when he said that the
marital infidelity] has not made a secret of the fact that he's talked to the
The book's subtitle is, "A Pastor to the President Speaks Out," but I
you're such a tease!] I also want it understood that book royalties go to
charities because I do not believe it is right to profit by this national
tragedy. I hope it will help readers understand the deeper implications of the
the "eye of the storm." The book draws upon that experience, although it does
not invade private pastoral conversations. I have taken up issues related to
love and sex, repentance and forgiveness, and the relationship between personal
character and public responsibility in political leaders.
secular psychotherapist would be a professional code of ethics that would come
down much harder on anyone who pulled this sort of stunt. A more cynical
that with party control of the House of Representatives at stake in the next
civil administration, especially by paying judges and other bureaucrats who've
children ordinarily at the center were off on a field trip. The papers frame
the episode with all the other mass shootings that have made news in the past
the emotion of the moment to the cause of tighter gun control, but the effort
is stalked by a lack of tighter prose control. The paper claims that "all of
wondering, "Will it take the shooting of innocents in every congressional
remained at large, and the authorities released his name and said he was a
reports that there is: In a van linked to the shooter, police found a book
report that there was also a very large amount of ammunition found in the
LAT says he pleaded guilty in the knife case. The LAT notes that
inside. The shooter was a jet fighter and the bogey was an unarmed
ratchet up friction between the two countries, who've already had a ground war
The papers report that according to the Department of Education, expulsions
the year before that. In the coverage, this result is treated as confirmation
that despite sensational campus shootings, in fact the risk of school violence
is on the decline. But there is hardly any discussion of the idea that it may
just mean students are getting better at not getting caught packing. For
judicial conference, something he's done more than once. The story was reported
says, the firm tried to branch out from guns into motorcycle helmets, but was
The New York Times built a neighborhood again today.
below canal, and Dumbo is down under the Manhattan Bridge). The story does not
reveal how many New Yorkers have rented or bought apartments in NoMad recently.
Instead, it features a few fashion industry execs and designers who moved there
in search of stately prewar buildings, fantastic restaurants, and affordable
The Times does this at least once a year. Last year it instructed us
And when will the Times lay the "Circuits" section to rest? When it
stops bringing in so many ads, I guess. Today the "Technology Journal" section
it makes digital culture seem so dull that it's probably keeping a couple
the brilliant megalithic skyline laid out before you in even greater and
sparkling waters of New York Harbor, you didn't need any kind of visual aid to
one of the main ways I, being a meteorologically preoccupied fellow, was
impressed was with the party's climatological riskiness. I ran into Jay
"What would have happened if it had rained?" I asked him.
the trees. In the middle of each the tables was a huge picnic basket, in which,
silverware, and plastic containers filled with corn salad and potato salad, and
strolling waiters supplemented these dishes with platters of lamb chops and
fried chicken. Some tables featured big galvanized tubs filled with ice and
bottles of white wine; columns of bottles of red wine stood in front of the
and there were long bars in two or three places. A stage and temporary dance
statue was closed to the general public, and only party guests were allowed on
the two Statue of Liberty ferries that went to the island and came back
be foolish to drop names; they were as plentiful as the lights burning in the
World Trade Center, which presided over the proceedings like titanic parents.
When we got off the boat, we were ushered along the pier by, well, ushers. A
lot of them had headsets on. Some motioned us on our way with
stunningly on the pier illuminated by camera lights in the gathering dusk in a
If you'll just step this way." Oh, well, there's no way of avoiding the names:
Lane Smith, on rounding the bend in front of the statue and seeing the
effect of the big lawn bolster recliners. Numbers began wafting about on the
Island and the skyline with an electric sign on it that said Talk (did I
throughout the night kept noisomely referring to as "Lady Liberty" (a moniker
on the same unacceptability level as "The Big Apple") came way down on the
at one point, but despite referring to one of the contributors to the display's
and his fabled familiarity with fireworks. The finale left no one in the
audience in any doubt as to the existence of his or her sternum and
percent of the audience was not talking to or hearing from someone who wasn't
with them. I mean, there was the headset crowd, coordinating whatever it was
be careful not to get him angry, Dad"), but if he was there, I didn't see his
presided, asking that we "give it up for," among others, "Lady Liberty." She
also seemed ultimately dwarfed by the setting and by the event she herself had
goodbye to this luminary or that one. I got five minutes face time with my
"Have you seen it yet?" she asked, I like to think a little plaintively.
"Putting it to press had its nightmare moments," she said.
"Yes, people were telling me things about nervous breakdowns and
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "You'll have to swim over there, young man,"
He hurried off to press a little more flesh. Speaking of which, "It doesn't
Even knowing that most of this whole function was all for buzz and hype and
advertising and so on, I said, "This was so generous of you. Thank you for
breeze. My wife and I stood on the foredeck or whatever you call it. "This is
Even though my Rotisserie baseball team (the Nattering Nabobs) is mired in
the second division, I began my reading rounds by checking the late West Coast
the Younger: "My dad's been in baseball how many years? He knows what to say
questions with innocuous sports cliches. These days, as even toddlers learn how
to practice "spin," virtually everyone quoted in the news knows "what to say
the handful of brave souls who dared to tell truth in today's papers.
leadership may end up with an issue but no legislation." That, of course, is
like a $600-billion tax cut in order to clear the decks for some sort of grand
Buried inside the Post and the Times is the news that Al
met but long admired. As a college student in the late 1960s, I remember how I
too many Viceroys, stayed up too late and caroused too much."
collected works. But something weird is happening out there, which makes the
about the money woes and vituperative divorce proceedings of local Congressman
"wasting the family assets on his stock market gambling." And the Wall
in thrift accounts, claims to have made money in the market. But, the
Journal observes, "from cautious saver to citizen speculator in just a
Anyway, it's time for me to make a trek of my own off to a newsstand in
News coverage of the tax cut bill now in Congress has noted that the bills
contain special favors for certain companies and individuals, including Warren
Special favors in legislation almost always are disguised as provisions of
language that fits only one beneficiary. The alleged "special favor" for
when Congress was concerned about the power and possible misuse of foundations.
maintaining control of public companies indirectly through a foundation. By
passing his stock on to a foundation, rather than to family members themselves,
the patriarch could guarantee that it wouldn't be sold by heirs or dispersed
over the generations. The Senate version of the new tax bill would raise the
his stock to his wife, or if she dies first, to his family's private
guided by the same philosophy and objectives that now set our course," he
book, the series has explored every nook and cranny of the presumptive
Republican nominee's biography. We hear at length about Bush's childhood
reaction to his little sister's death from leukemia, his pole vault over the
have learned approximately nothing about what W. thinks about
speeches and statements, and you will remain unenlightened as to his views.
Bush offers conventional conservative's bromides about the economy and the
social programs. But if he has a political philosophy that goes beyond
trust are working on position papers at this very moment, and they'll soon
Bush has embarked on a presidential campaign lacking something even more basic:
pragmatist. He's a cipher. In an interview excerpt, the Post reporters
remember debates. I don't think we spent a lot of time debating it. Maybe we
did, but I don't remember." This does not appear to be a convenient failure to
recall opinions that have since become unpopular or embarrassing. It's the
religious right. Though he eschews most of the issues and themes dear to social
conservatives, such as actually trying to ban abortion, Bush wears his
Christian beliefs on his sleeve. You might say that he does something similar
with secularized voters as well, substituting his personal sense of compassion
for the kind of policies that could do something to help the poor. In a big
dentistry. That Bush cares about the people waiting outside the clinic makes
you think he's a decent human being. But people who can't afford to get their
teeth fixed don't need religious charity. They need dental
have a fine grasp on why so many voters are turned off by his party. Bush seems
predict that Bush will soon find a moment to blast some marginal figure on the
When your task is unifying a divided party, knowing
what views to reject, as Bush seems to, may be more important than knowing what
policies you support. Those Republican candidates with strong and consistent
easier to position oneself according to the current political wisdom. That's
one of the reasons governors generally make better presidential candidates than
evolution. Better still is a governor who lacks even private opinions. He's a
political consultant's perfect Barbie doll. You can dress him in this year's
fashions. And no one will remember him wearing anything different.
yet another political leadership crisis for the country, which faces a
parliamentary election at the end of the year and a presidential one in the
middle of the next. Because of the development's late break, of the early
editions, only the LAT front has it, in the form of a reefer box. The
every immigrant eligible for deportation because of a criminal conviction.
Today leads with a story that gets front space at the
the cuts could force deep cuts in domestic programs and raise interest rates.
could and should be passed this year. Some of the coverage marks the continuing
very much equals, pictorially at least. (This represents a very conscious
have raised twice as much money via this route as the Democrats. This is all
soft money, not governed by the rules for individual, union, or corporate
and issue ads rather than for individual candidacies, and the paper explains
probation following a conviction for shoplifting clothes for her children. And
the story provides no examples of obviously dangerous criminals snagged by the
INS under the old policy. But the paper goes on to admit that it's unclear how
television producer (complete with crew) and once an ordinary passenger in a
taxicab. Both stories (and isn't it curious that both papers would
tradition of leaders going out in mufti, with the overall feeling being that
find out what real people put up with and what they actually think. If a
president has a certain knack for, ahem, sneaking around, he might as well do
seriously racial harassment he suffered on the job. In a company bathroom, the
man, the lone black crew chief at his work space, discovered a depiction of
himself next to the words, "Nigger, Nigger, Nigger." And then there was a
thought displaying nooses could be offensive, but he did not think it was a
form of harassment. (The man tried to retreat from this view after a 23-minute
percent of respondents thinking that there have been other political scandals
just about every waking breath: "Need to be good to do good. Need for joy,
campaign video by the paper's editor, a close friend of Gore's. And indeed, the
editor has now said the appearance was a mistake. This is dumb. Isn't the
editor allowed to also have a private role as a voter? And even in his public
role, there's an excellent chance his newspaper under his direction will
endorse Gore's candidacy. So obviously, it's okay for people to know what he
"Dedicated pool owners are dropping hundreds of pounds of ice into their
90-degree pools in hopes of some relief," the Wall Street Journal
degrees too hot. To raise the temperature of one gallon of water by one degree
Ice cools by absorbing heat in two steps. First it melts, then the resulting
calories to melt one pound of ice into 32-degree water. Each pound of ice
water would immediately start getting warmer again.
For those pool owners who would like to personalize this calculation, here's
sense of him in the context of our time. Let's take a look at some of the more
options (convertible to stock), or get to buy stock at a discounted rate
"capitalist class" ends and the "proletariat" begins. The tension between the
phrases it in terms of "envy," writing, "Democracy is by nature contentious
tag line (paraphrasing) "Everyone is getting rich, except for me!" accompanying
class conflict, but rather phrases it in terms of envy alone. There's always
national lottery, everyone gets a chance to become a successful capitalist. Our
online brokerage. In this kind of environment, Bell's analysis seems off in the
come to pass is his rather abstract statement that "Now reality is primarily
celebrity, famous "persons," and the game between them, does form the shared
experience as a society. This aspect of Bell's thinking isn't developed much in
his book. Another aspect of our future that he mentions, but fails to really
investigate, is his criticism of "groups" ("blacks," hippies, women, etc.) and
his sense that a cultural fissure is appearing between young and old. Where he
sees these elements as destabilizing and misguided, we've come to understand
But from Bell's perspective, affirmative action, demands for quotas, and
automatic inclusion of minority groups in democratic decisions through mandates
are his red flags. He imagines a future where the call of every minority for
inclusion, by quota, destroys the meritocratic principle of his favored
discussion of the troubling article on the back page of this morning's Wall
the Republican welfare bill. Amid all the triumphant rhetoric about the orderly
transition from welfare to work, it seems that many people who are still
entitled to food stamps aren't getting them for reasons that include ignorance,
But try as I might, my tabloid sensibility keeps being drawn back to the
A-10 that the New York Times devoted to this topic in my edition of
she said her husband's philandering was rooted in an emotionally abused
childhood." Personally, I pity New Yorkers (myself included) who will be
emotionally abused by every element of this Senate race. But I also cannot help
One last thought on the Times lead story on the demise of the
Christian Coalition as a potent political force. As someone who covers
now are the Times and the rest of the press belatedly offering a
Many more thoughts, but I should get about the business of getting these
Amid all the hoopla, however, Chatterbox hasn't seen any attention lavished
on Talk's bold and imaginative Web site (which is not to be confused with the highly
entertaining Talk parody site posted prior to publication by a
know how to think outside the box, figured the Talk Web site would
carry an article or two from the magazine, and some information on how to
subscribe. How wrong Chatterbox was! The Talk Web site is actually an entirely black screen
project his most elaborate fantasies onto what Talk could be!
appealing guy than your caricature indicates. And I guess we don't know the
favorite dishes, most memorable meals, and culinary heirs. The accompanying
impersonal. (These announcements aren't printed in the national edition of the
sincerest condolences." None mention a single personal characteristic of the
is how deeply competitive jealousy affects news judgment, even on stories where
the importance is overwhelming. It's happening this week with the revelations
forcing the secretary of energy to launch an investigation, and all but admit
that the government lied about this contamination for years. As you might
expect, the plant's work force has been struck with all kinds of cancer.
who died after a futile decade of trying to get the plant to acknowledge his
If I were a national news editor, I would use this horror story as a chance
involvement in nuclear contamination. Remind readers of the experiments done on
children, get a reading on the other bomb plants, etc. Instead, most of the big
one story yesterday with virtually no reporting in it.
course, will be executives from the very papers who are now ignoring the
On an arguably brighter note, there is a milestone obituary in today's
fan: The show itself I find unwatchable.) Anyway, the Times obit is
her illness last month." The story also discloses that "the Food Network is
television broadcast has been plugged in a Times obituary.
Sorry to be so grim this morning. I lost a sizable sum of money in a poker
The Times editorial board shouldn't bother expounding on the News
she trusts her readers to spot a moral problem when they see one.
as the new Modern Maturity cover would stir my subscription, membership,
their younger peers. Yesterday the magazine hyped the issue with a study
previously knew. The stats have already garnered a ton of attention: "If you're
section reveals some blatant miscounting behind the PR blitz. It turns out that
opposes big government, and takes particular exception to welfare programs. But
other telling corn farmers and hog farmers that the free market is unfair, that
the government isn't doing enough to help them, and that taxpayers should
support them when they fail to make money on their own.
subsidies for ethanol, a fuel derived from corn (his thoughtful explanation: "I
issue. Here's what the leading contenders are offering as of today:
Would not use food as a unilateral sanction or diplomatic weapon.
Emergency disaster relief, both through direct payments to farmers and
Organization and allow importation of genetically modified farm products.
Double federal support for research at land grant universities.
Repeal the inheritance tax for the sake of farm families.
Mandatory federal price reporting for pork producers.
An increase in exports under the Food for Peace program.
Full utilization of the Conservation Reserve Program.
Full utilization of the Export Enhancement Program.
Allowing China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
farmers open access to their markets absent tariffs and quotas.
Review all embargoes and sanctions of foreign countries that use food
Rewrite the Endangered Species Act to require a vote of Congress on every
End the regulatory theft of property without just compensation.
The Fed should ease its tight money policy and immediately reduce real
Tear down trade barriers and bust open new markets.
Literature does not good policy make, as some poet somewhere must have said.
a witty, heartbreaking memoir about being the bitterly poor son of an
him up for his opinions on vouchers (he's against them) and teachers unions
(he's for them, but thinks they're too bureaucratic). But his philosophy is
plainest to see in his books. For the growing numbers of experts advocating
draconian "drill and practice" routines in which a teacher's every gesture and
on things. ("He tells us what is important and why. No master ever told us why
before. If you asked why you'd be hit on the head.") Standardized tests are
The chairman says there will be midterm exams in two weeks
and my teaching should focus on areas that will be covered in exams. Students
in English should have mastered spelling and vocabulary lists, one hundred of
each which they are supposed to have in their notebooks and if they don't
points off, and be prepared to write essays on two novels. Economic Citizenship
students should be more than halfway through Your World and
Since the students have studied neither spelling nor vocabulary and never 
cracked their Economic Citizenship textbook, the advice could not have been
more malapropos. Teaching eventually becomes easier but even more mindless:
I followed the teacher guides. I launched the prefabricated
questions at my classes. I hit them with surprise quizzes and tests and
destroyed them with the ponderous detailed examinations concocted by college
My students resisted and cheated and disliked me and I disliked them
I couldn't let days dribble by in the routine of high school
grammar, spelling, vocabulary, digging for the deeper meaning in poetry, bits
of literature doled out for the multiple choice tests that would follow so that
universities can be supplied with the best and the brightest. I had to begin to
enjoy the act of teaching and the only way I could do that was start over,
teach what I loved and to hell with the curriculum.
Now here's a truly humane theory of education: The more fully realized the
teacher is, intellectually and personally, the better able he will be to
communicate his passion for ideas and learning to the student. Conversely, the
speak) and must have been an unforgettable teacher whatever he did. But could
of it, as a result of the ministrations of a kind librarian and a fellow
has retired early in disgust) when they aren't sadistic. Considering how hard
wonder whether  individual teachers can really measure their own progress. That
teaching, done right, requires all of a teacher's emotional and intellectual
resources; that we accord teachers neither the respect nor the pay they need to
function well in their jobs; that few public school teachers come close to the
this seems like a good argument for better pay scales and reform in the
educational system that produces teachers. But in the absence of a nation of
accountability and less freedom to do as they please.
"Man Bites Dog" and "It's the End of the World, But Don't Panic"), with an
first lady. Chatterbox (who has no opinion about whether these rumors are true,
good investment, plain and simple. We are not sitting there working on each
week's copy. We are not involved in the weekly or monthly or, for that matter,
any editorial decision of any kind. I think if you went around and asked any
way. It is management's job to manage the company. We are financial guys, and
just the pimp, I don't turn the tricks," or whether he's casting himself,
unmolested (though Chatterbox did point out, earlier, a bizarre feint in the
week's issue includes headlines such as "Your Family May Be Living Under a
interesting content to that large an audience, and deliver that large an
because practically by definition these readers will
York City college freshman Felicity fly to Berlin with her handsome and
she chose Ben. This was disastrous for Felicity personally, of course, but
also, surprisingly, for us. Felicity didn't just alienate Noel and her best
friend and land herself a boyfriend who gives every sign of being a sleazebag
(and whom one hopes she'll slough off within an episode or two). She set
herself back to exactly where she was last year. As a freshman at the beginning
of the show's first season, Felicity rushed to New York to follow Ben, on whom
and become a premed student.) She spent the rest of the year getting over it
and growing up, so convincingly that one speculated she might have become too
shows, will be forced to face more and more in coming years: Adolescents grow
let characters grow without abandoning of original concept for the show. Many
television series face this quandary, of course; how they respond is one
The sight of Felicity choosing Ben is the sight of the
alternately flaky and smart. Plus she had the best curls on television. The
of itself. Felicity has become hangdog and whiny. Her and Noel's banter has
soured into spite. "I can't believe how horrible it is that we're speaking like
this to each other," she tells him quaveringly, as he punitively regales her
with details of sex he had with another woman during the summer. Felicity is
again paired unhappily with her bitchy punk roommate, only this time the
moved back in with him and his roommate, which has the effect of turning a
hitherto delightful character into something just short of a stalker.
And on it goes, in details too creepy to enumerate.
Such is the rhythm of our legal system: Something quite
simple ("I want a divorce") is made exceedingly complex ("What percentage of
your income goes to the phone bills?") only to be made too simple again
One learns this phenomenon within minutes of entering
meeting of the minds about whose version he was to sing?"). Your job as law
an outline you'll use to study for finals. The point may or may not appear in
Such expansion and contraction mean that lawyers are
never quite certain how big or important things are. This is why we yell about
of the latter half of this century. As have the last three antitrust trials
with dozens of witnesses and thousands of exhibits. It might have grown even
the number of witnesses and kinds of testimony to prevent the legal entropy
as though Computing as We Know It was on the line. But things got quiet, we
tried instant messaging, we maybe upgraded, and we bought orange Gap vests
more, with each side submitting proposed findings of fact, then revised
versions of same, each of which told a condensed version of their story from
systems market to bully and threaten its way into dominance over the browser
that distribution channels for competitors were never foreclosed, and that
Today, with two and a half hours allocated to each side
for closing arguments, the case contracts once again until it is virtually
changed. Except the lawyers have traded their fine brushes for broad
ribbons at trial, simply hands out his outline to the class. He spends the
morning walking us through the elements of antitrust law and offering evidence
from the record to support his claims. This man who virtually commanded the
small courtroom downstairs during trial, seems somewhat diminished today. But
Speaking as though his mouth is full of aquarium gravel, he paints everything
larger than it is. His job is simple: He must punch holes into the government's
soft places. He does not use an outline. He simply begins to roar. The
government has never, ever proved that their browser and operating systems are
inseparable he leaves for another day). In swinging away at the government's
penetration), Warden employs the kind of hyperbole usually reserved for
domestic fights about who does the dishes. "The government has offered
"Games and shams," he snarls. When he concludes, it is with an ominous
bad. The balalaikas recede. Then he whips out his outline. He focuses narrowly,
not to sell more copies of Windows, but rather, to stop their competitors. Now
his gavel and leaves the massive courtroom. Now he will reduce these thousands
of facts to an even smaller opinion. In the interim, technologies will change
and change again. When the dust settles, if it ever settles, all of this will
stand for something very great in the casebooks and the exam papers.
Times fronts that, but leads instead with the tremendous earthquake
police brutality and corruption scandal: that a police captain chose to ignore
nationwide toll, favoring numbers to do so: One million people in New Jersey
ordered by authorities to boil their tap water; total damages possibly as high
such passages as: "In county after county, meanwhile, people confronted
hardships that seemed almost biblical in scope: Coffins sent floating away from
away; and thousands of residents living without safe tap water, telephones or
capture the sense in which she broke Soviet ground as a political wife: less
coverage fails to deliver a bit in its attempts to depict any further
someone "who had her own mind," but neither describes any position she ever
Guard placement, he never received such a request from anyone in the Bush
Journal reports that according to the latest government stats, labor
years have shown that raising the minimum wage doesn't detract from job
artillery pieces in the field, while Short wanted to hit strategic targets,
such as ministry buildings and power plants. In noting that, according to the
leaves the reader with the impression that it was the strategic
police scandal for a beat. The paper reports that city officials are bracing
for a raft of legal claims likely to be brought against the city by suspects
who've been arrested or questioned by the policemen implicated thus far.
Question about that: Just as papers routinely appeal to citizens to provide
information they might have about unsolved crimes or fugitives, why doesn't the
mistreated by the officers in question to come forward? Of course, this would
grounds of executive privilege, to provide Congress with documents it requested
Times has its very own storm to lead with, a widening police scandal,
shooting unarmed suspects, planting weapons on suspects and of drug dealing and
sending at least one person to prison on totally false court testimony. The
hand over documents, and the Post says it's saying no to witnesses too,
the Times says the White House will release some clemency documents it
feels are not covered by executive privilege and will allow three
administration officials to appear at congressional hearings. But everybody
headline is almost a template, calling him a "loner, full of rage." The
fantasized about murder, and was feared by several of his neighbors. Since this
better to require authorities to do so before a gun purchase could legally be
made, rather waiting for reporters to do so after a shooting?
concerns should prevent them from exporting software that encrypts electronic
communications. (This story fronts the LAT business section and was
law enforcement increased power to combat criminal uses of computers, although
not as much as had been contemplated in several working drafts of the
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study
deaths), you'd think that a story about a phenomenon said to have claimed
thousands of lives last year would get a lot of front space. Think again.
Apparently, the papers don't deem this food for thought. It's not on anybody's
studies for minority students in the sciences, engineering and education. The
head of the United Negro College Fund is quoted by the Times saying the
doctorates in the targeted fields. The coverage reports that the decision has
drawn some fire from opponents complaining that it shuts out qualified white
wives, another top Army general was just removed from his big Pentagon job
while the Army sees if he did the same thing. Fortunately, at least one brass
admiral argues that since it's in the Pentagon's direct interest to have
access to the improved manpower pool that would come out of better schools, the
fully finance Head Start and reduce class size from kindergarten through third
all the unnecessary planes, subs and nukes in the defense budget, says the
Where, oh where, are the stories about the presidential and congressional
whole thing is buried deep in a story under a headline that doesn't even
largest source of Medicare fraud: not doctors and hospitals but illicit schemes
by the companies hired by the government to administer claims. The
Times says eight such companies have paid more than
settle fraud and other charges relating to Medicare payouts. One complaint: The
story relies on the phrase "Medicare contractors" in the early going, holding
off until the ninth paragraph before using any actual names of offending
their reaction was a "cordial welcome." All this in contrast to the stark scene
here.) The plan is, the papers report, for the peacekeeping troops to make
referendum made a tape, from a radio scanner, of communications between
quote alleged to be on tape says of the observers: "Those white people should
franchise dealer must still be involved.) The Times
institute's newspaper ads supporting the company's position in its antitrust
with helping to disseminate the institute's ads, then why didn't the company
Web to arrange a sexual encounter with an underage girl, who was actually an
reveals: "When I was a child in the 50s, we had these school exercises where
we'd stick our heads under our desks to protect ourselves from the bomb. How
I hear what you're saying about being skeptical while also taking
for while I think Celebration is a flawed experiment with insidious
discredit (all of) their motives. Now, the same for books: I give just about
anyone high marks for writing one, and I hate to see any author misread
for a writer, requiring a simultaneous existence as neighbor and spy, friend
and infidel. For taking on that task, all three of these writers deserve kudos.
to it. It takes the same year, same town, same questions, and many of the same
diary of whose kid beat up whose, etc., stay within the perimeter of
apparent consternation of some reviewers but to my relief, strays beyond it.
seem to draw those thinkers very deep into the matters that make Celebration an
Celebration is a world apart. He makes it a part of the world, an actor in a
larger ecology. This can be through the natural incursions of alligators into
porches. Or more significant, it can involve the human machinery behind the
whose imposition of civic virtue in Celebration relies to some extent on
flocked to buy houses in Celebration find it extraordinary, and thankfully,
too, enough so to warrant spending a year of their lives there. Do you truly
a main character specifically imagines his wife fucking her boss on the boss'
private jet. (However, just to make clear that fiction isn't necessarily
completely craven asshole. I think he'll be unhappier than any of the other
me most in contemporary politics. I do confess that every time I actually hear
winner, doesn't he? And in any case, by both our reckonings, Al Gore is a sure
By the way, I disobeyed you. And Coliseum Books was relieved when my
publisher called and suggested we might want to think about rescheduling the
to your apartment, read all the passages about private jets out loud, and sign
"this is why W. is so dangerous." I don't quite get this. I guess this is why
doesn't scare me. This is, conversely, among the many reasons I could never be
Yes. Most large earthquakes produce thousands of aftershocks, but the
Earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of pressure that has built up
between two tectonic plates. Because the stress is rarely discharged in a
single jolt, earthquakes almost always occur in clusters: first, a few small
aftershock is defined as a quake that occurs on or near the original fault
active long after a major quake and can experience aftershocks up to a decade
later. But most aftershocks happen soon after the primary quake. In fact,
seismologists have a rough method for predicting the number of aftershocks on a
scale, and not generally perceived by people. (Click here for a
shaking all day. But most people probably didn't know it.
full power of their influence in the media and the culture to oppose,
discredit, and in many cases smear the supporters. That's one of the reasons
academic factors. He says this system of selecting people so young is unfair to
bit: He decries the existence of the educated elite, but when push comes to
shove he seems more a creature of that elite than an opponent or a detached
elitist. That is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the educated
paradoxical. This is an elite raised to oppose elites. This is an elite with an
concern for the less fortunate. That's why its members write books like this
one. When members of the elite oppose the middle class and sometimes trample
all over them, they are usually doing it in the name of egalitarianism. The
is his concern for people less fortunate than himself. He is never
man, but I admire him through his writings. From what I know about him, he
seems to have had all the educational advantages. And here he is arguing
most members of the educated elite will agree with him.
fundamentally different than and better than the Protestant Establishment that
which he says we should change the way we select our elites. The ethos he
describes in his heroes undercuts his case. If we are going to have an
mentioned yesterday that I just finished a book about the manners and morals of
this educated class. When I wrote the proposal, I said that my last chapter
would be about the revolt against this class, for some of the same reasons that
too early; they live in a culture that is detached from the rest of the
culture; the income gap between them and the rest of the culture is widening.
But as I traveled around doing my research, I couldn't find any evidence of
this class revolt. There didn't seem to be any mass movement to upend people
seems to want to learn how to drink espressos like we do. The only people who
seemed genuinely upset about the educated elite were members of the educated
plays out over many spheres. This is an elite that dresses casually so it won't
consumption instead of conspicuous consumption. This is an elite in which
wealth disparities. This is not too say they are hypocrites. It is to say they
go to extraordinary lengths to mitigate their social advantages, at least
the new ruling class. They give the coming elite an egalitarian sensibility, so
when they rise to the top, they won't give off offensive vapors that might
professors actually serve to solidify the current class structure.
book is this: He brilliantly shows how the Protestant Establishment gave way to
the educated elite. He tells for the first time how the selective mechanism for
underlines the problems with this arrangement. He makes a truncated plea for
reform. But he never shows the great harms perpetrated by this system. He
doesn't show how the new elites have been corrupted by their status, or of the
misery of How the Other Half Lives. On the contrary, he shows how educated
central flaw of this elite is excessive egalitarianism. That's the least bad
You mentioned yesterday that today you were going to
for president. The surprising news wasn't that Friends of the Earth was dissing
somewhat to the left of most other national environmental groups, which are
still expected to endorse the vice president. No, what was surprising was that
either candidate's commitment to environmental protection. Still, Gore is
of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization." By
movement brought a vast improvement in the quality of New Jersey's ecology."
(and, of course, basketball) than for any interest in conservation. How can it
aren't available on the Web), Chatterbox noticed that Gore was being judged
period when Gore wasn't around to vote (except, of course, on Senate
quite understandably occupied by running for president and vice president,
(again, because Gore had absences presumably related to the presidential
greener congressional voting record. An examination of the particular votes
calculates a legislator's lifetime score by adding up all his
because Chatterbox had already done the calculations that comprise much of this
The scandal began as a limited investigation of two
were connected, investigators began to examine whether other Rampart officers
participated in or knowingly overlooked such misconduct.
in exchange for a lighter sentence. Since then, he has accused several officers
of dealing drugs, making wrongful arrests, planting evidence, and abusing
revelations have also forced the department to revisit hundreds of cases that
may have relied on false testimony or evidence. One inmate was released after
No one has established any direct connections among the
various crimes yet. But federal officials are planning to investigate whether
the alleged misdeeds are "pattern and practice" on the force.
Power: From the moment yesterday that I professed to you my belief that acts of
do think people are bigger weather wimps today than they were when we were
away at summer camp. I have never regretted missing any event more.
Tomorrow's headlines today: Although the story may not
York Times being placed right now outside the door of your splendid suite
spring they'd flunked, and had to take remedial summer courses, did not in fact
flunk. The tests were incorrectly scored by the private firm that gave them.
itself, aside from installing metal detectors, it would be to administer a
standardized test.) How many hours until one of those kid's families file suit
national edition didn't include the story about the special new millennium
press conference, someone asked the ConEd guy if the swirly new Op Art
underfoot might not dangerously addle drunks stumbling through the gutters of
I know, I know what you're thinking: Enough with the
like him. But it was mildly shocking, as if my mother were to call me tonight
Since this is our last day, and Action premieres tonight, we won't be able to discuss its merits
reading the reviews of the show in the paper this morning, I wondered: Do you
One of the bad things about a bull market is that the performance of
mediocre stocks can look great when presented in isolation. Combine that fact
is, you have to measure the success of an investment against other potential
Take the very curious column by Roger Smith, Variety's financial
columnist, in the most recent issue of that magazine. In essence, Smith argues
that entertainment stocks have been often undervalued, and that they've been
There are a lot of strange ideas packed into that argument. First, it
assumes that Wall Street somehow controls stock prices. In the long term, it
doesn't. Markets collectively set prices, and markets are much bigger, and
smarter, than all the investment banks and brokerage houses in the world put
together. If the market has looked skeptically on entertainment stocks, it's
probably for a very good reason. And even if Wall Street did set prices, the
idea that investment bankers have consistently foregone potential fortunes for
unwilling to buy or even recommend entertainment stocks is, at best,
But there's also a deeper problem here, which is that entertainment
out that "the revenue side of showbiz" has risen dramatically at home and
phenomenally abroad over the past decade and a half. But he doesn't say
anything about the profitability of showbiz as an industry, let alone about its
return on invested capital (the most important single metric of a company's
economic performance). That's because compared to industries such as software,
Besides, haven't entertainment stocks been mediocre? Well, Smith mentions
that Wall Street analysts often cite this point as justification for what he
Now, set aside the fact that of the real powerhouses, three are cable
companies that own hard assets, not part of what we usually think of as
stocks that Smith cites have done about as well as or worse than the market as
a whole. Then recognize that Smith is talking about the very best of the best
here, and you start to see how weak the industry as a whole has been.
well as or significantly better than the best entertainment companies over the
It's not that entertainment isn't a better business than it used to be. It
is, mainly because the people running these companies are spending more time
running them and less time thinking about how to make them bigger. But by the
easy to obscure that fact. But even in a bull market, the real numbers don't
The New York Times leads with the government's filing yesterday of
a lawsuit against the tobacco industry charging decades of fraud and seeking
which led yesterday with a tipper on the filing, runs it inside, choosing
instead to go with the virtual certainty that Congress will not complete work
explains the paper, is that suddenly not touching the Social Security trust
fund has become a Republican goal, something hard to achieve without accepting
SHUTDOWN." What, the Democrats are perfectly willing to have one?
previously identified ones like the Bank of New York, are accused of
little ado midway into an inside story about the reorganization of the
The papers explain that the government's civil fraud
suit seeks to recover the federal monies spent over the years on
for military personnel and federal civilian employees, expenses not covered in
settlements the tobacco manufacturers previously made of suits where states
costs. It's also noted that the civil filing, despite its appeal to a
racketeering statute, marks the end of the government's attempt to bring
industry's adamant response that it will never settle this case out of court.
Journal's report says in its first paragraph that the suit is based on
a "risky interpretation of federal law." One question that doesn't get
addressed: How do the tobacco companies reconcile their denial of this suit
hard with stories raising suspicions about Lee earlier this year, is rather
measured about where this leaves things, settling for "the bureau does not yet
saying the Lee allegation "has effectively evaporated."
carry inside, word that federal investigators have uncovered a new Internet
scam by which Web porn operators clone legitimate Web pages of such sites as
automatically take you to their skin sites instead. The gambit is called
numerous pages at the porn site before escaping is known as
apology." Most of the cost comes from the defense budget.
who do. The piece quotes various city employees defending the practice on
grounds of competitiveness, etc., but never cites any baseline specifics about
what most people make. It would have been helpful to note, as did a recent
A similar loss of class and economic perspective is on
short supply of new textbooks, or about the state's utter failure when it comes
to public mass transit? Er, no, it's about the state legislature taking the
first steps towards funding an official mansion for the governor.
a campaign reform bill that would ban "soft money" and tightly regulate
"issues" ads in the two months preceding an election, to prevent these two
items from becoming vehicles for flouting contribution limits that are supposed
to apply to individual candidates. The other papers front the bill.
several million people fleeing their homes (with all the fronts that run
pictures showing the resultant traffic jams); the mass cancellation of airline
The coverage notes that last year the House passed a nearly identical
campaign reform bill, which, despite drawing a majority in the Senate, was
actually is one important new feature of this year's reform bill: It contains a
provision requiring "a candidate for election for Federal office (other than a
candidate who holds Federal office)" to reimburse the government for federally
Apparently, the nation's lawmakers cannot. And by the way, why should
incumbents be able to fly Uncle Sugar Airlines without paying?
tendency toward "sequential hysteria," the phenomenon in which a problem is
well recognized long before it reaches a critical stage, then for a few brief
days it becomes Topic A, but then before long it's back to inattention, all
known about for a long time and things are really being done in reaction to
The Wall Street Journal "Tax Report" depends a little too much
problems when he was in business. 'And now,' he says, 'I have an unlimited
major source of skewed coverage. Homework assignment: find an example where the
a controversy stemming from the revelation this week that for the neighborhoods
that identify the houses with the highest risk of burning: those with wood
shingle roofs. The city councilman for the area involved has called for a full
homes in case of fire. Fairly far in, the story mentions that maps of other
parts of the city also indicate areas of risky homes, apparently without
controversy. But the LAT utterly ignores the impact of this fact, which
is the real explanation for why the maps are now "news." The story never
watching. The Department of Defense is conducting a comprehensive review of the
due. A delay like this is sometimes a sign that unwelcome figures are being
"massaged" into the most favorable shape possible. So it will be interesting to
stands ready to make an argument either way. If the numbers are good, then the
refrain will be, "See, this stuff works, give us more stuff." And if not, it'll
be, "This stuff didn't work as well as we'd like, we need better stuff."
normal girl who fears she looks like a freak (she doesn't); he's an alien boy
who looks like the kind of shy dreamboat a girl could get a crush on (he is).
altercation; boy, who has special powers, heals her with his unearthly touch.
time, in order to register her sequence of expressions: incredulity, hilarity,
disgust at the cheesiness of the whole idea, terror, longing.
comedy history, and understand that an adequate representation of the teen
friends who try and try but just don't get it, but also an absence of
condescension. Ignore the naysayers who will complain, as they do about
Since you mention reviews of the Celebration books, I
preposterous name, of course, although preposterous town names are hardly
of Celebration: That is, it is not really such a novelty. Most of what the two
problems with house construction, issues of governance, questions of
exclusivity, people's motivations for "starting over," and so on) is found in
The Celebration Chronicles (pretentious title, no?)
sufficiently acknowledges that it is an ordinary one. Every year, like
the subject of contemporary new communities in Cities
Kidder's gift is to draw people out, and to keep himself in the background.
What mars both these books, in my opinion, is that one finds out altogether too
much about the authors' opinions, which are, frankly, neither original nor all
analogy. As an architect, I have seen many buildings, building complexes, and
planned communities completed but without inhabitants. It is spooky, I agree,
but hardly unusual. Again, with Celebration there is the tendency to inflate
and try life without deadlines." Did she quit or was she fired? It's a
pretty abrupt departure, and she has no other job lined up, but who knows?
though there's a slight hint that one's being accused of being the teacher's
it did? Who gets fired for working too hard? But she has taken a lot of
lately for being so chipper and enthusiastic about movies everyone else hated,
such as The Phantom Menace and Eyes Wide Shut. Another
it be unusual to fire a film critic for not being harsh enough? It would
certainly say something about the difference between the East and West coasts.
his lead critic for sucking up to the studios too much? Well, why did
shows how the rigors of reviewing crap can reduce a critic to an embittered
regular contributor to the New Republic who has become famous for
treated with the same withering contempt. All are seen with the same unwavering
lost the gift of being able to comprehend a work of art that does not reflect
their immediate experience; they have become afraid of genuine art." All except
her credit for insight, even though she was practically the only critic to
praise the film: "Not a single critic, not even those few who claimed to like
nothing, now that you mention it. They couldn't have less in common or less
point, rather than manufacturing a conceit, it would be this: that these two
autonomy by making it a "commonwealth," allowing it to adopt a constitution and
cannot vote for president, and the delegate they elect to Congress has no vote.
rights of citizenship become constitutional, affording them the right to vote
periodic plebiscites have not resolved what relationship the island's residents
commonwealth status and pursuit of statehood. In both plebiscites, independence
manufacturing and pharmaceutical center. Congress has begun to phase out the
citizenship and economic assistance will, as well. But there is some debate as
to whether such guarantees are constitutionally possible.
the benefits of constitutional citizenship, the federal safety net, and the
proposed adoption of English as the official language as a prerequisite for
trade pact, a common currency, and joint citizenship. Some also suggest that
infrastructure and natural resources to compete effectively.
with the serious shortage of military recruits and what the Pentagon is trying
today that he will drop out of the presidential race. One misstep in the
out of wedlock births as an embarrassing incident on a par with the potato
spelling episode. A fairer statement is that the speech helped make the topic a
billion people. One of the most alarming signs of the trend: increasing arm
is taking in as many new recruits as planned. Some of the Pentagon's countermeasures
recruiters, a job formerly reserved for personnel with a real service tour
behind them. The story describes how a major Pentagon response has been to
as two causes of the problem. The aforementioned anomalous success of the
Marine Corps suggests a politically sensitive cause that the Times
doesn't mention: the feminization of the military hasn't made it that much more
recommendation to promote changes in state laws and court rules. The paper
The Wall Street Journal runs a "Rule of Law" column that weighs
white is suing for his piece of the pie. The interesting thing is that the
governance, don't live on recognized reservations, and don't have treaties with
the government. If they were to be granted special rights, then why not do the
will even extend to externally controlled inserts such as Parade
bandwagon, how about turning up the heat on another type of advertising that
such services, which obviously promote (mostly illegal) gambling.
Bush's desire to keep Pat in the party, expressed in an Associated Press
unconstitutional because their wording could also prohibit procedures used in
Congress. The papers disagree about how many states have passed such bans
how many of these bans have been temporarily or permanently blocked by appeals
support programs needed today's legislative fix, but the LAT waits until after the jump to describe what's wrong, and how
district attorneys, with little statewide supervision. This fragmented system
thousands of men were wrongly billed, and attempts to create a statewide child
support computer system failed, resulting in large federal fines. The new laws
transfer the attorneys' duties to new county offices, which will be overseen by
law concerning the military's emergency powers. The bill was rushed through the
law could lead to a military coup. Officials claim that the act would actually
decrease military power. Three protesters and a police officer were killed
mentions early on that one of the protesters was apparently killed by a sniper
using live ammunition, though the government claims only rubber bullets were
past supporters, many of them generous Bush donors, claiming that no matter who
actually combed through Bush's list of donors for contact names (a violation of
FEC regulations). Some sources suggest that Dole's redoubled efforts are
"penance" for disparaging comments he had made about the campaign.
of online chat room stings. Though the growing number of stings are leading to
a lot of arrests, they may draw attention away from what is overwhelmingly an
offline problem. Child advocacy experts say that offenders make first contact
with their victims online in only a tiny fraction of the cases they handle. And
in such cases, contact is usually initiated in mainstream chat areas. The more
But in the past two centuries, she has appeared in many guises, modeled after
represents the achievements of French women beyond the runway. Today's Papers
civic virtues are an inspiration to patriots everywhere.
Of course I know you know that designs on plates with chocolate syrup are
very late '80s. And the fact, as you note, that they haven't gone away supports
These may be the end of the '80s we're now living through, but I would argue
that the '90s as a culturally distinct decade (the Internet aside) does not
based on your novel)? On the other hand, I guess You've Got Mail
a vital, mentally healthy person of strong character. So don't make me out to
Back to hurricane readiness before I sign off for the day. (Civil defense!
should have a doctor check this out.) Anyhow, I have an impolitic question:
years (multiple hurricanes, one or two comets, mobs of starving children
of mine who's a theater director recently told me that I should tell another
think would be a good idea. And which I also think is a very rich premise for a
But my problem with politics these days (which I suppose can come across as
don't and really can't matter all that much in this country right now. There
civil rights, women's rights, war and peace, even abortion. And they will
continue as long as the economy chugs along like this and we stay out of wars
to be running the country or amending the Constitution anytime soon. In fact,
if not ideologically. I really think national politics kind of needs to be
blown up and rebuilt. For the couple of weeks seven years ago before he
And I certainly wouldn't be very upset if Bush won, even if he can't name a
single book he's ever read. (One final theory of mine: In presidential
Times lead is the House's passage of a bill that would, if it became
against companies such as cigarette or gun manufacturers. The bill draws scant
the House bill would require most class action claims to be transferred
to federal courts, where the rules about who gets to participate in the class
and how such cases may proceed are more stringent. The bill, says the paper,
businesses and business groups. Opponents include the trial lawyers'
whereas according to the Times a similar bill there
participate in the Internet stock trend. The story also observes another
probably burned up in Mars' atmosphere after flying too close to the planet.
first time ever made a menopausal woman fertile again, by implanting her with
pieces of her own ovaries, which had been previously removed and frozen. She
hasn't got pregnant yet but has ovulated and menstruated. The development, the
paper explains, could be a boon to young women with cancer who want to have
children after treatment is concluded. And eventually it would allow healthy
young women to put up a bunch of their youthful eggs until they're ready to
winter. This means, say quoted analysts, that gas and utility bills could keep
The papers carry outraged Republican reactions to Pat
gives an update on stances taken on the presidential clemency extended to
but she did conduct an informal survey of divorced suburban parents she knows
Here are two picayune but quite common details of the separated life that
forget stuff at one parent's house and make the other one take them there late
that parents who don't communicate well would have a hard time keeping track of
schoolwork done by one child at two households during the course of a single
Many of the other details of divorce on Once and Again are the
regular fare of family sitcoms or dramas. There's the slightly tired riff about
game, but forgets about it until Lily angrily reminds him. There are the mutual
accusations of denial or neurosis, with each parent accusing the other either
grasp this, in principle, since at one point they have Lily's daughter asking
needs of dramatic exposition clearly proved too much for the show's creators:
How else are you going to get Lily and Rick to go into their feelings for each
other, or at least about dating, if they aren't going to share with their kids?
After all, who else do divorced parents spend their time with? (Lily gossips
some with her sister, an annoyingly perky single creature, but  goes on and on
about her fears of dating with her daughters; Rick mostly keeps things to
himself, but is interrogated by curious children.) Despite lapses like these,
as two decades ago), Once and Again seems poised to become for joint
anyone even knows about it. Last night, while wasting time in the usual online
fashion, I came across a chance to vote for the novel of the century, from a
list of ten chosen by other people wasting time in the usual online fashion,
have. Instead, Gone With the Wind was on the list. Of course, I loved
that Salter put forth -"Literature  is really only writing that never stops
Salter piece, even though it left me feeling absolutely helpless. I mean, what
library? Should I stop making movies? No, yes, and no; so much for that. And by
twelve of the words he used. Where do statistics like that come from? I mean,
just because a word appears for the first time in a book doesn't mean the
author invented it. (Did you read the book about the convicted murderer who
worked on the Oxford English Dictionary? It's amazing.)
I do not find the mosquito spraying quaint. Now that I am in the movie
business, I see everything as the beginning of a bad movie, and this one ends
with the population of Queens dying before a cure is found. One of the things I
always find so wonderful about life in New York is how oblivious we tend to be
to things like the possibility of natural disasters, but the encephalitis thing
about your letter, it seemed like a good time to reply. I don't really love the
morning, despite the fact that my kids have to be on the school bus (now my
living in the suburbs, I feel both blessed and liberated not being the family
chauffeur. City living, as many working women are beginning to understand,
provides much more flexibility and precious time than the suburban commuter
life. While we will never have enough space for all our books (or even our
clothes!) or a backyard with a swing set, our apartment is a happy clutter
where no child will be forgotten in the bowels of a finished basement, and
yesterday?" But it's all connected, as some famous philosopher once said, or
I have spent a lot of time thinking and writing about
the quality of urban life for families and not just for the tourists most
mayors think are the key to urban regeneration. Not only have I read your
impact on criminal justice policy, but its thesis goes to the heart of how we
make urban areas communities again, places where we can work and live. Before
York City subways during the 1980s, I think its important to consider the
relationship between free speech and crime control. I have been struck with how
political conservatives have used the issue of crime to justify autocratic, if
not authoritarian, policies. Street crime is not usually rampant in
democracies. To what extent are we willing to suspend individual rights for the
safety of the community? Do we have to tolerate police misconduct? Do we bar
political demonstrations from the steps of city hall? Do we take away
government contracts from groups such as Housing Works for protesting current
While all these questions do not have an obvious relationship to public safety,
for the mayor of New York they are all part of keeping public order. By
extension, the mayor has the right to close down an art exhibit if it offends
his sense of public decency. Where does free speech end and public order begin?
preferences and there's no need to worry about the democratic process.
of Art if it doesn't cancel an art show that includes (according to today's
by elephant shit? Isn't it a little silly that the same sort of people who
education are ready to lay down their lives to protect the government's right
to subsidize art that desecrates religious figures in the most sophomoric way
imaginable? Whatever happened to the separation between church and state?
Chatterbox doesn't think people should have to pay,
through their taxes, for art that is likely to offend them deeply. The
Times would understand this principle better if the
ALL NIGGERS MUST DIE or KIKES INVENTED THE HOLOCAUST. One can imagine ironic or
otherwise complex readings of these statements that might attempt to cleanse
something to do with his childhood confusion about the virgin birth. But
Chatterbox, an atheist, holds no brief for the Virgin
look at (though he thought the idea it conveyed a bit childish). But Chatterbox
doesn't think artworks that a significant number of people are likely to find
them, if the market won't support them (which it almost certainly won't).
The notion that the Republican Party should evict Pat
when he uses statements and beliefs that we should not have fought against
should always stand on principle and not on polls when we decide whether
someone should remain in our party or not. And I do not believe that kind
his book questioning whether the United States should have entered World War II
"outrageous." Dole released a statement saying that she was "appalled by Pat
The trade deficit is soaring, the dollar is weakening against the yen, oil
prices are high. Damn, it feels like the 1980s all over again. Except that
economy is still barely limping along, and the trade deficit seems to have more
fundamental weakness in the overall economy. Maybe the fact that all this is
going on at once explains this market's complete unwillingness to commit in one
direction or another. Or maybe enough people just haven't read Dow
cultures will mesh. Unfortunately, the new company will be called
liquidity problems, the Fed would be adopting a 'no questions asked'
policy at the window where it lends money to banks. Not even: 'Will you pay
that the company systematically overcharged uninsured patients for
the lawsuit is baseless' would have been better. 'I don't know anything about
it' sounds more like 'I didn't know anything about it while it was going
site will contain at least one reference to the company's 'rocketing'
for allegedly crossing state lines with the intent to have sex with a
In most states, a successful entrapment defense requires the defendant to
The idea of committing the crime came from law enforcement officers,
The law enforcement officers induced the person to commit the
inducement. Simply affording the defendant the opportunity to commit the crime
does not constitute inducement. For inducement to be proved, officers must have
The defendant was not ready and willing to commit this type of crime
person carrying a kilogram of the drug, the seller could not plead entrapment,
even if coercion were involved in the sale, since his intent to sell was clear.
Most courts also allow a defendant's predisposition to be demonstrated through
repeatedly solicited sex and ignored warnings that her age might get him in
its lead about the latest fiscal gimmick gaining currency among Senate
Republicans as a way to continue spending while technically not violating
nationally televised address in which he stated that "Terrorism has declared
logistical role, particularly by providing air transport to the ground troops,
who will be supplied by other nations; the force will probably be led by
force. The Times ends its lead with a helpful explanation: Setting up a
conflicts with the bureau's assertion that their agents never fired a shot. The
admittedly fired during the initial gunfight at the compound.
country's most sensitive military projects. And that the Soviet Embassy in
Department, in an attempt to convince other countries to maintain tough
provide them with medicine but has chosen to spend it on other things. The
evidence includes aerial photos of a lakeside village resort complete with
The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column reports that in a
previous year. Those with a drug or alcohol problem stole five times more than
and childbirth. The old requirement: A contestant must sign a document stating
previously been pregnant, and has never had a child. The new requirement:
Signing an affidavit affirming not being currently married and not being
statistic that has affected me in the following way: I was appalled, and then,
this? I can't tell you how many men ask this question. I mean, don't you know
for all sorts of reasons and c) if only conventionally handsome men got laid,
this would be a seriously underpopulated world. As they say, there's a cover
for every pot, or something like that. Of course they also say it's as easy to
marry a rich man as a poor man, and that is definitely not true.
listened) is this: Never marry a man you wouldn't want to be divorced from.
The article in the Wall Street Journal reminds me, once again, how
politics and entertainment. Why can't we get a groundswell going? And don't you
candidacy at all. The Talk interview, by the way, was devastating for
her with that constituency, I think, because there was a hope that she would
win the race and shed the bastard, and she blew that away with all that
exculpatory dialogue. (Incidentally, I have become obsessed with how they
he could write when he's no longer president, and everyone would buy it. All
summer I kept reading idiotic articles in the newspapers about things like
where they are going to spend their summer vacation, and no one mentioned that
the only factor that truly operates in that decision is who they can get to
Are we being paid for this exchange? If so, I am giving all the money to
people have options where they want to live (which is also why it is unfair to
expect Celebration to be all things to all people).
put. One of the parts of both books that most surprised me was the extent to
was disingenuous of them to withdraw from the town at a later stage. Another
seemed out of their depth. In hindsight, this, too, was to be expected. Why
should an entertainment corporation understand anything about education? The
slipped up, and slipped up badly. Both books tell that part of the story
impossible for Celebration to be, for example, a social experiment. Both books
bemoan the lack of affordable housing, for example. But almost no new private
residential developments, including New Urbanism, have succeeded at mixing
incomes to any considerable degree (the exception are Hope VI projects, which
do achieve income mixing, although they are still too new to draw categorical
are vulnerable to public opinion. Look at what happened when the school failed.
An article immediately appeared in the Wall Street Journal quoting
disgruntled parents. More recently, a crime in Celebration was prominently
But what about women who marry men to whom they wouldn't deign to speak if
the men in question weren't (check one) funny or charming or driving a Corvette
or head of the firm or the best bowler in the league? I mean, I wouldn't even
have known anyone I was ever in love with if the men in question were
like his writing. Which I didn't read until it was a little too late.
Fascist to run it, etc. But a close woman friend of mine was jumped by the
completely mistaken identity; the charges were dropped, after months of trauma
for her and astronomical legal fees. The episode made me conscious, in a way I
might never have been (but any black person is), of what the cost of all this
crime rate is that police are arresting fewer people because so many criminals
are already locked up. But promotions are based on the number of arrests, so
pressure causes them to try to escalate a misdemeanor into a felony. My friend
who was arrested, for example, was not charged with the thing she was jumped
She did resist arrest, by the way; the cop was in plainclothes, and she had no
happen: You see the headline, and you think, please let this go away, please
don't make me have to learn about yet another place I have never heard of, and
Meanwhile, here's a truly disturbing trend: Waiters in restaurants have now
taken to not writing down your order. Is this yet another plot to make those of
development in restaurant life, like those horrible little designs made of
If the chat shows are any indication, the Republican establishment is
decision." But according to some he already has: "His career as a significant
the cusp of becoming radioactive politically," says Mark Shields
invades the island. "Listen, I will not take my country into war with a nuclear
than previously disclosed. He insisted on walking into the hospital under his
own power, but then collapsed; he had lost nearly half his blood. After
to be a very contested campaign." Both Meet the Press and This
episode where the studio lights went out, and the one where the fly kept
does not appear on the program) of one of the perils of being on television
in particular. We are repeating the errors that led to World War II, and for
heaven's sake let's stop it before [we get] World War III."
question somewhere, but in lieu of actually finding it, let's speculate based
on a single sample: the performance today of stock markets based in New York
City. In one sense, all bets were off, since volume was thin and a lot of
people went home, in expectation of a disaster that has yet to arrive. (Are
little rain?) But it was interesting that just when the rain was falling
hardest, and the day seemed gloomiest, stocks were selling off sharply, while
that everybody can keep spending without prices starting to go up. Maybe we
Unfairly Aiding Group of Banks.' At this point, isn't it clear that
Street securities analysts and let them work in a local
next year, it will start paying advertising agencies based not
on a percentage of overall ad spending, but rather on how successful
this as a brilliant innovation. Of course, if they thought it was so brilliant,
you wonder why they've been content to spend the last few decades collecting
hefty checks for ads that didn't move sales a bit. Oh, yeah, you really have to
live on the Upper East Side of New York or in certain magic
suburbs to get any of the above. It's just what I want. More and more excellent
new services that will forever remain just of out my reach."
I certainly wasn't suggesting that only conventionally handsome men should
regardless of financial means.) No, I was just wondering about the thought
men to whom they wouldn't deign to speak if the men in question were mere
Generation and loves him like a son. (If not more than they love their
disqualifies her to serve in the Senate) and, even before her
reflexive and vigorous defense of him to the bitter end made me queasy. So if
I did, twice. Could you conceivably vote for him for Senator? I don't think I
could. I may have to vote for the Reform or Libertarian candidate.)
Or should we just go with the frivolous New York idiot thing, and discuss
Today once again everything in the paper seems like an artifact from my
other day has put me in some kind of permanent nostalgic fugue state.
unjustified arrests. Maybe I was being naive, since today the Times
Still, cops in New York are the only cops on earth who don't scare me a little
outside the veterinarian, where I was picking up our two cats. He said to me
very seriously, raising his hands in a quick protective motion, "Sir, step away
him? I literally had to restrain myself from laughing.
breakfast with him, at his behest. He spit flecks of baked goods every time he
acquitted him of tax fraud? (That story was mentioned in today's story about
But this is, after all, a city where the commissioner of consumer affairs
yesterday held a news conference on location in front of a display of "tofu
triangles" to present his findings that New York deli customers are routinely
plastic containers. This is exactly the kind of press conference that makes me
Finally, why do we always and only "brace" for hurricanes?
The pop culture of my daughters' youth is turning out so differently from my
collection. Is this what they mean in bad novels and bad movies about
politics have become a seamless hybrid. (Since this has been one of my personal
hobbyhorses for some years, I was happy to see the Journal certify the
phenomenon; I can stop talking about it now.) Anyhow, Duff explained and
implicitly bemoaned the trend: "There's no reverence for the process," she said
of the citizenry's disregard for politics. "It's all irreverence." By the way,
either one, certainly. Entertainment value, I figure. Or am I wrong?
If Nick is right, as he surely is, that the cops are driven to bust more
when you challenge somebody's word in Scrabble and you're wrong, you lose
the waiter is really just a guy you know and you're telling him what you'd like
to eat as long as he's going to the kitchen anyway. Also, maybe, it's another
And those horrible little designs made of chocolate syrup on the dessert
opinion, no information, nothing to say. I feel the same way you do about it
and wars like it. To me they're not unlike those roving New York City malathion
something out of an earlier era. Which is to say, before the Cold War and World
well as militarily (if not economically). So maybe we wince a little at the
request, says the paper, as an "unnecessary intrusion." This contrasts with
that could serve as a stimulant to similar managed care reform around the
city officials withdrawing the work, only to back out when the officials
thought. The virus has now accounted for four deaths. The chief evidence for
the new dimensions of the problem, explains the paper, is that mosquitoes
become carriers of the virus by biting infected birds, and scores of dead birds
story inside, but look for more intense coverage in the days to come, for two
coverage of such previously uncovered areas as cancer screening, give
opinions, and to appeal treatment funding decisions to an independent review
to arrive at a patients' bill of rights. One important grain of salt that the
implication is, will) prevent patients from suing under the bill by requiring
their agreement to binding arbitration as a condition of treatment.
the managed care imbroglio: It's turned a lot of doctors into Democrats. Solid
without disclosing that the paper's author has some financial ties to the
drugs' manufacturers, a situation expressly forbidden by the journal's
guidelines. The author's explanation to the LAT seems Pharisaical at
best: she stopped consulting for the drug companies when she embarked upon the
article, although she expects to resume doing so now that it's been
the Pentagon, contending that both violated her privacy by unlawfully
disclosing information about her from her personnel file and other government
Among the people named in the suit, not as defendants, but as having "engaged
result she suffered a loss of income. None of the papers mention a fact about
Considered" broadcast. The paper points out that the highway program already
includes the Boy Scouts, who exclude girls and gays, and the Knights of
there to meet with the team and inspire the players to victory by comparing the
Gore appeals to the center. In an apparent attempt to lock up the
meeting. According to a New York Times story, the Republicans are near to
entirely. For moral and tactical reasons, conservatives should be cheering the
press has largely treated him as a legitimate candidate rather than an
of the explanation for this is that he's one of us. Though few journalists have
his bigotry with the friendly guy they know. For those covering his campaigns,
performances that makes his views easier to dismiss. He'll uncork a zinger
Yet the bigotry is there all right. You can follow its
His prejudice is not the genteel country club variety
fellow traveler, who dabbles in an anachronistic style of populist demagoguery
to be saying than to recognize his views for what they are.
seem an eccentric crusade, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with it. Indeed,
tried to cast doubt on the Holocaust itself. In one of his columns about
schoolchildren survived inhaling diesel exhaust fumes in an underground tunnel.
isolationism, it isn't hard to hear the echoes of the radio priest Father
by ethnic groups and media elites able to focus public attention and incite
public hysteria." Instead of agitating for entry into a specific war, he thinks
general policies of interventionism and internationalism.
begin over slavery." (He says the people's symbols shouldn't be chosen by
for so long. Saying good riddance to Pat makes political sense, too. If, as
to depict him as a hater from the fringe and not merely a conservative who
confident. He admits to using marijuana but not cocaine, then asks his
he supports limited experiments with vouchers, but in general opposes them. (To
party establishment behind him and a sizable national lead.
says nothing new but sounds more bitter than ever. ("They gave my speaking spot
Others think there is ample reason for the Republicans
him this is insupportable, you cannot put the country through this." Of course,
think knows more about welfare than anybody else in the country." When asked
the Senate. He's an honest, decent man. He gets in trouble with this
administration because he is honest and doesn't play the [political] game."
videotape [of the members making bombs, but] they weren't directly linked to
the bombing [in court], that it wouldn't be justified to draw a conclusion from
jail] would be excessive. You know it, and I know it."
just great. But I find any generalized public whining about the decline of the
part, as you say, because of the helplessness it inspires. And the flip side of
Inspired to despair helplessly: That has been my ongoing reaction to the
Peter Singer piece in the Times magazine the week before last, an
any moral right to buy expensive clothes or eat at restaurants or go on fancy
vacations? The fact that I was left feeling upset and more or less speechless
a half twist, and paste the ends together, enabling you to draw a continuous
topology studies that I remember. It's been striking me lately as a useful
they don't want to make it into a movie? Couldn't (and shouldn't) the Writers
saving a child? Isn't it possible that if we all stop buying things all sorts
of people who currently aren't starving to death will suddenly be out of work
and will soon be starving to death? Just asking. It's questions like that that
assure you. They built a grand house with a budget that mushroomed beyond their
means, and when it was finally finished, alas, there was no money to furnish
scene in Darling --explains, to me at least, why Duff is asking for so
was interested to read an interview in the New York Post with several
decorators who said her budget was, if anything, low.
Anyway, I don't think there's the remotest chance that liberalism, the
comeback, and there's even less chance that anyone will stop spending money in
the flamboyant and careless manner that's become commonplace. One of the things
spent their money so extravagantly and publicly in New York in the '80s and
were practically stoned for it. They'd broken a kind of tacit agreement about
behavior among rich people, the people who would never drive anything but a
station wagon, and they had to be made to pay. Now, of course, everyone breaks
When someone like Pat Duff comes along, she provides everyone with a fabulous
excuse to feel morally superior. And everyone is right to feel that way,
because her arguments are genuinely disgusting, but it's all part of an era of
wretched excess that we're all part of and that I can't imagine is going to
Your question about screenwriters reminds me of the first or second time I
did a screenplay for a studio, and had to sign the thing they send you called a
Certificate of Authorship. I took it to the bank to have it notarized and gaily
signed it. The notary at the bank looked at it. Did you read this? he said. Not
really, I said. This says, he said, that the studio is the author of your
script. I was astonished. In any case, these days, if you write an original
screenplay for a studio and they don't make a movie from it, you get it back
I do look forward to your book, some of which, or at
least some of the research reports for, I have been reading in the
situation we have with our current elite, as you point out. In some other
countries where there is affirmative action, it is a majority that imposes
percent of the total) and university presidents, almost all major foundation
minimally, its own advantages. You point out quite correctly that at the very
top levels the resentment is very muted and hardly visible (see the huge
majorities of students in elite colleges who say diversity is a good thing and
general in charge of civil rights. The resentment seems to be somewhat greater
elite within their states but fall short of the very top national elite level.
And as you point out, it is the middle classes, and I would add, the upper
working class, that seem most resentful, even though the children of the latter
will go neither to the Ivy Leagues nor the flagship state universities. At the
places their children will go to, racial preference doesn't play much of a
over affirmative action. I would suggest it is ideology that makes for the
division, and yes, the ideology of the elite is equality, and that of the
middle classes is opportunity. There are some oddities here, not the least of
which is that the struggle over affirmative action is waged most vigorously
over admissions to colleges and universities, and one hears less and less about
important cases in the area of employment. But it is there, I would think, that
because of its commonness in employment for policemen, firemen, and much other
public employment, and its prominence in the hiring and promotion policies of
selecting elites selects one that is critical of the system, concerned about
writes that the most unfair system of distributing opportunity would be one "in
which all roles were handed down explicitly by inheritance." But then, "the
but insisted that it take place as early in life as possible and with school as
the arena." His discomfort with the SAT is that it's an intelligence test that
As a matter of fact, he is unfair in describing the
athletes and the alumni children and the occasional student who is very good at
something even though his test scores are not at the top. And, of course, there
is affirmative action in most selective institutions, and that may be as many
So what is the problem? Unfairness because of early
selection? Actually, if we made the selection even earlier, the differences
between the majority and minority students would probably be smaller. And by
used to be (maybe there still is) an 11-plus exam that makes the selection at a
very early age; on the continent, too, students are divided between secondary
There are community colleges, from which you can transfer all the way to the
elite campuses of the state university. Few do, but there is the
has a stronger point, but no society has been able to figure out a better
arena, even though school is not the best place to learn how to become an
entrepreneur or a politician, run a business or a country, become an artist,
etc. How the school system became the great selector, even though it selects
people on the basis of talents that are not directly related to many important
social roles, is a mystery to me. But it's happened everywhere, in the most
diverse cultures. I recall that even in ancient China, administrators of the
empire were selected on the basis of competence in the ancient classics. The
only justification for the present system is that intelligence is useful in any
task, and that the only fair and systematic way we have of determining
only reporting this, seems to approve. So maybe the only problem, or the main
problem, is not the test, not selection on the basis of verbal and mathematical
ordinarily do poorly on such tests to do better. But that opens another can of
education at the lower levels is not too encouraging: "We should adopt the goal
through college, we shall have to establish greater national authority over
curriculum." One wonders if he has been following the efforts to create
what is on the whole a good book, but it does confront us with the question:
This has not been much of a debate, I realize. We seem
to agree that whatever its flaws in logic and in practice, we can't think of a
might agree, and we wouldn't disagree with him when he insisted that the main
thing to do is to improve education. But we would probably disagree over the
into his work, is just this side of insane and his publishers just that side of
shortsighted, literarily speaking. Not wanting to steal thunder from historian
right to try to write this way, but can't make it work.
has admitted in interviews, doesn't mean it lacks legitimate precedent. The
facts, the next it swings away from them. It has ever been thus, at least since
thus in the debates over footnotes, etc., between academic and journalistic
short and to the point, which has a lot to do with his popularity. His more
enduring innovation, though, was, as one historian has put it, "liberating the
came at the end of a later biography of Queen Victoria, in which he made
She herself, as she lay blind and silent, seemed to those who watched her to
Yet, perhaps, in the secret chambers of consciousness, she had her thoughts
too. Perhaps her fading mind called up once more the shadows of the past to
float before it, and retraced, for the last time, the vanished visions of that
shell case, and a yellow rug, and some friendly flounces of sprigged muslin,
complains about the tiny fictionalizations that abound in almost every
bits of fantasy on the very first page! The scene being set is that of a White
dissipating itself over half a mile a way. The shiver is accompanied by a
There is some shifting of feet, but no eager pushing forward.
speculated, and we let him get away with it, because his writing has the ring
playing around with form is anything but a moral shortcoming. Inventing
It destroys the illusion of transparency. In theater one would say it calls
attention to the fourth wall, the proscenium framing the play. Even in
implied contract between reader and biographer that states, We'll go along
with you as long as you make what you say sound like it had some basis, once
hypothetical. He's the Roger Rabbit of biography, a cartoon figure inserted
anthropological definition of garbage: matter out of place.
It's not too often that the market takes it as good news when a company
announces that its revenues and profits are going to fall well short of
expectations. And in the case of Apple Computer, which made precisely that
announcement after the closing bell yesterday, the market in fact did not take
technology stocks today, Apple was a notable loser, with its shares falling
In the context of the past year, which has seen Apple's stock soar because
tumble was unsurprising. But there were two interesting things about it,
nonetheless. The first is that the stock fell sharply despite the fact that
pretty much every serious analyst who covers the company said that if the stock
sold off, investors should treat it as a buying opportunity. So we were greeted
Says It's Time To Buy." Considering the heavy volume in Apple, it's clear that
lots of people on the Street were in fact thinking it was time to sell. But
this is one case where it wasn't the brokerage houses that overreacted, even if
a couple of analysts did trim their estimates for next year.
The more interesting thing about Apple's announcement is that from one angle
it really was good news, at least if you looked at things from the perspective
microprocessor for the G4, hadn't been able to deliver enough chips to satisfy
a much heavier than expected demand for the G4. Apple said it had already
The obvious point here is that if you're going to have a problem, it's
better to have one that's the result of too much demand rather than too little.
(Though there is something deeply ironic about Apple, which initially ran into
build everything that went into the machines, is now having problems because
its sole supplier is struggling.) But there's also something else, which is
On the face of it, that's strange. Even if the company were having trouble
with the G4, which is a new product, why would that make it earn less money
than it did a year ago, when the G4 didn't even exist? But there's actually a
good reason for this, and it has to do with the way Apple has pared back its
operations, concentrated on its best products, and placed a new premium on
A year ago, there were still Apple products in the pipeline and on store
shelves that were older models or that served markets in which the company was
never going to thrive. Today, that's not true. The best thing that Apple has
willing to pay a premium for those characteristics. The best thing about the
return on invested capital is improving, its profit margins are improving, and
as well. Apple will never be what it once was. But it has a chance to do a
politics that mattered in this country.) But it does seem telling that the
And I guess what I mean by a revival of liberalism is more the inevitably
of consciousness do you suppose he knows or cares that if he weren't rich he
by unattractive billionaires? To use your phrase: just asking. And finally:
such a clear illustration of the Street's conviction that there's nothing wrong
going to fall far short of earnings estimates in the next two quarters.
on no news at all. Well, no public news, that is. Clearly lots of
going to be so bad until its sales numbers came in, and that it didn't tell any
of its big shareholders to get out before the bad news broke. Perhaps. But
But the size of the trades was such that the whole situation looks decidedly
Here's the quirk in the whole story, though. Among the
people raising the possibility that large shareholders were informed in advance
are analysts at some of Wall Street's biggest investment banks and brokerage
houses. And among the people most annoyed by the company's late announcement
night, the company reassured them that nothing was wrong, and that there would
Let's get this straight. The analysts are annoyed because
analysts the chance to tell their clients to sell before other investors
Of course, this reaction was accepted as par for the
would have been as blatant a case of selective disclosure as you can imagine.
Companies continue to disclose material information to analysts before issuing
press releases. And they spend far more time talking to large shareholders than
wrong thing a couple of days before. When analysts call, looking for
information that will help their clients and only their clients, companies
should just say, "Buzz off. If we have something important to say, you'll find
out when everyone else does." Oh, I how long to be a fly on the wall for that
conversation. (Well, actually, I don't want to be a fly, since they have short
control, especially police activities to prevent crime through order
mayor's position on the merits of certain art has been highly topical and
controversial in New York City (and for those who read the New York Times in other areas of the country), in most of the
sections of the country he is best known for his record on crime control. And
different issues on one level, but on another they are linked. Both raise
art, however, although not a lawyer, I have become quite familiar with the
issues as they relate to certain aspects of disorderly behavior, especially
panhandling in public spaces (begging). (You may or may not know that I was
extensively involved during the late 1980s in restoring order in the New York
City subways and that panhandling was, perhaps, the most divisive issue.)
In respects, the subway experience (both in dealing
with graffiti and with other forms of disorderly behavior) became the prototype
new managerial and tactical innovations seemed to accelerate declines in
This issue, crime control and how it is accomplished,
you suggest, we are going into an election year and it will be interesting to
I hope that you had a good holiday. I will look forward
with the news that Republicans in Congress are likely to dip into the Social
pile of cash for Republican members of Congress to resist, even though party
leaders vowed to any reporter who'd listen last week that Social Security was
earmarked all the country's general fund surpluses for the next two fiscal
on a constant lookout for mud to sling during next fall's races, are observing
may have been doomed from the start. In what it calls a "case study" of the
sit across the bargaining table. In the end, according to a diplomat quoted by
privately predicting exactly the kind of violence and chaos that followed the
from rival gangs together in small rooms. In the latter cases, known inside the
watch. The staged confrontations ostensibly were used to test inmates' ability
to avoid fights and thus their readiness to enter the general prison
population, but the report says they often escalated into predictably bloody
how the Justice Department's criminal investigation of the tobacco industry
civil lawsuit against cigarette makers. But the government's ambitious criminal
case wound up leading to only one charge: a misdemeanor count against a small
considering the highly controversial step of dismantling four huge dams on
all the river's varieties of salmon. But even environmentalists concede it's
far from clear if taking the dams out of service would revive the fish
paper says some of Bush's reluctance to hire Beltway types stems from a
longstanding distrust of the East Coast establishment, which goes back to his
After breathless references in its opening paragraphs to Champagne rationing
try life without deadlines." Did she quit or was she fired? It's a
pretty abrupt departure, and she has no other job lined up, but who knows?
it did? Who gets fired for working too hard? But she has taken a lot of
lately for her chipper enthusiasm about movies everyone else hated, such as
The Phantom Menace or Eyes Wide Shut. Another Times
it be unusual to fire a film critic for not being harsh enough? It would
certainly say something about the difference between the East and West coasts.
his lead critic for sucking up to the studios too much? Well, why did
shows how the rigors of reviewing crap can reduce a critic to an embittered
regular contributor to The New Republic who has become famous for taking
with the same withering contempt. All are seen with the same unwavering
lost the gift of being able to comprehend a work of art that does not reflect
their immediate experience; they have become afraid of genuine art." All except
credit for her insight, even though that she was practically the only critic to
praise the film: "Not a single critic, not even those few who claimed to like
nothing, now that you mention it. They couldn't have less in common or less
illustrating a point, rather than manufacturing a conceit, was it: that these
stabilize currency exchange rates. When asked later whether his question was
white rivals sit silently beside him, leaving his foolishness unremarked. The
real racism in this campaign is the unspoken assumption that it is unreasonable
charm and guile, was more a manner than a mind, but in politics,
intellectualism of presidents early in this century, Will concludes, "such
intellect in politics is rare, and perhaps should be." What "Bush understands,"
Will suggests, is that "the wise leader should strive to have intellectuals on
rudimentary things right"? Is it racism? Chatterbox doesn't think so. There's a
depends on whether you're the kind of intellectual he plans to keep on tap.
We are having a hurricane watch in our house, and all activity has halted
while we try to figure out whether the weather people know what they're talking
whether the contractor for our Long Island house ever fixed the front door that
doesn't close. The last time there was a hurricane we were in the house on Long
Island, and the police came and actually said the words "Seek higher
the divorce of the 21st lawyer, who was still on the case this
morning, but not for long. I know the 21st lawyer and have watched
Here is a serious thing for a moment: The world is full of women who can't
get their husbands to pay child support, and it won't be long before even the
for what these lawyers say in court-- for which they never ever even seem to
crime rate: fewer criminals, and therefore fewer cases for criminal lawyers. As
it is, there's fierce competition among them for the celebrity criminals: You
You're right about the police: The criteria for advancement in the
department should be changed now that the crime rate has dropped. But I had no
idea that you get bonus points for correctly challenging someone at
I think it's interesting you sign off. I almost never do. It's one of the
hinges on taking federal money away from failing schools and giving it to
parents to use elsewhere. But the analysis has neglected one salient point
Under Bush's proposal, states would be required to test
their "disadvantaged" students on academic basics every year. If a school's
test scores didn't improve after three consecutive years, the federal
government would take away its contribution that comes under an aid program
as a voucher to pay for a private school, tutoring, or another public
"acceptable," "recognized," or "exemplary." Only one school in the entire
has a program that is both more generous and more stringent than Bush's
district negotiates directly with private schools to place these students. This
of failing public schools under this program. How many have taken advantage of
didn't identify which students qualified for the program until August, by which
time it was too late to enroll elsewhere for this year. But the bigger problem
Four or five private schools did contact the school district to express
religious school, which intends to create a separate secular facility for the
for parents. And if there's no choice, there's no competitive pressure on
failing public schools, which is the chief justification for the program. To
find out whether vouchers can actually improve education, Bush would have to
offer an additional incentive worth several times the federal government's
isn't prepared to run afoul of conservative dogma to the extent of proposing
spending tens of billions of additional federal dollars on education.
it's because the state standards are riddled with loopholes. Schools can exempt
students judged to have learning disabilities, or who have limited English
social promotion. How likely is it that states would set up stringent systems
of evaluation and accountability for the sake of having their federal education
funding taken away? Not very. Bush is proposing that federal education dollars
come with strings attached. But the people receiving the dollars get to pull
could measure any school against any other school and truly assess their
two of Bush's education advisers, have championed this idea in the past. Yet
Bush's plan steers entirely clear of national standards in favor of state ones.
The implicit reason is, once again, that anything the federal government does
runs afoul of the conservative dogma, which says that education is an
Bush's plan plausible and interesting. Until his work improves, he deserves a
resident, tourist, professional visitor, etc. It generally is one of the
conditions of my visiting a city to lecture or consult that I stay at a
"downtown" hotel rather than one on a highway someplace. The inspiration for
I take your point about making the city a place for "tourists" at the
expense of residents and neighborhoods. Certainly in the subway, although I was
concerned about tourists using the subway, my primary concern was the fact that
travel on the subway had become intolerable for people who had to use it:
students, service workers, and so on. The rich were using limos and cabs.
Students, workers, and urban residents in the broadest sense, deserved better
On the city level, while I am primarily concerned about the residents of
neighborhoods and communities, I am also concerned about "strangers": that is,
persons who come into neighborhoods to shop, provide services, "people watch,"
has pointed out, for neighborhoods to thrive, strangers must both feel
comfortable entering neighborhoods and behave in ways that don't threaten the
But, of course, this takes us into murky areas. Clearly both residents and
"strangers" can take offense too easily. Moreover, despite the popular view
that neighborhoods are cozy and warm, they also have enormous capacity for
pettiness and hostility. And, it also can be true that one person's "disorder"
is another person's uniqueness. Nonetheless, I have found this resolvable if
one is attentive to the law, the constitution, and issues of freedom and
The issues you raise about possibilities of abuse, however, are appropriate.
In my own work, I have seen the misinterpretation of "broken windows" for their
own purposes by both the far left and the far right. Part of the trouble is
that now everybody "understands" the ideas in broken windows. And for many, it
and have never used except to distance myself from it. It is both unrealistic
and smacking of zealotry. The far left likes to substitute it for broken
windows because it proves that I am a fascist conducting a war on "homeless"
and the poor; the far right loves the term "zero tolerance" as a replacement
for broken windows because it justifies police "ass kicking."
Well, I have gone on a bit. Since my wife is now traveling, I will have
then the subways work. But all this changed a couple of weeks ago, when there
was a flash flood that shut down the city completely. Absolutely flooded the
subway system. Do you know why? I do. Because they're not spending enough money
keeping the drains clean. This was in the newspapers, I think, but it's one of
today; that would never have happened but for the incident a couple of weeks
So you are thinking of canceling a book signing just because no one will
Yesterday you wrote that the '90s don't exist as a culturally distinct
The '60s were about sex, the '70s were about drugs, and the '90s are about
money. There were no '80s. They never happened. I know this: I am about to make
a movie that takes place in the '80s, and when you make a list of what the '80s
were, you come down to a list of what they weren't: no cell phones, no color
purposes of the movie, I think of the '80s as the moment just before everything
This brings me to a thing I love to think about, especially when I fly to
read Vanity Fair on the plane, and if you look at their list of the
thought you were going home." "We couldn't get out," he said. Now, what he
He actually stayed an extra day in New York rather than submit to the
the world. Because if you really want to know how these guys get beautiful
of the world to lose their minds. The jet is the thing that makes them all do
I wish you would write about private planes. Really.  I could go on
as they were, there were nowhere near as bad as being told you've flunked an
exam you haven't flunked and being forced to go to summer school (and, as the
Times notes today, being punished by your parents for flunking said
exam). The story in today's paper is truly horrible: These are kids with
his career as a special prosecutor. The man is clearly looking for a job.
someone gave me his autobiography for my birthday, and I feel you could not
possibly have read it if you believe you could pull even the smallest lever for
impossibility of starting over from scratch, which is what towns like
I like many aspects of Celebration. The emphasis on sidewalks and
sense of place to the streets, the back alleys that put the cars in the
background, and the planning that gives equal importance to the individual
houses and the common shared spaces. What I am skeptical of is turning one's
like Home Depot. If I lived in Celebration, I would have to drive some distance
to find one. Nor do I remember seeing a service station. Nor a car wash. Nor a
storage facility. There is no motel, but there is a bed and breakfast (I happen
to prefer the former). So much of what is necessary to the way we live today is
Celebration doesn't tell us anything about how we could better arrange our
present lives, how we could integrate and knit together convenience stores and
Home Depots, for example, or neighborhoods and strip malls. Inexpensive strip
malls, whatever their appearance, are where little business are born, since
budding entrepreneurs can't afford the rents that elegant town centers charge.
buildings, old as well as new, which could serve a variety of functions. The
contradiction of a new town is that everything is new, hence expensive. That is
obviously an unfair criticism, yet it underlines the real limitations of
There is another, final aspect to this conundrum. I teach a course about
After a class on New Urbanism, where I showed them several projects and took
write a paper about the subject. One of the students wrote: "If there was one
communities, it would be: What would it take to make you move?" It was a
will come up with a better idea. Or, at least, what seems to be a better idea
Celebration is in many ways a better idea. No doubt, it is destined to take
I will confess I began the book with the weary expectation that the SAT and
keep its test questions private, and by many because of the common charge that
all the tests do is to confirm the advantages of those from good schools and
with educated parents. The book is after all subtitled "The secret history of
disreputable that has been kept secret and will now be revealed. But of course
the large outline of this history of how academic qualifications became the key
consideration for college and university admissions isn't very secret at
education, and part of the story is also told in The Bell Curve
There is no question that the shift to meritocracy in college admissions,
combined with the growing significance of college as the entry point to key
professions and occupations, does amount to a revolution. If college had
effect of the shift to an exam like the SAT is to make it possible for those
doing so were reducing the opportunities of people of their own class and
thinking that one reason, which they did not think was so good, was to recruit
in trying to recruit a more nationally representative student body.
community, resulting in a New York state law banning discrimination on the
and other private universities. One effect of the law was to forbid colleges
and universities to ask for pictures of applicants. Other states followed New
York state in passing such laws. Colleges and universities had good reason for
preserving their right to make their own decisions in admissions, but was one
organizations were opposed to affirmative action in admissions in the '70s was
because it had not been so long since they had been fighting discrimination
whether any vestiges of these practices remained. The director of admissions
did at one point say there was a problem of an oversupply of good students from
equality, and there was no one ready to attack this development. But then
almost immediately, the question came up: It might be justice, but was it
equality? And we began to struggle, and we still struggle, with the fact that
effort, in the '80s, to create an adjusted score on the SAT that takes into
that if test results are correlated with income or other measures of social
background, that students who do better than "expected" on the basis of their
The adjusted score would be called the MAT, measure of academic talent. This is
score." But neither the MAT, which did not take account of race, or the new
meritocratic system by low black achievement on the SAT, because that is not
accounted for by the lower economic and educational background of black
That problem was there at the beginning, when meritocracy appeared to have
history of affirmative action, as it affected higher education admissions. He
emphasis on the role of some activists, lawyers and others, who entered college
and university at a time when meritocratic considerations were not yet affected
the beneficiaries of meritocracy, they were now ready to reduce its weight for
those who did not do well in the tests created to serve meritocracy. This part
of the story is based more on interview and less on research in archives, but I
to it. It is true it is told from the point of view primarily of those who
tried to save preference, and one may be able to take issue with some of the
journalistic flourishes, as you do, but aside from characterization of the
But I agree with you that when it comes to the upshot of the whole story,
hands, and leaves a lot dangling. If not these tests, which? None? Aiming at
what kinds of characteristics? How do we discover them? Are there really any
But this letter is long enough, possibly too long for the format, so I will
interested in knowing more of what you make of this last chapter, and his
position. He seems to be struggling between some distaste for the role of the
real party, with people she knew, but a Party party, the kind with spotlights
Zone, a shiny new theme restaurant suggestively located on the ground floor of
attendance from the press release she picked up as she left. The stars, having
allowed themselves to be interviewed on the way in and broadcast on giant
screens to the crowds in the streets below, floated past in their bubbles of
Some fun was had, though fun was not the point. (The point is reading about
There were the excellent sushi and crab legs and lushly lit vegetables at the
not serve such fare in the future. There were bass fishing and skateboarding
there was the towering new entertainment complex that is Times Square, with all
indisputable, but when you get right down to it, or rather down in it, the
television, in movie theaters, in kids' books, on the computer, even in
amusement parks, where there is no comparative sense of scale, such parks being
impersonal and unreal the form, the more of a sense of direct connection you
feel. Beauty may be merely a cartoon character who exists on a variety of
billboard or looming screen in a predefined geographical space, however, such
will just have come from and will immediately go back to neighborhoods scaled
to their height and humanity, and you reveal her to be a virtual monster rather
than a girl full of moxie. In the war between the old Times Square street and
triumph in the short run, but street size will win out in the end. A body just
We all sense that this transformation occurred sometime after World War II.
might be developing a hereditary aristocracy. He sought to replace it with a
Platonic class of guardians who would be selected by merit and who would
social vision, but he was enthralled by the possibility of testing, with the
thought that human beings could be measured and sorted by these fantastic new
These unsung men helped push through the changes that are the basis for our
the fundamental issues at stake and the central problems inherent in a
also closed off opportunity for people who couldn't ace the tests. Furthermore,
replacing it with another, and possibly even more rigid, one? I am much
Having described this fundamental change, the decline of the elite based on
blood and breeding and the rise of the elite based on brains, it seems to me
values get adopted by a meritocratic elite? How do they see themselves? What
with some trepidation because I have just completed a book that attempts to
answer just these questions. So it was with some relief tinged with
There must be some law somewhere that says when a liberal starts talking about
merit he must immediately move on and talk about race. Obviously, the
meritocracy, "that it's good for the country to have a designated,
educationally derived elite." So why does he let this book on meritocracy get
biased account. I am a nervous opponent of affirmative action, and through this
whole section I felt my point of view was not being treated fairly. When I read
opponent who is treated like a hollow front man. It treats other opponents of
affirmative action as oddballs. So one opponent is described living in "an
isolated mountaintop aerie" and spending his days "talking in a low
confidential mumble on the telephone." Another is a "ferociously quiet young
biased, but liberal readers will find themselves flattered and conservative
readers will find themselves feeling that they are victims of an injustice.
issues. He asserts that our meritocratic system is unfair, that it is an
affront to our egalitarian ideals. He asserts that our system measures only a
narrow set of skills, and selects people too early in their lives. These are
fair assertions, but he never really makes the case in the center of his book.
data or journalistic reportage that would flesh out his assertions. He says we
might be fine for English majors, but what about scientists and engineers, who
are rarely discussed in this book. Won't the ramifications be grave if elite
sidetrack him from the issue he cares about most: The huge question of whether
our current meritocratic system is just or unjust, and what we can do about
against the cross of gold," was "enlisted in the sorry task of selling
"emancipation from slavery," "ending legal segregation," and "securing the
Though the packaging of the book is clearly meant to
communicate, "buy this and get rich!" (let's be grateful the publisher didn't
he's preaching not the gospel of wealth but the gospel of financial
goals such as "getting out of debt," "preparing a budget," "preparing for
Money Talks was written by an actual expert (a black
training or experience is necessary before you start telling people what to do
to the publisher's catalogue (this part, unfortunately, isn't online), the
authors of It's About the Money! have "unparalleled
recognition and credibility." Yes, but not about the management of money.
describe herself, even if you caught her in an unusually giddy mood.
Times leads with something far more lethal than a hurricane: a
parishioners before capping himself. At least one pipe bomb was detonated
An anthropomorphism as relentless as the storm itself colors the storm
beneath it offers this scientific explanation: "With cold water in the Pacific
no longer sensed the kind of temperature differential that attracted them
about the war in the southeast between homeowners and insurance companies over
hurricane and therefore homes they are on the hook for should incorporate them.
accuse insurance companies of seeking the likes of storm shutters and high
impact windows so that they can charge higher rates to those who go
yesterday killed himself, apparently with an intentional overdose of
antidepressants, in New Jersey, where he was under house arrest. He was also
a bit surprising that the LAT does the same, albeit with the help of a
marketplace has gotten worse. Some of the research was based on the
experiences of "testers," equally financially qualified pairs of white and
minority members looking for identical home mortgages. The finding:
received less time and information from loan officers and were quoted higher
bias is illegal, why don't these testers' results lead to indictments of
bankers? If bankers were looking at hard time for this crap, they'd cut it
reorganization of the Dept. of Energy, under which eight of the nation's
organization, is apparently headed for Senate and perhaps White House approval.
The problem is, notes the story, that this new unit will be on its own
regarding safety and environmental protection, areas already weak in the
reporting racial identifications only in proper context." This gives rise to
there actually is one, why not state it? Not stating it not only makes the
clarification utterly fail to clarify, but also raises the suspicion that the
context" means beyond "when the paper doesn't get a lot of complaints."
and Providence incarnates a new kind of show second in hotness only to
started Oxygen, a cable channel for women, the networks fear that the hitherto
male world of cable could start stealing their loyal female viewers.)  
believable as a woman whose life has taken a scary new turn than the
wear; her clothes don't seem designed to show off an improbably sculpted body,
was striking out on her own, and they, having done so, are coming home. Is this
feminist perspective, the answer would probably be yes. Something has
definitely gone wrong with their ambitions to become successful professionals.
opportunity presented itself, she says, "I had to do it. I couldn't fail. I
good when it comes to getting along with regular people, a skill they must and
which she's smugly annoying.) When they grow, as characters in television
classes don't give them any particular edge over the common folk they find
chuck the lunches at the Dome and the whole rat race and just go home again.
That the women are women is more a reflection of the network's
demographic needs at the moment than of anything else. Their sex is incidental
earlier this morning, but the schedule of a working mom is not always
significant part of the holiday is constructing the "sukkah," a temporary hut
with a natural wood roof that lets in the moonlight (and the rain). Eating in
the sukkah in Manhattan is quite a feat of religious observance. Not only do
you have to find open space to construct the sukkah, but overzealous neighbors
have been known to report these structures to the Building Department, whose
inspectors are often all too happy to cite individuals for code violations. So
much for New York the great liberal city!? Which brings me right to this week's
public funding for museums, freedom of speech, the artistic imagination, the
role of the chief executive as the arbiter of good taste, and of course
electoral politics? There are so many lessons about urban politics in this
stuff" and threatening to cut off its city subsidy did not surprise anyone
who's been living with this mayor for the past six years. An amazing column in
"dung and the virgin" exhibit offensive, as I would, it's an easy target to
score points with upstate conservatives in his not yet announced Senate
campaign. So much for responsible public policy. He hasn't said, let's bring
the funding issue to the City Council, which shares authority over the budget
allocation. He would rather be out there defending decency. Never mind
everything else he's tolerated in this city when he considers it an economic
development tool. I think we are reaching new levels of cynicism in New York
City politics, which can only further alienate people from civic
I know that there is an important relationship between
had time to get to it. I really look forward to your reply.
killing and destroying indiscriminately. What is the back story to the current
developed at least a dozen distinct languages and religions over the ages.
homosexual orgy by underground filmmaker Jack Smith. The mayor didn't utter a
Reindeer frolicking with nude female "elves" as they defecated, stirred the
supplies him with richer material than a mere upscale single mom or a cussing
Republican Party that although he's the mayor of Sin City, he can't abide
deserve one another, since they share a common goal of drawing as much
attention to themselves as possible. The "Sensation" folks, though, are doing
to increase the value of his extensive holdings of the artists' work, the show
condemnatory fit. Now, if the show doesn't go on, it will be martyred; if it
does, it will draw even bigger crowds and more press than originally
The mayor, on the other hand, is coming off as a coward and a traitor. He's
arouse the ire of culture lovers, the wrath of the First Amendment brigade, and
come to patronize the city's cultural institutions. The art industry is also
selling out his own city to do so is pretty sick stuff indeed.
company's future prospects. Bill Gates himself supposedly told his father to
soar to what then must have seemed like stratospheric levels. (Sensibly, Gates'
it more difficult to lure employees with stock options, and, more important,
makes existing options more expensive. And keeping investor expectations
moderate is a good way of making sure you meet those expectations.
about the appropriate valuation of technology stocks than the market does.
things: the free cash flow (cash above and beyond expenses, including its cost
of capital, and reinvestment) that the company generates and the length of time
the company is able to continue generating free cash flow. In valuing companies
then the market is saying two things: These companies are generating
extraordinary amounts of free cash flow (which they are), and they will be able
to continue generating that kind of cash for a considerable length of time.
Now, the first point is not really arguable. By any
companies today are among the most successful and profitable in the history of
which has to do with the sustainability of this domination, is presumably the
which is to say wrong about the future. (That's why I own shares in some of
irrelevant (except, perhaps, to my future here). The fact that the market
Our natural inclination, after all, is to imagine that
about something like the valuation of technology stocks. But to succumb to that
inclination is to reject the most important lesson taught by the triumph of
capitalism, which is that markets process information, judge the future, and
allocate capital far more efficiently and successfully than any individual, no
anymore because we know they can never know as much as or react as quickly as
Over the years, advertisers have tried all kinds of tactics to attract
customers, and more recently those tactics have seemed to cover the full
seems to be pioneering a still relatively uncharted strategy: mocking its own
customers, and its most lucrative customers at that.
elementary school) classroom, where the kids are engaged in a furious game of
musical chairs. Its basic premise is that certain kinds of people end up doing
certain kinds of jobs when they grow up, which is certainly an unsurprising
children find seats in different ways and thereby demonstrate their eventual
fates (as the camera zooms in on the individual kids, their eventual
professions appear on screen), the ad, too, is unsurprising.
have been taken and he's lost. His response is to throw a tantrum, and he
English lass, who stands up and lets the peevish boy sit down, much to his
The "our flight attendants are generous souls who will sacrifice anything
for the pleasure and comfort of their charges" message is not odd here. But the
strange, particularly since all the children in the game who have got seats
failed because he's not very good, and succeeds only by crying. The only way
the ad could have painted a less savory picture of corporate chieftains would
have been if the teacher had forced one of the other students to stand up. But
then that would have defeated the whole "flight attendants are angels" part of
larger percentage of the airline's business. This ad, with its faintly populist
air, doesn't seem to fit the new strategy all that well. But who knows? Maybe
kid does get the chair and a smile from the pretty girl.
the only network without a studio partner, needs to find one as fast as it can.
doesn't need to rush into the arms of the first suitor who comes along.
dollar companies.) And the studio business can be an immensely profitable one
because of the myriad opportunities for merchandising, licensing, and
business is also, by its very nature, erratic and expensive. For every
broadcast network, its cable properties are booming, and even its Internet
price break, it would be wrecking its own business.
The great delusion in the way the media write about
vertical integration is the assumption that merging two companies makes it
economically sensible for one to sell its products to the other below the price
that it could charge in the marketplace. But in fact it doesn't. If Paramount
Paramount that it would otherwise have rejected, it will become less valuable.
"A bad program is a bad program, and the only thing that happens if you put a
get picked up. Vertical integration doesn't change that."
crazy. No one takes less money than they can get because they might be rewarded
out of favor more often than the Who has mounted comeback tours. But through it
all, and even with the continued erosion of viewership, one thing has remained
unchanged: Broadcast television offers unparalleled access to huge numbers of
makes broadcast an enormously powerful medium." When the studios come calling,
for a week now. Did you know that? Did anyone? Isn't even silence about
their lines, editors have nervous breakdowns. But a month has passed, and now a
First question: What kind of magazine is it? First answer: A beautiful one.
Talk magazine is a magazine whose visual conception is so tight that
even the bar code is a design element. You pick the thing up and it demands to
be flipped through. It doesn't demand to be read with the same urgency, though.
piece is actually about or why I need to read it now, as opposed to several
thousand years ago. Chatty doesn't have to mean writers should be allowed to
how humiliated a woman with professional credentials was when her friends
how unbearably sophisticated her and her friends' palates have become?
synergy. Don't get me wrong. Synergy's only a problem if it causes editors to
pick boring subjects, or boring approaches to subjects. An
sister company, Touchstone. Try to decide whether this would look  like you
were sucking up to your bosses too much or not enough. Then skip the whole
But so what if Talk fails to grip our attention? We really like
suggested we do. Pulling it out on the subway and mooning over the unbelievably
gorgeous ads. In the end, we decided it was our approach that was wrong, not
decided that there definitely was a message. Consider the profiles (the
Times for having discovered the cure for cancer, then found himself
ostracized by his colleagues because he hadn't, really, though he never claimed
legitimate press. So: Rein in the press! Rally round the cause! It's a movement
for the millennium! Hey, did you hear? There's going to be a screening of the
Today (which puts it below the fold). (The Wall Street Journal puts the earthquake atop its
to anonymous sources, the federal government will file a massive civil
racketeering lawsuit against the tobacco industry to reclaim billions of
suit would be the largest ever brought by the Justice Department.
released today, stating that New Year computer glitches "will cause more
inconvenience than tragedy" (the report is also fronted by the
says, with the education, oil, construction, agriculture, food processing, and
health care industries being the most vulnerable. A panel of experts assembled
casualties and continued neighborhood blackouts, much of the city was up and
running the day after the quake, including major highways and the airport. The
With four articles, the LAT coverage is the most thorough. One story helpfully notes that
here; to learn what damage will typically result from
that the spate of recent earthquakes has nothing to do with geology (they
happen with the same frequency as they always have) and everything to do with
demographics and geography (more people live near fault lines).
best economically and is also politically realistic," he said.
experienced, sophisticated and hardened terrorists to the clandestine movement"
that seat belts on school buses do not save lives, and may actually do harm. A
belts to do any good. In some cases, the belts simply exacerbated whiplash. The
paper does not pronounce a verdict on the book (appropriate, since presumably
use of fictional narrator personas grew out of an "epiphany" that, "after
several years of deep research I was, in an almost occult sense, there when
door open for that man, grease the skids and give him a helpful boot down the
steep, swift road to sure and deserved oblivion." (To read 
Lieutenant Governor Endorses Governor Bush." To actually read these press
An exception to this rule was today's endorsement of
state's most senior and revered elected official. His endorsement carries a lot
of sway with Democrats in New York, who, according to the most recent polls,
New York politicians, he has respect and influence on the other side of the
pointing out that this legacy has since been entirely erased. He then shuffled
stooped, deliberate shuffle back to the microphone. "Nothing is the matter with
turning on his heel and scurrying back to his seat. As sound bites go, this was
just about perfect, a tiny dagger pitched into Gore's sternum.
The professor returned to give his reasons some minutes
later. "Do you want a list?" he asked, to more tumultuous laughter and
"Yeah, we want a list!" cried out one of the hacks.
Do you remember the first time you ever heard the expression, "There's no
there there"? I do. I practically remember where I was sitting when I first
great line. What a great line! I mean, when I first came across it, I
just stopped reading for a few minutes and rolled that line around in my brain
and thought, I would kill to say something that amazing. There's no there
there there. Bush I find dangerous precisely because he will win according to
my criteria (and yours), and he knows absolutely nothing. Also, call me crazy,
but I hate Republicans. Could never vote for one. Just couldn't. It's as close
Republican. If I believed in God. And those horrible Supreme Court justices
Republicans nominate really matter. (Although it's surprising and fascinating
waiting desperately for the moment I could get out, is how it found its "there"
(Probably not quite accurately quoted, but as I say, there's no
definitely improved: He was great on Meet the Press a few weeks ago,
that people have worked with Al Gore, and it seems to be truly useless. I mean,
if you just tied the man's hands together and lashed them down, it would be an
improvement. If I were trying to help him, I would tell him to never ever read
always work from index cards with no more than a word or two written on them.
Well, so should anyone who gives a speech. I wanted to die when Gore got up
speech on it that he dutifully read from. On the other hand, if Gore runs
Well, I am off to work. And so this is the end of our days together. I feel
relieved, because frankly my entire life has ground to a halt for the last four
days while I feverishly tried to think of things to say. But I also feel sad.
well written, thanks to his gifted ghost Mark Salter, who helped write his book
worth of them. But both the prose and the delivery have the appeal of
The most interesting thing about today's announcement was what was left out
at the last minute. An earlier version of the prepared speech included a
of his speech, passed out in advance, read: "There are those who would instead
propose a larger role for the federal government. One of my opponents wants to
allow the Department of Education to cut off money to underprivileged children
to the next paragraph, which draws an implicit distinction instead of an
explicit one. "While I applaud the effort to hold schools accountable for the
money they receive, I would strongly oppose any program that would give power
establish a positive message before going negative on the Republican
It's interesting to compare the two education plans. Where Bush's plan is a
money--$5.4 billion over three years. And he's explicit about where he'd get
problem is that that's still not enough to determine whether vouchers work.
Constitutional questions, but beyond that, it's not enough to create genuine
competitive pressure on bad public schools, which is the point of
on earth that a good teacher should be paid less than a bad senator," he
And this one, even better: "Some people just aren't meant to be teachers,
and we should help them find another line of work," he says. This draws wild
contradicts the boomer mythology that it was the baby boom that first absorbed
rock 'n' roll into the mass culture." Chatterbox's proof was that the first
column that Chatterbox posted earlier doesn't work for people who don't
subscribe to the Journal's online edition; Chatterbox has now
Fray postings immediately started pouring in from people who said that yes,
unacknowledged founding father of rock 'n' roll. (For the details, see the
made rock 'n' roll an art form for the masses (as opposed to one for blacks and
that boomers represented a majority of that public until the 1960s.
Please note the important distinction between listening to rock 'n'
to it, but us little kids actually stood under the lamppost and sang a
groups' pockets (or, as was more often the case, these groups' record labels'
out and buy the records well before their teen years. (Click here and
the fourth grade. One of the first 45s I purchased was Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great
loud and danced all afternoon. When he came home and heard the lyrics, he broke
the record in two. I was crushed and resented him for many years. Last year, I
finally realized why he thought "Great Balls of Fire" was terrible for his
and lyrics to the vernacular use of the word "balls." Duh!
Around the Clock" (though she's a little vague about whether she purchased it
(one of the greatest teachers the world has seen) let us have a party. She
brought a record player, we brought our 45s (my contribution was "Rock Around
some role in the adoption of early rock, even though ultimately these
kids didn't get it and we boomers did. And you're correct that boomer
propaganda never allows for this possibility. Your only mistake was totally
roll, against the wishes of our parents, cemented into us older boomers two
lessons that were behind much of what happened in the '60s:
Because of rock, we had a lot in common with each other that neither our
parents nor our older siblings or older friends shared. It was the start of the
feeling, right or wrong, of generational bonding, and of boomer exceptionalism,
Brothers. But my father forced me to buy a lame, horrible pop tune
Brothers or some lame brothers. I never let him do that again, and I never
forgot that lesson about the way authority figures can screw you.
(Interestingly, my dad and I later developed a great relationship, and he swore
he couldn't remember the incident. But it was etched in my mind.)
and asked This Week's panelists about their own drug histories.
Pundit Central" column has an excellent summary of the exchange, but
Chatterbox believes readers of this column will want to scrutinize the text for
every last ambiguity (for the complete transcript, click here):
both marijuana and cocaine; though if that were the case he'd probably
agrees with Chatterbox that it's a phony issue. Or, it may be because
she doesn't want to answer the question. In fact, she doesn't
answer the question; she just says she was "so pregnant during those years."
This answer implies that she couldn't take drugs because she was
constantly pregnant during the 1970s. But obviously she wasn't pregnant
hasn't answered the first time). It doesn't seem especially surprising that he
generation's drug of choice was alcohol (presumably not "sack," Sir John
mess with dangerous and illegal substances. Or, it might mean that today
he doesn't want to discuss the matter at all (in which case we'd need to
He was out of the office when Chatterbox was phoning around for the 
he'd answer the question if asked, but no one asked. (Drudge refused to
with marijuana in the distant past," and wrote, "I deeply regret this
I found the drug had no effect on me whatsoever, and I determined
later I experimented with marijuana once again. On that occasion I enjoyed it a
good deal more. This youthful indiscretion I also deeply regret. During the
next several years, overcome by the spirit of scientific inquiry, I
hypocrisy regarding illegal drug use, he also deplores illegal drug use itself.
Specifically regarding cocaine, a lesson of the 1980s was that its use is both
boomers who tried it during the 1970s. That doesn't justify the ongoing
disparity between criminal sentences for possession of powder cocaine and
enforcement agencies take in general today, as compared to two decades ago.
provoked almost entirely by a negative item on the company that appeared in
bearish a commentator on Wall Street as exists today and a man who bears a
when they stand to make a great deal of money if their comments knock those
companies' stock prices down. Short sellers are often founts of useful
information, and a certain kind of institutionalized skepticism seems to make
them adept at sniffing out fraud and deception, particularly in corporate
accounting. Certainly the financial press is full of more than enough fund
managers touting the stocks they love for there to be plenty of room for
was slowing, that the company was facing increased competition and that the
advent of free Internet services, especially abroad, would hurt it. We were
company would have to rescind the price hike it was able to push through last
The last point is, of course, pure speculation, and it rests on two
other Internet service provider. It's not, because even though it's
considerably more integrated with the Internet than ever before, its
second misconception is the idea that Net users are willing to abandon their
app of the Internet, and it is a true source of customer stickiness. It may be
us, we'd probably have to tell more people about the former than the
as the fact that despite the familiarity of his critique, it was able to drive
read that piece could have come away from it thinking, "Damn. I was just wrong
about the business. I need to sell." In other words, there was no new
information in the story that needed to be incorporated into the stock
Except, of course, that the existence of the story itself was information
column so quickly, the stock market was efficient or inefficient.
Unfortunately, this is almost a metaphysical question. An efficient market is
one that assimilates everything meaningful that can be known about a company
live in, in the short run a piece blasting a stock is almost sure to move that
stock, which would seem to make it meaningful. And so the snake ends up eating
And so, the last of our Book Raps, our chance encounters on this
environment (as does Celebration, our authors inform us) from having too much
traffic and no bar. It's an apt forum, for all that: another attempt to
was engineered to present such an elaborate display of democracy in a town
where democracy has been supplanted by corporate control. But then, why are we
being paid, by the medium that's supplanting print, to prop up the illusion of
it means. While researching my last book, in which I devote a chapter to
there that in the vividness of its intrigues the town lives up to its
As I took Celebration to task for its faux history and democracy, I
there on election nights and at meetings of Port Commissions and Mosquito
what they have to say about what they saw in Celebration troubles, or at least
complicates, my formula. Because this is the problem: In the face of our
postwar, retail, mobile, corporate culture, democracy is not only a seemingly
ineffectual anodyne to social blight; it becomes a part of the problem. Yes,
made it the largest tourist destination in the world. You could say that
corporate commerce created the problem. But only the corporation can seemingly
solve it, since the problem evidently thrives on the democratic turf, and not
changed. For a long while, now, as tourists discovered the town, sweatshirt and
melodies from loudspeakers just as Celebration did until the influence of
moved out to the highway. The main post office has moved out to the highway.
tower and moved out to the highway. The citizens of the town objected, but the
county voters didn't care, and the big money (much of it developer money) was
happened. Democracy is destroying the town that was a temple of democracy.
But that is not the ultimate point of my parable. At the same time as all
a new development that has been zoned and permitted and is now rising to
little Celebration, its mawkish marketing and sentimental architecture direct
return it to its roots? What happens when the economic interests that are
chance, even on so noisy a street corner, to chat with you.
Balance Gore's. Cutting the vice president every conceivable
Chatterbox decided to attack this question by examining
scores). That way, Chatterbox figured, he'd have answers for both
scores as simplistic and unfair). Supporters of Republican presidential
candidates are presumably gleeful that this contest is being scored at all and
Not even Chatterbox has the patience to comb through
(Chatterbox leaves that to certified practitioners of social science.) Instead,
Chatterbox zeroed in on the two years when Gore cast considerably more votes
Reactor, one of the more notorious boondoggles of the period. Gore voted
override President Carter's veto of a water projects appropriation bill, which
Waterway (another famous boondoggle of that era). Gore voted in favor of
to represent a threat to the snail darter population, from the Endangered
he needed to support other House members' water projects if they were going to
unclear. These include several "energy crisis" votes (it is by now largely
forgotten that environmental groups were often opposed to federal efforts to
ease the energy crisis). Gore voted in favor of a solar
satellite program that the environmental movement opposed (according to the
measures, but which some environmentalists opposed, because it also
alternative fuel venture opposed by environmentalists because it involved
couple of votes during this period; eventually he would shift his support to an
vote to cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency; two highway bill
votes; a vote against banning new billboard construction along federally
subsidized highways; and a vote against a moratorium on issuing federal patents
Corp. vote and the mining vote were clearly dreadful. The votes against
things that's happened to me, and it means I get to go to it and to nominate
chicken livers and my roommate vowed she would serve them at her wedding, and
she did. At her first wedding. Shortly thereafter, she slept with my first
husband. To whom I was married at the time. But never mind: Just thinking about
all this has made me not just nostalgic in an unexpectedly cheerful way but
The report in the Times about police misconduct was released by Mark
summer in one of those small rooms he's so good at speaking in, and like
everyone else who sees him in those circumstances, I was stunned at how smart
and charming and relaxed he was. There are a lot of small rooms in New
they haven't gone away. Only yesterday one appeared on my plate.
these "reviews," in quick succession without the benefit of endless editing and
are the result of great effort), has brought home to me one quality of this
review for that matter. In fact, it is more like gossiping than anything else.
should rename this section Book Chat, or Book Rap, or something like that.
communities are cemented by adversity, although I don't think that absolves
an experimental school that would be considered radical even in communities
education, who had a lot to do with the revolutionary curriculum.
Still, the question you ask is exactly right: How can a
corporation that markets escapism make a real place? The answer, I suspect, is
corporations, but they are relatively small organizations that specialize in
Which is why, despite the excellent town planning and
generally high quality of the architecture, I don't think Celebration is a
for the millions of new houses that will be built over the next decades. In
that regard, Celebration offers lessons, rather than a prototype.
Or perhaps Celebration is really another manifestation
inspired by "the extraordinary notion that they could start all over again from
scratch." In many ways, that is the theme of the two books we have been
You are a gentleman, and have generously let me get
away with a couple of whoppers, which I must address before we get started on
have the Send key, that great enabler of the slipshod thought, and verily I
have not mastered the button, because as soon as the coffee kicked in this
morning, I cringed at what I saw. For anyone misled by my first garbled posting
their conversation did not widen to encompass the far corners of the solar
system then that is no affront to their book, which is subtitled, after all,
afford Celebration, who must rely on impact fees to help with their mortgages.
especially in a missive declaring the requirement to respect the literary
fascinated me, especially insofar as the schools, though technically under the
real estate and construction experience, but because the company has been an
entertainment medium for so many generations of children, and been that before
to education than town building. The school should conceivably have been the
Chronicles is this: How does an idealized place built by a dream factory
and marketed as a utopia become real? The Celebration Company planners wanted
their artificial creation to rise up off the gurney, but didn't know what kind
recount Celebration's efforts to create "new traditions" through
the long run, what has worked best is what the company could not at all
provide, except inadvertently: conflict and difficulty. You ask if the
Celebration's first committed crime was a setback or a victory, and your point
come into being as much in response to adversity as to the conveniences and
real vitality by the inevitability of a little discord, and that error would
favor it so. (Would that the errors of reviewers shone so well to their
Valley through the third quarter of last year than any other presidential
candidate. The Democratic contender also netted more contributions over the
where does he stand on the issues that are of importance to the growing number
of Internet users and workers who depend on cyberspace? And, furthermore, will
extending a moratorium on Internet taxes and protecting children from
pornography and other online content. The candidate is betting that some of the
growing number of Internet policy issues will resonate with voters. (He's
history of presidential politics have candidates felt the pressure to adopt a
sign a pledge vowing they will forever oppose Internet taxes. Though, clearly,
asked all presidential candidates to sign a declaration opposing any Internet
taxes. "Just as soccer moms were the constituency everyone was trying to reach
companies that don't want to be burdened by collecting taxes on behalf of some
municipalities that rely on revenues to fund schools, law enforcement, and
public works projects. A congressional commission is expected to recommend a
where the Internet company is located), or give states the ability to go after
extension of the current moratorium, he wants to await the recommendations of
also declined to sign the pledge. Both have said publicly that they want to
await the commission's report and that they are also concerned about the
potential drain on state and local tax revenues if a ban on Internet sales
vice president supports finding a solution to these issues that allows the
their ability to educate children and fight crime," said an administration
galvanizing force that will serve to activate Internet users on a political
some skeptics disagree that any Internet issues will sway the electorate at
large. "The issue of export controls on encryption technologies, or even the
disaster involving a lot of peoples' privacy, that is the one issue where the
Internet would be on the agenda on a mass level.  If that happened, I think
all the candidates would be forced to take a position on the issue."
Several candidates already have taken public stands or made statements about
whether or not they believe the government needs to ensure that consumer
and developing guidelines to ensure that consumers understand how their
personally identifying information will be used. Most of the candidates, with
the exception of Bush, who hasn't yet taken a stand, also say that certain
records, including medical and financial information, should be protected by
went further, saying he would shut down all federal medical databases and end
the Internal Revenue Service "as we know it" by imposing a simplified flat
all the candidates are closing the door on more general privacy protection
legislation in the future. "For the current period, we believe industry
to the Bush campaign. "But we don't rule out regulation in the future if
industry fails to do a good job of policing itself."
Privacy advocates say they believe the candidates are supporting industry
general population. "Privacy could clearly be one of the critical issues of the
director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "While a lot of the
platform. The problem is that in order to appeal to this constituency, many of
the candidates have adopted postures that are eerily alike. Most of the major
candidates favor loosening export restrictions on encryption policy. Most favor
an international ban on tariffs on Internet purchases and services. Most favor
forgoing federal regulation at this time in favor of allowing the marketplace
to ensure that consumers have a choice of Internet service providers for
some of the candidates differ is in support of federal efforts to bridge the
"digital divide." The Gore camp rightly takes credit for fighting for a federal
surcharge on telephone service, with the funds going to help wire public
schools and libraries for Internet service. In fact, opponents labeled the
program "the Gore tax," but even Bush supports the program, although his
repeal the surcharge, which has helped provide wiring and Internet service for
criticized the program, saying it "will fail to give schools and libraries the
level of funding they had been led to expect. It will fail to stop the
inexcusable waste of money on the fund's administration. And it will fail to
support of efforts to keep children away from online pornography and other
been an ardent supporter of the controversial Child Online Protection Act,
which seeks to criminalize Web sites that "knowingly" make harmful material
available to minors. The act is currently under consideration by a federal
appeals court. He's also proposed legislation that would mandate filtering
software for public schools and libraries that receive federal funds. The Bush
Another issue that has candidates staking out positions is the prosecution of
Gates before a Senate hearing, has been raising campaign funds from executives
as a victory for the little guy. Most of the other candidates have tried to
tread the middle ground: The Bush and Gore camps have said they will stay
silent on the issue because it is a legal matter and up to the courts, not the
employees he wouldn't discuss the case. But he did say, "If competition is
valuable, which I think it is, then antitrust laws have a place in embodying
the values of our country. If dominance in one area is used to prevent that
they are convinced that Internet issues will matter this time around. "Internet
electorate could very well become very concerned about privacy, protecting kids
from bad stuff on the Net, preventing fraud on the Net,  and protecting the
overseas. It cautioned that those participating in New Year's
There's no safe haven from millennial terrorists. The calm spin: Then we might
extraordinary. Astronomers demurred, comparing the visual effect to the
difference between a 100-watt and a 107-watt light bulb: "Statistically, it's a
same emissions standards as cars. The measures, which will be phased in
reductions between automakers and refineries. Environmentalists' spin: This is
the biggest clean air victory since the phaseout of leaded gas.
Car and gas companies' spin: Consumers will pay for these changes at showrooms
rights. The unanimous ruling held that "the state is constitutionally
the legislature to determine whether gay couples will get these rights through
marriage or domestic partnership. Opponents of gay rights called the decision a
"deeply disturbing" blow to the institution of marriage,
it a triumph of "our common humanity" that paves the way for similar rights
promised to forgo unrestricted donations ("soft money") if they won their
and has colon cancer. He said he was leaving "to focus on my health and my
and sympathetic portrayal of the "little man." Cynics attributed it to the
rights and reduced gentrification. But Brown painted him as "an inexperienced
the Internet abandoned its role as the leading incubator of political
Judging from the Net's nonchalant treatment of a steamy story alleging recent
infidelity by a presidential candidate, the answer could be yes.
claims to have had an 18-month affair with one of the leading contenders.
excuse for telling the story itself.) Ms. X, described by the Enquirer
as a "stunning Playboy model," claims to have had eight sexual
very little interest in the tale of the candidate's alleged affair. And it's
unchecked proliferation of political rumor on the Internet would force
mainstream media outlets to cover stories that were unchecked, or even
irresponsible. For example, this summer the Wall Street Journal and
other venerable media outposts ran stories on mere allegations of cocaine use
far, though, there's been silence. One minimizing factor might be the fact that
clearly some of the Web's indifference to the Ms. X story is attributable to
the gulf between the Web and the tabloids. The Enquirer 's Web site
Although both the Enquirer and its sister Star have Web sites,
they do not use them to push their dirt. That's probably because tabloid
readers are not the nation's most wired demographic; regardless, if the
making the national press corps regularly scramble to cover a tabloid item. But
tale out to mainstream readers. (The New York Post 's "Page Six"
out front this summer reproducing stories about Bush's property having a
racially restrictive lease, a tale that received wide Net play but little
the father. But that investigation, despite Drudge's serial hype, determined
the woman's claims to be false. Since then, many tabloid publishers have come
to see Web gossip sites as both nuisance and competition.
be, too, that Internet rumor sites are a highly precise barometer of public
opinion. That is, they are ignoring the notion of a candidate's girlfriend
if true, the allegations have any political significance.
heavy traffic, the baby howling, the wife attempting to hide her exposed
nursing bosom from the driver, and the dog scratching her bottom across the
floor of the minivan. At length we arrived at our new home on the Left Bank,
which we'd never actually seen, except in photographs. It was a small cluster
an old apartment building. We piled out of the car and rushed to the front
door, a small teeming peristaltic bundle of needs and hopes and anticipations.
The door failed to open. The key mailed to us by the landlord did not fit the
mainly because we couldn't think what else to do. We were being punished for
our sins; we had wanted to dance, now we were paying the fiddler. It had been
fun, when people asked us where we lived, to say, "Well, that's hard to say,
pretended to be, which was just as gratifying. For the past six months we had
it was better to claim we spoke none. We had no purpose. And that, I should
complain about adulthood. One of the many things I dislike about being a
why you are doing whatever you happen to be doing and before long you succumb
to the need to supply an answer. The least naturally ambitious people can have
ambition thrust upon them in this way. Once you've established yourself as a
more or less properly functioning adult, it is nearly impossible to just go
being weighed down by adulthood wasn't likely to improve anytime soon.
Parenthood loomed. There was a time when I suspected this wouldn't have much
effect on me. I figured that the chemical rush that attended new motherhood
that illusion had been pretty well shattered by the anecdotal evidence. One
friend with a truly amazing gift for getting out of things he did not want to
do wrote to describe his own experience of fatherhood. "Remember that life you
thought you had?" he wrote. "Guess what. It's not yours anymore."
rate, since a door in our lives seemed to be closing, we went looking for a
window. As we sat on the plane, one thing led to another, and before long we
magazine. We had no idea where we would wind up; we just knew we were going
man across the table, an old friend, mentioned that his sister had this old,
Our bluff was being called. We agreed to rent the place, sight unseen.
then an elderly woman hobbles into the cobblestone courtyard and makes for the
door nearest ours. Our new French neighbor! A distant memory lifts my
for the first time in my life, I was fitting the key into my new front door
when an elderly woman called to me from the neighboring garden. "My name is
congratulate her. When you know someone with that kind of standing in society,
you somehow feel you belong, too. Assimilation is just another word for
our new old French neighbor with longing. And even though I know that the
moment history looks as if it is repeating itself is exactly the moment it is
not, I feel a little leap in my spirits. I walk over, open a door for her, and
her head down and right into her apartment. As she closes her door, the odor of
stove gas wafts into the courtyard. A voice behind me says, "She so old she
forgets to turn off her gas burners when she goes out." I turn around. There
stands a young man wearing a black stocking cap, a navy pea coat, and a grim
woman: "One day she'll come back here, light a match, and this whole building
puts his hand in the pocket of his pea coat. "I have your key," he says.
their jobs. Or so goes the theory. Insurance agents, music label executives,
car dealers, and even university administrators will be annihilated as
consumers turn directly to the infinitely efficient Web to buy and sell goods
and services. Such "disintermediation" is supposed to transform politics, too,
Web will let voters cast their ballots directly on all the issues.
on Internet time, the voters decided that political disintermediation via the
and local revenues. (Some of the license fee goes to local government; most of
it goes to a shared transportation fund.) The second part of I-695 achieved
disintermediation: It prevents any state or local jurisdiction from raising
The government's first response to the tax revolt was  a
towns and counties have increased service fees on water, sewer, utilities,
garbage, business, and parks. From "The Inevitability of Death and Taxes
Department" comes the news that some jurisdictions are raising the price on
cemetery plots. As a countermeasure to all the taxes, many drivers whose tags
legislators are walking around like zombies. Stripped of the power to increase
taxes, the House and Senate have been reduced to ceremonial bodies.
on the legislature, based on inflation and population growth, but offered no
tax relief. Instead, it diverted all excess state revenues to a special, almost
with cash. Every time the political establishment damned I-695 as
changed his tactics at the last minute when he saw the measure was going to
if they voted I-695 down. This only gave I-695 additional credence. See! The
ideological point that legislators can't be trusted with tax rates.
taxes are relatively mild out here. There is no state income tax, property
percent. So what started as a revolt against an unpopular tax turned into a
I-695, portraying it in hyperbolic, apocalyptic colors. The political,
corporate, and union establishments put their money where their mouths were,
lines. Opposing I-695 were the wealthy who live in Bill Gates' waterfront
government liberals. The biggest applause line on election night came when
exaggeration, according to polls conducted on either side of Election Day. They
suspected government of wanting to punish them for approving the measure. And
reserve, a botched opposition campaign, and voters willing to call a bluff
resulted in the I-695 victory. The unintended side effect is radical, direct
democracy: In what other state do voters set the tax rates?
challenges have arrived, but they're all piecemeal, failing to address sweeping
are elected, legal pundits say it's more likely that the court will narrow
be outflanked by the state auditor who has positioned himself as the Democrat
who can make I-695 work (the auditor wants a financial review of all state
programs). The Republicans, predictably, want to preserve the surplus, which
when the cushion is spent in a year or two, or when the next recession arrives,
analysts and tax wonks. What and who will they tax? Will they tax themselves to
build highways and create new bus lines? Or will they stay the course and ask
shot that the government might start taxing cars as property). And in a final
"In fact, Masters said, she could think of only one
other word that featured such an exquisitely pleasing articulatory progression
the other direction: "Tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to
did you let him kick it"? Rerun smiled and said, "You'll never know!"
characterization regarding how the German press supposedly ignored or
downplayed the story of the recent monetary settlement agreement for victims of
paper I saw yesterday. It was the lead story in every national newscast I saw
most shameful chapter to the business community's potential bottom lines.
Believe me, it has been one of the top stories here for the last six months.
artist's idea to stage what looks like a really cool light show on New Year's
politicians to local artists, say the show must not go on. Why? Because
dominated the German papers a day earlier when I didn't see them.
expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. I was the author of that proposal. I
wrote that, so I say, welcome aboard. That is something for which I have been
directly into law. As the House Ways and Means Committee's authoritative
"Green Book" notes, there were several expansions to the
wages up to a maximum dollar amount.  The income ranges and percentages have
been revised several times since original enactment, expanding the credit (see
Gore had everything to gain and nothing to lose by the offer. Gore went on the
help get his name and message across to people who are not familiar with him.
If you noticed, Gore didn't offer not to spend the money that would be saved by
money early in the primary season. By not paying for ads in the Democratic
primary, that would allow Gore to pay for ads in the period between the
primaries and the convention. Again, the offer benefits Gore because his
the future. If he was serious about the offer he wouldn't have sprung it on
scenes first. To offer deals that only benefit you isn't campaign finance
If you take most large industries (and automobiles,
in far greater quantities in others (energy, telecommunications, office supply
goods, construction goods, etc.). Furthermore, the economies of scale you get
consumer may make a single purchase, amounting to $20K in net revenue, when the
large number. As you can see, making the business sale is probably more
industry: Marketplaces for petrochemicals can be established online between
businesses, but it would be illogical for a Web company to try and sell
Name one of these "Common Precepts to Promote a Virtuous and Civil School
life will be like without the boy with the crooked smile. Back in the surgical
unit, the doctors prepare to give Charlie Brown his first round of
(It is difficult to be funny in praise of anything, so if you want your little
laughs, leave off here and go peruse those newly released medical records with
albeit adults depicted as children. And still more unusual, he was not
concerned with the follies and foibles of everyday life, that least interesting
comic subject, but something deeper, darker, and less ephemeral. Along with
Warm Puppy," he more often executed that most difficult comic turn, being
subjects and objects from a pair of actual headlines, you can eliminate the bad
news that fills our front pages, and create a happier world, as in these
entirely from the form, there is this holiday cheer:
to submit similar mix 'n' match pairs using headlines from any news source.
was a "top hat" but no "bad boy," something must be done. What?
"Oh, I can't stand that. You could get diabetes reading them, couldn't
or play or millennial fireworks display. The more common experience is to watch
Short Cuts for dummies, or that Boys Don't Cry has no ideas about
its subject beyond those in any of a score of newspaper articles written about
the case. Indeed, if a movie is in color, in focus, and indoors, it was likely
part, this is a form of kindness: It is terribly difficult to, say, write a
novel. Indeed, the entire enterprise of serious literary fiction is so marginal
also a kind of cowardice: A critic may be censured for slamming a worthy movie;
she may have to defend her judgment. But she won't have to defend her praise;
the pleasure she took in that film is its own justification. How perceptive is
she to have seen its merit. How dull I am to have missed it. I can only hope
that these low critical standards extend to my own work. Should I ever do
buses, but can't because of laws about separation of church and state!) and
praying --I just can't stand that sort of thing, talking to God about
potential congressional candidates listed factors that might deter them from
to rig the contest in your favor by fiddling with the meaning and sequence of
wars, Holocaust, Communist purges), so if you look for who did the most to
"that he had the most influence on the century by far. To not consider him
lives." The populists have the upper hand in this debate, because the media
want to please their mass audience by naming somebody whose contributions most
Time rigs the debate in favor of its nominees by defining influence to
doctrine of nonviolent resistance has overtaken the world. (Never mind that two
of his other big ideas, sexual and material abstinence, went nowhere.) And
while admitting that the New Deal was confused and failed to halt the
hopes" and thereby "saved them from fear itself." (Never mind that a similarly
animus that made all the difference in the '70s and '80s in overcoming the
greatest threat of the century, which was the Soviet Union."
"taught the greatest humility of all: that we are but a speck in an
the great tricks of the virtue debate is the reciprocal blurb. To prove that
them praising each other. What better way to validate a great man than to quote
the top themes of the century, and then select figures who "embody" them.
representing a theme, the trick is to elevate your theme. In principle, this is
a symbol of all the scientists  who built upon his work." He gets credit for
the Big Bang, the bomb, the PC, and above all, television.
opportunity through the New Deal (and gets credit for his wife's contributions
United States (five more points for defeating totalitarianism and five for
points for liberation and justice). "As the century's greatest thinker, as an
immigrant who fled from oppression to freedom, as a political idealist, he best
scientist, philosopher, or artist often turns on which of these fields drives
movements by putting everyone to work regardless of race or gender.
totalitarianism made economic progress possible, others, such as Sen. Pat
everything. Not only did it promote freedom "more than any statesman or soldier
"relativity paved the way for a new relativism in morality, arts and politics,"
press, of course, has its own causal theory: The press drives everything.
the inventor of the printing press, as the man of the millennium: "The written
accomplishments would never have happened without him. Since art is infinitely
various and complex, it's particularly implausible that anyone else would have
the grounds that "science has its own logic and is going to get where it's
going," regardless of which scientist gets there first. Scientists counter this
spin by arguing that the inexorable logic of their field makes it more
"Politics is for the moment. An equation is for eternity."
timing was excellent, earning him credit for subsequent decades of
get much consideration.) If your nominee showed up later, stress the immediacy
of his achievements, since most people can relate to today's breakthroughs and
gizmos and have forgotten those from the first half of the century. This
too late for this year's contest, don't worry. Nominate her for next time. If
that the move will reassure investors but questioned whether it is also "the
institution of the Federal Reserve Bank, and could discourage a more open
carrying in procession a statue of the Holy Protector to placate the weather.
world's central square against the sudden and furious storm that is sweeping
French papers were more concerned with the real storm that caused huge damage
nothing comparable since detailed records began in the reign of Louis
nations agreed to renounce their monetary sovereignty and to share it.
explained for years that the project was impossible. One year later, they must
admit they were wrong: the euro exists, it has established itself as one of the
world's great currencies and, better still, it has kept most of its
reform years," the paper said. "But the fact is, there is not a single major
thinking masquerading as analysis." It said his record so far is "dispiriting."
imperial war, one that punishes civilians in the name of protecting them." In
will do everything to win, at any cost, and whatever the number of deaths."
carry out the reforms that the West hoped for. "The regime will not change,
there will be no fight against corruption," he said. "Above all, the interests
and privileges of the oligarchy will be protected."
"eliminated" as a political force. He called the general a "vain and even
be an honest man, but he has the messianic complex," he wrote.
Corp.). Critics bemoan the absence of songs in this latest film depiction of
the film is "a luxuriant, lumbering behemoth  pleasant, occasionally
surprisingly harsh review: "It is an exotic escapist entertainment for matinee
ladies, who can fantasize about sex with that intriguing bald monster and
film follows an android that slowly gains human qualities and ends up as "a
[the robot's] original sleek form. His performance is subtle, his reactions
restrained. The more Robin is exposed, the more ham is served." Eventually the
benign head of the orphanage (a doctor addicted to ether) is excellent, but
his successor, is too deadpan for most critics. A few praise the film's
with subtle strengths." (Click here to find out more about the book the film is based
that will prove difficult for Mailer's official biographer to follow. One
onto the page as story" instead of exploring the meanings behind them, and she
"likes to knock the stuffing out of [Mailer] when she finds him too
The "rambunctious new novel is an appetizingly rich stew, full of the varied
between adore Beck's tribute to '70s funk (with countless '90s styles including
Village Voice musing that the music has "a texture and effect that is
stylistic debt than he can ever repay." (Click here to listen to clips from the album.)
Apparently "it's easier to make a mouse talk than to come up with something
cover story celebrates the coming of world government. Political
globalization is catching up to economic globalization, as evidenced by the
have world government but over what type of world government we should have. A
will mediate international disputes and weaken national sovereignty. 
An essay blames the media's ignorance of technology for its
cult. The blind worship of the fabulous Fed chairman, who was just nominated
fire" was a dud, and the Millennium Dome is disappointing.  The cover
cover story marvels at the placebo effect and wonders whether we should allow
patients, and fake surgery can improve health as much as real surgery. The real
lesson of the placebo effect: When doctors are attentive, confident, and
Placebos could be a bridge between the cold efficiency of modern medicine and
the unscientific comforts of alternative therapies.  An essay contends
unfairness.  An actress who has played in the traveling cast of
New York event where the Internet millionaire host tried "to coordinate six
fornicating couples into simultaneous orgasms at midnight." 
in the coming months, especially among small businesses. It also warns that
that female baby boomers are its leading customers. A social stigma is still
resignation for nearly a year to ensure the election of a loyal successor.
he is focused on his presidential duties.  In a Time 
review criticizes the new liberal wisdom that children will be scarred for life
if their first three years aren't stimulating. Kids are extremely resilient,
and their emotional and intellectual development can be normal even if their
early childhoods are distressed. Only children who suffer the most severe
has been a lively and gritty chronicler of New York City life and helped
to plan, almost every voter in the primary will make worldwide history by
month, the party agreed to become the first political organization anywhere on
the globe to hold a legally binding election over the Internet. And whether
development disturbs some voter education groups. At least one is considering
about pursuing legal responses to the party's decision to use Net voting.
"We have grave doubts whether an election by this method would comport with
demonstrates that online voting has moved rapidly from a controversial theory
to a real business. According to one estimate, there are over half a million
public elections in the United States every year. That creates a potential
disclosed this week that it has received a minority equity investment from
many elections for labor unions and nonprofit groups, says that organizations
using it "save substantially on postage and paper."
remote voters, but even at polling places. "We'll have paper ballots [at
polling places] for those who are afraid to use the Net, mostly because of
Internet voters will, like those using absentee ballots, have a slightly wider
voting window than those going to physical locations. The Net "polls" will be
when the physical polling booths will close as well.
fraud. According to the company, voters will be able to verify their identity
using their date of birth and a digital signature. Critics point out, however,
would probably be the largest group affected by any potential Net voting fraud
presumably be affected. If, however, the Gore campaign is worried, they're not
saying so publicly. "We view anything that helps expand participation in the
electoral process as a positive development," says Ben Green, director of
plan to teach school students to cry 'Please God, no!' before being shot by a
you know that all of our presidents who weren't Masons were assassinated?
participants asserted, ours is a very observant, very Christian nation, so
please be sensitive to the displays of religiosity that are so common this time
of year, often with elaborate lighting. One caution: People get cross if you
something better, like a live monkey. Ask any kid what he'd rather see,
illuminated plastic figurines or monkeys, and that kid is going to say,
"Monkeys! Where's my present?" Sure, it's easy to decry the commercialization
of the holiday, like putting trousers on all the figures in the nativity scene,
some pretty sweet change from the Gap. But monkeys are generally nonprofit, and
yet my damned neighbors have threatened to call the cops if I set one foot on 
you all season's greetings. A little impersonal, I know. How I wish I could
visit each of your houses, when nobody's home, and go through your stuff. But
the students receiving vouchers attend parochial schools, among them St.
experiment in terror" (except for the words "in terror"). "And besides, I was
so drunk that year, I never knew what the hell I was voting for," he did not
spirit of this blessed season like a mass mailing from a vast commercial
enterprise. Participants are invited to devise holiday cards from any
Inside: Happy holidays from our remaining employees!
defenders say? That each of these vices is really a virtue.
experience actually reinforced his interest in economic liberalization. As
prepared perestroika  because they were very open and they knew the exact
knows the western model of economic and political life not as an outsider but
learned a lot about Western business practices, and that may be exactly what he
state power over the economy and society, thereby undermining both capitalism
capitalism and true democracy. "Any attempt to exceed the limits of the law and
Eve message. "Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press,
much. But how can they make this case to the world's most powerful lender, the
monopolies, helping small businesses to thrive and competition to flourish.
state power over the government and economy to shape the capitalistic system
other cronies to safeguard their financial interests and shield them from
prosecution for corruption. By underscoring his image as a fearless strongman,
pundits are reconsidering whether a strongman president is such a bad thing.
"Does he have the power and the will to take on the robber barons?" asked
efficient leader can win a ruthlessly efficient election and craft a ruthlessly
Never mind morality. When asked whether the United States should oppose loans
because the predicate question is whether they get the economic reforms in
order," at which point "we'll have to look at what's in our national interest."
"I wonder if she understands how much her life has changed this day.
who came up with it. (Great product name, by the way.)"-- Ann
Garden, whom he intends to turn into the Playmate of the Year. Said the
Monopoly box who was always chasing his secretary around his desk in New
screwball comedy. And now, judging by News Quiz responses, these wan titans are
barely portrayed at all. Unless he makes his money in show business, today's
billionaire is a sexless and unattractive sap who lacks the vigor and vanity to
crush his rivals and build towering monuments to his ego, although he may have
a nice house. He is a tedious corporate drone, as innocuous as the lackluster
imaginatively Sybaritic. They are, at most, dull on the grand scale. We live in
doll, the winning entry in a toy invention contest for children.
that being in your 50s would be this much great good fun."
everyone asserts in the Rolling Stone "Millennium" issue, except
defiant, is peeling back a bandage to reveal the scars left by bullets from
seen it, retains its creepy power. It also invokes a remarkably complex set of
to a press corps as yet unaccustomed to familiarity with the intimate anatomy
scars, both physical and spiritual: the disfigured face of a napalmed
are not all that's exposed: Flipping through The Sixties you'll catch
his dark shirt to show his navel, a winking eye in an expanse of pale flesh. On
People who gaze at their own navels are called narcissists. What do you call
someone who makes his living gazing at other people's? A voyeur? A sadist? A
civilization he has documented for more than half a century, that he has
published a fat volume of pictures of other people and called it An
of our politics and our culture, is a defense mechanism: The selves we
theatricality of the New Left and also the sheer dread. When you look into the
revive the portrait as a central genre of photographic art. His only serious
and August Sander, who set out to compile a comprehensive visual record of
produced a staggering corpus of fashion and commercial photography. First at
fashion photography in what will likely be remembered as its golden age. Along
the way, he produced a staggering number of images that have remained lodged in
and styles, and his willingness to shoot album covers, posters, and
fashion at the expense of art." But celebrity, money, and fashion have been, at
"What need for purists when the demotic is built to last?" Photography, in
categories distinct. And this may be the point. "Distinctions between
reportage, portraiture and fashion have always seemed arbitrary," the
photographers who can address a camera towards anything that takes his
easy categorization. The endlessly reproduced images of that decade tend to
children fleeing burning villages, police clubbing demonstrators in the streets
still. And then, on the next page, the napalm victim's face stops us dead.
exhibited a series of deathbed portraits of his father, a New York clothing
at seeing the picture, and he explains to her that, while the photographer and
his model are in some ways collaborators, the power, the control, ultimately
vague spiritual leanings. His most recent work, a portfolio in The New
Catholic priests, and other believers. But these photographs, seen against the
is, in the end, a thoroughly secular imagination. The metaphysical confidence
immortality, which his subjects accept on his terms: at the cost of their
promised to forgo unrestricted donations ("soft money") if they won their
in the "war of attrition. Battles will be won and battles will be lost."
and has colon cancer. He said he was leaving "to focus on my health and my
and sympathetic portrayal of the "little man." Cynics attributed it to the
tenants' rights and reduced gentrification. But Brown painted him as
Colorado police showed the Columbine killers' videotapes to the
planning their attack and expressing rage at their families, classmates, and
community for allegedly mistreating them. Two days after the showing, Columbine
High School was closed down when a student threatened to "finish" the job.
Police said they showed the tapes reluctantly after Time
violated its agreement not to use direct quotes from them. Observers called the
fame. Critics said the showing of the tapes was the most chilling act,
meeting of the six contenders was described as their "most spirited," with
numerous disagreements over campaign finance, abortion, taxes, and ethanol
assertive demeanor and a more confident manner" than in previous debates.
Wen Ho Lee pleaded not guilty to charges of mishandling nuclear
intent to injure the United States and  secure an advantage for a foreign
power." He was not charged with the more serious crime of spying.
of his race. The Justice Department's spin: He's a security threat who may have
gay service members to be discharged only if there is evidence of homosexual
President Al Gore both said the policy was unacceptable and promised to work
for its elimination if elected. The New York Times said the exchange
members were forced to resign following allegations that they had accepted
Perception is all they'll improve, since they don't have the teeth to be effective.
newspapers tried to capture the spirit and meaning of the millennium
said that during the biggest party on the planet "most of
alive together, on Earth, the beautiful accident." There was much more in this
being there. All six billion of us. We were there, and we were together alive,
years of peace suddenly seemed to be a human possibility." The Independent
might be. Noting that the wealth of the world's three richest men is greater
economic globalization benefits only the developed world. "Unless the imbalance
is rectified and people in poor countries come to live stable lives, the
connections among different people cannot be said to be a genuine network of
summed up the state of the nation at the millennium in the gloomiest possible
democracy have been dashed by a corrupt political "mafia," which has terrorized
said, "As of early this morning, no planes had fallen from the sky, no nuclear
reactors melted down, no power grids collapsed. Computer glitches were scarce,
ignorant, the IT consultants were drawn by the lure of filthy lucre, the
ceased to be rational, the nutcases were declaring the end of the world and a
sensible, empirically founded approach to risk was lost."
the problem was already understood by software producers ("Thus, the technical
as blaming the scare on Western intelligence services whose "crafty plan" was
computer information they wanted, they had pronounced the country
main uranium storage site for the US nuclear arsenal.  The exact nature of the
malfunction at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Y-12 nuclear weapons plant
was not disclosed because the computer controls a classified function," the
the city for the start of what the pope has called its jubilee year. In the
and urinate in shop doorways because there were no facilities," one
which said that arms are not supposed to be linked until the last verse of
The president of the Burns Federation explained, "It's no use singing 'There's
step down as president now, not later, because he lacks the uprightness
required of a public figure, and even now does not understand what he did
wrong," the paper said. "If the president of the state does not pay the price
for his actions, it will no longer be possible to demand proper conduct from
other public servants. The role of the president is a symbolic one, and the
symbol has to be a role model, not a symbol that engenders opprobrium."
close. We've been a source of strength for each other ever since my husband
died eight years ago. However, a recent humiliating experience now threatens
that close bond. One weekend, while I believed my son was away with his best
friend, I was trying on some swimsuits for an upcoming vacation. I was checking
to get something from the kitchen, and who did I see but my son standing there!
His weekend had been cut short, and he had let himself into our apartment. With
my hands full, I couldn't even cover myself up. Fortunately, he ran from the
room right away, but not before seeing me in all my naked glory. Since then
he's hardly spoken to me. He doesn't even look at me when he comes home from
school. I want to talk to him about this, but what could I say?
mother has one of these and two of those. You weren't vamping him, after all,
and both of you made a swift effort to end the scene. He wasn't even supposed
to be there, which you might point out to him. The fact that your household has
removed was granted. You might also ask him why he thinks there's been a change
in your relationship. Try to bring up the uncomfortable encounter, and tell him
he is making much too much of it. With luck, the very act of discussing it will
major city, and a few months ago I moved into an apartment building mostly
occupied by adults. Recently I asked a neighbor how I could keep my plants
alive when I went home for three weeks. I didn't want to give anyone a key to
my apartment, but wanted to know if there was another way. She told me that she
would water them and, in fact, already had a key that the previous resident had
She asked for a contact number for me, in case something happened in the
problem is that I don't want any neighbors having a key to my apartment. I also
do not wish to offend her by asking for the key back.
matter slide; should I ask the manager to change the locks; or should I ask for
Looking for the Key to Keeping Safe (Sorry for the bad pun.)
As for wanting someone to water your plants without
using a key to get in, your only hope is to engage one of those building
be inside your apartment. If you are dead set against anyone gaining access in
your absence, you might ask someone if he or she would be willing to let you
move your plants to their apartment for the three weeks.
having your key given to her by the old tenant, the woman should have coughed
it up the minute you moved in. If you decide she is a neighbor you would like
but the setup made by the previous tenant is now moot, and you've made other
arrangements. There is no reason for you to feel shy about this. It is your
she writes is hers the moment she writes it, paperwork or no, but registering
swipes her work. If she sent her one and only one copy of her novel to what
amounts to a total stranger, her best course of action would be to go out and
treat herself to a fabulous lunch. Then she should go home, stand in front of
the biggest mirror in her house, and say to herself: "I promise never to tell
magazine. I promise never to buy a secondhand car from a friend or family
member. I promise never, ever, under any circumstances to allow there to be one
fabulous lunch plus copyright tips were soothing and useful. You are absolutely
advice column, I am not completely sure what your views are on sexual
orientation. Since that is a large part of this question, I will ask you to
months. The union is planned for next year. Because of our engagement, we both
wear very nice diamond rings. At work, I am often pestered for details about
"the woman." I really see no need to come out at work, as it could well alter
name! Just say to the next busybody who asks, "I am engaged to a fine person
orientation, that is. At some point she hopes that you might feel free to live
little sister, my designated maid of honor, being a nightmare to deal with. She
has since apologized profusely (my mom showed her the letter) and has sought
psychological help to deal with her misplaced anger. In a world as cynical as
it is impersonal, I wanted to thank you for your help. You've really made a
difference in my life, and I thought that you ought to know that the work you
thinks your letter is a wonderful way to close out the old year and welcome the
new. She wishes for her readers solutions, resolutions, and every now and then
wondrous strange snow." His piercing blue eyes signal anger or torment while
his manner stays glassy and querulous. This aloof, slightly inhuman mix of
voice sounded great with a German accent, at once oily and metallic.) But
irrefutable as the existence of God. He looks enraged at having reached the
capture all aspects of the novel, but that hardly matters: It's middling
more evocative when his settings were farther from home, as they almost always
that vague spiritual yearning coalesces into candor so biting that it still has
the power to shock. Wounded lovers dismiss each other with compact fury, while
the fiercest insults are reserved for representatives of a God who has let
More important, he distills from the novel a mournfully wry
briefly: This is a tale in which every possessive human act ends up driving the
on the surface, the way it is in some of his other films, but in the recesses.
the light has had to pass through layer upon layer of dust and fog, so that
only the faded yellows, oranges, and the occasional green of some wallpaper
register amid the ashy grays. You can't make this world seem too welcoming or
the characters will lose the incentive to seek out a better one. That means
freezing rain, cheerlessly crabbed interiors, and lots of extras who visibly
live lives of quiet desperation. The effect of so much misery isn't
freckled complexion affords her no protection from the elements, worldly or
responds by screwing him harder, her bare breasts looming over him, imperious
lack of urgency amid the rubble borders on camp. It's a mark of her stature
that another potential camp moment doesn't bring the house down: the line "It's
persona struck me as overly pitiable for Henry: A more repressed, formal
take care of him. In a late scene, the husband invades the lovers' seaside
idyll, which is an impulse that might seem out of character for Henry and that
use of birthmarks to indicate spiritual blight, the insistent pull of
an adaption of one of his novels and has to shield his eyes from the coarseness
respectful but ultimately cruel: He exposes the work as hooey. Actually, not
the most casual exchanges carry an awareness of the electric chair nearby. The
day before an execution, the condemned man is sent away and a surrogate (Harry
an opportunity to make a final statement ("Sorry for all the bad shit I done"),
worriedly. He says they shouldn't make jokes because the next day, when a man
will actually die, they might remember the joke and not be able to stop from
that: Its attention to rituals that other films don't have time for gives it
T he Green Mile also features a giant, mentally slow
"tried to take it back, but it was too late." About an hour into the picture he
bedridden white woman, over whom the black giant hovers in a miraculous
but influences. The gentle giant plays with a tiny mouse-- Of Mice and
the evil people who get punished.) King isn't a cynical writer: He recycles
these elements as if he has true faith in the power of his fables to heal. But
I find his storytelling both morally easy and artistically promiscuous. The
Green Mile is a fat old whore who thinks appealing to an audience's most
They rephrased queries, rejected scenarios, and chose options other than those
offered by the moderators. When politicians revise questions this way, as they
do with increasing frequency, journalists accuse them of "ducking." But if
someone swings a bottle at your head, what's wrong with ducking? If the answer
is fair game for scrutiny and dispute, why isn't the question?
about how politicians manipulate discussions of issues. They insert hidden
assumptions to rig the dialogue in their favor. They narrow the range of
options under discussion to force their opponents into embarrassing dilemmas.
middle ground. When reporters use these tactics, why shouldn't they, too, be
has to be our choice.  We have to choose to stand forthrightly for the
hypothetical question is no more important than the likelihood of the scenario
it assumes. Imagine that Al Gore were asked to choose between a Republican
pregnant and wanted an abortion, and at the discussion with you they were
adamant in their decision to have an abortion, would you support that decision?
that I loved was raped, that would be the most horrible thing.  I would
comfort her. I would pray with her. I would explain to her that she couldn't
make right the terrible thing that had happened to her by taking the life of
her innocent unborn child. But the most important thing, sir, is not what I
would do under those circumstances, but what I would do as president. And as
hypocrisy (he'd allow the abortion because the woman is in his family) or
cruelty (he'd force the victim to suffer the lifelong consequences of her
the two options: He wouldn't just "prevent" the abortion, he would "comfort"
on him and argues for a third option, which he claims would prevent the
enlarged the question, this option wasn't even on the table.
you personally?" Bush replied, "What you're trying to get me to do is to
asking you about your personal opinion." Bush elaborated, "I don't believe it's
visceral reaction to seeing the Confederate flag?" And Bush concluded, "As an
prolonged exchange made Bush look evasive, and he was criticized afterward for
women are walking into a clinic every day and receiving abortions. Does
believe it's the role of a politician to go into that clinic and tell those
(let the woman decide) is more relevant than his "visceral reaction" as to
whether abortion "offends him personally." Why can't Bush make the same
settle for one to two sentences in length, if you must.  All gentlemen will
answered second: "The idea behind affirmative action was legitimate and decent.
together." Bush answered third: "Only if affirmative action means equal
"but" and "only if." This kind of qualification is often ridiculed as
ifs and buts worse than a policy of no ifs and buts? Most people prefer
with ifs and buts. Affirmative action in particular cries out for such moral
and legal nuance. What voters really needed from the candidates on this
question were longer answers, not shorter ones. For example, what does Bush
"It may be more important to ask whether it's helped the people it was supposed
to help," he began. "And I think it has actually hurt them by damaging the
reputation of many minorities in this country and not giving them credit for
answer didn't precisely address the question, but which was more interesting
and enlightening? When the question is more specific than the answer, a
candidate can be accused of evasion. But what's wrong with an answer that's
back a weak, hanging slider and demanding a fastball so he could hit it
what is the biggest mistake that you've made, and what lesson did you learn
from it?" The crowd booed, and when Trotter was asked to repeat the question,
she rephrased it: "Our viewers are curious. On a personal note, what is the
biggest mistake you made as an adult, and what lesson did you learn from
as an adult would be to treat that as if it's a question that is appropriate to
be asked," he said. "There ought to be in our public life a certain decorum, a
terms of what I think we believe to be relevant for the purposes of running for
president  maybe the biggest mistake I had made in my public life  was
not to have spoken out on the issue of the right of the unborn before I
overreacted, but his answer illustrated three lessons. First, sometimes the
propriety or significance of a question is a more important and instructive
topic than the question itself. Whether the question was improper can be
Second, challenging questions is a healthy way to hold the press accountable.
Questions are instruments of power. Who gets to choose them? Notice how Trotter
Then she said, "Our viewers are curious." Obliged to account for her question,
she appealed to the notion of a popular mandate. Whether her station's viewers
wanted her to ask that question can be checked. What questions should be asked,
why they should be asked, and who gets to choose them are now open subjects for
Believing that it was framed too personally, he didn't just dismiss it. He
Questions don't have to be answered with a yes or no. Neither does the question
long as the information comes from just about anywhere but the candidates
the belief of many politically active Web surfers who were recently surveyed by
percent think that the information offered online by candidates is reliable.
survey also indicates that voters surf the Net to learn more about community
problems, read candidate biographies, and determine who to vote for.
polled, however, appear less enthusiastic about forging an "interactive"
relationship with campaigns or candidates. Respondents are more concerned with
whether political sites can document their positions, observe privacy policies,
might be less interested in exchanging comments with candidates online because
voters, who question whether their individual voices will be heard, much less
a certain extent the medium is also having an impact on the message from
respondents. Online, voters can shop for candidates just as they would shop for
goods. "People are getting used to making choices on their own timetables,"
referring to the cottage industry in political parody Web sites.
Democracy Online Project, has produced an online campaign primer for
technologically challenged political junkies. Cornfield has also proposed a
national government directory of official candidate Web sites, to help steer
them: Buy a computer made in the last year or two, update information often,
design the pages with the same overall color scheme, and always make sure
visitors know how to get back to the home page. "These aren't politicos who are
going online," says Cornfield. "These are Net users who are sidling over to
politics. If they don't like what they see, they're gone."
and privacy advocates who tend to view government involvement in any endeavor
as a sinister machination. Cornfield responds by saying that the directory he
envisions would be a benign source of information, rather than a "Good
Housekeeping seal" of approval for political Web sites.
question about my sister. I don't want to unload on her if her behavior is
normal, but I have my doubts. Whenever we're in a public restroom, she will
wash her hands (afterward) and then take a paper towel or toilet paper to turn
off the faucets, then use it to open the door to leave. She does this so she
doesn't have to touch anything with her bare hands. How crazy is that?
Actually, your sister's routine with the paper towels is merely one of taking
precautions. What is the point, after all, of washing your hands only to then
health, in fact, that she travels with a physician.
amputees and therefore wear artificial limbs. I can't count the number of times
people have rushed up to me and said, "Poor children, what happened?" Or worse,
"What kind of drugs did you take when you were pregnant?" (This, of course, is
always in front of the kids.) My standard response is to stare calmly and ask,
"Why do you need to know?" I am writing for two reasons: The first is to remind
people that this is not a Jerry Springer society, and everyone does not have
the right to ask about a stranger's disability. The second is to ask if you
handling things perfectly. If you want to enlarge your repertoire, however, you
might try saying, "I don't believe I know you," and continue on. They will get
the underlying implicit message. The important thing for you to know is that
these foolish people who think everything is their business have their own
about his abnormal fixation on sex. Had he written you about an abnormal
drinking habit, you might have sent him to Alcoholics Anonymous. Do you not
organization, but it didn't come to mind; perhaps an indicator that sex
addiction is less established in our society than alcoholism. Thank you for
you'd call a philosophical argument with a friend. My position is that without
rules and civilized, ordered behavior, life would be nasty, brutish, and short
and more "honest," with no imposed ordinances. His point is that if rules are
worth having. What do you think about this? Maybe a word from you could settle
because upon reading the words "nasty, brutish, and short," she thought your
letter was about her starter husband. In any case, offer your friend a very
ordinary, everyday example: Imagine the flow of traffic without lights and
mind (since they didn't exist then), but she has a hunch he would have
appreciated their contribution to civilization. If you need more ammunition,
In addition to having a name like that, he was electrocuted.
all his political partners," the paper said in an editorial. "Three parties represented in the government
temporarily joined the opposition, which refused to place its trust in the
prime minister who promised that he would 'do everything to achieve the best
Post 's editorial criticized the desire of "considerable numbers of
single out any group as somehow disqualified to influence decisions, even
critical ones, that are being decided democratically," the paper said.
between slave and forced laborers is "a sore point" with central and eastern
as saying that while no one denies that the slave laborers, who were in
concentration camps, suffered more than the forced laborers, the latter "should
different sets of victims has already begun, and he dreads the talks on
allocating the funds. "I have heard things I really didn't want to hear," he
relations with the West was accentuated by criticism of the West by the Prime
picture is on posters and billboards all over the city, it said. A party called
barrier that would give it members of the Duma. A recent opinion poll showed
have ensured the continuance of the territory's vital textile exports to the
United States. It also warned Congress, when it reconvenes, not "to slant the
act too heavily on political issues. China has not intervened directly in Hong
reached an understanding on establishing diplomatic ties. Quoting unidentified
Bush's campaign is now running several different interactive banner ads
targeted to Web users in early primary states, including one for voters in New
sells them to campaigns for use in various kinds of voter targeting, from
collected by portals, Web sites, and Internet service providers. By sifting
such information together, the company believes it can surgically target
this sort of targeting raises an ethical question: Should a person, by virtue
of registering to use a certain Web site, become the involuntary recipient of
offered voluntarily, not the kind gained passively on the basis of "cookies"
campaigns both say they won't resell or otherwise use the information collected
even if all are scrupulous about what they do with user data, there's something
given for another purpose. Imagine if your television was able to gather
details about your viewing habits and your personal life and then transmit that
data to companies that wanted to use it to sell you things. You might find it
recipient knows that someone is marketing something to him with the help of
data that someone else sold. With banner ads, targeting can be invisible.
couldn't provide the names of any of the Web sites where it was advertising.
would be a matter of public record. According to federal law, stations have to
maintain open books showing who spent how much on political advertising. This
assures compliance with Federal Communications Commission rules designed to
haven't yet been applied to the Internet, and it's not clear they can be.
There's a widespread and largely sensible aversion to the mechanistic
justify in principle and points to potential abuses down the road. As it is
now, Web companies not only have the ability to provide diabolically precise
demographic targeting to political campaigns, they can also make such offers
exclusively. Yahoo could theoretically offer its entire inventory of New
radio, entirely illegal. But a campaign lawyer I spoke to for this story said
he couldn't see what would prevent it on the Internet, so long as Yahoo charged
Effectiveness: Of course, we'll only need to worry about
issues of fairness and privacy if banner ads are seen by political campaigns as
working. The Bush people say the results of their effort aren't in yet, but
those who viewed the banners. This isn't a bad response rate, though it means
world saw, it said, was "a continuation of the coldest shoulder of the Middle
exist. "The words 'border conflict,' combined with the concept of peace based
description of what peace might be like. He spoke of a peace that would "open
new horizons for totally new relations between peoples" and of "honorable
economic." This, the Post said, suggested "a peace much broader and
deeper than the exchange of ambassadors and other formalities."
list of regimes that sponsor terrorism. The paper said that, while the United
on both sides everything is resolvable." But it said there is still the problem
and the roots they struck in the basalt soil are deeper than those of the
have to go, because "peace under reasonable conditions is more important than
the desire to ease the pain of the settlers who are evacuated from their
to the ideology preached to them for decades," it said.
honorably," the paper said. "It is doing all it can to attain an honorable
peace which safeguards rights, dignity, and sovereignty. That is the only peace
acceptable to our people, and that is the peace that will prove viable and
to engage in political activity, freedom of expression, and economic
technology when access to the Internet is restricted to the children of senior
officials, and the use of a mobile phone must be cleared by the intelligence
agreement would mean "the end of a history of wars and conflicts," it noted
up to peace were not democratically elected, nor did they conduct referendums
"They want the kudos for themselves, especially since they have both already
relationship with his white jailer, played by Tom Hanks. Some are moved by the
fish tank cleaner who falls into the gigolo business by accident: "Among
inner happiness  a considerable cut above the crop of recent features by other
deserves to be, not to mention rather sweet in a sophomoric,
critics ("compartmentalization, the need of children of alcoholics to please
impending disaster") that will be of use only as a "compendium of all the
field day pointing out factual errors in the book over the past few weeks.
what they stand for or what might become of them or even what we should think
about the things they do," the book has one point in its favor: It has the
Catch-22 received mixed reviews when first published, it eventually sold
Heller, which includes the original reviews of his novels and plays,
positioned him to run for president as the candidate of "character." His
Times has called "the broadest look ever given the public at the
psychological profile of a presidential candidate." Presidential "character"
mental health didn't enter the public debate. Most people didn't even know
invaluable book The Psychological Assessment of Presidential
that TR harbored an unresolved, repressed wish to run for president again
himself. Though hardly controversial by today's standards (not least because we
candidates on the couch acceptable, the advent of nuclear weapons made
heart you know he's right," Democrats countered: "In your guts you know he's
the magazine. --though, significantly, it also allowed that more "reliable"
psychological assessments of a candidate might reasonably inform voters'
skeptics wondered why he would travel to New York for a checkup. (One unproven
to be confirmed as vice president, he had to explain his own visits to
headline over the story about Ford's testimony. Ford's explanation: He had
introduced a new aspect of the character issue: the stigma of seeing a shrink.
one's "emotional stability" denoted "not weakness but courage" and should not
be stigmatized. Most commentators agreed. Hovering behind this debate, of
resigned from the Democratic ticket after revealing that he had undergone
hospitalization and electroshock therapy for depression. That story quickly
(and somewhat inaccurately) came to be portrayed as an illustration of the
matter of mental stability into the larger issue of what kind of a president a
the nation made the public correctly curious about candidates' hidden selves.
president's performance based on a systematic study of his character.
Meanwhile, the decline of the major political parties was creating a new
Carter stressed his character, by which he meant his (alleged) honesty. In
years, the character question was reduced to a checklist of intrusive inquiries
dishonest answers were given, also about honesty and integrity.
disentangled. First, there's no question that seeking psychological help needs
"counseling" but, as Frank Rich has noted, Tipper's use of such euphemisms and
the avoidance a "professional title [that] might include the prefix 'psych-'
real clinician but a bunch of ministers, he sent the same message.
rejecting consideration of character. Obviously, a president's ambition,
judgment, temperament, integrity, and ways of relating with other people (among
of this truth. Many others exist, too. One historian has argued cogently that
character. Clearly, the press has done a lousy job with its focus on behavior
such as infidelity or drug use that most people don't care about.
Alternatively, some psychotherapists have argued that professionals alone
minutes of fame, proposed establishing an official board of psychiatrists to
screen all presidential candidates.) Not surprisingly, the push for a
about what character involves doesn't mean we should cease to think about it.
no one argues it should abandon the enterprise. The press is right to focus on
character. Now it needs to think more rigorously about how to do so.
death of distance." A bit melodramatic, maybe, but it's true that, in an age of
airplanes and optical fibers, the world seems pretty small. For that matter,
distance has been in decline for millenniums. Ever since boats were first
paddled and wagon wheels first turned, physical separation has become less and
obstacle to mayhem. Any vehicle that can carry merchants and merchandise can
carry warriors and weapons. Germs can hitch a ride, too. The black death that
followed trade routes west. In general, the march of progress has brought fresh
death throes, this sort of fear will have a richer grounding than ever. New
But cheer up! The coming globalization of fear isn't
entirely regrettable. It could actually make us, in a sense, better people,
designers, privacy invaders, and other malicious hackers. The Net spreads
dangerous data: how to build a conventional or nuclear bomb, a chemical or
biological weapon, and where to get the ingredients. With these weapons in
a border with an atom bomb in a trunk or a vial of anthrax in a vest
It doesn't take great imagination to envision a poor man's cruise missile with
invention of gunpowder: As technology advances, the growing power, compactness,
and accessibility of lethal technologies mean that more people in more lands
have the option of committing atrocities of greater and greater severity. But
the trend is now reaching critical mass, a threshold that warrants a rethinking
In the end, we may have to try a radical approach to
fighting terrorism: reduce the number of people who feel alienated and
aggrieved enough to become terrorists in the first place.
of grievances and the geopolitical complexity surrounding them. Besides, to
indulge specific grievances once they've become terrorist causes is to
encourage terrorism. Still, there are a few things we can do.
something about, some of the disaffecting fallout from globalization, such as
globalization's prime mover and head cheerleader and will be blamed for its
excesses until we start paying official attention to them.
focused on winning respect from foreign governments, we will need to focus more
and more on winning the respect of foreign peoples.
terrorists conveniently assembled in a single spot, the cruise missile strike
of things? Several decades ago, the answer was: not much. Several decades from
wall ourselves off from the problem than to address the root cause: disease
abroad, especially in developing nations, where industrialization has turned
some cities into a paradise for viruses and bacteria.
economy, an economic downturn abroad can be contagious. Hence the International
Monetary Fund. The same logic will apply more and more to medical health and
what you might call cultural and political health. The less disease abroad, the
less cultural alienation abroad, the less political grievance abroad, the
But if you care more about faraway people in faraway lands
only because their welfare may affect yours, does that really count as moral
suddenly sensitive. She sympathizes with her captor, seeks the causes of his
remarks, "She would of been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to
shoot her every minute of her life." With the decline of distance, there will
be more and more minutes of our lives when somebody will be there to shoot us.
down his pen. Participants are invited to describe his final strip.
frequently devastated by fatal explosions, or the nightly news if furious
it so easy to knock this country and its great corporations with the sort of
have a bumper! Try slapping a sticker on the conductor's ass, and he'll toss
the rain. Maybe then you won't be too good to ride in an exploding Chevy.
company would likely contribute to a fund to compensate the slave laborers who
most of whom were concentration camp prisoners, left alive; about half are
Search of Terrified Immigrants (Employee who finds the gold coin wins a free
in Awe at the Splendors of Capitalism and Universal Studios Tour (Laid on to
theme parks is better than returning to a poor country and his father.)
double, so he can simultaneously attend and deny having attended
authorities deputized a bloodthirsty lynch mob. A state commission is finally
millennium: "With his cartwheeling intellect and generous heart; with his
invention of the last thousand years: "Producing penicillin may be beyond the
the glue that unites us."  The magazine also includes a
system remains robustly pluralistic. The Communists will probably retain a
plurality in the Duma, and "reformist views may be more strongly represented."
An article earnestly questions whether irony is eroding the
superiority was proven by force of arms. Now the point is made with a joke, and
a quiet, knowing smile."  A survey cheers the globalization of wine. The "best wines
of the new world can match or even surpass the great wines of the old world."
chilling cover photo, taken from a surveillance videotape, shows Columbine
cover story reveals the contents of the killers' homemade
the video game Doom, and boasted that his plan was better than those of
of state power.  The theme of the century's second half was liberation."
A portfolio compiles the century's best cartoons and quotes.
An article explains how the stock market could have risen even
ground: Enormous gains in the technology sector boost the overall market.
the French are scaling back to a 35-hour workweek. Telecommuting has made long
hours easier and may be contributing to productivity gains. 
An article applauds a Navy decision to build "electric drive" ships.
Electric destroyers will have smaller engine rooms with more room for weapons.
The new ships will be quieter, stealthier, and more efficient.
A piece questions a new approach to cracking down on school
of the United States trade representative: "Has she made billions of dollars?"
would have loved to have had a shot to date her."  An
applying tough love to the homeless. Coddling hasn't worked. We should demand
cover story claims that food will become a focus of radical
politics in the 21st century, galvanized by opposition to genetically modified
faux West Wing memo proposes first lady subs. The president's top picks are
basketball game, we would be going into the second half with the Gore team, led
quite caught up, and the captain is complaining that opponent Gore isn't
vice president distorts a fellow Democrat's record because he thinks he can
whining about Gore's tactics is, in fact, an essential aspect of his political
style and is surely derived from his style as a basketball player.
seeks to link his foe subliminally, if irrationally, to Republican plans for
desire to spend a lot of tax dollars expanding the availability of federal
liabilities with tactics, which, while not exactly cheating, were not quite
her "gentle, totally open, inquisitive" boyfriend threw elbows like a street
fighter. "Watch the elbows!" she warns to applause.
voting to continue discussion on a variety of options at the same time; the
administration was considering the same discussion."
than surprising. The competitor who takes liberties when the refs aren't
looking is often the same one who wants special attention when they are.
Sportswriters call it "working the refs," and it is
a subtle art. While a mediocre athlete (such as Gore) often regards the
referees as impartial arbiters to be respected, a superior athlete (such as
favorable decisions. In the political arena, of course, reporters are analogous
to refs. Electoral competitors, as well as athletic competitors, seek to appear
aggrieved rather than antagonistic. This appeals to the crowd (whose roar may
provoke a favorable call) without calling into question the judgment of the
"--because I haven't given you to cause to. But at the beginning of the
This is the political version of the basketball moment when
an exasperated player turns to the ref and points out his opponent's alleged
foul. In sports the putative victim almost always shouts something like, "There
The fact is that in politics, as in sports, bending
the rules isn't cheating if you get away with it. Pitchers scuff the ball.
Bills quarterback who ran for vice president on Bob Dole's ticket, has always
baseball career for throwing hard inside fastballs to keep batters off the
plate. But he hasn't complained about the tactics of his political rivals.
him that you don't win the game by working the refs. You gotta score points on
daggers, pipe bombs, spears, and bows and arrows. List of what?
"Apparently, they're making the new Monopoly tokens more
no longer invokes uptown swells, no other headgear has replaced it in our
metonymy. Indeed, compared to the prewar wealthy, the contemporary rich have no
apparent class markers. It is not just hats but entire wardrobes that fail to
denote magnificent excess: The modern rich dress like business executives
during the day and like pop stars at night, if indeed anyone is wearing
anything, a cathedral of gay culture. Nor have the rich maintained that audible
knows he's likely not seeing a mogul but some kids from Queens on the way to
fraud and embezzlement after years of stealing from the charity, had a "top
those offered to ordinary workers. Because his contract did not include a
"bad boy "clause that would have revoked his benefits if he
Swimsuit season will soon be upon us and once again
been wearing doesn't complement their body type. So, for those who wish to
relatives had argued that he should remain in the United States after he was
rescued from a shipwreck in which his mother died. Protesters blocked
third meeting in a month, they clashed over health care and gun control and
Democratic spin: The frequent debates help both candidates practice "crisper critiques of one
another and more polished defenses of their positions." The gloomy Democratic
spin: The constant sparring over character issues makes them both less likable.
followed suit. The apparent cause: Investors waited for the new tax year to
reap profits from recent stock gains. The counterintuitive causes: Wall Street
the likelihood that the Fed will raise interest rates. Wall Street shrugged off
the decline as a "necessary and expected" correction. Skeptics termed it an
indication that investors are "even more confused than usual about what stocks
exaggerated by greedy programmers so that customers would commission expensive
security guarantees and the restoration of normal diplomatic relations. The
initial discussions were deemed "rocky," with each side claiming that the other
that threatened to derail the entire peace process. Skeptics charged it was
became the first team to hold a No.1 Associate Press ranking throughout the
of their toughness to rest" with a valiant comeback attempt.
cast "Bush as the charmed insider and [himself] as the scrappy outsider."
acting president and is expected to win the presidency by a wide margin in March
Pundits agreed he had botched much of his job but also noted his shrewdness in
reminder of Mother Nature's power and predicted further climatic changes from
playing politics with the hijacking. The rest of the world again worried about
a nuclear confrontation between the two countries. The 
for "trying to have it both ways on terrorism. They play host to terrorist
groups, yet wax indignant when terrorists hijack an aircraft."
'50s. The "hypnotic, sensually charged adaptation  has the same kind of
complex allure that made The English Patient so mesmerizing.  [It]
charade cause some critics to lose interest in the second half of the film:
"When Tom's aberrant qualities become more dangerous, the movie loses its
moorings and drifts into a sort of highly polished, implausible melodrama"
critics' main bone of contention is that the film makes no attempt to explain
first thing expected from an ostensible film biography, is an answer to the
his two top quarterbacks get injured and he's forced to put in the untried
editing leaves some critics dizzy, others complain that once again Stone is
achievement that has no peer in this century and may well have none in the
Metropolitan Opera's last commissioned work of the century, an opera based on
standout performers, and the set and costumes are stunning. The few who find
composed with a comparable degree of musical sophistication and sheer virtuoso
out more about the production on the Metropolitan Opera's Web page.)
sip an espresso and take in the zany decor (chairs upholstered in leopard skin;
with some campaign staff and a few reporters in tow, trudged up a narrow
staircase, and had a campaign aide shoot a video with a rented digital camera
was, of course, a gimmick. But all technological breakthroughs begin as
answering that question, let's examine the somewhat flimsy substance of Gore's
literature concerning the Medicare trust fund. "For my part," the flickering
image of Gore intoned, "I have proposed dedicating a significant portion of the
budget surplus to Medicare to extend the life of the trust fund." By contrast,
Medicare. "Since independent experts agree that more resources will be
necessary to assure Medicare is strong for the future," Gore continued, "my
question is, 'What specific measures do you propose to compensate for not
during his cybercafe appearance, Gore himself told reporters that "you
have to have flexibility on the fiscal side." When asked about Gore's query,
with its content from reading a transcript). Apparently the video message got
attached. Thanks to its novelty, the stunt won Gore some coverage from the
doesn't have to be a visionary to imagine where this might go. The largest
video camera already in his personal possession, but campaign finance rules
now, the Gore campaign has no grand plans to start spamming unsuspecting
citizens with video messages. It does plan, however, to start sending video
they'd like to receive such material. They number in the tens of thousands.
It's not too great a leap to envision that in future presidential
advertisements. If "push" technology makes a comeback, such video ads could be
buys, would probably be microscopic. These ads probably wouldn't be as
still aren't wired to the Internet. But they'd be so much more
cost- effective that they might still transform the way campaigns do
president, who resigned on New Year's Eve, totally eclipsed all the actual
laboriously in the volume," the Post said. "But all he left for
impossible that they would attack their own people," a spokesman said.
a major obstacle to the restoration of diplomatic relations, the paper
wanting to manipulate him to drive a wedge between his sect and the dominant
left behind a letter saying he was going abroad "to get the musical instruments
that he "did not mean to betray the State, the nation, the monastery, or the
as its chairman, the FT said, however, that "the concentration of so
much policymaking power in the hands of one individual does not constitute
international best practice. Nor does the Fed win first prize for openness and
transparency in central banking." The paper led its front page, as did the
following revelations of rampant violations of share ownership regulations by
"It suspiciously tracks the Ten Commandments," says
District intends to post in every classroom. Name one of these "Common Precepts
"Please, please audition for the spring musical, especially if you're a guy,
don't forget my special day. You'd think being God would give him some
confidence, but no; he goes on and on about himself. Despite his widespread
and abortion or his enthusiasm for capital punishment, the flat tax, and an
nearly everyone goes to church each week, and nearly every candidate flaunts
that God. We're not going to turn our backs on him. You've got to draw a line
to eliminate the bad news that fills our front pages and create a happier world
by swapping subjects and objects from a pair of actual headlines.
Wins Right To Use the Terms 'Playboy,' 'Playmate,' and 'Playboy Playmate of the
(Note: "Life and Art" is an occasional column that compares fiction, in
whether his acts were real or not. He would sometimes deliberately "bomb" in
clubs, telling bad jokes and letting crowds grow more and more uncomfortable.
man," was first spotted in New York clubs, where he did a faltering "foreign
proved so rude to other cast members that he was thrown off the set
giving the impression that he had lost control on air. Taxi was
college years, in which he developed much of his comic material. (During
The film does a good job of capturing the contradictions in
movement threw him out at one point). Even though he was earning good money at
himself through meditation and a strict vegetarian diet, he was at the same
time addicted to chocolate and sex, and he often visited prostitutes.
desperate for fame, he deeply resented the vehicles that were best equipped to
sitcoms and wasn't crazy about the Taxi job: He eventually felt trapped
by the "foreign" character that viewers adored. He was far more excited about
it was made a year before Taxi went into production. The 90-minute
a few seconds in which the screen was made to deliberately roll. In life, as in
frustrated artist pitted against people who just didn't get it. But in setting
the "first chapter anywhere, much less two pages." And the movie occasionally
him that he has to decide whether he's out to entertain the audience or
without bite; there's also a very funny moment involving a heart attack). And
the film is true to the record when it suggests that people didn't believe that
was a nonsmoker, which naturally made people doubt him. (In the film, as in
often talked about how he would like to pull off his own death. And there are
"top university reindeer expert" Maria Berg, male reindeer have already shed
Enquirer explains, the "disclosure tears the wrapping off the widely
she wasn't aware that such a myth even existed, much less that it was widely
held, Keeping Tabs wonders whether those crazy kids at the Enquirer were
what does it take to become a "top" reindeer expert these days?
keeping with the holiday spirit, recent tabloids have been filled with tales of
celebrity shopping excursions that amount to stories about people spending
flamboyant guy pals" were recently spotted perusing the sheets and towels at
to splurge; no doubt she had to recover from the traumatic experience of being
of peanut butter, grape jelly, mayonnaise and cooking oil" at the "Smart and
"crawled into bed" with him. "I just nuzzled up to whatever it was and went
back to sleep," he explains. (And for anyone left in the dark by the
reportedly haunted by the ghost of its famous former owner, director John
saying. "I felt everything. I climaxed. And then he floated away." Wow. We bet
card. The computerized letter began with the rundown of every family member's
"accomplishments" for the last year. Included in the "accomplishments" were
experiences, and an extended hospital stay. Having spilled their collective
guts all over the page, the writing family then began a paragraph that
name here) had been married in May, and they spent A LOT OF TIME making sure
YOU were invited to the wedding, and that YOU had not cared enough to attend,
the boorish many who didn't attend their son's wedding, or send a gift, or even
braggadocio and bathos. They are extremely difficult to do well, and the bottom
Angry at the World. He isn't always this way. When we're with friends he
generally covers it well, but with family his anger is obvious. So obvious that
our children refuse to go places with him because his temper is always flaring.
Holidays with him are a nightmare. He makes everyone nervous, and no one has a
good time. He whines and yells at the kids for laughing or playing too loud. My
with his tantrums and childish attitudes. His family doesn't celebrate
holidays, and he feels that my family traditions are impossibly overdone. I
feel, however, that children need holiday celebrations, and I like the
traditions, feeling they give meaning to life. My question: Since he seems to
hate holidays so much, would it be appropriate to just let him spend holidays
at a motel? I keep thinking that maybe if he saw what holidays would be like
without us, he would realize what he's missing. Please help me.
Scrooge with a mood disorder. If he goes bananas because the kids are laughing
the answer. The fact that his family didn't celebrate, and yours did, may have
something to do with it. Your whining, yelling spouse may be whining and
yelling for help. Try to get him to see a mental health professional, using the
argument that his behavior goes way beyond not being in a celebratory mood.
all the way through the store. When it was brought to my attention, on her next
then we would weigh him again on checkout. That was the last time she ever fed
him while shopping, though she continued to shop at our store for many years.
Sometimes all it takes to put a stop to it is to let the grazer know that you
some wonderful store to have embarrassed the lady like that and still kept her
as a customer. That was a very creative solution, but risky; she might as
easily have asked if you were a pediatrician and then stomped out. A few things
we do know from the original letter, however: Eating from supermarket shelves
about is sex. All I ever look at on the Internet is sexual stuff.
be pretty normal. Actually, a lot of people think about sex a lot of the time.
Now that they've lifted censorship in the Soviet Union, for example, it's a
dominating your mental life, your compulsive interest may in fact be about
psychiatrist), why not see a professional to find out what's what? Insurance
for, and consider it a plus that you know your interest may be excessive.
that. You could get diabetes reading them, couldn't you?" Who said this about
Television presents: DECADENT BROKER! Which indulged largely, but did
not know New Revolution was soon occurring. (So sorry for it was more than one
young Internet geniuses, who happen to be married, one a male WASP from
the local school, gets involved in the lives of the students, then shoots
When the ball fell, a huge sign was illuminated and
Times Square thus achieved a complete capitulation of the civic to the
known threat. But it must be admitted, the festivities were unmarred by
blathered, with two world wars, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust, but there
Perhaps "broadly" is putting too fine a point on it. The first hour, in which
a mess: The order of scenes feels arbitrary, and characters pop up and vanish
with bewildering frequency. You might be tempted to vanish, too. (Friends of
to attribute the shapelessness of the early scenes to the characters' own lack
formulaic plots involving magical elixirs and coins. A heat wave has hit
in their work. He must also love that those scenes are narrative dead ends:
Kabuki routines and women in kimonos pouring green tea ("spinach water"). When
Mikado and painstaking scenes of rehearsal has magic in it: You're
watching straw, then gold, then straw, then gold. And you see the
What was different about this collaboration? No answer.
becomes a quiet third protagonist, a humane businessman. He softly negotiates a
salary increase with the company's lead comic (Martin Savage), a neurasthenic
performers gossip and complain, drink and shoot themselves up with drugs.
posturing middle class), whom he drills on pronunciation and poise. The chorus
is presented as some sort of collective folk conscience when it lobbies Gilbert
to restore the rashly cut solo ("A more humane Mikado never did in Japan
exist") of the sad, fat fellow (Timothy Spall) in the title role.
glowering dedication to process. Gilbert haggles with his actors over small
They rehearse in long coats and top hats, and some of the women (and men!)
express horror at appearing on stage without corsets. Behind the satire,
masterpiece, but by the finale I was ready to have myself committed. The finale
transformation in the lives of its makers. Gilbert can't bring himself to reach
drinking again, toasting herself in the mirror and praising the loveliness of
feels like one of the saddest and loveliest tributes to the lives of artists
a clear idea of what he wants it to be. Sometimes he doesn't end a project with
a clear idea of what he wants it to be, either. His newest documentary,
how he became involved in redesigning problematic electric chairs. "Excess
current cooks the tissue," he says, barely suppressing a smirk at his own
M r. Death gets into deeper waters when it recounts
chiseling at walls, vandalizing what even he admits are international shrines.
figure out how the gas would even have been administered without killing the
defense (he lost anyway) and of the burgeoning revisionist movement led by
Morris hooks up with him for the last time, he's in hiding from creditors.
no evidence of malice. Plenty of monstrous insensitivity and hubris, though.
archives," says van Pelt, "he would have found evidence about ventilation
think he knows German so it wouldn't have helped very much." The most
art object. The director's beautiful detachment suggests a kind of cowardice.
his subjects hang themselves, and for a while that works stunningly. But at a
certain point, isn't it only human to want to engage this man? You don't need
what he makes of, say, van Pelt's assertion that the answer to the riddle of
the gas chambers was all over the archives, or what he thought of the chemist's
declaration that the test performed for cyanide was the wrong test. Morris can
be heard asking one question only: "Have you ever thought you might be wrong or
the Holocaust revisionists, who'll just think he was sandbagged. The problem is
that when a documentary filmmaker seems too scared or cool or arty to violate
his own immaculate aesthetic, he ends up weakening his case. He also provides
no emotional release, which isn't a small matter when the subject is Holocaust
have gone a little deeper in search of a poison that does penetrate
about my father wanting a divorce. Although we all plan to be civilized about
it, if my father makes some offhand comment about the situation, it will be
awkward to say the least. My sister and I feel our mother should discreetly
tell her friend what's going on, but my mother is very proud and prefers to
pretend that everything is fine, especially since she's the one who encouraged
her friend to dump her husband. Mom's afraid that her friend will encourage her
and I quietly tell Mom's friend what's up? Or should we ask our dad to stay
away from the topic of the divorce during dinner? We don't know what to do that
have a day or two to make your moves. Since the woman guest is your mother's
friend, and your mother wishes to keep her marital situation under wraps
the mechanistic thing to do to salvage the night is to quietly tell your dad
pretend things are "normal." Take heart that yours will be just one of
countless such dinners around the country where the family dynamics are, shall
with serious curves on a trim frame, I, myself, have had to deal with the issue
body. The difficult part for who wrote will be requesting, in a tactful
metaphor as a gentle and flattering way to make this request.
between "plain" and "major pair of hooters." The opposite of "plain" is
actually "beautiful," and the opposite of "major hooters" is "flat as a
the problem he wants advice for? Is he actually suggesting that having a
great advice. Here is my problem: My mom calls me every few days for a chat,
and she is in the habit of eating while talking on the phone. She is invariably
crunching an apple or snacking on beef jerky every time I talk to her. It's
disgusting! I actually try to avoid her calls so that I won't have to listen to
those noises. I think this is so rude and inconsiderate of her, but I don't
know what to do about it. I have even tried doing it back to her, but she
didn't get the hint. Her grazing into the receiver is making me nuts. What
the mother of all grazers will get the hint, why not opt for a more direct
approach? Simply say, "Mother, you know I love you, but the noise of your
eating while talking on the phone distracts me from what you're saying." You
might suggest that she separate the activities of eating and phoning. If you
feel she wouldn't respond well to your request, then avoid her calls when you
can, and when you can't, hold the phone far away from your ear. Of course you
won't know what she's saying, but life is choices, my dear.
situation by the way. When talking to her mother, if she's in the
kitchen it always seems like a good time to do whatever dishes are in the sink.
that people do what they're in the habit of doing, unless specifically asked to
spots? They are "pregnant lady" or "families with children" spots at malls and
grocery stores. My contention is that these are no different in theory than a
"whites only" parking spot, though of course, in practice, racial
discrimination beats reproductive discrimination hands down. The contention of
gentlemanly way out and quit parking in the spaces reserved for the breeders or
these new preferential parking spots. It would seem prudent (to use the
adjective named for your adviser) to forgo your "lonesome fight" in the name of
peace and quiet. Hang on, though. The way reproductive developments are going,
it shouldn't be too long before you can look a policeman in the eye and say,
"Sir, I am entitled to this space. Though I do not show yet, I am due in the
floor. It was covered until recently when a new, more liberal Bishop took over
If she had simply said "spirituality" then everyone would be much calmer in
focusing device, like a rosary or lighting a candle, which symbolizes something
significant to us. It's just a "thing" we use to help us feel closer to God.
centralized government has been a huge net plus when millions have died
directly at its hands, and when common freedoms and civic involvement have been
declining in liberal democracies as a direct result of this conglomeration of
power? Sounds like the usual liberal tactic of attempting (desperately) to
left, have killed millions this century. And surely government in the United
United States. Surely there is a qualitative difference between a police state
and a sclerotic republic. (Do you really think it's just a slippery
conservative buzzword ("big government"), and tried to use real catastrophe to
the average reader. I found his paean to the strip very moving.
couldn't turn off his inspirations to save his life. If he wanted to, Fish
could talk biscuits and gravy into a thrilling subject we would all take sides
while he worked hard at making baskets and blankets, and yet remained poor,
"the lawyer had only to weave arguments, and, by some magic, wealth and
standing followed." Fish is that lawyer, and most of the rest of us are the
again, words aren't everything (as, Fish cheekily delights in pointing
"Mission Impossible" essay, for example), I get swept up by his great gift, and
am ready to move the family to the woods to avoid the end of the world. But
The author is a screenwriter. He makes the following point:
important is that the distributing studio bases the advertising budget on the
opening weekend grosses. Thus a feature that opens poorly doesn't get
advertised as much as one that does well. It's the criterion they use to keep
themselves from throwing money at something that is likely to fail. Although
word of mouth sometimes works, for a feature to do well in the long run it
wise and subversively sincere film about pain, forgiveness and the possibility
of a movie, unfurls brilliantly, each plot petal a thing of exquisite design.
Then it ripens. Then it disintegrates, leaving a mess of color and a faint
"anesthetized," and other deadly adjectives fill the reviews for the screen
almost no mention. The cinematography is alternately praised as stunning and
condemned as boring, but the response to the story line is unanimous: It's a
reluctantly detail their problems with this second volume of his memoirs. On
the positive side: It's a compelling document "of a life marked by high
seriousness, good conscience and an utter refusal to submit to evil and
reading it you "become persuaded that something about his combination of
seeming innocence and moral honesty has the power to move if not mountains then
with his first because it lacks the kind of compelling events that shaped his
conferences he helped to organize, ideological battles he fought" instead of a
installment of the "Penguin Lives" series is well received, even though it
The book contains an "impressive number of inaccuracies of a factual nature,"
parts of the title refer to the internal structure of the book, the first half
following the life of the family's plain and somewhat dim older daughter, who
after failing to marry is consigned to the life of a glorified house servant.
columnist's latest thriller excoriating the excesses of his home state. "He
shows himself to be a comic writer at the peak of his powers" and "once again
psychotic environmentalist who decides to enact personal revenge on a local
another between the conventions of the thriller and the conventions of
slapstick, and  toward the end matters get so frenetic that credulity is
Federal Communications Commission to expedite its review of a transaction by
but it's coming along pretty good." The implicit message of this quip is, "If
it with a grin that suggests he's just razzing Bush. The grin isn't designed to
money came into the campaign.  Right now, a supporter of yours is running
"And ask him at least to disclose where this money is coming from."
anyone misses the implication that Bush is funding the ads in violation of
their government." Bush replies, "What you don't need to do is tell me what I
doesn't let up. "I don't believe you have a good idea," he says. "Otherwise
most of his blast with a scowl. His mask is slipping, and his criticism is
surplus. Then he turns the question on Bush. "We don't want to spend it all in
tax cuts," he says. "Gov. Bush said the other day [that] we're awash in cash.
away with reaching this far for a punch once, but not twice. Another point to
to a tightly wound pitch. Bush maintains an air of ease and good humor, as
though the exchange is friendly. Eventually, Bush gets a word in. "No one is
suggesting we pass the entire surplus back to the taxpayers," he says. "But
to respond, jokes, "No it doesn't, yes it does, no it doesn't." Everyone
the largest squadron in the United States Navy. It was a great experience."
spends the evening attacking Bush. He lands few blows, and he wears out his own
plotting it. Analysts differed as to whether the concessions would make a
settlement more likely or increase the hijackers' determination to achieve
their remaining demand. But most agreed that the incident is "a huge
wouldn't survive nationally, pointing to their candidate's lead in total fund
there was no specific threat it was "impossible for federal officials to rule
out the area as a terrorist target." International law enforcement has also
overreaction is helping the terrorists achieve their goals. Skeptics suggested
that the overkill of millennium hoopla was actually the greatest
investors unload stocks they held for tax purposes.
Wen Ho Lee was denied bail. A federal judge said his release
could compromise global security because seven of the tapes onto which he had
accidentally" disclosed secrets to a foreign country. Lee's lawyers
attorneys' spin: The evidence shows that Lee was not arbitrarily singled out
for prosecution. Lee's attorneys' spin: But the insinuations of spying are
so, the case against Lee for security violations is airtight.
possession of a handgun after an associate allegedly shot and injured three
people in a New York club. Combs, who has signed and produced some of the
biggest "gangsta rap" acts of the '90s, denied the allegations. Observers
threatened withdrawal from the government. International papers termed it a
"potentially destabilizing political crisis" that could have
toys, distributed in "Kids Club" meals, are thought to be safe. But their round
cases have been linked to the suffocation of at least one infant. It is the
recall ever. Burger King's spin: We're putting safety first. The
Consumer Product Safety Commission's spin: Only because we forced you to.
rights. The unanimous ruling held that "the state is constitutionally
determine whether gay couples will get these rights through marriage or
domestic partnership. Opponents of gay rights called the decision a "deeply disturbing" blow to the institution of marriage, but they
triumph of "our common humanity" that paves the way for similar rights
presidential candidate who does well enough to attract media scrutiny is doomed
to have a bad story written about him. Al Gore? A phony career politician. Bill
veteran. It's an ingenious choice, a good story disguised as a bad one. It
sating reporters who imagine that their questions about his "temper" amount to
can't work with Congress and can't be trusted with nuclear weapons. To refute
this charge, all he has to do is restrain his temper in a few highly visible
situations. Journalists unwittingly oblige him. Bent on making news, they
bombard him with questions designed to provoke an explosion. "Why is it that
temper, they also want one with a sense of outrage. He flaunts his anger at
feed on "corporate welfare." "It's important to have passion and to get angry
we just passed that [is] an outrageous waste of taxpayers' money." In the New
an independent fashion are going to break some china.  It is very clear to all
they're out to stop him because "John's shaken up the establishment by talking
a sense, perhaps, that you are too much of a maverick to really become
president and govern?" Too much of a maverick? The question was practically a
good stories: his principled outrage and his war record. "Do I feel
passionately about issues? Absolutely," he conceded in the debate. "When I see
of literally life and death." Such patriotic outbursts have captivated the
ordeal. This week, citing nasty rumors that his torture and imprisonment in
records indicating that he had never been mentally ill. The records did more
studios retelling his heroic saga. In every interview, he alluded to his
wounds, calling his medical records "an orthopedic surgeon's dream." The New
York Times discussed his "major fractures" and "solitary confinement." The
since backed away grudgingly from that allegation ("I was speaking
metaphorically," he says), but his aides have kept it alive by publicly urging
the Bush campaign to make sure its agents aren't spreading the rumors. By
There's no evidence to support this insinuation, but since Bush can't prove the
aides. "It's going to be next to impossible to finger anyone in the Bush
Again, he gets to impress everyone by turning the other cheek. "It doesn't
framing the orientation of the questions. Everyone asks him about the "whisper
about the "whisper campaign." Everyone expects Bush to halt the
"Even if you handle it right, you still don't want this kind of thing out
who only hear a piece of it and say to themselves, is something wrong with John
a woman approaches a date. First, they want to know what's attractive about
him. Second, if he passes that test, they want to know what's wrong with him.
Third, they want to observe those flaws, examine them, discuss them, and figure
out whether they're manageable. Every candidate has many flaws, some of which
are worse than others. A candidate's best strategy, therefore, is to show the
media and the voters his most manageable flaw in the hope that they will focus
is precisely what the anger story has accomplished. By consuming the media, it
illusion is felicitous. The anger story has distracted the media because it
about. By focusing attention on tone, it has deflected attention from content.
they indicated that he had muscled, rebuked, punished, and cowed fellow
Republicans in order to squelch dissent. Those reports could have generated
been a policy difference" over "big taxes and [putting] the government in
charge of everybody's political speech." But the anger story has overwhelmed
to be president? The question answers itself. A man who can use that issue to
obscure his more serious weaknesses, underscore his strengths, and besmirch his
opponent can't be accused of showing too little rationality and discipline. The
Warrior, Dissident, Man of Letters, Statesman, Liberator, and Father of the
is that he has never been quite as nasty, stupid, and uncivilized as his
nationalism, and he implemented it with similar brutality, using murder, war,
was a fervent Red, and after the war he rose through military and party ranks,
a dissident professor, and he served a term in prison in the early '70s for
admirable except that he offered an equally bad ideology in its place: ruthless
nationalism in the late '80s when it was convenient.)
organization and a convenient replacement ideology. They embraced him. He came
an inflexible ideologue. But the history of the past decade suggests the
The two leaders were made for each other. For most of the
and used his control of state television like a club. During the last
his idea of free enterprise is to privatize industries and give them to his
hoping to generate a swell of patriotic sympathy that will help the party on
effective sleaziness, would surely appreciate the compliment.
and Sparkles the Elf in happier times, before the sexual harassment
smiled benignly when an adult took an interest in a child: scoutmaster and
pederast symbols, baseball paraphernalia. How does one tell foresight from
fear? Today, some wary adults are reluctant to lift a thirsty tot to a
playground drinking fountain, lest they be viewed with alarm. Others tow all
at hand? Prudence or paranoia? Either way, I won't be taking the neighbor boy
Inside: Our chestnuts are roasting over an open fire.
We'll still be here as your stock climbs Higher and Higher.
He'll be off the bench when our election donations take hold.
lives in a nation whose government we disapprove of.
Some key words in a story in yesterday's New York Times were:
jumping jack; youngest; "Dream Catchers"; dreamy, romantic, and elegant; a
him of being a fictional character or of writing a sentence like "Crushing all
professional figure skating champion ever, male or female.
a boy nor a girl ever won a professional championship at a younger age than
skated to is called "Dream Catchers." Both the skating and the title song were
You can infer as much about a publication's readers
from its ads as from its articles: That's the wacky premise behind this Noel
extra. Which of the following were promoted in the New York Times and
presumably some of the ads are not intended to sell products so much as to
instill a frisson of imaginary consumption, the sort of shopping
erratically for the next couple of weeks. There seems to be some holiday going
reduced to a trickle, and you may want to seize this opportunity to catch up on
Archives" (formerly known as the "Compost") is now accessible without charge,
list of articles in any department or by any author. (Of course you also can do
a normal search for occurrences of particular words.)
reflection, we didn't want to spend the holiday break pacifying outraged
authors who were left out. So we suggest that you poke around at random. Start,
Or pick your own word, type it in the search window
our search page and ask for all articles published on your
Government officials and industry experts have begun to caution
noticed that this is the final News Quiz before the Earth plunges into the sun
fertility ritual is unclear.) It's been a great planet. I particularly enjoyed
your colored sky; a nice choice, blue, popular, everybody likes that blue. Also
evolution, very entertaining. That was some fun watching how the giant
gradually going faster and faster on the highway, flouting the speed limit, as
limit. So one wonders why "speed creep" is reported as a problem rather than
good news: Safer faster driving saves time and lives?
Times articles and which are a clever ruse, like those cardboard tanks the
in the state by state, meeting by meeting political organizing required for a
surplus artillery and intends to shell the Justice Department. "We sell a legal
product and believe in the Second Amendment. And several of the Ten
retail is war, then the students of Providence Place Academy are the first
declared from his bunker beneath City Hall. Something to do with the search for
estranged son (Tom Cruise), who gives inspirational lectures in which men are
exhorted to "turn women into sperm receptacles" and to leave behind their
"unmanly" pasts. The son gets a double dose of his unmanly past this night,
determinedly concealed and is eating through his mask of machismo on camera.
"We may be through with the past," says someone, "but the past isn't through
imminent demise, but the addled girl for some reason (three guesses) won't have
fired from his job and goes looking for the love he never had, while a
What's the connection among these people? Some of the links
are familial, others merely circumstantial. But everyone and their dad are
having a really lousy day. At the peak of their collective loneliness, the
goes: "It's not going to stop/ It's not going to stop/ It's not going to stop/
Till you wise up." She moves her lips and the director cuts to all the
characters in all the movie's other strands as they all move their lips to the
characters have been screwed up by their families, so when he turns around and
makes a case for family as the ultimate salvation, he doesn't seem
killing people. At the point where these people could actually start dying of
aloneness, he goes metaphorical. He goes biblical. He goes nuts. He has sort of
prepared us with weather reports and the recurrence of numerals suggesting an
Old Testament chapter and verse. But nothing could prepare us for the
For the second time, he dynamites his own movie. And for the second time I
he works with his surrogate clan. Many of the actors show up from his Hard
characters' backs against the wall, then gives them speeches full of free
the whole cast is unraveling. By the end of the second, they've unraveled so
slowly suffocating at the bottom of a boat. And who would have expected a real
character's own shtick, so that when the mask is pulled off you get a startling
is a stroke of genius. Adjectives flash before the words
possibilities, including "confused." Actually, I think confused (or vulnerable
Law, even his pale little muscles seem like poseurs.
bantamweight New World protagonist. The light that bronzes everyone else burns
had attracted him to this material. What does a vaguely masochistic humanist
a bit of polish he can pass for a playboy, and the bad fun is watching him do
allowed to feel a moment's glee at seizing what these rich boobs have denied
what this ironic little melodrama needs. He's trying to inflate it into
old biddy herself would have thought this ending stinks.
does it onstage at a tiny club. We don't know where it came from or what the
thinking was behind it. He brings down the house (lots of shots of people
smiling and laughing), then goes out for a drink with a potential manager
brilliant." That's about as close to analysis as the picture gets.
take marginal or plain cruddy characters and stick them in the middle of
serious story: A reckless individualist is slowly crushed by society. It meshed
comedian got sick at the point where he needed to reinvent himself to keep from
sinking into obscurity. The filmmakers reverse the trajectory (and the actual
with the kind of hungry gleam that makes you think he's "channeling" the dead
comedian. It's that he knows what it's like to walk the high wire and bomb. He
knows what it's like to lose control of his aggression: It happened to him in
anything in the movie. He's not just a man in the moon: He generates his own
alcoholic father starved him of real food but filled his head with the kind of
stories that nourished his poet's instincts. I worried that the movie, directed
turns into a lifeless slide show. There's no flow, no connective tissue between
present that you don't have a clue why such an earnest fellow would drink so
at home on planet Earth.) The narrator says his dad was a helluva storyteller,
version of the original's famous "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment. The critics
are nearly unanimous: The sequel falls short but is "splendid entertainment"
Sorcerer's Apprentice" only underlines how much better the original was. The
Fantasia and Fantasia/2000 is the difference between a dialogue
balance, the film works: It may be "as blatantly manipulative as a pep rally,"
Star Trek spoof strikes a chord; it's "a fast, loose, and very funny
naive aliens in need of protection" who mistook the program for a historical
successful artists: "An amusing, contemplative memoir" that paints "a
sell a lot of records has almost nothing to do with insight or maturity. 
by Communist regimes around the globe: "an extraordinary and almost unspeakably
immediately created a stir, drawing criticism from the left and becoming an
unexpected best seller. The book is not easy to read: "To the extent that the
book has a literary style, it is that of the recording angel.  It is a
were killed by Communist regimes). What causes more of a stir is the book's
assertion that "given the nature and the magnitude of the crimes committed in
of our century" and the question it raises of whether "the history of the
twentieth century hasn't given us objective and final proof  that human nature
the biggest corporate merger ever and would create the world's largest media
themselves to describe the importance of the deal, saying, in order of
business." Customers were tepid, wondering whether the mammoth company would
improve consumers' access to products or increase investors' access to profits.
gloomy spin: This shows the desperate measures people will take to escape
United States until a hearing in March. Last week, the Immigration and
almost certain to grant permanent custody to the father. Last
The Postal Service wants to raise prices. If approved by
Postal Rate Commission, stamps for letters and postcards would each increase by
spun the rate hike as a competitive necessity that would allow it to maintain
universal service, improve technology, and cover rising costs. Critics charged
guarantees of security. Their delegations will continue to negotiate, and the
and its adversaries in a negotiating arena, cut off from other distractions,
military. Gore said he would insist that potential appointees to the
would require his Joint Chiefs to carry out such a policy. Gore later asserted
social politics and military policy." Analysts variously said the hubbub
The flu is hitting the United States. Flu season arrived
earlier than in previous years, and the number and severity of infections are higher than average.
Some hospitals are delaying elective procedures to deal with the influx of flu
usually react too slowly to flu symptoms for the new medications to be
cast "Bush as the charmed insider and [himself] as the scrappy outsider."
days of spring." Pessimists called the weather a "spooky" reminder of Mother
Nature's power and predicted further climatic changes from the greenhouse
exaggerated by greedy programmers so that customers would commission expensive
ever bother to notice. This narrow focus has protected the gambling industry,
have gathered enough signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the
that state. These initiatives aren't trying to eliminate all legal gambling in
gambling wars. Instead they are targeting only the newest and most addictive
convenience gambling mark the most important development in gambling politics
allowed just about everywhere: convenience stores, bars, restaurants, bowling
alleys, gas stations. Eight states permit convenience gambling now. In several,
instead of a ticket. In fact, "video lottery" bears no relationship at all to a
in similar places, though the state does not run the machines.
introduced video gambling in the late '80s and early '90s for one reason: It is
a stupendously effective way of parting citizens from their money. According to
tax revenues, but it exacts huge social costs. Video poker is known as "video
discourages social interaction. "The machines suck people into the screen,"
different from blackjack or even handle slots. These are the most addictive of
any gambling instrument we have today." It's also voracious: A typical gambler
bottoming out; a gambler hooked on video poker needs less than three years. The
million a year for treating problem gamblers.) What's more, the small stakes in
video lotteries encourage addiction. Unlike lotteries, which offer low odds but
spectacular jackpots, video poker returns tiny but frequent pots. The state
relies on people playing the games over and over and over again.
Addiction is not the only drawback of video gambling. It is
a cinch for kids to play video lottery machines, since they are often found in
businesses that kids frequent. Though it pays off more often than lotteries,
video poker offers poor odds compared with most casino gambling, taking about
convenience gambling doesn't deliver the secondary economic benefits that big
gambling can. Because states limit the number of machines that any one business
can have, there are no large casinos. So video lottery brings none of the
ancillary jobs, restaurants, and hotels that big casinos do.
gambling is emerging as the kind of gambling that everyone can dislike, a juicy
target for opponents and a scapegoat for supporters of more acceptable kinds of
strongly supported casinos, tried to root out convenience gambling from stores
in her city. The rest of the gambling industry treats convenience gambling like
against the critics: They can't afford to drop video lotteries. Governors in
both states have said they dislike relying on lottery revenues to fund
essential government services. "The governor has never been a big fan of the
lottery and of letting gambling policy drive public policy," says a spokesman
abolishing the video lottery but said the state needed a phaseout period to
"He wants to get rid of it, but then he wants six years. He sounds like an
even one of the initiatives can pass. The lottery retailers will surely spend
millions to keep their cash cow, and the governors are likely to campaign for
video gambling as well. But if the initiatives do squeak by, they may signal a
new and encouraging compromise, a recognition that just because gambling is
legal does not mean it has to be everywhere. If the initiatives pass, after
on reservations. These states will have gambling that is accessible, but not
universal; gambling that funds state government but does not hold it
by the Red Brigades turned the tide against terrorism in that country," it
between capitulation to the hijackers and appearing callous about the hostages.
international isolation and move towards a partial lifting of sanctions, it
must be seen playing a positive role in bringing this negotiation on its home
hijackers, provided food and water to the passengers and welcomed
response to the hijacking might have been "to pool regional forces in
wouldn't govern for the privileged, that he would combat misery and violence,
would be firm with the military  and turn the judicial system upside
Constitution was amended while he was in office, he has technically served only
guarantor of stability, guardian of the future, and restorer of optimism. 
will be guaranteed by a plan to make it "the global timekeeper for the
Internet." Ignoring an existing campaign by watchmaker Swatch to divide the
several hours, depending on the point of purchase. Being able to have an
plans. If one accepts the need for a corrective (or, depending on how one views
it, is willing to live with a mere palliative), why not design one that
operates in direct proportion to how segregated a state's schools are?
intended as a corrective (or palliative) for segregation. Yet there is surely
some considerable connection between segregation, school quality, and student
performance. One could argue that, absent school segregation, any kind of
affirmative action admission plans are that much less necessary. Thus, three
for poor student "X" to finish in the top ten percent of his or her public
school class and obtain a mediocre SAT score than it does for rich kid "Y" to
finish in the bottom half of his private school class and score slightly higher
on the SAT. Unlike affirmative action, high school quotas avoid giving an
advantage based on something other than merit in those situations where student
graduating class admission to a state university, have been "heralded" by Ward
some things can't be compromised, and equality under the law is one of them.
can seize your assets. But if a credit card company pays your taxes and then
you don't pay the credit card company what measures can the credit card company
take to get its money? I can't imagine that in court the debt you owe to the
which I am quoted as an environmentalist who is skeptical about the concept of
existence value because the "numbers might not add up in our favor." This
statement is then used to argue that I do not value intellectual consistency. I
would simply like to set the record straight. I was partially misquoted by the
My concern about existence value is that it is very hard to measure and one can
generate almost any number one wants to. So I am concerned that some groups
will attempt to measure existence value in such a way that they do, in fact,
come up with a number that is in their favor. This is my concern, it is
not what I advocate. As a University Professor I make every attempt to
be objective. I value intellectual consistency highly. I am therefore quite sad
that the opposite impression is being conveyed. With respect to existence
value, the real problem is that its measurement often becomes subjective.
scorn not just electronic greeting cards, but all greeting cards as prepackaged
expressions of sentiment for the emotionally illiterate. But isn't that a good
No. Not to orthodox quiz participants, for whom greeting cards are to genuine
manifestations of feeling what Big Macs are to real hamburgers, with some sort
had the wit to express it. (Why isn't there a card!) Perhaps the crime isn't
insiders, only pretend to like you. (And which will not be offered after the
why the hell can't we spell his name right? You're upsetting my
yarmulke, a reindeer with menorah antlers, that sort of nonsense.
roles in the holiday drama. "It is mistaken and misguided to synthesize the
guessing, not a medical doctor, but a guy who appreciates an honorific.
remain an immutable hodgepodge of customs, superstitions, and prejudices," he
says are unnecessary for our national defense, and a list of things Judge
international team of scientists. As reported in a recent issue of
to the Internet, the data has reached other scientists around the world, many
chairman of the department of mass communication, advertising, and public
University stepped down from his administrative post after being accused of
without attribution. The line was identified by a student, who publicized the
transgression in an Internet chat room and sent a letter to the school of
didn't give the proper citation for the quote because he was pressed for time.
Still, he insists that his "ethical lapse" must be punished.
that the program was designed for other contingencies, such as bad weather. But
students and professors debated the value of studying Eastern cultures instead
of Western ones when a call was made to establish a new curricular
conservative campus periodical, avowed that Western values are "superior to the
Review complained, "This is another example of Duke administrators
faculty, and students feared would compromise the school's identity. The New
York Times notes that the Renaissance musicologist is expected to continue
with the former president's plans, though in a more harmonious manner.
asked the academic senate to adopt a more conventional grading system. A vote
forum that his religion thesis prep class was a waste of time, adding that one
in question, says that she never agreed with the student and proceeded to post
a message suggesting that complaining students were lucky not to be in the
Marine Corps and quipped that it was true that the Marines "do not shoot people
at dawn anymore." The chair of the religion department told the Chronicle of
Higher Education that some students were "a little agitated" by the
professor's message but added that no disciplinary action would be taken.
Law School, which is located in cyberspace, is probably the only law school
and whose students attend class in their bathrobes. Supreme Court Justice Ruth
Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a controversial set of guidelines
them) call for a majority of faculty members and trustees to be Catholic, for
new Catholic university presidents to publicize their commitment to their
faith, and for professors of theology to receive a general approval from their
guidelines are "interpreted too rigidly, we could look like seminaries and not
have tightened admissions for applicants to the City University of New
York. Incoming students who test poorly on math and English placement tests
improve their skills. Instead, they'll be redirected to other institutions to
that it will discourage students from applying to the school.
pages early this week. Although the Communist Party will remain the biggest
news: "The good news is that the new Duma is likely to be younger, and somewhat
more sympathetic towards economic liberalism than the last one.  The bad news
is that political liberalism has been sacrificed in the process." The Daily
Telegraph took a similar tack, decrying the "rise in military influence"
taking heart in the shift of power "from conservatives to reformers." Hong
Post also attacked the style of the election, saying "the vote was influenced by an assortment of
foes on state television," but said that "given their limited choices, the
executive would be and decided that, "In foreign policy, the recent
victory is a very positive development. For, in circumstances where the
authorities and their opposition are equally corrupt, a corrupt regime based on
succession is preferable to a revolutionary corrupt regime, whose ascension to
the throne is accompanied by the hollow grunting of pigs rushing the
resumption of sovereignty would help wipe out a turf war that has gripped
gambling industries, and while gambling is illegal on the mainland, China's
described current efforts to remove "military jargon, acronyms
corruption was "procedural error," and people were "protected" rather than
arrested. As the old euphemisms are shed, foreign words are sometimes taking
returned to the colonial mentality, thinking that everything that is foreign is
guerrillas and civilians and has turned most of the survivors into refugees.
"In its indiscriminate use of firepower against civilian targets, it is as bad
It has already restored the military's prestige and budget.
serious effort to train them, because it doesn't have qualified noncommissioned
officers, and its officers can't control the conscripts. Hazing is unbelievably
volunteer army because it can't pay enough to recruit soldiers. According to
Union did during the '80s. Clothing and rations are scarce: Navy servicemen
have starved to death. Alcoholism is rampant, as soldiers drink everything they
can get their hands on. (In the '80s, the Mig-25 was nicknamed the "Flying
fluid.) Hepatitis flourishes because troops don't know how to dig latrines. The
hardware remains from the Soviet buildup, but most of it doesn't work. Soldiers
cannibalize spare parts to keep a few vehicles working. Pilots lack the fuel
(The only good news about the military is that it has regained secure control
Even the Pentagon, which has long featherbedded its budget by inflating the
This military has decayed immeasurably since the glory days
certainly exaggerated the competence of the Soviet military during the Cold
advantage, a 2-to-1 aircraft advantage. The Red Army was the only institution
that matched the Communist Party in prestige. The best and brightest joined the
schools. The state pampered officers with special stores, chauffeured cars, and
armies were not artful, but they were often effective: weak on offense, strong
War, for example) but savaged invaders when the Motherland was under attack.
military invincibility and aroused the popular mistrust of the army that
their sons off the front lines, and brought them home.
opportunity. (Many suspect that the bombings were staged to marshal support for
aggression on its own citizens than to go adventuring abroad.
professionalism pervades the officer corps. But the general staff insisted that
to boost his own prospects, granted it, essentially castrating the civilian
defense ministry and subordinating the interior ministry. Western analysts now
security and foreign policy. Their militarism and nationalism bode ill for
having! First a young hairdresser in Stigmata collapses on a crowded
dance floor as an invisible crown of thorns is pounded into her head. Then a
lurching demon made of excrement materializes out of an overflowing toilet bowl
will indeed bring about the destruction of all movie logic, we have End of
demons fighting and battling over our souls. But who needs that?"
millennial demons are a particularly clumsy lot, far less canny and elegant
New Age guru who has run off with a CD that will unlock "the genetic code of
streets in the dead of night. The Forces of Darkness are so powerless that
In keeping with our apostate times, all these movies
that song," he explains, "but you know what? She died in a tragic car accident
frenetic party girl, who, of all the people in the world, is judged to be the
hammered into her appendages. ("You don't get it, do you?" she yells at a
priest during a lull in these proceedings, "I have fucking holes through my
so distressed over the murders of his wife and daughter that he is reduced to
mysterious ways, but it is the opinion of this column that screenwriters should
not. There is a big difference between divine obfuscation and sloppy thinking.
the world of a suppressed "fifth gospel," which, when revealed, will expose the
greed and false pretenses of the Roman Catholic church. This restless spirit
has the power to cause steam vents to erupt and windows to explode in showers
and have her speak in a man's voice in ancient languages and send her spiraling
aloft in her apartment until she ends up crucified in midair. What he can't do,
though, is just come out and say what's on his mind.
this movie that evil is not quite as renewable a resource as is commonly
believed. In order for the Dark Angel to continue his important work in human
affairs, he must appear on Earth every thousand years to impregnate a young
woman. In End of Days the devil is first seen as a transparent watery
wrinkle that rises out of a manhole and sashays into the men's room of a
restaurant, whereupon it makes a forcible entry into the body of a prominent
mother's arms in the hospital by a satanic nurse and given a quickie baptism
cut out his own tongue and put it in a mayonnaise jar for reasons that it would
take a second viewing of End of Days for me to figure out. (Not in this
carves up this guy's torso with arcane writing and, using scalpels and scissors
and other handy hospital accessories, crucifies him on the ceiling. (How strong
before the ball drops in Times Square, interrupt his mission to leave clues for
gasoline, walk through fire, induce visions, and even resurrect the dead, but
It's no wonder that Good triumphs over Evil, because
The Omega Code is as cheerful an antichrist as one could wish for, but
around like a baby bird that's not ready to leave the nest. With a hopeless bod
nationalists' focus on "ethnicity, linguistic imposition, collusion with ETA
chasm between Basque public opinion and that of the rest of the country could
generate "a verbal escalation whose final objective couldn't be other than to
deepen the abyss" between people "likely to take Basque nationalism to the
ballot box and those who would like to prevent a sovereignty debate."
with his announcement the same day that a general election will be held in
come to terms with this uncomfortable past. It was not alone among neutral
China's leaders are obsessed with "the legacy thing." The president is putting
social reform pledges have remained unfulfilled, but the economy is on an
when he leaves office he will write a study "on how to make a go of a
fully tested before the mission started. But this is surely what comes of
cutting costs.  The chances of failure are, alas, much greater, and two in a
scientists have a better understanding of what they are doing in exploring Mars
his voyages a waste of money. But, despite all the subsequent suffering of
indigenous peoples, who now wishes he had not made them?"
very best comic strips, for my taste, are the magic ones. They all come from
the same place: "left field." Also known as "the blue." Or the intuition. The
other place they come from is, of course, the real world. It's a combination of
the two. The cartoonist experiences real life in some penetrating way. Then he
(or she) takes a leap into the unconscious, the dreamlike, the mysterious
within, hoping to emerge with something fresh, something original. In the best
and rarest cases, what emerges is something brilliant and enduring like
it first came on the scene, it was unlike any other cartoon. It had (and has) a
couple of tiny tots speaking in childlike innocence for three panels, then come
out of the wild blue yonder with one of them sounding suddenly like a
Simplicity is its initial appeal. And openness. Innocence. It catches our eye
and draws in our psyches. Economy of line with so much between the lines. A
magic. Not a bunch of schlocky gags. No overwrought corn. A genuine search is
Shepherd, the recently deceased radio genius who created magic with the spoken
word, used to berate Snoopy back in the late '60s. Shepherd thought the whole
idea of a dog with an imaginary life as a World War I pilot and a novelist,
etc., destroyed the credibility of the strip. Shepherd was a hero of mine. His
under consideration. I concluded that Shepherd was wrong.
much leeway a comic strip can sustain, how far afield it can stretch and stray
his son's imagination and grandiosity.  A week before his
traditionalist sculptor the art world stupidly ignored.
Century," because he is "a symbol for all scientists" in a century defined by
exalts the greatest historical figures of each century, including:
article focuses on the race to map the human genome: The
before a private group of scientists can. Whoever wins will hold the keys to
creating personalized medicines and cures for killer diseases such as cancer.
Nation goes glossy for its "alternative" retrospective of the
story delivers excerpts from The Nation 's archives, focused
around two central themes: continuing class struggles and the rise of
be my servant and not my master, still less my torturer."  A
1980s editorial predicts: "Things will come flying through
radical reform in the Soviet Union neither foresee nor completely control."
Curtain its name is the true "democratic hero of our age."  An
the persistence of the city, the emancipation of women, the rise of the law,
and the invention of limited liability (the key to the rise of equity
contraceptives, gunpowder, and calculus.  The issue is packed with
remarkable historical tidbits: One article traces the rise of total war to
he has the ball. Therefore, the longer you keep possession of the ball, the
by staying on the attack. Let's look at three plays from the debate.
says yes. Gore dances around the question ("I haven't complained about any.  I
answer, but Gore gives the smart one. Normally, when you're invited to accuse
your opponent of something, the smart course is to accept the offer. But look
you of something. You're the one ultimately being accused. Suppose
you say you're angry that your opponent has accused you of kicking your dog.
Some viewers, after turning off their televisions, will think your opponent is
a vicious liar. But most will wonder whether you kick your dog.
with [my] health care program" and "that I am going to destroy Medicaid without
charge is unfair, but Gore gets to repeat and elaborate on the accusation:
voucher.  Not a single [health plan] can be purchased for anything close to
cap. But Gore tells a joke making fun of "weighted average" as a nerdy weasel
word. Gore is lying about the "cap" and the "voucher." But politically, he wins
the round, because both men end up spending several minutes discussing the
have ever had to make a difficult decision that you knew would hurt you
Democratic colleagues." Gore, however, picks two votes on which he differed
penny to ensuring the solvency of Medicare. And my question to you is: Why
needs to husband his credibility. The best way to do this is to admit the truth
when it's disadvantageous to him. He begins by making such a concession about
phone calls that I made were a mistake." But as the debate goes on, Gore
needs the media to buy into that assumption. But saying it so baldly, and then
professor's buzzwords. When he calls Republican tax cuts a "tax scheme" and
not only that he's twisting the truth, but also that he thinks you're too
stupid to realize it. And the deeper that feeling sinks in, the less attention
determined to convey his virtue and wisdom, and he succeeded. Now his problem
is that he can't turn it off. The more he equates his candidacy with goodness
and enlightenment, and the more condescendingly he dismisses Gore ("Let me
explain to you, Al, how the private sector works.  I can say that in much
any of those three votes if you had it to do over again? Were they mistakes?"
beyond that, Bill. In all those words about the three different votes, one word
I didn't hear was the word 'mistake.' And here's why I think that is important.
I think our country deserves a president who, when he makes a mistake, is
willing to acknowledge it and willing to learn from it, because I believe that
the presidency is not an academic exercise. It's not an extended seminar on
learn from it, and learn from you [the audience] about how we can deal with the
the first time" --and everybody laughs. But Gore has found a big chink in
exposes a character trait that puts off many voters. If history is any guide,
Gore will exploit that dilemma for the rest of the campaign. But if Gore
doesn't learn to stop talking like a used car salesman, nobody's going to be
able to exchange it for something he really wants, if he saves the
reminds me of the one and only time I went to the Radio City Music Hall
lead donkeys, horses, camels, sheep, and maybe some geese, onstage. Then they
all freeze perfectly still for, like, a minute, as the music swells and we are
presented with a shockingly good recreation of a kitsch Nativity painting. At
which I was mightily impressed, but still troubled by one nagging thought:
model. It can be seen along with four other finalists at
's "Pundit Precis," or "Chat Show Cliff Notes" or whatever
that thing is called where they watch television for you, but with this
difference: I didn't actually hear any of these sermons so what follows is only
really ugly sweater, you've still got to wear it because she's your aunt and
got the sweater from God or on sale, but either way she can't return it? (Third
passionate act of love, the wife has to go get the husband a sandwich and a
expensive orthodontics. One of those new sponsored sermons. (Fifth Avenue
"COMING IN AND OUT OF THE COLD" --You could catch your death. And go to
hell. For all eternity. Unless you really believe. And wear a scarf. (All Souls
water into gasoline, and there's a horrible fire and widespread panic and,
eventually, a lot of litigation. It's a metaphor for our vainly putting our
the fictional day once a year when everything means its opposite. But it took
the deeper wisdom of adults to use this notion as a way of ending the bilious
agreement over affirmative action, it turns out, is for everyone to say the
preferences. All three states now forbid traditional affirmative action in
Times explains that this is "a sensible way to increase minority
enrollments without relying on a strategy that takes race into account."
a whole. Since most blacks attend overwhelmingly black high schools, the result
It's doubly crazy to argue on any day besides Opposites Day
purpose is explicitly racial. The whole point is to increase minority
enrollment. That is why it was invented, and that is why the Bush brothers brag
conservatives not desperately eager to look the other way.
litigation of the past few decades, in fact, is about this kind of piggybacking
discrimination rather than the explicit kind. When do traditional job
qualifications, such as a test or membership in a guild, amount to racial
discrimination? That sort of thing. You only have to imagine a state policy
explicitly being praised by state officials as a way to increase the number of
arrangement avoids the alleged evil of racial preference.
Conservatives have always claimed to want admissions
They think it immoral to give college places to minority students who wouldn't
that the number of whites who were denied places they deserved on "merit" also
traditional minority preferences, judges each student's performance in context.
It compares achievements with the environment in which they were achieved.
Moreover, it ensures that students from all backgrounds have an equal bite of
the apple. All are reasonable arguments. But weren't these the arguments for
affirmative action in the first place? That is, one idea behind affirmative
action was always that "merit" must be judged relative to environment, so as to
Put differently, conservatives such as Bush were goaded
conservatives dare not make this dangerous idea too explicit. They cannot
afford to admit that they don't really want the results they fought for during
heart, I suspect a large percentage of conservatives share the liberals'
So liberals and conservatives agree to pretend that
weekly poll on the Web site of the Democratic National Committee asked
visitors: "As the nation approaches a new millennium, what are the most
important priorities facing our next president? Saving Social Security,
purports to tell you something about the population at large, or at least the
population from which the sample was drawn (for example, likely Democratic
scientific poll of a few hundred randomly sampled people can be extrapolated to
of error). (For a primer on "margin of error" and "degree of confidence," see
thousands or even millions of users participate cannot be extrapolated to
anything, because those results tell you only about the opinions of those who
participated. Online polls are actually elections, of a kind. And elections,
while a fine way to pick a president, are a decidedly poor way to measure
aren't online polls an accurate measure of public opinion?
polls (very different from today's political straw polls but equally
their preferred candidate. Other organizers of straw polls mailed ballots to
the ballots were returned, and based on the results, the magazine predicted
Literary Digest was wrong, of course, and straw polls never recovered,
at least as a predictive tool. Reader and viewer surveys continue to prosper,
relatively small and wealthy portion of the electorate owned a telephone or an
automobile. Likewise, many have criticized online polling because Internet
users tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more male than the population at
large. For this reason, many people assume Internet poll results to be biased
in favor of the viewpoints of relatively wealthy, highly educated males.
even saying that gives such polls too much credit. A scientific poll of the
political opinions of Internet users would be subject to that socioeconomic
users as a whole, just about those users who participated in the poll.
Pollsters speak of both the "primacy effect" and the "recency effect," meaning
that the first and last choices are more likely to be chosen, particularly when
there is a long list of possible answers. In addition, the order in which
questions are given can affect the respondents' answers. For example, a
question about "the longest economic expansion in history" might affect
respondents' answers to a subsequent question about the president's job
approval. Scientific polls account for these effects by rotating the order of
course, even scientific polls are subject to error, and not just to the
standard "margin of error" that is due to assumed errors in sample selection.
interviewers and by data processors. Despite these possibilities, scientific
polling has a long, reliable history, whereas "straw polling" has a long
long as they are meant as entertainment, and as long as users understand what
their results communicate, there's no reason to lose much sleep over online
polls. What is worrisome is the failure of pollsters themselves to learn from
the history of their profession. Even if they bill themselves as "voting sites"
of their online polls are reliable and valid. Otherwise, why would Morris
using what is known as "quota sampling," which ensures that the poll's
respondents are an accurate reflection of the population's demographics. Quota
sampling assumes that the answers of a particular demographic group such as
potential to make her a millionaire." Who said this about what?
the fifth consecutive year, it's going to let pretty girls ship everything book
days! Why isn't that great? A bargain! A marvel! Why all the damn whining?
optional! If you want to lick, lick. If not, not. No way you'll get that kind
"potential threats" facing our nation. Which of the following are from his list
and which are mere fabrications likely to make him go nuts and start screaming
although the first lady would be campaigning in New York and the first man
the cowardly rascals that ran from the battle ha' done
wherefore the king, most worthily, hath caused every
condemnation was for the French slaughter of the boys in the English
Battle also looks at the issue and concludes that his command was well
King are very different from those upon ordinary men.
passage. But he (or she) is wrong to conclude that I thereby vitiate my larger
in fact referring to the French slaughter of the English servants. But I submit
that there's a good reason for my having misread the text on the fly.
anything about war: The side whose captured soldiers have been murdered
invariably retaliates by killing the men it has captured, and the men ordered
and Henry are alike is they both kill their friends! (Henry, of course, killed
king, intentionally or not, we have to sit up and take notice.
to weigh in if there wasn't a raging debate about the rightness or wrongness of
created characters. Indeed, he may have created Character itself. What makes a
more or less invented our modern notions of psychology. Is Henry all good? Hell
My point was simply that he's not an exemplary role model, and it's ridiculous
and the Great Depression were only coincidental and not causally linked. Uh
effect" still follows the rule of thumb outlined by Moneybox--5 cents in
consequential to me. Plus when you consider that the savings out of income is
egregious violation of journalistic ethics. Dumb, maybe (as Chatterbox points
out), but where is the attack on integrity? The ad side of all newspapers is
constantly trying to get the ed side to say nice things about those
advertising. In this case, though, the advertisers in the "special issue" of
the LAT magazine were companies other than Staples. And the
Times writers were never pressured to do puff pieces.
contractors and vendors to pony up for ads for which they got some return. But
this breach is more an offense by Staples. The LAT was on the hook for
support already. But again, the writers were free to write what they wanted, so
why is the staff there so exercised (which they became only after the
participated in a bad business deal. Perhaps. But he should take into account
through its continuing expansion, the paper as well as the town would benefit.
a Wonderful Life is correct enough, but I think you're wrong to regard the
current Republic Pictures copyright (rooted in its underlying copyright of the
musical score) as a settled legal concept. It's true no one has challenged
act you suggest would liberate the movie. Removing the music track is not so
video with its score replaced for exactly that reason. Surely It's a
Wonderful Life would be even more worth the trouble, if any video
distributor thought they could do it without immediately facing a battalion of
the world of classic film distribution. When the balance of power among public
and private parties was fairly even, the private copyright never stood up for
very long. A famously shady and litigious film distributor once tried to gain
it was loosely based on; he was pretty much laughed away by his rivals.
n military leaders "have received funds from radical foreign extremist
candidate offers: "He is a reformer and he is extremely determined."
exist by itself, without the help of the United States," going far beyond
withholding tax," the paper said. But a row seems to be inevitable. The report
the return of the sculptures. A recent editorial in the National Post of
elevate historic sentiment over legality, creating in the process a chaotic
precedent for dispersing the world's great archaeological collections." The
Turkey has agreed to abolish the death penalty, offering hope for the rebel
an upbeat assessment of the prospects, leading its front page with a forecast by
"a few months." It also offered a foretaste of what was billed as an optimistic
agreement that will "burst apart the sense of threat on both sides, do away
condition, but most papers ran eulogies of the former boxing hero. The
"These days he comes to audiences not to milk their applause but to give
audiences something worth applauding. It is he that is doing the giving, the
throughout the world in peace. He is one of those rare individuals like the
on accepting the award, "I had a great time boxing. I enjoyed it and I may come
just acquired: "Traditional media assets have a vibrant future if they can
minutes of my tenure as governor." What was he doing?
people at the karaoke bar just wouldn't let him sit down until he did two
meeting with some visiting dignitary. From some other country. Wore a rag on
his head. Or was it a sombrero? Anyway, it was all, 'my people' this, and 'my
be the Trump card in any conversation, at least with a fashion model. And
aren't we all? Another angle: He's quiet, leaving it to the people of South
fluttering above their Capitol building. It is hard to punch fog. Possibility
has always been a sucker for shiny yet unworkable military hardware.)
Possibility the fourth: We the people are like terrified rabbits frozen in the
we're paralyzed by the repeated idea that his election is inevitable. Which
Sufficient money and party regulars and money have been assembled to make the
primaries and indeed the general election even more than usually irrelevant. I
No, wait, sorry, there is no record of his missing so much as a meal. And a
year later, he was sufficiently recovered to mock the late Ms. Tucker in
any other governor in any state since the Supreme Court revived the death
"The first element is connectivity, the second element is content, and the
"We had very few resources so we were forced to figure out how to get other
people to carry our water. Now we can carry it ourselves in a solid gold
"I accept that something profound is happening in the Internet space; I
believe that. For one thing, you can download pictures of the first time Ted
invigoration that women get from achieving certain goals they set out to
the premier chronicler of the outdoor adventure, a new monthly packed with
interior design tips for creating rugged, exhilarating spaces out of
laddie book for laddies of a certain age. A place where the sports cars are
bigger, the breasts are seasoned, and the beer is wine. The premiere issue
citizens. Our Braille descriptions spare no detail, bringing to life a lavish,
Plus, several more Braille descriptions of other lavish photo spreads. Same
liberal libidinal imagination. Prospect Forum delivers ribald tales of
skirts, breast implants, making your man orgasm all night long, and striving
daily double? She'd better! Lesbian marriages are through the roof, and all
those engaged lesbians need a magazine of their own. Here it is! Complete with
gift when lesbian wedding bells are ringing for someone you love.
Systems, the company they founded, is most famous for the "Flying Toasters"
online enterprise strives for viral marketing; Censure and Move On was Typhoid
The campaign delivered hundreds of thousands of petitions to House members,
mouse." Originally, this was all intended to be part of a "flash campaign" that
Web site; the organization then delivers the cash to the candidates. This
matter in House and Senate races. "We thought it might be interesting but
and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are considering supporting
winter and will begin trying to direct those who volunteered time to campaigns.
And Blades says the organization will ask for campaign contributions every
politics. Its success all but guarantees that other political movements will
pace of direct mail. It is easy to imagine that an Internet movement could
targeted at conservatives could collect thousands of electronic petitions in no
some of these flash campaigns may begin to evolve into new kinds of political
known to mankind kicking out special issues, she was certain the tabs would
Year's predictions from their astrologers). Keeping Tabs couldn't help but
wonder if the tabs' reluctance to reflect might have something to do with their
track records. Would the Globe want to be reminded, for example, that
The two became happily engaged the next month, prompting the Globe to
tabloids aren't interested in remembering the year that was, Keeping Tabs has
have yet to meet. But that doesn't stop a Star source from speculating
that Spears might consider marriage if the prince were to ask.
mourn her passing, we celebrate a full and wonderful life." The following week,
Friends set, she is always "the first to rush over and ask if she can
just skipped the pregnancy tests and started painting that nursery.)
record as vehemently opposing: The kinder, gentler National
The Enquirer is now filled with headlines such as "Cat's Incredible:
"To me, happiness is finding that your flashlight works after the lights go
technique debunked!: The tabs' habit of crediting "insiders" and "sources"
sales. Keeping Tabs now considers herself an "insider," given that she knew all
this year as we look back at those we've lost," the Globe writes
lovingly. "May they all rest in peace." Apparently the Globe subscribes
to the theory that incessant posthumous prying ("They hadn't slept together for
effusive: It's fast, it's cheap, it's sweeping the country. This year, Internet
companies have taken their campaign into enemy territory. They have sent
emissaries to shopping malls with signs advising customers to flee the chaos of
They're colonizing cyberspace with Web sites that invite surfers to log off and
they want to see and feel what they're buying. But while the malls do advertise
sensory advantages, they talk less about merchandise than about entertainment:
live music, fashion shows, baby pageants, carousels, and miniature golf. The
spares you the trouble of dragging your kids around, the malls promise to
entertain and "educate" children through activities healthier than sitting at a
their photos taken with Jolly Old St. Nick") and then offer, for an additional
Corner then spills the beans to any child capable of reading the
don't have to drive, walk, or lug packages and babies around when you shop
online. The malls try to neutralize these annoyances. They offer valet parking,
Personal Shoppers will, for an hourly fee, take your requests
have to walk a lot, so they spin it as a virtue. "Lace up your walking shoes,
and body to an enjoyable, healthy and rewarding exercise program." But a page
creates a lasting impression of your business, and most importantly, activates
capitalist advantages of not being anchored: easy access, low overhead, and
minimal transaction costs. Malls advertise the civic virtue of being anchored:
community service. They invite shoppers to participate in food drives,
community." They also boast of providing venues for church and school choral
store to the next because you were already there. The mall offered a volume
discount on your money and, in effect, on your time. Now that the Internet
saves you more money and time than the mall does, malls have invented new
selection of merchandise than you can find in any store. Malls are outflanking
mall gift certificate instead of a gift certificate at an online store is
complex in theory but simple in practice. Yes, each online vendor has a wider
selection of goods than each mall retailer does. And yes, cyberspace has a
wider selection of goods than any mall does. But nobody has the time or mental
bandwidth to search all of cyberspace, and given a choice between a single
online store and a mall, you can probably find a wider selection at the mall.
benefits that can only be received with online orders," such as
encourages shoppers to buy "gift certificates online with our secure ordering
credit card and personal data you transmit is encrypted (scrambled) and sent to
by providing a selection of goods broad enough and cheap enough to gain
consumers' trust and thereby control their options. When you wanted to shop,
you went to the mall and confined your search to the stores you found there.
The Internet has simply transferred this principle to cyberspace. Consumers who
used to look for malls now look for portals, and malls intend to become those
when YOU have the time to shop," says that mall's Web site. "Here you can
browse upcoming events, locate your favorite stores in our store directory,
shop online or find products before coming to the mall."
and information on their Web sites, the malls command your attention and direct
on links to their retailers, the links usually take you not to the national Web
sites of those retailers but to dummy pages on the mall's site that tell you
only about that retailer's store in the mall. In the new mall, like the old
The list includes daggers, pipe bombs, spears, and bows and arrows.
"Things, other than 'love' that could've busted 'Hurricane' Carter out of
speech? While the First Amendment limits government action, not that of an
guy for expressing his (albeit despicable) views? No, as it happens, it
used to deride the Soviet Union for putting those who expressed unpopular
(albeit despicable) views in mental institutions? Rocker isn't insane; he's a
contemptible (albeit despicable) racist. He should not be fired; he should be
despised. Boo him from the stands, shun him in the locker room, denounce him in
the press, but don't "treat" him and don't take away his job. Of course, Rocker
and the shunning and the denouncing. Hardly worth it.
same size, making for a more evenly matched sort of strife.
have replied and plan on participating, if you were to fall into one of the
"voucher" debate represents the third and decisive stage of the Democratic
presidential contest. In the first stage, each candidate tried to put his best
issues on the agenda. Gore pushed suburban sprawl, health care, and education.
second stage, the candidates fought for the high ground on those three issues.
ground on campaign reform by offering a comprehensive reform plan while teaming
third stage is the battle over the remaining issue: health care. Each candidate
is trying to marshal his assets on this battleground by building a thematic
his message of comprehensive reform from campaign finance to health care. He
proposes to replace Medicaid with subsidies that would make health insurance
affordable to more people but would require those with sufficient incomes to
pay part of their premiums out of their own pockets.
meanwhile, is trying to carry his message of public responsibility from
substituting partial subsidies for guaranteed benefits, would gut the public
with it the nomination. That's why Gore has distilled this linkage to a single
context of education, Gore has defined the word "voucher" in two negative ways.
comes out of funds previously allocated to a fully subsidized program.
"Experience shows there's a set amount of money that communities have been
drain the money away from the public schools for private vouchers, then that
hurts the public schools." Second, vouchers don't cover the cost of the program
they replace. "The flaw with the voucher theory," said Gore, "is that the vast
majority of those who receive a tiny little down payment on the tuition cannot
packed these two poisonous assumptions into the word "voucher," Gore is now
word to both contexts. "Every single time vouchers came up in the Senate, Bill,
"voucher" attack has at least made Gore's ideological position coherent. For
inadequate "voucher" schemes. And he will direct this argument to specific
Democratic constituencies such as senior citizens, blacks, gays, and labor
[voucher] experiments demonstrated that the quality of public education was
improved, does that mean that you would not even consider vouchers?" Then he
the two options are compatible. "Every time I voted for vouchers, I voted for
take any public money that was set aside for schools. This would be new
insurance don't cover the entire cost of premiums. He could argue that
individuals ought to bear responsibility for paying a portion of their
premiums. Or he could simply argue that the amount of money the government
takes from taxpayers to subsidize health care should be limited. He could, in
cap. It's a weighted average." In a "Memo to National Reporters" after the
memo provided dictionary definitions of "subsidy" and "voucher," indicating
that vouchers are explicitly finite whereas subsidies are not. The implication
of these caveats is that if universal health insurance turns out to cost even
sliding scale of subsidies and tax breaks he proposes for health insurance, you
get the feeling he's rather sympathetic toward solutions that take account of
market dynamics. You get the feeling that this sympathy is what he's hiding
wonder whether he could win a general election coming out of the right lane of
the Democratic Party. But first he has to get the Democratic nomination, a race
fault. On firearms and campaign finance, he defined reform as government
control. He thought he could pass Gore on the left. Instead, Gore cut him
health and education. Every time Gore utters the word "vouchers," he's bumping
of some of its weaponry later this month in an attempt to meet the terms of the
the Protestant Ulster Unionist Council, which is to review progress on the
inconceivable that the political process that we embarked on could be brought
"as the negotiations become more taxing and problematic, the involvement of the
regard to the forging of agreements, and as a patron and guarantor in economic
militia, and as notorious in the international terrorist world in the eighties
admit that he is no longer capable of carrying out his task." Interviewed by
resignation and said he was talking only about "the theoretical possibility" of
project reportedly rejected by producers in New York.
Internet has people extrapolating wildly. Every day we see something new and
amazing. Surely, given what we have seen so far, the future is bright! Don't
believe me? Need more details? Just ask your resident visionary.
technology has gone from a minor sideline of the scientists and engineers
actively building that future to a discipline of its own. No technology company
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.) Their business cards don't have
"visionary" on them, but these people are not hard to spot. They may be
Or they might write a magazine column and have recently published a
newsletters, attend their elite annual conferences of industry big shots, or
invite them to speak or consult for astronomical fees.
Being a visionary is a new profession, but it is really
just a variant on fortunetelling, which may be the world's oldest. And its
The fortunetellers of old had many techniques. Yet the crystal balls and tea
leaves are just apparatus. All fortunetelling, in fact, rests on three
more or less what you think they want to hear. Second, you must spice your
predictions with drama. Nobody wants a prediction that the future will be more
or less like the present, even if that is, statistically speaking, an excellent
prediction. Predictions must involve either acquiring or losing love, wealth,
your predictions must somehow avoid measurement of their accuracy. Many tricks
have been invented to serve this end. Predictions can be vague, for example, or
couched in complicated gibberish. Either way, there is a loophole. And
customers generally don't mind: Seeking advice about the future is more about
relieving insecurity or anxiety than about achieving statistical accuracy.
Internet. The techniques of being an Internet visionary are just like those of
people what they want to hear, because your company's stock won't rise if you
spout an unpopular vision to analysts. Big shots won't speak at your conference
entire industries. Tell 'em that "old media" are going to die. There seems to
be an infinite appetite for this, despite precious little evidence. If you
hurry, you can tell them that "push" will conquer all, but that one's got a
so you seem tough and important. And be bold: It is better to predict dramatic
things that don't happen than boring things that do.
all, being a technological visionary is not about predicting what will actually
happen. This astounded me when I first realized it, and even now I am not
really comfortable with the thought. Technology and engineering are all about
the public or the press holds any technological visionaries accountable. In
or complicated loopholes. They just baldly spout predictions, certain that
myself. And, in all candor, I fit the profile. What can I say in my defense? I
say this: The problem does not rest with us visionaries. Sure, there are a few
bad apples in every crate, and a few legitimate deep thinkers who sometimes get
carried away. But most visionaries are smart and honorable people who are
sincerely interested in the future. The problem is the need that drives people
is driving our lives at a torrid pace. That generates many concerns.
Will my company come through this richer or poorer? Will my job be safe? What
does it all mean? The technology that shapes the modern world is as
incomprehensible to most people as the forces of nature were to a society of
refused. A reporter from a major publication cornered me recently, and said:
didn't want a joke. Nor did he want a carefully constructed set of arguments
it matter that you have the whole truth if you can't understand it? In this
context, it is understandable that nobody really cares about a visionary's
track record. If next week's vision is exactly the opposite of this week's,
don't hesitate to tell that one, too. Among modern occupations, only cult
There is an antidote to visionary disease. We as a society
have to learn more about the technology that is shaping our lives, and become
more comfortable with it. Few people these days believe that evil spirits cause
mystical. We do not fear the forces of nature as much as our species once did,
because we understand those forces better. Even if most people don't actually
understand, say, where hurricanes come from, there is widespread comfort with
the notion that some experts do. At the same time, there is widespread
appreciation that even weather experts have their limits, which empowers people
today creates a market for visionaries will be as mundane as light bulbs.
People who have grown up with that technology will be as comfortable with it as
There is a name for the people who will accomplish this daunting task and put
corporate visionaries like me out of business. We call them children. But
editor of Business Week had a problem with his car: Whenever he went too
dangerous shimmy. So he carefully drove to the repair shop, never letting the
he couldn't fix the shimmy. Moreover, he had found another problem: The
the editor was pleased with this news. "So what you're telling me is that the
mistake in ordinary life. It would not be necessary for the mechanic to explain
pedantically that, while it was true that the news about the speedometer
implied that the car could go faster than previously thought, it did not change
But he is apparently not so clearheaded when it comes to
espoused by his magazine for the last few years and vociferously defended in a
relationship between measurement and reality that is conceptually identical to
the garbled thinking of the imaginary editor retrieving his car.
sometimes called the New Economic Paradigm, may be summarized as the view that
globalization and information technology have led to a surge in the
explain why the United States has managed to drive unemployment to a 25-year
conventional view that the economy has a "speed limit" of around 2-percent to
output is growing slowly or is shrinking, the unemployment rate rises. Over the
has grown at about a 2.7-percent annual rate, while unemployment has fallen at
fall? Yes, of course, but the unemployment rate can fall only so far. Obviously
it can't go below zero; and in reality, the limits to growth are reached long
before the economy gets to that point. Both logic and history tell us that when
workers are very scarce and jobs very abundant, employers will start bidding
against each other to attract workers, wages will begin rising rapidly, and
real growth will give way to inflation. That means that while the economy can
rate of unemployment (like the 7.5-percent unemployment rate that prevailed in
rate that keeps unemployment constant. And that is where the infamous "speed
that speed limit, in turn, lies another bit of arithmetic: The rate of growth
of output, by definition, is the sum of the rate of growth of employment (which
is limited by the size of the potential labor force) and that of productivity,
point. Productivity growth has accelerated, which means that the old speed
limit has been repealed. It's true, they concede, that official productivity
unimpressive performance similar to that of the two previous decades. (It has
statistical blip.) But they insist that the official statistics miss the
probably right about that. What he may not realize is that we really didn't
revolutionary innovations as automobiles, antibiotics, air conditioning, and
issue believes that standard measures of productivity have consistently
years. It's anybody's guess whether unmeasured productivity growth in the last
few years is greater or less than in the past. (My personal guess is that the
hidden improvements are less important than they were in the 1950s and
overstating employment growth, he must believe that the official statistics
stronger productivity growth, which may just now be showing up in statistics,
(or, anyway, prefers to believe) that the speedometer has been understating his
speed, and that the shimmy therefore doesn't start until he is really
But doesn't the happy combination of low unemployment and
low inflation show the payoff from hidden productivity growth? Well, higher
productivity growth would mean lower inflation for any given rate of wage
increase. And if official productivity statistics understate the real rate of
inflation by exactly the same amount. This is a cheerful thought, but it also
means that invoking covert productivity increases doesn't help explain why even
measured inflation remains quiescent. The low rate of inflation in the
more rapidly despite very tight labor markets, not why prices have remained
stable given very moderate wage increases. And productivity us with that
of the New Economy doctrine, among other things pointing out (though apparently
to little effect) the dependence of that doctrine on the speedometer fallacy.
It seems clear that he is baffled by the reluctance of "Old Economists" to join
the party, and that he can only explain it by their unwillingness to accept the
idea that the world has changed and that their pet theories are no longer
valid. Well, I can't speak for the others, but I have no particular aversion to
admitting that the economy can change and that old rules sometimes don't apply.
In fact, as anyone who makes much of his income from book royalties and
speeches can tell you, the incentives are all the other way: People would much
rather hear about how everything has changed than about why most of the usual
into the New Economy is actually very simple: Despite all the incentives, I
can't bring myself to endorse a doctrine that I know to be just plain dumb.
explained its plan to stimulate the economy with public spending while raising
we asked him, be a recipe for a balance of payments crisis (which duly
historical point of view." Some of us did, in fact, know a little history.
government? "Oh no, what we are doing is completely unprecedented."
The French have no monopoly on intellectual pretensions or
on muddled thinking. They may not even be more likely than other people to
combine the two. There is, however, something special about the way the French
political class discusses economics. In no other advanced country is the elite
so willing to let fine phrases overrule hard thinking, to reject the lessons of
provide them are subject to detailed regulation by a government that is very
solicitous of their occupants. A French employer must pay his workers well and
provide generous benefits, and it is almost as hard to fire those workers as it
very good deals for some people, but they have also made it very hard for
you can get it. But many people, especially the young, can't get it. And, given
the generosity of unemployment benefits, many don't even try.
accepts the obvious diagnosis. On the contrary, there seems to be an emerging
more of the same, what does the French elite see as the answer to the nation's
problems? For more than a decade its members have sought salvation in the idea
course), with common regulations and a common currency. In such a continental
also a good case for doing no such thing. (There is a whole industry of
important. And whatever a unified market and a common currency may or may not
achieve, they will do almost nothing to create jobs.
it this way: Imagine that several cities, all suffering housing shortages
because of rent control, agree to make it easier for landlords in one city to
own buildings in another. This is not a bad idea. It might even slightly
increase the supply of apartments. But it is not going to get at the heart of
has actually made things worse. If you are going to have a common currency,
employment at the same time. All you need to do is cut interest rates, so that
private spending takes up the slack. But you can't cut interest rates if you
required would be all pain and no gain. Nobody can make a precise estimate, but
While some French politicians have been willing to say nice
things about budget deficits, nobody seems willing to challenge the dogma that
"the fight against unemployment is inseparable from the realization of the
not blame French politicians. Their inanities only reflect the broader tone of
economic debate in a nation prepared to blame its problems on everything but
that have sustained the nation's illusions. After this last election it is
clear that the French will not be willing to submit to serious fiscal
intellectual enterprises, is subject to the law of diminishing disciples. A
great innovator is entitled to some poetic license. If his ideas are at first
somewhat rough, if he exaggerates the discontinuity between his vision and what
came before, no matter: Polish and perspective can come in due course. But
inevitably there are those who follow the letter of the innovator's ideas but
misunderstand their spirit, who are more dogmatic in their radicalism than the
orthodox were in their orthodoxy. And as ideas spread, they become increasingly
part of what "everyone knows," is no more than a crude caricature of the
innovative thinker. Yet one of his unfortunate if unintentional legacies was a
of the behavior of individual markets and the allocation of resources among
development that left it utterly incapable of making sense of the Great
full employment, and focused only on that long run. Its two main tenets were
funds" theory of interest, which asserted that interest rates would rise or
fall to equate total savings with total investment.
concede that in some sufficiently long run, these theories might indeed be
valid; but, as he memorably pointed out, "In the long run we are all dead." In
the short run, he asserted, interest rates were determined not by the balance
between savings and investment at full employment but by "liquidity
incentive to invest in less safe and convenient assets. Savings and investment
were still necessarily equal; but if desired savings at full employment turned
out to exceed desired investment, what would fall would be not interest rates
but the level of employment and output. In particular, if investment demand
from the brightest young economists of the time. True, some realized very early
employment and output would normally feed back to interest rates, and that this
might make a lot of difference. Still, for a number of years after the
fascinated by the implications of that picture, which seemed to take us into a
this will actually lead to a decline in total savings and investment.
Why? Because higher desired savings will lead to an economic slump, which will
reduce income and also reduce investment demand; since in the end savings and
investment are always equal, the total volume of savings must actually
consider the "widow's cruse" theory of wages and employment (named after an old
folk tale). You might think that raising wages would reduce the demand for
to wages would raise consumption demand, because workers save less than
capitalists (actually they don't, but that's another story), and therefore
Such paradoxes are still fun to contemplate; they still
appear in some freshman textbooks. Nonetheless, few economists take them
seriously these days. There are a number of reasons, but the most important can
the level of employment and output. But in reality the Federal Reserve Board
actively manages interest rates, pushing them down when it thinks employment is
too low and raising them when it thinks the economy is overheating. You may
want a simple model for predicting the unemployment rate in the United States
plus or minus a random error reflecting the fact that he is not quite God.
of an invisible hand pushing the economy toward full employment in some
unspecified long run, we have the visible hand of the Fed pushing us toward its
estimate of the noninflationary unemployment rate over the course of two or
three years. To accomplish this, the board must raise or lower interest rates
to bring savings and investment at that target unemployment rate in line with
each other. And so all the paradoxes of thrift, widow's cruses, and so on
become irrelevant. In particular, an increase in the savings rate will
translate into higher investment after all, because the Fed will make sure that
least, the idea that changes in demand will normally be offset by Fed
simple and entirely reasonable. Yet it is clear that very few people outside
the world of academic economics think about things that way. For example, the
entirely in terms of supposed job creation or destruction. The obvious (to me)
it into the public consciousness. (In fact, when I made that argument at one
which is an uncritical acceptance of the idea that reduced consumer spending is
always a bad thing. In the United States, where inflation and the budget
staged an impressive comeback. The paradox of thrift and the widow's cruse are
from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct
economist.") It is perhaps not surprising that the same ideas are echoed by
actually reduce growth treated seriously in ("Looking for Growth in All the
the claim that savings are actually bad for growth (as opposed to the quite
different, more reasonable position that they are not as crucial as some would
by lowering interest rates, ensure that an increase in desired savings gets
rates are only one of several influences on investment. That is like saying
that my pressure on the gas pedal is only one of many influences on the speed
of my car. So what? I am able to adjust that pressure, and so my car's speed is
normally determined by how fast I think I can safely drive. Similarly,
supply in a day, if it wants to), and so the level of employment is normally
claim that savings are bad you must argue either that interest rates have
no effect on spending (try telling that to the National Association of
interest rate. The latter was a reasonable position during the 1930s, when the
I think that the Bank of Japan could still pull that economy out of its funk,
and that its passivity is a case of gross malfeasance. That, however, is a
subject for another column.) But the bank that holds a mortgage on my house
sends me a little notice each month assuring me that the interest rate in
this is a moot point, because the people who insist that savings are bad do not
think that the Fed is impotent. On the contrary, they are generally the same
the past generation is all the Fed's fault, and that we could grow our way out
economists argue that forcing up savings is likely to slow the economy,
depressing investment rather than sparking it. "You need to stimulate the
investment by cutting interest rates. Instead, the Fed should stimulate growth
by cutting interest rates, which will work because lower interest rates will
into people who assert confidently that massive speculative attacks on
computerized trading, satellite hookups, and all that mean that old economic
rules, and conventional economic theory, no longer apply. (One physicist
insisted that the economy has "gone nonlinear," and is now governed by chaos
theory.) But the truth is that currency crises are old hat. The travails of the
French franc in the '20s were thoroughly modern, and the speculative attacks
were almost as big, compared with the size of the economies involved, as the
biggest recent blowouts. Currency crises have been a favorite topic of
international financial economists ever since the 1970s. In fact, they are
standard economic model of currency crises had its genesis in a brilliant
economists at the Federal Reserve. They showed that abrupt speculative attacks,
which would almost instantly wipe out the government's stockpile, were a
some reinterpretation, be applied to currency crises that suddenly wipe out the
lesson from that conventional model is that abrupt runs on a currency, which
move billions of dollars in a very short time, are not necessarily the result
of either irrational investor stampedes or evil financial manipulation. On the
contrary, they are the normal result when rational investors contemplate the
representation of government policy, and that the more complex motives of
actual governments make speculation a more uncertain and perhaps more
survived is nonetheless brought down, are a hot topic these days. But everyone
agrees that a sufficiently credible currency will never be attacked, and a
sufficiently incredible one will always come under fire.
satisfy its priorities with the sweat of your brow because they think that what
you would do with your own money would be morally and practically less
couldn't afford to call her granddaughter, or a child went without a book, or a
family couldn't afford that first home because there was just not enough money.
fund yet another theory, yet another program, and yet another bureaucracy." The
Republican Revolution, which seemed so unstoppable only a year ago, has
over, one more time, the fiction that the federal government takes away your
themselves, may have given conservatives the courage to be irresponsible. But
what sold the public on conservatism was the images of vast armies of
Conservatives were able to get away with such stories for one main reason: They
could always blame their failure to slay Big Government on the Democrats who
tantrum on Air Force One, the conservative wave would have rolled on. And they
insist that this looming defeat is only a temporary setback. But the truth is
that the political appeal of radical conservatism has always been based on a
fundamentally untrue vision of what the federal government is and does.
To get an idea of the gap between conservative mythology
get into the habit of checking it, our politics would be utterly
Abstract makes it quite easy to get a realistic picture of where your
this list. The first is that it encompasses the bulk of government
spending--82.2 percent, to be precise. Anyone who proposes a radical downsizing
of the federal government must mean to slash this list.
all what people object to when they rail against Big Government. We believe in
honoring our debts. We like our strong military; indeed, Bob Dole wants it
stronger. We like our highways. We want strong law enforcement. The only
possibly unpopular item on the list is Medicaid, which is the only "poverty"
brings us to the third point: Aside from defense and interest payments, the
and giving money to the old. Look at that list, and consider how utterly
shameless Dole was in imagining a grandmother who couldn't afford to call her
granddaughter because she pays too much in taxes. That grandmother almost
surely lives better than people of her age ever lived before, supported by
Social Security checks that will greatly exceed the value of the contributions
she and her husband paid into the system. And her children could easily have
sent her the money for phone calls, except that their Medicare contributions
has gone too far, that we are too generous to our retirees, especially to those
who could afford to do without some of those benefits. But that is not a case
the right has ever made. An honest advocate of smaller government would
federal regulation as it is to summarize federal spending, but the basic point
is similar: Most of what the government does is actually serving, not opposing,
the voters are prepared to punish those Republicans whom they suspect of
government wastes a lot of money; so does the private sector (have you read
defeat from the jaws of victory. Their reversal of fortune was preordained,
because their doctrine could not withstand the responsibility that came with
whose empires depended on their political connections and about politicians
growing rich in ways best not discussed. Speculation, often ill informed, was
rampant. Besides, how could investors hope to know what they were buying, when
vices as incidental to the real story, which was about economic growth that was
the wonder of the world. Indeed, many regarded the cronyism as a virtue rather
than a vice, the signature of an economic system that was more concerned with
getting results than with the niceties of the process. And for years, the faint
voices of the skeptics were drowned out by the roar of an economic engine
fueled by ever larger infusions of foreign capital.
crisis began small, with the failure of a few financial institutions that had
bet too heavily that the boom would continue, and the bankruptcy of a few
corporations that had taken on too much debt. These failures frightened
investors, whose attempts to pull their money out led to more bank failures;
the desperate attempts of surviving banks to raise cash caused both a credit
crunch (pushing many businesses that had seemed financially sound only months
before over the brink) and plunging stock prices, bankrupting still more
financial houses. Within months, the panic had reduced thousands of people to
sudden destitution. Moreover, the financial disaster soon took its toll on the
real economy, too: As industrial production skidded and unemployment soared,
But why am I telling you what happened to the United States
Fund and the Treasury Department who must prescribe economic medicine to those
models and metaphors to make sense of this thing. The usual round of academic
rolling rap session, in which the usual suspects meet again and again to trade
theories and, occasionally, accusations. Much of the discussion has focused on
ground for a financial crisis; the role of runaway banks that exploited
political connections to gamble with other people's money has emerged as the
prime suspect. But amid the tales of rupiah and ringgit one also hears
of financial panic is fairly well understood in principle, thanks both to the
observation that there is a tension between the desire of individuals for
want to be able to leave for the desert on short notice, you settle for matzo
instead of bread, and if you want ready cash, you keep gold coins under the
mattress. But in a more sophisticated economy this dilemma can be finessed.
something more or less like a bank) does is pool the money of a large number of
reserve is held in cash and other "liquid" assets. The reason this works is the
law of averages: On any given day, deposits and withdrawals more or less
balance out, and there is enough cash on hand to take care of any difference.
The individual depositor is free to pull his money out whenever he wants; yet
It is a sort of magic trick that is fundamental to making a complex economy
They rush to pull their money out. But there isn't enough cash to satisfy all
of them, and because the bank's other assets are illiquid, it cannot sell them
when it occurs, can do far more than destroy a single bank. Like the Panic of
economic performance any guarantee against such crises. As the list suggests,
the United States was not only subject to panics but also unusually
it was establishing its economic and technological dominance.
economists, politicians, business leaders, and everyone else I can think
had gone seriously off the rails well before last summer, and that some kind of
mistakes made that helped make the economies vulnerable. Yet governments are no
more stupid or irresponsible now than they used to be; how come the punishment
system has become dangerously efficient. In response to the Great Depression,
the United States and just about everyone else imposed elaborate regulations on
their banking systems. Like most regulatory regimes, this one ended up working
ownership of a bank a more or less guaranteed sinecure. But while the
regulations may have made banks fat and sluggish, it also made them safe.
Nowadays banks are by no means guaranteed to make money: To turn a profit they
global financial markets into a world of merely national monetary authorities
is, in a very real sense, to walk a tightrope without a net. As long as finance
is a mainly domestic affair, what people want in a bank run is local
world depression. In fact, I think that the United States is still, despite
have to get used to such crises. Welcome to the New World Order.
be paid, the cash register bought, the bookkeeper hired, etc. Honest mistakes
and dishonesty also take a toll. These expenses can be expressed as a cost per
transaction. The higher that cost, the larger the transaction has to be in
are very good at counting money and keeping records, so they have been used for
decades to manage transactions. Today, when your credit card is run through the
little machine at the checkout counter, computers handle the entire
transaction. Nobody is going to look at that little slip you sign unless a
What is the cost of a transaction done purely by computer?
of how it's done, transaction costs will continue to plummet as computers get
more powerful. Low transaction costs are a wonderful thing if you're in the
transaction business. They're wonderful for consumers too, making it cheaper
and easier to buy things and creating new things to buy. All this is especially
true now that the Internet provides a direct connection between sellers and
this isn't a normal situation. This is the Internet, where any legitimate idea
is immediately taken to ridiculous limits. That's because there are plenty of
public. The magic words "on the Internet," if inserted into nearly any
sentence, seem to protect it from normal critical scrutiny.
in some limited areas, but most of the hoopla is very poorly thought out. To
see why, consider Slate, which recently decided to remain free to users for
now. But imagine that, several years hence, Slate is trying to decide among
these choices will have on a couple of typical users (or "readers," as they
industry the habit of referring to its customers as "users").
every now and then, he follows a link from another site into Slate. Somewhere
in the middle is Tom Average, who reads Slate just as much as the average user
If we set the price so that it will yield the same total revenue as a
Accidental will save a bundle by buying occasional articles instead of having
in others, because it tends to alienate the loyal supporters who form the core
industry, which gives new subscribers a bargain rate and rewards steady renewal
problem, for Slate and other Internet sites, comes from having to charge for
usage, when what they're selling is intellectual property with a flat
production cost. Slate doesn't get "used up" by being used. It costs virtually
the same amount to produce, no matter how many people use it, and no matter how
bought a copy a couple of years ago. If I could pay based on usage, Random
Similarly, I subscribe to magazines to get an option just in case I want to
read any of the articles. The editors, for their part, arrange to have them all
even though it means that he will pay a lot more. Similarly, when dictionaries
are all online, Random House could hold up the world's Scrabble players and
copy editors. Unless, that is, there is competition that offers an exotic
here, you can drop them for only your least eager customers. (The airlines are
specialists in maximizing revenue and filling seats by charging different
But this raises another question. If lowering the price
gets you more customers, why not lower it all the way to zero and get the
greatest number? That is, why not rely on advertising? Advertising is, in
how many people see their ad. For most media, this is measured statistically,
via surveys, because statistical estimates are an even cheaper way to record
tiny transactions. They're not exact, but the overestimates and underestimates
average out over time. Besides, if the transactions are really small, who cares
if you miss a few? Ad rates amount to a few cents per customer impression,
or other explicit user fees loses you many users, you'll decide to stay free
where there is a strong rationale for making it cheap, yet not free. Put
economics of the product or service better than other ways of charging.
Products that get used up as they are used naturally have this property. If the
not include journalism or, indeed, most intellectual property. Yet, this is
are a good example. The movie industry always starts a film with a high,
discourage many people from seeing the film. That doesn't matter, because after
room. There it picks up a few repeat customers, but mostly new ones. The price
user, and it eventually hits zero when the movie appears on broadcast
Technically speaking, this is a repeated auction. We're more familiar with what
However, there is also the Dutch auction, where prices start high and go lower
until somebody bites. Movies are sold to the audience via a very slow Dutch
auction, where each phase between price drops can last weeks or months. Book
Movies get away with this because they don't generally have
"heavy users" or repeat customers. Most people see a film once, or at least
see them repeatedly, but these viewers are so few in number that movie theaters
do not cut them a special deal. The real savior is the repeated Dutch auction,
which lets theaters be cavalier about pricing the movie beyond the reach of a
large set of customers, because they'll get another crack at them later.
not have these special properties. Sites need regular repeat visitors. Their
very small role in selling Internet content. Most sites probably will wind up
being free, supported by ads. User fees will also exist, but for any content
subscription to a site or a membership that lets you get to a set of sites. A
administration had not wasted crucial months failing to take the issue
seriously? I don't know. Will that rebuff severely damage the world trading
system? I don't know. Is this the beginning of a more fundamental backlash
know is that the arguments advanced by fast track's intellectual opponents are
stunningly specious. Consider the tale of the tainted berries.
Here's the story: Last spring, there was an outbreak of a
for legislation that would allow him to ban food imports from countries that do
not follow adequate sanitary standards in agriculture. Intellectual opponents
of globalization gleefully noted a double standard: We're willing to seize
shipments of foreign berries to protect yuppie consumers (the sort of people
who eat raspberries out of season) from inadequate foreign sanitary standards,
press when it turned out that some of her clothing line was produced in Central
problems, which are more up Bob Wright's alley than mine. But it is useful, as a thought
experiment, to ask how opponents of imports would have reacted had the story
imports had cost some jobs in the United States, and possibly exerted some
tiresome way, that the jobs lost in the clothing industry were more than
matched by jobs gained elsewhere. They might point out that trade, by allowing
each country to specialize in doing what it does relatively well, normally
raises productivity and incomes in both countries. But these arguments would
not be much consolation to the displaced workers, or to the owners of the
affected clothing factories, and we would surely see a campaign against
competitors not because of low wages but because robots and computers made them
Here's the question: Would the people demanding limits on
industry competing against imports, it doesn't matter how the clothing was
point out how different the case is. For consumers of berries, it does
matter how the berry was produced: If it was watered with sewage, eating it
will make you sick. And for now the only practical way to enforce health
standards on the product is to enforce sanitary standards on its production.
sanitary standards, unlike our alleged concern about foreign labor standards,
restrictions against countries with low labor standards willing to lift those
hutches" in order to pursue its relentless export drive. By the early 1990s
complaint against developing countries is not that their exports are based on
low wages and sweatshops. The complaint is that they export at all. And so the
supposed friends of poor workers abroad are no friends at all. If they got
would be no job. And manufactured exports, initially based on low wages, are
the only route we know for rapid economic development.
countries, a development possible only because those countries are able to
offset their disadvantages by competing on the basis of cheap labor, has
brought about a huge improvement in the human condition, even if the wages look
people who have spent years, even decades, writing about economics are really
consumers from tainted produce and protecting workers from competing products.
On the other hand, I doubt that they are purely cynical. It is more likely that
when the situation demands it, is at work. But the truth is that I don't
month." Only a few years ago, the business sections of airport bookstores were
management and the menace Japan posed to the United States. Then it turned out
pundits, having once placed Japan on a pedestal, now either prefer not to
discuss the subject or see Japan's failures mainly as an occasion for smug
new story is much more interesting than the old one. How could a wealthy,
productive, sophisticated country have gone from enviable growth in the 1980s
to stagnation in the '90s, and now be slipping into a downward spiral of
where the state is weak, unable to collect taxes or convince investors that
their property rights are secure. Nor is it a country at the mercy of skittish
foreign investors who must be persuaded to roll over its debt: Japan is still
the world's largest creditor. So what's the explanation?
Inefficiency? Japan has many inefficiencies that limit its
What Japan lacks right now is not supply but demand: Japan's consumers and
investors just aren't spending enough to keep the country's shops and factories
usual remedies for inadequate demand aren't working. Interest rates have been
pushed down almost as far as they can go. Like the Fed, the Bank of Japan
normally targets the interest rate on overnight loans that banks make to each
launches every now and then do create some jobs, but they never seem to yield
enough bang for the yen: The economy keeps relapsing, while government debt
mainly a financial problem. Japan's corporations are too burdened with debt,
its banks too burdened with bad loans that have never been acknowledged. On
this view, what Japan needs is a long, painful financial housecleaning.
economy" of the 1980s (remember when the square mile under the Imperial Palace
consumers and investors went into a funk that has depressed the economy, and
the depressed economy has perpetuated the funk. On this view, what Japan needs
spending programs that will restore confidence and get people spending again.
(Although it is tactless to say this, the model everyone privately has in mind
is the way wartime spending jolted the United States out of the Great
is demand, not supply, how do corporate debt and bad loans cause that problem?
more, and the banks are in no position to lend anyway. But Japan's investment
as a percentage of gross domestic product is the highest among major advanced
those excessive debts and bad loans came from? The problem is that even these
high rates of investment aren't enough to absorb the huge sums that consumers
wonder whether the stubborn unwillingness of Japan's economic engine to catch
big enough or sustained enough. And so (like a small but growing number of
3--that Japan's troubles really stem from a subtle but deadly interaction
only much more so, is an aging society. Thanks to a declining birth rate and
for at least the next several decades while retirees increase. Given this
prospect, the country should save heavily to make provision for the
opportunities in Japan are limited, so that businesses will not invest all
those savings even at a zero interest rate. And as anyone who has read John
is the problem, there is in principle a simple, if unsettling, solution: What
Japan needs to do is promise borrowers that there will be inflation in the
future! If it can do that, then the effective "real" interest rate on borrowing
will be negative: Borrowers will expect to repay less in real terms than the
amount they borrow. As a result they will be willing to spend more, which is
the conclusion that Japan needs inflation emerges from what looks like
impeccable economic logic, we live in an era in which central bankers believe
(and are believed to believe) in price stability as an overriding goal. The
peculiar result of the credibility of modern central bankers as inflation hawks
doesn't matter: It can't lower the nominal interest rate, because that
rate is already zero, and because people don't believe that it will allow
inflation to break out any time in the future, it can't lower the real
This theory is offensive to many people. Deep economic
problems are supposed to be a punishment for deep economic sins, not an
accidental byproduct of swings in the birth rate. Inflation is supposed to be a
deadly poison, not a useful medicine. Above all, it seems implausible that the
proposed solution to such severe difficulties could involve so little pain. And
not just that we are talking about a huge economy here, an economy whose woes
can drag down a lot of smaller countries with it. What really disturbs me is
this: If we don't really understand what has gone wrong in Japan, who's to say
invitation came, rather disappointingly, by conventional mail. Still, it
bursting to the surface, spewing out vast new lands soon to be inhabited by a
complex ecosystem, the Web is creating a virtual landscape that will soon be
Institute is a libertarian think tank noted mostly for its adamant opposition
to government regulation. But what on earth (or in cyberspace) is
tenets of the movement are spelled out on the Bionomics Institute home page,
of economics are based on the concepts of classical physics, while bionomics is
economy is like an "evolving ecosystem." A modern market economy is like a
energetic fellow. There are, however, two big weaknesses in his thinking: He
doesn't know much about economics, and he doesn't know much about evolution.
differ that is generally true. I mean that his description of what conventional
economics is all about bears no relation to what actual economists believe or
from his use of quotation marks that this is something an actual economist
said, or at least that it was the sort of thing that economists routinely say.
But no economist I know thinks of the economy as being anything like a
economy is like a machine, it is possible to make precise predictions. (In
fact, it was economists who came up with the famed "random walk" hypothesis
about stock prices, which says that they are inherently
believe, but orthodox economics essentially ignores technological change." That
change, in particular for his demonstration that technology, not capital
accumulation, historically has been the main driving force in economic growth.
On a different subject, it's going to be a shock to environmental
idea unique to bionomics and totally at odds with orthodox economic thinking.
economics depends on the assumption of diminishing returns and that, as a
result, economists have completely ignored the possibility of increasing
Association gave me for my work on increasing returns and international
Well, all this is more or less the usual. Whenever a
manifesto about economics contains a sentence that begins, "Orthodox economics
that gross domestic product is the sole measure of economic welfare, that
surprising, however, is that a man who proposes to replace what he imagines to
be the mechanistic worldview of conventional economics with a new view based on
evolutionary biology should know so little about the discipline that supposedly
with ostentatious footnotes and seemingly learned references. It happens,
however, that I am an evolution groupie. I started as a fan of great
not only to hero worship of the leading evolutionary theorists but also to
reading textbooks and even journal articles. And so when I picked up a copy of
perfect: Not one of the right people was mentioned, not one of the key
developments discussed. The bionomics version of what evolutionary theory is
about has as little to do with the real thing as its version of what economics
bionomics guys apparently think evolution is about is constant,
seems, in particular, to view evolutionary thinking as the antithesis of
"equilibrium economics." Apparently nobody told him that equilibrium
often useful to ask what would happen if each individual was doing the best he
fact, the really funny thing is that for the most part the bionomics program
has already been implemented: Economics already is very similar to
evolutionary theory, and vice versa. However, neither field looks anything like
squander their intellectual credibility by associating their names with this
sort of thing. After all, conventional economics already has lots of nice
the answer, I suspect, is sociological. Traditional conservative causes like
sort of thing that appeals mainly to rich old men (and conservative think tanks
are, of course, mainly funded by rich old men). Young, vigorous conservatives
them parade their knowledge of pop culture, some make a point of being
photographed wearing miniskirts, and some go for what we might call the
are changing! so fast! that we have to use lots! of exclamation points!!!
economic theory offers reasons to believe that markets are a good way to
organize economic activity. But it does not deify the market system, and it
at least could be helped with government intervention. And that, for some
original book seems to hedge its bets: It spends a full chapter ("Japan's
what the doctrine lacks in serious argument it makes up for in rhetoric. The
economy is an ecosystem, like a tropical rain forest! And what could be worse
than trying to control a tropical rain forest from the top down? You wouldn't
try to control an ecosystem, wiping out species you didn't like and
actually, you probably would. I think it's called "agriculture."
bionomics? I think the main lesson is that their faith in free markets is just
that: a faith, which does not rest on either logic or evidence. Belief comes
first; then they look for arguments to justify that belief. And they are
therefore not too scrupulous about the quality of those arguments, or of those
long haul, or are they looters, out to take the money and run? The essence of
the financial crisis that has rocked the world in the last few weeks is this:
Investors, which means anyone with money at stake, appear to have decided, once
course, to get at this essence you have to dig a little. On the surface,
financial crises many countries have experienced. Indeed, if you read the
official reports of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, that's
universally accepted, economic case for devaluation. The country's overvalued
transactions take place through barter. As far as most of the economy is
concerned, the value and even the existence of the ruble have become more or
in the Western sense of the word. By and large they have few depositors. Mainly
they are in the business of borrowing money from foreigners and using it to
government has relied on a layer of politically connected middlemen to act as
wouldn't matter so much, except that government borrowing has spiraled out
government has let many basic services lapse and has become erratic at best
about paying its own employees (notably, and frighteningly, the military).
Instead, the problem is an inability to collect taxes.
inability to raise taxes to administrative incompetence in a country
unaccustomed to dealing with free markets. But with its industrial base
shriveled and the dollar value of gross domestic product stunningly low even
exportable resources such as oil, gas, diamonds, and gold. These sorts of
traditional, homogeneous commodities are the kinds of thing that even primitive
administrative systems normally are able to tax. What is more, the
distributed to political supporters, much as a medieval king might assign
resources. It has been suggested, in fact, that seven men control about half of
would surely follow their lead, to pay the necessary taxes.
oligarchs own more than gas fields and banks. They also own politicians. And
money to "banks," which in turn have lent that money to the government. The
willingness of foreigners to provide this money was based on the belief that
eventually the oligarchs would be willing to pay their due, and if they did the
country's huge natural resources would make it possible to honor its
commitments. However, in the last few months this confidence has evaporated.
Foreign lenders have been willing to provide money only at very high interest
government would try to inflate away its debt, or simply default on it, led to
the need to pay such high rates on its debt, the government needed to borrow
even more, further weakening confidence and pushing the rates still higher.
devaluation of the ruble was a desperate attempt to buy a bit more time. By
reducing the dollar value of the government's debts, while hoping to raise the
ruble value of its receipts, it could narrow the financing gap. But instead the
devaluation convinced everyone that the game was up and that the ruble was
about to become more or less worthless, and that was that.
much in their collective interest to have the current regime survive, so that
get together and agree to pay enough taxes to keep their rackets going?
in a classic "prisoners' dilemma," in which it is in the collective interest of
the group that everyone pay some taxes, but in the individual interest of each
the oligarchs have engaged in bitter business and political struggles (which,
it is a matter of saving the regime that made them rich.
Another answer, which may interact with the first, is that
all expect the game to end fairly soon, and they are simply trying to grab as
has been pointed out in this column before ("The East Is in the Red"),
has generally run huge trade surpluses. Think of those surpluses as the way an
oligarch's gas or oil gets converted into a billion dollar nest egg someplace
possible defense for their actions: They may have believed that the men who
avoid disaster, but they needed a little time. In that case the big loans
organized a few months ago could have made the difference. But in fact the
available. In effect we gave a lot of aid to some future residents of
you can almost certainly clone a human being. Some of the most powerful people
complex ethical issue that needs legislation and regulation. But what, exactly,
asking whether human beings have a right to reproduce. I say "yes." I have no
moral right to tell other people they shouldn't be able to have children, and I
resist the temptation to copy ourselves," it comes from a man not known for
resisting other temptations of the flesh. And for a politician, making noise
about cloning is pretty close to a fleshly temptation itself. It's an easy way
without much risk of bitter consequences. After all, how much federally funded
human reproduction. Besides, most researchers thought cloning humans was
There is nothing like banning the nonexistent to show true leadership.
The pope, unlike the president, is known for resisting
temptation. He also openly claims the authority to decide how people reproduce.
I respect the pope's freedom to lead his religion, and his followers' freedom
to follow his dictate. But calling for secular governments to implement a ban,
thus extending his power beyond those he can persuade, shows rather explicitly
that the pope does not respect the freedom of others. The basic
feature prominently in the Bible, but cloning does not. So the pope's views on
reproduce, what right does society have to limit the means? Essentially all
fertilization, the sperm and egg are combined in the lab and surgically
implanted in the womb. Less than two decades ago, a similar concern was raised
people have the right to do it, is cloning a good idea? Suppose that every
prospective parent in the world stopped having children naturally, and instead
years? The answer is: much like today. Cloning would only copy the genetic
aspects of people who are already here. Hating a world of clones is hating the
current populace. Never before was Pogo so right: We have met the enemy, and he
celebrity infatuation has its limits. People are not more taken with
celebrities than they are with themselves. Besides, such a trend would correct
itself in a generation or two, because celebrity is closely linked to rarity.
is a contentious topic in human biology. But genetic determinism is largely
irrelevant to the cloning issue. Despite how many or how few individual
own thoughts, and their own rights. Should you be confused on this point, just
suddenly make you less of a person, less of an individual? It is hard to see
how. So, why would a clone be different? Your clone would be raised in a
than you. A person's basic humanity is not governed by how he or she came into
aren't the only clones in everyday life. Think about seedless grapes or navel
propagated by cutting a shoot and planting it. Wine is almost entirely a cloned
product. The grapes used for wine have seeds, but they've been cloned from
shoots for more than a hundred years in the case of many vineyards. The same is
true for many flowers. Go to a garden store, and you'll find products with
is of some evil dictator raising an army of cloned warriors. Excuse me, but who
is going to raise such an army ("raise" in the sense used by parents)? Clones
men to their deaths through the ages. Why mess with success?
that cloning is not the same as genetic engineering. We don't get to make
genetically determined. But, suppose that it is. You might end up with such a
brave battalion of heroes that when a grenade lands in their midst, there is a
competition to see who gets to jump on it to save the others. Admirable
perhaps, but not necessarily the way to win a war. And what about the supply
sergeants? The army has a lot more of them than heroes. You could try to breed
an expert for every job, including the petty bureaucrats, but what's the point?
his father seem saintly by comparison. We have no more to fear from a clone of
unrealistic. First, the baby wouldn't really be him. Second, is the old duffer
really up to changing diapers? A persistent octogenarian might convince a
younger couple to have his clone and raise it, but that is not much different
We all agree it is wrong to discriminate against people based on a set of
genetic characteristics known as "race." Calls for a ban on cloning amount to
eliminate them before they exist with a ban on their creation.
so special about natural reproduction anyway? Cloning is the only predictable
way to reproduce, because it creates the identical twin of a known adult.
dad. In evolutionary theory, this combination is thought to help stir the gene
pool, so to speak. However, evolution for humans is essentially over, because
Whatever the temptations of cloning, the process of natural
reproduction will always remain a lot more fun. An expensive and
uncomfortable lab procedure will never offer any real competition for sex. The
genetics to mimic nature. Another special case is where one member of a couple
has a severe genetic disease. They might choose a clone of the healthy parent,
rather than burden their child with a joint heritage that could be fatal.
that rich people with big egos will clone themselves. The common practice of
giving a boy the same name as his father or choosing a family name for a child
of either sex reflects our hunger for vicarious immortality. Clones may
resonate with this instinct and cause some people to reproduce this way. So
what? Rich and egotistic folks do all sorts of annoying things, and the law is
boil down to jealousy. Economic jealousy is bad enough, and it is a factor
here, but the thing that truly drives people crazy is sexual jealousy. Eons of
evolution through sexual selection have made the average man or woman insanely
your spouse. Cloning is less personal than cuckoldry, but it strikes a similar
chord: Someone has got the reproductive edge on you.
fuss has died down and further animal research has paved the way, direct human
cloning will be one more option among many specialized medical interventions in
human reproduction, affecting only a tiny fraction of the population. Research
changes nothing in the short run, but it is ultimately a giant step backward.
In using an adult cell to create a clone, the "cellular clock" that determines
the difference between an embryo and adult was somehow reset. Work in this area
might help elucidate the process by which aging occurs and yield a way to reset
the clocks in some of our own cells, allowing us to regenerate. Selfishly
speaking, that would be more exciting to me than cloning, because it would help
mysteries of life is a source of evil, never to be trusted. To others,
including me, the scientist is the ray of light, illuminating the processes
that make the universe work and making us better through that knowledge.
Various arguments can be advanced toward either view, but one key statistic is
squarely on my side. The vast majority of people, including those who rail
against science, owe their very lives to previous medical discoveries. They
embody the fruits of science. Don't let the forces of darkness, ignorance, and
hundreds of articles explaining why Bob Dole's economic plan, which relies on
more explaining why Dole, whose contempt for people who believe in that kind of
magic is a matter of public record, nonetheless chose to accept their
have nothing to add to all of that. But it seems to me that the success of the
tax cutters in taking over yet another presidential campaign requires a deeper
positive effect on the economy that one need not worry about paying for them
favor. If you want, any nonpartisan economist can explain to you at length what
page had no doubts that the tax increase would sharply increase the deficit
instead of reducing it. Well here we are, three years later: The economy has
one suspects he would have won on almost any platform, and that the taunts of
is a clear liability. Even promoters of the concept shy away from the label. In
will really happen. But it is also because they doubt it would have the
attributes that it shares with certain other doctrines, like belief in the gold
standard: It appeals to the prejudices of extremely rich men, and it offers
Despite its centrality to political debate, economic research is a very
institutes, foundations, and so on devoted to promoting an economic doctrine
conservatism is a story that somebody needs to write.) The economists these
institutions can attract are not exactly the best and the brightest.
appeal to the intellectually insecure is also more important than it might
seem. Because economics touches so much of life, everyone wants to have an
opinion. Yet the kind of economics covered in the textbooks is a technical
subject that many people find hard to follow. How reassuring, then, to be told
economics makes any sense, or even whether it goes down to a crushing electoral
Enterprise Institutes and Centers for the Study of Capitalism, outlets for
and again. When I was younger I thought that ridicule could eventually bring
the whole farce to an end, but now I know better. Presumably the pundits are
right, and Dole's desperate ploy will fail. But while that will be the end of
argued famously that ideas spread from mind to mind much as viruses spread from
host to host. It's an exhilaratingly cynical view, because it suggests that to
succeed, an idea need not be true or even useful, as long as it has what it
takes to propagate itself. (A religious faith that disposes its believers to
become martyrs may be quite false, and lethal to its adherents, yet persist if
areas, is always out there in the bush, waiting for new victims. I had expected
Bob Dole, with his worldliness and sharp wit, to have stronger immunity than
most. But weakness in the polls made him vulnerable, and he will never
cheaper the more of them you produce (and the closely related idea of "network
externalities," which says that some products, like fax machines, become more
held fast to that idea despite the obstinate opposition of mainstream
economists and, after many years as an academic pariah, finally managed to
change the way people think about the economy. That story has been told before,
It is also pure fiction. Increasing returns wasn't a new
legend is a better story than the legend itself: an object lesson in
you may ask. What could be less interesting than squabbling among professors
over who deserves the credit for some theory? Well, I could say that this bogus
version of intellectual history has metastasized to the point where it may
notebook a manifesto describing his project to develop a New Economics based on
story. Now let's do a reality check, starting with that walk in the park. It
models were basically similar to those developed in the 1970s by the game
ignored them. During the course of the 1980s those conceptual difficulties were
partly resolved, leading to a burst of theorizing about increasing returns. But
Trade: Increasing Returns, Imperfect Competition, and the International
credulous? Perhaps a journalist cannot be expected to be an expert on the ins
about the discipline he currently covers, what happened to basic journalistic
Suppose that someone tells you that, years ago, he made a
fundamental discovery that an entire profession, out of sheer
Wouldn't you have at least a slight suspicion that this version of events might
college library to see whether the facts check out?
article exposing fabricated quotes in the memoirs of
travails, people make the kind of dramatic, pithy remarks that almost never get
uttered in real life. "To admit that increasing returns exist would destroy
did, we'd have to outlaw them." "Your theory may be theoretically valid, but
there's no evidence of it in the real world." These sound like the kind of
thing that The New Yorker might put at the bottom of a page, under the
taught us, when someone tells us that his world is populated by remarkably
eloquent people who always happen to say exactly what makes the storyteller
look good, we are well advised to ask whether that world exists only in his,
true, although even so it is unclear why he couldn't just present the theory
without the dubious intellectual history. Anyway, increasing returns are
it clear in earlier writing that he does not like mainstream economists, and he
may have been overly eager to accept a story that puts them in a bad light.
could, asking exactly how he had managed to come up with his version of events.
He did, to his credit, write back. He explained that while he had become aware
of some other people working on increasing returns, trying to put them in would
journalists like a good story too much to find out whether it is really
had lost more than a billion dollars in speculative trading, quite literally
breaking the bank. But when an even bigger financial disaster was revealed last
story quickly faded from the front pages. "Oh well, just another rogue trader,"
supervised employee using his company's money to gamble on unpredictable
markets. On the contrary, there is little question that he was, in fact,
implementing a deliberate corporate strategy of "cornering" the world copper
Hubris brought him down in the end; but it is his initial success, not his
eventual failure, that is the really disturbing part of the tale.
the copper market. The essential facts about copper (and many other
consumed at once. These two facts mean that a certain amount of speculation is
a normal and necessary part of the way the market works: It is inevitable and
desirable that people should try to buy low and sell high, building up
inventories when the price is perceived to be unusually low and running those
inventories down when the price seems to be especially high.
but the principle is simple. Buy up a large part of the supply of whatever
actually take claim to the stuff itself or buy up "futures," which are nothing
have now done, if you have pulled it off, is created an artificial shortage
that sends prices soaring, allowing you to make big profits on the stuff you do
sell. You may be obliged to take some loss on the supplies you have withheld
from the market, selling them later at lower prices, but if you do it right,
this loss will be far smaller than your gain from higher current prices.
work if you can get it; there are only three important hitches. First, you must
be able to operate on a sufficiently large scale. Second, the strategy only
sell to you in the first place unless you offer a price so high that the game
no longer pays. Third, this kind of thing is, for obvious reasons, quite
overcome all these hitches. The world copper market is immense; nonetheless, a
single trader, apparently, was able and willing to dominate that market. You
might have thought that the kind of secrecy required for such a massive market
nothing more than an employee run wild, one could not really fault regulators
for failing to rein him in; that would have been his employer's job. But he
prices has apparently been common knowledge for years among everyone familiar
with the copper market. Indeed, copper futures have been the object of massive
The answer may in part be that the global nature of his
activities made it unclear who had responsibility. Should it have been Japan,
responsibility, however, one suspects that regulators were inhibited by the
bring himself to face the fact that even the most successful market manipulator
must accept an occasional down along with the ups. Rather than sell some of his
copper at a loss, he chose to play double or nothing, trying to repeat his
initial success by driving prices ever higher; since a market corner is
necessarily a sometime thing, his unwillingness to let go led to disaster. But
affair will remind us that not all the profitable things unfettered investors
can do with their money are socially productive; maybe it will even remind us
why we regulated financial markets in the first place.
story that changed my life. I think about that story often; it helps me to stay
calm in the face of crisis, to remain hopeful in times of depression, and to
woes seem to threaten the world economy as a whole, the lessons of that
is told in an article titled "Monetary Theory and the Great Capitol Hill
need for cash payments to adolescents. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement:
A couple that already has children around may find that watching another
couple's kids for an evening is not that much of an additional burden,
certainly compared with the benefit of receiving the same service some other
evening. But there must be a system for making sure each couple does its fair
technical problem. Think about the coupon holdings of a typical couple. During
periods when it had few occasions to go out, a couple would probably try to
would be an averaging out of these demands. One couple would be going out when
another was staying at home. But since many couples would be holding reserves
collection and use of dues (paid in scrip), the number of coupons in
circulation became quite low. As a result, most couples were anxious to add to
difficult to earn coupons. Knowing this, couples became even more reluctant to
requiring each couple to go out at least twice a month. But eventually the
economists prevailed. More coupons were issued, couples became more willing to
was a real recession. Its story tells you more about what economic slumps are
and a year's worth of Wall Street Journal editorials. And if you are
draw out its implications, it will change the way you think about the
undermine consumer confidence. Would this inevitably mean a disastrous
recession? Think of it this way: When consumer confidence declines, it is as
go out, more anxious to accumulate coupons for a rainy day. This could indeed
that the economy did indeed fall into a slump. Don't panic. Even if the head
coupon issuer has fallen temporarily behind the curve, he can still ordinarily
into trouble because its members were bad, inefficient baby sitters; its
troubles did not reveal the fundamental flaws of "Capitol Hill values" or
of the world be in the mess it's in? How, for example, can Japan be stuck in a
it is not hard to generate something that looks a lot like Japan's
inconvenience in their system. There would be occasions when a couple found
itself needing to go out several times in a row, which would cause it to run
Under this new system, couples would hold smaller reserves
of coupons than before, knowing they could borrow more if necessary. The
could be made more favorable, encouraging more people to go out. If baby
sitters were scarce, those terms could be worsened, encouraging people to go
stimulate a depressed economy by reducing the interest rate and cool off an
metaphor finally found a situation it cannot handle?
During the winter, when it's cold and dark, couples don't want to go out much
but are quite willing to stay home and look after other people's
winter months, higher rates in the summer. But suppose that the seasonality is
very strong indeed. Then in the winter, even at a zero interest rate, there
find, which means that couples seeking to build up reserves for summer fun will
be even less willing to use those points in the winter, meaning even fewer
And this is the winter of Japan's discontent. Perhaps
because of its aging population, perhaps also because of a general nervousness
to use the economy's capacity, even at a zero interest rate. Japan, say the
economists, has fallen into the dread "liquidity trap." Well, what you have
just read is an infantile explanation of what a liquidity trap is and how it
can happen. And once you understand that this is what has gone wrong, the
stake, whimsical parables are not a waste of time but the key to
produces only two things: hot dogs and buns. Consumers in this economy insist
that every hot dog come with a bun, and vice versa. And labor is the only input
any further, I need to ask what you think of an essay that begins this way.
Does it sound silly to you? Were you about to turn the virtual page, figuring
column is to illustrate a paradox: You can't do serious economics unless you
down by pompous authority figures. Mainly, it is a menagerie of thought
economic processes in a simplified way. In the end, of course, ideas must be
tested against the facts. But even to know what facts are relevant, you must
play with those ideas in hypothetical settings. And I use the word "play"
advisedly: Innovative thinkers, in economics and other disciplines, often have
future of capitalism. Readers who feel that big subjects can only be properly
intellectual style offensive. Such people imagine that when they write or quote
such books, they are being profound. But more often than not, they're being
profoundly foolish. And the best way to avoid such foolishness is to play
dog or a bun. (Hey, realism is not the point here.) Assuming that the economy
suppose that improved technology allows a worker to produce a hot dog in one
day rather than two. And suppose that the economy makes use of this increased
Then a famous journalist arrives on the scene. He takes a
look at recent history and declares that something terrible has happened:
research project, touring the globe as he talks with executives, government
officials, and labor leaders. The picture becomes increasingly clear to him:
Supply is growing at a breakneck pace, and there just isn't enough consumer
demand to go around. True, jobs are still being created in the bun sector; but
soon enough the technological revolution will destroy those jobs too. Global
capitalism, in short, is hurtling toward crisis. He writes up his alarming
conclusions in a 473-page book; full of startling facts about the changes
about the blinkered vision of conventional economists. The book is widely
acclaimed for its erudition and sophistication, and its author becomes a lion
bit bemused, because they can't quite understand his point. Yes, technological
change has led to a shift in the industrial structure of employment. But there
has been no net job loss; and there is no reason to expect such a loss in the
future. After all, suppose that productivity were to double in buns as well as
hot dogs. Why couldn't the economy simply take advantage of that higher
it a different way: Productivity growth in one sector can very easily reduce
reduces employment in the economy as a whole is a very different matter.
number of workers it takes to make a hot dog reduces the number of jobs in the
matter how many countries you visit; you might not even learn it from talking
to bun manufacturers. It is an insight that you can gain only by playing with
experiment too simple to tell us anything about the real world?
thing, if for "hot dogs" you substitute "manufactures" and for "buns" you
substitute "services," my story actually looks quite a lot like the history of
economy's output of manufactures roughly doubled; but, because of increases in
productivity, employment actually declined slightly. The production of services
million jobs. So in the real economy, as in the parable, productivity growth in
one sector seems to have led to job gains in the other.
is a deeper point: A simple story is not the same as a simplistic one. Even our
little parable reveals possibilities that no amount of investigative reporting
could uncover. It suggests, in particular, that what might seem to a naive
industry reduces the number of jobs for steelworkers, then productivity growth
will rise enough to absorb all the additional production? One good answer is:
Why not? If production were to double, and all that production were to be sold,
then total income would double too; so why wouldn't consumption double? That
is, why should there be a shortfall in consumption merely because the economy
again, however, there is a deeper answer. It is possible for economies
such slumps are essentially monetary --they come about because people try
in the aggregate to hold more cash than there actually is in circulation. (That
capacity (compared to what?) has nothing at all to do with it.
parable is that final bit about the famous journalist. Surely, no respected
figure would write a whole book on the world economy based on such a
transparent fallacy. And even if he did, nobody would take him seriously.
book titled One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global
panoramic description of the world economy, which piles fact upon fact (some of
the crucial facts turn out to be wrong, but that is another issue) in apparent
demonstration of the thesis that global supply is outrunning global demand.
Alas, all the facts are irrelevant to that thesis; for they amount to no more
than the demonstration that there are many industries in which growing
productivity and the entry of new producers has led to a loss of traditional
composition, that the logic of the economy as a whole is not the same as the
economy will start looking like the steel industry. But this is a purely
and simplistic because he is an accidental theorist, a theorist despite
emerge from the facts, unaware that they are driven by implicit assumptions
Needless to say, I have little hope that the general
public, or even most intellectuals, will realize what a thoroughly silly book
knowledgeable and encyclopedic, and is written in a tone of high seriousness.
It strains credibility to assert the truth, which is that the main lesson one
earnest man to trip over his own intellectual shoelaces.
the kind of advice and criticism that could have saved him from himself. His
surprising thing, one supposes, for a man who describes economics as "not
with seemingly trivial thought experiments, with hypothetical stories about
simplified economies producing hot dogs and buns, would be beneath his dignity.
And it is precisely because he is so serious that his ideas are so foolish.
have never known him well. But I do remember the joke classmates told about
story isn't true, but a chapter of that thesis, titled "A Dynamic Theory of
Racial Income Differences," does have an appendix that begins "Each agent
begins life with a random innate endowment. Q is the endowment set, taken to be
a subset of an arbitrary, finite dimensional Euclidean space."
bent who has ended up writing and speaking not about Euclidean spaces but about
the political economy of race. This is partly because he is as good with words
as he is with equations. It is partly because he cares deeply about social
issues. But inevitably, it is also partly because he is one of only a handful
of those emblematic intellectuals whose career illustrates in microcosm the
been exiled once again, cast out by the right essentially because he still
cares about what happens to the poor. The dogmatic rigidity, left and right,
In the first few pages, he stated the central dilemma of race policy in modern
probably would not be enough, and therein lay the dilemma.
deserve to be judged on their own merits, not by who their parents were or what
group they belong to. On the other hand, anyone who imagines that a child
eliminating current racial discrimination might very well fail to
that even a world of "equal opportunity" might "perpetuate into the indefinite
future the consequences of ethically unacceptable historical practices." If you
find that prospect unacceptable, you must support some form of social
people special consideration based on the color of their skin as well as on the
possible to squaring this circle, finding ways to eliminate the legacy of past
racism with as little intrusion as possible on the colorblind ideal. But he has
past two decades has he been able to find allies who are even willing to accept
dissertation was written only a dozen years after passage of the Civil Rights
biggest barrier to progress was no longer active racism of whites but internal
social problems of the black community. But black leaders, and to a lesser
extent liberalism as a whole, flatly refused even to contemplate that
against any black intellectual who tried to challenge the orthodoxy.
credit, he did not give in to these pressures. He said what he thought. In so
new and dangerous seductions. Let's face it: Any articulate minority
intellectual who reliably espouses conservative positions is automatically
offered a ticket to a very nice lifestyle. No more rejections from picky
academic journals or grubbing for sabbatical time. Instead there are cushy
fellowships at Hoover, guest editorials in the Wall 
he was well on his way to high political office and all the rewards that brings
eventually confronts every honest intellectual who gets drawn into the
political arena: The enemies of your enemies are not necessarily your friends.
wanted society to tackle the real problems, not because he wanted it to stand
aside. His seeming allies on the right, however, turned out to be interested
one gathering of conservatives that their seeming hostility to every social
program smacks of indifference to the poor, I was told that a surgeon cannot
properly be said to have no concern for a terminally ill patient simply because
for his ideas by conservative intellectuals was entirely conditional. Any
questioning of conservative orthodoxy was viewed as an act of betrayal, giving
aid and comfort to the liberal enemy. It was the loyalty test all over
close to claiming that, given your genes, it makes no difference to your
implied subtext was that this absolves society from any responsibility to do
Curve was published, it has become clear that almost everything about it
was inexcusably wrong: suspect data, mistakes in statistical procedures that
not understand what a correlation coefficient means), deliberate suppression of
contrary evidence, you name it. Yet conservative publications such as
liberal evasions, would not grant him space to critique The Bell
his new Institute on Race and Social Division): rejected by the black political
elite, which still wants to blame everything on white racism, and equally
rejected by a conservatism that wants to do precisely nothing about continuing
garbage dump known as Smokey Mountain was a favorite media symbol of Third
World poverty. Several thousand men, women, and children lived on that
living combing the garbage for scrap metal and other recyclables. And they
of a Pacific Rim summit. But I found myself thinking about Smokey Mountain
recently, after reading my latest batch of hate mail.
that while wages and working conditions in the new export industries of the
Third World are appalling, they are a big improvement over the "previous, less
visible rural poverty." I guess I should have expected that this comment would
generate letters along the lines of, "Well, if you lose your comfortable
anyone with a good word for this process is naive or corrupt and, in either
matters are not that simple, and the moral lines are not that clear. In fact,
globalization is possible only because they have chosen not to think their
the biggest beneficiaries are, yes, Third World workers.
After all, global poverty is not something recently
invented for the benefit of multinational corporations. Let's turn the clock
back to the Third World as it was only two decades ago (and still is, in many
countries). In those days, although the rapid economic growth of a handful of
of raw materials, importers of manufactures. Inefficient manufacturing sectors
served their domestic markets, sheltered behind import quotas, but generated
few jobs. Meanwhile, population pressure pushed desperate peasants into
cultivating ever more marginal land or seeking a livelihood in any way
country to compete in world markets for manufactured goods. The entrenched
the vastly larger size of their markets and their proximity to suppliers of key
(Other things being the same, it is still better to produce in the First
moved back after experiencing the disadvantages of the Third World environment,
are common.) In a substantial number of industries, low wages allowed
developing countries to break into world markets. And so countries that had
previously made a living selling jute or coffee started producing shirts and
in those shirt and sneaker factories are, inevitably, paid very little and
expected to endure terrible working conditions. I say "inevitably" because
their employers are not in business for their (or their workers') health; they
pay as little as possible, and that minimum is determined by the other
opportunities available to workers. And these are still extremely poor
countries, where living on a garbage heap is attractive compared with the
And yet, wherever the new export industries have grown,
there has been measurable improvement in the lives of ordinary people. Partly
this is because a growing industry must offer a somewhat higher wage than
workers could get elsewhere in order to get them to move. More importantly,
pressure on the land becomes less intense, so rural wages rise; the pool of
unemployed urban dwellers always anxious for work shrinks, so factories start
to compete with each other for workers, and urban wages also begin to rise.
industrializing economies are not a matter of conjecture. A country like
half. Similar improvements can be seen throughout the Pacific Rim, and even in
large, has lately shrunk to virtually nothing. Nor is it the result of the
benign policies of national governments, which are as callous and corrupt as
ever. It is the indirect and unintended result of the actions of soulless
multinationals and rapacious local entrepreneurs, whose only concern was to
take advantage of the profit opportunities offered by cheap labor. It is not an
edifying spectacle; but no matter how base the motives of those involved, the
result has been to move hundreds of millions of people from abject poverty to
something still awful but nonetheless significantly better.
a sort of fastidiousness. Unlike the starving subsistence farmer, the women and
children in the sneaker factory are working at slave wages for our
demands for international labor standards: We should not, the opponents of
globalization insist, be willing to buy those sneakers and shirts unless the
people who make them receive decent wages and work under decent conditions.
First of all, even if we could assure the workers in Third
World export industries of higher wages and better working conditions, this
would do nothing for the peasants, day laborers, scavengers, and so on who make
up the bulk of these countries' populations. At best, forcing developing
countries to adhere to our labor standards would create a privileged labor
aristocracy, leaving the poor majority no better off.
might not even do that. The advantages of established First World industries
are still formidable. The only reason developing countries have been able to
compete with those industries is their ability to offer employers cheap labor.
Deny them that ability, and you might well deny them the prospect of continuing
industrial growth, even reverse the growth that has been achieved. And since
workers in those nations, anything that curtails that growth is very much
against their interests. A policy of good jobs in principle, but no jobs in
practice, might assuage our consciences, but it is no favor to its alleged
should not be forced to serve as hewers of wood, drawers of water, and sewers
of sneakers for the affluent. But what is the alternative? Should they be
dependence. Anyway, there isn't the slightest prospect of significant aid
materializing. Should their own governments provide more social justice? Of
you have no realistic alternative to industrialization based on low wages, to
oppose it means that you are willing to deny desperately poor people the best
chance they have of progress for the sake of what amounts to an aesthetic
a pittance to supply rich Westerners with fashion items.
through. And when the hopes of hundreds of millions are at stake, thinking
things through is not just good intellectual practice. It is a moral duty.
and suggest "macroeconomics" instead. The spelling checker has a point. You
see, macroeconomics has gone out of fashion. Not only academic economists but
also some of our most influential economic pundits seem to regard it as bad
manners to talk about recessions and recoveries and how governments might
alleviate the former and engineer the latter. Ordinarily reasonable people now
argue that the business cycle is a trivial matter, unworthy of attention when
compared with microeconomic issues like the incentive effects of taxes and
regulation. Trying to do anything about recessions is bad for growth, they say,
and even thinking about the business cycle is a bad thing, because it
so peculiar about this attitude, which seems to become more prevalent each
concerns are more pressing than they have been for generations. Not since the
been so relevant. So an occasional reminder that the big things do matter, that
getting microeconomic policy right is no help if you stumble into a depression,
big picture." Economic success, he argues, is simply a matter of getting the
incentives right. And he goes on to deride macroeconomics for its "illusion
that it could make the whole system run smoothly almost regardless of how the
breakneck speed even if the engine was corroded and missing some parts."
fourth is unemployed because consumers don't spend enough. And this is not an
abstract point: Just look at the economic storms ravaging quite a lot of
have become lazy or because the country's factories have fallen into disrepair?
productive society than it was a year ago? Of course not: Whatever the ultimate
economic journalists has come to disdain macroeconomics, this may be because he
with recessions and depressions, in which the economy as a whole is less than
beginning with the macroeconomics of booms and slumps and turning to
microeconomics only in their second half. Nowadays, however, every textbook
as long as possible, introducing the question of recessions and what to do
In graduate education the situation has become even more
prominent department, students there told me that their macroeconomics course
did not even mention money until the last two weeks, and never so much as
suggested that monetary policy might have anything to do with business
reasons for this aversion to macroeconomics are a little hard to explain to a
economy has lately had a smooth few years, but macroeconomics was already in
retreat during the anything but tranquil '70s and '80s. (I remember one famous
model could be reconciled with the savage recession then gripping the United
statistical blip.) Nor did macroeconomics fail the test of empirical relevance.
Though it is widely believed that events such as the combination of inflation
refused to believe in increasing returns. The truth is that stagflation was
predicted as a possibility long before it emerged as a reality and that the
disinflation of the 1980s played out just the way the (old) textbooks said it
economic theorizing is based on the assumption that individuals behave
choose to accept or reject jobs based on a rational calculation of their
interests, and so on. You don't have to believe in the literal truth of this
assumption to recognize how powerful it is as a working hypothesis. But while
least in the short run, companies do not immediately reduce their prices when
they cannot sell all their production, and workers do not immediately accept
lower wages even when they have trouble finding jobs. This assumption
the business cycle into something that is not only understandable but, to some
extent, controllable. But it makes many economists uncomfortable; it is the
classic case of something that works in practice but not in theory.
economists have, more and more, simply avoided the subject; and being human,
have tended to rationalize that avoidance by asserting that the subject isn't
find microeconomics, with its emphasis on efficiency, interesting unless they
were first convinced that the economy could achieve more or less full
employment, that it need not relapse into depression. He also knew what too
had something useful to say about the Great Depression, and their pompous,
windy rivals did not. By abandoning macroeconomics the profession not only
leaves the world without guidance it desperately needs; it also risks letting
matter. But the big things matter too, and if economists try to pretend that
they don't, one of these days they are going to get stomped on.
find out why useful business cycle models still need to incorporate
again. Like most people who think at all about how much burden their way of
life places on Spaceship Earth, I feel a bit guilty. But my conscience is
explain. A few months ago an organization called Redefining Progress enlisted
circulate an "Economists' Statement on Climate Change," calling for serious
measures to limit the emission of greenhouse gases. To be honest, I agreed to
be one of the original signatories mainly as a gesture of goodwill, and never
expected to hear any more about it; but the statement ended up being signed by,
Partly this is just because of who economists are: Being by
sentimental about the environment, as long as protecting it does not impinge on
walk to the supermarket.) But my unscientific impression is that economists are
backgrounds. Why? Because standard economic theory automatically predisposes
those who believe in it to favor strong environmental protection.
not, of course, the popular image. Everyone knows that economists are people
who know the price of everything and the value of nothing, who think that
anything that increases gross domestic product is good and anything else is
worthless, and who believe that whatever free markets do must be right. (A
recent example of how this stereotype gets perpetuated is the article by
sorry to say that some of the people at Redefining Progress published an
conventional economic doctrine is a lot more subtle than that. True, economists
generally believe that a system of free markets is a pretty efficient way to
run an economy, as long as the prices are right --as long, in particular,
as people pay the true social cost of their actions. Environmental issues,
however, more or less by definition involve situations in which the price is
pollutes a river, it uses some of society's resources just as surely as when it
burns coal. However, if the firm pays for coal but not for the use of clean
water, it is to be expected that management will be economical in its use of
coal and wasteful in its use of water." In other words, when it comes to the
environment, we do not expect the free market to get it right.
intervene in the market to discourage activities that damage the environment.
The usual recommendation is to do so either by charging fees for the right to
statement reminds us, the idea of pollution taxes is one of those iconic
positions, like free trade, that commands the assent of virtually every
externalities" such as traffic congestion are obvious problems, in practice,
efforts to make markets take environmental costs into account are few and far
between. So economists who actually believe the things they teach generally
support a much more aggressive program of environmental protection than the one
we actually have. True, they tend to oppose detailed regulations that tell
people exactly how they must reduce pollution, preferring schemes that provide
a financial incentive to pollute less but leave the details up to the private
sector. But I would be hard pressed to think of a single economist not actually
United States should protect the environment less, not more, than it currently
But won't protecting the environment reduce the gross
any tax reduces the incentives to work, save, and invest. Thus a tax on exhaust
emissions from cars will induce people to drive cleaner cars or avoid driving
altogether. But since it will also in effect lower the payoff to earning extra
money (since you wouldn't end up driving the second car you could buy with that
money anyway), people will not work as hard as they would have without the tax.
The result is that taxes on pollution (or anything else) will, other things
already a whole lot of taxing and spending going on. Even in the United States,
where the government is smaller than in any other advanced country, about a
people from engaging in taxable activities like working or investing.
means is that the revenue from any new taxes on pollution could be used to
reduce other taxes, such as Social Security contributions or the income tax
Does this constitute an independent argument for taxing
pollution, quite aside from its environmental payoff? Would we want to have,
say, a carbon tax even if we weren't worried about global warming? Well, there
has been an excruciatingly technical argument about this, mysteriously known as
the "double dividend" debate; the general consensus seems to be no, and that on
what? "Gross domestic product is not a measure of the nation's economic
getting the price of the environment right means a rise in consumption of
economists agree on something, but what they agree on is the warm and cuddly
away from taxes on employment and income toward taxes on pollution and other
science and good economics, as well as by good intentions.
Inevitably, then, it appears at the moment to be a complete political
nonstarter. The problem, as with many good policy ideas, is that the Great
First, there is Ignorance. Only last year Congress rushed
to cut gasoline taxes to offset a temporary price rise. Not many voters stopped
to ask where the money was coming from. So what politician will be foolish
pollution, even with the assurance that other taxes will be lowered at the same
time? (My friends in the administration tell me that the word "taxes" has been
banned even from internal discussions about environmental policy.)
is hard to think of a way to limit global warming that will not gradually
this is a pretty small one. But the coal miners and the energy companies are
actively opposed to green taxes, while the broader public that would benefit
It used to be that the big problem in formulating a sensible environmental
evil, it is immoral to put a price on it. These days, however, the main problem
to believe even the most overwhelming scientific evidence if it seems to
expect the Economists' Statement to change the world. But then I didn't expect
it to go as far as it has. Certainly those of us who signed it did the right
thing; and maybe, just maybe, we did our bit toward saving the planet.
hoped for better, I have become resigned to the accumulation of tawdry detail
seem to be a question for a political analyst, not an economist. But there is
an approach to political analysis known as "rat choice" (rat as in
border of the two fields. The working hypothesis of rat choice is that voting
behavior reflects the more or less rational pursuit of individual interests.
This may sound obvious, innocuous, and even excessively optimistic. But if you
really think its implications through, they turn out to be quite subversive.
Indeed, if you take rat choice seriously, you stop asking why democracy works
What is the problem? Won't rational voters simply choose
politicians who promise to serve their interests? Well, in a rough sense they
do. The logic of democratic politics normally pushes both parties toward the
voter. Consider, for example, the question of how big the government should be.
In general, people with low incomes prefer a government that imposes high taxes
in order to provide generous benefits. Those with high incomes prefer a
government that does no such thing. The Democrats are, by inclination, the
party of outstretched palms, the Republicans the party of tight fists. But both
are forced to move away from those inclinations toward actual policies that
more or less satisfy the voters in the middle, who don't like paying taxes but
do like knowing that they won't be stuck with Grandma's medical bills.
the government spends subsidizing irrigation water for Western farmers.
Although these issues, cumulatively, are important to the electorate, the
of the individual voter to take the trouble to track the details of public
policy. After all, how much difference will one vote make?
only to those who pay for it. It is clearly in the interest of all boaters to
have a rescue service. But no individual boater has any incentive to pay for
the service if others are willing to do so. If we leave provision of a
lifesaving service up to individual decisions, each individual will try to
solution is government. It is in the collective interest of boaters that each
boat owner be required to pay a fee, to support a Coast Guard that provides
sanitation, national defense, the Centers for Disease Control, and so on. The
force people to pay taxes whether or not they feel like it.
But there is a catch: The democratic process, the only
decent way we know for deciding how that coercive power should be used, is
"Everybody's business is nobody's business. If everyone spends an additional
electorate. If everyone but me spends the hour evaluating the candidates and I
spend it choosing where to invest my savings, I will get a better return on my
investments as well as a better government." As a result, the public at large
know or care whether the United States uses a substantial amount of its
should they? (I only keep track of the dispute because I have to update my
believed that money alone could buy him the election. But money does help, and
any practical politician comes to realize that betraying the public interest on
small issues involves little political cost, because voters lack the individual
is to try to change the incentives of politicians, by making it more difficult
for special interests to buy influence. It is easy to be cynical about this,
but the truth is that legal limits on how money can be given do have
considerable effect. To take only the most extreme example: Outright bribes do
not, as far as we can tell, play a big role in determining federal
There are those who believe that if only the media would treat the public with
turn away from salacious stories about celebrities and read earnest articles
erosion of public trust in institutions that used to act, to at least some
degree, as watchdogs. Once upon a time a politician had to worry about the
reactions of unions, churches, newspaper editors, even local political bosses,
all of whom had the time and inclination to pay attention to politics beyond
the sound bites. Now we have become an atomized society of individuals who get
to bring back the opinion leaders of yore, I am all for it.
remove temptation, by avoiding policy initiatives that make it easy for
politicians to play favorites. This is one reason why some of us cringed when
and so on. Whether or not those trips did any good, or gave the wrong
way to make government by the people truly be government for the people. That
human events have so few people lost so much money so quickly. There is no
billions of dollars disappear. Essentially, the hedge fund took huge bets with
we now know that it had placed wagers directly or indirectly on the prices of
more than a trillion dollars' worth of assets. When it turned out to have bet
and end of the story are not enough: We need to know the motivations and
it's not that simple. The people who provide money now in return for future
move in sync, you might not be able to deliver on your promise. So they will
demand evidence that you have enough capital to make up any likely losses, plus
extra compensation for the remaining risk. But if the required compensation and
the capital you need to put up aren't too large, there may still be an
did, or at least claimed to do, was find less obvious opportunities along the
same lines, by engaging in complicated transactions involving many assets. For
example, suppose that historically, increases in the spread between the price
interest differential could be reduced by taking out a side bet, shorting
the course of a couple of months, somehow it all went bad. What happened?
of circumstance. Their trading strategy, goes this story, was basically sound.
the gods are sufficiently against you, if a peculiar, nay, unprecedented
According to this version, there is no particular moral to the story, except
version of events does not accuse the principals of evil intent, but it does
accuse them of myopia. The magic word is "kurtosis," a k a "fat tails." The
story goes like this: Everyone knows that there are potential events that are
not likely to happen but will have very big effects on financial markets if
they do. A realistic assessment of risk should take into account the
so the story goes, forgot about reality. They treated the statistical
didn't happen, as if they represented the entire universe of possibilities. As
a result, they greatly understated the risk to which they were exposing both
believe that they were really that naive. These were experienced hands (not
Anyone who has lived through energy crisis and debt crisis, inflation and
part of life. Which brings us to the third, more sinister version of events:
it to me. Suppose, he says, that someone was willing to lend you a trillion
dollars to invest as you like. What that lender has done is in effect to give
you a "put option" on whatever you buy with that trillion dollars. That is,
because you can always declare bankruptcy and walk away, it is as if you owned
the right to sell those assets at a fixed price, whatever might happen in the
market. And because the value of an option depends positively on
money in the riskiest, most volatile assets you can find. After all, it's heads
you become wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice, tails you get some bad press
their prizes for, guess what, developing the modern theory of option
This "moral hazard" version of the story may seem a bit too
stark to be believed. Did the managers really sit around saying, "Hey, let's
gamble with the money those suckers have lent us"? Actually, it's a
hedge fund types I do know are, as my correspondent puts it, "about as moral as
great white sharks." But anyway, never underestimate the power of hypocrisy. It
is entirely possible for a man to act in a crudely cynical way without
admitting it even to himself. Given their enormous incentive to take improper
with so much money to lose. All those clever strategies depended on
for the promise of German bonds, or whatever, later. Why were those
creditors would be protected from loss by the government. In effect, they
savings and loans, in which government guarantees underwrote an era of
that there was an implicit understanding that any major financial institution
Economists often make the working assumption that the private sector always
knows what it is doing, that markets do stupid things only when the government
gives them distorted incentives. It's a useful working assumption, but it is no
more than that. In fact, everything I can see suggests that the big boys really
team, they failed to ask even the simplest questions (such as, "How much money
matter, if you believe that they are not foolish but do foolish things because
financial structure is as sound as we like to imagine. Did somebody say "crony
these letters rarely offer interesting reasons for their anger or, indeed,
reasoned arguments of any kind: They know that globalization is evil,
turned out to contain something new. Instead of merely telling me that I was a
fool, some of the writers accused me of personal venality, of actually being
paid to defend the interests of multinational corporations and foreign powers.
seems perfectly clear: All honest men can see the obvious truth that
globalization is a terrible thing, and only a capitalist hireling would deny
it. I guess I already knew that many people believed this, but the latest
letters suggested that it might be useful if I told their writers something
In case you were wondering: I am not a crook. I am not on
any corporate boards; do not get paid to defend capitalism; and have not, to my
correspondents are not entirely wrong about the way the world works. Wealthy
men and powerful organizations do seek to buy the appearance of
intellectual legitimacy for economic doctrines that serve their interests. It
is possible for economic analysts who might otherwise have limited job
prospects to make a comfortable living by professing certain views on the
global economy. It just so happens that support for free trade is not one of
supply, too little demand. Unfortunately, there is so much logic and evidence
behind the case for free trade that many smart people are willing to make that
case for nothing; they spoil the market for anyone who might want to make money
at it. And anyway, there isn't that much of a market. The benefits of free
trade, though substantial, are thinly spread, so it isn't in the interest of
any individual to spend a lot of money promoting that cause. Protectionism, by
contrast, tends to impose widely spread costs but to confer benefits on
concentrated interest groups, who therefore have a strong incentive to lobby
not an abstract speculation: In the United States, at least, it is easy to be
specific about who pays whom to say what about globalization. Presumably,
correspondents obviously weren't, let me trace out the basics.
funded by labor unions rather than industrialists), and even those who benefit
player in this game, and following the money trails that lead back to him is a
pretty good way to understand how this particular piece of the world really
appearance of intellectual legitimacy for his cause.
contributions came from the auto and steel industries.) He also supplied
contributor to the United States Business and Industrial Council, a lobbying
group that was originally formed to oppose the New Deal but which in recent
years has devoted its energies to opposing free trade. (The council was
climate of opinion have had considerable effect. The institutions and
of view that still commands virtually no support among professional economists,
and which was regarded, even a decade ago, as politically beyond the pale.
across the usual political lines. For example, guests of honor at the party
Business and Industrial Council's Educational Foundation, is simultaneously
using their money to buy influence directly, special interests pursue the
supply intellectual rationales for the policies they want. We're not talking
conspiracy theory here: It's all quite legal, and more or less aboveboard.
himself turned his attention from money politics to the global economy, he
everyone? And regardless of who supports them, these guys have a lot of
credulity reflect ignorance about the world beyond the Beltway. Most economists
do not get paid to express particular views. Try to get a job at
free markets; you will learn the hard way that the currency of academic success
is creativity, not ideological correctness. (It might actually be a good thing
if academic economists spent more time educating the world about familiar
Men do not, in fact, have a lot of expertise to offer. On the contrary, looking
these particular hired guns as The Gang That Couldn't Think Straight. After
all, a policy advocate of whatever persuasion ought to be able to make a case
for his position without relying on calculations that count the same benefits
twice, or forgetting that foreign exchange must either be spent on imports or
invested abroad, that it can't just disappear. And he should be able to look up
Man, in short, isn't a real expert; he just plays one on television.
be shocked to hear that supposed progressives receive much of their funding
from wealthy reactionaries, or even that supposed experts are actually making
it up as they go along. But who will tell the people?
in Slate and elsewhere. Don't worry, I won't respond here to that attack. If
What we are really fighting about is a matter of epistemology, of how one
try to follow arguments about economics among intellectuals whose politics are
economy. On one side there are those whose views are informed by academic
economics, the kind of stuff that is taught in textbooks. On the other there
members of this faction have held university appointments. But most of them
lack academic credentials and, more important, they are basically hostile to
the kind of economics on which such credentials are based.
textbook economics, however, where does its worldview come from? Well, here's a
my drab title, but also added a dreadful subtitle: "The Rich, the Right, and
the Facts: Deconstructing the Income Distribution Controversy."
Language Association want to use an academic buzzword that has been the butt of
so many jokes? (What do you get when you cross a Mafioso and a
deconstructionist? Someone who makes you an offer you can't understand.) How
could the cause of liberal revival be served by making me sound like a
science and more like literary criticism is a surprisingly common attribute of
faculties" in which "departments develop viciously opinionated, inbred,
sometimes bitter and tyrannical but definitely exciting intellectual climates."
economics, the stuff that is in the textbooks, is largely based on mathematical
reasoning. I hope you think that I am an acceptable writer, but when it comes
to economics I speak English as a second language: I think in equations and
diagrams, then translate. The opponents of mainstream economics dislike people
like me not so much for our conclusions as for our style: They want economics
to be what it once was, a field that was comfortable for the basically literary
between the "two cultures," between the essentially literary sensibility that
outlook that is arguably the true glory of our civilization. That war goes on;
and economics is on the front line. Or to be more precise, it is territory that
algebraic reasoning that lies behind modern economics is very difficult to
challenge on its own ground. To oppose it they must invoke alternative
standards of intellectual authority and legitimacy. In effect, they are saying,
Evolutionary Genetics flatly declares, "If you can't stand algebra, stay
away from evolutionary biology." There is a core set of crucial ideas in his
subject that, because they involve the interaction of several different
factors, can only be clearly understood by someone willing to sit still for a
bit of math. (Try to give a purely verbal description of the reactions among
can't stand algebra are not willing to stay away from the subject. They are
misrepresents the field (perhaps because he does not fully understand its
essentially mathematical logic), but who wraps his misrepresentations in so
many layers of impressive, if irrelevant, historical and literary erudition
is right, both about evolution and about economics. There are important ideas
in both fields that can be expressed in plain English, and there are plenty of
fools doing fancy mathematical models. But there are also important ideas that
are crystal clear if you can stand algebra, and very difficult to grasp if you
can't. International trade in particular happens to be a subject in which a
why it is the particular subfield of economics in which the views of those who
understand the subject and those who do not diverge most sharply.
way to resolve this conflict peacefully. It is possible for a very skillful
writer to convey in plain English a sense of what serious economics is about,
to hide the algebraic skeleton behind a more appealing facade. But that won't
appease the critics; they don't want economics with a literary facade, they
want economics with a literary core. And so people like me and people like
satisfied unless they get economics back from the nerds. But they can't have
Moreover, for reasons explained below, it is in the public interest to have
Bill Gates always running a bit scared of the Justice Department. Nonetheless,
crude misunderstandings posing as sophisticated analysis prevail.
ought to say is that the public has no interest in helping Bill Gates' rivals
for their own sake. It's easy to think of the people who run software companies
guys are no more in need of extra money than Gates is, and if allowing him to
good for the rest of us, so be it. Those of us who do not get paid in software
stock options should not allow ourselves to become pawns, either way, in
naive faith in the perfection of free markets. Software is an industry
characterized by powerful increasing returns in both production and
more copies of Navigator in use, the more attractive it is to the typical user.
These increasing returns make the kind of atomistic, "perfect" competition that
prevails in the market for, say, wheat impossible in the market for browsers or
word processors. Necessarily, each type of product will in the end be produced
does this concentration of production take place? One of the depressing things
that they convey monopoly power purely randomly, on whoever happens to be in
clearly inferior technologies to become "locked in." Now path dependence has
of something you have already produced, the lower the cost of producing the
next one. You might think this means that whoever gets into a market first will
companies that know they face a learning curve will compete fiercely to move
down it more rapidly, selling cheaply in the early stages of a product cycle
(and therefore losing money) in the hope of making the money back later.
logic applies to increasing returns on the demand side: As a manufacturer, if I
know that a typical customer's choice of browser depends both on the price and
on the number of other people using that browser, I will initially make my own
must incur initial losses that are, in effect, part of the price of entry into
And because nobody will want to pay this entry fee without a reasonable hope of
earning it back, only a few companies will enter a market subject to strong
increasing returns. The point is that the eventual domination of an industry by
to get a head start. On the contrary, it is precisely because it isn't
company has a small head start but offers a clearly inferior product or has
clearly higher costs, rivals can and will overtake it. But nobody can be sure
over with consumers. Thus, competition in a market characterized by increasing
those who enter cross the finish line. Those who do make it across the finish
line will typically make big profits. But this profitability is necessary to
competition that ends up being won by a handful of players. Those who make vast
what matters is not who wins or loses, but how they play the game. And if they
profitable, or that nerdy types tend to dislike its products. The real concern
fact is that MS has been very careful not to use its undoubted power to
practice any crude, obvious version of what is known in the trade as "vertical
foreclosure, and as a result inhibited the development of complementary
software (although the main problem was Apple's persistent belief, despite all
the evidence to the contrary, that everyone would be willing to pay a premium
restrained by the knowledge that any crude use of its power would indeed land
here is how I understand it: After initially missing the significance of the
browser that can find both internal and external documents to be an integral
free, but then that would be normal practice in this kind of industry even if
the subtlety of the real issues here, what is the chance that this stuff will
be decided on its merits? When you hear that despite the fact that he has
either believes or chooses to claim that this case is about path
has retained the services of that economic and technology expert Bob Dole, you
knew where the modern economy was going and was contemptuous of economists who
clung to their old ideas about the primacy of markets. Clearly giant
corporations, driven by the imperatives of technology, were replacing the chaos
of the market with bureaucratic order. The age of business heroes was over:
"With the rise of the modern corporation, the emergence of the organization
required by modern technology and planning and the divorce of the owner of
capital from control of the enterprise, the entrepreneur no longer exists as an
individual person in the mature industrial enterprise." The economy of the
future would be run by faceless organization men, whose ability to manipulate
pliable consumers would eliminate the traditional uncertainties associated with
market competition. In effect, capitalism was evolving spontaneously into
of course, only the paranoid survived, or something like that. And yet
generation seems to repeat. Yesterday every industry was going to look like
automobiles, and every company like General Motors; today every industry is
the "business revolution," the Knowledge Economy, the Network Economy, and the
"new economy" (not to be confused with the New Economy I wrote about last month) are likely to
be disappointed. Even though information technology may well be the main
driving force behind future economic growth, it's very unlikely that the
small share of the economy. In its day electricity changed everything, too, but
there was never a time when most people worked for electric utilities or even
for employers who looked anything like electric utilities. Still, even if every
industry isn't about to look like software, it is worth asking what is
important to get past the obvious, but mainly irrelevant, surfaces of things.
Of course information technology is nifty; but the latest technology
triumphant banners proclaimed "All By Steam!"). The real question is whether
such rules, ranging from the more or less incomprehensible ("Embrace dumb
power") to the basically silly ("Follow the free"), all wrapped in trendy
rhetoric about living "on the edge of chaos" and all that. But most of his
rules amount to variations on two themes: In the Network Economy supply curves
slope down instead of up, and demand curves slope up instead of down. At least,
that's what I think he's saying. To the extent that he is, he is actually on to
both production and consumption. That is, the more units of something the
economy is already producing, the harder it is to produce one unit more; the
more units of something people are already consuming, the less they are willing
to pay to consume one unit more. That is why the conventional supply curve,
which shows how much will be produced at any given price, slopes up; and the
demand curve, which shows how much people will buy at any given price, slopes
returns are a good assumption for agriculture (The more wheat you try to grow,
the worse the land on which the marginal bushel is grown), elsewhere in the
economy it is quite possible to have increasing returns, in which the
which the availability of skilled labor, the presence of specialized suppliers,
bit of useful jargon for what happens when the usefulness of a product depends
on how many other people possess something similar. A telephone is a toy when
only a few people have one; it is a necessity when everyone has one.
a long time. And while economists may historically have downplayed their
importance, those days are long past. In fact, by now, increasing returns are
rather old hat. Everybody knows that sufficiently strong increasing returns can
cause discontinuous change, with markets exploding when they reach a "critical
mass," that small events can have big effects when a market is near a "tipping
also knows that while it is easy to tell good stories along these lines, it's a
lot harder when you get down to real cases: It's amazingly hard to identify a
critical mass or a tipping point for an actual industry, even after the
fantasies," imagining themselves heroic rebels against the empire of orthodoxy.
sure that boring conventional thinkers could not have anticipated their radical
what's new about the rules is the claim that now, for the first time, they
apply to a large part of the economy. However, technology boosters, who won't
stop thinking about tomorrow, often forget to think about yesterday: It's not
at all clear that increasing returns are any more important in software than
they were in the early days of railroads, electricity, telephones, radio, even
automobiles (What good is a car without gas stations? Why open a gas station if
nobody has a car?). And it's very unlikely that in the future everything will
information sector itself will turn into a boring mature industry.
If there is something new in the writings of Kelly and
future in which the curves slope the wrong way, they endorse it. That
works goes a pronounced libertarian bent, a belief that the new economy is too
dynamic, organic, or whatever to be regulated from above.
odd about these libertarian conclusions is that they do not at all follow from
the premises. On the contrary: A world in which increasing returns are
prevalent is one in which markets are likely to get it wrong. Products that
should be developed never get off the ground, or do so much later than they
machine only when enough other people have them to make it worthwhile.)
DOS, but everyone uses DOS because everyone else uses DOS). Waste occurs
because of coordination failures (In the early days of railroads each line had
a different gauge). Indeed, increasing returns have traditionally been used as
arguments against free markets, for government intervention. You
may not believe that such intervention will work in practice, but that's a
judgment about the rules of politics, not economics.
exploit the extraordinary possibilities offered by photolithography, not
because of any special virtue in the way it operates. Other sectors in which
characterized by increasing returns to production: Once you've made a movie,
showing it to another person costs virtually nothing. It is also characterized
by increasing returns to consumption: Many people want to see a movie because
other people have seen it. In fact, by my reckoning, the movie business handily
means "Sell your signature product cheap, and make money off accessories";
major blockbusters make much of their money off product placements and toy
sales, and even theater owners depend on sodas and snacks to turn a profit. The
While the prophets of the "new economy" may seem to be telling us that we're
heading for a future in which every industry looks like Silicon Valley, what
they are really saying is that we are on our way to an era in which there's no
business that isn't like show business. Let's hope they're wrong.
because analysts think it will "suck the life out" of established companies.
Any discussion of the technology business is colored with the lurid vocabulary
industry as overpaid Ninja Turtles? Surely this isn't the case. Business is
war! Its leaders are strategic commanders, who boldly snatch victory from the
sounds great in the boardroom, and, for that matter, in the bookstore, where
plying the seminar circuit, but his translators and interpreters are, along
The first clue that something is amiss is that only dead
generals seem to give business advice. Live generals are experts on the
ancient warfare. Where's the chivalry in a stealth bomber? Besides, modern
examples are obviously irrelevant to the next marketing plan. Dead experts, on
the other hand, can opine on topics like swordsmanship, which are so irrelevant
first moved from theoretical physics to business, I dutifully read the
opportunity to behead miscreant employees (although in some cases, it is a
the purported "battles" famed in the lore and legend of the software
guzzle diet Coke. The stakes aren't very dramatic. Life? Liberty? The pursuit
of happiness? Nope, it's about stock options. The winners will be worth
something; the losers will negotiate new compensation deals with the next
employer. A great deal of intellectual effort goes into this competition, but
bigger the technological "confrontation," the more slowly it occurs. Industry
pundits have long predicted the death of the mainframe computer at the hands of
different things. Utilities bills and payroll were not good candidates for a
a few mainframe applications have become feasible on PC servers, and it is
clear that one day, the last mainframe will be turned off. That day may be
titans has been about as exciting to watch as a melting glacier. Yet it is far
expanding into a vacuum by operating in a new or unprecedented manner. It's
hard to take the world by storm and butt heads with entrenched competitors at
the same time. Technological "revolutions" don't really overthrow
before. The new appendages might grow faster than their predecessors, and so
isn't quite the same as being annihilated, and it certainly isn't anything like
died in favor of computerized fonts. However, each had a 100-year ride of
challenger stages an upset during the initial period of high growth. The
say, over a period of four to six years. Hardly a blitzkrieg. When a winner
does emerge, the victory is rarely equivocal. Suicide, rather than death in
Competitors bring pressure to bear on a company, but the really damaging moves
trend is ignored; attempts to diversify beyond the initial product line stall.
The most common problem is that the company loses touch with the creativity and
of the founders and key technical staff. No competitor or other external agent
can cause this sort of mortal damage; to find the culprit, senior management
people use the word "domination" more often when referring to my employer than
you'd envision for world domination. Perhaps my insider's view is biased, but
at least it's informed, unlike those of the many armchair experts opining on
of the technology business gets spiced up because the reality is so bland.
Professional storytellers find this particularly vexing. The business press is
keen on salacious sound bites, because without such enhancement, nobody would
give a damn. "Man Bites Dog" is a great headline. "Dog Bites Man" is a poor
substitute, but beats "Man and Dog Work Really Hard Late at Night for a Long
Time Until One of Them Screws Up." The last has all the excitement of a game of
experts, analysts, and other touts. But the press only borrows the martial
rhetoric that business leaders use themselves. It's not hard to see why they
is to admit that you're a pudgy functionary whose most daring deed is to draft
of conflict help hide the basic truth that business leaders are, in real life,
more contemplative than combative, more sedentary than savage. Leadership is
to terms with this reality isn't easy, especially for the largely male
contingent of senior managers and pundits whose personal machismo is on the
executives. They're steeped in a culture that honors power and conflict, yet
plainly don't yet have the physiques to match the myth. So, they compensate
with vocabulary, animating their play with exaggerated violence and tough talk,
smashing, kicking, and zapping the imaginary bad guys. The good news is that
rest of the world would be struck off the export tally, while the goods the
imports. But these would be minor adjustments: New York City is basically not
in the business of producing physical objects. So we can be sure that the city
whole, which is why splitting it off from the rest of the country would give
at large) of intangibles such as financial services and tickets to see
residents, who receive lots of income from the property they own elsewhere. It
would not be surprising to find that the city actually runs a surplus on its
"current account," a measure that includes trade in services and investment
income as well as the merchandise trade balance. But if it's the trade deficit
the problem. Nothing real would have changed, but maybe it would make some
feel better about another trade issue, the supposed threat posed by China's
merchandise trade (although its balance on current account has fluctuated
largely a statistical illusion produced by the fact that so much of the
management and ownership of the country's industry is located on the other side
but perhaps it may help calm some of the fears being fostered by underemployed
of the new fears in his New York Times review of The Big Ten: The Big
of it matched word for word a recent speech by House Minority Leader and
him for imagining that developing countries, China included, would provide
keep wages and purchasing power low, they will have trouble attracting the
foreign investment they require, both to service debt and to finance
statements, especially in prominent places, for in so doing they protect us
are influential, to imagine that widely held views must actually make at least
equivalently, he is claiming that they will run massive trade surpluses. But
with the value of its production. Maybe you don't think that income will get
should we imagine that people in emerging countries, unlike people in advanced
nations, cannot find things to spend their money on?
one might well expect that emerging economies would typically run trade (or at
presumably attract inflows of foreign investment, allowing them to invest more
another way, a country that attracts enough foreign investment "both to service
debt and to finance growth" must, by definition, buy more goods and services
has the huge cost advantage that comes from combining First World productivity
with Third World wages? The answer is that the premise must be wrong: When
situation in which these countries are able to "produce sophisticated goods and
logic, my position sounds unrealistic to many readers. After all, in reality
Third World countries do run massive trade surpluses, and their wages
Economist and opening it to the last page, which each week conveniently
offers tables summarizing economic data for a number of emerging economies. We
deficits (as does the group as a whole); nine run current account deficits. Of
Labor Statistics makes such data available on its Foreign Labor Statistics
quite nicely: Emerging economies do typically run trade deficits, wages do rise
with productivity, and actual experience offers no support at all for grimmer
be a matter of simple ignorance: It must involve ignorance with intent. After
only writes frequently about the Third World threat but also decorates his
writings with many statistics, not to notice that most of those countries run
trade deficits rather than surpluses, or that wages have in fact increased
dramatically in countries that used to have cheap labor. It is, I imagine,
equally difficult to pursue such a career without ever becoming aware of the
arithmetical necessity that countries attracting big inflows of capital must
perhaps the uncanny ability not to notice these things is acquired by focusing
lots of foreign capital. Most of that trade surplus, as we've seen, is a
statistical illusion. But it is still, at first sight, hard to understand how
China can attract so much foreign investment without running a large current
page of the Economist and ask which country runs the biggest trade
officials siphon off a large fraction of the country's foreign exchange
earnings, parking it in safe havens abroad rather than making it available to
it, suffers from a milder form of the same ailment. The reason those inflows of
foreign capital don't finance a trade deficit is that they are offset by
outflows of domestic capital. In particular, huge sums are being invested
trade surplus, in other words, that surplus is a sign of weakness rather than
as an apology for China's thoroughly nasty government. I fear the worst in Hong
however, is China's trade surplus. Neither should you.
has changed his mind about economic policy so often that now his officials
sound insincere even when they speak the plain truth.
economists had already concluded: Workers are not doing as badly as recent
headlines might suggest. In particular, the impact of corporate downsizing has
commentators had reason for their skepticism. After all, other members of the
to find themselves downsized out of the middle class. And even if they keep
their jobs, the fear of being fired has forced them to accept stagnant or
declining wages while productivity and profits soar.
contrast, is telling the complicated truth rather than an emotionally
wrong (about this and most other things), think about the strange case of the
missing children. During the early 1980s, sensationalist journalism, combining
abductions" are a media staple to this day. In reality, however, such crimes
that abductions never happen. They do, and they are terrible things. Nor is the
children, life is sheer hell. Almost always, however, the people who victimize
children are not strangers. For every child kidnapped by a stranger, at least a
thousand are sexually abused by family members. But stranger abductions made
good copy, and therefore became a public concern out of all proportion to their
Corporate downsizing is neither as terrible nor as rare as
stranger abduction, but the two phenomena share some characteristics. Like
exploitation, that is only a minor part of the real problem.
listed just about every large layoff by a major corporation over the last five
years. The number of jobs eliminated by each company appeared in large type
describing a national catastrophe. But if you add up all the numbers, the total
number of workers who lose or change jobs every year, even in the healthiest
economy. And the great majority of downsized workers do find new jobs. Although
most end up making less in their new jobs than they did before, only a fraction
happen, does: Strangers kidnap children; mathematicians become terrorists;
executives find themselves flipping hamburgers. The important question is not
whether these stories are true; it is whether they are typical. How do they fit
number of "good jobs" and the pay that goes with those jobs are steadily
rising. The workers who have the skill, talent, and luck to get these jobs
generally do very well. Only a relative handful of "good job" holders (which is
to say only a few hundred thousand a year) experience serious reverses.
doing badly are those who do not have good jobs and never did. Those with lousy
economy" are not the few thousand managers who have become hamburger flippers
but the tens of millions of hamburger flippers, janitors, and so on whose real
matter? It does if you are trying to set any sort of policy priorities. Should
we, as some in the administration want, focus our attention on preserving the
companies to stop announcing layoffs? Should we use the tax system to penalize
companies that fire workers and reward those that do not? Or, instead, should
we fight tooth and nail to preserve and extend programs like the Earned Income
Tax Credit that help the working poor? It is disingenuous to say we should do
both: Money is scarce and so is political capital. If we focus on small
problems that make headlines, we will ignore bigger problems that don't.
some credit. No doubt his political masters allowed him to downsize the issue
presidents. Sometimes, however, an economic analysis that is politically
reason that now escapes me, I began to wonder what kind of president Al Gore
of his administration's first couple of years. The same might be true of his
pass judgment on the scientific merits of the book's environmental analysis,
but Gore touches on areas where I do know something and, in so doing, he gives
nothing) more than long discussions on how to save the world with a simple
attracted by matters social and economic, Gore by matters environmental and
consumer of pop economics, Gore's corresponding vice seems to be pop
entirely free from pop econ. The book contains a chapter, lamentably titled
economic theory is constitutionally incapable of dealing with environmental
problems. "Many popular textbooks on economic theory fail even to address
subjects as basic to our economic choices as pollution or the depletion of
natural resources," Gore declares. Actually, I have all the leading
my competitors' ideas), and every one has an extensive section on environmental
issues. One looks in vain in Gore's book for even a mention of the fundamentals
of standard environmental economics: pollution as the prime example of an
"externality" (a social cost that the market does not properly value), and the
standard recommendation that externalities be corrected with pollution taxes or
tradable emission permits. (I wrote about the economics of environmentalism in
last year, in "Earth in the Balance Sheet.") Since these concepts have
actually made their way from theory into practice, one wonders how he missed
revision of the Clean Air Act, for example, and both fees and permits have been
me, at least, the really revealing part of Earth in the Balance was the
science trends, are the motivating example for a concept known as
existing pile. Bit by bit the pile's sides will become steeper. When they
on the pile can produce anything from no effect to a massive sand slide.
Specifically, the distribution of avalanche sizes follows a particular
mathematical form known as a "power law" that is found in many natural and some
social phenomena, such as the sizes of earthquakes and the sizes of cities.
lots of power laws out there in the real world, such models hold the key to
laws, but that his claims of having developed a universal theory are a bit
If you are wondering what all this has to do with saving
the planet, congratulations. But here is what Gore, who made a pilgrimage to
begin by applying it to the developmental stages of a human life. The formation
unique and thus affected by events differently. A personality reaches the
critical state once the basic contours of its distinctive shape are revealed;
then the impact of each new experience reverberates throughout the whole
person, both directly, at the time it occurs, and indirectly, by setting the
stage for future change. Having reached this mature configuration, a person
continues to pile up grains of experience, building on the existing base. But
sometimes, at midlife, the grains start to stack up as if the entire pile is
still pushing upward, still searching for its mature shape. The unstable
configuration that results makes one vulnerable to a cascade of change. In
psychological terms, this phenomenon is sometimes called a midlife change.
refuted not only classical physics but also conventional morality; or those who
imagined that because quantum mechanics showed that the apparent solidity of
the material world is an illusion, it vindicated the thoughts of Eastern
mystics. In the end, these particular confusions don't seem to have done the
alarmingly high: from Physical Review Letters to the latest best seller
by Tom Peters almost before you know it. This is arguably starting to distort
science regime, acquire a level of acceptance and momentum that may or may not
be warranted by its actual scientific credibility." And the track record of pop
science enthusiasms is uniformly dismal. Does anyone remember cybernetics or
catastrophe theory? Does anyone know what happened to chaos? It would be
unfortunate if the already worrying faddishness of science were to receive a
worry: that a President Gore would give undue credence to the views of his
favorite pop science heroes and their friends. Occasionally, I have a
guess I shouldn't take that nightmare seriously. For one thing, Earth in the
Balance was written a long time ago, and we may suppose that its author has
learned a lot since then. And anyway Gore, if and when he becomes president, is
been generally misunderstood. Most people think the curse that turned
everything the old miser touched into gold, leaving him unable to eat or drink,
understand monetary economics. What the gods were really telling him is that
gold is just a metal. If it sometimes seems to be more, that is only because
between other, truly desirable, objects. There are other possible mediums of
exchange, and it is silly to imagine that this pretty, but only moderately
useful, substance has some irreplaceable significance.
they are equally dedicated to the belief that the key to prosperity is a return
a finger on actual monetary policy. Nonetheless, these are influential
There is a case to be made for a return to the gold
standard. It is not a very good case, and most sensible economists reject it,
but the idea is not completely crazy. On the other hand, the ideas of our
modern gold bugs are completely crazy. Their belief in gold is, it turns
current world monetary system assigns no special role to gold; indeed, the
Federal Reserve is not obliged to tie the dollar to anything. It can print as
much or as little money as it deems appropriate. There are powerful advantages
to such an unconstrained system. Above all, the Fed is free to respond to
actual or threatened recessions by pumping in money. To take only one example,
that flexibility is the reason the stock market crash of 1987--which started
out every bit as frightening as that of 1929--did not cause a slump in the real
advantages, however, it also has risks. For one thing, it can create
uncertainties for international traders and investors. Over the past five
costs of this volatility are hard to measure (partly because sophisticated
financial markets allow businesses to hedge much of that risk), but they must
be significant. Furthermore, a system that leaves monetary managers free to do
have been quick to take the opportunity. That is why countries with a history
monetary independence is a poisoned chalice. (Argentine law now requires that
is no obvious answer to the question of whether or not to tie a nation's
currency to some external standard. By establishing a fixed rate of exchange
the uncertainties of fluctuating exchange rates; and a country with a history
of irresponsible policies may be able to gain credibility by association. (The
hopes to refinance its massive debts at German interest rates.) On the other
hand, what happens if two nations have joined their currencies, and one finds
itself experiencing an inflationary boom while the other is in a deflationary
unemployment.) Then the monetary policy that is appropriate for one is exactly
wrong for the other. These ambiguities explain why economists are divided over
modern nations have chosen, with reasonable justification, to renounce their
monetary autonomy in favor of some external standard, the standard they choose
these days is always the currency of another, presumably more responsible,
mark. But the men and women who run the Fed, and even those who run the German
printing press. Why not ensure monetary virtue by trusting not in the wisdom of
economists think this would be a good idea. The argument against it is one of
pragmatism, not principle. First, a gold standard would have all the
far. Second, and crucially, gold is not a stable standard when measured
in terms of other goods and services. On the contrary, it is a commodity whose
price is constantly buffeted by shifts in supply and demand that have nothing
percent. If we had tried to keep the price of gold from rising, this would have
required a massive decline in the prices of practically everything
fixated on gold? I did not fully understand their position until I read a
richer in recent decades; his letter is posted on the Mother
But, particularly noteworthy was the following passage:
accounting unit squared away. To measure anything in the floating paper dollar
will get us nowhere. We must convert all wealth into the measure employed by
were poor, you lost nothing. If you owned lots of it, you lost your shirt in
gold as the appropriate measure of wealth, regardless of the quantity of other
buy almost anything except gold, the purchasing power of the rich has soared;
comes only from the truly useful goods for which it can be exchanged.
economic research is at least as rare as the ability to sink a basketball
deal has caused quite a stir here in academe. Nobody, as far as I can tell,
colleagues. That is, there are a couple of dozen other economists who can, with
reasonable justification, regard themselves as being in the same league. Are
they all now going to be demanding comparable paychecks?
Well, probably not. But there is certainly the possibility
thing you need to do is drop any stereotype you may have about economists as a
Times was a revelation). More important, nobody makes a career in
academic economics by repeating traditional slogans. "Free trade good,
typically means either clever mathematical models or ingenious statistical
exercises that redefine some important issue or explode some piece of
conventional wisdom. And while there are, of course, factions and cliques
degree of agreement about what constitutes good work. Mainly this is because
leading university departments value technical skill and originality rather
than ideology (in fact, the profession is startlingly apolitical, given how
visible. It will be the kind of department that can make a strong case to the
university administration that it should receive preferential financial
treatment, because it contributes to the prestige of the university as a whole,
and hence ultimately to the institution's ability to raise money. A department
contributions to human knowledge, will not be able to make that case. And so
any economist who has managed to establish himself (or, rarely, herself) as a
universally acknowledged star can routinely expect to receive offers from many
explanation lies in the development of economic theory over the past couple of
decades and a somewhat dysfunctional response of the profession to those
It is now becoming clear in retrospect that the '70s and
'80s were a sort of golden age for the academic star system. Some big new
buyer does not), game theory, "rational expectations" (the market is as smart
dramatically new ways of thinking about a number of economic issues. (One of
to listen to his radical ideas is that it is set in an era that everyone knows
was in fact marked by a manic neophilia, a worship of the wild and crazy.) And
Just be the first person to work out how asymmetric information could be
applied to industrial organization, or game theory to international trade
for a successful young economist to become famous within a few years after
graduate school, to become a full professor at a top school in his late 20s or
early 30s. (No sour grapes here: My own career followed exactly that script.)
And to this day, top departments regard instant stardom as the normal career
something has gone wrong with the star formation process. The people are as
smart as ever, but the state of economic theory has changed. The big,
helps us decide which wild and crazy ideas actually make sense or fit
generally went to home run hitting theorists, but the last couple have gone to
empirical labor economists whose reputations have been built not on a couple of
The days of instant stardom, in other words, appear to be largely over.
unabated. Indeed, it has probably increased due both to cultural
heightened competition among universities for increasingly footloose donor
dollars. So what happens? Well, ambitious departments are in more or less the
same position as producers of action films who, having been unable to find
bankable new stars, are still bidding against each other for the services of
offers, but for the most part the race for academic prestige has become a game
of international trade, the joke is that there are only three people in the top
thing. When you consider how large a role economics plays in our national
still, by private sector standards, a fairly modest paycheck doesn't seem
we really ought to be looking for a solid series of base hits, it will
experts have been saying for some time: The Consumer Price Index overstates
conclusion is controversial. Some people are upset because any reduction of
inflation estimates will reduce Social Security benefits, which are indexed to
abandoning a worldview on which they have staked their reputations. Quite a few
people have committed themselves to the story line that productivity is up but
real wages are down. If inflation has been lower than was previously assumed,
that means the real value of wages may have gone up after all. And some
economists with no particular ax to grind simply have doubts about the
critics is clearly wrong. They say: Suppose it's true that inflation has been
1950--you reach what seems to be a crazy conclusion: that in the early 1950s,
percent of families are officially below the poverty line), but they are likely
to regard themselves as very disadvantaged and unsuccessful. So even using the
indoor plumbing. Many families still did not have telephones or cars. And of
a car. Take into account improvements in the quality of many other products,
and it does not seem at all absurd to say that the material standard of living
we mean by this? We mean that if you could choose between the two material
to transport the median family to the wondrous world of the 1990s, and to place
material terms. People don't just care about their absolute material
quite a few academics who have nice houses, two cars, and enviable working
live very well in material terms, but they judge themselves relative to their
reference group, and so they feel deprived. And on the other hand, it is an
put it, the pleasure of "seeing 'em jump." Privilege is not merely a means to
undoubtedly emphasize that our concern over status exists for good evolutionary
reasons. In the ancestral environment a man would be likely to have more
would depend on his status, not his absolute standard of living. So males with
practicing economist about to be revoked? Aren't we supposed to believe in
Economic Man? And doesn't admitting that people care about fuzzy things like
one that is extremely useful in many circumstances.
admitting that people's happiness depends on their relative economic level as
well as their absolute economic resources has some subversive implications. For
which to beat all those liberals who have been whining about declining incomes
a much flatter income distribution, so that people had much more sense of
sharing a common national lifestyle. And people in that relatively equal
mean, then, that having a more or less equal distribution of income makes for a
happier society, even if it does not raise anyone's material standard of
1950s as an argument for a more radical egalitarianism than even most leftists
an engine that maximizes consumption yet minimizes satisfaction. In a society
with a very flat distribution of income and status, nobody feels left out. In a
society with rigid ranks, people do not expect to rise above their station and
therefore do not feel that they have failed if they do not rise. (Aristocrats
hugely unequal society in which anyone can achieve awesome success, but not
they have failed to make the cut, no matter how comfortable their lives. (In a
land where anyone can become president, anyone who doesn't become
more time to enjoy what we have? The answer, of course, is that we work so hard
game. We can't all "get ahead." No matter how fast we all run, someone must be
thought one might well be led to some extremely radical ideas about economic
policy, ideas that are completely at odds with all current orthodoxies.
But I won't try to come to grips with such ideas in this column. Frankly, I
because he occupies a "constitutionally weak governorship." What makes a
governorship strong or weak? Should it reflect poorly on Bush if he is a "weak"
power to veto bills, appoint officials, and submit a budget to the legislature.
also appoints most of the members of his Cabinet and can serve multiple
Constitutionally weak governors appoint few top officials. In many states,
the voters elect the attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, etc. This
makes the officials accountable to the electorate, not the governor, and
diffuses his power. Weak governors also face limits of one or two terms, making
them automatic lame ducks: They tend to govern less independently and exercise
less clout with legislatures than strong governors, who, because they can
repeatedly succeed themselves, amass more and more political power.
By most of these criteria, Gov. Bush is a weak governor. Voters elect the
members outlast the governor who appointed them. The lieutenant governor runs
powerful but less glamorous job than that of governor. The lieutenant governor
presides over the Senate, appoints the Senate's committees and committee
30-day reprieve until a state board reviews the prisoner's plea.
appropriations bills. He can also call special legislative sessions, something
Bush has never done. But a governor's clout doesn't rest only in institutional
trappings. Despite the limitations of his office, Bush is still the most
the cooperation of the legislature can augment the power of any governor. Bush
has all three, and he has used them to persuade the legislature to enact
incremental portions of his agenda on issues such as education, welfare, and
and you have a governor who wields a sizable amount of power, even if it can't
But from a distance, he seems pretty good at making the trains run on time
without a serious opponent? It seems fairly amazing to me that they can't find
drugs. But it never goes into the neighborhood." I half expect to hear Poppy
gets a tremendous Internet presence for marketing, for instance, its books and
having no broadband capability to being positioned to go into computers in the
it was able to handle the deal because it has four times as much profit and a
much higher stock value. The papers all reflect a sense that nonetheless it was
surprising to think that the young company was buying the old one instead of
As is typical of press coverage of mergers, breathlessness is the order of
when it bothers to point out that because of the debt the new company will take
on to seal the deal, it could be decades before it reports a profit.
Several papers take a crack at turning the spreadsheet into a novel,
doings confidential. Case gets the papers' instant cult of personality
treatment: Everybody notes that he likes casual clothes (although he wore a
to be fair, if he weren't quoted there would hardly be any doubts raised in the
poses to independent journalism, creating as it does more financial
relationships between reporters and institutions they might be covering. His
for the debates in the fall. Given the now widely known fact that response
part to telemarketers driving people crazy at dinnertime), it seems a little
wacky to let something important ride on the results of a poll. Television
hand, Trump could at least give us a first lady who's a supermodel.
doesn't start a national newscast. I agree about Tom and Peter (I have a
have long since been reduced to yelling "racism" from the sidelines.
of this stuff, but the street reporters were moaning over the kid's lost
values take a backseat to the chance at some stock options in the hearts of a
While on the subject of (as the current lingo has it) disconnects, today's
take a speedy vote on an application by a contributor to his campaign to buy a
the Heritage Foundation trots out its tabulation of how countries vote in the
gives each country in foreign aid. So we should only expect votes to be well
and truly bought when they're the votes of sovereign nations.
Silicon Valley, where major Republican contributors have lined up behind her,
that fact a secret from voters, and he's an amiable enough guy who has used his
if he wanted to. Plus, we have so few trains, and they don't go very far, so
it's easy to make them run on time. Actually, the school system is in bad
enough shape that there's major support behind breaking up the district, and
stations (thousands of cases may have to be reopened, due to revelations that,
What follows is a short rant. Apologies in advance for the strident tone.
some money off that, and between the two of them they will make just as much
the same company. Where is the synergy? What's next? People use credit cards to
umbrella creates more value than those assets would have produced on their own.
if you could convince me that just being in the same company as Internet guys
The most amazing thing about all of this is that the guy who was quoted
(unfortunately, anonymously) is a cable advertising executive. I wonder if he's
in there right now, trying to convince the network he works for that it should
constituents, as he was elected to do. Pundits disagree on Bush's sweeping
no security threats could devote so much attention to a "boutique issue" like
can override any executive order that overturns "don't ask, don't tell."
if he is the Democratic nominee his Senate votes against the Gulf War and
qualifying for federal matching funds should get to participate. On
that the Reform Party has a "strong case" that it should be included in the
be close, not a blowout by Bush. Appearing with his wife again on This
proved to be an awful presidential campaigner, her popularity among women will
points out that her own husband had no such experience when he ran for
behalf of the taxpayers, and second, do whatever I can to increase competition
had. Today, we are asking the federal government to release all correspondence
the chairman of the committee that is designated by the Congress to oversight
Today leads with the Supreme Court's unanimous decision holding that
Congress can prohibit states from selling data it collects from drivers'
licenses and motor vehicle registrations. This paves the way, says the paper,
for tighter privacy laws governing personal financial, medical, and marketing
high crime area provides the reasonable suspicion that justifies a
to be broken in two, says the government is actually asking for it to be broken
into three. But the story doesn't claim to know along what lines. The
becomes a bellwether: Because diesel fumes are generally blamed for much of the
quality agency plans to propose requiring all bus, truck, and car fleets
operated by public agencies to eventually be entirely composed of vehicles
LAT reefers, by the way, an independent scientific panel's finding
that global warming is "undoubtedly real" and accelerating.
about possibly becoming an executive with the team and perhaps even taking on
served up, but the Times says that her spokesman suggested that
are preferable to welfare. The plan would be a further extension of the
million working families at or near the poverty line. It's hard not to feel
ever, yet he hardly ever gets press credit for it. The Post article
employee stock plan, employees can be fully vested in their stock options one
through the roof, and there will be a lot startups in the area, plus an influx
acquire thousands of journalists and movie executives not particularly gifted
thinks this cries out for a new parlor game: Two random media businesses are
named and contestants vie to connect them corporately in the fewest steps. Call
standards for the companies that do airport security screenings and a plan to
Its most novel aspect: a college scholarship program that would give students
graduate and undergraduate tuition subsidies in return for postgraduate
government service as information technology specialists. The New York Times goes with the SEC's
firm, violated the rule prohibiting the firm's partners from having investments
in companies it audits. As a result, says the paper, the government will check
out the other major accounting firms' compliance. The story seems oversold (by
violations resulted from complications relating to the merger that created the
firm, and no examples are given of firm audits that were in any way rendered
Times leads with the White House decision to continue to delay
The paper quotes unnamed senior trade and State Department officials explaining
that the plan is to ensure that the matter is not resolved while Al Gore is
running for president, thus keeping the Teamsters, who vehemently oppose the
the SEC story, none of the leads makes the others' fronts.
pledge one better: "This is not only no new taxes. This is tax cuts, so help me
that one of his major contributors wanted to purchase, and Bush claiming that
came out against open service of gays in the military, contradicting the stance
The papers report that when asked if he would take the mantra "What would
least our elected representatives can do is ride herd on them.
pilot locked onto an empty railroad bridge, and only after that did the train
very quickly come onto it, was buttressed by the Pentagon's showing of a
shown to reporters at three times normal speed. The paper notes that all other
bombing videos released to the press during the war were shown at normal speed.
The Pentagon insists the speed selection was inadvertent. In other words,
supervisors are involved, with lots of lead time, and involving simple
technology but can't contemplate a mistake when none of these favorable
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of
and mentions among the factors "possibly different attitudes about the moral
implications of abortion." Will there be more study of this last question by
result indicating an increasing belief that abortion is immoral?
Baseball's decision that John Rocker must undergo psychological testing before
it decides whether or not to discipline him for his recent disparaging remarks
about gays and minorities. Today's Papers thinks this makes sense, since
prejudice is a mentally disordered way of looking at the world. And, hey, while
The first is, can we find something to say about The Sopranos not
already said in the thousands of articles on the subject, including the two by
you? And the second is, is the second season any good? Partly as a cheap way to
build suspense, and partly to force readers to plow through my pet theories
Here's my theory about what makes The Sopranos different from other
high drama or farce. The Godfather is an opera in three acts. Martin
guys as goofballs. When last season began, it looked like The Sopranos
mother problems who goes to see a shrink. But where the show departs from the
norm is that it eschews both caricature and melodrama (though it has elements
of both) for something that has the weight of, and comes across as, realism.
context to which it doesn't belong, because television is obviously less
compressed and more mundane than the movies. A series has to have the
even nighttime dramas remain tightly structured around 15-minute segments,
which means that points have to be hammered into your head for fear you'll
forget what happened from one commercial to the next. The Sopranos takes
the face of flat dramatic affect. Characters register information with the
important. How important we won't know for several episodes, when she gives him
the lowdown with the kind of brutal, layered insight into his character you
The producers also grant us a fairly high tolerance for boredom. This comes
art, avoiding her eyes as he refuses to talk, the way patients do. You've seen
never goes on so long, or with so many sudden changes in mood. You can tell
that the writers and actors trust that the payoff will be worth it. It is,
and she asks, in her protracted, oracular intonation: "What do you want to say
to me?" And he replies, as if drugged, "I had a dream," which is that his penis
fell off and he's running around holding it up while he looks for the guy who
snaps it out of his hands. It's a moment of sheer absurdity played straight and
almost in slow motion, until we realize belatedly that the escalating
surrealism has just earned us the only weeping session of the season. And
they're Tony 's tears, which is inevitable but still shocking.
Which brings us to what makes The Sopranos not just different but
good. There's the writing. I think what I like best about that is not the
witty bullshitting sessions among the members of the crew, and not the way the
plot lines mess with genre expectations, so that the worst thing that can
but that he doesn't get beaten up, because that means he learns that his
classmates' parents are afraid of his father. I like the treatment of Tony
Soprano, a man who is trying in surprisingly good faith and with honest
course, he is also a killer and a thief, two facts about himself he hasn't
neither monsters nor the butt of jokes, the writers grant them dignity and
pathos. That, in turn, demythologizes the world they inhabit. Making them human
brings home almost for the first time the mob's human costs.
outside of his debates with Al Gore for a couple of months. A couple of things
a "Politics and Eggs Breakfast" (actually a quiche lunch with a commemorative
wooden egg laid at each place setting as a souvenir).
eloquently on the printed page that in his own speaking voice, which has all
Comments that might read as platitudinous rang with quiet force and sincerity.
conservative audience throughout with a mixture of gentle humor, anecdote, and
in that he radiates a sense of inner calm and comfort with who he is. What
seemed different today was that he also seemed far more present and charismatic
than usual, as he hopped discursively from observations on globalization to
inconsistent quality of what one journalist recently described as his streak of
"civic mysticism." There were points in the speech were I found myself entirely
prosperity into a more inclusive "narrative" in which ordinary people can
locate themselves. Another fine bit was the meaty part of his speech in which
to eliminate fosters a corrosive distrust of government. Still another was the
hooey, as when he answered critics of his proposals to end child poverty and
extend health insurance to all by repeating the mantra that "in a world of new
possibilities guided by goodness, we can." Beware of policy proposals that
include a change in human nature as one of their essential requirements. There
Millennium," which I read but did not hear him deliver. "Some people say we
world of new possibilities, guided by goodness, we can and we will."
At the press conference, following this morning's speech, I couldn't resist
lead the world by the power of our example as a pluralistic democracy and a
growing economy and to do so in a way that is consistent with the promise of
the Declaration," he said. And who disagrees with that view? "People who get
caught up in the current moment and don't have a longer view of our history and
subsidies and cracking down on tax shelters. This is a perfectly reasonable
to crack down on tax subsidies for mining, oil, gas, and grazing, but leaves
means that instead of ending tax favoritism, he is merely trimming it in
changing his mind on ethanol for a second time, when he finished his answer by
saying, "There are many other things in the tax code that I might be
revisiting, so you don't know." But asked to clarify his position on the
increase. However defensible as a way to increase federal revenues, it has no
side. Perhaps tax reform doesn't appeal to the new spiritualized side of
where campaigners have actually gotten into shoving matches. One Gore gal
they possibly be saying? "Listen you little prick, handgun registration is fine
but licensing is a step too far. Eat this! Next time maybe your man won't vote
tomatoes! At first I laughed; now I await each dispatch. Did you miss last
Thanks for your advice about this congressional dinner. I figured you'd had
want to talk about it. Eh, I know what you mean about playing to the cameras,
but I do have to live in this town and a bomb could set my comedy and
journalistic careers back a ways, so I plan to pander shamelessly. But that may
a passable Bush. You ever imitate real people, or is it all characters?
Internet. As with all new spaces, someone has to figure out the rights and
duties of all the participants to that new world. And to do that it becomes
important to use, but not abuse, the analogies that are available to us from
existing spaces. In doing this inquiry, we can work the issue descriptively,
ask the normative question, given who we are as people, what ought to be the
way in which this new space is occupied by its new tenants?
libertarian, to see how he or she would inhabit that space. I might also state
from the outset that I take this tack with a certain rooting interest, since my
long antedates my concern with cyberspace. In so doing, I shall break ranks,
cyberspace is unique because its basic structure, or its "nature," rules out of
I confess that this is not my understanding of the problem at all. The use
of "nature" as a trope for libertarian thought goes back a long way before
cyberspace. There were lots of libertarians who thought that human beings were
by nature free, or that individuals could acquire property by first possession
occupation of land): Indeed, occupation was called the "natural mode" of
occupation. But these efforts to win the libertarian battle by appealing to
some sort of natural law, natural right, or natural necessity, always turned
out to be losers. Someone could come along and argue that the brute fact of
possession did not translate itself into a right. But, of course, skepticism
could run in every conceivable direction at once, so that once the challenge
was made, at least one riposte was possible: Animals, lands, and chattels are
not communal by nature, either. Someone has to come up with an argument that
shows why their preferred form of social organization should induce the rest of
us as rational agents to sign on to their program. Stated in that way, the case
for private property rests on the incentives that it creates for the
preservation and spread of wealth, while the case against it rests on similar
utilitarian commitments: giving private ownership to a river blocks
transportation, recreation, and aesthetic values. And then one has to pair up
different regimes of ownership with different kinds of assets.
So it is with cyberspace. It is quite possible to think that it is best for
government to have a copy of each and every communication that takes place
across the net; and someone armed with that conviction could think it proper to
stage nighttime raids in private homes to shut down nonconforming machines. Or
we could simply refuse to allow people to communicate over the net, much the
way in which the old Soviet system refused to allow private individuals to
communicate with each other by telephone. So I quite agree that the legal
structure, sensible or Draconian as it might be, can shape the nature of
interactions on the net, just as it has shaped interaction first on land and
public and private, code, so be it. But I don't see what the use of that
terminology, which cuts at variance with ordinary English, adds to the
That said, I think that it is important to answer the question of why so
many people who are attracted to the Net call themselves or think of themselves
as libertarian. Here on earth, the libertarian is not an anarchist who
thinks that all government conduct is bad and all private conduct good. He does
Nor would a libertarian accept that his goal "is focused on reducing
government's power." That is surely the current objective, given the bloated
government that we have. But it is not the way in which a
political theory often starts, in the state of nature. Rather, the libertarian
is someone whose objective function starts with the goal of minimizing the use
of force and fraud in human interactions. The hard part of the system is to
figure out a way in which that minimization takes place over both public and
private actors: Aggression by private persons produces small gains and very
even more dangerous if the state falls into the wrong hands when it has a
monopoly of force against all persons. Unfortunately, the world is such that we
will not minimize the total amount of aggression by reducing the amount of
government aggression to zero: That is why the libertarian is not an anarchist.
But we would like, with some sense of rough justice, to create a system in
which each increment of government force results in a greater decrement of
private force, so that at the margin the sum of both is minimized. But even
that program is called into question at least in part because some government
coercion is justified, such as taxes to secure the creation of infrastructure
and the police force to prevent private aggression (while curbing the excesses
One real dispute is just how much force results in the social optimum. If
one looks to the Internet it is clear that we can get along with a lot less
government force than in other places. Physical aggression against neighbors is
ruled out in part by the anonymous participation that is possible online. And
there is a widespread recognition of the inability to form a complex
infrastructure by largely private means. Someone, perhaps the state, has to organize some
infrastructure over which all communications must travel. But then it is
possible (as in physical space) to add on to that collective spine all sorts of
"gated" communities in cyberspace, which can be subject to their own internal
system. But to a libertarian, that is just fine, since each of these
organizations is internally organized under a principle of unanimous consent.
But it is the want of force and the successful nature of voluntary interactions
that allow people to see how much can be done without government.
But still the idea that liberty converges onto anarchy seems to me to be
misguided. It is still possible to steal confidential information that is
transferred on the net, and so we need at a minimum some law of privacy and
trade secrets. It is possible to defame people over the net, and to do so far
does not disappear It is possible to blackmail people over the net, as well.
And so it goes. As a libertarian, I don't see the net as a safe harbor from
government regulation. But I do see it as a place in which the social successes
from following libertarian norms of force, fraud, and taxation, for example,
yield pretty positive results. And if those principles work so well in
cyberspace, then maybe we should have a greater attraction to them in our more
same version of sensible libertarianism (private property, freedom of contract,
some state supplied infrastructure, and easy taxation) should not guide our
Times lead, poorly written and edited, says Vice President Al Gore
that he would require any person he nominated to a chief of staff position to
"agree in advance [that is, before getting the nomination,] to let gays serve
edition and fronted in a later one, explains the story more clearly. Gore's
openly in the military, and he would require his Joint Chiefs of Staff to carry
out such a policy, but not require them to support it before appointment. The
years. He developed the proposal after congressional Republicans proposed their
"more evenly divided between those efforts and government infrastructure and
to carry the story at all; the LAT runs a wire piece about it.
botched a number of executions. Unfortunately, it's not until almost the end of
those inmates spent on death row was seven and a half years." Not five. The
piece does not say, though it should, how much it costs to execute, or to house
have this important story; the Post only has a graph on it halfway through its "Nation In
two of three senior field generals were replaced concurrently, the "reason
to a split in his movement rather than disillusionment with life in China." As
says, the escape "appeared to dash whatever hopes remained for a compromise
symbol of racism and slavery" and that it "is offensive in many, many ways, as
of days "clarifying" his position: that the Confederate flag is not a symbol of
racism or slavery but rather of "heritage" and that there's nothing offensive
he was doing that thing that makes him so rare and appealing as a
But in fact, I think the flag answer was the reflection of a different and
got him in serous trouble was back in August, when he told the editorial board
record, he didn't really support banning abortion. "Certainly in the short
conservatives and beat a hasty retreat to a more orthodox Republican
secret liberal trapped inside the voting record of a conservative. The other,
probably more realistic, is that the guy just hates to disappoint his pals in
Times lead reports that more and more employers may be breaking the law
by firing or threatening illegal workers. The trend is described as backlash to
unions that have been aggressively recruiting workers to beef up their
South for opening doors to political appointments, affirmative action programs,
improving race relations, but has not been able to sway those content with
Confederate flag over its capitol. Both papers mention Gore's speaking
both candidates hope strong showings in the caucuses will boost their chances
Employers have been cracking down on illegal workers to deliver a blow to
the unions that have been recruiting and organizing these workers, according to
do not have to rehire illegal workers, even if they were fired wrongly and b)
the workers themselves are afraid to unionize, for fear of being fired or
merger. The split in shareholder ownership turned out to be the sticking point
story follows the negotiations, occasionally lapsing into celebratory narration
pushing the show. The last paragraph begins: "Of course, half the fun of
watching 'The Sopranos' is watching a family that is really a paramilitary
To be perfectly honest, I would prefer "Big Herring." If you must
hang a moniker on me that has inevitable associations to a certain part of the
male anatomy, I figure it might as well start with "Big."
just a good explanation for why the mob's tanking, though with his crank and
points last year: First, when the guy had an identity crisis over the fact that
help his girlfriend switch careers from cocktail waitress to music manager. The
band she was representing sucked; the producer she was making nice to was just
wanted to make her happy. Of course, she walked out on him, but that's how
prison looking to fuck people up, and doing a good job of it so far. He appears
method of making Tony seem human, the writers have struck on another way to do
it: play him off someone really angry and crazy, so that the Soprano MO comes
happen to be female professionals for the obvious reasons? I really like her
and, as you know, the whole psychiatric framing device. Did you? Or do you hate
memorized. I like the way she spoke in those sessions, carefully choosing her
words and drawing out her syllables for fear that Tony would get the wrong
idea, which he usually did. (I loved it when she uttered banalities about
needing to let one's elderly parents retain an illusion of control, and Tony
turned that into a sneaky strategy for letting Uncle Junior think he was
fronting the crew, when Tony was really running things.) She's back in Episode
and flirts with them, of all things, much to her dismay later, when she repeats
gonna get some weird plot twists with that one, I can tell.
What about the streetwise rapper who turns out to be a college kid with a
of this season? What about the condescending Wasps who let Tony into their
country club exactly once, then treated him like he was some kind of freak? No
turns them into characters, which in turns makes you reconsider the
stereotypes. Unless you're one of those people who won't go see The Merchant
problem. Got any other suggestions for the writers?
government's finding, based on an independent medical examination, that Gen.
that government prosecutors will shortly offer up during negotiations with
operating system, another for software programs. The story says that it's
quoted saying a breakup "would do great harm to the industry." The top
do not enjoy the federal government's protection against age discrimination,
yet another example, says the paper, of the court's recent championing of
Thatcher, who, it says, was "delighted" with the doctors' report.
former head of state can be brought to trial in another country for crimes
against humanity committed in his home country while in office.
numbers vary a bit from paper to paper, but ballpark, the two received a total
the practice during the broadcast but did not protest. Rather did not return a
phone calls from the press are precisely the sorts who don't hesitate to
allowances for food and housing. Also, she notes that some of the allowances
are not taxed. Such details help to explain why soldiers typically earn more
of those civilian jobs are as dangerous or more so than the typical military
one point the author leaves out that would make her argument even stronger: the
very young retirement ages available to military personnel. That colonel, for
handles her child's homework: "First ask the babysitter for help; if that
fails, try Mom's fax if she's not traveling to close a deal; if that fails, try
as two dozen seats will determine if the Republicans hold on to the House this
the possibility that the government and drug companies might agree on some form
of Medicare coverage for prescription drugs. The latest: Pharmaceutical execs
will meet on the topic this week with the White House chief of staff. Also, the
paper says, a new industry ad campaign will, unlike previously adversarial
development the two papers note: The rightist candidate went to the winner's
The LAT lead says the Republican grip on the House is "especially
tenuous" because the party has the slimmest majority either party's had there
been, and because more than three times as many Republican incumbents as
The Post lead says that the security audit showed that State Department officials
percent of those reports were not returned to their proper storage place. The
paper also reports that the audit was completed before the discovery of a
materials, and left. The paper reveals the man was never identified and the
if it passes the important tests in the months ahead and gets full funding, the
"the hardest working taxpayer" and says her body of work is "widely recognized
Technology, a major local employer, to the company for review before publishing
them. A heavy at the paper is quoted as defending the practice as a method of
that there is nothing wrong with showing copy to a story source or subject for
such persons. But a reporter doesn't have to do that if he's willing to fight
against powerful local interests and his bosses for what he knows is right. In
other words, the traditional view against advance peeks sacrifices
stopped trying to get the financial credits after the government asked to see
scripts before broadcast. Disappointingly, neither paper mentions the
organization that broke the story-- Salon magazine. On the other hand,
out of being able to look at more facts. Another nagging question: How is it
As a rule, the more investors trade, the worse they do relative to the
market as a whole. Frequent trading requires that you pull off the
the stock market, and do so well enough to outweigh the added burden of
was right about the detrimental effects of such trading on the bank accounts of
the people doing it. But the evidence the Times offered for the
widespread nature of that boom was confused and not especially convincing. And
the attempt to draw conclusions about the broader negative effects of increased
here before, is a fool's game. But it's not a fool's game that hurts those
years. What we weren't told, though, was whether the "average" here was the
mean or the median. After all, if most investors are still holding stocks for
or three hours, and trading those stocks constantly, the mean holding period
would drop significantly, even if the experience of most investors had not
The same problem is even more true of the statistics about share turnover,
But it's a mistake to say they're emblematic of the investing world as a
Of course, investors trade more now than they ever did. If you drop the cost
Internet did to commissions), people will do more of it. And as it's become
become harder to justify giving your money to either, especially with the fees
manager and run it yourself. You should put it in an index fund. But even
All of this, though, is a far cry from saying that all of us who use the Net
or discount brokers are day traders, which is what the Times seems
positively bent on saying. There is no evidence for that at all. More
important, there's no evidence that all this trading is having detrimental
responsible for the increased volatility of the market. But there's no control
group here. The rise of individual investing has occurred simultaneous with the
creation of an entirely new industry, the Internet, which has spawned hundreds
of new companies whose future prospects are incredibly difficult to evaluate.
In that situation, volatility is to be expected, since the market's view of
those prospects is more likely to change rapidly than will its view of, say,
couple of weeks ago, the more information you have, the more noise you'll
have in the stock market, leading to more volatility. Trading here may be a
In any case, the thing to remember about all this is that every time someone
sells a stock, someone else is buying it. And in terms of capital allocation,
it's irrelevant whether the person selling the stock has held it for seven
years or seven days. All that matters is whether the price is higher or lower
that all this trading will lead to doom once the bull market ends. But just as
on the way up there have been no buyers without sellers, on the way down (if we
made before, the more people there are in the market (though how much they
trade is irrelevant), the deeper and more resilient it is, and the smarter it
So, yes, for our own sakes we should all buy and hold. But for the market's
analysis. First, if you didn't know who the two were and you were told that one
of them was, as a youth, one of the great basketball players in the country,
about weighted averages, it reminds me of the man with his head in the oven and
his feet on a block of ice. His average temperature was fine but he wasn't too
tested answer. "I might," he said. "Or a decaf coffee." Double yuck.
dramatic efforts at the end of the year because films from the end of the year
with the fact that most academy members are septuagenarians.) Thus, we have
and do you have a take on this cult of personality that's grown up around him?
And yet they continue to ignore the important work of Foster Brooks?!
I suppose I should begin this with a word to our readers, noting that you
and I are friends, have known each other for nearly a decade, and don't usually
talk to each other this way. For the purposes of this "Breakfast Table," we've
which participants are cleverer and breezier and far more avid news junkies
better than the alternative, which would be our writing to one another the same
very trenchant or interesting observation. But if there are any traffic
engineers out there listening, well, you now have a problem to solve.
I imagine that the preceding comment will be picked over in the "Fray." A
traffic engineer will write in, noting that the signs cannot, in fact, be
placed any higher due to some ordinance, which any moron would know about. Then
another engineer will write in, correcting that first engineer. Then others
and things will get ugly. I am, in case you can't tell, deeply afraid of the
conclusion that, instead of running scared, we should try to generate the most
leads with the Immigration and Naturalization Service's decision to return
backpedaling on an Occupational Safety and Health Administration directive
making employers responsible for safety and health violations in employees'
Officially, the INS judged the case based on law and research, but anonymous
Department officials indicated they would oppose threatened legal moves by
kept the boy's plight "out of politics," but the two Times dispute
political "tug of war" if so little is mentioned of who's tugging on the other
recanting the home office directive, the Post reports. The confusion
shows that telecommuting has changed the workplace so that traditional rules
Internet fame. Park, accused of committing four counts of fraud, is said to
have advised followers to buy certain stocks, which he then sold on the sly as
have recommended the stock to his customers, without revealing his relationship
to the company. The SEC's complaint is its most aggressive move yet against an
analysts' "whisper number," which in some circles doubled earlier, published
defending gays in the military. The Post summarizes the debate topics
contorted his health care plan by claiming it would hurt minorities. According
to the LAT, the debate centered on who might be a stronger president. A
power of money in politics, twice in the past couple months urged the Federal
Communications Commission to act on an issue that would benefit a major
Department of Misplaced Rhetorical Imagery: In light of last year's
school shootings, the LAT lead headline is somewhat startling: "[Gov.]
the New York schools that he grew up in." The LAT story explains that
up enthusiasm for hiring and training new teachers. The "war for the future,"
he said, "will be fought school to school, classroom to classroom, desk to
desk." Today's Papers knows what he means, but had hoped classroom warfare
The last item in this week's "Weekend Cocktail Chatter" is a perhaps cruel joke (or
announced his unexpected resignation and saw his company's stock price barely
move. The obvious question such an outcome provokes (so obvious that I had to
And in both those cases, investors reacted pretty much as they had to
As it happens, that's true, in the sense that the underlying drivers of any
business are more important than the particular individual at the top (although
you do have to have someone at the top who can recognize and take advantage of
for so long, without any obvious way of improving its business fundamentals,
that his departure wasn't seen as making a fundamental difference one way or
the other. In the cases of Glass and, particularly, of Gates, the economics of
the companies they run are so phenomenal that it's hard to imagine the
But the picture is more complicated than this. Take Gates, for example. In
role in creating them (certainly a larger role than any other person, though
probably not a larger role than the advent of personal computing). In his
programs that could run on multiple platforms, Gates shaped a business that was
almost a textbook example of how to achieve increasing returns on capital.
At the same time, the biggest reason why the market did not react badly to
throne, and it's been clear for a while that Wall Street is very comfortable
answer to the question I asked in the first paragraph, in fact, is that one
a company can't depend on just one man and still thrive. Even when that one man
This is not exactly a classic succession, of course, because Gates is not
leaving the company at all and because Wall Street likes the idea that he will
now have more time to think deep thoughts and not have to worry about whether
the latest version of Excel is shipping on time. But when you consider that in
of investor discontent, it makes you realize that the strongest management
teams are also the deepest. Even in the age when intellectual capital
supposedly rules all, Wall Street doesn't invest in individuals. It invests in
discussion. Its argument is not, as he suggests, that "liberty converges onto
anarchy." To the contrary: My argument is that a certain form of libertarianism
libertarianism that looks at every proposed intervention by government and says
"leave the Net alone." My argument is that this response will lead to a Net
with far less liberty than the Net we know now, with a potential to be far more
That's the second part of the argument that seems to have gone missing: that
the liberty, or freedom, that cyberspace guarantees now is a function of the
initially an architecture that protected fundamental freedoms. But that that
architecture is changing. As it changes, the freedoms that the Net will
This is the third part AWOL in this initial kickoff of a discussion. The
original architecture, given to us by researchers and hackers and generally
libertarian sorts, is being changed as new layers of code are being added to
this architecture. And these new layers are being added not by the same
libertarian sorts who gave us the initial version of the Internet. They are
being added by coders who work for commerce. The values implicit in their code
are different from the values implicit in the code of the original Internet.
And under one story about how that code evolves, they threaten to flip the
"government is the enemy"; nor is it a focus on "reducing government's power."
Rather, the libertarian "starts in the state of nature." His or her "objective
function starts with the goal of minimizing the use of force and fraud in human
interactions. The hard part of the system is to figure out a way in which that
minimization takes place over both public and private actors."
But there is "libertarianism" in the Ivory Tower and there is
I am a permanent resident of the Ivory Tower. But my book describes a present
political attitude, not the Ivory Tower. It is about a present political
reality, and a present rhetorical push. I am describing it because I have been
watching it for the past six years. In that world, if someone argued (as
protecting trade secrets; that laws regulating libel and slander were
necessary, as well as a law regulating blackmail; if one even raised the issue
of taxation, or suggested that the government was needed to "secure the
infrastructure", then one would not be a "libertarian." One would be a Red. The
libertarian of the Net has a simple message, quite different from Ivory Tower
Now of course this is an extreme, but the extreme affects the mean. And so
while there are few who would insist that the government always stay out, it
has become mainstream to argue that the government should just leave the Net
the current administration. But if we do, then the Net will become something
That's the argument of my book. Not an attack on Ivory Tower Libertarianism.
Nor even an attack on "sensible libertarianism." But an attack on a certain
our activities in cyberspace." That's the question of your many valuable and
important books. My book asks a different set of questions. Let me send it back
million increase in federal funds targeting the enforcement of current gun
control laws, a move the paper says is explicitly calculated to meet a
exchange of ambassadors and the opening of borders. The story also sits atop
of assessing the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons capabilities of
registered its objection to the appointment, throwing it into doubt and
issues, while the others stuff it. The coverage notes that the only real harsh
disagreement between the two came on the question of police racial profiling.
banning the practice immediately and Gore replied that he didn't think his boss
state's practice of flying the Confederate battle flag on the state Capitol.
since the 1960s and that it drew a surprisingly high number of white
'90s, the size of the gap depended on the state in question. The average income
operations performed in hospitals, according to a new study. The main reason
given by the paper is that liposuction is mostly performed in doctors' offices,
where the procedures aren't required to be so strict. But the reader can't tell
if this is enough of an explanation, because the story doesn't say what the
given that they hadn't come out to him, he responded, "Well, I think we know by
behavior and by attitudes." He went on to say that he wouldn't "pursue" such
sailors, meaning apparently that he wouldn't try to get them expelled from the
service. The Post reports that an official of the Human Rights Campaign,
is pretty much universal, and suppressing awareness of gays in a unit so as to
As a result of this news, which trickled out last week, Bellow risks being remembered not as the
infertile.) It's so old, in fact, that Chatterbox wondered whether Bellow was
more about "street fashion." Has anyone ever argued in a pub about who the
Sexual Records," maintained by someone who identifies himself as J. Means
address.) On the site's "Conception" page, the world's oldest father is identified
doesn't supply any details, so it's impossible to know whether he broke
To summarize: We don't know who the oldest dad ever was, but it may have
will be remembered mostly, if not exclusively, for his literary output.
What was especially impressive about these questions is that they were
unexpected without being obscure, trivial, or overly clever. Each was
substantive, framing a significant problem in a surprising and fresh way. And
each was designed to make the candidates squirm, but without being merely a
immigration question by trying to argue that refugees from Communist countries
didn't account for China. Smiley's question on the primaries provoked both
deserved the right to vote. One could reasonably defend this position. The
Gore's gays in the military answer from two debates ago. The difference is that
the idea of criminals voting any more than whites do.
pandering. In his answer to the voting felons question, Gore implied that the
principally the result of bias, which is preposterous. But Gore's
solicitousness expressed itself less in his specific answers than in his
slightly excessive effort to bond with the audience. When he said that the
Gore was also clumsy in the way he constantly invoked his close friend and
audiences and barely mentioning the President's name. Tonight, in front of an
audience composed of minorities and whites sympathetic to minority concerns,
get himself into trouble very soon if he doesn't figure out a single attitude
More persuasive was Gore's emulation of the president's style, which after
about a thousand tries finally came off in one portion of the debate. When a
routine defense of affirmative action. But Gore, who was either better prepared
girls and boys and boys and girls of all backgrounds who saw you on the
national television screens at the very top of your profession demonstrating to
one and all that there's nothing you don't know how to do in the field of
medicine. And they thought to themselves: You know, I can do that."
seemed moved with him. For one brief moment, you even might have thought you
subscription model is precisely why we have been so successful in getting ads
while others have failed miserably," he wrote in a clamorous essay titled
way to boost page views dramatically while growing additional revenue
of a big payoff from going free will be fulfilled. And, of course,
true path and that anyone who disagreed was "Wrong!" Our position was, no one's
or cut bait" moment. And: "It's important to us to break even and to be a
ago in "Wrong! Take Two," he was calling free circulation proponents
betrayers and scoundrels who would take the money we have all invested in
Relying on advertising to support content is hopeless, he wrote. "I can't
stress enough what a bust most advertising has been. The ad revenues are
totally anemic. And they will stay that way for one main reason: Most of the
Web is free. The vast majority of advertisers don't want to appear on free
will annually split his Web sites like amoebas and set some of them free like
Hey, it's a thicket of mixed metaphors, but it isn't the craziest revenue model
by the "fixation on the personal" that leads journalists and others to
investigate "the private lives of public people." The press, he says, "could
define tawdry voyeurism as the study of 'character,' but the labeling couldn't
people" that satisfied a "hunger for sleaze" in a "competitive market for
purported 'distinguishing characteristics' of the President."
documents" is "what you would call a sex document." The "rest are highly
were "part of history now." He then switched course, saying, "There's no point
guy. The difference between me and the character police is that I don't try to
dress gossip up as more than it is." As, say, "part of history"?
all its moist detail if the press had only admitted the purpose was pure
its righteous denunciations of "tawdry voyeurism," and think his main complaint
about the pleasures of disclosing the "private lives of public people."
written a book denouncing people who sell books by revealing salacious private
details, or at least hinting he'll reveal them. (It's even less excusable, in a
impeachment, have been settled. If something was too private to reveal then,
commercial success. Are you itching to read another breathless account of what
there's too little space to give many weighty subjects the careful analysis
But my favorite story of the week is from yesterday's
tried to determine whether sports utility vehicles (which I like to call
which they videotaped thousands of vehicles as they stopped and started at a
and suck in all those exhaust fumes, but you know, my asthma and all. Besides,
you're so much better with the camera and I really need to finish working on
They determined that, compared with normal car drivers,
themselves when they stop and accelerate more slowly at green lights, and when
you combine these factors with the increased length of the aforementioned large
vehicles, you get slower traffic and more traffic jams.
my unreasonable anger.) Anyway, nothing drives me crazier than to watch one of
these monstrosities lumber through Manhattan traffic when I
know-- know --that the toughest terrain that thing is
life, maybe our elected representatives will stop worrying so much about
also included minivans in the study, but I don't have a problem with minivans
'cause soccer moms drive them and there's no way you're going to trick me into
note a general lack of enthusiasm for either candidate. ("If it were possible
think that the deceased mother's clear intent was for her son to grow up in the
that the INS should require the boy's father to visit the United States first,
wants to fly the Confederate flag over its Capitol building; when interviewer
"pop quiz" on state trivia, most find her warm and engaging. This includes
"applies herself and is not standing on a platform and being preachy or
whatever, [she] can be an engaging and charming woman."
I think his application [of loyalty] is sometimes misguided, but when it's
applied to me and his kids and his family and, on occasion, the truth, I
manfully to deny that his candidate had ever suggested he'd make support of his
policy on gays in the military a "litmus test" for nomination to the Joint
constitutional principle that the Chiefs are obliged to obey their commander in
the Joint Chiefs of Staff agree to support his policy as president. He never
convictions. His litmus test is a constitutional one, civilian control of the
Find him saying that he's going to examine their personal
issue down (it showed Gore declaring, "I would insist before appointing anybody
to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that individual support my policy."). But the
Chiefs nominees like that occasionally applied, controversially, to Supreme
Court nominees. In the context of the Supreme Court, of course, "litmus test"
Gore said he had "rejected the notion of litmus tests on the Supreme Court
by saying there are ways to find out the kind of judgment somebody has without
I think that it's a little different where the Joint Chiefs of
Staff are concerned, because you're not interfering with an independent
judicial decision. As commander in chief, a president is giving orders, in
effect, or he is the superior of the officers that are reporting to the
commander in chief in the chain of command. I would try to bring about the kind
of change in policy, on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, that President
And I think that would require those who wanted to serve in on the position
This isn't quite a smoking gun, but it's mighty close. As Gore's boss might
say, it all depends on what the definition of "in agreement with" is. It was
clear to me, watching the debate, that Gore meant that the nominee's personal
views had to be "in agreement." For one thing, that is what "in agreement"
means. It's also what the explicit analogy with the Supreme Court litmus test
implies. (Otherwise Gore would have said, "You don't need a litmus test,
because they have to obey the policy whatever their personal views are." Or he
could have used the word "obey" or "support" instead of "be in agreement
debate: The president can't just order the Chiefs to change the
Congress, and changing it requires congressional action. That's why it would be
so important for a president to know that his Joint Chiefs nominees
personally support his policy (so they'll be on his side in the battle
with Congress) and not just that they will obey him (which wouldn't do the
a good soldier in this instance, attempting to defend an untenable position.
But in a very brief phone conversation, he said he'd read the whole transcript,
and he seemed sincere in sticking to his interpretation. I admit I haven't been
occurred around twilight on this coast, I experienced most of it on the radio,
punchy in his delivery. On the other hand, when the subject of religion came
up, he told precisely the same story, in precisely the same words, that he had
well, but mother nature hasn't made enough wild horses to get me to see a movie
arguably "interesting" ways, the hostility toward the audience that most people
in show business feel but try (with varying degrees of success) to conceal. He
seemed to me to be part of the wave of people in comedy who learned the wrong
demonstrated how you could delay the laugh, really prolong the suspense, and
calendar allow, I agree that the ravages of memory have a lot to do with it.
There's also the fact the industry has developed a code that you can't release
anything short on special effects in the summertime, so adults and movies that
I now understand why Gore wants to debate so much. On his better days, he's
was truly formidable, performing better than he has in any of his five previous
Gore's most devastating shot came with the help of what I believe may be a
technical innovation in presidential debating: the use of human props. As he
voted in the Senate against emergency federal aid for those affected. "Why did
answer at all to the question of why he wanted to drown this friendly looking
farmer along with his hogs and beans. He tried to play Gore's question off with
the lame bromide that the candidates should be talking not about the past but
irrelevantly asserted that he supported the federal tax subsidy for ethanol.
able to resist his usual urge to flog a dead horse, and didn't bring it up a
teacher he had also planted in the audience was compelling, I don't think it
Gore did one other notably shrewd thing this afternoon. Responding to
gun control in a generation, and created the strongest economy in the history
I was wondering when Gore was going to get around to sticking up for the
accomplishments plays to what I consider to be Gore's single greatest asset as
What's misogynistic about saying, "I don't fall asleep when the Soprano
women are on screen." You're onto something here. The women are another way
because she gave him cover. In other words, he married her because of what she
represented, rather than who she was, and the story never freed her from that
meant that we never felt compelled and maybe even didn't want to watch her.
tender care of him anyway because, frankly, what else is she going to do? She
plays head games with lonely women because he "likes the whiff of sexuality."
This being the Sopranos, however, which lets the moss of goodness gather on no
wonderful episode early last year where she's appallingly condescending to an
old friend, the wife of a restaurateur who's been burned out of his restaurant.
presumably filled with all their mutual friends, waves her friend over as if
bossing around some maid. She's clearly forgotten upon what her higher
financial status rests, though the friend wastes no time reminding her.
Which brings us to the Soprano marriage, which is, as you say, compulsively
watchable. Our editor suggested to me yesterday that it's a somewhat
with whom he never has an actual conversation, but he's really dependent on his
wife (although unlike with our president, you have the sense that Tony screws
around mostly because that's what mob bosses are supposed to do rather than out
history of hurting each other that makes it impossible for them to get the
important stuff out there, even though their desire to do so is palpable. All
this just hangs around in the air, unresolved, which makes you wish the writers
with a nighttime series. But I do think their marriage has the rare distinction
(on television, anyway) of feeling like something living, breathing, and
So here's my question to you, who know so many mob children (as opposed to
you cover them back in your Forward days, before you abandoned the
chosen people to hang out with the people you claim are the envy of the world?)
buy how easily Meadow swallows her father's bullshit about what he does for a
living, even after she has pointedly asked about it? I do, absolutely. I think
that mob kids are forced to live in. She's not deceived by her father's lies,
as she makes clear in lots of little sarcastic asides. But if he actually
'fessed up, then she'd have to deal with his unpleasant reality, which would
rock her world a little more than she's ready for right now.
All this, in fact, is taking Meadow to the verge of becoming The
thing that happens in the second season is a major discovery we make about her
course she's that too. Maybe I just want to see her get in on the action 'cause
Spoiled or not, I was taught enough manners to say: It has been a pleasure
doing business with you, even if you did chop my herring up and stir it into
given the position of chief executive officer. What's the difference between
responsibilities to other managers, focusing instead on strategic issues, such
as which markets to enter, how to take on the competition, and which companies
to form partnerships with. This is in contrast to the chief operating
The chairman of a company is the head of its board of directors. The
board is elected by shareholders and is responsible for protecting investors'
interests, such as the company's profitability and stability. It usually meets
setting the board's agenda and determining the outcome of votes. But he or she
does not necessarily play an active role in everyday management.
assent, and his or her job security depends on their satisfaction, the chairman
of the board is technically his or her superior. And an active chairman may use
composition of the board of directors through his or her selection of senior
executives, many of whom are guaranteed board seats by company bylaws.
Case and Levin have not yet outlined how they will divide leadership
merger says that Case will play "an active role" in leading the company and
analysts interpret this to mean that Case, as chairman, will use his power to
a nationwide computer system for rapidly tracking the course of infectious
diseases like the flu and hepatitis C. The New York Times lead also connects
of illegal drug imports, judging from the latest figures on Customs Service
Times leads with good news about Medicare: The implementation of the
they don't have enough resources to carry out their assignments, and lack
confidence in their leaders. But, according to the survey, they still have a
deep commitment to military service. By the way, the Post reports that
the issue of gays in the military was hardly ever mentioned by the service
military isn't the only one with big problems, click here.)
(because, for instance, they're not labeled properly or don't meet purity
standards), but adds that usually the government doesn't bother folks ordering
small amounts (up to three months' worth) for their own use.
The LAT puts the Medicare news in perspective by stating that the
story also states, in contrast to the fiscal optimism expressed high up by the
boomers begin to attain eligibility in large numbers.
Internet and claims to have used some for himself. The paper points out that
the episode is apt to rekindle consumer concerns about online credit card
case stands to highlight the freedom online criminals have to operate beyond
from the manufacturers and dealers covering everything from oil changes to
rebates. The Journal account adds that the deals are intended to include
Internet access for owners from their cars as well.
common in the modern office: a company Internet snoop, who spends his days
checking to see where other workers go on the Web. The story shows one such
question, online access to sites with any nudity is barred, but those about
The story never questions the fundamental assumption of the snoopers: namely
that companies should be able to control their employees' Web access. Now,
clearly, they have the right to, but the story might have considered whether
that judges workplace performance by input, by the number of hours worked, say.
The enlightened view of how to manage people is to judge them by their
output instead. So why should a company care where an employee surfs as
stimulate the creativity that's behind the employee's next big idea.
economic drift of journalism. The missive notes that the paper recently
still in part a proprietary service. It will speed the convergence of the
Internet and television. The deal creates really interesting possibilities in
terms of the delivery of downloadable music and video over the Net, because of
cable providers, which means that it can position itself as a dominant player
especially Internet content, is eminently licensable, and as far as the
The point is that most of the business components of the deal seem to make
especially at such a high price, doesn't automatically follow. The odd thing is
that at this moment when markets are replacing hierarchies all across the
making deals on the assumption that you need to have everything under one roof
he thought it made more sense to buy an Internet presence rather than try to
build one organically. Which would be an interesting thing to think about,
return just sitting there waiting to be picked up. What that means is that
seem to be much of a factor here. Because the two companies' businesses are
probably go through without much of a hitch. It would be interesting, though,
amorphous thing we call "media." In that case, the conglomeration of so many
is still so antiquated that I can't even get Turner Classic Movies (which Time
control the temperature of an economy overheated by soaring stock prices. The
an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange, said that dangerous inflation
didn't seem to be a threat to this economy. No other paper fronts the story,
he will spend almost all his time focused on the company's software strategy.
its antitrust settlement talks with the government, but then quotes his
assessment of any government breakup of the company: "absolutely reckless and
irresponsible." The LAT (which high up strongly suggests that Gates will
paper has pretty much owned: the battle between the White House and drug
companies over whether or not Medicare should cover prescription drugs. The
paper explains that companies have long expressed the fear that coverage would
installment: Two top drug pharmaceutical executives now say they could accept
the coverage. The Times suggests that they are trying to head off a
front office, including all trades, signings, draft selections, and all other
of the changes have been accepted by producers. Under an agreement with the
papers report on with varying degrees of candor: The LAT comes clean in
Everybody goes inside with a fresh shift in the demographics of AIDS: The
majority of gay men being diagnosed with the disease are now either black or
of journalism. Of course, as the piece points out, two heads aren't guaranteed
to be better than one. But this is a plausible possibility isn't it? After all,
Lama, which translates as "superior one," is a title officially extended
level of spiritual development. (In informal conversation, lama is used to
reincarnations of previous lamas or holy men, and their places in the hierarchy
years later the Mongols deemed the position one of spiritual and
young boy. The child is identified through physical and mental tests, including
government asserted that it had the authority to make the selection, and last
inspired me to try. I kept updating it with the software of a certain major
software manufacturer and I had a lot of problems which may be my fault rather
than that of a certain major software manufacturer. Do you contract out? Can I
underground before they hand him over to Daddy. We'll have an Underground
this conversation with one of my colleagues. Of course, to some degree they
are. As you said, they value the biological family as paramount and then
for insisting that he stay even if you normally favor Dad's rights. Is that
speedy trial, just because they came here in a less dramatic fashion than did
speaking up for them. In any event, the kid's been so showered with gifts of
movie The Shop Around the Corner (which was also the source material for
Got Mail updated the earlier film's epistolary plot (two shopkeepers hate
each other by day, each not knowing the other is the correspondent to whom
retrospect, then, it may have been not merely a romantic comedy with a little
product placement tossed in; it may have been an attempt to soften the
scion of another giant communications empire (in this case a
who gets to articulate the case against concentration of corporate power.
smooch at the film's end, you can think of it as a consummated romance; or, you
Chatterbox is well aware that he is engaging in just the sort of paranoid
through, Chatterbox urges the Justice Department take the precaution of
should be compelled to switch over to another Internet service provider, like
I hate to say it, but I missed the New York Daily News today. I love
publications MAD and Fortune and, since the announcement of the
is the year for us to finally see some hot, new young stars have breakout
performances, for some familiar faces to turn up in surprising roles, for a few
television, then where are they going to learn it? It's not like parents are
Speaking of kids and smoking, did you see the New York Daily News
returning here is the careful division of labor among the city's newspapers:
They seem to have a tacit understanding that the Times will supply the
city with its news, and the tabloids will supply those things that people
actually want to read about. One is never in danger of finding out about, say,
illustrate the story is something called "Herbal Gold Cherry Flavor," and it
depicts a jolly leprechaun with a shamrock in one hand and a cigarette in the
other. It is so perfect, so absurd, that it's one of those increasingly common
instances where real life defies parody. Had you and I spent weeks trying to
mock a cigarette company targeting kids, we couldn't have come up with
something so perfect. This seems to be part of a larger trend of real life
about a woman on Death Row who falls in love with her lawyer? Ever see Last
girl continue to captivate the media? Because there's fast cash to be made,
even if it means letting tabloid tactics and undisguised spin rule the story."
wait. Never mind. I can't wait for next month's issue of the magazine,
featuring a scantily clad model and the caption, "Why does Penthouse
feature nude pictorials? Because there's fast cash to be made, even if it is
they've put in place in our lobby, so that every time I enter the building, a
Democratic debate, was finally arriving at a reasonable tone. As in the
previous encounters, Gore was highly critical of his rival. But this time he
characterized Gore's earlier performances. Gore dispensed with the vocalized
debate. This meant that you could listen to what he was saying without
the thrust of which was that he stood by his decisions and would do the same
"I think all three of them were a mistake," Gore responded, neatly
their previous session. But perhaps because arguing offends his sense of
politeness, he kept trying to change the subject when they did start scrapping.
as well. Substantively, I thought his best moment was his question to Gore
about why the vice president wouldn't join him in supporting the registration
and licensing of all handguns. Gore's lame response was that "it doesn't have a
difficult to do? The essence of leadership is taking something that is
money aside for Medicare. After explaining that continued strong economic
Canned as it probably was, this was a wicked sound bite. It would have been
appropriately, put the story on pages A5 and B5, respectively. If Chatterbox
were feeling conspiratorial, he might argue that the Times is hyping the
story because it previously was hyped in a newspaper its corporate parent
happens to own. But that would be precisely the sort of
with. Probably the real reason the Times gave the story big play is that
it, click here) The deal had been held up for more than two years,
turned down a local market license transfer." (Italics Chatterbox's.) The only
cover the cost). Thus the implied twin themes of the Globe and
pressuring regulatory agencies to serve the interests of their campaign
hypocritical, because he's just as corrupt as everyone else.
transfer; he just asked it to stop dithering and make a decision. As he wrote
unusual," and threatened to harm "the due process rights of the parties." But
drowning in "due process." Probably a more honest reply would have been:
Look, we're not supposed to say so, but one of the ways we do policy at the
to change policy. Get off my back. But that wouldn't have been a good
answer, either; in most instances, bureaucratic delay is not the best
Yes, probably. But if the inexorable logic of making a decision was that
(Oddly, both the Times and the Globe make only glancing mention
system corrupts all of us." This would argue for "no." On the other hand,
who didn't contribute money to his campaign. According to the Times
often forwarded complaints from constituents and others from outside
interested parties had contributed to his presidential or Senate
identically, so every pause for a commercial embeds a book plug) seems to be to
too, until he started complaining that he wasn't getting enough airtime because
three networks' affiliates. It's in this context that we should approach the
Speaking of sadly amicable divorces, the Republicans are celebrating five
years of running Congress, and where's Newt? I, for one, feel enormously
Newt answered, under oath, questions about his affair with a young woman
Here's a question for people who actually still cover (as opposed to, in the
bug" prevent state attorneys general from suing? If not, I bet they're meeting
with the lawyers behind the tobacco suits as we sip our coffees. Today's
him "Johnny") Apple all that space to indulge his love of food (not to mention
just hang out at the world's greatest racetracks, and just write about
Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of state statutes that
privacy. Her position is echoed by traditional religious groups and civil
money spending advantage in the coming election. Democratic Senatorial Campaign
to amass cash is attributed to its lack of a finance chair, donors' doubts
about the party's presidential prospects, and the dissipation of President
points out that the Democrats' public pouting could be an attempt to stimulate
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is flush with cash, reports
Federal Communications Commission to issue a ruling on the company's
argues that there is nothing wrong with a senator urging an agency to act
points out that the campaign's count may exclude letters written to aid Senate
campaign contributors and lobbyists. A Post piece reports that most
voters are unaware of the recent hullabaloo over regulatory correspondence.
years." Most of the growth in learning disability adjustments, which schools
approve based on a doctor's note or psychologist's recommendation, comes from
ritzy prep and public schools. "Hundreds and perhaps thousands" of kids are
screen the pets of potential owners. Boards evaluate pet size, pedigree,
training, demeanor, and appearance. Real estate agencies prepare dog
percent, and so much money drained out of the stock market that it felt like,
spectator of yourself," especially when your self is watching its nest egg
quickly dwindle to "what the hell, blow it all in one big bash!" proportions.
longer allowed to use the words "nest" or "egg" ever again, let alone sign on
are going to fall well short of estimates, and people started dumping
glorious and perhaps unbeatable feeling of knowing that at last you were right.
company announced that it was going to miss estimates for the quarter.
Investors apparently liked the company's honesty about its performance.
calls explaining that their quarters had gone badly 'because I was spending a
announced that it would be ending its relationship with the company in favor of
competitor Commerce One. Although the company had trumpeted its relationship
with GM, it quickly came out with a press release pointing out that GM
automaker in the world,' the release did not add.'"
fire exits are located in the front of the auditorium. Run."
using corporate jets, the Wall Street Journal said the airline's perks
target on the company. Ah, finally. A case where there really was no
supposed to keep track of the trades where you don't make money?"
and staff. Also last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education proclaimed
the life of genteel poverty demanded by academic or artistic careers. Oh sure,
an opera that would become synonymous with the artistic life right up to the
positioned on the margins in order to express ambivalence about the
But does the aggregate of people who happen to be living the bohemian
act out the bourgeoisie's quashed longings and confusions. Bohemians should be
mirrors in which we see what we might have been, had we dared.
So who's doing that today? Obviously, we can rule out the hipsters paying
the fringe. We get a glimpse of them in a forthcoming book by New York
admits, is geographically dispersed. It looks moribund. But, she says, it
definitions of kinship, labor, love, leisure, consumerism, and identity
What if society isn't aware that its premises are being reinvigorated, its
contradictions being dramatized? What if the bourgeoisie, whom the bohemians
limelight. They made themselves seem the center of the artistic universe. In so
music store, she is bewildered by how little she finds. "I could see no sign of
the Planet attitude, no surly looks in the eyes of the kids behind the cash
register," she writes. Then she thinks she understands: "I realized that I was
on the other side of it now. To the sly members of the cultured proletariat I
looked like an average customer, not a fellow traveler who knew and approved of
Perhaps. What Powers describes sounds frankly too subterranean to amount to
have become the manifestation of a subculture that is soon to disappear, like
all the other subcultures that have faded into history. One of the most
remarkable facts about this turn of the century, so far, is that if you want to
be on the cutting edge, you have to leave the margins for the center. That, the
the future. But there's nothing going on down there right now.
Street Journal (in its "Business and Finance" box) lead with the stock
incentives arriving with the new year and to heightened fears of an
markets had been expecting and what politicians from both parties had been
than usual about what stocks are really worth these days."
Post quotes an expert labeling this a "significant ideological shift,"
inability to grow fast enough to assure jobs for its ballooning
conditions in the cervix. Unlike a Pap smear, which requires a pelvic exam and
40--could save many lives in the developing world, where lack of access to Pap
notice requiring employers to provide proper furniture, lighting, heating, and
ventilation systems to employees working at home. (The Journal credits
important debate that we need to have about the workplace of the future," said
favors to labor unions (because the guidelines discourage telecommuters, who
they were looking forward to grandstanding during their trials. In the
commemorate the state sesquicentennial hearkens back to an era when a different
crime in check, the city's 3,000-member Committee of Vigilance stepped into the
breach. Over the past three months, the committee brags, it has hanged four
Sorry, you've got the flu. The papers here are filled with stories about how
fast it's spreading and how everyone should get shots. You've inspired yours
prescription drugs, and education (besides vouchers), they're going to have a
it's got God in the lead. Normally, one might think that the Constitution
happen if an assistant secretary from the Carter administration kept running in
Democratic primaries. It would, of course, be a joke.
thought. Bush did pretty well, but he never answered the heaven question
People have an exclusive today on how it was done. The doc says it was
tricky because she was built like a man, and men, I gather, are tougher to work
inflation fears are still gripping the street. Please. Inflation's been pretty
of soaring prices. It ain't gonna happen for a lot of complicated reasons. None
of this would matter so much except it's keeping wages down. Whenever wages
his alacrity in accusing anyone who doesn't go soft on him of racism.
believable candidate. If, as I recall, the candidates running in the Democratic
Before I go back to bed and try to shake this damn flu, one more thing: the
lovely piece in today's New York Times advertising column about the
"Cash" machine, which digitally compresses the pauses and long syllables out of
talk shows so that local stations can sell more commercial time. A long time
they bought an analog tape machine with a rotating head, the premise being that
it wouldn't change the pitch of records, but would slyly speed them up to make
the back room when management found that it made every record run through it
in that wedding dress a couple of months ago, right?).
Look, you're my friend. Would you rather be "Big Herring"? Whatever makes
Now let me tell you where you're wrong (oh, how I love writing those words):
The Sopranos are stealing their life stories; in other words, they
accuse the writers of taking their cues from the mob, not vice versa.)
saying is, The Sopranos is being buried under a mudslide of
Which takes me right to the point where I actually agree with you on
The first episode of the new Sopranos is a real drag: flat, sour, and
ponderous. I almost fell asleep watching it. Tony just seems mean and crazy
Evil, and not amusing at all. It was a terrible mistake to keep her alive for
the second season (apparently, some of the writers wanted to kill her off, but
bitching). Imagine how clean a break it would have been to open the second
terrible work ethic, his drug use, his obsession with the mob of the distant
past, the mafia of his fantasies (of course he's writing a screenplay, and of
steroid use by the mob's young guns is what's killing the mafia as much as
government witness at the thought of real jail time.
network of criminals who have their hooks into organized labor and adhere to a
saying the mob is dead, and we're always too early. But the main problems the
mob faces are only getting worse. One is recruitment: The old neighborhoods are
breaking up, and it's the old neighborhoods that produced the mob farm teams.
hate to refer to my own work, but an article I wrote in the New York Times
to bitch about (by the way, where do you stand on the "The Sopranos
because, as you put it so well (have you ever thought of taking up a career in
junior, her two children, bring us to one of the more interesting subtopics in
The answer, especially to the second question, is mostly unknowable to
me that there is no such thing as organized crime, and that his father was set
Families, but actual nuclear families) are among the most dysfunctional on the
But all she could come up with was this: "There's more to my father than people
know." I asked her what she meant. She said, "There's two sides to this story."
I asked her to explain further: "It's just more complicated than what you
think." She will never be able to say what she knows: that her father was boss.
And yet, here's the irony: I don't think she's embarrassed by her father's
career choice. In fact, after spending some time with her, I came to believe
By the way, I don't think Meadow Soprano bought her father's cover story at
for a living. I think you're right, though: If Meadow heard the unadorned
truth, she would be miserable. You may also be right that Meadow is on the
junior (there I go again, dissing the female characters) to ask his father when
This is the acid test of mob character, as I said before: He who makes his
Tony Soprano reacts if and when his son asks to join the business. Tony Soprano
sure the writers of The Sopranos could do something interesting with
this. (Despite my disappointment with the new season so far, I have a great
say) with you. I find you to be quite lovable, for an intellectual herring.
able to forgo a run at the Oval. All kidding aside, it actually might be nice
I see on the wires this afternoon that abortions have hit a 20-year low. Is
there any indicia of social health that isn't getting better? The '90s are
who made racist remarks in Sports Illustrated --undergo psychological
counseling. Obviously, what Rocker said was repugnant; his exact comments had
absurd if not a bit totalitarian. The idea that racist behavior can be
outrageous remarks. But it would have been nuts to try and put him on the couch
asked and answered repeatedly. The result is that the debates are turning
into press conferences on the latest headlines. Tonight's topics from Grand
trade with China. Bush responded with a fatuous distinction: that trade with
in his conclusion that we should isolate both Communist dictatorships. Or does
want to share what's in my heart.' Otherwise it sounds like an
Housing Works, which has criticized the mayor's AIDS policies. But this
by the judge, who presumably has the power to correct any impropriety and
time a mayor was sued by an "advocacy" group and lost in district court, it
on the homeless issue as to bait him into an angry outburst. If that was the
Does he really want to risk becoming known in his home state as a Shill for
that he's either an incredible operator who walks off the set, after some
around here?" or mentally ill. If it's the latter, then his comedy seemed just
a notch less cruel than the Elephant Man. Still, not having your personal
those effects? I can imagine acting against a blue screen must be pretty
increasingly swallowing his words, and I find his ode to the World War II
the New Millennium may be the end of having to listen to "The Century" on
During the past five years, governments and companies across the planet
consensus of computer experts is that the expenditures were worthwhile. Here's
not been fixed, disaster might have followed. To prove this thesis, one state
after the fact would have been expensive. For example, the cost of correcting a
couple thousand incorrect bills at a video store would far outweigh the cost of
insurance: Just because you didn't have a car accident last year, it doesn't
large corporations to have mainframe computers running outdated code.
infrastructure. And in the developing world, the technology upgrades provided
may appear well into the new year. Many errors won't be revealed until software
processes data, which could be as late as the next quarterly billing cycle.
half. So watch it. The first rule of mob movies is, never give someone a bigger
beating than they deserve in the first act if you don't want to get your ass
You're right about the writing being better than the acting, but only
kinda guy. You're right about expectations having been blown out of proportion.
Soprano, whose acid tongue is starting to remind me of the monster drool in the
that television criticism is about profound meaning. Most of it is critics
trying to explain how they think things work, and why they like them. The
audience has a right to figure stuff out, and to read people who might help
them do that. The boob tube is powerful. Millions of people watch this show and
talk about it every week. Mobsters in fact do take their cues from it, at least
get insurance companies to change their policy on psychotherapy reimbursements.
So don't shut down the entire discussion just because you've started hanging
episode is a letdown, although that was probably inevitable. It's an
seem angry and sour. Thugs are thugs and their wives are idiots to stick around
and mob business is greasy and seedy, instead of greasy and seedy and
but basically he's the same asshole junkie he always was, and has taken to
than ever. She is reduced in this episode to smiling sadly a lot and cooking
down in a diner, she spits in his face: "Fuck you!"
And Tony, my god. He has turned into a huge drag, stomping around, crashing
the entire hour is the look on his face when the male shrink he goes to in
Oh yeah. Analyze This. Do we have to? What's there to say?
they're our national epic, or something like that. But one thing's for sure:
They're all going to have to refer to The Sopranos now, the way The
would be "the central political reform of the next decade," in part because it
current tax system benefits the wealthy, who can afford to pay people to
decipher it. And all the loopholes make a "nominally progressive" system much
woes, because "by treating every taxpayer alike," it would eliminate so much of
the complexity and indebtedness to special interests that make people hate
Actually, though, even if the current system is nominally progressive, it's
taxes than they now do, and therefore everyone else will account for a much
the same rate as income, and the numbers would be skewed even more by that.)
that the wealthy benefit from the current system because they can trick it,
there's zero evidence for that. The percentage of revenue paid by those in the
as you would expect to happen in an era when the rich have gotten much
should come out and say it, and not try to disguise the argument as somehow
about correct process or the imaginary salvation of liberalism. Nor should he
The irony, in fact, is that the flat tax is the perfect relic of an era when
a lack of computing power and of information made it difficult to make
meaningful distinctions between groups of people, let alone individuals. But
conjures up. When it came to pay, we used to live in a world of job
classifications and pay grades, where everyone who did the "same" work got the
same pay. Increasingly, we now live in a world of dramatic differentiation in
pay. The whole idea of a "pay grade," in fact, would seem like complete
nonsense at most Silicon Valley and Internet companies.
companies today try to "project a simple image, a single product, and a
recognizable, simple brand," and to be sure, there's plenty of nonsense out
there about the centrality of the brand. But what's really going on is the move
toward customization. Dell builds my computer literally to order. Amazon makes
cars. Of course there will always be a place for the Gap, with its piles of
companies are getting much better, not worse, at treating each consumer
differently, which means, in some sense, becoming a different company for
an airline flight, you could be fairly certain that most of the people on the
plane paid the same price for their tickets that you did for yours. Today, you
can be fairly certain most people paid different prices. And that's not because
computers to distinguish between different kinds of fliers, and charging
different kinds of fliers different fares. On the Internet, shopping engines
If anything, then, a tax system in which everyone paid his or her own
particular tax rate would be more in tune with our world, and the possibilities
created by the computer, than the flat tax. (There are, though, excellent
culture and economy of simplicity? I don't think things have ever been more
Unlike yesterday, when stocks fell in unison, there was a meaningful divergence
between stocks today. The most obvious example of this was the contrast between
this kind of divergence is a good and comforting thing, since it suggests
investors are distinguishing between companies rather than throwing them all
front page. These seemed like nicely measured, and somewhat surprising,
reactions to what might have been played as a much scarier event than it really
we are now entering the putatively substantive part of the column, so watch
usually not explained why people who are investing in stocks should be all that
It's just that the reasons for their concern are complicated, because interest
rates affect stocks in different ways and, for that matter, because there are
The interest rate that most journalists have in mind when they talk about
funds rate, which is the interest rate the Federal Reserve raises or lowers in
order, in theory, to speed up or slow down the economy by increasing or
interest rates on things like car and home loans (since banks pass along
changes in interest rates to their customers). It now appears that the Fed will
slow down the economy, which in turn will make corporate profits grow less
quickly than otherwise, and since investors are paying prices for stocks that
assume very fast profit growth in the future, the threat of a slowing economy
(which I own) or another major supplier of technological infrastructure to big
business, you're going to weather anything short of a complete recession,
investment. And that's because in this competitive environment, it can't.
You might ascribe it simply to panic, which undoubtedly played a part. But
there are also two other reasons, which have to do with that other interest
rate, the one on the 30-year bond. That interest rate is effectively the
interest rate on bonds rises, bonds become more attractive and stocks less
attractive. This has a practical consequence, which is that rising rates lead
and put it into bonds. And the opposite is true when rates are going in the
But rising rates also have a theoretical consequence that's even more
how much it's worth today given how much free cash flow the company is going to
interest rate on the 30-year bond, since you know you can get that without any
If interest rates rise, then, the present value of the future cash generated
since the stock prices of the most valuable companies in the world today in
fact reflect investors' confidence that they're still going to be generating
And as the discount rate rises, it's not surprising if stock prices fall. The
equation is not automatic or perfect. But in the long run, it's
Times lead with the Supreme Court's announcement that it will
hear cases on abortion rights and gay rights this spring. Specifically, it will
Jersey Supreme Court ruling that the Boy Scouts could not exclude a gay troop
three officers. The charges would be the first in the Rampart corruption
partial birth abortion ban and doesn't mention the Boy Scout case. The
publication of a new national security doctrine. The new doctrine broadens the
All of the papers mention that the Supreme Court won't actually reevaluate
the constitutional status of abortion. Nor will the hearings affect the bans on
because its loose definition of a "partial birth abortion" could apply to many
scrutinizes how the timing of the hearings and rulings will affect the
presidential elections. The Court will most likely hear the cases in early
This timing should make the Supreme Court a major election issue, as the next
organization the Boy Scouts are. The Scouts say that as a private organization,
they have the First Amendment freedom of association to decide who to include,
yesterday's revised doctrine they are an option when "all other means of
resolving the crisis have been exhausted." It could have been worse: some
more hawkish on the use of nuclear weapons, but no one mentions what today's
groundbreaking because it is the first to declare ethnic cleansing a crime
billion over the next five years to build a rocket capable of launching
satellites. US analysts fear that the plan is economically unfeasible, and
technology to countries who would use it to launch weapons, and fears that
failing industries (to save jobs) and a greater cultural aversion to risk.
elitists, she says, the dog is "a noble and sensitive creature who, given
proper care, may make a far better tenant than many humans." Maybe so, but at
of herring? Herring in cream sauce, maybe, but regular old herring?
Mortifying Amplification: I finally got the joke because someone explained it
May I make one observation? There is way too much hype now about this show.
his whole yoga shtick feels forced, as if the writers decided that each and
every character had to be a member of the sensitive, slightly feminized
postmodern mob). I think it's dangerous for The Sopranos to introduce an
gangsters are possessed of some complicating goodness, or at least some kind of
the cast than yet another annoying woman (uh oh, am I in trouble now?).
chance, and that way they wouldn't have to saddle us with her dreary
Don't get wrong, I do enjoy the story lines that don't deal directly with
simultaneously make a show as good as The Sopranos and as bad as
of the story, of course; without her, Tony would be unredeemed, and dead. Maybe
incredibly nasty letters when my mob stories appear.
echo this view, dismissing the whole controversy as a phony media game of
First, of course it was a reversal. Initially, Gore said he would
require that any Chiefs nominee be "in agreement with" his gay policy. Then he
came back and denied there should "ever be any kind of inquiry into the
don't, since they presumably agree with the principle of civilian control.
"support"), since Gore knows that those who disagree are likely to sabotage his
leaves open the theoretical possibility of appointing a military officer so
honorable that he will work assiduously to implement a policy he personally
disagrees with." But under Gore's second position, Gore won't know who
personally agrees or disagrees with his policy, since he says he won't inquire
into the actual views of Chiefs candidates. (Don't Ask, Don't
theoretical perfectly honorable officer would pass muster). But it's exactly
Gore would give a privileged position to the gay issue, ruling out a candidate
who was otherwise a military genius and inspirational leader solely because he
troubling, a legitimate gaffe. It suggested the vice president was so keen on
his gay policy that he would give it higher priority than other military
Actually, given the crippling effect of the gay controversy on the first six
almost hear voters saying. There are other, more important concerns for a
president than integrating gays into the armed forces. It's time for some
At best, Gore's gaffe revealed a candidate so eager to pander to a
Democratic constituency that he lost his bearings and overstepped the bounds of
president inquire into the personal views of a Joint Chiefs candidate, and try
to appoint someone who agrees with him? A general who disagrees with a policy
is indeed likely to implement it unenthusiastically. Gore could have said,
the whole man, and the whole range of military issues, not just this one
answer. But that doesn't make his performance any less of a reversal, or any
placement of an advertisement Chatterbox spied this morning while riding the
takes the subway to work, this is probably where he gets off in the
harbor ambitions of world conquest, but it was Chatterbox's impression that the
What, then, is one to make of this ad? Here is the text (superimposed on a
invite government managers to consider the benefits of upgrading their computer
seems further to suggest that the federal government is a big software company
that would be well advised to merge with another big software company called
Agriculture Department will ever be able to keep track of the price of pork
reporters uncover complex union kickback scams; I expose the secret dining
So please don't think for a second that I don't want to hear your theories.
I have always counted on you for all of that hermeneutics and semiotics and
and its profound meaning will cause a backlash against the show. Expectations
intentionally lower expectations over the past six months by leaking stories
Let me address your pet theories. I agree with most everything you've said
(or at least, everything you said that I understood), except that I wouldn't
I think you've got one thing exactly right: The Sopranos works so
well precisely because it is understated, because it is the opposite of the
Sopranos make up some kind of whole, but here's the fundamental difference
The Godfather invested the lives of mobsters, who are in fact seedy and
But I haven't talked to a single mobster who would take Tony Soprano's life
it's a bit too early to say if this particular manifestation of mob art is
influencing mob life, but I think it's fair to say that no one in actual
organized crime would ever want to be hooked up with Tony Soprano's crew.
captures the desperation of today's mobsters. The smarter wise guys know that
makes The Sopranos seem real to me. Today's mobsters, too, are fluent in
captures this beautifully (I will disagree with you on one thing at the outset:
the writing on The Sopranos is better than the acting, not that there's
By the way, can we also talk about how badly Analyze This sucked?
Also, a question, for your consideration: Do you think mob movies are dead?
The genre's tired, obviously, but is The Sopranos a sign of new
Also, tell me what you think of the new season already. Inquiring minds want
events, and seemed in complete control of his opponents throughout the evening.
But Bush acquitted himself poorly nonetheless, by once again shirking an
opportunity to stand up to ugliness in his own party. 
Bush first gave a pass to conservative bigotry several months ago when he
recently when he declined to meet with the an organization of gay Republicans
because he didn't want to be a "divider." And he was at it once again tonight,
to criticize the flying of the Confederate flag over the state capitol in
the flag, Bush just kept reiterating that he thought it was up to "the people
This was a craven, spineless response. If Bush had any guts, he would say
symbol of segregation flying over a public building. If he wanted to be politic
about it, Bush could have said that while he doesn't believe that the flag is
In the short run, criticizing the flag might have led to Bush getting conked
on the head with one of the Bud Light cans visible on the tables where a large
and rowdy audience sat, baying for red meat on guns, gays, and gambling. But
ultimately, I think that finding some way to indicate disagreement with this
unattractive mob would have been both the honorable and the politically shrewd
means he should be thinking beyond the nomination. If he wins it with his
tolerant principles held high, he will be in a far stronger position in
relation to the eventual Democratic nominee. Much hinges on Bush's attempt to
cleanse his party of bigotry and reposition it closer to the center. It ought
to be obvious to him that pandering to the revanchist sentiments of a roomful
the course of suggesting that the Republican Party doesn't really care about
have long "tried to smear our party with accusations of racism." The complaint
Republican primary field wasn't so actively sucking up to conventional,
date. In place of the good nature and quick wit he has shown in all the past,
he was anxious, defensive, and far from lucid. Of course, it probably didn't
are tired of people who make promises about tax cuts they can't keep," he said.
most familiar lines on the subject of campaign finance reform culminating in
his repetition of his not very funny joke from last night about how Bush should
(which aren't in fact connected to the Bush campaign).
clearly struggling. Luckily, there's an easy way for him to win back the
affection of the news media. All he has to do is call a press conference before
with what is actually required to produce good journalism. He criticizes
reporters (mostly political reporters) who maintain that an adversarial
relationship with government is healthy, believing instead that some fabled
But what about when the adversarial relationship comes from government
itself? Here's one example from my backyard: Shortly after taking office, the
requests for information. In one instance, a department denied a request by the
for a list of all investigations commenced by an agency in the previous year.
civic project between the paper and the mayor? Given the politically corrupt
News sued, and only under court order did the administration provide the
That's an ugly and uncivil process, but it's also, under the circumstances,
from actual journalistic practice that it can't even imagine such a scenario,
thing that journalists should be for is independence. In my view, that doesn't
require "objectivity" or neutrality or being boring or being good
simply that the task of gathering and presenting news must be kept as separate
as humanly possible from pretty much everything: government, interest groups,
understanding of that core journalistic value that it paints itself out of the
Sciences that evolutionary psychologists have come up with an answer to the
between the sexes as both natural and inevitable: Men have to spread their
genes around by having sex promiscuously and by whatever means necessary; women
lavish their scarce reproductive resources only on partners who'll stick around
to ensure that their children thrive. So there was nothing startling about the
beauty arguing that throughout world cultures, men and women prize symmetrical
features, which correspond to genetic health): Rape, they say, is either a
byproduct of other reproductive strategies, "such as a strong male sex drive
and the male desire to mate with a variety of women." What was newsworthy is
what the authors suggests we should do to prevent rape.
psychology. Here's her beef with it: Evolutionary psychology is not very good
on the aspect of the human psyche she's personally most interested in, which is
yet this ability to reflect on ourselves underlies art, architecture, poetry,
government, journalism, and all the other forms of willed culture and
communication that animals don't and can't have. The new sociobiologists
Some evolutionary psychologists understand the limitations of their field.
They know that it has explanatory power only in general terms, and is useless
in the particular case. They know that their account of human motivation is
psychologists. And so they boldly stray into efforts to modify the behaviors of
individuals. They propose a course to teach young men about rape:
Completion of such a course might be required, say, before a young man is
granted a driver's license. The program might start by inducing the young men
to acknowledge the power of their sexual impulses, and then explaining why
human males have evolved in that way. The young man should learn that past
looking at a photo of a naked woman, why he may be tempted to demand sex even
if he knows that his date truly doesn't want it, and why he might mistake a
woman's friendly comment or tight blouse as an invitation to sex. Most of all,
the program should stress that a man's evolved sexual desires offer him no
excuse whatsoever for raping a woman, and that if he understands and resists
those desires, he may be able to prevent their manifestation in sexually
coercive behavior. The criminal penalties for rape should also be discussed in
imagine the scene: The strapping teens slump embarrassed in their seats while
nature. The first message to be drilled into boys' heads is: We believe you're
genetically programmed to rape. The second (and inevitably less impressive)
message is: Oh, and by the way, we're not going to let you do it.
Young women should be informed that, during the evolution of human
sexuality, the existence of female choice has favored men who are quickly
aroused by signals of a female's willingness to grant sexual access.
Furthermore, women need to realize that, because selection favored males who
had many mates, men tend to read signals of acceptance into a woman's actions
In spite of protestations to the contrary, women should also be advised that
believes that men are born rapists and that women are under an obligation not
psychology would be used to "naturalize" sexist behavior. He thought
philandering husbands would be the ones taking advantage of the argument about
how cheating was hard to control. He did not foresee the day when evolutionary
psychologists would call for the government to sponsor their theories in a way
virtually guaranteed to generate the very behaviors they are supposed to
prevent. But it was a foregone conclusion that when evolutionary psychology
began to focus on genetic predispositions and majoritarian norms to the
else. They would forget that we are products not just of evolution, but also of
what we imagine ourselves to be. And that if we teach our children to see
themselves strictly as beasts, they're bound to act like them.
out of the little tunnel we've excavated and return to our day jobs. But before
I surrender this space, let me hit a couple of points.
what they're doing and create a debate society for citizens, who he thinks are
"alienated," in hopes that the Big Palaver will convince them to join together
strange metric to judge the success of a piece of journalism. If an article
doesn't encourage the masses to meet and cogitate, it's a failure? As I
working as a union organizer or ward heeler than as a press critic?
Like the '80s activists who used the phrase "economic democracy" as their
with public journalism's boom. Those were dark times for journalists, and I
rumors, and innuendo that finds its way into print and into the wires.
Now, whether it really suggests that at all is an interesting question,
which we'll get to in a minute. But the important thing about this line is the
way it illuminates just how dramatic the shift in power in the media world has
been over the past three to four years, and how real certain of these
There is a market for more traditional forms of journalism and entertainment."
From this perspective, what's really impressive about the deal is that it's
That is, as it happens, how it should be. Although there are plenty of Net
cash flow every year, its return on invested capital is only going to rise in
the future, its subscriber growth remains startling, and switching costs for
If you think that last sentence is pure madness, then the rest of this will
worth what the market says it's worth. If it is, then the obvious question is:
think their stock is overvalued, and that this is their chance to
acquire some assets with real value before the Internet bubble bursts. But I
don't believe they think this at all (and you know Jerry Levin is hoping they
would have created had they remained apart. In other words, they think there
actually will be real synergy between the two sets of assets.
there's a plausible case that some real value will be created because of this
deal than otherwise would have been (click here for some
thoughts on this issue), the only question that matters is whether that value
Let's be clear about what it would mean if the market's right. It wouldn't
world. It wouldn't mean that the company won't be incredibly profitable in the
of shareholder value in the future. What it would mean is that the difference
The problem, of course, is that no one keeps track of these things, and a
to say the deal was a mistake, even if it was. But before we jump to the
conclusion that this deal means that other media companies are worth a lot more
than we thought they were, it's worth remembering that if the stock market has
2X, our default assumption should not be that media stocks have been
ultimate fighting contest, in which the rules were suspended and each candidate
fought according to his wits. The way each behaved in this unexpectedly
you get the hell off the stage and out of the race? Because the question
of a joke: "Maybe you want me to give a hug to John," he said.
position, going totally silent in hopes of being spared further indignities. He
most rolls. After a few serious minutes in which he defended himself fairly
academy, when he made it his object to acquire as many demerits as possible
according to independent estimates of the cost of Bush's proposal to end what
of one of his "episodes," also took the mayhem as a prompt to express his
truest self. In other words, he jumped on the nearest soapbox and started
ranting to no one in particular about such evils as atheism, homosexuality, and
you literally can't interrupt him. He comes up for air less often than a
Hatch was pretty much out of the rest of the debate, bewildered by the carnage
around him and unsure how to respond to it. "It's gotten a lot more nasty," he
remarked at one point, displaying a keen grasp of the obvious.
realized the power was out, he began looting shops. He brutally joined in the
But though he was a constant target for almost everyone else, Bush absorbed
at the wily evangelical. Bush seemed to recognize this kind of contained riot
close to the keg, smirked a lot, and got through the evening without getting
is edited), but there was a cute story in there today about the police
The police explained that the seven were interfering with the temporary
homeless). My nomination for the unspoken issue of the year in both parties'
homeless? Not to mention the fact that "a history of mental problems" turns up
makes me salivate with anticipation of the Reform Party convention this summer.
I can drive down there, but wherever it is, it'll be the summer's best
say much for its accuracy, but, hey, those airbeds are great). But on the
In addition to being a financial prognosticator of some renown, Dr. Ed
various movies, in the form of plus and minus signs. Judging from his current
the lowest is three minuses. (In marked contrast to his financial
neck out. This served him well during the 1990s, when he predicted accurately
percent consist of one or more pluses. To Chatterbox's thinking, this is
bullishness taken to an irresponsible extreme. (Chatterbox would put the
negative judgments are highly questionable. There is no way The Big
The ambitious but flawed The Thin Red Line deserves at least one plus
in chief "based upon their support of a litmus test for future chairmen of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff." The Republican National Committee is now running ads
endorsed any test at all, let alone a "litmus" test for the Joint Chiefs
I would try to bring about the kind of change in policy, on the "don't ask,
 in integrating the military. And I think that would require those who wanted
slightly. "I would insist, before appointing anybody to the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, that individual support my policy," the vice president said. "And,
yes, I would make that a requirement." Requiring "support" is somewhat
for further analysis of this distinction). After he was attacked for the
answer, Gore made clear his preference for his second response over his first.
"I did not mean to imply that there should ever be any kind of inquiry into the
As Gore belatedly realized, "support" is the better answer, because it
leaves open the theoretical possibility of appointing a military officer so
honorable that he will work assiduously to implement a policy he personally
disagrees with. But in reality, there isn't much of a difference between
which was how the New York Times characterized Gore's adjustment.
Chairmen and members of the Joint Chiefs who "personally" oppose this
particular change in policy are not likely to put their feelings aside and
implement it. They're likely to try to sabotage it.
he told midshipmen that if the new policy violated their beliefs, they should
"If we didn't work out a compromise with the chiefs, they would sabotage us on
the Hill. While they were obliged to obey their commander, they had the right
to present their personal views to congressional committees publicly." It was,
about their personal opposition to allowing gays to serve in the military that
"don't ask, don't tell" on the administration. And had Congress not acted, it's
entirely likely that the chiefs would have worked to sabotage the new policy at
For this reason, Gore's "litmus test" position is not merely defensible;
it's the only sensible one to take if you seriously intend to get rid of "don't
Republican line that all the Joint Chiefs ever do is offer advice and obey
their commander in chief, it's worse than naive. It's disingenuous.
Democratic president's effort to allow gays to serve openly in the military.
And what's more, Republicans want them to undermine it.
world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." Other recent
gaffes include: "The question we need to ask: Is our children learning?" and
blending "trade" and "barriers" into a warning against "terriers."
Election Commission to keep its nose out of the Internet, the New York
Times reports. The agency asked for input on in its role in regulating
card. The computerized letter began with the rundown of every family member's
'accomplishments' for the last year. Included in the 'accomplishments' were
reindeer expert' Maria Berg, male reindeer have already shed their antlers by
the rundown of every family member's 'accomplishments' for the last year.
Included in the 'accomplishments' were being fired from a job, suing someone
the rundown of every family member's 'accomplishments' for the last year.
Included in the 'accomplishments' were being fired from a job, suing someone
It is widely assumed that politicians are routinely influenced by campaign
contributions. That is usually why businesses and unions make such
criminal investigations or prosecutions are rare (and usually involve
illegal for an elected official to trade a vote or other official action for a
Answer: If a senator were to write a letter saying, "Dear Big Donor: Give my
anything short of that, in terms of evidence or context, is either not illegal
or impossible to prosecute. For example, a campaign donation after the
perfectly legal, even though the connection between the donation and the vote
is explicit. And of course in most cases there is no evidence of an explicit
large donor's savings and loan), the Senate ostensibly tightened its own ethics
governmental agencies. But it bars them from doing so "on the basis of
contributions or services, or promises of contributions or services, to the
Member's political campaigns." In other words, a senator supposedly cannot
treat a donor differently from any other constituent. Doing so could result in
censure or expulsion. The Senate has not yet convicted any members of violating
Who can possibly keep up? All the more reason to buy really expensive Internet
working so well. Perhaps it's time to think about the virtues of municipal
for a week to pass without a similar announcement. (Though I can't quite
get over the shock of that insurance deal.) In a way, the most confusing part
of this week was the breathtaking volatility in the stock market, and in
their steady upward ascent, they've begun swinging around wildly (even more
are trading much higher or lower on no news at all.
You might say, of course, that this is just par for the course. But it feels
a little different. It feels, in fact, like investors might be thinking a
little more seriously about risk. But then it could just be the sunspots. And
imagine the advertising campaign will break new ground in the inventive use of
surprising. Would you want to be quoted saying something that meaningless?"
I may be naive, but I think that even if this deal does go through, GM will not
announced that its earnings for the fourth quarter would be well below
analysts' expectations. Analysts attributed the company's problems to overly
know is: Is the company now fully committed to bright colors?"
Enterprise Institute, we decided to gather instead for lunch at the Palm
All the usual luminaries were there, with the exception of the incredibly
expected to attend next week's caucuses. It was a bit difficult to hear him
not offer a round of seemingly harsh but actually harmless stories about
the potential to get out of hand. The meeting dissolved into laughter when
Johnny Apple jumped in at this point to complain that shoe leather was what
of Weights and Measures who might be interested in checking to see whether it
criticize him for being too conservative? According to conspiracy rules, all
politicians were supposed to receive credit ("new respect") for turning more
since he wouldn't say publicly what his favorite movie was (while acknowledging
wasn't living up to his own elevated standard of positive campaigning.
to put together this week's outline. The Dean, who by this point was mostly
covered in a snowdrift, was impatient to bring the meeting to a close. He
wished everyone a lively campaign and reminded us to dress warmly for his
Media conglomeration is bad for journalism and society.
journalism is bad business and bad journalism is, regrettably, at times good
processing becomes cheaper, so does pluralism and decentralization, which comes
Better off before the New York Times and Wall Street Journal
three dozen big media companies in the United States alone.
Critics of big media suffer from the Fallacy of the Golden Era. They think
time detecting its luster because golden ages always shine more brightly from a
distance. Another thing that tarnishes modern journalism is the recent
proliferation of media critics, who bring brisk scrutiny to every ethical
Post haven't paired editorial quality with financial success. Nor does
imperialism isn't always bad, and new technology makes it easier for small
business, the less attention it pays to its civic functions. See the
The critique of big media invariably romanticizes small, independent
reader, I care more about the newspaper I read than who owns it. Most of
law of "regression to the mean," which dictates that heirs are rarely as bright
not reflexively mourn the gobbling of small media by big media.
Small, independently owned papers routinely pull punches when covering local
car dealers, real estate, and industry, to whom they are in deep hock. The
powers that be as the "independents" are. What's more, if the owners
about contaminated groundwater or police brutality, the big media New York
means to consistently hold big business and big government accountable. In the
complain about the paper's coverage. According to a reporter who was present,
If you don't believe big media has a leg up in making government behave, try
pulling journalistic punches than about any lost "independence." (Remember,
plodding movie into a hit. (By the way, I believe the rave was genuine, and not
a media conglomerate to slant the news in favor of its holdings will only
Some would have big media erect Fifth Columns within their walls, but
the Staples Center scandal. One prominent critic called the story a
ago, it's worth noting) was the beating it took from other big media. Big media
strives to be ethical for the same reason big government and big business do:
New technology prevents it from controlling information the way it used to, and
Media conglomeration runs in cycles, so the fish currently progressing
the media hysterics prophesied the end of literature when conglomerates bought
of the deal. But the confusion also stems from uncertainty about how many
(The right way to calculate the deal's value, by the way, is to multiply the
The confusion isn't overwhelmingly important, of course. But the idea that
of this deal by the press. (Though not by Wall Street.) Just because it's in
stock doesn't make it less real. Eleven billion dollars in shareholder value is
Stuffed inside the shrink wrap alongside Chatterbox's subscriber copy of
Death Row." This elegant advertorial product intersperses color photographs of
glamour ("They broke the rules. They defied the order," writes someone named
reality of capital punishment, so that no one around the world,
The campaign will appear on billboards and on the pages of the major news
tackling a social issue, as it did in previous campaigns that focused on war,
Aids, discrimination and racism. Bitterly attacked by some and internationally
time, they have paved the way for innovative modes of corporate
punishment. But its attempt to harness this principled stand to the selling of
panties does tend to trivialize the issue (in much the same way that its
previous campaigns trivialized war, AIDS, discrimination, and racism). The
catalog also objectifies real people. Looking at the photos of murderers
After all, it didn't just put together a bunch of photographs; it also hired
to the Web press release) to conduct interviews with the inmates. Here are some
What's it like when you lose a person you've been close to?
Would you be sorry you killed if you'd never been caught?
Can you imagine circumstances in which you'd kill again?
According to a note at the end of the catalog, "Individuals were not
permitted to speak about the crime, guilt or innocence, or prison conditions
have added, "And we had no interest in discussing these crimes with the
families of the murder victims." (The prison inmates may be objectified, but
the people they killed don't seem to exist at all.) Chatterbox is especially
to mark the odd innocent soul for death is, after all, one of the more powerful
arguments against capital punishment. At first, Chatterbox thought perhaps
doesn't want to find any innocent men or women. The point, after all, is
are merely tragic. Imagine trying to sell a pair of shantung trousers with the
nostalgia chord in the first frames, opening like an episode of the cartoon
series, with the Sabotage title splashed across the rotating wheel of
is up and smoke is pouring out. The Mach-5 has been sabotaged. The Mach-5 is
each other, Pops issues his warning from the back seat ("Look out!"),
room for four. It's instantly maneuverable, too. Speed slips through the seam
as a rival's car plunges into a fiery crash. Another note of authenticity: The
explosive sound effects come from the show's old episodes.
car, Speed avoids another fiery collision to cross the finish line under the
that fills the screen signals danger past, victory won; Speed survives to race
the road of life, there are passengers and there are drivers." The
cars and in life. Time to race ahead in the vehicle that saved our
generational memory hole to sell a German car to young consumers who may
consider it the opposite of cool. One relic redeems another: Drivers wanted for
race outright, because if they'd won, Real Quiet would have been disqualified
National Rifle Association held its annual convention and showcased its new
ensuring domestic tranquility, and promoting the general welfare. His sound
displays in federal buildings, and the spending of tax money for religiously
administrators should be protected from Congress. The naive spin: Republicans
lost. The sophisticated spin: Republicans won, by appeasing Christian
voters supported it across ethnic lines. Pundits think other states will follow
spending dues on political contributions without their members' consent.
millions of their personal wealth, for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Pundits hailed this as a triumph of political experience over wealth and
needed to avoid a runoff in the Republican primary for governor. The national
enough to jar Congress into supporting the International Monetary Fund but not
politically painful tax, spending, and legal reforms necessary for its
Lesbian Task Force released a report on public attitudes toward
increasing public tolerance for gays despite persistent moral disapproval.
than an appeal to the thirsty to drink Crown Royal. It is the first break in
apply to beer and wine, and cite this as the reason why grapes and hops have
been gaining market share against the hard stuff. Industry strategists knew
that the ads were bound to be controversial; the initial spots, therefore, are
designed to slip the product into the commercial dialogue with minimal splash.
No happy groups hoisting highballs in the Polo Lounge here; no scenes from the
negative ads fielded early in a political campaign: If you can get them by
without being too offensive, almost without being spotted, the message goes
point, Valedictorian clearly targets the male viewer. We see a large,
near it?) bringing the morning newspaper up the steps. The scene evokes the
gracious life, even if it doesn't quite translate to the real world: As dog
it as to deliver it. The setting is obviously upscale, and so is the reading
dog, doing double duty with the help of editing techniques that make it look
invitation to the viewer to see Crown Royal, too, as being at the top of the
heap. If the class of canine brings a sense of nobility to the ad and product,
this particular specimen is so well trained that it intensifies the image of
March whisper across our minds. This is all a postmodern variation on the
than they would own a poodle; and upscale men can do better than a beer and a
dark glowing warmth in cut glass as the pouch falls away, much as a shift might
fall from the shoulders of a man's lover. Valedictorian floats
bumper sticker, a simple image designed to give a familiar name fresh life.
first dog waited all day to fetch the paper, or is its master about to have the
Valedictorian is innocuous. The aristocratic hounds grab our attention,
drinking. Or so the company would like us to think. But this won't placate the
critics of alcohol advertising, who charge that the underlying purpose of the
ad campaign is to recruit new drinkers, especially among the young. Almost
ritually, the company will reply that the campaign aims merely to compete for
market share among those who already drink. This spot has provoked calls for
on television, Valedictorian may be one of the last.
best of men, is telling us that Crown Royal is man's best drink.
laboring to make taxes and character the central issues of the presidential
with the issue of taxes but with character, accusing Dole of engaging in the
old "attack" politics (proving once again that the best use of negatives can be
charge of wrongdoing leveled against Dole. Hold both responds to the tax
attacks made by Dole and sows seeds of doubt about future Republican assaults.
the background, indicating that the former senator hasn't left that unpopular
venue. Color footage, complete with a shot of the Marine band in the
raised taxes and generally resist any argument that Democrats are better at
lies in its boldness. If taxes became the defining issue, the terrain would
consultant in the early '80s who switched parties and often deployed taxes as a
Hold that he has cut taxes for "working families" is based on the Earned
Income Tax Credit, which helps the working poor. The choice of
themselves that way. The narration and visual swiftly move on to "tax credits
popular assumption that Republicans are tax cutters by citing areas where it's
ratings of any national figure) in footage that runs in slow motion, making him
look older and less vigorous. Meanwhile, a list of Dole tax increases scrolls
up the screen, annotated with specific bill numbers as proof.
implies that there are at least two Doles, setting up the conclusion that the
the grain of popular assumptions about Democrats and taxes; but it doesn't need
the dehumanizing places where corporate careers begin.
cap turning on a bottle of Diet Coke. The guy opening the soda (dressed in a
chair. Suddenly decked out in a snazzy blue suit, he starts dancing
theme of previous Diet Coke campaigns). The lighting changes, too, making the
beaten career track, the spot suggests. It liberates the young rebel who's
doing what he has to do to get ahead, but who still doesn't take it all too
transported to a different astral plane. And the vehicle is Diet Coke. He
dances off the walls and over to the desks of two women, who smile up at
know that for sure as he turns toward one of them, strokes her chin, and hands
her the bottle. The narrator tells us that "everyone is singing to the sound of
acknowledges regulations about truth in advertising: Even a rebel has to
office women dressed up for a night on the town. She dances and dips with our
guy as he sings, "My place or yours." On his knees, he offers a rose to yet
is who our guy wants to become but is desperately afraid of becoming.) The boss
has heard something, but the office looks as bland as usual. Was it just the
whoosh of the cap turning that disturbed the silence of this cathedral of
electrified rockers strip down to acoustic to reach the essence of their music.
Getting uncapped with Diet Coke presumably allows office workers a similar shot
music of youth, of being yourself wherever you are. Lest anyone miss this
for the overweight. You're supposed to drink Diet Coke because you like it, not
because you have to drink it. You're a rebel who refuses to leave your youth
behind. You drank Diet Coke before you got to the office, and while the bald
guy can order you around, he can't take your soda away from you.
homeless people, and old folks who are stuck indoors without air conditioning
no avail. The secular explanation meteorologists have offered for the heat
relief in sight for the South. The worse news: The heat is spreading over the
Military officials have proposed to relax their policies against
prosecutions (by prosecuting only those cases in which the adultery has
demonstrably damaged troop morale) and the severity of the discharge imposed on
violators. Analysts have identified four schools of thought, in ascending order
because, in the words of a spokesman, "If you can't trust the Marine next to
which, unlike the other services, thinks officers should be allowed to
Military law critics who prefer the civilian standard, under which adultery is
Food and Drug Administration approved thalidomide as a treatment for
leprosy complications. Everyone assumes doctors will prescribe it more often
for AIDS complications. The real news isn't the approval, which was decided
upon months ago, but the elaborate new regime of warnings and restrictions,
which are designed to prevent a recurrence of the birth defects thalidomide
caused in the 1960s. Analysts credit the new rules to collaboration between the
model of cooperation and prudent regulation. The media are taking the
continue to fight a federal antitrust suit. The Justice and Defense departments
had argued the merger would imperil national defense by reducing competition.
encouragement, every company small enough to merge legally has done so, leaving
from the fight not because it respects the government's authority but because
white. The advisers called the defamation case an attempt to silence those who
challenge the white establishment and "to punish three men who have clearly
given their lives and their careers to help people who could not help
themselves." Editorialists called the verdict an affirmation that the truth
damage because, ironically, he is the only one of the advisers to have sought
practices and reform its financial system to attract private investment. News
fairy tale that targets the subteen who still responds to the child within. But
it is just as likely to engage the old folks of the athletic shoe
with a cow grazing in a bucolic field. Out of shape and shoeless, this one is
an eater, not an exerciser. Responding to the whistles and taunts of Old Man
Leaping, then falling ("Ooh," says the moon), she lies splayed on her feeding
responds to the strains of "Destination Moon" on the soundtrack: "Come and take
in a thought balloon over the animal's head. The brand doesn't have to be
mentioned: In the age of the advertised image, where television often seems
you wear the shoes and just do the rest, you'll soar, whether your moon be the
slogan that is now as familiar as the swoosh. Evoking freedom, a safe
tale goes on: Buy the shoes, and jump the moon. And it doesn't matter if it's
Seconds as falling below "even the minimum levels of current political
with the dominant Republican position on issues like guns and
leads in normally Republican suburbs and states; it captures and plays upon the
mood of an electorate that this year seems to despise the negative ads if they
seemingly indomitable. The scar across his forehead speaks to the injury he
suffered; and as he speaks, he passes the torch of his own courage to the
a single negative word, this spot efficiently repels the Dole campaign's
says, "When I hear people question the president's character, I say, look what
authentic; the witness carries a credibility that the anonymous, disembodied
political ads is a weekly feature of Slate during the election
and off for "subversion" after he helped lead the democracy movement that
expulsion and other concessions, the United States recently stopped sponsoring
the "modesty" of her musical skills and marveling at her heroic struggle
big story was an agreement to begin talks on a hemispheric free trade zone. The
countries also announced an alliance against drug cartels and a collective
authority. Optimists spun the same behavior as more friendly, respectful, and
addicting children to the idiot box, and robbing kids of what's left of their
captors, he died of heart failure in his sleep. Skeptics noted the convenient
journalists saw the corpse, confirmed his death, and broadcast video of him to
prove it. Everyone agreed he was one of history's worst butchers, having killed
credibly investigate the Hale allegations because of two conflicts of interest:
because it would put "stress on my family" but that she decided to go ahead for
a loose cannon. The legal consensus: The appeal is doomed. The political
consensus: The public has stopped paying attention, and the media will follow
suit, because the appeal is confined to matters of law rather than salacious
called him "Scrooge" and peddled the story to radio talk show hosts, who dubbed
education, health care, and the environment." The backspin: Gore's rivals and
Commentators who deemed Gore innocent of parsimony faulted him anyway for
his career as a hard rock drummer (he was better known as "Cozy") and did not
autobiography. The New York Times highlighted three prizes won by the
that the Grand Forks Herald had won the top prize for its coverage of
killed, salted, and eaten. There have been other tales of cannibalism in North
tales to be disseminated in order to attract sympathy and foreign aid.
idea to try this trick anywhere; it was an even worse idea to try it in
he's still working for Bob Dole, and it's still not clear exactly how all this
perceived integrity. Photo assumes, correctly, that the audience is
photo." Mark is almost out of the frame; you wouldn't look past the three
for him, that is. The next scene piques the viewer's interest by showing how
where the old way always looked fake, today's technology can make the fake look
that John's campaign is guilty of the dirty deed and of lying about it.
Here Mark's spot adroitly turns the corner from response to attack. Indeed, it
ignores the essence of John's charge (captured in the succeeding scene of the
this Republican senator has been a rare exception to politics as usual: He
protected him against the standard Democratic charges against the Republicans:
long has he been fooling us?" The fake ad becomes a moment of dark
is a response spot dares to charge that John is "unprincipled," that we can't
newspaper story make the assault as credible as it can be, given the unusually
strong public perception of John as a decent and independent guy, who was,
photo is the latest emblem of a year when consultants have become more
consultants moved swiftly to convert the mistake into their best argument yet
the Dole ads that lambasted the president as soft on drugs with Dole's Real
footage that obviously has been blown up. The colors are off, giving him a
returns in black and white, and we're told that he voted against the creation
answer an attack briefly and then shift the debate to stronger ground.
Dole's Real Record does this with such ease that we hardly notice the
transition. The narrator tells us that Dole voted against student loans,
slogans can't hide," says the narrator. Not only does this layer of varnish
not only for this vote, but for all we have seen and heard in the spot.
legislation and that we just shouldn't vote for him. And if not for Dole, then
with one of the children he allegedly is protecting from Dole's policies.
Real Record successfully broadens the issues beyond drugs and asks, "Which
candidate took his foot out of his mouth and started running again. The
issue, which historically has belonged to the party of labor, not the party of
They're "working harder and longer but taking home less."
share soaring profits with workers. But instead of drawing attention to
produced a spot that analyzed the economy in statistical and legislative terms;
the New Dole of The Plan speaks directly into the camera in human terms,
response, but this time the lighting is right, and Dole finally looks
switches to a narrator, who describes "the Dole Economic Plan." The next scene
Tax Cut for Every Taxpayer." The absence of any reinforcing visual actually
material: The scene all but shouts that tax cuts are a family value. The spot
seen in other ads, the specificity of the number--$1,657 instead of $1,600--is
Plan closes, we return to Dole chatting with a woman holding an infant, a
scene that further humanizes the tax plan and helps close the gender gap. The
choice and makes it less of a surprise, even to Dole. Last week, as Dole stood
political ads will be a weekly feature of Slate during the election
antagonize the United States, and is taking his case public to put pressure on
the dead by uniting three of her Baby Bells (spanning the West, Southwest, and
catastrophe: Don't panic; the wires are being fixed, and it's still safe to
personal religious beliefs and I regret if anyone feels offended."
continues. The world auto industry is consolidating into GM and Ford in the
have even more clout and better benefits. Workers of the world, unite!
cable nearly struck the ski gondola in which they were riding, according to
that the crew was flying recklessly. Crew members are charged with involuntary
Before their divorce, the couple agreed their frozen embryos could be used only
if both consented. A lower court, citing the right to procreate under Roe
fate of her nonviable fetus." The state's high court disagreed. The superficial
embryos will be treated as just another contractually disposable commodity.
chairman of the House investigation of the campaign finance scandal, was under
Democratic objections by assigning the investigation's next step to a
caricature" as an overzealous idiot and pointed out that his real crime has
been to distract attention from the transcripts, which indicate that White
aside from the Pentagon, to have been erected, and it cost more than twice as
because the building belies his rhetoric against big government. The fully
cynical spin: The joke is on us, because the building faithfully reflects
big, happy family of democracies. Critics called it a triumph for the
obligation to arm and defend the new members isn't worth the military help the
new members will provide. Complete cynics replied that the Poles are better
Members of the support group turned him in. The media seized on the Internet
ethical for members of an online support group to breach confidentiality if
courts will now treat Internet confessions as fair game. Skeptics argued
police by phone after learning that support group members had told them about
interlocking lawbreaking" and "the most systematic, deliberate obstruction of
news: It could slow down the economy enough to force a recession, as the 1970s
authorize audible prayers, told its sponsor that it "ain't worth the damn paper
it's written on" and "ain't going to require shit" until Congress passes a law
his hometown. Young girls sang his praises. Children staged a play for him. The
the White House. The subject was her legal work for the savings and loan at the
center of the Whitewater scandal. Videotape of her answers will be shown to the
my husband") and debated whether he will indict her. The overwhelming consensus
digs at Congress ("a show about nothing"), the press corps ("I hardly have any
time to read the news anymore. Mostly I just skim the retractions"), and
boy fatally shot one teacher and wounded another and two boys. He was
charged with murder and tried as an adult. The media linked the case to other
warning signs and the importance of taking them seriously. Two clues in the
serious offense, he could avert impeachment by admitting to it, apologizing,
case of the switched babies took another bizarre turn. Last week, the
girls should be restored to their respective biological parents, which raised
compromise" that serves the best interests of the girls. The cynical spin: Good
say the dress, which had been dismissed as a myth, was actually concealed in
daughter's apartment) and has now been turned over to prosecutors. The other
the dress and worry that it will turn the public against him. The big questions
prepared statement to the press, from whom her apologia drew sarcasm and
hypothetical ways to keep their relationship private, including falsely denying
wrote the "Talking Points," without the help of anyone at the White House. The
has cleared the White House of the most serious charge: writing the Talking
General Motors and the United Auto Workers have agreed tentatively to
estimated half percentage point. The optimistic spin: Once both sides realized
moving jobs overseas), they settled the material disputes and ended the strike.
The pessimistic spin: The escalation reflects a deep distrust between GM and
merger. The New York Times says this could be "the pin that burst the
because the market thinks regulators are sick of mergers and are about to crack
identity, yet at ease in the establishment world. Well, just enough to get
hotel. The lobby, which is shot in black and white, possesses a grandeur seldom
approaches the desk, the clerk accepts that he belongs. Like the pants, our
carrying an attach case; this guy could be anything, even a young computer
phone, we hear the narrator's voice for the first time: "You know those pants
into a political rally and ends up on stage. We see the scene from the
politics staged and phony?) and the endemic irrelevance of the proceedings. Our
hero's demeanor speaks volumes, as the politician shakes his hand and photos
succeeding scenes, he continues to fit in without getting permanently trapped.
He backs across the stage toward a podium where they are giving out awards; is
into a wedding ("There you are," the grandmother says); but at least he's not
never seem to fit. The background for the picture is a painted outdoor scene.
That's where he'd rather be. Instead, he's suddenly in the hotel hallway again.
Hands on hips, he pauses, then strides toward another of those situations in
Slates." The hotel clerk's hand hits the bell, summoning a bellhop to take our
doorway? Whatever it is, the ad seems to say, you can go there wearing your
write what you want on a slate; it isn't just a copybook. You can go where you
have to wearing Slates, without losing your identity. You're still wearing
the uninformed, the spot assumes viewers are familiar with its principal
producer who tells us that sports personalities do not automatically qualify as
one of its least articulate: The Bullets use him in an ad whose entire point is
that he can't even manage to recommend that viewers buy tickets to a Bullets
accompanies our first shot of this next candidate, whom we see over the
casting couch doesn't identify himself, but he tells us that he won a gold
doesn't impress them, and given that they are probably making big money, why
experience in front of an audience?" elicits mention of another political
is a sharp comment on the disconnect between popular culture and politics:
there's a twinkle in his eye. Proof that he's skeptical about politics? Perhaps
he quit the Senate (a fact that some viewers would know) because he wanted a
industrialized nations, must cut its emissions of greenhouse gases to a level
called it "the most significant multinational agreement ever on the world's
it faced immediate gridlock: Developing countries refuse to reduce their
bundle its Internet browser with Windows. The judge hasn't decided whether
market while the case is in court. The Justice Department's spin: "Starting
It's just a temporary order. The intermediate analysis: It will probably be in
analysis: Computer makers will keep bundling the browser with Windows anyway,
relate to his efforts to cover up an extramarital affair. Defenders say the
affair is private and old news. Critics argue that while the affair may be
"There was a tragic element to his life story," waxed the New York
cemetery along with his tombstone, which, according to the New York
Republicans and editorialists want further investigation to determine how
break in the vetting process because he was a big political donor? The new
spin: Politicians are exploiting the scandal for partisan advantage rather than
seek an independent counsel. Pundits expressed disappointment but no surprise
distraction from newly released notes suggesting that White House officials
counted on the Federal Election Commission's inability to enforce
distraction from the real scandal: that he intends to do nothing with the job.
billion on paper. The reason: a disappointing earnings report. Oracle blamed
for the whole technology sector. Contrarians called it a buying opportunity.
meeting with a denunciation of the United States and its military presence in
government to facilitate grant applications for studies on medical marijuana,
messy divorce from Sunbeam and its forswearing of all product endorsements.
properly making users bear the cost of these calls. Former federal drug czar
the city's first nonwhite mayor but conceded that he will change almost
nuclear war against a superpower. The new mission: deterring nuclear,
biological, or chemical warfare by lesser powers (formalizing President Bush's
its conventional forces and authorize first use of its nukes as a substitute
save his life, which means he can be tried for murder in federal court and
how close they had come to being in the vicinity and, thereby, to possibly
getting shot. Pundits pondered the dilemma between security and public access
and the Secret Service, for failing to take other previous nutty episodes
investigation by refusing the subpoena and that he might even get it quashed on
the grounds that a sitting president can't be forced to testify, but agree the
first condition but none of the others. Editorialists think this is a fair
seats it must now compromise with other parties to get anything done. The
optimistic spin: It will take a dull consensus builder to compromise with the
other parties and get something done. (See "International
lucrative private sector jobs without looking like rats deserting a sinking
ship. White House reporters, who depend on the press secretary's good graces,
Editorialists, who do not depend on the press secretary's good graces, pointed
while deliberately remaining ignorant of tawdry facts in order to preserve his
for early next year and pledged to relinquish power to a civilian government by
count themselves lucky, since previous "transitions" have been slower and
generals who will cancel or annul the elections if they don't get their way.
has ruled that one of the defendants can call her as a witness. The superficial
spin: It's not fair to let her testify, since she failed to appear in previous
hearings. The sophisticated spin: The defendants were counting on the judge to
bar her testimony so they could claim she was being silenced. Instead, the
House aide. The senators reportedly bought it. (For an analysis of the
planning to have sex. In a press conference before angry reporters at a condom
shop, they defended their stunt, saying it was meant to be "a moral lesson" and
"the biggest public service announcement ever" on behalf of safe sex and
abstinence. The company that was hired to transmit the event to computer users
would launch their careers. They announced their real names, which
government is soliciting public reaction to a proposed national health
medical records to be accessed by inputting his or her Social Security number.
Some doctors and insurers say it will help doctors get past information about
their patients and will help administrators manage billing information for
The government hopes to construct the database in a way that will satisfy
which many former gays have successfully recovered. The gay rights groups claim
discriminate against gays. (For an analysis of the strategic implications of
having been accused of insufficient zeal, upheld the traditional World Cup
what to do to rescue Japan's economy. Pessimists predicted that by weakening
died because he had been unjustly imprisoned for five years, which is a subtler
means the country's democracy movement is defeated. Optimists say it means the
hell I could have possibly gone through the vast material they had gathered,
practice for producers to enlist correspondents such as him to ask scripted
questions on camera without having done the preparatory work. By contrast,
was never informed that my face on the air gave me responsibility for a major
After the story collapsed, "I was basically told to be a good team player and
got a two year sentence. Prosecutors dropped murder charges because they
selfish, and blind "to the intrinsic value of the life of the child." The
positive spin: Rich kids aren't above the law. The negative spin: Rich kids get
and other entertainment media. An official explained that television and video
are "the cause of corruption." Human rights activists called it the world's
harshest ban on information. The good news: The government hasn't banned
clarification and approval. The suits blamed the implants for numerous
enrich themselves by linking the implants to apparently unrelated maladies and
juries and that the plaintiffs didn't want to risk being discredited by further
federal appeals court ordered Secret Service officials to testify about
had asserted a "protective function privilege," which would preclude Secret
Service testimony on the grounds that if the president thought his agents might
testify against him, he might keep them at a distance, thereby endangering his
Even if the agents can't testify against a naughty president, he might keep
them at a distance just to mitigate his shame, or at least to protect his
the hat you wore during the murder. (The cops matched the gun to the fatal
in jail, don't write letters virtually confessing to the crime. (Jurors say
reward.) The media sulked that the trial was over before it could become
outweighed its financial losses during her tenure. Brown says she's leaving for
the opportunity to transcend the print medium and "to own what we create." The
Associated Press notes she's leaving two months after The 
Yorker brought in a new publisher and began to merge operations with other
chivalry, and humility. Liberals lauded his nonviolence. The sunny spin: He was
comparative ad in three chapters: "Problem," "Good Guy," and "Bad Guy." It
using drugs is that we're not tough on pushers, who get just "a slap on the
wrist." Valid or not, the view mirrors opinion polls. The language of the ad is
pretested, and this initial argument will encounter little voter resistance. A
speaking. So here he is, smiling, but in the safety of a still image. A shot of
picture promptly disappears, but its brief presence qualifies the ad for the
more lenient federal rules about "candidate" spots: Such spots can't be
censored, and the stations must sell the time at a lower "political" rate.
prisoners behind bars. Why color? Because in this spot, putting more offenders
actually saying what's written on screen and sourced to a local paper: that he
opposes longer sentences as a deterrent against crime. The spot nails him as an
here: to invite voters to judge on the basis of social, not economic,
such as Medicare, jobs, or education in his spots when he's tied down defending
News echoes and reinforces the message in Bob Dole's ads and speeches:
Democrats are weak on drugs. No accident there: The News was produced by
"arrogant opponents felt the bitter taste of defeat." The sunny spin, from
is accused of having panicked, fielded too many rookies, and benched or cut
plead guilty to at least one crime, whereas she insists on total immunity.
spin: "Having sexual relations is not a medical necessity." The New York State
Analysts speculate Kaiser's decision will accelerate a race by insurers to
alleged copycat case of three white men dragging a black man from a car
was picked up in the national press and was being investigated as a hate crime
women say what really happened is that they ripped off the man in a crack deal,
he tried to get into their car, and he was dragged in the ensuing altercation.
fabricating quotes and characters. Nobody knows how long she has been doing it.
Smith's defense, in her departing column: She only did it "to create the
desired impact or slam home a salient point," and her career will survive "this
indiscretion." Colleagues and media critics compared her with ex- New
despite a previous incident in which she had reportedly reviewed a concert she
didn't attend. At least the New Republic didn't know it was hiring a
"championed the downtrodden and elevated the voices of people who would never
work of talking to real downtrodden people. (Why do editors fall for the wiles
of the likes of Glass and Smith? Check out "Glass Houses,"
Republicans of killing the bill at the behest of Big Tobacco. Republicans said
extraneous tax breaks in the first place. The initial spin: Pushing to kill the
bill was a big gamble for the tobacco companies, because they'll now have to
face suits from states and individuals. The backspin: What gamble? The Senate
had made the companies' decision easy by stripping the bill of the liability
cap that would have mitigated the suits. (For an earlier look at the spin
This is the second straight National Hockey League championship for the Red
labeled a choker earlier in his career. The offstage hero: former Red Wings
a car crash, was rolled onto the ice in his wheelchair to celebrate this year's
has pushed these leaders to "the extreme." The media had a field day, recalling
the empty Oval Office is paired with a narrator asking who really belongs
context by imagining Dole behind the mahogany of the president's desk. To make
cut is attacked without being called a tax cut. (Tax cuts are too popular to
This description makes Dole's proposal sound more like an old Democrats'
from earlier ads, the spot moves at light speed from campaign issue to campaign
issue: deficits, education, and drug cuts, abortion, interest rates, and harm
signs (literally) of a failing economy fill the screen, all punctuated by the
equivalent of asking whose finger you want on the nuclear button. With a swift
striding down a White House passageway toward the Oval Office, where he
presumably belongs. Title-- surely Dick Morris' last contribution to the
bit of demonization that may help congressional Democrats. The tracking shot of
to read the credits, which research shows viewers rarely do. This is the last
ago and now, as the general election begins, both candidates are on equal
financial footing. Stay tuned to see what they're trying to do to your
the Fifth Amendment. Now she's said to be interested in negotiating for
had an affair with Flowers. Sophisticated critics conceded he can square his
evidently because his fake military record wasn't carefully scrutinized. (For
Sheet." For more on how the story everyone's talking about stayed out of
agreeing that the United States should change the embargo policy, the pope
for a sentence of life in prison without parole. He bought the deal because the
case against him was a "slam dunk," and he might have got the death penalty.
abrupt end of the trial they had regarded as their next meal ticket.
for Roe 's wisdom and lamented its political vulnerability. Conservative
editorialists vouched for Roe 's political invulnerability and lamented
its unwisdom. Journalists, having planned substantial coverage of the
commercial rather than a scientific advance, suggesting that the agriculture
and Drug Administration claimed it has the authority to regulate human cloning.
This has led to a dispute between politicians who want to ban human cloning and
receive a special tour by the museum council's chairman. This reverses the
officials for succumbing to the woolly headed notion that terrorists are
educable. The museum's defenders argued that there's nothing to lose in trying.
(For reactions from the Middle East from earlier in the week, see
not lift sanctions within six months. In response, Republican congressional
focusing on a military scenario, even as they continue to question its wisdom.
cardinals who will elect the next pope. Analysts agreed that by stacking this
the face," he reportedly testified that he hadn't exposed himself to her and
didn't recall meeting her. The media used the deposition as an opportunity to
60-second ad for Mark is what political consultants call a "bio spot."
Underneath, however, it is an implicit "comparative" in which every favorable
item about Mark is an unspoken (for the moment) push off against John. The spot
attempts to define the race; it's a road map to where Mark's campaign intends
emphasizing that he's created a multimillion dollar business. He's trying, in
strategy often discussed in politics but seldom fully executed, as challengers
the future; the spot tells us this visually, not only with his looks but
off the student loans (polls show that if you had them, you better have paid
tends to resist claims made in political ads. So as this spot returns to the
present, it relies on an increasingly standard technique: It invokes
Mark deserves credit for "building the information highway." A second source is
care. The images convey a sense of compassion and inclusion: The young guy
cares about the elderly and minorities. And again, the implicit comparison with
together the "common man" theme (Mark himself replays it to camera), the
"future" theme (watch the blinking cursor), and a visual and verbal appeal to
"family" values. With this, Mark is fishing for stray conservative voters
Republicans for "another negative" attack. Initially, it doesn't even bother to
identify the substance of the attack. Survey research shows that one of the
most effective negative charges is that the other side is being negative. This
ad seeks to create a context of doubt for any and all Republican attacks on
"natural" Republican issue. Immigration continues to be social and political
dynamite, and this spot tries to take the match out of Republican hands. The
workers from "replacement" by foreign workers. The actual issue is not
explained, but the charge taps into the populist anger about stagnant wages,
picture can't be used because, in theory if not in effect, the ad is an act of
legislative advocacy, paid for by the Democratic National Committee, not the
doesn't want to be about one or two big things this year; it's not the economy
stupid. This spot is the vivid expression of a strategy of many tactics. There
"International Papers" rounds up reactions and analyses from some
named the best team in the coaches' poll. Commentators went on debating which
Sentimentalists groaned that the Chiefs had choked again. Cynics predicted that
the Broncos will advance to the Super Bowl, where they will choke again.
"Sen. Pothole." Pundits look forward to a vicious primary fight with Rep.
Office of Government Ethics rendered the fund impotent, leaving the poor
friends are setting up a new legal defense fund to circumvent the restrictions.
biggest tightwad in Congress with taxpayer dollars" by his chief of staff. The
jaundiced moral, according to the Associated Press: "Them that has, gets."
probe is now turning a profit for the government, undermining Democrats'
restrictions on political speech over the Internet. The rules forbid
defamation of the government, transmission of state secrets, and promotion of
virtually impossible. The only way to squelch subversive messages is to block
the Internet entirely, which would cripple economic growth. The optimist's
seconds left, cementing his legacy as the greatest clutch performer of all
time. Sports pundits gave the Bulls a few seconds to celebrate before
pursuit of even greater perfection. Cynics advised him to retire before the
Brill says the briefings violated Justice Department ethical guidelines because
some of the information came from witnesses who were about to give the same
guidelines and says he is authorized to brief reporters whenever necessary to
"counter misinformation" and "engender confidence in the work of this office."
by firing employees because they weren't helping the company's bottom line, was
fired because he wasn't helping the company's bottom line. "A taste of his own
actual military involvement. Skeptics argue that this is a contradiction. The
negotiated the settlement, says it will scare other companies into enforcing
and federal prosecutors are looking for grounds to execute the three whites
to pieces. The district attorney wants to justify the death penalty by adding
we treat school shootings as a national epidemic but dismiss racial killings as
privilege has already been curbed in some cases. Liberal editorialists replied
honestly to their lawyers, and they predicted the court will see it their way.
Previously vilified for inaccuracy and recklessness, Drudge is drawing
favorable reviews this week following a recent speech at the National Press
as a fierce monopoly is outdated, since its market share is under assault. As
Experts debated whether he would be remembered more for his brutal tyranny or
opportunity to restore civilian democracy. Instead, the military immediately
news: The country might be angry enough to rise up against the military. The
bad news: Lots of people might be killed in the process. (Read "International
campaign's new spot that aired two days before Bob Dole's acceptance
strategy is to highlight the cut's dangers without mentioning the benefits.
shots of the "Old Dole" filmed in the "attack colors" of black and white. It
rips Dole's economic proposal, but avoids calling it a tax cut. Instead, the
Dole footage, bolsters this idea. So does a quotation from Business
how he'll finance his "scheme" makes his plan sound like a Democratic giveaway
from the Bush recession: an empty factory; a family apparently struggling to
than you were five years ago?" and suggests that a vote for Dole would return
Medicare premiums to "help" pay for Dole's "promises." Again, there is no
we still don't know how the Dole plan will be financed. The message is driven
home as the camera pans across a doctor's office to an elderly woman in a
shown yielding the microphone to Newt. Better than any narrator's accusations,
choice will peak. Will voters go for the Dole tax cut, the Republican
who claims to have ended the Bush recession and who offers a lesser tax cut?
Framing the election around the desirability of tax cuts is risky business for
window of a darkened suburban house. Thunder claps, lightning strikes, and
is, in the desk lamp that begins to move on its own.
house activate, leaping and flying off counters and tables to the ground,
moving purposefully together across the floor. Although unplugged from their
alerts us to the promise of electricity made mobile, the next electric
revolution. Light is a metaphor for life here, with animated appliances that
inexorably drawn to Devil's Tower, where they await the arrival of
extraterrestrial spacecraft. The appliances gather in nervous expectation at
the curb, fidgeting and looking down the empty street. The vehicle that
represents the future doesn't descend, but glides down the street in a morning
distant car. We get a glimpse of the car, refracted through a blender's thick
traditional appliance to the most modern to this postmodern vehicle, which, we
assume by now, is powered by electricity, not gasoline. The toaster waddles
into the street, and the other appliances on the sidewalk fly or move closer to
the car. We hear the narrator's voice for the first and only time, the text as
spare as a biblical prologue: "The electric car is here."
responsive chords of modern mythology and ancient religion. All cars are
mobile, of course. But this new, rather squat automobile is introduced in a
both substance of the present and symbol of the future.
also reminds us of the power of television. This ad has to be seen to be
appreciated. Here, the very arrival of the product is enough to fascinate and
move us; it is almost as if the future had just happened. Unlike many
commercial and most political ads, the spot couldn't be put on radio with just
a few tweaks to the language. What would be a mundane announcement on
won the women's championship, overcoming her history of choking in the finals.
should continue to pursue "openness and freedom" but that the United States
should not simply "tell other people what to do." Analysts noted that this
China. Click here. Also see International Papers for reactions from around the
public image as a reckless zealot and removes the leverage he had hoped to use
province (which they officially control, though its population is 90-percent
populations of adjacent provinces and countries. (In 
exposed and exacerbated the national Republican feud between social and
lives in a state of euphoria, in his own world, cut off from reality," said
disagreed on what the magazine should cover, particularly when it came to
politely invite voters to retire an incumbent, they're said to be "giving the
his 40s, then one of him in his 60s (70s?), the narrator praises the senator
record would only appear to upbraid voters for having sent him to the Senate a
the thoughts of his constituents by now: "We appreciate all he's done." But
brought out of the attic of memory, aging before our eyes.
argument. It begins with a tight shot of an open book featuring two photos of
he's an old man working out, trying to hang on. The camera cuts away to reveal
that the reader is Close, sitting in his own living room. Literally closing the
more conventional, but Close's every appearance, in vivid color, completes the
case. At what appears to be a Chamber of Commerce lunch, he chats with a woman
in entirely positive terms. Next we see Close in a country store, pledging,
does well. "I, too, will provide great constituent service."
identification in the South, and Close can't risk conveying, visually or
worries. Thanks to his record, he is at liberty to build bridges to blacks
that a younger version of the senator should replace him. These two points are
efficiently fused together in the last scene, in which Close is surrounded by
his very young, very contemporary family. The narrator gets the last word:
President campaign produced the classic "Daisy Ad," which successfully cast
name. The ad juxtaposed a little girl counting the petals on a flower with a
the Republicans extract (esoteric) revenge with The Threat for the spot
aired, the Dole campaign gleefully revealed that the spot was a feint: It was
at a cost of millions of dollars. But the feint also fooled the news media and
documentary monochrome, The Threat moves from its defining
playground using, buying, or being tempted by drugs. The narrator cites two
incontrovertible facts as the front page of the New York Post ("TEEN
children continues, the narrative glides explicitly to the character issue:
that surgeon general is long gone, the Dole strategists assume that this is the
waffling is that he is a moderate, pragmatic politician. The negative spin is
that he suffers from character flaws. The Dole ad, naturally enough, pushes the
change his mind." The Threat stimulates viewers to ask the question the
ends with an abbreviated nod to Dole's slogan, "A Better Man for a Better
voters deserve it or not, we're likely to hear a lot more in coming spots about
Republicans accuse each other of lying about their respective Medicare
proposals. In fact, neither side is lying: Each selectively cites facts and
offers proof. The Republicans say they want to limit the increase of Medicare
of growth; the president wanted to cut, too. The Democrats maintain that the
Republicans' increase in spending is below the rate of medical inflation (the
Republicans respond by pointing to the general rate of inflation). The
would have prevented millions of seniors from choosing their own doctors, and
would have denied coverage for services like diabetes blood tests (which
Republicans know that Medicare is not their issue. Voters are more likely to
believe the Democrats on Medicare and more likely to believe the Republicans on
tax cutting, which means that there is a limit to what political ads can do to
almost entirely and engaged in a struggle to make welfare, taxes, and character
response ad that actually and almost exclusively responds. Fool is
entirely defensive, despite the obligatory knock on the other side's accuracy.
that not only references, but reinforces the charge that Dole sought to cut
Medicare. The second scene even shows Dole with the singularly unpopular
opening is frontal, audacious, maybe foolish, but the Dole strategists
obviously decided to take the chance. The red "Wrong" stamped across the scene
is a standard technique that does little to detract from the effect of seeing
part, because some inside the campaign thought it was too defensive and raised
double meaning: That's what you are if you vote for him.
political ads is a weekly feature of Slate during the election
conservatism before his time. Liberals congratulated him for repudiating the
religious right in later years. Pundits, starved for candor among today's
world treaty to limit the nuclear programs of all nuclear powers. The good
known nuclear powers will never agree to a nondiscriminatory treaty. Instead,
liberal pessimistic line: Sanctions won't solve the proliferation problem. The
conservative pessimistic line: Treaties won't solve it, either. The nonpartisan
were trying "to attack me when I am overseas trying to be helpful."
The alleged offenses: abusing its monopoly power and using pressure tactics
against uncooperative computer makers. Future charges may include predatory
to the majority Protestant North. Editorialists cheered the vote as a rejection
rejected the argument, advanced by the Secret Service and by President
evade the Secret Service personnel who are supposed to protect them.
that only half the legislature's seats were available. The rest are chosen by
organizations from which most voters are excluded. The fully sophisticated
spin: Despite getting ripped off, the democrats have secured a political base
has been used to prosecute pregnant women who imperil their fetuses by using
arguments, but the media are spinning the court's action as a victory for fetal
more year, preferring to leave the audience wanting more. Critics appointed the
show to the pantheon of Zeitgeist landmarks, alongside I Love
health minister banned the practice (removal of the clitoris and sometimes the
authorizes mutilation "as an individual right" beyond the reach of government.
Advocates of women's rights think the ruling will help defeat the practice
killed four. According to scientists, humans have no natural immunity to it,
but they also don't transmit it easily. Experts from all over the world have
year after falling out of football, answered the Giants fans' jeers with a
Experts explained the manslaughter verdict as a finding of recklessness, not
premeditation, but puzzled over how to reconcile this with the conspiracy
conviction. The prevailing theory: an awkward compromise among the jurors. Best
Prosecutors get another chance to win a murder conviction and death sentence
case's peculiar combination of glamour and sleaze. As a New York Times
editorial put it, "if there were ever a case in which pregnancy really did
jeopardize one's ability to do a job, surely this was it." The plaintiff's
defense argument: That was the job description. The punch line: She won the
case by looking sexy while pregnant throughout the trial, thereby convincing
him to life in prison. He has been linked to scores of other murders, in
of force and the tragic loss of life was wrong." He also advocated free speech,
ruled out completion of sex so that he could technically deny they had sex.
not suffer adverse job consequences for rejecting a supervisor's advances, the
employer can be held liable unless a) the employer shows it "exercised
reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing
behavior" and b) the employee "unreasonably failed to take advantage of any
preventive or corrective opportunities." The New York Times praised the
standards for employers and might prompt them to suppress employees' civil
privilege continues after the client is dead. The media spun this as a
short shrift to the broader implications of the court's expansion of
allegations that the court was firing a shot across the bow of
the closest planet we have found beyond our solar system. The superficial spin:
It might be warm enough to support life. The sophisticated spin: It probably
can't support life, but its discovery indicates there may be billions of other
planets near us. Meanwhile, other scientists say they have found bacteria
living in Antarctic ice, raising the possibility that life exists on planets
deals, it will finally deliver some of the competition that was promised after
the industry was deregulated. (For a less sanguine view of the potential
features to Windows that provide "advantages unavailable if the functionalities
are bought separately and combined by the purchaser." Analysts agreed this
they wanted her out because she was stiff and amateurish and wasn't helping the
client. Normally, a spouse's endorsement spot doesn't do much beyond making a
candidate feel good. If your wife or husband isn't for you, who is? But
woman in the soft yellow suit who's sitting casually in what appears to be her
living room. The smooth, slow camera movement through the spot imparts a degree
of visual variety without disturbing the intimate mood. The surface simplicity
attempts to make three separate points, all of them critical to the Dole
oasis in a desert of attack ads on both sides. But it, too, is intended to be
negative: phrases like "doing what's right" and "living up to his word" play
to deal with one of Dole's central political weaknesses, a gender gap that
successful in her own right, and except for her politics a poster woman for the
"Ms. Generation," tells us that her "husband" has strong commitments on
domestic violence and equal retirement benefits for women.
here. It moves swiftly and smoothly to Dole's most fundamental problem, his
loss of credibility on the tax issue. In part because his campaign ads dealt in
drugs and character in the weeks after the Republican Convention, voters
suggests that he wouldn't propose the tax cut simply because it was easy or
us? It helps. After all, would this lady lie to us? And we know she's too smart
to be fooled. Just for insurance, she returns to the implicit comparison with
sharpness of the message woven through the softness of the image recalls Carl
from, where, as he said in his acceptance speech, a man is very small against
the sky. Dole, the picture says again, is from the heartland, the land of plain
people to decide are true: "Bob Dole will cut our taxes." This last scene is
curiously disconnected from the preceding conversation with our friend
its claimed attributes is actually remarkably low, and that the research
"proving" the efficacy of the ads is largely controlled by the ad agencies that
made the ads in the first place. (That's mild, by the way, compared with what
the commercial advertisers say about the quality and ethics of political
exception to this rule. Batteries are practically a commodity, but the
reliability in the public consciousness. The Bunny is now almost a cultural
artifact, and if the "keeps going and going" message is to be extended, it must
be restated in ways that build on the image without boring the viewers.
from a television set showing the Energizer Bunny in action, we see a group of
the women: Don't they buy batteries?) The group piles in and sets off down the
"gone days without seeing anything." Here and later, the borrowed images from
Twister are amplified by the searchers talking not to the viewers, but
one of the searchers expresses the frustration inherent in any search for a
that are the talismans of an entire subculture. The searcher insists that the
photo is real, that it is proof: "Right there you can see its ears and its
searchers is in a field, trying to capture an undeniable video of the rabbit.
north instead of south. The next scene is a closer rear view of the truck, the
radar antenna relentlessly turning. Look closely: Is that a set of rabbit ears
subliminal image tells us, but not the searchers, that they may have missed the
spotted the Bunny, the group clambers out of the vehicle, shouting and firing
these guys aren't that many years distant from: The hare is beating the
and going." That might also serve as a mantra for the '90s generation, seeking
the constantly moving targets of meaning and success.
that just keeps going. Woodchuck refrains from identifying the product
because it's selling the name of the product, not the product itself. And if
you don't think the names of commodity products matter much in the marketplace,
intentionally quiet images never get in the way of the message. Made by Don
of the campaign laws, which now count Dole as out of money. The ad is presented
(just barely) as legislative advocacy for (just nominally) the Republican
"tax relief no matter what we do." We can almost see him biting his lip. This
that their taxes have been raised. People nearly always believe their taxes
increase in history." But the Republicans offer it without fear of refutation,
visual for "increased taxes on Social Security," and so on. The series
culminates with a generic photo from a backyard barbecue and text that alleges
staples of political advertising. So is stamping a negative description, in
condemnatory scarlet letters, across an opponent's picture: "Broken Promises"
between the narration and the words written across the screen at the end. The
waste. The screen, to satisfy the law, concludes with a dash of legislative
seek an independent counsel. Pundits expressed disappointment but no surprise
distraction from newly released notes suggesting that White House officials
counted on the Federal Election Commission's inability to enforce
distraction from the real scandal: that he intends to do nothing with the job.
get a break in the vetting process because he was a big political donor? The
new spin: Politicians are exploiting the scandal for partisan advantage rather
meeting with a denunciation of the United States and its military presence in
billion on paper. The reason: a disappointing earnings report. Oracle blamed
for the whole technology sector. Contrarians called it a buying opportunity.
government to facilitate grant applications for studies on medical marijuana,
The old mission: waging nuclear war against a superpower. The new mission:
deterring nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare by lesser powers
is debating whether to cut its conventional forces and authorize first use of
its nukes as a substitute deterrent (as the United States will still do).
properly making users bear the cost of these calls. Former federal drug czar
the city's first nonwhite mayor but conceded that he will change almost
of their companies. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that nearly
month and that a thousand Wall Street executives are expected to get bonuses
for a year. The reason: He threatened during practice to kill his coach, choked
again. It is the stiffest penalty for insubordination in sports history.
pleaded no contest to carrying an illegal gun. Sports pundits applauded
heartily. The sunny spin: Finally, lawless superstar athletes are being reined
spineless team would have signed him. The fully cynical spin: He'll make
announcing that he will relinquish the chairmanship of the Senate Armed
superficial spin: The even split of many of his assets vindicates her argument
and bodes well for corporate wives. The sophisticated spin: His ability to hide
the majority Protestant North. Editorialists cheered the vote as a rejection of
past violence and an embrace of peace and cooperation. Click for a
rejected the argument, advanced by the Secret Service and by President
evade the Secret Service personnel who are supposed to protect them.
that only half the legislature's seats were available. The rest are chosen by
organizations from which most voters are excluded. The fully sophisticated
spin: Despite getting ripped off, the democrats have secured a political base
groups was based on narrow arguments, but the media are spinning the court's
It's the biggest lottery jackpot in world history, though after taxes it turns
professor calls lotteries "a tax on the mathematically challenged."
the price of cigarettes (thereby ostensibly discouraging youth smoking) by
imposing half a billion dollars in fees on tobacco companies to support
far, critics have offered amendments to cap lawyers' fees (defeated) and
increase the price hike (defeated). Pundits think the bill will pass
promoting technology trade with China at the expense of national security.
in the United States were knocked out by a satellite malfunction in
space. The technophobic spin: This is what we get for relying on gadgets. The
International Monetary Fund and the United States are bailing out South
thought and because, without the bailout, the crisis might spread to Japan and
serious because if it were, the Cabinet wouldn't have approved it so decisively
it (thereby appeasing the United States) without having to fulfill it (thereby
of defense experts and former military leaders accused the Pentagon of
gross strategic errors in battle planning and weapons procurement. Among the
comfortable fight we'd prefer to wage (Air Force bombing) instead of the messy
Analysts agree that the criticism is largely valid and that it will be ignored.
made hay of the story, and several congressional Republicans demanded
investigations, thereby entitling the mainstream press to wade in. The Army
eventually released the list of those getting waivers for burials. It showed
only one major donor, and he had served in the Merchant Marine in World War II.
laudably hastened its exposure as such. Democrats consoled themselves with the
Scout" journalism. Critics say he's all glitz and no talent. Media reporters
convicted of assaulting and committing the boy, but not of killing him.
previous accounts of the murder, and another of her henchmen has already been
convicted of it. Analysts questioned whether her appearance before the
commission, which was supposed to help revive her political career, might end
telling one of his mistresses that his wife deserved a husband who could "help
the royal family's ability to raise her children properly and accused the
tabloids of residing "at the opposite end of the moral spectrum" from the
crowed, "He is not fit to lecture anyone about morality and decency." (Also see
asleep, the grandfather clock ticks peacefully in the background, but Gramps is
too frightened to move, lest he disturb the infant. Tentatively, awkwardly, he
reaches for the television remote control and taps it. The set turns on in an
explosion of sound. The baby! The baby! The noise will wake the baby! It
as simple as the remote control. This man is technologically inept.
cacophony, Gramps puts the crying baby into the playpen. (That will only make
sonny, don't cry. Mom and Dad will be right back." A placebo: He shakes a toy
as he tries to calm the storm. As the wailing reaches a crescendo, lights go on
a picture of the baby's parents off the piano and takes it out of its frame.
doing? If he can't handle a television remote or even a doll, can he figure out
a computer? He uses the mouse to click on the picture he wants, and it rolls
out of the HP printer, enlarged and in brilliant color. This process is simple,
easy, accessible. So he can operate technology, even under stress. The
noise rushes on through all the activity, a metaphor for the challenges of the
grandfather's voice, punctuated by the ticktock of the grandfather clock. The
doesn't a contented baby make, surely? But next, we see the reason: Gramps is
wearing mom's "face" as a mask, a disguise that deceives even the dog, who does
concluding frames break away from the drama, the happy ending driving home the
HP name and the idea that with this product, the complexity of technology has
become an engine of simplicity: "Built by engineers. Used by normal people."
use the new HP printer to become a faux mother and thus accomplish one of the
we know it really wouldn't happen this way, but we are persuaded that anyone
can operate this device. The message: You don't even have to be able to play a
reflection in the water, a rumble of thunder, a sense of beauty and menace,
which the music amplifies. But there are no words. The images become all the
more powerful as the dappling of the water slows and the rain seems to
would we experience so wordless a span. Survey research urges ad makers to use
clearly his sense of relief at having to make only one powerful point. The
opening draws us in: What is this, we wonder, and what will happen next? The
the image seems almost the dreamlike product of our own minds. We see a
The narrator's worried tone fits this setting of a stone angel intimating
mortality: "What would happen if you weren't here?"
shifts to the angel (tombstone or promise of heaven?), and the spot brings us
where it would come from. Each successive question seems to echo the ones
kind of responsive chord, appealing to a different family value.
child's hand, and then, as the words invite us to wonder what would happen if
she were gone, she apparently is. Through the splashing water, across the
angel's wing, we think we see the child alone, until the mother steps clearly
back into the picture. The narration gives the answer. Something needs to be
"Life insurance" doesn't sound crass because the context itself implies not
takes the boat out of the water, and mother and child head homeward. The sky is
cloudy; is the storm returning? They walk hand in hand down the path as the
subject is inherently unsettling. Death and life insurance are not the stuff
that daydreams are made of. But this spot is visually arresting, involving, and
dramatic. We want to see it again. By the end, we are left with the sense that
whatever angels we may go to when we depart, life insurance is the guardian
angel we should leave behind. The strength of the spot is that the fabric of
its images converts the actuarial into the nearly spiritual, and raises
Papers" for reactions from around the globe. "Pundit
communications satellites by transferring licensing authority over these
Times reported that this decision overrode State's wishes and benefited,
contributions to the Democratic Party. The naive, dramatic conspiracy theory:
fourth most populous nation have provoked lethal gunfire from police. Riots and
looting have drawn tanks into the streets. More than two dozen people are dead.
that his corruption and mismanagement have ruined the economy. Everyone is
to democratic institutions. Cynics observed that there is little empirical
one Medal of Freedom. Obits called him the pop singer of the century, noting
his range, durability, and influence through Big Band, blues, and rock 'n'
in a small town. Dozens of peripheral characters mocked by the main characters
in previous episodes returned to testify against them. The spins, in order of
at other magazines for whom Glass wrote are reviewing his published articles to
who was arrested in New York last year for leaving her baby in a stroller
falsely arrested, maliciously prosecuted, and unconstitutionally deprived of
custody of her baby. Reporters noted with irony that the woman, having been
New York City officials compounded the irony by accusing her of gall.
makers of LifeStyles condoms, conducts a condom ad contest that anyone can
broadcasts the winners as its television advertising campaign, or tries to air
broadcasters can't censor ads for political candidates, but everything
amorphous standards of accuracy and good taste. So most of the ads you see on
television, believe it or not, are certified as true, defensible, and tasteful.
is computer animation. A talking skeleton holding a LifeStyles condom in bony
fingers confides that he never used a condom because he was "too embarrassed to
ask for them from behind the counter," and because he'd "feel awkward stopping
in the middle of everything just to put this on." He continues: "But then
AIDS, sex was equated with death. Before It's Too Late updates and
exploits this cultural assumption, letting the viewer play with the horror of
sex and death without really confronting it. The words aren't explicit, but the
reach for a condom. It conveys the sense that LifeStyles condoms must be a
reliable product, maybe even the best of condoms, because its makers care
enough about your health to advertise it that way. We share your fear, the ad
melodrama about the wages of illicit love. Our heroine punishes herself because
she yielded to temptation, a temptation that was probably more alluring in the
early 1980s than it is today. She meets her "out of town" guy and takes him
back to her apartment. "I woke up the next morning and he was gone," she says,
her voice cracking with emotion. "I spent the last two weeks worrying that I
woman, the secondary consumer of condoms, reminding her that an alternative to
"no" is "wait a minute," followed by a quick dip into her nightstand drawer for
drawer. Lonely and anxious to be used, the condom grows so weary of the wait
that he throws away his watch: Either the condom's owner is abstinent, or he's
careless. Sad organ music is suddenly replaced by an upbeat, jazzy score: The
owner opens the drawer and takes the package. Virtually without narration, the
spot ends with a row of condom packages morphing into the name of the
raise the hackles of the pressure groups than some of the others. For one, the
cheerful music suggest that sex is a fun consumable. The spot does leave the
viewer wondering about the rest of the story, and what tale the condom could
after it happened, saying only that the president had made a pass at her." Now
indeed mentioned a sexual advance. He wrote: "Just two weeks ago, however,
Could it be a case of confusion and miscommunication? A lot depends on the
advice: Spill your guts out, Mike! It's not as if you'll be protecting the
identity of a confidential source. Reporters, like other citizens, have an
obligation to testify. The alternative view, that reporters have a special role
of story? If you read Time you have no idea that there was an issue
hoped he'd be. But he was quite disingenuous on the subject of whether he still
recantation. What reporter doesn't have occasional pangs of doubt about
controversial pieces? Pressed on this point, Brock paused, then paused some
more, then would only say, "There may well be some truth in what [the troopers]
that is his position on the record. You get the sense that he doesn't want to
the gist of the troopers' story was false, of course, he could just declare
Chatterbox would like to pose a contrary hypothesis: in Flytrap, virtually all
frenzy" will turn out to be essentially true. Here are four of them:
Keep score at home! Add new stories to the list as they come out and get
(The same way all those ordinary voters who are telling pollsters they think
course, even if all the "feeding frenzy" stories turn out to be true, by the
time they are proven true the public may already have come to the unshakable
conclusion that they're suspect, or the public may be so accustomed to the
scandal that it doesn't care. This is the genius behind the "knock it down
president's function is to be a "role model," as opposed to simply an effective
president. Alas, the evidence keeps coming in that the "role model" effect is
to undergo that radical procedure rather than have a less drastic "lumpectomy."
influenced substantially by the behavior of celebrity role models." And sexual
"Let me say that there is a lot of talk about personal responsibility. What
we have to do is practice it. There's a lot of talk about valuing family and
work and community. What we have to do is value them."
Chatterbox is already feeling occasional pangs of doubt about all of the
in the campaign, that some of the rumors about the governor were true and that
the Flowers story might just be one of them." (Indeed, the core of Flowers'
candor that they crashed on a bed together, "too numb with fatigue and despair
interview? If you persist in foisting a candidate on the nation in the face of
asking"?) was the equivalent of the journalists' "reckless disregard of
disappear from the market." Wrong! says Chatterbox, in its best John
"People have tried to suggest they are former friends, but when the dust
money like that? Nothing, at least in Chatterbox's book. Brock apparently
someone who wants a story written paid him to research the story. When the Ford
money to freelance journalists every day, at least that has (unfortunately)
been Chatterbox's experience. It's especially implausible that Brock "didn't
remember" the payment when he had just finished writing what was supposed to be
a confessional article detailing his own journalistic missteps in the service
call asking for comment. Here Chatterbox goes the extra mile to be fair, and
relatively good news contained in the overall admissions figures for the entire
it always does, to offer qualified students rejected by their chosen campuses
Chatterbox's paranoid fears have been borne out! This will only encourage him.
Some readers wondered why Chatterbox made such a big deal about the delayed
university itself recalculated the 8-campus figures to eliminate this
to students who have overcome economic hardships. "This shows that economics
university has eight campuses in all. Students who don't get into one campus
sometimes get into another one. And today, two days after the release of the
number may be misleading, since it doesn't include blacks who chose not to
check the optional box declaring their race. Indeed, the large increase in the
number of students declining to give their ethnic origin was one of the more
right. Presumably they're both right: Black and Latino admissions fell most at
And why couldn't both sets of figures have been released on the same day?
Why release the "bad news" first, then let the "good" news out two days later
a bad story." He says the release of admissions data has always been left up to
the individual campuses, and it simply took a couple of days to calculate the
a good bargain, because those who are admitted won't have to worry why. If the
interviews and making television appearances that he's had no time to write his
Press how Drudge's face seems to curve from top to bottom like a giant
MUCH CHATTER about what a relaxed good mood Vice President Al Gore
"carry special clout" because "he is one of the Senate's most respected
members, seen as a leader on matters of ethics and values." In truth,
see he strongly dislikes, if not loathes the president. He may have good reason
for this disdain, but it means his resignation talk doesn't carry much weight
a very cheap shot against Hart, and my guess is that he is gloomy over the
whole mess, not experiencing any schadenfreude." If so, Hart is a bigger man
perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars. Second, various federal laws imply
must pay. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the value of these special
than earned his fantastic paycheck. Mainly, he uses traditional methods--
checks to neighborhood groups. (Chatterbox himself once managed to cadge a
chairmanship is another weapon in his PR arsenal. It's pathetically easy to
when he managed to distract attention from his corruption by playing classical
and simultaneously cozies up to a journalistic institution that could do it a
lot of damage. (Can you imagine the Post sponsoring a concert series
government enterprises when they need to be defended, and criticize subsidies
borrowing to offset the effect of the implicit federal guarantee. Economist
"catalyst for community development." Don't you want to squash them like bugs?
has always preserved its lucrative privileges in part because it's a pretty
obscure agency. Now you present a big, juicy public target. What if some
hit on and didn't have affairs with? Does he score every time? When Chatterbox
to be concerned about ridding the White House of Bush holdovers when her
become tedious. Initially the issues were legion, the ramifications seemingly
kaleidoscopic, the players unsure of their positions. There were traitors and
and many who were simply confused and bemused. Now things have settled out,
along binary lines that are all too familiar. "Everyone lies about sex." "But
winning this argument; nobody wants to have this argument again. Were somebody
other room as surely as if that someone had said "Let's build the bridge to the
people in the capital need to choose up sides in order to do their jobs, in
part because the only thing more boring than having an opinion on Flytrap is
much about Flytrap in the first place, opinions may be much less dug in, more
tempted to conclude that Flytrap is over because it is bored with the scandal.
divorced, and their divorce papers contain a lot of interesting information,
extensive selection of adult magazines. Chatterbox heard about this from a
for the name of the newsstand, which Chatterbox provided. Four days before the
the story out by shouting questions at the Republican during a campaign
admitted going to the club, which he called "a cocktail place." Witnesses
Note to starving freelance writers: If you've been recruited to write
consider the rent paid just yet! Specifically, have you ever tried actually
department? Expect roughly the same effort it might take to obtain payment from
Chatterbox's theory: in the exciting new world of personal computing, you can
create unlimited amounts of paperwork without even the constraint of having to
buy the paper! ...Recommendation: Demand cash up front, before you write a
Straight to Video: Chatterbox (having been paid) was about to write
having sexual relations. But perhaps the book contained some deeper, more
attention (and that of the Independent Counsel) to the following passages:
Only what proves itself to every man and woman is so;
I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for
I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long
and provides them exclusively to readers of this column:
are more credible today than comments made recently, in the middle of a
photogenic version of the talking points might look like, presumably as cooked
up by the magazine's art department. Apparently the real talking points look
report as follows: "At a dinner party at a producer's home, which took place
somehow tainted because she's been out to get the president all along. But if
instead looked "flustered, happy and joyful." Certainly it would be more
WE LOVE HIM WHEN HE'S ANGRY: Is Chatterbox alone in feeling that
ingratiating, good humored sales job. Something really seemed to be at stake.
that since the voters didn't care about Flowers, "an implicit bargain was
implicit bargain was this: Since the voters didn't care about Flowers, they'll
let him get away with it again. That's the problem with those "implicit"
her to 'lie' about what had happened in order to give credibility to the
You now find it completely plausible that she herself smeared her
But the mere existence of the "talking points" casts a retrospective cloud over
million in insurance money after his death, and apparently didn't give
any of it to the poor client whose money was stolen. Indeed, she has
fought through protracted legal proceedings to successfully stiff him. Is
it must be a heady thing for the president make a pass at you, even an unwanted
may have been "joyful" that she was going to get the job she desperately
as if he were the heavy in some "How to Stop Sex Harassment" training
impeachment. The new Gore strategy apparently calls for Gore to be as annoying
implement a midnight brainstorm of his: Putting a continuous, live image of
weather is slow, so it's not like there is perceptible motion. It is about as
exciting as watching the grass grow." Sort of like watching the vice president
demographers discussing overpopulation; and a proposal to have "students of the
bit about having students gather daily environmental information isn't phony.
told her to lie, made her look as if she'd just tried out a vacuum cleaner on
to quickly secure the competing food source. Readers should simply be aware, as
they weigh what they are told, that each magazine has an incentive to
few bones in the hope of gaining his cooperation, or that Time won't
editors are among those who have been privileged to receive the White House
sexual and probably inappropriate relationship that was, alas, never actually,
not for a New Republic -style "magazine of opinion." He gave his opinions
readers were somehow misled into thinking they were getting a dispassionate
perspective. But any New Yorker subscriber who didn't realize that
capper, the first of what will probably be many righteous editorials denouncing
the program. It happens that workfare is an old hobbyhorse of Chatterbox's.
Chatterbox thinks it's the key to successful welfare reform (which is the key
place yet. He'll have to do better. As for the rest of the series, let's stick
People into Private Jobs. Politicians like to say the purpose of welfare
reform is to move people "from welfare to work." That's certainly a
goal. But it's not true that unless welfare reform takes all the people on
welfare and gets them private sector jobs, it's failed. The overall goal of
of poverty and dependence." It's a culture that traps the poor in isolated,
tension, etc. To change that culture, you don't have to get every unmarried
welfare mom into a job. The idea is to establish the principle that every
family has to send somebody into the workforce. Enforce that principle,
and some of those on welfare will go to work. Other mothers may choose to live
with breadwinners and spend time with their children. Other women not on
all, postponing childbirth until marriage. Eventually, communities of
fatherless welfare families will become communities of intact, working
Even if you think the point of welfare reform is to get everyone into a
private job, that's not the immediate goal of workfare. Workfare is
usually only one part of the larger welfare reform plan. Most plans attempt to
"divert" those who apply for welfare into private jobs. They require those who
do apply to search for work. Only those who fail to find private sector jobs
are then offered workfare jobs so they can earn their benefits. Workfare, in
effect, is the employer of last resort. (A fine old liberal notion!) It's crazy
welfare quickly turn up on the tax rolls as workers. The Times has
made a big fuss about a New York state survey showing that "of the legions of
full quarter after they left welfare. Yes, we want to know how many more people
are working thanks to welfare reform. But the people welfare reform will push
most successfully into the private sector are those who now never show up at
the welfare office in the first place because they realize they'll do
better just getting a job. The survey completely misses this group.
For those who do go on welfare, the survey only counts those who then work
for private sector employers who report them to the state for tax purposes. It
report their income. It doesn't count those whose employers don't fill out the
required forms. Many employers who do file their forms do it late. Experience
Even if a single mother leaves the rolls and doesn't get a job,
remember, that doesn't mean reform has failed. She might have moved in with a
man, even gotten married. She might be getting help from friends. If former
recipients were showing up in shelters or on the streets, it would be bad news,
regular city workers once did. So? Is the work low paid? Sure. If workfare is
going to be the employer of last resort, it can't pay good, union wages, or
else half the city will go on welfare to get a workfare job. Nor did the
Times show that any regular workers were laid off or fired to make way
subpoena "repugnant to the Bill of Rights" and "a scenario that belongs in
Everyone should calm down. Can't books be evidence? If someone bludgeons
Chatterbox hopes prosecutors will be able to check whether any of its enemies
previously purchased that worthy tome. If someone blows up the United Nations,
it's worth knowing if the prime suspect bought The Anarchist's Cookbook
continues apace. Lewis has been a reliable First Amendment defender, but his
last column suggested that judges should hold journalists in contempt (and even
on gossip, speculation and innuendo." Here is an idea that really is "repugnant
irresponsible press activity is the "overwhelming television and print
of the president in the Oval Office, about which the voters are surely entitled
the end of Lewis' column you realize that yes, that's exactly what he means.
"administration of justice," Lewis is at least hewing to his prior reputation
good, here's what he'd do: Have a fresh, previously unknown woman come forward
conference. Then have her confess that it was all a lie, that she was in fact a
prospectively discrediting any women who might come forward in the future. But
statement saying she was not "aware" of any legal or ethical impropriety.
panicked White House officials couldn't locate her early in the scandal. (She
quiet!... Personally, Chatterbox would have held out for ambassador to
Private Lives of the Three Tenors." In the cover blurb, to help sell books, she
when he has so many safer, legal ways to achieve the same end? For example,
getting her a lawyer, who, like all lawyers, would let her know her full
she was about to perjure herself at his request and b) his help could be
construed as a bribe to facilitate the perjury? Or would he have helped her if
and deposed in a friendly manner, would be one less problem.
When the conservatives in Congress gutted the National Endowment for the
Arts, they predicted that art patrons from the private sector would come
forward to fill the ensuing culture gap. Balderdash, said the art community.
Without actually viewing them, Chatterbox can't comment on whether or not
these are great paintings, but we are prepared to judge these works by their
were statesmen, bringing compromise and tact to everything that they did. Also,
Resolution, we're not so sure about. This painting depicts the Gulf
Making the strongest argument for the return of the National Endowment is
The Four Statesmen, depicting everybody's favorite '70s political hacks:
All these insults have been covered in the press. What hasn't been
unreliable, according to Automobile magazine. The magazine reports that
smell of burning oil wafted into the car. When we pulled over, a small bluish
cloud enveloped the engine bay." After this and other experiences
Is Chatterbox obsessed with Flytrap? Yes. Is this obsession justified?
don't care much about Flytrap because they've known the rough contours of
president, especially considering the alternatives. Chatterbox fully expects
about them to the press and public. We didn't quite know the unhesitating grace
deceive the courts. Hey, honey, you don't have to turn over those gifts if you
no longer have them in your possession! (It was especially shocking to see
that doesn't mean he necessarily lies about Social Security. The slope isn't
under oath about sex he also lied about Whitewater? About what was given in
exchange for campaign contributions? Maybe it stops somewhere, but where?
hypertrophied faith in his ability to pull anything out of the fire with a
been proven wrong, since the election, on the "fast track" trade issue, and
annoying, cloying quality of the modern babble about "role models." He's right.
presidents a lot, and in exchange we ask them to be a little better in
the moral example department than the rest of us. (See this piece by
latitude in moral and criminal matters goes with the president's exalted
powerful libidos. What's the problem?" The big chief gets many women! That's
been true through most of human history. It's not supposed to be true in
just in that we expect monogamy when the rule of history has been polygamy.
that he doesn't have to play by the same rules. He's too important to be sued
while in office. He's too important to be subject to the intrusive,
him with fleshy offerings. ("Hey, man, what's the fuss about? He gave a blow
Chatterbox always suspected that Democrats who focus compulsively on the
corporatism, of seeing society as a single body with individual human
components performing different social functions and having different, unequal
important that his prosecutors get a special right to criminalize free speech
special privileges and (inevitably) obligations, the eyes of the social corpus
nobly gathering information on behalf of poor, ignorant citizens. Better to
demonstrate his concern. "These are probably the most serious allegations yet
leveled against the president. There's no question that, if they're true, they
Is Chatterbox alone in thinking there is something strange and even
The problem isn't so much his disloyalty. Political figures turn on each other
discrediting Flowers and anyone else who tried to point out the truth, namely
rebound too quickly in our celebrity culture. But usually at least a nanosecond
through the minimal motions of holding himself accountable for misleading the
seems credible is this: if she were making up a story, she could have made up a
that somebody's going to walk in here?" Not exactly the strongest or most
plaintive objection she might have lodged. The pass itself could easily have
pregnant. But not just pregnant, pregnant with his twins! Then she told him she
would have an abortion. Then on the morning the abortion was supposed to
Then she had her friend tell him she'd had a miscarriage! Could any hack
screenwriter have milked that scenario for more drama? Contrast that with the
deal. Social Security's solvency is one of the two or three major domestic
speaks with some authority as ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
His plan was also considered radical, coming from a Social Security defender,
because it suggested using part of Social Security's payroll tax to fund
"voluntary personal savings accounts" that would supplement regular Social
Plan is something he would normally be on top of, were he not preoccupied with
investigative reporter who has been chronicling the machinations of the Vast
quality control policies were "stupid. They just won't tolerate any mistakes at
Never mind the ethics of paparazzi who torment celebrities. Bill
wildlife photographers of needlessly stressing caribou and other critters by
pictures of emerald boas eating parrots because it creates false expectations
of what the wilderness is all about. Evidence that the public has gone mad on
are approachable beasts. In fact, bears that become habituated to people
usually end up getting snuffed by rangers because they become dangerous
purchase any photos taken after that. It's not as if there aren't enough
slides of elephants a few years ago while planning a story on them.
uniquely human gift, the one talent no other creature or community possesses
Chatterbox sort of likes the idea of a president so desperate to avoid
impeachment, to demonstrate that his private behavior doesn't affect his public
conduct, that he is driven to an orgy of accomplishment. First, peace in
you got that hummer, buddy, so you better fix Medicare while you're at it. Then
replenish the ozone layer, democratize China, figure out an efficient way to
store electricity, and solve the Four Color Map Problem, and we'll think
succession," and desired a long period of "extended overlap with his successor"
leave without looking like rats jumping ship. The Post would have
Reports just published its Annual Auto Issue, which contains the most
Another news flash from the Auto Issue concerns the sad performance of the
"Voters in the Generation X pool could care less what role model their
president presents. They want someone to help them stop their kids from
You mean they have kids already? Those punks? Chatterbox is feeling
in the last paragraphs of a story on page A-21. The piece, by media reporter
(illustrated with an exhibitionistic photo of Brock in an open shirt posing as
him back in the late 1980s. The epithets? The Creep and El
adulterous affair while in the White House, but because "the girl is by many
positions of power do not exploit the vulnerable for kicks." It will also be
tapes actually contradict. As the girl who lives down the hall from Chatterbox
complains, "she gives him a blow job and then has to wait around in receiving
Chatterbox believes the dynamics of human sexuality are complex and subtle,
may be a user, but you don't get driven from office for being a user. (Name a
the he'd be "alone" after he left the White House. But that may have been the
truth. Overall, the situation must have been pretty clear. Chatterbox sides
were victims. There were victims, but they are to be found outside the
You're right, Maxim's strong point is that it's totally unsentimental
say, Hustler was, and the difference (surprise) reflects the sexual
culture of the '90s. With its belligerent grossness and misogyny,
Hustler rebelled against the establishment men's mags' class
condescension, the earnest philosophizing about the sexual revolution, the
"thinking men's sex bomb" syndrome, at the same time that it was deliberately
goading feminists. It came right out with the anger that the regular men's mags
tried to hide. Maxim pokes fun at its progenitors but with considerable
ironic affection. It's not angry. In fact, while its fondness for the most
idiotic, juvenile humor knows no bounds, any strong emotion is taboo (unless
because its basic ideas have been assimilated and are taken for granted, partly
because politics in general and feminism in particular barely exist in the
consciousness of Maxim's age group. (Whereas Gear, which retains
feminism, as in its recent piece on sexual repression in the military, in which
rape and harass women without suppressing the urge to kill that's the
and that of contemporary women's magazines seem to be converging, at least
of entitlement to the good things of life, including women, that pervaded the
the paradigm, there's a much more bluntly instrumental, "male" attitude toward
getting sex of the quantity and quality desired. Beauty is as central a
preoccupation as ever, if anything more so, but the preoccupation has much more
for some irrecoverable, primal imperfection. In the men's magazines, there's
much more of a sense that if you want women to give you the time of day, you
have to make some effort to find out what they want and give it to them. In the
old model, if men needed advice on women or sex, they got it from a male expert
like the "Playboy Advisor." Now Maxim features advice from women on such
matters as how not to give the wrong impression on a first date.
guess that part of the reason men's mags have gotten sillier is that they've
around. Regarding your suggestion that these magazines give men a safe place to
be together without their heterosexuality being questioned: That sounds like
more of a hope (on their part) than a reality. Because it's ultimately
This week's New Yorker is light on ads (Chatterbox picked it up and
You thought Flytrap was about sex and perjury? Wrong! It's really about the
Well, Gates is right about the gummy part, for sure. Three questions,
his failure to confess his own complicity in that crime. Overall, the striking
thing about Flytrap is not how much disloyalty there has been but how
aide to admit even the obvious. We're so accustomed to spin that common sense
and then proceeds undeterred. Like a thinking man's Johnny Apple, he surveys
harrumphing along the lines of "I come from an era when loyalty and gratitude
were regally honored," not like these young whippersnappers, etc. He cites
Archbishop, since he has the greater social contribution to make." [Gates'
words.] In Gates' essay, those who would favor a stand of principle over the
antiwar dissenters, anyone who says "I often place my duty to society above my
their own dear mothers burn to a crisp with nary a second thought while they
at the expense of family and group ties ("the intricately reciprocal character
of a life lived within community"). Of course, Gates comically stacks the deck
the name of truth but in the name of some sort of obnoxious aristocratic
utilitarian arguments about the overbalancing value of the president's "greater
family, "community," employer, or other social group. Is it really such a great
thing? Loyalty, in this sense, has given us wars, racism, tribalism and
genocide. Selfish uniform principles have given us science, human rights, and
rest of us? By the end of his piece, Gates has subtly slipped from
and wrong without recourse to abstract principles." Anyone else is a
does. If the charges against the president are true, isn't it he who has
more loudly? Why should we spend valuable time reading the journalism of Henry
has seen On the Waterfront too many times. But should we really root for
"blurred the boundaries between mainstream and tabloid news." Blurred? The
lines have actually crossed in at least one instance. Time magazine
to the President for b___ j___." The supermarket tabloid Star was
assistant to the president for (oral sex)." Even that was too much for the
alleged romance by saying that she was 'special assistant to the president.'"
Here is a woman whose husband has been caught misappropriating funds, who must
would commit suicide before the deadline). She needs a job. She goes to see the
president, who at this moment of temporary advantage takes her into a side room
and gropes her breast and puts her hand on his genitals, saying he "always
away again. Contempt for the electorate (and democracy) among this group will
skyrocket. Some already seem practically ready to pick up the gun and join
but viewers don't want to hear it. The same goes for your average
blatantly lying, but they are constrained by popular demand and the additional
strictures of "objectivity." The inevitable result? The press will take it out
say, his Medicare numbers don't add up, expect him to be roasted for it with a
ferocity explicable only by reporters' frustration over what they perceive as
the Big Lie, but they can never admit it in public. Maybe they can't admit it
they'll keep on spouting the spin. Further study will be required on the
"I want to be absolutely clear, to the extent there is any implication or
else tried to influence her recollection, that is absolutely false and a
coach her. She just denies that he was trying to change her
somewhere else. But, as has been widely speculated, he could have been trying
within "shouting distance." In other words, he was merely schooling her in the
so snowed by the phrases "absolutely" and "slightest suggestion" that you won't
notice that what is being "absolutely" denied isn't all that much.
anyone." But of course she might not be "aware" that a semantic discussion on
replied, and from that day forth we remained the very closest of friends."
Sounds important, and Time's readers could be forgiven for getting
the impression that the magazine had discovered something new. Trouble is,
"left with the impression that there was nothing more than 'mutual affection,'"
disgruntled reject, or trenchant media analysis? You, the reader, make the
implication or the slightest suggestion that it was aware that any part of this
goes without saying that Chatterbox is also shocked and dismayed.
The press bears a heavy burden of responsibility in the crisis now engulfing
the White House. It is imperative that we not get ahead of ourselves and that
only be elected president twice, and if you serve more than two years of a term
"to which some other person was elected" you can only be elected once.) If Gore
drags it out for another year and then quits, he'll probably be so unpopular
that he'll pull Gore down with him. And he'll deprive Gore of a crucial year in
said confidently that you intend to own the magazine until "the end of Al
Gore's second term" as president. You even sacked your magazine's editor,
Amendment too, it must now be tempting to use your magazine to at least help
island's new popularity and the ostentatious displays of wealth. Less fortunate
about the president's visit this year. He also describes in detail his moments
on the island's Milk Meadows golf course. On the same page, under a Northeast
the UPS strike and on current understanding of the cosmos, but the datelines
jury to tell prosecutors whether he was saying nasty things about them? The
sound bite by characterizing it in advance as a "tirade."... The most
there are important things at stake. Imagine the respectful tone the
the grand jury. But the First Amendment issues would have been the same....
peak of the Western Hemisphere's last total solar eclipse of the millennium."
Chatterbox at first thought this was an adventurous metaphor for the way
get the joke, it doesn't belong in the paper. If Chatterbox gets the joke but
right, Chatterbox actually picked up the phone and called somebody for a
reaction. Journalism! Don't expect it to happen again...
CORPORATISM WATCH: "There is a significant difference between asking
a White House official for his sources and asking the owner of a Web page on
you're in uncharted waters." Meaning what? That Drudge has different [fewer?]
there is a difference between the two situations, and it's not the offensive
court for libel, the same way any citizen can sue another citizen for libel. If
before the grand jury (where, among other things, you're not entitled to have a
lawyer present during questioning), we'd have a different story on our hands.
under existing First Amendment precedents would have the same trouble proving
of sentimentality or pretension. The crucial lesson taught by those two
that only winners will be let into their club. In this week's Advertising
out pages in Maxim, since the readership is composed entirely of
classy anymore? The recent vogues for cigars, cocktails, and the Rat Pack were
not wistful evocations of a more civilized time; they were wistful evocations
of the last great period of big Straight White Guy fun, before the broads and
The tits in these magazines, likewise, are not there for the purpose of
issue). The photos are rarely "hot" in the manner of pornography or even in the
have been to the baby boomers. Hey, talking nasty to the president is just
given a tacit thumbs up to the president's sexual harassment of an intern (an
Chatterbox has harnessed the vast power of the Net in search of a handy,
can say is, For God's sake, stop! The contest is over!
Explicitly disobeying Chatterbox's instructions, many entries contained the
wind up the name that wins out in popular usage. But somehow we can't see the
New York Times adopting it. So Chatterbox will pass over these excellent
the president's sinfulness. Chatterbox also likes "Incredible Sucking Sound,"
off the tongue, while "Wag the Intern" rests too heavily on an ephemeral
same goes for "Intern Explorer," which might also attract unwanted scrutiny
from the Department of Justice's antitrust division. Chatterbox likes "The
Some of the entries are too awful to actually list here. Here is a list of
required a long explanation (you don't want to know). Chatterbox was puzzled by
another entry: "Screw You." One or two brilliant entries may have been lost
Numerous entries played on the names of the special prosecutor
submitted by at least four readers, actually packs quite a bit of info about
That leaves a few slightly more anodyne but serviceable (sorry) entries.
unlucky people or objects, and it sounds great in French. But Chatterbox
prefers "Flytrap." It's short. It makes at least a bit of a joke. It can
(not completely incompatible) possibility that the whole thing was a vicious
setup. And it was only submitted by one reader, as far as Chatterbox can
dared to share their good and, more courageously, their bad ideas.
or production assistant is charged with combing through it to remove any errant
nuts; then he or she has to swaddle the chicken in paper towels and squeeze out
him and spread over the chicken. If he spots nuts or excess grease in his grub,
the show is ruined! During commercial breaks, he will harp about the botched
The retired Grease Monkey says that the only time there was absolute calm on
If you are an Al Gore supporter, pray for a mild winter. This is the message
article explains why the doubling of oil prices this year has failed to disrupt
the economy. The reasons cited include: the shift to natural gas and coal; the
growing relative importance of the service sector; more efficient futures
markets that allow manufacturers to lock in low prices for fuel; more
current effort to cut production. Even so, when you factor out inflation and
But let's take a look at that "to be sure" paragraph. A "to be sure"
significant caveats to the story's main hypothesis. (Nowadays at the
"to be sure" paragraphs, but here's the one that interests Chatterbox:
The real test may be yet to come. If industries stock up on fuel ahead of
the New Year or a lengthy cold snap grips the Northeast, some analysts think
Gulf War. That scenario worries some economists. If prices reach that height
and stay there, "economic activity slows, and the trade deficit worsens," says
Remember recessions? These were economic downturns, once thought to be
cyclical in nature, that caused unemployment and general unhappiness. They
from the Oval Office. Assuming that recessions haven't been rendered
be extremely inconvenient for Al Gore, whose platform essentially boils down
That's where the necessity for a mild winter kicks in. If a frigid winter
pushed oil prices high enough to trigger a recession, it would be very bad for
temperature stayed warm, there would be no oil price spike, hence probably no
recession. This is the sense in which Gore is an ironic beneficiary of
jeremiads about for several years. (There is a complex argument that also
blames cold snaps and other forms of extreme weather on global warming, but for
simplicity's sake Chatterbox will ignore it.) An added benefit of a warm
winter, of course, would be that it would make it clearer than ever that Gore's
If you are a Gore supporter, however, please do not interpret this to
order to dump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Most obviously, reducing
carbon dioxide emissions is more important than electing Al Gore president.
Secondarily, it probably wouldn't cause the Earth to warm up quickly enough to
And, finally, if lots of people suddenly increased the number of miles they
drove in their cars, oil prices would of course shoot up and create the very
risk of recession that Gore supporters want to avoid.
wouldn't be looked on favorably during a recession triggered by high oil
prices. But Bush would still probably reap a net benefit from not being
isn't associated in voters' minds with the oil industry.
but as a Democrat in the general election he'd have to contend with accusations
Who died and made us the final arbiters of political virtue? Great question,
outside of the envelope). The short answer is, nobody. Reporters get to travel
around on expense account asking total strangers invasive questions and passing
another, somebody's got to ask the questions. I won't give you the whole "we're
purifying influence of the press, the United States would devolve into a
background is my emergency hyperbole alarm going off.) But if I tend to get
overwrought on the subject, it's only because there's so much noise coming from
the other side. I couldn't be sicker of hearing how Ordinary People, Folks
for the Great Unread here] have contempt for journalists. (My gut response,
seldom voiced, is: Good, now we're even.) The problem is particularly acute in
some conservative circles, where belief in the liberal media conspiracy is part
of the catechism. Polls I keep reading about claim to indicate that most people
consider journalists inaccurate and arrogant, if not simply evil.
This bugs me, and not just because it's me they're talking about. I don't
like the perception mainly because it isn't true. Inaccurate? Ever read a
But the charge that irritates me most is arrogance. It's almost always made
by politicians, and that's the really galling part. It's true that the national
press is a bit taken with itself. On the other hand, I don't know a single
governors. Not even close, actually. How many reporters do you know who
routinely refer to themselves in the third person? Point made.
embodiment of mistaken southern rape fantasies. My description of his function
in the film was just that, a description, not a defense. I intended to convey
more or less the same thing you conveyed, that his character was yet another
example of a movie's black character functioning as the absolver of white pain
I think movies work in mysterious ways, however, and if The Green
Mile reaches a large audience, not all of them, perhaps not most of them,
will share the sophistication of the members of this discussion. Most people
just go to a movie. They react to the story on levels they do not articulate to
the warden's wife will play in a positive way. They will think (not in so many
words) that appearances are misleading, that you can't judge a man by your
story are established, we know without any question or additional exposition
that he did not assault and murder the two little white girls, because no
in such a light. By and large, when black characters are presented as guilty in
films, it is only so that their innocence can be established, as a
We know that, but many members of the audience will not. The film may work
on them like a useful parable. I think that was King's intention in writing the
Has race so sensitized us that no black character can appear in any movie
without being analyzed as a black character? I do not argue that the
presented as an imposing black man, and that is one of the points of the
way his character is developed. I just say that if every black character must
be passed through a prism of political correctness, that is not fair to the
character, the actor, or the author. For example, the character of Little
uncomfortable, and yet doubtless such characters existed at that time, and
screening. I was told, however, that there was laughter and derision at a New
But let me ask you: Do you think critics should make their opinions known
publicly at a screening? My own feeling is that the film deserves its chance to
develop in the minds of its viewers before being defined in a tidal wave of
have often violated that rule in private conversations, but try never to
publicly broadcast my opinion to my fellow viewers after a screening.
and remove that splotch!" was wicked. Go to your room. I am cranky, as you can
tell, becoming more and more distressed by the people who put themselves
forward to run. And I have lots of company. We need a Candidate Quality Control
somehow seems to be unattainable and in our past. As Dick Morris quipped, "If
Rising earlier than usual this morning, I have fished out a small nugget
about the previously mentioned (by you, let the record show) Puff Daddy, or
Fluffy?" I admit to feeling sympathetic to his mishearing the name. When I was
in college (when ice covered the earth), I unfortunately became known as the
girl who thought she was working for St. Nuclear and His Policy and bragged
In an ecumenical spirit, I want to agree with Christian Coalition founder
the morals of an alley cat" but is one of the most brilliant politicians ever.
"The man is a genius, an absolute genius. He's managed to stymie the Congress."
Tomorrow I hope to return to the subjects of divorce and manners and models.
But this installment of the Breakfast Table is more like a nightcap. Tonight's
just returning from. So forgive me if I am sparing in my recounting of the
this, I am thankful. Campaign advisers desperate to spin had nobody else to
sitting in my hotel room and dashing off mail to you.)
with a straight face: Bush looked truly wobbly. Not that he did himself any
the audience penalized him for it. As he coughed out answers or recycled lines
in conflict and conversation. This seemed to piss him off even more. Afterward,
he was heard muttering something about being an "invisible man."
It's fitting that the decade ends with the best year for movies of the
would've looked like a classy move.) This year, there are three animated movies
that has moments of epic grandeur and images so primal they could be lifted
South Park is so good that the apparent problem, bringing the show's
parody that's one of the funniest movie moments of the year, is a power ballad
audacity and smarts still leave you tearing up helplessly when you try to
explain what you love about the work months later. And your friends roll their
The last few years have been a struggle to put together a 10-best list, so
when three cartoons make enough of an impact to each deserve a slot, you know
with small jokes bordering the bigger jokes. It seems perfect for that genre
that flowered in the '90s, the movie made for repeated home viewing so you can
video apology, where you try to analyze the squint as he says, "I did not have
where Woody and Buzz take a moment to go over what has happened to them, feels
like the end of a John Ford movie, and has a wonderful ease.
multiplexes, and watched the place light up with happy chatter from kids and
parents, each group trying to explain their version of the movie to the other.
have brains and velocity. Three Kings feels like it was fired from a
gun, and The Matrix generates so much excitement that it's like being
Giant to mainstream audiences. In the end, it probably does take an
like standing next to someone who got shot and getting a Purple Heart anyway.)
Though a bigger disappointment is that they were able to put Wild, Wild
West over, which is a bigger insult than the lazy samples Will Smith has
turned into a pop career. (You can almost hear him going through his parents'
mechanism of the action picture for its visceral power, and to make a point
about the callousness of action movies, a programmer with a bit of The Third
Man slipped in to make a point. It's gotta be a great year for movies when
supporting performances of the year, also directs one of the best pictures:
city's downtown area for the second night in a row. Police threatened to arrest
to contest the action in court. Is this curfew legal?
citizens and their property. (Similar powers are granted to other chief
executives, such as county commissioners, governors, and the president.) In
curfew whenever he believes that "extraordinary measures [are needed] to
prevent the death or injury of persons and to protect the public peace, safety,
and welfare, and alleviate damage, loss, hardship or suffering."
municipal laws (as most agree it will be), it could still be challenged in
federal court on the grounds that it violates constitutional rights, such as
free speech. Typically, justices defer to the judgment of the executive branch
Instead, cases are brought after the fact that seek either monetary damages
from the city or a court order barring similar action in the future.
Were free speech rights violated? Courts have deemed streets,
clearly limited the protestors' access to them. However, courts have also
determined that governments can restrict expression to a reasonable time,
place, and manner. The city might argue that this is all its curfew did, since
protestors could simply go elsewhere in the city to hold their demonstrations
without interference. But since access to the desired audience is part of free
speech, complainants could counter that restricting their location impinged on
Were continued protests likely to have led to unlawful conduct?
Federal courts have clearly held that First Amendment activities cannot be
disband all future protests.) However, if police have specific information
about future lawbreaking or reasonably believe that they would be been unable
to control an outbreak of violence, courts have sometimes allowed First
the curfew banned from downtown everyone who said they intended to protest or
who lacked another reason for entering. Therefore, the city might argue, it was
cause. However, complainants could contend that in practice it was
discriminatory: It actually affected only the group of protestors who opposed
Could the same result have been accomplished by more limited means?
Governments are required to restrict speech and other rights as little as
possible. So, complainants would likely win a case if they could prove that the
that nothing short of an outright ban on downtown demonstrations would have
delegates) would be able go about their lawful business. And they could point
protestors during the day and the limited duration of the curfew. But other
lawyers have already publicly stated that the complete prohibition of
demonstrations and the large size of the area are both unconstitutionally
conference yesterday, where he announced the development.
The coverage is largely upbeat, with only the LAT including the
and all of these mention a question near the end that seemed to have caught him
administration have gone to whites. But all of these stories run inside and
none dwell at length on the issue the question raises. With the exception, that
at the topic on its front page. The story highlights the basic fact raised (and
comes to crucial White House decisions, "women and minorities still have to
"The rule is still that when the big decisions get made, it's not as diverse a
tries to suggest important examples where this alleged ethnic skew hurt. The
the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy crafted by her husband to govern gays in the
military was a failure, and that if elected she would work to overturn it. The
the policy. The paper further reports that at the event the first lady also
effectively banned gay marriages. The Times runs the story next to
pictures of the killer and the killed in the case of an Army private convicted
yesterday of murdering a fellow soldier he'd harassed for being gay.
unrelated bank robbery charges. A theory being pursued by investigators, says
murder. This means, explains the coverage, that the jury does not believe the
state decided not to issue a stay of execution for the man and instead put him
and so technically not in on the decision, the paper reports that a Bush
spokeswoman confirms he agreed with it. Wackiest detail reported by the
officials used an airplane staffed by medical personnel to ensure that he
Counters Autism" even though the story goes on to explain that the drug worked
story the paper runs about a credit card scam targeting senior military
of his mother for a month, leaving her body in their home because he was afraid
of being sent to an orphanage, the Post goes with the bad taste headline
being now entangled with a third hardly makes up for my almost total lack of
information re the history of our people. I absolutely thought, until last
an oil lamp. Perhaps I have managed to fool a few people because I know some
yesterday afternoon where the menu was latkes and birthday cake. Of course I
Well, now that I have managed to touch on a bit of my marital history, my
religious ignorance, announcing where I live, and a zit treatment, let's push
away that plate of latkes and get serious. Now comes the part where I reveal
what I believe to be a sin: envy. How I wish I, too, could be winging to
I am probably skirting another sin, here, but I can't get away from
attractive, but he looks like he just managed to run away from his attendant.
Talk to you later. (And skip the sour cream, go with the applesauce.)
Just caught up with your postscript. In the discussion of video projection
vs. film, you ask: "What is the distinction is between hypnosis and reverie?
That sounds like mystical poetry." I first got turned on o this in Jerry
creates more of a dream state. That is one reason so many of us get restless
when a film runs for more than two hours, yet are perfectly capable of watching
My own feeling is that when a film is really working, it takes me to a
mental state that nothing on television has ever approached. Nor have I ever
felt, even on the very best video projection systems, the film experience. I am
Digital projection, of course, is not to be confused with projected
television. It does not scan the screen but organizes the material into digital
"frames." Whether these frames do the same thing as frames of film is doubtful,
pictures the lab technicians of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, with their
As for subjective comparisons between projected video and projected film, I
2k, so that both film and digital are of equal resolution. And both are half of
the normal film resolution of 4k. I would love to see them put up something
(grainier) film stock. In short, as I see it, the test of digital vs. film is
What we have here is a company (TI) with unlimited resources that wants to
take film away from us and replace it with their system. And the film community
is so technically uninterested and illiterate that there is no outcry. I myself
feel keenly inadequate on this subject. I am not technically trained. But I got
into this issue and the more I find out about it, the more disturbed I
exhibition of rock 'n' roll outfits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume
Museum. "Rock Style" celebrates the influence of rock on fashion, deploying to
that end an excess of media more often seen on the E! channel than in public
also that he served as its "principal designer," according to the press kit.
His name is printed in large white letters on the cover of the catalog, which
It was a nice coincidence that "Rock Style" should preview the same day that
the New York Times laid out in sordid detail the kinds of compromises
The Met is unlikely to suffer similar embarrassment, since its director,
control when you can just cede the hall to the sponsor?
The justification offered by museum directors for shows that double as
highbrow advertisements is, Hey, get real, that's the only way museums can
afford to get expensive stuff inside its walls. "No museum, except maybe the
museums have to retail products, solicit corporations, franchise themselves,"
years ago. "It's up to each institution to make sure that none of it affects
the content of the exhibitions or the integrity of the museum." In light of
"Rock Style" and other shows of its ilk: Does it add value above and beyond
what you'd find in a commercial for the sponsor's product, and does hosting it
In the case of "Rock Style," the answers to those questions are no and yes.
turning rock musicians into fashion models. What's notable is that the show's
horses, and without adding an iota of critical perspective.
lilac jumpsuit, all looking suitably outrageous if somewhat wilted behind
glass. The whole glorious spectacle is thrilling to look at, even absent the
performers. For the categorically minded, there is a nominal division of
after all, is supposed to be an educational institution. So what do we learn
from the show about the history or sociology or even the aesthetics of rock
How did it change once music videos made a band's appearance more important
There are no answers, because "Rock Style" 's wall captions are stunningly
many performers uphold the tradition in their music and dress," reads a typical
one. (The wall commentary at Costume Institute, which was overseen by fashion
The videos, etc., are no help either. The book exhibits a modicum of historical
consciousness; it's broken up into periods, at least. But it is also stuffed
In the end, all we have to go on are the costumes themselves. That's plenty,
quilted jumpsuit from the mid 1970s, the thighs of which are so exaggerated
they form a perfect vertical disc, then taper in neatly at the knees. Get the
expect it to add to their ability to analyze the activity they're so
obsessively devoted to. Those insights will have to wait for a less synergistic
readers to nominate events, significant deaths, good and bad movies, etc.,
for 1999--a year likely to get little attention in the coming weeks, as news
response was overwhelming. Chatterbox had promised to publish his official
finds Chatterbox's habit of referring to himself in the third person "rather
annoying and less than professional") points out that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
columnist) observed not quite one year ago that the House of Representatives
bizarre reason, slipped Chatterbox's mind until several indignant readers wrote
journalism. Fortunately, Chatterbox's readers are very good at it. He will now
include opinions he disagreed with, that standard proved too confining. Where
Chatterbox has solid information or opinions to the contrary, he occasionally
interjects below. Obviously stupid or unnecessarily sour reader comments were
discarded, but if you don't find your nominee below it doesn't necessarily mean
noted that this achievement far eclipsed the last comparably negative
Here's my nominee for worst movie of the year (complete category should
be: "Worst Movie of the Year That Assumedly Adult Male Reviewers Slathered
[Chatterbox didn't have the heart to add that he thought There's
himself in a series of debates to be a natural leader with an innate gift for
connecting with his audience, a sure sign of his electoral success next year. A
mind of a serial killer; a new Star Wars movie redefines the very nature of
would burn and piling it onto the bonfires scattered about the scene.
or love supposedly. They were all committed by "quiet, shy" people who "mostly
be referred to as the glue that held the century together. Of course, as the
However, this one singular achievement must be considered in a broader
playing in the "City of the Century" (so called by me to reflect the amazing
growth and transformation of one city during this period), who play the
playoffs, it is much harder to win today than in past years. In fact, by
winning three of the last four championships, they are the first team to
by itself has no immediate effect, it makes it respectable, for the first time,
for political leaders to discuss the subject, and thereby brings closer the day
when the vast majority of crimes will no longer be committed, when billions of
dollars will be freed to help the inner city instead of to ruin black people's
Lama proclaimed that most important thing in the world is to be
Public interest and media attention to the women's World Cup in
Presidential primary elections for the first time ever in
efforts, which are then proved wrong and immediately forgotten. This year, the
Wall Street Journal 's editorial page, which broke the story, was
of having once committed rape. The evidence there was shaky, too.
all the time, but it's still a significant development. By the way, Internet
Technology" columnist for the Wall Street Journal (and occasional
possibility at about the moment it was realized, and started lobbying for
passage of the treaty a day after it became too late.
police inform criminal suspects of their basic constitutional rights, including
the right to remain silent, before questioning them. The story is stuffed at
which goes instead with an independent investigating panel's findings that
worth much more money than the banks ever previously acknowledged. The
the highest annual percentage of scratches in the last five years. While the
story cites maintenance and labor strife as contributing causes, it quotes one
bad weather and air traffic control problems. The airline with the lowest
will be declared terrorists, subject to massive shelling and bombing. The
follow through on their threat. The papers report that in response, President
"pay a heavy price" otherwise, without really specifying further.
case: whether with the original ruling, the Warren Court was establishing a
rule of constitutional law or merely expressing its own preference for a method
the latter, then Congress could overrule the method, which would mean that a
restitution payouts. State murder and manslaughter charges are next.
could question each other, but, the paper notes, the discussion remained
president for eight years in a Hatch administration.
partners of new gay hires or to the new partners of current gay employees.
Several gay rights organizations are responding with outrage.
members of Congress. It did in fact say they are shielded from libel or slander
lawsuits based on remarks made in congressional debate and in official
reporters that they keep her on her toes and that "the First Amendment is
need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the grotesqueries in another
stimulated some thoughts about his presidential legacy. Asked who he would name
libidinal ones; he has an unattractive tendency to blame other people for his
problems; he has a terrifyingly effective gift for misleading and,
occasionally, telling outright lies. People who work for him rarely come away
from the experience with a high opinion of his character. Chatterbox continues to
believe that the nation (and, without question, Al Gore) would have been
smart, too, but they weren't particularly good presidents. As the former Carter
article, "The Passionless Presidency," Carter had a habit of deploying his
intelligence toward pathetically small matters like deciding who could use the
someone whose brain (unlike other parts of his body) seems always to be
deployed in just the right places, shining light on an astonishing variety of
important matters. (Check out his comments at yesterday's press
some people have mistaken for brilliant leadership).
There are many smart people running for president this year, but none of
and so well. Anyone who's ever read Al Gore's Earth in the Balance knows that Gore's formidable
intelligence is a clunky suit of armor. (Fortunately, when Gore isn't in his
temperament, is impulsive in the best and worst senses. (For an example of the
will miss his brain, and that will be missing a lot.
tapes and that seven tapes are missing. Lee is not specifically accused of
all counts the government must prove that he intended to injure the United
States and benefit a foreign power. The Post explains that the
indictment might be an attempt to squeeze new leads out of Lee. The charges
carry life sentences. Lee's attorneys claim he is innocent of wrongdoing. A
join, Turkey must improve its human rights record by abolishing the use of
voting not to extend an offer of accession to Turkey. None of the papers note
become a 28-nation union that encompasses nearly all of central and eastern
complications. The Post and LAT reefer their obits.
heart palpitations, the candidate cancelled a campaign appearance and three
LAT reefers the story but notes that health questions dogged the late
received mild electrical shocks to treat his arrhythmia on three occasions
Wilderness programs for wayward kids are the latest frontier of the therapy
rehabilitate troubled teens by forcing them to brave the rigors of the great
age, but there is every reason to surmise they won't be here for long. Their
Building has only a decade or two to go before it falls over. Thinking
Building. Chatterbox is far from the only person with a strong attachment to
the skyscraper; in an essay in an earlier millennium issue of the Times
Eventually, Chatterbox got sufficiently worked up thinking about the
who reassured Chatterbox that when he wrote those words in the Times
that," he said. (Among other things, the bronze is oiled annually.) "If you
take good care of them, they can last for quite awhile." This seemed somewhat
but Chatterbox decided to let that go. Instead, he asked precisely when one
Chatterbox next phoned the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of
current construction, not construction for its day and age." He added
(without my asking) that the computers that now run the elevators and the
will the building keep standing there? "This building was constructed of
materials that should last more than a lifetime if you and I are going to live
course, he wasn't taking Chatterbox very seriously.
of the added costs. In fact, says the paper, workers' contributions to their
diplomatic development has provoked "shouting matches, shock and hope among
explains that the next internal political hurdle is a referendum on territorial
The Post says that both the government and the opposition may bring in
surrounding that conviction of an Army man for murdering a gay fellow
should be abandoned. The paper calls this Gore's "sharpest public break" yet
position Gore had been taking as recently as this past weekend. Gore aides
months. The paper also reminds that this controversy underscores the importance
of the gay vote in Democratic politics but could cause difficulties for
Gore's statement comes as the Secretary of Defense ordered a Pentagon
investigation to determine whether homosexuals in uniform are being harassed.
The investigation raises a question that is only lightly touched on by the
papers: How can it work without violating the current policy wholesale? After
all, an investigator can't ask soldiers if they are being harassed for being
gay without in effect "asking" them if they're gay, and a soldier can't tell an
investigator that he is being harassed for being gay without "telling" the
its proscription of homosexuals in the service in favor of a policy that will
attack. Both Times remember to get past the famous war book's humor to
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms says he thinks the prime suspect in
for making improvements to the vice presidential official residence. (The story is based on a
report coming out today from the Center for Public Integrity.) Gifts include a
billiard table, a hot tub, and landscaping. Donors include individuals (not
companies have issues of tremendous financial consequence currently being
University to get his explanation that it's very natural for human beings to
shorten words. Kraut, by the way, or so the Post informs, is "professor
Times quotes one attendee as enthused about the personal relationships
the meeting and held a press conference ominously urging people not to "get
carried away about new dawns and new days having arrived in Northern
pretty much subsiding, there was a chance to focus finally on the discord
inside. The LAT refers to the meeting as a potential "fiasco." The most
the week that countries failing to meet basic labor standards might be subject
negotiation position does not include the sanction idea.
signed a bill banning extreme conditions of child labor, citing as he did so
treaty. This too, the paper adds, was a cause of upset, with developing nation
evening as focusing most of its energy on testing Bush, especially on taxes and
news box word that the Justice Department has hired a Wall Street investment
otherwise, the paper sees this as a signal that the government might be
gift. This is his marital comeback strategy. If she runs for Senate, she'll
need him to raise money. If she runs, she'll lose. If she loses, she'll need
I agree with you entirely about the Times versus local newspapers. As
a little money and a few pounds of trash per week by getting the Times
only on weekends. But right from the start, we went into serious Times
like its local reporting, but its foreign coverage doesn't compare to the
put together an attractive and readable paper. They still haven't figured out
weekly section, the way the Times does. However, thanks to the Internet,
I have been indulging my Times addiction for several years now without
any additional cost or trash (it makes me wonder how many other people are
doing the same, and just how much money the Times has lost as a
As you say, we're supposed to be talking about the news. But what has been
most interesting to me about the news in the past few months is what has
such a big, greasy, nauseating chunk of scandal to swallow that the politicians
and chattering classes subsequently lost their appetite for the stuff, at least
Permanent Floating Scandal. There always seemed to be at least three or four
scandals, not to mention the extra, auxiliary scandals around half the cabinet.
More to Come, and how this might all ultimately Bring the President Down.
But since the Much More came, and several additional, large, indigestible
helpings on top of it (and still the president didn't fall!), it's as if the
press and the politicians have gone on a scandal diet, sneaking in only an
last two years in office seem certain to be more free of scandal than Bush's or
coverage has changed. I certainly haven't seen much recently of the prestige
dignifying with our attention these allegations about presidential fondling, as
detailed in the following 62-page special report (and make sure not to miss the
amazing revelations from the alleged victim's college roommate about her
attitudes toward oral sex!)." Instead, the tone has been pretty
scandal, the more careless powerful people will get, and eventually one of them
will get blown up in a big, juicy affair which will have the politicians and
pundits joyfully going off the diet and gorging on all the sordid details.
legal and going on all the time. Do you think there's any chance that the
media's temporary diet will encourage more reporters to look at this other kind
gotten to the news, either (like father, like son?). So why don't you
sidekick, you would have mistaken his speech for the opening monologue of a
any problems with socialist, pinko commie bias of his news organization, you
Every line is a wisecrack. And it's delivered in a deadpan style that seems
is somebody who has seen the worst of life and knows that much of the garbage
have had presidents with tempers before, but have we ever had a president who
somber guy and Dole was a horrible candidate. Being president is a serious
business, and I wonder if it's wise to install a jokester as leader of the free
Meanwhile, the National Review online is reporting that a Dean
research team must have been working overtime on that one.) "Candor" and
about this organization for years without ever being invited into its inner
apparently the first online publication to be included in one of these
known as "The Dean" to all and sundry. The Dean takes his journalistic
responsibilities very seriously. He has spent the last three years living on a
hog farm outside of Cedar Rapids in preparation for this year's caucuses. The
Anyhow, the Dean called the meeting to order and explained that the
conspiracy had only a few hours to choose the winner of the debate. He said he
thought the committee had made the right decision in handing the previous two
He added that he thought the committee was making healthy progress toward its
tonight's debate, but he wondered whether Bush might be criticized for
about himself in the newspaper. Why not order up a question designed to provoke
It's the one that says all new evidence has to confirm established personality
committee might decide that this was not a serious problem later in the
campaign, it couldn't suddenly give him a new drawback without any advance
against each other in the primaries couldn't very well have the same character
show some improvement in tonight's debate. He said that some groundwork needed
my lunch." This was not a literal reference to the capon carcass resting on the
platter in front of him but a metaphor for "invading his journalistic turf."
Apple sees it as his sole responsibility to establish the conventional wisdom
and rejects any attempt by the rest of the media conspiracy to assist him.
"underwhelming," making one moderately serious gaffe to fuel concerns about his
preparedness for office while also "exceeding expectations." She said members
could have a quick caucus during the period set aside for closing statements at
the end of the debate to decide what the gaffe had been.
So who should win, Greenfield asked? The hour for decision was drawing
violated the unwritten code against taking more than two candidates in the race
This proposal initially drew some jeers from pundits whose contempt for
Bush for the nomination. Everyone agreed that this was not a serious risk,
though Greenfield was right to raise it. "The Dean" then adjourned the
courses over the Internet leading to an associate's degree. This unprecedented
difficulties the Army is having trying to compete with the booming civilian job
Today leads with a new outside study blaming government and industry
potential recruits who show high military aptitude despite lacking a
the story doesn't address: Why is this change only being proposed by the Army?
Wouldn't it also help the other branches with their recruitment woes?
packing after being caught engaging in an eavesdropping operation against the
having set foot in the building, communicating with a bug that had been
sensitive meetings took place there during the bug's deployment.
that turned on a receiver and tape recorder in his car. The LAT quotes
one "senior official" who denies that there was a recorder involved, but also
others saying there was. The LAT says officials refuse to say whether
The LAT points out that the former Soviet Union excelled in this sort
about the Soviets' "ability to read conversations from the vibrations of window
solo while clocking the honeys in a Manhattan club. Then, as he strolled off
the stage, he strummed the neck of the guitar. Sassy and charismatic, as was
it is, as they used to say back in the '90s. Given all the trends that have
been tagged and tracked this year, and all the excitement that Roger mentioned
about films in general, it's still a troubling time for black performers. Had
contradiction in terms if ever there was one, they'd have three picture deals
what will end up being the highest profile part for a black man this year: the
movie. But to have a gentle black giant hang his head and say "Yes, Boss,"
point. Sure, the atrocities heaped on the children throw you out of the movie
of the movie is that war isn't fun and games, then it should be equally
Judging from the last two Republican presidential debates, the new big issue
in this campaign is taxation of Internet commerce. Or rather, since none of the
candidates wants to tax Internet commerce right now, the issue is who is
most committed to extending the current congressional moratorium on taxing
says he wants to extend the moratorium but won't rule out Internet taxes in the
future. In the zany context of the Republican nomination race, this makes Bush
The issue pits traditionally Republican Main Street business proprietors
they tend to rely heavily on sales taxes to fund their state
The Republican governors, of course, have it exactly right. It's totally
unfair that Internet businesses can sell their wares without making customers
their customers pay state sales taxes. A reasonable alternative to
altogether and make up the lost revenue with increased or new state income
taxes. But don't hold your breath for Republicans (or even Democrats) to
eliminating the federal income tax and replacing it with a national sales
are ignoring or minimizing whatever costs that would impose on traditional
act. As you know, this was stoutly resisted by governors, Republicans governors
as well. Don't you think we ought to make the Internet tax moratorium
Hatch: Yes, I really do. I really think that we ought to do it, because I
think it's far overblown to think that the fact that people buy over the
right over the Internet and have it delivered right to your home? She said: I
still want to go to the stores, I want to test things, I want to look at them,
booster, I am going to pretend now that Internet commerce will never amount to
they're so powerful that they can subject their customers to my new national
What a fun honor it is to swap opinions with you both,
really find it useful to rank this year's crop. Many of the really ambitious
want to salute those films that were onto something new, while recognizing that
setups (often you can see a microphone dipping and swaying at the top of the
Run was clumsy, a chunk of bratwurst. Yet of the two, it seems fresher to
I agree with you both that we're at a turning point,
has to do with it. The easiest place to look for this new creativity is
was the first year since practically forever that I didn't long for more
genuine movie stars. This was the year when the indie ensemble
supernova she's cracked up to be, but, to her credit, a chameleon character
narrow grin, ever really that great? Probably, but that's the kind of
assumption this year's films have started to call into question.)
My list of movies that felt fresh and creative but were
far from perfect, and sometimes not even so likable, is: the ensemble gem
Now let the exchange begin. Potential disagreements: I
creatively drawn. But the rest of it is hateful, and witless in a very
predictable way. There's no grace in the construction of the film, and though
(which hasn't always dated well, I might add), unlike in the Lampoon there's not much news about the culture that you don't
pornographer, and his crack team of snoops were going to blast the lid off the
hypocritical Republican Congress that was trying to impeach a president over
Hustler had compiled a "good dossier" on the speaker before he resigned
going to do next as far as his career was concerned."
Congress, shooting their mouths off, trying to take the moral high ground
Hustler 's concern was getting maximum publicity and sales for
dropped the bomb then? "That was kind of our idea." What if Newt hadn't
down anybody. We wanted to do the most for [ourselves]."
whiff of fresh scandal was the deciding factor in Newt's abrupt withdrawal from
The papers report that officials are disappointed but confident that
and "growing more glum by the hour." Assuming the Lander didn't crash, the
radio silence could be due to a misalignment of the antenna or a malfunction
Polar Lander, designed to search for ice in the Martian soil and collect
information about the planet's climate history, could help scientists figure
out if life could have existed on Mars. The papers report that the
after a failure to convert navigational instructions from English to metric
units sent the Orbiter fatally close to the Red Planet.
the work force grew by greater percentage rates over seven years--25 percent
looks for a new training site, the LAT reports on its front, the Navy
goal to eliminate export subsidies on farm products. It isn't clear, however,
main adversary in the debate, "agreed to consider eliminating export subsidies
contamination in eight months. In its lawsuit the plant claims the government
doesn't have the authority to regulate salmonella because salmonella is
destroyed during "normal cooking" and is not a "public safety issue."
convinced that anyone could be a reporter in the Internet age, is a victim of
the consolidation of news organizations into a handful of media conglomerates.
Week panelists touting the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? show
without mentioning it brings home the bacon), he singles out a certain Web
magazine for objectivity, suggesting it might gain readers' loyalty with its
and your remarks yesterday on reviewing etiquette gave both my admiration and
New York squawk and swap their opinions during or even right after a screening.
But I bet that too few them demonstrate the consideration for their readers
relationship films this year may just be a cyclical thing, I suspect.
Beautifully acted but formulaic films like Walk on the Moon suggest we
could use a fallow period, a year or two to regroup and think up fresh stories
about attraction and trust. The dearth of decent roles for black actors goes
so far on purpose. The preview was a turnoff, and not just because of the
innocent giant in cuffs. For me, the red alert was the sight of Tom Hanks
gulping and tearing up. Hanks is a supremely effective actor, I admit, but
there are times these days when I can barely stomach him. Wherever he goes, a
screen for this to happen. Did you all see the film he directed a few years
band that hits it big in the early '60s. Hanks clearly identifies with the kid,
in the film. Everything he touches turns into diamonds; he gets to steal his
best friend's girlfriend but retain the moral upper hand; everyone, even
strangers, watches out for his happiness. As long as I live, I won't forget the
ending, where a black bellhop with flashing eyes and a big smile and an
inappropriately loud, excitable voice takes it upon himself to fix up this
the liberal veneer of many a Hanks film I sense some creepy nostalgia for this
like to make to Roger is that objecting to objectified characters is not a
moral problem, and an aesthetic problem, and as I said above, at times for me
it is a visceral problem of not wanting to sit still for more of the old
Even by the abstract and deconstructive standards of the film he felt
sidekick, his decisions less closely examined and symbolically freighted and
men being on the ropes, culturally speaking. I couldn't help noticing the
unabashedly male viewpoint of many of the year's most interesting films. With
year's movies. I found it a little disappointing that something as humane and
innovative as The Iron Giant couldn't put a tiny bit more meat, or sass,
I quite agree that filmmakers are enthusiastic about the considerable
freedom given them by digital production. But then you write, "Most filmmakers
don't care if digital projection looks better than celluloid; they'd be
I think most filmmakers do care about the picture quality of their films, as
filmmakers! I care! While I am perfectly able to enjoy films shot on video,
enjoy the voluptuous pleasures of great celluloid cinematography in a film like
that everyone else thinks so, the critics do the director the courtesy of not
distracting from his work by vocalizing their own opinions. I have been to a
lot of New York screenings over the years, and have been surprised a) at how
some critics feel the right to laugh scornfully or even talk back to the
screen, and b) how so many of them loudly share their opinions of a film as
films with each other after the screening. I have zero need to know what my
colleagues think, and they have the same interest in my opinion.
are right, actors) swinging for the fences, not holding back, not playing it
I fully expect that many critics snorted and hooted all the way through
provides the definition of thankless. In a season when directors have been
breaking free of timid generic expectations, why not an audacious film of
That new scrolling investment ticker at the top of Moneybox has not been a
universal hit. Personally, I like it (although I can't figure out why it runs
crack techies are working on a solution to the problem, but as they say, it's
absolutely remarkable. Here's how it read when I installed the ticker:
Then comes the kicker at the bottom, with a little box you can check to
"'Sleepy Hollow' has got to be the most gorgeous, sumptuous, painterly movie
"'Sleepy Hollow' has got to be the most gorgeous, sumptuous painterly movie
to get elected, too, but above all he needs to draw attention to himself to
pump up his book sales and lecture fees. It's in his interest to make a fuss in
undecided voters of everything about the past eight years they'd like to be rid
Mandatory Automotive Items: The news in the latest Consumer
suggests romantic possibilities between public figures who may or may not
music critic; she's the daughter of a respected poet.
what each of them said, for they were literally sound bites (or is it
will make of it I do not know, for I began by saying that one could not
predict the future, if by the future one meant point events such as: Who will
the State Department what goes on in the Soviet Union," the man continued.
The simple point is that one can "predict" only if you have an algorithm, a
decision rule that tells you how to sort things out. Or where there is a firm
set of rules for institutional succession. When I initiated the Commission on
Corporation, for funding. John said: "You have written an interesting
memorandum, but give me a prediction." "It is very difficult to predict," I
said. "Well, if you don't give me a prediction, you don't get the money."
many can you make such a prediction?" (This was shortly after the French Army
This is running on, but to anticipate you, or any reader: Can I return to
a prediction (for that is not the way to think about it) but a relevant social
framework to identify issues and problems. What we are witnessing is a change
economic integration (crossing national boundaries) and increasing political
The economic dimension is a "change of scale," as all national economies are
absorbed into a global framework. The fragmentation is occurring because (as I
remarked a decade ago) the national state is becoming too small for the big
problems of life, and too big for the small problems. The national state was a
economic exchange. Now the national state becomes defensive against the
international onrush of capital, currency, commodity, and even demographic
flows. And in imposing social programs from a national center, it becomes
unresponsive to the varieties and needs of different localities.
More than that, we are witnessing not the end of history but the resumption
of history. Communism was a large smothering blanket thrown across societies
regimes, those societies have broken open. But it is not only those ideological
All this is called devolution, to rhyme with "evolution" (and not to rhyme with
Some people think you have it easier. You are a historian specializing in
know better. It is not. The past is itself ever subject to revision and new
interpretation. As we said when we adopted an epigraph for the Commission on
asking you to make predictions about the future. And you have always given an
convincing, and sober, and intellectually responsible, and it frustrates them
to no end. Just once, perhaps, you should give them what they want. "Watch for
More seriously, I have one question for you about all of this, and one
demurral. The question concerns patterns of technological change. As a lot of
commentators have been noting recently, the future isn't what it used to be.
When I was a kid, visions of the future were heavy on, yes, flying cars and
Mars colonies and the like. Everyone was confidently predicting that by the
while at home we'd be casually buzzing from continent to continent in our cars,
and the robot servants took care of cleaning the house.
These seemed reasonable enough predictions, actually, given the pace of
years! If that pace of change had continued, I would probably have been sending
not to think that in a lot of areas, technological change has slowed to a
crawl, with incremental improvements around the edges, but no great leaps
transport by car and train is mostly slower than it was then (trains are one
currently takes). The same is true of other sectors: generation of energy
(where we've stepped back from nuclear power), and even, with the exception of
out on a great slogan here. "Personal blast rays don't destroy whole city
But on the other hand, obviously, some technological sectors have been
holding to the same, incredible pace of change that aeronautics went through
earlier: information technology and biotechnology, first and foremost. Why is
this? And how does it relate to the broader structural changes in the economy
Here's my demurral. Is there really such a thing as "primordial identities,"
were doing exactly that, but lots of others adjusted just fine to the communist
regime. It was only when the regime collapsed that certain people saw an
advantage for themselves in highlighting ethnic and linguistic differences, and
in, not so much resurrecting eternal, unchanging, primordial identities so much
as creating new identities based on the old myths and loyalties. And I think
they would probably abandon these new identities easily enough if it suited
into the world" and then emits a cute little giggle. I am contrarian on the
I actually think he's a smart, ideologically consistent guy who makes his case
hobbled by looks. No profile can resist mentioning that he's short and looks
played a big role in helping put the China issue on the table, and he deserves
and has never had patience for the guy. Bush looked physically pained being
enough. This is what I love about watching the leadership of the religious
to force their issues onto the agenda. And they bicker among themselves
endlessly. Last night a friend tried to describe to me the differences between
The debate revolves around the importance of the Declaration of Independence to
The hotel bar is not nearly so glamorous as you would think. For starters, I
never seem to know any of the truly good dish. Besides, the late night at the
hotel bar is used to lay the groundwork to get good dish later. Political
matched partners because we share an obsession with the Chosen People. So I am
sure you will understand my feelings of discomfort on this third day of
combination skin. But on this third day of latkes, many of us awoke to find
I am currently en route to Phoenix for tonight's debate between the
state. The way I understand it, he'll be piped in via satellite from New
moves by the Angry White Candidate, who graces the cover of Time
above the fray in his remote studio. (And if he gets a tough question, he can
always claim that technical problems have prevented him from hearing it.)
pretty much every available topic of contention. Therefore, I predict tonight
will be especially raucous. Without anything else of substance to talk about,
on politics. (The Times seems to want to make it a regular feature, with
Rich does it brilliantly. But what we like about Frank is that he takes his
sharpened pencil and jabs into politicians the same way that he would a
talk about the decline of the sitcom, which the Times diagnoses. It
argues the genre is worn out and will be challenged by the rise of the game
show. This strikes me as bunk. Sitcoms have been expanding exponentially over
cancellation. (Soon we'll be reading stories about "The End of the Game Show.")
What we're seeing isn't the end of the genre, but a return to equilibrium.
So far, there have been three distinct phases to Al Gore's campaign. In the
fellow running against him in the Democratic primaries. In the second phase,
competitor. Unfortunately, Gore's campaign has now entered a third, much more
to bury his rival under a mountain of inconsistent and often spurious
variety of different minority groups, for his past positions on Social
Security, for his lack of a position on Medicare, and even for not saying
part of a transparent effort to keep his opponent on the defensive. It's
You can get a better sense of what Gore is doing by looking closely at one
reasonably responded that he doesn't believe it will require a tax increase,
but that if it does, his options would include cutting other spending or
raising taxes, and that he would make a judgment at the time. He was doing what
any wise politician does, which is refusing to indulge a hypothetical
plausible plan to pay for his proposal out of projected budget surpluses. And
as an "idea." He said that because he couldn't predict what would happen to the
economy, it wouldn't be prudent to rule out raising taxes in the future
Neither thinks raising taxes will be necessary to pay for their own various
pointing out the disingenuousness of Gore's attack. Having campaigned with Bill
on tobacco as recently as this year. Also, it just seems crazy for Democrats to
start demanding "no new taxes" pledges from other Democrats. Then again,
Republican candidates are now charging each other with endangering Social
Security, which suggests that each party has to some extent been brainwashed by
do to the markets if they came from a President." And in a subsequent press
raise questions as to whether or not he has the vision and the experience to
keep the economy strong." Gore repeated these charges in person at an
appearance yesterday at New York University Law School, where he received an
the economy as "if it ain't broke, let's break it."
reasonable or not, he clearly hasn't zigzagged on the subject. He's been
candidate has to respond to charges made by serious opponents, lest those
accusation, this time by getting two supporters with credibility on economic
statement defending him. This prompted the Gore campaign to put out yet another
such charges, he won't be able to get his "positive" message out. But Gore's
stratagem is even more diabolical than that. As one Gore aide explained to me,
ignores it, in which case the charges damage him, or he responds in kind, in
which case he diminishes his carefully cultivated reputation for
insults with Gore, he loses his aura of saintliness and becomes just another
told the Post that he is intent on running a positive campaign and that
he intends to shoot back only when Gore hits him with something "outrageous."
lowbrow for the Breakfast Table. Maybe better for the Book Club ("Today in
monkeys in Caps for Sale should be put to death."). One final word on
removes a candidate's cork and sniffs it in full view of the electorate. Who
died and made him the judge of a pol's worthiness? (For that matter, Tucker,
speech apart: I appreciate his listening to it and analyzing it so I don't have
to (I would have had to find toothpicks to keep my eyes open), but the whole
"oracle of wisdom" aspect to his approach is beginning to tick me off. When you
read one of his columns these days, or at least when I do, you get the sense
that it's more about him than it is about it or them; the phrase "nattering
nabob of solipsism" suddenly springs to mind. There's a great story about his
pulling that crap? If the story's true, it lends credence to a theory I have
scary, someone you have to bow before to curry favor, but when you pull the
talking about the debate, which I fear is going to be unnatural and
intelligence as the SAT; idiots make the Ivy League, so why not the White
pop quiz, and we all know where that got us last time.
Before I go, I want to revise and extend my remarks about Drudge: This
office. Drudge teases each by saying they come from a "paper," but when you
click on the link, you learn they come from a supermarket tab Star and
This point seems either incredibly naive (since we all know that
naive and banal. But it's still true, and imagining that low wages and poor
working conditions are realities imposed upon developing countries by the
United States is a delusion that makes understanding the actual operations of
developing nations needed to stick together, because "we produce goods and
services with comparative advantages that they [that is, the United States and
those standards stay off the table, precisely because they fear that their
inclusion in trade talks will eliminate any incentives for foreign (or even
or that we in the United States should simply defer to the wishes of
other countries. There are powerful indigenous movements in almost every
developing country in favor of better working conditions and higher wages, and
in any case the fear of engaging in cultural imperialism is a poor guide to
support for new standards that should give us pause.
States wouldn't be trading with those nations at all. From what you might call
government smashing down local regulations and excoriated for not being enough
of a supranational government to create global living and working
The paradox exists, though, because opposition to free trade depends upon
two antithetical ideas, both of which, interestingly enough, are wrong. The
first is that free trade is lowering the standard of living in developed
countries by encouraging the migration of jobs and the creation of trade
deficits. The second is that free trade is widening the economic gap between
rich and poor countries. (A common corollary to this is that trade is widening
the gap between rich and poor in all countries.) For both these to be true,
rich countries would have to be losing jobs and productive capacity and
getting richer at the same time, even as developing countries would be taking
That's not happening, of course. It's almost certainly true that certain
sectors of developed economies (textiles, steel) are hurt by free trade, but
it's equally true that other sectors (computer software and hardware, financial
services) are helped. More to the point, the fundamental truth of free trade is
that when countries produce those goods in which they have a comparative
advantage, both sides benefit, because capital ends up being allocated to its
most productive uses, which is the only way real wealth can be created.
developing countries, the one meaningful road to economic development, which is
to say the only way they can narrow the gap between themselves and the United
corporations from running toxic dumps will wreck their chances of competing in
the world market, just like it's a mistake for small businesses to argue that
But it's not a mistake for these countries to believe that the fewer barriers
thing, of course, is that it's not a mistake for the United States to believe
that there are fewer scandals, or is it that the Times and the
pale by comparison. What is extraordinary is how scantily this is written about
parliamentary whip, who had announced his Conservative candidacy for the mayor
disclosed that Archer had persuaded him to write a letter to Lord Archer's
lawyers falsely stating that they had dinner that night, and Archer had
altered his diary to show a meeting. Archer had sued the Daily Star and
won a million pounds in the libel case. Now Archer is disgraced and faces the
funding accounts. All this emerged from an investigation of a
bribes to party funds into their own bank accounts.
an airport ready to fly off with his mistress (and he finally chose her,
program and replaced it with "English immersion"? For an excellent, maddening
(who was at the time have a risky affair with a congressional aide):
encouraged Republican senators to acquit the president. A different, more
plea to my colleagues: Please, please stop calling the old
was the cheapest hotel in town. I remember it as a decent, shabby old
Only much later, with Al Gore long gone, was the building refurbished and
phrases get repeated with mindless reverence in bureaucratic cultures. This is
that the ideas and phrases that make the most attractive candidates for
English professor living in Manhattan, being recruited by phone for a
of us down here can start getting mileage out of that one right away. That is,
emerged to praise mindless conformity: "singing from the same
to the Fray. Nominations should contain specific citations, preferably with Web
ineligible. So are folksy evergreens such as "That dog won't hunt." Please
Let me open with a flashback to the '80s, which is when I started writing
but now they were run by publicly held corporations instead of whimsical
it down. The "indie" movement was but a trickle. Spike Lee hadn't emerged and,
if you believed the conventional wisdom, never would. Movies that many in my
generation regard as touchstones were freaks. Blue Velvet came about
not that there have been so many masterpieces. It's that movies have become
to create a new syntax to capture a new kind of flickering consciousness.
imagery. In part, this is the upshot of digital editing technologies, which
permit noodling around as never before; and in part it's an indication that the
favorites this year not because I think it's such a great film (or even as much
that, ultimately, dovetails with both the solution to the movie's mystery and
that the most challenging foreign and independent films are not being bought by
Tomorrow I plan to talk about some of the amazing performances in this
minds" is our generation's Duck Soup --not to mention the most inventive
It might have been even better if it had been less bound by formula; the
of roughnecks who would kill her if they knew her true gender.
either), but one that ultimately pays off. It could have been A Walk on the
Life is Beautiful --the English version. (Okay, I admit it, I didn't
actually see the English version. I just think it's cool that I can put
this movie on my worst list two years in a row. Maybe I should make it a
Moon to a son on the verge of expiring from AIDS. Then, monstrous.
many other matters for which I need your advice. But perhaps it is best that I
On the subject of W.: One cannot fully appreciate his appeal from television
weaknesses, and that may be a fatal flaw. But there's a reason he has raised
governor's mansion, I heard a voice scream from the beyond the gates, "Hey
finger at me, he joked, "My odor better be off the record." The next thing I
me sitting out on the patio. Though I had spent hours concocting a strategy for
teasing information out of him, he answered my toughest question nearly at the
start. None of his answers struck me as especially stupid or brilliant, but
rather they were rather convincingly earnest. This question on Bush's
matter that will be hashed over in many a Breakfast Table.
Finally, we should update readers on a priceless headline from this
leaving her body in their home because he was afraid of being sent to an
orphanage, the Post goes with the bad taste headline of the year,
wondering, later editions of the Post went with a more tasteful "Mother
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that medical interns and
therefore form unions. What other types of employees can unionize?
Relations Act, which gives virtually every private sector employee the right to
unionize and bargain collectively. (This is why last week's decision of the
the same rights through other national or state laws. So, only those workers
(However, this does not mean that they are prohibited from
Small business employees: The definition of "small business" has not
changed since the 1950s. As a result, there are very few companies that still
qualify. (For example, a wholesale store would have to have annual sales below
Managers and supervisors: This group includes anyone with hiring,
firing, disciplinary, or compensatory authority over other workers. They are
Independent contractors: These are people who are hired on an
Agricultural workers: Because they are seasonal laborers and have a
Domestic employees: This group includes maids, butlers, and other
when government employees are excluded, the percentages are even lower: While
necessarily because the guy appeared to be rude but because he would appear to
Republicans, are so cautious about image that whatever "real" characteristics
most "authentic," and even he's had a little coaching.
Since I know you have a little time to kill before you go to work tonight,
Artists' Committee, and I always enjoyed the event. En passant I read
(owned by no one I was married to) wondering what our civilization's
entertainment." Wouldn't you think for that kind of money they could get
so the United Way people won't waylay them on their way to dinner.
on the phone deal, but the real question is what was a supermodel doing in a
said he was unemployed. Which makes for a nice segue to my thought that you and
I should perhaps cool our ethnic references. It is conceivable that we could
riot squads there are pooped. Well, maybe just one more latke. And do check
reservoirs of strength, and still capable of delivering vicious and
unpredictable blows. In his shambling gait and glassy, uncertain stare he
reminds me all too closely of another awesome wreck of a man who led another
a state of collapse, the government tottering dizzily from crisis to crisis,
and the people increasingly gripped by resentment and rage against a West they
Of course, historians easily get carried away by historical comparisons.
But, if you forgive me for tooting my horn a little, you may remember a little
United States do? We can always sit around and flagellate ourselves for letting
running up with a selection of nice, dry, leather bullwhips). Personally, I
doubt that there was anything we could have done, given the thieves and thugs
thrown up into leadership positions by the Soviet collapse, and the
disintegration of anything that might have evolved into civil society. Check
on this, and on Al Gore's willful blindness to the corruption of his good
But regardless of how we interpret our own actions in the 1990s, it seems to
me that there is one critical historical lesson we can't afford to forget. In
them. Give them a little slack now, and everything will even out and get back
to normal. Well, we know how well that policy worked. So by all means,
flagellate away. Lay in with a strong will and a strong arm. Howl to the
Possibly. You actually need two numbers to understand a poll. One is the
margin of error --an estimate of how large a discrepancy might exist
between a survey's results and the true value. (It's unlikely, for instance,
always cited alongside the results. The other important number is the degree
Here's an example of how the two numbers work together. This week, a
relates to each candidate's individual score. But the margin of error on
incorporates the potential variations in both scores. As a rule of
points, it's being called a dead heat. But the small lead is not meaningless;
decision to reopen two homicide cases and their pledge to revamp the city's
routinely don't investigate the suspicious deaths of retarded people. The
Times lead is what the Post went with yesterday: the decision by
runs this inside, leading instead with the trend in many states to aggressively
enforce truancy laws that threaten parents with fines and jail time. The story
Commission will have increasing trouble doing its job of enforcing federal
election laws because of the upsurge of work brought about by the most
The Post lead points out the limits of good journalism when it
it promised in response to a Post series done earlier this year on abuse
in those group homes. Obviously, the city needs to bring in people with more
investigative talent and a better sense of the bureaucracy than those calling
the shots now. How about hiring (in jobs with real power) some of the
is this election cycle producing more work for the agency? The story mentions
the rise of complaints about "issue ads," but is that the sole cause? And what
do independent experts think? The only people quoted by name in the story are
FEC personnel, which is less than convincing since it's in the interest of
growing concern among project scientists that the craft will not complete its
manufacturer of the craft? When an airliner crashes, the papers quickly
performance this year is brutally frank, appearing under the headline "HEALTH
In its "Heard on the Street" column, the Wall Street Journal makes a great observation about
wireless business: underwriters of such deals tend to be firms that have in the
past given good ratings to the issuing company. Which of course means those
ratings aren't exactly reliable for the rest of us.
provision that no member of its parliament can be prosecuted for a crime while
in office: One hundred and five of this year's candidates are convicts and four
others are wanted by police. It would have been nice if the story had mentioned
to solicit sex from a minor has a defense ready to go for his trial this week.
He will claim that the Web is a massive masquerade ball and that he never
expected that anybody portraying themselves as a minor there would actually be
the times. So fascinated that it ran not one, but two stories on the apparently
bottomless topic, one in the "Money and Business" section and one in the "Week
months. Since everyone's so surprised when the market actually drops, that must
mean that they expect it to keep going up. But then you'd think everyone would
pile in right now, since it's better to buy stocks when they're cheaper rather
than more expensive. Of course, that logic is both impeccable and almost
blissfully irrelevant to this market. We have a dream: Buy low, sell high, wait
till the stocks tumble, then buy low again, sell high again. And so we creep on
down the content and language on one of its most popular shows,
office and teaching him a lesson he'd never forget wasn't considered a
there were six episodes of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire in the
Web page designed by your precocious nephew, sell closeout merchandise from
million on 'unauthorized' transactions by a trader for the company. Either
the trader bet wrong on oil futures, or he floundered trying to corner the
peace talks. Both papers emphasize that prospects for an end to the 51-year
surgeon general's report, to be released today, stating that although in any
snapshot of how the country has changed during this century. Some examples: In
engaged in much secret diplomacy, including a dozen phone calls between
disorders don't get help because they don't think effective treatments exist,
or they fear being stigmatized, or because they lack applicable insurance. The
report endorses, says the paper, equality between mental health insurance
coverage and that for physical illnesses and claims that such a coverage
most prominent measure is a ban on members' visits to bidding cities. The story
is solved, but it also notes that the House of Representatives will be
routinely held on to an opposing player's shorts and even garners a quote from
Sawyer, seriously enough that she and her parents visited his house over
Night Specials." The text says they are a favorite among criminals, but the
percent of all guns traced to crimes, and another shows that five of the nine
We remember when "Gilded Age" was just an expression: The
Among the many things Al Gore has claimed credit for introducing to the
world is apparently the Earned Income Tax Credit. This is a refundable credit paid
swelled both in size and in the esteem with which it is held by Republicans and
Many politicians have wrapped their arms around this sturdy reinforcement
author of that proposal. I wrote that, so I say, welcome aboard. That is
something for which I have been the principal proponent for a long time."
Who then can claim credit for this invention, which this year distributed
viewed him as the major roadblock in the way of a more generous welfare state.
Assistance Plan, which would have doubled the size of the welfare rolls by
Long didn't like the idea adding millions of people to the rolls, but he
long as it was done in a way that would encourage rather than discourage work.
friend of hers from the Urban Institute to help out. The final plan, which the
generous than the welfare reform enacted a few years ago of which both Gore and
his boss the president brag. It guaranteed a job to any family head
encourage people to abandon their private sector jobs for the perhaps less
demanding public sector. But to help out people working in poorly paid jobs,
Long came up with the idea of rebating their Social Security taxes as a "work
would be computed, he insists the idea really was Sen. Long's. "He liked the
idea because it rewarded work," says Stern, who is now with the Investment
what the feds were then spending on welfare for families. As former Federal
time, when she and Chatterbox were on a panel together, if someone other than
quietly passed into law. So quietly that Al Gore apparently didn't notice
Times leads with an assessment of the World Trade Organization talks in
"open access" policy. The piece says "open access has become a pivotal debate
within the telecommunications world." Competitors and consumer advocates feel
the company to avoid stricter industry regulation. There's also worry that the
telecommunications giant still has the power and potential to "undermine the
his second major foreign policy defeat since summer; the first was the Senate
environmentalists and human rights activists credited their protests; trade
ministers said it was the sheer complexity of issues coupled with delegates'
"eliminating its generous subsidies for farmers and their exports" the biggest
quote: The talks represented "a stunning breakthrough in the public debate over
globalization." It (almost giddily) states "the unruly forces of democracy
The LAT lead says Mars Polar Lander mission officials' mantra
officials think taxpayers will be comforted by the idea that they thought a
more pessimistic tone than the others about the likelihood of establishing
and Prevention of Violence found that violent crime in major cities reported to
counterpoint to reports of crime decline based on comparisons between
contemporary rates and those of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when "unusually
using for a variety of reasons. How important are these essays compared to
scores as a college determines acceptances, and are the essays fair assessments
of a students' abilities? The piece might be weightier if it addressed such
intermittently since then by telephone. You have gone far geographically, and,
knew she would wince at that "wise" ending. (We used to say that when you were
should not begin a sentence with "Hopefully," and more, why one should not do
so.) In any event, meander as I am wont to do, you have gone far in your chosen
computer; I don't, though I use hers fitfully. This is in spite of the fact
have even written books on the new technology. But as you know, I always
who, when asked if he knew how to swim, replied: I know the theory of it. My
interest is in theory because I am interested in the logic of technology and
how that unfolds. And as a sociologist, I have long argued for the priority of
theory, since theory allows one to take a finding or a proposition out of one
context and apply these to different, and even unfamiliar ones. I stand by the
old saw: If something works in practice, does it also work in theory?
As you can see, I am seeking to avoid getting started over this unfamiliar
route and talking, as we are supposed to do, about the day's events as they
unfold in the morning newspaper. But the morning newspaper, for me, is
something I read at a distance, so to speak. Though we have now lived in
paper. Each morning, before we get up, the New York Times and the
Wall Street Journal are delivered to our door. I have always found the
Globe to be somewhat dull and parochial, and I would know what was
We get the Times because it is the Times and has all the news
appreciate the Times all the more for its detailed news coverage, as
presentation of business and political news in two columns, even though the
many senses, since they do not show tits and bums or print gossip about the
marital adventures of cabinet members), but it is too expensive to get here
daily. Besides, we read the Economist regularly, such a prize for its
fine and lucid prose and its comprehensive worldwide coverage that fills the
can't open a binary attachment. Eventually a small, dim light bulb illuminated
talky. I left after an hour, because I had another screening next door I
had to attend, and because I thought perhaps on a fresh day, freed from
I thought The Best Man was similar to, and inferior to, The
having a reunion at a wedding. The Wood had many of the same qualities
how to use a camera instead of lining up the characters for prolonged
from the decades of films in which black characters have done the same thing
whether all but one of its guards would have been so decent and humane.
should be subjected to the kind of unspoken test that no white actor or
character ever has to face. No one ever asks whether a white actor, as a white
play a villain like that." Since Freeman is one of the few actors I can think
hotel bar. We imagine that the lubricated and informed nature of your skewering
is just better than ours. What political junkie wouldn't give anything to hear
someone to ask him what caused World War II, and for him to tell us it was
To show solidarity with you, I watched the whole encounter, larded up as it
president simply cannot do everything he wants, and can't do anything by
himself, so who really cares what gets said there? It's all just
blah. The only useful byproduct, perhaps, is that we get to see who's
After a while, I couldn't even make myself listen. Do you think I have
plan to be good, fair, more, better. The impressions I came away with were that
was whisked out onto center stage, no rehearsal necessary. (This is assuming,
of course, one imagines it lucky to wind up in the presidential race.) Not to
problem is that I haven't read that book, so I don't know if they caught
him out or not. And I want to know. Do you know? Maybe they could put a truth
Since I was invited into no bar after the "debate," I read the New
well and equates with "character." Oh, brother. Anyway, come on out of that
old talents, came bursting forth. The year was a slow starter, despite such
unveiling of riches that went on week after week after week.
inventive and unexpected as the first. Having been pounded through the '90s
really have to burn at the stake?"), I was so exhilarated to see films that
gave themselves the liberty to surprise and amaze me.
was demonstrating in a way both comic and bizarre that all narrative is
need feel shackled by audience or studio expectations.
I imagine Magnolia will get widely divergent reviews (I know of one
the right note to close this season of invention. Yes, some will argue that
here that he has the soul of a real filmmaker. Yes, the movie is frustrating
and aggressive, but after it is over it has revealed a shape and purpose, one
suited to its style (the whole story is seen through the eyes of a
video camera, and (if we can judge by the outtakes on the Web site) its style
door of digital production; these days anyone can make a movie, and if
which more of the movies had been shot on film than video. We shall see. I am
as firmly in support of video production as I am opposed to the alarming
Most people in the industry believe the hype that digital projection is
destined for the near future. The fact is that digital projection is nowhere
same thing? Some perceptual scientists believe video creates a hypnotic mind
state, and film creates a reverie state. Why is it that we sense, however,
vaguely, a different mental state in a movie than while watching television?
existing, proven technology, and produces a picture its patent holders claim is
As we bow gratefully to this wonderful final year of the first century of
film, let us hope it is not one of the final years of celluloid itself.
economics, and foreign policy. The more varied format, which also allowed the
candidates to question each other, was a marked improvement as well.
performance was consistent with his first. He came across as jaunty, likable,
also failed to reveal any hidden depths. In the round of questions on foreign
Woodruff asked what lessons Bush took from the successes and failures of
must not retreat within our borders. That we must promote the peace. In order
alliances in the Far East. In order promote the peace, I believe we ought to be
nation's greatest export to the world has been, is, and always will be the
between his seeming need for a plural verb and his seeming need for a singular
one. So he uses both, as in his favored expression "are is." Bush also commonly
removes the "to" from infinitives, as with "in order promote the peace." Syntax
The way he speaks reminds me of something I once read about the linguist
otherwise normally intelligent, members of Family K stumble over basic grammar,
coming up with sentences like, "The boys eat four cookie." They have trouble
peculiar form of aphasia, but W. and his father both seem to suffer from a
version of it. Another possibility: The Bushes actually are "Family
The second, and probably more significant criticism of Bush's answer is that
trite and banal. They are, in fact, simply Bush's own platitudes about the
believe that communism could be contained, or the peace kept, by a policy of
displayed this same callowness throughout the evening. In other instances, such
as in his closing remarks, he simply recited familiar arias from his stump
provokes him to stay and waste more of your time. And with his money, he can
substance buried somewhere. Though he sounds even more canned than Bush, many
people think of him as intellectually if not morally superior for canning the
abandoning his second set. Where Bush has an idea of where he wants to lead the
the party is going, he can simply hop aboard and ride it. 
conservatism. He pandered to what he took to be the ascendant religious right
by saying that abortion was the most important issue to him. Amazingly enough,
many moral conservatives accepted his conversion. But their support hasn't
recent debates, he has left abortion and school prayer to the true believers
as a kind of meditational "om." Only this time, his fanaticism doesn't even
this year, you didn't know what was going to happen next; you couldn't spot the
mythologized so much. Did you feel, at the time, like the movies had more in
I wonder if this year's highlights, wildly disparate as they are (from the
her leaps and bounds brought back images that match any this year for
memorability: the scene where she's alone in the hallway, bouncing higher than
know people who have tried to imitate this upon leaving the theater.) Also the
that wants to ingratiate but looks like a grimace. It's hard to write about
this performance, because it's so natural that it looks tossed off, and
pretty great. She's quite real but at the same time abstract, almost cartoony;
a packed, whooping theater would have helped. But you know, I reserve my right
to find the South Park phenomenon a little toxic; I can't cut it too
much slack because I don't sense half as much going on upstairs as you do. I
mean, forget about art. Can it really be that difficult to write a song called
at every opportunity, as well he should. His major political achievement has
but significant way, the answer is yes. The announcement was buried in the
culture of welfare from one that fostered dependence to one that honors and
money that will be used as a carrot to induce states to do certain things. One
problem there.) One will reward states that enroll more poor children in
Medicaid. (Good idea!) But a third will reward states that show the biggest
"improvement in the percentage of low income families eligible for Food Stamps
they will promote the goal of "ending the dependence of needy parents on
government benefits." But wait a minute. The proposed bonus tries to get states
And food stamps are a peculiar benefit, in that, if you have children, you
can get them whether or not you work. Indeed, you can make no attempt to even
stamps can be used only to buy food, they work just like cash. You buy food
with them as if they were cash; they are traded informally as if they were
The word is welfare. Pushing food stamps on poor people is unlikely to move
people off of welfare because food stamps are welfare. As a veteran
liberal welfare expert told me, upon hearing of the new bonus, it's "perverse
eligible to get them. This stigma is the natural flip side of the work ethic:
slightly dishonored and ashamed to get a handout that goes to people who don't
percent of individuals with earnings who are eligible for food stamps benefits
But many are undoubtedly people who are simply proud that they don't depend on
a handout. It's hard to deny that this pride is, in some sense, a good
welfare programs such as food stamps by repackaging them as "work supports"
"hold states accountable and make sure families get the benefits they need." To
qualify for a bonus under his new regulations, states would be required not
application halts." In effect, states would be saying, "Sign up! It's good to
food stamps might help support some welfare mothers during a transitional
risks encouraging a far greater number to become dependent in the first place.
Suppose you're a single mom working at the Gap. You're proud not to be on
welfare. You don't even know where the welfare office is. Then you hear a
tells you that food stamps are respectable, that you're a fool not to go down
and claim what you're entitled to. So you find out where the welfare office is,
and there you also learn that if you quit your job you can qualify for two
Gap, you get to keep not only food stamps but a bit of your welfare check too.
Or worse, you're a young girl who's just graduated from high school. You've
in stamps, live with your mom and worry about going to work later? Food stamps
working at all. The sales pitch designed to "support" workers will also protect
stamps for the former group but not for the latter group (who are, under law,
How did the welfare culture grow in the first place? It happened in the late
1960s, when state and local officials embarked on a campaign to encourage
The result? A tripling of the welfare rolls. This "welfare explosion" wasn't
reversing, at least partially, the actual, practical process that brought him
the caseload declines he's crowing about today. Will he be happy when the rolls
The arguments the administration now makes about food stamps, of course, can
"critical support" for those who've just gone to work but don't earn enough to
make it all the way out of poverty? Shouldn't we encourage those people to stay
on welfare, albeit at a lower benefit level, rather than make a harsh, clean
they are "nutritional"? Don't babies need clothes as well as food?
In fact, these arguments are already being made by Money Liberals around the
respectable "work supports," will be to make those benefits more generous. But
alike. If benefits are raised, it will be increasingly possible for at least
some part of the population to piece together enough "work supports" to live on
the supports without the work. Not to live well, of course, but the
problem of dependency has never been about people living well.
collapse, which is that programs to help poor workers should actually be
politically unassailable, while welfare programs are either unpopular or
actively despised. And when a benefit is restricted to workers, Congress can
make it more generous without the risk of creating a culture of dependency.
handout, that judgment, too, deserves respect. The government shouldn't make it
a goal to push benefits onto people who think food stamps are welfare by
is to go to the states that show the greatest "improvement" in the percent of
restriction doesn't save the plan, however. The working poor are the group of
eligible recipients who are most likely to stigmatize the receipt of welfare.
They are a key group we don't want to slip into dependence. And removing the
Many questions. Many "methodological difficulties." How can I sort these
story. (In my old age, I regress to the methods of my youth.)
to trace out the possible impact of airplanes for the remainder of the century.
such as population, family, cities, religion, health, environment, recreation,
crime, education, marketing, agriculture, public administration, international
the effect of reducing the number of births slightly." One rubs one's eyes in
smaller than would otherwise be because of the expense of owning and operating
would have private airplanes, the reason being that these were the ones with
hologram. Many people thought that this would "transform" our lives. Fifteen
houses. What? What? What? I do not mean to jeer, but the point is that,
You use the phrase "the rate of technological change." The only trouble is
that we do not know how to measure it. Technology is a large globule of many
diverse components. Rate is a metric, but what is it? Economists measure
technology as part of total factor productivity, but usually as a residual
after all the other factors (capital, labor) have been measured. Not very
glamorous. And of limited use, since it does not deal with institutional and
speeds and size, or more broadly, the change from a propeller drive plane to a
escape velocity and you are then not in cyberspace but real outer space.
The beginning of wisdom, I suppose, is disaggregation and particularity, and
once these have been carefully defined, to begin to generalize through
theory (which brings me back to where I began yesterday).
On primordial identities: I don't believe in single identities, but
against a larger, sometimes more smothering polity or culture. But let me
but they're solid, serious wonks. They have a history of putting important
the environment, technology, etc. Both have bucked the party line on big
interesting fashion. They have little patience for libertarians, and they have
a relatively expansive role for the federal government in their policies. To
listen to Bush talk about compassionate conservatism is to realize that
party leader. Look at the way that Republicans are talking about education this
year. During the Newt era, Republicans objected to all forms of national
education testing and standards. They would spout ridiculous hyperbole about
scream, will turn to liberal shit. It hurt your ears to hear their screeds. Now
Bush has a plan that includes national standards and tests. You can dispute his
nifty little innovation that could cure blindness. Somehow, it involves a
camera mounted on a pair of glasses that transmits signals to the brain. Pretty
damn cool. That means it's not a far stretch to imagine that someday soon
Speaking of vision, I am giving some thought to laser eye surgery. The question
"Round Mound of Rebound" used to obnoxiously proclaim, "I am not a role model."
But he was. All of us short cagers with potbellies placed him on a pedestal.
and poor manners. He would routinely flick the bird to fans and brawl. Just
play. In other words, he was a jerk with a big heart and an awesome game.
finally entered the fray tonight in a Republican Presidential Forum sponsored
Bush's effectiveness didn't have much to do with the quality of his answers.
derived from his demeanor. He seemed not only at ease in the confrontational
missed. Bush wore a jaunty grin through most of the debate, grasping the podium
as if it were the steering wheel of a sports car. When one of the Republican
pygmies attacked him, his grin would turn into a smirk. The smirk turned into a
the Social Security retirement age. Bush was armed with the perfect comeback: a
mate, Bush felt no compulsion to respond to him at all. 
Nor was Bush set off balance by questions designed to expose him as a
Bush answered, "I read the newspaper." He subsequently mentioned "a book about
contents of this work, but the format didn't permit it.
wanting to privatize Social Security and for proposing tax cuts that would
reappointed as chairman of the Fed if he persists in raising interest rates,
prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him." If you were watching at
home, you saw Bush laughing hysterically at this, perhaps recalling his
the Senate, Hatch responded: "He does have a temper and sometimes it's terrible
his allegation that the media treat him in a racist fashion, he stuck to his
attacked Bush's proposed tax cuts as insufficient by saying that we shouldn't
again came into the media filing center and repeated his nutty
"You ignore my successes, just as you ignored my ancestors' successes," he
exploded at a harmless question. "And then you want to tell me you're not a
racist! You better think about it, my friend! You better think about what
week since its addition to the index was announced its share price has risen
The situation, at least today, boiled down to too much demand chasing too
weighted. And since there are plenty of mutual fund managers out there who try
company's shares became more expensive, funds had to buy more of them (because
Still, the picture seems a bit more complicated than this, because the
institutions are not buying stock in 500-share lots, so that means that a great
deal of the action today was driven by individual investors and, most likely,
day traders hoping to ride the stock's momentum and to get out before the
eventual fall. Today was, in that sense, a moment when this decade's crucial
It's almost certain that the stock will fall in days to come, but its ride
up has been so furious, and the company is such a good one, that it would be
surprising if the tumble were too precipitous. In any case, the most important
This point was first made, as far as I can tell, by Bill Miller, the
earlier this year. Index funds, Miller pointed out, are passively managed,
to and subtracted from in an attempt to make the index look as much like the
stock market, and the economy as a whole, as possible.
If this is the case, why is it so difficult for fund managers to beat index
obvious, is that index funds have minuscule fees and very low transaction
and more expensive, they take up a larger percentage of the index, and as they
grow less successful, and cheaper, they take up a smaller percentage. In other
words, the index effectively allows its winners to run and its losers to
You'll often hear fund managers say it's unfair to benchmark them against
company that will be booted tomorrow). Assuming that Yahoo, even with its
better, in fact, given the size of Yahoo's market capitalization.) But the
addicted to trading fund managers have become that instead of replicating that
I was happy to see you refer to a restaurant where "people smoke freely at
their tables" as "unsullied," just as I was discouraged but not surprised to
night's debate. Bush did a decent job, I thought, but he just didn't come
across the way he did six months ago. He seemed far stiffer and more programmed
than I remember. His physical restlessness, which always stuck me as
appealingly energetic and vital, all of a sudden seemed twitchy and nervous.
Part of it is context. Bush is so much better in person than he is behind a
microphone that people who've experienced him only through television must be
This spring, for instance, I asked Bush about his reading habits. He was
himself the greatest damage when he agreed to appear with the other five
candidates in the first place. Yes, I know he had no choice, that the political
costs of ditching another debate were too high. Still, it's hard to maintain a
And I agree with him on more things than you probably care to know about. In
the Despot Test. It's simple: If a candidate had absolute power, how many
unblinking stare, I suddenly had the feeling he was going to steal my soul. I
choked back panic and turned away, probably just in time. Spooky.
I think Bush has had the same experience, which may explain why he was
of politics is personal. Doesn't bother me. At least he knows an alien when he
critics. So why talk about it now? Because while its detractors have rightly
banal, they have not responded to an implicit and probably unintended message
the unknown women on her own. (There are no notes to tell us where the
photographs were originally published, so it's hard to say which pictures were
one hand and testifies, seemingly lost inside one of her many magnificent
each sexy in their own glamorous ways. The athletes are each tough in their own
heroic ways. As the image of one famous woman follows another, we seem to
understand why they've made such names for themselves: They are so singular, so
attractive, so powerful, the world just had to take notice of them.
less well to personal characterization. Unlike the celebrity portraits, these
were mostly taken without benefit of makeup, props, and lighting design; as a
result, faces tend to disappear into contexts. The miners are grimy. The sewing
victim of domestic abuse looks battered. They are icons, in short, either of
their pioneering professions or else of their stereotypically feminine
phylacteries and holding a Torah, that she can't serve God! The women trapped
blank or frankly hostile. You can't look for long at the picture of Maria
distrust in her eyes. We still feel a certain warmth toward these
abstract emotion. We feel proud of, or sad for, women in general, not for any
In short, individuality here becomes a function of fame. The better known
commercial photographer. When she's told to shoot a celebrity, she shows up
with a crew, an expansive amount of time, and the driving idea that this person
inspiring professionals that she can't seem to extend to the abjectly
formal: It's hard to communicate roundness of character in a single photograph,
which is perforce a limited slice of space and time. How much easier it must be
to photograph women whose identities are already publicly disseminated! All you
have to do is gather up the strands of commonly told tales and give them visual
for editors at glossy magazines who spend their days wrangling celebrities onto
their pages. Celebrities demand flattering representation as the price of their
cooperation, and no one is better at flattering in a sophisticated yet intimate
Nonetheless, this troubling collusion of photography and social hierarchy
(for fame is well on its way to replacing class as the determining factor of
hold forth about with brilliance and insight. And she does, too, just not in
her introduction, a disconnected series of meditations on what a collection of
photographs of women might tell us in this day and age. (Very little, she is
essays published during the 1970s. The subject was August Sander, a 1920s
photographer who also set out to catalogue a large category of people, in his
Sander's social sample is unusually, conscientiously broad. He includes
bureaucrats and peasants, servants and society ladies, factory workers and
industrialists, soldiers and gypsies, actors and clerks. But such variety does
not rule out class condescension. Sander's eclectic style gives him away. Some
he was photographing. Professionals and the rich tend to be photographed
indoors, without props. They speak for themselves. Laborers and derelicts are
usually photographed in a setting (often outdoors) which locates them, which
complicity with everybody also means a distance from everybody. His complicity
disagreement as your crackly tone would imply. The level of invention this year
has been amazingly high, but few movies have maintained it consistently. My
and The Limey are full of qualifications, but many of the most exciting
films in a given year are messed up in one way or another. (The last film for
perfectly with his moral outrage, he deserves our awe for having pulled off the
on how a film is masked, you can see microphones in movies by the greatest
directors and cinematographers), but there are flatfooted patches and a
distinct falling off in the last half hour (despite some marvelous puppet
notwithstanding, there are an infinite number of possibilities for framing our
to cheat by pointing out that I know you didn't see the movie in a packed,
of glee that attended each fabulous number. The second half boring? The whole
chip, the blaspheming French resistance fighter, and the staggeringly brilliant
it in because I wouldn't know wit if it bit me on the ass.
tomorrow.) In fact, as I write this I am turning toward 43rd Street and
has ever fronted. Daily film critics are generally a sorry lot. They have to
overwrought literary pyrotechnics and banal humor. (There are exceptions, such
Times crew will be the bright shining lights in their dim profession.
profusion of disaster movies and romantic comedies. He's a hipster with a canny
understanding of the popular culture. It's hard to imagine him praising every
dismissing them outright either. Plus, he can write wonderfully scathing pans.
done much in the way of film reviewing. But this is a plus. It will be fun to
There are other reasons for a rosy cultural outlook
Recently, record sales have been disappointing. It's a deserved fate. This is
(If Notorious had lived, perhaps their partnership would have flourished into
well, puffy. His music does dwell on his friend's death in a way that feels
disgustingly hollow. And the rest of oeuvre consists of forgettable, not very
catchy ditties. In other words, he's commercial without being listenable. And
that makes him merely crass. Finally, I think that the existence of the Boring
expertise in etiquette, I propose that we put out a special millennial edition
nominees. (I have begun creating a set of criteria and my own list of choices,
Your plane ride sounds amazing. Were I you, I would've looked at it this
way: Nothing will happen to this plane, because the news value of a crash would
be too astounding. Are you old enough to remember Bishop Sheen? We were once on
know, but that's the way my mind works. Or doesn't.
loser by a former sycophant weren't bad enough, the first lady was just
any woman would have about moving into a new home. Will she be able to find her
underwear with all those boxes piled up? I know she intends to find it,
phone even work on the first day? I hate to say this, because it's politically
other reporters) implied that the White House equivalent of the store dick
ought to keep an eye on Hill so she doesn't try to furnish her house with
But just to show that I am not totally down on Hill, I hope that, like some
the girl could use some, uh, well, whatever. What I really want is for the
Post quotes his reference to the "colonialism" and "state socialism" of
the original arrangement. The New York Times fronts the canal, but
more inmates will be released as a result, that criminal charges will be filed
against some cops, and that the whole thing will take years to resolve.
explains that the warning about him comes after the State Department just
barely announced arrests yesterday of Bin Laden operatives somewhere about to
with German subsidiaries. Previously these firms had protested that they had no
approved by a judge, five weeks after it was first promised to her by Ken
defense in her wiretapping trial scheduled for next month.
largely discredited portrayal, the paper reminds) the agency's hounding of
auditing the complex returns of the better off, while putting more effort into
looking for abuse of the Earned Income Tax Credit, a credit available only to
the working poor, and into catching people who file no returns at all,
traditionally a practice inordinately associated with modest earners.
antitrust violations in its dealings with major music companies. The core issue
making it nearly impossible for rival music networks to enter the market. The
issue will take on even more importance, because the resulting new company
Everybody fronts an illustration of Charlie Brown, in honor of yesterday's
looks at his schoolboy days in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The story
late in bed with them, breathless and excited, but when you wake up in the
morning next to them you feel ashamed and disgusted with yourself.
them. The thing about growing up the son of two New York intellectuals is that
misdemeanors (even more than using the word "hopefully" incorrectly). The
tremble so hard the book falls out of my hands, and she sees the cover. The
tries to slip a copy of a pornographic magazine in with them, only to have the
merged to form a new magazine called Dysentery-- I was probably one of
don't know much about him, and in any case, the current scandal is much too
top of the White House into low earth orbit. The president is revealed to have,
not just a mistress, but an entire second family, whom he has been housing, for
collaborators from the law. And just to make things really juicy, he covered up
the fact that he suffered from cancer throughout much of his presidency. That
minister??!!), he could set off a small nuclear device while simultaneously
engaged in an unnatural act with a hippopotamus in the middle of the
But enough about this. We're just two and a half weeks away from the year
going to crash and burn.) That's not so much because of the company itself,
like General Motors. Rather, it's because investor appetite for Internet
being told, the true wave of the future on the Web, and so companies ranging
from professional services firms to infrastructure providers to database
past few months you could have made a huge amount of money in stocks like
There are, as usual, a host of studies by various research groups to justify
these companies are currently so tiny that estimating their present value on
are doomed (as stocks, that is). But it does suggest that you'd be better off
But there is one problem with this whole theory, which is that the companies
money with which they pay for all their purchases somewhere. And it can't just
day just to keep its business going, and multiply that by all the giant
companies out there that have to buy parts." But let's remember this: GM spends
less on parts in a year than consumers spend on GM cars. That's by definition.
Otherwise, GM would go out of business. In fact, if you add up all the money GM
and its suppliers spend on parts and databases and infrastructure, it's less
than consumers spend on GM cars, again by definition.
businesses that sell to other businesses are going to migrate to the Web while
businesses will probably migrate more quickly, and while obviously there's a
lot of business that will always be offline (unless we figure out a way to get
will remain stagnant. Especially when the former ultimately depends on the
take another look at companies like General Motors. How much longer can it be
before cars are actually being sold online (instead of through the archaic
help having a creative laugh: unfeigned, joyous, it made you feel much funnier
than you thought you were, which is among the kindest of social gifts." I can't
which might certainly help get readers through a cold day. There's a certain
delight in the inessential things in life which is one of the most pleasant
Guards and public schools and the royal family! But as a historian, I can't
resist remarking that the cultivation of the inessential is a trademark of
aristocratic societies (aristocrats deliberately spend their time on trifles to
appears to outsiders, most native members of the society are unlikely to be so
well disposed, since the burden of the aristocracy falls on their shoulders.
And having seen one of the famous public schools at rather too close quarters
But back to the news. The most amusing thing I saw in the paper yesterday
again for the entire year, relying exclusively on the Internet for furniture,
food, services and entertainment. His Web site claims that he will spend the
year "living inside the Internet," as if this were some great foray into new
and unexplored regions of cyberspace. Talk about being behind the curve! I
today would be to spend a year living entirely outside the Internet: no
or selection of benefits through the company intranet, not to mention, of
being anywhere near as much a regular user of the Web as I am. But then again,
wondered why you didn't dwell in that piece on what, for me, is the most
means of production. As you've pointed out in your entry above, what thrills
filmmakers is that shooting on digital video is, like, a thousand times cheaper
great equalizer. You shoot as much footage as you like and you don't have to
thing of the past. Most filmmakers don't care if digital projection looks
better than celluloid; they'd be thrilled if it looked as good.
frames a second and that a lot of what you're looking at is blank space and
flicker. There's a distinct difference in his films between the video state and
One more question: What is the distinction is between "hypnosis" and "reverie"?
idea over and over. He isn't trying to capture reality, he's trying to rub your
nose in it. And underneath, he has the same huckster's mentality as Roger
attention. As for the idea that the movie mimics the perceptions of a
delusional schizophrenic, it's hardly in the other the other the other shut up
Actors. Any bit could be taken out of context and shown at the Academy Awards.
strange thing isn't thematically unpredictable. It has the same logic as
Which might be a good segue for talking about the year's great performances,
with the filmmakers, daring to leave dreary realism (and other misapplications
Election isn't realistic; it only seems that way, because she's making
drag probably doesn't look much different today than it did then. We were in a
smoke freely at their tables and vegetarians like me are out of luck. I thought
to myself: So this is the last unsullied place on earth; these are the last
we heard a dusty coot in a cowboy hat in the booth behind us talking about his
It is definitely true, as you say, that politicians turn the folks they
of a rope line to play a round of Who Wants to Be a Campaign Accessory; he was
a committed partisan duped into portraying no one in particular. When
Vetted for Anything Embarrassing and Untoward, and Whose Personal Misfortune
presidential ticket referred to themselves so frequently in the third
I couldn't help but work in a sports metaphor, which was the other maddening
incessant use of basketball terminology by political reporters. I think it's
Many thanks for the thoughts on technological change. As for identities, I
suppose I could continue on the subject with a lengthy disquisition on the
book. But somehow, I think this would be getting a little too specialized for
the Breakfast Table. So I hope you don't mind if I change the subject and
I must say, though, that since I spend much of my time immersed in the
me very forcefully. The weirdest thing, to my mind, is the way the candidates
and the media all seem to pretend that we are electing a benevolent dictator
who, once elected, will snap his fingers, and the thousands of pages of
position papers drawn up by his campaign staff will automatically become the
W. and we will get a tax cut. Elect Al Gore and gays will be welcomed into the
At the very least, it seems to me that reporters could make more of a
distinction between three very different types of campaign promises: those it
finance reform, because of first amendment concerns); those that would require
congressional action (health care, tax cuts, etc.); and those that could be
done with a presidential order. Why even waste much time on the first category?
Let's pretend, as a thought experiment, that a conspiracy of vintners
contaminates the champagne supply with powerful psychedelic mushrooms just
about the second category as well, especially when it comes to the details of
(possible) passage. In fact, one of the few big issues where the candidates'
specific promises really matter is gays in the military, since that can be done
the gays in is probably the most important campaign news today.
This general problem is why I get steamed when pundits moan about how
candidates are ignoring "the issues." Get real. What matters is not the
candidate's position papers, but their basic principles, the three or four
things they care most about; their experience; their advisors; their political
Times yesterday), and yes, their character. And this is all the more the
case during a time when there are no big national disasters to be faced, at
least not the sort that require urgent responses. If peace and prosperity
continue, and there are no major wars, pretty much any of the serious
candidates now running could probably muddle through all right (not counting
those things that the candidates don't have position papers on? What really
matters is to choose a president who can deal best with a real crisis, rather
than worry about what's going to happen to ethanol subsidies (anyone care to
Box," the issue itself is still a good test of character). Thinking in
will have been released, and if this month's other economic statistics are any
producer pipeline. With the exception of energy prices, in fact, inflation
remains about as quiescent as it can be, despite the fact that the economy
rate has reached levels no one thought were possible anymore. If you take
is the lowest annual inflation rate we've had during this entire business
No one, of course, really knows why this is happening. But there is one
remarkable statistic (which itself is difficult to explain): Since the middle
of last year, the falling unemployment rate has become decoupled from wage
increases. In other words, even though it's getting harder and harder to find
workers, the tight labor markets are not yet translating into wage increases in
society, or of continued anxiety among workers, or it may be that the wage
gains due to productivity are enough to keep workers happy. Or perhaps it's
action figures have ever been bought in the United States"
buying wood until the new year. Apparently there wasn't enough room in the
increases if he's elected president, but did allow that if the economy went
even weaker. Economy booming, people spending freely, keep taxes same so demand
who bought that first block of stock was doing it just so he could say, 'Yes, I
else pledged to uphold gastronomical values. On the other hand, it's not for
"dummies" either, as the other leading introductory series likes to put it.
the kinds of sample recipes you find inside the box when you open your new
Kitchen Aid. The introduction lists emerging food trends of the year, albeit a
bit cursorily, and without really specifying how the trends are certified as
such. There are marginal notes explaining how to secure obscure ingredients or
perform difficult procedures, and menu recommendations that allow you to
the perfect purchase or gift for those among us with bare kitchen bookshelves
conceit, did it take so long to come up with this one? The answer surely has
dishes must be presented with the requisite ironic appurtenances, such as trays
editor who asked food experts and celebrity chefs of all stripes and
But cooking is one of the few areas in which anthologizing actually makes
compilations always lack context: Who can grasp the greatness of a poet on the
basis of a single poem? Anthologies of essays, on the other hand, just make you
dishes, such as the cloyingly sweet lamb with olives and oranges from celebrity
once, then store in your liquor cabinet? Or should you make your own, which
people whose love for garlic is as intense as it is for each other." The
happen to be fashionable right now, such as cumin and coconut milk. But these
are quibbles, which could well be obviated by next year's anthology. And
besides, they're in keeping with the basic idea. This is a cookbook that's
pleasingly shallow and imperfect, just like those of us who are drawn to
(until recently) we have spent considerable portions of every other year or so
flat on Regent's Park Road, facing Primrose Hill, and down the street was one
working class. Or enemy of the capitalist class. Just political
(Aristocrats have land, even penniless, not money.) It is there in Graham
in which he remarked: "We are all familiar with being in strange places and not
knowing exactly where we are. I woke up one morning and was served a filthy
it was a "filthy kosher breakfast," unless it was filth recognizing filth. Not
authoritarian streak) but vacuous in his rhetoric and ideas. His house
ideological spectrum. So, they have formulated the Third Way. What is it? No
sociologist at Trinity (quite a combination), calls it "recycled platitudes."
debate appearances has made him vulnerable, but pundits disagree over just how
Bush's debate performances will start a popularity slide in the early primary
involvement because the dismissal was necessary to assure civilian control of
the Fox producers flash a message on the screen asserting that, with
handsome guy, but that's not the one I want her to marry.
influence over the presidential campaign from about March [until the
Gore and Bush, I hear, are going to have a joint event funded by soft money
function is essentially to absorb and process white pain, suffering, disease
films in which black characters have done the same thing invisibly." That's
autonomous existence, that he's there solely to help "process" white pain.
that's meant to summon up rape fantasies of fragile white Southern flowers
inversion of a rape fantasy is almost as cheap and false as the thing
anecdotal evidence. Your fears about the medium might be warranted (and let's
find out before all those theaters get converted!), but the tendency to trance
the setting and the quality of your attention. You can stretch out, glance
ashamed to have his opinions widely broadcast.) I suppose I invoked them
list, because it needs champions; it seems to me so poignantly vulnerable to
people reading this exchange could do as well or better."
Mom Is a Bitch" is an infantile playground chant raised to the level of comic
words barely intelligible) and the steady repetition of "bitch" on the
downbeat, it has the primal force of an incantation:
missed it? As for Puff Daddy, isn't he the one who dates the girl with the much
making him, I guess, not my kinda' guy. And whatever happened, anyway, to names
fave: "He blabs and banters and jokingly called an Associated Press reporter a
some of the rest of us. Any candidate who says, "I hate the French" and calls
Speaking of things genuine, it seems the handlers of
in the debates and just "be himself." Himself is looking dumb and programmed,
or is it stiff and smug? Some former supporters, according to the
er, "unqualified" to be president. And while they're considering a makeover,
is a little like a pregnant virgin. And of course this is the wrong season to
I had an interesting focus group moment before and during the debate that
told me all I needed to know about it (or so I thought). I couldn't watch it in
care that he and the five other Republicans were having at it while we made
reporter. Not a single highly paid political spinner or slick lobster (as we
privately refer to lobbyists) seemed even a little bit curious to learn about
reason is that the damn thing didn't matter and wouldn't unless Bush or maybe
no matter how many times the candidates stiffly turn to address each other.
There's nothing being debated here. They don't really answer the questioner's
political discourse; add water and serve), stand up straight, smile wide, and
I thought I saw him rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. I couldn't
tell if he was nervous or excited, but he wasn't comfortable; he wasn't in his
politician. Put him in a social setting, where he gets to grab shoulders and
kiss cheeks and twinkle, and he could be the next pope. But in front of a big
audience he's off his game. I haven't seen every one of his speeches this
and say "God bless" in one fluid motion (in Bush the elder's case, too fluid).
put the right emphasis on the wrong words, and twists his face up into a
rather be anywhere else. There was a lot of this in Bush's performance last
night. Did you notice him weirdly laughing when other candidates, particularly
didn't look right. I keep having to remind myself that Bush has a mixed history
group last night, it's possible that not many folks saw this one either. But
Bush shouldn't worry. Stylistic quibbles aside, he was the night's big winner.
How could he not be, given who he's running against?
lost any shred of a chance he had when he refused to allow Bush to consider a
change in the Social Security age. By doing so, he gave Bush his best shot of
assistant is getting his hand wickedly slapped in retrospect.)
of his answers went in one of my ears and out the other because they were
delivered from behind an enormous, unnatural smile. John, lose the happy
Do I really want to waste my breath? No. But let me
say just one thing: It ain't racism that's causing the media to ignore his
positions on the sanctity of life on down are simply too extreme for the
momentarily moderate. Otherwise, Tom DeLay would be running.
it has taken only four days to convince you. Perhaps I should run for
Couldn't agree more that the four guys looking the strongest wouldn't be
you think that's a good idea, then you need reeducating. As for
the way glasses look. If glasses are your trademark, you may want to think
twice before ditching them. I mean, without them, you might be just one more
Just before I push away from the Breakfast Table, you should know that the
playroom. The way I washed that taste out of my mouth was to follow some
makes the world seem a more admirable place when you consider that there are
good and selfless people with values and heart. And I found it enormously
touching that firefighters came from all over the country. It is, indeed, a
comes to sports, I am, shall we say, not present. Some might say non compos. I
And it is to my more serious Dear Prudence persona that I now return. I shall
miss the opportunity to be flip about the day's happenings, and I shall
rooting for you in your yearlong quest for the perfect political story.
don't tell" policy regarding homosexuals in the military isn't working. Rather
better enforce the current one. The statement was prompted by his wife's
remarks earlier this week that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve
special education programs simply because they were not taught to read. The
next month; the department has "credible information" that terrorist groups are
just yet. Such announcements are relatively common, although they usually
accompany military actions, economic sanctions, or other foreign policy
terrorist organization, but the link is dubious: Officials wouldn't name a
points out that attacks could occur any time from now through New Year,
likely, not more likely, to take terrorist action during a holy month?
than it would have been without the disease's effect on young workers. The
closing because their patients are getting better and leaving, a phenomenon
their services not to obtain cushy ambassadorial posts or lobbyist clout but to
millions of dollars to generate magazines similar in look and feel to popular
magazines, packed with tobacco ads, are an attempt to plug the "communication
has the compelling obviousness of good local gossip, though with the upbeat
ending you'd expect from an author whose message has consistently been, The
today out of a desire to avoid becoming her mother, a withdrawn and frustrated
father who didn't even attend his own daughter's college graduation. His lack
which led her to abandon her political dreams and take up his, which made her
resentful, which caused her to push him even harder than his own considerable
both in a horrible mess, from which she has emerged in her early 50s a new
woman, ready to break out of her chrysalis and fly.
lives of everyone around her reeks of dourness. That the newly hatched
what might become of them or even what we should think about the things they
the subject of our observation, must leave aside kings, ministers, and
generals, and study the common, infinitesimally small elements that influence
the masses." Since then, history has been through a host of
stage exists as nothing more nor less than a setting for grand
is personality; she doesn't give a damn about the national stage. Reading
plants. What she extracts from the public figures in whose private selves she
children of alcoholics, and that, she pronounces, is bad. Never mind how
order to find himself, and soon. Each story she tells is a cautionary tale with
the exact same moral: You have to pass through the stages of adult development
Transient, the Wunderkind, the Caregiver, the Nurturer Who Defers Caregiving,
skip a step: "One cannot jump from A to C, and the only path to D is through
engaging the tasks of C; there are no alternative routes." It's not as if these
steps are unusual or bizarre; on the contrary, they're soothingly familiar. At
one point, you're supposed to break away from your parents and find your own
way. At another, you have to commit to a "lifework" or risk drifting into
All this is so anodyne as to be completely unobjectionable. If you believe
that personality trumps everything else, you might as well have an idea about
theories not just to explain decisions that have proved historically momentous,
perceived as nothing more than an example of one man's difficulty making a
necessary passage: "Taken to the extreme," she writes, "the unwillingness to
commit leaves no quarter for expression of the merger self. If no school,
Cleaver, the only way the individual sees fit to redress the wrongs of society
is to smash it or choose exile from it), the path leads to isolation."
Banished in those two sentences is the entire world outside Cleaver's
he became a revolutionary because he failed to grow properly, like a vine that
run for the Senate while still first lady good for anyone but her? Is it an
abuse of her power? Should New York be glad or sad that she might become its
It's tempting to get up on one's high horse and declare this a wrongheaded
way to approach politicians, whose actions have an impact on the rest of us
now the journalistic norm. (These days, any effort to arrive at a deeper
question of whether and how a politician has grown in his or her adult years
is more or less running on a record of turning his life around after having
another inner child. Has Bush changed in a way that makes him better suited to
govern? Do we really like Al Gore's latest reincarnation? Who knows? Who
yet another uplifting tale of growth in the face of personal suffering. Will
It isn't often that you actually get a look at corporate life as it's
actually lived from the inside. That's part of what makes The Target Shoots
assistant, mostly so he could buy time until he figured out what he was really
going to do with his life. He brought with him a devotion to punk and indie
rock and a video camera that, somewhat improbably, he used to tape marketing
meetings, design discussions, conversations with his fellow employees, and a
The result is a movie that's a remarkable document of the time when it was
explosion, which at the time looked like it was going to reshape the music
industry but would instead quickly fade away. In the wake of the huge success
stayed on the charts for more than a year, major record labels went on a
the faintest possibility of being the next Nirvana. Of course, since this was a
that something important was happening and that they had no clue either what it
really was or, more important, how to make money off it. In some sense,
alternative rock really did shake the industry, because it came, if not from
nowhere, then nowhere that the major labels had previously cared about. The
(Parallels could be drawn between the record industry's reaction to
a smaller scale, what happened to them was like what happened to people with
shut were opened, and they were given far more freedom in the workplace than
And it was a huge hit. Except, of course, that no matter how clever it was, it
and the movie as a whole is embedded in a critique of consumerism that seems
ultimately naive. But naive or not, that dismay certainly feels true to its
one of the things that was most different was the feeling that music really
the culture as a whole. The Target Shoots First is amazingly moving, at
least for me, precisely because it reminds me of what it was like to feel that
way, and so of what it is like not to feel that way now.
Having said all that, the most interesting thing about the film is the way
it shows how changing the way people work actually makes a material difference
result, perhaps predictably, was a working environment that was both more
enjoyable and, by all accounts, more productive. It was, in other words,
exactly the kind of experience that Fast Company loves to write
This matters because the critique of consumerism that animates The Target
House, people really can be happier and more engaged if they're allowed to work
differently. This doesn't mean, of course, that team structures are the route
does serve as a nice reminder that not all fads are frauds.
At the Breakfast Table these days, quite literally, the first thing I turn
ago, some people had a prurient interest in these, such as those who went to
was dead. But nowadays, so many of my contemporaries and colleagues are
fascist? Yes. People forget, or most never knew, that in its early years,
write a monthly column. On what? He asked. Oh, I replied, on, say, "Travels to
There are, or have been, strong differences between obituaries in the
and thin and fail to catch the personality of a man or woman. Those in the
English press are often quite personal and written at times by a friend of the
Times yesterday, beginning with two columns on the front page and
continuing, after the jump, to almost a full page inside.
year to the cemetery, we place a stone on the monument, in commemoration of the
death of his father. It is haunting its recurring refrain, and keeps pulsing
But the breakfast is finished, and here is the rest of the cold day ahead
frothiest of markets. But in fact there was nothing typical about the success
by replacing the traditional method of allocating shares and setting opening
initial filing price, then takes provisional orders from institutional
investors that it uses to gauge demand. The filing price can be adjusted upward
if demand is strong enough, but in general the offering price for a company
In a Dutch auction, by contrast, the price is essentially determined by the
investors, who submit the highest price they're willing to pay and the number
of shares they want at that price. The people who bid the highest (and, if they
bid the same price, the earliest) get first dibs on the shares, which are then
allocated in order from highest to lowest bid, until they're all gone. No
matter what you bid, though, the price you pay is the lowest price that any
basis of who they know, and because it ensures that the company going public
isn't going to leave too much money on the table by going public at a lower
price than the one the market was willing to pay. It's also superior because it
eliminates the middleman (the investment bank) and lets the market set the
Given the more general move in business toward disintermediation, it seems
inevitable that eventually this will be the way most companies go public. But
least in the sense that neither company has seen a significant gain over its
same companies were being underwritten by more established investment banks,
on the opening day, is so important. It suggests, as I argued at
companies that were going public. Take a real company in a hot sector, like
There is, to be sure, something of a paradox here, since if the point of
having a Dutch auction is for the company not to leave any money on the table,
the auction didn't work all that well. But there are two things to keep in mind
here. The first, and more mundane, point is that you have to have a brokerage
more comfortable with Dutch auctions, and as more investors take part in these
confident a good plastic surgeon could help now. (Insert jokes about
candidates has the best manners? And does it matter? We are, after all,
me more, and here I am talking about such things as etiquette and decency. I
want a president who is true to other people more than he is true to himself.
of the second largest state (which if it were a nation, would be the
Southern Baptists. But I don't think that this is a government function." And
victim of unfair innuendo and as a passionate war hero with fervently held
thinks the evangelical is a serious threat. Morris says that, according to
methods may be open to question; for more on his Web site, click here.)
that if they are the nominees they will devote themselves to campaign finance
policy, Shields says, but his knowledge of domestic issues was weak and he
emphasis? Pundit Central suspects that the forum holds a clue: The
Capital Gang Shields has to moderate four other guests and probably
The Right Honorable Gentleman From the FT seems astonished by the
whole, well, vulgarity of the debate. Every time the camera lands on
across his face occasionally at inappropriate times" had occasioned perplexed
there, he continuously wore a sort of smile as he listened to each woman. One
after the Governor has delivered a line particularly well, or thinks he
The smirk is causing much justifiable worry in Republican circles. "I hear
smirk and smugness," a "senior Republican official" was quoted as saying in the
make sure that charm is not mistaken for arrogance.'" Presumably Bush himself
Clearly, though, the smirk will return, and when it does, political
faulty subjective analysis by pundits and voters. A far more interesting
just a cruel trick of genetic physiognomy: "His father has the same thing; it's
just not as pronounced as it is with 'W.'" But since personality is also
to some extent genetically based and, moreover, can be passed environmentally
It would be easy to mistake such elaborate body language for arrogance,
as more than a few observers have, whereas the true meaning of the tic may be
managed to jump another public hurdle without embarrassing himself. Or it may
Concluding that the matter of Bush's smirk was too weighty to be left in the
"leading smile researcher." His academic writings on how to interpret facial
expressions have been used by lawyers to figure out which potential jurors to
about never talking about anyone who is in office or running for office, or is
in litigation. So I can't help you. I don't know anyone responsible and
Undaunted, Chatterbox marched off to a nearby bookstore and purchased
What the Face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies of
Chatterbox learned that the science of studying facial expressions is
relatively new: Before the 1960s, apparently, "it was deemed a useless
facial expressions were essentially the same as when they watched the films
sometimes, and actually masked negative emotion with smiling behavior."
they're feeling. A reassuring finding in light of the question before us.
wrinkling of the nose, a puffing of the cheeks, dilation of the nostrils,
perform these various tasks, are the tools used in What the Face
imprecise, "ignoring differences between a variety of different muscular
actions to which [it] may refer, and mixing description with inferences about
meaning or the message which [it] may convey.") But there are three
chapters in the book that may nonetheless be relevant to the smirking
smile. Then they were asked, "Now that this is done, aren't you glad it's
others) titled "Type A Behavior Pattern." Here, the authors argue that the
group of people most likely to suffer heart attacks are more apt than others to
Chatterbox can tell, but his smirk may be an expression of disgust. If
that's true, he would seem to face a heightened risk of heart disease.
"masking" smiles intended to hide some other emotion. (The subject doesn't
actually have to be telling a lie; rather, the facial expression
itself is the lie.) Felt happy smiles "are defined as the action
facial muscles associated with fear, disgust, contempt, sadness, and anger. One
Chatterbox will refrain from endorsing any of these three
announcement that it plans to play a role in the numerous city lawsuits against
gun makers to make concessions to settle the various city lawsuits and if the
behalf of the nation's public housing authorities. The story is fronted at the
completely reassess its interplanetary exploration program, a story everybody
the decision by a federal judge to block a web news service's attempt to post
the annual financial disclosure forms submitted by all federal judges. Paper
versions of the forms are already available to the general public. The
that dozens of New York City teachers and two principals supplied answers to
students for the standardized tests that determine how city schools are ranked
courts gun control measures that have failed in Congress. Measures like
controlling sales at gun shows, limiting the volume of gun purchases at any one
time, and cutting off dealers whose sold guns are disproportionately involved
committed with a handgun. The papers point out that the federal government's
move is patterned after its lawsuit against the cigarette manufacturers. But
the LAT notes an important difference: the tobacco companies have many
times the size and staying power of the gun companies.
"Clearly something is wrong, and we have to understand it." The coverage makes
it clear that understanding might require postponement or even scrapping of
forced, since it's now apparent that the company's performance will be a focus
dissemination via the Web poses some sort of extra danger not posed by
discovered scam in which someone applied for and got and used credit cards in
admirals. This was possible because the officers' service numbers, which are
just their Social Security numbers, were made available to Congress as part of
the promotion process, and have since appeared on a Web site maintained to
cadged but the story points out a more serious angle: Since service numbers are
family, finances and personal background. The Pentagon is therefore, says the
now be used to pay income tax bills. But not Visa. The paper doesn't explain
why. You'd think the company would want its piece of what's sure to be a record
subsidies should be phased out, and everybody here on this stage, if it wasn't
protest their fervent support for this boondoggle, which violates every known
this issue, in contrast to every other candidate in the race, is the definition
now counts for as much as a superb answer by any of the other candidates. Bush
fared well because most of his answers last night were successfully
answers have a more than ordinarily tangential relationship to the questions he
is asked. Instead of engaging the premise of a question, he simply clicks on
United States can do to interrupt what seems to be an evolving culture of
Bush answered: "You know, one of the interesting parts of your question is
was a request for something beyond the airy platitudes about compassion that
store that we used to find on main street?" Bush responded: "I think if you ask
the family farmer, they don't feel protected." He then gave an answer about the
ignored the challenge to his assumption that farms deserve benefits not
existing laws against possession of marijuana, Bush said he favored
again, he ignored the challenge to a contradiction in his views: that gun laws
should be rigidly enforced, but that certain drug laws should not be.
Bush isn't the first guy to dodge and weave around awkward questions from
reporters. But he is more than ordinarily unresponsive. To use the
not striking out, he bats pitch after pitch into foul territory. The best
instance of this was Bush's answer to a viewer's question about what political
philosopher each candidate identified with and why. Bush had time to think this
because he changed my heart." Bush heard the word "philosopher," seized on a
In the last debate, Hatch gave a patronizing lecture about how the
This was the wisecrack of the night. But I think it also offered a glimpse
of all, I don't think you're going to ask for Medicare with the amount of money
you make. In fact, I think you could take care of all of us right up here on
Later in the debate, Hatch spoke, as he always does, of how he once raised
chickens and sold eggs and worked as a janitor and has been faithful to his
because he sees everyone around him getting the money, fame, sex, and credit
sight. What diminished Three Kings for me was that at heart it was a
live with himself in the face of injustice and opts to "do the right thing" at
considerable personal cost. That's one of the great movie plots, but it doesn't
feel as fresh as the rest of what's on screen. Elsewhere, however, it's the way
that screenwriters and directors bend and twist formulas that accounts for the
"anything goes" quality that we've all been responding to. The beauty of The
"distance": from other people, from the effects of our own actions in the past,
and from ourselves. The villain turns out not to be a person but a concept. You
thought that it's all "getting too close" to him. It's the hero's willful
blindness to the fact that his behavior in the past had rippling consequences
realistic hope is that filmmakers will use the technology to deconstruct those
I don't think that theme is going to go away. As our culture becomes more
in movies and television and our own fantasy lives. "Breaking through into the
I don't see any outright "masterpieces." Let's just say that this has been a
great year, a reversal of so much that happened in movies in the '80s. But
Senate votes it needs to be ratified, the president's deputies actually argue
that it should be tabled rather than voted on. Many treaty opponents cite
only that there is "ongoing work" on computer models. But many treaty advocates
"trying to get the Democratic nomination" by attacking "good Republican
Bush's move was smart. "I have never seen a candidate for president in my
was more assertive and, some argue, more personable than in the past. (At the
start of his speech, Gore stepped in front of the podium, looked at
looked "like an elementary school teacher" in front of the podium. (To learn
effect on the health of the polity. One pressing question: Who would be first
lady? (Trump is unmarried, but he has told Fox host Tony Snow that he
impression somehow that he's different than the Republican Congress agenda.
[To learn more about all of these stories and find links to the smartest
As always, it is a treat to read your cogent insights. I agree with you that
the big story here involves the changes in capitalism and especially in the
nature of work. Unfortunately, I think it would have been a much stronger book
soon as possible! There is a real world out here with real people in it. If
weight of all those muscles. We're waiting for you!
and profound set of questions that affect all of our lives. She does this with
great earnestness and deep commitment. She devoted years of her life to the
interviews with an unusual selection of men are masterful gems, each one cut
and shaped by profound empathy, vivid observation, and keen listening. They are
rendered in rich romantic prose that pungently conveys the disparate worlds of
her interlocutors. I love the way she lets us in on the action through her own
responses of compassion and bewilderment. She is always there, never silent, as
we feel men and women opening up to her, trusting her, bonding with her, so
much so that months and years later, they continue to call and bring her up to
date on their lives and their troubles. What I cherish about this book, and
of this intellectual journey. She began with one set of assumptions and allowed
them to transform, as she herself was transformed by the men she came to know.
Her personal authenticity was the backdrop against which these men were able to
turn their experiences into words with an anguished and heartbreaking
reached beyond her role as a feminist, or even as a writer. She reached toward
her own individual humanity and through that medium reached a deeper truth with
those men she sought to understand. Between her introduction and her
the football fans, the militiamen, the porno film stars, the fashion tyrants
The question inevitably arises, though: What does it all mean? Here I
errors that form the very foundation of her undertaking: one substantive, the
"popular accounts of the male crisis and male confusions are almost
identifies some of the deep historical structures that might have allowed her
to unravel her data, and then dismisses them as irrelevant:
nor about a shift from a society organized around industry to one set up around
There is no way to talk about these historic shifts "simply." And this is
the first time I have heard these monumental issues in the evolution of
material life referred to as "surface symptoms"! Whoa! If that's the surface,
then we must be talking about something very deep indeed that is the cause of
definition of the heart of this particular darkness: The deep pain experienced
by the men she meets is explained by this confession and complaint: "My father
never taught me how to be a man." So, here we are once again on a canvas of
to commercial culture has crippled the sons, leaving them no source of meaning
other than "Were they 'sexy'? Were they 'known'? Had they 'won'?"
If there is a crisis of masculinity, then it truly can only be understood
through history. We are now completing, at least in the West, the last feudal
century. For the first time in any society, a majority of its people are
educated and informed. For the first time in any society, a majority of its
people use their brains and not their backs to accomplish its work. The bonds
of hierarchy and patriarchy are not dissolved, but faded and weakened as never
before. The fixed productive and reproductive roles of men and women, once
determined by anatomy, are now giving way to an exhilarating and terrifying
plethora of choices. The concept of work has been forever transformed and the
boundaries of class have followed suit. These are the deep structures that are
in motion. These are the sources of the ruptures with the past we all face.
If there is a crisis, then rejoice! The old sources of meaning that kept us
the tectonic plates of history roil and split and mow them down. They complain
the usefulness of supporting their women, learning new skills, committing to
their families, and finding new ways to teach their children and contribute to
their communities. The old world had women in a box and men in a harness. No
one was allowed to venture outside their roles. If the fathers were silent, its
because that's how they thought the script was written. Don't pine for that!
Get on with the challenge of forging a new life and writing your own, better,
Finally, the methodological fallacy at the heart of this book: "If you want
alleged "societal dynamic" becomes her methodological justification for using
this kind of approach is very tricky. If you are going to pick a few cases to
illustrate the larger whole, then you have to have some pretty compelling and
profile. I think that what she has unearthed in grisly detail is the uniquely
described as "high school with money"), where looks, fame, and income compose
the ranking rules for a truly wacky hierarchy. Lamentably, she has lost sight
of just how weird and out of the mainstream that culture is. It is not our
culture. It is not our society. It is not the grain of sand in which the real
world that most of us live in is etched. The gangsters, the militiamen, the
don't think that any of them says very much about most of us. But then, I live
We'll love you here even if you have a paunch or imperfect thighs!
Most pundits think Al Gore is becoming desperate, and some say he's now the
explains Gore's motivation.) Gore moved his campaign headquarters from
take your campaign out of K Street, but you can't take K Street out of your
that he is far ahead in most national polls. Some attribute Gore's problems to
Republicans' plan to balance the budget by fudging with the benefits schedule
positions show that Bush is more of a social conservative than an economic
began three weeks ago, many of those commenting on it have actually read it.
comically fallible in private." He continues: "I have no doubt whatsoever that
TR: "Do you believe that priests and nuns and rabbis and
therefore you go into organized religion to help strengthen yourself. That's
questions, whether he considers himself a Christian and whether he believes in
"Actors are trained not to focus too closely on their individual witnesses,
convention over the union's possible presidential endorsement of either Al Gore
paragraph it quotes Gore saying he's uncertain of the outcome and waits until
the eighth to quote a union official who thinks Gore has "a good chance." By
union's endorsement. The Wall Street Journal is a bit less emphatic, saying that
choice's significance: If the union does indeed make a choice now, it will be
still sell to law enforcement and the military but will basically stop selling
Apparently, the company's motivation is to avoid legal liability and money
damages possibly arising from verdicts in any of the lawsuits currently being
brought by various local governments. The Colt shift was discovered by
raises deep questions about the media's true values: In the week following the
interview, less and less was said about the former and more and more was said
conclude that the Brits believe that the drug is dangerous. That's why it's a
mistake for the Journal to wait until the fifth paragraph to mention
to comprehend that, I will be forced to come to an understanding with the
The LAT fronts a report about tighter rules regarding personal uses
of office computers and how companies are increasingly using sophisticated
tracking technology to enforce them. Examples in the story of concerns where
the new technology and the worker resentment it breeds are in evidence:
that almost surely is a hotbed for this issue that the story makes no mention
briefing on local conditions. John Weaver, his national political director,
alerted him that the audience waiting inside the aircraft hangar might include
as a Republican may be the most contrarian notion in his delightfully
technicalities. He hopes to link it to the apathy young people feel about
special interest money dominates the electoral system is a big part of the
"Restoring honesty to our political system is the gateway through which all
Library, to sustained applause and a loud cry of "Amen" from a man in a skirt
and sneakers who later identified himself as the leader of "Evangelical
recently agreed to drop everything but a ban on soft money from his eponymous
campaign reform bill, which is supposed to come up for another Senate vote
soon, agrees. He says that after a decade, shrewd operators will find the
loopholes in any finance reform bill. Cleaning up the system thus has to be a
will reduce the power of special interest money in politics, not eliminate it,
environmentalism, an internationalist foreign policy, and more together in a
Library, where he called it "a fight against the pervasive cynicism that is
debilitating our democracy, that cheapens our public debates, that threatens
our public institutions, our culture and, ultimately, our private happiness."
Other times, he casts it as an "ask not" call to public service. In Grand
pick it up and read it and realize the great virtue in committing themselves to
doesn't have to be military," he says. "It can be in a mental hospital or the
But his "new patriotic challenge" seems to strike a chord nonetheless. When
credibility, based on what he sacrificed in serving. This is something that is
freedom of speech, art, religion, and, of course, the mayor. So try as I might
bureaucratic reorganization, and mayoral succession just can't compete with
not opposing the exhibit. One thing for sure, the press is going to have fun.
The New York Post has already told its readers that she's "dissing" the
she'll host the national celebration. Do you think we will actually get any
intellectuals lamenting their loss of authority over the masses. I must admit
that I am only rarely invited to their events. Apparently, my questions at past
forums have been too "pointed" for their guest speakers.
If there is a biological drive toward order among humans, I have yet to see
it appear among my three children! And while I am a religious person, I don't
trust the leadership in our religious institutions to set the moral standards
for the rest of us. Politics and religion have become too intricately
It's surely a topic for another day. It's been great meeting you over the
Good morning. I fear it's one of those mornings when
our own ways. I find the progressive expansion of elections is as distressing
there are going to be plenty more where that came from.
It's a symptom of an electoral process rapidly turning
main ride being tempests revolving in teacups labeled Family Values, Defense of
Religion, the War on Drugs, etc., etc.) Fortunately only a small, if loud,
small, which served only to prove that the entire political establishment has
Indeed, in the week when Warren didn't declare, and some
rode with the Mongols Motorcycle Club for nine months. Seems as reasonable a
their noses in other people's business, are the kind of discussion I haven't
himself elected, and the same old buzz words are so worn out they will no
You won't get a fight out of me on the Backstreet Boys.
This old rocker doesn't care which way they get it. Should liking them or not
dread question of heredity, about which I will say a few words later. But he
on and lose. On the one hand, I am irritated at having to spend all this time
on personal background when I am trying to get at the issues; on the other
partner of Warren Buffet, and so on. It seems as if it has been decided, both
by writers and publishers, that you can't get people to concentrate on the
issues if you don't build up the personalities involved.
You raise some interesting questions about changes over
the decades. I was involved in the genesis and publishing of some of the books
you mention, and why styles and tastes change over the years is a question it
is hard to answer. I think one answer is the rise of academia, which leads to
more specialized books, narrower books, reaching small specialized audiences.
Almost none of the people you mention as writing those important books of the
they were, they became professors late in life, after having been editors, and
impressively so, but the issues are left hanging without sustained analysis,
A final point, heredity. One cannot be conclusive on
important factor. When we say that social background determines in large
measure one's scores and indeed, I would say, one's tested intelligence, how do
we separate out the effect of hereditary factors from income, education,
I think one can't. And yet if these factors play some
role, and I am sure they do, whatever means we try to get to equal
appeals court ruling that gun manufacturers can be sued for negligence for
promoting weapons in such a way that they would appeal to criminals. The
TEACHER PAY TO RESULTS," about how today, at a national education summit (Bill
faculty checks and student grades go hand in hand. With the federal government
having just given itself pay raises across the board without having produced a
budget for the fiscal year that starts tomorrow one looks in vain for the
alternative headline "STATES TO TIE POLITICIAN PAY TO RESULTS." Oh well.
stride, that the campaign's other new changes include "an updated wardrobe."
decision to move and asking them if they would move with him. "Both replied
Gore's announcement: "The air of nervousness and tension in the room was
analytical, spending much of the top part of its story focusing on Gore's money
The papers contain reports of the discovery in East
response thus far has been that there is no archival evidence of any such
incident. (The papers should have dug up the initial denials issued by
provided they channel the money thus saved into the likes of education and
health. How to explain the meager play the announcement gets? The
government's warning that parents should not sleep in the same bed with a child
provides many benefits, such as bonding and the promotion of
considering a run for president and will make his mind up later this year. He
further convinced of the appropriateness of running by the tepid response among
held a press conference to deny rumors (launched by former officials of his
campaign) that he's had an adulterous affair with an aide. The papers put the
policies of various people in public life designed to avoid baseless rumors of
sexual misconduct: The Rev. Billy Graham has refused to be alone in a room with
having a male staff member present whenever he meets with a woman; and John
I might at least have something entertaining or informative to say, I ran into
department of one of those companies that I wrote its president a letter of
complaint on the letterhead of an impressive magazine in which I stated my
intention of reporting in print how unpleasant it had been dealing with his
company at every conceivable opportunity and that I would consider myself to be
hard to discharge my punditry duties in this space without coming across as
unbecomingly stuck on myself. You have been managing this very gracefully, I
taking notes, but I think this is pretty much the exact same question that was
being posed yesterday. I know the answer! Call on me! In a word, Yes! Yes, he
70-something to 50-something in as short a period of three months, they really
course know since I got the job owing to your recommendation when I had no
experience at all, because you were tired of hearing me blather on, much as I
am doing now, but more crankily, as we sat in bars back when we met in the
I am looking forward more than I can say to the season
want a scotch with my toast. The need to rant is upon me. So soon after the
though I find the Doctrine of Transubstantiation makes me queasy, and I don't
alone." They wear us down by exhaustion. Believe me, I know. I once almost did
audience that the legalization of drugs is well overdue. "Regulate them,
kept you?" The War on Drugs has been raging through my entire lifetime, and
despite hundreds of billions of tax dollars, the triumphant propaganda of the
this side of Hell. The equation is so damned simple and obvious. The very
illegality of recreational drugs is the risk that creates the vast
profitability. Remove the risk and you remove the profit incentive, and at
least half the problem is solved. Regulation, control, keeping dope away from
does still have to fight what might be called the Drug Enforcement Industry, a
he is of any discussion of legalization. He's got bigger fish to fry. He was,
I was also going to rant on about the Patient Bill of
following an increasingly common practice, made a videotape of its own) on a
News" Web site. The stunt has generated scads of publicity in the media,
interview subjects will be forced to sign away their rights to make public
whatever it is they tell its intrepid reporters. (How any interviewee who isn't
also guaranteed that the story will be a puff piece could possibly be induced
to sign such an agreement remains to be seen. Perhaps those who don't sign will
be forbidden to take their children to the forthcoming Toy Story sequel.)
Chatterbox believes that sunlight is the best disinfectant for everybody,
to give his readers some preview of what the controversy in question is all
trafficking, after he was arrested in connection with a methamphetamine lab
confronted with an unbelievably complex "user agreement" requiring Chatterbox
to promise in advance to eschew any "reproduction, broadcast, retransmissions,
contents "are only for your personal, noncommercial use." Hmm. Is Web
journalism "commercial use"? (Chatterbox does get paid to write this column.) The user
(are) engaging in Improper Conduct, [and] charge the Registered User (whose
facilities or access rights have been used for Improper Conduct) an Improper
derivative works from, transmit, sell, distribute, or in any way exploit the
Site or any portion thereof for any public or commercial use or any news or
media use without the express advanced written permission of
The threat of litigation tends to scare Chatterbox out of his wits, and by
now Chatterbox wasn't at all sure he wanted to press ahead. Instead, he phoned
You, of course, raise the issue that has split criminal justice and
And you are right on the mark regarding the role that ideology has played in
this debate. Moreover, New York City (media center, etc.) has become the focus
simplified, are along the lines you suggest: changing drug patterns, changing
police practices were central argue that the crime reductions came at an
My own position is considerably different than claims on either side. Again,
trying to put forth a complex argument in a short note is difficult, however,
let me try. As you know, long before the New York and "crime reduction"
stories, I was an advocate of community policing. By that, I did not mean that
police should be "nicer" or that they should do, in effect, community
relations. I argued that to deal with crime, police had to be involved with
citizens, organizations, institutions, etc., and that communities had to
reclaim public spaces and control and nurture youth. To use New York City as an
example, that is exactly what happened. Think of the activities of citizen
groups, business improvement districts, the transportation authority in
removing graffiti and reclaiming the subway, the restoration of Central and
increase the number of police. Moreover, by the end of the second
The police, however, provided the "tipping point" that accelerated a process
that you properly note: Crime had been slowly dropping for some period of time.
do with police practices in New York City. As I am certain that you are aware,
The fact that this is a national trend and that the stories are different in
most cities I find both not surprising and comforting. Each city has begun to
find ways to reclaim public spaces and control and nurture its youth on its own
But, in closing for now, I went to a fascinating discussion put on last
offered some comments, it was the power of a set of ideas that changed things
And, finally, yes it would have been fun to have met before this
"conversation." But, I must be off to my guest teaching. I will write again
the cause: One part of the orbiter's navigation system was speaking in English
to combat rampant commercial fraud by farmers and shopkeepers who used the
varied systems of weights and measures to their advantage. Scientists were also
demanding a standardized system to facilitate international cooperation on
research. While old systems seemed arbitrary, the new standardized system had
distance between the equator and either pole (it has since been redefined in
terms of the speed of light). It was also easier to remember than other systems
of the continent quickly followed in hopes that a standardized measurement
system would spur international trade. Over the next hundred years, the metric
government adopted metric as the nation's "preferred measurement system" and
established the United States Metric Board to manage the transition. The
changeover was ineffective, however, and by the early 1980s, the only tangible
progress was that liquor and wine had to be labeled in liters. Metrication was
similarly mixed: Large corporations with overseas exports are at least partly
converted, but most small businesses still use the English system.
Labor unions worried that workers would be unable to learn a new system.
Businesses protested that redesigning machines and products to metric standards
would be costly. States objected to the expense of replacing road signs and
revising laws. And average citizens argued that change was unnecessary and said
metrication, claiming "the West was won by the inch, foot, yard, and mile."
system of measurement. In the 1970s, some opponents suggested that metric road
instance of path dependency: Once a course is chosen, it is difficult to induce
since the economy was sufficiently dominant in its trade relationships to
Union plans to ban products labeled in English units at the end of the year.)
Also, unlike other nations, the United States' metrication legislation has been
entirely voluntary, so few organizations have transitioned. The Department of
abolished in 1982--now focuses on outreach to the business community, instead
of legislation. The year's marquee event, "Metric Week," begins this
Association for exhaustive information on metrication.)
What a relief. Something would be very wrong if we found nothing to argue
about. It's also a relief to be able to put aside Morris' book, which we both
impressive figure than I once did and can even admire some of what he achieved.
But Morris, in his simplistic way, and you, in your much more knowledgeable
reference book; and I was surprised by how much more sympathetic I was to him
than I had once been. He deserves considerable credit, I think, for restoring a
course, an easily crossed line between confident optimism and arrogant
in the '60s). But on the whole, I think he was a positive force in the way he
reduced the rancor and disillusionment that had grown so corrosive in the late
movement in both elite and popular thinking about welfare policy that had
to work, that it should be (to use a phrase created, but never really acted
understanding of the nature of the welfare system and its effects was, like
Morris', largely simplistic and uninformed. But his instincts were at least
partially right, and like many liberals, I was slow to recognize that. I now do
thing a public policy can do to lift people out of poverty and redeem their
administration was, I think, gratuitously punitive toward some of the poorest
and most desperate welfare recipients and put much too much of the burden of
its supposed deficit reduction on the backs of those least able to afford it
(and on programs so meagerly funded that their contribution to deficit
reduction was meaningless in any case). The same could be said for the
investment, and that many important new economic sectors flourished. Credit for
administration undoubtedly contributed. On the other hand, the economic boom of
in creating a very substantial upward distribution of wealth and in benefiting
all. Blame for that must also be distributed widely, but I have no doubt that
upper brackets while watching higher social security taxes eat away at lower-
and many others made contributions to the denouement of the Soviet Union, and
that either of them was more responsible for it than the cascading economic
had never done as well as Western economies and had often experienced crises.
as a nation was much more serious, rapid, and destructive than anything that
had come before. Certainly part of the reason for that was the very high levels
of unproductive military spending. But those high levels had been eroding the
all, one of his rationales for doing so.) There were many other grave problems
wanted, I can see no basis on which to attribute the central role in this great
French monarchy, but it was not ultimately his doing.
certainly be debating these questions for generations. But I suspect that in
It's been a pleasure discussing these issues with you. I wish I could say
You strike a balanced note at the end of your message that I think is
absolutely appropriate. On the subject of heredity, you note that some portion
of intelligence does seem to be hereditary, or at least so many serious people
say. So while we should try to reduce inequality of opportunity, there will
always be some, since some people are born smarter, and that intelligence may
clear, the current meritocratic sorting system has done a good deal to reduce
inequality of opportunity. The 1950s elite was based on blood and, to a much
ours is that it has reduced the influence of looks, magnetism, and social
wanted to create a small elite class of guardians who would serve the public
was also naive, and reality tends to smash those notions. There is never going
lofty writings down to the gritty struggles of politics and campaigns, showing
I finish this exchange more aware of the limitations of our current
meritocracy, but not moved to support radical changes to it. The SAT has opened
in his conclusion. That would be to try to impose an overly egalitarian plan
onto a society that is interested in opportunity and striving. If there's one
last time, by photographs of genitals scissored out of porno magazines) has
declaratory and injunctive relief (which ought to be on the Web, but
Although the City may generally choose to fund museums as it sees fit, it
may not make funding decisions for the purpose of punishing a museum's
States, as made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United
Does a museum's constitutional right to free expression, which is
undeniable, really include the right to demand a government subsidy? (The city
York Times in the Pentagon Papers case. Can he possibly have the law on his side?
(Incidentally, the Senate today jumped into the fight by voting unanimously to
Guided by a pretty good news analysis piece in today's New York Times (which has
performance artist famous for smearing chocolate on her breasts, sued the
National Endowment for the Arts for withdrawing a grant. The decision, by
flatly stating that "the First Amendment certainly has application in the
subsidy context." Here is some more language from the decision that bolsters
We have stated that, even in the provision of subsidies, the Government
"manipulated" to have a "coercive effect," then relief could be appropriate.
constitutionally suspect when it threatens to suppress the expression of
more pressing constitutional question would arise if government funding
resulted in the imposition of a disproportionate burden calculated to drive
But is the government, in withdrawing funding that indirectly subsidizes a
part in promoting it? (In practice, the most efficient way to publicize
albeit in miniature, in the Times and countless other news outlets. If
Mister Justice Chatterbox humbly dissents from the Supreme Court majority's
view that the First Amendment has any "application in the subsidy
reasoning on this question that was so lucid that Chatterbox will give him the
enactment of 954(d)(1), Congress did not abridge the speech of those
indecent speech. Those who wish to create indecent and disrespectful art are as
unconstrained now as they were before the enactment of this statute.
satisfaction of having the bourgeoisie taxed to pay for it. It is preposterous
participation in a tax exemption or other subsidy scheme does not necessarily
Heterogeneous leads anchor the fronts. The New York Times reveals that nonprofits, including
churches, pocketed millions in Federal grants that are designated to feed poor
the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to a ratification vote, in the hope of sinking it
of inmates sentenced to terms that carry life maximums.
vice president inherited his pedantic political style from his father, who rose
from poverty to become a teacher and politician. The senior Gore forced his son
The Times also reports that four Bush biographies are in the
are being written by independent authors. The Bush camp is putting out an
slated to author the book. The writer insinuates he was ousted for asking hard
questions. The Bush campaign's communications director is now penning the party
senator's quixotic argument for his candidacy: "[Bush is] a mile wide and an
acknowledges that he has a rough row to hoe. Even some of his friends are
The Post's "Outlook" section surveys candidate statements on campaign
finance reform. Al Gore advocates a soft money ban and free broadcast time for
strike a blow for feminism by fighting a male lightweight in boxing's
partially driven by her experience with domestic violence.
school indignantly argues that "education is not a country club" and
disdainfully describes mothers jockeying to make play dates with the offspring
which kiddies were admitted to kindergarten under her reign. She graciously
explains, "It is one of the subtle ways we limit who applies."
announcement that the United Nations will have to take complete
the face of more sweeping legislation sponsored by Democrats, the House
leadership reversed position and wrote an alternative bill giving patients the
delivered along with a decision not to raise interest rates. (The markets
the second time in a week. "Too often, on social issues, my party has painted
has confused the need for limited government with a disdain for government
itself." He also proposed federal incentives for states to participate in
The LAT reports that former President Jimmy Carter has been
specify.) Cuts in administrative and educational expenses at private schools
and increased state funding of public schools account for most of the gains,
college on one side of it and people who haven't on the other. The line gets
lives, higher education is the main focus of their aspirations (and the
possibility of getting into the elite end of higher education is the focus of
The Journal profiles one youth who didn't buy into the meritocracy
confirmed by the companies themselves, caused Excite at Home's stock to rise
have yet to make sense, so I guess this serves as a return to comparative
Bush to make him president, and here goes. If the predictions don't actually
pan out, and I actually pray they don't, it's also a classic example of how to
build a high conspiracy theory from the ground up. The trick is to combine
totally separate news stories as factors in the same scenario, and take it from
Defense Weekly reporting on the massive proliferation of a class of cheap,
conventional weapons, but can be easily adapted to carry a payload of anthrax
or a small, dirty atomic bomb. The matching piece of the puzzle was served up
All peaceful solutions would require immediate cooperation by the nations
involved, but I doubt we should hold our breath on that. The alternative is
president to have in power during this unfolding scenario than a completely
malleable nonentity, totally in the pocket of corporate oil? The true face of
the alliterative compassionate conservatism? This may sound a little wild, but
Graham? After the entire area has decimated itself, some compliant commander in
chief has to be in place to send in the troops to secure the oil if it's not
sympathize with the family whose kid blew a thousand dollars on the cards. (I
always sympathize with the irredeemably stupid.) I wonder, however, having now
run out of space and will have to save these gems for later.
Hey, good illustrations. The one thing that really bummed
me about being paired up with you to do this Breakfast Table gig was knowing
that you'd effortlessly outdraw my sorry ass, and that's even when you've got a
color pallette tied behind your back. Well, at least I have my new,
on good authority that he was going to end capitalism, nationalize industry,
eliminate pay inequity, and institute forced collectivization, all while
is telling the truth about really caring about poor people. (Hey, maybe he's
In any event, my lines were jammed with callers seemingly unaware of the
conceived, is dead if you can convince people that Bush is a leftist and
parliamentary democracy; even fringes of the electorate get represented. But at
paralysis, and worse than that, the illusion of choice between two virtually
the phone or unlock the front door), and that was the last time I ever
considered participating in allegedly organized party politics.
Torts dominate the news, with major liability decisions about health
insurance, pharmaceuticals, and the manufacture of guns covering the front
pages. Everyone leads with the House's dramatic, bipartisan passage of a
"patients' rights" bill, which would give the consumer a broad right to sue his
cities against the firearms industry. The judge said the attempt to regulate
guns through tort law represented an "improper attempt to have this court
substitute its judgment for that of the legislature."
in one of the rare House votes where the outcome was not known in advance. It
dealt a major blow to the House leadership, which had lobbied for a narrower
legislation was supported by the labor and consumer lobbies as well as the
argued it would enrich trial lawyers and cause employers to drop medical
benefits for workers. It now goes to a conference committee, where it must be
issue refunds. Benefits are not limited to those who sued: Any one of the six
billion to settle. Oddly, the LAT puts the nominal, rather than the
is confusing money with wealth; it should do as the Post does, and not mention the nominal figure at all. All the
Journal explains why this amount is sufficient: Insurance pays the
Party. The party formed a centrist coalition government which is expected to be
pledged to devote himself to economic reform and steer away from the
alleges that it has undefined goals, does not meet its own deadlines, takes
credit for corporate contributions and community projects with which it is only
peripherally involved, and does not reveal how or how much it pays its top
officers, as charities traditionally do. The Times notes that a
presidential campaign. "Unless I thought I could win the whole thing, I would
relying on the good will of a rogue state to allow inspectors onto its
territory," the three leaders write. "Under the treaty, a global network of
all is said and done, a casket is just a box with a door on it," says a former
exorbitant casket fees of funeral homes. "You don't feel that pressure to be
done with it and be out of there," says one happy customer. "It's more like
leading with tobacco companies suing for access to the raw data from
would make the takeover the largest ever. The Wall Street Journal
possibly supplanting the conservative People's Party as the second largest
story) downplays the results, and the menace posed by the party and its leader,
health insurance has not kept pace with economic prosperity. More than
of coverage on welfare reforms that have trimmed Medicaid rolls. They disagree
receive insurance from their employers, but doesn't mention the possibility
that this is simply because Medicaid cuts removed a more affordable
cut benefits or raised premiums, and many new jobs come from small businesses,
threatened to withdraw his party from the coalition if they lost too much
close finish and low turnout make the elections a nonevent, and that the
People's Party leader is backing down from his earlier statements. The
study linking secondhand smoke and lung cancer. Researchers say that
surrendering the data would violate the confidentiality participants were
promised and threaten future research. Though defendants traditionally win such
because the presiding judge has ruled in favor of the tobacco industry
the beginning of a full invasion; they only seek to establish a security zone
attacks even though there is currently no indication of rebel presence in the
tested well this weekend. Defense officials warn that this success was only a
first step, and much more work is required to provide comprehensive protection.
Skeptics warn that such protection is virtually impossible, and that further
work: It's a testament to our cynical times that a politician can make news
here, and the radiators in my apartment are making those knocking and
whispering noises that make all prewar buildings in Manhattan seem like they
display there as by artists "who deserve to remain obscure or be forgotten,"
boldly opining, "I have seen the exhibition, and I think the emperor has no
clothes." Strong words for a man whose institution not long ago devoted a
I like your conspiracy theory, but where most such theories fall apart on
the unlikelihood of the conspirators being sufficiently organized to carry off
such a thing, yours falls apart on the unlikelihood of any alternative
candidate's being sufficiently disorganized not to understand the benefits of
serving the interests of corporate oil. Also, while I don't like to quibble, I
night? I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that you frequently see
Bush was so overcome with emotion while reading a letter he wrote to a
administration that he was unable to continue, and had to hand the task over to
about those Gap ads. I like those Gap ads, because I always feel
have a charm so forceful that it was akin to encountering a major climatic
condition, which surprisingly few of the professionally famous do. In fact, if
there is a sad thing to know about interviewing artists whose work you admire,
it is that their work may well be the only thing about them you do. Also, the
candidacy, or is that just a New York story? Now, there's a man who understands
the benefits of corporate oil, since I don't see how he could get his hair to
"Murder Isn't Always a Crime" claims the tag line for the new movie
Legal precedent for these circumstances is lacking. However, most legal
Amendment of the Constitution, which says that no person "shall be subject for
is that double jeopardy can only be claimed when multiple prosecutions arise
from a single criminal action. For example, a double jeopardy defense
would certainly fail if a defendant claimed that he couldn't be prosecuted for
a second assault on a victim just because he was convicted of assaulting her
The obvious objection to this analogy is that, while you can clearly assault
someone twice, you can only kill a person once. Therefore, the evidence that
other. The problem with this defense is that the court is free to overturn or
flexibility if the court had discovered that her husband was alive while she
mismanaged the first case in a way that resulted in her wrongful conviction,
she might be able to sue for damages. But it would not affect her second
served her time and should be set free. Depending on the state in which the
sentence. But convicted murderers are almost never given suspended sentences,
trouble getting at an open line. But, today, I made a second pot of coffee and
Times only confirmed his point. It's as if everybody has their script
experience, including with courts, I am stunned by how willing people are to
trivialize the concept of free speech in order to exploit it for some form of
political advantage. But, it is only the beginning of the season.
As tragic as it is to hear, finding out about it at least serves the purpose of
demonstrating that monstrous evil is not only to be found in the former
least tolerate, evil things should never surprise us.
Finally, for now, I have continued to think about the discussion I attended
we are slowly beginning to understand the dynamics of why the disruption
occurred: the changing role of women; the interaction of that change with "the
pill"; the "freedom" that resulted for some men (no longer "responsible" for
being a parent); the excesses that accompanied the moral "freedom" that many
felt from normative setting institutions such as the church; and many of the
did not exist) and shaped social policy. (I think that I wrote you about the
part of the discussion that didn't begin, and which I would have enjoyed even
more, was why things now seem to be turning around now. I can write what I did
the other night about why and how crime was reduced in New York City, but it
still begs the question of why suddenly (and a decade is suddenly) individuals
and organizations could commit themselves to successful strategies and
suggest a biological drive toward order and that humans are rational, can see
their mistakes, and can correct themselves. I wonder.
the White House's attempt to stave off a Senate defeat of the comprehensive
to Al Gore than he was in the paper's last survey a month ago, and that Bush
would beat both Democrats. The only expert quoted in the story says
party's nomination "wrapped up." (The story saves the number of people
fate of the treaty is genuinely up in the air, whereas the LAT 's first
paragraph suggests a deal may be in the works that will avoid the treaty's
"plan" is in the works that will achieve just that. But even the Times
sees a lot of brinkmanship yet to come and admits a vote could come as early as
Everybody explains that ratification (which is what the Senate is
signaled that they will "take their lead" from the Senate vote. The
Times also does the best job of explaining the politics in play right
vote now so that once defeated, the treaty becomes a viable campaign issue.
wider dissemination of birth control, the population growth rate in most places
the point that this fact doesn't show that books like "The Population Bomb"
attacking the growth rate problem.) The main storm cloud the Post sees
adequate) needs to improve, while the LAT wonders if governments will
editorial, but rather a long detailed narrative of what's become of unmanned
problem has been that traditional weapons advocates in uniform have seen drones
as threats. For instance, in the Navy, so the story explains, the plan to
develop unmanned bombers ran into the formidable opposition of the carrier
admirals. The upshot is that the Pentagon is still spending only millions on
Command held a formal ceremony where it was renamed the Joint Forces Command.
The change involved new banners and command insignia and new stationery. But
same. The point of the name change is to emphasize the importance of the
feel hurts traditional cuisine and aids fast food. These are interesting sorts
of stories, but one has to wonder if there isn't another reason why they are
staples of the big dailies: to help justify having reporters stationed in
Today's Papers braced for embarrassing personal revelations of an
need for compassion and optimism in this old world of ours in ways that were
happily commented on the decrease in noise, graffiti, and panhandling in New
here do also, although it does to a large degree depend on where you live. The
tourists who come into my neighborhood make every bit as much, if not more,
noise than the homeless who have gone out. I used to have a number of friends
years ago, and although this friendship was not financially a totally equal
running late and didn't want to stop at a cash machine. It's true that they
were smelly and that the sight of poverty and desperation are not pleasant, and
remember no matter how many times they were told that white women don't think
it's a compliment to be told they have big legs, and they were noisy, although
they would pipe down if you cared to go out at three in the morning to ask,
which the tourists sure won't. I occasionally still see some of these
campaign, one because he was set on fire. In other words, I find it hard to
rejoice about the improvement in my quality of life brought about by no longer
having people urinating in public up and down the block, because it wasn't
really my quality of life that was at issue, and anyway, overall as far as I
can tell, quality of life did not so much improve overall but redistribute
that every attempt at universal health care will be sandbagged by the health
companies, not to mention that now that I have been so very critical of
then it seems almost every week is dominated by merger talk. It might have been
a week dominated by talk about the Fed, which decided not to raise interest
rates but did shift its bias toward tightening, but the truth is that except
shift in bias.) So instead it was a week in which the stock market demonstrated
be announced over the next few weeks) outweighed everything else. Oil prices
reported blowout earnings in the most recent quarter and said its revenues
company, do we get to stop hearing the cracks about how
Sprint, Person Says.' As opposed to, I guess, 'Bell
changed the headline to 'Bell South Sweetens Offer for Sprint, People Say.'
Don't you think that really begged instead for 'They Say Bell South Sweetens
'We didn't renounce the dictatorship of the proletariat
company or entering into a strategic alliance. Apparently just adding
'.com' to the company's name was considered but then rejected as tacky."
cents a share, which might make a typical investor hesitant to back up the
and the Catholic League could go away feeling that it had achieved something. I
of face, but, for me, it's a "don't ask, don't tell" solution. On prior
sin, so no more compromise; rip away the Wizard of Oz curtains on all
cohorts, all too often what's revealed is an unappetizing confederacy of rabid
bigots and slick hustlers with mailing lists who know funds can be extracted
On the death penalty, I am also an absolutist. If a nation cannot aspire to
a higher moral standard than its killers, it can only be labeled as barbaric.
An eye for an eye is the cry of the savage, and neither revenge nor the
extermination of the socially unmanageable can ever be a civilized objective.
as he invented the concept of a "just war." That it is practiced so gleefully
in this country and is the parrot shriek of the macho political opportunist
sickens me, and yet moral reasoning seems to have no effect. Standing outside
maybe executions should be televised in prime time, and let everyone see what's
being done in their name. If we are so horrified by the cruel and unusual that
process of slaughter becomes a savage yahoo spectacle, then we are indeed
hanging of the wrong man on two separate occasions, plus the execution of an
presidential nomination. How does the Reform Party choose its candidate?
Reform Party presidential candidates must prove their viability by
Party leaders will validate candidates based on their progress toward getting
on the state ballots. Since there are no objective standards for approving or
rejecting candidates, the process can be somewhat arbitrary. And because the
ballot, which will be distributed to any registered voter who requests one.
votes will be declared the winner. If nobody wins a majority, an "instant
votes. This process of eliminating the last place finisher and elevating all
distributing, auditing, and counting millions of ballots could bankrupt the
candidate, such as a staunch abortion opponent, might outperform an indigenous
Reform hopeful. And Democratic or Republican voters could cast ballots for a
said he would like to alter the rules before the primary next year. But current
party leaders support the present process, saying the openness is crucial if
an impressionable age, very sad. (It also makes him feel guilty about the times
across the street.) Chatterbox recognizes that it is unquestionably a social
good for the world's newspapers, and electronic publications such as
walking distance of the small number of newsstands in this country that sell
publications from around the world. Still, Chatterbox hates to think that
it relocated to the inside of an antique subway kiosk that fell victim to
offer up to the Fray (scroll down to see how) suggestions about what
Just one more cup of coffee for the road, regrettably
Like how I fear every attempt at universal health care
will be sandbagged by the insurance companies. Like how an English doctor
'80s, and the taxpayers who footed the bill. Like how pleased I was with the
to be set straight. This is the creative poor, friends and neighbors, just ask
my landlord. If it's any consolation, a "dissembling, conflicted blowhard" is
territory. It's like the sideshow bozo above the tank of water; if they don't
hurl the balls, we don't have a show. (We'll see if they ask me back.)
On the matter of armed overthrow of the government, I
don't think I can help you. I believe I gave my word to the INS that I wouldn't
do that kind of thing when I applied for my green card. Since a gentleman's
word must still be his bond, the best I can offer is to stand romantically on a
hill, the breeze flapping my duster coat around my legs, rolling a quarter
across my knuckles, and watching as crack assault units of Hello Kitty, the
which he unveiled a second major education policy initiative dealing with
charter schools, reorganizing federal education programs, and a proposal that
about how the center and ones like it steer people away from welfare and into
After everyone spoke, Bush held a press conference, his only one of the
Q: Gov. Bush, some conservative Republicans have said that your criticism
last week and again yesterday is undermining their credibility on Capitol Hill.
Have you made a political calculation that you can afford to alienate the right
Q: Governor, you talked earlier about the Republican Party and the image of
the party. There have been four national elections this decade. Could you just
talk about each one and talk about how you think that's caused the party's
image to go off track and how that informs what you're trying to do now?
delay payments under the Earned Income Tax Credit]. It was an actual
Q. You said several months ago that you would not campaign against this
Republican Congress. But some people hear what you said over the last week as
Bush was asked no questions about education and only one about welfare. This
benefits for some recipients." In other words, the questions he got from
reporters focused on politics and positioning to the total exclusion of his
actual policies and positions. Reporters tried to provoke Bush into making news
or embarrassing his hosts, while ignoring the social policy issues on his
It's not that the questions they asked weren't interesting or legitimate
going to win?" And a focus on pure politics is surely better than a focus on
alone with women not their wives. But why can't reporters devote at least some
I can think of a few reasons for the allergy to substance. The first is the
imperative for daily reporters to move the ball on an ongoing story, such as
conflict automatically counts as news. Some new detail about Bush's education
policy, by contrast, might or might not make the paper. A second factor is the
journalistic culture of the news conference, which rewards zinger questions
third factor is the newsroom division between politics and policy. Most
reporters covering the campaign are well schooled in the former and only
minimally, if at all, knowledgeable about the latter. They may understand the
politics of school choice or welfare reform, but tend to be far shakier on the
The chief complaint of reformers these days is that the power of
cartoonist, nothing depresses me more than the overnight disintegration of the
editorial page offer. It was never perfect, but the "Week in Review" used to
run the more daring and adventurous editorial cartoons around (stuff that
dumb gags about the news. Can you and I agree that any cartoonist who uses
and trashing its consumer business because it's been savaged by lawsuits. But
guns are a legal product, and I find it yet another statement about the
manufacturers out of business. For instance, smoking should obviously be banned
countless house and forest fires. But since no politician has the guts to
advocate such a drastic (in my view, rational) measure, we end up with zillions
of lawsuits by people who've always known that smoking was dangerous against
tobacco companies. It's the same with guns; if we as a society decide that we
want to get rid of the Second Amendment, then let's do that instead of abusing
ancient tradition of nomadism; this week he's covering an enclave of ethnic
is a stunning place of amazing mountains and lakes, grinding poverty and lost
the budget doesn't much matter if global warming puts the entire planet under
with anyone arrogant and annoying is itself seriously annoying.
among liberals who ought to know better. All lives ought to be considered equal
under the law; if you kill someone because they're gay, it shouldn't be worse
you shouldn't see much sunlight for the rest of your life either way. As for
the death penalty, it's not like murderers don't deserve to die; of course they
no one should give a damn about anyone else. For this reason alone, he deserves
Oh no, we agree! We've really got to stop this collaboration across the
political spectrum. At this rate, we'll be singing "We Shall Overcome" before
this exchange is over. And what happens to the "culture wars" when people on
both sides start laying down their arms? This is terrible. In addition to his
Before I resume my trashing of Morris, let me admit that Dutch
contains many passages that are beautifully written. As we saw in Morris'
previous book, he can be quite a sculptor with words. And there are occasional
looking back so much as an eager application of history to today and tomorrow."
over the years accused him of incurable nostalgia and trying to take the
proceeding West in covered wagons) to construct a kind of imaginative portrait
exploration and entrepreneurship as the modern equivalent of the early
But once again, let me raise the question of who is the real sophisticate
and who is the ignoramus. I don't deny that Morris is a better connoisseur of
on the subject, 'Something there is that doesn't love a wall,' to simple and
the first time I see/ This wall is actually a wall, a thing/ Come up between
Is Morris kidding us here? Or has erudition drowned out all good sense? I
worse. Morris seems to have totally missed the point of Frost's poem, which
concludes with the observation that good fences make good neighbors. Would
think I am being duly harsh. Morris may be a wordsmith and an aesthete, but he
is politically incompetent to evaluate his subject, a thoroughly political man.
And he has missed an opportunity that cannot be recovered: Morris had a level
abrogated his moral responsibility to history in a manner that is close to
unforgivable. Which leaves the big question: Who picked this guy? And why?
Although the past few years have given us a boom in mergers and acquisitions
conglomerates became all the rage), this boom has been distinct because the
vast majority of takeovers have been friendly rather than hostile. One would
like to believe this is because executives have realized that hostile takeovers
only magnify the immense problems any company faces in trying to assimilate the
operations of another, but it almost certainly has as much to do with the lofty
prices that are being offered for companies these days. (The more you're
In any case, one consequence of this epidemic of friendliness is that you
don't hear the expression "X company is now in play" all that much anymore.
This expression was a staple of business thinking in the '80s, and was
bidding war after its management tried to take the company private in a
leveraged buyout. A company came into play when a buyout or acquisition offer
made the possibility of an acquisition suddenly seem likely, bringing other
But Sprint, like any public company that isn't controlled by a small group
of shareholders, was always on the block. And that makes the whole idea
which to make an offer for Sprint. At any point along the way, it could have
decided that merging with Sprint was in its best interests and bid. And if it
had done so a year ago, or even six months ago, it almost certainly could have
The point is that the phrase "in play" is a useful cover for the fact that
takeovers, particularly hostile ones, are often the result of companies'
panicking at the prospect of losing something they never even knew they wanted
its business from within. But in the space of three days it has thrown that
strategy over, in favor of a massive bid for a company that it will find very
difficult to integrate with, from both a regulatory and an operational
perspective. And it's hard to believe that this is really the way you build
whole cloth in a couple of days and expect to have done the due diligence a
successful bid requires. And if we learned anything from the '80s, it's that
there's always a horde of investment bankers ready to convince executives that
they really can't afford to let this acquisition pass them by, and that there's
always a host of corporate executives eager to believe that bigger is
driven down since they made their respective bids. The urge to merge is a
powerful one, but resisting it is usually the smartest course. Especially when
it's an urge that seizes you only after it seizes someone else first.
company--$456 million, which the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
must pay to millions of clients whose cars lost value when State Farm ordered
action against State Farm.) The plaintiffs argued that the parts were
using generic parts keeps down premiums. State Farm insures one out of five
usual, the papers spice the abstract financial story with corporate intrigue:
Blue." All the stories are sourced to anonymous persons "close to the
flights and finds that it is not supported by any empirical evidence. The ban,
have bombarded their planes with cell waves and failed to record any
to prevent electronic interference similar to (though slightly stronger than)
that of a laptop or CD player. Meanwhile, passengers and pilots on corporate
jets use cell phones thousands of times a day without incident, while
partnership serves the core interests of the university more than those of the
corporation. Dismissive scientists are already referring to the new
deflected attention from the real task: Defeat the ideas, not the man." (Click
loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter, which crashed after being fed data in pounds
never escape the clutches of foolish humans. "To the contrary, it may be that
the more complex a gadget is, the more links with quite fallible people are
that many corporate recruiters are doing something unprecedented: hiring
care of. They come with presents! Day planners and stress balls and fun things
that keep the student with that employer's name in mind." Today's Papers still
Alas, this is my second attempt to respond to your last message. Apparently,
I was writing to slowly for my service provider. It inquired whether I wanted
to stay online, and despite my assurance that I did, I was promptly
What I was writing about was your initial discussion of art and funding, as
because I am of a very mixed mind about the whole thing. On the one hand, I
treasure the principle that artists should be able to express themselves in
relatively unrestrained fashion. On the other, I have concern about public
funding of art. I am uncertain about the extent to which public funds should be
Likewise, I am perplexed by public funding of churches to provide certain
kinds of social or other kinds of public services. In each case my concern is
not just on the impact on the public or public policy but also about the impact
on artists or the church. Is it possible that the public funding of art or
church social services (or schooling) has a deleterious impact on their
integrity? Moreover, should the state be funding activities that the general
public finds offensive or services that compete with public services? As I
noted above, I find myself really quite confused in each case. School vouchers,
alternative schools, charter schools, and church schools all compete with
public schools and probably challenge public schools to improve. Moreover, such
school programs offer the working class and the poor the same opportunities
that the wealthy have to send their children to alternative schools. Yet, it is
fair to ask whether the diversion of public funds from public schools weakens
and further threatens what was once a powerful institution of upward mobility
I guess that pushed to the wall, I would choose school choice, if only
because schools have suffered from the same kind of stifling bureaucratic
So, as you note this is an awfully late breakfast. Tomorrow, my response
popular in the nation. After three years in existence, charters already enroll
nearly ten percent of the District's public school students.
opponent of the pact, will be able to bring it to a vote early this week and
Republicans, who largely dislike the treaty but are reluctant to vote it down
considering the ban for up to a year. A vote to delay needs only a simple
medical exploration that draws material from human embryos and aborted fetuses.
Scientists predict that stem cells may provide the building blocks for
industry a single company can legally control. In its second ruling this week
purchase of the Media One Group can go forward without the telephone giant
chips continue to shrink, their manufacturers are running up against stubborn
Playboy interview in which he ridiculed organized religion and said he
now confronted with the possibility that three very different candidates will
by itself use the entire surplus, according to some estimates. Gore's spending
Rich asks, "a struggling museum in an outer borough, is easier to bully than a
Internet businesses who will pay Amazon to be listed on its site and give the
Amazon business model. But that doesn't make it any less potentially
I say the evolution was predictable because Amazon has
always been upfront about the fact that it didn't want to be just an online
of goods and services to buy. The real question, though, was (and is) whether
Amazon could extend its brand name and the loyalty of its customers to a
panoply of products, many of which it wasn't necessarily going to provide
What Amazon has recognized from the beginning is that
its most valuable asset was not its warehouses or even its Web site but rather
the "stickiness" of its customers and the information about their buying habits
that it was able to collect. Amazon has so far used that information in limited
the more information it will collect and the more the information that will
as an idea, it's an excellent leveraging of Amazon's brand name, because it
promises the possibility of sizable returns while requiring almost no
lot, get a cut of all sales that take place there, and still not disturb its
of all the goods for sale and could direct its customers to items in which they
might be interested, the business would be all the more attractive.
every transaction will be very high (since its costs will be very low). And
to get too obsessed with margins, because if you do you miss the real strength
tremendous profits, and does so while using capital very efficiently, because
it turns over its inventory so often. As long as you're selling goods quickly,
you can make very little on each good and still make a huge amount at the end
of the day. This is what Amazon has been able to do in books and what it wants
Amazon will make more on each good, but they'll sell less quickly. In other
words, it's a good business for Amazon to be in, and it's a logical extension
of its online power. But don't look for Amazon to give up its core business
Well, let's not worry too much about our happy state of
feel, as you do, that he is one of the most important presidents of the
genius for leadership that, whatever his other limitations, helped make his
presidency enormously successful and influential. Morris seems to sense that
personal opaqueness that he doesn't really convey the power of his personality
displays of erudition (which include his very mediocre poetry) lead him to
I confess that I have only today worked my way through
the last chapters of Morris' book, and what strikes me is that it actually gets
worse as it moves farther away from its unconventional literary techniques. The
autobiographical elements are less intrusive in the chapters on the
governorship and the presidency, but Morris' limitations as a historian and
undoubtedly be alarmed by different examples of these weaknesses. But let me
'abandoned' [when husbands left home to preserve welfare benefits] found it
income." This problem remained contained, he says, until the '60s, when "the
New Deal idea of 'benefits' as emergency help, to be applied for reluctantly
altered its meaning in doing so.) It is hard to know where to begin to critique
this monumentally ignorant description of the welfare system. There is no
abandon their wives, and no evidence at all to support the insulting statement
that women "went on" having babies "by whomever" in order to increase their
very meager welfare payments. Even in the '60s and beyond, there is very little
births. The Great Society did nothing to change the definition of entitlements
Medicaid). Morris' footnotes cite only a few stray magazine articles, a book on
The last chapters of the book are filled with these
Morris claims, for example, that the New Deal launched a 50-year effort to
force the distribution of wealth downward. In fact, there was virtually no
caused not by taxation but by economic growth and rising wages. Nor did any
president advocate or attempt to produce downward distribution of wealth; even
gives it in this 700-page book and in his remarks at several points about how
economic policies, although I concede that some good things flowed from them;
but whatever one thinks of them, they do mark an extraordinarily important
returns to his "tax program" in an interview, Morris tells us that "my heart
considered too boring to attend to. There is almost nothing in this book about
my folder, and read them with surreptitious enjoyment while Dutch retraced his
clones. Once and Again 's success has been taken as a sign that a show
As it happens, Once and Again 's success doesn't necessarily show that
at all, because it is in fact a huge hit with the 18-to-34 audience. Its share
the share received by new shows such as Freaks and Geeks and Now and
What's weird, though, is the assumption Once and Again had to combat
in order even to get on the air: that nothing is more desirable than those
18-to-34 viewers. This is not an assumption unique to television. It's
certainly at work in movies, and has also been propelling changes in the
Maxim and in the pressure that's being felt by older magazines to make
magazine editors trying to appeal to me. But I am perplexed by the avidity with
which I am being courted, because of one simple fact: There aren't that many of
lot of disposable income, it can't compare, in absolute terms, to that still
wielded by the baby boomers. Even in the New Economy, earning power rises with
So, why do advertisers think we're the ideal audience? Partly because of our
because some advertising is aspirational, so that you push products that people
assumptions about brand loyalty, in particular the idea that if you hook me on
is simply that young adults tend to be the ones who are buying advertising
time, designing the ads, and, increasingly, writing and programming the shows
and films that we see. I become the ideal consumer because my friends are the
The picture is more complicated than this, of course. There aren't many
aren't.) Finally, at the bottom end of the demographic, there a lot more people
than at the top end. Those are the oldest Echo Boomers, and advertisers should
from a purely economic point of view, they shouldn't be regarded with such
percent of all the customers you could be reaching is still just, in the end,
I am not certain whether we were to wrap up our conversation yesterday or
today, however, I will send at least one more message. The quote from your last
existentialism, indeed all existentialism, avidly in college and seminary, I
was wrestling with the idea of freedom from secular and religious institutions
in terms of my personal morality quite early. And, for me, morality is a very
personal issue. Over time, however, as the power of authoritative institutions
that while many have handled their "moral freedom" responsibly, many others
have used lack of external constraints to exploit and prey on
persuaded that society's reluctance to come down on such persons for minor
decriminalized virtually all minor offenses, we refused to confront young
all practical purposes decriminalized (police didn't even bother investigating
confrontational and violent. Authority was a bad joke to them until they ran
into "three strikes, you're out": the disastrous outcome for both society at
large and individuals when society fails to meet its responsibility to take
So, I still wrestle with your phrase about moral authority. How can society
maintain civility when everybody is "free" to define personal morality on their
own terms, while some members of society are eager to use this "freedom" to
came to an understanding in the late 1980s that we had largely lost control of
a relatively large number of youths and public spaces. And, a new idea
developed: We had to enforce a balance between individual liberty and personal
Anyway, I hope that sometime we can really have breakfast. I hope that your
kids are well. I checked on my grandchildren (four) yesterday, and all seem to
be doing well. (One refused to be seated in the school bus, and consequently
ran into a massive assertion of parental authority.)
conspiracy of very small girls to take over the world, I wish they would hurry
up and get their act together, because I absolutely do not think they could do
authority since I have discovered conclusively that world may well be about to
This information came from the unlikely source of the
discovered things are much worse than we hitherto imagined. A quarter of the
have now been cleared, and most coral reefs are either dead or dying. This is
because of all those voters who believe that the United Nations will annex the
me, they're out there. I met of lots of them while I was promoting my
around with a sign saying "The End Is At Hand" as you are by public speaking, I
will take the entirely selfish way out. Feed the cat, hope things hold together
long enough for my next two novels to get into print, watch a lot of E! Channel
If nothing more fascinating comes up, remind me tomorrow
usual, a bracing antidote to historical revisionism. Whenever the academic
tapes always seem to appear that squelch the impulse. (To read
available either in audio or in transcript form on the Web. (The best
Chatterbox can do is refer you to the quotations in the Post and Times stories, which were based on the reporters'
disloyal." He made exceptions for some of his top aides, such as national
"But, Bob, generally speaking, you can't trust the bastards. They turn on
this administration, anyway. And they are smart. They have the ability to do
was. He could have been a half, but he was not by religion. The only two
Most stunning of all, however, was the Times' assertion that the
institution, "issued a statement saying the President was not
which you can read by going to the Library Web site and clicking on "The White House Tape
were appalling (many would say they still are), but attitudes toward
It should be noted that the President's comments regarding lack of
the President, within months, would make Stein his Chairman of the
kept in mind when evaluating his words on the White House tapes.
to downplay controversy) never stops. "FOR YOUR NEXT SPECIAL EVENT, CHOOSE THE
and you receive an energetic pitch to hold your next corporate dinner, or even
foyer, join your guests for a sunset reception in our spectacular gardens.
Promenade down the colonnade walkways, tour the original birthplace home of the
President, and muse on the tranquility or our handsome reflecting pool.
education proposal that got overshadowed by his implicit attack on conservative
federal education programs into five categories isn't a bad idea, either.
Achievement" plan, which relates to standards and testing, deploys just the
kind of unwieldy regulatory mechanism Bush is elsewhere trying to eliminate.
Indeed, even Bush's top education advisors don't think this aspect of the
In the plan unveiled at his speech to the Manhattan
federal dollars on the basis of whether student performance improves in the
future. This implies standards and testing: If you're going to have a system of
rewards and punishments, you have to have some way to judge who deserves which.
would set a benchmark for what children of different ages should be expected to
know. National tests would allow for objective evaluation of how well various
Conservatives reject anything that smacks of federal control of education
policy, funding, or curriculum. In particular, the right is paranoid about
bureaucrats at the Department of Education setting curricular standards or
administering tests. They see national tests as a violation of local
So Bush splits the difference, opting for what you might
as far as I can understand it. In line with conservative dogma, states would be
free to set their own standards and select the tests that they would be
obligated to give to every child between grades three and eight, every year, as
a condition of receiving federal money. The federal government would pay half
The problem: As with the first part of the plan, which
deals with Title One funding (see "Policy Corner: Bush Ed"), the states themselves
determine whether they deserve more or less money from the feds. Bush is not
"optional" test, this one federal. The federal government "asks" (in other
words, tells) states to participate in the annual National Assessment of
they must pay for an alternative test themselves and prove that the results can
state tests are a meaningless sop to conservatives. And if the money is tied to
proposal. Neither was able to do so very well for a simple reason: It
national standards, says there is simply no alternative for Bush, because of
the opposition to the idea in both parties. "It's become obvious that at this
point Congress is not going to endorse a national test," she told me in a phone
says she considers herself a dissatisfied Democrat rather than a Republican,
adds this lukewarm endorsement, "I think that he is in some strange fashion
I had the job [secretary of Education], we evaluated the state evaluations,"
distancing himself from conservative Republicans, he was actually caving to
important antitrust questions, since the devouring of the country's
in the best interests of consumers. You don't hear people saying "Why did they
Eliminating a key player in that market could reduce the pressure for price
seeing new players spring up regularly, and it's now seeing wannabes such as
big players in the market is not meaningfully different from having three. The
the market for local service to competitors, which means not only that it isn't
blowing up its competitors' vans but that it's giving its competitors reliable
access to that last mile of copper wire that runs into our homes, and that it
isn't making customers jump through hoops when they want to change phone
Up to this point, no Baby Bell has actually been able to demonstrate
every turn. This is not surprising. Everyone wants the markets they're not
dominate to be closed. But it has been a frustrating spectacle. Changing local
approved. The company has undergone close scrutiny, has performed a battery of
tests to show that it's being fair to its competitors, and has lost enough
competitors to suggest that it doesn't have a complete monopoly. And if Bell
Morris is an educated man who has written a profoundly foolish book.
at home and abroad. Inflation was in double digits, eroding pension plans and
economy went into a juggernaut of growth that has still not abated. Interest
rates fell, so that new businesses could get loans and families could buy
disappeared. The technological revolution accelerated in part due to the
explosion of venture capital that became available in the 1980s. No more real
itself came under unendurable strains and began to collapse. The Soviets pulled
comparable record of achievement. The 1990s have been peaceful and prosperous,
these huge events, but he has no idea how or why they happened. Hence the
schizophrenia that is manifest throughout his book. Like some of the petulant
Morris tries to apply the premise to the astonishing turnaround of the 1980s.
And it doesn't fit. How could a dunce enjoy the continuous successes that
in which the market, not the government, runs the economy; by the time he left
Morris knows this is ridiculous, but he cannot figure
it out; he becomes confused. He goes into a long depression. He suffers from
imagination and will. Never once does Morris question his premise. What if
was intelligent and perceptive, far more imaginative than all his critics put
together, infinitely more resourceful in implementing his agenda, eerily
indifferent to much of the acrimony and pettiness around him, resolute and
to his original "dummy" hypothesis to question it and abandon it when it does
not fit the facts. This is why, despite his strenuous efforts, Morris finally
picked Morris, seem to have assumed that because Morris admired a rugged
zoologists to the White House to discuss the fine points of botany. TR was
Morris, who fancies himself a cultural sophisticate, is obviously appalled. His
And so Morris finds himself set on his disastrous course that takes up a decade
and a half of his life, ruins his reputation, and does a grave injustice to
doesn't know, and neither do you, dear reader, unless you're in the tiny
minority of New Yorkers who have seen the one or read the other. But that
But how do we know? From a few nouns and adjectives in a
each made a tragically stupid choice of profession. Think of the paintings they
could have avoided painting, the books they could have not written, the time
magazine pages, and elephant dung) or doing research! If it's the idea of the
thing rather than the thing itself that's going to influence the people who
will influence the public, why type the words or cast the dung upon the canvas?
say, pundits in general, Internet pundits in particular, and
them completely: The excerpt is not the book. The reproduction is not the work
of art. If they were, we wouldn't need museums or books. We could all study art
books for our art and read magazines for our literature. Art critics could skip
openings; book reviewers could rely on summaries in Publishers Weekly.
Art and literature are not the rough approximations of themselves. They are the
sum of their parts, and their parts include formal properties and details that
possible that if she stood before the painting she would think: Aha!
Dung has a whole new meaning in the context of the sardonic primitivism,
The practice of pronouncing without firsthand experience will not stop just
to fearsome punitive powers, that she has joined her local chapter of Pundits
Anonymous. There she will place her faith in a higher power and pray that next
time she's tempted to discourse on that of which she knows absolutely nothing,
He'll shut her up. Maybe she'll drag Chatterbox to the next meeting.
course, right on the mark. Yet, it doesn't matter whether the topic is public
education, health care, or free speech, politicians routinely look for the
position that plays best in the media. Of course, the mainstream media don't do
newspapers were remarkably consistent in their choice of lead stories today.
coverage for his possible presidential bid. I know that the public likes to be
entertained, but would this museum story actually be playing for an entire week
if it didn't have a salacious element to it and the mayor wasn't using it to
score points with conservative voters? The issue of public funding for the arts
is actually quite important, and yet there is nothing in the discussion that
would help a thinking person come to some position on this public policy
uninsured. This is very important for urban areas, especially New York, where
so many working men and women are uninsured. To its credit, the Times
and Post covered the story, but it is nowhere to be found in the
By the time you get my thoughts you will probably be completely exhausted
from driving and teaching. Can't the policy discussion in the media do better
than today's New York papers? Hope your day went well.
Running for president these days means convincing everyone that you're going
to win until they don't believe you, at which point you must persuade them that
Bush, not against his benign Democratic challenger. Gore did not acknowledge
But thanks to a steady stream of media negativity toward Gore and his
once it became competitive, Gore needed to play the expectations game in a
by a slim margin will count as a victory, rather than as failure to meet
he was expected to win the New York primary, even though he is ahead there in
All this is happening so early that we might well go through a few more
viable by the press, he's beginning to receive harsher scrutiny. A few
skeptical stories about him have already appeared. Next will be articles
still running as if he lacks any serious opposition. But at some point, expect
the press to start treating some other candidate as a plausible and promising
will appear with Al Gore's script before him. He will call for early debates,
embrace "change," and say he welcomes the challenge.
(Read more about Gore's attempt to become the media underdog in this week's
town hoping for an announcement that will be far bigger news if it ever
sort of like the White House Correspondents Dinner but with the actors and
political reporters kept apart. We caught only distant glimpses of Jack
preposterous stiletto heels, flaunting a strategically situated rip in her
Events like this remind you of what limousine liberalism was like, circa
a defensive alliance but a structure of oppression. "Keeping up a permanent war
The event began with an elaborate tribute film, which might run verbatim as
a Republican attack ad against the Democratic Party one day. It had clips of
relatively clever, such as the peroration in which he offered advice to an
imaginary "drum majorette" who felt she had something to contribute to the
of my house for the past six weeks," he said. Another good one was his question
about the special interests, the corporations, and the plutocrats. You do have
what his political views are. Like most of those in the room, he is a
financing of elections, and spend more money on every social problem ever
Drudge claims he is since becoming a father. That's about the only thing he
could have said that would have got him booed by this crowd.
mistaken and perhaps a bit delusional is in attributing the failure of his
ideas to corporate power and corruption. He described our political system as
This is the same paranoid view he articulated, much more wittily, in
goes with the Census Bureau's finding that household earnings reached record
indicate particularly strong income surges in the South and the suburbs and
in the report, somehow manages to come up with a headline saying in part that
uranium was poured into a purification tank. (This is not the only simple
admission that the reason the Mars Orbiter was lost last week was that some
engineers did calculations for the mission using pounds and feet, while others
mishap is nowhere near as environmentally threatening as either the meltdown at
LAT quotes a nuclear safety expert saying that the three most seriously
hurt workers may have received more radiation than their counterparts at
strong public opinion backlash against industry and the government, which was
has cloaked the operation in secrecy, saying only that ground fighting is
presidential veto, the House yesterday passed a bill that would establish new
criminal penalties for anyone who injures or harms a fetus while committing
another federal offense. The politically loaded aspect of the bill, explain the
papers, is whether or not it establishes a measure of legal standing for
fetuses that could be used to chip away at Roe v. Wade.
religion, calling it a sham and crutch for the weak, and says the charges
The comments were condemned by the Reform party chairman, but were defended by
gun imbroglio that's not been mentioned much: the availability of increasingly
sprays, effective at much greater ranges than earlier versions. The writer is
absolutely right and his observations might have carried more rhetorical impact
if the paper had told readers via an ID line that he is a former government
anniversary at various outings, including a jazz brunch cruise down the
bothers to tell the reader what those hardships were.
Times leads with the National Football League's decision to pass over
is today, when the House votes on competing "patient rights" bills, which would
response a "backlash" against Bush, but the other papers are more favorable to
and of defense contractors have undergone a year of extensive, coordinated
unclassified but sensitive information on weapons research. One thing holding
interview will be used. (Companies often make their own tapes of their
entire interview on the Internet as part of a counteroffensive. Today's Papers
envisions a world in which every interview subject is his own media watchdog;
when a reporter quotes him out of context, the subject need not beg an editor
These days, half of all couples live together before marriage, and less than
partying with wedding guests visiting from afar. "Sex, when it happens" for
experimental gene therapy treatment for a metabolic disease of the liver. The
National Institutes of Health are now reviewing the safety of gene therapy
Genes are hereditary units that carry nature's blueprints for making the
multitude of proteins that build enzymes and other body chemicals to sustain
more of these genes. There are inherited defects, like those that cause cystic
fibrosis, and acquired defects, like those that cause some forms of cancer.
It may take decades or even centuries to completely understand the
relationship between genes and disease. But where the connection is understood,
scientists are devising gene therapies that aim to eliminate disease by
introducing healthy genes (isolated and reproduced in the laboratory) to
One way to deliver healthy genes is by placing them inside a tamed virus
goal was to introduce therapeutic genes into his liver cells. His cause of
death is still a mystery: One theory is that the virus was still active and may
have killed him. This therapeutic trial has been suspended pending an
Theoretically, gene therapy could be used to cure infectious diseases like
Though the benefits of gene therapy are theoretically large, none of the
any ailment. One obstacle is the body's natural defense: The immune system
recognizes the virus as a threat and attacks it. Another is that the cells
engineered by therapy often do not produce enough of the needed protein to cure
Project for an exhaustive look at the world of genomics.)
I don't know him well) and consider him an interesting and very intelligent
man. But something went badly wrong with this book. I don't want to
psychologize, but clearly he simply found himself unable to manage this large
and difficult subject, floundered, and grasped onto a series of unwise devices
empty suit inherently implausible. I suspect that spending many hours getting
because he was attractive and a good speaker; but even more because he was a
man of absolute certitude about his core convictions and was able to convey a
convictions fairly early in his consideration of a question and that these
convictions then became more or less impervious to challenge from evidence that
might contradict them. That did not always make these convictions useful bases
for policy or action, but they did make them extremely effective as vehicles
for shaping opinion and attracting support. Morris is clearly impressed by
But my larger problem with Morris is undoubtedly very different from yours.
mentioned yesterday his preposterous summary of the history of the welfare
order. But the largest example of his credulity in this book involves the part
think many historians would argue now, and I don't think many will argue in the
more to do with the grave internal weaknesses in the Soviet system than with
anything the United States did. If there was an event that really precipitated
attributes to them a historic importance for which there is no real evidence.
decline of popular legitimacy of the regime. The evidence for this, he says,
yesterday. But he also argues that this speech resonated throughout the
Communist world and helped spawn the will to resist that culminated in the
that a major event in world history that arose out of a vast confluence of
factors was the result of the policies and the rhetoric of a single man. But
what is Morris' excuse? He has simply accepted the claims at face value, just
of a few rhetorical statements that seem to him plausible. In the end, then, he
is. But it is also an injustice to history, because it accepts far too
Chatterbox loves to go to the movies. Mostly this is because he loves
movies, but partly it's because moviegoers enjoy one of the last great consumer
(where prices for movie tickets, and most other things, are higher than they
are elsewhere in the United States), politicians are constantly grandstanding
about the high price of movie tickets. In March, New York City Council Speaker
widely recognized as the area's spiffiest movie theater, an Art Deco palace
That's still "high" by national standards; according to the Motion Picture
Take a look at this chart, which Chatterbox found on a Web page about inflation that
dollars). Prices for movie tickets peaked, in constant dollars, during the
It's interesting to note that the 1970s, the decade when the price of
if consumers paid more for movies, they would get better movies. But the 1980s,
which produced movies that were worse in the aggregate than movies being
made today (and much, much worse than the movies that were being made
prices were higher then (in constant dollars) than they are now.
Perhaps the reason movies were so good during the 1970s had to do with the
size of the audience. According to data (not available, alas, online) from the
most of the 1970s, rising to the low 20s during the 1980s. (Chatterbox assumes
more interested in quirkier handcrafted products. But if that's true, it cannot
be extrapolated that movies continue to get worse as audiences continue
million). But in fact, movies are better today (assuming you don't count
I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss this
book with you, although as we both know, the book has already been so widely
discussed that we are already part of a much larger conversation. And while I
and of his legacy, it seems we agree in many ways on Morris' book.
who will begin with some hostility toward him on the basis of the mostly
uninformed reports they have read. I have to say that the prospect of reading a
biography that tried to break with the fairly rigid forms of the genre was
appealing to me, as strange as Morris' approach sounded, and I approached this
The test of an innovation in any kind of writing, but
particularly in nonfiction writing, is what contribution the innovation makes
to our understanding of the subject the author is trying to illuminate. And
his invented encounters, his blurring of the line between fantasy and reality,
and his many other tricks of the trade do offer some interesting points of
whole, and like you, I found these devices intrusive, omnipresent, and highly
distracting from what should have been the central task of the book. It's not
just that these techniques make it hard to know what is real and what is made
up, although they do. It's also that they make it very difficult to concentrate
flitting around him, improbably preoccupied by him even in the years before he
was important, writing back and forth to each other about their fictional
encounters with him and with each other, telling the story of their own
particularly disturbed, as a scholar, by the presence of invented footnotes for
the fictional parts of the book. But even without them, there is a surreal
quality to this biography that makes it hard to focus on Morris' real views of
Morris is not, of course, the first person to try to
blend fiction and fact. Some very distinguished historians have experimented
with doing so in recent years, some with great success. John Demos, an eminent
among them. Demos augmented the known story of this woman with an imagined
no evidence exists. It stirred some controversy, certainly, but it was a
several years old, was a deliberate effort to play with the elusive boundary
between fiction and history and to suggest how the two might be fruitfully
joined. That book, too, seemed to me very provocative and interesting.
But Morris' potentially interesting effort to expand
the boundaries of biography seems to have gone out of control. Partly, I
the edges he couldn't help himself from going all the way. Partly, perhaps,
similarly opaque but has nevertheless been the subject of excellent and
penetrating biographies.) In the end, though, I think Morris' real problem is
left, in effect, with nothing. The result is this hodgepodge of distracting
literary techniques that are only intermittently effective and mostly deeply
distracting from, even destructive to, his principal goal.
Court's decision to take on for the first time the question of whether
grandparents have the right to visit their grandchildren even when one or both
Against Women Act, a recent federal hate crime law that gives victims of sexual
assaults the right to sue their tormentors for money damages. The Wall Street
several others, including one testing a Colorado law making it a crime to
limitations to refunds, but reserves its headline for one concerning the legal
liability of managed care companies accused of cutting costs and doesn't
goes with yesterday's passage by the House and Senate of a continuing
explains the paper, that Congress and the White House have bought time to work
out their myriad differences on expenditures without bringing about a
presidential candidate, thus auguring the continued dominance of the party that
join at little or no cost the federal government's health insurance system or
by providing tax credits toward their private plan premiums. The
proposal. The papers point out that the plan is more ambitious than the one
the Bank of New York has been so halting is that two of the law enforcement
discussed filing obstruction charges against the other.
undergoing gene therapy for a metabolic disease. Although, explain the papers,
is the first death associated with them. The victim had a mild form of a
genetic disorder that was well controlled with drugs and diet, but he
volunteered for the experimental therapy hoping it would lead to a cure. Both
papers are careful to point out that so far it is not known if the therapy was
saying that if this is indeed the case it could be a severe setback for gene
students. The bottom line is that only a quarter of them are proficient in
significant gender gap, with girls handily outscoring boys at all grade levels.
The reader will look in vain for comparisons to results from prior years, but
as the stories explain, the tests given this year are the first of their kind
and so cannot be meaningfully compared to previous writing scores.
with the explosion of information technology and get better connected to the
young brilliant minds that are powering it. It is starting up an information
thanked his wife (seated nearby), his daughter, and his circle of religious
advisers, saying, "I have been profoundly moved, as few people have, by the
pure power of grace, unmerited forgiveness through grace." The
the Treasury Department is reiterating its opposition to the repeal of the
leave estates large enough to be subject to it. A letter writer to the
tax observation: The idea that smokers impose a net cost on society and
therefore should have to pay higher taxes (say, though an increased cigarette
tax) is wrong. The Congressional Research Service, he writes, has concluded
that "all in all, smoking has apparently brought gain to both federal and state
Journal of Medicine concluded that "smoking cessation would lead to
Times fronts and gives its "Life" section "cover story" over to the
not to have merely waited until tomorrow to report rather than wonder. An
thinking is the following simultaneously filed pair of observations.
Transubstantiation makes you queasy because it's the consumption of someone's
In general, boycotts against works of the imagination as the primary focus
of a political organization are suspect, whether it's the Catholic League
which is not to say that I don't think these things should be as vigorously
debated as anyone cares to debate them, and in some cases more vigorously than
that. However, even leaving aside what are, in all three of those examples, to
special interests are necessarily limited, I would prefer to put my dollar and
my anxiety down on the side of protecting actual, real live human beings
suffering actual, real live oppression, or the threat thereof. I wish that the
Catholic League, or for that matter anybody, seemed to give a fuck about the
fact that W. has presided over a state that's executing people at such an
ungodly (as it were) rate, some of whose attorneys did things like fall asleep
during their trials. In fact, I even feel like a wimp for having to try to
irregularities in their cases; I oppose executing them even when they are
monsters in human form, because, while I can easily understand why someone
would want to kill the murderer of their near and dear, I can't at all
understand why someone would want to give the state the power to kill
the death penalty's application demonstrate. Surely this is a more important
kind of a defense in being technically dependent on the recommendations of the
parole board for granting clemency, but he could at least pipe up, as long as
he's being so goddamned compassionate a conservative.
In Praise of Movie Ticket Prices"). Namely: Why do movie theaters always
charge the same amount, regardless of how good or bad the movie in question
such as whether the buyer is a child or an adult or whether the ticket is
purchased in the afternoon or in the evening. Why not charge a premium for
movies that, for one reason or another, might be more worth seeing than
Wouldn't people pay more to see Titanic than Wild, Wild
The price you sell a unique good for is not determined by what it cost to
he or anyone else should sell it for little. Instead, the price is based on
consumers' willingness to pay. And presumably people would be willing to pay
more for the best movies, so why not charge more for them?
subjective aesthetic criteria but rather according to how many people want to
see them. By this definition, a popular movie would be a "better" movie
response to a movie's popularity would not be the current, egalitarian method
"better" movies out of many people's reach. (Poorer people would have to rent.)
other commodities, even other entertainment commodities:
competitors that presumably had similar development costs. Publishing seems to
casual flip through Amazon). [Chatterbox pauses here to note that the
is also used in a few other branches of the entertainment business:
The record industry doesn't appear to charge more for popular albums
theaters). Similarly, video rentals all cost the same except for new releases
The best theory I have so far is signaling: By giving a film a low price,
you let the world know it's lousy; then they really don't want to see
it. So instead, everyone charges what the best films charge, hoping people will
This sounds right. Since most movies are bad (both in the subjective
aesthetic sense and in the cruder sense of being unpopular), discounting the
bad ones would bleed revenue while probably not persuading many moviegoers to
going to lure many more people into seeing, say, Eyes Wide Shut by
discount audience exists at all, it's mostly a rental audience, because renting
saves money not only on the unit price of viewing but also on parking,
babysitting, and other incidental costs associated with going out; perhaps most
important of all, the rental audience knows it can bail out with greater ease
if the movie in question proves unwatchable.) To make a buck, the movie
business has to lure large numbers of people into seeing bad
movies, and to get them to pay as much as they would if they were seeing
a good movie. That's the bad news. The good news is that when a movie is
latter case the price differential is not the Boss's fault, but rather the
explanation of why stadiums charge less than the market will bear.)
You know the stock market isn't feeling especially jaunty when the best news
it gets all week is that economic growth might be slowing. But there are all
sorts of things that people seem to be worrying about, despite the fact that
earnings in the latest quarter are expected to be exceptional and that it
increasingly looks as if the Fed won't raise interest rates when it meets on
if you're 3Com, is it really good news that investors think more highly of a
page read: 'Central Bankers Look Set to Lengthen the Good Times' and
'Leaders Fiddle As World Burns.' In the New Economy, apparently, burning worlds
But I do want one, which has to bode well for the company."
accountants and tax attorneys are reportedly confused about exactly why that's
investment partnerships were madly selling stocks to cover losing bets
for judicial posts whose nominations have been delayed longest are women or
Congressional rules to mean the agency must collect all back taxes from a
delinquent taxpayer or none, rather than negotiating a payment schedule, get a
Medical Center believe they've developed the first effective therapy for cystic
fibrosis (CF). It involves administering large amounts of a deficient fatty
The Post fronts a biographical piece about young Al Gore, painting
him as inordinately cautious, responsible, competitive, perfectionistic,
proven the corollary this statement implies to be true.) Wife Tipper is quoted
damage control." His campaigning has been so "weirdly incompetent," she claims,
that "those close to him" are wondering whether he really wants the presidency
or if he's just running because his Senator dad always wanted him to.
police say may be dangerous. Next to it is an unrelated picture of a man at a
currently being debated by the Senate, which would ban underground nuclear
testing. Online, the piece includes a link to the treaty itself. Critics worry
moratorium on underground testing, the government has used computer and
stockpile isn't certified. The final paragraphs carry the news that nuke tests
are more important for perfecting new weapons than correcting flaws in old
from nuclear testing. The writer does not explore what might happen if, as
critics fear, "rogue states develop the capacity to attack our cities," as
that while restoring democracy and reforming politics and economics were top
turning, necessarily, to eradicating police corruption.
in Silicon Valley as someone who recognizes "the new thing...
[Translation:] a notion that's poised to be taken seriously. It's the idea that
is moments from gaining general acceptance and, when it does, will change the
technology but people were using it. And it would get faster. I realized that
the press primary. Journalists go weak in the knees around the guy. The few who
have attempted to write debunking pieces about him have failed miserably. When
I wouldn't join in this collective swoon. That proved impossible. But perhaps I
can redeem myself a bit by examining the phenomenon.
quality not many of us possess: physical courage. But I think the deeper
he's shown consistently ever since. Everyone knows by now the story told in
a kind of spirit of resistance personified, a man who writes in his book (click 
here for a Ballot Box review) that he found freedom in captivity by
president hunger for a successor more deserving of our respect.
tolerated by his party's leadership, and he hardly conceals his contempt for
corporate welfare. There's a bit of the "strange new respect" phenomenon in the
way journalists respond to these positions. When a conservative politician
remains a genuine conservative, the farthest to the right of any of the other
positions than because of the way he puts his beliefs ahead of his career as a
brave enough or clueless enough to oppose ethanol subsidies beforehand. Both
though forgoing the first contest makes his uphill struggle that much steeper.
own good. Most politicians go off the record when they want to state the
behaves, in fact, more like a civilian talking about politics than a politician
discussing politics. He does reverse spin: Unprompted, he tells me that his big
failure, describing himself as tired and his audience as merely "polite." And
there aren't too many other senators, let alone presidential candidates, who
gooks." Reporters usually either put such indiscretions off the record on
media's sound instinct not to punish a politician for being exceptionally
to say whatever he wants. For those who have watched his career, his
outspokenness on the campaign trail appears as a refusal to be cowed by yet
various Republican education plans don't make sense even on their own terms.
Bush's even more flawed plan, wouldn't give vouchers a fair test, because
it doesn't fund the voucher at anywhere near the cost of most private schools.
And if a voucher won't pay for private school, it won't create any pressure on
unembarrassed to tell you that one of my happiest days of recent years was when
my daughter was accepted in Catholic school," he said. "I know she'll get a
quality education. She'll wear a uniform, and she'll be away from those little
bastards that are trying to get their hands on her."
was running with my criticism, trashing his own proposal. "It's one thing to
say we'll give everybody a choice," he said. "Well, if they can't get in, then
we'd better either provide incentives for schools to come into being where they
can afford it, or figure out a way to give them enough of a voucher where they
education proposal in the first place. But in a way, being able to profit from
valid criticism is more important than being a master of policy detail. The
flattery. It's fairly unusual, in my experience, for a politician to accept a
reporter's opinion that one of his major proposals is seriously flawed. It's
the effort at seduction is transparent. You know he really hates the press, and
doesn't feel automatic or calculated. He truly likes us journalists. It's his
Threatened with municipal lawsuits that could cost hundreds of millions of
dollars in losses, top gun makers have agreed to discuss with representatives
of various cities safety improvements and distribution control, according to a
Times leads with the return of radiation levels to normal at the site
officials, who said they will withdraw their lawsuits if an agreement is
reached. An industry spokesman suggested that negotiators aim for a reduction
in accidental deaths and injuries and a way to prevent guns from reaching
criminals. New York state's attorney general proposed that an independent
monitor be appointed to make sure any agreement is carried out. Absent from the
level in the nuclear facility and surrounding region has normalized with
critics' fears that it is too early to tell what exactly the plant spat out.
But overall, scientific and political reassurances are being reported louder
the government's negligence before the accident, official response to it, and
the proximity of their homes to the facility. (The LAT supplies the
discussed with Bush's aides their budget strategy, part of which defers earned
then. Yesterday a spokeswoman said that the campaign does not habitually
coordinate stances with Congress. The candidate himself broke party solidarity
with a properly alliterative soundbite ("I don't think they ought to balance
trying to bring the government, police, and judiciary in line with law.
original forays into a "Star Wars" missile defense system, according to the
LAT. A Minuteman missile, topped with a dummy warhead, will lift off
lead to implementation, but also to an arms race, critics say, as other
countries try to develop technology that outmaneuvers the new defense.
confiscate guns from anyone considered by a judge to be dangerous, the
said it amounts to "unreasonable search and seizure" that violates the Fourth
Amendment. Interest, though, is not confined to the Constitution State:
people's homes for two days following reports of domestic violence.
to foresee accidents on taxiways or with trucks and other equipment. Nor can
the radar spot misbehaving schoolkids. One of the two novelty stories on the
National Airport, walked on to a plane, and flew without incident or ticket to
his concerned parents, who promptly grounded him. No word on the principal's
propaganda. Now I have to admit that to a great extent, it rings true."
Good morning. Do you, as a former resident of New York City, miss the great
"the greatest fear among cultured folk is that they will say something critical
about a perplexing new painting, play, book, or novel that will, in a hundred
timid as any other member of the cultured folk, but my greatest fear is public
furtherance of the argument that he bases his position on principle rather than
personal distaste, "Taxpayer dollars shouldn't be on either side of this
dispute. We can't support religion. We shouldn't support vicious attacks on
attack on religion, vicious or otherwise. In fact, it looks religious. But, to
move to less disputed territory, although I haven't had time to go to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art today to check, I have a distinct recollection that
they have quite a few depictions of various religious images in their
receive from the city? I think if he's going to be coherent in his aesthetic
politics, he should give it a try. According to the same Times article,
he rebuts the accusation that he is doing this just to get the Conservative
Party nomination on the grounds that a New York Daily News poll shows
that New York City residents oppose him 2-to-1 on this issue. Am I wrong in
thinking that this rebuttal has nothing to do with the accusation? Since when
of the kind of issue on the shoals of which the contemporary Conservative Party
to see a movie in five years. And why, indeed, should he bother putting down
he can just drive out to wherever they do the lethal injections and see one
I feel that I haven't given you anything to really start a fight about here,
so I am going to close by saying that I really like the Backstreet Boys,
Now you've done it. You have ruined our chance to make
history by achieving almost complete unanimity. I knew this bipartisanship was
too good to last. Oh well, back to the battlefront.
I don't want to fall into the trap of disagreeing with
So why don't we leave poor Morris behind to enjoy his
communism was only the most grotesque version of the collectivist impulse.
equally determined to discredit the Great Society because he didn't trust
intellectuals to plan the economy, and he (correctly) worried that high taxes
and government programs like welfare would diminish individual freedom and
keeping government domestic spending roughly constant, while he focused his
energy on defense hikes aimed, as he put it, at inviting the Soviets into an
spending, he won the war over the larger question of the growth of the welfare
a loser, and celebrated the entrepreneur as one of the highest embodiments of
Today it's a settled question that markets, not intellectuals and bureaucrats,
view was that Republicans would run programs with greater attention to fiscal
is not the solution, government is the problem." He launched a principled
attack on the notion that government is more capable of running the country
that we're living in now: the era of the entrepreneur.
So what about the Soviet Union? My view is that two
predicted the collapse of the Soviet regime, intended the outcome, and
desperately tried to save the regime, adopted glasnost and perestroika to that end, and saw the system blow up in
Your theory, which is that the Soviet empire suffered
from "grave internal weakness" and collapsed of its own weight, makes little
sense to me. If you are referring to economic inefficiencies, I am not aware of
any weaknesses that the Soviets suffered in the '80s that were not also present
during the '70s (or the '60s, or the '50s, or any decade since the Bolsheviks
came to power). The Soviet economy has always been a basket case and the butt
Moreover, even if the '80s dramatized Soviet economic
for the Soviet empire to implode in the way that it did. There is simply no
historical precedent for a large empire calling it quits because it could not
compete economically or technologically. As you know, the Roman and the Ottoman
empires suffered from "grave internal weaknesses" but persisted for centuries.
Why should a ruling elite give up power because the gross national product is
declining or because the country is falling behind technologically?
I cannot hope to settle this large issue here. Nor am I
part as the opposing team's quarterback who kept throwing interceptions.
Soviet empire represents "the greatest diplomatic feat in the second half of
I think history will vindicate that judgment. I don't
lives, to admit their errors. But the new generation of historians, who won't
some of the recognition he deserves during his lifetime.
put a damper on anyone's mood, some radio reporters decided it was a good time
to let us now that after all the spraying of mosquitoes (the stuff seems to
kill butterflies and other birds and also adversely affect humans with asthma),
wondering why they hadn't thought of doing that in the first place! The
political grandstanding is moving us even further away from confronting the
he also is offended by the mayor's confrontational litigious position. Pitting
the "right to free artistic expression" against "accountability of public
funds" isn't the right fight. He argues that "New York needs mediators, not
gladiators." This position seems like the right one to me, but it has the
attention and the money. The mayor "seen his opportunities and took 'em," as
public policy are decided in a crisis atmosphere and the public's view is
I, too, have been struggling with this issue. Now, I am off to tape a cable
an important issue, but alas, has no sex, drugs, or rock 'n' roll angle to it,
so the media has covered it minimally. Maybe I can come up with a hook before
the show. Should I show a picture of a nude mayor, public advocate, comptroller
and City Council speaker urinating on the City Charter? It wouldn't be
It's too bad that life's daily routine has to interrupt our correspondence.
I am sure that by the time we get the rhythm our week will have ended! While I
have read some of your work and even used it in classes, clearly I should have
One of the most disturbing trends in public policy has been the distortion
policy and urban policy have been two big targets of the ideological wars in
windows" theory and that the policies of liberal mayors caused the increase in
issue that pointed out that your theory was not ideologically based. You
mentioned that you were asked to help reduce subway crime in New York during
more police officers in New York under his "Safe Streets Safe Cities" program.
crime rate don't know that crime started to drop during the last two years of
"value added" for New York, its hard to argue causation for local policies when
communities in the inner city. A recent study by the Centers for Disease
that diminished gang warfare related to crack has been the major reason for the
sharp drop in violent crime nationwide. At the same time, the annual survey of
drug use by the National Institute for Justice shows a change in attitude by
the young. They are simply not using crack, even when they are using other
drugs. I cite all this evidence because I can't help but take social science
seriously. The conclusion of the article is that the decline in urban crime is
primarily due to the decline in crack use and not changes in policing. It
always struck me as strange that in the period when crime was increasing in
communities. However, once crime declined it was the police who got all the
credit. No one bothered to check, until now, whether something might have
changed in these communities. I know this is your terrain. What do you
There's something almost comical about the recent frustration over the Bank
of Japan's refusal to take action to lower the value of the yen, which has
soared in the past month against the rest of the world's currencies, including
most obviously the dollar. The kind of action the bank would have to take to
weaken the yen, after all, is precisely the kind of action it would have to
to do the latter, it's hard to see why we should it expect to act to do the
The impact on a country's economy of the value of its currency is, of
course, very complicated, primarily because any country is made up both of
consumers, who like it when the currency is strong, making imported goods
cheap, and producers, who like it when the currency is weaker, making their
simply that a strong dollar was in the best interests of the United States, so
But that doesn't mean that the United States needs to be too obsessed with
the recent fall of the dollar against the yen. In the first place, currency
actually grew in the last quarter, albeit at a minuscule rate). In the second
place, the dollar has remained strong against the world's other major
currencies. So concerns that a weak dollar will spark inflationary pressures
becoming too strong when their economy is still barely limping along. Much of
Japan's industrial production remains concentrated in export industries, and a
can't act to manipulate interest rates, since rates are already near zero.)
that would not be a bad thing. Japan remains caught in a liquidity trap, which
means that even though money is effectively free, people are not using it to
invest or spend. One way of encouraging them to do so is to make the cost of
not spending higher than the cost of saving, which is to say making a
For all this, though, we need to stop expecting the Bank of Japan to step
in: It is not interested in taking action either to spark growth or drive down
it does not believe the admittedly heretical view that sometimes a little
inflation is not a bad thing. So if the United States is counting on the bank
to help save the dollar, it should stop and look to something else. Maybe we
women's fault. She conducted a wide range of interviews over the last few years
appears on two fronts. One involves "utilitarian masculinity," which is the
pride of self men feel thanks to their skills, their commitments to their work,
and to other men in the course of accomplishing a task. The other sort of
masculinity she calls "ornamental," and it is just that, the ornaments of
utilitarian male is a producer, the ornamental male is a consumer.
changes in work that more largely frame today's capitalism. This is a
intangibles of information and connections rather than making solid things, a
world in which the craftsman who nurtures a skill over his lifetime is out of
place. Correspondingly, male consumers are being sold fickle and impossible
face creams, and similar goods now change like women's hemlines, offering no
cigar lie in the realm of fantasy for most men struggling to make ends
version of Demon Capitalism. But she is too good an interviewer to be trapped
even when the shipbuilders have come to the very end of their employment; their
craft pride transcends any whining about being capitalism's victims. No more
does the ornamental male wear his jewelry of self comfortably; the buffed pecs
men's section are sources of anxiety rather than pleasure.
argument is that she, unlike many feminist writers, has a real feel for male
bonding, and for the need of men to feel they can hold their heads up with
generation, she reaches out to understand the bonds forged by the violence of
men at war. Above all, while she rejects the notion that the crisis of
utilitarian masculinity in the workplace has resulted from the gains
that many women employees have been insensitive to the confusions of self that
The very openness and depth of her interviewing poses
really a book about maleness, or is it a reflection in the lives of men of
are largely in short supply, or supplied in a fashion that can give no real
standard" [p.505]. But the interviews she conducts, as with the Promise
fathers and husbands ought to deal with the complexities of parenting and
issue, I think; the consumer culture has trivialized adult experiences of
responsibility, flattened out intimacy so that it appears a zone in which
people, women as well as men, are pulled between self development and
to show sex is anything but the "gold standard" for a man; the inchoate but
strong impulse to break free is what really drives the male character).
a mythical time when they knew where they belonged. But that longing for a lost
this brings us back to the issue of capitalism. The disturbances of work and
they cut across the boundaries of gender, and they transcend sexual vanity.
penalty existing as they do cheek by jowl in my life, I consider them to be
perfectly compatible and cohesive elements of a unified world view. Or maybe
see that I agree even less with myself, in that I don't actually think that the
regarding their portrayals by the mass media are really of comparable weight,
seeing as only one of these special interests is allied with an extraordinarily
wealthy institution with one of the most coherent and cooperative global
course, the Catholic Church. The New York Post reported yesterday (and
is a Soviet apologist. The question is, is he now or has he ever been a great
Pretty much everyone agrees that Grass is not a great novelist now. Nothing
disquisition on the perfidy of women (Grass' leftism does not extend to
feminism) that is narrated by a fish and continues through centuries, with
the end of mankind, with the German chancellor riding through the forest in
were roaming around the poisoned trees." ("This typically German combination of
literature plausible after the Holocaust had made it impossible. Specifically,
said the Academy, The Tin Drum brought German literature back to life
"after decades of linguistic and moral destruction." This statement harks back
serve the needs of moral truth and poetic perception."
throwing himself down cellar stairs. Thereafter he plays a tin drum in lieu of
speaking aloud and, when anyone tries to take it away, screams so shrilly that
he shatters glass all around him. Kept home from school, he becomes an
confusing the marching band, so that everyone waltzes off. The second scene
suicide in his store, while storm troopers rampage around his corpse, poking it
with puppets and dropping their pants to shit on the floor.
not a critic, a participant who neither is nor isn't a responsible party, he's
obliquely, through explosive bursts of irreverent language, and by dint of the
neighbor who also took part in the great national pogrom, though he wasn't in
the book in German, but those who have say the writing is stuffed with
Catholic litany to the impersonal tone of case histories to slang to dialect
But does relentless, even brilliant, irony remain an adequate response to
literature's relationship to the Holocaust, in which she accuses Grass of a
and insensitivity to those who suffered and died, evident in a language where
silence is veiled in verbal dexterity and a creative exuberance rooted in
through an unsympathetic portrayal of its perpetrators as well as through
macabre does come off as weirdly timid. Compare the eeriest passages of The
names those crimes or explores their existence, and seems so focused on the
book feel more like a step on the way to something than like the thing
whether Grass really was the savior of German literature that people were
come up with an adequate description of the brutality of German society had in
many ways brutalized him: "Grass," he writes, "is nearly always too long;
nearly always too loud." But, he concluded, "Totalitarianism makes provincial.
the price German literature has to pay for its years in isolation." In short,
The Tin Drum did restore German literature to the world and the world to
German literature. But like Grass himself, what once seemed a masterwork has
Chatterbox continues to monitor Weekly World News to see what kind of publisher
week includes the headlines, "Man Turns Into a Werewolf at Planetarium Lunar
claim? Memo to the White House: It's been Chatterbox's understanding that you
come down pretty hard on anyone who tries to use the president's image in a
World News is intended to be). Are you going to come down on the former
deputy treasury secretary? Or are you afraid of offending a potential
boroughs are one hell of a parish. I fear, though, I don't even know what
how the Goths fare who have a parody of the Christian fish on their cars with
admire his media campaigning, and current politicians could learn a lot from
always been a lot of small planted gossip stories. One of these turns up in the
try. He not only has his own ego willing him to succeed, but also
Although you may not be aware of it, the standard line
of the average conspiracy debunker is that the conspirators are not smart or
organized enough to hold the plot together. I think it's one of the tacks
already, aren't I?" I must admit, however, that I may have been wrong about
asleep. The teaser was "whose husband may run for president." The tease started
problems of the presidency continued to loom. They were seeking early
befuddled old huckster's more endearing qualities. You are absolutely right
opposition to the death penalty must exist "cheek by jowl." The modern world
comes at us as a randomly proportioned cocktail of the portentous, the
terrifying, and the trivial. Although it may seem to some like ersatz
sophistication, the only way I can find to process the torrent of information
to which I find myself constantly exposed is with a trash aesthetic. While all
alien eyeballs, and I simply have to have one, all prevent my perspectives from
succumbing to the kind of cultural isolation and spiteful tunnel vision that
has become the hallmark of modern political discussion.
Weekly just describes as "jagged and flashy," but that's beside the point.)
right, your side wrong" makes a marketable media commodity? Unfortunately homie
can't play that, and I don't think, dear, Mim, you can either. We both still
think too much, and are even willing to lower our sophistication, no matter how
ersatz, to the childlike simplicity of asking what's wrong with this picture
committed Democrat, Republican, liberal, compassionate conservative, or
whatever. My politics are, in fact, much more murky. (In the privacy of night,
to the most powerful post on the planet simply because he had the most
for the New World Order or the infiltrating aliens. Oh yes, easy to dismiss
and the downsized castoffs whose manufacturing jobs have been sold south to
Third World cheap labor. Refuge in paranoid fantasy because reality is devoid
of hope creates that highly fertile soil where seeds of the most dangerous kind
can germinate. The next administration is going the need all the brilliance,
attributes, if genuine, from any quarter and attached to just about any track
unseen, had provoked. We're talking about a fury so fierce (it has been
picture's new distributor is Lion's Gate Films) have braced themselves for more
noise and death threats. The only silver lining, said Smith, was that he'd
the Catholic League mad at you, but you don't want to have the mayor of New
Finally seeing the movie, I find it hard not to share Smith's perplexity. It
country. It's supremely moving. True, it's also raucous, bloody, smutty, and
Yet the qualities that make Dogma seem a work of irreverence are
precisely those that make it so spiritually reanimating. The film has been made
by an artist for whom questions of faith are central to daily life. It seems
only logical, then, not to segregate those questions from that life but to
weave them in with the filmmaker's other obsessions: friendship, lust,
drinking, love of trashy horror flicks, and the compulsion to sit around
should not be represented by gory images of his earthy demise. After all: "He
plans to reconsecrate his church so that anyone who passes through its archway
will be officially cleansed of sin and entitled to enter heaven. This attracts
problem, then, is the tension between dogma and God's will. If the angels (who
become serial killers on their trek to New Jersey, gorily murdering Ten
Commandments violators as a kind of last hurrah), succeed in their mission, God
will be shown to be fallible, the center will not hold, and the apocalypse will
Representatives of the Devil, naturally, do all they can to make that
conversations with sundry mortals, angels, and demons about her loss of faith.
The complaints about Catholic dogma are voiced by Rock's liberal Apostle, who
argues that what matters most is faith and not the rituals that are supposed to
So yes, Dogma is critical of organized religion. But why not regard
it as the constructive criticism of a believer? Smith described it as "kicking
that fun is grounded in a fervent respect for their existence and power. In the
Smith believes that the Catholic League, which is authorized by neither the
would have slipped by unnoticed in any event. Another deeply devout and
didn't take it any better when told of the painful destiny that awaited him: "I
had to deliver the news to a scared child who only wanted to play with other
children." There are people who find threatening the idea that no serious
It's the atheists and agnostics who have the easiest time making movies
meanwhile, get crucified. "I tried to do something good and got hassled for
and dick jokes." An amusing series of titles that open the film now urge the
on religion but as a reverent goof. But he's worried about the "good
better buy himself a flak jacket. Once they see it, he said, their minds
Don't drink that coffee, man, you just got us off to a good start. Really
yet to be recognized by the West as a defining, driving political force in the
Did you see the Page One piece in the New York Times yesterday by
how these two are not as dissimilar as Bush wants us to think they are. God,
his campaign is smart. I did a profile of him for Esquire last year and
His plan saw Bush as a sunny conservative, someone who could wink and reassure
to beguile and soothe the rest of us. Rove understands, as few Republicans do,
strong because it is very aware of how out of touch social conservatism is in
the 1990's. So rather than wait for some Democrat to say that, they'll put Tom
save congressional seats as well. So what's the problem? It's we in the media
who are flummoxed by the seeming "conflict." But really they are two sides of
chief (another blow to the old Protestant Establishment and another victory for
one point, but he didn't say a word about how his life had been changed. So
I will be gossiping about these maneuverings and the
should rise to a higher sphere and talk literature. I wanted to take advantage
of your presence here and ask you about the form of this book, rather than the
Meanwhile, both of us are frustrated because the analytical or polemical
conclusion to his book is so short. It seems to me this is characteristic of
book writing these days. We are in a great age of nonfiction narrative writing.
There have been many great biographies written over the past couple of decades
narratives. Many great and influential books were written during that time:
weren't as many influential, popular but intellectual books of that sort. There
nonfiction books are celebrity books or narratives. I think some of this has to
do with the declining prestige of the intellectual. In the '50s and early '60s,
it seems to me, intellectuals were confident of their social roles. There were
lost its confidence and broad vision over the next decades. Academics started
doing more professionalized stuff that people like me never read. And
The narratives make for better reads, but I do miss
write. Or more properly, I wish that the books that follow in that tradition
were getting more attention and more sales these days. Maybe people have less
faith in the social sciences as well and so just want to hear about stories and
have been active during this whole period. Is my description of the trends in
failing to distinguish between fact and fiction. Yet I think Morris' technique
day thought they understood him, but they kept forgetting that he was an actor.
ordinary man. Yet extraordinary things happened in the 1980s: the taming of
inflation, the revival of economic growth, the technological revolution, the
fellow perform such extraordinary feats? Morris' biography contributes little
prejudices of the intelligentsia, Morris in his book and in interviews has
Yet it was this very yahoo who in the early 1980s repeatedly predicted the
fall of communism. He did this at a time when there was complete agreement
learned pundits, including the entire Soviet Studies community, did not know?
important question, the wise men proved to be wrong and the dummy proved to be
Here's another question. Why did the computer revolution occur in the 1980s?
the tax cuts, deregulation, privatization of government assets, and the
necessary political and social framework for the silicon revolution? Many
computer revolution may have happened, but it wouldn't have happened as fast as
it did. So what does Morris think about this? Nothing. It's not that he adopts
a position I disagree with. He seems unaware that this is an important subject
personal life. Even here there are no big revelations. Morris speculates that
don't like to think that their husbands wanted to marry their first wives.
joining the Communist Party but was turned down because they regarded him as a
would have been an unbelievably good catch, and if he had stayed with this
sorry lot, he would have been their best chance to win mainstream
Morris' failure is symptomatic of the failure of the intelligentsia in this
spotlight on places still unlit by the sunshine of our present prosperity."
Critics on the right dismissed the tour as a simplistic photo op, and Peter
problem because his Administration has a vested interest in the notion that
Post interprets the tour as a plug for a "Third Way" strategy of using tax incentives for businesses
Post faults her not for reversing course but for endorsing what it deems an
applauds her for "breaking the mold" by running for
complains that both her campaign travel and that of her
campaign will probably end up paying for the subsidized travel says a
them liable for damages for conspiring to conceal how addictive and harmful
cigarettes are. This increases the chances that the companies will have to pay
pols have chickened out of the race in deference to a carpetbagger. Political
analysts noted that whatever her drawbacks, she appeals to soccer
Benjamin Smith (who had changed his name to August because he thought Benjamin
Smith's past but little history of violence. The shooting spree has made the
World Church of the Creator, the hate group to which Smith was linked, the new
Times reported that he got "favorable treatment and uncommon attention" when he was admitted
reported that Bush nearly flunked the Air Force pilot aptitude test but "scored high as
a future leader." Bush says he "served my country" and got no special
treatment. Pundits and Bush's Republican rivals are largely blowing off the
is driving me berserk. He changes religious beliefs like some people change
clothes. This might be only peculiar (and therefore tolerable), but he expects
me to accompany him, as well as get into the philosophy of the moment. I really
do not have time for this and, to be truthful, do not share his passion for
religious theory. I gave it a try but can no longer play along. How would you
are interested in maintaining the relationship, you need to spell out that
lovers need not share every interest, and that his searching for new belief
you had a religion that you started with and said you wished to retain but,
failing that, tell the theologian that you are making a new beginning: that he
has your blessings, pardon the expression, to pursue the religion of his choice
services with him, tell him that was Zen, this is now.
years is starting to make me wonder if she is mature enough to even be married.
She spends more time with her girlfriends, most of whom are from high school,
than she does with me. (We have no children.) I wind up doing many things alone
on weekends and in the evenings because she always has plans with "the girls."
My wish is to make this marriage work because I love my wife, but I am feeling
Well, that seems not to be the case in your life. Your wife sounds immature to
with her choices. Ask if she wishes to be married. Ask if she has complaints
way or the other, you have to resolve the situation.
but have never found themselves in stable situations. All three have been
bankrupt at one point during the past three years. All three apportion a great
deal of guilt to my father, who did not win custody of them when they were
younger. Their mother was not a good one, and I recognize that they have
emotional scars. However, my father never fails to bail them out of a financial
crisis. While my father has done well, he is by no means wealthy. I know he has
dipped into his retirement fund several times to help my siblings out.
that while my childhood was far more "normal," I demonstrate more
responsibility in my financial obligations (school loans, etc.) than my elder
siblings and, frankly, would be embarrassed to ask my father for money because
I couldn't get a handle on life. My father came from a poor family and I would
like him to enjoy his retirement. Is it appropriate for me to say anything to
him regarding this matter? I do love my elder sibs but feel they are exploiting
your concerns. Do articulate that you do not feel competitive with your
guilt. Also mention that bailing out these boys may not be in their best
interests. He cannot help but be touched if you tell him of your concerns for
may not. Once you've brought the subject up, however, know that you can take it
regard responsibility in a different way than the three boys you write about.
previous psych major, and an avocational singer, I agree with your advice to
in college, why not take a minor in music or even double major in psychology
has this wonderful opportunity to increase her musical skills, develop her
talent, and make important connections that could lead to jobs. Why not take
the four years to do all that and then "run away" to pursue her dreams, fully
One Who Has Her Singing Dream and Her Psychology Job
"You have to be true to yourself as a writer, but I
hotel ballroom a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean, pondering the
question of whether people who make violent movies are morally responsible for
and couldn't wait to escape into the waves crashing outside.
On the opposite end of the stage was Motion Picture
product to children. (For this we need a federal investigation? Does anyone
don't cause cancer" posture, studio heads have declined credit for encouraging
on violence in the media, letting slip their best chance to get out in front of
turn down the president of the United States at your own peril," says one movie
reiterations of their commitment to shareholders, the Writers Guild talk
revealed a creative community roiled by emotions ranging from angry defiance to
extreme remorse to abject terror. Sparring over their role in instigating
overwhelmingly liberal community, happy to jettison the Second Amendment, is
yourself as a writer" remarks. "The people who say it's all our fault are
extremists, and I think the people who say we have no responsibilities are also
extremists. If we're really looking for the truth, we'll find it somewhere in
that people choose to ignore because it's really not lucrative to obey them.
And we have become very spoiled because we enjoy this freedom, and we don't
want anybody on the outside telling us what to do."
youth groups. "Here you had the most wholesome, upstanding media you can
imagine, and meanwhile offstage is the most mechanized bloodbath in history,"
he said. He spread the moral responsibility around, noting that legally the
studio is the author of a movie. "I tell you, every picture I have done has
come out more violent than what I wrote. I have sat at the screening of one of
my movies and been stunned at the level of mayhem that somebody put onscreen.
So now do I feel guilty?" He didn't answer his own question.
parental neglect, breakdown of education and community, and the Internet as
"There's no one person that can be held responsible for this," she said. "But
for us to sit here and say 'feed 'em a steady diet of whatever they want,' and
make sense out of something that will never make sense. People read The
the heroine for shooting a male attacker. "I had hoped for a completely
different reaction from the audience, a realization that this character had
just sealed her fate in a horrible way. I was terrified. And I realized that I
challenged herself to write a movie with no guns in it. "It's harder," she
"Do we want the world to be as frightened as so many of us
impose this gun culture on the world? They all want to be like us! I don't
you say unpunished violence it reminds me of the old green code." Undeterred,
you get the audience so involved in hating that you scream inside for the hero
to demolish him. Creatively we can find ways to get the same kind of tensions
knowing that no discussion of violence in art is complete without an invocation
of the Bard. "It spends all of its time making us hate, hate that villain. And
Constitution that guarantees all others. And it's not easy to be a First
Amendment person, because then you have to allow into this marketplace that
which you believe to be soiling and meretricious and tawdry and unwholesome and
sometimes vile. And then sometimes people get so vexed, they want to call their
congressman and say, 'pass a law to stop all this stuff.' But I always say to
this person, be wary and be cautious. Before you make that call, remember that
when a tyrant first appears he always comes as your protector." Hoots of
colleagues that those who have abused their absolute freedoms by making movies
era of unregulated bliss is over. "All of us have to understand that we are
rendered articulate and righteous defenses of the Bill of Rights and the
Constitution. But none of us should leave the room without an understanding
that for parents all over the country, the fear is real, the problems of
The ballroom emptied, leaving the day's topic frustratingly
properly give more weight to the safety of its citizens than to free speech.
pointed out, "The thing that is rarely mentioned is that because this is a
featuring guns in its marketing materials; and studios have canceled the
little bit less finger pointing and a little more assumption of responsibility
for a problem whose causes are many, it would be easier to have faith.
presidential candidacy this year is represented by an official Web site. (Click
the candidates themselves? They all give lip service to the idea of the
information revolution, and especially to the quantities of cash it's pumping
into the economy. But do they know how to use personal computers? Do
literacy to all the presidential candidates. With a touch of naive optimism, we
addresses for each of these campaigns and shipped our questionnaires off. The
would immediately download our questionnaire, hit "Reply," answer its not
terribly demanding questions on the spot, and ship back the answers within
moments. To encourage a prompt response, we assured all candidates that we
didn't intend to judge harshly those who displayed poor Web literacy,
truly "frictionless" response (that is, responded to our questionnaire before
in the candidate's own words. The only candidate we spoke with directly
daily to track how the controversy surrounding the historical speculation in
his new book A Republic, Not an Empire was affecting sales.
respondents are to be believed, there is no such thing as a presidential
initiative to try to reach him by phone). On the other hand, it's fairly common
entire campaign staff and by political supporters, would be spam bait.)
are the survey results (click on the graphic for an enlargement):
press has reacted with consternation this week to an extraordinary attack on
concession to concession, like the stripper, except that she becomes more
Perhaps that would embarrass him into retiring, having plumbed depths of
behavior unworthy of a scout guide, let alone the defense minister of a country
to volunteer for national service. Under this plan, army recruiters would
deadlock at the United Nations over the future of sanctions and disarmament
grandchildren, had her femaleness confirmed by medical tests. From Phoenix, her
against children watching too much television. In an editorial on the subject,
it said the academy's recommendation "that no child under two should watch
television and that sets should be banned from the bedrooms of even older
children represents the gravest challenge to the Western way of life since
the great Shopping Avenger, who has pledged himself to the betterment of all
humankind, or at least to that portion of humankind that shops at Circuit City
The Shopping Avenger has much to discuss today: You
but who, due to his mystical and gentle nature, sought not the help of lawyers
answer to the recent contest question "How much Turtle Wax constitutes a year's
his own tale of consumer woe. Many of you might find this a shocking statement,
but even the Shopping Avenger sometimes gets smacked upside the head by the
evil forces of rampant capitalism. Granted, this seldom happens when the
Shopping Avenger is wearing his cape and codpiece and special decals, but the
Shopping Avenger seldom ventures outside the Great Hall of Consumer Justice in
his cape and codpiece and special decals, on account of the fact that he
metropolitan magazine, and it is in this guise that the Shopping Avenger
sometimes finds himself holding the short end of the consumer stick. Whatever
feeling ill and generally fed up at the end of his trip and so decided to
upgrade himself, using his own money, to business class. The total cost of the
late to make the connection. However, the Shopping Avenger and several other
was no time to make the connection, which was leaving from a different
because the originating flight did not depart on time. The Shopping Avenger
received no answer to this statement. Instead, the Shopping Avenger was booked
You, of course, know what happened next. The Shopping
passengers would be allowed to use the telephone. When the Shopping Avenger
should pay for the call, he was told that pay phones could be found outside the
little company, and so the Shopping Avenger was given no recourse but to invoke
the power of his high office. The Shopping Avenger asked this nasty lady if she
had ever heard of the Shopping Avenger. To the Shopping Avenger's dismay, this
foremost consumer advocate (this is a lie, but she's English, so what does she
know?) and that the Shopping Avenger would hear about this treatment and seek
should never travel without their codpiece under their pants.
There is only one airline the Shopping Avenger believes
understands the fundamentals of customer service, and that is Southwest
outrage. The following letter contains perhaps the funniest story the Shopping
They had to rent a bigger truck to me, which, of course cost more and at that
reservation should have been honored so long as he provided us with his credit
to explain the inexplicable. The Shopping Avenger has received 164--no
One more thing before we get to our tale of rabbinical woe:
the winning answer to the recent contest question "How much Turtle Wax
answer, which is, of course: "Depends upon how many Turtles you wanna wax," in
many of you wrote in with the more or less correct answer, the Shopping Avenger
is unable to award the contest prize, which was to be a year's supply of
Now to our hapless rabbi, Rabbi S., who wrote the Shopping
the cruelty and ignorance of employees who are, in theory, hired by the
representative if he could leave his luggage by the counter for his wife to
check in while he parked the car, to which he received a positive response and
left to go park. No one told him, though, that he must first show his
once he left, telling the wife that "security reasons" forbade him from
checking the luggage of ticket holders who were not present. But then she told
security issue," Rabbi S. wrote the Shopping Avenger, "if they're ready to take
bags. She was then told that she would miss the flight, and then her children
before the flight was scheduled to depart. His wife handed him one baby and
took the other to the gate. "The woman at the counter treated me like a piece
of dirt," he wrote. "First she said she's not sure whether the flight is still
open. Then she took more than five minutes to look around and find someone who
wife went to the gate and the people at the gate told her there's plenty of
Alas, my wife didn't realize that [I] could not come because of the luggage
issue and the haughtiness of the people downstairs."
wouldn't make this flight and that he should book himself on another. His wife
people would have been competent enough to tell me that I should show my
license and courteous enough to put the luggage on for my wife, then I would be
Customer Relations representative has been communicating with the rabbi on this
incident and is sending him the difference between that ticket and the cost of
behavior that often makes the already unpleasant air travel experience
In the next episode, the Shopping Avenger will tell the
story of Southwest Airlines, the only airline that seems to actually care about
customer service. But the Shopping Avenger needs your help! Keep those airline
me say again, the Shopping Avenger does not fix computers.
social policy for a small magazine of opinion, but right now I am driving from
backseat, stuffed with books. Her 13-inch television is in the trunk. On the
futon, which I failed to convince her to throw in a Dumpster. The whole pile is
run through four men, including the male protagonist, who wrote about social
policy for a small magazine of opinion. I trashed the novel when the one person
I showed it to was, how to put it, less than fully supportive. "You have no
idea how to write fiction," she said. "For instance, you have this
that! You have to flesh him out a bit! Give him some real human qualities."
doing it alone. Doing it with another person is that much better. True, I used
to be interested in E, but that was years ago, and we're now just good friends.
I have no desire or expectation that anything romantic will happen on this
journey. Please remember this, as it is an important point. No expectations.
to eat tofu on this trip." I try to let her down gently, suggesting that while
might not have the selection she has come to expect.
impenetrability has been replaced by a thick, smooth gelatinous coating that is
equally impenetrable. But I don't know for sure. I also know there are some
to the Census Bureau, those cynical centrists are making the greatest strides
thought it was the girls who got fucked that had the healthy glow." She also
said she hasn't had sex in two years, which I didn't believe. But, come to
most popular tourist attractions after extensive renovations. What
going to be difficult and take a while for people to get this stuff," says
government. "And for a significant percentage, they're never going to get it
because they're cognitively impaired, they're too frail, or they just don't
have the energy to invest in understanding these things." Who's never going to
customer gets to run for president while they rot in a Fort Worth
are never going to understand quantum mechanics. It's sad, in a way. If they
harder for ordinary people to join in a class action suit but easier for giant
oil companies to pump free oil from public land and sell it at a profit,
airwaves at vast profits, for the entertainment of bored oil rig workers out in
cast iron frame, even he can't understand why love is a crime, the sort of
crime spelled out in a restraining order from some judge (NEEDS HIS GODDAMNED
HEAD EXAMINED!!!!) who is oh so ready to ignore everything one person says and
Medicare Rights Center, disagrees, "It's all incredibly complicated, not only
for seniors but for everyone, including me." Or perhaps she agrees. It's very
And so Medicare is launching "the biggest peacetime
education program the federal government has ever undertaken." Features
Geezer, the Old and Stupid Healthcare Baboon, a lovable mascot who'll
travel to nursing homes and explain that what seems like a cold and heartless
disdain; you tell me who said it about what, and then tell me your bankcard PIN
hasn't seen. His response: cut off the museum's finances.
National Endowment of the Humanities. And so he won't.
The pleasantly varied News Quiz responses defy easy
and reveal their secret debt to him on the final page.  The cover book review scoffs at the misplaced sympathy for
more often than they used to. Institutional investors insist upon sacking
nonperforming bosses, and board members fear that lackluster leadership will
internal political turmoil. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in
cover story investigates the quest for justice by the survivors of school
son right from wrong. My son wasn't shooting people up." Parents of West
meet its energy needs by burning fat. Many dieters have lost weight, but
would eliminate Medicare, drive up insurance premiums for federal employees,
Apocalypse catalyzed important historical events. The Crusades were launched to
identification of the papacy with the Antichrist; and Christian fundamentalists
expect the world to end during their lifetime. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
column questions the value of an Ivy League education.
Research indicates that after adjusting for SAT scores, parents' income, and
race, graduates of elite universities do not earn more than other college
Gore opposed the war but enlisted in the Army. After his service, Bush lived
off his savings, lounged around a singles apartment complex, and drank to
excess. Gore, by contrast, smoked pot, worked construction, attended divinity
authenticity and "amiable cleverness." Al Gore is portrayed as "severely
cover story draws parallels between the rejection of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the impeachment crisis. Both issues were
Republicans are turning their backs on arms control because of the mistaken
reform, one of the industry's top priorities. Bush, who backs tobacco price
cover story welcomes the defeat of the Comprehensive
military and nuclear arsenal ensures global stability, treaties can't.
Millennium is a business best seller. Marketplace Ministries provides
workplace chaplains to firms such as Taco Bell franchises, which welcome
religion in the kitchen because studies show that spiritual programs increase
was inevitable and resisting a hike might hurt them in the next election. To
make the bill palatable, the House leadership loaded it with tax breaks,
currently reading forced the Shopping Avenger at gunpoint to read a series of
withstand radiation, extreme heat and cold, hail, bear attacks, and Eyes
thinking. Perhaps it is wrong, the Shopping Avenger thought, to complain about
the petty insults and inconveniences of life in the materialistic '90s. The
Shopping Avenger felt that perhaps he should counsel those who write seeking
help to meditate, to accept bad service the way one accepts the change of
seasons, and to extend a compassionate hand of forgiveness to those who provide
or of the notion that there is more to life than the impatient acquisition of
material goods. If the Shopping Avenger were not, for a superhero, extremely
occasional correspondent to let go of his petty grievance and get a life.
(For the complete back story, see "Shopping Avenger" column and one.)
policy continue to pour in through the electronic mail. One correspondent,
from the Shopping Avenger. He didn't believe such a thing would happen to him,
store had many customers standing around looking frustrated. When we got to the
front of the line, the clerk informed us that our 'reserved' truck had not yet
been returned. We asked if we could rent one of the many trucks sitting idle in
the parking lot. The clerk laughed and said the keys to those trucks were
trucks to people who reserve trucks, but the Shopping Avenger is pleased to
note that several correspondents have written in over the past month saying
that, based on what they have read in this column, they will be taking their
episode, but now on to this month's airline debacle.
Before we begin, though, the Shopping Avenger nearly forgot
to announce the winner of last month's contest, in which readers were asked to
answer the question, "What's the difference between pests and airlines?"
year's supply of Turtle Wax, and he will receive his prize just as soon as the
Shopping Avenger figures out how much Turtle Wax actually constitutes a year's
supply. The new contest question: How much Turtle Wax comprises a year's supply
This month's airline in the spotlight is Southwest. Loyal
readers will recall that last month the Shopping Avenger praised Southwest
Airlines for its "sterling" customer service. This brought forth a small number
of articulate dissensions. The most articulate, and the most troubling, came
family (two really little kids included), we set down at Midway in a rainstorm.
And waited for our bags. And waited for bags. And waited for bags."
An hour later, M. says, the bags showed up, "soaked
complicated, unclear, and confusing mechanism for filing a claim we experienced
their destination, M. and her family made a terrible discovery, "We discovered
had bled through down to the lower levels, destroying lots of other clothes.
Obviously, our bags had just been sitting out on the runway in the rain. To
This, of course, is where Shopping Avenger steps in.
Shopping Avenger knows that Southwest is different from the average airline, in
What I got at first, though, was a load of corporate
which is consistent with all contracts of carriage at all airlines, requires
that passengers file a report in person for lost or damaged luggage within four
courtesy, took her report anyway and asked for follow up information and
detailed receipts and photographs of the damage in order to make a claim.
Harrumph, the Shopping Avenger says. It is a bad hair day
at Southwest when its officials defend themselves by comparing their airline to
other airlines. I forwarded this message to M., who replied:
the airport. I didn't know until I opened the baggage at my hotel and saw the
ruined stuff. (And it's worth noting that we had already waited for about an
type of documentation. The baggage folks seemed pretty uninterested in all of
actually served to anger M. more than the original problem. "Before, they had a
mildly annoyed but loyal customer (who would have been placated by an apology
and thrilled with some modest token of their regret). Now they have a
Things do look bad for Southwest, don't they? The Shopping
the Shopping Avenger was asking for "policy information." The Shopping Avenger
Justice would, if this case were brought to trial, undoubtedly find for the
plaintiff (the Shopping Avenger serves as prosecutor, judge, and jury in the
But then she came through, provisionally, "Yep, you
it's taken this long for her to get someone who can help, but we will take care
hear whether Southwest makes good it promise to compensate M. and apologize to
The story of M. reminds the Shopping Avenger of a central
vain for Circuit City to repair his television. Televisions break, even
bought the television, gave him a terrible runaround. The Shopping Avenger
story. This is what he found: K. grew concerned, Tad the Deputy Avenger
reports, after his television had been in the Circuit City shop for a week.
When he called, he was told to "check back next week." When he asked if someone
from the store could call him with more information, he was refused. Weeks went
by. When K. told one Circuit City employee that he really would like to get his
television back, the employee, K. says, asked him, "Don't you have another
found out, at Circuit City. The case, K. was told by a Circuit City official,
assured Deputy Avenger Tad that "We got to be a big and successful company by
treating customers better than the other guy." The Shopping Avenger and his
loyal sidekick would like to hear from other Circuit City customers: Does
Circuit City, in fact, treat its customers better than the other guy?
rabbi's travel plans, leaving the rabbi's wife crying at the airport. Find out
Ban Treaty. The direct result of this vote was virtually nothing. No missiles
were launched. No bombs were detonated. No agreements were voided. The treaty
itself remained open to ratification. Instead, analysts agreed that the import
of the vote lay in the "signal" it sent to foreign governments. At his news
signal for good or ill. He chose both. While assuring other nations that the
struggle between his two personalities, Policy Bill and Political Bill. Policy
Bill strives for solutions and looks for deals. Political Bill strives for
advantage and looks for fights. Policy Bill treats elections as a means to
passing legislation. Political Bill treats legislation as a means to winning
elections. Policy Bill wants arms control as an accomplishment. Political Bill
wants it as a festering issue. Policy Bill wants to frame the treaty vote in a
way that will calm the world by minimizing the perceived damage to arms
Republicans said they voted against the treaty because it lacked adequate
monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, wouldn't affect rogue states, and
imposed too permanent a commitment on the United States to refrain from
worked with them to amend it. By voting against it, were Republicans giving
foreign regimes a "green light" to test nuclear weapons? No, they replied. They
argued that the best safeguard against proliferation was the previously
rejecting arms control? No, said the Republicans. They observed that pragmatic
pacts, deemed this one unwise. "The leader of the nonproliferation effort over
and hopefully to people around the world, that although there are not now
sufficient votes in the Senate to ratify this test ban treaty, that does not
mean that the cause of nuclear nonproliferation died on the Senate floor
Congress," he went on. "We do want to signal to nations around the world in the
States Senate are walking away from our responsibility to lead the effort"
vote. Policy Bill played it down. "We will not abandon the commitments inherent
in the treaty and resume testing ourselves," he told the world. "I call on
from testing. I call on nations that have not done so to sign and ratify the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. And I will continue to do all I can to make that
case to the Senate. When all is said and done, I have no doubt that the United
commitment on nonproliferation." He concluded: "So I urge [other nations] not
to overreact, to make clear their opposition to what the Senate did, but to
Political Bill was determined to punish Republicans at the polls by depicting
their vote as a repudiation of arms control. They had "betrayed the vision of
leadership against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. They are saying
Political Bill's scare tactics destroyed Policy Bill's reassurances. "The
administration is here, we support [the moratorium on] nuclear testing," said
Policy Bill. Abruptly, Political Bill interjected, "Now, if we ever get a
countries abandoning the Nonproliferation Treaty." Political Bill didn't care
how these words affected world leaders. To him, the test ban treaty was just
another wedge issue. That's why he opened his news conference not by
distinguishing arms control as a transcendent responsibility but by lumping it
together with budget politics: "In recent days, members of the congressional
campaign ad endorsed by Senate Democrats and the White House, Vice President Al
Gore warned, "This vote goes against the tide of history." The Senate had
calling it "a definitive vote that said, 'Around the world, we relegate
the next decade, [who] almost assuredly will continue now with nuclear
Foreign governments and the media were already inclined to interpret the vote
encouraged that interpretation. The vote "halted the momentum" toward nuclear
arms control and "further weakened the already shaky standing of the United
States as a global moral leader," the New York Times concluded in a
Times story added that "fears have been heightened by what looks like an
said the Senate was "signaling an ominous retreat from the world."
nuclear age is that the survival of humankind has rested as much on
international perception as on reality. Thirty years ago, it rested on the
perception that we were willing to build bombs and deploy them. Today it rests
ability to sustain that perception despite the test ban's defeat. If only he
responsible for the slaughter, and another blamed the culture. Since the guns
question has been debated into the ground, I confine myself here to the culture
The culture that was blamed for Columbine was never
clearly defined. Its nature was suggested by terms such as "the '60s,"
was told to clean up its act, and theater owners were urged to enforce the
ratings system, to avoid exposing young people to sex and violence.
were categorized as "hate" crimes. Hate crimes include crimes not only against
an individual known personally to the perpetrator or against whom he has a
although there is probably hate involved.) They are crimes in protest against
the culture, intended to make a statement of their hostility to the
that very culture of acceptance that infuriates these madmen.
the other hand, shot people they knew, some of whom they had real or imagined
suburban life. To that degree Columbine was also a hate crime.
According to one poll, in the two weeks bracketing the
swing is commonly attributed to shock over the shooting. While I can understand
the national bewilderment the event caused, I cannot understand why it should
be interpreted as a judgment against the way the country is going. Two
This is not a sign that something is going wrong, except for the ready
murders linked to hate crimes with the murders linked to street crimes, the
most obvious thing you notice is how the number of street killings dwarfs that
of hate killings. But despite this, street killings do not cause revulsion
question about the media than hate killings do because they more resemble
motives are pragmatic, not symbolic. Also, these murders are marked by
indifference: The perpetrator does not value life, and he feels neither guilt
nor glory at having killed someone. The hate killer values life and thinks he
is committing a great deed and making a grand statement when he kills.
Despite these similarities, one should be cautious about
behavior. They learn these ideas at home, in school, at the shopping mall, on
the street corner, and everywhere else where they observe life and people.
Young people in the ghetto don't have to go to the movies to hear shooting.
What they see on the screen seems real to them because it conforms to what they
see in life. Otherwise it would have no more effect on them than seeing the
glorifies murder, at least more so than in other countries. If we want to
engaging in orgies of violence.) We have to try to do something about the real
world in which children are growing up. The crucial part of that world is the
home where parents relate to children. What to do about that, I don't know.
Probably there is little that public policy can do. But the fixations on the
media and on the '60s culture do not help in the search for remedies.
the "sex and violence" mantra. Sex on the screen, or the abundance and
explicitness of it, has only a distant connection, if any, with the homicides
channel that shows the most violence is the History Channel, with its endless
replaying of World War II: I have not heard anyone say that is an encouragement
and a population of supporters which they have moved into exile with them,"
says the paper. "The already tiny country will be, in effect, partitioned, with
paper said, "Whatever the source, it was clear that food was being sold to the
do with their limited resources" than to protect journalists. He also claimed
"unmanageable. News events get distorted under the weight of them. They bring
an unacceptable increase in the risk of casualties from land mines, sniper fire
papers around the world contrasted China's ambiguous response to last week's
international rescue efforts by refusing permission to fly through mainland
that it needed cash donations rather than rescue assistance, the mainland's Red
international status. Such a border would be easy to fortify and control. It
which holds any person from that region responsible for the actions of soldiers
said the museum was seen as "vital in helping the city to shake off its Full
said to be too expensive and has been attacked for playing down the "sex and
about emboldens me to ask perhaps a rude question. Is it bad manners for a
guest to excuse himself from the dinner table, go to the small bathroom off the
does just that. Do you think he should wander upstairs, and if not, at least be
Hollering from the loo is not acceptable. When you issue the next invitation,
tell him you'd like it if he would take a timeout from the badinage when
he needs to leave the table. Tell him it's a little idiosyncrasy of yours that
She is a good friend, and I will be sorry to see her leave. Now I need to ask
another person to be in the wedding, which is two months away. The person I
want to ask is actually my best friend, and she lives in another state. She
already knows that I had asked someone else to stand up for me, so my question
is: How do I now ask her to be my matron of honor? She is really the person I
of state. It is not immediately obvious why she wouldn't have been asked in the
back for the festivities is for some reason impossible for the current M. of
friend. Simply tell her she was your first choice, but you were trying to spare
she were able to stand up for you. If she is a real friend and can spare the
figure out your third choice. Perhaps someone local.
politics. I don't wish to be specific, but a prominent national figure was
compared to the "Antichrist." I am reluctant to identify the target
specifically, because I allow for honest differences of opinion. My disclaimer
notwithstanding, does one have to be a Christian to comment on the Antichrist
comparison? One part of me says the allusion is nonreligious, having to do with
I should shy away from discussing the hagiography (or whatever) of a different
faith. Please let me know how Prudence would have reacted.
such a part of ancient and modern thought that reference to him has little to
do with whether one is a believer or not. That particular phrase has become
way.) As for the whispering voice that's telling you one should shy away from
discussing faiths to which one does not belong, tell it that there is even a
college course dealing with this subject. It is called Comparative Religion. In
through parking lots. I have even seen one or two flip me the bird because I
happened to obey the law, even stopping at the stop signs, which annoyingly
slows them down. Believe me, it takes great willpower to not chase after them
and shake them until their teeth rattle. Yes, you have people who take
handicapped spots when they have no right to be parking there, but even worse
are these crazies who think that parking lots are just enclosed
in a serious accident in a parking lot several years ago because of one of
these crazies. He slammed into her, then had the nerve to get out of his car,
lie down on the ground, and say he had whiplash. He blamed her! She had to go
first by speeding around her. The point is that some young jerk almost killed
her in a parking lot because he didn't want to wait. How do we deal with these
one of those irritants that is very difficult to redress. Our whole society,
not just drivers, has become increasingly impatient and always in a hurry. Road
rage is one byproduct of the behavior you are concerned about. Defensive
driving is probably the most constructive thing you can do. Whenever you see a
person driving erratically, reduce your own speed and try to get out of the
way. If you think someone is breaking a law, take down the license plate number
and call the police. It would be nice if all parking lots would put in those
bumps to make slower speeds mandatory, but that is not going to happen. Alas,
discussions among my friends, we still have not come to any conclusion about
whether we would live with someone before we married them. Do you think that
living with someone before marriage gives the marriage a more stable foundation
on which to build, or is cohabitation better left until after marriage? We were
considering the divorce rate these days and whether this is a significant
variable in the increase, or has society changed its values?
of hybrid of "To be or not to be" and "Which came first, the chicken or the
rule or an opinion. This is one of those decisions that two people must make
based on their values, circumstances, upbringing, and beliefs. Living together
without benefit of clergy can be destructive, instructive, useful, a mess, or a
"That was a miserable year, when I watched a great man, a man I love
with him. Now the party is trying to prevent him from jumping ship. Just
because you're repositioning yourself as compassionate, doesn't mean you want
are in progress or even contemplated, these News Quiz Action Figures will be
hitting Toys "R" Us just in time for some annual event traditionally cheapened
dark night of the soul when he watched his father's approval rating fall from
"Most trout fishermen practice 'catch and release,'
although it is true that some still catch and eat. Barbaric isn't it? Almost as
bad as running cows down a chute and hammering their brains out."-- Brad
weekend recreation, I practice "run them down a chute and hammer their brains
intend that any of the information contained in its books or videos be used for
criminal purposes. In specific cases involving such misuse, Paladin will
"EXPLOSIVE BOOKS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. In light of the current political and
legal climate in this country, we have concluded that it is no longer feasible
to publish or sell certain titles on explosives, demolitions, improvised
not serve its customers poorly prepared food made with inferior ingredients;
environment from irresponsible oil operations there, the paper said in its main
in their letter of compliance failures, falsified safety and inspection
records, intimidation of workers, and persistent violations of procedures and
compliance manuals and codes of conduct and to "tone down, alter or delete
negative reports, including internal audits and surveillance reports."
personal interest in the row might yield progress."
no alternative but to seriously engage in bilateral discussions with
are "in the process of trying to proclaim victory once again." To counter this,
fighting and publish it in the media and on the Internet. The people of
said. To sustain the myth that only unsupported mujahideen guerrillas were
by their generals, their services unacknowledged; even a decent burial has been
denied them," the paper said. "A nation which repudiates its war dead will have
to correct that image and prove to the world that agreements signed by a
duty and international obligation to honor treaties signed by its
August. The plan would culminate at the end of the year in a
settlement" or, failing that, a declaration of principles outlining the steps
create a new atmosphere of trust by unilaterally dismantling the outposts
since it is not understood, is the more likely to have broad, negative
Morning News presented Bush's side of the story. Did Bush use his connections
to dodge the draft? That depends on the standards by which his conduct should
be measured, which in turn are the subject of a vigorous spin war.
Morality vs. legality. The moral argument against sons of the elite who
their connections to leapfrog ordinary Guard applicants, leaving those
focused its story on the alleged unfairness of Bush's "quick" admission but
concedes that "there is no evidence of illegality or regulations broken to
the moral question is tricky but the legal question is open and shut, Bush's
supporters want to focus on the latter. So far, the media are obliging them.
"If [Bush] didn't do anything illegal or didn't break any regulations, how
that "it's serious in the sense that others probably had to go into the regular
service because of the favoritism that he got." But that answer didn't cut it.
Preference vs. qualification. The Times constantly compares Bush's
experience to that of other Guard applicants. "Although getting into the state
units was difficult for most others, Bush was soon in the Guard," says the
lieutenant" and "was able to jump into the officer ranks without the
exceptional credentials many other officer candidates possessed." The
News adds that in the pilot aptitude section of the written test for
examined relative to other applicants', his story looks fishy.
response is to shift the analysis from a relative to an absolute standard, from
whether others were more qualified or more slowly admitted to whether he met
the Guard's minimum "qualifications." "I met all the criteria, I met all the
he was treated. Bush wants the story to be about whether he pulled strings.
That's because if your dad is the local congressman, you can get special
treatment just by introducing yourself. You don't have to pull strings. The
Times says Bush "received favorable treatment," and "doors were opened"
for him. Note the passive voice. The Times found "no sign that political
influence helped Bush along," and the News adds, "Officers who
discussion. "The favoritism was all on the side of the military reaching out to
question pundits are too coarse to contemplate is whether there's a zone
between passive innocence and active manipulation. The Guard official to whom
Bush applied for admission told the Times that Bush mentioned his father
right away: "He said he wanted to fly just like his daddy." Bush's spokesman
pointed out that Bush, "because of his circumstances, made an ideal subject for
National Guard publicity." In short, Bush knew the deck was stacked in his
title looks better. The Times focuses on Bush's location, warning that
has several weapons with which to combat this characterization. Since pundits
are journalists, they find Gore's portrayal of his journalism as military
service somewhat preposterous. Gore served "as a reporter, not as a combatant,"
he tried to volunteer for a Guard program that sent several pilots to Southeast
unqualified. Whether Bush deserves admiration for volunteering or deserves
suspicion because he knew he would be rejected can be debated.) But Bush's most
Bush never had to fight, but he did fly fighter jets, and "fighter pilot"
How you served vs. whether you served. Investigative journalists and
critics of Bush assume that his Guard service should be compared to an
the draft or sign up, and I signed up." After the Times story broke this
weekend, Bush told reporters, "I asked to become a pilot," "I served my
has several decisive advantages on this question. Most people of his generation
know someone who avoided the draft in a less respectable way than Bush did.
Meanwhile, voters younger than Bush know little of the military and therefore
tend to be impressed that he served at all rather than concerned with how he
the Reserve Officers Training Corps to escape the draft, then backed out and
noble. "A lot of other people did not do nearly as much as he did," argued
"Here is a fellow that went and flew airplanes and learned to be a pilot and
was prepared to go, if he had to go. That is a lot."
winning the war over the draft? Since the talking heads agree with Bush's
a cushy way to be a patriot." Perhaps the story worth telling about Bush's
military service is not whether it was cushy or patriotic, but how it was
family without an appreciation of "family values," I decided I didn't have much
use for my relationships with my siblings. Both parents are deceased, and after
numerous efforts to get along with my sibs, I just quit having any contact with
them. This has alleviated a lot of stress in my life, and I really don't miss
them at all. I have a great group of friends whom I consider my family. They
are there for me like my actual siblings never were, and they understand the
I run into people who, after knowing me for a while, are dumbfounded to find
out I am not an only child, and they act like there's something wrong with me
family!" I just figure I feel better mentally without the connection, and I
should keep things the way they are. But all these "family" people think I
should call and reconcile with them. Is there something wrong with me? Just
situation, though not with your particulars. If a relationship is troublesome
or destructive for whatever reason, and it's comfortable to sever
communication, there is no reason to stay yoked to a bad situation as though
"outsiders" offering the advice that you should just fix it up. Perhaps, in
your case, it would be simpler to tell new friends that you are an only
awkward conversations. Nowhere is it written that children of the same mother
and father have anything more in common than parents, and people who push the
man who, unlike myself, still resides under the watchful eye of his parental
unit. Although his parents are very open and mostly mind their own business,
there is one issue that leaves me in a tight spot. Coming from a conservative
background, my partner has stated on many occasions that his parents won't
allow him to stay over at my apartment, even though on some nights this would
be preferable to his making the long drive home. We have been camping numerous
times but always with friends, which his parents "approve of." Trying to plan a
weekend getaway for our anniversary has been particularly trying, as his
parents would be upset, and he refuses to lie to his parents about where he is
going. Should I push the issue, or just let sleeping dogs lie and wait for him
is getting definite vibes that your young man's "parental unit" comes with
parents are free to follow their own moral code, but so is he. If they invite
him out of their house, that might not be such a bad idea. If he is unwilling
to stand up to them and assert himself, then perhaps, to use your phrase, he
the invitations to the thank you notes. The bride drew the line at having
advertising banners draped across the aisle, but her perfume came from a local
neighborhood supplier. Well, you get the idea. What do you think of all
and tacky. This cannot be the wave of the future, though, so calm yourself.
This is just the act of two tasteless clods who fancy themselves "business
take on workplace etiquette concerning paychecks and benefits. I am beginning
it's taboo or in bad form to speak of paychecks, as in, "Are the checks in
today (on pay day)?" Are we supposed to just keep checking our mailbox or under
office manager where you work now, or whoever writes the checks, and ask that
the time for their distribution be regularized. You need not be shy. If anyone
tries to close you down, or makes you feel as though your are talking about
things best left unspoken, just tell that person assertively that if you are
outlined a threefold agenda: to impose "bad consequences for bad behavior" and
"love our neighbor as we want to be loved ourselves"; to help churches and
charities "to nurture, to mentor, to comfort" people in need; and to insist
daring platform can scarcely be imagined. Yet the media lauded Bush's speech
"appealing to a different kind of audience from the one that had elected his
father" and "distinguishing himself from the rest of the crowded Republican
conservative with a conscience, with compassion." Bush used the word
criticized. But why? Is compassion beneath us? Is mercy below us? Should our
compassionate conservative. I welcome the label. And on this ground I will make
Times described the scene: "Taking up a challenge from some opponents, Bush
does Bush spin compassion, the world's most universal value, as a courageous
"stand"? As with most magic tricks, the sleight of hand occurs at the outset,
when Bush says his philosophy "has been criticized." In truth, none of Bush's
rivals has criticized compassion or boasted of a hard heart. On the contrary,
some call "compassionate conservatism" an offensive phrase because it suggests
that unmodified conservatives lack compassion (just as many liberals complained
that Vice President Al Gore's "practical idealism" implied that unmodified
idealists were impractical). Others dismiss this phrase as "weasel words"
designed to substitute for positions on specific issues. What Bush's opponents
have "criticized," in short, is not his "approach" but its redundancy and
insubstantiality. By conning the media into reporting that he was "defending
his philosophy," Bush snuffed out the real question: whether he has a
Gore may have brought us prosperity, the slogan suggests, but Bush will give
must be prosperous so that anybody who wants to work can find a high quality,
issues that might get him into trouble, such as abortion or homosexuality.
Instead, he pledges "to usher in the responsibility era," in which we will
"confront illegitimacy," instill "discipline and love" in juvenile justice, and
accept that "we're responsible for our neighbors and helping in our
communities." Lest anyone point out the abstractness and obviousness of these
commitments, Bush says they stand in "stark contrast to the last few decades,
when our culture has clearly said, 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've got
irresponsibility? Or is he painting a dark background to lend the illusion of
Likewise, Bush often uses sharp language to obscure fuzzy thought. "Some people
think it is inappropriate to draw a moral line in the sand. Not me," he
proclaims. And what is his line? "Children must learn to say yes to
responsibility, yes to hard work, yes to honesty, and yes to family." Likewise,
as? Drugs, alcohol, and teen pregnancy, he says. And what's wrong with teen
language not of a pulpit but of a Planned Parenthood clinic.
declared Bush. "Government should not try to be all things to all people." "I
do not run polls to tell me what to think." "We will show that politics, after
a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better. We will give our country
difference between an idealist and a cynic, in this view, is that the idealist
is willing to take a stand contrary to public opinion. On taxes? Bush proposes
allowed to serve but that he won't speak out against the campaign because
priorities, when we have money left over, we must pass it back to the
taxpayers." Note the caveat about "priorities." Sound familiar?
his father, Bush substitutes virtue for substance. When asked by
integrity, serving for the right reasons." And what are those reasons?
decency to the process and to serve for the right reason, which is country
Bush's constant assurances that he's going to unveil his "10-point plans" and
functional equivalent of his father's constant allusions to "vision." The less
you have of something, the more you boast of it abstractly.
divider. Bush's greatest feat has been to spin his evasion of
candidates who demand that he choose sides on the difficult issues of the day.
He's in his own league. And by selling the media distinctions without a
humping. Following a suitable period of mourning for his exploded mate (five
Awards ceremony, saw a streaker charge across the stage and brought the house
Me is better than anyone dared hope: bigger, more inventive, and more
frolicsome than its predecessor, with a grab bag of scatological gags that are
gives infantilism a good name. Let me add that I wasn't a fan of the first
of the joke. The terrible, flaccid timing was what was supposed to be funny. I
"swinging" '60s, portrayed in movies as an era when ugly, posturing little guys
who never misses a chance to jeer at his father's grandiosity, and who in turn
The director, Jay Roach, keeps the picture bumping along,
refusing to give the gags more weight than they warrant. Actually, he rarely
gives them any weight: The bad jokes don't fall flat so much as blow
(beautifully) "What Do You Get When You Fall in Love?" In the credits, Rob
electrical swivel chair. Dr. Evil dispatches a new henchman, a 400-plus pound
"coffee" from a jar containing a Fat Bastard stool sample. There are also more
is one of prettiest women on Earth. Her face has the freshness of a
her long thighs and high bottom. She knows how to move and she's sweet and
prove his manhood by letting an equal into his bed.
to be a great movie, to the point where it breaks into two different
from the start was an actor's insight into how people dramatize themselves and
a novelist's insight into how they actually appear. He can write sharp, funny
spiels and interlocking monologues in which people misrepresent themselves but
decided to become a saint of leftist independent filmmaking, to turn away from
his real gifts, suppress his craftiness, and make movies about ordinary people
crushed by an economic system that sets brother against brother (or sister). He
happen to good people, and its ending is cruelly abrupt (although maybe
actress who never quite had the stature for a leap to stardom,
desperate to grab onto a man and smart enough to watch in horror as she's
talent for watching herself fall and for commenting on it exquisitely. This is
a major performance, one of the comebacks of the decade.
militias have killed hundreds and forced thousands to flee since the South
troops. The international community is debating whether continued inaction
The White House hinted that it doesn't believe him. Foreign leaders expressed
balance of power --niche programming beats out shows aimed at wide
agreement. The rosy spin: Peace at last! The skeptical spin: That's what they
said when the last deal was signed. The cynical spin: Now that the peace
bombings in the United States, agreed to renounce violence in exchange for
supported her husband's offer. Politicos disagree about which was clumsier:
lying about payments to his former mistress. He accepted the plea bargain
independent counsel has wasted vast sums of money trying to prove a flawed case
apolitical gesture of friendship or an attempt at improper influence.
Comets won the Women's National Basketball Association
three years. Everyone now agrees they're a "dynasty." The pessimistic view:
market itself. The long view: Relax, dynasties haven't killed the men's
own, could do without narrative, without literary values. Indeed, art had to
strive to achieve an instantaneity that bypasses laborious storytelling. Things
have pretty much come full circle if you now think that what makes
art. I can't quite think that you are being serious when you assert that love
and death and nature are themes germane to literature to the exclusion
for quarter of a century. It has been replaced by a conceptual orthodoxy every
of form and content. It is a symbiosis of form and content that makes
for satisfying aesthetic experience. Anyway, as soon as a generation of artists
or connoisseurs declares for one, the gauntlet is dropped, and the next will
formalist dogma. The insistence that one must see an exhibition before
having anything critical to say about ideas and images within it attributes a
great importance to the visceral experience of objects, an attendance to form.
If the art is so much about "real life" as you praise it for being,
communicating beyond the precious confines of the art world, dealing with
themes and issues that are bigger than paltry aesthetic experiences, then all
poor cousin of window dressing or stage design, simply the wrong instrument for
grating nihilism always needs to revert to theories or story lines extraneous
to the actual object to have any validity, with lots of special pleading on the
feminist and Third World fronts. It's odd that you started our correspondence
aesthetic decision has been taken before the work begins; that form is imposed
letting me see it at his gallery, the Royal Academy at theirs, and now the
Most of the stuff in "Sensation" evaporates even during the first viewing. As
repeated often enough becomes truth. I think the critic's job is to resist the
inevitable process by which junk exhibited often enough (and written about
you lonely at lunchtime. How about next week sometime?
editorial that China is facing more than enough crises
these problems rather than "launch a massive crackdown against a group which
economy has left a spiritual void. It is inevitable that people thrown out of
work or otherwise unsettled by the sweeping changes on the mainland should seek
itself fortunate that the popular desire for spiritual inspiration took such a
independent of the Communist Party. "This is something the leadership is still
not prepared to tolerate. For all the changes that have taken place in recent
years, yesterday's arrests were a reminder of how far freedom of expression
businessman in his 40s who was responsible for bringing the sect to Hong
sect had engaged in illegal activities: advocating superstition and spreading
fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and
had not been registered in the manner required by law. She also claimed that
and that "before this suspicion becomes mythology, it must be dispelled and
torture, and other human rights violations. This is the second interview
and its reporter, a former human rights activist, noted that his fingers are
"flat and meaty like those of a butcher." The general's answers in both
interviews were almost identical. He categorically denied all charges against
common bandit," he said, in reference to his arrest. "I was here as a
now born in poverty than ever before, and the paper discussed the growing AIDS
offer strong competition to the pill when it is put on the market next year.
chicken, sometimes it's pizza; frequently it's more than one of those things."
The temptation is to write a sneering comparison of
pretty sure we both could have pulled it off through some kind of sneering
comparison. But it sort of takes the edge off my urban boasting.
turn your monitor upside down. Or see bottom of page.)
your prize.) Some population fun facts from Earth Action Network:
Rates of growth are declining except in the poorest parts of the world,
Family planning has been successful in slowing the rate of growth, but
"When you mention that it's a Christian game, people assume there's no
violence. So I remind them about the Crusades and the Inquisition, then I set
"Remember that magical moment when your daughter's eyes widened to meet her
favorite characters live on stage? With all that delight and wonder, it's an
experience you'll both remember for the rest of your lives. And now that
unforgettable power and emotion of a live show is available to you and your
company as an extraordinary new marketing tool. That's right: At last there's a
"Let's face it, when you have angels fighting demons, it is going to be
controversial. Particularly if the angels are topless babes with machine guns,
"The changes are unbelievable. People keep talking about crime and
corruption and not about the amazing things that have happened here. You can't
believe the merchandise in the stores and the shopping centers. And that more
the Soviet Union, applauding the transition to capitalism
"As you progress down the evil path, you have to do things that are more
and more distasteful, from blasphemy to striking a praying angel. Actually, the
"I truly feel that God called me to do this. And to make those drunken
to submit other actual news items that drive the final nail into the coffin of
not so sure, because this may be too narrow a question, but we'll see.
backlash, assuming there ever was a, you know, lash.
Creative destruction creates tauter companies that can quickly respond to
members to reach a consensus that the United Nations should intervene anywhere
education cover package. One article argues for vouchers and disputes studies
critical of them. Private schools do not skim off the best students from
struggling public schools, and voucher students are not suspended at higher
schools also stimulate conventional public schools to innovate and improve.
receive lots of revenue from them, but the quality of instruction is poor.
fourth of six millennium issues, artists depict the millennium with predictably
revolution are caricatured by a picture of a bear and a coyote tethered, like
cliffhanger heroines, to a pile of logs in the path of an oncoming train.
coattails of money" in the Renaissance and in the 1990s.
cover story marvels at the Harry Potter phenomenon. The
children and adults. In upcoming books, Harry will take an interest in girls,
and the villain will kill a favorite character. (Click for
off his basketball trophies and his black friend from Little League.
by online auctions that enable individuals to sell oddball items to distant
story highlights his achievements, including creating the Environmental
Protection Agency, increasing Social Security benefits, opening China, and
was the first person to "bring cameras to the catwalks" and force designers to
doesn't accept freebies from designers in exchange for product placement.
Gates tops the magazine's annual ranking of the new media establishment,
downtown Manhattan loft, a nubile new wife, and an avowed attempt to dress like
who showed up to meet the diva for the first time holding his chimp's hand. The
celebrates the Talk launch party: "In the distance, beneath Madame
to reveal the New York governor's Machiavellian core. He ruthlessly spread
because the United States could not abandon a nation resisting communism. Had
cover story condemns schoolhouse commercialism. Sponsored
educational materials ask students to count Tootsie Rolls or plan how many
Domino's pizzas are needed for a party. Districts lease advertising space in
school hallways and collect a percentage of vending machine revenues.
foreign/ And like their neighbors white/ Are vital to the party/ In any race
with secular, ethnic, and religious parties that support the peace process. A
space observatory. Authorities were unsure of the accident's cause.
emergence, of inflationary forces that could undermine economic growth."
Inflation doves argued that the hike will cut jobs. The 
needlessly punishing the masses; instead, it should discipline only banks that
It's a slippery slope to leaving consumers unprotected in product liability
But his execution may not win the requisite parliamentary approval, because
would be used to cover prescription drugs for Medicare recipients and to
partially fill the projected gap in Social Security coverage. House Republicans
warning readers not to believe in "an accounting mirage to finance a misshapen
proposal introduces prescription drug coverage and eliminates payment for
preventive services but aims to cut costs by stoking price competition among
the solvency of Medicare to its adequacy." But the New Republic
laments the plan's "gross generational inequity" and
for political positioning to actually implement policy."
industry will force Medicare recipients to chip in for treatment and may ditch
enough to allow them to provide adequate care. Patient advocates argue that
Medical Association voted to form a union to negotiate for better wages and
bargaining will win doctors more control over the type and quantity of
bargaining will win doctors higher pay, resulting in higher costs for patients.
independent counsel statute expired. The power to initiate investigations
will once again reside with the attorney general. The 
resurrected "the next time Congress becomes dissatisfied with the way the
Justice Department conducts a politically charged investigation" and urges that
it be replaced with a rule "that would give the attorney general wide
discretion on when to seek an independent counsel and some say in who that
The Supreme Court barred lawsuits against states for violating federal
laws. Individual plaintiffs will no longer be able to sue states that
violate federal laws; only the federal government may do so. Observers called
Liberals protested that the ruling emasculates Congress' power to bind states
"the height of conservative judicial activism" because it "invented new rights
"is only ratifying a power shift that has already taken place" from the bloated
and hamstrung federal system to the more effective state level.
is accused of failing to disclose all its cash reserves in order to smooth out
fluctuations in its earnings. The SEC strongly prefers full disclosure of cash
sapped by investments in online ventures, including a retail store and an
'dot com' to our name." The Wall Street Journal 's retort: "Earth to
objectionable" content such as presidential, urination, and flatulence jokes.
Fox rejoined that "an irreverent comedy that can't raise a clergyman's eyebrows
grew misty over the "playoff run that almost became the
commas in its title, but commas would be false to its tempo, which is
closer to the mark. This gimmicky German thriller, poised to be a crossover
smash, is that rare beast: a good "music video" movie. That is, it's
flashbacks illustrate her absence and his anguish: Her motorbike was stolen,
she couldn't pick him up, he left a bag of drug money on the subway, his boss
"a video game that even resets itself at the end of each round." He means that
three times with different permutations and wildly different outcomes. People
to hobble, which means she doesn't bump into the woman with the baby carriage,
exchange between him and his pregnant lover, which means she doesn't stop her
from those Dickens or Hardy novels in which someone's fate depends on his or
Trek spinoffs, you're no stranger to time loops, temporal
multiple angles, split screens, slow and fast motion, and blizzards of
illicit love affair is viewed as if it were a fuzzy video on a tired afternoon
rob a huge bank (take that, Capitalism!), and stop a roulette wheel with her
then replay the sequence until she gets it right, taking the narrative into her
their wind blows in from a high peak: The characters' formulations are bracing,
practically pared the speeches down to their topic sentences. The movie is
canal scheme. An incriminating missive has fallen into the hands of an
be devastating to both his political and marital future, but how can he violate
of the individuality and courage of his wrongdoing as against the mechanical
idealism of his stupidly good wife, and in his bitter criticism of love that is
and in showing that part of becoming human is learning to forgive others'
forthrightness. She's so good, you don't want her illusions to be dashed. The
just the right distance to catch the anxious flickers of individuality under
place and an erect carriage that carries only subtle traces of the warped inner
calliope music) by Charlie Mole is one of the most grating ever written: It has
a way of making the lines seem facetious. Was the hope that middlebrows would
be seduced by its jaunty sentimentality and highbrows take it as ironic? It's
having its legendary premiere. Quite a tribute to the playwright, except that
no attention to the action on stage. The result is not a fugue but an
irrelevant. Was that the intention? To make his own adaptation seem more
presidential race, if not from the selection of the candidates then from their
nothing to address the underlying problems of rising health costs" and "is
simply endorsing a massive rise in government spending on health care."
empire to his belated entry into new media and his alienation of the local
her would be based on how she respects and regards the new dynamics of New York
practice of religion promotes good health. Possible explanations: Most
religions advocate temperate lifestyles, and prayer encourages mental
isn't nearly as pressing a need as education and child nutrition.
takes on a single scene and once called an employee and demanded help while she
paying off tribal chiefs to prevent them from disrupting pumping operations. He
article heralds the return of curvy models. After a decade of fashion androgyny
"They're no longer asking for stick legs. No one wants their butt removed."
cover story purports to critically examine the hype
previous reports, there is no necrophilia in the film, but there is an orgy.
succeeding in a supportive atmosphere. Critics worry that the kids
Times Magazine wrote a nearly identical piece two months ago.)
that the overwhelming majority believes in God, pray, feel safe in school,
admire their parents, are in no hurry to grow up, and disapprove of premarital
substance can relieve depression, arthritis, and liver disease without the
lying on the ground has her clitoris removed with a razor blade.
cover story hails the "class of heroes" who graduated from
Foster requiring school kids to say "sir" and "ma'am" when addressing
"Talk of the Town" item sourced to "some old friends of the First Family"
predatory conduct. But the evolution of the browser market belies the charge.
competitors is part of the "creative destruction" that leads to marketplace
according to an article. The quixotic presidential candidate refuses to answer
reporters' questions and even disagrees with his wife when she introduces him
that he had "made some mistakes" and "learned from those" but said he would
removed. The unanimous spin: The democratic factions are still too divided to
will keep separate creeds and structures but will share clergy, sacraments, and
missionary projects. The pious spin: "Oneness becomes a proof of the authenticity of the
practical spin: The two churches need to pool their dwindling resources and
largest financial institution. Bank executives hope the union will
realities of an overcrowded market, massive bad loans and woefully low profit
pessimistic fine print: drug abuse among young adults and minority groups is
judicial panel that appointed him split over whether his work should continue.
can legally be replaced. A New York Times editorial urges him to stay on
allegations against Wen Ho Lee racist. The former chief of
an Energy Department official told the New York Times that the charges
funds and international aid. The money was intended to rebuild
infrastructure and schools. The New York Times reports that the
corruption will chill private investment and charitable contributions to the
French prosecutors dropped their investigation of the crash that killed
unanimous spins: Bush won solidly but not overwhelmingly enough to send other
Columbine High School reopened. Students attended a "Take Back
the School" rally, and parents made a human chain around the school. Some
parents of slain children complained about the day's "rah, rah, let's
Journal blamed the chain's failure on bad management and worse food.
won the physics prize for researching the best way to dunk a cookie. A South
strike that sent him to the hospital. Upon his release, the professor
suggest that the students getting them are really doing exceptional work," a
change. The university says the new grade will allow outstanding work to be
honored while "not disadvantaging students in the contest for academic honors,
awards, and prizes which depend significantly on grade point averages." (See
determined that locusts attract other locusts with chemical signals to amass
swarms that can strip a field bare within hours. Swarming female locusts can
also manipulate the genes in their eggs to ensure that their young will want to
join the swarm immediately. (Locusts reared in seclusion are reluctant to
gather.) Researchers hope to isolate the chemical and use it to design
may have done schoolwork for at least five members of last year's national
is true, players, tutors, and administrators will be subject to punishment
writing is inferior poetry, and inferior poetry is not really poetry at all."
Recently amended federal confidentiality laws have prompted such schools as the
The money will be spent on improved classrooms, labs, and libraries at tribal
college students' sexual attitudes (sample question: Is oral sex the same as
trial. Asked if she was offered guidelines about editing the journal after
freedom is essential. I have no doubt that editorial freedom will be the
Fray," a weekly column featuring the sharpest posts from our new reader
feedback forum. If you'd like to comment on a Slate article, we
encourage you to do so in "The Fray," and if it's especially good, we'll
excerpt it here (though we may edit it for length). You might also get a reply:
Many Slate writers visit the Fray to read the posts about their stories,
a great feature on a real estate agent. But she was a very successful real
estate person. Likewise, the lawyer who went to China was a very successful
diaries of a man or a woman who is a little closer to the edge?
perspective, and challenge anyone to make a different observation.
where a large number of employees read them in the break room. Not once in my
then? Well, why read any type of fiction? I believe it is because there is a
time to just amuse yourself while you're scarfing down a baloney
classroom. Nor is it a serious critique (or celebration for that matter) of the
magazines. The article you saw was this month's edition of Keeping Tabs, a
previous month. (Get it? We're trying to have a little fun here.)
complained that I haven't done anything but sum up what's in the tabloids, but
investigation of the veracity of the tabloid stories, I just let them speak for
smile, the pleasure of helping someone in need, friendship," etc., etc., may be
both hard to measure and extremely corny, but let's not get carried away. There
is no doubt that those things are all indirectly but absolutely affected by
importance of those intangibles in creating responsible and compassionate adult
arthritis, why on earth do you expect to feel any effects from a drug which is
intended to treat said illness? Side effects, sure, but I would doubt any
safer or have less side effects than commercial pharmaceuticals, where do you
think those pharmaceuticals came from in the first place? Many, if not most,
common drugs were originally a substance that occurred in nature, such as
because a product is supposed to make one feel less depressed (and therefore
and sometimes may be as effective or even more effective in treating a physical
or mental malady, than pharmaceuticals (herbal or otherwise).
deal with everyday details that most people take for granted. (I suffered
clinical depression for several years; I know.) So why should it be a big
you happy, they just help lift you to a plateau from which you are able to seek
not a joke. Why must the treatment of this illness always become one? Don't
if you're an entertainment person, you never meet anyone from the aerospace
industry. That's always struck me as strange. They make death at places like
conscienceless white guys with money, and so are we. Why don't we hang out? I
money for "wardrobe"? Oh, how I laughed. Of course, at the time I was living in
simulators. The studios and designers will then be free to use the technology
for everyone," says Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera.
businesslike manifesto in the school's alumni bulletin. As part of this
don't change much. Most law students are there for lack of a better idea rather
than any special enthusiasm for the subject matter. They are heading for a
profession that is widely despised and filled with lawyers who wish they
weren't. These days, top law students can anticipate being regarded as sharks
distant professor with a seating chart. The curriculum mostly consists of long
appellate opinions from which they are supposed to derive legal principles on
No one forces these students to go to law school or to
quantify their "quality of life." Now we have something the modern university
administrator can deal with. This is not psychiatry: This is management.
There is nothing to be ashamed of in seeing a psychiatrist,
seeking help. In fact, an alumni survey went out on the dean's own letterhead
and included a return envelope addressed to the suspiciously inconspicuous
organized student focus groups on demographic themes: married students, gay
wishing to be left out, the law school faculty voted unanimously to expand the
staff were interviewed individually, as befits their rank.
School to hire a management consultant as it does for General Motors to do
on students' concerns might be just what is needed by a law school
administration that has ignored mounds of anecdotal evidence. But turning to
lousy education, how good could they be as consultants? Conversely, if they are
But coming up with the right answer to a question like,
more or less irrelevant to the study's actual purposes, both of which are
achieved by the study itself. One of these is cuddling the alumni. "NOT a
sent to alumni. True enough, there was no solicitation inside. But the survey
is nevertheless a marketing device, intended in small part to gather
large part, to create the feeling of ownership among an alienated alumni
The other purpose is cuddling the students. And here
involvement of a management consulting firm is an indication that the
administration cares more than they previously thought. Though some faculty
The Senate rejected the nuclear test ban treaty. The treaty,
said it would not be reconsidered during his term. Other nations had promised
international security. The Republican spin: A treaty that flawed would never
have worked. The Democratic reply: It certainly won't work now. Newspapers
be under military rule, but did not announce plans to install a new government.
crippling the economy, and tolerating corruption. Western analysts worried that
Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain died. "Wilt the Stilt,"
widely considered the best player of all time, is the only one ever to score
Chamberlain's dominance as a center forever "changed the way basketball is
increase worldwide. Most of the continued growth will occur in the developing
billion late in the next century. The rosy spin: Despite what doomsayers
predicted, overpopulation hasn't caused global catastrophe. The gloomy spin:
million members for political organizing. The optimistic spin: Labor's support
Braves are fighting for recognition as the decade's best team.
prosecutors to continue the investigation. Some critics charged that the lack
of an indictment revealed that the police work was botched. Others said that
the continued investigation of a rich, white victim's death showed that race
gender equality. Detractors complained that she should have picked on
Republicans. First he said House Republicans shouldn't "balance their
budget on the backs of the poor." Then he said his party often neglects the
disadvantaged by focusing on economic wealth. Democrats called Bush a 
wolf in sheep's clothing. Republican opponents accused Bush of running for
congressmen. But Bush said his comments made a "positive case" for
Republican compassion, and some pundits said he was astute to recognize that
combination of rappelling and riding rapids without boats, sometimes described
a ravine. The papers described canyoning as an "underground" sport with no
official organization to check equipment, offer advice, or govern safety. To
attract customers, companies promoting it promise maximum thrills with minimum
of both must be protected. "People need to understand that you can't destroy
environmental catastrophe. The team concluded that severe air pollution existed
before the air attacks, which had merely worsened it in some places. The
Guardian said, "It marks the latest low point in a largely unsuccessful
(and selling) weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems."
which it described as a phenomenon without parallel in French commercial
which is more than half the country's total population. Only two years ago,
of the world's great currencies" whose ups and downs against the dollar are a
minor issue. There is, however, a danger that in a future trade war the United
States might force the euro up too high by playing the "weak dollar"
"wants to bequeath his son and designated successor a legacy of peace, in order
making "public and superfluous statements" about wanting to change parts of the
is worthwhile taking another step," the paper said.
we used it this summer. But they don't want us to use it too much. It's not
and civilian beliefs. It is "scary," he said, to have "an officer corps so
up of people merely using the experience as a steppingstone for starting their
to sudden bleeding and speaking in scary voices!!! (Promotional fee paid by
of society, a vast chasm between a tiny rich minority and everyone else, and
the proliferation of soap operas in prime time, despite the
it possible to do a new version of the musical without cluttering up the
commenting on a study conducted by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies,
comparing the social and political views of the military elite with those of
prominent civilians. The study concluded that the soldiers are far to the right
civilians would bar homosexuals from military service.
chasm from developing between the military and civilian worlds." News Quiz host
because of a lack of alternatives, here are actual questions found by looking
for "News Quiz" through various search engines, along with comments pointing
out how much better things are right in your own backyard.
which park to vehicles after it filled to capacity on Memorial Day?
talking to us like we're idiots. Are we going to take that?
The Colorado Division of Wildlife wants to spend as
thinks the best answer is "not nearly enough." Heartless bastards.
filed under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act?
quiz format may not be the ideal way to chart a town's economic collapse. And
couldn't they at least get out of bed long enough to update the thing now and
technology businesses. But this message wasn't about funding technology: It was
about funding the next president of the United States.
recipients did, but at least a few questioned whether this was an authorized
complaints from people "who don't know who he is and who think he really did
replacing many of the campaign tasks traditionally handled through telephone
represents a campaign's single largest expenditure (although presidential
the Draper incident shows, the process can also create some unexpected
headaches. A traditional direct mail solicitation usually contains legal
reassurances that the solicitation is authorized (and the cost of postage makes
address books politically, meaning that a solicitation sent out to all a
person's contacts may well end up in the hands of someone who doesn't want
magazine, sent out an invitation to the same Bush luncheon as Draper. He used a
imply that a Bush donation would enhance readers' relationship to the
publication. "If you want to be a really big Fish, you can become a cohost of
message confused some of Red Eye's subscribers, and Red Herring rapidly
pitch mistakenly went out under the guise of a Red Eye editorial product, when
the blurring of journalistic and political lines. "As you know, I have strong
the opinions of Red Herring Communications nor do they influence the
journalistic ethics of any of the editorial properties of Red Herring
to Red Herring Communications (which to some degree is the same as paying
campaign's online daily roster of campaign donations. The Bush campaign did not
Perhaps to avoid such sticky situations, some of Bush's presidential rivals are
have any plans to do so. We believe our Internet presence is good enough." Of
mail. "As long as donors are comfortable with it being there, I don't see that
"Remember: It's really in an experimental stage right now."
don't find out what's being advertised until the end, when the tag line comes
"Everybody in Packing Materials. The Gap. (You forgot to mention she was
participants suggest that the entire Bush campaign is an ad for which we do not
know the product. Sure, this is cowardly, intellectually dishonest, and an
insult to the democratic process, but it's also thrifty, and that's important,
important in ways that will be revealed at the end. Of something.) As long as
commercial that features some kind of cool car driving through some kind of
car) into the future (it's just over the next fashion model). Or the ad when
think that means he wants to cut taxes for his rich friends. You can't be
overly literal. This thing works subconsciously, like workfare.
newest mall, each organized around the theme "total experience," by which is
meant a combination of shopping and entertainment, by which is meant a chance
to buy stuff at Foot Locker and then play a video game. The malls combine
very deliberate. The idea is to give a sense of intrigue that this is a new
agency that produced the spot. "Of course, when people find out it's just
something will happen on Long Island that scientists believe has a small but
genuine chance of causing "perturbations of the universe" that could destroy
clothed in pure white, shining like the sun, surrounded by the hosts of
parks, no shopping district. This was not an inevitable consequence of
cities, they were wonderfully designed. There were generous kid recreation
grounds, the unfenced backyards through which we swarmed. There were kid civic
centers where we met one another; they were called "schools." And you got to
them via the excellent kid transit system, bicycles. There was even a mobile
dessert van, the ice cream truck, that came around each evening, offering kid
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, a nuclear accelerator designed to replicate
speed of light will smash into each other, generating minuscule fireballs of
made up of strange quarks, which might start an uncontrollable chain reaction,
converting anything they touch into more strange matter. An alternative, but no
cheerier, theory suggests that colliding particles could achieve sufficient
surrounding matter. "The creation of one on Earth," the Times points
structure of anything nearby. The risk is exceedingly small but the probability
Festival: three days of peace, love, music, looting, arson, and riot 
Festival: "marauding bands of shirtless bellowing men"
Funeral: dozens of kings, presidents, and prime ministers
I have to touch anyone who comes in here, even if I don't want to? I have to
get up really close to them and smell their perfume, smell their breath?" asked
that's fine, as long as they do it for "health purposes" and not to "promote
superstition, spread rumors, engage in sedition, destroy social order or hold
pinball machines displayed this warning: "for entertainment purposes only."
Apparently the legislature was concerned that they might be used for gambling
machines of that era were marked "for prevention of disease only," lest someone
hence the distinction between murder and accident and serious dieting. If a
stranger rendered you unconscious and went at you with a knife, it would mean
States last year. In a letter to followers, he accused China of trying to pay off the
United States to extradite him. Denying rumors of an imminent crackdown,
to group breathing and meditation exercises in public parks they face no
repression. They are, however, forbidden to "stir up chaos and destroy social
from the Governor, type your name, choose a question and select submit!" That
is: You can receive a reply the governor didn't write to a question you didn't
write that he didn't read. Easy to see why the governor enjoys that.
Have you ever heard an actual kid use the term "business experience"?
Is it true that exploiting your family's political, business, and social
connections will only get you through the door, and after that you've got to do
Did that previous question seem too smirky for a kid? 'Cause I could, you
know, ask more stuff about your business experience.
Your prep school isn't in your bio. More trouble? Stealing from another
But when I don't see people as they are, my folks get my urine tested. Is that
fair? (You mean when they, like, turn into monsters, right?)
his ragtag stable of actors: "Perhaps the funniest movie for grownups so far
painfully awkward nerd (Murphy) who has no film experience other than being "an
active renter at Blockbuster" but who bears a striking resemblance to action
comic works. (Click here to find out more about Murphy and here to find out more about Martin.)
con artist and wind up in jail with 33-year sentences for drug smuggling. The
critics are unmoved: "just another lurid, contrived, xenophobic tale about
concede that even her nice turn can't save the film. (Click here to see a
about an acting troupe whose onstage and offstage lives intertwine. Most
fond homage to the world of acting, beguilingly presented and filled with
respond positively for the most part: "even at their most outlandish these
duplicitous world where a safe, materialistic, blandly cheerful surface
conceals a dark secret life" and that the stories' predictable outlandishness
rubbing the reader's nose in it." (Read the first chapter here.)
glamour, she lacks her heat and sensuality. Berry has said she hopes this movie
unavailable to black women; Variety seems to think it will, weighing in
vulgar, cartoonish, obnoxious, dizzying, disposable and more than a little bit
'We'll just have a local option on the Constitution, and you people down there
A federal judge has ordered Republic, Mo., to make a change in its official
judge ordered trigger locks to be painted onto the crossed musket
corporate logo designed by professional graphics people, where minimalism and
looks more like a poster for animal boxing, which might be the state sport of
The bears are holding up what might be a dinner plate that says, "United We
Stand Divided We Ball," indicating a surprisingly open marriage or that the ink
smeared. In the middle of the dinner plate (or is it a base drum?) there is a
thinks she could beat a bear in a fair fight, but I don't like her chances).
Below the moon (or cow) is a sheep (or dog) who also seems ready to rumble, and
to the right of the sheep (or dog) is an eagle with a cloud above its head, or
maybe a cartoon balloon showing what the eagle is thinking (it's tough to make
out), probably something very funny, indicating that the eagle hopes to get its
or celebrities or spaceships or celebrities in spaceships like in Star
means "The Best People in This State Don't Have To Obey the Traffic Laws."
its trucks, flags, street signs, and stationery. He noted that the fish "is
Foundation, a "Christian public interest law firm."
5-(I may have misread that one), 6-E, 7-F, 8-(That's from a different
hothouse." A few gripes from the fringes: According to the Village
"so unnecessarily graphic and gruesome that by the end I felt sort of unclean."
minutes to run across town and recover money lost by her boyfriend. If she's
point on, the film is full if "smashing bravado" and "sheer cleverness"
times, each version ending differently. A few critics pipe up with
deeply pained by her husband's affair (another surprise). Speculation has
Press). Reviewers fall into two camps on Self's latest collection of stories.
One deems it more of the same old riffing on the underside of society, "calling
labels this "his most disciplined storytelling yet," marked by "a new control
that his writing is masterful; it's just a question of whether he has
ends of the spectrum in the book: "When he's at his best, Self's struggle with
these opposed gifts conjures up fiction that alternately boggles, amuses and
horrifies. At his worst, he merely offers punch lines that are laboriously
stretched on a rack of realist detail." (Read the first chapter here.)
and the tired sexual politics that provide most of the lyrical subject matter
some of the songs are serious clunkers, and even the best sound like a rehash
cover editorial accuses the United States of covering
Eliminating racial profiling will make policing more difficult, but the cost is
worth bearing because profiling burdens targeted groups, engenders rage against
despairing and corrupt. "Sponsor girls" trade sex for pilfered designer
authorized to work. Visas to Western countries are rarely granted.
influence peddler. The former general helps defense manufacturers sell weapons
each student. (The magazine revised its methodology to reward high spending on
undergraduates in response to charges that they take students for granted.
terrorizing Salt Lake City. The "Straight Edgers" get their high from fighting.
Three are on trial for murder, and a vegan Straight Edger just finished
cover story presents a kinder, gentler portrait of Bill
article reveals that he recently transferred a huge chunk of stock to his
that children don't want more time with their working parents, they want mom
finish proves that his support has a low ceiling, and Bush's victory
crops are the only way to quell guerrilla violence, ensure political stability,
theory that the Constitution should be interpreted in accord with original
laments the presidential campaign's substance deficit. Only Al Gore is
seems to be playing for time and that its acceptance of the force does not mean
armed forces' encouragement of, and participation in, the killings and
Council authorizing its peacekeepers "to use all force necessary" to rein in
presidential candidate, is hoping to take power as acting prime minister if
world powers have come since the end of the Cold War less than a decade
fathers and two by mothers, it said. "The lamentable moral degradation that
leads some people to exchange human lives for money has its roots in our
materialistic society, characterized by badly swollen egos," the paper claimed.
Times ran an editorial sharply criticizing Japan for letting the yen
Japan "to act decisively, now," and asked, "Why on earth does the Bank not buy
the dollars itself, allowing the domestic money supply to expand in the
starting a gambling casino in the territory. "The goal is to offer something
world's most pretentious and absurd architecture beckons visitors from around
replication. Near such fantasies, of course, the casinos' main line of business
always beckons, ready to extract huge sums from the unwary." The paper noted
the findings of the United States National Gambling Impact Study Commission:
people suffer from pathological gambling addiction, causing costly social
problems, especially for the poor and the young," it added.
in the Eastern District of New York arrested and indicted seven people in a
interesting but really not the subject of the story here."
Inner Actives sports bra, which will go on sale at major sporting goods
celebrity's press agent. You'll find your experience with the newspapers less
frustrating if you accept the idea that the reporter is there to tell not your
story but his or hers. It is, no doubt, irritating to be misquoted, but at
least you retain the moral high ground and a sense of yourself as wise and
are. It is a deeply demoralizing experience for anyone who lacks adequate
But, while she is undoubtedly a terrifically capable and successful executive,
her new job will make her the only woman ever to head a company included in the
choice in other ways, too. She is young, she is an outsider in a company that
company's current chief. "And to look fabulous doing it," he did not add.
How ironic. I was a cheerleader in high school, and
the size of male sex organs reveals that homosexuals are generally better
shows that homosexuals differ, on average, from heterosexuals in genital size.
Participants are invited to submit a similar set (a
Internet economy has already revolutionized the world of campaign fund raising,
even if only a tiny fraction of the total money raised so far for the
presidential contest was raised online. Evidence that the two worlds have
collided does not show in the bottom line. Instead, there are subtler signs:
Online contributors give more on average than offline contributors; they are
repeat contributors; and congressional candidates have begun to clamor for
news is so encouraging, in fact, that one firm supplying presidential wannabes
research firm Odyssey. Company officials say they don't intend to file with the
Securities and Exchange Commission until later this year.
candidates combined. More than half of that amount has gone into the coffers of
individuals for political candidates will be raised on the Internet," says
raised," he says. "The overwhelming majority of the funds that will be raised
processes contributions, gathers demographic information, coordinates data for
FEC reports and, using a nationwide list of registered voters, checks that
contributors are voters in good standing. The company, like its competitors
discouraged by this year's showing, but he doesn't think the problem is the
public's discomfort with using credit cards online. The man who once said new
did for bank robberies" blames the presidential candidates for the tepid public
response. "I haven't seen them give anyone a reason to donate money," he
campaign won't reveal how much she has raised on the Internet, had her site
Despite the numbers, some observers are impressed with the activity on the Web.
"The key to raising money online is trying to develop a relationship of
able to get more out of each individual donor during the course of the entire
able to draw some conclusions about the type of people donating via the
The political contributor is willing to make a contribution in a secure online
campaigns seem to reach a new pool of contributors. "We're seeing younger
demographic profile on the Net," observes consultant Rob Arena, of Presage
notes that contributions might jump if campaigns used innovative
king casts more light on the matter (he has so far refused to comment), the
bedclothes," but in general the press was less condemnatory of the king's
adultery than of the intrusion into his private life. Because of this, La
industrialist, after the queen refused to accept her as part of the royal
Times quoted the landlord of a pub opposite her apartment as saying, "I
see her going out most days in quite wild clothes, like patchwork trousers.
rights record." The paper said the rebellious gesture will cause new tensions
by an earlier engagement, the paper said the prince was "motivated by his
visit to the prince's English country estate five months ago.
has decided that supping once with the devil is enough" (the prince attended an
two of the most fundamental rights in a democratic society," it said in an
editorial. "Yet little knots of human rights activists have been manhandled and
herded by the Metropolitan Police in a desperate attempt to keep them out of
these manhandled protestors ought to bring a civil action against the police,
so as at least to identify "which officer was in charge and from whom he
should return to the streets now that "the mother of the nation" had the vice
presidency. "Once little more than a symbolic position, the post must be
new government faced a difficult task in reducing the army's political role.
"offers her bruised and fragile country its best hope of consolidating its
that our business picture is very strong and that takes a lot of stress off,"
she said. "All my stress now is getting the product accepted, getting it
to stop busing students to integrate schools. Newspapers noted the perfect
failed experiment. But while busing did great damage in many cities, in
all students were actually bused to schools far from their homes, a form of
busing that raised no outcry from the white community.
other civil rights groups trolled for parents to challenge the system, finding
but lost. They continued to appeal until their case reached the desk of Federal
pupils be transported far away from their natural habitat so that some
law and that it wasn't going to desegregate unless forced by the courts. The
boards had an "affirmative duty" to ensure "racial discrimination would be
At first, school board officials refused to implement
desegregation plans and then submitted plans that failed to address the
strategy, which entailed the busing of black kids to previously white schools,
attorney was fire bombed. Black students were beat up at school. Some white
parents withdrew and sent their children to private schools, while others
decision. But the school board, split between busing supporters and foes,
dismiss as not "in good faith," and busing continued according to the court's
percent black students. The presence of whites, especially affluent ones, in
complaints about outdated textbooks, sub par teachers, and dilapidated
facilities were heeded by school officials. Blacks' test scores rose too, after
local officials found new pride in their integrated schools, generating more
goodwill. Political reform followed too, creating a city government that better
represented both blacks and poor whites. Finally, a solid educational system
provided a foundation for the economic growth the region has recently
success hinged on several things. Unlike the earlier schemes, Ray's plan didn't
whites no longer felt singled out to carry the burden of integration.
Acknowledging the situation's class dimensions blunted the racial
areas as well as the inner cities were embraced in the busing blueprint. (A
meaning few metropolises experienced wholesale integration
parents alike, who saw their way clear to hammering out compromises. This meant
shelving the belief that a single, foolproof plan could be implemented once and
burden. The 1990s even saw a major overhaul, when Charlotte introduced magnet
schools devoted to excellence in a single area, such as math, and open to
magnet schools began the undoing of desegregation in Charlotte. To remain a
tool for continued desegregation and not just for excellence, the magnet
that officials didn't want to "tip" all white. This year, the case came before
Calling bused students "cogs in an experimental machine," Potter declared that
evaporated. This despite a recent Charlotte Observer study that found
that without busing, segregation would return for more than half of the
Charlotte and the nation have come far, and we can hope
that integration may someday endure without a conscious effort to preserve it.
But it's dishonest or naive to claim that moment has arrived. Thirty years
may seem like a long time to someone nursing a grievance since the pitched
become unnecessary only when no one seems to have a problem with it
of continued desegregation efforts, have to reckon with Potter's ruling. While
not carrying the weight of a Supreme Court decision, it does point the way for
other judges, if they want to follow. As the city decides in the next weeks
whether to appeal, it also has to scramble to make sure its denser (largely
black) areas will have enough schools to house the kids who can't be bused
his swipe at social experimentation. As all great social reformers have known,
persistent experimentation," as the example of Charlotte nobly attests.
thistle pattern, and step into her carriage. Where's she going?
missed the last couple of days because of a computer crash. Is it too late to
that a great way to discourage sexual urges was to flash a photo of a really
ugly person. But this seems unlikely to be effective. Such a powerful visual
image certainly didn't deter the unattractive people from mating with one
in distinctly short supply. (Hence the high rates charged by Elite Models. And
to try to improve the social status, education, and health of young women. By
sought to thwart various socially progressive aspects of the plan.
'News Roundelay' reminds me of a game some friends and I invented in college,
which we called "Rock, Paper, Anything". Two players, on the count of three,
form an approximation of something with their hands and announce what that
acts as arbiter and decides which one wins (in this case, a butterfly, because
the butterfly flaps its wings and sets into a motion a chain of events that
mixer). Then the loser acts as arbiter for the next round. Or the winner, who
alchemy is not impossible: Brush enough gold paint on enough flora, and
She arrived at the stock exchange that morning toting a tray of brioches. She
battered by three criticisms. First, she is simply ludicrous. You could not
imagine better comic material than her ideas of "living": the "midnight omelet
month's magazine) to make your own envelopes out of wood veneer, folding them
A second and more thoughtful batch of critics has charged her with encouraging
class division, promoting soulless domestic conformism, and undermining working
daughter, belittles her mother, sues her gardener for pennies, plagiarizes
recipes from better cooks, and humiliates her staff. Her fabled "Remembering"
culture of financial idolatry. Anyone who's worth a billion on paper is worth
are old. And the vitality of the economy is inoculating her. Fripperies that
seemed obscene during the early '90s recession are quite modest by the
That is a fair description. What she does is not silly at all, or at least no
excellent advice about making spicy popcorn snacks, cleaning ovens, and storing
helpful cooking information into six minutes than most cooking shows do in an
hour. It is not false consciousness that makes tens of millions of people
not practical but moral. She has a puritanical sensibility. She believes in the
uplifting power of work. She instructs you so that you will know how to create
liberating and fulfilling. It strengthens friendships and families: When I saw
materialism, but not consumerism. She believes, rightly, that it makes
you wiser and happier to cook your own applesauce than to buy it. Well, you may
say, it's easy for her to make homemade applesauce. That's her job. But she did
it when it wasn't her job, too. Even if most viewers rarely practice anything
or cab (or succumbed to an accident in "the potting shed," as the New York
We should do the same. Critics have savaged her fraudulent
persona and monomaniacal perfectionism for a long time. There is a subtle
sexism in that: The female domestic tycoon is obliged to behave better than the
as a bitchy hausfrau. In the age of the divine entrepreneur, no one cares how
badly you treat your kid. We admire perfectionist monomania in Internet
romantic dinner for the husband she doesn't have, host a party for the kids she
doesn't like, bake muffins for the neighbors who hate her. But those are her
tragedies, not our business (or Wall Street's). The muffins are still tasty,
stay on schedule, so I am being forced to write this dispatch from the car. Bob
today, and the roads are slippery. Our car is laboring under the load of all my
worldly possessions and can't go very fast, even under favorable weather
conditions. In fact, every car on the Interstate seems to be making better time
than we are, even the pickup trucks towing large objects. Right now, we're
being passed by a house (or half a house anyway, being carted to a foundation
waiting somewhere), and a large tree is gaining on us.
shale oil. Now, there was a case where sexual misbehavior was an accurate
like my dream come true. There are lots of enormous rocks, anyway, which in my
car. Also the rocks are not quite as red as Bob claimed they would be. And we
haven't seen a single human being since we entered the state hours ago. How
modern art, or its supposedly sensational water show "O." The hotel itself,
however, is almost unremittingly awful. Not just tacky, but uninteresting
of money getting a good modern architect to design a hotel that would be truly
home. I don't seem to be able to get past the bitterness and resentment I feel
for my parents. For years I have wanted to confront them about the beatings I
old, I am sober and reasonably successful, despite having not completed my
folks constantly ask me questions such as, "Did we raise you right?" It is hard
to bite my tongue and lie to them, telling them they spent plenty of quality
time with me, etc. My fiancee has been very supportive and has suggested that
when my folks open the door with their questions that I should take advantage
pulling yourself together considering some overwhelming obstacles. It's clear
that you need to unburden yourself, either to a counselor or to your folks.
Until all the resentment gets out, it will eat away at the vessel it is stored
At some level of consciousness, they know the answers. This might be their way
of asking you to give voice to your feelings and to confront them. You
certainly have nothing to lose. Next time such a question is posed, ask them if
they really want the answer. If they say yes, then try to hold yourself
hollering is not. This may be what they've been waiting for so that they can
give the disastrous past an airing. A repair is possible, but if it
doesn't happen, you've unburdened yourself, let in some sunlight, and
children, my husband and I have decided to stop torturing each other. We broke
the news of the divorce gently to friends and relatives, and now are in the
financial distress than necessary, we are still under the same roof while we
are not enemies. It seems no one can stand this, and whenever we encounter
friends or relatives, they invariably ask personal questions to try to get each
of us to speak ill of the other. As we don't do this, the next comment is
always something like, "Well, then, why are you getting divorced?" The worst
one was, "I don't think you really want a divorce, or you would have gotten one
require giving them private and personal information?
to unhitch in a civilized, amiable manner. Unfortunately, it has become a
smile and say, "Oh, I am saving our life together for my memoirs." That kind of
birthday last year, I took her out to a very expensive restaurant and bought
her a nice gift. One month later, for my birthday, she took me to a relatively
and she knows that.) We are both in similar financial situations, and I felt
cheated. Her birthday is coming up soon. Should I take her out again, or just
give her a small gift and forget our tradition of the birthday dinner?
that the two of you are in financially similar circumstances and also that she
even hostile. If she remarks on the "tradition" being different for her
birthday this year than last, simply tell her that you are following her lead
about what level of celebration is appropriate. This may totally louse up the
living situation, so be prepared. Because you refer to her as "selfish,"
however, you may not wish to keep this arrangement going forever. Maybe stick a
named Jay. We operated a small business together and continued daily contact
his move, however, our friendship has hit some snags. (He hangs out with
pompous members of the political establishment, has grown arrogant, and doesn't
have time to return my calls.) Late last week I heard that Jay is getting
married (to the youngest daughter of a political crony) and has failed to
stuck. Even though my feelings are hurt, should I send Jay a polite note of
congratulations? Shall I assume our friendship is over because he didn't invite
invite you, by itself, would not signal the friendship's end, but the
thinks it would be fine, as a tip of the hat to what used to be, to write him a
congratulatory note, if that is your inclination. Don't do it, however, if its
the by, it sounds as if you disapprove of this man's "pompous friends" and
growing arrogance, so give the friendship a decent burial, emotionally,
government would surely expect me to deliver a stronger endorsement of its
heterodox economic program than I was prepared to offer. And, of course, it
regime that has lately developed the habit of putting inconvenient people in
jail. But sometimes an economist has to do what an economist has to do. Since I
denouncing the prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund as part of a
anyone had imagined possible, and anyone with an open mind began to suspect
supposed conspirators, and they aren't that smart), a few hedge funds really
rapid spread of the crisis to countries with no real economic links to the
in insisting that this was less a matter of economic fundamentals than it was a
of the real economy, ends up validating itself. But I also concluded that the
reflating, that is, increasing public spending and cutting interest rates to
get their economies growing again. And so I found myself advocating temporary
restrictions on the ability of investors to pull money out of crisis
were secretly working out a plan to impose capital controls as part of a
recovery strategy. According to what I have been told, my own public statement
advisers were worried by the absence of any support for such controls among
mainstream economists, but the appearance of my August manifesto in
ahead with the plan anyway; but I had, inadvertently, found myself one of the
few outsiders to express any kind of support. I quickly put out an open letter
I  arrived at a moment of celebration. When the controls
were put on, many Western analysts predicted disaster: a collapse of the
economy, hyperinflation, rampant black markets. It didn't happen. Two days
experiencing a fairly strong economic recovery. The actual implementation of
the controls had been careful and selective, and important economic
accelerated after the new policy was introduced. A few days after my visit,
restrictions on removing money from the country were eased and hardly any money
admiration society. Surely they were disappointed when I expressed some
controls wrong, it has not exactly proved the proponents right. For there is a
controls (though it did get an early and crucial rescheduling of its foreign
its big break with orthodoxy. You can argue that the controls may have allowed
capital controls were necessary to protect small countries against the evil
designs of big speculators. That's an unfortunate emphasis: While there are big
speculators, and they do sometimes make plays against vulnerable economies,
they are not the main reason that controls sometimes make sense. In general,
controls should be imposed to prevent panic rather than conspiracy, and the
investors who panic are, if anything, more likely to be respectable bankers and
wealthy domestic residents than nefarious rootless cosmopolitans. (Indeed, even
the occasional market manipulation by big speculators wouldn't be possible if
it weren't for the possibility of generating a panic among other investors; it
the first place.) And the emphasis on big foreign speculators may encourage
nothing governments could do to curb that panic except to reschedule bank
otherwise try to restore confidence by making a conspicuous display of virtue.
with any attempt a sure recipe for disaster. Now we know better. Capital
controls are not necessarily the answer for every country that experiences a
financial crisis; sometimes confidence can be restored without the need for
coercive measures, and even when calming words fail, "burden sharing" by banks
and other lenders will often be enough. But it would now be foolish to rule out
particular) is also in effect an accomplice in the imprisonment, on what
morality play. Sometimes bad men make good policies, and vice versa. And the
job of economic analysts is, or ought to be, to assess the policies, without
whether that apostasy was necessary, but you cannot claim that it has been a
were letting politics and ideology cloud their judgment.
The volume of mail was astounding. Following is a fair sampling from the
using the handicapped stall in a public bathroom. I use a wheelchair. I cannot
begin to tell you how many times I have entered a public facility to find the
it! The large size is not because we are "deserving of such amenities," but
because people in wheelchairs need the space to turn around, to clamber onto
the toilet, to empty catheters, whatever. People such as myself cannot get up
from the seat in a conventional stall without handrails.
People sometimes use them to change clothes! This means I sometimes soil
myself. If there are NO other empty stalls and you gotta go, then, by all
can't seem to wait for a stall, callously making someone who is handicapped
respond to this. I don't know how many times I have gone to use the handicapped
stall and there's always someone in it. If there isn't another stall open, I
understand. However, the comment I object to is the one where you say there is
never a handicapped person waiting to use it when you are done. There are many
conditions that are not visible. I have MS and look just fine. What is not
apparent is that I have a bladder problem and a catheter. For me to deal with
enlighten you: Almost every time I need to use the disabled stall (I am in a
wheelchair), I have to wait for an AB to leave, and they all apologize meekly
when they leave. Your insensitivity is truly astounding. What you consider
luxurious is a necessity to us. I suggest that you try holding your bladder or
bowels, race to the bathroom, and find the ONE stall you can possibly use
occupied by someone who prefers the "luxury" of the handicapped stall. Please
maintenance closes all but the handicapped facilities, so I guess you are
time. As a former roommate of a disabled person, I became more aware of the
functional aspects of being handicapped. Many of these individuals do not have
advocating disregarding the rights of the disabled, but I think you may have
misled others to do so. There is a big difference between handicapped parking
and handicapped restroom stalls. Courtesy would dictate yielding designated
bathroom facilities to those who require them, though when available, their use
is not restricted from the general public. I would be encouraged to see this
about this matter. One is that the disabled have a strong, perhaps
disproportionate, influence when it comes to public policy. Mostly this is to
Monthly story about the French kiosk company that developed wonderful
individual bathrooms for use on streets. New York tried them but had to give
them up because the lobby of disabled persons raised such a fuss about
all of them having to be handicapped accessible. This, of course, was an
impossibility, and unreasonable, so none were allowed on the streets.
An illogical example of the power of this lobby can
be found in hospitals. The number of bathrooms for surgeons and surgical staff,
proximate to the operating rooms, has been reduced so that there can be
personnel in wheelchairs, given the nature of the work.
As some correspondents did point out, when no stall
is available and there is a line, anyone can use the designated handicapped
that the handicapped want fairness, but fairness for them sometimes results in
role of the United Nations was increasingly called into question yesterday as
and prepared for," it said in an editorial. "But again inertia is the name of the game and again
an article regretting that "decades of 'quiet diplomacy'
aimed at building ties with our huge neighbor has been dissipated in just a few
in an editorial: "The pending evacuation of the United Nations
this conflict. Despite French support for military intervention, most countries
approval." Economic pressure is therefore the only option for the international
community to pursue, but even this is opposed by several countries, including
International Monetary Fund seem to be made of sterner stuff.
because "to allow the bloodshed to continue into next week would inflame public
conduct can lead to political and economic devastation for the nation."
Nations. The paper said: "By taking on the organization of the referendum, the
also that of the voters in the aftermath of the poll. It has betrayed their
with this impossible contradiction: being the promoter of the rights of
itself the means to make them respected? The answer will determine the future
abandoned. "Last night, no one slept," she wrote. "Women walked around
aimlessly, crying, carrying their babies on their hip. Men huddled. I was
stopped every step, women grabbing my arm, men pulling me aside to say: 'Can
To say no would be to deny them time to plan an escape."
former defense secretary and one of the country's most prominent Conservatives,
for the party leadership, said he wanted to put an end to untrue rumors about
homosexual experiences since he was at university and has been faithful to his
in discussing youthful homosexual experiences does him only credit."
paper gave no reason for ditching him except that it didn't like the
manuscript, which has already been leaked in other papers. The true reasons for
the book contains more about his exploits as a tank commander in the Gulf War
than about his affair with the princess, and it says that "the most satisfying
United States over genetically modified (GM) crops. It reported that two French
companies, the country's leading animal feed and poultry producers, have formed
administration, which has collaborated with industry from the start to promote
GM foods, seems to be in an uncomfortable position," it said. "It is being less
scandal may cause to the presidential ambitions of Vice President Al Gore. In a
campaign has two main purposes, it said: first, to find a pretext for the West
against communism; and second, to dump Gore as a contender for the
pay "a very heavy price" if it continues to fail to deliver on the promises it
on hold until it has brought the militia groups under control," it said.
games: "One athlete assaults another. Football fans invade a pitch. A coach
curses an administrator. A woman martial arts competitor attacks a referee. A
bodyguard draws his pistol. A policeman fires tear gas. Fans wreck the seats in
a stadium or hurl them on to the pitch. Players are bombarded with bottles. A
number of people are wounded." They showed, he said, that there are some people
alleged connections with a Mafia murder), who said that while in office he was
the word of the president of the United States?" the unidentified envoy
Smith said, but he eventually entered the war as his ally because he was
casual insult" made all the more distressing by the fact that the interview was
designed to promote his own commercial interests. "The Prince may feel it is
Times said in an editorial. "But does he pause to consider what effect
cobwebbed, and unenterprising nation his words will perpetuate?"
them. The Sun called him "a pampered, privileged young man who has
achieved nothing, despite being born with a royal silver spoon in his mouth,
despite all the undeserved advantages he has been handed." Then, praising
Bay, Nova Scotia. For the purpose of "adding to the closure" for the relatives
microphone to sing. "Love will be our legacy," he sang. "When dreams get
tossed, we'll share the cost, and lay the roses on the rocks."
talk like a gangster are "so badly handled by Grant that the movie derails and
hand, argues that Grant "goes a long way toward saving [the film] from itself."
Visit the official site to see stills and clips from the
directing. The results are disastrous. The plot? Students take revenge on a
but the title was toned down in the wake of recent school violence.) The film
Mandolin are rather too blatantly present" and make the novel feel overly
familiar. Still, "if Heller hadn't existed we might be calling this a pretty
University Press). Critics are intrigued by the dramatic story of successful
recounts the tale "in academic prose thick enough to thwart all but the most
scholarly value of her story than its inherent drama and that will make the
book tough going for some readers." But most say the interesting sociological
history and insight into attitudes about women in medicine make it worth the
wanted to see in the Kremlin someone he could trust in the interregnum to keep
and added, "Even more ominous is the possibility that political infighting in
of a country with thousands of nuclear weapons could have terrible
to power by causing the cancellation of elections. "This could be done," the
paper said, "either by declaring a state of emergency or a hasty union with
positive view, saying, "Strip away all the talk about peace and progress and
deal. The brutal reality is that the only concrete changes are the weakening of
the forces of law and order and the simultaneous strengthening of the
paramilitaries whose ranks are now swollen by a number of former
groups, and also because of his efforts to secure the release of many kidnap
unlikely things will change, despite the widespread repugnance and anger shown
and the extreme right end their deafness and understand that we are not
leader in the Times said that even if media inquiries into Republican
recently, he is likely to survive any new revelations." The paper added that
straw poll: "He has thus placed himself to emerge later as a new voice that
could win over voters who found beauty in none of those parading their
electoral politics are indeed a beauty contest, and if a history of sinning is
his possible run. Despite his lack of electoral experience, the paper said
talked about was that from the Middle Ages through the Reformation era,
Christian moral theology, both Catholic and Protestant, has upheld other
interns (nor lie about it thereafter)." It means "no one is compelled to reveal
as yet right to preserve his fame that it should not rashly be laid open.
Neither is it the part of a judge to search into hidden faults."
the church's position for centuries. According to medieval canon law, "private
and shameful acts," the sorts of things a penitent whispers to his priest, lie
outside the jurisdiction of public tribunals. Moreover, both Catholic and
Protestant writers argued against compelling people to answer specific
nature" to expect "that any man should betray or defame himself." Even this
stiff old Puritan never supposes that it is only weak, unprincipled men who lie
under such circumstances. To put someone on oath, and then ask if he has
masturbated or committed adultery (both mortal sins according to traditional
Christian ethics), is merely to "give occasion of horrid perjuries." The Roman
questions. It was precisely to give witnesses and defendants a way out of the
perjury trap that theologians distinguished between a lie and a misleading or
ethics "if there be just cause for concealing of a truth," one may use words in
a "less known and common signification, and in another meaning than it is
likely the hearers will understand them." Like, say, using "sex" in a sense
that excludes fellatio (though that's not an example that Mason gives).
Traditional Christian moral theology does not view attempts
to hide one's private sins and shame as grave offenses. What it does view as a
another human being's private failings and weaknesses in order to ruin his good
name or otherwise bring him into discredit. According to the Summa
it as a type of homicide, while others make it a sin against the Holy Spirit
unjust revealing a secret hath in it oftentimes the pernicious violations of
trust, friendship, and honesty," and is therefore "not only in the common
To be sure, there are times when one has a moral right and
citizen" is bound to notify the authorities of "faults which do either
charity and justice require that, setting aside accusation, we content
year ago this week was, by traditional Christian standards, the big sin of
perhaps even more deeply wrong than either committing or concealing adultery.
If, as many said, Flytrap reflects the erosion of traditional Christian values,
new. The evidence of eroding Christian values is that compelling a man to
publicize his hidden faults and punishing him for not cooperating in his own
disgrace are no longer considered by many to be sins at all.
who has been trying to overturn the ban for decades. "The last time I tried was
credits his success to the last election, in which a bevy of Democrats were
opposed his measure because they willfully refused to accept that the federal
"miscegenation," which now sounds racist, comes from). Enemies of the
of our white women to black men." Fears of black sexuality have been
Intermarriage bans arose in the late 1600s, when tobacco
previous decades, before slavery took hold, interracial sex was more prevalent
worked side by side and naturally became intimate. Even interracial marriage,
though uncommon, was allowed. But as race slavery replaced servitude as the
South's labor force, interracial sex threatened to blur the distinctions
categorizing a child as free or slave according to the mother's status (which
was heavily male, the prohibition on unions between white women and nonwhite
men also lessened the white men's competition for mates. (In contrast, sex
common. It typically met with light punishment, if any at all.)
sex underlay bans on interracial marriage, it was marriage that became the
greater threat. Men might rape black women or keep them as concubines, but to
marry them would confer legal equality. Thus, over the course of the
all marriages between blacks and whites. Up through the Civil War, only two
The end of slavery should have made things better. It
didn't. In the South, the federal government initially forced the removal of
the bans in several states. But when federal troops pulled out, the bans
North did laws against intermarriage draw real fire, coming off the books in
refused to issue marriage licenses to mixed couples, and ministers often
wouldn't marry them. Couples that did marry faced harassment from employers and
out of ten, express a definite feeling against" interracial marriage. It was,
he said, a "consecrated taboo" that "fixed" the boundary between the races.
That changed slowly with the civil right movement, which
Amendment. The fortuitously named Loving decision took its place in law
books, but not necessarily in practice. Where no one had the wherewithal to
encouraged interracial unions. Blacks and whites began to meet and date,
larger numbers in the '60s and '70s. The next generation saw a surge in
than their elders, suggesting these numbers will climb.
Whether these habits will change on their own, with the maturation of a more
require a concerted governmental effort, is unknowable. In the meantime, we can
take only meager pride in achieving a society in which interracial marriage is
Entertainment). As expected, no one has much positive to say about Robin
and, if nothing else, acknowledge his good intentions: "This is the kind of
bogus production only completely sincere but misguided individuals can come up
framed by her husband for his (faked) murder. Once she gets out of prison, she
can theoretically murder him with impunity, because the Constitution protects
her from being tried twice for the same crime. Critics are harsh on the film's
who moves into a small town and begins helping out the local residents. Some
reviewers call it quietly affecting, others could barely keep their eyes open.
painstaking research of other scholars with his own new documentation,"
Court of Appeals, is generally hailed for his clearheaded analysis of the legal
the perfect antidote to the hysteria that surrounded the scandal. But the
cannot sustain or actually refutes." (Click here to read the first chapter.)
extraordinary range and daring" with an "almost volcanic intensity" (Mel
premium they command over cheap mass products or even mainstream Bud. And yet,
selected, mainly on the basis of essays detailing their background with beer. A
repeat myself. Nearly half had grown up outside the United States or lived
tasters came in talking big about the refinement of their palates. When they
conference room), they discovered an experiment set up on the following
experiment was designed to take place in two separate sessions. The first
session, whose results are revealed here, involved beers exclusively from the
watery and because so many bad beers are in the group. But the lager test came
first, for two reasons. One, lagers pose the only honest test of the ability to
taste a money difference among beers of the same type, you've got to go lager.
Two, the ideal of public service requires lager coverage. This is what most
people drink, so new findings about lager quality could do the greatest good
the experiment, held several weeks later, the same testers reassembled to try
the fancier beers. The results of that tasting will be reported separately,
groups. Through the magic of the market, it turns out that lager prices nearly
beers cost roughly three times as much as the cheapest ones, and twice as much
as the middle range. The beers used in the experiment were as follows:
Like the next one, this put us into the gray zone for a lager test. Few
thing?) The Silver Bullet That Won't Slow You Down.
per pint.) Box decorated with a nice painting of a trout.
"Red, White, and Blue," "Old German," or the one with generic printing that
just says "Beer." The experiment was incomplete in that regard, but no tester
complained about a shortage of bad beer. Also, with heavy heart, the test
administrator decided to leave malt liquors, such as Mickey's (with its
actually cost more than Bud, probably because they offer more alcohol per
one of the sample beers. (Total intake, for a taster who drank all of every
just going back to software coding when they were done.) Saltines were
available to cleanse the palate. The cups were red opaque plastic, so tasters
could judge the beer's color only from above. There was no time limit for the
room. One experimenter (the boss of most of the others there) rushed through
took the longest, nearly the full two hours, had the ratings that came closest
experimenters were asked not to compare impressions until the test was
one Worst from the "flight" (as they would call it if this were a wine
Least scientific, yet clearest cut in its results. Eleven tasters named a
similar trends. The beers were ranked on "corrected average preference
corrected, just like ice skating scores, by throwing out the highest and lowest
mark. But the power of our corrected ranking system surmounted such
find the connection between cost and taste, the next step was to adjust
each beer was calculated by dividing its corrected average preference
Beer Y, but it cost three times as much, Beer Y would have the higher
know what they were drinking, they found these beers much closer in quality to
preferred, the tasters were asked to estimate whether the beers were expensive
the beers. One taster perfectly understood the intention of this measure when
study is needed. But on the basis of evidence to date, we can say:
were drinking a fancy beer. (They knew it was darker than the others but
findings, but it was really obvious during the experiment itself, when the
they realized that all the lagers tasted pretty much the same.
marks. But the main implication, and the most useful consumer news from this
study, is a radically simplified buying philosophy for lager beers.
gives them the maximum taste and social influence per dollar invested.
rights, including the ability to sue health plans for denying care. It passed
by an unexpectedly wide margin after the House rejected more limited
protections proposed by Republican leaders. Supporters' spin: Finally,
Opponents' spin: And consumers will have to pay the cost through higher
that Republican leaders have lost the ability to set the House agenda.
Republicans. First he said House Republicans shouldn't "balance their
budget on the backs of the poor." Then he said his party often neglects the
disadvantaged by focusing on economic wealth. Democrats called Bush a
Bush of running for president on the backs of congressmen. But Bush said his
comments made a "positive case" for Republican compassion.
case. A former Bank of New York executive and two businessmen were
spin: This is just the tip of the iceberg. The cynical spin: The way these
Sprint's wireless network, the new company will offer the full range of
communications services. Wall Street's spin: Mammoth companies are the wave of
winner. The government's spin: Mammoth companies reduce competition, so
The Senate is debating a nuclear test ban treaty. In response
delaying the treaty for two years. Despite public support, the Republican
Democrats by calling their bluff and will win the vote. The Democrats' spin:
You're outsmarting yourselves by giving us an issue.
citizens who were exposed remains unclear. The industry's spin: The incidents
were flukes, and everyone else is safe from future accidents. Local residents'
spin: Everyone else is as safe from accidents as we were.
Vice President Al Gore is campaigning as the "underdog." He
more money than Gore. The optimistic spin: Running as the underdog will
energize Gore's campaign. The pessimistic spin: Pretending to be the underdog
tried to block by halting checks to the museum and filing suit for lease
Artists are guaranteed freedom, not taxpayer support. The museum's old spin:
Withdrawing support violates this freedom. The museum's new spin: Thanks for
said the army incursion and the preceding two weeks of air raids were necessary
The Supreme Court began its new term. It is expected to be the
most controversial term in recent memory, with cases on free speech, church and
York Times said the decisions are "destined to transform, for better or
Beatification, the first step toward sainthood, requires a confirmed miracle,
and one has already been "authenticated." Name that miracle.
five years, please spray paint 'hypocrite' on one of these signs, and smash the
It is surprising how seldom one sees enameled profanity splashed across a
scarlet streak appears, others swiftly follow), but not many. Our vandals
apparently lack class consciousness. They are great respecters of private
will scrawl some harsh architectural criticism across his vast backside. Even
in the suburbs, where dogs run free, no poodle comes home with a hammer and
alderman, wants to get rid of the signs "to remove the mixed or ambiguous
but it's printed on two lines, so it's easily read as "No Dumping (Whatever)."
By confusing "Whatever" with "Whatsoever," the author of this sign has created
sign. No one's going to obey it anyway, so why bother? Embrace the
mom made her weekly trip to the emergency room to have doctors patch up one of
my four brothers injured in a game of King of the Hill or Catch the Arrow, it
was a given that another mother would "look after" us kids, even though we were
The greatest thing about the price of the home, my mom would say, was that it
included a washer and dryer. It was the only way veterans who didn't
table! And, yes, the ice cream man stopped right in front of the house. I had a
then there are two mistakes, and thus errata, the plural is correct, in which
case there is only one mistake, in which case errata, the plural, is now
incorrect, in which case my head starts to hurt and I have to go lie
historical personages ends up reproducing, word for word and comma for comma, a
country, to be sure, Sir" "Well, Sir! (replies the Scot, somewhat mortified)
"Your country consists of two things, stone and water. There is, indeed, a
little earth above the stone in some places, but a very little; and the stone
is always appearing. It is like a man in rags; the naked skin is still peeping
Sir; meat and drink enough to give the inhabitants sufficient strength to run
people learn it. It is all gardening with you. Things which grow wild here,
back in his chair, and laughing, "are you ever able to bring the sloe to
books and those from which he is accused of copying, he denies wrongdoing,
pointing out that "there are only a certain number of words in the English
Museum but notes that this was a long time ago. "This is something that
The House passed compromise gun control legislation. The
authorities have to perform them from three days to one. A tougher measure
resembling last month's Senate legislation was defeated, despite ardent
measure, claiming it would lead to confiscation and a national gun registry;
The House authorized states to decide whether to let the Ten
Commandments be displayed in public schools. Proponents offered the
bill as a response to "children killing children." Detractors called it an
Conservatives sincerely believe that by attributing youth violence to immorality, they can relieve
airport but still demands its own peacekeeping zone. Western officials say that
church leaders urged them to trust the peacekeepers and stay. Meanwhile,
shock, citing her community involvement and her terrific casserole.
shipping pallets and a bad batch of carbon dioxide, neither of which presents a
serious health threat. Financial experts say the serious threat is to Coke's
Al Gore declared his candidacy for president. His speech and
agenda will be "a very successful platform for the vice president to run from."
apartheid supporters called him "a saintly man," and a conservative white paper
egomaniacs. Click here for the mostly jubilant local reaction.
but might publish a damning account of their behavior. The consensus prediction
whose prestige was already bolstered by cleaner streets and lower crime.
but allowed in the private sector. The sanguine spin: The companies are just
growing stem cells to cure diseases; they're not cloning humans. The
pages of rules are these: women must smile and wear makeup at all times, any
29--"if any girl gets three complaints, she must immediately resign." Rules
Question (No. 260)--"A Touching (and Smelling) Tale":
"You're telling me I have to touch anyone who comes in here,
even if I don't want to? I have to get up really close to them and smell their
out, yes, he does. And what does he have to do after
divided into two kinds of contempt: some target snobs who disdain the rabble
(the reluctant dentist, the smarmy candidate), others target slobs who
on tree trunks; Rs hold a leaf in their mouth and clip bits off in a noisy way.
No, wait, sorry, that last thing refers to different ways chimpanzee males
attract females, evidence of true cultural variation among the apes, not one of
astonished to learn about public access laws, but both the Department of
Consumer Affairs and the Commission on Human Rights have been filling him in.
"Families deserve refuge from a culture of violence and mayhem."-- Al
Gore is either treating us all to an evening at Chuck E. Cheese's or
"That's pretty much an accomplishment that won't happen, unfortunately for
"Customer expectations will drive changes in vehicles if that's what
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is either willing to produce a new
"One hundred thirteen years of our success has been based on the trust
"There's a protest here. There's a protest there. There's a protest
citizens who disagree with him, in this case street vendors he's throwing out
"Our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified
DeLay 's surprisingly tasty mud soup now contains zesty chunks of real ape,
Research Group is either mustering a rather limp defense of Tom DeLay or
reporting surprising findings about chimpanzee life.
if they could taste the 3-to-1 price difference between the most- and
members of the team, as noted in the original article, all hold day jobs at
difference between cheap and expensive beers but instead to compare a variety
consistently? Could they detect any of the subtleties of brewing style and
provenance that microbrew customers pay such attention to when choosing some
grumbling that cheap lagers were not a fair test of their abilities, this
second round of testing was advertised to the panel as a reward. Every beer in
ones they said they were most familiar with. One aspect of the reward was that
descriptions along the lines of "urine" or "get it away!" were expected than in
the first round. The other aspect of anticipated reward was the panelists'
unspoken but obvious assumption that this time they would "do better" on the
test. Intellectual vanity being what it is, people who had fought for and won
they receive) would assume that their skill as tasters was on trial, just as
much as the beer was. Of course they were right, which is what made this round
as amusing to administer as the first one had been.
with excuses of "my wife is sick" (one person) and "meeting is running long"
began, the tasters were given these and only these clues:
that the flight included one "holdover" beer from the previous round
After sampling all beers, the tasters rated them as
measure of how good each beer was, this was an attempt to explain what made it
be bitters, and so on. They were asked to put each beer in its proper
was to test the veteran beer drinkers' claim to recognize the distinctive
round of testing was All Lager. This second round was All Fancy, and Mainly Not
time was not exactly "accurate." If you want to stay within the realm of
cool temperatures, with yeast that settles on the bottom of the vat. This is in
contrast with an ale, which is brewed faster, warmer, and with the yeast on
lagers can be dark, fierce, manly. Therefore, the correspondents suggest, it
labeling, in presenting their tawnier, more flavorful beers as lagers too.
and technical accuracy, it includes a few "strong" lagers too.
there's an obvious skew toward beers from the Pacific Northwest. But as
To include one holdover from the previous test, as a scientific control on
to the lager test, we would expect the range of "best" choices to be more
varied, since all the tested beers were supposed to be good. This expectation
was most dramatically borne out in the "Best and Worst" rankings.
were more or less respectful. ("Bitter, drinkable.") But at the top and middle
each of these also got a Worst vote, and most of the other beers had a mixed
reading. So far, the tasters are meeting expectations, finding something to
points. Here the complications increase. The loser was again apparent:
was the only beer not to have received a single "Best" vote.
testament to the power of a blind taste test. The third suggests an important
of a group simply because it's the most unusual or distinctive. This is why
very high Wine Spectator ratings often go to wines that mainly taste
one's first choice, but high on everyone's list. Let's go to the charts:
Next, we have "corrected average preference points,"
throwing out the high and low marks for each beer. The result is basically the
vs. one Best (and one Worst) this time. The shift in Bests is understandable
and demonstrates the importance of picking your competition. The severe drop in
preference points illustrates more acutely the ancient principle of being a big
time this calculation led to what the colorful French would call a
lower ranks on overall preference points, came out at the top on
the fact that it was the only beer not on "sale" and therefore by far the
of the tasting panel began to suspect, they themselves were being judged while
and give specific brands and breweries for Samples A through J. This man was
the only one to identify two or more of the beers accurately and specifically.
that familiarity is the main ingredient in knowing your beer.
Much in the fashion of blind men describing an elephant, here is a how the
not always answer questions; often, it raises many new ones. This excursion
into beer science mainly raises the question: What kind of people are we?
life for "welfare maximization" as described in introductory econ. courses, the
conclusion is obvious. We learned from the first experiment to buy
liked and the cheapest beer. By the way, if there is a single company
whose achievements the testing panel honored, it would be
what is excluded in a blind taste test is in fact what we want, and are happy
to pay for, when we sit down with a beer. The complicated label, the fancy
beers. In elementary school, we all endured a standard science experiment: If
you shut your eyes and pinch your nose closed, can you tell any difference in
mean that from then on you should close your eyes, hold your nose, and chew a
cheap carrot when you feel like having some fruit. There is a time and place
home, here are a few suggestions for further research:
Tell the testers ahead of time what beers they will be drinking. Ask them
the list with the "revealed preferences" that come from the blind test.
As a variation, show them the list ahead of time and ask them to pick out
the beer they know they love and the one they know they hate. Then compare this
Remember to stay strictly in the scientist's role. Don't take the test
seductress seem an unlikely match. Father Sexpot is a stock character going
to have chastity, you're going to have jokes about the power of sex to
overthrow that ludicrous vow. Everyone enjoys a good hypocrite joke, and
everyone likes sex. (Note to Ben and Jerry: Humping Monk ice cream?)
as an anarchic force, tempting Bond from his vows of capitalism.
seductress is unconvincing in a new way. This way: hot pants? Who wears hot
pants? Nobody wears hot pants. Hot pants and money. What she's really showing
off is all that creamy cash. This isn't sex as the irresistible life force that
mocks and demolishes vows of chastity; it's sex as consumer good. It's the kind
in these tiny shorts with this huge bag of money. Want some?
involving prominent lawyers, businessmen, and church officials, has siphoned
blockbuster opens, and a new list of outlawed pets takes effect. Below, a
comparison of the newly taboo ferret and the just released Wild Wild
that is "wild, ferocious, fierce, dangerous, or naturally inclined to do
ever heard of calls it "the hippest, funniest action movie of the summer."
skewered view of this animal," said one angry ferret fancier.
dozen reported ferret bites serious enough to require hospitalization.
one reported Will Smith bite serious enough to require hospitalization.
nationwide, and those attacks have become notorious for their severity and
with them on their shoulders and in little packs! What is this administration
going to do next, ban calico cats?" asked some other ferret fancier.
which isn't, strictly speaking, a parallel, but does kind of make you sick when
invites participants to devise a sequentially trumping topical triad along
genre: the unsympathetic heroine comedy (see also: My Best Friend's
passable: "Although the movie dawdles and repeats itself, it is often
film about a love triangle involving a pair of conjoined twins and a prostitute
provokes a fittingly dual response from reviewers. (Ratcheting up the weirdness
twins.) Some find it "spellbinding," with "a solemn eroticism [that] sometimes
more than simplistic dramatic ploys" and that it is "neither weighty nor as
hauntingly in loneliness as it does on never actually being able to be alone."
the cover of the first issue. The early response is surprisingly kind:
Conventional wisdom has held that everyone was waiting to knock Brown off her
cloud, but there are notably few scathing condemnations or laudatory pieces
about the magazine in the news today. Instead, reports focus on the phenomenon
could dust off the genre [of a general interest magazine], it's probably Brown"
Talk 's official Web site. Click to read last week's "Summary Judgment"
make the entire novel (which follows her search for a suitably rich and
connected husband) quite a drag: "A hateful heroine and a catalog of
to read an excerpt from the book and here to listen to an interview with the author.)
admiration and mounting horror at the calculated brazenness of it all" (Mark
finds that parts of the dialogue are "laugh out loud funny," but overall it's
"a frivolous read that's far more titillating than scintillating." More biting
foursome of female juvenile garage rockers gets solid reviews for its third
at a feverish rate, capturing the rebellious, mischievous and instantly
lyrics touch on subjects such as driving around on the neighbor's lawn, hanging
relies heavily on its predecessors, and some songs sound lifted directly from
Fast For Love"). But most critics don't sweat the album's derivative
original, it's supposed to be fun. "A timeless burst of renegade teen spirit"
duo's latest offering as "their best album since 1990's Business As
to their usual high standards, but even more impressive are their lyrics, which
millennium with bones that have turned to sawdust. That is the fate that awaits
those of us, we are told, who don't consume the escalating amount of
health officials. Just two years ago the National Academy of Sciences increased
upward revision and we will all have to be attached to udders with an IV.
Strange, then, that most of the world's people, who rarely if ever drink milk
and who get just a small percentage of the calcium we are told is vital, have
not devolved into boneless heaps of protoplasm. Even stranger, in many of these
to become dairy doubters, questioning the wisdom of the calcium recommendations
of the public health establishment. For one thing, the doubters say, our diet
is so fundamentally flawed that trying to protect our bones by taking in loads
of calcium is like trying to fill a tub with no stopper by turning up the
faucets. The problem is this: In general, world dietary patterns show that
countries where people consume large amounts of calcium are also countries
where people eat extravagant amounts of animal protein, places such as the
world's highest rate of fractures due to osteoporosis, the disease
characterized by weak, porous bones. "The correlation between animal protein
[intake] and fracture rates in different societies is as strong as that between
acids, requires the body to buffer the effects of those amino acids. It does so
by releasing calcium from the bones, literally peeing them away. But this
leaching of calcium should be offset if the balance of calcium to protein in
determinate of the rate of bone gain" in young women was not the amount of
calcium consumed but the ratio of calcium to protein. But it's a difficult
Could there be some other dietary factor at work as well?
believes calcium consumption may be at the root of our bone problems, but his
heretical hypothesis is not that we don't get enough calcium but rather that we
get too much. In an article in the Journal of Nutrition he writes,
commonly consumed and calcium intakes are relatively high. Is there any
such a mechanism would work. The body adapts to low calcium intake by
efficiently using what is available. Conversely, high calcium consumption
causes the body to decrease the amount of the mineral that is absorbed,
excreting the excess. That's why populations with low calcium consumption
manage to form healthy skeletons, and high calcium consumers don't develop
inefficient consumers may permanently damage their abilities to effectively use
dietary calcium and to conserve calcium in the bones later in life. As we age,
explains why high dairy consumers so often end up with rampant bone loss. He
fractures. "It will be embarrassing enough if the current calcium hype is
simply useless; it will be immeasurably worse if the recommendations are
all of it from plant sources, in particular leafy green vegetables. They have
be called the unified field theory of bones and breasts. He explains the mortal
girls consume lots of these, which leads to relatively dense bones, high levels
of estrogen, and early sexual maturation. The age of menarche has been dropping
do, which helps account for their far lower rate of breast cancer, says
Estrogen helps maintain bone, so most women's skeletons are
rather similar to the ones that cause breast cancer."
get almost all their calcium from soy, the bones of small cooked fish, and
the literature on osteoporosis, have a significantly increased incidence of
as his are not more widely known because, "Unfortunately, we are absolutely
nutrition policies are corrupted by the influence of the dairy industry."
The milk proponents offer a variety of responses as to why
theories of the doubters could be characterized as demented ravings, probably
vegetables, so thank goodness we aren't." The public health official's version
rightly point out that physical activity, particularly the kind that requires
we have turned our bathrooms into palaces of comfort, lots of the world's
people still squat over holes, which makes it difficult to finish reading the
inflatable punching toys that can't be knocked down, thus less likely to suffer
hip fractures. The problem with this theory is that recent studies show that
But most of all, they say, forget population statistics and
instead look at the laboratory. Indeed, there are dozens of clinical
experiments showing that high doses of calcium either arrest bone loss or even
build bone in older women. Fine, say the dairy doubters, if calcium is the
answer, then it should both prevent and cure osteoporosis, but it doesn't. The
doubters also argue that these laboratory studies, which usually run from two
complications. With an aging population, and in the absence of some plumbing
themselves, the incidence and cost of osteoporosis can only rise.
milk issue and unintentionally siding with the dairy opponents. Milk
consumption has been falling for decades. It is now about half what it was in
especially, soft drinks. Soft drinks are loaded with phosphorus, which is an
essential and widely available nutrient. The problem is that too much
phosphorus itself causes calcium to be lost from the bones. Then there's excess
orchestras dueling with opera companies over the entertainment dollars of
doubters or the calcium advocates, that shattering sound you will hear as the
shall know them. The presidential candidates have staked their places on the
Web to raise money, to distribute speeches and position papers, and to show off
a reformer disdainful of big money. The site even offers a copy of his personal
financial disclosure statement. However, you'll soon discover that clicking
around the site causes an unsolicited "Make a Contribution" box to pop up
contribution form requires donors to check boxes stating, "I am not a
foreign national who lacks permanent resident status in the United States" and
"The funds I am contributing are my own personal funds and not those of
pledge to write a check but, unlike other sites, doesn't let you use your
credit card online. There's also an "Online Internship
grassroots organization, volunteer coordination, fundraising, events planning
personalization to the next level, asking for information in
just like baseball! The parties are leagues, the primaries are playoffs, and
papers, speeches, and press releases as links from an icon symbolic of
in appearance, the home page features Hatch silhouetted against a black
background. Supporters are encouraged to stuff virtual ballot boxes by a
online page, which links to Internet polls. A page of media
links invites disciples to write editors and create the illusion of a
senator's opponents: A cartoon of a wayward youth smoking something quotes the parents'
transcript archive of his speeches and radio shows is amazing.
campaign exposes Bush's server as the largest single source of visitors
"Official Campaign Material" that "may be ordered for a small contribution." A
takes you not to his position papers (which requires a further click) but to
seems to be a participation device for the gullible.
parties, he also switched his Web site and logo. For a Reform candidate, he's
continually setting the standards of excellence.  He is the archetypal
pot leaf signifying medical marijuana pops up on your screen. If you click the
begins, "Due to the complexity of FEC regulations, we are unable to accept
you're required to check a box affirming that you "do not believe in or
advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social
children of our parent's generation." The "Socialized
Medicine" page exults, "New treatments are slowing the development of
acne." Gore also vows to "give each child a talking Chihuahua" and "reduce class sizes to
uncanny (and possibly actionable) resemblance to Gore's official site, but the
content is weak. All jokes, all secondhand. Includes a "Bulletin
graphics but heavy on content, with links to dozens of articles scrutinizing
Bush and several plugs for itself from major news organizations. Calls itself
release has Bush promising "to raise the age at which minors can be
just different. For I can't help asking: Do these acts of revenge undermine the
impulse to avenge is human, and the opportunities for it are abundant at the
end of a war, when law and authority evaporate. But that doesn't make them easy
important, however pedantic it may sound, to keep stressing that only "some" or
"a few" partook of such vengeance, since even choosing to discuss these
distort history.) No one would cheer these reprisals, but only the most twisted
"courageously honest in seeking to act out what others merely dreamed of, or
to the experience of people who, maddened by the loss of their families and
entire worlds, might best be considered to have been 'temporarily insane' in
drinking, contemplating their next move. "We sat with our glasses and the idea
flew out of us and suddenly it was no longer in the air but on the table,"
been spared death like so many friends and kin was so that they could
survivors of the death camps as well as refugees from the forests. They devised
two plans. Plan A involved poisoning the water supplies of major German cities.
the cities' water mains, staying up late to memorize every detail. They figured
out where to administer the poison as well as how to spare the sectors of the
under the floorboards several bottles of arsenic, which had been tested on a
eat.) Suddenly, hearing the banging of window shutters that had come loose,
too late for combat, vented their revenge impulses by hunting down Gestapo and
Eventually, these soldiers got hold of a Gestapo official
even their addresses. They proceeded to track down some of the SS men who had
to the home of the SS man, and ask him to come with them on some conventional
Holocaust survivors was, in fact, the relative absence of avenging actions. The
bulwark against future persecution, or to engage in symbolic retribution
legitimate justice. Even so, it's worth considering that a more vigorous
killing, might nonetheless send a signal that the world believes justice to be
past few days, these demonstrators shouted: "Down with the dictator," "Oh Great
Leader, shame on you!" and "Jerks!" Who was protesting
participants), this question all but demanded the invention of a violent
theatrical event, and that's not easy. Violence may look magnificent on screen,
but on the theatrical stage it's phony baloney. (Violence among theatrical
people, on the other hand, can be entertainingly savage, cf, All About
and television were often chastised, the stage never. (Although a friend who
vicious a blow to the senses as one is likely to survive.) Nudity on stage can
be powerful, and is still protested, but not as powerful as the frightening
but the swerve was too blatant a piece of interference."
Research Center, financing the latter with revenues from the former, an
arrangement that could easily be reversed if the public, sated on gambling,
suddenly grew enthusiastic about museums. With that in mind, can you tell which
of the following are from the museum, and which from the casino?
bow and arrow aimed at the heavens to bring down the rain"
is "to help advance the personal and professional growth of the members and
educational development." And for my money, nothing promotes "personal growth"
elder Laughing Woman and the ceremonial ribbon cutting, the 185-foot
presented with majesty and beauty in the Town Square."
presumably shorter than both the Observation Tower and the Rainmaker. Three
part of a demonstration of how natural dyes can be extracted from indigenous
ride in the amusement park section. "This hilarious speed adventure is loaded
ride!" Incidentally, tribal elder Laughing Woman, although laughing, is in no
one. It arrived and looked utterly unlike him. Not even close. What it looked
like was a standard, creepy doll. Which gave rise to speculation that maybe,
simply hires child models who look uncannily like their dolls.
church. The shooter, a "loner" with no criminal record, yelled
criticized congressional inaction on gun control in
killings were "a wave of evil" that legislation could not stop.
was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved north. Most population centers
avoided major damage. Last week's East Coast spin: We're going to get hammered.
privilege, he denied congressional Republicans' request for records relating to
White House spin: Congress is playing politics with investigations and is
increase and a guarantee that the company will not block unionization of
wage increases, labor costs per car will decline due to efficiency
The House passed campaign finance reform. The bill, which was
opposed by the Republican leadership, would ban unregulated "soft money"
donations and curb "issue ads" by advocacy groups. Senate leaders may eliminate
the issue ad provision to overcome a promised filibuster. The New
leaders who had objected to the bill on free speech grounds. Republican
opponents say that without additional limits on labor unions' political
The United Nations is sending peacekeeping troops to East
military would withdraw as international forces arrive. The United Nations
hopes to restore peace and bring back refugees. Others foresee a bloody conflict with
Major airlines unveiled service improvement plans. The
voluntary changes were offered as an alternative to proposed "passenger rights"
legislation in Congress. Airlines claim their initiatives will greatly improve
baggage handling, ticket refunds, and information on flight delays.
Congressional critics say the plans are legal "gobbledygook" offering no new protections to passengers.
Despite pleas from Republicans to remain loyal, he's becoming increasingly
Department received files detailing the devices used in the raid much earlier
Pundits debated who was more damaged by the new information: Congressional
or the attorney general, who was unaware of her own department's reports.
thrilled about talking about," he told the New York 
impossible for anyone in Bush's shoes not to bear an especially heavy Oedipal
distinguish him from Dad) had the more daunting task of succeeding his
Revolution and wrote the influential tracts Thoughts on Government and
his son to make "a good account" of himself, and continued to hector him well
into his adulthood. "You come into life with advantages which will disgrace you
you do not rise to the head not only of your profession but of your country, it
will be owing to your own Laziness, Slovenliness and Obstinacy."
father's entreaties to work hard. He had internalized them fully, and his
copious diary entries reveal neurotically high ambitions and an obsessional
hangover after a night spent caroling with friends, during which, he recorded,
"the bottle went round with an unusual rapidity." Yet for all his
paternally instilled perfectionism sparked a lifelong case of clinical
for his later diplomatic career. And, just as the intellectually
emphasized the role of passion, not reason, in governing men's political
favored Bush were "actually thinking of the father"; the confusion triggered a
while "the copious treasures" of fame and achievement "have already been
gathered by the hands of genius," he and his generation would still stay true
to "the precious memory of the sages." Though he was ostensibly paying tribute
struggled to stake out his own terrain as a lawyer or, his ultimate fantasy, a
poet. Naturally awed by his father's achievements, he swore he didn't want a
career in politics (again, not unlike the way W. pursued business after failing
pursuits as an attorney than his father, recently elected as the nation's first
Dad. "I wish I could have been consulted before it was irrevocably made," he
said of the appointment. "I rather wish it had not been made at all." The
important leader in his own right. It could only have served as a painful
had cut a "Corrupt Bargain." He unwisely fed the rumors and harmed his own
petitions on the floor of the House. It takes little imagination to speculate
spectacular achievements, he was doomed to feel inadequate next to his
showed me a side of her I hadn't seen before, a warm, affectionate side. Out of
say I think I finally broke through to her. It began with a point I made about
to a large degree phony. There's plenty of space! We should stop worrying! E.
seemed to loosen up right away. She even put her hand on mine. I always heard
you could score if you talked policy to her. Not that we had sex. But I will
say I have high expectations for the future. If only the trip had lasted one
too. We sped across the desert, the futon on the roof threatening to blow off,
in order to make an appointment she'd made at a ritzy hairdressing salon. She
late. E. didn't want me to use the valet, because, as she diplomatically put
see her later that night to unload her things. She said that "didn't work" for
fun if she could come. She smiled. I think she may say yes.
time to time, a great man arises among us, teaching wisdom and virtue. Awed by
his authority, the political leaders of his day embrace his legacy, distort his
words, and persecute their enemies in his name. Such is the fate of
week, he testified before Congress in the midst of a partisan fight over a
solicited his denunciation of the plan, Republicans sought his condemnation of
both sides twisted his answers to suit their purposes. Their fight for his
payment is the best use of the surplus, tax cuts are the next best, and
spending hikes are the worst. While opposing a big tax cut, he stipulated, "If
I became concerned that the surplus is going to be employed for increased
spending programs, [then] I would be strongly in favor of tax cuts now. I think
make the tax cut look bad, Democrats compare it to debt payment. At the
Republican plan. "My first priority, if I were given such a priority, is to let
that as a consequence of those surpluses, they tend to be spent, then I would
be far more in the camp of cutting taxes, because the least desirable [outcome]
Conversely, to make the tax cut look good, Republicans compare it to spending
retirement is probably the best thing we could do. And if not that, perhaps
some sort of a tax cut. But probably the thing that could really get us in
trouble in an economic sense from your perspective is to spend it all." In
essential message was to "be sure you do not increase government spending."
education, defense, veterans, agriculture, medical research, and other
would agree with us" that taxes should be cut instead. "The White House is
buying down less debt, and increasing spending, and increasing taxes," added
president's effort to buy down less debt and increase government programs."
thing to do is the Democratic plan: spend down [the] national debt, invest the
direct his ire against the Republican plan, emphasize the difficulty of reining
the other hand, emphasize the difficulty of reining in spending. "If you create
preserve the surplus for debt reduction by not spending it. Republicans promise
to preserve the surplus for debt reduction by cutting spending to keep pace
taxes should be cut because the Democrats can't be trusted to refrain from
far, the Democrats' spin has prevailed, mostly because, as the Wall Street
cuts are preferable to more spending. Most reports say only that he opposed the
the tax cut. Instead, the Times fed its readers the Democrats'
siding with the White House" and other foes of the Republican plan. A
shallow reporting doesn't just bury the Republican spin. It conceals a deeper
his recommendation against cutting taxes depends on a calculation that Congress
won't spend the surplus. If that calculation is wrong, he would favor the tax
problem (whether the surpluses will "be spent") is superficial. The salient
questions, outlined above, are more relative and dynamic: whether Democratic
promises to refrain from spending the surplus are less trustworthy than
Republican promises to match tax cuts with spending cuts, and which
important questions in such an unsophisticated manner? Because, like most
questions about how much money the government will raise and spend, they're not
done with them. He may want them returned. He may want me to destroy them. He
may not care at all." You make the prediction: Who will want whom to do
of a trade between the two nations. What is being swapped for
gives up a phantom economy built on cronyism and kickbacks; the International
South generously agreed to trade the North its position in
out, in case you were planning a satirical musical comedy about the crisis in
offending the rhythm and a sense of human decency. An early version of this
sort of thing that I recall with particular pleasure was Mad magazine's
East Side Story --that being the location of the United Nations.
prized as the only satirical voice reaching suburban adolescents. Now with
come to mind-- Mad is as superfluous and weary as the grandfather we
shunted into that nursing home. (Was that us? Certainly not. It was the
She seems to enjoy it, and I may yet be in the mood to read a movie parody
his grave to discuss the equating of fertilizer with family, of shit with
continue being dead. (And by "some" I, of course, mean "me.")
last week's naval skirmishes and complaining about the accommodations in the
tried to smuggle them through customs, or wishes that she hadn't got caught.
annoyed that everyone doesn't just agree with him, and he thinks the best
remedy is to mount a futile run for the presidency.
civilization. (The early part of the movie is scored with waltzes.) This moment
actor. Cruise's brow is preternaturally low, and when he tries to simulate
neighbor's presentation of fire: What this orange snake make finger feel
screwing up his face and feigning a tragic awareness while a piano goes
been translated as other things) in the late '60s, spent several years on the
of a year and a half. (Only after principal photography was finished did he
unfaithful to his true love) and gets launched on a dark odyssey, which
culminates in his near death and a vision of society's most ferociously
movie couples sexual obsession with an epochal fear of sex: It says, "Don't go
(Pollack), in which both are sexually propositioned. After a bout of jealous
banter, the doctor declares a smug faith in his wife's fidelity, whereupon
news that she once came this close to abandoning him and the couple's
daughter for a soldier she locked eyes with at a resort hotel.
wife and the soldier, and emerges from his apartment into a kind of
customers. The film's centerpiece is a sequence in which the doctor perilously
crashes an ornately choreographed orgy in which the rich and powerful wear
disrobed by attendants. That he isn't supposed to be there dawns on him about
the time the masks turn his way and the conversation stops.
partially deaf and had withdrawn from the world, he chose to set the novella a
record for the most orgasms with the most women. Steeped in Expressionism
didn't extend himself to fit his material, he contracted his material to fit
his turgid tempos. That wins him points as an auteur but not as an
get past his sour detachment and enter into the movie. He keeps the characters
performances this flamboyantly bogus? The early scenes are the most maladroit.
because they're all part of a scheme to hoodwink the protagonists or because
a timeless feel, and I don't mean that as a compliment: It supposedly takes
place in New York in the present, but it's estranged from any period I
one has ever made a pass at them and are so deeply traumatized by their
absorbed at least half a century ago? Where do these heroically
take them to secret masked orgies in Long Island mansions? Even dream plays
need some grounding in the real world. There might have been a way to
make the movie work if the characters hadn't been so abstracted, so generic.
details of personality in pursuit of an underlying archetype. I don't know how
a director whose central theme is the loss of humanity can be so uninterested
entertainment journalists determined to make him pay for his (sensible)
decision to remove himself from their orbit. But the coldness that has become
to do with the clinical distance he maintained from his own characters. The
nothing to do with who she is. Where's the drama in her husband's (and our)
realization that she's fundamentally unknowable when she has been photographed
The movie's lone masterful sequence is the one that
features a batch of blank, leggy dolls, along with people whose faces are
hidden behind expressive masks. As Cruise moves past the fornicating satyrs and
caricature their behavior in the name of some "archetypal" truth because those
masks are already so marvelously archetypal. The most vivid moments in
his actors. You can stare at Cruise's mask as he takes in the orgy and swear
you see the wheels turning in his head. Tom Cruise thinking is the year's most
say that you are very correct in pointing out the basic statistical mistake of
implying causation from correlation. I think it is naive to think that simply
posting copies of the Ten Commandments is going to solve the nation's crime
I also think it is damaging to the faith to try and
"use" religion to solve social problems. God becomes a means to an end instead
of an end in Himself. He is not a magical potion that you can sprinkle on your
problems to make them go away. I do think that genuine faith and a relationship
with God will cure violence and murder and such; however, imposing religion on
people is not the answer. I think one of the reasons there is a positive
correlation between religion and crime in the States is because large portions
number of churchgoers in a given area is relatively inconsequential in this
all the crimes, then we would have an interesting situation. But if that is not
issue then becomes the motivations for the population of criminals, which are
things such as the social structure and the justice system.
caused by the unreasonable expectations of the people who seek medical care.
The reason "patients expect better care than they're willing to pay for" is
that they have already paid for it. Medical advances are made through
development. The hospitals that we go to and our doctors practice in
essentially all receive some level of governmental funding. Our doctors
attended medical school with the aid of federally guaranteed student loans or
outright grants. We paid for the ability to provide the best care in the world,
and we continue to pay far more, in terms of percentage of gross average annual
compassionate professionals. They certainly provide an essential service. They
all make a ton of dough, and I don't know anyone who begrudges them that. The
current medical payment scheme in the United States makes the very best medical
care available but is also an active barrier to many who seek basic care and
cannot afford it. Radical reform is clearly called for but will never happen as
dilemma has come about because we tried to shift cost control away from the
service providers. This has had the effect of driving many capable physicians
out of their own practices and into exactly the kind of alienating, impersonal,
professionals charged with caring for us feel compelled to sacrifice their
independence in this way. Unionization is a bad idea that will only make things
essay, no responsible commentator could use the characterization used by
"revisionists who dismiss as cold war humbug the notion that the Soviet Union
that he had "steadfastly insisted on the academic integrity of the series and
staunchly defended [their] work." In other words, virtually everything
important one. I only hope no one ever decides to demonstrate his or her "high
Addressing a "God Not Guns" rally of ministers near
the Capitol a couple of weeks ago, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay offered this
that said it all. The student writes, 'Dear God: Why didn't you stop the
shootings at Columbine?' And God writes, 'Dear student: I would have, but I
Republicans is that adolescent violence is inevitable given the decline of
religion. Indeed, until the early 1960s' Supreme Court decisions on school
prayer, displays of the Ten Commandments were common. And back then, crime was
much less prevalent than today. So, the House voted to undo the "damage" by
allowing states to mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools and
In social science terms, the Republicans believe there is a
correlation between the influence of religion and obedience to the law. The Ten
Commandments prohibit murder, so exposing people to them could tend to
discourage lethal violence. The absence of religious faith and norms, on the
other hand, might incline someone toward homicide. The argument has particular
force in the context of Columbine, where the gunmen asked two girls if they
believed in God, and when they answered affirmatively, shot them dead.
implausible, but a correlation is not the same thing as a cause. If we were to
discover that none of the killers in the various school shootings were in the
habit of eating pancakes for breakfast, we would have established a
correlation. But no one would argue that the kids killed because they didn't
campaign to get children to eat pancakes every day. Once you find a correlation
between A and B, you still have to demonstrate that one causes the other.
In this instance, though, conservatives are claiming to
have found a cause without even showing a correlation. Why not? Maybe because
they can't. The United States is the most religious of all the industrialized
almost no adherents, has less violent crime than almost any country. There are
a few advanced nations that have high rates of church attendance and low rates
has the highest churchgoing rate in the country, but its murder rate is more
than twice the national average. The same pattern generally holds in the rest
members of Congress. New York, the very symbol of godless depravity, is
House Republicans have also failed to notice that the
the one claimed by Republicans: Religion and violence seem to go hand in hand.
That doesn't mean faith actually causes murder. But it does suggest that when
Republicans contemplate the Ten Commandments, they should pay more attention to
full year before the election, which ought to be enough time for citizens to
read 10-to-20 books on current issues, study the candidates' platforms, listen
to half a dozen debates, and make the kind of thoughtful decision our Founding
been complaining that a year of presidential politics is not enough.
least, might well be over by a year before the actual election. Others in the
we will too, starting this week. (And if others in the media went and jumped
off a cliff, would we do it too? Yes, probably.) Although blame for this
are also to blame, along with political consultants, pollsters, and so on, all
of whom have a vested interest in the "permanent campaign" (a concept used in a
invalid for that reason alone). Thanks to the election industry, politics are
tasting sweeter before it got industrialized, that's probably just your
spent the past year writing cultural criticism under the rubric "The Browser."
He was hoping to spend a few more months gazing at paintings and reading novels
before lowering his sights, but now he has loyally abandoned art for life.
under the rubric "Ballot Box" (the latest addition to our collection of Boxes).
Links and an opinionated guide to the day's best political stories on the
A daily joke, crafted by the finest humor artisans from the freshest
for an explanation), but the point is to see if the invisible hand of
capitalism can beat the gasbags at predicting election results.
Links galore to the campaign Web sites, media, and other useful stuff for
we'll be launching a new column, "Net Election," published by
political analysis of the election as it's playing out on the Web, and our
friends at the Industry Standard will supply a weekly business
forum, has been transformed, effective this week: new technology, new user
interface, new rules of the road. Our readers send us piles of clever and
of this brilliance out where it can be shared with other readers and possibly
how others have reacted or replied. Every posting can start a new discussion
thread, or extend an ongoing discussion, or "branch off" an ongoing discussion
to take it in a new direction. Especially wise or witty responses will be
here is that many people (we hope) would enjoy engaging in a vigorous
discussion of something they have just read but have no special interest in
joining an online "community," which is the usual emphasis of Web site bulletin
boards. If you want to join our community, you're very welcome, and you can
link to all our current discussions, including a general discussion, a
technical issues. But if you simply want to tell us how wrong we are about
something, you can skip all that and post a message from the offending page
give you more choices. To get your favorite parts of 
delivered to your inbox (without getting the parts you can't stand), you must
Daily delivery of "Today's Papers," plus a selection
including "Summary Judgment," our summary of all the other reviewers.
Economist by translating that slogan from Welsh to English. (Question
Miss Universe contest. The only two finalists with any kind of a shot are Miss
General Assembly, the president moved beyond vague generalities and into
comforting platitudes as he discussed poverty (against it), health care for all
people (for it), and outbreaks of widespread killing (should do something to
stop them). Courting opprobrium, the president raised the touchy issue of
weapons of mass destruction and bravely declared that it would be bad if they
invited to provide campaign slogans for these presidential candidates whose Web
Online Political Advertising: Our Salesman Reports 
the past few years, the advertising business as a whole has moved from a mood
of hostile skepticism toward the Internet to an almost euphoric embrace of its
possibilities. In my new job as manager of political advertising for the
the same process. For the moment, buyers are still resistant to the new medium.
ever seen such a campaign, let alone one that had a demonstrable result. Peter
around, was one of the few candidates to make significant use of banner ads in
site, among other places. While one study suggests that these ads diminished
from now, we'll have better data about the effectiveness of candidate ads. What
we can say in the meantime is that Web advertising is capable of doing things
touting to political consultants and campaign managers this election
you advertise on television or radio, you base your spending decisions on
viewer and listener surveys, but you can't target precise groups of swing
voters that might matter to you. With the Web, you can strike at them
surgically. There are thousands of niche sites on the Web as well as Internet
themselves on collecting highly specific information about users, through
registration, subscription, and the use of "cookies" (for more on cookies, see
precise demographic groups defined by age, ZIP code, income, and various other
characteristics. What's more, several of the larger portal sites are able to
"merge and purge" their user data with voter lists. This means that Bill
course, the more precise the targeting, the more expensive the ad. Reaching
Web can serve as a tool to motivate those that are passionate about issues. A
returned from user interaction with Internet ads far outweighs what you can
of cookies, clients know precisely how many of the individuals they targeted
interacted with their ad in a number of ways. A banner ad that contains a
streaming video version of a 30-second spot can tell you not only how many
people viewed the commercial but also where in the commercial they got bored
they are becoming interactive in ever more imaginative ways. Think of a banner
ad as the Internet on a bumper sticker. It can do just about anything with
video, sound, or animation. But first it has to grab your attention from a
in a format similar to a stock ticker. Advertisers control the text in the
banner and can target it by demographic or issue group. Advertisers might also
addresses from Web users. The advertiser may then use the information to
information. For users, this banner provides an easy, convenient way to
expanding menu banner contains four buttons that activate menus. Users then
choose from a menu and navigate to different locations on an advertiser's Web
site. This allows a campaign based on four key issues to "drill down" on each
of them in great detail. Once the user has found the issue he wants more
information about, a click of the mouse takes him directly to the page that
Web users from a banner ad: "Click here for my stance on free air time for
candidates!" This option becomes more attractive when combined with the
capability to deliver specific messages to targeted audiences or geographic
stage mothers and bitchy teens. Drop Dead Gorgeous was written by a
effects, which give the haunted house moving statues and doors that sprout
in favor of the film, citing the scenery and effects as reason enough to see
showered on Brown's new baby, which is being published in partnership with
attorneys but was reinstated after Brown saw it and called off the lawyers. And
magazine for weeks. Brown has also been making the rounds talking up her new
project: Already this week she's done an interview in the Wall Street
Journal and been quoted at length in a piece in the "Business" section of
Talk "more closely resembles a postmodern version of Life
online gossip sites, Brown is steamed that the magazine went to press before
at the last minute on the latest issue of Vanity Fair to change the
set on fire, impromptu stripteases, giant bonfires with people leaping through
see Webcasts from the festival on the official site.)
its return, after more than half a century, to Berlin. Following the example of
mean that "we are turning our backs on the values and basic principles of our
is now history. But its spirit should live on in Berlin."
ministers to resolve a dispute over terrorist disarmament, which is threatening
surrendering its hidden weapons. In an analysis of the problem, the Financial Times noted that
decommissioning is a key element in every peace settlement, but that Northern
arrived in full Highland dress with kilt and sporran and announced menacingly,
the Soviet Union would exist for the foreseeable future. He now claims it was
part of the process which led to the dismantling of the Communist empire."
problem than to anything wrong with the drink itself, according to research
nausea and headaches after drinking it. The company found "bad carbon dioxide"
most of the health complaints made after this was reported in the media suggest
past, and referred to his truck as "the Panzer division."
presidential candidate, Al Gore studiously ignored him. Last weekend, after
momentum in the Democratic race had shifted. The debate challenge has changed
the game by advancing several of Gore's strategic objectives.
team makes this kind of "run," the other team's coach calls a timeout to defuse
the hot team's momentum and ruin its rhythm before the game gets out of hand.
Since the strategy Gore had mapped out before the game has already been
defeated and discarded, he has nothing to lose by tearing up his schedule to
challenge, it has supplanted his message as the campaign's hot story. Every
debate challenge helps persuade the media to cast Gore in this unlikely role.
appealed for support on the basis of his character and life story. So far,
positions on the issues, he stands to lose some of his support by having to
spell out his views. By pushing the contest in this direction, Gore's challenge
has issues on which he expects to win votes and issues on which he expects to
lose votes. The rule is to talk about your winning issues and avoid your losing
powerful teachers' unions and Democratic voters who think vouchers threaten
by having to address these troublesome issues instead of his winners.
calling Gore "timid" and associating him with "entrenched power." By daring
The Times said Gore's "call to arms" conveyed "passion" and "suggested
tonight, delivering one of his feistiest performances of the year." A
Times headline ventured, "Notion of a New Al Gore Begins to Take
brushed it aside, saying there would be "plenty of debates" down the road. But
argument against him. For weeks, with increasing explicitness, Gore has accused
opposing farm subsidies, and retiring from Congress after Republicans took full
"running" from battles. The media smell a new target. "By refusing to engage,
criticisms as "darts." "I am simply not going to get into dealing with the
have a positive vision of the future." This rebuttal might have worked, but the
but calling for debates looks noble. Conversely, refusing to answer your
opponent's insults looks noble, but refusing to answer a debate challenge looks
cynical. Gore is using his debate challenge as moral cover for his attacks on
park, telling the crowd that if the two sluggers had "stayed in the dugout" and
course, demand an open exchange, and cast himself as the idealist. Meanwhile,
the media are playing along, hoping to egg on the fight. In an interview with
question, declining to "lay all the cards out on the table" just because Gore
seniors determined to lose their virginity. Critics take one of two positions.
a beer laced with semen) are just "sucker bait to entice teenage audiences into
the tent to see a movie that is as sweet and sincere at heart as anything
its own dirty mind. Among this year's bumper crop of teenage movies, it is the
when he complains that the film "begins well and makes good points, but it
paced and cleverly constructed." (Click here to watch the trailer.)
children for their now routine desecration of their father's reputation (see
many epistolary sections of the book, and she "wonderfully captures the ghostly
dance of presence and absence that can characterize digital relationships"
A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and the Final Tragedy of
undercut by diplomatic backtracking and congressional cowardice. The New
seems an odd choice considering that Record just published a book titled The
years, perhaps the most fascinating years of the war." Other reviewers praise
Harry Potter titles. (The New York Times list has the two available
Potter books at positions three and four.) The subject of the new volume is the
same as the rest of the series: the life of young wizard Harry Potter, who
attends a boarding school for sorcerers. The critics call this one the best
Potter adventure yet: It "blends the banal and the fantastic, the everyday and
reviews for the collaboration between two of the '90s' most acclaimed jazz
play between the two that's almost kinda sweet. Both are assertive. Neither
"although scientists believe there were never many wolverines there," notes a
celebrated as the "Water Wonderland," because it has "four times as much
what sends most states whining to the federal government for emergency aid.
State Housing Development Authority sponsored an essay and drawing contest,
Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association also
shoreline and killing tens of thousands of birds and marine mammals
saw a horse running down the street, then all of a sudden I noted it had horns.
really do have to recognize that it's going to be difficult and take a while
College, an adviser to the federal government. "And for a significant
percentage, they're never going to get it because they're cognitively impaired,
they're too frail, or they just don't have the energy to invest in
understanding these things." Who's never going to understand what?
snappiest slogan to those who speak no Welsh. Yet the banner inside General
this lead from the Economist by translating that slogan from Welsh to
who worked on that floor. It was exciting, albeit in a slightly childish way,
to see your name on that signboard, confirming that you still had your cushy
job in this historic broadcasting center. And the signs made it easier for
visitors to find their way around. After the takeover, one of the first hints
of the new corporate culture was the removal of all those convenient signs,
to date. As he went from floor to floor removing the signs, did he realize what
was going to happen after he'd taken down the final one?
individual employee and the rewriting of architectural history. Isn't this the
sort of thing we used to detest when the Soviets did it? That, and replacing
my New Yorker subscription, I asked the operator if she could offer me a
bargain. "Are you a priest?" she asked. A special low rate is listed for
courting Catholic clerics (coveted by advertisers?). "It's true at
morning. He kept his head down and avoided eye contact. He pressed no flesh. He
was widely recognized, but it appeared he did not wish to be seen. Was it
shirt? Did he pay for it, or was it baksheesh? Face it: He just doesn't seem
signed a contract with a publisher declaring my intent to write it. Last week I
jettisoned in the early '80s, and there's no trace of it. Some of my best
Still, the general reader may be permitted to wonder: Why
is biography such a protracted affair? Novelists seem able to turn out a book
every year or two. Historians, as burdened by footnotes and data as
biographers, seldom devote more than five years to a book. What's our problem?
Is it some congenital defect of biographers? A laziness or dilatory habit of
mind? My guess is that our failure of promptitude has to do with the unique
relationship we establish with our subjects, dead or living. Unlike the
novelist, who invents (supposedly) his characters, or the historian, who
grapples with a populous cast, the biographer enters into a curious intimacy
with the person being written about, a relationship charged with ambivalence,
resentment, love, dependency, and all the myriad other emotions that crowd in
whenever we allow ourselves to become intimate with another. That the
biographer doesn't actually live with, or in many instances even know, his
subject; that the relationship may be involuntary (an unauthorized biography);
that it's by its very nature unequal, one person focusing attention on another
with no hope of reciprocity, in no way diminishes the intensity of the
experience. As any biographer will tell you, the act of writing a biography is
was infinitely more complicated than I could have fathomed when I embarked on
wrote about. My subject, wary by nature, had, after a year of elaborate
equivocation, arrived at the point where he would grant me access to his
time. I didn't want him to authorize the book; I wanted my freedom. And for his
part, Bellow maintained that he "wasn't finished yet, wasn't ready to be summed
end, the book was, as Bellow took to describing it, "neither authorized nor
Over the next decade, I made my biographer's rounds, like
routine) of poring over his unpublished manuscripts in the rare book and
private hands. Biography is no vocation for old men; it requires physical
my book, I was, to borrow one of Bellow's favorite words, bushed.
of composition, year after year of struggling to assemble these materials into
downfall of so many of the bloated biographies that now weigh down the shelves
reading the story of his own life, so closely did he identify with Bellow's
The trouble is that you've gone through so much pain to
credit. Only after you have a completed manuscript does your confidence build
encountering the third reference to Bellow's occasional book reviews for the
evidence of my progress. (Did she smile, or was that a wince?) On the third
only had time he would have written a shorter letter, I managed to cut another
cover had been designed, the catalog copy written. I was still revising the
possible moment, my voice. And how to end it? At last I found a way (since,
happily and thanks to Bellow's physical vigor, I wouldn't have to write a
on Bellow's life. He was ruminating about death, and about possibly meeting up
again with his parents and his brothers in the next world. I thought of ending
the book with his quote, but then some other stuff happened in his life (you'll
least read the reviews to find out what). And Bellow, too, is putting the
sentence on the last page: "His reunion with the dead would have to wait." Then
River in the summer dusk, drank two miniature bottles of Zinfandel, and fell
asleep. My reunion with the living would have to wait.
The twit who inquired about dissing the offspring of the discarded relatives needs
perhaps something more along the lines of a swift kick in the rear. If these
are older children, as is suggested by requests for letters of recommendation
and invites to graduations, then these are more or less formed people, who
their parents may or may not have committed. Anything less is the moral
a German company, a sort of inherited grudge, if not racism.
we hold that people deserve to be admired or respected because they have earned
friends who have us to their home for dinner almost every week. (The wife
doesn't want to go out or come to our house.) When we're there, however, she
spends a large part of the evening on the phone or on the computer. Her husband
says she actually spends less time on either because we're there. Should we be
hard to pronounce. The mistake that is commonly made about neurotics is to
suppose that they are interesting. It is not interesting to be engrossed with
wife's peculiarities, it may be that the man is the primary friend. If this has
program without being honored or insulted. The woman's behavior has little to
do with you. For whatever reason, she is glued to her house and not interested
house with three other people. Here's the problem: Three of us don't like the
difficult to put a name to. He does his chores, pays rent on time, isn't noisy
negative to say about everything. What makes the situation difficult is that
there's no obvious reason to ask him to leave, and he seems intent on staying.
It's to the point where at least two of us bristle when we hear him come
comfortable saying, "We just don't like you. Please leave." Is there a polite
describe. She calls them The World's Greatest Experts, because they know
everything. But to answer your question: There is nothing legally tricky in
your situation, though you might have to give him a month's notice. On
with saying, "This isn't working well," or "Sometimes it's just time for a
how to tell you this, but the three of us are seeing someone else."
of the message is garbled (because the caller is slurring), but the number is
messages are annoying, and you have every right to ignore them. If the number,
however, is clear, and you're feeling charitable, you might call back and say,
"This is Slurred Off. I have no idea what you said in your message, but I am
familiar to you, this may help to decide which way you're going to play it. And
And keep in mind that we are dealing with machinery. Slurred messages are not
couple who invited us to be their guests at a minor league baseball game." I
no convincing him otherwise if he's not accepting debate on the issue.) Then he
launches into a tirade about the arrogance and ignorance of the "Chatroom
trip to a chat room (by his own admission) may give him room to give his
such an invincible armor of arrogance and ignorance is, well, typical of
respondent had any real logic or an equitable argument, but your posting has
even less. You take potshots at him in public as he did to you in private (you
etc. Enough to characterize the typical snide tone. I should point out that I
reputation sinks at about equal speed in all major cities at once.
of helping troubled young women to find peace: enough so anyway to make a
potential laughingstock of herself by repeating them on television, and enough
Surely a chilly business partner would at least have known about a case that
was about to go on legal record and would never have urged her husband to
brazen it out with the grand jury and start the whole miserable ball
authentic sights ever shown on television, prompting the thought that, unlike
back a bit) that one can even imagine being friends with. And since then, she
has played her part just fine, establishing herself as a separate unit and not
get any closer to as the years go by. In a column airily damning the whole
raised a child herself and worried herself sick about how it would turn out;
the pet's patriarchs at the Times continue to give her unlimited freedom
perhaps, in an ideal position to judge anyone else anywhere.
I have it on the word of a neutral party in a position to know, that in her
like to stick it in their stereotypes anyway and smoke it for a while,
accepted in order to get the performance that I need to earn a living. Much of
vehicles for how they were really intended to be used.
number of people that like to target people on the basis of association. Your
privilege of driving one. Like guns and gun control, it's not the gun that
needs to be removed from society, it's the ass behind the trigger.
swinger is not as novel the second time around: "Most of the silliness has
become pretty strenuous and some of the sweetness has settled into desperation"
protestations, reviewers can't help recounting all their favorite jokes from
the film, a habit that effectively dilutes their complaints. On the plus side:
this time around. On the minus side: Heather Graham doesn't match up to
one of the film's biggest fans, saying it's "better than anyone dared hope:
bigger, more inventive, and more frolicsome than its predecessor, with a grab
bag of scatological gags that are almost as riotous when you think back on
camp, complaining that as soon as the spectacular score subsides the movie
"clatters back down to earth." But others find the film "beautifully crafted,
ambiguous violin appraiser. (Click here to find out more about the film.)
raves in the New York Times Book Review that this sequel to The
Silence of the Lambs surpasses its predecessor: "It is, in fact, one of the
two most frightening popular novels of our time, the other being The
notes that this one, while a fantastic thriller, "simply lacks the compact
gore (a man cuts off his own face, feeds it to dogs, then has the dogs'
stomachs pumped so he can try to have the recovered nose surgically
language, repellent imagery and bloodshed." (Click here to read the rest of King's review; the page also includes a
tales wins the hearts of most critics, although all admit that some stories
most deem the sameness unimportant when the writing is so superb. (Click
Brothers as creators of clever, catchy dance tracks, but Surrender will
finally make the public respect these guys as mature, intelligent and
is that they've relaxed a little and broadened their horizons from exclusively
statement of purpose ever (in short: Things hurt, and growing up is hard, but
Stone is wildly positive (four stars), if completely alone in its
ear, romance the booty, swell the heart, moisten the tear ducts and dilate the
electronic music. Most praise her for being able to hold her own, as opposed to
noticing any genuine musical ability, and note that the album is far more
"Little brown people who dance around naked in your face, while ranting like
imbeciles, just to get you to shoot a squirt of pepper spray at them. Because,
you know, they eat it for breakfast. Or is that Tom Green I just
"People who cannot be subdued with pepper spray alone, but require repeated,
you're making a joke about race, especially when it comes to those shifty,
when they move in next door. First they turn all the washboards and jugs into
he was being tricked into saying something he'd regret later. But that's not
question about race and then get all shirty on people who were just trying to
affect are people who have consumed cayenne pepper from the time they are small
evidence to support these statements." "We're not scientists, we're police
me that Randy never made anyone wait a whole day for the answers to the
humility. Our election process is so arduous, and the odds of triumph are so
low, that no one would endure it except out of some combination of
either actually getting less patrician or they're getting better at faking it.
fella who'd rather watch football on the tube than discuss policy any day. It's
is almost exactly the opposite. He gives his enthusiasts the impression of
candidate of ideas (although, also like Hart, it is more the idea of ideas than
another scheming pol. Because he's not desperate to win, and because he's
because one important truth neither he nor Al Gore is emphasizing at the
left at the moment). Both are former senators. Both are in their 50s. Both are
tall and regarded as stiff and dull. Both are from privileged backgrounds,
bank). Both also have had privileged political careers, floating into the
Senate on celebrity or lineage, and both seem better suited to being selected
by boards of admiring elders than to the grungy business of running for
vice president," as he always refers to Gore. A reputation for honesty is
little to offer. With that in mind, what do you make of the following exchange
The ethanol subsidy meant New Jersey taxpayers paid higher tax for their
gasoline. It also meant that it was more difficult for us to meet our clean air
of the benefit went to one corporation. I didn't support corporate welfare.
that was when I was a United States senator from New Jersey. I am now running
for president of the United States. Part of running for president of the United
States is getting to know the country in a depth that you didn't before.
in the family farm is real. And I sat with enough of them to know that the
ethanol part of their overall cost statement was an important part, and
therefore, I believe that it was a reasonable thing to do.
Were you wrong when you went that way as a New Jersey senator?
presidential candidate. When you run for president, you've got to think of the
Ethanol is a ludicrous fuel made out of corn, at a cost far
higher than the petroleum it replaces, produced with a huge government tax
long since become a classic case study of stupid policy entrenched by special
responsible for the fabulous discovery that if you tell the government what to
the subjects on which he is regarded as being especially philosophical, and his
philosophy is that a simple code with lower overall rates is better than a
complicated one filled with special treatment for one group or another.
Giving him maximum interpretive generosity, what he does say is sort of a
baroque variation on "yes." He's saying: "As a senator, I pandered to the
people of New Jersey. As president, I will pander to every special interest in
this great country." This raises the difficult philosophical question, Does a
pol deserve credit for being an honest hack? It's a tempting proposition.
Trouble is, the need to pretend you're not just pandering acts as a restraint
on all but the most cynical panderers. We don't want our pols to think they can
was not really honest, even in this cynical sense. In fact, it was the opposite
of honest. The truth is that as a senator he was serving the interests of the
whole country, including New Jersey, while as a presidential candidate he has
abandoned the national interest in favor of a small group of farmers. Second,
wrong before he flipped. Even though he now claims the ethanol subsidy is good
for the country, it was still "right" for him to oppose it as a senator because
country except to the extent that it coincided with the good of New Jersey, and
he believes every senator is "right" to do the same. (Unless he's running for
president, presumably, in which case he is permitted to consider the interests
can't become president under our unique constitutional system without giving
the government to turn corn into fuel. What should the candidate do when asked
about it? It's bad enough that we may have depleted our inventory of potential
presidents by ruling out anyone who lies about sex. Do we really want to go
further and disqualify anyone who lies about ethanol?
important policy matter. It was brazen, in front of millions on national
television. And yet it was embroidered with just enough art and obfuscation
that he can't pretend it was a just verbal wink. He wants to con us.
done? One of two things, it seems to me. One is to have answered the question
gotta love a guy who admits he's full of crap. It might work. And I wouldn't be
stick to his true beliefs, so the question of why he flipped would never have
arisen. Maybe it's true you can't be president without supporting the ethanol
prancing national satyr is ended. Further evidence: At the end of the match,
of the president drooling. Which was only fair, because he seemed to be
would flit from his trough of nachos to the playing field. Apparently
consonant with the welfare "reforms" he championed so vigorously, his
determination to raise the minimum wage so high that it's nearly possible to
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and for terror in voodoo cults is now a
freakish gift for children: You can buy a tiny duplicate of yourself. Or
posable, 23-inch doll that bears a frightening resemblance to your
To order, send a photo and fill out a questionnaire
assorted colors; circle the one closest to your child's. There are, however,
only six choices on the skin tone chart, from "porcelain," to a suspiciously
light "dark brown." There are also hair and eyebrow charts and a sketch of a
face upon which you draw birthmarks, moles, and freckles. "Pierced ears, cleft
and durable; and they become a treasured keepsake for years." Isn't this the
filled with photographs of overly cute little girls and their grotesque
unmitigated disaster.") Despite the winning combination of Will Smith and
artifice fails, and you realize you are regarding desperate actors, trapped on
Sniff at your own peril." (Visit the official site.)
After emphasizing just how gross this film version of the popular Comedy
review than most, admits he laughed all through the film but says, "I did not
offended me." (Click here to read a less positive review of the film: "South
Park is another movie straight from the smoking pits of Hell," and for
biography as well researched, thorough, and fascinating. Many also take it as a
the New York Times Book Review is largely a laundry list of the
in the previous volume, of her amorous relationship with Associated Press
Weekly calls it "Gates' best so far." The stories range in topic from a gay
man who takes in his sister's son while she checks into drug rehab, to an old
York Times that although Gates "delineates his characters' predicaments
smugness creeps into the narration," which leaves the reader "feeling superior
to his characters, irritated with their solipsistic mind games and
and even smell them. It's very exciting." Who said this about what?
stories get neglected. However, it seemed important to provide the full text of
reasons of space, I had to condense his remarks, adding nothing, just making a
few cuts and altering the punctuation to bring it into line with standard
desecration of the temples of our civilization and personal misconduct are good
and generous, first at the scene of natural disasters: Sir, your Turtle is in
All of us must learn our English language. We can get pot doing its magic
Pick up the whip. Insult a free people. Friends, the good manners are gone.
Swagger! Homage to the great god mammon! This is our cause. And so it is, that
and will not quit this fight as long as there is breath within us."
local residents who found a tusk sticking up from the ground, reports the
partially thawed and decayed, then halted digging for fear of destroying their
frozen soil with jackhammers. A helicopter lifted the 22-ton block of frozen
in morning television, much as the Founding Fathers anticipated when they
creativity, so these three shows no doubt offer diverse pleasures. Which of
even consider, or even bother to return my calls to discuss. Uptight
explicitly for the purpose of converting those users to broadband
sentiments for those unable to express themselves, until they can watch
a supposedly unseen critique). I saw the show more than enough times at
unlike sculptures or installations, a painting is essentially the same object
well be justified. (You'd think he'd have learned a lesson about taking
intentional fallacy, and a work of art of strength should be open to a variety
of interpretations, but I think there's a danger of missing the plot (and
quite right that the Brits are dead against coming over as theoretically
aridity? Almost as painful to my sensibility as the pomposity of
of '30s graphic design incidentally), replacing the tube stops with a seemingly
random array of celebrities, historic and current? I don't think that
he is known as an affable restaurateur. (His urinal in the gents at
pack, even if he has been surpassed in sheer nastiness by his colleagues, the
dogs in this show. I say there are a few pussy cats. I take some credit for
he is. But the cats' gentle purring is drowned out by the dogs' hysterical
"genial" film with "lots of broad slapstick humor that kids like and adults
gives the film a surprisingly upbeat review, admiring its "appealing
The final entry in a week of blah movies is one Universal wouldn't preview for
critics, presumably to postpone the bad reviews for a few days. Now that it's
in theaters, the pans are pouring in for this "ridiculously derivative" movie
returns to Earth after a strange, and possibly alien, encounter in space. His
wore in Rosemary's Baby --and must determine what has happened to hubby
and what to do about it. "Instead of a movie about aliens, The Astronaut's
latest, a story that "engagingly combines a comedy of manners with elements of
it and determining whether it is genuine. Along the way the reader gets a
that manages to be "as entertaining as it is intelligent, as stimulating as it
Weekly finds all the art history tiresome, as it has the side effect of
books were nominated for National Book Awards, gets positive but passionless
reviews for his rumination on the speed of contemporary life. Although
Faster is full of interesting details of how the brain perceives time
and how technology both steals and adds minutes to our lives, several critics
leap from being merely a superb reporter to an astute social thinker" (Henry
country's democracy and institute more market reform to prepare for a single
piece advocates new measures to discourage the trend
recognition from rebel groups that recruit kid fighters.
will revolutionize the politics of abortion. The pharmaceutical company that
politically tenable, since it can be administered early in a pregnancy by a
Web firms, the company was founded by Silicon Valley veterans who abandoned
firm quickly coalesced based on professional connections and recruited capital
cover story assails the avarice of drug companies for
developing lucrative lifestyle drugs to treat impotence, baldness, wrinkles,
Meanwhile the pet drug market is exploding, producing pills to alleviate
detriment of public health by trying to prevent the sale of generic substitutes
that have sacrificed individual rights to protect state rights.
become the predominant minority in the United States, due to booming
heavily Catholic, concentrated in important electoral states, and vote in
shaky assumption that Congress will maintain budget ceilings by slicing popular
cover story condemns the culture of child's play. An
send their kids to costly summer clinics and hire professional coaches. The
privately claims that he could do a better job campaigning than Gore has.
cover story warns that smallpox poses a catastrophic threat to the United
the virus for use as a biological weapon. An uncontrolled smallpox epidemic
could be more deadly than a hydrogen bomb attack because the United States
ambition to one day run for president. Its only evidence is a chorus of rumors,
taking the oath of office for the presidency while Bill watches in the
rule was well established that 'no lord could be sued by a vassal in his own
court, but each petty lord was subject to suit in the courts of a higher lord.'
This surprisingly relevant bit of medieval lore turns out to
whatever he indicates to me he wants done with them. He may want them returned.
He may want me to destroy them. He may not care at all." You make the
again, and once again, they'll split the take in one of the most elaborate
scientist is still waiting for Al Gore to let him know about those test
'over budget' collection of clothes she tried to sneak by customs in
progress that means an unsociable collector of original animation cells from
means Dutch auction, which has dismal connotations, but so does everything with
course, because a Dutch treat is no treat, Dutch courage is no courage, and
sophisticated way that makes it great for everyone except the staff of
30-weight motor oil, and that cute girl at the 7-Eleven. That's what I
betrayed the idea of family values? To me, the idea of family values has to do
with a father and a home with a mother and father and children and
you ever doubt it? I told you the absolute truth I had no clue what was going
on. I still don't, other than what I was filled in on. Later on, of course, I
Greatest Legends List of movie stars by devising a brief plot summary of a
heiress but finds himself smitten instead with her mute widowed grandmother
words coming out of the Middle East these days are as revolutionary as the
that "no peace process shall prevail over the personal security of the people
the peace process. "There are elements who are very determined to disrupt the
they used in the past, which only encourages the terrorists." Conversely,
their "policy of zero tolerance for terror" and declaring the bombers their
suspects and confiscated weapons. "Someone who sends a car bomb today is trying
Authority. They accused the "enemies of peace" of staging attacks "aimed at
destroying the entire peace process." "The answer to anyone who tries to
undermine the peace process is that we are determined to continue," proclaimed
language of war, the Post called the latest bombings "the first test of
Framing is a transcendent art. It can serve petty advantage or profound reform.
It can be used to achieve goals or to rethink them, to defeat enemies or to
reassess them, to win wars or to stop them. "There is a war going on between
"are fighting the peace process because they know it promises to kill terror
"It is one of the most significant developments in the
a pedicure for the first time. I had no idea of the impact I was
program. It's bread and circuses without the bread. And with a crappy little
circus that's got, like, maybe one trained donkey who isn't feeling very well.
this program has been unfulfilled. "The conquest of space has moved ahead with
inanimate object and can't feel shame, unlike some kind of Space World
Book of the future that will know all human emotions and will be perfected
biting his trainer on the ass, was rocketed aloft in a spacesuit filled with
Earth taken by a commercial satellite was made public.
expect to orbit their own satellites by next year. These cameras can resolve
not a person, although you could make out the cloud of evil roiling around the
sentences that made participants instantly turn the page, or change the
channel, or slip a fresh clip into a cheap and easily obtainable hand gun or
used to call "letters we never finished reading" (or something).
"As we head into high summer I find myself thinking often of summers long
"Make sure to stay tuned for a live concert featuring the Backstreet Boys,
"evidence that the potential benefits of exposure to sunlight may outweigh the
which led the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph and made the front pages of the
and multiple sclerosis and that more people would die from keeping out of the
sun than from being in it. The report also made the banal observations that
"people find lying or sitting in the sun enjoyable and relaxing" and that "this
even sillier "silly season" story, appearing the same day on the front pages of
to establish a task force to study the threat of an asteroid hitting Earth and
destroying all life on the planet. The FT said that a plan to avert
named after him. Asked whether the proposed establishment of a Near Earth
Object Task Force wasn't rather a limp response to such a cataclysmic threat, a
spokesman for the Science Ministry said defensively, "It's not as if there are
has started to come into line with international law enough to justify a policy
by establishing dialogue, we are differentiating ourselves from the US." It
journalists to reveal sources and to bar many opposition writers and editors
from "any form of press activity," the Guardian said.
"there is no evidence that any police officers were brought to justice."
demonstrated its seriousness about getting its hands on him by announcing
The second film this summer featuring a little boy who sees dead people gets
decent reviews, but most say it's not as good as the similar box office smash
compulsion to dig up his backyard following an impromptu hypnosis session at a
party. The film "is at its best in its mysterious, genuinely chilling first
half. But as the plot kicks in, the hysteria mounts and the explanations start
punctured by the critics: "Possibly the funniest movie ever made about
mysteriously afflicted with stigmata after receiving a rosary with a history
from her mother. Critics term it "a silly, roiling melange of special effects
screed" with "lots of broken glass, bird feathers, dripping blood and
(Click here to visit a fan page devoted to the film.)
Evenly divided negative and positive reports for this unexpectedly sincere
that "one finds oneself asking how such familiar material breeds contentment
of genetic engineering "a warning so bloated with bombast that one begins to
wish that the gene for pomposity could be extirpated for the sake of future
the New York Times that the book is "impressive if somewhat pious" but
ideas as the ethical ambiguities of technology." A few stick up for the
embattled author, arguing that though "the ideas expressed aren't complicated,"
stormed the capital, panicking the languid sophisticates with an unfashionably
passionate attack on the dangers of passionlessness," only to later concede
that the book is "an arduous read that would test the syntactical skills of a
tenured professor." (Click here to read the first chapter.)
complaint does not make for particularly engaging or sympathetic reading."
poison on their hands. They drive it around the country in a dilapidated
absence of a unifying international story, most of the weekend's papers led on
they are about tourism and commerce." Indeed much of the coverage revolved
their vision. (For comprehensive eclipse packages, see these Web sites from
mergers in the financial sector. The moves will consolidate the nation's
banks into six institutions by the end of next month, with the government
forming the new alliances rather than allowing market forces to bring them
about. ''If you're suddenly told, 'Here's the person you're going to
banker told the paper. Although the new structure has not yet been revealed,
population but control a disproportionately higher percentage of the country's
wealth." There is no word yet on how current shareholders will be compensated
extradition to face charges there, took still more turns this weekend when the
request is withdrawn, the proceedings will continue with one of those countries
solution. "It isn't a question of political ideology or of bilateral relations
death toll could eventually reach several million." According to the story,
"Experts believe that hormones, taken from the brains of slaughterhouse
carcasses, were injected into cows in a bid to create a new breed of
pituitary glands, were transmitted in an agent that spread mad cow disease and
suggestions of an indigenous boycott of the games were rejected, in part
institutions in the eyes of the world for their mistreatment and neglect of
image at a time when all other efforts are directed towards polishing it and
only futile but misdirected." The Herald placed hope in the
acknowledgment by some native leaders "that the presentation of Aboriginal
people as victims, though useful to win some political arguments, is ultimately
also sharpens Aboriginal leaders' understanding of the need for greater efforts
message of his campaign. "I understand governments don't create wealth," Bush
began. "Governments create an environment in which entrepreneurship and
producers can flourish. That's why I support cutting the tax rates. That's why
it right there. Did Bush just say he's against the death penalty? And what on
say it, and it has everything to do with creating wealth. A few years ago,
Republicans not only supported the death penalty; they campaigned on a promise
the way, the two "penalties" merged. Republicans began to use the phrase "death
penalty," like the phrase "marriage penalty," to describe a tax pegged to one
of life's most sacred passages. The inheritance tax, which had been known as
the hated "marriage penalty," became the "death penalty."
Commerce he would do something about "unfair" taxes, starting with the "death
on Fox News that Congress could use the surplus to address "a serious
unfairness in the tax code, such as the marriage penalty, the death penalty,
taxes on senior citizens." Last weekend, Bush adopted the same phrase.
transformation of the inheritance tax into the "death penalty" provides more
grist for satirists who wonder whether Republicans, having condemned the
"marriage penalty" for discouraging marriage, now worry that the inheritance
tax is discouraging death. (For a head start on the satire, check out the work
would never have called the inheritance tax the "death penalty," because the
death penalty meant something else. Today, they can speak out against the
plausible. Capital punishment is no longer a live issue.
saving your life and started talking about your life savings. As for Democrats,
they don't complain much about the death penalty anymore. The last guy who did
politician either supports the death penalty and makes a show of it, as Bill
debate was profound and heated. Liberals called the practice murder.
Conservatives called it the only fitting punishment for unspeakable crimes. It
was a moral struggle of the highest consequence. But these days, unspeakable
crimes are no longer spoken of, murder is what happens to your portfolio on a
bad day, "family values" are debated through the Internal Revenue code, and the
"death penalty" is a tax issue. It may be a perfectly worthy topic in an age of
affluence. But it's hardly a matter of life and death.
Among the four pages of rules are these: women must
fine, and then there's the draconian Rule 29--"if any girl gets three
complaints, she must immediately resign." Rules governing
question, comes in a variety of forms, none more impressive than The Man
the naughtiness of the privileged that runs something like this: Everyone says
would complain. This bit of logical high jinks can justify anything from racism
different sort of justification. The old method was to insist that it was
"satire." Applied today, the line would run that The Man Show is not the
thing but is a parody of the thing. (The thing being the social ideas of Frank
slapping around his girlfriends. Still a lively topic in philosophical circles,
apparently.) But satire requires a critical stance, while The Man Show
requires jokes about women drivers and farting monkeys.
defense: Our show may be rubbish, but we know it's rubbish. Through a process
good person, therefore anything that I do is, by definition, good. Thus, The
These are the rules for prostitutes working for one
incidentally, states, "When a customer sings karaoke, please, everyone
gangsters are finding it hard to compete with vibrant immigrant entrepreneurs.
In yet another spasm of millennial list making, the
but few other equally ranked pairs ever worked together. Participants are
farm. Later remade for television, but as a comedy.
whimsically with her silver serving set, and is beaten nearly to death with a
hack, schooled in the arts of personal survival through manipulation of rules,
arbitrary acts and unpredictable alliances. In this he is in the dark company
of former Soviet officials thrown into democratic forums for which they have no
instinct and little respect. It will take more than one generation before the
ways of a bureaucratic dictatorship give way to those of a liberal democracy,
utterly unschooled in the orderly democratic transfer of constitutional
protestations about his commitment to democracy and his selection of a
"successor" with little chance of legitimately winning a presidential election.
be remembered as having overseen the first democratic transfer of political
that the offer "gives Turkey another chance to deal with its largest and most
development and given Turkey one of the world's worst records in the human
rights field. But doing so will demand more tolerance and flexibility than any
insects has a long tradition in Japan," but with increasing urbanization and
the loss of wild habitat, they are becoming more difficult to find. As of this
summer, there's no need to schlep out to the country just to stock up on bugs:
A pair of live horned beetles can be purchased from a vending machine for
"automated bug sales are a step too far and teach children that living
paper that the bugs "might actually like it in a machine because they seem to
witnessing the highlight of his day. He peers through tired eyes out the window
him. She opens her jacket (she's naked underneath) and red rose petals drift
bath of red petals. Back in the roses for the first time in years, he's soon
pumping iron, smoking pot, and telling off his frigid wife and faceless bosses,
convinced that whatever he has lost he's getting back, baby.
Beauty doesn't feel primitive. It feels lustrously hip and aware,
playwright and former sitcom writer, carries an invigorating blast of
counterculture righteousness, along with the kind of pithily vicious marital
bickering that makes some viewers (especially male) say, "Yeah! Tell that bitch
off!" More important, it has a vein of metaphysical yearning, which the
the film a patina of New Age lyricism and layer upon layer of visual irony. The
the graininess of the video image (along with the plangent music) suggests how
distend the real into the surreal with imperceptible puffs. Aided by his
gorgeously directed that you might think you're seeing something
to melodrama, from satire to bathos, are fresh and deftly navigated, but almost
every one of the underlying attitudes is smug and easy: from the corporate
flunky named "Brad" to the interchangeable gay neighbors (they're both called
insists on listening to Muzak while she and her husband and daughter eat her
that those ideas have rarely been presented so seductively. Several months ago,
protagonist attempts to break through our cultural and technological
anesthetization into "the real." That's the theme here, too, and it's
extraordinarily potent, at times even heartbreaking. The symbols, however, have
the same sentiments and has acquired the same deadpan radiance. That must be
It's not the druggy philosophizing, however, that makes
grounded in sympathy instead of derision. Everyone on screen is in serious
of seducing her dad, acts chiefly out of a terror of appearing ordinary. As the
sour bulldog whose capaciously baggy eyes are moist with sadness over his
inability to reach out. (When he stands helplessly in the rain at the end, the
up. She doesn't transcend the part, she fills it to the brim, anatomizes it.
confident, composed, in control. When she fails to sell that house, she closes
her a primal force. An actress who packs more psychological detail into a
road to greatness before she hit a speed bump called Warren. It's a joy to
ordinary that they lose their capacity to see. It's saying that our only hope
is to cultivate a kind of stoned aesthetic detachment whereby even a man with
his brains blown out becomes an object of beauty and a signpost to a Higher
Power. But to scrutinize a freshly dead body and not ask how it got that
still get away with playing a professional ballplayer. He moves and acts like a
last hurrah: The team has been sold and the new owners don't necessarily want
before our eyes and the sound drops out); and he mutters darkly at a succession
soon the relationship flashbacks start coming thick and fast, and the balance
to leave the mound. But maybe it's also because the relationships scenes are
sharply edited and full of texture. The rhythms of the game feel right; the
rhythms of the romance feel embarrassingly Harlequin, and the picture drags on
sake of making his first, real mainstream picture. He might as well have stuck
The Republican presidential candidates met for their second
killed. Dozens of others were hurt when gunmen opened fire on
finally surrendered after a day, claiming that they had only meant to scare
members of parliament and that shooting by government security guards had
forced them to fire back. The motives of the assailants, who yelled that they
were staging a coup and demanded to meet with the president, are unknown. The
country are quiet and the only events are taking place around the parliament
building." Western analysts suggested it further underscored the instability of
drafters claimed that it doesn't use Social Security monies to fund federal
agencies. Congressional auditors disagreed, finding that the bill depends on
approval is expected, but the president has not yet said whether he'll veto the
advocates warned that this would make doctors wary of prescribing painkillers
to any patients, for fear of being accused of assisting a suicide.
The online auction of models' eggs may be a fraud. Five of the
eight models have already dropped out, and journalists who tried to place bids
received no response. The proprietors' explanation: We're inundated with
responses and will be up and running shortly. The journalists' explanation: The
site is a sham, intended only to drive traffic to the owner's porn sites.
consciousness or die early in the journey, but they say they are unlikely to
funds. Trump, who said he would decide by March whether to run for president,
too similar and bland. Trump's spin: The Democrats and Republicans have
measure. He has threatened to veto the five remaining appropriations
security needs to be held hostage by this budget battle." Skeptics said the
president simply realized that contesting defense spending would be unpopular.
compromise. The White House spin: Now it's your turn to compromise.
home in the midst of his presidential campaign to supervise the execution of a
Democratic presidential candidates, was tough on crime. Last week, after a
this time is that Bush, unlike previous Republican presidential candidates, is
Bush succeeds in projecting such sensitivity, the cure may prove worse than the
disease. Republicans used to win elections by calling their Democratic
concealed handguns, is in danger of completing this reversal. By fighting crime
with "love," he is coming across not as a gun nut, but as a wimp.
television and in the print media, Bush blamed the shooting on a "wave of
evil." The killer, he surmised, "was acting as a result of evil in his heart.
hearts." Rather than discuss gun control or prosecution, Bush's campaign Web
site offered visitors a single quote atop his home page: "This is a terrible
tragedy made worse by the fact it took place in a house of hope and love. My
thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the
Second, Bush tried to project a virtue traditionally scorned by conservatives:
compassion. "It's inexplicable to me how somebody's heart could be so full of
hate that he would walk into a place of worship where youngsters were seeking
God's grace and love and kill people," Bush told the media. Rushing home to
"add some comfort to the pain and sorrow," Bush regretted that "there's not
second message has curdled the first. Swaddled in hugs, empathy, and spiritual
musings on the gunman's "heart," Bush's appeal to cultural renewal instead of
government intervention comes across more as a plea for love instead of laws.
"We as a society can pass laws and hold people accountable," he told reporters.
"But our hopes and prayers have got to be that there is more love in society."
"I wish I knew the law to make people love one another," Bush added. "We can
pass laws, but there needs to be a higher law. And that is, 'Love your neighbor
isn't the only conservative projecting such an oddly mixed message. "Most
people are going to understand what a terribly, terribly tragic thing this is,
what a horrible tormented person this is," lamented House Majority Leader Dick
massacre on "societal elements that create such empty hearts that commit these
Vice President Al Gore professes reluctance to "politicize" the tragedy, his
allies at the Democratic National Committee have seized the opportunity to
to prosecute gunmen carrying deadly weapons into churches and school events,"
support law enforcement's attempts to close the gun show loophole. It's time
for Bush to start listening to law enforcement and stop listening to the
control activists have gone further. Speaking on television and in the print
"tough" restrictions they would prefer. They claim the support of "police" and
the enmity of "criminals." Mocking Bush's plea that he didn't "know a
governmental law that will put love in people's hearts," Handgun Control
suggested, "must contemplate what its lax gun laws and liberal gun culture have
New York Times cited speculation that Bush was concerned about "renewed
attorney general and the state's leading prosecutors, he unveiled a plan to
hire extra prosecutors who would focus exclusively on gun crimes. Scarcely a
sentence passed his lips without a mention of "toughness." "The best way to
protect our citizens is to vigorously enforce the tough laws we have on the
books," Bush declared. "We have some very tough laws against gun violence in
with tough enforcement can we win the war against gun violence."
were looking for a candidate who knew how to speak the language of love. Next
time, they may be looking for a candidate who knows when to stop.
gift parity, along with her psychotically misguided ideas of the whys and
wherefores of giving gifts are a great deal more than "alarming." I found
myself deeply troubled by her fantastical notions and saddened by the
possibility that her children might be taught these same ideas. Needless to
say, I thought your response to RS was absolutely correct.
is fighting for money, not attempting to hide the expectation of booty behind a
your support and regrets that she may have insulted official mercenaries. If
RS, our bride with the tally sheet, is by any chance reading this week's
calling her a woman with a cash register where her heart ought to be.
about how I am supposed to react to women's fashions. At a recent conference of
tablecloth. Several of these professional women across from me were wearing
their lingerie preferences were not so obvious. Am I supposed to look at the
ceiling the entire meeting, steal the occasional glance, or just assume it's a
lines, I was recently in a retail store and the clerk had on a summer dress. As
she leaned over the counter to hand me my purchase, it became clear that her
lingerie preference was none at all. I didn't know whether to stare at the
ceiling, pretend I saw nothing, or thank her for the free show. In both
instances, these women had to know that everyone was getting an eyeful. I
missed the era of free love while in grade school and am wondering if we are
revealing a stray boob. Alas, the '90s motto, "Let it all hang out," has moved
these people do not purchase their clothes in the dark, so whatever is able to
be seen is fair game for whatever response feels natural. You may even stare if
and I have a subscription to our city's symphony orchestra. Sometimes things
come up that prevent us from using our tickets. When this happens we give them
to friends who are also classical music fans. We have made it clear to this
couple we expect nothing in return, as we have already paid for the tickets
that would go to waste if they didn't use them. However, being polite people
and good friends, this other couple has, as a gesture of thanks, invited us to
be their guests at a minor league baseball game. My wife and I are not
enthusiastic about this, especially since getting there requires a drive of
close to an hour. But we don't want to appear ungrateful to our friends or hurt
their feelings. (We can't use the "We're busy" excuse, because they've given us
way of declining, or have you some suggestions for handling this
It is best to be upfront, both to handle the matter
truthfully, as well as to scotch baseball invitations on into the next century.
are certain occasions when one plays along in order to spare someone's
manages to attract the attentions of three young attractive women. Would Really
appears that numbers are driving the argument here, and I can't tell if it's
the three, uh, companions would no doubt be an implied tribute to his
attractiveness. At the age of 70-something, however, this trio has about it the
wondered in the past, in other publications, why do geezers with young
only looks like the clash of celebrity egos. Actually, the Reform Party is
natural enemies, progressives and populists simultaneously attract and repulse
nobody will pull off that miracle in this election.
puritan ethos, although they were more likely to be socialists than the
western cousins, while socialist enthusiasms were easily merged with Social
South than in the coastal "black belt," which has been dominated since colonial
supporters were social conservatives who favored activist government, as long
liberals more concerned with good government than with expensive government.
Republicans in transit to a new home in the Democratic Party.
with both progressives and populists. In the minds of the skinflint
progressives, spending money one does not have is a form of moral depravity.
fears about a remote government dominated by the rich and powerful. Unlike
deficit reduction, the trade issue divided populist protectionists from
the will to implement them. Progressive reforms such as initiatives and
legislatures and to concentrate plebiscitary power in allegedly nonpartisan
who spurned their party's presidential candidate in 1884--and Liberal
Liberal Republicans, a generation earlier in the Gilded Age, had been
hillbilly populism dissolved. The puritan crusaders of the North and the
alienated populists of the South may share common political enemies, but little
returned the favor by viewing Mugwumps as enemies rather than as potential
protection for corrupt manufacturers. In the 1990s, northern fiscal
rally around harebrained economic programs, elevating them from an instrument
of policy into a symbol of a crusade against their enemies. For the followers
The factional war within the Reform Party, then, represents
the decomposition of the movement into its Northern progressive and Southern
progressives will do what they have always done best: They're never happier
than when they are demonstrating their moral, political, and religious purity
by heading for the exit and starting their own small but pure church or party.
considered seceding from the United States, whose federal government was then
progressives to declare the purity of their principles, denounce the corruption
a new party, perhaps, from which, in time, they can secede.
the summer's most delectable political story. The jokes abound: what Warren
friends are encouraging speculation: "Warren has been consulting with
Democratic and Reform Party activists," they say. "Warren is taking this very
illuminate a grand populist vision with pure charisma. Both sides mistakenly
could charm the pants off a few million disaffected Democrats. (And even if the
is too cool and distant to be great on screen. He has made his mark on
Splendor in the Grass into a controlling position as a producer. He
gross. In the '70s, he bullied screenwriters and directors into making
charmed or threatened or kneecapped this director or that executive into doing
was an awkward, embarrassed speaker. "He understood why the public is skeptical
shadows, planning media and campaign strategies. "Political pros in that
has no modesty. It is his cool and honest pragmatism. He recognizes that he'd
politics are a muddle. It's not happenstance that he is backed by such an odd
political system is broken and needs fixing. He just seems unable to explain
specific political ideas. He seems vaguely to believe that there is too much
money in politics, corporations are too powerful, welfare reform was wrong, and
about the evils of lobbyists and the innate decency of black folk.
principles tell him to deplore gamesmanship, but gamesmanship may be what he
for demanding take after take till he's sure it's right. (Click to see how his
general caution contrasts with his brazen womanizing.) Movie stars can control
refuse to appear in public. He didn't speak to reporters from the late '70s
is willing to do that. He's too cautious. After all, he twice declined
opportunities to run for office in the '70s, when he was a much more credible
may be a canny political tactic. He doesn't really want to run, but perhaps he
switched to the History Channel. But over the next few days I found myself
thinking, one might almost say brooding, about the sighting.
page to propound his view that the prospect of future earnings growth justifies
stock prices are not only excessively high but dangerously so and that the
history of Japan's notorious "bubble economy" is being repeated. Alas, the
prospects but rather on a simple misunderstanding of corporate accounting (in
essence, Glassman was claiming that businesses can eat their seed corn and
plant it too). It is unclear from that exchange whether Glassman understands
It isn't all that unusual a story. Indeed, it is quite
commonplace for influential people to propound economic doctrines that are "not
even wrong," that is, that involve a basic conceptual or accounting
impossibility. But there is a kicker in this case. Imagine a
reader who for some reason just could not grasp Crook's
and who therefore understood why even the most optimistic economists have been
finding it increasingly hard to justify current stock valuations, might well
have shifted heavily into cash, perhaps even shorted the market, and would soon
have been gnashing his teeth. The guy who had no idea what he was talking about
gave what turned out to be good advice. The guy who made sense got the
happen? One reason is that since last fall the economic news, both at home and
abroad, has been better than most people expected. But, anyway, stock prices
going higher, they do, at least for a while. And so it is very easy for someone
who is completely wrong about the fundamentals to make a correct prediction
about the direction of stock prices, and conversely.
not the only recent case in which good things have happened to bad ideas. And
eventually led to an overheated economy, one in which the pressure on scarce
capacity led to accelerating inflation. But according to believers in a "new
economy," those constraints were a thing of the past: Because of rapid
globalization, rapid growth would no longer lead to inflation.
experiments, it was immediately apparent that this argument was logical
explain, measured productivity and measured growth are constructed from the
same data. Even if there was an unmeasured acceleration in productivity, it
any faster than before. And global economy or no global economy, a national
economy has a speed limit determined by the sum of labor force and productivity
growth. And so, a couple of years ago, when the measured rate of productivity
growth showed little sign of increasing, it was natural for people like me to
until very recently. This performance has been made possible partly by an
acceleration of measured productivity growth, partly by the surprising
quiescence of wages, despite a very tight labor market; but the effect is that
those who believed in the New Paradigm feel vindicated, and those of us who
To be fair, you can make a better case on behalf of the New
businessmen were telling them tales of a "productivity revolution," and even if
the data didn't show any evidence of that revolution, they felt sure that
somehow growth was going to accelerate. They couldn't articulate their feelings
very well, and what they actually said didn't make any sense, but they were
nonetheless right in their sense that something new and good was happening to
that in the buzzing, blooming confusion that is the economy it is all too easy
for those who would make economic predictions to be right for the wrong
reasons, and conversely. Confused thinking does not necessarily lead to
the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread
But there is also, I think, another moral. If being
smart is no guarantee of being right, having been right is not necessarily an
indicator that someone is smart. Suppose that you hear someone making what
sounds like a dumb argument, but you know that he has an impressive track
record at market or economic prediction. Guess what: The argument may be as
campaign, especially the bold and clear speeches he's made on a variety of
born; I never really knew him. A career military officer, he left my mother and
his four children little in an economic sense, but the mementos of his life,
including photographs, his military decorations and the memories of those whose
Stein should be grateful to have enjoyed the company of his parents into their
old age; even if we don't realize it at the time, each and every moment that we
have with our loved ones should be considered, and treated as, a blessing.
At no point does he tell the reader the size of the
are subject to any tax. This is not class warfare. This is sensible economic
and public policy. Many of the wealthy realized the benefits of disbursing
the occasion of his father's death into a political complaint.
I am in the business of estate tax planning. With a
eliminated the amount of taxes that were payable by his estate. It is also true
Ben and any other siblings were merely members of the "lucky sperm club."
We all take something out of society. We all should
good many things, did put something into society, besides taxes. But assume he
had not; should he or anyone else be allowed to accumulate substantial wealth
or should it be filtered back into the society from whence it came and from
whence it might do more public good? I will leave that question for the
tend to spring up when cultural preservation is in danger, and their record of
but a cultural need to know. If these speakers don't fashion this
or lesser degree. The most enthusiastic speakers I have ever met are not native
are instituted by the government, but perhaps more likely to succeed if they
people there seem to feel that their culture is plenty intact without this
run a multimedia company. We speak our own urbanized form of computer
superhighway" and "surf the web" are just not compatible with an urban
all of these together into my own urban Renaissance language. I think that
people need to communicate so there should be a shared mode of communication,
dialect" itself is just wrong. I mean, we do NOT speak the Queen's English, nor
would we want to. Further, English itself is just a bastardized version of
new, educated and traveled middle class how to find a middle ground for
decorating and cooking. Her style remains essentially that.
margaritas, so what? Why does she need to be so vociferously criticized? Why do
threatened by THEM and she has NEVER, despite what the many parodies say,
preached AGAINST a more casual style of entertaining or said her way was the
represents intellect and devotion, which trumps domestic chores. But nowadays
week announced a change in format, to make the telecast more entertaining for
girls will promenade in bathing suits holding signs with their personal phone
winning contestant will, after being crowned, open up her head and show us all
footage of the contestants' slow descent into madness as they are
there are two ways to go with today's question. The first, as many of you did,
yesterday's News Quiz, few participants made the obvious leap and added farm
animals as well.) The other, largely neglected option: Imply that the
competition, as currently configured, is improbably upscale. Perhaps the
recital, or they could finally stop forcing the contestants to defend their
evening gown competition. Everyone likes evening gowns.
and they'll be backed by professional dancers and musicians. According to
find great entertainment," Beck says. "If, by great entertainment, you mean
film. Play along as we rank the following movies, from best to worst, according
Participants are invited to find, in an actual newspaper or magazine, a less
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true. Not everything you read in the New York Times is true, either. So
when you read about scientific breakthroughs, how do you know what to
life evolved from clay is more inherently plausible than a theory that life
judgments: If a prestigious journal has agreed to publish the clay theory, it's
plausible theories from equally credible sources that have passed equally
strict scrutiny, the one that makes it into a top journal has a smaller
chance of being right. Here's why: Editors like to publish theories they find
surprising. And the best way to surprise an editor is to be wrong.
editors are reckless. At least in mathematics and economics (the two fields
where I can testify from personal experience), the editorial process is
rigorously demanding. Long before an article is submitted for publication, the
author is expected to circulate drafts among experts in the field and to
Only then is the (now heavily revised) article formally submitted, whereupon
that can easily take another year or more. Are referees ever lax and careless?
Surely. Are they lax and careless with articles of genuine importance? In my
observation, essentially never. Through multiple rounds of correspondence,
referees demand satisfaction regarding every important detail. In many cases,
the author will visit the referee's home institution for a semester or a year
That's exactly what's so damning about the hoax perpetrated
evidence, and even meaning, was accepted for publication in the cultural
an event so far removed from anything that could possibly occur in a legitimate
academic enterprise that it converted agnostics like me, who had doubted the
would not be impossible, or even unusual, to publish a carefully reasoned
article that's still wrong. That's because of the bias I mentioned earlier:
Given two papers that have both survived the vetting process, editors tend to
prefer the more surprising, which means that on average they prefer the one
It's easy to see how the same dynamic could work at a
newspaper. "Man bites dog" is a better story than "dog bites man," but it's
also more likely to be wrong, even if both stories are reported by equally
likely to be mistaken than when you think you've seen something ordinary. But
way to determine just how many published economic hypotheses are actually true.
They looked through several years' worth of issues of the top economics
sort of evidence that led the authors to accept their own hypotheses. (Another
evidence, even when it's a little shy of overwhelming. In most cases,
overwhelming evidence is too much to ask for, because evidence can be hard to
collect and hard to interpret. So no individual article can be criticized for
that are overwhelmingly confirmed. In fact, they gave a precise definition of
problem is that exactly zero are confirmed overwhelmingly, and zero is
hypotheses might be true, but probably not more than about a third of them. In
other words, when a published article in a top journal presents evidence that
its hypothesis is true, its hypothesis is probably false. It would be very
interesting to perform the same experiment with, say, medical journals instead
progress of science, keep in mind that we can learn a lot from even a very few
true hypotheses submerged in a sea of false ones. And here's another ray of
developed to help space travelers maintain healthy levels of bacteria in their
intestines, the yogurt has become so popular with the cosmonauts that the
institute is marketing it commercially, along with new varieties of cottage
plant world that details the relations of the world's million species of
a rare tropical flower is the closest living relative of the Earth's first
flowering plant; and many plant families appear to have evolved from a single
"Eve," whose close relatives survive in some of today's more pristine lakes.
The study also confirmed the theory that fungi are more closely related to
cloth. Based on his analysis of pollen grains and plant images (imprints of
existed in the eighth century, and maybe even before. He presented his findings
International Herald Tribune reports. Continuing to dispute the theory
behavior" of legal commentators and the media outlets that broadcast them. The
commentator knows first hand, by watching the trial or reading trial
like sports events or predicting jury verdicts." Two nationwide voluntary
members in response to the proposal, which has been outlined in recent law
some spiced rum provided by another brother and fell into a coma, suffocating
fraternity chapter as an organization for manslaughter and hazing. (The case
was never tried because the fraternity chapter had disbanded by the time of
marks what may be the first time a degree has been revoked for a violation of
academic community is protesting a new law that will require all recipients of
federal research grants to make their research data public through the
controversial subjects by bombarding them with information requests.
Confidentiality agreements will also suffer, they worry. The law would also
limit the definition of what information researchers must make public, as well
as the "reasonable fees" that federal agencies can charge for obtaining
requested data. The budget office intends to publish its final regulations by
not control. Additionally, over the past year the society has been striking
position on the condition that the medical society not use the name "New
eradicate the cults and established a commission to investigate cult activity
University student strike is stretching into its fifth month. The protest over
for the future of the university. The administration has consented to a
revocation of the tuition hike, reports National Public Radio, but now the
students and many professors are insisting on a more active say in how the
university is run. The strike may be losing steam, though: Students who want to
return to school are holding demonstrations against the strikers.
little early for my taste. The speech writers are busily at work spinning out
their anodyne alliterations, their balanced bromides, their cautious clarion
Conservatism" and "Prosperity with a Purpose." Al Gore seems to be ditching
"Reinventing Government," "Inventing the Internet," "Global Warming," "The
Third Way," and all those other nerdy notions. He is aiming directly at the
campaign will embrace the "specifics." There will be speeches or position
papers about education, the environment, the budget, and other issues conveying
information about the candidates' intentions. But it will still be in the
team accompanied him on the campaign and advised him about what to say to get
elected. The other team, on which I served, stayed home and wrote papers about
how he should govern after he got elected. The two teams did not communicate
with each other, fearing, I suppose, diversion from their two different
about this deviousness and evasiveness, and I don't expect it to change. I have
only a modest request. Before the campaign concludes, I would like to see more
attention to the numbers. Many of the policy issues confronting us hinge on
remedies depends on how much of the condition there is. And whether a proposed
policy is worth its cost or is likely to be effective also depends on its
One number we already hear relates to taxation. The number
by which the candidate proposes to cut income tax rates. That is supposed to
tell the voter how much better off he will be if the candidate is elected. For
that purpose, obviously, the bigger the number the better. But the tax numbers
need to be seen in national and historical perspective. From the national
standpoint, lower taxes are not necessarily better than higher ones. In the
administration.) The candidates should tell us where, inside or outside that
range, they would want federal tax receipts to be. That would give us some clue
to the national economic significance of the difference between them.
immediately raises the question of the budget surplus. For decades we had a
rule for the proper relationship between government expenditures and
be in balance, meaning no deficit. But we are beyond that now. We have in
prospect some years in which, with existing policies, there will be a surplus,
and there is a question about how big that surplus should be. That is a
question neither the president nor the congressional Republicans want to face.
In his recent budget, the president tried to conceal the fact that there was a
surplus, and the Republicans, with their talk about a "lockbox" for Social
Security, have confused everyone, probably including themselves. But the
subject is important, and the candidates should tell us how much, if any,
As long as the country continues to bask in prosperity,
there will be no debate about general economic policy during this campaign.
Everyone will agree on the most important requirement for sustaining
quantitative questions about this. How many are left behind? Is it a major
problem? We have official estimates of the proportion of the population who are
makes a big difference to the priority you give to this problem. So, if the
candidates are going to make a big issue about helping those who are falling
behind, I would like to hear their views about how many there are.
areas of policy with which I have some familiarity. But one can also see the
value of quantification in many other areas: health care, education, the
Asking political candidates to quantify their stands may
seem unrealistic because they don't want to pin themselves down and because the
audience will tune out. But there have been cases where the candidate gave us
campaign. Serious questions were being raised about whether the policies he was
proposing for taxes, expenditures, and the deficit added up. He then made a
underlying assumptions. Some people, including me, criticized parts of the
story. But I think it helped to support the idea that he knew what he was
after he came into office. So, I don't think the request for more numbers is
"Continuing series of 'land for peace' deals with Sea World trivializes Middle
addition of the words 'and a Christian' to the sign: 'To ride Space Mountain
fallacies are debunked by this little contretemps. First is the
folks will find it rhetorically effective now. When both sides are mad at you,
it's seldom because you are a model of fairness. What you probably are is
simply wrong. Second is the exciting but all too often disappointing notion
that people can unite against a common enemy. At least for very long. Although
peace. Or mutual loathing of the Martin Short Show brought about a
cheerful view of all the little countries of the world.
company and we do not take political positions," declared a delightfully
determination to smile at the good and frown at the bad?
commodities: time with their children; time to teach them right from wrong;
time to pass on their values."-- Vice President Gore
programs they want to give their kids a safe place to learn and enrich their
"Al Gore is the only candidate who is talking about real change to improve the
for president, citing Gore's leading role in improving the nation's economy and
look forward to working with these leaders to further Al Gore's goals of
revolutionary improvements in education, livable communities, continued
"Al Gore will continue to work for a balanced approach and fight for a
immigration, and threats to our ocean environment," the vice president said.
by the scent of blood in the water, the media have swarmed the crash site of
pundits debate the more entertaining question: Why does this keep happening to
and martyrdom on one side; recklessness, frivolity, and mayhem on the
seek "adventure," "live close to the edge," are "wild" and "addicted to risk,"
and have a "dangerous streak." This spin laughably equates all dangerous
bits of evidence. As a boy, he used to evade his Secret Service agents. He once
rhinoceros. "He learned through all these experiences to make light of danger,"
diving, kayaking, and Rollerblading. He asked permission to rappel down Mount
"courage" spin puts an equally simplistic gloss of nobility on the family's
family [are] 'in the arena,' and they're living a vigorous life." "They're
and so its members have taken some chances." The New York Times boasted
Who caused the tragedy? Most of the coverage depicts John as the victim of
by "gods." Not only were Jack and Bobby assassinated, but "the younger
passive language obscures an important distinction. Whereas Jack and Bobby were
murdered, the "younger generation," far from being "haunted" or "picked off,"
out on the town with Uncle Teddy, brought home a woman, and ended up being
like Jack and Bobby, John was "cut down far too early." Again, passive language
papering over these differences. Thanks to this blurring of the
Congress despite his own car accident, which likewise devastated his passenger,
Bobby's assassinations, have cast his family as the ultimate victim of his
crash. "Stop blaming John. It is enough that tragedy once again punished the
for "adventure," "recklessness," and "disaster," the Post compares
piloting of a PT boat in the war: "They both grabbed life by the lapels." These
comparisons obscure the difference between risking one's life in war, as Jack
inexperienced pilot, took off after sunset, wasn't licensed to fly in the poor
never contacted air traffic controllers for assistance. His defenders point out
judgment is way out of bounds," because "he could just as well have been killed
from other pilots who say they decided the weather was too dangerous for
Was the protagonist morally reckless? Recklessness theorists associate John
of John, "If he was less reckless than his cousins, it was not saying much;
there were friends who turned down the invitation to take to the skies with
really about karma, about people who broke the rules and were ultimately broken
critique confuses different dimensions of "judgment" and "breaking the rules."
To err in assessing the weather is human; to pork the baby sitter is depraved.
girlfriends" as a bachelor with his father's "sexual snacking" as a married
differences when they demand that the nation stand with Uncle Teddy and mourn
their lives are dead because he screwed up. But let's not confuse one
far less blameworthy than the tragedies wrought by the worst.
be put in the river." Militia commander (passing the order to other
militiamen): "If they want to leave, pull them out [of their car], kill them
Observer said the program "was hidden from legislators and the public
taxpayers' expense "despite US awareness of its role in the genocide of about
International agencies should halt all aid, and other countries should bring
military with the anticipated passage in parliament this week of a new state
resistance to the bill, the paper said it would give the military almost
unlimited power in a state of emergency, including the right to jail people
without trial. The day the House of Representatives endorses the bill will be
"a sad day for civil society," sounding the death knell for the reform
rather than months." She said, "The surge of feeling for 'our boys' on their
argued that the intervention is justified by international justice and, in the
peacekeeping force and described it as a policy of "tough love."
reach the summit after all. A book by members of the team that found his body
on the mountain last May revealed that he had enough oxygen to do so, and it
intended to place a photograph of his wife, Ruth, on the summit should he reach
it. No photographs were found on his body. 'Where are they,' the authors ask,
you from the Great Hall of Consumer Justice, a k a the Shopping Avenger's
services has grown exponentially. He is also disconcerted, because the sheer
evil corporations are treating too many loyal consumers without regard for the
basic norms of customer care, such as answering the phone and not calling
Before we turn to this month's shameful examples of
corporate malfeasance, a couple of housekeeping notes:
Avenger know they were pissed off by his use of the term "pissed off" in last
month's column. The term "is offensive to anyone with any sense of courtesy,
describe their plights, and the Shopping Avenger is merely reflecting their
anger. Though the Shopping Avenger offers this piece of advice: When writing to
"consumer care specialists," or whatever they're being called today, do not use
the honorific "asshole" by way of greeting. And remember: The assholes are the
are lackeys and shills and running dogs, but they aren't assholes.
promised to share her company's reservation policy with the Shopping Avenger.
the day to help me move. When I arrived that morning to pick it up, I was told
it was not there yet. After much complaining, a few phone calls were made, and
three days late, and I only got it by threatening legal action."
Last month, the Shopping Avenger also put out a call for
there a difference between pests and airlines?" (Contest alert: Best punch line
will be rewarded by public mention in this space, plus a lifetime supply of
Turtle Wax, if the Shopping Avenger can figure out what Turtle Wax is.)
Shopping Avenger is but one superhero, and he issues abject apologies to all
episode. But about those airlines: The interesting thing about the airline
complainants is that they don't even want the Shopping Avenger to seek
retribution or restitution. All they want to do is vent. Maybe no one believes
that airlines even care anymore or are capable of responding to complaints.
the waterfront: baggage problems, surly flight attendants, mysteriously
canceled flights, billing atrocities. But the most compelling complaints
concerned bereavement fares. There's nothing like an airline screwing with
someone who's going to bury his mother to make the blood boil.
"Recently, my mother passed away and I needed to travel
show up. Being that airline tickets, even a bereavement fare, purchased at the
last minute can be quite expensive, I opted to cash in my voucher."
holding the seat with his credit card. He was told to present his credit card
with the voucher upon his arrival at the airport, where he would be charged,
proceeded to do this and was told by the agent that the tickets were already
she was unwilling to budge and unwilling to get a supervisor, telling me that,
After the funeral, he contacted Northwest, he says,
and after much frustrating dialing, reached an answering machine. "I had to
leave my particulars on a voice mail because no agents were available to take
my call. This worked out poorly, since when the agent called me back, she got
my voice mail and left a message with the same number. So when I called back,
of course all I got was the same opportunity to leave my particulars on their
the 'plane never showing up' and 'raising red flags' cause me to question his
story. It just sounds like there's something more personal here."
"personal" feelings about an airline after said airline messed with his head
death of anyone close is a very emotional and trying experience, and
individuals frequently behave differently as a result of their pain." She's
still blaming the customer but, she continues, the "Northwest employee at the
airport should have taken extra steps to help the writer in his time of need. I
wish that was the case, and I apologize on behalf of Northwest Airlines."
We will return to the issue of airlines in a future
episode, but the Shopping Avenger would like to relate another tale that caught
story most definitively does not end with an apology.
different prices (still another charge, for one cent, was also billed to his
company agreed that he was the victim of false billing and canceled out the
billed, but one thing he did not receive in the mail was a rebate on one of the
two remaining phones, part of a special promotion he signed up for. Though he
canceled his service and referred his case to a collection agency, which is
to talk to the executives whose salaries they pay), a spokesman, Tom Murphy,
customer for six phones, refused to stop billing him, and threatened him when
he wouldn't pay for service pending a resolution of the problem.
rebate money. The rebate money is owed to him, and so is the apology. He
fault" for not paying his bill for telephone calls made on the phones he did
dispute was settled and the rebate issue resolved. She said he was wrong. I
mentioned to her the quaint notion that "the customer is always right," and she
collection agency. "I told the agency that I was reporting this matter to the
protection people, but she did ask me to please not give the name of the
people are crazy," he said. "They could make this go away, but they won't."
from B., who reported that he was the only passenger on his flight not to
receive free drink coupons. Apparently, the flight was late, and as a friendly
gesture Southwest let the passengers get drunk on its dime. But not B. Somehow,
pride ourselves on our Customer Service and would NEVER want it to be said that
following your comments on the unappeased longings of conservatives, once
observed that there was no female equivalent of the (masculine) word "puerile."
of garbage an immature college student would turn out the night before an exam
in a desperate bid to seem iconoclastic and "relevant." It is a squalid
irrelevance even in the context of "Sensation," but "major" would put her in
knows what to do with a mattress! And the idea that an oblique, hardly probable
urinals, exhibited in New York earlier this year, are a mock homage to
because it reminds you of some other orifice, you say), you expose a disturbing
infatuation with literalness, that precious "real life" you tell me you want in
and making it into "shocking" art, which is in my opinion the bane of
this stage in art history we can surely draw a line under appropriation. Some
genuine artists earlier in the century did inspired things with the found
object and unleashed extraordinary images, but the spurious alchemy of lifting
things unmediated from the common culture and plonking them down in the art
gallery is truly exhausted now that it has become the academic norm. It rests
on a contradiction: It demystifies skill and imagination, and yet relies on
life" and youthful exuberance lead you to exactly the same folly as the popular
press: You focus on the sensationalist at the expense of the subtle and
reflective. Vastly more provocative and unsettling, in my opinion, than the
colored like skin (or is it smudged lipstick?) and oozes dry ice and is almost
anthropomorphic in its voluptuous, erogenous curves. It doesn't jump at one's
forms, of the way all the elements feel like they have been thought through in
sensations rather than merely "a" sensation. This is what I think art should
do. Anyone else who thinks the same way, come join me in the closet.
technology and understand it as no generation before them did. They practically
invented the Internet. They don't vote: They distrust politics and prefer
voluntarism. They're skeptical of corporations and impervious to traditional
advertising. They're less racist and more multiracial than any group of
especially when most of its members aren't out of short pants yet. But no
oldest members of Gen Y have just entered college, which means that for the
Titanic to Scream to Cruel Intentions --have swallowed
multiplexes. Their melodramas own the networks and have turned their
bewitched by the teen invasion. The New York Times Magazine is fretting
Because the parts of the brain that develop last are those that regulate
adolescents (also a modern creation) inhabited the adult world as laborers and
apprentices. No one claimed that teens were incapacitated by raging hormones or
after World War II did high school become the universal, defining experience of
youth. For the first time, adolescents were artificially segregated from
adults, and developed their own culture of cars, dating, and rock 'n' roll.
of them, but also because they were so alien: The country had never seen
during the baby boom. The media cycle has also boosted Generation Y.
early '90s were defined by the allegedly darker and less materialistic Gen
Generation Y is also booming because it is a cheerful story
for a cheerful age. Just as the slump of the '90s has been replaced by the
eternal boom, the cynical pessimists of Gen X have been vanquished by the
pregnancy rates, drug use, and crime. Today, teen pregnancy, drug use, crime,
last, commentators gloat, kids are having real childhoods again. The school
mood. The media have focused on kids' passionate, unified response to the
be. Commentators opine that their childhood prosperity will make them generous
now: Who wouldn't be? Let's see what they say when the economy dives the year
rational thought. Most of them haven't reached puberty yet, and many are in
with youth: If they catch kids early enough, they can cement their brand
preferences for life. Networks are producing teen dramas so that their
advertisers can reach this impressionable audience. Movies are pitched to
again. As far as marketers are concerned, Gen X is over: It has aged out of the
consumption game. But Generation Y kids are up for grabs: They are young, they
pushing the Gen Y boom hardest are not sociologists, journalists, or activists
but market researchers. The most quoted Gen Y pundits are folks who work at
companies such as Youth Information Network and Teenage Research Unlimited,
analysis.) Stories about Gen Y tend to shortchange kids' views on family,
school, and politics, and dwell instead on their favorite clothing stores.
as myself, this marketing talk seems both contradictory and fatuous. The market
"This is the coolest generation ever." If you can use "viral marketing" and
Then again, if you could use "grunge" and "Social Security reform" in the same
The final reason for the teen renaissance is boomer
culture at all, you have surely noticed the remarkable number of sympathetic
intimately parents and kids communicate, and how much kids admire mom and dad.
The "surprising fact" that pops up in almost every Gen Y story is a survey in
which teens named parents as their favorite role models. (I would bet that
ridiculed, have finally managed to get over themselves. They have found a new
negative assessment (and "rank" seems to be a negative word indeed to summarize
a movie that draws a great deal of praise in the course of the review) seems to
that our only hope is to cultivate a kind of stoned aesthetic detachment
whereby even a man with his brains blown out becomes an object of beauty and a
signpost to a Higher Power. But to scrutinize a freshly dead body and not ask
aesthetic detachment. The daughter is frozen in fear when she enters the room;
revulsion at her own murderous intentions. Other characters are only shown
film is hardly nihilistic: He remembers the closest relationships in his past
life with wonder and gratitude. At the moment of his death he is looking
lovingly at a photograph of his former self and his young family, not at a
sensitivity and sophistication, simply fails to realize that the makers of
experimental science and a more theoretical field. In molecular biology, which
I know best, the editorial process is nothing like that described for
economics. An article cannot take more than several months to transit from
first writing until publication or it will be completely out of date, as there
are a half dozen groups working on closely related experiments who will have
reported *their* results. Moreover, new information is new; it does not have to
knock over a theoretical predisposition to be "news" and thus publishable.
examination of "hypothesis confirmation" is fairly common, and there is
certainly some wobble. A series of clinical trials can reach different
can lead to a conclusion different from a large "definitive" clinical trial.
But that's a signal for further empiricism, not a theoretical point that there
is no way to get better evidence or improve certainty that one is "right."
There is certainly publication bias in that the probability of publication is
higher for positive results (improved clinical outcome, for example) than no
analysis to experimental fields that report new data. The line of argument
seems to be that since hypotheses in academic economics have not been confirmed
means that the same would be true for all fields whether theoretical or
experimental, and therefore fields that rest on empirical evidence must be
castles in the sky. The analogies are not strong enough to allow leaps of faith
An interesting phenomenon related to that discussed
scientific journals that are then reported in daily newspapers, weekly news
magazines, and discussed on television news shows. Although I don't have any
would be amplified in the following way: if you read in the newspaper about a
theory that has been published in a prestigious scientific journal, it is even
more likely to be wrong than an article that is published in a prestigious
scientific journal that is not widely reported. Reporters and editors decide
what hypotheses are newsworthy and likely to evoke interest in their readers
criteria are not especially effective at selecting the true scientific
Science, Theory and Ethics of Sexual Orientation (Oxford University Press,
studies). Together the three have been widely understood as establishing that
systematic twin study undermines his early ones. Although the original studies
received a great deal of attention and are widely accepted, the serious
problems with them have not been discussed in the media.
likely to be deemed newsworthy. Readers of media reports of scientific
hypotheses need to read with especially critical and skeptical eyes.
forgive me but I just don't seem to understand what is so "hip" about some
and works for charities based on a concern for her father. Kind probably,
tragic, embarrassing solution to a problem that did not exist." What
it's so much more. It's censored music. And censored videos. And denying women
still won't stock "adult videos," although it no longer carries its own store
editions of mainstream hits with the naughty bits edited out, as it was once
attorney, but if this isn't overtly promoting infanticide as a form of
population control, it's coming awfully close. Crawl, little baby! Crawl for
retailer enjoys over its rivals in a robust economy would be even greater
during hard times, when those puny competitors would be battered by economic
if a meteor crashed into the Earth, sentencing everyone on the planet to a slow
that fomented each of these recent riots around the world?
mobs. No one has dared go out, even to buy basic needs in the nearest market,"
wanted my head because I had blocked their move to split the 18,000-member
procession and malicious damage to property. Rioters threw stones, bottles, and
iron pieces at the police while policemen fired tear gas and used pistols,
apparently came to drink and party and have what they thought was a good time.
for people who are interested in broadening themselves. Here's a guide for the
attraction is villas, which charge you a few thousand lire to admire their
gardens and sculptures. The gardens are half patio and half golf course. Some
memorialize his bad taste. In cities, most of the art is in museums and big
spectacular. So are the floors. My wife suggested that we model our bathroom
floor after one of them. The floors are checkered with marble slabs
commemorating rich people. The more money you give to the church, the bigger
your slab, and the better your location. Basically, it works like the
Religion. Most of the art in museums is religious. The big
adult features and expressions wholly inappropriate to an infant. In some
a naked woman. Her breast starts around the collarbone and takes off like a
paintings all day. This can't have been helpful. Maybe they meditated on
was a baby, but now bits of fabric are conveniently placed to obscure it.
favorite. He wears a white robe and hovers over the thieves who have just dug
guy's halo blocks your view of the guy behind him. My wife and I spent several
minutes discussing a huge mural of the Last Supper before we realized that the
looked for the propeller. What it's supposed to convey, I don't know. What it
nestled into odd corners of the hill towns. But let's face it, much of
museum specializing in instruments of the Inquisition. (The "skull crusher" and
"rectal pear" are particularly memorable.) The museum charges twice the
admission fee that other museums charge, and people pay it because, basically,
we love cruelty. The museum pretends to teach the lessons of man's inhumanity
noises of disgust as they study each device. But the truth is, we're
weather." "Charming," my wife replied coldly as she shrank into her seat.
roads, don't expect to notice the scenery. You'll spend the whole trip with
speed up because the road is narrow and winds sharply around hillsides. They
can't pass you for the same reason. My advice is to take the bus. The bus we
could have plunged us hundreds of feet into the lake. At first I thought the
drivers we passed on that road were nuts. Then I saw the bikers. They wore
navigate the city's tiny medieval passageways. Thanks to the proprietress of
our hotel, who climbed into the passenger seat and issued directions, I
series of alleys at harrowing right angles, past scaffolding and cafe tables,
people honeymoon there. The other reason is that the words "husband" and "wife"
Less than a week into our marriage, we were touring
the bride and groom.) Everyone smiled and sighed. The scene was perfectly
scripted for a honeymoon. What wasn't scripted for a honeymoon was our phrase
you to use a condom," and "You can't stay here tonight." Part of the problem is
sell bags of birdseed to tourists, who in turn feed the pigeons. Naturally, the
pigeons hang out in the piazzas all day, cooing and crapping and waiting to be
fed. Welfare for flying rats. I was delighted to discover skyward prongs in the
bike. My only regret is that I passed up a chance to order roasted pigeon in
tourists makes sense. The tourists, too, are slow, stupid, ugly, and rude. They
set off flash bulbs in churches. They thrust their fingers within an inch or
two of priceless paintings, pointing out the obvious. Years ago, the tourists
took snapshots. Now they make videotapes. They videotape anything that moves
on a boat, who in turn were videotaping the tourists on the bridge.
Lovely people. And I was becoming quite comfortable with the whole German
to place the mask securely over my nose and mouth and breathe deeply.
waiter asks whether you want gas or no gas, he's referring not to the beans but
is the bread, which provides all the blandness of matzot without the moral
evidently at the behest of a conglomerate whose boats we saw unloading their
man in a green suit and sunglasses prancing around a storefront, gesticulating
wildly and apparently arguing with himself. Eventually we figured out that he
was talking to a tiny phone in his ear. People go out to eat with friends and
and woman dined at the outdoor table next to ours. They both wore wedding
rings. The man had brought his dog along. His phone rang, and he spent the rest
of the meal in what sounded like a playful conversation with a child. The woman
just went on eating. It doesn't add up. If the guy wanted to talk to his kid,
why did he leave the kid at home? If the kid was at home, why was the dog at
the restaurant? If the woman was the guy's wife, why was he ignoring her? If
she wasn't his wife, why were they wearing rings? If she was the kid's mom, why
didn't the guy hand her the phone? I don't get it. But then, being a philistine
led security guards to the burglars. (The girls were slipping out to mail their
documents and counting piles of payoff money. As Dick tells it, the
operations as a sordid buffoon show undone by a couple of painfully earnest
innocents: It's nature's revenge on the overweening. The larger truths are all
might seem as vain and as clumsily ambitious as the felons they're pursuing.
to her senses and utter the immortal reproach, "You kicked Checkers and you're
view, probes his characters' psyches, and edits with a snap. By contrast,
sophistication hits you gradually. Maybe you have to be sophisticated to make a
picture so effortlessly, cheerfully facile about a subject so dark and
beyond dumb, so that their budding awareness of Dick's mendacity has an
exists an entire class of nerdy superhero wannabes, each of whom struggles to
because his anger supposedly gives him powers undreamt of by mere mortals. He
his cape and hurling forks, most of which end up sticking out of his companions
skewed angles and screwy lenses and grotesque special effects. What keeps his
work from becoming campily oppressive (like the last, dreadful Batman
nerds just can't quite get off the ground. More than that, they're inherently
must constantly defend his unrealized ambitions: "I shovel well. I shovel
These idiots can never measure up to the city's most
with product placements. When all the heavyweight bad guys are dead or in jail
(and his celebrity endorsements dry up), he contrives to have one of his old
The Bowler, who hurls a ball in which the skull of her murdered father is
reality of what they are. They don't show grace under pressure, but they
somehow rise to the occasion, and Mystery Men becomes a triumphant
celebration of nerdy aspiration. I might have complained that Stiller and
pretty terrific. The old script has been smartly overhauled, and the director,
elegance. The climax, in which an army of men in trench coats and bowler hats
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which it takes place.) True, there's the
entrance in furs and a pair of sunglasses, with creamy lips and mussed red
and entertained by his effrontery. You can't spot the moment when she falls in
love: It must be when it dawns on her that she's the mouse and not the cat.
Before you know it, she's roiling with doubt and heartbreakingly vulnerable,
has never been less than agreeable, but here's she's something else: a movie
feels so fresh. A handful of critics concede that while the film is technically
excellent, it's in no way groundbreaking; rather it's simply a collection of
baseball, this time as an aging pitcher in the last game of his career.
the rich cast. What went wrong? Skewering consumer culture might have been
novel in the 1970s, but these days it feels like beating a dead horse. (Click
The critics are unanimous that it's "the season's naughtiest, bawdiest, and
about every review describes it as "edgy." Not only is it full of cursing,
ethnic jokes, prostitution, and the like, but it dares to have no laugh track
and a bastard as the protagonist: "the show is truly subversive and daring in
"lacks the drama, the magic, the gentleness, the lilt of the first book"
"seems less in control in this book and at times is powerless to keep himself
Party presidential candidate gets harsh reviews from conservative
writer, but critics attack his isolationist policies and revisionist history
has turned me down for dates because she prefers the company of her
find most of them annoying and downright dorky. Thus, it seems clear that my
feels special kinship with you. The thing you must do in a situation like this
is accept that people's attractions are hardwired. (Have you noticed how often
the second spouse resembles the first?) There is a slim chance that this young
woman is just not interested in you (with no consideration of nationality
retailing maxim: Your first markdown is your cheapest. Do not wait around for
this girl to change her mind. Just accept things as they are and cast your eye
meaningful gift and mainly focus on having a nice meal or an outing together.
occasions for major asset transfers. In other words, they are more into dollar
family when all he got was a shirt and tie.) I worry that my husband's family
does not see our carefully chosen gifts as the sincere expression of love and
gift with some real thought behind it that does not break the bank. Since your
husband is used to lavish gifts, the two of you should probably make a budget
boyfriend who is thoughtful, kind, understanding, etc. I have nothing bad to
say about him (here it comes), but I don't feel a real connection to him. If I
look at him from a logical standpoint, he would be a perfect person with whom
to spend the rest of my life. I am physically attracted to him, and I care for
him deeply, but I just feel there is something missing. I think all this has
been exacerbated by the fact that I recently had a conversation with a stranger
great conversation and what I felt was a real connection.) We've only been
going out five months, so maybe I should give it more time. I don't want to
throw away something very good just because of some need that may be foolish
forget that. You may, however, have Immature Woman Syndrome intensified by The
not the right guy. As you point out correctly, five months is not enough time
to give you the answer. Your need for connection is not a foolish whim. Just
because you can't put your finger on what's missing doesn't mean it's not
missing. On the other hand, for many people real caring along with physical
chucking your current relationship, you try to arrange another encounter with
the Handsome Stranger to see what happens a second time. (Assuming, of course,
you didn't meet him on the subway and have no inkling of how to find him
from high school is getting married in the fall and has asked me and some other
means rich. Her parents and her fiance's parents are footing the bill for a
feel like we can't really say "no" to being her bridesmaids, either. How should
we handle the situation? Can we ask her to have her dad pay for a portion of
the dresses so it's not a financial hardship for us?
from her bridesmaid days, but interestingly enough, your dilemma was faced by
numbers involved in that situation were roughly double the ones you mention.
What happened there was that the bride's dad paid half of each of the girls'
dresses. Afterward, however, one of the bridesmaids was so annoyed by the
that if a family of means picks attendants' dresses that are out of the normal
price range, they should foot the bill. (For some unknown reason, bridesmaids'
is just one of life's little oddities.) As for your question about whether or
not the bride is rude in asking you all to shell out hundreds of dollars, she
is not rude, simply thoughtless. Because your letter indicates that all you
girls have the same views about the expense, one of you should speak to the
bride on behalf of all the bridesmaids and say that her selection is a little
It was caused by "a poisonous mix of greed, liquor, jingoism and bad
In the big finale, as men and women in tiny swimsuits perform a nearly
team: "spectators taunted them." Even worse, "One coach's spouse, positioned
allowing spouses (in garish uniforms, no less) within the bounds of the arena
doesn't want the general's scalp exposed to sun or wind for several months.
writes about how his book Random Hearts was made into a movie.
behind love and hate, the darkly amusing, deeply disturbing and ultimately
publication, see it in print, and not kill himself with pills.
The paper said in an editorial: "Any hope of some respite for the world from
the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, have been dashed. The world's
secret service agencies have apparently merely shifted their emphasis to the
ideological extremism now seems antique and all but incomprehensible."
Furthermore, she "killed nobody" and "was fired by ideological commitment
tortures, by contrast, are all too fresh, and the precedent of his arrest has
ridiculed the "predictably forgiving" opinion of the
should she be tried, condemned and jailed?" it asked. "Of course, and the
an international tribunal to investigate "the alleged involvement of the
which has been entrusted with the task of maintaining peace and order, did
supporters, forcing hundreds of thousands to leave their homes, and destroying
and that "ultimately there will be a calling to account for the rape of East
in the territory after the vote," the paper's editorial
in state and local elections, where his Social Democrat Party was thrown out of
Party last week by admitting to youthful homosexual experiences, the Mail on
would accept a prime minister who had been homosexual in the past, and six out
spiked with ginseng, and juice bars sprinkle ginkgo on smoothies. Supplements
movies. Largely unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, these
you wasted? Over the summer I ran up a tab at my local General Nutrition
tried them all, and has authored several books on the matter. Here's what I
flower. Studies suggest it (like everything halfway fun these days) plays with
neurotransmitter levels, boosting serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
recommended one to three 300-milligram pills per day. I took three. On the
afternoon of the third day (it takes a while for the drug to rev up), I felt a
sandwich, and admittedly this in itself may account for my good cheer. But it
when the Wort would attack. And along with the manic highs came troughs of
side effects or high price. "Doesn't it add a little magic to the world? It's
that since I wasn't depressed to start with, taking the maximum dosage of Wort
pushed me into mania. He starts patients off with one pill a day, and only goes
natural hormone (produced by the pineal gland) that seems to regulate your
so I was excited about melatonin. The bottle suggested one 3-milligram tablet
before bedtime. I obeyed, but nothing happened: I was still sleepless. Instead,
I felt sluggish the entire next day. Results were no better on subsequent
nights. A few nights in, I had a vivid nightmare. I was at a picnic where
("dreams like you've never dreamed before," says the doc, and I concur), but so
It's a plant from the pepper family, and its roots may affect your limbic
you're not anxious, you won't notice much. But those who like it really
like it. It's great if you're nervous going on a plane or to the dentist, or
before a party. Some use it as an alternative to the evening martini." A
mischievous friend swears that if you slug back a whole bottle you'll act like
Dopey dwarf for a few hours, but I cannot confirm at this time.
dopamine. Like melatonin, SAMe is found in the body.
arthritis. I also don't have depression, but that never stopped me before. The
bottle said one to four 100-milligram pills per day. I took four every day. I
slobber of media excitement dripped all over SAMe in the last few months,
it works better. When I sounded disappointed about SAMe, he offered this tip:
"If you want to feel something, try taking three or four pills in the morning
on an empty stomach." I tried the next morning. More nothing.
Ginseng improves adrenal gland function, ginkgo helps circulation, and
Echinacea boosts white blood cells. They're all herbs.
and I had to find somewhere to spit it out. If you want to try ginseng,
times, though not in a controlled study. The key is to take it just as you're
seemed less enthusiastic about these. He says effectiveness varies dramatically
between brands, and that ginkgo shows more impact on older people, improving
The Wort can be fun, and it might save you a bundle
reduced dosage. But basically this stuff is all weak sauce. If you're looking
for drugs to improve your "mood" or "mental alertness," don't throw out your
dealer's number just yet: The drugs that come closest to achieving these worthy
goals remain highly illegal or must be prescribed by a doctor. The success of
the institution, the aesthetic, and the regional identity epitomized by the
official art family, has an artist so exemplified the spirit of a city or
anything outright about us, but he's the best mirror we've got for divining
gets most of the credit for elevating glass blowing from one more craft to a
movement an institution even as he turned it into an industry.
chandeliers in its atrium and more big pieces scattered around. This is just
because he's a native son. His is the perfect art for boosters, wannabes, new
precociously wealthy, culturally callow New Northwest. Glass has the museum
glittery as jewelry and a hundred times bigger. It's hard, slick and,
sensibility. His forms evoke not only phalli and vaginas but sea squirts and
we still delude ourselves into thinking we're sustaining. His "baskets" mimic
have our machines and money and preserve the wild, unspoiled
new buccaneer capitalism, the jester who amuses (but never challenges) the
geeks. He reprises the Renaissance role of artist as courtier, standing like a
Not that he blows glass himself, though he still says
without which he'd be just another chubby little guy with frizzy hair. And he
and (you've gotta admire the chutzpah) Venetian canals with bright globes and
later dubbed "Northwest visionaries" drank deep of both the drizzly, mossy
and bums at the downtown Pike Place Public Market and was sometimes mistaken
entrepreneur. No one expects entrepreneurs to do the production work. No one
product, elevating it to something at once precious and ubiquitous. The
Northwest trick is not so much to create something out of nothing as making
something very large out of something small, and then repeating the process. A
the killer whale, relaxing in his tank at Sea World after being given the power
of speech, showed a thoughtful side to this reporter in an interview last week.
"Look, I Didn't Ask Them To Give the Hurricane My Name, and I Wish No One Ill,
pretty appealing until the fourth comes along. We'd welcome a huge, powerful,
John Henry. But meanness trumps the other qualities. Once it arrives in the
sentence, even reversing the previous three gets you nowhere. There's nothing
dropped letter would transform the headline into a dark and pompous assertion
about the human race: "HE'S HUGE, HE'S POWERFUL, HE'S FAST AND HE'S MAN." Two
dropped letters, and we've reached the ludicrously boastful, like the lyrics to
some dreary rap: "HE'S HUGE, HE'S POWERFUL, HE'S FAST AND HE'S ME." Three
colossal storm, but would admirably conceal her terror with a plucky smile and
Mirror 's headline is not just arbitrary sensationalism; it is
troubles, the embattled publisher has an impressive list of fall titles (many
Shunning the traditional organization, fiction and nonfiction, Paladin's
catalog is arranged by categories including Sniping, Silencers, New ID and
Personal Freedom, Action Careers, Combat Shooting, Knives and Knife Fighting,
question is on every person's mind when he or she hears a loud bang in the
middle of the night or a knock on the door at three in the
attempting to build homemade firearms based on designs that are too complicated
concealed weapon permits and avoiding adverse publicity."-- Boy, you shoot a
did everything by the book: highlighted favorable issues, exploited his
also defied the political playbook by deprecating himself in a shrewd effort to
expertise in a particular terrain of issues. The advantage will go to the
candidate on whose terrain the battle is fought. If the election is about
concern, Gore can argue that growth is the most fundamental, and Bush can argue
military issues are the most grave. "The most solemn responsibility given the
Emphasize biography. Since the end of the Cold War,
can frame the election to his advantage in another way. He can bypass the
choice among issues by persuading voters to focus on the candidates'
biographies instead of their platforms. Every candidate launches his campaign
Moralize the issues. Once he has convinced voters of
subject in moral terms. In his announcement address, as in previous speeches,
he framed domestic issues in terms of "honor," "courage," "strength," "faith,"
"selfishness," "honesty," and "respect." He called trade protectionists
"cowards," accused the government of swindling taxpayers, and denounced
voters, "Their support is my honor." Couching every issue in such language
Gore make them vulnerable to a populist underdog. Auditioning for this role,
generated significant interest among independent voters and needs their help in
numerous enemies in his own party by promoting legislation that would restrict
campaign contributions and require tobacco companies to pay for health care and
accuses his critics of subverting the national interest for the sake of
well as Democrats, and "conservatives" as well as liberals.
Conventional strategy dictates that having framed the election along these
failure, and disgrace. In every account of his POW ordeal, he absurdly
concludes that he "failed" to withstand the enemy's torture. In speeches, he
accepts "blame" for everything Congress does wrong, says he "failed" to prevent
it, and vows to "try harder" next time. He is "ashamed" of
electioneering. "The people whom I serve believe that the means by which I came
to office corrupt me," he declared three months ago. "And that shames me. That
shames me. Their contempt is a stain upon my honor, and I cannot live with it."
on at least five occasions. Shame has become his shtick.
biography of steel. When he calls himself weak and corrupt, nobody believes
him. If Gore were to call himself weak and corrupt, his opponents would replay
language of character and has plenty of foreign policy counsel on which to
comparison to what each man has done with his life. In military confrontations,
one's life becomes the foundation from which he or she makes the decisions that
dark room when the casualty reports come in. I am not afraid of the burden. I
opponents more than it endangers him. The central line of his speech proclaimed
a "New Patriotic Challenge. It is a challenge to each of us to join in the
fight against the pervasive cynicism that is debilitating our democracy." It
to hold public office have ourselves to blame," he laments in his stump speech.
"It is we who have squandered the public trust, we who have time and again
placed our personal or partisan interest before the national interest, earning
Bush, I want to see a united Republican Party. But no political campaign is
concern, not personal. Each time I see the erectile dysfunction ad with Bob
Dole, I cringe. What happened to his statesmanlike demeanor? Is it entirely a
coincidence that we have a president who can get it up (for each and every one
who asks), instead of a president who can't? Do we need to know about Bob's
penile trouble in order to go forward? Must we be a party to all his
vaudeville joke about an older gentleman who tells a friend that he finds sex
at his age terrific. Especially the one in the winter.
seemed fair and balanced. How rare. I thought, however, I might take the
opportunity to chime in and mention that I have got wind of the existence of an
are currently considering artificial augmentation (which as a man I find
government would embargo such a product, unless the plastic surgeons' lobby has
taught that people should not make loud noises when eating in public. I am
to mine. (It is common practice in our office to eat at one's desk, since
there's no nice place to eat on the premises.) One person in particular always
comes over to talk while loudly snacking on potato chips and other items.
Trouble is, I can't think of any remotely acceptable way to convey my
cannot come right out and say, "It is gauche to come over and serenade me with
your potato chips, so please go away." Here are a few options that are not
confrontational. You might have something to read during lunch, sort of a de
inform everyone that you are meditating, or simply say you'd love to visit
during a coffee break, but lunch is when you've decided to catch up on your
reason to be held prisoner to a potato chip. As for the sounds from other
thank you. Many of our friends are relieved, I think, not to have to give up a
invited, and I don't know how to break it to them that they are not welcome. To
make things worse, they have already told me about the ridiculously expensive
gifts they have purchased for our irresistible little birthday girl. I am
looking for a delicate way to get the gifts but stand firm on the
be too judgmental about your delicacy, though your wish to grab the gifts with
no party attached leaves something to be desired. In addition to looking
the animal bit the birthday girl. But back to your deal: Since people have
already mentioned their gifts and their plans to launch your darling into year
absolutely not up to having dozens of chums this year, tell them that it's just
graduated from high school after a successful year of captaining the winning
softball team. During the softball season my husband and I got to know many of
the team parents and were particularly taken with the extended family of a
our daughter left for summer study abroad. I did not intend this party to be a
when various members of this other family brought gifts and graduation cards
graduation gift for their son, whom my husband and I do not know well. My
we send a gift as the son prepares to go to college? Should I have anticipated
the interpretation of my invitation as a gift solicitation, given the timing?
Or should I just relax and consider their gifts a generous expression of their
appreciation for my daughter's leadership and mentoring of the younger player
"relax." Your motives were pure and a good time was had by all. It may be a
by the wayside. The giving of gifts simply to even things up is just another
will be very meaningful, and the timing will be perfect.
number, are now a tool of telemarketers. Some of them do this just to get the
victim to call an expensive toll number. Many refer to correcting a credit
Off could have had a simple garbled message, I suppose. How boring.
telemarketers, she is most happy to pass the word. And she does not want one
letter from the offending telephone pests arguing with her. She knows it's a
tough way to make a living, but unsolicited pitches are just junk mail
Judging by today's responses, the network's lineup would seem to consist of
division and New York Times Magazine cover subject, would be leaving the
callers. The implements were referred to as "Black Hoes." (I don't have a joke
asked to try and find a headline even less enticing than the following, from
New York Press that makes my eyes glaze over, though maybe for a
enticing headline of the day, but it is certainly the most parochial.)
guest host. I now intend to approach the Fox network about starting my own,
competing Quiz, ensuring that Randy will never speak to me again.
wicked idea about who you really are. I think you're a fat, balding guy in his
me. I believe that a person's views on religion, divinity, and so on are
individual. I respect the right of anyone to believe as he or she sees fit, but
honestly, I find the whole Latter Day Saints faith a load of dingo
sanctimonious and superior and in line with many fundamentalist "Christian"
If you love her dearly, as you say, it will be necessary to reach an agreement,
probably with a referee, whereby you both hew to your own beliefs and do not
however, that you use the words "racist, restrictive, condemnatory,
sanctimonious, and superior" about your wife's faith and her fellow
qualities are "gorgeous, loving, brainy, witty, and rich." Not to be
family, and some close friends but am hesitant to come all the way out for fear
of the implications. I do not care what people think about me, but I don't want
to bring any negative publicity to the school. I love education and would hate
to leave it. I want to find a life partner to share my days with, but my
current employment prevents me from doing so. I am tired of living in the
closet and want to be me without having to live two lives. Can you
honest. The first thing to try would be to talk with someone in authority at
your school about your sexual preference to ask if it poses a problem. The
answer may well be in the affirmative, seeing as how one parochial school
publicity to the school, but only you know why you think this is so.
would hate to leave the educational field, why not move to a public or private
school if your Catholic school boss finds homosexuality a problem? Take it from
concentrate at work. My office is two doors down from his, so there's no
considered uncomfortably secretive and standoffish. Any ideas on how I can save
sound and, like chewing gum, should best be done in private. You may have blown
the problem out of proportion, however. Surely this "really great guy," the
positive. Tell him, in your own words, that it pleases you that he manifests
such happy feelings, but the musical expression of his joy distracts you and
keeps you from putting out your very best work. A really great guy is not going
to react with anything but understanding. Unless he is so dense that light
bends around him, he will accede to your request and be grateful that you spoke
Project demonstrates that there's nothing scarier than nothing. The movie
has no ghosts or witches on display, and its lone bit of gore is a piece of
cloth containing a mottle of indeterminate organic material. It has no
surprises, either, since you know going in that the ending won't be happy. The
movie opens with a placard declaring that three film students went into the
from again, and that their footage was discovered a year after their
freeze your blood. Working on a budget that's chump change and a script that's
human alive. They have reanimated the genre not by adding to it but subtracting
done is remove the omniscient point of view. With the important exception of
that we see what they see and no more. Actually, we see even less, since we
lack their peripheral vision and are cruelly limited to whatever passes through
that escalates into an omnidirectional clatter. When they yell into the
darkness ("Hello?"), the darkness remains dark. A light illuminates the
foreground, but the blackness beyond that pool seems, if anything, blacker.
There might be no more irrationally terrifying shot in the annals of film than
the fuck that is. If we did, some part of us would probably relax, because it
would look like a special effect. But no part of us is allowed to relax.
and lashed to a tree during a harsh winter), the remainder of the movie is
their increasingly desperate odyssey through the woods. They trudge one way,
double back, pore over maps and compasses, whine, trudge some more, come upon
mysterious piles of rocks or bundled twigs, and whine even louder. The action
The grueling monotony is broken only at night, when the students go into their
tents and the sounds come again and the very celluloid seems to shiver with
cold and fear. The camera twitches incessantly: The lone stationary shot is
when Heather sobs an apology to her parents for having dreamed up the project,
of the Opera with nostril hair. I don't apply the adjective "visceral"
the screening, my wife was convinced she had food poisoning from an earlier
meal; when we stopped and analyzed her symptoms, we realized that she had
motion sickness. The movie had literally made her sick.
be slighted, however. I love horror pictures and am a tough scare, but I
television, the first thing I thought was, "Thank God, she's alive." Then she
said, "This movie must be working because people come up to me all the time and
talisman. I rushed to the phone and called the movie's publicists to make sure
this was a promotional gimmick. When they said yes, I started breathing again;
into such primal emotions? Consider its antithesis. The remake of The
Haunting has the bad fortune to open in the same month, and what might have
acquire an inexorable life of their own and threaten to eat them alive. Nothing
thunderous pounding on a pair of big doors, as if all the characters'
pounding comes early and serves as an overture for a bunch of
statues that spring to life and grab people. Everything is exasperatingly,
often laughably, overexplicit, and once a dread becomes material, a ghost story
Hill House, it's clear that Something Evil is watching them: You can tell
a lot of little, good ghosts, people in the audience are holding onto their
is one of the most maladroit ghost movies ever made.
direction so clunky, The Haunting still wouldn't come within screaming
much you can't see and will never know. With all those cameras onscreen,
ethics put the greatest emphasis on protecting public safety, health and
welfare. Loyalty to employers is fourth on the list. Quite probably the
technicians, company executives and bureaucrats had applied such a philosophy."
regime release its political prisoners and start a dialogue with dissident
embassy were released unharmed, and the gunmen were allowed to escape.
crack down even harder on political dissidents after what happened," the paper
to break its stalemate. It concluded, "It is far better that the military
Thatcher made what the conservative Times called a "jingoistic" speech blaming all
liberty alive for the future," Thatcher said. A party spokesman told the
the same paper said that whereas Thatcher's legacy has proved "positive" for
the luster fades from the current Labor government, the column said, the
turn around to look afresh at this strange anachronism called the Conservative
recent hair transplant. A Herald editorial said, "The
argument that his hair implant needs more time to take root was not only
legally flimsy but also highly unbecoming for his rugged martial profession and
movers and shakers, but in the nation's capital, a potentially powerful
personal sense, of course. Nothing Caucus members go about their daily business
just like anyone else: walking the dog, driving to work, thinking big thoughts,
making big deals, whatever. What unites them is their belief that the nation's
interests would best be served if Congress would just pack it in.
The guiding principle behind the movement was perhaps first
any surplus in the federal budget would be to retire the federal debt. With
using surplus federal funds to buy back outstanding Treasury bonds and notes
Security, is automatically invested in Treasury bonds. Since the Treasury would
not, in that case, need to do any new borrowing, those bonds would have to be
bought back from the public and retired. The same is true of the Social
black, which it hasn't been for decades. Otherwise, the payroll tax surpluses
are used to cover borrowing done to finance courts, prisons, schools, airports,
weather forecasts, and all the other things that government does. So what
spending than it can cover with the remaining taxes.)
accomplished. But other budget watchers, from both parties, have come
increasingly to the view that, when it comes to direct action by Congress, less
look at the alternatives," says Republican Carol Cox Wait, president of the
when it's under pressure to do something." Former Congressional Budget Office
Congress play with tax and entitlement legislation in a surplus
both private and official sources show that the existence of any 10-year
It is that this and future Congresses and presidents will agree to cut domestic
year that is lower than current spending. The limits are even lower in the
following two years. Both the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of
Management and Budget are required to assume the limits will actually be met
when they make their projections (a point generally overlooked). Budget
watchers noted at the time the caps were enacted that they were absurdly
unrealistic, but the caution was lost in the general celebration.
secretly subscribe to stalemate. "It won't be the end of the world," said one
last week, "It's not a bad outcome." But comments such as this are strictly not
for attribution. True, when pressed, top economic advisers have called the
spending caps "totally unrealistic," but they are loath to press this point too
loudly, lest it call into question both their own plans for additional
"investments" (read spending and tax breaks) and the president's embrace of the
limits in the first place. That coyness led the White House to issue a budget
general fund surplus that triggered the current orgy on Capitol Hill.
the festivities last week by passing "The Financial Freedom Act." This
effusively named tax cut would, even after some cosmetic improvements to
placate fiscal conservatives, likely absorb more than the total 10-year
surplus. (That includes interest costs on the extra debt the Treasury will
incur if it doesn't buy back outstanding securities.) The measure is artfully
the time that retiring baby boomers are starting to drain the Social Security
piously embraced the notion of a "lockbox" for the trust fund surpluses, but
reason. There is no box that Congress, with the acquiescence of the White
finally nailed together. Remember that any overspending in the general budget
despite its lip service to the spending caps (and the surpluses that depend
entirely upon them), is even now busy marking up appropriations bills that
Congress," our nation's representatives have been sensitive to charges that
their time is spent only in pandering, politicking, and pot thumping. And no
one is suggesting that legislators pack up and go home forthwith. That would
make for a mighty dull summer for us news junkies. But after the requisite
negotiations in which the sanctity of Social Security and the need to invest in
our nation's children are duly invoked, it would be a blessing if Congress
would quietly pass a continuing resolution keeping spending more or less where
it currently is, and then take to the hustings, where each party can blame the
News of the World and sighs, "Another naughty Scoutmaster." This was
as a scoutmaster, but Scout officials saw a newspaper photograph of him leading
won, the court ruling that the Scouts may not discriminate on grounds of race,
English public schools in mind but might well have been thinking of any number
of other organizations where men instruct boys. The Boy Scouts have long
scoutmasters who loved their little charges not wisely but too well. One
naughty leader after another trailed sadly through the courtrooms, to the
himself never landed in court, he was certainly a strange man. He was obsessed
outdoor comradeship seemed at least as great as her desire for sexual
fulfillment," and he even managed to beget three children. But thereafter he
always slept out on his balcony (and this in the English climate) rather than
movement, studiously recorded his dreams, which were often about young men. In
one, he recalled, a soldier snatched a whip away from him and asked whether he
which has a fair claim as one of the most influential books of the
young man beset by impure thoughts should drive them way by plunging his
his own Scout troop, though certainly any naughty scoutmaster who nowadays
passed on that advice from the founder of scouting would more likely find
will return to campus, hoping, among other things, to achieve high grades. Of
course, "high" is a moving target. I remember when C meant "average"; today,
whenever I turn in my students' final grades, the dean's office instructs me to
truly superior. But on the other hand, inflated grades do a super job of
distinguishing among fine gradations of weakness. When the average grade is B,
in valuable information, because employers care more about making distinctions
at the top than about making distinctions at the bottom. Therefore, college
degrees, which derive their value from the information they carry, become less
inflation makes it impossible to tell them apart, you might expect an employer
makes it harder to assign them to appropriate tasks. That lowers their average
grade inflation? Not necessarily, because students do not live by starting
salaries alone. There are advantages to living with less competitive pressure,
and those advantages could more than offset the financial losses.
bear the full burden of those financial losses. As degrees become less
valuable, colleges must cut tuition or lose enrollments. (Or, more precisely,
they must sacrifice some growth in tuition or in enrollments, both of which
have been rising for reasons that have nothing to do with grade inflation.) A
college that can distinguish itself from the pack by maintaining high standards
should be able to reap substantial rewards in the marketplace, because its
If colleges pay the price for grade inflation, why do they
allow it? Partly, it's because colleges don't assign grades. Professors assign
grades, and professors face perverse incentives. Being human, they tend to take
a special interest in their own students and are therefore tempted to give
those students a boost at the expense of the anonymous strangers who signed up
school, while the benefits are concentrated in the professor's own classroom.
the gap between the professor's interests and the college's. Any solution must
above water in the short run he's happy. A tenured professor is like a
According to a widespread belief, grade inflation took off
Service System. According to an equally widespread belief, the late '60s and
early '70s were also a time when tenure became far more elusive. Professors
began moving from one school to another every few years, with little reason to
was irrelevant; grade inflation was the inevitable consequence of upheaval in
partial solution to the incentive problem, because even a tenured professor
shares only a fraction of his institution's successes and failures. Let me
propose some improvements. First, college transcripts could show each
professor's overall grade distribution, allowing employers to interpret each
individual grade in context. Then, instead of damaging his colleagues'
credibility, the easy grader would damage only his own. Second, the dean's
office could assign each professor a "grade budget" consisting of a certain
A grade budget is not exactly the same thing as a mandatory
curve, because it would allow professors the flexibility to give more high
grades in one class if they're willing to give fewer in another. Still, every
to give out. One of those students would suffer unjustly. But the A students
are precisely the ones who suffer unjustly from grade inflation. The question
stifling constraint. That doesn't make it a bad thing. Economic theory tells us
that when everyone is polluting a communal stream, everyone can benefit from
enforced moderation. It always hurts to be constrained, but sometimes it's
worth it if your neighbors are constrained too. With grade budgets, professors
If grade budgets are such a good idea, why don't we
have them? That's a question about politics, not economics, so maybe it's best
directed to a different sort of expert. In cases like this, it's the
economist's job to explain where we ought to be headed, and the political
scientist's job to explain why we can't get there from here.
function at the bottom of each page or by going to the Archives page (also
among other delights, a virtual reality function that allows you to imagine
Contents, and relive the excitement of that particular moment. Or, for those of
charging for access to almost all content, this is a handy way to catch
that stuff at all (though we will within a few weeks). But if you want to pick
world and impress your friends with how busy you are. We offer a variety of
gizmos. You need to register (it's free), which you can do here and then subscribe to
options you want (yes, yes, that's free too), which
Then you'll no longer need to waste those valuable seconds spent waiting for
(look near the top left of the page or click here for
need Windows Media Player software (which you may already have if you've
installed the latest version of Internet Explorer). If you don't have it,
versions of a wide variety of printed material, including selections from
leave on your dashboard and get downloaded audio over your car radio (or
and pledged not to move until they are paid. They have not collected their
Medical Association voted to form a union to negotiate for better wages and
bargaining will win doctors more control over the type and quantity of
bargaining will win doctors higher pay, resulting in higher costs for
The Supreme Court barred lawsuits against states for violating federal
laws. Individual plaintiffs will no longer be able to sue states that
violate federal laws; only the federal government may do so. Observers called
Liberals protested that the ruling emasculates Congress' power to bind states
"the height of conservative judicial activism" because it "invented new rights
for state governments at the expense of individuals."
The Supreme Court restricted its definition of physical
disability. The court ruled that people whose impairments can be
corrected (with medicine, eyeglasses, or the like) aren't eligible for
Employers were relieved. Advocates for the disabled fumed at "the absurd result
of a person being disabled enough to be fired from a job, but not disabled
private or parochial school tuition for kids in "failing" public schools who
could jeopardize nascent voucher programs in other states, as well as the
she was embarrassed to confess to him how much she'd blown on clothes and
steel industry had lobbied ardently for the bill, claiming that imports are
Senate, and a slew of economists opposed the bill, agreeing that it would
because of increased productivity: "a lot of workers simply aren't needed
anymore, and no amount of xenophobia will alter that."
A federal panel is deciding if and how to tax Internet
commerce. The newly convened group is supposed to deliver its findings
Brain surgery was successfully performed on a fetus. Last
excessive water in his brain. They jubilantly announced that the baby, born in
May, shows no sign of the congenital condition. The disclaimer: They won't know
for another year whether the baby is brain damaged.
shipping pallets and a bad batch of carbon dioxide, neither of which presents a
serious health threat. Financial experts say the serious threat is to Coke's
commoner and a public relations executive. The couple staged a more casual
shudders at both women's eagerness to capitalize on their
championship. The Sabres protested the overtime victory, arguing that
Referees ruled that Hull had possession of the puck both inside and outside the
crease. Hockey commentators called it the latest example of Buffalo's
conformity are just as guilty of it. Do people who are covered with piercings
and tattoos really believe they are expressing their individuality? They are
just as conformist; humans naturally gravitate toward groups and chances to
sorority and then working in government, nonprofits, and the corporate world, I
has idiots, sluts, social climbers, and alcoholics. Every house also has
geniuses, philanthropists, and varying kinds of campus leaders. There are
loyalty and real bonds that are developed between people. For someone like me,
who hadn't had very many close friendships with women, it was a truly
beneficial experience, even if I hated a lot of what went on.
he claims that he takes no position on the public policy implications of his
are at a minimum implicitly advocating that practice with the minimum of legal
the deceit. The impetus for research on global warming has come from those who
believe that fossil fuel consumption is out of control and who reinforce their
beliefs with global warming research, given everyone's understanding that major
warming. Maybe your research is right, maybe it is wrong, but you undermine
your credibility when you claim to be oblivious to its implications. You had to
have a thesis going in when you started your research, and given that we
already knew crime rates were falling, it is hard to believe you weren't
looking for a correlation between abortion and falling crime rates. Life is too
short to use one's career wandering in the dark, and no one is going to believe
on the eugenics attacks. That's below the belt. I think it is perfectly
respectable for you to use your results to say that all those who have been
pointing to overall demographic shifts, or changing police tactics, or
increasing incarceration rates are missing a key factor. But you are just
waving a red flag to a bull when you cast attacks on others for supposedly
mold himself into anything. As Bush's secretary of education he was for
that people have turned against large government interventions, he wants to
make every school a "charter school" with power vested in the parents and
asked him, "How would we know?" there was a moment of glorious dead air.
something I didn't think possible in this campaign. He proved you could be too
supporters, but the other predicts that his regime will survive the
current uprising. The students who toppled the shah were both more alienated
personality traits, a tactic used by pharmaceutical companies to drum up
business. The latest example: the classification of shyness as "social anxiety
disorder." Drug makers underwrite research into "social phobia" and stoke
public hysteria with slogans such as "Imagine Being Allergic to People." If
has a mural of himself naked, with cheetahs, on his bedroom walls. They greet
Impossible." The couple deflect the question of whether they are gay but do
failed at three marriages and at attempts to leverage wealth and connections
condemns his admirers for ignoring the clear evidence of his guilt.
infiltrating museum archives and inserting documents about artworks'
provenance. This scheme corrupted art history and undermined the reputations of
hunted for German subs in his fishing boat. His writing never recovered after
story says that "Soccer Mama" mania was carefully orchestrated by the
women internalize tough criticism, the male coach tried positive reinforcement
instead. He tacked inspirational quotes to players' doors, emphasized what each
player did right, and provided an "imaging" tape for each player, consisting of
report revises the conventional wisdom about which foods are good for the
heart. Cholesterol isn't necessarily unhealthy, and margarine is as bad as
groups are exploiting the Internet to recruit kids. Online games, comic strips,
supremacists are developing their own Webmasters to spread their message on
hard rock with the violent themes and outlaw imagery of rap.
incentives is not an economically efficient way to help the needy.
staged." The cover cartoon, however, depicts her as a tourist ambling through
from corporate prep school into entrepreneurial boot camp. New offerings
include a course titled "Women Building Business" and field trips to Silicon
demanding cultural attention, and the debate over homosexuality has shifted
eliminate racial preference but to guarantee "affirmative access." His record
tour" effectively reinforces the perception that she was dragooned into running
for the Senate and makes it easier for her to deflect uncomfortable
Gore. AIDS activists say the veep is doing the bidding of the pharmaceutical
evisceration of patent protections could slow the development of the drugs poor
pudding of a novel that forces one's eyelids shut like an invisible vise." The
aesthetic, historical, and ideological, and quoting a critic writing in
Slate to run the following excerpt from the book, so that
readers can judge for themselves. We are delighted to oblige.
as a practicing lawyer, his mind was on other things, not least his reputation
morning's newspaper. He had been reluctant to evidence a formal interest in the
unspeakable senator. But in fact he read all references to him and, though only
out of sight, collected voraciously choice items. He had taken to scissoring
out clippings from newspapers (when his secretary wasn't in the room), and
tossing them into his briefcase. But after a few weeks he decided that it would
be better to undertake his project in a more orderly way. That was when he told
reason, I shall ask you to clip out of the papers those articles or editorials
I designate with the initial 'M.' These are to be clipped and put in a manila
in a morning paper would put him in a very good mood and sometimes he would
officially approved were silenced in those lands by intimidation." But he
He went on and talked about this and that but at dinner repeated exactly
and, you guessed it, said the identical thing one more time, and I gave back
the identical answer. Then you know what he said, Dean? 'The trouble with you,
press club as a "hysterical form of putrid slander" and as "one of the most
unwholesome manifestations of our current disorder."
senior colleague, just after five, it was in order to spend an hour on the
appeal he was shepherding to the Appellate Division on behalf of their client,
the words he would now say were sacredly confidential.
"He is, I am I think reliably informed, prepared to
the civilized party, the intelligent party. A worthwhile project, wouldn't you
"Dean, you are being the advocate now. We Democrats
carefully on what is happening in the Soviet Union. We don't know what the
they are giving up their commitment to rule the world. But yes, I am
ready to say this, with great care: I will show you the draft of that chapter.
I will say that it is correct that the Communists can't be allowed to go any
has become impossible. The R rating has been stretched to the bursting point
it took so many cheap shots and was so internally inconsistent. He first
tantamount to "condemning most of humanity." Then, in response to Bush's
efforts to get out of this subject by stating that God decides who goes to
for trying to avoid a theological quagmire in the midst of a political
and also criticizes the general public (to which he was pandering only a few
column inches previously) for caring about what other people believe about such
"Go to Hell") Does this belief change one's ability to govern? This should only
matter if the person governing is governing over the place where admission to
same is the governor's prerogative. As long as the religious belief of the
person governing does not promote or condone acts of violence against those
convictions, then the beliefs that the governor holds are not a newsworthy
event, or even the public's business. We in the United States seem to give too
much weight to things that do not have any bearing on the person's ability to
extramarital affair, other than that he spent taxpayer money to get on
television and swear to us repeatedly that it did not happen. His affair has no
that should be weighed in determining his ability to truly lead this country.
But otherwise, so long as his religious convictions, no matter how weak or
strong they may be, are not geared toward the outright oppression or
but to complete a cycle. A promise to myself, as it were. You see, unlike you,
yours. Your murderer, you said, suffered for seven minutes. I cannot tell you
eye. Black was shot multiple times and had a stun gun used on him. Then the two
were left to die on the pavement. I thought it more than a little curious that
you did not mention those fine law enforcement officers in your article.
your article was to indict the electric chair, as well as to generate sympathy
Unfortunately, it is often the death of a law enforcement officer that
initiates the process. I am somewhat surprised that you did not invoke that
essay was not against the use of capital punishment, only the barbaric electric
being electrocuted in the chair, God forbid, happens to get burned or suffer a
become what you behold," has yielded to "You become what you belittle." We
embracing Louis Caldera's ballistic schemes. In the '50s, we taunted the clunky
the Republican Party from proposing to give away the budget surplus to their
rich constituents. The frightening conclusion, if mockery precedes mimicry, is
kids in the program last year. The Army will supply various pieces of
equipment, including guns for the kids' marksmanship training.
physical fitness, and the ever popular shooting. Militaristic? You bet! But the
values that have made our country great," says Caldera. "Insert your own dark
outside specialists. But has professionalizing this chore resulted in richly
evocative names? Can you tell what sort of products the following are (each
judge has ordered Republic, Mo., to make a change in its official city seal.
few days, these demonstrators shouted: "Down with the dictator," "Oh Great
Leader, shame on you!" and "Jerks!" Who was protesting
government, before turning violent and eating the minister of
particularly when chanted in translation, sound a little silly. But some of our
cheap. As comfy as it is to be led from "two, four, six, eight" to "smash the
state," it is kind of the "Roses are red, violets are blue" of crowd inciting.
Disappointing, really. "No justice, no peace," barks out a fierce equivalency,
although to the uninitiated it may sound like a list of the two things the
crowd is rejecting: justice and peace. Paired phrases do have rhetorical vigor,
particularly in the call and response of "What do we want?" (something good!),
did not. But I should have known better. If airy persiflage went down well at
University are calling for a faster movement of the government toward democracy
they're not too happy about being beaten and killed by police and
Republican Party and a beloved advertising character is recalled to duty. Two
unrelated stories? Perhaps. Or maybe a single story about a place called
challenge remains: Which of these remarks refer to Sen. Bob Smith of New
quality, taste, and fun that separates us from other nuts."
Republican. He said he'd vote for a gorilla on the Republican ticket if he had
"probably gay" but looks forward to seeing them have sex in Eyes Wide
"If I were a journalist writing an article on the issue, the headline for my
warned the United States that it must "not say anything or do anything that
Party, it said, but it is doubtful that this will work, since public opinion on
its recalcitrance." The editorial said, "The United States would not want the
in the process of mending fences. It is therefore quite possible that President
Daily invoked "legal experts" to justify the government's ban last week
violated the human rights of its followers by telling them not to take medicine
will be released once they make written confessions and promise to leave the
he approaches the end of his first term. The Manila Times is facing
"death by corporate strangulation" after being sold to a real estate developer
"in mysterious circumstances," it said. The Manila Times was forced to
and the journalists involved resigned in protest. Now the paper has been closed
Daily Inquirer has become the victim of an advertising boycott by cronies
him, and was hoping to see him here and perhaps have him and [Prime Minister
breakthroughs," it is clear that "all will not be easy and wonderful. The
government," it said, pointing out that it was only during that last two years
of his 38-year reign that he started to show an interest in human rights. "The
the concept of kingliness will not be synonymous with dictatorship," it added.
leadership is passing to young people educated by Western culture, cognizant of
modern technology; people relatively free, one hopes, of the burden of the
region's violent history. This new leadership may test its relations with
or at least weaken, the ideology intended to perpetuate the conflict."
consumers are being kept in the dark about which food products have GM content,
free trade." It said, "This is a serious issue which needs to be taken up in
the appropriate multilateral trade forums. It must not, however, become a
set of fasteners. Indeed, we live in the golden age of attaching one thing to
bands, various forms of welding, some of which are practiced by cool robots,
marriage without love, without trust, and without communication.
all these items in the stomachs of dead cows, part of a charity herd trucked
half the cows are dead. The North accused the South of sabotage; the South
suspicious viruses and electronic devices. "It was absolutely untrue that we
planted any type of surveillance device on the cows," says a spokesman for the
to honor a family debt. As a young man, he stole his father's cow, sold it, and
used the money to head south to make his fortune. He has since donated an
its object to complete the sentence and determine what is being reflected.
voices are everywhere. We would have a chance to bring some of them together to
figure of speech: "Of course, we needed a new format, one that would reflect
which it wants to join. It was also widely claimed that the arrest and
polemics fade away." It said: "Formally commuting the death sentence might, for
membership. The constant stream of condemnation of Turkey's oppression of its
in a position of strength on the ground, and it knows that a gesture of
historic opportunity to exercise magnanimity and to lay the foundations of a
championships and by an administrative fiasco at the government Passport Agency,
which has left more than half a million people due to travel abroad within the
substantially. The Times reported that her brother, Earl Spencer, is
considering breaking his ties with the memorial fund through which the proceeds
from the museum have until now been channeled for charitable purposes, while
from New York, the Daily Express reported a plan to build the world's
with each other to damn him in the most extravagant terms. The Sun
"repulsive pariah." The Mirror described him as a "cad" and a "love rat [who] gives other
implored him to burn. Instead, they were stolen from him by a subsequent
large sum. Instead of publishing them, the Mirror handed them over to
promise, but the Mirror reported that "hurtful claims" based on the
two warring tabloids were united in pious indignation against the Mail on
paper treacherous and hypocritical, while the Sun said: "The Sun
begs everyone to refuse to pay out for the book. And we urge every newspaper to
more intensively than ever," it said. While the land mine has been proscribed
surrender, and to consent to our political, even physical, liquidation." The
must be forced to pay a price for any failure to honor the result of the
signing of the agreement last year. Calling this "a systematic flouting of
state authority, a murderous form of gangsterism by which republicans seek to
exert their illegal authority over 'their' areas," the paper said in an
the congressional deliberations on whether to approve the use of force to drive
bipartisan patriotism. I covered the speech and was struck by how thoughtful
become over the past few months. After the speech, I went grocery shopping at
up some provisions himself. I went over to him and, under the guise of
congratulating him on his moving speech, attempted to check out what he had in
The second great dietetic discovery was Baked Lay's
intractable problems of salad consumption. The first is the unequal
distribution of dressing. The second is the tendency of lazy restaurateurs to
chop salad into large, unwieldy pieces, making it impossible to eat without
violating the etiquette rule against eating vegetables with a knife. The
"WARNING, WARNING, WARNING. Salad consumption requires a fork, and hence, two
hands, so do not partake of this product while driving a motor vehicle or
solvency of Social Security could be ensured into the next millennium.
Regarding the latter, Bob tells me that, in his experience, every time you
drive across the country there is one moment when you almost die. You'll have
moment of doom has already occurred several times, but Bob assures me it's
trying to stop the exhibit, but how many people defending the museum right now
would be trying to shut it down if the art was offensive in other, even less
acceptable, ways? If it were racist, for example. What if there was a big
from talking about his germ phobia, although it was kind of hard to understand
what he was saying through that surgical mask he was wearing. (Just joking!)
But just between you and me, it's really bad. He thinks the water is so
contaminated, he won' t take ice cubes in his drinks. He calls them "death
cubes." And we can't have the coffee that comes with our complimentary
continental breakfast because they might have drawn the water first thing in
the morning without letting the taps run for the two minutes required to flush
the lead out of the pipes. ("Even if they said they'd done it," Bob says,
Vice President Al Gore shook up his campaign. He is moving his
series of debates. Gore said he'll assemble a "leaner, tougher" organization to
spin: The return to his roots will show that Gore is independent from
headquarters where you will, but a vice president is never an outsider.
the museum because of its "Sensation" exhibit, which includes a dissected pig
support. The museum's spin: When you withdraw support for unpopular views, you
violate this freedom. The jaded spin: The debate is less about principles than
fund agencies at current levels for three weeks as Congress and the White House
raiding Social Security. The Republican spin: The Democrats are the real
promising to reform campaign finance and strengthen national defense. Pundits
Anyone can list products through Amazon by paying a monthly fee and a
peacekeeping forces now officially control the territory and are encouraging
bodies, the first physical evidence of human rights abuses. The hopeful spin:
his conservative constituency is too valuable to be excluded. Democrats are
unanimous: When the dust settles, we'll come out on top.
opponent finished playing. Both teams called the win historic: The United
given birth to a "new economy," though there is no statistical proof of it.
computer industry, anecdotal evidence suggests that technology increases the
cover package debates how to divide the surplus. One
article argues for public investment in research, infrastructure, and
education, based on the premise that the information revolution, not deficit
reduction and low interest rates, undergirds our prosperity. Another piece,
which embraces the notion that smaller deficits and lower interests rates have
midwifed prosperity, proposes shoring up Social Security and Medicare, and
saving the surplus. Some minor tax relief, such as an increase in the earned
income tax credit, is also appropriate, as is boosting education and
infrastructure investment. A final article calls for "monumental tax cuts" to
restore faith in individualism, abolish the tax code's dispiriting
progressivity, and pare government down so it can't do much.
jokes in the unfortunately timed "political humor issue" fall hideously flat.
(which create girls) from those carrying Y chromosomes. Doctors impregnate
that all computer networks are unsafe and that the plaintiff's bar will reap
millions from lawsuits prompted by network fiascoes.
cover story maps a political agenda to engage the apathetic Generation X:
coffee," grown in the shade amid other vegetation, is better for the
environment and a great way to differentiate java in an overcrowded market.
various stages of his public life. Time has fresh shots of an anguished
fly with him, preferring to travel with a professional pilot or drive herself.
report distinguishes among different types of memory loss.
Forgetting names is not a cause for alarm, but forgetting how to prepare dinner
indicates loss of "executive functioning," which signals the onset of
already offer patients some protections against insurance plans.
victory in the Women's World Cup. "Blowhards" falsely claimed that the game
demonstrated women are the same as men. Since female players are weaker and
calling the space shuttle program a flop and the international space station a
disaster. These programs have produced no significant scientific discoveries.
concludes that he has shepherded the company through profound changes while
the front page, enlivened the editorial page, and promoted minority viewpoints.
His greatest challenge: bringing the Times to the Internet without
moguls in Sun Valley. The media elite socialize during raft trips and water
An item reveals that although an independent counsel deputy proposed indicting
squeezing one more year out of the same old hits, has embarked on yet another
comeback tour. The former secretary of state has just released Years of
dissertation and finds it "brave," a persuasive account of why realism keeps
of fashion. His press savvy, charm, and resolute courtship of the rich and
power spinning, endlessly spinning, his record (and revising it when
is back in vogue not because he is saying anything new. He's only saying what
vindication could be just around the corner. Click for more.)
it must be said, does not seem a promising start for any kind of debate. The
Incident. Quick, can you tell me what that was about? Or "Basket III"? I didn't
pretending that he was much tougher on the Soviets than he ever was. In the
today ignore China's Communist authoritarianism, human rights violations, and
empire, not simply a dance partner in the great geopolitical waltz. Likewise,
spectacle of Republican foreign policy confusion. Since the end of the Cold
crusader for justice, and the rest of the party, which isn't sure what it
and other Republicans didn't, has deepened this divide.
having started fighting, must win to preserve its credibility. But beneath
It is this gloomy but coherent vision that has made
gives the Republicans intellectual window dressing to what would otherwise be
sucked all spontaneity and passion from the picture." Most reviewers pillory
Eyes Wide Shut is based on. Click here to see the trailers.)
The trio get increasingly suspicious of each other as they hear eerie sounds in
the night and find mysterious bundles of sticks hanging from trees, and by the
A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in Modern
the first historian to survey the origin and use of manners, but whether he
line: "These broader subjects are treated in books and magazines and the slow
it not a matter of class, but simply of good habits, which anyone can learn.
"It's difficult to recall a single book in which [manners] are discussed as
clambers out of a toilet during the band's stage act), are "still the stuff of
when "the formerly promiscuous singer confesses his shame for past recreational
rejected a plan to implement last year's peace accord on the grounds that the
China" policy, which implied China's sovereignty over and eventual
determination to uphold national sovereignty, dignity, and territorial
world sighed with relief at what the New York Times 
called "an end to the latest confrontation between the
states turned himself in under a plan brokered by his sister. He had been
had then been released, allegedly because the agents had no information on his
managed care has bought Republican votes and that patients will die as a
that being unconstrained by spending limits will give him "strategic
able to jump in a government airplane and travel the country making promises,"
concluded that "another voice in the struggle to define the party's agenda is
money and endorsements, and wondered who might drop out next.
independent. He castigated Republicans for going soft on gun control
Face the Nation that "the Republican establishment is doing its best
prominent gay rights advocates within the Catholic Church."
awards ever. The plaintiffs' lawyers had produced documents demonstrating that
GM execs resisted fireproofing fuel systems because it would cost an extra
in product liability cases tried by juries might well be going down the drain
on the company's negligence. This is the first time criminal charges have been
brought over an accidental airplane crash in the United States.
inexpensive drug will help prevent AIDS transmission from mothers to
against handgun makers, importers, and distributors to force gun companies
lump in her breast. Weather conditions will delay her evacuation until at
Carnival Cruise Lines disclosed rape charges against its staff. Crew
last summer. The admission was ordered by a judge presiding over a lawsuit by a
former employee alleging that the company tried to cover up her rape.
Apple's quarterly profits doubled. Its stock subsequently jumped to an
United States defeated China for the Women's World Cup soccer title. The
game was scoreless and ended in a penalty shootout. More celebrated was the
90,000-strong crowd, the largest ever for a women's sporting event. Former Sen.
business that is separate from his gubernatorial duties," said an aide.
Submarine by playing a concert on a yellow submarine while floating down a
attacking our book even though they haven't read it. The book, Dow
ascent, financial journalists, academic economists, and Wall Street analysts
have claimed the market was heading for a fall. After all, just look at
Reserve economist whose work has been widely published in scholarly
is consistent with the market's performance and with the basic principles of
finance. Our starting point is that the value of a stock, like that of any
other asset (a rental condo, a bond), is determined by the amount of cash it
puts into your pockets over time. With stocks, that amount has been
This argument is laid out at length in an annotated
300-page book, which also includes extensive advice on how to implement an
corn and plant it too." What he means is that, while we rely on the growth in
cash flowing to investors as justification for higher stock prices, that cash
by using reported corporate earnings for our calculations. But we don't.
Nowhere in the book do we claim that free cash flow is equal to earnings. In
fact, we say that it would be an "egregious error" to make such a statement or
to use it in calculations of stock values. Instead, what we have written from
have repeated, without provoking objection, at academic conferences from
bound of dividends and the upper bound of earnings. In the book, we discuss
simple ways to determine cash flow as a percentage of earnings. (Hint: The
stocks have kept rising, just as Glassman predicted, so that "the guy who had
no idea what he was talking about gave what turned out to be good advice." This
the last refuge of people who simply do not understand what has been happening
in the stock market over the past two decades and who cling to an old paradigm
model for determining the true value of stocks. But see for yourself. Don't
read premature reviews of a book that the reviewers haven't read. Just hang on.
taxpayer funds in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Chemical
is about "a whole lot of nothing." Every national animal protection
resigned in protest, stating that the agency "dithered in endless, fruitless
debate" rather than "doing anything about toxic chemicals that have been around
knowledge and the ability right now to prioritize the high production
volume chemicals and protect us from the most hazardous ones. But the agency
has launched unthinkingly into this nation's most massive animal testing
program, rather than make the effort to collect the substantial amount of
existing data on these chemicals, centralize it, and make it accessible.
able to develop a scientifically defensible testing strategy. According to
programs. In fact, after all the money is spent and all the animals have been
killed, what the public, the environment, and the workers will be left with is:
to benefit from treatment and increasing the coverage as money allowed. Most
everyone else in the world rations implicitly through a process known
to obtain services until the least hardy either get better, get discouraged, or
die. It is debatable which is the better procedure; it is not
debatable that resources are limited, that some form of rationing is
inevitable, and that virtually every scheme for financing medical care has run
aground on the shoals of excess demand in an ocean of insufficient
fissures. It's just that the doctor usually doesn't get paid for treating them.
but it depends on the insurance company's policy (there are many private
movement of "the line" since the scheme was first written down. The federal
government has been very reluctant to grant the necessary waivers to allow the
covered has not changed very much. But the eligibility requirements change with
changing resource levels so that more or fewer people are covered by the plan
depending on how much money is available. People pretty much expect to be taken
care of no matter what is wrong with them, and once they get their "insurance"
card the hemorrhoid sufferers generally will not defer to congestive heart
program discriminate against persons with disabilities? If it is legal, then
the law requires that it be funded. For what it is worth, there has been no
thing, there is something called Tort Law (malpractice) that discourages even
Health Plan may elect to cover conditions below the funding line, and no doubt
many physicians do treat such conditions at no charge or by combining treatment
with a condition falling above the line. But they don't have to provide such
Disabilities Act has a lot of strange things to answer for, but publicly
supported assisted suicide is not one of them. After the Death with Dignity Act
procedure eligible for inclusion in the prioritization list. However, it was
That there has not been a rush to fill these prescriptions, let alone publicize
First, I think he makes far too big a deal over the
studios where assistants do the actual casting and assembling of the large
could answer this for me. A friend asked me to watch his cat while he was
abroad for two weeks. I came by every day and noticed that the cat was looking
a little under the weather. I wasn't concerned, though, and thought the cat was
rapidly worse, and one day when I came to the house the cat was obviously very,
situation and asked if I should take Kitty to the vet. He said, "No." I
explained again that the cat looked to be at death's door. The owner said he'd
phone I just couldn't leave the pathetic animal there to suffer, so I took
Kitty to an animal hospital where he was treated for a deadly cat stomach
problem. I saved the cat's life. And paid a couple thousand dollars to do so.
The owner is refusing to reimburse me and is saying that I shouldn't have gone
off this friendship, but am I within the limits of proper behavior to demand
reimbursement for Kitty's operation? Or did I, as the owner says, intrude into
pet whose owner decreed it was a Christian Science cat. ("Let's wait three
days," indeed.) Your experience, alas, is a perfect example of the old saying,
however, and the side of Kitty. There are animal cruelty statutes (which are
is a civil suit, probably in small claims court. The vet's records should
attest to the cat's precarious condition. You did the only humane thing. One
wonders what the outcome would have been had The Traveler been in residence
conveying that without seeming like a stalker. Telephone, letter, and direct
contact are all out of the question. Also, it needs to fit into my budget
"Catch-22," which suggests either English is not your first language or you
stalking, in general nonlegal terms, would probably be drawn where the person
feels he or she is receiving unwanted attention. Being in the general proximity
this girl exists, which means not trying to be where she is and stopping all
communications of any kind. That is the surefire way for her to know you are
you saying you wouldn't let yourself be found in that situation? Good for you!
general rule was: If it's not affecting you or anyone else adversely, then your
must point out that her job description is specifically to mind other
people's business. Granted, it's a thankless task, but she's got a lot of karma
Four excuses sound like you're holding back the real reason. (I can't go out
garage. Universally understood translation: I wouldn't be seen in public with
correct, though there are occasions when stringing together emotionally
you make one of the most important decisions of your life." Perhaps. Another
simple answer is that the annual college rankings (and similar rankings of
graduate schools and hospitals) are lucrative and influential unlike anything
brag or complain loudly about their scores, enhancing the 'Snooze
But there's a problem. A successful feature like this requires surprise, which
numerical factors such as average class size, acceptance rate (fraction of
applicants who are admitted), and amount of alumni giving. Trouble is, any
combination of these factors just isn't going to change enough from year to
The magazine tries to deny that there's anything odd about
irrelevant: We're not interested in the 10-year rise from third but rather in
actually have slipped in quality this past year. Most indicators did not change
compared to last year. But graduation rate, number of classes with fewer than
statistical guru, explained to me that this year's ranking procedures are an
"improvement" over last year's. Doesn't that imply, I said, that last year's
inaccurate? Morse replied that he hadn't said the earlier ratings were
inferior. But if something improves, I pressed him, doesn't that mean that it
was less excellent before the improvement? Morse grudgingly allowed that I was
variable in a school's ranking has long been educational expenditures per
sciences. Universities are allowed to count their research budgets in their
research their professors are doing outside of class.
actual amounts, on the grounds that "expenditures at institutions with large
research programs and medical schools are substantially higher than those at
the rest of the schools in the category." In other words, just two years ago,
having lots of fancy laboratories that don't actually improve undergraduate
like this one. But there is a larger philosophical flaw in the "best colleges"
rankings. Consider this analogy: Suppose you wanted to rank baseball teams. You
might choose some plausible criteria such as players' lifetime batting averages
and salaries, the coaches' years of professional experience, and so on. To
decide whether these criteria were valid, and what relative weights to give
them, you would look at the figures for winning and losing teams of the past.
Because you know which teams are successful before you begin your
News rankings there is no objective way to know which schools are winners
before you begin your analysis. In fact, determining the winners is the point
of the exercise. So you sit around and brainstorm about whether faculty
resources (class size, faculty salaries, etc.) or student graduation rates, for
News gives the two characteristics equal weight, which seems reasonable.
But if you told me that faculty resources are twice as important as student
"We've come up with a list that underscores intuitive judgments. We did not set
out to underscore [those] judgments; we set out with a methodology. That it
wound up this way is to me both a justification and a discovery that we're on
confirmed in our intuition because it is supported by our methodology.
And the truth is that the rankings' success actually
depends on confounding most people's intuition. For example, by declaring that
why should people find that so hard to believe? Maybe because you told them the
is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me." What happened to
Design and Manufacturing, discusses the latest trends in his industry. "We
illiteracy a fashion? And is a resistance to that fashion, a clinging to
conventional spellings, just a class marker and a reactionary one at that?) But
someplace, but you know how it is when you're just back from vacation;
everything is at sixes and sevens.) to be such excellent quiz wranglers. And
you are not ordinary quiz participants, according to both guest hosts, each of
my plan of throwing out the really good ones has now been exposed. In the
Journal about particleboard's growing acceptance in the design community.
Journal then gives its readers some tough love: "For those still inclined
it." To which most readers, no doubt, will respond aloud, "No, you get
products, the more each category tends to generate a dominant duo vying to
appeal to consumers in what is an essentially trivial decision. And so it is in
the same order as the magazines; each is from the latter title in each
remarkable defeat for gambling in memory. Other states have blocked
of social disarray and political sleaziness, but nothing remotely equals South
offer gambling. Every place you can think of that might have gambling has
gambling: Convenience stores, bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, truck stops,
etc., are fogged with cigarette smoke and filled with people who don't have
this has occurred in a state that never intended to legalize gambling.
amendment in the back of a gigantic budget bill. The amendment erased two
It legalized video gambling, allowing game owners to pay jackpots to video
Having legalized itself through the backdoor, the industry
proceeded to duck, skirt, or break every law passed to control it. When the
player in a day, poker operators ignored the law. They continued to offer
casinos by limiting operators to five machines on one "premises," operators
surmised that "premises" meant, essentially, anything with a wall and a door.
sense of euphemism, "video malls." More dismal casinos you cannot imagine. At
one "video mall" where I spent several days, the only food on offer was Tootsie
not tax gambling revenues, does not forbid children to play the machines, and
does not ban felons from owning them. Gambling experts call it the "Wild West"
The video poker industry's latest trick was buying itself a
or more in soft money for the Democratic Party. (The chairman of the state
popular Republican governor in a thriving Republican state, lost to a
victory, the backlash against video poker grew. The overwhelming image of
gambling." This is the industry euphemism for the infiltration of gambling into
everyday life (which is indeed convenient for the businesses that make millions
Experts deplore convenience gambling. It is extremely
dangerous to addicts: Every trip to the store becomes a temptation. (Video
poker, which is fast and requires skill, is known as "video crack" because it
is by far the most addictive form of gambling. According to the only study of
convenience gambling exacts huge social costs in the form of addiction and
financial hardship without providing any economic benefit. Unlike casino
gambling, convenience gambling does not bring with it hotels, restaurants,
tourists, or good jobs. "There is no pretense that this is about tourism or
the status of poker once and for all. The law specified that if the referendum
has no referendum right, so the Supreme Court canceled the vote and upheld the
referendum, because it deprives voters of the opportunity to throw out the
poker industry themselves. And there is little doubt they would have done so.
Virtually every church in the state, the top strategists from both parties, the
state chamber of commerce, and thousands of grassroots organizers banded
Video poker is not gone yet. The industry has a magnificent
aptitude for escaping defeat. It has used suits and lobbying and more suits to
stymie previous efforts to restrict it. There is no doubt the industry will ask
poker's death may actually help the gambling industry. For the past few weeks,
out against the state's gambling anarchy, and for good reason. The gambling
industry wants to be the gaming industry. Casino owners have carefully
thanks to the Web, today's political obsessive can gather more insider poop in
their best stuff away, they collate their campaign archives for readers'
Because political information goes stale faster than bread, the first
day's top stories are front and center, as they should be, and logical links
can connect to smartly done backgrounders on the candidates and pieces on the
of the candidates by clicking their names. The site offers a helpful link to
audio analysis by the paper's ace political obsessive,
sites of various government branches, think tanks, political parties,
candidates, pollsters, and publications. A most valuable page!
's campaign portal page, complete with a weekly political
watches television's weekend political talk shows so you don't have to.
Perhaps more useful for their sociological content than their utility are the
sites is they tell you only what the candidates want you to know. Skeleton Closet --"All the
wicked as any opposition research home page, this site collects the unsavory
of candidate appearances, which can be searched by keyword here and
await your query about who gave what to which candidate. Contributors to the
want to put your money where your political mouth is, open an account at the
site's markets (the Democratic and Republican presidential races, the battle
the premier roundup of politics, government, and political journalism links.
state governments or the courts? The state parties? Then roll up your sleeve,
tie your arm off with a mouse cord, slap your vein into view, and shoot this
growth fueled by the money of international investors anxious to get in on a
good thing. But then, with startling suddenness, things went sour. The leader
admitted that some bad investments had been made and that even good investments
had been financed with too much debt and too little equity. But much of the
problem, he insisted, was other people's fault: investors who pulled out their
money at the first whiff of difficulty, forcing a sudden financial
restructuring that aggravated the losses; hedge funds that, seeing his
weakness, speculated against him. And so, to the shock of many, he suddenly
investors to withdraw funds. "If we had been smart," he declared, "we would
have tied up these guys for a long, long time when we were kings of the world
recently the largest such fund in the world. In its heyday in the summer of
Quantum in making plays against troubled economies. Notably, Tiger was perhaps
aggravating the problem, announced that henceforth the privilege of quarterly
withdrawals would be revoked. (As my wife declared, after reading news reports
their failings. The irony of his current situation no doubt pleases many.
conspiracy, the claims that hedge funds profit from countries when they are
down. Where hedge funds really get important is when they don't make
profits, when they themselves are in trouble. Indeed, the troubles of hedge
funds played a remarkably large role in the financial instability of the world
The reason for this crucial role is that in the 1990s a
handful of highly leveraged investors became key, even dominant, players in a
number of financial markets. In the international arena, Tiger and a few other
funds became the key conduit, via the carry trade, for the export of capital
became a key purchaser of a number of crucial if slightly obscure financial
these hedge funds had become was not clear until they got into trouble. But
then it turned out that without them the markets could barely function.
sum in the world financial scheme of things (the total wealth of the United
under management. What was different about hedge funds was, first, their
margin; and second, their willingness to play outside the mainstream markets.
Treasury bills; but when it came to the secondary market in Danish mortgages or
Underlying the ability and willingness of hedge funds to
take huge positions in obscure markets was the belief, both by lenders and by
the hedge fund managers themselves, that they had special expertise. In the
sophisticated financial models implemented on their computers were supposed to
allow them to diversify away risks. In the case of Tiger and Quantum, it was
probably can't become the manager of a really large hedge fund unless you have
a slightly irrational faith in your own judgment; when success depends on being
able to convince other people to let you take huge risks with their money, it
is not the paranoid but the megalomaniac who survive. That is, until reality
up, it had unanticipated consequences both for the funds and for markets. Look,
for example, at what happened to that yen carry trade last fall. Tiger and
other funds had borrowed heavily in yen, betting on a decline in the yen
against the dollar. When the yen started to rise instead, they suffered losses.
Since the funds were already leveraged to the hilt, this reduction in their
capital forced them to reduce their exposure, which meant paying off some of
those yen borrowings. But that created a fresh demand for yen and supply of
dollars in the foreign exchange market, which led to more losses, forcing even
more repayment, pushing the yen still higher. The result in a short period of
time was a drastic appreciation of the yen and billions of dollars in losses
heights, or in some cases led markets simply to close up shop. And more was at
The sharp rise in the yen last fall threatened to send Japan into a
deflationary spiral, the drying up of liquidity in the United States briefly
Which is why, in a perverse way, Tiger's current problems
world, one that has learned to live with a greatly reduced role for investors
particular sort of vicious circles that brought the world to the brink a year
in the late crisis. In that case, the clipping of those funds' wings is a
fundamental change in the situation. The world is really a much safer place now
than it was three years ago. I think this is a bit too optimistic; there are
unfortunately many other ways for a global financial system to get into trouble
(and the yen, as it happens, is once again dangerously overvalued). But
anything that makes the new global economy a bit more stable is to be
Thatcher, and populist politicians who promised paradise consistently delivered
steadily turned the country's reputation around. Inflation has been eliminated,
with the peso securely pegged to the dollar. An absurdly inefficient system of
privatized, producing a fair bit of unemployment but a huge surge in
productivity. And as recently as five or six months ago the country was the
darling of the business press, praised for its success in riding out the
press was the sign that things were about to take a turn for the worse. For a
has been sliding into a moderately severe recession and with it a growing
budget deficit, just as a presidential election approaches. And in apparent
mind you, but with the pope. (The pope has recently joined the call for debt
forgiveness for poor nations, but he was surely talking about Fourth World
Python cast is about to leap into view, shouting "Nobody expects the
whole affair will soon blow over. But even assuming that the peso holds and
believe that a credibly stable currency is all you need to promote prosperity.
back in the 1920s, a strong currency and a strong economy are by no means the
that promise is made credible by the legal requirement that every peso in
circulation be backed by a dollar's worth of foreign exchange reserves. In
done everything possible to make that currency credible and secure. This
recent memory and most people expected it to return in due course, and you can
of the board, suggested a few months back that it should endure for a decade or
so.) But you can no longer brush off the argument that the system is a sort of
economic straitjacket, one that is becoming increasingly onerous.
printing money for good reasons such as fighting recessions or rescuing the
it turned out that the convertibility law left no leeway to rush cash to
troubled banks. It has since established various safety nets to prevent a
repeat of that crisis, but some observers doubt whether those nets are really
Now, these problems with a rigidly fixed exchange rate are
not news. But for a while, managed to convince themselves that they weren't
significant. They argued that as long as governments themselves followed stable
history does not stop just because the currency is stable. And faced with a
they can do. They cannot print money. They cannot even borrow money for some
its system is better than the alternatives. The more sensible advocates of
devaluing would lead instead to a surge in inflation and a financial collapse.
But, as it turns out, their fears may have been almost as overstated as their
arrived and neither did the financial meltdown. Indeed, it is starting to look
as if the collapse of the real was just what the doctor ordered.
wide open. It's an eternal controversy, and not even the pope can resolve
W. Bush invariably note that he has spent most of his life doing exactly what
right. W. has spent most of his life doing exactly what his father did, but
shot down over enemy waters, and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. The son
W. followed his father's path into the oil business.
rich friends for a head start, but whereas the old man scored in his oilfields,
Congress and lost. Come middle age, the father threw himself into public
the heroic life of President Bush. This was one of his unfortunate talents: He
There are competing theories about what the son's pale
that he has he is making up for his lost years and surpassing the father he has
less charitable, theory surmises that just as W. has tried to equal his father
and fallen short, so he'll find some way to choke in the presidential
or to draw grand psychological conclusions about how the father will shadow the
family from humble origins uses political success to make itself rich and
Bush began his (forgettable) service as a senator only after a long career as a
gentleman banker. He viewed his political activity as an obligation, and he
office, compiling the requisite experience almost mechanically, adding line
president. Politics was always a duty, never a pleasure. (Remember the horror
noblesse oblige has morphed into something different during this generation.
The Bushes are a microcosm of the transformation of Republican politics from
Northeastern elitism to Western populism. The son's failure to match his father
Republican. But in an era when a politician's ability to communicate trumps
anything else and the balance of Republican power has shifted west, the preppy,
where his father was distant and calculating. Every story about the son
applauds his democratic instincts, his ease with all kinds of people, his
achievement, but the veep is stiff and awkward and dutiful in a way that his
clinching the World Cup trophy is indulgent, quixotic, and utterly
superficial, when it's the only one that makes any real sense. Does anyone, on
either side of this absurd debate, really believe that an athlete, upon scoring
the winning goal in an international championship game, was actually trying to
stage some kind of cultural coup? With adrenaline pumping, in the moment of
realizing the dream of being a hero, with memories of the soccer greats running
through her head, she did what soccer players do when they can't contain
themselves. Are the pundits of the world so conceited that they really believe
that she was acting to supply them with more fodder?
Apparently, to him, the only sports against which women would be measured were
gymnastics and figure skating. Regardless of which side of the sports bra
light of its social commentary rather than its expression of athletic
competition and pride, it's the same kind of sexism.
the moment, is a woman's sport. That means that the culture of soccer, with all
its grace and skill, brutality and bravado, will be exhibited by female
concludes that from the fact that the two countries have dismal economic
histories, but dismal doesn't mean the same. On the surface both countries
might look quite alike, but people's reaction to inflation and economic
measures has proved to be very different, so we shouldn't expect to see both
trying to understand what each country is like. They all might look the same,
but they are different; people are very different and react in different ways.
are important, and what businessmen are doing is important.
regular recession and that the currency board prevents us from applying the
usual recipe, but it's not clear that it would work, and at this point breaking
the peso commitment would be extremely onerous. Right now we have a recession
and an increasing fiscal deficit (a comment on the virtues of keeping balanced
accounts would be very appropriate); if we devaluate, chances are we would also
have an inflation outburst, a rush against the banking system, and a capital
we've been cheated many times, we have learned how to beat the system.
that its downside could not be ignored. But I will say this: One should always
be suspicious of arguments that claim that one country is utterly different
position and then claim that the role reversal that has taken place since
inexperienced pilots who may know how to fly under good weather conditions, but
who haven't much under the belt on a hazy night. We all mourn the death of John
everything in my power to prevent it from happening. If the pilot wants to take
that chance alone, fine, but once he allows passengers, he has to be
responsible enough to make the right decision for not only himself but for
lives of two young and beautiful girls without thinking, This isn't worth
set of restrictions in a deed when he sells his property. He may simply refuse
discover them in the "chain of title" and to determine if they have any legal
Bush did not have to do anything except direct that
the restrictions be omitted or stricken from the deed he granted to his buyer.
(The only circumstance in which he would need to seek the consent of other
landowners in the development would be if he wanted to petition to change the
the language in this instrument, which both he and his wife had to sign, and of
his legal prerogatives. As the governor of his state, he should have had the
decency, fortitude, and sensitivity to recognize the importance of refusing to
work and her friends, our conversation was eminently civilized and stimulating.
they seem to be from the kind of art that turns me on. From the kind of art, in
and I were to write about one abstract painting, there is no denying that to
Whereas we could get hotter and hotter under the collar about the ethics of
displaying one man's collection of new art in a public institution, of public
subsidy for art the public is goaded into hating, of how blasphemy has become
wanting it so) but one point has to be made: It is irksome when art becomes a
moral cause. It is as if during a fencing match someone were to start hurling
weighing in, the issues become freedom of expression, the meaning of images,
the ownership of icons (does the Virgin belong to the Church or to everyone
touched by the concept?) etc., all fascinating issues, but leaving anyone
concerned with art obliged to argue for basic artists' rights rather than
It seems to me absurd to try and read an image like
raw, crude, angry, Bad. It doesn't do much good to come along and say, well,
art brut and with other blasphemous imagery. In respect of the former,
is about the loss of center that gives meaning to the kind of gestures
whose context is much more the current sensations of pop music and fashion with
which he vies in terms of energy and verve, than the old masters, the "strong
the obstacles to it, the most daunting of which is ballot security. But let's
assume for the moment that the practical problems can be overcome. Will
everyone knows, turnout has been declining. In presidential elections, it has
inconvenience of casting ballots in person. Before you can vote, you need to
have registered, often several weeks before an election. Then you must go
maximize the odds of lousy weather. If you're going to be away from home on
Election Day, you have to think ahead about getting an absentee ballot.
other side are a variety of objections. In addition to concerns about fraud,
elections. Wealthier, whiter people are more likely to vote than poor people
and minorities. Since they're also more likely to own personal computers,
online voting might exaggerate the disparity. There is also an argument that
voting is a "vital public ritual that increases social solidarity and binds
situation. Over the next decade, access to the Internet is forecast to become
want private access at home, there will be public Internet terminals in
communitarian objection is a bit more troubling. Around the world, people
struggle and die for the right to vote, just as people in this country once
to be appalled at how cavalierly people treat voting in this country. It's
tempting to say that anyone unwilling to sacrifice an hour to exercise the
right to vote doesn't much deserve it. Having to take a bit of trouble to vote
reminds you that voting is the cornerstone of all our rights. By eliminating
say that this complaint is valid but not persuasive. The chief value of the
ritual of voting is to convey the significance of voting to democratic
citizens. Once the ritual becomes a deterrent to the act itself, as it pretty
clearly has, it ceases to serve its purpose. In the end, the communitarian
more of us will exercise our right and fulfill our civic responsibilities. We
participation for poorer visuals would seem one well worth making.
of a leap than it might seem. When you think about it, voting has long been a
fusion of public and private, of tradition and technology. The secret ballot
public place to do so. It's not that nothing will be lost when we all vote from
remote terminals instead of at the local polling place. But what we stand to
lose is ephemeral. What we stand to gain from virtual voting is very real.
what he does to reach the community: "Yeah, we want to compel people to come to
there's a big difference." What does Deacon Don do?
"They're taking something that's about as likely to
happen as a meteorite falling on your head and telling everybody that it could
York State Health Department. Name that exaggerated (or not)
wake up one bright autumn morning and you're halfway to the subway when you
decide to walk to work instead. But you don't go to work. Instead, somehow, you
find yourself at the Central Park Zoo. The zoo just opened and there's no one
there and it's clear and bright and so quiet you can hear the seals break the
water as they circle their pool and the gulls fighting the kept birds for their
seed. You close your eyes and think about other mornings, mornings on the
sweaters and army surplus peacoats and shredded wheat for breakfast and thin
ice on the tide pools and diesel as the engines kick in. Then you hear another
she's accidentally dropped her new baby in the polar bear cage! You don't
they're not just tears of relief because you saved her baby from a polar bear.
crowd might have some evil intent," said the chief. "And that you are an evil
is it simply a chance for any city official to indulge a personal taste for
martial law, surrounding himself with a hunky praetorian guard, manly men whose
manliness glistens in the light of their boots, burnished to a fine sheen by
The New York State Health Department warns that you
they're a bunch of hysterics. The health department. Not the bats, of whom only
in the same room with a sleeping person or unattended child, even if it is not
known if the person has been bitten or if the bat has rabies or if the child is
"Bat Rabies Alert" refrigerator magnet and a poster with a sinister bat
Bat Conservation International, the organization in
been a case of rabies from an unnoticed bite. But that doesn't impress the
yearns for the sweet release of an unnoticed bite from a rabid bat.) "Let's say
you wake up in a room and there's a bat in there and the bat flies out the
Beneath a headline that makes the indisputable claim "Comfort You Never
to submit other actual examples of writers finding similar delight in their own
"another awkward answer" of the sort that had "made the issue linger." A
Times "Media Watch" story noted that Bush's previous answers had
obviously failed to "end the questioning." What both articles neglected to
Bush has jailed drug offenders and that Republicans have investigated President
immaculately conceived and needs no justification. Reluctant to become "part of
the story," news reporters press the question while obscuring their complicity
in keeping it alive. Instead, they tell readers that the question is "dogging"
Bush. Nonsense. Questions don't dog politicians. Reporters dog politicians. And
while they're dogging Bush, they ought to account for dodging a few questions
pretend that the question drives itself. It "hounds," "haunts," and "stalks"
Bush. It "percolates," "persists," and "swirls around" him. It is "turbulence,"
a "storm," a "blizzard." John Stacks, a Time editor who has led the drug
frenzy, said the question has "a kind of organic life." "These things take on a
don't evaluate the merits of a candidate's remarks. They just assess whether
the remarks will succeed or fail politically. Rather than treat the cocaine
inquiry as a dialogue in which the questions as well as the answers are subject
to rational scrutiny, most reporters depict it as a force of nature. Bush's
replies have failed to "douse the questions," "dampen the controversy," or
"turn down the heat." On the contrary, they have "stoked a brush fire," "fed
the story," and given it "oxygen," with "the automatic and absolutely
inevitable effect of keeping it going." Journalists are just part of this
"automatic" cycle. They're not hurting Bush. He's hurting himself.
acknowledge their role in the assault seldom offer a reason. They say they're
just doing what comes naturally, and Bush is to blame for provoking them. His
answers "opened the door," "courted scrutiny," and "encouraged" more questions.
"His not answering it is just like waving red meat in front of carnivores,"
inevitable that reporters will push until there's an answer." On Good
the press. [Bush's answers] won't push the questions away, and he'll get them
again and again." Boys on the bus will be boys on the bus.
to judging Bush's answers generally accuse him of "shifting," "backpedaling,"
"altering," and "reversing." And what exactly did he reverse? He "reversed his
change of strategy." Why concede a politician's substantive consistency, when
such impropriety. Instead, they posit the appearance of impropriety,
warning that Bush's answers "create an appearance at least that he has
something to hide" and "leave the implication" that he used hard drugs. His
the impression that he is hiding something about other aspects of his life." By
confining their inferences to such "impressions," the media sidestep the
like" and "sounds like" he's dissembling. The Post suggested that Bush may have "created the impression with
voters that he is being cute or coy rather than forthcoming." Other pundits,
too scrupulous to characterize the public's perceptions of Bush, quoted their
Since the media decline to characterize the truth, perception is all that
matters. "Inconsistencies and ambiguities, real or imagined, are to journalists
this question, focusing instead on how Bush is "handling the crisis." "What
disturbed me this past week more was not even the fundamental issue, but it was
called the controversy "the first big public test of
Bush's instincts and of his staff, and the results were pretty wobbly." Other
publications, too timid to endorse even this superficial assessment, reported
that "analysts" and "top Republicans" were questioning Bush's "erratic handling
of the drug question" and warning that his "candidacy had been bruised by his
Bush keeps refusing to say whether he has used cocaine. But that's not how the
correspondent, was whether Bush thought rumors of his cocaine use were "being
questions about whether you used illegal drugs in your youth go away? Won't
they dog your campaign until you answer?" As Bush's inquisitors focus less on
Republican rivals are happy to exploit and hide behind the media's
candidates don't determine what is the statute of limitations on questions of
hard to feel sorry for Bush, given his preposterous spins on the question. He
says he's stonewalling it because divulging past drug abuse "sends bad signals
to your children." Bush's surrogates claim that he's leading a "heroic" effort
"to purge the system of this 'gotcha' politics." He's making himself a
"positive role model" for kids and displaying the "leadership" for which "the
against "personal destruction." Comments like these make you wonder not whether
Bush and his friends ever used cocaine, but whether they ever stopped.
point is not that the question is unfair. The point is that the power to choose
and craft questions is more profound than the power to choose and craft
controversial as the answer, journalists who report the exact answer and who
said it ought to report the exact question and who asked it. And if it's their
column proposing and defending a better question than the media have asked Bush
suggest that whatever you did was a mere youthful indiscretion, and thus
irrelevant to your candidacy?" You can decide for yourself whether you like
cocaine controversy, the Times advised Bush "to be honest, and to let
the country take his measure. In his campaign, the governor has emphasized the
importance of assuming responsibility for one's own actions. He should be
tabloid onslaught. During the first week after the crash, though, the tabs
modicum of restraint. Sure, they couldn't resist a few salacious details here
that were virtually indistinguishable from those in the mainstream press. The
gesture that seemed touching in its inappropriateness.
story with their usual zeal, claiming to have the inside track on everything
from the "secrets the tragic couple took to the grave" to the precise condition
personality and ease with strangers" as well as his "uncanny resemblance" to
almost made us laugh: The Globe 's shot of convenience store employee
what little other news there is seems incidental. (You know something's
happenings in the world of celebrities' dogs. For starters, the Enquirer
reports that for his recent wedding, singer Phil Collins booked his dog into a
nearest and dearest. And canine lovers everywhere will no doubt sleep easier
she has begun a crusade on behalf of the "innocent greyhounds" abused in dog
pain" after being "hit in the butt by a stray golf ball that raised an angry
freak rear end accident this month when an overzealous deer "nipped her
home the "tough guy" props he wears in the film he's now shooting. But just two
is being ruined by his penchant for antiques hunting on the Web: He's
And while we're on the subject of the tabloids' short
memories: Why can't the Star remember what it says about country
photographers had snagged the first photo ever taken of Twain and her husband,
for his own wedding photos. So imagine our happy surprise when we saw Twain's
essay argues that the human rights movement is in trouble, despite its triumph
and from general compassion fatigue, but the biggest weakness is that activists
make no effort to generate popular support for human rights causes. This
elitism could backfire against the movement, just as affirmative action's
Consumers Union, which pays experts to rate products. (The article is by
cover story notes the resurgence of cosmetic surgery,
especially among younger patients. New surgeries are safer, less invasive, and
the "barbaric era" of guns predicts that we could be "rid of the damned things"
gains tied up in their houses. Loan companies are permitting buyers to borrow
buyers could be devastated when the economy slows down.
sex hormones and aren't sophisticated enough to refer to past experience when
piece describes how women in their 20s "donate" eggs to infertile couples for
thousands of dollars. The sellers are currently solicited through
advertisements ("Pay your tuition with eggs") but will soon be able to offer
their services on a specialized Internet auction site. Hopeful parents often
of time and energy vying for second place, but the poll is irrelevant to the
piece makes fun of the Reform Party convention, whose attendees
Conclusion: Party members are so obsessed by process they will never get
evoked individual responsibility as a counterweight to government benevolence
an umbrella organization for fruitcakes. Activists grasp for another flamboyant
delusional nuts promote their own candidacies for the party's presidential
cover editorial supports multilateral interventions to
outside interference. The world is morally obliged to intervene and prevent
atrocities, even if this intervention does not resolve the underlying
most significant developments in the history of the space age," said John E.
but now a faculty committee proposes to eliminate it or at least rename it.
"Disabled; genetically inferior and slated for elimination."-- Tom
children, admitted to college only so the bursar can suck money out of their
rich alumni parents, cheat their way through class and, if that doesn't get
them good enough grades, bully their professors into upping their marks. Those
tweeds, they must capitulate or end up doing yard work at some ethnically
perpetually drunken students sleep it off in class, their clothing disarrayed
sexually exploited in exchange for better grades. The only ones exempt from
physically disabled, who are being quietly slaughtered, one by one, by Peter
for cultural than erotic reasons. Not that I begrudge anyone his pleasures.
inside," in an effort to reinvigorate sagging cola sales. "They want to try
I foolishly wrote "Use the time to contemplate how your fellow Baptists have
Convention. Let me assure you that the National Baptist Convention was entirely
Baptist Churches (note the plural: Baptists object to the idea of
denominations, choosing to "freely associate" instead) absolutely took the
liberal position on practically any social issue from the 1960s on (which is
why they're losing churches to the Southern Baptist and National Baptist
follow that the reader instantly knows he'd sooner be struck blind than read
on. Participants are invited to submit actual examples from any news source of
what The New Yorker used to call "letters we never finished reading" (or
something like that), like this one from Ken Tucker:
Control. "Anyone who continues to maintain that there was some mistake here
crash. Forty thousand of us die that way each year. Either each powerful
retiree is transported in some kind of titanium case or that satanic pact is
still in effect even after one leaves office. Either way, great benefits.
the torture and murder of thousands of civilians, but mostly that," she did not
Sit Of heating: A seat of heating eliminates "the frosted contact" usually
tested when to rest on a seat of toilet cooled by the cold of the winter. You
will be astonished and satisfied the comfortable comfort of the seat of toilet
Lively seat: A lively seat eliminates the "icy note" normally experienced,
when sitting on a toilet seat to showers of the winter cooled down. They are
Right there. That's where I snapped off my radio, in the opening phrase of a
inspire you to hurl the newspaper across the room, or hurl yourself across the
Yorker used to call "letters we never finished reading" (or something like
for all humankind has long been noted, even on the East Coast. What seems to
have struck the East Coast only recently is that the Internet is making a
reported as much on its front page recently, so you know
this fact for several years. Indeed we have talked of little else since about
always been a fraught topic. A New York writer who regularly mines his sex life
and longings for material begged off an invitation to write about the Internet
money are too personal and complex. And envy didn't just become a deadly sin
wealth as in New York. The lifestyle gap between the middle and upper class
social status ranking independent of money. It's a place where puzzled
subcultures in which a journalist or college professor or unemployed actor can
take comfort in an independent value system. They could have been bankers or
management consultants but chose not to be. And the people at the top of those
heaps, earning plenty to live comfortably, honestly wouldn't trade being, say,
curator of dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History for being just another
So what has changed? One element, obviously, is the size of
Miller recently pointed out, with numbers like this surging across the
Times business section, even investment bankers "feel like wage slaves
speed. It's one thing to console yourself that at least you didn't have to
read that someone (inevitably, someone with the same name as that bozo down the
out, all in a couple of years. How awful can a job be?
Answer: maybe not so awful at all. In fact, maybe it's
remarkably similar to the job you're doing now. A third startling difference
joined software engineers and business executives in peddling the other basic
Internet Envy anecdote: variations on, "Oh yeah, they offered me the top job at
plus options for another 75--but I turned it down." Even during the first few
people one not only didn't know but could scarcely imagine. Only very recently
have lottery winners started popping up in one's own neighborhood.
much more straightforward. Everybody is trying to do the same thing; some
succeed, and those who don't are envious. You don't have to pretend that you're
not. And there's no queasy feeling that you must have misplaced that notice
changing, in a couple of ways. Some changes in personal values are simply part
of growing older. Then there are shifts in the values of the general
school the jocks are on top (unless, of course, armed losers storm the
cafeteria one day and mow them down). But the smart kids tend to win in adult
explained and simultaneously demonstrated in a recent 
These are folks lucky enough to be able to choose their careers and to have a
At the crucial moment when they make their choices, many of
right. But some are responding to the fleeting hormonal surges of youthful
idealism, or to the special status hierarchy of the academic subculture where
they temporarily reside. In the most tragic examples, a charismatic professor
will entice them into a lifetime of French medieval history, about which their
they become writers. Then they discover, in their 30s or 40s, that money is
important to them after all. This is the moment when reading about some
process of maturity or decay (take your pick) is reinforced by what's happening
in the culture. Money is never unimportant, but there are moments when it is
more important than others. This is one of them. Actually, a graph of the
changing value of money in the status market would look a lot like a graph of
year a star New York Times reporter shocked his journalist colleagues by
briefly in the late 1980s, quickly recovered, and has been hitting new heights
people become venture capitalists, younger readers may find it hard to believe
there was ever a time when even an extremely ambitious person, motivated
Of course it's possible that the stock market and the
be pulling out of money and getting into undervalued properties including
expected to benefit blue chips such as physical beauty, according to some
is plainly gorgeous, but she's even more so when she fastens those huge eyes on
with this "runaway bride" as Exhibit A. The column makes him instantly
subject of the column responds with a letter composed on a manual typewriter
had been established and the leads began to interact, I stopped totting up the
over awkward inconsistencies. His strength is that he loves actors (he's an
amusing one himself). He'll drop everything for a goofy face, a riff, a flaky
way of rounded parts. They're in there improvising and having a blast. Compare
Got Mail --it's the difference between a director who thinks she has it all
figured out and one who says, "Surprise me, make me laugh."
exceedingly likable. Perhaps it's all the Zen meditation, which has mellowed
supposed to be about the way the arrival of his uncle's dishy young French wife
always in the right place to catch the rolling hills and splendid staircases
and in the wrong place to catch the actors' expressions. The loss is especially
as the boy might be extraordinary. The script might even be good. We'll just
they do it for "health purposes" and not to "promote superstition, spread
rumors, engage in sedition, destroy social order or hold mass assemblies." Do
millions to refugees, and a stricter side that wants to make sure that people
"Fugitive rape suspects whose parents are bankrolling their ski trips. That was
way that makes the country a lovely place to massage your money. Everyone
democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
armed neutrality includes universal military training. Every family has a gun,
leave, presumably concerned that some incoming baby might abuse the law.
individual persecution, and it speeds up the process of ejecting those without
the amusing antics of a researcher and his family and friends in their undersea
miles after he crossed the border, his little boy asked, "Dad, what happened to
all of the billboards with naked ladies on them?" It was an acute observation:
anyone, not just registered voters, to cast a ballot and to do so as many times
telephone polls, there's concern among researchers that the public has trouble
distinguishing one poll from another on the Web. In fact, the news media has
evidence that the political "nutty season" had begun.
confusion surrounding online polls is adding fuel to the biggest debate now
raging among pollsters: Is it time for the Internet to replace the telephone as
demographically adjusted samples of that pool every month. The company's
that Internet users are not representative of the national population: They're
will be doing what I normally do: blocks of nationally representative telephone
she's intrigued by the flexibility of Internet polls and the potential for
sharing visual materials with respondents online. But she notes that the Net
still poses problems for pollsters. "You can't just randomly sample Internet
same time, there are new efforts underway to perfect the use of the Net as a
which is backed by venture capitalists and the university, has thus avoided
pollsters talk about a "representative sample" they mean a sampling that
accurately reflects the population at large. The most widely used method is
selected to allow for every region to be well represented, while the remaining
Technology has always influenced the way pollsters do their job. Starting in
taking the nation's pulse. That was only after phone use became ubiquitous. But
Internet access, though more recent private studies estimate that share to be
the Internet "at some point, if the penetration gets up to where it is with the
polls. "The question is not whether you called the right candidate; it's the
margin of victory between the two candidates. In the Web surveys, they got the
says his opinion of the Net's potential has shifted. "I began the year thinking
the Internet would be used in storing, retrieving, and distributing
potential lies in testing advertising, keeping tabs on opponents, and getting
phone ringing in my cabin awakens me; it's the conning officer on the bridge
The conning officer is guided by my Standing Orders, which is a compendium of
maneuver to pass clear of each other. Her recommendation to turn to starboard
her to watch the vessel until it is well past and clear. At sea, this scenario
is repeated numerous times every day. Safe navigation between ships is based
speed to determine if we are trying to occupy the same piece of ocean;
henceforth known as a collision. We have several technically sophisticated
computers that actually calculate the "closest point of approach" between our
ships. Nonetheless, each conning officer uses some common sense to verify the
computer solutions with what is actually happening. I have the final call on
all very excited that the weather is turning much warmer; it's a far cry from
a 1,000-pound box of free weights in the hangar and our 12-foot wardroom dining
table. We came through a bit battered, but thankfully no one was hurt.
from the conning officer; another large merchant ship trying to occupy the same
conversation. Since we are on a rather long trek up the eastern coast of South
previous three months. At the top of every hour, the bridge calls down to the
Engineering Control Center to record the seawater temperature from an engine
room gauge. To liven things up a bit, the engine room watch has calculated and
several of the engineers have braved the elements by appearing at our daily
and fuel consumption rates to finalize port calls off the northern coast of
small arms, ammunition, and pyrotechnics have been inspected. Traditional eight
with our consumption. Bilges beneath the operating machinery are dry and
reports and signed the ship's official logs. Crew is enjoying a day of rest
supplemental instructions for the night watches to follow.
gently swaying to the ocean swells; glowing lights on a distant shore. Another
money is redirected to social programs such as health, poverty reduction, and
that requires tightening of belts and good governance is something that the
further debt relief until it has implemented the necessary reforms should be
enough to convince the Third World debt relief seekers that the G8 means
unfair to those nations that have repaid their loans."
conditions of vastly greater duress, handing in its guns at a rather faster
News suggested that this might not be such a good thing, however. The
forces will not be able to provide this protection."
repressive direct rule which preceded it." Meanwhile, gypsies trying to leave
still trying to ethnically engineer the future of the devastated province." The
The gypsies were always the most oppressed members of the community, but they
speculates that "pique seems to have figured prominently" in the selection this
prohibited from visiting potential locations. Instead, a 15-member selection
panel narrows the field of possible venues to two final contenders, with the
was the "clear favorite" of the two finalists, offering good venues, a "strong
tradition of winter sports," and "the political and economic security that the
recommendation to remind the world just who makes the final choice." Another
article concludes, "Even the mere perception of bias or unfairness undermines
letters are reprinted with the authors' permission.
appellate briefs, detailing the grounds for the appeal will require a fair
at ferreting out many of the instances where this is, indeed, the case."
"institutionalized" in curricula; in a "canon" of Holocaust literature; more
negative charge for you. As you know, I never myself use that word (or its
cognates) concerning collective memory. The reason, made clear more than once
in the book, is that I think collective memories that really take hold
always do so because they serve a present or continuing purpose. That is
the very beginning of my chapter on "lessons": "Remembering the Holocaust,
analogous to reciting the Mourner's Kaddish on the anniversary of a relative's
death, to the remembrance of war dead on Memorial Day." In the introduction, I
selective: Events that seem to contemporaries to point up a useful contemporary
lesson are incorporated into collective memory; those that don't seem to teach
useful lessons recede, though they may be recovered later, as perceptions
is to say nothing that isn't implicit in its being a collective memory.
worth saying, and certainly nothing invidious or discreditable.
ought to explore how you use the word, and thus the view you're attributing to
me. Are you saying that memories in general, or memories of the Holocaust in
at least inappropriate purposes? Let's consider those purposes for which
the memory of the Holocaust has been invoked, which are the ones I discuss
To urge that the United States intervene against atrocities abroad which
Holocaust" to which I devote the most space in the book? Which of them do you
(to me) worthy and appropriate purposes, those doing so were often led to
to say anything moderate, balanced, or nuanced; the very language carries you
along to hyperbole." But the ends for which the Holocaust was (to use
"cynically" or "insincerely"? This may, in isolated instances, have been true,
but I can't recall ever either saying or implying that this was the case.
Certainly, overall, I repeatedly underlined the sincerity of those who
have invoked the Holocaust. Indeed, I extend this to some of the less
unworthy or inappropriate. As you may recall, I underlined the good faith of
those who saw an analogy between the denial of the humanity of the fetus and
criterion of when it was illegitimate to invoke the Holocaust, reserving the
excessively tolerant of invocations of the Holocaust which I and many others
think quite intolerable." But you didn't say that: You said that I believe that
"every institutional memory of the Holocaust is a deliberate
a section devoted to miscellaneous ways in which the Holocaust had entered
Holocaust Museum, which, as you wrote in your Holocaust Memorials in
collection of such instances, along with instances of what you elsewhere term
jewelry to raise money for her (stupid and vulgar) painting cycle on the
interpreting the rise of Holocaust memory in the United States. As an
alternative to my approach, in which the growth in Holocaust memory is to be
explained by the contemporary purposes it serves, you suggest a focus on the
we like it or not." I think there is something to this, which is why I
discussed it, albeit briefly, in the book. For various reasons, I don't think
Holocaust. Still, yours is certainly an arguable position, which we can discuss
enough about this, that would have been a reasonable comment. But you went way
view that "every institutional memory of the Holocaust is a deliberate
unjust and demonstrably false characterization of my views came to appear in
two hours earlier. You were in fact offering it, as you'll see if you go back
to the original, not as a considered characterization of my views, but as a way
excerpting, it became a (highly quotable) characterization of my views.
careless hyperbole common to conversation. In real conversations, a
raised eyebrow can be enough to make us backtrack. Something like this happens
something in a message that my correspondent challenged. In the next message
And unlike hyperbolic remarks in private exchanges, buried in the innards of
"eavesdroppers." Can you have any doubt that given your reputation as a
will be widely quoted as an authoritative summary of my views?
quoted, you'll of course let it stand. If, on reflection, you want to withdraw
what I hope you'll acknowledge was a hasty and careless characterization, you
now that my words were unfair to your much more complex approach to "the uses
of the Holocaust." It was especially unfair to put a word in your mouth,
Which is partly why you wisely dispense with the term.
In this, it would be a little too easy to blame the
responsibility, apologize for my haste, and accept your raised eyebrow. As a
with these rewards come risks in such a rapid exchange, something both the
provide a realistic definition of affirmative action and does not address the
candidates of equal qualifications, an institution may favor the candidate that
helps it achieve its affirmative action goals. The legitimacy of these goals
comes not only from notions of "social justice" but also from the desire to
offer a more effective educational environment, a more hospitable workplace, or
a more effective school system. In public schools, for example, the
effectiveness of offering students role models with similar ethnic or racial
fails to recognize these benefits, or even disagrees with them, but that he
never gets to how this reasoning is implemented in affirmative action programs
in a manner that is quite different from what goes on with racial
simply singles out people of color for harassment by police. It is a convenient
way to select drivers for traffic stops that happens to accord with the racist
celebrates the cultural diversity of our country and seeks to create a more
inclusive economy and public life. It recognizes that talent and ability are
distributed across the population and that it requires extra effort to avoid
excluding parts of the population that have traditionally been excluded. Racial
profiling is merely a way for racist police officers to express their bigotry
at the expense of our civil rights. It doesn't stop crime and it doesn't build
get it. He does us all a disservice by offering up this superficial
ingratiating himself with the big boss as well as getting a lot of reader
was waiting for a few honest comments. They were there but buried. The truth,
as I have seen it, lies in the SWAT team that tried to keep code trim, combined
with the greedy rush to keep ahead of competitors' introductions.
Given enough skill and time, good programmers could
write much, much smaller programs with the same or more features, including
backward compatibility with older products. It is rushed, lazy, or incompetent
and programming shortcuts are the road signs to Flabby Software City.
plot devices and emotional cues from such films as Gorillas in the Mist
instinctively caring, or provide for more moments of grace between characters"
engage in a tentative romance. Halfway through the film, the plot suddenly
turns into a survivalist action adventure. Several critics say this transition
is rough but ultimately forgive the film: "If this oddly structured film feels
like two short stories stuck together, there is enough solid glue joining them
the film "an earnest, dogged, squarely rendered wisp of a movie." (For more on
consistent raves. Not only are the live performances transcendent ("the music,
of the artists' recent professional rebirth is gripping. Many of the performers
as a disappointment. Hailed as one of the best writers of his generation in
critics with this collection, which is mainly a series of sketches describing
extremely unpleasant and misogynistic men. Though a few stories are on par with
his earlier work, most reviews find the collection riddled with
she calls the book "an airless, tedious production" that "represents a sharp
novel leaves many critics wondering about the enormous amount of material not
Reviewers say that sections are on par with Invisible Man --especially
It "provides the reader with intimations of the grand vision animating
He was most famous for his scat improvisations and enjoyed a renaissance in the
1990s, when, after a lifetime of performing, he was discovered by a younger
generation interested in lounge music. Never a true superstar, he managed to
succeed mainly because he continued to perform and his voice miraculously
seemed to improve with age. He was also a songwriter, and his most famous
Open Fire." (Click here to see a listing of his albums.)
debate, the first to be broadcast live to a national audience. Radio listeners
further advantage of the medium, using television to shape the public
perception of his administration. After press conferences, he would replay his
films in private, critiquing the lighting and camera angles.
medium, the Internet. As is often the case with the Web, predictions of
dominance come in two flavors: utopian and apocalyptic. Utopians think the Net
In their view, it stands to increase the power of ideas and diminish the
importance of 30-second attack ads. It will disenfranchise unelected elites and
give democratic power back to individuals. It will reduce the power of money.
opposite, reducing genuine participation, threatening personal privacy, and
lending itself to new forms of manipulation by amoral operatives and moneyed
prediction: This election will be more important to the Net than the Net will
given, though, that the Net will actually affect the campaign. In terms of the
those elections and was spreading rapidly into millions of homes. But for a
variety of reasons, it wasn't yet a decisive or central factor.
how can we know how important the Web is this time around? Only by casting a
skeptical eye on the ambitious claims being made on its behalf and evaluating
happens on the Web. In this column, we'll follow the topic where it takes us.
But to start out, here are some of the subjects "Net Election" is likely to
way those goofy can quickly establish their value is by raising gobs of money.
So far, they've helped a bit. According to its most recent filing with the
more than other kinds. One is that the cost of raising money on the Net is very
low compared with sending out direct mail or throwing a gala. A Web site is
basically an electronic collection plate, which consumes few of a candidate's
fund raising may also point the way toward campaign finance reform. Last week,
waiting for quarterly FEC deadlines. You could do worse than the system of
campaign finance that is evolving on the Web, where contributions limited to
disclosed. To be sure, there remains the problem of many times larger soft
money donations. But thanks to the Web, it's at least easy to discover which
special interests are supporting which candidates. The best disclosure site,
fingertips information that used to require trips to the FEC office in
Another advantage of Web contributions is that they often come with a promise
volunteers live up to their promises, they stand to become a significant factor
Republicans targeted for defeat may harness the same techniques in
Web in this way, a campaign can convert mass support into grass roots support.
Net fund raising, Net advertising isn't destined to replace the older method
demagogic appeals, and because they can't target segments of the electorate
with any degree of accuracy. Web advertising is smart, in the sense that it can
be far more detailed and specific and because it can reach a target with
where people who might vote for him are likely to be found. One possibility is
will be interesting no matter where it leads. Techniques and conventions that
will come to seem eternal and inevitable will actually be invented in the
online. This time, you're more likely to hear candidates vowing to protect
special interest issues. What we have yet to see, but can expect fairly soon,
are politicians who fit the computer industry's political profile. Internet
That person doesn't seem to be running in this campaign, but he or she may
emerge in the course of it (possibly occupying the body of a current candidate
campaign news cycle has grown shorter with each successive election. Thanks to
And candidates won't have much luck with a traditional stratagem such as
deadlines. Rapid response will become more rapid than ever, with several
volleys being fired in the course of what used to be a campaign day.
There's lots more that we intend to chew over here: Web voting, Net gossip, and
pictures, and encouraged a lively bulletin board discussion of it. To a
considerable degree, his Web site was where his campaign actually happened. As
bandwidth increases, more candidates will be able to bypass the press by
enthusiastic: It "triumphs by being its smart, shambling self, though it takes
tasty nuggets of fun are too few and far between: It "has moments of brilliance
and to watch the trailer, visit the official site.)
little heat I found myself wondering if they'd give a damn for one another in a
enchanted not just by the humor but also by the straight history: "Under its
White House operations as a sordid buffoon show undone by a couple of painfully
all around for this "psychological thriller that actually thrills" about a "sad
determined to help him. It is "virtually guaranteed to rattle the most jaded of
(Counterpoint Press). Critics find this novel, told from the point of view of
author's desire to explore the mind of a man who murdered so many, but most are
impressed with his results. One fault, though, is that "this supposed
autobiography is missing what often makes an autobiography great: the
The Pentagon spent hundreds of millions of dollars on projects
previously rejected by Congress, and other unapproved purchases. The report
expresses shock at the flagrant illegality of the expenditures. "Do we get it
Party, will "throw spikes into the newly energized peace train."
government "to get out of their lives so they can freely partake of the
prosperity, cultural options, and opportunities that today's
China. The island abandoned its "one China" policy, which implied
against the "historical tide" of unification. The Weekly Standard
Journal predicted that the spat will blow over when Lee steps down in
The Senate agreed that a new agency should supervise nuclear weapons
research. The agency would report directly to the secretary of energy.
Sponsors of the plan said it would institute accountability for security
breaches, but the House reportedly prefers an even stronger independent
weapons. It eliminates loopholes that previously allowed gun
manufacturers to evade restrictions by renaming or slightly altering their
weapons. Another new law restricts gun buyers to one weapon purchase per month.
the ban bodes well for tighter gun control in other states.
and gun control, in a drive to claim the six seats they need for a majority.
decision by likening it to "many of his past actions, inconsistent and
loyalty and gratitude are never allowed to get in the way of the epic personal
managed care has bought Republican votes and that patients will die as a
Cigars will carry warnings similar to those on cigarettes. The
absence of labels implies "that cigars are a safe alternative to
cigarettes." Industry honchos protested that "cigar smokers are mature,
and the state party. Politics has become entertainment, a political consultant
A generic drug may prevent death by heart failure. Researchers
experimental trials. Twenty million people suffer from this heart condition
cordless phone, allowing users to connect to the Internet while roaming up to
to the home market in general and Apple's turnaround in particular.
revamp its stodgy image," while a New York Times editorial calls it
evidence that the glass ceiling "is at least cracking."
final hole. The Associated Press effused that "the most stunning collapse in
golf gave way to the greatest comeback in the history of major
the signal event of his generation, the moment Gen X lost its innocence. In the
if suddenly, an entire generation's optimism is deflated, and all that is left
decency: how he declined an honorary doctorate because he felt he didn't
"I have been in a deep, deep depression, and my way of responding was to be
proactive," he says. "I could have shut up about this and not done anything,
abhors the narrow academic history that has dominated universities. He scorns
scholarly monographs and favors a democratic, populist history. As history grew
more and more abstruse in the '60s and '70s, historians ceded the role of
wanderer, a mystic in search of ecstasy, a hobo scribbler of haiku and jazz
reaction was to treat the pair as loonies and hustle his students back onto the
cheerleader for politics, publishing a magazine that detached politics from
preternatural gregariousness, good humor, and a love of attention, he's been
tireless about pursuing both celebrity and the cause of popular history ever
touched on a dozen famous politicians and artists he knows. His writing is full
history. For historians not to reach out smacks of elitism," he says. He will
Parks, Independence Day, impeachment, and Al Gore's military service, to name a
a writing career that would fell a less industrious man. On the same day his
published a sweet article in The New Yorker about a 50-year
political news to celebrity puff profiles. He writes more journalism than most
hacks, and certainly a lot more good journalism than most hacks. At the
endearing himself to all kinds of people: He has done books with the widow of
but has not wowed the academy. Some of his colleagues' dismay is simply
jealousy of his entrepreneurship, but some is more substantive. His books read
has made no analytical contribution at all," says one Ivy League historian who
ambition to be a public intellectual may falter. A public intellectual resists
week, when the Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against the merger
credit for urging the government to file it. Insurers were "intent on capturing
the medical marketplace," seeking "too much power to dictate the health care
an antitrust exemption allowing all physicians to bargain collectively. Cynics
images of organized labor while dissociating itself from unfavorable ones.
doctors of seeking bargaining power to raise their incomes "at the expense of
"battle insurance companies and managed care plans that put healthy profits
ahead of healthy patients." "Patient care is not at the top of health plans'
physicians the leverage they now lack to guarantee that patient care is not
cartel, accusing them of pursuing "collusion" and "price fixing." At a House
hearing last week, Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission officials
argued that exempting doctors from antitrust laws would stifle "competition,"
critique by casting itself not as a business group but as an underdog alliance
the "abusive and unfair practices of insurance company giants" in a valiant
down important services and ignoring public inconvenience for the sake of
incomes, doctors' sense of autonomy, are getting killed."
conceded doctors might resist bad employers by "being a little slow in
"union," instead calling their proposed alliance "an affiliated labor
label. "This will not be a traditional labor union. Your doctors will not
basic political equation in medicine is that patients expect better care than
they're willing to pay for. When they're deprived of options and benefits that
exceed what they've paid for, or when they're obliged to pay premiums
sufficient to cover the options and benefits they expect, they figure some
its bargaining power without appearing to be that special interest.
verdict? Unionization shows "how aggrieved many doctors feel," says the
arrogantly presented themselves as part of an elite profession as opposed to
out to be a strong force against health plans that unfairly use their market
power to limit quality of care." Whether the doctors' latest prescription will
cure their ills remains to be seen. But they look great.
suffered a "lifelong case of clinical depression," whereas W. has come to
these are certainly two different things. As someone who has (based on
circumstantial evidence such as his bar mitzvah), I found this latter datum
W. has actual opinions on any subject, let alone strong and controversial
you may have missed this story. The press have reported it, but not with the
neurotic intensity you might expect. Why not? Conservative press critics often
complain that the media ignore the importance of religion. This may be a case
in point, though not one those critics are likely to complain about. Second,
there is the inoculation phenomenon: Once a story has "been done," editors and
producers don't want to do it again. So, getting it done small is protection
against finding it done big. Finally, there may be a feeling among journalists
that the whole thing's a bum rap. Which it is and it isn't.
believes they're all going to hell, he hasn't held it against them in this
So what does he believe? Like the Gospel tales themselves,
mother then called Billy Graham to straighten him out. Graham advised him to
In this version, the evangelist's advice was slightly different: "Graham
generally agreed with the theory but cautioned against spending much time
So, where does this leave us? If Billy Graham actually
convinced Bush long beforehand that we don't know who gets into heaven, then
denied the accuracy of the reporter's paraphrase. Nor, needless to say, has he
heaven, but he's too busy to care. Bush now answers all questions on the
formulation: "It is not the governor's role to decide who goes to heaven. I
sense. No one is asking Bush to "decide" or "rule on" who gets into heaven. We
in God, but not in heaven. Few, if any, people believe in heaven, but not in
and I believe that," Bush says. Does he think that this principle only applies
to him? Does he think that it's possible for others to achieve salvation
claims to be the right answer to the most fundamental questions. So how can
One is if God allows exemptions. But to avoid offending any religious or
nonreligious group, the exception would have to be that anyone who does not
And so what? Why should anyone care whether he or she will
it make if you can't get into a heaven you don't believe in? As a nonbeliever,
I find the conventions of ecumenism baffling. I don't want to tell you people
how to run your religions. And obviously we want to avoid an outbreak of
religious war, or even lesser forms of intolerance, if possible. But why does
tolerance require people to pretend they don't believe what they do? Wouldn't
tolerance be easier if it only required agreement to disagree peacefully rather
than demanding actual sharing of religious doctrines at some level of
them otherwise. Putting votes before souls: Talk about political
when he professes his faith or when he denies its implications. Or he hasn't
really thought it through, which itself would cast doubt on the depth of his
faith. But I doubt this particular dishonesty will keep him out of heaven,
To be sure, there is a certain joy in watching a pol caught
indifferent on social issues. Then he has to fudge his faith so that people who
pander even more furiously to make it up. Going for a twofer a couple of years
enjoys hanging out with country music singer [can you guess? well, obviously
Editor's note: Some of the letters below originally
appeared in "The Fray," Slate 's reader feedback forum.
Herself was so confusing that I scarcely know how to respond (see the Sept.
material from my book in an effort to make her arguments.
borderline personality disorder." The review promptly lists seven psychological
borderline personality disorder. For the record, I used the term as a framework
the chaotic behavior that so many close to her witnessed over the years. I
compelling. As it happens, a number of psychiatrists have approached me since
be flattered that the three meatiest paragraphs (of five) in the review were
drawn entirely from my biography. But as someone who read a vast amount of what
not it really gets anyone to give (besides maybe Bill Gates) is open to
heads the list, though. As far as I can see, the gift was made by the Bill and
strictly speaking, there doesn't seem to be any other foundation on The
today's market and economy, ought to have considerably more than that to spend,
even after hedging against inflation. Aside from the occasional Ted Turner
isn't a generous person nor even that his giving doesn't represent considerable
sacrifice on his part (though it must be nice to be able to give that kind of
money away). But as this edition is constituted, it looks an awful lot like
the donors themselves, so they meet our criteria as gifts from living
decided to list family foundation gifts only when one of the original donors is
appeared on the list previously. But, according to a cursory search done today,
total that under our terms would not have met the minimum for the second
nothing sacred about that technique; others have ranked cumulative giving over
a lifetime, etc. We count pledges as well as paid gifts. I look for gifts
this quarter. I also search for foundation gifts from individuals and have set
School as "the largest endowment in the history of [the university]" to the law
We couldn't verify any amount, so this gift was not included in The
foundations; others do a portion of their philanthropy that way. Some give at a
particular time of year; others spread it out. Many of the same people making
announced large gifts also give anonymously, and I don't try to ferret those
out. Our goal is to celebrate both donors and recipients, so we list gifts as
they are made out of a foundation to a separate nonprofit. That's why the
foundation, then we can't recognize the organizations that receive that money
and will probably continue to make the top or near the top of the list.
definition of "lager." Lager is one of the two main types of beer, the other
being ale. Lager beers come in all varieties of flavors, strengths, and colors,
defines a beer as lager is its method of fermentation: at cool temperatures,
using a specific type of "lager" yeast, with an extended cold maturation
period. Ales, on the other hand, tend to experience warm, rapid
much a lager as any of the other beers in Fallows' tasting.
scout leaders as pedophiles who are involved with scouts for nothing more than
a steady diet of young boys. How tragic that this is the legacy that our
attained the rank of Eagle, and never once did I feel as though I was in danger
of being molested, attacked, leered at, or otherwise harassed by an adult
leader. The men who were adult leaders while I was a scout were in many ways
more influential on my life than my own parents were. To lump these pillars of
respectability in my life and in my community with the few bad seeds that slip
through the cracks of the organization is a grave disservice to the thousands
of men and women who willingly give their evenings, weekends, and dollars to an
organization whose core goal is to mold impressionable boys into upstanding,
research a story more before sniggering and laughing at a man in a scout
which direction? Beneath the celebration lurks a struggle between equality
feminists, who think the tournament proved that women can be just like men, and
difference feminists, who think it showed how women are different and better.
Individualism. Equality feminists want each woman to assert herself. One
school of egalitarians sees the World Cup as a demonstration that women can be
that women should embrace competition. "Anything you can do, I can do better,"
goes the ad's jingle. A third school, influenced by male sports marketing,
selects certain players on the women's team and pitches them as solo stars.
Several male columnists ignore most of the championship game and focus on the
Difference feminists draw the opposite lessons. They reject the rampant
individualism of "loutish male basketball and baseball players," as the New
powerful machine" and "refuses to acknowledge that she's a player with unique
calls them "innately good teammates." Others attribute their selflessness to
team's preparation, "Roommates were switched at every stop on the World Cup
road to prevent cliques from forming. As the tourney progressed, the imaging
tapes, designed to be watched in private, were shown in groups." The resulting
everything together. In one ad, a player goes out on a date, and her teammates
tag along. In another, a male dentist who has given one of the players two
fillings stares in amazement as one teammate after another rises, zombielike,
Equality feminists find this celebration of selflessness creepy, but it's not
just being foisted on women by male writers. World Cup Chairwoman Donna de
team is "like a second family. Female sports are different. You do a lot better
nude (but not lasciviously) in Gear magazine, kicked the winning goal,
and then tore off her jersey and bounded around the field in a black sports
bra. Equality feminists worry that the players' exploitation of their physiques
defense, which says every woman's choice should be respected, whether it's
your brawn and your brain, your femininity and sexuality, your athletic skills
male players whip off their shirts all the time, and women should be able to do
brought instant attention to a piece of clothing that is humble and
Career and family. Equality feminists measure the team's success by its
paychecks, complaining that its salaries are "meager by men's standards," and
its bonuses for winning "pale in comparison" to what men get. Noting the team's
decision to arrange its own tour of promotional matches, contrary to plans made
Difference feminists reject "the big time" as a crude, ugly, and destructive
when the egos of male athletes are dwarfed only by their paychecks, the World
don't "have million dollar contracts or big shoe deals. They actually seem to
Meanwhile, the World Cup coverage exalts players who focus on their families.
glowingly profiled for stepping aside to stay home with her kids. She "plans to
turn her attention from filling stadiums nationwide to bringing a much smaller
crowd together: her family," the Post reports. Now "her most serious
Playing dirty. Difference feminists portray women's soccer as more civil
and flagrant flops of the men." Equality feminists draw a different lesson: The
championship game, she was notorious for defending her Gear spread by
observing, "I ran my ass off for this body." After she kicked the winning goal,
did it by sneaking forward, against the rules, to narrow the shooter's angle
before the kick. Far from chastising Scurry, male sportswriters are
congratulating her on her "savvy." "Yes, she said later, she knew she was
"But because the referees didn't call it, it apparently falls under the heading
of gamesmanship. 'Everybody does it,' she said. 'It's only cheating if you get
can dismiss an exhibition that you haven't even seen. Consider yourself a
"Sensation," and I think it's a wonderfully spirited show. Obviously, not every
piece in it is a masterwork, and there are more than a few dogs. But, on the
whole, I felt moved by the level of energy and feel that the show provides a
welcome antidote to the New York scene, which at the moment is suffering from a
about political correctness. Generally speaking, it takes art away from the
theory people, from the academics with their 10-pound books and their
unbearable jargon, and allows real life to come shining through.
occupies a giant glass box and so obviously harks back to the geometric forms
Minimalism, which at a certain point became too elegant and mannered for its
own good. Minimalism, in the end, became an art of polished, quite exquisite
Roman Catholic, and to my mind the picture represents an earnest attempt to
appropriate the Virgin for black culture. I have no problem with elephant dung
not a coincidence that the mayor decided to single out (and all but lynch) the
most prominent black artist of his generation. That's a shame, especially since
time we don't want to intrude on people. I think there's a big difference."
that explains the 'You May Already Have Been Saved!' letter that came
these days. Isn't the threat of eternal damnation compelling
to do, and once they got bored with Don's sermons, they could eat
demure advertisers who don't wish to intrude is to ask permission. When you buy
something online or fill out a warranty card, there's often a little box at the
bottom: Check here if you wish to receive announcements about our new products
and services that may delight and amuse you. Some go further and involve other
people: Check here if you'd like us to sell your name to strangers who will
send you information about utterly unrelated products that will frighten and
confuse you. They never ask you to volunteer for the really good stuff: Check
you'd like me to unbutton your blouse. Check here if you'd like me to touch you
we just did so pleasantly to one another. Deacon Don, help!
sending phone messages simultaneously to an unlimited number of people, reports
calling thousands of season ticket holders, schools are contacting everybody's
some consider blast voice mail a nuisance and, when unsolicited, an invasion of
described his pitch as a "telephonic assault" on the public's ear. "The
geriatric old fool should be dragged out to the Mall and trampled by wild
prior consent, but allows blast voice mail for institutional investors,
were Chambers and Hiss. Many felt that Hiss was. He could have been a half, but
think tough. I think tough. But he may be sucking up to the liberal left. In
New York, you just can't tell what happens to those guys."
Participants were invited to submit actual examples
explore the mysteries behind love and hate, the darkly amusing, deeply
disturbing and ultimately unanswerable questions that they inspire."
be printed on parchment, so you know he's a real writer.
'It's a weird book. It doesn't move the way normal books do. It's got a whole
hitting the reader with a mallet, you know, "Hey, here's this really hard
impossibly smart thing. Fuck you. See if you can read it." I know books like
of footnotes in a book of fiction is in fact saying "Fuck you, see if you can
'What I try to write about are the darkest things in the soul, the mortal
dreads. I try to go into those places in me that contain the cauldrons. I want
to dip up the fire, and I want to put it on paper. The closer I get to the
burning core of my being, the things which are most painful to me, the better
have no respect for that institution and was truly happy for him when he got
killing himself with pills might accelerate his reincarnation as a 38DD bra, so
'Someday someone's going to dissect my whole life through my work. When I
'What I mean to do, by evoking the people whose lives and work I have admired,
is not to dictate the terms of virtue but to invite other people to reciprocal
thoughts about what seems to them to be inescapably good or important, and how
of the smartest things I did was call a management coach. She gave me this
advice: Stop worrying about yourself and concentrate on how to make Nickelodeon
a good place for all our employees to work. That was a transforming moment for
they don't have health insurance so their creativity isn't stifled by taking
their kids to the doctor. And no pensions means no complacency. Refusing to
become a Writers Guild signatory, Oxygen Media uses only scab writers. No
reason War of the Roses has become a classic is that it deals with these
with the eternal mysteries of life. Why do people love? Why do they hate? How
are people attracted to one another? What breaks up relationships? From my
point of view as a novelist it came out of my subconscious, but it has found
dangerous, and bad for the environment. But nearly all produce is a product of
food fuss because they're ignorant about what they eat, optimistic about
expanding abroad when most international retailers still get their highest
returns at home. Expectations of economies of scale encourage globalization.
But few suppliers can source globally, and retailing requires tinkering for
school would contribute to schoolhouse peace and classroom learning.
war on roads being built or expanded by localities. Highway projects are held
up and commuters get caught in the constricted traffic.
cover story claims that the ingratiating ways of dogs manifest an instinct for
because people produced an exploitable ecological niche filled with warmth and
garbage. Dog genome projects reveal that inbreeding for pedigree locks in bad
recessive traits. Maintaining genetic diversity is the best way to breed man's
of students, so school choice is an untried solution to education's ills. A
500,000-student trial of publicly funded school vouchers, accompanied by an
increase in traditional school spending, could break the stalemate in the
strong financial incentive for the continuation of the slave business, which
would otherwise be unprofitable, and have spurred an increase in the number of
cover story claims new technologies will revolutionize
political campaigns. The Internet, consumer databases, and sophisticated
politics might boost voter participation, but it could diminish candidate
policing cities to show their force, and voicing their reluctance to disarm.
embarrassing information on administration nominees and campaigns against them
cover story on racial profiling by police presents the conventional wisdom:
Profiling is a blunt instrument; too many innocents are harassed solely on the
basis of race; and profiling poisons the citizenry's relations with police.
article, but sovereignty will be a sham. West Bank settlements have been
capitalist who seeds Internet startups, predicts he will prosper even though
formula is to back original ideas, not "Me Too" products such as
covers. The cover head shots reflect the stories inside. Time 's is
"Honesty, integrity, serving for the right reasons." When asked what those
Time 's enthusiastic package echoes the familiar line about why Bush is
for victory" overwhelms ideological concerns about a Bush candidacy.
courses, which often involve role play, teach "active listening" and "conflict
magazine alerts readers to another disease they didn't know they had:
Clinics invite victims for treatment, but many are too bashful to attend. The
treatment for those who do show up: learning to withstand embarrassment.
Therapists make patients spill drinks and walk through public places trailing
will let absentee voters cast online ballots next year.
young fiction writers" as well as glossy portraits of them. The introductory
essay reminds readers that a similar list compiled a century ago would not have
piece warns about the popular culture's fixation with hairless men. To be buff
the degree to which gay values have distorted mainstream notions of manliness.
celebrates rhetoric about God as a political tool. Professing faith allows
Republican candidates to woo the religious right without being locked to its
female scientists because women don't like science, just as they don't like
playing sports. Women are innately less aggressive, and affirmative action
supporters should abandon their "harangue against female tastes."
then mailed letters to the dozen or so declared candidates from both parties
the issues managers, figuring that this clever move would expedite the
responses. It didn't. The Republicans practically ignored us. The Democrats had
to be wooed, cajoled, and mildly threatened before they coughed up their
informed electorate, and it yielded an equally modest return on the investment
it would take just a couple of hours for a person with a Web connection and a
the declared presidential candidates maintains a sophisticated Web site that
details positions on a wide range of critical issues. (Granted, if you visit
may find the air a bit thin. But this is presidential politics, and vague
now take a press release that at one time would have gone to a few dozen
Internet users. That remarkable development helps to bind a portion of the
electorate more tightly to the campaigns. But we're still talking about a press
release, and any reporter will tell you that the value of such releases is
presidential contest in which the Web plays a significant role, it is unclear
the premises of the Standard is that the Internet has seeped into and
same effect around the world. Politics is not exempt. Although it's all too
industry that employs millions. So it's the Standard 's job to cover how
federal government said it would match online credit card contributions with
strategies. We'll be closely examining their renewed efforts.
off of a political audience?" To date, the answer is essentially no. Sure, you
million hits in a month. Net logic holds that eyeballs equal dollars, and sure
featuring Bush's quote. Another site looking to cash in on the campaign is
Gore campaign, but the site sells a wide array of Gore
package of free collectibles to any Webmaster who picks up its banner.
Internet has already begun to transform the general advertising industry, and
it will soon hold sway over the tens of millions of dollars spent every
electoral season on television and radio ads. Web advertising holds the strange
position of being almost entirely unregulated. Fraud and defamation laws
presumably apply to Net advertising, just as they do to all advertising. But
the specific sections of communications law that constrain political speech in
Consider how such loopholes can alter the electronic media landscape: Each
this commentary. (Just because they carry it, of course, doesn't mean they
actually play it five times a week.) According to federal regulations,
audio message from a presidential candidate is required to give equal time to
any other candidate who requests it. As a practical matter, most radio stations
Here's how it works: Say a candidate is adamantly opposed to any form of new
taxes, regardless of whether they are advocated by the opponent. So the
record on taxation. Viewers might be asked to fill out petitions with their ZIP
installment. These techniques have already been used in a number of Senate and
watching the Net polling, Net focus groups, and Net organizing that follow the
flow of money around an election. Our goal, shared with editorial partner
looks from the Web. Whether you're a political junkie or not, we hope you'll
find Net Election informative, enlightening, and fun. At least, as much fun as
to mock the contradiction between Bush's presumed use of drugs and his support
of harsh prison sentences for drug offenders today. But he might have an even
better case based on the way the Bush campaign has harassed him. Bush and his
the parody site constitutes an "independent expenditure" under federal election
means filing an even more elaborate disclosure. For a Web site run by a private
individual in his spare time, meeting these requirements would constitute a
himself has bought his own way out of some of the more onerous FEC disclosure
requirements. Because his campaign is forgoing federal matching funds, it
doesn't have to file quarterly disclosure statements electronically. That means
that Bush's contribution reports remain essentially useless raw data for
several weeks while those of his rivals are available for database searches.
thresholds as the basis for his complaint. Even Bush's lawyer seems to question
his own assault. "It's a fair question to ask whether the rules should cover
freedom." He points to a number of absurdities about his situation. "I appear
Web site," he writes. "However, paying for legal advice would put me
immediately over the FEC spending threshold, thereby validating Bush's
is a clever point. In fact, though, legal fees don't count toward the
it this way. "This is my private little magazine," he told me. If he wants to
FEC will probably not be in any hurry to settle the matter if it can avoid
independent expenditure opens a much larger can of worms. It points to the
reality that many of the old campaign finance laws simply don't make sense in
cyberspace. Should someone who starts a site stating his views have to disclose
where his money comes from in the way someone who buys a newspaper ad does? If
hyperlinks count as contributions, as the FEC has also indicated, then
corporations, labor organizations, and foreign nationals cannot legally link to
official campaign sites. Many, if not most, of the key distinctions of campaign
finance law simply dissolve when immersed in the Internet.
argues against regulating private, individual activity in any way. And indeed,
because the Web does much to create an open and level playing field for
political expression, restraining it in the name of fairness seems
counterproductive. The Center for Democracy and Technology recently published
an excellent report on this topic, titled "Square Pegs and Round
Holes: Applying the Campaign Finance Law to the Internet." It doesn't settle
any of the specific questions about how campaign finance law should work in
cyberspace. But it does make one thing damningly clear: The FEC is utterly
Institution of Oceanography was surprised by the extent, thickness, and
shredder), a leather picture frame (without picture), and three pair of Jockey
shorts (athletic midway pouch brief). List of what?
you're buying these as gifts for your father, your shrink owes you a
Little did I realize, when I typed the charmed words "paper shredder," how much
I missed them. And, judging by your replies, you do too. And so my gift to you:
National Security Archive. (If you like this sort of thing, it has published an
sides with them for the right reasons. There is a script currently being
Force, Missing in Action) will do the screenplay and probably direct. There are
wrong side. I think we should help these people out if possible. I have met
is no better way to grab those hearts and minds we need.
picturing my father naked, although forbidden to do so by the Bible and good
describes a footprint discovered in a French cave, and which describes
Demonstrates determination to make a great deal of money in degrading
costumed chimps with dubbed human voices, has been plagued by trouble on the
set. Writer Tom Stern was fired from the show after he "disrobed and broke a
willing to stand naked to show I had no shame or fear about making good
rambunctious class by having them transcribe essays written by kids a
arguing that he covers up his ignorance of foreign affairs by deferring to
special issue focuses on new ideas for drug reform. An article redefines drug abuse as a public health problem.
Treatment on demand and the abolition of criminal penalties for nonviolent
promising approach to rehabilitating addicts. Nonviolent drug offenders can
pharmaceutical company is promoting a prescription alternative to medical
symptoms that lead cancer patients to smoke pot. The manufacturer's minions are
loudly opposing marijuana legalization to improve the pill's sales.
cover story condemns the increasing use of convict labor by corporations. Among
Prison employment circumvents labor laws and hurts regular workers.
men have been emasculated by feminism and the new economy. Men should learn to
can be genetically engineered, predicts that the bioengineering of human
comedian is making his mark with middlebrow movies, smart standup specials, and
cover story reviews the latest research on how babies think.
Neuroscience suggests that by the third month infants are mature enough to
reason and process language. Psychologists warn against overstimulating babies'
article explodes the fallacy of safe sex. Sex with a condom does not prevent
transmission of the papilloma virus, the most common sexually transmitted
cover story argues that the complementary campaign platforms
agriculture is triumphant, growing more than ever and growing it more cheaply.
frame (without picture), and three pair of Jockey shorts (athletic midway
released a statement that began: "Early this morning, we received a call that
good Lord called upon them to sacrifice their eldest child, as a sign of their
of "your child was killed in a car crash" (in a lighthearted, frolicsome
territory for parents who enjoy sex and drugs and liberal politics. How do you
forbid the kids to practice what you, er, practice? The hypocrisy buster?
Drinking--21, in accordance with the law of the land
Dating--16, in accordance with parents' senile reminiscence
Own Seat on New Jersey Supreme Court--18, or old enough to serve Gov.
of the house and disinherit him, or, if you choose to believe the pronouncement
particularly want to congratulate the Police Department. And that boozy old
It was such a surprise that we couldn't believe it at first. How on God's green
We feel this will go a long way in carrying out our responsibilities to the
technical agreement, and abiding by it. He really congratulated the
could impart to all those bozos such as Tom DeLay currently taking up space in
she would think some of her readers were trying to get her out of the advice
needs them and have literally been making appointments for their whole
families! Both have told me I definitely need them. I have a professional
therapist with whom I discussed this, and she disagrees. (My therapist is not
against medication, and in fact recommends it for some patients.) When I
better than my therapist. One came right out and shouted that I was in denial.
Wouldn't it be nice if people restricted their opinions to those areas in which
they had professional expertise? What do you think?
checked, girlfriends could not prescribe drugs. It is a rule of human nature
that people often, when they add or subtract something from their lives, think
everyone else should do the same. Tune out the suggestions of these amateur
shrinks. You are right that it would be nice if people only spoke of things
about which they were expert. It would also be nice if every female over the
need a refresher course on what things to say (or not to say) to a pregnant
getting comments about how large she is for the past three months. Worse than
even the comments, one woman just stood in front of my friend and gaped,
saying, "Oh my God!" Why would people feel the need to point out a pregnant
woman's size? And is there an appropriate response to these people that would
inappropriate things, it usually has to do with the connector cable between
brain and mouth being on the fritz. These rude and unappreciated remarks just
four. If your friend with the belly spanning two ZIP codes wants to have a
comeback, she might try looking down, then remarking, "Pretty good, huh? And
running dog lackey of the liberal Republican news media for years. A typical
liberal country club Republican! I was going to support Sen. Bob Smith of New
wide as you describe, yes, undo from the girlfriend. If you guys have such
of a national magazine lists these warning signs: stain, unusual odor, the
sound of broken glass or plastic. What publication, what danger? (Question
requires a confirmed miracle, and one has already been "authenticated." Name
it was available at a street fair in my neighborhood in the form of silk
underwear. (Surprisingly comfortable.) This seems like increasing liberalism,
but it's only encroaching commerce, less a commitment to free speech than a
fun. Similarly, if more slowly, the term "miracle" has evolved from sacred
mystery to a substitute for mayonnaise. There is the Miracle Mile for shopping,
chance to make a buck than something akin to grade inflation. Either way,
they are unlikely to provide any of these valuable services.
road along the bottom of a cliff where a series of signs says:
sort of tribal downsizing, budding gangsters no longer have to steal your car
radio, they only have to steal the brand logo insignia from the hood or trunk
of your car (less likely to set off the alarm, which makes it more likely that
they can steal badges from all cars on a block) in order to prove their
free to concentrate on the stationary objects that will mark their turf, or to
defile the stationary objects in the turf of the other.
danger was not that they would be left without food and reinforcements
to hold out until at least the weekend when the G-8 summit takes place in
trump card in a political game between the G-8 leaders," it said. "Otherwise,
said, even though this would have meant cooler relations with the West and
the interests of the people" and his replacement by a "government of national
preparations over the past nine months for a "final showdown."
the United States will adopt a much more aggressive Middle East policy after
credibility in the Middle East and broader room for maneuver, since a number of
shown that "they fully understand the rules of the game" and have taken to
of the past few months and appreciate the futility of entering into a fresh
traces of benzene were found in the mineral water. This is believed to have
inquiries," the paper said. The intelligence shows that "they will go to great
investigators, then the militia members will be taken out, liquidated. There
one of four border training camps visited by the paper's reporters. "But we can
performed very badly during his time in office, the paper said. "During that
its international reputation sink lower and lower into the depths of
for opposing ratification of the global nuclear test ban treaty. The
Republicans "know they risk nuclear proliferation if they scuttle it" but will
goal," the paper said. "If he fails, he cannot be faulted for trying. History
will note that it was a recalcitrant Republican Senate that killed the treaty
suicides reported during the first four months. The problem is especially
companies to cut jobs, was singled out as a prime reason for the shocking
nuclear plants following Japan's recent uranium plant accident. The China
management and human error" and had nothing to do with nuclear technology. Of
the three plant workers involved in the accident, two were rookies and the
third had very little operational experience, it said. "Such practices are
totally forbidden in China. All nuclear power operators in China are required
electoral humiliation in Berlin. The International Herald Tribune noted
that this was the sixth election defeat this year for his Social Democrat
Party. "The state losses have come at such frequent intervals this autumn that
leader of the Freedom Party, is no less alarming because he may not be a
extreme statements to justify his 'credentials' with outright racists and
paper said. Noting that he blames whole classes of people for his country's
ills, it commented: "Singling out groups because of nationality is no less
racist than doing so because of skin color or religion. Though it is often
treated as a milder form of racism, there is no firewall of principle
universally ostracized, his power could well grow, with ramifications that go
World War II. The paper said the pope "did not want to bring to its conclusion"
a beatification "which divided instead of unifying" different religions and
editorial, the paper said it "creates a precedent: No dictator or tyrant may
cite national sovereignty to claim impunity from justice."
there's a tang to what you eat." Sales have fallen dramatically as consumers
foods like roast beef and pork crackling," he explained.
reports noted that although strict building codes have been in effect in
that "shoddy construction work, cheap building materials and a reckless
disregard for safety," almost certainly caused so many buildings to crumble.
so should it "apply the same rigorous standards to its more mundane buildings
for it is upon them and their inhabitants that its future depends."
completely destroyed there are others that are totally undamaged. How can this
the buildings that have gone up in the last few years in the area affected by
the earthquake, a region that has experienced heavy industrial development.
This undoubtedly amounts to criminal irresponsibility. Even more so,
considering that they knew they were building on an active fault line that has
caused dozens of devastating earthquakes in recent decades. But the builders
couldn't have put up such fragile buildings if the authorities had not
agreed, pointing out that the "the outcome in seismic catastrophes has less to
official screening committee approved only one of the three applicants for the
requirements of senior government or business experience and personal
Cabinet declined to support him for a second term because it felt "there was a
strong likelihood that the President's health would affect the discharge of his
official duties in the next few years." The International Herald Tribune maintains that the selection was a deliberate effort to ensure
announced that there would be a referendum on autonomy or independence in East
"carnage will stop only when reconciliation begins," but as a story in
cleansing, who can be as cruel as their former tormentors when given a chance."
the meeting, and thus provoking the resignation of Catholic Deputy First
secret hoard of weapons. But the FT also reproached
and what every moderate Ulster unionist wanted of him too, was that in the name
of democracy he would stand by the Ulster Unionist Party and refuse to sit in
government with the agents of armed paramilitaries," she wrote. "Had he
could have saved the Agreement. Instead, he played the tribal card. It will be
up to his future biographers to judge this great failure of statesmanship."
wrote that the Ulster Unionists have an undeserved reputation for saying "no."
"We have said 'yes' to many things which would be countenanced in no other
of allocating ministries in the proposed Executive which would lead to an
for a peace process because "the prize for success is large enough for us all
to put yesterday's setbacks behind us and to move forward." He has an
democrats throughout the world" for his stand on the decommissioning issue.
the precipice, his own approach is increasingly confused and his credibility
damaged." The main charges against him are that he keeps inventing artificial
negotiating deadlines that aren't kept and that he "wavered wildly" in his
again "at a melancholy crossroads under a lowering sky" and that its future is
honorary knighthood from the queen for his role in brokering the agreement.
could have foreseen this would be the day the process encountered this
does it take to win an election? First you must establish name identification,
viability, and a "vision." Then you must lower the media's expectations, rebut
charges of pandering and profligacy, and fend off attacks on your character.
Brown demonstrated this week, the answer is: pretty much the same thing.
Pandering. Many editors, like politicians, broaden their audience by
of pandering. The rap on Brown is that she's "vapid" and "shallow," and her
magazine is "fluff" and "froth." A parody Web site calls Talk "Chatter!
Banter! Emotion! Solipsism! Pretense!" As often happens in campaigns, Brown
told the press he had been saddled with "celebrity profile assignments."
Brown's surrogates have replied that a good editor, like a good politician,
must toss a bit of red meat to the crowd now and then to sustain her popularity
caricature. She has told the press that her editorial knack lies in being
"easily bored" and that the problem with celebrity hype is that it's "dull."
formula under which Talk will endeavor, according to one staffer, "to
also circulated her quote that magazines should "be places where people can
picnic intellectually." These comments create an impression of flippancy and
to articulate an essential message or "vision." Brown constantly boasts that
Talk has a "point of view." But when called upon to define it, she
sounding like President Bush, whose ruminations on "the vision thing" convinced
everyone that he recognized the importance of having a vision but didn't quite
know what the word meant. Instead, Brown speaks often of her "passion" and
Character. Some of Brown's opponents have gone negative, calling her
Telegraph --or to make negative campaigning an issue. While her surrogates
decry the "long knives" arrayed against her, Brown accuses her rivals of "blood
sport." At times, she plays to the center, projecting kindness and tolerance:
a lot of people and killed a lot [of copy]. I don't make friends that way."
Like any smart politician, Brown spins the attacks on her as evidence of her
Brown pitches Talk as the magazine of "intimacy," starting with its
"feelings" about her husband's infidelities. The consensus among political
thing was "calculated" rather than intimate. Brown's assertions that the piece
add to the impression that she's more interested in advertising intimacy than
Fiscal responsibility. The old rap on Brown was that she spent wastefully
she cut the deficit: "When I arrived, it was losing money, and when I left, it
Brown is fielding a "B team" of writers because she's no longer paying top
"weak on the buzz factor," "sheepish" about courting fashion designers, and
limousine service to President Carter's despised modesty.
Expectations. An editor, like a candidate, must limit expectations so that
she can impress everyone by exceeding them. Brown has done so. A week ago, the
hype about Talk had spent itself. "Expectation is so high that her
critics were predicting a "gigantic fizzle." But by the time the magazine came
correct attitude" prior to Talk 's debut "was to be sick of it already
without having seen it. But Brown has created something that shouts READ
ultimately, is the name of the game. The magazine market is less like a general
election, in which the candidate with the higher negative rating always loses,
than like a crowded primary, in which the fight for attention is crucial, and
it's worth alienating some people in order to attract others. The more Brown is
and told the press it was "unimportant" and "irrelevant," all he did was make
the magazine important and relevant. The Journal put the point
succinctly to Brown: "Is any publicity good publicity?" She answered: "People
and described former SS soldiers as "decent men of character," won a share of
the vote almost double that ever achieved by the xenophobic French party of
stressed the importance of keeping the Freedom Party from joining a new
country's politics into turmoil, frightened investors and brought closer to
the chief election commissioner's conclusion: "It's gone off well." In an
people considered her "a ventriloquist's puppet and an instrument of a
communicate with people." But she will have to prove "she has a mind of her own
now admit that particles from their shells may have contaminated soil near
doctors subsequently found "an exponential increase in child cancers and
along with four with abnormally large heads, six babies born with no heads in
was born without a head and four with oversize heads."
renegades call themselves, is considered by the police to be "a serious
threat," the paper said, and is designed to coincide with any millennium bug
presidential election campaign is about the battle between Al Gore and Bill
game of chicken they are now playing is that neither will be electable if they
by a surfeit of champagne. The fish, mainly pike, roach, and tench, died when
the residue of grapes from the last pressing was washed into the river by heavy
art was more effectively political the less overt its politics-- pace
persuasiveness of both positions, the question of how one might produce art
criticism by showing how art can measure the Holocaust and still be art (and
fact be a good writer (presumably they'll get around to reading him sometime,
use an artistic technique, specifically irony, in the context of the
"saved German literature." I say anyone who writes a masterpiece does a service
to literature, just as anyone who tries to make a work of art grist for their
He didn't just think they were against him; they were against him.
voters are frequently against certain politicians, and maybe all those
captured on tape. But here's the bottom line: Words are words, and actions are
politically simpatico! And this was a politician! It's not complicated! Also,
find the tape in the new batch where he talks about how impressed he was after
was a great hero and that the war was immoral. We all tend to think that it was
era to avoid having to ask tough questions about what really happened to
have their way with people whom we'd pledged to protect (and almost succeeded
next. And the tapes won't stop it. More likely, the tapes will fuel it. Maybe
Bible code would not have been published if your reporter, or your editors, had
University, who did not know how the data would affect the outcome of the
experiment. That alone absolutely refutes the new accusation that the data were
experiment from scratch, but also confirmed the code using entirely new
reporter's false relief in not having to believe in the Bible code any longer.
data had stated in writing that he did not know how the data would affect the
replicated the experiment. These critics even lied about the results of their
the Bible code. So they ran a second experiment rigged to fail, and then hid
the positive results of their first experiment by lumping them together with
the Bible code simply cannot be real. When I first heard about it, that was my
and worked with it myself every day for years. And then I found in the code a
religious. But I can assure you that the code is real. Your reporter perhaps
disappointed convert, too quickly, too easily embraced the critics.
followed him without even trying to check out the facts.
length in the rebuttal paper. In fact, the central point of that paper, as I
assembled to be scientifically valuable. Far from ignoring this, I described it
experiments, that is chiefly because they were never published in a prestigious
time, also always believed they would ultimately be debunked. Hence, they did
not change my religious convictions at all, though they shook them.
constitutes the least scientific and most intellectually shallow end of the
Torah codes discussion. He regards the codes as a proven fact, yet somehow
code embedded in such an impenetrable form in an ancient document could be the
work of something less than God? How can one believe in the codes and not in
the existence of God, oh ye of little faith. Anyone whose faith depends upon
mathematical letter sequencing in War and Peace or any other inspired
codes is a relief. But would it not be sensational to find proof, by way of the
"crime." Well, not an explanation precisely. Asked about the incident, he'd
wince, bite his lip, bat his eyelashes, shrug sheepishly, and look adorably
abashed. His contrition was so winning that one cartoonist suggested he could
make big money as a spokesman for governments accused of human rights abuses.
him an excellent pedestal. It's the stuff of classic farce, which puts the
wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time and then fiendishly ups the
simultaneously keep the gangsters happy, his fiancee (who'll pull the plug on
the engagement if she finds out he's enmeshed in the family business) in the
investor around the company, so that the two can walk in on him in poses that
crackerjack. The trick in pulling off this kind of comedy is to wind a lot of
they cheerfully make reference (and from which the filmmakers have hired most
get all noble under the weight of the picture's dumb, melodramatic
(you don't even get past the first date) until you've explained to her the ways
in which your family screwed you up and have expressed tender sympathy for the
Miller's The Drama of the Gifted Child is the dating manual of the
While I was on vacation, several readers wrote to say that
Sixth Sense had me shivering in anticipation from its opening credits. Two
"gotcha!" ending (the clues are there, but one shakes them off as arty
could practically smell their greasepaint and mascara. The larger point is that
after death wrongs may be avenged, innocents protected, and the loose ends of
seem piped in from another dimension. (A bus accelerating and decelerating is
says, when her child ventures the idea that she must think he's crazy. "I
about conjoined twins, the weaker of whom is dying and mordant, the other torn
(so to speak) between loyalty to his brother and a tenuous connection to the
they're saying it's so humdrum that you wonder why they even bother to talk.
they're separate and riding bicycles, is like a gorgeous home movie from the
That told his fortune with floating sticks and leaves.
Like the calling card of a doe approaching the water,
Cheered it might be someone who liked a line of chatter,
On the other side of the road when his breathing slowed.
When she stepped into the clearing above the river,
something that's about as likely to happen as a meteorite falling on your head
and telling everybody that it could happen any time," said Dr. Merlin D.
instrument. Hey, look, I made a dirty joke in Middle English! My college
English professors would be so proud of me, if they weren't all dead or
"Ability to say one thing while doing the exact opposite. (HELLO?? Gay people??
cultural tastes. It turns out he has none. He is a man of unflappable ignorance
when you declare that you'd like to be president, shouldn't everyone just mock
you with a lot of snooty literary references that you don't get?
encouraged their continued support of the president.
have been judged by their stunning ability to have their careers summed up
little punctuation, and some consecutive entries read like excerpts from
speak, 'Love conquers all,' anxious fool befits stop.)
(Translation: Liars confess, formal charge, entrusted betrayed, turned pale,
and hate, the darkly amusing, deeply disturbing and ultimately unanswerable
for the last meal. The lights go off, throwing the prison into darkness, as the
between two guards and looking at the chair like he can't believe it's real.
with leather straps. He says his last words and then stares out at each of us,
one by one, as the guards stuff a gag into his mouth. "He is defiant," my notes
say, as if I can read his mind. The guards slip a black leather hood over his
face and screw the head electrode, with its circular sponge, down onto the top
when the electricity hit him, soaking his shirt bright red, scaring the
assembled witnesses. "The chair functioned as it was designed to function," is
And in a way, that's absolutely true. If tidy executions
keeping its lethal furniture, even though three times in the last nine years,
to its right to electrocute, behaving as if death itself weren't punishment
would be possible, not those golf course condos or tall beach hotels or trailer
parks or malls spreading across the shallow limestone shelf that separates
is power, the fine bright line between life and no life, which is the same
The electric chair came to the state in the middle of the
problem was that hangings were popular and sometimes drew huge, raucous,
legislature moved death indoors to the chair, away from the curious and the
civilized. But those carefree days when frying someone was a sign of progress
are long gone. The chair has become an anachronism, an unpleasant physical
being electrocuted, then they should commit their capital offenses somewhere
else. Burn 'em up and warn 'em off: The only thing unusual about the chair,
morons. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, they're
frustrated home economists. Consider for a moment the "science" of
during the execution I witnessed, prison officials blamed the fire on the
electricity from the electrode. The sponge, purchased by maintenance workers at
they determined. To demonstrate their theory, they bought another synthetic
sponge and stuck it in a kitchen toaster, where it caught on fire. A simulated
standing in for a human body and a colander for a human head. After that, only
ordered the Department of Corrections to write down its electric chair
trial run. This time, a metal salad bowl played the role of the human head.
chair, with the dissenting justices comparing the chair to the guillotine.
side. It's hard to imagine that this latest "incident" won't have an impact on
the court, which is currently reviewing another legal challenge to the
Corrections, which had previously told the court that the chair was in good
chair. The inspector reported that the chair itself, the wooden part, needed
replacement. It just so happened that the Department of Corrections had another
While still in the death chamber, the inspector had snapped a few quick
pictures of himself sitting in the chair, and he is planning to use them as
wasn't the condemned: The guards were worried that if the chair broke apart
inmate might rip loose and electrocute everybody in the room.
execution. Flames and smoke. It is impossible to put into words. What
does it look like when someone catches fire while strapped to a piece of wood?
The flames are nearly a foot high, they arc out from underneath the black
leather hood; there is smoke, the huge buzzing sound of the electricity, there
are white walls and Venetian blinds and linoleum underfoot. There's ash falling
tied down with those thick leather straps. The executioner turns the power on
nodding, his chest rises and falls. He looks like he's still alive. Then the
electricity hits him again, and the fire rises from his head, from the black
leather mask, and he shudders forward and is slammed back against the chair. It
takes seven minutes before the prison doctor pronounces him dead, seven minutes
of heaving, nodding, flame, and smoke. You can't see his face because the mask
covers it, but as you walk past him on your way out you notice his hands there.
There's a sore on his right pinky finger, a raw spot, flesh rubbed off to blood
against the oak, from where he was clawing the chair.
flourish; and companies will outsource everything but their core functions.
thou dost, remember that thy gun had nothing to do with it."
defend mom: "My mother truly tried to be a friend."
hatred, which led to the Holocaust in which three of her grandparents perished.
conservative. One example: When Congress passed a law giving states money to
cover children without medical insurance, Bush proposed insuring fewer kids
Amendment. It makes a tricky distinction: The individual does not have an
inviolable right to bear arms, but the people collectively do have a right to
cover story chronicles how the Soviets lost the race to the moon. The space
program was competing with the military, and the Soviet bureaucracy pitted
space scientists against each other rather than encouraging them to cooperate.
credentialed artist. Applications to Masters of Fine Arts programs are rising.
The academies provide aspiring artists with community but encourage trendy,
general and carried out by teams of paramilitaries, special police, and
being marched off and later found his charred body. She buried his remains to
gave Al Gore a potent campaign issue by killing gun control in the House. Even
package celebrates the century in entertainment with anecdotes told by
the rampage, a mother told her children to pretend they were dead, unaware that
"shareholder nation" but notes the downside of investment mania: profound
campaigns. Bush arranged focus groups to evaluate his speaking style, while the
like ideologues. Because donors want a guaranteed return, they favor Bush over
invites media scrutiny, and allows primary opponents to attack him from the
students may learn how to ski with aristocratic ease.
Mike will discuss the impact of the Internet on candidates' campaigns and how
click here. To renew your subscription, click here.
cover story tracks four narcissistic young actors as they claw through
satellites will make the world safer by enabling watchdogs to monitor
troublemaking countries. Rogue nations will be cowed by the prospect of
The cover story worries that earlier retirement and
reduced birthrates in the West will contract the labor force and reduce living
standards. Western nations should expunge pension incentives that encourage
workers to quit early and should create more "bridge" jobs to ease the
elections lead to political stability, the next government could enhance
endangerment are participating in more adventure sports, sinking more money
into highly speculative stocks, and changing jobs with greater bravado than
ever before because traditional risks have been minimized by medicine and
might be both parties' last, according to an article. Donors are balking at
press for reform. Big companies such as General Motors have already spurned
are improving schools. Testing helps assess progress, but legislatures are
mandating that kids be held back for failing, and some states are sanctioning
schools for low scores. Schools are focusing their curricula on exams to the
excerpt traces the roots of the SAT. Reformers seeking to create
opportunities for underprivileged students adopted the test to assess
scholastic aptitude. Rather than equalize opportunity, the SAT turns the
uppermost percentile into a privileged class and perpetuates the educational
Congress and the states imposed draconian mandatory minimum sentences for drug
profile of Peter Singer, a proponent of ethical treatment of animals, pinpoints
the radical philosopher's inconsistencies. Singer argues that all sentient
creatures are equally valuable and that you should donate your income until
advocates euthanasia and condemns people for caring more about relatives than
ditched the series and filled its time slot with another Friends
establishment that shall remain nameless (for reasons that will become
said, "Oh, one thing: If you turn on the heater, the smoke alarm will go off."
a man come into your room and hit you over the head with a hammer, pay no
mind!" We imprudently forged ahead and settled into our room (we're sharing,
beds). After a couple of hours of sleep, E turned on the light, and announced
appeared all over her body. I rushed her to the local emergency room. The
doctor's diagnosis: The sheets had poisoned her. The doctor explained this was
not uncommon (apparently the detergent used by some motels can cause an
allergic reaction) and sent her home with three different prescriptions, which
returned her skin to its previous lustrous condition but rendered her
maintenance than expected. Her morning beauty routine is minimal to
nonexistent. She just jumps into the shower and puts her wet hair back into a
ponytail, which emphasizes her deceptively childlike appearance, and makes me
Skyline improvement. Postmodernism may have worn out its welcome, but it has
predict, we will all hate Tipper Gore. This is not because she is particularly
her husband's handlers will stick her in our faces until we can't stand the
sight of her. This now appears to be an ineluctable law of modern politics: All
first ladies become unpopular. If they're unpopular to begin with, the law is
Back to E: I do think I may have scored some points
with my protective response during the Princess and the Pea episode. In
Staples, who is black, would pace the streets surrounding the campus after
dark. When he spied a white couple strolling toward him arm in arm, he would
walk directly at them, at a normal pace. The couple would first tighten their
grip on each other. Then, as Staples continued to head toward them, they would
panic, release their grip, and scurry apart. Staples would breeze between them,
without losing a step, without looking back. He called it "scattering the
potential criminality. Using superficial traits to infer deeper characteristics
in people is common and need not be racist. Generalizing from what is easily
and quickly knowable to something that is hard to know for sure is what
economists think of as minimizing information costs. If the clouds turn dark
and ominous and it starts to thunder while you're out for a stroll, you can
find a phone and call the weather service, or you can ignore them on the
grounds that predictions about the weather are often wrong, or you can take
cover under the assumption that it's probably going to rain. But using race as
a proxy is sensitive, for good and obvious reasons.
If skin color as a proxy for criminal intentions were a
like most such generalizations, it is valid but not perfect. A young black man
any particular young black man is a mugger will usually be wrong. So is using
"racial profiling" controversy is about. Racial profiling is when police use
race as a reason to search someone's car or to frisk a pedestrian. Almost all
black men have tales of being stopped by a cop for no reason other than their
state police superintendent for telling a journalist that blacks were more
likely to commit crimes than whites. But she has since admitted that state
police systematically stop cars simply because the driver is black. And racial
sort that has led to a dramatic drop in the nation's crime rate.
conservatives tend to support it, while liberals tend to regard it as racist.
In another controversy, the one over affirmative action, the opposite
generalization holds: Liberals tend to support it, while conservatives tend to
action and racial profiling are essentially the same. Affirmative action
racial victimization, poverty, cultural deprivation. Few critics of affirmative
action are against compensating victims of specific and proven acts of racial
discrimination. And the critics often positively endorse programs giving a
special break to people who've overcome economic or cultural disadvantage. What
they object to is generalizing these conditions from a person's race. Defenders
Defenders of affirmative action and defenders of racial
profiling even resort to the same dodge in defending their cause against
colorblind absolutists. They say they, too, think it's wrong for a person to be
quoted in the New York Times Magazine last month, explaining the
difference between profiling (good) and racial profiling (bad):
Profiling means a police officer using cumulative knowledge and training to
identify certain indicators of possible criminal activity. Race may be one of
those factors, but it cannot stand alone. Racial profiling is when race is the
only other factor. There's no other probable cause.
Ethnic diversity is only one element in a range of factors a
university properly may consider in attaining the goal of a heterogeneous
background may be deemed a "plus" in a particular applicant file, yet it does
not insulate the individual from comparison with all other candidates for the
satisfies some critics, but it doesn't solve the racial proxy dilemma. Stopping
tolerating it at all means tolerating it as potentially the decisive
factor." When it's the decisive factor, it might as well have been the only
factor. If it's never decisive, it's not really a factor at all.
action and racial profiling is that one singles out blacks for something
desirable and the other singles them out for something undesirable. Reasonable
depends on how valid the generalization is in any given case, and how costly or
impractical it would be to get alternative information. When you fear a man
approaching you may be a mugger, you may not be able to find out in the next
headed for the New York Times editorial board. On the other hand, race
say that anyone who is outraged by racial profiling but tolerates affirmative
decades, sought to explain political behavior through mathematical modeling.
The theoretical fad permanently handicapped political science by encouraging
academics to disengage themselves from the practice of politics. Two professors
have now proved that rational choice is based on dubious assumptions about
profit from advising employers on how to prevent office rampages and training
managers to spot unhinged workers, but office homicides are declining, and all
cover editorial argues that free trade benefits the
environment by increasing economic growth and giving poorer countries the
resources to clean up. The related cover story applauds the World Trade Organization's
the environment but not use trade sanctions to enforce environmental
position than their grandmother was, a majority of respondents say that they
we read, watch, wear, and think. Predictable picks include the managing editor
dissenting views, and inferred the worst from the leaks it received. The
Times acknowledged too late that it did not know how much information
An item reports that an unidentified major cable network is negotiating to air
Bare Essentials News --a nightly national news program featuring anchors
Catholic, is expected to step down soon. His successor should be a peacemaker
father and distaste for draft dodgers: Gore deplored "the inequity of the rich
the feds information about the tobacco company's manipulation of nicotine
cover story marvels at the "Wild Bunch" of egotistical
circus." Unsurprising conclusion: The appeal of the provocateurs stems from
"sideshow freak" of the "political carnival" has become the ringmaster. Pat
distribution. Expect a torrent of foodstuff in tubes.
cover story is ambivalent about laser eye surgery. This year
corneas sliced open and reshaped. The 15-minute surgery immediately improves
Critically ill patients are being misled into acting as guinea pigs for
new drugs, and research institutes pressure them to recruit human subjects.
Researchers sometimes prey on patient desperation and fail to obtain informed
article ridicules the recent spate of books on human
behavior. Books on the cultural and biological roots of crying, love, disgust,
cover story predicts that spending on federal campaigns in
airwaves. Republicans are right that campaign finance reform is "class
warfare": It would wrest from the hands of the moneyed elite the
the blasphemous, the criminal and the decadent." (Click for
of military and civilian beliefs. It is "scary," he said, to have "an officer
one of these." What was it, and what did he do with
floor of an elementary school. 'If prison is going to be my next home,' he did
out of touch. That's one argument against letting money buy access to power.
Even if he remains uncorrupted, the president will be immersed in the concerns
only of the wealthy and will lose all feeling for the lives of everyone else.
It is an argument for requiring those who run the subway system to come to work
on the train and not in a limo, for public officials to send their kids to
public school, and for dentists to work on their own teeth with some kind of
complicated mirror system and a stiff shot of bourbon. Some of these arguments
"However, you might like to know that the President
and his family pay for all of their personal expenses. I would imagine they use
would attract undue attention, merchandise is sometimes brought to the White
House by invitation. In an effort to avoid appearing to be partial to selected
competitors, no details about brand names or companies are made public."
The president spent about five minutes at his task,
failing to complete it; the desk was finished by volunteers from a construction
the Democratic presidential nomination by ladling out the traditional fatuous
twaddle. Take this test to learn just how well you know his core beliefs and
generation of network stars," nothing in the deal expressly forbids it, nor
does the above use of quotation marks mean that anyone is actually being
Critics respond with a sprinkling of hearty positive reviews, but the majority
are gingerly worded negative takes. Almost everyone draws parallels to Taxi
on a group of college buddies reunited for a wedding, which makes it "a kind of
sentimental, cheerfully bawdy." (Click here to find out more about the film.)
encounters with racism; the two story lines link up at the end. "Of all the
natural talent for spinning hilarious scenes and uncovering wicked details"
complicated financial deals and even more complicated engineering feats with
snappy cameo portraits, exclamatory descriptions and lots of subjective
feeling that Lewis so reveres his protagonist that he became his apologist."
morally ambiguous attorney's collaboration with law enforcement to nail a group
reviews, claiming that the novel "imparts little of the insider's knowledge"
that graced his other books and that "it lacks a fundamental sense of suspense"
than lots of other presidents. "What had seemed impossible in the summer of
been rehabilitated, and that's flat wrong. To be sure, there are favorable and
critical views of him, simple and complex ones. But the most vivid and enduring
mate with the famous "Checkers" speech. He did it again when he won the
practically since the resignation itself. Yet too often, it has turned out to
the show, more people lowered their opinions of him than raised them. He
heedless of the proper limits of power, unable to plead guilty to anything much
worse than 'screwing up' and coming no closer in history to that final
several books, and made Rolling Stone 's list of "Who's Hot." But, again,
what the large print gave, the fine print took away. Those who took the time to
magazine's editors unwittingly helped create the very phenomenon they were
pronounced rehabilitated, even as polls showed that he remained unpopular. His
the fact they were ostensibly just reporting), and the eulogies at the funeral
rebound proved illusory. No sooner had the tributes subsided than an equally
waged court battles for control of the White House tapes. These stories don't
his campaign for rehabilitation and the public's alleged willingness to grant
of a dent in his overall reputation among scholars. In the latest ranking of
Besides, even more telling than the views of academics are
Archive" Web site). He's almost always portrayed as the dark, suspicious
the Grim Reaper, of "the Jury of the Damned"; he takes part in a
list is used for dastardly purposes; even his dog Checkers is said to be bound
shadowy president, emphasizing his most savage and conspiratorial qualities.
in the film. "Look at the landscape of his life and you'll see a boneyard." The
word: guilty." For now, that remains the most vivid and pervasive image of
(For more on national attitudes to GM foods, see the Economist 's
attempts to make farmers dependent on genetically modified cotton crops.
campaign, cannot now be its political partner. As just one of the parts of the
principles of the G-8 states are to be believably achieved and the chance of a
counseled against analogy creep. It said, "There have been rather too many
same as the hundreds of thousands that were once feared. There is a parallel
Final Solution; he did not aspire to world domination; he did not espouse an
The new proposal would set strict conditions under which the West would lift
the economic embargo and foreign companies would be allowed to bid on contracts
to rebuild "the country's shattered oil industry." According to the
draft has even exceeded the unjust and cruel resolutions by the Security
been anticipating the pleasure of a peerage for almost a decade."
time to discontinue the office of Poet Laureate in the hope that the Royal
cover story assails the widening health gap between
developing world. Alliances between nongovernmental organizations and drug
companies could catalyze research into the diseases that plague poor nations.
d Video dominates Silicone Valley because he recreated the studio system
signing them to package contracts, promoting them heavily, and sending them on
piece blasts environmentalists for ginning up controversy
been wildly distorted, and there is no compelling evidence of the most
spectacular claim: that the pollutants have lowered sperm counts. This hasn't
Project takes both covers; Time 's package is meatier. Both
marketing tactics: They include an amazing Internet site, fake "missing"
posters for the film's actors, and leaked previews. Time says the
direction, then spooked their stars with nighttime raids. Time
reports that some fans refuse to believe that the story is
Time wonders how the United States will handle "hard to place"
welfare cases don't get jobs because of mental illness, substance abuse,
Liberals think more job training could help. Conservatives concede that some
and meditation, he opposes abortion, contraception, and homosexual acts.
malaise of modern men disassociated from the bonds of fraternity and patriarchy
of the bombing never consulted the experts who could have told them that the
realized the importance of courting politicians and the press, but the
bully in the court of public opinion. Bill Gates feels so embattled that he
can't contain his anger or make rational choices about how to settle
caucus, too. The straw poll is bogus because the candidates pay their
significance. The state is a poor bellwether, because it is disproportionately
stricter side that wants to make sure that people coming in are not
"Rejection letters regarding grant requests."-- Herb Terns
their annual talent show, is that nothing amusing ever takes place beneath it.
poking about in some villain's undersea lair, and his attempts at repartee are
just parody bait. When the diving suits go on, the witty banter stops.
Something to do with all those air hoses, like trying to be witty at the
dentist. It is impossible to name a single amusing movie that takes place
beneath the waves. Just look at dolphins, the very model of marine
sophistication, a creature whose intelligence we're always called upon to
admire like some horrible precocious child. They're frequently found at Sea
World, performing in shows whose dialogue will not be quoted later at dinner.
In some countries, they'd be the dinner. The dolphin, not the precocious child.
many elegant and flirtatious scenes set on yachts. Clearly, wit operates best
The problem with this haze, blown over the water by
reverse in late spring, blowing the haze north over the land, where its
particles combine with monsoon rains and fall to the earth, dissipating the
sort of acid rain that plays havoc with both terrestrial and marine life.
and Budget for the New York City Police Department. She is also a cabaret
month ago, when Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for president,
he promised to defend the right to abortion. "Some try to duck the issue of
decision for themselves. I will stand up for a woman's right to choose." To
which the wags at National Review replied: "No, [Gore] won't duck the
finally they obliterated the debate's physical substance by renaming it "the
choice issue." For this, they were skewered by abortion opponents. But now the
issues" aren't new. The Catholic Church has long discussed abortion,
euthanasia, and the death penalty under the rubric of "life issues," and a
new is the conversion of the plural phrase "life issues," which sensibly
connected topics relating to mortality, into the singular phrase "the life
issue," whose only purpose is to replace the word "abortion."
with these conservatives, largely by coming out against legal abortion. He
seems just as uncomfortable railing against abortion in this election as he was
out a plan of action to move the issue forward." Last weekend on Late
life issue" seems to be catching on. Two weeks ago, Republican presidential
Euphemisms reveal as much as they obscure. Abortion rights advocates adopted
"the choice issue" because they concluded the public didn't like abortion. If
abortion opponents adopt "the life issue," it will signify that they have
concluded the public doesn't like attacks on abortion, either. It will also
swells as we glide beneath a canopy of brilliant points of starlight. The
control center, and communications room; the smell of fresh pastries from the
While not always thrilling, shipboard life uniquely
blends tradition and customs with modern technology and comforts. For example,
as the captain, I enjoy many of the perks traditionally offered in the early
days of sail. I have my own cabin (which is the largest stateroom in the ship),
Flogging, I think, has been left off the modern perk list! In simple terms, the
lives depend on it. I can't think of too many job descriptions that carry
similar weight. I love my job, not because of personal gain, but for the
personal growth I see in my shipmates and for the service we provide our
country. I relayed a story to the crew one evening: We were traveling down the
river has a fairly narrow channel that required a navigational pilot to assist
river pilot told me that I had a very well run and professional crew; he went
it's nice to take refuge in the simple aspects of being a sailor. I enjoy my
sunrises are as close to heaven on earth as you can get. I like to see the
gleam in the eye of a young officer when she handles the ship well alongside
the pier; mastering the effects of wind, tide, and current. I tell my wardroom
important aspect of shipboard life, more for its social aspects than anything
else. Plus, I have many of them convinced that my sunny disposition is due to a
salutes when I approach them on the bridge. I can sense they are happy to
with the illusion that life aboard a Coast Guard cutter is one step removed
from a cruise liner. A typical day underway is consumed with eight hours of
watches and eight hours of ship's work. There are boats to launch, helicopters
to land, training to conduct and guns to shoot. Throw in your three squares and
the weather kicks up, fatigue accelerates tenfold: Your bones ache; stuff flies
loose; keeping a steady footing is hard work; sleep is nearly impossible. And
ultimate challenges of the sea; to see it calm from its fury is like emerging
from the dark side of the moon; euphoric moods erupt only to be outdone by the
of Human Rights to have the ban lifted. Ban on what?
invented a ride to sell to the fair that involved stationary painted horses
won a blue ribbon for best hairdresser. Nobody has the heart to tell him that
this simply means he'll fetch a higher price at auction, where he'll be sold
representative of the news media asked him a question and wrote down his answer
Heller had a similar answer referencing the bearded lady's beard; as did
him to a good stylist who would no doubt be, as so many of them are, gay. And
Quiz participants was the coincidence of names between a certain hair stylist
(no doubt gay; they all are) and a giant amusement park attraction. And
because, refreshed by my vacation, I want only to please you, here is the
Book Encyclopedia describing the invention of the popular ride:
without an ounce of poetry in their souls. You pour your guts into something,
you up and throw you away. Why try? Why live?" Last few sentences added by an
autumnal News Quiz, if it matters, which hardly seems likely, so ephemeral are
visitor, in the sense that someone working the crowd for money and votes is
"There appears to be every reason to believe that the police officers acted
in accordance with police procedure and acted in a responsible way to save
human life. And of course by 'save human life,' I mean 'shoot some idiot.'
"It is almost as if she never existed. If we are not very careful, there is
encouraging the police to gun down the mentally ill; well actually, I suppose
"These judges have their heads in the sand. Thank goodness they don't have
that even those expressing unpopular views have the right to speak in New
candidate is praying that a former secretary doesn't go public with her claim
married Republican's campaign staff are already jumping ship." National
that he had violated his marital vows or inappropriately touched anyone, and he
challenged the dozens of reporters on hand to produce evidence or a specific,
reporters had the evidence, they could have produced it. If not, they could
that whether or not he had an affair, he was wrong to have left open the
possibility that anyone might have thought he had done anything wrong. The
proving that charge or even making it, the media have found ways to spin
lesser, derivative, and empty insinuations about him into a national story.
accusatory tones whether he had "met behind closed doors" with the aide,
people are asking questions [about it] and it's making people uncomfortable."
behavior," the reporter replied, "That you were seen too often with a woman on
denial of such a relationship. Rather than conclude that there was no story,
not saying there should be one. I don't think there should. But there is
spent hours behind closed doors with her and traveled alone with her, violating
the strict rules they believe govern conservative Christian married men in
their dealings with women." By framing the issue as "sensitivity," the
have been engaging in behavior that was perfectly innocent [but] in the minds
of the people who work for you and respected you was inappropriate, and that
refusing to recognize, according to them, their complaints?" In other words,
to explain the meaning of "behave this way," the reporter admitted, "I don't
denied that his aides had alleged actual impropriety: "No one leaving my
justified: "I cannot imagine that anybody in a campaign would object to me
having a meeting behind closed doors with a professional woman." The
and others had quit the campaign because of their "concerns about the
apparently alleged the appearance of impropriety. "One would think," one
in, "For folks who are not presidential candidates, if somebody was spreading
rumors like that about them, I think the first instinct would be to go to the
suspected source and say, 'Are you doing this? And if so, please stop it.' Why
impropriety. Unable to formulate a precise allegation, one reporter asked
challenged another questioner to explain what he meant by "inappropriate
further than indicating he was faithful to his wife." The collective
"Don't you just give this story more momentum by doing this?" Another reporter
asked, "How do you think your supporters are going to respond to all this?" The
even whether the perception that he might have done so would hurt him
fatally wounded, in political terms, by the dispute" and another who "said
an appearance of impropriety become a political problem. A Salon
honest, I think most people in this room are never going to mention it and
probably didn't take it very seriously. But you've now elevated it to a point
does that say about your political judgment?" Within hours, Salon
published the reporter's derisive story about the press conference, titled
like at least two of the reporters who asked some of the most loaded questions
at the press conference. The problem is that they can't resist a hot story. A
sex scandal on the religious right, no matter how flimsy, seems too good to
pass up. Reporters think they have to ask the killer question or advance the
story, never mind which way it's going. The campaign is in overdrive, their
prey stands before them, and the heat of the moment carries them away. They
ask, don't tell" policy an abysmal failure. In practice, commanding officers do
ask and vigorously root out homosexuals. Many soldiers have been put under oath
black dignity" portends a demagogic campaign that blames corporate interests
recovery is precarious. Real recovery depends on regional political stability,
cover package worries about boys. One story says that boys, bombarded with
images of unattainable male bodies, have more body image problems than ever.
cruelty" in junior high can make adolescents "pathologically preoccupied" with
cover story argues that stocks are massively undervalued. Bullish investors are
not irrationally exuberant; they recognize that stock prices have been
depressed by an excessive aversion to risk. According to the authors' valuation
schools place imagination at the center of the learning process and emphasize
art projects, oral presentations, poetry recitations, and discussion. Graduates
special issue on guns includes a rare editorial declaring war on "one common link in the chain of
violence: firearms." All assault weapons should be banned, all gun owners
cover story reports on new discoveries about human evolution.
thousands of years ago. Our technological improvements have dramatically slowed
"Adventure" issue meditates on human limitations, trust, and courage. A
correspondent camps out in Central Park, braving gangs, ducking cops, and
story calls for censorship of movies, television, and music. The mass
media's "moral pollution" is "actual and malignant." Our forefathers didn't
have sex and violence in mind when they crafted First Amendment freedoms. The
should discourage images of sex and violence in the media by holding
well prove to be the most influential member of the family. He is certainly the
most visible, holding forth in the pages of everything from the Wall Street
a coherent worldview. For him, these wars exposed the political bankruptcy and
strategic incompetence not only of Western governments but, even more starkly,
International Committee of the Red Cross, and the proliferating nongovernmental
organizations that provide relief on the ground in times of emergency.
argued that the prevailing paradigms of humanitarian assistance and
intervene on one side in military conflicts rather than treat them as
There is an obvious irony in the fact that the son of one
emerge as one of its most vocal champions in the '90s. More amazing still is
strong, uncompromising positions that leave him curiously unaccountable. When
world. In the decades since, she has had to grapple with the consequences of
reckoning. He is always ready to take a position on what should have been
skeptical of liberalism, hostile to the United Nations, and suspicious of
empire. He has called the advocates of civil society "the useful idiots of
institutions. The only position he consistently advances is that he is right
Before he became the intellectual conscience of the new
of immigrants from the Third World. Apparently, he made the discovery all by
books to be, if not entirely clueless about what's going on around them, then
at least hopelessly unable to explain it. "Everyone I knew was taking the
unable to follow the conversation going on around me, so mesmerized was I by
transformation of the international economy, and the obsolescence of New York
City. He was also indulging his taste for grandiose pronouncements:
the moral equivalence of communism and fascism some years before.
of its cultural geography by Third World immigration. He ended up,
step in and stop the killing. It is an odd piece of reportage, with no interest
see very little of their lives, and only rarely hear their voices. They are the
by treating a political cataclysm in strictly humanitarian terms, Western
governments and the United Nations assured the destruction of a democratic,
mandate should read Slaughterhouse to see what an earlier mandate
produced: ethnic cleansing superintended by men in blue helmets.
contradict himself again? Has he already forgotten that Slaughterhouse
But last autumn's dove became a hawk again this spring.
of ground troops was not strategic, but moral. "Had the West been willing to
If that question has, for the moment at least, been
in any victory parades. But don't look for him at any protest marches either.
In the months ahead, you'll most likely find him in the pages of the opinion
are. He will continue to lecture us on the importance of choosing sides, and of
fighting to win. He will remain passionate, eloquent, and sure of himself. But
I, for one, can't read him without hearing the strains of an old marching song
media and politicians who are "looking into" whether he can be stopped. Most
don't agree on is why. Here's what the critics have to say about the
experience as a horse breeder and asks, "We bid for everything else in this
own designer baby by selling eggs," predict that his success will steer "the
future of human breeding" toward "genetic engineering."
simultaneously debunk that scenario. "Not only is it ethically ludicrous, but
the fact is, no kid's going to look like the model's picture," observes
ugly man and a pretty woman is just as likely to be ugly as to be pretty.
Second, everyone carries "recessive" genes, which are invisible in this
generation but may become visible in the next. A model with a small nose can
pass on genes for a big nose. Third, even if both parents are attractive, a
child can combine their features unattractively. For example, a girl can
inherit her mother's weak nose and her father's strong brow.
Doomsayers predict that once "beautiful eggs are available strictly to people
who are willing to spend an ungodly sum for them," the rich will transform
replies, "It is not our intention to suggest that we make a super society of
only beautiful people. This site simply mirrors our current society, in that
beauty usually goes to the highest bidder." But this reply only fuels concern
give his models' offspring "a financially secure and stable life." But skeptics
has a few screws loose. Maybe her kid will, too. Not to mention the buyers who
model who is perfectly ruthless will conceal this fact when selling her eggs.
"There's no way to know that. You can ask the girl and hope she tells you the
truth," he says. Annas concludes that since there's "no way to know how much of
their beauty is a product of their genes, plastic surgery, a makeup artist, or
exercise," only a "naive" person would buy their eggs on the basis of the
photographs displayed on the site. "You don't want to see the models," he
points out. "You want to see pictures of their parents." On this theory,
children produced by the egg auction are likely to be the offspring of liars on
Selection' is choosing genes that are healthy and beautiful." Skeptics question
this assumed equivalence, noting that traits men find attractive in women these
Today show how much "medical screening" he has given his egg donors,
he's not the first person to market good genes. Others, he notes, have sold
detractors reply that beauty is "superficial" and conveys a "harmful
preoccupation with exterior appearances over intelligence and content of
movie starlet who will join the program after a brief commercial break.
beauty not as an end but as a means to "success," since people who are
physically desirable get more attention, power, and favorable treatment. Having
around and adopt his ruthless logic. While conceding that beauty is useful,
they argue that intelligence is a better weapon in today's meritocratic
capitalism, saying it's "unfair to put a limit on a girl's ability to make
money" by auctioning her eggs. In turn, fertility clinic operators accuse
Today laments, "This is about human need. And human greed."
Today described the models as "struggling actresses," reported that they
were unaware of the health risks of donating eggs, and quoted one as saying,
verified bidder told the paper that selling eggs was "better than
constantly refers to the donors as his "girls" and describes them like
percent commission on each winning bid, though he takes no responsibility for
executing financial transactions or medical procedures. "We have no control
over the quality, safety or legality of the items advertised, the truth or
accuracy of the listings, the ability of sellers to sell items or the ability
of buyers to buy items," he stipulates. His role, he explains, is simply to
"find beautiful girls, take beautiful photographs of them, [and] put them up on
throughout history have exploited their sexual power over men, but how pimps
models and the intriguing perversity of a human egg auction to drum up
publicity and attract Internet traffic to his site, from which he can sell
his various porn sites. A spokesman for fertility doctors suspects that
watchdogs call the egg auction another chapter in the cultural slide marked by
other normal activities in her apartment), the promised Webcast of a man and
woman losing their virginity together (which turned out to be a hoax), and a
since the Internet, it seems to snowball more rapidly, this depersonalization
of people and selling of eggs," one fertility expert complains to the New
The only thing worse than buying human eggs on the Internet, according to the
critics, is not getting the eggs you paid for. "When you have large
transactions of this kind conducted over the Internet, there may be fraud," a
to prove that these eggs actually came from the donors that were expected," and
to human professional success overlooks the interaction of genetics and human
out as pretty as the buyer expected, the buyer may shun the child, or the child
may grow to hate herself for disappointing her parents. (On the Today
nature.") Second, if the child turns out pretty but doesn't want to be a beauty
queen, her parents may force her in that direction anyway, thereby stifling her
true talents and preventing her from becoming successful. Third, the child's
good looks may attract too much attention of the wrong kind, eventually
is the most important act of your life. This is how we get our genes to the
"our genes." "The drive to send your own genes into tomorrow is much
stronger than the [drive] to pick out of a sperm bank or egg site," Fisher
observes. This consideration may not affect single men, but it can be a
focuses too much on selfishness, but that he neglects it. He forgets that you
don't care about reproducing unless what you're reproducing is yourself.
favor those who are pleasant to look at, and therefore the way to have
successful children is to make sure they're attractive. The most ambitious
response is to attack the whole "prejudice" in favor of beauty. "The standards
of beauty do vary with the culture. And they are social facts, not really
should think about" whether to "accept the existing prejudices and then try to
eugenically manipulate them" or to transcend those prejudices.
to accept human nature as a given, he violates it by peddling strangers' eggs
and encouraging the production of children who will probably never know their
mothers. Family association, loyalty, and love are among the best parts of
human nature. Slavish catering to physically attractive strangers is among the
worst. If we're going to challenge human nature, the critics ask, why not start
perfection. "Every organism is trying to evolve to its most perfect state," he
writes. What he doesn't seem to understand is that human beings aren't quite
like other animals, just as the rest of the world isn't exactly like the
to a stage at which our ideas about virtue, perfection, and success have become
"Increased funding to 'Just Say No to Acts of Counterrevolutionary Hooliganism'
House I Live In featuring the moving and melodious: "That's What the
People's Republic of China Is to Me," a musical observation of China's many
restaurants, female infanticide, and brutal suppression of dissent.
potential theme restaurants, and a magnet for investments from the usual crowd
you're already visiting us online. So just go ahead and type in your credit
official celebrations, there will be handicapped people in wheelchairs and a
contingent of private businessmen, chairs unannounced.
major presidential hopeful feature an inspirational slogan that encapsulate the
monkeys shooting up so many schools and churches, and to buy a nicer boat.
Counts" buttons and did some deft Magic Marker work. The principle?
in the nation's heart, a part of the body for which he can suggest effective
have to tweak slogan to "A Man's Got To Know His Limitations and His Gentle
Emollients." But politics is the art of compromise, for money.
not doing any research, but might be some kind of council.
about his father's sex life; we're both going to be disappointed.
following candidates whose sites display no slogans or, in the case of Ms.
discern the presence of archetypes from the collective subconscious in works of
pulp fiction by writers such as H. Rider Haggard than it is in literary
period, timeless archetypes rub shoulders with the vulgar prejudices of the
theorists can easily find a key to the racial, social, and sexual anxieties of
States had recently joined the ranks of imperial powers, and white supremacy
was the norm in the United States and throughout the world. Confidence in the
his cousin in the jungle jockstrap did, it is worth reviving him to make a
of all his advantages, and put him in a radically different environment, in
order that the innate superiority of his breed may be demonstrated. Whether in
animals, which author and audience alike understood arose from their proximity
Chain of Being, the "natives" find themselves deprived of the one asset that
racist mythology attributed to them, closeness to the animals, leaving them
without any particular function in the economy of kitsch literature, except to
a fantasy version of the ultimate White Guy, the virile aristocrat, who, far
from being effete and degenerate, could go Ape as well as Ascot. Something like
exploring a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil, in an adventure that might have
metaphorically resonant term?). By jumping out of airplanes in his 70s, Bush
continues to battle the Wimp Factor. Perhaps he should swing from vines as
Jane became the equivalents of the innocent shepherds and shepherdesses of
from their facility at assembling a tree house we might think that they are,
Family). The embarrassing problem of what to do with the "natives" in a
such a wimp that he is not allowed to kill anything or anybody, although our
Paleolithic pacifist is permitted to use martial arts techniques in
would be complete. But when the time comes for them to die, both do themselves
refuses to send soldiers into combat because one of them might actually get
from his animal companions. Once he has slept with a woman, the animals refuse
to associate with him; he cannot go home again. Masculine wildness is overcome
grovels and whimpers before a disapproving Ma Gorilla.
tolerable) decide to renounce civilized society for the jungle. There, by happy
hunter) are gone, clearing the way for the utopia of beta males and females.
be worried about bestiality but not homosexuality).
to future scholars pondering the equally weird mentality of feminized and Green
embodies the ideology that vilifies the "white male" and idealizes the feminine
(human and ape) and the wilderness imagined by customers of The Nature Store.
mom (it's not easy being green). For my part, I plan to endorse the Baptist
liberals, but because it's turning them into wimps.
to take chances with drugs, sex, speed, and other potentially dangerous
in the US to discuss what normal personalities are and how to control their
found that it increases the bearer's risk of getting addicted to hard drugs
(although several genes are probably involved), can cause adults to seek
sensation, and makes newborns as young as two weeks more alert and curious
there burns inside them a feeling of invincibility, an obsession with
challenge, an arrogance of power that drive them to take risks all the time,"
predator, like his father, uncle and grandfather, nor addicted to drugs or
the paper said, "because it embodies the deep human sense that free will is a
fragile thing, and no inheritance, however noble, frees one from the mark of
property of one country. "It would be a fitting legacy if John Junior's death
US trend toward a new kind of dynastic democracy, then some good will have come
mustard seed, either on earth or in space, thanks to its extraordinary
capabilities," he said. "Or perhaps the US is negligent and not serious in
classmate of long ago, one of several like it, which I pass on in paraphrase:
"I saw that your father had died," she wrote. "He was always so clever about
money. Did he leave you a big estate? Did he figure out a way around the estate
My sister and I have been going through my father's
estate lately with his lawyer, and we're pawing through old, dusty files to
find bank account numbers and rules for annuities, so maybe it's a good time to
money. By the standards we read about in the Wall Street Journal or
less than what he had saved. As an economist, my father was famous for
defending taxes as a necessary evil. But even he was staggered, not long before
his death, when he considered the taxes on his savings that would go to the
The nest egg is going to be taxed at a federal rate of
about it, I want to cry. My father and mother lived frugally all their lives.
expense account. They never in their whole lives went on an expensive vacation.
When he last went into the hospital, my father was still wearing an old pair of
dishes after my mother made the meatloaf. My father took the bus whenever he
could. His only large expenditure in his and my mom's whole lives was to pay
for schools for his children and grandchildren. He never bought bottled,
imported water; he said whatever came out of the tap was good enough for him.
bedroom furniture and their couch. I never once knew them to order the most
expensive thing in a restaurant, and they always took the leftovers home.
of it from stock options or golden parachutes. They made it all by depriving
themselves in the name of thrift and prudence and preparing for the needs of
posterity. To think that this abstemiousness and this display of virtue will
only possible reason for it is to satisfy some urge of jealousy by people who
There are a few material, tangible items that an assessor
will have to come in to appraise. There are my father's books, from his days at
until days before his death. Most of them are about economics, but some are
and his massive prose writings. Very little of it is about anything at all
abstruse. There are no formulas and no graphs or charts, except from his very
last years. There are many essays about how much he missed my mom when she
was that there was still so much confusion about basic issues in economics. And
published. I suppose there will not be much tax on these because my father was
he had always wanted to live by the ocean and write. And there are his
furniture and his clothes, none of which has any value at all except to me
because they remind me of him and because, when I stand near them in his
closet, I can still smell his smell of hair and skin and leather shoes, the
carrying a newspaper that said there could be no more racial segregation in
clippings of great events of state. And there are his love letters to and from
ribbon in what was my mother's lingerie drawer, talking about their love
triumphing over the dangers of the Depression. I suppose we'll have to place a
But these are the trivia of what he left me and my sister.
The really valuable estate cannot be touched by the death tax. The man's legacy
to his family has almost nothing to do with anything that can be appraised in
not loyal and not qualified. My father said that this was a free country, that
which were unearned and a chunk of which was earned, my father never thought of
extended his stay at the White House to help out with the struggles over
man who had been as conscientious to the cause of peace and as kind to the
item for it in the inventory of estate assets to be taxed.
My father lived his life, especially in the latter years of
it, in a haze of appreciation. Whatever small faults he could and did find with
which was in a constant process of amelioration, and which offered its citizens
in the past, especially institutionalized racism, he did so to note the
astonishing progress that had been made in his lifetime. He had no use for
could see in his own era what vast improvements in freedom had been made for
He appreciated art, especially ballet and opera. He
sat for hours in front of the television watching videos of Romeo and
he also appreciated art in the form of obscure fountains in front of federal
appreciated the intricate moldings on the ceiling of the second floor of the
He appreciated his friends and did not differentiate
between them on the basis of fame or position. He took the words of his
not on the basis of how much press or money the speaker had. He never once in
my lifetime's recall said that any man or woman deserved special respect for
merited special suspicion. He did not believe that my sister or I should devote
our lives to the pursuit of money, and by his life set an example to us of
pursuing only what was interesting and challenging, not what paid the most. I
never knew him to chase a deal or a job (he never in his whole life applied for
a job!) for any other reason except that it was of interest to him. He derived
more pleasure from speaking to his pals at the book club of the Cosmos Club
My father's stance against seeking money for its own
catastrophes into their rightful context. If I was hysterical about losing some
scriptwriting job, my father would brush it aside as a basic risk, part of the
life I had chosen. If my stocks went down, even dramatically, my father would
explain that if I had a roof over my head and enough to eat, I was far, far
ahead of the game. Most reassuring, my father would tell me that my family and
for which not a lot of money was required. (My father lived on a fraction of
unfairly, my father said that if it happened again, I should quit and he would
take care of me until I found a job. I never needed to do it, but the offer
somehow things will be all right, that there is a lot of ruin in a man, as well
I can still summon it up when I am terrified because of a huge quarterly tax
My father himself, as far as I know, inherited no money at
all from his father. He did inherit a belief that hard work would solve most
problems, that spending beyond one's means was a recipe for disaster, that
flashy showoff behavior with borrowed money was understandable but foolish. He
did inherit enough common sense to tell his son that buying property he would
never live in was probably a bad mistake. (He rarely spoke in moral absolutes.
He believed instead that humans could and would make individual choices but
that there were surely consequences to those choices that could be considered.)
He passed these beliefs on to me, although they have become somewhat attenuated
men I know here who has never been drastically short of money (so far), and
appreciating those persons close to him. He stayed close to all his pals from
been a friend and colleague, although he was bewildered by Pat's stands on many
issues). He basked in the pleasure of the company of his colleagues and friends
attachments readily. Even in his last days in the hospital, he took a liking to
on the table next to his reading chair, with his notes on little pieces of
dreamed the same dreams he did. Once, he wrote my mother a poem (which he
and the pleasure of riding along it with my mom. He filed it away for further
work and never touched it again. The day after my mother's death, he found
those clouds and those cattle with anyone else but Pop. She had written her
poem (which she titled "Only You") and put it back in the file without ever
telling him. He survived that terrible loss with the help of a beautiful widow,
whom he also came to appreciate and live for. He probably spent more time
trying to help her with an annuity problem than he ever did on any financial
feature of his own life. A simple call from her inviting him to dinner in her
Even in his hospital bed, hearing my son's voice on
the phone could make him smile through the fear and the pain. ("He sounds so
Never once did my sister or I ever ask him for help
that he hesitated, let alone declined, to give. Usually this was some research
we were too lazy to do, but which he did without any resistance at all. When I
was a child and had a chore like leaf raking that I didn't want to do, his
simple answer was to say, "Let's do it together. It'll take half as long." I
use that with my son almost every day, along with the devotion, and my father's
example about his friends from long ago to make my life work. He stayed close
and the rewards I get from it are worth far more than any stocks or bonds in my
And he left something else of perhaps even greater value: a
good name. Many people quarreled with my father's ideas about taxes or about
when to balance the budget. He faced frequent opposition to his belief in a
large defense budget. Of course, most of the people he knew disagreed with him
means of research and analysis and sometimes sentiment, but not for any venal
reason or by the process of money changing hands. His reputation for honesty
This good name cannot be taxed at all, at least not
right now. My sister and I and our children will have it for as long as we keep
did manage to beat the estate tax." The only problem is that I miss him every
single minute, and I already had the best parts of the estate without his being
week, House Republicans tried to postpone a fiscal squeeze by deferring payment
New York about education reform, Bush spanked his party again, this time for
projecting pessimism, indifference, and "disdain for government."
broadsides have filled the talk shows and front pages with speculation that he
constantly recite statistics that reflect well on their administration: more
jobs, lower deficits, lower interest rates, fewer people on welfare, less
achieving these results by establishing fiscal responsibility. For years,
Then they defied credulity by reversing their message, claiming that the
economy was in great shape and that their own policies were responsible for
is the biggest obstacle facing Bush: He is challenging the incumbent vice
made a persuasive case either that the prosperity is false or that it is true
economy. Whether or not this story is true, it is now deeply ingrained in the
Instead, Bush is attempting something far more bold and interesting: He is
weaving an alternative story. While focusing on Bush's criticisms of his party
In state after state, we are seeing a profound shift of
[educational] priorities. An "age of accountability" is starting to replace an
the 1990s, so many of our nation's problems, from education to crime to
to cultural decline. Problems that seemed inevitable proved to be reversible.
They gave way to an optimistic, governing conservatism. Here in New York, Mayor
education reform is gaining a critical mass of results. In the process,
conservatism has become the creed of hope. The creed of aggressive, persistent
important about this narrative is not what it says but what it doesn't say. It
makes no mention of anything that happened in the White House or in Congress.
Bush has decided that he can't win the federal policy debate that has consumed
simply erased it. Yes, crime is down, fewer people are on welfare, and school
reform is gaining momentum. And yes, the incumbent party deserves credit. But
in Bush's story, that party isn't the Democratic White House. It's the state
Congress is petty and mean. Republican congressional
and Gore are blameworthy. But they have convinced many others that
congressional Republicans are more interested in impugning integrity and fixing
blame than in solving problems. The negative portion of Gore's game plan,
game plan is to turn Gore's game plan on its head. He's not going to argue with
Gore over which party is destructive or blameworthy. He's going to reject the
portray himself as a man who solves problems instead of complaining about them
or blaming them on his enemies. "Too often, my party has confused the need for
"Our Founders rejected cynicism and cultivated a noble love of country. That
love is undermined by sprawling, arrogant, aimless government. It is restored
by focused and effective and energetic government. And that should be our goal:
a limited government, respected for doing a few things and doing them
House Republicans, including DeLay, have fired back at Bush, accusing him of
betraying them, meddling in their business, and distorting their ideas. This
counterattack has only helped Bush achieve the distance he sought in the first
fight. They don't understand that they've lost that fight and that Bush is
The media and "moderate" Republicans, convinced that these issues are the
party's weakness and that its libertarian economic ideas are its strength, have
interpreted Bush's remarks as a rebuke to Republican "Puritanism." But a closer
look at Bush's comments suggests the opposite: He is concerned that the party
looks mean because of its economic policies, and he is using cultural issues to
soften that image by projecting Republican "compassion."
Bush had felt a need to triangulate against the cultural right, he could have
religious intolerance. Instead, he gave a speech that bypassed traditional
moral issues such as school prayer and homosexuality and never mentioned the
word "abortion." The media inferred that Bush was ignoring moral issues because
the religious right has nowhere else to go. They missed the real story: The
reason why Bush doesn't have to talk about old moral issues that might make him
look mean is that he's introducing new moral issues that make him look warm and
live out their faith in every walk of life, in politics, but also working in
crisis pregnancy centers, drug treatment programs, and homeless shelters.
rally the armies of compassion to nurture, to mentor, to comfort, to perform
programs, maternity group homes, prison fellowships, and drug treatment
"Too often, my party has focused on the national economy, to the exclusion of
that. Of course we want growth and vigor in our economy. But there are human
"broken homes and broken lives" through "compassion" back home.
fight. "He's now differed with [congressional Republicans] on one little
He ought to endorse an increase in the minimum wage for the working poor. And
he ought to come out against this huge, risky tax scheme." But Bush isn't
biting, and congressional Democrats, more interested in beating their
Republican colleagues than in beating Bush, have welcomed and exploited his
Department of Health and Human Services shows that kids are four times as
guess I should be paying more attention to this charter revision thing,
politics. Unavoidable, I suppose. Cartoons, sitcoms, and political campaigns
conjure up characters with a single, instantly recognizable characteristic.
particular and nuanced way, or pray that he develops webbed feet, like Phoebe,
and a quirky sex appeal, like Daffy. There's something about that duck. I
wonder if he's ever considered joining a new political party.
course, impossible to know how the authorities will deal with this potentially
volatile confrontation, the mayor has already praised the police for their
wisdom, restraint, and all around good looks in handling the situation, and
"Another Great Reason To Be a Woman" (feel free to make up your own jokes about
for doing anything the same old way.-- It's yoga with attitude. No, wait:
"It all starts off with two unorthodox game shows including our take on the
out, we WILL stand for doing some things the same old way.
At Pure Oxygen, we talk with women, not at them, in a fluid production style
personalities.-- If you've ever broken down the wall between yourself and a
Whew! Was that a day or what? Time for women to take a deep breath, reflect,
show) between a celebrated woman and the most interesting people of the
day.-- And those leather things she's wearing on her feet? Not
Whether it's team sports, rock climbing or just strutting around the block,
there's an athlete burning inside every woman. Oxygen celebrates that spirit
She's the most powerful woman in television. An accomplished entertainer and
successful entrepreneur. Nothing gets in her way. Nothing, that is, except the
media have been in an uproar this month over the latest putative outbreak of
unearthing of fossils, the decline of organized religion, and several adverse
court decisions had rendered creationism extinct. Instead, adversity has made
critics of evolution stronger. It has forced them to develop themes and
speculated that school districts might "force" teachers to dispute evolution or
teach creationism. In phrasing questions about the controversy, several
reporters characterized the issue as "censoring" evolution.
which the state will test students. While liberals call this "censorship,"
conservatives spin it as an affirmation and exercise of freedom. The safest
dodge, adopted by every major Republican presidential candidate, is that "state
and local" leaders should be allowed to choose their own curricula. Republicans
deplored the bad old days when the government "forced" creationism on kids.
"academic freedom," pleading that schools should "teach both [evolution and
creationism] as theories, and trust the children with their parents to arrive
protect creationism from "censors," conservatives have adopted the relativism
says the facts of prehistory are "all up in the air now. A lot of what we
thought was true turns out [to be] not true. There's a raging debate. So I
Meaning. Liberal pundits, eager to pick a fight with
the religious right, attack the notion of pairing "religious instruction" with
the teaching of "scientific evolution." They accuse creationists of violating
"the wall of church and state" by imposing "a religious theory" on "the secular
educational system." It's all part of the culture war over sex education and
percent want to banish evolution from the schools and teach creationism
if evolutionists force the public to choose between evolution and religion or
between evolution and divine creation, they'll lose.
Creationists, recognizing this equation, try to force precisely this choice.
They dig up quotes in which evolutionary theorists espouse atheism and scorn
debate by juxtaposing the idea that we "descended from monkeys" with the idea
that we are "divinely made" and are "creatures of God." Evolution implies
"there is no divine intelligence involved," he told reporters last week.
Conversely, creationists broaden the appeal of their own theory by associating
it with the general idea of "divine intervention" and "intelligent design."
Whereas there's no "meaning in life if we're just animals in a struggle for
survival," they argue, "If we can teach creation, there is an order, there is a
plan. You have a place in this world." On the deepest and most decisive level,
this spin has been an enormous success. While privately scorning creationism,
the media have thoughtlessly absorbed and promoted the creationists' dichotomy
question this way: "Are human beings divine creations or the product of eons of
evolutionists know that the better approach is to pose a choice not between
science and religion but between literalism and interpretation. While most
people want to believe that God created us one way or another, few can swallow
the literal creationist reading of the Bible, which holds that the earth is
that creation took a week.) The first theory is flexible enough to withstand
fossil evidence, but the second isn't. When asked about the Bible's literal
account of creation, as opposed to the attractive concept of divine
squirmed, ducked, and tried to steer the discussion back to "faith," "morals,"
and the general idea that humans "were created in the image of God." The smart
strategy for evolutionists, in short, is to embrace theism and shift the debate
Elitism. Scientists and liberal commentators love to
during a recent Fox News debate. "There isn't really anything on the other
side." On the Today show, an evolutionist professor scoffed at the
people decline to take the advice of a committee of experts."
Creationists have learned to jujitsu the scornful tone and overreaching scope
of these pronunciations. Responding on Today to the professor's crack
talked to believe that they know what is best for their children. This attitude
[of evolutionists] has been characteristic of some parts of the education
creationists accuse the evolutionist "elite" of trampling popular values and
conventional populist critique of evolution identifies it with sex education,
condom distribution, restrictions on school prayer, and other perceived liberal
attacks on religion. But as the public places its faith less in orthodoxy and
more in the marketplace of ideas, creationists are developing a hardier strain
of populism that appeals to progressive concepts such as "questions,"
"skepticism," and "investigation." Rather than defend religious dogma, they
poke holes in evolutionary dogma, scrutinizing the theory's missing links and
the mathematical probability of the emergence of complex life. Schools should
appeal to skepticism seems likely to flourish. The creationists had only five
board member that evolution should be presented as a theory rather than as a
Nelson, "We might look askance at the supposed scientists and social scientists
who defend their own pet theories [such as] global warming, free trade,
Creationism, it turns out, is a case study in the evolution of spin. The
environment changes, the idea mutates, and new strains and arguments take hold.
Is it natural selection or intelligent design? You decide.
proposes to eliminate it or at least rename it. What's the old name; what's the
Centers for Disease Control. "Anyone who continues to maintain that there was
some mistake here doesn't understand the way science proceeds." What isn't
people, the whole point of the study was to see how well endangered condors
"Trying to pass off a few flasks of blue water and dry ice as a multimillion
convincingly takes exquisite timing. Do it too soon and you seem glib and
insincere: "You're sorry? Well, 'sorry' won't make the dog's leg grow back!" Do
it too late and you seem, actually it's glib and insincere again. "Oh, you're
but the organization you lead that committed the misdeed. The apology shows
what a sensitive person you are, while you needn't alter your behavior at all,
his. To have meaning, the apology must convey recently acquired insight into
realize that what seemed like an encephalitis outbreak in New York City was
right almost at once, but not a lot more. And don't expect him to say, "I
apologize for all the confusion, like not bothering to get in touch with the
noticed there were a lot of dead crows in the neighborhood, but her emus were
doing fine, and they're highly susceptible to encephalitis, so there had to be
some other disease at work. Creepy detail: The birds were bleeding from the
brain and had badly damaged hearts. "We had dead people and dead birds and I
thought we needed to pursue this." But she couldn't get scientists at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to seriously consider her suspicion
that the bird disease and the people disease were the same.
World Stinking of Death Where You Really Work up an Appetite Extra
swift transportation, one encounters death in many forms befalling people of
delightful new, How To Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other
men sit around mourning manfully, but in some larger and incomprehensible
considered impolite for a visitor not to eat. No grace or benediction will be
contemplate how your fellow Baptists have been on the wrong side of every
considered impolite to take a bite out of a Baptist.)
is served. (Others may be pandered to by a mayor offended by snippy art
served at a reception immediately following the memorial, funeral, or interment
service. (And should you get a bad clam, an excellent system of universal
benediction before eating. Guests will eat as they arrive, after expressing
very good and the portions will be small. (I paraphrase.)
examples from any news source of what The New Yorker used to call
"letters we never finished reading." (Or something like that.)
his luck. I was divorced and raising two small children, and it really was nice
to have the adult contact. I remarried a year later, but my brother doesn't
expenses. The worst part is that he has "borrowed" many things from my home and
sold them for money. We have had so many discussions about this that now he
just hides in my den (his bedroom), and I hardly ever see him. My husband tries
to stay out of the line of fire and is no help at all. My friends tell me I am
an enabler and that I should put him out, but I can't. I am his only family in
the state and am so afraid that if I do, someday a policeman will knock on my
door to tell me that they found my brother frozen to death in some paper box
strong friend. He has no life living in your den and hocking your belongings.
For your sake and his, he has got to go. Do not look at it as "putting him
out," but rather steering him to an independent life. It sounds like there's an
underlying emotional problem in his way. Get him in touch with a local mental
health service. For example, he may be clinically depressed, in which case
tough love is what's called for. If you can afford it, give him a stipend for a
specified period of time as a tangible sign of your helping hand. That would
also lessen any guilt you might have. Four years is a long time to provide a
crash pad for anyone. If you don't do something soon, you may lose your husband
and still have your brother hiding in the den. Much luck to you.
this woman who was recently widowed. How can I approach her without seeming
would suggest you not ask the recently bereaved widow to a dancing party as
strike the right casual note. You won't, of course, confess you've always had a
do not say just when the deceased shuffled off this mortal coil, check with
shape, give her some time before you ask her out. In fact, a phone call to ask
how she's doing would be a good precursor to any invitation.
this man for the past year and a half. I left my husband for him, which I now
know was a huge mistake. The man is still married, but he tells me that he
doesn't love his wife. He says he loves me and promises that eventually we will
be together. I know being with him is wrong, however I can't not see him. I
realize the best thing to do is forget about him, but how do I do
swore he didn't love his wife and that "eventually" he and the girlfriend
"would be together," her fortune would rival that of Bill Gates. Borrowed
Guys who cheat have a screw loose, forgive the unfortunate metaphor.
How do you forget him? You review the situation and
the fact that you left your husband and your inamorato did zip. You're the dish
on the side, period. As a mechanistic approach, start acting like you're
available, spend time with the girls, get active in hobbies or groups, do
Humanity projects, for example, are quite a good venue.)
age, that's the prime time to attract suitable men. And even if it refers to
by a good friend to be his best man. While deeply honored, this occasion
presents me with great difficulty. You see, I am gay. Though it may not be
apparent to everyone, my close friends are fully aware of my "persuasion."
Having said that, my big problem centers on the "traditional" stag party that
the best man is asked to host. Since the groom has both straight and gay male
friends, how does a gay best man host a stag party that will be fun for my
friend as well as those in attendance? Should his gay friends not be invited?
she suggests you enlist a straight friend of the groom to help you plan the
party. That way, you will come up with an evening enjoyable for both
honoree will remember best is that all his buddies were there.
told the crowd that he had accepted election even though "I was afraid in
receiving the nomination." If so, it was the first and last time that the
unafraid of his own infirmity, caused by advancing age and by the residual
the papal authority his charisma has done so much to dramatize.
pope was a precocious intellectual, actor, and poet who worked in a quarry and
regarded him as more pliable than other churchmen, he proved unafraid to
international press portrayed him as the darkest of dark horses. In hindsight,
The rest is history, from which liberal and conservative
rhapsodic reception that more than one biographer credits with helping to sow
the seeds of the Solidarity movement's later challenge to the Communist
anathematizing the arms race. He called for negotiations rather than the use of
initiatives pleased political liberals inside and outside the church; not so
initiatives that the pope feared would contribute to the "culture of
comment as its substance. Past popes were remote and magisterial figures, but
capitalizing on his relative youth, his actor's panache, and a mastery of mass
like plainclothes nuns and the celebration of the Mass in English and other
these criticisms, just contemptuous of them. It is his duty, he writes in
defend it from tendentious interpretations." It seems the pope enjoys
local adherents of the "enlightened agenda" by emphasizing the Ten
Commandments. "For such people," he said, "the Pope becomes persona non
Much of the liberal Catholic case against the pope deals
with sexuality. It is even said that he has a "woman problem," which supposedly
bemused by suggestions that he has an "obsession" with the subject, but he
workplace and in society, but there is no doubt that he subscribes to a
"dignity and vocation of women," the pope warned that "in the name of
liberation from male domination, women must not appropriate to themselves male
are more feeling and intuitive people and become involved in things in a more
argued that "in men, the intellect has a certain supremacy over the heart, and
simply a tradition inherited from his predecessors or even an emulation of
the male monopoly on priesthood is required by "theological anthropology." The
pope has ratcheted up its importance by decreeing that the male monopoly on
priesthood is an article of faith that must be "definitively held by all the
The picture is more complicated. While the pope has warned the archbishop of
he has indicated a surprising willingness to compromise on a seemingly more
or his successors might "find a way of exercising the [papal] primacy which,
while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless
l primacy as a "gift to be shared." The pope's suggestion also dovetails
with a new interest among some Protestant theologians in a "universal primate"
's fearlessness: a willingness at least to consider some diminution in the
scope of his office in exchange for an improvement on the current "imperfect
theological strings attached. The pope surely knows this, which suggests that
his target might not be the churches of the Reformation, but the Orthodox and
And one more thing: The Eastern churches do not, and likely never will, ordain
new legislation "uses up the entire surplus for this risky tax scheme." Answer
taxes would be "better than seeing this risky tax scheme signed into law." The
way Podesta puts it, it's not clear whether the "scheme" would cut your taxes
Dole's plan was "risky" because it would "balloon the deficit" and force
Congress "to cut Medicare, education, [and the] environment." The rationale for
enough for Al Gore. In the vice presidential debate, Gore used the phrase eight
times. Pundits marveled at his robotic repetition. Dole's campaign chairman
protested that "leaving money in someone's pocket is not a scheme" but later
favorite chant. At a senior citizens' rally last fall, he used the magic phrase
three times. Republicans "are trying to come up with this huge, risky tax
scheme and finance it by taking money out of the surplus that has been built up
entirely because of the Social Security trust fund," Gore warned. Two months
not going back to the risky tax schemes and economic upheaval of the '80s."
Gore and other Democrats use "risky tax scheme" with abandon, ignoring the
disappearance of the circumstances that originally justified the phrase. In
ostensibly would raise taxes on some people while cutting taxes for others. In
your opponent is proposing a tax cut and to trick uninformed listeners into
scheme because it favors the wealthy and various special interests. But it's
still a tax cut. The only reason to delete the word "cut" when referring to the
bill is to withhold this information because you know it would incline your
audience to support the bill. For years, Republicans have called budget outlays
"spending," "welfare," and "waste" to conceal that half the money goes back to
the middle class through entitlements. "Risky tax scheme" is the Democrats'
When Republicans mess with the tax code, somebody else is getting the money,
price of this spin is that it insults people's intelligence, in part through
deceptive censorship and in part through mindless repetition. Podesta denounces
incapable of appearing in public without reciting "risky tax scheme" three
times. Rather than simply acknowledge the tax cut and argue its merits, he's
betting that we're stupid. In the long run, that's not a smart bet.
Hard to tell: The light is too glaring; the man's frantic gestures too alien. A
become official. "Are we still shooting people or what?" the soldier calls
shooting at people he doesn't know and can barely see for reasons that are
never apparent in a place that's as foreign as the surface of the moon. All
that's finally real is the blood. From this brilliant overture, it's obvious
against cinema's violent imagery: He's juxtaposing farce and atrocity in ways
it enters a body, plowing its way through tissue and into a liver, which
No wound, the director is saying (screaming, in effect), should ever be taken
most jumbled and arm's length of wars: the one that pretended to be about the
don't even know what we did here." Cynical and disgusted, Gates gets
wind (so to speak) of a wild discovery: a map lodged in the rear end of an
Three Kings seems poised to turn into a relatively straightforward genre
the surreal setting hints at dissonances, disturbing incongruities. The white
green footballs the soldiers pack with explosives and lob from their speeding
The action comes in jarring spasms. A cow is blown up during an exercise, and
insane slaughter to come. When Gates and company reach the village where the
and rejoice, pushing their babies on the "United States of Freedom." They can't
The weird juxtapositions in these scenes are the movie's
just down the corridor from a torture chamber. Piles of cell phones,
the village, riddling its driver with bullets. When it skids into a building
and overturns it doesn't explode: Its tanks are full of milk for the starving
something, too, but only because its imagery is so ferociously original that
protagonist is unable to ignore injustice and so throws in his lot with the
oppressed. It's a winning formula, but a formula all the same. Whereas the
opening manages to be shocking and ironic at once, the picture's turning point
recommend you read this, because it's not a good surprise.) A wife
soldier pulls her away, holds a gun to her head and then, in full view of her
spouse and child, blows her brains out; and the little girl throws herself on
manly looks that say, "We're outnumbered and outgunned. We could leave now with
our money. But if we do, we'll never be able to live as men again." But the
victim in The Wild Bunch was morally compromised: He'd shot people
mother's killing by saying you can't make a movie about the obscenity of
violence without showing something so obscene that it scalds us. I don't
quarrel with his intentions. But after that sequence, a part of me shut down.
Where do you go from something like that? To more horrible killings? To more
pretext for a "surreal essay" on the Gulf War, and he might be right. And it's
throat in a brutal effort to drive home the war's real aim.
mother and child as the walls explode around them. The connections among enemy
recognized themselves in one another before pulling the trigger, but it might
be the first to make the point in a way that has nothing to do with liberal
humanism. The movie takes the view of a mordant social scientist who recognizes
that consumerism has become the true world religion.
in scale, but both were products of the same angry sensibility. In the latter,
the director used farce not to lighten the drama but to darken it, so that the
slapstick debacles seemed to spring from the hero's roiling unconscious. In
instant the war has ended, Three Kings is among the most pitiless
interesting but really not the subject of the story here."
remember camp correctly, surrendering completely to an arbitrary and irrational
But there is another reason, more tragic and ironic, why this gifted and
imaginative guy seems less funny lately. Comedy relies on surprise. A joke sets
up a chain of logic, and then subverts it in a surprising and delightful way;
that's the punch line. A comic persona embodies an unexpected way of seeing the
world. But the more successfully a comic does this, the more familiar his point
of view becomes. And finally, after years of exposure to even the liveliest
way of seeing things is too familiar to surprise us, too predictable to be
funny. And so a comedian's success creates his failure. That, and appearing
uniform manufacturers that make up the "spirit industry" is described as "a
letter while leaping into the air. On the other hand, some spectators are
think I also have an obligation to deal with the hurt and the harm done to
these police officers who were put in a position where they had to kill your
"There's no point in moralizing whether this is a good or bad thing."-- Gene
(Note: "Life and Art" is an occasional column that compares fiction, in
Tom weren't old friends as the film makes them out to be. They met only a month
become suspicious of his gender, and John and Tom become hostile toward him.
to keep quiet, he reports the rape. In the movie, the sheriff sounds like a
asked him if he'd helped one of the rapists get an erection.) A few days after
as a man by securing his breasts with Ace bandages, keeping his clothes on
while snuggling with lovers, and occasionally using a fake penis during
was a hermaphrodite, a fact that his mother denies.
murder, the filmmakers make their relationship seem longer and more serious,
her family and the hatred of the community by running away together.
moment, they almost discover themselves as lesbians. In a lovemaking scene that
he was disgusted by the idea of loving a woman that way.
her up for the rape." This accusation, however, seems very much at odds with
Instead, they drive her to the farmhouse, where she then tries to stop them
explains that she eventually returned to Falls City, where is she currently
farmhouse. "She stayed in the car the whole time." Later, Tom testified against
John so as to avoid the electric chair. (John maintains his innocence from
death row. Tom is serving a life sentence.) On the witness stand, Tom said that
Why did John and Tom feel as though they had to kill
points out in The New Yorker, it doesn't make sense to try to escape a
rape charge, which is difficult to prosecute, by committing murder. But these
river, which was frozen at the time. And Tom would later describe the murders
to a Playboy writer before his trial (the writer was called as a
Both John and Tom were troubled. Boys Town rejected
John for admission when he was a child, and Tom had been abused and liked to
by his identity, as the film implies. Perhaps they were also disturbed by the
meaning of the rape. In the documentary, Tom's girlfriend says someone told her
you feel about that?" Tom replies, "I didn't feel very good about it at
military that seems to have broken down over the years." What is
"Determine whether or not obsession really does lie between madness and
choose, because so many of them make me laugh and laugh until people who should
by all rights fear me barge into my office and tell me to get a grip. In the
that's no reflection on the rest of you. If you don't usually read the second
these months by just looking for my own name and secret encrypted love talk
a scent that will encourage their ocelots to breed. "We thought about what
would work with them and used things like rat feces and ocelot scent," says
brought in cologne because a lot of other animals like it and we put Obsession
want to find a way to create "scent corridors" so that scattered packs of
ocelots, living in the wild, can find each other and mate.
proved to be such a cheap and effective way for corporations and celebrities to
generate good will; maybe these same groups could be encouraged to pony up for
a lot better about your phone bill if you saw a sign that said something like,
"The Next Two Miles of Horny Ocelots Are Brought to You by Sprint"?
roll her down a hill and through a sprinkler. We don't find out what's being
residence had just been broken into by six students angry about beef quotas.
They tried to burn my house down. And I thought, 'God Almighty, if they get
food of another country. So, unlike many Quiz participants, I won't. Instead,
books, movies and, of course, food. When we make dinner plans, we don't name
along as well as do the bagel and mango on my breakfast table every morning,
policy, not always informing local governments of this deployment. Currently
An article describing the document is in the current Bulletin of the Atomic
Fight Club is really about: "It's very much a metaphor for
received notions and value systems that have been applied to you that aren't
your own. And freeing yourself to discover who you actually are."
responses are for sale to reputable or disreputable advertisers. Drug dealers
workers and peasants, not to promote one's own books."-- Ed.
"Nobody is barred from being in the parade. It's completely open to all people.
vassal in his own court, but each petty lord was subject to suit in the courts
of a higher lord." This surprisingly relevant bit of medieval lore turns out to
be termed 'ludicrous' and 'a travesty' in a federal court, instead of a state
Hatch's bid for the presidency. (No, it doesn't fit the question, but I laugh
plastic screen that covers the urinal drain, were emblazoned these words: "Say
piss. But isn't this ubiquitous propagandizing what we mocked and derided when
failed drug policy. Is that still a legal form of protest? Like Supreme Court
cases that undermine the rights of the individual to defend himself against a
federal government can sue, but the individual victim cannot. "Our federalism
requires that Congress treat the states in a manner consistent with their
status as residuary sovereigns," he wrote, with a quill pen dipped in the blood
it "goofball"? No one has decent penmanship anymore.) leaves the individual
he has a right, and that right has been violated, do the laws of his country
afford him a remedy? The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in
the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws when he
Legends List of movie stars by devising a brief plot summary of a movie in
Either Velvet trains him for the Grand National, or he'll tell Velvet's
mistakenly assumes Buster is dead and tries to tie him to the cowcatcher to
candidate by buying stock in him or her. If the candidate wins, you get a
dollar for each share you own. If he loses, your shares are worthless. The
amount you pay for each share depends on the seller's confidence that the
candidate will win. When the candidate is doing well in the race, investors are
confident that their stock will pay off, so they charge more for it when they
sell. When he's doing poorly, they charge less. If you buy shares in the
candidate when his stock is low, you don't have to wait for Election Day to
cash in. You can sell your shares at a profit as soon as his stock
four contests: The Democratic presidential nomination (click here to see the prospectus and latest quotes), the Republican
candidate or party as of noon ET that day, along with 
analysis of who's up, who's down, and why. For updates or more complete
that you can't chose whom you fall in love with; you can't choose what works of
art you fall in love with, either. To me, a great work of art is roughly equal
May I add that I find formalism entirely overrated?
say so, but I do want art to reflect lived experience rather than just
classroom questions. I think one of the problems of contemporary art is that it
has lost touch with the big themes --namely, love and nature and death.
These, of course, are literary themes rather than art themes, yet I think that
the artists in "Sensation" are helping to bring narrative back into art.
good at busting up established conventions, and Brits (who actually read books)
are good at finding metaphorical meaning in the forms that we over here
dinner table chastely set for one. I looked at it and thought to myself, "It's
loneliness, but it does more than that, too, because the lung projected (via
laser) onto the dinner plate brings anatomy into the equation. What does the
piece mean? Lungs allow us to breathe, but here the act of breathing seems to
guarantee little beside the likelihood of dining alone.
parents? I think there's a lot of tenderness in his work.
deserves points for taking a gamble on young artists instead of just buying de
said in an editorial that the ballot by parliament marked "a crucial turning
However, there were worries about the potential consequences of the defeat of
intelligence agency, in a briefing to economists and presidential advisers. He
said that banks and capital markets are expected to be the main targets of
the police behavior is without reason. We thought it was only in China that
police operated a policy of "zero tolerance" toward all demonstrators except
In the absence of effective enforcement of property rights, people simply grab
claiming a combine harvester and a herd of cows as their own, seized them from
in which war is considered the one worthy male occupation."
kamikaze dolphins it trained to blow up enemy ships by carrying mines to them.
"There is a general disposal of surplus military equipment, old trucks, tanks,
military no longer needs or can maintain," the paper said.
described a tearful child on television singing "You did more in your life than
all the water in the sea." This included running the economy into the ground
agreement in the foreign aid bill it approved this week "could throw a monkey
aid to evacuate residents, relocate industries, and establish military
will eventually be approved because "Congressional Republicans say they do not
who have been countering the Republicans' "resident for president" slogan with
Palace, while claiming to be aloof from the campaign, admitted to the Daily
monarchists' strategy of pretending the queen doesn't exist or, at any rate,
doesn't matter. The latest Herald opinion poll has supporters and
years old and should contribute to the paleontological debate about whether
contemplating suicide after breaking up with a boyfriend. The Daily
and torn pillows and is surrounded by the detritus of her sojourn. This
vodka bottles, a pregnancy testing kit, sanitary towels, nylons and three pairs
of her dirty knickers." The paper's art critic compared the exhibit to
popular form of ideological blood sport. The goal is to find an incriminating
datum that will leave a permanent stain on the target's reputation, make his
judgment that can be wielded without too much reading or thought. If the
recent allegations that the former was a snitch and the latter a rapist. If you
over the years deliberately obscured some facts about his early life, and
amplified others, in order to create the impression that he was, of all things,
homeland and the subsequent pain of exile. Instead, Said "grew up not in
become the owner of a thriving business; and there, until his own departure for
luxurious apartments, attended private English schools, and played tennis at
at clarification. (Click for a recap of the controversy and links to relevant
not to mention three years of research by a scholar in residence at the
Nation know him as a formidable reviewer of opera and classical music.
Several generations of graduate students in a number of disciplines know him as
aesthetic, and political impulses that are felt with enormous passion and
invited smears and misrepresentations: A decade ago Commentary branded
him "The Professor of Terror." New York magazine once called him
Until very recently, Said has been an insistent voice for
exist. Over the years, he has often said that his own place in such a state
would be as its toughest critic. Even as he has been unsparing in his
increasingly disgusted with the chairman's dictatorial rule over a few scraps
lands. In the New York Times Magazine last spring, he wrote that the
has), with "the idea and practice of citizenship, not of ethnic or racial
But to treat Said solely, or even primarily, as a political
figure is necessarily to produce a distorted view of his life. He is, first and
bulky study of how novels begin, carried out through painstakingly close formal
Western art, literature, and scholarship have produced a deformed, biased
groups of people who, by virtue of race, gender, sexuality, or geographical
granted as the vehicles of objective knowledge but themselves became the
unabashedly political intentions marked him as an avatar of the emerging
academic left, a lot of the criticism came from traditional scholars. In the
inflammatory tone and questioned his knowledge of history, philology, and
premises, and on its prestige, came from the left. In a book called In
Theory --a wholesale slaughter of the sacred cows of the postmodern Western
attacks Said for trashing the norms and values of traditional scholarship,
Imperialism are works of passionate, almost agonized ambivalence. To read
them is to encounter a mind at war with itself and the world (and ready to go
to war with his critics, as any number of exchanges over the past
the West continually collides with his righteous anger at what the West has
done to the rest. His desire to use literary criticism as a weapon on the side
of the oppressed sits athwart the pleasure he takes in letting his mind play
over the meaning in a novel or a poem. The results are books at once exhausting
in their detail and maddening in their omissions, uneven in tone, overreaching
unquestionably incendiary, but they are also permanent and exemplary works of
much argument, because for all the intellectual authority they project they
remain open, vulnerable, provisional. And they also fulfill the basic mandate
of literary analysis, which is to illuminate the works they discuss: To return
Said has sought to embody an unfashionable, perhaps obsolescent idea of the
over solidarity," speaking truth to power, and steering clear of gods that
such an agreement may prove to be almost as nightmarish as what came before."
It concluded, "The military victory will, however, pale into insignificance by
and "indelible ink" (designed to prevent multiple voting), which, in practice,
poll strongly in the country's outer islands and might be able to hold on to
be a hollow victory and a terrible irony if our exercise in democracy failed to
Herald Tribune noted, "politicians, business interests and foreign
In the final weeks of the campaign, two religious groups called on the faithful
founding president. The story reported that there was a clash last week in
would have given it the power to change the constitution, editorials supported
perceived "grayness" compared with his predecessor, the Pioneer said,
may even be able to get a clearer view of its harsh realities, and its uphill
this process, charisma, sometimes, can play saboteur."
coins, even mentioning her "double chin." The Herald complained that the
of the sovereign. Under the headline "Why we still need the Royals," a
columnist wrote, "It's not so much that we've gone off the Royal family, we
history and our culture, I cannot envisage us formally breaking all our ties.
If the Spice Girls did not push us to the brink, nothing will."
going about it in a very strange way. He doesn't live in a gated community. He
summons perfect strangers into his hideaway. He sues people, and then phones
than a "No Trespassing" sign, there is no particular barrier to entry, from the
bookstores that stocked the book. Lest his filing go unnoticed, he phoned
forced the biographer to remove many quotations from the published work. This
in the Rye Web site from using quotations from the novel, garnering the
similar letters to other young female writers. He also had a fascination with
lover, sensitive and quick with the ability to project a mood that turned the
view. He lives in Manhattan and escorts his son to and from school many days of
even been written up in the school newspaper. "The mothers love him," he says.
Local literati know where he lives and they leave him alone.
great classic The Catcher in the Rye is about an adolescent and has
seemed he was about to be forgotten, he resurfaced briefly, just to remind the
cute or whimsical; only, it felt as if it were being put on by a master
managed to cripple the military and bankrupt the government simultaneously.
Contemporary accounts repeatedly emphasize his gullibility. Senior statesmen of
with the romance of chivalry and the tragedy of an early death.
personal badge, the Sun in Splendor, evokes the image of a shining city on a
simple style, and the implied promise of a brighter future proved spectacularly
presided over a decade of remarkable peace and prosperity. He was, however,
frequently distracted by attacks on his wife, who was seen as an extravagant
principles other than an instinct for power. Before long he had squandered his
claiming the throne as Henry VII, one of his first official acts was to raise
obviously afford to pay more taxes. On the other hand, if you live frugally,
was followed by Henry VIII, a man best remembered for his gargantuan appetites,
his dissipative lifestyle, his troubled marriages, and his rocky relationship
economic effects. It quoted one financial analyst as saying that while
spending will make the net effect on the economy "hugely positive." But the
FT said that the earthquake might disrupt supplies of computer chips to
the earthquake is expected to interrupt production for several weeks, the paper
said in an editorial. "Beneath the rhetoric, there is one nation. If
battered bodies was one of a woman who had been decapitated. The troops found
dried blood and meat hooks in a nearby garden, and locals claimed the victims
had been hung from the hooks before being dumped in the well, the paper said.
said the killers cut off one of his ears "and took it away as some sort of
vandalizing buildings and loading furniture, food, and other goods onto trucks
first by a foreign leader since the city regained its position as capital of a
been "an opportunity to talk about the greatest of horrors, to commemorate the
said, "A speech of this type, had it been made, could have been a direct and
determination to achieve a Middle East peace settlement, but not at any price.
of the Kremlin" because of his allegedly central role in all major political
blamed them for the recent wave of terrorist bomb attacks. He also denied that
undergo a secret operation, which he may not survive. MK reporter
leader, "may not even make it on board the presidential airplane" to escape the
to a star that flashed for a short time, but for long enough to change the
time did not exhaust their tenderness," he wrote. "I would not risk saying what
breast cancer, and sexual maturation are all highly influenced by genetics.
the same ethnic background, these comparisons are largely invalid.
consumed dairy products as a large part of their diets for centuries. They also
It's true that, as he says, "We're electing someone
to run the government, not minister to the condition of our souls." And though
about individual holders of wealth. Nor are they engaging in subtle class
been, perhaps irretrievably, lost. How else can people understand tragedies
playground; they are nursing monstrous visions of murder and mayhem, while
building bombs in their clueless parents' garage. Anyone who pays the least
attention could make a long list of their preferred examples.
that such an organized and, frankly, insane plan has much in common with the
The "Revenge Group," on the other hand, was bent on
of power; nothing would have come of the killings except a vague sense of
condone what either group of killers did or planned to do. To even for an
instant try to intellectually justify killing members of one group simply
plainly wrong, and there's no amount of philosophizing that could convince me
issue isn't that working parents must choose between anesthetizing their
children with television or catering to all their whims while also trying to
pay the bills and nuke the frozen dinner. Given a little guidance and some
suitable playthings, children who don't get hooked on television at an early
age are actually perfectly capable of amusing themselves for long stretches of
seem to be aware of much that has already been said.
it would be a kind gesture if I asked her to pick out the dresses for the
bridesmaids. We visited three bridal salons, and she made a veritable scene in
each one. She was unspeakably ugly to both my mother and me, as well as the
staff (swearing, sarcasm, and just plain rudeness). I was deeply embarrassed,
and she apparently doesn't understand that this is not going to be "her
address envelopes and other little things that need doing, and she refused:
supposed to make a toast at the reception and I said it was traditional, she
just unleashed foul behavior. I am sick of her antics and fed up with her. I
realize that asking her to relinquish the "title" may jeopardize our
relationship, but I don't understand her behavior at all.
you, and there's a chance she wishes the bride and bridesmaid roles were
reversed. Acting out in stores and "foul behavior" are indicative of emotional
wish to have your dream day spoiled. There is not a reason in the world that
you should have to tolerate this pill of a sister. In fact, suggest that she
not attend the wedding. You need not be the victim of her neuroses.
relationship," with all due respect, it sounds as if it's already on life
support. Just because she is your sister doesn't mean she gets to behave less
well than a friend. Sometimes a relative is just an annoying person courtesy of
If you think you recognize the feet of the user in the stall next door and you
have a question or a comment, should you start talking?
not exactly sure why, though.) Do begin, however, by verifying it's the person
you think it is so that you are not having a conversation with the wrong pair
of shoes. You might also want to edit your conversation for whoever else might
response to the about telemarketers was wonderfully done. Would you run for
crusade? I am thinking of an Internet movement. Can you imagine thousands of
president because she is having such fun working at 
is, also, alas, out of the crusade business. Your idea, however, about singing
and hanging up is now being read by tons of people, so telemarketers
good advice. Here's my problem: I broke off a relationship with a delightful
man who lives two houses up the street. We were together for nearly four years.
great deal of trouble letting go of the more physical aspects of our past and
spends a lot of time begging for "just one more time." How can I make it clear
to him that breaking up means losing that physical connection? He's prone to
you the exact language. This is what you say: "The last time was the last
time." And if you have broken up, how is it that you are subject to the
in a crowded movie theater, do I say, "Excuse me" to those already seated
papers provide crucial evidence linking massacres that claimed an estimated
said most of the documents are now in the hands of the intelligence service of
barred from visiting the musician backstage by his staff "who wanted to avoid
United States began to close in on their boss, the paper said. The whereabouts
might be changing its tune because of growing fears of United States' meddling
in the region. But the paper added: "If China is really worried about possible
aggression and remove any excuse for Western intervention."
were pessimistic. The problem has been a refusal by the loyalist Protestant
derives from violence and the threat of violence, and so it does not want to
sacrifice that power." The paper strongly supported the loyalist refusal to
the executive this week, something new in the history of our parliamentary
democracy will have taken place," the Telegraph said. "An armed group
will be taking part in government. The power of a private army will, for the
first time, be exercised through out institutions." The paper reported,
meanwhile, that republican and loyalist terrorist groups are both preparing for
commitment to disarmament "would be less a democratic political body than
York Senate campaign that would see "the dirty laundry of the past eight years
recycled," new tensions in the Democratic camp, and "a hot reception, no
separation, but "in the end she stayed and supported her husband when he needed
wasteful consumption of a disproportionate share of the planet's resources." An
necessary warning to the country which contributes more than any other to
correspondent asked why disasters in the United States receive so much more
global hegemony, we need to have it confirmed to us that our masters are
condos can be smashed to smithereens within seconds by some arbitrary force of
whose human rights records fail to receive the Amnesty International seal of
industry by farmers and pressure groups alleging misuse of intellectual
factors make this a special case," it said in an editorial.
"One is the immense speed of scientific advance in GM food technology, and in
markets for GM products is already highly concentrated, and that industry
consolidation appears set to accelerate through acquisitions." On its front
crucial period of World War II and could have faced treason charges if he had
that he was a fool lacking in worldly wisdom but in no sense a traitor.
for a large increase in its defense capability. "One message coming loud and
clear out of the recent flurry of diplomatic activity over a peacekeeping force
on its own in dealing with such regional problems," the paper said in an
support to the peacekeeping effort, it "proceeded reluctantly, refusing to take
of the international community, we must respect universal humanitarian values
biased against the right because they rushed to investigate corruption
force does not rush to investigate suspicions against a former prime minister,
it will not have the moral justification to act against ordinary criminals,"
also being rocked by a flood of compromising documents to the press, among them
a recording of a conspiratorial telephone conversation between the media tycoon
conviction is growing in the country's collective consciousness that its
leaders are not just thieves, but men ready to do anything, however bad," he
is still logic in this world, he should resign as soon as possible, before
things go too far." He added that he believed he would do so.
of the litter, pardon the expression, and a very unexpected, though satisfying
owner specifically told him not to incur any expense? No rational person would
pay two grand for a cat (a dog, perhaps, but not a cat). And letting an animal
die from natural causes is not and never has been a crime. If you think I am
understandably lay out two big ones for a dog, but not for a cat. You are
fortunate in not having a column of your own, since the dog favoritism would
surely invite much correspondence from the cat people. But do read on.
to the vet twice a week for dialysis. This wonderful, magical cat raised all
four of our sons (with some help from my wife, but not much in my judgment),
and she became as much a part of the family as any of us. Because of kidney
problems she had accidents from time to time, but we always overlooked them.
agree with your advice, but I have to take issue with your reply to the
actually a cat lover), but I think the owner's wishes about managing the health
of the cat should have been heeded. Two thousand dollars is a lot of money to
most people, and I think the financial sacrifices people are willing to make
for their pets are their decisions. Who knows, the owner might have had
Or maybe the owner thinks the two grand would be better spent as a donation to
is, people can't be forced to spend big bucks on pets.
this letter was to wonder if the cat could be taken away from such an
many animal lovers among your readers who would be happy to contribute toward
replying to my letter about the sick cat. Your advice was, as expected,
might like to know that I did begin legal proceedings in small claims court,
but the cat's former owner and I settled. I say, "former owner" because in the
process of working out an agreement, I demanded and got the cat in question.
The owner was only willing to pay half the vet expenses, so I said, "Well then,
participants remember about the Dutch. Here's what they've
affixed to the windows for a sense of going back in time.
A visitors' cafe* and a virtual tour through the house on computer have
corresponds to labels strongly for the normal people for attaching a group
complaint however more simply, so that enormous oil companies pump free oil of
considerable profits, for the maintenance of the bored oil platform workers out
evenly above he cannot not to understand, why love is a crime, the assortment
of the crime spells out in a provisional order of any judge (NECESSITIES ITS
GODDAMNED HEADING CHECKING!!!!) who OH is, thus ready for use, to ignore
everything a person it says and believes you simply that everything, which says
any other person even if it a liar is! Hypothetically speaking. Answer me this
titans are gathered in Shanghai for the Fortune Global Forum. Some big ideas
market like China, you recognize talented artists and give them an opportunity
for expression. That's an important public role. Companies like ours have a
must prevail in the final analysis, but that doesn't meant that journalistic
integrity should be exercised in a way that is unnecessarily offensive to the
was pregnant, I asked what path he hoped his child would follow. "It doesn't
pause he added, "My personal preference is shortstop. But anything he wants to
do is fine with me." Then, after a longer pause: "As long as it's in the
where you care about other people's happiness (though perhaps not as urgently
reserve the right to care about how others achieve their happiness.
selves. That's why we make current sacrifices for future rewards. But which
kind of altruists are we? Traditional economic theory says we're the ordinary
imperfectly altruistic toward ourselves. And just as imperfect altruism toward
your children can cause conflict in your family, imperfect altruism toward your
Everyone knows that a taste for expensive pleasures can ruin your life. But a
taste for anticipating expensive pleasures can ruin your life in a far
more interesting way. If your greatest joy in life is looking forward to
tomorrow's extravagance, you've got a problem: Tomorrow is a moving target. On
postponements continue until you die and leave a large estate.
The tragedy here is not that you never get to spend your
money. The tragedy is that you never even get to anticipate spending
your money, because you're smart enough to foresee the whole sequence of events
even before it unfolds. If you love looking forward to parties and if you know
you love looking forward to parties, then you can never look forward to a
party that can't be postponed. Pay the caterer well in advance, and be sure to
aggravating form of this affliction. I avoid reading really good books, because
it robs me of the pleasure of looking forward to them. Of course, knowing this
about myself, I never get to look forward to them either. Air travel has been
my salvation. I force myself to read good books by trapping myself with them on
problem. Instead of looking forward to extravagance, he likes to anticipate his
own future frugality. He particularly enjoys believing that after a certain
age, he won't spend resources to prolong his own life. But he's painfully aware
that the "certain age" keeps getting redefined so it's always safely in the
future. Therefore, he's looking for ways to limit his own future freedom of
his own future happiness (or, to put it another way, if Ray were perfectly
altruistic toward his future self), then you could fairly accuse him of
inconsistency: Limiting your choices can't make you happier. But Ray cares also
about how he achieves his future happiness, which makes him an imperfect
altruist, but a consistent one. If your altruism is imperfect, you can want
your future self to throw a party (or to read a book or to forgo expensive
medical care, or for that matter to save money or to quit smoking), even though
current costs and future benefits that fits right into the traditional economic
not just weighing costs and benefits, they're engaged in games of strategy
suggestion then was that the lock resolves a conflict between you (who believe
that a hot fudge sundae is worth the calories) and your mate, or potential mate
theory is right, but I do know that the door locks remain inexplicable unless
is happiness and if there's no third party involved, there can be no good
Suppose you want to be frugal in the future. If you're a pessimist and don't
trust your future self to be frugal, then you might as well spend all your
money today so it doesn't fall into the hands of that future spendthrift. But
inclined to save your money and pass it along into your own future good hands.
same preferences and exactly the same opportunities can adopt dramatically
something even more bizarre: The more you expect to be extravagant in the
future, the more you'll save to finance that future extravagance. But as soon
as you realize you're a "saver," you'll lose confidence in your future
extravagance and figure you might as well spend your money today. At that
point, you realize you're a "spender" and you go back to saving. Your
expectations about the future, and the behavior that stems from them, could
selection. If that speculation stands up to some reasonable tests (say a
computer simulation of resource competition among individuals with evolving
her campaign "futile." Dole supporters' spin: Campaigns are now decided by money, not message. Dole detractors' spin: The
reason no one gave her money is that she had no message. Feminists debated
the assembly elected her vice president. Skeptics said the elections were
democratic in name only and questioned the new government's ability to unite
the country's diverse population and revive the economy. But the New York
senators voted to cut off a Republican filibuster, seven short of the number
approved by the House, in order to increase support in the Senate. The bill
would have banned "soft money" but would not have regulated issue ads.
Opponents had held that the measures would infringe on free speech. But the
reformers their hats. The Democratic spin: No, you handed us a campaign
and examine the animal and surrounding plants. Researchers said the find
the soft parts and touch them and even smell them. It's very
forced to extend the temporary spending measure that is keeping the government
Democratic tax hikes. The White House spin: We'll protect social programs from
Republican budget cuts. The cynical spin: The numbers require either tax hikes
council would be formed within a week to govern the country, but provided no
border and called for the resumption of peace talks. The rosy spin: After
spin: Without a timetable for democracy, he's still a dictator.
stocks and bonds could plunge if investors were to lose confidence in the
The bearish spin: The big correction is starting. The bullish spin: Relax,
and his fiancee are getting married soon, and I have serious questions about
intelligent, successful woman. They have been together many years, living
together for the last three. The problem is not their relationship, but my son
"handfasting," a witchcraft wedding ceremony. My wife and I are devout
religious beliefs. Even one of the elder priests in our parish said it would be
against God to attend such an event, though a younger priest said as long as we
He has even allowed me to read the ceremony that will be performed. Actually,
confused. Should I possibly go against my faith to support my son by attending
a pagan rite, or should I alienate my son because of my own religious beliefs?
with the assessment of the younger priest, and you should, too. Since you're
not participating in the actual ceremony and found nothing objectionable in the
text, you and your wife should not deny this lovely son your presence. And
years of corporate bathroom use, the rule among men seems to be nothing spoken
corporate pro once told me never to discuss anything of importance in a
bathroom or an elevator. I once was in a courthouse elevator with the other
side's counsel, who hadn't yet been introduced to me, who spent the ride down
and often think your advice is excellent and daring. Except in the case of
myself, not being shy, wouldn't mind a friendly chat while in the office stalls
but many would. Some would feel embarrassed at simply being identified and
addressed in a compromising position. Others would feel tense, and conversation
might interfere with the reason they are there. Not to mention that some people
go there to sit and be quiet and have a small private break. Addressing someone
by name, after identifying them by their shoes while they are sitting on the
letter. Persuaded by several people, she now wishes to reverse herself and begs
the pardon of anyone who's had to suffer chitchat during a private moment
preceding letter. Women do not have such a rigid convention, but they weighed
in, as well, with pleas for silence when nature calls.
mother is terribly embarrassed by the fact that we are not married. (But we've
been living together for two and a half years.) I was brought up with the
values that you got engaged, got married, and then started a family. For some
reason, I was blessed with this baby much sooner than planned. What can I say
or do to convey to my boyfriend's mother that this is a blessing and not a
For one thing, you can tell your boyfriend's mother
that the baby is on time; the wedding is late. (Was this woman, by any chance,
attitude about the blessed event is most pleasing, and your relationship sounds
long as the breast is hidden under a blanket with the child, I don't mind.
However, when a woman goes "National Geographic" and everything is out in the
turned up the volume on the game so he didn't have to deal with the whole
thing). The women were mixed in their opinions. So what is appropriate when
disagreement on the subject, good sense and good taste would seem to dictate
that this perfectly normal function can be carried out in public with as little
both baby and breast, but an attempt at decorous draping would seem the thing
peace, if it comes, will be "a peace of the pragmatists" with "no outright
more than a beautiful ending to his second term with a diplomatic success in
rather less cheerful. "The outlook is too complicated to permit of excessive
negotiations. "Fifteen more months are more than enough," it said in an
editorial. "The disputed points have been debated to death, the
conditions for compromise are known, and many of them have already been agreed
combination of a solid mandate at home with ripe regional conditions, and now
leaders, creates a diplomatic and security base that must not be wasted."
slumber, it would be best to consider that conscience dead," the paper said.
supported, saying he listened less and less to the people who voted him in and
was now only concerned with hanging on to power. "He no longer represents his
were conditional upon there being a war in the province.
military action by saying that the People's Liberation Army "shoulders the
sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Party has decided to speed up privatization of the textile, electrical,
electronic, and construction industries by giving up majority control of them.
shares in the bulk of mainland listed companies, making it hard for minority
shareholders to ease out ineffective managers and enforce strict corporate
to cut spending on social welfare programs, which are largely notional anyway,
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank "if nothing political
Post as the country's most powerful leader since the old days of Labor
freedom of movement," the paper said in an editorial.
"He has built a government that cannot be brought down by any single party,
surrounded himself with a deliberately weak cabinet, and left outside his
government a demoralized and confused opposition of less than a third of the
against strong objections by his own military intelligence, also pointed out in
hopes and expectations of "the entire public" are with him.
neighbors will be "widely welcomed" but warned that he needs to get a move on.
Although he now enjoys "a formidable amount of individual political authority,"
it is unlikely that he will "be able to retain such power on a permanent
parties find cause to conspire against each other within the Cabinet, and
minister who will "probably adopt the same line as [assassinated Prime Minister
will create a completely different climate from that of the past three years,
office ends and hand over power to a successor elected by the people. While
this disclosure failed to excite those observers who think that the main issue
as "noteworthy" in view of the speculation that has been going on in the
identify him because "as soon as I name him, he won't be let live calmly, he
will be henpecked." But he warned against this person being regarded as "a
successor to the throne," since the next head of state will be chosen not by
the mausoleum in Red Square and buried in an ordinary grave (a story taken up
"reputation for loyalty and fair dealing in tatters." She said that his arrest
should not be assumed that they will continue to do so, "particularly if Sen.
editorial, the conservative Daily Telegraph agreed with
new depths of vulgarity. Beside a photograph of a French cow, the paper printed
drawing of a cow with a beret on its head and a roll of toilet paper hanging on
anywhere, but was being widely followed in the spirit.)
will only reinforce the commonsense view that animals fed in such a disgusting
way cannot possibly be healthy." So much for scientists. The Mail also
to blockade than the Continent." He was presumably unaware of a famous prewar
play on words that Fleet Street currently finds irresistible. "A reasonable
beef," it said, "The French should eat their words." The conservative Daily
in an editorial: "If French farmers really think they can force
annoy your target market lacks the flair and subtlety for which the French
traditionally pride themselves." It also noted that the French national rugby
stipulations as to where it came from." The paper wished the French team "all
justification for such a gesture and that if he had decided to make it (which
he didn't), it "would without doubt have had the merit of calming the enormous
years, first of all, that's gross. (Checkups are every six months, and
don't pretend you forgot.) Second, be grateful that you have avoided the
little gadget through the graveyard of your mouth, a color television magnifies
whitening. "You will agree to anything the second they put that thing in
your mouth," says one recent victim of the camera. "You can't believe you are
business success story of the '90s, a case study in how a profession can work
itself out of a job and still prosper. Dentists, after all, are supposed to be
extinct by now. While they happily (and profitably) scraped teeth and filled
cavities during the '60s and '70s, fluoride was quietly choking off their
revenue stream. The percentage of children with cavities fell by half and kept
falling. People stopped going to the dentist, because they didn't need to. At
the profession. Only a few lonely dentists would survive to fill the few
happened? In part, the oversupply of dentists and the declining demand for
fillings forced the profession to change. Dentists had to become nicer and
visits less unpleasant. The Marathon Man has been replaced by Dr.
Soothe. "People figured out pretty darn quickly that if you were an ass,
Many dentists' offices let you don virtual reality glasses and watch movies on
them. Others offer massage therapy and hot tubs. Does your dentist have a
certificate of pain management on her wall? I bet she does.
discovery dentists made was the endless vanity of aging baby boomers. "We are
dealing now with the boomers who are the runners and the joggers and the
Association President Dr. Timothy Rose. Since going to the dentist was no
longer a necessary evil, dentists made it an unnecessary pleasure. They allied
People used to be happy if they made it to old age with
enough choppers to chew. But boomers, lured by media images of the Great
percent in the past decade. Dentists have learned to play on this vanity and
anxiety, encouraging dental care that is medically unnecessary but attractive
to patients. "It's as if you went to a physician for a treatment for a disease
computer simulations of your whitened, straightened teeth. Tooth color is
measured on a scale that starts at A1. "My dentist showed me these disgusting
color charts and told me, 'You're an A2 now, but by the time you want to get
says one woman who got her teeth bleached. Dentists also prod patients to
ones and to dump their solid gold crowns for white porcelain. Other dentists
sell the psychology of tooth appearance. One dentist specializing in porcelain
caps advises that male bosses with small teeth seem "weak."
Some dentists dress up these cosmetic measures in medical
scare talk. A friend of mine just quit a dentist who was pressuring him to
whiten his teeth as a "preventive measure." (To prevent what? Yellow teeth?)
Many dentists claim, without scientific evidence, that the mercury in amalgam
fillings is dangerous. They urge patients to replace the excellent amalgam with
sprouted up all over the country and are heavily advertised on the Web. They
dentist then dangles expensive mouthwashes and tongue scrapers in front of the
patient. Never mind that you can get the same results for free with careful
is this machine that can document your complaint and can put a number on it, it
motivates a patient to actually do something about it. But the treatments
Entrepreneurial dentists market this elective care with
trained aggression. Dental management organizations often require their
the Web promote tapes and classes on marketing techniques. One person I know
quit his dentist when he spied a pamphlet in the office instructing the dentist
annual conference is overflowing with seminars on topics such as "how to move
technique "treatment acceptance," a marvelous euphemism for parting you from
fed up with patients accepting only what insurance covers or asking for
alternative cheaper treatment plans. Involve the entire team in creating the
This hard sell is critical in dentistry in a way that it
isn't in other medicine because of the profession's brutal economics. Dental
for health insurance), and provides skimpy coverage for those who do have it.
their own pockets. Dental care is just another way to spend discretionary
income, competing with a vacation or a new car. Dentists have to make patients
want adult orthodontics in a way physicians don't have to make patients
the whole industry as a scam, particularly when dentists keep coming up with
awareness of them shows how far dentistry has come. A generation ago, dentists
filled teeth and cast dentures because that's all they knew. Decay killed so
many teeth that fancier problems seldom arose. Since then, researchers have
studied bonding, implants, and periodontal disease. Dentists can now make
crowns that last forever, bridges that stay anchored, dentures that behave
almost like real teeth. A generation ago, implants were a joke. Today's
implants, affixed to your jawbone by a titanium screw, can hold for the rest of
Scientists have learned how bacteria can build up in gaps
in the gum, cause infection, weaken the jawbone, and eventually murder teeth.
New research links these periodontal bacteria to heart disease, diabetes, low
teeth and gum, etc.). It's also why your dentist may bully you into gum
couple of generations, it was considered inevitable that people would lose
teeth taken out. Periodontal disease was not understood, and decay was rampant.
But now teeth are resistant to decay and are lasting a lifetime. I have gone in
lose teeth to being appalled if anyone loses teeth. It is a failure," says Dr.
Which brings us to the irony of dentistry's comeback: Just
as patients love the dental care they should suspect, they resent the care they
should appreciate. Aesthetic dentistry is the most profitable segment of the
business because it is an easy sell. Put a camera in your mouth and you'll want
whiter teeth, too. It is much harder to convince someone to poke her gums every
night with a piece of rubber, to sleep with a choking plastic tooth guard, and
to undergo four surgeries to fix a gum flap, all for a benefit that is decades
away. The very success of dentistry has raised expectations so high that
all their teeth is an entitlement: Telling them they need gum surgery to
their dental complaints, few bitched about cosmetic dentistry that was foisted
on them. They like their whiter, straighter teeth. No, they griped about the
medically advisable treatments that their dentists prescribed, especially gum
surgeries and mouth guards. Pity the poor dentist who abjures cosmetic
dentistry but vigorously protects patients' teeth. Patients don't like
needed a root canal, but she did not want it. But she did want her teeth
can't sell you what you need, they'll sell you what you want.
drugs and bad music and put those "lost" years into perspective. But how can
any filmmaker nowadays convey the nihilistic embrace of dope and booze and
quicksand? The comedy Outside Providence treats those dark years after
horrified incredulity. The film is so free of cant that it's positively
north of Providence." That description is more bitter than anything in the
crushing his soul: He cultivated a caustic sense of humor. The movie, directed
them a tender regard for the scruffy outsider, the yearning misfit. (In the
novel, a headmaster actually refers to the hero and his friend as "Dumb and
and brightness: Whenever the view of the working poor threatens to become
sometimes you can plow through a brick wall and come out the other side.
cruiser after an evening with his buddies and their bong. (It's thanks to the
murky intervention of one of his dad's poker pals, a gangster, that he ends up
stoner lifestyle proves more of a challenge to maintain. It's not that the rich
kids don't party as determinedly as the poor ones, it's that the dorms are
well as by students happy to rat out their peers if it means getting into an
crashes or face the prospect of lives scrambling for a dwindling number of
since its most meaningful (and hilarious) connections happen over (and with a
think, as they should be. The movie says that getting high all the time can rot
Over bong hits, they talk of moving to a West Coast utopia where "they got
likes the girl he's seeing so much he doesn't think about banging her, they say
instead of the object of them: In one scene, he feigns extreme cerebral palsy
so that he and his brother can have great seats at a football game.
corduroy jacket looks like the one I persisted in wearing into the late '80s
when a girlfriend finally took the initiative to drop it down a garbage chute.
seem a tad stupid, but when he's picked up hitchhiking by Jane and her rich
parents, you glimpse the sneaky undercurrents of his rube act. He passes her a
Coke, which turns out to be spiked with rum, and the two have a magical
(In one of the book's first scenes, he kills his sons' mutt by crushing it in a
octave and bellows lines like "Drag your pimply ass in here and say hello to
He's so frightened of communicating with his children that he has to caricature
don't hold back on my account. The movie isn't awful. It pulls a couple of
amusing tricks with its narrative (the second act doesn't come until after the
flimsy romantic confection is either utterly charming or it collapses into a
heavy slab of obviousness. It doesn't help that Potter looks and sounds as if
different is cut from the same paranoid cloth as Invasion of the Body
portended before they even buy their tickets. It's a testament to the lovely
on a purple and green dress in a thistle pattern, and step into her carriage.
kick off her bid for a New York Senate seat. 'In my family, we've always rooted
reliable device, the mighty comic engine that generated so many terrific
have brought along the other two tenors, assuming they could get time off from
comedy-- Working Girl to Pretty Woman --we're meant to applaud the
can still listen to Garth Brooks. It's the new One World, and its
allegiance to the queen, there was no singing of "God Save the Queen," but they
zeal. But the arrival in the mail of a flier from the Society for the
falling short our people's traditional standard of cleanliness. Also, fruit. A
Disconcerting jargon inside: Adults can "enhance their relationships to
talking about some kind of group sex swingers cult thing, right?
"Conflict Resolution in the Bible." Sounds good. One factor in the decline
of the labor movement is its unwillingness to use stoning as a bargaining
technique. No stoning and very little smiting. Except the Teamsters.
officials worried about more deaths, and farmers worried about their crops. An
Agriculture Department meteorologist said that in some regions "there is a
drought that is comparable to the drought of the '30s." (Chatterbox wonders it
that unite Republicans," but the New York Times called it a "brazen
industries. It will monitor nonmilitary government networks and track
banking, telecommunications, and transportation networks. Civil libertarians
warned the New York Times that the monitoring could be misused for
later acknowledged that the shuttle suffered a hydrogen leak and a
argues that the cuts epitomize compassionate conservatism. But in the same
The paper condemns the bill as "misshapen," "unaffordable," and
warned, "I will not allow a risky plan to become law."
China Daily accused the sect of spreading superstition, hoodwinking
people, provoking unrest, and jeopardizing stability. The New York Times
calls the sect harmless and warns China against "returning to the ideological
Party, will "throw spikes into the newly energized peace train."
China. The island abandoned its "one China" policy, which implied
against the "historical tide" of unification. The Weekly Standard
Journal predicted that the spat will blow over when Lee steps down in
The Pentagon spent hundreds of millions of dollars on projects
previously rejected by Congress, and other unapproved purchases. The report
expresses shock at the flagrant illegality of the expenditures. "Do we get it
The Senate agreed that a new agency should supervise nuclear weapons
research. The agency would report directly to the secretary of energy.
Sponsors of the plan say it would institute accountability for security
breaches, but the House reportedly prefers an even stronger independent
investors and entrepreneurs; doubters ask how they will be regulated. The
New York Times doubts that they can continue to regulate themselves.
stodgy image," while a New York Times editorial calls it evidence that
Cigars will carry warnings similar to those on cigarettes. The
absence of labels implies "that cigars are a safe alternative to
cigarettes." Industry honchos protested that "cigar smokers are mature,
legislator" whose views should be taken seriously. "The instruments for the
control of the evil of nuclear proliferation must be effective," it said. "It
is such questions that the Senate vote has rightly raised." The
on their wise and timely counsel?" he asked. "I suspect that one reason is that
the Senators have actually read the treaty and understand how deeply flawed it
is, how unlikely it is to stop nuclear proliferation or even nuclear testing,
and how it has the potential to leave the United States with an unsafe,
propose that the police and criminals come together and sign agreements under
which they accept the same set of restraints on their freedom of action."
authority" and that the "Senate Republicans, by exploiting the opportunity to
even worse, a supremacist agenda. They want to expand military programs, weaken
Times said the vote underlined "the extent to which international
consensus about US responsibilities in the world has fractured."
and the paper said in an editorial that "in the essential area of nuclear
nonproliferation, the United States has set the worst possible example." It
concluded, "The world's greatest power will from now on be less credible on the
embarks on his last year at the White House. "French people will easily
remember the United States' virulent campaign against our nuclear tests in the
through international cooperation. "That, after the Senate's decision, is what
own pathetic errors as a man and to his own unforgivable lies as a president,
suffered a very serious setback, not only because of the Senate decision but
in format, to make the telecast more entertaining for the home audience. Name
animals that makes one wonder if this spectacle involves sex or violence." As
dubious as that sentiment might at first appear, a cursory look through his
fellow participants' answers shows that he's quite right: As far as News Quiz
readers are concerned, those are the two activities associated with
save their money. Probably the latter.) (Randy may be back a little sooner than
advocated sex with or violence to animals, at least, not in her published
offers detailed synopses of current releases for fundamentalist parents, along
C) Yellow light; offenses include "implications and
guidelines." Participants are invited to find, in an actual newspaper or
three other locations as well. The finding wasn't such a surprise to the
professor of biomedical sciences at the veterinary college, believes that the
development of a uterus is a normal part of a male beaver's genetics and
too soon to prepare for a glut of academically inclined babies from China? The
and are at the very least an associate professor. Of course, as the
proved that "intellectual quality can be enhanced by cattle breeding
techniques." But in the next few years, new data should be available.
to ditch the "loonie," as the country's dollar is fondly called, and join a
teams in times of crisis. The robot, designed by Robin Murphy of the
communications equipment and battery power into the search site, then deploys
the daughter to poke through the debris and rubble for evidence of survivors,
for a video clip of the "launch" of the daughter robot.) The robot system is
safer than dispatching human rescuers and, when space is tight, more
Association of University Professors has censured universities that do
wrong to their faculties. This year's additions to the hall of shame are
others call it a joke," reports the Chronicle of Higher
the citation. This year, a record number of institutions (seven) were able to
Nearly three months ago, when the administration at the National
the students have escalated their demands to include the rollback of half a
dozen changes the university has imposed in recent years, including limits on
the number of years students have to earn degrees and tougher enrollment
standards. With negotiations at a stalemate and summer vacations removing the
motivation for an immediate solution, both sides appear to be settling in.
science students while the administration determines whether or not they used
the Internet to cheat. Graders became suspicious that students were sharing
identical. Although the incident has raised questions about whether electronic
cheating is commonplace, a spokesman for the university asserts that "there is
no evidence this is a more serious and widespread problem."
administrator, who they hold responsible for lax campus security. According to
the Associated Press, the attackers belong to a campus secret society that
functions like a gang, retaliating against students and teachers who oppose
them. The melee left at least seven students dead and incensed fears that
union president has promised a continued boycott of classes until campus
security is improved and the vice chancellor dismissed. The societies, which
have been blamed for dozens of rapes, murders, assaults, and arson attacks over
handgun. The study also shows that student handgun owners fit the profile of
from the study that it points to a "worrisome association" between gun
warns, however, against overreacting to the study: "We're not pointing to
hordes of drunken college students running across campus armed," he said. "I
charges in May that China gathered a rich harvest of nuclear secrets from
process, making academic exchanges with China more difficult. In addition, low
upper Manhattan. The backup generators designed to power the various machinery
and refrigerator units failed. Currently, researchers are trying to determine
Duke University's English department and now dean of liberal arts and sciences
investigate a range of subjects including techno music and globalization,
my fair state losing out on millions of tax dollars through Internet sales.
to my local selectmen for the privilege of selling wines in my town. Why should
someone from across the country, having paid no licensing fees whatsoever, be
able to take potential business away from me? Granted, some locations are state
regulated, but for those of us who are privately operated, the idea of someone
being allowed to compete with us for free is insulting. I have no problem with
competition; just make sure that it's a level playing field.
This whole unsavory episode brings back memories of
broadcasting prevent me from presenting a shred of evidence to support
indefensible in your mind, why aren't they identified by name? Professional
I do not want my tax money to support trash art, or
art precisely because one person's art is another person's trash.
certainly intentionally) inflammatory, I think there's a bigger and older issue
still unresolved. Namely, that the art world thinks that the purpose of art is
to expand the boundaries of human perception and to confront our cultural
great unwashed that beauty and skill are irrelevant (or even antagonistic) to
art, we will have these contretemps every year or two.
destroys the illusion of transparency and calls attention to itself as a
in literature that demands we prop up the notion that art should resemble life
as closely as possible and in all its probabilities. This doctrine of
writers have moved beyond. At least Morris isn't pretending, like most
traditional biographers, that he is in command of some untainted objectivity
beyond authorial presence or beyond fiction. The subjectivity of the author is
think he is factually incorrect on the question of whether severe storms are
increasing. Across this hemisphere, according to the scientists at the National
the century average. That's an enormous increase in a baseline physical
phenomenon; it's as if you woke up and everyone was suddenly seven feet tall.
It begs for explanation, and the most plausible explanation, according to the
will see both more aridity (due to increased evaporation) and precipitation
it actually makes me more like a physicist. If you add more heat energy to a
way it will do so is with increased rainfall and storminess.
fact, they are the wave of the past. Interracial marriages accounted for only
but that there will be nothing resembling a dramatic acceleration of marriage
mixing behind it, beginning with that first slave ship that sailed into
descent, which is to say no black people who lack white ancestry, left in this
How did so much "black" blood get into so many "white"
sheriff dragged them from their marriage bed and jailed them for the crime of
County judge said from the bench: "Almighty God created the races, white,
for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such
marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend
"new people" who existed in the space between white and black and deserved a
status not quite as high as whites but higher than that of black people in
general. This special status began to dry up just before the Civil War and
evaporated when slavery ended and free blacks competed with whites for jobs and
political power. White Southerners became obsessed with drawing an impossible
any black ancestry at all, even if that ancestry was invisible to the naked eye
or in the genealogical record. Those who fell on the black side of the law
The revocation of special mulatto rights accelerated the
practice of passing for white. Central Point was locally known as the "passing
capital of the world." Passing for white was so common there that a section of
Central Point had actually been named "Passing.'' Some Central Pointers lived
excursions to nearby towns, where they shopped in stores that did not serve
blacks and were admitted to the "white only" sections of movie houses.
rewards of whiteness early, these children grew up, moved away, and continued
the charade. Those who entered the armed forces, which were segregated until
interracial marriage, and people in those countries had no clue what the Yanks
were going on about when they argued over who was really white or really black.
sure to travel home alone to prevent their white buddies from knowing who and
what they were. The passers from Passing married white spouses, moved into
white jobs, took up residence in white neighborhoods. When the couples returned
to Central Point to visit, the town went along with the masquerade. Families
to avoid being seen on the colored bus headed to the colored school. Principals
and teachers stuck to the script. One of them told Ebony magazine in
afford to catch the Negro school bus without giving away the racial
black ancestry within the last four generations. He predicted that the
proportion would only grow in the coming decades. The belief that one's
notes, the term "isolationist" (which he rejects) was coined in the 1920s to
emphases, discredited theories, internal inconsistencies, and outright
them, a man of "vision, unapologetic about the means [he] employed to realize
as a success story (the better to underscore the failures of
aggressive annexation of the Southwest, he argues that opponents of annexation
because it promised to create more states hospitable to slavery, but in
than previously recognized and that the war wasn't necessarily the "mistake"
to favor their native lands. The criticism is plainly disingenuous: In two of
climate became increasingly belligerent, making neutrality untenable. For a
in by criticisms, has insisted that he does agree the United States should have
first. He has called it a "damnable lie" to claim that he doesn't consider the
war to have been a noble one. But he doesn't realize how this admission leaves
Japan so that war would be 'thrust upon us' "--in other words, that the United
States effectively made the choice to wage war first. But if that's the case, a
consistent argument would have to stick by the claim that the war was a
passage in A Republic, Not an Empire in which he bemoans the alleged
his book, so when it comes to the Cold War he carves out an absurd exception:
The extreme evil of communism, he says, warranted military action in places as
That's because he has set out to make an argument, and only then rounded up
whatever "evidence" he can find to support it. And the real argument that comes
disaster. After six years of denials, the agency confessed it had aimed
commissioned an investigation and vowed to "get to the bottom" of the
misrepresentations. She admitted, "I don't think it's very good for my
built by a former International Monetary Fund official. According to the
400-meter dash. The Associated Press tallied his long list of medals and
most dominating track and field athlete of the 1990s." "I can do better,"
The hike was widely expected, but Fed officials surprised analysts by hinting
in anticipation of the move, remained stable, and bond prices inched up. The
New York Times warned Congress not to sabotage the Fed's actions by
States. They stashed cocaine and marijuana in food trays and used their
government order excused most followers saying they had been brainwashed into
countries decried the way he manipulated the discrepancies between the two
A Federal judge ruled that the program's publicly financed scholarships to
parochial schools violate the separation of church and state. City officials
school classes today. Critics and supporters of vouchers wondered whether the
After vowing never to discuss his drug history, he admitted that he had "made
some mistakes" but said he would have passed a 15-year background check in
entitled to know about felonies committed by a candidate. Time 's John
largest financial institution. Bank executives hope the union will
realities of an overcrowded market, massive bad loans and woefully low profit
provides new evidence of a common ancestor of gorillas, chimps, and humans.
addicted to being online. "Marriages are being disrupted, kids are getting
into trouble, people are committing illegal acts," warns its author. "If you go
back far enough, I guarantee that the defenders of cultural normalcy were
cookies, really. I shaved my beard and stopped wearing hats." Who said this
care. What matters is that he can win this, and we're backing him all the
loaves and fishes. Knowing he had lost his grip on the crowd when they inquired
what was for dessert, he decided to make a radical change in his
"Every time I have gone up there, I have gotten the sense that they like me. I
think they like what I did with New York." (Fun With Prepositions: Instead of
"with" New York, substitute "to.") Like him they may, but have any of them
sentinel of an enchanted world, and judges when it's safe to open up a trade
route. Her judgment has not always proven correct, but right now it is
questing but always true to herself. Even at her most spectacularly styled, she
ethic of showmanship, she seems exceptionally real." (Fun With Objects: Was
promote his old brand, and they are allowing him to use his name for his own
squeezed a few cheap laughs out of a pamphlet for the Society for the
Environmentalism," for which you were invited to provide even cheaper
editorial calls for more investment in international
family planning. Encouraging smaller family size will boost economic progress
in the developing nations whose populations are still exploding.
sign. Weak commodity demand and a strong dollar are staving off inflation, but
in golden light. The issue is stuffed with tribute ads, including shoemaker
essay reflects on hate, describing it as a personal psychological reaction to
idiosyncratic experience. It cannot be outlawed. We can only overcome hate by
tell guys where to take a date, by convincing venture capitalists to front
money, hiring tech experts to write code, working 17-hour days, and bedecking
have a high risk of developing diabetes, and prenatal trauma can impede brain
development. The link between womb conditions and adult health undermines
morality, and opening a dialogue with other religious leaders. (Click for a
essay bewails the absence of "political pizzazz" in presidential campaigning.
Since the electorate is relatively sanguine, the candidates are relatively
lethargic. The public longs for a deft campaigner who doesn't seem prepackaged.
golden opportunity to define themselves against Pat's brand of pitchfork
voice of isolationism and outrageously argues that the West instigated war with
recently declassified documents by offering this personal anecdote: "My
residence had just been broken into by six students angry about beef quotas.
They tried to burn my house down. And I thought, 'God Almighty, if they get
"We deal in the basics, and all those basics are necessary
like to smile also but not when I have to be patient. Then I frown a
news for an audience that watches the economy as if it were sports. Both sports
and the stock market are essentially dramatic events, that is, events whose
illusion of deeper understanding. Many people, particularly many retired
people, begin their day by checking the box scores of yesterday's action on
one's financial circumstances, but watching them offers a fan's pleasure. How
did the team do last night? And following the market gives that intensified
enjoyment that all sports gamblers know: It's a lot more exciting to watch when
we've done your balsamic glazed onions, and they were fantastic."
other into ersatz insensibility, and it was fantastic." Or perhaps he
woman, more than a year after the death of his wife, but he's open to the
whose name didn't actually come up in the interview.
political parties welcome an alliance with hers but, if I can read between the
Republicans on the budget bill, and encourages you to make up some kind of
stability as a chance to make progress on human rights. But is it? No.
commercial for "Sugar Coated Toxic Waste and Baby Seal Bits" breakfast cereal.
Or perhaps that was just an acid vision I had. Either way, bummer.
find similar but genuine bits of evidence that this magical (and turbulent)
Agriculture Minister Nick Brown for his "personal decision" to boycott French
the interests of neither country to embark on a new Hundred Years' War.
ban on French food imports, the paper nevertheless urged consumers to buy
see sense," it said. "If we stop eating French apples, the pips will soon start
to squeak on the other side of the Channel." In an unusually outspoken editorial
word for it." But the FT was also against bans on foreign food imports,
damages from the principal companies involved in the production of GM seed
crops. Targets of the actions on behalf of farmers in the United States,
Independent said in an editorial, "This legal action may be the best way
to force the food companies to do what they should have done from the start:
prove that their innovations are in the public interest."
a pledge never to have children. They will also have to agree to have their
current and future sexual partners registered and monitored by the medical
authorities, to "use barrier contraceptives consistently and for life," and
never to give blood. Because of a shortage of human organs, the government has
has a herd of "humanized" pigs at the ready. But the authorities plan to
introduce the stringent safeguards to ensure that pig viruses do not spread to
humans, the paper said. So far, nobody has applied for a pig organ transplant
implemented to prevent the "human blueprint" becoming the private property of a
few corporations. It said the company "stunned the scientific world" by
said. "It could also open up limitless opportunities to influence human
any foreign interference in its internal affairs. The president reiterated that
refuses to be identified with Holocaust revisionists but is in other respects
shifted to the inadequacy of rescue efforts, the difficult conditions for
armaments, of not having "the forethought to stockpile the heavy equipment
contrasted the armed forces' success in battling the
failure to help quake victims: "It turned out that while they could assault the
1980s, which have been blamed for the quake's massive death toll, represent
Turkey's "attempt to escape from stagnation and backwardness by letting private
enterprise rip." During this building boom, "Many people got rich quick, many
corruptly. But Turkey had taken a great, stumbling stride towards 'modernity,'
as "the people who carry within them the potential to bring about real changes
for the better after this catastrophe." The leader concluded, "It's hard not to
revolution, in which these new social forces would take the political power to
which they are entitled. Only they can complete the transformation of Turkey
Post praised the response of emergency services staff to the
incident, the paper said that the prompt response undoubtedly saved lives. But
the same paper reported a contradictory sentiment from one passenger, a
directing people to come to help. It sounded like they were not familiar with
on pay raises has brought about its first showdown with public sector unions. A
participation of unions for nurses, courts and prison staff, police, and
teachers. Essential service providers who are forbidden to strike are expected
united unions across the ideological and race spectrum for the first time since
military has "worked with militia groups to sabotage" the upcoming vote for
election is full of intimidation and it is not fair and there is retribution
in the week of the recent solar eclipse have gone missing. Owners believe the
birds were confused by the blackout. One pigeon fancier told the paper, "We
don't know for sure whether the eclipse has scrambled the birds' brains. But
whenever the sun and moon are in close proximity we have a very bad race with
basis for both sides of the debate. But a layperson might be confused
Journal editorial page, rather pathetically, has declared this a
claim intellectual vindication have become increasingly desperate in recent
seems so funny (yes, I think it's funny, too). Maybe it has something to do
with the way they talk, eh? But when it comes to international monetary
the trends, that demonstrates by example the hollowness of the conventional
sharply limited, partly by government regulations, partly by the memory of
defaults and expropriations in the '30s. And most economists who thought about
the international monetary system took it for granted, explicitly or
implicitly, that this was the way things would continue to work for the
capital across that long border with the United States had never been
own monetary policy. Unwilling to become a monetary ward of the Federal
fluctuating exchange rate are the norm, but in those days they seemed
contributions, how monetary and fiscal policy would work in an economy in which
capital flowed freely in and out in response to any difference between interest
rates at home and abroad. His answer was that it depended on what that country
did with the exchange rate. If the country insisted on keeping the value of its
currency in terms of other nations' monies constant, monetary policy would
become entirely impotent. Only by letting the exchange rate float would
proposing the concept of the "impossible trinity"; free capital movement, a
fixed exchange rate, and an effective monetary policy. The point is that you
can't have it all: A country must pick two out of three. It can fix its
exchange rate without emasculating its central bank, but only by maintaining
controls on capital flows (like China today); it can leave capital movement
free but retain monetary autonomy, but only by letting the exchange rate
stabilize the currency, but only by abandoning any ability to adjust interest
Should it explicitly or implicitly give up on having its own currency and go on
price worth paying for the ability to actively stabilize the domestic economy?
The debate over how to define an "optimum currency area" is an endless one, but
area would typically be high internal mobility of workers, that is, the
willingness and ability of workers to move from slumping to booming regions.
statement of the issues and the way he tried to resolve them were at the time.
contemporaries. They were still thinking in terms of a controlled world, a
world where money moved where and when the authorities told it to move. He was
thinking in terms of a world where money moved freely and massively to wherever
neighbor, lived in anything like the world he envisaged; today we all do. And
Journal thinks is on its side? Well, economists do change their styles and
early papers were crisp and minimalist; they looked forward with remarkable
discursive, one might almost say rambling, and often reveal a sort of hankering
for the lost certainties of the gold standard. (And yes, he has said a few
economics.) The precocious theorist anticipated the 1990s; the elder statesman
the mountains. I think I could even live here. Why would anyone not want to
floated down a long, steep grade. The mood was mellow. Multicolored pines lined
twilight careening at crazy angles. Snow glistened on a perfect peak. I noticed
a billboard that said, "Coach Factory Outlet. Left at Next Exit." I laughed and
pointed it out. "Look at that. Isn't that ridiculous? What a cheap commercial
of stony purpose on her face. As we approached the Coach store, she spotted the
Balboa discovering the Pacific. As it turns out, E had never seen a factory
outlet store before. The next three hours were lost. But E seemed ecstatic.
molesters like a magnet? It must have something to do with her deceptively
surly young men attached to this diplomatic outpost spent their afternoons
exposed himself to E while she was walking to the store. Oddly, E argued for
giving this guy the benefit of the doubt. She said his penis might have just
fallen out of his pants by accident. I thought otherwise. On this trip already,
night clerk phoned our room "just to check and see if everything is all
The point is, E realizes she's prey, and is usually
afraid to be alone for a second. Last night, we went to a 7-Eleven down the
type, seemed disturbingly interested in E. And E seemed disturbingly interested
in him. Later, she insisted on returning to the 7-Eleven, alone, "for
the glow of the screen, I can see her chuckling to herself. And once when she
made a phone call, she asked me to leave the room. Toward me, she's pleasant
separates faith from reason. But when I read a scientific paper titled
"Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis," I confess I felt a
first book of the Bible contains embedded codes that predict events that long
postdate its writing and that these codes are, statistically speaking, "not due
paper's hypothesis, if correct, would all but prove both the existence of God
circumcising his son until the paper was published. It spawned a runaway best
mathematicians worldwide. What made the codes especially eerie was that, while
scientists were almost universally skeptical of them, nobody could figure out
journal. As long as that remained the case, even rationalists like me had to
consider the possibility that science could support the most radical religious
convincingly debunked them, and the former editor of Statistical Science
who published the original paper has endorsed their rebuttal. For those of us
who were freaked out by the codes, the new paper comes as a relief.
The codes' rebuttal has taken so long because the science
original paper sought to test the anecdotal observation that pairs of
conceptually related words tend to appear in close proximity to one another in
the Torah, coded in what are called equidistant letter sequences. An ELS is a
string of letters compiled by pulling letters out of a text at regular
intervals. For example, if you start with the first letter of this paragraph
and read only every fourth letter, you will find the word "TORT." Every text
contains many such "codes," so the question was whether the observation of
codes with apparent meaning in Genesis was a deliberate message from the
Rips used a computer to search Genesis for ELS containing the names of famous
rabbis and their dates of birth or death. These rabbis were all born long after
Genesis was written, so their names could not have been encoded on purpose by
closer to their own dates than to the others'. This seemed to show that someone
note, the codes are hypersensitive to small changes in the data. Excluding only
critique focuses on the manner in which the rabbis were named in the
therefore, required choices about what names to use for each particular rabbi.
each rabbi, but the rebuttal paper argues that the process used by this
consultant was sufficiently subjective as to bias the results. (There is
something indisputably bizarre in the spectacle of distinguished mathematicians
In order to demonstrate that "data tuning" alone could
list of appellations for the rabbis, a list they describe as "of quality
co. sought to produce the most accurate list they could, using their own
consultant. With this list, they found no statistical evidence of codes in any
chose which rabbis to include. The rabbis were supposed to be chosen by an
out, rabbis were included who should not have been, while others were wrongly
excluded. Birth and death dates were also flawed. The authors collected dates
from a wide variety of sources, but apparently did not establish firm rules to
of the experimental design (such as the way distances were measured between
experimental method, the choices of dates, and the way dates were expressed,
The rebuttal authors note still other problems in the
original paper. The Torah's text has varied over the centuries, and when
the strongest results. The authors also note that even using the flawed
took place, or ask whether the tuning was consciously done. But they conclude
permitting the authors' biases to corrupt the results. "All of our many earnest
experiments produced results in line with random chance," they conclude. "In
light of these findings, we believe that [the] 'challenging puzzle' has been
solved." For all but the true believers, the publication of the rebuttal paper
But for the true believers, of course, the phenomenon was
always more than a mere "puzzle," and they are not about to roll over. Rips was
sufficiently enraged by Statistical Science 's acceptance of the rebuttal
paper that he retained a lawyer, who advised the journal that "the accusations
Rips sought a delay in publication and the chance to respond to the critique in
consider publishing his formal comments in a later issue.) Rips contends that
the rebuttal paper misrepresents the original experiment's methods and that it
stronger than ever. I find the paper by the critics more than extremely
always be able to find ELS that impress them. But there's a difference now. To
believe today that the almighty wrote the Torah is once again, as it should be,
her selection as leader of the Congress Party in Parliament, the paper said.
"There is bitterness in the party over her complete failure to bring in votes,"
propaganda against her foreign origin are visibly worried about this factor
took their toll." But it said it is unlikely that anyone will be so rash as to
run against her for the party leadership. "In the longer term, the party may
market showed yesterday, there are some grounds for hoping that the new
administration may enjoy a longer life than its predecessors. If so, it will
who was the master of the ring during his heyday, is now a walking shadow of
He may have been the greatest, but now he's reduced to a pathetic bundle of
formally warned last March about problems with the visibility of a signal at
fraud, and the chief architect of a systematically hypocritical and deceitful
dirt from head to toe. Up to the president! It has come to the point where they
spouses, that their loved ones were having an affair together. In their grief,
they start an affair. Despite the strength of the star power, the reviews are
Pictures). Outstanding reviews for this independent film based on the life of
when her secret got out. Critics can't say enough good things about the film:
the big screen. The biggest problem: The character is "so sad and helpless, so
hard to like, so impossible to empathize with, that watching it feels like an
because she shows her underpants a lot." Reading further, one questions his
kilt aflutter and the little white delta of her panties flapping before the
world, we sense someone profoundly disturbed yet poignant at the same time."
steal and sell the plutonium of the title in order to support his family after
he gets radiation poisoning, to a girl who is convinced there is a link between
laudatory review that "a surplus of sobriety may account for what weaknesses
first offering in five years. The double album is "a musical treasure trove.
His knack for pop hooks and appealing beats in the midst of all the aural
from the album on the official Nine Inch Nails Web site.)
himself a radical makeover complete with soul patch, eye makeup and, most
friend and her husband came to visit me for a few days. This is a friend I have
for home, I found some damage had been done that they hadn't told me about. The
turntable in the microwave was chipped, and the toilet in their bathroom was
clogged. Neither of these things in and of themselves bothers me. What does
bother me is that this lifelong friend didn't have the courtesy to let me know
what had happened. Should I just let these things go in the name of preserving
however, depend on how strongly you feel about letting them know you know. If
you were sad they didn't feel close enough to have mentioned the microwave or
the sluggish toilet. To lighten it up, you could add that all the repairs have
been made, and you look forward to their return visit. Think about it for a few
moved in with us. They were relocating from another state and needed a place to
live "for a few months" while they got to know the area, and found jobs and a
place to live. They agreed to pay half the rent and attendant bills.
with us, and they never pay anything on time. They seem to think that junk food
qualifies as their half of the groceries. My husband and I keep the house
supplied with good food, but we can't afford to support two grown adults. We
have made subtle hints and mentioned that they need to start looking for their
own place. But they aren't catching on. How do we tell them to get out of our
house without causing family problems? We've always been close and don't want
to lose the friendship. They are using us, and I need help with this.
indeed, using you, but you've permitted it. Family problems seem a small price
house as a fire hydrant. Subtle hints won't cut it, guys. You've got to insist
course. They have overstayed their welcome and must be told to leave. Unless
a deadline for their departure. And do ask for a settling of accounts, as per
someone before getting engaged? My girlfriend, the love of my life for the last
five years, recently broke up with me because she felt our relationship had
gone on too long without any sign of future commitment. I always intended to
marry her and always reminded her of this when the topic came up. She feels
that if I truly loved her I would take her now before anyone else did. Since we
seersucker suit and was wondering if you could give me some fashion tips on the
types of shoes, ties, shirts, and belts I should wear with it.
bandwidth, by all means wear any shoes, ties, shirts and belts that don't clash
damaging landings and falls during practice. Multiple surgeries have left me
heels. I am short in stature, wear a brace on my right lower leg, and have four
without the appearance of an obvious handicap. My question: Why do so many
people take offense at my wearing pants to the many functions I must
women wearing pants is incorrect is antediluvian. Even the stuffy dining rooms
have been wearing them for years, so you are in good company.
economist's economist, famous within the profession (when an economist uses the
years old when his famous paper on the theory of the "second best" was
published (click to read more about it), and we probably met only four or five
times. But nonetheless there was a time, a couple of decades ago, when we were
public, even among those who follow (or think that they follow) economic
articles about some of the revolutionaries, and he's in the process of
to correct some of the myths (click to read my article on the power of
death is a good occasion for me to wax nostalgic, to recall what actually
revolution, you need to grasp two related dichotomies. One is that between
constant and increasing returns; the other between perfect and imperfect
competition. Constant returns is the assumption that if you increase your
inputs you will also double your output. Increasing returns, on the other hand,
says that doubling inputs will more than double output. Perfect
competition is the assumption that producers are like wheat farmers, who take
Perfect competition and constant returns go together like
cookies and milk; without constant returns, the assumption of perfect
competition becomes very hard to swallow. The reason, basically, is that when
there are increasing returns an industry will tend to become dominated by at
most a few large players, and these players are bound to realize that they have
their common interest to agree, at least tacitly, to set prices high, and that
it is in their individual interest to cheat on that agreement and undercut
their rivals. Is the eventual result a stable cartel, a perpetual price war, or
an irregular alternation between the two? Hard to say. But what has long been
clear to economists is that increasing returns normally lead to imperfect
competition, and that imperfect competition can be a messy and intractable
assumed constant returns and perfect competition, and economists tended to
avoid questions where increasing returns or imperfect competition were
Most economists, I think, understood that increasing returns are sometimes
important, and a few people did try to take them into account. (In my
But useful theorizing in complex subjects such as economics is always a matter
of choosing the right strategic simplification, and for a long time it seemed
percent of the time, it would be a blessing if politicians could understand
what's right about the constant returns model, not what's wrong with it.
economics was wearing thin. Exactly why is hard to say. I don't think you can
claim that returns were less constant or competition less perfect in the real
driving force was the field's internal intellectual logic: Economists had
answered most of the interesting questions they could ask in the old framework
returns. And so they were finally ready to try something different.
of those who was driven to increasing returns. In the 1960s he had introduced a
seemingly obvious but highly useful twist to the analysis of consumer behavior
by pointing out that what consumers often want is not so much a specific
product as a particular bundle of characteristics. To take a modern example,
what business travelers care about in their notebook computers are low weight,
long battery life, and high computing power, rather than the logo on the case.
from another is where in this "characteristics space" they are located. But in
that case, why doesn't the market produce every possible notebook? (Much as I
better word processor, for which I would happily sacrifice something else.) The
answer, of course, is increasing returns: To proliferate varieties (and hence
to produce each variety at a smaller scale) means to increase costs.
usual problem: Increasing returns mean imperfect competition, and in general
are two kinds of economists: those who look for general results and those who
look for illuminating examples. And more or less suddenly fell into the second
group; they decided that while a general theory of how imperfect competition
examples of how it might work. How does the market for an industry with
The point was to find stories that hung together, not determine once and for
tell illustrative stories rather than produce theorems, economists could write
about exciting topics that had been off limits: predatory pricing, strategic
investment to get the jump on competition, technological races, struggles to
about the "new economy" that trendy writers proclaim as a radical departure
from conventional economic thought was, well, already in the textbook.
Among other things, someone was bound to notice that the
interaction between increasing returns and product differentiation could help
seemingly similar countries. In the late '70s three people independently wrote
yours truly; and the "new trade theory" was born. A few years later economists
change and economic growth, giving birth to the "new growth theory"; and the
inexorable working of the law of diminishing disciples. There was a deeper
problem: The new ideas were immensely liberating, but at some point you can get
too liberated. In international trade, people started to joke that a
smart graduate student could come up with a model to justify any policy;
similar sentiments were felt in many fields. In short, we all got tired of
clever analyses of what might happen; and throughout economics there was a
shift in focus away from theorizing, toward data collection and careful
innovation and intellectual excitement, when all of economics seemed up for
"a poisonous mix of greed, liquor, jingoism, and bad taste," writes Frank
humorless yelping, the way the sunlight turns his hair into an auburn cascade,
the kooky little songs he sings in the shower, his tousled amorous look first
White House Prayer Breakfast, the president said, "I have been profoundly
moved, as few people have, by the pure power of grace, unmerited forgiveness
through grace. Most of all to my wife and daughter, but to the people I work
through the pure power of grace, what he was thinking.
simply for the public relations," said the reverend with unaffected simplicity.
"Camera crews? Really? Are those things on?" he did not add.
festivities fast approaching, why not consider gifts that say, "I like you from
shirt for counselors and mentors of teens! Purple, yellow, and green logo on
Covers: "Beautifully designed, these book covers reverently portray the
importance of a higher law in the lives of our school children. Allow your
children to make a strong yet subtle statement and order a set today. Comes in
covet his neighbor's ox, that will more than make up for his utter ignorance of
and the next thing you know, they're peacefully resolving international
believe this is the one where a bunch of women get liquored up and ask for
Dole Campaign Cap. Embroidered Sanded Twill Low Profile Cap New Shallow
where they're going wrong with the tone of this thing.
it, but I surely avow membership in it more openly than most other economists
argument endeared Herb to the many friends and admirers who mourn his death
been mystified by international finance since I took a course in it at the
disquisition on the International Monetary Fund and the sad state of the
modesty. Herb well knew how keen was his intellect and how sharp his wit. And,
not for Herb. He recognized, perhaps better than most of his economist
them for most people has very little to do with politicians").
Contributors he sat for more than two decades, is not available on the Web. But
anyone with access to back copies of the Journal should consult "The
preference for marriages made in heaven, arranged by the participants, arranged
through the personals column of New York magazine, or arranged by
mothers, undertakes to provide "spouses of last resort."
adventures as he was for new ideas. How many economists of Herb's distinction,
accomplishments, and years would, for example, undertake to write for an online
still would be those with the daring (and the sense of humor) to top off that
original adviser to the public on matters of morals, manners, and
might have guessed from the drawing of "Prudence" that accompanied the column
if they hadn't already been tipped off by the tone). But Herb enjoyed it so
And he did enjoy it. "One cure for unrequited love,"
Prudence reminded a lovelorn reader, "is requited love. There are other cures
worried about being bad at small talk, Prudence counseled, "You are making too
much of this. What everyone wants in a conversationalist is not a good talker
still walk around a car to unlock the door for the woman he is escorting?
Absolutely, Prudence replied, noting the opportunity thus afforded for "sweetly
kissing her on the cheek. Modern gadgets will not do all that and real men
don't want them to. Something has to be left for the men to do." As for the shy
Prudence replied, "If that situation arises, you will have no problem. Perhaps
you will 'have' to kiss her because she has kissed you. In that case your
not be hesitancy about kissing but addiction to it."
woman so valuable to the man whose hand or arm she is holding?" And in his
exploration of the question, it was clear that he had in mind the wife with
Council of Economic Advisers. He also included an aphorism of his own: "If
something cannot go on forever, it will stop." Sadly, that was true of Herb
paints a distorted picture. To begin with, all transportation in the United
involved in an automobile accident than a general aviation accident.
vast majority of general aviation flights are flown under Visual Flight Rules,
services that it doesn't want or need. Many small airports have control towers
simply because of one or two airline flights a day.
costs of providing air traffic control services to each segment of aviation are
unknown because the Federal Aviation Administration does not have an adequate
cost accounting system. But the costs imposed by general aviation aren't
The bulk of federal airport grants go to commercial
all trying to use the airport at the same time) and weather are the major
and accident investigation a "subsidy" for general aviation is absurd on the
face of it. It's an appropriate role for government to rescue its citizens,
whether they be boaters, hikers, pilots, or airline passengers. And that
rescue, more often than not, will be accomplished using general aviation.
"hobby"; it's serious transportation that fulfills many vital needs in the
carriers. At least three incidents that immediately come to mind involved Pan
I believe that all three incidents involved fatalities; however, the vast
landings and must be certified by the Federal Aviation Authority to fly over
water. Cabin crews receive specific passenger safety training with emphasis on
aircraft evacuation, since this is their primary area of responsibility. Flight
deck crews do not focus on passenger survival because they are responsible for
the overall aircraft systems operation and are the crew members least likely to
airports are located around large bodies of water, both air crews and aircraft
are certified with airworthiness certificates based on evacuation procedures
database does not go back to the beginning of commercial flight, obviously, so
conceivable that some accidental crashes into water upon landing or takeoff
fuselage remains intact, but that is a big "if." Only military helicopter
pilots get dropped in water as part of their actual training.
of international carriers have shown that keeping the fuselage intact and the
Republicans. However, he failed to address a gaping hole in the Republicans'
tax cut plans that neither Democrats nor the media had pointed out: Namely,
that a tax cut of the size proposed might stimulate the economy to the point
that, however the debate about the projected budget surplus goes, a large tax
cut will endanger low interest rates and thus the prosperity that makes
the horse, water in a clay cup, dirt under the fingernails.
The river forgets the fish and the winter sun slides
beyond the far hills. All of them had mothers, and all
the mothers sang while swimming and as the women sang
for the clouds where the distance whispered a different dream
delicate, confident paddling alongside their mothers
always be nests, branches, the swaying and the saying.
filmmaker, a wizard at selling a sequence, but he'll never make an entirely
coherent movie until he learns to go deeper into his subjects instead of wider
panorama for point of view, piling on perspectives until the picture becomes a
the margins of this story. Here, men and women dress in polyester, line up to
get into discos, snort cocaine, cheat on their spouses, and have sex with
imperfect strangers. It's the most jittery of periods, both exhibitionistic and
ocean of decadence like a toxic monster, a puritanical avenger.
of the murders, where the combination of heat, terror of the .44-caliber
hysteria. It doesn't do much for marriages, either. The film's dim protagonist
at the end of the evening, he passes the spot where he parked for his quickie
couple lie dead, their brains all over the dashboard. Spooked and stricken
(that could have been him!), he staggers over to the car and touches the latest
.44-caliber victims. (I kept waiting for the police to show up later at his
door and announce that his fingerprints were on the bodies, but that touch must
whatever ill will is in the air. As it happens, he's also the mildest, least
their search for the serial killer, the local bully boys show a little too much
fascist zeal, keeping tabs on people's movements and pulling strangers out of
They're the kind of people who would have chased Lee out of their neighborhoods
that white people deal drugs, too. He doubtless had to fight the urge to make
who gives a tremulous and surprisingly soulful performance, the characters have
the lynch mob, greedy to go after someone who's even more of an Other. The best
reason to tell a story such as this would be to demonstrate that in the right
circumstances, we could be infected by the same delusions and hunt for the same
Says a woman who serves as the picture's lone voice of reason: "I thank God it
is a white man who kills all of those white people. If it were a black man
there would be a race riot." So much for empathy with the victims.
For the last decade, Lee has been attempting to craft a new
images seem cooked, even irradiated, and Lee brings out the eerie portents in
the throbbing blandness of disco groups such as Abba. The pity is that when he
does something well, he can't seem to control it and do it more selectively.
and again, and the picture teems with conscious and unconscious echoes of
It's just Spike flexing his cinematic muscles, showing how much montage he can
bench press. Overambition in an artist is easy to forgive; what's less
He doesn't seem to get that understanding is a byproduct of focus and not of
sometimes it's fried chicken, sometimes it's pizza; frequently it's more than
A martini should be gin and vermouth and a twist. That's it. There's no call
and in the wider culture (if there is one), food is used as a metaphor for
ideology (bread and roses; let them eat cake) and for character: Their
attitudes toward eating reveal something, well, distasteful about President
when the incredibly attractive couple in white are not actually in a gourmet
frenzy, sex is simply food carried on by other means. And it really makes you
DeLay's power is ladling out cash to those who please him. The chief
than half the group's money. And those who supply the funds are not neglected
"DeLay has long had a kitchen cabinet of lobbyists who meet with him
campaign to fight trade unions through the innovative method of establishing a
nonprofit corporation that can raise unlimited cash without disclosing donors,
embarrassed ourselves at a funeral. Or borrowed company funds that we had every
intention of returning, so there was really no reason to call the police. But
Behavior Upon Viewing the Body for each of these religious faiths:
cutting ahead saying, "I just have this quart of milk.")
goofy grin on your face and sing him a medley of Cole Porter tunes. He would
Stand quietly and then move on. (Pretty much the way the mayor orders
A kiss is appropriate, but no tongue unless you were close before death.
This is optional, but if it is a memorial service, there will be no body to
How To Be a Perfect Stranger: a Guide to Etiquette in Other People's
news items that sound taps for that turbulent decade, if you'll accept the idea
that his pairing of "hip" and "respectable brands" travesties the spirit of
that era, which might be easier to accept if you thought that he was on acid
combination. I was out for three hours, during which Bob violated our carefully
negotiated cassette agreement by playing two of his loud Germanic rock tapes
carry this major dietetic innovation. The news is grim. There are approximately
equally distributed, this means I only have a 1-in-32.8 chance of walking into
welcome" is still the customary follow up to "Thank you." But here, when you
Sometimes you get total silence. And the most common response is "Yup" or worse
immodest, even aggressive, as if a huge favor has been done and is owed?
(Indeed, the only accepted use of "You're welcome" seems to be as an actively
thank you, you asshole.") Or does it just sound too formal? My own theory
people as possible. Elaborate exchanges of respect imply a degree of
Another disturbing trend: Bob has taken to removing
progressively more of his clothing in my presence. The first night, he was
walking around the hotel room without his shirt on. Then, the next morning, he
casually mooned me. And yesterday, I looked up into the large mirror on our
was an accident," he claimed. "Who knew the mirror was there?" The man is so
playback of their takes on the straw poll results and a look ahead at their
playbook of messages for the remainder of the race.
as a horse race ("win, place, and show") and noting that "no one's ever won the
conference, an aide introduced Dole as the straw poll's "real winner."
"outspent by millions of dollars." Her spokesman told reporters that "on a
poll played to her advantage, as everyone marveled at her "surprisingly" strong
stories about whether her people would show up. She, therefore, I think, is the
to focus the contest on criteria that favor her. The first of these is
every talk show, Dole vowed "to demonstrate that the candidate with the most
shows) to "women who drive their daughters halfway across the state to shake my
hand, a woman they dare to believe in." Newspapers hail Dole's female followers
seal off the pack. Since sports analogies tend to cut off the top tier at three
metaphors, telling reporters that he had reached "the first rung of candidates"
the Christian right," establishing himself as "one of the winners," the "three
or four" candidates who "got their tickets punched" to stay in the race. Talk
fight for the leadership of the conservative wing."
Dole, so he claimed underdog status on the basis of low name recognition,
loyal base make him hard to write off as a candidate, his rivals have persuaded
the media at least to write him off as a Republican by inferring that his low
that if he prevails, either Bush or Dole will have vanquished the other in the
"don't you have to face up to the fact, when all the other candidates decide
decision to stay out, espoused a less sentimental philosophy: "You always want
to fight on ground that is most favorable to you." For this, the media executed
he has convinced the media that he has enough money and support in New
and may well end up as the principal alternative to Bush.
in which campaigns spent "millions" to "buy" votes. "My campaign theme is to
try to reform the system that is now awash with money and the influence of
rely on two other moral arguments. First, he'll claim that caucuses aren't
triumph: He has conned the media into disbelieving his political calculations
damaging his credibility, the more the field narrows to his advantage.
establishment, led by Bush, and conservatives, led by himself. Dole will
exploit feminism as well as feminine stereotypes, pitching herself as the
Why do our hands have five fingers, no more, and no less?
one I recognized, her face mild and familiar as bread.
in the crystal of the watch I left there on the table.
To a Friend Who Keeps Telling Me He Has Lost His Memory
condemns the bill as "misshapen," "unaffordable," and
says the killings were underplayed because they came too soon after last week's
massacre, which was bloodier and involved wealthier victims.
decision. But a steroid expert told the Associated Press, "I would have
York Times relays that the holdup made the United Nations feel even more
federal judge said the group acted within the boundaries of election law when
spun it as a setback for the Federal Elections Commission and a possible boon
reported that the coalition is faltering and was never as powerful as it
pointed out that the film is valuable mostly for its licensing rights, which
his wife and children to death, shot nine workers at day trading investment
firms, and then committed suicide. He had previously been suspected in the
to obey this court's discovery orders." "We accept the judgment of the court
Dow Chemical will buy rival Union Carbide. The Wall Street
World Wrestling Federation is going public. "It's a collision of
that the United States should have stayed out of World War II, they should
listen to some of their own rhetoric about more recent foreign policy
deceitfully conspired to get the country embroiled in a war it need not have
she was "appalled." Over the past week or so, many Republicans have concluded
not how different, but really how very similar they are to the foreign policy
thinking that dominates the congressional Republican caucus. If you start with
the foreign policy assumptions held by most Republicans on Capitol Hill,
national interests after 1940--is not that far off the mark.
country's national interests, did not have much trouble answering that
few vital national interests beyond our own shores and still fewer outside our
organizations imperils the national interest by threatening to drag the country
into needless conflicts overseas. Another corollary is that mere humanitarian
considerations should play little or no role in decisions about when to
like what congressional Republicans have been saying since the end of the Cold
war where we have no vital national interest at stake." House Majority Whip Tom
leadership share the same underlying theory of the nation's foreign policy.
Liberal internationalists believe that there is a moral dimension to our
leadership in the international community. They also believe that international
organizations, on balance, reduce future threats to our vital interests. This
often means anticipating future threats at one or two stages of remove and
recognizing that our values and our interests, though not identical, are not
wholly separate either. But many prominent Republicans prefer a policy of
avoiding international commitments and keeping a robust national defense in
store for any power that directly threatens our territory or our citizens.
Genocide in another part of the world may be tragic. Regional instability on
some other continent may be something to keep an eye on. But unless our access
to strategic natural resources is threatened or bullets actually start flying
accurately notes, this isolationist mentality has deep roots in the Republican
the early Cold War years. Before the advent of modern weaponry, one of the
continental nation, flanked by two great oceans, gave us the luxury of doing
great power status had made such thinking obsolete. But the impulse remains. It
is actually one of the key motivators behind the conservative obsession with a
The case for not acting until you have to was put most
hard to see how anyone who seriously holds these views, whatever you call them,
pushing something called "National Greatness conservatism," a program of
to apply their beliefs to World War II, or politically foolish enough to
curriculum. Individual schools will now decide whether to teach it or
not. The New York Times predicts that the decision will discourage
schools from teaching it, encourage creationists to introduce their own
He also allegedly shot and killed a letter carrier. He told investigators "he
variously tied the incident to recent spates of workplace shootings, school
Justice Department for allowing civil liberties concerns to limit their
Post focused on gun control, accusing Congress of neglect and empty
shirts." "International Papers" to his drinking, his background as a Communist
A tornado ripped through Salt Lake City, killing one and injuring
hundreds. The National Weather Service pointed out how unusual it is
its airspace. The New York Times worries about future "volatile
confrontations" (read: nuclear warfare), and the Wall Street Journal
Association. The Navy severed its ties eight years ago after reports
of sexual abuse at the group's convention. The New York Times says the
Navy's disclosure of tentative plans is intended to test public opinion for
misdeeds with a final report to Congress. He told the Today
show that the purpose of this report, unlike his last one, is to summarize his
"pressure from national Republican leaders to head off a fratricidal battle
breakup of Ma Bell but warns customers to check for hidden fees.
and that they're "designed to please the hard right and force a confrontation
York Times relays that the holdup made the United Nations feel even more
Dow Chemical will buy rival Union Carbide. The Wall Street
one of its streets after the most famous person who ever walked (or, in this
case, took a midnight "jog") down it, but that's not how it works in Little
Avenue." Hecklers offered derisive amendments: "Impeachment Avenue" was
proposed. But the city board eventually compromised, renaming just the few
Presidential Library that has. Since Little Rock beat out Hope and Hot Springs
one local columnist noted, in Little Rock, even if they say it's not about
building will be a boon to a town where the finest example of modern
shows and a building that had a cameo in Gone With the Wind (not to
Rock residents are embarrassed by Central High, the discomfiting monument to
desegregation and the town's other claim to history, some are queasy about
of inquiry revealed itself to Little Rock wiseacres: What's going to be in this
But the library has provoked Little Rock not just because
their mouths about the way the Little Rock board of directors arranged to pay
after recovering from the initial euphoria over winning the big prize, Mayor
jawbreaker, but officials had made a commitment. They hit upon the idea of
issuing "parks revenue bonds," which didn't require voter approval, and
pledging revenues from the city's golf courses, parks, and zoo to pay them
down. The problem: Parks revenue bonds can only fund parks. Is a library a
park? That depends on your definition of the word "park." The city called the
library a "presidential park," and that took care of it.
from the Little Rock zoo is another saga. For reasons too Byzantine to explain,
it's the only unaccredited big zoo in the nation, and it could use a cash
infusion. City officials are incredibly sensitive to the charge that they are
reporters were warned in no uncertain terms that he was not to be asked about
claiming the library land deal is an illegal tax because the city will have to
appeal her case to the state Supreme Court. She has vowed to pursue the case to
of the library, owns a piece of property in the presidential park and promises
to fight the city's attempt to take his property by eminent domain.
And then there's everyone else in the city. When the mayor
forecasting a deficit because it is saddled with debt voters didn't approve, to
fund a library they didn't request, for the president who didn't inhale. City
"presidential library," and a deficit had been projected before the library
in a May referendum. Since then, the city has frozen hiring and chopped
undisturbed, covered with tall weeds and empty buildings, its intended purpose
marked only by a banner that has grown progressively more tattered. The mayor
originally hoped groundbreaking would take place six months ago, but it hasn't
happened yet. Still, the library is beginning to seem less of an albatross.
will spend in his home state once his library is completed. Perhaps he'll live
in an upstairs apartment and huff around town in jogging shorts as he did when
he was governor. The rumor of a Senate run seems dead, but a local satirical
a lot of time in carrels poring over his papers, but even so, he has a good
movie, my friend, and it is as true to the original text as it can be in our
politically correct times. A more "feminized" society is not the repressed,
knows how to treat his mother well is way sexier than a guy who thinks he's too
look quite so hot in a loincloth by conventional standards of beauty.
column by him in The Nation attacking my New Republic "Diarist"
did not point out any factual inaccuracies in my Diarist and since he defended
persists in depicting me as having repudiated my own article, I feel obliged,
for what it's worth, to note that I think it holds up perfectly well.
crediting him with sensibly refusing to defend what was clearly a shoddy and
indefensible piece of work. I thought he was showing some class.
objections to his Diarist "trivial" and "silly." Let's say he's right. Why,
pathologically suspicious" on the same page? Why did even the venerated
"trivial" and "silly" to merit a response as well? Or was a strategic silence
action. After all, the previous Republican administrations had sent troops into
particularly after a failed attempt at removing him from office. One
weapons but not sent our troops. Imagine if the United States had adopted this
expected to pay the price not only of our freedom, but of the freedom of the
possibility of this expanding throughout the region as everyone in the
atrocities? Were they going on before the bombing started? Do we have proof of
that their cities, homes, and factories were getting bombed, and their brothers
to run the following excerpt from the book, so that readers can judge for
themselves. We are delighted to oblige. Click for the excerpt.
book apart to see if he'd won. Printing with disappearing ink that lasts
exactly one semester would also discourage the used book market. But instead of
running lotteries or using disappearing ink, most publishers make used
textbooks obsolete by periodically releasing revised editions. Did I mention
that the fifth edition of my textbook is forthcoming next year?
discourage the used book market is that they prefer to get paid every time a
student buys a book. But by that logic, you should never sell your house when
you can rent it: Why get paid only once when you could get paid every month?
The logic is wrong because the sale price is likely to be far higher than the
monthly rent. And the logic is still wrong when applied to textbooks, because
the sale price for a book that can be resold is likely to be far higher than
As long as it's cheaper to produce one book than three, the publisher should
That's why economists are generally skeptical about
allegations of "planned obsolescence." Every few years, someone claims that
the technology to keep us coming back for more light bulbs. Likewise, Ann
designed to run so women will need a new pair every two weeks.
obsolescence? No, it means that planned obsolescence occurs only under special
conditions. Mistrust, for example, is a special condition. If a publisher says,
student might well respond, "How do I know you won't bring out a new edition
next year and undercut my resale market?" Unless the publisher can quell such
doubts, students won't pay premium prices for books with lasting value, so
market, forced to buy the books their professors assign. But there must,
nevertheless, be some upper limit on their willingness to pay; otherwise,
textbooks would sell for an infinite price. And whatever the upper limit is, it
will always be higher for a book that can be resold than for a book that
planned obsolescence, customers have demanded it, and firms have provided it as
with the equivalent of either insurance (against the prospect of losing your
entire year's supply of hose at once) or a loan (by allowing you to spread out
What brings all this to mind is the recent controversy over
don't reproduce so that farmers have to buy new seeds each year. From the
farmer's point of view, the opportunity to buy infertile seeds can be a great
for new seed each year, which insures you against the possibility of a
Don't be. Surely farmers are willing to pay much more for fertile seeds than
design. Like mules, they're naturally infertile. Taking its lead from the
infertility gene might "leap" from its seeds to fertile seeds in adjoining
farms and eventually render those fertile strains infertile. Such hypothesized
contamination is a legitimate concern and quite plausibly a sufficient reason
opportunity to provide some socially desirable planned obsolescence.
Actually, the article fails to include one critical
campaign for the rights to the domain name. When they refused, he set up an
this, and since the campaign couldn't buy it, they decided to get rid of it.
Funny, I thought that politics and campaigning were about freedom of speech and
the ability to compete. The Bush campaign has a sweet monopoly on that.
and desist letter to any articles remote to the subject.
publish a sales pitch under the guise of analysis. This column is tantamount to
Your comments about weather hysteria were generally
right on, but I felt your comments about the role of the Web in promoting that
hysteria missed the point. Access to weather information on the Web is a giant
leap forward in weather media because it allows one to avoid the hype and
hysteria with which the general news media covers extreme weather. Check out
information is straightforward, but interestingly displayed. I could track
the sound of the wind. Weather sites on the Web eliminate the media middleman,
A conservative shows genuine compassion and he gets
called a wimp!? Maybe he should have called a news conference and told the
wounded to "put some ice on it." Here's a news flash: Conservatives are human
too. They have wives, children, pets; they love and make love, have gardens, go
missed without the Enquirer this month, from the detailed story of the
wedding of a woman missing the entire lower half of her body (she walked up the
aisle on her hands, with the garter concealed under her sleeve) to the
Perhaps most important, it's reassuring to know that all
made from inking a person's posterior. "[It] goes right back to the time of
leads the pack of celebrities having meltdowns over seemingly innocuous slights
this month. The Enquirer reports that while shooting a movie in
chicken, French fries, and coleslaw out the door of his trailer, splattering a
latest film because she was unhappy with the wig she was supposed to wear, says
because she refuses to conceal the "unsightly" bags under her eyes, claiming
like a spoiled brat and an ingrate," says a set insider.
for an overnight trip." And the Globe felt compelled to point out that
confirmed to the Star that Stone's eyes were "puffy from lack of sleep.
his bedside with "bloodshot" eyes and makeup "smeared from crying." The
who has been "sitting at [his] bedside clutching Martin's limp hand and praying
vertebrae fracture that the tabs fear may leave her unable to walk. But at
and makeup. The Star reports that she has been greeting hospital
visitors in a "glamorous pink chiffon negligee" and is being pampered "with her
favorite soaps and oils" by "three specially trained nurses."
too inconsequential to mine for dramatic potential, Friends star
impaired, but we raised our eyebrows just a tad at the Star 's assessment
that it was simple vanity about wearing thick glasses that put Cox under the
blindness," which included the touching detail that Cox awoke from the
was "so moved by [her] joy" that he began to cry as well. The Enquirer
reports has amassed an impressive collection of eyeglasses belonging to dead
Her favorites, the story says, are the glasses belonging to her late mother,
apparently because of their almost meditative powers. "I like to put them on
glasses, which once belonged to her beloved late father.
show, we thought we'd highlight National Enquirer columnist Mike
hypothesize which members of the royal family might have been
Your Liver' was the program, and the problem was that, according to Sir John,
'It tastes yucky.' When it was pointed out that there are starving children in
many ways, so alike. Both are old, both are revered, and as a result, people
tend to focus on the highbrow exploits of both, while discreetly ignoring the
and get high marks for whenever it hosts, say, a monthlong exhibit on the
hardships of the pilgrims. But, let's face it, a disproportionate number of
participants aren't so kind.) One might think they'd team up, to feature a
consist of a panel discussion followed by the distribution of bits of liver.
say nothing of the geese. Seems to me that an equitable compromise would be to
abilities of News Quiz's crack research team but given the recent trouble over
Great Lakes' greatness, nitpicking seems to be this summer's thing. Your answer
was filled with people watching a bloodless rodeo last weekend. As someone who
visited the Big O that it was a bloodless bullfight. To be more exact, it was
Is your home one of them? And if not, can you figure out which of the following
"High Impact": Somebody is threatening to kill the mayor.
doesn't. So instead, they spend the week catching up on paperwork, cleaning up
their desks, and going home a little earlier than usual.
Participants are invited to find, in an actual newspaper or magazine, a less
enticing headline. The deadline, which had been originally announced as noon ET
intuitive artists from hacks and "players" is their difficulty doing even
mediocre work when their cylinders aren't firing. In the absence of true
inspiration, they can't fall back on a crafty understanding of what the
audience wants because they don't really know what the audience wants. They
follow their instincts and pray that they'll connect. When they don't, the
of people seeing this dud satire and concluding that he has lost his way. More
to the point, I don't like the thought that he has lost his way.
string of recent triumphs, Jack decides to introduce his old buddy to his
afford to pass up a chance to get his "edge" back, especially with a wife
be ready to work at whatever hour she feels the urge to inspire him.
conversation with uncomprehending or contemptuous superiors. The message is
that there's no escape from the ignominy, not even through the (often lame)
he makes the long, grueling hike through the studio compound, and a passing
hasn't seen his famous cousin in a year and doesn't even know what he's
prolonged and stylized until it turns into Theater of the Absurd. The universe
exists to humiliate Brooks' protagonists, to remind them of the precariousness
the permanence of a relationship, the support of a mother, the benign regard of
however, the masochism feels a little too reflexive, and the picture's flatness
gets flatter by the minute. Brooks is baking with dead yeast. As it turns out,
the movie isn't about the mystery of creativity but rather the New Age idiocy
children; they get worried that they're not going to get those jobs anymore, so
they start writing things that maybe they don't love or they're not close to."
His screenplay ideas in the company of the muse are pathetically feeble, and
Brooks, who is often accused (wrongly) of playing himself,
else to account for this bland, pasty, not terribly funny protagonist? The
urgent babble, in which pleas are made and then restated and then turned inside
out in a way that brilliantly (and hilariously) distills neurotic thought
into himself, but he's still an idealist who boldly attempts to live out the
perhaps Brooks conceived of The Muse as a movie about the creative
think they want and what they actually need. But the characters in The
encounter until the movie seems populated by pod people. A hint that something
Here she starts promisingly, looking odd and imposing in her caftans,
childishly impervious to the absurdity of her demands. But she's
to be funny: She's just a narcissistic dope, and you come to feel contempt for
turn, but he's acting with his tan. The only scene that completely works is
obviously shares his protagonist's insecurity about his position in the
another film), but the two have little in common where it really
was less interested in jokes than in the desperate, needy impulse behind the
jokes. As a writer and director, he has been less preoccupied with gags than
with the fear and helplessness out of which they spring. How could he possibly
that he'd have to do it his way, working outward from the bone. Maybe it's
reassuring that The Muse is so bad, since a lot of other people could
have made it (and made it better). Maybe Brooks' muse is showing him what
happens when you satirize people who are so far beneath you.
march. "Nobody is barred from being in the parade. It's completely open to all
finally brought the Piet over to the United States, they didn't put
it on a float and trundle it down Main Street; they displayed it in the
reverential hush of the World's Fair. The statue sat; the audience moved,
crowds stroll past the balloons while they're being inflated. The next morning,
there's a traditional parade, with Huge Pneumatic Licensed Characters dragged
past cold, immobile spectators, lined up 10-deep at the curb, unable to see
cultural celebration, and a chance to buy inexpensive socks. Viva!
protest but as psychological distress. "You should be able to march as the
mayor of New York City anyplace you want, and if people can't deal with their
own anger over that, that's really something emerging from inside them," he
entirely disingenuous. His policies toward the gay community have been
Yorkers can now come together to boo the mayor following yesterday's
corporations, squandering public money and shifting the tax burden to smaller
commanding your own battle tank group. Simple enough for youngsters to operate
COX FREE FLIGHT HELICOPTER, ATTACK COBRA $29.99--Believed to be
particularly effective when parked near the combat zone.
invites participants to devise a sequentially trumping trio, like this one:
academic racket, or with kids long out of college or not long out of diapers,
it might seem a trifling matter. But to anyone with an abiding interest in
higher education, the stakes don't get much higher. Because the fiddling charge
academia, few things cause more consternation than an outsider using numeral
universities rely on similar measurements to rate their applicants.
Here's the deal. Many educators say it's absurd to think
that the intangibles of a college education can be reduced to mere numbers, and
Report has been providing kids and their parents a way to assess the most
important factor in choosing a college: academic excellence. Obviously, that's
not the only thing to think about when selecting a school. But millions of
people find the magazine's assessments useful. And it's a measure of the
seriousness with which they're taken that deans and admissions officers compete
fiercely to better their schools' rankings from year to year.
he writes, "fiddled with the rules" in preparing this year's college rankings.
Fair enough. We welcome challenges to our methodology and
writes, the magazine's editors generated a sense of "surprise" by toppling last
first place. "Nobody's going to pay much attention" to the magazine's rankings,
year after year." Ergo, the magazine "fiddled" the thing to generate a bit of
mathematical and statistical methods in the field of economics to verify and
rankings have virtually nothing to do with economic theory. One may posit that
a mind used to grappling with the kudzu of econometrics is more than up to the
task of dissecting something as relatively straightforward as college
mark? The magazine's methodology for determining the rankings is based on a
manages to misapprehend even the most basic of these. The magazine, he says,
rates schools on "average class size." Wrong. It's the percentage of classes
alumni giving." Sadly, the econometrician gets it wrong once again. The
is not until he is well launched on his wrongheaded bill of particulars that
News keeps changing the rules simply in order to change the results," he
writes. No matter. The charge is leveled, and like a parched man finally led to
success of the magazine's rankings "actually depends on confounding most
peoples' intuition" about which colleges and universities are the best. Had he
Institute of Technology and others that virtually any expert would number among
One week ago, I wrote an in these pages criticizing
that the rankings suffer from a serious conceptual flaw.
inadvertent misunderstanding of my first gripe. They essentially say there's
there's something clearly fishy about this particular jump.
The editors said that standardization would be unfair. Now, two years later,
the magazine performs a complete about face-- with no mention of their
idea of standardizing variables. The idea that they switched to this technique
an inferior technique. Furthermore, "standardization" is not some
man finally led to water"-- what on earth does this mean? --I stand
word "econometrics." And the only statistical example I give is about
statistical background, presumably to know where to begin his explanation. I
pleased to hear this and flattered me that few reporters had similar grounding
fiddles with the rankings to confound our intuition and sell magazines.
Lastly, they seem especially proud of the fact that
best." Well, one question: If the rankings just confirm intuition, then why buy
him in a profile as an "insipid man who inspires indifference." But
not for everyone. The Telegraph also said that his visit "is likely to rank with those of
of the Queen's reign." It said it would be "the focus of large demonstrations
furious and cut short his program, or whether he will ride out the protests as
organizers told the paper. "If it is raining, we may not be able to do all of
the World Trade Organization before the end of the year. The ambassador
most successful joint venture we have ever done with China or anybody else." In
FT said that since "the US consensus behind its role on the global
quoted senior administration officials as saying that the situation was still
"highly fragile." One said, "In some ways we feel like recovering alcoholics.
States "must take further action to remove all the severe negative effects of
great advantages for a country the size of China, but said he hoped that this
generation would be able to protect its grandchildren from things on the
Internet that "are not good." He also said that "no matter how quickly the
internet develops, it can never take the place of the relationship between
interviewers, Gates said that "none of the work being done on software today
holds the potential to create a truly intelligent device," but he was less
reassuring about protecting the young against stuff that was "not good." While
good," he admitted that he didn't "have control over exactly how that's done."
"quite impossible to reconcile this public Gates [fabulously rich, powerful,
and therefore an object of much hatred] with the awkward, shy, nasal character
Justice Department agreed to an independent inquiry
still says it's unlikely that these devices caused the fire. Attorney General
on which agents reportedly can be heard discussing the use of these devices.
still responsible for maintaining peace on the island, for failing to respond
York Times warned that international intervention might become
-third of the Major League Baseball umpires lost their
league. When the league accepted their resignations, they sued to block their
removal. The union accepted their removal in a settlement but claimed victory
The cryptic announcement by the toys' manufacturer sent collectors rushing to
stores. The anxious take: The manufacturer's notorious quirkiness lends
credibility to the announcement. The cynical take: It's a
gene. Mice with the extra gene outperformed normal mice at learning and
memory tasks, though the difference dissolved after a week. The media called
the improved mice "smarter" and "geniuses." The findings, published in
background. Under a plan being considered by the Educational Testing
detractors called the plan an end run around affirmative action bans at state
universities. Affirmative action opponents warned that any consideration of
old spin: It's a threat to life, limb, and property. The new spin: It's a
demoted. The New York Times wondered if she was "too young, too
immature, too emotional and, yes, too female for the job she was assigned." The
built by a former International Monetary Fund official. According to the
States. They stashed cocaine and marijuana in food trays and used their
government order excused most followers saying they had been brainwashed into
probably serve less. Prosecutors from both countries decried the way he
manipulated the discrepancies between the two legal systems.
"rotter," a "love traitor," and a "repulsive pariah" for publishing a book
cover editorial argues that the United States is an
uncertain colossus, despite its military and economic dominance. The rejection
of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and cuts to international peacekeeping
can't guarantee global stability by might alone: It must work with allies.
new dean hopes to acquire the accreditation to award graduates official
century. Each nation values liberalism in a different way. In nations such as
article describes Big Sugar's stranglehold on public policy. Taxpayers support
sewage, overpriced concessions, and acoustic atrocities. The crowd's attempt to
raze the festival grounds symbolizes the collapse of communal bonds and
appeal. The piece echoes the familiar line that party members are a nut stew of
language in a generation. Teachers at a school for the deaf were so inept that
the assembled kids improvised a complex sign system, demonstrating that
language is innate, but requires community to grow. This is the first time
cover story spends a week in a suburban St. Louis high
but few shows are sophisticated enough to script love lives for their
pay its talent decent wages. Comedians get a fraction of union scale, and even
cover story argues that archeology casts authoritative doubt
on creationism but corroborates key parts of the Bible. For instance, a
editorial congratulates the Senate for killing the "arms
control fantasies" of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. It was an
argues that peace activism helped win the Cold War. The nuclear freeze movement
undermined support for an aggressive military buildup by emphasizing the cost
doing business. Trade agreements and the tightening of capital markets have
opened Japan to foreign investment. The Internet is energizing homegrown
entrepreneurs and increasing the national appetite for business risk.
megs of space on my hard drive, hogging memory, and taking forever to load! The
toolbar buttons look like they were lifted from the cockpit of an F-16." My
software today is not that it is bloated. The problem is that it's not
Expeditions, industry has historically provided consumers with features to
any different? Do you really think software developers add features just for
fun, like some cackling tormentor? If only that were the case. Sadly, it is
you, the customer, who demands bloat, forever clamoring for new features.
Software companies take your wish lists seriously, and then make them happen.
Now, I don't deny that software is getting, um, alarmingly
Most computer users want to do fancy new things with their speedy
faster. So if computers are getting more powerful, shouldn't we developers
applications, be my guest. (Also, you lovers of legacy applications should know
It is precisely because users can ignore the new releases
on an upgrade to do the same computing as they're doing now, only with more
the new (bloated) versions of software are meant for the new 400-megahertz
in Word or the Journal feature in Outlook (that can slow even the fastest
computer to a crawl). My advice to these complainers: Turn these features off
Having praised bloat, let me confide that when I worked on
routinely yelled hurtful things at me when I wrote indulgent, fat code, because
his bosses wanted programs to load and work quickly. Outlook SWAT teams swooped
down daily to reduce the size of our code. I remember endless hallway
discussions about how to balance the demand for lean and quick code against the
bloat required to add new and nifty features. (We were ultimately successful:
improvement in performance and stability. You'll also see a lot more cool
concise code and bloated code plays out under the threat of a deadline. If our
software is occasionally too fat, we developers fall back on the same excuse
"I have only made this [letter] longer because I have not had the time to make
handheld devices. They pack a lot a power into little boxes, but let's not kid
anybody: Sometimes you can make do with a bicycle, but other times you need a
I began this column with the provocative thesis that
software isn't anywhere near bloated enough. By that I meant that if we
software developers were really doing our jobs instead of resting and vesting
functions of your telephone, television, and fax machine into one seamless
all your correspondence, financial transactions, data searches, and phone
conversations. Plus, it would be making smart connections between your data and
of new Medicare benefits. Which side will prevail on these matters remains to
be seen. But the underlying struggle to shape the terms of the debate remains
money belonged to taxpayers, not "bureaucrats." Later, House Speaker Newt
oblige the media and the public to look at every financial question from the
standpoint of the government rather than the taxpayer. The Republican tax cut
taxes themselves impose "costs" and "losses" on everyone who has to pay the
news conference, he questioned how Republicans could "finance" their tax cuts.
Words such as these dissolve the moral difference between giving money "back"
it on to others instead. Once the question is framed as how to "finance" tax
Who can spend it more wisely? Conservatives used to frame this question as
a choice between government "spending" and private "investment." "Investment"
meant the money was working and growing. "Spending" meant it was being wasted.
language, is to "spend" it on tax cuts. To "invest" it is to allocate it to
decisions appear as productive as corporate budget decisions. At his news
markets." Adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare isn't additional
spending; it's "modernizing" the program to meet future needs.
whether to spend more money on programs but whether "to meet our basic
responsibilities in education, defense, the environment," and other
afford," since we must maintain "fiscal discipline." "We" refers, of course, to
the government. "Afford" makes clear that it's the government's money and that
tax cuts are a secondary and purely elective consideration. Our
"responsibilities" come first, and to forsake "fiscal discipline" by cutting
taxes would be immoral as well as imprudent. This spin keeps the alternative
spin wins the issue of the day, but great spin goes further. It wins the war
invisibly, by skewing the debate at such a deep level that the media can't see
it. And it so permeates public discourse that even the opposition helplessly or
presidential exploratory committee, he defended tax cuts by arguing that it was
"compassionate" of political leaders "to give people more money." That's not a
basketball, recalling his love of discipline, teamwork, and "the swish of the
think up new ways of saying nothing while making it look like something.
Leadership. A speech can set a direction, define an
agenda, and explain what the candidate has done or would do. Instead of
or will fulfill them. He promises to act on his "convictions" but doesn't say
in the world." Rather than challenge his listeners or tell them where he plans
to lead them, he says they deserve "leadership that respects the people as well
as challenges them." Rather than say what he would do, he promises, "There are
two kinds of politicians: those who talk and promise, and those who listen and
that makes us feel rich inside as well as out," he argues. "The leadership that
is called for at this moment goes beyond a presidency, and into every home and
"feel rich inside," and why this is more important than rising incomes and
problem is that you're too shallow to understand it.
things. They do not measure what is in our heads and our hearts. They do not
measure a young girl's smile or a little boy's first handshake or a
grandmother's pride. They convey nothing about friendship or the
magic of a good marriage or the satisfaction of a life led true to its own
do with the presidency. But never mind. The point is that they can't be
they're lacking today and that his presidency would restore them.
unity," "confidence in our collective will," and "a prosperity that adds up to
more than the sum of all our possessions." "A team is not just about winning,"
he adds. "It's about shared sacrifice; it's about giving up something small for
yourself in order to gain something large for everyone. It's the same for our
country." What is the "something large"? What does "unity" entail? What does
touts his record of doing "things." In the Senate, he "reached across party
lines to get things done. I attempted to do big things without ever losing
sight of the little things." If elected, he'll "do some of the big things that
things, and we will do them more thoroughly." And what exactly are these "large
Reality. To those who suspect him of empty idealism,
just common sense that we protect our natural world from destruction, and do
what it takes to achieve racial unity? Isn't it common sense that all our
economically? What others may call idealism is a common sense reality I know we
point is that he will "do what it takes." Really. It's just common sense.
"is not just an ideal to wish on. It should be a possibility available to all.
encouragement, that sense of possibility to be a reality for everybody." Since
him if he claims four years from now that he has made it possible again.
president, he pledges to "set the table for future economic growth," "put every
to bridge the divide of prejudice." What any of this means is left to the
"character is where you find it." As a senator, "I tried to help people where
they lived their lives." As president, he will "invest in our common future."
So, if you want a president who invests in the past, finds character where it
isn't, and helps people where they don't live, vote for someone else.
after I spoke about political involvement, once again making our nation better,
a woman came up to me and said, 'It all sounds so wonderful, if only it could
system will let his vision come "true." This obscures a more sophisticated
skepticism about whether he has a substantive vision to begin with, much less a
skepticism. He's asking us to overlook it. And by planting what looks like a
campaign, it turns out, isn't about the presidency. It's about campaigning.
cleverly waiting to unveil his platform. Others infer that he's already
mounting a brilliantly oblique attack on Gore. Both camps read insight into his
every remark. If you don't recognize his wisdom, you must not get what the
candidate is worthy of you, but whether you are worthy of your candidate.
apparently grown tired of obsessing over just how skeletal the Ally
record.) How about the Globe 's report that at the bash to celebrate her
a "frantic food frenzy"; the paper even provides a helpful restaurant diary
that details where she has been spotted and just what she has indulged in.
The good news for all those who've been nailed by the
tabloid fat police is that the Globe has the secrets of Sen. Ted
self. Can it be coincidence that the Star claims it was a "wacky seaweed
obsessing about who's eating what (check out the Globe 's scintillating
take time to remember that it's wedding season. Royal wedding intrigue
the National Enquirer had already reported that the honeymoon was "over"
and that cracks were "already showing" in the marriage.
Star --the Globe says that "no one was paying more attention" than
air that a number of stars are flying back into their former lovers'
become, because they are also talking remarriage, according to the
The Globe stretches the reconciliation theme to new
heights with a story suggesting that the "fates" are trying to bring John F.
Martin. The Globe runs what it says is Martin's "open letter" to
Shepherd, in which he pleads with her to "open [her] heart and do what's right"
might have had a better chance of getting your money had the Globe not
run a "World Exclusive" interview in which you're quoted disclosing
proclivities. Keeping Tabs would never presume to speak for Ms. Shepherd, of
The United States is suing major tobacco companies. The suit
year, Congress rejected legislation that would have settled the government's
government can't claim innocence after years of subsidizing tobacco and
promoting overseas sales. The government's spin: Even if our hands are dirty,
the industry should pay for the medical costs of its product. The industry
forces are securing the region to make way for relief efforts for refugees
narrowly passed by Congress, would have used the projected budget surplus to
afford a return to "the failed policies of the past." Republicans
miles behind a pickup truck before his head was torn off by a concrete culvert.
The prosecution spin: The jury sent a message that not all
the rubble. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, and water, electricity, and
food supplies are cut off on much of the island. Experts warned
nationalists. He denied Republican allegations that the move was aimed
Clemency is about justice, and the prisoners' punishments did not fit their
crimes. The Republican spin: Clemency is about security, and the prisoners'
that thanks to preparation by large companies and federal and state
Confused computers could cripple basic services. This year's spin: Panicked
the state now faces water pollution due to animal carcasses and sewage. Last
with a consciousness of their nature as substitutes for their literal
and hearer have ceased to be aware that the words used are not literal."
Certainly we can consign all sports metaphors to the linguistic cemetery. And
lacks direct knowledge, he has chosen the perfect suburban verbal style for
this administration, an excellent advance on "soccer mom." Presumably, a
committee before the summer recess begins at the end of this week.
vowed to veto any tax cut of that size, saying it favors the rich over the
poor, could drive the government into deficit, and fails to provide for urgent
needs including Medicare reforms, education, and debt reduction.
meaning of these figures of speech, each of which appeared in a recent
Christian Coalition did not illegally distribute millions of voter guides meant
"This is certainly another large piece of plaster which is falling off the
compromise the natural sound of the voice and its natural projection."
very active clergy, but we're not a bunch of ayatollahs."
time the gangster tries to take the girl in his arms, she has to call the
policeman to come save her. Our job is to get the girl married to the
policeman. Then there is no danger, and the protection is permanent."
and control over their artificial digits. "Although you could previously only
move joints that were in the hand [as opposed to the fingers], the plastic in
the legs of Barbie dolls allows patients to position fingers in different
medical center prosthetics clinical supervisor, noted that the technique is an
inexpensive way to provide articulation in a finger and that it will help
prosthetic fingers become functional as well as cosmetic appendages.
out the books that caused the controversy." While the library staff isn't
our personal opinions, and you can probably guess what they are."
unusual fossil skull, which may contain new clues about human evolution, was
discovered in an Upper West Side curio shop. The New York Times reports
that the skull arrived in the shop as part of a collection of rocks, minerals,
and curios. The shop owner recognized its significance after he cleaned it and
"Of course, it's only one individual, but it could represent a distinctive
weighted box loaded with sensors. Anticipating the patient's regular tics, the
researchers monitored how his grip on the sensor box changed as his arm
twitched. They observed the subject adjusting his grip on the box just before
experiencing a tic, indicating that at some level he was in control of his
these tics, and these movements look normal and have all the same sort of
response we would expect to see in voluntary movement." He also suggested that
his findings may point the way toward behavioral therapy for the syndrome.
is a way of engaging the material, wrestling with it, struggling to comprehend
Working from firsthand reports as well as archeological and scientific data,
extinction, exhausted large stretches of land, and mismanaged natural
professional problems in the classroom, reports the Chronicle of Higher
because she was suffering from depression, which was a result of sex
discrimination she faced within her department and in the College of Management
she is settling with the university and will be reinstated to her full
to pursue her lawsuit had it not been for the commercial success of Cold
for Public Affairs, accused Said of lying about his childhood in order to
replacement as president of the Modern Language Association.
Education notes that Oxford University has fallen to seventh place in a
companies. When the survey was last taken three years ago, Oxford ranked third.
considered normal. (And I guess even to most of my friends in other age
groups.) However, I am aware that one of my better friends is just too reserved
for this invasion of his personal space. Despite resolving not to make him feel
like he's being assaulted, I often forget myself when we are together and
though it clearly makes him nervous. He is tremendously enjoyable company, and
I am accustomed to viewing affectionate gestures as rewarding someone for this.
Could you offer me some helpful suggestions for being, well, more
believes that touching friends is mostly a feminine trait. In any case, this is
what the situation looks like from here: You have the habit of getting close
and touching people; you are aware that in some instances this is regarded as
friends; you would like to bag your habit of "rewarding" him with physical
contact, but sometimes you just can't help yourself.
annex humor and honesty to this dilemma and deal with it openly? Say to your
chum something like: "I have this lunatic habit of touching my friends, and I
also tend to get too close. I know this is not comfortable for you, so the next
The two of you should decide on a code phrase that suits you, and in time,
range of knowledge, so let me run something by you I have not seen you deal
gets to monetary information), one suggestion for you might be to get on
college I had a brief fling with a young man who has remained a dear and close
college, persistently asks if I ever slept with him. I have tried every trick
in the book to keep from answering her truthfully, from "Why in the world would
But she won't give up. How can I answer her without answering her? How can I
refuses to satisfy her curiosity as well. I don't want to come right out and
say, "It's none of your business what happened between your husband and me when
I refer to your quip about it being the '60s, and how could you be expected to
the proverbial "little white lie" to make the subject go away. Then she decided
that there must be a better way than dishonesty, no matter how admirable one's
His position was that lying is unethical, therefore
it is important to consider how not to answer rather than compromising
one's integrity. If the wife's concern is that a sexual relationship might be
this rather thick woman persists in her questioning, you might say: "I never
answer questions about the personal lives of my close friends. Please do not
ask me to violate my friendships by pursuing this line of inquiry. This is a
boundary I care about." Such an approach protects the confidentiality you share
with your old friend and directs the wife to the appropriate source (her
husband) allowing you to know you have behaved in a morally ethical manner.
that most people who are not candidates for Dutch elm disease would figure out
that there might, indeed, have been a little experimentation of the sexual sort
and quit already with the interrogation. This, however, is an altogether
different problem. Good luck to you, and my compliments for wishing to do the
my father was a young man. As I understand it, he is currently occupied, very
publicly, and supposedly romantically, with three women whose names are like
better get one of these." What was it, and what did he do with it?
runaway parade floats plowing into the crowd and yet not crushing a single
without paying New York sales tax or showering or even getting out of your
we all did the best we could, although many participants, absorbed with the
ban on their fundamental human right to hit children with a stick.
how parents bring up their children. This is dictatorial and an example of the
First you can't thrash them, next you can't give them a good boot in the ribs,
then no summary executions of the really impertinent ones," he did not add, nor
did he emphasize his point by menacingly slapping his palm with the "Fellowship
Stick," as he does not call it since it does not exist.
is unlikely to uphold any arguments that the new provision against caning is an
cheap attempts to mock a beloved national figure's efforts to cash in on this
used it this summer. But they don't want us to use it too much. It's not going
president; speaking about use of the Delta Force to combat oddball religious
kids are writing) plays with the "malathion" (yeah, right) the city is spraying
throughout New York to kill "mosquitoes" (wink, wink) that transmit
"encephalitis" (go on: pull the other one). It makes one nostalgic for the fear
food, presumably to create a docile population of human slaves with excellent
teeth who keep hallucinating that they're uninterested in sex.
skeptic feel knowing. The former is informed and terrifying: "The president was
effect is to make the skeptic want to throw himself out of a
is fluoride in the water, the government really did test hallucinogens on
unknowing human subjects, and sexual vitality can be diminished by watching
the use of instant replay to challenge an official's call, a rule change
the Super Bowl, lost their season opener and the services of four starters
threatening situation that you make light of, especially since it is the
of trout that it knew had been exposed to the disease; wouldn't you know it,
the disease soon showed up in wild trout in Colorado and other states. Now
of a quick laugh, but there is a whirling disease in trout. The poor little
guys just swim around and around in a circle until they die. And it's all our
fault for genetically engineering them and raising them by the thousands in
afflicted fish I may have offended, and to those who love to kill
disclose all campaign contributions on his Web site; he will not let major
contributors post saucy photographs of themselves on a page called the
spraying for, praying for, howling at the moon and baying for. (Look for
to the post office, the employees gather round: "They say, 'Boy, that's neat!'
postal service, but--33 cents! Anywhere in the country! In just a few days! And
you don't even have to lick the stamps anymore, which frankly, for that one
seem to make up an increasing proportion of our stamps, along with
noncontroversial nature and beloved pop culture figures. Coincidentally, these
three categories describe most of the programs on public television lately.
joint venture is possible: The post office can issue stamps that promote the
nationwide availability of stamps that can be downloaded from the Internet. For
print out a special bar code, the first new method of supplying stamps since
he noticed a poorly wired fuse box: "It looks as though it was put in by an
the natives off the booze long enough to get them past the test?"
it has got four legs and it's not a chair, if it has got two wings and it is
comments more interesting than your earlier ones, mainly because you
fear, it often seems to me, of their own latent homosexuality.)
that his inclusion of porn cutouts in the painting brands him as a rude
guy, I shouldn't have to tell you that virgins are sexy.
breasts and erect cucumber. It manages to be both cultivated and raw at the
same time, which is basically what I look for in any work of art. The piece
anus, and when I saw it, I thought to myself, "That's the story of my life.
Half head, half asshole." Or, to be more elegant here (in keeping with the
spirit of your own mandarin replies), you might say that the piece subverts the
tradition of staged photography, blasting a hole through the cold, calculating
probably the last show in New York to cause this level of commotion, had its
share of duds as well. Let's concentrate on the artists we like. There are lots
show that captures so forcefully the particular feeling of being alive in the
tremors rippling through Turkey's political and social world, triggering a
government will be brought down by the crisis, the paper says it could lead to
"the grassroots development of Turkey's fragile democracy. The thousands of
volunteers who poured into the earthquake zone will not easily forget the power
economy up and running, not under the leadership of the United States but this
previously announced. A statement issued by the group declared, "To
unilaterally stop the war at this time of heavy disaster is the greatest
"Becoming independent may end their oppression; it will not end their troubles.
In fact, it may only make those troubles worse." He added, "The independent
are being asked to approve or reject a presidential reconciliation effort that
offers amnesty to people convicted of actively supporting violence as long as
primary causes of popular discontent and strife, namely, economic mismanagement
which has led to a high unemployment rate and declining living standards."
hostages could be aimed at getting a ransom as well as weapons, water and
leader of the Congress Party is now accessible "with a vengeance." Stung by
accusations that it has fallen behind in the online competition, Congress' main
discourse and will have a site up and running soon.
military "seems ever closer to being out of control" and that its behavior in
but rather several, held in loose, often hostile connection to each other."
soothe its wounded pride by "admitting that the West has been cavalier in its
treatment of the former superpower and that it now has to be given a seat at
Right, the Daily Telegraph criticized the United States for being too
do so," the paper said. "Trusting them with that task prolonged the air
invasion and seeking a solution to the crisis within the unusual context of the
New Yorker --ideally, half of those under my editorship." Confessing to
authoritative and prestigious weekly on the planet" because "when you're the
best in your field, it's inevitable that sooner or later you become
rejected a suggestion that The New Yorker was "elitist," saying that the
if brilliant, undertaking." Asked if he agreed that the quality of the world's
Investing in quality has and always will have a place in the market. Despite
our deficit, nobody tells me what to publish and what not to publish. And do
you know why? In a world of fast food, there will always be room for a
constitutional arrangements in his address to the nation, cited reports that
before the nation was told the outcome of the coup attempt may have been caused
constitutional way to remove him. In a profile of the country's new leader,
seizure of power, or even to characterize it as a coup, apparently because it
be laid squarely with the Prime Minister himself," it said in an editorial.
"Seldom has a politician so frivolously squandered the goodwill that originally
blow to those who hope for peace in the subcontinent."
immediate, direct and absolute control of the military," said the risk was "not
may feel more confident about flexing their conventional military muscles in
and indefensible way. He must not be allowed to compound that with
with a military regime but, more worryingly, with the possibility of the
continue to make family planning "a fundamental state policy." Meanwhile,
homosexuality, and it did so in awarding damages for psychological damage to a
court ruled that the man had suffered "depression and psychological pain" and
damage to his reputation by being described as gay. The author of the book,
Fang Dang, said he might appeal. "It is for doctors, not judges, to say if
homosexuality is abnormal," he commented. "The court says that it is considered
by the US State Department for its routine denial of access to lawyers and
Internet is going to become the new campaign battleground, then a lot of
individual political activity online, such as posting a message urging people
to vote for a particular candidate, be considered free speech or a campaign
links between political Web sites be considered informational, or should
campaigns have to put a monetary value on a link and include it in federal
for political Web sites to stem the growth of counterfeit or unauthorized
lawyers, federal regulators, Internet political consultants, academics,
journalists (including this writer), and others to devise recommendations to
help Congress and the Federal Election Commission revise laws for Internet
Internet is sort of the new town hall. Citizens can speak their minds and talk
conference participant and former White House adviser who now heads the
regulations exist to safeguard against abuses and fraud. The question is how to
do that effectively on the Net. My position on all of these issues is to make
sure we don't intervene until we see more maturity in the marketplace."
think tank's panel agreed, recommending that political activity on the Internet
be promoted, "absent specific intent to use the Internet to circumvent the
law." The group also proposed that candidates and party committees be allowed
to link their Web sites to others without considering the links contributions
or expenditures. In addition, some groups prohibited from making direct
contributions in federal elections, namely corporations and unions, should be
allowed to link to candidate Web sites as long as the links are bipartisan.
additional provisions would look at proposals to stem the growth of
unauthorized Web sites that purport to belong to a candidate and would require
periodic review of regulations to judge their impact on the use of the Internet
Aspen Institute's conference presages an inquiry by the FEC, which could come
the docket: how the Internet fits with current regulations regarding political
action committees, corporations, unions, and individuals who want to express
advocacy of a candidate or an issue online. At press time, the FEC was
finalizing a 27-page draft proposal outlining the specific issues that the
needed to have a generic inquiry as opposed to addressing one aspect at a
a Democrat who was also at the conference, noted that the Federal Election
Circuit: "The courts are saying 'We'll just have a local option on the
ordinary scorn of neighbor vs. neighbor, more than urban vs. rural. Most of our
jibes work a rich vein of educated vs. uneducated, which is another way of
saying rich vs. poor. It's class warfare played out as a barnyard bestiality
joke. What those dumb hicks really lack is the wherewithal for a fine
Southern japes that has inverted its class associations. Several centuries ago,
incestuous liaisons were for the aristocracy, now they're farmyard fun. In the
former case, incest was a symptom of decadence, in the latter it's just rural
isolation and the lack of dating opportunities. Them folks don't need loftier
as long as they don't actively proselytize, and as long as school personnel
decision, allowing students to use state facilities to foster religion,
fish ranks probably first in importance. Its popularity was due principally to
chi theta upsilon sigma). Lately there have been stickers in which the fish has
discovers to its dismay that its name is already taken, part of the speculative
frenzy in domain names. In that case, they can either buy the name from its
to the examples above, of a domain name that is already taken along with an
prominently reporting the government's admission that it reacted too slowly and
that there wasn't enough staff at the site to handle the crisis. In one report,
plant heard on television they had been told to stay indoors when in fact they
had received no instructions whatsoever. When they telephoned local government
offices in a panic, asking to be checked for radiation in the homes they had
been ordered not to leave, they were told the checks were being done only at
In another story, the paper said the disaster would deal "a serious blow" to
accident and lacked automatic controls over the flow of nuclear fuel. In an
been exposed to such radiation from a nuclear facility. Calling for an
exhaustive inquiry, the paper said, "The future of the nation's nuclear energy
program now rests in large measure on how the government responds."
the certainty that it's enough to obey one's mother and one's superiors for
everything to turn out all right. It crushes the heart of someone who knows
Japan a little and loves it a lot to see technicians and workers from the
reaction, bowing and apologizing for their betrayal of their company, like the
said China has changed beyond recognition over the past
status." But the paper deplored the country's continuing "intolerance of
massacre "it will be hard for China to take its place among the ranks of the
world's great nations." Calling for political reform and free elections, the
paper said: "Standing still is not an option. China has achieved much in recent
years. The challenge now for the leadership is to build on these achievements
and prove that it can win a popular mandate through the ballot box."
Airdrops to refugees were cancelled after these incidents, and the United
Nations has started taking food into remote regions by road, the paper
animals, all of them looking like the leftovers from dinner. Searching for
chancellor on the grounds that he is a "bigot and racist." He caused outrage
during a factory visit last August when he said that a defective fuse box "must
pleasure of his company, if only for a few, seemingly fleeting moments, will
magazine in a swank Fifth Avenue apartment. It was the sort of apartment he
could have lived in, if he'd wanted to, but he chose to make his home in the
tailored suits. I made eye contact and smiled. I thought I saw the flicker of a
responsive grin cross his face. He wheeled around, turning his back to me, and
started to talk to someone on the other side of the room, a malnourished blond
woman who had been trying to get his attention. I instantly recognized this as
disciplined him to show such natural grace and reticence, coupled with the
noblesse oblige to talk to those you might otherwise prefer to
relationship stabilized. We dined frequently in New York, albeit in different
restaurants and with different people. We went to concerts and movies. One
encounter was especially evocative, I think, of the sort of man he was. One
afternoon, I was Rollerblading in Central Park when I spotted him. He was
blading a few yards away, lean and handsome as ever, wearing the tank top and
him when he saw me. Almost immediately, he sped ahead. With his long powerful
strides, in no time at all he was a football field in front of me. He looked
He was challenging me to catch him! I tried, panting and sweating. His
on people! But for an unfortunate encounter with an incompetent sorbet peddler,
I had a chance to make light of the incident when I next
door opened, and there he was. It was just like John to use the common elevator
rappelling up the side of the building, all of which, I knew, he could have
chosen. Instead, he was here, in an elevator, with me.
a long time, I immediately burst out my greetings, perhaps a bit too
enthusiastically. I added a few suggestions for the future editorial direction
he wanted to call me by my name but was afraid that would hurt the feelings of
the others in the elevator who perhaps didn't know him so well. One often had
this sense when talking to John, this sense of reserve, of intimacies
asked: "Who are you? Do I know you?" I was stunned by the philosophical
depth of his questions. In a few seconds, he had penetrated to the core of my
identity, indeed to the very question of identity. Who was I? Was it ever
since. And to think there are some who say his good looks made up for a lack of
years. I would run into him. He might say something insightful, or boisterous,
like the time he jokingly yelled, "Are you insane?" when I came up behind him
as he was using an ATM machine. But despite the warmth of our friendship, there
were clear limits, boundaries to our relationship that we both recognized. He
never took me sailing with him, for example, or included me in his intimate
family outings. Ultimately, there was no getting around the fact that I was a
mentioned my acquaintance with John, asked me to write a short piece about one
of his mother's book projects. I agonized about it for several long minutes.
Was I only getting this assignment because of my connection with John? Would I
be guilty of cashing in on our relationship? Would John feel I was betraying
John's mother? Ultimately, I decided to write the piece, and a few details
gulf grew between us. It was a deeply saddening time.
tragic to me because our relationship can now never be healed. But I will
always deeply treasure the mementos of our friendship he left with me. There is
put his own name on. (He must have kept the original, however, because what I
have looks like a duplicate.) And I still have a copy of the restraining order
he obtained when I attempted, in an excess of neighborly zeal, to climb the
fire escape in the loft next to his in that gritty industrial area he called
home. Characteristically, he didn't sign it, or even add one of his famous
cheery little messages. Such was the man. I will miss him.
ambivalence, for situations in which no character has a monopoly on either
rightness or wrongness. The characters are all right. Or, rather, they're all
wrong. No, they aren't: Right and wrong don't comfortably apply. They try to
act as if they're right but suggest by their behavior that they might well be
different directions; the least trustworthy people are the ones who seem most
humiliations and drifting into a second career as a panderer. Nevertheless, he
tells himself that his life has a kind of integrity.
reviled for the decadent culture that he embodies; at work, he's treated as a
tensions give it a comic tingle, but that comedy is rooted in melancholy and
confidence in his own foolishness: He's proud of how he grasps for status. In
the movie's prologue, he can hardly contain his delight that his son is set to
marry the daughter of the local chief inspector, a man whose revulsion for this
out of this Birdcage opening, but he has already mined that vein in his
and how the world regards him is heartbreaking. He's in for the comeuppance of
is wrong, the son's way is dangerously out of touch: It condemns before it
capitalism's rules, trying to get a foothold in a society that closely guards
what she is have no connection; she does what she does to get by. The
lack of appreciation fully justifies his drift into the arms of another lover.
on the eve of his abandonment of his wife and two small sons for a younger
fairly breathtaking; he really does need more characters, more checks on the
sat on it for a couple of years, reportedly debating whether to alter its
irresolute ending. It's shocking that the company would even consider such a
hopelessness is the kind that leaves you exhilarated, convinced that even if
the characters on screen haven't found a "right" way, the quest for a right way
Critics of all persuasions have been beating their breasts
movie is a collision between inspiration and tastelessness, between the
about the way the gorillas talk. I know, animals have spoken English in
they've done it in a story in which language is a central theme. The daft charm
same piquancy when the gorillas talk like characters from Leave It to
when they stop to chat. He's a likable schnook with a long, skinny chin and a
proper English maidenhood straining to burst its corsets and grab a piece of
dream of selling dirty books, is stocking its register display this week with
Nature on the Rampage 's cover promises "Hurricanes, Droughts, Wildfires,
Tornadoes, Floods, Heat Waves, Blizzards. Also Volcanoes, Earthquakes,
arouse even the most jaded weather fetishist. Did you know that several
through the phone line, and electrocutes them as they are making a call? Tip:
have followed all this obsessively, with weather Web sites reporting record
With all this talk of upheaval ("Nature's Bedlam," as
Nature on the Rampage likes to call it), you'd think we were suffering a
droughts, and the like. It's true that the United States, with its endless
coastline, vast climatic variation, massive fault lines, and dozens of active
volcanoes, is exposed to more than its share of Mother Nature's fury. But the
number of natural "events" nationwide and worldwide remains constant. (Some
meteorologists speculate that we are entering a busy hurricane cycle, but the
to Mother Nature's rage in part because more people are in its way. According
Earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes endanger millions more. Because property
follows people, natural disasters have become more destructive: A storm that
According to the National Science Foundation, natural disasters now cause about
It's no accident that anxiety about nature is surging
during a time of domestic tranquility and (relative) world peace. Weather is a
form of war, God's conflict with man. Weather is defined by martial
is full of meteorological metaphors: a "hail" of bullets, the "fog" of battle.)
Everyone needs an enemy. It's easy to understand why we replace vanishing
Mafiosi and Commies with asteroids, hurricanes, and volcanoes. Natural disaster
Christian millennial Web pages find biblical significance in every blizzard or
murderous jungle viruses this way: "The Earth is mounting an immune response
regulate the atmosphere in order to ensure favorable conditions for life, also
those who obey the rules, but [is] ruthless in her destruction of those who
transgress. Her goal is a planet fit for life. If humans stand in the way of
But the most important reason why Mother Nature seems more
powerful these days is the media. The ascendance of the Weather Channel, the
piece on the weather Web) have turned weather into national
entertainment. We can (and do) view weather satellite photos of any spot on
Earth with a click, hear forecasts 24/seven, and watch live footage of weather
disasters on television. There is an endless appetite for weather. It is more
important than sports, more dramatic than the news, and always changing.
obsession partly because we can now do something about the weather, not
hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards. These warnings undoubtedly save
lives: Natural disasters may cause more property damage in the United States,
The blanket coverage of Mother Nature exacts a price:
weather fatigue. The more she's covered, the less people care about her, and
The final reason for our Mother Nature obsession is
choppers in for commiseration and photo ops. The woebegone victims congratulate
themselves for their fortitude. The National Guard is called out to do whatever
it does (guard?). Congress busts the budget caps to protect the poor sodden
folk. Then the victims bank the cash and return to their flood plain or tornado
alley. Economists call this moral hazard. Politicians call it constituent
service. In the end, it seems, Mother Nature is just another welfare mom,
ruining homes and taking billions of tax dollars to do it.
sisters have inspired myriad debates over the safety of private planes, as well
prevent people from taking the sort of risks they think makes life worth
year encouraging the risky business of private air travel?
private plane crashes in the United States last year, but only one died on an
government largess, the United States has more private pilots and aircraft than
in air traffic control costs on the Federal Aviation Administration, but the
general aviation airports to pay for construction and improvement and has given
smaller ones that cater almost exclusively to private fliers.
When planes go down, the federal government conducts costly
missing aircraft are undertaken by the federal government each year, nearly all
they involve a fatality or not, require a costly National Transportation Safety
but the agency doesn't detail its costs. The Air Force's Civil Air Patrol also
general aviation include easy access to airports. Commercial passengers
frequently find themselves trapped in holding patterns over the nation's
biggest and busiest airports as corporate turboprops carrying a few people
land. Increased landing fees and less generous treatment have reduced general
aviation traffic at big hubs in recent years, but they haven't eliminated it.
All those corporate planes highlight another reality, which
is that general aviation benefits from the abuse of the business tax deduction.
Deep in their hearts, the captains of industry know that corporate jets are a
Legal fees and photocopying expenses, of course, are just as deductible as the
cost of owning and flying a private plane. So why doesn't anyone worry about
their being abused? Because traveling on a cushy corporate jet, quite unlike
consulting with attorneys, inevitably involves a large component of personal
The extra expense required to avoid the sweaty traveling public may yield
a third of the cost, top managers may find the perk too tempting to resist.
private aviation. But like most of his fellow fliers, he had the resources to
finance his pricey hobby without imposing so much on earthbound mortals. While
should be pondering another question: Why were the rest of us paying him to do
Here is a sampling of improbable movie moments from
gargantuan crocodile inexplicably migrates from its tropical habitat to set up
the woods by a furry witch, never stops filming and videotaping themselves even
as they are supposedly jumping out of their skins with terror; the search for
with brains so enhanced they are able to apply the principles of hydraulic
engineering to their deadly advantage, to say nothing of operating commercial
sophisticated Upper West Side woman in New York who would fall for a line like
that are about as remote as encountering a singing possum in your basement, but
why is she drunk? There is no motivation behind her furious
determination to get soused at this party; in fact, Eyes Wide Shut seems
Shut for weeks, its reality problems are so severe that I have decided to
call myself in as a specialist. Let me state at the outset that I am not one to
(never once have I complained about the majestic incomprehensibility of
be made that Eyes Wide Shut is a masterpiece of dreamy and purposeful
distortion. But after sitting through it twice, I must report that the stronger
nocturnal prowl, perturbed by his wife's needling confession that she once had
a sexual fantasy about a naval officer she saw in a hotel lobby. Walking the
is accosted by a gang of yahoos who harass him for being a "faggot." Huh?
There's no discernible reason why they should suspect him of, as they put it,
on the next block has no such impression when she invites him into her
charmingly messy apartment. "Don't worry," she says, "I don't keep track of the
prostitute's apartment that forms the bewildering centerpiece of Eyes Wide
to an exclusive orgy, one that requires a password and must be attended in
proprietor of a surreal costume shop and then takes a cab to a wooded estate.
Upon uttering the password his friend has revealed to him, he is escorted into
a mansion where some sort of high priest dressed in red is swinging incense and
rapping a staff on the marble floor as lugubrious choral music drones on in the
background. The priest is surrounded by a circle of masked women, who, upon his
command, doff their cloaks, kneel reverentially for a while longer in their
and whose faces are hidden under studiously grotesque masks.
wolf. But how does she recognize him here? In his mask and hood he's
danger," she persists as he escorts her down a hallway. When he asks why she is
telling him this, she responds, "It doesn't matter," and when he asks who she
Soon this unknown woman is called away on other business,
weary disinterest they observe isolated tableaux of coupling humans and, when
their frenzy reaches a crescendo, they engage in joyless ballroom dancing.
at an impromptu tribunal, he is ordered to take off his clothes.
reappearing on the balcony above them. "Take me! I am ready to redeem him!"
presumably to be killed. Why is she sacrificing her life? All they've asked him
to do is remove his clothes at an orgy, which seems not unreasonable.
warning: "If you make any further inquiries, there will be the most dire
the city, obtaining information by flashing his medical license to waitresses
speak to him under penalty of law. The "dire consequences" spoken of earlier
amount to the following: a brusquely worded note, a rude stare from a stranger,
again, has discovered lying dead from an overdose in a mortuary drawer. But why
would they go to such extreme lengths to cover up their romps in the first
place? They don't appear to be doing anything particularly illegal, and with
their liturgical solemnity they seem far less a threat to the Republic than,
discover the missing mask on the bed next to his sleeping wife. Who put it
late into the night, just as we once endlessly pondered the meaning of the
eagerness to return to his country as a constitutional monarch. He criticized
of the student revolt against the ayatollahs. He called on the West to support
"faith in secularism, the separation of religion and the state." He hopes that
in an editorial that the uprising was reminiscent of the student revolt in
followed by a harsh crackdown on free debate and freedom of expression," the
through institutional politics, not the politics of the street. It would be
dictate the pace at which he should implement his reform program."
widespread civil strife can be avoided is "by the conservative forces realizing
being toppled, but that if it were overthrown, it would have enormous
implications for the entire Middle East. One defense source said, "We can only
to do so before the ayatollahs get their hands on strategic weapons that could
Middle East in a "revolutionary" manner and might already have an impact on his
intending to commit himself to any timetables on the Middle East peace process,
but it added: "The sense that there is no rush is something of a facade. In
was unclear what he hoped to accomplish by ending his one China policy, the
paper commented in an editorial that what he had done was "weaken the
two decades or more, and which has kept them essentially peaceful." It said it
hoped that the two countries (or bits of the same country) "may yet find ways
of maintaining the useful imprecision of recent years."
missing an excellent opportunity to attack his leading Democratic opponent Al
team is defensively and guiltily struggling to ignore the world's largest
country, and top US officials disingenuously profess not to be worried by the
gesture at the West." But Bush "so far does not seem to have the stomach for
reckless willingness to hinder global security for partisan pleasure.
speaker." When he was a congressman, the New York Republican invited lobbyists
we are exiting the "Me Millennium." Over the past thousand years, humanism,
science, and the advance of capitalism have conspired to displace the worship
monogamy is unique in its absence of commitments. This uncharted period of
freedom teaches "loopy, chattering disconnected I 's" about the emptiness
was seeking revenge for the attention Ted got from their parents. The author
newsweeklies' Gen Y obsession continues with a cover
nor the rest of the world will pay to keep the plants safe or to close them.
Ultimately, the threat of nuclear combat eased the risk of hot war, and
article says the enclosed mall is declining. Shoppers are
moving from suburbs to urban centers and buying online or from big discount
chains. A sure sign that the mall is outmoded: They just tore down the shopping
to recruits as a halfway house for the best of the brightest. The
captures "the contradictory man" he calls dad. Disclaimer: Junior admits a
abortion. Gore staunchly opposed abortion and federal funding for it when he
was a House member in the '70s and early '80s but reversed himself once he
him refreshingly honest, though only slightly less nutty than the rest of his
analyst.) He can't control the Reformers and doesn't know which of their wackos
physical comedy" is an intelligent, introspective lone wolf and a thinking
special report applauds the rising incomes of the poor. After losing ground for
arbitrarily denied food stamps, child care, and transitional Medicaid. Rather
than easing the transition from welfare to work, states hoard block grants and
program to root out illegal immigrant labor. Operation Vanguard subpoenas
personnel records and uses the information to target workers for deportation.
The piece argues that the operation is deviously designed to lower wages.
absence of any major international story to dominate the press, newspapers
describing its effects as a "massacre." Both papers quoted the pope as
herself said that during her last six months at The New Yorker she had
"begun to miss the theatricality of photography, to be able to use pictures in
ways that were really free and uninhibited" and that she "wanted to create a
new form for a magazine without the institutional history of any publication
piece described the first issue of Talk as more closely resembling "a
Vanity Fair retread." Brown said Talk was printed on thin paper
"Brown wants to give Talk the feel of the best 1950s magazines, such as
have all been widely admired, but it is a long time since they were considered
insisted on sitting in on their conversation but that Brown subsequently
On the hostility she was said to have generated, Brown said: "The dogs bark and
the caravan moves on, right? That's just life at the top of the media world."
Brown acknowledged a link between her departure from The New Yorker last
telling me that I didn't have enough fun. I think she was right and I just felt
this job would be tremendous fun." What if Talk fails? "It won't," Brown
said. "Already the commercial signs are such that it won't." Asked where she
foundation will announce a number of new funding programs during the next three
months that will go a long way toward its ultimate aim of becoming the largest
private charity on Earth. "My son is going to have critics all his life because
rest any criticism on the basis of his not being sufficiently generous. We've
used by research hospitals to help find a cure for the disease. Her widower,
be given to science. "We were both happy about it in the days when she could be
sometimes takes her out to meals in fashionable restaurants and in whom she
I can grant the dysfunction of our politicians over
is being uncharacteristically soft on what is, after all, a marked instance of
independent scholars, in addition to the editor of the journal, felt that the
article included both legitimate empirical research and a reasonable
theoretical construct. In the second place, if, as you seem to suggest in your
mean nothing, and clearly won't be taken seriously, isn't that a striking
publishes to be taken seriously, the association should take criticisms of
study, noting the association's long record of fighting pedophilia and
insisting that the article does not mitigate the illegality and immorality of
irrelevant in assessing the meaning and claims of the target article. Critics
of the article want to talk about what the article actually says, not about the
of it are no longer thought of as constituting abuse is simply a mistake, then
do so is a major factor in motivating ongoing concern about the article.
legislature, are unintentionally "bribing people to go early" in order to save
that is employed in determining which medical treatments will be covered.
Specifically, it is not mentioned in the piece how preventable ailments receive
reader to believe that this list was arbitrarily constructed. Nothing could be
cathedral. A little checking might persuade you that these buildings were by no
means the norm in the long lost Golden Age of public construction. By
definition, you know of them because they survived. A much larger number of
cities were abandoned tomorrow, would the survival rate of our public buildings
be better or worse? I am not as certain as you are.
stereotypes you pointed out and agree with you to a point, I didn't pay
attention to them until you brought it up. I have always felt that racism would
eventually disappear if people like you would just drop it instead of making an
months of dullness, the Democratic presidential primary now looks like a
Normally, presidential candidates try to build on momentum created in the "free
splashed across the Web. One virtue of virtual ads, said political and
ads can be more compelling than print or radio spots. Moreover, because the Net
is a distinct medium, candidates could experiment online with targeted ads that
far, though, that's all theoretical: As well as can be determined, no major
for all presidential advertising in this race. "We've seen nothing to date,"
far as I know, we have not purchased space on any Web sites, whether they are
associated with the papers running the ads in print version, or otherwise."
campaigns seem to be clinging to more traditional promotional channels. "I
don't think [the candidates] will start [Web] advertising until after the
is also the likelihood that some may not advertise on the Web at all."
source close to Al Gore's campaign said that the Gore organization had
campaign's online messages with its offline messages.
press aide said that the campaign is interested in online advertising, citing
Internet availability of the audio of Gore's announcement speech. Any further
details, he said, were "not something we're willing to talk about at this time.
We tend not to talk about our advertising strategy until we do the ads, because
anniversary argues that the hardest part of its economic liberalization is to
come. China can only save itself from its current stagnation by fixing its
banking system, addressing environmental hazards, controlling government debt,
jobs, while uneducated blacks suffer from high unemployment and poor public
in an economic tailspin, drug violence is rampant, the army patrols the
college tuition in return for a commitment to teach after graduation. A similar
want to see the temple rebuilt, and seething sheiks who will wage war before
banal" cultural "yahoo." He was "miserably blocked" until he thought of
c over story rehashes the conventional wisdom about
not bode well for his capacity to shepherd big ideas through Congress.
feebly pushes secularism: It just inaugurated an annual Hero of Atheism
exhibitions for profit, and auction film rights. Archaeologists argue that
offenders were raised by mothers who were arrested or incarcerated. Many of
those mothers were casualties of the '80s crack epidemic.
article argues that patients have too much control over their treatment.
Doctors used to dictate treatment, but in the past decade the pendulum has
swung too far toward patient autonomy. Physicians should inform patients of
their options but step in when patients make bad choices or are too distressed
"collaborative filtering" as a substitute for the independent bookseller. You
enter your preferences and a software programs spits out the favorites of folks
who share your interests. This "doppelganger search engine" will help sleeper
revolution. Grassroots movements fund raise, recruit, and plan mass protests
article concludes that courts cannot be counted on to end racial profiling.
Judges have upheld traffic stops that are mere pretexts for searches and
erected evidentiary boundaries to ending profiling. Only political action will
cover story earnestly deconstructs pro wrestling, mourning it as evidence of
relativism. The popularity of narcissist wrestler Hulk Hogan presaged the
force in international affairs is illegitimate unless authorized by the
An anniversary passed strangely and happily without
notice this week: Six months ago, the president was impeached. During the
Flytrap hullabaloo, commentators promised that the country would spend years
pondering the meaning of this impeachment. They could not have been more wrong.
It's been half a year since impeachment and four months since acquittal, but it
have been talking to say they haven't thought about it at all. They had an
active desire to rid their memory of it. The level of traumatic amnesia is
Flytrap followed the increasingly typical pattern of the
modern media event. It was exaggerated beyond reason while it was unfolding.
supplanted by the next big thing. (See also: the Gulf War. Supposedly the
forgotten, but it's not gone. It lingers sourly but not in quite the ways
anyone expected. There were two consensus predictions about how Flytrap would
ratings remain high, and he has been able to prosecute a war almost
immediately after the trial, but Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
centerpiece of Democratic House campaigns. "People are not so focused on
say, 'Aha, he was for impeachment,' and vote against him," says Democratic
Impeachment continues to distort politics, but not as
itself. It is Masked Impeachment, Sublimated Impeachment. The House
Republicans, seething with rage at the lech in chief, are the most potent
principle. "The House Republican effort to undermine the war was a continuation
impeachment blocks bipartisan cooperation. Republicans and Democrats on the
furious at the House's indictment of him, doesn't work with House Republicans.
happy to stall major legislation. (Impeachment, of course, is hardly the sole
cause of paralysis. Some Republicans are content to delay big legislation till
thin and fractured that passing contentious legislation was almost certainly
Impeachment has also frozen the Senate but for a less
Senate lost the first two months of its current session to the trial. This
Impeachment so haunts Gore that he has designed his entire
campaign around neutralizing it. Had Flytrap never occurred, Gore surely would
values and personal morality at the heart of his platform, and the first act of
his campaign was to schedule a series of interviews in which he denounced
national strategy. Party leaders have anointed Bush because he is mercifully
disconnected from Flytrap. In Bush, they have a candidate who can preach the
winning message of Flytrap (morality good, lechery bad) but isn't associated
with the screeching House impeachers who are so unpopular nationwide.
of their strategy, will imply and suggest and insinuate. Republicans will hint
at Democratic immorality, Democrats will poke at Republican obsessive
nuttiness. The points will be scored obliquely, but almost no one will risk the
as they inevitably do, what they really mean, of course, is their "monologue at
it is a sales pitch. (The candidate's idea of give and take is you give, I
"national conversation" requires actual discussion. There are plenty of Web
kvetch, or just plain gossip about the presidential campaign? Where can you
bulletin boards, but other heated campaign confabs can be found at
and almost all are uncivil. (Conservatives are the clear champions: A thread
"Democrats believe in raping their own daughters.") But the intimacy of the
newsgroups frequently borders on claustrophobia. You'll see the same names and
Gore's campaign end by denouncing the "Vice Criminal" and the "First
off into conspiracy land. Salon also has lively campaign chat in its
section: It tends to be more conversational but less focused than The Fray (he
portal sites are trying to grab a share of the campaign palaver, too. Yahoo!
hosts several dozen political discussion "clubs." Most claim only a handful of
are chockablock with political bulletin boards, though they too are tepid.
otherwise abundant political sites such as Political Junkie don't
embrace conversation. Only Primary Diner has a forum worthy of the name. I learned more
proudly conservative, except when it comes to intellectual property law. They
presidential candidates are beginning to acknowledge all this online campaign
talk, if only halfheartedly. Most of them have participated in live chats at
response. It's too bad the candidates' lone exposure to Internet talk is so
not important who asked the question. While framing questions in a way to draw
out, it's still the answer that matters. And while reporters (print and
electronic) talking on television often talk about themselves and how they
developed a story, in the newspaper itself it's the story that matters. There
advertise our authorship of questions would make it worse.
reasonable ground that he wanted to leave them out of the campaign. But as
Bush did it for him, and said baby boomer parents should tell their children
make no apology because it corresponds with an obvious reality: "And if a child
quoted and characterized as "awkward," was: "I think the baby boomer parent
careful reporter gives the reader enough context to put each quote in
perspective and to understand how the events of the day were shaped. Why
doesn't this rule apply to your questioning of Bush?
the press that day about tax cuts and religious charities. Instead, reporters
asked him about issues arising from the controversy over his alleged drug abuse
Bloom, and the other reporters on hand chose the topic. That's a major reason
institutions" ended up buried at the bottom. In that sense, you helped drive
the story. If you don't report this fact, aren't you omitting information that
the reader needs in order to understand the persistence of the drug
question." But if a protester had shouted your question at Bush, would you have
reported who asked the question? If so, why not follow the same practice when
about themselves, and I don't propose that we print our names every time we ask
a question. Usually, as you know, the choice of topic is fairly obvious. But
isn't there some point at which the media's choice of topic can become so
controversial and so determinative of the course of the campaign that the
drugs, and what other parents should tell their kids. Of course, we both know
that the implicit background to these questions was the rumors of Bush's own
drug abuse, and in that sense, this larger topic was what your question and the
(except perhaps for pointed contrast), because the obvious hook for these
So much so that it was unsafe to leave him alone with sharp objects. Doesn't
would have created a valuable alliance, in favor of a commoner. He married her
without notifying anyone in his court. This shortsightedness caused his chief
the throne for a time. It was only with the aid of his brother, the eventual
biggest joke of all. Henry won one battle and, fortunately for him, killed
of foreign troops, because they were tired of civil war, not out of any love
for Henry. The fact that Henry killed off all the York heirs and blamed some of
VIII, become the most powerful and autocratic of all English rulers.
matter how heavy the cares of the day, your witty responses evoke hearty
laughter in most instances, and thus a lighter spirit. You are positively a
really, because I already am. But really, the was stellar. Oh well, if we're
not destined for matrimony in this lifetime, perhaps circumstances will someday
allow me to buy you a beer or Dr Pepper or something. Your job must be fun, and
tear her hair out every day dealing with the petty moral dilemmas your clueless
contemplate the possibilities for chaos in the human condition, then question
older by the minute and one day soon you will be looking at men as old as Bob
agreement, along with bemusement. I believe the most unsettling image currently
don't believe children should be allowed to view this ad. The craggy old
pervert is just plain scary, particularly when he smiles that
to say that they applauded the former senator's forthright approach to a real
problem. The following writer, however, was not one of them.
head if she expects to be elected president. I am so sick of his whining and
sniveling over his ED. You know, there are a lot of single women and widows in
this country who manage to stay happy without the constant focus on erections.
change the subject, though to stay in the moment, the next letter is political,
Neanderthal Jerry Springer having contemplated running for the Senate? (The
Senate!) I was shocked that such a thing could even be a possibility. I share
simply because of name recognition. There is precedent, however, and it is
qualifications aside from being merely appealing and the son of a president.
one on television. We are seemingly suckers for "charisma" and exercising an
organization drops off the cover of Vanity Fair or People or the
bronze suntan hungry for a thick steak with a fried egg on top and a cigarette
to settle the digestion! Is that a reactionary bastion, a pathetic anachronism,
or something truer, something with enough confidence to survive without media
I admit that when a drum and bugle corps marches by playing the Star
Wars theme, I get a lump in my throat. Then I vomit into the gutter, and
and houses that are the quaint relics. But there is a relic and, by God, it had
current mission is to teach career development, community service, leadership,
as welcome a development as the renewal of bald eagle hunting. Impressively
magazine itself. But judging by the mailer, Talk will be good, not bad;
exciting, not dull; the sort of thing people are interested in, rather than
different. Refreshingly provocative" Reversing these duos would have given a
whole other impression. "Differently interesting" sounds like naked pictures of
someone in a wheelchair; "Provocatively Refreshing" implies an overly
time to correct this before the first issue "closes."
involves some animal (a pig? a monkey?) wearing a crown and a velvet cape.
"You'll discover the extraordinary side of the ordinary and the usual side of
see. But I can't wait! Or see! My eyes! My eyes! I joke. It's my quick and
"Only a select few will receive this exclusive invitation. Why you? Because
sophistication that matches our own, and a quick and agile wit. Someone who is
quotations that sound dirty and adolescent enough to be dialogue in his future
are preferred. Perhaps this example will stimulate a response, if you know what
paper left behind might be useful in establishing a "paper chain" between
suspects' picked up," the official said. "It tells us a lot about how much
return to civilian life in the province. "To backpedal in any way would result
in more demands from all sides for more renegotiation, put the deal as a whole
in jeopardy, and must not be countenanced," it said.
possible future leader of the province, said it reached him by telephone and
was told that he is fine and will soon be coming out of hiding. The
capacity as president of Green Cross International, a nongovernmental
radiation levels are quite low, he said, "the internal radiation source damages
various types of cells in the human body, destroys chromosomes and affects the
stations and of some chemical and petrochemical plants to be prohibited by
international law. "The human drama and the drama of nature should be of equal
distracting leaders from urgent matters and perverts the purpose of these
endorsing this charter [for lifelong learning] they will make the summit seem
more relevant to people's lives. Yet few voters are likely to be impressed by a
wedge of motherhood and apple pie, served with a topping of Third Way
free abortions within the first three months of pregnancy, provided they have
first discussed their situations with a group of consultants comprising social
workers, psychologists, doctors, and representatives of the churches. Of the
"outspoken" letter to the German Bishops' Conference, the gist of which was
church to stop participating in the state consultancy system. The paper said he
turned against the fizzy drink." The company is suffering from "a credibility
page included an expos of the famous French underwater explorer, Commander
Marseilles, complaining about the lack of decent accommodation. "There won't be
After making her way through this month's tabloids,
Keeping Tabs feels as though she's been stuck in a bit of a time warp. The
tabs, suffering from an overload of nostalgia, read like magazines one might
Show is, in fact, no longer on the air, Keeping Tabs perused the
The Globe also reports that Lee "Bionic Man" Majors is set to return to
financial straits that she's had to cut back her gardener's visits from five to
three times a week. And the Star couldn't refrain from running a truly
years, the tabs seem uncommonly fixated on looking backward. The
chronicling celebrity style makeovers over the years, while this week's
White was a very cute baby indeed. And Keeping Tabs is pretty sure she had the
With so much photographic evidence on hand, it's only
natural that there's much discussion about who's had plastic surgery. The tabs'
short answer: pretty much everybody. The Globe has the requisite doctor
"skin is pulled back so tightly he looks like a lizard."
and the Globe report that the first lady, "wearing dark sunglasses and a
navy blue pantsuit," was seen visiting the offices of a Park Avenue plastic
surgeon, while the Enquirer insists that no consultations were done in
person. Instead, the circumspect first lady is said to have sent various
doctors "high resolution photos taken of her face from different angles" in
around whom tabloid suspicion is once again furiously swirling. Perhaps the
tabloids' loaf was sliced just a little too thin, but there seems to be an
unusually high ratio of tantalizing headlines to banal copy this month. To
The new book that the Star claims "blows [the] lid" on pop star
The Globe teases us with the "secret life of Sopranos hunk"
Star by her former butler? "She'd put an outfit on and come downstairs
and look at me and say, 'You don't like this, do you?' If I said, 'No I don't,'
The tabs seem so mired in the mundane that they've beefed
sleeping with, for God's sake?) After slogging through all three pages
of the Star 's "supermarket secrets of the superstars," Keeping Tabs was
Show went off the air, are alive and well and often seen picking up "the
purchase, however, because the National Enquirer says that the actor
Slate 's poetry editor, will soon be answering your Fray posts!
our legal system. At a time like this Big Sister sounds like kissing kin to Big
sophist who tries to make confused thinking look like common sense.
mentions banning and burning, but the painting is not being subjected to
either. The funding issue isn't supposed to matter because citizens don't have
control of every item in the budget anyway. Oh? Maybe they don't directly
oversee every item, but they have every right to complain about items they
not offensive can be resolved by appealing to analogies in culture and history:
"medieval Catholic art, for example, is chockablock with sexual and
did? Would she apply the same reasoning to her issue of hate speech and say for
example that the n***** word shouldn't be offensive because it is widely found
painting because it is supposedly of exceptional value. But do our cultural
mandarins, in the name of "free speech" have the right to frivolous (and likely
over to Gore, and said, "Let me respond. As I just finished saying, let's
abandon the old politics of personal confrontation and have the kind of
reasonable discussion people want before deciding how to vote. Yes, Al, I agree
times and places and in a format that lets people hear what we have to say. And
in the meantime, why don't you knock off the 'How about it, Bill?' stuff.
That's playground ball." Would Al have been ready to "Stay and Fight" under
essential lunacy of trying to control information in this era, where anyone
with a computer can read, watch, or hear something in the mass media, then get
crazier. On the other hand, it helps guarantee that the days of media moguls
"People will think what I tell them to think!") are fading fast. Unlike my
parents, I won't buy a brand of cake flour or vote for a candidate just because
go to a cake flour chat room on the Web and get the real lowdown.
and rent control. But I am not convinced about parking on two counts:
The value of land in Midtown Manhattan is somewhere
the high cost of constructing underground parking, means that more parking
current conditions, there is a good chance that it should not be built. While I
tend not to worry about market failure unless it is large, in the case of
seems to be little political will to impose rational gas taxes, so second best
solutions, such as regulating garage space, are likely better than allowing
unregulated garage space combined with subsidized auto travel.
than enthusiastic about these plans. After all, we still have two teenagers at
home to care for! This morning, I telephoned him (at his office) asking, "Why
do you want to go on this dumb trip?" After all, we have been married for
so much together and went through so much, I want to see them. He then
He claimed it was the best time of his life. His personality does not allow him
to express emotion or sensitivity. After reading this article, I know why he
has always felt so close to the Guard (as I have), and why he wants to share a
few days with his former classmates. Thanks for the great article. We will
forward it to as many classmates as possible. No doubt I will be on that plane
an improved version of "The Fray," our reader feedback forum. The Fray now
features threaded discussions of Slate articles. If you'd like
to discuss something you've read on the site, scroll to the bottom of that
article and click on "Post a Message." (You can also click on "Comment on This
you'd rather just lurk, click on "Read Messages" at the bottom of a page to
find out what everyone else had to say. In the future we'll incorporate the
insight into the psychology of grade inflation, his economic angle is warped at
slightest effect on salary. Even those friends of mine who interviewed with
large financial firms while still in college were never accepted or rejected on
salaries based on grades. Although employers often do, for better or worse,
give respect to which college an employee graduated from, grades simply do not
interviewing and hiring, especially in these larger companies. Wise to what
really makes a good employee at that age, they're much more likely to hem and
haw about that summer you spent watching the tube instead of taking a good
internship than they are to have doubts about your D in organic chemistry.
integrity would let this enter his mind. Speaking of the role of the teacher in
good teacher from kindergarten on up knows: "The real teacher lets nothing else
be learned than learning." No, not knowledge for its own sake, but knowledge
for the sake of the individual's intellectual, moral, spiritual, even physical
growth. The doctor, lawyer, or business woman is always more professional for
continuing to pursue these issues outside of his or her profession. This seed
can be sown by good professors regardless of what kind of grades they give. To
universities into technical schools, it would be to ignore this fundamental
me to really miss the point. The real point is that his papacy dramatically
this divergence from traditional theology's most basic teachings that offends
far the least objectionable to me: It is the new Mass itself that offends
There are many too many divergences to mention here. They range from
theological importance of the first magnitude to common practices that
centuries as holy tradition without any kind of respect for those of us who
separate you from God and send you to hell if death came before confession.
You can see why many of us do not see this as progress!
sometimes sound bitter, it should not be something at which to wonder: From
being called all sorts of unpleasant names, to overt discrimination, public
writes: "In the latest ranking of presidents by professional historians,
historians than about the presidents. I suspect that someday historians who
do not deny that this was the perfect way to sell the movie, considering
the whole point. Please remember what is going on in the movies today. I go to
movies because back then, people were required to write a story that had
stupidity. This movie was good because it was believable and because it was
psychological instead of eye candy. Think about that for a change.
The current issue of a national magazine lists these warning
signs: stain, unusual odor, the sound of broken glass or plastic. What
popular songs of the Civil War, sold over a million copies in sheet music, an
interesting thing to contemplate (or call for at a karaoke bar) as we await the
debut of Talk magazine (as I understand it, an abbreviated form of the
dead, recant his resignation, resume the presidency, and start having sex with
you a second chance to do pretty much what you did when you had your first
I face tomorrow with confidence, eager to see you react to the premiere issue
of Talk (as I understand it, an abbreviated form of the original title
issue shows a letter carrier holding a parcel that is smoking, presumably
plane crash," says the service's aviation mail security representative, Bill
The post office will carry "nail polish, household cleaning supplies, dry ice
packed and labeled so as to pose no threat to health or safety of postal
cannot be precisely rendered in Roman characters because not all the letters in
accompanying lead is an actual news story, and which is my way to give you a
few moments of amusement and some pointed social commentary because I like you
"This is a very wealthy monkey who will create a lot of jobs, you stupid
Five people have been given jail sentences of varying lengths by a court in
Describing a troubled phase of his early life that he says ultimately brought
(Same story, different spin.) Police say they have rescued two spider monkeys
who had been trained to sell contraband drugs by recognizing the colors of
While it may be an ordinary fact of life that is practiced nearly universally,
There will be only two quizzes this week, today and
He has created "some kind of weird masterpiece" that "sings with the
tricks with film stock are "inadvertently distracting" and that the film
doesn't pick up speed until the second half, when it's "too little, too late."
discover why men are so resistant to women's advancement but ends up with a
culture of "ornamentation" and the economy's removal of men from meaningful
More often, though, critics call the book "didactic and highly simplistic"
marginalized and downsized distorts her view: "she should have said she was
talking about class; she claimed to be talking about gender" (the New York
fictional version of himself into the story) appeared before the book was
strange, very interesting, very exasperating book, full to bursting of both
lies and honesty" that calls to mind some of fiction's most masterful
solidly positive review: "I can think of few conventional political biographies
present system (in which students' scores correlate directly to the wealth and
education of parents), "he doesn't altogether define what should take its
the exhibit as "sick" because it included, among other things, a portrait of
are in, and although most critics defend the museum's right to exhibit what it
gets a sprinkling of praise, and some critics weakly contend that "the best
work in the exhibition basically does what all good art should do: It makes you
enthusiasm is palpable. And what's more, many in the art world are less
mogul who owns every piece, has found the perfect way to increase the return on
men's feelings of disenfranchisement. "What's most troubling about this witless
increasing realization that it actually thinks it's saying something of
enough, you're going to end up with broken bones, the guys in Fight Club
have fists of steel, and hammer one another while the sound effects guys beat
misunderstanding the film: "If watched sufficiently mindlessly, it might be
investigation of "the lure of violence in an even more dangerously regimented,
technique, puerile philosophizing, trenchant satire and sensory overload." The
site includes video and audio clips from the film.)
explain why this marriage is worth saving, [it] could prompt even single
sole supporter, praising it as "pungent, funny, and surprisingly forceful"
lawnmower to visit his sick brother. Even more surprising, critics rank this
improbable triumph," all the more powerful because the film's "wholesome
radiance and soothing natural beauty are distinctly at odds with the famously
background, calling the film "too mannered and weird around the edges to be
to the film complete with trailers and pictures shot on location.)
constant verbal outbursts, which form "a barrage of sheer rhetorical invention
that has tour de force written all over it; it's an amazing stunt, and, just
unrealistic, but most just take them in stride, admiring the "highly
artificial, flamboyantly bizarre world that constantly upstages its genre
discourse are so vividly drawn that the novel becomes unexpectedly moving"
stratosphere, Wall Street and the business press speak with awe of the
"The real question, Charlie, is what industries will not be affected.
Internet revolution. The buying and selling of wine across state borders is
It would be a godsend if wine buyers could do a Web search for bottles of, say,
which allows readers to track down secondhand books at hundreds of shops across
adults. The laws regulating direct wine sales were rarely enforced until
recently, but a new zeal is in the air. Buying a single bottle of wine from
federal courts to prosecute offenders. Indeed, Hatch was moved to federalize
this crime precisely because new technologies like the Internet make it easier
must take the Fifth about my wine purchases, senator"), I spent a couple of
weeks this summer surfing the Web for vino. Some wine stores keep their lists
wine merchant I spoke to said that the Internet isn't having much effect on his
business because people from most big states can't use it to order wines. If
Internet wine buying was uniformly decriminalized and there was a genuine
nationwide market, on the other hand, the system would be more creative and
almost miraculously, most of the wines held up even though they were shipped in
Back to the puritans. Why do the new prohibitionists oppose
Internet wine? They claim two concerns: First, like most new legislation in
ensure that minors are not provided with unfettered access to alcohol," Hatch
wait days for them to arrive, arrange to have their parents out of the house
Bureau of Alcohol has received exactly one complaint of an Internet sale to a
states to regulate the transportation of "intoxicating liquors." Indeed,
language of most state laws would seem to violate the Constitution's interstate
commerce clause, which facilitated the creation of a national economy. Judges
are increasingly coming to this view. At the very least, it means that the
restrictions do not have the halo of constitutional protection.
states the power to prosecute the Mafia's involvement in the liquor trade. But
because much of the Mafia's interest in booze died with the repeal of
prohibition, what keeps these laws alive is politics. Liquor regulation is a
case study in the manipulation of politics by powerful lobbies. The regulations
in force are maintained and strengthened because distributors, wholesalers, and
large wineries benefit from them, and they are organized and politically
powerful. Over the years, their lobbies have been effective at working with
wineries, specialty producers and, of course, consumers who would have more
business practices. Sen. Hatch seems to recognize this when he says, "If there
is a problem with the system we need to fix the system, not break the laws."
For the moment, however, the fix is in for the consumer.
epidemic was peaking and New York had become the embodiment of everything
shooting victims, crackheads in the throes of cardiac arrest, and homeless
years down to a couple of days in which Pierce clutches vainly at the last
asthmatic whom he failed to resuscitate: Her head stares accusingly at him from
the shoulders of people he passes on the street. It's not just that he can't
forgive himself for not having saved her life; it's that he can't forgive
himself for putting her out of his mind. He can't live with the idea that he
it's easy to see why the director fell on it and passed it on to his Taxi
script in three weeks. I can believe that, and not just because there's so much
the circle. But what the circle really needed was opening. It's not just that
floor of a Hell's Kitchen brownstone, where a man named Burke has been in
his brain shows only scant traces of activity; and in the hospital he keeps
emergency room over the course of several nights, Pierce gets chummy with
shellshocked existence (she begins to drift back into drug abuse) seems tied in
feeling that the movie was building to the possibility of a mercy killing as a
test of the hero's ability to overcome his internal chaos and feel
irony. I have a feeling they needed an ending and this one was handy.
Their opportunism is a shame, because there's enough
scary irony built into the material: that the people charged with saving lives
intensity can make them as likely to want to murder people as to revive them.
emergency room, in which patients on stretchers scream at one another to shut
Hurt) takes pains to let the drunks and addicts and failed suicides know just
how much they're imposing on her. ("Why should we help? You're just going to
with an unlit cigar in his mouth, defiantly proclaiming his potency. The
which is horrified estrangement from one's own humanity.
movie made me weep a couple of times: It's hard to watch with detachment as
tubes are thrust down people's throats or as they're shocked back to life. Some
the same flamboyantly haggard (and toothy) look he had in Vampire's Kiss
"Sometimes it's less about saving lives than being a witness," he says, in
folks, both the character and the movie threaten to start seeming "dear." But
identity was mutable and the narrative moved by quantum leaps. This time he
world down and gotten back in touch with it. The Straight Story could be
"abortion" from his comments about abortion, substituting the phrase "the life
but that doesn't mean we put our principles aside. The highest form of
statesmanship is to find ways to bring people towards our goal. And I believe
that if we move forward with persistence, patience, engaging in a dialogue, we
once again life will be held sacred in our hearts, in our homes, in our
Congress, in our courts, and, yes, in our Constitution.
tell you where he stands, that means he either doesn't know where he stands or
he doesn't want you to know where he stands, and either one is not good for you
immune to the blandishments of Beltway power, is supposedly the beefy substance
more on image than the attorney general, and none has relied so much on words
mostly encouraging model of attorney general, a perfect fit for an age of what
private law firm. The other is the faceless, trustworthy administration foot
liked her and never confided in her, and she reciprocated. She was, she said,
independent counsels to investigate six of her fellow Cabinet members and her
president, and has overseen innumerable internal Justice investigations of
administration corruption. You can argue about whether this constant
surveillance of pols is a good thing, but there is no doubt that these are the
but mostly she is trustworthy. She pays the list price for her cars to avoid
the appearance of favoritism. She avoids the president because she doesn't want
independence has given her the courage to appoint counsels to probe her
colleagues and her boss, and the courage not to appoint counsels even
when the wolves were baying for them. She refused to authorize an independent
investigation into campaign fund raising, despite Republican outrage, because
legal reformers proposed making the Department of Justice independent of
took office, she has been supervising at least one probe embarrassing to
can't afford the political beating he would take if he cashiered her.
the Crony Attorneys General, the Justice Department exercised vast influence
attorney general without measurable accomplishment in law enforcement or
ambitious, liberal agenda to Justice. She favored alternative punishments,
and disliked the death penalty, mandatory minimum sentences, and the
Congress ignored her. Instead, her Justice Department has had to enforce an
expanded federal death penalty, throw more people in federal prison for longer
sentences, punish juvenile criminals more harshly, support mandatory minimums
opposed some of these policies internally but had too little influence to stop
merely negative. She has not achieved anything magnificent. Her integrity has
simply prevented her from corrupting the process. She has not conducted any
powerful investigations, but she has had the wisdom not to block others from
independent counsel, supervised the operation and the probes, and she settled
for cursory answers. It's easy to call this gullibility and incompetence, and
that's exactly what Republicans are doing: A chorus on the right, including
nominally supervise the bureau and hence are held responsible for its
had the full support of the White House might have dragged the truth out of the
This discontinuity between the thrill in the air here and
that does not mean peace will come. Enormous obstacles remain, obstacles that
Middle East analysts succumb to paralysis when they try to resolve these
delayed resolving these issues until final status talks because they were
intractable. Now final status talks have arrived and, lo and behold, the issues
are still intractable. Already some are predicting the "final" talks won't be
enough already, but the peace process promises to exacerbate it. Serious peace
terrorism or settler violence surges. Support for peace could dissolve.
the early '80s. Today's settlers, especially West Bankers, are far more
militant than their '80s counterparts. Some religious settlers deny the
thousands more from the West Bank without fracturing his government.
is also ailing and has no clear successor. His authoritarian rule has prevented
the emergence of future leaders and the development of strong civic and
that is sinking into Third World poverty, anarchy, and civil war. This could be
a peace, even a good peace, but it won't be cause for euphoria.
New York Times reported that the House majority whip had told
to pay for any additional spending requests out of the Social Security
refused to compromise on appropriations, the government ground to a halt, and
party that will lose the showdown is the party that is perceived to have
repeated that phrase twice on Meet the Press --and the press climbed all
"strategy" to "deliberately spend" the surplus. Other publications affirmed
DeLay failed to grasp that when two parties collide, the public will blame the
one that doesn't look surprised. If you're going to have a secret strategy,
Provocation. Having broadcast his "strategy," DeLay signaled his intention
the Republicans' "deliberate provocations" and "confrontation strategy."
that DeLay "certainly is not in a negotiating mood" and "has presented
Force. The Times paraphrased DeLay as saying that his "plan" would
Social Security surplus." Hours after the story appeared, Senate Majority
"force a showdown." The Associated Press confirmed that Republicans "planned
with a mountain of press clips to back him up, he will repeat what he said
Spite. "We will negotiate with the President, after he vetoes the bills, on
smelling blood, hyped these quotes on every talk show. "The Republicans are
The guy who seems determined to beat and humiliate his opponent at any
repeated this quote and discussed the charge "that Tom DeLay wants the
president to go into that Social Security trust fund, in order to accuse him of
that the public will blame the president, not Congress, for squandering the
money he has insisted be saved to shore up Social Security. The National
Republican Congressional Committee even conducted a poll on the subject."
Republicans end up looking as though they care more about the PR contest than
DeLay's plan: "cynical and irresponsible." That day, a White House spokeswoman
attacked the Republican "strategy to go into the Social Security surplus in the
vain hope that the public will blame the president. It's cynical and it's
diligence. ''I am not nearly as pessimistic as a lot of people are about the
prospects of our reaching an agreement, and I am determined to try to do it,''
again, Podesta replied sadly, "I hope not. That's certainly not in the public's
Week as pundits bombarded him with questions about DeLay's plot. "We're not
current year's level" to "avoid a train wreck" while they negotiate. That's
of course, put it differently. "There's a little trick that you can use called
[a] continuing resolution that continues spending at least year's level. And we
he vetoes that, the president will have shut down the government." Rather than
can understand why DeLay keeps boasting of his "tricks" and "strategies." He's
new plan, he won't. Above all, he's determined to prove his critics wrong. They
said he had no plan. They said he was stupid. Well, he showed them.
didn't do enough to stop Congress publishing the most salacious material in his
report. He deplored Congress' decision to authorize publication of the
unexpurgated evidence instead of "screening and winnowing" it first. "I wish I
had done more to say to Congress: be careful," he said. Some of the most
sensitive evidence he gathered has never been made public, he said; and "had
the President seen fit to tell the truth, we would have been spared the
intrusive nature of the details." But he said that much of the information
other than to have the inappropriate relationship, which is not a matter of
interest to federal law. To the contrary: he has very vigorously stated that he
would readily forgive an adulterous relationship, but they would not be
him, 'Well, we will just have to win, then.' Thus, instead of telling the
truth, admitting the facts and seeking forgiveness of family and nation, he
launched a campaign designed to erode confidence in the duly appointed system
federal crimes in order to obstruct the judicial process in the form of a
serious business. She did it not on the spur of the moment; she did it over a
considerable period of time. She knowingly went to one of the most powerful
lawyers in the country, who in turn guided her to another lawyer to prepare
what she knew to be a perjurious affidavit. One should not blink at those kinds
had "put the nation through seven months of a wretched and miserable 24-hour
was much taken with him. "The grimly bespectacled prosecutor is only the public
face," he wrote. "In private, he is a witty and benign companion. He enjoys a
Martini and is relaxed on the subject of sex: by no means the prudish
generation, he speaks in perfectly grammatical sentences, with the same
Vice President Al Gore's virtues are largely being ignored in the election
campaign because of his "intense and inevitable association with President
Democratic nomination, "he must emerge as something more than the President's
whose speech at the annual Labor Party Conference promising to end the class
of conservatism" generated many editorials. His "vision of a nation more like
belligerent and insecure, that seemed to reveal an inner uncertainty about what
his Government is trying to achieve, and why." The liberal Guardian said the
said "real radicalism needs substance, not just a collection of good tunes."
praised his radical rhetoric, but also said he failed to explain "how all this
Another FT editorial said the ice is breaking in corporate Japan, with
companies changing "in ways that would have seemed impossible only a few years
ago." It concluded, "As Japan's politicians continue to posture in much the
same old familiar ways, the economy is at last beginning to be restructured
for their slide into mental illness is constant anxiety in the workplace," it
said. "Many are alarmed by the prospect that their company's restructuring
important business meetings are often held, the paper added.
And why didn't he? "The party elders heard about his desire to join, realized
honest, and he couldn't be trusted to keep party secrets. So they asked him
the story for television by making him too virtuous. (Defending the
contradiction, Morris says, "flaky means he couldn't be trusted with secrets.")
Once you start making stuff up, apparently, it's harder to stop than you think.
Writer may have been embroidering more than his own role.
Fast, presented as screenplay dialogue. It is a dramatic scene with Fast
dishing a shocking piece of information that the obsessed biographer has never
the buzz of billionaires is in the background, and so on.
herrings, distracting from the fact that the scene is a silly vehicle for
says. Fast now admits to recycling gossip, "This was a story told to me at a
Fast has a reputation for "inconsistently remembering his time in the party,"
including contradictory recitations in his two memoirs. But Morris, having
stumbled upon a juicy story, never seriously questions Fast's reliability or
Morris does recount his attempts to nail down Fast's story.
and was ultimately dissuaded. But Morris writes that when he tried to question
never did anything about it. One night my wife sat down and told him the party
Fast version of events may not be possible. But there are gaping holes in
Morris' reporting that can easily be filled with a few phone calls. For
this person to Morris and Morris doesn't mention any attempt to track him down.
have definitely heard about it." And in an interview, the authorized biographer
told essentially the same story in the New York Observer eight years
ago. (And probably has been dining out on it for decades.) Yet Morris did
amazingly little to try to nail it down. But who has time to dig for facts when
you've got to make up not one but two different fantasies?
still don't get it. The point isn't who was wrong. The point is to understand
what was wrong and to learn the corresponding lessons.
the war was futile because aggression is the way of the world, and indomitable
politicians and talking heads pronounced it a failure. Throughout the bombing,
prevail. Pundits assessed the war's prospects with detached skepticism, as
though forecasting the weather. But war is more than an objective event.
could raise the price to a point where it would no longer make any sense for
important enough to kill for, but not important enough to be killed for." But
deadbeat debtor, to water down our terms for ending the war and sneak its
could pound them. While complaining that the United States shoulders too much
peacekeeping force. They don't understand that the point of the war was
throughout the war that we shouldn't have got into it now say we didn't really
troops and civilians. We destroyed bridges, crippled power plants, accidentally
beginning to confirm the scale of the atrocities halted by the bombing. As bad
as the bombing was, permitting the atrocities to go on would have been
shouldn't do it now. Predictably, critics on the left denounced the
often invaded small countries for selfish reasons and have failed to intervene
in conflicts when altruism required it. Unpredictably, critics on the right
outlaw. During the war, hawks who prized human rights and vigilance
participate in the peacekeeping force, and they're still complaining that
the war." They don't understand that the allies compromised with each other and
achieved only by an international consortium of civilian leaders.
the Republican Party preached military strength in the face of foreign
expansionism. But now that a Democratic president whom they despise has led the
the ultimate homage. They have allowed him, through their agency, to redefine
the past and predict the future with the same certainty as natural scientists.
because theories apply only in certain circumstances, and circumstances change.
Surveillance and air power are vastly more sophisticated than in previous wars,
preoccupied with the past to see the present, and too obsessed with who was
their collective eyes toward heaven this month and find God. Even when the Big
crop of tabloid offerings brims with so many transcendent crises
mortality, profligate lives steered straight and narrow) that it feels like one
exorcism has supposedly unearthed the "sweet little boy" inside him, spurring
into his bed. Pregnancy rumors abound, but only the Globe has a damning
dying young that she has entered into a pact with perhaps the world's most
We heartily recommend that she do whatever it takes to stay
in the here and now, if only to avoid being included in the Enquirer 's
"Scandals of the Century" double issue, which devotes an entire section ("The
Phoenix was apparently quite keen on the idea of checking out early. "I don't
proving the accuracy of this prediction, therefore, that the Enquirer
inappropriate to quibble over the attractiveness of corpses, we will bestow
upon Phoenix our special nod for clarity in the face of eternity; it was he who
from "Floppy Trunk Syndrome," a malady that keeps the poor beasts from eating
Business has been no less brisk for human rescues. The
calling a taxi in the middle of a mild heart attack. The Enquirer
enjoying the spring day," the Globe explains breezily, as if the
photographer had actually been invited along for the trip. But Shields is on
emotional thin ice, having recently filed for divorce from her husband and
photographer was "stunned" when she suddenly began "sobbing uncontrollably."
so stunned that he couldn't get off several frames of the disconsolate actress.
While the Globe 's photographer failed to capture the
pair choosing hydroponic tomatoes, we feel fairly confident that they did not
buy any apples. The Star suggests that Shields' breakdown may be in part
sufferers, Keeping Tabs can't help but note that Shields' symptoms, while no
doubt troublesome, seem to fall just a bit short of "crippling." "It got to the
point where I just couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat an apple," Shields
is quoted as saying. "I had to get someone to 'start' my apples for me." Fear
not, apple eaters; the Star very thoughtfully reprints the address of
And finally, the tabloids try to account for the end
Star asserts that she'll now quit All My Children for her own
talk show. But there's no word on whether she'll consider the path taken by
Star have "traded in steamy scenes between the sheets" to "devote their
because she finally stopped submitting tapes with "overly dramatic"
performances and went with something subtler instead. (Less, apparently, is
more, even for a soap opera character who's been married to virtually everyone
numerologists are concerned, the other nominees shouldn't even have bothered to
affair that you should bring a gift of at least the value of your meal. I was
outraged and shocked that anyone would give a gift of less than that. If they
did not attend, a similar, albeit somewhat less expensive gift would have been
acceptable. I think it is incredibly poor taste, rude, and offensive for anyone
subscribe to Soldier of Fortune magazine, because you are certainly a
snagged some fabulous presents, thereby irritating you because you
short period of time. What is actually in incredibly poor taste is to mentally
meal. And how, exactly, by your lights, are guests supposed to know the
cost of the meal? Do you, by any chance, suggest having it engraved under the
recently announced her wedding and mentioned that everyone should be receiving
their invitations soon. I decided to give her an elaborate wedding shower and
to include all the women (and their spouses) who work with us. I coordinated
event went off without a hitch. My friend was extremely grateful. My question
is: Am I still responsible for buying a wedding gift? I wasn't sure if it would
be in poor taste for me to consider my efforts and contribution to the shower
must assume that the woman for whom you organized the shower was a close friend
involved a lot of time (and perhaps paying for the party) and afforded the
don't you write a note telling the bridal couple that you had such fun
arranging their party and that you and all the guests at the shower will have
fond thoughts of them while they are away honeymooning. That way they will know
small stuffed animal before I threw the bouquet to the older girls. This worked
out really well, and I highly recommend it to anyone! That way, my maid of
fun if a youngster misunderstands the custom just a little and imagines she
(except one) for good reason. We do not communicate. No problem there. But now
recommendation letters, etc. This even though I have tried to keep my addresses
to remain incommunicado to the next generation? Don't advise me to make up with
my siblings. I am quite happy to be "divorced" from them.
famous? Mention of your "addresses and phone numbers," along with all these
young people lurching in your direction would suggest there is an attraction
beyond the obvious. You sound a bit misanthropic, to be honest, but assuming
sees no reason to cut off the next generation. It is a possibility that the
discarded siblings have put their children up to warming up the situation, but
that seems slight. If you have no interest in children, or these particular
that began: "Early this morning, we received a call that every parent dreads."
superheroes, each candidate has but a single attribute, generally as useless as
spontaneity, which is a lot like being wooden only if you poured a few drinks
into her, she'd loosen up, but he'd dissolve in some hideous yet unspectacular
chemical reaction. But just as most comic book readers move on to other forms
illustrated novels"), most voters in a mature democracy demand more from
candidates than a packaged personality and a glib slogan. Wait, sorry, excuse
said, 'If I ever told my wife I left without burying this dog, we'd be
divorced. Get a shovel.' He's human, a nice person. He revealed himself as a
yesterday's White House Conference on Mental Health. All stage directions
COSTUME NOTE. The men all wear unattractive blue suits; the women wear
unattractive navy blue dresses, or vice versa. Everyone remains fully dressed
(CURTAIN UP on Tipper Gore in a comically oversized bed, the sort of thing
radiant. Something is moving beneath the bedcovers.)
one could do that any better than the sunshine of all our lives, our first
GORE emerges from beneath the covers. He looks a little uncertain.)
(with rising delight): No couple in public life has ever done as much to try
(from under the covers): What I hear you saying is that anyone who talks about
how important it is for families to stay together and be strong ought to also
Post joined papers everywhere in putting most of the blame on the
peace, was either being duplicitous or had lost control of his senior military
permission actively and be ready to follow through. Meanwhile, they should tell
peacekeepers in, and the Guardian said there was no longer any alternative to foreign
countries which are morally obliged to form the kernel of a rapid intervention
state elections this weekend (a subject that naturally dominated the German
presided over a thoroughly muddled and quarrelsome coalition since he defeated
unemployment to stir up racism. "It would be useful to know the percentage of
young people who identify with the German extreme right," he wrote. "One must
hope it is not a large percentage. All those who put their faith in German
youth must encourage them not to be seduced by simplistic and unworthy
claim was "shameful." "How, for example, can it be reconciled with the fact
endearingly wicked," having no purpose but to strengthen his business links
Court of Justice that some of the rougher interrogation methods used by the
Post said, "It is difficult to think of another nation that would be
willing to take such a bold step to protect the human rights of suspected
terrorists, at a time when the threat of terror is still so very real."
Long Island that scientists believe has a small but genuine chance of causing
"perturbations of the universe," which could destroy the world. What will
Federal attorneys in the Eastern District of New York arrested
know, I thought this question was hilarious when I first read it, and then I
in the ranks about this question but, if imperfect, it does rest on a solid
theoretical foundation. Odd juxtapositions can produce comic results or former
Republicans who now stand among the Democrats. Squirrels are funny. Indeed,
many small and furry animals tend to be funny and, if you squint, resemble
genitalia taken disturbingly out of context and scampering about the place. The
alive today, would probably stick with the Republican Party, but could perhaps
of the brain critical for thought and memory, many people's favorite parts.
remote correspondent): "Thank you for not speculating. We are not going to do
speculative frenzy in domain names. In that case, the company must devise
something new. Participants were invited to submit examples of a claimed domain
name along with an amusing and available alternative.
registered to the Friend to Friend Foundation (and man, am I curious about what
National League. In politics there are two large parties, the Republicans and
baseball's regular season, the primaries are the playoffs, and the general
election is the World Series. (The Federal Election Commission, apparently, is
If politics is like baseball, baseball can be a lot
like politics. This week's World Series, for example, is a political contest:
redistribution of wealth: He considers it a welfare program that rewards bad
them to get lost. It is no accident that the Yanks wear pinstripes. The
bat lefty when it comes to government aid: He has eagerly petitioned New York
United Nations. (The Braves' Web site devotes almost as much space to the team's
Foundation, Opportunity Through Baseball, Neighborhood Revitalization Program,
spent the last years of the Cold War bidding on Navy contracts for his (now
defunct) shipyard. Turner spent those years organizing the Goodwill Games, his
in their recruiting efforts. They reintroduced the "open tryout" to baseball,
extremely strong defense: They are among the best fielding teams in the majors.
exhibit no shyness about raising and spending record amounts of cash to ensure
victory. Like the Democrats, the Braves are as rapacious as their rivals, but
subtler. The Braves collect tens of millions from their nationally broadcast
games and strong ticket sales, and they pay lavishly for players. They raise
and spend more than all but a handful of teams. As the Democratic Party claims
Republicans in one more important way: In this World Series, as in most
and the Braves play highly competent, professional baseball. They rely on
brilliance to be dangerous. We are left with the wealthy, talented, mainstream,
Graves said, "This is a terrible, tragic, embarrassing solution to a problem
new state law requiring public school teachers to use
it's not a problem, since nobody knows anything about geography anymore
increase in computational speed is expected to raise the state's average SAT
as opposed to Oz. They have tornadoes. It entered the Union as a free state,
superstition, the board has also forbidden all references to the Big Bang.
"Creationism is as good a hypothesis as any for how the universe began,"
A supporter of the new educational guidelines, Mark
life if we're just animals in a struggle for survival. It creates a sense of
purposelessness and hopelessness, which I think leads to things like pain,
murder and suicide." Which is hanging a lot on the poor old theory of natural
selection. I thought pain, murder, and suicide were caused by television.
Friends show? Only one member of the ensemble appears to have a job, and
only does he have premarital sex, he believes in dinosaurs. If you were from
is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once,"
the idea was intriguing enough to go a couple of news cycles in the legitimate
press and on Fox News. One remarkable thing didn't come up in the discussions
of the candidate: his age. I think this says nice things about us as a society
these presidents and candidates by age at their inauguration or prospective
this "daddy" teaches his young charge how to pee in public, spit, and trip
not impressed: "Big Daddy should be reported to the child welfare
quandaries to resolve, ends too tidily and happily for its own good. (For loads
(Click here to read about the film's opening night at the National Air
critics are impressed. The collection covers the same ground as her two
considerable best, finds words for all the high and low notes of the raucous
Mellow, a National Book Award winner, died before completing this long
and provides a new insight into his art, but critics say it gets weighted down
by superfluous material the author would likely have removed had he finished
years and death from drinking, is still in the form of unfinished notes by
contains profanity and unwholesome ideas. Parental discretion is strongly
then. Nowadays, an artist has to haul out the big guns. At an early juncture,
doing a South Park film if they couldn't make Mel Brooks choke and John
them and annihilating them. This isn't just the most riotously inventive movie
"warp our fragile little minds." Inspired, no doubt, by the reception to
slaughtered, and characters journeying to heaven and hell. But the basic
mountain town (where denizens step over the homeless on their way to church
vocabulary at the pond on which his peers idyllically ice skate. Impressed, the
The upshot is pandemonium. By the time Asses of Fire
obscenities, its primary influence is musical comedy. It could have been
dreamed up at a summer drama camp with a liberal gay element. South Park
emotions; he is disconsolate over his empty affair with the recently arrived
and who is blithely uninterested in the big red devil's feelings. Maybe a third
of the movie's gags are expressly gay or else trade on such expressions as
forces of "morality," it says, are far more dangerous than the most "immoral"
language. The filmmakers even subvert the far right on Biblical grounds: It's
that gave me pause but which on reflection seems more plausible than others
fuck you over this desk," the picture will get an R rating, but if he says, "I
want to fuck you over with this desk," it will get a PG-13. What the fuck, we
maybe, but rarely crude. It's not even, as some have complained, visually
employs vast armies of animators, each going at his or her minute task like an
essential gesture. The look is never monotonous: The frames are Dadaist quilts
and not a drawing makes his pipsqueak voice and cries of "Let's fuck!" even
straightforwardness of the images that makes the obscenities so delectable: The
a beat faster than you expect. (The puke rushes out faster, too.)
twice (the second time was even better) and plan on another visit. I won't
bring my daughter, though. It's important that she sneak in on her own.
three weeks hence. ("No longer will our penises remain flaccid and unused: We
will get laid.") Subsequent jokes are grounded, predictably, in their
sundry sexual humiliations; easy stuff, but concentrated and layered so that
masochistic element takes the edge off the picture's implicit misogyny.
the pie scene or the cloudy glass of beer bit. I wish a sequence that involves
ogle her on the Internet weren't so poorly staged and acted. (The girl is so
on the kid in the middle of some creative bout of wanking. Flustered but
parents had many of the same sexual traumas we did but, no, we don't want to
stuff, sensationalism that mistakes itself for satire, but it's also a brash
viewed, as the camera pulls out of his insides, with a gun stuck in his mouth.
so much feverish imagery that you have no choice but to succumb to the movie's
Club careers from one resonant satirical idea to the next without quite
deciding whether its characters are full of crap or are Gen X prophets. It
always gives you a rush, though. At first, it goofs on the absurd feminization
of an absurdly macho culture. An increasingly desperate insomniac, Jack finds
relief (and release) only at meetings for the terminally ill. At a testicular
cancer group, he's enfolded in the ample arms of Bob (the singer Meat Loaf
"bitch tits." Jack and Bob subscribe to a new form of male bonding: They cling
essentially the same voyeuristic ends, and the presence of this "tourist" makes
warehouse and helps to found a new religion: Fight Club, in which young males
gather after hours in the basement of a nightclub to pound one another (and be
pounded) to a bloody pulp. That last parenthesis isn't so parenthetical. In
some ways, it's the longing to be beaten into oblivion that's the strongest.
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything," he
its glib sociological pronouncements are meant to be taken straight or as the
assembled fighters that they are the "middle children of history" with "no
(a world war or depression) and on the other by lack of material wealth as
bail, what does that tell you about God?" (I give up: What?)
who'd have a different take on the "healing" properties of violence. It's also
unclear just what has emasculated Jack: Is it that he's a materialist or that
up to his fantasies of opulence? Is he motivated by spiritual hunger or envy?
arrogance, which seems to be the most authentic emotion he has. But the film
skinny and wilting, a quivering pansy. Even when he fights he doesn't
poetic sense in light of the movie's climactic twist. But that twist will annoy
more people than it will delight, if only because it shifts the drama from the
realm of the sociological to that of the psychoanalytic. The finale, scored
has done a fabulous job of keeping it spinning. The most thrilling thing about
narrator's head and simulate his adrenalin rushes. A veteran of rock videos,
is back in style, along with novelistic asides, digressions, fantasies, and
like Fight Club might not gel, but they have a breathless,
maybe old possibilities: The language of movies hasn't seemed this unfettered
around in tight jeans and leather jackets. The joy is in watching the actor
he takes the news with a glee that's almost mystical: "I am????? Oh, shit!!!"
he cries, grinning. That might be my favorite moment in the picture, because
would kill him if they knew his true gender is the movie's most tragic
into something more complex and irreducible: a meditation on the irrelevance of
future rapists and murderers, calls him "little buddy" and seems almost
unresolved emotion can suddenly resolve itself into violence.
second half of Boys Don't Cry isn't as great as the first. The early
scenes evoke elation and dread simultaneously, the later ones just dread; and
who's entranced by him anyway. With her lank hair, hooded eyes, and air of
directors doesn't even make sense on its own low farcical terms; it's mostly
doddering misconceptions about psychotherapy. I almost don't know why I loved
affectless Dean is inspired or inept, but my indecision suggests why he works
in the role. There's no doubt, however, about his even more depressive love
voice and who slumps through the movie like the world's most lyrical
you read a preface by a writer who doesn't seem to have absorbed the book he
purports to be introducing. In his opening remarks for Eyes of the Nation: A
narrative unique is the ability we have displayed time and again to remedy our
mistakes, to adjust to changing circumstances, to debate and then move on in
directions that seem better for all." These words, which might be appropriate
seriously misrepresent the downbeat, contemplative collaboration of picture
progressive populism tempered by realistic pessimism.
portrays the state of native grace that the rest of the chapter ("Encounter,
backed by engravings of fanciful New World monsters and references to
Garden"), linked thematically rather than chronologically, picturing
sunflowers, rattlesnakes, and bison. The color plates are pretty, the captions
neutral and informative, but the metaphorical message is sharp: Behold what was
imperial expansion, and so on, Eyes of the Nation is a book one flips
through, not a book one views and reads in sequence. It speaks through clusters
page, a photograph of a charred and limbless lynched black male surrounded by
always as blunt as these, but in general it is tension, not harmony, that
Visually, there are just more sparks to strike after the invention of the
camera and the flowering of modern advertising. The writing brightens, too.
how to pin down such phantom entities as social conformity between the wars and
histories and paths just barely not taken. The book concludes in orthodox
racial, ethnic, economic, gender, and regional lines as it had been in all but
a few moments in its history; with a culture so diverse and so contentious that
it seemed to lack any coherence or shape; with declining faith in its
government, its leaders, and its principal institutions." The facing page shows
a picture of a brick wall scratched full of chalk marks tallying enemy deaths
Less conventionally ambitious, and possibly more affecting
postcards that are both graphically gorgeous and spiritually haunting. Silvery
and immaculate, with hallucinatory depth and detail, the pictures of Western
streets and metropolitan train stations have a strangely deserted
larger and more heroic in those days, if only because the people were fewer.
Call it the age of titanic capitalism. Shots of the Flatiron Building under
construction are weirdly short on human passersby, implying that the growth
required to fill the place is still a hopeful article of faith, not yet a
tenants had arrived is one of those facts that shouldn't be any surprise but
line that notes such events as the founding of department stores, the rise of
banks and financial institutions, and the erection of famous public
isn't nostalgia but a finer, more elevated yearning. The sadness is not for
what was, or even for what might have been, but for what always comes between
assortment of metal windup toys. One boy, who looks wiser than his friends,
glares at the camera, seemingly aware that his image is being delivered to the
future. He appears to anticipate, and resent, our patronizing spying. He
doesn't like us. We're from now and he's from way back when and he already
you need is a place to put the water, a handle that doesn't get hot, and a
spout that is well away from the user's hand. You can refine it by maximizing
the surface that touches the burner, putting a whistle at the end of the spout,
years, though, the mundane teakettle has become something else: an opportunity
for them to mess up. Today's kettle can often serve up a searing demonstration
(searing to your fingers, that is) of how risky it is to redesign ordinary
objects. Such things often work so well that you don't even notice the parts of
their design that make them work so well. Sometimes, things look clunky for
You can buy a kettle whose whistle is in the shape of a
shape of a bent tulip. There are kettles shaped like some of the major Platonic
small appliances, with their clear round or octagonal shapes, subtle texture,
and almost handcrafted look, were never sold in the United States. But
photographs of them have been published and exhibited, and they represent an
recent decades, even as the amount of time families spend cooking has shrunk to
nearly nothing, kitchens have become increasingly ostentatious. It was probably
inevitable that the functional but dowdy model of the baby boom era would be
shape has a certain hauteur, not to mention a geometric purity then rare in
housewares. And it doesn't merely whistle when the water starts to steam. It
elegant, substantial, the Sapper design achieves its visual power at some
expense. Its burner surface is low in relation to its volume, so it boils water
more slowly than other models. Its chief failing, however, is that it allows
A design that departs radically from the ordinary may look
great in a museum but fail in the kitchen. But that doesn't mean it can't do
is conical in shape, with a long spout. Its most distinctive feature is the
little pink ceramic bird at the end of its removable whistle. This removable
whistle was actually a throwback to the earliest version of the whistling
the bird doesn't get hot, he said, it is possible to remove the whistling cap
without burning your fingers. There is a danger that the bird might crack and
manufacturers that teakettles could be a hot commercial item and led to the
though some might call it pass. It has been superseded by newer models, all
Design and introduced last year. It is part of a line of products intended to
be usable by people with arthritis or hand injuries, as well as by those
form was generated by the desire to make it extremely difficult for users to
and those of many of its competitors, it is unified in a subtler way. Its
complex curves suggest that it was sculpted rather than drawn. You can think of
it as two intersecting incomplete egg shapes, one of which is the body of the
pot and the handle of its lid and the other of which is the protective collar.
The lines of the handle and other elements derive from these implicit shapes.
(It doesn't photograph well; it is one of those rare products that looks better
kettle, I resisted it. That big black steam guard looked so ostentatiously
foolproof that I feared it would be clumsy, like a bicycle with training
wheels. But as I handled it, used it, and carefully examined how it worked, it
started to look better and better. This is indeed progress, both aesthetically
When he was in fashion, people would visit his cottage and sometimes give him a
few coins. When the novelty had worn off, this immensely gifted writer
experienced isolation and hardship, and finally became insane, spending most of
his life in an institution. The tough, memorable language of "I Am"
propping up by the pathos of the life behind the writing. The plainness of this
neither sense of life or joys,     But the vast shipwreck of my life's
scenes, where man hath never trod,     A place where woman never smiled or
Art" is an occasional column that compares movies with the lives they're based
to suspend disbelief." Exactly how much disbelief does this biopic require us
that much, actually. Private Parts may be hyperbolic, but it basically
adheres to the facts, at least as they are laid out in Stern's memoir, also
about himself, sex, sex with his wife, etc. The movie does gloss over the
lengths Stern was willing to go to shock. In the movie, his racial comedy tends
toward the mildly offensive (he invents a militant black traffic announcer). In
mother on the air if she "got on all fours" during sex, and if she was a
exposing the details of his marriage strains it somewhat. That was also the
when she complains, "I look like a house." In his memoir, however, Stern
Stern definitely tangled with the station heads. The movie's main meanie, "Pig
Vomit," is a composite of several oppressive managers, based most heavily on
who doesn't figure in the movie. Randy would occasionally tell Stern to watch
radio personality clashing with the stuffed shirts of a mighty network," but
goes on to record events that sound a lot like stuffed shirts clashing with
good, even if the Federal Communications Commission gets on his case every now
and then. What he doesn't say is that, in response to mounting fines from the
tall, gaunt, with long scraggly hair, a rough complexion, humorless
head back to the dugout even as the ball is crossing the plate. For many
one of the better catchers in the game. But needless to say, he is not a star.
a star when you are a catcher, especially when there's the real thing, the
reposition infielders, chase down foul balls, calm pitchers, doctor the ball,
establish a rapport with the umpire so he calls a big strike zone, chase bunts,
run down toward first base to back up the throw from shortstop and, worst of
all, guard home plate even if it means getting bowled over by charging
opponents. Ray Fosse never really recovered from the separated shoulder he got
positions, while Fosse became known only as the guy who got smashed.
runner even though the guy could have slid into home far ahead of the ball.
Dickey marched over to the dugout and punched the offender in the face, earning
is something of a baseball martyr. Catchers are almost invariably slow of foot
simply from years of squatting, the leg muscles shortening with time.
stuff of an iron man. Eventually, catchers who can still hit retire to first
base, a position for the fat, the stiff, the lame, and the halt.
presumption of the game, like the scorekeeper or the grounds crew. The catcher
is right there in the thick of the action, but no more interesting than the
worker in a game of millionaires. He wears a steel mask over a helmet whose
bill points backward, a style that invariably makes even the most hardened,
mature catcher seem oddly juvenile, a man who failed to grow up. All that hard
catcher has a nickname: The backstop. He might as well be an inert mass. Yet of
course it is he, not the pitcher, who is the field general. Because the pitcher
stands tall, in full view, he cannot send a signal to the catcher as to what
pitch will come next. It is the catcher, low to the ground, with that shadowy
zone around his groin, who must call the pitch. The catcher also gives signals
to the infielders, letting them know what to do in case of a double steal, or
what to do if a runner at first tries to steal when there's also a runner at
third. Because the catcher calls the game, he must know the hitting abilities
and weaknesses of every opposing batter. The catcher is essentially the
quarterback of baseball, only without the huge endorsement contracts.
told me one day in the locker room, "We're usually the dirtiest guys on the
field and the sweatiest guys on the field. We stink all the time."
raunchy. It's no fun to strap that stuff on when the thermometer hits the upper
he says of the pitcher: "All the eyes are on him. All the recognition goes to
him." There's no whine in his voice. This is just reality. He knows that when a
out base runners. "The thing that impresses fans with catchers is arm
strong arm. He is otherwise steady on defense and can hit home runs. He became
absolutely love the position," he says. "You're right in the middle of the
action. You're the one that has to make a lot of decisions. There's a lot of
He means prestige in terms of the team. It doesn't carry
that far beyond the dugout, though. The catcher has always been a somewhat
and Whitey Ford. In my lifetime Johnny Bench has been the singular superstar of
the position (he was once on the cover of Time magazine). There have
position in baseball has more representatives in the Hall, with the sole
of sorts in the catcher position. No one wants to play it anymore. Kids refuse
he started playing the position because no one else would do it.
says. "There are times when you have to block balls and they're not always
Baseball has never been allowed by the intelligentsia to be
the individual vs. the needs of the collective, or whatever. In this annoying
tradition, let me suggest that the plight of the catcher is symbolic of a dire
don't get dirty like we used to. We don't sweat. We finesse our way out of
trouble, using the checkbook, rather than choose a brutal collision and trust
uncomfortably, and in so doing lose all sorts of knowledge that can only come
economy is not that they pay poorly but that they are vaporous, the mere
magazine editor, writes in A Place of My Own about how he had become so
disconnected with the physical world that he finally decided to hammer together
a writing hut in his backyard, a desperate attempt to make contact with real
for its utility as toilet paper. It is now considered normal to travel several
blocks or even miles to find a place that charges more than a dollar for a cup
of coffee. But what great coffee! We cherish our comfort, our good food, our
friendly beverages. In summer we condition our air so that we will not
use our muscles. We are outfielders now. We laze about in the grassy fields of
holes so involuted they swallow the light around them.
familiar guard in his gatepost waiting at the start of our      street.
with gray, stiff, somewhat bushy, and had apparently been acquainted with
neither brush nor comb that morning, after the disarrangement of the
and comb were the least of his tools of transformation, as a comprehensive
still, columns and drapes to make them look distinguished, light and shade to
is often credited with bringing the war home, in the images that appeared in
not make people any less keen to go on with the Civil War," he did convey to
his audience the sheer human cost of the war. He also inspired generations of
Times editorialist at the time, "he has done something very like it." These
considered himself an artist, and his images, in the jargon of current art
history, were highly "constructed." When a general failed to show up for a
photographed the next day, and spliced his image into the ensemble. When the
hundred dollars, he was willing to go all the way, and replace the grays of a
take photographs was merely the most obvious of the many paradoxes of his
career. He was an impresario and a brand name, hiring talented assistants
(several of whom went on to become major photographers in their own right) to
Imperial salted paper prints, and other photographic exotica. During the Civil
during much of the war remain unknown. A possible reason for this has come to
apparently using his knowledge of troop movements to speculate on Wall Street,
sending coded messages through intermediaries in New York. One of Grant's
various privileges and favors." But Grant remained a stalwart supporter of
the slightly disreputable trade of photography, manufacturing the leather and
never acknowledged the project, he remained in close touch with quacks. A
margins of photographs in which he appeared or, more often, with his back
turned. But theatricality is the hallmark of his work. He loved to photograph
actors, the more flamboyant the better. He was apparently drawn to women who
including a particularly intense ambrotype (a cheaper and less luminous form of
ridiculous after the debacle of the Civil War. (If you want to see the original
of the pose, you can cross the Mall to the National Gallery, where
preferred to visit the battlefield after the corpses had been cleared away.
There he would stand, his back turned to us like the contemplative artist
scheduled to lecture, two weeks later, on his life and work as a war
ritual bashing of wildly successful retail outlets, Pottery Barn has received
inducing a bland homogenization in home design. "Everything seems more and more
New York Times Magazine article last year. "The stuff may be good but it
rightly lamented that it has come at the price of individual variation and
taste. Just as the Gap look has become as much of a uniform now as the preppy
aesthetic it replaced, so also has the Pottery Barn look standardized our homes
recent years. It has made good design easily accessible and, paradoxically,
hard to say, though, whether we're innately philistine in our artistic
judgments or have merely been deprived of decent choices. Until the 1930s, most
conservative styles or traditional looks from the last century.
reign of the big manufacturers was the proliferation of such
lines in a way that appeals both to people with sophisticated tastes and to
those without a lot of money. And while this standardization has produced a
certain monotony, it has also generated some good design. Many a dish or chair
manufacturing quality may be not as good). Take, for example, Pottery Barn's
making bolder purchases because of a better economy. But what's noteworthy is
that it's young people who have developed a taste for cool places to sit and
were most likely to agree with the statement "I like to shop for furniture."
thrive. You could see the stirrings of a creative revolution at this year's
International Contemporary Furniture Fair, held a few weeks ago in Manhattan.
(lights in the shape of pigs or brassieres, chairs made from shopping carts or
traffic barricades) that earned it the "bad flea market" label when it began a
funky yet rational design at affordable prices. Even though these items cost a
bit more than Pottery Barn fare, they were no doubt affected by the success of
of all, the series' cocktail table and sideboard are now part of Chandler and
preppy ensembles of paisley, tartan plaid, and corduroy. The rise of "boomer
casual" has even forced the major manufacturers to move beyond their perennial
colonial reproductions. Their more "modernized" furniture looks as if it were
designed by a committee tallying up market research, but it's a start.
designers who will individualize pieces according to your home and character.
cabinets with interchangeable parts and colors, depending on whether the pieces
are going in an office or a kid's room. The collection won a Best Furniture
will no longer be able to blame bad taste in furniture on a lack of choice.
Coalition for the Homeless began handing out sandwiches and fruit every night
to the horde of homeless people who gathered around Grand Central Station. It
conned their way to seconds or thirds while the quiet or confused went home
coalition, too, that had won a court order mandating a "right to shelter," a
insisted the problem of the homeless could be summed up in three words:
coalition succeeded by turning homelessness into a simple, powerful moral
were smaller but still substantial. Homeless advocates had always known
substance abuse was a problem, but they had rarely aired their knowledge in
public for fear that it would shift public debate and blur the image of the
revised so that the city would guarantee the homeless the "continuum of care"
the coalition, because it was seen as undermining the ultimate entitlement to
shelter." The coalition seemed to be painting itself into an ideological
on the grounds that officials of the organization had engaged in "harassment
Able. The allegation would have seemed bizarre if it hadn't been familiar: Two
years earlier, coalition officials had accused another nonprofit of using "goon
squads" of homeless men to roust other homeless people from ATM
to submit to frequent drug tests, abide by a range of rules inside the shelter,
and make modest payments toward their own room and board. In exchange, they get
businessman's regard for the therapeutic power of the marketplace. The premise
often fails, the most effective form of treatment is, as he puts it, "the
positive reinforcement of a culture that's established around work, around
only work but what appears to be a relatively calm and secure environment, and
it would hardly be surprising if this drastic change from the world of the
streets, or even of the typical shelter, motivated men to turn around their
spoke of their experience in overtly moralistic terms: They talked about taking
responsibility for themselves, for the money they earned, and even for the
children whom they had fathered and then neglected. The program, with its
combination of rules and incentives, had prodded them to do something they
considered one of the most dangerous and disorganized in the city, when the
over, many of the men rebelled against the program's strictures, especially the
random drug testing. Some left for shelters elsewhere. The coalition serves as
and others at the shelter corroborate, is that the official who represented the
coalition at the shelter worked actively with the dissidents who remained to
himself by exploiting poor blacks, and berated the black shelter manager as
and said nothing. The dissidents, lead by the former head of the coalition's
"client advisory board," urged the other homeless men to stop working and
coalition was so disturbed about the program that it contemplated suing him.
board, in violation of rules that govern the shelter system. But since
residents were free to go to a conventional shelter, it's hard to see what
right was violated. And since the money was being deducted from salaries they
otherwise wouldn't have had, it seems perverse to focus on the issue of rights
fundamental issue is whether it's permissible to impose obligations on the
homeless in exchange for various goods, to regard them as something other than
victims to whom certain rights attach. This is, of course, the same question we
are now asking about welfare recipients. We have moved very swiftly from seeing
welfare as an unconditional right to viewing it as no right at all. Perhaps we
could have found our way to a middle point if welfare's champions had seen
their way beyond the language of rights to a different, and more reciprocal,
kind of social contract. The sad story of the Coalition for the Homeless, and
of its decline from the moral pinnacle it once occupied, is a parable of that
purges, mass executions, death camps. We may also know something about how
astonishing number of scientific breakthroughs were allegedly the work of one
v). These matters run the gamut from the monstrous to the comical. The
scale of crimes against humanity, against truth, against common sense engaged
new book, however, demonstrates all these things with clarity, concision, and
force, through the use of period pictures. The four images on its cover, for
one of them had just been made first secretary of the local party. The second
photograph than like an awkward charcoal tracing; the comrade on the left has
been excised, having in fact been imprisoned prior to being shot. The third
airbrush than a camera; the figure on the far right is now gone as well,
the same table, but alone. The focus of that image turns out to have been the
finger, weighing on the table with a force of tons. The sequence is
nowadays, photographs can be digitally manipulated with ease; in the era in
question, they were manipulated crudely and grotesquely, using scissors, ink,
original happy gathering of Old Bolsheviks, say, and then one or more
variations printed in later years from which figures have been excised after
they fell from grace. The altered pictures rarely look convincing. When I was
younger, I would occasionally come across books issued by Progress Publishers,
that matter, were printed in a roman typeface that looked as if it had been
technical inferiority was probably budgetary, but there is no denying that it
made falsification so much easier, since even the unaltered pictures look like
fakes. A yawning gap in the lineup of military officers; a face that failed to
match the body attached to it; a face whose shading did not match that of the
faces on either side; an elbow marooned in space, bereft of other body
is rich in horrors: The photographs in which faces have been blotted out with
ink smears or hysterically attacked with a pen are more immediately alarming
than the ones from which figures have been surgically removed, and there are
of the Supreme Soviet, mass murderers who invariably look like factory hands or
math teachers. But the overwhelming impression the book leaves is less of
People felt for ordinary workers, the generalized contempt for human
evident than in the images that purport to represent friendship, fellowship,
often represented in utterly fictitious settings: addressing workers on the
factory floor, say, or surrounded by gleeful ethnic types from the Soviet
republics. His eyes are narrowed, his mustache conceals his mouth but is
emotion, actual emotion being consigned to his grinning subjects. And he is
than human, a mobile icon wheeled about, as real as a stuffed trout.
mannequins do when they are grouped on the same pedestal. Of course, the
check to the mayor features smiles that are scarcely more genuine. King's book
is of enormous historical value, but it should not encourage smugness. We are
currently capable of perpetrating every kind of visual lie on display here, and
seamlessly and invisibly at that, for reasons some may well think are
will always remember precisely where they were and what they were doing when
they first heard the news that Cigar was shooting blanks.
racing, but this cut to the heart of the business, the ancient and profitable
Horse of the Year twice in a row. He was the most celebrated thoroughbred since
Secretariat. Surely he would make a monster stud. At the Breeder's Cup last
should have been the most important and satisfying work of his career. His stud
paddock. Everyone wanted a piece of that code. A few weeks passed. The mares
did not come into foal. "Some horses that come off the racetrack are slow to
start," said the farm's manager, hopefully. But then the veterinarians looked
at Cigar's sperm under the microscope and discovered the horse's appalling
little secret. His sperm were slackers. They had no motility whatsoever. Many
were shaped abnormally. This incredibly fast and strong and durable
thoroughbred, heroic of stature and stout of heart, was a genetic dead end.
scientists had cloned an adult sheep. An enterprising reporter for the New
to the effect that perhaps Cigar could be cloned. The thoroughbred community
quickly protested. It turns out that cloning would violate Rule 1(D) of the
registration, a foal must be the result of a stallion's natural service with a
broodmare (which is the physical mounting of a broodmare by a stallion), and a
natural gestation must take place in, and delivery must be from, the body of
the same broodmare in which the foal was conceived.
today's society has been converted to mass production. One would think that
there is a more modern way to breed a horse, something involving hydraulic
out some horse breeding up close. Country Life Farm is as pastoral as it
around in a "Cigar Ran Here First" cap and looking like you could not pay him a
million dollars to get worked up over anything. He passed the reins to his
Josh Pons is a serious businessman. I remarked that the
though he wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that term. It's difficult work,
he said. It's also risky. It takes four or five men to handle the horses as
swift kick from a mare. "If she were to hit the stallion in the penis, we'd be
She'd come there the day before, for schooling, and she had been balky. A
veterinarian had reached inside and confirmed she was in heat, but after nine
years of racing, she might not grasp the concept of being "covered," as they
urinated, a sign that she was ready. A horseman held a "twitch" that covered
her mouth, while another man held her left front leg with a strap. Two more men
Josh Pons did not like this. He wasn't going to let his
Another teaser came out of the stud barn, this one named Dew. Dew was no
little scared right now. The mare doesn't look like she's ready and he's not
notices that Pons doesn't mince words. No one around here is guilty of being
lot harder than just letting a couple of horses loose in a pasture and waiting
for nature to take its course. And it's a far sight harder than artificial
of a teasing chute we'd have some sort of a riding bronco bull, a leather mare.
The prohibition is more than just tradition. It's good
business. Artificial insemination would create a rush on sperm from a select
mating is a lot of meat in motion. Four men had to control the horses, and one
his right hand and grab Dew's erect penis, which is thick as a baseball bat and
almost as long, and pull it to one side to prevent penetration. When it comes
been tugged to the side like this so many times that he's developed a
batting average in the horse business. He emerged from the barn whinnying and
The horsemen washed the stallion's genitals in soap and water and led him to
looked at peace. "He's a good breeding horse. He won't mess around." The four
either side guided his penis into the mare and held onto it while the horses
emotionally," said Josh Pons as he drove around the farm in a golf cart a few
minutes later. He said studs get hurt, top broodmares get sick and die, foals
are born dead. Nothing is easy. It's the nature of thoroughbreds: They're not
this isn't really working, that racing times have reached a plateau and the
thoroughbreds may have even regressed in quality, watered down by excessive
breeding in the boom years of the 1980s and the use of medication that masks
horses run in place genetically, the racetracks themselves are falling behind
the rest of the gaming world. Racetracks are getting clocked by casinos,
lotteries, riverboat gambling, and slot machines. Pons is not sure if Country
game and everyone's betting at the casinos instead of the racetrack, we're out
old fountains and broad porches and perfectly landscaped gardens. Laurel Park
has none of that magic. The entrance road is bumpy and crude. The facility has
showing simulcasts of races at some other track. They weren't completely here,
director of public relations. She said Laurel's big problem is that the
they're pulling in billions of dollars in revenue, jacking up the purses for
the racetrack, as broadly imagined by the public, suffers a reputation of
seediness. It's not true, she said. It's clean and lively, she insisted. Soon
they will bring in costumed characters, so kids will have something to do.
looked down from his lofty perch as the horses meandered toward the starting
the big time!" He grew up in Queens, right next door to Aqueduct. Routinely
cloned Cigars. Something. Anything. For the seventh race at Laurel, there were
only seven horses in the field. The next race would have nine horses, and the
one after that only six. Six horses is not much of a field. You know a
racetrack is on hard times when it can't even get horses to show up.
they wanted in their homes. Some of the questions were about things: What's at
the top of your wish list? What would be in your dream house? Others were about
feelings: What do you like about your home? Would you move? Who really makes
surprisingly, the women wanted more storage space, maybe a whirlpool bath, and
could foresee a day when their homes would feel like empty nests or crowded
houses. Electronics were low on their lists. But the women were also attached
most like "a resort, a place to relax." A majority said they were the
Traditional Home then offered its readers a solution
owners could change easily as their needs changed, without remodeling or
moving. Readers loved the idea (they voiced doubts mainly about the cost), and
"Built by Women" project, a model home designed by women, for women,
incorporates the survey responses into plans for a dream house. The magazine's
lookout window the only apertures. "I was in Phoenix recently, looking at a
windows to let women watch the street as they read, work, or clean: both a
sturdier version of the houses that builders slap down outside cities, planting
two or three spindly trees by the driveway and calling it "landscaping." There
are no communal kitchens or marble bathrooms; that's not what the women in the
said their homes reflected their designers' fancies, not their own needs:
Counters were too high, misplaced lights cast shadows when women applied their
makeup, there was more space for formal entertaining than for family dinners.
laundry room, generous hallways, a living room that's small enough to
straighten easily but large enough to fit the whole family.
surveyed did want to retain some ceremonial space, so there's a formal front
the emphasis is on the practical. The bathrooms, the stairs, and large closets
are packed into a strip down the center of the house, and two sets of three
rooms are lined up on either side. The garage fits within the rectangular
footprint of the house, but along the side, so it no longer dominates the front
of the house. The kitchen is positioned between the family room and the dining
the garage, so the rugrats can jump up and down to their hearts' content.
The Built by Women house sounds superficially like the
"open plan," the vogue in the 1960s, that was also supposed to offer ultimate
flexibility. But the open plan proved less permanent than the lava lamp. No one
one wanted to read a book in a drafty multipurpose area. That was for swingers,
always planning their next key party. The 1990s flexible house is all about
family. Family members can retreat to their own rooms, insulated from warring
musical tastes by hallways, bathrooms, and closets. They have their own
kids, a front door for first impressions. The entire family can come together
around the dinner table, restored to central status from its incarnation as a
dinner time, or exit when the parents need more privacy. The living room can be
cared (and wanted to care) more about their homes than men do, and rejected the
But the magazine's contribution, feminist in its own way, is the utility of a
plan that allows each room to have another function depending on the age of the
unity. The Built by Women house is like a new wardrobe, with all the promise of
a jagged axis that must have balanced once across the fulcrum of his nose. The
forceps mark of his accident or whatever extracted him from normalcy, dipped
exuberance of his hands that come to rest, delicately, on my shoulders, as if
to say: "Help tie the drawstring of my suit, shoulder my towel, fit these
extremely noble family, a statesman and soldier who died of war wounds at the
age of 32--was looked on as a kind of perfect man: one born with the greatest
advantages, who had the talent and goodness to make the best of them. (This
I write I know not what; dead, quick, I know not how.
dead, dead is my friend, dead is the world's delight.
living wight laments his lack, and all in sundry sorts.
not him, but he made death his ladder to the skies.
farewell, friendship's sacred league, uniting minds of worth.
stones that keep the bones that held so good a mind.
century approaches, many works of art in various media will respond to that
rotation of the calendar. It will be hard for a poet to surpass the poise and
phrases like the repeated "seems," "I could think," and "I was unaware" enact
surroundings reflect his mood or the human calendar. The way the first half of
the poem ends with the word "I" also makes me feel a recognition that the
pills, ran amok and plowed the occasional luxury sedan into restaurants just
politic." This bit of historical camp comes from a recent issue of No
itself "The Alternative Country (Whatever That Is) Quarterly." Most journals
about country music are either oriented toward collectors, like the Journal
understand that Merle Haggard is a better singer than Garth Brooks, who see
Alternative country is a reaction against the antiseptic safety of mainstream
pablum that country became in the 1980s. It is deprogrammed, studiously sloppy,
embarrassment of country's hillbilly past, and mostly made by rockers. Its
tire iron," sings one alternative country act, Moonshine Willy). Its
The phrase "alternative country" has become as good as hard
cash in the last year, so desperate is the white pop industry for anything new.
kinds of bands. First there are those whose sheer talent makes them appealing
classicists BR5-49, all of whom strike the difficult balance between
themselves in the trappings of country but use a studied, shambling rawness to
aggression: The lyrics to a new song, "Misunderstood," begin with spare piano
accompaniment and local color ("You're back in your old neighborhood/ where the
(Thrill Jockey), is "alternative" by process of elimination, not by design.
believable as contemporary songs. They don't respect religion much, either. On
quiet 11-piece band fitted out with a trumpet, baritone saxophone, and organ,
productions. Their are slow and graceful, with lulling chord cycles, shimmering
dynamics, and surreal lyrics delivered just above a whisper (as on a recent
country as a shock device, a flash of bad taste, and seems to view the genre as
"Alternative" has famously been defined as meaning that at least one of the
musicians in the band can't play. BR5-49 and the Mavericks place out of the
genre on those grounds. On BR5-49 (Arista), the band demonstrates a
grasp of 1940s and 1950s country, down to the grace notes and details, and
invests its songs with so much professionally recycled enthusiasm that a
listener can relearn the dynamics of the old stuff. The Mavericks, in Music
thinking that it would be great if it just sang its harmonies with a
alternative country, however, is piety. Traditional country is a sidestepping,
bohemian atheists behind alternative country, on the other hand, have no shame
at all. The hell with piety, they say; they'd rather play up country's
in country music usually yields little more than a cheap lampoon. It's not as
to the easily caricatured image of country musicians as "the real thing," many
he was no primitive. He was a song collector obsessed with the idea of
country is a genuine expression of something: Hipsters with a sense of ironic
tendency to ignore what's durable about country in favor of its stereotypical
owns up to in the song "Faithless Street": "I had started this damn country
gaseous glow elevating dull verbs (EAT), bland nouns (HOTEL), and vapid
neon's cool heat alone did not make the OPEN sign the visual loudspeaker of
commodity, from carefully considered decision to impulse purchase, from custom
manufacture to mass production. Only then could OPEN join the pay phone and
public toilet as invisible icons that don't appear until you look for them.
The sign's ubiquity was a long time coming. Until a decade
but it's far less expensive than the first neon sign sold in the United States,
sign in the window also advertised the fact that a merchant was flush enough to
have spent some coin. But even after the neon patents expired in the '30s and
the form boomed, signs stayed expensive. And thanks to their fragility and
artisan nature, they also remained locally produced. In the medium's heyday,
brands. Protective plastic housings, sturdier mounts, lighter transformers, and
from beer logos and a few other popular corporate insignias, neon was a tough
(it's a matter of dispute who made the first one), but the way they sold
local shop would charge for one made to order, and the market responded
just as busy. The market blossomed in the late 1980s, with the rise of
contain gases other than neon. A few puffs of argon fill the blue border of an
OPEN; neon itself powers the red portion of the message. In the new generation
of OPEN signs, the red is redder and the blue bluer because the glass tubing is
coated with colored ink. If reheated, as they would have to be in the course of
repair, the inks melt into brown goop, making the signs such a pain to fix that
it's easier to buy another than to take a broken model into the shop.
rectangle, with a dozen feet of 12-millimeter tube in the word OPEN and another
eye. Another is that the size fits most transoms, windows, and walls. Still
another: The shipping box stacks easily on a standard pallet.
The OPEN sign's popularity tracks that of the strip mall.
they were ready for business. Fifty years ago they'd have scrawled OPEN on a
shirt cardboard and perched it to catch the eye of a passing pedestrian. But
there used to be customs about when businesses could operate," says Dusty
no one needed an OPEN sign. But things have changed. Shops may be open later,
power of its own. "We get calls from people whose signs aren't working. They're
because my competitor on the next block has a neon OPEN sign. People can see
shocked indignation, controversy has been one measure of seriousness in Western
turban. To a contemporary audience, the picture is still disturbing, but for
different reasons. It's the uneasy conjunction of race and sexuality that
the recent firestorms concerning artistic expression and its public support.
urine. Recently, however, it has found itself on the other side of the
censorship divide, and race is what pushed it there. It has made news not by
mounting a show, but by canceling one before it opened. The show in question,
writing catalog copy. That neither writer was ultimately able to do so may have
have counted as "critique" or "transformation." But such is the nervous
rigidity of our current aesthetic climate, where ambiguity is tolerated on
some reviewers followed the institute's lead in thinking that only two
Upper East Side of New York City. The show, which covers seven different series
Union have the grainy, blurred look of authentic reportage from the Eastern
two soldiers mounted on a motorcycle and cab push inexorably into the frigid
Moves East" in pushing photography away from the sternly mimetic documentary
style of the 1960s toward a more playful, artificial relation to the world.
nostalgia for a simpler, "good" war. These soldiers have driven out of a dream
world set far back in an imagined past, one drawn from movies and newsreels.
rearing white horse and, for a second, you're caught by the power and careful
is "mindful of real history," and that his work somehow "prompts the viewer's
recollections of our forefathers' injustices: cultural expansionism, genocide
visual imagination stocked with '50s movies and a reckless willingness to play
these overexposed scenes straight, with neither irony nor commentary.
controversial (is he complicit or "critiquing"?) without being particularly
disturbing. His latest two series, though, succeed at being both. While the
humanity. We see "inspections" of nude candidates for the gas chambers, women
enacted by lifelike dolls. The images have some of the power of Art
the same reasons. Given the rote piety of so much Holocaust rhetoric (there's
varied, and the galleries might have helped the viewer out by furnishing
details about the items' provenance and use. Nor is the degree of
"stereotyping" at all consistent among the items. They range from crudely
series reveals his interest in a tradition of blackface masquerade that, by the
people were inherently funny, it also reflected a complex identification of
cork smeared over the face does not a new identity make. The very luridness of
It's as though their melancholy derived from the excruciating imperative to be
blacks performing according to the conventions of blackface. The objects that
Gallery, could as well be called "white memorabilia," since they record,
presumably, the fantasies of white people, including the fantasy of assuming a
they attest to the indomitability of the human spirit? They infiltrate every
corner of our consciousness, but do we understand them? Let us begin with the
play was so unbelievable I must raise the roof of this arena to contain the
ownership. Raising the Roof is the celebratory sports gesture of the
moment. Like all inspired sports gestures, it's moved beyond sports. Everybody
trace the lineage of Raising the Roof, one must understand the history of the
sports gesture itself. One must go back to a time few of us can remember. A
that it's hard to imagine what else people could have done, it wasn't invented
invented this elevated palm slap, Smith replied, "We decided to be a little
crunching of radius and ulna bones. The Bash began in baseball, and it went
would meet at the plate for Monster Bashing. Within a month of the Bash's
featured a challenge to the Bash's ancestor: "If you're a big fan of the
had begun as a struggle for individual expression ended in an avalanche of
artists sold out. They now seek the public's embrace and are aided by the
holds it started on playgrounds in New York. Popular mostly with football and
it is also the hardest to perform. It requires a level of fluidity not commonly
reached its zenith with the Packers' Super Bowl win last season. This season's
turned football celebration. A basic salute to teammates after touchdowns.
preseason games this summer. A gesture clearly suited to football's warlike
invited their fans to join in, creating a stadium saluting in unison and
marking the pinnacle of the football culture's fascistic tendencies.
game. Fans standing at appropriate moments fashion a group undulation.
Particularly frustrating for abstainers: A cry of "down in front" will not
dampen a rollicking Wave, so sight lines are blocked at regular time intervals.
maybe even a harsh poet. The richness of language, image, and imagination all
domestic details of this poem, the shawl and the vase, convey a dire, steely
perception: that life's sweetness may run out long before the duties. Here is
no benign affirmation of redemption. On the other hand, there is something in
her clarity on this point, her ferocity of truth, and her firm sense that it is
her duty to carry on, that I find exhilarating. Even the dashes, with their
suspended, rising quality, suggest the vitality of endurance.
can be categorized as liberal or conservative. It is the liberals who concern
me. Their hearts may be in the right place but, as a result of attachment to
dogma and oversimplification of facts, there is much that they fail to
understand. Since they are the majority, and their views the predominant ones,
I feel compelled to come forward on behalf of my fellow politically incorrect
gardeners are people who feel that, through gardening, we can alleviate our
sense of alienation from nature; and that, through good gardening, we can
repair some of the damage we have done to our environment. The most extreme
liberals believe that there is an original or a natural state in which the
environment would be if we hadn't shown up on the scene, and that we have not
only the ability but also a moral imperative to help nature return to this
state. Remember the '70s, when people were turning their suburban lawns loose
and allowing them to aspire to being meadows? They were letting the grass
their neighbors were handing them citations demanding a return to neatness and
neighborliness. This liberation of grass struggling to be free was yet another
basic idea is that nature is good, man is not, and the more we can keep the
The liberal solution is what has come to be known as a
"natural garden." Judging from the looks of it, it might more properly be
called a "naturalistic garden." These gardens contain many elements cribbed
godliness. A walk or a drive up to the house or through the garden should bend
and wind and provide a "sense of journey," as one might experience on a walk in
other wonder of the natural world. Sometimes, if the garden seems very
"natural," as Central Park is meant to, people may even mistake their
is no hero to our liberals, for he committed the unforgivable sin of using
"Natural gardening" is a strictly regional affair, done with those plants that
fall of man. (This type of gardening came into vogue in the 1980s as the
gardening environmentalists' response to the excesses of that decade. It
only with lessons about water conservation and ecosystems but also with the
as a villainous expression of suburban man's environmental insensitivity, and
turned against it entirely. Grass was yanked out by its roots and tossed onto
the compost heap. Those offending areas are now populated by happy natives
indigenous plants refrain from sending their seed downwind into other areas
where they do not belong. But can we be sure that any "native" plant was not
cigarettes in his garden, an act incomprehensible to liberals), poked fun at
those who think they garden in "a natural way." That, he claimed, could be seen
other hand, was for him the "high defiance of nature herself." Nature has no
patience for your garden. She wants to reclaim it, and if you turn your back on
it for a moment, she'll be there, with weeds and vines and tangled brush. It is
men and women, not gardens, who are found in nature. And because we
aesthetes. Gardens, particularly flower gardens, serve no real purpose. If
gardens must have a higher calling, it is the cause of beauty. Failing to
recognize the primacy of aesthetics in gardening, liberals are left vulnerable
to all sorts of unnecessary errors, such as using bark mulch as a decorative
element. This can lead you down the slippery slope toward plants artlessly
plunked down in an unrepentant mishmash, the garden equivalent of an unshaven
ultimately a folly whose goal is to provide delight. A liberal may look at a
landscapes based on a grid. His belief is that we should not shy away from
geometry in the design and layout of gardens, since the entire cosmos is based
on it. To garden in this way is to copy the spirit of nature, not its
liberals say about conservatives is that we are not sufficiently concerned
about the environment. We, too, are concerned. We just express our concern in a
different way. Imagine Nature looking down at what we have made at, say,
boggy pond. Which would it feel was a more fitting testament to its mysteries
Art," a new department, will compare movies, books, etc., with the facts on
People fudges lots of little details. For example, in the film,
masthead was constantly changing. But composite characters are a cinematic
device commonly used to reduce audience confusion and maintain narrative
court battles (which numbered more than the four the film describes). However,
movie, cheerfully describes himself as a scum bag, the movie clearly wants to
one day and discovers he is a rich publisher. But the story behind the real
couldn't pay) as "an unwelcome addition to the scene." But that fraternity
might have included some rough players itself. A book by former Penthouse
a white supremacist currently serving six life sentences for murder (and the
risk at trial, according to law officials (and he was in prison indefinitely,
anyway). Franklin does have a history of confessing to crimes all over the
Hustler a place it doesn't deserve in the sexual revolution. The film
right to sleep with other women; so does she. At the magazine, she has
extensive editorial input (which is true). Even after he is paralyzed and their
told Hustler that she didn't see anything wrong with a "man striking a
wheelchair into the bathroom and tries to save her. His memoir says he asked a
him of sexually molesting her and, in an interview in the current issue of
film sanitizes Hustler 's unsavory sexuality. Even the most cursory look
at back issues of Hustler confirms that the filmmakers seriously
misrepresent its content. The images we see or hear described in the movie are
gagged and bound on the top of a car). The magazine's "humor" often depended on
in organized crime. The film portrays the sentencing, and then a prison visit
emotional distress, the film sticks fairly closely to the facts. Indeed, the
screenwriters borrowed lines from the court transcript. At an earlier Supreme
justices "eight assholes and one token cunt." That transcript didn't make the
is an occasional column that compares fiction, in various media, with the
begins and ends with disclaimers. The opening statement says that characters
and dialogue have been created or altered for "dramatic purposes." The closing
servant, "was created to reflect a viewpoint concerning this turbulent period
not by the standards of docudrama, where synthesized characters and invented
dialogue are routine. But in its selection of material to include and
The film portrays the fervent opponent of the civil rights
Standard that "viewers without prior knowledge likely will leave the film
White House today." The film also does little to suggest what other historians
it was politically advantageous and jettisoned it when it wasn't.
less accurate (though it includes two major fictionalizations along the way).
he had in 1958--and won. We don't see the campaign, but we do hear parts of his
promises, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." The
troopers were justifiably trying to keep the peace and protect the state from
troopers' use of force, the film's portrayal of his reaction is consistent with
asks the congregation for forgiveness. The crowd starts to sing "Amazing
Grace." The visit did happen. Carter notes, however, that it wasn't
forgiveness"; he just said he opposed integration because he favored states'
Two inventions are used to bolster the dramatic power of
prattles on about a favorite black handyman of his youth. He clearly has far to
scene at the church is wrenched from its political context. The film doesn't
suggesting that his conversion had political motives. Commentators have noted
cast in the Democratic primary, a fact alluded to in a written epilogue at the
in flamboyant and often witty form much of what would soon become the program
was as new as I was old, I resented the short specimen saplings that dotted our
lawn and the neat rows of perky yellow daffodils that popped up from the wood
ancient groves with thick canopies and filtered light whose mysteries lured the
children I read about in books? I have always been drawn to the drama of
landscape, of wild nature and grand, cultivated gardens. To be able to fashion
beauty from light, scent, earth, flora, and fauna, and then to give it over to
the uncontrollable forces of time and decay seemed an endeavor noble and
humbling. I wanted to make gardens. But I moved to the city.
year, when I finally got my own piece of dirt and took a spade to it, it landed
earth, getting dirty, getting scratches that I wore proudly, making compost,
lugging, digging, and planting. The result of all this was something else
entirely. The garden I made was a meek little mess, a structureless collection
of plants that never grew from the size at which they entered the ground. While
out to toil anew, and well after dark, lit by headlights of the car, I would
realize that pleasure had turned to despair. I grew sullen and ashamed of my
While gardening is assumed to be so therapeutic that there
is even a field called horticultural therapy, it wasn't designed to help those
been too high. Worse, I recognized a disparity between my idealized self and my
actual self that I had last observed in the seventh grade when I was a gawky
for the relief that winter would bring. To most gardeners, winter is merely the
anticipation of spring. They take spring gardening catalogs with them into the
tub, where they plan their coming glories. They start seeds in their basements
to get a jump on the season. I was not ready to go there yet. Instead, quite by
accident, I ended up gardening all winter, happily and in private.
that meets to buy bulbs in bulk at reduced rates and exchange bits of gardening
wisdom. Seduced by the descriptions in the catalog, I recklessly bought flowers
that I knew would become deer food if planted outside. Fortunately, the bulb
ladies showed me how to force them into bloom indoors in winter. Just pot them,
they explained. Jam as many into the dirt as possible, water them, and then
required for dormancy. After a couple of months, having been deceived into
thinking they've just slept through the winter, they can be brought inside and
acclimating them to their new surroundings before offering them the winter
darlings. I arranged them carefully, watered them dutifully, and checked their
progress constantly, recording their growth rates and bloom times. As someone
who resents houseplants enormously for needing so much and giving so little, I
thought at first that this might be hypocritical. But these potted wonders
changed daily, stretching and budding and turning toward the sun. They did not
just sit there inert and accusatory, the way houseplants do.
Hungering for more flowers, I moved on to the woody
stems of forsythia. Noticing that a willow tree cut down last year had resisted
death, sending up dozens of shoots from its stump, I cut and forced those too.
lovely flowers for a few days in May and one or two fruits clinging
pathetically in late summer. Removed from its body, its limbs were elegant and
for weeks, bulbs and branches rising from slumber into bloom. I would change
water, snip stems, peel back bark, arrange flowers, arrange arrangements, and
maple that looked promising. Anything with a hint of swollen bud became my
in a storm, and put them in a pitcher. In came some mysterious blue berries
the irksome ivy by the front door looked good indoors. At the supermarket, I
stared for a long time at the delectable dark green foliage and deep red stem
buckets filled with branches so large they scraped the ceiling and the walls as
I dragged them to the sink for their changes of water. Dinner came later and
later as the kitchen was covered in twigs, branches, and berries.
write, the house is alive with flowers and foliage, and it is starting to snow
attached, and the pendulous leathery seed pods of wisteria. On the mantle, an
old iron urn holds cascading ivy and some fragrant winter honeysuckle. Next to
that is a small black vase of cut miniature daffodils bought in the supermarket
because I could not bear to harvest any of my own. And on it goes.
not quite one thing and not quite another. There are clear days when you can
skate on the pond and others when you can walk about without a coat. Looking
around for branches to bring home, I see the beech trees still hanging on to
of the maple are about to open. While others are just dreaming of their
worthy images, full of human dignity and topical picturesqueness and formal
relegate him to a historical back shelf along with so many other humanistic
of Man whose work today primarily inspires a nagging sense of duty.
his youth, however, Strand was a radical Modernist who made one startling
picture after another, progressing in giant leaps that apparently occurred
month to month. With dazzling speed he went from being a promising imitator to
discovering dozens of avenues that would be explored by others in the ensuing
period, gathering for the first time nearly all his surviving work of the
of discovery. If you have ever wondered what inspiration might look like
his education was completed at the Ethical Culture School, which prized the
took place at the New York Camera Club, a hobby league whose members were
doctors and lawyers less interested in art than in craft, and then he
gravitated toward the artistic forefront of the medium, namely, the
that the group's work restricted itself to counterfeiting the effects of
drawing and painting. The images were soft, vague studies of moony, "timeless"
by any mechanical process and wholly innocent of the industrial world.
appropriately languid views of shimmering water; decorative sheep; and
bathtub toy against the swirl of rocks and spume. By the time he made that
picture, though, he had already taken in works by more venturesome
boxcars surmounted by a tangle of rails and a head of steam that has nothing to
Very soon he was touring the country, bringing back new
stripped trees leaning over, bearing aloft a neat grid of wires, towering over
that had never been made before (but would, in one way or another, be made
started investigating the graphic dynamism at work in the shadows thrown down
by the el tracks, and he began seriously investing in the possibilities of the
numerous social interpretations, but to our eyes it might look like an
went off to his family's country house in Twin Lakes, Conn., and there he
He arranged bowls, jugs, and fruit in sunlight or whipped them with the shadows
of the porch railing, then left the objects alone and began rearranging the
position of his camera instead. The pictures become increasingly free; they can
abstraction and from the ground up toward dramatic diagonals in the sky. Back
in town again, he set about making portraits in the slums, arming himself with
a camera equipped with a false lens at a right angle to the actual one so he
are among the greatest photographic portraits ever, an accumulated life visible
pictures that synthesized everything he had learned. Chief among these, in my
false front, a couple of roofs, a fence, and some people in the street that
marches the eye up one side and down the other, seamlessly blending all his
knowledge of light and shade, volume and flatness, geometry and the shapes of
these years in a private collection, a barely known monument of the most
liberating Modernism, the kind that the viewer can take out into the world to
transform its least prepossessing elements into jazz and verve. The same could
be said of the exhibition as a whole, and its splendid catalog: They animate a
was inclined to trust any saint who carried a knife.
conversation in his poem is so convincingly real yet the poetry so gorgeous in
its sounds that I always feel a little shocked to realize how sad the
art and life in such a small space, with such a beguilingly intimate
genre of the commissioned poem, there are not many as charming as this one.
to the old myth of the tortoise that supports the universe, he slyly introduces
the underlying weight of civilization and history into the interchange between
the eyes of a bird,          but because he is beaked,
has the turtle attracted you.          He is your only pet.
opposes him     in the streets of the city          shall go down.
arms of your Lord Well that's really nice I thought
eyelids for a second& when I did the mist had cleared although a faint
mist clearing again& again I could finally breathe a little
look for new techniques of achievement and seek to minimize behaviors with low
achievement yield. Thus it is only natural that I have begun to worry about the
measurably advance any of my personal or professional agendas.
become a steel curtain between me and my family. My wife and three daughters
shun me when I turn on a ballgame. Occasionally I try to "relate" to the kids
by asking them to fetch Daddy a beer, but I sense that they are drifting
had to change. I needed to take firm, decisive action.
made a solemn vow: I would teach my wife and kids to watch sports with me.
Yes, I would! And something more: I would become a better,
man for whom sports viewership is not just a bad habit, but a skill.
experts and engaged in rigorous tests in my own home. What follows are some
do, before we get into any actual viewing techniques, is ask yourself why
sports are an important part of your life. Why do sports matter? Do you like
sports because they show that effort, practice, and innovation lead to positive
results? Because sports are an outlet for our primitive barbarian hostilities?
Because in sports we discover a dramatic metaphor for our desire to move into
new terrain and reach goals that can be statistically measured? The answer to
all these questions is: Don't be stupid. You watch sports for the simple reason
that sports don't matter a jot. You like sports precisely because of their
I knew, watches a heroic amount of football, from which he gleans the
muddy men move in super slow motion while the baritone narrator describes the
college football player, says, "That's the way I wanted to show the game, with
the snot spraying, the sweat flying. Football is a very visceral sport. Before
we started it was always filmed from the top, and it looked like a little chess
cockpit that's built in my den. There's one set, the predominant game, that's
like a cockpit. You have to have good peripheral vision and you have to really
19-inch television and you can't afford to upgrade, just sit a lot closer. If
you get close enough to the set, it's almost as good as going out and buying a
occasional pit stop, but even that is conveniently arranged.
bathroom's right by the set. If I have to take a piss I can still see the
your eye on the screen at all times, even when you are trying to trim a child's
"Those are dangerous. I only recommend those for the more experienced viewers.
You need stamina to do this. You need a good night's sleep. You have to be
careful about having too big a breakfast, because that will put you to sleep.
The trick is to have a series of small snacks for a 10-hour period."
must keep in mind that you are not directly watching an event, but rather are
watching a produced and directed telecast of an event, manipulated by talented
but not infallible professionals. To better understand how a sports program is
blimp is being blown all over the sky; the glowing puck used on Fox hockey
extremely important, are the producers and directors.
calls the shots you see on the screen. He's the one who inserts the graphics,"
director. The director, when he yells out the instructions, 'cut to this
picture, that picture, this camera, that camera,' the guy who follows him up,
physically, is the technical director. The producer sits to the left of the
director. The producer is the one who gets in the replays, the one who's in
charge of the format of the show. He makes sure all those commercial breaks get
ever thinks twice about these people, but this creates a chance for you to
expertise. Let other people talk about who caught what pass or made what
knowing what to look for when you watch television. In basketball, for example,
the referee will often blow the whistle and call "illegal defense," which few
viewers ever see in advance. This is because they are only watching the ball.
you should always look for someone who's just guarding a patch of the court,
standing around looking suspicious. When you detect an illegal defense before
the flight of the ball from the pitcher's hand toward the batter. Look directly
and elbows of the golfer as he or she putts. The great ones have almost no
movement in their arms, wrists, and hands other than the gentlest of pendulum
game, he scrutinizes an area in front of the runner and including the runner.
own family, I determined that they have a long, long, long way to go before
basketball to women's golf to figure skating. During the basketball game, my
girl?" So the first thing we will do, with this particular daughter, is work on
have decided to become figure skaters when they grow up. You can see that this
is drifting into a scary area: I might teach them to watch sports on
lost cause. She is an extremely discerning person who can detect the most
subtle spice in a bowl of soup or a whisper of colored thread in a suit jacket,
but for some reason she can stare at a basketball game on television and miss
the important details, such as the ball going into the hoop.
court, the spitting in the dugout, the sweating, or fluids of any kind.
techniques of viewing are mastered, there remains a major step: analysis. There
final tip that I will carry with me the rest of my years:
game prepared. You have to come into watching the game with your own game
prepared. Think ahead. Anticipate problems and possible solutions. If you pick
television to come to you. You can go to the ballgame, mentally, emotionally,
golf has become auto racing. What makes it so riveting are the crashes. The
had always dreamed of winning the Masters, and something had always gone wrong.
merely raised the standard by which other blown tournaments will now be judged.
that night, people I hadn't spoken to in a long time. In a world of pain,
anyone else in history, yet he will go down in history as a man of
golf's surgical ability to bring to the surface a man's mental weakness. I
gaunt, and has been prone to fits of rage lately. He screamed at a volunteer at
He had a straight uphill putt for par. He could make a thousand such putts in a
yanked his putt left and lipped it out. His wheels had come off. He'd hit the
wall. There was nothing left but shards of metal and the wails of the doomed.
He was still tied for the lead, but that didn't matter, since the devastation
identically easy putt, three feet straight uphill, he didn't even catch any
lip, missed it wide left, game over. The world is a dark, cruel place. A few
It may be that the media spotlight is that much more intense, and golfers know
how many cameras are trained on their quivering hands. Maybe it is the
dollars. Or maybe it is that the competition is so stiff that no single player
the majors tend to win only one or two. The window of opportunity is small, and
they all fear having it slam shut on their fingers.
over there and get Tiger's divot," I heard a fan say one day, referring to the
tiny chunk of grass and dirt that Woods had scraped from the fairway on one of
same course every year, and some of us can recite the yardage from tee to green
conditions. Everyone was buzzing about the rough, the dreaded rough, the
never got close to leading the tournament, much less winning. I followed him
some on the first and last days, and he was spectacular. No one has as much
club speed, and when he strikes a ball, it whistles, rockets out into space on
a line and then, astonishingly, rises, as though hitting another gear, some
kind of warp drive, before parachuting to Earth uncannily close to where Woods
the next hole. Woods played conservatively, rarely using his driver; but, for
all his genius, he's not the straightest golfer in the world, and he ended up
putt well ensured that he wouldn't be a factor. He finished tied for
that he was on his way to becoming just a golfer. (And, eventually, a broken
They were men without color, literally wearing gray and beige and brown. The
was obvious, watching them labor away, unsmiling, that this was just an
endurance test to see who could avoid crashing and disintegrating on national
three rounds of the Open for the third consecutive year. I could not bring
alone among the final four had won an Open, but was a vanilla man,
player in the world never to have won one of these things.
said afterward, "I feel an incredible amount of pain."
Minutes passed. Sometimes a person in life is faced with a crucial decision, a
decisively without pause or excessive contemplation. Everyone watching thought:
gestures as though he was going to throw his ball in the lake, and the crowd
want to hit the putt. Because he knew it wasn't going in. He knew he was about
government budgets behind it, is conceived in optimism, if not in fantasy. The
bills aren't called promissory notes for nothing. What they promise is a flush
beguiling visions of unity and wealth, of responsible fiscal practice and
continent in a few years, these notes herald nothing less than a new and nobly
all their color and utopian promise, the new notes are lifeless. After all,
coinage and currency usually reflect the character of the issuing state, and in
name, the euro, was picked because it translates easily into almost every
the businesslike thought of its designers. And the decision to cut each of the
seven notes in a different size (as well as a different color), to help the
specifications laid out for the look of the new bank notes by the institution
rules fastidiously prescribe every detail of what can and cannot be sold within
fruit cultivated for centuries has been found not to make the grade.) Back in
possible "themes" for the designs, settling at last on two: a historical one,
These themes were broad enough to encompass almost anything individual
designers could come up with. What they ruled out were portraits of people,
especially portraits of leaders. Individuals inevitably raise the specter of
inviting design teams from the central banks of the various member nations to
whose diverse national and professional backgrounds rivaled even the crew of
winner, although it has kept the creators' identities unpublicized in the
for the "ages and styles" theme, interpreted as such stock architectural
elements as bridges, windows, and gateways. The eight ages in which these
Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo, the age of iron and glass architecture, and
the age of modern architecture. The colors are muted and staid, the
illustrations as innocuous, impeccable, and dispassionate as those you would
also supposed to have symbolic meaning. The windows and gates represent the
spirit of openness and cooperation of the new confederation, we are told, while
heads of the populace of any continent. More specifically, according to the
common cultural heritage and the vision of a common future in the next century,
indeed, the new millennium." These are not, mind you, actual existing bridges,
who will have no English umbrellas, French berets, or German bellies. It is not
considered, may make more practical sense than our greenbacks, with their wacky
still putts along in front of the Treasury building. But will they ever really
circulation only after individual national economies have hit certain
economy and the strongest currency in the group, was supposed to lead the way,
Institution promises that it will announce within the next two years the exact
date on which the euros will go into use. It's supposed to be no later than
I should settle our dispute in an alley. But he wouldn't know a spinning
time to answer, once and for all, the most important unanswered question in
cinema: Who is really the greatest action hero of them all? Or, to put
grave to join them. Therefore, Slate has secured the services of a panel of
needs 'em? This is real fighting. Two men. One ring. A fight to submission,
falls in Round One. He's beefy, and he learned to box for the Rocky
karate champion, but the judges doubt his credentials. "He's a ballet dancer,
not a fighter," says Ultimate Fighting champ Ken Shamrock. "In a real fight,
got one kick off before a real fighter took him down and had him for
pounds, he's too small to fight barehanded in a ring against monsters like
tricks, I have many ways to win. But if I am standing there [in a ring], there
probably one of them," says a judge. But other judges drool. "He has enough
also large, powerful, and notoriously belligerent. "He has the will to kill,"
braggart; most great fighters are quietly arrogant. He has the mannerisms of a
bully, someone who abuses the weak and is cowed by the strong. "I don't think
says, "It's a wonderful movie system, but you have to be fighting a very sloppy
immensely strong. He trained more fanatically than anyone in the history of
and other styles. Unlike the other actors, Lee loved to fight, instigating
only hope: his size. If he managed to grab Lee, he might be able to pin him,
he has sent six opponents to the hospital. I asked him how the best fighting
is an occasional column that compares fiction, in various media, with the
least as described in media accounts and in such books as the unauthorized
she dined at Pizza Hut, shopped in malls, mowed her own lawn, and lived in a
tour bus and asks children seeking autographs how they're doing in school. In
she wouldn't want a blood transfusion because of her faith (by that point,
though, she'd already been given blood, to no avail).
entirely, until the producers convinced him not to. The film implies that
was a shrine to the singer) nor the tabloid rumor, denied by all and not backed
attract the attention of the mainstream media (inspired by the success of their
magazine). As the movie implies with a scene in which a crowd forms around
edge of the Beltway, old and dim, not much more than a big gymnasium. The
in eight years. They were supposed to be better this year but have found ways
to enforce the tradition of mediocrity. The arena is usually sold
of lawyers and big shots who aren't sure they want to be sports fans.
everything was different. A strange and powerful gravitational force surrounded
that stale and unloved arena that night. People swarmed the access road
of the Redskins, and then, to snarl traffic once and for all, the president of
the United States came rolling up in his motorcade.
little fanfare. No one played "Hail to the Chief." The crowd applauded
politely. The real action was over in the corner, outside the locker room of
riveted on the locker room's exit. No one dared look away. The great one was
Everywhere he goes, people shout his name. He has mastered the art of not
anomaly. Ruth didn't just hit more home runs than anyone else. He hit a lot
big, heavy bat, and he had an elegant uppercut swing. But the formula for
He's got that Babe Ruth stuff. The god force. We just have to watch and
dramatically so that even fans across the arena could see him singing.
hitting nothing but net. That proved to be the anomaly for the next three
and he threw the ball out of bounds, and he got slapped with two fouls, and by
the end of the first quarter he had stunk up the joint. He had five measly
not be the high scorer on his team for the third consecutive game, something
The sportswriters were tapping on their laptops. In a night game, you have to
story, but one could hint at it, start practicing the inevitable eulogy.
break. He streaked down the right side of the court, took a pass, veered toward
the bucket, and went airborne. The tongue emerged. When the tongue comes out,
dunk was apocalyptic. It was the kind of dunk you wouldn't want a small child
thermonuclear jam. The fans of both teams roared. The Bullets called a timeout,
dashed past him toward the hoop, taking a pass and launching himself for a
row, missed one, then hit again, at which point he was laughing. He knew what
there is no such thing as a "hot hand" in basketball, that accurate shots
distribute themselves in random patterns, that just the fact that a player has
made several shots in a row does not increase the likelihood that he will make
to seize a game and absolutely dominate it in the fourth quarter when
opponents. When he came into the league he was strictly a slasher, relying on
What do you call someone who changes his game, his style, his tactics, and
still comes out on top? A genius. (Come to think of it, didn't Babe Ruth start
apply the lessons of their successes to your life, you get caught short,
everything, at cards, at tennis, at golf (he has lost hundreds of thousands
doomed mission of becoming a professional baseball player. "He had balls the
size of an elephant to fail in public in another sport," my colleague Tony
would hit a home run, round the bases and, never stopping running, just head
straight from home plate to the tunnel leading out of the stadium, disappearing
outside the Bulls' locker room. The president of the United States suddenly
appeared a short distance away, heading toward his limo. He saw the press and,
for a moment, seemed to be coming toward us. Then he stopped, and just stared.
One could imagine that he felt a little hurt when he realized that we didn't
want to talk to him. No one even shouted a question. He boarded the limo and
pressed him up against the little wire cage that passes for a locker. He
obliged every question, then stepped outside to sign a few autographs.
play as long as he meets his own standards. He'd decide year by year. He's a
free agent after this season and if the Bulls want him back they'll have to pay
say what it would take. How would one ever calculate such a thing? Some things
are beyond money, beyond numbers. How much would you pay the amber fields, the
car, and the population wasn't growing. The only way to keep making money was
to make each automobile more expensive and more profitable. The goal, their
marketing strategy was to link automobiles to the glamour and speed of the
supersonic jet fighter planes that the Navy and Air Force had introduced in
quality that was abstracted into the parabolic, boomerang shapes that started
splits on wheels, dripping with the extraneous decoration that stylists called
Yet its lofty stock price assumes continued growth.
embossed with parabolas, and the razor itself is festooned with them. Starting
where they'll enjoy the quickest, slickest shave in history.
irony. Unlike the lounge music revival, it's aimed not at a hip coterie but at
be a sincere attempt to embody progress. For the last quarter century or so,
designers have not made this a high priority. Products have evoked cool (Ray
snowboard). Few have tried to communicate that things are actually getting
There is, on the face of it, something ridiculous about a
model. It featured an animation sequence that showed the second blade cutting
what the first one missed and the third getting even closer. The tag line:
won't be in stores until summer, so it's way too early to know how the shaving
just about wiped the smirk off my face. The damned thing works.
able to shave with fewer strokes. This shortens an unpleasant activity and
of this trend; it's mainly the cartridge that's been upgraded.
The razor's body is, functionally, just a handle. But it
is touting the rubberized boomerangs on its top and bottom as gripping aids, to
keep it from slipping in your hands, even though the parallel ridges on the
Sensor line probably work about as well. The difference is all in the
visible to the casual shopper. Like the microchip and the altered gene, they
fall beneath the threshold of visual perception. With its outward imagery,
throwback to a time when progress took a back seat to empty stylistic gestures,
deep down inside, the razor really does represent an advance.
is an occasional column that compares fiction, in various media, with the
digits of the total amount wagered at a given racetrack, which anyone could
learn through the sports pages. Since the game never favored the players, the
"bankers" naturally amassed large profits. Besides, the outcome was often
beer baron who has muscled his way into the neighborhood numbers racket,
returns from jail upset by the white incursion into the trade. Meanwhile,
between the film's portrayal of him and the record? Though he may have been
overlooked in white newspapers of the time and in subsequent histories of the
film, though, exaggerates his role in several instances and gives no hint as to
what happened to him after the numbers battle was over.
who can take back from their boss the racket he stole from my colored friends
Union message: "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." That telegram is omitted from the
That's only one of several inaccuracies in the film's
was killed was because he'd recklessly threatened to rub out special prosecutor
proposed the hit to the syndicate, which rejected it: The mob couldn't afford
prosecutor, district attorney, governor, and failed presidential candidate.
the movie depicts him as a gangster with a heart, but a gangster nonetheless.
At one point, he throws cash to people in a local soup line. At another, the
and more grainy and ultimately black, as if to suggest that settling the big
is an occasional column that compares fiction, in various media, with the
subsequently made a few changes. For instance, when, at the beginning of the
previously held beliefs (or what exactly those beliefs were in the first place)
until the Stern article was published. This summer, one day after
that leads me to condemn as strongly as possible the horrible crimes of the
filmmakers were able to incorporate Stern 's unpleasant revelation into
"emotional transformation" and then says that the Stern piece helps us
contending with treacherous terrain, frostbite, hunger, robbers, and an
king" and is apparently his sole source of informal contact and entertainment.
(for instance, it was someone else who helped him tinker with old cars). And it
days, and an incident shown in the film as crucial to the success of the
destruction of ammunition supplies before he left. Moreover, the film's
Lama sees his native village being pillaged and monks shot) reflects the
historical facts all too well. As the written epilogue to the film states,
well as spiritual leader of the country. The film's epilogue mentions that he
life as exiled leader is beyond the movie's time frame (for more on this, see
denies having known she was.) She divorced him while he was gone. At various
overtures are rebuffed; his son has come to think of his stepfather as his true
also claimed he has no hard feelings toward his father, whom he now sees
United States dropped its efforts to extradite him. A former drug informant and
political influence with the island's shaky government. At the news of Miller's
Miller imbroglio and the assault on Bin Laden would appear to have nothing in
The United States, born and raised during the age of the
foreign policy. The United States negotiates with nations, trades with nations,
issues sanctions against nations, and makes war on nations. But the United
States has begun to realize that it lives in a very different kind of world,
weapons, and is engaged in an elaborate conspiracy so secretive that we were
not aware of it till it smacked us in the head. Habituated to presidents and
prime ministers, we are now dealing with autonomous, mysterious characters
driven by motives that baffle us and who are unchecked by any government. Bin
actors are not, of course, an invention of the '90s. The United States fought
terror network is currently dominating headlines, but other terrorist groups
lords have neutralized (or purchased) governments and recruited private armies.
arms barons compete for power, while legitimate governments of the region are
patsies by comparison. Even corporations are getting into the Bond business.
overpopulation, and urbanization have undermined Third World governments. For
most of this century, colonial rulers or nationalist dictators dominated
countries, monopolizing power with mighty central governments. But central
filled the vacuum. Where anarchy reigns, dollars can buy a private empire. It's
don't like. This is government privatization, twisted beyond recognition.)
generally yawns at the rest of the world. The tried and true method for ginning
up excitement about a foreign entanglement is to demonize, to focus on a single
puppeteer such as Bin Laden. (It was astonishing how rapidly Bin Laden emerged
his name. The next day, we all did, and we were mad as hell at him.)
actually trying to assassinate the chosen villain. Here is the heart of the
how does a great power do it? The cruise missile strike against Bin Laden
you can't rely on Bond tactics forever. We bombed Bin Laden once. Can we keep
that violate the island's sovereignty? These are questions to which we don't
intact. Bin Laden is a fearsome enemy of the United States, and the sooner he's
killed the better. But even if he dropped dead today, there would still be
millions of underemployed, undereducated, alienated men in the Middle East
rarely appear in print or on television, can tell you that the media are no
mirror of the nation's complexion. But they understand that the media do
well that innuendo is effective only if well calibrated.
political participation" is merely a cover for some sinister foreign
It is also, to a lesser but still substantial degree, the racialist language of
strivings; two warring ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone
century later, the metaphor of dual identity endures in our racial narratives.
This bifurcation is intuitively appealing because it makes
concrete the ambivalence of assimilation, the gnawing sense among many people
of color that membership in the mainstream comes at a high personal cost. The
symbolism of split personalities and divided souls also has visceral power. And
there is a certain romance to the imagery, adorning the ordinary lives of
nonwhite folk with the dignity of redemptive suffering.
is too much that is flawed about this pose. For, what do we presume when we
speak of the minority person's "dual identity"? We presume that "racial
identity" is foreordained and monolithic, and ever at odds with "national
But over the course of a generation, activists and bureaucrats have
manufactured a single race out of a diverse mass of several million people
whose origins can be traced to dozens of countries.
tells us something about the magnetic appeal of racial fundamentalism. More
Yet, even if we did believe in the fixity of races, "double
the classic pluralist formulation, is a "nation of nations," a neutral holding
teens are reciting gangsta rap lyrics, when salsa sales are surging past
ketchup sales, how can we speak with a straight face about the ineffaceable
experience as a simple equation plotted along two axes, as if class or gender
contingency never sculpted one's sense of self. And, in the name of
minority individual his full, complex humanity; interpreting his voice as the
contemporary multiculturalism, that sort of illogic can be affirming. So long
as color is a proxy for entitlement, there will be many who find it useful to
ostentatiously posit a conflict between their racial core and their assimilated
remind us all that flimsy notions of the minority's eternally dual identity,
whether tinged with xenophobia or candied with race pride, in the end amount to
to make the media look absurd, he got off to a roaring start. On the front page
important enough for the front page, you might wonder why the Times
needed Brill to raise the subject. And who knows better than the Times
is that though the editor seems to envision a magazine that will hold the press
accountable to a wider public, he has created one that is unlikely to interest
anyone outside the media. The second problem is that though Brill deserves a
Let's start with the magazine. After hearing it disputed
for so many days, potential readers will be fooled into thinking something
scintillating is going on. In fact, what will strike most people when they
is a problem for media magazines in general, the prototype being the ever
filled with articles you'd say only people in the business could possibly want
to read, except that they're too mundane even for people in the business. "New
directors who can't seem to put anything but crime on the air.
feature lauding the New York Times for its fine reporting on
returns of their investment club. Seems he had to go in for sinus surgery the
better person, perhaps I would read stories like this through to the end.
attitude that he's the only guy in the world with the guts to point out other
scandal coverage is intended to be a devastating case study of media
journalists have been irresponsible. By my reading, Brill does not document a
received. To conclude, as Brill does, that the press is now "an institution
being corrupted to its core" wildly overreaches the evidence he presents.
claims plausibly to have been misquoted by Brill, see "Chatterbox." We cannot know for sure who is right, because Brill
president doesn't think she is going to tell the truth. Second, the
Brill ignores a highly plausible alternative explanation: Most if not all could
have come from the lawyers of various witnesses sympathetic to the president.
others are operating under what is called a "joint defense agreement." They
there are lots of lawyers with access to information about what various
witnesses said and a variety of motivations to leak that information. Noting
decisions," he writes, "that have ruled explicitly that leaking information
about prospective witnesses who might testify at a grand jury, or about
expected testimony, or about negotiations regarding immunity for testimony, or
[about] the strategy of a grand jury proceeding all fall within the criminal
prohibition." Nowhere does he note court decisions that have ruled the
opposite, or acknowledge that the question is far from settled.
News and the Wall Street Journal Web edition have been endlessly
hashed over. So have various nuances that Brill presents as revelatory. Both
talks to reporters? At televised press conferences he has held in Little Rock,
he can be seen calling on journalists by their first names, suggesting that he
knows some of them pretty well and that he doesn't regard this as a secret.
seems exactly the sort of thing Brill started his magazine to nail other
journalists for doing. And what's a "jam job," anyway?
campaign contributions, certainly to people they're writing about. But whether
disclosed this fact, as he acknowledged when busted.
Flytrap. In the heat of competition, stories have run that shouldn't have. But
the best reporters covering the scandal have done an extremely good job in a
vexing and unfamiliar situation. At times, they have behaved almost heroically.
passing up what might have been the scoop of the decade out of concern that
doing so would put him in an ethically compromised situation. Brill disparages
he was under contract to discuss the campaign finance scandal. That makes
years, someone somewhere must have decreed that the intellectual buzzword of
the '90s was to be "communitarianism." Only five years ago, communitarianism
was an obscure school of philosophy discussed in faculty seminars; today, its
and "civil society," the two mantras of the movement, are part of everyday
Curiously, in a climate of polarized political discourse, everyone is a
communitarian. The movement's cheerleaders can be found across the political
political correctness, throw millions of dollars into projects relating to
these ideas. (The result, predictably, is that the magic words "community" and
"civil society" are sprinkled liberally now in all proposals for research
conservative Heritage Foundation, announced last year that it was reorienting
What is communitarianism? Where did it come from? How come
everyone seems to agree it is good? It's actually all quite simple. You just
He is probably started it all. In his treatise on government, The
meaning that human beings can best fulfill themselves as part of social and
creed, leave human beings feeling "hollow at the core."
is perhaps mostly closely identified with communitarianism. Along with serious
the expense of social and moral issues. In his new book, Democracy's
liberalism's reluctance to introduce morality into politics is trenchant,
instead on vague statements about the value of community life and
troubled liberals say is wrong with modern society. His answer, however, is not
to talk about nice neighborhoods, but instead, to talk about Virtue. Actually,
morally instructive tales from all over the world, are relentless best sellers,
actually filling the vacuum with any kind of absolutist morality. They are,
Both groups talk up abstract virtues like honor, commitment, and thrift, but
conservatives then propose specific policies that put into law their moral and
religious preferences in order to deal with all sorts of issues: unwed mothers,
absent fathers, unruly schoolchildren, gay lovers, and so on. It's a game
B Is for Bowling. One of the most important debates
among academics and policy wonks over the last two years has been, is it better
while individual bowling is on the rise. This, he contends, is a symbol of the
decline of community spirit and the rise of atomistic individualism.
the best of the new literature on community, because rather than waxing poetic
about community in the abstract, he describes actual communities. The result is
a vivid picture showing that the strong bonds that developed in those fabled
neighborhoods of yore were kindled by conditions that we might find
stayed in neighborhoods, for example, because they could not afford to move,
and because other neighborhoods would not accept them easily. They attended
church services and neighborhood social events because small banks, schools,
and other community institutions were run by a local elite that enforced a
certain kind of conformity. Porches and stoops, those symbols of a vibrant
social life, stopped being used as gathering places for a rather practical
it sounds more and more confining on close examination. Imagine having to go to
parties with your local bank manager so that you could get a mortgage.
horrified by this rise in nostalgia about the 1950s, a decade that was seen,
spontaneous fun with one's intimate friends and family." Hmm. "Temperate and
spontaneous fun" sounds like something one might have to do in a work camp. And
be for "baseball," but it turns out that baseball leagues have been growing
steadily over the last decades. And the number of soccer clubs has been rising
meteorically as well. The simplest explanation for this rise might be the
C Is for Civil Society. Civil Society has nothing to do
were good for democracy. This celebrated hypothesis has by now become a
better governed than the south for centuries, but that is not to say that is
civil society is good for efficient government rather than democratic
Consider the difference between the conservative writer
business activity is a key indicator of a politically and economically healthy
from being part of civil society, leads the assault on civil society. "Who will
get business off the backs of civil society?" Barber asks. Now it isn't clear
why firms don't fulfill most of the functions of civil society. Indeed the term
private business activity. On the other hand, you don't hear many conservatives
supposed to be a third way, neither liberal nor conservative, that charted a
new course for philosophy and politics. But as this primer suggests, it has
become a collection of meaningless terms, used as new bottles into which the
old wine of liberalism and conservatism is poured. Community means one thing if
society, and even bowling. Call it politics as usual.
moment they arrived, the two have had an aura about them. Both won desirable
committee assignments. They are frequent guests on talk shows and favored
publications such as the Weekly Standard as having what it takes to be a
Republican vice president. Watts, who is also frequently mentioned as veep
"character is simply doing what's right when nobody is looking.") Even
jocks. This taboo is a form of political correctness that even Republicans
endorse. But in truth, the stereotype is not too far off the mark. Both are
embarked on undistinguished, if not utterly futile, careers in Congress. While
they're both very nice men, in an unworldly sort of way, they're in way over
their heads. Treated as stars, they're really just mascots.
was the more successful football player and is a more extreme conservative. A
gay rights. "My faith is the foundation of my life," he says. "I won't deny
that, because the way I relate to people is a reflection of my faith." On his
enough to push despite its idiocy (I have my hunch) and something called the
extremism but rather his disinclination to compromise or operate as part of a
team. As part of the small, ongoing insurrection of conservative true believers
he made a scene by telling the speaker that he wouldn't succeed in intimidating
does have a kind of blinkered integrity. Along with another colleague from
all been intercepted. He had to withdraw his parents' rights bill when even
because he has cooperated with the leadership. Watts has succeeded in helping
much in the House. The problem is that Watts would never be given a leading
role in his party if he weren't black. Republican affirmative action is the
basis for his career, and Republican political correctness is the basis for his
reputation. Though Watts is a minister, when he speaks without a script, he can
on like this forever. On affirmative action, he has urged "caution." When I
understand the people who have voted for it, and I understand the people who
voted against it." Asked which he would have been, he answered, "Good
after six years, next term will be his last. But like other term limit
added that he had seen too many people fail to leave the stage while the
denser than many of its other Republican politicians. This is the state, after
Congress members are dim. Only about former football players are you not
an alternative to jail time. Well, now is the chance for the president to put
dignified way out of Flytrap: How about community service? We should let the
president serve out his term, but let's make him really serve.
conundrum for those who want Flytrap to end is this: Any remedy lenient enough
punitive enough for conservatives will enrage the left half. A solution must
None of the proposed remedies suffices. House Republicans,
to take his licks standing in the well of the House). A censure plus a fine
the other hand, impeachment would be bloody, endless, and intolerable to most
voters. And resignation would set the horrific precedent that the media and the
opposition can drum a president out of office if they shout enough.
community service, plus censure, might succeed. Every week until the end of his
number of hours and the kind of work (more on the specifics of this later). The
apology is action. His prolific, ever savvier apologies are selfish: They are
designed to make him look better. He has announced that he has accepted
responsibility, but what exactly has he done about it? Redemption, in most
allow words to substitute for actions. He would have to act.
would meet another requirement of Flytrap punishment: It would humble him.
president. But we require more visible evidence of his regret. Being president
is no suffering for him. In fact, being president reinforces his worst
instincts. His chief Flytrap sin is believing that normal rules and moral codes
don't apply to him, that everyone else exists to do his bidding. His punishment
must remind him that he is merely a man, and so he must be chopped down to
cater to others instead of being catered to. That might begin to cure, or at
least temper, his wicked and dangerous sense of entitlement.
function: It would placate conservatives, especially if service were combined
off some high school might persuade enough Republicans to sign on.
cathartic enough to liberate us from our Flytrap obsession. We would no longer
need to debate dada legal technicalities and gasp over sordid details.
might even benefit the president in the way he cares most about. It must
history is now secure: He's the reckless lech who ruined his presidency for a
as the reckless lech, but he may also be remembered as the reckless lech who
service, but they are surmountable. Would he have time? We can't expect him to
skip G-7 summits so that he can collect roadside trash. But he managed to
object that service, like censure, is not in the Constitution. Congress cannot
proceed. And he would certainly consent if the alternative was impeachment.
The thorniest question, of course, is: What kind of
service? It must be dignified: It cannot tarnish the presidency, and it must be
that's what he does best. Just as drunken drivers convicted of manslaughter are
for such honorable yet humble service already exists, and it even has a
the poor with Jimmy Carter. Or, better yet, he should build houses for the poor
under the supervision of Jimmy Carter. Now that's a Flytrap remedy even
revive a more humane, and perhaps more effective, proposal with the same
an editorial that perhaps some welfare mothers should be "offered an increased
years after being implanted under the skin of the upper arm.
Inquirer staffers and others as racist advocates of eugenics, even of
suspicious of any government efforts to influence reproductive choices, and
from conservatives, who think the only proper way to discourage teen pregnancy
is to preach abstinence. The newspaper abjectly apologized for a "misguided and
wrongheaded editorial opinion." And ever since, the whole subject has been
women themselves, and for the rest of us. Millions of babies are being born to
themselves become dependent denizens of the welfare culture.
realistic hope for breaking the bleak cycle of teen pregnancy and welfare
these women will rise to the occasion, learn the work ethic, and become
mothers are so crippled by their own early childhood environments as to be
welfare reform, the jobs programs will not be well financed. It appears that
or hold jobs, and left to beg from relatives and strangers, to steal what they
stark ugliness of trying to end the welfare culture by spreading homelessness
and hunger, it's especially striking that one pretty good, pretty humane idea
has been virtually ignored in the welfare debate of the past year.
option, here's a specific proposal: States should experiment with programs in
free to have it removed whenever they chose, but would be rewarded with
welfare or other public assistance (including daughters of recipients) who are
competent to give informed consent to the implant procedure. Or the program
could be restricted in various ways in order to blunt possible objections. For
example, you could require parental consent. Or, eligibility could be
restricted to those who have already been pregnant, or at least sexually
effort or supervision to be effective, and it can be discontinued only after
government could pay people to use with any hope of affecting those who aren't
strongly motivated to either become pregnant or avoid pregnancy.
do harm seem unpersuasive. Here's a quick review of possible objections, left
on in China. Existing benefits would not be reduced for anyone declining
from having one. To be sure, the government would be trying to influence
reproductive choices. But the same is true of existing policies promoting free
crime to commit statutory rape (sex with a consenting minor), fornication
editorial apology, the Inquirer said: "Our critics countered that to
dangle cash or some other benefit in front of a desperately poor woman is
tantamount to coercion. They're right." No, they were wrong, and the
women would be free to "change their minds at any point and become fertile
subsequent commentary, "saw the editorial as part of an ongoing white
pernicious nonsense, no matter how many people say it. The original
Inquirer editorial unwittingly invited such smears by linking its
nation's black children are living in poverty. But nobody is proposing that
of whom are white. Nobody is proposing to sterilize women or forbid them from
having children. And while a disproportionate percentage of welfare mothers and
any program that rewards people for avoiding pregnancy unless and until they
greater risk of contracting and spreading AIDS, because they will be less
likely to demand that their sex partners use condoms.
use condoms against disease. But even now, how many women and girls are so much
more afraid of pregnancy than of death that they use condoms solely to avoid
course, be fully disclosed to women considering using it. But no contraceptive
many of the same folks who created a tidal wave of litigation based on the
apparently bogus claim about the dangers of silicone breast implants. But the
effective. More than a million women have used it with only minor side effects,
such as changing menstrual bleeding patterns, reported.
scarring from having it removed. But the apparent reason was inadequate
training of physicians in the (usually quick and painless) removal
don't get pregnant. Second, the only forms of contraception now available for
payments to men for taking home a bunch of condoms, or to try to police their
sexual activity don't have much to do with whether the government gives them
contraceptives. Many have unprotected sex, and almost all can get
contraceptives if they want them. As I have suggested, one possible restriction
abstinence, while presenting the contraceptive as a backup safeguard.
contraception from their parents, not the government.
requirement would answer this objection. I would not advocate such a
requirement, however, because of the overwhelming evidence that many parents
have little or no constructive communication with their children about such
want to get pregnant and have a child? I don't think so. First, there are about
would be better mothers, and have a better chance of making something of their
own lives, if they waited five or seven years before having babies.
do some good. There's only one way to find out: Give it a try. If it fails, the
notion that he's powerless, so disgraced and mistrusted that his presidency is
finished politically if not chronologically. But a peculiar little side drama
on Capitol Hill suggests that this conclusion is not as certain as it seems. It
needed to keep the government operating. Every year, House Republicans strip
agreement between Congress and the president, conflict escalates, and the
president threatens vetoes. And every year, a last minute continuing resolution
concessions, the bills move, and everyone goes home.
education, the International Monetary Fund, summer jobs, and literacy programs
and that they have attached unacceptable language about abortion, the census,
and the environment. Does this mean we are headed for another shutdown?
the reasons reveal much about Flytrap game theory. At the mere mention of the
word "shutdown," the average Republican politician curls up in a ball on the
spending fight to provoke one. Republicans fear that if he picks his issues
of the spending bills, and blocks a continuing resolution, he could galvanize
disaffected Democrats in Congress and distract voters from Flytrap. A
committee spokeswoman and an Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman
dismiss the idea that Democrats want a shutdown, the White House and Hill
Democrats are clearly spoiling for a good fight. "Democrats want to talk about
us to be tough," says a White House staffer. Democrats, who don't have much
else to campaign on, would welcome an appropriations riot. Tarring Republicans
The Republicans' dilemma is that they are, as always,
weaker he gets, the less they are willing to concede in appropriations. Leading
blood. Democratic congressional candidates are sinking. "Congressional
to do anything that will jeopardize that roll," says congressional analyst Norm
Republicans don't want to seem partisan or malicious now so they can
revive Democrats, and ward off Flytrap, exactly what Republicans fear most. If
conservatives are not numerous enough or suicidal enough to force a showdown.
wants. They will let the enfeebled president win now, the better to kill him
later. "They don't want to give us any chance to recover and distract from the
the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes. The Holy Grail of
another step along the road to an ever quicker mile, part of the inexorable
improvement of athletic performance that we usually take for granted,
though, such constant progress is remarkable. After all, as biomechanical
machines with a standard set of parts, humans should be subject to the same
limitations we see in, say, automobiles. How come they aren't?
of entrepreneurs and technophiles would like us to think that the answer has to
your 100-meter time. Trainers measure the rate of buildup of lactic acid in
your muscles, then claim that their programs will control it. Nutritionists
this little more than tinkering. Sports records would continue to tumble even
if training methods or athletic clothing or sexual practices were exactly the
These minor miracles are the product neither of technology nor of training but
Over the past century, the human race has been affected by
a slew of what demographers call "secular" trends. (In this context, "secular"
does not refer to a trend's lack of spirituality but to its longevity: Secular
trend is an increase in average size. You have to stoop to get through the
than you are, not because they had a penchant for crouching. Another trend is
Probably the most striking change, though, is how much more quickly children
develop faster. Girls menstruate earlier than they used to. The age of menarche
(the onset of menstruation) has decreased by three or four months per decade in
What do such trends have to do with athletic performance?
Well, if we're living longer and growing up faster, that must mean we're
producing bigger, better bodies. Better bodies imply faster miles. We run
Demographers have offered a variety of explanations, but the main one is that
years, in the age girls first menstruate. Another explanation is that health
Smallpox, that scourge of previous generations, now is effectively extinct.
Probably the best measure of how much healthier we are is the rate of infant
mortality, which measures both the health of the mother (a sickly mother is
more likely to produce a sickly baby) and the health of the baby. In the past
Better health care affects athletic ability directly. This
is true in the trivial case in which, say, antibiotics cure a runner's fever
before the big race, but it may also be true in a more significant way.
necessarily a big one, but an impact nevertheless. Previous generations bore
picked up as a baby. Nowadays, though, more and more people grow up with no
history of disease. Since top athletes inevitably are drawn from the healthiest
sector of the population, a generally superior system of health care means a
bigger pool of people to draw from. You are much more likely to find someone
pool of potential athletes has expanded in other ways, too. First, the
population has exploded. Second, we are coming ever closer to a worldwide
middle class, the class from which athletes typically are drawn. Whether, in an
era is way beyond the scope of this article. The fact remains, however, that
ranks at, or near, the bottom of national per capita gross national product
its imperial heyday before World War I. That average has dropped to only five
preserve of the socioeconomic elite of the socioeconomic elite among nations.
entered the marathon because they happened to be in St. Louis as part of an
all these are changes in how we live, not anything innate, we have to conclude
that what we are describing here are effects of environment, not genes. Let us
natural selection for athletic prowess came into play. But all that ended long
ago. Indeed, the laws of natural selection probably work against athletes these
days: Given the rigors of training schedules, it is possible that today's top
effect on athletic performance doesn't mean that nature lies dormant, though.
Genetic variation exists for just about any trait you choose to study, and the
ability to run quickly would be no exception. To take a trivial case, we know
that the inheritance of extra fingers or toes is determined genetically. It is
quite possible that the possession of an extra toe would hinder an aspiring
that may be influencing performance trends is what is known as "hybrid vigor."
Cattle breeders have known about this for a long time: Take two inbred lines of
cattle, cross them, and what you have is "better" (say, larger) than any single
individual in either of the two parental lines. This does not require natural
selection; it is the accidental byproduct of combining two previously isolated
stocks. There are a number of theories to account for this at the genetic
level, but it has proved difficult to discriminate among them. It is possible
that modern humans exhibit some form of hybrid vigor simply because migration
and admixture of populations are now occurring at unprecedented rates. Perhaps,
just perhaps, such hybridization is being translated into enhanced
That doesn't mean, however, that genetic differences in
athletic ability can be correlated automatically with race. That is a claim
that is impossible to test, because you cannot control, in an experimental
sense, environmental differences among the study groups. Sure, you will find
account for differing levels of athletic success. It is scarcely surprising
they are in the habit of running immense distances to and from primary school,
middle school, and high school. The training is what's crucial, not the
and effective, experiment to help dispel the myth that race has a direct
relation to athletic ability. Until recently, a quick glance at the medals
bring a single generation up to speed through training, but the trends we're
dealing with transcend individual generations. Which brings us to another
question: Will there come a time when the human machine will hit some sort of
There are some barriers that simply cannot be broken. We
instance. The laws of oxygen exchange will not permit it. Race horses seem
already to have hit that outer limit. For years, they were as good as human
athletes at pushing back speed records, but then they simply stopped getting
been--2:39. Unlike people, race horses are specifically bred and reared to run.
Generations of careful genetic selection have ensured that today's race horse
are tremendously sophisticated. But you can go only so far. You can only breed
horses with ultralight thin bones to a certain point; the bones will break
biomechanics. The age of menarche cannot keep on falling forever. On the other
in some more developed societies, but they roar along in others. And these
trends will continue to fuel the improvement in athletic performance. Several
see what they were peddling. One of the lobbyists was a callow and garrulous
deputies. Draper boasted that, in exchange for an extortionate fee, he could:
client get appointed to a government advisory board, and obtain early drafts of
parliamentary reports related to the client's industry.
The press was apoplectic. For a week, the major dailies
floated a proposal to ban contact between lobbyists and top government
premise that there are lobbyists, it is unsurprising to discover that what they
do is lobby. (A famous actress caught working as a prostitute is news. A
prostitute caught working as a prostitute is a tautology.) Second, unless young
Draper is unlike any other lobbyist in history, he was exaggerating his ability
influence (or access or whatever you call it) with the government. It's that
we've decided to live with it. We don't get shocked by it, and we don't have
were. But much of the fuss reflects genuine surprise and offense. Lobbying is a
and apathetic than the Brits about influence peddling (how marvelous it is that
wishing to influence the government must work the executive branch and butter
up both the majority and minority parties in the House and the Senate.
power resides in a very few people at the top of the majority party.
resentment over members of Congress accepting campaign contributions from
and those without additional government posts have almost no power anyway. But
and no requirements that contributions be made public. And corporations and
unions may make political contributions directly out of their treasuries (as
United States, it is unthinkable that people would shrug off large secret
care for it either, to the extent they think about it. But they don't make a
and which more idealistic and pure? No, that's not the point. The point is that
It may depend more on morally neutral cultural factors, or historical
accidents, than on any moral or practical calculus about different types of
the Strange Bed, is free of history. It is also, needless to say, free of any
taint of bias or corruption. Young and pure, it can still aspire to moral
clarity. Also modest, it will not attempt to solve all the problems relating to
campaign finance, lobbying, and other activities that allow money to buy
influence in politics. What it can do is suggest some general principles.
a democratic government. It's wrong. The world would be a better place if
government decisions were made without reference to who has written a check or
who has hired a politician's former aide. The people who profit from these
arrangements should find another way to make a living.
activity of which you morally disapprove. Trying to prevent all exchanges of
money for political influence would be costly (in terms of liberty as well as
of more mundane considerations) and futile. Half measures are inevitable. You
can, though, aspire to half measures that do two things. First, they should
deliver maximum moral benefit at minimum practical cost. And second, you want
your half measures to be reasonably consistent on an absolute scale of
were almost treasonous. "Here's a flower child with gray hairs doing exactly
what he did back in the '60s: He's apologizing for the actions of the United
directly or indirectly, attacking his own country in a foreign land." Pat
apology for slavery "ridiculous." Others have charged that the president's
cheap and hypocritical, since it was a considered decision, not (as he implied)
some kind of oversight, and there is no reason to suppose the United States
people to see straight. These objections conflate complaints about this
president's personal shortcomings with the question of how any president should
simply not mentioned slavery? Should he have noted it but offered no view? Can
would be heartless and insulting. It's hard to believe that even a primitive
such as DeLay thinks the president should play emperor, never explaining or
accounts for the recent boom in the atonement. Apologies for national failings,
both domestic and foreign, are in fashion not just in the United States but
less costly since the end of the Cold War. The Soviet Union no longer has an
enormous propaganda apparatus trained against us. Now the nations of the West
can admit wrongdoing without the fear that they are giving ammunition to the
are national apologies sensible? Offered casually or indiscriminately, they can
look like sops to constituencies rather than expressions of genuine regret. No
the point where saying he's sorry is an empty gesture, but he may be flirting
other hand, an apology can be justified without being required or even
apology for slavery isn't a good idea. This does not require him to observe a
responsibility for this tragedy, as well. We did not act quickly enough after
the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe
havens for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their
rightful name: genocide. We cannot change the past. But we can and must do
everything in our power to help you build a future without fear, and full of
ourselves so that we can maximize the chances of preventing these events. And
where they cannot be prevented, we can move more quickly to minimize the
the obstacles to humanitarian military action involving the United States. At
courageous. It may not even have been correct. But like a decision not to risk
saving someone from a burning building, it is not morally culpable.
apology as a statement of aspiration. He delineates specific actions that he
might plausibly have taken short of sending in the Marines. And there is reason
heightened sense of horror, he would behave differently.
country should not apologize for is a basically sound foreign policy. And
own time, during the Cold War, when we were so concerned about being in
and in other parts of the world based more on how they stood in the struggle
between the United States and the Soviet Union than how they stood in the
struggle for their own people's aspirations to live up to the fullest of their
communism were an overheated World Cup match, rather than itself a struggle for
democracy and human rights. Even when Realpolitik led the United States
to side with dictators and oppressors, it was in the service of maximizing
in individual countries may not be defensible, but the general policy is one we
needn't apologize for. And by the way, the Cold War did not always define
a meteorite from Mars has been pretty positive. Only a few cynics have accused
the space agency of a ploy for more funding. But that may change as the
implications sink in. Last week's announcement is the biggest insult to the
was the first and boldest in a long succession of spin doctors for the primacy
of human beings. The whole universe, he postulated, rotated around us, with the
Earth sitting at the center of heaven itself. Any marketing consultant will
earthlings, we spin around the sun, not vice versa. This might have made
used it to piss in the soup even more. The sun, it seemed, has spots on it. Far
from being the perfect furnace of heaven, it has a face covered with celestial
having multiple moons. The sky went from being a perfect clockwork centered on
Earth to a fairly shabby neighborhood in which we were a minor resident.
This revelation was disquieting enough that the authorities
repenting, saying, among other things, that "innumerable suns exist.
Innumerable earths revolve around those suns. Living beings inhabit these
doing so, to threaten the intellectual security of the religious dictatorships
of his time. People get cranky when you burst their bubble. Over time, advances
in astronomy have relentlessly reinforced the utter insignificance of Earth on
a celestial scale. Fortunately, political and religious leaders stopped
But the hubris that makes us insist on a special role for
humans and Earth didn't disappear: It just found other bases. Among the
sciences, biology became the last refuge, for within its realm, Earth was still
special. Life was the unique and sacred phenomenon of which we humans were the
violated the taboo and speculated on life beyond Earth.
extraterrestrial life are actually steeped in human hubris. The fictional
are less alien than many of my neighbors. And funny, the ones running the place
are mostly WASPish men. A galaxy full of these folks is no stranger than a
of life beyond earth support human supremacy in another way. After all, even
the most monstrous and advanced alien foe can be vanquished by the likes of
stories that are claimed as true are no better. Why Earth would be such a
human ego. The aliens, it seems, have traveled umpteen billion miles so they
ordinary phenomenon that occurs anyplace you give it half a chance. Earth isn't
special. The alien life forms aren't special either. Instead of highly logical
humanoids with pointy ears or other endearing characteristics, they seem to be
a lot like simple bacteria. Should they invade, Will Smith can wipe them out
example of anything, its very uniqueness makes it special. Life on Earth was
special because it was the only life we knew. In this case however, the dogma
being shattered is based fundamentally on ignorance. Nobody knew whether there
was life on Mars because, oddly enough, nobody had looked until now. The whole
Researchers have found fossils, similar to those in the meteorite, in some of
the oldest rock on Earth. There was evidence that life was present just as soon
as the planet cooled and solidified. If that happened so quickly on Earth, why
not on Mars, whose early stages of development were quite similar to
They are in oil wells and the crevices of basalt deep within the earth. A basic
tenet of biology used to be that the energy requirements of all living things
contact with the sun, subsisting instead on heat from the center of the Earth,
nourished only by sulfur and other elements leaching from the rock. Some
scientists have estimated that the sum of these tiny organisms spread deep
within the Earth outweighs all the forms of life on the surface combined.
planets all over the galaxy. If the discovery is what it appears to be, the
Looking ahead, we can anticipate the next frontier of
circle to defend this last bastion of human conceit. Technology is only just
beginning to let us search the skies for the telltale clues another
civilization might offer. People who speculate on the odds can be either upbeat
or quite discouraging depending on what ax they have to grind. But as with life
on Mars, until you get a chance to take a look, how confident can you be one
way or another? Maybe it's true that we're the only members of the big brain
prize for humanity, though. The steady erosion of our claim to a special place
in the universe has come with a steady growth in our maturity as a species.
What greater intellectual puzzle can there be than dealing with nature on its
own terms? Wallowing in a solipsistic world dictated by our own hubris isn't
much of a challenge in comparison. Mankind is not special by virtue of our
address in the universe, or what spins around us, or because life originated
here. Slowly, but surely, we've been compelled to renounce the comfort of these
beliefs. Our true distinction is the intellectual journey that brought us to
and only two eliminated (the Navy Department was absorbed into the Department
(Environment), but didn't get to do so. The Republican "revolutionaries" who
constituency with an array of subsidies and favors. By punting Commerce,
than Republicans, who tolerate the corporations that are chronically dependent
discredited role of Democratic scourge of business. Also, using Commerce to
who say he's helplessly infatuated with free trade.
its first presidential endorsement. Federal spending on elementary and
total public spending on schools. Most of the department's popular programs,
like college student aid and Title I, which provides money for educating poor
children, existed before the department was born. Another sacrosanct federal
education effort, Head Start, is not even under the Ed Department's
jurisdiction. Education does finance science and math instruction, but so do
Education probably isn't politically feasible, though. For one thing, it would
anger the teachers' unions, a powerful constituency in the Democratic Party: A
vilified the Republicans as enemies of learning for their proposed cuts in
if they abolished the Department of Education. Can't have that.
That leaves Energy, which is perfectly suited to abolition
on practical as well as political grounds. Aside from the environmentalists,
who are fixated on renewable fuels, few Democrats care much about the
Department of Energy anymore. The chief motive for creating the department in
prices (in absolute terms), and has removed the issue from the table. Even
during last spring's spike in prices, no Democrat advocated price controls or
be eliminated; but they can, logically, be transferred to the Pentagon. Many of
the DOE's functions, like owning oil (the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) and oil
proposed selling off the petroleum reserve.) Subsidies for solar power and
energy conservation likewise deserve the ax (energy taxes would do the job far
more efficiently, if the job needs doing); or, they could migrate to Interior.
defensible, but even a DOE task force recommended an end to government
ownership of the labs. Much of their research is in commercial applications,
whether the department survives, but whether its programs do. It's true that if
the programs aren't winnowed down, not much changes apart from the stationery.
departments without appreciably reducing their cost, it would still make
budgetary authority, but few will fail to notice that a department has
opposition to its budget cuts as fiscally irresponsible conduct by people
committed to everlasting deficits. Afterward, the Republicans were obliged to
defend the proposed cuts on their individual merits, an argument which the
themselves a lot of harm by refusing to discriminate between those programs
the nerve. Republicans have long demanded smaller government. They should pray
journalistic dominance, to glance at the newspaper that may dominate the next
that scarcely needs a Web site (though, of course, it has one), because its
built its circulation without resorting to tabloid sensationalism. From the law
courts to the tennis courts, it covers the news straightforwardly. But what
market philosophy, except sideways. A major newspaper is supposed to be a team
likeliest payoff is a slogan on the order of "Get it Over." With a newspaper,
evidence (see his "Will to Believe"), particularly if that passionate,
optimistic confidence stirred us to make the world better than it is.
Jerry Springer unites addled families. Some may see a latent liberalism (in
control or publicly financed elections (to name to editorial positions taken by
the paper in recent weeks). But the argument on these topics is no less
practical in tone and substance than its more "conservative" recent stands in
favor of public shaming as judicial punishment or its endorsement of hunting.
dollars. On the contentious issue of gerrymandering, racial or otherwise: The
practice is to be deplored not on grounds of high principle, but because, by
creating safe seats for one or another party or interest group, it makes
"elections meaningless." Moreover, in pursuing racial fairness, there are
be no difference anywhere that doesn't make a difference
recently ran a graph on "Rain and Drizzle: The Difference"? ("The difference is
the false distinction between theoretical inquiry and practical
the author of Experience and Nature and A Common Faith, the
smartest way to educate people was to give them the information and skills
them what to think or solve their problems for them. Which would be the paper
convergence on solutions: statistics, direct lengthy quotations, complete box
scores. Why, it even runs pages entitled "Solutions." ("Trucks: What Needs to
Be Done."). Mindful of the fragility of "truth," and trustful of how a better
well drop the whole concept of "truth" and speak more usefully of "warranted
condemned the "old journalism of despair," a "derisive technique of leaving
that "chronicles the good, the bad, and the otherwise, and leaves readers fully
informed and equipped to judge what deserves their attention and support."
information with minimal interference from reporters eager to be literary. As a
Snapshots" and other regular graphs abound. Lengthy quotations from transcribed
layout and bold type anticipated the typical multidimensional Web page, almost
read, "Death Rate Drops," saying it should have read, "We're Living
threatened to transfer out of the country any editors who sloppily allowed
of the United States. Personal pronouns anchor the headlines as they drive home
"We're in the Mood to Buy." If the New York Post 's candidate for
uncontroversial because it opens up its agora, presuming truth will rise from a
clash of diverse debaters from all regions and classes of the national polis?
Can it be more simplistic than television when its front page alone regularly
Today 's journalism fulfills the political philosophy of the Framers,
themselves heavily influenced by the ancient rhetoricians (see Carl J.
program: If you give the people facts, if they identify an authentic
problematic situation in their environment, if you permit them to hear multiple
airport security works, the percentage of people who screen each phone call,
why women reject technology jobs), and problematic issues (animal rights,
standards for criminal punishment) come together in a virtual Journal of
Pragmatism. You say the New York Times is a century old, and we
they'd be reading "Snapshots," absorbing the blooming, buzzing confusion of
courts accomplished something no president, congressional committee, government
agency, or private organization has been able to: They said "no" to the Secret
over the "protective function privilege" has raised complicated, delicate, and
important questions about presidential privacy and the obligations of the
Secret Service. Is the Secret Service a Praetorian Guard that can abet an
imperial president in sleaze and coverup? How do we reconcile the president's
privacy with law enforcement's demands? While the courts have settled the legal
issue (for the moment), pundits continue to masticate these questions
squabble: other complicated, delicate, and even more important questions about
the Secret Service. Notably: Are there any limits on the amount of money we
will spend to protect the president? Is it healthy for a democracy to surround
its president with a bloated paramilitary security apparatus?
worry about the Secret Service is not, as the privilege spat suggests, that the
president has too much control over it. The real worry is that no one
has control over it. The Secret Service's rise is one of the most remarkable
and (ostensibly) frugal public administration, the Secret Service is an
spends almost as freely as its heart desires. How has this happened?
then, the Secret Service has experienced the kind of growth that, well, only
the Uniformed Division. (Click for more details about its proliferation.)
Bureaucratic Growth: An agency unchecked by outside forces expands. The service
the Secret Service appropriations bill, and how much did the agency get?
stiffs other federal programs, but all the Secret Service's desires are
extra security staffers. (Not that the public can find out much about how the
Secret Service spends its money: Details about how the president is protected
are classified. The agency has even removed White House floor plans from the
terrified of scrimping on it. "No one ever wants to not fully fund it," says a
congressional appropriations staffer. "No one ever wants to be the one who is
responsible for risk or danger to the president." Another staffer asks, "If
they say it's necessary for the safety of the president, who is going to say
no?" The media, too, are reluctant to criticize: The last major story to
notice, it tends to receive coverage best described as Protection Porn. (Click
Secret Service does not hesitate to exploit its Dead President advantage,
practicing an elegant variation of "Fireman First" (a classic bureaucratic
department). On the rare occasions the service is queried, it invokes the Dead
of the White House and the president. The avenue stays closed.
The privilege squabble, in fact, marks the first time the
Dead President defense has failed. In Justice Department briefs and in private
meetings, the Secret Service insisted that the failure to recognize the
privilege: would result in "profound and predictable peril" to the president,
"could mean the difference between life or death," would endanger "the
integrity of our national security," etc. The appeals court rapped the agency
for its scare tactics, saying it must base its conclusions "on solid facts and
a realistic appraisal of the danger rather than on vague fears extrapolated
Service is not incompetent or corrupt, or even especially greedy. In fact, it
is almost universally admired for its professionalism and efficiency. Even so,
could drive through city streets in a normal car with a few bodyguards, and
anyone could stroll up to the front door of the White House. Of course, ours is
a different and more dangerous age: There are undoubtedly more and more
sophisticated threats to the president than we can imagine.
normalized a paramilitary presidency. No one blinks at: 40-car motorcades that
delegation that accompanies the president abroad, the transformation of the
open White House into an impenetrable fortress. During public events, it is
perfectly acceptable for Secret Service agents to approach crowd members and
yank their hands out of their pockets to confirm they are not hiding weapons.
It is unquestioned that the president should be chauffeured in a car that costs
see their president, and a deep inconvenience for the president to see average
citizens. There is something unseemly about this excessive security, and
the agency has made the "insufferable" routine. "I don't know if the agency
itself is aware of how arrogant and presumptuous it has become." Two years ago,
definitively unnecessary. It's that no one knows whether they are necessary and
no one is willing to ask. Perfection is impossible in presidential security. No
matter how much we spend, the goal will always recede. A determined assassin
will be able to find a way to kill the president. And the Secret Service will
be able to find a way to spend more money to prevent it. (In fact, the agency
wants the president assassinated. But should it be forbidden to ask if we could
missed the link to the Backstory on the Secret Service, here it is again.
Democratic concern. When Jimmy Carter tried to put the issue at the center of
his foreign policy, Republicans charged that he was being woolly minded and
rights efforts, argued that pestering friendly regimes about their political
prisoners played into the hands of the Communists, whose human rights records
Republican human rights concern about Communist regimes had one great
exception: China. Partly because of China's Cold War value as a rival of the
China so enthusiastically, and partly for reasons that remain mysterious, the
Republican Party has had a soft spot for the world's largest Communist regime
These days, though, you're more likely to hear Republicans
complaining about the neglect of human rights in China by a Democratic
human rights. In the last year, conservatives, including elements on the
evangelical and protectionist right, have gone so far as to make common cause
Conservative nagging about human rights has intensified lately. In recent days,
into the transfer of satellite technology, was recently quoted as saying.
the critique is disingenuous. If and when they come to wield responsibility
themselves, these critics drop their objections and adopt the same policy. The
value of maintaining a cordial relationship with an emerging superpower
the expense of human rights. But once ensconced in the White House, Carter
he visited China. The trip was a warm bath of conciliation. On the way home, he
said he didn't want to impose our system of government upon others.
for the Republican presidential nomination, Bush opposed Carter's move to
we can be pushed around." Bush blasted Carter for not obtaining stronger
"coddling aging rulers with undisguised contempt for democracy, for human
said that, if elected, he'd withdraw all trade privileges from China "as long
as they're locking people up." Once elected, he decided that using trade policy
to leverage improvements in human rights was counterproductive. In supporting
been called "constructive engagement," "commercial engagement," and "pragmatic
engagement." Like its Republican predecessors, the administration now contends
that pushing for human rights improvements quietly and behind the scenes is
illegal campaign cash. At this stage, it is still far from proved that anyone
did try to buy favor with the Democrats, it may have been because they already
owned the Republicans. Not having seen a Democratic administration in a dozen
actually follow through on its rhetoric about human rights and democracy. With
worried. Whether it is a process of being captured by the China hands at the
Dole won the election, our policy would almost certainly have remained the
same. This is worth bearing in mind during the president's upcoming trip to
China. In politics, the yang predominates. In power, the yin reasserts
people seemed willing, then as now, to make an independent judgment about the
establish a federally guaranteed income for all families with children. He
floor for the elderly and disabled. Urged on by a Democratic Congress, he
adjustments; the "black lung" disability benefit program for miners; and
creation of the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Occupational
urban renewal, mass transit, community health, and worker training gushed from
fool around with balanced budgets, tight money, or other conservative nostrums;
off leftward at the start of his first term, soon reversed course. Under strong
domestic spending cuts. Later, on the campaign trail, he declared his devotion
bill that promised to deny benefits to most welfare recipients after five
challengers to both presidents were undermined by the rise of noisy extremists
who carried their banners across the floor of that year's party convention.
but the fractures, made evident during the contentious primaries, were no less
deep. Debarred by his own party from running on his record of fiscal and social
enticed into an untenable choice, not by his party's fringes, but by ostensibly
country on the take. For Dole, the damage was done by a coalition of pinstriped
mention most of Wall Street) could spot right off as a budget buster.
deficit. With the gap still of landslide proportions in most polls, Dole has
been written off, correctly or otherwise, by the pundits. (See this week's
suffice to produce a landslide, both incumbents got further help from a
the eve of the election as, at most, the work of overzealous campaign aides)
troubles, having been more thoroughly aired in his first term, may have run
pulling themselves together momentarily to field a winning centrist candidate
conviction; and superbly effective on television, in front of a crowd, or face
same political philosophy, in essentially the same terms. They are champions of
a "new" left: reconciled to the central role of markets in the modern economy,
committed nonetheless to an active role for government, keen to foster new
effective of Labor's recent modernizers, has modeled his electoral strategy, in
common is a reluctance to admit what this strategy implies. Both seem unaware
reviving the left, they have realigned it out of any meaningful existence. For
coherent (albeit often unpopular) alternative to conservatism, there is now
and his team come to power. The party's program consists largely of assurances
to that effect. But to say this misses the point. What matters is that the
them such exceptionally effective politicians is that they really do care. It
would be wrong to say they have cynically repackaged what they affect to
unaware of where their success leaves "liberalism" in the United States or
they really are unaware. They are moderate conservatives deluding themselves
first presidential campaign he promised a lot, not the least of which was
measured against what he first hoped to do, was a step in the wrong direction.
with low inflation, shrinking the government work force, passing the North
conservative could be proud. Unlike his failures, there is nothing very liberal
campaign agenda is more modest, defined less by what he stands for than by what
only more so. New Labor defines itself in opposition to two enemies: old Labor
parliamentary colleagues supported until recently. New Labor will not increase
so he must attack the government's rhetoric instead. New Labor deplores the
instance. Judging by their various policy documents, however, Labor will not
market" (so conservative), Labor promises "proper accountability to patients"
(absolutely New Labor). On education, labor laws, and many other matters, Labor
portrayed by critics as a "government takeover"). In other words, the political
much in demand). In both cases, this comes in two main forms:
changed." Capital markets, globalization, information superhighways, and
whatnot compel us to modernize our policies, keep taxes and public spending
low, pay attention to the needs of business, and so on.
the conflicts they represent have become hopelessly outmoded. The tensions
between, say, competition and compassion, or efficiency and equity, which
blighted politics for so long, are sterile quarrels of yesteryear.
the world has changed. It keeps doing that. But only in small respects have
developments in technology and the global economy narrowed choices over policy.
What really has changed is that many voters in many countries have decided that
provisions for the poor) are not what they want. Many also wish to be spared
on to such a good thing with, "We'd love to do that, but it's no longer
feasible." What about new politics, transcended categories, and all that? In
compassion, efficiency and equity, will be resolved. That would be good, but
how is it to be done? Simply by saying, again and again, "We must have
competition with compassion, efficiency with equity." If only this had been
understood before, we could all have become conservatives much sooner.
everybody. In the age of possibility that beckons, one thing that apparently
will not be possible is a policy that imposes a fiscal burden on this group.
Not content to rule out policies (however worthy) that impose a cost on most
goal is to improve the position of the middle class. Since "the rich" are a
tiny proportion of taxpayers, the only thing this could mean in practice would
Any party expecting its program to be taken seriously as a
things: Either it must promise to increase in the aggregate the quantity and
quality of public services (and the taxes needed to pay for them), or else it
must promise, within an unchanged total of taxes and spending, to redirect the
conservatives would argue, that policies of this kind are a bad idea for one
reason or another. Perhaps they would fail. Conceivably, they would fail so
badly that they would even make the intended beneficiaries worse off. This is
exactly the argument that the left should be having with the right, just as in
has simply capitulated. In order to win power, it promises to make no
civilization" and replacing what he referred to as "the bureaucratic welfare
Newt, by contrast, is a humble fellow. In his book Lessons Learned the Hard
bathed in soft filtered sunlight. The few specific proposals he makes are
as a way to save Medicare money and thinks it is especially important for
blood pressure. He admits to mistakes such as failing to keep his mouth shut at
several points, mismanaging the House Republicans, and underestimating his
opponents. He describes himself as tolerant of internal dissent, even
Seeing Newt so shrunken is somewhat disheartening. There's
a poignant moment in his mostly very dull book when, as his career is being
torn apart by the House Ethics Committee investigation into his college course,
Natural History in New York. Communing with dinosaurs revives his spirits. In
the old days, Newt didn't need fossils to spur him on. He had the courage of
his convictions and of his boorish aggression. Now he comes across like a
old Newt was a compelling meanie, the new one offers anodyne platitudes and
empty uplift. He calls at one point in his book for "a serious conversation
about our national future." At another point he writes of the Republican
still fighting for survival, trying to appease the House Republicans who
diminish his stratospheric "negatives" in preparation for a presidential
realistic chance of being elected president. His unpopularity is deep and
is all that calculated. To be sure, his book is disingenuous at points. He says
not a serious attempt at getting rid of him. That's ridiculous. And nowhere
arrogance is genuinely diminished. He truly seems a different person.
with his head in the guillotine. In a way, this catastrophe was the result of a
to a movement, he stepped forward to lead it. In fact, it drove him. He was
plan for the future is to stay out of traffic. Beyond that, he proposes the
Republican Party support something he calls "entrepreneurial government." He
would let the private sector act wherever possible and get the government to
act more like a business. This is probably what Republicans would advocate if
they were smart. Entrepreneurial government is compatible with tax cuts and
does not demand an assault on purposes and programs that the voting majority
regards as essential. It is a politics with great potential appeal to an
general approach while distancing itself from aggressive social conservatism,
Democrats would have reason to fear at the presidential as well as the
idea, which stresses flexibility and innovation in how government discharges
its role, contradicts the libertarian urge to have government simply butt out.
spending, that means the federal government would defend the country, pay for
electricity to light the Capitol dome, and do not much else. But that's not all
hundreds of billions in highway subsidies, and fund research into diseases that
in common with Newt Heavy. His interesting ideas don't quite add up.
politics and try my hand at a column about the arts. To ease the transition, I
thought it might be fitting to pay tribute to someone whose career spans these
chunk of postwar history but much of the enlightenment that remains in the
congressional page many summers ago, and the first writing I ever did about
politics was answering constituent mail in his office. But my real gratitude is
has held the esteem and affection of the people he has represented for half a
century by thinking about their good in a more elevated way. He is a liberal,
around. He has found his mission in preserving what matters in our culture, and
in standing in the way of attempts to coarsen and reduce it.
Up on the Hill a few weeks ago, I stopped by his office in
about some now obscure postal reorganization bill, and a yellowed copy of the
of which he knows by heart, he told me he felt it had been too long since he
and whose style is to follow the dictates of his conscience without making a
didn't go into politics to save the world. He did it because he was bored
Democratic machine for a seat on the City Council and not surprisingly lost.
Recognizing that the only way in was with the blessing of the regular
sacrificial lamb. According to the elaborate ethnic spoils system of those
candidate who'd been slated to run decided in the face of a looming Republican
States. Colleagues told him that if he voted against it, he'd be a one term
margins. In the House, he continued to get excited about injustices that
Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on the Interior, the national endowment
budgets fell under his jurisdiction. In the 1970s, he was known as a
the endowments were spending their money. But after attempts to eliminate them
telling us we're not supposed to talk to the media," said the young male clerk
orders from the same cabal that inflated the numbers for Ancient
paperbacks, I figured I should probably abandon my fallback theory too, which
is that the only people who take the Rules seriously are journalists assigned
one, took them seriously. "It's all about mind games," he volunteered
for women who want to marry, lunacy is the best policy. Women who take the
born to respond to challenge. Take away challenge and their interest wanes."
theme of, "Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?" But what sets it
birthday and Valentine's Day, he obviously doesn't love you; so show him the
you're being advised to join a support group to help you resist the urge to
have a normal conversation with your boyfriend, the whole enterprise has a
Rules isn't just about manipulating men; it's about manipulating the reader
too. The eerie assurance with which the authors insist that the Rules always
one of those chain letters that alludes darkly to people who dropped dead after
jinxed from Day One because I called my future husband first and suggested
slept together right away, spent hours yakking on the phone, split checks down
the middle, and lived together for years before the wedding. The notion that
female initiative is useless because men know what they want is particularly
notion that what men want is a woman who's always on her way out the door.
its popularity as evidence of rejection of feminism by "women" is much too
collection of amiable dolts, but the Rules Girl is a particular social
in need of the Rules is a voracious doormat, the sort of woman who sends men
Hallmark greeting cards or long letters after a single date, who rummages in
men's drawers and pockets, suggests couples therapy when brief relationships
start to crumble, throws away a new boyfriend's old clothes, cleans (and
redecorates) his apartment without asking, and refuses to see the most obvious
signs of disengagement. Her problem isn't too much liberation; it's incredibly
setting boundaries on a personality that has none, of giving a sense of purpose
and structure to a life that seems "empty" (a recurrent word), of offering
your edgy, insecure, and engulfing true self is, perhaps, the cruelest fantasy
the world depicted in the book is unfortunately the one in which millions of
office jobs and aerobics classes, personal ads, nose jobs and diets, singles
world, or one with much room for originality or playfulness or waywardness or
even what I would call "romance." Friends matter because you need someone to
rent a beach house or go to a singles dance with. Politics and volunteer work
and books are just ways to keep busy between dates.
in much of the discussion about dating just now reflects this world well: men
and women, different by nature and with innately opposed interests, each trying
babies, "romantic gifts," attention, money, acceptability in a society
organized around the couple. Indeed, the subtext of The 
resentment toward men: As the authors put it in their inimitable fashion,
feminists want to change the rules, not memorize them.
movement. They didn't have to. The rich got richer. The median wage fell. In
again. No one has the nerve to ask for a raise. For years, labor, or what was
money. But just telling people about politicians' voting records: soft money.
And suddenly denunciation of "labor bosses" is on every Republican lip.
to one, according to the New York Times the other day. So why does the
crisis? Why is Republican control of Congress now at stake, with such a
But isn't it unfair for union members to have to pay for
this, from "compulsory" dues, when many vote Republican? No, it is not unfair.
First, members can opt out, or object. Typically, members every year get cards:
"Remember, you can opt out of paying dues for extra political work."
Conservatives have sued unions over this for years. Unions must have major
audits, segregate money. There is notice, hearing, rebate procedure. (The kind
of due process liberals dream of for the poor but never get.)
your rights as a company stockholder. Can you opt out of the company's
With millions of us in mutual funds, who has any idea what political messages
members in fact opt out, with all their legal rights to do so? No. The highest
recently was an "open shop," meaning that many members never paid dues at all.
implicitly at least, criticize Republican candidates? Maybe members want to
cast their own votes, but they still like to hear what their union says.
Because of abortion or gun control or the Cold War, I may decide I want to vote
union has some expertise? That's why labor is making fewer endorsements. Just
provide the consumer advice. On wages, Social Security, Medicare. Let people
that millions of union members are being forced against their will to help
finance this union campaign is simply a Republican fantasy.
not a detour from its "real" job of negotiating wages and hours. Soft money for
voter education. That is labor's real job, the very core purpose of a
union. Ever since the Supreme Court decision that required the "opt out," the
that's an "extracurricular," unrelated to the union's "real" work.
wrote in dissent, this distinction is silly. After all, what is Social Security
but a job benefit? Either the union gets the pension directly at the bargaining
"family leave"? Crawl off in a corner and give birth, without pay? Still, it's
something. Either labor can get it directly from the boss, or labor can get it
from the boss via Congress. What's the difference, except in the latter case
Medicare, isn't it still being a special interest? No. What's unique about
labor is: It's not a special interest or a single issue. Special interest? It's
was labor fighting for? Stop Medicare cuts. Raise minimum wage." These
to pay for our battles? That is the real unfairness of soft money.
have begun running "counter ads." Sure. But what can they "counter" with? "You
don't need a minimum wage"? "Let's cut back Social Security"? "Isn't your
standard of living getting too high"? No, Business can't counter the ads. It
has to change the subject. Thus: "Labor bosses!" (But what about business
been true, sometimes, but who pays the money to corrupt unions?)
the median wage has dropped, while the two parties have hauled in hundreds of
Actually, I might be pressed for time, so it would work better if we could
stand around my kitchen table while I chug half a pint of takeout
home late from work to gulp something before we connect for a concert and
the Democratic National Convention "matters most in our lives and in our
"triangulating" their children and families message to duel with the similar
message that came out of the Republican National Convention a few weeks before,
children or traditional families. "Soccer Moms" are desirable voters this
homosexual men who are contemplating, but denied, marriage.
"packing lunches, dropping the kids off at school, and going to work." The
first lady, who detailed so eloquently the pressures faced by working mothers,
might be surprised to know that the current attorney general and the secretary
dinner, pay the bills, and feel a little tired when, on top of all their other
responsibilities, they have to take the dog to the vet.
politics were a little more inclusive when campaign rhetoric revolved around
and child rearing, an unpremeditated exclusionary process began.
practice "right conduct" every day. Well, it's pretty hard to practice "right
conduct" when the very fabric of your personal life is judged to be
single people are so vilified? Many of them have more time than the
from each group volunteer for the Republican and Democratic campaigns, and how
It is precisely our current president's generation, the
women's rights and, therefore, postponed or rejected traditional family values.
strategy to work overtime to gain the admiration and respect of the center
voters who care about health care and education but not necessarily about
getting married or having children. At the Republican Convention, Bob Dole
commended as right conduct "any screenwriter who refuses to contribute to the
contribute further to the trash this year. But on one condition: Both parties
must return to a genuine debate and stop bickering over who can present a
has been one of the most incontinent television commentators on the scandal,
them, "We have not investigated, and are not investigating, the personal lives
footwork and thus as confirmation of his charge. "The White House lied about it
That's his job. But the rest of us don't have to believe this crap."
wife have been "very fair" to the president in their scores of recent
(And largely exonerated the accused. Imagine how Republicans would howl if a
Democratic independent counsel let a Democratic administration off the hook.)
investigation," newspapers' favorite leaker ID. There is no proof that either
"source" about anything? In fact, the unreliable gossip they sometimes pass on
report on its Web site. It quoted a lawyer "familiar with the negotiations" as
"compromising situation" and that he had become a government witness. Hours
lawyer familiar with the case, later said the information provided for
reissued a version of the story. An intermediary for a witness or witnesses who
involved, on what basis did they know? "This is a small Southern town," says
talk. You hear things and you pass them on to reporters so that they might
investigate. Sometimes people don't investigate the way they should." This
indirectly using journalists to try to substantiate rumors it has heard. In any
legitimate source would suggest that the paper's reporter thought he wasn't
supposed to be presiding over a big investigation themselves. Rep. Peter
Workforce (formally Education and Labor Committee) subcommittee on
Teamsters election, including allegations of involvement by the Democratic
Hospital Association. They may be called upon to lobby legislators for whom
and that he and his wife have agreed not to lobby members of the committee
the two in the first month after the scandal broke. As of a few weeks ago, the
committee had issued no subpoenas, interviewed no witnesses, and held no
scheduled for late next month.) Democrats have demanded to see time sheets; the
says. "We work for the majority." He says that they do their congressional work
neglect of an investigation that Democrats would just as soon they neglect
anyhow. It's that their myriad, dubious, and overlapping roles keep piling up
without ever being properly explained. It's like one of those Westerns where
been elected on a centrist platform of welfare reform and deficit reduction,
predictions' failure appears to be no deterrent to their regular renewal. Only
There are actually several versions of this theory.
lying in wait for an opportunity to expand government and raise taxes. A
variation on this casts the first lady as the closet liberal. Conservatives
may turn left for practical if not ideological reasons. "He's going to have to
especially feminists, and organized labor." The theory here is that if
problem with these forecasts is that they are, once again, wrong. It is very
it's hard to make out the precise effect at this point, the fear of a meltdown
in his popularity and the distant threat of impeachment are likely to make the
spend some of his accumulated political capital, that's a damned shame. Instead
congressional Democrats who are more liberal than he is. After quarreling for
the better part of five years, they now seem to be getting along. But there's
an explanation for this, which has nothing to do with the scandal. After the
authority last fall, the White House became preoccupied with fostering a more
productive relationship with Hill Democrats, according to White House
first revealed the fruits of these negotiations in remarks at a "Democratic
which was delivered after the scandal broke: reserving future budget surpluses
until some fix has been found for Social Security, and raising the minimum
spend a budget surplus on social programs, and they want to increase the
the face of a common enemy, realizing that a crumbling presidency would leave
interest groups? This is largely uncharted terrain, but there's little reason
wind out of their sails and undermined the possibility of any second term
fall prey to the fallacy of an impending left turn because they misunderstand
One lesson he has learned is that being too far to the left is a political
repositioning himself as a moderate. The same thing happened again after he
hybrid scheme was too much for a public mistrustful of expanding government.
centrism that is likely to remain his approach to politics for what remains of
much to make someone a lefty these days. Liberals used to call for cutbacks in
defense spending, higher welfare benefits, and a federal full employment
program. Now they want a tiny bit more social spending within the context of a
balanced budget. To conservatives, a liberal these days is someone who doesn't
generate lots of quick, trashy literature; the kind of unedited, misspelled
garbage designed to sell scads of copies before people realize just how junky
it is. But Flytrap, until now, has been a publishing flop. The last few weeks
the nation's sorrow for money and fame. They are essentially clip jobs,
ventures. It is jacketed with the sober brown paper that covered The Book of
authority, annoying enough when he writes for kids, seems particularly forced
actually be possible. He is a fine rhetorician, and The Death of Outrage
are nothing you haven't read before on the New York Times editorial page
his betrayal of vows and his lies undermine public trust; his use of legal
chicanery to duck ethical responsibility is cowardly and grotesque; the
public's silence in the face of this is a capitulation, "moral disarmament";
and furious about Flytrap, yet he has managed to write a book without vitriol.
He refrains from gloating. He chastises others for their glee in savaging
to write a sober legal tract. High Crimes is supposed to show that
Crimes is painfully shoddy, even for a book rushed to press. Misspellings
sexual relations with that woman." Entire paragraphs are repeated, nearly word
for word, in different chapters of the book. Coulter claims to lay out the
puzzle out her definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors." It's as though the
bring attention to sex addiction. His underlying purpose seems more cynical: to
written a psychological profile of the president as sex addict. According to
"unconditional love" that was missing at home. He sought it in power, in the
love of the crowd, and especially in casual sex. But all were poor substitutes
for true love and didn't vanquish his feelings of inadequacy and guilt. The
deserves sympathy and compassion, not vitriol, because he exercises no control
existence of sex addiction is questioned by most respectable shrinks. Never
determinants." (Let's not and say we did.) Never mind that it's even more badly
air, and his book is stacked high by the register at my local Borders.
transcripts of the presidential debates. Compression is the right approach, but
more of a human touch is needed. Rather than reduce political dialogue to
straightforward facts and proposals, perhaps we should try to bring out the
singular aesthetic vision that wells up in even our most robotically
make politics more beautiful, melancholy, strange. The vast audience that
sadly neglected in our political process. Here is a compressed transcript of
the debates. All the words were actually spoken. They are presented completely
out of context, but in perfect accord with what the transcriber believes to be
Bob Dole's remarks required less editing than the others'.]
wanted, you took me. Let's keep it going. We cut, let's balance. We cut, let's
pass. We passed, let's expand. We passed, let's keep going. We passed, let's
make. We can build. I look forward. We're going. I believe, I have worked. I
around in my pocket. He noted a few, but there are others.
Bob Dole is one of those men who's served in the United States Senate. Clearly,
community, strong family. Strong economy, strong communities, strong families.
The word "family." As strong as a family, a strong job. Strong community,
with their plan. We have a plan. We also have a plan. We also have a plan. Our
really matters is what we can do. We have to go on. If we can do those things,
suggesting it be done, but at least we ought to look at it.
it's always been! And that's the way it will always be!
ago, the first steel and concrete baseball palace opened for business.
safety, intimacy, and convenience. As places to watch ballgames, they were
designed in the late '60s and '70s that doubled as football stadiums. But these
attempted to address the character question with a superficial postmodern
modern conveniences. But inside, it was still a symmetrical concrete monster,
and it sat in the middle of a 7,000-car parking lot rather than in an urban
as though a disembodied voice intoned, "If you build it, they will copy."
praised, some of them don't deserve the hype. The most annoying hype is that
all the new parks are intimate, and that every seat is better at the new place
perception of size and scale. A good architect can ace the second part of the
test through convincing forms, good proportions, and attractive materials. The
parks beat the cold and sterile stadiums of a generation ago.
for women), bathrooms, escalators, plentiful food stands, and luxury
are larger than even the multipurpose hulks we all love to hate. Compare, for
game? Two reasons: column placement and luxury seating.
some fans. Today's architects "remedy" the problem by placing the columns
behind the seating areas, thus moving the upper decks back from the field. (It
should be noted that the new parks' claim that they have no
tiers devoted to luxury seating at the new parks also push the upper deck away
parallel between that period and ours. We are also matching that era's frenzied
merits was that they were unsubsidized. Team owners bought land and paid for
for some of the infrastructure. The Giants say that other team owners are
rooting against their scheme, because it calls into question the profligate
public subsidies. Some of the subsidies exceed capital and maintenance costs:
You'd expect that the public would get something, perhaps
affordable seats, in return for subsidizing stadiums. Instead, the cheap seats
increase in luxury seating, which is the primary real reason for the
Naturally, owners don't advertise their new parks as a means of making life
them to make enough money to stay in town or to field a competitive team and to
Larger and more lavish stadiums translate into greater land
management has demanded an operable roof even though the city has the driest
cold weather in spring and fall, but the unsealed roof won't make the park
million, and that's not counting the value of the land.
good news is that not every owner is demanding a castle for his team. All
with natural grass and no roof, bells, or whistles." Though his attitude is
Why should the public chip in? Taxpayer subsidies don't
hired by stadium proponents) discount the claim that new stadiums spur regional
argument for subsidies is that new stadiums can pull their cities together when
properly designed and sited. This requires a downtown or neighborhood location
where lots of fans can take the bus or the train to the game; where they can
walk to the stadium from work, hotels, restaurants, or bars; and where getting
to the game is a communal event that is part of a broader urban experience.
put them in the wrong place, it's a colossal waste of money," says the planning
Recent attendance patterns show that urban parks generate
There are also strong indicators that suggest new urban parks have "legs,"
retaining more of their patrons after the novelty wears off. But some teams
deliberately seek isolated locations, where they can better monopolize parking
Brewers refuse to build downtown, and why the Mariners insisted on the most
the new baseball shrines are a mixed bag. Most are visually impressive, boast
many of them are large and expensive, tend to live on the dole, and are
hampered by seat layouts that create a caste system among fans. At their best,
they strengthen their cities; at their worst, they exploit them.
process behind the financing and building of new ballparks has become
predictable, as have the designs. But the good news is that our stadium boom is
far from over. If owners and public agencies can be persuaded to take a longer
view of stadium economics and community concerns, we may yet see parks that
better unite traditional character with modern convenience.
billion goes down the rat hole to students who, either because they lie about
their qualifications or because the government makes a mistake, don't, in fact,
qualify. Another few billion goes to students whose major qualification is that
expensive private schools. Still more millions subsidize such odd groups as
it. His accomplishment? He's stopped banks from taking advantage of the system
to skim a few hundred dollars off the top of each new student loan. Meanwhile,
if parents have the means, they ought to help their kids with their college
costs before taxpayers are asked to assist. But Congress has created a handful
of handy ways to ditch rich parents. Follow these rules to become an
independent student, and no matter how much your parents make, the government
parents' income and assets no longer count toward determining whether or not a
student is poor. Of course, young marriage is the most likely to end in
parents kicked him out of the house, but because, well, just because. And, for
the kid who can't quite get his or her act together, the government is willing
to pay for up to six years of undergraduate education. Has this subsidy
contributed to an increase in the number of years it takes to graduate? Today,
who are now allowed to disregard their parents' income in applying for loans
and grants. Remember, getting married already separates college students from
Grants and subsidized loans. As a result of these and other ways to make
students legally independent of their parents, the number of independent
The granddaddy of all the stupid social incentives isn't for kids, it's for
college, divorce your wife. The taxpayer will end up sending your kid to school
because divorced fathers' income isn't counted under current rules. (Even
though married dads aren't legally required to pay for their kids' college
either, their income is always counted by the feds.) This policy helps explain
recipients (more than a million in total) than among the general student
population, according to the Center for Education Statistics. Private schools
Grants because they had defaulted on federally guaranteed loans, received them
terms of being in need, here's the list of dollars that don't count as
difference do all these rules make? People who know how to use them (usually
grants and subsidized loans, costing the government, on average, $4,000--which
is several hundred dollars more than is spent for those whose parents earn less
their income and assets. It also depends on where students want to go to
relative need. If the same rules were applied to food stamps, here's how it
would work: Take the food stamps into a store and pick out hamburger and canned
green beans, the stamps are worth a dollar. Pick out lobster and truffles, and
more aid your "needy" students will get and, since "need" is determined
relative to cost, the more "needy" students you will have. It's hard to find an
economist who doesn't believe this is a recipe for inflation. And indeed, since
both Congress and the president: Whether you want to save money on federal
education aid or add benefits for more needy students, the way to come up with
the needed dollars is to stop subsidizing a stupid system.
most frequently prescribed antidote for male impotence. According to the
impotent excuses himself from foreplay with his partner and enters the
swabs a spot near the base of his penis with rubbing alcohol. Next, clasping
the head of his penis with one hand, the impotent inserts the needle about two
centimeters into the shaft. The needle must penetrate to the corpora
control circulation to the penis. The sting passes quickly and blood rushes
prevent the puncture from turning black and blue, the impotent applies pressure
Finally, after five minutes or so, the impotent emerges
his coach won't turn into a pumpkin for half an hour, regardless of how many
erection last year. Clinics that diagnose impotence and teach the afflicted how
channels, and mass transit. (The bus ads give impotence treatment a friendly
treatment. Plus, pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop simpler ways to
fading virility, most have the disposable income to indulge their anxieties.
And the demographic is burgeoning, giving a new meaning to the phrase "baby
the worst fears of the graying guys on the golf course. The conventional wisdom
about impotence has changed: What was once considered a normal part of the
aging process is now considered a treatable medical condition. "If a man has a
site: "For many men, life without sex can be likened to a watercolor painting
that should possess all of the vibrant colors of life, but which has been
some of the doctors' enthusiasm to the novelty of their powers. A decade
problem or an unavoidable consequence of aging. (As the circulatory system
goes, so goes the reliability of erections. According to a National Institutes
to cardiovascular problems.) With the advent of the new medication, the doctors
now had a cure in their bag, allowing them to shelve the psychological
basically a plumbing problem," he says. To fix it, a doctor needs to get under
Yet, in their haste and fervor to cure, urologists may have
debunked too many old assumptions about impotence and invested too much faith
suffer from an exclusively medical problem. Diabetes, cardiovascular problems,
permanently deflated, according to the medical literature) all prevent men from
mustering a swelling. No amount of chat will ever restore their virility. A
those who use it abandon the drug within months of beginning their therapy.
the drug doesn't restore the sexual desire or the pleasure they once derived
from sex. In fact, some impotence researchers assert that the success rates of
erections are elicited by the neural signaling of nitric acid, which in turn is
triggered by some desire, or thought, or external stimuli. You can
problems that exacerbate and sometimes even trigger impotence.
spin. After all, their cult of youth has successfully preached that aging can
be staved off by medical intervention: hair implants, skin peels, and
liposuction. And by drugs, which have been their remedy for every psychological
boomers to rut until death. The generation that still listens to rock 'n' roll
will consider it their right to keep getting their rocks off.
infestation of vermin known as "career politicians." The newcomers came armed
the "citizen legislator," whose loyalty would remain with the voters who
elected him, not the institution in which he served.
term limitations on their own congressional delegations. But because it wasn't
limits amendment to the Constitution. And since a constitutional amendment
limited themselves voluntarily. That is, they've promised to call it quits
Forced retirement was a distant prospect then. But now the
most enthusiastic term limiters in the House are facing the expectation that
they will follow through on their pledge. For those who vowed to return to
their plows after six years, the next term will be their last. Several of those
freshmen actually appear to take the idea that they made a promise seriously
and have reaffirmed their intentions of stepping down. But others are
discovering nuances to the issue they never noticed before. In other words,
platform that consisted of little more than term limits for members of
Congress. He rode to office by allying himself with a state term limit
mind. "Make no mistake, I remain committed to term limits, but experience has
taught me that six years may be too short," he said in a statement issued in
the chief objection to term limits has always been that the people should have
the right to elect whoever they want to represent them in Congress, including
this argument, but he's far from admitting he was wrong. He says he's still for
years? We can cross that bridge when we come to it.
like himself who support term limits must go back on their word to prevent
people who are really against term limits from getting elected.
reason is that before he was elected to the House, he didn't understand how
were to heed term limits, the state's congressional delegation would be less
powerful than the delegations from states that don't recognize term limits. The
upshot, he says, would be unilateral disarmament for his state.
The problem with these arguments is not that they are bad
arguments. In fact, they're quite sensible. The seniority system means you get
power by serving long enough to gain seniority. And a state that voluntarily
limits the terms of its representatives harms itself relative to others. But
majority leader, he's no stranger to the concept of seniority. As to the
unilateral disarmament point: It's a very solid objection. But it was an even
limit on all the state's legislators would have put it at a far greater
disadvantage than a disposable promise by a few of its legislators. In fact,
when they swore they'd limit their own terms. But back when they made those
promises, before they'd ever been elected to Congress, the prospect of leaving
in six or eight or a dozen years didn't sound so bad.
belong just to the few who made specific pledges. Term limits was the official
term limits for the entire House and Senate. (Of course, if you read the fine
print, it only promised to bring such a proposal up for a vote.) More senior
Republicans have been as disingenuous as the young bloods. They've just been
representative who is one of the leaders on the issue in the House. He's in his
home is giving him a hard time on the issue, because he was not so foolish as
nice case study in political demagoguery. All the problems the Republican
radicals are belatedly recognizing now were totally obvious at the outset.
rest of the fine arguments against term limits. Experience, they will discover,
is actually valuable. The fact that voters can and do reject incumbents will
strike them as an epiphany. Republican term limit traitors don't need to
apologize for changing their minds, which they have every right to do. What
they owe us is an admission that their professed faith in term limits was phony
collect royalties on campfire renditions of "This Land Is Your Land." The girls
"This Land Is Your Land," was a Communist. It's your land, but it's my land
sharing. Put any two toddlers in a room with toys, and you get four political
obstructive nuisance of private ownership. The 1990s version merely announces
transmitting data is becoming too easy for the law to protect anyone's private
There's an obvious technological rejoinder. Digital content
can be shuffled as easily as it can be transmitted. Encryption puts viscosity
right back into the fluid digital pipeline. Curiously, most of the property
economic rejoinder too, as Bob Wright pointed out on these screens not long ago. Most
people won't steal digital content if buying actually remains cheaper and
easier, as it probably will. But the "free the bits" view of things isn't just
inconsistent or unfinished. It's an analysis that hasn't progressed beyond the
years ago, the Supreme Court announced that lawmakers couldn't ban abortions in
the first trimester of pregnancy, but could ban them in the third. A
"viable" outside the womb. By that logic, the constitutional right retreats
with every advance in neonatal medicine. When medics learn how to incubate a
disappear. Except that it won't. Logical consistency has nothing to do with
rights in intellectual property aren't going to be abolished, however badly
cassette recorder, which he was sure would be used mostly to pirate his
the law may say what it likes, but the law doesn't matter any more.
Technological might makes right. People with the machines will copy if they
please, and lawyers shouldn't try to stop them. (Unless, of course, those
premise is also wrong. The first point to recognize is that copyright is just a
commercial form of privacy law. Indeed for some, it's the only kind of privacy
So we've done breasts and we've done abortion; let's move
it offered to help personal biographical stuff on its way to freedom, through a
Information wanting to be free doesn't seem so appealing when it includes
habits, records of where you've been, what you asked for, and what you took.
Your modem doesn't know the difference between information called "property"
harder it is to maintain privacy, the easier it is to catch thieves. It's no
use responding that the law itself protects privacy better than copyright
flashing lights, is what maintains speed limits on the highway.
mine, so your intellectual property must be mine too. If I really own my modem,
then I must have an unqualified right to dial up anywhere, any time, and suck
in whatever is out there to be sucked. Copyright law in cyberspace offends
politically neutral. Sure, property is the capitalist's tool. But the
feminist's, too. And the libertarian's. The woman who wants an abortion says
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Whether
you're talking about land, abortion, or environmental protection, you
succession of bubbles in space, or cyberspace, with different people claiming
an endless variety of interests in them. Property is a bottle of champagne, or
the name of the label, or the whole concept of effervescent wine, or perhaps
litigators decide, often one case at a time. The deciding never ends, because
people, and the things they value, change. Technology will never end the tug of
because the Workers of the World have united, or because information wants to
millennium. This session attracted an unusual amount of interest, because it
was the first time the first lady was going to have to face questions from
reporters about the sex scandal. As we filed into the Map Room, familiar from
the White House coffee videos, we were told that she would entertain questions
that didn't have to do with the millennium toward the end of the hour.
dressed in a pale but intense yellow suit, and proceeded to circumnavigate the
room and greet everyone. She then sat down at the head of the table and for
Millennium Council has planned. It intends to perform a number of good works,
spending a lot of time speaking to leaders around the world and consulting with
And that's the primary thing on his mind right now."
prepared to answer tough questions, reporters didn't seem to have the stomach
add insult to the injury she presumably had suffered at the hands of her
husband already. But then someone pitched her a softball that elicited what I
think is the most inadvertently revealing thing she has said on the subject to
despite plausible allegations of a sexual relationship with an intern, and
denials. Indeed, the first lady did not even assert that she believed
his denials. Rather, she made a version of the point that many pundits have
have long suspected: that there is a psychological bargain, if not a literal
into her answer, one might understand that she is furious at her husband but
stays with him out of respect for what he is capable of, and out of calculated
struck me during the interview is that for all the speculation, nobody really
denials? Does she love him, despise him, or both? Do they have an open marriage
in which his extracurricular activity is accepted, or is each new revelation a
painful surprise to her? We all project our own views and experiences onto the
First Marriage. But there is no indication that anyone, including even close
what she thinks, determines whether she is a victim or an accomplice, a
retain the benefit of the doubt. So long as we don't know, we can't really
knew it. She surely is aware that her husband was unfaithful to her before he
thought, however, that she was giving him another chance and that he was
promising, in exchange, to do better. It may have come as an awful surprise to
could have known in detail, known in general, not wanted to know, or truly had
no idea. And she might not care, be hurt but not surprised, or be deeply hurt
and surprised. Here is a grid that expresses the four basic possibilities.
northeast corner and moving clockwise. If she didn't know that her husband was
she is in the most sympathetic of the available positions. She would be in the
made a tacit agreement to quit fooling around for the duration of his
presidency, for the sake of common sense if not common decency. On learning
very upset. But she would also realize that she couldn't leave him while he was
made a mistaken bet that her husband could reform, she is now in the position
the other hand, she didn't know, but also didn't much care, that would suggest
tolerating her husband's misbehavior would probably be less a desire to keep up
decent appearances than a desire to gain and retain power herself. If this is
much as he has used her to advance his. This wouldn't leave much ground for
her position is even worse. If she knew her husband was going to continue to
philander and agreed to help him pretend that he had reformed and become a good
husband, she has been a party to a hoax. If accepting a faithless husband was
but also, perhaps, in what most people would recognize as sexual
yet for reasons of the heart or reasons of power, or both, unwilling to bring
him to book. She would be in the morally ambivalent position of the abused
spouse, both deserving of sympathy and responsible for her own failure to act.
release from prison, he aspires to return to respectability in the city's eyes.
The strongest sign that he will accomplish this task was buried on Page A12 of
much to do with reaching out to balance the budget as anybody I know. He
finally recognized that there would have to be revenue increases."
significance lies not in the substance of this quote but in the fact of it. For
authority on politics, rather than as a news story himself, marks a giant step.
to remind readers that the former chairman is on parole after a stretch in
which he has yet to voice any apology or regret. The Times simply
that for someone in his position, quotation is more important than contrition.
out of office, and go to jail, community service, detox, or whatever. Then you
visit Quote Rehab, and come out as a Beltway citizen in good standing.
politician and the reporter are engaged in a reciprocal stroke. For the
politician, being quoted means respect and acceptance. What ties you to the
have you. For the reporter, a humbled politician is always great copy. Someone
who has been brought low by scandal will tend to be more daring in his
utterances, because he is trying to recover status rather than preserve it. He
has nowhere to go but up. The reporter is happy to help elevate him in exchange
what he thinks. He has thrown himself at the feet of reporters as promiscuously
stories that quote him as an expert, he is referred to simply as a former
politics, Morris is described only as "the former White House political
relations with both parties, he is called "Dick Morris, a political consultant
stories, as in countless others, Morris serves reporters by playing what they
to the budget deal, Morris offers: "Without him, there never would have been a
Part of Morris' appeal for journalists is that he is willing to teach it round
a political genius and a man of integrity. But if the reporter wants him to say
"Definitely, I think that happened," he told them. In a New York Times
The point is not that disgraced politicians must be treated
as unquotable pariahs forever. But they should be used sparingly, and much more
thief and liar. Morris' views are almost always totally worthless, because he
obviously will say anything, to anybody. Though he used to pride himself on
never being quoted in the press, he now scurries to return calls from the
gets much more out of the transaction, in terms of selling copies of his book
and putting ignominy behind him, than the readers of the papers that quote him
do. I called him to ask about the phenomenon, but for once he didn't want to
play. It violated his policy, he said, of "not talking about the scandal or its
effects." He would be happy, however, to discuss politics or policy.
interval and a reminder of what these folks did wrong would be appropriate. But
reporters might ask whether they need to quote them at all. One of the irksome
knowledgeable and reliable reporter is not allowed to make even obvious or
uncontroversial points directly. If you're going to say the sky is blue, you'd
better find a meteorologist to say it for you. Most of the time, this is merely
inefficient, a waste of time and newsprint. In the case of Quote Rehab,
however, the trustworthy reporter puts his own observations in the mouth of
announced he wouldn't sue, explaining in a prepared statement that "several
that decision should be based on whether he believes the company has violated
lawsuits, economic factors often interfere with lofty considerations of the
billion tobacco settlement now up for debate in Congress--41 other states
eventually joined in. Among the few that did not were the biggest producers of
have to be pretty naive to expect political considerations to play no part in
the deliberations of any public prosecutor, even in criminal cases. But
pure politics. They generally reflect the ambitions of state elected
officials rather that the claims of sound public policy.
If General Electric is selling an unsafe toaster, we have a
Consumer Product Safety Commission with jurisdiction to investigate, regulate,
redundant, or disagreeing, in which case the result is a toaster that is legal
add another layer of absurdity: the states reinventing the wheel of federalism
activism and conservative devolutionary zeal. In the 1970s, the consumer
movement fired up state attorneys general to begin going after corporate
contained rocket engines. Such suits increased with the falloff in consumer
advertising in car leasing, sneaker price fixing, and telemarketing scams. At
the moment, they are shadowing the Justice Department in an antitrust
incurred some suspicion and jealousy from his colleagues. He also became their
filed his own suit against the tobacco companies. It was settled last week for
is the National Association of Attorneys General (known informally as the
its various committees can hash out ideas for litigation, like the billing
fraud case now being developed against the hospital chains.
in the last week, and he is clearly enjoying his moment in the limelight,
building valuable name recognition for the day when he decides whether to run
States. The question whether regulation of commerce is a state or national
ape movie, a dog movie, and another dog movie. In the second dog movie, the dog
films is nothing new. The last few years have witnessed Babe
a couple of Free Willy s (whale), and countless others I have,
mercifully, been able to forget. Everywhere you turn, some movie is preaching
Any day now I expect my cat to strike up a conversation with me, probably about
movie distilled into its purest form. The cuddliest animals (Dalmatian puppies)
are threatened with the most horrible fate (clubbing, skinning, being turned
lesson: It is far better to torture a human being than to allow a single puppy
to come to harm. In the end, the Dalmatians and their human masters live
wrong with a Dalmatian fur coat? And where can I buy one? How much is that
letters to the editor and heat their vats of oil to a rolling boil, let me
They're hyperactive. They bark too much. They're bad with children. They shed
constantly. They're hard to train. (The Dalmatians don't even perform tricks in
all of them are dumb. They are, in short, lousy pets.
inspires an equation: Beauty plus difficult temperament equals fur. We do it to
coats. The first is principled: Fur is wrong. It barbarically exploits animals,
reply: Fur farming doesn't have to be cruel. Minks live longer on fur farms
than they do in the wild. Dalmatians, one imagines, could roam more freely on a
large farm than in a cramped urban apartment. And Dalmatian farmers would not
simply kill Dalmatians for their fur. Dog meat is prized in other parts of the
world. (It used to be in the United States, too; on his Western expedition with
places where dog meat is eaten. Maybe Dalmatian burger is an ecologically
second objection to Dalmatian farming is visceral. The mere thought of farming
dogs for fur nauseates you. With this objection, I sympathize. Dogs are
charming. People love their dogs, even their Dalmatians. They see something
grotesque in the idea of making them into winter outerwear. It offends common
understand this. Pigs are sociable, loving, and a hell of a lot brighter than
family, even more sacred than other human beings (such as curmudgeonly aunts).
But God gave man dominion over the beasts of the earth: If an animal has
children will hound their parents into buying charming Dalmatian pups for
into charmless dogs. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, will be abandoned or
dropped at the pound. They will be shut up in cages. Later, they will be
his wife and perhaps even helped him commit obstruction of justice. And did she
married man, damage the presidency for the sake of casual sex, lie frequently
and insouciantly, and blab her "secret" affair to anyone who'd listen. But she
was also sexually exploited by her older, sleazy boss; had her reputation
above zero rates a sympathy card. (This is not, of course, an exact science.
Guys in the White House. Yet Lewis didn't quit in disgust. Is her outrage a
plus or a minus if she doesn't act on it? You decide.)
been persecuted by enemies who won't be satisfied until he is destroyed.
rating-- He never asked for our sympathy, and he doesn't deserve it:
under Minuses): risked humiliation to expose something she believed was
denial for months without bothering to check if it was true.
contrite and wrote excellent, sufficiently apologetic speech.
immunity when she needed to, even though her testimony would do enormous harm
affair to lots of people. (So, while she was dragged into the scandal against
her will, it was her own loquaciousness that made the dragging possible.)
president's denial for months without bothering to check if it was true.
administration (though not, apparently, on principle).
partisan, and unforgiving in his impeachment quest.
Consistent throughout the scandal: He has been pushing impeachment since before
constitutional standoffs for the sake of his investigation, seems indifferent
despise scandal, follow it breathlessly, then blame the media for obsessing
proportionality. Coverage is wretchedly excessive even when it shouldn't
How many stories have you seen about the media and the scandal?
very important story and investigated the hell out of it.
good sense to leave the White House before corrupting himself.
have disgraced her own good name by echoing his denials on the Today
not take advantage of scandal to burnish his own image.
(told her story partly in order to land a book contract).
are expected to do political dirty work, the Cabinet members are public
servants who should be kept away from such sleaze.)
administration focused on policy, thus preventing total executive
(Mostly) kept his mouth shut and prevented the House Judiciary Committee from
hard because it considers itself the Praetorian Guard.
agents have no choice about being near the president).
paraded before the world in a way they should not be.
The final paragraph of his statement bears quoting in full:
by trampling on the memory of his grandmother. This is untrue, unfair, and
is involved. Whether it means caring for his sick and dying grandmother who
raised him, guaranteeing payment to her nurses, or taking action to make sure
the White House). It is that, as evidenced by this and other paranoiac
This became abundantly evident when I went to interview him
and barely repressed rage, he alleged that administration secret police keep
because of what he knew about various administration scandals. Alleging the
existence of forensic evidence of murder, he explained, "Everybody in that lab
against the administration. Another concerns the investigation into the death
is not treated like a fringe figure. He has, by and large, achieved the
foundation money and gets on television. He's a nutter with a law degree who
takes advantage of the courts to harass his political opponents. How does he
reasons. On television, there are more and more shows that take off from the
Crossfire format, expecting guests to represent strongly contrary
White House basement. If these guests scream and yell, so much the better.
perfect. With print publications, there's a different problem. Fine profiles of
"objective" reporter cannot render his own opinion that the subject has a screw
with letters A through G was not part of a grand plot to harass political
demands to "certify" for the court answers that he deems evasive. ("What does
asks administration officials about whom they date, where they go after work,
whether they were expelled from school for disciplinary problems. One
and publishes the transcripts on the Internet. This is in pursuit of a case
about the invasion of privacy, remember. But resistance is largely futile. Last
hard enough for documents covered by a Judicial Watch subpoena. As punishment,
judges, he tried to appeal to the Supreme Court. He has not given up yet. It is
organization supports requiring judges to undergo psychological testing and
holding them personally liable for "reckless" rulings. It also advocates
supported by a document discovered in one of his lawsuits. But the document,
ideology, permissiveness, or fear of reprisal it is impossible to say. Last
investigators working with her?" Maybe he'll ask his mom in her next
hit!" The cameraman looked at her briefly, sneered, and then returned to his
when you smash somebody in the head with a large piece of metal, you are
all this, of course. Surrounded by cameras, sound men, still photographers, and
reporters, he could barely see the audience, let alone take notice of the
bigger, and so the press horde must muscle its way through tight spaces. The
pencil press can sometimes hang around the edges, writing sardonic little
threaten democracy by their shallow and relentless cynicism. And the major
block off. The boys on the bus have become the beasts on the bus.
The number of crews chasing the candidates around grows
imposed on the press in a futile attempt to cut down on this sort of
and you begin to get the idea. Just a few presidential cycles ago, you would
routine. And it's not just because time on the "bird" (the communications
satellite) has gotten cheap. Such coverage is good marketing: "Your Live at
Your station has helped fulfill its "public service" commitment.
show and news service and whatever is all organized for what I call Big Event
original stories or investing time in doing investigative stories. They get a
truck and picture up and they look like a national news organization."
press did not move away. It couldn't: There was no "away." Cameramen, sound
men, still photographers, and reporters clogged all available space, jostling
people as they sat and ate. "I paid good money!" a man yelled at a camera crew
planted directly between him and the candidate. The sound man turned around and
engaged in a staple of primary campaigning: a "meet and greet" (sometimes
called a "grip and grin") with diners. It is not easy under the best of
As soon as he exited his bus, he was surrounded by camera crews and boom mikes
restaurant and walked over to the candy counter where he purchased some
in his mouth, chewed, and turned toward the cameras. Which is when they surged
forward to catch whatever gems might usher forth from his lips and when a
up!" he screamed at her. What the prop didn't understand was that she was
press crush, knowing it would part for him. But the aisles couldn't accommodate
wailed as one camera crew dragged its cable over a tray of cheeseburger.
people blame producers who, when the competition comes up with a picture or
soundbite you missed, don't want to hear excuses about how you didn't want to
searched out the quaintest general store they could find to demonstrate how
general stores have quaint narrow aisles, and the few people inside were
in the head by a cameraman. As I struggled to stay on my feet, I looked at the
know you're behaving this way?" I asked my assailant.
Neither the Federal Communications Commission nor the
Federal Elections Commission keeps track of injuries to civilians by the press.
All evidence is anecdotal. But any number of "anecdotes" showed up in the press
onrushing camera crew by yelling, "Stop it! You're squashing the kid!" The
a fight in which "one cameraman was left lying in the snow."
turning on each other, maybe there's some hope the rest of us will be
merging of the two races" seemed not just bold but desperate. Politics had
failed us, he was conceding; now we could find hope only in the unlikely
prophecy. We are indeed intermarrying today, in unprecedented numbers. Between
such abandon that the Census Bureau is now considering whether to add a new
longed. But recent publicity about the intermarriage figures has stirred hope
once again that our racial problems might be dissolving in the gene pool.
Census Bureau's "multiracial" proposal has provoked strong reactions from
new category, thus diluting black political power. But the debate, properly
framed, is not just about "light flight" from the black community. The debate
is about our very conception of race. For a "multiracial" box would be an
Race, you see, is a fiction. As a matter of biology, it has
no basis. Genetic variations within any race far exceed the variations between
the races, and the genetic similarities among the races swamp both. The power
cultural trappings. It is as an ideology that race matters, indeed
possible to break that awful circle in which myth and morphology perpetually
leaders of the fledgling multiracial movement say that their category, and more
broadly, their lives, represent the way out. By marrying across the color line,
obliterate our antiquated notions of racial difference. As a newlywed who has
recently joined their ranks, I hope they're right. When the time comes, I won't
though, there are plenty of reasons to wonder whether intermarriage can ever,
as one partisan put it, "blow the lid off of race."
Foremost is this reality: Racialism is highly adaptive.
That is, no matter how quickly demographic change proceeds, we seem to find a
that caveat the same way smokers read the surgeon general's warning. The story
race. The square peg, by our thinking, had been rounded off.
and they are not bound together by language. Still, in a nation accustomed to
thinking of "official races," they'll feel pressure to form an interest group:
find themselves the intermediate race, a new middleman minority, less
stigmatized than "pure" blacks (however defined) but less acceptable than
wouldn't subvert racialism; it would reinforce it, by fleshing out the
child with white blood would be the social better of a mixed child without such
instance, with their mestizo consciousness and their many gradations of
most "desirable" elements and leave the rest on the fringe. It's quite
white will simply expand to engulf the "lighter" or more "culturally white" of
We could thus end up with three reconfigured races. In the
demonstrate that our problem is not just "race" in the abstract. Our problem is
race relations." But even as a "multiracial" category blurs the color line, it
can reaffirm the primacy of whiteness. Whether our focus is interracial
as a norm, no amount of census reshuffling will truly matter.
question of politics. Perhaps we should abolish all racial classifications.
educate the public about the realities of race. Whatever it takes, though, we
need to do more than marry one another if we are ever to rid our minds of
ago, "is slow and bitter." Indeed. But it is the only lasting way. Our ideology
of "blood," like blood itself, is too fluid, too changeable, and too easily
intended to represent a designer outfit, clutches a frilly cocktail and gabs
at her companion over a cup of coffee. "That's nice," she says. The caption is:
for her dignity and discretion, would have enjoyed the dithering visits of a
shopaholic who thought she was having a high school romance with the President,
We may be at the stage in the scandal where any assertion
immediately assuming the opposite. And often for good reason. In this case,
socialized together in New York City. It is not surprising or intrinsically
House interns with whom she has no personal connection, would have been helpful
none of the principals is talking, it's hard to discover much about how close a
up at the Metropolitan Baptist Church that day to ogle the president, a source
with White House Deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta. Like most everyone in
have existed says less about the president's lack of credibility than about the
assumptions of certain white people. An older black secretary and a rich white
airhead, many reporters and pundits have glibly conjectured, couldn't have
enough in common to be close. This testifies to a failure of imagination. It
also embodies a mentality that is not quite racist but smacks of
The attitude is not limited to journalists and cartoonists.
anonymous White House official. "She dresses nicely and she speaks well, and
nicely in her closet." This was someone who worked with her, sounding as if
president's executive assistant wouldn't be neat or use proper grammar?
This compliment threatens to become for black women what "articulate" is for
"dignified" or "deeply religious" (unless he is some kind of religious
that a lot of innocent bystanders have been subjected to swarming reporters and
has been lost in all the saintly religious stuff. She is very good to her
Service detail in the dead of night, hides under a blanket in the back of a
his Secret Service agents the slip (they shadow him when he walks around the
White House), couldn't arrange a private visit without tipping off hotel staff,
president. But can he? Is it possible for the president of the United States to
commit adultery and get away with it? Maybe, but it's tougher than you
Historically, presidential adultery is common. Warren
was none the wiser, even if White House reporters were.
him), White House drivers, White House gate guards, White House Secret Service
to write about them. White House journalists knew about, or at least strongly
about this more than most presidents. Not only are newspapers and magazines
willing to publish an adultery story about him, but many are pursuing
would find it difficult to hire a mistress. A lovely young secretary would set
off alarm bells in any reporter investigating presidential misbehavior. Says a
from recent administrations are adamant: The Secret Service never lets
So what's a randy president to do? Any modern presidential
affair would need to meet stringent demands. Only a tiny number of trusted
aides and Secret Service agents could know of it. They would need to maintain
complete silence about it. And no reporters could catch wind of it. Such an
It's late at night. The president's personal aides have gone home. The family
is away. He is alone in the private quarters. The private quarters, a k a "the
residence," occupy the second and third floors of the White House. Secret
Service agents guard the residence's entrances on the first floor and ground
floors, but the first family has privacy in the quarters themselves. Maids and
butlers serve the family there, but the president and first lady ask them to
"friend" on his private line. (Most presidents placed all their calls
the friend over for a cozy evening at the White House. After he hangs up with
the friend, he phones the guard at the East Executive Avenue gate and tells him
to admit a visitor. He also notifies the Secret Service agent and the usher on
duty downstairs that they should send her up to the residence.
drops the woman near the East gate. She identifies herself to the guard, who
examines her ID, runs her name through a computer (to check for outstanding
warrants), and logs her in a database. A White House usher escorts her into the
East Wing of the White House. They walk through the East Wing and pass the
Secret Service guard post by the White House movie theater. The agent on duty
waves them on. The usher takes her to the private elevator, where another
Secret Service agent is posted. She takes the elevator to the second floor. The
president opens the door and welcomes her. Under no circumstances could
she enter the living quarters without first encountering Secret Service
the splashier rumors about White House fornication. First, the residence is the
uninterrupted) sex. He can be intruded upon or observed everywhere
exhibitionist or a lunatic, liaisons in the Oval Office, bowling alley, or East
it would attract far more attention from White House staff than a
Meanwhile, back in the private quarters, the president and friend get
she stays, she may pass a different shift of Secret Service agents as she
Service agents see her. All of them have a very good idea of why she was there.
The White House maid who changes the sheets sees other suspicious evidence. And
endangers the president too much. The computer record of her visit is private,
at least for several decades after he leaves office. No personal aides know
about the visit. Unless they were staking out the East gate, no journalists do
either. The Secret Service agents, the guard, the steward, and the maid owe
their jobs to their discretion. Leaks get them fired.
not to trust his Secret Service detail. No one seriously compares Secret
Visit. Late at night, after his personal aides and the press have gone
home, the president tells his Secret Service detail that he needs to take an
and without informing the press. He requests two agents and an unobtrusive
sedan. The Secret Service shift leader grumbles, but accepts the conditions.
Theoretically, the president could refuse all Secret Service protection, but it
would be far more trouble than it's worth. He would have to inform the head of
the Secret Service and the secretary of the Treasury. The president and the two
agents drive the unmarked car to a woman friend's house. Ideally, she has a
covered garage. (An apartment building or a hotel would raise considerably the
risk of getting caught.) The agents guard the outside of the house while the
president and his friend do their thing. Then the agents chauffeur the
Service agents and their immediate supervisor know about the visit. It is
recorded in the Secret Service log, which is not made public during the
administration's tenure. Gate guards may suspect something fishy when they see
might spot him, or they might notice the agents lurking outside her house. A
neighbor might call the police to report the suspicious visitors. All in all, a
Assignation. A bucolic, safer version of the White House Sneak. The
the cabin next to the president's lodge. Late at night, after the Hearts game
has ended and everyone has retired to their cabins, she strolls next door.
There is a Secret Service command post outside the cabin. The agents on duty
(probably three of them) let her enter. A few hours later, she slips back to
the liaison. Even though the guest list is not public, all the Navy and Marine
presidential entourage included an attractive woman, but not the first lady.
That would raise eyebrows if it got back to the White House press room.
The cleverest strategy, and the only one that cuts out the Secret Service. The
president is traveling without his family. The Secret Service secures an entire
hotel floor, reserving elevators and guarding the entrance to the president's
suite. The president's personal aide (a man in his late 20s) takes the room
adjoining the president's. An internal door connects the two rooms, so the aide
can enter the president's room without alerting the agents in the hall. This is
escorts a comely young woman back to the hotel. The Secret Service checks her,
then waves her into the aide's room. She emerges three hours later, slightly
disheveled. She kisses the aide in the hall as she leaves. Someone got
through the charade. More awkwardly, the aide would be forced to play the seamy
inconvenient, extremely risky, and potentially disastrous. It seems, in fact, a
lot more trouble than it's worth. A president these days might be wiser to
the Last Man and Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of
and World Powers: The Coevolution of Global Economics and Politics and
nearing the end of a millennium, there seems to be a renewal of interest in
theories of history. We seek regularities in the long movements of history,
trying to find our place in a bigger picture than the evening news and hoping
ages with distinguishing features that have come to an end or will come to an
end and will not recur. The distinguishing features may be dominance by one
nation, the prevalence of a particular social system, or the pervasiveness of a
certain technology. The Roman Empire came to an end, feudalism came to an end,
and some say that the Industrial Age is coming to an end. These periods will
not come back. There may or may not be common features that bring ages to an
Fisher. He finds in history long waves of inflation, each followed by a crisis
followed by a period of equilibrium followed by another wave of inflation, and
theories, suggest that the phases of history are of roughly similar duration.
That permits prediction of the remaining duration of the present phase and the
coming of the next phase. A simple historical cycle consists of alternating
validity and implications of these and other theories of history will consist
president has begun to receive on the weekend talk shows (see
's "Pundit Central") and in the opinion columns. Commentators
are commending the administration's strategic acumen in proposing to expand
and prosperity, and simply for staying afloat for five years.
beneath these acknowledgments there runs an undercurrent of distaste, disdain,
remembered as a middling president, at best. He is a man with a "compulsion to
cut ethical corners" and "total contempt for ethical niceties." Such hostility
detestation does have a clinical element, it is easy to understand.
are plenty of reasons to dislike anyone, maybe more than the average number in
Kelly has called the president "a shocking liar." Apple has compared the
Interestingly, if these critics are much bothered by conventional immoral
behavior, such as the extramarital affairs, they don't make a public point of
matters seldom exhibit much perspective. What president or successful
politician has never acted expediently by dissembling, dropping old friends,
and compromising his ethics at various points? The real question is whether the
that should attach to his office. Even his jogging shorts, they think, are
The next level is less literal, more psychological, and
this sense of betrayal, which is shared in varying degrees by many others who
the sense of never paying the bill for his sexual misdeeds. Related to this is
members of the president's peer group seem to think that they could do better
generational factor is significant. Everybody distrusts the baby boomers. The
them as greedy and narcissistic. Often, those who came of age during the 1960s
seem to resent themselves. Just as he gets it from all sides as a member of the
of a snooty meritocratic elite (viz., Renaissance Weekend) with no feel for the
political world. These days, it is a vestige, whose only real wellspring of
importance is a president who elevates it with his blandishments and listens to
wise men of the permanent government, they can dismiss him. When a Democrat
glowing comments from the attendees. They launched a round of intimate White
who have attained a certain social or political position do not want to be
'dissed.' They want the new team to respect them. Because these tribal rituals
free fall in the polls. You reap what you sow, was the attitude." As he begins
So: dusk on the frozen lake of a city park, skating behind the
puffy red earmuffs and the fluttering yellow ringlets of a strange
Forgive the luxuriating, but these are probably the most poignant hours of my
This scene often involuntarily flitted across my mind
during the past winter, when I spent a lot of time watching people glide across
was playing in a hockey league. Having grown up in the Deep South, I was
entirely innocent of ice matters when I first got into this. At my inaugural
that included not only the golden shiksas but their brothers ("engaging,
("men with white hair and deep voices"), their mothers who never whined or
the gliding shiksas and their halfback brothers, because they were more
many hours standing next to hockey rinks last winter, I sometimes engaged in
jerseys. It was amazing how many there were. Occasionally, an entire front line
he one? Marks?) The chosen people were tough competitors, too.
suburban biological deviation, or else intermarriage, has even given many of
practices for a shot at the National Hockey League? Of course not. They're
other qualities that may be desirable in a doctor but don't, as a practical
hundreds of hours hustling to, on, and from the ice rink, is studying. It's not
that they don't study at all, because they do. It's that they don't study with
parents who realize) that outstanding school performance is their one shot at
children devote their free time not to hockey but to extra study. In this
group, it's common for moms to march into school at the beginning of the year
and obtain several months' worth of assignments in advance so their children
can get a head start. These parents pressure school systems to be more rigorous
meanwhile, at our moment of maximum triumph at the back end of the meritocracy,
The one extracurricular venue where I run into a lot of
in the New York area that (because of its famous school system) has the most
lobby, children waiting for music lessons bend over their homework, mom perched
at their shoulder. Musical exercises drift through the air, along with snatches
hockey ethos is to be elaborately casual and gruff about competitive
achievement: Outstanding performance gets you a little slap on the helmet, a
stamps," she said. "If you're a good boy, I give you one stamp. If you're a
very good boy, I give you two stamps. And if you're a very, very good
pediatrician, had somehow gone to medical school without having gone to
fable) finishing high school. Every relative in my grandparents' generation
Then, for the most part, at least as the story was received by the young me,
society that's fair. Afterward, a vast, subtle conspiracy arranges to hold you
the academic hunger had begun to wane. By now, it is barely producing a pulse,
have not become notable as academic underachievers. But something is gone: That
old intense and generalized academic commitment, linked to sociological
ambition, is no longer a defining cultural characteristic of the group.
has replaced it is a cultural insider's sort of academic preoccupation: a
to move the levers of the system (levers whose location we're quite familiar
with) so as to ensure that our children will be as successful as we are. This
rather than know for sure, that study will generate dramatic upward mobility
private schools. In these, no matter how great the meritocratic pretenses, the
contest is always less completely open than it is in public institutions. Just
achievement is highest in areas like science and classical music, where there
is no advantage from familiarity with the culture. This also once was true of
keep an essay section out of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. It's impossible to
meritocracy, assumed that ethnicity would become a nonissue (should be
nonissue) under such a system. Instead, it's an overwhelming issue. Accounting
for ethnicity, you might amend Young this way (to the extent that "merit" and
society at the moment, will equal its members' merit. The cultural connection
seems so obvious that it amazes me how often ethnic differences in the
standard response has been to redefine merit. It's not academic performance (or
whatever the prevailing measure of the moment was) after all! It's something
else, which we happen to possess in greater measure than the upstart group.
used to be: a certain ease, refinement, and grace. This may be what has led
and success than SAT scores and music lessons can provide.
behind because they don't have quite the right cultural style for getting
existence is phase one, maniacal studying is phase two, sports is phase three.
big victory for the working poor and the Democratic Party. But buried in a tax
bandwagon. Endorsements included every group from the Christian Coalition (it
promotes family values) to feminist groups (women would be the prime
broad a constituency behind it, why would anyone oppose the provision? Because
raising other people's taxes or cutting their benefits. According to an
married people into higher tax brackets than their unmarried counterparts. That
penalty, however, is paid only when both spouses work. When only one spouse
works, married people are charged at a lower rate than the working spouse would
taxpayer. Social Security and Medicare are prime examples. Employees and
Medicare taxes.) Social Security benefits are based on individuals' earnings
they retire. However, nonworking spouses (who never paid Social Security taxes
because they didn't have an income to be taxed) are entitled to Social Security
benefits and Medicare based on the contribution of their spouses. Retired
workers collect Social Security benefits, and their nonsalaried spouses receive
half. (Working spouses must choose between their own earned benefit or half of
percent of the benefit earned by the deceased. The spouse also continues to
the Social Security benefit and twice the Medicare entitlement a single person
homemaker bonus package. Most public and private employers that offer
dependents of workers without a commensurate increase in employee
typically get coverage for more people than do single people and partners in
revenue, it doesn't count." Because the overwhelming majority of homemakers are
that homemakers are not paid for the work they do, the upside to the deal is
that they are not taxed on it, either. Tax purists would argue that the value
like the wages paid to outside service providers such as baby sitters and
camps promoting that idea. As long as unpaid spouses do not pay taxes, the
whole notion of offering them tax reprieves is questionable.
women farther down the income scale. "Work is work, whether it is done inside
save it, and not many couples with young children have the luxury of tucking
on welfare to get a paid job after two years as long as their children are over
age five. Her mixed priorities when it comes to women were also revealed by the
discourage those who work. But here's the rationale: "We are seeing, every time
we talk about crime in this country, that it does come back to poor family and
the values that some people learn at home," she says. "Anything we can do to
encourage the family unit and encourage spouses who are able to stay at home
with their children, if that is their desire, we should do it." In other words,
Street Journal editorial page accused Salon of shilling for
partisan. How so? One of Salon 's investors is Adobe Ventures. A partner
Democratic Party. In addition, the editorial notes that board members of Adobe
Systems, the software company that is the other partner in Adobe Ventures, have
editors of the Journal think this background discredits Salon 's
Content neglected to point out this bias in a story about Salon
still with me? This editorial is noteworthy not just as a gleaning from
partisanship, and conflict of interest. Everyone who has anything to say about
issue, has by now been accused not just of being wrong, not just of being
The notion that actors in this drama are motivated by
loyalty to the president or his party is merely implausible in most cases. The
notion that anyone is moved to the point of bias by emotional ties to the
says this bias doesn't come only from the press's hunger for a big story. "At
who helped the Times and the Post escape libel judgments in the
saturated with spin, you might call this sort of accusation "topspin." It is an
attempt to trump the other side's facts and arguments by smearing them as a
shill for the man behind the curtain. Under the rules of the game, if you can
connect the teller to an interested party, you don't have to credit the tale.
This mode of discourse has thoroughly poisoned the atmosphere in which the
scandal is discussed. Of course, to say that a charge is disagreeable doesn't
mean it's unjustified. A toxic atmosphere can result from the release of poison
gas. In this case, however, the casual accusations that various journalists are
cutouts for the principal combatants are largely baseless.
1930s, the days when fronting, fellow traveling, and agitprop were genuine
in recent memory. Perhaps the ingestion of too much corporate PR has made us
all suspicious. Or perhaps an omnipresent air of "investigation" breeds
paranoia. But for whatever reason, the view that members of the media have a
article about press coverage of the scandal, Brill injected topspin by accusing
Standard promptly hit back with a cover story that didn't just argue that
and a "White House mouthpiece." This is a vicious cycle. You accuse me of bad
daily would have. If you ask why Salon would publish a story accusing
of plausible reasons. The chief one would probably be that journalists at
Salon believed the story was true, important, and interesting. A bit
more cynically, you might mention that these same editors and writers hoped the
scoop would bring them attention. Another reason would be that the story suits
their articles inherently corrupt or dishonest. (The ideologically fevered
writers of the Wall Street Journal editorials ought to be able to grasp
reasons why Salon would print such a story before reaching the financial
interests or ideological biases of some of its investors. Most newspapers have
from the corporate side. Smaller magazines sometimes do and sometimes don't.
reflect the views of their owners. Others (such as 
But even in those cases where magazines speak openly for the owner's point of
view, it's not fair to assume that a third party with whom the owner
sympathizes calls the shots. What this kind of assumption misses is that
story and some other factor, the great story almost always carries the day. For
it would post them on the Web and take credit for the scoop, even if they
Journal ignores the fact that Adobe board members, like those of most
big corporations, give money to both parties. I think neglecting to mention
this shows that the Journal 's editorial page lacks intellectual
integrity. But I don't think that even the Journal 's editors, who come
as close to being propagandists as anyone in the mass media, should be accused
they seem fully capable of reducing a reasoned argument to a war of insults for
probably will overturn the notorious Communications Decency Act. But the issues
held, has limits: Some speech is so harmful and so lacking in redeeming value
that it may be restricted. Threats, blackmail, and false advertising are
obvious examples. There's no right to say, "Your money or your life" to a
stranger in a dark alley; there's no right to spread intentional falsehoods
has held, rightly or wrongly, that minors have no right to see very sexually
explicit material, and that people (except, perhaps, the minors' parents) have
no right to distribute such material to them. Psychologists and philosophers
can debate this, but as a constitutional matter, the question is settled.
it's often impossible to keep such materials from children without also denying
muralists, or people who post things on the Internet can't. The law can allow
public display of this material, protecting adults' access but also making it
available to children; or the law can prohibit public display, insulating
children but also restricting adults. Either way there's spillover. Either the
restriction spills over onto speech that should be free, or the freedom spills
over onto speech that, in the judgment of most legislators, voters, and judges,
This spillover problem is a recurring question in First
Amendment law. The law cannot restrict all harmful, valueless speech and at the
same time protect all valuable speech. A classic illustration of the spillover
problem is the Communications Decency Act, passed earlier this year in an
worth paying for extra freedom for adults. But it's important to confront
honestly both what's being lost and gained in the process.
comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communication"
patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards,"
Virtually any sort of speech in the public areas of
cyberspace is available to minors, so the law really applies to all such areas,
"patently offensive" can cover a lot of territory. Many profanities might be
considered "patently offensive" descriptions of "sexual or excretory activities
or organs," especially under the standards of some conservative communities.
"patently offensive" is vague enough that no one knows for sure, but the wise
user will take a conservative approach. Given some recent Supreme Court
decisions, it seems unlikely that the vagueness alone would make the act
unconstitutional. But there's no doubt that the law's vagueness does indeed
make it more likely to stifle someone's freedom of expression.
clearly has a spillover effect on adults. Adults generally have the right to
see material that's "patently offensive." There are two exceptions to this:
child pornography (sexually explicit pictures made using child models) and
May the government, in its quest to shield children, restrict the online
choices of grownups? Or to look at it the other way: Must the courts, in order
to protect the freedom of grownups, restrict the government's ability to shield
unsuitable for minors. The court concluded that such a ban was
to roast the pig." The court agreed that the state could bar distribution of
such stuff directly to children. But clearly, such limited restrictions don't
work as well as a total ban. The court apparently was willing to tolerate some
perceived harm to children in order to protect the freedom of adults.
But in some recent cases, the court has taken a different
television broadcasts "when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in
the audience." The spillover was clear: Adults were deprived of access to
certain materials on certain media (radio and television) during most hours.
But the justices were willing to allow such a restriction of adults' access to
lower courts have upheld bans on public display of sexually explicit material
that's not technically "obscene" on the grounds that the law may shield
adults. The Supreme Court hasn't spoken on these specific statutes.
Another important, though somewhat ambiguous, precedent is
children. But the court pointed out that there might be "less restrictive
alternatives" that would insulate children without entirely banning the medium.
For example, the court said, the government could require services to take
willing to tolerate some spillover; after all, even the alternatives it
suggested would deny access to some adults. And it also hinted that it might
even allow a total ban if such alternatives could be shown to be inadequate.
restriction on indecent speech because there were other effective alternatives
available; but it suggested that such a restriction might be constitutional if
it were, in fact, the only effective way to shield children.
tolerate unnecessary spillover onto adults. But on the tough
On the Internet, is it possible to shield children without
"dirty" locations, a list selected and frequently updated by the software
this be the "less restrictive alternative" that the government could use
designers' ability to keep up with the latest "dirty" places. Dozens of Web
sites are being added daily, and you never know what will get posted tomorrow
even on existing sites or newsgroups. Some things will inevitably be
fix probably will shield children better than the technological fix alone. Does
this extra protection justify the considerable spillover? The precedents don't
a hybrid technological and legal approach that might be more effective, and
thus more likely to be the sort of "less restrictive alternative" that would
make the total ban invalid. The law might demand that online material be
in a way that computers can easily recognize. Parents could then set up their
software could assume that any page is dirty unless it's labeled "clean," with
the law making it illegal to falsely mark "clean" a page that's actually
accidentally violated, too. In fact, a rating requirement might be more
effective than a total ban. People may be more willing to comply with the
rating law, since it would let them continue selling their wares or expressing
their views. Still, ratings won't shield children using computers that don't
have the rating software turned on. And no one knows how often this will
hands of the Supreme Court. Some say the justices should simply rule that
sexually explicit material isn't as dangerous for children as it's cracked up
to be, and therefore, free speech should prevail. But many people, probably
including the justices, are willing to accept that sexually explicit material
alternatives will shield children every bit as well as a total ban would, and
justices will have to make a hard choice: sacrifice some shielding of children
in order to protect the freedom of grownups, or sacrifice some access by
grownups in order to shield children. My guess is that the marginal benefit of
transformed the sexual mores of the day. The alliance began progressively
enough, as a campaign against a law authorizing the police to round up
submit to pelvic exams. The law was repealed. Thrilled at their newfound clout,
found it in white slavery, or "traffic in women." The cry went out. Newspapers
took it up, running story after story about virgins sold to drooling
Things spun quickly out of the feminists' control. Whipped
into a frenzy, citizens formed the National Vigilance Association, but rather
than protecting impoverished virgins the vigilantes conducted a crusade against
prostitutes, homosexuals, music halls, theaters, paintings of nudes, and French
novels (which they burned). At first, feminists joined in the fun. But when the
years, discredited and humiliated, until the next wave of feminist activism
scandal has at least some of its roots in feminist thought, and the embarrassed
every sordid detail of his sex life? Because of sexual harassment laws that say
a man's entire sexual past may be considered relevant in a lawsuit, even though
a woman's may not. This arrangement was one of the triumphs of feminism over
the women's movement will be forced to retreat from the field, confused and in
disarray, if it doesn't come to terms with its mistakes. The biggest one (as
many have pointed out) was blindly following the lead of that most illiberal of
and utterances (and even, in some cases, wanted ones) degrade women so
the intellectual groundwork for today's sexual harassment laws. Before today,
the public" about sexual harassment, to say nothing of wanting to get rid of an
frightening precedent being set. A man's political career was nearly ended and
his private life pawed through while an entire nation watched, even though the
charges against him were never subjected to the rigorous standards of evidence
laws against "hostile work environments" and other forms of censoriousness,
for sexual freedom, no matter how troublesome the consequences. (There were
The healthy diversity of feminist life was killed off by
pass, the women's movement deliberately switched from the political arena to
as it has been for civil rights: A movement always suffers when it fails to
what the women's movement decided to seek in the courts was equal protection
people in the workplace; the right to make their own sexual decisions
plus special protection against older, savvier guys who take advantage.
usually ends up imposing burdens on your rights, or even on other rights of my
own. The fury that followed some of the more questionable expansions of women's
rights has made it difficult to talk about anything else.
colleague that said, "What do we lose when we win?" It was the sort of dour
for the clear separation of the public from the private sphere, a distinction
dismissed as patriarchal a long time ago by feminists who thought it denigrated
domestic life. But failing to see the importance of this distinction has got
totalitarianism from earlier and lesser forms of oppression. Even in the days
of absolute monarchs, a person's home was his (or, to a lesser degree, her)
castle. But totalitarian governments want to control your private life down to
your psyche and to mold you into a New Man or New Woman on whatever model
realm is the exact opposite of the private realm: It's where you're not
feminists (it didn't, but only because they had stopped listening). She
declared that, for the public realm to function effectively, participants must
willingness to sacrifice one's personal desires to the common good; a sense of
squabbling among interests. This is a spirit feminism lacks, which is why it
has allowed women's interests as a class to trump the common interest in
that the personal is political. We're all better off because feminists turned
hitherto private topics into subjects of public debate. Who'd want to go back
to the days when you couldn't even talk about condoms? The problem is that
we've reversed the phrase: We've made the political personal. It's one thing to
put sensitive subjects out there for discussion. It's another thing to welcome
it turns out, it may not be such a good idea to welcome them into our
workplaces and schools either, at least not as warmly as we have. So should we
It will take years to find the best place to draw the line, and we'll never get
it perfectly right. The important thing is to realize that it's way past time
percent. This laughably inaccurate prognostication reflected the hysteria of
the moment and has illustrated for me the foolishness of making predictions,
especially ones that can be proved wrong and used to shame you in social
settings. I also learned something else: why the press is so eager for
the patient survives for many years, it's humiliating for the doctor.
beat, there is no story as exciting as that of the fall of a president. You
can't get around the fact that bad news for him is good news for us. An even
more powerful reason flows from the groupthink that afflicts the White House
determined this could not and should not happen again. The feeling that the
Slick One must not be allowed to elude capture once more is palpable in the
awkward position. Journalists are most comfortable following public opinion,
not leading it. Now they must explain to themselves and to their audiences how
it is that the public has not come to share their low opinion of the president.
One obvious explanation is the strength of the economy. Another is that moral
strictures have loosened, at least when it comes to political leaders. But
faced with the reality that the president has actually become more popular
since the scandal broke, journalists have ventured a third explanation of late:
theory is now treated as acknowledged fact. "Given the White House's
to the president's "obsessive and adroit image machine." That the White House
brainwashing the nation but by legitimately winning the public's support? In
fact, there's no real way to judge the effectiveness of media relations except
spin. But "spin control" remains a useful explanation for reporters who can't
understand how the public can like this guy. In fact, it's not the first time
they've trotted it out. The current round of barbed paeans to the White House
to explain why the public supported a president they believed was ineffective
ironic in light of what they said about the White House spin machine a few
years ago. Back then, the common wisdom was that the administration was
breathtakingly inept at communications. Officials assigned to deal with the
press were arrogant and hostile. The result was an administration that was
regularly embarrassed by PR "fiascoes." Officials naively thought they could
wrote, "By initially trying to circumvent the White House press corps, the
president and his aides clearly underestimated the degree to which negative
Administration officials sort of liked this line, because
it exonerated them at a substantive level. They had failed only at
especially smooth and capable spokesman. But the reason he is so well liked is
that he is generally straightforward and truthful; he does not go in for heavy
skillful than others past. Few reporters think Ann Lewis is a more competent
"Spin" means the administration using the media to mislead the public. So they
with it. What does that say about the journalists themselves?
depicting reality, profess to despise spin. In fact, they like getting spun. It
journalists would lose their role as interpreters. But to say that the White
House spin is working amounts to saying that you, the journalist, are failing
in front of a national television audience, responded with enthusiasm. "Let's
see if we can bring this damn thing back here next year," he said, "along with
theater to present a play in which sex took place on stage. "Certainly," he
replied. "I think there are very few rational people in this world to whom the
word '[expletive]' is particularly diabolical or revolting or totally
in the House of Commons calling for his prosecution on charges of obscenity,
for his removal as a theater official, and for censure of the network for
but he acquired a public reputation for tastelessness that he carried for the
exactly what I was saying," he insisted later. "Those of you who can't believe
interesting. It is everywhere, impossible to avoid or tune out.
I am sitting in a meeting at the office, talking with a colleague about a
business circumstance that may possibly go against us. "In that case, we're
years ago, he would have said, "We're in big trouble." Societal tolerance of
profanity requires us to increase our dosage as time goes on.
direction. By the time they have reached the end of the line of children, they
have tossed off a whole catalog of obscenities I did not even hear until I was
well into adolescence, let alone use in casual conversation on a public street.
I am talking to a distinguished professor of public policy about a
is limp and ineffectual. If you are surprised at all, you say what she says:
than with profanity), and the slang expression for those who engage in oral sex
exceptions, the supply of genuinely offensive language has dwindled almost to
inflated to the brink of worthlessness. When almost anything can be said in
public, profanity ceases to exist in any meaningful way at all.
most of the forbidden words of the 1950s are no longer forbidden will come as
news to nobody: The steady debasement of the common language is only one of
many social strictures that have loosened from the previous generation to the
current. What is important is that profanity served a variety of
purposes for a long time in Western culture. It does not serve those purposes
What purposes? There are a couple of plausible answers. One
replacement for childhood tears. There comes a point in life, he wrote, when
"wailing is rightly discouraged, and groans are also considered a signal of
extreme weakness. Silence under suffering is usually impossible." So one
reaches back for a word one does not normally use, and utters it without undue
modern take on the subject, saw profanity as a safety valve rather than a
stimulant, a verbal substitute for physical aggression. When someone swears,
not less. But this is too simple. It isn't just the supply of dirty words that
matters, it's their emotive power. If they have lost that power through
overuse, it's perfectly plausible to say that their capacity to deter
years ago. It was the verbal link to a secret act none of us understood but
that was known to carry enormous consequences in the adult world. It was the
embodiment of both pleasure and danger. It was not a word or an idea to mess
culture, the word "[expletive]" was not only obscene, it was profane, in the
original sense: It took an important idea in vain. Profanity can be an act of
everyday objects whose properties they respected but did not fully understand.
that was for good reason. He believed that cabbage cured hangovers, and as
such, carried sufficient power and mystery to invest any moment with the
These days, none of us believes in cabbage in the way
it impossible to take His name in vain: That requires an Old Testament piety
generation ago: as an act of profound mystery and importance that one did not
engage in, or discuss, or even invoke, without a certain amount of excitement
and risk. We have trivialized and routinized sex to the point where it just
doesn't carry the emotional freight it carried in the schoolyards and bedrooms
enlightened people consider this to be a great improvement over a society in
which sex generated not only emotion and power, but fear. For the moment, I
wish to insist only on this one point: When sexuality loses its power to awe,
it loses its power to create genuine swearing. When we convert it into a casual
form of recreation, we shouldn't be surprised to hear linebackers using the
To profane something, in other words, one must believe in
anything else, the crumbling of belief. There are very few ideas left at this
point that are awesome or frightening enough for us to enforce a taboo against
of most educated people to the disappearance of any taboo is to applaud it, but
this is wrong. Healthy societies need a decent supply of verbal taboos and
prohibitions, if only as yardsticks by which ordinary people can measure and
define themselves. By violating these taboos over and over, some succeed in
defining themselves as rebels. Others violate them on special occasions to
derive an emotional release. Forbidden language is one of the ways we remind
children that there are rules to everyday life, and consequences for breaking
them. When we forget this principle, or cease to accept it, it is not just our
decreed that trains and buses, in addition to running on time, had to carry
would I wish it. I merely predict that sometime in the coming generation,
profanity will return in a meaningful way. It served too many purposes for too
sure that when my children have children, there will once again be words so
awesome that they cannot be uttered without important consequences. This will
not only represent a new stage of linguistic evolution, it will be a token of
moral revival. What the dirty words will be, God only knows.
democracies are inherently more committed to peace than other forms of
allowing the most virulent nationalists to gain support, and led to predictions
that this democratic procedure could finish the country.
going on? Why is this most cherished belief not being borne out by events?
Could it even be that under certain circumstances, democracies might be
more warlike than other states? If so, what does that portend for us and
The idea that democracies are the most peaceful political
systems is attractive and plausible, but there is little evidence to support
the notion: Fewer than a dozen countries have been continuously democratic over
and the United States, share a common border. Many of these democracies have
countries emerging from the former Soviet Union, aggressive nationalism has
been a winning formula for leaders who can deliver little else to their
It's tempting to view these examples as transitional. Both
ethnicity, so it's only natural that succeeding systems continue the tradition.
One could argue that the cure for despotism is democracy itself. But that begs
the question of why democracies, and often more established ones, have been
"peaceful democracy" endures, in part, because it celebrates us, because we
think that the spread of democracy will usher in a period of peace that will
allow us to concentrate on our own needs and ignore those of others. Our
conviction reflects a widespread belief that the people are basically good and
pacific, while governments are fundamentally suspect and aggressive.
conditions, democracies might be even more given to warlike behavior than other
forms of government. Totalitarianism kept ethnic hatreds in check in many
Communist totalitarians have been replaced by nominal democrats, murderous
While it's probably true that democracies are unlikely to
go to war unless they're attacked, sometimes they are the first to take the
offensive. And once involved in a conflict, democracies may actually be less
willing than authoritarian regimes to end it short of "total victory." These
views may make conflicts longer and more bloody than they would otherwise
consulting the voters. Indeed, democracies that take too many risks for peace
does democratization change the underlying reality of international relations:
very much, and thus their geopolitical concerns and the conflicts arising from
them do not change very much. The last decade has seen the triumphant return of
geography in international relations and the enshrinement on the world scene of
will seek different means of advancing its interests differently than it has in
the past, but democracy by itself won't repeal these pressures. In fact, the
disintegration of the Soviet empire has recreated the geographic relationship
observations don't mean that we should withdraw our support for democracy in
the former Soviet bloc. Democracy has done a great deal for all those who have
experienced it, but democracy alone is not enough. Transforming those nations
into peaceful members of the international system will require more than just a
the people can be dangerous unless constrained by representative institutions
and constitutionalism. Only if these additional arrangements exist can these
We seem to have lost sight of the fact that democracy is as
year later. This has made many people in the region, who are still learning
about democracy, cynical about what the system means. And it has undercut our
we must work even harder to integrate these countries into the West and into
the values that have brought peace, prosperity, and freedom to so many people
will grow discouraged, especially in the short term, as more open politics in
the former Soviet bloc lead not to peace, but to more conflicts. But we
shouldn't blame democracy; we should only understand what it can and can't
been trying simultaneously to report stories derived from anonymous leaks,
an opinion about the propriety of the leaks. If the definition of media
unfairness is the press behaving as prosecutor, judge, and jury, then the
definition of media absurdity is the way the press is now acting as prosecutor,
If, as various White House spokesmen and the president's
office of the independent counsel, it is a serious offense. Disclosing
if she isn't worried about setting in motion an infinite regression, could name
an independent counsel to investigate the independent counsel.
testimony from her lawyer. A preponderance of evidence, however, points in the
version of events. If not rhetorical, the same question would have no such
refresh his recollection. In fact, this has been the defense offered by the
damaging revelation out in order to spare itself pain later, it would have had
Times was a willful party to a gross deception. It's almost impossible
to believe the New York Times would mislead its readers by allowing a
source to plant a story and deny planting it in the same news article.
Everyone spent the weekend debating who was right. This left the Times
and, to a lesser extent, other news organizations in the screwy position in
which they remain. The paper had to report on the debate about where its leak
had come from. But its goal was not the usual one of news reporting, which is
who its own sources are. But in this case, it has granted its own version of
immunity to an act of potential lawbreaking for the sake of gathering
the Federal court that supervises him and the Attorney General, who has the
correct or not. But it doesn't want to say, so it hides behind the legalistic
morass? It's tempting to say that reporters shouldn't accept leaks unless the
bias of the source can be indicated. But that's probably not realistic. The
price of getting the story is often a promise of full anonymity. So long as
there's competitive pressure in the press, sources will use the outlet that
cover leaking more aggressively. The Times can't very well send
reporters snooping around after colleagues in the same newsroom. But there's no
pursuing the story of how and why and to whom the independent counsel's office
leaving it there, the Post should dig a little deeper. A reporter has an
elsewhere? Because I haven't been able to establish who they are. Anyone who
with a long career ahead of him. Though he had been displaced from his position
in the House Republican leadership as punishment for his role in the failed
leader. But instead of announcing his candidacy for a job that would put him in
entire adult life in two jobs: New York state assemblyman and member of
Congress. Here he was giving up his life's work, with no idea of what he would
do instead, because of an epiphany that seemed totally out of character. His
transformation from someone desperate to spend more time with his colleagues
and less with his family to someone desperate to spend none with his colleagues
and all with his family happened within days. And even if you take his
ever again, even after his daughter was in college?
The predictable result has been a plague of rumors, all
nasty and none very plausible. The only remotely convincing interpretation is
conservative, not especially moderate, and with no great or special political
talent. He will be forgotten in months, if not minutes. What is significant
about the episode, and about the haze of innuendo surrounding it, is the way it
epitomizes what the Republican House has become. In the past year, the House
side of the Capitol has become not only an extraordinarily vicious environment
and whatever invisible machinations lie behind it show that the devil makes
work for idle hands. They also show the total intellectual and political
real news coming out of the Republican caucus has been gossip about internecine
retribution. The last month has been consumed with especially intense jockeying
the majority leader's job (in an election that is nearly a year off)? What
revenge drama. This is hardly surprising. Where there is no strong leader, no
unifying sense of purpose, and no rule of law, political chaos tends to ensue,
there is now factionalism and demoralization. How did the Republican revolution
House rules. He placed a term limit of eight years on himself as speaker and a
limit of six years on committee chairs. In choosing chairs, he suspended
culture of the House. Advancement no longer had to be slow and steady.
second explanation has to do with the political trajectory of the last few
a draft. This means that all the issues that conservatives care most
on indefinite hold. The demagogic gimmicks get ever more desperate and empty.
that it would force sweeping reform (details to follow).
conservative principles in Congress only heightens the mystery of why Bill
which he might well have flourished, and where he ought to have felt very much
reactionary on the subjects he knows about." The second is "every organization
appears to be headed by secret agents of its opponents."
organization of the religious right run by the radio evangelist and family
most powerful leader of Christian conservatives active today. But lately, his
behavior seems as if it were scripted by his antagonists, People for the
might impel him to lead a mass walkout from the party. He delivered that
he has decided the Republican Party must convert or be brought down." On
Congress, so that would be unfortunate. But you never take a hill unless you're
willing to die on it. And we will die on this hill if necessary."
blackmailing them so openly, he is telling them, in effect, to choose their
radical agenda, which calls for, among other things, abolition of the
Department of Education and a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. If
Republicans stiff him, they may lose a crucial component of their narrow
majority. If, on the other hand, they "convert," they get to watch moderates
and economic conservatives flee in horror. In sending a message that the party
electorate as a whole: Republicans are being ordered around by a frightening
a platform to found Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization based in
philosophy he equates with all forms of social permissiveness. The program,
Research Council are now technically separate, but they work hand in glove.
notion that Republicans could be a "Big Tent" party on abortion. The two
This absolutism contrasted with the stance of the rival
Christian Coalition. Under Reed's leadership, the Christian Coalition was more
politically savvy, more open to compromise with the nonreligious right, and
more accepting of the reality that Republican victory was a prerequisite for
any kind of conservative change. Reed recognized that his power depended on not
weight behind Dole early in the primary season and flirted with the idea of
gone into private political consulting, the Christian Coalition has been
upcoming congressional primary. Party regulars worry that the same thing may
play it both ways. They love to argue that the religious right controls the
Republican Party. But they also maintain that Christian conservatives are
depends on subtlety and patience, qualities he tends to lack. To the extent he
Democratic Party if he and his views weren't accorded more "respect." Appeasing
the risk of looking like a prisoner to the ultras is greater. Most people don't
want to vote for a party that constantly succumbs to extortion from an extreme
expect a slim volume written by an academic philosopher and published by a
university press to cause widespread consternation on the right. But for some
book "radiates contempt for the country." (Perhaps more to the point, it
Brooks contends that the book's criticism of the left is merely the latest in a
succession of moves designed to advance the author's academic career. Brooks
even if they disagree with him. He is, after all, a philosopher who writes good
"cultural left" to come down from their postmodernist ivory tower and think
academicians should wipe that sophistical smirk off their faces, lose their
edge with such outlandish statements, though they are usually contradicted in
correct to call the Soviet Union an "evil empire.") But I think that what
rather the buried fear that the left might one day wake up and take his advice.
wouldn't be good news for Republican politicians, either, if the left listened
only that academic leftists, the heirs to the '60s New Left, need to become
curtain over the distinction between liberals and leftists. We should all
forget about our past conflicts, he says, and realize that we were always on
the same side, more or less. "It would be a good idea to stop asking when it
was unforgivably late, or unforgivably early, to have left the Communist
Conservatives achieved a general unity despite their wide differences during
seems to fathom. But even if they were to magically vanish overnight, they
strategy from pragmatist philosophy. He takes questions that he doesn't find
so there is no point in discussing them. But the issues that have split the
constitutional democracy and its opponents, between friends and enemies of
human rights, between people who believe in limited government and those who
conflicts as the nuances of ancient history is both crude and an offense to
those liberals who were on the right side. In constructing an inclusive
But even if these old battles somehow were to cease to seem
relevant, which they might to a generation raised in a world without communism,
most vague on the subject of actual policy, one gathers that what he wants is a
kind of economic third way: A government that redistributes wealth through the
tax system while providing uniform social benefits, such as health care and
pensions. Unions should be more powerful, corporations less so. It's the
of the wealthy that prevents the country from solving all its problems. They
a small cave without newspapers for the past several decades. He has not
in dealing with social ills. Nor does he consider the possibility that markets
might be effective in dealing with some social problems. Conservatives can quit
fretting. Liberals might be out of it, but we're not about to start taking cues
person many people can't stand. Though he may be no more ambitious or
transparent about it. Physically large, he can be seen in photographs towering
back stabbing, and even for buttering someone up and sticking the knife in at
might be useful to him in the future, especially if that someone is a
strain of narcissism that impels him to quote himself, frequently and at
be vain, pompous, and ridiculous. We know this. But he also managed to carry
off, almost by sheer force of personality, an accomplishment that eluded
governments, world leaders, and multilateral organizations for four years: He
of jujitsu with his own personality, channeling his dubious personal
interest. To the contrary, ego can be the engine that makes political and
diplomatic accomplishments possible. By the end of the book, I couldn't help
historians' conceit that individual actors don't really matter. In the summer
involving the United States. Offered the post of assistant secretary of state
and prodded, wheedled and connived, the crusade became more personal. Early in
his shuttle diplomacy, three colleagues, including his top deputy, were killed
to blame. This tragedy spurred him in his hazardous ricocheting between
gains that he thought would make a territorial settlement easier.
Baker's view that we didn't have a dog in that fight, he asserts the United
having failed, we were the only ones who could do anything about it. Inside the
administration, he fought off objections from the military. Spooked by anything
that smacked of "mission creep" or "nation building," the Pentagon resisted
combatants sat around an Air Force base for three weeks and reached a peace
real anger, and essentially sat on the heads of the various participants until
they cried uncle. Here the story becomes especially gripping and takes an
who turns out to be the biggest obstacle to peace, unwilling to make even
meaningless concessions. On the other hand, the brutal but undeniably charming
the accord with territorial concessions at the last moment.
longer looms very large. From an early stage, he found himself drawn into
something larger than himself, something more compelling than his own career.
As the object elevates him, his pettiness melts away.
are their most visible and least pleasant contact with the federal government.
Naturally, taxes are almost always near the top of the national policy agenda,
reduction speed up the growth of the nation's output and the incomes of the
population by increasing saving, investment, work, education, enterprise,
research, and other factors that determine our capacity to produce? When Bob
Dole is urged to put economic growth at the center of his election campaign, it
is mainly the promise of tax reduction to achieve such effects that people have
in mind. There are, of course, other considerations to be weighed in decisions
growth question dominates current discussion, and we shall mainly concentrate
can be said about taxes in general, except that hardly anyone likes them. The
effects of tax reduction on economic growth will depend on whether the
the tax on saved income, or one of a long list of other possibilities.
also on the budgetary context in which the tax cuts are to occur. Would the
proposed cut of some taxes be accompanied by increases of other taxes, and if
so, which? For example, the "flat tax" that some people propose involves both a
reduction of rates and an increase in the income subject to tax because of the
elimination of various deductions. Would a proposed tax cut be accompanied by
expenditure cuts, and if so, which? In our discussion, we shall try to examine
the growth effects of various possible tax programs in their possible budgetary
Efficiency in government is a more elusive concept than efficiency in the
private economy, which may be measured relatively easily as output per units of
input. What is the government's "output"? But let us measure the efficiency of
a government by how well it is able to implement its own goals, whatever they
may be. This could be quantified in terms of money, people, or the total
elapsed time between the adoption of a policy and its complete implementation.
A perfectly efficient government would find its platforms instantly
implemented; a completely inefficient one would expend all its resources
By this reasonable standard, the first place in efficiency
the power of the local tyrant, the more rapidly and completely his policy
desires are implemented. Cruelty and unpredictability are the techniques of the
real efficiency experts. Dissidents complaining? Just shoot them. Minor minions
bullets are cheap. And there is always a friendly arms merchant (usually from a
country with an inefficient government) ready to sell you some, even to arrange
efficient that they are easy to administer. Even the least capable or sane
all but the most compliant are purged from the dictator's forces, what's there
to worry about? Foreign invaders or liberators? They usually serve to merely
their people, destroy their economies, and leave no legacy apart from large
efficiency. This efficiency hurts the citizenry because, by and large, the sort
efficient government is dangerous in the hands of the wrong man. Sadly, the
right sort of man never seems interested in the job.
amid a patchwork quilt of fiefdoms run by local strongmen.
power? Absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but the applicant pool for this
when it comes to efficiency. The mandate of God might seem like the ultimate
tool of power, but in practice, a theocracy is less efficient than the
whimsical brutality of a lone, unfettered ruler. This is not to say that
they are bound by more constraints. The word of God generally is written in
some ambiguous form that is open to interpretation, and there is never a
shortage of interpreters. The leaders of a religious dictatorship must always
improved "Truth." In addition, the deity has a funny habit of prescribing more
rules and regulations than even liberal Democrats do, thus distracting
religious regimes with random rituals and requirements. Religious movements are
or stifling free thought. Complex agendas are much more difficult for them to
generally are less efficient than those run by lone despots or the clergy.
by genuine career military officers. Perhaps it is the military respect for
reason, true military leaders are generally less effectual than plain old thugs
and zealots (although their political opponents get just as dead). As further
proof of my thesis, rank seems to correlate well with inefficiency: Few of the
generals who have served their country as despots can hold a candle,
Communists briefly occupied an intermediate stage in the hierarchy of
inefficiency. Condemned in their heyday as having total or "totalitarian"
power, their regimes were later revealed as corrupt bureaucracies, more
unraveling after communism collapsed make an unintended point: At least there
was something to unravel, unlike in so much of the rest of the world. Poor
communism was inefficient enough that its people were able to accomplish some
sat like a ball on a hill: Ultimately, it had to roll down one side of the hill
and collapse into democracy, or roll the other way and devolve into the
the latter, and they may soon have imitators, for it remains to be seen how
It is popularly supposed (particularly by people who live
in them) that democracies are "good," while various forms of despotism are
"bad." The evidence favors a far simpler proposition. Simply put, governments
are bad. The fundamental prerogative of governing is to control the actions of
individuals, and this power is remarkably prone to misuse. Quibbling that evil
leaders are to blame, not the institution of government itself, is a pathetic
correspondence, why exempt the mechanism? Without the force of government
done by governments are easy enough to rattle off. But what about the examples
of great good to balance them? There aren't any. Politicians and other
apologists for the institution gamely assert the supposed benefits of
government, but it is a short and shallow list. Good is done, to be sure, but
centuries of good government would it take to balance the score for the
societies with democratic governments are better places to live in than their
alternatives isn't because of some goodness intrinsic to democracy, but because
its hopeless inefficiency helps blunt the basic potential for evil. The
constraint of maintaining constant popularity is simply too large a burden to
to power, for example. But this rarely happens. Instead, democracies evolved
ever more elaborate ways of tying the hands of their chosen leaders.
our "leaders" are the most thoroughly hogtied of any on earth. In a few weeks
those of us who overcome inertia and apathy will enter polling places to choose
our president, with less real choice than ever. Each candidate has tried to
outdo the other in adopting popular centrist stances and avoiding anything
difficult. We can rest assured that neither man will challenge the fundamental
structure that will render winner and loser ineffectual, come Inauguration Day.
Perhaps it would be better to have a restrained and less intrusive government,
to restrain themselves. Better to let them restrain each other through
inefficiency, caught in a morass of checks and balances, our freedom guarded
believe it does. They hope that curbing payments for additional children and
enforcing parental work requirements will reverse the 25-year trend that has
brought large numbers of unmarried mothers onto the welfare rolls.
into fatherless families, at an enormously increased risk of growing up in
Efforts by social scientists to explain the rise in
Technology Shock." In the late 1960s and very early 1970s (well before Roe
contraception increased dramatically. Many states, including New York and
law prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives to unmarried people was
declared unconstitutional. Many observers expected liberalized abortion and
happened, because of the decline in the custom of "shotgun weddings."
engage in sexual activity if it came with a promise of marriage in the event of
pregnancy. Men were willing to make (and keep) that promise, for they knew that
even if they left one woman, they would be unlikely to find another who would
not make the same demand. In the 1970s, women who were willing to get an
abortion, or who used contraception reliably, no longer found it necessary to
condition sexual relations on a promise of marriage in the event of pregnancy.
But women who found abortion unacceptable, or who were unreliable in their
contraceptive use, found themselves pressured to participate in premarital
sexual relations as well. These women feared, correctly, that if they refused
sexual relations, they would risk losing their partners.
By making the birth of the child the physical choice
of the mother, the sexual revolution has made marriage and child support a
social choice of the father. And while only a few unmarried mothers once
kept their babies, only a few put them up for adoption today, because the
stigma of unwed motherhood has declined. Once shunned by their peers and
support to keep their babies, stay in school, and participate in other social
doubt will always remain about what causes a change in social custom, the
adopted quickly, and on a massive scale. Marital and fertility patterns changed
a few years, and probably much more among sexually active unmarried women. The
1980s. During the same period, births per unmarried woman roughly doubled for
of unmarried black women. Meanwhile, fertility rates for married women of both
surprising. Social conventions change slowly. It took time for men to recognize
that they did not have to promise marriage in the event of a pregnancy in
exchange for sexual relations. It may also have taken time for women to
perceive the increased willingness of men to leave them if they demanded
One final puzzle, however, requires explanation. The black
play a role. Because blacks, on average, have lower incomes than whites, they
are more affected by changes in welfare benefits. As a result, the rise in
welfare benefits in the 1960s may have resulted in a decline in the black
possible, attempts to turn back the technological clock by restricting abortion
and contraception would now be counterproductive. Besides denying reproductive
freedom to women, such efforts would increase the number of children born and
wedlock are reported by their mothers to have been "wanted," but "not at that
time." Some are reported as not having been wanted at all. Easier access to
of unwanted children and improve the timing of those whose mothers would have
their unexpected alliance amid the quadrennial panoply of the Grand Old Party's
nominating convention, our protagonists, acting in unavoidable response to the
exigencies of a contest dominated by the incumbent's strategy and tactics, set
began to reveal itself, rising like a black basalt orogeny from the soft soils
most admirably and now gleamed like a Secret Service agent's lapel pin, was
gaining speed swiftly, its one hundred and five tons departing another
rails seemed to converge, their fluttering hands and smiling faces congealed
into a tuberous mirage that already was beginning to deliquesce, its bipedal
spores gamboling away from the station where, only moments before, the
candidates had stood to receive the traditional accolade from the traditional
funereal platform and tufts of bunting, gave off a flapping chorus that
decorations that went up before each stop. The crew had to work quickly, lest
momentum send the froufrou and gewgaws drifting onto the roadbed. In a minute
the removal had been accomplished, and the two men on whose behalf this
had retired to the common area, where the staff would be attempting its usual
stab at gaiety. They believed in Bob Dole; they had to believe in him, even as
his brooding presence infected the farthest corners of the campaign with an
acidity specific to him. His people would never admit what he was admitting:
that the prize he had chased almost all his adult life was bound to elude him
convert into an enormous problem. He had, in his wretched twenties, dangling by
a wrecked arm on a homemade exercise gibbet, accepted, no, hugged to himself
the knowledge that life was hard and then you died. It was damnably unnatural,
this state to which he had most ironically ascended. When things were in their
proper order, a buoyant spirit led, not a mordant one, and what was he if not
could be counted on to float above any malaise like an empty water cask. It was
excitement, the contained enthusiasm of a veteran politician in firm grip of
his emotions but willing to share with his supporters what bits of them he
must, sank back into himself, simmering in a glumness he wished he could
contain but knew he could not. Terrible things had always happened to him, and
always would; this was only the latest of them, but it was a terrible thing of
a specifically galling nature. He was the most prestigious passenger on a
track. Through all his trials, darkness had always been his strength, an
obsidian girder holding him to the path; now it stood to crush him and, perhaps
not coincidentally, the entire Republican ticket, which his opponent's
speaking more loudly than was necessary, perhaps to compensate for the rush of
air around them and the clatter of steel wheels beneath and behind. "Something
luck and genes with the smiling disposition of a boy who is shown a stable full
of ordure and instantly concludes that there must be a pony in there somewhere?
Dole was sentenced to always know better than what he wanted to believe.
"Yes, most assuredly," he replied, struggling not to
answer with a grunt. "I sense we might profit from a few minutes out of the
weather." Of course, there was no "weather" to speak of; but he had learned a
thousand years ago that sometimes, he had to say something.
so the older man could enter the rail car. He did so with surety, using the
elbow of his bad arm to steady himself at the threshold, then raising both
fists in a stretch. At the far door, a steward stood.
Dole pulled off his suit jacket and assumed his usual
position in an overstuffed chair on the starboard side of the car. He loosened
"What troubles you, my friend?" he asked again. "Is
to bark out the syllable that had become his hated signature, but did not. Damn
public or private without apprehending in his marrow that he had become what he
into which we have been thrust by this contest," Dole continued, rising to his
like a crippled millipede, waging a campaign that could have been waged in the
"But surely, Bob, you must acknowledge the romantic
invoked the whistle in the night, the long rumbling procession of cars carrying
Dole said, exasperated at having been caught in the web of his own rhetoric.
something to take our minds away from the press of combat?"
"Let us commence with a session. I will wait on the platform while you make
Upon joining the ticket, he had instantly made it his habit to maintain the
Amid the clotted air on the platform, Dole let his eyes
umbilicus and each winking a single garnet eye. "Excellent news! I have found
the Game Boys. The batteries are as fresh as new flounder. Lose not a
grimmest hour, after all these years of morosely pursuing the presidency, he
would come to enjoy as his particular friend a chronically cheery former
footballer who could broadcast an enthusiasm for gimcrack economic theory in
such a way that one could not tell if he was embracing it or mocking it. Now,
personality radiating in his direction, he also faced the knowledge that life
was more durable than pain, more difficult than you could have imagined, and
yet still you lived, as he now lived, seeing that his last campaign, the battle
to the candidacy, would be his last success. He stepped inside and closed the
your nerve, touting Slate Explorer and making me go through the whole process
of registering before revealing that it's not available for the
If it weren't for the Mac, there wouldn't be any Windows for Slate
I have been trying to understand why I should cry for tobacco farmers, and
can't understand why others do. When slavery ended, cotton growers had either
another crop to grow. Many opted to grow tobacco, and it looks like it's time
straight face, recommend subsidies for these farmers when he and others in his
party have vowed to get rid of "welfare as we know it." Tobacco subsidies are
just another form of welfare. I say give the growers two years, then make them
of having college freshmen explore the "realities" of these two campuses in a
your subjects? These kids aren't the stuff of excitement, controversy,
provocation! Their particular narcissism renders them incapable of viewing any
schools is really like." First, when you pick two guys that are basically
similar in background and basically similar in every other way, you get two
better than one? What kind of sample of real college life is that?
experience of being at an Ivy and being in a fraternity, there are some things
that are really missing in their diaries. It's a crime to quote that
have fun playing Boggle and touring the dorms together, but is this a good way
to find an answer to a question that uses "hotbed" and "sexual abandon" in the
that would bring meaning to the anecdote you quoted. Be prepared to take the
everyone to hear. We wouldn't want everybody to know about our games of binge
not? It is only when one considers numbers that the comparison becomes quite
lack of worries of one backed by a billion people. Give me a tenth of that in
underlying this discussion is the deeper question of whether there is any value
refraining from having a child may impoverish those who would have been your
child's friends and mates. But that wouldn't be the case if the parents of
those potential children also refrained from reproducing. Also, there are over
"potential friends." And one does not tend to encounter small acts of kindness
new directions in economics: the connection to biology. Unfortunately, it is
likely to sow considerable confusion by suggesting that an individual could or
should add value to humankind through additional reproduction.
Reproduction is not guided by a moral imperative toward humanity as a whole but
by a competitive struggle to pass on genes. This includes the effort to give
one's progeny the power to pass genes even further-- hence, family names,
mansions, and monuments. But as the species grows to fill its biological space,
nature itself provides limiting forces like single lifestyles, wars, and
earth, he has more than enough friends. Good for him. Surely he's aware that
there are others less fortunate. Among all his many friends, is there none, for
example, who has had difficulty finding a friend who will make a suitable
humanity. That was exactly my point. If they were guided by moral imperatives,
people would have more children than they do. In the absence of those moral
imperatives, there's a case for subsidizing reproduction.
of whom are likely to encounter usability issues related to the
first product cycle, you may also want to consider some of the following
and midnight to provide additional convenience for employees attempting to
for your attention to these suggestions. I look forward to further status
reports of this product's development and am certain that you will do a fine
time Spencer made his remarks, he was in a church. More importantly, there was
a funeral going on. And, rotten luck, The Loved One just happened to be
was not concerned so much with the convoluted interplay of the press with his
past peccadilloes, but rather was more driven by the unavoidable necessity of
parasite lives, but the host dies, it really can't be described as a symbiotic
"Hell's Angel." Is this a sick joke or, I hope, a typo, because it is offensive
and wrong. With this one slip you lost complete respect and reliability by me,
perform. Although I speak with an English accent, my pronunciation can be
by the program. The correction modification seems to have no effect. My
software definitely does not learn by its mistakes!
Birthday, Heritage Foundation" is wrong on one major point. In it he wrote,
supposed to lobby Congress." This is not true. Nonprofit organizations, or
Charities and nonprofit organizations speak for the public interest, not
issues like the environment or consumer protection, or vulnerable populations
who lack the resources or skills to assert their basic rights.
providers, charities are often on the front lines combating the worst problems
besetting our communities. Their voices help produce more efficient and
effective public policy. Although we might disagree with the Heritage
Foundation, as a 501(c)(3), they are doing nothing wrong by lobbying.
is appropriate. Nonprofits also are prohibited from using federal funds for the
purposes of lobbying (see Office of Management and Budget Circular A-122), but they may
lobby using other funding sources, such as foundations or their membership.
encouraged to exercise their First Amendment rights. Certainly Congress is in
The Internal Revenue Code does not encourage lobbying by 501(c)(3)
organizations, but it does allow it under limited circumstances. Here's a
be (and need to be) driven by practical considerations, such as opening trade
course balloons are a uniquely terrible mode of transportation. Sticking ice
well. The motivation of adventurers everywhere is to achieve something no one
incidentally, to get famous by writing books about it. And the reason why the
rest of us sit in our armchairs and read about these accomplishments is because
we wish we'd done something as interesting with our time. If there is an
occasional practical benefit to these shenanigans, so much the better. In the
meantime, the world will probably be content to support the world of adventure
just a stunt: It made real the idea of transatlantic air travel." By the time
today's balloonists have also), it did little to advance the technology of
outstanding. Of all the obnoxious, hypocritical statements he collected, the
leader in a generation to make them put their money where their mouths are.
about the browser issue. I wish I could say that "You Be the Judge" fit the
bill, but I just don't buy it. I tried your experiment. Yes indeed, remove
whole distinction really boils down to a few overlapping files. This is hardly
that is not part of B. It can and should include in its operating system those
doesn't mean that Ford left out the battery or the fuse box, both of which are
needed for the user to install and operate a stereo after the purchase.
trying to obscure the issue with a lot of techie hot air. They should be fined
heavily for contempt of court. Ultimately, I suspect the company will need to
natural monopoly but the other divisions forced to face the same competitive
wouldn't it be safe to say that the covenant marriage is clearly superior in
surprise to me, because I was sure that among the very few biographical details
and had this confirmed (and seen nothing to the contrary). There is nothing to
capital markets" is both wrong and silly. Equity options, just like commodity
and currency futures, can and often do serve a hedging function. Consider, for
the stock. If that investor were willing to pay extra for the security of
the ability to lock in positions that equity options offer, certain folks might
not be in the equity market in the first place. People like Wade Cook are the
Though I had hoped for something more interesting than spin control for women
in a man's world, I was impressed with the breathtakingly casual lack of
fairness to the first lady that created the intriguing premise.
policy before she could measure up. If we use the same standard for both,
I imagine land mines will go on killing people for decades to come).
death, that makes people recast all criteria for a good and successful life in
public relations windfall of a spectacular and tragic death. That's quite a
that the local guides "ignore politics," although we list and describe the work
The charge that our guide is "limited to capsule reviews and short,
audience that reflects the vast sociological spectrum that is part and parcel
United States. One can safely assume that they import certain rare delicacies
destruction of the extremely expensive machine, another one is built on
at the same time, one as a backup. Nor does John Hurt's millionaire eccentric
arrival they read her memories. Or didn't you find it odd that an alien
intelligence appeared to her in the form of her father?
didn't you complain about something really important, like how fake the
computer displays were? I mean, everyone knows that in real life computers
don't have 3-D displays and make cool noises. Those pesky movies.
manufacturer of Cracker Jack, and the citizens of the territories and
me wondering if she is mentally competent, let alone capable of intelligently
dick.' It's tempting to conclude from this that she's empty at the core, trying
Star Trek uniform, would you assume that he was "empty at the core"?
with such a clear lack of understanding of the distinction between acting and
asking whether the inventor of Big Brother was a hypocrite for naming
of what he did, despite the fact that the Foreign Office has yet to release the
Surprisingly, little of the story has been reported in the
criticizes him for showing poor sense. The apparent point of the piece was not
to challenge his reputation but rather to argue that those who named names
his deathbed. Some have suggested he was coaxed into cooperating by a woman he
context of the times but also in retrospect. The behavior he is now being
based on political courage and intellectual integrity.
of independent elements on the left. Members of the Republican militias not
happening behind the lines, he was prevented by people who, though not CP
members, viewed criticism of the Soviet Union as intolerable. These included
when he finished Animal Farm during World War II. Because of its
and who merely "stupid," "dishonest," or "nave." He missed the mark a few
agent of some kind," was later revealed to be, in fact, a Soviet agent. Peter
the sidelines. He was someone who believed in choosing sides and taking action,
declined the offer of a commission to write a pamphlet, in part because he was
all of which have been revealed, because some of the people are still
certainly those marked with a red asterisk on his longer list and do not
asked that his list remain secret not because there was anything shameful about
it, but because he feared it was libelous. Where he could say the same thing
protect himself. People lost their jobs and had their lives ruined as a result.
were people he believed to be enemies of liberty. Nor were their civil
Scientist") has done me the honor of another attack, this time for an
and I actually agree, more or less, on the policy question. I favor a low
the way to get lower interest rates is for the Federal Reserve to cut them.
disapproval, "the easy way out." I definitely favor the easy way out when it is
version, markets for money and bonds determined the interest rate, with
Treasury during World War I. Later, he was a vociferous opponent of tight
and liquid cash. In order to get from money demand to a full theory of the
or mine. The central bank supplies the liquidity (money) that speculators
demand. The terms on which it does so, combined with the demand conditions,
central bank. If people increase their demand for money, then either interest
rates must rise, cutting investment, or transactions must fall, cutting output
again at that paradox of thrift. That argument which holds that the attempt to
raise saving will end up lowering national income, because consumption will
all epochs, that thrift is always a virtue. I know that he also strongly favors
a reduction in the federal budget deficit, precisely because that represents a
control output and unemployment, he believes that this tendency is easily
offset by cuts in interest rates to hold employment steady.
in my view. It is one thing to assume that the Federal Reserve could in
principle always lower interest rates enough to offset the depressing effects
of tax increases and spending cuts. But, in fact, there is no assurance that
statement that this is "simple" and "reasonable" does not make it right.
political figure, no more nor less. That being so, the main reason we have high
interest rates is that the forces favoring them are more powerful than the
forces opposed. This, I believe, is the deplorable truth.
Congress took drastic action to raise "national saving" by cutting the expected
future budget deficits in half. But the Federal Reserve then raised interest
never fully reversed, and actually raised federal spending on interest payments
by enough to wipe out a large part of the deficit reductions.
that one cannot rely on the Federal Reserve to offset the workings of the
based on a false premise. And the way to get lower interest rates and more
investment and durable consumption spending and lower unemployment, all of
which I favor, is not to increase thriftiness or to cut deficits. The essential
thing is to get the Federal Reserve to bring interest rates down.
marvelous tidbit on the rewards of vigorous consumption spending as opposed to
parsimony, niggardliness, and thrift. But, speaking of vulgarity, they ought to
its new building. That is a big donation from a foreign politician.
to be open to change, especially in an entrepreneurial effort like this one.
Another equally important message is that no matter how carefully we try to
craft categories of giving, human behavior refuses to be comprehensively
ones made both in the United States and outside the United States last year. We
may consider changing that guideline this year, or we may do a feature on gifts
only in the years the actual gift was announced, not when payments were made on
previously announced pledges. This accounts for a number of missing foundation
gifts. I did not do a mailing last year to private foundations (or to anyone,
relied on what I could find in public sources, and sometimes foundation gifts
I need to verify everything and that even the most reliable sources are
stick with our decision to list gifts as they are announced, and won't list
gifts made to create or add to private foundations. Again, we may address this
type of giving in a separate feature. We will only list gifts from a private
foundation to an actual grantee. We are always looking for ideas of how to make
Won." If I was forced to pick one (and only one) favorite bit, I think I
explain that New York has no suburbs that are "truly hip." He doesn't favor us
with a definition of "truly hip," but he is kind enough to drop some clues:
to the telephone poles and vegetarian restaurants and rave clubs, is completely
out of the question in New York." Never having been to either West Lake Hills
place "truly hip," but let me go ahead and see if I don't have the whole
and nascent heroin addictions playing in bad rock bands named after legendary
discussions of Irony? Burrito delivery? Am I in the ballpark? Close? Well, gee,
I guess if that's "truly hip," then suburban New York does come up sorely.
city of New York. People who were (or are), by and large, at most one
generation removed from poverty. People who were (or are), as they say, shaped
by that experience. If one judges their communities by the standards of middle-
vegetarian restaurants), yeah, they're going to come up short.
that many black people used to live in the South, this refusal to address basic
sociology is glaring. There are a lot of awful things to be said about suburban
a region of the country he simply does not understand. And, of course, it isn't
food. The food here is really good. Really, really good. Turns out the rest of
delicatessens that cut giant chunks of meat with scary slicing machines. Not to
mention the thousands of fine, relatively inexpensive ethnic restaurants. I
still content to eat in independently owned restaurants. I guess we're just not
our cultural influence, which is huge (and by no means entirely benign), even
silly, misinformed article completely ignores issues of class and ethnicity
telephone poles, Anglophile raves) as some sort of ideal. His problem with the
suburbs of New York would seem to be that they have too much New York and not
moved five years ago, but I still visit frequently, and I have to tell you,
there's not a vegetarian restaurant in sight. A notice for a rave party would
and church hallways demanding action. (After, of course, said parents learned
Hills is a pretty place, lots of wood, stone, and gorgeous views of Lake
fresh herbs, and reasonably good focaccia bread. But in all that lovely,
expensive real estate, there's no edge, no irony, no one dressed in black,
Committee or the president, he would not have had the opportunity to sit next
not have been "shaken down" for that day, but what he paid for the price of
admission. Access to the president should be for all. Why are someone's ideas
more important than mine because they gave money to the president or his
he states, "But if government can't reroute the freight train in a better
direction, it's hard to see how it can derail it." As an engineer, I feel
qualified to point out that rerouting requires new track and a switch (not to
mention a new destination) before the train arrives. Derailing can be done with
a few common chemicals or tools (remove a short section of rail), or a tow
strap and vehicle (simply pull the rail out of line a few inches).
"programs" actually accomplish the opposite of the goals they are intended to
achieve. Thus, welfare has created a group of permanent dependents, gun control
as "no one can use force against anyone else." The proper statement is, "No one
may initiate force against another." The difference is obvious when considering
that the Internet began life as a federal defense project." Granted, the
designed as a decentralized network in order to (as much as possible) ensure
survivability in the event of World War III. The current Internet, still
decentralized, has become a worldwide threat to authoritarian government, due
to the free exchange of ideas it allows. This explains the recent spate of
governmental (and intergovernmental) attacks on the Net.
libertarian goals mean to "We, the People." I suggest that he be limited to
reviewing official government pronouncements in the future. This may be the
saying there is only one standard by which you can call yourself a Catholic,
have any impact and success in the current political arena, is far different
analogies, ranging all the way back to the classical argument for free trade
that people will fault him on the oversimplification of his economic
representations doesn't get him off the hook. The problem with these analogies,
historical revisionism, they are so riddled with problems that one hardly knows
dogs instead of making hot dogs) rarely pull the wages of the manufacturing
jobs. In his earlier work he accepts models that don't even make allowance for
well hear him telling the hungry to simply eat more hot dogs.
asserts his argument through use of psychology, not economic reasoning. Namely,
He is willing to disregard the growing income inequity in this country
(illustrated in my article), among other issues, and practically admits that
changes in his playful thought experiments would come only after cataclysmic
You'll have to, because it's never happened, even when things went as awry as
after the Challenger accident. If he'll refresh his memory, he might recall
that Young, speaking as the leader of the entire astronaut corps, said
astronauts would refuse to fly until there were significant changes in the
we're so used to our freedoms here that we quickly forget their use.
notes Apple's failure to build a business selling system software rather than
applications. It was Bill Gates' genius to understand that his tiny company
could own the link between those two sides of the business, reducing PC
when the user has inserted a floppy disk! Jobs' hubris was not that he wanted
to own the personal computer business, but that he wanted to sell a product
that was better than anything the industry could put together piecemeal.
it might very well have seen its software become the industry standard."
manufacturer of the computer also designed the operating system. I didn't know
anyone with a DOS system in the early '80s, but I knew plenty of people with
with distinct and incompatible operating systems. This was the state of the
industry when the Mac was born. Bill Gates realized it would be more efficient
if all computers, regardless of manufacturer, ran the same system (which is why
may be true, but it is totally unsupported by his argument. If anything, the
correct, in "Liberal Tobacco Whores," to condemn the shameless
tobacco companies, but he fails to properly identify why their actions are
people to make dumb decisions is not morally wrong. Whether it is sky diving,
eating Big Macs, smoking, or engaging in promiscuous sex, people should be free
to take risks with their own lives. Advocates of the nanny state may respond
that society bears some of the costs of these behaviors, but that is the fault
of the health, welfare, and other government programs that protect people from
is nothing at all wrong with defending tobacco companies. What is immoral,
instead, is taking lots of money to lobby for something you do not believe in.
every corner" of the state. We are an odd collection of "adventurers, loners,
and losers," as illustrated by a sex crime described in lurid detail. On top of
dress warmer. We have chosen to live in a beautiful place where some of the
world's most scenic areas have been closed to mining and oil development
forever. But thanks to advances in mining and petroleum technology, other areas
of the state can be safely developed, leaving only a minuscule "footprint" on
when you are dealing with a small "capita." The federal government is the
money spent here on the military is hardly a boondoggle dreamed up by the
locals. In addition, the federal government spends a large amount of money on
scores of isolated native villages that can only be reached by air, but the
natives hardly intend to apologize for living in their ancestral
environmentalism deserves everyone's support, and gets it up here.
no development. Those with a more rational view, however, have been and will be
embattled, it is like the old days in the West, with the invaders surrounded in
the main questions are mixed marriage and religion. To even speak of "mixed
marriage" reveals a certain racism. There is no such thing as a "mixed
marriage," because there is only one human race. A mixed marriage would be with
a dog, or a sheep, or some other species. And as for religions, in our day and
age they should be forgotten except as interesting historical artifacts. The
off mankind will be. Why do some people still think we should follow the
while I would agree that the whole incident was overplayed, after finishing the
close to slaughter time, causing their stomachs to burst during slaughter.
contamination occurs when fecal matter comes in contact with meat.
Consequently, the cause of the contamination must occur at slaughter time, not
much more than people from other countries, have lost the connection between
food and health. We eat without thought to the consequences and expect the
medical industry to drop us a pill for our ills, many of which are the result
food systems, and continue to do so, something which classic economics says is
not possible, since economies of scale do not easily apply to food production.
Yet we seem to desire cheap and anonymous food. Rather than our food being
handled by the farmer, it passes through the processing and distribution
unpacked and displayed, and on and on. It is a good system for dealing with
deodorant, but it is simply not a good system for dealing with food.
for consumers to rely more on locally produced food, and to be willing to
support farmers and pay more for high quality, safe food.
feudal institution that has been continued despite the fact that we are no
longer subjects of the king and thus ought not to be forced to pay for the
privilege of working for a living. That was the lot of serfs, who were nearly
owned by their lords and whose land was owned by their lords.
ought to do to fund the proper functions of government is to charge contract
and user fees. These would be plenty to support a government that operates
within its proper scope. The fact that you folks find all this bizarre is not
Full." I particularly liked the way he worked the book through the
to keep in mind when buying a toothpaste: clinical effectiveness and aesthetic
the latter, I and a team of researchers (my friends, mostly) sampled more than
effectiveness basically means "Does it have fluoride?" If it does, it's
others, but the difference is negligible. Most dentists agree that if it's got
wrong with it. How regularly and how attentively you brush matters far more
than what you brush with. But while it's true that any fluoride toothpaste will
do a fine job, certain clinical distinctions may help you choose your weapon.
Some toothpaste claims are bogus, but others are for real.
control: For real! Tartar control toothpastes (Crest Tartar Control,
would otherwise collect on your teeth and form tartar (hardened plaque). Tartar
control toothpastes can't remove tartar, but they can stave it off.
Protection) use potassium nitrate to block nerves connected to your teeth. This
works for people with receded gums. But if your sensitivity stems instead from
cavities, habitual tooth grinding, or a root canal problem (as it does for most
Peroxide) is a popular toothpaste ingredient. Baking soda does nothing
whatsoever for your teeth. However, its effervescence may leave your mouth
permanently. Dentists can apply peroxide solutions to bleach your teeth (just
as peroxide would bleach your hair), but the peroxide would have to stay on
your teeth for several continuous hours before it made any difference. Brushing
with whitening toothpastes does nothing, no matter how many times you have at
even after you finish brushing and continues to kill bacteria (the dentist says
you may feel a "residual slipperiness" after you brush with Total). Because it
effective toothpaste on the market, for now. Other toothpastes will no doubt
course, as noted above, any fluoride toothpaste will do an adequate job. For
similar generic brand), which is fluoridated, has tartar control, and is every
significantly less than its flashier competitors. Or you may wish to ignore all
the above advice and choose among the flashier competitors for aesthetic
by whether the toothpaste is a "gel" or a "paste." Gels use silica as an
abrasive to help polish teeth. Pastes use calcium carbonate to the same end.
perplexing since thick gels are ineradicable when smeared across a sink top.
squeeze: Some brands offer smooth, even flow from the tube; others do not.
"Age Defying" part). This product was so thick that it refused to come out of
its tube, even when squeezed with both hands at once. My researchers quickly
dubbed it "the sword in the stone." Only stomping on the tube with a shod foot
produced any results, and those meager. One shudders to imagine an actual aged
top or flip top. Flip tops make more sense, as you can open the tube and
squeeze it with one hand and you'll never drop a tiny toothpaste cap behind
monolith were white instead of black and emitted a fluoride toothpaste instead
separate substances emerge from two separate and concealed tanks. One tank
holds paste, the other gel, and the two strands join on your brush in beautiful
Color: Most brands opt for classic titanium white or translucent
different toothpastes, my researchers and I came to some conclusions about
taste. A traditional minty zing is good. But it must have a real bite so your
The baking soda paste is not overpowering, but it bites just enough to let you
know it's there. The natural paste, meanwhile, lacks all bite, and your mouth
feels dirtier after you've brushed. The foaming action of baking soda in this
but also because they use "natural" flavoring ingredients such as papaya
Control Gel is a minty and pleasant concoction, unlike the mouthwash. Crest
lingering aftertaste makes your teeth feel chapped. Finally, kids' toothpastes
all taste like bubble gum. Again, you may think you want to brush your teeth
cleared out nasal passages. The baking soda in Crystal Ice made my mouth foam
like a rabid animal's, leaving my teeth feeling reborn. Couple this with the
pump technology and the combination of gel and paste, and we have a hands down
discussed the fact that Java is an interpreted language without bringing up the
interpreted, into machine codes, which can be run very quickly. Indeed, recent
the other competing technologies, Java applets can be run without fear of the
applet trashing your hard drive. A group of German hackers demonstrated how a
found someone more likely to give a more full and nuanced view of the
implications of the reliability, flexibility, and security provided by Java in
order to emphasize the cost of these benefits in execution speed. While a
strong case can be made that the advantages are well worth the cost, this by
column to note its own thinly veiled role in the culture war surrounding Java
that it describes. However, that Slate chose to run these poorly constructed
attention that brings advertising revenue not for misleading propaganda like
this, but for information presented with the kind of journalistic integrity
that usually characterizes Slate. If such a conflict of interest cannot be
what they are, I have no doubt you'll be swamped with letters responding to
detector into the red zone. One of the nice things about Java is that the most
difficult parts of C (indirection and "pointer arithmetic," among other things)
have been left out of the language, while other convenience features
unavailable in C (such as memory management) have been added to it. These
does about Java or the Java paradigm. (The virtual machine is the program that
judgment on what points of view to present on issues directly affecting its
directly. (But don't feel sorry for him, he asked for it.) At this moment,
supporting trade with China ("The East Is in the Red") by attacking me as a hireling of
neither read his article on China nor wrote him a letter, the logic that leads
that he has either badly missed the mark by neglecting to do his homework, or
is engaged in a willful campaign of misrepresentation. While it is true, as
than pious, theoretical declamations from the groves of academe.
infallibility or even the absence of silly mistakes, but we are not for sale.
We make the best case we can based on the facts as we know them. Moreover, we
cited "many reasons" for thinking that "consumer markets" in emerging countries
formal trade barriers come down." I singled out two such reasons: "First,
largely because most of these nations have huge foreign debts to pay off, and
therefore need to discourage consumption by their populations, they are
purchasing power low, they will have trouble attracting the foreign investment
they require, both to service debt and to finance growth." I added that China
"has made it abundantly clear that it has no intention of becoming a major
importer; it aims eventually to satisfy most of its own needs."
East Is in the Red" by observing that countries attracting enough foreign
investment "both to service debt and to finance growth" must be running trade
deficits. He added that China's record in particular belies my argument because
its roughly balanced global trade indicates that it is not a net capital
balances. But as I originally stated, numerous forces are responsible for
limiting the consumer imports of this disparate group of countries. Some, like
with huge debt overhangs and therefore must restrict domestic consumption and
domination by the West to seek substantial degrees of economic
supply its own needs in industries such as motor vehicles, aerospace, and
have accumulated these reserves by selling their own currency in order to
high. As a result, the already meager international purchasing power of China's
compensation figures. This series suffers from two related problems. First, it
from the median, which much more accurately describes the situation of the
typical worker's situation can be more accurately gauged by looking at indexes
statistics published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and derived from the
Earnings Files of the Current Population Survey. This series, and several
wages are converging "through a process of leveling up, not leveling down." Nor
Business and Industrial Council Educational Foundation
I enjoy Slate. I humbly confess that when I first heard of a magazine that
would be online only, I scoffed. Now, I am converted. I enjoy curling up with
Slate just as I do my more material publications, and there is nothing to
recycle or discard (guiltily) and no "newsprint fingertips." Thank you
more to bring down the standards of journalism worldwide than any other.
for fairness, class, and appropriate journalistic behavior. And he
analysis for others. But you need only pick your medium or your country to
audiences. You may even want to applaud his efforts to bust unions. But to
have permitted abortions after viability if continuing the pregnancy posed a
risk of "grievous harm" to the mother's health, a determination left solely to
the doctor. No doctor could be prosecuted for making such a false claim,
previously held that "health" includes both physical and mental aspects. This
enormous loophole made the bill completely irrelevant.
actually would have done something to criminalize certain types of abortions.
garner political points is an untrue and very unfair characterization of the
chatter about the ways that the shoe companies are wrecking the inner cities
and offering sick models for little black kids to look up to, but the vulgarity
in what type of cultural expression you choose. Wright seems to think we should
boycott everything that expresses a black ego. It turns my stomach to read yet
another backdoor assault on the economically powerful models that
all, who dictated that humility could be measured in chinos and tweed, couldn't
have been assholes, too, now could they? Speak softly and sponsor a housing
project, then when that doesn't pan out, blame it on the shoes.
scrambling for the ball, and not only when everyone is watching and every game
is important. There is virtue and substance there even if Wright can't see it.
world where we're expected to be deferential and compliant.
doesn't understand that the reservoir of personality and influence in sport is
Woods" means something only because Tiger Woods traveled to a place where he
was not welcome and beat the bastards at their own game. Woods of course was
interesting article on the latest abortion hubbub in this week's "Gist" on fetal viability.
But there was an outrageous error in the links for the article, which
institute is owned by Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the
informed on the subject as he appears to be, or that his politics are showing.
Caper" was a great piece on the use of minors to launder campaign
contributions. Unfortunately, the author failed to mention that the leading
an individual who is not qualified to vote in a Federal election to make a
important not to shrug our shoulders in despair over the current state of our
election process but, rather, to actively seek and support real solutions which
we sent them to be our representatives. Let them know that you expect them to
team (computer checkers), I would like to make two points. First, Chinook did
significant than Deep Blue's recent win, both matches do constitute important
perfect play (which is not necessarily the same as inspiring or imaginative
play) in games like checkers and chess can be reduced to pure computation. So,
as computers get faster, they will surpass human capabilities in these limited
think there are other ways to fix our problems without stupidity injected into
the debate. Those "rednecks" don't represent my part of the political
movement. With an insouciant and supercilious tone, he employed descriptors
identifiable class of people in our country that can still be insulted with
impunity in today's politically correct society. What if, instead of white
criticizing the ability of the exclusionary rule to reverse a conviction, he
wrote: "The wrong done was the search, not the conviction. Yet the exclusionary
rule in effect rewards B with just such a windfall by sparing him from the
fails to grasp the purpose of the reversal. It is not a reward for the criminal
but a punishment for the prosecutor. It is very important in our imperfect
justice system that the police and prosecutors do not get the idea that the
ends justify the means. As it stands now, police officers, especially in urban
areas, present more illegally obtained evidence than legally obtained evidence.
They justify their actions with the fact that the men and women whose civil
rights they routinely violate are involved in criminal activity, and therefore
have no rights. However, this indicates that law enforcement is convicting
before trying and is ignoring the fact that in performing illegal searches,
they themselves are criminals. I would encourage a reinterpretation of the
exclusionary principle to keep criminals in jail where they belong, but only if
the cops and prosecutors are severely punished for their crimes as well.
stuff in the first place (too hard to look at), or have somebody who thinks
to consider whether the work succeeds on its own terms.
read the book in the first place," as if we could really infer the book is
strategies, and rarely does the word "evil" come to mind. Of course, there is
assets occasionally leads them to lie, cheat, and virtually steal from their
shareholders, through deceptive advertising or outrageous fees and expenses.
investors take advantage of noble souls doing their own research and thereby
threaten to erode the quality of information and research that is the
foundation of our efficient stock markets. In fact, this view is almost
completely opposite to the truth. The rise of index funds should be seen as
triumphant proof that our financial markets are robustly efficient. And it will
be impossible for index funds to destroy the efficiency of markets as long as
image of a pastoral commons in which index investors are selfish free riders
vision of the workings of the stock market. Instead, imagine a huge ocean of
information populated by vicious, hungry sharks. These sharks patrol the waters
looking for juicy tidbits to grow fat on. After they have had their fill of the
prey, its carcass falls to the bottom of the sea. There bottom feeders wait
patiently to scavenge the remaining scraps. They don't get fat, but they have a
nice, easy life waiting for their dinner to fall to them. In this metaphor, the
sharks are the active investors, and the indexers are the bottom feeders. The
final crucial detail that ensures that this world and our financial markets
will always function smoothly is that the sharks can become bottom feeders, and
biological world, competition between the species and the drive for survival
would ensure that there is equilibrium between the sharks and the bottom
feeders. If the lazy bottom feeders become too numerous, there won't be enough
will decide to join the sharks, and will hunt their own kills. In the alternate
case, when sharks swarm the waters, there will be little reward to their
hunting, and some of the sharks will retire to the easy life of bottom
a similar equilibrium in the financial world. Only, in the stock market, the
equilibrating force is unfettered greed. Today, aided by an explosion in
information technology, there are thousands and thousands of active, aggressive
investors pouncing on every nugget of information, thereby making the markets
highly efficient. In this world, it makes eminent sense for some investors to
give up the hunt and be satisfied with the quiet life of indexing. It is true
hang up their fins any time and pursue the lazy life. And they surely will,
whenever it pays to do so. As the profits from active investing diminish, there
will automatically be fewer active investors and more indexers. And whenever
the profits from an active strategy become evident, a feeding frenzy of sharks
human greed, that guarantees that our financial markets will always be highly
efficient, and that indexing or any other investing strategy will never pose a
threat to market efficiency. As long as at least a few sharks patrol the
planting the seeds of their own destruction. As more people drop out of the
competition to outperform, the marginal research and trading value of the
decreasing number of active investors will become significant, and they will
investing to its extreme: Suppose that tomorrow morning all funds were invested
solely in index funds. By definition, that would be the last trade in the stock
market. That is, no one would be able to react to new information. Clearly,
some investors would break from the pack as new information became public and
others were not reacting. Thus, the number of passive vs. active investors will
way, the "tragedy of the commons" is not a theoretical construct from a 1960s
peasants would destructively graze their livestock on commonly held land.
Furthermore, the traditional response to the observation is not in favor of
"greens, social critics, and other worrywarts who fret over issues such as
population growth," but rather supports the capitalist argument that land tends
to be used more efficiently under private ownership, in that the owner is
People's Republic of China separate. Combine them, he claims, and China's big
global merchandise trade surplus shrinks to insignificance.
explain is how, if the macroeconomic forces he emphasizes truly explain China's
global surplus. In fact, at one point he insists that it is an "arithmetical
necessity" for big capital importers like China to run trade deficits.
balance with the United States was my focus, not China's global balance. And
shipped to the United States through third countries. Industry estimates place
exporters but remain small consumer goods markets. After all, he argues,
although countries that produce more than they consume must run trade
surpluses, these surpluses will guarantee high consumption because the
major importers but not major consumer markets. How? By concentrating their
create big consumer markets. But "one day" may be a long time coming.
countries have aims other than enriching domestic consumers. Indeed, many deny
individuals and businesses broad freedom to consume precisely because their top
suppressing domestic consumption in other ways, and pushing exports. And when
they do consume, they often focus on purchases whose economic benefits do not
is in the midst of a big, prolonged military buildup.
greatly increasing the labor surplus in a land where unemployment and
there, anecdotal evidence indicates that once labor costs take off, so does
Business and Industrial Council Educational Foundation
prevented him from actually taking on board the substantive arguments that I
made in my article. Let me try, however, to make four points:
that the proposition that a country which attracts large capital inflows must
also be running a trade deficit is merely my opinion. It isn't: It is a matter
I believe that whatever asperity I may have shown in the column is justified by
the astonishing fact that he really doesn't understand that.
surplus, and actual rough balance on current account, shows that the country is
not, in fact, a net recipient of capital. (Capital account plus current account
equals zero; that is a fact, not a theory, whatever the Politburo may say.) Any
attempt to make sense of the country's trade must include an explanation of how
the money brought in by foreign investors goes out again.
"superficial research," then says that in his article, "China's trade balance
with the United States was my focus, not China's global balance." I have now
fact, the article seems to say quite clearly that emerging economies will not
discover that in my own column I included a long sidebar which acknowledged
that, while the precise numbers are in dispute, China certainly does run a
big point of the likelihood that advanced countries will export mainly capital
equipment rather than consumer goods to the emerging economies. Why, exactly,
is this a problem? Is selling tractors and forklifts somehow a less sound
those numerically controlled machine tools.) As the saying goes, "Give a man a
fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you can sell him
that productivity increases lead to higher wages, insisting that the dramatic
We could go on at length about whether workers should have received even more,
or what adjustments one might make to that number to move it down (or up) a
bit, but by any calculation I can make, the overwhelming picture is one of
convergence between wages in the tigers and in the West through a process of
only because I often find it hard to convince people that the views of the
faction he represents are as crude and naive as they really are. "Surely,"
people say, "they can't really believe that countries can attract massive
capital inflows and run big trade surpluses at the same time? They must have
some more sophisticated point in mind." The only answer to such
rationalizations is to catch somebody with his hand in the cookie jar. And
F-22 for the Air Force." Given that the skies are filling up with planes like
are being built by countries which are all pushing hard for foreign sales, so
it is not inconceivable that our Air Force might confront some of these
kind of spending had made New York ungovernable. The economy was dead, the
budget was in perpetual crisis, and crime was shooting through the roof.
four years, and much of the current drop in crime can be attributed to the
property owner, it should be encouraged. Research indicates that liberal
firearms laws result in a reduction of crimes against persons. Since citizens
legally carrying firearms make those areas safer, firearms restrictions are
counterproductive. Thank you for the encouragement.
reasoning. Recent research does indicate that liberal firearms laws
reduce crime against persons. But it does not follow that liberal firearms laws
criminals and so reduce crime against my neighbors. In that case, according to
buy a gun, I prevent crimes against myself while having no effect on crimes
against my neighbors; criminals who choose me as a victim end up wasting their
time, but criminals who choose you as a victim are as successful as
ever. In that case, I have ample incentive to arm myself, and there is no
criminals who try unsuccessfully to rob me go on to rob someone else instead.
argument for discouraging gun ownership through taxation.
hypotheses is closest to the truth and am not aware of any research that
settles that question. Therefore I do not know whether gun ownership should be
of hard work and ingenuity. It will take harder work and more ingenuity before
things he chronicles. More importantly, his writing style lends credence to
found it to be in very poor taste. I will assume for argument's sake that the
theories put forward over the centuries which account for the survival of the
on Earth. Your decision to publish such an article dismays me. I would urge you
to remove this article from the Net and avoid this type of journalism in the
my story impedes Earth's peace and civilization. Thanks anyway, but exposure
(the story) and scorn (the style) are two available antidotes to the heritage
of hatred and dehumanization I described, and which is arguably a bigger
problem than my story. The article's unfathomable purpose was, to quote it, "a
lesson in how the most inane ideas can have the most appalling
the meaning of immunity to allow for the fruits of immunized testimony to be
obligation to represent their clients to the fullest extent allowed by law. If
investigation targets to testify just so that I could obtain the fruits of the
testimony. It would be an excellent investigative tool.
Unfortunately, it would be an excellent investigative tool precisely because it
would make my job easier, it would also make this country a less desirable
unintentionally hilarious evidence for his conditional diagnosis is the alleged
author claims, has been "known" since ancient times. From this dubious premise
psychiatrist who muses that "there are many other cases."
do things to Robin Givens (his former wife) that "he would normally never do."
drugs and undergo a "medical clearance" on his behavior.
this nonmedical and simply silly analysis should blind the public to what
happened in reasonably clear terms: An irresponsible boxer, motivated by fear
of losing, took the easy way out, which entailed, he correctly anticipated,
relatively few negative consequences. In previous fights, wherein he was
winning or had a good chance to win, his "illness" did not manifest itself.
obviously chose to remember on which side his bread was buttered rather than
wish he had not said." Surely an entry for the understatement of the year.
trusted aide, "John, we have the power. Are we using it to investigate the
and Herb Stein continued to support him although it was "unlikely" that they
and does a grave disservice to the sense of fairness and decency to all.
was represented by the offensive things he said to some people, I do not know.
I can only reflect my own experience and observation. I never had any reason to
in the slightest degree suggestive of such an attitude. He was unfailingly
friendly and sympathetic not only to me but also to other members of my family.
in general that entitles him to anything less than my total loyalty," is quite
precise. It said neither more nor less than I meant and I stand by it.
Chains," electronic chain mail is campaigned against by certain Web sites
on the grounds that it "wastes Internet bandwidth, reduces productivity, and
exploits human emotions." He goes on to consider the "upside" to such mail, and
friends. Electronic chain mail certainly is objectionable for the reasons
Guidelines instructs: "Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain
letters are forbidden on the Internet. Your network privileges will be revoked.
However, unless I am mistaken, this is not the conversation that President
such, isolated from specific problems and specific policy proposals. Thus, the
multicultural conversations, which disintegrated, predictably, into the type of
is so familiar to those of us who have spent time on the campuses of elite
Preliminary, local conversations on race have already been held in North
national level, conversations about racism. These make some people feel good by
encouraging them to feel angry, and they make others feel good by letting them
feel guilty, but they make the rest of us feel a distinctly tight sensation in
our chests, as our hopes for a rational discussion are systematically
disappointed. And they don't begin to address the concrete socioeconomic
It": "One can only speculate how executives of a company called Combined
Actually, anyone who knows anything about the insurance business understands
the reason for the change. Combined Insurance Company still exists and writes
insurance under that name. The parent company recently acquired by merger the
value. So the newly merged company had several problems: how to announce to the
world that it was now not only an insurance underwriter, but also a broker; how
mind quite elegant. It keeps the initial capital A and the first two syllables
especially one that has just undergone a major and disruptive change; it has a
Standard Oil of New Jersey, whose main subsidiary marketed in most places under
effort to find out about his subject companies before he makes fun of them. I
equal concern" with the persistent trade deficit with Japan.
Judgment" (which, naturally, makes me wonder about that feature's synopses
of those books, movies, etc., that I haven't read).
"commandeers a television station." In fact, he becomes the inadvertent subject
the cost of air bags. Because each consumer only pays for the air bags in his
or her own car, the cost of each life saved is no more than the cost to the
owner of a vehicle. The total cost of an air bag is $500--this breaks down to
there may be savings on the above figure. And anyway, that figure would seem to
be a rather small price to pay for additional safety.
in which death might have occurred if air bags had not been installed. It does
not take into account the number of accidents in which the injuries might have
been more serious if air bags had not been installed. It also doesn't reflect
systems aren't perfect, but they do offer another level of protection. Being
aware that there may be a problem with air bags will help us minimize that
takes to put on your seat belt is just too long a period to make economic
value to our time, and to use that to determine the value of the total time we
spend buckling up. There are (at least) three problems with this approach:
less than three seconds taken from the middle of my daughter's wedding.
that time between activities as a buffer period during which several small
tasks are addressed and uncertainties are guarded against. So the time, in
is that the value of a unit of time is partially determined by the duration of
makes sense to worry about the time it takes to put on a seat belt if it
actually results in a delay in our progress. Does it? Many of us put on our
seat belts while the car is in motion. Others do so while warming up their
from the problems with these basic assumptions, I was duly awed and intimidated
impotence treatments offer millions of these men and their partners renewed
unfortunate that your writer elected to treat this topic with a flippant
disregard for the emotional stress associated with impotence. The accompanying
illustration, combined with the overall tone of the article, demonstrates a
petty insensitivity to the emotional anguish of aging. Impotence is no joke. In
an article about the loss of sexual virility among older men, we find a lack of
Injection therapy has truly benefited hundreds of thousands of men and
foreplay, or anticipates being so engaged soon. He excuses himself briefly,
wipes the side of his phallus with a small alcohol wipe, and uses an
penis. With stimulation (visual, manual, oral, fantasy), this engorgement
becomes a normal erection, with which he can satisfy his partner and
of men with this technique, I must say that it is safe, effective, and
men drop out? Poor teaching, poor motivation, lack of opportunity, and, very
rarely, a failure of the treatment itself. Although this glib and witty piece
and cheap rhetorical tricks. Chapman doesn't realize that revelation is not a
set of propositions one accepts, but an encounter in which one is moved beyond
oneself. It's analogous to an encounter with a work of beauty. Neither the
beauty of the artwork nor the truth of Scripture's word can be proved using
some supposedly neutral line of reasoning. Instead, both are given to human
what faith means, but what Chapman means by "illogical" and "without evidence."
What exactly would count as "evidence" for Chapman? Clearly, many find it very
reasonable to believe that God exists, despite their adolescent need to have it
proved to them, as if metaphysics and mathematics were the same discipline. For
these people there is evidence, but not proof persuasive enough to meet the
mythological standards of neutral rationality, a standard that no philosopher
in his right mind would defend today. Is there a rational basis for thinking
that God exists? Yes, but the answer depends on what counts as "evidence," and
note on God's concern. We can, of course, continue to ask why there is evil in
the world. But, at some point, we also have to face the fact that this is the
world we live in, a world where evil often seems to triumph, and death appears
to have the last word. In this context, the cross not only inscribes God's
concern, but also proclaims, with the resurrection, God's ultimate victory, a
Won," Martin Walker makes an awkward attempt to criticize the West for its
air of superiority after victory in the Cold War. Although he doesn't want to
along. Now Martin repeats his words as if they were prophetic.
Martin has no liking for these revolting characters, nor for the regime they
represented, which was the most disastrous social experiment in history.
fast foods, the consumerism, the fake entertainment, the destruction of native
It is horrible. But I do not agree that the Cold War was about that. To blame
Your Kids." But I found it curious that he ignored a relevant phenomenon
conflict over weaning. This conflict is inevitable in mammalian life because
offspring seek to monopolize maternal resources as long as possible, but their
mothers seek to divide resources between all present and future offspring.
with a newborn infant, before the age when weaning would naturally become an
their objections to being kicked out of our bed at those ages than when they
to the parents' sex life is not the incidental side effect that Wright
suggests. Rather it may serve to delay the conception of a rival for maternal
end, I agree that principles of evolutionary psychology tend to support the
argument for sleeping with your infant. But those same principles also suggest
that if you choose to do so, you won't avoid the noisy battle of wills with
you might say that the early separation from parents is sending a forceful
up the kids to be cooperative members of their social group. Though I
appreciate the personal freedoms I enjoy as an adult, I think our culture is
overly fearful of the dependent nature of children, and so we try to force them
(prematurely) to be the atomized individuals that industrial society
relationships as sexually charged. As Wright implies in passing, there is a
feeling that sleeping with children is vaguely incestuous. However, incest
tends to occur among families that are distant, not ones that are intimate.
Everyday contact, in fact, seems to take away the glamour.
is that there is a big difference between basic reading and highbrow reading.
But this is not a crucial distinction for people concerned about literacy in
is a point at which lack of curiosity and sheer ignorance are indistinguishable
from a deficiency of intelligence. This article was a good example of
that she really believes what she is saying. I am the president of the Literacy
Council of Garland County, Ark., and I know that the functional illiteracy rate
is obviously faulty. It is nonsense to ask an illiterate person if he's reading
a book. Of course he's going to say "yes." The last thing an illiterate person
wants to advertise is the fact that he can't read. Our culture is filled with
and other books because they have learned from television and the movies.
the only world religious leader who acts the way many feel a world religious
to ban women from the priesthood and gays and lesbians from humanity in
simpler than our unnecessarily complex world would like to believe, but either
belongs to the government, and the portion we are allowed to keep is some sort
of present. The flaw is best expressed when she refers to last week as
"windfall week." As we all know, the money in a tax refund is money that the
taxpayer earned and was kept by the government for up to a year without
shelters" are similarly puzzling. Can she possibly mean that we should pay more
in taxes than the law requires? She then goes on to extol the virtues of our
precious," but she knows that we are talking about percentages of their total
income, not a fixed amount. I think Slate's articles are usually insightful,
certainly more democratic than a flat tax. The system of exemptions and
deductions, although perhaps a little complicated, really means that one's tax
obligations are custom tailored to one's specific circumstances. Paradoxically,
the more we try to simplify the code, and the more "one size fits all" we try
to make it, the less conforming to our individual needs the system becomes.
always trying to have it both ways. We want all the breaks, and we want a
simple system. The two approaches, unfortunately, are mutually exclusive. If we
go to a flat tax and then people find out that they're paying more than others
they perceive as less deserving, they are going to scream like stuck pigs. If
are more bent on garnering attention through controversy than they are through
new top person with each administration, and then it's a whole new
had, this should not be viewed as a source of income or bonus. How about the
fact that the government has held that money over the course of the year,
preventing you from collecting interest or circulating it throughout the
economy. There is no positive outlook in having the government hold on to your
money so you can get a bonus check at the end of the year.
rich is concerning. You feel that you can judge who values a dollar more based
on individualism. Taxes do not empower the individual, they empower the
government and sucker people by taking their extra income to fund
continues to baffle me about progressive taxing is why people care so much what
standard of living, and even provide jobs. These are the people that drive our
economy. The more money you take out of their hands the more money you take out
of the economy. Our current method only penalizes people for making more money.
We have turned monetary success into a crime. It is no wonder our society is
floundering around and the current generation is called Generation X.
a "terminally ill patient killing himself" involves either "important interests
of other people" or an action "horribly against the actor's own interests." I
is not intrinsically questionable. For some, it is clear: From conception until
fetus to an issue of ownership by calling it "her" fetus, using an assumption
killing is justified when it releases a willing victim from pain, a maxim that
could lead to a justification of slaying the innocent to avoid any other
wishes to replace the moral teleology of law with obeisance to cultural
prejudices, informing us that unjust acts may be countenanced when popular
ideology asserts them to be "personal" and hence putatively free of legal
restraint. But the better part of Western thought has always affirmed that the
principles of law are ineluctably related to the principles of good.
perspectives have enriched my understanding and challenged my students. They
have made all of us really think, which should be the highest motive of an
economist. Clearly, you have chosen two of the best.
dialogue with him regarding his ideas expressed in Slate and his book, The
providing this service, Slate has demonstrably increased my effectiveness in
the classroom by engaging my students in a conversation with two leading
been, in large part, defined by one's genes. Thus, it seems to me that the deep
one's gene pool might disappear, and has very little to do with religion. That
include snide comments in parentheses in "Today's Papers,"
shouldn't that be reflected in the name of the section? For example: "Today's
Papers (and our snide comments)." I love the comments, and they expose the
major media's frequent indulgence in propaganda under the pretext of reporting
news. But if part of your summarizing is commenting on the occasional lapse in
the journalistic ethics of those you are summarizing, then isn't it unethical
since its inception, and I usually find the articles and
you write an article about your parent company or a firm that has a financial
a bit strange that you seem so comfortable pronouncing dismissively on
it was Xerox who pioneered the concept and developed the technology. I don't
hear too many acknowledgments from the folks at Mac. The accolades go to those
disservice to the advancement of economic science, which I believe should move
away from excessive focus on the concepts of scarcity, trade, and money that
the founding fathers worked with. Instead, recognize man as a biological
entity, and recognize economic processes and phenomena as those resulting from
instance, to closer attention to relationships between savings and investment
and the human life cycle (rather than abstract analysis on the incentives to
defer current consumption). It would also look at many artifacts such as
mansions, cathedrals, etc., as elements in the competitive propagation of genes
to future generations through better nesting, clan identification, etc.
of analysis is probably much more called for than evolution. There is a lot
more to learn about current economic phenomena before exploring evolution,
but then the purpose of sound science is the search for the truth, not the
"will do almost nothing to create jobs." In fact, one way or the other EMU
rigidities (particularly in the labor market), the initial consequence will be
a rise in unemployment, followed by an improvement with a delay of a couple of
unemployment may fall initially, but at some stage higher inflation and a
depreciating euro would force a course correction, and unemployment would rise
actual requirements of such a currency, are another matter.
silly blather about globalization, I was particularly struck by the vacuousness
of this sentence: "The liberalization of trade also effectively prevents
governments from erecting protective barriers to boost the domestic
liberalization of trade," by definition, is precisely the lack of protective
lack of protective barriers leads inexorably to a lack of protective barriers,
this for free in Slate, rather than paying big bucks for the wisdom of these
Use") to log off. He's obviously spending too much time online. That's the
programs he panned? If he had, he certainly would have noticed that the program
serious news program. We feature extensive coverage of the major issues each
and every day, and devote more time to international news than any of our
way, if not showing up in gossip columns or fashion magazines makes me, or my
that squelches dissent in "movement" publications under punishment of
expulsion. He must be reading different publications and attending different
"movement" gatherings than I. My colleagues and I at the Competitive Enterprise
frequent parties. National Review has been scathing in its attacks on
hope you will consider widening the scope of "Today's
conventional spotlight all he could. He died of a heroin overdose in relative
the hype machine created by his record label that he started getting rich and
prompt us to work harder, because we net more from each hour of labor, and to
economic theory says no such thing. You have confused lower taxes with lower
effort of individuals for the reasons you stated. Some tax cuts, however, do
not raise the reward for work and therefore do not increase work effort. The
Republican tax package. Clearly, this tax cut does not "net more from each hour
children better off (or wealthier) and, therefore, reduces the need to work. In
of the Republican tax cut will mean less time at work, which in turn means a
further reduction in tax revenues. This may be good "family" politics but I
browsing, perhaps in a different section of the bookstore, may be in order. His
surpluses are a greater danger than foolishly excessive trade
you run a trade deficit every year, bankruptcy will eventually force you to
stop. But excessive trade surpluses can go on forever. A perpetual trade
surplus is likely to mean you're either working too hard or consuming too
little; either way, you're not getting enough enjoyment out of life."
harmless; the debt is transferred to others (customers, suppliers, taxpayers,
the rest of society), and the damage can (and often does) multiply beyond the
kicker is the last line. Enjoyment of life is reduced when one produces more
certainly a striking fact that male gorillas are twice the size of females; but
looking from gorillas to humans, what should strike us is not that men are
somewhat bigger than women, but that they are nowhere near twice as big. What
evolution is trying to tell us here is that male aggression is much less
important for human beings than it is for gorillas. Wright's argument against
women in the infantry depends also on the assertion that what men in fact fight
about is women. That's debatable. At least as good an explanation is that men
fight about Lebensraum. Wright is no doubt familiar with the wars of the
territory than fights over females. As for things getting "more primitive, not
less" when soldiers go to war, this is also a fairly careless argument. Actual
combat could just as well make things better, not worse, for women. It might be
easier to build solidarity when your life depends on it, rather than back home
in camp; and men might find it easier to believe that women can fight if they
replies: Anyone who doubts that male chimpanzees spend lots of time
for that very reason, got a clearer look at daily life within a colony than
sexual encounters leaves no doubt about what was ultimately at stake when males
males fight over access to fertile females. This isn't to say that
territoriality couldn't also in theory be a cause of aggressive tendencies in
impetus for the evolution of aggressive tendencies in males.
combat attack over Stein's reverie, which I think is quite lovely, is beyond
me. And that part about "erotic confessionals" was too funny to be real! If
are "erotic confessionals," if this is the frustration she experiences from
"Watching the Couples Go By," then she had better not read anything at
all. And finally, the idea that the editors could have spared her the injury of
having to read Stein's piece had they listed it under the title of "Diary"
takes the prize for "most ludicrous statement thus far expressed in the history
single line without really wanting to at all? Alas, blame it on the boys! Too
soul. It has been my feeling for some years that all the talk about race is in
rate on existing capital gains cannot possibly increase investment in
productive resources. You cannot change individuals' past investment decisions.
increase investment and not because it is a handout to the rich could gain a
lot of credibility if they advocated reducing the rate only on future capital
admission that he has written it all before. I assume that he formed his
convictions as a student, when he had no investments and didn't even know what
money out of the market, it is because I watch the ticker much of the morning,
myself. I could lose my shirt at any moment. I have had noticeable losses, and
is apparently unable to provide accurate factual information, and even
carriers on all its routes except those with too little traffic to support a
second operator. If you want to find such a monopoly, you need look no further
than the rails, where the national operator operates the world's fastest in
cooperation with similar companies in the neighboring countries. Also, the
could flag numerous other fundamental errors, I think that these should be
secretary when mine collapsed last year, I was wondering who got those plush
get together to make decisions (mostly on proposals by the Commission).
because somebody can write and his or her spouse gets an assignment abroad does
to relocate to write that piece. Since Slate is distributed electronically and
is available to a wide international audience, you should get less ethnocentric
views of the world. Couldn't you get contributions from outside your
(and not, thereby, actually a lord except in using that word in this courtesy
this position, and an amazing number of writers, even those for the
to the Lords only so they'd have a place to speechify after retiring from the
unprecedented step last week of refusing to let reviewers see The
Avengers before it was released. The widespread assumption was that the
studio knew the movie was a dog but was hoping to salvage a good opening
weekend before people found out. But by locking the critics out, knowing this
world that The Avengers was a dog. It's as futile as a restaurant
publicly refusing to allow a health department inspection.
critics by pretending to be deeply afraid of them. They also bolstered an
important delusion: that a movie as awful as The Avengers is the
exception and not the rule. Singling out The Avengers as terrible
Reviewers too have a stake in keeping up the pretense that most films are worth
You might argue that movies aren't so bad nowadays. But
that would only prove that you haven't spent much time at the multiplex this
summer. Here are the big summer releases from the other major studios: The
or two others that qualify as harmless fun. What you have left is a run of
formula films and glorified video games pitched to the adolescent audience.
It's not necessary to see these films to know how dismal they are, because they
are reiterations of other bad films. To be sure, there were plenty of crummy
genre films in the golden age of cinema. And good ones still break through from
time to time. But it would be seriously perverse to maintain that mainstream
argued in a New Yorker article earlier this year that they face a choice
of being either hucksters or cranks. Either they declare that pablum is
saying that these are the twin poles, but most critics actually fall somewhere
trapped in what has become a journalistic dead end, an untenable profession.
writer whose oeuvre rises to a level beyond all pigeonholing, and he is
basically the same approach to their job. As far as possible, they ignore
almost entirely. They concentrate on obscure films, which may be wonderful but
only A Taste of Cherry and Pi is not a viable alternative for
most critics. Even relatively successful independent films have no distribution
beyond big cities, and if you want to see foreign films nowadays, you have to
producers, understandably want their critics to write about movies advertised
in their pages, movies that also happen to be the only ones average people are
likely to see. The worst hucksters are the reviewers who spend their weekends
provide the blurbs quoted in advance newspaper ads ("An ending that will knock
which seldom appear in actual reviews, to the studio publicists. In some cases,
publicists write the blurbs themselves and find "critics" to accept
Most movie reviewers occupy a middle ground between Don
movies were better and are trying not to notice that their love object has
a condition of collapse. They appraise poor films as good and fair films as
aesthetic explanation is that critics see so many bad movies that their taste
deteriorates. If you are forced to spend your afternoon sitting through
is that movie reviewers are really part of the movie industry. They exist to
encourage people to see movies in general, even if they must discourage them
from seeing some in particular. In all but a few places, a reviewer who
consistently pans blockbusters is likely to run into trouble with his
superiors. Movie ads are a major source of revenue for papers and magazines and
threatening that money. Most critics can tell you stories about the pressure on
art form is the demise of the audience with a taste for serious and challenging
films. If she's right, there may not be much reviewers can do. But it would be
nice to see them rage a little against the degradation of the medium they're
supposed to love. One way to protest would be to follow the "crank" critics in
acknowledging that movies such as Deep Impact and Small Soldiers
don't require evaluation. A newspaper that wants to serve its readers well can
Avengers reviewed, reviewers should be only too happy to oblige.
South Mission Beach, I can attest to the growing popularity of beach
volleyball. However, there appear to be no rules for the erection of private
boundaries), and a ball. The problem is that, quite often, players emerge early
in the day from their seashore abodes, put up a net, and then return to bed,
courts proliferate, those who come to the beach to bathe in either sun or surf
will be pushed to the water's edge, and that conflict will result. Government
will then rear its ugly head, issue regulations, and the beach will be calmer
volleyball is an apt metaphor for politics, after all.
Funds." It isn't the content or the lack of advertising that endangers
Like the Republicans, you're riding the elephant backward as you try to build a
message wasn't that you guys are planning to bail out. I really find Slate an
mining revenue is somewhat less than that. This hardly counts as dependence.
explained that "Senate Republican leaders are feeling their oats over
that Lee and any other future nominees to the post will face a tough new
standard on affirmative action." The Supreme Court did not "uphold" Proposition
precedential value, nor does it necessarily tell us anything about the court's
opinion of the measure. The court receives thousands of petitions asking it to
than two hundred of them. The court may decline to review a case for any number
irregularities or because the issue it presents has not yet "percolated"
through the lower courts. Therefore, when journalists present the court's
decision to decline to review a case as "upholding" the lower court's decision,
more careful in presenting the decisions of the Supreme Court to its readership
Central" both your most enjoyable and most useful feature. By capsulizing
the inanities that pass for political commentary, you expose the vapidity of
the opinions and put these "opinions" in their proper perspective. I found the
suit up for service in the Gulf, now or ever. But other people fighting and
have (someone else) pay any price, face any foe. Keep up the good work,
Talk," on the key to this year's gubernatorial and municipal elections,
redefines the word "autocracy." He did miss the bus, however, on at least one
after last year approving a regional transit system of express buses, commuter
nothing" verdict. By taking away the jury's choice to consider a manslaughter
and J. Crew on the Web. True, there were other references at the end of the
commentary was that the New York Times ("Tardy Catalogue Shoppers Risk
shoppers into buying, thereby playing the role of a shameless pawn in the
shopper." I didn't wait till the last minute. I dogged the pages of a number of
or "not available" for just about everything I chose. I thought I was just
relatively new Web user. My girlfriend was attempting to find a book for a
Manhattan. I had heard about Amazon, so we went online with my new Power
Computing machine. We found the book she was looking for, and found a couple of
other interesting books. My girlfriend enjoyed browsing through the lists of
fact, out of print, and that the rest of our order was on the way. We got the
books in a timely fashion. In sum, my experience with Amazon was good. They
didn't work magic by finding books bookstores couldn't, but they did deliver on
their promises, and Amazon certainly presents some interesting browsing methods
and far better search facilities than most bookstores.
Noble have some genuine competition. I agree that there is nothing like going
to a bookstore on a cold winter morning, but there is also nothing like
discovering an interesting new author while sitting in your home in your robe,
sipping a cup of coffee. How many books they physically have in their warehouse
Allegro. At first I was astonished that I had to walk through the store to find
the archeology section. I then had to read several book spines, using a
the years, looking for the author's name. It was not to be found. I then stood,
confused, for a few moments, until a human male confronted me with a question:
biological version of a search engine, so I said, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and
correct. I was disappointed with the speed at which the engine performed, for
he, as did I moments before, searched the archeology section (though with
religion section, toward which I was led (still on foot). He again browsed the
books visually and pulled a tome from the shelf. "Here it is. Is there anything
the cover: Yes, indeed, this was the book in question. "Yes," I said. I wanted
the scroll translations and a couple of other books on the same subject. I
yeah, prices." By the expression on his face I knew for sure I had blundered
bookstore, and Borders is not an electronic bookstore. You can't browse titles
asynchronous connection. They're different. My first Amazon order was placed on
the article's authors ordered, took about nine days. I have paid, with
shipping, about the same for books through Amazon as I would have at a local
bookstore. But I have found books on Amazon's site that are certainly
nonexistent on Borders' shelves. If you gotta order it, you gotta order it.
filling out the form for my initial order; I don't know how long it took, but I
was taking my time, making sure everything was correct. I don't remember it
being difficult. And now, after selecting my books, it takes me less than a
card," punch my way through about three "are you really sure?" screens, and my
order is in. Amazon remembers who I am, where my books are going, and my
suggest, even if I were typing with the back of my head.
and with the right mix of sarcasm and serious analysis, they have been
virtually unmissable throughout the trial. The same can be said for his earlier
"Diary" entries on the Republican and Democratic party conventions during the summer.
the civil trial has come to a conclusion, does Slate have any more projects up
insightful than anything else for either the criminal or the civil trial
National Governors' Association winter meeting. Several Republican governors
supported restoration of aid to illegal immigrants (which was cut in the new
Unfortunately, the substitution of "illegal immigrants" for "legal immigrants"
in this blurb rendered this passage not only factually inaccurate, but
politically unintelligible. The cuts the governors complained about were the
elimination of benefits to legal immigrants, who heretofore have been
treated pretty much the same as citizens with regard to welfare benefits. The
legal immigrants off federal aid simply dumps them onto local taxpayers, even
though millions of poor continue to arrive. Your coverage made a complicated
subject even more obscure and made light of a sea change in the treatment of
immigrants which carries grave human consequences. Was it a simple error or
particularly his observation that human beings have become dwarfed by
generation one day be interpreted as similarly insignificant in the face of
really well done, concrete analysis of an aspect of the Web that I have ever
Conservative Collapse," about the foundering Republican Party; and
inexperienced, why has he won so many felony convictions, each closer
and closer to the White House? And the Republican Party is bereft of ideas?
a tax they didn't like, and want to expand the rat hole known as the welfare
state) have had new ones. The only ideas the Democratic Party has are
hundreds of White House "coffees"! Slate is obviously so misinformed that they
don't know (or don't care) that using the White House for political
the law! Slate is obviously a product of our foundering educational system: It
does not know or care about the law or what is right and wrong. If this is what
of the New York law mandating the teaching of the famine as a historical
example of genocide. As a sometime teacher, I see this sort of legislation as
also clear that the motivation behind such legislation is a reaction to
observers as it is to modern ones. Many contemporary English observers
advocated intervention to thwart the famine. Their voices went unheeded by the
centuries, relegated them to the most marginally cultivable pieces of land. A
When that crop failed several years in succession, they had no viable
alternative to starvation or (if they could afford it) emigration.
superficial understanding of their own history, and to focus on the positive
aspects of their culture to the exclusion of less admirable parts, this only
proves that they are human, and as prone to historical myopia as Anglophiles or
the World?" only scratches the surface of this issue by focusing on the
murky areas of politics, raw power, and corruption.
recognize that when the basic framework of a society disintegrates, external
food supplies may just lead to additional reproduction, and thus more
widespread starvation. Desperate people who have lost all hope for themselves
are biologically driven to propel possibly surviving offspring into the next
the issues posed by the relationships between technologically advanced
have no answers, but a suggestion: Look at the global picture and step down
from ideological and judgmental postures onto the plane of common sense and
still dancing professionally. Which means, just like our grunting action
that it really stands out when he blows it, as he does in "Too Much of a Good
to refer to something praised far in excess of its value ("Sergeant
Pepper has been hyped as a masterpiece, but the fact is, most of the songs
doing your confessing for you, honey, it ain't a confession). Yes, yes, I
would derive hype from hyperbole rather than more circuitously
stimulation associated with drug use. I stand my ground, though. Yes, at first
glance, this alternative derivation would seem to make sense, because hype
would also seem to make sense that frosh would be derived from
excessive or false publicity goes back much further than the 1960s
attested to as a verb and noun associated with drug use, and the word is
hypodermic connection. None of them makes a hyperbole connection.
minor occurrence with false importance is called 'hype' or 'media hype,' from
the euphoric kick one gets from an injection of a narcotic with a hypodermic
(whose volume containing "H" words has just been published), about the
response was, "I very much doubt that." He went on to note that "hyperbole
comes from a rather elevated level of diction for the kinds of people who
word hyperbole could well be offering hype a certain
reinforcement. "Once a word comes into circulation," Lighter said, "its
survival is based in part on all of the associations it brings to
into an operating system." This is entirely and totally wrong, and anyone
paying any attention to what's going on with Java would know this. I am really
certainly free to come out on any side of any issue, but when it comes to an
readers can ask is that you take care to learn the basic facts of the matter
and check that what's in the article is at least remotely plausible.
past two weeks. I had two goals for my article: first, to explain what Java is;
and second, to debunk the Java hype. I can only gather by the voluminous
responses to my article that I was successful in touching a few nerves. I would
shrink, but they will still be with us. Furthermore, Java will never work well
features. I apologize for having the wrong ratio in how slow current Java
implementations are. It is indeed now only three times as slow as native code,
Many readers have pointed out how great Java is; I agree! Java makes code
Java should rightly be compared to Visual Basic and other tools meant for rapid
This is the comparison most Java pundits make; therefore, it was the comparison
I chose to highlight. I have not found any examples of truly complicated robust
under the impression that the purpose of Slate's dialogues was to allow two
then, in your Promise Keepers "Dialogue," have you chosen two Promise Keepers cheerleaders to
face off on the burning question "Are the Promise Keepers totally wonderful, or
were taking the position that the Promise Keepers are not a healthy phenomenon.
Maybe their side should be represented in the discussion.
"Smokey and the Bandits," I agree with most of the points, but it
how does he change his crop? He needs more land. He can only buy it from other
tobacco farmers, thereby putting them out of business. One way or another many
tobacco farmers are forced out of their livelihood.
Prejudice," a terrific piece on the lunacy associated with "extreme"
activities. The inordinate attention granted to these activities by the
have lost their ability to enjoy physical activities just for fun and the
satisfaction derived from a good, hard workout. They feed their resultant
substitutes for their sense of self worth. These sorts of things once seemed to
crises. Now it seems that the disease has cut a swath through a much broader
sector of the population, and no longer requires testosterone poisoning as a
sudden the New Republic and The Nation bore me to tears. They sit
on my nightstand until I chuck them. I just figured out that it's Slate's
fault. Every issue is interesting; I read every article. Your links are
wonderful. Most of my bookmarks are Slate links that I would never have thought
Millennium Dome began to take shape last year, condemnation has poured in from
could have gone toward housing and the National Health Service. Conservatives
chance that something so despised might deserve defending, I put on a hard hat
Mean Time, this is the spot where the millennium can be argued to officially
debut.) As I half suspected, the dome is better than advertised. As a building,
it may or may not succeed. But the dome has at least a chance to follow in the
path of its illustrious English ancestors, the Crystal Palace exhibition of
advance as wasteful and stupid. But they are remembered now as monumental
As a feat of architecture, engineering, and urban renewal,
first conceived of the project, and Labor was officially opposed before it took
make the dome a kind of signature for "New Labor," there were just three years
gasworks site. Before construction could begin, the ground below literally had
to be washed to remove cyanide and arsenic. Engineers then went about raising a
room of nearly a million square feet. This is a structure so huge that,
skin. Day suggests that winter visitors will want to bring overcoats and brandy
flasks, because the building is simply too big to heat (though I suspect the
responsible for turning hundreds of acres of industrial wasteland into a lovely
like many of the world's great cities, is being undone by traffic and unplanned
into public space. If successful, the dome will make the case for pursuing
example, is for a building to show how it works, exposing its elevators,
ventilation pipes, and structural girders. You can see, at a glance from the
outside, how the dome stands up. Its huge tent is sustained by brilliant yellow
ones have an early '80s, "new wave" look. But the dome has the advantage of
being temporary. The millennium exhibition will last a year, and though the
that it be left that way. And members of the planning committee may privately
share that wish. Almost every decision about how to fill the space has aroused
controversy. The most ridiculed proposal is "Body," a gargantuan naked human
people can walk through, observing the operation of the internal organs as in a
Rogers building. Leaving Dome Person unsexed on the exterior seems overly
The greatest challenge may be the least futuristic part of
describing itself to the world. In previous great exhibitions, this was a less
was an imperial power with a unitary culture. A great exhibition was a chance
to dazzle with what it could make and build, beginning with the glass and iron
the emergence from wartime rationing into postwar consumerism. But today,
economy. It depends far more on the export of services and its culture than it
because it sees it as an opportunity to convey this new social and economic
member in charge of the millennium project, was lampooned for traveling to
dome is a great marketing opportunity. Which makes it, in a way, an authentic
mathematical model with little connection to reality, extended it to absurd
lengths, and stated that the conclusions are the only reasonable social policy.
He truly embodies the worst stereotypes of both economists and radical
say is that no society in human history has ever sustained very rapid economic
and insult those who disagree, using phrases like "their pathological concern
for future generations" and "an epidemic of hysteria," ending the piece with
the diagnosis of "a mild air of intellectual schizophrenia" for those of us who
to famine and widespread devastation, and at least a couple of major
ridiculing anyone who tried to consider the consequences of their actions.
of our government budget now goes to pay the interest on the debt that
to most taxpayers), yet the interest on that debt will dominate government
this interest by borrowing more each year, and continue to do so indefinitely,
shortsightedness. He begins by suggesting that if the United States could
misleading, verging on irresponsible, to compare the economies of the most
powerful nation on earth to a Third World country recently infused with the
showed the same growth as the Raptors, they'd eventually be winning more games
grandchildren are going to be so rich, they won't mind being reduced to seeing
things like trees only in photographs, and they "might prefer inheriting the
proceeds of economic development to inheriting the redwoods," anyway. But this
seems to be bred from the same kind of "intellectual schizophrenia" he
attributes to those who would disagree with him: If economic growth is
dependent on cutting down trees, what happens when the trees are gone, as he
himself concedes will eventually happen? And if we can continue at this superb
rate of growth after there are no more trees to cut, couldn't we continue with
concern for future generations" carrying over to the deficit as well, and has a
grandchildren are going to be a bunch of spoiled, rich little brats,
undeserving of all the concern we've been giving them.
year, but stagnates, or, God forbid, goes down despite all the cutting of taxes
and trees, and racking up of deficits? Then, I suppose those of us who support
income redistribution wouldn't look so hypocritical and our grandchildren would
worry too much about how their consumption would affect their descendants in
century conditions could afford an even more extravagant lifestyle.
rapid economic growth never lasting more than a century is incorrect. The world
technological progress, and technological progress is, if anything,
government debt. Government spending consumes resources. It consumes an equal
amount of resources regardless of whether it is paid for by debt or by
cost, without accounting for the offsetting benefit: By keeping current taxes
lower than they would otherwise be, the debt allows people to have higher
savings and therefore to earn additional interest. That benefit offsets
the cost. This is not a matter of sophisticated economic theory; it is a matter
of simple arithmetic. Not even the federal government has the power to override
is unlikely. But that's an observation about an essentially parenthetical
case policies based on that forecast will have been mistaken. Sure. It's also
which case all our sacrificing for future generations will look like a big
mistake. It would be silly to say that we should consume everything we've got
just because an asteroid might destroy us, and equally silly to say that
we should engage in an orgy of conservation just because economic growth
might slow to zero. We make the best estimates we can and plan
Act" adopted the conventional response toward this affair: to find a way to
large contributions to the Democratic National Committee is amusing. I remember
was caught passing out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the House floor. Howls
offered by most media to both of these events is the exact opposite of what it
should be. Rather than prohibit the solicitation of campaign contributions at
federal buildings, the Hatch Act should be amended to designate these "hallowed
places" as the only sites at which a candidate may solicit or accept a campaign
contribution. It ought to require that the White House rotunda be the only
that the floors of the House and Senate chambers be the only places an
Marine guard at each site should attach a tag with a microchip to each sack
that emits information about the contributor, the recipient, and the amount of
the screen conveying information on the current "trades."
at prohibition or limiting this activity have shown the proclivity of its
in order to skirt responsibility for its appearance. By forcing candidates to
conduct their fund raising at the places of the peoples' business, politicians
will have to accept responsibility for the appearance and fact of the tie
between influence and money instead of maintaining the fiction of a
out at me. We have heard Vice President Al Gore say that he has violated no
law, and that may be true, within the narrow letter of these laws. The issue
that bothers me is that, as the supposed paragon of virtue of the Democratic
Party, why does Gore apparently go to the very limit of the definition to
government employee, save the president, vice president, and confirmed
appointed officials, to engage in fund raising from a government building, why
do our leaders choose to walk the very thin edge of legality in their political
happened to the concept of a leader being a shining example to the people
expected to follow? Are all now to presume that any activity we choose to
engage in is fine as long as we can find a narrow definition that appears to
violent death." There may actually be a grain of truth to this conclusion, but
doubt that this is due, at least in part, to the increasingly poisonous
and the Truth," a clear and timely example of how conservatives like
to serve their bigoted interests. Sadly, even mainstream media routinely parrot
news organization or political pundit would dare get away with using, say,
other media snooze and bigots take advantage of them.
a researcher's dream, enabling quick and fairly easy access to a wealth of
information. An individual doing research on the Web quickly learns to acquire
the proper tools for the job and, with a little imagination, can find almost
anything. I use a utility that initiates searches on many search engines
little "search refinement" needs to be done, it is much more time efficient
than going to a library, searching there, and then bringing the information
home. Most importantly, the Web is not just about information. It is about
Marriage" adds more confusion to a muddled debate. We need
contract, and nothing keeps people from making their own very special
functions as the enforcer of contracts, making certain rules and formalities a
practical necessity. In the absence of common rules and enforcement, people
would have to resolve conflicts on their own, which can become messy and
marriage contract includes provision of certain social services between two
individuals, the absence of which would result in excessive burdens on society.
Nothing should keep two or more people from signing cohabitation contracts
committing to certain mutual obligations, but whether and to what extent
community privileges should be extended to such unions is another matter.
"demand" recognition and respect. Fair enough. But they would get farther in
their agendas if they would give a little respect to conventional marriage by
letting heterosexual people keep the word marriage to themselves. Gays should
come up with a word for their own committed relationships. Then, they would
attract more support for gaining recognition for the same kinds of legalities
money than to actually volunteer. Someone who donates their time becomes more,
increasing volunteerism has goals other than encouraging more financial
support. Our society is divided by class. It is possible, by choosing the right
little contact with the most severe problems of this country. If these people
were more directly involved, they would undoubtedly feel more connected to the
problems around them. The effect is both monetary, in that it encourages
donations, and political, in that it changes and challenges the indifference to
to Slate's coverage of what is sure to be one of the year's most intelligent
John," doubly disappointing. Her belabored references to '80s teen movies
buried in a pointless parade of her insider knowledge of the scene behind the
whines that it wasn't "developed." But the symbolism of Martin's profession was
clear, and the ideas were consistent. Without having read any interviews or
funny, precise critique, without being bitter. And the movie did not exclude
contrary, for those of us who grew up in the '80s, it spoke with a fresh, real
points out one of the problems in taxing income: It's hard to make it simple
and fair. That's why Goodman likes the simplicity of the flat tax on income.
But that isn't fair either. There is a growing disparity between rich and poor,
but what an individual earns in any given year may not indicate true
flat tax on net worth should be considered. First, net worth is easy to define:
assets (such as cash, real estate, and securities) minus liabilities (or debts)
equals net worth. The Internal Revenue Service would be turned into an agency
whose mission would be simplified: determining the existence and value of
performs this very function in administering the estate and gift tax.
flat tax on net worth is that the tax rate would be considerably lower than
the same amount of money that the federal government now takes in from the
individual income tax--$588 billion. But the single most compelling argument
arguments against the imposition of a wealth tax will be by those who argue
that it will inhibit savings and result in capital flight. But the experiences
will pay much more in taxes, but most of the rest of us will pay less. Some
his wishes. Unfortunately, as so often happens, his last wishes were not
fulfilled in accordance with his will. His wish was to have his clothed
skeleton displayed, not a dressed, mummified corpse. I attach herewith the
through something else "like a laser through grits."
metaphor is initially appealing, but on further examination it demands
the laser?), at least two practical difficulties arise: As the slicing begins,
some considerable quantity of steam should be produced, shielding the subject
grits from our slicing instrument. Moreover, sliced grits show a disconcerting
always notifies ahead of time when a bomb will be set off in a civilian
area. There is an established code just for that. He omitted this fact. When
was convicted of one killing. (Bates' method was to beat the victims with
hammers and then dismember them with butcher knives.)
was "charged to assure you that means will be found by the Continental Congress
pass this correction on to the author of the segment, along with my
appreciation for the writing that is being done in this intriguing format.
that our law enforcement is "corrupt and inefficient"? For a man so critical of
any additional research for his article. We are no more incestuous or
has a proud heritage of progressive politics running from Senate Majority
quality of life with almost any other place in our nation, as would the
natural resources, we are rich in the quality of people that we produce. I
a figure I hold in humorous contempt, is itself the "journalism of fools."
Twin Peaks in obscure plot turns, it was ever entertaining, and the
for the articles, but I always look at the pictures first.
away. (While the audience is clapping for more.) Thanks again for enduring what
is a fine magazine, except for a bit of overwriting that's
describing the curious concept of a logical impossibility. ("This sentence is
false.") The word looks pretentious and silly, however, when it is used as a
synonym for "conflict," "irony," or "contradiction."
has chosen to dedicate the first two days of her diary to the technical
editors must be credited for a journalistic coup. The international community
and myopic optimism surrounding the elections there. Bravo.
United States a new Mustang convertible in exchange for sterilization. He did
offer a few stipulations, but the important part was sterilization, not
removable contraceptive devices. Of course, he was after more than a reduction
in welfare costs. While I agree postponing childbearing is a laudable goal, we
have larger problems to solve regarding children having children.
because I work in the newspaper industry, where we publish daily regardless, I
Life") is interesting. However, he makes some specious claims. He argues,
"After decades of searching, scientists have found no conclusive evidence that
life exists elsewhere in the universe." But scientists wouldn't be able to find
such evidence in the nearby star systems that we have searched thus far; and
the tools we use for detection have limited capabilities.
also writes, "In spite of the immensely powerful tools of modern biotechnology,
scientists still cannot make matter animate in the laboratory." Surely few
decade or two of laboratory research falls somewhat short of the millions of
pundits picked up on the fact that singles are discriminated against by both
parties? Republicans have long denigrated alternative lifestyles. Now
politicians talk about singleness as if it is an alternative lifestyle.
regular column "Summary Judgment" bears the subtitle "Reviewers reviewed"
but, in fact, it does not resemble the "review of reviewers" that used to run
in Spy as much as it resembles a "review revue" (a title previously used
summaries read as rather uncritical, so you're not really reviewing them. Don't
informative, is nothing more than an extraordinarily long advertisement for
refusal to participate "in the deadening conformity of the culture [of]
fund and the value of my share in it. (It's totally unlikely that the
government could invest as successfully as I could with my own money, but never
help poor old folks by contributing to charities of my choice, but never
robbery. Forget privatization and other attempts to "save" the program.
Mandated retirement savings was a bad idea that has seen a disastrous and
failure of prohibition. I didn't find his conclusions surprising, but here are
needs to be said in this case. Saying, "It's not working" seems to induce the
More" is indeed a popular argument, and it's well funded by the diverse
industries spawned by the hysteria. Corrupt politicians don't exist only in
people all very much fear the world of personal freedom I propose. Their
arguments usually have to do with the morality of letting others make their own
(occasionally stupid) choices, without government intervention. Deep down,
though, most of them aren't thinking about other people.
about New York City is the way businesses huddle together. The diamond dealers
districts are ancient, but new commercial clusters are emerging all the time.
At the moment, one of the most pleasing is a little neighborhood a few blocks
years ago, this neighborhood was a no man's land. Bordered on the east by New
butchers and windowless social clubs and old people sitting out on card chairs
on the sidewalk. But lately the tone has been set by a group of small clothing
stores that share an amorphous design sensibility. What's ordinarily so
unappealing about "fashion" is its combination of snobbery, high cost, and
humorlessness. What's wonderful about these places is that they are just the
recent graduates of the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Parsons and
nice afternoons, friends drop in on their bicycles to say hello and examine the
goods. In several of the stores, the owners apologized for not having their
incubator for the rest of the city, which means for the country, which means
for the world. The neighborhood is a favorite scouting territory for designers
national chains such as J. Crew, Urban Outfitters, and the Gap, who come to
troll for inspiration (to put it charitably). These chains, many of which have
urban chic to the middle class. In the new ecology of downtown New York,
stylistic innovation of various kinds is most likely to take place to the east
from small independent designers, who don't seem to mind. For the most part,
they take plagiarism as flattery. At this stage in their careers, the
validation they get from seeing their stylistic ideas catch on is more
what's appealing about these places is that the idea of style they embody is
holistic. All the details of the store convey an aesthetic: the lettering on
the window, the paper stock used for business cards, the lighting, the floor,
the ceiling, the display racks. The stores are designed by people who pay
attention to how everything looks. But they manage to do so, in the main,
is "much wittier." He is in good company, but it is a hopeless battle, and he
than to fight the tides of history and included the word in his political
dictionary, lest that weighty tome prove useless to future generations. I am
informed that the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary will
charged only with the momentous decision of choosing whether to name new
fighting. For instance, I hear Bill Gates is being unfairly harassed by the
the question of what exactly is wrong with the explanation that the situation
officials who had a nasty tendency to do sleazy things but avoid technical
that high officials should observe standards of propriety which surpass the
was a dodge for accusers and malefactors alike. I doubt you could find a single
but the criteria are ambiguous. The nature of the events suggests that we are
to vote on who best imitates a New York Times editorial or a "Talk of
suggests that we are to vote for the most impressive display of empty
virtuosity. (Actually, I think his definition of a hack is incorrect; a hack is
one who's paid by the word or line, not one to whom the rules of journalism
virtuosity in imitation or virtuosity in itself? If the former, then all the
contestants have missed the boat on the second event. There is a formula for
New Yorker "Talk of the Town" pieces. First, the focus of the event (as
defined by the headline of the press release) would never be the focus of the
would have been quoted. It is much more likely that the correspondent would
have talked to the caterer or a disgruntled unknown sitting in the corner.
Also, no New Yorker correspondent would include details of clothing
unless it were to make some larger, allegorical point about the subject.
and uncertainty have never kept me from voting before, however.
something about science and policy, but he is bumbling out of his depth when it
Capt. Button's alleged suicide was a strange event indeed. However, after
or not to commit suicide"? This letter does not permit me the space to develop
a definition of rationality, to examine its compatibility with the decision to
end one's life, or to explain why it's so important that we must always be
strictly rational in the first place. However, I would expect exactly that from
not greatly fear death, death seems like a rational (if not recommended)
jail term, and a very public dishonor brought upon oneself and one's
terminally ill, in wishing to escape from constant pain or degeneration through
irrational. Perhaps the need for rationality does not enter into the
In the two other countries that have flirted with voluntary
"patients"?) decision is not made under the influence of addiction, mental
did argue nearly all are. By what logic? Well, for starters, I noted that
substance abuse. In addition, I pointed out that psychiatrists find that an
wasn't trying to use the word "rational" in any fancy sense. When I say most
people who die by their own hand are irrational, I mean that their thinking is
usually clouded. Generally, mental disease or drugs impair their thinking. If
not, victims are often simply caught up in circumstances and exaggerated fears,
swallowed a bottle of pills after a fight with her boyfriend. Later she thanked
the team for saving her from what she called a "stupid thing to do." Is it
possible to kill yourself while thinking clearly? Yes, but it is far rarer than
Pager would like to believe. In Button's case, it's particularly doubtful given
his tendencies toward dumb, impulsive action revealed in his records.
percent said they would move if blacks came to live in great numbers. Much
on racial grounds, not class.) And other sources paint an "equally reassuring
picture"? Is this fact a "reassuring" one? Any number greater than zero is too
Wonders" incorrectly traces the lineage of "Raising the Roof." I think you
the lyrics "Everyone's entitled to be wild, be a child, be a goof, raise the
right hand in the exact same manner that thousands, yea millions, have done
and should be spelled accordingly. In other words, you could legitimately state
To modify the names of people and organizations to fit a localized spelling
style is to show disrespect to the owners of those names, and condescension to
Like Writing Headlines, I Like Having Written Headlines
I was an impressionable lad and have believed that ever since. I have also
passed on the remark and the attribution to two or three generations of my
Can't say I ever made it quite to the end of that one either.
that to the younger generation we must represent the literary equivalent of
driven into this fog? It's a turgid welter of pornography (the rudest schoolboy
that presents itself is that "compilation" to which you refer, whose arrival,
though unwelcome, is in no way resistible. Of the part that is mine to pass
neither protestation nor ingratitude. Yet that such an ordering hardly induces
vale of longevity is a statement the validity of which cannot be called readily
into question. It is unlikely to fail to play upon the suspicions of such a one
that the composition of his most highly esteemed should be that most lately
however, could a figure such as he neglect the observation that the personage
with whom the former is now abstractly in conversation was accorded the merit
more terrestrial, which is to say well below those of the former on the "list."
Such a "point," once made, could not resist the tendency to instill feelings of
"envy" and ressentiment on the part of an author perhaps better
compensated and perhaps more "popular," but in the view of the critical
expression of both discretion and a great humble reverence for the feelings of
esteemed in the trail of "fashion," there is one included that so transgresses
topic that exercise that in our own great palmy day was considered least worthy
contemporaries so unsupportable should form the core of the work in
question might be thought to constitute a disqualification. To such vulgarian
depths does this "fascination" descend that there is in one place depicted an
speak here of the "liver" scene. For a work whose "climax" depends on feelings
of the most passionate revulsion to be esteemed ahead of your own labors, so
far superior as to be undeserving of inclusion in the same tormented sentence,
and gaping an injustice presents itself as a course of action perhaps less
a copy of your message. I have a place down there in Key West. It's a small
place but a good place. There are cats and a lot of rain and when it rains the
cats all come inside the house. The biggest cat is named Hem. There are some
cat is bigger than the others and also braver and probably a better writer. But
some people who don't know any better think the little cats are pretty cute.
is the drink to drink so we drink it. Sometimes we mix the rum with Coke and
sometimes we don't mix it with anything, depending on how thirsty we are. Rum
and Coke is a good drink, but not if you're thirsty. If you're thirsty, you
were saying something about a list. I couldn't quite make out what you were
young, and you're high up on it. But when you're a little older and not so high
up you see that the list is just a list and that's all it is.
of drugs, drink, gambling, biting his nails, and picking his nose, but not of
busy writing my novels, and if somebody wants to read one of them instead of
complaint for you to please pass along to the committee. My handwriting may not
be all handwriting should be, especially after lunch, but even a county court
judge drunk at noon ought to be able to read a title straight. So please tell
As I Lay Dying cover to cover. Privately, he had found it a bit
confusing. Why was the mother a fish? But he knew that people thought it was a
Yorker, beloved by black people, and a comparatively easy read (not to mention
get paid for what they wrote; and had contempt for lesser talents. Mailer
every book he had ever written, all with flattering inscriptions, and never
Mailer was irked. He felt that it had all been a big literary game. Mailer was
not a critic of Southern literature, but he privately wondered whether
over Mailer's desk and smashed it into a million pieces. After he did that,
there were just pictures of Mailer hanging there. Mailer recognized that this
reaction was not very mature, but Mailer had bigger things to worry about than
minding his literary manners. Mailer didn't understand why people were treating
him like a dead writer, either. Just recently, Mailer had published his
insouciance. Mailer hated those parties, but he hardly ever missed one. "Your
books stink," Mailer imagined himself saying. "Mailer can't understand a word
chihuahuas. The chihuahuas had been shaved real close to the skin, so there
been pretty cold in those Chi winters and when they were hungry they'd claw at
like some hipsters who had pulled off a jewelry heist downtown. They didn't
stop us on suspicion, but just kept tailing us at a distance which made us
Congress Street shoots out West for an amazing distance, which is where we were
bandanna tied around his mouth and said, "Oh man, we completely forgot to go
pleased to be on the list. All these last several decades I have been
the Lighthouse to place fifteenth provides a moment of cheer, for it proves
perhaps only fifty. The end of each arrives, and soon another book is
published, a book is reviewed, more books appear. List succeeds list. Lists
turn into libraries. Some of these books are borrowed from the libraries. These
books, little occurs. A group of persons goes somewhere; or does not go
somewhere; or contemplates going somewhere but delays the decision about
whether to go. The words fly past; two hundred words; six hundred words; one
thousand five hundred words; two thousand words. The words turn into pages: one
hundred pages; two hundred pages; three hundred pages; four hundred pages. The
alphabet is recounted. B follows A. D is preceded by C; then comes E; then F;
then G; then H; then I. If L could be reached, that would be something. But L
Not many even get so far as K. And what of M, and the murky letters which
follow M, which include U, R and W? Who can even speak of W, which shimmers at
the North end of the alphabet, scarcely visible from D. When I think of D, an
image comes into my head that I am powerless to resist: it is the cross section
this "maundering," this reverie for which I am intensely thankful; for nothing
so solaces me, calms me in the perplexity of life, and miraculously raises its
burdens, as this sublime power, this divine talent for writing endlessly about
than one should break the crockery in one's home and leave the shards lying on
the kitchen floor for no reason. Though yes, I have done that at times as
pressure these days. There's the constant hunger for money, exacerbated by the
decline in government funding. There is brutal competition for donors and works
of art. Since the onset of the culture wars, museums also have faced the hazard
of political controversy and the chilling effect it can have on potential
New York Times article argued that these burdens have made the job of
museum director less desirable than it might seem. Perhaps so. But that doesn't
excuse the way some directors have responded to these pressures: with a style
of populism that is very different from a genuine democratic sensibility.
Museum populism is not quite the same as the blockbuster
syndrome. Though devised and marketed on a large scale, shows like the upcoming
boundaries of what these institutions display. They may not contain much that
is conceptually fresh, but they do provide mass access to artistic
masterpieces. You can't really argue with that. The populist trend, by
contrast, draws museums away from art their curators sincerely believe is
in New York City. Other examples include the exhibition of landscapes by the
populism began with an unlikely figure: a patrician medievalist by the name of
guy who came up with the idea of flying huge banners over the entrance to the
museum. He also essentially invented the blockbuster show. His tenure began
with a splashy exhibition on royal patronage and built to the crescendo of
entertaining book published a few years ago, Making the Mummies Dance:
to him that you could herd even more people into an art museum if you didn't
reflect upon the fact that the populist approach it represents grew out of the
touch both with popular morality and with popular taste and punished with a
loss of funds, museum directors have been trying hard to demonstrate that they
are not elitist, difficult, and obscure. The best way to prove you're
not a snob is by not letting your museum seem empty. And the master of
box office smash. In the last few years, the museum's main branch, the iconic
outside the museum's charter. But with aggressive promotion, including
be defensible if it made a better argument for either the cultural significance
or the aesthetic importance of the machines. Industrial design is a stepchild
of the story of artistic modernism. But the exhibition doesn't make the case.
The basic message of the show is: Motorcycles are really cool; here are a bunch
of really cool motorcycles. It includes too many machines--114 in all. Some of
silly. Part of the problem is that, as you might expect from an exhibition
and valve arrangement. The motorcycle also contains a number of other important
cylinders and heads all contribute to the engine's exceptional performance.
eviscerates his own claim that these machines belong in a modern art museum, as
opposed to one focused on design, transportation, or history.
influences the content of the show. It is that the sponsor influences the fact
by promoting its own product is part of the reason that this exhibition took
unpersuasive introduction to the catalog, in which he breezily declares that
the distinction between the unique work of art and the mechanically produced
object is now "irrelevant." In other words, it's open season for guys like him.
Others are embracing this philosophy of complete categorical breakdown. The
he wants to make the museum friendlier to visitors. According to my sources, he
recently stunned his curators by proposing to fill the galleries with potted
doesn't have to mean a haughty elitism. An aesthetic democrat says that more
people could profit from the experience of art if those who ran museums thought
more creatively about how to converse with their audience. A populist says that
if you drop what is difficult in art, you can get more people to pay attention.
The democrat at the helm of a museum, a symphony orchestra, or a publishing
house tries to expand his audience while challenging it. The populist, by
contrast, panders to his audience, figuring out what it likes and then
delivering it in heaps. Where the democrat exhibits respect for the public, the
have, in their wisdom, decided to improve my life at
(minimal) expense to them by giving me a budget to test health products
available in catalogs. Even though I pose as a cynic, I harbor a belief in the
product with "slim" or "anti" in its name. I looked for items that required no
effort to use yet promised dramatic effects. I also chose items that were
either ubiquitous (suggesting they had something going for them) or
unique (the company must have locked up rights to a magical object). I judged
them not only on whether they delivered on their claims but also on whether I
permanently throbbing bunion has virtually disappeared. There's one drawback to
thicker end. Sitting with your spine aligned over the hole is supposed to
reduce pressure on your disks. It has definitely made sitting in front of the
computer easier and is far more comfortable than the throw pillows I previously
an ergonomically correct chair. It does not, unfortunately, firm your tush as
myself? Yes, although I think all editors should, in their own
evening plunging your wrists into ice water, you are an easy mark for devices
that promise to relieve carpal tunnel syndrome. The wrist supporters sold in
the Real Goods catalog feature the antibiotic of the New Age world: magnets.
The Food and Drug Administration is skeptical of magnets' ability to relieve
supporters I ordered were black neoprene with a metal brace and a flexible
magnetic band. I found them bulky, and their primary benefit seemed to come
from the heat retention qualities of the neoprene. They were certainly no more
sticker that states the pillow may have a "particular smell" that is
"completely harmless" and "will disappear after some time," which sounds like
something the proprietor of the Bates Motel might say. The smell is sort of a
store gave me this hint: Roll the pillow up tightly several times a day to
squeeze out the trapped air. After about a week of doing this, the odor had
nap. The pillow does let you sink into it while also giving support. It didn't
change the quality of my sleep as all the hype promised. But it is really
information: The pillow is available under a variety of names (Pressure
shipping. Delivery is promised in five to seven days (I picked mine up at their
used. If it didn't actually work, it would be a disaster. The wand is a
hair lustrous, add body, and remove odors and dandruff. (Along with magnets and
problem was that before I used it, I rinsed it off and turned it back
replacement I got didn't shut off properly and melted the batteries in the
sure it's really off, or it will exhaust its batteries in a matter of hours. I
have dry hair, and with the Ionic Hair Wand I thought I could follow my
hairdresser's advice to shampoo less often. So I faithfully brushed my hair
with the wand for the recommended two minutes a day, day after day.
Miraculously, eight days later, my hair looked good and smelled clean. How long
secrets to the wand is that it produces minute amounts of ozone, which acts as
gift? Only for people who refuse to wash their hair.
information: The Ionic Hair Wand is available from the Sharper Image for
developing around my eyes has begun to bother me. How could I pass up the
technology that makes nicotine patches work is supposed to deliver vitamin C
(it's not just for colds, it's for wrinkles, too!) to them. In the interest of
science I patched only one eye, never thinking the thing would actually work.
By the fourth patch I realized I had to start catching up with the other side
if I didn't want to wear a Phantom of the Opera mask on my wrinkled side. I
gift? You just can't give someone the "Wrinkle Patch" as a gift.
so confident in his own perspective that everything seems tired and transparent
seem interesting, alive, and real. That's not my normal experience with
and I think he ought to continue in this vein. When he's bored, we're bored.
When he makes an effort to look around and see and comment, we're interested
new light on the subject. He tells us nothing substantive about this case that
adequate job. And, because the case is pending, some patience is probably in
press will keep me adequately and fairly informed as the courts dispense
criticism of the former (and use it myself), except to note that many important
issues cannot be quantified. Instead, I believe we need a version of the
"serenity prayer": Economists need the skills to do quantitative research, the
knowledge needed for qualitative research, and the wisdom to know when each is
involves avoiding a dogmatic attachment to any method of analysis. It also
entails being open to reading and respecting ideas one disagrees with. This
involves, among other things, avoiding criticizing someone's book without
reading it simply because the author is a lawyer and not an economist, as
academic pecking order of "Big Name" schools and authors. This kind of
glorification might be justified if economics were actually like physics, with
a clear ability to predict the behavior of our subject matter so that we could
objectively decide which economists were better than others. Having attended
two Big Name schools, I know that we can't take anybody's work for granted.
irritation with the adulation of Big Names does not arise from my lack of fame,
or from my working at a small university (which gives me freedom from "publish
or perish": I can write what and when I like, rather than having to "crank it
out"). On the contrary, it comes from my experience with many colleagues who
k a monetarism), without any kind of historical perspective, just an eye to
what the economics celebrities are saying. It surprises me to see a Big Name
offensive and his point of view so lacking in humor, nuance, balance, and
perception, that, were I a subscriber, I would drop Slate in a second! And he
were meant to be a column or an opinion piece, it should have been marked as
such and not presented as "hard journalism" or a report from the field.
either party, nor do I find the substance of the controversy particularly
able to access the gestalt of the experience. Sounds like psychobabble, but it
what seemed like a comprehensive whole occurring at one moment in time. Sort of
conclusion, quick and satisfying. It doesn't happen the same way in print
however, was how this little folk tale of inaccurate reporting of events
occasional role in affairs reported in the media I have drawn the general
inaccuracies are intentional, mere failures to understand, or just
oversimplifications in order to dumb down the message or meet space or time
"wrong" in most articles? It is this question which, for me, limits media
often offer trimmed and tabulated transcripts, the better to butter their
I can tell you that the official record of any Senate or House proceeding is
what the chairman says it is. Hired recording companies make typed transcripts
of what their stenographer thinks the tape recorder, supplemented by written
notes, captured. This "draft transcript" goes back to whomever the senator or
congressman designates for corrections. Tradition mandates that changes are
garbled portions, or to sort who said what when more than one person speaks at
Corrections can be complete rewrites, however. Sometimes the corrections are
most likely to be struck from the record. Poor grammar, misspoken words, and
confrontational moments between important men and women also regularly hit the
transcript draft days or weeks after the event and is dependent upon his or her
own memory to edit the record. The connection to the stenographer's wire has
been known to fail suddenly at sensational senatorial clashes. Finally, members
replies: Committee chairmen (and privileged witnesses) do sometimes modify
hearing transcripts, but not in this case: I checked the hearing transcript
decked out in pastels? Well, there's a large young professional demographic in
the East Village (you'd be surprised how few genuine bohemians can come up with
"bohemians" were toting cameras and wearing bulging nylon fanny packs.
flock to the East Village in the summertime to use drugs, panhandle, sleep in
out of them without having to significantly revise her argument. They are
(torn black tights or fishnets for the ladies), safety pins through the ears
and nostrils, and heavy eyeliner. They lurk outside bars and restaurants
precious in their own way as any amateur anthropologist taking her first
cautious steps east of First Avenue in breathless anticipation of a walk on the
Time 's site is not the only place on the Web where users can read
athlete "pitchmen," it becomes clear that Wright has failed to do his homework,
"reprehensible" for his failure to enter a playoff game in which the final shot
He would most likely draw a double team, freeing a teammate for the final shot,
thereby giving his team a better chance to win. His behavior was indeed
immature and boorish. Is it not enough, however, that he publicly apologized to
and in the league as one of the more giving players to disadvantaged youth.
crews every time he finds an opportunity to give back to the community. Is
Wrights of the world understand who he really is and the values for which he
stands. His response has always been that it does not matter what people think;
that he knows, and the children know, and that's what matters.
grown as a person. To suggest that he made a mistake by not entering a game
several years ago is fair. To suggest that he is "reprehensible" is absurd.
inflatable dominatrix lying on her back. She wears fishnet stockings and a
teddy festooned with baby doll heads and holds a whip. In other respects, the
silk gown. The irregularly shaped dirigible on which the photograph of this
amalgamated woman is superimposed is connected to foot pumps. From the balcony
at entrance level, you can step down on these pumps, blowing air into the
artists sponsored by the German menswear manufacturer that takes place at the
hung upside down and naked from the gallery ceiling, talking about her abortion
decorated with beads and sequins, supposedly to "create a biting satire on
Lee's approach and preoccupations are characteristic not
only of the Boss prize finalists but of contemporary conceptual art in general.
Her work is theory driven and eschews traditional technique. It is based on the
appropriating and commenting on them, Lee, like the other artists in the Boss
show, aims at a critique of the dominant culture. The key buzzword echoing
through the catalog is "otherness," a term borrowed from formerly trendy French
literary criticism. Minus the obscurantism, the idea is that cultural
this view is at least subject to argument and criticism. Only in the art world
is radical multiculturalism an unquestionable dogma. There is not even a flash
of recognition of the irony that this philosophy manifests itself in a big
international art show where brings together artists of every race,
nationality, and sexual orientation to proclaim that they are despised and
ignored. But whatever the merits of essentialism as an outlook on life, its art
world fruits, as displayed in the Boss exhibition, are flavorless and
repetitive. By the end, what you have learned is that in contemporary art, "the
Projected in mirror image on two screens joined at right angles, it turns
images of the artist cavorting underwater along with various objects such as a
previously exhibited photographs of black women accompanied by bits of cryptic
text. For example, a print of in a dilapidated apartment, one in sunglasses
with a drink, the other peering across the room, bears the legend "forecasting
women staring blankly underscore that they are "unheard in a racist,
patriarchal society." Lately, she has moved into film. Her entry in the Boss
Arguably the most banal work in the show comes from the
another in which he slowed down the film Psycho to a speed at which it
masked woman through some sort of psychological treatment.
the conflict between Western and Eastern cultures but seems less enraged on the
topic than Lee. His previous work has involved putting books through a washing
machine cycle and collecting live animals, such as scorpions, snakes, and
lattice of copper pipes from which hang a chair and a dozen mesh cages. Inside
who wrote that "animals are superior to human beings." Reminiscent of the
the artist's whole oeuvre and not the work submitted for the show, I
uses animation of sketches much cruder than the ones he usually does
interspersed with documentary footage from the apartheid era. Set against the
about fashion. What makes the exhibition truly dreary, however, is the pretense
that it's daring, when really it's an exercise in intellectual conformity. All
deriving their ideas about cultural difference from French literary critics and
in the sense that they follow the dictates of others about what art should be.
Subtract the shock value, and what you have here is the salon painting of the
from aristocrats, governments, or corporate benefactors. Even with tickets
office revenues make up only half the cost of the show. In cities such as
costs so much in a minute. But for the moment, assume that the problem is
incorrigible. If you want to live in a society in which opera continues to
for culture, government support has recently drawn public fire. While opera is
the most needy of the fine arts, it is also the most elitist. In the United
year (and people probably exaggerate about this, just as they do when asked how
often they have sex). Around the world, opera is synonymous with snobbery. Its
come out of the opera." Since the audience is rich snobs, people say, let rich
That's essentially the system we have here. Wealthy
individuals and corporations make up the gap between box office revenues and
not publicly subsidize opera (or the other arts) is, in fact, erroneous. We do
support them, quite generously, not through the National Endowment for the Arts
but with a law that says contributions to charitable organizations are
million privately donated to the Metropolitan Opera in New York last year cost
enthusiasts in this country constantly lament the lack of direct government
budgetary austerity (countries are having to trim their deficits to join the
the private money that seems to flow so freely in the United States. With opera
ask: Which method of subsidizing opera is preferable?
opera endemically require subsidies? The short answer is that while there's
only one audience, there are multiple performances all taking place at the same
time. An opera is a symphony concert, a choral recital, a play, a ballet, a
mural, and a fashion show all at once. The number of people who work to put on
people, all of whom eat two or three times what normal people eat. Then there
without supernumeraries? What would all those supernumeraries do without
malingering divas instead of deferential corporate vice presidents.
that in certain sectors, productivity cannot increase. It takes the same number
perform an opera to keep pace with those in other sectors of the economy, where
productivity does improve, the cost must inflate. In short, there's no
advantage of being forthright: The government declares that it wants more
it. Though this means that there is political oversight of artistic decisions
in theory, this structure yields considerable creative freedom in practice. But
because a third party is paying most of the bill, there's less pressure to
please the audience. This can encourage complacency, artistic mediocrity,
operas companies are now of higher quality and consistency than the best
coming season is less likely when managers have to raise the money
percentage of overall revenues but also because the subscribers are
contributors, too. This incentive system keeps opera companies lean and
proportion to their generosity and enthusiasm. Society gets more music than the
balance, I think our system of paying for opera is more rational. But then, as
to Humanity: Get Over Yourself"). How can he seriously think of discussing
the conflict between humanity's pretensions and scientific progress (especially
absurd generalizations about the scientific community. His contention that
firmament" is simply not true. Has he ever heard of the Miller Experiment,
which demonstrates how easily and quickly organic molecules (including amino
acids) could have been synthesized in the tumultuous environment of a newly
formed Earth? As for the lack of scientific speculation about forms of alien
life, why is it the result of a "taboo"? Could it be that the general
scientific community finds such speculation ultimately pointless in the absence
of real data? Nature has done a wonderful job of confounding "speculation" on
Scientific thought is hardly the rigid and dogmatic collection of prejudice
before that has changed the view of life as well (and arguably in a more
further changes to "the scientific view of life" (whatever that may mean).
opinion in biology" has believed for quite some time now.
Report of the President," total federal, state, and local revenues amounted to
as state and local taxes, but that's double counting, since they're already
convention "Diary." As a registered pedant, I cannot refrain from posing this
whom Shearer's word play is based? If this is too easy, consider this bonus
quarterback, I would liken the grip the "new" Republican thought has on reality
the "let's throw out the records because this is a different game" mentality
for football, it sure is a bizarre way to run a country. The record does count
when it comes to jobs, taxes, and feeding your family.
allows the same players to keep playing year after year, never forcing them to
support, commentators don't mention the exponential growth of the budget
about the deficit spending that accompanied the tax cuts.
to polish up whatever glossy finish the author thinks he or she had left upon
crossing the Beltway. It doesn't hurt when journalists talk up otherwise
unremarkable volumes (positively or negatively). Workaday facts, routines, the
same old office coffee, or the unvarnished truth are precisely not the
even in the transcripts, you could see some definite hostility and sarcasm,
like accurate quotes. But space should be allowed for a memoir that may not be
as accurate, in the smallest sense, as a daily newspaper. As Chief said in
Weren't both of them noted for taking long sabbaticals? They were writers, and
was noted for unleashing many of his more notable works in marathon sessions
so far from the liberal mainstream that one could argue it could only have
make a thorough effort to uncover the truth behind this unnatural connection.
ludicrous to apply that description to liberalism. Modern liberalism, sad to
say, has strayed far from the libertarian philosophy of classical liberalism.
programs regardless of the evidence on their failure. It is the left that
opposing reforms, such as the flat tax, that are based on treating all
liberalism was based on equality of opportunity instead of equality of result.
seeing such an illogical mess. But then I read a rave review in a major paper,
reviewer thought it was intentionally funny, instead of unintentionally dumb.
So I went to see it, wondering which of these two reviewers had so totally
review is summed up in this observation: "A good half hour is spent getting the
for his billet to be stamped before he could fly off to destroy the
Death Star." This is actually an accurate description. Imagine various rabid
bureaucrat into believing they're legitimate passengers on the last flight out
to the resort hotel where the Ultimate Weapon of the Universe has been left in
a room. Now have them all try to be the same legitimate passenger, who
has already boarded. Add in some slapstick, with one killer getting catapulted
into a massive mountain of garbage. How could anyone see this and take it
believe not only that Gene Kelly would dance in the rain while using an
umbrella as if it were a cane, but also that a symphony orchestra, conveniently
hidden from view and under some shelter, just happens to be playing a tune
that a nose flattened by a steamroller would be flexible and bloodless, and
sustain a charge for more than a fraction of that time."
the necessity of the feminist enterprise and for providing a powerful
Stein's awful fancies ("Watching the Couples Go By") in the same cyberspace as that
surprised by Stein's musings than by your publishing any women at all. I do
feel, however, that his article might more appropriately have been placed under
the "Diary" heading, allowing those of us who don't want to read erotic
with Stein's contention that "I have written these views entirely from the
point of view of the man. That is only natural for me." Well sure, but only if
it is biologically predetermined that men are incapable of understanding
On Love and a number of extraordinarily psychologically astute literary
works by men, is that such a narrow perspective is most assuredly less natural
than acquired. And it is acquired by the perpetuation of precisely the sort of
are naturally (biologically) bounded by their own limited experiences and
bodies, and that feminism must therefore focus only on that narrow swath
dictated by such bodies. The most frightening thing to me about all this talk
of nature and biology is that what is really being naturalized is the
marginality of female voices. If men must naturally write only of men, and
women only of women, then feminism and femininity become the only natural
rest of politics, art, and culture? Ceded to the boys, naturally.
was a fantasy." Perhaps. But that strategy might best have served the president
in the court of public opinion, rather than in a court of law. And it would
certainly not have served him adequately in the present political climate. Keep
in mind that this isn't the simple case of a wronged woman quietly making
career. The conservative journalists and other reactionaries who have shoved
her story onto the nation's front pages hope not only to cripple the
will be equally instrumental in promoting Al Gore to the Oval Office in
has a plateful of historic tasks ahead of him in the next four years. He can
He'd have been foolhardy not to trust his defense in this case to an
been holding out on us." Entertaining as "Let Si Get This"
was, it bears no relation to my experiences at the company over the past year.
Either those of us who work at the West Coast outposts aren't in on the perks,
correctly diagnoses the central problem with affirmative action, which is that
it causes one group of people (blacks) to be favored at the expense of another
group (whites). Yet at the same time that he admits this is unfair, he proposes
fact that a white person who has never practiced discrimination, and who never
had anything to do with the subjugation of blacks, should be placed at a
not themselves discriminate against blacks be punished for what their or
worst. Despite the fact that, on its face, it is punishment, we shouldn't think
further, we should simply declare that there is perfect equality between blacks
and whites in society, even though there isn't. Why should we ignore the fact
that there is inequality between races in society? The answer is that it should
not be thought of as inequality. Seems to work for me!
as being between the certainty of being rich and a possibility of being rich.
that if you asked the same questions, but divided all the amounts by a million,
want help understanding my column "Take This Simple Test." In the course of
various gifts. Let's put those questions aside. Instead, here are three simpler
to be a person who gives the same answer to all three questions. Some rational
people prefer ducks to geese, some prefer geese to ducks, but no rational
person switches answers in going from one question to the next.
in that order. So a rational person should give the same answers to the
that, contrary to the expectations of several readers, none of this has
"deconstruction" (a method of literary criticism long favored by the academic
in reality, there is none. However useful in the rarefied halls of academia, it
academic exercise and a cynical misrepresentation of both the facts of the
campaign is simply one way in which we are attempting to educate the public on
small manufacturers. To lump these small companies, many of which are
moniker of "big business" (itself a populist tool of the left) is a disservice
economy. These small manufacturers would, by the very nature of their size,
reductions because such a treaty would take a bite out of the budget of every
pump, more expensive home heating, and lost jobs. The United States cannot see
its competitiveness and prosperity erode for the benefit of developing nations
that, for whatever reason, will not be required to abide by the strict
over and over, until reason wins out over the scare tactics being employed by
environmental extremists (and political consultants) in the furtherance of
for Slate is actually outdated discourse. The perennial argument for
dismantling the Department of Energy doesn't succeed because it doesn't make
sense. No proposal has ever identified clear savings for taxpayers from
of the people who are responsible for the safety, control, and stewardship of
nuclear weapons with those of the people who decide whether to use the
said last year, "With the new technical challenges of providing stewardship of
the stockpile in the absence of underground testing, this is not a time to be
fundamentally restructuring the management of these activities." And Energy
environmental contamination and safety threats at DOE sites by exercising the
weapons safety and cleanup to Defense? The people living near our nuclear sites
around the country have seen progress both in openness and cleanup by the
department. I don't think they would want this change.
government while increasing its effect. A better solution would be for
columnists like Chapman to report the story. But that would be more difficult
professional pundit, who is supposed to know whether (and how) we should have
concessions the baseball owners should accept, and so on. Well, Slate has
brought punditry to almost unimaginable new heights with its ongoing "Is There a
some authority on this matter; but, it still seems to me, musings on this
going to be published, be assigned to individuals who have had more than a
all the exchanges to date without knowing what either writer means by the word
has lost his. But that's about it. Furthermore, while there have been no
definitions or real elucidations, the discussions seem mired in the concept of
following: a powerful (yet devout) bearded man, a cool breeze on a clear summer
really don't want to criticize. Many of us struggle with these issues for much
that's good for us and for the world. It's probably therapeutic for Slate's two
warriors to be taking time out from their inquiries into the House Budget or
about these matters ever since, heaven (or whatever) knows I don't have too
many answers that I feel confident about. These matters are both very difficult
relief of suffering, not in metaphysics) very important. I don't mind,
therefore, that your two gentlemen are interested, or that they aren't making
much headway. I just resist the idea of punditry in certain spheres. I mean, is
would come up with an annual contribution of $51.43--about a dollar a week at
entitled to do whatever he wants with his cash. But it is a little sad to see
that he has not taken a little more aggressive approach toward charitable
away his money is nice, but extremely shortsighted.
of the state, could well cure cancer, or AIDS, or otherwise profoundly alter
the lives of millions of people. (Bill's family, like many families in the
United States, has been directly touched by cancer.) It's sad to think that the
epitaph on countless headstones over the next few decades will have this
postscript: "I might have lived a full life if Bill had decided to retire just
as the pustular ranks of Republicans and Democrats incestuously engaged in
doling out political favors to their campaign contributors. There is little
of Democratic campaigns against the most afflicted Republican examples. There
stacked against them. Some are even members of the Republican and Democratic
somehow better, less sullied, more ethical. If such activity is considered
bribery when foreign nationals engage in it, why is it any different when
domestic entities put our campaign system of legalized bribery to use? This
points to a moral duality in the current situation, which is troubling.
fixate too much on the demand side of this economic market. If we consider, for
a moment, that the primary aim behind reform is the reduction of
check from an individual, a payment is made because someone feels certain
government policies benefit him or her. Most reforms attempt to deal with the
record tide of campaign expenditure during this election cycle can be viewed as
an index of the level of economic dependence of individuals and
foreign policy has skyrocketed and foreign entities are anteing up to the
up against the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, something some
approach would focus on reducing the ability of government to dole out favors.
Reduce the marginal utility of government influence peddling, and campaign
contributions will take care of themselves. Reduce the stakes, and players will
to see letters to our tech guy. You can send any technical questions to
in the Rough," by John Pastier). If stadiums are such a good business deal,
why aren't they readily funded by private enterprise without major municipal
support? The funds are out there and available when companies, banks, and
venture capitalists need a few billion to buy up some competitor. My suspicion
is that the absence of private capital proves that stadiums are not a good deal
except for the select few on the inside who are subsidized by other people's
SLATE's editor on the cover in a rain slicker? Have I missed something?
in the Rough," by John Pastier) failed to mention their blatant
commercialism in the form of billboards and other intrusive enticements to buy
products totally unrelated to the game. Improvements in architecture, regaining
intimate space and scale and all the rest, won't disguise the ugliness of
advertising the local bank, Chevy dealer, and chain retailer as a backdrop for
last week's "Committee of Correspondence: Advice for Dole," with some interest
illustration of the ideological dead weight carried by Bob Dole's campaign so
'by powerful constituency groups within the [Republican] Party'?" So far, the
of Correspondence" has covered several topics. Each has been boring. The
root of the difficulty is most probably the format rather than the
writing that is created from conversation. This guarantees the outcome will be
am interested in all the topics discussed so far, yet have been unable to read
successful. Please declare this experiment completed and move on.
leading me to wonder why you bothered running the piece.
already taken a political slant to the right. Its content is proof enough.
been convicted of nor indicted for racketeering. Indeed, the author only
organized criminal activities was weakly presented. This smacks of
speech, at the end of which is a command to "go back." Dutifully following
understand that this publication is still developing. I certainly hope it
of Democracy"). Nor is his analysis more penetrating than that of others
is one that bears repeating, if only because it seems to be so easily
people, and like any average, it falls somewhere between the best and the
worst. The decisions a democracy arrives at won't be as good as those the best
people in the country would have made, but neither will they be as bad as what
the worst would have done. The second part is the most important side of the
benevolent dictatorship would be the best form of government, except for one
distressing fact. Nobody's figured out how to make sure the dictator will
actually be benevolent before giving him the reins of power. And you generally
can't trade them in later without a whole lot of bloodshed.
of Democracy." The term "peaceful democracy" is almost a contradiction in
terms. The justification of democracy is that it provides the greatest level of
freedom to its citizens. There is an old saying, "You can have peace or you can
have freedom. But never count on having both at the same time." There will
always be threats to democracy and freedom from people who want more power,
land, etc., and who are willing to use force to achieve their goals.
Democracies have always preferred peace to war. War is expensive and wasteful
in terms of human life as well as economics. If the alternative is to lose our
can take my banjo and go into another world when need be.
try to look at all sides, and SLATE is a great help. You have a reader in
regarding the Victims' Rights Amendment. However, there is great danger in the
justifications for taking a convicted criminal's freedom away. The most
neglected rationale, but the one closest to our spiritual traditions, is
rehabilitation. Other legitimate objectives include removing predators from the
general population and setting an example to deter potential criminals. The
impulse animating the Victims' Rights Amendment, however, is different. It
seeks to assuage the pain of victims by allowing them to participate in the
How can one tell parents that they should not want to see the person who raped
and killed their child punished? Nevertheless, it is not a principle that
should be honored with a place in the Constitution. It does not consider the
greater good of broad society; the amendment is a revenge wish, pure and
problem with the Victims' Rights Amendment is that it undermines the moral
the theory of strategic bonding. It seems to me that the instinct for survival
always felt that a chief cause of racial strife is that on a primal,
instinctive level, we distrust something new or different from what we know. If
we encounter this new, different animal when we are alone, our instinct tells
us to run away. If we outnumber this alien being, our instinct tells us to kill
it and ask questions later (or, at the very least, discriminate against it and
keep it in a manageable place). Only by understanding the alien being, and
Bull Street Journal." My reaction while reading it was to be
embarrassed for SLATE, because the whole feature smells like a juvenile attempt
to slam a competitor via the most unprofessional means. The kind of SLATE I was
coming to enjoy reading was one that would rip the Wall Street Journal
apart using facts, ideas, and finely honed reasoning. There is no place in that
perhaps this is the kind of thing that can be written off as inexperience.
reading, but no longer will I assume that SLATE will always exercise good (or
even average) editorial judgment in its selection of features.
rather annoyed to find that both the theater and art reviews in this week's
a sign that SLATE will follow the lead of many of its print counterparts by
have created more confusion than he dispelled in SLATE ("Speech
by legislation like the Communications Decency Act, but he also misinforms
that are central to understanding the public debate about regulating content on
scope of the government's authority to broadly regulate constitutionally
character of the medium distributing that content. At the risk of
oversimplifying, we may say that the court has allowed the government greater
three distinct (if overlapping) categories of content: "indecent," "sexually
explicit," and (by implication) "pornographic." In doing so, he reinforces a
"sexually explicit" as those words are normally understood. (Not all speech
Wired magazine to organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the
National Writers Union) were easily distinguishable from the commercial
commercial pornography, in support of a more general claim that government
content in the interest of protecting children. (Justice White, writing for the
court in Sable, does not go so far. Instead, he relies on two cases that, like
Sable, involve pornography and minors. White never expressly states in
Sable that the government has constitutional authority to
notably, he suggests compulsory labeling of online content without mentioning
the First Amendment problem of "compelled speech" that clearly would arise, and
without discussing whether such compulsory labeling would be constitutional if
conclusion about compulsory labeling on the Internet.)
disturbing error in his article has to do with the facts, not the law. In order
to support his thesis that technical solutions will never resolve what he sees
with the latest 'dirty' places. Dozens of Web sites are being added daily, and
you never know what will get posted tomorrow even on existing sites or
(that filters rely solely or primarily on a list of "dirty places") is wholly
objectionable sites, this is not the primary approach any of these programs
generalization about the effect of the boom on these filters' effectiveness.
if the number of Web addresses including the word "sex" has increased tenfold
since last year. And it's difficult to see how the effectiveness of the Specs
for Kids approach can be diminished by the boom, even in theory.
awareness of the labeling infrastructure that software vendors and the rest of
group coordinated by the World Wide Web Consortium, and is described in the
well as other material on PICS can be found on the Web.
that describe formats for labeling Internet content and methods for how labels
are distributed. PICS does not dictate what the labels should say or how they
where on a package a label should appear, and in what font it should be
flexibility is to support a wide variety of labeling systems and selection
methods. For instance, one might configure a Web browser to screen out material
only one approach. As an alternative, one might make accessible only those Web
pages that are labeled in a particular way, for example, Web pages that carry
the "seal of approval" of various organizations. This second approach,
that permits multiple labeling services and multiple ways of using labels;
or offensive content. In creating a standard for interoperability, the PICS
services, where the pressures of competition will help assure that current and
future labels are timely and accurate. They also envisioned a competitive
market in selection software, leading to increasingly sophisticated techniques
children differ, contexts of use differ, and values differ, blanket
restrictions on distribution can never meet everyone's needs. Selection
software can meet diverse needs, by blocking reception, and labels are the raw
availability of large quantities of labels will also lead to new sorting,
searching, filtering, and organizing tools that help users surf the Internet
make it more effective or efficient. If anything, such a regulation is likely
to have the opposite effect. Imposing a single, federally approved standard for
the kinds of constitutionally protected content that government can banish from
public forums in the name of protecting minors seems likelier to skew the
market. It would diminish the ability parents now have to decide for themselves
which solution is most effective. (And the marketplace of ideas wouldn't
analysis or his assessment of software filters may feel compelled to craft laws
that ensure we never escape from the "spillover" problem: laws that needlessly
pit adults' First Amendment rights against the state's interest in protecting
dismisses carry the promise of avoiding his "spillover" problem altogether.
Thanks to these inexpensive and highly adaptable tools, two important social
interesting legal points. I stand by my legal analysis, which I believe is
based on the most natural reading of the cases; I do not believe I am guilty of
though, that reasonable minds can differ on the questions involved here, much
as they generally can with regard to most genuinely contested legal
medium. But it seems to me that Sable Communications and the relevant
speech in other media, so long as the restriction is the least restrictive
means of shielding children from improper material. The Internet would, I
the proposition that the government has a compelling interest in shielding
children from "indecent" speech: Speech that depicts or describes "sexual or
excretory activities or organs" in "patently offensive terms," whether the speech is pornographic or
to me to be equally applicable to commercial distributors of indecency and
noncommercial ones. Perhaps the court can ultimately be persuaded to draw a
distinction between the two; it would, I think, be an uphill battle, but
speech) or as a speech restriction (you may not say certain things unless you
contrary. But such a burden might still be upheld if it's the least
restrictive means of shielding children. I think one can make a considerably
stronger case on this score for the constitutionality of the rating requirement
explain why I believe it doesn't appreciably affect the legal analysis: The
other technological alternatives, in my view, will not constitute the "less
response does not discuss in detail the PICS model, but I believe that the
points it raises are generally applicable to PICS.)
They doubtless decrease the problem. As I said in the article, they may
seems to me that the spillover will always be there, and the court will always
have to make the same "hard choice: sacrifice some shielding of children in
order to protect grownups, or sacrifice some access by grownups in order to
shield children." Private screening mechanisms may make the choice somewhat
business? Does Bill Gates hope to buy out the top guns in the journalism field,
to mind is, "If you can't beat them, buy them." Congratulations, sellouts. You
crime is going for market share, rather than creating a new market. This is not
to find enough bandwidth in a day to properly digest enlightened journalism,
much less to enjoy a little poetry. But as I slavishly grind away at the
neurotic?) operating system engaged in symmetric multitasking.
articles featured the authors reading their visionary musings into digital
audio format. One convenience of a paper magazine that will take the digital
variety a while to match is portability. However the paper variety will never
where this might lead, presume for a moment that the average automobile will
discriminating commuters and professional drivers some intellectual refuge from
the endless tirade of mindless drivel currently broadcast by the common
or two more a week, when we'd rather bail outta this rotten sweatshop before
the sun goes down, won't be as appealing an expenditure for our meager
discretionary income as say, three pitchers of beer or a couple of baseball
game tickets. There's more free stuff available online to fill up the time when
our lower cortex is busy arranging electrons on the screen. And so you have
really not find a single writer who has a problem with the Promise Keepers? Not
mass organization of fundamentalist Christian men who want to wear the pants at
feminists, how about one bored journalist and one person who actually believes
that equality for women is a meaningful concept. Although you wouldn't know it
from the PK publicity mill, there are quite a few of us out here.
finance can tell you that return analysis in the absence of accompanying risk
analysis is incomplete. That's why investing in stocks (usually) pays better
examples in which leveraged buying of equities generates large rates of return,
and then proceeds to throw those numbers into his analysis without any
The point is that it's the degree of leverage, not the tax shelters, generating
an implausible example in order to come up with some big return numbers
elementary finance and a balanced viewpoint in charge of writing a tax piece.
Thyself," draws his main conclusion by misunderstanding a basic tenet of
economic theory. His article describes profit maximization as if it were the
central behavioral assumption of economics. It isn't. Utility maximization is.
While they sound similar, the two principles are extremely different. A Profit
Maximizer maximizes the amount of money it has. A Utility Maximizer wants to
acquire many things, including cash, but also such things as trips to the
tries to both make the point that profit maximization doesn't explain all human
behavior (of course it doesn't, and no economist thinks it does), and that the
the money: "plain old greed should be adequate to explain nearly everything in
studying financial markets aren't in them, only theorizing about them. Their
choice of career should have been the first sign that they have interest in
reported in the papers won't make it into any of the stories in
it didn't remind me of public radio's recurrent flirtation with conservative
commentators whenever Congress reconsiders its funding.
Where do these people get their diet of opinion, anyway?
to attribute his current courageous (albeit quixotic) stance as some kind of
practices of this or any other company, and not with the company itself (or
attempts to corner the future of computing, and to belittle him with the
contract terms, and the Department of Justice is doing a fair job of policing
Menace") just don't get it. Any honest observer must ask a fundamental
question: What if the software business is a natural monopoly?
that due to the nature of the product and market, the industry will be
question: Is the market structured so that one company is likely to have a huge
returns." This simply means that the costs of producing an application always
buyers. This result obtains because the cost of producing another unit of
software is, for all practical purposes, zero. This doesn't necessarily mean
programmers, doing basic research, or even (gasp) in extra profits. But the
wrongful behavior. Indeed its actions are generally consistent with consumers
is subject to "positive network externalities." This means that users get an
extra benefit when others are using the same software. For many years, I used
it up and switched to MS Word. Why? Because all my colleagues were using MS
Word, and messily converting files back and forth just never worked that well.
Many people think that there is something illegitimate about this type of cost,
but remember, this is a real cost. As consumers, we may not be better off with
only one word processor that uses a single file format. But then again, we may
be, and it would seem the marketplace has rendered some sort of decision.
other intellectually honest approach is to advocate wholesale government
regulation, a strategy that most agree would be a spectacular failure (and is a
Menace?" I am sorry that they were not given more space to flesh out the
details and evidence that support their position. I do believe that the
administration has used the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect
attention away from the fact that it (the administration) has no plan to
see more abuse and neglect because they are trained to see more. Clearly,
to bid for what they perceive to be diminished resources. However, there are
indicate strongly that it is very unlikely that there is any kind of major
increase in the rate of child maltreatment in the country.
scientist in me always wants more honest data analysis. On the other hand, many
that we rarely use the data or even reference the studies beyond a cursory
balance, though, I think that as the administration is going to fall back on
of life; its popularity has very little to do with economics, and a lot to do
Mount Rainier, or walk past trees that have been around for thousands of years.
It is the threat that all this will be destroyed by commercialism one day that
image and toward substance. In the end, when you walk through Pike Place
request for the editors of Slate. I read Slate because the articles are
he'd have discovered that a new set of entrepreneurs was born out of the
workers were trying their hands at anything to make a buck.
understand and support the publishing of "controversial" opinions, his take on
child makes one eligible for a student loan, no prospective college student is
dumb enough to think that the money from a loan would even approach the costs
of raising a child. This eligibility requirement does not encourage
issue with the regulation that stipulates automatic eligibility for a student
eligibility factor is a bad one, but for entirely different reasons. Where the
author suggests that parental financial status be offered as grounds to deny
the eyes of the law, and parents should have the right to decide whether or not
While default rates for student loans are high, these defaulters are not the
children of rich parents trying to milk the system Would you choose to pay
because state schools are cheaper is disgustingly elitist. After all, we are
that almost guarantees him or her a job that will equip him or her to both pay
author, while making a somewhat convincing argument to those unfamiliar with
with student loans. His fears make sense in the world of words, but they are
not justified by the reality young adults face today.
now famous), but this article is a bunch of nonsense.
Names," except casually. There are economists who get into that kind of
as a white blood corpuscle defending the body of economics against the invading
establishmentarian guarding of the gates actually goes against the scientific
point to very difficult fields in academia: sociology, political science,
psychology, and anthropology. They are difficult, since they deal with
called "people." That they cannot simply "assume away" the complications (as
economists usually do) makes these subjects inherently more difficult than
critical thinking, preventing adaptation to new eras and events. Of course,
economics can easily fail as a science while surviving or prospering as an
always cite an important historical precedent, still relevant today. Back in
the 1930s, the main school in economics was one (very similar to today's
show that mass unemployment was impossible, or temporary, or unimportant. But
along came an economist who used a somewhat vague, literary, empiricist style
off working in multinational factories than living off garbage dumps, we should
respect the multinationals for their contribution and avoid policies
establishing basic labor standards. But the comparison should be between what
was done and what should have been done, not what would have occurred
otherwise. Consider the following: A boat captain comes upon a drowning woman
since the woman is better off than she would have been otherwise, the boat
captain is to be admired and rewarded for what he has done. My complaints about
valid concerns as to the potential effectiveness of international labor
would not improve the lives of Third World workers. The capital owners (and
First World consumers) are collecting significant "rents" from these
activities. It may be possible to force them to share these more equitably with
the workers. Back to the example: If the boat captain is restricted to only
prices. That is why there is this boom in foreign manufacturing, and that is
why "Dollar Stores" are so popular. When a consumer can walk into a store and,
for only one dollar, purchase something that was manufactured in the Third
World, most consumers can understand why the person who made that item earns
pair of sneakers that were assembled cheaply in some Third World country.
and the United States. Nor can we often comprehend the far bleaker alternatives
to these jobs that exist in the industrializing Third World.
equation. If arrests, imprisonments, and worse prevent workers in Third World
countries from making claims for better wages and working conditions, then
parental rights with support for child abuse. I abhor child abuse and feel that
the abusers should be punished, but corporal discipline is different.
behave in a way that can cause harm to himself or to other children, a spanking
can be extremely effective. I do support parents who don't believe in corporal
spanking, more power to them. But I think the most damage is done to children
would have everyone believe that my wife and I are evil or maladjusted because
we have spanked our children. But we are highly responsible parents who have
of logic and lack of understanding of what it means to be a good parent.
ban on cloning amount to discrimination against people based on another genetic
that makes human cloning insidious. Once human cloning is perfected, as
Those who have access to it. Who will have access to it? Those who live in
technologically advanced countries and have the financial resources to afford
that they aren't outnumbered by those threatening masses of other races on what
they consider their own territory. He defines genocide as "seeking to eliminate
that which is different," and argues that bans on cloning fall into that
category. But cloning does not produce "that which is different." It produces
the same product repeatedly. Bans against human cloning are the only protection
the average citizen has against Big Brother social and genetic engineering.
both biological parents are between two and three times as likely as other
children to commit crimes, to drop out of school, to get pregnant in their
that these problems are associated with children of divorced parents, only that
they're problems of children "raised without both biological parents." That
includes many illegitimate children, orphans, and abandoned children. Someone
truly interested in understanding the causes might want to know how many of
these children are raised in poverty, are born to drug addicts, or had fathers
who never married or even lived with their mothers. Someone without such a big
ax to grind might also look into a comparison of statistics for children raised
compare them with children raised by two biological parents in deeply unhappy
childhood abandonment, and pin the blame entirely on the reforms in the divorce
laws: "Only now are we beginning to appreciate the extent of the damage done,"
he writes. Fine. Let's just see if he remembers this next time the subject of
aspects of what are very minor works. And his appraisal of actors and acting is
and perfunctory posturing as some controlled experiment in caricature and
unbecoming of anyone who is supposed to make informed aesthetic judgments. One
would think a magazine like Slate would hire a film commentator who has
the Clean Air Act: Polluters who reduce their toxic output beyond requirements
can sell the right to molest the environment to others less willing or less
In effect, he suggests the government purchase reproductive rights, at least
opposition on the right used to tell us that "a man can do anything with his
most personal property? Can't she do with it what she will?
time, I am struck by what I find to be considerable conceptual confusion as
well as an absence of fundamental analysis based on solid biology and
an intrusion by the government upon the individual. True, the government
already makes or withholds payments based on a number of individual conditions,
including the birth of a child, etc. However, there is a quantum leap in
intrusion levels when payments are made based on something that is put under
argument that beneficiaries will get paid more rather than less for something
is disingenuous: They will be paid less than would otherwise be the case if
they refuse to submit, a point that no doubt will be made by many program
debate seems to ignore the biological forces at work. While underclass
underlying reproductive strategy is a wide dissemination of genes to numerous
offspring in the statistical hope that a few will make it. The proposed
initiative equals an attempt to "buy people out" of their biological destiny.
be "neutered," with their vital energies being redirected in potentially
said this, and given that there presumably are no panaceas, it might be
appropriate to proceed with caution and let different proposals compete in the
interested in interfering with the sexual and reproductive rights of Them,
those other than Us? If we turn the tables, and ask ourselves what laws we
would choose to enact to curtail our sexual and reproductive rights, it becomes
immediately clear how offensive and obtrusive such laws are to the rights of
Them. What law would I be willing to sign against myself to curtail my sexual
and reproductive freedoms? If I were certified insane, I might want the
government to assign a guardian who would act to protect my reproductive
rights, as I would not have the mental faculties do so myself. Otherwise, I
cannot imagine any situation in which I would choose to have some
business by telling me if, when, and how I can have sex or reproduce.
that these sexual and reproductive intrusions are typically proposed by white
men for black women should raise a red flag for anyone listening to such
Amendment to solve the welfare problem ("Good Jobs at
Now Wages"). You should consider this truism: "For every complex problem
there is a simple solution, and it is always wrong."
Now Wages") did not mention the book from which it was likely inspired,
Unfortunately, a reader might consider the article merely humorous, describing
an impossible proposition, where in fact, the basics of The Servile
slavery in the light of the increasingly degraded condition of the welfare
class becomes more evident. Slavery has been part of organized human society
for thousands of years; people should not assume that it has breathed its last.
Despite its obvious drawbacks, I doubt it is the worst way to organize society,
and it may be better than our present narcissistic fashion.
Polygamy"). There is a difference between adultery and divorce. I was
Dole and imply they are the same. Divorce is caused by many things, including
adultery, but to imply there is no difference between the two is just
Omnivore") reminds me of a perplexing phenomenon I have observed during the
past few years. I am talking about the apparent growth in the popularity of
found that blue was almost universally disliked as a food color.
correct, what has changed in the Zeitgeist of the eating public to cause
blue food to become acceptable? Do you think its rise in popularity parallels
that of blue lipstick and blue nail polish? Are we talking about postmodern
same info in any of the mainstream press. Thoughtful and insightful? I don't
think so. I guess you can still fool some of the people some of the time.
assurances that your corporate sponsor would never influence editorial content,
Check out all the adjectives used in supposedly "evenhanded" stories) that your
write something about Singer." If Singer himself had been on the line, I could
literary milieu. Of course, the evidence was everywhere.
separated from classmates who were headed to City Hall, but he decided to
continue across the bridge alone. In rhapsodic language reminiscent of Henry
the trolleys and the crush of people and the dark roofs of Manhattan. "Only the
tenements of the East Side," he writes, "suddenly stilled the riot in my
that sign stilled his heart with calming thoughts of home (where the
mother) or whether it momentarily halted the reach of his escaping imagination
express multiple selves simultaneously. He once told me that he had considered
Literature --mark it as the sort of book only a grateful child of immigrants
could write. Who else would tune his ear so finely for traces of an emerging
national consciousness, while teasing out the finer points of its economic,
magisterial "we" in speaking about literary matters in this country, had the
assertiveness of the newly enfranchised. Once, after I got to know him better,
high culture and sent for their past only long after they had established
knitting together the two disparate elements that fueled his own unique
literature in particular as if he had discovered it himself. He imparted to
everything he wrote that same feeling of magical discovery he describes
risking their own lives in the dark but that younger people were another
matter. Needless to say, I was terrified, creeping along the Saw Mill Parkway
the darkness. This was the same approach to Manhattan, I suddenly realized,
York seemed a place of the imagination, a place where life opened up. My heart
traveling happily toward New York, still talking about books and people with
passion and devotion, and still holding out the promise of a New World.
depicting the arguments of those of us who think the economy is now capable of
Economy: What it Really Means") in Business Week was much more
caricature of it, then decide for themselves. Business Week has
right in urging the Federal Reserve not to raise interest rates. If the Fed had
economic output. The unemployment rate would have been at least a half
rising productivity, and rising real wages. Happy New Year, Professor
see just how helpful an Internet magazine can be. By all means read the
a link to that essay in my original piece), as well as the earlier articles on
the site, and ask yourself whether they did or did not appear to claim that our
favorable measured growth and inflation performance can be explained by
unmeasured productivity growth. If they did claim or even suggest that,
then Business Week has indeed been saying something very silly. Oh, and
number of Business Week readers have contacted me since reading my piece
and told me that the explanation of the speedometer fallacy was new to
sources, that a hidden productivity boom was not only a possible explanation of
low measured inflation but indeed the leading candidate.
a fallacy to invoke unmeasured productivity as the source of our good numbers.
(And I don't mean a judicious acknowledgment that there may be something to
Extremism in the defense of arithmetic is no vice.) If he is, then I am at
least prepared to consider the possibility that I (and everyone else I know)
have been misinterpreting all those articles. But I would like to have the
judge discovers that he is presiding over a case involving a close relative.
The only ethical course of action is to step down and have some other judge
handle the case. Even if the judge tries his best to be fair and unbiased, he
can never be sure of his own motives. In addition, the judge's own reputation
is at risk, as people will not know if the relative in question was found
wants to prove its integrity, it should either refuse the
Constitution guarantees the right to "petition the Government for a redress of
than exercising the right to speak or to worship. Clearly, there are sleazy and
unethical ways to go about it, but lobbying itself is vital to our democratic
solution to the problem of corporate money in politics is to reduce the role of
government in all our lives. Until that happens, corporations are irresponsible
if they fail to pursue the interests of their shareholders, employees, and
the end of Angels With Dirty Faces is just plain wrong. The entire heart
of that character was his utter fearlessness at the prospect of dying; Rocky
"goes yellow" only so that his reputation will be sullied among the youthful
wannabe gangsters who idolize him. It is an act of renunciation that ennobles
him in death and is undertaken solely due to the entreaty of his old pal Jerry
all ambiguous in the ending of this movie not only calls into question her
judgment but forces one to wonder if she's even seen the damned thing.
idea what he is talking about when it comes to the question of Java ("Weak Java").
It is in fact a mountainous island in the South Pacific, part of the very
happens to be the site of one of the world's most important archeological
discoveries, known as Java Man, and of vast coffee plantations (hence the
common usage of the term java to mean coffee). These simple facts get
characterization of the whole Java conflict as a matter of convenience for
coffee shops and some of the nation's largest defense contractors, who reap
billions annually from arms sales to the repressive regime of President
residents of the Emerald City sip unreasonably cheap caff lattes
(subsidized with blood), ponder the importance of bandwidth, and root for the
KIDDING? Who do you think your readers are? Bob Dole?
largely undocumented phenomenon? Certainly not. We wouldn't call it "pop" if it
wasn't popular. Surely your intended readers are keen observers of the world,
much like you try to present yourselves. Why, then, does pop need explaining?
without cheeky "background" pieces. It's as if you're explaining this facet of
celebrating violence is to admit that you haven't actually listened to the
of the Medicare nettle. His action on this front will remain a model of
saint and no statesman, but his early conduct as speaker showed promise. He
the Democrats and the media have preferred to knife him in the back. All that
Since none of the staff told you, I will: Don't publish it. It is not:
interesting, funny, or newsworthy. It is: disgusting, childish, and
unnecessary. I MAY decide to pay for the witty articles and intelligent social
commentary in Slate when you start charging. I promise I will NOT pay for this
tell you how really disappointed I was, when reading the first entry of the
too much. Don't you edit the diary submissions of your contributors? Was it
absolutely necessary to use that particular word? Just because it's a diary
If that's a contradiction, then no one could ever properly say, "God gave us
those kids," or even "God gave us that kid," because, as you know, there is
midwives, even mothers and, to a much lesser extent, fathers.
that's one thing. The alleged contradiction would therefore have nothing to do
with the number of specialists involved or the length of stay in the hospital.
It would have only to do with your theological presupposition. But if you allow
for the possibility of a sovereign, you should not be surprised that He uses
become in the last few years. If they can't have their own man in the Oval
acknowledge that Lee is well qualified for the post he seeks. Yet the senator
is trying to kill Lee's nomination, complaining that he might be an activist at
the Justice Department. Hatch worries that Lee would use his new position to
Western civilization. But it's obvious to the rest of us that contesting this
nomination on the basis that Lee might be an activist in government is rank
unless they swear not to try to sway public opinion or undo existing laws, then
every congressional Republican with a hankering to overturn Roe vs. Wade
for Free Trade," suggests that the opponents of imports from countries with
poor working conditions are in fact being disingenuous: They don't really
oppose the bad conditions. What they oppose is the competition.
But for me, and for many others, there is a legitimate concern about whether
we, through our purchases, are encouraging the abuse of others. And despite
purchased was produced by laborers who were beaten and tortured in order to
unfortunately, difficult to determine reliably if the labor that went into a
particular item was handled humanely. But that doesn't mean that the issue of
free trade, I couldn't agree more with "A Raspberry for Free
opponents of fast track. They are not only specious, but also deeply
should look beyond the intellectual caliber of these arguments and consider the
political realities that sustain them. And here free traders may only have
that jobs lost to free trade are more than made up for by jobs gained, and make
quite low and that we have the most to gain by global trade liberalization.
benefits of free trade overcome the fact that some will lose in the more
dynamic economy that aggressive free trade creates, and that the very dynamism
of free trade can cast a penumbra of insecurity that goes well beyond those who
this, which many progressive supporters of free trade have endorsed, is a
combination of aggressive free trade coupled with programs aimed to cushion and
compensate for the social dislocations which free trade causes. This is, in
problem is that progressive supporters of free trade have been able to get
for the kind of dynamic economic order we're clearly moving into. A
that the politics of the situation are simple by any means. But getting one and
not the other has played a major role in creating the increasingly successful
bigoted majority that then executed the sacrificial lambs. While the comparison
than similarities, are what stand out. For starters, there has been no public
outcry to ban or do away with the Patriots, as there was with the anarchists.
implications of the movement. Rather, the opposite has occurred. The mass media
in general have covered the rise of the Patriots only spottily, rushing to
report the daily incidents the movement inspires and doing little to examine
for the nation to deal with the "voices of hate" that inspire the Patriots to
the radio, it seemed, scurried to proclaim his or her innocence: "Not me! I
of us whose gasoline rhetoric has fueled the Patriots' bonfires of paranoia.
And we still have not stopped throwing it about with glee. Secondly, the
Patriot movement is at the opposite end of the political spectrum. With its
route to the executioner, the public at large has been strangely mute on
main point is worth making: Executions exist not for the actual pursuit of
justice but rather for wreaking vengeance. However, he should consider the fact
fruits of his own belief system. It may be a sickening view, but there is
observations about patently obvious things in society. But they don't change
matter of fact, instead of focusing on polling's farcical contributions to an
without the manipulations (subtle or otherwise). The universal credibility
the evils of index investing, threatens to mislead Slate's audience of
successful investors and policy wonks. There is no commons problem in index
investing. It is true that markets are efficient because securities research,
and that index investors invest without doing research (or paying others to do
will shift away from indexing. In the commons problem, there is no reason not
to overgraze if your neighbor is overgrazing as well. In a securities market,
market is relatively inefficient), you can fleece them.
hypothesis (securities research is both necessary for market efficiency and a
accessible form in a law review article, "Efficient Markets, Costly
the Internet from the desktop will help people to use the Internet. It is hard
completely disagree with the implication and reasoning here. It is the purpose
The whole point of this area of law is to examine such patterns. If Rule's idea
were right, then companies from other countries, which, for example, flood the
interest, even if they are seeking a stranglehold on the market. The challenge
of antitrust law is to grapple with such questions.
statements that, to me, demonstrate a merely superficial understanding of the
an economic phenomenon known as "network externalities." I believe that
although he understands the economic phenomenon, he completely ignores how
operating system market. The next paradigm shift was supposed to be the
OS market in order to minimize the damage to its core business (the Windows
systems. They were never intended to be the software that gives fundamental
directions to a PC, and I doubt that they ever will be. They still run as
and the browser are the same in a functional sense.
browser software circumvents OS considerations by having a common interface no
matter what OS you're using. That was the beauty of it (and the nightmare in
Bill Gates' mind, because you don't have to be running Windows software to run
functionality (Internet functionality) onto its existing OS, and claim it is a
modification of the OS. How intelligent people can buy that argument is beyond
me. As far as I understood it, Windows didn't run on my Mac. Windows didn't run
sound even vaguely similar? Rick Rule, you are a fool for buying that argument.
It is this very basic misunderstanding that allows you to delve into
unfairly eliminated competition. The only real test that this company has faced
again trying to eliminate this threat unfairly. Shame on you for defending this
frequently leveled charges. However, she did neglect to mention a more
dimensional model makes more sense and would more closely mirror the
real world. Of course, such a diagnostic system may prove to be more unwieldy
in the end and to annoy insurance companies (who hold frightening sway over all
By definition, a disease is an entity that has a known etiology, and as
focus almost exclusively on description. Mental disorders should not be
considered "diseases," though many may have some biological underpinnings.
a human construction, created in order to describe the variety of human
therapeutic intervention. Without some guiding framework (even a framework
notion in a recent survey of public participation in the arts published by the
National Endowment for the Arts. According to numbers extrapolated from a poll,
National Crime Victimization Survey. (Has anyone in your household been mugged
survey that asks whether you like to go to the theater, opera, ballet, etc.,
subtly begs for affirmative answers. And in fact, the five year increase
us nothing about the quality or quantity of high culture being created in the
United States today. And in fact, the new study's upbeat tone cuts directly
institutions are elitist, complacent, and largely hostile to popular audiences.
numbers can never resolve the inherently subjective question of cultural
health. For a consensus about whether a lot of masterpieces were painted or
into account how well artists are doing as well as how many butts are in
Index. This is a measure based on statistics culled from various sources that
give a clue about the health of different art forms. Here's how it works. The
doing. But in a year, we should be able to say whether they're doing better or
derives from three more compelling factors. The first is the number of weeks
than attempting to gauge quality, I have included all books that have literary
aspirations or are regarded as literature by most reviewers: Cold
no. As opposed to the commonly cited figure of total book sales, this number is
Penguin keeps most of the world's great literature in print.
here is that while the first number gives a sense of the availability of opera
as whole, the second number gives a sense of whether new work is being added to
thing with orchestral music. It would be nice to include chamber music, but
there are simply no useful statistics. Lastly, while I wasn't able to find any
reliable numbers on jazz performance, the Recording Industry Association of
museum attendance is a reasonable proxy for how many people are experiencing
more people pay attention to art, it's becoming easier to get by as an artist.
The other useful figure is the number of people working as artists. According
we're looking at high culture. Our other measure is the total number of
amounts so that I don't have to adjust for inflation in future. These numbers
a rise in attendance at school performances. There are two useful measures of
year. The other is the average number of contract weeks for dancers at major
been declining, while professional dancers are finding slightly more work. This
plausible indicator for architecture. Nor have I devised one for criticism,
in the arts as amateur singers, writers, and painters. What the
index does do is establish a baseline. Next fall, we should
be able to come back and say something meaningful about what kind of year the
incarnations as political handler, pundit, writer, etc. I loved his
I just don't care about taking apart these ads. They're pretty transparent to
Over?" begged the more important question of whether government scientists
War Syndrome debacle unravels. The conclusion to be drawn from my nine years of
reporting on the AIDS epidemic for the New York Native is a somber one:
Patients, activists, and uncritical journalists have been led down a tragic
"obsessed" with finding a vaccine to protect against the wrong virus, and if
pathogen, but there will be other surprises related to the AIDS epidemic yet to
point of the privatization argument: Social Security changes people's behavior.
Most importantly, it reduces the incentive to save for retirement. If Social
Security were changed to a funded scheme, where the payments would be used for
real investment instead of being transferred for current consumption, the
national savings rate would rise. (That is, Social Security taxes would be real
savings instead of merely transfers. It would be equivalent to everyone saving
for themselves.) The higher savings rate would raise the growth rate. The
resulting larger pie could be split up so that everyone, both during and after
the transition, is better off. (For a good exposition of this argument, see
transferred to current retirees for current consumption, not "saved" as
government bonds. So, the argument that we would simply have to find new buyers
the long run, when Social Security will stop running surpluses.
attack the privatization argument on two main fronts. Maybe the existence of
Social Security doesn't really lower people's retirement savings. Or, maybe
higher savings wouldn't really increase growth. But you cannot attack the
argument for being a shell game. The point is that you are not merely slicing
pocket should be lumped with that money belonging to other people that he would
right, though: How other people spend their wealth is none of his business.
in his review ("Gone With the Wind"). That's the last time I read a book review in
an opinion, not all the details of the plot! If the author uses a plot with a
surprise ending, he probably wants the reader to be surprised. Wood should not
have done this; you should never have published his review. Can you change it
now before you reveal the plot to other innocent readers like me?
instead of "not guilty." Not so fast. The newspaper has a very good reason.
verdict, to guard against the word not being dropped inadvertently." Now
many other newspapers have their own styles, even when it comes to "innocent"
vs. "not guilty." But the technical difference is secondary to possible libel
success in gathering information on dangers such as nuclear- or
Young University graduate probably knows a lot more about the world than his
they seem to stem more from lack of accountability than from the basic nature
the Java approach is "slower." It later says that Java is unsuitable for
Technology has been commercially demonstrated that runs Java programs at very
verified once, then translated to efficient machine code, and then stored on
does restrict what an unsigned applet can do, and those criticisms are fair.
But the criticism of Java on performance grounds, as if the performance
problems were inherent in the security model, is not fair and is not
circumstances. The ultimate effect is that this article treads close to the
religious war, no one is neutral except the atheists. Java is a great and very
the world won't help the people using today's browsers, as you yourself admit.
fact, it's routinely used for that purpose. But it's difficult to get the
shared secret key to the other person (or people) in the first place.
long document is known as a "digest," not a signature. It is a widely held but
most popular signature algorithm, works, because it happens to be both a
mentioned one solution to the problem of the corruptible system administrator:
"secret sharing." It is possible to divide up secrets (such as passwords) among
several people such that only a subset of them of a certain size (a majority,
for instance) can recover the original. That way, a single corrupt authority
part of the article might have underplayed the security threats to users. It's
true that nothing serious has really happened yet, but very little of value (to
a hacker) is in people's computers these days. That may change fast; if desktop
banking (including check writing) becomes widespread, for example, then the
incentive for hackers to use their discoveries for something other than
that security is a serious issue, I reiterate that the hysterics with which
security stories are played out in the media are generally overblown.
Correspondence discussion "Cycles, Waves, and Endings in History," and I agree with those who
say that the generational conflict is driving electoral politics and
the same systems they want to destroy. The future of democracy through
a D Cup You're Wearing, or Are You Just Glad to See Me?
before the male version of this trend plays itself out thoroughly enough to
bullet jock will signal the pinnacle, I suppose. But the past decades have
embraced gay iconic sexuality consistently at a lag of five years or so. From
1950s fitness magazines to Batman's crotch bulge in the '60s, the International
And just take a look at the current Jockey underwear packaging if you need to
sociological implications are huge. Penis envy is spreading. And surely there's
library, and anything that can be attributed to largely male decision
believes that the discovery of statistically unlikely "secret codes" in the
Torah proves the existence of God. Even if we accept the dubious premise that
the existence of God can be proven scientifically, it is extremely naive to say
that the occurrence of an unlikely event would do the trick.
know which is more depressing: the fact that some people's faith is so weak
they seek scientific approval of their beliefs, or the fact that they believe a
recent book review titled "Crime and Truth" that powerful procedural safeguards for
defendants allow some guilty people to go free, but that these procedures are
justified to prevent miscarriages of justice and to deter misconduct among
points. First, these rules harden public attitudes toward everyone accused of a
crime. Second, they feed into the corrosive cynicism within the justice system.
is little motivation to enforce the rules, and people often find ways of
bending rules that they regard as arbitrary and silly. For example, as
the most glaring injustice these days is not the wrongful conviction of the
innocent. It is the remarkably cruel treatment of some people who are actually
imprisonment for committing three muggings, it seems laughably irrelevant to
responds: I don't think so. There is PC on the left, no doubt, but this
episode is hardly an illustration of it. The idea that a writer who despised
the stock market. In "A Brief History of Taxes," the chart she runs with her
advise, because it accounts for neither the efficiency of the market in
discounting changes in tax law throughout the legislative process, nor the
There are other minor variables at work, including differences that occur
damage to the economy because the other variables were positive.
Taxes" was indeed brief, though perhaps appropriately so, given the very
that regardless of their effects on aggregate consumption and investment, tax
true, as she notes, that Republicans adhere to the questionable belief "that
for the economy and the financial markets, those same Republicans also tend to
believe that wealth is inherently the property of the individual who created
not a subtle point, and it is certainly not one that Republicans have ever been
15-percent income tax cut. The accompanying "It's your money" slogan, while
unconvincing to both voters and pundits, is fundamentally true. It is also
essential to consider it when weighing the merits or ills of a proposed change
in tax rates. Individuals' claims to their wealth and income must of course be
balanced by the need to finance governmental activities, no matter how few and
inconsequential they may be. For that reason, arguments for the complete
elimination of taxes would be absurd, a fact that almost everyone, regardless
of political affiliation, can recognize. Equally lacking in wisdom, however,
consequences while ignoring completely the effects they have on
is. The marketplace is me, and you, and everyone else who wants medical care.
How can ignoring people's medical wishes be considered a good thing?
"Selfless"? It would be the very height of selfishness and arrogance for the
has not learned to view the big picture: A society that can meet its tissue
lives are temporarily screwed, but businesses do not exist to hand out
paychecks; they exist because they do something useful in an efficient manner.
printed an article dealing with principles and terms from chemistry, you would
pass it by a chemist, wouldn't you? Why then do you let someone who has not the
like to commend you on your publication. You will go down in history as one of
the first and best attempts to use the Internet to spread intellectual debate
your publication has been your ability to rise above other media outlets and
provide voices for all political groups and evenhanded coverage of all news
members as "scumbags." Aside from becoming part of the event instead of just
reporting on it, this reflected a poor style and vocabulary choice. Please
don't lower yourselves to tabloid language. You have been an important and
upstanding publication, and I would hate to lose you now.
of tax credits in "Forgetting the Present" are too sweeping, and deserve a response.
stimulate job hiring. These usually fail. Most businesses find that their
present employees already qualify for the credit. However, targeted credits
It gave the economy an immediate shot in the arm, helping businesses modernize
and stimulating jobs in the manufacturing sector, especially in the tool and
credit aimed at encouraging job training for former welfare recipients would
achieve similar results. Without a tax credit, business have no incentive to
powerful, necessary therapy for the treatment of severe depression.
Furthermore, to include it in a list with the two single most destructive drugs
communicate the fact that much of what we try to communicate isn't really worth
communicating. If we're going to be upfront about the meaninglessness of our
potential for the news media. They could cover twice as many stories if they
tonight: As the presidential race nears the home stretch, Bob Dole and
prime minister was slain some months ago by a smiling ideological idiot.
Therefore, your continual use of "Kill him," as in, "When we told Bill Gates
the name of the person responsible for the mistake, he said, 'Have him killed,'
match, the author characterizes a perceived backlash against technology as
"Sierra Club thinking." But Sierra Club hardly sees any threats to humanity
The nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization could ill
technological innovation. In addition to giving us lifesaving medicines and
better products, science and technology are improving our ability to live in an
economically robust nation using environmentally sound business practices. We
depend on scientific methods and technology to assess the changing conditions
of our planet. Science and technology are the tools that provide us with
methods such as bioremediation for cleaning up oil spills, and data on the
merit our suspicion is a blind faith in the ability of machines and chemicals
to make up for the destruction of the natural environment that ensures
humankind has the clean water, air, and abundant resources we need to
Managers do not say to themselves, "I am going to ignore the qualifications of
this black person even though it will hurt my bottom line." Rather, a racist
would do well to remember that, while mathematics is a wonderfully consistent,
logical system of symbols, those very characteristics greatly limit its
usefulness in describing the decisions we humans make on a daily basis. A
computer may have beat a human at chess, but we have yet to make a computer
that is capable of even the most basic human emotions that guide us.
discrimination is not widespread in corporations because it wouldn't be in a
not exist because it would be politically embarrassing to the president.
don't make hiring, promotion, and salary decisions for the vast majority of the
employees in a large corporation. These decisions are made by middle
management, who are free to indulge their prejudices, regardless of a
calculation of what's best for the corporate bottom line.
discrimination doesn't exist (in any serious form) runs up against the hard
fact that research shows it to exist. This is another example of abstract
economic theory ignoring reality. After all, such calculations would prove that
employers never prefer relatives or cronies' kids or pretty women, that they
never goof off on the golf course and that they never waste money in general,
because all these things would reduce their market performance.
Association and by several studies that reanalyzed the very same National
you mention who endorsed The Bell Curve are partisans of a
as his latest article, "Pay Scales in Black and White."
economic sleight of hand, to argue that racism does not exist in corporate
making racism into some financial decision on the part of rational individuals
is not only wrong, but insulting. This sort of scientific objectivism is one of
the major failures of applying the scientific method to economics. He sees the
problem in a vacuum, instead of attempting to look at the entire picture.
whites because they have not been allowed the opportunities in the past to take
advantage of good jobs and good schools. Economists must remember that they are
social scientists, not physicists (although they stole all of their mathematics
from physics), that the representative agent does not exist in the real world,
and that they must adjust their analysis accordingly. I do not mean that racism
must be assumed and then disproved, although the track record of corporate
thoroughly examined for all implications before even the first result is
becomes less likely as it becomes more expensive. So to determine the
likelihood of employer discrimination, it's certainly relevant to figure out
of corporate profits," the plausibility falls dramatically.
interesting observation, which is that the people who make hiring decisions in
shareholders would be likely to take action to improve the performance of
middle management. And again, the answer depends on how expensive it is to
ignore such improvements. Nobody is claiming that corporations operate
rationally or efficiently all the time. The claim is that irrational and
assertion that employer discrimination has been shown to be a significant
prefer relatives or cronies' kids, or that they never goof off on the golf
believe he can do so. There is no doubt that nepotism and golfing are costly,
theory of racial wage differentials. That's just what I was calling for in my
country. All over the world, people are subjected daily to the most appalling
representatives of brutal, repressive regimes. Worst of all, they must suffer
in silence, knowing that a callous nation cares little about their miserable
gripe about having his luggage inspected at an airport, confident of a
sympathetic hearing. When it comes to righteous outrage, this nation is truly
"profile" implications that really bothered him. Profiles, after all, don't
usually target wealthy software executives, whereas random checks can't
not impress those of us who form our opinions on defense affairs from sources
other than military publicists and their media allies.
crime is making a noise in behalf of the ordinary working soldier, and
criticizing the complacent consortium of military bureaucrats, defense
contractors, and their media sycophants who are all feathering their own nests
at the expense of those who will risk their lives on our behalf. As far as
decorations are concerned, one Medal of Honor is conferred for one act of
bravery. Respect is due but it does not outrank a lifetime of proven courageous
investigate Hack's charges instead of shooting (at) the messenger.
all over the place and so the question of whether his copy is "hot" is one that
depends entirely on an assessment of where the art world is, exactly, and who's
he likes not much of what he has seen lately, at least does not jerk his knees
The assertion is that whether the transaction takes place or not, the amount of
capital held between the buyer and seller remains constant. True, and utterly
buried coffee cans. It is the exchange of value between two parties which
capital between buyer and seller, I see a house that was not sold, a
transaction that did not take place. When that transaction fails to take place,
a host of third parties fails to benefit from it. Each of these parties, from
lawyers to accountants to gardeners, will then not spend the income that they
did not earn when the transaction failed to take place.
analysis of the political requirements for an acceptable punishment to
accompany censure, if indeed censure is chosen in lieu of impeachment. The key
point is that there must be a humbling element, without complete humiliation,
and that a purely financial penalty such as a fine would not be enough.
perceived element of strong moral rebuke associated with the forfeiture of
retirement benefits. Perceived analogies would be to "rogue cops" who are not
prosecuted but must resign from the force and lose their pension (at least on
television). Loss of office expense allowances would carry an implicit message
that, while we don't want to force you out of office, we really don't want to
suffer a penalty that is often associated in the public mind with officials who
are required to resign to avoid being removed or criminally prosecuted. The
kind of service he understands, and he has to have someone else do that!
their mouse clicks say yes yes." This is not a contradiction. Rather, it is an
Suppose the world consisted of only two people. If both know nothing about
the other one is very unhappy, since he or she is at a disadvantage. Now,
unhappiness by reading the info, settling for moderate unhappiness. Expand this
to hundreds of millions of people, and it's obvious that no agreement can hold,
especially when some of them actually do want the information.
whether to print damning information about the hypocritical politician. If you
don't print it, someone else might beat you to it, and you'll have to talk
about it anyway. Does this mean that you will be happier when the information
defense in the "Politicians and Privacy" dialogue, I would add that although
I do not find invasions of privacy acceptable, people do wish to know something
about the relationship between the individual and his or her work.
argument, especially the point on hypocrisy, but for historical reasons. We
have no problem accepting biographical criteria for literature. In fact, there
is an entire school of criticism devoted to the relationship between author and
work. Why shouldn't politicians' lives be open to examination in the same
historical reasons, attention should be paid to the private life of the
politician or to the idea of the "work" as an expression of the politician's
inner being. If it turns out that the politician is a fraud or a hypocrite, we
with family members whose lives are literally threatened by peanuts in their
today. If you think this is amusing, think how much fun you could have with
sniggering opportunities. A sad, adolescent performance you should be ashamed
mention the fact that peanut products are easy to keep, very popular, and
must be responsible for determining, as early as possible, which
allergic reactions will be a part of their lives. It is absurd to rely
upon any "controlling legal authority" to do that for you!
and their products are astoundingly good for us, as is the industry that keeps
them before us. Killing either on the basis of gene pool considerations for
can kill and have killed. This is not a laughing matter.
Prudence" as a rule. However, this morning I dipped into the column to see
out whenever possible, believing that single women are 'Miss' and married ones
therefore it is important to know a woman's marital status immediately, while
men are allowed to remain judged for who and what they are, regardless of their
marital status? I find this inane and the title "Ms." an excellent solution to
women's entry into equality in the workplace and society. I do not think it is
anyone's business whether or not I am married (I am) and have kept my "maiden"
name as many married women now do. I am sorry to say that the Dear Prudence
column remains one I will not visit in the future and, I suspect, one that does
wannabe" is a truly low blow. For one thing, I don't rifle through people's
underwear drawers to get my stories. Nor do I try to pass off rumors as fact. I
not in the habit of being photographed surrounded by kindling and tied to a
tree. But I suppose these are minor differences that shouldn't get in the way
of the truly important things. Brock is still welcome at National
leads him to the right conclusions for all the wrong reasons. Franklin writes
under the impression that, as the law is a practical art and not a science, the
only in seeking resolution to nonscientific matters: morality, justice, ethics.
is ultimately correct; radical reforms are needed. Nevertheless, the answers
sexist. It's idiotic," I ask you: Isn't sexism idiotic? To what are we
Therefore, index investing leads to inefficient markets. The flaw in the
anyone who does even an iota of research could make a killing by buying
index investing increases, the return to market research increases. We need not
lose sleep, therefore, about any lack of market research.
index invests, an individual should research the market. The paradox is solved
by realizing that everyone need not follow the same strategy. Index investing
makes sense for those of us who don't have the time or inclination to closely
monitor our investments. Researching the market makes sense if you are good at
it and you are willing to do it full time. Index investors rely on researchers
to keep the market tolerably efficient. Researchers rely on index investors to
leave enough opportunity for them to make money based on their research. In
responds: It's possible that, as at least one other reader has suggested in
if indexing goes far enough, the marginal returns to research will become so
great that research will pay, the market will be made efficient, and everyone
will live happily ever after. It's also possible that this will not happen. In
Corp. is a great deal at a given price, but in such a world, who will pay me
the price I think I deserve? Certainly not the indexers. Indexing probably has
already made the stock market less efficient, simply because a growing
proportion of the money invested is now indifferent to ratios of price to
performance and other measures of value, not to mention expectations of growth.
Bad companies are already being subsidized in this way, and to the extent that
the larger economy is any kind of commons, indexing is undermining it.
and help to drive down, or at least moderate, the currently obscene levels of
manage alike. Can't we get past the gender stereotypes and just evaluate
United States, it's capitalism mixed with greed run amok.
illogical argument reflects poorly on his journalistic abilities and the
satellite dishes, but it was strangely satisfying to learn that a leading
economist was so thoroughly ripped off in the purchase of his dish. Next time
any economist assumes that consumers behave rationally, they should be forced
screwdriver, and a pair of pliers. And, unlike Stein's "professionally"
warranty. Whether it is rational for a person to make the decision I made
the prospective marginal tax on the person's estate.
Considering these factors, I think that my decision was rational for me; it
that people always make rational decisions, but I believe that they often
Manhattan phone book, and so received hundreds of copies of it. I started
stamps and a pen pal I could make it circle the globe another nine times all by
sentence: "It has been around the world nine times."
recipient of the letter is asked to make copies and send them to friends, who
are instructed to do the same. Eventually, the letter becomes illegible and has
almost beyond recognition. But curiously, over the years the names revert to
their original spellings. I have recent copies that are almost identical to
States is a notable part of the world, there are quite a few of us who don't
market doesn't live in isolation. My investment in it breaks down one part of
plan to get a lot of money from places other than the United States, indicating
have a more expansive view of the world to decide whether the chickens are
variation in valuation year by year. He is quite right to question it. The fact
is that investors, myself included, have a very rough idea of what a company is
we do our best. But on top of that, he asks what's new. Well, there is a
activity and astronomical growth in creativity, with each development
propelling us faster. One of the big ones, now widely recognized, is the
computer revolution. Look at his own business, publishing. I read Slate for
might be a new form of life heaving into sight: a hybrid of organic [us] with
matter that is much more prosaic than human imagination and the amalgamation of
but it does cause stock market valuations to soar. Economists torture
themselves because they think there should be concomitant inflation, but they
are now starting to see that the inflation that would normally exist as a
result of such enthusiastic money printing is not happening because technology
has reduced costs and improved productivity dramatically. Basically, the money
printers are nicking off with much of the productivity improvements. It is just
money printing, inflation did soar. But you don't see it this time. And
documentation, that I am selective in my commitment to deficit reduction and
rhetorical question in his column, asking if my commitment to reducing
orders for the milk industry, which somehow escaped being scaled back in the
Farm Bill, in large measure because it did so little to eliminate market
distortions and bring needed reform to the antiquated Milk Marketing Order
system, instituted in the 1930s, distorts the market, discriminates against the
survives because it is defended by powerful interests who are its
the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, a dairy cartel created last year that
allows six Northeastern states to fix higher prices for milk in their
farmers have probably been more active than farmers in any other part of the
country in calling for deregulation of this system.
Bill" is also incorrect. Federal dairy supports have, in fact, been cut
myth persists that the dairy program costs billions, the facts are that, in
dairy industry is the only commodity group to have its support terminated by
the most recent Farm Bill. Some other commodities, such as wheat and feed
grains, were provided with hefty annual guaranteed government subsidies in that
reduction and balancing the federal budget are serious, complex, and demanding
tasks, and the policy implications of our efforts reach across the nation, even
around the world. These efforts are not advanced by unsupported suggestions of
though he acknowledges that it constitutes a "cartel" designed to keep dairy
his press office had returned repeated calls asking about it.
on the savage bestiality committed on a small child by whoever strangled her,
as well as the abuse committed by her parents, who put her on display in a
yours manage to develop some sense of human moral responsibility?
we observe that we have too many bakers and not enough butchers, it is
reasonable to suggest that we ought to reduce the tax on butchers. Our rates of
saving and investment are staggeringly low, in both historical and
contemporaneous contexts. There is ample reason to believe that increasing the
rates of saving and investment would be beneficial to the economy. Hence,
care to admit. First of all, people are going to do something with the money
they have made as a result of realized capital gains. Either they will spend
into some other form of investment, which will be taxed in turn. Having the
purpose of tax policy should be to generate income for the government, so that
it can perform its necessary and essential functions, with the least distortion
the coercive power of government, those circumstances and conditions in society
that he finds troubling. I would respectfully suggest that this makes him much
still maintains the old liberal condescension for this perennially maligned
figure. She recognizes that Chambers' Witness is "one of the great
"torrential" and "lurid." She notes Chambers' "susceptibility to ridicule and
was not really involved in the Communist conspiracy inside this country, but
somehow fictionalized it. She implies that he was ridiculous for admiring
"the Soviets' more or less total culpability for the long disaster we call the
That there was a chance for meaningful cooperation with the Soviet
take time from reading revisionist works to look at the revelations of the
saw as the 'invincible ignorance' of a nation blinded to the 'crisis of
right: The ignorance does indeed appear to be invincible.
she left the Labor Department, she set up a firm to advise companies on how to
she set up her business. She set up her firm to provide advice to corporations,
local governments, and nonprofits on dozens of aspects of labor and marketing
see if she could make some money by making the workplace work better. This was
what she was trained to do, and what she was accomplished at. Remember, this
hit the road, trying to help localities figure out how to get the most out of
what was left and trying to help corporations make more progress on hiring
Push negotiating agreements with corporations that included monitoring
not involve any relationship with Operation Push. But some contracts did, and
no black franchises in major franchise businesses. The companies realized they
had to do better or face marketplace consequences, so they set out to hire more
suggestion, sometimes because other companies had recommended her firm. Her
work ended up delivering radical reductions in turnover, and that made them
businessperson, provides valuable help to a developer. He gives her an
proud of her career before and after the Labor Department. Apparently with
anyone who goes from government to business and back, but to make it sound like
real experience making progress on the critical problem of diversity in the
to help us all later. When she talks about teaching kids the "culture of work,"
she isn't speaking dry corporate prose, nor is she speaking the
deserves full and fair reporting and an open hearing. The Senate committee
needs to do its job and get these issues into a forum where the nominee can
respond, rather than leeching them through repeated, incorrect media stories.
to dismiss her life's work as a trip through the revolving door.
year's and this year's matches with great enthusiasm, and have always had a lot
did not expect him to say all those things that he said.
claims that the second game was the one that led to his downfall, and almost
consider doing this and risking its credibility and reputation, it is a
preposterous charge because whoever stepped in to help the machine would be a
spokesman for the human race. This one has just become another "sports
Blue is not a human and has no feelings. It is a pile of microchips. There is
it made me proud to be human, too. I am also proud of his fighting stance at
the press conference. He said exactly what I wanted to say: This stupid machine
will not definitively beat its masters. And then there was a roar of approval
programmers of Deep Blue deserve an ovation? Not to the same extent. They are
still the challengers in this saga of man vs. machine. And not one of the
of kids. But the goal is to have fewer persons become addicted to nicotine at
an age when information about the health hazards is likely to be ignored. Many
But if smoking is addictive, then it makes sense to try to keep tobacco out of
the hands of kids who are too young to take the warnings seriously.
regulations do not make it harder for adults to buy cigarettes. The advertising
regulations may make it harder for a new product to enter the market, or to
to ban smoking because of the possibility of lung damage from secondhand
Turns Yellow" complement each other on the same subject: Big Brother Is
calls it, is, indeed, a fatal twist of irony, incredible and troubling.
away our First, Fourth, and possibly Second amendments with a simple flick of
this is not a sufficient warrant for violating the privacy of an individual's
of the perennial bad excuse for cameras, censorship, and regulations: It's for
no society will ever find true peace and stability. There will always be a
small percentage who cannot govern their own lives and who abuse freedom, but
that shouldn't mean that we all have to pay the price by losing our
really grabbed me. I grew up in the 1950s, at a time when the concept of the
United States as a melting pot was widely preached in our schools and everyday
life. Later, in the 1960s, we were told that the melting pot did not take dark
meat. But now that there is clear cultural and biological assimilation, I have
been surprised to see that large constituencies actually try to categorize
Glazer, I have questioned affirmative action and dreaded the creation of a
are stronger than government policies and political mindsets. I find myself on
a similar journey of shifting concepts and renewed belief in the melting pot
but, like Glazer, my journey is in process, and the questions loom much larger
downfall. While I wouldn't go so far as to praise the early years of her show,
idea. How ironic that a program once watched by poor and wealthy viewers alike
ultimately perished because its creator couldn't handle the move from being
Menace?") seriously misrepresents the methodology, findings, and
conclusions of the recently released Third National Incidence Study of Child
straight. We address only some of the misinformation here.
criticisms, it is noteworthy that he participated in the Conference of Experts
inappropriate ways to draw their conclusions. In doing so, they
overstated the percent of children who were harmed only by
they indicated) and they understated the percent of new children who
were harmed by physical abuse, sexual abuse, or physical neglect in 1993--over
they themselves cite, which show that fatalities have risen by 
harm. (We wish we could ascribe this to misunderstanding, but we clarified this
issue for them before their article's publication and they published their
misinformation anyway.) In fact, the classification of a child as seriously
judgment by a respondent. The criteria for defining serious harm or injury are
standardized; they are applied to the described injury itself, not to the
respondent's judgment about that injury; and they have been consistent across
the three incidence studies. So the recent quadrupling of the number of
seriously injured children cannot be ascribed to some vague form of
of seriously injured children does not make sense in the context of the
sensitivity for more subtle maltreatment cues. Respondents' sensitivity to
were discontinuous across the outcome spectrum, occurring in only two
both increments by appealing to the same process (enhanced sensitivity) then
had been seriously injured while at the same time evidencing greater
sensitivity in identifying moderately injured children. Seriously injured
victims of maltreatment are relatively unlikely to escape detection by the
study methodology, so the rise in incidence in this category cannot be
plausibly explained as due to heightened awareness. Considering all the
evidence, the most reasonable interpretation is that there has been a real
Protective Services investigations by pointing out that the set of
But a careful reading of their discussion reveals that they do not address the
relative inappropriateness of CPS investigations for emotional and educational
maltreatment. However, educational neglect and emotional maltreatment have
always been included in the incidence studies, and eliminating them from the
picture would not eradicate the significant drop in the overall rate of CPS
children whose maltreatment was investigated decreased significantly in all
more" reporting. Nor did we "claim recklessly that too few cases are
need for better targeting, whether by reporters in referring children to CPS,
by CPS screening practices in connection with reports, or by both."
contractors in an underfunded study. Second, words like "misrepresented" and
"misinformation" are, in the world of policy analysis, fighting words. Third,
their study is complicated, and numbers can be thrown back and forth until the
eyes of the average reader glaze over. Most important, my complaint is not so
with the spin given to it by political appointees in the Department of Health
Experts that discussed the study's methodology. In fact, as director of the
approach to the difficult task of counting illegal behaviors toward children
and definitions." But they conveniently leave out two important facts. First,
at that meeting, I pointed out that the methodological changes that were
planned for the study all would have the effect of raising the count of
categories of key participants who were most likely to encounter suspected
of being included in the [new study]." In other words, they proposed to change
release stating that "the number of abused and neglected children rose sharply
report, but was informed that no one outside the government would be given a
sent me a memorandum stating that "the continued contacts from your office on
the matter give the appearance of efforts to place me and my staff in a
staff refrain from further contacts of this nature."
significant, but there is reason to doubt that they reflect an actual increase
in abuse and neglect." I went on to explain what the problems seemed to be, and
to offer my assistance in interpreting the study's results.
that it exemplifies their selective presentation of information.
conducted an incidence study, it had to be revised and reissued almost three
years later because technical problems in the analysis inflated the estimated
problem seems to be more severe. The plain fact is that no attempt was made to
increases were real. (The data that they cite in their letter to contradict us,
by the way, were not presented in the original report and, in any event, are
too incomplete for these purposes.) I realize that one reason this essential
work was not performed was that the government was unwilling to pay for it. But
that is no excuse for announcing that "child abuse and neglect nearly doubled"
without also cautioning the reader about the study's limitations. I hope that,
before three years pass, a revised report that does so will be issued.
perhaps radical action would be required, not the puny list of previously
"unprecedented" level of technical assistance to the states (again, though, not
is because of the broader problem created by exaggerating social ills. Cynics
people believe that child maltreatment is a big problem, they might be willing
past exaggerations, but has come to appreciate the harm that they have
The more it seems that such serious maltreatment is common, the less likely are
agencies to respond firmly. To put it bluntly, society can consider a tough
abuse and child neglect are profound national problems. But, time after time I
have seen how such overstatements have made the problem seem too big to handle
facial hair on the court in more than half a century."
"Having persuaded themselves that they are living and working in rural
their awful writing. When I moved to Oxford, Miss., last winter to work in the
special treatment for being a wordsmith. Hell no. Telling people around here
that you are a writer is like telling a New Yorker that you are an actor and
expecting them to be impressed. This state has a lot to be ashamed of, but not
to issue blanket statements that this type of research should be banned due to
medical procedures and wonder drugs of this century have been encouraged and
funded with full support of political and religious leaders. Modern medicine
human species, producing genetic weaknesses in the population, as a whole. But
we would never propose limiting or discontinuing medical research due to the
importance of human life. I think that the process of cloning should be looked
upon as a possible method of strengthening mankind's weakening genetic makeup
or of preventing some future genetic disaster. And I don't think that
civilization, as a whole, will allow the predicted abuses of genetic
such a complete nonissue issuing from the halls of science.
that genetic identity between two individuals of differing ages is of any
painful process of identifying which one of them was the real one. The
discussion of cloning has forgotten the complexity of human nature and centered
Marriage" dialogue seems to boil down to "Look at how severely and for the
permitting gay marriage is one more step along this path, I don't see him
providing any argument that such unions are themselves bad or any worse than
the other breakdowns of traditional marriage (such as interracial marriage,
multiple divorces, prenuptial agreements, and so forth). Neither does he
provide any answers to the problem, merely a wistful remembrance of how "good"
it was. And if his idea of "good" is forcing roles upon members of a couple,
alimony for life, and community shunning of individuals whose marriages did not
the Knickers Off Your Grandchildren." The greatest foolishness contained in
the article is the assumption that the natural riches that organizations like
should take note that money can't buy everything, and the ready cash that can
so easily purchase consumer electronics is powerless to restore vanished
biodiversity. The breathtaking thoughtlessness exhibited in this piece has
appeared in lesser forms time and again in the "Everyday Economics" column.
jumps to the conclusion that money can't (at least partly) compensate
presents to sick children, because presents can't buy health.
manifestation of the overall income tax. Nevertheless, he glosses over the
essential unfairness of the current system of taxing capital gains, namely, the
appreciated but not especially buoyant market. His capital gain, on which he
must pay tax, will seem like a fat profit. But even relatively low inflation
during the intervening time period will have caused the value of money to
pay tax on gains that are more than offset by inflation.
other countries was interesting enough, but I don't know whom to blame for the
Creed," only got it half right. He is correct to identify the glibness,
guile, and style with which Reed manipulates mass audiences, but he doesn't
to "gifted" status puts a nice face on their hypocrisy and does very little to
rigor requires binary choices. Once more he's taken an issue which he modeled
ridiculous lengths, and smugly pronounced the conclusions as the only logical
of limbo, unable to break through into the world of the living." So life no
longer begins even at conception, as some would have it. Rather, the process is
souls wait to be selected. From this dubious proposition, he deduces that we
are morally obliged to have more children than we really want.
uses his trademark rhetorical trick, the false absolute choice: "If we have no
objection to our trashing Earth, to the point where there will be no future
generations." The truth that his assumptions try to mask is that even if you
is still a certainty that there will be many children conceived and raised, and
there is no contradiction in considering their future to be important.
one's time and one's money aren't intimately linked. But people want to spend
money on things they feel connected to. If the hypothetical donor doesn't care
about the cause, she will write fewer and smaller checks. But if she's willing
to "sacrifice" more of her time, she'll "sacrifice" more of her money.
Ultimately, volunteer work benefits us at least as much as those we serve. It
can bring balance and fulfillment to our lives, while providing real leadership
ledger, it benefits the bottom line as well. Get individuals to invest their
Magazine article stated that AIDS is over. There are two full paragraphs
statement early on that "in one sense, obviously, it is not [over]," by which I
probably, my own); and a clear assertion that "nothing I am saying here is
meant to deny that fact, or to mitigate its awfulness." The quote he keeps
a fuller sentence, which reads, "Perhaps this is why so many of us find it hard
to accept that this ordeal as a whole may be over." It follows a section
devoted to the description of someone's gruesome death. Blithe optimism? Give
obsessed with the idea of a vaccine. This is understandable, since he has
devoted a good deal of his journalistic career to the notion that AIDS will
only be cured by a vaccine. He may be right (although the obstacles to a
him because I am obsessed with AIDS vaccines and have an agenda.
subhead states, is an exploration of the "twilight of an epidemic" that
particular, to consider the possibility that new drug regimens will allow them
to survive this plague. The ideas he examines, often with insight and delicacy,
have to do with things like past vs. future, loss of community, and excessive
skepticism. The passage he accuses me of having "wrested" out of context is
just such a musing. And he gives short shrift to another, more pertinent idea:
Perhaps many infected people find it hard to accept that this ordeal as a whole
may be over because they have yet to see evidence that these drugs will extend
their lives beyond a year or two. And the gruesome death he recounts prior to
this musing is not, as far as we can tell, about someone who responded well to
the new treatments only to die too young and too painfully. Rather, he
describes the death to set a marker in time, raising the possibility that such
about the caveats his article contains, he is taking himself out of context.
The "one sense" he is referring to about the epidemic not being over is
directed at newly infected people and those who can't access or afford the
drugs. Although he does describe attending a meeting where physicians detail
almost wearily: "There were caveats, of course," he writes. The dismissive tone
is critical to his entire argument, because if he squarely reflected on the
great uncertainty that now exists about the impact of the new treatments, he
would undermine the foundation of an exploration of The End. His analysis would
seem, in a word, premature, and that is essentially my problem with the
about my obsession and agenda, give me a break. True, I have written a
great deal about AIDS vaccines, and I have a particular interest in the
topic relating to the disease. And I have written, and continue to write, about
many things that have nothing at all to do with AIDS. You could look it up.
are designed to prevent an infection and thereby stem an epidemic. If drugs do
But unfortunately, we have to sit and wait for studies that are underway to
finish before we can predict the future with something more statistically
Republicans' unseemly bout of whining, blaming, and rationalizing following
was proffered by a member of Bob Dole's polling staff. During an election
difficult for Bob Dole to win the presidency in the Electoral College since,
hear this said, out of the blue, about a Democratic presidential candidate. It
was a mere five years ago, I recall, that conservative commentators were
crowing about the supposed "lock" that the Republican Party had on the
Electoral College, based on its (the party's) strongholds in the South and
Mountain West. This was supposed to guarantee Republican presidential supremacy
that the Democrats did, in fact, have a chance at the presidency once
see the magazine turn into a giant venting extravaganza.
responsible journalism, what do we say about journalists quoting people without
although they both condemned me for it. Had I said it, I would have condemned
article was published (I offered to help, he asked questions and I answered
certainly didn't suggest a "line" that Tucker should follow.
misunderstood something I said and taken it as an attempt to intimidate him, so
I checked it with him, just to make sure my failing memory isn't even worse
dead of night, delivering the latest Politburo ukase on the proper
under my breath, I know my duty to the Revolution. Once, indeed, on the
occasion of my appointment as a contributing editor for literary matters, I was
glorious overthrow of the reactionaries at the New Republic and New
"our Five Year Plan for the People's Aesthetics proceeds on schedule. We have
Comrade Leader," I replied, and every writer for the Standard has since
discussed, such use makes the terms meaningless. If the Weekly Standard
desperation on the part of some reviewers. One could say that the Weekly
things. (I myself find their reviews helpful, if a tad predictable.) To call it
Republicans may be the Stupid Party, but surely every organization is entitled
to seek certain goals and to expect its members to pursue those goals.
those distinctions is to distort history far more than a mildly conservative
magazine, or a lukewarm "conservative" party, is likely to do. It also lowers
disappointed that he missed perhaps the granddaddy of them all, one that once
again broke into the front pages this last week. I refer to the apology that
is whether adopted children are diagnosed with attachment disorder
indiscriminately by people who often don't know what they're doing. It is to
further miss the concern that the language these therapists use (and you
right on, except when she remarks that Japan "continues to enjoy" much higher
of the United States. We also know that he viewed blacks as inherently inferior
fair enough in our day and age, but it hardly takes into account the liberal
time. To actually see blacks as one's literal equal was one of the rarest of
virtues in his time. I don't know of many, or perhaps any, whites who advocated
poster boy himself. He publicly declared on many occasions that blacks would
never be the functional equals of whites in intelligence, ability, creativity,
or social and economic skill, but that they must nevertheless be given their
freedom and some basic legal rights. He was never an advocate of integration of
the races, and felt that they would always be separate and unequal as a matter
made a huge leap forward in human and civil rights merely by so powerfully
advocating them as a legal basis for political agreements between men. It was a
huge step forward, but neither perfect in conception or in deed, as the
forward, but likewise imperfect. He freed the slaves, but had no intention of
making them equal. Yet the direction of both men is clear and unmistakable, and
throw out the progressive historic tradition by which the present civil rights
I would hope our ideals and deeds have advanced beyond their present poor
state? I would hope more compassionately and with greater understanding of the
unique fabric of our times, and the humility to appreciate the giant steps made
Thirty years is a long time to be part of the law school community. I
have witnessed many changes --physical location of the law school, new
faculty coming on board, faculty retiring, tax students surviving my
Legal education nationwide also has been changing, and your law school
has been keeping pace with the times. For example, we now provide
students both traditional classroom education, which emphasizes legal
skills. Our students must now fulfill the law school's legal writing
requirements, and they encouraged to participate in a wide array of
courses and programs that teach professional skills, such as trial
practice, the law school's civil practice and criminal defense clinics,
The law school also continues to develop its curriculum in a number of
specialized fields, including environmental, health, and international
Earlier this year, the law school published the first issue of its
At a recent gathering of the law school's Board of visitors, Justice
indeed, of the nation. For example, he noted that three of the five
of the state's lawyers graduated from the law school. And, of course,
the graduates of your law school and of their accomplishments.
I also believe that you can be proud of your law school. We have
provided throughout the years quality legal education, and we are
continuing to improve. However, these are difficult times for public
institutions of higher education, because legislative appropriations are
sufficient to fund all of our costs. To continue to excel in our
educational mission, we must have both public and private support. For
this reason, I ask that you think of your law school, in financial terms,
in the same way that you would view private institutions.
The law school's needs range from purchasing additional computer
terminals to paying travel costs of our moot court teams and from
refurbishing the Gray Lounge to purchasing necessary reference materials
for the library. These are just some of our needs; others are discussed
in the brochure which is enclosed with this letter.
As a tenured professor and staunch supporter of your law school, my
task is to beat the drums for financial contributions from alumni and
friends. I cannot overemphasize the importance of your support. If we are
to maintain our programs and thus continue to enhance the value of the
You can see "by reading the code, my friend" that there are still many
federal and state tax advantages for making charitable contributions. In
tax credit which is applied directly against the "bottom line" of the
the future quality of the legal profession and a significant way for you
to remember your past, and I thank you, in advance, for your gift.
Most of you remember sitting in a lecture hall and learning about
many students who were able to spend some time on a research project with
Undoubtedly you have attended some of his postgraduate courses, many
The Science of Dental Materials. You now have the opportunity to help
professorship in his honor which will help assure continuation of his
A pledge card and envelope are enclosed for your convenience. Please
deductible contribution will help honor a man who devoted a lifetime of
University. This year fifteen new graduates leave the University and join
ranks with medical record practitioners throughout the world, thus
excellence. She was honored at the Third Chancellor's Honors Convocation.
We were very proud to have a medical record administration student
to lend support to the Medical Record Administration Program. Many
graduates may remember him as a teacher, others as an interviewer on the
Forum. The first award will be presented at our alumni luncheon.
the luncheon, please forward the enclosure and your name will be included
in our mailing. Also, if your class would like to have a special event
this year, we would be pleased to assist by providing a list of mailing
Spring seems to be a good time to contact graduates to request
and car expenses, especially for students traveling some distance to
their assigned clinical sites, are also costly items. Your contribution
Record Administration Program to become our first graduate. Will you help
for your convenience. Sincere appreciation goes to each of you for
on welfare and he's always had a job doing manual labor. Life isn't easy
for Ted, but he's determined to raise his children himself and be a good
role model for them. It wasn't always like that. There was a time when he
felt like he had no choice but to tolerate his wife's constant abuse and
neglect of their children. Then Ted decided the children deserved a
chance to start over in another town, no matter how difficult it might
can't pay their heating or electric bill because of extreme temperatures?
What happens if their children get sick? What happens if they get
family or financial resources to draw from in an emergency.
you've already demonstrated that you want to help genuinely needy people
Although it can't be used to make purchases or withdraw money from an
Here's how it works: Simply detach the Care Card from the top of this
letter and keep it handy. Then, if you know of or come across someone who
needs our help, please give the card to him or her. It shows our address
Office, we can put the person in contact with the volunteer
best to help them through the difficult time, so they can get on with
And just as important, I invite you to renew your partnership with The
Salvation Army by sending a contribution, once again, today. Your
Thank you for your continued financial support, and for remaining
alert for neighbors who need a helping hand. God bless you for your
children, and lonely and needy senior citizens right here in this
employees and officers of every business in the county with important
cancer information. An informed public and financially supported research
We are therefore requesting your cooperation. Our free educational
programs can save lives. Encouraging women to practice breast
will have the opportunity for their employees and officers to contribute
continue supporting the research, educational and service programs.
Will you kindly use and return the enclosed envelope, and assure us of
your enthusiastic participation in the continuation of the excellent work
She would have a better chance of getting help and delivering a healthy
Later, my distress hit home in a personal way when I discovered than
Realizing the seriousness of the problem helped motivate me to join
with individuals like you who have helped to prevent needless suffering
the situation with a limited education, no skills and no source of
income. Would it surprise you to learn that less than two years away from
the millennium, the problem of supplying prenatal care to young, single
mothers is one of growing concern in our community?
mothers rank in the lower third of individuals receiving such care
nationwide. And that's just one significant example of community need.
There are many other important areas where children, families, the
residential outreach maternity service funded by United Way of Central
to help local families, I discovered the answer that made the most sense
United Way, and ONLY United Way, regularly conducts research in our
community to find out where the most important needs are. If United Way
prenatal care, child care training, friendship and peer group
Your past contribution provided a direct line of support for local
programs that promote health and wellness, strengthen families, invest in
son she feels grateful to United Way for the good start she was able to
another United Way funded agency. This story ended happily... perhaps
can provide a homeless. expectant mother with two visits to an
unfortunately there are also hundreds of examples where vital services
Please continue with your neighbors to see to it that no expectant
year it would be wonderful. If you could possibly increase your pledge by
even more, I would be overjoyed. But please join us again this year so
son in a clean, cheerful home. Without the support of United Way of
Please join with us to see that happy endings do continue.
faces of newcomers who are making our city their home. The International
discover the multicultural aspects of our community and prepare for
Our mission is to be the BEST community resource for those with
international needs and the best international resource for those with
community needs. Here are just five of the ways we have accomplished our
The Center took the leadership in revitalizing the International
worked in the planning phase and at the Festival. Our staff could not
Many school children who attended the Festival received advance
distributed to every teacher who requested this valuable tool.
The culmination of the Festival was a breathtaking performance by the
For one hour they captivated their large audience of children and adults
with stunning acrobatics and death defying spins from the rafters-
The Center is assessing the ways in which youth programs in central
assessment will lead to new approaches in training youth workers so that
they can build stronger programs which make all young participants feel
As the local host organization for the National Council of
two months in our city. Local families welcomed these visitors into their
homes for an evening of dinner and conversation or acted as host families
The Center has entered into partnership with a dozen local
Services the Center works hand in hand with human resource departments.
Center staff assists with the housing search, school decisions,
drivers' licenses, leisure time activities, and daycare. A valuable
our own festival publicity "Many Faces, One World. At the International
Center we are proud to welcome newcomers to our city whether they come to
us meet this challenge. With your help, the International Center of
University has been at the forefront of discovery on many occasions and
the School of Medicine has been a tremendous contributor to the
Scientific investigation for the community's benefit is an integral
part of the School of Medicine's mission. We take seriously our immense
responsibility to push the boundaries of knowledge in our pursuit of new
treatments and therapies for diseases that negatively impact the lives of
In that regard, we enclose information highlighting an exciting
achievement in cardiovascular medicine at the School of Medicine. The
One of the devastating consequences of heart disease is the
irreparable damage it does to the heart muscle. When heart cells die,
because of a heart attack or another cause, they cannot be repaired. The
possibility of cardiac regeneration offers tremendous hope for the
millions of patients who have suffered grave damage to their hearts.
The research published in Science gives evidence of progress by
documenting the first successful transplantation of functional heart
cells into an animal model. These transplanted cells line up properly,
make the correct connections and function just like native heart cells.
Thus, the prospect of heart cell replacement, rather than a full heart
transplant, may be in the foreseeable future. There is still much work to
do, but, naturally, we are very proud of Dr. Field and his colleagues'
School of Medicine. The School's cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons,
and scientists have made significant advances through the years against
the nation's number one killer. From the laboratory to the bedside, our
physicians and scientists are dedicated to improving the care and
treatment of patients suffering from cardiovascular disease. The research
published in Science is additional evidence of our commitment to seeking
a major fundraising campaign. A major component of the campaign is to
support research activities like those of Dr. Field. In addition to
funding work in cardiovascular medicine, the campaign will support
initiatives in cancer, pediatrics, genetics, as well as increasing
interest in the School of Medicine is greatly appreciated.
depend on friends like you to help us bring outstanding productions to
consecutive year, enabling thousands of families and students the
opportunity to celebrate the holidays together. It is your support and
In total, because of the gifts given last year, we were able to discount
.By reaching students whom are not otherwise being reached through
school and other community institutions. It is a proven fact that the
arts contribute to higher scores on the SAT and other standardized
.By transforming the environment for learning; school lessons become
opportunities of discovery when performed live on stage.
.By providing new challenges for those students already considered
successful and helping them surpass boredom and complacency, which are
So far, we've been very successful in our service to the community,
but we need your financial support right now to complete the season with
this year. Every dollar that you contribute makes a big difference.
It's thrilling to have such a strong impact on the community. It's now
your opportunity to be a partner in our work. We have been selected again
this year to participate in two special challenge matches: one with the
National Endowment for the Arts (to support our education programming for
You have heard from us twice by mail this season requesting your
support. This letter is to let you know that we still need your help to
continue our record of strong fiscal management, vibrant theatrical
productions and outstanding educational programs. We have a long way to
as yourself. Your gift, and the doubling of these dollars through the two
Ticket sales and subscriptions cannot finance our complete season; in
by sending your gift in the return envelope today. Either way, it's
important that we hear from you during this last fundraising drive of
In that same year, his family, friends and colleagues established a
The award is given annually to the student who has completed six
semesters, has the highest scholastic average, and a financial need. The
benefits worthy students and serves the school of dentistry.
This letter is to ask for your support in remembering your fellow
Libraries and to ask you to renew that support. Let me give you an
library found references to articles which dealt precisely with the
subject she had chosen for her term paper. Imagine her dismay when she
discovered that the library did not own most of the journals. Many of the
articles could be borrowed on inter- library loan but there was no
guarantee that they would be here in time for her to complete the
Unfortunately, this is an all too common scenario. It is one the
Libraries are trying very hard to eliminate, but the rapidly increasing
price of materials makes the task difficult. That's why your past
Your continued involvement is vital. Groundbreaking for the new
library will be this summer. But this wonderful new building, with its
21st Century computer resources will need the continued involvement of
many friends like you --people who understand that a library is more than
As you know, a library is a living resource, where the cultural
history, the scientific discovery, and the philosophical dialogue of a
University Libraries to have collections, access, and services which meet
your expectations requires friends and partners both inside the
University and throughout the community, state and nation.
With your assistance, the Libraries will be able to provide more
journals, more computerized databases for locating vital information, and
more equipment for rapid access to the computerized catalog and
I ask you to join me in renewing your pledge of support to the
contribution. At whatever level you may contribute, your gift will make a
difference to all the present and future users of the libraries, and will
citizen. You can make sure they do their job when you make your gift to
help them provide the very best in collections and services!
This is absolutely the last time that I will ask you to please donate
Next year at this time, my letter of solicitation will have a new
one era and the beginning of a new era. I feel sure that you will want to
be one of that special group of donors who responded to this last
Again, let me assure you that we would appreciate receiving one
assure you that we would appreciate equally well any contribution you are
able to make. Whatever you can contribute, you will be helping to support
provide awards to Geology students on Honors Day, to pay partial support
for an undergraduate student to attend a special Geomorphology Conference
in New York, to augment the principal in the Geology Alumni Undergraduate
Scholarship, and to award partial tuition support to the student awarded
We really do appreciate your efforts, whatever amount you can
Your child was a recent participant in a Social Health program at his
or her school. We hope that you will consider a personal gift to help us
reach as many of our young people as possible. In these volatile times as
children and their parents are subjected to mounting pressures in the
schools, home and workplace and issues of personal responsibility are too
many times pushed into the background, our mission is even more critical.
A national emphasis on controlling teen pregnancies and taking
responsibility for one's actions is already emerging as a major issue in
responsible behavior among our young people. The Social Health
growth and development; AIDS and STD education; and life skills (conflict
activities and individual gifts. Thus, your gift to Social Health is
vitally important to our success and can accomplish the following:
Your support of Social Health Association can help us make a real
difference in the lives of our children. Thank you for your help.
I am sure you will understand my writing to you once more about the
I know that as an important business and community leader, you are
frequently deluged with requests for funds from worthwhile organizations.
is much more than just that. It is the one private, volunteer
organization that exists to end the menace of cancer, to ease the pain of
cancer victims and their families, to rehabilitate those who survive, and
to enlighten and inform both the professional world and lay public about
Support is needed both to maintain and expand these comprehensive
work. I would most appreciate receiving your generous check made payable
ever to support our thrilling productions. To maintain our financial
Because our commitment to professional quality productions and strong
educational outreach across the state requires strong community support.
Although inflation is low, our productions are very labor intensive and
most exceed the rate of inflation. We've kept ticket prices very
affordable and, in fact, provide amazing student ticket discounts. If we
keep our prices low, we need to come to you, our audience members, to ask
for a small contribution in order to help us meet this mission.
It's just a play, right? Why so expensive? Here are just a few
-We use professional, career actors, who belong to a union called
actors make their living from their craft. We find these outstanding
home. This means not only salary, and benefits, but also housing and
transportation are primary expenses each year. One week's salary and
the state. This means our commitment to quality is shown backstage, as
nationally known professional designers and directors create the exciting
don't just go to the nearest fabric store and try to find the closest
thing to what we want. Our artistic standards dictate that we look until
-Deeply discounting student matinee tickets for children to see a play
matinees are coordinated with teachers and unite a play with studies of
classroom lessons in history, social studies, cultural diversity and
thrill you when you walk through the doors. What you may not know is that
the money for that restoration came from a capital and endowment
education programs. Your gift would go directly to the artistic product
on stage and our nationally recognized education program which last year
To continue to make it work we need YOU. Last year, you generously
P .S. Please give today to continue enjoying fully professional live
to test your knowledge of the crucial services funded through Annual
"Which of the following services are important to quality Girl Scout
books, add to the Girl Scout experience so that girls and volunteers have
the tools they need to make Girl Scouting a positive learning
Boats, canoes, tents, high adventure equipment, and even the simple
convenience of stoves and refrigerators create a camping environment
Adult education opportunities give volunteers skills that are helpful
Liability and property insurance contributes to secure programs for
Quality staff support means girls and adults have advice and
professional assistance available to them when they need it.
calendars and other materials, allow volunteers to provide quality,
Four camp properties add to the enjoyment of girls and adults
Staff and maintenance materials for upkeep, paint and repair of
property help make it possible for everyone to enjoy a clean, safe and
Annual Appeal. Your annual gift directly funds the council services that
ensure girls and volunteers will continue to benefit from the quality
Please give what you can. it is imperative that we reach the Board of
raising. Please keep in mind, requests for donations to the Capital
Campaign are separate and will be made later this month.
Thank you for your recent inquiry about the Environmental League of
Your support for our work would be greatly appreciated. It is only
with the help of concerned citizens that we are able to continue to carry
out our mission effectively. With the help of friends like you, ELM will
ELM members receive our quarterly Bulletin, the best source of
receive periodic Action Alerts on current issues by either regular mail
If you would like to become a member of ELM, please fill out the
enclosed membership form and send it back at your earliest convenience.
contributions to the Environmental League are tax deductible.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the ELM
public management and public policy as well as environmental science and
impressive and dedicated faculty that includes inspiring teachers and
distinguished scholars who are contributing to the solutions of some of
our most difficult public policy and public management problems,
including those concerning health, the environment, and criminal justice;
it is attracting a diverse, capable group of students; and its graduates
are making contributions in a wide range of challenging positions in the
benefits everyone connected to the school -students, faculty, and most
best education possible for its students and to help recruit new students
who will be able to widen their horizons just as you did during your
fellowships, seminars and colloquiums, and faculty research
You believed enough to invest in yourself then; now you can renew your
investment in the school that made so many of those beliefs possible.
formative years, learning to walk, talk, laugh, play, read, and pray.
redecorated Oval Office should reflect the cultural strength and
diversity of our nation. The deep blue rug is emblazoned with a
eagle holds an olive branch, signifying peace, in its right hand. A
golden, double rope band, signifying domestic and international unity,
frames the seal and the border of the rug. Laurel wreaths, symbolizing
victory, and olive branches symbolizing peace, also adorn the rug's
border along with acanthus leaves. The thirteen yarn colors of the
magnificent rug symbolize the original thirteen colonies of this
Steps to the Future Brick Project You may purchase a brick to be
bricks as memorials, for celebrations of birthdays, to acknowledge
I am delighted to inform you that at the last meeting of the Executive
placed your name in nomination for membership and you were accepted
This honor could not come at a more exciting time --election year,
Throughout the Convention, Inner Circle members will take part in a
may also attend political briefings delivered by Republican Senators, top
Most importantly, Inner Circle members will receive credentials to
attend all of the Convention's official working sessions. In addition, by
accepting Inner Circle membership, you will share in the world's greatest
Inner Circle member you will take part in a variety of unique political
Shortly, you will receive a formal invitation from Senator Bob Dole,
ranking Republican leader in the Senate. I hope you will join this
Again, let me congratulate you on your unanimous nomination for Inner
Circle membership and urge you to accept this honor as soon as possible.
On behalf of President Bush, I look forward to working with you in the
As one who generously supports the law school, you understand the
importance of alumni contributions in providing an excellent legal
education for our students. The demand for a legal education remains
all of its expenses, a strong financial response from alumni is
essential. State financial support is unlikely to increase significantly
law school, and we are grateful for your past support. All alumni are
being asked to increase their annual level of support. If the law school
is to provide necessary scholarships and services needed to compete with
other public and private law schools, this year we cannot simply maintain
During August, you will be asked by a volunteer to consider making a
designated for the school's general endowment, a particular scholarship
or program, or a combination of needs. I hope we can include your name
The Black Cane Society is named after the Black Cane award which is
given annually by the law students to the professor who is voted to be
happiness as we wind down this year and begin another. Among the many
traditions of the holiday season is taking time to reflect upon the
things in our lives that add meaning. It is also a time to review our
personal giving and consider gifts to our favorite organizations. As you
gallery continue its longstanding excellence in preparing the artists of
facility repairs this year including much needed new coats of paint in
has been replaced and our newly occupied and totally renovated
All these repairs, along with support for our outstanding faculty, the
maintenance of educational quality at the school, but they all cost
need additional assistance from friends like yourself if the school is to
I hope you will consider a gift to the school this year. A gift form
identifying particular areas of need is attached for your reference. Any
This is a wonderful time of year for storytelling. My favorite, of
It is our distinct pleasure to bring to life tales to make you laugh,
experience unfamiliar situations, or warm your heart. Hopefully, you
We are proud to serve this community as the best storytellers
see what we do to put a high quality production on the stage. Hours of
dedicated artistry go with each of fabric and every 2x4 to make the story
To continue to tell our stories, we ask for your help and support.
need contributed support to bring the best professional actors here, to
maintain our reputation for beautiful sets and costumes, and to subsidize
Please send your gift in the enclosed envelope with the response card
tell the best stories in the finest manner possible. Thank you!
Would it surprise you to learn that some important people like
Your contribution helps to conserve and protect these artists' great
masterworks. And now, the permanent collection continues its reputation
followers who gathered around him nearly a century ago in the French
the museum's Annual Operating Campaign helps to attract significant works
Your gift to the Annual Operating Campaign helps to offset costs
associated with presenting art that educates and inspires all people of
I hope you will support the museum's Annual Operating Campaign.
All of our Six summer camping sessions are booked to capacity (and,
truth be told, with maybe one our two extra returning campers squeezed
spot should open. Many more camper referrals are coming from new
agencies. It seems summer options aren't readily available for troubled
kids whose families have limited incomes, so we're doing all we can to
they had to earn the right to ask others for help by accomplishing
something real to help themselves. And that's from kids many people see
with peers and role models alive and important. We've scheduled more than
Please, consider renewing your support of these great kids today.
than ever this fall and winter. If you can give a little more to help
meet this increased expense we would appreciate your support.
It only takes three quick, easy steps to obtain a matching gift from
matching gift program (through the personnel office).
cases subsidiaries of larger parent companies are also eligible and that
companies will sometimes match a gift retroactively. Check out these
I cannot underestimate the importance of matching gifts to the law
school's Annual Fund program. In a time of legislative budget cuts, every
matching gift companies. We can only guess the number of spouses who work
for a matching gift company or one of its subsidiaries.
a moment to follow the three easy steps listed above. Then watch your
program for Dental Assisting is one of the most outstanding in the state.
Yet a few years ago, it almost closed its doors due to a lack of
A recent survey of dental assistants showed many of them would have
Dental Assisting program is not listed in the Yellow Pages due to a lack
Who knows how many people dropped their interest in Dental Assisting when
they heard the tuition costs at other schools? Hopefully, all of us can
do more "internal marketing" with our young patients to encourage them to
We can also offer scholarships to young people interested in attending
endowment fund to help the Dental Assisting Program conduct more public
relations and advertising and hopefully even list its phone number in the
Each of us needs to be ambassadors for Dentistry within our own
practices, and at church, athletic and social events. Let's do our best
auxiliary crisis before it happens! Remember all donations are tax
This group of donors will directly help the Chancellor meet immediate
needs of faculty, students, and staff. These needs require unrestricted
gifts that the Chancellor can use for special purposes that the usual
act sooner and more effectively when special opportunities arise.
As is true at other campuses, almost all of our operating funds are
restricted. We must use income from fees and appropriations for defined
they are scarce. Through annual unrestricted gifts from individual and
corporate supporters, the Chancellor's Circle will make it possible to
respond more fully and flexibly to current needs. You are invited to
become a part of this important new venture to strengthen this growing
public service have helped to lift the quality of life in its
statewide plans, call for improving undergraduate education, enhancing
will become a model for public higher education for the nation's cities.
Private gifts will play a vital role in reaching these goals. The
Chancellor's Circle offers distinctive ways to add momentum to further
Faculty Recruitment and Development Discretionary funds are especially
needed to attract and retain faculty members. During the 1990s, there
will be much stiffer national competition for new faculty. The numbers of
Gifts to the Chancellor's Circle will help pay travel costs to our city
and campus for prospective faculty and their spouses, along with some
relocation costs. The Chancellor's Circle also will help current faculty
keep up with their scholarly and professional peers. They need individual
support to attend conferences, present papers, publish their works, and
keep in touch with others in their fields across the country.
Faculty and Student Awards Annual presentations of Chancellor's awards
encourage outstanding work among faculty, staff, and students. These
awards provide chances to recognize unusual achievements and sometimes
Special Opportunities No organization can anticipate every opportunity
that may become available during its next budget cycle. These can include
unforeseen chances to enhance student and faculty learning by inviting
special visitors and scholars to the campus when they happen to be in the
state. sometimes local events can generate chances for faculty and staff
to assist the community because of their unique forms of expertise.
Or sudden changes in other countries can create openings for faculty
research. The campus also can serve as a community forum, sponsoring
public lectures by authorities on issues in the news. Support from the
Chancellor's Circle can help us take advantage of such emerging
Joining The Circle As a participant in the Chancellor's Circle, you
gifts to work. You also will be invited to special events and receive
mailings about campus activities. Other benefits of participation are
being planned. Initially, individuals can take part by making an annual
or more for Chancellors Associates. Corporate participation involves an
of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, or how to make a gift through the
to serve stray and unwanted animals (the National Charities Information
All these animals need some form of costly care including boarding,
food, medical care, testing, surgery, medicine, training, or physical
We are faced with the real possibility of turning away animals if
Your humane society provides not only effective community social
services for animals and their people, but also serves as the "pound" for
safe place to stay and be cared for until their owners can be
give them a chance at a happy life. While every animal that makes it to
the Humane Society receives the care it needs and deserves, the ones that
provide these services, as mandated by state law. Over the years the
of funding to help us meet expenses. In the past our relationship with
funding for the services the City expects and that which the community
funds we need to continue full service to the community without suffering
along with the Board of Trustees, will continue to work closely with
WE NEED YOUR HELP. WE ARE FACED WITH THE REAL POSSIBILITY OF TURNING
we will make the goal. However, the average response rate to our appeals
whatever amount you can spare! We love animals and we know you do, too.
Thank you for your support --we can only do this because of you!
Humane Society's needs. If you don't know who your Alderman is, contact
hope is you were greatly blessed and encouraged by this issue. We're
committed to expressing the heart of the Lord with relevance to the call
newsletter evolved into the magazine you receive today. Many have told us
they view this magazine as an important ministry tool and see it being
offset publishing and mailing costs. If you would like to offer a gift
beyond the suggested subscription, just fill in that amount below. We'd
subscribe. Simply detach the bottom portion, check the option that
applies, make any changes to your address if needed and send it in the
are able to see -really see -ourselves reflected; how we think, how we
emotionally react. Our failings, shortcomings and hesitations, are on
advantage of the "mirror" concept to let today's youth take a look at
a man who is fighting with all of his might to make honorable decisions,
face down personal demons and accept a mantle of responsibility he really
support given to us by the National Endowment of the Arts. In addition to
teachers to use with their curriculum, and technical and artistic
classroom to work with kids and introduce them more personally to the
from coast to coast to talk to kids in the classroom thanks to
Now back to the mirror of society. Imagine if a child can see him or
much more confident, that much more able to face a difficult world and
that much more willing to face personal responsibility. Maybe this little
You can help be a part of this magic. We need your help and
participation in our acclaimed education program. Please use the enclosed
provides. You can help youngsters see and imagine amazing things for
it was with the news that expenditures were greater than contributions
contribution or contributing to the fund for the first time. Thanks to
approved by the fund committee of six. All expenditures should be
and I have served as Chairman of the fund since I was elected to that
The Pediatric Dentistry Clinic at the School is scheduled to be
area across the hall from the Orthodontic Clinic in the south wing of the
School. The staff and faculty are looking forward to using a clinic that
will be equipped with the newest dental units and systems available. The
money to pay for the renovation and major equipment will be taken from
revenues over the next few years. However, I am sure there will be other
items that will be needed in the new facility to enhance the educational
experience of students, including graduate students.
possible. Please use the enclosed, coded card and envelope, which will
insure that your contribution is deposited directly to our account. This
are equaled by few, if any, other programs in the country. We are most
The National Board of Visitors cordially invites you to become a
I need your immediate help today to save a tradition... a uniquely
.a living tradition of voluntary action for the public good known as
I look to you because you are among the few who have an outstanding
commitment to philanthropy --a commitment based on your personal
Unfortunately, our view of the importance of philanthropy is not
They do not understand, as we do, that the museums, parks, hospitals
and community organizations supported by philanthropy are the
cornerstones of our very quality of life. They do not realize that right
now voluntary associations are helping to address some of the most
troubling social issues of our time, including homelessness, crime, and
Perhaps most important, few comprehend that the perpetuation
key to the present and future vitality of our nation.
Evidence strongly suggests that this lack of understanding is
We cannot let our rich philanthropic heritage --a vast sector that now
includes more than a million organizations and a hundred million
Philanthropy that we develop a new generation of informed and committed
leaders. To do all this we need a place where philanthropy can be
explored by students, scholars and practitioners as a serious academic
and why I am writing to seek you support of our mission today.
We want you as a true partner because we know you share our deep
conviction that philanthropy is essential to our democratic society.
I am therefore delighted to extend this invitation today giving you
the opportunity to join us as a Charter Associate of the Center on
you who believe that professional practice can be improved by closely
linking nonprofit management and fund raising to education, study and
Specifically, you will be joining a group of distinguished foundation
executives, business leaders, scholars, development professionals and
bestowed their highest awards. These are people who share your dedication
who never close the door on their commitment to philanthropy at the end
But before you decide to join us, let me tell you more about our work
one of our nation's largest and most prestigious private foundations. Our
earliest goal was to "permeate the intellectual consciousness" of the
Today we have accomplished all this and much more. Currently, the
on a wide range of disciplines including the law, sociology, and the
We also have a groundbreaking Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies
program and are developing a doctoral degree in the field. What's more,
annually in courses and workshops offered by the Center's Fund Raising
with an international reputation for helping organizations become leaders
Developing a new generation of informed and committed leaders in
philanthropy is, in fact, one of the Center's highest priorities. That is
why we have just introduced an exciting new program called Leadership
the program is designed to help volunteer leaders learn fund raising
skills and better appreciate their work as part of our philanthropic
We are well aware that the ultimate importance of the study of
philanthropy is found outside the walls of the academy. That is why this
part of the Center's effort to serve the needs of communities directly by
training those 'who are responsible for sustaining philanthropy at the
This is but one of many projects we envision as we work to develop the
next generation of philanthropic leaders and take the Center's core
Because if you and I truly want to preserve philanthropy as a way of
seriously, that they talk about it, debate it, challenge it, and
But we cannot achieve this ambitious task alone. We need your support
This is why I am counting on your commitment as a Charter Associate of
I realize that, as a leader in your field, you are frequently asked to
support worthy organizations, including other institutions associated
with philanthropy. I must therefore tell you why the Center on
We are the only educational institution actively dedicated to changing
We are the leading academic institution promoting the study of
schools depend on us to provide materials and direction as they
incorporate philanthropic studies into their curriculum.
philanthropic heritage by expanding the Center's crucial educational,
more, you are entitled to many privileges, including a beautiful Charter
Associate Certificate you'll be proud to hang in your office and a copy
of our National Board of Visitors' prestigious publication Annual Report
on the State of Philanthropy. Benefits for higher gift levels are listed
name will be permanently inscribed on the Honor Roll of Charter
But whatever the size of your gift, your participation as a partner in
the Center's mission makes a valuable difference. Your inspiration, your
generous support and your active leadership are crucial to our
Please accept the invitation of our National Board of Visitors and
Associate to help the Center expand its crucial role in preserving the
If The Salvation Army's Red Shield could talk, it might tell you how
we recently helped a man with diabetes get the insulin he needed... a
elderly widow find the strength to face life on her own...
I enjoy sharing these small victories with you through my letters.
I know that from my desk at The Salvation Army, I have a unique
perspective, and I want you to know without a doubt that we are meeting
scope of The Salvation Army's services extends far beyond this community.
That's why I believe it's important for you to hear what people
outside of our ministry are saying about The Salvation Army. Over the
By endorsing The Salvation Army as a whole, they're supporting our
close at hand. After you read them, I hope you'll feel even more
confident about the role you play in helping us help others.
I hope your organization, too, will continue its endorsement of The
majors who are in need of temporary financial assistance.
We have been the direct beneficiaries of private as well as state
support of our university. Gifts from alumni are essential to bridge the
gap between what our tuition dollars and state funding provide, and the
actual cost of an undergraduate education. A better School of Liberal
Last year was the first year for the School of Liberal Arts Senior
amount. Those of us on the Student Council of the School of Liberal Arts,
representing you to the Dean and funding your departmental clubs, trips
and parties, believe that you can help us convey to the Dean and our
teachers how much we appreciate them. The way is simple.
Join us in helping the School of Liberal Arts be all that it can be.
Now more than ever girls need your support to help their dreams become
Each generation of girls faces new challenges: new technology, new
moral issues, new opportunities. Girl Scouts experience a wide range of
also reap benefits that are difficult to measure, including enhanced
conviction to take the lead and excel in their endeavors.
We start early. As a preventive, informal education program, Girl
Scouting helps girls relate to others, develop values, contribute to
their society, and develop their own potential. Resulting in reduced risk
of teen pregnancy, suicide, truancy, substance abuse and so many other
girls will continue to receive the benefits that Girl Scouting offers.
pleased to announce a program that will positively affect the oral health
opportunity for future dental practitioners. This collaborative effort,
clinic at People's Health Center to provide care to the homeless. (The
Homeless grantee and provides comprehensive primary health care to
The oral health care needs of homeless people are overwhelming. Dental
distress is widespread in a population whose inability to seek care is
compounded by fear and a lack of resources, transportation, and providers
from which to receive care. Poor oral conditions greatly impact the
overall health of homeless persons as well as their ability to survive
the streets. Dental problems can even interfere with opportunities for
dental education. Early introduction to this topic in a student's career
helps produce an informed and caring practitioner who has a strong sense
educational experience brings to light what an integral role the dental
In addition to the dental instruction provided students will be
introduced to the objectives of community health centers, with particular
emphasis on the work of People's Health Center. Students will provide
dental health education for homeless patients as well.
Significant costs of this exciting collaboration will be absorbed by
the program successful. Funding is being requested from foundations,
individuals, and others interested in serving health care needs of
this worthy cause. We are hopeful that you will agree to help, also. This
program will see many positive outcomes with your investment.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. You can help make
this valuable program available to many persons who are not currently
We've helped people break free of the welfare cycle. We've found ways
for people with disabilities to enter the workforce. We've expanded
Goodwill's proven methods to towns and neighborhoods where they are
Of course, we've played different roles. You have helped make
Goodwill's work possible with your previous support. Goodwill has devised
the programs that turned your investment into results.
Who has benefited from our partnership? Everyone has. When you and I
help somebody find a job, one more person joins the ranks of tax payers,
fewer tax dollars are spent on public assistance and businesses gain
There are a lot of barriers that keep people from working: physical
and mental disabilities, history of welfare dependency and lack of
challenges every day of their lives. So our work must continue.
Everyone benefits from the work we do together. Many people need our
Please continue our important partnership. Support Goodwill with a
from the community, ones whom we have helped train, than ever in our
are not only an arts experience, but help teach history, literature, and
program ticket revenue is a mere fraction of that, so our contributions
continue these critically needed services. I am writing to ask for your
direct assistance in our education programs and artistic product.
-Artist in the Classroom programs where community artists teach
because of location or, unfortunately, because of finances.
joy is the communication that occurs between an actor and an audience.
been in (and those I haven't) without donations other than ticket
Name organization (if applicable) Address City, State Zip
Or who helps Randy break a cycle of violence and become a better
And we need your help this year to make sure these services are there
I am writing you in the hope of getting your support for this year's
United Way campaign. The funds raised by the campaign support a family of
counseling, care for abused children, scouting and youth programs, job
Your generous support is very important. Here are just some of the
six days of shelter and meals for a homeless person.
are some quotes from people whose lives were touched by United Way
"After losing my job due to downsizing, I lost my home, my car and
nearly everything I owned. You arranged for my daughter to see a doctor
tickets for me to go to interviews. You treated me with dignity and made
"My Big Brother acts like a friend, but since he's an adult I get to
make use of all his experience. We do fun stuff that we both like. No
matter what we do that day, I always seem to learn an important lesson."
"If it were not for the services they provide us, the older persons
would not be able to get around to do our business, such as visits to
When you give to United Way, you can rest assured that your gift will
be used efficiently and effectively to help people in need here at home.
Last year, you gave us a contribution of $xx, for which we, and the
people you helped, are grateful. Please find it in your heart to renew
your pledge or, if possible, increase it. Just check the appropriate box
on the enclosed pledge card and return it in the reply envelope.
Thank you in advance for touching a life and helping to make our
community a better place to live, work and prosper.
and me and how we respond to human need. We must all do our share! Please
Your membership fee assures your receiving notices of exhibition
Friends only events. The year's upcoming shows are:
We have an exciting year of exhibitions and events planned and hope
Turn back the hands of time and remember when you made the decision to
become a dental hygienist. For some that decision was made in the recent
past and for others, the distant past. Whatever the case, that decision
was a defining moment in your life and the beginning of a productive and
Each student that enters our dental hygiene program is embarking on
the same journey that you traveled before them. However, the excitement
and motivation of that goal is often diminished by the difficult
financial constraints that students experience. Our student population is
changing and greater demands are placed on students and their families.
Fund has helped many dental hygiene students achieve their career
past, I would like to thank you for your commitment to dental hygiene
education and ask for your continued support. If this is your first
donation I would like to thank you in advance for your interest and
support of this important scholarship fund. An envelope and giving card
Thank you for your interest in the Institute for Global Ethics.
in touch with vital and cutting edge ethical issues; and our newest
publication, Ethical Connections, a quarterly newsletter providing
highlights of the Institute's programs and activities. You will also be
entitled to special discounts on books, audiotapes, and videotapes from
I have enclosed information about the Institute and copies of the
latest issues of Insights on Global Ethics and Ethical Connections.
having an opportunity to talk with members of the audience following a
Following a show, a young couple came up to the stage to say hello.
They said they both felt they knew me like an old friend because they'd
though they had gone to separate schools, each one's first experience
I was delighted at their vivid recollections of some of my favorite
So many people have told me that seeing a play as a student literally
opened their eves and minds to a whole new world; a world of imagination
they crave that potent mix of actor, playwright, and audience, which is
It's that magic I am asking you to keep alive and well for all
their teachers, have written us. Please read them. They touched my heart
programs. The plays which are performed are selected because they have a
specific link to what is being studied in the classroom. Whether its a
literature topic, a humanities issue, or an important person in history
A full array of educational services are incorporated to enhance the
I am writing to ask for your direct assistance in educating a child.
you can play a role in the development of a young person through the
Because we're committed to provide these education services, donations
income doesn't begin to cover the cost of these programs. We need your
assistance; as your generosity allows us to keep these programs
affordable to schools and students. You can help directly:
and students like them. You can make the difference TODAY!
P .S. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! You can make the
worlds outside their own and to see their classroom studies come to life.
As a member of the family of Girl Scouts we need your continued
I am sure you are aware that Girl Scouting provides programs which
help girls to develop values, contribute to their society, and develop to
their own potential. With so many conflicting pressures in our society
This year's challenge is to keep pace with our growing membership
through increased levels of support from every facet of the
other friends. A strong participation is essential to successfully reach
receive the benefits that Girl Scouting has to offer.
Others continue to notice our success. The National Endowment for the
Arts has awarded us very generously for the second year in a row, with a
It's thrilling to be having such an impact on the community. It's now
your opportunity to be a partner in our work. We have been selected to
You have heard from us twice this year. The first time was to tell you
about the impact of our educational program and, more specifically, To
Kill a Mockingbird. The second appeal was to let you know about some of
our artistic expenses you may not normally consider, such as the cost of
let you know that, while we've experienced some success this season, we
still need your help to continue our record of strong fiscal management
to raise from subscribers and donors such as yourself. Your gift, and the
doubling of these dollars through the two challenge matches will help us
over the phone. We hope you will enjoy talking to our representative, but
if you wish to give immediately, please send your gift in today by using
by returning your gift in the mail. It's important that we hear from you
during this last fundraising drive of the season. Please consider sending
P .S. If you wish to not be contacted on the telephone and want to
help us save money, be sure to send in your gift today!
For patrons, artists, students and actors, Civic provides the best in
professionally produced amateur productions in our community, and one of
performing arts with artistic leadership, masterful technical elements
and exciting camaraderie allowing volunteer actors and technical crew
members to stretch in a professional atmosphere and nurture their
program that provides a nurturing environment for theatrical education
for children ages preschool to high school. Junior Civic children
We are only able to provide these programs because of your
community. Thank You! I hope you'll consider renewing your support with a
Through your generous support you verify the importance of the
renew your support today for the opportunities and experiences your gift
their understanding of the need for private funding so necessary if the
University is to maintain and enhance its service to society.
continues to grow. Along with these accolades comes the challenge to
sustain that level of excellence. Private gifts are the only way we can
meet the expectations of such an environment. This is where your caring
concern for the welfare of the University means so much.
spent studying university finance the more he was convinced that "the
University's "peaks of excellence" are becoming more numerous and, at the
Enclosed is a reply card and envelope with the hope that you will
entitled to a credit against your State taxes for your gift. The form you
will need to claim your credit, and attach to your return, is
Dentistry has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My
sister is a practicing hygienist, my brother a certified dental
technician and my father has been both a general practitioner and dental
educator. It was all of those positive influences that I have to thank
now begun to put two years of learning into daily clinical practice. It
has become obvious to me already how crucial the latest techniques and
Not only are the latest and best techniques important to delivering
quality dental care, they also help to preserve the traditional quality
be intimidating enough; but doing so without the best training possible
would be twice as stressful. That is why it is essential to the students
 Fellow. Support at this level is assisting the dental school in a
variety of ways. We look forward to your renewal as a Century II
for your past support of dental education. As I have learned from the
three members of my family who have already earned degrees from the
School of Dentistry, the quality of my education will have a direct
bearing on my professional life for years to come. Thank you for helping
What kind of people benefit by your contribution to Pleasant Run
There are thousands more. Families are being torn apart, and too
a group home to get help because of severe behavior disorders; and John
H., a recovering alcoholic, rebuilding a relationships with his family so
ago. Then the task was to help children who lost parents in the Civil
War. Today, we serve children and families with a multitude of problems:
emotional, physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Some come from
families where, through therapy, there is hope for reunification. For
others, "families" are the counselors are housemates at the group homes
The biggest tragedy is that the problems don't go away; they only
will triple. The children and families who come to Pleasant Run are given
the opportunity to become happy, loving, and productive members of our
society. They welcome the chance to belong, to become self- sufficient,
For Pleasant Run to continue to serve abused and neglected children
and their families, we need your support. The Funding sources are
shrinking, but the needs grow explosively. Please "help good kids get
better" by sending us a contribution today. Your gift will give children
As the new dean for Engineering and Technology I am delighted to have
this opportunity to contact you. In recent years our school has grown
dramatically. The electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and
computer technology departments are now at the downtown campus in our new
students the hands on training necessary for a good education in
engineering and technology. These new facilities have set the stage for
growth in our programs. New faculty have been hired, and they have
enhanced our course offerings with new and varied areas of expertise. The
dedication of the new Science, Engineering and Technology buildings will
the new and exciting changes for the School of Engineering and
Technology. We are also planning new initiatives. This month we are
beginning a yearlong strategic planning exercise that will result in a
shared vision and mission for the School as well as a set of strategies
for achieving our goals. Concurrently, we are undertaking three new
program initiatives: an undergraduate program in civil engineering with
an emphasis on the environment; an undergraduate program in industrial
engineering with a focus on manufacturing; and graduate programs leading
engineering. To build upon our past successes and to launch these new
weeks, you will be willing to make a significant donation to keep up the
strong support that we have had for the past nine years. This gift will
help maintain our educational programs and labs so students will have the
best training available. Your gift can be directed to the department of
your choice. It can also be directed toward lab equipment, scholarships
or where the need is greatest. As always, please feel free to visit our
campus. Look up one of your favorite professors and say hello, or come by
the Dean's Office. I would enjoy meeting with you and hearing how the
School of Engineering and Technology has affected your life.
come round... as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant
time: the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year, when men
and understand the need to support it with both attendance and
know it takes a good deal of money to bring these stories to you. We
-impact students' lives and help our teachers reach kids through our
-hire the best actors, designers and directors from across the nation
-design the beautiful sets and have our carpenters and painters craft
-continue to tell meaningful stories that bring our community together
It is truly the season to give. After Scrooge has been visited by the
Please give now so we can go on giving back to you and your friends
full tax deductibility for this year. Happy Holidays!
It is time for the proverbial LAST CALL! Please do not slide on to our
"lapsed donor" list. We greatly value you and your continued support of
contributors. Although renewals will certainly be accepted after that
date, as will new members, annual benefits will have been reduced by more
Enclosed once again is a membership application form and a business
reply envelope. Please use them. You are vital to our success.
Should you have extenuating circumstances, require special attention,
or just need assistance, we'll do almost anything to accommodate you.
significant strides in legal education. As a member of the law school's
class had the highest Law School Admission Test scores in our history and
their undergraduate diplomas. Our students, moreover, consistently have
the highest success rate of any law school, graduates on passing the
school boasts an outstanding faculty. In addition to fine teaching and
impressive scholarship, the faculty make important professional
contributions through service on boards and commissions, participating in
continuing legal education programs, and bar association activities.
With all our successes, the law school still has many opportunities
for growth and improvement. It takes a partnership of private support and
University funding to sustain and expand our leadership role in legal
The law library houses the most highly automated legal research
collection in the state. However, dramatic increases in the costs of law
books, journals, and database services mean that simply maintaining our
well over half of the law schools in the country have better ratios than
Competition among law schools for the strongest students is intense.
Scholarships often are critical in enrolling top students in financial
After twenty years, the law school building needs considerable
refurbishing, especially in areas used by our students. While we don't
attract capable students or outstanding faculty by the facility alone, it
is important that we maintain an attractive environment for maximum
As a leader of the law school, I urge you to consider a significant
Society. Members of this group, through their leadership, continue to
demonstrate that private support can lead to significant improvements at
Your annual gift to the law school is an investment in its continued
in full swing and the kids are having a great time.
We would like to give middle school youth who are part of our Urban
Mission Branch a chance to participate in an outdoors experience. The
Therefore, this age group continues to need more adult supervision and
positive programs during after school hours. Many skills and life
age group. The Branch's goals focus on increasing the percentage of youth
who: Grow into mentally and physically healthy adults; Know how to
structure their lives in ways that produce meaning and enjoyment; Plan
their high school program to allow them to qualify for future higher
conflict resolution skills when needed; Reach adulthood without being
involved in alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; Are able to develop and
invited into more communities within Center Township. One program, which
to resemble a sorority, this project emphasizes active youth involvement
in character education to reinforce the enduring values of caring,
fulfill its mission: To put Christian principles into practice through
programs that encourage personal growth and build health of spirit, mind
Educational outreach, tutoring services, family planning and mentoring
youth. Students who participate are selected with the help of school
staff trained in conflict resolution and adolescent programs guide the
based on a similar model that has experienced great success in other
Development Survey based on The Search Institute's Youth Asset Model. The
survey will be conducted at the fall and again at the spring weekend.
In the next five years, there will be significant new initiatives to
organize community resources and partnerships for youth development. The
the community to expand youth development programs. The Hoover Family
"Philanthropy is the rent we pay for the joy and privilege we have for
Zoo are of your philanthropy! Indeed, your history of support of the
care, feeding, and housing of the thousands of plants and animals at the
helped us educate children and adults on the importance of caring for
and, indeed, increase your gift to increased amount this year. We need
your continued faith, involvement, and support as we strive to make the
An inner city church creates a linear park, eliminating an alley that
A girl on the near northwest side walks past a community garden and
playground today, where not long ago a vacant lot sat littered and
done it without the financial support of businesses and individuals like
schools and churches is only limited by the financial resources we're
able to raise. Won't you join us in our efforts by continuing your
With your help, there will be more success stories like those we
mentioned above. With your support, we'll continue to work with the
We have provided an invoice to facilitate your gift. If you'd like to
make a donation at a later date, please indicate your pledge on the
invoice and return it to us. Thanks in advance for your gift, and for
dedication of the Shepherd Community linear park mentioned in this
A few months ago you received a letter from me telling the success
stories of people who got jobs with Goodwill's help.
Here's another story of success from what might seem like an unlikely
addition to that, by helping them find jobs, Goodwill reduced the state's
help us do even more this year because your gift will be used to directly
Goodwill finds jobs for people with mental and physical disabilities.
physical and mental disabilities and find a fulfilling job smack dab in
the middle of society. Remember what she said in my last letter? "If I
Goodwill helps people get off of public assistance. Sherry learned
through our Future Works class that she could rise out of the mire of the
welfare system and support her family. At Goodwill she gained in
needed to find and keep a good job. "Coming to Goodwill was the first
step toward my becoming totally independent. I am now... totally off of
number of employment options that he never dreamed existed after a
desktop publishing and combined his enthusiastic work ethic with
Goodwill provides jobs at Goodwill. After a lifetime of trials, Donna
Your gift to Goodwill will help the many people who want to tell their
own stories of success. Your support will help them go to work.
Please use the enclosed envelope to give a generous gift to Goodwill
Congratulations on the completion of your bachelor's degree from
As members of your graduating class, we appreciate the hard work that
has made your degree possible. Not only have many of our class juggled
family and job responsibilities with studies, but they also have made
time to participate in student activities which have become traditions in
programming competition, with engineering's super mileage vehicle, with
helped to maintain traditions in their departments that future classes
will be encouraged to continue. These activities have helped develop a
sense of community that enabled everyone to endure and succeed, even in
Even if we have not engaged in formal extracurricular activities,
problems in one of the student lounges, by participating in group
to listen to a classmate's personal problems, or just by socializing
something tangible, in appreciation for the support and encouragement we
have received from other students in the School of Engineering and
Technology. To do this, we are initiating another tradition: Senior
Senior Challenge is an opportunity for us to contribute to the school
that has given us the tools to enrich our lives and make our dreams come
furnishings for the student lounges in the ET building and in the new
building that will house Computer Technology and Engineering programs. At
one time or another we have all met classmates in the lounges in the ET
realize how the availability or lack of comfortable seating and
conference space made it possible for us to socialize or to get help in a
course giving us difficulty. Lounges newly furnished through Senior
Challenge will promote teamwork in the school by allowing future classes
to benefit from each others' friendship and assistance. With this goal,
the real beneficiaries of our class gift will be the students who follow
As our senior year draws to a close, we challenge you to participate
in this worthy project. By making a contribution or a pledge, using the
card enclosed, you can put a positive "finishing touch" on your
graduating year. With the participation of everyone, we will all be proud
Please complete the enclosed card and mail it in the envelope
provided. In the next few weeks you will be contacted by a fellow senior
either by phone or in your classes to answer any questions you have about
When Jerry was released from prison, he knew it would take hard work
and determination to straighten out his life. He knew he had made a bad
mistake, but despite his commitment to rebuilding his life, he just
didn't count on the obstacles that would be thrown up in his path.
Reality hit when he was unable to reconcile with his wife and ended up
on the street. He went to the Center Township Trustee for food stamps
until he could find a job and a place to live. The Trustee referred him
to the Blue Triangle where he consulted Goodwill's Career Academy staff
troubles didn't end there. The seasonal construction job he obtained soon
ended, and he returned to Career Academy for help once more. Unemployed,
homeless and with a prison record, Jerry now faced going back to prison
It took some time and hard work, but with the help of Goodwill, Jerry
was able to work out a payment plan with the prosecutor's office, find
many people still have a hard time finding meaningful employment. Of the
multiple barriers to finding and keeping a job. Some, like Jerry, are
But Goodwill offers hope even to people with numerous obstacles to
overcome, like Jerry. With a promising new job at a plastic injection
molding manufacturer, his legal troubles in check and a safe place to
live, Jerry can get on with the business of building a life for himself
and contributing to his community. For as long as he needs it, Goodwill
Your support of Goodwill will provide job training and placement
employment. And, with your assistance, Goodwill can help employers
Please make an investment in the stability of our community by sending
a gift to Goodwill. Your generosity will help people help themselves.
legal education and the law school. An obvious change is a physical one
However, its history has been maintained in the present law school
building through the display of its stained glass windows and the old oak
supporters. The enclosed brochure provides information on the old law
school building, the Society, and the programs supported by private
alumni and friends of the school. You know that funding for public higher
education is declining nationwide. Our state appropriation is not now
-nor has it ever been --sufficient to fund, for example, all of the costs
associated with faculty research, student programs, scholarships,
The result is that we must think of the law school, in financial
terms, as a private institution. We must recognize that the school's
ability to provide a quality legal education is dependent on our Annual
These comments, for better or for worse, are not accompanied by
heartrending pictures of faculty members standing in bread lines nor with
sap shots of undernourished law students. However, the school does have
specific needs, some quite visible and others somewhat subtle, which are
not being adequately met by legislative appropriations, student tuition
and fees. I have also enclosed a brief report on those areas which would
Because of the school's success, the satisfaction and pride that you
can take in your law degree continues to be enhanced. Our challenge is to
maintain the tradition of our past and to become even stronger in the
future. We cannot accomplish this goal without the financial help of our
provide enduring and generous support for the law school. I urge you to
the law school will be an investment in our continued excellence.
have a tremendous story to tell. However, we recognize that gifts at the
contribute at one of the levels recognized annually by the school:
If you have had cancer, you already know why. If you had relatives or
close friends with cancer, you will appreciate our request for money.
If you have been fortunate thus far, let me explain our need for your
One out of every four people in the United States will be diagnosed with
having cancer at one point and time in their life. However, preventive
measures can reduce the chances of one's contracting cancer.
donation (or more, if you can) will assure continuation of this research.
It's your are concerned about. Please use the enclosed envelope so we can
In the past, you have been generous in your support of programs in the
School of Liberal Arts. We have especially appreciated this generosity
and hope you have been pleased with the growth and development of the
Now I am writing to ask if you would continue your support with a
developed beyond expectations due to the donations of our friends. with
an additional gift, we can continue this fine record.
schools nationally have anything approaching a comprehensive sexuality
education program. Yet, study after study has shown that unresolved
curiosity, not knowledge, is more apt to lead to early sexual
involvement. The mission of the Social Health Association of Central
through sexuality education and life skills training. our education
Life Skills (conflict resolution, assertiveness, peer pressure and
These programs are provided at a price far below actual cost. Each
grants and individual gifts. Thus, your gift to Social Health is vitally
important to our success and can accomplish the following:
enclosed. You may designate your contribution to a specific school if you
choose. Your support of the Social Health Association can help us make a
I have a place where dreams are born And time is never planned; It's
not on any chart You must find it with your heart Never land.
As I settle into my first season as artistic director of one of
through prosperity and depression, war and peace, through the best and
worst of times, Civic has continued to produce quality, family
entertainment for our community. Also, since the 1940's, Junior Civic has
been instilling in children an appreciation not just for the arts, but
believe that the future of the arts is in the hands of these little
like the Holiday Family Production, the Student Matinee Series, the Young
Adult Summer Musical, Junior Civic programs and Kid Connection.
magic of childhood. And, I hope that you will support the artistic and
Contracts are being signed by faculty, room assignments are being made
but majoring in another area. Then there are the continuing education and
the alumni sketch classes. With all the activity, these facilities will
As you may know, the State Assembly voted to not fund any capital
to be completed at the present facility to assure their usability for a
of Art and Gallery is focusing on the need for funds to help maintain the
facility and our programs. We are requesting that you consider making an
go toward the general operating funds of the School or the Gallery, as
We will certainly appreciate any gift you can make. Feel free to call
empowerment to women and their families. Empowerment refers to meeting
the needs of girls and women so that they can freely exercise the power
fitness, social and education services? Our answer to that is, we stay
focused on our mission of empowerment of women and their families. Each
prospective and current program is evaluated on the basis of its support
Please join us as we prepare for and enter into the 21st century.
and girls in the world and is dedicated to the empowerment of women, and
the elimination of racism in order to attain a common vision of peace,
concerned with women and families; providing opportunities to develop
helping our daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts and friends to address the
challenges of this era, but we commit this organization to assist in the
process of improving the quality of life for all women.
equipped playground, shelter and picnic areas, basketball court, soccer
schools, shelters, public housing communities, correctional facilities
program fees and contribution from people like you provided the other
program offers many giving opportunities to meet your company's or
family's philanthropic needs to create positive change in your
Financial assistance to support programs and services is needed in the
General Operating Fund: Covers operating expense of facilities and
Grief and Loss Program: Counseling and learning objectives designed to
lead incarcerated youth to an understanding of grief and loss related
Parenting Programs: Counseling and learning objectives designed to
teach and support skills to incarcerated women that produce healthier,
more positive relationships with their children primarily to reduce child
Young Parents Program: A key component in reduction of potential risk
relationship enabling the parent to continue school attendance and
School Age Child Care: Provides affordable, developmentally
appropriate care of children both before and after school.
Youth Enrichment: Supplements the school curriculum through exciting
Health and Wellness: Encourages a lifelong commitment to maintaining a
Breast and Cervical Cancer Program: Provides information on the signs
and symptoms and assists women in finding and using local resources for
I care about the plight of the millions of women who are forced to
Day approaches -that I am in position to help make the essential
foundation of a decent home possible for these mothers and their
children. To ensure Habitat's worldwide building efforts, I enclose my
MOTHERS ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE DECENT HOMES THEY AND THEIR FAMILIES SO
I am pleased to have survived nearly five months as Geology's new
chairman. It has been a busy time, for we have an ambitious agenda for
our graduate program, better coordinating our curricula at all levels,
developing and promoting new courses, increasing communication with
current students and alumni, and establishing beneficial "outside"
contacts. Much of our effort is focusing upon the strengthening of our
new faculty will have credentials in the environmental field. To have
achieved this commitment from the dean means our new efforts have already
impressed him, and we intend to keep his attention.
The whole country will know about us this spring! The Department will
major emphasis is on involving students of all ages. The event will be
You will be even more proud of your department than you already are.
Geology, however, continues to need your financial assistance. Our
are mounting, and it costs money to grow. We have many needs, both for
the overall operation of the Department, and for special programs like
DING FEST. Contributions to DING FEST are especially important because we
believe that our initial investment will result in substantial earnings
for the Department. Also, contributions to DING FEST will make its
activities more affordable to students. As in the past, you can also
I urge you to be a contributor to Geology's dynamic growth. This
year's contribution form includes a place to indicate how your donation
your convenience, a copy of Form CC-40 (which should be filed with your
Martin. Our mission is to strengthen children and families, and we are
illnesses and their families. We provide free counseling and support
and adventure services for them here on our Lake Martin Campus.
The names of these illnesses are some of the most feared in our society:
Harbor is working with many of these children and their families to help
them cope with the changes brought on by a chronic illness and to help
them lead productive lives both now and in the future
We are privately funded by thousands of individuals, clubs,
businesses, churches, foundations -and others. Our founders underwrite
administrative and fundraising costs so that other contributions go to
provide services to the, children and their families.
As I begin my tenure as Cathedral's fifth president, I would share
with you how impressed I am by all that this institution stands for.
preparing our young people for college, and, more importantly, life. Our
graduates have left this school ready to take significant roles in their
careers, their communities, their churches, and, importantly, in their
"High expectations" are common at Cathedral, and we prepare for the
administrators, our board of directors and all of those who express their
We are very aware of the important role financial resources will
support of individuals, families and organizations which share our belief
that a strong, private, Catholic high school education, as offered at
Cathedral, will continue to prepare the leaders our society so
desperately needs. Your support of the Annual Fund has been a critical
piece of the plan to make this educational experience accessible to the
diverse population of young people that our mission statement challenges
in her new role as Director of Institutional Advancement. We look forward
We cannot take Cathedral High School for granted. It will take the
very best from all of us to ensure that her future shines as brightly as
has her past. I call on you to continue your financial support of the
institution through your gift to the Annual Fund. I can assure you that
your investment in this institution will allow us to continue the long
tradition of excellence that is Cathedral High School.
fun!" Wall Street Journal Don't miss the glorious musical "FOREVER
FOREVER PLAID is dedicated to the good guys:  To the guys who
who carried an extra white handkerchief in the back pocket of their
chinos.  To the guys who saved their allowances to give their
parents an extra special night on the town for their anniversary. 
To the guys who sang around the piano in the family room just for the
love of it.  To the guys who never went beyond first base (and if
by some miracle they did, they didn't tell anyone).
Once upon a time, there were four guys (Sparky, Smudge, Jinx and
for music and entertaining, they got together and dreamed of becoming
family's plumbing supply company. It was here they became
Although Rock 'n' Roll was racing down the fast lane like a candy
developed, they sang at family gatherings, fund raisers and eventually
graduated to supermarket openings and proms. Then, finally, they landed
slammed broadside by a school bus filled with eager teenagers. The teens
the members of Forever Plaid were killed instantly. It is at that moment
when their careers and lives ended that the story of FOREVER PLAID
The Plaids cover a wide range of popular music from the 1950s. Here is
just a sample: v Catch a Falling Star v Chain Gang v Cry v Heart and Soul
Rags to Riches v Sixteen Tons v Three Coins in the Fountain
FOREVER PLAID has performed for many organizations with their
This has been an eventful year for the School of Nursing -the official
other new developments. The School of Nursing is proud of the following
being the largest School of Nursing in the United States!
the successful launching of a major recruitment drive to increase
having attracted the distinguished and nationally known nursing
practices and progress and hosting delegations of nurse leaders from
.all this has been possible because of your loyal and unfailing
operating funds from the state appropriations. It is the significant
gifts from our alumni and friends, that make all the difference by
helping the School's scholarship and financial aids program which is very
important to students with limited means, interested in pursuing their
needs your generous gifts to continue and uphold its educational
It would be wonderful if you could take the time to visit your School,
and see for yourself the progress we have made over the years and share
School of Medicine is no different. From a modest beginning to its rank
today as one of the best academic medical centers in the nation,
Medicine researchers and physicians have: developed treatments that
detecting heart disease; shared in developing "smart" pacemakers, which
monitor heart rhythm and automatically shock the heart when it develops
material for future study and diagnosis; pinpointed the defective gene in
the use of many New treatments for critically ill children, including
infant heart transplant and special therapies for cancer.
The work goes on. Soon we will construct a clinical cancer research
and treatment building and a basic cancer research facility .Our heart
researchers continue to improve methods of heart transplantation and
diagnostic and treatment abilities with our new PET scanner. Our
pediatric physicians are studying birth defects, childhood cancers, blood
disorders, and bone marrow Transplant techniques, and our medical and
molecular genetics research continues to unravel genetic mysteries.
comes from state dollars. Our teaching hospitals and research programs
receive no state support. Only with the help of our philanthropic
partners have we been able to achieve so much. Private gifts enable us to
recruit top faculty and students and continue the programs which promise
the best health care for generations to come. I invite you to continue to
birthday with us by renewing your annual gift to the Dean's Council. It
will help assure our continuing work for many birthdays to come.
Response ability: As the leader of a thriving urban university, the
respond to the challenges of a rapidly changing environment.
Contributions to the Chancellor's Circle have already been
advice of consultants on such topics as race relations and freshman
retention, and by helping us to strengthen our ties with the community
festival of books and reading. You are invited to join the Chancellor's
who contribute to the Chancellor's Circle believe that our urban
university is an important community resource for the educational,
Your support of the Chancellor's Circle will contribute to the success
As a participant in the Chancellor's Circle or Chancellor's Associates,
work. You also will be invited to special events and receive selected
As an individual, you can participate by making an annual unrestricted
Chancellor's Associates. Corporate participation involves an annual
I have enclosed a brochure which tells you more about the Chancellor's
Circle and which includes a reply card. I have also enclosed a reply
I hope you will join me in support of the Chancellor's Circle at
and will be remembered by you with us through the Girl Scout Memorial and
In Honor of... ...friends and loved ones, who may be honored through
anniversaries, graduations, engagements, marriages, and promotions.
Contributions to the Memorial and Gift Fund are used not only to
perpetuate he memories of those no longer with us, but also to recognize
In Honor of... ....Girl Scouting's many friends who have been the
recipients of good wishes, we have enhanced our facilities and programs
to increase the joy that Girl Scouting brings to all girls.
When a contribution is received, an acknowledgement is sent to both
the contributor and the individual being honored. In the instance of a
memorial gift, the card is sent to the family of the deceased.
Small contributions as well as large are encouraged, and all are tax
Please use the attached contribution form and send a check today
THE GIRL SCOUT MISSION "To inspire girls with the highest ideals of
character, conduct, patriotism, and service so that they may become happy
THE GIRL SCOUT PROMISE On my honor, I will try To serve god and my
country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout
THE GIRL SCOUT LAW I will do my best to be Honest, and fair, Friendly
and helpful, Considerate and caring, Courageous and strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do, and to Respect myself and others
Respect authority Use resources wisely, Make the world a better place,
newest arrival is happy, healthy and progressing beautifully. Her name is
The birth of this calf prompted a primetime television special aired
captivity and highlights a number of conservationists and their work. The
program also explores some of the complexities and mystery surrounding
these animals and why unlocking these mysteries may hold the key to their
memberships, donated contributions and merchandise sales.
Corporate donations are absolutely vital to the success of this
institution. Your gift not only helps with the care of animal and plant
collections and daily expenses of running the Zoo and Gardens, but also
research and construction of new holding facilities. Your gift and mine
provide excellent programs, activities and facilities that contribute to
greatly appreciated. We hope you will consider renewing your gift by
filling out the enclosed brochure pledge card or by sending your
elephants as your animal choice or choose any animal on the enclosed
I hope you will consider renewing your partnership in the Corporate
As a college graduate with a liberal arts education, you are well
we have in making it available to a wide range of students.
With the cost of providing quality and diversity always on the rise,
the financial generosity of alumni and friends continues to allow
important, nationally recognized, projects to move forward. Projects
which enliven and enrich the student experience and draw some of our
Whether you attended classes full time, were an adult returning
student, or worked full time in a career while taking classes, I believe
you know first hand how important it was that Liberal Arts was open and
You may not have realized it at the time, but you and your fellow
School of Liberal Arts experiences national prominence as a focal point
for innovation in our humanities and social sciences.
Let me mention some of the interdisciplinary publishing projects the
read international book review in English. The new Journal of Religion
Funds from donors were essential aspects of initiating all these
projects. As they continue to receive national attention, annual funding
steam, but with the combined help of many others. Please join in this
an artist's symposium, lectures, tours -you name it! The city is going to
events this fall, we are also looking into the future with the
preparations for a new facility for the professional art school,
administrative offices, faculty studios, a library and a contemporary
gallery. Having been only the second set of buildings erected in the
artists, art teachers, art scholars and visual designers. It's time to
celebrate that achievement and to prepare for an even more productive
this goal. Even though we receive operating funds from the state, there
are a myriad of additional expenses to be met, such as welding equipment
for sculpture, pottery wheels for ceramics, and computers for graphics.
There's our art programs for junior and senior high school students which
are so critical now with less and less allocated in school budgets for
the arts. And, there is always a need for scholarship funds to help make
college degrees possible for our students, most of whom come from central
Your contribution means so much to the students and public who enjoy
our outreach programs and gallery exhibitions. Please complete the
of the men, women and children who performed on stage. I was especially
.To provide a professional atmosphere for many talented community
.To consistently produce outstanding live entertainment.
children of all ages an opportunity to explore their natural
Thousands of participants as actors, audience members, production crew,
costume and set constructors, ushers and donors contributed to and still
will continue your support again this year. For your convenience, a reply
allow you to change pain into relief, anger into love, despair into
It's not just any investment. It's an investment in our community
relief, love and opportunity. And this year, your investment is more
Only one charity can touch the lives of individuals in need AND
demonstrate an impact on our community's urgent needs. That's United Way.
United Way's impact begins with research that helps answer important
programs can be funded to effectively reduce those needs?
United Way is the only organization that asks, and answers these
questions. And by doing this, United Way makes your investment count.
Why is your investment so important? Last year, your investment
classes at Family Service Association because of child abuse, reported
increased use of positive discipline and decreased use of abusive
emotional, physical, cognitive, speech and language development.
like you cared enough to make an investment in our community.
And it's not just about programs. You're investing in people, as well.
People who otherwise wouldn't have anywhere to turn. Here are some quotes
'If it were not for the services they provide us, we older persons
would not be able to get around to do our business, such as visits to
These people are living proof that your investment pays off.
INVESTED DIRECTLY IN SERVICES THAT HELP MEET CRITICAL COMMUNITY NEEDS.
Your investment is critical to making our community a better place.
heard from you recently. Please find it in your heart to renew your gift
this year if at all possible. We need everyone's help to make our goal
Just fill out the enclosed pledge card and send it in the return
Holidays are a time for sharing. The sharing of love, of gifts, of
goodwill towards man. But for many of the children and seniors that
Visiting Nurse Service cares for, it can also be a troubling time. Nearly
care who has limited financial resources. Calls for help from families
throughout the season. This is not the ringing that you and I
But there is something you can do to help. With your gift of sharing,
we can: provide needed home care services to the most, give emergency
respite to families of children at risk for neglect or abuse, help
establish a "Seniors to Seniors" program to provide companionship and
years. Serving the needy has been an important part of our mission. Over
A gift of sharing can bring comfort and hope to those most in need
during this holiday season. I hope that you will join with us to help
ease the suffering and indeed ring in a most joyous holiday season.
with the campers and their families with special overnight and weekend
All children who attend the camp are referred by social workers,
doctors, teachers, counselors, and other professionals. Many of the
children have learning disabilities, behavioral problems, or come from
economically distressed families. The goal of our organized camping
experience is to improve the total health of the children socially,
families, friends of the camp, neighbors, staff, and anyone interested in
roast, activities for kids and adults, prizes for activities, and a small
raffle. Lucky attendees can go home with a great prize. This is where we
Can you help support this wonderful event by furnishing any type of
products or services that can be used as prizes for our activities or as
Enclosed is a form you can complete and return to us in the
prizes. After we receive your commitment, we will contact you about
picking up your contribution. If you have any questions, please call me
We appreciate your support of our first event of this type.
tradition in art education, shaping the talents and genius of some of
making an important investment in the future of professional art
Areas where support is needed are identified below:
-GENERAL FUND. These funds allow the school some flexibility by
putting your gift to work in an area that most needs it as circumstances
their abilities and efforts. Your gift in this area has a direct impact
on a student's continuing education. Please identify whether you wish to
support the General Scholarship Fund- or a particular scholarship
-VISITING ARTIST SERIES. Assistance is needed to continue this program
which brings in some of the nation's most noted artists to speak with
is needed to underwrite the costs of these special and exciting
different media for young and old alike who wish to improve their
will allow the continuance of offering these programs at reasonable
-FACULTY ENRICHMENT. Our faculty needs support in preparing
exhibitions of their work for shows, for continuing education to maintain
the knowledge base necessary for teaching and to meet with faculty
members from other schools to exchange ideas and information at national
-DEVELOPMENT. Funds are needed here for use as seed money as we work
school. These monies also help defray the cost of putting on activities
like your gift to support and return both items in the envelope.
museum's $11million operating budget. As in years past, nearly all of the
Your support is a vote of confidence in the ongoing work of the
delivered via satellite, your support is critical. Whether you enjoy the
magnificent grounds, lunch in the cafe, summer concerts or a classic film
on the terrace, you see the result of your Annual Campaign gift.
special exhibition for the young and young at heart featuring The Fantasy
holiday season including an encore performance of Carols in the Courtyard
If your check has crossed this letter in the mail, thank you for
Thank you for contacting the Disabled Businesspersons Association.
business information and assistance to enterprising individuals with
disabilities, and for professionals in vocational rehabilitation, career
and business counseling. Receiving inquiries and requests for information
and services from around the world, and having assisted many in their
I look forward to your response, membership support, and having the
also intense competition among law schools to attract the best and
had more than five times the number of applications for every freshman
seat. While the numbers are impressive, scholarships often are critical
in recruiting the top students with financial need.
Having good students is only part of the picture. An outstanding legal
education requires more than just classes in case analysis and legal
negotiation, legal research and writing --are vital.
Several professional skills programs are offered each year to
students. Our Civil Practice Clinic has operated for several years, and
we recently added a Criminal Defense Clinic. The Moot Court Program and
programs are essential to a quality legal education, but they require
financial support over and above that provided by the University.
Private giving does have a significant impact at the law school.
two deserving students. They are among the first of many students who
Scholarship fund drive. There are numerous other challenges still to be
I cannot emphasize enough how vital your support is, not only in
providing scholarships, but also in meeting a wide variety of needs
ranging from purchasing additional computer terminals to travel for our
moot court team. It takes a partnership of private support and University
funding for the law school to continue to grow in stature and influence.
the enclosed donor reply card to let us know how you can help. Thank
The holiday season is the time of year when we're all busy buying
gifts, baking goodies, decorating our homes and making arrangements to be
with family and friends. This is the time of year when we give thanks for
the warmth and love that surrounds us. And this time of year is an
occasion to remember those not as fortunate as we are.
through a wide range of programs including community- based, therapeutic
foster care, group homes and our treatment center. Many of the children
Today we are asking you to take a few minutes to consider making a
for. Many of the children have no homes; no memories of joy from past
holidays. Others are from families that are struggling to provide a
healthy, happy environment but don't have the resources to make it
possible. Your contribution will make a difference in a child's life. It
may help a family stay together. It can certainly make happy holiday
A gift to Pleasant Run means the children in our care will have
presents to open. A gift means a family will have a holiday meal, cooking
utensils to prepare the meal and dishes to serve it on. Your gift will go
beyond the holiday season. It can help purchase clothing, school
supplies, books and educational tools throughout the year.
Please take a few minutes to mail a donation to Pleasant run. Let our
families and children know that you want them to have the same kinds of
We wish you and your family a new year full of joy and love.
United Way agency. Because you are an organization that cares, you are
invited once again to be an integral part of this fabulous event as a
We are so grateful for your generous contribution to last year's
agency. As a sponsor, you and your guests will have a special evening,
knowing that your tax deductible contribution will help support
preschool, childcare, senior and resettlement services, as well as
Enclosed is a corporate sponsorship package that includes a sample of
One of us will call you to discuss how your company can continue to be
scholarship programs. If you have any questions, please feel free to call
Scholarship recipient. This financial assistance enabled me to
concentrate on my education and achieve many goals while in school.
many other dental hygiene students will benefit from your generosity and
Dental hygiene is proving to be an exciting and rewarding career, both
been successful and rewarding to the children as well as the hygiene
students. Projects such as this touch the lives of others and enhance the
education of the students. Your support enables the students to apply
Thank you in advance for your contribution and interest in dental
hygiene education. An envelope and giving card are enclosed (with checks
career paths led us elsewhere, we each have a special place in our hearts
us who love and support it. Your gift through the Annual Fund will help
also count toward the largest campaign for private contributions in the
ensure that students of the future will receive an education unsurpassed.
The campaign will support scholarships and distinguished
We are delighted that our reunion classes are sponsoring this effort
to upgrade the student lounge. There are very few places for our students
notes before exams, or just taking a break for casual conversation with
To remedy this situation we would like to place permanent limestone
benches on the outdoor patio attached to the lounge. Most of the year,
this patio is filled with students sitting on inadequate seating. These
substantial limestone benches will provide our students with a good place
to sit while taking a break from their hectic schedules.
We invite you to sponsor a bench. Your name or other inscription of
your choice will be engraved on a plaque and. prominently displayed with
to the School of Dentistry Class Reunion Challenge. All proceeds of this
project will be used to pay for the benches and additional upgrades for
Contributions qualify for tax deductions under state and Federal
guidelines. If you would like to sponsor a bench, please fill out the
form below and return it with your check and pledge card in the enclosed,
contact you regarding the bench when your form is received.
MORE TO THE STUDENT LOUNGE PROJECT WILL BE ENGRAVED ON AN ATTRACTIVE
It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to share with
youth and adults who participate for a lifetime! Thank you in advance for
Executives, partial funding was made available for us to host an
program, leadership, and management training and experiences and a wide
variety of opportunities to work in various roles at the center.
in baseball skills and camp management. A highlight of their trip was
development, refugee relief, teen programs, youth sports, exchanges, and
much more. While there, the delegation spent extended periods of time
World Service Projects are funded through special fund raising efforts of
the branches and the International Committee. The primary funding source
I hope that you agree that these activities are essential to being a
part of a world community. The most important way to express that
approval is through a financial contribution to support the work of the
International Committee. Your support is vital and your generosity will
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let
Confidence. An understanding that, above anything else, success
requires genuine effort, a willingness to set challenging goals. Caring
These are the attributes we want all children to have. You help
the adults we all need them to be, we have to lead them in the right
helped make it possible for us to provide guidance, encouragement and fun
What has your support of our campers meant to them and what have they
The best indicator I can give you of the positive effect our
teens. In just the past few years this program has grown from a few kids
reach them. That means we now have the opportunity to be a stable,
positive and important part of each child's life for an entire
volunteer project to regularly visit with sick children at a local
Please consider renewing your gift today. The kids need your
leadership now more than ever. If you can increase your last donation, we
would appreciate that show of support for the campers and their efforts
disabilities, behavior problems and economic disadvantages to gain the
confidence required to put genuine effort into achieving real goals. I
I received the good news you are interested in receiving information
Second Century Society brochure I am enclosing will give you an
understanding of the significance and activities of this group, as well
as listing the specific benefits awarded to donors at the six Circles or
In additional materials I am sending you will find traditional
background information on the Museum and news (in the Previews magazines)
of our latest developments, scheduled programs, and special
our existing collection. There is tremendous momentum building as our
(Please see The New York Times article I have included.) And, our grounds
this Spring day are abloom with thousands of flowers and trees. The
campus, is one of the largest museums in the United States.
Our extraordinary permanent collection, facility, and grounds, we
understand full well, would not be possible without the philanthropic
of those who believe that bringing art and art education to the city
makes life better, richer, and more rewarding for the entire
A Second Century Society response card and return envelope are
enclosed. Should you have questions or if I can be of assistance in any
in the bar, business, government, and community affairs. We can be proud
Unfortunately, these are difficult times for public institutions of
higher education. Legislative appropriations are either flat or in the
decline, and tuition increases cannot make up the difference. I therefore
cannot overemphasize the importance of alumni support. Last year, only
school is to maintain and improve upon its programs, it needs our
or more alumni. The goal is to get each alum to commit to financially
support the law school. A precedent has been established by our sister
contributing alumni -employed by participating firms. For the same time
Enclosed is a pledge card and reply envelope which you may complete
"bottom line" of the state tax return. More importantly, your gift to the
law school will be an investment in the future quality of legal education
I know most of you will find it hard to believe, but we are about to
a dental meeting; you just don't look like you have been in practice that
But time is marching on and I know all of you will want to make plans
This year our class is being challenged by the other reunion classes
Contributing members of the winning classes will receive an added
The only fund raising event in the world where you can bring your
entire family, other employees, or maybe even your neighbors.
fund raiser dedicated to you and your family having fun!!
For this event, when you purchase a corporate picnic table, you will
The Grill will feature enough activities that you and your kids will
have a tough time deciding what to do. From basketball, kickball,
volleyball, archery, crafts, an egg toss, and even a walk through our
creek, you will have plenty to do to get you good and hungry.
Hungry, you bet! We'll prepare a hog roast and hot dogs for the kids,
In addition, we will have soft drinks and a raffle, so that you can
your family, employees, and maybe even your neighbors.
Simply fill out the enclosed card, and we will see you at the
outstanding live performance providing an essential element to the
The finest artistic talent of avocational actors in the community
Established educational and youth programs A loyal audience from all over
facility rental, foundations, corporate sponsors and individual
Thank you for your interest in futures for Children, whose mission is
themselves." One of the ways we achieve this mission is through our
Enclosed is information that describes this program, as well as our
invite you to participate in Futures for Children by sponsoring an
solutions for positive and sustainable social change by placing children
motivated by their desire to rekindle traditional cultural values among
younger generations when, with the help of Futures for Children, they
decided to restore traditional terrace gardens at the edge of their
village -gardens that had been abandoned for decades. During the
reconstruction project, elders took advantage of the opportunity not only
a sense of balance and spiritual integrity to their community. Now, as
children tend their gardens, they have a new appreciation of their
relationship to the land, their cultural heritage, and their
phone calls and visits, children are, encouraged by their sponsors to
stay in school, to be, involved in their communities, and to learn about
the world beyond their reservations. the relationship formed between a
Futures for Children relies on the generosity of individuals like you;
by board policy, we do not accept government or United Way funds.
on program activities. Because of this and other factors, Futures has
as the highest rating of the National Charities Information Bureau
We appreciate your taking time to read about Futures for Children, I
would enjoy sharing additional information about our work and answering
any questions you may have. Please call us any time at
I am pleased to present the Southeast Neighborhood Development (SEND)
annual report. For the past several years we have been making a
families that live in our neighborhood. SEND is taking the lead with new
Thanks to our many partnerships, SEND accomplishes its mission through
five areas of activities: Building and maintaining quality affordable
homes, emphasizing home ownership. Helping, residents to gain the skills
needed for independent living. Creating and expanding opportunities for
neighborhood businesses. Advocating for neighborhood residents.
Our annual report highlights a few of our successes during the past
year and the partners who helped make them happen. If you're not already
a partner and want to be a part of our future, we'd like to talk to you.
I am a board member of SEND and would like to spend a few moments of your
time in the near future to tell you, personally, about our programs and
how you can help. I will call you soon to arrange a time when I can
introduce myself and, more importantly, introduce the many programs SEND
A few months ago, Carl Newton and I wrote a letter asking you to
University. I am pleased to tell you that we have had a positive response
It is great to know that people, like you, who have graduated from our
program are willing to support us in such a significant way. We are using
the funds to support graduate Endodontic students and faculty. without
the financial backing of our alumni, their educational experience would
greatly needed and appreciated by everyone involved with graduate
that you'll include our program in your charitable contributions.
Let me assure you that all contributions directed to graduate
Endodontics will be used only within our program. You can be certain that
envelope for your convenience. Thanks for your consideration!
his time at the Club before the letter became lost in the numerous pieces
of mail one receives over the holidays. The new year is here, and it
offers us an occasion to share with you another way your gift can touch
Children come to the Club each day after school; many ride the vans
and run into the building with backpacks and books. One little girl runs
is six years old and lives with her father. She often has a drawing or
staff member who hangs the budding artist's work on the office door. The
and will refer to a female staff person as "mommy". The Club can never
replace a parent, but the caring staff and volunteers can help fill the
Touching the lives of youth on a daily basis, helping develop new
skills, and preparing children to face the challenges of the next century
are the Club's strengths. And we need Your help to meet the
full participation in the Club for a boy or girl for one year; however,
your gift in any amount can make a difference in a child's life.
Thank you for your membership in the Second Century Society. Your
interior will reflect the quiet grandeur of its 1930s appearance during
Dialogue with representatives of the city and other civic and
Nature Park continues. Even now, the potential for different types of art
that may be exhibited in the Park, and the range of educational programs
and community events that may be offered promise to expand the horizons
To build and maintain these three major art experiences for your
enjoyment and the enjoyment of all visitors, we seek your continued
operating budget came from loyal donors' contributions. Even with the
continuing generosity of donors, the Museum has programs and operations
As you may be aware, your annual Second Century Society membership
convenience, we enclose a Second Century Society brochure and response
As the Museum's closest friends, your Second Century Society
investment continues the high quality of all aspects of the Museum and
makes new achievements possible. If you have questions or need additional
Gulf. Intrusion because one of the new Scholars couldn't be here to
hospital ship in Operation Desert Storm. The Challenger Scholar Program
honors the memory of the men and women who died in the Challenger
disaster five years ago. The Scholars are chosen from outstanding
students in the sciences, technologies and education who have chosen to
pursue careers in teaching, at any level. The national crisis in science
education is clear to all of us. The Challenger Scholars Program attempts
in a small way to address this crisis by encouraging bright and dedicated
students with a desire to extend their knowledge into the classroom as
teachers to continue in that career path. That one of those chosen to
receive this honor was herself facing a new and unimaginable danger was
sobering. But the promise she and her fellow recipients, Penny Wright
in geology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He writes,
"Receiving the Challenger Scholarship was a great honor and continues to
be a source of inspiration to me as I work toward my doctorate degree.
.This year I have been... teaching introductory geology laboratories.
Teaching again has reminded me that this is what I am here for..."
Your past support of the Challenger program has been critical to its
generosity of individuals like yourself in combination with some campus
and school allocations. In order to grant these awards a fifth year, your
continued support is critical. Please renew your commitment today. When
your gift helps an outstanding student become an outstanding teacher, you
extending the promise with your gift today? I have supported this
scholarship for several years and feel it not only recognizes our
teaching. If you are interested in making a payroll deduction gift,
who share the characteristics of intelligence, curiosity and pride in our
merchandise. And, as an added thank you from the Society, select a
As a member you will also receive the bimonthly newsletter, The
Bridge, and you will be invited to join in workshops, conferences,
lectures and other special events. Members receive discounts on Society
products and publications available through regular catalogs and at the
History Market gift shop" located at our beautiful Society
As a member of the Society your membership dollars help support
museums and communities that preserve and promote our heritage. You can
also enjoy changing exhibits and family programs held at the Society
headquarters. As a member of the Society your membership dollars help
classrooms, museums and communities that preserve and promote our
heritage. You can also enjoy changing exhibits and family programs held
research library. You, along with other caring members, will be helping
the effort to preserve and promote our state's proud heritage.
storytellers, historical displays and much more. You won't want to miss
the fun. This festival promises as much excitement as last year's Grand
If you enjoy reading the stories in the enclosed brochure, there is an
Society. There has never been a better time to join than right now. The
history in fun and interactive ways. You can play an important role in
Start enjoying the benefits of Society membership today by completing
and returning the enclosed reply card. Don't forget to choose your free
thoughtful gift for many occasions and at any time of year. Remember,
whether you are joining for yourself or someone else, be sure to select
your free book or cassette as our thank you for joining the Society.
Your gift encourages us to continue to meet the varied international
needs of our city with challenging and interesting programs and
We look forward to seeing you in the coming year at the International
to contact us at any time if we can assist you with your international
start to our season. After terrific audiences appreciated the inspiring
consecutive year, giving thousands of families the opportunity to
celebrate the holidays together. It is your support and our commitment to
So far, we've been very successful in our service to the community,
but we need your financial support right now to complete the season with
the same gusto. Every dollar that you contribute makes a big
It's thrilling to be having such an impact on the community. It's now
your opportunity to be a partner in our work. We have been selected again
this year to participate in two special challenge matches: one with the
National Endowment for the Arts (to support our youth programming), who
You have heard from us twice by mail this season requesting your
support. This letter is to let you know that we still need your help to
continue our record of strong fiscal management, vibrant theatrical
productions and outstanding educational programs. We have a long way to
as yourself. Your gift and the doubling of these dollars through the two
Ticket sales and subscriptions cannot finance our complete season.
over the phone. We hope you will enjoy talking to them, but if you would
prefer, you may send your gift in today by using the enclosed envelope
and pledge card. Either way, it's important that we hear from you during
draw upon. Without financial assistance, some of our performers and
suppliers may not be paid. And everyone will have to take far less than
we agreed upon. This situation could also impact our ability to mount
fostering empathy, compassion, and the imagination. And you probably also
have a keen appreciation for the role of the oral tradition in bringing
people together from diverse cultures, nationalities and
peace instead of conflict and misunderstanding. This is what it means to
A donation of any amount would be deeply appreciated. Or perhaps you
know of someone else who shares these same values who might be willing to
with me directly with any questions or suggestions, please call
introduce our work to anyone who might be interested in helping us during
this financial crisis, I am readily available to speak with him or her by
phone or in person. Please give me a call so that we can discuss.
contributor to the Council in past appeals I know that you are aware of
Your gift, along with the many others we receive, will provide vital
resources for today's Girl Scouts to become tomorrow's community and
business leaders. Your investment in Girl Scouting is one that will pay
dividends for years to come, not only in your community, but in your
female business leaders have Girl Scout backgrounds.
Take a step toward making a difference in the lives of our young woman
and recommit to the Girl Scout vision. Your investment in the Annual
take part by attending the remaining events and by making a gift to
Maintaining that same level of influence is harder and harder due to
the rising operating cost of a professional art school. And, we try to
like the Visiting Artists Series, the latest computer graphic equipment,
the best faculty and the most meaningful art exhibitions. Your donations
Help us continue to offer the finest professional art training to our
School and to all those adults in continuing education courses. Your
the city. Don't miss the opening of the last one at the National Art
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commonly known as "crib death," is our
nation's major cause of death for infants one week to one year of age.
United States. It is one of the more significant factors that places the
Although research is beginning to provide answers regarding factors
to reduce the risks, these measures will not save all babies.
serve as a source of strength for the tens of thousands of families who
compassion and public understanding, and a catalyst for finding solutions
through research. Our battle is far from over and we are grateful for
We count on your continuing interest in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,
essential services to families whose lives are tragically changed by the
loss of a baby; and financial support to expand our public education and
research efforts that will some day solve this mysterious threat to our
OUR BABIES. The dream of a future free of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is
a gift we can give our children. Thank you for helping make that dream
YOU can be the one to open the door... to a life long dream of adults
Here's how YOU can make an important difference in someone's
We all share a special interest in reading. For some people, learning
to read has been a lifelong dream. You can help people reach their dreams
in this organization with wonderful teachers and other leaders, I
One of the biggest challenges you face may be to find qualified,
The number of companies reporting a shortage of skilled workers almost
The literacy statistics change little from year to year.
Did you know that the combined efforts of all literacy programs in the
country reach only ten percent of adults with reading problems? The
billion a year; a bill caused by workplace accidents, lost productivity,
unrealized tax revenues, welfare payments and crime.
we offer small group and English as a Second Language tutoring and
Because we believe everyone in our community should have an
opportunity to learn to read and write, we are asking you to help by
gain organization and leadership skills and continually strive to change
employment prospects for hundreds of men and women in our community. We
Corporate contributors will be acknowledged in our newsletter, annual
to encourage you to give generously to see the success continue. You need
For those of us who travel more than half a year, these things are
just as important as salary considerations when taking an acting job.
career here. This place is a second home for me and I feel lucky to have
artists happy with things such as emergency babysitting, transportation,
and dinners in staff member's homes. They help us find fitness centers,
yoga classes and chiropractors, they take care of our mail and packages
make us feel like we're special residents during our stay.
Students in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs --now, as
interests to the school. Interacting with our faculty and their fellow,
students, they develop skills and perspectives that will help them meet
the complex challenges that face our society in the coming years.
Despite our efforts at innovation and efficiency, however, the cost of
providing a quality educational experience continues to rise. Because of
and enrich the student experience by allowing us to provide extra support
that is not available from state and university funds. This support helps
activities such as field trips; -Colloquiums with guest speakers from
Your generosity over the past four years has provided an extra bonus
sustain our reputation of excellence, to prepare our students for
successful, satisfying careers, and at the same time, to enhance the
second year, the campaign was managed by the law school and current law
You were called and requested additional information prior to making a
pledge or gift to the law school. We appreciate your interest in wanting
As the law school's assistant dean for development, I am especially
sensitive about our efforts to create new or increased sources of income.
We are more concerned about money these days, but not because we want to
faculty and staff, provide programs such as the civil and criminal
practice clinics, sponsor travel for the moot court teams, cover expenses
for the two law reviews, provide scholarships for deserving students, and
meet the rising costs of maintaining our law library. There is no fat in
school has continued to provide quality legal education. However, we too
have felt the effects of a prolonged recession; and I don't need to tell
you that costs continue to rise. Legislative appropriations are either
flat or in the decline. We maintain a kind of juggling act as we try to
keep tuition costs in line. While the law school had to raise tuition by
We do need you, and so do our students. What we are able to accomplish
each year is a direct result of your generosity and your understanding of
what it takes to provide the best legal education we possibly can. Thank
It's hard to believe that the holiday season is only two months away.
At Pleasant Run, Inc. we are making plans and arrangements for our
Every year we seek companies, organizations and individuals to sponsor
one or more of our families. These families are participants in our
together by providing counseling and other services to the entire family.
After our caseworkers meet with these families and their children they
often find they lack even the basic necessities such as cooking utensils,
beds, cleaning supplies, etc. We meet these needs immediately. But, the
holiday season is a particularly difficult time for these families. They
do not have the resources necessary to purchase gifts or food for a
We are asking you to consider sponsoring one of our families for this
holiday season. If you are interested and would like more information,
considering this opportunity to make this a memorable holiday season for
cuddly plush elephant (this one you get to keep at school), along with
As the tax year draws to a close I would like to urge you to make a
tax deductible contribution for the support of Women's Studies. We now
to be used for student scholarships, to supplement Friends activities
when all other sources of income have been exhausted and, eventually, to
Some of the faculty have already contributed to the Friends account
this year but many have not. Support from the faculty is important, not
only for the income it provides, but also to demonstrate to our Friends
in the community our own commitment to the goals and purposes of
Please consider making a contribution to either or both of these
Foundation. Please write one of the above account numbers on the face of
I hope that the plans you made as a dental student for a career in
dentistry are developing to your satisfaction and that you are well on
your way to achieving your professional goals. If any of us at the dental
school can be of assistance, please write or call. I already miss my
faculty, I always found your class to be one of the most personable that
were made by having information about our school systems.
As you know, major changes in dental education are under way
ways to better serve the dental community. Your comments and suggestions
Perhaps while you were in school you heard of our CENTURY CLUB which
of the School's programs. Support at this level could assist the dental
school in a variety of ways. Now that you are of alumni status, I would
like to extend an invitation to you to join our CENTURY CLUB.
Alumni gifts have always played a major role in the dental school
programs. Students from classes ten, twenty and thirty years ago received
an education that was rounded out by alumni contributions. An alumnus who
gives today is helping to assure a quality education for students of
We would be delighted to welcome you as a new member of the CENTURY
As you know, just a few short weeks from now, families everywhere will
be celebrating Mother's Day, honoring mothers in ways that have become so
children. Or maybe even dinner for Mom at a local restaurant. And for
and prayer expressing gratitude to God for a lifetime's worth of love and
come from their own children. Just about everyone I know has experienced
these kinds of things over the years to mark this day.
But today, I am asking you to be even more aware of Mother's Day this
year, and what it means to women and children in need. Because I doubt
woman I want to tell you about. Nor have you experienced a Mother's Day
will see your way clear to send Habitat for Humanity a generous
possible for so many other mothers and their families who have the same
urgent need for a simple, decent house and the sense of hope that goes
generosity ought to be an example to everyone -I want to tell you just a
little bit about what every mother trying to go it alone with her
children on a marginal (or worse) income is facing.
Put plainly, there is no way to overstate the alarm everyone in
nation's skyrocketing wealth, is still on the increase!
the United States and around the world must carry with her every day:
that the consequences of poverty will ultimately catch up with her
children, too. Consequences of poverty include inadequate nutrition and
its effects, such as the real possibility of slow mental development. Or
the childhood maladies left untreated because there is no money for a
unfulfilled potential, and a life ultimately lived without hope. In the
United States, we have a rate of childhood poverty that is higher
-sometimes two or three times higher -than other major western
against the hard economic realities presented by three young children.
More than five years of working at a local fast food chain had allowed
kids the very best life she could, just like her own mother had for her,
everything that we wanted or we'd seen other people have, but she made
sure we had the necessary things that we needed. And she was always there
role model, and still being there for her family. For she had taken in
even though she was getting on in years, was determined to keep them
together, no matter how difficult it would be financially.
had a decision to make. It was a decision made with a mother's heart.
herself, knowing full well that the likelihood of her sister coming back
It was a decision made not only with love, but with courage. And the
family trying to find a place to sit and balance their plates while
Or the demands placed on one bathroom by a family of eleven? Or the
virtual impossibility of finding a quiet place to study or even think, so
that the children can cope in school and one day have a chance of
achieving something better? Or the seemingly impossible task of trying to
Well, if you can imagine these things, I know you can imagine that
have trouble. Problems at school and at home began to surface as the
children reacted to the pressures of their crowded living situation, and
their emotions such as pain and anger at having been abandoned by their
Homework went undone. Fights began to occur at home. The phone
had to deal with this worsening problem as she was trying to succeed at
her new job. Her anxiety level rose every time the telephone rang.
But because of the compassion and generosity shown by Habitat partners
for the children to achieve some privacy and basic space from one
another. That will only be the first step toward healing the pain of
having been abandoned several times, neglected, and denied the happy
they missed out on things they shouldn't have, like having their
birthdays celebrated. They didn't get to do all that, and they
Mom was too old to try to do it, so I give them that chance. This past
year, even though it was kind of hard, we always made sure they had a
birthday party. And this year was the first time they ever got to go to
other, and to let them go out and be with their friends and do the stuff
to earn what they get, and to be part of making sure their lives are
That's all I want, for them to be better. So I can feel like they're
going to accomplish something, and be fine on their own."
And the first step toward accomplishing something, of course, is
fact of daily life ...knowing there's a quiet place to study ...having
your friends over to play without being embarrassed about where you
But this new awareness of life's possibilities isn't confined to
mothers who have accomplished something of extreme difficulty, changing
their family's economic prospects on their own, in a country that still
makes that harder for a woman than for a man, while still filling all the
And as I talk to women homeowners all over the country, I am always
mindful of how very much they see the Habitat experience from exactly
this perspective -as mothers. For each day they see the lives of their
children constantly enriched by living in a community of people who
helped build their house, as others had helped them.
Is it any wonder they go to bed every night with prayers of thanks for
what is now possible for their children? And you can be sure that there
are also prayers of thanks in their hearts for the people like you who
possibilities you create, which she calls a "wonderful" thing to know. "I
told all my friends about Habitat and how it works. When I hear them talk
about how they'll never own their own home, I tell them there's hope for
You're a part of those answered prayers. That's why I hope you will
is dedicated, your loving spirit will be felt on that joyous
this Mother's Day. And more than that, I hope you'll also think about
what it will mean for them to have a simple decent home for their
Your continued generosity can help change a desperate mother's
And in tribute to all of the precious mothers in your own life, I hope
you will share your love with mothers in need the world over today. Bless
your blessings with others. For your timely reply, you have my deepest
invite you to join us in an investment in our future business and
community leaders. Because of your past support, Girl Scouts has been
membership. We are requesting your continued support, of our Annual
Campaign to meet the needs of our growing membership.
The Girl Scout program offers an array of benefits to our girls and
(Social Program Evaluators and Consultants, Inc.) to conduct a National
Outcomes Study of the Girl Scout program. The results were Overwhelmingly
Girl Scouting helps girls build nine personal assets which research
being. Girl Scouting unites girls, families, and communities. Girl
Our ability to provide the Girl Scout program to our membership and
reach out to more girls depends on the generosity of a caring community
Kids today face overwhelming pressures, everything from trouble at
home to gangs and drugs. Youngsters often find themselves feeling
where the risks are highest. We give them a chance to realize their own
potential by giving them a place where they can develop a sense of
competence, of usefulness, a sense of belonging and of influence.
staff and programs the kids need to reach and grow into responsible and
This costs money. Money for programs, for equipment, and for repairs
and improvements to club facilities. Your contribution last year of
helped us get where we are today. We are counting on you now to help us
get where we need to be tomorrow. Would you please consider a gift of the
Please, give generously. The kids are depending on you.
It's exciting to see the revitalization efforts of Greater Fountain
Square get broad recognition, like in the attached newspaper articles.
Although these advances are encouraging, our work is far from complete. I
am writing to you as a donor to SouthEast Neighborhood Development (SEND)
to update you on both our accomplishments and the challenges we are
tackling next. For the past fifteen years SEND has been working to
transform the Southeast Side one project at a time. As you know, SEND is
housing, youth, and economic future. In the past eight years SEND has
improve their facilities, created three new parks, and taught more than
Million into the neighborhood through these programs, and transformed
The upcoming year offers even more exciting opportunities. We are
store in Fountain Square into retail, office, and residential space which
will provide another anchor for the commercial district. We have
by partnering with eight other local agencies. We are also studying the
loft space, which could become a cultural and economic magnet for the
area. The impact of these projects will be accelerated by an economic
development initiative launched this year which will enable new and
existing businesses to flourish in this neighborhood.
with local businesses, churches, residents, and other interested groups
and individuals. Our records indicate that last year you contributed
SEND. If such a contribution is not feasible at this time, we would of
course welcome a renewal of last year's commitment.
Thank you again for your past and future support of community
development on the South Side. If you have any questions or suggestions
At this time, we also turn to friends like you, asking you to show that
you share in our sense of pride by continuing to support the School's
In a recent message to current students, I urged them, too, to take
pride in being associated with one of the best nursing schools in the
country and reminded them of our rich heritage: our role in founding
bringing the Healthy Cities movement to the United States and designation
as the first (and only) World Health Organization Collaborating Center in
students, alumni, and faculty who have won awards and held leadership
positions in community, university, and professional organizations.
This past academic year, highlights have included the establishment of
information technology in learning situations and earned recognition at
Founder's Day ceremonies for the past three years, and in the everyday
heroism of our students, exemplified by the winners of our "Profiles in
Reminding ourselves of our excellence isn't done to be egotistical.
Rather, it allows us to feel energized and be pleased that we chose to be
a part of a school that has achieved national recognition. Gifts to the
School's Annual Fund provide critical dollars for scholarships, student
state dollars. Regardless of the size of your gift, your participation in
the annual drive is an indicator of your pride in association with the
School of Nursing. If your gift has already been mailed to us, please
accept our sincere thanks for your generosity. If not, I hope you will
Look at the benefits girls participating in Girl Scouts receive. Girl
Evaluators and Consultants, Inc) to conduct a National Outcomes Study of
the Girl Scout program The results were overwhelmingly positive. Its
Girl Scouting helps girls build nine personal assets which research
being. The nine assets are known to enhance school success, educational
aspirations, and the development of positive behaviors.
Girl Scouting unites girls, families, and communities. When asked to
compare opportunities received in their Girl Scout activities versus
those in their schools, Girl Scouts at all age levels responded that
troop activities offered them significantly more chances to achieve
helpfulness, teamwork, and leadership, while gaining respect for others
and values and decision making skills. Older girls found that Girl
Scouting provided even more positive outcomes during the crucial
significant benefits from Girl Scouting for their daughters and
themselves. The benefits included sharing more quality time and improved
relationships with their daughters. Parents also gained friendships with
other adults and a feeling of giving back to the community.
Girl Scouting benefits volunteers by developing their leadership
and volunteers for opportunities to tap their skiffs, to succeed in their
lives, an to enrich their relationships with their friends, families, and
Girls are important to us. They have the potential to shape our world
and make important decisions that will affect us all. Yet they face many
challenges in their lives. Through outdoor activities, learning projects,
and community service, Girl Scouting provides girls with the tools to
face those challenges and make sound decisions. Please join me in making
a generous contribution to this year's Annual Campaign. Invest in the
leaders in business, government, and community affairs. During the past
three years, I have had witnessed significant growth in alumni commitment
to the law school. The generosity of our alumni is lead by the members of
their annual contributions, continue to demonstrate that support can make
an impact at the school. State appropriations alone are not sufficient to
fund all of our faculty research, library acquisitions and services,
professional skills programs such as Moot Court and our Civil Practice
and Criminal Defense Clinics, or lecture programs such as the
Distinguished Jurist in Residence. Alumni contributions help provide the
services and programs that distinguish a great law school from just a
We continue to attract top students and consistently our graduates
The law school prospers due to the commitment of a dedicated faculty. As
our graduates are aware, the faculty excels in the classroom, which is
where quality in law teaching can be seen, felt, and heard every day.
The need for private giving will continue to increase as we strive for
a higher level of excellence. Graduates of the I. U .School of
to provide enduring and generous support for the law school. I urge you
Your annual gift to the law school is an investment in its continued
for many years, but also to continue to build for the law school's future
through the philanthropic support of our alumni and friends. Thank
for outstanding achievement. This fund has given us, the members of the
in the quality of dental education in our state. We are pleased to tell
you of a very exciting development with the fund, which has reached a
dental association in the country to complete such a commitment to its
recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty. Income from the chair will
provide funds for research and publishing, graduate assistants, library
and laboratory acquisitions. In the hands of an already successful
Fulfillment of this goal requires full participation from members of
entire profession, will benefit greatly from this endowment. Please join
your fellow colleagues and make this dream come true for your association
by making a significant pledge to this program. Your full consideration
fledgling organization, knowing it would benefit the city as a whole.
Since that time, the city has grown in many ways. We all enjoy the
flavorful blend of arts, sports and cultural opportunities in central
maintained its legacy, staying true to its mission to:
Consistently produce outstanding live entertainment.
Provide a professional atmosphere for many talented community actors
children of all ages an opportunity to explore their natural
Thousands of participants as actors, audience members, production crew,
costume and set constructors, ushers and donors contributed to and still
support again this year. For your convenience, a reply card and return
Council, Inc. You can be assured that a donation to the Girl Scouts is a
sound investment opportunity. Contributions will be used to cover program
and membership costs for girls in financial need; subsidize the cost of
Girl Scout camp; and provide training and resources to leaders, parents
and adult volunteers. Additionally, it will help provide the Girl Scout
experience to girls "at risk" or girls in "hard to serve" areas like the
The Annual Appeal is one of two Girl Scout initiatives you will hear
million capital campaign. The campaign funds will help provide a resource
library, training materials and equipment; development of progressive
math and science programs; and the construction of new centers at three
Take the first step toward making a difference in the lives of our
young women and become a shareholder in the Girl Scout vision. Your
investment in the Annual Appeal is sure to yield high returns.
despite tremendous challenges, are striving to turn their neighborhoods
Availability of Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) State Tax
chart is included to illustrate how the credits work. Your contribution
an individual's or business' overall state tax liability. Donors receive
donors, the benefits seem almost too good to be true- but they are firm
My hope is that you will want to join them. And for this reason I have
enclosed an interim membership card already inscribed in your name.
You are invited to accept this free trial membership, including a free
the token on your invitation from the top to the bottom, detach along the
envelope. Later, if you wish to continue as a member, you may do so
a magazine widely considered to be the most beautiful published
At the same time, you will be helping to preserve those wonders
There are other benefits as well, which I will outline in a moment.
reading and worth keeping. Reading it makes you feel the same way you do
years it has been the premier showcase for the world's finest nature
alert you to conservation progress and emerging environmental issues.
silver lines artists typically draw to represent a loon's wake come
alive. As we look into the sun, all is a silvery glitter, a captivating
light show with this one color. Rounding a bend, with the sun now behind
conifers. Next bend, back to silver. And at every upwelling of currents,
interruptive tree trunk, or cat's paw of wind, those silver lines
writer who actually experienced it, you begin to understand why we must
there's a 610-acre tract anyone would love to call home. It's called
Spring Creek Prairie and it's absolutely beautiful. Problem is, its acres
and woods are already home to an abundance of wildlife and North
with a local bank and purchased this land for preservation. In turn,
flourish and so that children and adults can come and enjoy this rare
island's chickadees sing a different song from all other chickadees in
nature's frontiers with today's most intrepid researchers. Finding his
There would be no more wood, therefore no woodpeckers, therefore no
annoying government regulations limiting his property rights just to
Yet even this angry landowner wound up living happily ever after with
the Endangered Species Act. That's because the in- genius Safe Harbor
This plan is one more reason to preserve the perennially endangered
Endangered Species Act -the most effective wildlife law ever passed.
Will the administration live up to its environmental promises? Can we
save the last of our ancient forests from the chainsaw? Is an economy
Society gives you nothing immediately tangible in return. Nothing, that
is, except peace of mind. Nothing except knowing that you are helping to
Your dues directly support active and vital programs to protect
wildlife and habitat, and help ensure a healthier environment.
Quite simply, very few organizations do more (or more important) work
to save the balance and beauty of nature plus the acquisition and
membership. You and your family will be awestruck by the sights and
undisturbed. And where natural environments are protected from the
Local chapter membership, exciting adventure tours, special purchase
enjoyable, worthwhile activities with some very interesting people in
You can also travel with fellow members to fascinating places like
Just lift the token on your enclosed membership invitation from the
top right of the page. Press it firmly to the circle on the bottom left.
Then detach the lower portion and return to us as soon as possible in the
Plus, all other membership benefits. Plus, the satisfaction of knowing
you are doing your part to preserve the Earth's precious natural
resources. Later, after reviewing your free issue, you wish to become a
permanent member, you may do so, simply by paying our bill. As soon as we
receive your dues, we'll ship out your FREE CLOCK. Or you may cancel your
If you decide to continue, as I hope you will, you will be joining
the face of this struggling Earth. I look forward to welcoming you.
We cannot afford to lose your valuable financial support and hope you
per year), awards, special events, program advertising and membership
A new membership brochure will be mailed to you under separate! cover
within the next few weeks. Contribution categories are:
Please use the enclosed business reply envelope and make your tax
Club. If you have questions or suggestions, please call either myself
whose mission is to identify and meet the human service needs of
youth and senior programming, family counseling, emergency assistance,
As you can see from the enclosed map, your Target store is located in
the heart of four of our service areas. The centers that serve these
and work ethic skills, learning the computer, visiting area colleges, and
interacting with guest speakers. The end result will be kids who have a
better understanding of and vision for their own future, be it college or
The Summer Enrichment Program will conclude with a celebration that
includes family and friends. We would like to offer our youth a small
reward for their participation by presenting them with gift certificates
certificates that can be used toward the purchase of school supplies or
Target as a sponsor during our event and in the event program.
Target is well known for it's support of the community, and we believe
that the Summer Enrichment Program represents your interests and concerns
quite well. I will be happy to supply any additional information you may
need and thank you for your consideration of our request. We look forward
Enclosed is a specially prepared and entertaining crossword puzzle
that challenges your knowledge about the law school. Also, you will find
and envelope to use in returning your contribution to the school.
These are exceedingly difficult times for public higher education. For
this fiscal year and next, the law school is required to absorb
reductions in its state appropriation and increased health costs totaling
support for public higher education are extremely unlikely during the
remainder of this decade. As a result of the current economic climate,
We are no longer a state supported law school, for the state no longer
provides the great bulk of our funding. Instead, I believe we can best be
described as a law school that is state assisted. Student tuition covers
about half of our operating revenues, and gifts from alumni and friends
provide the true margin of excellence for our programs. Contributions to
the law school's Annual Fund enable us to increase our support for
client counseling), student researchers, and stipends for faculty
I believe we do our job well and are continually strengthening our
talented faculty who are highly regarded as classroom teachers and
scholars. We cannot entirely succeed, however, without the financial help
continue to make you proud of the degree that you hold from this
It is my privilege to extend an opportunity for membership in the
As a member of the Law Alumni Board (Board of Visitors) you are quite
well acquainted with the programs, progress and problems of the law
school. Without engaging in too much repetition I might note a few items
established a charitable remainder annuity trust in honor of his longtime
faculty support, is the largest single private gift ever received by the
Applications for enrollment remain high and the quality of entering
In contrast to this rosy picture there are still significant
opportunities for improvement in the physical facilities and programs at
Scholarships are essential for attracting the best and brightest
legal education. It is far less than is available at most law schools
student body, received scholarships funded through private gifts last
year. Statistics for the current academic year are the same.
A consultant's report on the law school library indicates the need for
to provide satisfactory, let alone excellent, services to users, shelving
"The Law Library's funding is insufficient to allow for appropriate
collection development and maintenance, to hire a sufficient number of
"The space presently occupied by the School of Law and Law Library is
"Quality improvements needed chiefly involve spatial relationships
among functional areas, personal security needs, electronic access to
information, effective access to modern instructional technology, and
"Quantitative deficiencies chiefly derive from library growth but also
use of technology), and from a longstanding shortage of student support
space (lockers, food service, offices for student organizations)."
Information regarding inadequate classrooms, moot court facilities,
offices, the library and support service areas follow the above
The current recession and political concerns regarding taxation make
increased legislative appropriations unlikely. Student tuition has been
Ten" law schools, further increases could have an adverse effect on
These factors increase the need for financial support from alumni and
Thanks for your courtesy in reviewing this request. It is our hope
that all Board members will affirmatively respond and that each will
provide some level of financial support for our school.
that we feel inside as the holiday season approaches once again.
the tree will bring tears of grief and sorrow. For these boxes will
remain in their wrappings long after all of the other presents are
Kelly, Kyle, and the other students of Columbine High School who lost
children will stay in their ribbons and wrappings under the tree because
of the escalating epidemic of violence against children in recent
It's my guess that you are asking yourself, "What is happening to our
In our public schools, teenagers are forbidden to discuss religious
people are exposed daily to violence, pornography, and other unwholesome
It's my guess that you are also asking yourself, "What can I do to
who cares, as demonstrated by your annual stewardship donation to your
parish. I know that you make it a point to be involved in your community
and to support a variety of worthy causes. Consequently, I know that you
go to extra lengths to be compassionate and caring to others. And that
suggests to me that you may well be interested in joining a program that
tries to help our children in the face of the problems I mentioned
On the chance that my guess is right, I am writing to you today to
LOGOS is comprised of women and men who wish to contribute to the
the Church over and above their other contributions to their local
There is so much that needs to be done in our ministries that at times
it may seem overwhelming. But another way to look at it is to consider
that there is so much that we can accomplish together. Through your
You can provide the safe and loving environment of an Orthodox
You can educate parents and youth workers on the best ways to counsel
teenagers about the frightening issues facing them, like drug use and
they can strengthen their Orthodox Christian faith while enjoying the
You can establish and support Orthodox Campus Fellowships at colleges
and universities across the country, so that young people who are away
from home for the first time can have the support of others who share
You can provide for a child who attends St. Basil Academy, a ministry
gift of your love and attention and concern, so that they may enjoy this
You can do all this with the simplest gesture. Your membership
donation to LOGOS will help fund all these programs and more. Every penny
membership invitation. Please mail it back today in the envelope provided
for your convenience, so that we can continue to carry on this vital
programs of our Holy Archdiocese. But there are many more who still need
Lights! Camera! Action! It's time for the annual Awards Ceremony.
flash as the names are called of the winners of gift certificates for art
Although we have not given the alumni and donors at large the
opportunity to participate in the giving of awards for students, we would
anniversary. There are a number of existing endowed memorial scholarships
that you might like to donate to or you might like to establish a new
one. Students appreciate gift certificates from art supply stores,
lumberyards, paper firms, etc. One time awards of cash are also very
To make a student award, please complete the enclosed form and mail it
the faculty make their selections. This is a great way to make a dynamic
what they are doing will go a long way to thank you for your
Scholarships were enhanced or established. The new library received a
significant vote of pride and partnership, with contributions coming from
all areas of the campus. Many offices were able to create special staff
development funds and other enhancements as a result of the campaign.
support of the things we care about. Together with those who were already
partnership. Yet our roots go much deeper. The School of Physical
Campaign celebrates our partnership and helps us, as individual members
With this letter, we are asking you to take the opportunity of the
be. A group of your colleagues recently volunteered to help set the
priorities for this campaign. They surveyed members of the staff and
One is staff and faculty development. Resources for this purpose are
Students are another area of interest (what would we do without
awarded for the first time last summer, is the direct result of the
Campus Campaign. And scholarship funds are in limited supply here at
need for students to have a gathering place, a Student Center, is
academic community and will require increased and ongoing support for
The campus' Shape the Future Fund is designed to address unexpected
appropriations cannot. In many ways, the name describes what this campus
And finally, though perhaps of most importance to you, through the
When you are contacted by your Campus Campaign volunteer, we hope
you'll choose to become one of the many partners in the community of
I has come a long way in the last five years. We've worked hard to
next century, and I believe that we have an exciting and successful
One of the areas we've decided to focus on is development. It's clear
that if we don't increase our base of private funding, we won't have the
kind of control we need to ensure the continued success of our centers
individuals right in their own backyards. Where else would that many
The community initiatives committee is working with our development
bring more money into our centers. This in turn will help us to increase
With this in mind, I am asking each one of you to make a personal
work that we do and are willing to support it with both your time and
your finances. This way when we go out to ask for community support and
additional support through your company, church, or service
I know that our staff and committee members will be happy to go with
you to talk to these group if you need their help. We're at an exciting
juncture and it won't be long until we start seeing solid results from
our efforts. Your financial support of the development process is just
effective federation of service providers. Please, make your contribution
Your contribution to Goodwill will mean more than you may know.
The words of people who have lived Goodwill's mission. We want you to
Your gift to Goodwill is important because people with physical and
Mental disabilities sometimes need an extra hand to know the pride that
"I was sad when I couldn't go to the snack bar to buy a soda. Now I
can buy a soda and spend money. I like working and making money. I have a
savings account. I can write my name on the deposit slip. If I wasn't
Because turning welfare recipients into tax payers just makes
"When I first came to Goodwill I was a single parent with little or no
was the first step toward my becoming totally independent. I am now
only thing I did know for sure was here's a chance to change things for
me and my children... I rode a bike to Goodwill in the rain and snow. I
Because teaching a man to fish will keep him fed for his entire
"Before I got to Goodwill, I was on a mission. I just wanted a job. It
Each year, we help thousands of people who face tremendous obstacles.
Their one common goal: they all want to work. A robust economy helps by
providing job opportunities, but to be honest, most of the people who
aren't working today are quite simply the ones who face the greatest
The kinds of services we provide help people deal with obstacles like
health care, transportation and child care -problems that are big enough
on their own without being compounded by factors like physical and mental
Right now, there are thousands of people who do not know what it feels
like to support themselves. You can help them to know that feeling.
Please help Goodwill and help people find jobs. Use the enclosed card
You may remember bumping into me somewhere along your path through
college. I have been with the Department of Manufacturing Technology for
now. At the last Honors Convocation, the faculty established a
scholarship award in my name to honor an Outstanding Student from our
department. I was moved, excited, and very surprised by this gesture from
not to mention a little better off financially. I am concerned, however,
about the plans that exist for continuing this award in the future. The
intent is that the faculty will contribute to the award annually.
Unfortunately, times and members of the faculty change, but the need
for our students to receive scholarship awards will continue at an
unprecedented rate. As I see it, this can only be done through the
establishment of a scholarship fund which will generate sufficient income
to support this award. I hope you will join me in supporting this
scholarship opportunity by sending your check today made payable to the
I hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. I am
always happy to hear from you about your accomplishments, career, family,
Think of your greatest accomplishments. Think of the joy and success
discovered few job opportunities that seemed to match his abilities.
For several years he performed packaging and clerical work. His most
for the job. As the Clubhouse Monitor at Bent Tree Apartments, he now
At last, he has found success in a job that he loves. Now his goals
share two common characteristics. They face some barrier to employment
With support from people like you, they can overcome their barriers
Individual successes at Goodwill mean fewer persons receiving public
support and more paying taxes. Last year, participants in Goodwill
The savings are counted in more ways than dollars and cents, however.
The families of the new wage earners may feel the accomplishment in terms
and the beginning of a family focused on success, not hopelessness.
Won't you help make all of these successes possible? Please send the
largest contribution you can comfortably make. Your gift will help give
in the form of earned wages and reduced public assistance payments.
friends of the School. Your membership in our Century Club has been very
important for the School. I noticed that we did not receive your Century
leader in scholarly research, teaching and service. Your investment
Thank you for your support. Your contribution helped make it possible
for us to provide our students with a quality education.
We hope that you will renew your gift and join us for the reception.
Kidney Patients. We hope you find the enclosed material beneficial.
local chapter if applicable and assurance that your voice is heard in
I hope you join our family of patients, loved ones and professionals.
Your membership will keep you up to date on the newest advances in
significant research endeavors and rewarded outstanding faculty for work
that is at the leading edge of oral health care. In addition to funding
these projects, the School has invested the money well, and the market
Chair will represent the first state dental association in the country to
complete such a commitment to its dental school. In the rapidly changing
health care arena, this chair will serve as an important symbol of the
rewarded faculty for unique and outstanding effort on behalf of
retain an eminently qualified faculty member for the school. We will be
able to fund the position with important incentives for excellence which
Our entire profession will benefit greatly from this endowment. It is
important and we hope that you will make a significant contribution to
Thank you for your consideration of this important request.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
misuse, neglect, and unchecked development. We are losing natural areas
and habitats at an alarming rate. The simple fact is, unless you and I
take steps now to protect our state, future generations will have nothing
Your partnership with us has made it possible for hundreds of
landscapes across the state have been preserved for the enjoyment of
generations to come. And yet, as a member of the Conservancy, you know
that we can't rest on our laurels or relax and feel secure. We can't
struggle to save natural areas and habitats. But the struggle continues,
because our remaining natural land won't be around much longer unless we
When it comes to the misuse and destruction of our natural areas,
reality is not only harsh, it is deadly. Once they are developed or
altered, and their fragile ecosystems are disrupted, we lose them
to protect our state, and we depend on your contributions to make it
We will continue to acquire essential tracts of land that protect our
wildlife --and manage the preserves we now own or run.
We will redouble our efforts to work cooperatively with landowners,
developing management plans and conservation strategies that preserve the
natural character and integrity of thousands of acres.
We will continue to test new ways to control invasive species that
threaten many of our native plants and animals with extinction.
Day by day, your support as a member of the Conservancy becomes more
natural areas that soon may be lost forever. Simply put, your generous
natural areas, or never having another chance to do so.
You are one of those committed citizens that can change the world.
Help us take action before we lose another acre ...or another species.
Mail your check today (or charge your gift) to help us stop the misuse of
hope we can count on your continued partnership and your support for our
You are probably aware of the periodontal scholarship fund at the
class who excels in scholarship. The graduate program has now been
extended to three years which entails another cash award. In addition to
this award the fund pays for affiliate membership in the Academy as well
additional year of training our financial obligation has increased by a
Payment of these awards is made from interest and dividends generated
by the principal. As you are aware interest income and dividends have
or have not yet contributed to the foundation this year I am asking you
to consider doing so. Please fill out the enclosed form indicating that
Scholarship Fund. As with all contributions made through I U Foundation,
most certainly be appreciated by the recipients as well as the
These are challenging times for public institutions of higher
education, with legislative appropriations unable to fund schools to the
these times because it is impractical to raise tuition and fees
sufficiently to offset lost state appropriations. I hope you have read,
in the school's Alumni Bulletin, how our dental school has taken
aggressive steps to streamline operations and enhance academic
opportunities while becoming more financially efficient.
Dentistry turns to us, alumni and friends, to provide financial support
for priority programs at the school. Under the leadership of Dean H.
technological infrastructure as the greatest needs in this year's annual
Dental students are incurring more and more debt as they progress
through school. The School of Dentistry has limited ability to provide
scholarship money to deserving students who otherwise might choose
another career option because of educational expense. Private support is
Additionally, there is a tremendous need to upgrade the technological
infrastructure of the school. Our faculty and students need support to be
able to keep up with rapid advancements in oral health care and the use
of technology for many procedures. We can help the school achieve this
Your support as a member of the Century Club has been very meaningful.
I hope that you will take this opportunity to renew your gift or even
highlighting the various giving levels. Thank you for your ongoing
This is the time of year when our thoughts turn to ways to do things
differently, things that will make our lives better and improve the
quality of our life. As you begin that process this year, I would like to
coordinating, planning, and convening agency. Its purpose is to encourage
collaboration and cooperation between the various agencies, programs, and
systems that serve our community's youth. In addition to that
Summer Bus Pass, neighborhood youth councils, and the We Value Youth
have access to the programs and services that can best assist them in
I am hopeful that you as an individual and Meridian Insurance as a
an application with various options for supporting the youth of our
I hope this provides an overview of the scope of our work. I will call
you in a few weeks to discuss your level of interest. Please consider
joining together with your fellow citizens in support of the work of the
Neither do we. With the help of friends like you, Goodwill has
continued to adapt our services to meet the human needs of our changing
We don't waste time as we are helping the community. And we don't
waste money. The gift that I am asking you to make will be used to
continue our mission of helping people prepare for, find and keep
Guys." The magazine stated that Goodwill (as well as the other standouts)
true value of your support is measured by the way Goodwill takes on
Every time we help someone find a solution to their employment
barrier, the positive effects radiate throughout our community: The
business community welcomes not only another worker, but a consumer with
increased purchasing power. Parents act as role models of
You and I know that solutions to difficult problems don't just happen.
At Goodwill, it is the hard work of staff and those who benefit from our
services that produces the kind of inspiring results I see every day:
A Goodwill staff member addresses a group of welfare recipients: "You
can earn the money to support yourself and your family," she says. "You
A participant in a Goodwill program rushes back from a job interview
to share the results with his classmates in our desktop publishing
training program. once his tears have subsided, he confirms what his
Addressing a meeting at a neighborhood center, a Goodwill staff member
tells the audience how Goodwill can help them find and keep jobs. On his
way home, he shares the story with four people at a street corner. At the
In order to develop job skills, a man with some serious disabilities
begins working in Goodwill's industrial division. It takes a long time
Eventually, he turns your support into a payoff for all of us. He proudly
These people and their successes are real. Just like the respect we've
The people who can benefit most directly from your generosity have no
time to waste. Neither do the rest of us who feel the positive results of
their success. Your support helps provide real solutions.
Please use the enclosed response card and envelope to give generously
It's because pride, dedication, sacrifice, and the will to win are
unshakable spirit within us which is brought to life through the
tears of joy streaming down his face, looking for his father in the
final event to tie for first place in the all around Gymnastics
other moving performances when our athletes reached deep within
themselves to overcome what appeared to be insurmountable odds.
dedication to be the best in the world, and a desire to represent the
people of the United States with pride. But, our athletes can't do it
on the support of proud individuals like you who know what it takes to be
basis. These services include coaching, training facilities, housing,
medical treatment, and other support which is necessary for our athletes
continually prove to the world how great a nation we truly are, thanks to
family, so please give whatever you can. Thank you in advance for your
Recently, the world watched as the newest space shuttle made its
maiden voyage. The Endeavor held our attention and focused our
imaginations once more upon the stars, and renewed our commitment to the
Challenger Scholars Program encourages bright and dedicated students who
want to teach to continue in that career path. Four more Challenger
students in the humanities, sciences, technologies and education who have
chosen to pursue careers in teaching, at any level. You can see from the
enclosed newspaper article the quality and diversity of those who receive
this honor. Your past support of the Challenger program has been critical
stipend. These have been accomplished through the generosity of
individuals like yourself in combination with some campus and school
teacher, you will know that you, too, have touched the future.
his essay, can't you? Imagine how proud he must be of his writing skills,
reading below the first grade level. Today, he and his new tutor are
exploring the Internet and plotting routes to travel out west while they
hard work, and the care and nurturing of his tutors. Your gifts have
We hope the enclosed bookmark, just the right size for a paperback,
improve their lives, their families and their community through stronger
basic skills. We also hope you'll take time out from your spring planting
I do. Won't you help plant the seed of learning in them through a gift to
I hope this correspondence finds you and your family doing well. I am
Annual Fund Drive. It is a privilege and honor to be asked to serve as
Cathedral High School is indeed a special and exciting place. Your
loyal support and generosity clearly make a difference. As many of you
position. His outstanding leadership skills will serve Cathedral
exceptionally well. The future of Cathedral High School, under the
The "Cathedral Report" is a good one. The school is enjoying full
enrollment with many accomplishments being achieved by students and
graduates. We continue to place many of our graduates into top schools
across the country. Our dedicated faculty works extremely hard to give
all of our students every opportunity to reach their potential. The
Science Department is in the process of renovating the labs and other
facilities in order to provide our students with science instruction that
is second to none. A local software company has generously donated a
complete analysis of our computer hardware and software needs so that the
technology. Needless to say, this is a must if we are going to continue
Each year Cathedral High School makes a general solicitation of
parents, alumni and friends. Last year our Annual Fund Drive raised a
financial assistance to those students who cannot meet the ever
the current Cathedral student body receives some amount of financial
assistance. So you see the purpose of this fund is about need and helping
worthy, but less fortunate students, who without your help would not be
Please think about a donation to Cathedral this fiscal year which ends
great progress but is continually challenged to do more. Small, private
high schools face a constant pressure to raise funds in order to keep up
with the public funded schools with their unlimited access to taxpayer
Cathedral provided us with a good education and a great foundation for
our futures. Please help make that same opportunity available to some
As outlined during recent meetings of the Board of Visitors and Alumni
Prior to launching these programs, we are requesting each of our
alumni leaders and friends on the two boards to review their support of
As an alumnus and Chairman of that activity, my function is to beat
alumni and friends of the school. Accordingly, a brief recital of unmet
needs is given below with a request for contributions. Also, I want to
express my gratitude to those of you who have already pledged or
These comments, for better or worse, are not accompanied by
heartrending pictures of faculty members standing in bread lines nor with
snap shots of undernourished law students. The school's staff appears
quite professional and the students reasonably fed. However, the school
does have specific needs, some quite visible and others somewhat subtle,
which are not being adequately met by legislative appropriations, student
The Student Lounge: This area is usually the first seen by prospective
faculty and students. Over twenty years of wear have left furniture and
other decor in a shabby state inconsistent with an impressive law school.
cost that law students paid for their legal education at the school last
year. It is far less scholarship aid than is available at most law
Faculty Salaries and Research Support: Our law school ranks last in
median base salaries for full professors when compared with salaries paid
to full professors at the eight other "Big Ten" law schools. The school
also lacks sufficient funds to award adequate summer stipends to support
faculty scholarship and to cover the costs of student research
Library expenditures: Again, our law school ranks last in this
category when compared with the eight other "Big Ten" law schools.
Your patience will not be tested by commentary on the General
Assembly's problems in providing more support for higher education.
Rather, these humble efforts will be directed to increasing private
One of the selling points in this fall's development campaign is the
level of support given by the school's alumni leaders and friends on the
Alumni Association Board and the Board of Visitors. Obviously, if all
most grateful and we would have a great story to tell. However, we
move in, another mouth to feed and a loss in domestic tranquility. Junior
may have wrecked the car and daughter may have attained the age for
orthodontia. If circumstances do not permit your participation in the
Contributions may be made when the pledge is submitted or anytime
the appreciation of the administration and faculty of the law school.
Also, you have the satisfaction of knowing that your colleagues are being
members of the Board of Visitors or Alumni Board who through
misadventure, oversight, procrastination or the pendency of personal
bankruptcy proceedings have not made some pledge or contribution, however
As I consider the talented, loyal and resourceful leaders on these
Boards, I assume few, if any, calls will be necessary.
One last matter: we will be contacting alumni for membership in the
few (six or less) telephone calls to assist the law school, please so
indicate on your pledge card. Those participating will be provided
prospects' names, addresses and telephone numbers, as well as background
Thanks for your courtesy in reviewing this epistle and for your
As you know, we are in the process of building an endowment fund in
Fund will greatly benefit our faculty and students by providing funding
to support teaching and research in our graduate periodontics program.
Your support of this endowment has been greatly appreciated.
education, and graduate programs in particular, are suffering from a lack
of funding, we are positioning ourselves to remain in a leadership
position with outstanding faculty, students, and private support from
As we approach our goal, a graduate of our .program has offered to
match all new gifts (dollar for dollar) until we reach the $l00,000 mark.
Periodontal Endowment Fund. This fund is extremely important to us and
your ongoing participation will be greatly appreciated. You have helped
us get to this point, and I hope that you'll extend your support. All
Just a moment of your time, if you can, to talk about a ten dollar
bill. True, it won't buy much today, but we are still interested.
We are asking for your ten dollars to help fund our programs of
Research, Education, and Patient Service and Rehabilitation.
We will be grateful for your contribution, and I am sure you will feel
good about giving. Your check in the enclosed envelope will be greatly
Some of the strongest critics of our welfare system are the people who
Their complaint: the system discourages working because unemployment
That's where you --and Goodwill --come in. We help people train for
and find jobs that make it possible for them to get off of welfare. Last
While the debate on welfare reform is gathering like a storm at sea,
the people who need jobs are floundering. We need your support to
Welfare is not the answer. And welfare reform is an uncertain solution
with an unknown starting date. Goodwill works. Right now.
Please give the largest gift you can to Goodwill today.
Inc. led two efforts that, we believe, will help our community continue
to take the steps necessary to help all young people grow up and develop
Participants in the Youth Outcomes Educational Initiative identified
healthy family, social relationships, and involvement in the community. A
people out into the community to identify the resources they need to grow
up well: caring adults, safe places to go, and positive things to do.
One group of adults and one group of youth, through two very different
processes, have arrived at the same conclusion; our community still has
much to do if we are to help ALL of your youth successfully develop into
the responsible, productive adults who will our community in the
valuable efforts to develop young people. Recently, through a lot of hard
work and alliances with organizations like yours, some steps have been
taken in our community that will help young people continue to be
their buses at half the normal fare all year long. Two, funding was made
available this summer for youth organizations and churches to conduct
mapping process, it was confirmed that the positive opportunities for
youth on weekend evenings were lacking. That need is being met.
its part without the support of organizations like yours. Annually, we
ask several of our youth serving organizations to join us in our effort
us to live. If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please do
support of the Museum through the Annual Campaign. Our special exhibition
features a collection formed with an ambitious aim -to document the
When you support the Annual Campaign, your contribution affects every
area Museum operations from grounds, building maintenance, and security
Your Annual Campaign contribution provides comprehensive support.
us for a special evening on March 23rd that recognizes your support of
If you have any questions or require further information about the
leaders in the bar, business, government, and community affairs. We
why!). I am proud to say that our law school and fellow graduates play a
Legal education nationwide has been changing, and our law school has
been keeping pace with the times. For example, students are provided both
traditional classroom education, which emphasizes legal reasoning and
Students must now fulfill the law school's legal writing requirements,
and they are encouraged to participate in a wide array of courses and
programs that teach professional skills, such as trial practice, the law
school's civil practice and criminal defense clinics, moot court, and
The law school also continues to develop its curriculum in a number of
specialized fields, including environmental, health, and international
has continued to provide quality legal education. However, these are
difficult times for public institutions of higher education, because
legislative appropriations are either flat or in the decline. The law
school is limited in these recessionary times because it's impractical to
raise tuition significantly to gain the difference from lost state
consider. To continue to excel in its educational mission, the law school
staunchest and most important supporters. We are persons who annually
that we care deeply about the school and that private contributions make
There are still many federal and state tax advantages for making
the "bottom line" of the state tax return. Matching contributions from
your (or your spouse's) employer can also double or triple the value of
provide enduring and generous support for the law school. During the next
week or so, I will be calling you to discuss your willingness to support
Your gift may be made when the pledge is submitted or anytime prior to
Your gift to the law school will be an investment in its continued
During the current period of declining state funding for our law
school, there is one outstanding development. In increasing numbers,
alumni and friends are providing the private resources necessary for
scholarships, faculty support and other items which enrich the school's
Have these events put our law school on easy street? By no means. They
will, however, together with Annual Fund contributions and other gifts,
assure that students at the school continue to receive an excellent legal
what your law school education has meant to you and to support the Law
Consider the current enrollment picture at the school and the costs
Demand for a legal education remains high. The School of Law in
have approached the limit on student tuition increases.
on state government to cut expenditures. Consequently, significant
increases in state financial support for higher education is extremely
Gifts from alumni and friends, therefore, are more critical than ever.
They provide scholarship dollars which aid students and enable the school
to compete with other public and private law schools for outstanding
young people. Gifts also support student organizations such as moot
court, supply library materials, pay for student research assistants, and
have provided significant assistance to the school. Please continue that
tradition by completing and returning the enclosed pledge card. Payment
Thank you for your past help and your continued support.
If you need additional information, please feel free to contact me at
it as recently as last year that you could find your way around, or has
it been so long that if you were to visit the main campus you could not
invite you to watch us grow as a maturing urban university on the go! In
addition to expanded physical facilities since the completion of Science,
Engineering and Technology Building Phase Two, several of the programs in
the school have expanded in terms of student and faculty size; the
research and development contracts with federal and state agencies and
private industry exceeded one million dollars in value for the first time
last year; interaction of faculty and students with the other schools on
campus increased drastically in terms of joint research projects on
medical imaging, computational neuroscience and biomechanics and the
partnership with Naval Avionics Warfare Center and Naval Weapons Center
flourished with the moving of Electronic Manufacturing Productivity
training for its students. In order to do this, laboratories must be
student support. The departments and programs within the School of
Engineering and Technology provide thousands of dollars of scholarship
support each year to students. Still there is great need, especially in
the way of endowed scholarships. These funds would insure that
scholarships are available to students as long as there are students to
support. I am confident that as a proud graduate of our school you will
conference, and we are hopeful that you can attend. If you have not
would like to tell you about an opportunity to support the students at
lounge so that it can be a more comfortable place for students to break
the tension of their heavy academic load. The upgraded lounge is a
Ten other reunion classes will be participating in this effort.
Together, we believe that our reunion classes can make a contribution
which will be very meaningful for the students at the school. To make it
interesting, a little competition has been proposed --the class with the
highest participation rate and the class with the highest dollar total
attendance and in participation in the class gift program. Best
We have something common in addition to being orthodontists who
were in the grad program and making much less money than we now pay in
taxes, we were awarded a Prentice Scholarship. Fifteen years ago, when I
expenses; and more students will receive scholarships this year.
I hope you will join me in thanking Dr. Prentice for his generosity
and to help build the fund that once assisted us. Maybe you have already
done so, but if not, please give it some consideration.
An envelope and pledge card is enclosed to assist you in supporting
the Prentice Scholarship Fund and our future colleagues.
It's summertime, so it must be time for CAMP! Yes, it's that time of
Camp. Six weeks of learning and exploring, sports, arts, and fellowship.
A time for a youngster to enjoy the fun and benefits of residential camp
living, dedicated staff and instruction, and a chance to make special
I know you're committed to ensuring today's children have safe,
healthy, and positive summer experiences. That's why I want you to learn
At Super Summer Safari Camp, there are daily sports, nature, and arts
developed. Please read the enclosed brochure for more information on the
send in a tax deductible contribution today in the enclosed envelope.
donation, please know that your gift will be appreciated and make a
It's tough growing up today. We know that children do better when they
have a network of caring adults to nurture and motivate them. When young
people don't have that support, they need other resources for
encouragement to guide them along the way. Big Sisters helps bridge that
Big Sisters are mentors and friends who empower girls to more fully
reach their potential, experience life's opportunities and perhaps begin
to dream. The relationships that are formed provide strong foundations
youth become strong, independent adults of tomorrow.
programs. This is an impressive number; but for each girl served, more
You can make an impact by supporting Big Sisters Annual Campaign and
have not supported Big Sisters in the past, please join me in doing so by
Early adolescence is the most vulnerable age for youth. But caring
adults like you can reach out and help. It's the perfect time to make a
Our class has been challenged to support a program which will directly
upgrade the student lounge so that it can be a more comfortable place for
students to break the tension of their heavy academic load. According to
Students Affairs council, the upgraded lounge is a priority for the
Nine other classes will be participating in this effort, as well.
Together, I believe that we can make a contribution which will be very
meaningful for the students at the school. To make it interesting, a
little competition has been proposed --the class which contributes the
most money and the class with the highest participation will be
Contributing members of the winning class will receive an added bonus
hopeful that our class will be well represented both in attendance and in
participation in the class gift program. Best regards!
"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things,
White River Gardens. As we enter a new century we hope that you too will
White River Gardens. Corporations are involved in a number of projects
that make a huge impact on our institution, including program
activities, etc. We strive to create good matches for our partners
-projects that fit your company goals, themes and interests.
Enclosed in this packet you will find recent information on our
Society and some of the exciting things that are happening here. I hope
community and provides a safe and happy environment for those who live
exhibition and presentation of natural environments in a way to foster a
sense of discovery, stewardship, and the need to preserve the Earth's
plants and animals. In short, the Society is about connecting animals,
plants and people. The wonderful connections formed each day are made
possible through the support of Society operations by organizations like
As one of only a few zoos in the country that receives no local,
operating funds from corporations like yours that are committed to the
provide all the excellent programming, activities and exhibits that
that you will consider renewing your commitment this year. Enclosed you
will find a brochure that highlights the many exciting benefits that you
can receive as a corporate donor. Please feel free to use the return
envelope to mail your pledge card or gift right away.
You can help plant seeds for a bright future. We have so many more
accomplishments to strive for, I cannot imagine a better corporate
My purpose in writing to you is twofold. First, to inform you of some
for your commitment, both financial and participatory. Last spring, we
and thus, would like the Alumni Association to be involved in. You will
To help accomplish these goals we need your support. As you are aware,
This has proven to be very beneficial over the years because of the
faculty support and attention that our program has received.
We need your participation in our activities and your financial
support to help make our goals happen. Alumni gifts will be used for
consider making a gift by returning the enclosed contribution card.
Several School of Dentistry faculty and staff members have recently
asked how they can become members of the Century Club. The Club is made
up of alumni, faculty, staff and friends who support the school with
campaign are wondering how they can continue their support.
Payroll deduction is perhaps the easiest way to make a contribution.
be a Century Club member. And if a person decides to be a contributor,
the best time to begin is the month prior to salary increases. This
allows donors to adjust their budget without losing any money they are
made my contributions this way, it's a "painless" method and at tax time
our goal, we have enclosed a pledge card for your convenience. Please
we can personally thank you for your support. You will also receive a
Over the past few years we've been able to make many improvements that
would not have been possible without the generosity and backing of the
Century Club. Support from the Century Club helps us continue to provide
a progressive learning and working environment for our students, faculty
forward to welcoming many of our colleagues as new century Club
If you have any questions, please feel free to stop by and see me.
Branch is reaching out to middle school youth with programs based on
caring, honesty, respect and responsibility for themselves and others.
For some, these are very different messages from the ones heard in the
street. They are learning to make positive choices concerning alcohol,
tobacco and other drugs and to support each other when those choices are
and the message that is so important to building strong kids, strong
families and strong communities. Please consider joining the Chairman's
convenience. We would like to announce the success of this year's
As a donor to the School of Dentistry, you are making a significant
like you, the ill School of Dentistry has funded scholarships for
deserving students, research and professional development opportunities
for faculty, and a computer network for the entire school. These
advancements simply would not have been available without contributions
from alumni and friends of the school. Your continued investment will
I hope that you have noted the positive changes taking place at our
dental school, many of which have been described in the Alumni Bulletin.
clinics and research facilities are the finest to be found in the
work "smarter and harder"; relations will be paid for through the
increased productivity and efficiency that such contemporary,
At a time when many dental schools are closing or cutting back on
international leader in these challenging times facing health care.
Year of Enlightenment" in dental education. The school will devote the
year to educating both internal and external groups about advancements in
oral health care and how those advancements benefit citizens from around
the state and elsewhere. I hope that you will see evidence of the school'
remain a leader in dentistry and education. Please take this opportunity
to renew your investment or even to consider increasing your donation to
the Century I level. I believe that your support will be returned many
times over through quality education, which elevates our entire
the year that I thought my chest was going to burst when I was on stage.
I learned first hand what GILL is all about, giving to others
there was a silent auction sponsored by the students. We as students
County Library and asked the librarian if she could teach me to read. It
was like a guardian angel had come down to guide my feet into that door
when she directed me to GILL. I can not begin to tell you how GILL has
changed my life. All of the staff and my tutor have been so friendly and
helpful they made me realize that I am a worthwhile human being. I don't
know why God chose me. I just know he did and I plan to make something of
my life with GILLs help. I volunteer for student meetings,
Your gift is appreciated by each and every student who will benefit
from your generosity. GILL truly does make a difference in lives.
my writing skills need a lot of practice yet, but my tutor helped me with
only a few words. She is a drill sergeant making me do all the work!
Your child was a recent participant in a social Health Program at his
other school. We hope that you will consider a personal gift to help us
In these volatile times as children and their parents are subjected to
mounting pressures in the schools, home and workplace and issues of
personal responsibility are too many times pushed into the background,
our mission is even more critical. A national emphasis on controlling
teen pregnancies and taking responsibility for one's actions is already
major stake in promoting responsible behavior among our young people. The
Social Health Association provides, through its own teachers,
programs are provided to schools at a price far below our actual cost. As
own fundraising activities and individual gifts. Thus, your gift to
Social Health is vitally important to our success and can accomplish the
Your support of Social Health Association can help us make a real
difference in the lives of our children. Thank you for your help.
Annual Operating Campaign. Your financial investment allows the museum to
present outstanding special exhibitions, educational programs for
children and adults, classic films, exciting concerts, horticulture
Your pledge of support is vital. Only by meeting our financial goals by
educational programs continue to meet your expectations. If we begin our
new fiscal year with a deficit, this will be a real challenge.
for you and your family to enjoy this winter including our traditional
holiday musical concerts and family holiday studio activities,
shop for a unique holiday gift, enjoy lunch with a friend at The Garden
Your support of the museum's Annual Campaign makes all that you see
important as we work toward meeting 1998's goal. Participation from all
this holiday season, and thank you for your support of the Annual
You never write. You never call. Just off on your own adventure with
never a thought about us. But we're here and doing our best to enhance
Department. So, we thought you ought to know what we've been doing.
Much of our energy lately has been devoted to preparing the proposal
for a master's degree in English. The proposal is now before the
Commission for Higher Education and, if they pass it this fall, we should
And we made some extensive changes in the requirements for the English
major. The new requirements stress closer attention to individual
learning between students and advisers and emphasize the connections
among literary study, writing, and linguistics. We still want our
writing, but we have a different mechanism for going about making it
happen. We've also added a number of new faculty and some of the old
timers have developed new research and teaching interests.
And you? What have you been up to? Write and let us know what you are
doing and how you are faring in the journey of life. From time to time
we'd like to send out a modest newsletter that keeps you up to date on us
and on you. You can omit any of the illegal or embarrassing activities if
you like, but other graduates will be interested in your news. And we
We've been looking for ways to build a sense of community among our
an environment that fosters dialogue. This is sometimes difficult, if not
impossible, at a campus like ours. Yet all of us seek in some ways to
One of the Department's initiatives is to offer support for English
majors through the development of scholarship funds. In fact, this is
the adjunct faculty make at least one significant gift to the Department
every year. Faculty can be a pretty serious force when they believe in
We now administer two annual prizes for creative writing, a fund for
bringing writers to campus, and two competitive scholarship funds. A
number of your fellow alumni have expressed an interest in establishing
an English Alumni Scholarship Fund to offer tuition support to an English
major who promises to make a contribution to life after graduating. We
Alumni Scholarship Fund. If every English graduate takes this opportunity
to pass along the gifts they have received, then in a few years, we can
offer scholarships to a number of worthy undergraduates.
So, fill out the enclosed form and we'll be delighted to hear from
thought it might be a nice change for you to hear from some of the people
who have worked with us to create positive changes in our community. "Our
corporate volunteer shirts read 'Making the Community a Better Place to
opportunities to work with outstanding people in our community." (Mark
want to get involved," you ask? While we have accomplished a lot with our
partners, fulfilling our mission of helping people and beautifying the
continue and improve upon our efforts for the community, it is our hope
generous gift. Your contribution will help thousands of people create a
beautiful city today, and for future generations. We have enclosed an
invoice to help facilitate your check. Thank you in advance for your
Have you noticed your friends mentioning Fountain Square lately? It
seems that everywhere I go people are making positive observations about
how our community is on the upswing! This shift in our neighborhood image
Neighborhood Development (SEND) to reverse community decline.
have played a major role in rebirth of Fountain Square, directly
have been able to remain in their homes thanks to home repairs supported
life skills to overcome the appeal of gangs, drugs, and school drop out
which constantly threaten their future These direct investments by SEND
have been a catalyst encouraging millions more in investments by
residents and businesses who now hold hope for the neighborhood's
While the trends of decline are reversing, our work is far from
residents have high school diplomas, and half of our residents have
little hope of participating in community improvements because they do
We need your help to continue our work, particularly as we enable area
families with low incomes to become home owners. The cost of creating
these homes far exceeds what our buyers cm pay, so we rely on grants and
individual donations to keep them affordable. I hope you will take this
that half of your contribution will be returned to you through State tax
savings, while the entire donation amount will remain deductible on your
credits are only available for a limited time, so we ask that you act
Please join us as we continue to rebuild this historic neighborhood
into a place of pride and community strength. Feel free to call me if you
would like, more information on the NAP tax credit program or any of
contemporary art! It's students with palettes and pots. It's
conversations about artistic trends. It's a place where creativity
inside scoop on the local art scene. You'll be the first to know about
upcoming exhibitions by nationally, regionally and locally known artists.
You'll have the opportunity to discuss their work over dinner. You'll get
the chance to visit local artists' studios. You'll meet our students who
are studying to become tomorrow's professional artists. Perhaps you'll
choose to purchase their developing works and begin your own collection.
Or maybe you or one of your family will want to dive right in and take a
course in jewelry design, woodworking, ceramics, or painting at a
However you choose to participate, I know you'll enjoy being a part of
in the membership brochure and return it with your check made payable to
request" direct mail appeal as well as your detailed analysis of results.
I shamelessly and freely borrowed the concept, making adaptations to fit
Summary: While we didn't generate as much gift income as you did, we
were extremely pleased with the results, the overall favorable response
to the nature of this ask, and the additional notes and comments received
reasonable amount". Several filled out the questionnaire and returned it
I asked people all over the campus to submit a few reasons why they
add yours next to the blanks provided. On the reverse side of this card,
College Fund are utilized. Please let us hear from you soon!
But there's no reason why we shouldn't share good news at the same
time. Federal, state and local governments are freezing or withdrawing
volunteers and others who really care, continues to make a significant
impact on the futures of families and kids in need of help.
We all hear about today's increases in neglect, abuse and abandonment
of those who can't fight back: children. Yet few of us hear enough about
kids who live through these adversities and do make the grade.
The positive side. These are special children. They come into a
Pleasant Run program... whether it's for therapeutic help in their own
homes (which nurtures whole families), through foster care families or in
the familial surroundings of our residential homes.
For some, it's a matter of weeks or months; for others, it's years.
They leave Pleasant Run, generally, ready and able to contribute to
society. We're proud of our children and all that they overcome.
the need weren't there. The numbers of children who deserve our services
are rising... as quickly as our programs can grow to serve them.
working and earning higher incomes than at any time in our history. We
are creating new businesses, jobs, and housing at a record pace. And our
population is growing for the first time in decades.
As our state continues to develop, we must work harder to protect
motorists have been doing just that by purchasing environmental license
recreation. Three years ago, the Heritage Trust set aside land for the
photographs. Now, wildlife is returning to the area. Egrets, ducks and
geese now gather at waterfowl resting ponds in large numbers; and native
prairie grass has been planted to return natural diversity and other
invested by purchasing an environmental license plate.
One year ago, I asked you to join me in renewing your environmental
license plate -so our children and grandchildren can see the majesty of a
float down a river in a canoe and enjoy the breathtaking scenery, or so
we can hike through the woods and see wildflowers in the spring.
I ask you to join me again this year in supporting the program that is
doing so much to preserve and protect our natural heritage.
Every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him
personally. This one's mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk this
summer. But do one thing for me if you will: keep your head high and your
goat. Try fighting with your head for a change, it's a good one.
The lessons of old are still the lessons we're trying to teach our
everyday living and surviving. We also emphasize plays that directly
relate to history, literature and social study topics. We are proud to
children, but we need your help right now to continue to provide this
The children attending our shows prepare in advance for their
theatrical experience through their class's curriculum
New educational programs have been created this year for
curriculum for next season, with classes for youth and adults to be
As you can see, our educational program has been growing and will
continue to increase in the upcoming years. These programs take resources
that only you can provide. I know you've purchased tickets this year and
nationally recognized innovator in Oral Diagnosis and Oral Medicine,
pursued excellence for his department, university and profession with
We have created a scholarship endowment which will permanently
our dental school. This endowment is a fitting tribute to a man who made
been significant. People here at the school have asked for the
opportunity to support students and recognize his good work by
the attached form if you wish to make a gift. Your contribution, made
I am writing to thank you for contacting Prevent Child Abuse New York
and to invite you to continue sharing our mission by becoming a
neglected -injured, molested, emotionally abused, denied adequate care
abuse or neglect. Most are babies and toddlers, and their parents are
Join Prevent Child Abuse New York in protecting children. We are the
others across the state, with the message that we can and must create
caring communities that support families and shelter children.
You can help us help overburdened new parents. Healthy Families New
York is an effective voluntary home visiting program We train staff at
sites across the state, and assist communities to develop the service for
compassionate, effective policies to protect children and prevent their
maltreatment through our Legislative Advocacy. We educate through Child
Abuse Prevention Month and other public awareness and media
All of this is possible because we are a statewide member network.
When we receive your membership, we'll send you a thank you gift, one
of our Blue Ribbon "Prevent Child Abuse" lapel pins. Please help us
Thank you for your serious consideration of joining Prevent Child
In writing our invitations for this years century Club reception we
Association meeting. Our attendance has grown over the years and,
frankly, we just feel it wouldn't be a successful party without you! If
for some reason you are unable to renew your membership, we still would
like to thank you for your past support and hope that you will again
Again, thanks for your support. Your contribution helped make it
possible for us to provide our students a quality education. If there is
to send you an invitation to the Century Club reception on May 3rd. I
Cordially invite you to our fifth Annual Donor Recognition
Thanks to all of you our community is a better, more beautiful
We look forward to seeing you at our annual recognition event Space is
Association. local law firms, book awards, and discretionary funds
Features one of the largest and most highly automated legal research
Serves law students. faculty. members of the bar. and citizens of
Serves as information resource on health law issues
Supported by government grants, private foundations, and law firms
Two law reviews provide opportunities for research and writing, as
well as a forum for articles of state, national, and international
Student organizations include: the Student Bar Association, The Black
Law Student Association, the Environmental Law Society, Health law
Society, the IV Association for Public Interest law, and Women's
HOW ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS HELP TO SUPPORT THE LAW SCHOOL
All of the foregoing areas are supported by contributions from alumni
In addition, gifts provide essential support in a number of other
areas, including recruitment of new faculty members and students,
maintaining our Career Services office, securing guest speakers,
supporting the school's commencement and publications
I am sure that you are aware of the uncertainty many arts
organizations are currently facing in regard to future funding. As a
believe that the dilemma we're faced with is not how we can afford to
continue our programming at its current level of excellence, but rather
how we can rally the community to support these efforts that only serve
to enhance the cultural splendor of our city and provide educational
an arena for our city's exceptional talent, but that is certainly not the
and the Young Adults Summer Musical provide unequaled educational
exposure to the performing arts. The impact of these programs on the
mission. Furthermore, I hope you'll agree with me in that your continued
support of the arts is an investment in the cultural heritage of our city
with exciting developments, so, too, are your opportunities as Trustees
for the Museum. As advocates throughout the community devoting your time,
interior will reflect the quiet grandeur of its 1930s appearance during
Dialogue with representatives of the city and other civic and
Nature Park continues. Even now, the potential for different types of art
that may be exhibited in the Park, and the range of educational programs
and community events that may be offered promise to expand the horizons
we depend on our Trustees' depth of commitment to the institution to
came from loyal donors' contributions. Even with the continuing
generosity of donors, the Museum has programs and operations that go
As you may be aware, your annual Second Century Society membership
convenience, we enclose a Second Century Society brochure and response
Museum of Art! Your investment continues the high quality of all aspects
of the Museum and makes new achievements possible. If you have questions
of the foundation. If you choose to go this route, you will receive a
quarterly newsletter, annual pass to the center and birthplace, and
notification of upcoming events. I encourage you to do this, because the
Community needs are everyone's business. How a community pulls
together to help those in need defines that community as a good place to
live, a good place to raise a family, and a good place to do
In our community, there is a partnership that pulls together every
a business leader, to invest in our community by contributing to this
By investing in the community through this partnership, you can help
employees. In fact. United Way agencies can help your employees by
providing services that may not be available elsewhere. such as:
activities, emergency and disaster relief, counseling for victims of
domestic violence and abuse, screening for cancer, heart disease, and
By supporting United Way, you are ensuring that these important
services continue. You'll also be making a good investment.
costs of crime, unemployment, and other social problems.
agency were responsible for raising all of its funds, businesses like
yours would be inundated with individual solicitations, even more than
they are now, and many necessary services would go unfunded.
Way makes sure each year that the community's highest priorities, as set
by community leaders like you, are served well. When you support United
dollar raised go directly to programs and services that help people in
which paid off by touching lives in hundreds of ways throughout central
contribution. Just fill out the enclosed pledge card and send it in the
return envelope. Then, watch as your investment is used to help make
its students, alumni, and friends lost a great friend, teacher and
advice and counsel in the management and growth of the law school and its
students. He played a significant role in our education and our
"His sense of good fortune helped him to be the most beloved dean ever
to serve at our law school. His work as Dean for Student Affairs is
legendary. He loaned them money, out of his own pocket, something he
planning, and personal problems. He was for the students an advisor,
mentor, chaplain, uncle, and true friend. The students understood how
much he cared about them and how wise, decent, and honest he was."
an endowment account, and this prestigious scholarship already has been
awarded to several deserving law students. They are the first of many
students who will benefit from the generosity of our alumni.
Your continued support of the law school is vital, not only in
providing scholarships, but also in meeting a variety of needs ranging
from purchasing additional computer terminals to travel for our moot
reflect the excellence of the legal education we received. We can
continue to strengthen the education of good lawyers.
programs described in the Annual Fund brochure, or for use where you
It takes a partnership of private support and University funding for
our law school to continue to grow in stature and influence. I look
the enclosed donor reply card to let us know how you can help.
The words of this familiar hymn have echoed through churches all
across the globe for over 200years. Grace is sometimes defined as
undeserved favor. Have you ever stopped to consider how grace is given to
I like to think of The Salvation Army as a place of grace --where
individuals and families find love and help in their time of need,
regardless of the situations that bring them to us!
.Men and women struggling with addictions find healing, forgiveness
and the chance to make a new start in life... families living from
paycheck to paycheck find comfort, food and emergency assistance... and
God's grace is found in His forgiveness and unconditional love. In
turn, we have the opportunity to extend that grace to others by meeting
their physical and spiritual needs with kindness and compassion.
Here at The Salvation Army, this is our continuous goal.
Maybe you can remember a time in your own life when you were shown
grace... when someone reached out to you with answers you couldn't find
yourself. Or perhaps a specific person comes to mind --such as a sister,
a grandfather or a daughter --whose life is characterized by grace.
When I think of grace, I am reminded of the many Salvation Army
officers and employees who selflessly dedicate their lives to the poor
seen grace transform the lives of many people. Often, those who come to
us for help have exhausted all other resources. But the love, assistance
and guidance that we offer them hope for a better tomorrow.
I can think of no better time to continue extending grace to others
available to each of us --regardless of who we are or what we we've
In the same way, The Salvation Army offers grace and compassion to
those in need in our community --regardless of the difficulties they may
be facing. You've been so generous with your giving in the past, and we
are grateful. Your additional gift today will enable us to provide food
and clothing for physical needs... emergency assistance during times of
crisis... spiritual guidance and encouragement... and much more.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound..." These words ring true in the
hearts and lives of changed people here at The Salvation Army. And just
as the writer of this beautiful hymn celebrates God's grace, so do
will benefit from your kindness, thank you. May you experience God's
printed with John Newton's familiar hymn, "Amazing Grace."
enrollment ever for the past two years, but the Gallery is exhibiting
some of the most exciting work in its history. On top of all this, we're
the latest art trends. Enclosed is a schedule of upcoming
college degree in fine arts, art education, art history, or visual
communication. Our students and the public are continuing to enjoy a
number of special programs, such as the Visiting Artist Program, which
providing art classes for junior and senior high school students every
recently graduated high school students who are interested in careers in
the arts. The Gallery will enhance the course work and programming with
its exciting array of exhibitions and related events planned for the
As you can imagine, it is costly to maintain the facility, provide
compensation to faculty and staff and to provide financial aid, supplies,
programming and equipment to make all this happen. We do receive some
funding from the state and the University, but we must rely on private
be helping us to continue to serve the community through our public
programs, to provide scholarships to deserving young artists, to attract
Please complete the enclosed form and return it with your check made
our friends and alumni to help us maintain our excellence.
help disabled entrepreneurs and professionals maximize their potential in
the business world, and to encourage the participation and enhance the
sets an example of success through teamwork "Giving Disabled Veterans the
"No Challenge too Great for These Vets" An article from the "Veterans of
Services Provided Include: Personal Business Advisor Business Plan and
Financial Assistance Packaging Market and Product Research Marketing,
Advertising and Public Relations Presentation and Proposal Documentation
National Consultant, Vendor and Business Network Information Newsletter
Educational Seminars, Workshops and Conferences Technology and Equipment
Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year, gives disabled veterans the
disabled entrepreneurs nationwide start their own businesses.
veteran suffered a number of setbacks and gained experience as a soldier,
kidney disease, and neuropathy (loss of feeling) in his legs. The
neuropathy and blindness caused him to cling to the center walls for
became withdrawn, and all but refused to leave his home until he went for
the first National Disabled Winter Sports Clinic at Grand Junction,
with financial assistance from business and private donors.
kind of "winter sports clinic thing" that was starting up. "Listen, I
year he attended we tough. He wanted to come home the first day he got
B-1 (totally blind) downhill skier in the world. His skiing awards
No decision since his decision to return to the field during the
basically boiled down to, "get your act together and get back in the
field, or we'll make you a private again sergeant."
The message we clear. The Army suspected him of malingering, and that
geared up and moved to the field with his troops. The blurred vision,
sever stomach cramps, headaches, constant fatigue, and vomiting would
The Army had been right. The sergeant became a private, a private
didn't know as much about it as we do today, and were learning and
adjusting to diabetes at the same time we were building our marriage. We
He liked to do little league and soccer with him, and we did all the
"But if daddy wasn't feeling good, our son knew it was because daddy
was a diabetic. When children are younger, they don't always understand
what that means, but as our son grew he understood more and more. When
adjusted very well to all that's happened. Whenever we need him, he's
became so frustrated with available jobs that he went into business for
businessman. He had an appetite and aptitude for business. He moved on to
open his own retail stores, restaurants, sales organizations, a
manufacturing company and a public relations firm. Business ventures led
him from coast to coast, gaining experience along the way.
"They tried tremendously to help me at the Blind Rehabilitation
Center, but the only resources for a businessperson were for the
resources and assistance to benefit a blind businessperson, the more I
"I took business courses, but again, they were slanted toward the
who are disabled are to compete in this world and be productive, we have
information and assistance. When I tried to get answers to my questions,
I made a business of helping disabled veterans. I chose disabled veterans
because that's what I am. I knew a lot of disabled veterans. Some were in
business and some were talking about starting a business. I started
The business grew and eventually, he was helping thousands nationwide.
assist disabled entrepreneurs and professionals maximize their potential
in the business world, and encourages participation and enhances
performance of disabled persons in the workforce, all free of charge. The
only payment asked of disabled clients is that they, in turn, volunteer
their time and expertise to assist other disabled persons.
Award. He is also a finalist for the upcoming Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur
have, that just being active and productive will improve your health,
"My disability has never been a barrier to our marriage. Understanding
is the key. Our marriage has grown through the years. We're more than
and also consults with wives of disabled persons. She has experience with
people with a variety of disabilities and has lots of valuable
information to share with wives under stress or having problems; she's a
the receptionist, but, in truth, admits it would be very hard to train
"I make sure he gets his lunch on time, take his blood tests
"He has to eat on time and properly to maintain his energy and blood
sugar level. I also car pool him around and help with his schedule.
other business, military, civic, and athletic organization
crowded parking lot with a simple command. "I don't know what we'd do
gets from point A to point B in a snap- quicker than I can take him."
conviction, says, "I think it's helping other disabled people. Urban is
genuinely concerned that the disabled community is not getting a fair
share, and he goes out of his way to help disabled people.
We Need Your Help Are you seeking a worthwhile cause that really
changes people's lives for the better... where every dollar goes directly
of and support? We are seeking leaders and benefactors in the community
Ways you can help The following is a list of ways your can participate
your response in the appropriate area and your name, address and /or
phone number in the space provided at the end. When you have completed
your entry, click on "Submit Query" button at the bottom. If you choose
United Way agency. Because you are an organization that cares, you are
invited to become an integral part of this fabulous event by becoming a
corporate sponsor. We are seeking to build partnerships between
guests will have a special evening, knowing that your tax deductible
contribution will help support preschool, childcare, senior and
resettlement services, as well as quality cultural events in our
Enclosed is a corporate sponsorship package that includes a sample
overview of the many programs that will be preserved and strengthened
One of us will call you to discuss how your company can become an
scholarship programs. If you have any questions, please feel free to call
Please send a million dollars so we can really support geological
There are several ways that we can reach the balance of our target
principal. The simplest is for one or more of the members to simply
the depressed stock market, your assets are not liquid enough for you to
come up with one million dollars this year, then we can consider one of
Another alternate way to reach our Scholarship goal is for everyone to
contribute as much as he or she can this year, and each year for the near
future and, sooner or later, the goal will be attained.
Let me assure you that we would appreciate receiving one million
dollars from you. But let me also assure you that we would appreciate
equally well the contribution you are able to make. Whatever you can
contribute, you will be helping to support a geology student at
convenience, I am enclosing a copy of Form CC-40, which should be filed
Each day you participate directly and indirectly in a search for a
sharing your expertise, you join a network of professionals committed to
finding ways to eliminate cancer as a cause of suffering and death.
Once a year, we ask you to consider supporting the mission of the
Just as a disease as complex as cancer will not be cured by just one
scientist at just one university, finding better ways to prevent, treat
and eventually cure cancer will require support from all of us.
Please use the enclosed form and envelope to send a contribution
through a check or credit card. Or, you may use payroll deduction to make
Your gift may be restricted to the research area of your choice.
Please indicate the specific research area on the enclosed form. In
addition, please provide your phone number in case we have any questions.
Gifts designated for a specific area of research are matched on a
used directly for research. Our endowment allows us to use your money
exclusively for cancer research, not administrative overhead.
you have any questions. Thank you again for sharing our hope for a future
of Physical Education. I have enjoyed these years of service to all the
students, who like you, have studied here. One of my proudest
its energy and joy in moving. The company will celebrate its seventh
season with the annual spring concert. Our theme this year is "Dance:
Design in Motion" featuring compositions of ballet, modern, jazz and tap.
I write to ask you to become a supporter of the Moving Company. Your gift
will help make this year's concert more special by providing funds for
costumes, programs and lighting. You may use the enclosed card to
School Age Child Care for and children and youth Access services such as
emergency and holiday assistance for all ages Adult Day Care for seniors
Senior Case Management Aids Education for youth and adults Senior Social
Involvement Computer Training for youth, adults and seniors Senior
Nutrition meal program Day Care for young children Social Development and
Recreation for children, youth and adults. HIPPY (Home Instructional
Program for Preschool Youngsters) for families. Stopover crises
counseling for youth. In Home Services for adults and seniors.
(plus one affiliate) whose mission is to identify and meet the human
effective, efficient and comprehensive way possible. Better yet, most of
these services occur in cooperation with private and public agencies from
Parks, and numerous community development corporations, neighborhood
contribution in the amount of because you can't got a better bang for
your buck than to support an organization that impacts so many lives in
Please, make a tax deductible gift to Community Centers of
in meeting the needs of its community. If you have any questions, please
consideration, and look forward to hearing from you.
should have received registration materials for the Fall Alumni Dental
Well, the student lounge today is much larger and in a different
location, and it badly needs upgrading so that it can be a more
comfortable place for students to break the tension of their heavy
academic load (much heavier than what we experienced).
Together, I think we can make a contribution to that upgrading of the
lounge which will be very meaningful for the students. I have sent a
of the faculty that the dean told me they were going to refurnish our old
student lounge and asked if I would like to have one of the old octagon
shaped oak tables. They were pretty beat up and the tops well covered
requisition" one. Well, I did and sometime later removed it to my cottage
think it is preserved forever. Anyway, I treasure that table. Someone
all three fraternities. It's obvious from the beautiful carvings of teeth
on the surface that we had a good instruction in dental anatomy.
Someone made it possible for us to have the benefit of that lounge
to the upgrading of today's student lounge, we have the opportunity to,
reunion that a room in the Union Building has been reserved for our use
will have a chance to enjoy reminiscing the equivalent of our four
academic years together and the happenings during the time that has
you are, an alum of the Department. Yet, in the midst of all our activity
in order to confirm your current educational and occupational status,
your ongoing involvements and interests, and future plans you might
Our records in that regard are fragmentary at best. Most recently, we
we had nearly twice as many graduates as any other department in the
School of Liberal Arts. A proportionately large number of you responded
But, it is high time that we establish direct contact with all alumni
from all the graduation years, from all Department activities and areas.
be forthcoming, sharing information on alumni as well as happenings in
Recently a project' arose that should be interesting to you as a
former student who struggled to clear the financial hurdle of education.
Department's first scholarship program. It was given as a start toward a
which can be realized through contributions in whatever amount you can
give. As you probably well know, the resources provided by such
scholarships might well determine whether or not promising students can
recognition in the School of Liberal Arts Dean's Council, a critical
NOW OUR FIRST INVITATION TO YOU: We invite each contributor and
Seniors and Their Guests. In this way, you can be recognized and thanked
in person, while visiting with faculty and students. The reception is
held on the same day as the School of Liberal Arts Honors Convocation.
will be sent to you once the menu and plans have been finalized and
We look forward to hearing from you and interacting more frequently in
Do you remember the combination of elation and apprehension you felt
when you first left home? The young adults who leave Pleasant Run have
those same feelings. Very few have family support to get them started.
Many need furniture, linens and other basic necessities to begin lives on
To help them establish themselves in the community, the Pleasant Run
provide a measure of financial support for those leaving our
Individuals who are being emancipated are eligible to receive up to
Proof of meeting these, two staff reference letters and an essay
stating why they should receive a grant and how it will be used are all
reviewed by a Pleasant Run panel, which determines if the applicant
Such fund are often used for college tuition, vocational training or a
Because Pleasant Run is the only "family" for so many, our
Emancipation Fund is one way we can help a young person take the first
steps into his or her new life as an independent and productive
Without private donor support, this Fund doesn't exist. Please take a
few minutes to send a donation to help one or more of our children
That's the plan for the School of Journalism's independence. We're
moving from the College of Arts and Sciences. More than ever we will be a
school within the university, with our own identity and academic mission.
And yet within change there will be continuity. I want to assure you that
we'll remain a close partner of the College of Arts and Sciences. We'll
insist even more on the vital importance of the liberal arts for
that bind the profession to the knowledge of the past, the problems and
an extensive acquaintance with languages, a great easiness and command of
writing and relating things clearly and intelligibly, and, in a few
words, he should be able to speak of war both by land and sea, be well
acquainted with geography, with the history of the time, with the several
interests of princes and states, the secrets of courts, and the manners
and customs of all nations. The essence of journalism education hasn't
You can help. And you know that line was coming. But yes, you can
We need scholarships to inspire and reward the best students. We need
resources to recruit and develop outstanding teachers. We need books and
newspapers and journals to create the climate of learning Franklin
required. We need computers and cameras so students can master the tools
You, our alumni and friends, have helped put this School at the
forefront of journalism education in this country. As we become
independent, please help us strengthen the distinction of your degree.
you contribute this year can these agencies continue to provide programs
Odds are that you, a family member, friend, or neighbor may already be
benefiting from the services of one of United Way's family of agencies
the White River until he was helped by Horizon House. Gifts to United Way
helped provide shelter, medical care, counseling and job placement to end
unable to walk or talk until he received therapy at Crossroads
Rehabilitation Center. Now he gets around, talks, and even attends a
mammography early detection program at the Little Red Door Cancer
Your gift, no matter what the size, can benefit the lives of people
here in our community. Here are just some of the services your gift can
YOU CAN HELP SUPPORT THESE AND OTHER NEEDED SERVICES HERE IN CENTRAL
Community needs are increasing and your help is needed more than ever.
Just fill out the enclosed pledge card and send it with your check in the
Any gift you can send is appreciated and will be put to good use
cents of every dollar you donate go directly to programs and services
Outstanding, Fantastic, Rewarding, Fulfilling All of these words
friends, and alumni of "Dear Old Cathedral". The award is given annually
to the class that increases their "Annual Fund Giving" participation by
the highest percentage. We were very proud that our class stepped up and
Once again, we are writing to ask for your support. Even after last
certain that we can significantly improve upon last years' results.
Any dollar amount you wish to contribute is fine. However, a donation
in the upcoming Alumni Association Board Member elections (currently two
As you know, the Annual Fund is an integral part of Cathedral's
body the opportunity to attend Cathedral through the help of financial
aid. Imagine the thousands of Alumni who might not be alumni if the
try to contact each of you who have not participated this fiscal year in
helping make "Cathedral" the best private catholic high school in the
individuals who have supported this scholarship in the past, I want to
Dental Hygiene Program, I believe I have received the best professional
education available. During the year I have been in private practice, I
have found myself drawing on all aspects of my education.
The scholarship, named in honor of the school's first director of
burden of a college education has been lessened for many deserving
students. However, current and future dental hygiene students need our
Thank you for considering this request. Your generous contribution
would greatly benefit many of our future colleagues as they pursue the
small changes in her behavior, or the choices she makes, can affect her
future. It's hard enough for her to make good decisions when she's
surrounded by support. It's even harder when she isn't.
Big Sisters helps fill that void by matching caring, responsible adult
friend and a role model, helping a young girl to develop the
enhanced school performance; and improved relations with family and
helps change lives. Today, we are offering you the opportunity to help
year. This money maintains the infrastructure that fosters and supports
the development of effective relationships. This includes a volunteer
screening process, orientation, training and ongoing supervision and
As a Matchmaker you will receive a description of "your match" and be
identified as a Matchmaker on a plaque in the Big Sisters office, in the
waiting for a Big Sister. Imagine the difference the community could make
if each congregation pledged its support of one Big Sisters match!
I encourage you to Join me in presenting this matchmaker challenge to
Pat LaCrosse asked me to send this information inviting you to join
Additionally, I am sending traditional background materials on the
Museum and the two latest issues of our Previews Magazine detailing
upcoming events, exhibitions, and educational programs.
Garden has been restored to its original splendor, and there is national
(please see The New York Times article I have included.) With thousands
of trees and flowers in bloom, we are having a beautiful Spring!
Our extraordinary permanent collection, facility, and grounds, we
understand full well, would not be possible without the philanthropic
of those who believe that bringing art and art education to the city
makes life better, richer, and more rewarding for the entire
A Second Century Society response card and return envelope are
enclosed. Should you have questions or if I can be of assistance in any
As of this date, we have received commitments for approximately forty
We greatly appreciate those who have been able to contribute or pledge a
I know we are all grateful for the benefits received from our
education. The Endowment Fund is a way we can show our appreciation and
support; and at the same time, make sure future colleagues receive the
same benefits. I do hope this is a convenient time for you to make a gift
or commit to a five year pledge. If we obtain our goal soon, the fund can
begin to be used for excellence in teaching and research.
I will continue to keep you informed of the progress on this project;
and if there are any other individuals you would like me to contact, I
Once again, should you have any questions in regard to the Timothy J.
"The urgency you feel to make changes is just the extent that change
will be made. Do not sit this one out. Do not play it safe. Understand
the world and change it where it needs to be changed... Make our society
better. Make a world worthy of the children that your generation will
often given up on hope and the possibility of a successful future. With
Many Little Sisters are preparing to go back to school this fall full
of hope and with a positive outlook. Thanks to our Big Sisters
and are beginning to realize their full potential. A recent study by
I have grown very close and I have been able to experience lots of new
things. We go to movies, dinner, concerts, and other stuff like that, but
I have also been able to participate in charity events and fundraiser
Not only did I have a lot of fun with my Big Sister, but I learned a
thankful to the Big Sisters program for allowing me this very special
You are an important part in making sure these young people are
matched with caring adult mentors. Will you make a financial gift to Big
guidance they need, that more young people stay in school, stay off drugs
Your contribution will be used to recruit and retain quality
volunteers. It will also be used to help maintain the infrastructure that
fosters and supports the development of effective relationships,
including volunteer orientation and training and ongoing supervision and
support by a professional staff. This year your gift can go farther!
If you would like to find out more about the Big Sisters program,
Program (NAP). A limited number of credits are available. To receive an
application form, check the NAP box on the enclosed pledge card or call
Each year the graduating class traditionally contributes a class gift
to the law school. Sometimes this constitutes an item of remembrance,
establishment of a scholarship, or individual tax deductible
Due to the current nature of the economy, and the effect that it has
wrought on the legal employment situation, we decided that the latter
course would be most advantageous to the graduating student body.
Each of you may contribute the amount that you feel able to
contribute, and then you may deduct for it on your taxes. Moreover, the
total amount contributed by the class may be put to use by the law school
where it is most needed, such as the library fund, the clinic programs,
We believe that this is the best format in which to contribute our
class gift since it benefits all concerned. Please review the enclosed
information, and decide which contribution format would best suit your
also has programs of research as well as children thru adult education
educational programs, and it helps those individuals in the community who
order to continue our fine programs at the present level and, hopefully,
to expand them in the future, we need your help. If you would like to
help us keep going, please send a contribution in the enclosed
forget that you need to respond to renew your Friends membership and keep
your name on the Gallery's mailing list. Otherwise, you'll miss receiving
the new quarterly Chronicle newsletter, the special exhibition opening
Enclosed is another renewal card. Return the completed card with your
for another year of terrific contemporary happenings.
have demonstrated for the museum through your membership or by attending
Annual Giving Campaign. Your gift will help the museum prevent a
important as participation from all museum members and friends.
Your gift to the Annual Giving Campaign will help by:
delivering Distance Learning via video conferencing. In addition, the
Community Connection program uses a diverse group of high school students
community centers throughout the state. These programs have provided many
young people with a strong foundation for future museum experiences-
Daily maintenance and upkeep of the museum's property including;
grounds, gardens, nature paths, fountains, bridges and roads. With
hundreds of plants, flowers, and trees, your gift supports the natural
Attracting special touring exhibitions such as The Fantasy World of
From negotiating art loans from museums nationally and internationally
gift to the Annual Campaign makes possible all you do and see at the
As one of the many cultural organizations that will appeal to you for
means to you, your family, the community, teachers and students who value
Browse the museum shops for a unique holiday gift or explore the
extensive lace collection, considered one of the best in the country.
The museum and grounds will be decorated with holiday lights.
I appreciate your consideration and hope that you will participate in
this year's Annual Campaign. Your support means so much! I will look for
Simply complete the requested tribute information on the reply card and
acknowledgement to you, as well as a holiday card to the special person
The Friends of the Free Library is an independent organization that
public awareness, advocating before elected officials and supporting the
growth of the library in all its activities. The Friends operate at two
levels -the Citywide Friends and the Branch Friends -and you can become
You become a member of the Citywide Friends of the Free Library as a
and you can also join the Branch Friends in your neighborhood by paying a
library users who support the Free Library and participate in its
programs. Friends' programs such as Young Library Leaders and the Love is
Reading Together Week target young people and instill library habits at
an early age. The Friends run a bookstore that has some of the best
As a member of the Citywide Friends of the Free Library you will
receive a quarterly newsletter informing you of library events and
legislative issues. You will also receive a discount at the bookstore.
With your contribution to the Library, you will become a member of the
Citywide Friends. We also encourage you to investigate and join your
neighborhood Branch Friends group. For your convenience, there is a list
volunteers, help plan programs and raise money for special needs of their
local library. Membership fees in Branch Friends groups are quite low;
and the activities are very rewarding. You can become a Branch Friend at
Branch Friends groups are organized into a coalition called the
Alliance of Friends to provide mutual support and address issues that
You can make a contribution to the Free Library and become a member of
the Citywide Friends with the attached form. Contributions are made
The Salvation Army received a note not long ago from a woman who makes
contributions to our programs from time to time. She'd been thinking
herself truly aware of her surroundings. Lush, green fields that
stretched for miles... wisps of white clouds scattered across a clear,
blue sky... tranquil silence broken only by cheerful bird songs... the
fresh, sweet scent of morning air. And she felt a sense of peace, for the
What a contrast from the city she'd left a few miles back. Filthy
night before about a teenager who shot an even younger boy to death as
some children have no respect for life, not even their own.
She wondered what would happen if she could take one child from the
beauty and serenity. What would change for that boy or girl?
That's when she thought about The Salvation Army's camping program.
every summer at Hidden Falls Camp. They spend most of their time
outdoors, playing games with new friends, discovering flowers they've
never seen, and creating treasures from sticks, rocks and leaves. Here,
this summer. She'd never given that much money before. But she was
It's hard to explain exactly how camp can change a child's heart. But
Kids probably wonder what God looks like. If I could speak to them, I
would tell them they can see a great deal of God in the trees and stars
and streams that He created. When they're running with the wind in their
faces and the sun on their backs... or stepping barefoot onto cool, green
grass... they would begin to understand what I mean.
so empty inside that they turn to drugs to fill the void... why they have
I don't have all the answers. But I am certain of this: You can make a
difference in one child's life by sending a gift to The Salvation Army's
consider transportation, food, lodging, crafts, sports, counseling and
much more, you realize it covers a lot (and equals what you might pay for
If you can't sponsor a child for a whole week, perhaps you can send
You see, camp is only the first step. Through the year, we also offer
Please prayerfully consider how much you can give... and give just a
I guarantee you'll feel good knowing you've helped us touch a heart.
Perhaps you'll even save a life. At the very least, you'll give one child
the chance to see God's face, and feel His love. Often, that's all it
longer every day, and it's important that we send every one of them. With
your help, no child will be disappointed. Please send your most generous
Thank you for your interest in the Peace Education Program.
The Peace Education Program, in conjunction with a network of adults
in our schools and neighborhoods, works firsthand with young people who,
we feel, are the hope for the future. We provide youth with options to
stand up for themselves and resolve conflicts nonviolently. We teach
conflict resolution, peer mediation and the principles of prejudice
between young people are rooted in attitudes and prejudices that exclude
and target individuals and groups. By shifting attitudes and teaching
youth to understand each other, we halt the violence that plagues our
Our commitment to schools and neighborhoods has a long tested record
of accomplishment. We have worked hard to create a strong
Enclosed are additional materials to illustrate the commitment of
Peace Education Program to "giving youth more than a fighting
An another academic year comes to an end, I am pleased to report that
advancing dental education. Our faculty, students and staff are reviewing
all aspects of the school -curriculum, competencies, financial
forefront of dental education. Indeed, our entire second floor is being
renovated this summer so that our physical facility can accommodate the
enabling us to continue as one of the top dental schools in the country.
There are several critical areas which cannot be funded by the citizens
completely fulfill its mission. Student scholarships, special faculty
research, and advancements in technology need to be funded with
contributions from alumni and friends of the school.
Your contributions to the school in the past have been very important
to us, and I sincerely hope that you will make a financial investment in
explains more about our needs. These are challenging times for dental
schools across the country, and I firmly believe our ability to remain in
a leadership position will be enhanced with your support. Please consider
this request carefully --it is very important to us, the future of dental
It is wonderful to be able to write this letter to you as a special
and I have been active in the Leukemia Society since our son Nick was
seeing first hand how our volunteer efforts are paying off for kids like
related blood disorders. I can also tell you that the 1990's will be a
the Leukemia Society's National Research Program. If you, and just
will be able to honor our share of the Leukemia Society's national
we've counted on you. As we come to a close of our fiscal year, would you
remission and we're saying he's been cured. But not every kid is as lucky
as Nick. Your gift today really will make a difference in their
I want to thank you for your past support of the Visiting Nurse
Service Foundation, Inc. It is through support from individuals like
yourself, that we are able to care for thousands of individuals each year
who may not otherwise have been able to afford proper home health care or
I wanted to briefly share with you some of the specific uses of the
funds that are donated each year. Our nursing staff has used funds for:
buying prescriptions for patients who need them, but can not afford them;
providing transportation to physician's offices for shut in patients;
paying utility bills when there is an immediate jeopardy of shut off;
medical supplies not covered by Medicare or other payers; fans and
heaters for individuals; and even basic needs like food.
above. I am asking that you consider supporting our efforts once again
home health care to individuals regardless of their ability to pay. By
contributing again this year, you will help insure we can continue our
envelope for your convenience, as well as an overview of the services we
provide. Thank you in advance for your consideration. I look forward to
to encompass public management and policy as well as environmental
of public and environmental affairs in the country.
this extraordinary growth was made possible by the generosity of our
program it is today. You are one of those who has made the difference and
environment, health service management and policy, and criminal
We look toward a bright and even more distinguished future. Stay a
used to help support students. One of the most important forms of support
business and community leaders. Because of your past support, Girl Scouts
membership. We are requesting your continued support to meet the needs of
our growing membership. Please consider a contribution to the Girl Scout
The Girl Scout program offers an array of benefits to our girls and
(Social Program Evaluators and Consultants, Inc.) to conduct a National
Outcomes Study of the Girl Scout program. The results were overwhelmingly
Girl Scouting helps girls build nine personal assets which research
Girl Scouting unites girls, families, and communities.
Girl Scouting benefits volunteers by developing their leadership
Our ability to provide the Girl Scout program to our membership and
reach out to more girls depends on the generosity of a caring community
and companies like. Your investment in Girl Scouting is sure to help
remarkable accomplishment happened during the first semester of my junior
severely challenged by an "Introduction to Classical Mechanics," where I
was studying the equations of gravity and orbital motion as taught by Dr.
same equations. Had I known such strange events would occur, I assure you
less time playing bridge in the Hub. The point is, the liberal arts
changing world, the sky is no longer the boundary to our travels. In our
students now enrolled at the University those same opportunities to
support of the Annual Fund, you and I can help continue the educational
tradition we enjoyed --a strong foundation for a lifetime of continued
learning and growth. There is no doubt in my mind that the pop quizzes my
important purpose. His lesson of "be prepared: real life will test you
every day" was carried by each of his students into their individual
careers. It is practical advice that remains true today.
Is a liberal arts education still sufficient? Some argue that the
growing pace of technology makes a liberal arts education less valuable
in the '90s. I believe just the opposite. A liberal arts education is
rapidly. The ability to keep learning, to keep discovering, and to keep
inventing becomes even more important if we are to compete in tomorrow's
to observe the manufacture of computer cards. This was the future! Yet
those cards quickly became obsolete as computers shrank in size and new
mathematics and the mechanics of physics. More importantly, I remember
the face of occasional failures and instilled in us the confidence to
to learn, but which could yield great rewards. And coaches like Mike
not only on the playing field but in the classroom and in the
dormitories, fraternities and sororities during the course of our daily
Your memories are probably very similar. Regardless of when you
changes of today's world is to possess the energy and the ability to
hasn't let me down. The challenges I face today in applying new
ability to keep learning. Believe it or not, the wondrous Sputnik
special professors. My closeness to the University is strengthened by a
campus where the sense of history is treasured. And these ties, coupled
education. We must pass this tradition along. Our generous gifts to the
Annual Fund will give today's students the opportunities that older
alumni shared with us by making their gifts to the Fund.
consider making a special gift this year in honor of your reunion and
those special memories. Your support will make a difference.
world. They matter, and our support to them matters. We must invest in
town but many will be presented with scholarships or gift certificates on
Faculty members select outstanding students in each area to receive
funds that come from annual donations and the interest from endowed
scholarships. The funds go directly to the students' tuition. The gift
certificates are most typically from art bookstores and art supply
exemplifies the support and encouragement that the faculty and community
provides. For many it's the extra boost they need to continue their
studies toward a productive career in the visual arts.
Please consider making a donation to this rewarding program. Come that
evening and see your student shine as he or she goes to the stage to
accept the award. Your involvement will be greatly appreciated.
I would like to thank you for your support of the Chancellor's Circle
the Chancellor's Circle and demonstrated their belief that our urban
university is an important community resource for the educational,
neighbors, and friends. Contributions to the Chancellor s Circle have
advice of consultants on such topics as race relations and freshman
retention, and by helping us to strengthen our ties with the community
You are invited to renew your support of the Chancellor's Circle at
Your support of the Chancellor's Circle will continue to contribute to
you know, you can participate as an individual by making an annual
or more for Chancellors Associates. Corporate participation involves an
which tells you more about the Chancellor s Circle and which includes a
reply card. I have also enclosed a reply envelope for your
I hope you will continue your support of the Chancellor s Circle at
It's hard to believe that school is beginning and Autumn will be here
in just a few short weeks. Children are back in their classrooms enjoying
the fun of renewing friendships and activities interrupted by summer
However, some families in our community are wrestling with the problem
of providing a safe and caring environment for their children during,
It is not widely recognized that in our community there are families
scholarships to families who are at or near poverty. Many of these
scholarships are for before and after school care for children of working
The funds for these scholarships come from concerned neighbors like
in safe, age appropriate activities before and after school. Give a youth
programs that are fun. Every dollar you give goes directly to
Together we can build strong kids, strong families and a strong
Thank you for contacting the Disabled Businesspersons Association
and assistance to enterprising individuals with disabilities,
dislikes, hobbies, interests, disability, etc., and your current or
We look forward to your written response, membership support, and
government. It retained, however, the same mission with which it had been
charged from its inception: to serve as a catalyst for effective,
coordinated, and collaborative service delivery to youth in our
accomplishing this declared mission in cooperation with many others:
youth service providers, youth, funding bodies, and interested citizens
We have met with a number of successes along the way, most notably the
Summer Fun Line, the Metro Summer Bus Pass, and the development of ten
neighborhood youth councils. A Providers Council and a Youth Coalition
are building relationships that will hopefully bear great fruit in the
years to come. The formation of The Community Academy, a pilot project
directed at expelled students from local school systems, has come about
collaborations where we regularly raise our voice to speak out for the
processes. One concrete example is a joint project undertaken in the
United Northwest Area in partnership with The Junior League of
neighborhood youth and adults to build a "Caring Neighborhood with Youth"
within the community by refraining from direct service programming and
focusing on what it does best: helping to identify youth needs, convening
groups of individuals and organizations which can address those needs,
empowerment efforts at the neighborhood level by means of
 the provision of technical assistance and guidance to
In the last several years, the business and corporate community has
recognized that the positive development of youth is directly related to
the development of a competent workforce. Youth who are supported and
encouraged by both a family and a society that values
Them have a much greater likelihood of becoming productive and
contributing members of adult society. While we have made significant
inroads, there remains much to be done and it is clear that we cannot do
it alone. We seek the financial support of the Foundation to help us be
successful in creating the atmosphere in our community where young people
can grow and develop well. Your contribution will enable us to both
city famous for its commitment to youth and families.
In our fund raising efforts to date, we have received the support of
local government, foundations, and corporations as well as the personal
is no more appropriate time to have a coordinated and collaborative
Thanking you in advance for your support, we remain,
public affairs school that encompasses public management and policy as
successful reputation compared to other programs in the nation. An
integral part of that reputation has been the professional success of our
the school and represent the program to your colleagues and associates
many of the same resources. Our faculty are involved in the community,
working with city officials, conducting research, and providing the
We look toward a bright and distinguished future. Stay a part of it by
We are pleased to report that another successful alumni meeting was
their best behavior (although we did have the name of a good bail
our group that, if you were unable to attend, I believe you will find
University School of Dentistry are establishing an endowment fund. The
University School of Dentistry have benefited all of us and this is a way
we can show our appreciation in a tangible way. The purpose of the Fund
begin to make disbursements. Interest from early donations will be used
If a major contribution is not possible at this time, a five year
per year for five years. Of course, any gift will be appreciated. Based
on each individual tax situation, your gift may be tax deductible. Let's
We hope that you will consider supporting this special project and
received the education that has provided us with the successful life we
Dream of a world free of heart disease, cancer, alcoholism, and
smoking, no students foregoing medical school for lack of funds, no
researchers ceasing their inquiries for lack of support.
Medicine, we realize how much we owe to dreamers and their dreams...
its first superintendent that the place had "no future."
History created our present; we are the dreamers who build the future.
Remember when cures for polio and smallpox were just dreams? We dream of
translating the newest miracles of molecular biology, immunology, and
medical research into education and patient care --for the state, the
shortage of ideas, energy, and devotion to our dreamers will be
remembered long after today. Will you add your dreams to ours? Please
Twelve baby pelicans were hatched and raised this year just outside
our pens by the wild pelicans that hang around the Seabird Station. (The
little pelican was abandoned by his parents in their haste to start a
second mating and nesting in the same season. He was about two weeks
short of being old enough to fly, but still afraid of people and very
difficult to catch so that we could continue feeding until he was
cornered him behind an aviary and fed him, and he immediately jerked
away, running and flapping to the water's edge where he sat with a pouch
The next morning, and every day for the next two weeks, he was in the
there whenever he sees Harry. How quickly they learn bad habits! Our
problem now is how to teach him to go out and catch his own fish instead
The smallest baby duck we have ever seen was brought to our door about
three weeks ago. We think it is a wild mallard duck. The rescuer said the
mother abandoned this baby. We put the little fellow in an indoor cage
and fed it for about a day until we noticed that it was getting entirely
too attuned to people, peeping a little greeting whenever someone passed
his cage. This can lead to a condition called imprinting, where the baby
grows up thinking it is a people instead of a duck. Although this results
in a "cute" pet, it is a disaster to the duck because it looks to people
for its normal social interaction, even the most intimate kind.
In an effort to avoid imprinting, we enlisted the aid of a regular
head of the baby mallard peeking out from under its breast. The next day
when we went out to the aviary we were concerned that we didn't see the
the aviary until the baby fell out from under its wing. The baby mallard
sick or injured pelicans that we've received in the last two months,
which is about as many botulism cases as we normally get in an entire
preferred method in birds). Botulism is caused by the toxins excreted
from bacteria that sometimes occurs naturally when vegetable matter
decays anaerobically (without oxygen) under the mud. It then bubbles to
the surface of the water and a small amount is ingested by the pelican
when he eats. The Botulism Research Laboratory at the University of
two weeks ago. The trick is to catch the botulism in the very early
stages before the toxin attacks the nerves and causes progressive
paralysis The problem here is that some paralysis is usually the first
the silver bullet that solves the botulism problem.
As Associate Dean for Minority Student Services, I would like to
brightest and most highly qualified candidates. Some minority candidates
been able to offer scholarships, stipends, or other means of financial
assistance. Recently we lost two outstanding candidates to universities
Minority Student Scholarship program. Our goal is to award scholarships
supplies and equipment required in the first academic year.
I am excited about this new program and invite you to join me in
building a strong foundation for the project. Your gift will help us
reach our immediate goal of awarding at least one scholarship to a
Thank you for considering our request for your contribution to the
going to have fun! Our camp staff worked all winter long planning some
great activities to keep everyone safe and active this summer. We'll be
swimming, planning sports, going on exciting field trips, helping others
through community service projects, planning our own camp carnival, and
joining great clubs like jewelry making, juggling, snack cooking, and
nature crafts. As you can imagine, a summer like this is expensive to
directly support camp scholarships. Giving levels:$50 club sponsor
from a professional artist, magician, or zookeeper.$1000 summer sponsor
A response card is enclosed for your convenience. Your contribution
department that you and your fellow graduates might not recognize
A major development of national significance has provided much
which the Geography Department and the University were invited to
participate. Four city agencies and four private corporations banded
together with the university to develop an accurate multipurpose computer
for the privilege of being able to carry out geographic teaching and
research on the system. The Laboratory of Applied Spatial Information
might be interested in checking out the facilities.
Your department has been recognized by The National Geographic Society
teachers and assists them in developing geography teaching materials for
compete with hundreds of other students for limited financial aid. For
very generous, but in order to preserve a scholarship, it must be
You can help in several ways. Most obviously, you can make a personal
more to your liking or, perhaps, you would be interested in making
several smaller gifts during the year. Any contributions are tax
that a number of alumni work for companies that will match their
to establish a scholarship to benefit geography majors.
Thank you so much for calling me to ask about corporate partner
opportunities with our organization. There are many ways to become
are involved in a wide variety of projects that make a huge impact on our
institution, including underwriting projects, marketing sponsorships,
matches for our partners, projects that fit the company goals, themes and
interests. Enclosed in this packet you will find information on our
Society and a few different partnership options. I hope that you agree
helps to make it a safe and happy environment for people to live, work
exhibition and presentation of natural environments in a way to foster a
sense of discovery, stewardship, and the need to preserve the Earth's
plants and animals. In short, the Society is about connecting animals,
plants and people. The wonderful connections formed each day are made
possible through the support of Society operations.
complex, White River Gardens, is an extraordinary facility that adds a
state and nation with a unique educational resource for garden design,
plant material selection and plant husbandry (especially for those in the
United States, the White River Gardens will further the Society's mission
by nourishing the vital connection between people and their natural
artificial insemination technique was developed in cooperation with the
difficulties of the anatomical structure of elephants made what is
considered a common procedure among domestic animals extremely
problematic. The new technique was performed at the Zoo over Memorial Day
researchers now know that they have developed a technique that is both
survival of elephants in human care, as well as the wild.
in which animals live. Creating natural habitats does more than enhance
the beauty of the Zoo. It allows the animals to feel more relaxed and
Our keepers help to provide opportunities for increased foraging,
environmental stimulation and social contact by using a wide array of
scents, objects and food. Enrichment activities include hiding special
treats like honey, or peanut butter, or giving animals blocks of ice,
indestructible balls, or browse (leafy tree branches) with which to
interact. Understanding an animal's natural behavior increases
conservation opportunities, particularly captive breeding efforts of
population management and conservation program for selected species in
zoos and aquariums. By keeping detailed records (stud books), zoo staff
can make intelligent decisions on how to match individual animals to
avoid inbreeding and maintain a healthy and genetically diverse captive
As mentioned earlier, research is another important component to the
significant contributions with the global impact to a variety of species.
these iguanas, and along with the Hope Zoo and five other zoos, are
recently became the first zoo to breed successfully the critically
its botanical collection has been integrated throughout the grounds of
our 64-acre complex. Our naturalistic approach to displaying animals and
plants together has caught on with the public, particularly those who are
collection is unique because it is the only habitat botanical garden in
the country .This means that our plants are grouped together in displays
that replicate or duplicate the ecology of the world's major
The Society wanted to continue to enhance the garden experience for
best of gardening ideas, plant information and inspiring landscape
design. Visitors will have the opportunity to view changing shows in the
pathways pass through five unique theme gardens: a design garden, a shade
garden, a sun garden, a water garden and a wedding garden. Our expert
horticulturists will answer personal garden questions and guests will
Connecting through People Over one million visitors are expected to
institution that promotes education and learning through the connection
of people and the natural world around them, the Society is actively
preparing for continued success in the future. Our institution continues
to offer top quality education programming including student workshops,
overnights and distance learning sessions. We know that we are in the
midst of a technological revolution and we are working hard to keep pace
with the constant changes that surround us. We are laying the groundwork
that will enhance our connection to visitors of all kinds and insure our
interactive information links with all our visitors, we strengthen our
connection to the public. We are becoming an institution without walls!
Many of our traditional education programs will be enhanced through the
workshops, lecture series, distance learning, public classes and daily
demonstrations. Access to our grounds will be opened to anyone with a
Conclusion Involvement of the corporate community is extremely
provide entertaining and educational exhibits, activities and programs
that connect animals, plants and people. Your support helps the Society
maintain quality care of animal and plant collections and to conduct
important research on rare species including those in the Species
Survival Plan. Corporate support is not only appreciated but helps us to
continue to strive to succeed and fulfill our mission. If you have any
questions on anything enclosed in this packet, or need any additional
the dental hygiene faculty to receive scholarship awards. I would like to
personally thank the alumni and friends of the dental hygiene program who
have made past contributions and hope you will continue with your
support. In addition, I would encourage other alumni and friends to
consider providing their support for this scholarship fund.
more debt as they progress through school. The School of Dentistry has
limited ability to provide scholarship money to deserving students who
otherwise might choose another career option because of educational
program to provide financial assistance to students so that they can
concentrate on their education while in school. Last year, we were able
These scholarships were made possible through contributions from alumni
dental hygiene program. I hope that you will help us to help students by
making a tax deductible gift this year. All contributions are very
important, and with your support, we can really make a difference.
It gives me great pleasure to extend to you this invitation to Join
the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle in a celebration of our spirit at
your accomplishments and commitment to our nation prove you worthy of
The Republican Senatorial Inner Circle is made up of individuals who
meet on a regular basis to discuss national and regional topics in a
year offers some extraordinary membership opportunities.
The Inner Circle's August meeting will be centered around the
Republican National Convention. Your membership will provide you with
admittance to our "members only" activities as well as full credentials
to all official Convention sessions. We expect the highlight of the Inner
Added to the Convention and the luncheon will be an optional tour of
tickets to the premier social event of the Republican National Convention
Each regular meeting of the Inner Circle focuses on specific, timely
issues facing our nation, and our guests are always among the foremost
Past Inner Circle briefings have been conducted by Housing and Urban
As an Inner Circle member you will receive select seating during the
Convention, and special invitations to dinners, receptions and activities
Of course, the Inner Circle's list of meetings doesn't end with the
Republican National Convention. As an Inner Circle member you can expect
some of the finest seats on the reviewing stand for the world's greatest
of the official Presidential Inaugural, including the swearing in
ceremony, Inaugural Parade, and the Inner Circle Black Tie Ball on
When you accept membership in the Inner Circle, you will become an
The Republican party is looking at an unprecedented opportunity --in
recent weeks, three liberal Democrat Senators have announced they will
campaigns across the country, are strong, bright, and talented leaders.
The strength and character of our candidates will not be ignored by
That is why joining today can do more to help the party than at any
time in its history. By accepting your nomination and joining with us,
also help finance the races of our field of candidates.
Many other benefits are made available to Inner Circle members. These
are explained more fully in the enclosed Inner Circle Membership
Prospectus. The financial details of Inner Circle membership are also
I hope you will give careful consideration to your nomination. You
certainly deserve this honor, and I believe each of us will benefit from
Since our Convention plans take a great deal of preparation, please
fill out and return your Nomination Acceptance no later than August 3rd.
It is important to fill out all of the information on the Nomination
Acceptance reply form --including your Social Security number. This is
required by the Secret Service for clearance to all Convention events and
fellow Republican Senators, and the current members of the Inner Circle,
of Inner Circle members. This year will be particularly meaningful for
our young Republicans. Experiencing the Convention will leave a marked
impression on our junior members --an impression that could lead to a
future of service to this country, and to a better understanding of the
democratic process. The details of junior membership are discussed in the
In you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call our
Perhaps you have heard your student talk about the visiting artists
from allover the country. These are artists who are either emerging as
leaders in their fields or who have already become well known.
curriculum, as it exposes the students to artists who are successfully
supporting themselves with their art and to the most current art trends
Grants are becoming harder to secure and we must look to the
generosity of individuals to sustain the program. The funding covers
transportation, lodging and lecture fees for the artists and publicity.
maintain this vital program. We feel that it is of great importance to
Simply fill out the enclosed form and return it with your donation to